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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Benita, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Benita
+       An African Romance
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: August, 2001 [eBook #2761]
+[Most recently updated: August 22, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: John Bickers, Emma Dudding, Dagny and David Widger
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENITA ***
+
+
+
+
+BENITA
+
+AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+     NOTE.
+
+     It may interest readers of this story to know that its author
+     believes it to have a certain foundation in fact.
+
+     It was said about five-and-twenty or thirty years ago that an
+     adventurous trader, hearing from some natives in the territory
+     that lies at the back of Quilimane, the legend of a great treasure
+     buried in or about the sixteenth century by a party of Portuguese
+     who were afterwards massacred, as a last resource attempted its
+     discovery by the help of a mesmerist. According to this history
+     the child who was used as a subject in the experiment, when in a
+     state of trance, detailed the adventures and death of the unhappy
+     Portuguese men and women, two of whom leapt from the point of a
+     high rock into the Zambesi. Although he knew no tongue but
+     English, this clairvoyant child is declared to have repeated in
+     Portuguese the prayers these unfortunates offered up, and even to
+     have sung the very hymns they sang. Moreover, with much other
+     detail, he described the burial of the great treasure and its
+     exact situation so accurately that the white man and the mesmerist
+     were able to dig for and find the place where _it had been_--for
+     the bags were gone, swept out by the floods of the river.
+
+     Some gold coins remained, however, one of them a ducat of Aloysius
+     Mocenigo, Doge of Venice. Afterwards the boy was again thrown into
+     a trance (in all he was mesmerized eight times), and revealed
+     where the sacks still lay; but before the white trader could renew
+     his search for them, the party was hunted out of the country by
+     natives whose superstitious fears were aroused, barely escaping
+     with their lives.
+
+     It should be added that, as in the following tale, the chief who
+     was ruling there when the tragedy happened, declared the place to
+     be sacred, and that if it were entered evil would befall his
+     tribe. Thus it came about that for generations it was never
+     violated, until at length his descendants were driven farther from
+     the river by war, and from one of them the white man heard the
+     legend.
+
+
+
+
+BENITA--AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+CONFIDENCES
+
+Beautiful, beautiful was that night! No air that stirred; the black
+smoke from the funnels of the mail steamer _Zanzibar_ lay low over the
+surface of the sea like vast, floating ostrich plumes that vanished one
+by one in the starlight. Benita Beatrix Clifford, for that was her full
+name, who had been christened Benita after her mother and Beatrix after
+her father’s only sister, leaning idly over the bulwark rail, thought
+to herself that a child might have sailed that sea in a boat of bark and
+come safely into port.
+
+Then a tall man of about thirty years of age, who was smoking a cigar,
+strolled up to her. At his coming she moved a little as though to make
+room for him beside her, and there was something in the motion which,
+had anyone been there to observe it, might have suggested that these two
+were upon terms of friendship, or still greater intimacy. For a moment
+he hesitated, and while he did so an expression of doubt, of distress
+even, gathered on his face. It was as though he understood that a great
+deal depended on whether he accepted or declined that gentle invitation,
+and knew not which to do.
+
+Indeed, much did depend upon it, no less than the destinies of both of
+them. If Robert Seymour had gone by to finish his cigar in solitude, why
+then this story would have had a very different ending; or, rather, who
+can say how it might have ended? The dread, foredoomed event with which
+that night was big would have come to its awful birth leaving certain
+words unspoken. Violent separation must have ensued, and even if both of
+them had survived the terror, what prospect was there that their lives
+would again have crossed each other in that wide Africa?
+
+But it was not so fated, for just as he put his foot forward to continue
+his march Benita spoke in her low and pleasant voice.
+
+“Are you going to the smoking-room or to the saloon to dance, Mr.
+Seymour? One of the officers just told me that there is to be a dance,”
+ she added, in explanation, “because it is so calm that we might fancy
+ourselves ashore.”
+
+“Neither,” he answered. “The smoking-room is stuffy, and my dancing days
+are over. No; I proposed to take exercise after that big dinner, and
+then to sit in a chair and fall asleep. But,” he added, and his voice
+grew interested, “how did you know that it was I? You never turned your
+head.”
+
+“I have ears in my head as well as eyes,” she answered with a little
+laugh, “and after we have been nearly a month together on this ship I
+ought to know your step.”
+
+“I never remember that anyone ever recognized it before,” he said, more
+to himself than to her, then came and leaned over the rail at her side.
+His doubts were gone. Fate had spoken.
+
+For a while there was silence between them, then he asked her if she
+were not going to the dance.
+
+Benita shook her head.
+
+“Why not? You are fond of dancing, and you dance very well. Also there
+are plenty of officers for partners, especially Captain----” and he
+checked himself.
+
+“I know,” she said; “it would be pleasant, but--Mr. Seymour, will you
+think me foolish if I tell you something?”
+
+“I have never thought you foolish yet, Miss Clifford, so I don’t know
+why I should begin now. What is it?”
+
+“I am not going to the dance because I am afraid, yes, horribly afraid.”
+
+“Afraid! Afraid of what?”
+
+“I don’t quite know, but, Mr. Seymour, I feel as though we were all
+of us upon the edge of some dreadful catastrophe--as though there were
+about to be a mighty change, and beyond it another life, something
+new and unfamiliar. It came over me at dinner--that was why I left the
+table. Quite suddenly I looked, and all the people were different, yes,
+all except a few.”
+
+“Was I different?” he asked curiously.
+
+“No, you were not,” and he thought he heard her add “Thank God!” beneath
+her breath.
+
+“And were you different?”
+
+“I don’t know. I never looked at myself; I was the seer, not the seen. I
+have always been like that.”
+
+“Indigestion,” he said reflectively. “We eat too much on board ship,
+and the dinner was very long and heavy. I told you so, that’s why I’m
+taking--I mean why I wanted to take exercise.”
+
+“And to go to sleep afterwards.”
+
+“Yes, first the exercise, then the sleep. Miss Clifford, that is the
+rule of life--and death. With sleep thought ends, therefore for some of
+us your catastrophe is much to be desired, for it would mean long sleep
+and no thought.”
+
+“I said that they were changed, not that they had ceased to think.
+Perhaps they thought the more.”
+
+“Then let us pray that your catastrophe may be averted. I prescribe
+for you bismuth and carbonate of soda. Also in this weather it seems
+difficult to imagine such a thing. Look now, Miss Clifford,” he added,
+with a note of enthusiasm in his voice, pointing towards the east,
+“look.”
+
+Her eyes followed his outstretched hand, and there, above the level
+ocean, rose the great orb of the African moon. Lo! of a sudden all that
+ocean turned to silver, a wide path of rippling silver stretched from
+it to them. It might have been the road of angels. The sweet soft light
+beat upon their ship, showing its tapering masts and every detail of the
+rigging. It passed on beyond them, and revealed the low, foam-fringed
+coast-line rising here and there, dotted with kloofs and their clinging
+bush. Even the round huts of Kaffir kraals became faintly visible in
+that radiance. Other things became visible also--for instance, the
+features of this pair.
+
+The man was light in his colouring, fair-skinned, with fair hair which
+already showed a tendency towards greyness, especially in the moustache,
+for he wore no beard. His face was clean cut, not particularly handsome,
+since, their fineness notwithstanding, his features lacked regularity;
+the cheekbones were too high and the chin was too small, small faults
+redeemed to some extent by the steady and cheerful grey eyes. For
+the rest, he was broad-shouldered and well-set-up, sealed with the
+indescribable stamp of the English gentleman. Such was the appearance of
+Robert Seymour.
+
+In that light the girl at his side looked lovely, though, in fact, she
+had no real claims to loveliness, except perhaps as regards her figure,
+which was agile, rounded, and peculiarly graceful. Her foreign-looking
+face was unusual, dark-eyed, a somewhat large and very mobile mouth,
+fair and waving hair, a broad forehead, a sweet and at times wistful
+face, thoughtful for the most part, but apt to be irradiated by sudden
+smiles. Not a beautiful woman at all, but exceedingly attractive, one
+possessing magnetism.
+
+She gazed, first at the moon and the silver road beneath it, then,
+turning, at the land beyond.
+
+“We are very near to Africa, at last,” she said.
+
+“Too near, I think,” he answered. “If I were the captain I should stand
+out a point or two. It is a strange country, full of surprises. Miss
+Clifford, will you think me rude if I ask you why you are going there?
+You have never told me--quite.”
+
+“No, because the story is rather a sad one; but you shall hear it if you
+wish. Do you?”
+
+He nodded, and drew up two deck chairs, in which they settled themselves
+in a corner made by one of the inboard boats, their faces still towards
+the sea.
+
+“You know I was born in Africa,” she said, “and lived there till I was
+thirteen years old--why, I find I can still speak Zulu; I did so this
+afternoon. My father was one of the early settlers in Natal. His father
+was a clergyman, a younger son of the Lincolnshire Cliffords. They are
+great people there still, though I don’t suppose that they are aware of
+my existence.”
+
+“I know them,” answered Robert Seymour. “Indeed, I was shooting at their
+place last November--when the smash came,” and he sighed; “but go on.”
+
+“Well, my father quarrelled with his father, I don’t know what about,
+and emigrated. In Natal he married my mother, a Miss Ferreira, whose
+name--like mine and her mother’s--was Benita. She was one of two
+sisters, and her father, Andreas Ferreira, who married an English lady,
+was half Dutch and half Portuguese. I remember him well, a fine old man
+with dark eyes and an iron-grey beard. He was wealthy as things went
+in those days--that is to say, he had lots of land in Natal and the
+Transvaal, and great herds of stock. So you see I am half English, some
+Dutch, and more than a quarter Portuguese--quite a mixture of races. My
+father and mother did not get on well together. Mr. Seymour, I may as
+well tell you all the truth: he drank, and although he was passionately
+fond of her, she was jealous of him. Also he gambled away most of her
+patrimony, and after old Andreas Ferreira’s death they grew poor. One
+night there was a dreadful scene between them, and in his madness he
+struck her.
+
+“Well, she was a very proud woman, determined, too, and she turned on
+him and said--for I heard her--‘I will never forgive you; we have done
+with each other.’ Next morning, when my father was sober, he begged her
+pardon, but she made no answer, although he was starting somewhere on
+a fortnight’s trek. When he had gone my mother ordered the Cape cart,
+packed up her clothes, took some money that she had put away, drove to
+Durban, and after making arrangements at the bank about a small private
+income of her own, sailed with me for England, leaving a letter for my
+father in which she said that she would never see him again, and if he
+tried to interfere with me she would put me under the protection of the
+English court, which would not allow me to be taken to the home of a
+drunkard.
+
+“In England we went to live in London with my aunt, who had married a
+Major King, but was a widow with five children. My father often wrote to
+persuade my mother to go back to him, but she never would, which I think
+was wrong of her. So things went on for twelve years or more, till
+one day my mother suddenly died, and I came into her little fortune of
+between £200 and £300 a year, which she had tied up so that nobody can
+touch it. That was about a year ago. I wrote to tell my father of her
+death, and received a pitiful letter; indeed, I have had several of
+them. He implored me to come out to him and not to leave him to die in
+his loneliness, as he soon would do of a broken heart, if I did not. He
+said that he had long ago given up drinking, which was the cause of the
+ruin of his life, and sent a certificate signed by a magistrate and a
+doctor to that effect. Well, in the end, although all my cousins and
+their mother advised me against it, I consented, and here I am. He is to
+meet me at Durban, but how we shall get on together is more than I can
+say, though I long to see him, for after all he is my father.”
+
+“It was good of you to come, under all the circumstances. You must have
+a brave heart,” said Robert reflectively.
+
+“It is my duty,” she answered. “And for the rest, I am not afraid who
+was born to Africa. Indeed, often and often have I wished to be back
+there again, out on the veld, far away from the London streets and fog.
+I am young and strong, and I want to see things, natural things--not
+those made by man, you know--the things I remember as a child. One can
+always go back to London.”
+
+“Yes, or at least some people can. It is a curious thing, Miss Clifford,
+but as it happens I have met your father. You always reminded me of the
+man, but I had forgotten his name. Now it comes back to me; it _was_
+Clifford.”
+
+“Where on earth?” she asked, astonished.
+
+“In a queer place. As I told you, I have visited South Africa before,
+under different circumstances. Four years ago I was out here big-game
+shooting. Going in from the East coast my brother and I--he is dead now,
+poor fellow--got up somewhere in the Matabele country, on the banks of
+the Zambesi. As we didn’t find much game there we were going to strike
+south, when some natives told us of a wonderful ruin that stood on
+a hill overhanging the river a few miles farther on. So, leaving the
+waggon on the hither side of the steep nek, over which it would have
+been difficult to drag it, my brother and I took our rifles and a bag
+of food and started. The place was farther off than we thought, although
+from the top of the nek we could see it clearly enough, and before we
+reached it dark had fallen.
+
+“Now we had observed a waggon and a tent outside the wall which we
+thought must belong to white men, and headed for them. There was a light
+in the tent, and the flap was open, the night being very hot. Inside
+two men were seated, one old, with a grey beard, and the other, a
+good-looking fellow--under forty, I should say--with a Jewish face,
+dark, piercing eyes, and a black, pointed beard. They were engaged
+in examining a heap of gold beads and bangles, which lay on the table
+between them. As I was about to speak, the black-bearded man heard or
+caught sight of us, and seizing a rifle that leaned against the table,
+swung round and covered me.
+
+“‘For God’s sake don’t shoot, Jacob,’ said the old man; ‘they are
+English.’
+
+“‘Best dead, any way,’ answered the other, in a soft voice, with a
+slight foreign accent, ‘we don’t want spies or thieves here.’
+
+“‘We are neither, but I can shoot as well as you, friend,’ I remarked,
+for by this time my rifle was on him.
+
+“Then he thought better of it, and dropped his gun, and we explained
+that we were merely on an archæological expedition. The end of it was
+that we became capital friends, though neither of us could cotton much
+to Mr. Jacob--I forget his other name. He struck me as too handy with
+his rifle, and was, I gathered, an individual with a mysterious and
+rather lurid past. To cut a long story short, when he found out that
+we had no intention of poaching, your father, for it was he, told us
+frankly that they were treasure-hunting, having got hold of some
+story about a vast store of gold which had been hidden away there by
+Portuguese two or three centuries before. Their trouble was, however,
+that the Makalanga, who lived in the fortress, which was called
+Bambatse, would not allow them to dig, because they said the place was
+haunted, and if they did so it would bring bad luck to their tribe.”
+
+“And did they ever get in?” asked Benita.
+
+“I am sure I don’t know, for we went next day, though before we left we
+called on the Makalanga, who admitted us all readily enough so long as
+we brought no spades with us. By the way, the gold we saw your father
+and his friend examining was found in some ancient graves outside the
+walls, but had nothing to do with the big and mythical treasure.”
+
+“What was the place like? I love old ruins,” broke in Benita again.
+
+“Oh! wonderful. A gigantic, circular wall built by heaven knows who,
+then half-way up the hill another wall, and near the top a third wall
+which, I understood, surrounded a sort of holy of holies, and above
+everything, on the brink of the precipice, a great cone of granite.”
+
+“Artificial or natural?”
+
+“I don’t know. They would not let us up there, but we were introduced
+to their chief and high priest, Church and State in one, and a wonderful
+old man he was, very wise and very gentle. I remember he told me he
+believed we should meet again, which seemed an odd thing for him to say.
+I asked him about the treasure and why he would not let the other white
+men look for it. He answered that it would never be found by any man,
+white or black, that only a woman would find it at the appointed time,
+when it pleased the Spirit of Bambatse, under whose guardianship it
+was.”
+
+“Who was the Spirit of Bambatse, Mr. Seymour?”
+
+“I can’t tell you, couldn’t make out anything definite about her, except
+that she was said to be white, and to appear sometimes at sunrise, or in
+the moonlight, standing upon the tall point of rock of which I told you.
+I remember that I got up before the dawn to look for her--like an idiot,
+for of course I saw nothing--and that’s all I know about the matter.”
+
+“Did you have any talk with my father, Mr. Seymour--alone, I mean?”
+
+“Yes, a little. The next day he walked back to our waggon with us, being
+glad, I fancy, of a change from the perpetual society of his partner
+Jacob. That wasn’t wonderful in a man who had been brought up at
+Eton and Oxford, as I found out he had, like myself, and whatever his
+failings may have been--although we saw no sign of them, for he would
+not touch a drop of spirits--was a gentleman, which Jacob wasn’t. Still,
+he--Jacob--had read a lot, especially on out-of-the-way subjects,
+and could talk every language under the sun--a clever and agreeable
+scoundrel in short.”
+
+“Did my father say anything about himself?”
+
+“Yes; he told me that he had been an unsuccessful man all his life,
+and had much to reproach himself with, for we got quite confidential at
+last. He added that he had a family in England--what family he didn’t
+say--whom he was anxious to make wealthy by way of reparation for past
+misdeeds, and that was why he was treasure-hunting. However, from what
+you tell me, I fear he never found anything.”
+
+“No, Mr. Seymour, he never found it and never will, but all the same
+I am glad to hear that he was thinking of us. Also I should like to
+explore that place, Bambatse.”
+
+“So should I, Miss Clifford, in your company, and your father’s, but not
+in that of Jacob. If ever you should go there with him, I say:--‘Beware
+of Jacob.’”
+
+“Oh! I am not afraid of Jacob,” she answered with a laugh, “although I
+believe that my father still has something to do with him--at least in
+one of his letters he mentioned his partner, who was a German.”
+
+“A German! I think that he must have meant a German Jew.”
+
+After this there was silence between them for a time, then he said
+suddenly, “You have told me your story, would you like to hear mine?”
+
+“Yes,” she answered.
+
+“Well, it won’t take you long to listen to it, for, Miss Clifford,
+like Canning’s needy knife-grinder, I have really none to tell. You
+see before you one of the most useless persons in the world, an
+undistinguished member of what is called in England the ‘leisured
+class,’ who can do absolutely nothing that is worth doing, except shoot
+straight.”
+
+“Indeed,” said Benita.
+
+“You do not seem impressed with that accomplishment,” he went on, “yet
+it is an honest fact that for the last fifteen years--I was thirty-two
+this month--practically my whole time has been given up to it, with a
+little fishing thrown in in the spring. As I want to make the most of
+myself, I will add that I am supposed to be among the six best shots in
+England, and that my ambition--yes, great Heavens! my ambition--was to
+become better than the other five. By that sin fell the poor man who
+speaks to you. I was supposed to have abilities, but I neglected them
+all to pursue this form of idleness. I entered no profession, I did
+no work, with the result that at thirty-two I am ruined and almost
+hopeless.”
+
+“Why ruined and hopeless?” she asked anxiously, for the way in which
+they were spoken grieved her more than the words themselves.
+
+“Ruined because my old uncle, the Honourable John Seymour Seymour, whose
+heir I was, committed the indiscretion of marrying a young lady who has
+presented him with thriving twins. With the appearance of those twins my
+prospects disappeared, as did the allowance of £1,500 a year that he
+was good enough to make me on which to keep up a position as his
+next-of-kin. I had something of my own, but also I had debts, and at the
+present moment a draft in my pocket for £2,163 14s. 5d., and a little
+loose cash, represents the total of my worldly goods, just about the sum
+I have been accustomed to spend per annum.”
+
+“I don’t call that ruin, I call that riches,” said Benita, relieved.
+“With £2,000 to begin on you may make a fortune in Africa. But how about
+the hopelessness?”
+
+“I am hopeless because I have absolutely nothing to which to look
+forward. Really, when that £2,000 is gone I do not know how to earn a
+sixpence. In this dilemma it occurred to me that the only thing I could
+do was to turn my shooting to practical account, and become a hunter of
+big game. Therefore I propose to kill elephants until an elephant kills
+me. At least,” he added in a changed voice, “I did so propose until half
+an hour ago.”
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE END OF THE “ZANZIBAR.”
+
+“Until half an hour ago? Then why----” and Benita stopped.
+
+“Have I changed my very modest scheme of life? Miss Clifford, as you are
+so good as to be sufficiently interested, I will tell you. It is because
+a temptation which hitherto I have been able to resist, has during the
+last thirty minutes become too strong for me. You know everything has
+its breaking strain.” He puffed nervously at his cigar, threw it into
+the sea, paused, then went on: “Miss Clifford, I have dared to fall in
+love with you. No; hear me out. When I have done it will be quite time
+enough to give me the answer that I expect. Meanwhile, for the first
+time in my life, allow me the luxury of being in earnest. To me it is a
+new sensation, and therefore very priceless. May I go on?”
+
+Benita made no answer. He rose with a certain deliberateness which
+characterized all his movements--for Robert Seymour never seemed to be
+in a hurry--and stood in front of her so that the moonlight shone upon
+her face, while his own remained in shadow.
+
+“Beyond that £2,000 of which I have spoken, and incidentally its
+owner, I have nothing whatsoever to offer to you. I am an indigent and
+worthless person. Even in my prosperous days, when I could look forward
+to a large estate, although it was often suggested to me, I never
+considered myself justified in asking any lady to share--the prospective
+estate. I think now that the real reason was that I never cared
+sufficiently for any lady, since otherwise my selfishness would probably
+have overcome my scruples, as it does to-night. Benita, for I will call
+you so, if for the first and last time, I--I--love you.
+
+“Listen now,” he went on, dropping his measured manner, and speaking
+hurriedly, like a man with an earnest message and little time in which
+to deliver it, “it is an odd thing, an incomprehensible thing, but
+true, true--I fell in love with you the first time I saw your face. You
+remember, you stood there leaning over the bulwark when I came on board
+at Southampton, and as I walked up the gangway, I looked and my eyes met
+yours. Then I stopped, and that stout old lady who got off at Madeira
+bumped into me, and asked me to be good enough to make up my mind if I
+were going backward or forward. Do you remember?”
+
+“Yes,” she answered in a low voice.
+
+“Which things are an allegory,” he continued. “I felt it so at the time.
+Yes, I had half a mind to answer ‘Backward’ and give up my berth in
+this ship. Then I looked at you again, and something inside of me said
+‘Forward.’ So I came up the rest of the gangway and took off my hat
+to you, a salutation I had no right to make, but which, I recall, you
+acknowledged.”
+
+He paused, then continued: “As it began, so it has gone on. It is always
+like that, is it not? The beginning is everything, the end must follow.
+And now it has come out, as I was fully determined that it should not do
+half an hour ago, when suddenly you developed eyes in the back of your
+head, and--oh! dearest, I love you. No, please be quiet; I have not
+done. I have told you what I am, and really there isn’t much more to say
+about me, for I have no particular vices except the worst of them all,
+idleness, and not the slightest trace of any virtue that I can discover.
+But I have a certain knowledge of the world acquired in a long course of
+shooting parties, and as a man of the world I will venture to give you a
+bit of advice. It is possible that to you my life and death affair is
+a mere matter of board-ship amusement. Yet it is possible also that you
+might take another view of the matter. In that case, as a friend and a
+man of the world, I entreat you--don’t. Have nothing to do with me. Send
+me about my business; you will never regret it.”
+
+“Are you making fun, or is all this meant, Mr. Seymour?” asked Benita,
+still speaking beneath her breath, and looking straight before her.
+
+“Meant? Of course it is meant. How can you ask?”
+
+“Because I have always understood that on such occasions people wish to
+make the best of themselves.”
+
+“Quite so, but I never do what I ought, a fact for which I am grateful
+now come to think of it, since otherwise I should not be here to-night.
+I wish to make the worst of myself, the very worst, for whatever I am
+not, at least I am honest. Now having told you that I am, or was half
+an hour ago, an idler, a good-for-nothing, prospectless failure, I ask
+you--if you care to hear any more?”
+
+She half rose, and, glancing at him for the first time, saw his face
+contract itself and turn pale in the moonlight. It may be that the
+sight of it affected her, even to the extent of removing some adverse
+impression left by the bitter mocking of his self-blame. At any rate,
+Benita seemed to change her mind, and sat down again, saying:
+
+“Go on, if you wish.”
+
+He bowed slightly, and said:
+
+“I thank you. I have told you what I _was_ half an hour ago; now, hoping
+that you will believe me, I will tell you what I _am_. I am a truly
+repentant man, one upon whom a new light has risen. I am not very old,
+and I think that underneath it all I have some ability. Opportunity
+may still come my way; if it does not, for your sake I will make the
+opportunity. I do not believe that you can ever find anyone who would
+love you better or care for you more tenderly. I desire to live for you
+in the future, more completely even than in the past I have lived for
+myself. I do not wish to influence you by personal appeals, but in fact
+I stand at the parting of the ways. If you will give yourself to me
+I feel as though I might still become a husband of whom you could be
+proud--if not, I write ‘Finis’ upon the tombstone of the possibilities
+of Robert Seymour. I adore you. You are the one woman with whom I desire
+to pass my days; it is you who have always been lacking to my life. I
+ask you to be brave, to take the risk of marrying me, although I can see
+nothing but poverty ahead of us, for I am an adventurer.”
+
+“Don’t speak like that,” she said quickly. “We are all of us adventurers
+in this world, and I more than you. We have just to consider ourselves,
+not what we have or have not.”
+
+“So be it, Miss Clifford. Then I have nothing more to say; now it is for
+you to answer.”
+
+Just then the sound of the piano and the fiddle in the saloon ceased.
+One of the waltzes was over, and some of the dancers came upon deck to
+flirt or to cool themselves. One pair, engaged very obviously in the
+former occupation, stationed themselves so near to Robert and Benita
+that further conversation between them was impossible, and there
+proceeded to interchange the remarks common to such occasions.
+
+For a good ten minutes did they stand thus, carrying on a mock quarrel
+as to a dance of which one of them was supposed to have been defrauded,
+until Robert Seymour, generally a very philosophical person, could have
+slain those innocent lovers. He felt, he knew not why, that his chances
+were slipping away from him; that sensation of something bad about to
+happen, of which Benita had spoken, spread from her to him. The suspense
+grew exasperating, terrible even, nor could it be ended. To ask her to
+come elsewhere was under the circumstances not feasible, especially as
+he would also have been obliged to request the other pair to make way
+for them, and all this time, with a sinking of the heart, he felt that
+probably Benita was beating down any tenderness which she might feel
+towards him; that when her long-delayed answer did come the chances were
+it would be “No.”
+
+The piano began to play again in the saloon, and the young people, still
+squabbling archly, at length prepared to depart. Suddenly there was a
+stir upon the bridge, and against the tender sky Robert saw a man dash
+forward. Next instant the engine-room bell rang fiercely. He knew the
+signal--it was “Stop,” followed at once by other ringings that meant
+“Full speed astern.”
+
+“I wonder what is up?” said the young man to the young woman.
+
+Before the words had left his lips they knew. There was a sensation as
+though all the hull of the great ship had come to a complete standstill,
+while the top part of her continued to travel forward; followed by
+another sensation still more terrible and sickening in its nature--that
+of slipping over something, helplessly, heavily, as a man slips upon ice
+or a polished floor. Spars cracked, ropes flew in two with a noise as of
+pistol shots. Heavy objects rushed about the deck, travelling forwards
+all of them. Benita was hurled from her chair against Robert so that the
+two of them rolled into the scuppers. He was unhurt and picked himself
+up, but she lay still, and he saw that something had struck her upon the
+head, for blood was running down her cheek. He lifted her, and, filled
+with black horror and despair--for he thought her gone--pressed his hand
+upon her heart. Thank God! it began to beat again--she still lived.
+
+The music in the saloon had stopped, and for a little while there
+was silence. Then of an instant there arose the horrible clamour of
+shipwreck; wild-eyed people rushed to and fro aimlessly; here and there
+women and children shrieked; a clergyman fell upon his knees and began
+to pray.
+
+This went on for a space, till presently the second officer appeared
+and, affecting an unconcerned air, called out that it was all right, the
+captain said no one was to be afraid. He added that they were not more
+than six miles from the shore, and that the ship would be beached in
+half an hour. Indeed, as he spoke the engines, which had been stopped,
+commenced to work again, and her head swung round in a wide circle,
+pointing to the land. Evidently they had passed over the rock and were
+once more in deep water, through which they travelled at a good speed
+but with a heavy list to starboard. The pumps got to work also with a
+monotonous, clanging beat, throwing out great columns of foaming water
+on to the oily sea. Men began to cut the covers off the boats, and to
+swing some of them outboard. Such were the things that went on about
+them.
+
+With the senseless Benita clasped to his breast, the blood from her cut
+head running down his shoulder, Robert stood still awhile, thinking.
+Then he made up his mind. As it chanced, she had a deck cabin, and
+thither he forced his way, carrying her tenderly and with patience
+through the distracted throng of passengers, for there were five hundred
+souls on board that ship. He reached the place to find that it was quite
+empty, her cabinmate having fled. Laying Benita upon the lower bunk,
+he lit the swinging candle. As soon as it burned up he searched for
+the lifebelts and by good fortune found two of them, one of which, not
+without great difficulty, he succeeded in fastening round her. Then he
+took a sponge and bathed her head with water. There was a great bruise
+upon her temple where the block or whatever it was had struck her, and
+the blood still flowed; but the wound was not very deep or extensive,
+nor, so far as he could discover, did the bone appear to be broken or
+driven in. He had good hope that she was only stunned, and would revive
+presently. Unable to do more for her, a thought struck him. On the floor
+of the cabin, thrown by the shock from the rack, lay her writing case.
+He opened it, and taking a piece of paper wrote these words hurriedly in
+pencil:
+
+“You gave me no answer, and it is more than probable that I shall
+receive none in this world which one or both of us may be upon the
+verge of leaving. In the latter case we can settle the matter
+elsewhere--perhaps. In the former, should it be my lot to go and yours
+to stay, I hope that you will think kindly of me at times as of one
+who loved you truly. Should it be yours to go, then you will never read
+these words. Yet if to the dead is given knowledge, be assured that as
+you left me so you shall find me, yours and yours alone. Or perhaps we
+both may live; I pray so.--S. R. S.”
+
+Folding up the paper, he undid a button of Benita’s blouse and thrust
+it away there, knowing that thus she would certainly find it should she
+survive. Then he stepped out on to the deck to see what was happening.
+The vessel still steamed, but made slow progress; moreover, the list to
+starboard was now so pronounced that it was difficult to stand upright.
+On account of it nearly all the passengers were huddled together upon
+the port side, having instinctively taken refuge as far as possible
+above the water. A man with a white, distraught face staggered towards
+him, supporting himself by the bulwarks. It was the captain. For a
+moment he paused as though to think, holding to a stanchion. Robert
+Seymour saw his opportunity and addressed him.
+
+“Forgive me,” he said; “I do not like interfering with other people’s
+business, but for reasons unconnected with myself I suggest to you that
+it would be wise to stop this ship and get out the boats. The sea is
+calm; if it is not left till too late there should be no difficulty in
+launching them.”
+
+The man stared at him absently, then said:
+
+“They won’t hold everybody, Mr. Seymour. I hope to beach her.”
+
+“At least they will hold some,” he answered, “whereas----” And he
+pointed to the water, which by now was almost level with the deck.
+
+“Perhaps you are right, Mr. Seymour. It doesn’t matter to me, anyway. I
+am a ruined man; but the poor passengers--the poor passengers!” And he
+scrambled away fiercely towards the bridge like a wounded cat along
+the bough of a tree, whence in a few seconds Robert heard him shouting
+orders.
+
+A minute or so afterwards the steamer stopped. Too late the captain
+had decided to sacrifice his ship and save those she carried. They were
+beginning to get out the boats. Now Robert returned to the cabin where
+Benita was lying senseless, and wrapped her up in a cloak and some
+blankets. Then, seeing the second lifebelt on the floor, by an
+afterthought he put it on, knowing that there was time to spare. Next he
+lifted Benita, and feeling sure that the rush would be for the starboard
+side, on which the boats were quite near the water, carried her, with
+difficulty, for the slope was steep, to the port-cutter, which he knew
+would be in the charge of a good man, the second officer, whom he had
+seen in command there at Sunday boat-drills.
+
+Here, as he had anticipated, the crowd was small, since most people
+thought that it would not be possible to get this boat down safely to
+the water; or if their powers of reflection were gone, instinct told
+them so. That skilful seaman, the second officer, and his appointed
+crew, were already at work lowering the cutter from the davits.
+
+“Now,” he said, “women and children first.”
+
+A number rushed in, and Robert saw that the boat would soon be full.
+
+“I am afraid,” he said, “that I must count myself a woman as I carry
+one,” and by a great effort, holding Benita with one arm, with the other
+he let himself down the falls and, assisted by a quartermaster, gained
+the boat in safety.
+
+One or two other men scrambled after him.
+
+“Push her off,” said the officer; “she can hold no more,” and the ropes
+were let go.
+
+When they were about twelve feet from the ship’s side, from which
+they thrust themselves clear with oars, there came a rush of people,
+disappointed of places in the starboard boats. A few of the boldest
+of these swarmed down the falls, others jumped and fell among them, or
+missed and dropped into the sea, or struck upon the sides of the boat
+and were killed. Still she reached the water upon an even keel, though
+now much overladen. The oars were got out, and they rowed round the bow
+of the great ship wallowing in her death-throes, their first idea being
+to make for the shore, which was not three miles away.
+
+This brought them to the starboard side, where they saw a hideous scene.
+Hundreds of people seemed to be fighting for room, with the result that
+some of the boats were overturned, precipitating their occupants into
+the water. Others hung by the prow or the stern, the ropes having jammed
+in the davits in the frantic haste and confusion, while from them human
+beings dropped one by one. Round others not yet launched a hellish
+struggle was in progress, the struggle of men, women, and children
+battling for their lives, in which the strong, mad with terror, showed
+no mercy to the weak.
+
+From that mass of humanity, most of them about to perish, went up a
+babel of sounds which in its sum shaped itself to one prolonged scream,
+such as might proceed from a Titan in his agony. All this beneath a
+brooding, moonlit sky, and on a sea as smooth as glass. Upon the ship,
+which now lay upon her side, the siren still sent up its yells for
+succour, and some brave man continued to fire rockets, which rushed
+heavenwards and burst in showers of stars.
+
+Robert remembered that the last rocket he had seen was fired at an
+evening _fête_ for the amusement of the audience. The contrast struck
+him as dreadful. He wondered whether there were any power or infernal
+population that could be amused by a tragedy such as enacted itself
+before his eyes; how it came about also that such a tragedy was
+permitted by the merciful Strength in which mankind put their faith.
+
+The vessel was turning over, compressed air or steam burst up the decks
+with loud reports; fragments of wreckage flew into the air. There the
+poor captain still clung to the rail of the bridge. Seymour could see
+his white face--the moonlight seemed to paint it with a ghastly smile.
+The officer in command of their boat shouted to the crew to give way
+lest they should be sucked down with the steamer.
+
+Look! Now she wallowed like a dying whale, the moonrays shone white upon
+her bottom, showing the jagged rent made in it by the rock on which she
+had struck, and now she was gone. Only a little cloud of smoke and steam
+remained to mark where the _Zanzibar_ had been.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+HOW ROBERT CAME ASHORE
+
+In place of the _Zanzibar_ a great pit on the face of the ocean, in
+which the waters boiled and black objects appeared and disappeared.
+
+“Sit still, for your lives’ sake,” said the officer in a quiet voice;
+“the suck is coming.”
+
+In another minute it came, dragging them downward till the water
+trickled over the sides of the boat, and backward towards the pit. But
+before ever they reached it the deep had digested its prey, and, save
+for the great air-bubbles which burst about them and a mixed, unnatural
+swell, was calm again. For the moment they were safe.
+
+“Passengers,” said the officer, “I am going to put out to sea--at any
+rate, till daylight. We may meet a vessel there, and if we try to row
+ashore we shall certainly be swamped in the breakers.”
+
+No one objected; they seemed too stunned to speak, but Robert thought to
+himself that the man was wise. They began to move, but before they had
+gone a dozen yards something dark rose beside them. It was a piece
+of wreckage, and clinging to it a woman, who clasped a bundle to her
+breast. More, she was alive, for she began to cry to them to take her
+in.
+
+“Save me and my child!” she cried. “For God’s sake save me!”
+
+Robert recognized the choking voice; it was that of a young married lady
+with whom he had been very friendly, who was going out with her baby to
+join her husband in Natal. He stretched out his hand and caught hold of
+her, whereon the officer said, heavily:
+
+“The boat is already overladen. I must warn you that to take more aboard
+is not safe.”
+
+Thereon the passengers awoke from their stupor.
+
+“Push her off,” cried a voice; “she must take her chance.” And there was
+a murmur of approval at the dreadful words.
+
+“For Christ’s sake--for Christ’s sake!” wailed the drowning woman, who
+clung desperately to Robert’s hand.
+
+“If you try to pull her in, we will throw you overboard,” said the voice
+again, and a knife was lifted as though to hack at his arm. Then the
+officer spoke once more.
+
+“This lady cannot come into the boat unless someone goes out of it. I
+would myself, but it is my duty to stay. Is there any man here who will
+make place for her?”
+
+But all the men there--seven of them, besides the crew--hung their heads
+and were silent.
+
+“Give way,” said the officer in the same heavy voice; “she will drop off
+presently.”
+
+While the words passed his lips Robert seemed to live a year. Here was
+an opportunity of atonement for his idle and luxurious life. An hour ago
+he would have taken it gladly, but now--now, with Benita senseless on
+his breast, and that answer still locked in her sleeping heart? Yet
+Benita would approve of such a death as this, and even if she loved him
+not in life, would learn to love his memory. In an instant his mind was
+made up, and he was speaking rapidly.
+
+“Thompson,” he said to the officer, “if I go, will you swear to take her
+in and her child?”
+
+“Certainly, Mr. Seymour.”
+
+“Then lay to; I am going. If any of you live, tell this lady how I
+died,” and he pointed to Benita, “and say I thought that she would wish
+it.”
+
+“She shall be told,” said the officer again, “and saved, too, if I can
+do it.”
+
+“Hold Mrs. Jeffreys, then, till I am out of this. I’ll leave my coat to
+cover her.”
+
+A sailor obeyed, and with difficulty Robert wrenched free his hand.
+
+Very deliberately he pressed Benita to his breast and kissed her on the
+forehead, then let her gently slide on to the bottom of the boat. Next
+he slipped off his overcoat and slowly rolled himself over the gunwale
+into the sea.
+
+“Now,” he said, “pull Mrs. Jeffreys in.”
+
+“God bless you; you are a brave man,” said Thompson. “I shall remember
+you if I live a hundred years.”
+
+But no one else said anything; perhaps they were all too much ashamed,
+even then.
+
+“I have only done my duty,” Seymour answered from the water. “How far is
+it to the shore?”
+
+“About three miles,” shouted Thompson. “But keep on that plank, or you
+will never live through the rollers. Good-bye.”
+
+“Good-bye,” answered Robert.
+
+Then the boat passed away from him and soon vanished in the misty face
+of the deep.
+
+Resting on the plank which had saved the life of Mrs. Jeffreys, Robert
+Seymour looked about him and listened. Now and again he heard a faint,
+choking scream uttered by some drowning wretch, and a few hundred yards
+away caught sight of a black object which he thought might be a boat. If
+so, he reflected that it must be full. Moreover, he could not overtake
+it. No; his only chance was to make for the shore. He was a strong
+swimmer, and happily the water was almost as warm as milk. There seemed
+to be no reason why he should not reach it, supported as he was by a
+lifebelt, if the sharks would leave him alone, which they might, as
+there was plenty for them to feed on. The direction he knew well enough,
+for now in the great silence of the sea he could hear the boom of the
+mighty rollers breaking on the beach.
+
+Ah, those rollers! He remembered how that very afternoon Benita and he
+had watched them through his field glass spouting up against the cruel
+walls of rock, and wondered that when the ocean was so calm they had
+still such power. Now, should he live to reach them, he was doomed to
+match himself against that power. Well, the sooner he did so the sooner
+it would be over, one way or the other. This was in his favour: the tide
+had turned, and was flowing shorewards. Indeed, he had little to do but
+to rest upon his plank, which he placed crosswise beneath his breast,
+and steered himself with his feet. Even thus he made good progress,
+nearly a mile an hour perhaps. He could have gone faster had he swum,
+but he was saving his strength.
+
+It was a strange journey upon that silent sea beneath those silent
+stars, and strange thoughts came into Robert’s soul. He wondered whether
+Benita would live and what she would say. Perhaps, however, she was
+already dead, and he would meet her presently. He wondered if he were
+doomed to die, and whether this sacrifice of his would be allowed to
+atone for his past errors. He hoped so, and put up a petition to that
+effect, for himself and for Benita, and for all the poor people who had
+gone before, hurled from their pleasure into the halls of Death.
+
+So he floated on while the boom of the breakers grew ever nearer,
+companioned by his wild, fretful thoughts, till at length what he took
+to be a shark appeared quite close to him, and in the urgency of the
+moment he gave up wondering. It proved to be only a piece of wood, but
+later on a real shark did come, for he saw its back fin. However, this
+cruel creature was either gorged or timid, for when he splashed upon the
+water and shouted, it went away, to return no more.
+
+Now, at length, Robert entered upon the deep hill and valley swell which
+preceded the field of the rollers. Suddenly he shot down a smooth slope,
+and without effort of his own found himself borne up an opposing steep,
+from the crest of which he had a view of white lines of foam, and beyond
+them of a dim and rocky shore. At one spot, a little to his right, the
+foam seemed thinner and the line of cliff to be broken, as though here
+there was a cleft. For this cleft, then, he steered his plank, taking
+the swell obliquely, which by good fortune the set of the tide enabled
+him to do without any great exertion.
+
+The valleys grew deeper, and the tops of the opposing ridges were
+crested with foam. He had entered the rollers, and the struggle for life
+began. Before him they rushed solemn and mighty. Viewed from some safe
+place even the sight of these combers is terrible, as any who have
+watched them from this coast, or from that of the Island of Ascension,
+can bear witness. What their aspect was to this shipwrecked man,
+supported by a single plank, may therefore be imagined, seen, as he
+saw them, in the mysterious moonlight and in utter loneliness. Yet his
+spirit rose to meet the dread emergency; if he were to die, he would die
+fighting. He had grown cold and tired, but now the chill and weariness
+left him; he felt warm and strong. From the crest of one of the high
+rollers he thought he saw that about half a mile away from him a little
+river ran down the centre of the gorge, and for the mouth of this river
+he laid his course.
+
+At first all went well. He was borne up the seas; he slid down the seas
+in a lather of white foam. Presently the rise and fall grew steeper,
+and the foam began to break over his head. Robert could no longer guide
+himself; he must go as he was carried. Then in an instant he was carried
+into a hell of waters where, had it not been for his lifebelt and the
+plank, he must have been beaten down and have perished. As it was, now
+he was driven into the depths, and now he emerged upon their surface to
+hear their seething hiss around him, and above it all a continuous boom
+as of great guns--the boom of the breaking seas.
+
+The plank was almost twisted from his grasp, but he clung to it
+desperately, although its edges tore his arms. When the rollers broke
+over him he held his breath, and when he was tossed skywards on their
+curves, drew it again in quick, sweet gasps. Now he sat upon the very
+brow of one of them as a merman might; now he dived like a dolphin,
+and now, just as his senses were leaving him, his feet touched bottom.
+Another moment and Robert was being rolled along that bottom with a
+weight on him like the weight of mountains. The plank was rent from him,
+but his cork jacket brought him up. The backwash drew him with it into
+deeper water, where he lay helpless and despairing, for he no longer had
+any strength to struggle against his doom.
+
+Then it was that there came a mighty roller, bigger than any that he had
+seen--such a one as on that coast the Kaffirs call “a father of waves.”
+ It caught him in the embrace of its vast green curve. It bore him
+forward as though he were but a straw, far forward over the stretch of
+cruel rocks. It broke in thunder, dashing him again upon the stones
+and sand of the little river bar, rolling him along with its resistless
+might, till even that might was exhausted, and its foam began to return
+seawards, sucking him with it.
+
+Robert’s mind was almost gone, but enough of it remained to tell him
+that if once more he was dragged into the deep water he must be lost. As
+the current haled him along he gripped at the bottom with his hands,
+and by the mercy of Heaven they closed on something. It may have been
+a tree-stump embedded there, or a rock--he never knew. At least, it was
+firm, and to it he hung despairingly. Would that rush never cease? His
+lungs were bursting; he must let go! Oh! the foam was thinning; his head
+was above it now; now it had departed, leaving him like a stranded fish
+upon the shingle. For half a minute or more he lay there gasping, then
+looked behind him to see another comber approaching through the
+gloom. He struggled to his feet, fell, rose again, and ran, or rather,
+staggered forward with that tigerish water hissing at his heels.
+Forward, still forward, till he was beyond its reach--yes, on dry
+sand. Then his vital forces failed him; one of his legs gave way, and,
+bleeding from a hundred hurts, he fell heavily onto his face, and there
+was still.
+
+The boat in which Benita lay, being so deep in the water, proved
+very hard to row against the tide, for the number of its passengers
+encumbered the oarsmen. After a while a light off land breeze sprang
+up, as here it often does towards morning; and the officer, Thompson,
+determined to risk hoisting the sail. Accordingly this was done--with
+some difficulty, for the mast had to be drawn out and shipped--although
+the women screamed as the weight of the air bent their frail craft over
+till the gunwale was almost level with the water.
+
+“Anyone who moves shall be thrown overboard!” said the officer, who
+steered, after which they were quiet.
+
+Now they made good progress seawards, but the anxieties of those who
+knew were very great, since the wind showed signs of rising, and if any
+swell should spring up that crowded cutter could scarcely hope to live.
+In fact, two hours later they were forced to lower the sail again and
+drift, waiting for the dawn. Mr. Thompson strove to cheer them, saying
+that now they were in the track of vessels, and if they could see none
+when the light came, he would run along the shore in the hope of finding
+a place free of breakers where they might land. If they did not inspire
+hope, at least his words calmed them, and they sat in heavy silence,
+watching the sky.
+
+At length it grew grey, and then, with a sudden glory peculiar to South
+Africa, the great red sun arose and began to dispel the mist from the
+surface of the sea. Half an hour more and this was gone, and now the
+bright rays brought life back into their chilled frames as they stared
+at each other to see which of their company were still left alive. They
+even asked for food, and biscuit was given to them with water.
+
+All this while Benita remained unconscious. Indeed, one callous fellow,
+who had been using her body as a footstool, said that she must be dead,
+and had better be thrown overboard, as it would lighten the boat.
+
+“If you throw that lady into the sea, living or dead,” said Mr.
+Thompson, with an ominous lift of his eye, “you go with her, Mr. Batten.
+Remember who brought her here and how he died.”
+
+Then Mr. Batten held his peace, while Thompson stood up and scanned the
+wide expanse of sea. Presently he whispered to a sailor near him, who
+also stood up, looked, and nodded.
+
+“That will be the other Line’s intermediate boat,” he said, and the
+passengers, craning their heads round, saw far away to the right a
+streak of smoke upon the horizon. Orders were given, a little corner of
+sail was hoisted, with a white cloth of some sort tied above it, and the
+oars were got out. Once more the cutter moved forward, bearing to the
+left in the hope of intercepting the steamer.
+
+She came on with terrible swiftness, and they who had miles of water to
+cover, dared hoist no more sail in that breeze. In half an hour she was
+nearly opposite to them, and they were still far away. A little more
+sail was let out, driving them through the water at as quick a rate
+as they could venture to go. The steamer was passing three miles or so
+away, and black despair took hold of them. Now the resourceful Thompson,
+without apologies, undressed, and removing the white shirt that he had
+worn at the dance, bade a sailor to tie it to an oar and wave it to and
+fro.
+
+Still the steamer went on, until presently they heard her siren going,
+and saw that she was putting about.
+
+“She has seen us,” said Thompson. “Thank God, all of you, for there is
+wind coming up. Pull down that sail; we shan’t need it any more.”
+
+Half an hour later, with many precautions, for the wind he prophesied
+was already troubling the sea and sending little splashes of water over
+the stern of their deeply laden boat, they were fast to a line thrown
+from the deck of the three thousand ton steamer _Castle_, bound for
+Natal. Then, with a rattle, down came the accommodation ladder, and
+strong-armed men, standing on its grating, dragged them one by one from
+the death to which they had been so near. The last to be lifted up,
+except Thompson, was Benita, round whom it was necessary to reeve a
+rope.
+
+“Any use?” asked the officer on the grating as he glanced at her quiet
+form.
+
+“Can’t say; I hope so,” answered Thompson. “Call your doctor.” And
+gently enough she was borne up the ship’s side.
+
+They wanted to cast off the boat, but Thompson remonstrated, and in the
+end that also was dragged to deck. Meanwhile the news had spread,
+and the awakened passengers of the _Castle_, clad in pyjamas,
+dressing-gowns, and even blankets, were crowding round the poor
+castaways or helping them to their cabins.
+
+“I am a teetotaller,” said second officer Thompson when he had made a
+brief report to the captain of the _Castle_, “but if anyone will stand
+me a whiskey and soda I shall be obliged to him.”
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+MR. CLIFFORD
+
+Although the shock of the blow she had received upon her head was
+sufficient to make her insensible for so many hours, Benita’s injuries
+were not of a really serious nature, for as it happened the falling
+block, or whatever it may have been, had hit her forehead slantwise, and
+not full, to which accident she owed it that, although the skin was
+torn and the scalp bruised, her skull had escaped fracture. Under proper
+medical care her senses soon came back to her, but as she was quite
+dazed and thought herself still on board the _Zanzibar_, the doctor
+considered it wise to preserve her in that illusion for a while. So
+after she had swallowed some broth he gave her a sleeping draught, the
+effects of which she did not shake off till the following morning.
+
+Then she came to herself completely, and was astonished to feel the pain
+in her head, which had been bandaged, and to see a strange stewardess
+sitting by her with a cup of beef-tea in her hand.
+
+“Where am I? Is it a dream?” she asked.
+
+“Drink this and I will tell you,” answered the stewardess.
+
+Benita obeyed, for she felt hungry, then repeated her question.
+
+“Your steamer was shipwrecked,” said the stewardess, “and a great many
+poor people were drowned, but you were saved in a boat. Look, there are
+your clothes; they were never in the water.”
+
+“Who carried me into the boat?” asked Benita in a low voice.
+
+“A gentleman, they say, Miss, who had wrapped you in a blanket and put a
+lifebelt on you.”
+
+Now Benita remembered everything that happened before the darkness
+fell--the question to which she had given no answer, the young couple
+who stood flirting by her--all came back to her.
+
+“Was Mr. Seymour saved?” she whispered, her face grey with dread.
+
+“I dare say, Miss,” answered the stewardess evasively. “But there is no
+gentleman of that name aboard this ship.”
+
+At that moment the doctor came in, and him, too, she plied with
+questions. But having learned the story of Robert’s self-sacrifice from
+Mr. Thompson and the others, he would give her no answer, for he guessed
+how matters had stood between them, and feared the effects of the shock.
+All he could say was that he hoped Mr. Seymour had escaped in some other
+boat.
+
+It was not until the third morning that Benita was allowed to learn
+the truth, which indeed it was impossible to conceal any longer. Mr.
+Thompson came to her cabin and told her everything, while she listened
+silently, horrified, amazed.
+
+“Miss Clifford,” he said, “I think it was one of the bravest things that
+a man ever did. On the ship I always thought him rather a head-in-air
+kind of swell, but he was a splendid fellow, and I pray God that he has
+lived, as the lady and child for whom he offered himself up have done,
+for they are both well again.”
+
+“Yes,” she repeated after him mechanically, “splendid fellow indeed,
+and,” she added, with a strange flash of conviction, “I believe that he
+_is_ still alive. If he were dead I should know it.”
+
+“I am glad to hear you say so,” said Mr. Thompson, who believed the
+exact contrary.
+
+“Listen,” she went on. “I will tell you something. When that dreadful
+accident occurred Mr. Seymour had just asked me to marry him, and I was
+going to answer that I would--because I love him. I believe that I shall
+still give him that answer.”
+
+Mr. Thompson replied again that he hoped so, which, being as honest and
+tender-hearted as he was brave and capable, he did most earnestly; but
+in his heart he reflected that her answer would not be given this side
+of the grave. Then, as he had been deputed to do, he handed her the note
+which had been found in the bosom of her dress, and, able to bear no
+more of this painful scene, hurried from the cabin. She read it greedily
+twice, and pressed it to her lips, murmuring:
+
+“Yes, I will think kindly of you, Robert Seymour, kindly as woman can of
+man, and now or afterwards you shall have your answer, if you still wish
+for it. Whenever you come or wherever I go, it shall be ready for you.”
+
+That afternoon, when she was more composed, Mrs. Jeffreys came to see
+Benita, bringing her baby with her. The poor woman was still pale and
+shaken, but the child had taken no hurt at all from its immersion in
+that warm water.
+
+“What can you think of me?” she said, falling on her knees by Benita.
+“But oh! I did not know what I was doing. It was terror and my child,”
+ and she kissed the sleeping infant passionately. “Also I did not
+understand at the time--I was too dazed. And--that hero--he gave his
+life for me when the others wished to beat me off with oars. Yes, his
+blood is upon my hands--he who died that I and my child might live.”
+
+Benita looked at her and answered, very gently:
+
+“Perhaps he did not die after all. Do not grieve, for if he did it was a
+very glorious death, and I am prouder of him than I could have been
+had he lived on like the others--who wished to beat you off with oars.
+Whatever is, is by God’s Will, and doubtless for the best. At the least,
+you and your child will be restored to your husband, though it cost me
+one who would have been--my husband.”
+
+That evening Benita came upon the deck and spoke with the other ladies
+who were saved, learning every detail that she could gather. But to none
+of the men, except to Mr. Thompson, would she say a single word, and
+soon, seeing how the matter stood, they hid themselves away from her as
+they had already done from Mrs. Jeffreys.
+
+The _Castle_ had hung about the scene of the shipwreck for thirty hours,
+and rescued one other boatload of survivors, also a stoker clinging to
+a piece of wreckage. But with the shore she had been unable to
+communicate, for the dreaded wind had risen, and the breakers were quite
+impassable to any boat. To a passing steamer bound for Port Elizabeth,
+however, she had reported the terrible disaster, which by now was known
+all over the world, together with the names of those whom she had picked
+up in the boats.
+
+On the night of the day of Benita’s interview with Mrs. Jeffreys, the
+_Castle_ arrived off Durban and anchored, since she was too big a vessel
+to cross the bar as it was in those days. At dawn the stewardess awoke
+Benita from the uneasy sleep in which she lay, to tell her that an old
+gentleman had come off in the tug and wished to see her; for fear of
+exciting false hopes she was very careful to add that word “old.” With
+her help Benita dressed herself, and as the sun rose, flooding the
+Berea, the Point, the white town and fair Natal beyond with light, she
+went on to the deck, and there, leaning over the bulwark, saw a thin,
+grey-bearded man of whom after all these years the aspect was still
+familiar.
+
+A curious thrill went through her as she looked at him leaning there
+lost in thought. After all, he was her father, the man to whom she owed
+her presence upon this bitter earth, this place of terrors and delights,
+of devastation and hope supernal. Perhaps, too, he had been as much
+sinned against as sinning. She stepped up to him and touched him on the
+shoulder.
+
+“Father,” she said.
+
+He turned round with all the quickness of a young man, for about him
+there was a peculiar agility which his daughter had inherited. Like his
+mind, his body was still nimble.
+
+“My darling,” he said, “I should have known your voice anywhere. It has
+haunted my sleep for years. My darling, thank you for coming back to me,
+and thank God for preserving you when so many were lost.” Then he threw
+his arms about her and kissed her.
+
+She shrank from him a little, for by inadvertence he had pressed upon
+the wound in her forehead.
+
+“Forgive me,” she said; “it is my head. It was injured, you know.”
+
+Then he saw the bandage about her brow, and was very penitent.
+
+“They did not tell me that you had been hurt, Benita,” he exclaimed in
+his light, refined voice, one of the stamps of that gentility of blood
+and breeding whereof all his rough years and errors had been unable to
+deprive him. “They only told me that you were saved. It is part of my
+ill-fortune that at our first moment of greeting I should give you pain,
+who have caused you so much already.”
+
+Benita felt that the words were an apology for the past, and her heart
+was touched.
+
+“It is nothing,” she answered. “You did not know or mean it.”
+
+“No, dear, I never knew or meant it. Believe me, I was not a willing
+sinner, only a weak one. You are beautiful, Benita--far more so than I
+expected.”
+
+“What,” she answered smiling, “with this bandage round my head? Well,
+in your eyes, perhaps.” But inwardly she thought to herself that the
+description would be more applicable to her father, who in truth,
+notwithstanding his years, was wonderfully handsome, with his quick blue
+eyes, mobile face, gentle mouth with the wistful droop at the corners so
+like her own, and grey beard. How, she wondered, could this be the man
+who had struck her mother. Then she remembered him as he had been years
+before when he was a slave to liquor, and knew that the answer was
+simple.
+
+“Tell me about your escape, love,” he said, patting her hand with his
+thin fingers. “You don’t know what I’ve suffered. I was waiting at
+the Royal Hotel here, when the cable came announcing the loss of the
+_Zanzibar_ and all on board. For the first time for many a year I drank
+spirits to drown my grief--don’t be afraid, dear--for the first time and
+the last. Then afterwards came another cable giving the names of those
+who were known to be saved, and--thank God, oh! thank God--yours among
+them,” and he gasped at the recollection of that relief.
+
+“Yes,” she said; “I suppose I should thank--Him--and another. Have you
+heard the story about--how Mr. Seymour saved me, I mean?”
+
+“Some of it. While you were dressing yourself, I have been talking to
+the officer who was in command of your boat. He was a brave man, Benita,
+and I am sorry to tell you he is gone.”
+
+She grasped a stanchion and clung there, staring at him with a wild,
+white face.
+
+“How do you know that, Father?”
+
+Mr. Clifford drew a copy of the _Natal Mercury_ of the previous day from
+the pocket of his ulster, and while she waited in an agony he hunted
+through the long columns descriptive of the loss of the _Zanzibar_.
+Presently he came to the paragraph he sought, and read it aloud to her.
+It ran:
+
+“The searchers on the coast opposite the scene of the shipwreck report
+that they met a Kaffir who was travelling along the seashore, who
+produced a gold watch which he said he had taken from the body of a
+white man that he found lying on the sand at the mouth of the Umvoli
+River. Inside the watch is engraved, ‘To Seymour Robert Seymour, from
+his uncle, on his twenty-first birthday.’ The name of Mr. Seymour
+appears as a first-class passenger to Durban by the _Zanzibar_. He was
+a member of an old English family in Lincolnshire. This was his second
+journey to South Africa, which he visited some years ago with his
+brother on a big-game shooting expedition. All who knew him then will
+join with us in deploring his loss. Mr. Seymour was a noted shot and
+an English gentleman of the best stamp. He was last seen by one of the
+survivors of the catastrophe, carrying Miss Clifford, the daughter of
+the well-known Natal pioneer of that name, into a boat, but as this
+young lady is reported to have been saved, and as he entered the boat
+with her, no explanation is yet forthcoming as to how he came to his sad
+end.”
+
+“I fear that is clear enough,” said Mr. Clifford, as he folded up his
+paper.
+
+“Yes, clear enough,” she repeated in a strained voice. “And
+yet--yet--oh! Father, he had just asked me to marry him, and I can’t
+believe that he is dead before I had time to answer.”
+
+“Good Heavens!” said the old man, “they never told me that. It is
+dreadfully sad. God help you, my poor child! There is nothing more to
+say except that he was only one among three hundred who have gone with
+him. Be brave now, before all these people. Look--here comes the tug.”
+
+
+The following week was very much of a blank to Benita. When they reached
+shore some old friends of her father’s took her and him to their house,
+a quiet place upon the Berea. Here, now that the first excitement of
+rescue and grief was over, the inevitable reaction set in, bringing with
+it weakness so distressing that the doctor insisted upon her going to
+bed, where she remained for the next five days. With the healing up of
+the wound in her head her strength came back to her at last, but it
+was a very sad Benita who crept from her room one afternoon on to the
+verandah and looked out at the cruel sea, peaceful now as the sky above.
+
+Her father, who had nursed her tenderly during these dark days, came and
+sat by her, taking her hand in his.
+
+“This is capital,” he said, glancing at her anxiously. “You are getting
+quite yourself again.”
+
+“I shall never be myself again,” she answered. “My old self is dead,
+although the outside of me has recovered. Father, I suppose that it is
+wrong, but I wish that I were dead too. I wish that he had taken me with
+him when he jumped into the sea to lighten the boat.”
+
+“Don’t speak like that,” he broke in hastily. “Of course I know that I
+am not much to you--how can I be after all that is past? But I love you,
+dear, and if I were left quite alone again----” And he broke off.
+
+“You shall not be left alone if I can help it,” she replied, looking at
+the old man with her dark and tender eyes. “We have only each other in
+the world now, have we? The rest have gone, never to return.”
+
+He threw his arms about her, and, drawing her to him, kissed her
+passionately.
+
+“If only you could learn to love me!” he said.
+
+“I do love you,” she answered, “who now shall never love any other man
+upon the earth.”
+
+This was the beginning of a deep affection which sprang up between Mr.
+Clifford and his daughter, and continued to the end.
+
+“Is there any news?” she asked a little later.
+
+“None--none about him. The tide took his body away, no doubt, after the
+Kaffir had gone. I remember him well now. He was a fine young man, and
+it comes into my mind that when I said good-bye to him above those old
+ruins, I wished that I had a son like that. And to think that he went
+so near to becoming a son to me! Well, the grass must bend when the wind
+blows, as the natives say.”
+
+“I am glad that you knew him,” she answered simply.
+
+Then they began talking about other matters. He told her that all the
+story had become known, and that people spoke of Robert Seymour as “the
+hero”; also that there was a great deal of curiosity about her.
+
+“Then let us get away as soon as we can,” she said nervously. “But,
+Father, where are we going?”
+
+“That will be for you to decide, love. Listen, now; this is my position.
+I have been quite steady for years, and worked hard, with the result
+that I and my partner have a fine farm in the Transvaal, on the high
+land near Lake Chrissie, out Wakkerstroom way. We breed horses there,
+and have done very well with them. I have £1,500 saved, and the farm
+brings us in quite £600 a year beyond the expenses. But it is a lonely
+place, with only a few Boers about, although they are good fellows
+enough. You might not care to live there with no company.”
+
+“I don’t think that I should mind,” she answered, smiling.
+
+“Not now, but by-and-by you would when you know what it is like. Now I
+might sell my share in the farm to my partner, who, I think, would buy
+it, or I might trust to him to send me a part of the profits, which
+perhaps he would not. Then, if you wish it, we could live in or near
+one of the towns, or even, as you have an income of your own, go home to
+England, if that is your will.”
+
+“Is it your will?” she asked.
+
+He shook his head. “No; all my life is here. Also, I have something to
+find before I die--for your sake, dear.”
+
+“Do you mean up among those ruins?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
+
+“Yes. So you know about it?” he answered, with a flash of his blue eyes.
+“Oh! of course, Seymour told you. Yes, I mean among the ruins--but I
+will tell you that story another time--not here, not here. What do you
+wish to do, Benita? Remember, I am in your hands; I will obey you in all
+things.”
+
+“Not to stop in a town and not to go to England,” she replied, while he
+hung eagerly upon her words, “for this has become my holy land. Father,
+I will go with you to your farm; there I can be quiet, you and I
+together.”
+
+“Yes,” he answered rather uneasily; “but, you see, Benita, we shall not
+be quite alone there. My partner, Jacob Meyer, lives with me.”
+
+“Jacob Meyer? Ah! I remember,” and she winced. “He is a German, is he
+not--and odd?”
+
+“German Jew, I imagine, and very odd. Should have made his fortune a
+dozen times over, and yet has never done anything. Too unpractical, too
+visionary, with all his brains and scheming. Not a good man, Benita,
+although he suits me, and, for the matter of that, under our agreement I
+cannot get rid of him.”
+
+“How did he become your partner?” she asked.
+
+“Oh! a good many years ago he turned up at the place with a doleful
+story. Said that he had been trading among the Zulus; he was what we
+call a ‘smouse’ out here, and got into a row with them, I don’t
+know how. The end of it was that they burned his waggon, looted his
+trade-goods and oxen, and killed his servants. They would have killed
+him too, only, according to his own account, he escaped in a very queer
+fashion.”
+
+“How?”
+
+“Well, he says by mesmerising the chief and making the man lead him
+through his followers. An odd story enough, but I can quite believe
+it of Jacob. He worked for me for six months, and showed himself very
+clever. Then one night, I remember it was a few days after I had told
+him of the story of the Portuguese treasure in Matabeleland, he produced
+£500 in Bank of England notes out of the lining of his waistcoat, and
+offered to buy a half interest in the farm. Yes, £500! Although for
+all those months I had believed him to be a beggar. Well, as he was so
+_slim_, and better than no company in that lonely place, in the end I
+accepted. We have done well since, except for the expedition after the
+treasure which we did not get, although we more than paid our expenses
+out of the ivory we bought. But next time we shall succeed, I am sure,”
+ he added with enthusiasm, “that is, if we can persuade those Makalanga
+to let us search on the mountain.”
+
+Benita smiled.
+
+“I think you had better stick to the horsebreeding,” she said.
+
+“You shall judge when you hear the story. But you have been brought up
+in England; will you not be afraid to go to Lake Chrissie?”
+
+“Afraid of what?” she asked.
+
+“Oh! of the loneliness, and of Jacob Meyer.”
+
+“I was born on the veld, Father, and I have always hated London. As for
+your odd friend, Mr. Meyer, I am not afraid of any man on earth. I have
+done with men. At the least I will try the place and see how I get on.”
+
+“Very well,” answered her father with a sigh of relief. “You can always
+come back, can’t you?”
+
+“Yes,” she said indifferently. “I suppose that I can always come back.”
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+JACOB MEYER
+
+More than three weeks had gone by when one morning Benita, who slept
+upon the cartel or hide-strung bed in the waggon, having dressed herself
+as best she could in that confined place, thrust aside the curtain and
+seated herself upon the voorkisse, or driving-box. The sun was not yet
+up, and the air was cold with frost, for they were on the Transvaal
+high-veld at the end of winter. Even through her thick cloak Benita
+shivered and called to the driver of the waggon, who also acted as cook,
+and whose blanket-draped form she could see bending over a fire into
+which he was blowing life, to make haste with the coffee.
+
+“By and by, Missie--by and by,” he answered, coughing the rank smoke
+from his lungs. “Kettle no sing yet, and fire black as hell.”
+
+Benita reflected that popular report painted this locality red, but
+without entering into argument sat still upon the chest waiting till the
+water boiled and her father appeared.
+
+Presently he emerged from under the side flap of the waggon where he
+slept, and remarking that it was really too cold to think of washing,
+climbed to her side by help of the disselboom, and kissed her.
+
+“How far are we now from Rooi Krantz, Father?” she asked, for that was
+the name of Mr. Clifford’s farm.
+
+“About forty miles, dear. The waggon cannot make it to-night with these
+two sick oxen, but after the midday outspan we will ride on, and be
+there by sundown. I am afraid you are tired of this trekking.”
+
+“No,” she answered. “I like it very much; it is so restful, and I sleep
+sound upon that cartel. I feel as though I should like to trek on for
+the rest of my life.”
+
+“So you shall if you wish, dear, for whole months. South Africa is big,
+and when the grass grows, if you still wish it, we will take a long
+journey.”
+
+She smiled, but made no answer, knowing that he was thinking of the
+place so far away where he believed that once the Portuguese had buried
+gold.
+
+The kettle was singing now merrily enough, and Hans, the cook, lifting
+it from the fire in triumph--for his blowing exertions had been
+severe--poured into it a quantity of ground coffee from an old mustard
+tin. Then, having stirred the mixture with a stick, he took a red
+ember from the fire and dropped it into the kettle, a process which, as
+travellers in the veld know well, has a clearing effect upon the coffee.
+Next he produced pannikins, and handed them up with a pickle jar full
+of sugar to Mr. Clifford, upon the waggon chest. Milk they had none, yet
+that coffee tasted a great deal better than it looked; indeed, Benita
+drank two cups of it to warm herself and wash down the hard biscuit.
+Before the day was over glad enough was she that she had done so.
+
+The sun was rising; huge and red it looked seen through the clinging
+mist, and, their breakfast finished, Mr. Clifford gave orders that the
+oxen, which were filling themselves with the dry grass near at hand,
+should be got up and inspanned. The voorlooper, a Zulu boy, who had left
+them for a little while to share the rest of the coffee with Hans, rose
+from his haunches with a grunt, and departed to fetch them. A minute or
+two later Hans ceased from his occupation of packing up the things, and
+said in a low voice:
+
+“_Kek!_ Baas”--that is “Look!”
+
+Following the line of his outstretched hand, Benita and her father
+perceived, not more than a hundred yards away from them, a great troop
+of wilderbeeste, or gnu, travelling along a ridge, and pausing now and
+again to indulge in those extraordinary gambols which cause the Boers to
+declare that these brutes have a worm in their brains.
+
+“Give me my rifle, Hans,” said Mr. Clifford. “We want meat.”
+
+By the time that the Westley-Richards was drawn from its case and
+loaded, only one buck remained, for, having caught sight of the waggon,
+it turned to stare at it suspiciously. Mr. Clifford aimed and fired.
+Down went the buck, then springing to its feet again, vanished behind
+the ridge. Mr. Clifford shook his head sadly.
+
+“I don’t often do that sort of thing, my dear, but the light is still
+very bad. Still, he’s hit. What do you say? Shall we get on the horses
+and catch him? A canter would warm you.”
+
+Benita, who was tender-hearted, reflected that it would be kinder to
+put the poor creature out of its pain, and nodded her head. Five minutes
+later they were cantering together up the rise, Mr. Clifford having
+first ordered the waggon to trek on till they rejoined it, and slipped a
+packet of cartridges into his pocket. Beyond the rise lay a wide stretch
+of marshy ground, bordered by another rise half a mile or more away,
+from the crest of which--for now the air was clear enough--they saw the
+wounded bull standing. On they went after him, but before they could
+come within shot, he had moved forward once more, for he was only
+lightly hurt in the flank, and guessed whence his trouble came.
+
+Again and again did he retreat as they drew near, until at length, just
+as Mr. Clifford was about to dismount to risk a long shot, the beast
+took to its heels in earnest.
+
+“Come on,” he said; “don’t let’s be beat,” for by this time the hunter
+was alive in him.
+
+So off they went at a gallop, up slopes and down slopes that reminded
+Benita of the Bay of Biscay in a storm, across half-dried vleis that in
+the wet season were ponds, through stony ground and patches of ant-bear
+holes in which they nearly came to grief. For five miles at least the
+chase went on, since at the end of winter the wilderbeeste was thin and
+could gallop well, notwithstanding its injury, faster even than their
+good horses. At last, rising a ridge, they found whither it was going,
+for suddenly they were in the midst of vast herds of game, thousands and
+tens of thousands of them stretching as far as the eye could reach.
+
+It was a wondrous sight that now, alas! will be seen no more--at any
+rate upon the Transvaal veld; wilderbeeste, blesbok, springbok, in
+countless multitudes, and amongst them a few quagga and hartebeeste.
+With a sound like that of thunder, their flashing myriad hoofs casting
+up clouds of dust from the fire-blackened veld, the great herds
+separated at the appearance of their enemy, man. This way and that they
+went in groups and long brown lines, leaving the wounded and exhausted
+wilderbeeste behind them, so that presently he was the sole tenant of
+that great cup of land.
+
+At him they rode till Mr. Clifford, who was a little ahead of his
+daughter, drew almost alongside. Then the poor maddened brute tried its
+last shift. Stopping suddenly, it wheeled round and charged head down.
+Mr. Clifford, as it came, held out his rifle in his right hand and fired
+at a hazard. The bullet passed through the bull, but could not stop its
+charge. Its horns, held low, struck the forelegs of the horse, and next
+instant horse, man, and wilderbeeste rolled on the veld together.
+
+Benita, who was fifty yards behind, uttered a little cry of fear, but
+before ever she reached him, her father had risen laughing, for he was
+quite unhurt. The horse, too, was getting up, but the bull could rise
+no more. It struggled to its forefeet, uttered a kind of sobbing groan,
+stared round wildly, and rolled over, dead.
+
+“I never knew a wilderbeeste charge like that before,” said Mr.
+Clifford. “Confound it! I believe my horse is lamed.”
+
+Lamed it was, indeed, where the bull had struck the foreleg, though,
+as it chanced, not badly. Having tied a handkerchief to the horn of the
+buck in order to scare away the vultures, and thrown some tufts of dry
+grass upon its body, which he proposed, if possible, to fetch or send
+for, Mr. Clifford mounted his lame horse and headed for the waggon. But
+they had galloped farther than they thought, and it was midday before
+they came to what they took to be the road. As there was no spoor upon
+it, they followed this track backwards, expecting to find the waggon
+outspanned, but although they rode for mile upon mile, no waggon could
+they see. Then, realizing their mistake, they retraced their steps, and
+leaving this path at the spot where they had found it, struck off again
+to the right.
+
+Meanwhile, the sky was darkening, and at about three o’clock in the
+afternoon a thunderstorm broke over them accompanied by torrents of icy
+rain, the first fall of the spring, and a bitter wind which chilled them
+through. More, after the heavy rain came drizzle and a thick mist that
+deepened as evening approached.
+
+Now their plight was very wretched. Lost, starved, soaked to the skin,
+with tired horses one of which was lame, they wandered about on the
+lonely veld. Only one stroke of fortune came to them. As the sun set,
+for a few moments its rays pierced the mist, telling them in what
+direction they should go. Turning their horses, they headed for it,
+and so rode on until the darkness fell. Then they halted a while,
+but feeling that if they stood still in that horrible cold they would
+certainly perish before morning, once more pushed on again. By now Mr.
+Clifford’s horse was almost too lame to ride, so he led it, walking
+at his daughter’s side, and reproaching himself bitterly for his
+foolishness in having brought her into this trouble.
+
+“It doesn’t matter, Father,” she answered wearily, for she was very
+tired. “Nothing matters; one may as well die upon the veld as in the sea
+or anywhere else.”
+
+On they plodded, they knew not whither. Benita fell asleep upon her
+saddle, and was awakened once by a hyena howling quite close to them,
+and once by her horse falling to its knees.
+
+“What is the time?” she said at last.
+
+Her father struck a match and looked at his watch. It was ten o’clock;
+they had been fifteen hours away from the waggon and without food. At
+intervals Mr. Clifford, who had remounted, fired his rifle. Now there
+was but one cartridge left, and having caught sight of his daughter’s
+exhausted face by the light of the match, he fired this also, though in
+that desperate wilderness there was little hope of its bringing succour.
+
+“Shall we stop or go on?” he asked.
+
+“I do not care,” she answered. “Only if I stop I think it will be for
+ever. Let us go on.”
+
+Now the rain had ceased, but the mist was as dense as before. Also
+they seemed to have got among bush, for wet leaves brushed their faces.
+Utterly exhausted they stumbled forward, till suddenly Benita felt her
+horse stop as though a hand had seized its bridle, and heard a man’s
+voice, speaking with a foreign accent, say:
+
+“Mein Gott! Where are you going?”
+
+“I wish I knew,” she answered, like one in a dream.
+
+At this instant the moon rose above the mists, and Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer for the first time.
+
+In that light his appearance was not unpleasing. A man of about forty
+years of age, not over tall, slight and active in build, with a pointed
+black beard, regular, Semitic features, a complexion of an ivory pallor
+which even the African sun did not seem to tan, and dark, lustrous eyes
+that appeared, now to sleep, and now to catch the fire of the thoughts
+within. Yet, weary though she was, there was something in the man’s
+personality which repelled and alarmed Benita, something wild and cruel.
+She felt that he was filled with unsatisfied ambitions and desires, and
+that to attain to them he would shrink at nothing. In a moment he was
+speaking again in tones that compelled her attention.
+
+“It was a good thought that brought me here to look for you. No; not a
+thought--what do you call it?--an instinct. I think your mind must have
+spoken to my mind, and called me to save you. See now, Clifford, my
+friend, where you have led your daughter. See, see!” And he pointed
+downwards.
+
+They leaned forward and stared. There, immediately beneath them, was a
+mighty gulf whereof the moonlight did not reveal the bottom.
+
+“You are no good veld traveller, Clifford, my friend; one more step of
+those silly beasts, and down below there would have been two red heaps
+with bits of bones sticking out of them--yes, there on the rocks five
+hundred feet beneath. Ah! you would have slept soundly to-night, both of
+you.”
+
+“Where is the place?” asked Mr. Clifford in a dazed fashion. “Leopard’s
+Kloof?”
+
+“Yes; Leopard’s Kloof, no other. You have travelled along the top of the
+hill, not at the bottom. Certainly that was a good thought which came to
+me from the lady your daughter, for she is one of the thought senders, I
+am sure. Ah! it came to me suddenly; it hit me like a stick whilst I was
+searching for you, having found that you had lost the waggon. It said to
+me, ‘Ride to the top of Leopard’s Kloof. Ride hard.’ I rode hard through
+the rocks and the darkness, through the mist and the rain, and not one
+minute had I been here when you came and I caught the lady’s bridle.”
+
+“I am sure we are very grateful to you,” murmured Benita.
+
+“Then I am paid back ten thousand times. No; it is I who am grateful--I
+who have saved your life through the thought you sent me.”
+
+“Thought or no thought, all’s well that ends well,” broke in Mr.
+Clifford impatiently. “And thank Heaven we are not more than three miles
+away from home. Will you lead the way, Jacob? You always could see in
+the dark?”
+
+“Yes, yes,” and he took hold of Benita’s bridle with his firm, white
+hand. “Oh! my horse will follow, or put your arm through his rein--so.
+Now come on, Miss Clifford, and be afraid no more. With Jacob Meyer you
+are safe.”
+
+So they began their descent of the hill. Meyer did not speak again;
+all his attention seemed to be concentrated upon finding a safe path on
+which the horses would not stumble. Nor did Benita speak; she was
+too utterly exhausted--so exhausted, indeed, that she could no longer
+control her mind and imagination. These seemed to loose themselves from
+her and to acquire new powers, notably that of entering into the secret
+thoughts of the man at her side. She saw them pass before her like
+living things, and yet she could not read them. Still, something she did
+understand--that she had suddenly grown important to this man, not in
+the way in which women are generally important to men, but otherwise.
+She felt as though she had become interwoven with the objects of his
+life, and was henceforth necessary to their fulfilment, as though she
+were someone whom he had been seeking for years on years, the one person
+who could give him light in his darkness.
+
+These imaginings troubled her, so that she was very thankful when they
+passed away as swiftly as they had arisen, and she knew only that she
+was half dead with weariness and cold; that her limbs ached and that the
+steep path seemed endless.
+
+At length they reached level ground, and after travelling along it for
+a while and crossing the bed of a stream, passed through a gate, and
+stopped suddenly at the door of a house with lighted windows.
+
+“Here is your home at last, Miss Clifford,” said the musical voice of
+Jacob Meyer, “and I thank the Fate which rules us that it has taught me
+to bring you to it safely.”
+
+Making no answer she slid from the saddle, only to find that she could
+not stand, for she sank into a heap upon the ground. With a gentle
+exclamation he lifted her, and calling to two Kaffirs who had appeared
+to take the horses, led her into the house.
+
+“You must go to bed at once,” he said, conducting her to a door which
+opened out of the sitting-room. “I have had a fire lit in your chamber
+in case you should come, and old Tante Sally will bring you soup with
+brandy in it, and hot water for your feet. Ah! there you are, old vrouw.
+Come now; help the lady, your mistress. Is all ready?”
+
+“All, Baas,” answered the woman, a stout half-breed with a kindly face.
+“Come now, my little one, and I will undress you.”
+
+Half an hour later Benita, having drunk more brandy than ever she had
+done in her life before, was wrapped up and fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke the sun was streaming through the curtained window of her
+room, and by the light of it she saw that the clock which stood upon the
+mantelpiece pointed to half-past eleven. She had slept for nearly twelve
+hours, and felt that, notwithstanding the cold and exposure, save for
+stiffness and a certain numb feeling in her head--the result, perhaps,
+of the unaccustomed brandy--she was well and, what was more, quite
+hungry.
+
+Outside on the verandah she heard the voice of Jacob Meyer, with which
+she seemed already to have become familiar, telling some natives to stop
+singing, as they would wake the chieftainess inside. He used the
+Zulu word Inkosi-kaas, which, she remembered, meant head-lady or
+chieftainess. He was very thoughtful for her, she reflected, and was
+grateful, till suddenly she remembered the dislike she had taken to the
+man.
+
+Then she looked round her room and saw that it was very pretty, well
+furnished and papered, with water-colour pictures on the walls of no
+mean merit, things that she had not expected in this far-off place. Also
+on a table stood a great bowl of arum lilies. She wondered who had put
+them there; whether it were the old half-breed, Sally, or Jacob Meyer.
+Also she wondered who had painted the pictures, which were all of
+African scenery, and something told her that both the flowers and the
+pictures came from Jacob Meyer.
+
+On the little table by her bed was a handbell, which presently she rang.
+Instantly she heard the voice of Sally calling for the coffee “quick,”
+ and next minute the woman entered, bringing a tray with it, and bread
+and butter--yes, and toast and eggs, which had evidently been made ready
+for her. Speaking in English mixed with Dutch words, she told Benita
+that her father was still in bed, but sent her his love, and wished to
+know how she did. Then, while she ate her breakfast with appetite, Sally
+set her a bath, and subsequently appeared carrying the contents of the
+box she had used upon the waggon, which had now arrived safely at the
+farm. Benita asked who had ordered the box to be unpacked, and Sally
+answered that the Heer Meyer had ordered it so that she might not be
+disturbed in her sleep, and that her things should be ready for her when
+she woke.
+
+“The Heer Meyer thinks a great deal about other people,” said Benita.
+
+“Ja, ja!” answered the old half-breed. “He tink much about people when
+he want to tink about them, but he tink most about himself. Baas Meyer,
+he a very clever man--oh! a very clever man, who want to be a great man
+too. And one day, Missee, he be a great man, great and rich--if the Heer
+God Almighty let him.”
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE GOLD COIN
+
+Six weeks had gone by since the eventful evening of Benita’s arrival at
+Rooi Krantz. Now the spring had fully come, the veld was emerald with
+grass and bright with flowers. In the kloof behind the house trees had
+put out their leaves, and the mimosas were in bloom, making the air
+heavy with their scent. Amongst them the ringdoves nested in hundreds,
+and on the steep rocks of the precipice the red-necked vultures fed
+their young. Along the banks of the stream and round the borders of
+the lake the pig-lilies bloomed, a sheet of white. All the place was
+beautiful and full of life and hope. Nothing seemed dead and hopeless
+except Benita’s heart.
+
+Her health had quite come back to her; indeed, never before had she felt
+so strong and well. But the very soul had withered in her breast. All
+day she thought, and all night she dreamed of the man who, in cold
+blood, had offered up his life to save a helpless woman and her child.
+She wondered whether he would have done this if he had heard the answer
+that was upon her lips. Perhaps that was why she had not been given time
+to speak that answer, which might have made a coward of him. For nothing
+more had been heard of Robert Seymour; indeed, already the tragedy of
+the ship _Zanzibar_ was forgotten. The dead had buried their dead, and
+since then worse disasters had happened in the world.
+
+But Benita could not bury her dead. She rode about the veld, she sat
+by the lake and watched the wild fowl, or at night heard them flighting
+over her in flocks. She listened to the cooing of the doves, the booming
+of the bitterns in the reeds, and the drumming of the snipe high in air.
+She counted the game trekking along the ridge till her mind grew weary.
+She sought consolation from the breast of Nature and found none; she
+sought it in the starlit skies, and oh! they were very far away. Death
+reigned within her who outwardly was so fair to see.
+
+In the society of her father, indeed, she took pleasure, for he loved
+her, and love comforted her wounded heart. In that of Jacob Meyer also
+she found interest, for now her first fear of the man had died away,
+and undoubtedly he was very interesting; well-bred also after a fashion,
+although a Jew who had lost his own faith and rejected that of the
+Christians.
+
+He told her that he was a German by birth, that he had been sent to
+England as a boy, to avoid the conscription, which Jews dislike, since
+in soldiering there is little profit. Here he had become a clerk in a
+house of South African merchants, and, as a consequence--having shown
+all the ability of his race--was despatched to take charge of a branch
+business in Cape Colony. What happened to him there Benita never
+discovered, but probably he had shown too much ability of an oblique
+nature. At any rate, his connection with the firm terminated, and for
+years he became a wandering “smouse,” or trader, until at length he
+drifted into partnership with her father.
+
+Whatever might have been his past, however, soon she found that he was
+an extremely able and agreeable man. It was he and no other who had
+painted the water-colours that adorned her room, and he could play and
+sing as well as he painted. Also, as Robert had told her, Mr. Meyer was
+very well-read in subjects that are not usually studied on the veld
+of South Africa; indeed, he had quite a library of books, most of them
+histories or philosophical and scientific works, of which he would lend
+her volumes. Fiction, however, he never read, for the reason, he told
+her, that he found life itself and the mysteries and problems which
+surround it so much more interesting.
+
+One evening, when they were walking together by the lake, watching
+the long lights of sunset break and quiver upon its surface, Benita’s
+curiosity overcame her, and she asked him boldly how it happened that
+such a man as he was content to live the life he did.
+
+“In order that I may reach a better,” he answered. “Oh! no, not in the
+skies, Miss Clifford, for of them I know nothing, nor, as I believe, is
+there anything to know. But here--here.”
+
+“What do you mean by a better life, Mr. Meyer?”
+
+“I mean,” he answered, with a flash of his dark eyes, “great wealth,
+and the power that wealth brings. Ah! I see you think me very sordid and
+materialistic, but money is God in this world, Miss Clifford--money is
+God.”
+
+She smiled and answered: “I fear, then, that he is likely to prove an
+invisible god on the high veld, Mr. Meyer. You will scarcely make a
+great fortune out of horse-breeding, and here there is no one to rule.”
+
+“Do you suppose, then, that is why I stop at Rooi Krantz, just to breed
+horses? Has not your father told you about the great treasure hidden
+away up there among the Makalanga?”
+
+“I have heard something of it,” she answered with a sigh. “Also that
+both of you went to look for it and were disappointed.”
+
+“Ah! The Englishman who was drowned--Mr. Seymour--he spoke of it, did he
+not? He found us there.”
+
+“Yes; and you wished to shoot him--do you remember?”
+
+“God in Heaven! Yes, because I thought he had come to rob us. Well, I
+did not shoot, and afterwards we were hunted out of the place, which
+does not much matter, as those fools of natives refused to let us dig in
+the fortress.”
+
+“Then why do you still think about this treasure which probably does not
+exist?”
+
+“Why, Miss Clifford, do you think about various things that probably
+do not exist? Perhaps because you feel that here or elsewhere they _do_
+exist. Well, that is what I feel about the treasure, and what I have
+always felt. It exists, and I shall find it--now. I shall live to see
+more gold than you can even imagine, and that is why I still continue
+to breed horses on the Transvaal veld. Ah! you laugh; you think it is a
+nightmare that I breed----”
+
+Then suddenly he became aware of Sally, who had appeared over the fold
+of the rise behind them, and asked irritably:
+
+“What is it now, old vrouw?”
+
+“The Baas Clifford wants to speak with you, Baas Jacob. Messengers have
+come to you from far away.”
+
+“What messengers?” he asked.
+
+“I know not,” answered Sally, fanning her fat face with a yellow
+pocket-handkerchief. “They are strange people to me, and thin with
+travelling, but they talk a kind of Zulu. The Baas wishes you to come.”
+
+“Will you come also, Miss Clifford? No? Then forgive me if I leave you,”
+ and lifting his hat he went.
+
+“A strange man, Missee,” said old Sally, when he had vanished, walking
+very fast.
+
+“Yes,” answered Benita, in an indifferent voice.
+
+“A very strange man,” went on the old woman. “Too much in his kop,” and
+she tapped her forehead. “I tink it will burst one day; but if it does
+not burst, then he will be great. I tell you that before, now I tell it
+you again, for I tink his time come. Now I go cook dinner.”
+
+Benita sat by the lake till the twilight fell, and the wild geese began
+to flight over her. Then she walked back to the house thinking no more
+of Heer Meyer, thinking only that she was weary of this place in which
+there was nothing to occupy her mind and distract it from its ever
+present sorrow.
+
+At dinner, or rather supper, that night she noticed that both her father
+and his partner seemed to be suffering from suppressed excitement, of
+which she thought she could guess the cause.
+
+“Did you find your messengers, Mr. Meyer?” she asked, when the men had
+lit their pipes, and the square-face--as Hollands was called in those
+days, from the shape of the bottle--was set upon the rough table of
+speckled buchenhout wood.
+
+“Yes, I found them,” he answered; “they are in the kitchen now.” And he
+looked at Mr. Clifford.
+
+“Benita, my dear,” said her father, “rather a curious thing has
+happened.” Her face lit up, but he shook his head. “No, nothing to do
+with the shipwreck--that is all finished. Still, something that may
+interest you, if you care to hear a story.”
+
+Benita nodded; she was in a mood to hear anything that would occupy her
+thoughts.
+
+“You know something about this treasure business,” went on her father.
+“Well, this is the tale of it. Years ago, after you and your mother
+had gone to England, I went on a big game shooting expedition into the
+interior. My companion was an old fellow called Tom Jackson, a rolling
+stone, and one of the best elephant hunters in Africa. We did pretty
+well, but the end of it was that we separated north of the Transvaal, I
+bringing down the ivory that we had shot, and traded, and Tom stopping
+to put in another season, the arrangement being that he was to join me
+afterwards, and take his share of the money. I came here and bought this
+farm from a Boer who was tired of it--cheap enough, too, for I only gave
+him £100 for the 6,000 acres. The kitchens behind were his old house,
+for I built a new one.
+
+“A year had gone by before I saw any more of Tom Jackson, and then he
+turned up more dead than alive. He had been injured by an elephant, and
+lay for some months among the Makalanga to the north of Matabeleland,
+where he got fever badly at a place called Bambatse, on the Zambesi.
+These Makalanga are a strange folk. I believe their name means the
+People of the Sun; at any rate, they are the last of some ancient
+race. Well, while he was there he cured the old Molimo, or hereditary
+high-priest of this tribe, of a bad fever by giving him quinine, and
+naturally they grew friendly. The Molimo lived among ruins of which
+there are many over all that part of South Africa. No one knows who
+built them now; probably it was people who lived thousands of years ago.
+However, this Molimo told Tom Jackson a more recent legend connected
+with the place.
+
+“He said that six generations before, when his great-great-great
+grandfather was chief (Mambo, he called it), the natives of all
+that part of South Africa rose against the white men--Portuguese, I
+suppose--who still worked the gold there. They massacred them and their
+slaves by thousands, driving them up from the southward, where Lobengula
+rules now, to the Zambesi by which the Portuguese hoped to escape to the
+coast. At length a remnant of them, not more than about two hundred men
+and women, arrived at the stronghold called Bambatse, where the Molimo
+now lives in a great ruin built by the ancients upon an impregnable
+mountain which overhangs the river. With them they brought an enormous
+quantity of gold, all the stored-up treasure of the land which they were
+trying to carry off. But although they reached the river they could not
+escape by it, since the natives, who pursued them in thousands, watched
+day and night in canoes, and the poor fugitives had no boats. Therefore
+it came about that they were shut up in this fortress which it was
+impossible to storm, and there slowly perished of starvation.
+
+“When it was known that they were all dead, the natives who had followed
+them from the south, and who wanted blood and revenge, not gold, which
+was of no use to them, went away; but the old priest’s forefather who
+knew the secret entrance to the place, and who had been friendly to
+the Portuguese, forced his way in and there, amidst the dead, found
+one woman living, but mad with grief--a young and beautiful girl, the
+daughter of the Portuguese lord or captain. He gave her food, but in
+the night, when some strength had returned to her, she left him, and
+at daybreak he found her standing on the peak that overhangs the river,
+dressed all in white.
+
+“He called some of his councillors, and they tried to persuade her to
+come down from the rock, but she answered, ‘No, her betrothed and all
+her family and friends were dead, and it was her will to follow them.’
+Then they asked where was the gold, for having watched day and night
+they knew it had not been thrown into the river. She answered that it
+was where it was, and that, seek as he might, no black man would ever
+find it. She added that she gave it into his keeping, and that of his
+descendants, to safeguard until she came again. Also she said that if
+they were faithless to that trust, then it had been revealed to her from
+heaven above that those same savages who had killed her father and her
+people, would kill his people also. When she had spoken thus she stood a
+while praying on the peak, then suddenly hurled herself into the river,
+and was seen no more.
+
+“From that day to this the ruin has been held to be haunted, and
+save the Molimo himself, who retires there to meditate and receive
+revelations from the spirits, no one is allowed to set a foot in
+its upper part; indeed, the natives would rather die than do so.
+Consequently the gold still remains where it was hidden. This place
+itself Tom Jackson did not see, since, notwithstanding his friendship
+for him, the Molimo refused to allow him to enter there.
+
+“Well, Tom never recovered; he died here, and is buried in the little
+graveyard behind the house which the Boers made for some of their
+people. It was shortly before his death that Mr. Meyer became my
+partner, for I forgot to say that I had told him the story, and we
+determined to have a try for that great wealth. You know the rest. We
+trekked to Bambatse, pretending to be traders, and found the old Molimo
+who knew of me as having been Tom Jackson’s friend. We asked him if the
+story he had told to Jackson were true, and he answered that, surely as
+the sun shone in the heavens, it was true--every word of it--for it,
+and much more than he had spoken of, had been handed down from father to
+son, and that they even knew the name of the white lady who had killed
+herself. It was Ferreira--your mother’s name, Benita, though a common
+one enough in South Africa.
+
+“We asked him to allow us to enter the topmost stronghold, which stands
+upon the hill, but he refused, saying that the curse still lay upon
+him and his, and that no man should enter until the lady Ferreira came
+again. For the rest the place was free to us; we might dig as we would.
+So we did dig, and found some gold buried with the ancients, beads and
+bangles and wire--about £100 worth. Also--that was on the day when the
+young Seymours came upon us, and accounts for Meyer’s excitement, for
+he thought that we were on the track of the treasure--we found a single
+gold coin, no doubt one that had been dropped by the Portuguese. Here it
+is.” And he threw a thin piece of gold on the table before her. “I have
+shown it to a man learned in those matters, and he says that it is a
+ducat struck by one of the doges of Venice.
+
+“Well, we never found any more. The end of it was that the Makalanga
+caught us trying to get in to the secret stronghold by stealth, and gave
+us the choice of clearing out or being killed. So we cleared out, for
+treasure is not of much use to dead men.”
+
+Mr. Clifford ceased speaking, and filled his pipe, while Meyer helped
+himself to squareface in an absent manner. As for Benita, she stared at
+the quaint old coin, which had a hole in it, wondering with what scenes
+of terror and of bloodshed it had been connected.
+
+“Keep it,” said her father. “It will go on that bracelet of yours.”
+
+“Thank you, dear,” she answered. “Though I don’t know why I should take
+all the Portuguese treasure since we shall never see any more of it.”
+
+“Why not, Miss Clifford?” asked Meyer quickly.
+
+“The story tells you why--because the natives won’t even let you look
+for it; also, looking and finding are different things.”
+
+“Natives change their minds sometimes, Miss Clifford. That story is
+not done, it is only begun, and now you shall hear its second chapter.
+Clifford, may I call in the messengers?” And without waiting for an
+answer he rose and left the room.
+
+Neither Mr. Clifford nor his daughter said anything after he had gone.
+Benita appeared to occupy herself in fixing the broad gold coin to a
+little swivel on her bracelet, but while she did so once more that sixth
+sense of hers awoke within her. As she had been afraid at the dinner on
+the doomed steamer, so again she was afraid. Again death and great fear
+cast their advancing shadows on to her soul. That piece of gold seemed
+to speak to her, yet, alas! she could not understand its story. Only she
+knew that her father and Jacob Meyer and--yes, yes, yes--Robert Seymour,
+had all a part in that tragedy. Oh! how could that be when he was dead?
+How could this gold link him to her? She knew not--she cared not. All
+she knew was that she would follow this treasure to the edge of the
+world, and if need be, over it, if only it brought her back to him
+again.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+The door opened, and through it came Jacob Meyer, followed by three
+natives. Benita did not see or hear them; her soul was far away. There
+at the head of the room, clad all in white, for she wore no mourning
+save in her heart, illuminated by the rays of the lamp that hung above
+her, she stood still and upright, for she had risen; on the face and
+in her wide, dark eyes a look that was very strange to see. Jacob
+Meyer perceived it and stopped; the three natives perceived it also
+and stopped. There they stood, all four of them, at the end of the long
+sitting-room, staring at the white Benita and at her haunted eyes.
+
+One of the natives pointed with his thin finger to her face, and
+whispered to the others. Meyer, who understood their tongue, caught the
+whisper. It was:
+
+“Behold the Spirit of the Rock!”
+
+“What spirit, and what rock?” he asked in a low voice.
+
+“She who haunts Bambatse; she whom our eyes have seen,” answered the
+man, still staring at Benita.
+
+Benita heard the whispering, and knew it was about herself, though not
+one word of it did she catch. With a sigh she shook herself free from
+her visions and sat down in a chair close by. Then one by one the
+messengers drew near to her, and each, as he came, made a profound
+obeisance, touching the floor with his finger-tips, and staring at her
+face. But her father they only saluted with an uplifted hand. She looked
+at them with interest, and indeed they were interesting in their way;
+tall, spare men, light coloured, with refined, mobile faces. Here was no
+negro-blood, but rather that of some ancient people such as Egyptians or
+Phoenicians: men whose forefathers had been wise and civilized thousands
+of years ago, and perchance had stood in the courts of Pharaoh or of
+Solomon.
+
+Their salutations finished, the three men squatted in a line upon the
+floor, drawing their fur karosses, or robes, about them, and waited in
+silence. Jacob Meyer thought a while, then said:
+
+“Clifford, will you translate to your daughter, so that she may be sure
+she is told exactly what passes?”
+
+Next he turned and addressed the natives.
+
+“Your names are Tamas, Tamala, and Hoba, and you, Tamas, are the son of
+the Molimo of Bambatse, who is called Mambo, and you, Tamala and Hoba,
+are his initiated councillors. Is it so?”
+
+They bowed their heads.
+
+“Good. You, Tamas, tell the story and give again your message that this
+lady, the lady Benita, may hear it, for she has a part in the matter.”
+
+“We understand that she has a part,” answered Tamas. “We read in her
+face that she has the greatest part. Doubtless it is of her that the
+Spirit told my father. These, spoken by my mouth, are the words of the
+Molimo, my father, which we have travelled so far to deliver.
+
+“‘When you two white men visited Bambatse four years ago, you asked of
+me, Mambo, to be admitted to the holy place, that you might look for the
+treasure there which the Portuguese hid in the time of my ancestor in
+the sixth generation. I refused to allow you to look, or even to enter
+the holy place, because I am by birth the guardian of that treasure,
+although I know not where it lies. But now I am in a great strait. I
+have news that Lobengula the usurper, who is king of the Matabele, has
+taken offence against me for certain reasons, among them that I did not
+send him a sufficient tribute. It is reported to me that he purposes
+next summer to despatch an impi to wipe me and my people out, and to
+make my kraal black as the burnt veld. I have little strength to resist
+him who is mighty, and my people are not warlike. From generation to
+generation they have been traders, cultivators of the land, workers in
+metal, and men of peace, who desire not to kill or be killed. Also they
+are few. Therefore I have no power to stand against Lobengula.
+
+“‘I remember the guns that you and your companion brought with you,
+which can kill things from far away. If I had a supply of those guns
+from behind my walls I might defy the impi of Lobengula, whose warriors
+use the assegai. If you will bring me a hundred good guns and plenty of
+powder and bullets for them, it is revealed to me that it will be lawful
+for me to admit you to the secret, holy place, where you may look for
+the buried gold for as long as you wish, and if you can find it, take
+it all away without hindrance from me or my people. But I will be honest
+with you. That gold will never be found save by the one appointed. The
+white lady said so in the time of my forefather; he heard it with his
+ears, and I have heard it from his descendants with my ears, and so it
+shall be. Still, if you bring the guns you can come and see if either
+of you is that one appointed. But I do not think that any man is so
+appointed, for the secret is hid in woman. But of this you can learn for
+yourselves. I do but speak as I am bidden.
+
+“‘This is my message spoken by my mouth, Tamas, son of my body, and my
+councillors who go with him will bear witness that he speaks the truth.
+I, Mambo, the Molimo of Bambatse, send you greeting, and will give you
+good welcome and fulfil my promise, if you come with the far-shooting
+guns, ten times ten of them, and the powder, and the bullets wherewith
+I may drive off the Matabele, but not otherwise. My son, Tamas, and my
+councillors will drive your waggon into my country but you must bring
+no strange servants. The Spirit of the white woman who killed herself
+before the eyes of my forefather has been seen of late standing upon the
+point of rock; also she has visited me at night in my secret place where
+her companions died. I do not know all that this portends, but I think
+that amongst other things she wished to tell me that the Matabele are
+about to attack us. I await the decree of the Heavens. I send you two
+karosses as a gift, and a little ancient gold, since ivory is too heavy
+for my messengers to carry, and I have no waggon. Farewell.’”
+
+“We have heard you,” said Meyer, when Mr. Clifford had finished
+translating, “and we wish to ask you a question. What do you mean when
+you say that the Spirit of the white woman has been seen?”
+
+“I mean what I say, white man,” answered Tamas. “She was seen by all
+three of us, standing upon the pinnacle at the dawn; also my father saw
+and spoke with her alone in his sleep at night. This is the third time
+in my father’s day that she has appeared thus, and always before some
+great event.”
+
+“What was she like?” asked Meyer.
+
+“Like? Oh! like the lady who sits yonder. Yes, quite the same, or so it
+seemed to us. But who knows? We have seen no other white women, and we
+were not very near. Let the lady come and stand side by side with the
+Spirit, so that we can examine them both, and we shall be able to answer
+better. Do you accept the offer of the Molimo?”
+
+“We will tell you to-morrow morning,” replied Meyer. “A hundred rifles
+are many to find, and will cost much money. Meanwhile, for you there is
+food and a sleeping-place.”
+
+The three men seemed disappointed at his answer, which they evidently
+believed to be preliminary to a refusal. For a moment or two they
+consulted together, then Tamas put his hand into a pouch and drew from
+it something wrapped in dry leaves, which he undid, revealing a quaint
+and beautiful necklace, fashioned of twisted gold links, wherein were
+set white stones, that they had no difficulty in recognising as uncut
+diamonds of considerable value. From this necklace also hung a crucifix
+moulded in gold.
+
+“We offer this gift,” he said, “on behalf of Mambo, my father, to the
+lady yonder, to whom the karosses and the rough gold are of no use.
+The chain has a story. When the Portuguese lady hurled herself into the
+river she wore it about her neck. As she fell into the river she struck
+against a little point of rock which tore the chain away from her--see
+where it is broken and mended with gold wire. It remained upon the point
+of rock, and my forefather took it thence. It is a gift to the lady if
+she will promise to wear it.”
+
+“Accept it,” muttered Mr. Clifford, when he had finished translating
+this, “or you will give offence.”
+
+So Benita said: “I thank the Molimo, and accept his gift.”
+
+Then Tamas rose, and, advancing, cast the ancient, tragic thing over her
+head. As it fell upon her shoulders, Benita knew that it was a chain of
+destiny drawing her she knew not where, this ornament that had last been
+worn by that woman, bereaved and unhappy as herself, who could find no
+refuge from her sorrow except in death. Had she felt it torn from her
+breast, she wondered, as she, the living Benita of to-day, felt it fall
+upon her own?
+
+The three envoys rose, bowed, and went, leaving them alone. Jacob Meyer
+lifted his head as though to address her, then changed his mind and was
+silent. Both the men waited for her to speak, but she would not, and in
+the end it was her father who spoke first.
+
+“What do you say, Benita?” he asked anxiously.
+
+“I? I have nothing to say, except that I have heard a very curious
+story. This priest’s message is to you and Mr. Meyer, father, and must
+be answered by you. What have I to do with it?”
+
+“A great deal, I think, my dear, or so those men seemed to believe.
+At any rate, I cannot go up there without you, and I will not take you
+there against your wish, for it is a long way off, and a queer business.
+The question is, will you go?”
+
+She thought a space, while the two men watched her anxiously.
+
+“Yes,” she answered at length, in a quiet voice. “I will go if you wish
+to go, not because I want to find treasure, but because the story and
+the country where it happened interest me. Indeed, I don’t believe much
+in the treasure. Even if they are superstitious and afraid to look for
+it themselves, I doubt whether they would allow you to look if they
+thought it could be found. To me the journey does not seem a good
+business speculation, also there are risks.”
+
+“We think it good enough,” broke in Meyer decidedly. “And one does not
+expect to get millions without trouble.”
+
+“Yes, yes,” said her father; “but she is right--there are risks, great
+risks--fever, wild beasts, savages, and others that one cannot foresee.
+Have I a right to expose her to them? Ought we not to go alone?”
+
+“It would be useless,” answered Meyer. “Those messengers have seen your
+daughter, and mixed her up with their superstitious story of a ghost,
+of which I, who know that there are no such things, believe nothing.
+Without her now we shall certainly fail.”
+
+“As for the risks, father,” said Benita, “personally I take no account
+of them, for I am sure that what is to happen will happen, and if I knew
+that I was to die upon the Zambesi, it would make no difference to me
+who do not care. But as it chances, I think--I cannot tell you why--that
+you and Mr. Meyer are in more danger than I am. It is for you to
+consider whether you will take the risks.”
+
+Mr. Clifford smiled. “I am old,” he said; “that is my answer.”
+
+“And I am accustomed to such things,” said Meyer, with a shrug of his
+shoulders. “Who would not run a little danger for the sake of such a
+glorious chance? Wealth, wealth, more wealth than we can dream of,
+and with it, power--power to avenge, to reward, to buy position, and
+pleasure, and all beautiful things which are the heritage of the very
+rich alone,” and he spread out his hands and looked upwards, as though
+in adoration of this golden god.
+
+“Except such trifles as health and happiness,” commented Benita, not
+without sarcasm, for this man and his material desires disgusted her
+somewhat, especially when she contrasted him with another man who
+was lost to her, though it was true that _his_ past had been idle and
+unproductive enough. Yet they interested her also, for Benita had never
+met anyone like Mr. Meyer, so talented, so eager, and so soulless.
+
+“Then I understand it is settled?” she said.
+
+Mr. Clifford hesitated, but Meyer answered at once:
+
+“Yes, settled as far as anything can be.”
+
+She waited a moment for her father to speak, but he said nothing; his
+chance had gone by.
+
+“Very well. Now we shall not need to trouble ourselves with further
+doubts or argument. We are going to Bambatse on the Zambesi, a distant
+place, to look for buried gold, and I hope, Mr. Meyer, that if you find
+it, the results will come up to your expectations, and bring you all
+sorts of good luck. Good-night, father dear, good-night.”
+
+“My daughter thinks it will bring us ill-luck,” said Mr. Clifford, when
+the door had closed behind her. “That is her way of saying so.”
+
+“Yes,” answered Meyer gloomily; “she thinks that, and she is one of
+those who have vision. Well, she may be wrong. Also, the question is,
+shall we seize our opportunity and its dangers, or remain here and breed
+bad horses all our lives, while she who is not afraid laughs at us? I am
+going to Bambatse.”
+
+Again Mr. Clifford made no direct answer, only asked a question:
+
+“How long will it take to get the guns and ammunition, and what will
+they cost?”
+
+“About a week from Wakkerstroom,” replied Meyer. “Old Potgieter,
+the trader there, has just imported a hundred Martinis and a hundred
+Westley-Richards falling-blocks. Fifty of each, with ten thousand rounds
+of cartridges, will cost about £600, and we have as much as that in the
+bank; also we have the new waggon, and plenty of good oxen and horses.
+We can take a dozen of the horses with us, and sell them in the north
+of the Transvaal for a fine price, before we get into the tetsefly
+belt. The oxen will probably carry us through, as they are most of them
+salted.”
+
+“You have thought it all out, Jacob, I see; but it means a lot of money
+one way and another, to say nothing of other things.”
+
+“Yes, a lot of money, and those rifles are too good for Kaffirs.
+Birmingham gas-pipes would have done for them, but there are none to be
+had. But what is the money, and what are the guns, compared to all they
+will bring us?”
+
+“I think you had better ask my daughter, Jacob. She seems to have her
+own ideas upon the subject.”
+
+“Miss Clifford has made up her mind, and it will not change. I shall ask
+her no more,” replied Meyer.
+
+Then he, too, left the room, to give orders about the journey to
+Wakkerstroom that he must take upon the morrow. But Mr. Clifford sat
+there till past midnight, wondering whether he had done right, and if
+they would find the treasure of which he had dreamed for years, and what
+the future had in store for them.
+
+If only he could have seen!
+
+
+When Benita came to breakfast the next morning, she asked where Mr.
+Meyer was, and learned that he had already departed for Wakkerstroom.
+
+“Certainly he is in earnest,” she said with a laugh.
+
+“Yes,” answered her father; “Jacob is always in earnest, though,
+somehow, his earnestness has not brought him much good so far. If we
+fail, it will not be want of thought and preparation on his part.”
+
+Nearly a week went by before Meyer returned again, and meanwhile Benita
+made ready for her journey. In the intervals of her simple preparations
+also she talked a good deal, with the help of her father, to the three
+sturdy-looking Makalanga, who were resting thankfully after their long
+journey. Their conversation was general, since by tacit consent no
+further mention was made of the treasure or of anything to do with it,
+but it enabled her to form a fair opinion of them and their people. She
+gathered that although they spoke a dialect of Zulu, they had none
+of the bravery of the Zulus, and indeed lived in deadly terror of the
+Matabele, who are bastard Zulus--such terror, in fact, that she greatly
+doubted whether the hundred rifles would be of much use to them, should
+they ever be attacked by that tribe.
+
+They were what their fathers had been before them, agriculturists and
+workers in metals--not fighting men. Also she set herself to learn what
+she could of their tongue, which she did not find difficult, for Benita
+had a natural aptitude for languages, and had never forgotten the Dutch
+and Zulu she used to prattle as a child, which now came back to her
+very fast. Indeed, she could already talk fairly in either of those
+languages, especially as she spent her spare hours in studying their
+grammar, and reading them.
+
+So the days went on, till one evening Jacob Meyer appeared with two
+Scotch carts laden with ten long boxes that looked like coffins, and
+other smaller boxes which were very heavy, to say nothing of a multitude
+of stores. As Mr. Clifford prophesied, he had forgotten nothing, for
+he even brought Benita various articles of clothing, and a revolver for
+which she had not asked.
+
+Three days later they trekked away from Rooi Krantz upon a peculiarly
+beautiful Sunday morning in the early spring, giving it out that they
+were going upon a trading and shooting expedition in the north of the
+Transvaal. Benita looked back at the pretty little stead and the wooded
+kloof behind it over which she had nearly fallen, and the placid lake in
+front of it where the nesting wildfowl wheeled, and sighed. For to her,
+now that she was leaving it, the place seemed like home, and it came
+into her mind that she would never see it any more.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+BAMBATSE
+
+Nearly four months had gone by when at length the waggon with which
+were Mr. Clifford, Benita, and Jacob Meyer camped one night within the
+country of the Molimo of Bambatse, whose name was Mambo. Or perhaps
+that was his title, since (according to Tamas his son) every chief in
+succession was called Mambo, though not all of them were Molimos, or
+representatives and prophets of God, or the Great Spirit whom they knew
+as Munwali. Thus sometimes the Molimo, or priest of Munwali, and the
+Mambo or chief were different persons. For instance, he said that he,
+Tamas, would be Mambo on his father’s death, but no visions were given
+to him; therefore as yet, at any rate, he was not called to be Molimo.
+
+In the course of this long journey they had met with many adventures,
+such as were common to African travellers before the days of railroads;
+adventures with wild beasts and native tribes, adventures with swollen
+rivers also, and one that was worst, with thirst, since for three days
+(owing to the failure of a pit or pan, where they expected to find
+water) they were obliged to go without drink. Still, none of these
+were very serious, nor had any of the three of them ever been in better
+health than they were at this moment, for by good luck they had escaped
+all fever. Indeed, their rough, wild life had agreed with Benita
+extraordinarily well, so well that any who had known her in the streets
+of London would scarcely have recognized her as the sunburnt, active and
+well-formed young woman who sat that night by the camp fire.
+
+All the horses they had brought with them had been sold, except some
+which had died, and three that were “salted,” or proof against the
+deadly horse sickness, which they took on with them. Their own servants
+also had been sent back to Rooi Krantz in charge of a Scotch cart laden
+with ivory, purchased from Boer hunters who had brought it down from the
+north of the Transvaal. Therefore, for this was part of the bargain, the
+three Makalanga were now their only attendants who drove and herded the
+cattle, while Benita cooked the food which the two white men shot, or
+sometimes bought from natives.
+
+For days they had been passing through a country that was practically
+deserted, and now, having crossed a high nek, the same on which Robert
+Seymour had left his waggon, they were camped in low land which, as they
+could see by the remains of walls that appeared everywhere, had once
+been extensively enclosed and cultivated. To their right was a rising
+mountainous ground, beyond which, said the Makalanga, ran the Zambesi,
+and in front of them, not more than ten miles away, a great isolated
+hill, none other than that place that they had journeyed so far to
+reach, Bambatse, round which flowed the great river. Indeed, thither one
+of the three Makalanga, he who was named Hoba, had gone on to announce
+their approach.
+
+They had outspanned amongst ruins, most of them circular in shape, and
+Benita, studying them in the bright moonlight, guessed that once these
+had been houses. That place now so solitary, hundreds or thousands of
+years ago was undoubtedly the home of a great population. Thousands,
+rather than hundreds, she thought, since close at hand in the middle
+of one of these round houses, grew a mighty baobab tree, that could not
+have seen less than ten or fifteen centuries since the seed whence it
+sprang pierced the cement floor which was still visible about its giant
+bole.
+
+Tamas, the Molimo’s son, saw her studying these evidences of antiquity,
+and, approaching, saluted her.
+
+“Lady,” he said in his own language, which by now she spoke very well,
+“lady”--and he waved his hand with a fine gesture--“behold the city of
+my people.”
+
+“How do you know that it was their city?” she asked.
+
+“I do not know, lady. Stones cannot speak, the spirits are silent, and
+we have forgotten. Still, I think so, and our fathers have told us that
+but six or eight generations ago many folk lived here, though it was not
+they who built these walls. Even fifty years ago there were many, but
+now the Matabele have killed them, and we are few; to-morrow you will
+see how few. Come here and look,” and he led her through the entrance
+of a square cattle kraal which stood close by. Within were tufts of
+rank grass, and a few bushes, and among these scores of skulls and other
+bones.
+
+“The Matabele killed these in the time of Moselikatse,” he said. “Now
+do you wonder that we who remain fear the Matabele, and desire guns to
+defend ourselves from them, even if we must sell our secrets, in order
+to buy those guns, who have no money to pay for them?”
+
+“No,” she answered, looking at the tall, dignified man, into whose soul
+the irons of fear and slavery had burnt so deep. “No, I do not wonder.”
+
+Next morning at daybreak they trekked on, always through these evidences
+of dead, forgotten people. They had not more than ten miles to cover to
+reach their long journey’s end, but the road, if so it could be called,
+ran up-hill, and the oxen, whereof only fourteen were now left to drag
+the heavy-laden waggon, were thin and footsore, so that their progress
+was very slow. Indeed, it was past midday when at length they began to
+enter what by apology might be called the town of Bambatse.
+
+“When we go away from this, it will have to be by water, I think, unless
+we can buy trek-cattle,” said Meyer, looking at the labouring oxen with
+a doubtful eye.
+
+“Why?” asked Mr. Clifford anxiously.
+
+“Because several of those beasts have been bitten by tetsefly, like my
+horse, and the poison is beginning to work. I thought so last night, but
+now I am sure. Look at their eyes. It was down in that bit of bush veld
+eight days ago. I said that we ought not to camp there.”
+
+At this moment they came to the crest of the ridge, and on its further
+side saw the wonderful ruins of Bambatse close at hand. In front of
+them stood a hill jutting out, as it were into the broad waters of the
+Zambesi river, which, to a great extent, protected it upon three sides.
+The fourth, that opposite to them, except at one place where a kind of
+natural causeway led into the town, was also defended by Nature, since
+here for more than fifty feet in height the granite rock of the base of
+the hill rose sheer and unclimbable. On the mount itself, that in all
+may have covered eight or ten acres of ground, and surrounded by a deep
+donga or ditch, were three rings of fortifications, set one above the
+other, mighty walls which, it was evident, had been built by no modern
+hand. Looking at them Benita could well understand how it came about
+that the poor fugitive Portuguese had chosen this as their last place of
+refuge, and were overcome at length, not by the thousands of savages who
+followed and surrounded them, but by hunger. Indeed, the place seemed
+impregnable to any force that was not armed with siege guns.
+
+On the hither side of this natural fosse, which, doubtless, in ancient
+times had been filled with water led from the Zambesi, stood the village
+of the Bambatse Makalanga, a collection of seventy or eighty wretched
+huts, round, like those of their forefathers, but built of mud and
+thatch. About them lay the gardens, or square fields, that were well
+cultivated, and at this season rich with ripening corn. Benita, however,
+could see no cattle, and concluded, therefore, that these must be kept
+on the hill for safety, and within its walls.
+
+Down the rough road they lumbered, and through the village, where the
+few women and children stared at them in a frightened way. Then they
+came to the causeway, which, on its further side, was blocked with
+thorns and rough stones taken from the ruins. While they waited for
+these to be removed by some men who now appeared, Benita looked at the
+massive, circular wall still thirty or forty feet in height, by perhaps
+twenty through its base, built of granite blocks without mortar,
+and ornamented with quaint patterns of other coloured stones. In
+its thickness she could see grooves, where evidently had once been
+portcullises, but these had disappeared long ago.
+
+“It is a wonderful place,” she said to her father. “I am glad that I
+came. Have you been all over it?”
+
+“No; only between the first and second walls, and once between the
+second and third. The old temple, or whatever it is, is on the top,
+and into that they would never admit us. It is there that the treasure
+lies.”
+
+“That the treasure is supposed to lie,” she answered with a smile. “But,
+Father, what guarantee have you that they will do so now? Perhaps they
+will take the guns and show us the door--or rather the gate.”
+
+“Your daughter is right, there is none; and before a box is taken off
+the waggon we must get one,” said Meyer. “Oh! I know it is risky, and it
+would have been better to make sure first, but it is too late to talk of
+that now. Look, the stones are cleared. Trek on--trek!”
+
+The long waggon-whip cracked, the poor, tired-out oxen strained at the
+yokes, and on they went through the entrance of that fateful fortress
+that was but just wide enough to admit them. Inside lay a great open
+space, which, as they could see from the numerous ruins, had once been
+filled with buildings that now were half hidden by grass, trees, and
+creepers. This was the outer ring of the temple where, in ancient
+days, the priests and captains had their home. Travelling across it for
+perhaps a hundred and fifty yards, they came near the second wall, which
+was like the first, only not quite so solid, and saw that on a stretch
+of beaten ground, and seated in the shadow, for the day was hot, the
+people of Bambatse were gathered to greet them.
+
+When within fifty yards they dismounted from the horses, which were
+left with the waggon in the charge of the Makalanga, Tamala. Then Benita
+taking her position between her father and Jacob Meyer, they
+advanced towards the ring of natives, of whom there may have been two
+hundred--all of them adult men.
+
+As they came, except one figure who remained seated with his back
+against the wall, the human circle stood up as a token of respect, and
+Benita saw that they were of the same stamp as the messengers--tall and
+good-looking, with melancholy eyes and a cowed expression, wearing the
+appearance of people who from day to day live in dread of slavery and
+death. Opposite to them was a break in the circle, through which Tamas
+led them, and as they crossed it Benita felt that all those people
+were staring at her with their sad eyes. A few paces from where the
+man crouched against the wall, his head hidden by a beautifully worked
+blanket that was thrown over it, were placed three well-carved stools.
+Upon these, at a motion from Tamas, they sat themselves down, and, as it
+was not dignified for them to speak first, remained silent.
+
+“Be patient and forgive,” said Tamas at length. “My father, Mambo, prays
+to the Munwali and the spirits of his fathers that this coming of yours
+may be fortunate, and that a vision of those things that are to be may
+descend upon him.”
+
+Benita, feeling nearly two hundred pairs of eyes concentrated upon her,
+wished that the vision might come quickly, but after a minute or
+two fell into tune with the thing, and almost enjoyed this strange
+experience. Those mighty ancient walls built by hands unknown, which
+had seen so much history and so much death; the silent, triple ring
+of patient, solemn men, the last descendants of a cultured race, the
+crouching figure hidden beneath the blanket, who imagined himself to be
+communicating with his god--it was all very strange, very well worth the
+seeing to one who had wearied of the monotony of civilization.
+
+Look, the man stirred, and threw back his blanket, revealing a head
+white with age, a spiritual, ascetic face, so thin that every bone
+showed in it, and dark eyes which stared upwards unseeingly, like those
+of a person in a trance. Thrice he sighed, while his tribesmen watched
+him. Then he let his eyes fall upon the three white people seated
+in front of him. First he looked at Mr. Clifford, and his face grew
+troubled; then at Jacob Meyer, and it was anxious and alarmed. Lastly,
+he stared at Benita, and while he did so the dark eyes became calm and
+happy.
+
+“White maiden,” he said in a soft, low voice, “for you, at least, I have
+good tidings. Though Death come near to you, though you see him on your
+right hand and your left, and in front of you and behind you, I say,
+fear not. Here you, who have known deep sorrow, shall find happiness and
+rest, O maiden, with whom goes the spirit of one pure and fair as you,
+who died so long ago.”
+
+Then, while Benita wondered at his words, spoken with such sweet
+earnestness that although she believed nothing of them, they brought
+a kind of comfort to her, he looked once more at her father and Jacob
+Meyer, and, as it were with an effort, was silent.
+
+“Have you no pleasant prophecy for me, old friend,” said Jacob, “who
+have come so far to hear it?”
+
+At once the aged face grew inscrutable, all expression vanished behind a
+hundred wrinkles, and he answered:
+
+“None, white man--none that I am charged to deliver. Search the skies
+for yourself, you who are so wise, and read them if you can. Lords,” he
+went on in another voice, “I greet you in the name and presence of my
+children. Son Tamas, I greet you also; you have done your mission well.
+Listen, now--you are weary and would rest and eat; still, bear with me,
+for I have a word to say. Look around you. You see all my tribe, not
+twenty times ten above the age of boys, we who once were countless as
+the leaves on yonder trees in spring. Why are we dead? Because of the
+Amandabele, those fierce dogs whom, two generations ago, Moselikatse,
+the general of Chaka, brought up to the south of us, who ravish us and
+kill us year by year.
+
+“We are not warlike, we who have outlived war and the lust of slaying.
+We are men of peace, who desire to cultivate the land, and to follow our
+arts which have descended to us from our ancestors, and to worship
+the Heavens above us, whither we depart to join the spirits of our
+forefathers. But they are fierce and strong and savage, and they come
+up and murder our children and old people, and take away the young women
+and the maidens to be slaves, and with them all our cattle. Where are
+our cattle? Lobengula, chief of the Amandabele, has them; scarce a cow
+is left to give milk to the sick or to the motherless babe. And yet he
+sends for cattle. Tribute, say his messengers, deliver tribute, or my
+impi will come and take it with your lives. But we have no cattle--all
+are gone. We have nothing left to us but this ancient mountain and the
+works built thereon, and a little corn on which we live. Yes, I say
+it--I, the Molimo--I whose ancestors were great kings--I who have still
+more wisdom in me than all the hosts of the Amandabele,” and as he spoke
+the old man’s grey head sank upon his breast and the tears ran down his
+withered cheeks, while his people answered:
+
+“Mambo, it is true.”
+
+“Now listen again,” he went on. “Lobengula threatens us, therefore I
+sent to these white men who were here before, saying that if they would
+bring me a hundred guns, and powder and ball, to enable us to beat off
+the Amandabele from behind these strong walls of ours, I would take them
+into the secret holy place where for six generations no white man has
+set a foot, and there suffer them to search for the treasure which is
+hid therein, no man knows where, that treasure which they asked leave to
+find four winters gone. We refused it then and drove them hence, because
+of the curse laid upon us by the white maid who died, the last of the
+Portuguese, who foretold her people’s fate for us if we gave up the
+buried gold save to one appointed. My children, the Spirit of Bambatse
+has visited me; I have seen her and others have seen her, and in my
+sleep she said to me: ‘Suffer the men to come and search, for with them
+is one of the blood to whom my people’s wealth is given; and great is
+your danger, for many spears draw nigh.’ My children, I sent my son and
+other messengers on a far journey to where I knew the men dwelt, and
+they have returned after many months bringing those men with them,
+bringing with them also another of whom I knew nothing--yes, her who is
+appointed, her of whom the Spirit spoke.”
+
+Then he lifted his withered hand and held it towards Benita, saying: “I
+tell you that yonder she sits for whom the generations have waited.”
+
+“It is so,” answered the Makalanga. “It is the White Lady come again to
+take her own.”
+
+“Friends,” asked the Molimo, while they wondered at his strange speech,
+“tell me, have you brought the guns?”
+
+“Surely,” answered Mr. Clifford, “they are there in the waggon, every
+one of them, the best that can be made, and with them ten thousand
+cartridges, bought at a great cost. We have fulfilled our share of the
+bargain; now will you fulfil yours, or shall we go away again with the
+guns and leave you to meet the Matabele with your assegais?”
+
+“Say you the agreement while we listen,” answered the Molimo.
+
+“Good,” said Mr. Clifford. “It is this: That you shall find us food and
+shelter while we are with you. That you shall lead us into the secret
+place at the head of the hill, where the Portuguese died, and the gold
+is hidden. That you shall allow us to search for that gold when and
+where we will. That if we discover the gold, or anything else of value
+to us, you shall suffer us to take it away, and assist us upon our
+journey, either by giving us boats and manning them to travel down the
+Zambesi, or in whatever fashion may be most easy. That you shall permit
+none to hurt, molest, or annoy us during our sojourn among you. Is that
+our contract?”
+
+“Not quite all of it,” said the Molimo. “There is this to add: first
+that you shall teach us how to use the guns; secondly, that you shall
+search for and find the treasure, if so it is appointed, without our
+help, since in this matter it is not lawful for us to meddle; thirdly,
+that if the Amandabele should chance to attack us while you are here,
+you shall do your best to assist us against their power.”
+
+“Do you, then, expect attack?” asked Meyer suspiciously.
+
+“White man, we always expect attack. Is it a bargain?”
+
+“Yes,” answered Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer in one voice, the latter
+adding: “the guns and the cartridges are yours. Lead us now to the
+hidden place. We have fulfilled our part; we trust to the honour of you
+and all your people to fulfil yours.”
+
+“White Maiden,” asked the Molimo, addressing Benita, “do you also say
+that it is a bargain?”
+
+“What my father says, I say.”
+
+“Good,” said the Molimo. “Then, in the presence of my people, and in the
+name of the Munwali, I, Mambo, who am his prophet, declare that it is so
+agreed between us, and may the vengeance of the heavens fall upon those
+who break our pact! Let the oxen of the white men be outspanned, their
+horses fed, their waggon unloaded, that we may count the guns. Let food
+be brought into the guest-house also, and after they have eaten, I, who
+alone of all of you have ever entered it, will lead them to the holy
+place, that there they may begin to search for that which the white
+men desire from age to age--to find it if they can; if not, to depart
+satisfied and at peace.”
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE OATH OF MADUNA
+
+Mr. Clifford and Meyer rose to return to the waggon in order to
+superintend the unyoking of the oxen and to give directions as to their
+herding, and the off-saddling of the horses. Benita rose also, wondering
+when the food that had been promised would be ready, for she was hungry.
+Meanwhile, the Molimo was greeting his son Tamas, patting his hand
+affectionately and talking to him, when suddenly Benita, who watched
+this domestic scene with interest, heard a commotion behind her. Turning
+to discover its cause, she perceived three great men clad in full war
+panoply, shields on their left arms, spears in their right hands, black
+ostrich plumes rising from the polished rings woven in their hair, black
+moochas about their middles, and black oxtails tied beneath their knees,
+who marched through the throng of Makalanga as though they saw them not.
+
+“The Matabele! The Matabele are on us!” cried a voice; while other
+voices shouted, “Fly to your walls!” and yet others, “Kill them! They
+are few.”
+
+But the three men marched on unheeding till they stood before Mambo.
+
+“Who are you, and what do you seek?” the old man asked boldly, though
+the fear that had taken hold of him at the sight of these strangers was
+evident enough, for his whole body shook.
+
+“Surely you should know, chief of Bambatse,” answered their spokesman
+with a laugh, “for you have seen the like of us before. We are the
+children of Lobengula, the Great Elephant, the King, the Black Bull, the
+Father of the Amandabele, and we have a message for your ear, little Old
+Man, which, finding that you leave your gate open, we have walked in to
+deliver.”
+
+“Speak your message then, envoys of Lobengula, in my ear and in those of
+my people,” said the Molimo.
+
+“Your people! Are these all your people?” the spokesman replied
+contemptuously. “Why then, what need was there for the indunas of the
+King to send so large an impi under a great general against you, when a
+company of lads armed with sticks would have served the turn? We thought
+that these were but the sons of your house, the men of your own family,
+whom you had called together to eat with the white strangers.”
+
+“Close the entrance in the wall,” cried the Molimo, stung to fury by the
+insult; and a voice answered:
+
+“Father, it is already done.”
+
+But the Matabele, who should have been frightened, only laughed again,
+and their spokesman said:
+
+“See, my brothers, he thinks to trap us who are but three. Well, kill
+on, Old Wizard, if you will, but know that if a hand is lifted,
+this spear of mine goes through your heart, and that the children of
+Lobengula die hard. Know also that then the impi which waits not far
+away will destroy you every one, man and woman, youth and maiden,
+little ones who hold the hand and infants at the breast; none shall be
+left--none at all, to say, ‘Here once lived the cowardly Makalanga of
+Bambatse.’ Nay, be not foolish, but talk softly with us, so that perhaps
+we may spare your lives.”
+
+Then the three men placed themselves back to back, in such fashion that
+they faced every way, and could not be smitten down from behind, and
+waited.
+
+“I do not kill envoys,” said the Molimo, “but if they are foul-mouthed,
+I throw them out of my walls. Your message, men of the Amandabele.”
+
+“I hear you. Hearken now to the word of Lobengula.”
+
+Then the envoy began to speak, using the pronoun I as though it were the
+Matabele king himself who spoke to his vassal, the Makalanga chief: “I
+sent to you last year, you slave, who dare to call yourself Mambo of the
+Makalanga, demanding a tribute of cattle and women, and warning you that
+if they did not come, I would take them. They did not come, but that
+time I spared you. Now I send again. Hand over to my messengers fifty
+cows and fifty oxen, with herds to drive them, and twelve maidens to
+be approved by them, or I wipe you out, who have troubled the earth too
+long, and that before another moon has waned.
+
+“Those are the words of Lobengula,” he concluded, and taking the horn
+snuff-box from the slit in his ear, helped himself, then insolently
+passed it to the Molimo.
+
+So great was the old chief’s rage that, forgetting his self-control, he
+struck the box from the hand of his tormentor to the ground, where the
+snuff lay spilled.
+
+“Just so shall the blood of your people be spilled through your rash
+foolishness,” said the messenger calmly, as he picked up the box, and as
+much of the snuff as he could save.
+
+“Hearken,” said the Molimo, in a thin, trembling voice. “Your king
+demands cattle, knowing that all the cattle are gone, that scarce a cow
+is left to give drink to a motherless babe. He asks for maidens also,
+but if he took those he seeks we should have none left for our young men
+to marry. And why is this so? It is because the vulture, Lobengula, has
+picked us to the bone; yes, while we are yet alive he has torn the flesh
+from us. Year by year his soldiers have stolen and killed, till at last
+nothing is left of us. And now he seeks what we have not got to give, in
+order that he may force a quarrel upon us and murder us. There is nought
+left for us to give Lobengula. You have your answer.”
+
+“Indeed!” replied the envoy with a sneer. “How comes it, then, that
+yonder I see a waggon laden with goods, and oxen in the yokes? Yes,”
+ he repeated with meaning, “with goods whereof we have known the like
+at Buluwayo; for Lobengula also sometimes buys guns from white men, O!
+little Makalanga. Come now, give us the waggon with its load and the
+oxen and the horses, and though it be but a small gift, we will take it
+away and ask nothing more this year.”
+
+“How can I give you the property of my guests, the white men?” asked the
+Molimo. “Get you gone, and do your worst, or you shall be thrown from
+the walls of the fortress.”
+
+“Good, but know that very soon we shall return and make an end of
+you, who are tired of these long and troublesome journeys to gather so
+little. Go, tend your corn, dwellers in Bambatse, for this I swear in
+the name of Lobengula, never shall you see it ripen more.”
+
+Now the crowd of listening Makalanga trembled at his words, but in the
+old Molimo they seemed only to rouse a storm of prophetic fury. For a
+moment he stood staring up at the blue sky, his arms outstretched as
+though in prayer. Then he spoke in a new voice--a clear, quiet voice,
+that did not seem to be his own.
+
+“Who am I?” he said. “I am the Molimo of the Bambatse Makalanga; I am
+the ladder between them and Heaven; I sit on the topmost bough of
+the tree under which they shelter, and there in the crest of the
+tree Munwali speaks with me. What to you are winds, to me are voices
+whispering in my spirit’s ears. Once my forefathers were great kings,
+they were Mambos of all the land, and that is still my name and dignity.
+We lived in peace; we laboured, we did wrong to no man. Then you Zulu
+savages came upon us from the south-east and your path was red with
+blood. Year after year you robbed and you destroyed; you raided our
+cattle, you murdered our men, you took our maidens and our children to
+be your women and your slaves, until at length, of all this pit filled
+with the corn of life, there is left but a little handful. And this you
+say you will eat up also, lest it should fall into good ground and grow
+again. I tell you that I think it will not be so; but whether or no that
+happens, I have words for the ear of your king--a message for a message.
+Say to him that thus speaks the wise old Molimo of Bambatse.
+
+“I see him hunted like a wounded hyena through the rivers, in the deep
+bush, and over the mountain. I see him die in pain and misery; but his
+grave I see not, for no man shall know it. I see the white man take his
+land and all his wealth; yea, to them and to no son of his shall his
+people give the Bayéte, the royal salute. Of his greatness and his
+power, this alone shall remain to him--a name accursed from generation
+to generation. And last of all I see peace upon the land and upon my
+children’s children.” He paused, then added: “For you, cruel dog that
+you are, this message also from the Munwali, by the lips of his Molimo.
+I lift no hand against you, but you shall not live to look again upon
+your king’s face. Begone now, and do your worst.”
+
+For a moment the three Matabele seemed to be frightened, and Benita
+heard one of them say to his companions:
+
+“The Wizard has bewitched us! He has bewitched the Great Elephant and
+all his people! Shall we kill him?”
+
+But quickly shaking off his fears their spokesman laughed, and answered:
+
+“So that is what you have brought the white people here for, old
+traitor--to plot against the throne of Lobengula.”
+
+He wheeled round and stared at Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer; then added:
+
+“Good, Grey-beard and Black-Beard: I myself will put you both to such a
+death as you have never heard of, and as for the girl, since she is well
+favoured, she shall brew the king’s beer, and be numbered amongst the
+king’s wives--unless, indeed, he is pleased to give her to me.”
+
+In an instant the thing was done! At the man’s words about Benita,
+Meyer, who had been listening to his threats and bombast unconcerned,
+suddenly seemed to awake. His dark eyes flashed, his pale face turned
+cruel. Snatching the revolver from his belt he seemed to point and fire
+it with one movement, and down--dead or dying--went the Matabele.
+
+Men did not stir, they only stared. Accustomed as they were to death in
+that wild land, the suddenness of this deed surprised them. The contrast
+between the splendid, brutal savage who had stood before them a moment
+ago, and the limp, black thing going to sleep upon the ground, was
+strange enough to move their imaginations. There he lay, and there, over
+him, the smoking pistol in his hand, Meyer stood and laughed.
+
+Benita felt that the act was just, and the awful punishment deserved.
+Yet that laugh of Jacob’s jarred upon her, for in it she thought she
+heard the man’s heart speaking; and oh, its voice was merciless! Surely
+Justice should not laugh when her sword falls!
+
+“Behold, now,” said the Molimo in his still voice, pointing at the dead
+Matabele with his finger; “do I speak lies, or is it true that this
+man shall not look more upon his king’s face? Well, as it was with
+the servant, so it shall be with the lord, only more slowly. It is the
+decree of the Munwali, spoken by the voice of his Mouth, the Molimo of
+Bambatse. Go, children of Lobengula, and bear with you as an offering
+this first-fruit of the harvest that the white men shall reap among the
+warriors of his people.”
+
+The thin voice died away, and there was silence so intense that Benita
+thought she heard the scraping of the feet of a green lizard which crept
+across a stone a yard or two away.
+
+Then of a sudden it ended. Of a sudden the two remaining Matabele turned
+and fled for their lives, and as, when dogs run, a flock of sheep will
+wheel about and pursue them, so did the Makalanga. They grabbed at the
+messengers with their hands, tearing their finery from them; they struck
+them with sticks, they pounded them with stones, till at length two
+bruised and bleeding men, finding all escape cut off, and led perhaps
+by some instinct, staggered back to where Benita stood horrified at this
+dreadful scene, and throwing themselves upon the ground, clutched at her
+dress and prayed for mercy.
+
+“Move a little, Miss Clifford,” said Meyer. “Three of those brutes will
+not weigh heavier than one upon my conscience.”
+
+“No, no, you shall not,” she answered. “Mambo, these men are messengers;
+spare them.”
+
+“Hearken to the voice of pity,” said the old prophet, “spoken in a place
+where pity never was, and not in vain. Let them go. Give mercy to the
+merciless, for she buys their lives with a prayer.”
+
+“They will bring the others on us,” muttered Tamas, and even old Mr.
+Clifford shook his head sadly. But the Molimo only said:
+
+“I have spoken. Let them go. That which will befall must befall, and
+from this deed no ill shall come that would not have come otherwise.”
+
+“You hear? Depart swiftly,” said Benita, in Zulu.
+
+With difficulty the two men dragged themselves to their feet, and
+supporting each other, stood before her. One of them, a clever,
+powerful-faced man, whose black hair was tinged with grey, addressing
+himself to Benita, gasped:
+
+“Hear me. That fool there,” and he pointed to his dead companion, “whose
+boasting brought his death upon him, was but a low fellow. I, who kept
+silence and let him talk, am Maduna, a prince of the royal house who
+justly deserve to die because I turned my back upon these dogs. Yet I
+and my brother here take life at your hands, Lady, who, now that I have
+had time to think, would refuse it at theirs. For, whether I stay or
+go does not matter. The impi waits; the slayers are beneath the walls.
+Those things which are decreed will happen; there, yonder old Wizard
+speaks true. Listen, Lady: should it chance that you have cause to
+demand two lives at the hands of Maduna, in his own name and the name
+of his king he promises them to you. In safety shall they pass, they
+and all that is theirs, without toll taken. Remember the oath of Maduna,
+Lady, in the hour of your need, and do you, my brother, bear witness to
+it among our people.”
+
+Then, straightening themselves as well as they were able, these two
+sorely hurt men lifted their right arms and gave Benita the salute
+due to a chieftainess. This done, taking no note of any other creature
+there, they limped away to the gate that had been opened for them, and
+vanished beyond the wall.
+
+All this while Meyer had stood silent; now he spoke with a bitter smile.
+
+“Charity, Miss Clifford, said a certain Paul, as reported in your New
+Testament, covers a multitude of sins. I hope very much that it will
+serve to cover our remains from the aasvogels, after we have met our
+deaths in some such fashion as that brute promised us,” and he pointed
+to the dead man.
+
+Benita looked at her father in question.
+
+“Mr. Meyer means, my dear, that you have done a foolish thing in begging
+the lives of those Matabele. It would have been safer for us if they
+were dead, who, as it is, have gone off burning for revenge. Of course,
+I understand it was natural enough, but----” and he hesitated and
+stopped.
+
+“The chief did not say so,” broke in Benita with agitation; “besides, if
+he had, I should not have cared. It was bad enough to see one man killed
+like that,” and she shivered; “I could not bear any more.”
+
+“You should not be angry at the fellow’s death, seeing that it was what
+he said of you which brought it upon him,” Meyer replied with meaning.
+“Otherwise he might have gone unharmed as far as I was concerned. For
+the rest, I did not interfere because I saw it was useless; also I am
+a fatalist like our friend, the Molimo, and believe in what is decreed.
+The truth is,” he added sharply, “among savages ladies are not in
+place.”
+
+“Why did you not say that down at Rooi Krantz, Jacob?” asked Mr.
+Clifford. “You know I thought so all the while, but somehow I was
+over-ruled. Now what I suggest is, that we had better get out of this
+place as fast as we can--instantly, as soon as we have eaten, before our
+retreat is cut off.”
+
+Meyer looked at the oxen which had been outspanned: nine were wandering
+about picking up what food they could, but the five which were supposed
+to have been bitten by tetsefly had lain down.
+
+“Nine worn-out and footsore oxen will not draw the waggon,” he said;
+“also in all probability the place is already surrounded by Matabele,
+who merely let us in to be sure of the guns which their spies must have
+told them we were carrying. Lastly, having spent so much and come so
+far, I do not mean to go without what we seek. Still, if you think that
+your daughter’s danger is greater within these walls than outside
+of them, you might try, if we can hire servants, which I doubt. Or
+possibly, if any rowers are to be had, you could go down the Zambesi in
+a canoe, risking the fever. You and she must settle it, Clifford.”
+
+“Difficulties and dangers every way one looks. Benita, what do you say?”
+ asked her father distractedly.
+
+Benita thought a moment. She wished to escape from Mr. Meyer, of whom
+she was weary and afraid, and would have endured much to do so. On the
+other hand, her father was tired out, and needed rest; also to turn
+his back upon this venture now would have been a bitter blow to him.
+Moreover, lacking cattle and men, how was it to be done? Lastly,
+something within her, that same voice which had bidden her to come,
+seemed to bid her to stay. Very soon she had made up her mind.
+
+“Father, dear,” she said, “thank you for thinking of me, but as far as
+I can see, we should run more risks trying to get away than we do in
+stopping here. I wanted to come, though you warned me against it, and
+now I must take my chance and trust to God to bring us safe through all
+dangers. Surely with all those rifles the Makalanga ought to be able to
+hold such a place as this against the Matabele.”
+
+“I hope so,” answered her father; “but they are a timid folk. Still,
+though it would have been far better never to have come, I think with
+you that it is best to stay where we are, and trust to God.”
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE MOUNTAIN TOP
+
+If our adventurers, or any of them, hoped that they were going to be
+led to the secret places of the fortress that day, they were destined
+to disappointment. Indeed, the remainder of it was employed arduously
+enough in unpacking rifles, and a supply of ammunition; also in giving
+to a few of the leading Makalanga preliminary lessons in the method of
+their use, a matter as to which their ideas were of the vaguest. The
+rest of the tribe, having brought their women and children into the
+outer enclosure of the ancient stronghold, and with them their sheep
+and goats and the few cattle which remained to them, were employed in
+building up the entrance permanently with stones, a zigzag secret path
+upon the river side, that could be stopped in a few minutes, being now
+their only method of ingress and egress through the thickness of the
+walls. A certain number of men were also sent out as spies to discover,
+if possible, the whereabouts of the Matabele impi.
+
+That there was some impi they were almost sure, for a woman who had
+followed them reported that the injured captain, Maduna, and his
+companion had been met at a distance of about three miles from Bambatse
+by a small party of Matabele, who were hiding in some bushes, and that
+these men had made litters for them, and carried them away; whither she
+did not know, for she had not dared to pursue them further.
+
+That night Benita passed in the guesthouse, which was only a hut rather
+larger than the others, while the two men slept in the waggon just
+outside. She was so tired that for a long while she could not rest. Her
+mind kept flying back to all the events of the day: the strange words
+of that mystic old Molimo, concerning herself; the arrival of the brutal
+messengers and the indaba that followed; then the sudden and awful
+destruction of their spokesman at the hand of Jacob Meyer. The scene
+would not leave her eyes, she saw it again and yet again: the quick
+transformation of Meyer’s indifferent face when the soldier began to
+insult and threaten her, the lightning-like movement of his hand, the
+flash, the report, the change from life to death, and the slayer’s cruel
+laugh. He could be very terrible, Jacob Meyer, when his passions were
+roused!
+
+And what had roused them then? She could not doubt that it was
+herself--not mere chivalry towards a woman. Even if he were capable of
+chivalry, merely for that he would never have taken such risk of future
+trouble and revenge. No; it was something deeper. He had never said
+anything or done anything, yet long ago instinct or insight had caused
+Benita to suspect the workings of his mind, and now she was sure of
+them. The thought was terrible--worse than all her other dangers put
+together. True, she had her father to rely on, but he had been somewhat
+ailing of late; age and these arduous journeys and anxieties had told
+upon him. Supposing that anything were to happen to him--if he died, for
+instance, how dreadful her position might become, left alone far from
+the reach of help, with savages--and Jacob Meyer.
+
+Oh! if it had not been for that dreadful shipwreck, how different might
+be her lot to-day! Well, it was the thought of the shipwreck and of him
+whom she had lost therein, which had driven her on to this adventure,
+that in it perhaps her suffering mind might be numbed to rest; and now
+she must face its issues. God still remained above her, and she would
+put her trust in Him. After all, if she died, what did it matter?
+
+But that old Molimo had promised her that she was safe from death, that
+she should find here happiness and rest, though not that of the grave.
+He promised this, speaking as one who knew of all her grief, and a very
+little while afterwards, in the case of the Matabele soldier, he had
+proved himself a prophet of awful power. Also--she knew not how, she
+knew not why--now, as before, her inmost heart seemed to bear witness
+that this old dreamer’s words were true, and that for her, in some
+strange manner unforeseen, there still remained a rest.
+
+Comforted a little by this intuition, at length Benita fell asleep.
+
+Next morning, when she came out of the hut, Benita was met by her
+father, who with a cheerful countenance informed her that at any rate
+as yet there was no sign of the Matabele. A few hours later, too, some
+spies came in who said that for miles round nothing could be seen or
+heard of them. Still the preparations for defence went on, and the
+hundred best men having been furnished with the rifles, were being
+drilled in the use of them by Tamas and his two companions, Tamala and
+Hoba, who had learned how to handle a gun very well in the course of
+their long journey. The shooting of these raw recruits, however, proved
+to be execrable; indeed, so dangerous were they that when one of them
+fired at a mark set upon the wall, it was found necessary to order
+all the rest to lie down. As it was, a poor trek ox--luckily it was
+sick--and two sheep were killed.
+
+Foreseeing a scarcity of provisions in the event of a siege, Meyer,
+provident as ever, had already decreed the death of the tetse-bitten
+cattle. These were accordingly despatched, and having been skinned and
+cut up, their flesh was severed into long strips to be dried in the
+burning sun as biltong, which secretly Benita hoped she might never be
+called upon to eat. Yet the time was to come when she would swallow that
+hard, tetse-poisoned flesh with thankfulness.
+
+At midday, after they had eaten, Mr. Clifford and Meyer went to the
+Molimo, where he sat against the second wall, and, pointing to the men
+with the guns, said:
+
+“We have fulfilled our bargain. Now fulfil yours. Lead us to the holy
+place that we may begin our search.”
+
+“So be it,” he answered. “Follow me, white people.”
+
+Then, quite unattended, he guided them round the inner wall till they
+came to a path of rock not more than a yard wide, beneath which was a
+precipice fifty feet or so in depth that almost overhung the river. This
+giddy path they followed for about twenty paces, to find that it ended
+in a cleft in the wall so narrow that only one person could walk
+through it at a time. That it must have been the approach to the second
+stronghold was evident, however, since it was faced on either side with
+dressed stones, and even the foundation granite had been worn by the
+human feet which had passed here for ages upon ages. This path zigzagged
+to and fro in the thickness of the wall till it brought them finally
+within its circle, a broad belt of steeply-rising ground, covered like
+that below with the tumbled ruins of buildings amidst which grew bush
+and trees.
+
+“Heaven send that the gold is not buried here,” said Mr. Clifford,
+surveying the scene; “for if it is, we shall never find it.”
+
+The Molimo seemed to guess the meaning of his words from his face, for
+he answered:
+
+“I think not here. The besiegers won this place and camped in it for
+many weeks. I could show you where they built their fires and tried to
+undermine the last wall within which the Portuguese sat about until
+hunger killed them, for they could not eat their gold. Follow me again.”
+
+So on they went up the slope till they came to the base of the third
+wall, and as before, passed round it, and reached a point above the
+river. But now there was no passage, only some shallow and almost
+precipitous steps cut from single stones leading from the foot of the
+wall to its summit, more than thirty feet above.
+
+“Really,” said Benita, contemplating this perilous ascent with dismay,
+“the ways of treasure seekers are hard. I don’t think I can,” while her
+father also looked at them and shook his head.
+
+“We must get a rope,” said Meyer to the Molimo angrily. “How can we
+climb that place without one, with such a gulf below?”
+
+“I am old, but I climb it,” said the aged man in mild surprise, since to
+him, who had trodden it all his life, it seemed not difficult. “Still,”
+ he added, “I have a rope above which I use upon dark nights. I will
+ascend and let it down.”
+
+Ascend he did accordingly; indeed, it was a wondrous sight to see his
+withered legs scrambling from step to step as unconcernedly as though
+he were going upstairs. No monkey could have been more agile, or more
+absolutely impervious to the effects of height. Soon he vanished in--or,
+rather, through--the crest of the wall, and presently appeared again on
+the top step, whence he let down a stout hide rope, remarking that it
+was securely tied. So anxious was Meyer to enter the hidden place of
+which he had dreamed so long that he scarcely waited for it to reach
+his hand before he began the climb, which he accomplished safely. Then,
+sitting on the top of the wall, he directed Mr. Clifford to fasten the
+end of the rope round Benita’s waist, and her turn came.
+
+It was not so bad as she expected, for she was agile, and the knowledge
+that the rope would prevent disaster gave her confidence. In a very
+little while she had grasped Meyer’s outstretched hand, and been drawn
+into safety through a kind of aperture above the top step. Then the rope
+was let down again for her father, who tied it about his middle. Well
+was it that he did so, since when he was about half-way up, awkwardness,
+or perhaps loss of nerve--neither of them wonderful in an old
+man--caused his foot to slip, and had it not been for the rope which
+Meyer and the Molimo held, he would certainly have fallen into the
+river some hundreds of feet below. As it was, he recovered himself, and
+presently arrived panting and very pale. In her relief Benita kissed
+him, and even as she did so thought again that she had been very near to
+being left alone with Jacob Meyer.
+
+“All’s well that ends well, my dear,” he said. “But upon my word I am
+beginning to wish that I had been content with the humble profits of
+horse-breeding.”
+
+Benita made no answer; it seemed too late for any useful consideration
+of the point.
+
+“Clever men, those ancients,” said Meyer. “See,” and he pointed out
+to her how, by drawing a heavy stone which still lay close by over the
+aperture through which they had crept, the ascent of the wall could
+be made absolutely impossible to any enemy, since at its crest it was
+battened outwards, not inwards, as is usual in these ancient ruins.
+
+“Yes,” she answered, “we ought to feel safe enough inside here, and
+that’s as well since I do not feel inclined to go out again at present.”
+
+Then they paused to look about them, and this was what they saw:
+
+The wall, built like those below, of unmortared blocks of stone,
+remained in a wonderfully good state of preservation, for its only
+enemies had been time, the tropical rains, and the growth of shrubs
+and trees which here and there had cracked and displaced the stones. It
+enclosed all the top of the hill, perhaps three acres of ground, and
+on it at intervals were planted soap-stone pillars, each of them about
+twelve feet in height, and fashioned at the top to a rude resemblance
+of a vulture. Many of these columns, however had been blown down, or
+perhaps struck by lightning, and lay broken upon the wall, or if they
+had fallen inward, at its foot; but some, six or eight perhaps, were
+still standing.
+
+Benita learned afterwards that they must have been placed there by
+the ancient Phoenicians, or whatever people constructed this gigantic
+fortification, and had something to do with the exact recordings of the
+different seasons of the year, and their sub-divisions, by means of the
+shadows which they cast. As yet, however, she did not pay much attention
+to them, for she was engaged in considering a more remarkable relic of
+antiquity which stood upon the very verge of the precipice, the wall,
+indeed, being built up to its base on either side.
+
+It was the great cone of which Richard Seymour had told her, fifty feet
+high or more, such as once was found in the Phoenician temples. But in
+this case it was not built of masonry, but shaped by the hand of man out
+of a single gigantic granite monolith of the sort that are sometimes to
+be met with in Africa, that thousands or millions of years ago had been
+left standing thus when the softer rock around it was worn away by time
+and weather. On the inner side of this cone were easy steps whereby
+it could be ascended, and its top, which might have been six feet in
+diameter, was fashioned in the shape of a cup, probably for the purposes
+of acts of worship and of sacrifice. This extraordinary monument, which,
+except on the river side, could not be seen from below on account of
+the slope of the hill, leaned slightly outwards, so that a stone dropped
+from its crest would fall into the waters of the stream.
+
+“Thence it was,” said the Molimo, “that my forefathers saw the last of
+the Portuguese, the fair daughter of the great Captain Ferreira, hurl
+herself to death after she had given the gold into our keeping, and laid
+the curse upon it, until she came again. So in my dreams have I seen and
+heard her also, ay, and others have seen her, but these only from by the
+river far below.”
+
+He paused awhile, looking at Benita with his queer, dreamy eyes; then
+said suddenly:
+
+“Say, Lady, do you remember nothing of that matter?”
+
+Now Benita grew vexed, for the whole thing was uncanny and jarred upon
+her.
+
+“How can I remember,” she asked, “who was born not five and twenty years
+ago?”
+
+“I do not know,” he answered. “How should I know, who am but an ignorant
+old black man, who was born not much more than eighty years ago? Yet,
+Lady, tell me, for I seek your wisdom, where were you born from? Out of
+the earth, or out of the heavens? What? You shake your head, you who
+do not remember? Well, neither do I remember. Yet it is true that all
+circles meet somewhere, and it is true that the Portuguese maiden said
+she would come again; and lastly it is true that she was such an one
+as you are, for she haunts this place, and I, who have seen her sitting
+yonder in the moonlight, know her beauty well. Yet mayhap she comes no
+more in flesh, but still her spirit comes; for, Lady, out of those eyes
+of yours I see it gaze at me. Come,” he added abruptly, “let us descend
+the wall, for as you cannot remember, there is more to show you. Have no
+fear--the steps are easy.”
+
+So they went down without much difficulty, since, from the accumulation
+of rubbish and other causes, the wall was a great deal lower on this
+side, and found themselves in the usual dense growth of vegetation and
+brushwood through which ran a little path. It led them past the ruins
+of buildings whereof the use and purpose were long since forgotten, for
+their roofs had fallen in hundreds or thousands of years ago, to the
+entrance of a cave which was placed almost at the foot of the monolithic
+cone, but thirty or forty yards further from the circle of the wall.
+Here the Molimo bade them stay while he lit the lamps within. Five
+minutes passed and he returned, saying that all was ready.
+
+“Be not afraid of what you may see,” he added, “for know, white people,
+that save my forefathers and myself, none have entered this place since
+the Portuguese perished here, nor have we, who do but come hither to
+pray and receive the word of the Munwali, ever ventured to disturb it.
+As it was, so it is. Come, Lady, come; she whose spirit goes with you
+was the last of your white race to pass this door. It is therefore
+fitting that your feet and her spirit should be the first to enter it
+again.”
+
+Benita hung back a little, for the adventure was eerie, then, determined
+that she would show no fear in the presence of this old priest, took the
+thin hand he stretched out to her, and walked forward with head erect.
+The two men began to follow her, but the Molimo stopped them, saying:
+
+“Not so. The maiden enters first alone with me; it is her house, and
+should it please her to ask you to dwell therein, so be it. But first
+she must visit her house alone.”
+
+“Nonsense,” said Mr. Clifford angrily. “I will not have it. It will
+frighten her.”
+
+“Lady, do you trust me?” asked the Molimo.
+
+“Yes,” she answered; adding, “Father, I think you had better let me go
+alone. I am not afraid now, and it may be wisest not to thwart him. This
+is a very strange business--not like anything else--and really I think
+that I had better go alone. If I do not come back presently, you can
+follow.”
+
+“Those who break in upon the sleep of the dead should walk gently,
+gently,” piped the old Molimo in a sing-song voice. “The maiden’s breath
+is pure; the maiden’s foot is light; her breath will not offend the
+dead; her step will not disturb the dead. White men, white men, anger
+not the dead, for the dead are mighty, and will be revenged upon you
+when you are dead; soon, very soon, when you are dead--dead in your
+sorrows, dead in your sins, dead, gathered to that company of the dead
+who await us here.”
+
+And, still chanting his mystic song, he led Benita by the hand out of
+the light, onward into darkness, away from life, onward into the place
+of death.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE SLEEPERS IN THE CAVE
+
+Like every other passage in this old fortress, the approach to the cave
+was narrow and winding; presumably the ancients had arranged them thus
+to facilitate their defence. After the third bend, however, Benita saw a
+light ahead which flowed from a native lamp lit in the arched entrance.
+At the side of this arch was a shell-shaped hollow, cut in the rock
+about three feet above the floor. Its appearance seemed familiar to her;
+why, she was soon to learn, although at the moment she did not connect
+it with anything in particular. The cave beyond was large, lofty, and
+not altogether natural, for its walls had evidently been shaped, or at
+any rate trimmed, by man. Probably here the old Priests had established
+their oracle, or place of offering.
+
+At first Benita could not see much, since in that great cavern two lamps
+of hippopotamus oil gave but little light. Presently, however, her eyes
+became accustomed to the gloom, and as they advanced up its length she
+perceived that save for a skin rug upon which she guessed the Molimo sat
+at his solitary devotions, and some gourds and platters for water and
+food, all the front part of the place appeared to be empty. Beyond, in
+its centre, stood an object of some gleaming metal, that from its double
+handles and roller borne upon supports of rock she took to be some kind
+of winch, and rightly, for beneath it was the mouth of a great well, the
+water supply of the topmost fortification.
+
+Beyond the well was a stone altar, shaped like a truncated cone or
+pyramid, and at some distance away against the far wall, as she dimly
+discovered by the lamp that stood upon the altar, cut in relief upon
+that wall indeed, a colossal cross to which, vigorously if rudely
+executed in white stone, hung the image of Christ crucified, the crown
+of thorns upon His drooping head. Now she understood. Whatever may have
+been the first worship to which this place was dedicated, Christians
+had usurped it, and set up here the sacred symbol of their faith,
+awful enough to look upon in such surroundings. Doubtless, also, the
+shell-shaped basin at the entrance had served the worshippers in this
+underground chapel as a stoup for holy water.
+
+The Molimo lifted the lamp from the altar, and having adjusted its
+wick, held it up in front of the rood before which, although she was no
+Catholic, Benita bowed her head and crossed herself, while he watched
+her curiously. Then he lowered it, and she perceived that on the
+cemented floor lay great numbers of shrouded forms that at first looked
+to her like folk asleep. He stepped to one of them and touched it with
+his foot, whereon the cloth with which it was covered crumbled into
+dust, revealing beneath a white skeleton.
+
+All those sleepers rested well indeed, for they had been dead at least
+two hundred years. There they lay--men, women, and children, though of
+the last but few. Some of them had ornaments on their bones, some were
+clad in armour, and by all the men were swords, or spears, or knives,
+and here and there what she took to be primitive fire-arms. Certain
+of them also had turned into mummies in that dry air--grotesque and
+dreadful objects from which she gladly averted her eyes.
+
+The Molimo led her forward to the foot of the crucifix, where, upon
+its lowest step and upon the cemented floor immediately beneath it
+respectively, lay two shapes decorously covered with shawls of some
+heavy material interwoven with gold wire, for the manufacture of which
+the Makalanga were famous when first the Portuguese came into contact
+with them. The Molimo took hold of the cloths that seemed almost as
+good now as on the day when they were woven, and lifted them,
+revealing beneath the figures of a man and woman. The features were
+unrecognizable, although the hair, white in the man’s case and raven
+black in that of the woman, remained perfect. They had been great
+people, for orders glittered upon the man’s breast, and his sword was
+gold hilted, whilst the woman’s bones were adorned with costly necklaces
+and jewels, and in her hand was still a book bound in sheets of
+silver. Benita took it up and looked at it. It was a missal beautifully
+illuminated, which doubtless the poor lady had been reading when at
+length she sank exhausted into the sleep of death.
+
+“See the Lord Ferreira and his wife,” said the Molimo, “whom their
+daughter laid thus before she went to join them.” Then, at a motion from
+Benita, he covered them up again with their golden cloths.
+
+“Here they sleep,” he went on in his chanting voice, “a hundred and
+fifty and three of them--a hundred and fifty and three; and when I dream
+in this place at night, I have seen the ghosts of every one of them
+arise from beside their forms and come gliding down the cave--the
+husband with the wife, the child with the mother--to look at me, and
+ask when the maiden returns again to take her heritage and give them
+burial.”
+
+Benita shuddered; the solemn awfulness of the place and scene oppressed
+her. She began to think that she, too, saw those ghosts.
+
+“It is enough,” she said. “Let us be going.”
+
+So they went, and the pitiful, agonized Christ upon the cross, at which
+she glanced from time to time over her shoulder, faded to a white blot,
+then vanished away in the darkness, through which, from generation to
+generation, it kept its watch above the dead, those dead that in their
+despair once had cried to it for mercy, and bedewed its feet with tears.
+
+Glad, oh! glad was she when she had left that haunted place behind her,
+and saw the wholesome light again.
+
+“What have you seen?” asked her father and Meyer, in one breath, as they
+noted her white and frightened face.
+
+She sank upon a stone seat at the entrance of the cave, and before she
+could open her lips the Molimo answered for her:
+
+“The maiden has seen the dead. The Spirit who goes with her has given
+greeting to its dead that it left so long ago. The maiden has done
+reverence to the White One who hangs upon the cross, and asked a
+blessing and a pardon of Him, as she whose Spirit goes with her did
+reverence before the eyes of my forefathers, and asked a blessing and a
+pardon ere she cast herself away.” And he pointed to the little golden
+crucifix which hung upon Benita’s bosom, attached to the necklace which
+Tamas, the messenger, had given her at Rooi Krantz.
+
+“Now,” he went on, “now the spell is broken, and the sleepers must
+depart to sleep elsewhere. Enter, white men; enter, if you dare, and ask
+for pardon and for blessing if it may be found, and gather up the dry
+bones and take the treasure that was theirs, if it may be found, and
+conquer the curse that goes with the treasure for all save one, if
+you can, if you can, if you can! Rest you here, maiden, in the sweet
+sunshine, and follow me, white men; follow me into the dark of the dead
+to seek for that which the white men love.” And once more he vanished
+down the passage, turning now and again to beckon to them, while they
+went after him as though drawn against their wish. For now, at the last
+moment, some superstitious fear spread from him to them, and showed
+itself in their eyes.
+
+To Benita, half fainting upon the stone seat, for this experience had
+shaken her to the heart, it seemed but a few minutes, though really
+the best part of an hour had gone by, when her father reappeared as
+white-faced as she had been.
+
+“Where is Mr. Meyer?” she asked.
+
+“Oh!” he answered. “He is collecting all the golden ornaments off those
+poor bodies, and tumbling their bones together in a corner of the cave.”
+
+Benita uttered an exclamation of horror.
+
+“I know what you mean,” said her father. “But, curse the fellow! he
+has no reverence, although at first he seemed almost as scared as I was
+myself. He said that as we could not begin our search with all those
+corpses about, they had best be got out of the way as soon as possible.
+Or perhaps it was because he is really afraid of them, and wanted to
+prove to himself that they are nothing more than dust. Benita,” went on
+the old man, “to tell you the truth, I wish heartily that we had left
+this business alone. I don’t believe that any good will come of it, and
+certainly it has brought enough trouble already. That old prophet of a
+Molimo has the second sight, or something like it, and he does not hide
+his opinion, but keeps chuckling away in that dreadful place, and piping
+out his promises of ill to be.”
+
+“He promised me nothing but good,” said Benita with a little smile.
+“Though I don’t see how it can happen. But if you dislike the thing,
+father, why not give it up and try to escape?”
+
+“It is too late, dear,” he replied passionately. “Meyer would never
+come, and I can’t in honour leave him. Also, I should laugh at myself
+for the rest of my life; and, after all, why should we not have the gold
+if it can be found? It belongs to nobody. We do not get it by robbery,
+or murder; nuggets are of no use to Portuguese who have been dead two
+hundred years, and whose heirs, if they have any, it is impossible to
+discover. Nor can it matter to them whether they lie about singly as
+they died or were placed after death, or piled together in a corner. Our
+fears were mere churchyard superstitions, which we have caught from that
+ghoul of a Molimo. Don’t you agree with me?”
+
+“Yes, I suppose so,” answered Benita, “though a fate may cling to
+certain things or places, perhaps. At any rate, I think that it is of no
+use turning back now, even if we had anywhere to turn, so we may as well
+go through with the venture and await its end. Give me the water-bottle,
+please. I am thirsty.”
+
+A while later Jacob Meyer appeared, carrying a great bundle of precious
+objects wrapped in one of the gold cere-cloths, which bundle he hid away
+behind a stone.
+
+“The cave is much tidier now,” he said, as he flicked the thick dust
+which had collected on them during his unhallowed task from his hands,
+and hair, and garments. Then he drank greedily, and asked:
+
+“Have you two made any plans for our future researches?”
+
+They shook their heads.
+
+“Well, then, I have. I thought them out while I was bone-carting, and
+here they are. It is no use our going down below again; for one thing,
+the journey is too dangerous, and takes too long; and for another, we
+are safer up above, where we have plenty to do.”
+
+“But,” said Benita, “how about things to eat and sleep on, and the
+rest?”
+
+“Simple enough, Miss Clifford; we must get them up. The Kaffirs will
+bring them to the foot of the third wall, and we will haul them to its
+top with a rope. Of water it seems there is plenty in that well, which
+is fed by a spring a hundred and fifty feet down, and the old chain
+is still on the roller, so we only need a couple of buckets from the
+waggon. Of wood for cooking there is plenty also, growing on the spot;
+and we can camp in the cave or outside of it, as we like, according to
+the state of the weather. Now, do you rest here while I go down. I will
+be back in an hour with some of the gear, and then you must help me.”
+
+So he went, and the end of it was that before nightfall they had enough
+things for their immediate needs, and by the second night, working
+very hard, were more or less comfortably established in their strange
+habitation. The canvas flap from the waggon was arranged as a tent for
+Benita, the men sleeping beneath a thick-leaved tree near by. Close at
+hand, under another tree, was their cooking place. The provisions of all
+sorts, including a couple of cases of square-face and a large supply
+of biltong from the slaughtered cattle, they stored with a quantity of
+ammunition in the mouth of the cave. Fresh meat also was brought to
+them daily, and hauled up in baskets--that is, until there was none
+to bring--and with it grain for bread, and green mealies to serve as
+vegetables. Therefore, as the water from the well proved to be excellent
+and quite accessible, they were soon set up in all things necessary, and
+to these they added from time to time as opportunity offered.
+
+In all these preparations the old Molimo took a part, nor, when they
+were completed, did he show any inclination to leave them. In the
+morning he would descend to his people below, but before nightfall he
+always returned to the cave, where for many years it had been his custom
+to sleep--at any rate several times a week, in the gruesome company of
+the dead Portuguese. Jacob Meyer persuaded Mr. Clifford that his object
+was to spy upon them, and talked of turning him out; but Benita, between
+whom and the old man had sprung up a curious friendship and sympathy,
+prevented it, pointing out that they were much safer with the Molimo,
+as a kind of hostage, than they could be without him; also, that his
+knowledge of the place, and of other things, might prove of great help
+to them. So in the end he was allowed to remain, as indeed he had a
+perfect right to do.
+
+All this while there was no sign of any attack by the Matabele. Indeed,
+the fear of such a thing was to some extent dying away, and Benita,
+watching from the top of the wall, could see that their nine remaining
+oxen, together with the two horses--for that belonging to Jacob Meyer
+had died--and the Makalanga goats and sheep, were daily driven out to
+graze; also, that the women were working in the crops upon the fertile
+soil around the lowest wall. Still, a strict watch was kept, and at
+night everyone slept within the fortifications; moreover, the drilling
+of the men and their instruction in the use of firearms went on
+continually under Tamas, who now, in his father’s old age, was the
+virtual chief of the people.
+
+It was on the fourth morning that at length, all their preparations
+being completed, the actual search for the treasure began. First,
+the Molimo was closely interrogated as to its whereabouts, since they
+thought that even if he did not know this exactly, some traditions of
+the fact might have descended to him from his ancestors. But he declared
+with earnestness that he knew nothing, save that the Portuguese maiden
+had said that it was hidden; nor, he added, had any dream or vision come
+to him concerning this matter, in which he took no interest. If it was
+there, it was there; if it was not there, it was not there--it remained
+for the white men to search and see.
+
+For no very good reason Meyer had concluded that the gold must have been
+concealed in or about the cave, so here it was that they began their
+investigations.
+
+First, they bethought them of the well into which it might possibly
+have been thrown, but the fact of this matter proved very difficult
+to ascertain. Tying a piece of metal--it was an old Portuguese
+sword-hilt--to a string, they let it down and found that it touched
+water at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and bottom at a depth
+of one hundred and forty-seven feet. Therefore there were twenty-seven
+feet of water. Weighting a bucket they sank it until it rested upon this
+bottom, then wound it up again several times. On the third occasion it
+brought up a human bone and a wire anklet of pure gold. But this proved
+nothing, except that some ancient, perhaps thousands of years ago, had
+been thrown, or had fallen, into the well.
+
+Still unsatisfied, Jacob Meyer, who was a most intrepid person,
+determined to investigate the place himself, a task of no little
+difficulty and danger, since proper ladders were wanting, nor, had they
+existed, was there anything to stand them on. Therefore it came to this:
+a seat must be rigged on to the end of the old copper chain, and be
+lowered into the pit after the fashion of the bucket. But, as Benita
+pointed out, although they might let him down, it was possible that they
+would not be able to draw him up again, in which case his plight must
+prove unfortunate. So, when the seat had been prepared, an experiment
+was made with a stone weighing approximately as much as a man. This
+Benita and her father let down easily enough, but, as they anticipated,
+when it came to winding it up again, their strength was barely
+sufficient to the task. Three people could do it well, but with two the
+thing was risky. Now Meyer asked--or, rather, commanded--the Molimo to
+order some of his men to help him, but this the old chief refused point
+blank to do.
+
+First, he made a number of excuses. They were all employed in drilling,
+and in watching for the Matabele; they were afraid to venture here, and
+so forth. At last Meyer grew furious; his eyes flashed, he ground his
+teeth, and began to threaten.
+
+“White man,” said the Molimo, when he had done, “it cannot be. I have
+fulfilled my bargain with you. Search for the gold; find it and take it
+away if you can. But this place is holy. None of my tribe, save he who
+holds the office of Molimo for the time, may set a foot therein. Kill
+me if you will--I care not; but so it is, and if you kill me, afterwards
+they will kill you.”
+
+Now Meyer, seeing that nothing was to be gained by violence, changed his
+tone, and asked if he himself would help them.
+
+“I am old, my strength is small,” he replied; “yet I will put my hand to
+the chain and do my best. But, if I were you, I would not descend that
+pit.”
+
+“Still, I will descend it, and to-morrow,” said Meyer.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH
+
+Accordingly, on the next day the great experiment was made. The
+chain and ancient winding gear had been tested and proved to be amply
+sufficient to the strain. Therefore, nothing remained save for Meyer
+to place himself in the wooden seat with an oil-lamp, and in case this
+should be extinguished, matches and candles, of both of which they had a
+large supply.
+
+He did so boldly enough, and swung out over the mouth of the pit, while
+the three of them clutched the handles of the winch. Then they began to
+lower, and slowly his white face disappeared into the black depth. At
+every few turns his descent was stopped that he might examine the walls
+of the well, and when he was about fifty feet down he called to them to
+hold on, which they did, listening while he struck at the rock with a
+hammer, for here it sounded very hollow.
+
+At length he shouted to them to lower away again, and they obeyed, until
+nearly all the chain was out, and they knew he must be near the water.
+Now Benita, peeping over the edge, saw that the star of light had
+vanished. His lamp was out, nor did he appear to attempt to re-light it.
+They shouted down the well to him, but no answer coming, began to wind
+up as fast as they were able. It was all that their united strength
+could manage, and very exhausted were they when at length Jacob
+reappeared at the top. At first, from the look of him they thought that
+he was dead, and had he not tied himself to the chain, dead he certainly
+would have been, for evidently his senses had left him long ago. Indeed,
+he had fallen almost out of the seat, over which his legs hung limply,
+his weight being supported by the hide rope beneath his arms which was
+made fast to the chain.
+
+They swung him in and dashed water over his face, till, to their relief,
+at last he began to gasp for breath, and revived sufficiently to enable
+them to half-lead and half-carry him out into the fresh air.
+
+“What happened to you?” asked Clifford.
+
+“Poisoned with gases, I suppose,” Meyer answered with a groan, for
+his head was aching sadly. “The air is often bad at the bottom of deep
+wells, but I could smell or feel nothing until suddenly my senses left
+me. It was a near thing--a very near thing.”
+
+Afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he told them that at one
+spot deep down in the well, on the river side of it, he found a place
+where it looked as though the rock had been cut away for a space of
+about six feet by four, and afterwards built up again with another sort
+of stone set in hard mortar or cement. Immediately beneath, too, were
+socket-holes in which the ends of beams still remained, suggesting that
+here had been a floor or platform. It was while he was examining these
+rotted beams that insensibility overcame him. He added that he thought
+that this might be the entrance to the place where the gold was hidden.
+
+“If so,” said Mr. Clifford, “hidden it must remain, since it can have no
+better guardian than bad air. Also, floors like that are common in all
+wells to prevent rubbish from falling into the water, and the stonework
+you saw probably was only put there by the ancients to mend a fault in
+the rock and prevent the wall from caving in.”
+
+“I hope so,” said Meyer, “since unless that atmosphere purifies a good
+deal I don’t think that even I dare go down again, and until one gets
+there, of that it is difficult to be sure, though of course a lantern on
+a string will tell one something.”
+
+This was the end of their first attempt. The search was not renewed
+until the following afternoon, when Meyer had recovered a little from
+the effects of the poisoning and the chafing of the hide ropes beneath
+his arms. Indeed, from the former he never did quite recover, since
+thenceforward Benita, who for her own reasons watched the man closely,
+discovered a marked and progressive change in his demeanour. Hitherto he
+had appeared to be a reserved man, one who kept tight hand upon himself,
+and, if she knew certain things about him, it was rather because she
+guessed, or deduced them, than because he allowed them to be seen. On
+two occasions only had he shown his heart before her--when they had
+spoken together by the shores of Lake Chrissie on the day of the arrival
+of the messengers, and he declared his ardent desire for wealth and
+power; and quite recently, when he killed the Matabele envoy. Yet she
+felt certain that this heart of his was very passionate and insurgent;
+that his calm was like the ice that hides the stream, beneath which its
+currents run fiercely, none can see whither. The fashion in which his
+dark eyes would flash, even when his pale countenance remained unmoved,
+told her so, as did other things.
+
+For instance, when he was recovering from his swoon, the first words
+that passed his lips were in German, of which she understood a little,
+and she thought that they shaped themselves to her name, coupled with
+endearing epithets. From that time forward he became less guarded--or,
+rather, it seemed as though he were gradually losing power to control
+himself. He would grow excited without apparent cause, and begin to
+declaim as to what he would do when he had found the gold; how he would
+pay the world back all it had caused him to suffer--how he would become
+a “king.”
+
+“I am afraid that you will find that exalted position rather lonely,”
+ said Benita with a careless laugh, and next minute was sorry that she
+had spoken, for he answered, looking at her in a way that she did not
+like:
+
+“Oh, no! There will be a queen--a beautiful queen, whom I shall endow
+with wealth, and deck with jewels, and surround with love and worship.”
+
+“What a fortunate lady!” she said, still laughing, but taking the
+opportunity to go away upon some errand.
+
+At other times, especially after dark, he would walk up and down in
+front of the cave, muttering to himself, or singing wild old German
+songs in his rich voice. Also, he made a habit of ascending the granite
+pillar and seating himself there, and more than once called down to
+her to come up and share his “throne.” Still, these outbreaks were so
+occasional that her father, whose perceptions appeared to Benita to be
+less keen than formerly, scarcely noticed them, and for the rest his
+demeanour was what it had always been.
+
+Further researches into the well being out of the question, their next
+step was to make a thorough inspection of the chapel-cave itself. They
+examined the walls inch by inch, tapping them with a hammer to hear if
+they sounded hollow, but without result. They examined the altar, but it
+proved to be a solid mass of rock. By the help of a little ladder they
+had made, they examined the crucifix, and discovered that the white
+figure on the cross had evidently been fashioned out of some heathen
+statue of soft limestone, for at its back were the remains of draperies,
+and long hair which the artist had not thought it necessary to cut away.
+Also, they found that the arms had been added, and were of a slightly
+different stone, and that the weight of the figure was taken partly by
+an iron staple which supported the body, and partly by strong copper
+wire twisted to resemble cord, and painted white, which was passed round
+the wrists and supported the arms. This wire ran through loops of rock
+cut in the traverse of the cross, that itself was only raised in relief
+by chiselling away the solid stone behind.
+
+Curiously enough, this part of the search was left to Mr. Clifford and
+Benita, since it was one that Jacob Meyer seemed reluctant to undertake.
+A Jew by birth, and a man who openly professed his want of belief in
+that or any other religion, he yet seemed to fear this symbol of the
+Christian faith, speaking of it as horrible and unlucky; yes, he who,
+without qualm or remorse, had robbed and desecrated the dead that
+lay about its feet. Well, the crucifix told them nothing; but as Mr.
+Clifford, lantern in hand, descended the ladder, which Benita held,
+Jacob Meyer, who was in front of the altar, called to them excitedly
+that he had found something.
+
+“Then it is more than we have,” said Mr. Clifford, as he laid down the
+ladder and hurried to him.
+
+Meyer was sounding the floor with a staff of wood--an operation which he
+had only just begun after the walls proved barren.
+
+“Listen now,” he said, letting the heavy staff drop a few paces to the
+right of the altar, where it produced the hard, metallic clang that
+comes from solid stone when struck. Then he moved to the front of the
+altar and dropped it again, but now the note was hollow and reverberant.
+Again and again he repeated the experiment, till they had exactly
+mapped out where the solid rock ended and that which seemed to be hollow
+began--a space of about eight feet square.
+
+“We’ve got it,” he said triumphantly. “That’s the entrance to the place
+where the gold is,” and the others were inclined to agree with him.
+
+Now it remained to put their theory to the proof--a task of no small
+difficulty. Indeed, it took them three days of hard, continual work.
+It will be remembered that the floor of the cave was cemented over, and
+first of all this cement, which proved to be of excellent quality, being
+largely composed of powdered granite, must be broken up. By the help
+of a steel crowbar, which they had brought with them in the waggon,
+at length that part of their task was completed, revealing the rock
+beneath. By this time Benita was confident that, whatever might lie
+below, it was not the treasure, since it was evident that the poor,
+dying Portuguese would not have had the time or the strength to cement
+it over. When she told the others so, however, Meyer, convinced that
+he was on the right tack, answered that doubtless it was done by the
+Makalanga after the Portuguese days, as it was well known that they
+retained a knowledge of the building arts of their forefathers until
+quite a recent period, when the Matabele began to kill them out.
+
+When at length the cement was cleared away and the area swept, they
+discovered--for there ran the line of it--that here a great stone was
+set into the floor; it must have weighed several tons. As it was set in
+cement, however, to lift it, even if they had the strength to work the
+necessary levers, proved quite impossible. There remained only one thing
+to be done--to cut a way through. When they had worked at this task for
+several hours, and only succeeded in making a hole six inches deep,
+Mr. Clifford, whose old bones ached and whose hands were very
+sore, suggested that perhaps they might break it up with gunpowder.
+Accordingly, a pound flask of that explosive was poured into the hole,
+which they closed over with wet clay and a heavy rock, leaving a
+quill through which ran an extemporized fuse of cotton wick. All being
+prepared, their fuse was lit, and they left the cave and waited.
+
+Five minutes afterwards the dull sound of an explosion reached their
+ears, but more than an hour went by before the smoke and fumes would
+allow them to enter the place, and then it was to find that the results
+did not equal their expectations. To begin with, the slab was only
+cracked--not shattered, since the strength of the powder had been
+expended upwards, not downwards, as would have happened in the case of
+dynamite, of which they had none. Moreover, either the heavy stone
+which they had placed upon it, striking the roof of the cave, or the
+concussion of the air, had brought down many tons of rock, and caused
+wide and dangerous-looking cracks. Also, though she said nothing of it,
+it seemed to Benita that the great white statue on the cross was leaning
+a little further forward than it used to do. So the net result of the
+experiment was that they were obliged to drag away great fragments of
+the fallen roof that lay upon the stone, which remained almost as solid
+and obdurate as before.
+
+So there was nothing for it but to go on working with the crowbar. At
+length, towards the evening of the third day of their labour, when the
+two men were utterly tired out, a hole was broken through, demonstrating
+the fact that beneath this cover lay a hollow of some sort. Mr.
+Clifford, to say nothing of Benita, who was heartily weary of the
+business, wished to postpone proceedings till the morrow, but Jacob
+Meyer would not. So they toiled on until about eleven o’clock at night,
+when at length the aperture was of sufficient size to admit a man. Now,
+as in the case of the well, they let down a stone tied to a string, to
+find that the place beneath was not more than eight feet deep. Then, to
+ascertain the condition of the air, a candle was lowered, which at first
+went out, but presently burnt well enough. This point settled, they
+brought their ladder, whereby Jacob descended with a lantern.
+
+In another minute they heard the sound of guttural German oaths rising
+through the hole. Mr. Clifford asked what was the matter, and received
+the reply that the place was a tomb, with nothing in it but an accursed
+dead monk, information at which Benita could not help bursting into
+laughter.
+
+The end of it was that both she and her father went down also, and
+there, sure enough, lay the remains of the old missionary in his cowl,
+with an ivory crucifix about his neck, and on his breast a scroll
+stating that he, Marco, born at Lisbon in 1438, had died at Bambatse in
+the year 1503, having laboured in the Empire of Monomotapa for seventeen
+years, and suffered great hardships and brought many souls to Christ.
+The scroll added that it was he, who before he entered into religion was
+a sculptor by trade, that had fashioned the figure on the cross in this
+chapel out of that of the heathen goddess which had stood in the same
+place from unknown antiquity. It ended with a request, addressed to all
+good Christians in Latin, that they who soon must be as he was would
+pray for his soul and not disturb his bones, which rested here in the
+hope of a blessed resurrection.
+
+When this pious wish was translated to Jacob Meyer by Mr. Clifford, who
+still retained some recollection of the classics which he had painfully
+acquired at Eton and Oxford, the Jew could scarcely contain his wrath.
+Indeed, looking at his bleeding hands, instead of praying for the soul
+of that excellent missionary, to reach whose remains he had laboured
+with such arduous, incessant toil, he cursed it wherever it might be,
+and unceremoniously swept the bones, which the document asked him not to
+disturb, into a corner of the tomb, in order to ascertain whether there
+was not, perhaps, some stair beneath them.
+
+“Really, Mr. Meyer,” said Benita, who, in spite of the solemnity of the
+surroundings, could not control her sense of humour, “if you are not
+careful the ghosts of all these people will haunt you.”
+
+“Let them haunt me if they can,” he answered furiously. “I don’t believe
+in ghosts, and defy them all.”
+
+At this moment, looking up, Benita saw a figure gliding out of the
+darkness into the ring of light, so silently that she started, for it
+might well have been one of those ghosts in whom Jacob Meyer did not
+believe. In fact, however, it was the old Molimo, who had a habit of
+coming upon them thus.
+
+“What says the white man?” he asked of Benita, while his dreamy eyes
+wandered over the three of them, and the hole in the violated tomb.
+
+“He says that he does not believe in spirits, and that he defies them,”
+ she answered.
+
+“The white gold-seeker does not believe in spirits, and he defies them,”
+ Mambo repeated in his sing-song voice. “He does not believe in the
+spirits that I see all around me now, the angry spirits of the dead,
+who speak together of where he shall lie and of what shall happen to
+him when he is dead, and of how they will welcome one who disturbs their
+rest and defies and curses them in his search for the riches which he
+loves. There is one standing by him now, dressed in a brown robe with a
+dead man cut in ivory like to that,” and he pointed to the crucifix in
+Jacob’s hands, “and he holds the ivory man above him and threatens him
+with sleepless centuries of sorrow, when he is also one of those spirits
+in which he does not believe.”
+
+Then Meyer’s rage blazed out. He turned upon the Molimo and reviled
+him in his own tongue, saying that he knew well where the treasure was
+hidden, and that if he did not point it out he would kill him and send
+him to his friends, the spirits. So savage and evil did he look that
+Benita retreated a little way, while Mr. Clifford strove in vain to calm
+him. But although Meyer laid his hand upon the knife in his belt and
+advanced upon him, the old Molimo neither budged an inch nor showed the
+slightest fear.
+
+“Let him rave on,” he said, when at length Meyer paused exhausted. “Just
+so in a time of storm the lightnings flash and the thunder peals, and
+the water foams down the face of rock; but then comes the sun again, and
+the hill is as it has ever been, only the storm is spent and lost. I
+am the rock, he is but the wind, the fire, and the rain. It is not
+permitted that he should hurt me, and those spirits in whom he does not
+believe treasure up his curses, to let them fall again like stones upon
+his head.”
+
+Then, with a contemptuous glance at Jacob, the old man turned and glided
+back into the darkness out of which he had appeared.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+BENITA PLANS ESCAPE
+
+The next morning, while she was cooking breakfast, Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer seated upon a rock at a little distance, sullen and disconsolate.
+His chin was resting on his hand, and he watched her intently, never
+taking his eyes from her face. She felt that he was concentrating his
+will upon her; that some new idea concerning her had come into his
+mind; for it was one of her miseries that she possessed the power of
+interpreting the drift of this man’s thoughts. Much as she detested him,
+there existed that curious link between them.
+
+It may be remembered that, on the night when they first met at the crest
+of Leopard’s Kloof, Jacob had called her a “thought-sender,” and some
+knowledge of their mental intimacy had come home to Benita. From that
+day forward her chief desire had been to shut a door between their
+natures, to isolate herself from him and him from her. Yet the attempt
+was never entirely successful.
+
+Fear and disgust took hold of her, bending there above the fire, all
+the while aware of the Jew’s dark eyes that searched her through and
+through. Benita formed a sudden determination. She would implore her
+father to come away with her.
+
+Of course, such an attempt would be terribly dangerous. Of the Matabele
+nothing had been seen; but they might be about, and even if enough
+cattle could be collected to draw the waggon, it belonged to Meyer as
+much as to her father, and must therefore be left for him. Still, there
+remained the two horses, which the Molimo had told her were well and
+getting fat.
+
+At this moment Meyer rose and began to speak to her.
+
+“What are you thinking of, Miss Clifford?” he asked in his soft foreign
+voice.
+
+She started, but answered readily enough:
+
+“Of the wood which is green, and the kid cutlets which are getting
+smoked. Are you not tired of kid, Mr. Meyer?” she went on.
+
+He waved the question aside. “You are so good--oh! I mean it--so really
+good that you should not tell stories even about small things. The wood
+is not green; I cut it myself from a dead tree; and the meat is not
+smoked; nor were you thinking of either. You were thinking of me, as I
+was thinking of you; but what exactly was in your mind, this time I do
+not know, and that is why I ask you to tell me.”
+
+“Really, Mr. Meyer,” she answered flushing; “my mind is my own
+property.”
+
+“Ah! do you say so? Now I hold otherwise--that it is my property, as
+mine is yours, a gift that Nature has given to each of us.”
+
+“I seek no such gift,” she answered; but even then, much as she would
+have wished to do so, she could not utter a falsehood, and deny this
+horrible and secret intimacy.
+
+“I am sorry for that, as I think it very precious; more precious even
+than the gold which we cannot find; for Miss Clifford, it brings me
+nearer you.”
+
+She turned upon him, but he held up his hand, and went on:
+
+“Oh! do not be angry with me, and do not fear that I am going to trouble
+you with soft speeches, for I shall not, unless a time should come, as
+I think that perhaps it will, when you may wish to listen to them. But I
+want to point out something to you, Miss Clifford. Is it not a wonderful
+thing that our minds should be so in tune, and is there not an object
+in all this? Did I believe as you do, I should say that it was Heaven
+working in us--no: do not answer that the working comes from lower down.
+I take no credit for reading that upon your lips; the retort is too
+easy and obvious. I am content to say, however, that the work is that
+of instinct and nature, or, if you will, of fate, pointing out a road by
+which together we might travel to great ends.”
+
+“I travel my road alone, Mr. Meyer.”
+
+“I know, I know, and that is the pity of it. The trouble between man and
+woman is that not in one case out of a million, even if they be lovers,
+do they understand each other. Their eyes may seek one another, their
+hands and lips may meet, and yet they remain distinct, apart, and often
+antagonistic. There is no communication of the soul. But when it chances
+to be hewn from the same rock as it were--oh! then what happiness may be
+theirs, and what opportunities!”
+
+“Possibly, Mr. Meyer; but, to be frank, the question does not interest
+me.”
+
+“Not yet; but I am sure that one day it will. Meanwhile, I owe you an
+apology. I lost my temper before you last night. Well, do not judge me
+hardly, for I was utterly worn out, and that old idiot vexed me with his
+talk about ghosts, in which I do not believe.”
+
+“Then why did it make you so angry? Surely you could have afforded to
+treat it with contempt, instead of doing--as you did.”
+
+“Upon my word! I don’t know, but I suppose most of us are afraid lest we
+should be forced to accept that which we refuse. This ancient place gets
+upon the nerves, Miss Clifford; yours as well as mine. I can afford
+to be open about it, because I know that you know. Think of its
+associations: all the crime that has been committed here for ages and
+ages, all the suffering that has been endured here. Doubtless human
+sacrifices were offered in this cave or outside of it; that great burnt
+ring in the rock there may have been where they built the fires. And
+then those Portuguese starving to death, slowly starving to death while
+thousands of savages watched them die. Have you ever thought what it
+means? But of course you have, for like myself you are cursed with
+imagination. God in heaven! is it wonderful that it gets upon the
+nerves? especially when one cannot find what one is looking for, that
+vast treasure”--and his face became ecstatic--“that shall yet be yours
+and mine, and make us great and happy.”
+
+“But which at present only makes me a scullery-maid and most unhappy,”
+ replied Benita cheerfully, for she heard her father’s footstep. “Don’t
+talk any more of the treasure, Mr. Meyer, or we shall quarrel. We have
+enough of that during business hours, when we are hunting for it, you
+know. Give me the dish, will you? This meat is cooked at last.”
+
+Still Benita could not be rid of that treasure, since after breakfast
+the endless, unprofitable search began again. Once more the cave was
+sounded, and other hollow places were discovered upon which the two men
+got to work. With infinite labour three of them were broken into in as
+many days, and like the first, found to be graves, only this time of
+ancients who, perhaps, had died before Christ was born. There they lay
+upon their sides, their bones burnt by the hot cement that had been
+poured over them, their gold-headed and gold-ferruled rods of office in
+their hands, their gold-covered pillows of wood, such as the Egyptians
+used, beneath their skulls, gold bracelets upon their arms and ankles,
+cakes of gold beneath them which had fallen from the rotted pouches that
+once hung about their waists, vases of fine glazed pottery that had
+been filled with offerings, or in some cases with gold dust to pay the
+expenses of their journey in the other world, standing round them, and
+so forth.
+
+In their way these discoveries were rich enough--from one tomb alone
+they took over a hundred and thirty ounces of gold--to say nothing of
+their surpassing archæological interest. Still they were not what
+they sought: all that gathered wealth of Monomotapa which the fleeing
+Portuguese had brought with them and buried in this, their last
+stronghold.
+
+Benita ceased to take the slightest interest in the matter; she would
+not even be at the pains to go to look at the third skeleton, although
+it was that of a man who had been almost a giant, and, to judge from the
+amount of bullion which he took to the tomb with him, a person of
+great importance in his day. She felt as though she wished never to see
+another human bone or ancient bead or bangle; the sight of a street
+in Bayswater in a London fog--yes, or a toy-shop window in Westbourne
+Grove--would have pleased her a hundred times better than these unique
+remains that, had they known of them in those days, would have sent half
+the learned societies of Europe crazy with delight. She wished to escape
+from Bambatse, its wondrous fortifications, its mysterious cone, its
+cave, its dead, and--from Jacob Meyer.
+
+Benita stood upon the top of her prison wall and looked with longing at
+the wide, open lands below. She even dared to climb the stairs which
+ran up the mighty cone of granite, and seated herself in the cup-like
+depression on its crest, whence Jacob Meyer had called to her to come
+and share his throne. It was a dizzy place, for the pillar leaning
+outwards, its point stood almost clear of the water-scarped rock, so
+that beneath her was a sheer drop of about four hundred feet to the
+Zambesi bed. At first the great height made her feel faint. Her eyes
+swam, and unpleasant tremors crept along her spine, so that she was glad
+to sink to the floor, whence she knew she could not fall. By degrees,
+however, she recovered her nerve, and was able to study the glorious
+view of stream and marshes and hills beyond.
+
+For she had come here with a purpose, to see whether it would not be
+possible to escape down the river in a canoe, or in native boats such as
+the Makalanga owned and used for fishing, or to cross from bank to bank.
+Apparently it was impossible, for although the river beneath and
+above them was still enough, about a mile below began a cataract that
+stretched as far as she could see, and was bordered on either side by
+rocky hills covered with forest, over which, even if they could obtain
+porters, a canoe could not be carried. This, indeed, she had already
+heard from the Molimo, but knowing his timid nature, she wished to judge
+of the matter for herself. It came to this then: if they were to go, it
+must be on the horses.
+
+Descending the cone Benita went to find her father, to whom as yet she
+had said nothing of her plans. The opportunity was good, for she knew
+that he would be alone. As it chanced, on that afternoon Meyer had gone
+down the hill in order to try to persuade the Makalanga to give them
+ten or twenty men to help them in their excavations. In this, it will
+be remembered, he had already failed so far as the Molimo was concerned,
+but he was not a man easily turned from his purpose, and he thought that
+if he could see Tamas and some of the other captains he might be able
+by bribery, threats, or otherwise, to induce them to forget their
+superstitious fears, and help in the search. As a matter of fact, he was
+utterly unsuccessful, since one and all they declared that for them to
+enter that sacred place would mean their deaths, and that the vengeance
+of Heaven would fall upon their tribe and destroy it root and branch.
+
+Mr. Clifford, on whom all this heavy labour had begun to tell, was
+taking advantage of the absence of his taskmaster, Jacob, to sleep
+awhile in the hut which they had now built for themselves beneath the
+shadow of the baobab-tree. As she reached it he came out yawning, and
+asked her where she had been. Benita told him.
+
+“A giddy place,” he said. “I have never ventured to try it myself. What
+did you go up there for, dear?”
+
+“To look at the river while Mr. Meyer was away, father; for if he had
+seen me do so he would have guessed my reason; indeed, I dare say that
+he will guess it now.”
+
+“What reason, Benita?”
+
+“To see whether it would not be possible to escape down it in a boat.
+But there is no chance. It is all rapids below, with hills and rocks and
+trees on either bank.”
+
+“What need have you to escape at present?” he asked, eyeing her
+curiously.
+
+“Every need,” she answered with passion. “I hate this place; it is a
+prison, and I loathe the very name of treasure. Also,” and she paused.
+
+“Also what, dear?”
+
+“Also,” and her voice sank to a whisper, as though she feared that he
+should overhear her even at the bottom of the hill; “also, I am afraid
+of Mr. Meyer.”
+
+This confession did not seem to surprise her father, who merely nodded
+his head and said:
+
+“Go on.”
+
+“Father, I think that he is going mad, and it is not pleasant for us to
+be cooped up here alone with a madman, especially when he has begun to
+speak to me as he does now.”
+
+“You don’t mean that he has been impertinent to you,” said the old man,
+flushing up, “for if so----”
+
+“No, not impertinent--as yet,” and she told him what had passed between
+Meyer and herself, adding, “You see, father, I detest this man; indeed,
+I want to have nothing to do with any man; for me all that is over and
+done with,” and she gave a dry little sob which appeared to come from
+her very heart. “And yet, he seems to be getting some kind of power over
+me. He follows me about with his eyes, prying into my mind, and I feel
+that he is beginning to be able to read it. I can bear no more. Father,
+father, for God’s sake, take me away from this hateful hill and its gold
+and its dead, and let us get out into the veld again together.”
+
+“I should be glad enough, dearest,” he answered. “I have had plenty of
+this wild-goose chase, which I was so mad as to be led into by the love
+of wealth. Indeed, I am beginning to believe that if it goes on much
+longer I shall leave my bones here.”
+
+“And if such a dreadful thing as that were to happen, what would become
+of me, alone with Jacob Meyer?” she asked quietly. “I might even be
+driven to the same fate as that poor girl two hundred years ago,” and
+she pointed to the cone of rock behind her.
+
+“For Heaven’s sake, don’t talk like that!” he broke in.
+
+“Why not? One must face things, and it would be better than Jacob Meyer;
+for who would protect me here?”
+
+Mr. Clifford walked up and down for a few minutes, while his daughter
+watched him anxiously.
+
+“I can see no plan,” he said, stopping opposite her. “We cannot take the
+waggon even if there are enough oxen left to draw it, for it is his
+as much as mine, and I am sure that he will never leave this treasure
+unless he is driven away.”
+
+“And I am sure I hope that he will not. But, father, the horses are our
+own; it was his that died, you remember. We can ride away on them.”
+
+He stared at her and answered:
+
+“Yes, we could ride away to our deaths. Suppose they got sick or lame;
+suppose we meet the Matabele, or could find no game to shoot; suppose
+one of us fell ill--oh! and a hundred things. What then?”
+
+“Why, then it is just as well to perish in the wilderness as here, where
+our risks are almost as great. We must take our chance, and trust
+to God. Perhaps He will be merciful and help us. Listen now, father.
+To-morrow is Sunday, when you and I do no work that we can help. Mr.
+Meyer is a Jew, and he won’t waste Sunday. Well now, I will say that I
+want to go down to the outer wall to fetch some clothes which I left
+in the waggon, and to take others for the native women to wash, and
+of course you will come with me. Perhaps he will be deceived, and stay
+behind, especially as he has been there to-day. Then we can get the
+horses and guns and ammunition, and anything else that we can carry in
+the way of food, and persuade the old Molimo to open the gate for us.
+You know, the little side gate that cannot be seen from up here, and
+before Mr. Meyer misses us and comes to look, we shall be twenty miles
+away, and--horses can’t be overtaken by a man on foot.”
+
+“He will say that we have deserted him, and that will be true.”
+
+“You can leave a letter with the Molimo explaining that it was my fault,
+that I was getting ill and thought that I should die, and that you knew
+it would not be fair to ask him to come, and so to lose the treasure,
+to every halfpenny of which he is welcome when it is found. Oh! father,
+don’t hesitate any longer; say that you will take me away from Mr.
+Meyer.”
+
+“So be it then,” answered Mr. Clifford, and as he spoke, hearing a
+sound, they looked up and saw Jacob approaching them.
+
+Luckily he was so occupied with his own thoughts that he never noted the
+guilty air upon their faces, and they had time to compose themselves a
+little. But even thus his suspicions were aroused.
+
+“What are you talking of so earnestly?” he asked.
+
+“We were wondering how you were getting on with the Makalanga,” answered
+Benita, fibbing boldly, “and whether you would persuade them to face the
+ghosts. Did you?”
+
+“Not I,” he answered with a scowl. “Those ghosts are our worst enemies
+in this place; the cowards swore that they would rather die. I should
+have liked to take some of them at their word and make ghosts of
+them; but I remembered the situation and didn’t. Don’t be afraid, Miss
+Clifford, I never even lost my temper, outwardly at any rate. Well,
+there it is; if they won’t help us, we must work the harder. I’ve got a
+new plan, and we’ll begin on it to-morrow.”
+
+“Not to-morrow, Mr. Meyer,” replied Benita with a smile. “It is Sunday,
+and we rest on Sunday, you know.”
+
+“Oh! I forgot. The Makalanga with their ghosts and you with your
+Sunday--really I do not know which is the worse. Well, then, I must do
+my own share and yours too, I suppose,” and he turned with a shrug of
+his shoulders.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE FLIGHT
+
+The next morning, Sunday, Meyer went to work on his new plan. What it
+was Benita did not trouble to inquire, but she gathered that it had
+something to do with the measuring out of the chapel cave into squares
+for the more systematic investigation of each area. At twelve o’clock he
+emerged for his midday meal, in the course of which he remarked that it
+was very dreary working in that place alone, and that he would be glad
+when it was Monday, and they could accompany him. His words evidently
+disturbed Mr. Clifford not a little, and even excited some compunction
+in the breast of Benita.
+
+What would his feelings be, she wondered, when he found that they
+had run away, leaving him to deal with their joint undertaking
+single-handed! Almost was she minded to tell him the whole truth;
+yet--and this was a curious evidence of the man’s ascendancy over
+her--she did not. Perhaps she felt that to do so would be to put an end
+to their scheme, since then by argument, blandishments, threats, force,
+or appeal to their sense of loyalty, it mattered not which, he would
+bring about its abandonment. But she wanted to fulfil that scheme, to
+be free of Bambatse, its immemorial ruins, its graveyard cave, and
+the ghoul, Jacob Meyer, who could delve among dead bones and in living
+hearts with equal skill and insight, and yet was unable to find the
+treasure that lay beneath either of them.
+
+So they hid the truth, and talked with feverish activity about other
+things, such as the drilling of the Makalanga, and the chances of an
+attack by the Matabele, which happily now seemed to be growing small;
+also of the conditions of their cattle, and the prospect of obtaining
+more to replace those that had died. Indeed, Benita went farther; in her
+new-found zeal of deception she proceeded to act a lie, yes, even with
+her father’s reproachful eyes fixed upon her. Incidentally she mentioned
+that they were going to have an outing, to climb down the ladder and
+visit the Makalanga camp between the first and second walls and mix with
+the great world for a few hours; also to carry their washing to be done
+there, and bring up some clean clothes and certain books which she had
+left below.
+
+Jacob came out of his thoughts and calculations, and listened gloomily.
+
+“I have half a mind to come with you,” he said, words at which Benita
+shivered. “It certainly is most cursed lonesome in that cave, and I seem
+to hear things in it, as though those old bones were rattling, sounds
+like sighs and whispers too, which are made by the draught.”
+
+“Well, why don’t you?” asked Benita.
+
+It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded. If he had any doubts they
+vanished, and he answered at once:
+
+“Because I have not the time. We have to get this business finished one
+way or another before the wet season comes on, and we are drowned out of
+the place with rain, or rotted by fever. Take your afternoon out, Miss
+Clifford; every maid of all work is entitled to as much, and I am afraid
+that is your billet here. Only,” he added, with that care for her safety
+which he always showed in his more temperate moods, “pray be careful,
+Clifford, to get back before sundown. That wall is too risky for your
+daughter to climb in the dusk. Call me from the foot of it; you have the
+whistle, and I will come down to help her up. I think I’ll go with you
+after all. No, I won’t. I made myself so unpleasant to them yesterday
+that those Makalanga can’t wish to see any more of me at present. I hope
+you will have a more agreeable afternoon than I shall. Why don’t you
+take a ride outside the wall? Your horses are fat and want exercise, and
+I do not think that you need be afraid of the Matabele.” Then without
+waiting for an answer, he rose and left them.
+
+Mr. Clifford looked after him doubtfully.
+
+“Oh, I know,” said Benita, “it seems horribly mean, but one must do
+shabby things sometimes. Here are the bundles all ready, so let us be
+off.”
+
+Accordingly they went, and from the top of the wall Benita glanced back
+to bid goodbye to that place which she hoped never to see again. Yet she
+could not feel as though she looked her last upon it; to her it wore
+no air of farewell, and even as she descended the perilous stairs, she
+found herself making mental notes as to how they might best be climbed
+again. Also, she could not believe that she had done with Mr. Meyer. It
+seemed to her as though for a long while yet her future would be full of
+him.
+
+They reached the outer fortifications in safety, and there were greeted
+with some surprise but with no displeasure by the Makalanga, whom they
+found still drilling with the rifles, in the use of which a certain
+number of them appeared to have become fairly proficient. Going to
+the hut in which the spare goods from the waggon had been stored, they
+quickly made their preparations. Here also, Mr. Clifford wrote a letter,
+one of the most unpleasant that he had ever been called upon to compose.
+It ran thus:
+
+“Dear Meyer,
+
+“I don’t know what you will think of us, but we are escaping from this
+place. The truth is that I am not well, and my daughter can bear it no
+longer. She says that if she stops here, she will die, and that hunting
+for treasure in that ghastly grave-yard is shattering her nerves. I
+should have liked to tell you, but she begged me not, being convinced
+that if I did, you would over-persuade us or stop us in some way. As for
+the gold, if you can find it, take it all. I renounce my share. We are
+leaving you the waggon and the oxen, and starting down country on our
+horses. It is a perilous business, but less so than staying here, under
+the circumstances. If we never meet again we hope that you will forgive
+us, and wish you all good fortune.--Yours sincerely and with much
+regret,
+
+“T. Clifford.”
+
+
+The letter written, they saddled the horses which had been brought up
+for their inspection, and were found to be in good case, and fastened
+their scanty belongings, and as many cartridges as they could carry in
+packs behind their saddles. Then, each of them armed with a rifle--for
+during their long journeyings Benita had learned to shoot--they mounted
+and made for the little side-entrance, as the main gate through which
+they had passed on their arrival was now built up. This side-entrance, a
+mere slit in the great wall, with a precipitous approach, was open, for
+now that their fear of the Matabele had to some extent passed off, the
+Makalanga used it to drive their sheep and goats in and out, since it
+was so constructed with several twists and turns in the thickness of the
+wall, that in a few minutes it could be effectually blocked by stones
+that lay at hand. Also, the ancient architect had arranged it in such
+a fashion that it was entirely commanded from the crest of the wall on
+either side.
+
+The Makalanga, who had been watching their proceedings curiously, made
+no attempt to stop them, although they guessed that they might have a
+little trouble with the sentries who guarded the entrances all day, and
+even when it was closed at night, with whom also Mr. Clifford proposed
+to leave the letter. When they reached the place, however, and had
+dismounted to lead the horses down the winding passage and the steep
+ascent upon its further side, it was to find that the only guard visible
+proved to be the old Molimo himself, who sat there, apparently half
+asleep.
+
+But as they came he showed himself to be very much awake, for without
+moving he asked them at once whither they were going.
+
+“To take a ride,” answered Mr. Clifford. “The lady, my daughter, is
+weary of being cooped up in this fortress, and wishes to breathe the air
+without. Let us pass, friend, or we shall not be back by sunset.”
+
+“If you be coming back at sunset, white man, why do you carry so
+many things upon your packs, and why are your saddle-bags filled with
+cartridges?” he asked. “Surely you do not speak the truth to me, and you
+hope that never more will you see the sun set upon Bambatse.”
+
+Now understanding that it was hopeless to deceive him, Benita exclaimed
+boldly:
+
+“It is so; but oh! my Father, stay us not, for fear is behind us, and
+therefore we fly hence.”
+
+“And is there no fear before you, maiden? Fear of the wilderness, where
+none wander save perchance the Amandabele with their bloody spears; fear
+of wild beasts and of sickness that may overtake you so that, first one
+and then the other, you perish there?”
+
+“There is plenty, my Father, but none of them so bad as the fear behind.
+Yonder place is haunted, and we give up our search and would dwell there
+no more.”
+
+“It is haunted truly, maiden, but its spirits will not harm you whom
+they welcome as one appointed, and we are ever ready to protect you
+because of their command that has come to me in dreams. Nor, indeed, is
+it the spirits whom you fear, but rather the white man, your companion,
+who would bend you to his will. Deny it not, for I have seen it all.”
+
+“Then knowing the truth, surely you will let us go,” she pleaded, “for I
+swear to you that I dare not stay.”
+
+“Who am I that I should forbid you?” he asked. “Yet I tell you that you
+would do well to stay and save yourselves much terror. Maiden, have
+I not said it days and days ago, that here and here only you must
+accomplish your fate? Go now if you will, but you shall return again,”
+ and once more he seemed to begin to doze in the sun.
+
+The two of them consulted hastily together.
+
+“It is no use turning back now,” said Benita, who was almost weeping
+with doubt and vexation. “I will not be frightened by his vague talk.
+What can he know of the future more than any of the rest of us? Besides,
+all he says is that we shall come back again, and if that does happen,
+at least we shall have been free for a little while. Come, father.”
+
+“As you wish,” answered Mr. Clifford, who seemed too miserable and
+depressed to argue. Only he threw down the letter upon the Molimo’s lap,
+and begged him to give it to Meyer when he came to look for them.
+
+The old man took no notice; no, not even when Benita bade him farewell
+and thanked him for his kindness, praying that all good fortune might
+attend him and his tribe, did he answer a single word or even look
+up. So they led their horses down the narrow passage where there was
+scarcely room for them to pass, and up the steep path beyond. On
+the further side of the ancient ditch they remounted them while the
+Makalanga watched them from the walls, and cantered away along the same
+road by which they had come.
+
+Now this road, or rather track, ran first through the gardens and then
+among the countless ruined houses that in bygone ages formed the great
+city whereof the mount Bambatse had been the citadel and sanctuary.
+The relics of a lost civilization extended for several miles, and were
+bounded by a steep and narrow neck or pass in the encircling hills, the
+same that Robert Seymour and his brother had found too difficult for
+their waggon at the season in which they visited the place some years
+before. This pass, or port as it is called in South Africa, had been
+strongly fortified, for on either side of it were the ruins of towers.
+Moreover, at its crest it was so narrow and steep-sided that a few men
+posted there, even if they were armed only with bows and arrows, could
+hold an attacking force in check for a considerable time. Beyond it,
+after the hill was descended, a bush-clad plain dotted with kopjes and
+isolated granite pillars formed of boulders piled one upon another,
+rolled away for many miles.
+
+Mr. Clifford and Benita had started upon their mad journey about three
+o’clock in the afternoon, and when the sun began to set they found
+themselves upon this plain fifteen or sixteen miles from Bambatse, of
+which they had long lost sight, for it lay beyond the intervening hills.
+Near to them was a kopje, where they had outspanned by a spring of water
+when on their recent journey, and since they did not dare to travel in
+the dark, here they determined to off-saddle, for round this spring was
+good grass for the horses.
+
+As it chanced, they came upon some hartebeeste here which were trekking
+down to drink, but although they would have been glad of meat, they were
+afraid to shoot, fearing lest they should attract attention; nor for the
+same reason did they like to light a fire. So having knee-haltered the
+horses in such fashion that they could not wander far, and turned them
+loose to feed, they sat down under a tree, and made some sort of a meal
+off the biltong and cooked corn which they had brought with them. By the
+time this was finished darkness fell, for there was little moon, so that
+nothing remained to do except to sleep within a circle of a few dead
+thorn-boughs which they had drawn about their camp. This, then, they
+did, and so weary were they both, that notwithstanding all the emotions
+through which they had passed, and their fears lest lions should attack
+them--for of these brutes there were many in this veld--rested soundly
+and undisturbed till within half an hour of dawn.
+
+Rising somewhat chilled, for though the air was warm a heavy dew had
+soaked their blankets, once more they ate and drank by starlight, while
+the horses, which they had tied up close to them during the night,
+filled themselves with grass. At the first break of day they saddled
+them, and before the sun rose were on their road again. At length up
+it came, and the sight and warmth of it put new heart into Benita. Her
+fears seemed to depart with the night, and she said to her father that
+this successful start was of good augury, to which he only answered that
+he hoped so.
+
+All that day they rode forward in beautiful weather, not pressing their
+horses, for now they were sure that Jacob Meyer, who if he followed at
+all must do so on foot, would never be able to overtake them. At noon
+they halted, and having shot a small buck, Benita cooked some of it in
+the one pot that they had brought with them, and they ate a good meal of
+fresh meat.
+
+Riding on again, towards sundown they came to another of their old
+camping-places, also a bush-covered kopje. Here the spring of water
+was more than halfway up the hill, so there they off-saddled in a green
+bower of a place that because of its ferns and mosses looked like a rock
+garden. Now, although they had enough cold meat for food, they thought
+themselves quite safe in lighting a fire. Indeed, this it seemed
+necessary to do, since they had struck the fresh spoor of lions, and
+even caught sight of one galloping away in the tall reeds on the marshy
+land at the foot of the hill.
+
+That evening they fared sumptuously upon venison, and as on the previous
+day lay down to rest in a little “boma” or fence made of boughs. But
+they were not allowed to sleep well this night, for scarcely had they
+shut their eyes when a hyena began to howl about them. They shouted
+and the brute went away, but an hour or two later, they heard ominous
+grunting sounds, followed presently by a loud roar, which was answered
+by another roar, whereat the horses began to whinny in a frightened
+fashion.
+
+“Lions!” said Mr. Clifford, jumping up and throwing dead wood on the
+fire till it burnt to a bright blaze.
+
+After that all sleep became impossible, for although the lions did not
+attack them, having once winded the horses they would not go away, but
+continued wandering round the kopje, grunting and growling. This went
+on till abut three o’clock in the morning, when at last the beasts took
+their departure, for they heard them roaring in the distance. Now that
+they seemed safe, having first made up the fire, they tried to get some
+rest.
+
+When, as it appeared to her, Benita had been asleep but a little while,
+she was awakened by a new noise. It was still dark, but the starlight
+showed her that the horses were quite quiet; indeed, one of them was
+lying down, and the other eating some green leaves from the branches
+of the tree to which it was tethered. Therefore that noise had not come
+from any wild animal of which they were afraid. She listened intently,
+and presently heard it again; it was a murmur like to that of people
+talking somewhere at the bottom of the hill. Then she woke her father
+and told him, but although once or twice they thought they heard the
+sound of footsteps, nothing else could be distinguished. Still they
+rose, and having saddled and bridled the horses as noiselessly as might
+be, waited for the dawn.
+
+At last it came. Up on the side of the kopje they were in clear air,
+above which shone the red lights of morning, but under them lay billows
+of dense, pearl-hued mist. By degrees this thinned beneath the rays of
+the risen sun, and through it, looking gigantic in that light, Benita
+saw a savage wrapped in a kaross, who was walking up and down and
+yawning, a great spear in his hand.
+
+“Look,” she whispered, “look!” and Mr. Clifford stared down the line of
+her outstretched finger.
+
+“The Matabele,” he said. “My God! the Matabele!”
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE CHASE
+
+The Matabele it was, sure enough; there could be no doubt of it, for
+soon three other men joined the sentry and began to talk with him,
+pointing with their great spears at the side of the hill. Evidently they
+were arranging a surprise when there was sufficient light to carry it
+out.
+
+“They have seen our fire,” whispered her father to Benita; “now, if
+we wish to save our lives, there is only one thing to do--ride for it
+before they muster. The impi will be camped upon the other side of the
+hill, so we must take the road we came by.”
+
+“That runs back to Bambatse,” faltered Benita.
+
+“Bambatse is better than the grave,” said her father. “Pray Heaven that
+we may get there.”
+
+To this argument there was no answer, so having drunk a sup of water,
+and swallowing a few mouthfuls of food as they went, they crept to the
+horses, mounted them, and as silently as possible began to ride down the
+hill.
+
+The sentry was alone again, the other three men having departed. He
+stood with his back towards them. Presently when they were quite close
+on to him, he heard their horses’ hoofs upon the grass, wheeled round at
+the sound, and saw them. Then with a great shout he lifted his spear and
+charged.
+
+Mr. Clifford, who was leading, held out his rifle at arm’s length--to
+raise it to his shoulder he had no time--and pulled the trigger. Benita
+heard the bullet clap upon the hide shield, and next instant saw the
+Matabele warrior lying on his back, beating the air with his hands and
+feet. Also, she saw beyond the shoulder of the kopje, which they were
+rounding, hundreds of men marching, and behind them a herd of cattle,
+the dim light gleaming upon the stabbing spears and on the horns of the
+oxen. She glanced to the right, and there were more men. The two wings
+of the impi were closing upon them. Only a little lane was left in the
+middle. They must get through before it shut.
+
+“Come,” she gasped, striking the horse with her heel and the butt of her
+gun, and jerking at its mouth.
+
+Her father saw also, and did likewise, so that the beasts broke into a
+gallop. Now from the point of each wing sprang out thin lines of men,
+looking like great horns, or nippers, whose business it was to meet and
+cut them off. Could they pass between them before they did meet? That
+was the question, and upon its answer it depended whether or no they had
+another three minutes to live. To think of mercy at the hands of these
+bloodthirsty brutes, after they had just killed one of their number
+before their eyes, was absurd. It was true he had been shot in
+self-defence; but what count would savages take of that, or of the
+fact that they were but harmless travellers? White people were not very
+popular with the Matabele just then, as they knew well; also, their
+murder in this remote place, with not another of their race within a
+couple of hundred miles, would never even be reported, and much less
+avenged. It was as safe as any crime could possibly be.
+
+All this passed through their minds as they galloped towards those
+closing points. Oh! the horror of it! But two hundred yards to cover,
+and their fate would be decided. Either they would have escaped at least
+for a while, or time would be done with them; or, a third alternative,
+they might be taken prisoners, in all probability a yet more dreadful
+doom. Even then Benita determined that if she could help it this should
+not befall her. She had the rifle and the revolver that Jacob Meyer had
+given her. Surely she would be able to find a moment to use one or the
+other upon herself. She clenched her teeth, and struck the horse again
+and again, so that now they flew along. The Matabele soldiers were
+running their best to catch them, and if these had been given but
+five seconds of start, caught they must have been. But that short five
+seconds saved their lives.
+
+When they rushed through them the foremost men of the nippers were not
+more than twenty yards apart. Seeing that they had passed, these halted
+and hurled a shower of spears after them. One flashed by Benita’s cheek,
+a line of light; she felt the wind of it. Another cut her dress, and
+a third struck her father’s horse in the near hind leg just above the
+knee-joint, remaining fast there for a stride or two, and then falling
+to the ground. At first the beast did not seem to be incommoded by this
+wound; indeed, it only caused it to gallop quicker, and Benita rejoiced,
+thinking that it was but a scratch. Then she forgot about it, for some
+of the Matabele, who had guns, began to shoot them, and although their
+marksmanship was vile, one or two of the bullets went nearer than was
+pleasant. Lastly a man, the swiftest runner of them all, shouted after
+them in Zulu:
+
+“The horse is wounded. We will catch you both before the sun sets.”
+
+Then they passed over the crest of a rise and lost sight of them for a
+while.
+
+“Thank God!” gasped Benita when they were alone again in the silent
+veld; but Mr. Clifford shook his head.
+
+“Do you think they will follow us?” she asked.
+
+“You heard what the fellow said,” he answered evasively. “Doubtless they
+are on their way to attack Bambatse, and have been round to destroy some
+other wretched tribe, and steal the cattle which we saw. Yes, I fear
+that they will follow. The question is, which of us can get to Bambatse
+first.”
+
+“Surely we ought to on the horses, father.”
+
+“Yes, if nothing happens to them,” and as he spoke the words the mare
+which he was riding dropped sharply upon her hind leg, the same that had
+been struck with the spear; then recovered herself and galloped on.
+
+“Did you see that?” he asked.
+
+She nodded; then said:
+
+“Shall we get off and look at the cut?”
+
+“Certainly not,” he answered. “Our only chance is to keep her moving;
+if once the wound stiffens, there’s an end. The sinew cannot have been
+severed, or it would have come before now.”
+
+So they pushed on.
+
+All that morning did they canter forward wherever the ground was smooth
+enough to allow them to do so, and notwithstanding the increasing
+lameness of Mr. Clifford’s mare, made such good progress that by midday
+they reached the place where they had passed the first night after
+leaving Bambatse. Here sheer fatigue and want of water forced them to
+stop a little while. They dismounted and drank greedily from the
+spring, after which they allowed the horses to drink also; indeed it was
+impossible to keep them away from the water. Then they ate a little, not
+because they desired food, but to keep up their strength, and while
+they did so examined the mare. By now her hind leg was much swollen, and
+blood still ran from the gash made by the assegai. Moreover, the limb
+was drawn up so that the point of the hoof only rested on the ground.
+
+“We must get on before it sets fast,” said Mr. Clifford, and they
+mounted again.
+
+Great heavens! what was this? The mare would not stir. In his despair
+Mr. Clifford beat it cruelly, whereupon the poor brute hobbled forward
+a few paces on three legs, and again came to a standstill. Either an
+injured sinew had given or the inflammation was now so intense that it
+could not bend its knee. Understanding what this meant to them, Benita’s
+nerve gave out at last, and she burst into weeping.
+
+“Don’t cry, love,” he said. “God’s will be done. Perhaps they have given
+up the hunt by now; at any rate, my legs are left, and Bambatse is
+not more than sixteen miles away. Forward now,” and holding to her
+saddle-strap they went up the long, long slope which led to the poort in
+the hills around Bambatse.
+
+They would have liked to shoot the mare, but being afraid to fire a
+rifle, could not do so. So they left the unhappy beast to its fate, and
+with it everything it carried, except a few of the cartridges. Before
+they went, however, at Benita’s prayer, her father devoted a few seconds
+to unbuckling the girths and pulling off the bridle, so that it might
+have a chance of life. For a little way it hobbled after them on three
+legs, then, the saddle still upon its back, stood whinnying piteously,
+till at last, to Benita’s intense relief, a turn in their path hid it
+from their sight.
+
+Half a mile further on she looked round in the faint hope that it
+might have recovered itself and followed. But no mare was to be seen.
+Something else was to be seen, however, for there, three or four miles
+away upon the plain behind them, easy to be distinguished in that
+dazzling air, were a number of black spots that occasionally seemed to
+sparkle.
+
+“What are they?” she asked faintly, as one who feared the answer.
+
+“The Matabele who follow us,” answered her father, “or rather a company
+of their swiftest runners. It is their spears that glitter so. Now,
+my love, this is the position,” he went on, as they struggled forward:
+“those men will catch us before ever we can get to Bambatse; they are
+trained to run like that, for fifty miles, if need be. But with this
+start they cannot catch your horse, you must go on and leave me to look
+after myself.”
+
+“Never, never!” she exclaimed.
+
+“But you shall, and you must. I am your father and I order you. As for
+me, what does it matter? I may hide from them and escape, or--at least I
+am old, my life is done, whereas yours is before you. Now, good-bye, and
+go on,” and he let go of the saddle-strap.
+
+By way of answer Benita pulled up the horse.
+
+“Not one yard,” she said, setting her mouth.
+
+Then he began to storm at her, calling her disobedient, and undutiful,
+and when this means failed to move her, to implore her almost with
+tears.
+
+“Father, dear,” she said, leaning down towards him as he walked, for
+now they were going on again, “I told you why I wanted to run away from
+Bambatse, didn’t I?--because I would rather risk my life than stay.
+Well, do you think that I wish to return there and live in that place
+alone with Jacob Meyer? Also, I will tell you another thing. You
+remember about Mr. Seymour? Well, I can’t get over that; I can’t get
+over it at all, and therefore, although of course I am afraid, it is all
+one to me. No, we will escape together, or die together; the first if we
+can.”
+
+Then with a groan he gave up the argument, and as he found breath they
+discussed their chances. Their first idea was to hide, but save for a
+few trees all the country was open; there was no place to cover them.
+They thought of the banks of the Zambesi, but between them and the river
+rose a bare, rock-strewn hill with several miles of slope. Long before
+they could reach its crest, even if a horse were able to travel there,
+they must be overtaken. In short, there was nothing to do except to push
+for the nek, and if they were fortunate enough to reach it before the
+Matabele, to abandon the horse there and try to conceal themselves among
+the ruins of the houses beyond. This, perhaps, they might do when once
+the sun was down.
+
+But they did not deceive themselves; the chances were at least fifty to
+one against them, unless indeed their pursuers grew weary and let them
+go.
+
+At present, however, they were by no means weary, for having perceived
+them from far away, the long-legged runners put on the pace, and the
+distance between them and their quarry was lessening.
+
+“Father,” said Benita, “please understand one thing. I do not mean to be
+taken alive by those savages.”
+
+“Oh! how can I----” he faltered.
+
+“I don’t ask you,” she answered. “I will see to that myself. Only, if I
+should make any mistake----” and she looked at him.
+
+The old man was getting very tired. He panted up the steep hillside,
+and stumbled against the stones. Benita noted it, and slipping from the
+horse, made him mount while she ran alongside. Then when he was a
+little rested they changed places again, and so covered several miles
+of country. Subsequently, when both of them were nearly exhausted, they
+tried riding together--she in front and he behind, for their baggage had
+long since been thrown away. But the weary beast could not carry this
+double burden, and after a few hundred yards of it, stumbled, fell,
+struggled to its feet again, and stopped.
+
+So once more they were obliged to ride and walk alternately.
+
+Now there was not much more than an hour of daylight left, and the
+narrow pass lay about three miles ahead of them. That dreadful three
+miles; ever thereafter it was Benita’s favourite nightmare! At the
+beginning of it the leading Matabele were about two thousand yards
+behind them; half-way, about a thousand; and at the commencement of the
+last mile, say five hundred.
+
+Nature is a wonderful thing, and great are its resources in extremity.
+As the actual crisis approached, the weariness of these two seemed to
+depart, or at any rate it was forgotten. They no longer felt exhausted,
+nor, had they been fresh from their beds, could they have climbed or run
+better. Even the horse seemed to find new energy, and when it lagged
+Mr. Clifford dug the point of his hunting knife into its flank. Gasping,
+panting, now one mounted and now the other, they struggled on towards
+that crest of rock, while behind them came death in the shape of those
+sleuth-hounds of Matabele. The sun was going down, and against its
+flaming ball, when they glanced back they could see their dark forms
+outlined; the broad spears also looked red as though they had been
+dipped in blood. They could even hear their taunting shouts as they
+called to them to sit down and be killed, and save trouble.
+
+Now they were not three hundred yards away, and the crest of the pass
+was still half a mile ahead. Five minutes passed, and here, where the
+track was very rough, the horse blundered upwards slowly. Mr. Clifford
+was riding at the time, and Benita running at his side, holding to the
+stirrup leather. She looked behind her. The savages, fearing that their
+victims might find shelter over the hill, were making a rush, and
+the horse could go no faster. One man, a great tall fellow, quite
+out-distanced his companions. Two minutes more and he was not over a
+hundred paces from them, a little nearer than they were to the top of
+the pass. Then the horse stopped and refused to stir any more.
+
+Mr. Clifford jumped from the saddle, and Benita, who could not speak,
+pointed to the pursuing Matabele. He sat down upon a rock, cocked his
+rifle, took a deep breath, and aimed and fired at the soldier who was
+coming on carelessly in the open. Mr. Clifford was a good shot, and
+shaken though he was, at this supreme moment his skill did not fail
+him. The man was struck somewhere, for he staggered about and fell;
+then slowly picked himself up, and began to hobble back towards his
+companions, who, when they met him, stopped a minute to give him some
+kind of assistance.
+
+That halt proved their salvation, for it gave them time to make one last
+despairing rush, and gain the brow of the poort. Not that this would
+have saved them, however, since where they could go the Matabele could
+follow, and there was still light by which the pursuers would have been
+able to see to catch them. Indeed, the savages, having laid down the
+wounded man, came on with a yell of rage, fifty or more of them.
+
+Over the pass father and daughter struggled, Benita riding; after them,
+perhaps sixty yards away, ran the Matabele, gathered in a knot now upon
+the narrow, ancient road, bordered by steep hillsides.
+
+Then suddenly from all about them, as it appeared to Benita, broke
+out the blaze and roar of rifles, rapid and continuous. Down went the
+Matabele by twos and threes, till at last it seemed as though but quite
+a few of them were left upon their feet, and those came on no more;
+they turned and fled from the neck of the narrow pass to the open slope
+beyond.
+
+Benita sank to the ground, and the next thing that she could remember
+was hearing the soft voice of Jacob Meyer, who said:
+
+“So you have returned from your ride, Miss Clifford, and perhaps it was
+as well that the thought came from you to me that you wished me to meet
+you here in this very place.”
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+BACK AT BAMBATSE
+
+How they reached Bambatse Benita never could remember, but afterwards
+she was told that both she and her father were carried upon litters made
+of ox-hide shields. When she came to her own mind again, it was to find
+herself lying in her tent outside the mouth of the cave within the
+third enclosure of the temple-fortress. Her feet were sore and her bones
+ached, physical discomforts that brought back to her in a flash all the
+terrors through which she had passed.
+
+Again she saw the fierce pursuing Matabele; again heard their cruel
+shouts and the answering crack of the rifles; again, amidst the din and
+the gathering darkness, distinguished the gentle, foreign voice of Meyer
+speaking his words of sarcastic greeting. Next oblivion fell upon her,
+and after it a dim memory of being helped up the hill with the sun
+pouring on her back and assisted to climb the steep steps of the wall by
+means of a rope placed around her. Then forgetfulness again.
+
+The flap of her tent was drawn aside and she shrank back upon her bed,
+shutting her eyes for fear lest they should fall upon the face of Jacob
+Meyer. Feeling that it was not he, or learning it perhaps from the
+footfall, she opened them a little, peeping at her visitor from between
+her long lashes. He proved to be--not Jacob or her father, but the old
+Molimo, who stood beside her holding in his hand a gourd filled with
+goat’s milk. Then she sat up and smiled at him, for Benita had grown
+very fond of this ancient man, who was so unlike anyone that she had
+ever met.
+
+“Greeting, Lady,” he said softly, smiling back at her with his lips and
+dreamy eyes, for his old face did not seem to move beneath its thousand
+wrinkles. “I bring you milk. Drink; it is fresh and you need food.”
+
+So she took the gourd and drank to the last drop, for it seemed to her
+that she had never tasted anything so delicious.
+
+“Good, good,” murmured the Molimo; “now you will be well again.”
+
+“Yes, I shall get well,” she answered; “but oh! what of my father?”
+
+“Fear not; he is still sick, but he will recover also. You shall see him
+soon.”
+
+“I have drunk all the milk,” she broke out; “there is none left for
+him.”
+
+“Plenty, plenty,” he answered, waving his thin hand. “There are two cups
+full--one for each. We have not many she-goats down below, but the best
+of their milk is saved for you.”
+
+“Tell me all that has happened, Father,” and the old priest, who liked
+her to call him by that name, smiled again with his eyes, and squatted
+down in the corner of the tent.
+
+“You went away, you remember that you would go, although I told you
+that you must come back. You refused my wisdom and you went, and I have
+learned all that befell you and how you two escaped the impi. Well, that
+night after sunset, when you did not return, came the Black One--yes,
+yes, I mean Meyer, whom we name so because of his beard, and,” he added
+deliberately, “his heart. He came running down the hill asking for you,
+and I gave him the letter.
+
+“He read it, and oh! then he went mad. He cursed in his own tongue; he
+threw himself about; he took a rifle and wished to shoot me, but I sat
+silent and looked at him till he grew quiet. Then he asked why I had
+played him this trick, but I answered that it was no trick of mine who
+had no right to keep you and your father prisoners against your will,
+and that I thought you had gone away because you were afraid of him,
+which was not wonderful if that was how he talked to you. I told him,
+too, I who am a doctor, that unless he was careful he would go mad; that
+already I saw madness in his eye; after which he became quiet, for my
+words frightened him. Then he asked what could be done, and I said--that
+night, nothing, since you must be far away, so that it would be useless
+to follow you, but better to go to meet you when you came back. He asked
+what I meant by your coming back, and I answered that I meant what I
+said, that you would come back in great haste and peril--although you
+would not believe me when I told you so--for I had it from the Munwali
+whose child you are.
+
+“So I sent out my spies, and that night went by, and the next day and
+night went by, and we sat still and did nothing, though the Black One
+wished to wander out alone after you. But on the following morning, at
+the dawn, a messenger came in who reported that it had been called to
+him by his brethren who were hidden upon hilltops and in other places
+for miles and miles, that the Matabele impi, having destroyed another
+family of the Makalanga far down the Zambesi, was advancing to destroy
+us also. And in the afternoon came a second spy, who reported that you
+two had been surrounded by the impi, but had broken through them, and
+were riding hitherward for your lives. Then I took fifty of the best
+of our people and put them under the command of Tamas, my son, and sent
+them to ambush the pass, for against the Matabele warriors on the plain
+we, who are not warlike, do not dare to fight.
+
+“The Black One went with them, and when he saw how sore was your strait,
+wished to run down to meet the Matabele, for he is a brave man. But I
+had said to Tamas--‘No, do not try to fight them in the open, for there
+they will certainly kill you.’ Moreover, Lady, I was sure that you would
+reach the top of the poort. Well, you reached it, though but by the
+breadth of a blade of grass, and my children shot with the new rifles,
+and the place being narrow so that they could not miss, killed many of
+those hyenas of Amandabele. But to kill Matabele is like catching fleas
+on a dog’s back: there are always more. Still it served its turn, you
+and your father were brought away safely, and we lost no one.”
+
+“Where, then, are the Matabele now?” asked Benita.
+
+“Outside our walls, a whole regiment of them: three thousand men or
+more, under the command of the Captain Maduna, he of the royal blood,
+whose life you begged, but who nevertheless hunted you like a buck.”
+
+“Perhaps he did not know who it was,” suggested Benita.
+
+“Perhaps not,” the Molimo answered, rubbing his chin, “for in such
+matters even a Matabele generally keeps faith, and you may remember he
+promised you life for life. However, they are here ravening like lions
+round the walls, and that is why we carried you up to the top of the
+hill, that you might be safe from them.”
+
+“But are you safe, my Father?”
+
+“I think so,” he replied with a dry little chuckle in his throat.
+“Whoever built this fortress built it strong, and we have blocked the
+gates. Also, they caught no one outside; all are within the walls,
+together with the sheep and goats. Lastly, we have sent most of the
+women and children across the Zambesi in canoes, to hide in places we
+know of whither the Amandabele cannot follow, for they dare not swim
+a river. Therefore, for those of us that remain we have food for three
+months, and before then the rains will drive the impi out.”
+
+“Why did you not all go across the river, Father?”
+
+“For two reasons, Lady. The first is, that if we once abandoned our
+stronghold, which we have held from the beginning, Lobengula would take
+it, and keep it, so that we could never re-enter into our heritage,
+which would be a shame to us and bring down the vengeance of the
+spirits of our ancestors upon our heads. The second is, that as you have
+returned to us we stay to protect you.”
+
+“You are very good to me,” murmured Benita.
+
+“Nay, nay, we brought you here, and we do what I am told to do from
+Above. Trouble may still come upon you; yes, I think that it will come,
+but once more I pray you, have no fear, for out of this evil root shall
+spring a flower of joy,” and he rose to go.
+
+“Stay,” said Benita. “Has the chief Meyer found the gold?”
+
+“No; he has found nothing; but he hunts and hunts like a hungry jackal
+digging for a bone. But that bone is not for him; it is for you, Lady,
+you and you only. Oh! I know, you do not seek, still you shall find.
+Only the next time that you want help, do not run away into the
+wilderness. Hear the word of Munwali given by his mouth, the Molimo of
+Bambatse!” And as he spoke, the old priest backed himself out of the
+tent, stopping now and again to bow to Benita.
+
+A few minutes later her father entered, looking very weak and shaken,
+and supporting himself upon a stick. Happy was the greeting of these
+two who, with their arms about each other’s neck, gave thanks for their
+escape from great peril.
+
+“You see, Benita, we can’t get away from this place,” Mr. Clifford said
+presently. “We must find that gold.”
+
+“Bother the gold,” she answered with energy; “I hate its very name. Who
+can think of gold with three thousand Matabele waiting to kill us?”
+
+“Somehow I don’t feel afraid of them any more,” said her father; “they
+have had their chance and lost it, and the Makalanga swear that now they
+have guns to command the gates, the fortress cannot be stormed. Still, I
+am afraid of someone.”
+
+“Who?”
+
+“Jacob Mayer. I have seen him several times, and I think that he is
+going mad.”
+
+“The Molimo said that too, but why?”
+
+“From the look of him. He sits about muttering and glowing with those
+dark eyes of his, and sometimes groans, and sometimes bursts into shouts
+of laughter. That is when the fit is on him, for generally he seems
+right enough. But get up if you think you can, and you shall judge for
+yourself.”
+
+“I don’t want to,” said Benita feebly. “Father, I am more afraid of him
+now than ever. Oh! why did you not let me stop down below, among the
+Makalanga, instead of carrying me up here again, where we must live
+alone with that terrible Jew?”
+
+“I wished to, dear, but the Molimo said we should be safer above, and
+ordered his people to carry you up. Also, Jacob swore that unless you
+were brought back he would kill me. Now you understand why I believe
+that he is mad.”
+
+“Why, why?” gasped Benita again.
+
+“God knows,” he answered with a groan; “but I think that he is sure that
+we shall never find the gold without you, since the Molimo has told him
+that it is for you and you alone, and he says the old man has second
+sight, or something of the sort. Well, he would have murdered me--I saw
+it in his eye--so I thought it better to give in rather than that you
+should be left here sick and alone. Of course there was one way----” and
+he paused.
+
+She looked at him and asked:
+
+“What way?”
+
+“To shoot him before he shot me,” he answered in a whisper, “for your
+sake, dear--but I could not bring myself to do it.”
+
+“No,” she said with a shudder, “not that--not that. Better that we
+should die than that his blood should be upon our hands. Now I will get
+up and try to show no fear. I am sure that is best, and perhaps we shall
+be able to escape somehow. Meanwhile, let us humour him, and pretend to
+go on looking for this horrible treasure.”
+
+So Benita rose to discover that, save for her stiffness, she was but
+little the worse, and finding all things placed in readiness, set to
+work with her father’s help to cook the evening meal as usual. Of Meyer,
+who doubtless had placed things in readiness, she saw nothing.
+
+Before nightfall he came, however, as she knew he would. Indeed,
+although she heard no step and her back was towards him, she felt his
+presence; the sense of it fell upon her like a cold shadow. Turning
+round she beheld the man. He was standing close by, but above her, upon
+a big granite boulder, in climbing which his soft veld schoons, or hide
+shoes, had made no noise, for Meyer could move like a cat. The last rays
+from the sinking sun struck him full, outlining his agile, nervous shape
+against the sky, and in their intense red light, which flamed upon him,
+he appeared terrible. He looked like a panther about to spring; his eyes
+shone like a panther’s, and Benita knew that she was the prey whom he
+desired. Still, remembering her resolution, she determined to show no
+fear, and addressed him:
+
+“Good-evening, Mr. Meyer. Oh! I am so stiff that I cannot lift my neck
+to look at you,” and she laughed.
+
+He bounded softly from the rock, like a panther again, and stood in
+front of her.
+
+“You should thank the God you believe in,” he said, “that by now you are
+not stiff indeed--all that the jackals have left of you.”
+
+“I do, Mr. Meyer, and I thank you, too; it was brave of you to come out
+to save us. Father,” she called, “come and tell Mr. Meyer how grateful
+we are to him.”
+
+Mr. Clifford hobbled out from his hut under the tree, saying:
+
+“I have told him already, dear.”
+
+“Yes,” answered Jacob, “you have told me; why repeat yourself? I see
+that supper is ready. Let us eat, for you must be hungry; afterwards I
+have something to tell you.”
+
+So they ate, with no great appetite, any of them--indeed Meyer touched
+but little food, though he drank a good deal, first of strong black
+coffee and afterwards of squareface and water. But on Benita he pressed
+the choicest morsels that he could find, eyeing her all the while, and
+saying that she must take plenty of nutriment or her beauty would suffer
+and her strength wane. Benita bethought her of the fairy tales of her
+childhood, in which the ogre fed up the princess whom he purposed to
+devour.
+
+“You should think of your own strength, Mr. Meyer,” she said; “you
+cannot live on coffee and squareface.”
+
+“It is all I need to-night. I am astonishingly well since you came back.
+I can never remember feeling so well, or so strong. I can do the work
+of three men, and not be tired; all this afternoon, for instance, I have
+been carrying provisions and other things up that steep wall, for we
+must prepare for a long siege together; yet I should never know that
+I had lifted a single basket. But while you were away--ah! then I felt
+tired.”
+
+Benita changed the subject, asking him if he had made any discoveries.
+
+“Not yet, but now that you are back the discoveries will soon come. Do
+not be afraid; I have my plan which cannot fail. Also, it was lonely
+working in that cave without you, so I only looked about a little
+outside till it was time to go to meet you, and shoot some of those
+Matabele. Do you know?--I killed seven of them myself. When I was
+shooting for your sake I could not miss,” and he smiled at her.
+
+Benita shrank from him visibly, and Mr. Clifford said in an angry voice:
+
+“Don’t talk of those horrors before my daughter. It is bad enough to
+have to do such things, without speaking about them afterwards.”
+
+“You are right,” he replied reflectively; “and I apologise, though
+personally I never enjoyed anything so much as shooting those Matabele.
+Well, they are gone, and there are plenty more outside. Listen! They are
+singing their evening hymn,” and with his long finger he beat time to
+the volleying notes of the dreadful Matabele war-chant, which floated up
+from the plain below. “It sounds quite religious, doesn’t it? only the
+words--no, I will not translate them. In our circumstances they are too
+personal.
+
+“Now I have something to say to you. It was unkind of you to run away
+and leave me like that, not honourable either. Indeed,” he added with a
+sudden outbreak of the panther ferocity, “had you alone been concerned,
+Clifford, I tell you frankly that when we met again, I should have shot
+you. Traitors deserve to be shot, don’t they?”
+
+“Please stop talking to my father like that,” broke in Benita in a
+stern voice, for her anger had overcome her fear. “Also it is I whom you
+should blame.”
+
+“It is a pleasure to obey you,” he answered bowing; “I will never
+mention the subject any more. Nor do I blame you--who could?--not Jacob
+Meyer. I quite understand that you found it very dull up here, and
+ladies must be allowed their fancies. Also you have come back; so why
+talk of the matter? But listen: on one point I have made up my mind;
+for your own sake you shall not go away any more until we leave this
+together. When I had finished carrying up the food I made sure of that.
+If you go to look to-morrow morning you will find that no one can come
+up that wall--and, what is more, no one can go down it. Moreover, that I
+may be quite certain, in future I shall sleep near the stair myself.”
+
+Benita and her father stared at each other.
+
+“The Molimo has a right to come,” she said; “it is his sanctuary.”
+
+“Then he must celebrate his worship down below for a little while. The
+old fool pretends to know everything, but he never guessed what I was
+going to do. Besides, we don’t want him breaking in upon our privacy, do
+we? He might see the gold when we find it, and rob us of it afterwards.”
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE FIRST EXPERIMENT
+
+Again Benita and her father stared at each other blankly, almost with
+despair. They were trapped, cut off from all help; in the power of a
+man who was going mad. Mr. Clifford said nothing. He was old and growing
+feeble; for years, although he did not know it, Meyer had dominated
+him, and never more so than in this hour of stress and bewilderment.
+Moreover, the man had threatened to murder him, and he was afraid, not
+so much for himself as for his daughter. If he were to die now, what
+would happen to her, left alone with Jacob Meyer? The knowledge of his
+own folly, understood too late, filled him with shame. How could he have
+been so wicked as to bring a girl upon such a quest in the company of an
+unprincipled Jew, of whose past he knew nothing except that it was murky
+and dubious? He had committed a great crime, led on by a love of lucre,
+and the weight of it pressed upon his tongue and closed his lips; he
+knew not what to say.
+
+For a little while Benita was silent also; hope died within her. But
+she was a bold-spirited woman, and by degrees her courage re-asserted
+itself. Indignation filled her breast and shone through her dark eyes.
+Suddenly she turned upon Jacob, who sat before them smoking his pipe and
+enjoying their discomfiture.
+
+“How dare you?” she asked in a low, concentrated voice. “How dare you,
+you coward?”
+
+He shrank a little beneath her scorn and anger; then seemed to recover
+and brace himself, as one does who feels that a great struggle is at
+hand, upon the issue of which everything depends.
+
+“Do not be angry with me,” he answered. “I cannot bear it. It hurts--ah!
+you don’t know how it hurts. Well, I will tell you, and before your
+father, for that is more honourable. I dare--for your sake.”
+
+“For my sake? How can it benefit me to be cooped up in this horrible
+place with you? I would rather trust myself with the Makalanga, or
+even,” she added with bitter scorn, “even with those bloody-minded
+Matabele.”
+
+“You ran away from them very fast a little while ago, Miss Clifford. But
+you do not understand me. When I said for your sake, I meant for my
+own. See, now. You tried to leave me the other day and did not succeed.
+Another time you might succeed, and then--what would happen to me?”
+
+“I do not know, Mr. Meyer,” and her eyes added--“I do not care.”
+
+“Ah! but I know. Last time it drove me nearly mad; next time I should go
+quite mad.”
+
+“Because you believe that through me you will find this treasure of
+which you dream day and night, Mr. Meyer----”
+
+“Yes,” he interrupted quickly. “Because I believe that in you I shall
+find the treasure of which I dream day and night, and because that
+treasure has become necessary to my life.”
+
+Benita turned quickly towards her father, who was puzzling over the
+words, but before either of them could speak Jacob passed his hand
+across his brow in a bewildered way and said:
+
+“What was I talking of? The treasure, yes, the uncountable treasure of
+pure gold, that lies hid so deep, that is so hard to discover and to
+possess; the useless, buried treasure that would bring such joy and
+glory to us both, if only it could be come at and reckoned out, piece by
+piece, coin by coin, through the long, long years of life.”
+
+Again he paused; then went on.
+
+“Well, Miss Clifford, you are quite right; that is why I have dared to
+make you a prisoner, because, as the old Molimo said, the treasure is
+yours and I wish to share it. Now, about this treasure, it seems that it
+can’t be found, can it, although I have worked so hard?” and he looked
+at his delicate, scarred hands.
+
+“Quite so, Mr. Meyer, it can’t be found, so you had better let us go
+down to the Makalanga.”
+
+“But there is a way, Miss Clifford, there is a way. You know where it
+lies, and you can show me.”
+
+“If I knew I would show you soon enough, Mr. Meyer, for then you could
+take the stuff and our partnership would be at an end.”
+
+“Not until it is divided ounce by ounce and coin by coin. But
+first--first you must show me, as you say you will, and as you can.”
+
+“How, Mr. Meyer? I am not a magician.”
+
+“Ah! but you are. I will tell you how, having your promise. Listen now,
+both of you. I have studied. I know a great many secret things, and I
+read in your face that you have the gift--let me look in your eyes a
+while, Miss Clifford, and you will go to sleep quite gently, and then
+in your sleep, which shall not harm you at all, you will see where that
+gold lies hidden, and you will tell us.”
+
+“What do you mean?” asked Benita, bewildered.
+
+“I know what he means,” broke in Mr. Clifford. “You mean that you want
+to mesmerize her as you did the Zulu chief.”
+
+Benita opened her lips to speak, but Meyer said quickly:
+
+“No, no; hear me first before you refuse. You have the gift, the
+precious gift of clairvoyance, that is so rare.”
+
+“How do you know that, Mr. Meyer? I have never been mesmerized in my
+life.”
+
+“It does not matter how. I do know it; I have been sure of it from the
+moment when first we met, that night by the kloof. Although, perhaps,
+you felt nothing then, it was that gift of yours working upon a mind in
+tune, my mind, which led me there in time to save you, as it was that
+gift of yours which warned you of the disaster about to happen to the
+ship--oh! I have heard the story from your own lips. Your spirit can
+loose itself from the body: it can see the past and the future; it can
+discover the hidden things.”
+
+“I do not believe it,” answered Benita; “but at least it shall not be
+loosed by you.”
+
+“It shall, it shall,” he cried with passion, his eyes blazing on her as
+he spoke. “Oh! I foresaw all this, and that is why I was determined you
+should come with us, so that, should other means fail, we might have
+your power to fall back upon. Well, they have failed; I have been
+patient, I have said nothing, but now there is no other way. Will you be
+so selfish, so cruel, as to deny me, you who can make us all rich in an
+hour, and take no hurt at all, no more than if you had slept awhile?”
+
+“Yes,” answered Benita. “I refuse to deliver my will into the keeping of
+any living man, and least of all into yours, Mr. Meyer.”
+
+He turned to her father with a gesture of despair.
+
+“Cannot you persuade her, Clifford? She is your daughter, she will obey
+you.”
+
+“Not in that,” said Benita.
+
+“No,” answered Mr. Clifford. “I cannot, and I wouldn’t if I could. My
+daughter is quite right. Moreover, I hate this supernatural kind of
+thing. If we can’t find this gold without it, then we must let it alone,
+that is all.”
+
+Meyer turned aside to hide his face, and presently looked up again, and
+spoke quite softly.
+
+“I suppose that I must accept my answer, but when you talked of any
+living man just now, Miss Clifford, did you include your father?”
+
+She shook her head.
+
+“Then will you allow him to try to mesmerize you?”
+
+Benita laughed.
+
+“Oh, yes, if he likes,” she said. “But I do not think that the operation
+will be very successful.”
+
+“Good, we will see to-morrow. Now, like you, I am tired. I am going to
+bed in my new camp by the wall,” he added significantly.
+
+*****
+
+“Why are you so dead set against this business?” asked her father, when
+he had gone.
+
+“Oh, father!” she answered, “can’t you see, don’t you understand? Then
+it is hard to have to tell you, but I must. In the beginning Mr. Meyer
+only wanted the gold. Now he wants more, me as well as the gold. I hate
+him! You know that is why I ran away. But I have read a good deal about
+this mesmerism, and seen it once or twice, and who knows? If once I
+allow his mind to master my mind, although I hate him so much, I might
+become his slave.”
+
+“I understand now,” said Mr. Clifford. “Oh, why did I ever bring you
+here? It would have been better if I had never seen your face again.”
+
+
+On the morrow the experiment was made. Mr. Clifford attempted to
+mesmerize his daughter. All the morning Jacob, who, it now appeared, had
+practical knowledge of this doubtful art, tried to instruct him therein.
+In the course of the lesson he informed him that for a short period in
+the past, having great natural powers in that direction, he had made use
+of them professionally, only giving up the business because he found
+it wrecked his health. Mr. Clifford remarked that he had never told him
+that before.
+
+“There are lots of things in my life that I have never told you,”
+ replied Jacob with a little secret smile. “For instance, once I
+mesmerized you, although you did not know it, and that is why you always
+have to do what I want you to, except when your daughter is near you,
+for her influence is stronger than mine.”
+
+Mr. Clifford stared at him.
+
+“No wonder Benita won’t let you mesmerize her,” he said shortly.
+
+Then Jacob saw his mistake.
+
+“You are more foolish than I thought,” he said. “How could I mesmerize
+you without your knowing it? I was only laughing at you.”
+
+“I didn’t see the laugh,” replied Mr. Clifford uneasily, and they went
+on with the lesson.
+
+That afternoon it was put to proof--in the cave itself, where Meyer
+seemed to think that the influences would be propitious. Benita, who
+found some amusement in the performance, was seated upon the stone steps
+underneath the crucifix, one lamp on the altar and others one each side
+of her.
+
+In front stood her father, staring at her and waving his hands
+mysteriously in obedience to Jacob’s directions. So ridiculous did he
+look indeed while thus engaged that Benita had the greatest difficulty
+in preventing herself from bursting into laughter. This was the only
+effect which his grimaces and gesticulations produced upon her, although
+outwardly she kept a solemn appearance, and even from time to time shut
+her eyes to encourage him. Once, when she opened them again, it was to
+perceive that he was becoming very hot and exhausted, and that Jacob was
+watching him with such an unpleasant intentness that she re-closed her
+eyes that she might not see his face.
+
+It was shortly after this that of a sudden Benita did feel something,
+a kind of penetrating power flowing upon her, something soft and subtle
+that seemed to creep into her brain like the sound of her mother’s
+lullaby in the dim years ago. She began to think that she was a lost
+traveller among alpine snows wrapped round by snow, falling, falling in
+ten myriad flakes, every one of them with a little heart of fire. Then
+it came to her that she had heard this snow-sleep was dangerous, the
+last of all sleeps, and that its victims must rouse themselves, or die.
+
+Benita roused herself just in time--only just, for now she was being
+borne over the edge of a precipice upon the wings of swans, and beneath
+her was darkness wherein dim figures walked with lamps where their
+hearts should be. Oh, how heavy were her eyelids! Surely a weight hung
+to each of them, a golden weight. There, there, they were open, and she
+saw. Her father had ceased his efforts; he was rubbing his brow with a
+red pocket-handkerchief, but behind him, with rigid arms outstretched,
+his glowing eyes fastened on her face, stood Jacob Meyer. By an effort
+she sprang to her feet, shaking her head as a dog does.
+
+“Have done with this nonsense,” she said. “It tires me,” and snatching
+one of the lamps she ran swiftly down the place.
+
+Benita expected that Jacob Meyer would be very angry with her, and
+braced herself for a scene. But nothing of the sort happened. A while
+afterwards she saw the two of them approaching, engaged apparently in
+amicable talk.
+
+“Mr. Meyer says that I am no mesmerist, love,” said her father, “and I
+can quite believe him. But for all that it is a weary job. I am as tired
+as I was after our escape from the Matabele.”
+
+She laughed and answered:
+
+“To judge by results I agree with you. The occult is not in your line,
+father. You had better give it up.”
+
+“Did you, then, feel nothing?” asked Meyer.
+
+“Nothing at all,” she answered, looking him in the eyes. “No, that’s
+wrong, I felt extremely bored and sorry to see my father making
+himself ridiculous. Grey hairs and nonsense of that sort don’t go well
+together.”
+
+“No,” he answered. “I agree with you--not of that sort,” and the subject
+dropped.
+
+For the next few days, to her intense relief, Benita heard no more
+of mesmerism. To begin with, there was something else to occupy their
+minds. The Matabele, tired of marching round the fortress and singing
+endless war-songs, had determined upon an assault. From their point of
+vantage on the topmost wall the three could watch the preparations which
+they made. Trees were cut down and brought in from a great distance that
+rude ladders might be fashioned out of them; also spies wandered round
+reconnoitring for a weak place in the defences. When they came too near
+the Makalanga fired on them, killing some, so that they retreated to
+the camp, which they had made in a fold of ground at a little distance.
+Suddenly it occurred to Meyer that although here the Matabele were safe
+from the Makalanga bullets, it was commanded from the greater eminence,
+and by way of recreation he set himself to harass them. His rifle was a
+sporting Martini, and he had an ample supply of ammunition. Moreover, he
+was a beautiful marksman, with sight like that of a hawk.
+
+A few trial shots gave him the range; it was a shade under seven hundred
+yards, and then he began operations. Lying on the top of the wall
+and resting his rifle upon a stone, he waited until the man who was
+superintending the manufacture of the ladders came out into the open,
+when, aiming carefully, he fired. The soldier, a white-bearded savage,
+sprang into the air, and fell backwards, while his companions stared
+upwards, wondering whence the bullet had come.
+
+“Pretty, wasn’t it?” said Meyer to Benita, who was watching through a
+pair of field-glasses.
+
+“I dare say,” she answered. “But I don’t want to see any more,” and
+giving the glasses to her father, she climbed down the wall.
+
+But Meyer stayed there, and from time to time she heard the report of
+his rifle. In the evening he told her that he had killed six men and
+wounded ten more, adding that it was the best day’s shooting which he
+could remember.
+
+“What is the use when there are so many?” she asked.
+
+“Not much,” he answered. “But it annoys them and amuses me. Also, it
+was part of our bargain that we should help the Makalanga if they were
+attacked.”
+
+“I believe that you like killing people,” she said.
+
+“I don’t mind it, Miss Clifford, especially as they tried to kill you.”
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE OTHER BENITA
+
+At irregular times, when he had nothing else to do, Jacob went on with
+his man-shooting, in which Mr. Clifford joined him, though with less
+effect. Soon it became evident that the Matabele were very much annoyed
+by the fatal accuracy of this fire. Loss of life they did not mind in
+the abstract, but when none of them knew but that their own turn might
+come next to perish beneath these downward plunging bullets, the matter
+wore a different face to them. To leave their camp was not easy, since
+they had made a thorn _boma_ round it, to protect them in case the
+Makalanga should make a night sally; also they could find no other
+convenient spot. The upshot of it all was to hurry their assault, which
+they delivered before they had prepared sufficient ladders to make it
+effective.
+
+At the first break of dawn on the third day after Mr. Clifford’s attempt
+at mesmerism, Benita was awakened by the sounds of shouts and firing.
+Having dressed herself hastily, she hurried in the growing light towards
+that part of the wall from below which the noise seemed to come, and
+climbing it, found her father and Jacob already seated there, their
+rifles in hand.
+
+“The fools are attacking the small gate through which you went out
+riding, Miss Clifford, the very worst place that they could have chosen,
+although the wall looks very weak there,” said the latter. “If those
+Makalanga have any pluck they ought to teach them a lesson.”
+
+Then the sun rose and they saw companies of Matabele, who carried
+ladders in their hands, rushing onwards through the morning mist till
+their sight of them was obstructed by the swell of the hill. On these
+companies the two white men opened fire, with what result they could not
+see in that light. Presently a great shout announced that the enemy had
+gained the fosse and were setting up the ladders. Up to this time the
+Makalanga appeared to have done nothing, but now they began to fire
+rapidly from the ancient bastions which commanded the entrance the impi
+was striving to storm, and soon through the thinning fog they perceived
+wounded Matabele staggering and crawling back towards their camp. Of
+these, the light now better, Jacob did not neglect to take his toll.
+
+Meanwhile, the ancient fortress rang with the hideous tumult of the
+attack. It was evident that again and again, as their fierce war-shouts
+proclaimed, the Matabele were striving to scale the wall, and again and
+again were beaten back by the raking rifle fire. Once a triumphant yell
+seemed to announce their success. The fire slackened and Benita grew
+pale with fear.
+
+“The Makalanga cowards are bolting,” muttered Mr. Clifford, listening
+with terrible anxiety.
+
+But if so their courage came back to them, for presently the guns
+cracked louder and more incessant than before, and the savage cries of
+“Kill! Kill! Kill!” dwindled and died away. Another five minutes and the
+Matabele were in full retreat, bearing with them many dead and wounded
+men upon their backs or stretched out on the ladders.
+
+“Our Makalanga friends should be grateful to us for those hundred
+rifles,” said Jacob as he loaded and fired rapidly, sending his bullets
+wherever the clusters were thickest. “Had it not been for them their
+throats would have been cut by now,” he added, “for they could never
+have stopped those savages with the spear.”
+
+“Yes, and ours too before nightfall,” said Benita with a shudder,
+for the sight of this desperate fray and fear of how it might end had
+sickened her. “Thank Heaven, it is over! Perhaps they will give up the
+siege and go away.”
+
+But, notwithstanding their costly defeat, for they had lost over a
+hundred men, the Matabele, who were afraid to return to Buluwayo except
+as victors, did nothing of the sort. They only cut down a quantity of
+reeds and scrub, and moved their camp nearly to the banks of the river,
+placing it in such a position that it could no longer be searched by
+the fire of the two white men. Here they sat themselves down sullenly,
+hoping to starve out the garrison or to find some other way of entering
+the fortress.
+
+Now Meyer’s shooting having come to an end for lack of men to shoot at,
+since the enemy exposed themselves no more, he was again able to give
+his full attention to the matter of the treasure hunt.
+
+As nothing could be found in the cave he devoted himself to the outside
+enclosure which, it may be remembered, was grown over with grass and
+trees and crowded with ruins. In the most important of these ruins they
+began to dig somewhat aimlessly, and were rewarded by finding a certain
+amount of gold in the shape of beads and ornaments, and a few more
+skeletons of ancients. But of the Portuguese hoard there was no sign.
+Thus it came about that they grew gloomier day by day, till at last they
+scarcely spoke to each other. Jacob’s angry disappointment was written
+on his face, and Benita was filled with despair, since to escape from
+their gaoler above and the Matabele below seemed impossible. Moreover,
+she had another cause for anxiety.
+
+The ill-health which had been threatening her father for a long while
+now fell upon him in earnest, so that of a sudden he became a very old
+man. His strength and energy left him, and his mind was so filled with
+remorse for what he held to be his crime in bringing his daughter to
+this awful place, and with terror for the fate that threatened her, that
+he could think of nothing else. In vain did she try to comfort him. He
+would only wring his hands and groan, praying that God and she would
+forgive him. Now, too, Meyer’s mastery over him became continually more
+evident. Mr. Clifford implored the man, almost with tears, to unblock
+the wall and allow them to go down to the Makalanga. He even tried to
+bribe him with the offer of all his share of the treasure, if it were
+found, and when that failed, of his property in the Transvaal.
+
+But Jacob only told him roughly not to be a fool, as they had to see the
+thing through together. Then he would go again and brood by himself,
+and Benita noticed that he always took his rifle or a pistol with him.
+Evidently he feared lest her father should catch him unprepared, and
+take the law into his own hands by means of a sudden bullet.
+
+One comfort she had, however: although he watched her closely, the
+Jew never tried to molest her in any way, not even with more of his
+enigmatic and amorous speeches. By degrees, indeed, she came to believe
+that all this was gone from his mind, or that he had abandoned his
+advances as hopeless.
+
+A week passed since the Matabele attack, and nothing had happened. The
+Makalanga took no notice of them, and so far as she was aware the
+old Molimo never attempted to climb the blocked wall or otherwise to
+communicate with them, a thing so strange that, knowing his affection
+for her, Benita came to the conclusion that he must be dead, killed
+perhaps in the attack. Even Jacob Meyer had abandoned his digging, and
+sat about all day doing nothing but think.
+
+Their meal that night was a miserable affair, since in the first place
+provisions were running short and there was little to eat, and in the
+second no one spoke a word. Benita could swallow no food; she was weary
+of that sun-dried trek-ox, for since Meyer had blocked the wall they had
+little else. But by good fortune there remained plenty of coffee, and
+of this she drank two cups, which Jacob prepared and handed to her
+with much politeness. It tasted very bitter to her, but this, Benita
+reflected, was because they lacked milk and sugar. Supper ended, Meyer
+rose and bowed to her, muttering that he was going to bed, and a few
+minutes later Mr. Clifford followed his example. She went with her
+father to the hut beneath the tree, and having helped him to remove his
+coat, which now he seemed to find difficulty in doing for himself, bade
+him good-night and returned to the fire.
+
+It was very lonely there in the silence, for no sound came from either
+the Matabele or the Makalanga camps, and the bright moonlight seemed to
+people the place with fantastic shadows that looked alive. Benita cried
+a little now that her father could not see her, and then also sought
+refuge in bed. Evidently the end, whatever it might be, was near, and of
+it she could not bear to think. Moreover, her eyes were strangely heavy,
+so much so that before she had finished saying her prayers sleep fell
+upon her, and she knew no more.
+
+Had she remained as wakeful as it was often her fate to be during those
+fearful days, towards midnight she might have heard some light-footed
+creature creeping to her tent, and seen that the moon-rays which flowed
+through the gaping and ill-closed flap were cut off by the figure of a
+man with glowing eyes, whose projected arms waved over her mysteriously.
+But Benita neither heard nor saw. In her drugged rest she did not know
+that her sleep turned gradually to a magic swoon. She had no knowledge
+of her rising, or of how she threw her thick cloak about her, lit her
+lamp, and, in obedience to that beckoning finger, glided from the tent.
+She never heard her father stumble from his hut, disturbed by the sound
+of footsteps, or the words that passed between him and Jacob Meyer,
+while, lamp in hand, she stood near them like a strengthless ghost.
+
+“If you dare to wake her,” hissed Jacob, “I tell you that she will die,
+and afterwards you shall die,” and he fingered the pistol at his belt.
+“No harm shall come to her--I swear it! Follow and see. Man, man, be
+silent; our fortunes hang on it.”
+
+Then, overcome also by the strange fierceness of that voice and gaze, he
+followed.
+
+On they go to the winding neck of the cavern, first Jacob walking
+backwards like the herald of majesty; then majesty itself in the shape
+of this long-haired, death-like woman, cloaked and bearing in her hand
+the light; and last, behind, the old, white-bearded man, like Time
+following Beauty to the grave. Now they were in the great cavern, and
+now, avoiding the open tombs, the well mouth and the altar, they stood
+beneath the crucifix.
+
+“Be seated,” said Meyer, and the entranced Benita sat herself down
+upon the steps at the foot of the cross, placing the lamp on the rock
+pavement before her, and bowing her head till her hair fell upon her
+naked feet and hid them. He held his hands above her for a while, then
+asked:
+
+“Do you sleep?”
+
+“I sleep,” came the strange, slow answer.
+
+“Is your spirit awake?”
+
+“It is awake.”
+
+“Command it to travel backwards through the ages to the beginning, and
+tell me what you see here.”
+
+“I see a rugged cave and wild folk dwelling in it; an old man is dying
+yonder,” and she pointed to the right; “and a black woman with a babe
+at her breast tends him. A man, it is her husband, enters the cave. He
+holds a torch in one hand, and with the other drags a buck.”
+
+“Cease,” said Meyer. “How long is this ago?”
+
+“Thirty-three thousand two hundred and one years,” came the answer,
+spoken without any hesitation.
+
+“Pass on,” he said, “pass on thirty thousand years, and tell me what you
+see.”
+
+For a long while there was silence.
+
+“Why do you not speak?” he asked.
+
+“Be patient; I am living through those thirty thousand years; many a
+life, many an age, but none may be missed.”
+
+Again there was silence for a long while, till at length she spoke:
+
+“They are done, all of them, and now three thousand years ago I see this
+place changed and smoothly fashioned, peopled by a throng of worshippers
+clad in strange garments with clasps upon them. Behind me stands the
+graven statue of a goddess with a calm and cruel face, in front of the
+altar burns a fire, and on the altar white-robed priests are sacrificing
+an infant which cries aloud.”
+
+“Pass on, pass on,” Meyer said hurriedly, as though the horror of that
+scene had leapt to his eyes. “Pass on two thousand seven hundred years
+and tell me what you see.”
+
+Again there was a pause, while the spirit he had evoked in the body of
+Benita lived through those ages. Then slowly she answered:
+
+“Nothing, the place is black and desolate, only the dead sleep beneath
+its floor.”
+
+“Wait till the living come again,” he commanded; “then speak.”
+
+“They are here,” she replied presently. “Tonsured monks, one of whom
+fashions this crucifix, and their followers who bow before the Host upon
+the altar. They come, they go--of whom shall I tell you?”
+
+“Tell me of the Portuguese; of those who were driven here to die.”
+
+“I see them all,” she answered, after a pause. “Two hundred and three of
+them. They are ragged and wayworn and hungry. Among them is a beautiful
+woman, a girl. She draws near to me, she enters into me. You must ask
+her,”--this was spoken in a very faint voice--“I am I no more.”
+
+Mr. Clifford attempted to interrupt, but fiercely Meyer bade him to be
+silent.
+
+“Speak,” he commanded, but the crouching figure shook her head.
+
+“Speak,” he said again, whereon another voice, not that of Benita,
+answered in another tongue:
+
+“I hear; but I do not understand your language.”
+
+“Great Heaven!” said Meyer, “it is Portuguese,” and for a while the
+terror of the thing struck him dumb, for he was aware that Benita knew
+no Portuguese. He knew it, however, who had lived at Lorenço Marquez.
+
+“Who are you?” he asked in that tongue.
+
+“I am Benita da Ferreira. I am the daughter of the Captain da Ferreira
+and of his wife, the lady Christinha, who stand by you now. Turn, and
+you will see them.”
+
+Jacob started and looked about him uneasily.
+
+“What did she say? I did not catch it all,” asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+He translated her words.
+
+“But this is black magic,” exclaimed the old man. “Benita knows no
+Portuguese, so how comes she to speak it?”
+
+“Because she is no longer our Benita; she is another Benita, Benita da
+Ferreira. The Molimo was right when he said that the spirit of the dead
+woman went with her, as it seems the name has gone,” he added.
+
+“Have done,” said Mr. Clifford; “the thing is unholy. Wake her up, or I
+will.”
+
+“And bring about her death. Touch or disturb her, and I tell you she
+will die,” and he pointed to Benita, who crouched before them so white
+and motionless that indeed it seemed as though already she were dead.
+“Be quiet,” he went on. “I swear to you that no hurt shall come to her,
+also that I will translate everything to you. Promise, or I will tell
+you nothing, and her blood be on your head.”
+
+Then Mr. Clifford groaned and said:
+
+“I promise.”
+
+“Tell me your story, Benita da Ferreira. How came you and your people
+here?”
+
+“The tribes of Monomotapa rose against our rule. They killed many of
+us in the lower land, yes, they killed my brother and him to whom I was
+affianced. The rest of us fled north to this ancient fortress, hoping
+thence to escape by the river, the Zambesi. The Mambo, our vassal, gave
+us shelter here, but the tribes besieged the walls in thousands, and
+burnt all the boats so that we could not fly by the water. Many times we
+beat them back from the wall; the ditch was full of their dead, and at
+last they dared to attack no more.
+
+“Then we began to starve and they won the first wall. We went on
+starving and they won the second wall, but the third wall they could not
+climb. So we died; one by one we laid ourselves down in this cave and
+died, till I alone was left, for while our people had food they gave it
+to me who was the daughter of their captain. Yes, alone I knelt at the
+foot of this crucifix by the body of my father, praying to the blessed
+Son of Mary for the death that would not come, and kneeling there I
+swooned. When I awoke again the Mambo and his men stood about me, for
+now, knowing us to be dead, the tribes had gone, and those who were in
+hiding across the river had returned and knew how to climb the wall.
+They bore me from among the dead, they gave me food so that my strength
+came back; but in the night I, who in my wickedness would not live,
+escaped from them and climbed the pillar of black rock, so that when
+the sun rose they saw me standing there. They begged of me to come down,
+promising to protect me, but I said ‘No,’ who in the evil of my heart
+only desired to die, that I might join my father and my brother, and one
+who was dearer to me than all. They asked of me where the great treasure
+was hidden.”
+
+At these words Jacob gasped, then rapidly translated them, while the
+figure before them became silent, as though it felt that for the moment
+the power of his will was withdrawn.
+
+“Speak on, I bid you,” he said, and she continued, the rich, slow voice
+dropping word after word from the lips of Benita in the alien speech
+that this Benita never knew.
+
+“I answered that it was where it was, and that if they gave it up to
+any save the one appointed, then that fate which had befallen my people
+would befall theirs also. Yes, I gave it into their keeping until I came
+again, since with his dying breath my father had commanded me to reveal
+it to none, and I believed that I who was about to die should never come
+again.
+
+“Then I made my last prayer, I kissed the golden crucifix that now hangs
+upon this breast wherein I dwell,” and the hand of the living Benita was
+lifted, and moving like the hand of a dead thing, slowly drew out the
+symbol from beneath the cloak, held it for a moment in the lamplight,
+and let it fall to its place again. “I put my hands before my eyes that
+I might not see, and I hurled myself from the pinnacle.”
+
+Now the voice ceased, but from the lips came a dreadful sound, such as
+might be uttered by one whose bones are shattered upon rocks, followed
+by other sounds like those of one who chokes in water. They were so
+horrible to hear that Mr. Clifford nearly fainted, and even Jacob Meyer
+staggered and turned white as the white face of Benita.
+
+“Wake her! For God’s sake, wake her!” said her father. “She is dying, as
+that woman died hundreds of years ago.”
+
+“Not till she has told us where the gold is. Be quiet, you fool. She
+does not feel or suffer. It is the spirit within her that lives through
+the past again.”
+
+Once more there was silence. It seemed as though the story were all told
+and the teller had departed.
+
+“Benita da Ferreira,” said Meyer at length, “I command you, tell me, are
+you dead?”
+
+“Oh! would that I were dead, as my body is dead!” wailed the lips of
+Benita. “Alas! I cannot die who suffer this purgatory, and must dwell on
+here alone until the destined day. Yes, yes, the spirit of her who was
+Benita da Ferreira must haunt this place in solitude. This is her doom,
+to be the guardian of that accursed gold which was wrung from the earth
+by cruelty and paid for with the lives of men.”
+
+“Is it still safe?” whispered Jacob.
+
+“I will look;” then after a pause, “I have looked. It is there, every
+grain of it, in ox-hide bags; only one of them has fallen and burst,
+that which is black and red.”
+
+“Where is it?” he said again.
+
+“I may not tell you; never, never.”
+
+“Is there anyone whom you may tell?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Whom?”
+
+“Her in whose breast I lie.”
+
+“Tell her then.”
+
+“I have told her; she knows.”
+
+“And may she tell me?”
+
+“Let her guard the secret as she will. O my Guardian, I thank thee. My
+burden is departed; my sin of self-murder is atoned.”
+
+“Benita da Ferreira, are you gone?”
+
+No answer.
+
+“Benita Clifford, do you hear me?”
+
+“I hear you,” said the voice of Benita, speaking in English, although
+Jacob, forgetting, had addressed her in Portuguese.
+
+“Where is the gold?”
+
+“In my keeping.”
+
+“Tell me, I command you.”
+
+But no words came; though he questioned her many times no words came,
+till at last her head sank forward upon her knees, and in a faint voice
+she murmured:
+
+“Loose me, or I die.”
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE AWAKING
+
+Still Jacob Meyer hesitated. The great secret was unlearned, and, if
+this occasion passed, might never be learned. But if he hesitated, Mr.
+Clifford did not. The knowledge of his child’s danger, the sense that
+her life was mysteriously slipping away from her under pressure of the
+ghastly spell in which she lay enthralled, stirred him to madness. His
+strength and manhood came back to him. He sprang straight at Meyer’s
+throat, gripped it with one hand, and with the other drew the knife he
+wore.
+
+“You devil!” he gasped. “Wake her or you shall go with her!” and he
+lifted the knife.
+
+Then Jacob gave in. Shaking off his assailant he stepped to Benita, and
+while her father stood behind him with the lifted blade, began to make
+strange upward passes over her, and to mutter words of command. For a
+long while they took no effect; indeed, both of them were almost sure
+that she was gone. Despair gripped her father, and Meyer worked at his
+black art so furiously that the sweat burst out upon his forehead and
+fell in great drops to the floor.
+
+Oh, at last, at last she stirred! Her head lifted itself a little, her
+breast heaved.
+
+“Lord in Heaven, I have saved her!” muttered Jacob in German, and worked
+on.
+
+Now the eyes of Benita opened, and now she stood up and sighed. But she
+said nothing; only like a person walking in her sleep, she began to move
+towards the entrance of the cave, her father going before her with the
+lamp. On she went, and out of it straight to her tent, where instantly
+she cast herself upon her bed and sank into deep slumber. It was as
+though the power of the drug-induced oblivion, which for a while
+was over-mastered by that other stronger power invoked by Jacob, had
+reasserted itself.
+
+Meyer watched her for awhile; then said to Mr. Clifford:
+
+“Don’t be afraid and don’t attempt to disturb her. She will wake
+naturally in the morning.”
+
+“I hope so for both our sakes,” he answered, glaring at him, “for if
+not, you or I, or the two of us, will never see another.”
+
+Meyer took no notice of his threats; indeed the man seemed so exhausted
+that he could scarcely stand.
+
+“I am done,” he said. “Now, as she is safe, I don’t care what happens to
+me. I must rest,” and he staggered from the tent, like a drunken man.
+
+Outside, at the place where they ate, Mr. Clifford heard him gulping
+down raw gin from the bottle. Then he heard no more.
+
+All the rest of the night, and for some hours of the early morning, did
+her father watch by the bed of Benita, although, lightly clad as he was,
+the cold of dawn struck to his bones. At length, when the sun was well
+up, she rose in her bed, and her eyes opened.
+
+“What are you doing here, father?” she said.
+
+“I have come to see where you were, dear. You are generally out by now.”
+
+“I suppose that I must have overslept myself then,” she replied wearily.
+“But it does not seem to have refreshed me much, and my head aches. Oh!
+I remember,” she added with a start. “I have had such a horrid dream.”
+
+“What about?” he asked as carelessly as he could.
+
+“I can’t recall it quite, but it had to do with Mr. Meyer,” and she
+shivered. “It seemed as though I had passed into his power, as though he
+had taken possession of me, body and soul, and forced me to tell him all
+the secret things.”
+
+“What secret things, Benita?”
+
+She shook her head.
+
+“I don’t know now, but we went away among dead people, and I told him
+there. Oh! father, I am afraid of that man--terribly afraid! Protect me
+from him,” and she began to cry a little.
+
+“Of course I will protect you, dear. Something has upset your nerves.
+Come, dress yourself and you’ll soon forget it all. I’ll light the
+fire.”
+
+A quarter of an hour later Benita joined him, looking pale and shaken,
+but otherwise much as usual. She was ravenously hungry, and ate of the
+biscuits and dried meat with eagerness.
+
+“The coffee tastes quite different from that which I drank last night,”
+ she said. “I think there must have been something in it which gave me
+those bad dreams. Where is Mr. Meyer? Oh, I know!” and again she put her
+hand to her head. “He is still asleep by the wall.”
+
+“Who told you that?”
+
+“I can’t say, but it is so. He will not come here till one o’clock.
+There, I feel much better now. What shall we do, father?”
+
+“Sit in the sun and rest, I think, dear.”
+
+“Yes, let us do that, on the top of the wall. We can see the Makalanga
+from there, and it will be a comfort to be sure that there are other
+human beings left in the world besides ourselves and Jacob Meyer.”
+
+So presently they went, and from the spot whence Meyer used to shoot at
+the Matabele camp, looked down upon the Makalanga moving about the first
+enclosure far below. By the aid of the glasses Benita even thought that
+she recognised Tamas, although of this it was difficult to be sure, for
+they were all very much alike. Still, the discovery quite excited her.
+
+“I am sure it is Tamas,” she said. “And oh! how I wish that we were down
+there with him, although it is true that then we should be nearer to the
+Matabele. But they are better than Mr. Meyer, much better.”
+
+Now for a while they were silent, till at length she said suddenly:
+
+“Father, you are keeping something back from me, and things begin to
+come back. Tell me; did I go anywhere last night with Mr. Meyer--you and
+he and I together?”
+
+He hesitated and looked guilty; Mr. Clifford was not a good actor.
+
+“I see that we did; I am sure that we did. Father, tell me. I must know,
+I will know.”
+
+Then he gave way.
+
+“I didn’t want to speak, dear, but perhaps it is best. It is a very
+strange story. Will you promise not to be upset?”
+
+“I will promise not to be more upset than I am at present,” she
+answered, with a sad little laugh. “Go on.”
+
+“You remember that Jacob Meyer wanted to mesmerize you?”
+
+“I am not likely to forget it,” she answered.
+
+“Well, last night he did mesmerize you.”
+
+“What?” she said. “_What?_ Oh! how dreadful! Now I understand it all.
+But when?”
+
+“When you were sound asleep, I suppose. At least, the first I knew of
+it was that some noise woke me, and I came out of the hut to see you
+following him like a dead woman, with a lamp in your hand.”
+
+Then he told her all the story, while she listened aghast.
+
+“How dared he!” she gasped, when her father had finished the long tale.
+“I hate him; I almost wish that you had killed him,” and she clenched
+her little hands and shook them in the air.
+
+“That is not very Christian of you, Miss Clifford,” said a voice behind
+her. “But it is past one o’clock, and as I am still alive I have come to
+tell you that it is time for luncheon.”
+
+Benita wheeled round upon the stone on which she sat, and there,
+standing amidst the bushes a little way from the foot of the wall, was
+Jacob Meyer. Their eyes met; hers were full of defiance, and his of
+conscious power.
+
+“I do not want any luncheon, Mr. Meyer,” she said.
+
+“But I am sure that you do. Please come down and have some. Please come
+down.”
+
+The words were spoken humbly, almost pleadingly, yet to Benita they
+seemed as a command. At any rate, with slow reluctance she climbed down
+the shattered wall, followed by her father, and without speaking they
+went back to their camping place, all three of them, Jacob leading the
+way.
+
+When they had eaten, or made pretence to eat, he spoke.
+
+“I see that your father has told you everything, Miss Clifford, and of
+that I am glad. As for me, it would have been awkward, who must ask your
+forgiveness for so much. But what could I do? I knew, as I have always
+known, that it was only possible to find this treasure by your help.
+So I gave you something to make you sleep, and then in your sleep I
+hypnotized you, and--you know the rest. I have great experience in this
+art, but I have never seen or heard of anything like what happened, and
+I hope I never shall again.”
+
+Hitherto Benita had sat silent, but now her burning indignation and
+curiosity overcame her shame and hatred.
+
+“Mr. Meyer,” she said, “you have done a shameful and a wicked thing, and
+I tell you at once that I can never forgive you.”
+
+“Don’t say that. Please don’t say that,” he interrupted in tones of real
+grief. “Make allowances for me. I had to learn, and there was no other
+way. You are a born clairvoyante, one among ten thousand, my art told me
+so, and you know all that is at stake.”
+
+“By which you mean so many ounces of gold, Mr. Meyer.”
+
+“By which I mean the greatness that gold can give, Miss Clifford.”
+
+“Such greatness, Mr. Meyer, as a week of fever, or a Matabele spear, or
+God’s will can rob you of. But the thing is done, and soon or late the
+sin must be paid for. Now I want to ask you a question. You believe in
+nothing; you have told me so several times. You say that there is no
+such thing as a spirit, that when we die, we die, and there’s an end. Do
+you not?”
+
+“Yes, I do.”
+
+“Then tell me, what was it that spoke out of my lips last night, and how
+came it that I, who know no Portuguese, talked to you in that tongue?”
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“You have put a difficult question, but one I think that can be
+answered. There is no such thing as a spirit, an identity that survives
+death. But there is such a thing as the sub-conscious self, which is part
+of the animating principle of the universe, and, if only its knowledge
+can be unsealed, knows all that has passed and all that is passing in
+that universe. One day perhaps you will read the works of my compatriot,
+Hegel, and there you will find it spoken of.”
+
+“You explain nothing.”
+
+“I am about to explain, Miss Clifford. Last night I gave to your
+sub-conscious self--that which knows all--the strength of liberty, so
+that it saw the past as it happened in this place. Already you knew
+the story of the dead girl, Benita da Ferreira, and that story you
+re-enacted, talking the tongue she used as you would have talked Greek
+or any other tongue, had it been hers. It was not her spirit that
+animated you, although at the time I called it so for shortness, but
+your own buried knowledge, tricked out and furnished by the effort of
+your human imagination. That her name, Benita, should have been yours
+also is no doubt a strange coincidence, but no more. Also we have no
+proof that it was so; only what you said in your trance.”
+
+“Perhaps,” said Benita, who was in no mood for philosophical argument.
+“Perhaps also one day you will see a spirit, Mr. Meyer, and think
+otherwise.”
+
+“When I see a spirit and know that it is a spirit, then doubtless
+I shall believe in spirits. But what is the good of talking of such
+things? I do not seek spirits; I seek Portuguese gold. Now, I am sure
+you can tell where that gold lies. You would have told us last night,
+had not your nervous strength failed you, who are unaccustomed to the
+state of trance. Speaking as Benita da Ferreira, you said that you saw
+it and described its condition. Then you could, or would, say no more,
+and it became necessary to waken you. Miss Clifford, you must let me
+mesmerize you once again for a few minutes only, for then we will waste
+no time on past histories, and we shall find the gold. Unless, indeed,”
+ he added by an afterthought, and looking at her sharply, “you know
+already where it is; in which case I need not trouble you.”
+
+“I do not know, Mr. Meyer. I remember nothing about the gold.”
+
+“Which proves my theory. What purported to be the spirit of Benita
+da Ferreira said that it had passed the secret on to you, but in your
+waking state you do not know that secret. In fact, she did not pass it
+on because she had no existence. But in your sub-conscious state you
+will know. Therefore I must mesmerize you again. Not at once, but in
+a few days’ time, when you have quite recovered. Let us say next
+Wednesday, three days hence.”
+
+“You shall never mesmerize me again, Mr. Meyer.”
+
+“No, not while I live,” broke in her father, who had been listening to
+this discussion in silence.
+
+Jacob bowed his head meekly.
+
+“You think so now, but I think otherwise. What I did last night I did
+against your will, and that I can do again, only much more easily. But I
+had rather do it with your will, who work not for my own sake only, but
+for the sake of all of us. And now let us talk no more of the matter,
+lest we should grow angry.” Then he rose and went away.
+
+The next three days were passed by Benita in a state of constant dread.
+She knew in herself that Jacob Meyer had acquired a certain command over
+her; that an invincible intimacy had sprung up between them. She was
+acquainted with his thoughts; thus, before he asked for it, she
+would find herself passing him some article at table or elsewhere, or
+answering a question that he was only about to ask. Moreover, he could
+bring her to him from a little distance. Thus, on two or three occasions
+when she was wandering about their prison enclosure, as she was wont to
+do for the sake of exercise, she found her feet draw to some spot--now
+one place and now another--and when she reached it there before her was
+Jacob Meyer.
+
+“Forgive me for bringing you here,” he would say, smiling after his
+crooked fashion, and lifting his hat politely, “but I wish to ask you if
+you have not changed your mind as to being mesmerized?”
+
+Then for a while he would hold her with his eyes, so that her feet
+seemed rooted to the ground, till at length it was as though he cut a
+rope by some action of his will and set her free, and, choked with wrath
+and blind with tears, Benita would turn and run from him as from a wild
+beast.
+
+But if her days were evil, oh! what were her nights? She lived in
+constant terror lest he should again drug her food or drink, and, while
+she slept, throw his magic spell upon her. To protect herself from the
+first danger she would swallow nothing that had been near him. Now also
+she slept in the hut with her father, who lay near its door, a loaded
+rifle at his side, for he had told Jacob outright that if he caught him
+at his practices he would shoot him, a threat at which the younger man
+laughed aloud, for he had no fear of Mr. Clifford.
+
+Throughout the long hours of darkness they kept watch alternately, one
+of them lying down to rest while the other peered and listened. Nor
+did Benita always listen in vain, for twice at least she heard stealthy
+footsteps creeping about the hut, and felt that soft and dreadful
+influence flowing in upon her. Then she would wake her father,
+whispering, “He is there, I can feel that he is there.” But by the time
+that the old man had painfully dragged himself to his feet--for now he
+was becoming very feeble and acute rheumatism or some such illness had
+got hold of him--and crept from the hut, there was no one to be seen.
+Only through the darkness he would hear the sound of a retreating step,
+and of low, mocking laughter.
+
+Thus those miserable days went by, and the third morning came, that
+dreaded Wednesday. Before it was dawn Benita and her father, neither of
+whom had closed their eyes that night, talked over their strait long and
+earnestly, and they knew that its crisis was approaching.
+
+“I think that I had better try to kill him, Benita,” he said. “I am
+growing dreadfully weak, and if I put it off I may find no strength,
+and you will be at his mercy. I can easily shoot him when his back is
+turned, and though I hate the thought of such a deed, surely I shall be
+forgiven. Or if not, I cannot help it. I must think of my duty to you,
+not of myself.”
+
+“No, no,” she answered. “I will not have it. It would be murder,
+although he has threatened you. After all, father, I believe that the
+man is half mad, and not responsible. We must take our chance and trust
+to God to save us. If He does not,” she added, “at the worst I can
+always save myself,” and she touched the pistol which now she wore day
+and night.
+
+“So be it,” said Mr. Clifford, with a groan. “Let us pray for
+deliverance from this hell and keep our hands clean of blood.”
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+JACOB MEYER SEES A SPIRIT
+
+For a while they were silent, then Benita said:
+
+“Father, is it not possible that we might escape, after all? Perhaps
+that stair on the rampart is not so completely blocked that we could not
+climb over it.”
+
+Mr. Clifford, thinking of his stiff limbs and aching back, shook his
+head and answered:
+
+“I don’t know; Meyer has never let me near enough to see.”
+
+“Well, why do you not go to look? You know he sleeps till late now,
+because he is up all night. Take the glasses and examine the top of the
+wall from inside that old house near by. He will not see or hear you,
+but if I came near, he would know and wake up.”
+
+“If you like, love, I can try, but what are you going to do while I am
+away?”
+
+“I shall climb the pillar.”
+
+“You don’t mean----” and he stopped.
+
+“No, no, nothing of that sort. I shall not follow the example of Benita
+da Ferreira unless I am driven to it; I want to look, that is all. One
+can see far from that place, if there is anything to see. Perhaps the
+Matabele are gone now, we have heard nothing of them lately.”
+
+So they dressed themselves, and as soon as the light was sufficiently
+strong, came out of the hut and parted, Mr. Clifford, rifle in hand,
+limping off towards the wall, and Benita going towards the great
+cone. She climbed it easily enough, and stood in the little cup-like
+depression on its dizzy peak, waiting for the sun to rise and disperse
+the mists which hung over the river and its banks.
+
+Now whatever may have been the exact ceremonial use to which the
+ancients put this pinnacle, without doubt it had something to do with
+sun-worship. This, indeed, was proved by the fact that, at any rate at
+this season of the year, the first rays of the risen orb struck full
+upon its point. Thus it came about that, as she stood there waiting,
+Benita of a sudden found herself suffused in light so vivid and intense
+that, clothed as she was in a dress which had once been white, it must
+have caused her to shine like a silver image. For several minutes,
+indeed, this golden spear of fire blinded her so that she could see
+nothing, but stood quite still, afraid to move, and waiting until,
+as the sun grew higher, its level rays passed over her. This they did
+presently, and plunging into the valley, began to drive away the fog.
+Now she looked down, along the line of the river.
+
+The Matabele camp was invisible, for it lay in a hollow almost at the
+foot of the fortress. Beyond it, however, was a rising swell of ground;
+it may have been half a mile from where she stood, and on the crest
+of it she perceived what looked like a waggon tent with figures moving
+round it. They were shouting also, for through the silence of the
+African morn the sound of their voices floated up to her.
+
+As the mist cleared off Benita saw that without doubt it was a waggon,
+for there stood the long row of oxen, also it had just been captured
+by the Matabele, for these were about it in numbers. At the moment,
+however, they appeared to be otherwise occupied, for they were pointing
+with their spears to the pillar on Bambatse.
+
+Then it occurred to Benita that, placed as she was in that fierce light
+with only the sky for background, she must be perfectly visible from
+the plain below, and that it might be her figure perched like an eagle
+between heaven and earth which excited their interest. Yes, and not
+theirs only, for now a white man appeared, who lifted what might have
+been a gun, or a telescope, towards her. She was sure from the red
+flannel shirt and the broad hat which he wore that he must be a white
+man, and oh! how her heart yearned towards him, whoever he might be! The
+sight of an angel from heaven could scarcely have been more welcome to
+Benita in her wretchedness.
+
+Yet surely she must be dreaming. What should a white man and a waggon
+be doing in that place? And why had not the Matabele killed him at once?
+She could not tell, yet they appeared to have no murderous intentions,
+since they continued to gesticulate and talk whilst he stared upwards
+with the telescope, if it were a telescope. So things went on for a
+long time, for meanwhile the oxen were outspanned, until, indeed, more
+Matabele arrived, who led off the white man, apparently against his
+will, towards their camp, where he disappeared. Then there was nothing
+more to be seen. Benita descended the column.
+
+At its foot she met her father, who had come to seek her.
+
+“What is the matter?” he asked, noting her excited face.
+
+“Oh!” she said or rather sobbed, “there is a waggon with a white man
+below. I saw the Matabele capture him.”
+
+“Then I am sorry for the poor devil,” answered the father, “for he
+is dead by now. But what could a white man have been doing here? Some
+hunter, I suppose, who has walked into a trap.”
+
+The face of Benita fell.
+
+“I hoped,” she said, “that he might help us.”
+
+“As well might he hope that we could help him. He is gone, and there is
+an end. Well, peace to his soul, and we have our own troubles to think
+of. I have been to look at that wall, and it is useless to think of
+climbing it. If he had been a professional mason, Meyer could not have
+built it up better; no wonder that we have seen nothing more of the
+Molimo, for only a bird could reach us.”
+
+“Where was Mr. Meyer?” asked Benita.
+
+“Asleep in a blanket under a little shelter of boughs by the stair. At
+least, I thought so, though it was rather difficult to make him out in
+the shadow; at any rate, I saw his rifle set against a tree. Come, let
+us go to breakfast. No doubt he will turn up soon enough.”
+
+So they went, and for the first time since the Sunday Benita ate a
+hearty meal of biscuits soaked in coffee. Although her father was so
+sure that by now he must have perished on the Matabele spears, the sight
+of the white man and his waggon had put new life into her, bringing her
+into touch with the world again. After all, might it not chance that he
+had escaped?
+
+All this while there had been no sign of Jacob Meyer. This, however, did
+not surprise them, for now he ate his meals alone, taking his food from
+a little general store, and cooking it over his own fire. When they had
+finished their breakfast Mr. Clifford remarked that they had no more
+drinking water left, and Benita said that she would go to fetch a
+pailful from the well in the cave. Her father suggested that he should
+accompany her, but she answered that it was not necessary as she was
+quite able to wind the chain by herself. So she went, carrying the
+bucket in one hand and a lamp in the other.
+
+As she walked down the last of the zigzags leading to the cave, Benita
+stopped a moment thinking that she saw a light, and then went on,
+since on turning the corner there was nothing but darkness before her.
+Evidently she had been mistaken. She reached the well and hung the pail
+on to the great copper hook, wondering as she did so how many folk had
+done likewise in the far, far past, for the massive metal of that hook
+was worn quite thin with use. Then she let the roller run, and the sound
+of the travelling chain clanked dismally in that vaulted, empty place.
+At length the pail struck the water, and she began to wind up again,
+pausing at times to rest, for the distance was long and the chain heavy.
+The bucket appeared. Benita drew it to the side of the well, and lifted
+it from the hook, then took up her lamp to be gone.
+
+Feeling or seeing something, which she was not sure, she held the lamp
+above her head, and by its light perceived a figure standing between her
+and the entrance to the cave.
+
+“Who are you?” she asked, whereon a soft voice answered out of the
+darkness, the voice of Jacob Meyer.
+
+“Do you mind standing still for a few minutes, Miss Clifford? I have
+some paper here and I wish to make a sketch. You do not know how
+beautiful you look with that light above your head illuminating the
+shadows and the thorn-crowned crucifix beyond. You know, whatever paths
+fortune may have led me into, by nature I am an artist, and never in my
+life have I seen such a picture. One day it will make me famous.
+
+     ‘How statue-like I see thee stand!
+     The agate lamp within thy hand.’
+
+That’s what I should put under it; you know the lines, don’t you?”
+
+“Yes, Mr. Meyer, but I am afraid you will have to paint your picture
+from memory, as I cannot hold up this lamp any longer; my arm is aching
+already. I do not know how you came here, but as you have followed me
+perhaps you will be so kind as to carry this water.”
+
+“I did not follow you, Miss Clifford. Although you never saw me I
+entered the cave before you to take measurements.”
+
+“How can you take measurements in the dark?”
+
+“I was not in the dark. I put out my light when I caught sight of you,
+knowing that otherwise you would run away, and fate stood me in good
+stead. You came on, as I willed that you should do. Now let us talk.
+Miss Clifford, have you changed your mind? You know the time is up.”
+
+“I shall never change my mind. Let me pass you, Mr. Meyer.”
+
+“No, no, not until you have listened. You are very cruel to me, very
+cruel indeed. You do not understand that, rather than do you the
+slightest harm, I would die a hundred times.”
+
+“I do not ask you to die; I ask you to leave me alone--a much easier
+matter.”
+
+“But how can I leave you alone when you are a part of me, when--I love
+you? There, the truth is out, and now say what you will.”
+
+Benita lifted the bucket of water; its weight seemed to steady her. Then
+she put it down again, since escape was impracticable; she must face the
+situation.
+
+“I have nothing to say, Mr. Meyer, except that _I_ do not love _you_ or
+any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment you
+have paid me, and there is an end.”
+
+“Any living man,” he repeated after her. “That means you love a dead
+man--Seymour, he who was drowned. No wonder that I hated him when first
+my eyes fell on him years ago, long before you had come into our lives.
+Prescience, the sub-conscious self again. Well, what is the use of
+loving the dead, those who no longer have any existence, who have
+gone back into the clay out of which they were formed and are not, nor
+evermore shall be? You have but one life; turn, turn to the living, and
+make it happy.”
+
+“I do not agree with you, Mr. Meyer. To me the dead are still living;
+one day I shall find them. Now let me go.”
+
+“I will not let you go. I will plead and wrestle with you as in the
+old fable my namesake of my own race wrestled with the angel, until at
+length you bless me. You despise me because I am a Jew, because I have
+had many adventures and not succeeded; because you think me mad. But I
+tell you that there is the seed of greatness in me. Give yourself to me
+and I will make you great, for now I know that it was you whom I needed
+to supply what is lacking in my nature. We will win the wealth, and
+together we will rule----”
+
+“Until a few days hence we starve or the Matabele make an end of us. No,
+Mr. Meyer, no,” and she tried to push past him.
+
+He stretched out his arms and stopped her.
+
+“Listen,” he said, “I have pleaded with you as man with woman. Now, as
+you refuse me and as you alone stand between me and madness, I will take
+another course. I am your master, your will is servant to my will; I bid
+you obey me.”
+
+He fixed his eyes upon hers, and Benita felt her strength begin to fail.
+
+“Ah!” he said, “you are my servant now, and to show it I shall kiss you
+on the lips; then I shall throw the sleep upon you, and you will tell me
+what I want to know. Afterwards we can be wed when it pleases me. Oh! do
+not think that your father will defend you, for if he interferes I shall
+kill that foolish old man, whom until now I have only spared for your
+sake. Remember that if you make me angry, I shall certainly kill him,
+and your father’s blood will be on your head. Now I am going to kiss
+you.”
+
+Benita lifted her hand to find the pistol at her waist. It fell back
+again; she had no strength; it was as though she were paralysed as a
+bird is paralysed by a snake so that it cannot open its wings and fly
+away, but sits there awaiting death. She was given over into the
+hands of this man whom she hated. Could Heaven allow such a thing? she
+wondered dimly, and all the while his lips drew nearer to her face.
+
+They touched her own, and then, why or wherefore Benita never
+understood, the spell broke. All his power was gone, she was as she had
+been, a free woman, mistress of herself. Contemptuously she thrust the
+man aside, and, not even troubling to run, lifted her pail of water and
+walked away.
+
+Soon she saw the light again, and joyfully extinguished her lamp.
+Indeed, the breast of Benita, which should have been so troubled after
+the scene through which she had passed, strangely enough was filled with
+happiness and peace. As that glorious sunlight had broken on her eyes,
+so had another light of freedom arisen in her soul. She was no longer
+afraid of Jacob Meyer; that coward kiss of his had struck off the
+shackles which bound her to him. Her mind had been subject to his mind,
+but now that his physical nature was brought into the play, his mental
+part had lost its hold upon her.
+
+As she approached the hut she saw her father seated on a stone outside
+it, since the poor old man was now so weak and full of pain that he
+could not stand for very long, and seeing, remembered Meyer’s threats
+against him. At the thought all her new-found happiness departed.
+
+She might be safe; she felt sure that she was safe, but how about her
+father? If Meyer could not get his way probably he would be as good as
+his word, and kill him. She shivered at the thought, then, recovering
+herself, walked forward steadily with her bucket of water.
+
+“You have been a long while gone, my love,” said Mr. Clifford.
+
+“Yes, father, Mr. Meyer was in the cave, and kept me.”
+
+“How did he get there, and what did he want?”
+
+“I don’t know how he got there--crept in when we were not looking, I
+suppose. But as for what he wanted--listen, dear,” and word for word she
+told him what had passed.
+
+Before she had finished, her father was almost choking with wrath.
+
+“The dirty Jew! The villain!” he gasped. “I never dreamed that he would
+dare to attempt such an outrage. Well, thank Heaven! I can still hold a
+rifle, and when he comes out----”
+
+“Father,” she said gently, “that man is mad. He is not responsible for
+his actions, and therefore, except in self-defence, you must not think
+of such a thing. As for what he said about you, I believe it was only
+an empty threat, and for me you need have no fear, his power over me is
+gone; it went like a flash when his lips touched me,” and she rubbed her
+own as though to wipe away some stain. “I am afraid of nothing more. I
+believe--yes, I believe the old Molimo was right, and that all will end
+well----”
+
+As she was speaking Benita heard a shuffling sound behind her, and
+turned to learn its cause. Then she saw a strange sight. Jacob Meyer was
+staggering towards them, dragging one foot after the other through the
+grass and stones. His face was ghastly pale, his jaw had dropped like
+that of a dead man, and his eyes were set wide open and full of horror.
+
+“What is the matter with you, man?” asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+“I--I--have seen a ghost,” he whispered. “You did not come back into the
+cave, did you?” he added, pointing at Benita, who shook her head.
+
+“What ghost?” asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+“I don’t know, but my lamp went out, and then a light began to shine
+behind me. I turned, and on the steps of that crucifix I saw a woman
+kneeling. Her arms clasped the feet of the figure, her forehead rested
+upon the feet, her long black hair flowed down, she was dressed in
+white, and the light came from her body and her head. Very slowly she
+turned and looked at me, and oh, Heaven! that face----” and he put
+his hand before his eyes and groaned. “It was beautiful; yes, yes, but
+fearful to see, like an avenging angel. I fled, and the light--only the
+light--came with me down the cave, even at the mouth of it there was a
+little. I have seen a spirit, I who did not believe in spirits, I have
+seen a spirit, and I tell you that not for all the gold in the world
+will I enter that place again.”
+
+Then before they could answer, suddenly as though his fear had got some
+fresh hold of him, Jacob sprang forward and fled away, crashing through
+the bushes and leaping from rock to rock like a frightened buck.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD
+
+“Meyer always said that he did not believe in spirits,” remarked Mr.
+Clifford reflectively.
+
+“Well, he believes in them now,” answered Benita with a little laugh.
+“But, father, the poor man is mad, that is the fact of it, and we must
+pay no attention to what he says.”
+
+“The old Molimo and some of his people--Tamas, for instance--declared
+that they have seen the ghost of Benita da Ferreira. Are they mad also,
+Benita?”
+
+“I don’t know, father. Who can say? All these things are a mystery.
+All I do know is that I have never seen a ghost, and I doubt if I ever
+shall.”
+
+“No, but when you were in that trance something that was not you spoke
+out of your mouth, which something said that it was your namesake, the
+other Benita. Well, as you say, we can’t fathom these things, especially
+in a haunted kind of place like this, but the upshot of it is that I
+don’t think we have much more to fear from Jacob.”
+
+“I am not so sure, father. Mad people change their moods very suddenly.”
+
+As it happened Benita was quite right. Towards suppertime Jacob Meyer
+reappeared, looking pale and shaken, but otherwise much as usual.
+
+“I had a kind of fit this morning,” he explained, “the result of an
+hallucination which seized me when my light went out in that cave. I
+remember that I thought I had seen a ghost, whereas I know very
+well that no such thing exists. I was the victim of disappointment,
+anxieties, and other still stronger emotions,” and he looked at Benita.
+“Therefore, please forget anything I said or did, and--would you give me
+some supper?”
+
+Benita did so, and he ate in silence, with some heartiness. When he had
+finished his food, and swallowed two or three tots of squareface, he
+spoke again:
+
+“I have come here, where I know I am not welcome, upon business,” he
+said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. “I am tired of this place, and
+I think it is time that we attained the object of our journey here,
+namely, to find the hidden gold. That, as we all know, can only be done
+in a certain way, through the clairvoyant powers of one of us and the
+hypnotic powers of another. Miss Clifford, I request that you will allow
+me to throw you into a state of trance. You have told us everything
+else, but you have not yet told us where the treasure is hidden, and
+this it is necessary that we should know.”
+
+“And if I refuse, Mr. Meyer?”
+
+“Then I am sorry, but I must take means to compel your obedience. Under
+those circumstances, much against my will, I shall be obliged”--here
+his eye blazed out wildly--“to execute your father, whose obstinacy
+and influence stand between us and splendid fortunes. No, Clifford,” he
+added, “don’t stretch out your hand towards that rifle, for I am already
+covering you with the pistol in my pocket, and the moment your hand
+touches it I shall fire. You poor old man, do you imagine for a single
+second that, sick as you are, and with your stiff limbs, you can hope to
+match yourself against my agility, intellect, and strength? Why, I could
+kill you in a dozen ways before you could lift a finger against me, and
+by the God I do not believe in, unless your daughter is more compliant,
+kill you I will!”
+
+“That remains to be seen, my friend,” said Mr. Clifford with a laugh,
+for he was a brave old man. “I am not certain that the God--whom you do
+not believe in--will not kill you first.”
+
+Now Benita, who had been taking counsel with herself, looked up and said
+suddenly:
+
+“Very well, Mr. Meyer, I consent--because I must. To-morrow morning you
+shall try to mesmerize me, if you can, in the same place, before the
+crucifix in the cave.”
+
+“No,” he answered quickly. “It was not there, it was here, and here it
+shall be again. The spot you mention is unpropitious to me; the attempt
+would fail.”
+
+“It is the spot that I have chosen,” answered Benita stubbornly.
+
+“And this is the spot that I have chosen, Miss Clifford, and my will
+must prevail over yours.”
+
+“Because you who do not believe in spirits are afraid to re-enter the
+cave, Mr. Meyer, lest you should chance----”
+
+“Never mind what I am or am not afraid of,” he replied with fury. “Make
+your choice between doing my will and your father’s life. To-morrow
+morning I shall come for your answer, and if you are still obstinate,
+within half an hour he will be dead, leaving you and me alone together.
+Oh! you may call me wicked and a villain, but it is you who are wicked,
+you, you, _you_ who force me to this deed of justice.”
+
+Then without another word he sprang up and walked away from them
+backwards, as he went covering Mr. Clifford with the pistol which he
+had drawn from his pocket. The last that they saw of him were his eyes,
+which glowered at them through the darkness like those of a lion.
+
+“Father,” said Benita, when she was sure that he had gone, “that madman
+really means to murder you; there is no doubt of it.”
+
+“None whatever, dear; if I am alive to-morrow night I shall be lucky,
+unless I can kill him first or get out of his way.”
+
+“Well,” she said hurriedly, “I think you can. I have an idea. He is
+afraid to go into that cave, I am sure. Let us hide ourselves there.
+We can take food and shall have plenty of water, whereas, unless rain
+falls, he can get nothing to drink.”
+
+“But what then, Benita? We can’t stop in the dark for ever.”
+
+“No, but we can wait there until something happens. Something must and
+will happen. His disease won’t stand still. He may go raving mad and
+kill himself. Or he may attempt to attack us, though that is not likely,
+and then we must do what we can in self defence. Or help may reach us
+from somewhere. At the worst we shall only die as we should have died
+outside. Come, let us be quick, lest he should change his mind, and
+creep back upon us.”
+
+So Mr. Clifford gave way, knowing that even if he could steel himself
+to do the deed of attempting to kill Jacob, he would have little chance
+against that strong and agile man. Such a struggle would only end in his
+own death, and Benita must then be left alone with Meyer and his insane
+passions.
+
+Hurriedly they carried their few belongings into the cave. First
+they took most of the little store of food that remained, the three
+hand-lamps and all the paraffin; there was but one tin. Then returning
+they fetched the bucket, the ammunition, and their clothes. Afterwards,
+as there was still no sign of Meyer, they even dared to drag in the
+waggon tent to make a shelter for Benita, and all the wood that they
+had collected for firing. This proved a wearisome business, for the logs
+were heavy, and in his crippled state Mr. Clifford could carry no great
+burden. Indeed, towards the end Benita was forced to complete the task
+alone, while he limped beside her with his rifle, lest Jacob should
+surprise them.
+
+When at length everything was done it was long past midnight, and so
+exhausted were they that, notwithstanding their danger, they flung
+themselves down upon the canvas tent, which lay in a heap at the end of
+the cave near the crucifix, and fell asleep.
+
+When Benita woke the lamp had gone out, and it was pitch dark.
+Fortunately, however, she remembered where she had put the matches and
+the lantern with a candle in it. She lit the candle and looked at her
+watch. It was nearly six o’clock. The dawn must be breaking outside,
+within an hour or two Jacob Meyer would find that they had gone. Suppose
+that his rage should overcome his fear and that he should creep upon
+them. They would know nothing of it until his face appeared in the faint
+ring of light. Or he might even shoot her father out of the darkness.
+What could she do that would give them warning? A thought came to her.
+
+Taking one of the tent ropes and the lantern, for her father still slept
+heavily, she went down to the entrance of the cave, and at the end of
+the last zigzag where once a door had been, managed to make it fast to a
+stone hinge about eighteen inches above the floor, and on the other side
+to an eye opposite that was cut in the solid rock to receive a bolt of
+wood or iron. Meyer, she knew, had no lamps or oil, only matches and
+perhaps a few candles. Therefore if he tried to enter the cave it was
+probable that he would trip over the rope and thus give them warning.
+Then she went back, washed her face and hands with some water that they
+had drawn on the previous night to satisfy their thirst, and tidied
+herself as best she could. This done, as her father still slept, she
+filled the lamps, lit one of them, and looked about her, for she was
+loth to wake him.
+
+Truly it was an awful place in which to dwell. There above them towered
+the great white crucifix; there in the corner were piled the remains of
+the Portuguese. A skull with long hair still hanging to it grinned at
+her, a withered hand was thrust forward as though to clutch her. Oh, no
+wonder that in such a spot Jacob Meyer had seen ghosts! In front, too,
+was the yawning grave where they had found the monk; indeed, his bones
+wrapped in dark robes still lay within, for Jacob had tumbled them back
+again. Then beyond and all around deep, dark, and utter silence.
+
+At last her father woke, and glad enough was she of his human company.
+They breakfasted upon some biscuits and water, and afterwards, while Mr.
+Clifford watched near the entrance with his rifle, Benita set to work
+to arrange their belongings. The tent she managed to prop up against the
+wall of the cave by help of some of the wood which they had carried in.
+Beneath it she spread their blankets, that it might serve as a sleeping
+place for them both, and outside placed the food and other things.
+
+While she was thus engaged she heard a sound at the mouth of the
+cave--Jacob Meyer was entering and had fallen over her rope. Down it
+she ran, lantern in hand, to her father, who, with his rifle raised, was
+shouting:
+
+“If you come in here, I put a bullet through you!”
+
+Then came the answer in Jacob’s voice, which rang hollow in that vaulted
+place:
+
+“I do not want to come in; I shall wait for you to come out. You cannot
+live long in there; the horror of the dark will kill you. I have only to
+sit in the sunlight and wait.”
+
+Then he laughed, and they heard the sound of his footsteps retreating
+down the passage.
+
+“What are we to do?” asked Mr. Clifford despairingly. “We cannot live
+without light, and if we have light he will certainly creep to the
+entrance and shoot us. He is quite mad now; I am sure of it from his
+voice.”
+
+Benita thought a minute, then she answered:
+
+“We must build up the passage. Look,” and she pointed to the lumps of
+rock that the explosion of their mine had shaken down from the roof,
+and the slabs of cement that they had broken from the floor with the
+crowbar. “At once, at once,” she went on; “he will not come back for
+some hours, probably not till night.”
+
+So they set to work, and never did Benita labour as it was her lot to do
+that day. Such of the fragments as they could lift they carried between
+them, others they rolled along by help of the crowbar. For hour after
+hour they toiled at their task. Luckily for them, the passage was not
+more than three feet wide by six feet six high, and their material was
+ample. Before the evening they had blocked it completely with a wall
+several feet in thickness, which wall they supported on the inside with
+lengths of the firewood lashed across to the old hinges and bolt-holes,
+or set obliquely against its face.
+
+It was done, and they regarded their work with pride, although it seemed
+probable that they were building up their own tomb. Because of its
+position at an angle of the passage, they knew that Meyer could not get
+to it with a pole to batter it down. Also, there was no loose powder
+left, so his only chance would be to pull it to pieces with his hands,
+and this, they thought, might be beyond his power. At least, should he
+attempt it, they would have ample warning. Yet that day was not to pass
+without another trouble.
+
+Just as they had rolled up and levered into place a long fragment of
+rock designed to prevent the ends of their supporting pieces of wood
+from slipping on the cement floor, Mr. Clifford uttered an exclamation,
+then said:
+
+“I have wrung my back badly. Help me to the tent. I must lie down.”
+
+Slowly and with great pain they staggered up the cave, Mr. Clifford
+leaning on Benita and a stick, till, reaching the tent at last, he
+almost fell on to the blankets and remained there practically crippled.
+
+Now began Benita’s terrible time, the worst of all her life. Every hour
+her father became more ill. Even before they took refuge in the cave
+he was completely broken down, and now after this accident he began to
+suffer very much. His rheumatism or sciatica, or whatever it was, seemed
+to settle upon the hurt muscles of his back, causing him so much pain
+that he could scarcely sleep for ten minutes at a stretch. Moreover, he
+would swallow but little of the rough food which was all Benita was
+able to prepare for him; nothing, indeed, except biscuit soaked in black
+coffee, which she boiled over a small fire made of wood that they had
+brought with them, and occasionally a little broth, tasteless stuff
+enough, for it was only the essence of biltong, or sun-dried flesh,
+flavoured with some salt.
+
+Then there were two other terrors against she must fight, the darkness
+and the dread of Jacob Meyer. Perhaps the darkness was the worse of
+them. To live in that hideous gloom in which their single lamp, for she
+dared burn no more lest the oil should give out, seemed but as one star
+to the whole night, ah! who that had not endured it could know what it
+meant? There the sick man, yonder the grinning skeletons, around the
+blackness and the silence, and beyond these again a miserable death,
+or Jacob Meyer. But of him Benita saw nothing, though once or twice she
+thought that she heard his voice raving outside the wall which they had
+built. If so, either he did not try to pull it down, or he failed in
+the attempt, or perhaps he feared that should he succeed, he would be
+greeted by a bullet. So at last she gave up thinking about him. Should
+he force his way into the cave she must deal with the situation as best
+she could. Meanwhile, her father’s strength was sinking fast.
+
+Three awful days went by in this fashion, and the end drew near.
+Although she tried to force herself to it, Benita could not swallow
+enough food to keep up her strength. Now that the passage was closed the
+atmosphere of this old vault, for it was nothing more, thickened by
+the smoke of the fire which she was obliged to burn, grew poisonous and
+choked her. Want of sleep exhausted her, dread of what the morrow might
+bring forth crushed her strong spirit. She began to break down, knowing
+that the hour was near when she and her father must die together.
+
+Once, as she slept awhile at his side, being wakened by his groaning,
+Benita looked at her watch. It was midnight. She rose, and going to the
+embers of the little fire, warmed up some of her biltong broth which she
+poured into a tin pannikin. With difficulty she forced him to swallow
+a few mouthfuls of it, then, feeling a sudden weakness, drank the rest
+herself. It gave her power to think, and her father dozed off into an
+uneasy sleep.
+
+Alas! thinking was of no use, nothing could be done. There was no hope
+save in prayer. Restlessness seized Benita, and taking the lantern she
+wandered round the cave. The wall that they had built remained intact,
+and oh! to think that beyond it flowed the free air and shone the
+blessed stars! Back she came again, skirting the pits that Jacob Meyer
+had dug, and the grave of the old monk, till she reached the steps of
+the crucifix, and holding up her candle, looked at the thorn-crowned
+brow of the Christ above.
+
+It was wonderfully carved; that dying face was full of pity. Would not
+He Whom it represented pity her? She knelt down on the topmost step, and
+clasping the pierced feet with her arms, began to pray earnestly, not
+for herself but that she might save her father. She prayed as she had
+never prayed before, and so praying, sank into a torpor or a swoon.
+
+It seemed to Benita that this sleep of hers suddenly became alive; in it
+she saw many things. For instance, she saw herself seated in a state of
+trance upon that very step where now she knelt, while before her stood
+her father and Jacob Meyer. Moreover, something spoke in her; she could
+not hear a voice, but she seemed to see the words written in the air
+before her. These were the words:--
+
+“_Clasp the feet of the Christ and draw them to the left. The passage
+beneath leads to the chamber where the gold is hid, and thence to the
+river bank. That is the secret which ere I depart, I the dead Benita,
+pass on to you, the living Benita, as I am commanded. In life and death
+peace be to your soul._”
+
+Thrice did this message appear to repeat itself in the consciousness
+of Benita. Then, suddenly as she had slept, she woke again with every
+letter of it imprinted on her mind. Doubtless it was a dream, nothing
+but a dream bred by the fact that her arms were clasping the feet of the
+crucifix. What did it say? “Draw them to the left.”
+
+She did so, but nothing stirred. Again she tried, and still nothing
+stirred. Of course it was a dream. Why had such been sent to mock her?
+In a kind of mad irritation she put out all her remaining strength and
+wrestled with those stony feet. _They moved a little_--then of a sudden,
+without any further effort on her part, swung round as high as the knees
+where drapery hung, concealing the join in them. Yes, they swung round,
+revealing the head of a stair, up which blew a cold wind that it was
+sweet to breathe.
+
+Benita rose, gasping. Then she seized her lantern and ran to the little
+tent where her father lay.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+THE VOICE OF THE LIVING
+
+Mr. Clifford was awake again now.
+
+“Where have you been?” he asked querulously in a thin voice. “I wanted
+you.” Then as the light from the candle shone upon it, he noted the
+change that had come over her pale face, and added: “What has happened?
+Is Meyer dead? Are we free?”
+
+Benita shook her head. “He was alive a few hours ago, for I could hear
+him raving and shouting outside the wall we built. But, father, it has
+all come back to me; I believe that I have found it.”
+
+“What has come back? What have you found? Are you mad, too, like Jacob?”
+
+“What something told me when I was in the trance which afterwards I
+forgot, but now remember. And I have found the passage which leads to
+where they hid the gold. It begins behind the crucifix, where no one
+ever thought of looking.”
+
+This matter of the gold did not seem to interest Mr. Clifford. In his
+state all the wealth beneath the soil of Africa would not have appealed
+to him. Moreover, he hated the name of that accursed treasure, which was
+bringing them to such a miserable end.
+
+“Where does the passage run? Have you looked?” he asked.
+
+“Not yet, but the voice in me said--I mean, I dreamed--that it goes down
+to the river-side. If you leant on me do you think that you could walk?”
+
+“Not one inch,” he answered. “Here where I am I shall die.”
+
+“No, no, don’t talk like that. We may be saved now that I have found
+a way. Oh, if only you could--if only you could walk, or if I had the
+strength to carry you!” and she wrung her hands and began to weep, so
+weak was she.
+
+Her father looked at her searchingly. Then he said:
+
+“Well, love, I cannot, so there’s an end. But you can, and you had
+better go.”
+
+“What! And leave you? Never.”
+
+“Yes, and leave me. Look, there is but a little oil left and only a
+few candles. The biscuits are done and neither of us can swallow
+that biltong any more. I suppose that I am dying, and your health and
+strength are failing you quickly in this darkness; if you stop here
+you must soon follow me. And what is the alternative? The madman
+outside--that is, if you could find strength to pull down the wall,
+which I doubt. You had best go, Benita.”
+
+But still she said she would not.
+
+“Do you not see,” he added, “that it is my only chance of life? If you
+go you may be able to bring me help before the end comes. Should there
+be a passage the probability is that, although they know nothing of
+it, it finishes somewhere by the wall of the first enclosure where the
+Makalanga are. If so, you may find the Molimo, or if he is dead, Tamas
+or one of the others, and they will help us. Go, Benita, go at once.”
+
+“I never thought of that,” she answered in a changed voice. “Of course,
+it may be so, if the passage goes down at all. Well, at least I can look
+and come back to tell you.”
+
+Then Benita placed the remainder of the oil close by her father’s
+side, so that he could refill the lamp, for the use of his hands still
+remained to him. Also, she set there such crumbs of biscuit as were
+left, some of the biltong, a flask of Hollands, and a pail of water.
+This done, she put on her long cloak, filled one of its pockets with
+biltong, and the other with matches and three of the four remaining
+candles. The fourth she insisted on leaving beside her father’s bed.
+When everything was ready she knelt down at his side, kissed him, and
+from her heart put up a prayer that they might both live to meet again,
+although she knew well that this they could scarcely hope to do.
+
+Had two people ever been in a more dreadful situation, she wondered, as
+she looked at her father lying there, whom she must leave to fight with
+Death alone in that awful place, while she went forth to meet him in the
+unknown bowels of the earth!
+
+Mr. Clifford read her thoughts. “Yes,” he said, “it is a strange parting
+and a wild errand. But who knows? It may please Providence to take you
+through, and if not--why, our troubles will soon be over.”
+
+Then once more they kissed, and not daring to try to speak, Benita tore
+herself away. Passing into the passage whereof the lower half of the
+crucifix formed the door, she paused for a moment to examine it and to
+place a fragment of rock in such fashion that it could not shut again
+behind her. Her idea was that it worked by aid of some spring, but now
+she saw that this was not so, as the whole mass hung upon three stone
+hinges beautifully concealed. The dust and corrosion of ages which had
+made this door so hard to open, by filling up the tiny spaces between it
+and its framework, had also rendered these cracks utterly imperceptible
+to the eye. So accurately was it fashioned, indeed, that no one who did
+not know its secret would have discovered it if they searched for months
+or years.
+
+Though at the time Benita took little note of such details, the
+passage beyond and the stair descending from it showed the same perfect
+workmanship. Evidently this secret way dated not from the Portuguese
+period, but from that of the Phoenicians or other ancients, to whose
+treasure-chamber it was the approach, opening as it did from their
+holy of holies, to which none were admitted save the head priests. The
+passage, which was about seven feet high by four wide, had been hewn out
+of the live rock of the mountain, for thousands of little marks left by
+the workmen’s chisels were still discernible upon its walls. So it was
+with the stair, that had been but little used, and remained fresh as the
+day when it was finished.
+
+Down the steps, candle in hand, flitted Benita, counting them as she
+went. The thirtieth brought her to a landing. Here it was that she saw
+the first traces of that treasure which they had suffered so much to
+find. Something glittered at her feet. She picked it up. It was a little
+bar of gold weighing two or three ounces that doubtless had been dropped
+there. Throwing it down again she looked in front of her, and to her
+dismay saw a door of wood with iron bolts. But the bolts had never been
+shot, and when she pulled at it the door creaked upon its rusty hinges
+and opened. She was on the threshold of the treasure-chamber!
+
+It was square and of the size of a small room, packed on either side
+almost to the low, vaulted roof with small bags of raw hide, carelessly
+arranged. Quite near to the door one of these bags had slipped down
+and burst open. It was filled with gold, some in ingots and some in raw
+nuggets, for there they lay in a shining, scattered heap. As she stooped
+to look it came into the mind of Benita that her father had said that in
+her trance she had told them that one of the bags of treasure was burst,
+and that the skin of which it had been made was black and red. Behold!
+before her lay the burst bag, and the colour of the hide was black and
+red.
+
+She shivered. The thing was uncanny, terrible. Uncanny was it also
+to see in the thick dust, which in the course of twenty or more of
+centuries had gathered on the floor, the mark of footprints, those of
+the last persons who had visited this place. There had been two of them,
+a man and a woman, and they were no savages, for they wore shoes. Benita
+placed her foot in the print left by that dead woman. It filled it
+exactly, it might have been her own. Perhaps, she thought to herself,
+that other Benita had descended here with her father, after the
+Portuguese had hidden away their wealth, that she might be shown where
+it was, and of what it consisted.
+
+One more glance at all this priceless, misery-working gold, and on she
+went, she who was seeking the gold of life and liberty for herself and
+him who lay above. Supposing that the stairway ended there? She stopped,
+she looked round, but could see no other door. To see the better she
+halted and opened the glass of her lantern. Still she could perceive
+nothing, and her heart sank. Yet why did the candle flicker so fiercely?
+And why was the air in this deep place so fresh? She walked forward a
+pace or two, then noticed suddenly that those footprints of the dead
+that she was following disappeared immediately in front of her, and she
+stopped.
+
+It was but just in time. One step more and she would have fallen down
+the mouth of a deep pit. Once it had been covered with a stone, but this
+stone was removed, and had never been replaced. Look! there it stood
+against the wall of the chamber. Well was this for Benita, since her
+frail strength would not have sufficed to stir that massive block, even
+if she had discovered its existence beneath the dust.
+
+Now she saw that down the pit ran another ladderlike stair of stone,
+very narrow and precipitous. Without hesitation she began its descent.
+Down she went and down--one hundred steps, two hundred steps, two
+hundred and seventy-five steps, and all the way wherever the dust had
+gathered the man’s and the woman’s footprints ran before her. There was
+a double line of them, one line going down and the other line returning.
+Those that returned were the last, for often they appeared over those
+that descended. Why had these dead people returned, Benita wondered.
+
+The stair had ended; now she was in a kind of natural cave, for its
+sides and roof were rugged; moreover, water trickled and dripped from
+them. It was not very large, and it smelt horribly of mud and other
+things. Again she searched by the feeble light of her candle, but could
+see no exit. Suddenly she saw something else, however, for stepping
+on what she took to be a rock, to her horror it moved beneath her. She
+heard a snap as of jaws, a violent blow upon the leg nearly knocked
+her off her feet, and as she staggered backwards she saw a huge and
+loathsome shape rushing away into the darkness. The rock that she had
+trodden on was a crocodile which had its den here! With a little scream
+she retreated to her stair. Death she had expected--but to be eaten by
+crocodiles!
+
+Yet as Benita stood there panting a blessed hope rose in her breast. If
+a crocodile came in there it must also get out, and where such a great
+creature could go, a woman would be able to follow. Also, she must be
+near the water, since otherwise it could never have chosen this hole for
+its habitation. She collected her courage, and having clapped her hands
+and waved the lantern about to scare any alligators that might still be
+lurking there, hearing and seeing nothing more, she descended to where
+she had trodden upon the reptile. Evidently this was its bed, for
+its long body had left an impress upon the mud, and all about lay the
+remains of creatures that it had brought in for food. Moreover, a path
+ran outwards, its well-worn trail distinct even in that light.
+
+She followed this path, which ended apparently in a blank wall. Then it
+was that Benita guessed why those dead folks’ footprints had returned,
+for here had been a doorway which in some past age those who used it
+built up with blocks of stone and cement. How, then, did the crocodile
+get out? Stooping down she searched, and perceived, a few yards to the
+right of the door, a hole that looked as though it were water-worn.
+Now Benita thought that she understood. The rock was softer here, and
+centuries of flood had eaten it away, leaving a crack in the stratum
+which the crocodiles had found out and enlarged. Down she went on her
+hands and knees, and thrusting the lantern in front of her, crept along
+that noisome drain, for this was what it resembled. And now--oh! now she
+felt air blowing in her face, and heard the sound of reeds whispering,
+and water running, and saw hanging like a lamp in the blue sky,
+a star--the morning star! Benita could have wept, she could have
+worshipped it, yet she pushed on between rocks till she found herself
+among tall reeds, and standing in water. She had gained the banks of the
+Zambesi.
+
+Instantly, by instinct as it were, Benita extinguished her candle,
+fearing lest it should betray her, for constant danger had made her very
+cunning. The dawn had not yet broken, but the waning moon and the stars
+gave a good light. She paused to look. There above her towered the
+outermost wall of Bambatse, against which the river washed, except at
+such times as the present, when it was very low.
+
+So she was not in the fortress as she had hoped, but without it, and oh!
+what should she do? Go back again? How would that serve her father or
+herself? Go on? Then she might fall into the hands of the Matabele whose
+camp was a little lower down, as from her perch upon the top of the cone
+she had seen that poor white man do. Ah! the white man! If only he lived
+and she could reach him! Perhaps they had not killed him after all. It
+was madness, yet she would try to discover; something impelled her to
+take the risk. If she failed and escaped, perhaps then she might call to
+the Makalanga, and they would let down a rope and draw her up the wall
+before the Matabele caught her. She would not go back empty-handed, to
+die in that dreadful place with her poor father. Better perish here in
+the sweet air and beneath the stars, even if it were upon a Matabele
+spear, or by a bullet from her own pistol.
+
+She looked about her to take her bearings in case it should ever be
+necessary for her to return to the entrance of the cave. This proved
+easy, for a hundred or so feet above her--where the sheer face of the
+cliff jutted out a little, at that very spot indeed on which tradition
+said that the body of the Señora da Ferreira had struck in its fall, and
+the necklace Benita wore to-day was torn from her--a stunted mimosa grew
+in some cleft of the rock. To mark the crocodile run itself she bent
+down a bunch of reeds, and having first lit a few Tandstickor brimstone
+matches and thrown them about inside of it, that the smell of them might
+scare the beast should it wish to return, she set her lantern behind a
+stone near to the mouth of the hole.
+
+Then Benita began her journey which, when the river was high, it would
+not have been possible for her to make except by swimming. As it was,
+a margin of marsh was left between her and the steep, rocky side of the
+mount from which the great wall rose, and through this she made her way.
+Never was she likely to forget that walk. The tall reeds dripped
+their dew upon her until she was soaked; long, black-tailed
+finches--saccaboolas the natives call them--flew up undisturbed, and
+lobbed away across the river; owls flitted past and bitterns boomed at
+the coming of the dawn. Great fish splashed also in the shallows, or
+were they crocodiles? Benita hoped not--for one day she had seen enough
+of crocodiles.
+
+It was all very strange. Could she be the same woman, she wondered,
+who not a year before had been walking with her cousins down Westbourne
+Grove, and studying Whiteley’s windows? What would these cousins say
+now if they could see her, white-faced, large-eyed, desperate, splashing
+through the mud upon the unknown banks of the Zambesi, flying from death
+to death!
+
+On she struggled, above her the pearly sky in which the stars were
+fading, around her the wet reeds, and pervading all the heavy low-lying
+mists of dawn. She was past the round of the walls, and at length stood
+upon dry ground where the Matabele had made their camp. But in that fog
+she saw no Matabele; probably their fires were out, and she chanced
+to pass between the sentries. Instinctively, more than by reason, she
+headed for that hillock upon which she had seen the white man’s waggon,
+in the vague hope that it might still be there. On she struggled, still
+on, till at length she blundered against something soft and warm, and
+perceived that it was an ox tied to a trek-tow, beyond which were other
+oxen and a white waggon-cap.
+
+So it _was_ still there! But the white man, where was he? Through the
+dense mist Benita crept to the disselboom. Then, seeing and hearing
+nothing, she climbed to the voorkissie and kneeling on it, separated
+the tent flaps and peered into the waggon. Still she could see nothing
+because of the mist, yet she heard something, a man breathing in his
+sleep. Somehow she thought that it was a white man; a Kaffir did not
+breathe like that. She did not know what to do, so remained kneeling
+there. It seemed as though the man who was asleep began to feel her
+presence, for he muttered to himself--surely the words were English!
+Then quite suddenly he struck a match and lit a candle which stood in
+a beer bottle by his side. She could not see his face while he lit the
+match, for his arm hid it, and the candle burned up slowly. Then the
+first thing she saw was the barrel of a revolver pointing straight at
+her.
+
+“Now, my black friend,” said a pleasant voice, “down you go or I shoot.
+One, two! Oh, my God!”
+
+The candle burned up, its light fell upon the white, elfish face of
+Benita, whose long dark hair streamed about her; it shone in her great
+eyes. Still she could see nothing, for it dazzled her.
+
+“Oh, my God!” said the voice again. “Benita! Benita! Have you come to
+tell me that I must join you? Well, I am ready, my sweet, my sweet! Now
+I shall hear your answer.”
+
+“Yes,” she whispered, and crawling forward down the cartel Benita fell
+upon his breast.
+
+For she knew him at last--dead or living she cared not--she knew him,
+and out of hell crept to him, her heaven and her home!
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+BENITA GIVES HER ANSWER
+
+“Your answer, Benita,” Robert said dreamily, for to him this thing
+seemed a dream.
+
+“Have I not given it, months ago? Oh, I remember, it was only in my
+heart, not on my lips, when that blow fell on me! Then afterwards I
+heard what you had done and I nearly died. I wished that I might die
+to be with you, but I could not. I was too strong; now I understand the
+reason. Well, it seems that we are both living, and whatever happens,
+here is my answer, if it is worth anything to you. Once and for all,
+I love you. I am not ashamed to say it, because very soon we may be
+separated for the last time. But I cannot talk now, I have come here to
+save my father.”
+
+“Where is he, Benita?”
+
+“Dying in a cave up at the top of that fortress. I got down by a secret
+way. Are the Matabele still here?”
+
+“Very much so,” he answered. “But something has happened. My guard woke
+me an hour ago to say that a messenger had arrived from their king,
+Lobengula, and now they are talking over the message. That is how you
+came to get through, otherwise the sentries would have assegaied you,
+the brutes,” and he drew her to him and kissed her passionately for the
+first time; then, as though ashamed of himself, let her go.
+
+“Have you anything to eat?” she asked. “I--I--am starving. I didn’t feel
+it before, but now----”
+
+“Starving, you starving, while I--look, here is some cold meat which
+I could not get down last night, and put by for the Kaffirs. Great
+Heavens! that I should feed you with Kaffirs’ leavings! But it is
+good--eat it.”
+
+Benita took the stuff in her fingers and swallowed it greedily; she
+who for days had lived on nothing but a little biscuit and biltong. It
+tasted delicious to her--never had she eaten anything so good. And all
+the while he watched her with glowing eyes.
+
+“How can you look at me?” she said at length. “I must be horrible; I
+have been living in the dark and crawling through mud. I trod upon a
+crocodile!” and she shuddered.
+
+“Whatever you are I never want to see you different,” he answered
+slowly. “To me you are most beautiful.”
+
+Even then, wreck as she was, the poor girl flushed, and there was a mist
+in her eyes as she looked up and said:
+
+“Thank you. I don’t care now what happens to me, and what has happened
+doesn’t matter at all. But can we get away?”
+
+“I don’t know,” he answered; “but I doubt it. Go and sit on the
+waggon-box for a few minutes while I dress, and we will see.”
+
+Benita went. The mist was thinning now, and through it she saw a sight
+at which her heart sank, for between her and the mount Bambatse Matabele
+were pouring towards their camp on the river’s edge. They were cut off.
+A couple of minutes later Robert joined her, and as he came she looked
+at him anxiously in the growing light. He seemed older than when
+they had parted on the _Zanzibar_; changed, too, for now his face was
+serious, and he had grown a beard; also, he appeared to limp.
+
+“I am afraid there is an end,” she said, pointing to the Matabele below.
+
+“Yes, it looks like it. But like you, I say, what does it matter now?”
+ and he took her hand in his, adding: “let us be happy while we can if
+only for a few minutes. They will be here presently.”
+
+“What are you?” she asked. “A prisoner?”
+
+“That’s it. I was following you when they captured me; for I have been
+here before and knew the way. They were going to kill me on general
+principles, only it occurred to one of them who was more intelligent
+than the rest that I, being a white man, might be able to show them how
+to storm the place. Now I was sure that you were there, for I saw you
+standing on that point, though they thought you were the Spirit of
+Bambatse. So I wasn’t anxious to help them, for then--you know what
+happens when the Matabele are the stormers! But--as you still lived--I
+wasn’t anxious to die either. So I set them to work to dig a hole with
+their assegais and sharp axes, through granite. They have completed
+exactly twenty feet of it, and I reckon that there are one hundred and
+forty to go. Last night they got tired of that tunnel and talked of
+killing me again, unless I could show them a better plan. Now all the
+fat is in the fire, and I don’t know what is to happen. Hullo! here they
+come. Hide in the waggon, quick!”
+
+Benita obeyed, and from under cover of the tent where the Matabele could
+not see her, watched and listened. The party that approached consisted
+of a chief and about twenty men, who marched behind him as a guard.
+Benita knew that chief. He was the captain Maduna, he of the royal blood
+whose life she had saved. By his side was a Natal Zulu, Robert Seymour’s
+driver, who could speak English and acted as interpreter.
+
+“White man,” said Maduna, “a message has reached us from our king.
+Lobengula makes a great war and has need of us. He summons us back from
+this petty fray, this fight against cowards who hide behind walls, whom
+otherwise we would have killed, everyone, yes, if we sat here till we
+grew old. So for this time we leave them alone.”
+
+Robert answered politely that he was glad to hear it, and wished them a
+good journey.
+
+“Wish yourself a good journey, white man,” was the stern reply.
+
+“Why? Do you desire that I should accompany you to Lobengula?”
+
+“No, you go before us to the kraal of the Black One who is even greater
+than the child of Moselikatse, to that king who is called Death.”
+
+Robert crossed his arms and said: “Say on.”
+
+“White man, I promised you life if you would show us how to pierce or
+climb those walls. But you have made fools of us--you have set us to cut
+through rock with spears and axes. Yes, to hoe at rock as though it were
+soil--you who with the wisdom of your people could have taught us some
+better way. Therefore we must go back to our king disgraced, having
+failed in his service, and therefore you who have mocked us shall die.
+Come down now, that we may kill you quietly, and learn whether or no you
+are a brave man.”
+
+Then it was, while her lover’s hand was moving towards the pistol hidden
+beneath his coat, that Benita, with a quick movement, emerged from the
+waggon in which she crouched, and stood up at his side upon the driving
+box.
+
+“_Ow!_” said the Captain. “It is the White Maiden. Now how came she
+here? Surely this is great magic. Can a woman fly like a bird?” and they
+stared at her amazed.
+
+“What does it matter how I came, chief Maduna?” she answered in Zulu.
+“Yet I will tell you why I came. It was to save you from dipping your
+spear in the innocent blood, and bringing on your head the curse of the
+innocent blood. Answer me now. Who gave you and your brother yonder your
+lives within that wall when the Makalanga would have torn you limb from
+limb, as hyenas tear a buck? Was it I or another?”
+
+“Inkosi-kaas--Chieftainess,” replied the great Captain, raising his
+broad spear in salute. “It was you and no other.”
+
+“And what did you promise me then, Prince Maduna?”
+
+“Maiden of high birth, I promised you your life and your goods, should
+you ever fall into my power.”
+
+“Does a leader of the Amandabele, one of the royal blood, lie like a
+Mashona or a Makalanga slave? Does he do worse--tell half the truth
+only, like a cheat who buys and keeps back half the price?” she asked
+contemptuously. “Maduna, you promised me not one life, but two, two
+lives and the goods that belong to both. Ask of your brother there, who
+was witness of the words.”
+
+“Great Heavens!” muttered Robert Seymour to himself, as he looked at
+Benita standing with outstretched hand and flashing eyes. “Who would
+have thought that a starved woman could play such a part with death on
+the hazard?”
+
+“It is as this daughter of white chiefs says,” answered the man to whom
+she had appealed. “When she freed us from the fangs of those dogs, you
+promised her two lives, my brother, one for yours and one for mine.”
+
+“Hear him,” went on Benita. “He promised me two lives, and how did this
+prince of the royal blood keep his promise? When I and the old man, my
+father, rode hence in peace, he loosed his spears upon us; he hunted us.
+Yet it was the hunters who fell into the trap, not the hunted.”
+
+“Maiden,” replied Maduna, in a shamed voice, “that was your fault, not
+mine. If you had appealed to me I would have let you go. But you killed
+my sentry, and then the chase began, and ere I knew who you were my
+runners were out of call.”
+
+“Little time had I to ask your mercy; but so be it,” said Benita. “I
+accept your word, and I forgive you that offence. Now fulfil your oath.
+Begone and leave us in peace.”
+
+Still Maduna hesitated.
+
+“I must make report to the king,” he said. “What is this white man to
+you that I should spare him? I give you your life and your father’s
+life, not that of this white man who has tricked us. If he were your
+father, or your brother, it would be otherwise. But he is a stranger,
+and belongs to me, not to you.”
+
+“Maduna,” she asked, “do women such as I am share the waggon of a
+stranger? This man is more to me than father or brother. He is my
+husband, and I claim his life.”
+
+“_Ow!_” said the spokesman of the audience, “we understand now. She is
+his wife, and has a right to him. If she were not his wife she would not
+be in his waggon. It is plain that she speaks the truth, though how she
+came here we do not know, unless, as we think, she is a witch,” and he
+smiled at his own cleverness.
+
+“Inkosi-kaas,” said Maduna, “you have persuaded me. I give you the life
+of that white fox, your husband, and I hope that he will not trick you
+as he has tricked us, and set you to hoe rock instead of soil,” and he
+looked at Robert wrathfully. “I give him to you and all his belongings.
+Now, is there anything else that you would ask?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Benita coolly, “you have many oxen there which you took
+from the other Makalanga. Mine are eaten and I need cattle to draw
+my waggon. I ask a present of twenty of them, and,” she added by an
+afterthought, “two cows with young calves, for my father is sick yonder,
+and must have milk.”
+
+“Oh! give them to her. Give them to her,” said Maduna, with a tragic
+gesture that in any other circumstances would have made Benita laugh.
+“Give them to her and see that they are good ones, before she asks our
+shields and spears also--for after all she saved my life.”
+
+So men departed to fetch those cows and oxen, which presently were
+driven in.
+
+While this talk was in progress the great impi of the Matabele was
+massing for the march, on the flat ground a little to the right of
+them. Now they began to come past in companies, preceded by the lads
+who carried the mats and cooking-pots and drove the captured sheep and
+cattle. By this time the story of Benita, the witch-woman whom they
+could not kill, and who had mysteriously flown from the top of the peak
+into their prisoner’s waggon, had spread among them. They knew also that
+it was she who had saved their general from the Makalanga, and those who
+had heard her admired the wit and courage with which she had pleaded
+and won her cause. Therefore, as they marched past in their companies,
+singing a song of abuse and defiance of the Makalanga who peered at them
+from the top of the wall, they lifted their great spears in salutation
+to Benita standing upon the waggon-box.
+
+Indeed, they were a wondrous and imposing spectacle, such a one as few
+white women have ever seen.
+
+At length all were gone except Maduna and a body-guard of two hundred
+men. He walked to the front of the waggon and addressed Robert Seymour.
+
+“Listen, you fox who set us to hoe granite,” he said indignantly. “You
+have outwitted us this time, but if ever I meet you again, then you die.
+Now I have given you your life, but,” he added, almost pleadingly, “if
+you are really brave as white men are said to be, will you not come down
+and fight me man to man for honour’s sake?”
+
+“I think not,” answered Robert, when he understood this challenge, “for
+what chance should I have against so brave a warrior? Also this lady--my
+wife--needs my help on her journey home.”
+
+Maduna turned from him contemptuously to Benita.
+
+“I go,” he said, “and fear not; you will meet no Matabele on that
+journey. Have you more words for me, O Beautiful One, with a tongue of
+oil and a wit that cuts like steel?”
+
+“Yes,” answered Benita. “You have dealt well with me, and in reward I
+give you of my good luck. Bear this message to your king from the
+White Witch of Bambatse, for I am she and no other. That he leave these
+Makalanga, my servants, to dwell unharmed in their ancient home, and
+that he lift no spear against the White Men, lest that evil which the
+Molimo foretold to you, should fall upon him.”
+
+“Ah!” said Maduna, “now I understand how you flew from the mountain top
+into this man’s waggon. You are not a white woman, you are the ancient
+Witch of Bambatse herself. You have said it, and with such it is not
+well to war. Great lady of Magic, Spirit from of old, I salute you, and
+I thank you for your gifts of life and fortune. Farewell.”
+
+Then he, too, stalked away at the head of his guard, so that presently,
+save for the three Zulu servants and the herd of cattle, Robert and
+Benita were left utterly alone.
+
+Now, her part played and the victory won, Benita burst into tears and
+fell upon her lover’s breast.
+
+Presently she remembered, and freed herself from his arms.
+
+“I am a selfish wretch,” she said. “How dare I be so happy when my
+father is dead or dying? We must go at once.”
+
+“Go where?” asked the bewildered Robert.
+
+“To the top of the mountain, of course, whence I came. Oh! please don’t
+stop to question me, I’ll tell you as we walk. Stay,” and she called
+to the Zulu driver, who with an air of utter amazement was engaged in
+milking one of the gift cows, to fill two bottles with the milk.
+
+“Had we not better shout to the Makalanga to let us in?” suggested
+Robert, while this was being done, and Benita wrapped some cooked meat
+in a cloth.
+
+“No, no. They will think I am what I said I was--the Witch of Bambatse,
+whose appearance heralds misfortune, and fear a trap. Besides, we could
+not climb the top wall. You must follow my road, and if you can trust
+them, bring two of those men with you with lanterns. The lad can stop to
+herd the cattle.”
+
+Three minutes later, followed by the two Zulus, they were walking--or
+rather, running--along the banks of the Zambesi.
+
+“Why do you not come quicker?” she asked impatiently. “Oh, I beg your
+pardon, you are lame. Robert, what made you lame, and oh! why are you
+not dead, as they all swore you were, you, you--hero, for I know that
+part of the story?”
+
+“For a very simple reason, Benita: because I didn’t die. When that
+Kaffir took the watch from me I was insensible, that’s all. The sun
+brought me to life afterwards. Then some natives turned up, good people
+in their way, although I could not understand a word they said. They
+made a stretcher of boughs and carried me for some miles to their kraal
+inland. It hurt awfully, for my thigh was broken, but I arrived at last.
+There a Kaffir doctor set my leg in his own fashion; it has left it an
+inch shorter than the other, but that’s better than nothing.
+
+“In that place I lay for two solid months, for there was no white
+man within a hundred miles, and if there had been I could not have
+communicated with him. Afterwards I spent another month limping up
+towards Natal, until I could buy a horse. The rest is very short.
+Hearing of my reported death, I came as fast as I could to your father’s
+farm, Rooi Krantz, where I learned from the old vrouw Sally that you had
+taken to treasure-hunting, the same treasure that I told you of on the
+_Zanzibar_.
+
+“So I followed your spoor, met the servants whom you had sent back, who
+told me all about you, and in due course, after many adventures, as they
+say in a book, walked into the camp of our friends, the Matabele.
+
+“They were going to kill me at once, when suddenly you appeared upon
+that point of rock, glittering like--like the angel of the dawn. I knew
+that it must be you, for I had found out about your attempted escape,
+and how you were hunted back to this place. But the Matabele all thought
+that it was the Spirit of Bambatse, who has a great reputation in these
+parts. Well, that took off their attention, and afterwards, as I told
+you, it occurred to them that I might be an engineer. You know the rest,
+don’t you?”
+
+“Yes,” answered Benita softly. “I know the rest.”
+
+Then they plunged into the reeds and were obliged to stop talking, since
+they must walk in single file. Presently Benita looked up and saw that
+she was under the thorn which grew in the cleft of the rock. Also, with
+some trouble she found the bunch of reeds that she had bent down, to
+mark the inconspicuous hole through which she had crept, and by it her
+lantern. It seemed weeks since she had left it there.
+
+“Now,” she said, “light your candles, and if you see a crocodile, please
+shoot.”
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+THE TRUE GOLD
+
+“Let me go first,” said Robert.
+
+“No,” answered Benita. “I know the way; but please do watch for that
+horrible crocodile.”
+
+Then she knelt down and crept into the hole, while after her came
+Robert, and after him the two Zulus, who protested that they were not
+ant-bears to burrow under ground. Lifting the lantern she searched the
+cave, and as she could see no signs of the crocodile, walked on boldly
+to where the stair began.
+
+“Be quick,” she whispered to Robert, for in that place it seemed natural
+to speak low. “My father is above and near his death. I am dreadfully
+afraid lest we should be too late.”
+
+So they toiled up the endless steps, a very strange procession, for the
+two Zulus, bold men enough outside, were shaking with fright, till at
+length Benita clambered out of the trap door on to the floor of the
+treasure chamber, and turned to help Robert, whose lameness made him
+somewhat slow and awkward.
+
+“What’s all that?” he asked, pointing to the hide sacks, while they
+waited for the two scared Kaffirs to join them.
+
+“Oh!” she answered indifferently, “gold, I believe. Look, there is some
+of it on the floor, over Benita da Ferreira’s footsteps.”
+
+“Gold! Why, it must be worth----! And who on earth is Benita da
+Ferreira?”
+
+“I will tell you afterwards. She has been dead two or three hundred
+years; it was her gold, or her people’s, and those are her footprints in
+the dust. How stupid you are not to understand! Never mind the hateful
+stuff; come on quickly.”
+
+So they passed the door which she had opened that morning, and clambered
+up the remaining stairway. So full was Benita of terrors that she
+could never remember how she climbed them. Suppose that the foot of the
+crucifix had swung to; suppose that her father were dead; suppose that
+Jacob Meyer had broken into the cave? Well for herself she was no longer
+afraid of Jacob Meyer. Oh, they were there! The heavy door _had_ begun
+to close, but mercifully her bit of rock kept it ajar.
+
+“Father! Father!” she cried, running towards the tent.
+
+No answer came. She threw aside the flap, held down the lantern and
+looked. There he lay, white and still. She was too late!
+
+“He is dead, he is dead!” she wailed. Robert knelt down at her side, and
+examined the old man, while she waited in an agony.
+
+“He ought to be,” he said slowly; “but, Benita, I don’t think he is. I
+can feel his heart stir. No, don’t stop to talk. Pour out some of that
+squareface, and here, mix it with this milk.”
+
+She obeyed, and while he held up her father’s head, with a trembling
+hand emptied a little of the drink into his mouth. At first it ran out
+again, then almost automatically he swallowed some, and they knew that
+he was alive, and thanked Heaven. Ten minutes later Mr. Clifford was
+sitting up staring at them with dull and wondering eyes, while
+outside the two Zulus, whose nerves had now utterly broken down, were
+contemplating the pile of skeletons in the corner and the white towering
+crucifix, and loudly lamenting that they should have been brought to
+perish in this place of bones and ghosts.
+
+“Is it Jacob Meyer who makes that noise?” asked Mr. Clifford faintly.
+“And, Benita, where have you been so long, and--who is this gentleman
+with you? I seem to remember his face.”
+
+“He is the white man who was in the waggon, father, an old friend come
+to life again. Robert, can’t you stop the howling of those Kaffirs?
+Though I am sure I don’t wonder that they howl; I should have liked
+to do so for days. Oh! father, father, don’t you understand me? We are
+saved, yes, snatched out of hell and the jaws of death.”
+
+“Is Jacob Meyer dead, then?” he asked.
+
+“I don’t know where he is or what has happened to him, and I don’t care,
+but perhaps we had better find out. Robert, there is a madman outside.
+Make the Kaffirs pull down that wall, would you? and catch him.”
+
+“What wall? What madman?” he asked, staring at her.
+
+“Oh, of course you don’t know that, either. You know nothing. I’ll show
+you, and you must be prepared, for probably he will shoot at us.”
+
+“It all sounds a little risky, doesn’t it?” asked Robert doubtfully.
+
+“Yes, but we must take the risk. We cannot carry my father down that
+place, and unless we can get him into light and air soon, he will
+certainly die. The man outside is Jacob Meyer, his partner--you remember
+him. All these weeks of hardship and treasure-hunting have sent him off
+his head, and he wanted to mesmerize me and----”
+
+“And what? Make love to you?”
+
+She nodded, then went on:
+
+“So when he could not get his way about the mesmerism and so forth, he
+threatened to murder my father, and that is why we had to hide in this
+cave and build ourselves up, till at last I found the way out.”
+
+“Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer, now as always,” said Robert
+flushing. “To think that you should have been in the power of a
+scoundrel like that! Well, I hope to come square with him.”
+
+“Don’t hurt him, dear, unless you are obliged. Remember he is not
+responsible. He thought he saw a ghost here the other day.”
+
+“Unless he behaves himself he is likely to see a good many soon,”
+ muttered Robert.
+
+Then they went down the cave, and as silently as possible began to work
+at the wall, destroying in a few minutes what had been built up with so
+much labour. When it was nearly down the Zulus were told that there was
+an enemy outside, and that they must help to catch him if necessary, but
+were not to harm him. They assented gladly enough; indeed, to get out of
+that cave they would have faced half a dozen enemies.
+
+Now there was a hole right through the wall, and Robert bade Benita
+stand to one side. Then as soon as his eyes became accustomed to the
+little light that penetrated there, he drew his revolver and beckoned
+the Kaffirs to follow. Down the passage they crept, slowly, lest they
+should be blinded when they came to the glare of the sunshine, while
+Benita waited with a beating heart.
+
+A little time went by, she never knew how long, till suddenly a rifle
+shot rang through the stillness. Benita was able to bear no more. She
+rushed down the winding passage, and presently, just beyond its mouth,
+in a blurred and indistinct fashion saw that the two white men were
+rolling together on the ground, while the Kaffirs sprang round watching
+for an opportunity to seize one of them. At that moment they succeeded,
+and Robert rose, dusting his hands and knees.
+
+“Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer,” he repeated. “I could have killed
+him as his back was towards me, but didn’t because you asked me not.
+Then I stumbled with my lame leg, and he whipped round and let drive
+with his rifle. Look,” and he showed her where the bullet had cut his
+ear. “Luckily I got hold of him before he could loose off another.”
+
+Benita could find no words, her heart was too full of thankfulness. Only
+she seized Robert’s hand and kissed it. Then she looked at Jacob.
+
+He was lying upon the broad of his back, the two big Zulus holding his
+arms and legs; his lips were cracked, blue and swollen; his face was
+almost black, but his eyes still shone bright with insanity and hate.
+
+“I know you,” he screamed hoarsely to Robert. “You are another ghost,
+the ghost of that man who was drowned. Otherwise my bullet would have
+killed you.”
+
+“Yes, Mr. Meyer,” Seymour answered, “I am a ghost. Now, you boys, here’s
+a bit of rope. Tie his hands behind his back and search him. There is a
+pistol in that pocket.”
+
+They obeyed, and presently Meyer was disarmed and bound fast to a tree.
+
+“Water,” he moaned. “For days I have had nothing but the dew I could
+lick off the leaves.”
+
+Pitying his plight, Benita ran into the cave and returned presently with
+a tin of water. One of the Kaffirs held it to his lips, and he drank
+greedily. Then, leaving one Zulu to watch him, Robert, Benita, and
+the other Zulu went back, and as gently as they could carried out Mr.
+Clifford on his mattress, placing him in the shade of a rock, where he
+lay blessing them feebly, because they had brought him into the light
+again. At the sight of the old man Meyer’s rage blazed up afresh.
+
+“Ah,” he screamed, “if only I had killed you long ago, she would be mine
+now, not that fellow’s. It was you who stood between us.”
+
+“Look here, my friend,” broke in Robert. “I forgive you everything else,
+but, mad or sane, be good enough to keep Miss Clifford’s name off your
+lips, or I will hand you over to those Kaffirs to be dealt with as you
+deserve.”
+
+Then Jacob understood, and was silent. They gave him more water and
+food to eat, some of the meat that they had brought with them, which he
+devoured ravenously.
+
+“Are you sensible now?” asked Robert when he had done. “Then listen to
+me; I have some good news for you. That treasure you have been hunting
+for has been found. We are going to give you half of it, one of the
+waggons and some oxen, and clear you out of this place. Then if I set
+eyes on you again before we get to a civilized country, I shoot you like
+a dog.”
+
+“You lie!” said Meyer sullenly. “You want to turn me out into the
+wilderness to be murdered by the Makalanga or the Matabele.”
+
+“Very well,” said Robert. “Untie him, boys, and bring him along. I will
+show him whether I lie.”
+
+“Where are they taking me to?” asked Meyer. “Not into the cave? I won’t
+go into the cave; it is haunted. If it hadn’t been for the ghost there
+I would have broken down their wall long ago, and killed that old snake
+before her eyes. Whenever I went near that wall I saw it watching me.”
+
+“First time I ever heard of a ghost being useful,” remarked Robert.
+“Bring him along. No, Benita, he shall see whether I am a liar.”
+
+So the lights were lit, and the two stalwart Zulus hauled Jacob forward,
+Robert and Benita following. At first he struggled violently, then, on
+finding that he could not escape, went on, his teeth chattering with
+fear.
+
+“It is cruel,” remonstrated Benita.
+
+“A little cruelty will not do him any harm,” Robert answered. “He has
+plenty to spare for other people. Besides, he is going to get what he
+has been looking for so long.”
+
+They led Jacob to the foot of the crucifix, where a paroxysm seemed to
+seize him, then pushed him through the swinging doorway beneath,
+and down the steep stairs, till once more they all stood in the
+treasure-chamber.
+
+“Look,” said Robert, and, drawing his hunting-knife, he slashed one of
+the hide bags, whereon instantly there flowed out a stream of beads and
+nuggets. “Now, my friend, am I a liar?” he asked.
+
+At this wondrous sight Jacob’s terror seemed to depart from him, and he
+grew cunning.
+
+“Beautiful, beautiful!” he said, “more than I thought--sacks and sacks
+of gold. I shall be a king indeed. No, no, it is all a dream--like the
+rest. I don’t believe it’s there. Loose my arms and let me feel it.”
+
+“Untie him,” said Robert, at the same time drawing his pistol and
+covering the man; “he can’t do us any hurt.”
+
+The Kaffirs obeyed, and Jacob, springing at the slashed bag, plunged his
+thin hands into it.
+
+“No lie,” he screamed, “no lie,” as he dragged the stuff out and smelt
+at it. “Gold, gold, gold! Hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of
+gold! Let’s make a bargain, Englishman, and I won’t kill you as I meant
+to do. You take the girl and give me all the gold,” and in his ecstasy
+he began to pour the glittering ingots over his head and body.
+
+“A new version of the tale of Danaë,” began Robert in a sarcastic
+voice, then suddenly paused, for a change had come over Jacob’s face, a
+terrible change.
+
+It turned ashen beneath the tan, his eyes grew large and round, he put
+up his hands as though to thrust something from him, his whole frame
+shivered, and his hair seemed to erect itself. Slowly he retreated
+backwards, and would have fallen down the unclosed trap-hole had not one
+of the Kaffirs pushed him away. Back he went, still back, till he struck
+the further wall and stood there, perhaps for half a minute. He lifted
+his hand and pointed first to those ancient footprints, some of which
+still remained in the dust of the floor, and next, as they thought, at
+Benita. His lips moved fast, he seemed to be pleading, remonstrating,
+yet--and this was the ghastliest part of it--from them there came no
+sound. Lastly, his eyes rolled up until only the whites of them were
+visible, his face became wet as though water had been poured over it,
+and, still without a sound, he fell forward and moved no more.
+
+So terrible was the scene that with a howl of fear the two Kaffirs
+turned and fled up the stairway. Robert sprang to the Jew, dragged
+him over on to his back, put his hand upon his breast and lifted his
+eyelids.
+
+“Dead,” he said. “Stone dead. Privation, brain excitement, heart
+failure--that’s the story.”
+
+“Perhaps,” answered Benita faintly; “but really I think that I begin to
+believe in ghosts also. Look, I never noticed them before, and I didn’t
+walk there, but those footsteps seem to lead right up to him.” Then she
+turned too and fled.
+
+
+Another week had gone by. The waggons were laden with a burden more
+precious perhaps than waggons have often borne before. In one of them,
+on a veritable bed of gold, slept Mr. Clifford, still very weak and
+ill, but somewhat better than he had been, and with a good prospect
+of recovery, at any rate for a while. They were to trek a little after
+dawn, and already Robert and Benita were up and waiting. She touched his
+arm and said to him:
+
+“Come with me. I have a fancy to see that place once more, for the last
+time.”
+
+So they climbed the hill and the steep steps in the topmost wall that
+Meyer had blocked--re-opened now--and reaching the mouth of the cave,
+lit the lamps which they had brought with them, and entered. There were
+the fragments of the barricade that Benita had built with desperate
+hands, there was the altar of sacrifice standing cold and grey as it had
+stood for perhaps three thousand years. There was the tomb of the old
+monk who had a companion now, for in it Jacob Meyer lay with him, his
+bones covered by the _débris_ that he himself had dug out in his mad
+search for wealth; and there the white Christ hung awful on His cross.
+Only the skeletons of the Portuguese were gone, for with the help of his
+Kaffirs Robert had moved them every one into the empty treasure-chamber,
+closing the trap beneath, and building up the door above, so that there
+they might lie in peace at last.
+
+In this melancholy place they tarried but a little while, then, turning
+their backs upon it for ever, went out and climbed the granite cone to
+watch the sun rise over the broad Zambesi. Up it came in glory, that
+same sun which had shone upon the despairing Benita da Ferreira, and
+upon the English Benita when she had stood there in utter hopelessness,
+and seen the white man captured by the Matabele.
+
+Now, different was their state indeed, and there in that high place,
+whence perhaps many a wretched creature had been cast to death, whence
+certainly the Portuguese maiden had sought her death, these two happy
+beings were not ashamed to give thanks to Heaven for the joy which it
+had vouchsafed to them, and for their hopes of life full and long to be
+travelled hand in hand. Behind them was the terror of the cave, beneath
+them were the mists of the valley, but above them the light shone and
+rolled and sparkled, and above them stretched the eternal sky!
+
+They descended the pillar, and near the foot of it saw an old man
+sitting. It was Mambo, the Molimo of the Makalanga: even when they were
+still far away from him they knew his snow-white head and thin, ascetic
+face. As they drew near Benita perceived that his eyes were closed, and
+whispered to Robert that he was asleep. Yet he had heard them coming,
+and even guessed her thought.
+
+“Maiden,” he said in his gentle voice, “maiden who soon shall be a wife,
+I do not sleep, although I dream of you as I have dreamt before. What
+did I say to you that day when first we met? That for you I had good
+tidings; that though death was all about you, you need not fear; that
+in this place you who had known great sorrow should find happiness
+and rest. Yet, maiden, you would not believe the words of the Munwali,
+spoken by his prophet’s lips, as he at your side, who shall be your
+husband, would not believe me in years past when I told him that we
+should meet again.”
+
+“Father,” she answered, “I thought your rest was that which we find only
+in the grave.”
+
+“You would not believe,” he went on without heeding her, “and therefore
+you tried to fly, and therefore your heart was torn with terror and with
+agony, when it should have waited for the end in confidence and peace.”
+
+“Father, my trial was very sore.”
+
+“Maiden, I know it, and because it was so sore that patient Spirit of
+Bambatse bore with you, and through it all guided your feet aright. Yes,
+with you has that Spirit gone, by day, by night, in the morning and in
+the evening. Who was it that smote the man who lies dead yonder with
+horror and with madness when he would have bent your will to his and
+made you a wife to him? Who was it that told you the secret of the
+treasure-pit, and what footsteps went before you down its stair? Who was
+it that led you past the sentries of the Amandabele and gave you wit and
+power to snatch your lord’s life from Maduna’s bloody hand? Yes, with
+you it has gone and with you it will go. No more shall the White Witch
+stand upon the pillar point at the rising of the sun, or in the shining
+of the moon.”
+
+“Father, I have never understood you, and I do not understand you now,”
+ said Benita. “What has this spirit to do with me?”
+
+He smiled a little, then answered slowly:
+
+“That I may not tell you; that you shall learn one day, but never here.
+When you also have entered into silence, then you shall learn. But I say
+to you that this shall not be till your hair is as white as mine, and
+your years are as many. Ah! you thought that I had deserted you, when
+fearing for your father’s life you wept and prayed in the darkness of
+the cave. Yet it was not so, for I did but suffer the doom which I had
+read to fulfil itself as it must do.”
+
+He rose to his feet and, resting on his staff, laid one withered hand
+upon the head of Benita.
+
+“Maiden,” he said, “we meet no more beneath the sun. Yet because you
+have brought deliverance to my people, because you are sweet and pure
+and true, take with you the blessing of Munwali, spoken by the mouth of
+his servant Mambo, the old Molimo of Bambatse. Though from time to time
+you must know tears and walk in the shade of sorrows, long and happy
+shall be your days with him whom you have chosen. Children shall spring
+up about you, and children’s children, and with them also shall the
+blessing go. The gold you white folk love is yours, and it shall
+multiply and give food to the hungry and raiment to those that are
+a-cold. Yet in your own heart lies a richer store that cannot melt away,
+the countless treasure of mercy and of love. When you sleep and when
+you wake Love shall take you by the hand, till at length he leads you
+through life’s dark cave to that eternal house of purest gold which soon
+or late those that seek it shall inherit,” and with his staff he pointed
+to the glowing morning sky wherein one by one little rosy clouds floated
+upwards and were lost.
+
+To Robert and to Benita’s misty eyes they looked like bright-winged
+angels throwing wide the black doors of night, and heralding that
+conquering glory at whose advent despair and darkness flee away.
+
+
+
+
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Benita, by H. Rider Haggard</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Benita<br />
+An African Romance</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Rider Haggard</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August, 2001 [eBook #2761]<br />
+[Most recently updated: August 22, 2021]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers, Emma Dudding, Dagny and David Widger</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENITA ***</div>
+
+    <h1>
+      BENITA
+    </h1>
+
+<h3>AN AFRICAN ROMANCE</h3>
+
+    <h2>
+      By H. Rider Haggard
+    </h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0000">NOTE.</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0001">CHAPTER I. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0002">CHAPTER II. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0003">CHAPTER III. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0004">CHAPTER IV. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0005">CHAPTER V. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0006">CHAPTER VI. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0007">CHAPTER VII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0008">CHAPTER VIII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0009">CHAPTER IX. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0010">CHAPTER X. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0011">CHAPTER XI. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0012">CHAPTER XII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0013">CHAPTER XIII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0014">CHAPTER XIV. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0015">CHAPTER XV. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0016">CHAPTER XVI. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0017">CHAPTER XVII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0018">CHAPTER XVIII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0019">CHAPTER XIX. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0020">CHAPTER XX. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0021">CHAPTER XXI. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0022">CHAPTER XXII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0023">CHAPTER XXIII. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0024">CHAPTER XXIV. </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0000" id="link2H_4_0000"></a>NOTE.</h2>
+
+<p>
+     It may interest readers of this story to know that its author
+     believes it to have a certain foundation in fact.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+     It was said about five-and-twenty or thirty years ago that an
+     adventurous trader, hearing from some natives in the territory
+     that lies at the back of Quilimane, the legend of a great treasure
+     buried in or about the sixteenth century by a party of Portuguese
+     who were afterwards massacred, as a last resource attempted its
+     discovery by the help of a mesmerist. According to this history
+     the child who was used as a subject in the experiment, when in a
+     state of trance, detailed the adventures and death of the unhappy
+     Portuguese men and women, two of whom leapt from the point of a
+     high rock into the Zambesi. Although he knew no tongue but
+     English, this clairvoyant child is declared to have repeated in
+     Portuguese the prayers these unfortunates offered up, and even to
+     have sung the very hymns they sang. Moreover, with much other
+     detail, he described the burial of the great treasure and its
+     exact situation so accurately that the white man and the mesmerist
+     were able to dig for and find the place where <i>it had been</i>&mdash;for
+     the bags were gone, swept out by the floods of the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+     Some gold coins remained, however, one of them a ducat of Aloysius
+     Mocenigo, Doge of Venice. Afterwards the boy was again thrown into
+     a trance (in all he was mesmerized eight times), and revealed
+     where the sacks still lay; but before the white trader could renew
+     his search for them, the party was hunted out of the country by
+     natives whose superstitious fears were aroused, barely escaping
+     with their lives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+     It should be added that, as in the following tale, the chief who
+     was ruling there when the tragedy happened, declared the place to
+     be sacred, and that if it were entered evil would befall his
+     tribe. Thus it came about that for generations it was never
+     violated, until at length his descendants were driven farther from
+     the river by war, and from one of them the white man heard the
+     legend.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2>
+      BENITA<br />
+      AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+    </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"></a>
+      I.<br/>
+      CONFIDENCES</h2>
+    <p>
+      Beautiful, beautiful was that night! No air that stirred; the black smoke
+      from the funnels of the mail steamer <i>Zanzibar</i> lay low over the
+      surface of the sea like vast, floating ostrich plumes that vanished one by
+      one in the starlight. Benita Beatrix Clifford, for that was her full name,
+      who had been christened Benita after her mother and Beatrix after her
+      father&rsquo;s only sister, leaning idly over the bulwark rail, thought to
+      herself that a child might have sailed that sea in a boat of bark and come
+      safely into port.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a tall man of about thirty years of age, who was smoking a cigar,
+      strolled up to her. At his coming she moved a little as though to make
+      room for him beside her, and there was something in the motion which, had
+      anyone been there to observe it, might have suggested that these two were
+      upon terms of friendship, or still greater intimacy. For a moment he
+      hesitated, and while he did so an expression of doubt, of distress even,
+      gathered on his face. It was as though he understood that a great deal
+      depended on whether he accepted or declined that gentle invitation, and
+      knew not which to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, much did depend upon it, no less than the destinies of both of
+      them. If Robert Seymour had gone by to finish his cigar in solitude, why
+      then this story would have had a very different ending; or, rather, who
+      can say how it might have ended? The dread, foredoomed event with which
+      that night was big would have come to its awful birth leaving certain
+      words unspoken. Violent separation must have ensued, and even if both of
+      them had survived the terror, what prospect was there that their lives
+      would again have crossed each other in that wide Africa?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was not so fated, for just as he put his foot forward to continue
+      his march Benita spoke in her low and pleasant voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going to the smoking-room or to the saloon to dance, Mr. Seymour?
+      One of the officers just told me that there is to be a dance,&rdquo; she added,
+      in explanation, &ldquo;because it is so calm that we might fancy ourselves
+      ashore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;The smoking-room is stuffy, and my dancing days
+      are over. No; I proposed to take exercise after that big dinner, and then
+      to sit in a chair and fall asleep. But,&rdquo; he added, and his voice grew
+      interested, &ldquo;how did you know that it was I? You never turned your head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have ears in my head as well as eyes,&rdquo; she answered with a little
+      laugh, &ldquo;and after we have been nearly a month together on this ship I
+      ought to know your step.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never remember that anyone ever recognized it before,&rdquo; he said, more to
+      himself than to her, then came and leaned over the rail at her side. His
+      doubts were gone. Fate had spoken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a while there was silence between them, then he asked her if she were
+      not going to the dance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not? You are fond of dancing, and you dance very well. Also there are
+      plenty of officers for partners, especially Captain&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he
+      checked himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it would be pleasant, but&mdash;Mr. Seymour, will you
+      think me foolish if I tell you something?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never thought you foolish yet, Miss Clifford, so I don&rsquo;t know why
+      I should begin now. What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not going to the dance because I am afraid, yes, horribly afraid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Afraid! Afraid of what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t quite know, but, Mr. Seymour, I feel as though we were all of us
+      upon the edge of some dreadful catastrophe&mdash;as though there were
+      about to be a mighty change, and beyond it another life, something new and
+      unfamiliar. It came over me at dinner&mdash;that was why I left the table.
+      Quite suddenly I looked, and all the people were different, yes, all
+      except a few.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was I different?&rdquo; he asked curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you were not,&rdquo; and he thought he heard her add &ldquo;Thank God!&rdquo; beneath
+      her breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And were you different?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I never looked at myself; I was the seer, not the seen. I
+      have always been like that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indigestion,&rdquo; he said reflectively. &ldquo;We eat too much on board ship, and
+      the dinner was very long and heavy. I told you so, that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m taking&mdash;I
+      mean why I wanted to take exercise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And to go to sleep afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, first the exercise, then the sleep. Miss Clifford, that is the rule
+      of life&mdash;and death. With sleep thought ends, therefore for some of us
+      your catastrophe is much to be desired, for it would mean long sleep and
+      no thought.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said that they were changed, not that they had ceased to think. Perhaps
+      they thought the more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then let us pray that your catastrophe may be averted. I prescribe for
+      you bismuth and carbonate of soda. Also in this weather it seems difficult
+      to imagine such a thing. Look now, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; he added, with a note
+      of enthusiasm in his voice, pointing towards the east, &ldquo;look.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes followed his outstretched hand, and there, above the level ocean,
+      rose the great orb of the African moon. Lo! of a sudden all that ocean
+      turned to silver, a wide path of rippling silver stretched from it to
+      them. It might have been the road of angels. The sweet soft light beat
+      upon their ship, showing its tapering masts and every detail of the
+      rigging. It passed on beyond them, and revealed the low, foam-fringed
+      coast-line rising here and there, dotted with kloofs and their clinging
+      bush. Even the round huts of Kaffir kraals became faintly visible in that
+      radiance. Other things became visible also&mdash;for instance, the
+      features of this pair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man was light in his colouring, fair-skinned, with fair hair which
+      already showed a tendency towards greyness, especially in the moustache,
+      for he wore no beard. His face was clean cut, not particularly handsome,
+      since, their fineness notwithstanding, his features lacked regularity; the
+      cheekbones were too high and the chin was too small, small faults redeemed
+      to some extent by the steady and cheerful grey eyes. For the rest, he was
+      broad-shouldered and well-set-up, sealed with the indescribable stamp of
+      the English gentleman. Such was the appearance of Robert Seymour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In that light the girl at his side looked lovely, though, in fact, she had
+      no real claims to loveliness, except perhaps as regards her figure, which
+      was agile, rounded, and peculiarly graceful. Her foreign-looking face was
+      unusual, dark-eyed, a somewhat large and very mobile mouth, fair and
+      waving hair, a broad forehead, a sweet and at times wistful face,
+      thoughtful for the most part, but apt to be irradiated by sudden smiles.
+      Not a beautiful woman at all, but exceedingly attractive, one possessing
+      magnetism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She gazed, first at the moon and the silver road beneath it, then,
+      turning, at the land beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are very near to Africa, at last,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too near, I think,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;If I were the captain I should stand
+      out a point or two. It is a strange country, full of surprises. Miss
+      Clifford, will you think me rude if I ask you why you are going there? You
+      have never told me&mdash;quite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, because the story is rather a sad one; but you shall hear it if you
+      wish. Do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He nodded, and drew up two deck chairs, in which they settled themselves
+      in a corner made by one of the inboard boats, their faces still towards
+      the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know I was born in Africa,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and lived there till I was
+      thirteen years old&mdash;why, I find I can still speak Zulu; I did so this
+      afternoon. My father was one of the early settlers in Natal. His father
+      was a clergyman, a younger son of the Lincolnshire Cliffords. They are
+      great people there still, though I don&rsquo;t suppose that they are aware of my
+      existence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know them,&rdquo; answered Robert Seymour. &ldquo;Indeed, I was shooting at their
+      place last November&mdash;when the smash came,&rdquo; and he sighed; &ldquo;but go
+      on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my father quarrelled with his father, I don&rsquo;t know what about, and
+      emigrated. In Natal he married my mother, a Miss Ferreira, whose name&mdash;like
+      mine and her mother&rsquo;s&mdash;was Benita. She was one of two sisters, and
+      her father, Andreas Ferreira, who married an English lady, was half Dutch
+      and half Portuguese. I remember him well, a fine old man with dark eyes
+      and an iron-grey beard. He was wealthy as things went in those days&mdash;that
+      is to say, he had lots of land in Natal and the Transvaal, and great herds
+      of stock. So you see I am half English, some Dutch, and more than a
+      quarter Portuguese&mdash;quite a mixture of races. My father and mother
+      did not get on well together. Mr. Seymour, I may as well tell you all the
+      truth: he drank, and although he was passionately fond of her, she was
+      jealous of him. Also he gambled away most of her patrimony, and after old
+      Andreas Ferreira&rsquo;s death they grew poor. One night there was a dreadful
+      scene between them, and in his madness he struck her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, she was a very proud woman, determined, too, and she turned on him
+      and said&mdash;for I heard her&mdash;&lsquo;I will never forgive you; we have
+      done with each other.&rsquo; Next morning, when my father was sober, he begged
+      her pardon, but she made no answer, although he was starting somewhere on
+      a fortnight&rsquo;s trek. When he had gone my mother ordered the Cape cart,
+      packed up her clothes, took some money that she had put away, drove to
+      Durban, and after making arrangements at the bank about a small private
+      income of her own, sailed with me for England, leaving a letter for my
+      father in which she said that she would never see him again, and if he
+      tried to interfere with me she would put me under the protection of the
+      English court, which would not allow me to be taken to the home of a
+      drunkard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In England we went to live in London with my aunt, who had married a
+      Major King, but was a widow with five children. My father often wrote to
+      persuade my mother to go back to him, but she never would, which I think
+      was wrong of her. So things went on for twelve years or more, till one day
+      my mother suddenly died, and I came into her little fortune of between
+      £200 and £300 a year, which she had tied up so that nobody can touch it.
+      That was about a year ago. I wrote to tell my father of her death, and
+      received a pitiful letter; indeed, I have had several of them. He implored
+      me to come out to him and not to leave him to die in his loneliness, as he
+      soon would do of a broken heart, if I did not. He said that he had long
+      ago given up drinking, which was the cause of the ruin of his life, and
+      sent a certificate signed by a magistrate and a doctor to that effect.
+      Well, in the end, although all my cousins and their mother advised me
+      against it, I consented, and here I am. He is to meet me at Durban, but
+      how we shall get on together is more than I can say, though I long to see
+      him, for after all he is my father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was good of you to come, under all the circumstances. You must have a
+      brave heart,&rdquo; said Robert reflectively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my duty,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;And for the rest, I am not afraid who was
+      born to Africa. Indeed, often and often have I wished to be back there
+      again, out on the veld, far away from the London streets and fog. I am
+      young and strong, and I want to see things, natural things&mdash;not those
+      made by man, you know&mdash;the things I remember as a child. One can
+      always go back to London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, or at least some people can. It is a curious thing, Miss Clifford,
+      but as it happens I have met your father. You always reminded me of the
+      man, but I had forgotten his name. Now it comes back to me; it <i>was</i>
+      Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where on earth?&rdquo; she asked, astonished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a queer place. As I told you, I have visited South Africa before,
+      under different circumstances. Four years ago I was out here big-game
+      shooting. Going in from the East coast my brother and I&mdash;he is dead
+      now, poor fellow&mdash;got up somewhere in the Matabele country, on the
+      banks of the Zambesi. As we didn&rsquo;t find much game there we were going to
+      strike south, when some natives told us of a wonderful ruin that stood on
+      a hill overhanging the river a few miles farther on. So, leaving the
+      waggon on the hither side of the steep nek, over which it would have been
+      difficult to drag it, my brother and I took our rifles and a bag of food
+      and started. The place was farther off than we thought, although from the
+      top of the nek we could see it clearly enough, and before we reached it
+      dark had fallen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now we had observed a waggon and a tent outside the wall which we thought
+      must belong to white men, and headed for them. There was a light in the
+      tent, and the flap was open, the night being very hot. Inside two men were
+      seated, one old, with a grey beard, and the other, a good-looking fellow&mdash;under
+      forty, I should say&mdash;with a Jewish face, dark, piercing eyes, and a
+      black, pointed beard. They were engaged in examining a heap of gold beads
+      and bangles, which lay on the table between them. As I was about to speak,
+      the black-bearded man heard or caught sight of us, and seizing a rifle
+      that leaned against the table, swung round and covered me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;For God&rsquo;s sake don&rsquo;t shoot, Jacob,&rsquo; said the old man; &lsquo;they are
+      English.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Best dead, any way,&rsquo; answered the other, in a soft voice, with a slight
+      foreign accent, &lsquo;we don&rsquo;t want spies or thieves here.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;We are neither, but I can shoot as well as you, friend,&rsquo; I remarked, for
+      by this time my rifle was on him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he thought better of it, and dropped his gun, and we explained that
+      we were merely on an archæological expedition. The end of it was that we
+      became capital friends, though neither of us could cotton much to Mr.
+      Jacob&mdash;I forget his other name. He struck me as too handy with his
+      rifle, and was, I gathered, an individual with a mysterious and rather
+      lurid past. To cut a long story short, when he found out that we had no
+      intention of poaching, your father, for it was he, told us frankly that
+      they were treasure-hunting, having got hold of some story about a vast
+      store of gold which had been hidden away there by Portuguese two or three
+      centuries before. Their trouble was, however, that the Makalanga, who
+      lived in the fortress, which was called Bambatse, would not allow them to
+      dig, because they said the place was haunted, and if they did so it would
+      bring bad luck to their tribe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And did they ever get in?&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure I don&rsquo;t know, for we went next day, though before we left we
+      called on the Makalanga, who admitted us all readily enough so long as we
+      brought no spades with us. By the way, the gold we saw your father and his
+      friend examining was found in some ancient graves outside the walls, but
+      had nothing to do with the big and mythical treasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was the place like? I love old ruins,&rdquo; broke in Benita again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! wonderful. A gigantic, circular wall built by heaven knows who, then
+      half-way up the hill another wall, and near the top a third wall which, I
+      understood, surrounded a sort of holy of holies, and above everything, on
+      the brink of the precipice, a great cone of granite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Artificial or natural?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. They would not let us up there, but we were introduced to
+      their chief and high priest, Church and State in one, and a wonderful old
+      man he was, very wise and very gentle. I remember he told me he believed
+      we should meet again, which seemed an odd thing for him to say. I asked
+      him about the treasure and why he would not let the other white men look
+      for it. He answered that it would never be found by any man, white or
+      black, that only a woman would find it at the appointed time, when it
+      pleased the Spirit of Bambatse, under whose guardianship it was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who was the Spirit of Bambatse, Mr. Seymour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you, couldn&rsquo;t make out anything definite about her, except
+      that she was said to be white, and to appear sometimes at sunrise, or in
+      the moonlight, standing upon the tall point of rock of which I told you. I
+      remember that I got up before the dawn to look for her&mdash;like an
+      idiot, for of course I saw nothing&mdash;and that&rsquo;s all I know about the
+      matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you have any talk with my father, Mr. Seymour&mdash;alone, I mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a little. The next day he walked back to our waggon with us, being
+      glad, I fancy, of a change from the perpetual society of his partner
+      Jacob. That wasn&rsquo;t wonderful in a man who had been brought up at Eton and
+      Oxford, as I found out he had, like myself, and whatever his failings may
+      have been&mdash;although we saw no sign of them, for he would not touch a
+      drop of spirits&mdash;was a gentleman, which Jacob wasn&rsquo;t. Still, he&mdash;Jacob&mdash;had
+      read a lot, especially on out-of-the-way subjects, and could talk every
+      language under the sun&mdash;a clever and agreeable scoundrel in short.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did my father say anything about himself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; he told me that he had been an unsuccessful man all his life, and
+      had much to reproach himself with, for we got quite confidential at last.
+      He added that he had a family in England&mdash;what family he didn&rsquo;t say&mdash;whom
+      he was anxious to make wealthy by way of reparation for past misdeeds, and
+      that was why he was treasure-hunting. However, from what you tell me, I
+      fear he never found anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Mr. Seymour, he never found it and never will, but all the same I am
+      glad to hear that he was thinking of us. Also I should like to explore
+      that place, Bambatse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So should I, Miss Clifford, in your company, and your father&rsquo;s, but not
+      in that of Jacob. If ever you should go there with him, I say:&mdash;&lsquo;Beware
+      of Jacob.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! I am not afraid of Jacob,&rdquo; she answered with a laugh, &ldquo;although I
+      believe that my father still has something to do with him&mdash;at least
+      in one of his letters he mentioned his partner, who was a German.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A German! I think that he must have meant a German Jew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After this there was silence between them for a time, then he said
+      suddenly, &ldquo;You have told me your story, would you like to hear mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it won&rsquo;t take you long to listen to it, for, Miss Clifford, like
+      Canning&rsquo;s needy knife-grinder, I have really none to tell. You see before
+      you one of the most useless persons in the world, an undistinguished
+      member of what is called in England the &lsquo;leisured class,&rsquo; who can do
+      absolutely nothing that is worth doing, except shoot straight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not seem impressed with that accomplishment,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;yet it
+      is an honest fact that for the last fifteen years&mdash;I was thirty-two
+      this month&mdash;practically my whole time has been given up to it, with a
+      little fishing thrown in in the spring. As I want to make the most of
+      myself, I will add that I am supposed to be among the six best shots in
+      England, and that my ambition&mdash;yes, great Heavens! my ambition&mdash;was
+      to become better than the other five. By that sin fell the poor man who
+      speaks to you. I was supposed to have abilities, but I neglected them all
+      to pursue this form of idleness. I entered no profession, I did no work,
+      with the result that at thirty-two I am ruined and almost hopeless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why ruined and hopeless?&rdquo; she asked anxiously, for the way in which they
+      were spoken grieved her more than the words themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ruined because my old uncle, the Honourable John Seymour Seymour, whose
+      heir I was, committed the indiscretion of marrying a young lady who has
+      presented him with thriving twins. With the appearance of those twins my
+      prospects disappeared, as did the allowance of £1,500 a year that he was
+      good enough to make me on which to keep up a position as his next-of-kin.
+      I had something of my own, but also I had debts, and at the present moment
+      a draft in my pocket for £2,163 14s. 5d., and a little loose cash,
+      represents the total of my worldly goods, just about the sum I have been
+      accustomed to spend per annum.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t call that ruin, I call that riches,&rdquo; said Benita, relieved. &ldquo;With
+      £2,000 to begin on you may make a fortune in Africa. But how about the
+      hopelessness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am hopeless because I have absolutely nothing to which to look forward.
+      Really, when that £2,000 is gone I do not know how to earn a sixpence. In
+      this dilemma it occurred to me that the only thing I could do was to turn
+      my shooting to practical account, and become a hunter of big game.
+      Therefore I propose to kill elephants until an elephant kills me. At
+      least,&rdquo; he added in a changed voice, &ldquo;I did so propose until half an hour
+      ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"></a>
+      II.<br/>
+      THE END OF THE &ldquo;ZANZIBAR.&rdquo;</h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until half an hour ago? Then why&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and Benita stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have I changed my very modest scheme of life? Miss Clifford, as you are
+      so good as to be sufficiently interested, I will tell you. It is because a
+      temptation which hitherto I have been able to resist, has during the last
+      thirty minutes become too strong for me. You know everything has its
+      breaking strain.&rdquo; He puffed nervously at his cigar, threw it into the sea,
+      paused, then went on: &ldquo;Miss Clifford, I have dared to fall in love with
+      you. No; hear me out. When I have done it will be quite time enough to
+      give me the answer that I expect. Meanwhile, for the first time in my
+      life, allow me the luxury of being in earnest. To me it is a new
+      sensation, and therefore very priceless. May I go on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita made no answer. He rose with a certain deliberateness which
+      characterized all his movements&mdash;for Robert Seymour never seemed to
+      be in a hurry&mdash;and stood in front of her so that the moonlight shone
+      upon her face, while his own remained in shadow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond that £2,000 of which I have spoken, and incidentally its owner, I
+      have nothing whatsoever to offer to you. I am an indigent and worthless
+      person. Even in my prosperous days, when I could look forward to a large
+      estate, although it was often suggested to me, I never considered myself
+      justified in asking any lady to share&mdash;the prospective estate. I
+      think now that the real reason was that I never cared sufficiently for any
+      lady, since otherwise my selfishness would probably have overcome my
+      scruples, as it does to-night. Benita, for I will call you so, if for the
+      first and last time, I&mdash;I&mdash;love you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen now,&rdquo; he went on, dropping his measured manner, and speaking
+      hurriedly, like a man with an earnest message and little time in which to
+      deliver it, &ldquo;it is an odd thing, an incomprehensible thing, but true, true&mdash;I
+      fell in love with you the first time I saw your face. You remember, you
+      stood there leaning over the bulwark when I came on board at Southampton,
+      and as I walked up the gangway, I looked and my eyes met yours. Then I
+      stopped, and that stout old lady who got off at Madeira bumped into me,
+      and asked me to be good enough to make up my mind if I were going backward
+      or forward. Do you remember?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which things are an allegory,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;I felt it so at the time.
+      Yes, I had half a mind to answer &lsquo;Backward&rsquo; and give up my berth in this
+      ship. Then I looked at you again, and something inside of me said
+      &lsquo;Forward.&rsquo; So I came up the rest of the gangway and took off my hat to
+      you, a salutation I had no right to make, but which, I recall, you
+      acknowledged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, then continued: &ldquo;As it began, so it has gone on. It is always
+      like that, is it not? The beginning is everything, the end must follow.
+      And now it has come out, as I was fully determined that it should not do
+      half an hour ago, when suddenly you developed eyes in the back of your
+      head, and&mdash;oh! dearest, I love you. No, please be quiet; I have not
+      done. I have told you what I am, and really there isn&rsquo;t much more to say
+      about me, for I have no particular vices except the worst of them all,
+      idleness, and not the slightest trace of any virtue that I can discover.
+      But I have a certain knowledge of the world acquired in a long course of
+      shooting parties, and as a man of the world I will venture to give you a
+      bit of advice. It is possible that to you my life and death affair is a
+      mere matter of board-ship amusement. Yet it is possible also that you
+      might take another view of the matter. In that case, as a friend and a man
+      of the world, I entreat you&mdash;don&rsquo;t. Have nothing to do with me. Send
+      me about my business; you will never regret it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you making fun, or is all this meant, Mr. Seymour?&rdquo; asked Benita,
+      still speaking beneath her breath, and looking straight before her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Meant? Of course it is meant. How can you ask?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I have always understood that on such occasions people wish to
+      make the best of themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so, but I never do what I ought, a fact for which I am grateful now
+      come to think of it, since otherwise I should not be here to-night. I wish
+      to make the worst of myself, the very worst, for whatever I am not, at
+      least I am honest. Now having told you that I am, or was half an hour ago,
+      an idler, a good-for-nothing, prospectless failure, I ask you&mdash;if you
+      care to hear any more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She half rose, and, glancing at him for the first time, saw his face
+      contract itself and turn pale in the moonlight. It may be that the sight
+      of it affected her, even to the extent of removing some adverse impression
+      left by the bitter mocking of his self-blame. At any rate, Benita seemed
+      to change her mind, and sat down again, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on, if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed slightly, and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you. I have told you what I <i>was</i> half an hour ago; now,
+      hoping that you will believe me, I will tell you what I <i>am</i>. I am a
+      truly repentant man, one upon whom a new light has risen. I am not very
+      old, and I think that underneath it all I have some ability. Opportunity
+      may still come my way; if it does not, for your sake I will make the
+      opportunity. I do not believe that you can ever find anyone who would love
+      you better or care for you more tenderly. I desire to live for you in the
+      future, more completely even than in the past I have lived for myself. I
+      do not wish to influence you by personal appeals, but in fact I stand at
+      the parting of the ways. If you will give yourself to me I feel as though
+      I might still become a husband of whom you could be proud&mdash;if not, I
+      write &lsquo;Finis&rsquo; upon the tombstone of the possibilities of Robert Seymour. I
+      adore you. You are the one woman with whom I desire to pass my days; it is
+      you who have always been lacking to my life. I ask you to be brave, to
+      take the risk of marrying me, although I can see nothing but poverty ahead
+      of us, for I am an adventurer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t speak like that,&rdquo; she said quickly. &ldquo;We are all of us adventurers
+      in this world, and I more than you. We have just to consider ourselves,
+      not what we have or have not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it, Miss Clifford. Then I have nothing more to say; now it is for
+      you to answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then the sound of the piano and the fiddle in the saloon ceased. One
+      of the waltzes was over, and some of the dancers came upon deck to flirt
+      or to cool themselves. One pair, engaged very obviously in the former
+      occupation, stationed themselves so near to Robert and Benita that further
+      conversation between them was impossible, and there proceeded to
+      interchange the remarks common to such occasions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a good ten minutes did they stand thus, carrying on a mock quarrel as
+      to a dance of which one of them was supposed to have been defrauded, until
+      Robert Seymour, generally a very philosophical person, could have slain
+      those innocent lovers. He felt, he knew not why, that his chances were
+      slipping away from him; that sensation of something bad about to happen,
+      of which Benita had spoken, spread from her to him. The suspense grew
+      exasperating, terrible even, nor could it be ended. To ask her to come
+      elsewhere was under the circumstances not feasible, especially as he would
+      also have been obliged to request the other pair to make way for them, and
+      all this time, with a sinking of the heart, he felt that probably Benita
+      was beating down any tenderness which she might feel towards him; that
+      when her long-delayed answer did come the chances were it would be &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The piano began to play again in the saloon, and the young people, still
+      squabbling archly, at length prepared to depart. Suddenly there was a stir
+      upon the bridge, and against the tender sky Robert saw a man dash forward.
+      Next instant the engine-room bell rang fiercely. He knew the signal&mdash;it
+      was &ldquo;Stop,&rdquo; followed at once by other ringings that meant &ldquo;Full speed
+      astern.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder what is up?&rdquo; said the young man to the young woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the words had left his lips they knew. There was a sensation as
+      though all the hull of the great ship had come to a complete standstill,
+      while the top part of her continued to travel forward; followed by another
+      sensation still more terrible and sickening in its nature&mdash;that of
+      slipping over something, helplessly, heavily, as a man slips upon ice or a
+      polished floor. Spars cracked, ropes flew in two with a noise as of pistol
+      shots. Heavy objects rushed about the deck, travelling forwards all of
+      them. Benita was hurled from her chair against Robert so that the two of
+      them rolled into the scuppers. He was unhurt and picked himself up, but
+      she lay still, and he saw that something had struck her upon the head, for
+      blood was running down her cheek. He lifted her, and, filled with black
+      horror and despair&mdash;for he thought her gone&mdash;pressed his hand
+      upon her heart. Thank God! it began to beat again&mdash;she still lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The music in the saloon had stopped, and for a little while there was
+      silence. Then of an instant there arose the horrible clamour of shipwreck;
+      wild-eyed people rushed to and fro aimlessly; here and there women and
+      children shrieked; a clergyman fell upon his knees and began to pray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This went on for a space, till presently the second officer appeared and,
+      affecting an unconcerned air, called out that it was all right, the
+      captain said no one was to be afraid. He added that they were not more
+      than six miles from the shore, and that the ship would be beached in half
+      an hour. Indeed, as he spoke the engines, which had been stopped,
+      commenced to work again, and her head swung round in a wide circle,
+      pointing to the land. Evidently they had passed over the rock and were
+      once more in deep water, through which they travelled at a good speed but
+      with a heavy list to starboard. The pumps got to work also with a
+      monotonous, clanging beat, throwing out great columns of foaming water on
+      to the oily sea. Men began to cut the covers off the boats, and to swing
+      some of them outboard. Such were the things that went on about them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the senseless Benita clasped to his breast, the blood from her cut
+      head running down his shoulder, Robert stood still awhile, thinking. Then
+      he made up his mind. As it chanced, she had a deck cabin, and thither he
+      forced his way, carrying her tenderly and with patience through the
+      distracted throng of passengers, for there were five hundred souls on
+      board that ship. He reached the place to find that it was quite empty, her
+      cabinmate having fled. Laying Benita upon the lower bunk, he lit the
+      swinging candle. As soon as it burned up he searched for the lifebelts and
+      by good fortune found two of them, one of which, not without great
+      difficulty, he succeeded in fastening round her. Then he took a sponge and
+      bathed her head with water. There was a great bruise upon her temple where
+      the block or whatever it was had struck her, and the blood still flowed;
+      but the wound was not very deep or extensive, nor, so far as he could
+      discover, did the bone appear to be broken or driven in. He had good hope
+      that she was only stunned, and would revive presently. Unable to do more
+      for her, a thought struck him. On the floor of the cabin, thrown by the
+      shock from the rack, lay her writing case. He opened it, and taking a
+      piece of paper wrote these words hurriedly in pencil:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You gave me no answer, and it is more than probable that I shall receive
+      none in this world which one or both of us may be upon the verge of
+      leaving. In the latter case we can settle the matter elsewhere&mdash;perhaps.
+      In the former, should it be my lot to go and yours to stay, I hope that
+      you will think kindly of me at times as of one who loved you truly. Should
+      it be yours to go, then you will never read these words. Yet if to the
+      dead is given knowledge, be assured that as you left me so you shall find
+      me, yours and yours alone. Or perhaps we both may live; I pray so.&mdash;S.
+      R. S.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Folding up the paper, he undid a button of Benita&rsquo;s blouse and thrust it
+      away there, knowing that thus she would certainly find it should she
+      survive. Then he stepped out on to the deck to see what was happening. The
+      vessel still steamed, but made slow progress; moreover, the list to
+      starboard was now so pronounced that it was difficult to stand upright. On
+      account of it nearly all the passengers were huddled together upon the
+      port side, having instinctively taken refuge as far as possible above the
+      water. A man with a white, distraught face staggered towards him,
+      supporting himself by the bulwarks. It was the captain. For a moment he
+      paused as though to think, holding to a stanchion. Robert Seymour saw his
+      opportunity and addressed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;I do not like interfering with other people&rsquo;s
+      business, but for reasons unconnected with myself I suggest to you that it
+      would be wise to stop this ship and get out the boats. The sea is calm; if
+      it is not left till too late there should be no difficulty in launching
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man stared at him absently, then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won&rsquo;t hold everybody, Mr. Seymour. I hope to beach her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At least they will hold some,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;whereas&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; And
+      he pointed to the water, which by now was almost level with the deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are right, Mr. Seymour. It doesn&rsquo;t matter to me, anyway. I am
+      a ruined man; but the poor passengers&mdash;the poor passengers!&rdquo; And he
+      scrambled away fiercely towards the bridge like a wounded cat along the
+      bough of a tree, whence in a few seconds Robert heard him shouting orders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A minute or so afterwards the steamer stopped. Too late the captain had
+      decided to sacrifice his ship and save those she carried. They were
+      beginning to get out the boats. Now Robert returned to the cabin where
+      Benita was lying senseless, and wrapped her up in a cloak and some
+      blankets. Then, seeing the second lifebelt on the floor, by an
+      afterthought he put it on, knowing that there was time to spare. Next he
+      lifted Benita, and feeling sure that the rush would be for the starboard
+      side, on which the boats were quite near the water, carried her, with
+      difficulty, for the slope was steep, to the port-cutter, which he knew
+      would be in the charge of a good man, the second officer, whom he had seen
+      in command there at Sunday boat-drills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, as he had anticipated, the crowd was small, since most people
+      thought that it would not be possible to get this boat down safely to the
+      water; or if their powers of reflection were gone, instinct told them so.
+      That skilful seaman, the second officer, and his appointed crew, were
+      already at work lowering the cutter from the davits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;women and children first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A number rushed in, and Robert saw that the boat would soon be full.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I must count myself a woman as I carry one,&rdquo;
+       and by a great effort, holding Benita with one arm, with the other he let
+      himself down the falls and, assisted by a quartermaster, gained the boat
+      in safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One or two other men scrambled after him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Push her off,&rdquo; said the officer; &ldquo;she can hold no more,&rdquo; and the ropes
+      were let go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they were about twelve feet from the ship&rsquo;s side, from which they
+      thrust themselves clear with oars, there came a rush of people,
+      disappointed of places in the starboard boats. A few of the boldest of
+      these swarmed down the falls, others jumped and fell among them, or missed
+      and dropped into the sea, or struck upon the sides of the boat and were
+      killed. Still she reached the water upon an even keel, though now much
+      overladen. The oars were got out, and they rowed round the bow of the
+      great ship wallowing in her death-throes, their first idea being to make
+      for the shore, which was not three miles away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This brought them to the starboard side, where they saw a hideous scene.
+      Hundreds of people seemed to be fighting for room, with the result that
+      some of the boats were overturned, precipitating their occupants into the
+      water. Others hung by the prow or the stern, the ropes having jammed in
+      the davits in the frantic haste and confusion, while from them human
+      beings dropped one by one. Round others not yet launched a hellish
+      struggle was in progress, the struggle of men, women, and children
+      battling for their lives, in which the strong, mad with terror, showed no
+      mercy to the weak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that mass of humanity, most of them about to perish, went up a babel
+      of sounds which in its sum shaped itself to one prolonged scream, such as
+      might proceed from a Titan in his agony. All this beneath a brooding,
+      moonlit sky, and on a sea as smooth as glass. Upon the ship, which now lay
+      upon her side, the siren still sent up its yells for succour, and some
+      brave man continued to fire rockets, which rushed heavenwards and burst in
+      showers of stars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert remembered that the last rocket he had seen was fired at an evening
+      <i>fête</i> for the amusement of the audience. The contrast struck him as
+      dreadful. He wondered whether there were any power or infernal population
+      that could be amused by a tragedy such as enacted itself before his eyes;
+      how it came about also that such a tragedy was permitted by the merciful
+      Strength in which mankind put their faith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The vessel was turning over, compressed air or steam burst up the decks
+      with loud reports; fragments of wreckage flew into the air. There the poor
+      captain still clung to the rail of the bridge. Seymour could see his white
+      face&mdash;the moonlight seemed to paint it with a ghastly smile. The
+      officer in command of their boat shouted to the crew to give way lest they
+      should be sucked down with the steamer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Look! Now she wallowed like a dying whale, the moonrays shone white upon
+      her bottom, showing the jagged rent made in it by the rock on which she
+      had struck, and now she was gone. Only a little cloud of smoke and steam
+      remained to mark where the <i>Zanzibar</i> had been.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"></a>
+      III.<br/>
+      HOW ROBERT CAME ASHORE</h2>
+    <p>
+      In place of the <i>Zanzibar</i> a great pit on the face of the ocean, in
+      which the waters boiled and black objects appeared and disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit still, for your lives&rsquo; sake,&rdquo; said the officer in a quiet voice; &ldquo;the
+      suck is coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In another minute it came, dragging them downward till the water trickled
+      over the sides of the boat, and backward towards the pit. But before ever
+      they reached it the deep had digested its prey, and, save for the great
+      air-bubbles which burst about them and a mixed, unnatural swell, was calm
+      again. For the moment they were safe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Passengers,&rdquo; said the officer, &ldquo;I am going to put out to sea&mdash;at any
+      rate, till daylight. We may meet a vessel there, and if we try to row
+      ashore we shall certainly be swamped in the breakers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No one objected; they seemed too stunned to speak, but Robert thought to
+      himself that the man was wise. They began to move, but before they had
+      gone a dozen yards something dark rose beside them. It was a piece of
+      wreckage, and clinging to it a woman, who clasped a bundle to her breast.
+      More, she was alive, for she began to cry to them to take her in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Save me and my child!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake save me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert recognized the choking voice; it was that of a young married lady
+      with whom he had been very friendly, who was going out with her baby to
+      join her husband in Natal. He stretched out his hand and caught hold of
+      her, whereon the officer said, heavily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The boat is already overladen. I must warn you that to take more aboard
+      is not safe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereon the passengers awoke from their stupor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Push her off,&rdquo; cried a voice; &ldquo;she must take her chance.&rdquo; And there was a
+      murmur of approval at the dreadful words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Christ&rsquo;s sake&mdash;for Christ&rsquo;s sake!&rdquo; wailed the drowning woman,
+      who clung desperately to Robert&rsquo;s hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you try to pull her in, we will throw you overboard,&rdquo; said the voice
+      again, and a knife was lifted as though to hack at his arm. Then the
+      officer spoke once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This lady cannot come into the boat unless someone goes out of it. I
+      would myself, but it is my duty to stay. Is there any man here who will
+      make place for her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But all the men there&mdash;seven of them, besides the crew&mdash;hung
+      their heads and were silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give way,&rdquo; said the officer in the same heavy voice; &ldquo;she will drop off
+      presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While the words passed his lips Robert seemed to live a year. Here was an
+      opportunity of atonement for his idle and luxurious life. An hour ago he
+      would have taken it gladly, but now&mdash;now, with Benita senseless on
+      his breast, and that answer still locked in her sleeping heart? Yet Benita
+      would approve of such a death as this, and even if she loved him not in
+      life, would learn to love his memory. In an instant his mind was made up,
+      and he was speaking rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thompson,&rdquo; he said to the officer, &ldquo;if I go, will you swear to take her
+      in and her child?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, Mr. Seymour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then lay to; I am going. If any of you live, tell this lady how I died,&rdquo;
+       and he pointed to Benita, &ldquo;and say I thought that she would wish it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She shall be told,&rdquo; said the officer again, &ldquo;and saved, too, if I can do
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold Mrs. Jeffreys, then, till I am out of this. I&rsquo;ll leave my coat to
+      cover her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A sailor obeyed, and with difficulty Robert wrenched free his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very deliberately he pressed Benita to his breast and kissed her on the
+      forehead, then let her gently slide on to the bottom of the boat. Next he
+      slipped off his overcoat and slowly rolled himself over the gunwale into
+      the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;pull Mrs. Jeffreys in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God bless you; you are a brave man,&rdquo; said Thompson. &ldquo;I shall remember you
+      if I live a hundred years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But no one else said anything; perhaps they were all too much ashamed,
+      even then.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have only done my duty,&rdquo; Seymour answered from the water. &ldquo;How far is
+      it to the shore?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About three miles,&rdquo; shouted Thompson. &ldquo;But keep on that plank, or you
+      will never live through the rollers. Good-bye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-bye,&rdquo; answered Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the boat passed away from him and soon vanished in the misty face of
+      the deep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Resting on the plank which had saved the life of Mrs. Jeffreys, Robert
+      Seymour looked about him and listened. Now and again he heard a faint,
+      choking scream uttered by some drowning wretch, and a few hundred yards
+      away caught sight of a black object which he thought might be a boat. If
+      so, he reflected that it must be full. Moreover, he could not overtake it.
+      No; his only chance was to make for the shore. He was a strong swimmer,
+      and happily the water was almost as warm as milk. There seemed to be no
+      reason why he should not reach it, supported as he was by a lifebelt, if
+      the sharks would leave him alone, which they might, as there was plenty
+      for them to feed on. The direction he knew well enough, for now in the
+      great silence of the sea he could hear the boom of the mighty rollers
+      breaking on the beach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, those rollers! He remembered how that very afternoon Benita and he had
+      watched them through his field glass spouting up against the cruel walls
+      of rock, and wondered that when the ocean was so calm they had still such
+      power. Now, should he live to reach them, he was doomed to match himself
+      against that power. Well, the sooner he did so the sooner it would be
+      over, one way or the other. This was in his favour: the tide had turned,
+      and was flowing shorewards. Indeed, he had little to do but to rest upon
+      his plank, which he placed crosswise beneath his breast, and steered
+      himself with his feet. Even thus he made good progress, nearly a mile an
+      hour perhaps. He could have gone faster had he swum, but he was saving his
+      strength.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a strange journey upon that silent sea beneath those silent stars,
+      and strange thoughts came into Robert&rsquo;s soul. He wondered whether Benita
+      would live and what she would say. Perhaps, however, she was already dead,
+      and he would meet her presently. He wondered if he were doomed to die, and
+      whether this sacrifice of his would be allowed to atone for his past
+      errors. He hoped so, and put up a petition to that effect, for himself and
+      for Benita, and for all the poor people who had gone before, hurled from
+      their pleasure into the halls of Death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he floated on while the boom of the breakers grew ever nearer,
+      companioned by his wild, fretful thoughts, till at length what he took to
+      be a shark appeared quite close to him, and in the urgency of the moment
+      he gave up wondering. It proved to be only a piece of wood, but later on a
+      real shark did come, for he saw its back fin. However, this cruel creature
+      was either gorged or timid, for when he splashed upon the water and
+      shouted, it went away, to return no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, at length, Robert entered upon the deep hill and valley swell which
+      preceded the field of the rollers. Suddenly he shot down a smooth slope,
+      and without effort of his own found himself borne up an opposing steep,
+      from the crest of which he had a view of white lines of foam, and beyond
+      them of a dim and rocky shore. At one spot, a little to his right, the
+      foam seemed thinner and the line of cliff to be broken, as though here
+      there was a cleft. For this cleft, then, he steered his plank, taking the
+      swell obliquely, which by good fortune the set of the tide enabled him to
+      do without any great exertion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The valleys grew deeper, and the tops of the opposing ridges were crested
+      with foam. He had entered the rollers, and the struggle for life began.
+      Before him they rushed solemn and mighty. Viewed from some safe place even
+      the sight of these combers is terrible, as any who have watched them from
+      this coast, or from that of the Island of Ascension, can bear witness.
+      What their aspect was to this shipwrecked man, supported by a single
+      plank, may therefore be imagined, seen, as he saw them, in the mysterious
+      moonlight and in utter loneliness. Yet his spirit rose to meet the dread
+      emergency; if he were to die, he would die fighting. He had grown cold and
+      tired, but now the chill and weariness left him; he felt warm and strong.
+      From the crest of one of the high rollers he thought he saw that about
+      half a mile away from him a little river ran down the centre of the gorge,
+      and for the mouth of this river he laid his course.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At first all went well. He was borne up the seas; he slid down the seas in
+      a lather of white foam. Presently the rise and fall grew steeper, and the
+      foam began to break over his head. Robert could no longer guide himself;
+      he must go as he was carried. Then in an instant he was carried into a
+      hell of waters where, had it not been for his lifebelt and the plank, he
+      must have been beaten down and have perished. As it was, now he was driven
+      into the depths, and now he emerged upon their surface to hear their
+      seething hiss around him, and above it all a continuous boom as of great
+      guns&mdash;the boom of the breaking seas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The plank was almost twisted from his grasp, but he clung to it
+      desperately, although its edges tore his arms. When the rollers broke over
+      him he held his breath, and when he was tossed skywards on their curves,
+      drew it again in quick, sweet gasps. Now he sat upon the very brow of one
+      of them as a merman might; now he dived like a dolphin, and now, just as
+      his senses were leaving him, his feet touched bottom. Another moment and
+      Robert was being rolled along that bottom with a weight on him like the
+      weight of mountains. The plank was rent from him, but his cork jacket
+      brought him up. The backwash drew him with it into deeper water, where he
+      lay helpless and despairing, for he no longer had any strength to struggle
+      against his doom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it was that there came a mighty roller, bigger than any that he had
+      seen&mdash;such a one as on that coast the Kaffirs call &ldquo;a father of
+      waves.&rdquo; It caught him in the embrace of its vast green curve. It bore him
+      forward as though he were but a straw, far forward over the stretch of
+      cruel rocks. It broke in thunder, dashing him again upon the stones and
+      sand of the little river bar, rolling him along with its resistless might,
+      till even that might was exhausted, and its foam began to return seawards,
+      sucking him with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert&rsquo;s mind was almost gone, but enough of it remained to tell him that
+      if once more he was dragged into the deep water he must be lost. As the
+      current haled him along he gripped at the bottom with his hands, and by
+      the mercy of Heaven they closed on something. It may have been a
+      tree-stump embedded there, or a rock&mdash;he never knew. At least, it was
+      firm, and to it he hung despairingly. Would that rush never cease? His
+      lungs were bursting; he must let go! Oh! the foam was thinning; his head
+      was above it now; now it had departed, leaving him like a stranded fish
+      upon the shingle. For half a minute or more he lay there gasping, then
+      looked behind him to see another comber approaching through the gloom. He
+      struggled to his feet, fell, rose again, and ran, or rather, staggered
+      forward with that tigerish water hissing at his heels. Forward, still
+      forward, till he was beyond its reach&mdash;yes, on dry sand. Then his
+      vital forces failed him; one of his legs gave way, and, bleeding from a
+      hundred hurts, he fell heavily onto his face, and there was still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boat in which Benita lay, being so deep in the water, proved very hard
+      to row against the tide, for the number of its passengers encumbered the
+      oarsmen. After a while a light off land breeze sprang up, as here it often
+      does towards morning; and the officer, Thompson, determined to risk
+      hoisting the sail. Accordingly this was done&mdash;with some difficulty,
+      for the mast had to be drawn out and shipped&mdash;although the women
+      screamed as the weight of the air bent their frail craft over till the
+      gunwale was almost level with the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyone who moves shall be thrown overboard!&rdquo; said the officer, who
+      steered, after which they were quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now they made good progress seawards, but the anxieties of those who knew
+      were very great, since the wind showed signs of rising, and if any swell
+      should spring up that crowded cutter could scarcely hope to live. In fact,
+      two hours later they were forced to lower the sail again and drift,
+      waiting for the dawn. Mr. Thompson strove to cheer them, saying that now
+      they were in the track of vessels, and if they could see none when the
+      light came, he would run along the shore in the hope of finding a place
+      free of breakers where they might land. If they did not inspire hope, at
+      least his words calmed them, and they sat in heavy silence, watching the
+      sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length it grew grey, and then, with a sudden glory peculiar to South
+      Africa, the great red sun arose and began to dispel the mist from the
+      surface of the sea. Half an hour more and this was gone, and now the
+      bright rays brought life back into their chilled frames as they stared at
+      each other to see which of their company were still left alive. They even
+      asked for food, and biscuit was given to them with water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while Benita remained unconscious. Indeed, one callous fellow,
+      who had been using her body as a footstool, said that she must be dead,
+      and had better be thrown overboard, as it would lighten the boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you throw that lady into the sea, living or dead,&rdquo; said Mr. Thompson,
+      with an ominous lift of his eye, &ldquo;you go with her, Mr. Batten. Remember
+      who brought her here and how he died.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Mr. Batten held his peace, while Thompson stood up and scanned the
+      wide expanse of sea. Presently he whispered to a sailor near him, who also
+      stood up, looked, and nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That will be the other Line&rsquo;s intermediate boat,&rdquo; he said, and the
+      passengers, craning their heads round, saw far away to the right a streak
+      of smoke upon the horizon. Orders were given, a little corner of sail was
+      hoisted, with a white cloth of some sort tied above it, and the oars were
+      got out. Once more the cutter moved forward, bearing to the left in the
+      hope of intercepting the steamer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She came on with terrible swiftness, and they who had miles of water to
+      cover, dared hoist no more sail in that breeze. In half an hour she was
+      nearly opposite to them, and they were still far away. A little more sail
+      was let out, driving them through the water at as quick a rate as they
+      could venture to go. The steamer was passing three miles or so away, and
+      black despair took hold of them. Now the resourceful Thompson, without
+      apologies, undressed, and removing the white shirt that he had worn at the
+      dance, bade a sailor to tie it to an oar and wave it to and fro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still the steamer went on, until presently they heard her siren going, and
+      saw that she was putting about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has seen us,&rdquo; said Thompson. &ldquo;Thank God, all of you, for there is
+      wind coming up. Pull down that sail; we shan&rsquo;t need it any more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Half an hour later, with many precautions, for the wind he prophesied was
+      already troubling the sea and sending little splashes of water over the
+      stern of their deeply laden boat, they were fast to a line thrown from the
+      deck of the three thousand ton steamer <i>Castle</i>, bound for Natal.
+      Then, with a rattle, down came the accommodation ladder, and strong-armed
+      men, standing on its grating, dragged them one by one from the death to
+      which they had been so near. The last to be lifted up, except Thompson,
+      was Benita, round whom it was necessary to reeve a rope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any use?&rdquo; asked the officer on the grating as he glanced at her quiet
+      form.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t say; I hope so,&rdquo; answered Thompson. &ldquo;Call your doctor.&rdquo; And gently
+      enough she was borne up the ship&rsquo;s side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They wanted to cast off the boat, but Thompson remonstrated, and in the
+      end that also was dragged to deck. Meanwhile the news had spread, and the
+      awakened passengers of the <i>Castle</i>, clad in pyjamas, dressing-gowns,
+      and even blankets, were crowding round the poor castaways or helping them
+      to their cabins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a teetotaller,&rdquo; said second officer Thompson when he had made a
+      brief report to the captain of the <i>Castle</i>, &ldquo;but if anyone will
+      stand me a whiskey and soda I shall be obliged to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"></a>
+      IV.<br/>
+      MR. CLIFFORD</h2>
+    <p>
+      Although the shock of the blow she had received upon her head was
+      sufficient to make her insensible for so many hours, Benita&rsquo;s injuries
+      were not of a really serious nature, for as it happened the falling block,
+      or whatever it may have been, had hit her forehead slantwise, and not
+      full, to which accident she owed it that, although the skin was torn and
+      the scalp bruised, her skull had escaped fracture. Under proper medical
+      care her senses soon came back to her, but as she was quite dazed and
+      thought herself still on board the <i>Zanzibar</i>, the doctor considered
+      it wise to preserve her in that illusion for a while. So after she had
+      swallowed some broth he gave her a sleeping draught, the effects of which
+      she did not shake off till the following morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she came to herself completely, and was astonished to feel the pain
+      in her head, which had been bandaged, and to see a strange stewardess
+      sitting by her with a cup of beef-tea in her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where am I? Is it a dream?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drink this and I will tell you,&rdquo; answered the stewardess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita obeyed, for she felt hungry, then repeated her question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your steamer was shipwrecked,&rdquo; said the stewardess, &ldquo;and a great many
+      poor people were drowned, but you were saved in a boat. Look, there are
+      your clothes; they were never in the water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who carried me into the boat?&rdquo; asked Benita in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A gentleman, they say, Miss, who had wrapped you in a blanket and put a
+      lifebelt on you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Benita remembered everything that happened before the darkness fell&mdash;the
+      question to which she had given no answer, the young couple who stood
+      flirting by her&mdash;all came back to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was Mr. Seymour saved?&rdquo; she whispered, her face grey with dread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say, Miss,&rdquo; answered the stewardess evasively. &ldquo;But there is no
+      gentleman of that name aboard this ship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment the doctor came in, and him, too, she plied with questions.
+      But having learned the story of Robert&rsquo;s self-sacrifice from Mr. Thompson
+      and the others, he would give her no answer, for he guessed how matters
+      had stood between them, and feared the effects of the shock. All he could
+      say was that he hoped Mr. Seymour had escaped in some other boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not until the third morning that Benita was allowed to learn the
+      truth, which indeed it was impossible to conceal any longer. Mr. Thompson
+      came to her cabin and told her everything, while she listened silently,
+      horrified, amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Clifford,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I think it was one of the bravest things that a
+      man ever did. On the ship I always thought him rather a head-in-air kind
+      of swell, but he was a splendid fellow, and I pray God that he has lived,
+      as the lady and child for whom he offered himself up have done, for they
+      are both well again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she repeated after him mechanically, &ldquo;splendid fellow indeed, and,&rdquo;
+       she added, with a strange flash of conviction, &ldquo;I believe that he <i>is</i>
+      still alive. If he were dead I should know it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad to hear you say so,&rdquo; said Mr. Thompson, who believed the exact
+      contrary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; she went on. &ldquo;I will tell you something. When that dreadful
+      accident occurred Mr. Seymour had just asked me to marry him, and I was
+      going to answer that I would&mdash;because I love him. I believe that I
+      shall still give him that answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Thompson replied again that he hoped so, which, being as honest and
+      tender-hearted as he was brave and capable, he did most earnestly; but in
+      his heart he reflected that her answer would not be given this side of the
+      grave. Then, as he had been deputed to do, he handed her the note which
+      had been found in the bosom of her dress, and, able to bear no more of
+      this painful scene, hurried from the cabin. She read it greedily twice,
+      and pressed it to her lips, murmuring:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I will think kindly of you, Robert Seymour, kindly as woman can of
+      man, and now or afterwards you shall have your answer, if you still wish
+      for it. Whenever you come or wherever I go, it shall be ready for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That afternoon, when she was more composed, Mrs. Jeffreys came to see
+      Benita, bringing her baby with her. The poor woman was still pale and
+      shaken, but the child had taken no hurt at all from its immersion in that
+      warm water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can you think of me?&rdquo; she said, falling on her knees by Benita. &ldquo;But
+      oh! I did not know what I was doing. It was terror and my child,&rdquo; and she
+      kissed the sleeping infant passionately. &ldquo;Also I did not understand at the
+      time&mdash;I was too dazed. And&mdash;that hero&mdash;he gave his life for
+      me when the others wished to beat me off with oars. Yes, his blood is upon
+      my hands&mdash;he who died that I and my child might live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita looked at her and answered, very gently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he did not die after all. Do not grieve, for if he did it was a
+      very glorious death, and I am prouder of him than I could have been had he
+      lived on like the others&mdash;who wished to beat you off with oars.
+      Whatever is, is by God&rsquo;s Will, and doubtless for the best. At the least,
+      you and your child will be restored to your husband, though it cost me one
+      who would have been&mdash;my husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That evening Benita came upon the deck and spoke with the other ladies who
+      were saved, learning every detail that she could gather. But to none of
+      the men, except to Mr. Thompson, would she say a single word, and soon,
+      seeing how the matter stood, they hid themselves away from her as they had
+      already done from Mrs. Jeffreys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The <i>Castle</i> had hung about the scene of the shipwreck for thirty
+      hours, and rescued one other boatload of survivors, also a stoker clinging
+      to a piece of wreckage. But with the shore she had been unable to
+      communicate, for the dreaded wind had risen, and the breakers were quite
+      impassable to any boat. To a passing steamer bound for Port Elizabeth,
+      however, she had reported the terrible disaster, which by now was known
+      all over the world, together with the names of those whom she had picked
+      up in the boats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the night of the day of Benita&rsquo;s interview with Mrs. Jeffreys, the <i>Castle</i>
+      arrived off Durban and anchored, since she was too big a vessel to cross
+      the bar as it was in those days. At dawn the stewardess awoke Benita from
+      the uneasy sleep in which she lay, to tell her that an old gentleman had
+      come off in the tug and wished to see her; for fear of exciting false
+      hopes she was very careful to add that word &ldquo;old.&rdquo; With her help Benita
+      dressed herself, and as the sun rose, flooding the Berea, the Point, the
+      white town and fair Natal beyond with light, she went on to the deck, and
+      there, leaning over the bulwark, saw a thin, grey-bearded man of whom
+      after all these years the aspect was still familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A curious thrill went through her as she looked at him leaning there lost
+      in thought. After all, he was her father, the man to whom she owed her
+      presence upon this bitter earth, this place of terrors and delights, of
+      devastation and hope supernal. Perhaps, too, he had been as much sinned
+      against as sinning. She stepped up to him and touched him on the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned round with all the quickness of a young man, for about him there
+      was a peculiar agility which his daughter had inherited. Like his mind,
+      his body was still nimble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My darling,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I should have known your voice anywhere. It has
+      haunted my sleep for years. My darling, thank you for coming back to me,
+      and thank God for preserving you when so many were lost.&rdquo; Then he threw
+      his arms about her and kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She shrank from him a little, for by inadvertence he had pressed upon the
+      wound in her forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it is my head. It was injured, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he saw the bandage about her brow, and was very penitent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They did not tell me that you had been hurt, Benita,&rdquo; he exclaimed in his
+      light, refined voice, one of the stamps of that gentility of blood and
+      breeding whereof all his rough years and errors had been unable to deprive
+      him. &ldquo;They only told me that you were saved. It is part of my ill-fortune
+      that at our first moment of greeting I should give you pain, who have
+      caused you so much already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita felt that the words were an apology for the past, and her heart was
+      touched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is nothing,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;You did not know or mean it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, dear, I never knew or meant it. Believe me, I was not a willing
+      sinner, only a weak one. You are beautiful, Benita&mdash;far more so than
+      I expected.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What,&rdquo; she answered smiling, &ldquo;with this bandage round my head? Well, in
+      your eyes, perhaps.&rdquo; But inwardly she thought to herself that the
+      description would be more applicable to her father, who in truth,
+      notwithstanding his years, was wonderfully handsome, with his quick blue
+      eyes, mobile face, gentle mouth with the wistful droop at the corners so
+      like her own, and grey beard. How, she wondered, could this be the man who
+      had struck her mother. Then she remembered him as he had been years before
+      when he was a slave to liquor, and knew that the answer was simple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me about your escape, love,&rdquo; he said, patting her hand with his thin
+      fingers. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;ve suffered. I was waiting at the Royal
+      Hotel here, when the cable came announcing the loss of the <i>Zanzibar</i>
+      and all on board. For the first time for many a year I drank spirits to
+      drown my grief&mdash;don&rsquo;t be afraid, dear&mdash;for the first time and
+      the last. Then afterwards came another cable giving the names of those who
+      were known to be saved, and&mdash;thank God, oh! thank God&mdash;yours
+      among them,&rdquo; and he gasped at the recollection of that relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;I suppose I should thank&mdash;Him&mdash;and another.
+      Have you heard the story about&mdash;how Mr. Seymour saved me, I mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some of it. While you were dressing yourself, I have been talking to the
+      officer who was in command of your boat. He was a brave man, Benita, and I
+      am sorry to tell you he is gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She grasped a stanchion and clung there, staring at him with a wild, white
+      face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that, Father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford drew a copy of the <i>Natal Mercury</i> of the previous day
+      from the pocket of his ulster, and while she waited in an agony he hunted
+      through the long columns descriptive of the loss of the <i>Zanzibar</i>.
+      Presently he came to the paragraph he sought, and read it aloud to her. It
+      ran:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The searchers on the coast opposite the scene of the shipwreck report
+      that they met a Kaffir who was travelling along the seashore, who produced
+      a gold watch which he said he had taken from the body of a white man that
+      he found lying on the sand at the mouth of the Umvoli River. Inside the
+      watch is engraved, &lsquo;To Seymour Robert Seymour, from his uncle, on his
+      twenty-first birthday.&rsquo; The name of Mr. Seymour appears as a first-class
+      passenger to Durban by the <i>Zanzibar</i>. He was a member of an old
+      English family in Lincolnshire. This was his second journey to South
+      Africa, which he visited some years ago with his brother on a big-game
+      shooting expedition. All who knew him then will join with us in deploring
+      his loss. Mr. Seymour was a noted shot and an English gentleman of the
+      best stamp. He was last seen by one of the survivors of the catastrophe,
+      carrying Miss Clifford, the daughter of the well-known Natal pioneer of
+      that name, into a boat, but as this young lady is reported to have been
+      saved, and as he entered the boat with her, no explanation is yet
+      forthcoming as to how he came to his sad end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear that is clear enough,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, as he folded up his
+      paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, clear enough,&rdquo; she repeated in a strained voice. &ldquo;And yet&mdash;yet&mdash;oh!
+      Father, he had just asked me to marry him, and I can&rsquo;t believe that he is
+      dead before I had time to answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heavens!&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;they never told me that. It is
+      dreadfully sad. God help you, my poor child! There is nothing more to say
+      except that he was only one among three hundred who have gone with him. Be
+      brave now, before all these people. Look&mdash;here comes the tug.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The following week was very much of a blank to Benita. When they reached
+      shore some old friends of her father&rsquo;s took her and him to their house, a
+      quiet place upon the Berea. Here, now that the first excitement of rescue
+      and grief was over, the inevitable reaction set in, bringing with it
+      weakness so distressing that the doctor insisted upon her going to bed,
+      where she remained for the next five days. With the healing up of the
+      wound in her head her strength came back to her at last, but it was a very
+      sad Benita who crept from her room one afternoon on to the verandah and
+      looked out at the cruel sea, peaceful now as the sky above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father, who had nursed her tenderly during these dark days, came and
+      sat by her, taking her hand in his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is capital,&rdquo; he said, glancing at her anxiously. &ldquo;You are getting
+      quite yourself again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall never be myself again,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;My old self is dead,
+      although the outside of me has recovered. Father, I suppose that it is
+      wrong, but I wish that I were dead too. I wish that he had taken me with
+      him when he jumped into the sea to lighten the boat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t speak like that,&rdquo; he broke in hastily. &ldquo;Of course I know that I am
+      not much to you&mdash;how can I be after all that is past? But I love you,
+      dear, and if I were left quite alone again&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; And he broke
+      off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall not be left alone if I can help it,&rdquo; she replied, looking at
+      the old man with her dark and tender eyes. &ldquo;We have only each other in the
+      world now, have we? The rest have gone, never to return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw his arms about her, and, drawing her to him, kissed her
+      passionately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If only you could learn to love me!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do love you,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;who now shall never love any other man
+      upon the earth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the beginning of a deep affection which sprang up between Mr.
+      Clifford and his daughter, and continued to the end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there any news?&rdquo; she asked a little later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None&mdash;none about him. The tide took his body away, no doubt, after
+      the Kaffir had gone. I remember him well now. He was a fine young man, and
+      it comes into my mind that when I said good-bye to him above those old
+      ruins, I wished that I had a son like that. And to think that he went so
+      near to becoming a son to me! Well, the grass must bend when the wind
+      blows, as the natives say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad that you knew him,&rdquo; she answered simply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they began talking about other matters. He told her that all the
+      story had become known, and that people spoke of Robert Seymour as &ldquo;the
+      hero&rdquo;; also that there was a great deal of curiosity about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then let us get away as soon as we can,&rdquo; she said nervously. &ldquo;But,
+      Father, where are we going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That will be for you to decide, love. Listen, now; this is my position. I
+      have been quite steady for years, and worked hard, with the result that I
+      and my partner have a fine farm in the Transvaal, on the high land near
+      Lake Chrissie, out Wakkerstroom way. We breed horses there, and have done
+      very well with them. I have £1,500 saved, and the farm brings us in quite
+      £600 a year beyond the expenses. But it is a lonely place, with only a few
+      Boers about, although they are good fellows enough. You might not care to
+      live there with no company.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that I should mind,&rdquo; she answered, smiling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not now, but by-and-by you would when you know what it is like. Now I
+      might sell my share in the farm to my partner, who, I think, would buy it,
+      or I might trust to him to send me a part of the profits, which perhaps he
+      would not. Then, if you wish it, we could live in or near one of the
+      towns, or even, as you have an income of your own, go home to England, if
+      that is your will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it your will?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head. &ldquo;No; all my life is here. Also, I have something to
+      find before I die&mdash;for your sake, dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean up among those ruins?&rdquo; she asked, looking at him curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. So you know about it?&rdquo; he answered, with a flash of his blue eyes.
+      &ldquo;Oh! of course, Seymour told you. Yes, I mean among the ruins&mdash;but I
+      will tell you that story another time&mdash;not here, not here. What do
+      you wish to do, Benita? Remember, I am in your hands; I will obey you in
+      all things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not to stop in a town and not to go to England,&rdquo; she replied, while he
+      hung eagerly upon her words, &ldquo;for this has become my holy land. Father, I
+      will go with you to your farm; there I can be quiet, you and I together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he answered rather uneasily; &ldquo;but, you see, Benita, we shall not be
+      quite alone there. My partner, Jacob Meyer, lives with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jacob Meyer? Ah! I remember,&rdquo; and she winced. &ldquo;He is a German, is he not&mdash;and
+      odd?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;German Jew, I imagine, and very odd. Should have made his fortune a dozen
+      times over, and yet has never done anything. Too unpractical, too
+      visionary, with all his brains and scheming. Not a good man, Benita,
+      although he suits me, and, for the matter of that, under our agreement I
+      cannot get rid of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did he become your partner?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! a good many years ago he turned up at the place with a doleful story.
+      Said that he had been trading among the Zulus; he was what we call a
+      &lsquo;smouse&rsquo; out here, and got into a row with them, I don&rsquo;t know how. The end
+      of it was that they burned his waggon, looted his trade-goods and oxen,
+      and killed his servants. They would have killed him too, only, according
+      to his own account, he escaped in a very queer fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he says by mesmerising the chief and making the man lead him
+      through his followers. An odd story enough, but I can quite believe it of
+      Jacob. He worked for me for six months, and showed himself very clever.
+      Then one night, I remember it was a few days after I had told him of the
+      story of the Portuguese treasure in Matabeleland, he produced £500 in Bank
+      of England notes out of the lining of his waistcoat, and offered to buy a
+      half interest in the farm. Yes, £500! Although for all those months I had
+      believed him to be a beggar. Well, as he was so <i>slim</i>, and better
+      than no company in that lonely place, in the end I accepted. We have done
+      well since, except for the expedition after the treasure which we did not
+      get, although we more than paid our expenses out of the ivory we bought.
+      But next time we shall succeed, I am sure,&rdquo; he added with enthusiasm,
+      &ldquo;that is, if we can persuade those Makalanga to let us search on the
+      mountain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you had better stick to the horsebreeding,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall judge when you hear the story. But you have been brought up in
+      England; will you not be afraid to go to Lake Chrissie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Afraid of what?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! of the loneliness, and of Jacob Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was born on the veld, Father, and I have always hated London. As for
+      your odd friend, Mr. Meyer, I am not afraid of any man on earth. I have
+      done with men. At the least I will try the place and see how I get on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; answered her father with a sigh of relief. &ldquo;You can always
+      come back, can&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said indifferently. &ldquo;I suppose that I can always come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"></a>
+      V.<br/>
+      JACOB MEYER</h2>
+    <p>
+      More than three weeks had gone by when one morning Benita, who slept upon
+      the cartel or hide-strung bed in the waggon, having dressed herself as
+      best she could in that confined place, thrust aside the curtain and seated
+      herself upon the voorkisse, or driving-box. The sun was not yet up, and
+      the air was cold with frost, for they were on the Transvaal high-veld at
+      the end of winter. Even through her thick cloak Benita shivered and called
+      to the driver of the waggon, who also acted as cook, and whose
+      blanket-draped form she could see bending over a fire into which he was
+      blowing life, to make haste with the coffee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By and by, Missie&mdash;by and by,&rdquo; he answered, coughing the rank smoke
+      from his lungs. &ldquo;Kettle no sing yet, and fire black as hell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita reflected that popular report painted this locality red, but
+      without entering into argument sat still upon the chest waiting till the
+      water boiled and her father appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he emerged from under the side flap of the waggon where he
+      slept, and remarking that it was really too cold to think of washing,
+      climbed to her side by help of the disselboom, and kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How far are we now from Rooi Krantz, Father?&rdquo; she asked, for that was the
+      name of Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s farm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About forty miles, dear. The waggon cannot make it to-night with these
+      two sick oxen, but after the midday outspan we will ride on, and be there
+      by sundown. I am afraid you are tired of this trekking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I like it very much; it is so restful, and I sleep
+      sound upon that cartel. I feel as though I should like to trek on for the
+      rest of my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you shall if you wish, dear, for whole months. South Africa is big,
+      and when the grass grows, if you still wish it, we will take a long
+      journey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, but made no answer, knowing that he was thinking of the place
+      so far away where he believed that once the Portuguese had buried gold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The kettle was singing now merrily enough, and Hans, the cook, lifting it
+      from the fire in triumph&mdash;for his blowing exertions had been severe&mdash;poured
+      into it a quantity of ground coffee from an old mustard tin. Then, having
+      stirred the mixture with a stick, he took a red ember from the fire and
+      dropped it into the kettle, a process which, as travellers in the veld
+      know well, has a clearing effect upon the coffee. Next he produced
+      pannikins, and handed them up with a pickle jar full of sugar to Mr.
+      Clifford, upon the waggon chest. Milk they had none, yet that coffee
+      tasted a great deal better than it looked; indeed, Benita drank two cups
+      of it to warm herself and wash down the hard biscuit. Before the day was
+      over glad enough was she that she had done so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun was rising; huge and red it looked seen through the clinging mist,
+      and, their breakfast finished, Mr. Clifford gave orders that the oxen,
+      which were filling themselves with the dry grass near at hand, should be
+      got up and inspanned. The voorlooper, a Zulu boy, who had left them for a
+      little while to share the rest of the coffee with Hans, rose from his
+      haunches with a grunt, and departed to fetch them. A minute or two later
+      Hans ceased from his occupation of packing up the things, and said in a
+      low voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Kek!</i> Baas&rdquo;&mdash;that is &ldquo;Look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Following the line of his outstretched hand, Benita and her father
+      perceived, not more than a hundred yards away from them, a great troop of
+      wilderbeeste, or gnu, travelling along a ridge, and pausing now and again
+      to indulge in those extraordinary gambols which cause the Boers to declare
+      that these brutes have a worm in their brains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me my rifle, Hans,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;We want meat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      By the time that the Westley-Richards was drawn from its case and loaded,
+      only one buck remained, for, having caught sight of the waggon, it turned
+      to stare at it suspiciously. Mr. Clifford aimed and fired. Down went the
+      buck, then springing to its feet again, vanished behind the ridge. Mr.
+      Clifford shook his head sadly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t often do that sort of thing, my dear, but the light is still very
+      bad. Still, he&rsquo;s hit. What do you say? Shall we get on the horses and
+      catch him? A canter would warm you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita, who was tender-hearted, reflected that it would be kinder to put
+      the poor creature out of its pain, and nodded her head. Five minutes later
+      they were cantering together up the rise, Mr. Clifford having first
+      ordered the waggon to trek on till they rejoined it, and slipped a packet
+      of cartridges into his pocket. Beyond the rise lay a wide stretch of
+      marshy ground, bordered by another rise half a mile or more away, from the
+      crest of which&mdash;for now the air was clear enough&mdash;they saw the
+      wounded bull standing. On they went after him, but before they could come
+      within shot, he had moved forward once more, for he was only lightly hurt
+      in the flank, and guessed whence his trouble came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again and again did he retreat as they drew near, until at length, just as
+      Mr. Clifford was about to dismount to risk a long shot, the beast took to
+      its heels in earnest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;don&rsquo;t let&rsquo;s be beat,&rdquo; for by this time the hunter was
+      alive in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So off they went at a gallop, up slopes and down slopes that reminded
+      Benita of the Bay of Biscay in a storm, across half-dried vleis that in
+      the wet season were ponds, through stony ground and patches of ant-bear
+      holes in which they nearly came to grief. For five miles at least the
+      chase went on, since at the end of winter the wilderbeeste was thin and
+      could gallop well, notwithstanding its injury, faster even than their good
+      horses. At last, rising a ridge, they found whither it was going, for
+      suddenly they were in the midst of vast herds of game, thousands and tens
+      of thousands of them stretching as far as the eye could reach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a wondrous sight that now, alas! will be seen no more&mdash;at any
+      rate upon the Transvaal veld; wilderbeeste, blesbok, springbok, in
+      countless multitudes, and amongst them a few quagga and hartebeeste. With
+      a sound like that of thunder, their flashing myriad hoofs casting up
+      clouds of dust from the fire-blackened veld, the great herds separated at
+      the appearance of their enemy, man. This way and that they went in groups
+      and long brown lines, leaving the wounded and exhausted wilderbeeste
+      behind them, so that presently he was the sole tenant of that great cup of
+      land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At him they rode till Mr. Clifford, who was a little ahead of his
+      daughter, drew almost alongside. Then the poor maddened brute tried its
+      last shift. Stopping suddenly, it wheeled round and charged head down. Mr.
+      Clifford, as it came, held out his rifle in his right hand and fired at a
+      hazard. The bullet passed through the bull, but could not stop its charge.
+      Its horns, held low, struck the forelegs of the horse, and next instant
+      horse, man, and wilderbeeste rolled on the veld together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita, who was fifty yards behind, uttered a little cry of fear, but
+      before ever she reached him, her father had risen laughing, for he was
+      quite unhurt. The horse, too, was getting up, but the bull could rise no
+      more. It struggled to its forefeet, uttered a kind of sobbing groan,
+      stared round wildly, and rolled over, dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never knew a wilderbeeste charge like that before,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford.
+      &ldquo;Confound it! I believe my horse is lamed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lamed it was, indeed, where the bull had struck the foreleg, though, as it
+      chanced, not badly. Having tied a handkerchief to the horn of the buck in
+      order to scare away the vultures, and thrown some tufts of dry grass upon
+      its body, which he proposed, if possible, to fetch or send for, Mr.
+      Clifford mounted his lame horse and headed for the waggon. But they had
+      galloped farther than they thought, and it was midday before they came to
+      what they took to be the road. As there was no spoor upon it, they
+      followed this track backwards, expecting to find the waggon outspanned,
+      but although they rode for mile upon mile, no waggon could they see. Then,
+      realizing their mistake, they retraced their steps, and leaving this path
+      at the spot where they had found it, struck off again to the right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, the sky was darkening, and at about three o&rsquo;clock in the
+      afternoon a thunderstorm broke over them accompanied by torrents of icy
+      rain, the first fall of the spring, and a bitter wind which chilled them
+      through. More, after the heavy rain came drizzle and a thick mist that
+      deepened as evening approached.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now their plight was very wretched. Lost, starved, soaked to the skin,
+      with tired horses one of which was lame, they wandered about on the lonely
+      veld. Only one stroke of fortune came to them. As the sun set, for a few
+      moments its rays pierced the mist, telling them in what direction they
+      should go. Turning their horses, they headed for it, and so rode on until
+      the darkness fell. Then they halted a while, but feeling that if they
+      stood still in that horrible cold they would certainly perish before
+      morning, once more pushed on again. By now Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s horse was almost
+      too lame to ride, so he led it, walking at his daughter&rsquo;s side, and
+      reproaching himself bitterly for his foolishness in having brought her
+      into this trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter, Father,&rdquo; she answered wearily, for she was very tired.
+      &ldquo;Nothing matters; one may as well die upon the veld as in the sea or
+      anywhere else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On they plodded, they knew not whither. Benita fell asleep upon her
+      saddle, and was awakened once by a hyena howling quite close to them, and
+      once by her horse falling to its knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the time?&rdquo; she said at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father struck a match and looked at his watch. It was ten o&rsquo;clock;
+      they had been fifteen hours away from the waggon and without food. At
+      intervals Mr. Clifford, who had remounted, fired his rifle. Now there was
+      but one cartridge left, and having caught sight of his daughter&rsquo;s
+      exhausted face by the light of the match, he fired this also, though in
+      that desperate wilderness there was little hope of its bringing succour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall we stop or go on?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not care,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Only if I stop I think it will be for
+      ever. Let us go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the rain had ceased, but the mist was as dense as before. Also they
+      seemed to have got among bush, for wet leaves brushed their faces. Utterly
+      exhausted they stumbled forward, till suddenly Benita felt her horse stop
+      as though a hand had seized its bridle, and heard a man&rsquo;s voice, speaking
+      with a foreign accent, say:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mein Gott! Where are you going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish I knew,&rdquo; she answered, like one in a dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this instant the moon rose above the mists, and Benita saw Jacob Meyer
+      for the first time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In that light his appearance was not unpleasing. A man of about forty
+      years of age, not over tall, slight and active in build, with a pointed
+      black beard, regular, Semitic features, a complexion of an ivory pallor
+      which even the African sun did not seem to tan, and dark, lustrous eyes
+      that appeared, now to sleep, and now to catch the fire of the thoughts
+      within. Yet, weary though she was, there was something in the man&rsquo;s
+      personality which repelled and alarmed Benita, something wild and cruel.
+      She felt that he was filled with unsatisfied ambitions and desires, and
+      that to attain to them he would shrink at nothing. In a moment he was
+      speaking again in tones that compelled her attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a good thought that brought me here to look for you. No; not a
+      thought&mdash;what do you call it?&mdash;an instinct. I think your mind
+      must have spoken to my mind, and called me to save you. See now, Clifford,
+      my friend, where you have led your daughter. See, see!&rdquo; And he pointed
+      downwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They leaned forward and stared. There, immediately beneath them, was a
+      mighty gulf whereof the moonlight did not reveal the bottom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are no good veld traveller, Clifford, my friend; one more step of
+      those silly beasts, and down below there would have been two red heaps
+      with bits of bones sticking out of them&mdash;yes, there on the rocks five
+      hundred feet beneath. Ah! you would have slept soundly to-night, both of
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the place?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford in a dazed fashion. &ldquo;Leopard&rsquo;s
+      Kloof?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; Leopard&rsquo;s Kloof, no other. You have travelled along the top of the
+      hill, not at the bottom. Certainly that was a good thought which came to
+      me from the lady your daughter, for she is one of the thought senders, I
+      am sure. Ah! it came to me suddenly; it hit me like a stick whilst I was
+      searching for you, having found that you had lost the waggon. It said to
+      me, &lsquo;Ride to the top of Leopard&rsquo;s Kloof. Ride hard.&rsquo; I rode hard through
+      the rocks and the darkness, through the mist and the rain, and not one
+      minute had I been here when you came and I caught the lady&rsquo;s bridle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure we are very grateful to you,&rdquo; murmured Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am paid back ten thousand times. No; it is I who am grateful&mdash;I
+      who have saved your life through the thought you sent me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thought or no thought, all&rsquo;s well that ends well,&rdquo; broke in Mr. Clifford
+      impatiently. &ldquo;And thank Heaven we are not more than three miles away from
+      home. Will you lead the way, Jacob? You always could see in the dark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; and he took hold of Benita&rsquo;s bridle with his firm, white hand.
+      &ldquo;Oh! my horse will follow, or put your arm through his rein&mdash;so. Now
+      come on, Miss Clifford, and be afraid no more. With Jacob Meyer you are
+      safe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they began their descent of the hill. Meyer did not speak again; all
+      his attention seemed to be concentrated upon finding a safe path on which
+      the horses would not stumble. Nor did Benita speak; she was too utterly
+      exhausted&mdash;so exhausted, indeed, that she could no longer control her
+      mind and imagination. These seemed to loose themselves from her and to
+      acquire new powers, notably that of entering into the secret thoughts of
+      the man at her side. She saw them pass before her like living things, and
+      yet she could not read them. Still, something she did understand&mdash;that
+      she had suddenly grown important to this man, not in the way in which
+      women are generally important to men, but otherwise. She felt as though
+      she had become interwoven with the objects of his life, and was henceforth
+      necessary to their fulfilment, as though she were someone whom he had been
+      seeking for years on years, the one person who could give him light in his
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These imaginings troubled her, so that she was very thankful when they
+      passed away as swiftly as they had arisen, and she knew only that she was
+      half dead with weariness and cold; that her limbs ached and that the steep
+      path seemed endless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length they reached level ground, and after travelling along it for a
+      while and crossing the bed of a stream, passed through a gate, and stopped
+      suddenly at the door of a house with lighted windows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is your home at last, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; said the musical voice of
+      Jacob Meyer, &ldquo;and I thank the Fate which rules us that it has taught me to
+      bring you to it safely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Making no answer she slid from the saddle, only to find that she could not
+      stand, for she sank into a heap upon the ground. With a gentle exclamation
+      he lifted her, and calling to two Kaffirs who had appeared to take the
+      horses, led her into the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must go to bed at once,&rdquo; he said, conducting her to a door which
+      opened out of the sitting-room. &ldquo;I have had a fire lit in your chamber in
+      case you should come, and old Tante Sally will bring you soup with brandy
+      in it, and hot water for your feet. Ah! there you are, old vrouw. Come
+      now; help the lady, your mistress. Is all ready?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All, Baas,&rdquo; answered the woman, a stout half-breed with a kindly face.
+      &ldquo;Come now, my little one, and I will undress you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Half an hour later Benita, having drunk more brandy than ever she had done
+      in her life before, was wrapped up and fast asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she awoke the sun was streaming through the curtained window of her
+      room, and by the light of it she saw that the clock which stood upon the
+      mantelpiece pointed to half-past eleven. She had slept for nearly twelve
+      hours, and felt that, notwithstanding the cold and exposure, save for
+      stiffness and a certain numb feeling in her head&mdash;the result,
+      perhaps, of the unaccustomed brandy&mdash;she was well and, what was more,
+      quite hungry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside on the verandah she heard the voice of Jacob Meyer, with which she
+      seemed already to have become familiar, telling some natives to stop
+      singing, as they would wake the chieftainess inside. He used the Zulu word
+      Inkosi-kaas, which, she remembered, meant head-lady or chieftainess. He
+      was very thoughtful for her, she reflected, and was grateful, till
+      suddenly she remembered the dislike she had taken to the man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she looked round her room and saw that it was very pretty, well
+      furnished and papered, with water-colour pictures on the walls of no mean
+      merit, things that she had not expected in this far-off place. Also on a
+      table stood a great bowl of arum lilies. She wondered who had put them
+      there; whether it were the old half-breed, Sally, or Jacob Meyer. Also she
+      wondered who had painted the pictures, which were all of African scenery,
+      and something told her that both the flowers and the pictures came from
+      Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the little table by her bed was a handbell, which presently she rang.
+      Instantly she heard the voice of Sally calling for the coffee &ldquo;quick,&rdquo; and
+      next minute the woman entered, bringing a tray with it, and bread and
+      butter&mdash;yes, and toast and eggs, which had evidently been made ready
+      for her. Speaking in English mixed with Dutch words, she told Benita that
+      her father was still in bed, but sent her his love, and wished to know how
+      she did. Then, while she ate her breakfast with appetite, Sally set her a
+      bath, and subsequently appeared carrying the contents of the box she had
+      used upon the waggon, which had now arrived safely at the farm. Benita
+      asked who had ordered the box to be unpacked, and Sally answered that the
+      Heer Meyer had ordered it so that she might not be disturbed in her sleep,
+      and that her things should be ready for her when she woke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Heer Meyer thinks a great deal about other people,&rdquo; said Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ja, ja!&rdquo; answered the old half-breed. &ldquo;He tink much about people when he
+      want to tink about them, but he tink most about himself. Baas Meyer, he a
+      very clever man&mdash;oh! a very clever man, who want to be a great man
+      too. And one day, Missee, he be a great man, great and rich&mdash;if the
+      Heer God Almighty let him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"></a>
+      VI.<br/>
+      THE GOLD COIN</h2>
+    <p>
+      Six weeks had gone by since the eventful evening of Benita&rsquo;s arrival at
+      Rooi Krantz. Now the spring had fully come, the veld was emerald with
+      grass and bright with flowers. In the kloof behind the house trees had put
+      out their leaves, and the mimosas were in bloom, making the air heavy with
+      their scent. Amongst them the ringdoves nested in hundreds, and on the
+      steep rocks of the precipice the red-necked vultures fed their young.
+      Along the banks of the stream and round the borders of the lake the
+      pig-lilies bloomed, a sheet of white. All the place was beautiful and full
+      of life and hope. Nothing seemed dead and hopeless except Benita&rsquo;s heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her health had quite come back to her; indeed, never before had she felt
+      so strong and well. But the very soul had withered in her breast. All day
+      she thought, and all night she dreamed of the man who, in cold blood, had
+      offered up his life to save a helpless woman and her child. She wondered
+      whether he would have done this if he had heard the answer that was upon
+      her lips. Perhaps that was why she had not been given time to speak that
+      answer, which might have made a coward of him. For nothing more had been
+      heard of Robert Seymour; indeed, already the tragedy of the ship <i>Zanzibar</i>
+      was forgotten. The dead had buried their dead, and since then worse
+      disasters had happened in the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Benita could not bury her dead. She rode about the veld, she sat by
+      the lake and watched the wild fowl, or at night heard them flighting over
+      her in flocks. She listened to the cooing of the doves, the booming of the
+      bitterns in the reeds, and the drumming of the snipe high in air. She
+      counted the game trekking along the ridge till her mind grew weary. She
+      sought consolation from the breast of Nature and found none; she sought it
+      in the starlit skies, and oh! they were very far away. Death reigned
+      within her who outwardly was so fair to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the society of her father, indeed, she took pleasure, for he loved her,
+      and love comforted her wounded heart. In that of Jacob Meyer also she
+      found interest, for now her first fear of the man had died away, and
+      undoubtedly he was very interesting; well-bred also after a fashion,
+      although a Jew who had lost his own faith and rejected that of the
+      Christians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He told her that he was a German by birth, that he had been sent to
+      England as a boy, to avoid the conscription, which Jews dislike, since in
+      soldiering there is little profit. Here he had become a clerk in a house
+      of South African merchants, and, as a consequence&mdash;having shown all
+      the ability of his race&mdash;was despatched to take charge of a branch
+      business in Cape Colony. What happened to him there Benita never
+      discovered, but probably he had shown too much ability of an oblique
+      nature. At any rate, his connection with the firm terminated, and for
+      years he became a wandering &ldquo;smouse,&rdquo; or trader, until at length he
+      drifted into partnership with her father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever might have been his past, however, soon she found that he was an
+      extremely able and agreeable man. It was he and no other who had painted
+      the water-colours that adorned her room, and he could play and sing as
+      well as he painted. Also, as Robert had told her, Mr. Meyer was very
+      well-read in subjects that are not usually studied on the veld of South
+      Africa; indeed, he had quite a library of books, most of them histories or
+      philosophical and scientific works, of which he would lend her volumes.
+      Fiction, however, he never read, for the reason, he told her, that he
+      found life itself and the mysteries and problems which surround it so much
+      more interesting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One evening, when they were walking together by the lake, watching the
+      long lights of sunset break and quiver upon its surface, Benita&rsquo;s
+      curiosity overcame her, and she asked him boldly how it happened that such
+      a man as he was content to live the life he did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In order that I may reach a better,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Oh! no, not in the
+      skies, Miss Clifford, for of them I know nothing, nor, as I believe, is
+      there anything to know. But here&mdash;here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by a better life, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean,&rdquo; he answered, with a flash of his dark eyes, &ldquo;great wealth, and
+      the power that wealth brings. Ah! I see you think me very sordid and
+      materialistic, but money is God in this world, Miss Clifford&mdash;money
+      is God.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled and answered: &ldquo;I fear, then, that he is likely to prove an
+      invisible god on the high veld, Mr. Meyer. You will scarcely make a great
+      fortune out of horse-breeding, and here there is no one to rule.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you suppose, then, that is why I stop at Rooi Krantz, just to breed
+      horses? Has not your father told you about the great treasure hidden away
+      up there among the Makalanga?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard something of it,&rdquo; she answered with a sigh. &ldquo;Also that both
+      of you went to look for it and were disappointed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! The Englishman who was drowned&mdash;Mr. Seymour&mdash;he spoke of
+      it, did he not? He found us there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; and you wished to shoot him&mdash;do you remember?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God in Heaven! Yes, because I thought he had come to rob us. Well, I did
+      not shoot, and afterwards we were hunted out of the place, which does not
+      much matter, as those fools of natives refused to let us dig in the
+      fortress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why do you still think about this treasure which probably does not
+      exist?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Miss Clifford, do you think about various things that probably do
+      not exist? Perhaps because you feel that here or elsewhere they <i>do</i>
+      exist. Well, that is what I feel about the treasure, and what I have
+      always felt. It exists, and I shall find it&mdash;now. I shall live to see
+      more gold than you can even imagine, and that is why I still continue to
+      breed horses on the Transvaal veld. Ah! you laugh; you think it is a
+      nightmare that I breed&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then suddenly he became aware of Sally, who had appeared over the fold of
+      the rise behind them, and asked irritably:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it now, old vrouw?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Baas Clifford wants to speak with you, Baas Jacob. Messengers have
+      come to you from far away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What messengers?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know not,&rdquo; answered Sally, fanning her fat face with a yellow
+      pocket-handkerchief. &ldquo;They are strange people to me, and thin with
+      travelling, but they talk a kind of Zulu. The Baas wishes you to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you come also, Miss Clifford? No? Then forgive me if I leave you,&rdquo;
+       and lifting his hat he went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A strange man, Missee,&rdquo; said old Sally, when he had vanished, walking
+      very fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita, in an indifferent voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very strange man,&rdquo; went on the old woman. &ldquo;Too much in his kop,&rdquo; and
+      she tapped her forehead. &ldquo;I tink it will burst one day; but if it does not
+      burst, then he will be great. I tell you that before, now I tell it you
+      again, for I tink his time come. Now I go cook dinner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita sat by the lake till the twilight fell, and the wild geese began to
+      flight over her. Then she walked back to the house thinking no more of
+      Heer Meyer, thinking only that she was weary of this place in which there
+      was nothing to occupy her mind and distract it from its ever present
+      sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At dinner, or rather supper, that night she noticed that both her father
+      and his partner seemed to be suffering from suppressed excitement, of
+      which she thought she could guess the cause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you find your messengers, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo; she asked, when the men had lit
+      their pipes, and the square-face&mdash;as Hollands was called in those
+      days, from the shape of the bottle&mdash;was set upon the rough table of
+      speckled buchenhout wood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I found them,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;they are in the kitchen now.&rdquo; And he
+      looked at Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita, my dear,&rdquo; said her father, &ldquo;rather a curious thing has happened.&rdquo;
+       Her face lit up, but he shook his head. &ldquo;No, nothing to do with the
+      shipwreck&mdash;that is all finished. Still, something that may interest
+      you, if you care to hear a story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita nodded; she was in a mood to hear anything that would occupy her
+      thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know something about this treasure business,&rdquo; went on her father.
+      &ldquo;Well, this is the tale of it. Years ago, after you and your mother had
+      gone to England, I went on a big game shooting expedition into the
+      interior. My companion was an old fellow called Tom Jackson, a rolling
+      stone, and one of the best elephant hunters in Africa. We did pretty well,
+      but the end of it was that we separated north of the Transvaal, I bringing
+      down the ivory that we had shot, and traded, and Tom stopping to put in
+      another season, the arrangement being that he was to join me afterwards,
+      and take his share of the money. I came here and bought this farm from a
+      Boer who was tired of it&mdash;cheap enough, too, for I only gave him £100
+      for the 6,000 acres. The kitchens behind were his old house, for I built a
+      new one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A year had gone by before I saw any more of Tom Jackson, and then he
+      turned up more dead than alive. He had been injured by an elephant, and
+      lay for some months among the Makalanga to the north of Matabeleland,
+      where he got fever badly at a place called Bambatse, on the Zambesi. These
+      Makalanga are a strange folk. I believe their name means the People of the
+      Sun; at any rate, they are the last of some ancient race. Well, while he
+      was there he cured the old Molimo, or hereditary high-priest of this
+      tribe, of a bad fever by giving him quinine, and naturally they grew
+      friendly. The Molimo lived among ruins of which there are many over all
+      that part of South Africa. No one knows who built them now; probably it
+      was people who lived thousands of years ago. However, this Molimo told Tom
+      Jackson a more recent legend connected with the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He said that six generations before, when his great-great-great
+      grandfather was chief (Mambo, he called it), the natives of all that part
+      of South Africa rose against the white men&mdash;Portuguese, I suppose&mdash;who
+      still worked the gold there. They massacred them and their slaves by
+      thousands, driving them up from the southward, where Lobengula rules now,
+      to the Zambesi by which the Portuguese hoped to escape to the coast. At
+      length a remnant of them, not more than about two hundred men and women,
+      arrived at the stronghold called Bambatse, where the Molimo now lives in a
+      great ruin built by the ancients upon an impregnable mountain which
+      overhangs the river. With them they brought an enormous quantity of gold,
+      all the stored-up treasure of the land which they were trying to carry
+      off. But although they reached the river they could not escape by it,
+      since the natives, who pursued them in thousands, watched day and night in
+      canoes, and the poor fugitives had no boats. Therefore it came about that
+      they were shut up in this fortress which it was impossible to storm, and
+      there slowly perished of starvation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When it was known that they were all dead, the natives who had followed
+      them from the south, and who wanted blood and revenge, not gold, which was
+      of no use to them, went away; but the old priest&rsquo;s forefather who knew the
+      secret entrance to the place, and who had been friendly to the Portuguese,
+      forced his way in and there, amidst the dead, found one woman living, but
+      mad with grief&mdash;a young and beautiful girl, the daughter of the
+      Portuguese lord or captain. He gave her food, but in the night, when some
+      strength had returned to her, she left him, and at daybreak he found her
+      standing on the peak that overhangs the river, dressed all in white.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He called some of his councillors, and they tried to persuade her to come
+      down from the rock, but she answered, &lsquo;No, her betrothed and all her
+      family and friends were dead, and it was her will to follow them.&rsquo; Then
+      they asked where was the gold, for having watched day and night they knew
+      it had not been thrown into the river. She answered that it was where it
+      was, and that, seek as he might, no black man would ever find it. She
+      added that she gave it into his keeping, and that of his descendants, to
+      safeguard until she came again. Also she said that if they were faithless
+      to that trust, then it had been revealed to her from heaven above that
+      those same savages who had killed her father and her people, would kill
+      his people also. When she had spoken thus she stood a while praying on the
+      peak, then suddenly hurled herself into the river, and was seen no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From that day to this the ruin has been held to be haunted, and save the
+      Molimo himself, who retires there to meditate and receive revelations from
+      the spirits, no one is allowed to set a foot in its upper part; indeed,
+      the natives would rather die than do so. Consequently the gold still
+      remains where it was hidden. This place itself Tom Jackson did not see,
+      since, notwithstanding his friendship for him, the Molimo refused to allow
+      him to enter there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Tom never recovered; he died here, and is buried in the little
+      graveyard behind the house which the Boers made for some of their people.
+      It was shortly before his death that Mr. Meyer became my partner, for I
+      forgot to say that I had told him the story, and we determined to have a
+      try for that great wealth. You know the rest. We trekked to Bambatse,
+      pretending to be traders, and found the old Molimo who knew of me as
+      having been Tom Jackson&rsquo;s friend. We asked him if the story he had told to
+      Jackson were true, and he answered that, surely as the sun shone in the
+      heavens, it was true&mdash;every word of it&mdash;for it, and much more
+      than he had spoken of, had been handed down from father to son, and that
+      they even knew the name of the white lady who had killed herself. It was
+      Ferreira&mdash;your mother&rsquo;s name, Benita, though a common one enough in
+      South Africa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We asked him to allow us to enter the topmost stronghold, which stands
+      upon the hill, but he refused, saying that the curse still lay upon him
+      and his, and that no man should enter until the lady Ferreira came again.
+      For the rest the place was free to us; we might dig as we would. So we did
+      dig, and found some gold buried with the ancients, beads and bangles and
+      wire&mdash;about £100 worth. Also&mdash;that was on the day when the young
+      Seymours came upon us, and accounts for Meyer&rsquo;s excitement, for he thought
+      that we were on the track of the treasure&mdash;we found a single gold
+      coin, no doubt one that had been dropped by the Portuguese. Here it is.&rdquo;
+       And he threw a thin piece of gold on the table before her. &ldquo;I have shown
+      it to a man learned in those matters, and he says that it is a ducat
+      struck by one of the doges of Venice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we never found any more. The end of it was that the Makalanga
+      caught us trying to get in to the secret stronghold by stealth, and gave
+      us the choice of clearing out or being killed. So we cleared out, for
+      treasure is not of much use to dead men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford ceased speaking, and filled his pipe, while Meyer helped
+      himself to squareface in an absent manner. As for Benita, she stared at
+      the quaint old coin, which had a hole in it, wondering with what scenes of
+      terror and of bloodshed it had been connected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep it,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;It will go on that bracelet of yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, dear,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Though I don&rsquo;t know why I should take
+      all the Portuguese treasure since we shall never see any more of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not, Miss Clifford?&rdquo; asked Meyer quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The story tells you why&mdash;because the natives won&rsquo;t even let you look
+      for it; also, looking and finding are different things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Natives change their minds sometimes, Miss Clifford. That story is not
+      done, it is only begun, and now you shall hear its second chapter.
+      Clifford, may I call in the messengers?&rdquo; And without waiting for an answer
+      he rose and left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither Mr. Clifford nor his daughter said anything after he had gone.
+      Benita appeared to occupy herself in fixing the broad gold coin to a
+      little swivel on her bracelet, but while she did so once more that sixth
+      sense of hers awoke within her. As she had been afraid at the dinner on
+      the doomed steamer, so again she was afraid. Again death and great fear
+      cast their advancing shadows on to her soul. That piece of gold seemed to
+      speak to her, yet, alas! she could not understand its story. Only she knew
+      that her father and Jacob Meyer and&mdash;yes, yes, yes&mdash;Robert
+      Seymour, had all a part in that tragedy. Oh! how could that be when he was
+      dead? How could this gold link him to her? She knew not&mdash;she cared
+      not. All she knew was that she would follow this treasure to the edge of
+      the world, and if need be, over it, if only it brought her back to him
+      again.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"></a>
+      VII.<br/>
+      THE MESSENGERS</h2>
+    <p>
+      The door opened, and through it came Jacob Meyer, followed by three
+      natives. Benita did not see or hear them; her soul was far away. There at
+      the head of the room, clad all in white, for she wore no mourning save in
+      her heart, illuminated by the rays of the lamp that hung above her, she
+      stood still and upright, for she had risen; on the face and in her wide,
+      dark eyes a look that was very strange to see. Jacob Meyer perceived it
+      and stopped; the three natives perceived it also and stopped. There they
+      stood, all four of them, at the end of the long sitting-room, staring at
+      the white Benita and at her haunted eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the natives pointed with his thin finger to her face, and whispered
+      to the others. Meyer, who understood their tongue, caught the whisper. It
+      was:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behold the Spirit of the Rock!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What spirit, and what rock?&rdquo; he asked in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She who haunts Bambatse; she whom our eyes have seen,&rdquo; answered the man,
+      still staring at Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita heard the whispering, and knew it was about herself, though not one
+      word of it did she catch. With a sigh she shook herself free from her
+      visions and sat down in a chair close by. Then one by one the messengers
+      drew near to her, and each, as he came, made a profound obeisance,
+      touching the floor with his finger-tips, and staring at her face. But her
+      father they only saluted with an uplifted hand. She looked at them with
+      interest, and indeed they were interesting in their way; tall, spare men,
+      light coloured, with refined, mobile faces. Here was no negro-blood, but
+      rather that of some ancient people such as Egyptians or Phoenicians: men
+      whose forefathers had been wise and civilized thousands of years ago, and
+      perchance had stood in the courts of Pharaoh or of Solomon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their salutations finished, the three men squatted in a line upon the
+      floor, drawing their fur karosses, or robes, about them, and waited in
+      silence. Jacob Meyer thought a while, then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clifford, will you translate to your daughter, so that she may be sure
+      she is told exactly what passes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next he turned and addressed the natives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your names are Tamas, Tamala, and Hoba, and you, Tamas, are the son of
+      the Molimo of Bambatse, who is called Mambo, and you, Tamala and Hoba, are
+      his initiated councillors. Is it so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They bowed their heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. You, Tamas, tell the story and give again your message that this
+      lady, the lady Benita, may hear it, for she has a part in the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We understand that she has a part,&rdquo; answered Tamas. &ldquo;We read in her face
+      that she has the greatest part. Doubtless it is of her that the Spirit
+      told my father. These, spoken by my mouth, are the words of the Molimo, my
+      father, which we have travelled so far to deliver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;When you two white men visited Bambatse four years ago, you asked of me,
+      Mambo, to be admitted to the holy place, that you might look for the
+      treasure there which the Portuguese hid in the time of my ancestor in the
+      sixth generation. I refused to allow you to look, or even to enter the
+      holy place, because I am by birth the guardian of that treasure, although
+      I know not where it lies. But now I am in a great strait. I have news that
+      Lobengula the usurper, who is king of the Matabele, has taken offence
+      against me for certain reasons, among them that I did not send him a
+      sufficient tribute. It is reported to me that he purposes next summer to
+      despatch an impi to wipe me and my people out, and to make my kraal black
+      as the burnt veld. I have little strength to resist him who is mighty, and
+      my people are not warlike. From generation to generation they have been
+      traders, cultivators of the land, workers in metal, and men of peace, who
+      desire not to kill or be killed. Also they are few. Therefore I have no
+      power to stand against Lobengula.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;I remember the guns that you and your companion brought with you, which
+      can kill things from far away. If I had a supply of those guns from behind
+      my walls I might defy the impi of Lobengula, whose warriors use the
+      assegai. If you will bring me a hundred good guns and plenty of powder and
+      bullets for them, it is revealed to me that it will be lawful for me to
+      admit you to the secret, holy place, where you may look for the buried
+      gold for as long as you wish, and if you can find it, take it all away
+      without hindrance from me or my people. But I will be honest with you.
+      That gold will never be found save by the one appointed. The white lady
+      said so in the time of my forefather; he heard it with his ears, and I
+      have heard it from his descendants with my ears, and so it shall be.
+      Still, if you bring the guns you can come and see if either of you is that
+      one appointed. But I do not think that any man is so appointed, for the
+      secret is hid in woman. But of this you can learn for yourselves. I do but
+      speak as I am bidden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;This is my message spoken by my mouth, Tamas, son of my body, and my
+      councillors who go with him will bear witness that he speaks the truth. I,
+      Mambo, the Molimo of Bambatse, send you greeting, and will give you good
+      welcome and fulfil my promise, if you come with the far-shooting guns, ten
+      times ten of them, and the powder, and the bullets wherewith I may drive
+      off the Matabele, but not otherwise. My son, Tamas, and my councillors
+      will drive your waggon into my country but you must bring no strange
+      servants. The Spirit of the white woman who killed herself before the eyes
+      of my forefather has been seen of late standing upon the point of rock;
+      also she has visited me at night in my secret place where her companions
+      died. I do not know all that this portends, but I think that amongst other
+      things she wished to tell me that the Matabele are about to attack us. I
+      await the decree of the Heavens. I send you two karosses as a gift, and a
+      little ancient gold, since ivory is too heavy for my messengers to carry,
+      and I have no waggon. Farewell.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have heard you,&rdquo; said Meyer, when Mr. Clifford had finished
+      translating, &ldquo;and we wish to ask you a question. What do you mean when you
+      say that the Spirit of the white woman has been seen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean what I say, white man,&rdquo; answered Tamas. &ldquo;She was seen by all three
+      of us, standing upon the pinnacle at the dawn; also my father saw and
+      spoke with her alone in his sleep at night. This is the third time in my
+      father&rsquo;s day that she has appeared thus, and always before some great
+      event.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was she like?&rdquo; asked Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Like? Oh! like the lady who sits yonder. Yes, quite the same, or so it
+      seemed to us. But who knows? We have seen no other white women, and we
+      were not very near. Let the lady come and stand side by side with the
+      Spirit, so that we can examine them both, and we shall be able to answer
+      better. Do you accept the offer of the Molimo?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will tell you to-morrow morning,&rdquo; replied Meyer. &ldquo;A hundred rifles are
+      many to find, and will cost much money. Meanwhile, for you there is food
+      and a sleeping-place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three men seemed disappointed at his answer, which they evidently
+      believed to be preliminary to a refusal. For a moment or two they
+      consulted together, then Tamas put his hand into a pouch and drew from it
+      something wrapped in dry leaves, which he undid, revealing a quaint and
+      beautiful necklace, fashioned of twisted gold links, wherein were set
+      white stones, that they had no difficulty in recognising as uncut diamonds
+      of considerable value. From this necklace also hung a crucifix moulded in
+      gold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We offer this gift,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;on behalf of Mambo, my father, to the lady
+      yonder, to whom the karosses and the rough gold are of no use. The chain
+      has a story. When the Portuguese lady hurled herself into the river she
+      wore it about her neck. As she fell into the river she struck against a
+      little point of rock which tore the chain away from her&mdash;see where it
+      is broken and mended with gold wire. It remained upon the point of rock,
+      and my forefather took it thence. It is a gift to the lady if she will
+      promise to wear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Accept it,&rdquo; muttered Mr. Clifford, when he had finished translating this,
+      &ldquo;or you will give offence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Benita said: &ldquo;I thank the Molimo, and accept his gift.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Tamas rose, and, advancing, cast the ancient, tragic thing over her
+      head. As it fell upon her shoulders, Benita knew that it was a chain of
+      destiny drawing her she knew not where, this ornament that had last been
+      worn by that woman, bereaved and unhappy as herself, who could find no
+      refuge from her sorrow except in death. Had she felt it torn from her
+      breast, she wondered, as she, the living Benita of to-day, felt it fall
+      upon her own?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The three envoys rose, bowed, and went, leaving them alone. Jacob Meyer
+      lifted his head as though to address her, then changed his mind and was
+      silent. Both the men waited for her to speak, but she would not, and in
+      the end it was her father who spoke first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you say, Benita?&rdquo; he asked anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I? I have nothing to say, except that I have heard a very curious story.
+      This priest&rsquo;s message is to you and Mr. Meyer, father, and must be
+      answered by you. What have I to do with it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A great deal, I think, my dear, or so those men seemed to believe. At any
+      rate, I cannot go up there without you, and I will not take you there
+      against your wish, for it is a long way off, and a queer business. The
+      question is, will you go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She thought a space, while the two men watched her anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered at length, in a quiet voice. &ldquo;I will go if you wish to
+      go, not because I want to find treasure, but because the story and the
+      country where it happened interest me. Indeed, I don&rsquo;t believe much in the
+      treasure. Even if they are superstitious and afraid to look for it
+      themselves, I doubt whether they would allow you to look if they thought
+      it could be found. To me the journey does not seem a good business
+      speculation, also there are risks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We think it good enough,&rdquo; broke in Meyer decidedly. &ldquo;And one does not
+      expect to get millions without trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; said her father; &ldquo;but she is right&mdash;there are risks,
+      great risks&mdash;fever, wild beasts, savages, and others that one cannot
+      foresee. Have I a right to expose her to them? Ought we not to go alone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be useless,&rdquo; answered Meyer. &ldquo;Those messengers have seen your
+      daughter, and mixed her up with their superstitious story of a ghost, of
+      which I, who know that there are no such things, believe nothing. Without
+      her now we shall certainly fail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As for the risks, father,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;personally I take no account of
+      them, for I am sure that what is to happen will happen, and if I knew that
+      I was to die upon the Zambesi, it would make no difference to me who do
+      not care. But as it chances, I think&mdash;I cannot tell you why&mdash;that
+      you and Mr. Meyer are in more danger than I am. It is for you to consider
+      whether you will take the risks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford smiled. &ldquo;I am old,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;that is my answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I am accustomed to such things,&rdquo; said Meyer, with a shrug of his
+      shoulders. &ldquo;Who would not run a little danger for the sake of such a
+      glorious chance? Wealth, wealth, more wealth than we can dream of, and
+      with it, power&mdash;power to avenge, to reward, to buy position, and
+      pleasure, and all beautiful things which are the heritage of the very rich
+      alone,&rdquo; and he spread out his hands and looked upwards, as though in
+      adoration of this golden god.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Except such trifles as health and happiness,&rdquo; commented Benita, not
+      without sarcasm, for this man and his material desires disgusted her
+      somewhat, especially when she contrasted him with another man who was lost
+      to her, though it was true that <i>his</i> past had been idle and
+      unproductive enough. Yet they interested her also, for Benita had never
+      met anyone like Mr. Meyer, so talented, so eager, and so soulless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I understand it is settled?&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford hesitated, but Meyer answered at once:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, settled as far as anything can be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited a moment for her father to speak, but he said nothing; his
+      chance had gone by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well. Now we shall not need to trouble ourselves with further doubts
+      or argument. We are going to Bambatse on the Zambesi, a distant place, to
+      look for buried gold, and I hope, Mr. Meyer, that if you find it, the
+      results will come up to your expectations, and bring you all sorts of good
+      luck. Good-night, father dear, good-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My daughter thinks it will bring us ill-luck,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, when
+      the door had closed behind her. &ldquo;That is her way of saying so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Meyer gloomily; &ldquo;she thinks that, and she is one of those
+      who have vision. Well, she may be wrong. Also, the question is, shall we
+      seize our opportunity and its dangers, or remain here and breed bad horses
+      all our lives, while she who is not afraid laughs at us? I am going to
+      Bambatse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Mr. Clifford made no direct answer, only asked a question:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long will it take to get the guns and ammunition, and what will they
+      cost?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About a week from Wakkerstroom,&rdquo; replied Meyer. &ldquo;Old Potgieter, the
+      trader there, has just imported a hundred Martinis and a hundred
+      Westley-Richards falling-blocks. Fifty of each, with ten thousand rounds
+      of cartridges, will cost about £600, and we have as much as that in the
+      bank; also we have the new waggon, and plenty of good oxen and horses. We
+      can take a dozen of the horses with us, and sell them in the north of the
+      Transvaal for a fine price, before we get into the tetsefly belt. The oxen
+      will probably carry us through, as they are most of them salted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have thought it all out, Jacob, I see; but it means a lot of money
+      one way and another, to say nothing of other things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a lot of money, and those rifles are too good for Kaffirs.
+      Birmingham gas-pipes would have done for them, but there are none to be
+      had. But what is the money, and what are the guns, compared to all they
+      will bring us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you had better ask my daughter, Jacob. She seems to have her own
+      ideas upon the subject.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Clifford has made up her mind, and it will not change. I shall ask
+      her no more,&rdquo; replied Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he, too, left the room, to give orders about the journey to
+      Wakkerstroom that he must take upon the morrow. But Mr. Clifford sat there
+      till past midnight, wondering whether he had done right, and if they would
+      find the treasure of which he had dreamed for years, and what the future
+      had in store for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If only he could have seen!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Benita came to breakfast the next morning, she asked where Mr. Meyer
+      was, and learned that he had already departed for Wakkerstroom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly he is in earnest,&rdquo; she said with a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered her father; &ldquo;Jacob is always in earnest, though, somehow,
+      his earnestness has not brought him much good so far. If we fail, it will
+      not be want of thought and preparation on his part.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearly a week went by before Meyer returned again, and meanwhile Benita
+      made ready for her journey. In the intervals of her simple preparations
+      also she talked a good deal, with the help of her father, to the three
+      sturdy-looking Makalanga, who were resting thankfully after their long
+      journey. Their conversation was general, since by tacit consent no further
+      mention was made of the treasure or of anything to do with it, but it
+      enabled her to form a fair opinion of them and their people. She gathered
+      that although they spoke a dialect of Zulu, they had none of the bravery
+      of the Zulus, and indeed lived in deadly terror of the Matabele, who are
+      bastard Zulus&mdash;such terror, in fact, that she greatly doubted whether
+      the hundred rifles would be of much use to them, should they ever be
+      attacked by that tribe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were what their fathers had been before them, agriculturists and
+      workers in metals&mdash;not fighting men. Also she set herself to learn
+      what she could of their tongue, which she did not find difficult, for
+      Benita had a natural aptitude for languages, and had never forgotten the
+      Dutch and Zulu she used to prattle as a child, which now came back to her
+      very fast. Indeed, she could already talk fairly in either of those
+      languages, especially as she spent her spare hours in studying their
+      grammar, and reading them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So the days went on, till one evening Jacob Meyer appeared with two Scotch
+      carts laden with ten long boxes that looked like coffins, and other
+      smaller boxes which were very heavy, to say nothing of a multitude of
+      stores. As Mr. Clifford prophesied, he had forgotten nothing, for he even
+      brought Benita various articles of clothing, and a revolver for which she
+      had not asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three days later they trekked away from Rooi Krantz upon a peculiarly
+      beautiful Sunday morning in the early spring, giving it out that they were
+      going upon a trading and shooting expedition in the north of the
+      Transvaal. Benita looked back at the pretty little stead and the wooded
+      kloof behind it over which she had nearly fallen, and the placid lake in
+      front of it where the nesting wildfowl wheeled, and sighed. For to her,
+      now that she was leaving it, the place seemed like home, and it came into
+      her mind that she would never see it any more.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"></a>
+      VIII.<br/>
+      BAMBATSE</h2>
+    <p>
+      Nearly four months had gone by when at length the waggon with which were
+      Mr. Clifford, Benita, and Jacob Meyer camped one night within the country
+      of the Molimo of Bambatse, whose name was Mambo. Or perhaps that was his
+      title, since (according to Tamas his son) every chief in succession was
+      called Mambo, though not all of them were Molimos, or representatives and
+      prophets of God, or the Great Spirit whom they knew as Munwali. Thus
+      sometimes the Molimo, or priest of Munwali, and the Mambo or chief were
+      different persons. For instance, he said that he, Tamas, would be Mambo on
+      his father&rsquo;s death, but no visions were given to him; therefore as yet, at
+      any rate, he was not called to be Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the course of this long journey they had met with many adventures, such
+      as were common to African travellers before the days of railroads;
+      adventures with wild beasts and native tribes, adventures with swollen
+      rivers also, and one that was worst, with thirst, since for three days
+      (owing to the failure of a pit or pan, where they expected to find water)
+      they were obliged to go without drink. Still, none of these were very
+      serious, nor had any of the three of them ever been in better health than
+      they were at this moment, for by good luck they had escaped all fever.
+      Indeed, their rough, wild life had agreed with Benita extraordinarily
+      well, so well that any who had known her in the streets of London would
+      scarcely have recognized her as the sunburnt, active and well-formed young
+      woman who sat that night by the camp fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the horses they had brought with them had been sold, except some which
+      had died, and three that were &ldquo;salted,&rdquo; or proof against the deadly horse
+      sickness, which they took on with them. Their own servants also had been
+      sent back to Rooi Krantz in charge of a Scotch cart laden with ivory,
+      purchased from Boer hunters who had brought it down from the north of the
+      Transvaal. Therefore, for this was part of the bargain, the three
+      Makalanga were now their only attendants who drove and herded the cattle,
+      while Benita cooked the food which the two white men shot, or sometimes
+      bought from natives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For days they had been passing through a country that was practically
+      deserted, and now, having crossed a high nek, the same on which Robert
+      Seymour had left his waggon, they were camped in low land which, as they
+      could see by the remains of walls that appeared everywhere, had once been
+      extensively enclosed and cultivated. To their right was a rising
+      mountainous ground, beyond which, said the Makalanga, ran the Zambesi, and
+      in front of them, not more than ten miles away, a great isolated hill,
+      none other than that place that they had journeyed so far to reach,
+      Bambatse, round which flowed the great river. Indeed, thither one of the
+      three Makalanga, he who was named Hoba, had gone on to announce their
+      approach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had outspanned amongst ruins, most of them circular in shape, and
+      Benita, studying them in the bright moonlight, guessed that once these had
+      been houses. That place now so solitary, hundreds or thousands of years
+      ago was undoubtedly the home of a great population. Thousands, rather than
+      hundreds, she thought, since close at hand in the middle of one of these
+      round houses, grew a mighty baobab tree, that could not have seen less
+      than ten or fifteen centuries since the seed whence it sprang pierced the
+      cement floor which was still visible about its giant bole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tamas, the Molimo&rsquo;s son, saw her studying these evidences of antiquity,
+      and, approaching, saluted her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said in his own language, which by now she spoke very well,
+      &ldquo;lady&rdquo;&mdash;and he waved his hand with a fine gesture&mdash;&ldquo;behold the
+      city of my people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that it was their city?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, lady. Stones cannot speak, the spirits are silent, and we
+      have forgotten. Still, I think so, and our fathers have told us that but
+      six or eight generations ago many folk lived here, though it was not they
+      who built these walls. Even fifty years ago there were many, but now the
+      Matabele have killed them, and we are few; to-morrow you will see how few.
+      Come here and look,&rdquo; and he led her through the entrance of a square
+      cattle kraal which stood close by. Within were tufts of rank grass, and a
+      few bushes, and among these scores of skulls and other bones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele killed these in the time of Moselikatse,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now do
+      you wonder that we who remain fear the Matabele, and desire guns to defend
+      ourselves from them, even if we must sell our secrets, in order to buy
+      those guns, who have no money to pay for them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she answered, looking at the tall, dignified man, into whose soul
+      the irons of fear and slavery had burnt so deep. &ldquo;No, I do not wonder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning at daybreak they trekked on, always through these evidences
+      of dead, forgotten people. They had not more than ten miles to cover to
+      reach their long journey&rsquo;s end, but the road, if so it could be called,
+      ran up-hill, and the oxen, whereof only fourteen were now left to drag the
+      heavy-laden waggon, were thin and footsore, so that their progress was
+      very slow. Indeed, it was past midday when at length they began to enter
+      what by apology might be called the town of Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we go away from this, it will have to be by water, I think, unless
+      we can buy trek-cattle,&rdquo; said Meyer, looking at the labouring oxen with a
+      doubtful eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because several of those beasts have been bitten by tetsefly, like my
+      horse, and the poison is beginning to work. I thought so last night, but
+      now I am sure. Look at their eyes. It was down in that bit of bush veld
+      eight days ago. I said that we ought not to camp there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment they came to the crest of the ridge, and on its further
+      side saw the wonderful ruins of Bambatse close at hand. In front of them
+      stood a hill jutting out, as it were into the broad waters of the Zambesi
+      river, which, to a great extent, protected it upon three sides. The
+      fourth, that opposite to them, except at one place where a kind of natural
+      causeway led into the town, was also defended by Nature, since here for
+      more than fifty feet in height the granite rock of the base of the hill
+      rose sheer and unclimbable. On the mount itself, that in all may have
+      covered eight or ten acres of ground, and surrounded by a deep donga or
+      ditch, were three rings of fortifications, set one above the other, mighty
+      walls which, it was evident, had been built by no modern hand. Looking at
+      them Benita could well understand how it came about that the poor fugitive
+      Portuguese had chosen this as their last place of refuge, and were
+      overcome at length, not by the thousands of savages who followed and
+      surrounded them, but by hunger. Indeed, the place seemed impregnable to
+      any force that was not armed with siege guns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the hither side of this natural fosse, which, doubtless, in ancient
+      times had been filled with water led from the Zambesi, stood the village
+      of the Bambatse Makalanga, a collection of seventy or eighty wretched
+      huts, round, like those of their forefathers, but built of mud and thatch.
+      About them lay the gardens, or square fields, that were well cultivated,
+      and at this season rich with ripening corn. Benita, however, could see no
+      cattle, and concluded, therefore, that these must be kept on the hill for
+      safety, and within its walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Down the rough road they lumbered, and through the village, where the few
+      women and children stared at them in a frightened way. Then they came to
+      the causeway, which, on its further side, was blocked with thorns and
+      rough stones taken from the ruins. While they waited for these to be
+      removed by some men who now appeared, Benita looked at the massive,
+      circular wall still thirty or forty feet in height, by perhaps twenty
+      through its base, built of granite blocks without mortar, and ornamented
+      with quaint patterns of other coloured stones. In its thickness she could
+      see grooves, where evidently had once been portcullises, but these had
+      disappeared long ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a wonderful place,&rdquo; she said to her father. &ldquo;I am glad that I came.
+      Have you been all over it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; only between the first and second walls, and once between the second
+      and third. The old temple, or whatever it is, is on the top, and into that
+      they would never admit us. It is there that the treasure lies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That the treasure is supposed to lie,&rdquo; she answered with a smile. &ldquo;But,
+      Father, what guarantee have you that they will do so now? Perhaps they
+      will take the guns and show us the door&mdash;or rather the gate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your daughter is right, there is none; and before a box is taken off the
+      waggon we must get one,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;Oh! I know it is risky, and it would
+      have been better to make sure first, but it is too late to talk of that
+      now. Look, the stones are cleared. Trek on&mdash;trek!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The long waggon-whip cracked, the poor, tired-out oxen strained at the
+      yokes, and on they went through the entrance of that fateful fortress that
+      was but just wide enough to admit them. Inside lay a great open space,
+      which, as they could see from the numerous ruins, had once been filled
+      with buildings that now were half hidden by grass, trees, and creepers.
+      This was the outer ring of the temple where, in ancient days, the priests
+      and captains had their home. Travelling across it for perhaps a hundred
+      and fifty yards, they came near the second wall, which was like the first,
+      only not quite so solid, and saw that on a stretch of beaten ground, and
+      seated in the shadow, for the day was hot, the people of Bambatse were
+      gathered to greet them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When within fifty yards they dismounted from the horses, which were left
+      with the waggon in the charge of the Makalanga, Tamala. Then Benita taking
+      her position between her father and Jacob Meyer, they advanced towards the
+      ring of natives, of whom there may have been two hundred&mdash;all of them
+      adult men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they came, except one figure who remained seated with his back against
+      the wall, the human circle stood up as a token of respect, and Benita saw
+      that they were of the same stamp as the messengers&mdash;tall and
+      good-looking, with melancholy eyes and a cowed expression, wearing the
+      appearance of people who from day to day live in dread of slavery and
+      death. Opposite to them was a break in the circle, through which Tamas led
+      them, and as they crossed it Benita felt that all those people were
+      staring at her with their sad eyes. A few paces from where the man
+      crouched against the wall, his head hidden by a beautifully worked blanket
+      that was thrown over it, were placed three well-carved stools. Upon these,
+      at a motion from Tamas, they sat themselves down, and, as it was not
+      dignified for them to speak first, remained silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be patient and forgive,&rdquo; said Tamas at length. &ldquo;My father, Mambo, prays
+      to the Munwali and the spirits of his fathers that this coming of yours
+      may be fortunate, and that a vision of those things that are to be may
+      descend upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita, feeling nearly two hundred pairs of eyes concentrated upon her,
+      wished that the vision might come quickly, but after a minute or two fell
+      into tune with the thing, and almost enjoyed this strange experience.
+      Those mighty ancient walls built by hands unknown, which had seen so much
+      history and so much death; the silent, triple ring of patient, solemn men,
+      the last descendants of a cultured race, the crouching figure hidden
+      beneath the blanket, who imagined himself to be communicating with his god&mdash;it
+      was all very strange, very well worth the seeing to one who had wearied of
+      the monotony of civilization.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Look, the man stirred, and threw back his blanket, revealing a head white
+      with age, a spiritual, ascetic face, so thin that every bone showed in it,
+      and dark eyes which stared upwards unseeingly, like those of a person in a
+      trance. Thrice he sighed, while his tribesmen watched him. Then he let his
+      eyes fall upon the three white people seated in front of him. First he
+      looked at Mr. Clifford, and his face grew troubled; then at Jacob Meyer,
+      and it was anxious and alarmed. Lastly, he stared at Benita, and while he
+      did so the dark eyes became calm and happy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White maiden,&rdquo; he said in a soft, low voice, &ldquo;for you, at least, I have
+      good tidings. Though Death come near to you, though you see him on your
+      right hand and your left, and in front of you and behind you, I say, fear
+      not. Here you, who have known deep sorrow, shall find happiness and rest,
+      O maiden, with whom goes the spirit of one pure and fair as you, who died
+      so long ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, while Benita wondered at his words, spoken with such sweet
+      earnestness that although she believed nothing of them, they brought a
+      kind of comfort to her, he looked once more at her father and Jacob Meyer,
+      and, as it were with an effort, was silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you no pleasant prophecy for me, old friend,&rdquo; said Jacob, &ldquo;who have
+      come so far to hear it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At once the aged face grew inscrutable, all expression vanished behind a
+      hundred wrinkles, and he answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, white man&mdash;none that I am charged to deliver. Search the skies
+      for yourself, you who are so wise, and read them if you can. Lords,&rdquo; he
+      went on in another voice, &ldquo;I greet you in the name and presence of my
+      children. Son Tamas, I greet you also; you have done your mission well.
+      Listen, now&mdash;you are weary and would rest and eat; still, bear with
+      me, for I have a word to say. Look around you. You see all my tribe, not
+      twenty times ten above the age of boys, we who once were countless as the
+      leaves on yonder trees in spring. Why are we dead? Because of the
+      Amandabele, those fierce dogs whom, two generations ago, Moselikatse, the
+      general of Chaka, brought up to the south of us, who ravish us and kill us
+      year by year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are not warlike, we who have outlived war and the lust of slaying. We
+      are men of peace, who desire to cultivate the land, and to follow our arts
+      which have descended to us from our ancestors, and to worship the Heavens
+      above us, whither we depart to join the spirits of our forefathers. But
+      they are fierce and strong and savage, and they come up and murder our
+      children and old people, and take away the young women and the maidens to
+      be slaves, and with them all our cattle. Where are our cattle? Lobengula,
+      chief of the Amandabele, has them; scarce a cow is left to give milk to
+      the sick or to the motherless babe. And yet he sends for cattle. Tribute,
+      say his messengers, deliver tribute, or my impi will come and take it with
+      your lives. But we have no cattle&mdash;all are gone. We have nothing left
+      to us but this ancient mountain and the works built thereon, and a little
+      corn on which we live. Yes, I say it&mdash;I, the Molimo&mdash;I whose
+      ancestors were great kings&mdash;I who have still more wisdom in me than
+      all the hosts of the Amandabele,&rdquo; and as he spoke the old man&rsquo;s grey head
+      sank upon his breast and the tears ran down his withered cheeks, while his
+      people answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mambo, it is true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now listen again,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;Lobengula threatens us, therefore I sent
+      to these white men who were here before, saying that if they would bring
+      me a hundred guns, and powder and ball, to enable us to beat off the
+      Amandabele from behind these strong walls of ours, I would take them into
+      the secret holy place where for six generations no white man has set a
+      foot, and there suffer them to search for the treasure which is hid
+      therein, no man knows where, that treasure which they asked leave to find
+      four winters gone. We refused it then and drove them hence, because of the
+      curse laid upon us by the white maid who died, the last of the Portuguese,
+      who foretold her people&rsquo;s fate for us if we gave up the buried gold save
+      to one appointed. My children, the Spirit of Bambatse has visited me; I
+      have seen her and others have seen her, and in my sleep she said to me:
+      &lsquo;Suffer the men to come and search, for with them is one of the blood to
+      whom my people&rsquo;s wealth is given; and great is your danger, for many
+      spears draw nigh.&rsquo; My children, I sent my son and other messengers on a
+      far journey to where I knew the men dwelt, and they have returned after
+      many months bringing those men with them, bringing with them also another
+      of whom I knew nothing&mdash;yes, her who is appointed, her of whom the
+      Spirit spoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he lifted his withered hand and held it towards Benita, saying: &ldquo;I
+      tell you that yonder she sits for whom the generations have waited.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; answered the Makalanga. &ldquo;It is the White Lady come again to
+      take her own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Friends,&rdquo; asked the Molimo, while they wondered at his strange speech,
+      &ldquo;tell me, have you brought the guns?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford, &ldquo;they are there in the waggon, every one
+      of them, the best that can be made, and with them ten thousand cartridges,
+      bought at a great cost. We have fulfilled our share of the bargain; now
+      will you fulfil yours, or shall we go away again with the guns and leave
+      you to meet the Matabele with your assegais?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say you the agreement while we listen,&rdquo; answered the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;It is this: That you shall find us food and
+      shelter while we are with you. That you shall lead us into the secret
+      place at the head of the hill, where the Portuguese died, and the gold is
+      hidden. That you shall allow us to search for that gold when and where we
+      will. That if we discover the gold, or anything else of value to us, you
+      shall suffer us to take it away, and assist us upon our journey, either by
+      giving us boats and manning them to travel down the Zambesi, or in
+      whatever fashion may be most easy. That you shall permit none to hurt,
+      molest, or annoy us during our sojourn among you. Is that our contract?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not quite all of it,&rdquo; said the Molimo. &ldquo;There is this to add: first that
+      you shall teach us how to use the guns; secondly, that you shall search
+      for and find the treasure, if so it is appointed, without our help, since
+      in this matter it is not lawful for us to meddle; thirdly, that if the
+      Amandabele should chance to attack us while you are here, you shall do
+      your best to assist us against their power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you, then, expect attack?&rdquo; asked Meyer suspiciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man, we always expect attack. Is it a bargain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer in one voice, the latter
+      adding: &ldquo;the guns and the cartridges are yours. Lead us now to the hidden
+      place. We have fulfilled our part; we trust to the honour of you and all
+      your people to fulfil yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White Maiden,&rdquo; asked the Molimo, addressing Benita, &ldquo;do you also say that
+      it is a bargain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What my father says, I say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said the Molimo. &ldquo;Then, in the presence of my people, and in the
+      name of the Munwali, I, Mambo, who am his prophet, declare that it is so
+      agreed between us, and may the vengeance of the heavens fall upon those
+      who break our pact! Let the oxen of the white men be outspanned, their
+      horses fed, their waggon unloaded, that we may count the guns. Let food be
+      brought into the guest-house also, and after they have eaten, I, who alone
+      of all of you have ever entered it, will lead them to the holy place, that
+      there they may begin to search for that which the white men desire from
+      age to age&mdash;to find it if they can; if not, to depart satisfied and
+      at peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"></a>
+      IX.<br/>
+      THE OATH OF MADUNA</h2>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford and Meyer rose to return to the waggon in order to
+      superintend the unyoking of the oxen and to give directions as to their
+      herding, and the off-saddling of the horses. Benita rose also, wondering
+      when the food that had been promised would be ready, for she was hungry.
+      Meanwhile, the Molimo was greeting his son Tamas, patting his hand
+      affectionately and talking to him, when suddenly Benita, who watched this
+      domestic scene with interest, heard a commotion behind her. Turning to
+      discover its cause, she perceived three great men clad in full war
+      panoply, shields on their left arms, spears in their right hands, black
+      ostrich plumes rising from the polished rings woven in their hair, black
+      moochas about their middles, and black oxtails tied beneath their knees,
+      who marched through the throng of Makalanga as though they saw them not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele! The Matabele are on us!&rdquo; cried a voice; while other voices
+      shouted, &ldquo;Fly to your walls!&rdquo; and yet others, &ldquo;Kill them! They are few.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the three men marched on unheeding till they stood before Mambo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you, and what do you seek?&rdquo; the old man asked boldly, though the
+      fear that had taken hold of him at the sight of these strangers was
+      evident enough, for his whole body shook.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely you should know, chief of Bambatse,&rdquo; answered their spokesman with
+      a laugh, &ldquo;for you have seen the like of us before. We are the children of
+      Lobengula, the Great Elephant, the King, the Black Bull, the Father of the
+      Amandabele, and we have a message for your ear, little Old Man, which,
+      finding that you leave your gate open, we have walked in to deliver.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak your message then, envoys of Lobengula, in my ear and in those of
+      my people,&rdquo; said the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your people! Are these all your people?&rdquo; the spokesman replied
+      contemptuously. &ldquo;Why then, what need was there for the indunas of the King
+      to send so large an impi under a great general against you, when a company
+      of lads armed with sticks would have served the turn? We thought that
+      these were but the sons of your house, the men of your own family, whom
+      you had called together to eat with the white strangers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Close the entrance in the wall,&rdquo; cried the Molimo, stung to fury by the
+      insult; and a voice answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, it is already done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Matabele, who should have been frightened, only laughed again, and
+      their spokesman said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See, my brothers, he thinks to trap us who are but three. Well, kill on,
+      Old Wizard, if you will, but know that if a hand is lifted, this spear of
+      mine goes through your heart, and that the children of Lobengula die hard.
+      Know also that then the impi which waits not far away will destroy you
+      every one, man and woman, youth and maiden, little ones who hold the hand
+      and infants at the breast; none shall be left&mdash;none at all, to say,
+      &lsquo;Here once lived the cowardly Makalanga of Bambatse.&rsquo; Nay, be not foolish,
+      but talk softly with us, so that perhaps we may spare your lives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the three men placed themselves back to back, in such fashion that
+      they faced every way, and could not be smitten down from behind, and
+      waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not kill envoys,&rdquo; said the Molimo, &ldquo;but if they are foul-mouthed, I
+      throw them out of my walls. Your message, men of the Amandabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear you. Hearken now to the word of Lobengula.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the envoy began to speak, using the pronoun I as though it were the
+      Matabele king himself who spoke to his vassal, the Makalanga chief: &ldquo;I
+      sent to you last year, you slave, who dare to call yourself Mambo of the
+      Makalanga, demanding a tribute of cattle and women, and warning you that
+      if they did not come, I would take them. They did not come, but that time
+      I spared you. Now I send again. Hand over to my messengers fifty cows and
+      fifty oxen, with herds to drive them, and twelve maidens to be approved by
+      them, or I wipe you out, who have troubled the earth too long, and that
+      before another moon has waned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those are the words of Lobengula,&rdquo; he concluded, and taking the horn
+      snuff-box from the slit in his ear, helped himself, then insolently passed
+      it to the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So great was the old chief&rsquo;s rage that, forgetting his self-control, he
+      struck the box from the hand of his tormentor to the ground, where the
+      snuff lay spilled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just so shall the blood of your people be spilled through your rash
+      foolishness,&rdquo; said the messenger calmly, as he picked up the box, and as
+      much of the snuff as he could save.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken,&rdquo; said the Molimo, in a thin, trembling voice. &ldquo;Your king demands
+      cattle, knowing that all the cattle are gone, that scarce a cow is left to
+      give drink to a motherless babe. He asks for maidens also, but if he took
+      those he seeks we should have none left for our young men to marry. And
+      why is this so? It is because the vulture, Lobengula, has picked us to the
+      bone; yes, while we are yet alive he has torn the flesh from us. Year by
+      year his soldiers have stolen and killed, till at last nothing is left of
+      us. And now he seeks what we have not got to give, in order that he may
+      force a quarrel upon us and murder us. There is nought left for us to give
+      Lobengula. You have your answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo; replied the envoy with a sneer. &ldquo;How comes it, then, that yonder
+      I see a waggon laden with goods, and oxen in the yokes? Yes,&rdquo; he repeated
+      with meaning, &ldquo;with goods whereof we have known the like at Buluwayo; for
+      Lobengula also sometimes buys guns from white men, O! little Makalanga.
+      Come now, give us the waggon with its load and the oxen and the horses,
+      and though it be but a small gift, we will take it away and ask nothing
+      more this year.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I give you the property of my guests, the white men?&rdquo; asked the
+      Molimo. &ldquo;Get you gone, and do your worst, or you shall be thrown from the
+      walls of the fortress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, but know that very soon we shall return and make an end of you, who
+      are tired of these long and troublesome journeys to gather so little. Go,
+      tend your corn, dwellers in Bambatse, for this I swear in the name of
+      Lobengula, never shall you see it ripen more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the crowd of listening Makalanga trembled at his words, but in the old
+      Molimo they seemed only to rouse a storm of prophetic fury. For a moment
+      he stood staring up at the blue sky, his arms outstretched as though in
+      prayer. Then he spoke in a new voice&mdash;a clear, quiet voice, that did
+      not seem to be his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who am I?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am the Molimo of the Bambatse Makalanga; I am the
+      ladder between them and Heaven; I sit on the topmost bough of the tree
+      under which they shelter, and there in the crest of the tree Munwali
+      speaks with me. What to you are winds, to me are voices whispering in my
+      spirit&rsquo;s ears. Once my forefathers were great kings, they were Mambos of
+      all the land, and that is still my name and dignity. We lived in peace; we
+      laboured, we did wrong to no man. Then you Zulu savages came upon us from
+      the south-east and your path was red with blood. Year after year you
+      robbed and you destroyed; you raided our cattle, you murdered our men, you
+      took our maidens and our children to be your women and your slaves, until
+      at length, of all this pit filled with the corn of life, there is left but
+      a little handful. And this you say you will eat up also, lest it should
+      fall into good ground and grow again. I tell you that I think it will not
+      be so; but whether or no that happens, I have words for the ear of your
+      king&mdash;a message for a message. Say to him that thus speaks the wise
+      old Molimo of Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see him hunted like a wounded hyena through the rivers, in the deep
+      bush, and over the mountain. I see him die in pain and misery; but his
+      grave I see not, for no man shall know it. I see the white man take his
+      land and all his wealth; yea, to them and to no son of his shall his
+      people give the Bayéte, the royal salute. Of his greatness and his power,
+      this alone shall remain to him&mdash;a name accursed from generation to
+      generation. And last of all I see peace upon the land and upon my
+      children&rsquo;s children.&rdquo; He paused, then added: &ldquo;For you, cruel dog that you
+      are, this message also from the Munwali, by the lips of his Molimo. I lift
+      no hand against you, but you shall not live to look again upon your king&rsquo;s
+      face. Begone now, and do your worst.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment the three Matabele seemed to be frightened, and Benita heard
+      one of them say to his companions:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Wizard has bewitched us! He has bewitched the Great Elephant and all
+      his people! Shall we kill him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But quickly shaking off his fears their spokesman laughed, and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So that is what you have brought the white people here for, old traitor&mdash;to
+      plot against the throne of Lobengula.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He wheeled round and stared at Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer; then added:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, Grey-beard and Black-Beard: I myself will put you both to such a
+      death as you have never heard of, and as for the girl, since she is well
+      favoured, she shall brew the king&rsquo;s beer, and be numbered amongst the
+      king&rsquo;s wives&mdash;unless, indeed, he is pleased to give her to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In an instant the thing was done! At the man&rsquo;s words about Benita, Meyer,
+      who had been listening to his threats and bombast unconcerned, suddenly
+      seemed to awake. His dark eyes flashed, his pale face turned cruel.
+      Snatching the revolver from his belt he seemed to point and fire it with
+      one movement, and down&mdash;dead or dying&mdash;went the Matabele.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Men did not stir, they only stared. Accustomed as they were to death in
+      that wild land, the suddenness of this deed surprised them. The contrast
+      between the splendid, brutal savage who had stood before them a moment
+      ago, and the limp, black thing going to sleep upon the ground, was strange
+      enough to move their imaginations. There he lay, and there, over him, the
+      smoking pistol in his hand, Meyer stood and laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita felt that the act was just, and the awful punishment deserved. Yet
+      that laugh of Jacob&rsquo;s jarred upon her, for in it she thought she heard the
+      man&rsquo;s heart speaking; and oh, its voice was merciless! Surely Justice
+      should not laugh when her sword falls!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behold, now,&rdquo; said the Molimo in his still voice, pointing at the dead
+      Matabele with his finger; &ldquo;do I speak lies, or is it true that this man
+      shall not look more upon his king&rsquo;s face? Well, as it was with the
+      servant, so it shall be with the lord, only more slowly. It is the decree
+      of the Munwali, spoken by the voice of his Mouth, the Molimo of Bambatse.
+      Go, children of Lobengula, and bear with you as an offering this
+      first-fruit of the harvest that the white men shall reap among the
+      warriors of his people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The thin voice died away, and there was silence so intense that Benita
+      thought she heard the scraping of the feet of a green lizard which crept
+      across a stone a yard or two away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then of a sudden it ended. Of a sudden the two remaining Matabele turned
+      and fled for their lives, and as, when dogs run, a flock of sheep will
+      wheel about and pursue them, so did the Makalanga. They grabbed at the
+      messengers with their hands, tearing their finery from them; they struck
+      them with sticks, they pounded them with stones, till at length two
+      bruised and bleeding men, finding all escape cut off, and led perhaps by
+      some instinct, staggered back to where Benita stood horrified at this
+      dreadful scene, and throwing themselves upon the ground, clutched at her
+      dress and prayed for mercy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Move a little, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;Three of those brutes will
+      not weigh heavier than one upon my conscience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, you shall not,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Mambo, these men are messengers;
+      spare them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken to the voice of pity,&rdquo; said the old prophet, &ldquo;spoken in a place
+      where pity never was, and not in vain. Let them go. Give mercy to the
+      merciless, for she buys their lives with a prayer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will bring the others on us,&rdquo; muttered Tamas, and even old Mr.
+      Clifford shook his head sadly. But the Molimo only said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have spoken. Let them go. That which will befall must befall, and from
+      this deed no ill shall come that would not have come otherwise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hear? Depart swiftly,&rdquo; said Benita, in Zulu.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With difficulty the two men dragged themselves to their feet, and
+      supporting each other, stood before her. One of them, a clever,
+      powerful-faced man, whose black hair was tinged with grey, addressing
+      himself to Benita, gasped:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me. That fool there,&rdquo; and he pointed to his dead companion, &ldquo;whose
+      boasting brought his death upon him, was but a low fellow. I, who kept
+      silence and let him talk, am Maduna, a prince of the royal house who
+      justly deserve to die because I turned my back upon these dogs. Yet I and
+      my brother here take life at your hands, Lady, who, now that I have had
+      time to think, would refuse it at theirs. For, whether I stay or go does
+      not matter. The impi waits; the slayers are beneath the walls. Those
+      things which are decreed will happen; there, yonder old Wizard speaks
+      true. Listen, Lady: should it chance that you have cause to demand two
+      lives at the hands of Maduna, in his own name and the name of his king he
+      promises them to you. In safety shall they pass, they and all that is
+      theirs, without toll taken. Remember the oath of Maduna, Lady, in the hour
+      of your need, and do you, my brother, bear witness to it among our
+      people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, straightening themselves as well as they were able, these two sorely
+      hurt men lifted their right arms and gave Benita the salute due to a
+      chieftainess. This done, taking no note of any other creature there, they
+      limped away to the gate that had been opened for them, and vanished beyond
+      the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while Meyer had stood silent; now he spoke with a bitter smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Charity, Miss Clifford, said a certain Paul, as reported in your New
+      Testament, covers a multitude of sins. I hope very much that it will serve
+      to cover our remains from the aasvogels, after we have met our deaths in
+      some such fashion as that brute promised us,&rdquo; and he pointed to the dead
+      man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita looked at her father in question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Meyer means, my dear, that you have done a foolish thing in begging
+      the lives of those Matabele. It would have been safer for us if they were
+      dead, who, as it is, have gone off burning for revenge. Of course, I
+      understand it was natural enough, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he hesitated and
+      stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The chief did not say so,&rdquo; broke in Benita with agitation; &ldquo;besides, if
+      he had, I should not have cared. It was bad enough to see one man killed
+      like that,&rdquo; and she shivered; &ldquo;I could not bear any more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should not be angry at the fellow&rsquo;s death, seeing that it was what he
+      said of you which brought it upon him,&rdquo; Meyer replied with meaning.
+      &ldquo;Otherwise he might have gone unharmed as far as I was concerned. For the
+      rest, I did not interfere because I saw it was useless; also I am a
+      fatalist like our friend, the Molimo, and believe in what is decreed. The
+      truth is,&rdquo; he added sharply, &ldquo;among savages ladies are not in place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you not say that down at Rooi Krantz, Jacob?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+      &ldquo;You know I thought so all the while, but somehow I was over-ruled. Now
+      what I suggest is, that we had better get out of this place as fast as we
+      can&mdash;instantly, as soon as we have eaten, before our retreat is cut
+      off.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer looked at the oxen which had been outspanned: nine were wandering
+      about picking up what food they could, but the five which were supposed to
+      have been bitten by tetsefly had lain down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nine worn-out and footsore oxen will not draw the waggon,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;also
+      in all probability the place is already surrounded by Matabele, who merely
+      let us in to be sure of the guns which their spies must have told them we
+      were carrying. Lastly, having spent so much and come so far, I do not mean
+      to go without what we seek. Still, if you think that your daughter&rsquo;s
+      danger is greater within these walls than outside of them, you might try,
+      if we can hire servants, which I doubt. Or possibly, if any rowers are to
+      be had, you could go down the Zambesi in a canoe, risking the fever. You
+      and she must settle it, Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Difficulties and dangers every way one looks. Benita, what do you say?&rdquo;
+       asked her father distractedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita thought a moment. She wished to escape from Mr. Meyer, of whom she
+      was weary and afraid, and would have endured much to do so. On the other
+      hand, her father was tired out, and needed rest; also to turn his back
+      upon this venture now would have been a bitter blow to him. Moreover,
+      lacking cattle and men, how was it to be done? Lastly, something within
+      her, that same voice which had bidden her to come, seemed to bid her to
+      stay. Very soon she had made up her mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;thank you for thinking of me, but as far as I
+      can see, we should run more risks trying to get away than we do in
+      stopping here. I wanted to come, though you warned me against it, and now
+      I must take my chance and trust to God to bring us safe through all
+      dangers. Surely with all those rifles the Makalanga ought to be able to
+      hold such a place as this against the Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; answered her father; &ldquo;but they are a timid folk. Still,
+      though it would have been far better never to have come, I think with you
+      that it is best to stay where we are, and trust to God.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"></a>
+      X.<br/>
+      THE MOUNTAIN TOP</h2>
+    <p>
+      If our adventurers, or any of them, hoped that they were going to be led
+      to the secret places of the fortress that day, they were destined to
+      disappointment. Indeed, the remainder of it was employed arduously enough
+      in unpacking rifles, and a supply of ammunition; also in giving to a few
+      of the leading Makalanga preliminary lessons in the method of their use, a
+      matter as to which their ideas were of the vaguest. The rest of the tribe,
+      having brought their women and children into the outer enclosure of the
+      ancient stronghold, and with them their sheep and goats and the few cattle
+      which remained to them, were employed in building up the entrance
+      permanently with stones, a zigzag secret path upon the river side, that
+      could be stopped in a few minutes, being now their only method of ingress
+      and egress through the thickness of the walls. A certain number of men
+      were also sent out as spies to discover, if possible, the whereabouts of
+      the Matabele impi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That there was some impi they were almost sure, for a woman who had
+      followed them reported that the injured captain, Maduna, and his companion
+      had been met at a distance of about three miles from Bambatse by a small
+      party of Matabele, who were hiding in some bushes, and that these men had
+      made litters for them, and carried them away; whither she did not know,
+      for she had not dared to pursue them further.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night Benita passed in the guesthouse, which was only a hut rather
+      larger than the others, while the two men slept in the waggon just
+      outside. She was so tired that for a long while she could not rest. Her
+      mind kept flying back to all the events of the day: the strange words of
+      that mystic old Molimo, concerning herself; the arrival of the brutal
+      messengers and the indaba that followed; then the sudden and awful
+      destruction of their spokesman at the hand of Jacob Meyer. The scene would
+      not leave her eyes, she saw it again and yet again: the quick
+      transformation of Meyer&rsquo;s indifferent face when the soldier began to
+      insult and threaten her, the lightning-like movement of his hand, the
+      flash, the report, the change from life to death, and the slayer&rsquo;s cruel
+      laugh. He could be very terrible, Jacob Meyer, when his passions were
+      roused!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And what had roused them then? She could not doubt that it was herself&mdash;not
+      mere chivalry towards a woman. Even if he were capable of chivalry, merely
+      for that he would never have taken such risk of future trouble and
+      revenge. No; it was something deeper. He had never said anything or done
+      anything, yet long ago instinct or insight had caused Benita to suspect
+      the workings of his mind, and now she was sure of them. The thought was
+      terrible&mdash;worse than all her other dangers put together. True, she
+      had her father to rely on, but he had been somewhat ailing of late; age
+      and these arduous journeys and anxieties had told upon him. Supposing that
+      anything were to happen to him&mdash;if he died, for instance, how
+      dreadful her position might become, left alone far from the reach of help,
+      with savages&mdash;and Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh! if it had not been for that dreadful shipwreck, how different might be
+      her lot to-day! Well, it was the thought of the shipwreck and of him whom
+      she had lost therein, which had driven her on to this adventure, that in
+      it perhaps her suffering mind might be numbed to rest; and now she must
+      face its issues. God still remained above her, and she would put her trust
+      in Him. After all, if she died, what did it matter?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But that old Molimo had promised her that she was safe from death, that
+      she should find here happiness and rest, though not that of the grave. He
+      promised this, speaking as one who knew of all her grief, and a very
+      little while afterwards, in the case of the Matabele soldier, he had
+      proved himself a prophet of awful power. Also&mdash;she knew not how, she
+      knew not why&mdash;now, as before, her inmost heart seemed to bear witness
+      that this old dreamer&rsquo;s words were true, and that for her, in some strange
+      manner unforeseen, there still remained a rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Comforted a little by this intuition, at length Benita fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning, when she came out of the hut, Benita was met by her father,
+      who with a cheerful countenance informed her that at any rate as yet there
+      was no sign of the Matabele. A few hours later, too, some spies came in
+      who said that for miles round nothing could be seen or heard of them.
+      Still the preparations for defence went on, and the hundred best men
+      having been furnished with the rifles, were being drilled in the use of
+      them by Tamas and his two companions, Tamala and Hoba, who had learned how
+      to handle a gun very well in the course of their long journey. The
+      shooting of these raw recruits, however, proved to be execrable; indeed,
+      so dangerous were they that when one of them fired at a mark set upon the
+      wall, it was found necessary to order all the rest to lie down. As it was,
+      a poor trek ox&mdash;luckily it was sick&mdash;and two sheep were killed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Foreseeing a scarcity of provisions in the event of a siege, Meyer,
+      provident as ever, had already decreed the death of the tetse-bitten
+      cattle. These were accordingly despatched, and having been skinned and cut
+      up, their flesh was severed into long strips to be dried in the burning
+      sun as biltong, which secretly Benita hoped she might never be called upon
+      to eat. Yet the time was to come when she would swallow that hard,
+      tetse-poisoned flesh with thankfulness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At midday, after they had eaten, Mr. Clifford and Meyer went to the
+      Molimo, where he sat against the second wall, and, pointing to the men
+      with the guns, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have fulfilled our bargain. Now fulfil yours. Lead us to the holy
+      place that we may begin our search.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Follow me, white people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, quite unattended, he guided them round the inner wall till they came
+      to a path of rock not more than a yard wide, beneath which was a precipice
+      fifty feet or so in depth that almost overhung the river. This giddy path
+      they followed for about twenty paces, to find that it ended in a cleft in
+      the wall so narrow that only one person could walk through it at a time.
+      That it must have been the approach to the second stronghold was evident,
+      however, since it was faced on either side with dressed stones, and even
+      the foundation granite had been worn by the human feet which had passed
+      here for ages upon ages. This path zigzagged to and fro in the thickness
+      of the wall till it brought them finally within its circle, a broad belt
+      of steeply-rising ground, covered like that below with the tumbled ruins
+      of buildings amidst which grew bush and trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heaven send that the gold is not buried here,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford,
+      surveying the scene; &ldquo;for if it is, we shall never find it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Molimo seemed to guess the meaning of his words from his face, for he
+      answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not here. The besiegers won this place and camped in it for many
+      weeks. I could show you where they built their fires and tried to undermine
+      the last wall within which the Portuguese sat about until hunger killed
+      them, for they could not eat their gold. Follow me again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So on they went up the slope till they came to the base of the third wall,
+      and as before, passed round it, and reached a point above the river. But
+      now there was no passage, only some shallow and almost precipitous steps
+      cut from single stones leading from the foot of the wall to its summit,
+      more than thirty feet above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said Benita, contemplating this perilous ascent with dismay,
+      &ldquo;the ways of treasure seekers are hard. I don&rsquo;t think I can,&rdquo; while her
+      father also looked at them and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must get a rope,&rdquo; said Meyer to the Molimo angrily. &ldquo;How can we climb
+      that place without one, with such a gulf below?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am old, but I climb it,&rdquo; said the aged man in mild surprise, since to
+      him, who had trodden it all his life, it seemed not difficult. &ldquo;Still,&rdquo; he
+      added, &ldquo;I have a rope above which I use upon dark nights. I will ascend
+      and let it down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ascend he did accordingly; indeed, it was a wondrous sight to see his
+      withered legs scrambling from step to step as unconcernedly as though he
+      were going upstairs. No monkey could have been more agile, or more
+      absolutely impervious to the effects of height. Soon he vanished in&mdash;or,
+      rather, through&mdash;the crest of the wall, and presently appeared again
+      on the top step, whence he let down a stout hide rope, remarking that it
+      was securely tied. So anxious was Meyer to enter the hidden place of which
+      he had dreamed so long that he scarcely waited for it to reach his hand
+      before he began the climb, which he accomplished safely. Then, sitting on
+      the top of the wall, he directed Mr. Clifford to fasten the end of the
+      rope round Benita&rsquo;s waist, and her turn came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not so bad as she expected, for she was agile, and the knowledge
+      that the rope would prevent disaster gave her confidence. In a very little
+      while she had grasped Meyer&rsquo;s outstretched hand, and been drawn into
+      safety through a kind of aperture above the top step. Then the rope was
+      let down again for her father, who tied it about his middle. Well was it
+      that he did so, since when he was about half-way up, awkwardness, or
+      perhaps loss of nerve&mdash;neither of them wonderful in an old man&mdash;caused
+      his foot to slip, and had it not been for the rope which Meyer and the
+      Molimo held, he would certainly have fallen into the river some hundreds
+      of feet below. As it was, he recovered himself, and presently arrived
+      panting and very pale. In her relief Benita kissed him, and even as she
+      did so thought again that she had been very near to being left alone with
+      Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All&rsquo;s well that ends well, my dear,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But upon my word I am
+      beginning to wish that I had been content with the humble profits of
+      horse-breeding.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita made no answer; it seemed too late for any useful consideration of
+      the point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clever men, those ancients,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;See,&rdquo; and he pointed out to her
+      how, by drawing a heavy stone which still lay close by over the aperture
+      through which they had crept, the ascent of the wall could be made
+      absolutely impossible to any enemy, since at its crest it was battened
+      outwards, not inwards, as is usual in these ancient ruins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;we ought to feel safe enough inside here, and that&rsquo;s
+      as well since I do not feel inclined to go out again at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they paused to look about them, and this was what they saw:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wall, built like those below, of unmortared blocks of stone, remained
+      in a wonderfully good state of preservation, for its only enemies had been
+      time, the tropical rains, and the growth of shrubs and trees which here
+      and there had cracked and displaced the stones. It enclosed all the top of
+      the hill, perhaps three acres of ground, and on it at intervals were
+      planted soap-stone pillars, each of them about twelve feet in height, and
+      fashioned at the top to a rude resemblance of a vulture. Many of these
+      columns, however had been blown down, or perhaps struck by lightning, and
+      lay broken upon the wall, or if they had fallen inward, at its foot; but
+      some, six or eight perhaps, were still standing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita learned afterwards that they must have been placed there by the
+      ancient Phoenicians, or whatever people constructed this gigantic
+      fortification, and had something to do with the exact recordings of the
+      different seasons of the year, and their sub-divisions, by means of the
+      shadows which they cast. As yet, however, she did not pay much attention
+      to them, for she was engaged in considering a more remarkable relic of
+      antiquity which stood upon the very verge of the precipice, the wall,
+      indeed, being built up to its base on either side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the great cone of which Richard Seymour had told her, fifty feet
+      high or more, such as once was found in the Phoenician temples. But in
+      this case it was not built of masonry, but shaped by the hand of man out
+      of a single gigantic granite monolith of the sort that are sometimes to be
+      met with in Africa, that thousands or millions of years ago had been left
+      standing thus when the softer rock around it was worn away by time and
+      weather. On the inner side of this cone were easy steps whereby it could
+      be ascended, and its top, which might have been six feet in diameter, was
+      fashioned in the shape of a cup, probably for the purposes of acts of
+      worship and of sacrifice. This extraordinary monument, which, except on
+      the river side, could not be seen from below on account of the slope of
+      the hill, leaned slightly outwards, so that a stone dropped from its crest
+      would fall into the waters of the stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thence it was,&rdquo; said the Molimo, &ldquo;that my forefathers saw the last of the
+      Portuguese, the fair daughter of the great Captain Ferreira, hurl herself
+      to death after she had given the gold into our keeping, and laid the curse
+      upon it, until she came again. So in my dreams have I seen and heard her
+      also, ay, and others have seen her, but these only from by the river far
+      below.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused awhile, looking at Benita with his queer, dreamy eyes; then said
+      suddenly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, Lady, do you remember nothing of that matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Benita grew vexed, for the whole thing was uncanny and jarred upon
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I remember,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;who was born not five and twenty years
+      ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;How should I know, who am but an ignorant
+      old black man, who was born not much more than eighty years ago? Yet,
+      Lady, tell me, for I seek your wisdom, where were you born from? Out of
+      the earth, or out of the heavens? What? You shake your head, you who do
+      not remember? Well, neither do I remember. Yet it is true that all circles
+      meet somewhere, and it is true that the Portuguese maiden said she would
+      come again; and lastly it is true that she was such an one as you are, for
+      she haunts this place, and I, who have seen her sitting yonder in the
+      moonlight, know her beauty well. Yet mayhap she comes no more in flesh,
+      but still her spirit comes; for, Lady, out of those eyes of yours I see it
+      gaze at me. Come,&rdquo; he added abruptly, &ldquo;let us descend the wall, for as you
+      cannot remember, there is more to show you. Have no fear&mdash;the steps
+      are easy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went down without much difficulty, since, from the accumulation of
+      rubbish and other causes, the wall was a great deal lower on this side,
+      and found themselves in the usual dense growth of vegetation and brushwood
+      through which ran a little path. It led them past the ruins of buildings
+      whereof the use and purpose were long since forgotten, for their roofs had
+      fallen in hundreds or thousands of years ago, to the entrance of a cave
+      which was placed almost at the foot of the monolithic cone, but thirty or
+      forty yards further from the circle of the wall. Here the Molimo bade them
+      stay while he lit the lamps within. Five minutes passed and he returned,
+      saying that all was ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be not afraid of what you may see,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;for know, white people,
+      that save my forefathers and myself, none have entered this place since
+      the Portuguese perished here, nor have we, who do but come hither to pray
+      and receive the word of the Munwali, ever ventured to disturb it. As it
+      was, so it is. Come, Lady, come; she whose spirit goes with you was the
+      last of your white race to pass this door. It is therefore fitting that
+      your feet and her spirit should be the first to enter it again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita hung back a little, for the adventure was eerie, then, determined
+      that she would show no fear in the presence of this old priest, took the
+      thin hand he stretched out to her, and walked forward with head erect. The
+      two men began to follow her, but the Molimo stopped them, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so. The maiden enters first alone with me; it is her house, and
+      should it please her to ask you to dwell therein, so be it. But first she
+      must visit her house alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford angrily. &ldquo;I will not have it. It will
+      frighten her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady, do you trust me?&rdquo; asked the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered; adding, &ldquo;Father, I think you had better let me go
+      alone. I am not afraid now, and it may be wisest not to thwart him. This
+      is a very strange business&mdash;not like anything else&mdash;and really I
+      think that I had better go alone. If I do not come back presently, you can
+      follow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those who break in upon the sleep of the dead should walk gently,
+      gently,&rdquo; piped the old Molimo in a sing-song voice. &ldquo;The maiden&rsquo;s breath
+      is pure; the maiden&rsquo;s foot is light; her breath will not offend the dead;
+      her step will not disturb the dead. White men, white men, anger not the
+      dead, for the dead are mighty, and will be revenged upon you when you are
+      dead; soon, very soon, when you are dead&mdash;dead in your sorrows, dead
+      in your sins, dead, gathered to that company of the dead who await us
+      here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And, still chanting his mystic song, he led Benita by the hand out of the
+      light, onward into darkness, away from life, onward into the place of
+      death.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"></a>
+      XI.<br/>
+      THE SLEEPERS IN THE CAVE</h2>
+    <p>
+      Like every other passage in this old fortress, the approach to the cave
+      was narrow and winding; presumably the ancients had arranged them thus to
+      facilitate their defence. After the third bend, however, Benita saw a
+      light ahead which flowed from a native lamp lit in the arched entrance. At
+      the side of this arch was a shell-shaped hollow, cut in the rock about
+      three feet above the floor. Its appearance seemed familiar to her; why,
+      she was soon to learn, although at the moment she did not connect it with
+      anything in particular. The cave beyond was large, lofty, and not
+      altogether natural, for its walls had evidently been shaped, or at any
+      rate trimmed, by man. Probably here the old Priests had established their
+      oracle, or place of offering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At first Benita could not see much, since in that great cavern two lamps
+      of hippopotamus oil gave but little light. Presently, however, her eyes
+      became accustomed to the gloom, and as they advanced up its length she
+      perceived that save for a skin rug upon which she guessed the Molimo sat
+      at his solitary devotions, and some gourds and platters for water and
+      food, all the front part of the place appeared to be empty. Beyond, in its
+      centre, stood an object of some gleaming metal, that from its double
+      handles and roller borne upon supports of rock she took to be some kind of
+      winch, and rightly, for beneath it was the mouth of a great well, the
+      water supply of the topmost fortification.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Beyond the well was a stone altar, shaped like a truncated cone or
+      pyramid, and at some distance away against the far wall, as she dimly
+      discovered by the lamp that stood upon the altar, cut in relief upon that
+      wall indeed, a colossal cross to which, vigorously if rudely executed in
+      white stone, hung the image of Christ crucified, the crown of thorns upon
+      His drooping head. Now she understood. Whatever may have been the first
+      worship to which this place was dedicated, Christians had usurped it, and
+      set up here the sacred symbol of their faith, awful enough to look upon in
+      such surroundings. Doubtless, also, the shell-shaped basin at the entrance
+      had served the worshippers in this underground chapel as a stoup for holy
+      water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Molimo lifted the lamp from the altar, and having adjusted its wick,
+      held it up in front of the rood before which, although she was no
+      Catholic, Benita bowed her head and crossed herself, while he watched her
+      curiously. Then he lowered it, and she perceived that on the cemented
+      floor lay great numbers of shrouded forms that at first looked to her like
+      folk asleep. He stepped to one of them and touched it with his foot,
+      whereon the cloth with which it was covered crumbled into dust, revealing
+      beneath a white skeleton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All those sleepers rested well indeed, for they had been dead at least two
+      hundred years. There they lay&mdash;men, women, and children, though of
+      the last but few. Some of them had ornaments on their bones, some were
+      clad in armour, and by all the men were swords, or spears, or knives, and
+      here and there what she took to be primitive fire-arms. Certain of them
+      also had turned into mummies in that dry air&mdash;grotesque and dreadful
+      objects from which she gladly averted her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Molimo led her forward to the foot of the crucifix, where, upon its
+      lowest step and upon the cemented floor immediately beneath it
+      respectively, lay two shapes decorously covered with shawls of some heavy
+      material interwoven with gold wire, for the manufacture of which the
+      Makalanga were famous when first the Portuguese came into contact with
+      them. The Molimo took hold of the cloths that seemed almost as good now as
+      on the day when they were woven, and lifted them, revealing beneath the
+      figures of a man and woman. The features were unrecognizable, although the
+      hair, white in the man&rsquo;s case and raven black in that of the woman,
+      remained perfect. They had been great people, for orders glittered upon
+      the man&rsquo;s breast, and his sword was gold hilted, whilst the woman&rsquo;s bones
+      were adorned with costly necklaces and jewels, and in her hand was still a
+      book bound in sheets of silver. Benita took it up and looked at it. It was
+      a missal beautifully illuminated, which doubtless the poor lady had been
+      reading when at length she sank exhausted into the sleep of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See the Lord Ferreira and his wife,&rdquo; said the Molimo, &ldquo;whom their
+      daughter laid thus before she went to join them.&rdquo; Then, at a motion from
+      Benita, he covered them up again with their golden cloths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here they sleep,&rdquo; he went on in his chanting voice, &ldquo;a hundred and fifty
+      and three of them&mdash;a hundred and fifty and three; and when I dream in
+      this place at night, I have seen the ghosts of every one of them arise
+      from beside their forms and come gliding down the cave&mdash;the husband
+      with the wife, the child with the mother&mdash;to look at me, and ask when
+      the maiden returns again to take her heritage and give them burial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shuddered; the solemn awfulness of the place and scene oppressed
+      her. She began to think that she, too, saw those ghosts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is enough,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Let us be going.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went, and the pitiful, agonized Christ upon the cross, at which
+      she glanced from time to time over her shoulder, faded to a white blot,
+      then vanished away in the darkness, through which, from generation to
+      generation, it kept its watch above the dead, those dead that in their
+      despair once had cried to it for mercy, and bedewed its feet with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Glad, oh! glad was she when she had left that haunted place behind her,
+      and saw the wholesome light again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have you seen?&rdquo; asked her father and Meyer, in one breath, as they
+      noted her white and frightened face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sank upon a stone seat at the entrance of the cave, and before she
+      could open her lips the Molimo answered for her:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The maiden has seen the dead. The Spirit who goes with her has given
+      greeting to its dead that it left so long ago. The maiden has done
+      reverence to the White One who hangs upon the cross, and asked a blessing
+      and a pardon of Him, as she whose Spirit goes with her did reverence
+      before the eyes of my forefathers, and asked a blessing and a pardon ere
+      she cast herself away.&rdquo; And he pointed to the little golden crucifix which
+      hung upon Benita&rsquo;s bosom, attached to the necklace which Tamas, the
+      messenger, had given her at Rooi Krantz.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;now the spell is broken, and the sleepers must depart
+      to sleep elsewhere. Enter, white men; enter, if you dare, and ask for
+      pardon and for blessing if it may be found, and gather up the dry bones
+      and take the treasure that was theirs, if it may be found, and conquer the
+      curse that goes with the treasure for all save one, if you can, if you
+      can, if you can! Rest you here, maiden, in the sweet sunshine, and follow
+      me, white men; follow me into the dark of the dead to seek for that which
+      the white men love.&rdquo; And once more he vanished down the passage, turning
+      now and again to beckon to them, while they went after him as though drawn
+      against their wish. For now, at the last moment, some superstitious fear
+      spread from him to them, and showed itself in their eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Benita, half fainting upon the stone seat, for this experience had
+      shaken her to the heart, it seemed but a few minutes, though really the
+      best part of an hour had gone by, when her father reappeared as
+      white-faced as she had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is Mr. Meyer?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;He is collecting all the golden ornaments off those
+      poor bodies, and tumbling their bones together in a corner of the cave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita uttered an exclamation of horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what you mean,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;But, curse the fellow! he has no
+      reverence, although at first he seemed almost as scared as I was myself.
+      He said that as we could not begin our search with all those corpses
+      about, they had best be got out of the way as soon as possible. Or perhaps
+      it was because he is really afraid of them, and wanted to prove to himself
+      that they are nothing more than dust. Benita,&rdquo; went on the old man, &ldquo;to
+      tell you the truth, I wish heartily that we had left this business alone.
+      I don&rsquo;t believe that any good will come of it, and certainly it has
+      brought enough trouble already. That old prophet of a Molimo has the
+      second sight, or something like it, and he does not hide his opinion, but
+      keeps chuckling away in that dreadful place, and piping out his promises
+      of ill to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He promised me nothing but good,&rdquo; said Benita with a little smile.
+      &ldquo;Though I don&rsquo;t see how it can happen. But if you dislike the thing,
+      father, why not give it up and try to escape?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too late, dear,&rdquo; he replied passionately. &ldquo;Meyer would never come,
+      and I can&rsquo;t in honour leave him. Also, I should laugh at myself for the
+      rest of my life; and, after all, why should we not have the gold if it can
+      be found? It belongs to nobody. We do not get it by robbery, or murder;
+      nuggets are of no use to Portuguese who have been dead two hundred years,
+      and whose heirs, if they have any, it is impossible to discover. Nor can
+      it matter to them whether they lie about singly as they died or were
+      placed after death, or piled together in a corner. Our fears were mere
+      churchyard superstitions, which we have caught from that ghoul of a
+      Molimo. Don&rsquo;t you agree with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I suppose so,&rdquo; answered Benita, &ldquo;though a fate may cling to certain
+      things or places, perhaps. At any rate, I think that it is of no use
+      turning back now, even if we had anywhere to turn, so we may as well go
+      through with the venture and await its end. Give me the water-bottle,
+      please. I am thirsty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A while later Jacob Meyer appeared, carrying a great bundle of precious
+      objects wrapped in one of the gold cere-cloths, which bundle he hid away
+      behind a stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The cave is much tidier now,&rdquo; he said, as he flicked the thick dust which
+      had collected on them during his unhallowed task from his hands, and hair,
+      and garments. Then he drank greedily, and asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you two made any plans for our future researches?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They shook their heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, I have. I thought them out while I was bone-carting, and here
+      they are. It is no use our going down below again; for one thing, the
+      journey is too dangerous, and takes too long; and for another, we are
+      safer up above, where we have plenty to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;how about things to eat and sleep on, and the rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Simple enough, Miss Clifford; we must get them up. The Kaffirs will bring
+      them to the foot of the third wall, and we will haul them to its top with
+      a rope. Of water it seems there is plenty in that well, which is fed by a
+      spring a hundred and fifty feet down, and the old chain is still on the
+      roller, so we only need a couple of buckets from the waggon. Of wood for
+      cooking there is plenty also, growing on the spot; and we can camp in the
+      cave or outside of it, as we like, according to the state of the weather.
+      Now, do you rest here while I go down. I will be back in an hour with some
+      of the gear, and then you must help me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So he went, and the end of it was that before nightfall they had enough
+      things for their immediate needs, and by the second night, working very
+      hard, were more or less comfortably established in their strange
+      habitation. The canvas flap from the waggon was arranged as a tent for
+      Benita, the men sleeping beneath a thick-leaved tree near by. Close at
+      hand, under another tree, was their cooking place. The provisions of all
+      sorts, including a couple of cases of square-face and a large supply of
+      biltong from the slaughtered cattle, they stored with a quantity of
+      ammunition in the mouth of the cave. Fresh meat also was brought to them
+      daily, and hauled up in baskets&mdash;that is, until there was none to
+      bring&mdash;and with it grain for bread, and green mealies to serve as
+      vegetables. Therefore, as the water from the well proved to be excellent
+      and quite accessible, they were soon set up in all things necessary, and
+      to these they added from time to time as opportunity offered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In all these preparations the old Molimo took a part, nor, when they were
+      completed, did he show any inclination to leave them. In the morning he
+      would descend to his people below, but before nightfall he always returned
+      to the cave, where for many years it had been his custom to sleep&mdash;at
+      any rate several times a week, in the gruesome company of the dead
+      Portuguese. Jacob Meyer persuaded Mr. Clifford that his object was to spy
+      upon them, and talked of turning him out; but Benita, between whom and the
+      old man had sprung up a curious friendship and sympathy, prevented it,
+      pointing out that they were much safer with the Molimo, as a kind of
+      hostage, than they could be without him; also, that his knowledge of the
+      place, and of other things, might prove of great help to them. So in the
+      end he was allowed to remain, as indeed he had a perfect right to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while there was no sign of any attack by the Matabele. Indeed,
+      the fear of such a thing was to some extent dying away, and Benita,
+      watching from the top of the wall, could see that their nine remaining
+      oxen, together with the two horses&mdash;for that belonging to Jacob Meyer
+      had died&mdash;and the Makalanga goats and sheep, were daily driven out to
+      graze; also, that the women were working in the crops upon the fertile
+      soil around the lowest wall. Still, a strict watch was kept, and at night
+      everyone slept within the fortifications; moreover, the drilling of the
+      men and their instruction in the use of firearms went on continually under
+      Tamas, who now, in his father&rsquo;s old age, was the virtual chief of the
+      people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was on the fourth morning that at length, all their preparations being
+      completed, the actual search for the treasure began. First, the Molimo was
+      closely interrogated as to its whereabouts, since they thought that even
+      if he did not know this exactly, some traditions of the fact might have
+      descended to him from his ancestors. But he declared with earnestness that
+      he knew nothing, save that the Portuguese maiden had said that it was
+      hidden; nor, he added, had any dream or vision come to him concerning this
+      matter, in which he took no interest. If it was there, it was there; if it
+      was not there, it was not there&mdash;it remained for the white men to
+      search and see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For no very good reason Meyer had concluded that the gold must have been
+      concealed in or about the cave, so here it was that they began their
+      investigations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First, they bethought them of the well into which it might possibly have
+      been thrown, but the fact of this matter proved very difficult to
+      ascertain. Tying a piece of metal&mdash;it was an old Portuguese
+      sword-hilt&mdash;to a string, they let it down and found that it touched
+      water at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and bottom at a depth of
+      one hundred and forty-seven feet. Therefore there were twenty-seven feet
+      of water. Weighting a bucket they sank it until it rested upon this
+      bottom, then wound it up again several times. On the third occasion it
+      brought up a human bone and a wire anklet of pure gold. But this proved
+      nothing, except that some ancient, perhaps thousands of years ago, had
+      been thrown, or had fallen, into the well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still unsatisfied, Jacob Meyer, who was a most intrepid person, determined
+      to investigate the place himself, a task of no little difficulty and
+      danger, since proper ladders were wanting, nor, had they existed, was
+      there anything to stand them on. Therefore it came to this: a seat must be
+      rigged on to the end of the old copper chain, and be lowered into the pit
+      after the fashion of the bucket. But, as Benita pointed out, although they
+      might let him down, it was possible that they would not be able to draw
+      him up again, in which case his plight must prove unfortunate. So, when
+      the seat had been prepared, an experiment was made with a stone weighing
+      approximately as much as a man. This Benita and her father let down easily
+      enough, but, as they anticipated, when it came to winding it up again,
+      their strength was barely sufficient to the task. Three people could do it
+      well, but with two the thing was risky. Now Meyer asked&mdash;or, rather,
+      commanded&mdash;the Molimo to order some of his men to help him, but this
+      the old chief refused point blank to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First, he made a number of excuses. They were all employed in drilling,
+      and in watching for the Matabele; they were afraid to venture here, and so
+      forth. At last Meyer grew furious; his eyes flashed, he ground his teeth,
+      and began to threaten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man,&rdquo; said the Molimo, when he had done, &ldquo;it cannot be. I have
+      fulfilled my bargain with you. Search for the gold; find it and take it
+      away if you can. But this place is holy. None of my tribe, save he who
+      holds the office of Molimo for the time, may set a foot therein. Kill me
+      if you will&mdash;I care not; but so it is, and if you kill me, afterwards
+      they will kill you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Meyer, seeing that nothing was to be gained by violence, changed his
+      tone, and asked if he himself would help them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am old, my strength is small,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;yet I will put my hand to
+      the chain and do my best. But, if I were you, I would not descend that
+      pit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, I will descend it, and to-morrow,&rdquo; said Meyer.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"></a>
+      XII.<br/>
+      THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH</h2>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly, on the next day the great experiment was made. The chain and
+      ancient winding gear had been tested and proved to be amply sufficient to
+      the strain. Therefore, nothing remained save for Meyer to place himself in
+      the wooden seat with an oil-lamp, and in case this should be extinguished,
+      matches and candles, of both of which they had a large supply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did so boldly enough, and swung out over the mouth of the pit, while
+      the three of them clutched the handles of the winch. Then they began to
+      lower, and slowly his white face disappeared into the black depth. At
+      every few turns his descent was stopped that he might examine the walls of
+      the well, and when he was about fifty feet down he called to them to hold
+      on, which they did, listening while he struck at the rock with a hammer,
+      for here it sounded very hollow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length he shouted to them to lower away again, and they obeyed, until
+      nearly all the chain was out, and they knew he must be near the water. Now
+      Benita, peeping over the edge, saw that the star of light had vanished.
+      His lamp was out, nor did he appear to attempt to re-light it. They
+      shouted down the well to him, but no answer coming, began to wind up as
+      fast as they were able. It was all that their united strength could
+      manage, and very exhausted were they when at length Jacob reappeared at
+      the top. At first, from the look of him they thought that he was dead, and
+      had he not tied himself to the chain, dead he certainly would have been,
+      for evidently his senses had left him long ago. Indeed, he had fallen
+      almost out of the seat, over which his legs hung limply, his weight being
+      supported by the hide rope beneath his arms which was made fast to the
+      chain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They swung him in and dashed water over his face, till, to their relief,
+      at last he began to gasp for breath, and revived sufficiently to enable
+      them to half-lead and half-carry him out into the fresh air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened to you?&rdquo; asked Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poisoned with gases, I suppose,&rdquo; Meyer answered with a groan, for his
+      head was aching sadly. &ldquo;The air is often bad at the bottom of deep wells,
+      but I could smell or feel nothing until suddenly my senses left me. It was
+      a near thing&mdash;a very near thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he told them that at one spot
+      deep down in the well, on the river side of it, he found a place where it
+      looked as though the rock had been cut away for a space of about six feet
+      by four, and afterwards built up again with another sort of stone set in
+      hard mortar or cement. Immediately beneath, too, were socket-holes in
+      which the ends of beams still remained, suggesting that here had been a
+      floor or platform. It was while he was examining these rotted beams that
+      insensibility overcame him. He added that he thought that this might be
+      the entrance to the place where the gold was hidden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If so,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, &ldquo;hidden it must remain, since it can have no
+      better guardian than bad air. Also, floors like that are common in all
+      wells to prevent rubbish from falling into the water, and the stonework
+      you saw probably was only put there by the ancients to mend a fault in the
+      rock and prevent the wall from caving in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Meyer, &ldquo;since unless that atmosphere purifies a good
+      deal I don&rsquo;t think that even I dare go down again, and until one gets
+      there, of that it is difficult to be sure, though of course a lantern on a
+      string will tell one something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the end of their first attempt. The search was not renewed until
+      the following afternoon, when Meyer had recovered a little from the
+      effects of the poisoning and the chafing of the hide ropes beneath his
+      arms. Indeed, from the former he never did quite recover, since
+      thenceforward Benita, who for her own reasons watched the man closely,
+      discovered a marked and progressive change in his demeanour. Hitherto he
+      had appeared to be a reserved man, one who kept tight hand upon himself,
+      and, if she knew certain things about him, it was rather because she
+      guessed, or deduced them, than because he allowed them to be seen. On two
+      occasions only had he shown his heart before her&mdash;when they had
+      spoken together by the shores of Lake Chrissie on the day of the arrival
+      of the messengers, and he declared his ardent desire for wealth and power;
+      and quite recently, when he killed the Matabele envoy. Yet she felt
+      certain that this heart of his was very passionate and insurgent; that his
+      calm was like the ice that hides the stream, beneath which its currents
+      run fiercely, none can see whither. The fashion in which his dark eyes
+      would flash, even when his pale countenance remained unmoved, told her so,
+      as did other things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For instance, when he was recovering from his swoon, the first words that
+      passed his lips were in German, of which she understood a little, and she
+      thought that they shaped themselves to her name, coupled with endearing
+      epithets. From that time forward he became less guarded&mdash;or, rather,
+      it seemed as though he were gradually losing power to control himself. He
+      would grow excited without apparent cause, and begin to declaim as to what
+      he would do when he had found the gold; how he would pay the world back
+      all it had caused him to suffer&mdash;how he would become a &ldquo;king.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid that you will find that exalted position rather lonely,&rdquo; said
+      Benita with a careless laugh, and next minute was sorry that she had
+      spoken, for he answered, looking at her in a way that she did not like:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no! There will be a queen&mdash;a beautiful queen, whom I shall endow
+      with wealth, and deck with jewels, and surround with love and worship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a fortunate lady!&rdquo; she said, still laughing, but taking the
+      opportunity to go away upon some errand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At other times, especially after dark, he would walk up and down in front
+      of the cave, muttering to himself, or singing wild old German songs in his
+      rich voice. Also, he made a habit of ascending the granite pillar and
+      seating himself there, and more than once called down to her to come up
+      and share his &ldquo;throne.&rdquo; Still, these outbreaks were so occasional that her
+      father, whose perceptions appeared to Benita to be less keen than
+      formerly, scarcely noticed them, and for the rest his demeanour was what
+      it had always been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Further researches into the well being out of the question, their next
+      step was to make a thorough inspection of the chapel-cave itself. They
+      examined the walls inch by inch, tapping them with a hammer to hear if
+      they sounded hollow, but without result. They examined the altar, but it
+      proved to be a solid mass of rock. By the help of a little ladder they had
+      made, they examined the crucifix, and discovered that the white figure on
+      the cross had evidently been fashioned out of some heathen statue of soft
+      limestone, for at its back were the remains of draperies, and long hair
+      which the artist had not thought it necessary to cut away. Also, they
+      found that the arms had been added, and were of a slightly different
+      stone, and that the weight of the figure was taken partly by an iron
+      staple which supported the body, and partly by strong copper wire twisted
+      to resemble cord, and painted white, which was passed round the wrists and
+      supported the arms. This wire ran through loops of rock cut in the
+      traverse of the cross, that itself was only raised in relief by chiselling
+      away the solid stone behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Curiously enough, this part of the search was left to Mr. Clifford and
+      Benita, since it was one that Jacob Meyer seemed reluctant to undertake. A
+      Jew by birth, and a man who openly professed his want of belief in that or
+      any other religion, he yet seemed to fear this symbol of the Christian
+      faith, speaking of it as horrible and unlucky; yes, he who, without qualm
+      or remorse, had robbed and desecrated the dead that lay about its feet.
+      Well, the crucifix told them nothing; but as Mr. Clifford, lantern in
+      hand, descended the ladder, which Benita held, Jacob Meyer, who was in
+      front of the altar, called to them excitedly that he had found something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it is more than we have,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, as he laid down the
+      ladder and hurried to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer was sounding the floor with a staff of wood&mdash;an operation which
+      he had only just begun after the walls proved barren.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen now,&rdquo; he said, letting the heavy staff drop a few paces to the
+      right of the altar, where it produced the hard, metallic clang that comes
+      from solid stone when struck. Then he moved to the front of the altar and
+      dropped it again, but now the note was hollow and reverberant. Again and
+      again he repeated the experiment, till they had exactly mapped out where
+      the solid rock ended and that which seemed to be hollow began&mdash;a
+      space of about eight feet square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got it,&rdquo; he said triumphantly. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the entrance to the place
+      where the gold is,&rdquo; and the others were inclined to agree with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now it remained to put their theory to the proof&mdash;a task of no small
+      difficulty. Indeed, it took them three days of hard, continual work. It
+      will be remembered that the floor of the cave was cemented over, and first
+      of all this cement, which proved to be of excellent quality, being largely
+      composed of powdered granite, must be broken up. By the help of a steel
+      crowbar, which they had brought with them in the waggon, at length that
+      part of their task was completed, revealing the rock beneath. By this time
+      Benita was confident that, whatever might lie below, it was not the
+      treasure, since it was evident that the poor, dying Portuguese would not
+      have had the time or the strength to cement it over. When she told the
+      others so, however, Meyer, convinced that he was on the right tack,
+      answered that doubtless it was done by the Makalanga after the Portuguese
+      days, as it was well known that they retained a knowledge of the building
+      arts of their forefathers until quite a recent period, when the Matabele
+      began to kill them out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When at length the cement was cleared away and the area swept, they
+      discovered&mdash;for there ran the line of it&mdash;that here a great
+      stone was set into the floor; it must have weighed several tons. As it was
+      set in cement, however, to lift it, even if they had the strength to work
+      the necessary levers, proved quite impossible. There remained only one
+      thing to be done&mdash;to cut a way through. When they had worked at this
+      task for several hours, and only succeeded in making a hole six inches
+      deep, Mr. Clifford, whose old bones ached and whose hands were very sore,
+      suggested that perhaps they might break it up with gunpowder. Accordingly,
+      a pound flask of that explosive was poured into the hole, which they
+      closed over with wet clay and a heavy rock, leaving a quill through which
+      ran an extemporized fuse of cotton wick. All being prepared, their fuse
+      was lit, and they left the cave and waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Five minutes afterwards the dull sound of an explosion reached their ears,
+      but more than an hour went by before the smoke and fumes would allow them
+      to enter the place, and then it was to find that the results did not equal
+      their expectations. To begin with, the slab was only cracked&mdash;not
+      shattered, since the strength of the powder had been expended upwards, not
+      downwards, as would have happened in the case of dynamite, of which they
+      had none. Moreover, either the heavy stone which they had placed upon it,
+      striking the roof of the cave, or the concussion of the air, had brought
+      down many tons of rock, and caused wide and dangerous-looking cracks.
+      Also, though she said nothing of it, it seemed to Benita that the great
+      white statue on the cross was leaning a little further forward than it
+      used to do. So the net result of the experiment was that they were obliged
+      to drag away great fragments of the fallen roof that lay upon the stone,
+      which remained almost as solid and obdurate as before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So there was nothing for it but to go on working with the crowbar. At
+      length, towards the evening of the third day of their labour, when the two
+      men were utterly tired out, a hole was broken through, demonstrating the
+      fact that beneath this cover lay a hollow of some sort. Mr. Clifford, to
+      say nothing of Benita, who was heartily weary of the business, wished to
+      postpone proceedings till the morrow, but Jacob Meyer would not. So they
+      toiled on until about eleven o&rsquo;clock at night, when at length the aperture
+      was of sufficient size to admit a man. Now, as in the case of the well,
+      they let down a stone tied to a string, to find that the place beneath was
+      not more than eight feet deep. Then, to ascertain the condition of the
+      air, a candle was lowered, which at first went out, but presently burnt
+      well enough. This point settled, they brought their ladder, whereby Jacob
+      descended with a lantern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In another minute they heard the sound of guttural German oaths rising
+      through the hole. Mr. Clifford asked what was the matter, and received the
+      reply that the place was a tomb, with nothing in it but an accursed dead
+      monk, information at which Benita could not help bursting into laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The end of it was that both she and her father went down also, and there,
+      sure enough, lay the remains of the old missionary in his cowl, with an
+      ivory crucifix about his neck, and on his breast a scroll stating that he,
+      Marco, born at Lisbon in 1438, had died at Bambatse in the year 1503,
+      having laboured in the Empire of Monomotapa for seventeen years, and
+      suffered great hardships and brought many souls to Christ. The scroll
+      added that it was he, who before he entered into religion was a sculptor
+      by trade, that had fashioned the figure on the cross in this chapel out of
+      that of the heathen goddess which had stood in the same place from unknown
+      antiquity. It ended with a request, addressed to all good Christians in
+      Latin, that they who soon must be as he was would pray for his soul and
+      not disturb his bones, which rested here in the hope of a blessed
+      resurrection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this pious wish was translated to Jacob Meyer by Mr. Clifford, who
+      still retained some recollection of the classics which he had painfully
+      acquired at Eton and Oxford, the Jew could scarcely contain his wrath.
+      Indeed, looking at his bleeding hands, instead of praying for the soul of
+      that excellent missionary, to reach whose remains he had laboured with
+      such arduous, incessant toil, he cursed it wherever it might be, and
+      unceremoniously swept the bones, which the document asked him not to
+      disturb, into a corner of the tomb, in order to ascertain whether there
+      was not, perhaps, some stair beneath them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; said Benita, who, in spite of the solemnity of the
+      surroundings, could not control her sense of humour, &ldquo;if you are not
+      careful the ghosts of all these people will haunt you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let them haunt me if they can,&rdquo; he answered furiously. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe
+      in ghosts, and defy them all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment, looking up, Benita saw a figure gliding out of the
+      darkness into the ring of light, so silently that she started, for it
+      might well have been one of those ghosts in whom Jacob Meyer did not
+      believe. In fact, however, it was the old Molimo, who had a habit of
+      coming upon them thus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What says the white man?&rdquo; he asked of Benita, while his dreamy eyes
+      wandered over the three of them, and the hole in the violated tomb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He says that he does not believe in spirits, and that he defies them,&rdquo;
+       she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The white gold-seeker does not believe in spirits, and he defies them,&rdquo;
+       Mambo repeated in his sing-song voice. &ldquo;He does not believe in the spirits
+      that I see all around me now, the angry spirits of the dead, who speak
+      together of where he shall lie and of what shall happen to him when he is
+      dead, and of how they will welcome one who disturbs their rest and defies
+      and curses them in his search for the riches which he loves. There is one
+      standing by him now, dressed in a brown robe with a dead man cut in ivory
+      like to that,&rdquo; and he pointed to the crucifix in Jacob&rsquo;s hands, &ldquo;and he
+      holds the ivory man above him and threatens him with sleepless centuries
+      of sorrow, when he is also one of those spirits in which he does not
+      believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Meyer&rsquo;s rage blazed out. He turned upon the Molimo and reviled him in
+      his own tongue, saying that he knew well where the treasure was hidden,
+      and that if he did not point it out he would kill him and send him to his
+      friends, the spirits. So savage and evil did he look that Benita retreated
+      a little way, while Mr. Clifford strove in vain to calm him. But although
+      Meyer laid his hand upon the knife in his belt and advanced upon him, the
+      old Molimo neither budged an inch nor showed the slightest fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let him rave on,&rdquo; he said, when at length Meyer paused exhausted. &ldquo;Just
+      so in a time of storm the lightnings flash and the thunder peals, and the
+      water foams down the face of rock; but then comes the sun again, and the
+      hill is as it has ever been, only the storm is spent and lost. I am the
+      rock, he is but the wind, the fire, and the rain. It is not permitted that
+      he should hurt me, and those spirits in whom he does not believe treasure
+      up his curses, to let them fall again like stones upon his head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, with a contemptuous glance at Jacob, the old man turned and glided
+      back into the darkness out of which he had appeared.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"></a>
+      XIII.<br/>
+      BENITA PLANS ESCAPE</h2>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, while she was cooking breakfast, Benita saw Jacob Meyer
+      seated upon a rock at a little distance, sullen and disconsolate. His chin
+      was resting on his hand, and he watched her intently, never taking his
+      eyes from her face. She felt that he was concentrating his will upon her;
+      that some new idea concerning her had come into his mind; for it was one
+      of her miseries that she possessed the power of interpreting the drift of
+      this man&rsquo;s thoughts. Much as she detested him, there existed that curious
+      link between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It may be remembered that, on the night when they first met at the crest
+      of Leopard&rsquo;s Kloof, Jacob had called her a &ldquo;thought-sender,&rdquo; and some
+      knowledge of their mental intimacy had come home to Benita. From that day
+      forward her chief desire had been to shut a door between their natures, to
+      isolate herself from him and him from her. Yet the attempt was never
+      entirely successful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fear and disgust took hold of her, bending there above the fire, all the
+      while aware of the Jew&rsquo;s dark eyes that searched her through and through.
+      Benita formed a sudden determination. She would implore her father to come
+      away with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course, such an attempt would be terribly dangerous. Of the Matabele
+      nothing had been seen; but they might be about, and even if enough cattle
+      could be collected to draw the waggon, it belonged to Meyer as much as to
+      her father, and must therefore be left for him. Still, there remained the
+      two horses, which the Molimo had told her were well and getting fat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment Meyer rose and began to speak to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you thinking of, Miss Clifford?&rdquo; he asked in his soft foreign
+      voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She started, but answered readily enough:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of the wood which is green, and the kid cutlets which are getting smoked.
+      Are you not tired of kid, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo; she went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waved the question aside. &ldquo;You are so good&mdash;oh! I mean it&mdash;so
+      really good that you should not tell stories even about small things. The
+      wood is not green; I cut it myself from a dead tree; and the meat is not
+      smoked; nor were you thinking of either. You were thinking of me, as I was
+      thinking of you; but what exactly was in your mind, this time I do not
+      know, and that is why I ask you to tell me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she answered flushing; &ldquo;my mind is my own property.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! do you say so? Now I hold otherwise&mdash;that it is my property, as
+      mine is yours, a gift that Nature has given to each of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I seek no such gift,&rdquo; she answered; but even then, much as she would have
+      wished to do so, she could not utter a falsehood, and deny this horrible
+      and secret intimacy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry for that, as I think it very precious; more precious even than
+      the gold which we cannot find; for Miss Clifford, it brings me nearer
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned upon him, but he held up his hand, and went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! do not be angry with me, and do not fear that I am going to trouble
+      you with soft speeches, for I shall not, unless a time should come, as I
+      think that perhaps it will, when you may wish to listen to them. But I
+      want to point out something to you, Miss Clifford. Is it not a wonderful
+      thing that our minds should be so in tune, and is there not an object in
+      all this? Did I believe as you do, I should say that it was Heaven working
+      in us&mdash;no: do not answer that the working comes from lower down. I
+      take no credit for reading that upon your lips; the retort is too easy and
+      obvious. I am content to say, however, that the work is that of instinct
+      and nature, or, if you will, of fate, pointing out a road by which
+      together we might travel to great ends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I travel my road alone, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, I know, and that is the pity of it. The trouble between man and
+      woman is that not in one case out of a million, even if they be lovers, do
+      they understand each other. Their eyes may seek one another, their hands
+      and lips may meet, and yet they remain distinct, apart, and often
+      antagonistic. There is no communication of the soul. But when it chances
+      to be hewn from the same rock as it were&mdash;oh! then what happiness may
+      be theirs, and what opportunities!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly, Mr. Meyer; but, to be frank, the question does not interest
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet; but I am sure that one day it will. Meanwhile, I owe you an
+      apology. I lost my temper before you last night. Well, do not judge me
+      hardly, for I was utterly worn out, and that old idiot vexed me with his
+      talk about ghosts, in which I do not believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did it make you so angry? Surely you could have afforded to
+      treat it with contempt, instead of doing&mdash;as you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word! I don&rsquo;t know, but I suppose most of us are afraid lest we
+      should be forced to accept that which we refuse. This ancient place gets
+      upon the nerves, Miss Clifford; yours as well as mine. I can afford to be
+      open about it, because I know that you know. Think of its associations:
+      all the crime that has been committed here for ages and ages, all the
+      suffering that has been endured here. Doubtless human sacrifices were
+      offered in this cave or outside of it; that great burnt ring in the rock
+      there may have been where they built the fires. And then those Portuguese
+      starving to death, slowly starving to death while thousands of savages
+      watched them die. Have you ever thought what it means? But of course you
+      have, for like myself you are cursed with imagination. God in heaven! is
+      it wonderful that it gets upon the nerves? especially when one cannot find
+      what one is looking for, that vast treasure&rdquo;&mdash;and his face became
+      ecstatic&mdash;&ldquo;that shall yet be yours and mine, and make us great and
+      happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But which at present only makes me a scullery-maid and most unhappy,&rdquo;
+       replied Benita cheerfully, for she heard her father&rsquo;s footstep. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t
+      talk any more of the treasure, Mr. Meyer, or we shall quarrel. We have
+      enough of that during business hours, when we are hunting for it, you
+      know. Give me the dish, will you? This meat is cooked at last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Still Benita could not be rid of that treasure, since after breakfast the
+      endless, unprofitable search began again. Once more the cave was sounded,
+      and other hollow places were discovered upon which the two men got to
+      work. With infinite labour three of them were broken into in as many days,
+      and like the first, found to be graves, only this time of ancients who,
+      perhaps, had died before Christ was born. There they lay upon their sides,
+      their bones burnt by the hot cement that had been poured over them, their
+      gold-headed and gold-ferruled rods of office in their hands, their
+      gold-covered pillows of wood, such as the Egyptians used, beneath their
+      skulls, gold bracelets upon their arms and ankles, cakes of gold beneath
+      them which had fallen from the rotted pouches that once hung about their
+      waists, vases of fine glazed pottery that had been filled with offerings,
+      or in some cases with gold dust to pay the expenses of their journey in
+      the other world, standing round them, and so forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In their way these discoveries were rich enough&mdash;from one tomb alone
+      they took over a hundred and thirty ounces of gold&mdash;to say nothing of
+      their surpassing archæological interest. Still they were not what they
+      sought: all that gathered wealth of Monomotapa which the fleeing
+      Portuguese had brought with them and buried in this, their last
+      stronghold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita ceased to take the slightest interest in the matter; she would not
+      even be at the pains to go to look at the third skeleton, although it was
+      that of a man who had been almost a giant, and, to judge from the amount
+      of bullion which he took to the tomb with him, a person of great
+      importance in his day. She felt as though she wished never to see another
+      human bone or ancient bead or bangle; the sight of a street in Bayswater
+      in a London fog&mdash;yes, or a toy-shop window in Westbourne Grove&mdash;would
+      have pleased her a hundred times better than these unique remains that,
+      had they known of them in those days, would have sent half the learned
+      societies of Europe crazy with delight. She wished to escape from
+      Bambatse, its wondrous fortifications, its mysterious cone, its cave, its
+      dead, and&mdash;from Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita stood upon the top of her prison wall and looked with longing at
+      the wide, open lands below. She even dared to climb the stairs which ran
+      up the mighty cone of granite, and seated herself in the cup-like
+      depression on its crest, whence Jacob Meyer had called to her to come and
+      share his throne. It was a dizzy place, for the pillar leaning outwards,
+      its point stood almost clear of the water-scarped rock, so that beneath
+      her was a sheer drop of about four hundred feet to the Zambesi bed. At
+      first the great height made her feel faint. Her eyes swam, and unpleasant
+      tremors crept along her spine, so that she was glad to sink to the floor,
+      whence she knew she could not fall. By degrees, however, she recovered her
+      nerve, and was able to study the glorious view of stream and marshes and
+      hills beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For she had come here with a purpose, to see whether it would not be
+      possible to escape down the river in a canoe, or in native boats such as
+      the Makalanga owned and used for fishing, or to cross from bank to bank.
+      Apparently it was impossible, for although the river beneath and above
+      them was still enough, about a mile below began a cataract that stretched
+      as far as she could see, and was bordered on either side by rocky hills
+      covered with forest, over which, even if they could obtain porters, a
+      canoe could not be carried. This, indeed, she had already heard from the
+      Molimo, but knowing his timid nature, she wished to judge of the matter
+      for herself. It came to this then: if they were to go, it must be on the
+      horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Descending the cone Benita went to find her father, to whom as yet she had
+      said nothing of her plans. The opportunity was good, for she knew that he
+      would be alone. As it chanced, on that afternoon Meyer had gone down the
+      hill in order to try to persuade the Makalanga to give them ten or twenty
+      men to help them in their excavations. In this, it will be remembered, he
+      had already failed so far as the Molimo was concerned, but he was not a
+      man easily turned from his purpose, and he thought that if he could see
+      Tamas and some of the other captains he might be able by bribery, threats,
+      or otherwise, to induce them to forget their superstitious fears, and help
+      in the search. As a matter of fact, he was utterly unsuccessful, since one
+      and all they declared that for them to enter that sacred place would mean
+      their deaths, and that the vengeance of Heaven would fall upon their tribe
+      and destroy it root and branch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford, on whom all this heavy labour had begun to tell, was taking
+      advantage of the absence of his taskmaster, Jacob, to sleep awhile in the
+      hut which they had now built for themselves beneath the shadow of the
+      baobab-tree. As she reached it he came out yawning, and asked her where
+      she had been. Benita told him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A giddy place,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have never ventured to try it myself. What
+      did you go up there for, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To look at the river while Mr. Meyer was away, father; for if he had seen
+      me do so he would have guessed my reason; indeed, I dare say that he will
+      guess it now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What reason, Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To see whether it would not be possible to escape down it in a boat. But
+      there is no chance. It is all rapids below, with hills and rocks and trees
+      on either bank.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What need have you to escape at present?&rdquo; he asked, eyeing
+      her curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every need,&rdquo; she answered with passion. &ldquo;I hate this place; it is a
+      prison, and I loathe the very name of treasure. Also,&rdquo; and she paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also what, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also,&rdquo; and her voice sank to a whisper, as though she feared that he
+      should overhear her even at the bottom of the hill; &ldquo;also, I am afraid of
+      Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This confession did not seem to surprise her father, who merely nodded his
+      head and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, I think that he is going mad, and it is not pleasant for us to be
+      cooped up here alone with a madman, especially when he has begun to speak
+      to me as he does now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean that he has been impertinent to you,&rdquo; said the old man,
+      flushing up, &ldquo;for if so&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not impertinent&mdash;as yet,&rdquo; and she told him what had passed
+      between Meyer and herself, adding, &ldquo;You see, father, I detest this man;
+      indeed, I want to have nothing to do with any man; for me all that is over
+      and done with,&rdquo; and she gave a dry little sob which appeared to come from
+      her very heart. &ldquo;And yet, he seems to be getting some kind of power over
+      me. He follows me about with his eyes, prying into my mind, and I feel
+      that he is beginning to be able to read it. I can bear no more. Father,
+      father, for God&rsquo;s sake, take me away from this hateful hill and its gold
+      and its dead, and let us get out into the veld again together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be glad enough, dearest,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I have had plenty of
+      this wild-goose chase, which I was so mad as to be led into by the love of
+      wealth. Indeed, I am beginning to believe that if it goes on much longer I
+      shall leave my bones here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if such a dreadful thing as that were to happen, what would become of
+      me, alone with Jacob Meyer?&rdquo; she asked quietly. &ldquo;I might even be driven to
+      the same fate as that poor girl two hundred years ago,&rdquo; and she pointed to
+      the cone of rock behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Heaven&rsquo;s sake, don&rsquo;t talk like that!&rdquo; he broke in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not? One must face things, and it would be better than Jacob Meyer;
+      for who would protect me here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford walked up and down for a few minutes, while his daughter
+      watched him anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see no plan,&rdquo; he said, stopping opposite her. &ldquo;We cannot take the
+      waggon even if there are enough oxen left to draw it, for it is his as
+      much as mine, and I am sure that he will never leave this treasure unless
+      he is driven away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I am sure I hope that he will not. But, father, the horses are our
+      own; it was his that died, you remember. We can ride away on them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared at her and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we could ride away to our deaths. Suppose they got sick or lame;
+      suppose we meet the Matabele, or could find no game to shoot; suppose one
+      of us fell ill&mdash;oh! and a hundred things. What then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, then it is just as well to perish in the wilderness as here, where
+      our risks are almost as great. We must take our chance, and trust to God.
+      Perhaps He will be merciful and help us. Listen now, father. To-morrow is
+      Sunday, when you and I do no work that we can help. Mr. Meyer is a Jew,
+      and he won&rsquo;t waste Sunday. Well now, I will say that I want to go down to
+      the outer wall to fetch some clothes which I left in the waggon, and to
+      take others for the native women to wash, and of course you will come with
+      me. Perhaps he will be deceived, and stay behind, especially as he has
+      been there to-day. Then we can get the horses and guns and ammunition, and
+      anything else that we can carry in the way of food, and persuade the old
+      Molimo to open the gate for us. You know, the little side gate that cannot
+      be seen from up here, and before Mr. Meyer misses us and comes to look, we
+      shall be twenty miles away, and&mdash;horses can&rsquo;t be overtaken by a man
+      on foot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will say that we have deserted him, and that will be true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can leave a letter with the Molimo explaining that it was my fault,
+      that I was getting ill and thought that I should die, and that you knew it
+      would not be fair to ask him to come, and so to lose the treasure, to
+      every halfpenny of which he is welcome when it is found. Oh! father, don&rsquo;t
+      hesitate any longer; say that you will take me away from Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it then,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford, and as he spoke, hearing a sound,
+      they looked up and saw Jacob approaching them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Luckily he was so occupied with his own thoughts that he never noted the
+      guilty air upon their faces, and they had time to compose themselves a
+      little. But even thus his suspicions were aroused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you talking of so earnestly?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were wondering how you were getting on with the Makalanga,&rdquo; answered
+      Benita, fibbing boldly, &ldquo;and whether you would persuade them to face the
+      ghosts. Did you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not I,&rdquo; he answered with a scowl. &ldquo;Those ghosts are our worst enemies in
+      this place; the cowards swore that they would rather die. I should have
+      liked to take some of them at their word and make ghosts of them; but I
+      remembered the situation and didn&rsquo;t. Don&rsquo;t be afraid, Miss Clifford, I
+      never even lost my temper, outwardly at any rate. Well, there it is; if
+      they won&rsquo;t help us, we must work the harder. I&rsquo;ve got a new plan, and
+      we&rsquo;ll begin on it to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not to-morrow, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; replied Benita with a smile. &ldquo;It is Sunday,
+      and we rest on Sunday, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! I forgot. The Makalanga with their ghosts and you with your Sunday&mdash;really
+      I do not know which is the worse. Well, then, I must do my own share and
+      yours too, I suppose,&rdquo; and he turned with a shrug of his shoulders.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"></a>
+      XIV.<br/>
+      THE FLIGHT</h2>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, Sunday, Meyer went to work on his new plan. What it was
+      Benita did not trouble to inquire, but she gathered that it had something
+      to do with the measuring out of the chapel cave into squares for the more
+      systematic investigation of each area. At twelve o&rsquo;clock he emerged for
+      his midday meal, in the course of which he remarked that it was very
+      dreary working in that place alone, and that he would be glad when it was
+      Monday, and they could accompany him. His words evidently disturbed Mr.
+      Clifford not a little, and even excited some compunction in the breast of
+      Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What would his feelings be, she wondered, when he found that they had run
+      away, leaving him to deal with their joint undertaking single-handed!
+      Almost was she minded to tell him the whole truth; yet&mdash;and this was
+      a curious evidence of the man&rsquo;s ascendancy over her&mdash;she did not.
+      Perhaps she felt that to do so would be to put an end to their scheme,
+      since then by argument, blandishments, threats, force, or appeal to their
+      sense of loyalty, it mattered not which, he would bring about its
+      abandonment. But she wanted to fulfil that scheme, to be free of Bambatse,
+      its immemorial ruins, its graveyard cave, and the ghoul, Jacob Meyer, who
+      could delve among dead bones and in living hearts with equal skill and
+      insight, and yet was unable to find the treasure that lay beneath either
+      of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So they hid the truth, and talked with feverish activity about other
+      things, such as the drilling of the Makalanga, and the chances of an
+      attack by the Matabele, which happily now seemed to be growing small; also
+      of the conditions of their cattle, and the prospect of obtaining more to
+      replace those that had died. Indeed, Benita went farther; in her new-found
+      zeal of deception she proceeded to act a lie, yes, even with her father&rsquo;s
+      reproachful eyes fixed upon her. Incidentally she mentioned that they were
+      going to have an outing, to climb down the ladder and visit the Makalanga
+      camp between the first and second walls and mix with the great world for a
+      few hours; also to carry their washing to be done there, and bring up some
+      clean clothes and certain books which she had left below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob came out of his thoughts and calculations, and listened gloomily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have half a mind to come with you,&rdquo; he said, words at which Benita
+      shivered. &ldquo;It certainly is most cursed lonesome in that cave, and I seem
+      to hear things in it, as though those old bones were rattling, sounds like
+      sighs and whispers too, which are made by the draught.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, why don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded. If he had any doubts they
+      vanished, and he answered at once:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I have not the time. We have to get this business finished one
+      way or another before the wet season comes on, and we are drowned out of
+      the place with rain, or rotted by fever. Take your afternoon out, Miss
+      Clifford; every maid of all work is entitled to as much, and I am afraid
+      that is your billet here. Only,&rdquo; he added, with that care for her safety
+      which he always showed in his more temperate moods, &ldquo;pray be careful,
+      Clifford, to get back before sundown. That wall is too risky for your
+      daughter to climb in the dusk. Call me from the foot of it; you have the
+      whistle, and I will come down to help her up. I think I&rsquo;ll go with you
+      after all. No, I won&rsquo;t. I made myself so unpleasant to them yesterday that
+      those Makalanga can&rsquo;t wish to see any more of me at present. I hope you
+      will have a more agreeable afternoon than I shall. Why don&rsquo;t you take a
+      ride outside the wall? Your horses are fat and want exercise, and I do not
+      think that you need be afraid of the Matabele.&rdquo; Then without waiting for
+      an answer, he rose and left them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford looked after him doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;it seems horribly mean, but one must do shabby
+      things sometimes. Here are the bundles all ready, so let us be off.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly they went, and from the top of the wall Benita glanced back to
+      bid goodbye to that place which she hoped never to see again. Yet she
+      could not feel as though she looked her last upon it; to her it wore no
+      air of farewell, and even as she descended the perilous stairs, she found
+      herself making mental notes as to how they might best be climbed again.
+      Also, she could not believe that she had done with Mr. Meyer. It seemed to
+      her as though for a long while yet her future would be full of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached the outer fortifications in safety, and there were greeted
+      with some surprise but with no displeasure by the Makalanga, whom they
+      found still drilling with the rifles, in the use of which a certain number
+      of them appeared to have become fairly proficient. Going to the hut in
+      which the spare goods from the waggon had been stored, they quickly made
+      their preparations. Here also, Mr. Clifford wrote a letter, one of the
+      most unpleasant that he had ever been called upon to compose. It ran thus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear Meyer,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you will think of us, but we are escaping from this
+      place. The truth is that I am not well, and my daughter can bear it no
+      longer. She says that if she stops here, she will die, and that hunting
+      for treasure in that ghastly grave-yard is shattering her nerves. I should
+      have liked to tell you, but she begged me not, being convinced that if I
+      did, you would over-persuade us or stop us in some way. As for the gold,
+      if you can find it, take it all. I renounce my share. We are leaving you
+      the waggon and the oxen, and starting down country on our horses. It is a
+      perilous business, but less so than staying here, under the circumstances.
+      If we never meet again we hope that you will forgive us, and wish you all
+      good fortune.&mdash;Yours sincerely and with much regret,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;T. Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The letter written, they saddled the horses which had been brought up for
+      their inspection, and were found to be in good case, and fastened their
+      scanty belongings, and as many cartridges as they could carry in packs
+      behind their saddles. Then, each of them armed with a rifle&mdash;for
+      during their long journeyings Benita had learned to shoot&mdash;they
+      mounted and made for the little side-entrance, as the main gate through
+      which they had passed on their arrival was now built up. This
+      side-entrance, a mere slit in the great wall, with a precipitous approach,
+      was open, for now that their fear of the Matabele had to some extent
+      passed off, the Makalanga used it to drive their sheep and goats in and
+      out, since it was so constructed with several twists and turns in the
+      thickness of the wall, that in a few minutes it could be effectually
+      blocked by stones that lay at hand. Also, the ancient architect had
+      arranged it in such a fashion that it was entirely commanded from the
+      crest of the wall on either side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Makalanga, who had been watching their proceedings curiously, made no
+      attempt to stop them, although they guessed that they might have a little
+      trouble with the sentries who guarded the entrances all day, and even when
+      it was closed at night, with whom also Mr. Clifford proposed to leave the
+      letter. When they reached the place, however, and had dismounted to lead
+      the horses down the winding passage and the steep ascent upon its further
+      side, it was to find that the only guard visible proved to be the old
+      Molimo himself, who sat there, apparently half asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But as they came he showed himself to be very much awake, for without
+      moving he asked them at once whither they were going.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To take a ride,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;The lady, my daughter, is weary
+      of being cooped up in this fortress, and wishes to breathe the air
+      without. Let us pass, friend, or we shall not be back by sunset.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you be coming back at sunset, white man, why do you carry so many
+      things upon your packs, and why are your saddle-bags filled with
+      cartridges?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Surely you do not speak the truth to me, and you
+      hope that never more will you see the sun set upon Bambatse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now understanding that it was hopeless to deceive him, Benita exclaimed
+      boldly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so; but oh! my Father, stay us not, for fear is behind us, and
+      therefore we fly hence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is there no fear before you, maiden? Fear of the wilderness, where
+      none wander save perchance the Amandabele with their bloody spears; fear
+      of wild beasts and of sickness that may overtake you so that, first one
+      and then the other, you perish there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is plenty, my Father, but none of them so bad as the fear behind.
+      Yonder place is haunted, and we give up our search and would dwell there
+      no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is haunted truly, maiden, but its spirits will not harm you whom they
+      welcome as one appointed, and we are ever ready to protect you because of
+      their command that has come to me in dreams. Nor, indeed, is it the
+      spirits whom you fear, but rather the white man, your companion, who would
+      bend you to his will. Deny it not, for I have seen it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then knowing the truth, surely you will let us go,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;for I
+      swear to you that I dare not stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who am I that I should forbid you?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Yet I tell you that you
+      would do well to stay and save yourselves much terror. Maiden, have I not
+      said it days and days ago, that here and here only you must accomplish your
+      fate? Go now if you will, but you shall return again,&rdquo; and once more he
+      seemed to begin to doze in the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two of them consulted hastily together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is no use turning back now,&rdquo; said Benita, who was almost weeping with
+      doubt and vexation. &ldquo;I will not be frightened by his vague talk. What can
+      he know of the future more than any of the rest of us? Besides, all he
+      says is that we shall come back again, and if that does happen, at least
+      we shall have been free for a little while. Come, father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you wish,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford, who seemed too miserable and
+      depressed to argue. Only he threw down the letter upon the Molimo&rsquo;s lap,
+      and begged him to give it to Meyer when he came to look for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man took no notice; no, not even when Benita bade him farewell and
+      thanked him for his kindness, praying that all good fortune might attend
+      him and his tribe, did he answer a single word or even look up. So they
+      led their horses down the narrow passage where there was scarcely room for
+      them to pass, and up the steep path beyond. On the further side of the
+      ancient ditch they remounted them while the Makalanga watched them from
+      the walls, and cantered away along the same road by which they had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now this road, or rather track, ran first through the gardens and then
+      among the countless ruined houses that in bygone ages formed the great
+      city whereof the mount Bambatse had been the citadel and sanctuary. The
+      relics of a lost civilization extended for several miles, and were bounded
+      by a steep and narrow neck or pass in the encircling hills, the same that
+      Robert Seymour and his brother had found too difficult for their waggon at
+      the season in which they visited the place some years before. This pass,
+      or port as it is called in South Africa, had been strongly fortified, for
+      on either side of it were the ruins of towers. Moreover, at its crest it
+      was so narrow and steep-sided that a few men posted there, even if they
+      were armed only with bows and arrows, could hold an attacking force in
+      check for a considerable time. Beyond it, after the hill was descended, a
+      bush-clad plain dotted with kopjes and isolated granite pillars formed of
+      boulders piled one upon another, rolled away for many miles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford and Benita had started upon their mad journey about three
+      o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon, and when the sun began to set they found
+      themselves upon this plain fifteen or sixteen miles from Bambatse, of
+      which they had long lost sight, for it lay beyond the intervening hills.
+      Near to them was a kopje, where they had outspanned by a spring of water
+      when on their recent journey, and since they did not dare to travel in the
+      dark, here they determined to off-saddle, for round this spring was good
+      grass for the horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it chanced, they came upon some hartebeeste here which were trekking
+      down to drink, but although they would have been glad of meat, they were
+      afraid to shoot, fearing lest they should attract attention; nor for the
+      same reason did they like to light a fire. So having knee-haltered the
+      horses in such fashion that they could not wander far, and turned them
+      loose to feed, they sat down under a tree, and made some sort of a meal
+      off the biltong and cooked corn which they had brought with them. By the
+      time this was finished darkness fell, for there was little moon, so that
+      nothing remained to do except to sleep within a circle of a few dead
+      thorn-boughs which they had drawn about their camp. This, then, they did,
+      and so weary were they both, that notwithstanding all the emotions through
+      which they had passed, and their fears lest lions should attack them&mdash;for
+      of these brutes there were many in this veld&mdash;rested soundly and
+      undisturbed till within half an hour of dawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rising somewhat chilled, for though the air was warm a heavy dew had
+      soaked their blankets, once more they ate and drank by starlight, while
+      the horses, which they had tied up close to them during the night, filled
+      themselves with grass. At the first break of day they saddled them, and
+      before the sun rose were on their road again. At length up it came, and
+      the sight and warmth of it put new heart into Benita. Her fears seemed to
+      depart with the night, and she said to her father that this successful
+      start was of good augury, to which he only answered that he hoped so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All that day they rode forward in beautiful weather, not pressing their
+      horses, for now they were sure that Jacob Meyer, who if he followed at all
+      must do so on foot, would never be able to overtake them. At noon they
+      halted, and having shot a small buck, Benita cooked some of it in the one
+      pot that they had brought with them, and they ate a good meal of fresh
+      meat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Riding on again, towards sundown they came to another of their old
+      camping-places, also a bush-covered kopje. Here the spring of water was
+      more than halfway up the hill, so there they off-saddled in a green bower
+      of a place that because of its ferns and mosses looked like a rock garden.
+      Now, although they had enough cold meat for food, they thought themselves
+      quite safe in lighting a fire. Indeed, this it seemed necessary to do,
+      since they had struck the fresh spoor of lions, and even caught sight of
+      one galloping away in the tall reeds on the marshy land at the foot of the
+      hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That evening they fared sumptuously upon venison, and as on the previous
+      day lay down to rest in a little &ldquo;boma&rdquo; or fence made of boughs. But they
+      were not allowed to sleep well this night, for scarcely had they shut
+      their eyes when a hyena began to howl about them. They shouted and the
+      brute went away, but an hour or two later, they heard ominous grunting
+      sounds, followed presently by a loud roar, which was answered by another
+      roar, whereat the horses began to whinny in a frightened fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lions!&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, jumping up and throwing dead wood on the fire
+      till it burnt to a bright blaze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After that all sleep became impossible, for although the lions did not
+      attack them, having once winded the horses they would not go away, but
+      continued wandering round the kopje, grunting and growling. This went on
+      till abut three o&rsquo;clock in the morning, when at last the beasts took their
+      departure, for they heard them roaring in the distance. Now that they
+      seemed safe, having first made up the fire, they tried to get some rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When, as it appeared to her, Benita had been asleep but a little while,
+      she was awakened by a new noise. It was still dark, but the starlight
+      showed her that the horses were quite quiet; indeed, one of them was lying
+      down, and the other eating some green leaves from the branches of the tree
+      to which it was tethered. Therefore that noise had not come from any wild
+      animal of which they were afraid. She listened intently, and presently
+      heard it again; it was a murmur like to that of people talking somewhere
+      at the bottom of the hill. Then she woke her father and told him, but
+      although once or twice they thought they heard the sound of footsteps,
+      nothing else could be distinguished. Still they rose, and having saddled
+      and bridled the horses as noiselessly as might be, waited for the dawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last it came. Up on the side of the kopje they were in clear air, above
+      which shone the red lights of morning, but under them lay billows of
+      dense, pearl-hued mist. By degrees this thinned beneath the rays of the
+      risen sun, and through it, looking gigantic in that light, Benita saw a
+      savage wrapped in a kaross, who was walking up and down and yawning, a
+      great spear in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;look!&rdquo; and Mr. Clifford stared down the line of
+      her outstretched finger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My God! the Matabele!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"></a>
+      XV.<br/>
+      THE CHASE</h2>
+    <p>
+      The Matabele it was, sure enough; there could be no doubt of it, for soon
+      three other men joined the sentry and began to talk with him, pointing
+      with their great spears at the side of the hill. Evidently they were
+      arranging a surprise when there was sufficient light to carry it out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have seen our fire,&rdquo; whispered her father to Benita; &ldquo;now, if we
+      wish to save our lives, there is only one thing to do&mdash;ride for it
+      before they muster. The impi will be camped upon the other side of the
+      hill, so we must take the road we came by.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That runs back to Bambatse,&rdquo; faltered Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bambatse is better than the grave,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;Pray Heaven that we
+      may get there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To this argument there was no answer, so having drunk a sup of water, and
+      swallowing a few mouthfuls of food as they went, they crept to the horses,
+      mounted them, and as silently as possible began to ride down the hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sentry was alone again, the other three men having departed. He stood
+      with his back towards them. Presently when they were quite close on to
+      him, he heard their horses&rsquo; hoofs upon the grass, wheeled round at the
+      sound, and saw them. Then with a great shout he lifted his spear and
+      charged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford, who was leading, held out his rifle at arm&rsquo;s length&mdash;to
+      raise it to his shoulder he had no time&mdash;and pulled the trigger.
+      Benita heard the bullet clap upon the hide shield, and next instant saw
+      the Matabele warrior lying on his back, beating the air with his hands and
+      feet. Also, she saw beyond the shoulder of the kopje, which they were
+      rounding, hundreds of men marching, and behind them a herd of cattle, the
+      dim light gleaming upon the stabbing spears and on the horns of the oxen.
+      She glanced to the right, and there were more men. The two wings of the
+      impi were closing upon them. Only a little lane was left in the middle.
+      They must get through before it shut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; she gasped, striking the horse with her heel and the butt of her
+      gun, and jerking at its mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father saw also, and did likewise, so that the beasts broke into a
+      gallop. Now from the point of each wing sprang out thin lines of men,
+      looking like great horns, or nippers, whose business it was to meet and
+      cut them off. Could they pass between them before they did meet? That was
+      the question, and upon its answer it depended whether or no they had
+      another three minutes to live. To think of mercy at the hands of these
+      bloodthirsty brutes, after they had just killed one of their number before
+      their eyes, was absurd. It was true he had been shot in self-defence; but
+      what count would savages take of that, or of the fact that they were but
+      harmless travellers? White people were not very popular with the Matabele
+      just then, as they knew well; also, their murder in this remote place,
+      with not another of their race within a couple of hundred miles, would
+      never even be reported, and much less avenged. It was as safe as any crime
+      could possibly be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this passed through their minds as they galloped towards those closing
+      points. Oh! the horror of it! But two hundred yards to cover, and their
+      fate would be decided. Either they would have escaped at least for a
+      while, or time would be done with them; or, a third alternative, they
+      might be taken prisoners, in all probability a yet more dreadful doom.
+      Even then Benita determined that if she could help it this should not
+      befall her. She had the rifle and the revolver that Jacob Meyer had given
+      her. Surely she would be able to find a moment to use one or the other
+      upon herself. She clenched her teeth, and struck the horse again and
+      again, so that now they flew along. The Matabele soldiers were running
+      their best to catch them, and if these had been given but five seconds of
+      start, caught they must have been. But that short five seconds saved their
+      lives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they rushed through them the foremost men of the nippers were not
+      more than twenty yards apart. Seeing that they had passed, these halted
+      and hurled a shower of spears after them. One flashed by Benita&rsquo;s cheek, a
+      line of light; she felt the wind of it. Another cut her dress, and a third
+      struck her father&rsquo;s horse in the near hind leg just above the knee-joint,
+      remaining fast there for a stride or two, and then falling to the ground.
+      At first the beast did not seem to be incommoded by this wound; indeed, it
+      only caused it to gallop quicker, and Benita rejoiced, thinking that it
+      was but a scratch. Then she forgot about it, for some of the Matabele, who
+      had guns, began to shoot them, and although their marksmanship was vile,
+      one or two of the bullets went nearer than was pleasant. Lastly a man, the
+      swiftest runner of them all, shouted after them in Zulu:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The horse is wounded. We will catch you both before the sun sets.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they passed over the crest of a rise and lost sight of them for a
+      while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God!&rdquo; gasped Benita when they were alone again in the silent veld;
+      but Mr. Clifford shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think they will follow us?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You heard what the fellow said,&rdquo; he answered evasively. &ldquo;Doubtless they
+      are on their way to attack Bambatse, and have been round to destroy some
+      other wretched tribe, and steal the cattle which we saw. Yes, I fear that
+      they will follow. The question is, which of us can get to Bambatse first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely we ought to on the horses, father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, if nothing happens to them,&rdquo; and as he spoke the words the mare
+      which he was riding dropped sharply upon her hind leg, the same that had
+      been struck with the spear; then recovered herself and galloped on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you see that?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded; then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall we get off and look at the cut?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Our only chance is to keep her moving; if
+      once the wound stiffens, there&rsquo;s an end. The sinew cannot have been
+      severed, or it would have come before now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they pushed on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All that morning did they canter forward wherever the ground was smooth
+      enough to allow them to do so, and notwithstanding the increasing lameness
+      of Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s mare, made such good progress that by midday they
+      reached the place where they had passed the first night after leaving
+      Bambatse. Here sheer fatigue and want of water forced them to stop a
+      little while. They dismounted and drank greedily from the spring, after
+      which they allowed the horses to drink also; indeed it was impossible to
+      keep them away from the water. Then they ate a little, not because they
+      desired food, but to keep up their strength, and while they did so
+      examined the mare. By now her hind leg was much swollen, and blood still
+      ran from the gash made by the assegai. Moreover, the limb was drawn up so
+      that the point of the hoof only rested on the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must get on before it sets fast,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, and they mounted
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great heavens! what was this? The mare would not stir. In his despair Mr.
+      Clifford beat it cruelly, whereupon the poor brute hobbled forward a few
+      paces on three legs, and again came to a standstill. Either an injured
+      sinew had given or the inflammation was now so intense that it could not
+      bend its knee. Understanding what this meant to them, Benita&rsquo;s nerve gave
+      out at last, and she burst into weeping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t cry, love,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;God&rsquo;s will be done. Perhaps they have given
+      up the hunt by now; at any rate, my legs are left, and Bambatse is not
+      more than sixteen miles away. Forward now,&rdquo; and holding to her
+      saddle-strap they went up the long, long slope which led to the poort in
+      the hills around Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They would have liked to shoot the mare, but being afraid to fire a rifle,
+      could not do so. So they left the unhappy beast to its fate, and with it
+      everything it carried, except a few of the cartridges. Before they went,
+      however, at Benita&rsquo;s prayer, her father devoted a few seconds to
+      unbuckling the girths and pulling off the bridle, so that it might have a
+      chance of life. For a little way it hobbled after them on three legs,
+      then, the saddle still upon its back, stood whinnying piteously, till at
+      last, to Benita&rsquo;s intense relief, a turn in their path hid it from their
+      sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Half a mile further on she looked round in the faint hope that it might
+      have recovered itself and followed. But no mare was to be seen. Something
+      else was to be seen, however, for there, three or four miles away upon the
+      plain behind them, easy to be distinguished in that dazzling air, were a
+      number of black spots that occasionally seemed to sparkle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are they?&rdquo; she asked faintly, as one who feared the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele who follow us,&rdquo; answered her father, &ldquo;or rather a company of
+      their swiftest runners. It is their spears that glitter so. Now, my love,
+      this is the position,&rdquo; he went on, as they struggled forward: &ldquo;those men
+      will catch us before ever we can get to Bambatse; they are trained to run
+      like that, for fifty miles, if need be. But with this start they cannot
+      catch your horse, you must go on and leave me to look after myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never, never!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you shall, and you must. I am your father and I order you. As for me,
+      what does it matter? I may hide from them and escape, or&mdash;at least I
+      am old, my life is done, whereas yours is before you. Now, good-bye, and
+      go on,&rdquo; and he let go of the saddle-strap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By way of answer Benita pulled up the horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not one yard,&rdquo; she said, setting her mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he began to storm at her, calling her disobedient, and undutiful, and
+      when this means failed to move her, to implore her almost with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, dear,&rdquo; she said, leaning down towards him as he walked, for now
+      they were going on again, &ldquo;I told you why I wanted to run away from
+      Bambatse, didn&rsquo;t I?&mdash;because I would rather risk my life than stay.
+      Well, do you think that I wish to return there and live in that place
+      alone with Jacob Meyer? Also, I will tell you another thing. You remember
+      about Mr. Seymour? Well, I can&rsquo;t get over that; I can&rsquo;t get over it at
+      all, and therefore, although of course I am afraid, it is all one to me.
+      No, we will escape together, or die together; the first if we can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then with a groan he gave up the argument, and as he found breath they
+      discussed their chances. Their first idea was to hide, but save for a few
+      trees all the country was open; there was no place to cover them. They
+      thought of the banks of the Zambesi, but between them and the river rose a
+      bare, rock-strewn hill with several miles of slope. Long before they could
+      reach its crest, even if a horse were able to travel there, they must be
+      overtaken. In short, there was nothing to do except to push for the nek,
+      and if they were fortunate enough to reach it before the Matabele, to
+      abandon the horse there and try to conceal themselves among the ruins of
+      the houses beyond. This, perhaps, they might do when once the sun was
+      down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they did not deceive themselves; the chances were at least fifty to
+      one against them, unless indeed their pursuers grew weary and let them go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At present, however, they were by no means weary, for having perceived
+      them from far away, the long-legged runners put on the pace, and the
+      distance between them and their quarry was lessening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;please understand one thing. I do not mean to be
+      taken alive by those savages.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! how can I&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; he faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t ask you,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I will see to that myself. Only, if I
+      should make any mistake&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and she looked at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man was getting very tired. He panted up the steep hillside, and
+      stumbled against the stones. Benita noted it, and slipping from the horse,
+      made him mount while she ran alongside. Then when he was a little rested
+      they changed places again, and so covered several miles of country.
+      Subsequently, when both of them were nearly exhausted, they tried riding
+      together&mdash;she in front and he behind, for their baggage had long
+      since been thrown away. But the weary beast could not carry this double
+      burden, and after a few hundred yards of it, stumbled, fell, struggled to
+      its feet again, and stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So once more they were obliged to ride and walk alternately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now there was not much more than an hour of daylight left, and the narrow
+      pass lay about three miles ahead of them. That dreadful three miles; ever
+      thereafter it was Benita&rsquo;s favourite nightmare! At the beginning of it the
+      leading Matabele were about two thousand yards behind them; half-way,
+      about a thousand; and at the commencement of the last mile, say five
+      hundred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nature is a wonderful thing, and great are its resources in extremity. As
+      the actual crisis approached, the weariness of these two seemed to depart,
+      or at any rate it was forgotten. They no longer felt exhausted, nor, had
+      they been fresh from their beds, could they have climbed or run better.
+      Even the horse seemed to find new energy, and when it lagged Mr. Clifford
+      dug the point of his hunting knife into its flank. Gasping, panting, now
+      one mounted and now the other, they struggled on towards that crest of
+      rock, while behind them came death in the shape of those sleuth-hounds of
+      Matabele. The sun was going down, and against its flaming ball, when they
+      glanced back they could see their dark forms outlined; the broad spears
+      also looked red as though they had been dipped in blood. They could even
+      hear their taunting shouts as they called to them to sit down and be
+      killed, and save trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now they were not three hundred yards away, and the crest of the pass was
+      still half a mile ahead. Five minutes passed, and here, where the track
+      was very rough, the horse blundered upwards slowly. Mr. Clifford was
+      riding at the time, and Benita running at his side, holding to the stirrup
+      leather. She looked behind her. The savages, fearing that their victims
+      might find shelter over the hill, were making a rush, and the horse could
+      go no faster. One man, a great tall fellow, quite out-distanced his
+      companions. Two minutes more and he was not over a hundred paces from
+      them, a little nearer than they were to the top of the pass. Then the
+      horse stopped and refused to stir any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford jumped from the saddle, and Benita, who could not speak,
+      pointed to the pursuing Matabele. He sat down upon a rock, cocked his
+      rifle, took a deep breath, and aimed and fired at the soldier who was
+      coming on carelessly in the open. Mr. Clifford was a good shot, and shaken
+      though he was, at this supreme moment his skill did not fail him. The man
+      was struck somewhere, for he staggered about and fell; then slowly picked
+      himself up, and began to hobble back towards his companions, who, when
+      they met him, stopped a minute to give him some kind of assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That halt proved their salvation, for it gave them time to make one last
+      despairing rush, and gain the brow of the poort. Not that this would have
+      saved them, however, since where they could go the Matabele could follow,
+      and there was still light by which the pursuers would have been able to
+      see to catch them. Indeed, the savages, having laid down the wounded man,
+      came on with a yell of rage, fifty or more of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Over the pass father and daughter struggled, Benita riding; after them,
+      perhaps sixty yards away, ran the Matabele, gathered in a knot now upon
+      the narrow, ancient road, bordered by steep hillsides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then suddenly from all about them, as it appeared to Benita, broke out the
+      blaze and roar of rifles, rapid and continuous. Down went the Matabele by
+      twos and threes, till at last it seemed as though but quite a few of them
+      were left upon their feet, and those came on no more; they turned and fled
+      from the neck of the narrow pass to the open slope beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita sank to the ground, and the next thing that she could remember was
+      hearing the soft voice of Jacob Meyer, who said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you have returned from your ride, Miss Clifford, and perhaps it was as
+      well that the thought came from you to me that you wished me to meet you
+      here in this very place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"></a>
+      XVI.<br/>
+      BACK AT BAMBATSE</h2>
+    <p>
+      How they reached Bambatse Benita never could remember, but afterwards she
+      was told that both she and her father were carried upon litters made of
+      ox-hide shields. When she came to her own mind again, it was to find
+      herself lying in her tent outside the mouth of the cave within the third
+      enclosure of the temple-fortress. Her feet were sore and her bones ached,
+      physical discomforts that brought back to her in a flash all the terrors
+      through which she had passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again she saw the fierce pursuing Matabele; again heard their cruel shouts
+      and the answering crack of the rifles; again, amidst the din and the
+      gathering darkness, distinguished the gentle, foreign voice of Meyer
+      speaking his words of sarcastic greeting. Next oblivion fell upon her, and
+      after it a dim memory of being helped up the hill with the sun pouring on
+      her back and assisted to climb the steep steps of the wall by means of a
+      rope placed around her. Then forgetfulness again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The flap of her tent was drawn aside and she shrank back upon her bed,
+      shutting her eyes for fear lest they should fall upon the face of Jacob
+      Meyer. Feeling that it was not he, or learning it perhaps from the
+      footfall, she opened them a little, peeping at her visitor from between
+      her long lashes. He proved to be&mdash;not Jacob or her father, but the
+      old Molimo, who stood beside her holding in his hand a gourd filled with
+      goat&rsquo;s milk. Then she sat up and smiled at him, for Benita had grown very
+      fond of this ancient man, who was so unlike anyone that she had ever met.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Lady,&rdquo; he said softly, smiling back at her with his lips and
+      dreamy eyes, for his old face did not seem to move beneath its thousand
+      wrinkles. &ldquo;I bring you milk. Drink; it is fresh and you need food.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So she took the gourd and drank to the last drop, for it seemed to her
+      that she had never tasted anything so delicious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, good,&rdquo; murmured the Molimo; &ldquo;now you will be well again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I shall get well,&rdquo; she answered; &ldquo;but oh! what of my father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fear not; he is still sick, but he will recover also. You shall see him
+      soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have drunk all the milk,&rdquo; she broke out; &ldquo;there is none left for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Plenty, plenty,&rdquo; he answered, waving his thin hand. &ldquo;There are two cups
+      full&mdash;one for each. We have not many she-goats down below, but the
+      best of their milk is saved for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me all that has happened, Father,&rdquo; and the old priest, who liked her
+      to call him by that name, smiled again with his eyes, and squatted down in
+      the corner of the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You went away, you remember that you would go, although I told you that
+      you must come back. You refused my wisdom and you went, and I have learned
+      all that befell you and how you two escaped the impi. Well, that night
+      after sunset, when you did not return, came the Black One&mdash;yes, yes,
+      I mean Meyer, whom we name so because of his beard, and,&rdquo; he added
+      deliberately, &ldquo;his heart. He came running down the hill asking for you,
+      and I gave him the letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He read it, and oh! then he went mad. He cursed in his own tongue; he
+      threw himself about; he took a rifle and wished to shoot me, but I sat
+      silent and looked at him till he grew quiet. Then he asked why I had
+      played him this trick, but I answered that it was no trick of mine who had
+      no right to keep you and your father prisoners against your will, and that
+      I thought you had gone away because you were afraid of him, which was not
+      wonderful if that was how he talked to you. I told him, too, I who am a
+      doctor, that unless he was careful he would go mad; that already I saw
+      madness in his eye; after which he became quiet, for my words frightened
+      him. Then he asked what could be done, and I said&mdash;that night,
+      nothing, since you must be far away, so that it would be useless to follow
+      you, but better to go to meet you when you came back. He asked what I
+      meant by your coming back, and I answered that I meant what I said, that
+      you would come back in great haste and peril&mdash;although you would not
+      believe me when I told you so&mdash;for I had it from the Munwali whose
+      child you are.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I sent out my spies, and that night went by, and the next day and
+      night went by, and we sat still and did nothing, though the Black One
+      wished to wander out alone after you. But on the following morning, at the
+      dawn, a messenger came in who reported that it had been called to him by
+      his brethren who were hidden upon hilltops and in other places for miles
+      and miles, that the Matabele impi, having destroyed another family of the
+      Makalanga far down the Zambesi, was advancing to destroy us also. And in
+      the afternoon came a second spy, who reported that you two had been
+      surrounded by the impi, but had broken through them, and were riding
+      hitherward for your lives. Then I took fifty of the best of our people and
+      put them under the command of Tamas, my son, and sent them to ambush the
+      pass, for against the Matabele warriors on the plain we, who are not
+      warlike, do not dare to fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Black One went with them, and when he saw how sore was your strait,
+      wished to run down to meet the Matabele, for he is a brave man. But I had
+      said to Tamas&mdash;&lsquo;No, do not try to fight them in the open, for there
+      they will certainly kill you.&rsquo; Moreover, Lady, I was sure that you would
+      reach the top of the poort. Well, you reached it, though but by the
+      breadth of a blade of grass, and my children shot with the new rifles, and
+      the place being narrow so that they could not miss, killed many of those
+      hyenas of Amandabele. But to kill Matabele is like catching fleas on a
+      dog&rsquo;s back: there are always more. Still it served its turn, you and your
+      father were brought away safely, and we lost no one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where, then, are the Matabele now?&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Outside our walls, a whole regiment of them: three thousand men or more,
+      under the command of the Captain Maduna, he of the royal blood, whose life
+      you begged, but who nevertheless hunted you like a buck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he did not know who it was,&rdquo; suggested Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps not,&rdquo; the Molimo answered, rubbing his chin, &ldquo;for in such matters
+      even a Matabele generally keeps faith, and you may remember he promised
+      you life for life. However, they are here ravening like lions round the
+      walls, and that is why we carried you up to the top of the hill, that you
+      might be safe from them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But are you safe, my Father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so,&rdquo; he replied with a dry little chuckle in his throat. &ldquo;Whoever
+      built this fortress built it strong, and we have blocked the gates. Also,
+      they caught no one outside; all are within the walls, together with the
+      sheep and goats. Lastly, we have sent most of the women and children
+      across the Zambesi in canoes, to hide in places we know of whither the
+      Amandabele cannot follow, for they dare not swim a river. Therefore, for
+      those of us that remain we have food for three months, and before then the
+      rains will drive the impi out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you not all go across the river, Father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For two reasons, Lady. The first is, that if we once abandoned our
+      stronghold, which we have held from the beginning, Lobengula would take
+      it, and keep it, so that we could never re-enter into our heritage, which
+      would be a shame to us and bring down the vengeance of the spirits of our
+      ancestors upon our heads. The second is, that as you have returned to us
+      we stay to protect you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very good to me,&rdquo; murmured Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, nay, we brought you here, and we do what I am told to do from Above.
+      Trouble may still come upon you; yes, I think that it will come, but once
+      more I pray you, have no fear, for out of this evil root shall spring a
+      flower of joy,&rdquo; and he rose to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stay,&rdquo; said Benita. &ldquo;Has the chief Meyer found the gold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; he has found nothing; but he hunts and hunts like a hungry jackal
+      digging for a bone. But that bone is not for him; it is for you, Lady, you
+      and you only. Oh! I know, you do not seek, still you shall find. Only the
+      next time that you want help, do not run away into the wilderness. Hear
+      the word of Munwali given by his mouth, the Molimo of Bambatse!&rdquo; And as he
+      spoke, the old priest backed himself out of the tent, stopping now and
+      again to bow to Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few minutes later her father entered, looking very weak and shaken, and
+      supporting himself upon a stick. Happy was the greeting of these two who,
+      with their arms about each other&rsquo;s neck, gave thanks for their escape from
+      great peril.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Benita, we can&rsquo;t get away from this place,&rdquo; Mr. Clifford said
+      presently. &ldquo;We must find that gold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bother the gold,&rdquo; she answered with energy; &ldquo;I hate its very name. Who
+      can think of gold with three thousand Matabele waiting to kill us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Somehow I don&rsquo;t feel afraid of them any more,&rdquo; said her father; &ldquo;they
+      have had their chance and lost it, and the Makalanga swear that now they
+      have guns to command the gates, the fortress cannot be stormed. Still, I
+      am afraid of someone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jacob Mayer. I have seen him several times, and I think that he is going
+      mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Molimo said that too, but why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the look of him. He sits about muttering and glowing with those dark
+      eyes of his, and sometimes groans, and sometimes bursts into shouts of
+      laughter. That is when the fit is on him, for generally he seems right
+      enough. But get up if you think you can, and you shall judge for
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to,&rdquo; said Benita feebly. &ldquo;Father, I am more afraid of him
+      now than ever. Oh! why did you not let me stop down below, among the
+      Makalanga, instead of carrying me up here again, where we must live alone
+      with that terrible Jew?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wished to, dear, but the Molimo said we should be safer above, and
+      ordered his people to carry you up. Also, Jacob swore that unless you were
+      brought back he would kill me. Now you understand why I believe that he is
+      mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, why?&rdquo; gasped Benita again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God knows,&rdquo; he answered with a groan; &ldquo;but I think that he is sure that
+      we shall never find the gold without you, since the Molimo has told him
+      that it is for you and you alone, and he says the old man has second
+      sight, or something of the sort. Well, he would have murdered me&mdash;I
+      saw it in his eye&mdash;so I thought it better to give in rather than that
+      you should be left here sick and alone. Of course there was one way&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+       and he paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him and asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To shoot him before he shot me,&rdquo; he answered in a whisper, &ldquo;for your
+      sake, dear&mdash;but I could not bring myself to do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said with a shudder, &ldquo;not that&mdash;not that. Better that we
+      should die than that his blood should be upon our hands. Now I will get up
+      and try to show no fear. I am sure that is best, and perhaps we shall be
+      able to escape somehow. Meanwhile, let us humour him, and pretend to go on
+      looking for this horrible treasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Benita rose to discover that, save for her stiffness, she was but
+      little the worse, and finding all things placed in readiness, set to work
+      with her father&rsquo;s help to cook the evening meal as usual. Of Meyer, who
+      doubtless had placed things in readiness, she saw nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before nightfall he came, however, as she knew he would. Indeed, although
+      she heard no step and her back was towards him, she felt his presence; the
+      sense of it fell upon her like a cold shadow. Turning round she beheld the
+      man. He was standing close by, but above her, upon a big granite boulder,
+      in climbing which his soft veld schoons, or hide shoes, had made no noise,
+      for Meyer could move like a cat. The last rays from the sinking sun struck
+      him full, outlining his agile, nervous shape against the sky, and in their
+      intense red light, which flamed upon him, he appeared terrible. He looked
+      like a panther about to spring; his eyes shone like a panther&rsquo;s, and
+      Benita knew that she was the prey whom he desired. Still, remembering her
+      resolution, she determined to show no fear, and addressed him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-evening, Mr. Meyer. Oh! I am so stiff that I cannot lift my neck to
+      look at you,&rdquo; and she laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He bounded softly from the rock, like a panther again, and stood in front
+      of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should thank the God you believe in,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that by now you are
+      not stiff indeed&mdash;all that the jackals have left of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do, Mr. Meyer, and I thank you, too; it was brave of you to come out to
+      save us. Father,&rdquo; she called, &ldquo;come and tell Mr. Meyer how grateful we are
+      to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford hobbled out from his hut under the tree, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told him already, dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Jacob, &ldquo;you have told me; why repeat yourself? I see that
+      supper is ready. Let us eat, for you must be hungry; afterwards I have
+      something to tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they ate, with no great appetite, any of them&mdash;indeed Meyer
+      touched but little food, though he drank a good deal, first of strong
+      black coffee and afterwards of squareface and water. But on Benita he
+      pressed the choicest morsels that he could find, eyeing her all the while,
+      and saying that she must take plenty of nutriment or her beauty would
+      suffer and her strength wane. Benita bethought her of the fairy tales of
+      her childhood, in which the ogre fed up the princess whom he purposed to
+      devour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should think of your own strength, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;you cannot
+      live on coffee and squareface.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all I need to-night. I am astonishingly well since you came back. I
+      can never remember feeling so well, or so strong. I can do the work of
+      three men, and not be tired; all this afternoon, for instance, I have been
+      carrying provisions and other things up that steep wall, for we must
+      prepare for a long siege together; yet I should never know that I had
+      lifted a single basket. But while you were away&mdash;ah! then I felt
+      tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita changed the subject, asking him if he had made any discoveries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet, but now that you are back the discoveries will soon come. Do not
+      be afraid; I have my plan which cannot fail. Also, it was lonely working
+      in that cave without you, so I only looked about a little outside till it
+      was time to go to meet you, and shoot some of those Matabele. Do you know?&mdash;I
+      killed seven of them myself. When I was shooting for your sake I could not
+      miss,&rdquo; and he smiled at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shrank from him visibly, and Mr. Clifford said in an angry voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t talk of those horrors before my daughter. It is bad enough to have
+      to do such things, without speaking about them afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; he replied reflectively; &ldquo;and I apologise, though
+      personally I never enjoyed anything so much as shooting those Matabele.
+      Well, they are gone, and there are plenty more outside. Listen! They are
+      singing their evening hymn,&rdquo; and with his long finger he beat time to the
+      volleying notes of the dreadful Matabele war-chant, which floated up from
+      the plain below. &ldquo;It sounds quite religious, doesn&rsquo;t it? only the words&mdash;no,
+      I will not translate them. In our circumstances they are too personal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I have something to say to you. It was unkind of you to run away and
+      leave me like that, not honourable either. Indeed,&rdquo; he added with a sudden
+      outbreak of the panther ferocity, &ldquo;had you alone been concerned, Clifford,
+      I tell you frankly that when we met again, I should have shot you.
+      Traitors deserve to be shot, don&rsquo;t they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please stop talking to my father like that,&rdquo; broke in Benita in a stern
+      voice, for her anger had overcome her fear. &ldquo;Also it is I whom you should
+      blame.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a pleasure to obey you,&rdquo; he answered bowing; &ldquo;I will never mention
+      the subject any more. Nor do I blame you&mdash;who could?&mdash;not Jacob
+      Meyer. I quite understand that you found it very dull up here, and ladies
+      must be allowed their fancies. Also you have come back; so why talk of the
+      matter? But listen: on one point I have made up my mind; for your own sake
+      you shall not go away any more until we leave this together. When I had
+      finished carrying up the food I made sure of that. If you go to look
+      to-morrow morning you will find that no one can come up that wall&mdash;and,
+      what is more, no one can go down it. Moreover, that I may be quite
+      certain, in future I shall sleep near the stair myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita and her father stared at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Molimo has a right to come,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it is his sanctuary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he must celebrate his worship down below for a little while. The old
+      fool pretends to know everything, but he never guessed what I was going to
+      do. Besides, we don&rsquo;t want him breaking in upon our privacy, do we? He
+      might see the gold when we find it, and rob us of it afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"></a>
+      XVII.<br/>
+      THE FIRST EXPERIMENT</h2>
+    <p>
+      Again Benita and her father stared at each other blankly, almost with
+      despair. They were trapped, cut off from all help; in the power of a man
+      who was going mad. Mr. Clifford said nothing. He was old and growing
+      feeble; for years, although he did not know it, Meyer had dominated him,
+      and never more so than in this hour of stress and bewilderment. Moreover,
+      the man had threatened to murder him, and he was afraid, not so much for
+      himself as for his daughter. If he were to die now, what would happen to
+      her, left alone with Jacob Meyer? The knowledge of his own folly,
+      understood too late, filled him with shame. How could he have been so
+      wicked as to bring a girl upon such a quest in the company of an
+      unprincipled Jew, of whose past he knew nothing except that it was murky
+      and dubious? He had committed a great crime, led on by a love of lucre,
+      and the weight of it pressed upon his tongue and closed his lips; he knew
+      not what to say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a little while Benita was silent also; hope died within her. But she
+      was a bold-spirited woman, and by degrees her courage re-asserted itself.
+      Indignation filled her breast and shone through her dark eyes. Suddenly
+      she turned upon Jacob, who sat before them smoking his pipe and enjoying
+      their discomfiture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How dare you?&rdquo; she asked in a low, concentrated voice. &ldquo;How dare you, you
+      coward?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrank a little beneath her scorn and anger; then seemed to recover and
+      brace himself, as one does who feels that a great struggle is at hand,
+      upon the issue of which everything depends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not be angry with me,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I cannot bear it. It hurts&mdash;ah!
+      you don&rsquo;t know how it hurts. Well, I will tell you, and before your
+      father, for that is more honourable. I dare&mdash;for your sake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my sake? How can it benefit me to be cooped up in this horrible place
+      with you? I would rather trust myself with the Makalanga, or even,&rdquo; she
+      added with bitter scorn, &ldquo;even with those bloody-minded Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ran away from them very fast a little while ago, Miss Clifford. But
+      you do not understand me. When I said for your sake, I meant for my own.
+      See, now. You tried to leave me the other day and did not succeed. Another
+      time you might succeed, and then&mdash;what would happen to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; and her eyes added&mdash;&ldquo;I do not care.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! but I know. Last time it drove me nearly mad; next time I should go
+      quite mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you believe that through me you will find this treasure of which
+      you dream day and night, Mr. Meyer&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he interrupted quickly. &ldquo;Because I believe that in you I shall find
+      the treasure of which I dream day and night, and because that treasure has
+      become necessary to my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita turned quickly towards her father, who was puzzling over the words,
+      but before either of them could speak Jacob passed his hand across his
+      brow in a bewildered way and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was I talking of? The treasure, yes, the uncountable treasure of
+      pure gold, that lies hid so deep, that is so hard to discover and to
+      possess; the useless, buried treasure that would bring such joy and glory
+      to us both, if only it could be come at and reckoned out, piece by piece,
+      coin by coin, through the long, long years of life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he paused; then went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Miss Clifford, you are quite right; that is why I have dared to
+      make you a prisoner, because, as the old Molimo said, the treasure is
+      yours and I wish to share it. Now, about this treasure, it seems that it
+      can&rsquo;t be found, can it, although I have worked so hard?&rdquo; and he looked at
+      his delicate, scarred hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so, Mr. Meyer, it can&rsquo;t be found, so you had better let us go down
+      to the Makalanga.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But there is a way, Miss Clifford, there is a way. You know where it
+      lies, and you can show me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I knew I would show you soon enough, Mr. Meyer, for then you could
+      take the stuff and our partnership would be at an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not until it is divided ounce by ounce and coin by coin. But first&mdash;first
+      you must show me, as you say you will, and as you can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How, Mr. Meyer? I am not a magician.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! but you are. I will tell you how, having your promise. Listen now,
+      both of you. I have studied. I know a great many secret things, and I read
+      in your face that you have the gift&mdash;let me look in your eyes a
+      while, Miss Clifford, and you will go to sleep quite gently, and then in
+      your sleep, which shall not harm you at all, you will see where that gold
+      lies hidden, and you will tell us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; asked Benita, bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what he means,&rdquo; broke in Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;You mean that you want to
+      mesmerize her as you did the Zulu chief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita opened her lips to speak, but Meyer said quickly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no; hear me first before you refuse. You have the gift, the precious
+      gift of clairvoyance, that is so rare.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that, Mr. Meyer? I have never been mesmerized in my
+      life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does not matter how. I do know it; I have been sure of it from the
+      moment when first we met, that night by the kloof. Although, perhaps, you
+      felt nothing then, it was that gift of yours working upon a mind in tune,
+      my mind, which led me there in time to save you, as it was that gift of
+      yours which warned you of the disaster about to happen to the ship&mdash;oh!
+      I have heard the story from your own lips. Your spirit can loose itself
+      from the body: it can see the past and the future; it can discover the
+      hidden things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not believe it,&rdquo; answered Benita; &ldquo;but at least it shall not be
+      loosed by you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It shall, it shall,&rdquo; he cried with passion, his eyes blazing on her as he
+      spoke. &ldquo;Oh! I foresaw all this, and that is why I was determined you
+      should come with us, so that, should other means fail, we might have your
+      power to fall back upon. Well, they have failed; I have been patient, I
+      have said nothing, but now there is no other way. Will you be so selfish,
+      so cruel, as to deny me, you who can make us all rich in an hour, and take
+      no hurt at all, no more than if you had slept awhile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita. &ldquo;I refuse to deliver my will into the keeping of
+      any living man, and least of all into yours, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to her father with a gesture of despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cannot you persuade her, Clifford? She is your daughter, she will obey
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not in that,&rdquo; said Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;I cannot, and I wouldn&rsquo;t if I could. My
+      daughter is quite right. Moreover, I hate this supernatural kind of thing.
+      If we can&rsquo;t find this gold without it, then we must let it alone, that is
+      all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer turned aside to hide his face, and presently looked up again, and
+      spoke quite softly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that I must accept my answer, but when you talked of any living
+      man just now, Miss Clifford, did you include your father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then will you allow him to try to mesmerize you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, if he likes,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But I do not think that the operation
+      will be very successful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, we will see to-morrow. Now, like you, I am tired. I am going to bed
+      in my new camp by the wall,&rdquo; he added significantly.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why are you so dead set against this business?&rdquo; asked her father, when he
+      had gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, father!&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;can&rsquo;t you see, don&rsquo;t you understand? Then it
+      is hard to have to tell you, but I must. In the beginning Mr. Meyer only
+      wanted the gold. Now he wants more, me as well as the gold. I hate him!
+      You know that is why I ran away. But I have read a good deal about this
+      mesmerism, and seen it once or twice, and who knows? If once I allow his
+      mind to master my mind, although I hate him so much, I might become his
+      slave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand now,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;Oh, why did I ever bring you here?
+      It would have been better if I had never seen your face again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On the morrow the experiment was made. Mr. Clifford attempted to mesmerize
+      his daughter. All the morning Jacob, who, it now appeared, had practical
+      knowledge of this doubtful art, tried to instruct him therein. In the
+      course of the lesson he informed him that for a short period in the past,
+      having great natural powers in that direction, he had made use of them
+      professionally, only giving up the business because he found it wrecked
+      his health. Mr. Clifford remarked that he had never told him that before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are lots of things in my life that I have never told you,&rdquo; replied
+      Jacob with a little secret smile. &ldquo;For instance, once I mesmerized you,
+      although you did not know it, and that is why you always have to do what I
+      want you to, except when your daughter is near you, for her influence is
+      stronger than mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford stared at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No wonder Benita won&rsquo;t let you mesmerize her,&rdquo; he said shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Jacob saw his mistake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are more foolish than I thought,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;How could I mesmerize you
+      without your knowing it? I was only laughing at you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see the laugh,&rdquo; replied Mr. Clifford uneasily, and they went on
+      with the lesson.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That afternoon it was put to proof&mdash;in the cave itself, where Meyer
+      seemed to think that the influences would be propitious. Benita, who found
+      some amusement in the performance, was seated upon the stone steps
+      underneath the crucifix, one lamp on the altar and others one each side of
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In front stood her father, staring at her and waving his hands
+      mysteriously in obedience to Jacob&rsquo;s directions. So ridiculous did he look
+      indeed while thus engaged that Benita had the greatest difficulty in
+      preventing herself from bursting into laughter. This was the only effect
+      which his grimaces and gesticulations produced upon her, although
+      outwardly she kept a solemn appearance, and even from time to time shut
+      her eyes to encourage him. Once, when she opened them again, it was to
+      perceive that he was becoming very hot and exhausted, and that Jacob was
+      watching him with such an unpleasant intentness that she re-closed her
+      eyes that she might not see his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was shortly after this that of a sudden Benita did feel something, a
+      kind of penetrating power flowing upon her, something soft and subtle that
+      seemed to creep into her brain like the sound of her mother&rsquo;s lullaby in
+      the dim years ago. She began to think that she was a lost traveller among
+      alpine snows wrapped round by snow, falling, falling in ten myriad flakes,
+      every one of them with a little heart of fire. Then it came to her that
+      she had heard this snow-sleep was dangerous, the last of all sleeps, and
+      that its victims must rouse themselves, or die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita roused herself just in time&mdash;only just, for now she was being
+      borne over the edge of a precipice upon the wings of swans, and beneath
+      her was darkness wherein dim figures walked with lamps where their hearts
+      should be. Oh, how heavy were her eyelids! Surely a weight hung to each of
+      them, a golden weight. There, there, they were open, and she saw. Her
+      father had ceased his efforts; he was rubbing his brow with a red
+      pocket-handkerchief, but behind him, with rigid arms outstretched, his
+      glowing eyes fastened on her face, stood Jacob Meyer. By an effort she
+      sprang to her feet, shaking her head as a dog does.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have done with this nonsense,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It tires me,&rdquo; and snatching one
+      of the lamps she ran swiftly down the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita expected that Jacob Meyer would be very angry with her, and braced
+      herself for a scene. But nothing of the sort happened. A while afterwards
+      she saw the two of them approaching, engaged apparently in amicable talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Meyer says that I am no mesmerist, love,&rdquo; said her father, &ldquo;and I can
+      quite believe him. But for all that it is a weary job. I am as tired as I
+      was after our escape from the Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To judge by results I agree with you. The occult is not in your line,
+      father. You had better give it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you, then, feel nothing?&rdquo; asked Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all,&rdquo; she answered, looking him in the eyes. &ldquo;No, that&rsquo;s
+      wrong, I felt extremely bored and sorry to see my father making himself
+      ridiculous. Grey hairs and nonsense of that sort don&rsquo;t go well together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I agree with you&mdash;not of that sort,&rdquo; and the
+      subject dropped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the next few days, to her intense relief, Benita heard no more of
+      mesmerism. To begin with, there was something else to occupy their minds.
+      The Matabele, tired of marching round the fortress and singing endless
+      war-songs, had determined upon an assault. From their point of vantage on
+      the topmost wall the three could watch the preparations which they made.
+      Trees were cut down and brought in from a great distance that rude ladders
+      might be fashioned out of them; also spies wandered round reconnoitring
+      for a weak place in the defences. When they came too near the Makalanga
+      fired on them, killing some, so that they retreated to the camp, which
+      they had made in a fold of ground at a little distance. Suddenly it
+      occurred to Meyer that although here the Matabele were safe from the
+      Makalanga bullets, it was commanded from the greater eminence, and by way
+      of recreation he set himself to harass them. His rifle was a sporting
+      Martini, and he had an ample supply of ammunition. Moreover, he was a
+      beautiful marksman, with sight like that of a hawk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few trial shots gave him the range; it was a shade under seven hundred
+      yards, and then he began operations. Lying on the top of the wall and
+      resting his rifle upon a stone, he waited until the man who was
+      superintending the manufacture of the ladders came out into the open,
+      when, aiming carefully, he fired. The soldier, a white-bearded savage,
+      sprang into the air, and fell backwards, while his companions stared
+      upwards, wondering whence the bullet had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pretty, wasn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; said Meyer to Benita, who was watching through a pair
+      of field-glasses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to see any more,&rdquo; and giving
+      the glasses to her father, she climbed down the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Meyer stayed there, and from time to time she heard the report of his
+      rifle. In the evening he told her that he had killed six men and wounded
+      ten more, adding that it was the best day&rsquo;s shooting which he could
+      remember.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the use when there are so many?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not much,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;But it annoys them and amuses me. Also, it was
+      part of our bargain that we should help the Makalanga if they were
+      attacked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that you like killing people,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind it, Miss Clifford, especially as they tried to kill you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"></a>
+      XVIII.<br/>
+      THE OTHER BENITA</h2>
+    <p>
+      At irregular times, when he had nothing else to do, Jacob went on with his
+      man-shooting, in which Mr. Clifford joined him, though with less effect.
+      Soon it became evident that the Matabele were very much annoyed by the
+      fatal accuracy of this fire. Loss of life they did not mind in the
+      abstract, but when none of them knew but that their own turn might come
+      next to perish beneath these downward plunging bullets, the matter wore a
+      different face to them. To leave their camp was not easy, since they had
+      made a thorn <i>boma</i> round it, to protect them in case the Makalanga
+      should make a night sally; also they could find no other convenient spot.
+      The upshot of it all was to hurry their assault, which they delivered
+      before they had prepared sufficient ladders to make it effective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the first break of dawn on the third day after Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s attempt
+      at mesmerism, Benita was awakened by the sounds of shouts and firing.
+      Having dressed herself hastily, she hurried in the growing light towards
+      that part of the wall from below which the noise seemed to come, and
+      climbing it, found her father and Jacob already seated there, their rifles
+      in hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fools are attacking the small gate through which you went out riding,
+      Miss Clifford, the very worst place that they could have chosen, although
+      the wall looks very weak there,&rdquo; said the latter. &ldquo;If those Makalanga have
+      any pluck they ought to teach them a lesson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the sun rose and they saw companies of Matabele, who carried ladders
+      in their hands, rushing onwards through the morning mist till their sight
+      of them was obstructed by the swell of the hill. On these companies the
+      two white men opened fire, with what result they could not see in that
+      light. Presently a great shout announced that the enemy had gained the
+      fosse and were setting up the ladders. Up to this time the Makalanga
+      appeared to have done nothing, but now they began to fire rapidly from the
+      ancient bastions which commanded the entrance the impi was striving to
+      storm, and soon through the thinning fog they perceived wounded Matabele
+      staggering and crawling back towards their camp. Of these, the light now
+      better, Jacob did not neglect to take his toll.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, the ancient fortress rang with the hideous tumult of the
+      attack. It was evident that again and again, as their fierce war-shouts
+      proclaimed, the Matabele were striving to scale the wall, and again and
+      again were beaten back by the raking rifle fire. Once a triumphant yell
+      seemed to announce their success. The fire slackened and Benita grew pale
+      with fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Makalanga cowards are bolting,&rdquo; muttered Mr. Clifford, listening with
+      terrible anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But if so their courage came back to them, for presently the guns cracked
+      louder and more incessant than before, and the savage cries of &ldquo;Kill!
+      Kill! Kill!&rdquo; dwindled and died away. Another five minutes and the Matabele
+      were in full retreat, bearing with them many dead and wounded men upon
+      their backs or stretched out on the ladders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our Makalanga friends should be grateful to us for those hundred rifles,&rdquo;
+       said Jacob as he loaded and fired rapidly, sending his bullets wherever
+      the clusters were thickest. &ldquo;Had it not been for them their throats would
+      have been cut by now,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;for they could never have stopped those
+      savages with the spear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and ours too before nightfall,&rdquo; said Benita with a shudder, for the
+      sight of this desperate fray and fear of how it might end had sickened
+      her. &ldquo;Thank Heaven, it is over! Perhaps they will give up the siege and go
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But, notwithstanding their costly defeat, for they had lost over a hundred
+      men, the Matabele, who were afraid to return to Buluwayo except as
+      victors, did nothing of the sort. They only cut down a quantity of reeds
+      and scrub, and moved their camp nearly to the banks of the river, placing
+      it in such a position that it could no longer be searched by the fire of
+      the two white men. Here they sat themselves down sullenly, hoping to
+      starve out the garrison or to find some other way of entering the
+      fortress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Meyer&rsquo;s shooting having come to an end for lack of men to shoot at,
+      since the enemy exposed themselves no more, he was again able to give his
+      full attention to the matter of the treasure hunt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As nothing could be found in the cave he devoted himself to the outside
+      enclosure which, it may be remembered, was grown over with grass and trees
+      and crowded with ruins. In the most important of these ruins they began to
+      dig somewhat aimlessly, and were rewarded by finding a certain amount of
+      gold in the shape of beads and ornaments, and a few more skeletons of
+      ancients. But of the Portuguese hoard there was no sign. Thus it came
+      about that they grew gloomier day by day, till at last they scarcely spoke
+      to each other. Jacob&rsquo;s angry disappointment was written on his face, and
+      Benita was filled with despair, since to escape from their gaoler above
+      and the Matabele below seemed impossible. Moreover, she had another cause
+      for anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ill-health which had been threatening her father for a long while now
+      fell upon him in earnest, so that of a sudden he became a very old man.
+      His strength and energy left him, and his mind was so filled with remorse
+      for what he held to be his crime in bringing his daughter to this awful
+      place, and with terror for the fate that threatened her, that he could
+      think of nothing else. In vain did she try to comfort him. He would only
+      wring his hands and groan, praying that God and she would forgive him.
+      Now, too, Meyer&rsquo;s mastery over him became continually more evident. Mr.
+      Clifford implored the man, almost with tears, to unblock the wall and
+      allow them to go down to the Makalanga. He even tried to bribe him with
+      the offer of all his share of the treasure, if it were found, and when
+      that failed, of his property in the Transvaal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Jacob only told him roughly not to be a fool, as they had to see the
+      thing through together. Then he would go again and brood by himself, and
+      Benita noticed that he always took his rifle or a pistol with him.
+      Evidently he feared lest her father should catch him unprepared, and take
+      the law into his own hands by means of a sudden bullet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One comfort she had, however: although he watched her closely, the Jew
+      never tried to molest her in any way, not even with more of his enigmatic
+      and amorous speeches. By degrees, indeed, she came to believe that all
+      this was gone from his mind, or that he had abandoned his advances as
+      hopeless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A week passed since the Matabele attack, and nothing had happened. The
+      Makalanga took no notice of them, and so far as she was aware the old
+      Molimo never attempted to climb the blocked wall or otherwise to
+      communicate with them, a thing so strange that, knowing his affection for
+      her, Benita came to the conclusion that he must be dead, killed perhaps in
+      the attack. Even Jacob Meyer had abandoned his digging, and sat about all
+      day doing nothing but think.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their meal that night was a miserable affair, since in the first place
+      provisions were running short and there was little to eat, and in the
+      second no one spoke a word. Benita could swallow no food; she was weary of
+      that sun-dried trek-ox, for since Meyer had blocked the wall they had
+      little else. But by good fortune there remained plenty of coffee, and of
+      this she drank two cups, which Jacob prepared and handed to her with much
+      politeness. It tasted very bitter to her, but this, Benita reflected, was
+      because they lacked milk and sugar. Supper ended, Meyer rose and bowed to
+      her, muttering that he was going to bed, and a few minutes later Mr.
+      Clifford followed his example. She went with her father to the hut beneath
+      the tree, and having helped him to remove his coat, which now he seemed to
+      find difficulty in doing for himself, bade him good-night and returned to
+      the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was very lonely there in the silence, for no sound came from either the
+      Matabele or the Makalanga camps, and the bright moonlight seemed to people
+      the place with fantastic shadows that looked alive. Benita cried a little
+      now that her father could not see her, and then also sought refuge in bed.
+      Evidently the end, whatever it might be, was near, and of it she could not
+      bear to think. Moreover, her eyes were strangely heavy, so much so that
+      before she had finished saying her prayers sleep fell upon her, and she
+      knew no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had she remained as wakeful as it was often her fate to be during those
+      fearful days, towards midnight she might have heard some light-footed
+      creature creeping to her tent, and seen that the moon-rays which flowed
+      through the gaping and ill-closed flap were cut off by the figure of a man
+      with glowing eyes, whose projected arms waved over her mysteriously. But
+      Benita neither heard nor saw. In her drugged rest she did not know that
+      her sleep turned gradually to a magic swoon. She had no knowledge of her
+      rising, or of how she threw her thick cloak about her, lit her lamp, and,
+      in obedience to that beckoning finger, glided from the tent. She never
+      heard her father stumble from his hut, disturbed by the sound of
+      footsteps, or the words that passed between him and Jacob Meyer, while,
+      lamp in hand, she stood near them like a strengthless ghost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you dare to wake her,&rdquo; hissed Jacob, &ldquo;I tell you that she will die,
+      and afterwards you shall die,&rdquo; and he fingered the pistol at his belt. &ldquo;No
+      harm shall come to her&mdash;I swear it! Follow and see. Man, man, be
+      silent; our fortunes hang on it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, overcome also by the strange fierceness of that voice and gaze, he
+      followed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On they go to the winding neck of the cavern, first Jacob walking
+      backwards like the herald of majesty; then majesty itself in the shape of
+      this long-haired, death-like woman, cloaked and bearing in her hand the
+      light; and last, behind, the old, white-bearded man, like Time following
+      Beauty to the grave. Now they were in the great cavern, and now, avoiding
+      the open tombs, the well mouth and the altar, they stood beneath the
+      crucifix.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be seated,&rdquo; said Meyer, and the entranced Benita sat herself down upon
+      the steps at the foot of the cross, placing the lamp on the rock pavement
+      before her, and bowing her head till her hair fell upon her naked feet and
+      hid them. He held his hands above her for a while, then asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you sleep?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sleep,&rdquo; came the strange, slow answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your spirit awake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Command it to travel backwards through the ages to the beginning, and
+      tell me what you see here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see a rugged cave and wild folk dwelling in it; an old man is dying
+      yonder,&rdquo; and she pointed to the right; &ldquo;and a black woman with a babe at
+      her breast tends him. A man, it is her husband, enters the cave. He holds
+      a torch in one hand, and with the other drags a buck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cease,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;How long is this ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thirty-three thousand two hundred and one years,&rdquo; came the answer, spoken
+      without any hesitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pass on,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;pass on thirty thousand years, and tell me what you
+      see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a long while there was silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you not speak?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be patient; I am living through those thirty thousand years; many a life,
+      many an age, but none may be missed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again there was silence for a long while, till at length she spoke:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are done, all of them, and now three thousand years ago I see this
+      place changed and smoothly fashioned, peopled by a throng of worshippers
+      clad in strange garments with clasps upon them. Behind me stands the
+      graven statue of a goddess with a calm and cruel face, in front of the
+      altar burns a fire, and on the altar white-robed priests are sacrificing
+      an infant which cries aloud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pass on, pass on,&rdquo; Meyer said hurriedly, as though the horror of that
+      scene had leapt to his eyes. &ldquo;Pass on two thousand seven hundred years and
+      tell me what you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again there was a pause, while the spirit he had evoked in the body of
+      Benita lived through those ages. Then slowly she answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, the place is black and desolate, only the dead sleep beneath its
+      floor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait till the living come again,&rdquo; he commanded; &ldquo;then speak.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are here,&rdquo; she replied presently. &ldquo;Tonsured monks, one of whom
+      fashions this crucifix, and their followers who bow before the Host upon
+      the altar. They come, they go&mdash;of whom shall I tell you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me of the Portuguese; of those who were driven here to die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see them all,&rdquo; she answered, after a pause. &ldquo;Two hundred and three of
+      them. They are ragged and wayworn and hungry. Among them is a beautiful
+      woman, a girl. She draws near to me, she enters into me. You must ask
+      her,&rdquo;&mdash;this was spoken in a very faint voice&mdash;&ldquo;I am I no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford attempted to interrupt, but fiercely Meyer bade him to be
+      silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak,&rdquo; he commanded, but the crouching figure shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak,&rdquo; he said again, whereon another voice, not that of Benita,
+      answered in another tongue:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear; but I do not understand your language.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great Heaven!&rdquo; said Meyer, &ldquo;it is Portuguese,&rdquo; and for a while the terror
+      of the thing struck him dumb, for he was aware that Benita knew no
+      Portuguese. He knew it, however, who had lived at Lorenço Marquez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he asked in that tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am Benita da Ferreira. I am the daughter of the Captain da Ferreira and
+      of his wife, the lady Christinha, who stand by you now. Turn, and you will
+      see them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob started and looked about him uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did she say? I did not catch it all,&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He translated her words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But this is black magic,&rdquo; exclaimed the old man. &ldquo;Benita knows no
+      Portuguese, so how comes she to speak it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because she is no longer our Benita; she is another Benita, Benita da
+      Ferreira. The Molimo was right when he said that the spirit of the dead
+      woman went with her, as it seems the name has gone,&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have done,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford; &ldquo;the thing is unholy. Wake her up, or I
+      will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And bring about her death. Touch or disturb her, and I tell you she will
+      die,&rdquo; and he pointed to Benita, who crouched before them so white and
+      motionless that indeed it seemed as though already she were dead. &ldquo;Be
+      quiet,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I swear to you that no hurt shall come to her, also
+      that I will translate everything to you. Promise, or I will tell you
+      nothing, and her blood be on your head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Mr. Clifford groaned and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me your story, Benita da Ferreira. How came you and your people
+      here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The tribes of Monomotapa rose against our rule. They killed many of us in
+      the lower land, yes, they killed my brother and him to whom I was
+      affianced. The rest of us fled north to this ancient fortress, hoping
+      thence to escape by the river, the Zambesi. The Mambo, our vassal, gave us
+      shelter here, but the tribes besieged the walls in thousands, and burnt
+      all the boats so that we could not fly by the water. Many times we beat
+      them back from the wall; the ditch was full of their dead, and at last
+      they dared to attack no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we began to starve and they won the first wall. We went on starving
+      and they won the second wall, but the third wall they could not climb. So
+      we died; one by one we laid ourselves down in this cave and died, till I
+      alone was left, for while our people had food they gave it to me who was
+      the daughter of their captain. Yes, alone I knelt at the foot of this
+      crucifix by the body of my father, praying to the blessed Son of Mary for
+      the death that would not come, and kneeling there I swooned. When I awoke
+      again the Mambo and his men stood about me, for now, knowing us to be
+      dead, the tribes had gone, and those who were in hiding across the river
+      had returned and knew how to climb the wall. They bore me from among the
+      dead, they gave me food so that my strength came back; but in the night I,
+      who in my wickedness would not live, escaped from them and climbed the
+      pillar of black rock, so that when the sun rose they saw me standing
+      there. They begged of me to come down, promising to protect me, but I said
+      &lsquo;No,&rsquo; who in the evil of my heart only desired to die, that I might join
+      my father and my brother, and one who was dearer to me than all. They
+      asked of me where the great treasure was hidden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words Jacob gasped, then rapidly translated them, while the
+      figure before them became silent, as though it felt that for the moment
+      the power of his will was withdrawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak on, I bid you,&rdquo; he said, and she continued, the rich, slow voice
+      dropping word after word from the lips of Benita in the alien speech that
+      this Benita never knew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I answered that it was where it was, and that if they gave it up to any
+      save the one appointed, then that fate which had befallen my people would
+      befall theirs also. Yes, I gave it into their keeping until I came again,
+      since with his dying breath my father had commanded me to reveal it to
+      none, and I believed that I who was about to die should never come again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I made my last prayer, I kissed the golden crucifix that now hangs
+      upon this breast wherein I dwell,&rdquo; and the hand of the living Benita was
+      lifted, and moving like the hand of a dead thing, slowly drew out the
+      symbol from beneath the cloak, held it for a moment in the lamplight, and
+      let it fall to its place again. &ldquo;I put my hands before my eyes that I
+      might not see, and I hurled myself from the pinnacle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the voice ceased, but from the lips came a dreadful sound, such as
+      might be uttered by one whose bones are shattered upon rocks, followed by
+      other sounds like those of one who chokes in water. They were so horrible
+      to hear that Mr. Clifford nearly fainted, and even Jacob Meyer staggered
+      and turned white as the white face of Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wake her! For God&rsquo;s sake, wake her!&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;She is dying, as
+      that woman died hundreds of years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not till she has told us where the gold is. Be quiet, you fool. She does
+      not feel or suffer. It is the spirit within her that lives through the
+      past again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more there was silence. It seemed as though the story were all told
+      and the teller had departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita da Ferreira,&rdquo; said Meyer at length, &ldquo;I command you, tell me, are
+      you dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! would that I were dead, as my body is dead!&rdquo; wailed the lips of
+      Benita. &ldquo;Alas! I cannot die who suffer this purgatory, and must dwell on
+      here alone until the destined day. Yes, yes, the spirit of her who was
+      Benita da Ferreira must haunt this place in solitude. This is her doom, to
+      be the guardian of that accursed gold which was wrung from the earth by
+      cruelty and paid for with the lives of men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it still safe?&rdquo; whispered Jacob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will look;&rdquo; then after a pause, &ldquo;I have looked. It is there, every
+      grain of it, in ox-hide bags; only one of them has fallen and burst, that
+      which is black and red.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is it?&rdquo; he said again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may not tell you; never, never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there anyone whom you may tell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Her in whose breast I lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell her then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told her; she knows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And may she tell me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let her guard the secret as she will. O my Guardian, I thank thee. My
+      burden is departed; my sin of self-murder is atoned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita da Ferreira, are you gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita Clifford, do you hear me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear you,&rdquo; said the voice of Benita, speaking in English, although
+      Jacob, forgetting, had addressed her in Portuguese.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the gold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In my keeping.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, I command you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But no words came; though he questioned her many times no words came, till
+      at last her head sank forward upon her knees, and in a faint voice she
+      murmured:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Loose me, or I die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"></a>
+      XIX.<br/>
+      THE AWAKING</h2>
+    <p>
+      Still Jacob Meyer hesitated. The great secret was unlearned, and, if this
+      occasion passed, might never be learned. But if he hesitated, Mr. Clifford
+      did not. The knowledge of his child&rsquo;s danger, the sense that her life was
+      mysteriously slipping away from her under pressure of the ghastly spell in
+      which she lay enthralled, stirred him to madness. His strength and manhood
+      came back to him. He sprang straight at Meyer&rsquo;s throat, gripped it with
+      one hand, and with the other drew the knife he wore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You devil!&rdquo; he gasped. &ldquo;Wake her or you shall go with her!&rdquo; and he lifted
+      the knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Jacob gave in. Shaking off his assailant he stepped to Benita, and
+      while her father stood behind him with the lifted blade, began to make
+      strange upward passes over her, and to mutter words of command. For a long
+      while they took no effect; indeed, both of them were almost sure that she
+      was gone. Despair gripped her father, and Meyer worked at his black art so
+      furiously that the sweat burst out upon his forehead and fell in great
+      drops to the floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, at last, at last she stirred! Her head lifted itself a little, her
+      breast heaved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord in Heaven, I have saved her!&rdquo; muttered Jacob in German, and worked
+      on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the eyes of Benita opened, and now she stood up and sighed. But she
+      said nothing; only like a person walking in her sleep, she began to move
+      towards the entrance of the cave, her father going before her with the
+      lamp. On she went, and out of it straight to her tent, where instantly she
+      cast herself upon her bed and sank into deep slumber. It was as though the
+      power of the drug-induced oblivion, which for a while was over-mastered by
+      that other stronger power invoked by Jacob, had reasserted itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer watched her for awhile; then said to Mr. Clifford:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be afraid and don&rsquo;t attempt to disturb her. She will wake naturally
+      in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so for both our sakes,&rdquo; he answered, glaring at him, &ldquo;for if not,
+      you or I, or the two of us, will never see another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer took no notice of his threats; indeed the man seemed so exhausted
+      that he could scarcely stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am done,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now, as she is safe, I don&rsquo;t care what happens to
+      me. I must rest,&rdquo; and he staggered from the tent, like a drunken man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside, at the place where they ate, Mr. Clifford heard him gulping down
+      raw gin from the bottle. Then he heard no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the rest of the night, and for some hours of the early morning, did
+      her father watch by the bed of Benita, although, lightly clad as he was,
+      the cold of dawn struck to his bones. At length, when the sun was well up,
+      she rose in her bed, and her eyes opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you doing here, father?&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have come to see where you were, dear. You are generally out by now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that I must have overslept myself then,&rdquo; she replied wearily.
+      &ldquo;But it does not seem to have refreshed me much, and my head aches. Oh! I
+      remember,&rdquo; she added with a start. &ldquo;I have had such a horrid dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What about?&rdquo; he asked as carelessly as he could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t recall it quite, but it had to do with Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; and she
+      shivered. &ldquo;It seemed as though I had passed into his power, as though he
+      had taken possession of me, body and soul, and forced me to tell him all
+      the secret things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What secret things, Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know now, but we went away among dead people, and I told him
+      there. Oh! father, I am afraid of that man&mdash;terribly afraid! Protect
+      me from him,&rdquo; and she began to cry a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I will protect you, dear. Something has upset your nerves.
+      Come, dress yourself and you&rsquo;ll soon forget it all. I&rsquo;ll light the fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A quarter of an hour later Benita joined him, looking pale and shaken, but
+      otherwise much as usual. She was ravenously hungry, and ate of the
+      biscuits and dried meat with eagerness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The coffee tastes quite different from that which I drank last night,&rdquo;
+       she said. &ldquo;I think there must have been something in it which gave me
+      those bad dreams. Where is Mr. Meyer? Oh, I know!&rdquo; and again she put her
+      hand to her head. &ldquo;He is still asleep by the wall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who told you that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say, but it is so. He will not come here till one o&rsquo;clock. There,
+      I feel much better now. What shall we do, father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit in the sun and rest, I think, dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, let us do that, on the top of the wall. We can see the Makalanga
+      from there, and it will be a comfort to be sure that there are other human
+      beings left in the world besides ourselves and Jacob Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So presently they went, and from the spot whence Meyer used to shoot at
+      the Matabele camp, looked down upon the Makalanga moving about the first
+      enclosure far below. By the aid of the glasses Benita even thought that
+      she recognised Tamas, although of this it was difficult to be sure, for
+      they were all very much alike. Still, the discovery quite excited her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure it is Tamas,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And oh! how I wish that we were down
+      there with him, although it is true that then we should be nearer to the
+      Matabele. But they are better than Mr. Meyer, much better.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now for a while they were silent, till at length she said suddenly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, you are keeping something back from me, and things begin to come
+      back. Tell me; did I go anywhere last night with Mr. Meyer&mdash;you and
+      he and I together?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hesitated and looked guilty; Mr. Clifford was not a good actor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that we did; I am sure that we did. Father, tell me. I must know, I
+      will know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he gave way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to speak, dear, but perhaps it is best. It is a very
+      strange story. Will you promise not to be upset?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will promise not to be more upset than I am at present,&rdquo; she answered,
+      with a sad little laugh. &ldquo;Go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You remember that Jacob Meyer wanted to mesmerize you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not likely to forget it,&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, last night he did mesmerize you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;<i>What?</i> Oh! how dreadful! Now I understand it all.
+      But when?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you were sound asleep, I suppose. At least, the first I knew of it
+      was that some noise woke me, and I came out of the hut to see you
+      following him like a dead woman, with a lamp in your hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he told her all the story, while she listened aghast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How dared he!&rdquo; she gasped, when her father had finished the long tale. &ldquo;I
+      hate him; I almost wish that you had killed him,&rdquo; and she clenched her
+      little hands and shook them in the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is not very Christian of you, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; said a voice behind
+      her. &ldquo;But it is past one o&rsquo;clock, and as I am still alive I have come to
+      tell you that it is time for luncheon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita wheeled round upon the stone on which she sat, and there, standing
+      amidst the bushes a little way from the foot of the wall, was Jacob Meyer.
+      Their eyes met; hers were full of defiance, and his of conscious power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not want any luncheon, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I am sure that you do. Please come down and have some. Please come
+      down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The words were spoken humbly, almost pleadingly, yet to Benita they seemed
+      as a command. At any rate, with slow reluctance she climbed down the
+      shattered wall, followed by her father, and without speaking they went
+      back to their camping place, all three of them, Jacob leading the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had eaten, or made pretence to eat, he spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that your father has told you everything, Miss Clifford, and of
+      that I am glad. As for me, it would have been awkward, who must ask your
+      forgiveness for so much. But what could I do? I knew, as I have always
+      known, that it was only possible to find this treasure by your help. So I
+      gave you something to make you sleep, and then in your sleep I hypnotized
+      you, and&mdash;you know the rest. I have great experience in this art, but
+      I have never seen or heard of anything like what happened, and I hope I
+      never shall again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hitherto Benita had sat silent, but now her burning indignation and
+      curiosity overcame her shame and hatred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you have done a shameful and a wicked thing, and I
+      tell you at once that I can never forgive you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t say that. Please don&rsquo;t say that,&rdquo; he interrupted in tones of real
+      grief. &ldquo;Make allowances for me. I had to learn, and there was no other
+      way. You are a born clairvoyante, one among ten thousand, my art told me
+      so, and you know all that is at stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By which you mean so many ounces of gold, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By which I mean the greatness that gold can give, Miss Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such greatness, Mr. Meyer, as a week of fever, or a Matabele spear, or
+      God&rsquo;s will can rob you of. But the thing is done, and soon or late the sin
+      must be paid for. Now I want to ask you a question. You believe in
+      nothing; you have told me so several times. You say that there is no such
+      thing as a spirit, that when we die, we die, and there&rsquo;s an end. Do you
+      not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then tell me, what was it that spoke out of my lips last night, and how
+      came it that I, who know no Portuguese, talked to you in that tongue?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have put a difficult question, but one I think that can be answered.
+      There is no such thing as a spirit, an identity that survives death. But
+      there is such a thing as the sub-conscious self, which is part of the
+      animating principle of the universe, and, if only its knowledge can be
+      unsealed, knows all that has passed and all that is passing in that
+      universe. One day perhaps you will read the works of my compatriot, Hegel,
+      and there you will find it spoken of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You explain nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am about to explain, Miss Clifford. Last night I gave to your
+      sub-conscious self&mdash;that which knows all&mdash;the strength of
+      liberty, so that it saw the past as it happened in this place. Already you
+      knew the story of the dead girl, Benita da Ferreira, and that story you
+      re-enacted, talking the tongue she used as you would have talked Greek or
+      any other tongue, had it been hers. It was not her spirit that animated
+      you, although at the time I called it so for shortness, but your own
+      buried knowledge, tricked out and furnished by the effort of your human
+      imagination. That her name, Benita, should have been yours also is no
+      doubt a strange coincidence, but no more. Also we have no proof that it
+      was so; only what you said in your trance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; said Benita, who was in no mood for philosophical argument.
+      &ldquo;Perhaps also one day you will see a spirit, Mr. Meyer, and think
+      otherwise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I see a spirit and know that it is a spirit, then doubtless I shall
+      believe in spirits. But what is the good of talking of such things? I do
+      not seek spirits; I seek Portuguese gold. Now, I am sure you can tell
+      where that gold lies. You would have told us last night, had not your
+      nervous strength failed you, who are unaccustomed to the state of trance.
+      Speaking as Benita da Ferreira, you said that you saw it and described its
+      condition. Then you could, or would, say no more, and it became necessary
+      to waken you. Miss Clifford, you must let me mesmerize you once again for
+      a few minutes only, for then we will waste no time on past histories, and
+      we shall find the gold. Unless, indeed,&rdquo; he added by an afterthought, and
+      looking at her sharply, &ldquo;you know already where it is; in which case I
+      need not trouble you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, Mr. Meyer. I remember nothing about the gold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which proves my theory. What purported to be the spirit of Benita da
+      Ferreira said that it had passed the secret on to you, but in your waking
+      state you do not know that secret. In fact, she did not pass it on because
+      she had no existence. But in your sub-conscious state you will know.
+      Therefore I must mesmerize you again. Not at once, but in a few days&rsquo; 
+      time, when you have quite recovered. Let us say next Wednesday, three days
+      hence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall never mesmerize me again, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not while I live,&rdquo; broke in her father, who had been listening to
+      this discussion in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob bowed his head meekly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think so now, but I think otherwise. What I did last night I did
+      against your will, and that I can do again, only much more easily. But I
+      had rather do it with your will, who work not for my own sake only, but
+      for the sake of all of us. And now let us talk no more of the matter, lest
+      we should grow angry.&rdquo; Then he rose and went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next three days were passed by Benita in a state of constant dread.
+      She knew in herself that Jacob Meyer had acquired a certain command over
+      her; that an invincible intimacy had sprung up between them. She was
+      acquainted with his thoughts; thus, before he asked for it, she would find
+      herself passing him some article at table or elsewhere, or answering a
+      question that he was only about to ask. Moreover, he could bring her to
+      him from a little distance. Thus, on two or three occasions when she was
+      wandering about their prison enclosure, as she was wont to do for the sake
+      of exercise, she found her feet draw to some spot&mdash;now one place and
+      now another&mdash;and when she reached it there before her was Jacob
+      Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me for bringing you here,&rdquo; he would say, smiling after his
+      crooked fashion, and lifting his hat politely, &ldquo;but I wish to ask you if
+      you have not changed your mind as to being mesmerized?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then for a while he would hold her with his eyes, so that her feet seemed
+      rooted to the ground, till at length it was as though he cut a rope by
+      some action of his will and set her free, and, choked with wrath and blind
+      with tears, Benita would turn and run from him as from a wild beast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But if her days were evil, oh! what were her nights? She lived in constant
+      terror lest he should again drug her food or drink, and, while she slept,
+      throw his magic spell upon her. To protect herself from the first danger
+      she would swallow nothing that had been near him. Now also she slept in
+      the hut with her father, who lay near its door, a loaded rifle at his
+      side, for he had told Jacob outright that if he caught him at his
+      practices he would shoot him, a threat at which the younger man laughed
+      aloud, for he had no fear of Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the long hours of darkness they kept watch alternately, one of
+      them lying down to rest while the other peered and listened. Nor did
+      Benita always listen in vain, for twice at least she heard stealthy
+      footsteps creeping about the hut, and felt that soft and dreadful
+      influence flowing in upon her. Then she would wake her father, whispering,
+      &ldquo;He is there, I can feel that he is there.&rdquo; But by the time that the old
+      man had painfully dragged himself to his feet&mdash;for now he was
+      becoming very feeble and acute rheumatism or some such illness had got
+      hold of him&mdash;and crept from the hut, there was no one to be seen.
+      Only through the darkness he would hear the sound of a retreating step,
+      and of low, mocking laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus those miserable days went by, and the third morning came, that
+      dreaded Wednesday. Before it was dawn Benita and her father, neither of
+      whom had closed their eyes that night, talked over their strait long and
+      earnestly, and they knew that its crisis was approaching.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that I had better try to kill him, Benita,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am
+      growing dreadfully weak, and if I put it off I may find no strength, and
+      you will be at his mercy. I can easily shoot him when his back is turned,
+      and though I hate the thought of such a deed, surely I shall be forgiven.
+      Or if not, I cannot help it. I must think of my duty to you, not of
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I will not have it. It would be murder, although
+      he has threatened you. After all, father, I believe that the man is half
+      mad, and not responsible. We must take our chance and trust to God to save
+      us. If He does not,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;at the worst I can always save myself,&rdquo;
+       and she touched the pistol which now she wore day and night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, with a groan. &ldquo;Let us pray for deliverance
+      from this hell and keep our hands clean of blood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"></a>
+      XX.<br/>
+      JACOB MEYER SEES A SPIRIT</h2>
+    <p>
+      For a while they were silent, then Benita said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, is it not possible that we might escape, after all? Perhaps that
+      stair on the rampart is not so completely blocked that we could not climb
+      over it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford, thinking of his stiff limbs and aching back, shook his head
+      and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know; Meyer has never let me near enough to see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, why do you not go to look? You know he sleeps till late now,
+      because he is up all night. Take the glasses and examine the top of the
+      wall from inside that old house near by. He will not see or hear you, but
+      if I came near, he would know and wake up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you like, love, I can try, but what are you going to do while I am
+      away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall climb the pillar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, nothing of that sort. I shall not follow the example of Benita da
+      Ferreira unless I am driven to it; I want to look, that is all. One can
+      see far from that place, if there is anything to see. Perhaps the Matabele
+      are gone now, we have heard nothing of them lately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they dressed themselves, and as soon as the light was sufficiently
+      strong, came out of the hut and parted, Mr. Clifford, rifle in hand,
+      limping off towards the wall, and Benita going towards the great cone. She
+      climbed it easily enough, and stood in the little cup-like depression on
+      its dizzy peak, waiting for the sun to rise and disperse the mists which
+      hung over the river and its banks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now whatever may have been the exact ceremonial use to which the ancients
+      put this pinnacle, without doubt it had something to do with sun-worship.
+      This, indeed, was proved by the fact that, at any rate at this season of
+      the year, the first rays of the risen orb struck full upon its point. Thus
+      it came about that, as she stood there waiting, Benita of a sudden found
+      herself suffused in light so vivid and intense that, clothed as she was in
+      a dress which had once been white, it must have caused her to shine like a
+      silver image. For several minutes, indeed, this golden spear of fire
+      blinded her so that she could see nothing, but stood quite still, afraid
+      to move, and waiting until, as the sun grew higher, its level rays passed
+      over her. This they did presently, and plunging into the valley, began to
+      drive away the fog. Now she looked down, along the line of the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Matabele camp was invisible, for it lay in a hollow almost at the foot
+      of the fortress. Beyond it, however, was a rising swell of ground; it may
+      have been half a mile from where she stood, and on the crest of it she
+      perceived what looked like a waggon tent with figures moving round it.
+      They were shouting also, for through the silence of the African morn the
+      sound of their voices floated up to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the mist cleared off Benita saw that without doubt it was a waggon, for
+      there stood the long row of oxen, also it had just been captured by the
+      Matabele, for these were about it in numbers. At the moment, however, they
+      appeared to be otherwise occupied, for they were pointing with their
+      spears to the pillar on Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it occurred to Benita that, placed as she was in that fierce light
+      with only the sky for background, she must be perfectly visible from the
+      plain below, and that it might be her figure perched like an eagle between
+      heaven and earth which excited their interest. Yes, and not theirs only,
+      for now a white man appeared, who lifted what might have been a gun, or a
+      telescope, towards her. She was sure from the red flannel shirt and the
+      broad hat which he wore that he must be a white man, and oh! how her heart
+      yearned towards him, whoever he might be! The sight of an angel from
+      heaven could scarcely have been more welcome to Benita in her
+      wretchedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet surely she must be dreaming. What should a white man and a waggon be
+      doing in that place? And why had not the Matabele killed him at once? She
+      could not tell, yet they appeared to have no murderous intentions, since
+      they continued to gesticulate and talk whilst he stared upwards with the
+      telescope, if it were a telescope. So things went on for a long time, for
+      meanwhile the oxen were outspanned, until, indeed, more Matabele arrived,
+      who led off the white man, apparently against his will, towards their
+      camp, where he disappeared. Then there was nothing more to be seen. Benita
+      descended the column.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At its foot she met her father, who had come to seek her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter?&rdquo; he asked, noting her excited face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she said or rather sobbed, &ldquo;there is a waggon with a white man
+      below. I saw the Matabele capture him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am sorry for the poor devil,&rdquo; answered the father, &ldquo;for he is dead
+      by now. But what could a white man have been doing here? Some hunter, I
+      suppose, who has walked into a trap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Benita fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hoped,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that he might help us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As well might he hope that we could help him. He is gone, and there is an
+      end. Well, peace to his soul, and we have our own troubles to think of. I
+      have been to look at that wall, and it is useless to think of climbing it.
+      If he had been a professional mason, Meyer could not have built it up
+      better; no wonder that we have seen nothing more of the Molimo, for only a
+      bird could reach us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where was Mr. Meyer?&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Asleep in a blanket under a little shelter of boughs by the stair. At
+      least, I thought so, though it was rather difficult to make him out in the
+      shadow; at any rate, I saw his rifle set against a tree. Come, let us go
+      to breakfast. No doubt he will turn up soon enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went, and for the first time since the Sunday Benita ate a hearty
+      meal of biscuits soaked in coffee. Although her father was so sure that by
+      now he must have perished on the Matabele spears, the sight of the white
+      man and his waggon had put new life into her, bringing her into touch with
+      the world again. After all, might it not chance that he had escaped?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while there had been no sign of Jacob Meyer. This, however, did
+      not surprise them, for now he ate his meals alone, taking his food from a
+      little general store, and cooking it over his own fire. When they had
+      finished their breakfast Mr. Clifford remarked that they had no more
+      drinking water left, and Benita said that she would go to fetch a pailful
+      from the well in the cave. Her father suggested that he should accompany
+      her, but she answered that it was not necessary as she was quite able to
+      wind the chain by herself. So she went, carrying the bucket in one hand
+      and a lamp in the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she walked down the last of the zigzags leading to the cave, Benita
+      stopped a moment thinking that she saw a light, and then went on, since on
+      turning the corner there was nothing but darkness before her. Evidently
+      she had been mistaken. She reached the well and hung the pail on to the
+      great copper hook, wondering as she did so how many folk had done likewise
+      in the far, far past, for the massive metal of that hook was worn quite
+      thin with use. Then she let the roller run, and the sound of the
+      travelling chain clanked dismally in that vaulted, empty place. At length
+      the pail struck the water, and she began to wind up again, pausing at
+      times to rest, for the distance was long and the chain heavy. The bucket
+      appeared. Benita drew it to the side of the well, and lifted it from the
+      hook, then took up her lamp to be gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Feeling or seeing something, which she was not sure, she held the lamp
+      above her head, and by its light perceived a figure standing between her
+      and the entrance to the cave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; she asked, whereon a soft voice answered out of the
+      darkness, the voice of Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mind standing still for a few minutes, Miss Clifford? I have some
+      paper here and I wish to make a sketch. You do not know how beautiful you
+      look with that light above your head illuminating the shadows and the
+      thorn-crowned crucifix beyond. You know, whatever paths fortune may have
+      led me into, by nature I am an artist, and never in my life have I seen
+      such a picture. One day it will make me famous.
+    </p>
+<p class="poem">
+     &lsquo;How statue-like I see thee stand!<br/>
+     The agate lamp within thy hand.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+    <p class="noindent">
+      That&rsquo;s what I should put under it; you know the lines, don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Meyer, but I am afraid you will have to paint your picture from
+      memory, as I cannot hold up this lamp any longer; my arm is aching
+      already. I do not know how you came here, but as you have followed me
+      perhaps you will be so kind as to carry this water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not follow you, Miss Clifford. Although you never saw me I entered
+      the cave before you to take measurements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you take measurements in the dark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was not in the dark. I put out my light when I caught sight of you,
+      knowing that otherwise you would run away, and fate stood me in good
+      stead. You came on, as I willed that you should do. Now let us talk. Miss
+      Clifford, have you changed your mind? You know the time is up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall never change my mind. Let me pass you, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, not until you have listened. You are very cruel to me, very cruel
+      indeed. You do not understand that, rather than do you the slightest harm,
+      I would die a hundred times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not ask you to die; I ask you to leave me alone&mdash;a much easier
+      matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how can I leave you alone when you are a part of me, when&mdash;I
+      love you? There, the truth is out, and now say what you will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita lifted the bucket of water; its weight seemed to steady her. Then
+      she put it down again, since escape was impracticable; she must face the
+      situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing to say, Mr. Meyer, except that <i>I</i> do not love <i>you</i>
+      or any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment you
+      have paid me, and there is an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any living man,&rdquo; he repeated after her. &ldquo;That means you love a dead man&mdash;Seymour,
+      he who was drowned. No wonder that I hated him when first my eyes fell on
+      him years ago, long before you had come into our lives. Prescience, the
+      sub-conscious self again. Well, what is the use of loving the dead, those
+      who no longer have any existence, who have gone back into the clay out of
+      which they were formed and are not, nor evermore shall be? You have but
+      one life; turn, turn to the living, and make it happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not agree with you, Mr. Meyer. To me the dead are still living; one
+      day I shall find them. Now let me go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not let you go. I will plead and wrestle with you as in the old
+      fable my namesake of my own race wrestled with the angel, until at length
+      you bless me. You despise me because I am a Jew, because I have had many
+      adventures and not succeeded; because you think me mad. But I tell you
+      that there is the seed of greatness in me. Give yourself to me and I will
+      make you great, for now I know that it was you whom I needed to supply
+      what is lacking in my nature. We will win the wealth, and together we will
+      rule&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until a few days hence we starve or the Matabele make an end of us. No,
+      Mr. Meyer, no,&rdquo; and she tried to push past him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stretched out his arms and stopped her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I have pleaded with you as man with woman. Now, as you
+      refuse me and as you alone stand between me and madness, I will take
+      another course. I am your master, your will is servant to my will; I bid
+      you obey me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He fixed his eyes upon hers, and Benita felt her strength begin to fail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you are my servant now, and to show it I shall kiss you on
+      the lips; then I shall throw the sleep upon you, and you will tell me what
+      I want to know. Afterwards we can be wed when it pleases me. Oh! do not
+      think that your father will defend you, for if he interferes I shall kill
+      that foolish old man, whom until now I have only spared for your sake.
+      Remember that if you make me angry, I shall certainly kill him, and your
+      father&rsquo;s blood will be on your head. Now I am going to kiss you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita lifted her hand to find the pistol at her waist. It fell back
+      again; she had no strength; it was as though she were paralysed as a bird
+      is paralysed by a snake so that it cannot open its wings and fly away, but
+      sits there awaiting death. She was given over into the hands of this man
+      whom she hated. Could Heaven allow such a thing? she wondered dimly, and
+      all the while his lips drew nearer to her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They touched her own, and then, why or wherefore Benita never understood,
+      the spell broke. All his power was gone, she was as she had been, a free
+      woman, mistress of herself. Contemptuously she thrust the man aside, and,
+      not even troubling to run, lifted her pail of water and walked away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon she saw the light again, and joyfully extinguished her lamp. Indeed,
+      the breast of Benita, which should have been so troubled after the scene
+      through which she had passed, strangely enough was filled with happiness
+      and peace. As that glorious sunlight had broken on her eyes, so had
+      another light of freedom arisen in her soul. She was no longer afraid of
+      Jacob Meyer; that coward kiss of his had struck off the shackles which
+      bound her to him. Her mind had been subject to his mind, but now that his
+      physical nature was brought into the play, his mental part had lost its
+      hold upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she approached the hut she saw her father seated on a stone outside it,
+      since the poor old man was now so weak and full of pain that he could not
+      stand for very long, and seeing, remembered Meyer&rsquo;s threats against him.
+      At the thought all her new-found happiness departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She might be safe; she felt sure that she was safe, but how about her
+      father? If Meyer could not get his way probably he would be as good as his
+      word, and kill him. She shivered at the thought, then, recovering herself,
+      walked forward steadily with her bucket of water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have been a long while gone, my love,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, father, Mr. Meyer was in the cave, and kept me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did he get there, and what did he want?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how he got there&mdash;crept in when we were not looking, I
+      suppose. But as for what he wanted&mdash;listen, dear,&rdquo; and word for word
+      she told him what had passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before she had finished, her father was almost choking with wrath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dirty Jew! The villain!&rdquo; he gasped. &ldquo;I never dreamed that he would
+      dare to attempt such an outrage. Well, thank Heaven! I can still hold a
+      rifle, and when he comes out&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; she said gently, &ldquo;that man is mad. He is not responsible for his
+      actions, and therefore, except in self-defence, you must not think of such
+      a thing. As for what he said about you, I believe it was only an empty
+      threat, and for me you need have no fear, his power over me is gone; it
+      went like a flash when his lips touched me,&rdquo; and she rubbed her own as
+      though to wipe away some stain. &ldquo;I am afraid of nothing more. I believe&mdash;yes,
+      I believe the old Molimo was right, and that all will end well&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As she was speaking Benita heard a shuffling sound behind her, and turned
+      to learn its cause. Then she saw a strange sight. Jacob Meyer was
+      staggering towards them, dragging one foot after the other through the
+      grass and stones. His face was ghastly pale, his jaw had dropped like that
+      of a dead man, and his eyes were set wide open and full of horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with you, man?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&mdash;I&mdash;have seen a ghost,&rdquo; he whispered. &ldquo;You did not come back
+      into the cave, did you?&rdquo; he added, pointing at Benita, who shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What ghost?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, but my lamp went out, and then a light began to shine
+      behind me. I turned, and on the steps of that crucifix I saw a woman
+      kneeling. Her arms clasped the feet of the figure, her forehead rested
+      upon the feet, her long black hair flowed down, she was dressed in white,
+      and the light came from her body and her head. Very slowly she turned and
+      looked at me, and oh, Heaven! that face&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he put his hand
+      before his eyes and groaned. &ldquo;It was beautiful; yes, yes, but fearful to
+      see, like an avenging angel. I fled, and the light&mdash;only the light&mdash;came
+      with me down the cave, even at the mouth of it there was a little. I have
+      seen a spirit, I who did not believe in spirits, I have seen a spirit, and
+      I tell you that not for all the gold in the world will I enter that place
+      again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then before they could answer, suddenly as though his fear had got some
+      fresh hold of him, Jacob sprang forward and fled away, crashing through
+      the bushes and leaping from rock to rock like a frightened buck.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"></a>
+      XXI.<br/>
+      THE MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD</h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Meyer always said that he did not believe in spirits,&rdquo; remarked Mr.
+      Clifford reflectively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he believes in them now,&rdquo; answered Benita with a little laugh.
+      &ldquo;But, father, the poor man is mad, that is the fact of it, and we must pay
+      no attention to what he says.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The old Molimo and some of his people&mdash;Tamas, for instance&mdash;declared
+      that they have seen the ghost of Benita da Ferreira. Are they mad also,
+      Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, father. Who can say? All these things are a mystery. All I
+      do know is that I have never seen a ghost, and I doubt if I ever shall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but when you were in that trance something that was not you spoke out
+      of your mouth, which something said that it was your namesake, the other
+      Benita. Well, as you say, we can&rsquo;t fathom these things, especially in a
+      haunted kind of place like this, but the upshot of it is that I don&rsquo;t
+      think we have much more to fear from Jacob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not so sure, father. Mad people change their moods very suddenly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As it happened Benita was quite right. Towards suppertime Jacob Meyer
+      reappeared, looking pale and shaken, but otherwise much as usual.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had a kind of fit this morning,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;the result of an
+      hallucination which seized me when my light went out in that cave. I
+      remember that I thought I had seen a ghost, whereas I know very well that
+      no such thing exists. I was the victim of disappointment, anxieties, and
+      other still stronger emotions,&rdquo; and he looked at Benita. &ldquo;Therefore,
+      please forget anything I said or did, and&mdash;would you give me some
+      supper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita did so, and he ate in silence, with some heartiness. When he had
+      finished his food, and swallowed two or three tots of squareface, he spoke
+      again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have come here, where I know I am not welcome, upon business,&rdquo; he said
+      in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. &ldquo;I am tired of this place, and I think it
+      is time that we attained the object of our journey here, namely, to find
+      the hidden gold. That, as we all know, can only be done in a certain way,
+      through the clairvoyant powers of one of us and the hypnotic powers of
+      another. Miss Clifford, I request that you will allow me to throw you into
+      a state of trance. You have told us everything else, but you have not yet
+      told us where the treasure is hidden, and this it is necessary that we
+      should know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if I refuse, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am sorry, but I must take means to compel your obedience. Under
+      those circumstances, much against my will, I shall be obliged&rdquo;&mdash;here
+      his eye blazed out wildly&mdash;&ldquo;to execute your father, whose obstinacy
+      and influence stand between us and splendid fortunes. No, Clifford,&rdquo; he
+      added, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t stretch out your hand towards that rifle, for I am already
+      covering you with the pistol in my pocket, and the moment your hand
+      touches it I shall fire. You poor old man, do you imagine for a single
+      second that, sick as you are, and with your stiff limbs, you can hope to
+      match yourself against my agility, intellect, and strength? Why, I could
+      kill you in a dozen ways before you could lift a finger against me, and by
+      the God I do not believe in, unless your daughter is more compliant, kill
+      you I will!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That remains to be seen, my friend,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford with a laugh, for
+      he was a brave old man. &ldquo;I am not certain that the God&mdash;whom you do
+      not believe in&mdash;will not kill you first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Benita, who had been taking counsel with herself, looked up and said
+      suddenly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Mr. Meyer, I consent&mdash;because I must. To-morrow morning
+      you shall try to mesmerize me, if you can, in the same place, before the
+      crucifix in the cave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered quickly. &ldquo;It was not there, it was here, and here it
+      shall be again. The spot you mention is unpropitious to me; the attempt
+      would fail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the spot that I have chosen,&rdquo; answered Benita stubbornly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And this is the spot that I have chosen, Miss Clifford, and my will must
+      prevail over yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you who do not believe in spirits are afraid to re-enter the
+      cave, Mr. Meyer, lest you should chance&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind what I am or am not afraid of,&rdquo; he replied with fury. &ldquo;Make
+      your choice between doing my will and your father&rsquo;s life. To-morrow
+      morning I shall come for your answer, and if you are still obstinate,
+      within half an hour he will be dead, leaving you and me alone together.
+      Oh! you may call me wicked and a villain, but it is you who are wicked,
+      you, you, <i>you</i> who force me to this deed of justice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then without another word he sprang up and walked away from them
+      backwards, as he went covering Mr. Clifford with the pistol which he had
+      drawn from his pocket. The last that they saw of him were his eyes, which
+      glowered at them through the darkness like those of a lion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; said Benita, when she was sure that he had gone, &ldquo;that madman
+      really means to murder you; there is no doubt of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None whatever, dear; if I am alive to-morrow night I shall be lucky,
+      unless I can kill him first or get out of his way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she said hurriedly, &ldquo;I think you can. I have an idea. He is afraid
+      to go into that cave, I am sure. Let us hide ourselves there. We can take
+      food and shall have plenty of water, whereas, unless rain falls, he can
+      get nothing to drink.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what then, Benita? We can&rsquo;t stop in the dark for ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but we can wait there until something happens. Something must and
+      will happen. His disease won&rsquo;t stand still. He may go raving mad and kill
+      himself. Or he may attempt to attack us, though that is not likely, and
+      then we must do what we can in self defence. Or help may reach us from
+      somewhere. At the worst we shall only die as we should have died outside.
+      Come, let us be quick, lest he should change his mind, and creep back upon
+      us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Mr. Clifford gave way, knowing that even if he could steel himself to
+      do the deed of attempting to kill Jacob, he would have little chance
+      against that strong and agile man. Such a struggle would only end in his
+      own death, and Benita must then be left alone with Meyer and his insane
+      passions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hurriedly they carried their few belongings into the cave. First they took
+      most of the little store of food that remained, the three hand-lamps and
+      all the paraffin; there was but one tin. Then returning they fetched the
+      bucket, the ammunition, and their clothes. Afterwards, as there was still
+      no sign of Meyer, they even dared to drag in the waggon tent to make a
+      shelter for Benita, and all the wood that they had collected for firing.
+      This proved a wearisome business, for the logs were heavy, and in his
+      crippled state Mr. Clifford could carry no great burden. Indeed, towards
+      the end Benita was forced to complete the task alone, while he limped
+      beside her with his rifle, lest Jacob should surprise them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When at length everything was done it was long past midnight, and so
+      exhausted were they that, notwithstanding their danger, they flung
+      themselves down upon the canvas tent, which lay in a heap at the end of
+      the cave near the crucifix, and fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Benita woke the lamp had gone out, and it was pitch dark.
+      Fortunately, however, she remembered where she had put the matches and the
+      lantern with a candle in it. She lit the candle and looked at her watch.
+      It was nearly six o&rsquo;clock. The dawn must be breaking outside, within an
+      hour or two Jacob Meyer would find that they had gone. Suppose that his
+      rage should overcome his fear and that he should creep upon them. They
+      would know nothing of it until his face appeared in the faint ring of
+      light. Or he might even shoot her father out of the darkness. What could
+      she do that would give them warning? A thought came to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking one of the tent ropes and the lantern, for her father still slept
+      heavily, she went down to the entrance of the cave, and at the end of the
+      last zigzag where once a door had been, managed to make it fast to a stone
+      hinge about eighteen inches above the floor, and on the other side to an
+      eye opposite that was cut in the solid rock to receive a bolt of wood or
+      iron. Meyer, she knew, had no lamps or oil, only matches and perhaps a few
+      candles. Therefore if he tried to enter the cave it was probable that he
+      would trip over the rope and thus give them warning. Then she went back,
+      washed her face and hands with some water that they had drawn on the
+      previous night to satisfy their thirst, and tidied herself as best she
+      could. This done, as her father still slept, she filled the lamps, lit one
+      of them, and looked about her, for she was loth to wake him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Truly it was an awful place in which to dwell. There above them towered
+      the great white crucifix; there in the corner were piled the remains of
+      the Portuguese. A skull with long hair still hanging to it grinned at her,
+      a withered hand was thrust forward as though to clutch her. Oh, no wonder
+      that in such a spot Jacob Meyer had seen ghosts! In front, too, was the
+      yawning grave where they had found the monk; indeed, his bones wrapped in
+      dark robes still lay within, for Jacob had tumbled them back again. Then
+      beyond and all around deep, dark, and utter silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last her father woke, and glad enough was she of his human company.
+      They breakfasted upon some biscuits and water, and afterwards, while Mr.
+      Clifford watched near the entrance with his rifle, Benita set to work to
+      arrange their belongings. The tent she managed to prop up against the wall
+      of the cave by help of some of the wood which they had carried in. Beneath
+      it she spread their blankets, that it might serve as a sleeping place for
+      them both, and outside placed the food and other things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While she was thus engaged she heard a sound at the mouth of the cave&mdash;Jacob
+      Meyer was entering and had fallen over her rope. Down it she ran, lantern
+      in hand, to her father, who, with his rifle raised, was shouting:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you come in here, I put a bullet through you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came the answer in Jacob&rsquo;s voice, which rang hollow in that vaulted
+      place:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not want to come in; I shall wait for you to come out. You cannot
+      live long in there; the horror of the dark will kill you. I have only to
+      sit in the sunlight and wait.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he laughed, and they heard the sound of his footsteps retreating down
+      the passage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are we to do?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford despairingly. &ldquo;We cannot live
+      without light, and if we have light he will certainly creep to the
+      entrance and shoot us. He is quite mad now; I am sure of it from his
+      voice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita thought a minute, then she answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must build up the passage. Look,&rdquo; and she pointed to the lumps of rock
+      that the explosion of their mine had shaken down from the roof, and the
+      slabs of cement that they had broken from the floor with the crowbar. &ldquo;At
+      once, at once,&rdquo; she went on; &ldquo;he will not come back for some hours,
+      probably not till night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they set to work, and never did Benita labour as it was her lot to do
+      that day. Such of the fragments as they could lift they carried between
+      them, others they rolled along by help of the crowbar. For hour after hour
+      they toiled at their task. Luckily for them, the passage was not more than
+      three feet wide by six feet six high, and their material was ample. Before
+      the evening they had blocked it completely with a wall several feet in
+      thickness, which wall they supported on the inside with lengths of the
+      firewood lashed across to the old hinges and bolt-holes, or set obliquely
+      against its face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was done, and they regarded their work with pride, although it seemed
+      probable that they were building up their own tomb. Because of its
+      position at an angle of the passage, they knew that Meyer could not get to
+      it with a pole to batter it down. Also, there was no loose powder left, so
+      his only chance would be to pull it to pieces with his hands, and this,
+      they thought, might be beyond his power. At least, should he attempt it,
+      they would have ample warning. Yet that day was not to pass without
+      another trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as they had rolled up and levered into place a long fragment of rock
+      designed to prevent the ends of their supporting pieces of wood from
+      slipping on the cement floor, Mr. Clifford uttered an exclamation, then
+      said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have wrung my back badly. Help me to the tent. I must lie down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly and with great pain they staggered up the cave, Mr. Clifford
+      leaning on Benita and a stick, till, reaching the tent at last, he almost
+      fell on to the blankets and remained there practically crippled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now began Benita&rsquo;s terrible time, the worst of all her life. Every hour
+      her father became more ill. Even before they took refuge in the cave he
+      was completely broken down, and now after this accident he began to suffer
+      very much. His rheumatism or sciatica, or whatever it was, seemed to
+      settle upon the hurt muscles of his back, causing him so much pain that he
+      could scarcely sleep for ten minutes at a stretch. Moreover, he would
+      swallow but little of the rough food which was all Benita was able to
+      prepare for him; nothing, indeed, except biscuit soaked in black coffee,
+      which she boiled over a small fire made of wood that they had brought with
+      them, and occasionally a little broth, tasteless stuff enough, for it was
+      only the essence of biltong, or sun-dried flesh, flavoured with some salt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there were two other terrors against she must fight, the darkness and
+      the dread of Jacob Meyer. Perhaps the darkness was the worse of them. To
+      live in that hideous gloom in which their single lamp, for she dared burn
+      no more lest the oil should give out, seemed but as one star to the whole
+      night, ah! who that had not endured it could know what it meant? There the
+      sick man, yonder the grinning skeletons, around the blackness and the
+      silence, and beyond these again a miserable death, or Jacob Meyer. But of
+      him Benita saw nothing, though once or twice she thought that she heard
+      his voice raving outside the wall which they had built. If so, either he
+      did not try to pull it down, or he failed in the attempt, or perhaps he
+      feared that should he succeed, he would be greeted by a bullet. So at last
+      she gave up thinking about him. Should he force his way into the cave she
+      must deal with the situation as best she could. Meanwhile, her father&rsquo;s
+      strength was sinking fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three awful days went by in this fashion, and the end drew near. Although
+      she tried to force herself to it, Benita could not swallow enough food to
+      keep up her strength. Now that the passage was closed the atmosphere of
+      this old vault, for it was nothing more, thickened by the smoke of the
+      fire which she was obliged to burn, grew poisonous and choked her. Want of
+      sleep exhausted her, dread of what the morrow might bring forth crushed
+      her strong spirit. She began to break down, knowing that the hour was near
+      when she and her father must die together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, as she slept awhile at his side, being wakened by his groaning,
+      Benita looked at her watch. It was midnight. She rose, and going to the
+      embers of the little fire, warmed up some of her biltong broth which she
+      poured into a tin pannikin. With difficulty she forced him to swallow a
+      few mouthfuls of it, then, feeling a sudden weakness, drank the rest
+      herself. It gave her power to think, and her father dozed off into an
+      uneasy sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Alas! thinking was of no use, nothing could be done. There was no hope
+      save in prayer. Restlessness seized Benita, and taking the lantern she
+      wandered round the cave. The wall that they had built remained intact, and
+      oh! to think that beyond it flowed the free air and shone the blessed
+      stars! Back she came again, skirting the pits that Jacob Meyer had dug,
+      and the grave of the old monk, till she reached the steps of the crucifix,
+      and holding up her candle, looked at the thorn-crowned brow of the Christ
+      above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was wonderfully carved; that dying face was full of pity. Would not He
+      Whom it represented pity her? She knelt down on the topmost step, and
+      clasping the pierced feet with her arms, began to pray earnestly, not for
+      herself but that she might save her father. She prayed as she had never
+      prayed before, and so praying, sank into a torpor or a swoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Benita that this sleep of hers suddenly became alive; in it
+      she saw many things. For instance, she saw herself seated in a state of
+      trance upon that very step where now she knelt, while before her stood her
+      father and Jacob Meyer. Moreover, something spoke in her; she could not
+      hear a voice, but she seemed to see the words written in the air before
+      her. These were the words:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Clasp the feet of the Christ and draw them to the left. The passage
+      beneath leads to the chamber where the gold is hid, and thence to the
+      river bank. That is the secret which ere I depart, I the dead Benita, pass
+      on to you, the living Benita, as I am commanded. In life and death peace
+      be to your soul.</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thrice did this message appear to repeat itself in the consciousness of
+      Benita. Then, suddenly as she had slept, she woke again with every letter
+      of it imprinted on her mind. Doubtless it was a dream, nothing but a dream
+      bred by the fact that her arms were clasping the feet of the crucifix.
+      What did it say? &ldquo;Draw them to the left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She did so, but nothing stirred. Again she tried, and still nothing
+      stirred. Of course it was a dream. Why had such been sent to mock her? In
+      a kind of mad irritation she put out all her remaining strength and
+      wrestled with those stony feet. <i>They moved a little</i>&mdash;then of a
+      sudden, without any further effort on her part, swung round as high as the
+      knees where drapery hung, concealing the join in them. Yes, they swung
+      round, revealing the head of a stair, up which blew a cold wind that it
+      was sweet to breathe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita rose, gasping. Then she seized her lantern and ran to the little
+      tent where her father lay.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"></a>
+      XXII.<br/>
+      THE VOICE OF THE LIVING</h2>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford was awake again now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where have you been?&rdquo; he asked querulously in a thin voice. &ldquo;I wanted
+      you.&rdquo; Then as the light from the candle shone upon it, he noted the change
+      that had come over her pale face, and added: &ldquo;What has happened? Is Meyer
+      dead? Are we free?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shook her head. &ldquo;He was alive a few hours ago, for I could hear him
+      raving and shouting outside the wall we built. But, father, it has all
+      come back to me; I believe that I have found it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What has come back? What have you found? Are you mad, too, like Jacob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What something told me when I was in the trance which afterwards I
+      forgot, but now remember. And I have found the passage which leads to
+      where they hid the gold. It begins behind the crucifix, where no one ever
+      thought of looking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This matter of the gold did not seem to interest Mr. Clifford. In his
+      state all the wealth beneath the soil of Africa would not have appealed to
+      him. Moreover, he hated the name of that accursed treasure, which was
+      bringing them to such a miserable end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where does the passage run? Have you looked?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet, but the voice in me said&mdash;I mean, I dreamed&mdash;that it
+      goes down to the river-side. If you leant on me do you think that you
+      could walk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not one inch,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Here where I am I shall die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, don&rsquo;t talk like that. We may be saved now that I have found a
+      way. Oh, if only you could&mdash;if only you could walk, or if I had the
+      strength to carry you!&rdquo; and she wrung her hands and began to weep, so weak
+      was she.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father looked at her searchingly. Then he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, love, I cannot, so there&rsquo;s an end. But you can, and you had better
+      go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! And leave you? Never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and leave me. Look, there is but a little oil left and only a few
+      candles. The biscuits are done and neither of us can swallow that biltong
+      any more. I suppose that I am dying, and your health and strength are
+      failing you quickly in this darkness; if you stop here you must soon
+      follow me. And what is the alternative? The madman outside&mdash;that is,
+      if you could find strength to pull down the wall, which I doubt. You had
+      best go, Benita.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But still she said she would not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you not see,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;that it is my only chance of life? If you go
+      you may be able to bring me help before the end comes. Should there be a
+      passage the probability is that, although they know nothing of it, it
+      finishes somewhere by the wall of the first enclosure where the Makalanga
+      are. If so, you may find the Molimo, or if he is dead, Tamas or one of the
+      others, and they will help us. Go, Benita, go at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never thought of that,&rdquo; she answered in a changed voice. &ldquo;Of course, it
+      may be so, if the passage goes down at all. Well, at least I can look and
+      come back to tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Benita placed the remainder of the oil close by her father&rsquo;s side, so
+      that he could refill the lamp, for the use of his hands still remained to
+      him. Also, she set there such crumbs of biscuit as were left, some of the
+      biltong, a flask of Hollands, and a pail of water. This done, she put on
+      her long cloak, filled one of its pockets with biltong, and the other with
+      matches and three of the four remaining candles. The fourth she insisted
+      on leaving beside her father&rsquo;s bed. When everything was ready she knelt
+      down at his side, kissed him, and from her heart put up a prayer that they
+      might both live to meet again, although she knew well that this they could
+      scarcely hope to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had two people ever been in a more dreadful situation, she wondered, as
+      she looked at her father lying there, whom she must leave to fight with
+      Death alone in that awful place, while she went forth to meet him in the
+      unknown bowels of the earth!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford read her thoughts. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it is a strange parting
+      and a wild errand. But who knows? It may please Providence to take you
+      through, and if not&mdash;why, our troubles will soon be over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then once more they kissed, and not daring to try to speak, Benita tore
+      herself away. Passing into the passage whereof the lower half of the
+      crucifix formed the door, she paused for a moment to examine it and to
+      place a fragment of rock in such fashion that it could not shut again
+      behind her. Her idea was that it worked by aid of some spring, but now she
+      saw that this was not so, as the whole mass hung upon three stone hinges
+      beautifully concealed. The dust and corrosion of ages which had made this
+      door so hard to open, by filling up the tiny spaces between it and its
+      framework, had also rendered these cracks utterly imperceptible to the
+      eye. So accurately was it fashioned, indeed, that no one who did not know
+      its secret would have discovered it if they searched for months or years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though at the time Benita took little note of such details, the passage
+      beyond and the stair descending from it showed the same perfect
+      workmanship. Evidently this secret way dated not from the Portuguese
+      period, but from that of the Phoenicians or other ancients, to whose
+      treasure-chamber it was the approach, opening as it did from their holy of
+      holies, to which none were admitted save the head priests. The passage,
+      which was about seven feet high by four wide, had been hewn out of the
+      live rock of the mountain, for thousands of little marks left by the
+      workmen&rsquo;s chisels were still discernible upon its walls. So it was with
+      the stair, that had been but little used, and remained fresh as the day
+      when it was finished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Down the steps, candle in hand, flitted Benita, counting them as she went.
+      The thirtieth brought her to a landing. Here it was that she saw the first
+      traces of that treasure which they had suffered so much to find. Something
+      glittered at her feet. She picked it up. It was a little bar of gold
+      weighing two or three ounces that doubtless had been dropped there.
+      Throwing it down again she looked in front of her, and to her dismay saw a
+      door of wood with iron bolts. But the bolts had never been shot, and when
+      she pulled at it the door creaked upon its rusty hinges and opened. She
+      was on the threshold of the treasure-chamber!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was square and of the size of a small room, packed on either side
+      almost to the low, vaulted roof with small bags of raw hide, carelessly
+      arranged. Quite near to the door one of these bags had slipped down and
+      burst open. It was filled with gold, some in ingots and some in raw
+      nuggets, for there they lay in a shining, scattered heap. As she stooped
+      to look it came into the mind of Benita that her father had said that in
+      her trance she had told them that one of the bags of treasure was burst,
+      and that the skin of which it had been made was black and red. Behold!
+      before her lay the burst bag, and the colour of the hide was black and
+      red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She shivered. The thing was uncanny, terrible. Uncanny was it also to see
+      in the thick dust, which in the course of twenty or more of centuries had
+      gathered on the floor, the mark of footprints, those of the last persons
+      who had visited this place. There had been two of them, a man and a woman,
+      and they were no savages, for they wore shoes. Benita placed her foot in
+      the print left by that dead woman. It filled it exactly, it might have
+      been her own. Perhaps, she thought to herself, that other Benita had
+      descended here with her father, after the Portuguese had hidden away their
+      wealth, that she might be shown where it was, and of what it consisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One more glance at all this priceless, misery-working gold, and on she
+      went, she who was seeking the gold of life and liberty for herself and him
+      who lay above. Supposing that the stairway ended there? She stopped, she
+      looked round, but could see no other door. To see the better she halted
+      and opened the glass of her lantern. Still she could perceive nothing, and
+      her heart sank. Yet why did the candle flicker so fiercely? And why was
+      the air in this deep place so fresh? She walked forward a pace or two,
+      then noticed suddenly that those footprints of the dead that she was
+      following disappeared immediately in front of her, and she stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was but just in time. One step more and she would have fallen down the
+      mouth of a deep pit. Once it had been covered with a stone, but this stone
+      was removed, and had never been replaced. Look! there it stood against the
+      wall of the chamber. Well was this for Benita, since her frail strength
+      would not have sufficed to stir that massive block, even if she had
+      discovered its existence beneath the dust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now she saw that down the pit ran another ladderlike stair of stone, very
+      narrow and precipitous. Without hesitation she began its descent. Down she
+      went and down&mdash;one hundred steps, two hundred steps, two hundred and
+      seventy-five steps, and all the way wherever the dust had gathered the
+      man&rsquo;s and the woman&rsquo;s footprints ran before her. There was a double line
+      of them, one line going down and the other line returning. Those that
+      returned were the last, for often they appeared over those that descended.
+      Why had these dead people returned, Benita wondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stair had ended; now she was in a kind of natural cave, for its sides
+      and roof were rugged; moreover, water trickled and dripped from them. It
+      was not very large, and it smelt horribly of mud and other things. Again
+      she searched by the feeble light of her candle, but could see no exit.
+      Suddenly she saw something else, however, for stepping on what she took to
+      be a rock, to her horror it moved beneath her. She heard a snap as of
+      jaws, a violent blow upon the leg nearly knocked her off her feet, and as
+      she staggered backwards she saw a huge and loathsome shape rushing away
+      into the darkness. The rock that she had trodden on was a crocodile which
+      had its den here! With a little scream she retreated to her stair. Death
+      she had expected&mdash;but to be eaten by crocodiles!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet as Benita stood there panting a blessed hope rose in her breast. If a
+      crocodile came in there it must also get out, and where such a great
+      creature could go, a woman would be able to follow. Also, she must be near
+      the water, since otherwise it could never have chosen this hole for its
+      habitation. She collected her courage, and having clapped her hands and
+      waved the lantern about to scare any alligators that might still be
+      lurking there, hearing and seeing nothing more, she descended to where she
+      had trodden upon the reptile. Evidently this was its bed, for its long
+      body had left an impress upon the mud, and all about lay the remains of
+      creatures that it had brought in for food. Moreover, a path ran outwards,
+      its well-worn trail distinct even in that light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She followed this path, which ended apparently in a blank wall. Then it
+      was that Benita guessed why those dead folks&rsquo; footprints had returned, for
+      here had been a doorway which in some past age those who used it built up
+      with blocks of stone and cement. How, then, did the crocodile get out?
+      Stooping down she searched, and perceived, a few yards to the right of the
+      door, a hole that looked as though it were water-worn. Now Benita thought
+      that she understood. The rock was softer here, and centuries of flood had
+      eaten it away, leaving a crack in the stratum which the crocodiles had
+      found out and enlarged. Down she went on her hands and knees, and
+      thrusting the lantern in front of her, crept along that noisome drain, for
+      this was what it resembled. And now&mdash;oh! now she felt air blowing in
+      her face, and heard the sound of reeds whispering, and water running, and
+      saw hanging like a lamp in the blue sky, a star&mdash;the morning star!
+      Benita could have wept, she could have worshipped it, yet she pushed on
+      between rocks till she found herself among tall reeds, and standing in
+      water. She had gained the banks of the Zambesi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly, by instinct as it were, Benita extinguished her candle, fearing
+      lest it should betray her, for constant danger had made her very cunning.
+      The dawn had not yet broken, but the waning moon and the stars gave a good
+      light. She paused to look. There above her towered the outermost wall of
+      Bambatse, against which the river washed, except at such times as the
+      present, when it was very low.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So she was not in the fortress as she had hoped, but without it, and oh!
+      what should she do? Go back again? How would that serve her father or
+      herself? Go on? Then she might fall into the hands of the Matabele whose
+      camp was a little lower down, as from her perch upon the top of the cone
+      she had seen that poor white man do. Ah! the white man! If only he lived
+      and she could reach him! Perhaps they had not killed him after all. It was
+      madness, yet she would try to discover; something impelled her to take the
+      risk. If she failed and escaped, perhaps then she might call to the
+      Makalanga, and they would let down a rope and draw her up the wall before
+      the Matabele caught her. She would not go back empty-handed, to die in
+      that dreadful place with her poor father. Better perish here in the sweet
+      air and beneath the stars, even if it were upon a Matabele spear, or by a
+      bullet from her own pistol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked about her to take her bearings in case it should ever be
+      necessary for her to return to the entrance of the cave. This proved easy,
+      for a hundred or so feet above her&mdash;where the sheer face of the cliff
+      jutted out a little, at that very spot indeed on which tradition said that
+      the body of the Señora da Ferreira had struck in its fall, and the
+      necklace Benita wore to-day was torn from her&mdash;a stunted mimosa grew
+      in some cleft of the rock. To mark the crocodile run itself she bent down
+      a bunch of reeds, and having first lit a few Tandstickor brimstone matches
+      and thrown them about inside of it, that the smell of them might scare the
+      beast should it wish to return, she set her lantern behind a stone near to
+      the mouth of the hole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Benita began her journey which, when the river was high, it would not
+      have been possible for her to make except by swimming. As it was, a margin
+      of marsh was left between her and the steep, rocky side of the mount from
+      which the great wall rose, and through this she made her way. Never was
+      she likely to forget that walk. The tall reeds dripped their dew upon her
+      until she was soaked; long, black-tailed finches&mdash;saccaboolas the
+      natives call them&mdash;flew up undisturbed, and lobbed away across the
+      river; owls flitted past and bitterns boomed at the coming of the dawn.
+      Great fish splashed also in the shallows, or were they crocodiles? Benita
+      hoped not&mdash;for one day she had seen enough of crocodiles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was all very strange. Could she be the same woman, she wondered, who
+      not a year before had been walking with her cousins down Westbourne Grove,
+      and studying Whiteley&rsquo;s windows? What would these cousins say now if they
+      could see her, white-faced, large-eyed, desperate, splashing through the
+      mud upon the unknown banks of the Zambesi, flying from death to death!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On she struggled, above her the pearly sky in which the stars were fading,
+      around her the wet reeds, and pervading all the heavy low-lying mists of
+      dawn. She was past the round of the walls, and at length stood upon dry
+      ground where the Matabele had made their camp. But in that fog she saw no
+      Matabele; probably their fires were out, and she chanced to pass between
+      the sentries. Instinctively, more than by reason, she headed for that
+      hillock upon which she had seen the white man&rsquo;s waggon, in the vague hope
+      that it might still be there. On she struggled, still on, till at length
+      she blundered against something soft and warm, and perceived that it was
+      an ox tied to a trek-tow, beyond which were other oxen and a white
+      waggon-cap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it <i>was</i> still there! But the white man, where was he? Through the
+      dense mist Benita crept to the disselboom. Then, seeing and hearing
+      nothing, she climbed to the voorkissie and kneeling on it, separated the
+      tent flaps and peered into the waggon. Still she could see nothing because
+      of the mist, yet she heard something, a man breathing in his sleep.
+      Somehow she thought that it was a white man; a Kaffir did not breathe like
+      that. She did not know what to do, so remained kneeling there. It seemed
+      as though the man who was asleep began to feel her presence, for he
+      muttered to himself&mdash;surely the words were English! Then quite
+      suddenly he struck a match and lit a candle which stood in a beer bottle
+      by his side. She could not see his face while he lit the match, for his
+      arm hid it, and the candle burned up slowly. Then the first thing she saw
+      was the barrel of a revolver pointing straight at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, my black friend,&rdquo; said a pleasant voice, &ldquo;down you go or I shoot.
+      One, two! Oh, my God!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The candle burned up, its light fell upon the white, elfish face of
+      Benita, whose long dark hair streamed about her; it shone in her great
+      eyes. Still she could see nothing, for it dazzled her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my God!&rdquo; said the voice again. &ldquo;Benita! Benita! Have you come to tell
+      me that I must join you? Well, I am ready, my sweet, my sweet! Now I shall
+      hear your answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she whispered, and crawling forward down the cartel Benita fell
+      upon his breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For she knew him at last&mdash;dead or living she cared not&mdash;she knew
+      him, and out of hell crept to him, her heaven and her home!
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"></a>
+      XXIII.<br/>
+      BENITA GIVES HER ANSWER</h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your answer, Benita,&rdquo; Robert said dreamily, for to him this thing seemed
+      a dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have I not given it, months ago? Oh, I remember, it was only in my heart,
+      not on my lips, when that blow fell on me! Then afterwards I heard what
+      you had done and I nearly died. I wished that I might die to be with you,
+      but I could not. I was too strong; now I understand the reason. Well, it
+      seems that we are both living, and whatever happens, here is my answer, if
+      it is worth anything to you. Once and for all, I love you. I am not
+      ashamed to say it, because very soon we may be separated for the last
+      time. But I cannot talk now, I have come here to save my father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he, Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dying in a cave up at the top of that fortress. I got down by a secret
+      way. Are the Matabele still here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much so,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;But something has happened. My guard woke me
+      an hour ago to say that a messenger had arrived from their king,
+      Lobengula, and now they are talking over the message. That is how you came
+      to get through, otherwise the sentries would have assegaied you, the
+      brutes,&rdquo; and he drew her to him and kissed her passionately for the first
+      time; then, as though ashamed of himself, let her go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you anything to eat?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I&mdash;I&mdash;am starving. I
+      didn&rsquo;t feel it before, but now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Starving, you starving, while I&mdash;look, here is some cold meat which
+      I could not get down last night, and put by for the Kaffirs. Great
+      Heavens! that I should feed you with Kaffirs&rsquo; leavings! But it is good&mdash;eat
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita took the stuff in her fingers and swallowed it greedily; she who
+      for days had lived on nothing but a little biscuit and biltong. It tasted
+      delicious to her&mdash;never had she eaten anything so good. And all the
+      while he watched her with glowing eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you look at me?&rdquo; she said at length. &ldquo;I must be horrible; I have
+      been living in the dark and crawling through mud. I trod upon a
+      crocodile!&rdquo; and she shuddered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever you are I never want to see you different,&rdquo; he answered slowly.
+      &ldquo;To me you are most beautiful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Even then, wreck as she was, the poor girl flushed, and there was a mist
+      in her eyes as she looked up and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you. I don&rsquo;t care now what happens to me, and what has happened
+      doesn&rsquo;t matter at all. But can we get away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;but I doubt it. Go and sit on the waggon-box
+      for a few minutes while I dress, and we will see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita went. The mist was thinning now, and through it she saw a sight at
+      which her heart sank, for between her and the mount Bambatse Matabele were
+      pouring towards their camp on the river&rsquo;s edge. They were cut off. A
+      couple of minutes later Robert joined her, and as he came she looked at
+      him anxiously in the growing light. He seemed older than when they had
+      parted on the <i>Zanzibar</i>; changed, too, for now his face was serious,
+      and he had grown a beard; also, he appeared to limp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid there is an end,&rdquo; she said, pointing to the Matabele below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it looks like it. But like you, I say, what does it matter now?&rdquo; and
+      he took her hand in his, adding: &ldquo;let us be happy while we can if only for
+      a few minutes. They will be here presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;A prisoner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s it. I was following you when they captured me; for I have been
+      here before and knew the way. They were going to kill me on general
+      principles, only it occurred to one of them who was more intelligent than
+      the rest that I, being a white man, might be able to show them how to
+      storm the place. Now I was sure that you were there, for I saw you
+      standing on that point, though they thought you were the Spirit of
+      Bambatse. So I wasn&rsquo;t anxious to help them, for then&mdash;you know what
+      happens when the Matabele are the stormers! But&mdash;as you still lived&mdash;I
+      wasn&rsquo;t anxious to die either. So I set them to work to dig a hole with
+      their assegais and sharp axes, through granite. They have completed
+      exactly twenty feet of it, and I reckon that there are one hundred and
+      forty to go. Last night they got tired of that tunnel and talked of
+      killing me again, unless I could show them a better plan. Now all the fat
+      is in the fire, and I don&rsquo;t know what is to happen. Hullo! here they come.
+      Hide in the waggon, quick!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita obeyed, and from under cover of the tent where the Matabele could
+      not see her, watched and listened. The party that approached consisted of
+      a chief and about twenty men, who marched behind him as a guard. Benita
+      knew that chief. He was the captain Maduna, he of the royal blood whose
+      life she had saved. By his side was a Natal Zulu, Robert Seymour&rsquo;s driver,
+      who could speak English and acted as interpreter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man,&rdquo; said Maduna, &ldquo;a message has reached us from our king.
+      Lobengula makes a great war and has need of us. He summons us back from
+      this petty fray, this fight against cowards who hide behind walls, whom
+      otherwise we would have killed, everyone, yes, if we sat here till we grew
+      old. So for this time we leave them alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert answered politely that he was glad to hear it, and wished them a
+      good journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wish yourself a good journey, white man,&rdquo; was the stern reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why? Do you desire that I should accompany you to Lobengula?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you go before us to the kraal of the Black One who is even greater
+      than the child of Moselikatse, to that king who is called Death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert crossed his arms and said: &ldquo;Say on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man, I promised you life if you would show us how to pierce or
+      climb those walls. But you have made fools of us&mdash;you have set us to
+      cut through rock with spears and axes. Yes, to hoe at rock as though it
+      were soil&mdash;you who with the wisdom of your people could have taught
+      us some better way. Therefore we must go back to our king disgraced,
+      having failed in his service, and therefore you who have mocked us shall
+      die. Come down now, that we may kill you quietly, and learn whether or no
+      you are a brave man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it was, while her lover&rsquo;s hand was moving towards the pistol hidden
+      beneath his coat, that Benita, with a quick movement, emerged from the
+      waggon in which she crouched, and stood up at his side upon the driving
+      box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Ow!</i>&rdquo; said the Captain. &ldquo;It is the White Maiden. Now how came she
+      here? Surely this is great magic. Can a woman fly like a bird?&rdquo; and they
+      stared at her amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does it matter how I came, chief Maduna?&rdquo; she answered in Zulu. &ldquo;Yet
+      I will tell you why I came. It was to save you from dipping your spear in
+      the innocent blood, and bringing on your head the curse of the innocent
+      blood. Answer me now. Who gave you and your brother yonder your lives
+      within that wall when the Makalanga would have torn you limb from limb, as
+      hyenas tear a buck? Was it I or another?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inkosi-kaas&mdash;Chieftainess,&rdquo; replied the great Captain, raising his
+      broad spear in salute. &ldquo;It was you and no other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you promise me then, Prince Maduna?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden of high birth, I promised you your life and your goods, should you
+      ever fall into my power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does a leader of the Amandabele, one of the royal blood, lie like a
+      Mashona or a Makalanga slave? Does he do worse&mdash;tell half the truth
+      only, like a cheat who buys and keeps back half the price?&rdquo; she asked
+      contemptuously. &ldquo;Maduna, you promised me not one life, but two, two lives
+      and the goods that belong to both. Ask of your brother there, who was
+      witness of the words.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great Heavens!&rdquo; muttered Robert Seymour to himself, as he looked at
+      Benita standing with outstretched hand and flashing eyes. &ldquo;Who would have
+      thought that a starved woman could play such a part with death on the
+      hazard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is as this daughter of white chiefs says,&rdquo; answered the man to whom
+      she had appealed. &ldquo;When she freed us from the fangs of those dogs, you
+      promised her two lives, my brother, one for yours and one for mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear him,&rdquo; went on Benita. &ldquo;He promised me two lives, and how did this
+      prince of the royal blood keep his promise? When I and the old man, my
+      father, rode hence in peace, he loosed his spears upon us; he hunted us.
+      Yet it was the hunters who fell into the trap, not the hunted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden,&rdquo; replied Maduna, in a shamed voice, &ldquo;that was your fault, not
+      mine. If you had appealed to me I would have let you go. But you killed my
+      sentry, and then the chase began, and ere I knew who you were my runners
+      were out of call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Little time had I to ask your mercy; but so be it,&rdquo; said Benita. &ldquo;I
+      accept your word, and I forgive you that offence. Now fulfil your oath.
+      Begone and leave us in peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Still Maduna hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must make report to the king,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What is this white man to you
+      that I should spare him? I give you your life and your father&rsquo;s life, not
+      that of this white man who has tricked us. If he were your father, or your
+      brother, it would be otherwise. But he is a stranger, and belongs to me,
+      not to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maduna,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;do women such as I am share the waggon of a
+      stranger? This man is more to me than father or brother. He is my husband,
+      and I claim his life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Ow!</i>&rdquo; said the spokesman of the audience, &ldquo;we understand now. She
+      is his wife, and has a right to him. If she were not his wife she would
+      not be in his waggon. It is plain that she speaks the truth, though how
+      she came here we do not know, unless, as we think, she is a witch,&rdquo; and he
+      smiled at his own cleverness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inkosi-kaas,&rdquo; said Maduna, &ldquo;you have persuaded me. I give you the life of
+      that white fox, your husband, and I hope that he will not trick you as he
+      has tricked us, and set you to hoe rock instead of soil,&rdquo; and he looked at
+      Robert wrathfully. &ldquo;I give him to you and all his belongings. Now, is
+      there anything else that you would ask?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Benita coolly, &ldquo;you have many oxen there which you took
+      from the other Makalanga. Mine are eaten and I need cattle to draw my
+      waggon. I ask a present of twenty of them, and,&rdquo; she added by an
+      afterthought, &ldquo;two cows with young calves, for my father is sick yonder,
+      and must have milk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! give them to her. Give them to her,&rdquo; said Maduna, with a tragic
+      gesture that in any other circumstances would have made Benita laugh.
+      &ldquo;Give them to her and see that they are good ones, before she asks our
+      shields and spears also&mdash;for after all she saved my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So men departed to fetch those cows and oxen, which presently were driven
+      in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While this talk was in progress the great impi of the Matabele was massing
+      for the march, on the flat ground a little to the right of them. Now they
+      began to come past in companies, preceded by the lads who carried the mats
+      and cooking-pots and drove the captured sheep and cattle. By this time the
+      story of Benita, the witch-woman whom they could not kill, and who had
+      mysteriously flown from the top of the peak into their prisoner&rsquo;s waggon,
+      had spread among them. They knew also that it was she who had saved their
+      general from the Makalanga, and those who had heard her admired the wit
+      and courage with which she had pleaded and won her cause. Therefore, as
+      they marched past in their companies, singing a song of abuse and defiance
+      of the Makalanga who peered at them from the top of the wall, they lifted
+      their great spears in salutation to Benita standing upon the waggon-box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, they were a wondrous and imposing spectacle, such a one as few
+      white women have ever seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length all were gone except Maduna and a body-guard of two hundred men.
+      He walked to the front of the waggon and addressed Robert Seymour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, you fox who set us to hoe granite,&rdquo; he said indignantly. &ldquo;You
+      have outwitted us this time, but if ever I meet you again, then you die.
+      Now I have given you your life, but,&rdquo; he added, almost pleadingly, &ldquo;if you
+      are really brave as white men are said to be, will you not come down and
+      fight me man to man for honour&rsquo;s sake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not,&rdquo; answered Robert, when he understood this challenge, &ldquo;for
+      what chance should I have against so brave a warrior? Also this lady&mdash;my
+      wife&mdash;needs my help on her journey home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Maduna turned from him contemptuously to Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I go,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and fear not; you will meet no Matabele on that journey.
+      Have you more words for me, O Beautiful One, with a tongue of oil and a
+      wit that cuts like steel?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita. &ldquo;You have dealt well with me, and in reward I give
+      you of my good luck. Bear this message to your king from the White Witch
+      of Bambatse, for I am she and no other. That he leave these Makalanga, my
+      servants, to dwell unharmed in their ancient home, and that he lift no
+      spear against the White Men, lest that evil which the Molimo foretold to
+      you, should fall upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Maduna, &ldquo;now I understand how you flew from the mountain top
+      into this man&rsquo;s waggon. You are not a white woman, you are the ancient
+      Witch of Bambatse herself. You have said it, and with such it is not well
+      to war. Great lady of Magic, Spirit from of old, I salute you, and I thank
+      you for your gifts of life and fortune. Farewell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he, too, stalked away at the head of his guard, so that presently,
+      save for the three Zulu servants and the herd of cattle, Robert and Benita
+      were left utterly alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, her part played and the victory won, Benita burst into tears and fell
+      upon her lover&rsquo;s breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently she remembered, and freed herself from his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a selfish wretch,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;How dare I be so happy when my father
+      is dead or dying? We must go at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go where?&rdquo; asked the bewildered Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To the top of the mountain, of course, whence I came. Oh! please don&rsquo;t
+      stop to question me, I&rsquo;ll tell you as we walk. Stay,&rdquo; and she called to
+      the Zulu driver, who with an air of utter amazement was engaged in milking
+      one of the gift cows, to fill two bottles with the milk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had we not better shout to the Makalanga to let us in?&rdquo; suggested Robert,
+      while this was being done, and Benita wrapped some cooked meat in a cloth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no. They will think I am what I said I was&mdash;the Witch of
+      Bambatse, whose appearance heralds misfortune, and fear a trap. Besides,
+      we could not climb the top wall. You must follow my road, and if you can
+      trust them, bring two of those men with you with lanterns. The lad can
+      stop to herd the cattle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Three minutes later, followed by the two Zulus, they were walking&mdash;or
+      rather, running&mdash;along the banks of the Zambesi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you not come quicker?&rdquo; she asked impatiently. &ldquo;Oh, I beg your
+      pardon, you are lame. Robert, what made you lame, and oh! why are you not
+      dead, as they all swore you were, you, you&mdash;hero, for I know that
+      part of the story?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For a very simple reason, Benita: because I didn&rsquo;t die. When that Kaffir
+      took the watch from me I was insensible, that&rsquo;s all. The sun brought me to
+      life afterwards. Then some natives turned up, good people in their way,
+      although I could not understand a word they said. They made a stretcher of
+      boughs and carried me for some miles to their kraal inland. It hurt
+      awfully, for my thigh was broken, but I arrived at last. There a Kaffir
+      doctor set my leg in his own fashion; it has left it an inch shorter than
+      the other, but that&rsquo;s better than nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that place I lay for two solid months, for there was no white man
+      within a hundred miles, and if there had been I could not have
+      communicated with him. Afterwards I spent another month limping up towards
+      Natal, until I could buy a horse. The rest is very short. Hearing of my
+      reported death, I came as fast as I could to your father&rsquo;s farm, Rooi
+      Krantz, where I learned from the old vrouw Sally that you had taken to
+      treasure-hunting, the same treasure that I told you of on the <i>Zanzibar</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I followed your spoor, met the servants whom you had sent back, who
+      told me all about you, and in due course, after many adventures, as they
+      say in a book, walked into the camp of our friends, the Matabele.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were going to kill me at once, when suddenly you appeared upon that
+      point of rock, glittering like&mdash;like the angel of the dawn. I knew
+      that it must be you, for I had found out about your attempted escape, and
+      how you were hunted back to this place. But the Matabele all thought that
+      it was the Spirit of Bambatse, who has a great reputation in these parts.
+      Well, that took off their attention, and afterwards, as I told you, it
+      occurred to them that I might be an engineer. You know the rest, don&rsquo;t
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita softly. &ldquo;I know the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they plunged into the reeds and were obliged to stop talking, since
+      they must walk in single file. Presently Benita looked up and saw that she
+      was under the thorn which grew in the cleft of the rock. Also, with some
+      trouble she found the bunch of reeds that she had bent down, to mark the
+      inconspicuous hole through which she had crept, and by it her lantern. It
+      seemed weeks since she had left it there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;light your candles, and if you see a crocodile, please
+      shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+    <h2><a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"></a>
+      XXIV.<br/>
+      THE TRUE GOLD</h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me go first,&rdquo; said Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Benita. &ldquo;I know the way; but please do watch for that
+      horrible crocodile.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she knelt down and crept into the hole, while after her came Robert,
+      and after him the two Zulus, who protested that they were not ant-bears to
+      burrow under ground. Lifting the lantern she searched the cave, and as she
+      could see no signs of the crocodile, walked on boldly to where the stair
+      began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be quick,&rdquo; she whispered to Robert, for in that place it seemed natural
+      to speak low. &ldquo;My father is above and near his death. I am dreadfully
+      afraid lest we should be too late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they toiled up the endless steps, a very strange procession, for the
+      two Zulus, bold men enough outside, were shaking with fright, till at
+      length Benita clambered out of the trap door on to the floor of the
+      treasure chamber, and turned to help Robert, whose lameness made him
+      somewhat slow and awkward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s all that?&rdquo; he asked, pointing to the hide sacks, while they waited
+      for the two scared Kaffirs to join them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she answered indifferently, &ldquo;gold, I believe. Look, there is some of
+      it on the floor, over Benita da Ferreira&rsquo;s footsteps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gold! Why, it must be worth&mdash;&mdash;! And who on earth is Benita da
+      Ferreira?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you afterwards. She has been dead two or three hundred years;
+      it was her gold, or her people&rsquo;s, and those are her footprints in the
+      dust. How stupid you are not to understand! Never mind the hateful stuff;
+      come on quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they passed the door which she had opened that morning, and clambered
+      up the remaining stairway. So full was Benita of terrors that she could
+      never remember how she climbed them. Suppose that the foot of the crucifix
+      had swung to; suppose that her father were dead; suppose that Jacob Meyer
+      had broken into the cave? Well for herself she was no longer afraid of
+      Jacob Meyer. Oh, they were there! The heavy door <i>had</i> begun to
+      close, but mercifully her bit of rock kept it ajar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father! Father!&rdquo; she cried, running towards the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No answer came. She threw aside the flap, held down the lantern and
+      looked. There he lay, white and still. She was too late!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is dead, he is dead!&rdquo; she wailed. Robert knelt down at her side, and
+      examined the old man, while she waited in an agony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He ought to be,&rdquo; he said slowly; &ldquo;but, Benita, I don&rsquo;t think he is. I can
+      feel his heart stir. No, don&rsquo;t stop to talk. Pour out some of that
+      squareface, and here, mix it with this milk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She obeyed, and while he held up her father&rsquo;s head, with a trembling hand
+      emptied a little of the drink into his mouth. At first it ran out again,
+      then almost automatically he swallowed some, and they knew that he was
+      alive, and thanked Heaven. Ten minutes later Mr. Clifford was sitting up
+      staring at them with dull and wondering eyes, while outside the two Zulus,
+      whose nerves had now utterly broken down, were contemplating the pile of
+      skeletons in the corner and the white towering crucifix, and loudly
+      lamenting that they should have been brought to perish in this place of
+      bones and ghosts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it Jacob Meyer who makes that noise?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford faintly.
+      &ldquo;And, Benita, where have you been so long, and&mdash;who is this gentleman
+      with you? I seem to remember his face.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is the white man who was in the waggon, father, an old friend come to
+      life again. Robert, can&rsquo;t you stop the howling of those Kaffirs? Though I
+      am sure I don&rsquo;t wonder that they howl; I should have liked to do so for
+      days. Oh! father, father, don&rsquo;t you understand me? We are saved, yes,
+      snatched out of hell and the jaws of death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Jacob Meyer dead, then?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where he is or what has happened to him, and I don&rsquo;t care,
+      but perhaps we had better find out. Robert, there is a madman outside.
+      Make the Kaffirs pull down that wall, would you? and catch him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What wall? What madman?&rdquo; he asked, staring at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, of course you don&rsquo;t know that, either. You know nothing. I&rsquo;ll show
+      you, and you must be prepared, for probably he will shoot at us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It all sounds a little risky, doesn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; asked Robert doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but we must take the risk. We cannot carry my father down that
+      place, and unless we can get him into light and air soon, he will
+      certainly die. The man outside is Jacob Meyer, his partner&mdash;you
+      remember him. All these weeks of hardship and treasure-hunting have sent
+      him off his head, and he wanted to mesmerize me and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what? Make love to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded, then went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So when he could not get his way about the mesmerism and so forth, he
+      threatened to murder my father, and that is why we had to hide in this
+      cave and build ourselves up, till at last I found the way out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer, now as always,&rdquo; said Robert flushing.
+      &ldquo;To think that you should have been in the power of a scoundrel like that!
+      Well, I hope to come square with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t hurt him, dear, unless you are obliged. Remember he is not
+      responsible. He thought he saw a ghost here the other day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless he behaves himself he is likely to see a good many soon,&rdquo; muttered
+      Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they went down the cave, and as silently as possible began to work at
+      the wall, destroying in a few minutes what had been built up with so much
+      labour. When it was nearly down the Zulus were told that there was an
+      enemy outside, and that they must help to catch him if necessary, but were
+      not to harm him. They assented gladly enough; indeed, to get out of that
+      cave they would have faced half a dozen enemies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now there was a hole right through the wall, and Robert bade Benita stand
+      to one side. Then as soon as his eyes became accustomed to the little
+      light that penetrated there, he drew his revolver and beckoned the Kaffirs
+      to follow. Down the passage they crept, slowly, lest they should be
+      blinded when they came to the glare of the sunshine, while Benita waited
+      with a beating heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little time went by, she never knew how long, till suddenly a rifle shot
+      rang through the stillness. Benita was able to bear no more. She rushed
+      down the winding passage, and presently, just beyond its mouth, in a
+      blurred and indistinct fashion saw that the two white men were rolling
+      together on the ground, while the Kaffirs sprang round watching for an
+      opportunity to seize one of them. At that moment they succeeded, and
+      Robert rose, dusting his hands and knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer,&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;I could have killed
+      him as his back was towards me, but didn&rsquo;t because you asked me not. Then
+      I stumbled with my lame leg, and he whipped round and let drive with his
+      rifle. Look,&rdquo; and he showed her where the bullet had cut his ear. &ldquo;Luckily
+      I got hold of him before he could loose off another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita could find no words, her heart was too full of thankfulness. Only
+      she seized Robert&rsquo;s hand and kissed it. Then she looked at Jacob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was lying upon the broad of his back, the two big Zulus holding his
+      arms and legs; his lips were cracked, blue and swollen; his face was
+      almost black, but his eyes still shone bright with insanity and hate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you,&rdquo; he screamed hoarsely to Robert. &ldquo;You are another ghost, the
+      ghost of that man who was drowned. Otherwise my bullet would have killed
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; Seymour answered, &ldquo;I am a ghost. Now, you boys, here&rsquo;s a
+      bit of rope. Tie his hands behind his back and search him. There is a
+      pistol in that pocket.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They obeyed, and presently Meyer was disarmed and bound fast to a tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Water,&rdquo; he moaned. &ldquo;For days I have had nothing but the dew I could lick
+      off the leaves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pitying his plight, Benita ran into the cave and returned presently with a
+      tin of water. One of the Kaffirs held it to his lips, and he drank
+      greedily. Then, leaving one Zulu to watch him, Robert, Benita, and the
+      other Zulu went back, and as gently as they could carried out Mr. Clifford
+      on his mattress, placing him in the shade of a rock, where he lay blessing
+      them feebly, because they had brought him into the light again. At the
+      sight of the old man Meyer&rsquo;s rage blazed up afresh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; he screamed, &ldquo;if only I had killed you long ago, she would be mine
+      now, not that fellow&rsquo;s. It was you who stood between us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, my friend,&rdquo; broke in Robert. &ldquo;I forgive you everything else,
+      but, mad or sane, be good enough to keep Miss Clifford&rsquo;s name off your
+      lips, or I will hand you over to those Kaffirs to be dealt with as you
+      deserve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Jacob understood, and was silent. They gave him more water and food
+      to eat, some of the meat that they had brought with them, which he
+      devoured ravenously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you sensible now?&rdquo; asked Robert when he had done. &ldquo;Then listen to me;
+      I have some good news for you. That treasure you have been hunting for has
+      been found. We are going to give you half of it, one of the waggons and
+      some oxen, and clear you out of this place. Then if I set eyes on you
+      again before we get to a civilized country, I shoot you like a dog.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You lie!&rdquo; said Meyer sullenly. &ldquo;You want to turn me out into the
+      wilderness to be murdered by the Makalanga or the Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Robert. &ldquo;Untie him, boys, and bring him along. I will
+      show him whether I lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are they taking me to?&rdquo; asked Meyer. &ldquo;Not into the cave? I won&rsquo;t go
+      into the cave; it is haunted. If it hadn&rsquo;t been for the ghost there I
+      would have broken down their wall long ago, and killed that old snake
+      before her eyes. Whenever I went near that wall I saw it watching me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First time I ever heard of a ghost being useful,&rdquo; remarked Robert. &ldquo;Bring
+      him along. No, Benita, he shall see whether I am a liar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the lights were lit, and the two stalwart Zulus hauled Jacob forward,
+      Robert and Benita following. At first he struggled violently, then, on
+      finding that he could not escape, went on, his teeth chattering with fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is cruel,&rdquo; remonstrated Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A little cruelty will not do him any harm,&rdquo; Robert answered. &ldquo;He has
+      plenty to spare for other people. Besides, he is going to get what he has
+      been looking for so long.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They led Jacob to the foot of the crucifix, where a paroxysm seemed to
+      seize him, then pushed him through the swinging doorway beneath, and down
+      the steep stairs, till once more they all stood in the treasure-chamber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look,&rdquo; said Robert, and, drawing his hunting-knife, he slashed one of the
+      hide bags, whereon instantly there flowed out a stream of beads and
+      nuggets. &ldquo;Now, my friend, am I a liar?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this wondrous sight Jacob&rsquo;s terror seemed to depart from him, and he
+      grew cunning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beautiful, beautiful!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;more than I thought&mdash;sacks and
+      sacks of gold. I shall be a king indeed. No, no, it is all a dream&mdash;like
+      the rest. I don&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s there. Loose my arms and let me feel it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Untie him,&rdquo; said Robert, at the same time drawing his pistol and covering
+      the man; &ldquo;he can&rsquo;t do us any hurt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Kaffirs obeyed, and Jacob, springing at the slashed bag, plunged his
+      thin hands into it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No lie,&rdquo; he screamed, &ldquo;no lie,&rdquo; as he dragged the stuff out and smelt at
+      it. &ldquo;Gold, gold, gold! Hundreds of thousands of pounds&rsquo; worth of gold!
+      Let&rsquo;s make a bargain, Englishman, and I won&rsquo;t kill you as I meant to do.
+      You take the girl and give me all the gold,&rdquo; and in his ecstasy he began
+      to pour the glittering ingots over his head and body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A new version of the tale of Danaë,&rdquo; began Robert in a sarcastic voice,
+      then suddenly paused, for a change had come over Jacob&rsquo;s face, a terrible
+      change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It turned ashen beneath the tan, his eyes grew large and round, he put up
+      his hands as though to thrust something from him, his whole frame
+      shivered, and his hair seemed to erect itself. Slowly he retreated
+      backwards, and would have fallen down the unclosed trap-hole had not one
+      of the Kaffirs pushed him away. Back he went, still back, till he struck
+      the further wall and stood there, perhaps for half a minute. He lifted his
+      hand and pointed first to those ancient footprints, some of which still
+      remained in the dust of the floor, and next, as they thought, at Benita.
+      His lips moved fast, he seemed to be pleading, remonstrating, yet&mdash;and
+      this was the ghastliest part of it&mdash;from them there came no sound.
+      Lastly, his eyes rolled up until only the whites of them were visible, his
+      face became wet as though water had been poured over it, and, still
+      without a sound, he fell forward and moved no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So terrible was the scene that with a howl of fear the two Kaffirs turned
+      and fled up the stairway. Robert sprang to the Jew, dragged him over on to
+      his back, put his hand upon his breast and lifted his eyelids.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dead,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Stone dead. Privation, brain excitement, heart failure&mdash;that&rsquo;s
+      the story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; answered Benita faintly; &ldquo;but really I think that I begin to
+      believe in ghosts also. Look, I never noticed them before, and I didn&rsquo;t
+      walk there, but those footsteps seem to lead right up to him.&rdquo; Then she
+      turned too and fled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another week had gone by. The waggons were laden with a burden more
+      precious perhaps than waggons have often borne before. In one of them, on
+      a veritable bed of gold, slept Mr. Clifford, still very weak and ill, but
+      somewhat better than he had been, and with a good prospect of recovery, at
+      any rate for a while. They were to trek a little after dawn, and already
+      Robert and Benita were up and waiting. She touched his arm and said to
+      him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come with me. I have a fancy to see that place once more, for the last
+      time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they climbed the hill and the steep steps in the topmost wall that
+      Meyer had blocked&mdash;re-opened now&mdash;and reaching the mouth of the
+      cave, lit the lamps which they had brought with them, and entered. There
+      were the fragments of the barricade that Benita had built with desperate
+      hands, there was the altar of sacrifice standing cold and grey as it had
+      stood for perhaps three thousand years. There was the tomb of the old monk
+      who had a companion now, for in it Jacob Meyer lay with him, his bones
+      covered by the <i>débris</i> that he himself had dug out in his mad search
+      for wealth; and there the white Christ hung awful on His cross. Only the
+      skeletons of the Portuguese were gone, for with the help of his Kaffirs
+      Robert had moved them every one into the empty treasure-chamber, closing
+      the trap beneath, and building up the door above, so that there they might
+      lie in peace at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this melancholy place they tarried but a little while, then, turning
+      their backs upon it for ever, went out and climbed the granite cone to
+      watch the sun rise over the broad Zambesi. Up it came in glory, that same
+      sun which had shone upon the despairing Benita da Ferreira, and upon the
+      English Benita when she had stood there in utter hopelessness, and seen
+      the white man captured by the Matabele.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, different was their state indeed, and there in that high place,
+      whence perhaps many a wretched creature had been cast to death, whence
+      certainly the Portuguese maiden had sought her death, these two happy
+      beings were not ashamed to give thanks to Heaven for the joy which it had
+      vouchsafed to them, and for their hopes of life full and long to be
+      travelled hand in hand. Behind them was the terror of the cave, beneath
+      them were the mists of the valley, but above them the light shone and
+      rolled and sparkled, and above them stretched the eternal sky!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They descended the pillar, and near the foot of it saw an old man sitting.
+      It was Mambo, the Molimo of the Makalanga: even when they were still far
+      away from him they knew his snow-white head and thin, ascetic face. As
+      they drew near Benita perceived that his eyes were closed, and whispered
+      to Robert that he was asleep. Yet he had heard them coming, and even
+      guessed her thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden,&rdquo; he said in his gentle voice, &ldquo;maiden who soon shall be a wife, I
+      do not sleep, although I dream of you as I have dreamt before. What did I
+      say to you that day when first we met? That for you I had good tidings;
+      that though death was all about you, you need not fear; that in this place
+      you who had known great sorrow should find happiness and rest. Yet,
+      maiden, you would not believe the words of the Munwali, spoken by his
+      prophet&rsquo;s lips, as he at your side, who shall be your husband, would not
+      believe me in years past when I told him that we should meet again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;I thought your rest was that which we find only
+      in the grave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would not believe,&rdquo; he went on without heeding her, &ldquo;and therefore
+      you tried to fly, and therefore your heart was torn with terror and with
+      agony, when it should have waited for the end in confidence and peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, my trial was very sore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden, I know it, and because it was so sore that patient Spirit of
+      Bambatse bore with you, and through it all guided your feet aright. Yes,
+      with you has that Spirit gone, by day, by night, in the morning and in the
+      evening. Who was it that smote the man who lies dead yonder with horror
+      and with madness when he would have bent your will to his and made you a
+      wife to him? Who was it that told you the secret of the treasure-pit, and
+      what footsteps went before you down its stair? Who was it that led you
+      past the sentries of the Amandabele and gave you wit and power to snatch
+      your lord&rsquo;s life from Maduna&rsquo;s bloody hand? Yes, with you it has gone and
+      with you it will go. No more shall the White Witch stand upon the pillar
+      point at the rising of the sun, or in the shining of the moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, I have never understood you, and I do not understand you now,&rdquo;
+       said Benita. &ldquo;What has this spirit to do with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled a little, then answered slowly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That I may not tell you; that you shall learn one day, but never here.
+      When you also have entered into silence, then you shall learn. But I say
+      to you that this shall not be till your hair is as white as mine, and your
+      years are as many. Ah! you thought that I had deserted you, when fearing
+      for your father&rsquo;s life you wept and prayed in the darkness of the cave.
+      Yet it was not so, for I did but suffer the doom which I had read to
+      fulfil itself as it must do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose to his feet and, resting on his staff, laid one withered hand upon
+      the head of Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we meet no more beneath the sun. Yet because you have
+      brought deliverance to my people, because you are sweet and pure and true,
+      take with you the blessing of Munwali, spoken by the mouth of his servant
+      Mambo, the old Molimo of Bambatse. Though from time to time you must know
+      tears and walk in the shade of sorrows, long and happy shall be your days
+      with him whom you have chosen. Children shall spring up about you, and
+      children&rsquo;s children, and with them also shall the blessing go. The gold
+      you white folk love is yours, and it shall multiply and give food to the
+      hungry and raiment to those that are a-cold. Yet in your own heart lies a
+      richer store that cannot melt away, the countless treasure of mercy and of
+      love. When you sleep and when you wake Love shall take you by the hand,
+      till at length he leads you through life&rsquo;s dark cave to that eternal house
+      of purest gold which soon or late those that seek it shall inherit,&rdquo; and
+      with his staff he pointed to the glowing morning sky wherein one by one
+      little rosy clouds floated upwards and were lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Robert and to Benita&rsquo;s misty eyes they looked like bright-winged angels
+      throwing wide the black doors of night, and heralding that conquering
+      glory at whose advent despair and darkness flee away.
+    </p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENITA ***</div>
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+Project Gutenberg's Benita, An African Romance, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Benita, An African Romance
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2761]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENITA, AN AFRICAN ROMANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Emma Dudding; Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+BENITA--AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+     NOTES
+
+     It may interest readers of this story to know that its author
+     believes it to have a certain foundation in fact.
+
+     It was said about five-and-twenty or thirty years ago that an
+     adventurous trader, hearing from some natives in the territory
+     that lies at the back of Quilimane, the legend of a great treasure
+     buried in or about the sixteenth century by a party of Portuguese
+     who were afterwards massacred, as a last resource attempted its
+     discovery by the help of a mesmerist. According to this history
+     the child who was used as a subject in the experiment, when in a
+     state of trance, detailed the adventures and death of the unhappy
+     Portuguese men and women, two of whom leapt from the point of a
+     high rock into the Zambesi. Although he knew no tongue but
+     English, this clairvoyant child is declared to have repeated in
+     Portuguese the prayers these unfortunates offered up, and even to
+     have sung the very hymns they sang. Moreover, with much other
+     detail, he described the burial of the great treasure and its
+     exact situation so accurately that the white man and the mesmerist
+     were able to dig for and find the place where _it had been_--for
+     the bags were gone, swept out by the floods of the river.
+
+     Some gold coins remained, however, one of them a ducat of Aloysius
+     Mocenigo, Doge of Venice. Afterwards the boy was again thrown into
+     a trance (in all he was mesmerized eight times), and revealed
+     where the sacks still lay; but before the white trader could renew
+     his search for them, the party was hunted out of the country by
+     natives whose superstitious fears were aroused, barely escaping
+     with their lives.
+
+     It should be added that, as in the following tale, the chief who
+     was ruling there when the tragedy happened, declared the place to
+     be sacred, and that if it were entered evil would befall his
+     tribe. Thus it came about that for generations it was never
+     violated, until at length his descendants were driven farther from
+     the river by war, and from one of them the white man heard the
+     legend.
+
+
+
+
+BENITA--AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+CONFIDENCES
+
+Beautiful, beautiful was that night! No air that stirred; the black
+smoke from the funnels of the mail steamer _Zanzibar_ lay low over the
+surface of the sea like vast, floating ostrich plumes that vanished one
+by one in the starlight. Benita Beatrix Clifford, for that was her full
+name, who had been christened Benita after her mother and Beatrix after
+her father's only sister, leaning idly over the bulwark rail, thought
+to herself that a child might have sailed that sea in a boat of bark and
+come safely into port.
+
+Then a tall man of about thirty years of age, who was smoking a cigar,
+strolled up to her. At his coming she moved a little as though to make
+room for him beside her, and there was something in the motion which,
+had anyone been there to observe it, might have suggested that these two
+were upon terms of friendship, or still greater intimacy. For a moment
+he hesitated, and while he did so an expression of doubt, of distress
+even, gathered on his face. It was as though he understood that a great
+deal depended on whether he accepted or declined that gentle invitation,
+and knew not which to do.
+
+Indeed, much did depend upon it, no less than the destinies of both of
+them. If Robert Seymour had gone by to finish his cigar in solitude, why
+then this story would have had a very different ending; or, rather, who
+can say how it might have ended? The dread, foredoomed event with which
+that night was big would have come to its awful birth leaving certain
+words unspoken. Violent separation must have ensued, and even if both of
+them had survived the terror, what prospect was there that their lives
+would again have crossed each other in that wide Africa?
+
+But it was not so fated, for just as he put his foot forward to continue
+his march Benita spoke in her low and pleasant voice.
+
+"Are you going to the smoking-room or to the saloon to dance, Mr.
+Seymour? One of the officers just told me that there is to be a dance,"
+she added, in explanation, "because it is so calm that we might fancy
+ourselves ashore."
+
+"Neither," he answered. "The smoking-room is stuffy, and my dancing days
+are over. No; I proposed to take exercise after that big dinner, and
+then to sit in a chair and fall asleep. But," he added, and his voice
+grew interested, "how did you know that it was I? You never turned your
+head."
+
+"I have ears in my head as well as eyes," she answered with a little
+laugh, "and after we have been nearly a month together on this ship I
+ought to know your step."
+
+"I never remember that anyone ever recognized it before," he said, more
+to himself than to her, then came and leaned over the rail at her side.
+His doubts were gone. Fate had spoken.
+
+For a while there was silence between them, then he asked her if she
+were not going to the dance.
+
+Benita shook her head.
+
+"Why not? You are fond of dancing, and you dance very well. Also there
+are plenty of officers for partners, especially Captain----" and he
+checked himself.
+
+"I know," she said; "it would be pleasant, but--Mr. Seymour, will you
+think me foolish if I tell you something?"
+
+"I have never thought you foolish yet, Miss Clifford, so I don't know
+why I should begin now. What is it?"
+
+"I am not going to the dance because I am afraid, yes, horribly afraid."
+
+"Afraid! Afraid of what?"
+
+"I don't quite know, but, Mr. Seymour, I feel as though we were all
+of us upon the edge of some dreadful catastrophe--as though there were
+about to be a mighty change, and beyond it another life, something
+new and unfamiliar. It came over me at dinner--that was why I left the
+table. Quite suddenly I looked, and all the people were different, yes,
+all except a few."
+
+"Was I different?" he asked curiously.
+
+"No, you were not," and he thought he heard her add "Thank God!" beneath
+her breath.
+
+"And were you different?"
+
+"I don't know. I never looked at myself; I was the seer, not the seen. I
+have always been like that."
+
+"Indigestion," he said reflectively. "We eat too much on board ship,
+and the dinner was very long and heavy. I told you so, that's why I'm
+taking--I mean why I wanted to take exercise."
+
+"And to go to sleep afterwards."
+
+"Yes, first the exercise, then the sleep. Miss Clifford, that is the
+rule of life--and death. With sleep thought ends, therefore for some of
+us your catastrophe is much to be desired, for it would mean long sleep
+and no thought."
+
+"I said that they were changed, not that they had ceased to think.
+Perhaps they thought the more."
+
+"Then let us pray that your catastrophe may be averted. I prescribe
+for you bismuth and carbonate of soda. Also in this weather it seems
+difficult to imagine such a thing. Look now, Miss Clifford," he added,
+with a note of enthusiasm in his voice, pointing towards the east,
+"look."
+
+Her eyes followed his outstretched hand, and there, above the level
+ocean, rose the great orb of the African moon. Lo! of a sudden all that
+ocean turned to silver, a wide path of rippling silver stretched from
+it to them. It might have been the road of angels. The sweet soft light
+beat upon their ship, showing its tapering masts and every detail of the
+rigging. It passed on beyond them, and revealed the low, foam-fringed
+coast-line rising here and there, dotted with kloofs and their clinging
+bush. Even the round huts of Kaffir kraals became faintly visible in
+that radiance. Other things became visible also--for instance, the
+features of this pair.
+
+The man was light in his colouring, fair-skinned, with fair hair which
+already showed a tendency towards greyness, especially in the moustache,
+for he wore no beard. His face was clean cut, not particularly handsome,
+since, their fineness notwithstanding, his features lacked regularity;
+the cheekbones were too high and the chin was too small, small faults
+redeemed to some extent by the steady and cheerful grey eyes. For
+the rest, he was broad-shouldered and well-set-up, sealed with the
+indescribable stamp of the English gentleman. Such was the appearance of
+Robert Seymour.
+
+In that light the girl at his side looked lovely, though, in fact, she
+had no real claims to loveliness, except perhaps as regards her figure,
+which was agile, rounded, and peculiarly graceful. Her foreign-looking
+face was unusual, dark-eyed, a somewhat large and very mobile mouth,
+fair and waving hair, a broad forehead, a sweet and at times wistful
+face, thoughtful for the most part, but apt to be irradiated by sudden
+smiles. Not a beautiful woman at all, but exceedingly attractive, one
+possessing magnetism.
+
+She gazed, first at the moon and the silver road beneath it, then,
+turning, at the land beyond.
+
+"We are very near to Africa, at last," she said.
+
+"Too near, I think," he answered. "If I were the captain I should stand
+out a point or two. It is a strange country, full of surprises. Miss
+Clifford, will you think me rude if I ask you why you are going there?
+You have never told me--quite."
+
+"No, because the story is rather a sad one; but you shall hear it if you
+wish. Do you?"
+
+He nodded, and drew up two deck chairs, in which they settled themselves
+in a corner made by one of the inboard boats, their faces still towards
+the sea.
+
+"You know I was born in Africa," she said, "and lived there till I was
+thirteen years old--why, I find I can still speak Zulu; I did so this
+afternoon. My father was one of the early settlers in Natal. His father
+was a clergyman, a younger son of the Lincolnshire Cliffords. They are
+great people there still, though I don't suppose that they are aware of
+my existence."
+
+"I know them," answered Robert Seymour. "Indeed, I was shooting at their
+place last November--when the smash came," and he sighed; "but go on."
+
+"Well, my father quarrelled with his father, I don't know what about,
+and emigrated. In Natal he married my mother, a Miss Ferreira, whose
+name--like mine and her mother's--was Benita. She was one of two
+sisters, and her father, Andreas Ferreira, who married an English lady,
+was half Dutch and half Portuguese. I remember him well, a fine old man
+with dark eyes and an iron-grey beard. He was wealthy as things went
+in those days--that is to say, he had lots of land in Natal and the
+Transvaal, and great herds of stock. So you see I am half English, some
+Dutch, and more than a quarter Portuguese--quite a mixture of races. My
+father and mother did not get on well together. Mr. Seymour, I may as
+well tell you all the truth: he drank, and although he was passionately
+fond of her, she was jealous of him. Also he gambled away most of her
+patrimony, and after old Andreas Ferreira's death they grew poor. One
+night there was a dreadful scene between them, and in his madness he
+struck her.
+
+"Well, she was a very proud woman, determined, too, and she turned on
+him and said--for I heard her--'I will never forgive you; we have done
+with each other.' Next morning, when my father was sober, he begged her
+pardon, but she made no answer, although he was starting somewhere on
+a fortnight's trek. When he had gone my mother ordered the Cape cart,
+packed up her clothes, took some money that she had put away, drove to
+Durban, and after making arrangements at the bank about a small private
+income of her own, sailed with me for England, leaving a letter for my
+father in which she said that she would never see him again, and if he
+tried to interfere with me she would put me under the protection of the
+English court, which would not allow me to be taken to the home of a
+drunkard.
+
+"In England we went to live in London with my aunt, who had married a
+Major King, but was a widow with five children. My father often wrote to
+persuade my mother to go back to him, but she never would, which I think
+was wrong of her. So things went on for twelve years or more, till
+one day my mother suddenly died, and I came into her little fortune of
+between �200 and �300 a year, which she had tied up so that nobody can
+touch it. That was about a year ago. I wrote to tell my father of her
+death, and received a pitiful letter; indeed, I have had several of
+them. He implored me to come out to him and not to leave him to die in
+his loneliness, as he soon would do of a broken heart, if I did not. He
+said that he had long ago given up drinking, which was the cause of the
+ruin of his life, and sent a certificate signed by a magistrate and a
+doctor to that effect. Well, in the end, although all my cousins and
+their mother advised me against it, I consented, and here I am. He is to
+meet me at Durban, but how we shall get on together is more than I can
+say, though I long to see him, for after all he is my father."
+
+"It was good of you to come, under all the circumstances. You must have
+a brave heart," said Robert reflectively.
+
+"It is my duty," she answered. "And for the rest, I am not afraid who
+was born to Africa. Indeed, often and often have I wished to be back
+there again, out on the veld, far away from the London streets and fog.
+I am young and strong, and I want to see things, natural things--not
+those made by man, you know--the things I remember as a child. One can
+always go back to London."
+
+"Yes, or at least some people can. It is a curious thing, Miss Clifford,
+but as it happens I have met your father. You always reminded me of the
+man, but I had forgotten his name. Now it comes back to me; it _was_
+Clifford."
+
+"Where on earth?" she asked, astonished.
+
+"In a queer place. As I told you, I have visited South Africa before,
+under different circumstances. Four years ago I was out here big-game
+shooting. Going in from the East coast my brother and I--he is dead now,
+poor fellow--got up somewhere in the Matabele country, on the banks of
+the Zambesi. As we didn't find much game there we were going to strike
+south, when some natives told us of a wonderful ruin that stood on
+a hill overhanging the river a few miles farther on. So, leaving the
+waggon on the hither side of the steep nek, over which it would have
+been difficult to drag it, my brother and I took our rifles and a bag
+of food and started. The place was farther off than we thought, although
+from the top of the nek we could see it clearly enough, and before we
+reached it dark had fallen.
+
+"Now we had observed a waggon and a tent outside the wall which we
+thought must belong to white men, and headed for them. There was a light
+in the tent, and the flap was open, the night being very hot. Inside
+two men were seated, one old, with a grey beard, and the other, a
+good-looking fellow--under forty, I should say--with a Jewish face,
+dark, piercing eyes, and a black, pointed beard. They were engaged
+in examining a heap of gold beads and bangles, which lay on the table
+between them. As I was about to speak, the black-bearded man heard or
+caught sight of us, and seizing a rifle that leaned against the table,
+swung round and covered me.
+
+"'For God's sake don't shoot, Jacob,' said the old man; 'they are
+English.'
+
+"'Best dead, any way,' answered the other, in a soft voice, with a
+slight foreign accent, 'we don't want spies or thieves here.'
+
+"'We are neither, but I can shoot as well as you, friend,' I remarked,
+for by this time my rifle was on him.
+
+"Then he thought better of it, and dropped his gun, and we explained
+that we were merely on an arch�ological expedition. The end of it was
+that we became capital friends, though neither of us could cotton much
+to Mr. Jacob--I forget his other name. He struck me as too handy with
+his rifle, and was, I gathered, an individual with a mysterious and
+rather lurid past. To cut a long story short, when he found out that
+we had no intention of poaching, your father, for it was he, told us
+frankly that they were treasure-hunting, having got hold of some
+story about a vast store of gold which had been hidden away there by
+Portuguese two or three centuries before. Their trouble was, however,
+that the Makalanga, who lived in the fortress, which was called
+Bambatse, would not allow them to dig, because they said the place was
+haunted, and if they did so it would bring bad luck to their tribe."
+
+"And did they ever get in?" asked Benita.
+
+"I am sure I don't know, for we went next day, though before we left we
+called on the Makalanga, who admitted us all readily enough so long as
+we brought no spades with us. By the way, the gold we saw your father
+and his friend examining was found in some ancient graves outside the
+walls, but had nothing to do with the big and mythical treasure."
+
+"What was the place like? I love old ruins," broke in Benita again.
+
+"Oh! wonderful. A gigantic, circular wall built by heaven knows who,
+then half-way up the hill another wall, and near the top a third wall
+which, I understood, surrounded a sort of holy of holies, and above
+everything, on the brink of the precipice, a great cone of granite."
+
+"Artificial or natural?"
+
+"I don't know. They would not let us up there, but we were introduced
+to their chief and high priest, Church and State in one, and a wonderful
+old man he was, very wise and very gentle. I remember he told me he
+believed we should meet again, which seemed an odd thing for him to say.
+I asked him about the treasure and why he would not let the other white
+men look for it. He answered that it would never be found by any man,
+white or black, that only a woman would find it at the appointed time,
+when it pleased the Spirit of Bambatse, under whose guardianship it
+was."
+
+"Who was the Spirit of Bambatse, Mr. Seymour?"
+
+"I can't tell you, couldn't make out anything definite about her, except
+that she was said to be white, and to appear sometimes at sunrise, or in
+the moonlight, standing upon the tall point of rock of which I told you.
+I remember that I got up before the dawn to look for her--like an idiot,
+for of course I saw nothing--and that's all I know about the matter."
+
+"Did you have any talk with my father, Mr. Seymour--alone, I mean?"
+
+"Yes, a little. The next day he walked back to our waggon with us, being
+glad, I fancy, of a change from the perpetual society of his partner
+Jacob. That wasn't wonderful in a man who had been brought up at
+Eton and Oxford, as I found out he had, like myself, and whatever his
+failings may have been--although we saw no sign of them, for he would
+not touch a drop of spirits--was a gentleman, which Jacob wasn't. Still,
+he--Jacob--had read a lot, especially on out-of-the-way subjects,
+and could talk every language under the sun--a clever and agreeable
+scoundrel in short."
+
+"Did my father say anything about himself?"
+
+"Yes; he told me that he had been an unsuccessful man all his life,
+and had much to reproach himself with, for we got quite confidential at
+last. He added that he had a family in England--what family he didn't
+say--whom he was anxious to make wealthy by way of reparation for past
+misdeeds, and that was why he was treasure-hunting. However, from what
+you tell me, I fear he never found anything."
+
+"No, Mr. Seymour, he never found it and never will, but all the same
+I am glad to hear that he was thinking of us. Also I should like to
+explore that place, Bambatse."
+
+"So should I, Miss Clifford, in your company, and your father's, but not
+in that of Jacob. If ever you should go there with him, I say:--'Beware
+of Jacob.'"
+
+"Oh! I am not afraid of Jacob," she answered with a laugh, "although I
+believe that my father still has something to do with him--at least in
+one of his letters he mentioned his partner, who was a German."
+
+"A German! I think that he must have meant a German Jew."
+
+After this there was silence between them for a time, then he said
+suddenly, "You have told me your story, would you like to hear mine?"
+
+"Yes," she answered.
+
+"Well, it won't take you long to listen to it, for, Miss Clifford,
+like Canning's needy knife-grinder, I have really none to tell. You
+see before you one of the most useless persons in the world, an
+undistinguished member of what is called in England the 'leisured
+class,' who can do absolutely nothing that is worth doing, except shoot
+straight."
+
+"Indeed," said Benita.
+
+"You do not seem impressed with that accomplishment," he went on, "yet
+it is an honest fact that for the last fifteen years--I was thirty-two
+this month--practically my whole time has been given up to it, with a
+little fishing thrown in in the spring. As I want to make the most of
+myself, I will add that I am supposed to be among the six best shots in
+England, and that my ambition--yes, great Heavens! my ambition--was to
+become better than the other five. By that sin fell the poor man who
+speaks to you. I was supposed to have abilities, but I neglected them
+all to pursue this form of idleness. I entered no profession, I did
+no work, with the result that at thirty-two I am ruined and almost
+hopeless."
+
+"Why ruined and hopeless?" she asked anxiously, for the way in which
+they were spoken grieved her more than the words themselves.
+
+"Ruined because my old uncle, the Honourable John Seymour Seymour, whose
+heir I was, committed the indiscretion of marrying a young lady who has
+presented him with thriving twins. With the appearance of those twins my
+prospects disappeared, as did the allowance of �1,500 a year that he
+was good enough to make me on which to keep up a position as his
+next-of-kin. I had something of my own, but also I had debts, and at the
+present moment a draft in my pocket for �2,163 14s. 5d., and a little
+loose cash, represents the total of my worldly goods, just about the sum
+I have been accustomed to spend per annum."
+
+"I don't call that ruin, I call that riches," said Benita, relieved.
+"With �2,000 to begin on you may make a fortune in Africa. But how about
+the hopelessness?"
+
+"I am hopeless because I have absolutely nothing to which to look
+forward. Really, when that �2,000 is gone I do not know how to earn a
+sixpence. In this dilemma it occurred to me that the only thing I could
+do was to turn my shooting to practical account, and become a hunter of
+big game. Therefore I propose to kill elephants until an elephant kills
+me. At least," he added in a changed voice, "I did so propose until half
+an hour ago."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE END OF THE "ZANZIBAR."
+
+"Until half an hour ago? Then why----" and Benita stopped.
+
+"Have I changed my very modest scheme of life? Miss Clifford, as you are
+so good as to be sufficiently interested, I will tell you. It is because
+a temptation which hitherto I have been able to resist, has during the
+last thirty minutes become too strong for me. You know everything has
+its breaking strain." He puffed nervously at his cigar, threw it into
+the sea, paused, then went on: "Miss Clifford, I have dared to fall in
+love with you. No; hear me out. When I have done it will be quite time
+enough to give me the answer that I expect. Meanwhile, for the first
+time in my life, allow me the luxury of being in earnest. To me it is a
+new sensation, and therefore very priceless. May I go on?"
+
+Benita made no answer. He rose with a certain deliberateness which
+characterized all his movements--for Robert Seymour never seemed to be
+in a hurry--and stood in front of her so that the moonlight shone upon
+her face, while his own remained in shadow.
+
+"Beyond that �2,000 of which I have spoken, and incidentally its
+owner, I have nothing whatsoever to offer to you. I am an indigent and
+worthless person. Even in my prosperous days, when I could look forward
+to a large estate, although it was often suggested to me, I never
+considered myself justified in asking any lady to share--the prospective
+estate. I think now that the real reason was that I never cared
+sufficiently for any lady, since otherwise my selfishness would probably
+have overcome my scruples, as it does to-night. Benita, for I will call
+you so, if for the first and last time, I--I--love you.
+
+"Listen now," he went on, dropping his measured manner, and speaking
+hurriedly, like a man with an earnest message and little time in which
+to deliver it, "it is an odd thing, an incomprehensible thing, but
+true, true--I fell in love with you the first time I saw your face. You
+remember, you stood there leaning over the bulwark when I came on board
+at Southampton, and as I walked up the gangway, I looked and my eyes met
+yours. Then I stopped, and that stout old lady who got off at Madeira
+bumped into me, and asked me to be good enough to make up my mind if I
+were going backward or forward. Do you remember?"
+
+"Yes," she answered in a low voice.
+
+"Which things are an allegory," he continued. "I felt it so at the time.
+Yes, I had half a mind to answer 'Backward' and give up my berth in
+this ship. Then I looked at you again, and something inside of me said
+'Forward.' So I came up the rest of the gangway and took off my hat
+to you, a salutation I had no right to make, but which, I recall, you
+acknowledged."
+
+He paused, then continued: "As it began, so it has gone on. It is always
+like that, is it not? The beginning is everything, the end must follow.
+And now it has come out, as I was fully determined that it should not do
+half an hour ago, when suddenly you developed eyes in the back of your
+head, and--oh! dearest, I love you. No, please be quiet; I have not
+done. I have told you what I am, and really there isn't much more to say
+about me, for I have no particular vices except the worst of them all,
+idleness, and not the slightest trace of any virtue that I can discover.
+But I have a certain knowledge of the world acquired in a long course of
+shooting parties, and as a man of the world I will venture to give you a
+bit of advice. It is possible that to you my life and death affair is
+a mere matter of board-ship amusement. Yet it is possible also that you
+might take another view of the matter. In that case, as a friend and a
+man of the world, I entreat you--don't. Have nothing to do with me. Send
+me about my business; you will never regret it."
+
+"Are you making fun, or is all this meant, Mr. Seymour?" asked Benita,
+still speaking beneath her breath, and looking straight before her.
+
+"Meant? Of course it is meant. How can you ask?"
+
+"Because I have always understood that on such occasions people wish to
+make the best of themselves."
+
+"Quite so, but I never do what I ought, a fact for which I am grateful
+now come to think of it, since otherwise I should not be here to-night.
+I wish to make the worst of myself, the very worst, for whatever I am
+not, at least I am honest. Now having told you that I am, or was half
+an hour ago, an idler, a good-for-nothing, prospectless failure, I ask
+you--if you care to hear any more?"
+
+She half rose, and, glancing at him for the first time, saw his face
+contract itself and turn pale in the moonlight. It may be that the
+sight of it affected her, even to the extent of removing some adverse
+impression left by the bitter mocking of his self-blame. At any rate,
+Benita seemed to change her mind, and sat down again, saying:
+
+"Go on, if you wish."
+
+He bowed slightly, and said:
+
+"I thank you. I have told you what I _was_ half an hour ago; now, hoping
+that you will believe me, I will tell you what I _am_. I am a truly
+repentant man, one upon whom a new light has risen. I am not very old,
+and I think that underneath it all I have some ability. Opportunity
+may still come my way; if it does not, for your sake I will make the
+opportunity. I do not believe that you can ever find anyone who would
+love you better or care for you more tenderly. I desire to live for you
+in the future, more completely even than in the past I have lived for
+myself. I do not wish to influence you by personal appeals, but in fact
+I stand at the parting of the ways. If you will give yourself to me
+I feel as though I might still become a husband of whom you could be
+proud--if not, I write 'Finis' upon the tombstone of the possibilities
+of Robert Seymour. I adore you. You are the one woman with whom I desire
+to pass my days; it is you who have always been lacking to my life. I
+ask you to be brave, to take the risk of marrying me, although I can see
+nothing but poverty ahead of us, for I am an adventurer."
+
+"Don't speak like that," she said quickly. "We are all of us adventurers
+in this world, and I more than you. We have just to consider ourselves,
+not what we have or have not."
+
+"So be it, Miss Clifford. Then I have nothing more to say; now it is for
+you to answer."
+
+Just then the sound of the piano and the fiddle in the saloon ceased.
+One of the waltzes was over, and some of the dancers came upon deck to
+flirt or to cool themselves. One pair, engaged very obviously in the
+former occupation, stationed themselves so near to Robert and Benita
+that further conversation between them was impossible, and there
+proceeded to interchange the remarks common to such occasions.
+
+For a good ten minutes did they stand thus, carrying on a mock quarrel
+as to a dance of which one of them was supposed to have been defrauded,
+until Robert Seymour, generally a very philosophical person, could have
+slain those innocent lovers. He felt, he knew not why, that his chances
+were slipping away from him; that sensation of something bad about to
+happen, of which Benita had spoken, spread from her to him. The suspense
+grew exasperating, terrible even, nor could it be ended. To ask her to
+come elsewhere was under the circumstances not feasible, especially as
+he would also have been obliged to request the other pair to make way
+for them, and all this time, with a sinking of the heart, he felt that
+probably Benita was beating down any tenderness which she might feel
+towards him; that when her long-delayed answer did come the chances were
+it would be "No."
+
+The piano began to play again in the saloon, and the young people, still
+squabbling archly, at length prepared to depart. Suddenly there was a
+stir upon the bridge, and against the tender sky Robert saw a man dash
+forward. Next instant the engine-room bell rang fiercely. He knew the
+signal--it was "Stop," followed at once by other ringings that meant
+"Full speed astern."
+
+"I wonder what is up?" said the young man to the young woman.
+
+Before the words had left his lips they knew. There was a sensation as
+though all the hull of the great ship had come to a complete standstill,
+while the top part of her continued to travel forward; followed by
+another sensation still more terrible and sickening in its nature--that
+of slipping over something, helplessly, heavily, as a man slips upon ice
+or a polished floor. Spars cracked, ropes flew in two with a noise as of
+pistol shots. Heavy objects rushed about the deck, travelling forwards
+all of them. Benita was hurled from her chair against Robert so that the
+two of them rolled into the scuppers. He was unhurt and picked himself
+up, but she lay still, and he saw that something had struck her upon the
+head, for blood was running down her cheek. He lifted her, and, filled
+with black horror and despair--for he thought her gone--pressed his hand
+upon her heart. Thank God! it began to beat again--she still lived.
+
+The music in the saloon had stopped, and for a little while there
+was silence. Then of an instant there arose the horrible clamour of
+shipwreck; wild-eyed people rushed to and fro aimlessly; here and there
+women and children shrieked; a clergyman fell upon his knees and began
+to pray.
+
+This went on for a space, till presently the second officer appeared
+and, affecting an unconcerned air, called out that it was all right, the
+captain said no one was to be afraid. He added that they were not more
+than six miles from the shore, and that the ship would be beached in
+half an hour. Indeed, as he spoke the engines, which had been stopped,
+commenced to work again, and her head swung round in a wide circle,
+pointing to the land. Evidently they had passed over the rock and were
+once more in deep water, through which they travelled at a good speed
+but with a heavy list to starboard. The pumps got to work also with a
+monotonous, clanging beat, throwing out great columns of foaming water
+on to the oily sea. Men began to cut the covers off the boats, and to
+swing some of them outboard. Such were the things that went on about
+them.
+
+With the senseless Benita clasped to his breast, the blood from her cut
+head running down his shoulder, Robert stood still awhile, thinking.
+Then he made up his mind. As it chanced, she had a deck cabin, and
+thither he forced his way, carrying her tenderly and with patience
+through the distracted throng of passengers, for there were five hundred
+souls on board that ship. He reached the place to find that it was quite
+empty, her cabinmate having fled. Laying Benita upon the lower bunk,
+he lit the swinging candle. As soon as it burned up he searched for
+the lifebelts and by good fortune found two of them, one of which, not
+without great difficulty, he succeeded in fastening round her. Then he
+took a sponge and bathed her head with water. There was a great bruise
+upon her temple where the block or whatever it was had struck her, and
+the blood still flowed; but the wound was not very deep or extensive,
+nor, so far as he could discover, did the bone appear to be broken or
+driven in. He had good hope that she was only stunned, and would revive
+presently. Unable to do more for her, a thought struck him. On the floor
+of the cabin, thrown by the shock from the rack, lay her writing case.
+He opened it, and taking a piece of paper wrote these words hurriedly in
+pencil:
+
+"You gave me no answer, and it is more than probable that I shall
+receive none in this world which one or both of us may be upon the
+verge of leaving. In the latter case we can settle the matter
+elsewhere--perhaps. In the former, should it be my lot to go and yours
+to stay, I hope that you will think kindly of me at times as of one
+who loved you truly. Should it be yours to go, then you will never read
+these words. Yet if to the dead is given knowledge, be assured that as
+you left me so you shall find me, yours and yours alone. Or perhaps we
+both may live; I pray so.--S. R. S."
+
+Folding up the paper, he undid a button of Benita's blouse and thrust
+it away there, knowing that thus she would certainly find it should she
+survive. Then he stepped out on to the deck to see what was happening.
+The vessel still steamed, but made slow progress; moreover, the list to
+starboard was now so pronounced that it was difficult to stand upright.
+On account of it nearly all the passengers were huddled together upon
+the port side, having instinctively taken refuge as far as possible
+above the water. A man with a white, distraught face staggered towards
+him, supporting himself by the bulwarks. It was the captain. For a
+moment he paused as though to think, holding to a stanchion. Robert
+Seymour saw his opportunity and addressed him.
+
+"Forgive me," he said; "I do not like interfering with other people's
+business, but for reasons unconnected with myself I suggest to you that
+it would be wise to stop this ship and get out the boats. The sea is
+calm; if it is not left till too late there should be no difficulty in
+launching them."
+
+The man stared at him absently, then said:
+
+"They won't hold everybody, Mr. Seymour. I hope to beach her."
+
+"At least they will hold some," he answered, "whereas----" And he
+pointed to the water, which by now was almost level with the deck.
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Mr. Seymour. It doesn't matter to me, anyway. I
+am a ruined man; but the poor passengers--the poor passengers!" And he
+scrambled away fiercely towards the bridge like a wounded cat along
+the bough of a tree, whence in a few seconds Robert heard him shouting
+orders.
+
+A minute or so afterwards the steamer stopped. Too late the captain
+had decided to sacrifice his ship and save those she carried. They were
+beginning to get out the boats. Now Robert returned to the cabin where
+Benita was lying senseless, and wrapped her up in a cloak and some
+blankets. Then, seeing the second lifebelt on the floor, by an
+afterthought he put it on, knowing that there was time to spare. Next he
+lifted Benita, and feeling sure that the rush would be for the starboard
+side, on which the boats were quite near the water, carried her, with
+difficulty, for the slope was steep, to the port-cutter, which he knew
+would be in the charge of a good man, the second officer, whom he had
+seen in command there at Sunday boat-drills.
+
+Here, as he had anticipated, the crowd was small, since most people
+thought that it would not be possible to get this boat down safely to
+the water; or if their powers of reflection were gone, instinct told
+them so. That skilful seaman, the second officer, and his appointed
+crew, were already at work lowering the cutter from the davits.
+
+"Now," he said, "women and children first."
+
+A number rushed in, and Robert saw that the boat would soon be full.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that I must count myself a woman as I carry
+one," and by a great effort, holding Benita with one arm, with the other
+he let himself down the falls and, assisted by a quartermaster, gained
+the boat in safety.
+
+One or two other men scrambled after him.
+
+"Push her off," said the officer; "she can hold no more," and the ropes
+were let go.
+
+When they were about twelve feet from the ship's side, from which
+they thrust themselves clear with oars, there came a rush of people,
+disappointed of places in the starboard boats. A few of the boldest
+of these swarmed down the falls, others jumped and fell among them, or
+missed and dropped into the sea, or struck upon the sides of the boat
+and were killed. Still she reached the water upon an even keel, though
+now much overladen. The oars were got out, and they rowed round the bow
+of the great ship wallowing in her death-throes, their first idea being
+to make for the shore, which was not three miles away.
+
+This brought them to the starboard side, where they saw a hideous scene.
+Hundreds of people seemed to be fighting for room, with the result that
+some of the boats were overturned, precipitating their occupants into
+the water. Others hung by the prow or the stern, the ropes having jammed
+in the davits in the frantic haste and confusion, while from them human
+beings dropped one by one. Round others not yet launched a hellish
+struggle was in progress, the struggle of men, women, and children
+battling for their lives, in which the strong, mad with terror, showed
+no mercy to the weak.
+
+From that mass of humanity, most of them about to perish, went up a
+babel of sounds which in its sum shaped itself to one prolonged scream,
+such as might proceed from a Titan in his agony. All this beneath a
+brooding, moonlit sky, and on a sea as smooth as glass. Upon the ship,
+which now lay upon her side, the siren still sent up its yells for
+succour, and some brave man continued to fire rockets, which rushed
+heavenwards and burst in showers of stars.
+
+Robert remembered that the last rocket he had seen was fired at an
+evening _f�te_ for the amusement of the audience. The contrast struck
+him as dreadful. He wondered whether there were any power or infernal
+population that could be amused by a tragedy such as enacted itself
+before his eyes; how it came about also that such a tragedy was
+permitted by the merciful Strength in which mankind put their faith.
+
+The vessel was turning over, compressed air or steam burst up the decks
+with loud reports; fragments of wreckage flew into the air. There the
+poor captain still clung to the rail of the bridge. Seymour could see
+his white face--the moonlight seemed to paint it with a ghastly smile.
+The officer in command of their boat shouted to the crew to give way
+lest they should be sucked down with the steamer.
+
+Look! Now she wallowed like a dying whale, the moonrays shone white upon
+her bottom, showing the jagged rent made in it by the rock on which she
+had struck, and now she was gone. Only a little cloud of smoke and steam
+remained to mark where the _Zanzibar_ had been.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+HOW ROBERT CAME ASHORE
+
+In place of the _Zanzibar_ a great pit on the face of the ocean, in
+which the waters boiled and black objects appeared and disappeared.
+
+"Sit still, for your lives' sake," said the officer in a quiet voice;
+"the suck is coming."
+
+In another minute it came, dragging them downward till the water
+trickled over the sides of the boat, and backward towards the pit. But
+before ever they reached it the deep had digested its prey, and, save
+for the great air-bubbles which burst about them and a mixed, unnatural
+swell, was calm again. For the moment they were safe.
+
+"Passengers," said the officer, "I am going to put out to sea--at any
+rate, till daylight. We may meet a vessel there, and if we try to row
+ashore we shall certainly be swamped in the breakers."
+
+No one objected; they seemed too stunned to speak, but Robert thought to
+himself that the man was wise. They began to move, but before they had
+gone a dozen yards something dark rose beside them. It was a piece
+of wreckage, and clinging to it a woman, who clasped a bundle to her
+breast. More, she was alive, for she began to cry to them to take her
+in.
+
+"Save me and my child!" she cried. "For God's sake save me!"
+
+Robert recognized the choking voice; it was that of a young married lady
+with whom he had been very friendly, who was going out with her baby to
+join her husband in Natal. He stretched out his hand and caught hold of
+her, whereon the officer said, heavily:
+
+"The boat is already overladen. I must warn you that to take more aboard
+is not safe."
+
+Thereon the passengers awoke from their stupor.
+
+"Push her off," cried a voice; "she must take her chance." And there was
+a murmur of approval at the dreadful words.
+
+"For Christ's sake--for Christ's sake!" wailed the drowning woman, who
+clung desperately to Robert's hand.
+
+"If you try to pull her in, we will throw you overboard," said the voice
+again, and a knife was lifted as though to hack at his arm. Then the
+officer spoke once more.
+
+"This lady cannot come into the boat unless someone goes out of it. I
+would myself, but it is my duty to stay. Is there any man here who will
+make place for her?"
+
+But all the men there--seven of them, besides the crew--hung their heads
+and were silent.
+
+"Give way," said the officer in the same heavy voice; "she will drop off
+presently."
+
+While the words passed his lips Robert seemed to live a year. Here was
+an opportunity of atonement for his idle and luxurious life. An hour ago
+he would have taken it gladly, but now--now, with Benita senseless on
+his breast, and that answer still locked in her sleeping heart? Yet
+Benita would approve of such a death as this, and even if she loved him
+not in life, would learn to love his memory. In an instant his mind was
+made up, and he was speaking rapidly.
+
+"Thompson," he said to the officer, "if I go, will you swear to take her
+in and her child?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Seymour."
+
+"Then lay to; I am going. If any of you live, tell this lady how I
+died," and he pointed to Benita, "and say I thought that she would wish
+it."
+
+"She shall be told," said the officer again, "and saved, too, if I can
+do it."
+
+"Hold Mrs. Jeffreys, then, till I am out of this. I'll leave my coat to
+cover her."
+
+A sailor obeyed, and with difficulty Robert wrenched free his hand.
+
+Very deliberately he pressed Benita to his breast and kissed her on the
+forehead, then let her gently slide on to the bottom of the boat. Next
+he slipped off his overcoat and slowly rolled himself over the gunwale
+into the sea.
+
+"Now," he said, "pull Mrs. Jeffreys in."
+
+"God bless you; you are a brave man," said Thompson. "I shall remember
+you if I live a hundred years."
+
+But no one else said anything; perhaps they were all too much ashamed,
+even then.
+
+"I have only done my duty," Seymour answered from the water. "How far is
+it to the shore?"
+
+"About three miles," shouted Thompson. "But keep on that plank, or you
+will never live through the rollers. Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," answered Robert.
+
+Then the boat passed away from him and soon vanished in the misty face
+of the deep.
+
+Resting on the plank which had saved the life of Mrs. Jeffreys, Robert
+Seymour looked about him and listened. Now and again he heard a faint,
+choking scream uttered by some drowning wretch, and a few hundred yards
+away caught sight of a black object which he thought might be a boat. If
+so, he reflected that it must be full. Moreover, he could not overtake
+it. No; his only chance was to make for the shore. He was a strong
+swimmer, and happily the water was almost as warm as milk. There seemed
+to be no reason why he should not reach it, supported as he was by a
+lifebelt, if the sharks would leave him alone, which they might, as
+there was plenty for them to feed on. The direction he knew well enough,
+for now in the great silence of the sea he could hear the boom of the
+mighty rollers breaking on the beach.
+
+Ah, those rollers! He remembered how that very afternoon Benita and he
+had watched them through his field glass sprouting up against the cruel
+walls of rock, and wondered that when the ocean was so calm they had
+still such power. Now, should he live to reach them, he was doomed to
+match himself against that power. Well, the sooner he did so the sooner
+it would be over, one way or the other. This was in his favour: the tide
+had turned, and was flowing shorewards. Indeed, he had little to do but
+to rest upon his plank, which he placed crosswise beneath his breast,
+and steered himself with his feet. Even thus he made good progress,
+nearly a mile an hour perhaps. He could have gone faster had he swum,
+but he was saving his strength.
+
+It was a strange journey upon that silent sea beneath those silent
+stars, and strange thoughts came into Robert's soul. He wondered whether
+Benita would live and what she would say. Perhaps, however, she was
+already dead, and he would meet her presently. He wondered if he were
+doomed to die, and whether this sacrifice of his would be allowed to
+atone for his past errors. He hoped so, and put up a petition to that
+effect, for himself and for Benita, and for all the poor people who had
+gone before, hurled from their pleasure into the halls of Death.
+
+So he floated on while the boom of the breakers grew ever nearer,
+companioned by his wild, fretful thoughts, till at length what he took
+to be a shark appeared quite close to him, and in the urgency of the
+moment he gave up wondering. It proved to be only a piece of wood, but
+later on a real shark did come, for he saw its back fin. However, this
+cruel creature was either gorged or timid, for when he splashed upon the
+water and shouted, it went away, to return no more.
+
+Now, at length, Robert entered upon the deep hill and valley swell which
+preceded the field of the rollers. Suddenly he shot down a smooth slope,
+and without effort of his own found himself borne up an opposing steep,
+from the crest of which he had a view of white lines of foam, and beyond
+them of a dim and rocky shore. At one spot, a little to his right, the
+foam seemed thinner and the line of cliff to be broken, as though here
+there was a cleft. For this cleft, then, he steered his plank, taking
+the swell obliquely, which by good fortune the set of the tide enabled
+him to do without any great exertion.
+
+The valleys grew deeper, and the tops of the opposing ridges were
+crested with foam. He had entered the rollers, and the struggle for life
+began. Before him they rushed solemn and mighty. Viewed from some safe
+place even the sight of these combers is terrible, as any who have
+watched them from this coast, or from that of the Island of Ascension,
+can bear witness. What their aspect was to this shipwrecked man,
+supported by a single plank, may therefore be imagined, seen, as he
+saw them, in the mysterious moonlight and in utter loneliness. Yet his
+spirit rose to meet the dread emergency; if he were to die, he would die
+fighting. He had grown cold and tired, but now the chill and weariness
+left him; he felt warm and strong. From the crest of one of the high
+rollers he thought he saw that about half a mile away from him a little
+river ran down the centre of the gorge, and for the mouth of this river
+he laid his course.
+
+At first all went well. He was borne up the seas; he slid down the seas
+in a lather of white foam. Presently the rise and fall grew steeper,
+and the foam began to break over his head. Robert could no longer guide
+himself; he must go as he was carried. Then in an instant he was carried
+into a hell of waters where, had it not been for his lifebelt and the
+plank, he must have been beaten down and have perished. As it was, now
+he was driven into the depths, and now he emerged upon their surface to
+hear their seething hiss around him, and above it all a continuous boom
+as of great guns--the boom of the breaking seas.
+
+The plank was almost twisted from his grasp, but he clung to it
+desperately, although its edges tore his arms. When the rollers broke
+over him he held his breath, and when he was tossed skywards on their
+curves, drew it again in quick, sweet gasps. Now he sat upon the very
+brow of one of them as a merman might; now he dived like a dolphin,
+and now, just as his senses were leaving him, his feet touched bottom.
+Another moment and Robert was being rolled along that bottom with a
+weight on him like the weight of mountains. The plank was rent from him,
+but his cork jacket brought him up. The backwash drew him with it into
+deeper water, where he lay helpless and despairing, for he no longer had
+any strength to struggle against his doom.
+
+Then it was that there came a mighty roller, bigger than any that he had
+seen--such a one as on that coast the Kaffirs call "a father of waves."
+It caught him in the embrace of its vast green curve. It bore him
+forward as though he were but a straw, far forward over the stretch of
+cruel rocks. It broke in thunder, dashing him again upon the stones
+and sand of the little river bar, rolling him along with its resistless
+might, till even that might was exhausted, and its foam began to return
+seawards, sucking him with it.
+
+Robert's mind was almost gone, but enough of it remained to tell him
+that if once more he was dragged into the deep water he must be lost. As
+the current haled him along he gripped at the bottom with his hands,
+and by the mercy of Heaven they closed on something. It may have been
+a tree-stump embedded there, or a rock--he never knew. At least, it was
+firm, and to it he hung despairingly. Would that rush never cease? His
+lungs were bursting; he must let go! Oh! the foam was thinning; his head
+was above it now; now it had departed, leaving him like a stranded fish
+upon the shingle. For half a minute or more he lay there gasping, then
+looked behind him to see another comber approaching through the
+gloom. He struggled to his feet, fell, rose again, and ran, or rather,
+staggered forward with that tigerish water hissing at his heels.
+Forward, still forward, till he was beyond its reach--yes, on dry
+sand. Then his vital forces failed him; one of his legs gave way, and,
+bleeding from a hundred hurts, he fell heavily onto his face, and there
+was still.
+
+The boat in which Benita lay, being so deep in the water, proved
+very hard to row against the tide, for the number of its passengers
+encumbered the oarsmen. After a while a light off land breeze sprang
+up, as here it often does towards morning; and the officer, Thompson,
+determined to risk hoisting the sail. Accordingly this was done--with
+some difficulty, for the mast had to be drawn out and shipped--although
+the women screamed as the weight of the air bent their frail craft over
+till the gunwale was almost level with the water.
+
+"Anyone who moves shall be thrown overboard!" said the officer, who
+steered, after which they were quiet.
+
+Now they made good progress seawards, but the anxieties of those who
+knew were very great, since the wind showed signs of rising, and if any
+swell should spring up that crowded cutter could scarcely hope to live.
+In fact, two hours later they were forced to lower the sail again and
+drift, waiting for the dawn. Mr. Thompson strove to cheer them, saying
+that now they were in the track of vessels, and if they could see none
+when the light came, he would run along the shore in the hope of finding
+a place free of breakers where they might land. If they did not inspire
+hope, at least his words calmed them, and they sat in heavy silence,
+watching the sky.
+
+At length it grew grey, and then, with a sudden glory peculiar to South
+Africa, the great red sun arose and began to dispel the mist from the
+surface of the sea. Half an hour more and this was gone, and now the
+bright rays brought life back into their chilled frames as they stared
+at each other to see which of their company were still left alive. They
+even asked for food, and biscuit was given to them with water.
+
+All this while Benita remained unconscious. Indeed, one callous fellow,
+who had been using her body as a footstool, said that she must be dead,
+and had better be thrown overboard, as it would lighten the boat.
+
+"If you throw that lady into the sea, living or dead," said Mr.
+Thompson, with an ominous lift of his eye, "you go with her, Mr. Batten.
+Remember who brought her here and how he died."
+
+Then Mr. Batten held his peace, while Thompson stood up and scanned the
+wide expanse of sea. Presently he whispered to a sailor near him, who
+also stood up, looked, and nodded.
+
+"That will be the other Line's intermediate boat," he said, and the
+passengers, craning their heads round, saw far away to the right a
+streak of smoke upon the horizon. Orders were given, a little corner of
+sail was hoisted, with a white cloth of some sort tied above it, and the
+oars were got out. Once more the cutter moved forward, bearing to the
+left in the hope of intercepting the steamer.
+
+She came on with terrible swiftness, and they who had miles of water to
+cover, dared hoist no more sail in that breeze. In half an hour she was
+nearly opposite to them, and they were still far away. A little more
+sail was let out, driving them through the water at as quick a rate
+as they could venture to go. The steamer was passing three miles or so
+away, and black despair took hold of them. Now the resourceful Thompson,
+without apologies, undressed, and removing the white shirt that he had
+worn at the dance, bade a sailor to tie it to an oar and wave it to and
+fro.
+
+Still the steamer went on, until presently they heard her siren going,
+and saw that she was putting about.
+
+"She has seen us," said Thompson. "Thank God, all of you, for there is
+wind coming up. Pull down that sail; we shan't need it any more."
+
+Half an hour later, with many precautions, for the wind he prophesied
+was already troubling the sea and sending little splashes of water over
+the stern of their deeply laden boat, they were fast to a line thrown
+from the deck of the three thousand ton steamer _Castle_, bound for
+Natal. Then, with a rattle, down came the accommodation ladder, and
+strong-armed men, standing on its grating, dragged them one by one from
+the death to which they had been so near. The last to be lifted up,
+except Thompson, was Benita, round whom it was necessary to reeve a
+rope.
+
+"Any use?" asked the officer on the grating as he glanced at her quiet
+form.
+
+"Can't say; I hope so," answered Thompson. "Call your doctor." And
+gently enough she was borne up the ship's side.
+
+They wanted to cast off the boat, but Thompson remonstrated, and in the
+end that also was dragged to deck. Meanwhile the news had spread,
+and the awakened passengers of the _Castle_, clad in pyjamas,
+dressing-gowns, and even blankets, were crowding round the poor
+castaways or helping them to their cabins.
+
+"I am a teetotaller," said second officer Thompson when he had made a
+brief report to the captain of the _Castle_, "but if anyone will stand
+me a whiskey and soda I shall be obliged to him."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+MR. CLIFFORD
+
+Although the shock of the blow she had received upon her head was
+sufficient to make her insensible for so many hours, Benita's injuries
+were not of a really serious nature, for as it happened the falling
+block, or whatever it may have been, had hit her forehead slantwise, and
+not full, to which accident she owed it that, although the skin was
+torn and the scalp bruised, her skull had escaped fracture. Under proper
+medical care her senses soon came back to her, but as she was quite
+dazed and thought herself still on board the _Zanzibar_, the doctor
+considered it wise to preserve her in that illusion for a while. So
+after she had swallowed some broth he gave her a sleeping draught, the
+effects of which she did not shake off till the following morning.
+
+Then she came to herself completely, and was astonished to feel the pain
+in her head, which had been bandaged, and to see a strange stewardess
+sitting by her with a cup of beef-tea in her hand.
+
+"Where am I? Is it a dream?" she asked.
+
+"Drink this and I will tell you," answered the stewardess.
+
+Benita obeyed, for she felt hungry, then repeated her question.
+
+"Your steamer was shipwrecked," said the stewardess, "and a great many
+poor people were drowned, but you were saved in a boat. Look, there are
+your clothes; they were never in the water."
+
+"Who carried me into the boat?" asked Benita in a low voice.
+
+"A gentleman, they say, Miss, who had wrapped you in a blanket and put a
+lifebelt on you."
+
+Now Benita remembered everything that happened before the darkness
+fell--the question to which she had given no answer, the young couple
+who stood flirting by her--all came back to her.
+
+"Was Mr. Seymour saved?" she whispered, her face grey with dread.
+
+"I dare say, Miss," answered the stewardess evasively. "But there is no
+gentleman of that name aboard this ship."
+
+At that moment the doctor came in, and him, too, she plied with
+questions. But having learned the story of Robert's self-sacrifice from
+Mr. Thompson and the others, he would give her no answer, for he guessed
+how matters had stood between them, and feared the effects of the shock.
+All he could say was that he hoped Mr. Seymour had escaped in some other
+boat.
+
+It was not until the third morning that Benita was allowed to learn
+the truth, which indeed it was impossible to conceal any longer. Mr.
+Thompson came to her cabin and told her everything, while she listened
+silently, horrified, amazed.
+
+"Miss Clifford," he said, "I think it was one of the bravest things that
+a man ever did. On the ship I always thought him rather a head-in-air
+kind of swell, but he was a splendid fellow, and I pray God that he has
+lived, as the lady and child for whom he offered himself up have done,
+for they are both well again."
+
+"Yes," she repeated after him mechanically, "splendid fellow indeed,
+and," she added, with a strange flash of conviction, "I believe that he
+_is_ still alive. If he were dead I should know it."
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so," said Mr. Thompson, who believed the
+exact contrary.
+
+"Listen," she went on. "I will tell you something. When that dreadful
+accident occurred Mr. Seymour had just asked me to marry him, and I was
+going to answer that I would--because I love him. I believe that I shall
+still give him that answer."
+
+Mr. Thompson replied again that he hoped so, which, being as honest and
+tender-hearted as he was brave and capable, he did most earnestly; but
+in his heart he reflected that her answer would not be given this side
+of the grave. Then, as he had been deputed to do, he handed her the note
+which had been found in the bosom of her dress, and, able to bear no
+more of this painful scene, hurried from the cabin. She read it greedily
+twice, and pressed it to her lips, murmuring:
+
+"Yes, I will think kindly of you, Robert Seymour, kindly as woman can of
+man, and now or afterwards you shall have your answer, if you still wish
+for it. Whenever you come or wherever I go, it shall be ready for you."
+
+That afternoon, when she was more composed, Mrs. Jeffreys came to see
+Benita, bringing her baby with her. The poor woman was still pale and
+shaken, but the child had taken no hurt at all from its immersion in
+that warm water.
+
+"What can you think of me?" she said, falling on her knees by Benita.
+"But oh! I did not know what I was doing. It was terror and my child,"
+and she kissed the sleeping infant passionately. "Also I did not
+understand at the time--I was too dazed. And--that hero--he gave his
+life for me when the others wished to beat me off with oars. Yes, his
+blood is upon my hands--he who died that I and my child might live."
+
+Benita looked at her and answered, very gently:
+
+"Perhaps he did not die after all. Do not grieve, for if he did it was a
+very glorious death, and I am prouder of him than I could have been
+had he lived on like the others--who wished to beat you off with oars.
+Whatever is, is by God's Will, and doubtless for the best. At the least,
+you and your child will be restored to your husband, though it cost me
+one who would have been--my husband."
+
+That evening Benita came upon the deck and spoke with the other ladies
+who were saved, learning every detail that she could gather. But to none
+of the men, except to Mr. Thompson, would she say a single word, and
+soon, seeing how the matter stood, they hid themselves away from her as
+they had already done from Mrs. Jeffreys.
+
+The _Castle_ had hung about the scene of the shipwreck for thirty hours,
+and rescued one other boatload of survivors, also a stoker clinging to
+a piece of wreckage. But with the shore she had been unable to
+communicate, for the dreaded wind had risen, and the breakers were quite
+impassable to any boat. To a passing steamer bound for Port Elizabeth,
+however, she had reported the terrible disaster, which by now was known
+all over the world, together with the names of those whom she had picked
+up in the boats.
+
+On the night of the day of Benita's interview with Mrs. Jeffreys, the
+_Castle_ arrived off Durban and anchored, since she was too big a vessel
+to cross the bar as it was in those days. At dawn the stewardess awoke
+Benita from the uneasy sleep in which she lay, to tell her that an old
+gentleman had come off in the tug and wished to see her; for fear of
+exciting false hopes she was very careful to add that word "old." With
+her help Benita dressed herself, and as the sun rose, flooding the
+Berea, the Point, the white town and fair Natal beyond with light, she
+went on to the deck, and there, leaning over the bulwark, saw a thin,
+grey-bearded man of whom after all these years the aspect was still
+familiar.
+
+A curious thrill went through her as she looked at him leaning there
+lost in thought. After all, he was her father, the man to whom she owed
+her presence upon this bitter earth, this place of terrors and delights,
+of devastation and hope supernal. Perhaps, too, he had been as much
+sinned against as sinning. She stepped up to him and touched him on the
+shoulder.
+
+"Father," she said.
+
+He turned round with all the quickness of a young man, for about him
+there was a peculiar agility which his daughter had inherited. Like his
+mind, his body was still nimble.
+
+"My darling," he said, "I should have known your voice anywhere. It has
+haunted my sleep for years. My darling, thank you for coming back to me,
+and thank God for preserving you when so many were lost." Then he threw
+his arms about her and kissed her.
+
+She shrank from him a little, for by inadvertence he had pressed upon
+the wound in her forehead.
+
+"Forgive me," she said; "it is my head. It was injured, you know."
+
+Then he saw the bandage about her brow, and was very penitent.
+
+"They did not tell me that you had been hurt, Benita," he exclaimed in
+his light, refined voice, one of the stamps of that gentility of blood
+and breeding whereof all his rough years and errors had been unable to
+deprive him. "They only told me that you were saved. It is part of my
+ill-fortune that at our first moment of greeting I should give you pain,
+who have caused you so much already."
+
+Benita felt that the words were an apology for the past, and her heart
+was touched.
+
+"It is nothing," she answered. "You did not know or mean it."
+
+"No, dear, I never knew or meant it. Believe me, I was not a willing
+sinner, only a weak one. You are beautiful, Benita--far more so than I
+expected."
+
+"What," she answered smiling, "with this bandage round my head? Well,
+in your eyes, perhaps." But inwardly she thought to herself that the
+description would be more applicable to her father, who in truth,
+notwithstanding his years, was wonderfully handsome, with his quick blue
+eyes, mobile face, gentle mouth with the wistful droop at the corners so
+like her own, and grey beard. How, she wondered, could this be the man
+who had struck her mother. Then she remembered him as he had been years
+before when he was a slave to liquor, and knew that the answer was
+simple.
+
+"Tell me about your escape, love," he said, patting her hand with his
+thin fingers. "You don't know what I've suffered. I was waiting at
+the Royal Hotel here, when the cable came announcing the loss of the
+_Zanzibar_ and all on board. For the first time for many a year I drank
+spirits to drown my grief--don't be afraid, dear--for the first time and
+the last. Then afterwards came another cable giving the names of those
+who were known to be saved, and--thank God, oh! thank God--yours among
+them," and he gasped at the recollection of that relief.
+
+"Yes," she said; "I suppose I should thank--Him--and another. Have you
+heard the story about--how Mr. Seymour saved me, I mean?"
+
+"Some of it. While you were dressing yourself, I have been talking to
+the officer who was in command of your boat. He was a brave man, Benita,
+and I am sorry to tell you he is gone."
+
+She grasped a stanchion and clung there, staring at him with a wild,
+white face.
+
+"How do you know that, Father?"
+
+Mr. Clifford drew a copy of the _Natal Mercury_ of the previous day from
+the pocket of his ulster, and while she waited in an agony he hunted
+through the long columns descriptive of the loss of the _Zanzibar_.
+Presently he came to the paragraph he sought, and read it aloud to her.
+It ran:
+
+"The searchers on the coast opposite the scene of the shipwreck report
+that they met a Kaffir who was travelling along the seashore, who
+produced a gold watch which he said he had taken from the body of a
+white man that he found lying on the sand at the mouth of the Umvoli
+River. Inside the watch is engraved, 'To Seymour Robert Seymour, from
+his uncle, on his twenty-first birthday.' The name of Mr. Seymour
+appears as a first-class passenger to Durban by the _Zanzibar_. He was
+a member of an old English family in Lincolnshire. This was his second
+journey to South Africa, which he visited some years ago with his
+brother on a big-game shooting expedition. All who knew him then will
+join with us in deploring his loss. Mr. Seymour was a noted shot and
+an English gentleman of the best stamp. He was last seen by one of the
+survivors of the catastrophe, carrying Miss Clifford, the daughter of
+the well-known Natal pioneer of that name, into a boat, but as this
+young lady is reported to have been saved, and as he entered the boat
+with her, no explanation is yet forthcoming as to how he came to his sad
+end."
+
+"I fear that is clear enough," said Mr. Clifford, as he folded up his
+paper.
+
+"Yes, clear enough," she repeated in a strained voice. "And
+yet--yet--oh! Father, he had just asked me to marry him, and I can't
+believe that he is dead before I had time to answer."
+
+"Good Heavens!" said the old man, "they never told me that. It is
+dreadfully sad. God help you, my poor child! There is nothing more to
+say except that he was only one among three hundred who have gone with
+him. Be brave now, before all these people. Look--here comes the tug."
+
+
+The following week was very much of a blank to Benita. When they reached
+shore some old friends of her father's took her and him to their house,
+a quiet place upon the Berea. Here, now that the first excitement of
+rescue and grief was over, the inevitable reaction set in, bringing with
+it weakness so distressing that the doctor insisted upon her going to
+bed, where she remained for the next five days. With the healing up of
+the wound in her head her strength came back to her at last, but it
+was a very sad Benita who crept from her room one afternoon on to the
+verandah and looked out at the cruel sea, peaceful now as the sky above.
+
+Her father, who had nursed her tenderly during these dark days, came and
+sat by her, taking her hand in his.
+
+"This is capital," he said, glancing at her anxiously. "You are getting
+quite yourself again."
+
+"I shall never be myself again," she answered. "My old self is dead,
+although the outside of me has recovered. Father, I suppose that it is
+wrong, but I wish that I were dead too. I wish that he had taken me with
+him when he jumped into the sea to lighten the boat."
+
+"Don't speak like that," he broke in hastily. "Of course I know that I
+am not much to you--how can I be after all that is past? But I love you,
+dear, and if I were left quite alone again----" And he broke off.
+
+"You shall not be left alone if I can help it," she replied, looking at
+the old man with her dark and tender eyes. "We have only each other in
+the world now, have we? The rest have gone, never to return."
+
+He threw his arms about her, and, drawing her to him, kissed her
+passionately.
+
+"If only you could learn to love me!" he said.
+
+"I do love you," she answered, "who now shall never love any other man
+upon the earth."
+
+This was the beginning of a deep affection which sprang up between Mr.
+Clifford and his daughter, and continued to the end.
+
+"Is there any news?" she asked a little later.
+
+"None--none about him. The tide took his body away, no doubt, after the
+Kaffir had gone. I remember him well now. He was a fine young man, and
+it comes into my mind that when I said good-bye to him above those old
+ruins, I wished that I had a son like that. And to think that he went
+so near to becoming a son to me! Well, the grass must bend when the wind
+blows, as the natives say."
+
+"I am glad that you knew him," she answered simply.
+
+Then they began talking about other matters. He told her that all the
+story had become known, and that people spoke of Robert Seymour as "the
+hero"; also that there was a great deal of curiosity about her.
+
+"Then let us get away as soon as we can," she said nervously. "But,
+Father, where are we going?"
+
+"That will be for you to decide, love. Listen, now; this is my position.
+I have been quite steady for years, and worked hard, with the result
+that I and my partner have a fine farm in the Transvaal, on the high
+land near Lake Chrissie, out Wakkerstroom way. We breed horses there,
+and have done very well with them. I have �1,500 saved, and the farm
+brings us in quite �600 a year beyond the expenses. But it is a lonely
+place, with only a few Boers about, although they are good fellows
+enough. You might not care to live there with no company."
+
+"I don't think that I should mind," she answered, smiling.
+
+"Not now, but by-and-by you would when you know what it is like. Now I
+might sell my share in the farm to my partner, who, I think, would buy
+it, or I might trust to him to send me a part of the profits, which
+perhaps he would not. Then, if you wish it, we could live in or near
+one of the towns, or even, as you have an income of your own, go home to
+England, if that is your will."
+
+"Is it your will?" she asked.
+
+He shook his head. "No; all my life is here. Also, I have something to
+find before I die--for your sake, dear."
+
+"Do you mean up among those ruins?" she asked, looking at him curiously.
+
+"Yes. So you know about it?" he answered, with a flash of his blue eyes.
+"Oh! of course, Seymour told you. Yes, I mean among the ruins--but I
+will tell you that story another time--not here, not here. What do you
+wish to do, Benita? Remember, I am in your hands; I will obey you in all
+things."
+
+"Not to stop in a town and not to go to England," she replied, while he
+hung eagerly upon her words, "for this has become my holy land. Father,
+I will go with you to your farm; there I can be quiet, you and I
+together."
+
+"Yes," he answered rather uneasily; "but, you see, Benita, we shall not
+be quite alone there. My partner, Jacob Meyer, lives with me."
+
+"Jacob Meyer? Ah! I remember," and she winced. "He is a German, is he
+not--and odd?"
+
+"German Jew, I imagine, and very odd. Should have made his fortune a
+dozen times over, and yet has never done anything. Too unpractical, too
+visionary, with all his brains and scheming. Not a good man, Benita,
+although he suits me, and, for the matter of that, under our agreement I
+cannot get rid of him."
+
+"How did he become your partner?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! a good many years ago he turned up at the place with a doleful
+story. Said that he had been trading among the Zulus; he was what we
+call a 'smouse' out here, and got into a row with them, I don't
+know how. The end of it was that they burned his waggon, looted his
+trade-goods and oxen, and killed his servants. They would have killed
+him too, only, according to his own account, he escaped in a very queer
+fashion."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Well, he says by mesmerising the chief and making the man lead him
+through his followers. An odd story enough, but I can quite believe
+it of Jacob. He worked for me for six months, and showed himself very
+clever. Then one night, I remember it was a few days after I had told
+him of the story of the Portuguese treasure in Matabeleland, he produced
+�500 in Bank of England notes out of the lining of his waistcoat, and
+offered to buy a half interest in the farm. Yes, �500! Although for
+all those months I had believed him to be a beggar. Well, as he was so
+_slim_, and better than no company in that lonely place, in the end I
+accepted. We have done well since, except for the expedition after the
+treasure which we did not get, although we more than paid our expenses
+out of the ivory we bought. But next time we shall succeed, I am sure,"
+he added with enthusiasm, "that is, if we can persuade those Makalanga
+to let us search on the mountain."
+
+Benita smiled.
+
+"I think you had better stick to the horsebreeding," she said.
+
+"You shall judge when you hear the story. But you have been brought up
+in England; will you not be afraid to go to Lake Chrissie?"
+
+"Afraid of what?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! of the loneliness, and of Jacob Meyer."
+
+"I was born on the veld, Father, and I have always hated London. As for
+your odd friend, Mr. Meyer, I am not afraid of any man on earth. I have
+done with men. At the least I will try the place and see how I get on."
+
+"Very well," answered her father with a sigh of relief. "You can always
+come back, can't you?"
+
+"Yes," she said indifferently. "I suppose that I can always come back."
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+JACOB MEYER
+
+More than three weeks had gone by when one morning Benita, who slept
+upon the cartel or hide-strung bed in the waggon, having dressed herself
+as best she could in that confined place, thrust aside the curtain and
+seated herself upon the voorkisse, or driving-box. The sun was not yet
+up, and the air was cold with frost, for they were on the Transvaal
+high-veld at the end of winter. Even through her thick cloak Benita
+shivered and called to the driver of the waggon, who also acted as cook,
+and whose blanket-draped form she could see bending over a fire into
+which he was blowing life, to make haste with the coffee.
+
+"By and by, Missie--by and by," he answered, coughing the rank smoke
+from his lungs. "Kettle no sing yet, and fire black as hell."
+
+Benita reflected that popular report painted this locality red, but
+without entering into argument sat still upon the chest waiting till the
+water boiled and her father appeared.
+
+Presently he emerged from under the side flap of the waggon where he
+slept, and remarking that it was really too cold to think of washing,
+climbed to her side by help of the disselboom, and kissed her.
+
+"How far are we now from Rooi Krantz, Father?" she asked, for that was
+the name of Mr. Clifford's farm.
+
+"About forty miles, dear. The waggon cannot make it to-night with these
+two sick oxen, but after the midday outspan we will ride on, and be
+there by sundown. I am afraid you are tired of this trekking."
+
+"No," she answered. "I like it very much; it is so restful, and I sleep
+sound upon that cartel. I feel as though I should like to trek on for
+the rest of my life."
+
+"So you shall if you wish, dear, for whole months. South Africa is big,
+and when the grass grows, if you still wish it, we will take a long
+journey."
+
+She smiled, but made no answer, knowing that he was thinking of the
+place so far away where he believed that once the Portuguese had buried
+gold.
+
+The kettle was singing now merrily enough, and Hans, the cook, lifting
+it from the fire in triumph--for his blowing exertions had been
+severe--poured into it a quantity of ground coffee from an old mustard
+tin. Then, having stirred the mixture with a stick, he took a red
+ember from the fire and dropped it into the kettle, a process which, as
+travellers in the veld know well, has a clearing effect upon the coffee.
+Next he produced pannikins, and handed them up with a pickle jar full
+of sugar to Mr. Clifford, upon the waggon chest. Milk they had none, yet
+that coffee tasted a great deal better than it looked; indeed, Benita
+drank two cups of it to warm herself and wash down the hard biscuit.
+Before the day was over glad enough was she that she had done so.
+
+The sun was rising; huge and red it looked seen through the clinging
+mist, and, their breakfast finished, Mr. Clifford gave orders that the
+oxen, which were filling themselves with the dry grass near at hand,
+should be got up and inspanned. The voorlooper, a Zulu boy, who had left
+them for a little while to share the rest of the coffee with Hans, rose
+from his haunches with a grunt, and departed to fetch them. A minute or
+two later Hans ceased from his occupation of packing up the things, and
+said in a low voice:
+
+"_Kek!_ Baas"--that is "Look!"
+
+Following the line of his outstretched hand, Benita and her father
+perceived, not more than a hundred yards away from them, a great troop
+of wilderbeeste, or gnu, travelling along a ridge, and pausing now and
+again to indulge in those extraordinary gambols which cause the Boers to
+declare that these brutes have a worm in their brains.
+
+"Give me my rifle, Hans," said Mr. Clifford. "We want meat."
+
+By the time that the Westley-Richards was drawn from its case and
+loaded, only one buck remained, for, having caught sight of the waggon,
+it turned to stare at it suspiciously. Mr. Clifford aimed and fired.
+Down went the buck, then springing to its feet again, vanished behind
+the ridge. Mr. Clifford shook his head sadly.
+
+"I don't often do that sort of thing, my dear, but the light is still
+very bad. Still, he's hit. What do you say? Shall we get on the horses
+and catch him? A canter would warm you."
+
+Benita, who was tender-hearted, reflected that it would be kinder to
+put the poor creature out of its pain, and nodded her head. Five minutes
+later they were cantering together up the rise, Mr. Clifford having
+first ordered the waggon to trek on till they rejoined it, and slipped a
+packet of cartridges into his pocket. Beyond the rise lay a wide stretch
+of marshy ground, bordered by another rise half a mile or more away,
+from the crest of which--for now the air was clear enough--they saw the
+wounded bull standing. On they went after him, but before they could
+come within shot, he had moved forward once more, for he was only
+lightly hurt in the flank, and guessed whence his trouble came.
+
+Again and again did he retreat as they drew near, until at length, just
+as Mr. Clifford was about to dismount to risk a long shot, the beast
+took to its heels in earnest.
+
+"Come on," he said; "don't let's be beat," for by this time the hunter
+was alive in him.
+
+So off they went at a gallop, up slopes and down slopes that reminded
+Benita of the Bay of Biscay in a storm, across half-dried vleis that in
+the wet season were ponds, through stony ground and patches of ant-bear
+holes in which they nearly came to grief. For five miles at least the
+chase went on, since at the end of winter the wilderbeeste was thin and
+could gallop well, notwithstanding its injury, faster even than their
+good horses. At last, rising a ridge, they found whither it was going,
+for suddenly they were in the midst of vast herds of game, thousands and
+tens of thousands of them stretching as far as the eye could reach.
+
+It was a wondrous sight that now, alas! will be seen no more--at any
+rate upon the Transvaal veld; wilderbeeste, blesbok, springbok, in
+countless multitudes, and amongst them a few quagga and hartebeeste.
+With a sound like that of thunder, their flashing myriad hoofs casting
+up clouds of dust from the fire-blackened veld, the great herds
+separated at the appearance of their enemy, man. This way and that they
+went in groups and long brown lines, leaving the wounded and exhausted
+wilderbeeste behind them, so that presently he was the sole tenant of
+that great cup of land.
+
+At him they rode till Mr. Clifford, who was a little ahead of his
+daughter, drew almost alongside. Then the poor maddened brute tried its
+last shift. Stopping suddenly, it wheeled round and charged head down.
+Mr. Clifford, as it came, held out his rifle in his right hand and fired
+at a hazard. The bullet passed through the bull, but could not stop its
+charge. Its horns, held low, struck the forelegs of the horse, and next
+instant horse, man, and wilderbeeste rolled on the veld together.
+
+Benita, who was fifty yards behind, uttered a little cry of fear, but
+before ever she reached him, her father had risen laughing, for he was
+quite unhurt. The horse, too, was getting up, but the bull could rise
+no more. It struggled to its forefeet, uttered a kind of sobbing groan,
+stared round wildly, and rolled over, dead.
+
+"I never knew a wilderbeeste charge like that before," said Mr.
+Clifford. "Confound it! I believe my horse is lamed."
+
+Lamed it was, indeed, where the bull had struck the foreleg, though,
+as it chanced, not badly. Having tied a handkerchief to the horn of the
+buck in order to scare away the vultures, and thrown some tufts of dry
+grass upon its body, which he proposed, if possible, to fetch or send
+for, Mr. Clifford mounted his lame horse and headed for the waggon. But
+they had galloped farther than they thought, and it was midday before
+they came to what they took to be the road. As there was no spoor upon
+it, they followed this track backwards, expecting to find the waggon
+outspanned, but although they rode for mile upon mile, no waggon could
+they see. Then, realizing their mistake, they retraced their steps, and
+leaving this path at the spot where they had found it, struck off again
+to the right.
+
+Meanwhile, the sky was darkening, and at about three o'clock in the
+afternoon a thunderstorm broke over them accompanied by torrents of icy
+rain, the first fall of the spring, and a bitter wind which chilled them
+through. More, after the heavy rain came drizzle and a thick mist that
+deepened as evening approached.
+
+Now their plight was very wretched. Lost, starved, soaked to the skin,
+with tired horses one of which was lame, they wandered about on the
+lonely veld. Only one stroke of fortune came to them. As the sun set,
+for a few moments its rays pierced the mist, telling them in what
+direction they should go. Turning their horses, they headed for it,
+and so rode on until the darkness fell. Then they halted a while,
+but feeling that if they stood still in that horrible cold they would
+certainly perish before morning, once more pushed on again. By now Mr.
+Clifford's horse was almost too lame to ride, so he led it, walking
+at his daughter's side, and reproaching himself bitterly for his
+foolishness in having brought her into this trouble.
+
+"It doesn't matter, Father," she answered wearily, for she was very
+tired. "Nothing matters; one may as well die upon the veld as in the sea
+or anywhere else."
+
+On they plodded, they knew not whither. Benita fell asleep upon her
+saddle, and was awakened once by a hyena howling quite close to them,
+and once by her horse falling to its knees.
+
+"What is the time?" she said at last.
+
+Her father struck a match and looked at his watch. It was ten o'clock;
+they had been fifteen hours away from the waggon and without food. At
+intervals Mr. Clifford, who had remounted, fired his rifle. Now there
+was but one cartridge left, and having caught sight of his daughter's
+exhausted face by the light of the match, he fired this also, though in
+that desperate wilderness there was little hope of its bringing succour.
+
+"Shall we stop or go on?" he asked.
+
+"I do not care," she answered. "Only if I stop I think it will be for
+ever. Let us go on."
+
+Now the rain had ceased, but the mist was as dense as before. Also
+they seemed to have got among bush, for wet leaves brushed their faces.
+Utterly exhausted they stumbled forward, till suddenly Benita felt her
+horse stop as though a hand had seized its bridle, and heard a man's
+voice, speaking with a foreign accent, say:
+
+"Mein Gott! Where are you going?"
+
+"I wish I knew," she answered, like one in a dream.
+
+At this instant the moon rose above the mists, and Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer for the first time.
+
+In that light his appearance was not unpleasing. A man of about forty
+years of age, not over tall, slight and active in build, with a pointed
+black beard, regular, Semitic features, a complexion of an ivory pallor
+which even the African sun did not seem to tan, and dark, lustrous eyes
+that appeared, now to sleep, and now to catch the fire of the thoughts
+within. Yet, weary though she was, there was something in the man's
+personality which repelled and alarmed Benita, something wild and cruel.
+She felt that he was filled with unsatisfied ambitions and desires, and
+that to attain to them he would shrink at nothing. In a moment he was
+speaking again in tones that compelled her attention.
+
+"It was a good thought that brought me here to look for you. No; not a
+thought--what do you call it?--an instinct. I think your mind must have
+spoken to my mind, and called me to save you. See now, Clifford, my
+friend, where you have led your daughter. See, see!" And he pointed
+downwards.
+
+They leaned forward and stared. There, immediately beneath them, was a
+mighty gulf whereof the moonlight did not reveal the bottom.
+
+"You are no good veld traveller, Clifford, my friend; one more step of
+those silly beasts, and down below there would have been two red heaps
+with bits of bones sticking out of them--yes, there on the rocks five
+hundred feet beneath. Ah! you would have slept soundly to-night, both of
+you."
+
+"Where is the place?" asked Mr. Clifford in a dazed fashion. "Leopard's
+Kloof?"
+
+"Yes; Leopard's Kloof, no other. You have travelled along the top of the
+hill, not at the bottom. Certainly that was a good thought which came to
+me from the lady your daughter, for she is one of the thought senders, I
+am sure. Ah! it came to me suddenly; it hit me like a stick whilst I was
+searching for you, having found that you had lost the waggon. It said to
+me, 'Ride to the top of Leopard's Kloof. Ride hard.' I rode hard through
+the rocks and the darkness, through the mist and the rain, and not one
+minute had I been here when you came and I caught the lady's bridle."
+
+"I am sure we are very grateful to you," murmured Benita.
+
+"Then I am paid back ten thousand times. No; it is I who am grateful--I
+who have saved your life through the thought you sent me."
+
+"Thought or no thought, all's well that ends well," broke in Mr.
+Clifford impatiently. "And thank Heaven we are not more than three miles
+away from home. Will you lead the way, Jacob? You always could see in
+the dark?"
+
+"Yes, yes," and he took hold of Benita's bridle with his firm, white
+hand. "Oh! my horse will follow, or put your arm through his rein--so.
+Now come on, Miss Clifford, and be afraid no more. With Jacob Meyer you
+are safe."
+
+So they began their descent of the hill. Meyer did not speak again;
+all his attention seemed to be concentrated upon finding a safe path on
+which the horses would not stumble. Nor did Benita speak; she was
+too utterly exhausted--so exhausted, indeed, that she could no longer
+control her mind and imagination. These seemed to loose themselves from
+her and to acquire new powers, notably that of entering into the secret
+thoughts of the man at her side. She saw them pass before her like
+living things, and yet she could not read them. Still, something she did
+understand--that she had suddenly grown important to this man, not in
+the way in which women are generally important to men, but otherwise.
+She felt as though she had become interwoven with the objects of his
+life, and was henceforth necessary to their fulfilment, as though she
+were someone whom he had been seeking for years on years, the one person
+who could give him light in his darkness.
+
+These imaginings troubled her, so that she was very thankful when they
+passed away as swiftly as they had arisen, and she knew only that she
+was half dead with weariness and cold; that her limbs ached and that the
+steep path seemed endless.
+
+At length they reached level ground, and after travelling along it for
+a while and crossing the bed of a stream, passed through a gate, and
+stopped suddenly at the door of a house with lighted windows.
+
+"Here is your home at last, Miss Clifford," said the musical voice of
+Jacob Meyer, "and I thank the Fate which rules us that it has taught me
+to bring you to it safely."
+
+Making no answer she slid from the saddle, only to find that she could
+not stand, for she sank into a heap upon the ground. With a gentle
+exclamation he lifted her, and calling to two Kaffirs who had appeared
+to take the horses, led her into the house.
+
+"You must go to bed at once," he said, conducting her to a door which
+opened out of the sitting-room. "I have had a fire lit in your chamber
+in case you should come, and old Tante Sally will bring you soup with
+brandy in it, and hot water for your feet. Ah! there you are, old vrouw.
+Come now; help the lady, your mistress. Is all ready?"
+
+"All, Baas," answered the woman, a stout half-breed with a kindly face.
+"Come now, my little one, and I will undress you."
+
+Half an hour later Benita, having drunk more brandy than ever she had
+done in her life before, was wrapped up and fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke the sun was streaming through the curtained window of her
+room, and by the light of it she saw that the clock which stood upon the
+mantelpiece pointed to half-past eleven. She had slept for nearly twelve
+hours, and felt that, notwithstanding the cold and exposure, save for
+stiffness and a certain numb feeling in her head--the result, perhaps,
+of the unaccustomed brandy--she was well and, what was more, quite
+hungry.
+
+Outside on the verandah she heard the voice of Jacob Meyer, with which
+she seemed already to have become familiar, telling some natives to stop
+singing, as they would wake the chieftainess inside. He used the
+Zulu word Inkosi-kaas, which, she remembered, meant head-lady or
+chieftainess. He was very thoughtful for her, she reflected, and was
+grateful, till suddenly she remembered the dislike she had taken to the
+man.
+
+Then she looked round her room and saw that it was very pretty, well
+furnished and papered, with water-colour pictures on the walls of no
+mean merit, things that she had not expected in this far-off place. Also
+on a table stood a great bowl of arum lilies. She wondered who had put
+them there; whether it were the old half-breed, Sally, or Jacob Meyer.
+Also she wondered who had painted the pictures, which were all of
+African scenery, and something told her that both the flowers and the
+pictures came from Jacob Meyer.
+
+On the little table by her bed was a handbell, which presently she rang.
+Instantly she heard the voice of Sally calling for the coffee "quick,"
+and next minute the woman entered, bringing a tray with it, and bread
+and butter--yes, and toast and eggs, which had evidently been made ready
+for her. Speaking in English mixed with Dutch words, she told Benita
+that her father was still in bed, but sent her his love, and wished to
+know how she did. Then, while she ate her breakfast with appetite, Sally
+set her a bath, and subsequently appeared carrying the contents of the
+box she had used upon the waggon, which had now arrived safely at the
+farm. Benita asked who had ordered the box to be unpacked, and Sally
+answered that the Heer Meyer had ordered it so that she might not be
+disturbed in her sleep, and that her things should be ready for her when
+she woke.
+
+"The Heer Meyer thinks a great deal about other people," said Benita.
+
+"Ja, ja!" answered the old half-breed. "He tink much about people when
+he want to tink about them, but he tink most about himself. Baas Meyer,
+he a very clever man--oh! a very clever man, who want to be a great man
+too. And one day, Missee, he be a great man, great and rich--if the Heer
+God Almighty let him."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE GOLD COIN
+
+Six weeks had gone by since the eventful evening of Benita's arrival at
+Rooi Krantz. Now the spring had fully come, the veld was emerald with
+grass and bright with flowers. In the kloof behind the house trees had
+put out their leaves, and the mimosas were in bloom, making the air
+heavy with their scent. Amongst them the ringdoves nested in hundreds,
+and on the steep rocks of the precipice the red-necked vultures fed
+their young. Along the banks of the stream and round the borders of
+the lake the pig-lilies bloomed, a sheet of white. All the place was
+beautiful and full of life and hope. Nothing seemed dead and hopeless
+except Benita's heart.
+
+Her health had quite come back to her; indeed, never before had she felt
+so strong and well. But the very soul had withered in her breast. All
+day she thought, and all night she dreamed of the man who, in cold
+blood, had offered up his life to save a helpless woman and her child.
+She wondered whether he would have done this if he had heard the answer
+that was upon her lips. Perhaps that was why she had not been given time
+to speak that answer, which might have made a coward of him. For nothing
+more had been heard of Robert Seymour; indeed, already the tragedy of
+the ship _Zanzibar_ was forgotten. The dead had buried their dead, and
+since then worse disasters had happened in the world.
+
+But Benita could not bury her dead. She rode about the veld, she sat
+by the lake and watched the wild fowl, or at night heard them flighting
+over her in flocks. She listened to the cooing of the doves, the booming
+of the bitterns in the reeds, and the drumming of the snipe high in air.
+She counted the game trekking along the ridge till her mind grew weary.
+She sought consolation from the breast of Nature and found none; she
+sought it in the starlit skies, and oh! they were very far away. Death
+reigned within her who outwardly was so fair to see.
+
+In the society of her father, indeed, she took pleasure, for he loved
+her, and love comforted her wounded heart. In that of Jacob Meyer also
+she found interest, for now her first fear of the man had died away,
+and undoubtedly he was very interesting; well-bred also after a fashion,
+although a Jew who had lost his own faith and rejected that of the
+Christians.
+
+He told her that he was a German by birth, that he had been sent to
+England as a boy, to avoid the conscription, which Jews dislike, since
+in soldiering there is little profit. Here he had become a clerk in a
+house of South African merchants, and, as a consequence--having shown
+all the ability of his race--was despatched to take charge of a branch
+business in Cape Colony. What happened to him there Benita never
+discovered, but probably he had shown too much ability of an oblique
+nature. At any rate, his connection with the firm terminated, and for
+years he became a wandering "smouse," or trader, until at length he
+drifted into partnership with her father.
+
+Whatever might have been his past, however, soon she found that he was
+an extremely able and agreeable man. It was he and no other who had
+painted the water-colours that adorned her room, and he could play and
+sing as well as he painted. Also, as Robert had told her, Mr. Meyer was
+very well-read in subjects that are not usually studied on the veld
+of South Africa; indeed, he had quite a library of books, most of them
+histories or philosophical and scientific works, of which he would lend
+her volumes. Fiction, however, he never read, for the reason, he told
+her, that he found life itself and the mysteries and problems which
+surround it so much more interesting.
+
+One evening, when they were walking together by the lake, watching
+the long lights of sunset break and quiver upon its surface, Benita's
+curiosity overcame her, and she asked him boldly how it happened that
+such a man as he was content to live the life he did.
+
+"In order that I may reach a better," he answered. "Oh! no, not in the
+skies, Miss Clifford, for of them I know nothing, nor, as I believe, is
+there anything to know. But here--here."
+
+"What do you mean by a better life, Mr. Meyer?"
+
+"I mean," he answered, with a flash of his dark eyes, "great wealth,
+and the power that wealth brings. Ah! I see you think me very sordid and
+materialistic, but money is God in this world, Miss Clifford--money is
+God."
+
+She smiled and answered: "I fear, then, that he is likely to prove an
+invisible god on the high veld, Mr. Meyer. You will scarcely make a
+great fortune out of horse-breeding, and here there is no one to rule."
+
+"Do you suppose, then, that is why I stop at Rooi Krantz, just to breed
+horses? Has not your father told you about the great treasure hidden
+away up there among the Makalanga?"
+
+"I have heard something of it," she answered with a sigh. "Also that
+both of you went to look for it and were disappointed."
+
+"Ah! The Englishman who was drowned--Mr. Seymour--he spoke of it, did he
+not? He found us there."
+
+"Yes; and you wished to shoot him--do you remember?"
+
+"God in Heaven! Yes, because I thought he had come to rob us. Well, I
+did not shoot, and afterwards we were hunted out of the place, which
+does not much matter, as those fools of natives refused to let us dig in
+the fortress."
+
+"Then why do you still think about this treasure which probably does not
+exist?"
+
+"Why, Miss Clifford, do you think about various things that probably
+do not exist? Perhaps because you feel that here or elsewhere they _do_
+exist. Well, that is what I feel about the treasure, and what I have
+always felt. It exists, and I shall find it--now. I shall live to see
+more gold than you can even imagine, and that is why I still continue
+to breed horses on the Transvaal veld. Ah! you laugh; you think it is a
+nightmare that I breed----"
+
+Then suddenly he became aware of Sally, who had appeared over the fold
+of the rise behind them, and asked irritably:
+
+"What is it now, old vrouw?"
+
+"The Baas Clifford wants to speak with you, Baas Jacob. Messengers have
+come to you from far away."
+
+"What messengers?" he asked.
+
+"I know not," answered Sally, fanning her fat face with a yellow
+pocket-handkerchief. "They are strange people to me, and thin with
+travelling, but they talk a kind of Zulu. The Baas wishes you to come."
+
+"Will you come also, Miss Clifford? No? Then forgive me if I leave you,"
+and lifting his hat he went.
+
+"A strange man, Missee," said old Sally, when he had vanished, walking
+very fast.
+
+"Yes," answered Benita, in an indifferent voice.
+
+"A very strange man," went on the old woman. "Too much in his kop," and
+she tapped her forehead. "I tink it will burst one day; but if it does
+not burst, then he will be great. I tell you that before, now I tell it
+you again, for I tink his time come. Now I go cook dinner."
+
+Benita sat by the lake till the twilight fell, and the wild geese began
+to flight over her. Then she walked back to the house thinking no more
+of Heer Meyer, thinking only that she was weary of this place in which
+there was nothing to occupy her mind and distract it from its ever
+present sorrow.
+
+At dinner, or rather supper, that night she noticed that both her father
+and his partner seemed to be suffering from suppressed excitement, of
+which she thought she could guess the cause.
+
+"Did you find your messengers, Mr. Meyer?" she asked, when the men had
+lit their pipes, and the square-face--as Hollands was called in those
+days, from the shape of the bottle--was set upon the rough table of
+speckled buchenhout wood.
+
+"Yes, I found them," he answered; "they are in the kitchen now." And he
+looked at Mr. Clifford.
+
+"Benita, my dear," said her father, "rather a curious thing has
+happened." Her face lit up, but he shook his head. "No, nothing to do
+with the shipwreck--that is all finished. Still, something that may
+interest you, if you care to hear a story."
+
+Benita nodded; she was in a mood to hear anything that would occupy her
+thoughts.
+
+"You know something about this treasure business," went on her father.
+"Well, this is the tale of it. Years ago, after you and your mother
+had gone to England, I went on a big game shooting expedition into the
+interior. My companion was an old fellow called Tom Jackson, a rolling
+stone, and one of the best elephant hunters in Africa. We did pretty
+well, but the end of it was that we separated north of the Transvaal, I
+bringing down the ivory that we had shot, and traded, and Tom stopping
+to put in another season, the arrangement being that he was to join me
+afterwards, and take his share of the money. I came here and bought this
+farm from a Boer who was tired of it--cheap enough, too, for I only gave
+him �100 for the 6,000 acres. The kitchens behind were his old house,
+for I built a new one.
+
+"A year had gone by before I saw any more of Tom Jackson, and then he
+turned up more dead than alive. He had been injured by an elephant, and
+lay for some months among the Makalanga to the north of Matabeleland,
+where he got fever badly at a place called Bambatse, on the Zambesi.
+These Makalanga are a strange folk. I believe their name means the
+People of the Sun; at any rate, they are the last of some ancient
+race. Well, while he was there he cured the old Molimo, or hereditary
+high-priest of this tribe, of a bad fever by giving him quinine, and
+naturally they grew friendly. The Molimo lived among ruins of which
+there are many over all that part of South Africa. No one knows who
+built them now; probably it was people who lived thousands of years ago.
+However, this Molimo told Tom Jackson a more recent legend connected
+with the place.
+
+"He said that six generations before, when his great-great-great
+grandfather was chief (Mambo, he called it), the natives of all
+that part of South Africa rose against the white men--Portuguese, I
+suppose--who still worked the gold there. They massacred them and their
+slaves by thousands, driving them up from the southward, where Lobengula
+rules now, to the Zambesi by which the Portuguese hoped to escape to the
+coast. At length a remnant of them, not more than about two hundred men
+and women, arrived at the stronghold called Bambatse, where the Molimo
+now lives in a great ruin built by the ancients upon an impregnable
+mountain which overhangs the river. With them they brought an enormous
+quantity of gold, all the stored-up treasure of the land which they were
+trying to carry off. But although they reached the river they could not
+escape by it, since the natives, who pursued them in thousands, watched
+day and night in canoes, and the poor fugitives had no boats. Therefore
+it came about that they were shut up in this fortress which it was
+impossible to storm, and there slowly perished of starvation.
+
+"When it was known that they were all dead, the natives who had followed
+them from the south, and who wanted blood and revenge, not gold, which
+was of no use to them, went away; but the old priest's forefather who
+knew the secret entrance to the place, and who had been friendly to
+the Portuguese, forced his way in and there, amidst the dead, found
+one woman living, but mad with grief--a young and beautiful girl, the
+daughter of the Portuguese lord or captain. He gave her food, but in
+the night, when some strength had returned to her, she left him, and
+at daybreak he found her standing on the peak that overhangs the river,
+dressed all in white.
+
+"He called some of his councillors, and they tried to persuade her to
+come down from the rock, but she answered, 'No, her betrothed and all
+her family and friends were dead, and it was her will to follow them.'
+Then they asked where was the gold, for having watched day and night
+they knew it had not been thrown into the river. She answered that it
+was where it was, and that, seek as he might, no black man would ever
+find it. She added that she gave it into his keeping, and that of his
+descendants, to safeguard until she came again. Also she said that if
+they were faithless to that trust, then it had been revealed to her from
+heaven above that those same savages who had killed her father and her
+people, would kill his people also. When she had spoken thus she stood a
+while praying on the peak, then suddenly hurled herself into the river,
+and was seen no more.
+
+"From that day to this the ruin has been held to be haunted, and
+save the Molimo himself, who retires there to meditate and receive
+revelations from the spirits, no one is allowed to set a foot in
+its upper part; indeed, the natives would rather die than do so.
+Consequently the gold still remains where it was hidden. This place
+itself Tom Jackson did not see, since, notwithstanding his friendship
+for him, the Molimo refused to allow him to enter there.
+
+"Well, Tom never recovered; he died here, and is buried in the little
+graveyard behind the house which the Boers made for some of their
+people. It was shortly before his death that Mr. Meyer became my
+partner, for I forgot to say that I had told him the story, and we
+determined to have a try for that great wealth. You know the rest. We
+trekked to Bambatse, pretending to be traders, and found the old Molimo
+who knew of me as having been Tom Jackson's friend. We asked him if the
+story he had told to Jackson were true, and he answered that, surely as
+the sun shone in the heavens, it was true--every word of it--for it,
+and much more than he had spoken of, had been handed down from father to
+son, and that they even knew the name of the white lady who had killed
+herself. It was Ferreira--your mother's name, Benita, though a common
+one enough in South Africa.
+
+"We asked him to allow us to enter the topmost stronghold, which stands
+upon the hill, but he refused, saying that the curse still lay upon
+him and his, and that no man should enter until the lady Ferreira came
+again. For the rest the place was free to us; we might dig as we would.
+So we did dig, and found some gold buried with the ancients, beads and
+bangles and wire--about �100 worth. Also--that was on the day when the
+young Seymours came upon us, and accounts for Meyer's excitement, for
+he thought that we were on the track of the treasure--we found a single
+gold coin, no doubt one that had been dropped by the Portuguese. Here it
+is." And he threw a thin piece of gold on the table before her. "I have
+shown it to a man learned in those matters, and he says that it is a
+ducat struck by one of the doges of Venice.
+
+"Well, we never found any more. The end of it was that the Makalanga
+caught us trying to get in to the secret stronghold by stealth, and gave
+us the choice of clearing out or being killed. So we cleared out, for
+treasure is not of much use to dead men."
+
+Mr. Clifford ceased speaking, and filled his pipe, while Meyer helped
+himself to squareface in an absent manner. As for Benita, she stared at
+the quaint old coin, which had a hole in it, wondering with what scenes
+of terror and of bloodshed it had been connected.
+
+"Keep it," said her father. "It will go on that bracelet of yours."
+
+"Thank you, dear," she answered. "Though I don't know why I should take
+all the Portuguese treasure since we shall never see any more of it."
+
+"Why not, Miss Clifford?" asked Meyer quickly.
+
+"The story tells you why--because the natives won't even let you look
+for it; also, looking and finding are different things."
+
+"Natives change their minds sometimes, Miss Clifford. That story is
+not done, it is only begun, and now you shall hear its second chapter.
+Clifford, may I call in the messengers?" And without waiting for an
+answer he rose and left the room.
+
+Neither Mr. Clifford nor his daughter said anything after he had gone.
+Benita appeared to occupy herself in fixing the broad gold coin to a
+little swivel on her bracelet, but while she did so once more that sixth
+sense of hers awoke within her. As she had been afraid at the dinner on
+the doomed steamer, so again she was afraid. Again death and great fear
+cast their advancing shadows on to her soul. That piece of gold seemed
+to speak to her, yet, alas! she could not understand its story. Only she
+knew that her father and Jacob Meyer and--yes, yes, yes--Robert Seymour,
+had all a part in that tragedy. Oh! how could that be when he was dead?
+How could this gold link him to her? She knew not--she cared not. All
+she knew was that she would follow this treasure to the edge of the
+world, and if need be, over it, if only it brought her back to him
+again.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+The door opened, and through it came Jacob Meyer, followed by three
+natives. Benita did not see or hear them; her soul was far away. There
+at the head of the room, clad all in white, for she wore no mourning
+save in her heart, illuminated by the rays of the lamp that hung above
+her, she stood still and upright, for she had risen; on the face and
+in her wide, dark eyes a look that was very strange to see. Jacob
+Meyer perceived it and stopped; the three natives perceived it also
+and stopped. There they stood, all four of them, at the end of the long
+sitting-room, staring at the white Benita and at her haunted eyes.
+
+One of the natives pointed with his thin finger to her face, and
+whispered to the others. Meyer, who understood their tongue, caught the
+whisper. It was:
+
+"Behold the Spirit of the Rock!"
+
+"What spirit, and what rock?" he asked in a low voice.
+
+"She who haunts Bambatse; she whom our eyes have seen," answered the
+man, still staring at Benita.
+
+Benita heard the whispering, and knew it was about herself, though not
+one word of it did she catch. With a sigh she shook herself free from
+her visions and sat down in a chair close by. Then one by one the
+messengers drew near to her, and each, as he came, made a profound
+obeisance, touching the floor with his finger-tips, and staring at her
+face. But her father they only saluted with an uplifted hand. She looked
+at them with interest, and indeed they were interesting in their way;
+tall, spare men, light coloured, with refined, mobile faces. Here was no
+negro-blood, but rather that of some ancient people such as Egyptians or
+Phoenicians: men whose forefathers had been wise and civilized thousands
+of years ago, and perchance had stood in the courts of Pharaoh or of
+Solomon.
+
+Their salutations finished, the three men squatted in a line upon the
+floor, drawing their fur karosses, or robes, about them, and waited in
+silence. Jacob Meyer thought a while, then said:
+
+"Clifford, will you translate to your daughter, so that she may be sure
+she is told exactly what passes?"
+
+Next he turned and addressed the natives.
+
+"Your names are Tamas, Tamala, and Hoba, and you, Tamas, are the son of
+the Molimo of Bambatse, who is called Mambo, and you, Tamala and Hoba,
+are his initiated councillors. Is it so?"
+
+They bowed their heads.
+
+"Good. You, Tamas, tell the story and give again your message that this
+lady, the lady Benita, may hear it, for she has a part in the matter."
+
+"We understand that she has a part," answered Tamas. "We read in her
+face that she has the greatest part. Doubtless it is of her that the
+Spirit told my father. These, spoken by my mouth, are the words of the
+Molimo, my father, which we have travelled so far to deliver.
+
+"'When you two white men visited Bambatse four years ago, you asked of
+me, Mambo, to be admitted to the holy place, that you might look for the
+treasure there which the Portuguese hid in the time of my ancestor in
+the sixth generation. I refused to allow you to look, or even to enter
+the holy place, because I am by birth the guardian of that treasure,
+although I know not where it lies. But now I am in a great strait. I
+have news that Lobengula the usurper, who is king of the Matabele, has
+taken offence against me for certain reasons, among them that I did not
+send him a sufficient tribute. It is reported to me that he purposes
+next summer to despatch an impi to wipe me and my people out, and to
+make my kraal black as the burnt veld. I have little strength to resist
+him who is mighty, and my people are not warlike. From generation to
+generation they have been traders, cultivators of the land, workers in
+metal, and men of peace, who desire not to kill or be killed. Also they
+are few. Therefore I have no power to stand against Lobengula.
+
+"'I remember the guns that you and your companion brought with you,
+which can kill things from far away. If I had a supply of those guns
+from behind my walls I might defy the impi of Lobengula, whose warriors
+use the assegai. If you will bring me a hundred good guns and plenty of
+powder and bullets for them, it is revealed to me that it will be lawful
+for me to admit you to the secret, holy place, where you may look for
+the buried gold for as long as you wish, and if you can find it, take
+it all away without hindrance from me or my people. But I will be honest
+with you. That gold will never be found save by the one appointed. The
+white lady said so in the time of my forefather; he heard it with his
+ears, and I have heard it from his descendants with my ears, and so it
+shall be. Still, if you bring the guns you can come and see if either
+of you is that one appointed. But I do not think that any man is so
+appointed, for the secret is hid in woman. But of this you can learn for
+yourselves. I do but speak as I am bidden.
+
+"'This is my message spoken by my mouth, Tamas, son of my body, and my
+councillors who go with him will bear witness that he speaks the truth.
+I, Mambo, the Molimo of Bambatse, send you greeting, and will give you
+good welcome and fulfil my promise, if you come with the far-shooting
+guns, ten times ten of them, and the powder, and the bullets wherewith
+I may drive off the Matabele, but not otherwise. My son, Tamas, and my
+councillors will drive your waggon into my country but you must bring
+no strange servants. The Spirit of the white woman who killed herself
+before the eyes of my forefather has been seen of late standing upon the
+point of rock; also she has visited me at night in my secret place where
+her companions died. I do not know all that this portends, but I think
+that amongst other things she wished to tell me that the Matabele are
+about to attack us. I await the decree of the Heavens. I send you two
+karosses as a gift, and a little ancient gold, since ivory is too heavy
+for my messengers to carry, and I have no waggon. Farewell.'"
+
+"We have heard you," said Meyer, when Mr. Clifford had finished
+translating, "and we wish to ask you a question. What do you mean when
+you say that the Spirit of the white woman has been seen?"
+
+"I mean what I say, white man," answered Tamas. "She was seen by all
+three of us, standing upon the pinnacle at the dawn; also my father saw
+and spoke with her alone in his sleep at night. This is the third time
+in my father's day that she has appeared thus, and always before some
+great event."
+
+"What was she like?" asked Meyer.
+
+"Like? Oh! like the lady who sits yonder. Yes, quite the same, or so it
+seemed to us. But who knows? We have seen no other white women, and we
+were not very near. Let the lady come and stand side by side with the
+Spirit, so that we can examine them both, and we shall be able to answer
+better. Do you accept the offer of the Molimo?"
+
+"We will tell you to-morrow morning," replied Meyer. "A hundred rifles
+are many to find, and will cost much money. Meanwhile, for you there is
+food and a sleeping-place."
+
+The three men seemed disappointed at his answer, which they evidently
+believed to be preliminary to a refusal. For a moment or two they
+consulted together, then Tamas put his hand into a pouch and drew from
+it something wrapped in dry leaves, which he undid, revealing a quaint
+and beautiful necklace, fashioned of twisted gold links, wherein were
+set white stones, that they had no difficulty in recognising as uncut
+diamonds of considerable value. From this necklace also hung a crucifix
+moulded in gold.
+
+"We offer this gift," he said, "on behalf of Mambo, my father, to the
+lady yonder, to whom the karosses and the rough gold are of no use.
+The chain has a story. When the Portuguese lady hurled herself into the
+river she wore it about her neck. As she fell into the river she struck
+against a little point of rock which tore the chain away from her--see
+where it is broken and mended with gold wire. It remained upon the point
+of rock, and my forefather took it thence. It is a gift to the lady if
+she will promise to wear it."
+
+"Accept it," muttered Mr. Clifford, when he had finished translating
+this, "or you will give offence."
+
+So Benita said: "I thank the Molimo, and accept his gift."
+
+Then Tamas rose, and, advancing, cast the ancient, tragic thing over her
+head. As it fell upon her shoulders, Benita knew that it was a chain of
+destiny drawing her she knew not where, this ornament that had last been
+worn by that woman, bereaved and unhappy as herself, who could find no
+refuge from her sorrow except in death. Had she felt it torn from her
+breast, she wondered, as she, the living Benita of to-day, felt it fall
+upon her own?
+
+The three envoys rose, bowed, and went, leaving them alone. Jacob Meyer
+lifted his head as though to address her, then changed his mind and was
+silent. Both the men waited for her to speak, but she would not, and in
+the end it was her father who spoke first.
+
+"What do you say, Benita?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"I? I have nothing to say, except that I have heard a very curious
+story. This priest's message is to you and Mr. Meyer, father, and must
+be answered by you. What have I to do with it?"
+
+"A great deal, I think, my dear, or so those men seemed to believe.
+At any rate, I cannot go up there without you, and I will not take you
+there against your wish, for it is a long way off, and a queer business.
+The question is, will you go?"
+
+She thought a space, while the two men watched her anxiously.
+
+"Yes," she answered at length, in a quiet voice. "I will go if you wish
+to go, not because I want to find treasure, but because the story and
+the country where it happened interest me. Indeed, I don't believe much
+in the treasure. Even if they are superstitious and afraid to look for
+it themselves, I doubt whether they would allow you to look if they
+thought it could be found. To me the journey does not seem a good
+business speculation, also there are risks."
+
+"We think it good enough," broke in Meyer decidedly. "And one does not
+expect to get millions without trouble."
+
+"Yes, yes," said her father; "but she is right--there are risks, great
+risks--fever, wild beasts, savages, and others that one cannot foresee.
+Have I a right to expose her to them? Ought we not to go alone?"
+
+"It would be useless," answered Meyer. "Those messengers have seen your
+daughter, and mixed her up with their superstitious story of a ghost,
+of which I, who know that there are no such things, believe nothing.
+Without her now we shall certainly fail."
+
+"As for the risks, father," said Benita, "personally I take no account
+of them, for I am sure that what is to happen will happen, and if I knew
+that I was to die upon the Zambesi, it would make no difference to me
+who do not care. But as it chances, I think--I cannot tell you why--that
+you and Mr. Meyer are in more danger than I am. It is for you to
+consider whether you will take the risks."
+
+Mr. Clifford smiled. "I am old," he said; "that is my answer."
+
+"And I am accustomed to such things," said Meyer, with a shrug of his
+shoulders. "Who would not run a little danger for the sake of such a
+glorious chance? Wealth, wealth, more wealth than we can dream of,
+and with it, power--power to avenge, to reward, to buy position, and
+pleasure, and all beautiful things which are the heritage of the very
+rich alone," and he spread out his hands and looked upwards, as though
+in adoration of this golden god.
+
+"Except such trifles as health and happiness," commented Benita, not
+without sarcasm, for this man and his material desires disgusted her
+somewhat, especially when she contrasted him with another man who
+was lost to her, though it was true that _his_ past had been idle and
+unproductive enough. Yet they interested her also, for Benita had never
+met anyone like Mr. Meyer, so talented, so eager, and so soulless.
+
+"Then I understand it is settled?" she said.
+
+Mr. Clifford hesitated, but Meyer answered at once:
+
+"Yes, settled as far as anything can be."
+
+She waited a moment for her father to speak, but he said nothing; his
+chance had gone by.
+
+"Very well. Now we shall not need to trouble ourselves with further
+doubts or argument. We are going to Bambatse on the Zambesi, a distant
+place, to look for buried gold, and I hope, Mr. Meyer, that if you find
+it, the results will come up to your expectations, and bring you all
+sorts of good luck. Good-night, father dear, good-night."
+
+"My daughter thinks it will bring us ill-luck," said Mr. Clifford, when
+the door had closed behind her. "That is her way of saying so."
+
+"Yes," answered Meyer gloomily; "she thinks that, and she is one of
+those who have vision. Well, she may be wrong. Also, the question is,
+shall we seize our opportunity and its dangers, or remain here and breed
+bad horses all our lives, while she who is not afraid laughs at us? I am
+going to Bambatse."
+
+Again Mr. Clifford made no direct answer, only asked a question:
+
+"How long will it take to get the guns and ammunition, and what will
+they cost?"
+
+"About a week from Wakkerstroom," replied Meyer. "Old Potgieter,
+the trader there, has just imported a hundred Martinis and a hundred
+Westley-Richards falling-blocks. Fifty of each, with ten thousand rounds
+of cartridges, will cost about �600, and we have as much as that in the
+bank; also we have the new waggon, and plenty of good oxen and horses.
+We can take a dozen of the horses with us, and sell them in the north
+of the Transvaal for a fine price, before we get into the tetsefly
+belt. The oxen will probably carry us through, as they are most of them
+salted."
+
+"You have thought it all out, Jacob, I see; but it means a lot of money
+one way and another, to say nothing of other things."
+
+"Yes, a lot of money, and those rifles are too good for Kaffirs.
+Birmingham gas-pipes would have done for them, but there are none to be
+had. But what is the money, and what are the guns, compared to all they
+will bring us?"
+
+"I think you had better ask my daughter, Jacob. She seems to have her
+own ideas upon the subject."
+
+"Miss Clifford has made up her mind, and it will not change. I shall ask
+her no more," replied Meyer.
+
+Then he, too, left the room, to give orders about the journey to
+Wakkerstroom that he must take upon the morrow. But Mr. Clifford sat
+there till past midnight, wondering whether he had done right, and if
+they would find the treasure of which he had dreamed for years, and what
+the future had in store for them.
+
+If only he could have seen!
+
+
+When Benita came to breakfast the next morning, she asked where Mr.
+Meyer was, and learned that he had already departed for Wakkerstroom.
+
+"Certainly he is in earnest," she said with a laugh.
+
+"Yes," answered her father; "Jacob is always in earnest, though,
+somehow, his earnestness has not brought him much good so far. If we
+fail, it will not be want of thought and preparation on his part."
+
+Nearly a week went by before Meyer returned again, and meanwhile Benita
+made ready for her journey. In the intervals of her simple preparations
+also she talked a good deal, with the help of her father, to the three
+sturdy-looking Makalanga, who were resting thankfully after their long
+journey. Their conversation was general, since by tacit consent no
+further mention was made of the treasure or of anything to do with it,
+but it enabled her to form a fair opinion of them and their people. She
+gathered that although they spoke a dialect of Zulu, they had none
+of the bravery of the Zulus, and indeed lived in deadly terror of the
+Matabele, who are bastard Zulus--such terror, in fact, that she greatly
+doubted whether the hundred rifles would be of much use to them, should
+they ever be attacked by that tribe.
+
+They were what their fathers had been before them, agriculturists and
+workers in metals--not fighting men. Also she set herself to learn what
+she could of their tongue, which she did not find difficult, for Benita
+had a natural aptitude for languages, and had never forgotten the Dutch
+and Zulu she used to prattle as a child, which now came back to her
+very fast. Indeed, she could already talk fairly in either of those
+languages, especially as she spent her spare hours in studying their
+grammar, and reading them.
+
+So the days went on, till one evening Jacob Meyer appeared with two
+Scotch carts laden with ten long boxes that looked like coffins, and
+other smaller boxes which were very heavy, to say nothing of a multitude
+of stores. As Mr. Clifford prophesied, he had forgotten nothing, for
+he even brought Benita various articles of clothing, and a revolver for
+which she had not asked.
+
+Three days later they trekked away from Rooi Krantz upon a peculiarly
+beautiful Sunday morning in the early spring, giving it out that they
+were going upon a trading and shooting expedition in the north of the
+Transvaal. Benita looked back at the pretty little stead and the wooded
+kloof behind it over which she had nearly fallen, and the placid lake in
+front of it where the nesting wildfowl wheeled, and sighed. For to her,
+now that she was leaving it, the place seemed like home, and it came
+into her mind that she would never see it any more.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+BAMBATSE
+
+Nearly four months had gone by when at length the waggon with which
+were Mr. Clifford, Benita, and Jacob Meyer camped one night within the
+country of the Molimo of Bambatse, whose name was Mambo. Or perhaps
+that was his title, since (according to Tamas his son) every chief in
+succession was called Mambo, though not all of them were Molimos, or
+representatives and prophets of God, or the Great Spirit whom they knew
+as Munwali. Thus sometimes the Molimo, or priest of Munwali, and the
+Mambo or chief were different persons. For instance, he said that he,
+Tamas, would be Mambo on his father's death, but no visions were given
+to him; therefore as yet, at any rate, he was not called to be Molimo.
+
+In the course of this long journey they had met with many adventures,
+such as were common to African travellers before the days of railroads;
+adventures with wild beasts and native tribes, adventures with swollen
+rivers also, and one that was worst, with thirst, since for three days
+(owing to the failure of a pit or pan, where they expected to find
+water) they were obliged to go without drink. Still, none of these
+were very serious, nor had any of the three of them ever been in better
+health than they were at this moment, for by good luck they had escaped
+all fever. Indeed, their rough, wild life had agreed with Benita
+extraordinarily well, so well that any who had known her in the streets
+of London would scarcely have recognized her as the sunburnt, active and
+well-formed young woman who sat that night by the camp fire.
+
+All the horses they had brought with them had been sold, except some
+which had died, and three that were "salted," or proof against the
+deadly horse sickness, which they took on with them. Their own servants
+also had been sent back to Rooi Krantz in charge of a Scotch cart laden
+with ivory, purchased from Boer hunters who had brought it down from the
+north of the Transvaal. Therefore, for this was part of the bargain, the
+three Makalanga were now their only attendants who drove and herded the
+cattle, while Benita cooked the food which the two white men shot, or
+sometimes bought from natives.
+
+For days they had been passing through a country that was practically
+deserted, and now, having crossed a high nek, the same on which Robert
+Seymour had left his waggon, they were camped in low land which, as they
+could see by the remains of walls that appeared everywhere, had once
+been extensively enclosed and cultivated. To their right was a rising
+mountainous ground, beyond which, said the Makalanga, ran the Zambesi,
+and in front of them, not more than ten miles away, a great isolated
+hill, none other than that place that they had journeyed so far to
+reach, Bambatse, round which flowed the great river. Indeed, thither one
+of the three Makalanga, he who was named Hoba, had gone on to announce
+their approach.
+
+They had outspanned amongst ruins, most of them circular in shape, and
+Benita, studying them in the bright moonlight, guessed that once these
+had been houses. That place now so solitary, hundreds or thousands of
+years ago was undoubtedly the home of a great population. Thousands,
+rather than hundreds, she thought, since close at hand in the middle
+of one of these round houses, grew a mighty baobab tree, that could not
+have seen less than ten or fifteen centuries since the seed whence it
+sprang pierced the cement floor which was still visible about its giant
+bole.
+
+Tamas, the Molimo's son, saw her studying these evidences of antiquity,
+and, approaching, saluted her.
+
+"Lady," he said in his own language, which by now she spoke very well,
+"lady"--and he waved his hand with a fine gesture--"behold the city of
+my people."
+
+"How do you know that it was their city?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know, lady. Stones cannot speak, the spirits are silent, and
+we have forgotten. Still, I think so, and our fathers have told us that
+but six or eight generations ago many folk lived here, though it was not
+they who built these walls. Even fifty years ago there were many, but
+now the Matabele have killed them, and we are few; to-morrow you will
+see how few. Come here and look," and he led her through the entrance
+of a square cattle kraal which stood close by. Within were tufts of
+rank grass, and a few bushes, and among these scores of skulls and other
+bones.
+
+"The Matabele killed these in the time of Moselikatse," he said. "Now
+do you wonder that we who remain fear the Matabele, and desire guns to
+defend ourselves from them, even if we must sell our secrets, in order
+to buy those guns, who have no money to pay for them?"
+
+"No," she answered, looking at the tall, dignified man, into whose soul
+the irons of fear and slavery had burnt so deep. "No, I do not wonder."
+
+Next morning at daybreak they trekked on, always through these evidences
+of dead, forgotten people. They had not more than ten miles to cover to
+reach their long journey's end, but the road, if so it could be called,
+ran up-hill, and the oxen, whereof only fourteen were now left to drag
+the heavy-laden waggon, were thin and footsore, so that their progress
+was very slow. Indeed, it was past midday when at length they began to
+enter what by apology might be called the town of Bambatse.
+
+"When we go away from this, it will have to be by water, I think, unless
+we can buy trek-cattle," said Meyer, looking at the labouring oxen with
+a doubtful eye.
+
+"Why?" asked Mr. Clifford anxiously.
+
+"Because several of those beasts have been bitten by tetsefly, like my
+horse, and the poison is beginning to work. I thought so last night, but
+now I am sure. Look at their eyes. It was down in that bit of bush veld
+eight days ago. I said that we ought not to camp there."
+
+At this moment they came to the crest of the ridge, and on its further
+side saw the wonderful ruins of Bambatse close at hand. In front of
+them stood a hill jutting out, as it were into the broad waters of the
+Zambesi river, which, to a great extent, protected it upon three sides.
+The fourth, that opposite to them, except at one place where a kind of
+natural causeway led into the town, was also defended by Nature, since
+here for more than fifty feet in height the granite rock of the base of
+the hill rose sheer and unclimbable. On the mount itself, that in all
+may have covered eight or ten acres of ground, and surrounded by a deep
+donga or ditch, were three rings of fortifications, set one above the
+other, mighty walls which, it was evident, had been built by no modern
+hand. Looking at them Benita could well understand how it came about
+that the poor fugitive Portuguese had chosen this as their last place of
+refuge, and were overcome at length, not by the thousands of savages who
+followed and surrounded them, but by hunger. Indeed, the place seemed
+impregnable to any force that was not armed with siege guns.
+
+On the hither side of this natural fosse, which, doubtless, in ancient
+times had been filled with water led from the Zambesi, stood the village
+of the Bambatse Makalanga, a collection of seventy or eighty wretched
+huts, round, like those of their forefathers, but built of mud and
+thatch. About them lay the gardens, or square fields, that were well
+cultivated, and at this season rich with ripening corn. Benita, however,
+could see no cattle, and concluded, therefore, that these must be kept
+on the hill for safety, and within its walls.
+
+Down the rough road they lumbered, and through the village, where the
+few women and children stared at them in a frightened way. Then they
+came to the causeway, which, on its further side, was blocked with
+thorns and rough stones taken from the ruins. While they waited for
+these to be removed by some men who now appeared, Benita looked at the
+massive, circular wall still thirty or forty feet in height, by perhaps
+twenty through its base, built of granite blocks without mortar,
+and ornamented with quaint patterns of other coloured stones. In
+its thickness she could see grooves, where evidently had once been
+portcullises, but these had disappeared long ago.
+
+"It is a wonderful place," she said to her father. "I am glad that I
+came. Have you been all over it?"
+
+"No; only between the first and second walls, and once between the
+second and third. The old temple, or whatever it is, is on the top,
+and into that they would never admit us. It is there that the treasure
+lies."
+
+"That the treasure is supposed to lie," she answered with a smile. "But,
+Father, what guarantee have you that they will do so now? Perhaps they
+will take the guns and show us the door--or rather the gate."
+
+"Your daughter is right, there is none; and before a box is taken off
+the waggon we must get one," said Meyer. "Oh! I know it is risky, and it
+would have been better to make sure first, but it is too late to talk of
+that now. Look, the stones are cleared. Trek on--trek!"
+
+The long waggon-whip cracked, the poor, tired-out oxen strained at the
+yokes, and on they went through the entrance of that fateful fortress
+that was but just wide enough to admit them. Inside lay a great open
+space, which, as they could see from the numerous ruins, had once been
+filled with buildings that now were half hidden by grass, trees, and
+creepers. This was the outer ring of the temple where, in ancient
+days, the priests and captains had their home. Travelling across it for
+perhaps a hundred and fifty yards, they came near the second wall, which
+was like the first, only not quite so solid, and saw that on a stretch
+of beaten ground, and seated in the shadow, for the day was hot, the
+people of Bambatse were gathered to greet them.
+
+When within fifty yards they dismounted from the horses, which were
+left with the waggon in the charge of the Makalanga, Tamala. Then Benita
+taking her position between her father and Jacob Meyer, they
+advanced towards the ring of natives, of whom there may have been two
+hundred--all of them adult men.
+
+As they came, except one figure who remained seated with his back
+against the wall, the human circle stood up as a token of respect, and
+Benita saw that they were of the same stamp as the messengers--tall and
+good-looking, with melancholy eyes and a cowed expression, wearing the
+appearance of people who from day to day live in dread of slavery and
+death. Opposite to them was a break in the circle, through which Tamas
+led them, and as they crossed it Benita felt that all those people
+were staring at her with their sad eyes. A few paces from where the
+man crouched against the wall, his head hidden by a beautifully worked
+blanket that was thrown over it, were placed three well-carved stools.
+Upon these, at a motion from Tamas, they sat themselves down, and, as it
+was not dignified for them to speak first, remained silent.
+
+"Be patient and forgive," said Tamas at length. "My father, Mambo, prays
+to the Munwali and the spirits of his fathers that this coming of yours
+may be fortunate, and that a vision of those things that are to be may
+descend upon him."
+
+Benita, feeling nearly two hundred pairs of eyes concentrated upon her,
+wished that the vision might come quickly, but after a minute or
+two fell into tune with the thing, and almost enjoyed this strange
+experience. Those mighty ancient walls built by hands unknown, which
+had seen so much history and so much death; the silent, triple ring
+of patient, solemn men, the last descendants of a cultured race, the
+crouching figure hidden beneath the blanket, who imagined himself to be
+communicating with his god--it was all very strange, very well worth the
+seeing to one who had wearied of the monotony of civilization.
+
+Look, the man stirred, and threw back his blanket, revealing a head
+white with age, a spiritual, ascetic face, so thin that every bone
+showed in it, and dark eyes which stared upwards unseeingly, like those
+of a person in a trance. Thrice he sighed, while his tribesmen watched
+him. Then he let his eyes fall upon the three white people seated
+in front of him. First he looked at Mr. Clifford, and his face grew
+troubled; then at Jacob Meyer, and it was anxious and alarmed. Lastly,
+he stared at Benita, and while he did so the dark eyes became calm and
+happy.
+
+"White maiden," he said in a soft, low voice, "for you, at least, I have
+good tidings. Though Death come near to you, though you see him on your
+right hand and your left, and in front of you and behind you, I say,
+fear not. Here you, who have known deep sorrow, shall find happiness and
+rest, O maiden, with whom goes the spirit of one pure and fair as you,
+who died so long ago."
+
+Then, while Benita wondered at his words, spoken with such sweet
+earnestness that although she believed nothing of them, they brought
+a kind of comfort to her, he looked once more at her father and Jacob
+Meyer, and, as it were with an effort, was silent.
+
+"Have you no pleasant prophecy for me, old friend," said Jacob, "who
+have come so far to hear it?"
+
+At once the aged face grew inscrutable, all expression vanished behind a
+hundred wrinkles, and he answered:
+
+"None, white man--none that I am charged to deliver. Search the skies
+for yourself, you who are so wise, and read them if you can. Lords," he
+went on in another voice, "I greet you in the name and presence of my
+children. Son Tamas, I greet you also; you have done your mission well.
+Listen, now--you are weary and would rest and eat; still, bear with me,
+for I have a word to say. Look around you. You see all my tribe, not
+twenty times ten above the age of boys, we who once were countless as
+the leaves on yonder trees in spring. Why are we dead? Because of the
+Amandabele, those fierce dogs whom, two generations ago, Moselikatse,
+the general of Chaka, brought up to the south of us, who ravish us and
+kill us year by year.
+
+"We are not warlike, we who have outlived war and the lust of slaying.
+We are men of peace, who desire to cultivate the land, and to follow our
+arts which have descended to us from our ancestors, and to worship
+the Heavens above us, whither we depart to join the spirits of our
+forefathers. But they are fierce and strong and savage, and they come
+up and murder our children and old people, and take away the young women
+and the maidens to be slaves, and with them all our cattle. Where are
+our cattle? Lobengula, chief of the Amandabele, has them; scarce a cow
+is left to give milk to the sick or to the motherless babe. And yet he
+sends for cattle. Tribute, say his messengers, deliver tribute, or my
+impi will come and take it with your lives. But we have no cattle--all
+are gone. We have nothing left to us but this ancient mountain and the
+works built thereon, and a little corn on which we live. Yes, I say
+it--I, the Molimo--I whose ancestors were great kings--I who have still
+more wisdom in me than all the hosts of the Amandabele," and as he spoke
+the old man's grey head sank upon his breast and the tears ran down his
+withered cheeks, while his people answered:
+
+"Mambo, it is true."
+
+"Now listen again," he went on. "Lobengula threatens us, therefore I
+sent to these white men who were here before, saying that if they would
+bring me a hundred guns, and powder and ball, to enable us to beat off
+the Amandabele from behind these strong walls of ours, I would take them
+into the secret holy place where for six generations no white man has
+set a foot, and there suffer them to search for the treasure which is
+hid therein, no man knows where, that treasure which they asked leave to
+find four winters gone. We refused it then and drove them hence, because
+of the curse laid upon us by the white maid who died, the last of the
+Portuguese, who foretold her people's fate for us if we gave up the
+buried gold save to one appointed. My children, the Spirit of Bambatse
+has visited me; I have seen her and others have seen her, and in my
+sleep she said to me: 'Suffer the men to come and search, for with them
+is one of the blood to whom my people's wealth is given; and great is
+your danger, for many spears draw nigh.' My children, I sent my son and
+other messengers on a far journey to where I knew the men dwelt, and
+they have returned after many months bringing those men with them,
+bringing with them also another of whom I knew nothing--yes, her who is
+appointed, her of whom the Spirit spoke."
+
+Then he lifted his withered hand and held it towards Benita, saying: "I
+tell you that yonder she sits for whom the generations have waited."
+
+"It is so," answered the Makalanga. "It is the White Lady come again to
+take her own."
+
+"Friends," asked the Molimo, while they wondered at his strange speech,
+"tell me, have you brought the guns?"
+
+"Surely," answered Mr. Clifford, "they are there in the waggon, every
+one of them, the best that can be made, and with them ten thousand
+cartridges, bought at a great cost. We have fulfilled our share of the
+bargain; now will you fulfil yours, or shall we go away again with the
+guns and leave you to meet the Matabele with your assegais?"
+
+"Say you the agreement while we listen," answered the Molimo.
+
+"Good," said Mr. Clifford. "It is this: That you shall find us food and
+shelter while we are with you. That you shall lead us into the secret
+place at the head of the hill, where the Portuguese died, and the gold
+is hidden. That you shall allow us to search for that gold when and
+where we will. That if we discover the gold, or anything else of value
+to us, you shall suffer us to take it away, and assist us upon our
+journey, either by giving us boats and manning them to travel down the
+Zambesi, or in whatever fashion may be most easy. That you shall permit
+none to hurt, molest, or annoy us during our sojourn among you. Is that
+our contract?"
+
+"Not quite all of it," said the Molimo. "There is this to add: first
+that you shall teach us how to use the guns; secondly, that you shall
+search for and find the treasure, if so it is appointed, without our
+help, since in this matter it is not lawful for us to meddle; thirdly,
+that if the Amandabele should chance to attack us while you are here,
+you shall do your best to assist us against their power."
+
+"Do you, then, expect attack?" asked Meyer suspiciously.
+
+"White man, we always expect attack. Is it a bargain?"
+
+"Yes," answered Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer in one voice, the latter
+adding: "the guns and the cartridges are yours. Lead us now to the
+hidden place. We have fulfilled our part; we trust to the honour of you
+and all your people to fulfil yours."
+
+"White Maiden," asked the Molimo, addressing Benita, "do you also say
+that it is a bargain?"
+
+"What my father says, I say."
+
+"Good," said the Molimo. "Then, in the presence of my people, and in the
+name of the Munwali, I, Mambo, who am his prophet, declare that it is so
+agreed between us, and may the vengeance of the heavens fall upon those
+who break our pact! Let the oxen of the white men be outspanned, their
+horses fed, their waggon unloaded, that we may count the guns. Let food
+be brought into the guest-house also, and after they have eaten, I, who
+alone of all of you have ever entered it, will lead them to the holy
+place, that there they may begin to search for that which the white
+men desire from age to age--to find it if they can; if not, to depart
+satisfied and at peace."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE OATH OF MADUNA
+
+Mr. Clifford and Meyer rose to return to the waggon in order to
+superintend the unyoking of the oxen and to give directions as to their
+herding, and the off-saddling of the horses. Benita rose also, wondering
+when the food that had been promised would be ready, for she was hungry.
+Meanwhile, the Molimo was greeting his son Tamas, patting his hand
+affectionately and talking to him, when suddenly Benita, who watched
+this domestic scene with interest, heard a commotion behind her. Turning
+to discover its cause, she perceived three great man clad in full war
+panoply, shields on their left arms, spears in their right hands, black
+ostrich plumes rising from the polished rings woven in their hair, black
+moochas about their middles, and black oxtails tied beneath their knees,
+who marched through the throng of Makalanga as though they saw them not.
+
+"The Matabele! The Matabele are on us!" cried a voice; while other
+voices shouted, "Fly to your walls!" and yet others, "Kill them! They
+are few."
+
+But the three men marched on unheeding till they stood before Mambo.
+
+"Who are you, and what do you seek?" the old man asked boldly, though
+the fear that had taken hold of him at the sight of these strangers was
+evident enough, for his whole body shook.
+
+"Surely you should know, chief of Bambatse," answered their spokesman
+with a laugh, "for you have seen the like of us before. We are the
+children of Lobengula, the Great Elephant, the King, the Black Bull, the
+Father of the Amandabele, and we have a message for your ear, little Old
+Man, which, finding that you leave your gate open, we have walked in to
+deliver."
+
+"Speak your message then, envoys of Lobengula, in my ear and in those of
+my people," said the Molimo.
+
+"Your people! Are these all your people?" the spokesman replied
+contemptuously. "Why then, what need was there for the indunas of the
+King to send so large an impi under a great general against you, when a
+company of lads armed with sticks would have served the turn? We thought
+that these were but the sons of your house, the men of your own family,
+whom you had called together to eat with the white strangers."
+
+"Close the entrance in the wall," cried the Molimo, stung to fury by the
+insult; and a voice answered:
+
+"Father, it is already done."
+
+But the Matabele, who should have been frightened, only laughed again,
+and their spokesman said:
+
+"See, my brothers, he thinks to trap us who are but three. Well, kill
+on, Old Wizard, if you will, but know that if a hand is lifted,
+this spear of mine goes through your heart, and that the children of
+Lobengula die hard. Know also that then the impi which waits not far
+away will destroy you every one, man and woman, youth and maiden,
+little ones who hold the hand and infants at the breast; none shall be
+left--none at all, to say, 'Here once lived the cowardly Makalanga of
+Bambatse.' Nay, be not foolish, but talk softly with us, so that perhaps
+we may spare your lives."
+
+Then the three men placed themselves back to back, in such fashion that
+they faced every way, and could not be smitten down from behind, and
+waited.
+
+"I do not kill envoys," said the Molimo, "but if they are foul-mouthed,
+I throw them out of my walls. Your message, men of the Amandabele."
+
+"I hear you. Hearken now to the word of Lobengula."
+
+Then the envoy began to speak, using the pronoun I as though it were the
+Matabele king himself who spoke to his vassal, the Makalanga chief: "I
+sent to you last year, you slave, who dare to call yourself Mambo of the
+Makalanga, demanding a tribute of cattle and women, and warning you that
+if they did not come, I would take them. They did not come, but that
+time I spared you. Now I send again. Hand over to my messengers fifty
+cows and fifty oxen, with herds to drive them, and twelve maidens to
+be approved by them, or I wipe you out, who have troubled the earth too
+long, and that before another moon has waned.
+
+"Those are the words of Lobengula," he concluded, and taking the horn
+snuff-box from the slit in his ear, helped himself, then insolently
+passed it to the Molimo.
+
+So great was the old chief's rage that, forgetting his self-control, he
+struck the box from the hand of his tormentor to the ground, where the
+snuff lay spilled.
+
+"Just so shall the blood of your people be spilled through your rash
+foolishness," said the messenger calmly, as he picked up the box, and as
+much of the snuff as he could save.
+
+"Hearken," said the Molimo, in a thin, trembling voice. "Your king
+demands cattle, knowing that all the cattle are gone, that scarce a cow
+is left to give drink to a motherless babe. He asks for maidens also,
+but if he took those he seeks we should have none left for our young men
+to marry. And why is this so? It is because the vulture, Lobengula, has
+picked us to the bone; yes, while we are yet alive he has torn the flesh
+from us. Year by year his soldiers have stolen and killed, till at last
+nothing is left of us. And now he seeks what we have not got to give, in
+order that he may force a quarrel upon us and murder us. There is nought
+left for us to give Lobengula. You have your answer."
+
+"Indeed!" replied the envoy with a sneer. "How comes it, then, that
+yonder I see a waggon laden with goods, and oxen in the yokes? Yes,"
+he repeated with meaning, "with goods whereof we have known the like
+at Buluwayo; for Lobengula also sometimes buys guns from white men, O!
+little Makalanga. Come now, give us the waggon with its load and the
+oxen and the horses, and though it be but a small gift, we will take it
+away and ask nothing more this year."
+
+"How can I give you the property of my guests, the white men?" asked the
+Molimo. "Get you gone, and do your worst, or you shall be thrown from
+the walls of the fortress."
+
+"Good, but know that very soon we shall return and make an end of
+you, who are tired of these long and troublesome journeys to gather so
+little. Go, tend your corn, dwellers in Bambatse, for this I swear in
+the name of Lobengula, never shall you see it ripen more."
+
+Now the crowd of listening Makalanga trembled at his words, but in the
+old Molimo they seemed only to rouse a storm of prophetic fury. For a
+moment he stood staring up at the blue sky, his arms outstretched as
+though in prayer. Then he spoke in a new voice--a clear, quiet voice,
+that did not seem to be his own.
+
+"Who am I?" he said. "I am the Molimo of the Bambatse Makalanga; I am
+the ladder between them and Heaven; I sit on the topmost bough of
+the tree under which they shelter, and there in the crest of the
+tree Munwali speaks with me. What to you are winds, to me are voices
+whispering in my spirit's ears. Once my forefathers were great kings,
+they were Mambos of all the land, and that is still my name and dignity.
+We lived in peace; we laboured, we did wrong to no man. Then you Zulu
+savages came upon us from the south-east and your path was red with
+blood. Year after year you robbed and you destroyed; you raided our
+cattle, you murdered our men, you took our maidens and our children to
+be your women and your slaves, until at length, of all this pit filled
+with the corn of life, there is left but a little handful. And this you
+say you will eat up also, lest it should fall into good ground and grow
+again. I tell you that I think it will not be so; but whether or no that
+happens, I have words for the ear of your king--a message for a message.
+Say to him that thus speaks the wise old Molimo of Bambatse.
+
+"I see him hunted like a wounded hyena through the rivers, in the deep
+bush, and over the mountain. I see him die in pain and misery; but his
+grave I see not, for no man shall know it. I see the white man take his
+land and all his wealth; yea, to them and to no son of his shall his
+people give the Bay�te, the royal salute. Of his greatness and his
+power, this alone shall remain to him--a name accursed from generation
+to generation. And last of all I see peace upon the land and upon my
+children's children." He paused, then added: "For you, cruel dog that
+you are, this message also from the Munwali, by the lips of his Molimo.
+I lift no hand against you, but you shall not live to look again upon
+your king's face. Begone now, and do your worst."
+
+For a moment the three Matabele seemed to be frightened, and Benita
+heard one of them say to his companions:
+
+"The Wizard has bewitched us! He has bewitched the Great Elephant and
+all his people! Shall we kill him?"
+
+But quickly shaking off his fears their spokesman laughed, and answered:
+
+"So that is what you have brought the white people here for, old
+traitor--to plot against the throne of Lobengula."
+
+He wheeled round and stared at Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer; then added:
+
+"Good, Grey-beard and Black-Beard: I myself will put you both to such a
+death as you have never heard of, and as for the girl, since she is well
+favoured, she shall brew the king's beer, and be numbered amongst the
+king's wives--unless, indeed, he is pleased to give her to me."
+
+In an instant the thing was done! At the man's words about Benita,
+Meyer, who had been listening to his threats and bombast unconcerned,
+suddenly seemed to awake. His dark eyes flashed, his pale face turned
+cruel. Snatching the revolver from his belt he seemed to point and fire
+it with one movement, and down--dead or dying--went the Matabele.
+
+Men did not stir, they only stared. Accustomed as they were to death in
+that wild land, the suddenness of this deed surprised them. The contrast
+between the splendid, brutal savage who had stood before them a moment
+ago, and the limp, black thing going to sleep upon the ground, was
+strange enough to move their imaginations. There he lay, and there, over
+him, the smoking pistol in his hand, Meyer stood and laughed.
+
+Benita felt that the act was just, and the awful punishment deserved.
+Yet that laugh of Jacob's jarred upon her, for in it she thought she
+heard the man's heart speaking; and oh, its voice was merciless! Surely
+Justice should not laugh when her sword falls!
+
+"Behold, now," said the Molimo in his still voice, pointing at the dead
+Matabele with his finger; "do I speak lies, or is it true that this
+man shall not look more upon his king's face? Well, as it was with
+the servant, so it shall be with the lord, only more slowly. It is the
+decree of the Munwali, spoken by the voice of his Mouth, the Molimo of
+Bambatse. Go, children of Lobengula, and bear with you as an offering
+this first-fruit of the harvest that the white men shall reap among the
+warriors of his people."
+
+The thin voice died away, and there was silence so intense that Benita
+thought she heard the scraping of the feet of a green lizard which crept
+across a stone a yard or two away.
+
+Then of a sudden it ended. Of a sudden the two remaining Matabele turned
+and fled for their lives, and as, when dogs run, a flock of sheep will
+wheel about and pursue them, so did the Makalanga. They grabbed at the
+messengers with their hands, tearing their finery from them; they struck
+them with sticks, they pounded them with stones, till at length two
+bruised and bleeding men, finding all escape cut off, and led perhaps
+by some instinct, staggered back to where Benita stood horrified at this
+dreadful scene, and throwing themselves upon the ground, clutched at her
+dress and prayed for mercy.
+
+"Move a little, Miss Clifford," said Meyer. "Three of those brutes will
+not weigh heavier than one upon my conscience."
+
+"No, no, you shall not," she answered. "Mambo, these men are messengers;
+spare them."
+
+"Hearken to the voice of pity," said the old prophet, "spoken in a place
+where pity never was, and not in vain. Let them go. Give mercy to the
+merciless, for she buys their lives with a prayer."
+
+"They will bring the others on us," muttered Tamas, and even old Mr.
+Clifford shook his head sadly. But the Molimo only said:
+
+"I have spoken. Let them go. That which will befall must befall, and
+from this deed no ill shall come that would not have come otherwise."
+
+"You hear? Depart swiftly," said Benita, in Zulu.
+
+With difficulty the two men dragged themselves to their feet, and
+supporting each other, stood before her. One of them, a clever,
+powerful-faced man, whose black hair was tinged with grey, addressing
+himself to Benita, gasped:
+
+"Hear me. That fool there," and he pointed to his dead companion, "whose
+boasting brought his death upon him, was but a low fellow. I, who kept
+silence and let him talk, am Maduna, a prince of the royal house who
+justly deserve to die because I turned my back upon these dogs. Yet I
+and my brother here take life at your hands, Lady, who, now that I have
+had time to think, would refuse it at theirs. For, whether I stay or
+go does not matter. The impi waits; the slayers are beneath the walls.
+Those things which are decreed will happen; there, yonder old Wizard
+speaks true. Listen, Lady: should it chance that you have cause to
+demand two lives at the hands of Maduna, in his own name and the name
+of his king he promises them to you. In safety shall they pass, they
+and all that is theirs, without toll taken. Remember the oath of Maduna,
+Lady, in the hour of your need, and do you, my brother, bear witness to
+it among our people."
+
+Then, straightening themselves as well as they were able, these two
+sorely hurt men lifted their right arms and gave Benita the salute
+due to a chieftainess. This done, taking no note of any other creature
+there, they limped away to the gate that had been opened for them, and
+vanished beyond the wall.
+
+All this while Meyer had stood silent; now he spoke with a bitter smile.
+
+"Charity, Miss Clifford, said a certain Paul, as reported in your New
+Testament, covers a multitude of sins. I hope very much that it will
+serve to cover our remains from the aasvogels, after we have met our
+deaths in some such fashion as that brute promised us," and he pointed
+to the dead man.
+
+Benita looked at her father in question.
+
+"Mr. Meyer means, my dear, that you have done a foolish thing in begging
+the lives of those Matabele. It would have been safer for us if they
+were dead, who, as it is, have gone off burning for revenge. Of course,
+I understand it was natural enough, but----" and he hesitated and
+stopped.
+
+"The chief did not say so," broke in Benita with agitation; "besides, if
+he had, I should not have cared. It was bad enough to see one man killed
+like that," and she shivered; "I could not bear any more."
+
+"You should not be angry at the fellow's death, seeing that it was what
+he said of you which brought it upon him," Meyer replied with meaning.
+"Otherwise he might have gone unharmed as far as I was concerned. For
+the rest, I did not interfere because I saw it was useless; also I am
+a fatalist like our friend, the Molimo, and believe in what is decreed.
+The truth is," he added sharply, "among savages ladies are not in
+place."
+
+"Why did you not say that down at Rooi Krantz, Jacob?" asked Mr.
+Clifford. "You know I thought so all the while, but somehow I was
+over-ruled. Now what I suggest is, that we had better get out of this
+place as fast as we can--instantly, as soon as we have eaten, before our
+retreat is cut off."
+
+Meyer looked at the oxen which had been outspanned: nine were wandering
+about picking up what food they could, but the five which were supposed
+to have been bitten by tetsefly had lain down.
+
+"Nine worn-out and footsore oxen will not draw the waggon," he said;
+"also in all probability the place is already surrounded by Matabele,
+who merely let us in to be sure of the guns which their spies must have
+told them we were carrying. Lastly, having spent so much and come so
+far, I do not mean to go without what we seek. Still, if you think that
+your daughter's danger is greater within these walls than outside
+of them, you might try, if we can hire servants, which I doubt. Or
+possibly, if any rowers are to be had, you could go down the Zambesi in
+a canoe, risking the fever. You and she must settle it, Clifford."
+
+"Difficulties and dangers every way one looks. Benita, what do you say?"
+asked her father distractedly.
+
+Benita thought a moment. She wished to escape from Mr. Meyer, of whom
+she was weary and afraid, and would have endured much to do so. On the
+other hand, her father was tired out, and needed rest; also to turn
+his back upon this venture now would have been a bitter blow to him.
+Moreover, lacking cattle and men, how was it to be done? Lastly,
+something within her, that same voice which had bidden her to come,
+seemed to bid her to stay. Very soon she had made up her mind.
+
+"Father, dear," she said, "thank you for thinking of me, but as far as
+I can see, we should run more risks trying to get away than we do in
+stopping here. I wanted to come, though you warned me against it, and
+now I must take my chance and trust to God to bring us safe through all
+dangers. Surely with all those rifles the Makalanga ought to be able to
+hold such a place as this against the Matabele."
+
+"I hope so," answered her father; "but they are a timid folk. Still,
+though it would have been far better never to have come, I think with
+you that it is best to stay where we are, and trust to God."
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE MOUNTAIN TOP
+
+If our adventurers, or any of them, hoped that they were going to be
+led to the secret places of the fortress that day, they were destined
+to disappointment. Indeed, the remainder of it was employed arduously
+enough in unpacking rifles, and a supply of ammunition; also in giving
+to a few of the leading Makalanga preliminary lessons in the method of
+their use, a matter as to which their ideas were of the vaguest. The
+rest of the tribe, having brought their women and children into the
+outer enclosure of the ancient stronghold, and with them their sheep
+and goats and the few cattle which remained to them, were employed in
+building up the entrance permanently with stones, a zigzag secret path
+upon the river side, that could be stopped in a few minutes, being now
+their only method of ingress and egress through the thickness of the
+walls. A certain number of men were also sent out as spies to discover,
+if possible, the whereabouts of the Matabele impi.
+
+That there was some impi they were almost sure, for a woman who had
+followed them reported that the injured captain, Maduna, and his
+companion had been met at a distance of about three miles from Bambatse
+by a small party of Matabele, who were hiding in some bushes, and that
+these men had made litters for them, and carried them away; whither she
+did not know, for she had not dared to pursue them further.
+
+That night Benita passed in the guesthouse, which was only a hut rather
+larger than the others, while the two men slept in the waggon just
+outside. She was so tired that for a long while she could not rest. Her
+mind kept flying back to all the events of the day: the strange words
+of that mystic old Molimo, concerning herself; the arrival of the brutal
+messengers and the indaba that followed; then the sudden and awful
+destruction of their spokesman at the hand of Jacob Meyer. The scene
+would not leave her eyes, she saw it again and yet again: the quick
+transformation of Meyer's indifferent face when the soldier began to
+insult and threaten her, the lightning-like movement of his hand, the
+flash, the report, the change from life to death, and the slayer's cruel
+laugh. He could be very terrible, Jacob Meyer, when his passions were
+roused!
+
+And what had roused them then? She could not doubt that it was
+herself--not mere chivalry towards a woman. Even if he were capable of
+chivalry, merely for that he would never have taken such risk of future
+trouble and revenge. No; it was something deeper. He had never said
+anything or done anything, yet long ago instinct or insight had caused
+Benita to suspect the workings of his mind, and now she was sure of
+them. The thought was terrible--worse than all her other dangers put
+together. True, she had her father to rely on, but he had been somewhat
+ailing of late; age and these arduous journeys and anxieties had told
+upon him. Supposing that anything were to happen to him--if he died, for
+instance, how dreadful her position might become, left alone far from
+the reach of help, with savages--and Jacob Meyer.
+
+Oh! if it had not been for that dreadful shipwreck, how different might
+be her lot to-day! Well, it was the thought of the shipwreck and of him
+whom she had lost therein, which had driven her on to this adventure,
+that in it perhaps her suffering mind might be numbed to rest; and now
+she must face its issues. God still remained above her, and she would
+put her trust in Him. After all, if she died, what did it matter?
+
+But that old Molimo had promised her that she was safe from death, that
+she should find here happiness and rest, though not that of the grave.
+He promised this, speaking as one who knew of all her grief, and a very
+little while afterwards, in the case of the Matabele soldier, he had
+proved himself a prophet of awful power. Also--she knew not how, she
+knew not why--now, as before, her inmost heart seemed to bear witness
+that this old dreamer's words were true, and that for her, in some
+strange manner unforeseen, there still remained a rest.
+
+Comforted a little by this intuition, at length Benita fell asleep.
+
+Next morning, when she came out of the hut, Benita was met by her
+father, who with a cheerful countenance informed her that at any rate
+as yet there was no sign of the Matabele. A few hours later, too, some
+spies came in who said that for miles round nothing could be seen or
+heard of them. Still the preparations for defence went on, and the
+hundred best men having been furnished with the rifles, were being
+drilled in the use of them by Tamas and his two companions, Tamala and
+Hoba, who had learned how to handle a gun very well in the course of
+their long journey. The shooting of these raw recruits, however, proved
+to be execrable; indeed, so dangerous were they that when one of them
+fired at a mark set upon the wall, it was found necessary to order
+all the rest to lie down. As it was, a poor trek ox--luckily it was
+sick--and two sheep were killed.
+
+Foreseeing a scarcity of provisions in the event of a siege, Meyer,
+provident as ever, had already decreed the death of the tetse-bitten
+cattle. These were accordingly despatched, and having been skinned and
+cut up, their flesh was severed into long strips to be dried in the
+burning sun as biltong, which secretly Benita hoped she might never be
+called upon to eat. Yet the time was to come when she would swallow that
+hard, tetse-poisoned flesh with thankfulness.
+
+At midday, after they had eaten, Mr. Clifford and Meyer went to the
+Molimo, where he sat against the second wall, and, pointing to the men
+with the guns, said:
+
+"We have fulfilled our bargain. Now fulfil yours. Lead us to the holy
+place that we may begin our search."
+
+"So be it," he answered. "Follow me, white people."
+
+Then, quite unattended, he guided them round the inner wall till they
+came to a path of rock not more than a yard wide, beneath which was a
+precipice fifty feet or so in depth that almost overhung the river. This
+giddy path they followed for about twenty paces, to find that it ended
+in a cleft in the wall so narrow that only one person could walk
+through it at a time. That it must have been the approach to the second
+stronghold was evident, however, since it was faced on either side with
+dressed stones, and even the foundation granite had been worn by the
+human feet which had passed here for ages upon ages. This path zigzagged
+to and fro in the thickness of the wall till it brought them finally
+within its circle, a broad belt of steeply-rising ground, covered like
+that below with the tumbled ruins of buildings amidst which grew bush
+and trees.
+
+"Heaven send that the gold is not buried here," said Mr. Clifford,
+surveying the scene; "for if it is, we shall never find it."
+
+The Molimo seemed to guess the meaning of his words from his face, for
+he answered:
+
+"I think not here. The besiegers won this place and camped in it for
+many weeks. I could show you were they built their fires and tried to
+undermine the last wall within which the Portuguese sat about until
+hunger killed them, for they could not eat their gold. Follow me again."
+
+So on they went up the slope till they came to the base of the third
+wall, and as before, passed round it, and reached a point above the
+river. But now there was no passage, only some shallow and almost
+precipitous steps cut from single stones leading from the foot of the
+wall to its summit, more than thirty feet above.
+
+"Really," said Benita, contemplating this perilous ascent with dismay,
+"the ways of treasure seekers are hard. I don't think I can," while her
+father also looked at them and shook his head.
+
+"We must get a rope," said Meyer to the Molimo angrily. "How can we
+climb that place without one, with such a gulf below?"
+
+"I am old, but I climb it," said the aged man in mild surprise, since to
+him, who had trodden it all his life, it seemed not difficult. "Still,"
+he added, "I have a rope above which I use upon dark nights. I will
+ascend and let it down."
+
+Ascend he did accordingly; indeed, it was a wondrous sight to see his
+withered legs scrambling from step to step as unconcernedly as though
+he were going upstairs. No monkey could have been more agile, or more
+absolutely impervious to the effects of height. Soon he vanished in--or,
+rather, through--the crest of the wall, and presently appeared again on
+the top step, whence he let down a stout hide rope, remarking that it
+was securely tied. So anxious was Meyer to enter the hidden place of
+which he had dreamed so long that he scarcely waited for it to reach
+his hand before he began the climb, which he accomplished safely. Then,
+sitting on the top of the wall, he directed Mr. Clifford to fasten the
+end of the rope round Benita's waist, and her turn came.
+
+It was not so bad as she expected, for she was agile, and the knowledge
+that the rope would prevent disaster gave her confidence. In a very
+little while she had grasped Meyer's outstretched hand, and been drawn
+into safety through a kind of aperture above the top step. Then the rope
+was let down again for her father, who tied it about his middle. Well
+was it that he did so, since when he was about half-way up, awkwardness,
+or perhaps loss of nerve--neither of them wonderful in an old
+man--caused his foot to slip, and had it not been for the rope which
+Meyer and the Molimo held, he would certainly have fallen into the
+river some hundreds of feet below. As it was, he recovered himself, and
+presently arrived panting and very pale. In her relief Benita kissed
+him, and even as she did so thought again that she had been very near to
+being left alone with Jacob Meyer.
+
+"All's well that ends well, my dear," he said. "But upon my word I am
+beginning to wish that I had been content with the humble profits of
+horse-breeding."
+
+Benita made no answer; it seemed too late for any useful consideration
+of the point.
+
+"Clever men, those ancients," said Meyer. "See," and he pointed out
+to her how, by drawing a heavy stone which still lay close by over the
+aperture through which they had crept, the ascent of the wall could
+be made absolutely impossible to any enemy, since at its crest it was
+battened outwards, not inwards, as is usual in these ancient ruins.
+
+"Yes," she answered, "we ought to feel safe enough inside here, and
+that's as well since I do not feel inclined to go out again at present."
+
+Then they paused to look about them, and this was what they saw:
+
+The wall, built like those below, of unmortared blocks of stone,
+remained in a wonderfully good state of preservation, for its only
+enemies had been time, the tropical rains, and the growth of shrubs
+and trees which here and there had cracked and displaced the stones. It
+enclosed all the top of the hill, perhaps three acres of ground, and
+on it at intervals were planted soap-stone pillars, each of them about
+twelve feet in height, and fashioned at the top to a rude resemblance
+of a vulture. Many of these columns, however had been blown down, or
+perhaps struck by lightning, and lay broken upon the wall, or if they
+had fallen inward, at its foot; but some, six or eight perhaps, were
+still standing.
+
+Benita learned afterwards that they must have been placed there by
+the ancient Phoenicians, or whatever people constructed this gigantic
+fortification, and had something to do with the exact recordings of the
+different seasons of the year, and their sub-divisions, by means of the
+shadows which they cast. As yet, however, she did not pay much attention
+to them, for she was engaged in considering a more remarkable relic of
+antiquity which stood upon the very verge of the precipice, the wall,
+indeed, being built up to its base on either side.
+
+It was the great cone of which Richard Seymour had told her, fifty feet
+high or more, such as once was found in the Phoenician temples. But in
+this case it was not built of masonry, but shaped by the hand of man out
+of a single gigantic granite monolith of the sort that are sometimes to
+be met with in Africa, that thousands or millions of years ago had been
+left standing thus when the softer rock around it was worn away by time
+and weather. On the inner side of this cone were easy steps whereby
+it could be ascended, and its top, which might have been six feet in
+diameter, was fashioned in the shape of a cup, probably for the purposes
+of acts of worship and of sacrifice. This extraordinary monument, which,
+except on the river side, could not be seen from below on account of
+the slope of the hill, leaned slightly outwards, so that a stone dropped
+from its crest would fall into the waters of the stream.
+
+"Thence it was," said the Molimo, "that my forefathers saw the last of
+the Portuguese, the fair daughter of the great Captain Ferreira, hurl
+herself to death after she had given the gold into our keeping, and laid
+the curse upon it, until she came again. So in my dreams have I seen and
+heard her also, ay, and others have seen her, but these only from by the
+river far below."
+
+He paused awhile, looking at Benita with his queer, dreamy eyes; then
+said suddenly:
+
+"Say, Lady, do you remember nothing of that matter?"
+
+Now Benita grew vexed, for the whole thing was uncanny and jarred upon
+her.
+
+"How can I remember," she asked, "who was born not five and twenty years
+ago?"
+
+"I do not know," he answered. "How should I know, who am but an ignorant
+old black man, who was born not much more than eighty years ago? Yet,
+Lady, tell me, for I seek your wisdom, where were you born from? Out of
+the earth, or out of the heavens? What? You shake your head, you who
+do not remember? Well, neither do I remember. Yet it is true that all
+circles meet somewhere, and it is true that the Portuguese maiden said
+she would come again; and lastly it is true that she was such an one
+as you are, for she haunts this place, and I, who have seen her sitting
+yonder in the moonlight, know her beauty well. Yet mayhap she comes no
+more in flesh, but still her spirit comes; for, Lady, out of those eyes
+of yours I see it gaze at me. Come," he added abruptly, "let us descend
+the wall, for as you cannot remember, there is more to show you. Have no
+fear--the steps are easy."
+
+So they went down without much difficulty, since, from the accumulation
+of rubbish and other causes, the wall was a great deal lower on this
+side, and found themselves in the usual dense growth of vegetation and
+brushwood through which ran a little path. It led them past the ruins
+of buildings whereof the use and purpose were long since forgotten, for
+their roofs had fallen in hundreds or thousands of years ago, to the
+entrance of a cave which was placed almost at the foot of the monolithic
+cone, but thirty or forty yards further from the circle of the wall.
+Here the Molimo bade them stay while he lit the lamps within. Five
+minutes passed and he returned, saying that all was ready.
+
+"Be not afraid of what you may see," he added, "for know, white people,
+that save my forefathers and myself, none have entered this place since
+the Portuguese perished here, nor have we, who do but come hither to
+pray and receive the word of the Munwali, ever ventured to disturb it.
+As it was, so it is. Come, Lady, come; she whose spirit goes with you
+was the last of your white race to pass this door. It is therefore
+fitting that your feet and her spirit should be the first to enter it
+again."
+
+Benita hung back a little, for the adventure was eerie, then, determined
+that she would show no fear in the presence of this old priest, took the
+thin hand he stretched out to her, and walked forward with head erect.
+The two men began to follow her, but the Molimo stopped them, saying:
+
+"Not so. The maiden enters first alone with me; it is her house, and
+should it please her to ask you to dwell therein, so be it. But first
+she must visit her house alone."
+
+"Nonsense," said Mr. Clifford angrily. "I will not have it. It will
+frighten her."
+
+"Lady, do you trust me?" asked the Molimo.
+
+"Yes," she answered; adding, "Father, I think you had better let me go
+alone. I am not afraid now, and it may be wisest not to thwart him. This
+is a very strange business--not like anything else--and really I think
+that I had better go alone. If I do not come back presently, you can
+follow."
+
+"Those who break in upon the sleep of the dead should walk gently,
+gently," piped the old Molimo in a sing-song voice. "The maiden's breath
+is pure; the maiden's foot is light; her breath will not offend the
+dead; her step will not disturb the dead. White men, white men, anger
+not the dead, for the dead are mighty, and will be revenged upon you
+when you are dead; soon, very soon, when you are dead--dead in your
+sorrows, dead in your sins, dead, gathered to that company of the dead
+who await us here."
+
+And, still chanting his mystic song, he led Benita by the hand out of
+the light, onward into darkness, away from life, onward into the place
+of death.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE SLEEPERS IN THE CAVE
+
+Like every other passage in this old fortress, the approach to the cave
+was narrow and winding; presumably the ancients had arranged them thus
+to facilitate their defence. After the third bend, however, Benita saw a
+light ahead which flowed from a native lamp lit in the arched entrance.
+At the side of this arch was a shell-shaped hollow, cut in the rock
+about three feet above the floor. Its appearance seemed familiar to her;
+why, she was soon to learn, although at the moment she did not connect
+it with anything in particular. The cave beyond was large, lofty, and
+not altogether natural, for its walls had evidently been shaped, or at
+any rate trimmed, by man. Probably here the old Priests had established
+their oracle, or place of offering.
+
+At first Benita could not see much, since in that great cavern two lamps
+of hippopotamus oil gave but little light. Presently, however, her eyes
+became accustomed to the gloom, and as they advanced up its length she
+perceived that save for a skin rug upon which she guessed the Molimo sat
+at his solitary devotions, and some gourds and platters for water and
+food, all the front part of the place appeared to be empty. Beyond, in
+its centre, stood an object of some gleaming metal, that from its double
+handles and roller borne upon supports of rock she took to be some kind
+of winch, and rightly, for beneath it was the mouth of a great well, the
+water supply of the topmost fortification.
+
+Beyond the well was a stone altar, shaped like a truncated cone or
+pyramid, and at some distance away against the far wall, as she dimly
+discovered by the lamp that stood upon the altar, cut in relief upon
+that wall indeed, a colossal cross to which, vigorously if rudely
+executed in white stone, hung the image of Christ crucified, the crown
+of thorns upon His drooping head. Now she understood. Whatever may have
+been the first worship to which this place was dedicated, Christians
+had usurped it, and set up here the sacred symbol of their faith,
+awful enough to look upon in such surroundings. Doubtless, also, the
+shell-shaped basin at the entrance had served the worshippers in this
+underground chapel as a stoup for holy water.
+
+The Molimo lifted the lamp from the altar, and having adjusted its
+wick, held it up in front of the rood before which, although she was no
+Catholic, Benita bowed her head and crossed herself, while he watched
+her curiously. Then he lowered it, and she perceived that on the
+cemented floor lay great numbers of shrouded forms that at first looked
+to her like folk asleep. He stepped to one of them and touched it with
+his foot, whereon the cloth which with it was covered crumbled into
+dust, revealing beneath a white skeleton.
+
+All those sleepers rested well indeed, for they had been dead at least
+two hundred years. There they lay--men, women, and children, though of
+the last but few. Some of them had ornaments on their bones, some were
+clad in armour, and by all the men were swords, or spears, or knives,
+and here and there what she took to be primitive fire-arms. Certain
+of them also had turned into mummies in that dry air--grotesque and
+dreadful objects from which she gladly averted her eyes.
+
+The Molimo led her forward to the foot of the crucifix, where, upon
+its lowest step and upon the cemented floor immediately beneath it
+respectively, lay two shapes decorously covered with shawls of some
+heavy material interwoven with gold wire, for the manufacture of which
+the Makalanga were famous when first the Portuguese came into contact
+with them. The Molimo took hold of the cloths that seemed almost as
+good now as on the day when they were woven, and lifted them,
+revealing beneath the figures of a man and woman. The features were
+unrecognizable, although the hair, white in the man's case and raven
+black in that of the woman, remained perfect. They had been great
+people, for orders glittered upon the man's breast, and his sword was
+gold hilted, whilst the woman's bones were adorned with costly necklaces
+and jewels, and in her hand was still a book bound in sheets of
+silver. Benita took it up and looked at it. It was a missal beautifully
+illuminated, which doubtless the poor lady had been reading when at
+length she sank exhausted into the sleep of death.
+
+"See the Lord Ferreira and his wife," said the Molimo, "whom their
+daughter laid thus before she went to join them." Then, at a motion from
+Benita, he covered them up again with their golden cloths.
+
+"Here they sleep," he went on in his chanting voice, "a hundred and
+fifty and three of them--a hundred and fifty and three; and when I dream
+in this place at night, I have seen the ghosts of every one of them
+arise from beside their forms and come gliding down the cave--the
+husband with the wife, the child with the mother--to look at me, and
+ask when the maiden returns again to take her heritage and give them
+burial."
+
+Benita shuddered; the solemn awfulness of the place and scene oppressed
+her. She began to think that she, too, saw those ghosts.
+
+"It is enough," she said. "Let us be going."
+
+So they went, and the pitiful, agonized Christ upon the cross, at which
+she glanced from time to time over her shoulder, faded to a white blot,
+then vanished away in the darkness, through which, from generation to
+generation, it kept its watch above the dead, those dead that in their
+despair once had cried to it for mercy, and bedewed its feet with tears.
+
+Glad, oh! glad was she when she had left that haunted place behind her,
+and saw the wholesome light again.
+
+"What have you seen?" asked her father and Meyer, in one breath, as they
+noted her white and frightened face.
+
+She sank upon a stone seat at the entrance of the cave, and before she
+could open her lips the Molimo answered for her:
+
+"The maiden has seen the dead. The Spirit who goes with her has given
+greeting to its dead that it left so long ago. The maiden has done
+reverence to the White One who hangs upon the cross, and asked a
+blessing and a pardon of Him, as she whose Spirit goes with her did
+reverence before the eyes of my forefathers, and asked a blessing and a
+pardon ere she cast herself away." And he pointed to the little golden
+crucifix which hung upon Benita's bosom, attached to the necklace which
+Tamas, the messenger, had given her at Rooi Krantz.
+
+"Now," he went on, "now the spell is broken, and the sleepers must
+depart to sleep elsewhere. Enter, white men; enter, if you dare, and ask
+for pardon and for blessing if it may be found, and gather up the dry
+bones and take the treasure that was theirs, if it may be found, and
+conquer the curse that goes with the treasure for all save one, if
+you can, if you can, if you can! Rest you here, maiden, in the sweet
+sunshine, and follow me, white men; follow me into the dark of the dead
+to seek for that which the white men love." And once more he vanished
+down the passage, turning now and again to beckon to them, while they
+went after him as though drawn against their wish. For now, at the last
+moment, some superstitious fear spread from him to them, and showed
+itself in their eyes.
+
+To Benita, half fainting upon the stone seat, for this experience had
+shaken her to the heart, it seemed but a few minutes, though really
+the best part of an hour had gone by, when her father reappeared as
+white-faced as she had been.
+
+"Where is Mr. Meyer?" she asked.
+
+"Oh!" he answered. "He is collecting all the golden ornaments off those
+poor bodies, and tumbling their bones together in a corner of the cave."
+
+Benita uttered an exclamation of horror.
+
+"I know what you mean," said her father. "But, curse the fellow! he
+has no reverence, although at first he seemed almost as scared as I was
+myself. He said that as we could not begin our search with all those
+corpses about, they had best be got out of the way as soon as possible.
+Or perhaps it was because he is really afraid of them, and wanted to
+prove to himself that they are nothing more than dust. Benita," went on
+the old man, "to tell you the truth, I wish heartily that we had left
+this business alone. I don't believe that any good will come of it, and
+certainly it has brought enough trouble already. That old prophet of a
+Molimo has the second sight, or something like it, and he does not hide
+his opinion, but keeps chuckling away in that dreadful place, and piping
+out his promises of ill to be."
+
+"He promised me nothing but good," said Benita with a little smile.
+"Though I don't see how it can happen. But if you dislike the thing,
+father, why not give it up and try to escape?"
+
+"It is too late, dear," he replied passionately. "Meyer would never
+come, and I can't in honour leave him. Also, I should laugh at myself
+for the rest of my life; and, after all, why should we not have the gold
+if it can be found? It belongs to nobody. We do not get it by robbery,
+or murder; nuggets are of no use to Portuguese who have been dead two
+hundred years, and whose heirs, if they have any, it is impossible to
+discover. Nor can it matter to them whether they lie about singly as
+they died or were placed after death, or piled together in a corner. Our
+fears were mere churchyard superstitions, which we have caught from that
+ghoul of a Molimo. Don't you agree with me?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," answered Benita, "though a fate may cling to
+certain things or places, perhaps. At any rate, I think that it is of no
+use turning back now, even if we had anywhere to turn, so we may as well
+go through with the venture and await its end. Give me the water-bottle,
+please. I am thirsty."
+
+A while later Jacob Meyer appeared, carrying a great bundle of precious
+objects wrapped in one of the gold cere-cloths, which bundle he hid away
+behind a stone.
+
+"The cave is much tidier now," he said, as he flicked the thick dust
+which had collected on them during his unhallowed task from his hands,
+and hair, and garments. Then he drank greedily, and asked:
+
+"Have you two made any plans for our future researches?"
+
+They shook their heads.
+
+"Well, then, I have. I thought them out while I was bone-carting, and
+here they are. It is no use our going down below again; for one thing,
+the journey is too dangerous, and takes too long; and for another, we
+are safer up above, where we have plenty to do."
+
+"But," said Benita, "how about things to eat and sleep on, and the
+rest?"
+
+"Simple enough, Miss Clifford; we must get them up. The Kaffirs will
+bring them to the foot of the third wall, and we will haul them to its
+top with a rope. Of water it seems there is plenty in that well, which
+is fed by a spring a hundred and fifty feet down, and the old chain
+is still on the roller, so we only need a couple of buckets from the
+waggon. Of wood for cooking there is plenty also, growing on the spot;
+and we can camp in the cave or outside of it, as we like, according to
+the state of the weather. Now, do you rest here while I go down. I will
+be back in an hour with some of the gear, and then you must help me."
+
+So he went, and the end of it was that before nightfall they had enough
+things for their immediate needs, and by the second night, working
+very hard, were more or less comfortably established in their strange
+habitation. The canvas flap from the waggon was arranged as a tent for
+Benita, the men sleeping beneath a thick-leaved tree near by. Close at
+hand, under another tree, was their cooking place. The provisions of all
+sorts, including a couple of cases of square-face and a large supply
+of biltong from the slaughtered cattle, they stored with a quantity of
+ammunition in the mouth of the cave. Fresh meat also was brought to
+them daily, and hauled up in baskets--that is, until there was none
+to bring--and with it grain for bread, and green mealies to serve as
+vegetables. Therefore, as the water from the well proved to be excellent
+and quite accessible, they were soon set up in all things necessary, and
+to these they added from time to time as opportunity offered.
+
+In all these preparations the old Molimo took a part, nor, when they
+were completed, did he show any inclination to leave them. In the
+morning he would descend to his people below, but before nightfall he
+always returned to the cave, where for many years it had been his custom
+to sleep--at any rate several times a week, in the gruesome company of
+the dead Portuguese. Jacob Meyer persuaded Mr. Clifford that his object
+was to spy upon them, and talked of turning him out; but Benita, between
+whom and the old man had sprung up a curious friendship and sympathy,
+prevented it, pointing out that they were much safer with the Molimo,
+as a kind of hostage, than they could be without him; also, that his
+knowledge of the place, and of other things, might prove of great help
+to them. So in the end he was allowed to remain, as indeed he had a
+perfect right to do.
+
+All this while there was no sign of any attack by the Matabele. Indeed,
+the fear of such a thing was to some extent dying away, and Benita,
+watching from the top of the wall, could see that their nine remaining
+oxen, together with the two horses--for that belonging to Jacob Meyer
+had died--and the Makalanga goats and sheep, were daily driven out to
+graze; also, that the women were working in the crops upon the fertile
+soil around the lowest wall. Still, a strict watch was kept, and at
+night everyone slept within the fortifications; moreover, the drilling
+of the men and their instruction in the use of firearms went on
+continually under Tamas, who now, in his father's old age, was the
+virtual chief of the people.
+
+It was on the fourth morning that at length, all their preparations
+being completed, the actual search for the treasure began. First,
+the Molimo was closely interrogated as to its whereabouts, since they
+thought that even if he did not know this exactly, some traditions of
+the fact might have descended to him from his ancestors. But he declared
+with earnestness that he knew nothing, save that the Portuguese maiden
+had said that it was hidden; nor, he added, had any dream or vision come
+to him concerning this matter, in which he took no interest. If it was
+there, it was there; if it was not there, it was not there--it remained
+for the white men to search and see.
+
+For no very good reason Meyer had concluded that the gold must have been
+concealed in or about the cave, so here it was that they began their
+investigations.
+
+First, they bethought them of the well into which it might possibly
+have been thrown, but the fact of this matter proved very difficult
+to ascertain. Tying a piece of metal--it was an old Portuguese
+sword-hilt--to a string, they let it down and found that it touched
+water at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and bottom at a depth
+of one hundred and forty-seven feet. Therefore there were twenty-seven
+feet of water. Weighting a bucket they sank it until it rested upon this
+bottom, then wound it up again several times. On the third occasion it
+brought up a human bone and a wire anklet of pure gold. But this proved
+nothing, except that some ancient, perhaps thousands of years ago, had
+been thrown, or had fallen, into the well.
+
+Still unsatisfied, Jacob Meyer, who was a most intrepid person,
+determined to investigate the place himself, a task of no little
+difficulty and danger, since proper ladders were wanting, nor, had they
+existed, was there anything to stand them on. Therefore it came to this:
+a seat must be rigged on to the end of the old copper chain, and be
+lowered into the pit after the fashion of the bucket. But, as Benita
+pointed out, although they might let him down, it was possible that they
+would not be able to draw him up again, in which case his plight must
+prove unfortunate. So, when the seat had been prepared, an experiment
+was made with a stone weighing approximately as much as a man. This
+Benita and her father let down easily enough, but, as they anticipated,
+when it came to winding it up again, their strength was barely
+sufficient to the task. Three people could do it well, but with two the
+thing was risky. Now Meyer asked--or, rather, commanded--the Molimo to
+order some of his men to help him, but this the old chief refused point
+blank to do.
+
+First, he made a number of excuses. They were all employed in drilling,
+and in watching for the Matabele; they were afraid to venture here, and
+so forth. At last Meyer grew furious; his eyes flashed, he ground his
+teeth, and began to threaten.
+
+"White man," said the Molimo, when he had done, "it cannot be. I have
+fulfilled my bargain with you. Search for the gold; find it and take it
+away if you can. But this place is holy. None of my tribe, save he who
+holds the office of Molimo for the time, may set a foot therein. Kill
+me if you will--I care not; but so it is, and if you kill me, afterwards
+they will kill you."
+
+Now Meyer, seeing that nothing was to be gained by violence, changed his
+tone, and asked if he himself would help them.
+
+"I am old, my strength is small," he replied; "yet I will put my hand to
+the chain and do my best. But, if I were you, I would not descend that
+pit."
+
+"Still, I will descend it, and to-morrow," said Meyer.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH
+
+Accordingly, on the next day the great experiment was made. The
+chain and ancient winding gear had been tested and proved to be amply
+sufficient to the strain. Therefore, nothing remained save for Meyer
+to place himself in the wooden seat with an oil-lamp, and in case this
+should be extinguished, matches and candles, of both of which they had a
+large supply.
+
+He did so boldly enough, and swung out over the mouth of the pit, while
+the three of them clutched the handles of the winch. Then they began to
+lower, and slowly his white face disappeared into the black depth. At
+every few turns his descent was stopped that he might examine the walls
+of the well, and when he was about fifty feet down he called to them to
+hold on, which they did, listening while he struck at the rock with a
+hammer, for here it sounded very hollow.
+
+At length he shouted to them to lower away again, and they obeyed, until
+nearly all the chain was out, and they knew he must be near the water.
+Now Benita, peeping over the edge, saw that the star of light had
+vanished. His lamp was out, nor did he appear to attempt to re-light it.
+They shouted down the well to him, but no answer coming, began to wind
+up as fast as they were able. It was all that their united strength
+could manage, and very exhausted were they when at length Jacob
+reappeared at the top. At first, from the look of him they thought that
+he was dead, and had he not tied himself to the chain, dead he certainly
+would have been, for evidently his senses had left him long ago. Indeed,
+he had fallen almost out of the seat, over which his legs hung limply,
+his weight being supported by the hide rope beneath his arms which was
+made fast to the chain.
+
+They swung him in and dashed water over his face, till, to their relief,
+at last he began to gasp for breath, and revived sufficiently to enable
+them to half-lead and half-carry him out into the fresh air.
+
+"What happened to you?" asked Clifford.
+
+"Poisoned with gases, I suppose," Meyer answered with a groan, for
+his head was aching sadly. "The air is often bad at the bottom of deep
+wells, but I could smell or feel nothing until suddenly my senses left
+me. It was a near thing--a very near thing."
+
+Afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he told them that at one
+spot deep down in the well, on the river side of it, he found a place
+where it looked as though the rock had been cut away for a space of
+about six feet by four, and afterwards built up again with another sort
+of stone set in hard mortar or cement. Immediately beneath, too, were
+socket-holes in which the ends of beams still remained, suggesting that
+here had been a floor or platform. It was while he was examining these
+rotted beams that insensibility overcame him. He added that he thought
+that this might be the entrance to the place where the gold was hidden.
+
+"If so," said Mr. Clifford, "hidden it must remain, since it can have no
+better guardian than bad air. Also, floors like that are common in all
+wells to prevent rubbish from falling into the water, and the stonework
+you saw probably was only put there by the ancients to mend a fault in
+the rock and prevent the wall from caving in."
+
+"I hope so," said Meyer, "since unless that atmosphere purifies a good
+deal I don't think that even I dare go down again, and until one gets
+there, of that it is difficult to be sure, though of course a lantern on
+a string will tell one something."
+
+This was the end of their first attempt. The search was not renewed
+until the following afternoon, when Meyer had recovered a little from
+the effects of the poisoning and the chafing of the hide ropes beneath
+his arms. Indeed, from the former he never did quite recover, since
+thenceforward Benita, who for her own reasons watched the man closely,
+discovered a marked and progressive change in his demeanour. Hitherto he
+had appeared to be a reserved man, one who kept tight hand upon himself,
+and, if she knew certain things about him, it was rather because she
+guessed, or deduced them, than because he allowed them to be seen. On
+two occasions only had he shown his heart before her--when they had
+spoken together by the shores of Lake Chrissie on the day of the arrival
+of the messengers, and he declared his ardent desire for wealth and
+power; and quite recently, when he killed the Matabele envoy. Yet she
+felt certain that this heart of his was very passionate and insurgent;
+that his calm was like the ice that hides the stream, beneath which its
+currents run fiercely, none can see whither. The fashion in which his
+dark eyes would flash, even when his pale countenance remained unmoved,
+told her so, as did other things.
+
+For instance, when he was recovering from his swoon, the first words
+that passed his lips were in German, of which she understood a little,
+and she thought that they shaped themselves to her name, coupled with
+endearing epithets. From that time forward he became less guarded--or,
+rather, it seemed as though he were gradually losing power to control
+himself. He would grow excited without apparent cause, and begin to
+declaim as to what he would do when he had found the gold; how he would
+pay the world back all it had caused him to suffer--how he would become
+a "king."
+
+"I am afraid that you will find that exalted position rather lonely,"
+said Benita with a careless laugh, and next minute was sorry that she
+had spoken, for he answered, looking at her in a way that she did not
+like:
+
+"Oh, no! There will be a queen--a beautiful queen, whom I shall endow
+with wealth, and deck with jewels, and surround with love and worship."
+
+"What a fortunate lady!" she said, still laughing, but taking the
+opportunity to go away upon some errand.
+
+At other times, especially after dark, he would walk up and down in
+front of the cave, muttering to himself, or singing wild old German
+songs in his rich voice. Also, he made a habit of ascending the granite
+pillar and seating himself there, and more than once called down to
+her to come up and share his "throne." Still, these outbreaks were so
+occasional that her father, whose perceptions appeared to Benita to be
+less keen than formerly, scarcely noticed them, and for the rest his
+demeanour was what it had always been.
+
+Further researches into the well being out of the question, their next
+step was to make a thorough inspection of the chapel-cave itself. They
+examined the walls inch by inch, tapping them with a hammer to hear if
+they sounded hollow, but without result. They examined the altar, but it
+proved to be a solid mass of rock. By the help of a little ladder they
+had made, they examined the crucifix, and discovered that the white
+figure on the cross had evidently been fashioned out of some heathen
+statue of soft limestone, for at its back were the remains of draperies,
+and long hair which the artist had not thought it necessary to cut away.
+Also, they found that the arms had been added, and were of a slightly
+different stone, and that the weight of the figure was taken partly by
+an iron staple which supported the body, and partly by strong copper
+wire twisted to resemble cord, and painted white, which was passed round
+the wrists and supported the arms. This wire ran through loops of rock
+cut in the traverse of the cross, that itself was only raised in relief
+by chiselling away the solid stone behind.
+
+Curiously enough, this part of the search was left to Mr. Clifford and
+Benita, since it was one that Jacob Meyer seemed reluctant to undertake.
+A Jew by birth, and a man who openly professed his want of belief in
+that or any other religion, he yet seemed to fear this symbol of the
+Christian faith, speaking of it as horrible and unlucky; yes, he who,
+without qualm or remorse, had robbed and desecrated the dead that
+lay about its feet. Well, the crucifix told them nothing; but as Mr.
+Clifford, lantern in hand, descended the ladder, which Benita held,
+Jacob Meyer, who was in front of the altar, called to them excitedly
+that he had found something.
+
+"Then it is more than we have," said Mr. Clifford, as he laid down the
+ladder and hurried to him.
+
+Meyer was sounding the floor with a staff of wood--an operation which he
+had only just began after the walls proved barren.
+
+"Listen now," he said, letting the heavy staff drop a few paces to the
+right of the altar, where it produced the hard, metallic clang that
+comes from solid stone when struck. Then he moved to the front of the
+altar and dropped it again, but now the note was hollow and reverberant.
+Again and again he repeated the experiment, till they had exactly
+mapped out where the solid rock ended and that which seemed to be hollow
+began--a space of about eight feet square.
+
+"We've got it," he said triumphantly. "That's the entrance to the place
+where the gold is," and the others were inclined to agree with him.
+
+Now it remained to put their theory to the proof--a task of no small
+difficulty. Indeed, it took them three days of hard, continual work.
+It will be remembered that the floor of the cave was cemented over, and
+first of all this cement, which proved to be of excellent quality, being
+largely composed of powdered granite, must be broken up. By the help
+of a steel crowbar, which they had brought with them in the waggon,
+at length that part of their task was completed, revealing the rock
+beneath. By this time Benita was confident that, whatever might lie
+below, it was not the treasure, since it was evident that the poor,
+dying Portuguese would not have had the time or the strength to cement
+it over. When she told the others so, however, Meyer, convinced that
+he was on the right tack, answered that doubtless it was done by the
+Makalanga after the Portuguese days, as it was well known that they
+retained a knowledge of the building arts of their forefathers until
+quite a recent period, when the Matabele began to kill them out.
+
+When at length the cement was cleared away and the area swept, they
+discovered--for there ran the line of it--that here a great stone was
+set into the floor; it must have weighed several tons. As it was set in
+cement, however, to lift it, even if they had the strength to work the
+necessary levers, proved quite impossible. There remained only one thing
+to be done--to cut a way through. When they had worked at this task for
+several hours, and only succeeded in making a hole six inches deep,
+Mr. Clifford, whose old bones ached and whose hands were very
+sore, suggested that perhaps they might break it up with gunpowder.
+Accordingly, a pound flask of that explosive was poured into the hole,
+which they closed over with wet clay and a heavy rock, leaving a
+quill through which ran an extemporized fuse of cotton wick. All being
+prepared, their fuse was lit, and they left the cave and waited.
+
+Five minutes afterwards the dull sound of an explosion reached their
+ears, but more than an hour went by before the smoke and fumes would
+allow them to enter the place, and then it was to find that the results
+did not equal their expectations. To begin with, the slab was only
+cracked--not shattered, since the strength of the powder had been
+expended upwards, not downwards, as would have happened in the case of
+dynamite, of which they had none. Moreover, either the heavy stone
+which they had placed upon it, striking the roof of the cave, or the
+concussion of the air, had brought down many tons of rock, and caused
+wide and dangerous-looking cracks. Also, though she said nothing of it,
+it seemed to Benita that the great white statue on the cross was leaning
+a little further forward than it used to do. So the net result of the
+experiment was that they were obliged to drag away great fragments of
+the fallen roof that lay upon the stone, which remained almost as solid
+and obdurate as before.
+
+So there was nothing for it but to go on working with the crowbar. At
+length, towards the evening of the third day of their labour, when the
+two men were utterly tired out, a hole was broken through, demonstrating
+the fact that beneath this cover lay a hollow of some sort. Mr.
+Clifford, to say nothing of Benita, who was heartily weary of the
+business, wished to postpone proceedings till the morrow, but Jacob
+Meyer would not. So they toiled on until about eleven o'clock at night,
+when at length the aperture was of sufficient size to admit a man. Now,
+as in the case of the well, they let down a stone tied to a string, to
+find that the place beneath was not more than eight feet deep. Then, to
+ascertain the condition of the air, a candle was lowered, which at first
+went out, but presently burnt well enough. This point settled, they
+brought their ladder, whereby Jacob descended with a lantern.
+
+In another minute they heard the sound of guttural German oaths rising
+through the hole. Mr. Clifford asked what was the matter, and received
+the reply that the place was a tomb, with nothing in it but an accursed
+dead monk, information at which Benita could not help bursting into
+laughter.
+
+The end of it was that both she and her father went down also, and
+there, sure enough, lay the remains of the old missionary in his cowl,
+with an ivory crucifix about his neck, and on his breast a scroll
+stating that he, Marco, born at Lisbon in 1438, had died at Bambatse in
+the year 1503, having laboured in the Empire of Monomotapa for seventeen
+years, and suffered great hardships and brought many souls to Christ.
+The scroll added that it was he, who before he entered into religion was
+a sculptor by trade, that had fashioned the figure on the cross in this
+chapel out of that of the heathen goddess which had stood in the same
+place from unknown antiquity. It ended with a request, addressed to all
+good Christians in Latin, that they who soon must be as he was would
+pray for his soul and not disturb his bones, which rested here in the
+hope of a blessed resurrection.
+
+When this pious wish was translated to Jacob Meyer by Mr. Clifford, who
+still retained some recollection of the classics which he had painfully
+acquired at Eton and Oxford, the Jew could scarcely contain his wrath.
+Indeed, looking at his bleeding hands, instead of praying for the soul
+of that excellent missionary, to reach whose remains he had laboured
+with such arduous, incessant toil, he cursed it wherever it might be,
+and unceremoniously swept the bones, which the document asked him not to
+disturb, into a corner of the tomb, in order to ascertain whether there
+was not, perhaps, some stair beneath them.
+
+"Really, Mr. Meyer," said Benita, who, in spite of the solemnity of the
+surroundings, could not control her sense of humour, "if you are not
+careful the ghosts of all these people will haunt you."
+
+"Let them haunt me if they can," he answered furiously. "I don't believe
+in ghosts, and defy them all."
+
+At this moment, looking up, Benita saw a figure gliding out of the
+darkness into the ring of light, so silently that she started, for it
+might well have been one of those ghosts in whom Jacob Meyer did not
+believe. In fact, however, it was the old Molimo, who had a habit of
+coming upon them thus.
+
+"What says the white man?" he asked of Benita, while his dreamy eyes
+wandered over the three of them, and the hole in the violated tomb.
+
+"He says that he does not believe in spirits, and that he defies them,"
+she answered.
+
+"The white gold-seeker does not believe in spirits, and he defies them,"
+Mambo repeated in his sing-song voice. "He does not believe in the
+spirits that I see all around me now, the angry spirits of the dead,
+who speak together of where he shall lie and of what shall happen to
+him when he is dead, and of how they will welcome one who disturbs their
+rest and defies and curses them in his search for the riches which he
+loves. There is one standing by him now, dressed in a brown robe with a
+dead man cut in ivory like to that," and he pointed to the crucifix in
+Jacob's hands, "and he holds the ivory man above him and threatens him
+with sleepless centuries of sorrow, when he is also one of those spirits
+in which he does not believe."
+
+Then Meyer's rage blazed out. He turned upon the Molimo and reviled
+him in his own tongue, saying that he knew well where the treasure was
+hidden, and that if he did not point it out he would kill him and send
+him to his friends, the spirits. So savage and evil did he look that
+Benita retreated a little way, while Mr. Clifford strove in vain to calm
+him. But although Meyer laid his hand upon the knife in his belt and
+advanced upon him, the old Molimo neither budged an inch nor showed the
+slightest fear.
+
+"Let him rave on," he said, when at length Meyer paused exhausted. "Just
+so in a time of storm the lightnings flash and the thunder peals, and
+the water foams down the face of rock; but then comes the sun again, and
+the hill is as it has ever been, only the storm is spent and lost. I
+am the rock, he is but the wind, the fire, and the rain. It is not
+permitted that he should hurt me, and those spirits in whom he does not
+believe treasure up his curses, to let them fall again like stones upon
+his head."
+
+Then, with a contemptuous glance at Jacob, the old man turned and glided
+back into the darkness out of which he had appeared.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+BENITA PLANS ESCAPE
+
+The next morning, while she was cooking breakfast, Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer seated upon a rock at a little distance, sullen and disconsolate.
+His chin was resting on his hand, and he watched her intently, never
+taking his eyes from her face. She felt that he was concentrating his
+will upon her; that some new idea concerning her had come into his
+mind; for it was one of her miseries that she possessed the power of
+interpreting the drift of this man's thoughts. Much as she detested him,
+there existed that curious link between them.
+
+It may be remembered that, on the night when they first met at the crest
+of Leopard's Kloof, Jacob had called her a "thought-sender," and some
+knowledge of their mental intimacy had come home to Benita. From that
+day forward her chief desire had been to shut a door between their
+natures, to isolate herself from him and him from her. Yet the attempt
+was never entirely successful.
+
+Fear and disgust took hold of her, bending there above the fire, all
+the while aware of the Jew's dark eyes that searched her through and
+through. Benita formed a sudden determination. She would implore her
+father to come away with her.
+
+Of course, such an attempt would be terribly dangerous. Of the Matabele
+nothing had been seen; but they might be about, and even if enough
+cattle could be collected to draw the waggon, it belonged to Meyer as
+much as to her father, and must therefore be left for him. Still, there
+remained the two horses, which the Molimo had told her were well and
+getting fat.
+
+At this moment Meyer rose and began to speak to her.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Miss Clifford?" he asked in his soft foreign
+voice.
+
+She started, but answered readily enough:
+
+"Of the wood which is green, and the kid cutlets which are getting
+smoked. Are you not tired of kid, Mr. Meyer?" she went on.
+
+He waved the question aside. "You are so good--oh! I mean it--so really
+good that you should not tell stories even about small things. The wood
+is not green; I cut it myself from a dead tree; and the meat is not
+smoked; nor were you thinking of either. You were thinking of me, as I
+was thinking of you; but what exactly was in your mind, this time I do
+not know, and that is why I ask you to tell me."
+
+"Really, Mr. Meyer," she answered flushing; "my mind is my own
+property."
+
+"Ah! do you say so? Now I hold otherwise--that it is my property, as
+mine is yours, a gift that Nature has given to each of us."
+
+"I seek no such gift," she answered; but even then, much as she would
+have wished to do so, she could not utter a falsehood, and deny this
+horrible and secret intimacy.
+
+"I am sorry for that, as I think it very precious; more precious even
+than the gold which we cannot find; for Miss Clifford, it brings me
+nearer you."
+
+She turned upon him, but he held up his hand, and went on:
+
+"Oh! do not be angry with me, and do not fear that I am going to trouble
+you with soft speeches, for I shall not, unless a time should come, as
+I think that perhaps it will, when you may wish to listen to them. But I
+want to point out something to you, Miss Clifford. Is it not a wonderful
+thing that our minds should be so in tune, and is there not an object
+in all this? Did I believe as you do, I should say that it was Heaven
+working in us--no: do not answer that the working comes from lower down.
+I take no credit for reading that upon your lips; the retort is too
+easy and obvious. I am content to say, however, that the work is that
+of instinct and nature, or, if you will, of fate, pointing out a road by
+which together we might travel to great ends."
+
+"I travel my road alone, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"I know, I know, and that is the pity of it. The trouble between man and
+woman is that not in one case out of a million, even if they be lovers,
+do they understand each other. Their eyes may seek one another, their
+hands and lips may meet, and yet they remain distinct, apart, and often
+antagonistic. There is no communication of the soul. But when it chances
+to be hewn from the same rock as it were--oh! then what happiness may be
+theirs, and what opportunities!"
+
+"Possibly, Mr. Meyer; but, to be frank, the question does not interest
+me."
+
+"Not yet; but I am sure that one day it will. Meanwhile, I owe you an
+apology. I lost my temper before you last night. Well, do not judge me
+hardly, for I was utterly worn out, and that old idiot vexed me with his
+talk about ghosts, in which I do not believe."
+
+"Then why did it make you so angry? Surely you could have afforded to
+treat it with contempt, instead of doing--as you did."
+
+"Upon my word! I don't know, but I suppose most of us are afraid lest we
+should be forced to accept that which we refuse. This ancient place gets
+upon the nerves, Miss Clifford; yours as well as mine. I can afford
+to be open about it, because I know that you know. Think of its
+associations: all the crime that has been committed here for ages and
+ages, all the suffering that has been endured here. Doubtless human
+sacrifices were offered in this cave or outside of it; that great burnt
+ring in the rock there may have been where they built the fires. And
+then those Portuguese starving to death, slowly starving to death while
+thousands of savages watched them die. Have you ever thought what it
+means? But of course you have, for like myself you are cursed with
+imagination. God in heaven! is it wonderful that it gets upon the
+nerves? especially when one cannot find what one is looking for, that
+vast treasure"--and his face became ecstatic--"that shall yet be yours
+and mine, and make us great and happy."
+
+"But which at present only makes me a scullery-maid and most unhappy,"
+replied Benita cheerfully, for she heard her father's footstep. "Don't
+talk any more of the treasure, Mr. Meyer, or we shall quarrel. We have
+enough of that during business hours, when we are hunting for it, you
+know. Give me the dish, will you? This meat is cooked at last."
+
+Still Benita could not be rid of that treasure, since after breakfast
+the endless, unprofitable search began again. Once more the cave was
+sounded, and other hollow places were discovered upon which the two men
+got to work. With infinite labour three of them were broken into in as
+many days, and like the first, found to be graves, only this time of
+ancients who, perhaps, had died before Christ was born. There they lay
+upon their sides, their bones burnt by the hot cement that had been
+poured over them, their gold-headed and gold-ferruled rods of office in
+their hands, their gold-covered pillows of wood, such as the Egyptians
+used, beneath their skulls, gold bracelets upon their arms and ankles,
+cakes of gold beneath them which had fallen from the rotted pouches that
+once hung about their waists, vases of fine glazed pottery that had
+been filled with offerings, or in some cases with gold dust to pay the
+expenses of their journey in the other world, standing round them, and
+so forth.
+
+In their way these discoveries were rich enough--from one tomb alone
+they took over a hundred and thirty ounces of gold--to say nothing of
+their surpassing arch�ological interest. Still they were not what
+they sought: all that gathered wealth of Monomotapa which the fleeing
+Portuguese had brought with them and buried in this, their last
+stronghold.
+
+Benita ceased to take the slightest interest in the matter; she would
+not even be at the pains to go to look at the third skeleton, although
+it was that of a man who had been almost a giant, and, to judge from the
+amount of bullion which he took to the tomb with him, a person of
+great importance in his day. She felt as though she wished never to see
+another human bone or ancient bead or bangle; the sight of a street
+in Bayswater in a London fog--yes, or a toy-shop window in Westbourne
+Grove--would have pleased her a hundred times better than these unique
+remains that, had they known of them in those days, would have sent half
+the learned societies of Europe crazy with delight. She wished to escape
+from Bambatse, its wondrous fortifications, its mysterious cone, its
+cave, its dead, and--from Jacob Meyer.
+
+Benita stood upon the top of her prison wall and looked with longing at
+the wide, open lands below. She even dared to climb the stairs which
+ran up the mighty cone of granite, and seated herself in the cup-like
+depression on its crest, whence Jacob Meyer had called to her to come
+and share his throne. It was a dizzy place, for the pillar leaning
+outwards, its point stood almost clear of the water-scarped rock, so
+that beneath her was a sheer drop of about four hundred feet to the
+Zambesi bed. At first the great height made her feel faint. Her eyes
+swam, and unpleasant tremors crept along her spine, so that she was glad
+to sink to the floor, whence she knew she could not fall. By degrees,
+however, she recovered her nerve, and was able to study the glorious
+view of stream and marshes and hills beyond.
+
+For she had come here with a purpose, to see whether it would not be
+possible to escape down the river in a canoe, or in native boats such as
+the Makalanga owned and used for fishing, or to cross from bank to bank.
+Apparently it was impossible, for although the river beneath and
+above them was still enough, about a mile below began a cataract that
+stretched as far as she could see, and was bordered on either side by
+rocky hills covered with forest, over which, even if they could obtain
+porters, a canoe could not be carried. This, indeed, she had already
+heard from the Molimo, but knowing his timid nature, she wished to judge
+of the matter for herself. It came to this then: if they were to go, it
+must be on the horses.
+
+Descending the cone Benita went to find her father, to whom as yet she
+had said nothing of her plans. The opportunity was good, for she knew
+that he would be alone. As it chanced, on that afternoon Meyer had gone
+down the hill in order to try to persuade the Makalanga to give them
+ten or twenty men to help them in their excavations. In this, it will
+be remembered, he had already failed so far as the Molimo was concerned,
+but he was not a man easily turned from his purpose, and he thought that
+if he could see Tamas and some of the other captains he might be able
+by bribery, threats, or otherwise, to induce them to forget their
+superstitious fears, and help in the search. As a matter of fact, he was
+utterly unsuccessful, since one and all they declared that for them to
+enter that sacred place would mean their deaths, and that the vengeance
+of Heaven would fall upon their tribe and destroy it root and branch.
+
+Mr. Clifford, on whom all this heavy labour had begun to tell, was
+taking advantage of the absence of his taskmaster, Jacob, to sleep
+awhile in the hut which they had now built for themselves beneath the
+shadow of the baobab-tree. As she reached it he came out yawning, and
+asked her where she had been. Benita told him.
+
+"A giddy place," he said. "I have never ventured to try it myself. What
+did you go up there for, dear?"
+
+"To look at the river while Mr. Meyer was away, father; for if he had
+seen me do so he would have guessed my reason; indeed, I dare say that
+he will guess it now."
+
+"What reason, Benita?"
+
+"To see whether it would not be possible to escape down it in a boat.
+But there is no chance. It is all rapids below, with hills and rocks and
+trees on either bank."
+
+"What need have you to escape at present?" he asked eyeing her
+curiously.
+
+"Every need," she answered with passion. "I hate this place; it is a
+prison, and I loathe the very name of treasure. Also," and she paused.
+
+"Also what, dear?"
+
+"Also," and her voice sank to a whisper, as though she feared that he
+should overhear her even at the bottom of the hill; "also, I am afraid
+of Mr. Meyer."
+
+This confession did not seem to surprise her father, who merely nodded
+his head and said:
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Father, I think that he is going mad, and it is not pleasant for us to
+be cooped up here alone with a madman, especially when he has begun to
+speak to me as he does now."
+
+"You don't mean that he has been impertinent to you," said the old man,
+flushing up, "for if so----"
+
+"No, not impertinent--as yet," and she told him what had passed between
+Meyer and herself, adding, "You see, father, I detest this man; indeed,
+I want to have nothing to do with any man; for me all that is over and
+done with," and she gave a dry little sob which appeared to come from
+her very heart. "And yet, he seems to be getting some kind of power over
+me. He follows me about with his eyes, prying into my mind, and I feel
+that he is beginning to be able to read it. I can bear no more. Father,
+father, for God's sake, take me away from this hateful hill and its gold
+and its dead, and let us get out into the veld again together."
+
+"I should be glad enough, dearest," he answered. "I have had plenty of
+this wildgoose chase, which I was so mad as to be led into by the love
+of wealth. Indeed, I am beginning to believe that if it goes on much
+longer I shall leave my bones here."
+
+"And if such a dreadful thing as that were to happen, what would become
+of me, alone with Jacob Meyer?" she asked quietly. "I might even be
+driven to the same fate as that poor girl two hundred years ago," and
+she pointed to the cone of rock behind her.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, don't talk like that!" he broke in.
+
+"Why not? One must face things, and it would be better than Jacob Meyer;
+for who would protect me here?"
+
+Mr. Clifford walked up and down for a few minutes, while his daughter
+watched him anxiously.
+
+"I can see no plan," he said, stopping opposite her. "We cannot take the
+waggon even if there are enough oxen left to draw it, for it is his
+as much as mine, and I am sure that he will never leave this treasure
+unless he is driven away."
+
+"And I am sure I hope that he will not. But, father, the horses are our
+own; it was his that died, you remember. We can ride away on them."
+
+He stared at her and answered:
+
+"Yes, we could ride away to our deaths. Suppose they got sick or lame;
+suppose we meet the Matabele, or could find no game to shoot; suppose
+one of us fell ill--oh! and a hundred things. What then?"
+
+"Why, then it is just as well to perish in the wilderness as here, where
+our risks are almost as great. We must take our chance, and trust
+to God. Perhaps He will be merciful and help us. Listen now, father.
+To-morrow is Sunday, when you and I do no work that we can help. Mr.
+Meyer is a Jew, and he won't waste Sunday. Well now, I will say that I
+want to go down to the outer wall to fetch some clothes which I left
+in the waggon, and to take others for the native women to wash, and
+of course you will come with me. Perhaps he will be deceived, and stay
+behind, especially as he has been there to-day. Then we can get the
+horses and guns and ammunition, and anything else that we can carry in
+the way of food, and persuade the old Molimo to open the gate for us.
+You know, the little side gate that cannot be seen from up here, and
+before Mr. Meyer misses us and comes to look, we shall be twenty miles
+away, and--horses can't be overtaken by a man on foot."
+
+"He will say that we have deserted him, and that will be true."
+
+"You can leave a letter with the Molimo explaining that it was my fault,
+that I was getting ill and thought that I should die, and that you knew
+it would not be fair to ask him to come, and so to lose the treasure,
+to every halfpenny of which he is welcome when it is found. Oh! father,
+don't hesitate any longer; say that you will take me away from Mr.
+Meyer."
+
+"So be it then," answered Mr. Clifford, and as he spoke, hearing a
+sound, they looked up and saw Jacob approaching them.
+
+Luckily he was so occupied with his own thoughts that he never noted the
+guilty air upon their faces, and they had time to compose themselves a
+little. But even thus his suspicions were aroused.
+
+"What are you talking of so earnestly?" he asked.
+
+"We were wondering how you were getting on with the Makalanga," answered
+Benita, fibbing boldly, "and whether you would persuade them to face the
+ghosts. Did you?"
+
+"Not I," he answered with a scowl. "Those ghosts are our worst enemies
+in this place; the cowards swore that they would rather die. I should
+have liked to take some of them at their word and make ghosts of
+them; but I remembered the situation and didn't. Don't be afraid, Miss
+Clifford, I never even lost my temper, outwardly at any rate. Well,
+there it is; if they won't help us, we must work the harder. I've got a
+new plan, and we'll begin on it to-morrow."
+
+"Not to-morrow, Mr. Meyer," replied Benita with a smile. "It is Sunday,
+and we rest on Sunday, you know."
+
+"Oh! I forgot. The Makalanga with their ghosts and you with your
+Sunday--really I do not know which is the worse. Well, then, I must do
+my own share and yours too, I suppose," and he turned with a shrug of
+his shoulders.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE FLIGHT
+
+The next morning, Sunday, Meyer went to work on his new plan. What it
+was Benita did not trouble to inquire, but she gathered that it had
+something to do with the measuring out of the chapel cave into squares
+for the more systematic investigation of each area. At twelve o'clock he
+emerged for his midday meal, in the course of which he remarked that it
+was very dreary working in that place alone, and that he would be glad
+when it was Monday, and they could accompany him. His words evidently
+disturbed Mr. Clifford not a little, and even excited some compunction
+in the breast of Benita.
+
+What would his feelings be, she wondered, when he found that they
+had run away, leaving him to deal with their joint undertaking
+single-handed! Almost was she minded to tell him the whole truth;
+yet--and this was a curious evidence of the man's ascendancy over
+her--she did not. Perhaps she felt that to do so would be to put an end
+to their scheme, since then by argument, blandishments, threats, force,
+or appeal to their sense of loyalty, it mattered not which, he would
+bring about its abandonment. But she wanted to fulfil that scheme, to
+be free of Bambatse, its immemorial ruins, its graveyard cave, and
+the ghoul, Jacob Meyer, who could delve among dead bones and in living
+hearts with equal skill and insight, and yet was unable to find the
+treasure that lay beneath either of them.
+
+So they hid the truth, and talked with feverish activity about other
+things, such as the drilling of the Makalanga, and the chances of an
+attack by the Matabele, which happily now seemed to be growing small;
+also of the conditions of their cattle, and the prospect of obtaining
+more to replace those that had died. Indeed, Benita went farther; in her
+new-found zeal of deception she proceeded to act a lie, yes, even with
+her father's reproachful eyes fixed upon her. Incidentally she mentioned
+that they were going to have an outing, to climb down the ladder and
+visit the Makalanga camp between the first and second walls and mix with
+the great world for a few hours; also to carry their washing to be done
+there, and bring up some clean clothes and certain books which she had
+left below.
+
+Jacob came out of his thoughts and calculations, and listened gloomily.
+
+"I have half a mind to come with you," he said, words at which Benita
+shivered. "It certainly is most cursed lonesome in that cave, and I seem
+to hear things in it, as though those old bones were rattling, sounds
+like sighs and whispers too, which are made by the draught."
+
+"Well, why don't you?" asked Benita.
+
+It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded. If he had any doubts they
+vanished, and he answered at once:
+
+"Because I have not the time. We have to get this business finished one
+way or another before the wet season comes on, and we are drowned out of
+the place with rain, or rotted by fever. Take your afternoon out, Miss
+Clifford; every maid of all work is entitled to as much, and I am afraid
+that is your billet here. Only," he added, with that care for her safety
+which he always showed in his more temperate moods, "pray be careful,
+Clifford, to get back before sundown. That wall is too risky for your
+daughter to climb in the dusk. Call me from the foot of it; you have the
+whistle, and I will come down to help her up. I think I'll go with you
+after all. No, I won't. I made myself so unpleasant to them yesterday
+that those Makalanga can't wish to see any more of me at present. I hope
+you will have a more agreeable afternoon than I shall. Why don't you
+take a ride outside the wall? Your horses are fat and want exercise, and
+I do not think that you need be afraid of the Matabele." Then without
+waiting for an answer, he rose and left them.
+
+Mr. Clifford looked after him doubtfully.
+
+"Oh, I know," said Benita, "it seems horribly mean, but one must do
+shabby things sometimes. Here are the bundles all ready, so let us be
+off."
+
+Accordingly they went, and from the top of the wall Benita glanced back
+to bid goodbye to that place which she hoped never to see again. Yet she
+could not feel as though she looked her last upon it; to her it wore
+no air of farewell, and even as she descended the perilous stairs, she
+found herself making mental notes as to how they might best be climbed
+again. Also, she could not believe that she had done with Mr. Meyer. It
+seemed to her as though for a long while yet her future would be full of
+him.
+
+They reached the outer fortifications in safety, and there were greeted
+with some surprise but with no displeasure by the Makalanga, whom they
+found still drilling with the rifles, in the use of which a certain
+number of them appeared to have become fairly proficient. Going to
+the hut in which the spare goods from the waggon had been stored, they
+quickly made their preparations. Here also, Mr. Clifford wrote a letter,
+one of the most unpleasant that he had ever been called upon to compose.
+It ran thus:
+
+"Dear Meyer,
+
+"I don't know what you will think of us, but we are escaping from this
+place. The truth is that I am not well, and my daughter can bear it no
+longer. She says that if she stops here, she will die, and that hunting
+for treasure in that ghastly grave-yard is shattering her nerves. I
+should have liked to tell you, but she begged me not, being convinced
+that if I did, you would over-persuade us or stop us in some way. As for
+the gold, if you can find it, take it all. I renounce my share. We are
+leaving you the waggon and the oxen, and starting down country on our
+horses. It is a perilous business, but less so than staying here, under
+the circumstances. If we never meet again we hope that you will forgive
+us, and wish you all good fortune.--Yours sincerely and with much
+regret,
+
+"T. Clifford."
+
+
+The letter written, they saddled the horses which had been brought up
+for their inspection, and were found to be in good case, and fastened
+their scanty belongings, and as many cartridges as they could carry in
+packs behind their saddles. Then, each of them armed with a rifle--for
+during their long journeyings Benita had learned to shoot--they mounted
+and made for the little side-entrance, as the main gate through which
+they had passed on their arrival was now built up. This side-entrance, a
+mere slit in the great wall, with a precipitous approach, was open, for
+now that their fear of the Matabele had to some extent passed off, the
+Makalanga used it to drive their sheep and goats in and out, since it
+was so constructed with several twists and turns in the thickness of the
+wall, that in a few minutes it could be effectually blocked by stones
+that lay at hand. Also, the ancient architect had arranged it in such
+a fashion that it was entirely commanded from the crest of the wall on
+either side.
+
+The Makalanga, who had been watching their proceedings curiously, made
+no attempt to stop them, although they guessed that they might have a
+little trouble with the sentries who guarded the entrances all day, and
+even when it was closed at night, with whom also Mr. Clifford proposed
+to leave the letter. When they reached the place, however, and had
+dismounted to lead the horses down the winding passage and the steep
+ascent upon its further side, it was to find that the only guard visible
+proved to be the old Molimo himself, who sat there, apparently half
+asleep.
+
+But as they came he showed himself to be very much awake, for without
+moving he asked them at once whither they were going.
+
+"To take a ride," answered Mr. Clifford. "The lady, my daughter, is
+weary of being cooped up in this fortress, and wishes to breathe the air
+without. Let us pass, friend, or we shall not be back by sunset."
+
+"If you be coming back at sunset, white man, why do you carry so
+many things upon your packs, and why are your saddle-bags filled with
+cartridges?" he asked. "Surely you do not speak the truth to me, and you
+hope that never more will you see the sun set upon Bambatse."
+
+Now understanding that it was hopeless to deceive him, Benita exclaimed
+boldly:
+
+"It is so; but oh! my Father, stay us not, for fear is behind us, and
+therefore we fly hence."
+
+"And is there no fear before you, maiden? Fear of the wilderness, where
+none wander save perchance the Amandabele with their bloody spears; fear
+of wild beasts and of sickness that may overtake you so that, first one
+and then the other, you perish there?"
+
+"There is plenty, my Father, but none of them so bad as the fear behind.
+Yonder place is haunted, and we give up our search and would dwell there
+no more."
+
+"It is haunted truly, maiden, but its spirits will not harm you whom
+they welcome as one appointed, and we are ever ready to protect you
+because of their command that has come to me in dreams. Nor, indeed, is
+it the spirits whom you fear, but rather the white man, your companion,
+who would bend you to his will. Deny it not, for I have seen it all."
+
+"Then knowing the truth, surely you will let us go," she pleaded, "for I
+swear to you that I dare not stay."
+
+"Who am I that I should forbid you?" he asked. "Yet I tell you that you
+would do well to stay and save yourselves much terror. Maiden, have
+I not said it days and day ago, that here and here only you must
+accomplish your fate? Go now if you will, but you shall return again,"
+and once more he seemed to begin to doze in the sun.
+
+The two of them consulted hastily together.
+
+"It is no use turning back now," said Benita, who was almost weeping
+with doubt and vexation. "I will not be frightened by his vague talk.
+What can he know of the future more than any of the rest of us? Besides,
+all he says is that we shall come back again, and if that does happen,
+at least we shall have been free for a little while. Come, father."
+
+"As you wish," answered Mr. Clifford, who seemed too miserable and
+depressed to argue. Only he threw down the letter upon the Molimo's lap,
+and begged him to give it to Meyer when he came to look for them.
+
+The old man took no notice; no, not even when Benita bade him farewell
+and thanked him for his kindness, praying that all good fortune might
+attend him and his tribe, did he answer a single word or even look
+up. So they led their horses down the narrow passage where there was
+scarcely room for them to pass, and up the steep path beyond. On
+the further side of the ancient ditch they remounted them while the
+Makalanga watched them from the walls, and cantered away along the same
+road by which they had come.
+
+Now this road, or rather track, ran first through the gardens and then
+among the countless ruined houses that in bygone ages formed the great
+city whereof the mount Bambatse had been the citadel and sanctuary.
+The relics of a lost civilization extended for several miles, and were
+bounded by a steep and narrow neck or pass in the encircling hills, the
+same that Robert Seymour and his brother had found too difficult for
+their waggon at the season in which they visited the place some years
+before. This pass, or port as it is called in South Africa, had been
+strongly fortified, for on either side of it were the ruins of towers.
+Moreover, at its crest it was so narrow and steep-sided that a few men
+posted there, even if they were armed only with bows and arrows, could
+hold an attacking force in check for a considerable time. Beyond it,
+after the hill was descended, a bush-clad plain dotted with kopjes and
+isolated granite pillars formed of boulders piled one upon another,
+rolled away for many miles.
+
+Mr. Clifford and Benita had started upon their mad journey about three
+o'clock in the afternoon, and when the sun began to set they found
+themselves upon this plain fifteen or sixteen miles from Bambatse, of
+which they had long lost sight, for it lay beyond the intervening hills.
+Near to them was a kopje, where they had outspanned by a spring of water
+when on their recent journey, and since they did not dare to travel in
+the dark, here they determined to off-saddle, for round this spring was
+good grass for the horses.
+
+As it chanced, they came upon some hartebeeste here which were trekking
+down to drink, but although they would have been glad of meat, they were
+afraid to shoot, fearing lest they should attract attention; nor for the
+same reason did they like to light a fire. So having knee-haltered the
+horses in such fashion that they could not wander far, and turned them
+loose to feed, they sat down under a tree, and made some sort of a meal
+off the biltong and cooked corn which they had brought with them. By the
+time this was finished darkness fell, for there was little moon, so that
+nothing remained to do except to sleep within a circle of a few dead
+thorn-boughs which they had drawn about their camp. This, then, they
+did, and so weary were they both, that notwithstanding all the emotions
+through which they had passed, and their fears lest lions should attack
+them--for of these brutes there were many in this veld--rested soundly
+and undisturbed till within half an hour of dawn.
+
+Rising somewhat chilled, for though the air was warm a heavy dew had
+soaked their blankets, once more they ate and drank by starlight, while
+the horses, which they had tied up close to them during the night,
+filled themselves with grass. At the first break of day they saddled
+them, and before the sun rose were on their road again. At length up
+it came, and the sight and warmth of it put new heart into Benita. Her
+fears seemed to depart with the night, and she said to her father that
+this successful start was of good augury, to which he only answered that
+he hoped so.
+
+All that day they rode forward in beautiful weather, not pressing their
+horses, for now they were sure that Jacob Meyer, who if he followed at
+all must do so on foot, would never be able to overtake them. At noon
+they halted, and having shot a small buck, Benita cooked some of it in
+the one pot that they had brought with them, and they ate a good meal of
+fresh meat.
+
+Riding on again, towards sundown they came to another of their old
+camping-places, also a bush-covered kopje. Here the spring of water
+was more than halfway up the hill, so there they off-saddled in a green
+bower of a place that because of its ferns and mosses looked like a rock
+garden. Now, although they had enough cold meat for food, they thought
+themselves quite safe in lighting a fire. Indeed, this it seemed
+necessary to do, since they had struck the fresh spoor of lions, and
+even caught sight of one galloping away in the tall reeds on the marshy
+land at the foot of the hill.
+
+That evening they fared sumptuously upon venison, and as on the previous
+day lay down to rest in a little "boma" or fence made of boughs. But
+they were not allowed to sleep well this night, for scarcely had they
+shut their eyes when a hyena began to howl about them. They shouted
+and the brute went away, but an hour or two later, they heard ominous
+grunting sounds, followed presently by a loud roar, which was answered
+by another roar, whereat the horses began to whinny in a frightened
+fashion.
+
+"Lions!" said Mr. Clifford, jumping up and throwing dead wood on the
+fire till it burnt to a bright blaze.
+
+After that all sleep became impossible, for although the lions did not
+attack them, having once winded the horses they would not go away, but
+continued wandering round the kopje, grunting and growling. This went
+on till abut three o'clock in the morning, when at last the beasts took
+their departure, for they heard them roaring in the distance. Now that
+they seemed safe, having first made up the fire, they tried to get some
+rest.
+
+When, as it appeared to her, Benita had been asleep but a little while,
+she was awakened by a new noise. It was still dark, but the starlight
+showed her that the horses were quite quiet; indeed, one of them was
+lying down, and the other eating some green leaves from the branches
+of the tree to which it was tethered. Therefore that noise had not come
+from any wild animal of which they were afraid. She listened intently,
+and presently heard it again; it was a murmur like to that of people
+talking somewhere at the bottom of the hill. Then she woke her father
+and told him, but although once or twice they thought they heard the
+sound of footsteps, nothing else could be distinguished. Still they
+rose, and having saddled and bridled the horses as noiselessly as might
+be, waited for the dawn.
+
+At last it came. Up on the side of the kopje they were in clear air,
+above which shone the red lights of morning, but under them lay billows
+of dense, pearl-hued mist. By degrees this thinned beneath the rays of
+the risen sun, and through it, looking gigantic in that light, Benita
+saw a savage wrapped in a kaross, who was walking up and down and
+yawning, a great spear in his hand.
+
+"Look," she whispered, "look!" and Mr. Clifford stared down the line of
+her outstretched finger.
+
+"The Matabele," he said. "My God! the Matabele!"
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE CHASE
+
+The Matabele it was, sure enough; there could be no doubt of it, for
+soon three other men joined the sentry and began to talk with him,
+pointing with their great spears at the side of the hill. Evidently they
+were arranging a surprise when there was sufficient light to carry it
+out.
+
+"They have seen our fire," whispered her father to Benita; "now, if
+we wish to save our lives, there is only one thing to do--ride for it
+before they muster. The impi will be camped upon the other side of the
+hill, so we must take the road we came by."
+
+"That runs back to Bambatse," faltered Benita.
+
+"Bambatse is better than the grave," said her father. "Pray Heaven that
+we may get there."
+
+To this argument there was no answer, so having drunk a sup of water,
+and swallowing a few mouthfuls of food as they went, they crept to the
+horses, mounted them, and as silently as possible began to ride down the
+hill.
+
+The sentry was alone again, the other three men having departed. He
+stood with his back towards them. Presently when they were quite close
+on to him, he heard their horses' hoofs upon the grass, wheeled round at
+the sound, and saw them. Then with a great shout he lifted his spear and
+charged.
+
+Mr. Clifford, who was leading, held out his rifle at arm's length--to
+raise it to his shoulder he had no time--and pulled the trigger. Benita
+heard the bullet clap upon the hide shield, and next instant saw the
+Matabele warrior lying on his back, beating the air with his hands and
+feet. Also, she saw beyond the shoulder of the kopje, which they were
+rounding, hundreds of men marching, and behind them a herd of cattle,
+the dim light gleaming upon the stabbing spears and on the horns of the
+oxen. She glanced to the right, and there were more men. The two wings
+of the impi were closing upon them. Only a little lane was left in the
+middle. They must get through before it shut.
+
+"Come," she gasped, striking the horse with her heel and the butt of her
+gun, and jerking at its mouth.
+
+Her father saw also, and did likewise, so that the beasts broke into a
+gallop. Now from the point of each wing sprang out thin lines of men,
+looking like great horns, or nippers, whose business it was to meet and
+cut them off. Could they pass between them before they did meet? That
+was the question, and upon its answer it depended whether or no they had
+another three minutes to live. To think of mercy at the hands of these
+bloodthirsty brutes, after they had just killed one of their number
+before their eyes, was absurd. It was true he had been shot in
+self-defence; but what count would savages take of that, or of the
+fact that they were but harmless travellers? White people were not very
+popular with the Matabele just then, as they knew well; also, their
+murder in this remote place, with not another of their race within a
+couple of hundred miles, would never even be reported, and much less
+avenged. It was as safe as any crime could possibly be.
+
+All this passed through their minds as they galloped towards those
+closing points. Oh! the horror of it! But two hundred yards to cover,
+and their fate would be decided. Either they would have escaped at least
+for a while, or time would be done with them; or, a third alternative,
+they might be taken prisoners, in all probability a yet more dreadful
+doom. Even then Benita determined that if she could help it this should
+not befall her. She had the rifle and the revolver that Jacob Meyer had
+given her. Surely she would be able to find a moment to use one or the
+other upon herself. She clenched her teeth, and struck the horse again
+and again, so that now they flew along. The Matabele soldiers were
+running their best to catch them, and if these had been given but
+five seconds of start, caught they must have been. But that short five
+seconds saved their lives.
+
+When they rushed through them the foremost men of the nippers were not
+more than twenty yards apart. Seeing that they had passed, these halted
+and hurled a shower of spears after them. One flashed by Benita's cheek,
+a line of light; she felt the wind of it. Another cut her dress, and
+a third struck her father's horse in the near hind leg just above the
+knee-joint, remaining fast there for a stride or two, and then falling
+to the ground. At first the beast did not seem to be incommoded by this
+wound; indeed, it only caused it to gallop quicker, and Benita rejoiced,
+thinking that it was but a scratch. Then she forgot about it, for some
+of the Matabele, who had guns, began to shoot them, and although their
+marksmanship was vile, one or two of the bullets went nearer than was
+pleasant. Lastly a man, the swiftest runner of them all, shouted after
+them in Zulu:
+
+"The horse is wounded. We will catch you both before the sun sets."
+
+Then they passed over the crest of a rise and lost sight of them for a
+while.
+
+"Thank God!" gasped Benita when they were alone again in the silent
+veld; but Mr. Clifford shook his head.
+
+"Do you think they will follow us?" she asked.
+
+"You heard what the fellow said," he answered evasively. "Doubtless they
+are on their way to attack Bambatse, and have been round to destroy some
+other wretched tribe, and steal the cattle which we saw. Yes, I fear
+that they will follow. The question is, which of us can get to Bambatse
+first."
+
+"Surely we ought to on the horses, father."
+
+"Yes, if nothing happens to them," and as he spoke the words the mare
+which he was riding dropped sharply upon her hind leg, the same that had
+been struck with the spear; then recovered herself and galloped on.
+
+"Did you see that?" he asked.
+
+She nodded; then said:
+
+"Shall we get off and look at the cut?"
+
+"Certainly not," he answered. "Our only chance is to keep her moving;
+if once the wound stiffens, there's an end. The sinew cannot have been
+severed, or it would have come before now."
+
+So they pushed on.
+
+All that morning did they canter forward wherever the ground was smooth
+enough to allow them to do so, and notwithstanding the increasing
+lameness of Mr. Clifford's mare, made such good progress that by midday
+they reached the place where they had passed the first night after
+leaving Bambatse. Here sheer fatigue and want of water forced them to
+stop a little while. They dismounted and drank greedily from the
+spring, after which they allowed the horses to drink also; indeed it was
+impossible to keep them away from the water. Then they ate a little, not
+because they desired food, but to keep up their strength, and while
+they did so examined the mare. By now her hind leg was much swollen, and
+blood still ran from the gash made by the assegai. Moreover, the limb
+was drawn up so that the point of the hoof only rested on the ground.
+
+"We must get on before it sets fast," said Mr. Clifford, and they
+mounted again.
+
+Great heavens! what was this? The mare would not stir. In his despair
+Mr. Clifford beat it cruelly, whereupon the poor brute hobbled forward
+a few paces on three legs, and again came to a standstill. Either an
+injured sinew had given or the inflammation was now so intense that it
+could not bend its knee. Understanding what this meant to them, Benita's
+nerve gave out at last, and she burst into weeping.
+
+"Don't cry, love," he said. "God's will be done. Perhaps they have given
+up the hunt by now; at any rate, my legs are left, and Bambatse is
+not more than sixteen miles away. Forward now," and holding to her
+saddle-strap they went up the long, long slope which led to the poort in
+the hills around Bambatse.
+
+They would have liked to shoot the mare, but being afraid to fire a
+rifle, could not do so. So they left the unhappy beast to its fate, and
+with it everything it carried, except a few of the cartridges. Before
+they went, however, at Benita's prayer, her father devoted a few seconds
+to unbuckling the girths and pulling off the bridle, so that it might
+have a chance of life. For a little way it hobbled after them on three
+legs, then, the saddle still upon its back, stood whinnying piteously,
+till at last, to Benita's intense relief, a turn in their path hid it
+from their sight.
+
+Half a mile further on she looked round in the faint hope that it
+might have recovered itself and followed. But no mare was to be seen.
+Something else was to be seen, however, for there, three or four miles
+away upon the plain behind them, easy to be distinguished in that
+dazzling air, were a number of black spots that occasionally seemed to
+sparkle.
+
+"What are they?" she asked faintly, as one who feared the answer.
+
+"The Matabele who follow us," answered her father, "or rather a company
+of their swiftest runners. It is their spears that glitter so. Now,
+my love, this is the position," he went on, as they struggled forward:
+"those men will catch us before ever we can get to Bambatse; they are
+trained to run like that, for fifty miles, if need be. But with this
+start they cannot catch your horse, you must go on and leave me to look
+after myself."
+
+"Never, never!" she exclaimed.
+
+"But you shall, and you must. I am your father and I order you. As for
+me, what does it matter? I may hide from them and escape, or--at least I
+am old, my life is done, whereas yours is before you. Now, good-bye, and
+go on," and he let go of the saddle-strap.
+
+By way of answer Benita pulled up the horse.
+
+"Not one yard," she said, setting her mouth.
+
+Then he began to storm at her, calling her disobedient, and undutiful,
+and when this means failed to move her, to implore her almost with
+tears.
+
+"Father, dear," she said, leaning down towards him as he walked, for
+now they were going on again, "I told you why I wanted to run away from
+Bambatse, didn't I?--because I would rather risk my life than stay.
+Well, do you think that I wish to return there and live in that place
+alone with Jacob Meyer? Also, I will tell you another thing. You
+remember about Mr. Seymour? Well, I can't get over that; I can't get
+over it at all, and therefore, although of course I am afraid, it is all
+one to me. No, we will escape together, or die together; the first if we
+can."
+
+Then with a groan he gave up the argument, and as he found breath they
+discussed their chances. Their first idea was to hide, but save for a
+few trees all the country was open; there was no place to cover them.
+They thought of the banks of the Zambesi, but between them and the river
+rose a bare, rock-strewn hill with several miles of slope. Long before
+they could reach its crest, even if a horse were able to travel there,
+they must be overtaken. In short, there was nothing to do except to push
+for the nek, and if they were fortunate enough to reach it before the
+Matabele, to abandon the horse there and try to conceal themselves among
+the ruins of the houses beyond. This, perhaps, they might do when once
+the sun was down.
+
+But they did not deceive themselves; the chances were at least fifty to
+one against them, unless indeed their pursuers grew weary and let them
+go.
+
+At present, however, they were by no means weary, for having perceived
+them from far away, the long-legged runners put on the pace, and the
+distance between them and their quarry was lessening.
+
+"Father," said Benita, "please understand one thing. I do not mean to be
+taken alive by those savages."
+
+"Oh! how can I----" he faltered.
+
+"I don't ask you," she answered. "I will see to that myself. Only, if I
+should make any mistake----" and she looked at him.
+
+The old man was getting very tired. He panted up the steep hillside,
+and stumbled against the stones. Benita noted it, and slipping from the
+horse, made him mount while she ran alongside. Then when he was a
+little rested they changed places again, and so covered several miles
+of country. Subsequently, when both of them were nearly exhausted, they
+tried riding together--she in front and he behind, for their baggage had
+long since been thrown away. But the weary beast could not carry this
+double burden, and after a few hundred yards of it, stumbled, fell,
+struggled to its feet again, and stopped.
+
+So once more they were obliged to ride and walk alternately.
+
+Now there was not much more than an hour of daylight left, and the
+narrow pass lay about three miles ahead of them. That dreadful three
+miles; ever thereafter it was Benita's favourite nightmare! At the
+beginning of it the leading Matabele were about two thousand yards
+behind them; half-way, about a thousand; and at the commencement of the
+last mile, say five hundred.
+
+Nature is a wonderful thing, and great are its resources in extremity.
+As the actual crisis approached, the weariness of these two seemed to
+depart, or at any rate it was forgotten. They no longer felt exhausted,
+nor, had they been fresh from their beds, could they have climbed or run
+better. Even the horse seemed to find new energy, and when it lagged
+Mr. Clifford dug the point of his hunting knife into its flank. Gasping,
+panting, now one mounted and now the other, they struggled on towards
+that crest of rock, while behind them came death in the shape of those
+sleuth-hounds of Matabele. The sun was going down, and against its
+flaming ball, when they glanced back they could see their dark forms
+outlined; the broad spears also looked red as though they had been
+dipped in blood. They could even hear their taunting shouts as they
+called to them to sit down and be killed, and save trouble.
+
+Now they were not three hundred yards away, and the crest of the pass
+was still half a mile ahead. Five minutes passed, and here, where the
+track was very rough, the horse blundered upwards slowly. Mr. Clifford
+was riding at the time, and Benita running at his side, holding to the
+stirrup leather. She looked behind her. The savages, fearing that their
+victims might find shelter over the hill, were making a rush, and
+the horse could go no faster. One man, a great tall fellow, quite
+out-distanced his companions. Two minutes more and he was not over a
+hundred paces from them, a little nearer than they were to the top of
+the pass. Then the horse stopped and refused to stir any more.
+
+Mr. Clifford jumped from the saddle, and Benita, who could not speak,
+pointed to the pursuing Matabele. He sat down upon a rock, cocked his
+rifle, took a deep breath, and aimed and fired at the soldier who was
+coming on carelessly in the open. Mr. Clifford was a good shot, and
+shaken though he was, at this supreme moment his skill did not fail
+him. The man was struck somewhere, for he staggered about and fell;
+then slowly picked himself up, and began to hobble back towards his
+companions, who, when they met him, stopped a minute to give him some
+kind of assistance.
+
+That halt proved their salvation, for it gave them time to make one last
+despairing rush, and gain the brow of the poort. Not that this would
+have saved them, however, since where they could go the Matabele could
+follow, and there was still light by which the pursuers would have been
+able to see to catch them. Indeed, the savages, having laid down the
+wounded man, came on with a yell of rage, fifty or more of them.
+
+Over the pass father and daughter struggled, Benita riding; after them,
+perhaps sixty yards away, ran the Matabele, gathered in a knot now upon
+the narrow, ancient road, bordered by steep hillsides.
+
+Then suddenly from all about them, as it appeared to Benita, broke
+out the blaze and roar of rifles, rapid and continuous. Down went the
+Matabele by twos and threes, till at last it seemed as though but quite
+a few of them were left upon their feet, and those came on no more;
+they turned and fled from the neck of the narrow pass to the open slope
+beyond.
+
+Benita sank to the ground, and the next thing that she could remember
+was hearing the soft voice of Jacob Meyer, who said:
+
+"So you have returned from your ride, Miss Clifford, and perhaps it was
+as well that the thought came from you to me that you wished me to meet
+you here in this very place."
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+BACK AT BAMBATSE
+
+How they reached Bambatse Benita never could remember, but afterwards
+she was told that both she and her father were carried upon litters made
+of ox-hide shields. When she came to her own mind again, it was to find
+herself lying in her tent outside the mouth of the cave within the
+third enclosure of the temple-fortress. Her feet were sore and her bones
+ached, physical discomforts that brought back to her in a flash all the
+terrors through which she had passed.
+
+Again she saw the fierce pursuing Matabele; again heard their cruel
+shouts and the answering crack of the rifles; again, amidst the din and
+the gathering darkness, distinguished the gentle, foreign voice of Meyer
+speaking his words of sarcastic greeting. Next oblivion fell upon her,
+and after it a dim memory of being helped up the hill with the sun
+pouring on her back and assisted to climb the steep steps of the wall by
+means of a rope placed around her. Then forgetfulness again.
+
+The flap of her tent was drawn aside and she shrank back upon her bed,
+shutting her eyes for fear lest they should fall upon the face of Jacob
+Meyer. Feeling that it was not he, or learning it perhaps from the
+footfall, she opened them a little, peeping at her visitor from between
+her long lashes. He proved to be--not Jacob or her father, but the old
+Molimo, who stood beside her holding in his hand a gourd filled with
+goat's milk. Then she sat up and smiled at him, for Benita had grown
+very fond of this ancient man, who was so unlike anyone that she had
+ever met.
+
+"Greeting, Lady," he said softly, smiling back at her with his lips and
+dreamy eyes, for his old face did not seem to move beneath its thousand
+wrinkles. "I bring you milk. Drink; it is fresh and you need food."
+
+So she took the gourd and drank to the last drop, for it seemed to her
+that she had never tasted anything so delicious.
+
+"Good, good," murmured the Molimo; "now you will be well again."
+
+"Yes, I shall get well," she answered; "but oh! what of my father?"
+
+"Fear not; he is still sick, but he will recover also. You shall see him
+soon."
+
+"I have drunk all the milk," she broke out; "there is none left for
+him."
+
+"Plenty, plenty," he answered, waving his thin hand. "There are two cups
+full--one for each. We have not many she-goats down below, but the best
+of their milk is saved for you."
+
+"Tell me all that has happened, Father," and the old priest, who liked
+her to call him by that name, smiled again with his eyes, and squatted
+down in the corner of the tent.
+
+"You went away, you remember that you would go, although I told you
+that you must come back. You refused my wisdom and you went, and I have
+learned all that befell you and how you two escaped the impi. Well, that
+night after sunset, when you did not return, came the Black One--yes,
+yes, I mean Meyer, whom we name so because of his beard, and," he added
+deliberately, "his heart. He came running down the hill asking for you,
+and I gave him the letter.
+
+"He read it, and oh! then he went mad. He cursed in his own tongue; he
+threw himself about; he took a rifle and wished to shoot me, but I sat
+silent and looked at him till he grew quiet. Then he asked why I had
+played him this trick, but I answered that it was no trick of mine who
+had no right to keep you and your father prisoners against your will,
+and that I thought you had gone away because you were afraid of him,
+which was not wonderful if that was how he talked to you. I told him,
+too, I who am a doctor, that unless he was careful he would go mad; that
+already I saw madness in his eye; after which he became quiet, for my
+words frightened him. Then he asked what could be done, and I said--that
+night, nothing, since you must be far away, so that it would be useless
+to follow you, but better to go to meet you when you came back. He asked
+what I meant by your coming back, and I answered that I meant what I
+said, that you would come back in great haste and peril--although you
+would not believe me when I told you so--for I had it from the Munwali
+whose child you are.
+
+"So I sent out my spies, and that night went by, and the next day and
+night went by, and we sat still and did nothing, though the Black One
+wished to wander out alone after you. But on the following morning, at
+the dawn, a messenger came in who reported that it had been called to
+him by his brethren who were hidden upon hilltops and in other places
+for miles and miles, that the Matabele impi, having destroyed another
+family of the Makalanga far down the Zambesi, was advancing to destroy
+us also. And in the afternoon came a second spy, who reported that you
+two had been surrounded by the impi, but had broken through them, and
+were riding hitherward for your lives. Then I took fifty of the best
+of our people and put them under the command of Tamas, my son, and sent
+them to ambush the pass, for against the Matabele warriors on the plain
+we, who are not warlike, do not dare to fight.
+
+"The Black One went with them, and when he saw how sore was your strait,
+wished to run down to meet the Matabele, for he is a brave man. But I
+had said to Tamas--'No, do not try to fight them in the open, for there
+they will certainly kill you.' Moreover, Lady, I was sure that you would
+reach the top of the poort. Well, you reached it, though but by the
+breadth of a blade of grass, and my children shot with the new rifles,
+and the place being narrow so that they could not miss, killed many of
+those hyenas of Amandabele. But to kill Matabele is like catching fleas
+on a dog's back: there are always more. Still it served its turn, you
+and your father were brought away safely, and we lost no one."
+
+"Where, then, are the Matabele now?" asked Benita.
+
+"Outside our walls, a whole regiment of them: three thousand men or
+more, under the command of the Captain Maduna, he of the royal blood,
+whose life you begged, but who nevertheless hunted you like a buck."
+
+"Perhaps he did not know who it was," suggested Benita.
+
+"Perhaps not," the Molimo answered, rubbing his chin, "for in such
+matters even a Matabele generally keeps faith, and you may remember he
+promised you life for life. However, they are here ravening like lions
+round the walls, and that is why we carried you up to the top of the
+hill, that you might be safe from them."
+
+"But are you safe, my Father?"
+
+"I think so," he replied with a dry little chuckle in his throat.
+"Whoever built this fortress built it strong, and we have blocked the
+gates. Also, they caught no one outside; all are within the walls,
+together with the sheep and goats. Lastly, we have sent most of the
+women and children across the Zambesi in canoes, to hide in places we
+know of whither the Amandabele cannot follow, for they dare not swim
+a river. Therefore, for those of us that remain we have food for three
+months, and before then the rains will drive the impi out."
+
+"Why did you not all go across the river, Father?"
+
+"For two reasons, Lady. The first is, that if we once abandoned our
+stronghold, which we have held from the beginning, Lobengula would take
+it, and keep it, so that we could never re-enter into our heritage,
+which would be a shame to us and bring down the vengeance of the
+spirits of our ancestors upon our heads. The second is, that as you have
+returned to us we stay to protect you."
+
+"You are very good to me," murmured Benita.
+
+"Nay, nay, we brought you here, and we do what I am told to do from
+Above. Trouble may still come upon you; yes, I think that it will come,
+but once more I pray you, have no fear, for out of this evil root shall
+spring a flower of joy," and he rose to go.
+
+"Stay," said Benita. "Has the chief Meyer found the gold?"
+
+"No; he has found nothing; but he hunts and hunts like a hungry jackal
+digging for a bone. But that bone is not for him; it is for you, Lady,
+you and you only. Oh! I know, you do not seek, still you shall find.
+Only the next time that you want help, do not run away into the
+wilderness. Hear the word of Munwali given by his mouth, the Molimo of
+Bambatse!" And as he spoke, the old priest backed himself out of the
+tent, stopping now and again to bow to Benita.
+
+A few minutes later her father entered, looking very weak and shaken,
+and supporting himself upon a stick. Happy was the greeting of these
+two who, with their arms about each other's neck, gave thanks for their
+escape from great peril.
+
+"You see, Benita, we can't get away from this place," Mr. Clifford said
+presently. "We must find that gold."
+
+"Bother the gold," she answered with energy; "I hate its very name. Who
+can think of gold with three thousand Matabele waiting to kill us?"
+
+"Somehow I don't feel afraid of them any more," said her father; "they
+have had their chance and lost it, and the Makalanga swear that now they
+have guns to command the gates, the fortress cannot be stormed. Still, I
+am afraid of someone."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Jacob Mayer. I have seen him several times, and I think that he is
+going mad."
+
+"The Molimo said that too, but why?"
+
+"From the look of him. He sits about muttering and glowing with those
+dark eyes of his, and sometimes groans, and sometimes bursts into shouts
+of laughter. That is when the fit is on him, for generally he seems
+right enough. But get up if you think you can, and you shall judge for
+yourself."
+
+"I don't want to," said Benita feebly. "Father, I am more afraid of him
+now than ever. Oh! why did you not let me stop down below, among the
+Makalanga, instead of carrying me up here again, where we must live
+alone with that terrible Jew?"
+
+"I wished to, dear, but the Molimo said we should be safer above, and
+ordered his people to carry you up. Also, Jacob swore that unless you
+were brought back he would kill me. Now you understand why I believe
+that he is mad."
+
+"Why, why?" gasped Benita again.
+
+"God knows," he answered with a groan; "but I think that he is sure that
+we shall never find the gold without you, since the Molimo has told him
+that it is for you and you alone, and he says the old man has second
+sight, or something of the sort. Well, he would have murdered me--I saw
+it in his eye--so I thought it better to give in rather than that you
+should be left here sick and alone. Of course there was one way----" and
+he paused.
+
+She looked at him and asked:
+
+"What way?"
+
+"To shoot him before he shot me," he answered in a whisper, "for your
+sake, dear--but I could not bring myself to do it."
+
+"No," she said with a shudder, "not that--not that. Better that we
+should die than that his blood should be upon our hands. Now I will get
+up and try to show no fear. I am sure that is best, and perhaps we shall
+be able to escape somehow. Meanwhile, let us humour him, and pretend to
+go on looking for this horrible treasure."
+
+So Benita rose to discover that, save for her stiffness, she was but
+little the worse, and finding all things placed in readiness, set to
+work with her father's help to cook the evening meal as usual. Of Meyer,
+who doubtless had placed things in readiness, she saw nothing.
+
+Before nightfall he came, however, as she knew he would. Indeed,
+although she heard no step and her back was towards him, she felt his
+presence; the sense of it fell upon her like a cold shadow. Turning
+round she beheld the man. He was standing close by, but above her, upon
+a big granite boulder, in climbing which his soft veld schoons, or hide
+shoes, had made no noise, for Meyer could move like a cat. The last rays
+from the sinking sun struck him full, outlining his agile, nervous shape
+against the sky, and in their intense red light, which flamed upon him,
+he appeared terrible. He looked like a panther about to spring; his eyes
+shone like a panther's, and Benita knew that she was the prey whom he
+desired. Still, remembering her resolution, she determined to show no
+fear, and addressed him:
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. Meyer. Oh! I am so stiff that I cannot lift my neck
+to look at you," and she laughed.
+
+He bounded softly from the rock, like a panther again, and stood in
+front of her.
+
+"You should thank the God you believe in," he said, "that by now you are
+not stiff indeed--all that the jackals have left of you."
+
+"I do, Mr. Meyer, and I thank you, too; it was brave of you to come out
+to save us. Father," she called, "come and tell Mr. Meyer how grateful
+we are to him."
+
+Mr. Clifford hobbled out from his hut under the tree, saying:
+
+"I have told him already, dear."
+
+"Yes," answered Jacob, "you have told me; why repeat yourself? I see
+that supper is ready. Let us eat, for you must be hungry; afterwards I
+have something to tell you."
+
+So they ate, with no great appetite, any of them--indeed Meyer touched
+but little food, though he drank a good deal, first of strong black
+coffee and afterwards of squareface and water. But on Benita he pressed
+the choicest morsels that he could find, eyeing her all the while, and
+saying that she must take plenty of nutriment or her beauty would suffer
+and her strength wane. Benita bethought her of the fairy tales of her
+childhood, in which the ogre fed up the princess whom he purposed to
+devour.
+
+"You should think of your own strength, Mr. Meyer," she said; "you
+cannot live on coffee and squareface."
+
+"It is all I need to-night. I am astonishingly well since you came back.
+I can never remember feeling so well, or so strong. I can do the work
+of three men, and not be tired; all this afternoon, for instance, I have
+been carrying provisions and other things up that steep wall, for we
+must prepare for a long siege together; yet I should never know that
+I had lifted a single basket. But while you were away--ah! then I felt
+tired."
+
+Benita changed the subject, asking him if he had made any discoveries.
+
+"Not yet, but now that you are back the discoveries will soon come. Do
+not be afraid; I have my plan which cannot fail. Also, it was lonely
+working in that cave without you, so I only looked about a little
+outside till it was time to go to meet you, and shoot some of those
+Matabele. Do you know?--I killed seven of them myself. When I was
+shooting for your sake I could not miss," and he smiled at her.
+
+Benita shrank from him visibly, and Mr. Clifford said in an angry voice:
+
+"Don't talk of those horrors before my daughter. It is bad enough to
+have to do such things, without speaking about them afterwards."
+
+"You are right," he replied reflectively; "and I apologise, though
+personally I never enjoyed anything so much as shooting those Matabele.
+Well, they are gone, and there are plenty more outside. Listen! They are
+singing their evening hymn," and with his long finger he beat time to
+the volleying notes of the dreadful Matabele war-chant, which floated up
+from the plain below. "It sounds quite religious, doesn't it? only the
+words--no, I will not translate them. In our circumstances they are too
+personal.
+
+"Now I have something to say to you. It was unkind of you to run away
+and leave me like that, not honourable either. Indeed," he added with a
+sudden outbreak of the panther ferocity, "had you alone been concerned,
+Clifford, I tell you frankly that when we met again, I should have shot
+you. Traitors deserve to be shot, don't they?"
+
+"Please stop talking to my father like that," broke in Benita in a
+stern voice, for her anger had overcome her fear. "Also it is I whom you
+should blame."
+
+"It is a pleasure to obey you," he answered bowing; "I will never
+mention the subject any more. Nor do I blame you--who could?--not Jacob
+Meyer. I quite understand that you found it very dull up here, and
+ladies must be allowed their fancies. Also you have come back; so why
+talk of the matter? But listen: on one point I have made up my mind;
+for your own sake you shall not go away any more until we leave this
+together. When I had finished carrying up the food I made sure of that.
+If you go to look to-morrow morning you will find that no one can come
+up that wall--and, what is more, no one can go down it. Moreover, that I
+may be quite certain, in future I shall sleep near the stair myself."
+
+Benita and her father stared at each other.
+
+"The Molimo has a right to come," she said; "it is his sanctuary."
+
+"Then he must celebrate his worship down below for a little while. The
+old fool pretends to know everything, but he never guessed what I was
+going to do. Besides, we don't want him breaking in upon our privacy, do
+we? He might see the gold when we find it, and rob us of it afterwards."
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE FIRST EXPERIMENT
+
+Again Benita and her father stared at each other blankly, almost with
+despair. They were trapped, cut off from all help; in the power of a
+man who was going mad. Mr. Clifford said nothing. He was old and growing
+feeble; for years, although he did not know it, Meyer had dominated
+him, and never more so than in this hour of stress and bewilderment.
+Moreover, the man had threatened to murder him, and he was afraid, not
+so much for himself as for his daughter. If he were to die now, what
+would happen to her, left alone with Jacob Meyer? The knowledge of his
+own folly, understood too late, filled him with shame. How could he have
+been so wicked as to bring a girl upon such a quest in the company of an
+unprincipled Jew, of whose past he knew nothing except that it was murky
+and dubious? He had committed a great crime, led on by a love of lucre,
+and the weight of it pressed upon his tongue and closed his lips; he
+knew not what to say.
+
+For a little while Benita was silent also; hope died within her. But
+she was a bold-spirited woman, and by degrees her courage re-asserted
+itself. Indignation filled her breast and shone through her dark eyes.
+Suddenly she turned upon Jacob, who sat before them smoking his pipe and
+enjoying their discomfiture.
+
+"How dare you?" she asked in a low, concentrated voice. "How dare you,
+you coward?"
+
+He shrank a little beneath her scorn and anger; then seemed to recover
+and brace himself, as one does who feels that a great struggle is at
+hand, upon the issue of which everything depends.
+
+"Do not be angry with me," he answered. "I cannot bear it. It hurts--ah!
+you don't know how it hurts. Well, I will tell you, and before your
+father, for that is more honourable. I dare--for your sake."
+
+"For my sake? How can it benefit me to be cooped up in this horrible
+place with you? I would rather trust myself with the Makalanga, or
+even," she added with bitter scorn, "even with those bloody-minded
+Matabele."
+
+"You ran away from them very fast a little while ago, Miss Clifford. But
+you do not understand me. When I said for your sake, I meant for my
+own. See, now. You tried to leave me the other day and did not succeed.
+Another time you might succeed, and then--what would happen to me?"
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Meyer," and her eyes added--"I do not care."
+
+"Ah! but I know. Last time it drove me nearly mad; next time I should go
+quite mad."
+
+"Because you believe that through me you will find this treasure of
+which you dream day and night, Mr. Meyer----"
+
+"Yes," he interrupted quickly. "Because I believe that in you I shall
+find the treasure of which I dream day and night, and because that
+treasure has become necessary to my life."
+
+Benita turned quickly towards her father, who was puzzling over the
+words, but before either of them could speak Jacob passed his hand
+across his brow in a bewildered way and said:
+
+"What was I talking of? The treasure, yes, the uncountable treasure of
+pure gold, that lies hid so deep, that is so hard to discover and to
+possess; the useless, buried treasure that would bring such joy and
+glory to us both, if only it could be come at and reckoned out, piece by
+piece, coin by coin, through the long, long years of life."
+
+Again he paused; then went on.
+
+"Well, Miss Clifford, you are quite right; that is why I have dared to
+make you a prisoner, because, as the old Molimo said, the treasure is
+yours and I wish to share it. Now, about this treasure, it seems that it
+can't be found, can it, although I have worked so hard?" and he looked
+at his delicate, scarred hands.
+
+"Quite so, Mr. Meyer, it can't be found, so you had better let us go
+down to the Makalanga."
+
+"But there is a way, Miss Clifford, there is a way. You know where it
+lies, and you can show me."
+
+"If I knew I would show you soon enough, Mr. Meyer, for then you could
+take the stuff and our partnership would be at an end."
+
+"Not until it is divided ounce by ounce and coin by coin. But
+first--first you must show me, as you say you will, and as you can."
+
+"How, Mr. Meyer? I am not a magician."
+
+"Ah! but you are. I will tell you how, having your promise. Listen now,
+both of you. I have studied. I know a great many secret things, and I
+read in your face that you have the gift--let me look in your eyes a
+while, Miss Clifford, and you will go to sleep quite gently, and then
+in your sleep, which shall not harm you at all, you will see where that
+gold lies hidden, and you will tell us."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Benita, bewildered.
+
+"I know what he means," broke in Mr. Clifford. "You mean that you want
+to mesmerize her as you did the Zulu chief."
+
+Benita opened her lips to speak, but Meyer said quickly:
+
+"No, no; hear me first before you refuse. You have the gift, the
+precious gift of clairvoyance, that is so rare."
+
+"How do you know that, Mr. Meyer? I have never been mesmerized in my
+life."
+
+"It does not matter how. I do know it; I have been sure of it from the
+moment when first we met, that night by the kloof. Although, perhaps,
+you felt nothing then, it was that gift of yours working upon a mind in
+tune, my mind, which led me there in time to save you, as it was that
+gift of yours which warned you of the disaster about to happen to the
+ship--oh! I have heard the story from your own lips. Your spirit can
+loose itself from the body: it can see the past and the future; it can
+discover the hidden things."
+
+"I do not believe it," answered Benita; "but at least it shall not be
+loosed by you."
+
+"It shall, it shall," he cried with passion, his eyes blazing on her as
+he spoke. "Oh! I foresaw all this, and that is why I was determined you
+should come with us, so that, should other means fail, we might have
+your power to fall back upon. Well, they have failed; I have been
+patient, I have said nothing, but now there is no other way. Will you be
+so selfish, so cruel, as to deny me, you who can make us all rich in an
+hour, and take no hurt at all, no more than if you had slept awhile?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita. "I refuse to deliver my will into the keeping of
+any living man, and least of all into yours, Mr. Meyer."
+
+He turned to her father with a gesture of despair.
+
+"Cannot you persuade her, Clifford? She is your daughter, she will obey
+you."
+
+"Not in that," said Benita.
+
+"No," answered Mr. Clifford. "I cannot, and I wouldn't if I could. My
+daughter is quite right. Moreover, I hate this supernatural kind of
+thing. If we can't find this gold without it, then we must let it alone,
+that is all."
+
+Meyer turned aside to hide his face, and presently looked up again, and
+spoke quite softly.
+
+"I suppose that I must accept my answer, but when you talked of any
+living man just now, Miss Clifford, did you include your father?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Then will you allow him to try to mesmerize you?"
+
+Benita laughed.
+
+"Oh, yes, if he likes," she said. "But I do not think that the operation
+will be very successful."
+
+"Good, we will see to-morrow. Now, like you, I am tired. I am going to
+bed in my new camp by the wall," he added significantly.
+
+*****
+
+"Why are you so dead set against this business?" asked her father, when
+he had gone.
+
+"Oh, father!" she answered, "can't you see, don't you understand? Then
+it is hard to have to tell you, but I must. In the beginning Mr. Meyer
+only wanted the gold. Now he wants more, me as well as the gold. I hate
+him! You know that is why I ran away. But I have read a good deal about
+this mesmerism, and seen it once or twice, and who knows? If once I
+allow his mind to master my mind, although I hate him so much, I might
+become his slave."
+
+"I understand now," said Mr. Clifford. "Oh, why did I ever bring you
+here? It would have been better if I had never seen your face again."
+
+
+On the morrow the experiment was made. Mr. Clifford attempted to
+mesmerize his daughter. All the morning Jacob, who, it now appeared, had
+practical knowledge of this doubtful art, tried to instruct him therein.
+In the course of the lesson he informed him that for a short period in
+the past, having great natural powers in that direction, he had made use
+of them professionally, only giving up the business because he found
+it wrecked his health. Mr. Clifford remarked that he had never told him
+that before.
+
+"There are lots of things in my life that I have never told you,"
+replied Jacob with a little secret smile. "For instance, once I
+mesmerized you, although you did not know it, and that is why you always
+have to do what I want you to, except when your daughter is near you,
+for her influence is stronger than mine."
+
+Mr. Clifford stared at him.
+
+"No wonder Benita won't let you mesmerize her," he said shortly.
+
+Then Jacob saw his mistake.
+
+"You are more foolish than I thought," he said. "How could I mesmerize
+you without your knowing it? I was only laughing at you."
+
+"I didn't see the laugh," replied Mr. Clifford uneasily, and they went
+on with the lesson.
+
+That afternoon it was put to proof--in the cave itself, where Meyer
+seemed to think that the influences would be propitious. Benita, who
+found some amusement in the performance, was seated upon the stone steps
+underneath the crucifix, one lamp on the altar and others one each side
+of her.
+
+In front stood her father, staring at her and waving his hands
+mysteriously in obedience to Jacob's directions. So ridiculous did he
+look indeed while thus engaged that Benita had the greatest difficulty
+in preventing herself from bursting into laughter. This was the only
+effect which his grimaces and gesticulations produced upon her, although
+outwardly she kept a solemn appearance, and even from time to time shut
+her eyes to encourage him. Once, when she opened them again, it was to
+perceive that he was becoming very hot and exhausted, and that Jacob was
+watching him with such an unpleasant intentness that she re-closed her
+eyes that she might not see his face.
+
+It was shortly after this that of a sudden Benita did feel something,
+a kind of penetrating power flowing upon her, something soft and subtle
+that seemed to creep into her brain like the sound of her mother's
+lullaby in the dim years ago. She began to think that she was a lost
+traveller among alpine snows wrapped round by snow, falling, falling in
+ten myriad flakes, every one of them with a little heart of fire. Then
+it came to her that she had heard this snow-sleep was dangerous, the
+last of all sleeps, and that its victims must rouse themselves, or die.
+
+Benita roused herself just in time--only just, for now she was being
+borne over the edge of a precipice upon the wings of swans, and beneath
+her was darkness wherein dim figures walked with lamps where their
+hearts should be. Oh, how heavy were her eyelids! Surely a weight hung
+to each of them, a golden weight. There, there, they were open, and she
+saw. Her father had ceased his efforts; he was rubbing his brow with a
+red pocket-handkerchief, but behind him, with rigid arms outstretched,
+his glowing eyes fastened on her face, stood Jacob Meyer. By an effort
+she sprang to her feet, shaking her head as a dog does.
+
+"Have done with this nonsense," she said. "It tires me," and snatching
+one of the lamps she ran swiftly down the place.
+
+Benita expected that Jacob Meyer would be very angry with her, and
+braced herself for a scene. But nothing of the sort happened. A while
+afterwards she saw the two of them approaching, engaged apparently in
+amicable talk.
+
+"Mr. Meyer says that I am no mesmerist, love," said her father, "and I
+can quite believe him. But for all that it is a weary job. I am as tired
+as I was after our escape from the Matabele."
+
+She laughed and answered:
+
+"To judge by results I agree with you. The occult is not in your line,
+father. You had better give it up."
+
+"Did you, then, feel nothing?" asked Meyer.
+
+"Nothing at all," she answered, looking him in the eyes. "No, that's
+wrong, I felt extremely bored and sorry to see my father making
+himself ridiculous. Grey hairs and nonsense of that sort don't go well
+together."
+
+"No," he answered. "I agree with you--not of that sort," and the subject
+dropped.
+
+For the next few days, to her intense relief, Benita heard no more
+of mesmerism. To begin with, there was something else to occupy their
+minds. The Matabele, tired of marching round the fortress and singing
+endless war-songs, had determined upon an assault. From their point of
+vantage on the topmost wall the three could watch the preparations which
+they made. Trees were cut down and brought in from a great distance that
+rude ladders might be fashioned out of them; also spies wandered round
+reconnoitring for a weak place in the defences. When they came too near
+the Makalanga fired on them, killing some, so that they retreated to
+the camp, which they had made in a fold of ground at a little distance.
+Suddenly it occurred to Meyer that although here the Matabele were safe
+from the Makalanga bullets, it was commanded from the greater eminence,
+and by way of recreation he set himself to harass them. His rifle was a
+sporting Martini, and he had an ample supply of ammunition. Moreover, he
+was a beautiful marksman, with sight like that of a hawk.
+
+A few trial shots gave him the range; it was a shade under seven hundred
+yards, and then he began operations. Lying on the top of the wall
+and resting his rifle upon a stone, he waited until the man who was
+superintending the manufacture of the ladders came out into the open,
+when, aiming carefully, he fired. The soldier, a white-bearded savage,
+sprang into the air, and fell backwards, while his companions stared
+upwards, wondering whence the bullet had come.
+
+"Pretty, wasn't it?" said Meyer to Benita, who was watching through a
+pair of field-glasses.
+
+"I dare say," she answered. "But I don't want to see any more," and
+giving the glasses to her father, she climbed down the wall.
+
+But Meyer stayed there, and from time to time she heard the report of
+his rifle. In the evening he told her that he had killed six men and
+wounded ten more, adding that it was the best day's shooting which he
+could remember.
+
+"What is the use when there are so many?" she asked.
+
+"Not much," he answered. "But it annoys them and amuses me. Also, it
+was part of our bargain that we should help the Makalanga if they were
+attacked."
+
+"I believe that you like killing people," she said.
+
+"I don't mind it, Miss Clifford, especially as they tried to kill you."
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE OTHER BENITA
+
+At irregular times, when he had nothing else to do, Jacob went on with
+his man-shooting, in which Mr. Clifford joined him, though with less
+effect. Soon it became evident that the Matabele were very much annoyed
+by the fatal accuracy of this fire. Loss of life they did not mind in
+the abstract, but when none of them knew but that their own turn might
+come next to perish beneath these downward plunging bullets, the matter
+wore a different face to them. To leave their camp was not easy, since
+they had made a thorn _boma_ round it, to protect them in case the
+Makalanga should make a night sally; also they could find no other
+convenient spot. The upshot of it all was to hurry their assault, which
+they delivered before they had prepared sufficient ladders to make it
+effective.
+
+At the first break of dawn on the third day after Mr. Clifford's attempt
+at mesmerism, Benita was awakened by the sounds of shouts and firing.
+Having dressed herself hastily, she hurried in the growing light towards
+that part of the wall from below which the noise seemed to come, and
+climbing it, found her father and Jacob already seated there, their
+rifles in hand.
+
+"The fools are attacking the small gate through which you went out
+riding, Miss Clifford, the very worst place that they could have chosen,
+although the wall looks very weak there," said the latter. "If those
+Makalanga have any pluck they ought to teach them a lesson."
+
+Then the sun rose and they saw companies of Matabele, who carried
+ladders in their hands, rushing onwards through the morning mist till
+their sight of them was obstructed by the swell of the hill. On these
+companies the two white men opened fire, with what result they could not
+see in that light. Presently a great shout announced that the enemy had
+gained the fosse and were setting up the ladders. Up to this time the
+Makalanga appeared to have done nothing, but now they began to fire
+rapidly from the ancient bastions which commanded the entrance the impi
+was striving to storm, and soon through the thinning fog they perceived
+wounded Matabele staggering and crawling back towards their camp. Of
+these, the light now better, Jacob did not neglect to take his toll.
+
+Meanwhile, the ancient fortress rang with the hideous tumult of the
+attack. It was evident that again and again, as their fierce war-shouts
+proclaimed, the Matabele were striving to scale the wall, and again and
+again were beaten back by the raking rifle fire. Once a triumphant yell
+seemed to announce their success. The fire slackened and Benita grew
+pale with fear.
+
+"The Makalanga cowards are bolting," muttered Mr. Clifford, listening
+with terrible anxiety.
+
+But if so their courage came back to them, for presently the guns
+cracked louder and more incessant than before, and the savage cries of
+"Kill! Kill! Kill!" dwindled and died away. Another five minutes and the
+Matabele were in full retreat, bearing with them many dead and wounded
+men upon their backs or stretched out on the ladders.
+
+"Our Makalanga friends should be grateful to us for those hundred
+rifles," said Jacob as he loaded and fired rapidly, sending his bullets
+wherever the clusters were thickest. "Had it not been for them their
+throats would have been cut by now," he added, "for they could never
+have stopped those savages with the spear."
+
+"Yes, and ours too before nightfall," said Benita with a shudder,
+for the sight of this desperate fray and fear of how it might end had
+sickened her. "Thank Heaven, it is over! Perhaps they will give up the
+siege and go away."
+
+But, notwithstanding their costly defeat, for they had lost over a
+hundred men, the Matabele, who were afraid to return to Buluwayo except
+as victors, did nothing of the sort. They only cut down a quantity of
+reeds and scrub, and moved their camp nearly to the banks of the river,
+placing it in such a position that it could no longer be searched by
+the fire of the two white men. Here they sat themselves down sullenly,
+hoping to starve out the garrison or to find some other way of entering
+the fortress.
+
+Now Meyer's shooting having come to an end for lack of men to shoot at,
+since the enemy exposed themselves no more, he was again able to give
+his full attention to the matter of the treasure hunt.
+
+As nothing could be found in the cave he devoted himself to the outside
+enclosure which, it may be remembered, was grown over with grass and
+trees and crowded with ruins. In the most important of these ruins they
+began to dig somewhat aimlessly, and were rewarded by finding a certain
+amount of gold in the shape of beads and ornaments, and a few more
+skeletons of ancients. But of the Portuguese hoard there was no sign.
+Thus it came about that they grew gloomier day by day, till at last they
+scarcely spoke to each other. Jacob's angry disappointment was written
+on his face, and Benita was filled with despair, since to escape from
+their gaoler above and the Matabele below seemed impossible. Moreover,
+she had another cause for anxiety.
+
+The ill-health which had been threatening her father for a long while
+now fell upon him in earnest, so that of a sudden he became a very old
+man. His strength and energy left him, and his mind was so filled with
+remorse for what he held to be his crime in bringing his daughter to
+this awful place, and with terror for the fate that threatened her, that
+he could think of nothing else. In vain did she try to comfort him. He
+would only wring his hands and groan, praying that God and she would
+forgive him. Now, too, Meyer's mastery over him became continually more
+evident. Mr. Clifford implored the man, almost with tears, to unblock
+the wall and allow them to go down to the Makalanga. He even tried to
+bribe him with the offer of all his share of the treasure, if it were
+found, and when that failed, of his property in the Transvaal.
+
+But Jacob only told him roughly not to be a fool, as they had to see the
+thing through together. Then he would go again and brood by himself,
+and Benita noticed that he always took his rifle or a pistol with him.
+Evidently he feared lest her father should catch him unprepared, and
+take the law into his own hands by means of a sudden bullet.
+
+One comfort she had, however: although he watched her closely, the
+Jew never tried to molest her in any way, not even with more of his
+enigmatic and amorous speeches. By degrees, indeed, she came to believe
+that all this was gone from his mind, or that he had abandoned his
+advances as hopeless.
+
+A week passed since the Matabele attack, and nothing had happened. The
+Makalanga took no notice of them, and so far as she was aware the
+old Molimo never attempted to climb the blocked wall or otherwise to
+communicate with them, a thing so strange that, knowing his affection
+for her, Benita came to the conclusion that he must be dead, killed
+perhaps in the attack. Even Jacob Meyer had abandoned his digging, and
+sat about all day doing nothing but think.
+
+Their meal that night was a miserable affair, since in the first place
+provisions were running short and there was little to eat, and in the
+second no one spoke a word. Benita could swallow no food; she was weary
+of that sun-dried trek-ox, for since Meyer had blocked the wall they had
+little else. But by good fortune there remained plenty of coffee, and
+of this she drank two cups, which Jacob prepared and handed to her
+with much politeness. It tasted very bitter to her, but this, Benita
+reflected, was because they lacked milk and sugar. Supper ended, Meyer
+rose and bowed to her, muttering that he was going to bed, and a few
+minutes later Mr. Clifford followed his example. She went with her
+father to the hut beneath the tree, and having helped him to remove his
+coat, which now he seemed to find difficulty in doing for himself, bade
+him good-night and returned to the fire.
+
+It was very lonely there in the silence, for no sound came from either
+the Matabele or the Makalanga camps, and the bright moonlight seemed to
+people the place with fantastic shadows that looked alive. Benita cried
+a little now that her father could not see her, and then also sought
+refuge in bed. Evidently the end, whatever it might be, was near, and of
+it she could not bear to think. Moreover, her eyes were strangely heavy,
+so much so that before she had finished saying her prayers sleep fell
+upon her, and she knew no more.
+
+Had she remained as wakeful as it was often her fate to be during those
+fearful days, towards midnight she might have heard some light-footed
+creature creeping to her tent, and seen that the moon-rays which flowed
+through the gaping and ill-closed flap were cut off by the figure of a
+man with glowing eyes, whose projected arms waved over her mysteriously.
+But Benita neither heard nor saw. In her drugged rest she did not know
+that her sleep turned gradually to a magic swoon. She had no knowledge
+of her rising, or of how she threw her thick cloak about her, lit her
+lamp, and, in obedience to that beckoning finger, glided from the tent.
+She never heard her father stumble from his hut, disturbed by the sound
+of footsteps, or the words that passed between him and Jacob Meyer,
+while, lamp in hand, she stood near them like a strengthless ghost.
+
+"If you dare to wake her," hissed Jacob, "I tell you that she will die,
+and afterwards you shall die," and he fingered the pistol at his belt.
+"No harm shall come to her--I swear it! Follow and see. Man, man, be
+silent; our fortunes hang on it."
+
+Then, overcome also by the strange fierceness of that voice and gaze, he
+followed.
+
+On they go to the winding neck of the cavern, first Jacob walking
+backwards like the herald of majesty; then majesty itself in the shape
+of this long-haired, death-like woman, cloaked and bearing in her hand
+the light; and last, behind, the old, white-bearded man, like Time
+following Beauty to the grave. Now they were in the great cavern, and
+now, avoiding the open tombs, the well mouth and the altar, they stood
+beneath the crucifix.
+
+"Be seated," said Meyer, and the entranced Benita sat herself down
+upon the steps at the foot of the cross, placing the lamp on the rock
+pavement before her, and bowing her head till her hair fell upon her
+naked feet and hid them. He held his hands above her for a while, then
+asked:
+
+"Do you sleep?"
+
+"I sleep," came the strange, slow answer.
+
+"Is your spirit awake?"
+
+"It is awake."
+
+"Command it to travel backwards through the ages to the beginning, and
+tell me what you see here."
+
+"I see a rugged cave and wild folk dwelling in it; an old man is dying
+yonder," and she pointed to the right; "and a black woman with a babe
+at her breast tends him. A man, it is her husband, enters the cave. He
+holds a torch in one hand, and with the other drags a buck."
+
+"Cease," said Meyer. "How long is this ago?"
+
+"Thirty-three thousand two hundred and one years," came the answer,
+spoken without any hesitation.
+
+"Pass on," he said, "pass on thirty thousand years, and tell me what you
+see."
+
+For a long while there was silence.
+
+"Why do you not speak?" he asked.
+
+"Be patient; I am living through those thirty thousand years; many a
+life, many an age, but none may be missed."
+
+Again there was silence for a long while, till at length she spoke:
+
+"They are done, all of them, and now three thousand years ago I see this
+place changed and smoothly fashioned, peopled by a throng of worshippers
+clad in strange garments with clasps upon them. Behind me stands the
+graven statue of a goddess with a calm and cruel face, in front of the
+altar burns a fire, and on the altar white-robed priests are sacrificing
+an infant which cries aloud."
+
+"Pass on, pass on," Meyer said hurriedly, as though the horror of that
+scene had leapt to his eyes. "Pass on two thousand seven hundred years
+and tell me what you see."
+
+Again there was a pause, while the spirit he had evoked in the body of
+Benita lived through those ages. Then slowly she answered:
+
+"Nothing, the place is black and desolate, only the dead sleep beneath
+its floor."
+
+"Wait till the living come again," he commanded; "then speak."
+
+"They are here," she replied presently. "Tonsured monks, one of whom
+fashions this crucifix, and their followers who bow before the Host upon
+the altar. They come, they go--of whom shall I tell you?"
+
+"Tell me of the Portuguese; of those who were driven here to die."
+
+"I see them all," she answered, after a pause. "Two hundred and three of
+them. They are ragged and wayworn and hungry. Among them is a beautiful
+woman, a girl. She draws near to me, she enters into me. You must ask
+her,"--this was spoken in a very faint voice--"I am I no more."
+
+Mr. Clifford attempted to interrupt, but fiercely Meyer bade him to be
+silent.
+
+"Speak," he commanded, but the crouching figure shook her head.
+
+"Speak," he said again, whereon another voice, not that of Benita,
+answered in another tongue:
+
+"I hear; but I do not understand your language."
+
+"Great Heaven!" said Meyer, "it is Portuguese," and for a while the
+terror of the thing struck him dumb, for he was aware that Benita knew
+no Portuguese. He knew it, however, who had lived at Loren�o Marquez.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked in that tongue.
+
+"I am Benita da Ferreira. I am the daughter of the Captain da Ferreira
+and of his wife, the lady Christinha, who stand by you now. Turn, and
+you will see them."
+
+Jacob started and looked about him uneasily.
+
+"What did she say? I did not catch it all," asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+He translated her words.
+
+"But this is black magic," exclaimed the old man. "Benita knows no
+Portuguese, so how comes she to speak it?"
+
+"Because she is no longer our Benita; she is another Benita, Benita da
+Ferreira. The Molimo was right when he said that the spirit of the dead
+woman went with her, as it seems the name has gone," he added.
+
+"Have done," said Mr. Clifford; "the thing is unholy. Wake her up, or I
+will."
+
+"And bring about her death. Touch or disturb her, and I tell you she
+will die," and he pointed to Benita, who crouched before them so white
+and motionless that indeed it seemed as though already she were dead.
+"Be quiet," he went on. "I swear to you that no hurt shall come to her,
+also that I will translate everything to you. Promise, or I will tell
+you nothing, and her blood be on your head."
+
+Then Mr. Clifford groaned and said:
+
+"I promise."
+
+"Tell me your story, Benita da Ferreira. How came you and your people
+here?"
+
+"The tribes of Monomotapa rose against our rule. They killed many of
+us in the lower land, yes, they killed my brother and him to whom I was
+affianced. The rest of us fled north to this ancient fortress, hoping
+thence to escape by the river, the Zambesi. The Mambo, our vassal, gave
+us shelter here, but the tribes besieged the walls in thousands, and
+burnt all the boats so that we could not fly by the water. Many times we
+beat them back from the wall; the ditch was full of their dead, and at
+last they dared to attack no more.
+
+"Then we began to starve and they won the first wall. We went on
+starving and they won the second wall, but the third wall they could not
+climb. So we died; one by one we laid ourselves down in this cave and
+died, till I alone was left, for while our people had food they gave it
+to me who was the daughter of their captain. Yes, alone I knelt at the
+foot of this crucifix by the body of my father, praying to the blessed
+Son of Mary for the death that would not come, and kneeling there I
+swooned. When I awoke again the Mambo and his men stood about me, for
+now, knowing us to be dead, the tribes had gone, and those who were in
+hiding across the river had returned and knew how to climb the wall.
+They bore me from among the dead, they gave me food so that my strength
+came back; but in the night I, who in my wickedness would not live,
+escaped from them and climbed the pillar of black rock, so that when
+the sun rose they saw me standing there. They begged of me to come down,
+promising to protect me, but I said 'No,' who in the evil of my heart
+only desired to die, that I might join my father and my brother, and one
+who was dearer to me than all. They asked of me where the great treasure
+was hidden."
+
+At these words Jacob gasped, then rapidly translated them, while the
+figure before them became silent, as though it felt that for the moment
+the power of his will was withdrawn.
+
+"Speak on, I bid you," he said, and she continued, the rich, slow voice
+dropping word after word from the lips of Benita in the alien speech
+that this Benita never knew.
+
+"I answered that it was where it was, and that if they gave it up to
+any save the one appointed, then that fate which had befallen my people
+would befall theirs also. Yes, I gave it into their keeping until I came
+again, since with his dying breath my father had commanded me to reveal
+it to none, and I believed that I who was about to die should never come
+again.
+
+"Then I made my last prayer, I kissed the golden crucifix that now hangs
+upon this breast wherein I dwell," and the hand of the living Benita was
+lifted, and moving like the hand of a dead thing, slowly drew out the
+symbol from beneath the cloak, held it for a moment in the lamplight,
+and let it fall to its place again. "I put my hands before my eyes that
+I might not see, and I hurled myself from the pinnacle."
+
+Now the voice ceased, but from the lips came a dreadful sound, such as
+might be uttered by one whose bones are shattered upon rocks, followed
+by other sounds like those of one who chokes in water. They were so
+horrible to hear that Mr. Clifford nearly fainted, and even Jacob Meyer
+staggered and turned white as the white face of Benita.
+
+"Wake her! For God's sake, wake her!" said her father. "She is dying, as
+that woman died hundreds of years ago."
+
+"Not till she has told us where the gold is. Be quiet, you fool. She
+does not feel or suffer. It is the spirit within her that lives through
+the past again."
+
+Once more there was silence. It seemed as though the story were all told
+and the teller had departed.
+
+"Benita da Ferreira," said Meyer at length, "I command you, tell me, are
+you dead?"
+
+"Oh! would that I were dead, as my body is dead!" wailed the lips of
+Benita. "Alas! I cannot die who suffer this purgatory, and must dwell on
+here alone until the destined day. Yes, yes, the spirit of her who was
+Benita da Ferreira must haunt this place in solitude. This is her doom,
+to be the guardian of that accursed gold which was wrung from the earth
+by cruelty and paid for with the lives of men."
+
+"Is it still safe?" whispered Jacob.
+
+"I will look;" then after a pause, "I have looked. It is there, every
+grain of it, in ox-hide bags; only one of them has fallen and burst,
+that which is black and red."
+
+"Where is it?" he said again.
+
+"I may not tell you; never, never."
+
+"Is there anyone whom you may tell?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Whom?"
+
+"Her in whose breast I lie."
+
+"Tell her then."
+
+"I have told her; she knows."
+
+"And may she tell me?"
+
+"Let her guard the secret as she will. O my Guardian, I thank thee. My
+burden is departed; my sin of self-murder is atoned."
+
+"Benita da Ferreira, are you gone?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Benita Clifford, do you hear me?"
+
+"I hear you," said the voice of Benita, speaking in English, although
+Jacob, forgetting, had addressed her in Portuguese.
+
+"Where is the gold?"
+
+"In my keeping."
+
+"Tell me, I command you."
+
+But no words came; though he questioned her many times no words came,
+till at last her head sank forward upon her knees, and in a faint voice
+she murmured:
+
+"Loose me, or I die."
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE AWAKING
+
+Still Jacob Meyer hesitated. The great secret was unlearned, and, if
+this occasion passed, might never be learned. But if he hesitated, Mr.
+Clifford did not. The knowledge of his child's danger, the sense that
+her life was mysteriously slipping away from her under pressure of the
+ghastly spell in which she lay enthralled, stirred him to madness. His
+strength and manhood came back to him. He sprang straight at Meyer's
+throat, gripped it with one hand, and with the other drew the knife he
+wore.
+
+"You devil!" he gasped. "Wake her or you shall go with her!" and he
+lifted the knife.
+
+Then Jacob gave in. Shaking off his assailant he stepped to Benita, and
+while her father stood behind him with the lifted blade, began to make
+strange upward passes over her, and to mutter words of command. For a
+long while they took no effect; indeed, both of them were almost sure
+that she was gone. Despair gripped her father, and Meyer worked at his
+black art so furiously that the sweat burst out upon his forehead and
+fell in great drops to the floor.
+
+Oh, at last, at last she stirred! Her head lifted itself a little, her
+breast heaved.
+
+"Lord in Heaven, I have saved her!" muttered Jacob in German, and worked
+on.
+
+Now the eyes of Benita opened, and now she stood up and sighed. But she
+said nothing; only like a person walking in her sleep, she began to move
+towards the entrance of the cave, her father going before her with the
+lamp. On she went, and out of it straight to her tent, where instantly
+she cast herself upon her bed and sank into deep slumber. It was as
+though the power of the drug-induced oblivion, which for a while
+was over-mastered by that other stronger power invoked by Jacob, had
+reasserted itself.
+
+Meyer watched her for awhile; then said to Mr. Clifford:
+
+"Don't be afraid and don't attempt to disturb her. She will wake
+naturally in the morning."
+
+"I hope so for both our sakes," he answered, glaring at him, "for if
+not, you or I, or the two of us, will never see another."
+
+Meyer took no notice of his threats; indeed the man seemed so exhausted
+that he could scarcely stand.
+
+"I am done," he said. "Now, as she is safe, I don't care what happens to
+me. I must rest," and he staggered from the tent, like a drunken man.
+
+Outside, at the place where they ate, Mr. Clifford heard him gulping
+down raw gin from the bottle. Then he heard no more.
+
+All the rest of the night, and for some hours of the early morning, did
+her father watch by the bed of Benita, although, lightly clad as he was,
+the cold of dawn struck to his bones. At length, when the sun was well
+up, she rose in her bed, and her eyes opened.
+
+"What are you doing here, father?" she said.
+
+"I have come to see where you were, dear. You are generally out by now."
+
+"I suppose that I must have overslept myself then," she replied wearily.
+"But it does not seem to have refreshed me much, and my head aches. Oh!
+I remember," she added with a start. "I have had such a horrid dream."
+
+"What about?" he asked as carelessly as he could.
+
+"I can't recall it quite, but it had to do with Mr. Meyer," and she
+shivered. "It seemed as though I had passed into his power, as though he
+had taken possession of me, body and soul, and forced me to tell him all
+the secret things."
+
+"What secret things, Benita?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I don't know now, but we went away among dead people, and I told him
+there. Oh! father, I am afraid of that man--terribly afraid! Protect me
+from him," and she began to cry a little.
+
+"Of course I will protect you, dear. Something has upset your nerves.
+Come, dress yourself and you'll soon forget it all. I'll light the
+fire."
+
+A quarter of an hour later Benita joined him, looking pale and shaken,
+but otherwise much as usual. She was ravenously hungry, and ate of the
+biscuits and dried meat with eagerness.
+
+"The coffee tastes quite different from that which I drank last night,"
+she said. "I think there must have been something in it which gave me
+those bad dreams. Where is Mr. Meyer? Oh, I know!" and again she put her
+hand to her head. "He is still asleep by the wall."
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"I can't say, but it is so. He will not come here till one o'clock.
+There, I feel much better now. What shall we do, father?"
+
+"Sit in the sun and rest, I think, dear."
+
+"Yes, let us do that, on the top of the wall. We can see the Makalanga
+from there, and it will be a comfort to be sure that there are other
+human beings left in the world besides ourselves and Jacob Meyer."
+
+So presently they went, and from the spot whence Meyer used to shoot at
+the Matabele camp, looked down upon the Makalanga moving about the first
+enclosure far below. By the aid of the glasses Benita even thought that
+she recognised Tamas, although of this it was difficult to be sure, for
+they were all very much alike. Still, the discovery quite excited her.
+
+"I am sure it is Tamas," she said. "And oh! how I wish that we were down
+there with him, although it is true that then we should be nearer to the
+Matabele. But they are better than Mr. Meyer, much better."
+
+Now for a while they were silent, till at length she said suddenly:
+
+"Father, you are keeping something back from me, and things begin to
+come back. Tell me; did I go anywhere last night with Mr. Meyer--you and
+he and I together?"
+
+He hesitated and looked guilty; Mr. Clifford was not a good actor.
+
+"I see that we did; I am sure that we did. Father, tell me. I must know,
+I will know."
+
+Then he gave way.
+
+"I didn't want to speak, dear, but perhaps it is best. It is a very
+strange story. Will you promise not to be upset?"
+
+"I will promise not to be more upset than I am at present," she
+answered, with a sad little laugh. "Go on."
+
+"You remember that Jacob Meyer wanted to mesmerize you?"
+
+"I am not likely to forget it," she answered.
+
+"Well, last night he did mesmerize you."
+
+"What?" she said. "_What?_ Oh! how dreadful! Now I understand it all.
+But when?"
+
+"When you were sound asleep, I suppose. At least, the first I knew of
+it was that some noise woke me, and I came out of the hut to see you
+following him like a dead woman, with a lamp in your hand."
+
+Then he told her all the story, while she listened aghast.
+
+"How dared he!" she gasped, when her father had finished the long tale.
+"I hate him; I almost wish that you had killed him," and she clenched
+her little hands and shook them in the air.
+
+"That is not very Christian of you, Miss Clifford," said a voice behind
+her. "But it is past one o'clock, and as I am still alive I have come to
+tell you that it is time for luncheon."
+
+Benita wheeled round upon the stone on which she sat, and there,
+standing amidst the bushes a little way from the foot of the wall, was
+Jacob Meyer. Their eyes met; hers were full of defiance, and his of
+conscious power.
+
+"I do not want any luncheon, Mr. Meyer," she said.
+
+"But I am sure that you do. Please come down and have some. Please come
+down."
+
+The words were spoken humbly, almost pleadingly, yet to Benita they
+seemed as a command. At any rate, with slow reluctance she climbed down
+the shattered wall, followed by her father, and without speaking they
+went back to their camping place, all three of them, Jacob leading the
+way.
+
+When they had eaten, or made pretence to eat, he spoke.
+
+"I see that your father has told you everything, Miss Clifford, and of
+that I am glad. As for me, it would have been awkward, who must ask your
+forgiveness for so much. But what could I do? I knew, as I have always
+known, that it was only possible to find this treasure by your help.
+So I gave you something to make you sleep, and then in your sleep I
+hypnotized you, and--you know the rest. I have great experience in this
+art, but I have never seen or heard of anything like what happened, and
+I hope I never shall again."
+
+Hitherto Benita had sat silent, but now her burning indignation and
+curiosity overcame her shame and hatred.
+
+"Mr. Meyer," she said, "you have done a shameful and a wicked thing, and
+I tell you at once that I can never forgive you."
+
+"Don't say that. Please don't say that," he interrupted in tones of real
+grief. "Make allowances for me. I had to learn, and there was no other
+way. You are a born clairvoyante, one among ten thousand, my art told me
+so, and you know all that is at stake."
+
+"By which you mean so many ounces of gold, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"By which I mean the greatness that gold can give, Miss Clifford."
+
+"Such greatness, Mr. Meyer, as a week of fever, or a Matabele spear, or
+God's will can rob you of. But the thing is done, and soon or late the
+sin must be paid for. Now I want to ask you a question. You believe in
+nothing; you have told me so several times. You say that there is no
+such thing as a spirit, that when we die, we die, and there's an end. Do
+you not?"
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"Then tell me, what was it that spoke out of my lips last night, and how
+came it that I, who know no Portuguese, talked to you in that tongue?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You have put a difficult question, but one I think that can be
+answered. There is no such thing as a spirit, an identity that survives
+death. But there is such a thing as the subconscious self, which is part
+of the animating principle of the universe, and, if only its knowledge
+can be unsealed, knows all that has passed and all that is passing in
+that universe. One day perhaps you will read the works of my compatriot,
+Hegel, and there you will find it spoken of."
+
+"You explain nothing."
+
+"I am about to explain, Miss Clifford. Last night I gave to your
+sub-conscious self--that which knows all--the strength of liberty, so
+that it saw the past as it happened in this place. Already you knew
+the story of the dead girl, Benita da Ferreira, and that story you
+re-enacted, talking the tongue she used as you would have talked Greek
+or any other tongue, had it been hers. It was not her spirit that
+animated you, although at the time I called it so for shortness, but
+your own buried knowledge, tricked out and furnished by the effort of
+your human imagination. That her name, Benita, should have been yours
+also is no doubt a strange coincidence, but no more. Also we have no
+proof that it was so; only what you said in your trance."
+
+"Perhaps," said Benita, who was in no mood for philosophical argument.
+"Perhaps also one day you will see a spirit, Mr. Meyer, and think
+otherwise."
+
+"When I see a spirit and know that it is a spirit, then doubtless
+I shall believe in spirits. But what is the good of talking of such
+things? I do not seek spirits; I seek Portuguese gold. Now, I am sure
+you can tell where that gold lies. You would have told us last night,
+had not your nervous strength failed you, who are unaccustomed to the
+state of trance. Speaking as Benita da Ferreira, you said that you saw
+it and described its condition. Then you could, or would, say no more,
+and it became necessary to waken you. Miss Clifford, you must let me
+mesmerize you once again for a few minutes only, for then we will waste
+no time on past histories, and we shall find the gold. Unless, indeed,"
+he added by an afterthought, and looking at her sharply, "you know
+already where it is; in which case I need not trouble you."
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Meyer. I remember nothing about the gold."
+
+"Which proves my theory. What purported to be the spirit of Benita
+da Ferreira said that it had passed the secret on to you, but in your
+waking state you do not know that secret. In fact, she did not pass it
+on because she had no existence. But in your sub-conscious state you
+will know. Therefore I must mesmerize you again. Not at once, but in
+a few days' time, when you have quite recovered. Let us say next
+Wednesday, three days hence."
+
+"You shall never mesmerize me again, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"No, not while I live," broke in her father, who had been listening to
+this discussion in silence.
+
+Jacob bowed his head meekly.
+
+"You think so now, but I think otherwise. What I did last night I did
+against your will, and that I can do again, only much more easily. But I
+had rather do it with your will, who work not for my own sake only, but
+for the sake of all of us. And now let us talk no more of the matter,
+lest we should grow angry." Then he rose and went away.
+
+The next three days were passed by Benita in a state of constant dread.
+She knew in herself that Jacob Meyer had acquired a certain command over
+her; that an invincible intimacy had sprung up between them. She was
+acquainted with his thoughts; thus, before he asked for it, she
+would find herself passing him some article at table or elsewhere, or
+answering a question that he was only about to ask. Moreover, he could
+bring her to him from a little distance. Thus, on two or three occasions
+when she was wandering about their prison enclosure, as she was wont to
+do for the sake of exercise, she found her feet draw to some spot--now
+one place and now another--and when she reached it there before her was
+Jacob Meyer.
+
+"Forgive me for bringing you here," he would say, smiling after his
+crooked fashion, and lifting his hat politely, "but I wish to ask you if
+you have not changed your mind as to being mesmerized?"
+
+Then for a while he would hold her with his eyes, so that her feet
+seemed rooted to the ground, till at length it was as though he cut a
+rope by some action of his will and set her free, and, choked with wrath
+and blind with tears, Benita would turn and run from him as from a wild
+beast.
+
+But if her days were evil, oh! what were her nights? She lived in
+constant terror lest he should again drug her food or drink, and, while
+she slept, throw his magic spell upon her. To protect herself from the
+first danger she would swallow nothing that had been near him. Now also
+she slept in the hut with her father, who lay near its door, a loaded
+rifle at his side, for he had told Jacob outright that if he caught him
+at his practices he would shoot him, a threat at which the younger man
+laughed aloud, for he had no fear of Mr. Clifford.
+
+Throughout the long hours of darkness they kept watch alternately, one
+of them lying down to rest while the other peered and listened. Nor
+did Benita always listen in vain, for twice at least she heard stealthy
+footsteps creeping about the hut, and felt that soft and dreadful
+influence flowing in upon her. Then she would wake her father,
+whispering, "He is there, I can feel that he is there." But by the time
+that the old man had painfully dragged himself to his feet--for now he
+was becoming very feeble and acute rheumatism or some such illness had
+got hold of him--and crept from the hut, there was no one to be seen.
+Only through the darkness he would hear the sound of a retreating step,
+and of low, mocking laughter.
+
+Thus those miserable days went by, and the third morning came, that
+dreaded Wednesday. Before it was dawn Benita and her father, neither of
+whom had closed their eyes that night, talked over their strait long and
+earnestly, and they knew that its crisis was approaching.
+
+"I think that I had better try to kill him, Benita," he said. "I am
+growing dreadfully weak, and if I put it off I may find no strength,
+and you will be at his mercy. I can easily shoot him when his back is
+turned, and though I hate the thought of such a deed, surely I shall be
+forgiven. Or if not, I cannot help it. I must think of my duty to you,
+not of myself."
+
+"No, no," she answered. "I will not have it. It would be murder,
+although he has threatened you. After all, father, I believe that the
+man is half mad, and not responsible. We must take our chance and trust
+to God to save us. If He does not," she added, "at the worst I can
+always save myself," and she touched the pistol which now she wore day
+and night.
+
+"So be it," said Mr. Clifford, with a groan. "Let us pray for
+deliverance from this hell and keep our hands clean of blood."
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+JACOB MEYER SEES A SPIRIT
+
+For a while they were silent, then Benita said:
+
+"Father, is it not possible that we might escape, after all? Perhaps
+that stair on the rampart is not so completely blocked that we could not
+climb over it."
+
+Mr. Clifford, thinking of his stiff limbs and aching back, shook his
+head and answered:
+
+"I don't know; Meyer has never let me near enough to see."
+
+"Well, why do you not go to look? You know he sleeps till late now,
+because he is up all night. Take the glasses and examine the top of the
+wall from inside that old house near by. He will not see or hear you,
+but if I came near, he would know and wake up."
+
+"If you like, love, I can try, but what are you going to do while I am
+away?"
+
+"I shall climb the pillar."
+
+"You don't mean----" and he stopped.
+
+"No, no, nothing of that sort. I shall not follow the example of Benita
+da Ferreira unless I am driven to it; I want to look, that is all. One
+can see far from that place, if there is anything to see. Perhaps the
+Matabele are gone now, we have heard nothing of them lately."
+
+So they dressed themselves, and as soon as the light was sufficiently
+strong, came out of the hut and parted, Mr. Clifford, rifle in hand,
+limping off towards the wall, and Benita going towards the great
+cone. She climbed it easily enough, and stood in the little cup-like
+depression on its dizzy peak, waiting for the sun to rise and disperse
+the mists which hung over the river and its banks.
+
+Now whatever may have been the exact ceremonial use to which the
+ancients put this pinnacle, without doubt it had something to do with
+sun-worship. This, indeed, was proved by the fact that, at any rate at
+this season of the year, the first rays of the risen orb struck full
+upon its point. Thus it came about that, as she stood there waiting,
+Benita of a sudden found herself suffused in light so vivid and intense
+that, clothed as she was in a dress which had once been white, it must
+have caused her to shine like a silver image. For several minutes,
+indeed, this golden spear of fire blinded her so that she could see
+nothing, but stood quite still, afraid to move, and waiting until,
+as the sun grew higher, its level rays passed over her. This they did
+presently, and plunging into the valley, began to drive away the fog.
+Now she looked down, along the line of the river.
+
+The Matabele camp was invisible, for it lay in a hollow almost at the
+foot of the fortress. Beyond it, however, was a rising swell of ground;
+it may have been half a mile from where she stood, and on the crest
+of it she perceived what looked like a waggon tent with figures moving
+round it. They were shouting also, for through the silence of the
+African morn the sound of their voices floated up to her.
+
+As the mist cleared off Benita saw that without doubt it was a waggon,
+for there stood the long row of oxen, also it had just been captured
+by the Matabele, for these were about it in numbers. At the moment,
+however, they appeared to be otherwise occupied, for they were pointing
+with their spears to the pillar on Bambatse.
+
+Then it occurred to Benita that, placed as she was in that fierce light
+with only the sky for background, she must be perfectly visible from
+the plain below, and that it might be her figure perched like an eagle
+between heaven and earth which excited their interest. Yes, and not
+theirs only, for now a white man appeared, who lifted what might have
+been a gun, or a telescope, towards her. She was sure from the red
+flannel shirt and the broad hat which he wore that he must be a white
+man, and oh! how her heart yearned towards him, whoever he might be! The
+sight of an angel from heaven could scarcely have been more welcome to
+Benita in her wretchedness.
+
+Yet surely she must be dreaming. What should a white man and a waggon
+be doing in that place? And why had not the Matabele killed him at once?
+She could not tell, yet they appeared to have no murderous intentions,
+since they continued to gesticulate and talk whilst he stared upwards
+with the telescope, if it were a telescope. So things went on for a
+long time, for meanwhile the oxen were outspanned, until, indeed, more
+Matabele arrived, who led off the white man, apparently against his
+will, towards their camp, where he disappeared. Then there was nothing
+more to be seen. Benita descended the column.
+
+At its foot she met her father, who had come to seek her.
+
+"What is the matter?" he asked, noting her excited face.
+
+"Oh!" she said or rather sobbed, "there is a waggon with a white man
+below. I saw the Matabele capture him."
+
+"Then I am sorry for the poor devil," answered the father, "for he
+is dead by now. But what could a white man have been doing here? Some
+hunter, I suppose, who has walked into a trap."
+
+The face of Benita fell.
+
+"I hoped," she said, "that he might help us."
+
+"As well might he hope that we could help him. He is gone, and there is
+an end. Well, peace to his soul, and we have our own troubles to think
+of. I have been to look at that wall, and it is useless to think of
+climbing it. If he had been a professional mason, Meyer could not have
+built it up better; no wonder that we have seen nothing more of the
+Molimo, for only a bird could reach us."
+
+"Where was Mr. Meyer," asked Benita.
+
+"Asleep in a blanket under a little shelter of boughs by the stair. At
+least, I thought so, though it was rather difficult to make him out in
+the shadow; at any rate, I saw his rifle set against a tree. Come, let
+us go to breakfast. No doubt he will turn up soon enough."
+
+So they went, and for the first time since the Sunday Benita ate a
+hearty meal of biscuits soaked in coffee. Although her father was so
+sure that by now he must have perished on the Matabele spears, the sight
+of the white man and his waggon had put new life into her, bringing her
+into touch with the world again. After all, might it not chance that he
+had escaped?
+
+All this while there had been no sign of Jacob Meyer. This, however, did
+not surprise them, for now he ate his meals alone, taking his food from
+a little general store, and cooking it over his own fire. When they had
+finished their breakfast Mr. Clifford remarked that they had no more
+drinking water left, and Benita said that she would go to fetch a
+pailful from the well in the cave. Her father suggested that he should
+accompany her, but she answered that it was not necessary as she was
+quite able to wind the chain by herself. So she went, carrying the
+bucket in one hand and a lamp in the other.
+
+As she walked down the last of the zigzags leading to the cave, Benita
+stopped a moment thinking that she saw a light, and then went on,
+since on turning the corner there was nothing but darkness before her.
+Evidently she had been mistaken. She reached the well and hung the pail
+on to the great copper hook, wondering as she did so how many folk had
+done likewise in the far, far past, for the massive metal of that hook
+was worn quite thin with use. Then she let the roller run, and the sound
+of the travelling chain clanked dismally in that vaulted, empty place.
+At length the pail struck the water, and she began to wind up again,
+pausing at times to rest, for the distance was long and the chain heavy.
+The bucket appeared. Benita drew it to the side of the well, and lifted
+it from the hook, then took up her lamp to be gone.
+
+Feeling or seeing something, which she was not sure, she held the lamp
+above her head, and by its light perceived a figure standing between her
+and the entrance to the cave.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, whereon a soft voice answered out of the
+darkness, the voice of Jacob Meyer.
+
+"Do you mind standing still for a few minutes, Miss Clifford? I have
+some paper here and I wish to make a sketch. You do not know how
+beautiful you look with that light above your head illuminating the
+shadows and the thorn-crowned crucifix beyond. You know, whatever paths
+fortune may have led me into, by nature I am an artist, and never in my
+life have I seen such a picture. One day it will make me famous.
+
+     'How statue-like I see thee stand!
+     The agate lamp within thy hand.'
+
+That's what I should put under it; you know the lines, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Meyer, but I am afraid you will have to paint your picture
+from memory, as I cannot hold up this lamp any longer; my arm is aching
+already. I do not know how you came here, but as you have followed me
+perhaps you will be so kind as to carry this water."
+
+"I did not follow you, Miss Clifford. Although you never saw me I
+entered the cave before you to take measurements."
+
+"How can you take measurements in the dark?"
+
+"I was not in the dark. I put out my light when I caught sight of you,
+knowing that otherwise you would run away, and fate stood me in good
+stead. You came on, as I willed that you should do. Now let us talk.
+Miss Clifford, have you changed your mind? You know the time is up."
+
+"I shall never change my mind. Let me pass you, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"No, no, not until you have listened. You are very cruel to me, very
+cruel indeed. You do not understand that, rather than do you the
+slightest harm, I would die a hundred times."
+
+"I do not ask you to die; I ask you to leave me alone--a much easier
+matter."
+
+"But how can I leave you alone when you are a part of me, when--I love
+you? There, the truth is out, and now say what you will."
+
+Benita lifted the bucket of water; its weight seemed to steady her. Then
+she put it down again, since escape was impracticable; she must face the
+situation.
+
+"I have nothing to say, Mr. Meyer, except that _I_ do not love _you_ or
+any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment you
+have paid me, and there is an end."
+
+"Any living man," he repeated after her. "That means you love a dead
+man--Seymour, he who was drowned. No wonder that I hated him when first
+my eyes fell on him years ago, long before you had come into our lives.
+Prescience, the sub-conscious self again. Well, what is the use of
+loving the dead, those who no longer have any existence, who have
+gone back into the clay out of which they were formed and are not, nor
+evermore shall be? You have but one life; turn, turn to the living, and
+make it happy."
+
+"I do not agree with you, Mr. Meyer. To me the dead are still living;
+one day I shall find them. Now let me go."
+
+"I will not let you go. I will plead and wrestle with you as in the
+old fable my namesake of my own race wrestled with the angel, until at
+length you bless me. You despise me because I am a Jew, because I have
+had many adventures and not succeeded; because you think me mad. But I
+tell you that there is the seed of greatness in me. Give yourself to me
+and I will make you great, for now I know that it was you whom I needed
+to supply what is lacking in my nature. We will win the wealth, and
+together we will rule----"
+
+"Until a few days hence we starve or the Matabele make an end of us. No,
+Mr. Meyer, no," and she tried to push past him.
+
+He stretched out his arms and stopped her.
+
+"Listen," he said, "I have pleaded with you as man with woman. Now, as
+you refuse me and as you alone stand between me and madness, I will take
+another course. I am your master, your will is servant to my will; I bid
+you obey me."
+
+He fixed his eyes upon hers, and Benita felt her strength begin to fail.
+
+"Ah!" he said, "you are my servant now, and to show it I shall kiss you
+on the lips; then I shall throw the sleep upon you, and you will tell me
+what I want to know. Afterwards we can be wed when it pleases me. Oh! do
+not think that your father will defend you, for if he interferes I shall
+kill that foolish old man, whom until now I have only spared for your
+sake. Remember that if you make me angry, I shall certainly kill him,
+and your father's blood will be on your head. Now I am going to kiss
+you."
+
+Benita lifted her hand to find the pistol at her waist. It fell back
+again; she had no strength; it was as though she were paralysed as a
+bird is paralysed by a snake so that it cannot open its wings and fly
+away, but sits there awaiting death. She was given over into the
+hands of this man whom she hated. Could Heaven allow such a thing? she
+wondered dimly, and all the while his lips drew nearer to her face.
+
+They touched her own, and then, why or wherefore Benita never
+understood, the spell broke. All his power was gone, she was as she had
+been, a free woman, mistress of herself. Contemptuously she thrust the
+man aside, and, not even troubling to run, lifted her pail of water and
+walked away.
+
+Soon she saw the light again, and joyfully extinguished her lamp.
+Indeed, the breast of Benita, which should have been so troubled after
+the scene through which she had passed, strangely enough was filled with
+happiness and peace. As that glorious sunlight had broken on her eyes,
+so had another light of freedom arisen in her soul. She was no longer
+afraid of Jacob Meyer; that coward kiss of his had struck off the
+shackles which bound her to him. Her mind had been subject to his mind,
+but now that his physical nature was brought into the play, his mental
+part had lost its hold upon her.
+
+As she approached the hut she saw her father seated on a stone outside
+it, since the poor old man was now so weak and full of pain that he
+could not stand for very long, and seeing, remembered Meyer's threats
+against him. At the thought all her new-found happiness departed.
+
+She might be safe; she felt sure that she was safe, but how about her
+father? If Meyer could not get his way probably he would be as good as
+his word, and kill him. She shivered at the thought, then, recovering
+herself, walked forward steadily with her bucket of water.
+
+"You have been a long while gone, my love," said Mr. Clifford.
+
+"Yes, father, Mr. Meyer was in the cave, and kept me."
+
+"How did he get there, and what did he want?"
+
+"I don't know how he got there--crept in when we were not looking, I
+suppose. But as for what he wanted--listen, dear," and word for word she
+told him what had passed.
+
+Before she had finished, her father was almost choking with wrath.
+
+"The dirty Jew! The villain!" he gasped. "I never dreamed that he would
+dare to attempt such an outrage. Well, thank Heaven! I can still hold a
+rifle, and when he comes out----"
+
+"Father," she said gently, "that man is mad. He is not responsible for
+his actions, and therefore, except in self-defence, you must not think
+of such a thing. As for what he said about you, I believe it was only
+an empty threat, and for me you need have no fear, his power over me is
+gone; it went like a flash when his lips touched me," and she rubbed her
+own as though to wipe away some stain. "I am afraid of nothing more. I
+believe--yes, I believe the old Molimo was right, and that all will end
+well----"
+
+As she was speaking Benita heard a shuffling sound behind her, and
+turned to learn its cause. Then she saw a strange sight. Jacob Meyer was
+staggering towards them, dragging one foot after the other through the
+grass and stones. His face was ghastly pale, his jaw had dropped like
+that of a dead man, and his eyes were set wide open and full of horror.
+
+"What is the matter with you, man?" asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+"I--I--have seen a ghost," he whispered. "You did not come back into the
+cave, did you?" he added, pointing at Benita, who shook her head.
+
+"What ghost?" asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+"I don't know, but my lamp went out, and then a light began to shine
+behind me. I turned, and on the steps of that crucifix I saw a woman
+kneeling. Her arms clasped the feet of the figure, her forehead rested
+upon the feet, her long black hair flowed down, she was dressed in
+white, and the light came from her body and her head. Very slowly she
+turned and looked at me, and oh, Heaven! that face----" and he put
+his hand before his eyes and groaned. "It was beautiful; yes, yes, but
+fearful to see, like an avenging angel. I fled, and the light--only the
+light--came with me down the cave, even at the mouth of it there was a
+little. I have seen a spirit, I who did not believe in spirits, I have
+seen a spirit, and I tell you that not for all the gold in the world
+will I enter that place again."
+
+Then before they could answer, suddenly as though his fear had got some
+fresh hold of him, Jacob sprang forward and fled away, crashing through
+the bushes and leaping from rock to rock like a frightened buck.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD
+
+"Meyer always said that he did not believe in spirits," remarked Mr.
+Clifford reflectively.
+
+"Well, he believes in them now," answered Benita with a little laugh.
+"But, father, the poor man is mad, that is the fact of it, and we must
+pay no attention to what he says."
+
+"The old Molimo and some of his people--Tamas, for instance--declared
+that they have seen the ghost of Benita da Ferreira. Are they mad also,
+Benita?"
+
+"I don't know, father. Who can say? All these things are a mystery.
+All I do know is that I have never seen a ghost, and I doubt if I ever
+shall."
+
+"No, but when you were in that trance something that was not you spoke
+out of your mouth, which something said that it was your namesake, the
+other Benita. Well, as you say, we can't fathom these things, especially
+in a haunted kind of place like this, but the upshot of it is that I
+don't think we have much more to fear from Jacob."
+
+"I am not so sure, father. Mad people change their moods very suddenly."
+
+As it happened Benita was quite right. Towards suppertime Jacob Meyer
+reappeared, looking pale and shaken, but otherwise much as usual.
+
+"I had a kind of fit this morning," he explained, "the result of an
+hallucination which seized me when my light went out in that cave. I
+remember that I thought I had seen a ghost, whereas I know very
+well that no such thing exists. I was the victim of disappointment,
+anxieties, and other still stronger emotions," and he looked at Benita.
+"Therefore, please forget anything I said or did, and--would you give me
+some supper?"
+
+Benita did so, and he ate in silence, with some heartiness. When he had
+finished his food, and swallowed two or three tots of squareface, he
+spoke again:
+
+"I have come here, where I know I am not welcome, upon business," he
+said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. "I am tired of this place, and
+I think it is time that we attained the object of our journey here,
+namely, to find the hidden gold. That, as we all know, can only be done
+in a certain way, through the clairvoyant powers of one of us and the
+hypnotic powers of another. Miss Clifford, I request that you will allow
+me to throw you into a state of trance. You have told us everything
+else, but you have not yet told us where the treasure is hidden, and
+this it is necessary that we should know."
+
+"And if I refuse, Mr. Meyer?"
+
+"Then I am sorry, but I must take means to compel your obedience. Under
+those circumstances, much against my will, I shall be obliged"--here
+his eye blazed out wildly--"to execute your father, whose obstinacy
+and influence stand between us and splendid fortunes. No, Clifford," he
+added, "don't stretch out your hand towards that rifle, for I am already
+covering you with the pistol in my pocket, and the moment your hand
+touches it I shall fire. You poor old man, do you imagine for a single
+second that, sick as you are, and with your stiff limbs, you can hope to
+match yourself against my agility, intellect, and strength? Why, I could
+kill you in a dozen ways before you could lift a finger against me, and
+by the God I do not believe in, unless your daughter is more compliant,
+kill you I will!"
+
+"That remains to be seen, my friend," said Mr. Clifford with a laugh,
+for he was a brave old man. "I am not certain that the God--whom you do
+not believe in--will not kill you first."
+
+Now Benita, who had been taking counsel with herself, looked up and said
+suddenly:
+
+"Very well, Mr. Meyer, I consent--because I must. To-morrow morning you
+shall try to mesmerize me, if you can, in the same place, before the
+crucifix in the cave."
+
+"No," he answered quickly. "It was not there, it was here, and here it
+shall be again. The spot you mention is unpropitious to me; the attempt
+would fail."
+
+"It is the spot that I have chosen," answered Benita stubbornly.
+
+"And this is the spot that I have chosen, Miss Clifford, and my will
+must prevail over yours."
+
+"Because you who do not believe in spirits are afraid to re-enter the
+cave, Mr. Meyer, lest you should chance----"
+
+"Never mind what I am or am not afraid of," he replied with fury. "Make
+your choice between doing my will and your father's life. To-morrow
+morning I shall come for your answer, and if you are still obstinate,
+within half an hour he will be dead, leaving you and me alone together.
+Oh! you may call me wicked and a villain, but it is you who are wicked,
+you, you, _you_ who force me to this deed of justice."
+
+Then without another word he sprang up and walked away from them
+backwards, as he went covering Mr. Clifford with the pistol which he
+had drawn from his pocket. The last that they saw of him were his eyes,
+which glowered at them through the darkness like those of a lion.
+
+"Father," said Benita, when she was sure that he had gone, "that madman
+really means to murder you; there is no doubt of it."
+
+"None whatever, dear; if I am alive to-morrow night I shall be lucky,
+unless I can kill him first or get out of his way."
+
+"Well," she said hurriedly, "I think you can. I have an idea. He is
+afraid to go into that cave, I am sure. Let us hide ourselves there.
+We can take food and shall have plenty of water, whereas, unless rain
+falls, he can get nothing to drink."
+
+"But what then, Benita? We can't stop in the dark for ever."
+
+"No, but we can wait there until something happens. Something must and
+will happen. His disease won't stand still. He may go raving mad and
+kill himself. Or he may attempt to attack us, though that is not likely,
+and then we must do what we can in self defence. Or help may reach us
+from somewhere. At the worst we shall only die as we should have died
+outside. Come, let us be quick, lest he should change his mind, and
+creep back upon us."
+
+So Mr. Clifford gave way, knowing that even if he could steel himself
+to do the deed of attempting to kill Jacob, he would have little chance
+against that strong and agile man. Such a struggle would only end in his
+own death, and Benita must then be left alone with Meyer and his insane
+passions.
+
+Hurriedly they carried their few belongings into the cave. First
+they took most of the little store of food that remained, the three
+hand-lamps and all the paraffin; there was but one tin. Then returning
+they fetched the bucket, the ammunition, and their clothes. Afterwards,
+as there was still no sign of Meyer, they even dared to drag in the
+waggon tent to make a shelter for Benita, and all the wood that they
+had collected for firing. This proved a wearisome business, for the logs
+were heavy, and in his crippled state Mr. Clifford could carry no great
+burden. Indeed, towards the end Benita was forced to complete the task
+alone, while he limped beside her with his rifle, lest Jacob should
+surprise them.
+
+When at length everything was done it was long past midnight, and so
+exhausted were they that, notwithstanding their danger, they flung
+themselves down upon the canvas tent, which lay in a heap at the end of
+the cave near the crucifix, and fell asleep.
+
+When Benita woke the lamp had gone out, and it was pitch dark.
+Fortunately, however, she remembered where she had put the matches and
+the lantern with a candle in it. She lit the candle and looked at her
+watch. It was nearly six o'clock. The dawn must be breaking outside,
+within an hour or two Jacob Meyer would find that they had gone. Suppose
+that his rage should overcome his fear and that he should creep upon
+them. They would know nothing of it until his face appeared in the faint
+ring of light. Or he might even shoot her father out of the darkness.
+What could she do that would give them warning? A thought came to her.
+
+Taking one of the tent ropes and the lantern, for her father still slept
+heavily, she went down to the entrance of the cave, and at the end of
+the last zigzag where once a door had been, managed to make it fast to a
+stone hinge about eighteen inches above the floor, and on the other side
+to an eye opposite that was cut in the solid rock to receive a bolt of
+wood or iron. Meyer, she knew, had no lamps or oil, only matches and
+perhaps a few candles. Therefore if he tried to enter the cave it was
+probable that he would trip over the rope and thus give them warning.
+Then she went back, washed her face and hands with some water that they
+had drawn on the previous night to satisfy their thirst, and tidied
+herself as best she could. This done, as her father still slept, she
+filled the lamps, lit one of them, and looked about her, for she was
+loth to wake him.
+
+Truly it was an awful place in which to dwell. There above them towered
+the great white crucifix; there in the corner were piled the remains of
+the Portuguese. A skull with long hair still hanging to it grinned at
+her, a withered hand was thrust forward as though to clutch her. Oh, no
+wonder that in such a spot Jacob Meyer had seen ghosts! In front, too,
+was the yawning grave where they had found the monk; indeed, his bones
+wrapped in dark robes still lay within, for Jacob had tumbled them back
+again. Then beyond and all around deep, dark, and utter silence.
+
+At last her father woke, and glad enough was she of his human company.
+They breakfasted upon some biscuits and water, and afterwards, while Mr.
+Clifford watched near the entrance with his rifle, Benita set to work
+to arrange their belongings. The tent she managed to prop up against the
+wall of the cave by help of some of the wood which they had carried in.
+Beneath it she spread their blankets, that it might serve as a sleeping
+place for them both, and outside placed the food and other things.
+
+While she was thus engaged she heard a sound at the mouth of the
+cave--Jacob Meyer was entering and had fallen over her rope. Down it
+she ran, lantern in hand, to her father, who, with his rifle raised, was
+shouting:
+
+"If you come in here, I put a bullet through you!"
+
+Then came the answer in Jacob's voice, which rang hollow in that vaulted
+place:
+
+"I do not want to come in; I shall wait for you to come out. You cannot
+live long in there; the horror of the dark will kill you. I have only to
+sit in the sunlight and wait."
+
+Then he laughed, and they heard the sound of his footsteps retreating
+down the passage.
+
+"What are we to do?" asked Mr. Clifford despairingly. "We cannot live
+without light, and if we have light he will certainly creep to the
+entrance and shoot us. He is quite mad now; I am sure of it from his
+voice."
+
+Benita thought a minute, then she answered:
+
+"We must build up the passage. Look," and she pointed to the lumps of
+rock that the explosion of their mine had shaken down from the roof,
+and the slabs of cement that they had broken from the floor with the
+crowbar. "At once, at once," she went on; "he will not come back for
+some hours, probably not till night."
+
+So they set to work, and never did Benita labour as it was her lot to do
+that day. Such of the fragments as they could lift they carried between
+them, others they rolled along by help of the crowbar. For hour after
+hour they toiled at their task. Luckily for them, the passage was not
+more than three feet wide by six feet six high, and their material was
+ample. Before the evening they had blocked it completely with a wall
+several feet in thickness, which wall they supported on the inside with
+lengths of the firewood lashed across to the old hinges and bolt-holes,
+or set obliquely against its face.
+
+It was done, and they regarded their work with pride, although it seemed
+probable that they were building up their own tomb. Because of its
+position at an angle of the passage, they knew that Meyer could not get
+to it with a pole to batter it down. Also, there was no loose powder
+left, so his only chance would be to pull it to pieces with his hands,
+and this, they thought, might be beyond his power. At least, should he
+attempt it, they would have ample warning. Yet that day was not to pass
+without another trouble.
+
+Just as they had rolled up and levered into place a long fragment of
+rock designed to prevent the ends of their supporting pieces of wood
+from slipping on the cement floor, Mr. Clifford uttered an exclamation,
+then said:
+
+"I have wrung my back badly. Help me to the tent. I must lie down."
+
+Slowly and with great pain they staggered up the cave, Mr. Clifford
+leaning on Benita and a stick, till, reaching the tent at last, he
+almost fell on to the blankets and remained there practically crippled.
+
+Now began Benita's terrible time, the worst of all her life. Every hour
+her father became more ill. Even before they took refuge in the cave
+he was completely broken down, and now after this accident he began to
+suffer very much. His rheumatism or sciatica, or whatever it was, seemed
+to settle upon the hurt muscles of his back, causing him so much pain
+that he could scarcely sleep for ten minutes at a stretch. Moreover, he
+would swallow but little of the rough food which was all Benita was
+able to prepare for him; nothing, indeed, except biscuit soaked in black
+coffee, which she boiled over a small fire made of wood that they had
+brought with them, and occasionally a little broth, tasteless stuff
+enough, for it was only the essence of biltong, or sun-dried flesh,
+flavoured with some salt.
+
+Then there were two other terrors against she must fight, the darkness
+and the dread of Jacob Meyer. Perhaps the darkness was the worse of
+them. To live in that hideous gloom in which their single lamp, for she
+dared burn no more lest the oil should give out, seemed but as one star
+to the whole night, ah! who that had not endured it could know what it
+meant? There the sick man, yonder the grinning skeletons, around the
+blackness and the silence, and beyond these again a miserable death,
+or Jacob Meyer. But of him Benita saw nothing, though once or twice she
+thought that she heard his voice raving outside the wall which they had
+built. If so, either he did not try to pull it down, or he failed in
+the attempt, or perhaps he feared that should he succeed, he would be
+greeted by a bullet. So at last she gave up thinking about him. Should
+he force his way into the cave she must deal with the situation as best
+she could. Meanwhile, her father's strength was sinking fast.
+
+Three awful days went by in this fashion, and the end drew near.
+Although she tried to force herself to it, Benita could not swallow
+enough food to keep up her strength. Now that the passage was closed the
+atmosphere of this old vault, for it was nothing more, thickened by
+the smoke of the fire which she was obliged to burn, grew poisonous and
+choked her. Want of sleep exhausted her, dread of what the morrow might
+bring forth crushed her strong spirit. She began to break down, knowing
+that the hour was near when she and her father must die together.
+
+Once, as she slept awhile at his side, being wakened by his groaning,
+Benita looked at her watch. It was midnight. She rose, and going to the
+embers of the little fire, warmed up some of her biltong broth which she
+poured into a tin pannikin. With difficulty she forced him to swallow
+a few mouthfuls of it, then, feeling a sudden weakness, drank the rest
+herself. It gave her power to think, and her father dozed off into an
+uneasy sleep.
+
+Alas! thinking was of no use, nothing could be done. There was no hope
+save in prayer. Restlessness seized Benita, and taking the lantern she
+wandered round the cave. The wall that they had built remained intact,
+and oh! to think that beyond it flowed the free air and shone the
+blessed stars! Back she came again, skirting the pits that Jacob Meyer
+had dug, and the grave of the old monk, till she reached the steps of
+the crucifix, and holding up her candle, looked at the thorn-crowned
+brow of the Christ above.
+
+It was wonderfully carved; that dying face was full of pity. Would not
+He Whom it represented pity her? She knelt down on the topmost step, and
+clasping the pierced feet with her arms, began to pray earnestly, not
+for herself but that she might save her father. She prayed as she had
+never prayed before, and so praying, sank into a torpor or a swoon.
+
+It seemed to Benita that this sleep of hers suddenly became alive; in it
+she saw many things. For instance, she saw herself seated in a state of
+trance upon that very step where now she knelt, while before her stood
+her father and Jacob Meyer. Moreover, something spoke in her; she could
+not hear a voice, but she seemed to see the words written in the air
+before her. These were the words:--
+
+"_Clasp the feet of the Christ and draw them to the left. The passage
+beneath leads to the chamber where the gold is hid, and thence to the
+river bank. That is the secret which ere I depart, I the dead Benita,
+pass on to you, the living Benita, as I am commanded. In life and death
+peace be to your soul._"
+
+Thrice did this message appear to repeat itself in the consciousness
+of Benita. Then, suddenly as she had slept, she woke again with every
+letter of it imprinted on her mind. Doubtless it was a dream, nothing
+but a dream bred by the fact that her arms were clasping the feet of the
+crucifix. What did it say? "Draw them to the left."
+
+She did so, but nothing stirred. Again she tried, and still nothing
+stirred. Of course it was a dream. Why had such been sent to mock her?
+In a kind of mad irritation she put out all her remaining strength and
+wrestled with those stony feet. _They moved a little_--then of a sudden,
+without any further effort on her part, swung round as high as the knees
+where drapery hung, concealing the join in them. Yes, they swung round,
+revealing the head of a stair, up which blew a cold wind that it was
+sweet to breathe.
+
+Benita rose, gasping. Then she seized her lantern and ran to the little
+tent where her father lay.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+THE VOICE OF THE LIVING
+
+Mr. Clifford was awake again now.
+
+"Where have you been?" he asked querulously in a thin voice. "I wanted
+you." Then as the light from the candle shone upon it, he noted the
+change that had come over her pale face, and added: "What has happened?
+Is Meyer dead? Are we free?"
+
+Benita shook her head. "He was alive a few hours ago, for I could hear
+him raving and shouting outside the wall we built. But, father, it has
+all come back to me; I believe that I have found it."
+
+"What has come back? What have you found? Are you mad, too, like Jacob?"
+
+"What something told me when I was in the trance which afterwards I
+forgot, but now remember. And I have found the passage which leads to
+where they hid the gold. It begins behind the crucifix, where no one
+ever thought of looking."
+
+This matter of the gold did not seem to interest Mr. Clifford. In his
+state all the wealth beneath the soil of Africa would not have appealed
+to him. Moreover, he hated the name of that accursed treasure, which was
+bringing them to such a miserable end.
+
+"Where does the passage run? Have you looked?" he asked.
+
+"Not yet, but the voice in me said--I mean, I dreamed--that it goes down
+to the river-side. If you leant on me do you think that you could walk?"
+
+"Not one inch," he answered. "Here where I am I shall die."
+
+"No, no, don't talk like that. We may be saved now that I have found
+a way. Oh, if only you could--if only you could walk, or if I had the
+strength to carry you!" and she wrung her hands and began to weep, so
+weak was she.
+
+Her father looked at her searchingly. Then he said:
+
+"Well, love, I cannot, so there's an end. But you can, and you had
+better go."
+
+"What! And leave you? Never."
+
+"Yes, and leave me. Look, there is but a little oil left and only a
+few candles. The biscuits are done and neither of us can swallow
+that biltong any more. I suppose that I am dying, and your health and
+strength are failing you quickly in this darkness; if you stop here
+you must soon follow me. And what is the alternative? The madman
+outside--that is, if you could find strength to pull down the wall,
+which I doubt. You had best go, Benita."
+
+But still she said she would not.
+
+"Do you not see," he added, "that it is my only chance of life? If you
+go you may be able to bring me help before the end comes. Should there
+be a passage the probability is that, although they know nothing of
+it, it finishes somewhere by the wall of the first enclosure where the
+Makalanga are. If so, you may find the Molimo, or if he is dead, Tamas
+or one of the others, and they will help us. Go, Benita, go at once."
+
+"I never thought of that," she answered in a changed voice. "Of course,
+it may be so, if the passage goes down at all. Well, at least I can look
+and come back to tell you."
+
+Then Benita placed the remainder of the oil close by her father's
+side, so that he could refill the lamp, for the use of his hands still
+remained to him. Also, she set there such crumbs of biscuit as were
+left, some of the biltong, a flask of Hollands, and a pail of water.
+This done, she put on her long cloak, filled one of its pockets with
+biltong, and the other with matches and three of the four remaining
+candles. The fourth she insisted on leaving beside her father's bed.
+When everything was ready she knelt down at his side, kissed him, and
+from her heart put up a prayer that they might both live to meet again,
+although she knew well that this they could scarcely hope to do.
+
+Had two people ever been in a more dreadful situation, she wondered, as
+she looked at her father lying there, whom she must leave to fight with
+Death alone in that awful place, while she went forth to meet him in the
+unknown bowels of the earth!
+
+Mr. Clifford read her thoughts. "Yes," he said, "it is a strange parting
+and a wild errand. But who knows? It may please Providence to take you
+through, and if not--why, our troubles will soon be over."
+
+Then once more they kissed, and not daring to try to speak, Benita tore
+herself away. Passing into the passage whereof the lower half of the
+crucifix formed the door, she paused for a moment to examine it and to
+place a fragment of rock in such fashion that it could not shut again
+behind her. Her idea was that it worked by aid of some spring, but now
+she saw that this was not so, as the whole mass hung upon three stone
+hinges beautifully concealed. The dust and corrosion of ages which had
+made this door so hard to open, by filling up the tiny spaces between it
+and its framework, had also rendered these cracks utterly imperceptible
+to the eye. So accurately was it fashioned, indeed, that no one who did
+not know its secret would have discovered it if they searched for months
+or years.
+
+Though at the time Benita took little note of such details, the
+passage beyond and the stair descending from it showed the same perfect
+workmanship. Evidently this secret way dated not from the Portuguese
+period, but from that of the Phoenicians or other ancients, to whose
+treasure-chamber it was the approach, opening as it did from their
+holy of holies, to which none were admitted save the head priests. The
+passage, which was about seven feet high by four wide, had been hewn out
+of the live rock of the mountain, for thousands of little marks left by
+the workmen's chisels were still discernible upon its walls. So it was
+with the stair, that had been but little used, and remained fresh as the
+day when it was finished.
+
+Down the steps, candle in hand, flitted Benita, counting them as she
+went. The thirtieth brought her to a landing. Here it was that she saw
+the first traces of that treasure which they had suffered so much to
+find. Something glittered at her feet. She picked it up. It was a little
+bar of gold weighing two or three ounces that doubtless had been dropped
+there. Throwing it down again she looked in front of her, and to her
+dismay saw a door of wood with iron bolts. But the bolts had never been
+shot, and when she pulled at it the door creaked upon its rusty hinges
+and opened. She was on the threshold of the treasure-chamber!
+
+It was square and of the size of a small room, packed on either side
+almost to the low, vaulted roof with small bags of raw hide, carelessly
+arranged. Quite near to the door one of these bags had slipped down
+and burst open. It was filled with gold, some in ingots and some in raw
+nuggets, for there they lay in a shining, scattered heap. As she stooped
+to look it came into the mind of Benita that her father had said that in
+her trance she had told them that one of the bags of treasure was burst,
+and that the skin of which it had been made was black and red. Behold!
+before her lay the burst bag, and the colour of the hide was black and
+red.
+
+She shivered. The thing was uncanny, terrible. Uncanny was it also
+to see in the thick dust, which in the course of twenty or more of
+centuries had gathered on the floor, the mark of footprints, those of
+the last persons who had visited this place. There had been two of them,
+a man and a woman, and they were no savages, for they wore shoes. Benita
+placed her foot in the print left by that dead woman. It filled it
+exactly, it might have been her own. Perhaps, she thought to herself,
+that other Benita had descended here with her father, after the
+Portuguese had hidden away their wealth, that she might be shown where
+it was, and of what it consisted.
+
+One more glance at all this priceless, misery-working gold, and on she
+went, she who was seeking the gold of life and liberty for herself and
+him who lay above. Supposing that the stairway ended there? She stopped,
+she looked round, but could see no other door. To see the better she
+halted and opened the glass of her lantern. Still she could perceive
+nothing, and her heart sank. Yet why did the candle flicker so fiercely?
+And why was the air in this deep place so fresh? She walked forward a
+pace or two, then noticed suddenly that those footprints of the dead
+that she was following disappeared immediately in front of her, and she
+stopped.
+
+It was but just in time. One step more and she would have fallen down
+the mouth of a deep pit. Once it had been covered with a stone, but this
+stone was removed, and had never been replaced. Look! there it stood
+against the wall of the chamber. Well was this for Benita, since her
+frail strength would not have sufficed to stir that massive block, even
+if she had discovered its existence beneath the dust.
+
+Now she saw that down the pit ran another ladderlike stair of stone,
+very narrow and precipitous. Without hesitation she began its descent.
+Down she went and down--one hundred steps, two hundred steps, two
+hundred and seventy-five steps, and all the way wherever the dust had
+gathered the man's and the woman's footprints ran before her. There was
+a double line of them, one line going down and the other line returning.
+Those that returned were the last, for often they appeared over those
+that descended. Why had these dead people returned, Benita wondered.
+
+The stair had ended; now she was in a kind of natural cave, for its
+sides and roof were rugged; moreover, water trickled and dripped from
+them. It was not very large, and it smelt horribly of mud and other
+things. Again she searched by the feeble light of her candle, but could
+see no exit. Suddenly she saw something else, however, for stepping
+on what she took to be a rock, to her horror it moved beneath her. She
+heard a snap as of jaws, a violent blow upon the leg nearly knocked
+her off her feet, and as she staggered backwards she saw a huge and
+loathsome shape rushing away into the darkness. The rock that she had
+trodden on was a crocodile which had its den here! With a little scream
+she retreated to her stair. Death she had expected--but to be eaten by
+crocodiles!
+
+Yet as Benita stood there panting a blessed hope rose in her breast. If
+a crocodile came in there it must also get out, and where such a great
+creature could go, a woman would be able to follow. Also, she must be
+near the water, since otherwise it could never have chosen this hole for
+its habitation. She collected her courage, and having clapped her hands
+and waved the lantern about to scare any alligators that might still be
+lurking there, hearing and seeing nothing more, she descended to where
+she had trodden upon the reptile. Evidently this was its bed, for
+its long body had left an impress upon the mud, and all about lay the
+remains of creatures that it had brought in for food. Moreover, a path
+ran outwards, its well-worn trail distinct even in that light.
+
+She followed this path, which ended apparently in a blank wall. Then it
+was that Benita guessed why those dead folks' footprints had returned,
+for here had been a doorway which in some past age those who used it
+built up with blocks of stone and cement. How, then, did the crocodile
+get out? Stooping down she searched, and perceived, a few yards to the
+right of the door, a hole that looked as though it were water-worn.
+Now Benita thought that she understood. The rock was softer here, and
+centuries of flood had eaten it away, leaving a crack in the stratum
+which the crocodiles had found out and enlarged. Down she went on her
+hands and knees, and thrusting the lantern in front of her, crept along
+that noisome drain, for this was what it resembled. And now--oh! now she
+felt air blowing in her face, and heard the sound of reeds whispering,
+and water running, and saw hanging like a lamp in the blue sky,
+a star--the morning star! Benita could have wept, she could have
+worshipped it, yet she pushed on between rocks till she found herself
+among tall reeds, and standing in water. She had gained the banks of the
+Zambesi.
+
+Instantly, by instinct as it were, Benita extinguished her candle,
+fearing lest it should betray her, for constant danger had made her very
+cunning. The dawn had not yet broken, but the waning moon and the stars
+gave a good light. She paused to look. There above her towered the
+outermost wall of Bambatse, against which the river washed, except at
+such times as the present, when it was very low.
+
+So she was not in the fortress as she had hoped, but without it, and oh!
+what should she do? Go back again? How would that serve her father or
+herself? Go on? Then she might fall into the hands of the Matabele whose
+camp was a little lower down, as from her perch upon the top of the cone
+she had seen that poor white man do. Ah! the white man! If only he lived
+and she could reach him! Perhaps they had not killed him after all. It
+was madness, yet she would try to discover; something impelled her to
+take the risk. If she failed and escaped, perhaps then she might call to
+the Makalanga, and they would let down a rope and draw her up the wall
+before the Matabele caught her. She would not go back empty-handed, to
+die in that dreadful place with her poor father. Better perish here in
+the sweet air and beneath the stars, even if it were upon a Matabele
+spear, or by a bullet from her own pistol.
+
+She looked about her to take her bearings in case it should ever be
+necessary for her to return to the entrance of the cave. This proved
+easy, for a hundred or so feet above her--where the sheer face of the
+cliff jutted out a little, at that very spot indeed on which tradition
+said that the body of the Se�ora da Ferreira had struck in its fall, and
+the necklace Benita wore to-day was torn from her--a stunted mimosa grew
+in some cleft of the rock. To mark the crocodile run itself she bent
+down a bunch of reeds, and having first lit a few Tandstickor brimstone
+matches and thrown them about inside of it, that the smell of them might
+scare the beast should it wish to return, she set her lantern behind a
+stone near to the mouth of the hole.
+
+Then Benita began her journey which, when the river was high, it would
+not have been possible for her to make except by swimming. As it was,
+a margin of marsh was left between her and the steep, rocky side of the
+mount from which the great wall rose, and through this she made her way.
+Never was she likely to forget that walk. The tall reeds dripped
+their dew upon her until she was soaked; long, black-tailed
+finches--saccaboolas the natives call them--flew up undisturbed, and
+lobbed away across the river; owls flitted past and bitterns boomed at
+the coming of the dawn. Great fish splashed also in the shallows, or
+were they crocodiles? Benita hoped not--for one day she had seen enough
+of crocodiles.
+
+It was all very strange. Could she be the same woman, she wondered,
+who not a year before had been walking with her cousins down Westbourne
+Grove, and studying Whiteley's windows? What would these cousins say
+now if they could see her, white-faced, large-eyed, desperate, splashing
+through the mud upon the unknown banks of the Zambesi, flying from death
+to death!
+
+On she struggled, above her the pearly sky in which the stars were
+fading, around her the wet reeds, and pervading all the heavy low-lying
+mists of dawn. She was past the round of the walls, and at length stood
+upon dry ground where the Matabele had made their camp. But in that fog
+she saw no Matabele; probably their fires were out, and she chanced
+to pass between the sentries. Instinctively, more than by reason, she
+headed for that hillock upon which she had seen the white man's waggon,
+in the vague hope that it might still be there. On she struggled, still
+on, till at length she blundered against something soft and warm, and
+perceived that it was an ox tied to a trek-tow, beyond which were other
+oxen and a white waggon-cap.
+
+So it _was_ still there! But the white man, where was he? Through the
+dense mist Benita crept to the disselboom. Then, seeing and hearing
+nothing, she climbed to the voorkissie and kneeling on it, separated
+the tent flaps and peered into the waggon. Still she could see nothing
+because of the mist, yet she heard something, a man breathing in his
+sleep. Somehow she thought that it was a white man; a Kaffir did not
+breathe like that. She did not know what to do, so remained kneeling
+there. It seemed as though the man who was asleep began to feel her
+presence, for he muttered to himself--surely the words were English!
+Then quite suddenly he struck a match and lit a candle which stood in
+a beer bottle by his side. She could not see his face while he lit the
+match, for his arm hid it, and the candle burned up slowly. Then the
+first thing she saw was the barrel of a revolver pointing straight at
+her.
+
+"Now, my black friend," said a pleasant voice, "down you go or I shoot.
+One, two! Oh, my God!"
+
+The candle burned up, its light fell upon the white, elfish face of
+Benita, whose long dark hair streamed about her; it shone in her great
+eyes. Still she could see nothing, for it dazzled her.
+
+"Oh, my God!" said the voice again. "Benita! Benita! Have you come to
+tell me that I must join you? Well, I am ready, my sweet, my sweet! Now
+I shall hear your answer."
+
+"Yes," she whispered, and crawling forward down the cartel Benita fell
+upon his breast.
+
+For she knew him at last--dead or living she cared not--she knew him,
+and out of hell crept to him, her heaven and her home!
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+BENITA GIVES HER ANSWER
+
+"Your answer, Benita," Robert said dreamily, for to him this thing
+seemed a dream.
+
+"Have I not given it, months ago? Oh, I remember, it was only in my
+heart, not on my lips, when that blow fell on me! Then afterwards I
+heard what you had done and I nearly died. I wished that I might die
+to be with you, but I could not. I was too strong; now I understand the
+reason. Well, it seems that we are both living, and whatever happens,
+here is my answer, if it is worth anything to you. Once and for all,
+I love you. I am not ashamed to say it, because very soon we may be
+separated for the last time. But I cannot talk now, I have come here to
+save my father."
+
+"Where is he, Benita?"
+
+"Dying in a cave up at the top of that fortress. I got down by a secret
+way. Are the Matabele still here?"
+
+"Very much so," he answered. "But something has happened. My guard woke
+me an hour ago to say that a messenger had arrived from their king,
+Lobengula, and now they are talking over the message. That is how you
+came to get through, otherwise the sentries would have assegaied you,
+the brutes," and he drew her to him and kissed her passionately for the
+first time; then, as though ashamed of himself, let her go.
+
+"Have you anything to eat?" she asked. "I--I--am starving. I didn't feel
+it before, but now----"
+
+"Starving, you starving, while I--look, here is some cold meat which
+I could not get down last night, and put by for the Kaffirs. Great
+Heavens! that I should feed you with Kaffirs' leavings! But it is
+good--eat it."
+
+Benita took the stuff in her fingers and swallowed it greedily; she
+who for days had lived on nothing but a little biscuit and biltong. It
+tasted delicious to her--never had she eaten anything so good. And all
+the while he watched her with glowing eyes.
+
+"How can you look at me?" she said at length. "I must be horrible; I
+have been living in the dark and crawling through mud. I trod upon a
+crocodile!" and she shuddered.
+
+"Whatever you are I never want to see you different," he answered
+slowly. "To me you are most beautiful."
+
+Even then, wreck as she was, the poor girl flushed, and there was a mist
+in her eyes as she looked up and said:
+
+"Thank you. I don't care now what happens to me, and what has happened
+doesn't matter at all. But can we get away?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered; "but I doubt it. Go and sit on the
+waggon-box for a few minutes while I dress, and we will see."
+
+Benita went. The mist was thinning now, and through it she saw a sight
+at which her heart sank, for between her and the mount Bambatse Matabele
+were pouring towards their camp on the river's edge. They were cut off.
+A couple of minutes later Robert joined her, and as he came she looked
+at him anxiously in the growing light. He seemed older than when
+they had parted on the _Zanzibar_; changed, too, for now his face was
+serious, and he had grown a beard; also, he appeared to limp.
+
+"I am afraid there is an end," she said, pointing to the Matabele below.
+
+"Yes, it looks like it. But like you, I say, what does it matter now?"
+and he took her hand in his, adding: "let us be happy while we can if
+only for a few minutes. They will be here presently."
+
+"What are you?" she asked. "A prisoner?"
+
+"That's it. I was following you when they captured me; for I have been
+here before and knew the way. They were going to kill me on general
+principles, only it occurred to one of them who was more intelligent
+than the rest that I, being a white man, might be able to show them how
+to storm the place. Now I was sure that you were there, for I saw you
+standing on that point, though they thought you were the Spirit of
+Bambatse. So I wasn't anxious to help them, for then--you know what
+happens when the Matabele are the stormers! But--as you still lived--I
+wasn't anxious to die either. So I set them to work to dig a hole with
+their assegais and sharp axes, through granite. They have completed
+exactly twenty feet of it, and I reckon that there are one hundred and
+forty to go. Last night they got tired of that tunnel and talked of
+killing me again, unless I could show them a better plan. Now all the
+fat is in the fire, and I don't know what is to happen. Hullo! here they
+come. Hide in the waggon, quick!"
+
+Benita obeyed, and from under cover of the tent where the Matabele could
+not see her, watched and listened. The party that approached consisted
+of a chief and about twenty men, who marched behind him as a guard.
+Benita knew that chief. He was the captain Maduna, he of the royal blood
+whose life she had saved. By his side was a Natal Zulu, Robert Seymour's
+driver, who could speak English and acted as interpreter.
+
+"White man," said Maduna, "a message has reached us from our king.
+Lobengula makes a great war and has need of us. He summons us back from
+this petty fray, this fight against cowards who hide behind walls, whom
+otherwise we would have killed, everyone, yes, if we sat here till we
+grew old. So for this time we leave them alone."
+
+Robert answered politely that he was glad to hear it, and wished them a
+good journey.
+
+"Wish yourself a good journey, white man," was the stern reply.
+
+"Why? Do you desire that I should accompany you to Lobengula?"
+
+"No, you go before us to the kraal of the Black One who is even greater
+than the child of Moselikatse, to that king who is called Death."
+
+Robert crossed his arms and said: "Say on."
+
+"White man, I promised you life if you would show us how to pierce or
+climb those walls. But you have made fools of us--you have set us to cut
+through rock with spears and axes. Yes, to hoe at rock as though it were
+soil--you who with the wisdom of your people could have taught us some
+better way. Therefore we must go back to our king disgraced, having
+failed in his service, and therefore you who have mocked us shall die.
+Come down now, that we may kill you quietly, and learn whether or no you
+are a brave man."
+
+Then it was, while her lover's hand was moving towards the pistol hidden
+beneath his coat, that Benita, with a quick movement, emerged from the
+waggon in which she crouched, and stood up at his side upon the driving
+box.
+
+"_Ow!_" said the Captain. "It is the White Maiden. Now how came she
+here? Surely this is great magic. Can a woman fly like a bird?" and they
+stared at her amazed.
+
+"What does it matter how I came, chief Maduna?" she answered in Zulu.
+"Yet I will tell you why I came. It was to save you from dipping your
+spear in the innocent blood, and bringing on your head the curse of the
+innocent blood. Answer me now. Who gave you and your brother yonder your
+lives within that wall when the Makalanga would have torn you limb from
+limb, as hyenas tear a buck? Was it I or another?"
+
+"Inkosi-kaas--Chieftainess," replied the great Captain, raising his
+broad spear in salute. "It was you and no other."
+
+"And what did you promise me then, Prince Maduna?"
+
+"Maiden of high birth, I promised you your life and your goods, should
+you ever fall into my power."
+
+"Does a leader of the Amandabele, one of the royal blood, lie like a
+Mashona or a Makalanga slave? Does he do worse--tell half the truth
+only, like a cheat who buys and keeps back half the price?" she asked
+contemptuously. "Maduna, you promised me not one life, but two, two
+lives and the goods that belong to both. Ask of your brother there, who
+was witness of the words."
+
+"Great Heavens!" muttered Robert Seymour to himself, as he looked at
+Benita standing with outstretched hand and flashing eyes. "Who would
+have thought that a starved woman could play such a part with death on
+the hazard?"
+
+"It is as this daughter of white chiefs says," answered the man to whom
+she had appealed. "When she freed us from the fangs of those dogs, you
+promised her two lives, my brother, one for yours and one for mine."
+
+"Hear him," went on Benita. "He promised me two lives, and how did this
+prince of the royal blood keep his promise? When I and the old man, my
+father, rode hence in peace, he loosed his spears upon us; he hunted us.
+Yet it was the hunters who fell into the trap, not the hunted."
+
+"Maiden," replied Maduna, in a shamed voice, "that was your fault, not
+mine. If you had appealed to me I would have let you go. But you killed
+my sentry, and then the chase began, and ere I knew who you were my
+runners were out of call."
+
+"Little time had I to ask your mercy; but so be it," said Benita. "I
+accept your word, and I forgive you that offence. Now fulfil your oath.
+Begone and leave us in peace."
+
+Still Maduna hesitated.
+
+"I must make report to the king," he said. "What is this white man to
+you that I should spare him? I give you your life and your father's
+life, not that of this white man who has tricked us. If he were your
+father, or your brother, it would be otherwise. But he is a stranger,
+and belongs to me, not to you."
+
+"Maduna," she asked, "do women such as I am share the waggon of a
+stranger? This man is more to me than father or brother. He is my
+husband, and I claim his life."
+
+"_Ow!_" said the spokesman of the audience, "we understand now. She is
+his wife, and has a right to him. If she were not his wife she would not
+be in his waggon. It is plain that she speaks the truth, though how she
+came here we do not know, unless, as we think, she is a witch," and he
+smiled at his own cleverness.
+
+"Inkosi-kaas," said Maduna, "you have persuaded me. I give you the life
+of that white fox, your husband, and I hope that he will not trick you
+as he has tricked us, and set you to hoe rock instead of soil," and he
+looked at Robert wrathfully. "I give him to you and all his belongings.
+Now, is there anything else that you would ask?"
+
+"Yes," replied Benita coolly, "you have many oxen there which you took
+from the other Makalanga. Mine are eaten and I need cattle to draw
+my waggon. I ask a present of twenty of them, and," she added by an
+afterthought, "two cows with young calves, for my father is sick yonder,
+and must have milk."
+
+"Oh! give them to her. Give them to her," said Maduna, with a tragic
+gesture that in any other circumstances would have made Benita laugh.
+"Give them to her and see that they are good ones, before she asks our
+shields and spears also--for after all she saved my life."
+
+So men departed to fetch those cows and oxen, which presently were
+driven in.
+
+While this talk was in progress the great impi of the Matabele was
+massing for the march, on the flat ground a little to the right of
+them. Now they began to come past in companies, preceded by the lads
+who carried the mats and cooking-pots and drove the captured sheep and
+cattle. By this time the story of Benita, the witch-woman whom they
+could not kill, and who had mysteriously flown from the top of the peak
+into their prisoner's waggon, had spread among them. They knew also that
+it was she who had saved their general from the Makalanga, and those who
+had heard her admired the wit and courage with which she had pleaded
+and won her cause. Therefore, as they marched past in their companies,
+singing a song of abuse and defiance of the Makalanga who peered at them
+from the top of the wall, they lifted their great spears in salutation
+to Benita standing upon the waggon-box.
+
+Indeed, they were a wondrous and imposing spectacle, such a one as few
+white women have ever seen.
+
+At length all were gone except Maduna and a body-guard of two hundred
+men. He walked to the front of the waggon and addressed Robert Seymour.
+
+"Listen, you fox who set us to hoe granite," he said indignantly. "You
+have outwitted us this time, but if ever I meet you again, then you die.
+Now I have given you your life, but," he added, almost pleadingly, "if
+you are really brave as white men are said to be, will you not come down
+and fight me man to man for honour's sake?"
+
+"I think not," answered Robert, when he understood this challenge, "for
+what chance should I have against so brave a warrior? Also this lady--my
+wife--needs my help on her journey home."
+
+Maduna turned from him contemptuously to Benita.
+
+"I go," he said, "and fear not; you will meet no Matabele on that
+journey. Have you more words for me, O Beautiful One, with a tongue of
+oil and a wit that cuts like steel?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita. "You have dealt well with me, and in reward I
+give you of my good luck. Bear this message to your king from the
+White Witch of Bambatse, for I am she and no other. That he leave these
+Makalanga, my servants, to dwell unharmed in their ancient home, and
+that he lift no spear against the White Men, lest that evil which the
+Molimo foretold to you, should fall upon him."
+
+"Ah!" said Maduna, "now I understand how you flew from the mountain top
+into this man's waggon. You are not a white woman, you are the ancient
+Witch of Bambatse herself. You have said it, and with such it is not
+well to war. Great lady of Magic, Spirit from of old, I salute you, and
+I thank you for your gifts of life and fortune. Farewell."
+
+Then he, too, stalked away at the head of his guard, so that presently,
+save for the three Zulu servants and the herd of cattle, Robert and
+Benita were left utterly alone.
+
+Now, her part played and the victory won, Benita burst into tears and
+fell upon her lover's breast.
+
+Presently she remembered, and freed herself from his arms.
+
+"I am a selfish wretch," she said. "How dare I be so happy when my
+father is dead or dying? We must go at once."
+
+"Go where?" asked the bewildered Robert.
+
+"To the top of the mountain, of course, whence I came. Oh! please don't
+stop to question me, I'll tell you as we walk. Stay," and she called
+to the Zulu driver, who with an air of utter amazement was engaged in
+milking one of the gift cows, to fill two bottles with the milk.
+
+"Had we not better shout to the Makalanga to let us in?" suggested
+Robert, while this was being done, and Benita wrapped some cooked meat
+in a cloth.
+
+"No, no. They will think I am what I said I was--the Witch of Bambatse,
+whose appearance heralds misfortune, and fear a trap. Besides, we could
+not climb the top wall. You must follow my road, and if you can trust
+them, bring two of those men with you with lanterns. The lad can stop to
+herd the cattle."
+
+Three minutes later, followed by the two Zulus, they were walking--or
+rather, running--along the banks of the Zambesi.
+
+"Why do you not come quicker?" she asked impatiently. "Oh, I beg your
+pardon, you are lame. Robert, what made you lame, and oh! why are you
+not dead, as they all swore you were, you, you--hero, for I know that
+part of the story?"
+
+"For a very simple reason, Benita: because I didn't die. When that
+Kaffir took the watch from me I was insensible, that's all. The sun
+brought me to life afterwards. Then some natives turned up, good people
+in their way, although I could not understand a word they said. They
+made a stretcher of boughs and carried me for some miles to their kraal
+inland. It hurt awfully, for my thigh was broken, but I arrived at last.
+There a Kaffir doctor set my leg in his own fashion; it has left it an
+inch shorter than the other, but that's better than nothing.
+
+"In that place I lay for two solid months, for there was no white
+man within a hundred miles, and if there had been I could not have
+communicated with him. Afterwards I spent another month limping up
+towards Natal, until I could buy a horse. The rest is very short.
+Hearing of my reported death, I came as fast as I could to your father's
+farm, Rooi Krantz, where I learned from the old vrouw Sally that you had
+taken to treasure-hunting, the same treasure that I told you of on the
+_Zanzibar_.
+
+"So I followed your spoor, met the servants whom you had sent back, who
+told me all about you, and in due course, after many adventures, as they
+say in a book, walked into the camp of our friends, the Matabele.
+
+"They were going to kill me at once, when suddenly you appeared upon
+that point of rock, glittering like--like the angel of the dawn. I knew
+that it must be you, for I had found out about your attempted escape,
+and how you were hunted back to this place. But the Matabele all thought
+that it was the Spirit of Bambatse, who has a great reputation in these
+parts. Well, that took off their attention, and afterwards, as I told
+you, it occurred to them that I might be an engineer. You know the rest,
+don't you?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita softly. "I know the rest."
+
+Then they plunged into the reeds and were obliged to stop talking, since
+they must walk in single file. Presently Benita looked up and saw that
+she was under the thorn which grew in the cleft of the rock. Also, with
+some trouble she found the bunch of reeds that she had bent down, to
+mark the inconspicuous hole through which she had crept, and by it her
+lantern. It seemed weeks since she had left it there.
+
+"Now," she said, "light your candles, and if you see a crocodile, please
+shoot."
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+THE TRUE GOLD
+
+"Let me go first," said Robert.
+
+"No," answered Benita. "I know the way; but please do watch for that
+horrible crocodile."
+
+Then she knelt down and crept into the hole, while after her came
+Robert, and after him the two Zulus, who protested that they were not
+ant-bears to burrow under ground. Lifting the lantern she searched the
+cave, and as she could see no signs of the crocodile, walked on boldly
+to where the stair began.
+
+"Be quick," she whispered to Robert, for in that place it seemed natural
+to speak low. "My father is above and near his death. I am dreadfully
+afraid lest we should be too late."
+
+So they toiled up the endless steps, a very strange procession, for the
+two Zulus, bold men enough outside, were shaking with fright, till at
+length Benita clambered out of the trap door on to the floor of the
+treasure chamber, and turned to help Robert, whose lameness made him
+somewhat slow and awkward.
+
+"What's all that?" he asked, pointing to the hide sacks, while they
+waited for the two scared Kaffirs to join them.
+
+"Oh!" she answered indifferently, "gold, I believe. Look, there is some
+of it on the floor, over Benita da Ferreira's footsteps."
+
+"Gold! Why, it must be worth----! And who on earth is Benita da
+Ferreira?"
+
+"I will tell you afterwards. She has been dead two or three hundred
+years; it was her gold, or her people's, and those are her footprints in
+the dust. How stupid you are not to understand! Never mind the hateful
+stuff; come on quickly."
+
+So they passed the door which she had opened that morning, and clambered
+up the remaining stairway. So full was Benita of terrors that she
+could never remember how she climbed them. Suppose that the foot of the
+crucifix had swung to; suppose that her father were dead; suppose that
+Jacob Meyer had broken into the cave? Well for herself she was no longer
+afraid of Jacob Meyer. Oh, they were there! The heavy door _had_ begun
+to close, but mercifully her bit of rock kept it ajar.
+
+"Father! Father!" she cried, running towards the tent.
+
+No answer came. She threw aside the flap, held down the lantern and
+looked. There he lay, white and still. She was too late!
+
+"He is dead, he is dead!" she wailed. Robert knelt down at her side, and
+examined the old man, while she waited in an agony.
+
+"He ought to be," he said slowly; "but, Benita, I don't think he is. I
+can feel his heart stir. No, don't stop to talk. Pour out some of that
+squareface, and here, mix it with this milk."
+
+She obeyed, and while he held up her father's head, with a trembling
+hand emptied a little of the drink into his mouth. At first it ran out
+again, then almost automatically he swallowed some, and they knew that
+he was alive, and thanked Heaven. Ten minutes later Mr. Clifford was
+sitting up staring at them with dull and wondering eyes, while
+outside the two Zulus, whose nerves had now utterly broken down, were
+contemplating the pile of skeletons in the corner and the white towering
+crucifix, and loudly lamenting that they should have been brought to
+perish in this place of bones and ghosts.
+
+"Is it Jacob Meyer who makes that noise?" asked Mr. Clifford faintly.
+"And, Benita, where have you been so long, and--who is this gentleman
+with you? I seem to remember his face."
+
+"He is the white man who was in the waggon, father, an old friend come
+to life again. Robert, can't you stop the howling of those Kaffirs?
+Though I am sure I don't wonder that they howl; I should have liked
+to do so for days. Oh! father, father, don't you understand me? We are
+saved, yes, snatched out of hell and the jaws of death."
+
+"Is Jacob Meyer dead, then?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know where he is or what has happened to him, and I don't care,
+but perhaps we had better find out. Robert, there is a madman outside.
+Make the Kaffirs pull down that wall, would you? and catch him."
+
+"What wall? What madman?" he asked, staring at her.
+
+"Oh, of course you don't know that, either. You know nothing. I'll show
+you, and you must be prepared, for probably he will shoot at us."
+
+"It all sounds a little risky, doesn't it?" asked Robert doubtfully.
+
+"Yes, but we must take the risk. We cannot carry my father down that
+place, and unless we can get him into light and air soon, he will
+certainly die. The man outside is Jacob Meyer, his partner--you remember
+him. All these weeks of hardship and treasure-hunting have sent him off
+his head, and he wanted to mesmerize me and----"
+
+"And what? Make love to you?"
+
+She nodded, then went on:
+
+"So when he could not get his way about the mesmerism and so forth, he
+threatened to murder my father, and that is why we had to hide in this
+cave and build ourselves up, till at last I found the way out."
+
+"Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer, now as always," said Robert
+flushing. "To think that you should have been in the power of a
+scoundrel like that! Well, I hope to come square with him."
+
+"Don't hurt him, dear, unless you are obliged. Remember he is not
+responsible. He thought he saw a ghost here the other day."
+
+"Unless he behaves himself he is likely to see a good many soon,"
+muttered Robert.
+
+Then they went down the cave, and as silently as possible began to work
+at the wall, destroying in a few minutes what had been built up with so
+much labour. When it was nearly down the Zulus were told that there was
+an enemy outside, and that they must help to catch him if necessary, but
+were not to harm him. They assented gladly enough; indeed, to get out of
+that cave they would have faced half a dozen enemies.
+
+Now there was a hole right through the wall, and Robert bade Benita
+stand to one side. Then as soon as his eyes became accustomed to the
+little light that penetrated there, he drew his revolver and beckoned
+the Kaffirs to follow. Down the passage they crept, slowly, lest they
+should be blinded when they came to the glare of the sunshine, while
+Benita waited with a beating heart.
+
+A little time went by, she never knew how long, till suddenly a rifle
+shot rang through the stillness. Benita was able to bear no more. She
+rushed down the winding passage, and presently, just beyond its mouth,
+in a blurred and indistinct fashion saw that the two white men were
+rolling together on the ground, while the Kaffirs sprang round watching
+for an opportunity to seize one of them. At that moment they succeeded,
+and Robert rose, dusting his hands and knees.
+
+"Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer," he repeated. "I could have killed
+him as his back was towards me, but didn't because you asked me not.
+Then I stumbled with my lame leg, and he whipped round and let drive
+with his rifle. Look," and he showed her where the bullet had cut his
+ear. "Luckily I got hold of him before he could loose off another."
+
+Benita could find no words, her heart was too full of thankfulness. Only
+she seized Robert's hand and kissed it. Then she looked at Jacob.
+
+He was lying upon the broad of his back, the two big Zulus holding his
+arms and legs; his lips were cracked, blue and swollen; his face was
+almost black, but his eyes still shone bright with insanity and hate.
+
+"I know you," he screamed hoarsely to Robert. "You are another ghost,
+the ghost of that man who was drowned. Otherwise my bullet would have
+killed you."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Meyer," Seymour answered, "I am a ghost. Now, you boys, here's
+a bit of rope. Tie his hands behind his back and search him. There is a
+pistol in that pocket."
+
+They obeyed, and presently Meyer was disarmed and bound fast to a tree.
+
+"Water," he moaned. "For days I have had nothing but the dew I could
+lick off the leaves."
+
+Pitying his plight, Benita ran into the cave and returned presently with
+a tin of water. One of the Kaffirs held it to his lips, and he drank
+greedily. Then, leaving one Zulu to watch him, Robert, Benita, and
+the other Zulu went back, and as gently as they could carried out Mr.
+Clifford on his mattress, placing him in the shade of a rock, where he
+lay blessing them feebly, because they had brought him into the light
+again. At the sight of the old man Meyer's rage blazed up afresh.
+
+"Ah," he screamed, "if only I had killed you long ago, she would be mine
+now, not that fellow's. It was you who stood between us."
+
+"Look here, my friend," broke in Robert. "I forgive you everything else,
+but, mad or sane, be good enough to keep Miss Clifford's name off your
+lips, or I will hand you over to those Kaffirs to be dealt with as you
+deserve."
+
+Then Jacob understood, and was silent. They gave him more water and
+food to eat, some of the meat that they had brought with them, which he
+devoured ravenously.
+
+"Are you sensible now?" asked Robert when he had done. "Then listen to
+me; I have some good news for you. That treasure you have been hunting
+for has been found. We are going to give you half of it, one of the
+waggons and some oxen, and clear you out of this place. Then if I set
+eyes on you again before we get to a civilized country, I shoot you like
+a dog."
+
+"You lie!" said Meyer sullenly. "You want to turn me out into the
+wilderness to be murdered by the Makalanga or the Matabele."
+
+"Very well," said Robert. "Untie him, boys, and bring him along. I will
+show him whether I lie."
+
+"Where are they taking me to?" asked Meyer. "Not into the cave? I won't
+go into the cave; it is haunted. If it hadn't been for the ghost there
+I would have broken down their wall long ago, and killed that old snake
+before her eyes. Whenever I went near that wall I saw it watching me."
+
+"First time I ever heard of a ghost being useful," remarked Robert.
+"Bring him along. No, Benita, he shall see whether I am a liar."
+
+So the lights were lit, and the two stalwart Zulus hauled Jacob forward,
+Robert and Benita following. At first he struggled violently, then, on
+finding that he could not escape, went on, his teeth chattering with
+fear.
+
+"It is cruel," remonstrated Benita.
+
+"A little cruelty will not do him any harm," Robert answered. "He has
+plenty to spare for other people. Besides, he is going to get what he
+has been looking for so long."
+
+They led Jacob to the foot of the crucifix, where a paroxysm seemed to
+seize him, then pushed him through the swinging doorway beneath,
+and down the steep stairs, till once more they all stood in the
+treasure-chamber.
+
+"Look," said Robert, and, drawing his hunting-knife, he slashed one of
+the hide bags, whereon instantly there flowed out a stream of beads and
+nuggets. "Now, my friend, am I a liar?" he asked.
+
+At this wondrous sight Jacob's terror seemed to depart from him, and he
+grew cunning.
+
+"Beautiful, beautiful!" he said, "more than I thought--sacks and sacks
+of gold. I shall be a king indeed. No, no, it is all a dream--like the
+rest. I don't believe it's there. Loose my arms and let me feel it."
+
+"Untie him," said Robert, at the same time drawing his pistol and
+covering the man; "he can't do us any hurt."
+
+The Kaffirs obeyed, and Jacob, springing at the slashed bag, plunged his
+thin hands into it.
+
+"No lie," he screamed, "no lie," as he dragged the stuff out and smelt
+at it. "Gold, gold, gold! Hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of
+gold! Let's make a bargain, Englishman, and I won't kill you as I meant
+to do. You take the girl and give me all the gold," and in his ecstasy
+he began to pour the glittering ingots over his head and body.
+
+"A new version of the tale of Dana�," began Robert in a sarcastic
+voice, then suddenly paused, for a change had come over Jacob's face, a
+terrible change.
+
+It turned ashen beneath the tan, his eyes grew large and round, he put
+up his hands as though to thrust something from him, his whole frame
+shivered, and his hair seemed to erect itself. Slowly he retreated
+backwards, and would have fallen down the unclosed trap-hole had not one
+of the Kaffirs pushed him away. Back he went, still back, till he struck
+the further wall and stood there, perhaps for half a minute. He lifted
+his hand and pointed first to those ancient footprints, some of which
+still remained in the dust of the floor, and next, as they thought, at
+Benita. His lips moved fast, he seemed to be pleading, remonstrating,
+yet--and this was the ghastliest part of it--from them there came no
+sound. Lastly, his eyes rolled up until only the whites of them were
+visible, his face became wet as though water had been poured over it,
+and, still without a sound, he fell forward and moved no more.
+
+So terrible was the scene that with a howl of fear the two Kaffirs
+turned and fled up the stairway. Robert sprang to the Jew, dragged
+him over on to his back, put his hand upon his breast and lifted his
+eyelids.
+
+"Dead," he said. "Stone dead. Privation, brain excitement, heart
+failure--that's the story."
+
+"Perhaps," answered Benita faintly; "but really I think that I begin to
+believe in ghosts also. Look, I never noticed them before, and I didn't
+walk there, but those footsteps seem to lead right up to him." Then she
+turned too and fled.
+
+
+Another week had gone by. The waggons were laden with a burden more
+precious perhaps than waggons have often borne before. In one of them,
+on a veritable bed of gold, slept Mr. Clifford, still very weak and
+ill, but somewhat better than he had been, and with a good prospect
+of recovery, at any rate for a while. They were to trek a little after
+dawn, and already Robert and Benita were up and waiting. She touched his
+arm and said to him:
+
+"Come with me. I have a fancy to see that place once more, for the last
+time."
+
+So they climbed the hill and the steep steps in the topmost wall that
+Meyer had blocked--re-opened now--and reaching the mouth of the cave,
+lit the lamps which they had brought with them, and entered. There were
+the fragments of the barricade that Benita had built with desperate
+hands, there was the altar of sacrifice standing cold and grey as it had
+stood for perhaps three thousand years. There was the tomb of the old
+monk who had a companion now, for in it Jacob Meyer lay with him, his
+bones covered by the _d�bris_ that he himself had dug out in his mad
+search for wealth; and there the white Christ hung awful on His cross.
+Only the skeletons of the Portuguese were gone, for with the help of his
+Kaffirs Robert had moved them every one into the empty treasure-chamber,
+closing the trap beneath, and building up the door above, so that there
+they might lie in peace at last.
+
+In this melancholy place they tarried but a little while, then, turning
+their backs upon it for ever, went out and climbed the granite cone to
+watch the sun rise over the broad Zambesi. Up it came in glory, that
+same sun which had shone upon the despairing Benita da Ferreira, and
+upon the English Benita when she had stood there in utter hopelessness,
+and seen the white man captured by the Matabele.
+
+Now, different was their state indeed, and there in that high place,
+whence perhaps many a wretched creature had been cast to death, whence
+certainly the Portuguese maiden had sought her death, these two happy
+beings were not ashamed to give thanks to Heaven for the joy which it
+had vouchsafed to them, and for their hopes of life full and long to be
+travelled hand in hand. Behind them was the terror of the cave, beneath
+them were the mists of the valley, but above them the light shone and
+rolled and sparkled, and above them stretched the eternal sky!
+
+They descended the pillar, and near the foot of it saw an old man
+sitting. It was Mambo, the Molimo of the Makalanga: even when they were
+still far away from him they knew his snow-white head and thin, ascetic
+face. As they drew near Benita perceived that his eyes were closed, and
+whispered to Robert that he was asleep. Yet he had heard them coming,
+and even guessed her thought.
+
+"Maiden," he said in his gentle voice, "maiden who soon shall be a wife,
+I do not sleep, although I dream of you as I have dreamt before. What
+did I say to you that day when first we met? That for you I had good
+tidings; that though death was all about you, you need not fear; that
+in this place you who had known great sorrow should find happiness
+and rest. Yet, maiden, you would not believe the words of the Munwali,
+spoken by his prophet's lips, as he at your side, who shall be your
+husband, would not believe me in years past when I told him that we
+should meet again."
+
+"Father," she answered, "I thought your rest was that which we find only
+in the grave."
+
+"You would not believe," he went on without heeding her, "and therefore
+you tried to fly, and therefore your heart was torn with terror and with
+agony, when it should have waited for the end in confidence and peace."
+
+"Father, my trial was very sore."
+
+"Maiden, I know it, and because it was so sore that patient Spirit of
+Bambatse bore with you, and through it all guided your feet aright. Yes,
+with you has that Spirit gone, by day, by night, in the morning and in
+the evening. Who was it that smote the man who lies dead yonder with
+horror and with madness when he would have bent your will to his and
+made you a wife to him? Who was it that told you the secret of the
+treasure-pit, and what footsteps went before you down its stair? Who was
+it that led you past the sentries of the Amandabele and gave you wit and
+power to snatch your lord's life from Maduna's bloody hand? Yes, with
+you it has gone and with you it will go. No more shall the White Witch
+stand upon the pillar point at the rising of the sun, or in the shining
+of the moon."
+
+"Father, I have never understood you, and I do not understand you now,"
+said Benita. "What has this spirit to do with me?"
+
+He smiled a little, then answered slowly:
+
+"That I may not tell you; that you shall learn one day, but never here.
+When you also have entered into silence, then you shall learn. But I say
+to you that this shall not be till your hair is as white as mine, and
+your years are as many. Ah! you thought that I had deserted you, when
+fearing for your father's life you wept and prayed in the darkness of
+the cave. Yet it was not so, for I did but suffer the doom which I had
+read to fulfil itself as it must do."
+
+He rose to his feet and, resting on his staff, laid one withered hand
+upon the head of Benita.
+
+"Maiden," he said, "we meet no more beneath the sun. Yet because you
+have brought deliverance to my people, because you are sweet and pure
+and true, take with you the blessing of Munwali, spoken by the mouth of
+his servant Mambo, the old Molimo of Bambatse. Though from time to time
+you must know tears and walk in the shade of sorrows, long and happy
+shall be your days with him whom you have chosen. Children shall spring
+up about you, and children's children, and with them also shall the
+blessing go. The gold you white folk love is yours, and it shall
+multiply and give food to the hungry and raiment to those that are
+a-cold. Yet in your own heart lies a richer store that cannot melt away,
+the countless treasure of mercy and of love. When you sleep and when
+you wake Love shall take you by the hand, till at length he leads you
+through life's dark cave to that eternal house of purest gold which soon
+or late those that seek it shall inherit," and with his staff he pointed
+to the glowing morning sky wherein one by one little rosy clouds floated
+upwards and were lost.
+
+To Robert and to Benita's misty eyes they looked like bright-winged
+angels throwing wide the black doors of night, and heralding that
+conquering glory at whose advent despair and darkness flee away.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Benita, An African Romance, by H. Rider Haggard
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Benita--an African Romance, by H. Rider Haggard
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's Benita, An African Romance, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Benita, An African Romance
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2761]
+Last Updated: September 22, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENITA, AN AFRICAN ROMANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Emma Dudding; Dagny; David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      BENITA&mdash;AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By H. Rider Haggard
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     NOTES
+
+     It may interest readers of this story to know that its author
+     believes it to have a certain foundation in fact.
+
+     It was said about five-and-twenty or thirty years ago that an
+     adventurous trader, hearing from some natives in the territory
+     that lies at the back of Quilimane, the legend of a great treasure
+     buried in or about the sixteenth century by a party of Portuguese
+     who were afterwards massacred, as a last resource attempted its
+     discovery by the help of a mesmerist. According to this history
+     the child who was used as a subject in the experiment, when in a
+     state of trance, detailed the adventures and death of the unhappy
+     Portuguese men and women, two of whom leapt from the point of a
+     high rock into the Zambesi. Although he knew no tongue but
+     English, this clairvoyant child is declared to have repeated in
+     Portuguese the prayers these unfortunates offered up, and even to
+     have sung the very hymns they sang. Moreover, with much other
+     detail, he described the burial of the great treasure and its
+     exact situation so accurately that the white man and the mesmerist
+     were able to dig for and find the place where <i>it had been</i>&mdash;for
+     the bags were gone, swept out by the floods of the river.
+
+     Some gold coins remained, however, one of them a ducat of Aloysius
+     Mocenigo, Doge of Venice. Afterwards the boy was again thrown into
+     a trance (in all he was mesmerized eight times), and revealed
+     where the sacks still lay; but before the white trader could renew
+     his search for them, the party was hunted out of the country by
+     natives whose superstitious fears were aroused, barely escaping
+     with their lives.
+
+     It should be added that, as in the following tale, the chief who
+     was ruling there when the tragedy happened, declared the place to
+     be sacred, and that if it were entered evil would befall his
+     tribe. Thus it came about that for generations it was never
+     violated, until at length his descendants were driven farther from
+     the river by war, and from one of them the white man heard the
+     legend.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>BENITA&mdash;AN AFRICAN ROMANCE</b></big>
+        </a><br /> <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> VIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> IX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> X </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> XI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> XIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> XIV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> XV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> XVI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> XVII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> XVIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> XIX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> XX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> XXI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> XXII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> XXIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> XXIV </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      BENITA<br /> <br /> AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CONFIDENCES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Beautiful, beautiful was that night! No air that stirred; the black smoke
+      from the funnels of the mail steamer <i>Zanzibar</i> lay low over the
+      surface of the sea like vast, floating ostrich plumes that vanished one by
+      one in the starlight. Benita Beatrix Clifford, for that was her full name,
+      who had been christened Benita after her mother and Beatrix after her
+      father&rsquo;s only sister, leaning idly over the bulwark rail, thought to
+      herself that a child might have sailed that sea in a boat of bark and come
+      safely into port.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a tall man of about thirty years of age, who was smoking a cigar,
+      strolled up to her. At his coming she moved a little as though to make
+      room for him beside her, and there was something in the motion which, had
+      anyone been there to observe it, might have suggested that these two were
+      upon terms of friendship, or still greater intimacy. For a moment he
+      hesitated, and while he did so an expression of doubt, of distress even,
+      gathered on his face. It was as though he understood that a great deal
+      depended on whether he accepted or declined that gentle invitation, and
+      knew not which to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, much did depend upon it, no less than the destinies of both of
+      them. If Robert Seymour had gone by to finish his cigar in solitude, why
+      then this story would have had a very different ending; or, rather, who
+      can say how it might have ended? The dread, foredoomed event with which
+      that night was big would have come to its awful birth leaving certain
+      words unspoken. Violent separation must have ensued, and even if both of
+      them had survived the terror, what prospect was there that their lives
+      would again have crossed each other in that wide Africa?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was not so fated, for just as he put his foot forward to continue
+      his march Benita spoke in her low and pleasant voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going to the smoking-room or to the saloon to dance, Mr. Seymour?
+      One of the officers just told me that there is to be a dance,&rdquo; she added,
+      in explanation, &ldquo;because it is so calm that we might fancy ourselves
+      ashore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;The smoking-room is stuffy, and my dancing days
+      are over. No; I proposed to take exercise after that big dinner, and then
+      to sit in a chair and fall asleep. But,&rdquo; he added, and his voice grew
+      interested, &ldquo;how did you know that it was I? You never turned your head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have ears in my head as well as eyes,&rdquo; she answered with a little
+      laugh, &ldquo;and after we have been nearly a month together on this ship I
+      ought to know your step.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never remember that anyone ever recognized it before,&rdquo; he said, more to
+      himself than to her, then came and leaned over the rail at her side. His
+      doubts were gone. Fate had spoken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a while there was silence between them, then he asked her if she were
+      not going to the dance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not? You are fond of dancing, and you dance very well. Also there are
+      plenty of officers for partners, especially Captain&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he
+      checked himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it would be pleasant, but&mdash;Mr. Seymour, will you
+      think me foolish if I tell you something?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never thought you foolish yet, Miss Clifford, so I don&rsquo;t know why
+      I should begin now. What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not going to the dance because I am afraid, yes, horribly afraid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Afraid! Afraid of what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t quite know, but, Mr. Seymour, I feel as though we were all of us
+      upon the edge of some dreadful catastrophe&mdash;as though there were
+      about to be a mighty change, and beyond it another life, something new and
+      unfamiliar. It came over me at dinner&mdash;that was why I left the table.
+      Quite suddenly I looked, and all the people were different, yes, all
+      except a few.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was I different?&rdquo; he asked curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you were not,&rdquo; and he thought he heard her add &ldquo;Thank God!&rdquo; beneath
+      her breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And were you different?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I never looked at myself; I was the seer, not the seen. I
+      have always been like that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indigestion,&rdquo; he said reflectively. &ldquo;We eat too much on board ship, and
+      the dinner was very long and heavy. I told you so, that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m taking&mdash;I
+      mean why I wanted to take exercise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And to go to sleep afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, first the exercise, then the sleep. Miss Clifford, that is the rule
+      of life&mdash;and death. With sleep thought ends, therefore for some of us
+      your catastrophe is much to be desired, for it would mean long sleep and
+      no thought.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said that they were changed, not that they had ceased to think. Perhaps
+      they thought the more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then let us pray that your catastrophe may be averted. I prescribe for
+      you bismuth and carbonate of soda. Also in this weather it seems difficult
+      to imagine such a thing. Look now, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; he added, with a note
+      of enthusiasm in his voice, pointing towards the east, &ldquo;look.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes followed his outstretched hand, and there, above the level ocean,
+      rose the great orb of the African moon. Lo! of a sudden all that ocean
+      turned to silver, a wide path of rippling silver stretched from it to
+      them. It might have been the road of angels. The sweet soft light beat
+      upon their ship, showing its tapering masts and every detail of the
+      rigging. It passed on beyond them, and revealed the low, foam-fringed
+      coast-line rising here and there, dotted with kloofs and their clinging
+      bush. Even the round huts of Kaffir kraals became faintly visible in that
+      radiance. Other things became visible also&mdash;for instance, the
+      features of this pair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man was light in his colouring, fair-skinned, with fair hair which
+      already showed a tendency towards greyness, especially in the moustache,
+      for he wore no beard. His face was clean cut, not particularly handsome,
+      since, their fineness notwithstanding, his features lacked regularity; the
+      cheekbones were too high and the chin was too small, small faults redeemed
+      to some extent by the steady and cheerful grey eyes. For the rest, he was
+      broad-shouldered and well-set-up, sealed with the indescribable stamp of
+      the English gentleman. Such was the appearance of Robert Seymour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In that light the girl at his side looked lovely, though, in fact, she had
+      no real claims to loveliness, except perhaps as regards her figure, which
+      was agile, rounded, and peculiarly graceful. Her foreign-looking face was
+      unusual, dark-eyed, a somewhat large and very mobile mouth, fair and
+      waving hair, a broad forehead, a sweet and at times wistful face,
+      thoughtful for the most part, but apt to be irradiated by sudden smiles.
+      Not a beautiful woman at all, but exceedingly attractive, one possessing
+      magnetism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She gazed, first at the moon and the silver road beneath it, then,
+      turning, at the land beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are very near to Africa, at last,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too near, I think,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;If I were the captain I should stand
+      out a point or two. It is a strange country, full of surprises. Miss
+      Clifford, will you think me rude if I ask you why you are going there? You
+      have never told me&mdash;quite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, because the story is rather a sad one; but you shall hear it if you
+      wish. Do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He nodded, and drew up two deck chairs, in which they settled themselves
+      in a corner made by one of the inboard boats, their faces still towards
+      the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know I was born in Africa,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and lived there till I was
+      thirteen years old&mdash;why, I find I can still speak Zulu; I did so this
+      afternoon. My father was one of the early settlers in Natal. His father
+      was a clergyman, a younger son of the Lincolnshire Cliffords. They are
+      great people there still, though I don&rsquo;t suppose that they are aware of my
+      existence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know them,&rdquo; answered Robert Seymour. &ldquo;Indeed, I was shooting at their
+      place last November&mdash;when the smash came,&rdquo; and he sighed; &ldquo;but go
+      on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my father quarrelled with his father, I don&rsquo;t know what about, and
+      emigrated. In Natal he married my mother, a Miss Ferreira, whose name&mdash;like
+      mine and her mother&rsquo;s&mdash;was Benita. She was one of two sisters, and
+      her father, Andreas Ferreira, who married an English lady, was half Dutch
+      and half Portuguese. I remember him well, a fine old man with dark eyes
+      and an iron-grey beard. He was wealthy as things went in those days&mdash;that
+      is to say, he had lots of land in Natal and the Transvaal, and great herds
+      of stock. So you see I am half English, some Dutch, and more than a
+      quarter Portuguese&mdash;quite a mixture of races. My father and mother
+      did not get on well together. Mr. Seymour, I may as well tell you all the
+      truth: he drank, and although he was passionately fond of her, she was
+      jealous of him. Also he gambled away most of her patrimony, and after old
+      Andreas Ferreira&rsquo;s death they grew poor. One night there was a dreadful
+      scene between them, and in his madness he struck her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, she was a very proud woman, determined, too, and she turned on him
+      and said&mdash;for I heard her&mdash;&lsquo;I will never forgive you; we have
+      done with each other.&rsquo; Next morning, when my father was sober, he begged
+      her pardon, but she made no answer, although he was starting somewhere on
+      a fortnight&rsquo;s trek. When he had gone my mother ordered the Cape cart,
+      packed up her clothes, took some money that she had put away, drove to
+      Durban, and after making arrangements at the bank about a small private
+      income of her own, sailed with me for England, leaving a letter for my
+      father in which she said that she would never see him again, and if he
+      tried to interfere with me she would put me under the protection of the
+      English court, which would not allow me to be taken to the home of a
+      drunkard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In England we went to live in London with my aunt, who had married a
+      Major King, but was a widow with five children. My father often wrote to
+      persuade my mother to go back to him, but she never would, which I think
+      was wrong of her. So things went on for twelve years or more, till one day
+      my mother suddenly died, and I came into her little fortune of between
+      £200 and £300 a year, which she had tied up so that nobody can touch it.
+      That was about a year ago. I wrote to tell my father of her death, and
+      received a pitiful letter; indeed, I have had several of them. He implored
+      me to come out to him and not to leave him to die in his loneliness, as he
+      soon would do of a broken heart, if I did not. He said that he had long
+      ago given up drinking, which was the cause of the ruin of his life, and
+      sent a certificate signed by a magistrate and a doctor to that effect.
+      Well, in the end, although all my cousins and their mother advised me
+      against it, I consented, and here I am. He is to meet me at Durban, but
+      how we shall get on together is more than I can say, though I long to see
+      him, for after all he is my father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was good of you to come, under all the circumstances. You must have a
+      brave heart,&rdquo; said Robert reflectively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my duty,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;And for the rest, I am not afraid who was
+      born to Africa. Indeed, often and often have I wished to be back there
+      again, out on the veld, far away from the London streets and fog. I am
+      young and strong, and I want to see things, natural things&mdash;not those
+      made by man, you know&mdash;the things I remember as a child. One can
+      always go back to London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, or at least some people can. It is a curious thing, Miss Clifford,
+      but as it happens I have met your father. You always reminded me of the
+      man, but I had forgotten his name. Now it comes back to me; it <i>was</i>
+      Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where on earth?&rdquo; she asked, astonished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a queer place. As I told you, I have visited South Africa before,
+      under different circumstances. Four years ago I was out here big-game
+      shooting. Going in from the East coast my brother and I&mdash;he is dead
+      now, poor fellow&mdash;got up somewhere in the Matabele country, on the
+      banks of the Zambesi. As we didn&rsquo;t find much game there we were going to
+      strike south, when some natives told us of a wonderful ruin that stood on
+      a hill overhanging the river a few miles farther on. So, leaving the
+      waggon on the hither side of the steep nek, over which it would have been
+      difficult to drag it, my brother and I took our rifles and a bag of food
+      and started. The place was farther off than we thought, although from the
+      top of the nek we could see it clearly enough, and before we reached it
+      dark had fallen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now we had observed a waggon and a tent outside the wall which we thought
+      must belong to white men, and headed for them. There was a light in the
+      tent, and the flap was open, the night being very hot. Inside two men were
+      seated, one old, with a grey beard, and the other, a good-looking fellow&mdash;under
+      forty, I should say&mdash;with a Jewish face, dark, piercing eyes, and a
+      black, pointed beard. They were engaged in examining a heap of gold beads
+      and bangles, which lay on the table between them. As I was about to speak,
+      the black-bearded man heard or caught sight of us, and seizing a rifle
+      that leaned against the table, swung round and covered me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;For God&rsquo;s sake don&rsquo;t shoot, Jacob,&rsquo; said the old man; &lsquo;they are
+      English.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Best dead, any way,&rsquo; answered the other, in a soft voice, with a slight
+      foreign accent, &lsquo;we don&rsquo;t want spies or thieves here.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;We are neither, but I can shoot as well as you, friend,&rsquo; I remarked, for
+      by this time my rifle was on him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he thought better of it, and dropped his gun, and we explained that
+      we were merely on an archæological expedition. The end of it was that we
+      became capital friends, though neither of us could cotton much to Mr.
+      Jacob&mdash;I forget his other name. He struck me as too handy with his
+      rifle, and was, I gathered, an individual with a mysterious and rather
+      lurid past. To cut a long story short, when he found out that we had no
+      intention of poaching, your father, for it was he, told us frankly that
+      they were treasure-hunting, having got hold of some story about a vast
+      store of gold which had been hidden away there by Portuguese two or three
+      centuries before. Their trouble was, however, that the Makalanga, who
+      lived in the fortress, which was called Bambatse, would not allow them to
+      dig, because they said the place was haunted, and if they did so it would
+      bring bad luck to their tribe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And did they ever get in?&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure I don&rsquo;t know, for we went next day, though before we left we
+      called on the Makalanga, who admitted us all readily enough so long as we
+      brought no spades with us. By the way, the gold we saw your father and his
+      friend examining was found in some ancient graves outside the walls, but
+      had nothing to do with the big and mythical treasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was the place like? I love old ruins,&rdquo; broke in Benita again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! wonderful. A gigantic, circular wall built by heaven knows who, then
+      half-way up the hill another wall, and near the top a third wall which, I
+      understood, surrounded a sort of holy of holies, and above everything, on
+      the brink of the precipice, a great cone of granite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Artificial or natural?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. They would not let us up there, but we were introduced to
+      their chief and high priest, Church and State in one, and a wonderful old
+      man he was, very wise and very gentle. I remember he told me he believed
+      we should meet again, which seemed an odd thing for him to say. I asked
+      him about the treasure and why he would not let the other white men look
+      for it. He answered that it would never be found by any man, white or
+      black, that only a woman would find it at the appointed time, when it
+      pleased the Spirit of Bambatse, under whose guardianship it was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who was the Spirit of Bambatse, Mr. Seymour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you, couldn&rsquo;t make out anything definite about her, except
+      that she was said to be white, and to appear sometimes at sunrise, or in
+      the moonlight, standing upon the tall point of rock of which I told you. I
+      remember that I got up before the dawn to look for her&mdash;like an
+      idiot, for of course I saw nothing&mdash;and that&rsquo;s all I know about the
+      matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you have any talk with my father, Mr. Seymour&mdash;alone, I mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a little. The next day he walked back to our waggon with us, being
+      glad, I fancy, of a change from the perpetual society of his partner
+      Jacob. That wasn&rsquo;t wonderful in a man who had been brought up at Eton and
+      Oxford, as I found out he had, like myself, and whatever his failings may
+      have been&mdash;although we saw no sign of them, for he would not touch a
+      drop of spirits&mdash;was a gentleman, which Jacob wasn&rsquo;t. Still, he&mdash;Jacob&mdash;had
+      read a lot, especially on out-of-the-way subjects, and could talk every
+      language under the sun&mdash;a clever and agreeable scoundrel in short.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did my father say anything about himself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; he told me that he had been an unsuccessful man all his life, and
+      had much to reproach himself with, for we got quite confidential at last.
+      He added that he had a family in England&mdash;what family he didn&rsquo;t say&mdash;whom
+      he was anxious to make wealthy by way of reparation for past misdeeds, and
+      that was why he was treasure-hunting. However, from what you tell me, I
+      fear he never found anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Mr. Seymour, he never found it and never will, but all the same I am
+      glad to hear that he was thinking of us. Also I should like to explore
+      that place, Bambatse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So should I, Miss Clifford, in your company, and your father&rsquo;s, but not
+      in that of Jacob. If ever you should go there with him, I say:&mdash;&lsquo;Beware
+      of Jacob.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! I am not afraid of Jacob,&rdquo; she answered with a laugh, &ldquo;although I
+      believe that my father still has something to do with him&mdash;at least
+      in one of his letters he mentioned his partner, who was a German.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A German! I think that he must have meant a German Jew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After this there was silence between them for a time, then he said
+      suddenly, &ldquo;You have told me your story, would you like to hear mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it won&rsquo;t take you long to listen to it, for, Miss Clifford, like
+      Canning&rsquo;s needy knife-grinder, I have really none to tell. You see before
+      you one of the most useless persons in the world, an undistinguished
+      member of what is called in England the &lsquo;leisured class,&rsquo; who can do
+      absolutely nothing that is worth doing, except shoot straight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not seem impressed with that accomplishment,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;yet it
+      is an honest fact that for the last fifteen years&mdash;I was thirty-two
+      this month&mdash;practically my whole time has been given up to it, with a
+      little fishing thrown in in the spring. As I want to make the most of
+      myself, I will add that I am supposed to be among the six best shots in
+      England, and that my ambition&mdash;yes, great Heavens! my ambition&mdash;was
+      to become better than the other five. By that sin fell the poor man who
+      speaks to you. I was supposed to have abilities, but I neglected them all
+      to pursue this form of idleness. I entered no profession, I did no work,
+      with the result that at thirty-two I am ruined and almost hopeless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why ruined and hopeless?&rdquo; she asked anxiously, for the way in which they
+      were spoken grieved her more than the words themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ruined because my old uncle, the Honourable John Seymour Seymour, whose
+      heir I was, committed the indiscretion of marrying a young lady who has
+      presented him with thriving twins. With the appearance of those twins my
+      prospects disappeared, as did the allowance of £1,500 a year that he was
+      good enough to make me on which to keep up a position as his next-of-kin.
+      I had something of my own, but also I had debts, and at the present moment
+      a draft in my pocket for £2,163 14s. 5d., and a little loose cash,
+      represents the total of my worldly goods, just about the sum I have been
+      accustomed to spend per annum.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t call that ruin, I call that riches,&rdquo; said Benita, relieved. &ldquo;With
+      £2,000 to begin on you may make a fortune in Africa. But how about the
+      hopelessness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am hopeless because I have absolutely nothing to which to look forward.
+      Really, when that £2,000 is gone I do not know how to earn a sixpence. In
+      this dilemma it occurred to me that the only thing I could do was to turn
+      my shooting to practical account, and become a hunter of big game.
+      Therefore I propose to kill elephants until an elephant kills me. At
+      least,&rdquo; he added in a changed voice, &ldquo;I did so propose until half an hour
+      ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE END OF THE &ldquo;ZANZIBAR.&rdquo;
+     </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until half an hour ago? Then why&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and Benita stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have I changed my very modest scheme of life? Miss Clifford, as you are
+      so good as to be sufficiently interested, I will tell you. It is because a
+      temptation which hitherto I have been able to resist, has during the last
+      thirty minutes become too strong for me. You know everything has its
+      breaking strain.&rdquo; He puffed nervously at his cigar, threw it into the sea,
+      paused, then went on: &ldquo;Miss Clifford, I have dared to fall in love with
+      you. No; hear me out. When I have done it will be quite time enough to
+      give me the answer that I expect. Meanwhile, for the first time in my
+      life, allow me the luxury of being in earnest. To me it is a new
+      sensation, and therefore very priceless. May I go on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita made no answer. He rose with a certain deliberateness which
+      characterized all his movements&mdash;for Robert Seymour never seemed to
+      be in a hurry&mdash;and stood in front of her so that the moonlight shone
+      upon her face, while his own remained in shadow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond that £2,000 of which I have spoken, and incidentally its owner, I
+      have nothing whatsoever to offer to you. I am an indigent and worthless
+      person. Even in my prosperous days, when I could look forward to a large
+      estate, although it was often suggested to me, I never considered myself
+      justified in asking any lady to share&mdash;the prospective estate. I
+      think now that the real reason was that I never cared sufficiently for any
+      lady, since otherwise my selfishness would probably have overcome my
+      scruples, as it does to-night. Benita, for I will call you so, if for the
+      first and last time, I&mdash;I&mdash;love you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen now,&rdquo; he went on, dropping his measured manner, and speaking
+      hurriedly, like a man with an earnest message and little time in which to
+      deliver it, &ldquo;it is an odd thing, an incomprehensible thing, but true, true&mdash;I
+      fell in love with you the first time I saw your face. You remember, you
+      stood there leaning over the bulwark when I came on board at Southampton,
+      and as I walked up the gangway, I looked and my eyes met yours. Then I
+      stopped, and that stout old lady who got off at Madeira bumped into me,
+      and asked me to be good enough to make up my mind if I were going backward
+      or forward. Do you remember?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which things are an allegory,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;I felt it so at the time.
+      Yes, I had half a mind to answer &lsquo;Backward&rsquo; and give up my berth in this
+      ship. Then I looked at you again, and something inside of me said
+      &lsquo;Forward.&rsquo; So I came up the rest of the gangway and took off my hat to
+      you, a salutation I had no right to make, but which, I recall, you
+      acknowledged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, then continued: &ldquo;As it began, so it has gone on. It is always
+      like that, is it not? The beginning is everything, the end must follow.
+      And now it has come out, as I was fully determined that it should not do
+      half an hour ago, when suddenly you developed eyes in the back of your
+      head, and&mdash;oh! dearest, I love you. No, please be quiet; I have not
+      done. I have told you what I am, and really there isn&rsquo;t much more to say
+      about me, for I have no particular vices except the worst of them all,
+      idleness, and not the slightest trace of any virtue that I can discover.
+      But I have a certain knowledge of the world acquired in a long course of
+      shooting parties, and as a man of the world I will venture to give you a
+      bit of advice. It is possible that to you my life and death affair is a
+      mere matter of board-ship amusement. Yet it is possible also that you
+      might take another view of the matter. In that case, as a friend and a man
+      of the world, I entreat you&mdash;don&rsquo;t. Have nothing to do with me. Send
+      me about my business; you will never regret it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you making fun, or is all this meant, Mr. Seymour?&rdquo; asked Benita,
+      still speaking beneath her breath, and looking straight before her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Meant? Of course it is meant. How can you ask?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I have always understood that on such occasions people wish to
+      make the best of themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so, but I never do what I ought, a fact for which I am grateful now
+      come to think of it, since otherwise I should not be here to-night. I wish
+      to make the worst of myself, the very worst, for whatever I am not, at
+      least I am honest. Now having told you that I am, or was half an hour ago,
+      an idler, a good-for-nothing, prospectless failure, I ask you&mdash;if you
+      care to hear any more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She half rose, and, glancing at him for the first time, saw his face
+      contract itself and turn pale in the moonlight. It may be that the sight
+      of it affected her, even to the extent of removing some adverse impression
+      left by the bitter mocking of his self-blame. At any rate, Benita seemed
+      to change her mind, and sat down again, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on, if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed slightly, and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you. I have told you what I <i>was</i> half an hour ago; now,
+      hoping that you will believe me, I will tell you what I <i>am</i>. I am a
+      truly repentant man, one upon whom a new light has risen. I am not very
+      old, and I think that underneath it all I have some ability. Opportunity
+      may still come my way; if it does not, for your sake I will make the
+      opportunity. I do not believe that you can ever find anyone who would love
+      you better or care for you more tenderly. I desire to live for you in the
+      future, more completely even than in the past I have lived for myself. I
+      do not wish to influence you by personal appeals, but in fact I stand at
+      the parting of the ways. If you will give yourself to me I feel as though
+      I might still become a husband of whom you could be proud&mdash;if not, I
+      write &lsquo;Finis&rsquo; upon the tombstone of the possibilities of Robert Seymour. I
+      adore you. You are the one woman with whom I desire to pass my days; it is
+      you who have always been lacking to my life. I ask you to be brave, to
+      take the risk of marrying me, although I can see nothing but poverty ahead
+      of us, for I am an adventurer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t speak like that,&rdquo; she said quickly. &ldquo;We are all of us adventurers
+      in this world, and I more than you. We have just to consider ourselves,
+      not what we have or have not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it, Miss Clifford. Then I have nothing more to say; now it is for
+      you to answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then the sound of the piano and the fiddle in the saloon ceased. One
+      of the waltzes was over, and some of the dancers came upon deck to flirt
+      or to cool themselves. One pair, engaged very obviously in the former
+      occupation, stationed themselves so near to Robert and Benita that further
+      conversation between them was impossible, and there proceeded to
+      interchange the remarks common to such occasions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a good ten minutes did they stand thus, carrying on a mock quarrel as
+      to a dance of which one of them was supposed to have been defrauded, until
+      Robert Seymour, generally a very philosophical person, could have slain
+      those innocent lovers. He felt, he knew not why, that his chances were
+      slipping away from him; that sensation of something bad about to happen,
+      of which Benita had spoken, spread from her to him. The suspense grew
+      exasperating, terrible even, nor could it be ended. To ask her to come
+      elsewhere was under the circumstances not feasible, especially as he would
+      also have been obliged to request the other pair to make way for them, and
+      all this time, with a sinking of the heart, he felt that probably Benita
+      was beating down any tenderness which she might feel towards him; that
+      when her long-delayed answer did come the chances were it would be &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The piano began to play again in the saloon, and the young people, still
+      squabbling archly, at length prepared to depart. Suddenly there was a stir
+      upon the bridge, and against the tender sky Robert saw a man dash forward.
+      Next instant the engine-room bell rang fiercely. He knew the signal&mdash;it
+      was &ldquo;Stop,&rdquo; followed at once by other ringings that meant &ldquo;Full speed
+      astern.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder what is up?&rdquo; said the young man to the young woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the words had left his lips they knew. There was a sensation as
+      though all the hull of the great ship had come to a complete standstill,
+      while the top part of her continued to travel forward; followed by another
+      sensation still more terrible and sickening in its nature&mdash;that of
+      slipping over something, helplessly, heavily, as a man slips upon ice or a
+      polished floor. Spars cracked, ropes flew in two with a noise as of pistol
+      shots. Heavy objects rushed about the deck, travelling forwards all of
+      them. Benita was hurled from her chair against Robert so that the two of
+      them rolled into the scuppers. He was unhurt and picked himself up, but
+      she lay still, and he saw that something had struck her upon the head, for
+      blood was running down her cheek. He lifted her, and, filled with black
+      horror and despair&mdash;for he thought her gone&mdash;pressed his hand
+      upon her heart. Thank God! it began to beat again&mdash;she still lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The music in the saloon had stopped, and for a little while there was
+      silence. Then of an instant there arose the horrible clamour of shipwreck;
+      wild-eyed people rushed to and fro aimlessly; here and there women and
+      children shrieked; a clergyman fell upon his knees and began to pray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This went on for a space, till presently the second officer appeared and,
+      affecting an unconcerned air, called out that it was all right, the
+      captain said no one was to be afraid. He added that they were not more
+      than six miles from the shore, and that the ship would be beached in half
+      an hour. Indeed, as he spoke the engines, which had been stopped,
+      commenced to work again, and her head swung round in a wide circle,
+      pointing to the land. Evidently they had passed over the rock and were
+      once more in deep water, through which they travelled at a good speed but
+      with a heavy list to starboard. The pumps got to work also with a
+      monotonous, clanging beat, throwing out great columns of foaming water on
+      to the oily sea. Men began to cut the covers off the boats, and to swing
+      some of them outboard. Such were the things that went on about them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the senseless Benita clasped to his breast, the blood from her cut
+      head running down his shoulder, Robert stood still awhile, thinking. Then
+      he made up his mind. As it chanced, she had a deck cabin, and thither he
+      forced his way, carrying her tenderly and with patience through the
+      distracted throng of passengers, for there were five hundred souls on
+      board that ship. He reached the place to find that it was quite empty, her
+      cabinmate having fled. Laying Benita upon the lower bunk, he lit the
+      swinging candle. As soon as it burned up he searched for the lifebelts and
+      by good fortune found two of them, one of which, not without great
+      difficulty, he succeeded in fastening round her. Then he took a sponge and
+      bathed her head with water. There was a great bruise upon her temple where
+      the block or whatever it was had struck her, and the blood still flowed;
+      but the wound was not very deep or extensive, nor, so far as he could
+      discover, did the bone appear to be broken or driven in. He had good hope
+      that she was only stunned, and would revive presently. Unable to do more
+      for her, a thought struck him. On the floor of the cabin, thrown by the
+      shock from the rack, lay her writing case. He opened it, and taking a
+      piece of paper wrote these words hurriedly in pencil:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You gave me no answer, and it is more than probable that I shall receive
+      none in this world which one or both of us may be upon the verge of
+      leaving. In the latter case we can settle the matter elsewhere&mdash;perhaps.
+      In the former, should it be my lot to go and yours to stay, I hope that
+      you will think kindly of me at times as of one who loved you truly. Should
+      it be yours to go, then you will never read these words. Yet if to the
+      dead is given knowledge, be assured that as you left me so you shall find
+      me, yours and yours alone. Or perhaps we both may live; I pray so.&mdash;S.
+      R. S.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Folding up the paper, he undid a button of Benita&rsquo;s blouse and thrust it
+      away there, knowing that thus she would certainly find it should she
+      survive. Then he stepped out on to the deck to see what was happening. The
+      vessel still steamed, but made slow progress; moreover, the list to
+      starboard was now so pronounced that it was difficult to stand upright. On
+      account of it nearly all the passengers were huddled together upon the
+      port side, having instinctively taken refuge as far as possible above the
+      water. A man with a white, distraught face staggered towards him,
+      supporting himself by the bulwarks. It was the captain. For a moment he
+      paused as though to think, holding to a stanchion. Robert Seymour saw his
+      opportunity and addressed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;I do not like interfering with other people&rsquo;s
+      business, but for reasons unconnected with myself I suggest to you that it
+      would be wise to stop this ship and get out the boats. The sea is calm; if
+      it is not left till too late there should be no difficulty in launching
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man stared at him absently, then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They won&rsquo;t hold everybody, Mr. Seymour. I hope to beach her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At least they will hold some,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;whereas&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; And
+      he pointed to the water, which by now was almost level with the deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are right, Mr. Seymour. It doesn&rsquo;t matter to me, anyway. I am
+      a ruined man; but the poor passengers&mdash;the poor passengers!&rdquo; And he
+      scrambled away fiercely towards the bridge like a wounded cat along the
+      bough of a tree, whence in a few seconds Robert heard him shouting orders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A minute or so afterwards the steamer stopped. Too late the captain had
+      decided to sacrifice his ship and save those she carried. They were
+      beginning to get out the boats. Now Robert returned to the cabin where
+      Benita was lying senseless, and wrapped her up in a cloak and some
+      blankets. Then, seeing the second lifebelt on the floor, by an
+      afterthought he put it on, knowing that there was time to spare. Next he
+      lifted Benita, and feeling sure that the rush would be for the starboard
+      side, on which the boats were quite near the water, carried her, with
+      difficulty, for the slope was steep, to the port-cutter, which he knew
+      would be in the charge of a good man, the second officer, whom he had seen
+      in command there at Sunday boat-drills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, as he had anticipated, the crowd was small, since most people
+      thought that it would not be possible to get this boat down safely to the
+      water; or if their powers of reflection were gone, instinct told them so.
+      That skilful seaman, the second officer, and his appointed crew, were
+      already at work lowering the cutter from the davits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;women and children first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A number rushed in, and Robert saw that the boat would soon be full.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I must count myself a woman as I carry one,&rdquo;
+       and by a great effort, holding Benita with one arm, with the other he let
+      himself down the falls and, assisted by a quartermaster, gained the boat
+      in safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One or two other men scrambled after him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Push her off,&rdquo; said the officer; &ldquo;she can hold no more,&rdquo; and the ropes
+      were let go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they were about twelve feet from the ship&rsquo;s side, from which they
+      thrust themselves clear with oars, there came a rush of people,
+      disappointed of places in the starboard boats. A few of the boldest of
+      these swarmed down the falls, others jumped and fell among them, or missed
+      and dropped into the sea, or struck upon the sides of the boat and were
+      killed. Still she reached the water upon an even keel, though now much
+      overladen. The oars were got out, and they rowed round the bow of the
+      great ship wallowing in her death-throes, their first idea being to make
+      for the shore, which was not three miles away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This brought them to the starboard side, where they saw a hideous scene.
+      Hundreds of people seemed to be fighting for room, with the result that
+      some of the boats were overturned, precipitating their occupants into the
+      water. Others hung by the prow or the stern, the ropes having jammed in
+      the davits in the frantic haste and confusion, while from them human
+      beings dropped one by one. Round others not yet launched a hellish
+      struggle was in progress, the struggle of men, women, and children
+      battling for their lives, in which the strong, mad with terror, showed no
+      mercy to the weak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that mass of humanity, most of them about to perish, went up a babel
+      of sounds which in its sum shaped itself to one prolonged scream, such as
+      might proceed from a Titan in his agony. All this beneath a brooding,
+      moonlit sky, and on a sea as smooth as glass. Upon the ship, which now lay
+      upon her side, the siren still sent up its yells for succour, and some
+      brave man continued to fire rockets, which rushed heavenwards and burst in
+      showers of stars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert remembered that the last rocket he had seen was fired at an evening
+      <i>fête</i> for the amusement of the audience. The contrast struck him as
+      dreadful. He wondered whether there were any power or infernal population
+      that could be amused by a tragedy such as enacted itself before his eyes;
+      how it came about also that such a tragedy was permitted by the merciful
+      Strength in which mankind put their faith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The vessel was turning over, compressed air or steam burst up the decks
+      with loud reports; fragments of wreckage flew into the air. There the poor
+      captain still clung to the rail of the bridge. Seymour could see his white
+      face&mdash;the moonlight seemed to paint it with a ghastly smile. The
+      officer in command of their boat shouted to the crew to give way lest they
+      should be sucked down with the steamer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Look! Now she wallowed like a dying whale, the moonrays shone white upon
+      her bottom, showing the jagged rent made in it by the rock on which she
+      had struck, and now she was gone. Only a little cloud of smoke and steam
+      remained to mark where the <i>Zanzibar</i> had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HOW ROBERT CAME ASHORE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      In place of the <i>Zanzibar</i> a great pit on the face of the ocean, in
+      which the waters boiled and black objects appeared and disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit still, for your lives&rsquo; sake,&rdquo; said the officer in a quiet voice; &ldquo;the
+      suck is coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In another minute it came, dragging them downward till the water trickled
+      over the sides of the boat, and backward towards the pit. But before ever
+      they reached it the deep had digested its prey, and, save for the great
+      air-bubbles which burst about them and a mixed, unnatural swell, was calm
+      again. For the moment they were safe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Passengers,&rdquo; said the officer, &ldquo;I am going to put out to sea&mdash;at any
+      rate, till daylight. We may meet a vessel there, and if we try to row
+      ashore we shall certainly be swamped in the breakers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No one objected; they seemed too stunned to speak, but Robert thought to
+      himself that the man was wise. They began to move, but before they had
+      gone a dozen yards something dark rose beside them. It was a piece of
+      wreckage, and clinging to it a woman, who clasped a bundle to her breast.
+      More, she was alive, for she began to cry to them to take her in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Save me and my child!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake save me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert recognized the choking voice; it was that of a young married lady
+      with whom he had been very friendly, who was going out with her baby to
+      join her husband in Natal. He stretched out his hand and caught hold of
+      her, whereon the officer said, heavily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The boat is already overladen. I must warn you that to take more aboard
+      is not safe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereon the passengers awoke from their stupor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Push her off,&rdquo; cried a voice; &ldquo;she must take her chance.&rdquo; And there was a
+      murmur of approval at the dreadful words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Christ&rsquo;s sake&mdash;for Christ&rsquo;s sake!&rdquo; wailed the drowning woman,
+      who clung desperately to Robert&rsquo;s hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you try to pull her in, we will throw you overboard,&rdquo; said the voice
+      again, and a knife was lifted as though to hack at his arm. Then the
+      officer spoke once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This lady cannot come into the boat unless someone goes out of it. I
+      would myself, but it is my duty to stay. Is there any man here who will
+      make place for her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But all the men there&mdash;seven of them, besides the crew&mdash;hung
+      their heads and were silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give way,&rdquo; said the officer in the same heavy voice; &ldquo;she will drop off
+      presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While the words passed his lips Robert seemed to live a year. Here was an
+      opportunity of atonement for his idle and luxurious life. An hour ago he
+      would have taken it gladly, but now&mdash;now, with Benita senseless on
+      his breast, and that answer still locked in her sleeping heart? Yet Benita
+      would approve of such a death as this, and even if she loved him not in
+      life, would learn to love his memory. In an instant his mind was made up,
+      and he was speaking rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thompson,&rdquo; he said to the officer, &ldquo;if I go, will you swear to take her
+      in and her child?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, Mr. Seymour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then lay to; I am going. If any of you live, tell this lady how I died,&rdquo;
+       and he pointed to Benita, &ldquo;and say I thought that she would wish it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She shall be told,&rdquo; said the officer again, &ldquo;and saved, too, if I can do
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold Mrs. Jeffreys, then, till I am out of this. I&rsquo;ll leave my coat to
+      cover her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A sailor obeyed, and with difficulty Robert wrenched free his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very deliberately he pressed Benita to his breast and kissed her on the
+      forehead, then let her gently slide on to the bottom of the boat. Next he
+      slipped off his overcoat and slowly rolled himself over the gunwale into
+      the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;pull Mrs. Jeffreys in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God bless you; you are a brave man,&rdquo; said Thompson. &ldquo;I shall remember you
+      if I live a hundred years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But no one else said anything; perhaps they were all too much ashamed,
+      even then.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have only done my duty,&rdquo; Seymour answered from the water. &ldquo;How far is
+      it to the shore?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About three miles,&rdquo; shouted Thompson. &ldquo;But keep on that plank, or you
+      will never live through the rollers. Good-bye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-bye,&rdquo; answered Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the boat passed away from him and soon vanished in the misty face of
+      the deep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Resting on the plank which had saved the life of Mrs. Jeffreys, Robert
+      Seymour looked about him and listened. Now and again he heard a faint,
+      choking scream uttered by some drowning wretch, and a few hundred yards
+      away caught sight of a black object which he thought might be a boat. If
+      so, he reflected that it must be full. Moreover, he could not overtake it.
+      No; his only chance was to make for the shore. He was a strong swimmer,
+      and happily the water was almost as warm as milk. There seemed to be no
+      reason why he should not reach it, supported as he was by a lifebelt, if
+      the sharks would leave him alone, which they might, as there was plenty
+      for them to feed on. The direction he knew well enough, for now in the
+      great silence of the sea he could hear the boom of the mighty rollers
+      breaking on the beach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, those rollers! He remembered how that very afternoon Benita and he had
+      watched them through his field glass sprouting up against the cruel walls
+      of rock, and wondered that when the ocean was so calm they had still such
+      power. Now, should he live to reach them, he was doomed to match himself
+      against that power. Well, the sooner he did so the sooner it would be
+      over, one way or the other. This was in his favour: the tide had turned,
+      and was flowing shorewards. Indeed, he had little to do but to rest upon
+      his plank, which he placed crosswise beneath his breast, and steered
+      himself with his feet. Even thus he made good progress, nearly a mile an
+      hour perhaps. He could have gone faster had he swum, but he was saving his
+      strength.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a strange journey upon that silent sea beneath those silent stars,
+      and strange thoughts came into Robert&rsquo;s soul. He wondered whether Benita
+      would live and what she would say. Perhaps, however, she was already dead,
+      and he would meet her presently. He wondered if he were doomed to die, and
+      whether this sacrifice of his would be allowed to atone for his past
+      errors. He hoped so, and put up a petition to that effect, for himself and
+      for Benita, and for all the poor people who had gone before, hurled from
+      their pleasure into the halls of Death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he floated on while the boom of the breakers grew ever nearer,
+      companioned by his wild, fretful thoughts, till at length what he took to
+      be a shark appeared quite close to him, and in the urgency of the moment
+      he gave up wondering. It proved to be only a piece of wood, but later on a
+      real shark did come, for he saw its back fin. However, this cruel creature
+      was either gorged or timid, for when he splashed upon the water and
+      shouted, it went away, to return no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, at length, Robert entered upon the deep hill and valley swell which
+      preceded the field of the rollers. Suddenly he shot down a smooth slope,
+      and without effort of his own found himself borne up an opposing steep,
+      from the crest of which he had a view of white lines of foam, and beyond
+      them of a dim and rocky shore. At one spot, a little to his right, the
+      foam seemed thinner and the line of cliff to be broken, as though here
+      there was a cleft. For this cleft, then, he steered his plank, taking the
+      swell obliquely, which by good fortune the set of the tide enabled him to
+      do without any great exertion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The valleys grew deeper, and the tops of the opposing ridges were crested
+      with foam. He had entered the rollers, and the struggle for life began.
+      Before him they rushed solemn and mighty. Viewed from some safe place even
+      the sight of these combers is terrible, as any who have watched them from
+      this coast, or from that of the Island of Ascension, can bear witness.
+      What their aspect was to this shipwrecked man, supported by a single
+      plank, may therefore be imagined, seen, as he saw them, in the mysterious
+      moonlight and in utter loneliness. Yet his spirit rose to meet the dread
+      emergency; if he were to die, he would die fighting. He had grown cold and
+      tired, but now the chill and weariness left him; he felt warm and strong.
+      From the crest of one of the high rollers he thought he saw that about
+      half a mile away from him a little river ran down the centre of the gorge,
+      and for the mouth of this river he laid his course.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At first all went well. He was borne up the seas; he slid down the seas in
+      a lather of white foam. Presently the rise and fall grew steeper, and the
+      foam began to break over his head. Robert could no longer guide himself;
+      he must go as he was carried. Then in an instant he was carried into a
+      hell of waters where, had it not been for his lifebelt and the plank, he
+      must have been beaten down and have perished. As it was, now he was driven
+      into the depths, and now he emerged upon their surface to hear their
+      seething hiss around him, and above it all a continuous boom as of great
+      guns&mdash;the boom of the breaking seas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The plank was almost twisted from his grasp, but he clung to it
+      desperately, although its edges tore his arms. When the rollers broke over
+      him he held his breath, and when he was tossed skywards on their curves,
+      drew it again in quick, sweet gasps. Now he sat upon the very brow of one
+      of them as a merman might; now he dived like a dolphin, and now, just as
+      his senses were leaving him, his feet touched bottom. Another moment and
+      Robert was being rolled along that bottom with a weight on him like the
+      weight of mountains. The plank was rent from him, but his cork jacket
+      brought him up. The backwash drew him with it into deeper water, where he
+      lay helpless and despairing, for he no longer had any strength to struggle
+      against his doom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it was that there came a mighty roller, bigger than any that he had
+      seen&mdash;such a one as on that coast the Kaffirs call &ldquo;a father of
+      waves.&rdquo; It caught him in the embrace of its vast green curve. It bore him
+      forward as though he were but a straw, far forward over the stretch of
+      cruel rocks. It broke in thunder, dashing him again upon the stones and
+      sand of the little river bar, rolling him along with its resistless might,
+      till even that might was exhausted, and its foam began to return seawards,
+      sucking him with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert&rsquo;s mind was almost gone, but enough of it remained to tell him that
+      if once more he was dragged into the deep water he must be lost. As the
+      current haled him along he gripped at the bottom with his hands, and by
+      the mercy of Heaven they closed on something. It may have been a
+      tree-stump embedded there, or a rock&mdash;he never knew. At least, it was
+      firm, and to it he hung despairingly. Would that rush never cease? His
+      lungs were bursting; he must let go! Oh! the foam was thinning; his head
+      was above it now; now it had departed, leaving him like a stranded fish
+      upon the shingle. For half a minute or more he lay there gasping, then
+      looked behind him to see another comber approaching through the gloom. He
+      struggled to his feet, fell, rose again, and ran, or rather, staggered
+      forward with that tigerish water hissing at his heels. Forward, still
+      forward, till he was beyond its reach&mdash;yes, on dry sand. Then his
+      vital forces failed him; one of his legs gave way, and, bleeding from a
+      hundred hurts, he fell heavily onto his face, and there was still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boat in which Benita lay, being so deep in the water, proved very hard
+      to row against the tide, for the number of its passengers encumbered the
+      oarsmen. After a while a light off land breeze sprang up, as here it often
+      does towards morning; and the officer, Thompson, determined to risk
+      hoisting the sail. Accordingly this was done&mdash;with some difficulty,
+      for the mast had to be drawn out and shipped&mdash;although the women
+      screamed as the weight of the air bent their frail craft over till the
+      gunwale was almost level with the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyone who moves shall be thrown overboard!&rdquo; said the officer, who
+      steered, after which they were quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now they made good progress seawards, but the anxieties of those who knew
+      were very great, since the wind showed signs of rising, and if any swell
+      should spring up that crowded cutter could scarcely hope to live. In fact,
+      two hours later they were forced to lower the sail again and drift,
+      waiting for the dawn. Mr. Thompson strove to cheer them, saying that now
+      they were in the track of vessels, and if they could see none when the
+      light came, he would run along the shore in the hope of finding a place
+      free of breakers where they might land. If they did not inspire hope, at
+      least his words calmed them, and they sat in heavy silence, watching the
+      sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length it grew grey, and then, with a sudden glory peculiar to South
+      Africa, the great red sun arose and began to dispel the mist from the
+      surface of the sea. Half an hour more and this was gone, and now the
+      bright rays brought life back into their chilled frames as they stared at
+      each other to see which of their company were still left alive. They even
+      asked for food, and biscuit was given to them with water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while Benita remained unconscious. Indeed, one callous fellow,
+      who had been using her body as a footstool, said that she must be dead,
+      and had better be thrown overboard, as it would lighten the boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you throw that lady into the sea, living or dead,&rdquo; said Mr. Thompson,
+      with an ominous lift of his eye, &ldquo;you go with her, Mr. Batten. Remember
+      who brought her here and how he died.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Mr. Batten held his peace, while Thompson stood up and scanned the
+      wide expanse of sea. Presently he whispered to a sailor near him, who also
+      stood up, looked, and nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That will be the other Line&rsquo;s intermediate boat,&rdquo; he said, and the
+      passengers, craning their heads round, saw far away to the right a streak
+      of smoke upon the horizon. Orders were given, a little corner of sail was
+      hoisted, with a white cloth of some sort tied above it, and the oars were
+      got out. Once more the cutter moved forward, bearing to the left in the
+      hope of intercepting the steamer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She came on with terrible swiftness, and they who had miles of water to
+      cover, dared hoist no more sail in that breeze. In half an hour she was
+      nearly opposite to them, and they were still far away. A little more sail
+      was let out, driving them through the water at as quick a rate as they
+      could venture to go. The steamer was passing three miles or so away, and
+      black despair took hold of them. Now the resourceful Thompson, without
+      apologies, undressed, and removing the white shirt that he had worn at the
+      dance, bade a sailor to tie it to an oar and wave it to and fro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still the steamer went on, until presently they heard her siren going, and
+      saw that she was putting about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has seen us,&rdquo; said Thompson. &ldquo;Thank God, all of you, for there is
+      wind coming up. Pull down that sail; we shan&rsquo;t need it any more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Half an hour later, with many precautions, for the wind he prophesied was
+      already troubling the sea and sending little splashes of water over the
+      stern of their deeply laden boat, they were fast to a line thrown from the
+      deck of the three thousand ton steamer <i>Castle</i>, bound for Natal.
+      Then, with a rattle, down came the accommodation ladder, and strong-armed
+      men, standing on its grating, dragged them one by one from the death to
+      which they had been so near. The last to be lifted up, except Thompson,
+      was Benita, round whom it was necessary to reeve a rope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any use?&rdquo; asked the officer on the grating as he glanced at her quiet
+      form.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t say; I hope so,&rdquo; answered Thompson. &ldquo;Call your doctor.&rdquo; And gently
+      enough she was borne up the ship&rsquo;s side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They wanted to cast off the boat, but Thompson remonstrated, and in the
+      end that also was dragged to deck. Meanwhile the news had spread, and the
+      awakened passengers of the <i>Castle</i>, clad in pyjamas, dressing-gowns,
+      and even blankets, were crowding round the poor castaways or helping them
+      to their cabins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a teetotaller,&rdquo; said second officer Thompson when he had made a
+      brief report to the captain of the <i>Castle</i>, &ldquo;but if anyone will
+      stand me a whiskey and soda I shall be obliged to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      MR. CLIFFORD
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Although the shock of the blow she had received upon her head was
+      sufficient to make her insensible for so many hours, Benita&rsquo;s injuries
+      were not of a really serious nature, for as it happened the falling block,
+      or whatever it may have been, had hit her forehead slantwise, and not
+      full, to which accident she owed it that, although the skin was torn and
+      the scalp bruised, her skull had escaped fracture. Under proper medical
+      care her senses soon came back to her, but as she was quite dazed and
+      thought herself still on board the <i>Zanzibar</i>, the doctor considered
+      it wise to preserve her in that illusion for a while. So after she had
+      swallowed some broth he gave her a sleeping draught, the effects of which
+      she did not shake off till the following morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she came to herself completely, and was astonished to feel the pain
+      in her head, which had been bandaged, and to see a strange stewardess
+      sitting by her with a cup of beef-tea in her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where am I? Is it a dream?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drink this and I will tell you,&rdquo; answered the stewardess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita obeyed, for she felt hungry, then repeated her question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your steamer was shipwrecked,&rdquo; said the stewardess, &ldquo;and a great many
+      poor people were drowned, but you were saved in a boat. Look, there are
+      your clothes; they were never in the water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who carried me into the boat?&rdquo; asked Benita in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A gentleman, they say, Miss, who had wrapped you in a blanket and put a
+      lifebelt on you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Benita remembered everything that happened before the darkness fell&mdash;the
+      question to which she had given no answer, the young couple who stood
+      flirting by her&mdash;all came back to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was Mr. Seymour saved?&rdquo; she whispered, her face grey with dread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say, Miss,&rdquo; answered the stewardess evasively. &ldquo;But there is no
+      gentleman of that name aboard this ship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment the doctor came in, and him, too, she plied with questions.
+      But having learned the story of Robert&rsquo;s self-sacrifice from Mr. Thompson
+      and the others, he would give her no answer, for he guessed how matters
+      had stood between them, and feared the effects of the shock. All he could
+      say was that he hoped Mr. Seymour had escaped in some other boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not until the third morning that Benita was allowed to learn the
+      truth, which indeed it was impossible to conceal any longer. Mr. Thompson
+      came to her cabin and told her everything, while she listened silently,
+      horrified, amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Clifford,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I think it was one of the bravest things that a
+      man ever did. On the ship I always thought him rather a head-in-air kind
+      of swell, but he was a splendid fellow, and I pray God that he has lived,
+      as the lady and child for whom he offered himself up have done, for they
+      are both well again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she repeated after him mechanically, &ldquo;splendid fellow indeed, and,&rdquo;
+       she added, with a strange flash of conviction, &ldquo;I believe that he <i>is</i>
+      still alive. If he were dead I should know it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad to hear you say so,&rdquo; said Mr. Thompson, who believed the exact
+      contrary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; she went on. &ldquo;I will tell you something. When that dreadful
+      accident occurred Mr. Seymour had just asked me to marry him, and I was
+      going to answer that I would&mdash;because I love him. I believe that I
+      shall still give him that answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Thompson replied again that he hoped so, which, being as honest and
+      tender-hearted as he was brave and capable, he did most earnestly; but in
+      his heart he reflected that her answer would not be given this side of the
+      grave. Then, as he had been deputed to do, he handed her the note which
+      had been found in the bosom of her dress, and, able to bear no more of
+      this painful scene, hurried from the cabin. She read it greedily twice,
+      and pressed it to her lips, murmuring:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I will think kindly of you, Robert Seymour, kindly as woman can of
+      man, and now or afterwards you shall have your answer, if you still wish
+      for it. Whenever you come or wherever I go, it shall be ready for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That afternoon, when she was more composed, Mrs. Jeffreys came to see
+      Benita, bringing her baby with her. The poor woman was still pale and
+      shaken, but the child had taken no hurt at all from its immersion in that
+      warm water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can you think of me?&rdquo; she said, falling on her knees by Benita. &ldquo;But
+      oh! I did not know what I was doing. It was terror and my child,&rdquo; and she
+      kissed the sleeping infant passionately. &ldquo;Also I did not understand at the
+      time&mdash;I was too dazed. And&mdash;that hero&mdash;he gave his life for
+      me when the others wished to beat me off with oars. Yes, his blood is upon
+      my hands&mdash;he who died that I and my child might live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita looked at her and answered, very gently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he did not die after all. Do not grieve, for if he did it was a
+      very glorious death, and I am prouder of him than I could have been had he
+      lived on like the others&mdash;who wished to beat you off with oars.
+      Whatever is, is by God&rsquo;s Will, and doubtless for the best. At the least,
+      you and your child will be restored to your husband, though it cost me one
+      who would have been&mdash;my husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That evening Benita came upon the deck and spoke with the other ladies who
+      were saved, learning every detail that she could gather. But to none of
+      the men, except to Mr. Thompson, would she say a single word, and soon,
+      seeing how the matter stood, they hid themselves away from her as they had
+      already done from Mrs. Jeffreys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The <i>Castle</i> had hung about the scene of the shipwreck for thirty
+      hours, and rescued one other boatload of survivors, also a stoker clinging
+      to a piece of wreckage. But with the shore she had been unable to
+      communicate, for the dreaded wind had risen, and the breakers were quite
+      impassable to any boat. To a passing steamer bound for Port Elizabeth,
+      however, she had reported the terrible disaster, which by now was known
+      all over the world, together with the names of those whom she had picked
+      up in the boats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the night of the day of Benita&rsquo;s interview with Mrs. Jeffreys, the <i>Castle</i>
+      arrived off Durban and anchored, since she was too big a vessel to cross
+      the bar as it was in those days. At dawn the stewardess awoke Benita from
+      the uneasy sleep in which she lay, to tell her that an old gentleman had
+      come off in the tug and wished to see her; for fear of exciting false
+      hopes she was very careful to add that word &ldquo;old.&rdquo; With her help Benita
+      dressed herself, and as the sun rose, flooding the Berea, the Point, the
+      white town and fair Natal beyond with light, she went on to the deck, and
+      there, leaning over the bulwark, saw a thin, grey-bearded man of whom
+      after all these years the aspect was still familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A curious thrill went through her as she looked at him leaning there lost
+      in thought. After all, he was her father, the man to whom she owed her
+      presence upon this bitter earth, this place of terrors and delights, of
+      devastation and hope supernal. Perhaps, too, he had been as much sinned
+      against as sinning. She stepped up to him and touched him on the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned round with all the quickness of a young man, for about him there
+      was a peculiar agility which his daughter had inherited. Like his mind,
+      his body was still nimble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My darling,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I should have known your voice anywhere. It has
+      haunted my sleep for years. My darling, thank you for coming back to me,
+      and thank God for preserving you when so many were lost.&rdquo; Then he threw
+      his arms about her and kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She shrank from him a little, for by inadvertence he had pressed upon the
+      wound in her forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it is my head. It was injured, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he saw the bandage about her brow, and was very penitent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They did not tell me that you had been hurt, Benita,&rdquo; he exclaimed in his
+      light, refined voice, one of the stamps of that gentility of blood and
+      breeding whereof all his rough years and errors had been unable to deprive
+      him. &ldquo;They only told me that you were saved. It is part of my ill-fortune
+      that at our first moment of greeting I should give you pain, who have
+      caused you so much already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita felt that the words were an apology for the past, and her heart was
+      touched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is nothing,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;You did not know or mean it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, dear, I never knew or meant it. Believe me, I was not a willing
+      sinner, only a weak one. You are beautiful, Benita&mdash;far more so than
+      I expected.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What,&rdquo; she answered smiling, &ldquo;with this bandage round my head? Well, in
+      your eyes, perhaps.&rdquo; But inwardly she thought to herself that the
+      description would be more applicable to her father, who in truth,
+      notwithstanding his years, was wonderfully handsome, with his quick blue
+      eyes, mobile face, gentle mouth with the wistful droop at the corners so
+      like her own, and grey beard. How, she wondered, could this be the man who
+      had struck her mother. Then she remembered him as he had been years before
+      when he was a slave to liquor, and knew that the answer was simple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me about your escape, love,&rdquo; he said, patting her hand with his thin
+      fingers. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;ve suffered. I was waiting at the Royal
+      Hotel here, when the cable came announcing the loss of the <i>Zanzibar</i>
+      and all on board. For the first time for many a year I drank spirits to
+      drown my grief&mdash;don&rsquo;t be afraid, dear&mdash;for the first time and
+      the last. Then afterwards came another cable giving the names of those who
+      were known to be saved, and&mdash;thank God, oh! thank God&mdash;yours
+      among them,&rdquo; and he gasped at the recollection of that relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;I suppose I should thank&mdash;Him&mdash;and another.
+      Have you heard the story about&mdash;how Mr. Seymour saved me, I mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some of it. While you were dressing yourself, I have been talking to the
+      officer who was in command of your boat. He was a brave man, Benita, and I
+      am sorry to tell you he is gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She grasped a stanchion and clung there, staring at him with a wild, white
+      face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that, Father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford drew a copy of the <i>Natal Mercury</i> of the previous day
+      from the pocket of his ulster, and while she waited in an agony he hunted
+      through the long columns descriptive of the loss of the <i>Zanzibar</i>.
+      Presently he came to the paragraph he sought, and read it aloud to her. It
+      ran:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The searchers on the coast opposite the scene of the shipwreck report
+      that they met a Kaffir who was travelling along the seashore, who produced
+      a gold watch which he said he had taken from the body of a white man that
+      he found lying on the sand at the mouth of the Umvoli River. Inside the
+      watch is engraved, &lsquo;To Seymour Robert Seymour, from his uncle, on his
+      twenty-first birthday.&rsquo; The name of Mr. Seymour appears as a first-class
+      passenger to Durban by the <i>Zanzibar</i>. He was a member of an old
+      English family in Lincolnshire. This was his second journey to South
+      Africa, which he visited some years ago with his brother on a big-game
+      shooting expedition. All who knew him then will join with us in deploring
+      his loss. Mr. Seymour was a noted shot and an English gentleman of the
+      best stamp. He was last seen by one of the survivors of the catastrophe,
+      carrying Miss Clifford, the daughter of the well-known Natal pioneer of
+      that name, into a boat, but as this young lady is reported to have been
+      saved, and as he entered the boat with her, no explanation is yet
+      forthcoming as to how he came to his sad end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear that is clear enough,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, as he folded up his
+      paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, clear enough,&rdquo; she repeated in a strained voice. &ldquo;And yet&mdash;yet&mdash;oh!
+      Father, he had just asked me to marry him, and I can&rsquo;t believe that he is
+      dead before I had time to answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heavens!&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;they never told me that. It is
+      dreadfully sad. God help you, my poor child! There is nothing more to say
+      except that he was only one among three hundred who have gone with him. Be
+      brave now, before all these people. Look&mdash;here comes the tug.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The following week was very much of a blank to Benita. When they reached
+      shore some old friends of her father&rsquo;s took her and him to their house, a
+      quiet place upon the Berea. Here, now that the first excitement of rescue
+      and grief was over, the inevitable reaction set in, bringing with it
+      weakness so distressing that the doctor insisted upon her going to bed,
+      where she remained for the next five days. With the healing up of the
+      wound in her head her strength came back to her at last, but it was a very
+      sad Benita who crept from her room one afternoon on to the verandah and
+      looked out at the cruel sea, peaceful now as the sky above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father, who had nursed her tenderly during these dark days, came and
+      sat by her, taking her hand in his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is capital,&rdquo; he said, glancing at her anxiously. &ldquo;You are getting
+      quite yourself again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall never be myself again,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;My old self is dead,
+      although the outside of me has recovered. Father, I suppose that it is
+      wrong, but I wish that I were dead too. I wish that he had taken me with
+      him when he jumped into the sea to lighten the boat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t speak like that,&rdquo; he broke in hastily. &ldquo;Of course I know that I am
+      not much to you&mdash;how can I be after all that is past? But I love you,
+      dear, and if I were left quite alone again&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; And he broke
+      off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall not be left alone if I can help it,&rdquo; she replied, looking at
+      the old man with her dark and tender eyes. &ldquo;We have only each other in the
+      world now, have we? The rest have gone, never to return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw his arms about her, and, drawing her to him, kissed her
+      passionately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If only you could learn to love me!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do love you,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;who now shall never love any other man
+      upon the earth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the beginning of a deep affection which sprang up between Mr.
+      Clifford and his daughter, and continued to the end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there any news?&rdquo; she asked a little later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None&mdash;none about him. The tide took his body away, no doubt, after
+      the Kaffir had gone. I remember him well now. He was a fine young man, and
+      it comes into my mind that when I said good-bye to him above those old
+      ruins, I wished that I had a son like that. And to think that he went so
+      near to becoming a son to me! Well, the grass must bend when the wind
+      blows, as the natives say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad that you knew him,&rdquo; she answered simply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they began talking about other matters. He told her that all the
+      story had become known, and that people spoke of Robert Seymour as &ldquo;the
+      hero&rdquo;; also that there was a great deal of curiosity about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then let us get away as soon as we can,&rdquo; she said nervously. &ldquo;But,
+      Father, where are we going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That will be for you to decide, love. Listen, now; this is my position. I
+      have been quite steady for years, and worked hard, with the result that I
+      and my partner have a fine farm in the Transvaal, on the high land near
+      Lake Chrissie, out Wakkerstroom way. We breed horses there, and have done
+      very well with them. I have £1,500 saved, and the farm brings us in quite
+      £600 a year beyond the expenses. But it is a lonely place, with only a few
+      Boers about, although they are good fellows enough. You might not care to
+      live there with no company.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that I should mind,&rdquo; she answered, smiling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not now, but by-and-by you would when you know what it is like. Now I
+      might sell my share in the farm to my partner, who, I think, would buy it,
+      or I might trust to him to send me a part of the profits, which perhaps he
+      would not. Then, if you wish it, we could live in or near one of the
+      towns, or even, as you have an income of your own, go home to England, if
+      that is your will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it your will?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head. &ldquo;No; all my life is here. Also, I have something to
+      find before I die&mdash;for your sake, dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean up among those ruins?&rdquo; she asked, looking at him curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. So you know about it?&rdquo; he answered, with a flash of his blue eyes.
+      &ldquo;Oh! of course, Seymour told you. Yes, I mean among the ruins&mdash;but I
+      will tell you that story another time&mdash;not here, not here. What do
+      you wish to do, Benita? Remember, I am in your hands; I will obey you in
+      all things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not to stop in a town and not to go to England,&rdquo; she replied, while he
+      hung eagerly upon her words, &ldquo;for this has become my holy land. Father, I
+      will go with you to your farm; there I can be quiet, you and I together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he answered rather uneasily; &ldquo;but, you see, Benita, we shall not be
+      quite alone there. My partner, Jacob Meyer, lives with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jacob Meyer? Ah! I remember,&rdquo; and she winced. &ldquo;He is a German, is he not&mdash;and
+      odd?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;German Jew, I imagine, and very odd. Should have made his fortune a dozen
+      times over, and yet has never done anything. Too unpractical, too
+      visionary, with all his brains and scheming. Not a good man, Benita,
+      although he suits me, and, for the matter of that, under our agreement I
+      cannot get rid of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did he become your partner?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! a good many years ago he turned up at the place with a doleful story.
+      Said that he had been trading among the Zulus; he was what we call a
+      &lsquo;smouse&rsquo; out here, and got into a row with them, I don&rsquo;t know how. The end
+      of it was that they burned his waggon, looted his trade-goods and oxen,
+      and killed his servants. They would have killed him too, only, according
+      to his own account, he escaped in a very queer fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he says by mesmerising the chief and making the man lead him
+      through his followers. An odd story enough, but I can quite believe it of
+      Jacob. He worked for me for six months, and showed himself very clever.
+      Then one night, I remember it was a few days after I had told him of the
+      story of the Portuguese treasure in Matabeleland, he produced £500 in Bank
+      of England notes out of the lining of his waistcoat, and offered to buy a
+      half interest in the farm. Yes, £500! Although for all those months I had
+      believed him to be a beggar. Well, as he was so <i>slim</i>, and better
+      than no company in that lonely place, in the end I accepted. We have done
+      well since, except for the expedition after the treasure which we did not
+      get, although we more than paid our expenses out of the ivory we bought.
+      But next time we shall succeed, I am sure,&rdquo; he added with enthusiasm,
+      &ldquo;that is, if we can persuade those Makalanga to let us search on the
+      mountain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you had better stick to the horsebreeding,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall judge when you hear the story. But you have been brought up in
+      England; will you not be afraid to go to Lake Chrissie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Afraid of what?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! of the loneliness, and of Jacob Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was born on the veld, Father, and I have always hated London. As for
+      your odd friend, Mr. Meyer, I am not afraid of any man on earth. I have
+      done with men. At the least I will try the place and see how I get on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; answered her father with a sigh of relief. &ldquo;You can always
+      come back, can&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said indifferently. &ldquo;I suppose that I can always come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      JACOB MEYER
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      More than three weeks had gone by when one morning Benita, who slept upon
+      the cartel or hide-strung bed in the waggon, having dressed herself as
+      best she could in that confined place, thrust aside the curtain and seated
+      herself upon the voorkisse, or driving-box. The sun was not yet up, and
+      the air was cold with frost, for they were on the Transvaal high-veld at
+      the end of winter. Even through her thick cloak Benita shivered and called
+      to the driver of the waggon, who also acted as cook, and whose
+      blanket-draped form she could see bending over a fire into which he was
+      blowing life, to make haste with the coffee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By and by, Missie&mdash;by and by,&rdquo; he answered, coughing the rank smoke
+      from his lungs. &ldquo;Kettle no sing yet, and fire black as hell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita reflected that popular report painted this locality red, but
+      without entering into argument sat still upon the chest waiting till the
+      water boiled and her father appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he emerged from under the side flap of the waggon where he
+      slept, and remarking that it was really too cold to think of washing,
+      climbed to her side by help of the disselboom, and kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How far are we now from Rooi Krantz, Father?&rdquo; she asked, for that was the
+      name of Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s farm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About forty miles, dear. The waggon cannot make it to-night with these
+      two sick oxen, but after the midday outspan we will ride on, and be there
+      by sundown. I am afraid you are tired of this trekking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I like it very much; it is so restful, and I sleep
+      sound upon that cartel. I feel as though I should like to trek on for the
+      rest of my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you shall if you wish, dear, for whole months. South Africa is big,
+      and when the grass grows, if you still wish it, we will take a long
+      journey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, but made no answer, knowing that he was thinking of the place
+      so far away where he believed that once the Portuguese had buried gold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The kettle was singing now merrily enough, and Hans, the cook, lifting it
+      from the fire in triumph&mdash;for his blowing exertions had been severe&mdash;poured
+      into it a quantity of ground coffee from an old mustard tin. Then, having
+      stirred the mixture with a stick, he took a red ember from the fire and
+      dropped it into the kettle, a process which, as travellers in the veld
+      know well, has a clearing effect upon the coffee. Next he produced
+      pannikins, and handed them up with a pickle jar full of sugar to Mr.
+      Clifford, upon the waggon chest. Milk they had none, yet that coffee
+      tasted a great deal better than it looked; indeed, Benita drank two cups
+      of it to warm herself and wash down the hard biscuit. Before the day was
+      over glad enough was she that she had done so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun was rising; huge and red it looked seen through the clinging mist,
+      and, their breakfast finished, Mr. Clifford gave orders that the oxen,
+      which were filling themselves with the dry grass near at hand, should be
+      got up and inspanned. The voorlooper, a Zulu boy, who had left them for a
+      little while to share the rest of the coffee with Hans, rose from his
+      haunches with a grunt, and departed to fetch them. A minute or two later
+      Hans ceased from his occupation of packing up the things, and said in a
+      low voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Kek!</i> Baas&rdquo;&mdash;that is &ldquo;Look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Following the line of his outstretched hand, Benita and her father
+      perceived, not more than a hundred yards away from them, a great troop of
+      wilderbeeste, or gnu, travelling along a ridge, and pausing now and again
+      to indulge in those extraordinary gambols which cause the Boers to declare
+      that these brutes have a worm in their brains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me my rifle, Hans,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;We want meat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      By the time that the Westley-Richards was drawn from its case and loaded,
+      only one buck remained, for, having caught sight of the waggon, it turned
+      to stare at it suspiciously. Mr. Clifford aimed and fired. Down went the
+      buck, then springing to its feet again, vanished behind the ridge. Mr.
+      Clifford shook his head sadly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t often do that sort of thing, my dear, but the light is still very
+      bad. Still, he&rsquo;s hit. What do you say? Shall we get on the horses and
+      catch him? A canter would warm you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita, who was tender-hearted, reflected that it would be kinder to put
+      the poor creature out of its pain, and nodded her head. Five minutes later
+      they were cantering together up the rise, Mr. Clifford having first
+      ordered the waggon to trek on till they rejoined it, and slipped a packet
+      of cartridges into his pocket. Beyond the rise lay a wide stretch of
+      marshy ground, bordered by another rise half a mile or more away, from the
+      crest of which&mdash;for now the air was clear enough&mdash;they saw the
+      wounded bull standing. On they went after him, but before they could come
+      within shot, he had moved forward once more, for he was only lightly hurt
+      in the flank, and guessed whence his trouble came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again and again did he retreat as they drew near, until at length, just as
+      Mr. Clifford was about to dismount to risk a long shot, the beast took to
+      its heels in earnest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;don&rsquo;t let&rsquo;s be beat,&rdquo; for by this time the hunter was
+      alive in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So off they went at a gallop, up slopes and down slopes that reminded
+      Benita of the Bay of Biscay in a storm, across half-dried vleis that in
+      the wet season were ponds, through stony ground and patches of ant-bear
+      holes in which they nearly came to grief. For five miles at least the
+      chase went on, since at the end of winter the wilderbeeste was thin and
+      could gallop well, notwithstanding its injury, faster even than their good
+      horses. At last, rising a ridge, they found whither it was going, for
+      suddenly they were in the midst of vast herds of game, thousands and tens
+      of thousands of them stretching as far as the eye could reach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a wondrous sight that now, alas! will be seen no more&mdash;at any
+      rate upon the Transvaal veld; wilderbeeste, blesbok, springbok, in
+      countless multitudes, and amongst them a few quagga and hartebeeste. With
+      a sound like that of thunder, their flashing myriad hoofs casting up
+      clouds of dust from the fire-blackened veld, the great herds separated at
+      the appearance of their enemy, man. This way and that they went in groups
+      and long brown lines, leaving the wounded and exhausted wilderbeeste
+      behind them, so that presently he was the sole tenant of that great cup of
+      land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At him they rode till Mr. Clifford, who was a little ahead of his
+      daughter, drew almost alongside. Then the poor maddened brute tried its
+      last shift. Stopping suddenly, it wheeled round and charged head down. Mr.
+      Clifford, as it came, held out his rifle in his right hand and fired at a
+      hazard. The bullet passed through the bull, but could not stop its charge.
+      Its horns, held low, struck the forelegs of the horse, and next instant
+      horse, man, and wilderbeeste rolled on the veld together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita, who was fifty yards behind, uttered a little cry of fear, but
+      before ever she reached him, her father had risen laughing, for he was
+      quite unhurt. The horse, too, was getting up, but the bull could rise no
+      more. It struggled to its forefeet, uttered a kind of sobbing groan,
+      stared round wildly, and rolled over, dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never knew a wilderbeeste charge like that before,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford.
+      &ldquo;Confound it! I believe my horse is lamed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lamed it was, indeed, where the bull had struck the foreleg, though, as it
+      chanced, not badly. Having tied a handkerchief to the horn of the buck in
+      order to scare away the vultures, and thrown some tufts of dry grass upon
+      its body, which he proposed, if possible, to fetch or send for, Mr.
+      Clifford mounted his lame horse and headed for the waggon. But they had
+      galloped farther than they thought, and it was midday before they came to
+      what they took to be the road. As there was no spoor upon it, they
+      followed this track backwards, expecting to find the waggon outspanned,
+      but although they rode for mile upon mile, no waggon could they see. Then,
+      realizing their mistake, they retraced their steps, and leaving this path
+      at the spot where they had found it, struck off again to the right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, the sky was darkening, and at about three o&rsquo;clock in the
+      afternoon a thunderstorm broke over them accompanied by torrents of icy
+      rain, the first fall of the spring, and a bitter wind which chilled them
+      through. More, after the heavy rain came drizzle and a thick mist that
+      deepened as evening approached.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now their plight was very wretched. Lost, starved, soaked to the skin,
+      with tired horses one of which was lame, they wandered about on the lonely
+      veld. Only one stroke of fortune came to them. As the sun set, for a few
+      moments its rays pierced the mist, telling them in what direction they
+      should go. Turning their horses, they headed for it, and so rode on until
+      the darkness fell. Then they halted a while, but feeling that if they
+      stood still in that horrible cold they would certainly perish before
+      morning, once more pushed on again. By now Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s horse was almost
+      too lame to ride, so he led it, walking at his daughter&rsquo;s side, and
+      reproaching himself bitterly for his foolishness in having brought her
+      into this trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter, Father,&rdquo; she answered wearily, for she was very tired.
+      &ldquo;Nothing matters; one may as well die upon the veld as in the sea or
+      anywhere else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On they plodded, they knew not whither. Benita fell asleep upon her
+      saddle, and was awakened once by a hyena howling quite close to them, and
+      once by her horse falling to its knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the time?&rdquo; she said at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father struck a match and looked at his watch. It was ten o&rsquo;clock;
+      they had been fifteen hours away from the waggon and without food. At
+      intervals Mr. Clifford, who had remounted, fired his rifle. Now there was
+      but one cartridge left, and having caught sight of his daughter&rsquo;s
+      exhausted face by the light of the match, he fired this also, though in
+      that desperate wilderness there was little hope of its bringing succour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall we stop or go on?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not care,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Only if I stop I think it will be for
+      ever. Let us go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the rain had ceased, but the mist was as dense as before. Also they
+      seemed to have got among bush, for wet leaves brushed their faces. Utterly
+      exhausted they stumbled forward, till suddenly Benita felt her horse stop
+      as though a hand had seized its bridle, and heard a man&rsquo;s voice, speaking
+      with a foreign accent, say:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mein Gott! Where are you going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish I knew,&rdquo; she answered, like one in a dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this instant the moon rose above the mists, and Benita saw Jacob Meyer
+      for the first time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In that light his appearance was not unpleasing. A man of about forty
+      years of age, not over tall, slight and active in build, with a pointed
+      black beard, regular, Semitic features, a complexion of an ivory pallor
+      which even the African sun did not seem to tan, and dark, lustrous eyes
+      that appeared, now to sleep, and now to catch the fire of the thoughts
+      within. Yet, weary though she was, there was something in the man&rsquo;s
+      personality which repelled and alarmed Benita, something wild and cruel.
+      She felt that he was filled with unsatisfied ambitions and desires, and
+      that to attain to them he would shrink at nothing. In a moment he was
+      speaking again in tones that compelled her attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a good thought that brought me here to look for you. No; not a
+      thought&mdash;what do you call it?&mdash;an instinct. I think your mind
+      must have spoken to my mind, and called me to save you. See now, Clifford,
+      my friend, where you have led your daughter. See, see!&rdquo; And he pointed
+      downwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They leaned forward and stared. There, immediately beneath them, was a
+      mighty gulf whereof the moonlight did not reveal the bottom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are no good veld traveller, Clifford, my friend; one more step of
+      those silly beasts, and down below there would have been two red heaps
+      with bits of bones sticking out of them&mdash;yes, there on the rocks five
+      hundred feet beneath. Ah! you would have slept soundly to-night, both of
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the place?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford in a dazed fashion. &ldquo;Leopard&rsquo;s
+      Kloof?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; Leopard&rsquo;s Kloof, no other. You have travelled along the top of the
+      hill, not at the bottom. Certainly that was a good thought which came to
+      me from the lady your daughter, for she is one of the thought senders, I
+      am sure. Ah! it came to me suddenly; it hit me like a stick whilst I was
+      searching for you, having found that you had lost the waggon. It said to
+      me, &lsquo;Ride to the top of Leopard&rsquo;s Kloof. Ride hard.&rsquo; I rode hard through
+      the rocks and the darkness, through the mist and the rain, and not one
+      minute had I been here when you came and I caught the lady&rsquo;s bridle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure we are very grateful to you,&rdquo; murmured Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am paid back ten thousand times. No; it is I who am grateful&mdash;I
+      who have saved your life through the thought you sent me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thought or no thought, all&rsquo;s well that ends well,&rdquo; broke in Mr. Clifford
+      impatiently. &ldquo;And thank Heaven we are not more than three miles away from
+      home. Will you lead the way, Jacob? You always could see in the dark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; and he took hold of Benita&rsquo;s bridle with his firm, white hand.
+      &ldquo;Oh! my horse will follow, or put your arm through his rein&mdash;so. Now
+      come on, Miss Clifford, and be afraid no more. With Jacob Meyer you are
+      safe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they began their descent of the hill. Meyer did not speak again; all
+      his attention seemed to be concentrated upon finding a safe path on which
+      the horses would not stumble. Nor did Benita speak; she was too utterly
+      exhausted&mdash;so exhausted, indeed, that she could no longer control her
+      mind and imagination. These seemed to loose themselves from her and to
+      acquire new powers, notably that of entering into the secret thoughts of
+      the man at her side. She saw them pass before her like living things, and
+      yet she could not read them. Still, something she did understand&mdash;that
+      she had suddenly grown important to this man, not in the way in which
+      women are generally important to men, but otherwise. She felt as though
+      she had become interwoven with the objects of his life, and was henceforth
+      necessary to their fulfilment, as though she were someone whom he had been
+      seeking for years on years, the one person who could give him light in his
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These imaginings troubled her, so that she was very thankful when they
+      passed away as swiftly as they had arisen, and she knew only that she was
+      half dead with weariness and cold; that her limbs ached and that the steep
+      path seemed endless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length they reached level ground, and after travelling along it for a
+      while and crossing the bed of a stream, passed through a gate, and stopped
+      suddenly at the door of a house with lighted windows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is your home at last, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; said the musical voice of
+      Jacob Meyer, &ldquo;and I thank the Fate which rules us that it has taught me to
+      bring you to it safely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Making no answer she slid from the saddle, only to find that she could not
+      stand, for she sank into a heap upon the ground. With a gentle exclamation
+      he lifted her, and calling to two Kaffirs who had appeared to take the
+      horses, led her into the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must go to bed at once,&rdquo; he said, conducting her to a door which
+      opened out of the sitting-room. &ldquo;I have had a fire lit in your chamber in
+      case you should come, and old Tante Sally will bring you soup with brandy
+      in it, and hot water for your feet. Ah! there you are, old vrouw. Come
+      now; help the lady, your mistress. Is all ready?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All, Baas,&rdquo; answered the woman, a stout half-breed with a kindly face.
+      &ldquo;Come now, my little one, and I will undress you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Half an hour later Benita, having drunk more brandy than ever she had done
+      in her life before, was wrapped up and fast asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she awoke the sun was streaming through the curtained window of her
+      room, and by the light of it she saw that the clock which stood upon the
+      mantelpiece pointed to half-past eleven. She had slept for nearly twelve
+      hours, and felt that, notwithstanding the cold and exposure, save for
+      stiffness and a certain numb feeling in her head&mdash;the result,
+      perhaps, of the unaccustomed brandy&mdash;she was well and, what was more,
+      quite hungry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside on the verandah she heard the voice of Jacob Meyer, with which she
+      seemed already to have become familiar, telling some natives to stop
+      singing, as they would wake the chieftainess inside. He used the Zulu word
+      Inkosi-kaas, which, she remembered, meant head-lady or chieftainess. He
+      was very thoughtful for her, she reflected, and was grateful, till
+      suddenly she remembered the dislike she had taken to the man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she looked round her room and saw that it was very pretty, well
+      furnished and papered, with water-colour pictures on the walls of no mean
+      merit, things that she had not expected in this far-off place. Also on a
+      table stood a great bowl of arum lilies. She wondered who had put them
+      there; whether it were the old half-breed, Sally, or Jacob Meyer. Also she
+      wondered who had painted the pictures, which were all of African scenery,
+      and something told her that both the flowers and the pictures came from
+      Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the little table by her bed was a handbell, which presently she rang.
+      Instantly she heard the voice of Sally calling for the coffee &ldquo;quick,&rdquo; and
+      next minute the woman entered, bringing a tray with it, and bread and
+      butter&mdash;yes, and toast and eggs, which had evidently been made ready
+      for her. Speaking in English mixed with Dutch words, she told Benita that
+      her father was still in bed, but sent her his love, and wished to know how
+      she did. Then, while she ate her breakfast with appetite, Sally set her a
+      bath, and subsequently appeared carrying the contents of the box she had
+      used upon the waggon, which had now arrived safely at the farm. Benita
+      asked who had ordered the box to be unpacked, and Sally answered that the
+      Heer Meyer had ordered it so that she might not be disturbed in her sleep,
+      and that her things should be ready for her when she woke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Heer Meyer thinks a great deal about other people,&rdquo; said Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ja, ja!&rdquo; answered the old half-breed. &ldquo;He tink much about people when he
+      want to tink about them, but he tink most about himself. Baas Meyer, he a
+      very clever man&mdash;oh! a very clever man, who want to be a great man
+      too. And one day, Missee, he be a great man, great and rich&mdash;if the
+      Heer God Almighty let him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE GOLD COIN
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Six weeks had gone by since the eventful evening of Benita&rsquo;s arrival at
+      Rooi Krantz. Now the spring had fully come, the veld was emerald with
+      grass and bright with flowers. In the kloof behind the house trees had put
+      out their leaves, and the mimosas were in bloom, making the air heavy with
+      their scent. Amongst them the ringdoves nested in hundreds, and on the
+      steep rocks of the precipice the red-necked vultures fed their young.
+      Along the banks of the stream and round the borders of the lake the
+      pig-lilies bloomed, a sheet of white. All the place was beautiful and full
+      of life and hope. Nothing seemed dead and hopeless except Benita&rsquo;s heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her health had quite come back to her; indeed, never before had she felt
+      so strong and well. But the very soul had withered in her breast. All day
+      she thought, and all night she dreamed of the man who, in cold blood, had
+      offered up his life to save a helpless woman and her child. She wondered
+      whether he would have done this if he had heard the answer that was upon
+      her lips. Perhaps that was why she had not been given time to speak that
+      answer, which might have made a coward of him. For nothing more had been
+      heard of Robert Seymour; indeed, already the tragedy of the ship <i>Zanzibar</i>
+      was forgotten. The dead had buried their dead, and since then worse
+      disasters had happened in the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Benita could not bury her dead. She rode about the veld, she sat by
+      the lake and watched the wild fowl, or at night heard them flighting over
+      her in flocks. She listened to the cooing of the doves, the booming of the
+      bitterns in the reeds, and the drumming of the snipe high in air. She
+      counted the game trekking along the ridge till her mind grew weary. She
+      sought consolation from the breast of Nature and found none; she sought it
+      in the starlit skies, and oh! they were very far away. Death reigned
+      within her who outwardly was so fair to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the society of her father, indeed, she took pleasure, for he loved her,
+      and love comforted her wounded heart. In that of Jacob Meyer also she
+      found interest, for now her first fear of the man had died away, and
+      undoubtedly he was very interesting; well-bred also after a fashion,
+      although a Jew who had lost his own faith and rejected that of the
+      Christians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He told her that he was a German by birth, that he had been sent to
+      England as a boy, to avoid the conscription, which Jews dislike, since in
+      soldiering there is little profit. Here he had become a clerk in a house
+      of South African merchants, and, as a consequence&mdash;having shown all
+      the ability of his race&mdash;was despatched to take charge of a branch
+      business in Cape Colony. What happened to him there Benita never
+      discovered, but probably he had shown too much ability of an oblique
+      nature. At any rate, his connection with the firm terminated, and for
+      years he became a wandering &ldquo;smouse,&rdquo; or trader, until at length he
+      drifted into partnership with her father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever might have been his past, however, soon she found that he was an
+      extremely able and agreeable man. It was he and no other who had painted
+      the water-colours that adorned her room, and he could play and sing as
+      well as he painted. Also, as Robert had told her, Mr. Meyer was very
+      well-read in subjects that are not usually studied on the veld of South
+      Africa; indeed, he had quite a library of books, most of them histories or
+      philosophical and scientific works, of which he would lend her volumes.
+      Fiction, however, he never read, for the reason, he told her, that he
+      found life itself and the mysteries and problems which surround it so much
+      more interesting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One evening, when they were walking together by the lake, watching the
+      long lights of sunset break and quiver upon its surface, Benita&rsquo;s
+      curiosity overcame her, and she asked him boldly how it happened that such
+      a man as he was content to live the life he did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In order that I may reach a better,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Oh! no, not in the
+      skies, Miss Clifford, for of them I know nothing, nor, as I believe, is
+      there anything to know. But here&mdash;here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by a better life, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean,&rdquo; he answered, with a flash of his dark eyes, &ldquo;great wealth, and
+      the power that wealth brings. Ah! I see you think me very sordid and
+      materialistic, but money is God in this world, Miss Clifford&mdash;money
+      is God.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled and answered: &ldquo;I fear, then, that he is likely to prove an
+      invisible god on the high veld, Mr. Meyer. You will scarcely make a great
+      fortune out of horse-breeding, and here there is no one to rule.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you suppose, then, that is why I stop at Rooi Krantz, just to breed
+      horses? Has not your father told you about the great treasure hidden away
+      up there among the Makalanga?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard something of it,&rdquo; she answered with a sigh. &ldquo;Also that both
+      of you went to look for it and were disappointed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! The Englishman who was drowned&mdash;Mr. Seymour&mdash;he spoke of
+      it, did he not? He found us there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; and you wished to shoot him&mdash;do you remember?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God in Heaven! Yes, because I thought he had come to rob us. Well, I did
+      not shoot, and afterwards we were hunted out of the place, which does not
+      much matter, as those fools of natives refused to let us dig in the
+      fortress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why do you still think about this treasure which probably does not
+      exist?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Miss Clifford, do you think about various things that probably do
+      not exist? Perhaps because you feel that here or elsewhere they <i>do</i>
+      exist. Well, that is what I feel about the treasure, and what I have
+      always felt. It exists, and I shall find it&mdash;now. I shall live to see
+      more gold than you can even imagine, and that is why I still continue to
+      breed horses on the Transvaal veld. Ah! you laugh; you think it is a
+      nightmare that I breed&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then suddenly he became aware of Sally, who had appeared over the fold of
+      the rise behind them, and asked irritably:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it now, old vrouw?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Baas Clifford wants to speak with you, Baas Jacob. Messengers have
+      come to you from far away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What messengers?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know not,&rdquo; answered Sally, fanning her fat face with a yellow
+      pocket-handkerchief. &ldquo;They are strange people to me, and thin with
+      travelling, but they talk a kind of Zulu. The Baas wishes you to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you come also, Miss Clifford? No? Then forgive me if I leave you,&rdquo;
+       and lifting his hat he went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A strange man, Missee,&rdquo; said old Sally, when he had vanished, walking
+      very fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita, in an indifferent voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very strange man,&rdquo; went on the old woman. &ldquo;Too much in his kop,&rdquo; and
+      she tapped her forehead. &ldquo;I tink it will burst one day; but if it does not
+      burst, then he will be great. I tell you that before, now I tell it you
+      again, for I tink his time come. Now I go cook dinner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita sat by the lake till the twilight fell, and the wild geese began to
+      flight over her. Then she walked back to the house thinking no more of
+      Heer Meyer, thinking only that she was weary of this place in which there
+      was nothing to occupy her mind and distract it from its ever present
+      sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At dinner, or rather supper, that night she noticed that both her father
+      and his partner seemed to be suffering from suppressed excitement, of
+      which she thought she could guess the cause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you find your messengers, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo; she asked, when the men had lit
+      their pipes, and the square-face&mdash;as Hollands was called in those
+      days, from the shape of the bottle&mdash;was set upon the rough table of
+      speckled buchenhout wood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I found them,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;they are in the kitchen now.&rdquo; And he
+      looked at Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita, my dear,&rdquo; said her father, &ldquo;rather a curious thing has happened.&rdquo;
+       Her face lit up, but he shook his head. &ldquo;No, nothing to do with the
+      shipwreck&mdash;that is all finished. Still, something that may interest
+      you, if you care to hear a story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita nodded; she was in a mood to hear anything that would occupy her
+      thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know something about this treasure business,&rdquo; went on her father.
+      &ldquo;Well, this is the tale of it. Years ago, after you and your mother had
+      gone to England, I went on a big game shooting expedition into the
+      interior. My companion was an old fellow called Tom Jackson, a rolling
+      stone, and one of the best elephant hunters in Africa. We did pretty well,
+      but the end of it was that we separated north of the Transvaal, I bringing
+      down the ivory that we had shot, and traded, and Tom stopping to put in
+      another season, the arrangement being that he was to join me afterwards,
+      and take his share of the money. I came here and bought this farm from a
+      Boer who was tired of it&mdash;cheap enough, too, for I only gave him £100
+      for the 6,000 acres. The kitchens behind were his old house, for I built a
+      new one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A year had gone by before I saw any more of Tom Jackson, and then he
+      turned up more dead than alive. He had been injured by an elephant, and
+      lay for some months among the Makalanga to the north of Matabeleland,
+      where he got fever badly at a place called Bambatse, on the Zambesi. These
+      Makalanga are a strange folk. I believe their name means the People of the
+      Sun; at any rate, they are the last of some ancient race. Well, while he
+      was there he cured the old Molimo, or hereditary high-priest of this
+      tribe, of a bad fever by giving him quinine, and naturally they grew
+      friendly. The Molimo lived among ruins of which there are many over all
+      that part of South Africa. No one knows who built them now; probably it
+      was people who lived thousands of years ago. However, this Molimo told Tom
+      Jackson a more recent legend connected with the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He said that six generations before, when his great-great-great
+      grandfather was chief (Mambo, he called it), the natives of all that part
+      of South Africa rose against the white men&mdash;Portuguese, I suppose&mdash;who
+      still worked the gold there. They massacred them and their slaves by
+      thousands, driving them up from the southward, where Lobengula rules now,
+      to the Zambesi by which the Portuguese hoped to escape to the coast. At
+      length a remnant of them, not more than about two hundred men and women,
+      arrived at the stronghold called Bambatse, where the Molimo now lives in a
+      great ruin built by the ancients upon an impregnable mountain which
+      overhangs the river. With them they brought an enormous quantity of gold,
+      all the stored-up treasure of the land which they were trying to carry
+      off. But although they reached the river they could not escape by it,
+      since the natives, who pursued them in thousands, watched day and night in
+      canoes, and the poor fugitives had no boats. Therefore it came about that
+      they were shut up in this fortress which it was impossible to storm, and
+      there slowly perished of starvation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When it was known that they were all dead, the natives who had followed
+      them from the south, and who wanted blood and revenge, not gold, which was
+      of no use to them, went away; but the old priest&rsquo;s forefather who knew the
+      secret entrance to the place, and who had been friendly to the Portuguese,
+      forced his way in and there, amidst the dead, found one woman living, but
+      mad with grief&mdash;a young and beautiful girl, the daughter of the
+      Portuguese lord or captain. He gave her food, but in the night, when some
+      strength had returned to her, she left him, and at daybreak he found her
+      standing on the peak that overhangs the river, dressed all in white.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He called some of his councillors, and they tried to persuade her to come
+      down from the rock, but she answered, &lsquo;No, her betrothed and all her
+      family and friends were dead, and it was her will to follow them.&rsquo; Then
+      they asked where was the gold, for having watched day and night they knew
+      it had not been thrown into the river. She answered that it was where it
+      was, and that, seek as he might, no black man would ever find it. She
+      added that she gave it into his keeping, and that of his descendants, to
+      safeguard until she came again. Also she said that if they were faithless
+      to that trust, then it had been revealed to her from heaven above that
+      those same savages who had killed her father and her people, would kill
+      his people also. When she had spoken thus she stood a while praying on the
+      peak, then suddenly hurled herself into the river, and was seen no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From that day to this the ruin has been held to be haunted, and save the
+      Molimo himself, who retires there to meditate and receive revelations from
+      the spirits, no one is allowed to set a foot in its upper part; indeed,
+      the natives would rather die than do so. Consequently the gold still
+      remains where it was hidden. This place itself Tom Jackson did not see,
+      since, notwithstanding his friendship for him, the Molimo refused to allow
+      him to enter there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Tom never recovered; he died here, and is buried in the little
+      graveyard behind the house which the Boers made for some of their people.
+      It was shortly before his death that Mr. Meyer became my partner, for I
+      forgot to say that I had told him the story, and we determined to have a
+      try for that great wealth. You know the rest. We trekked to Bambatse,
+      pretending to be traders, and found the old Molimo who knew of me as
+      having been Tom Jackson&rsquo;s friend. We asked him if the story he had told to
+      Jackson were true, and he answered that, surely as the sun shone in the
+      heavens, it was true&mdash;every word of it&mdash;for it, and much more
+      than he had spoken of, had been handed down from father to son, and that
+      they even knew the name of the white lady who had killed herself. It was
+      Ferreira&mdash;your mother&rsquo;s name, Benita, though a common one enough in
+      South Africa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We asked him to allow us to enter the topmost stronghold, which stands
+      upon the hill, but he refused, saying that the curse still lay upon him
+      and his, and that no man should enter until the lady Ferreira came again.
+      For the rest the place was free to us; we might dig as we would. So we did
+      dig, and found some gold buried with the ancients, beads and bangles and
+      wire&mdash;about £100 worth. Also&mdash;that was on the day when the young
+      Seymours came upon us, and accounts for Meyer&rsquo;s excitement, for he thought
+      that we were on the track of the treasure&mdash;we found a single gold
+      coin, no doubt one that had been dropped by the Portuguese. Here it is.&rdquo;
+       And he threw a thin piece of gold on the table before her. &ldquo;I have shown
+      it to a man learned in those matters, and he says that it is a ducat
+      struck by one of the doges of Venice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we never found any more. The end of it was that the Makalanga
+      caught us trying to get in to the secret stronghold by stealth, and gave
+      us the choice of clearing out or being killed. So we cleared out, for
+      treasure is not of much use to dead men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford ceased speaking, and filled his pipe, while Meyer helped
+      himself to squareface in an absent manner. As for Benita, she stared at
+      the quaint old coin, which had a hole in it, wondering with what scenes of
+      terror and of bloodshed it had been connected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep it,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;It will go on that bracelet of yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, dear,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Though I don&rsquo;t know why I should take
+      all the Portuguese treasure since we shall never see any more of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not, Miss Clifford?&rdquo; asked Meyer quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The story tells you why&mdash;because the natives won&rsquo;t even let you look
+      for it; also, looking and finding are different things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Natives change their minds sometimes, Miss Clifford. That story is not
+      done, it is only begun, and now you shall hear its second chapter.
+      Clifford, may I call in the messengers?&rdquo; And without waiting for an answer
+      he rose and left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither Mr. Clifford nor his daughter said anything after he had gone.
+      Benita appeared to occupy herself in fixing the broad gold coin to a
+      little swivel on her bracelet, but while she did so once more that sixth
+      sense of hers awoke within her. As she had been afraid at the dinner on
+      the doomed steamer, so again she was afraid. Again death and great fear
+      cast their advancing shadows on to her soul. That piece of gold seemed to
+      speak to her, yet, alas! she could not understand its story. Only she knew
+      that her father and Jacob Meyer and&mdash;yes, yes, yes&mdash;Robert
+      Seymour, had all a part in that tragedy. Oh! how could that be when he was
+      dead? How could this gold link him to her? She knew not&mdash;she cared
+      not. All she knew was that she would follow this treasure to the edge of
+      the world, and if need be, over it, if only it brought her back to him
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MESSENGERS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The door opened, and through it came Jacob Meyer, followed by three
+      natives. Benita did not see or hear them; her soul was far away. There at
+      the head of the room, clad all in white, for she wore no mourning save in
+      her heart, illuminated by the rays of the lamp that hung above her, she
+      stood still and upright, for she had risen; on the face and in her wide,
+      dark eyes a look that was very strange to see. Jacob Meyer perceived it
+      and stopped; the three natives perceived it also and stopped. There they
+      stood, all four of them, at the end of the long sitting-room, staring at
+      the white Benita and at her haunted eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the natives pointed with his thin finger to her face, and whispered
+      to the others. Meyer, who understood their tongue, caught the whisper. It
+      was:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behold the Spirit of the Rock!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What spirit, and what rock?&rdquo; he asked in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She who haunts Bambatse; she whom our eyes have seen,&rdquo; answered the man,
+      still staring at Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita heard the whispering, and knew it was about herself, though not one
+      word of it did she catch. With a sigh she shook herself free from her
+      visions and sat down in a chair close by. Then one by one the messengers
+      drew near to her, and each, as he came, made a profound obeisance,
+      touching the floor with his finger-tips, and staring at her face. But her
+      father they only saluted with an uplifted hand. She looked at them with
+      interest, and indeed they were interesting in their way; tall, spare men,
+      light coloured, with refined, mobile faces. Here was no negro-blood, but
+      rather that of some ancient people such as Egyptians or Phoenicians: men
+      whose forefathers had been wise and civilized thousands of years ago, and
+      perchance had stood in the courts of Pharaoh or of Solomon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their salutations finished, the three men squatted in a line upon the
+      floor, drawing their fur karosses, or robes, about them, and waited in
+      silence. Jacob Meyer thought a while, then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clifford, will you translate to your daughter, so that she may be sure
+      she is told exactly what passes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next he turned and addressed the natives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your names are Tamas, Tamala, and Hoba, and you, Tamas, are the son of
+      the Molimo of Bambatse, who is called Mambo, and you, Tamala and Hoba, are
+      his initiated councillors. Is it so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They bowed their heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. You, Tamas, tell the story and give again your message that this
+      lady, the lady Benita, may hear it, for she has a part in the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We understand that she has a part,&rdquo; answered Tamas. &ldquo;We read in her face
+      that she has the greatest part. Doubtless it is of her that the Spirit
+      told my father. These, spoken by my mouth, are the words of the Molimo, my
+      father, which we have travelled so far to deliver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;When you two white men visited Bambatse four years ago, you asked of me,
+      Mambo, to be admitted to the holy place, that you might look for the
+      treasure there which the Portuguese hid in the time of my ancestor in the
+      sixth generation. I refused to allow you to look, or even to enter the
+      holy place, because I am by birth the guardian of that treasure, although
+      I know not where it lies. But now I am in a great strait. I have news that
+      Lobengula the usurper, who is king of the Matabele, has taken offence
+      against me for certain reasons, among them that I did not send him a
+      sufficient tribute. It is reported to me that he purposes next summer to
+      despatch an impi to wipe me and my people out, and to make my kraal black
+      as the burnt veld. I have little strength to resist him who is mighty, and
+      my people are not warlike. From generation to generation they have been
+      traders, cultivators of the land, workers in metal, and men of peace, who
+      desire not to kill or be killed. Also they are few. Therefore I have no
+      power to stand against Lobengula.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;I remember the guns that you and your companion brought with you, which
+      can kill things from far away. If I had a supply of those guns from behind
+      my walls I might defy the impi of Lobengula, whose warriors use the
+      assegai. If you will bring me a hundred good guns and plenty of powder and
+      bullets for them, it is revealed to me that it will be lawful for me to
+      admit you to the secret, holy place, where you may look for the buried
+      gold for as long as you wish, and if you can find it, take it all away
+      without hindrance from me or my people. But I will be honest with you.
+      That gold will never be found save by the one appointed. The white lady
+      said so in the time of my forefather; he heard it with his ears, and I
+      have heard it from his descendants with my ears, and so it shall be.
+      Still, if you bring the guns you can come and see if either of you is that
+      one appointed. But I do not think that any man is so appointed, for the
+      secret is hid in woman. But of this you can learn for yourselves. I do but
+      speak as I am bidden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;This is my message spoken by my mouth, Tamas, son of my body, and my
+      councillors who go with him will bear witness that he speaks the truth. I,
+      Mambo, the Molimo of Bambatse, send you greeting, and will give you good
+      welcome and fulfil my promise, if you come with the far-shooting guns, ten
+      times ten of them, and the powder, and the bullets wherewith I may drive
+      off the Matabele, but not otherwise. My son, Tamas, and my councillors
+      will drive your waggon into my country but you must bring no strange
+      servants. The Spirit of the white woman who killed herself before the eyes
+      of my forefather has been seen of late standing upon the point of rock;
+      also she has visited me at night in my secret place where her companions
+      died. I do not know all that this portends, but I think that amongst other
+      things she wished to tell me that the Matabele are about to attack us. I
+      await the decree of the Heavens. I send you two karosses as a gift, and a
+      little ancient gold, since ivory is too heavy for my messengers to carry,
+      and I have no waggon. Farewell.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have heard you,&rdquo; said Meyer, when Mr. Clifford had finished
+      translating, &ldquo;and we wish to ask you a question. What do you mean when you
+      say that the Spirit of the white woman has been seen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean what I say, white man,&rdquo; answered Tamas. &ldquo;She was seen by all three
+      of us, standing upon the pinnacle at the dawn; also my father saw and
+      spoke with her alone in his sleep at night. This is the third time in my
+      father&rsquo;s day that she has appeared thus, and always before some great
+      event.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was she like?&rdquo; asked Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Like? Oh! like the lady who sits yonder. Yes, quite the same, or so it
+      seemed to us. But who knows? We have seen no other white women, and we
+      were not very near. Let the lady come and stand side by side with the
+      Spirit, so that we can examine them both, and we shall be able to answer
+      better. Do you accept the offer of the Molimo?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will tell you to-morrow morning,&rdquo; replied Meyer. &ldquo;A hundred rifles are
+      many to find, and will cost much money. Meanwhile, for you there is food
+      and a sleeping-place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three men seemed disappointed at his answer, which they evidently
+      believed to be preliminary to a refusal. For a moment or two they
+      consulted together, then Tamas put his hand into a pouch and drew from it
+      something wrapped in dry leaves, which he undid, revealing a quaint and
+      beautiful necklace, fashioned of twisted gold links, wherein were set
+      white stones, that they had no difficulty in recognising as uncut diamonds
+      of considerable value. From this necklace also hung a crucifix moulded in
+      gold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We offer this gift,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;on behalf of Mambo, my father, to the lady
+      yonder, to whom the karosses and the rough gold are of no use. The chain
+      has a story. When the Portuguese lady hurled herself into the river she
+      wore it about her neck. As she fell into the river she struck against a
+      little point of rock which tore the chain away from her&mdash;see where it
+      is broken and mended with gold wire. It remained upon the point of rock,
+      and my forefather took it thence. It is a gift to the lady if she will
+      promise to wear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Accept it,&rdquo; muttered Mr. Clifford, when he had finished translating this,
+      &ldquo;or you will give offence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Benita said: &ldquo;I thank the Molimo, and accept his gift.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Tamas rose, and, advancing, cast the ancient, tragic thing over her
+      head. As it fell upon her shoulders, Benita knew that it was a chain of
+      destiny drawing her she knew not where, this ornament that had last been
+      worn by that woman, bereaved and unhappy as herself, who could find no
+      refuge from her sorrow except in death. Had she felt it torn from her
+      breast, she wondered, as she, the living Benita of to-day, felt it fall
+      upon her own?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The three envoys rose, bowed, and went, leaving them alone. Jacob Meyer
+      lifted his head as though to address her, then changed his mind and was
+      silent. Both the men waited for her to speak, but she would not, and in
+      the end it was her father who spoke first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you say, Benita?&rdquo; he asked anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I? I have nothing to say, except that I have heard a very curious story.
+      This priest&rsquo;s message is to you and Mr. Meyer, father, and must be
+      answered by you. What have I to do with it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A great deal, I think, my dear, or so those men seemed to believe. At any
+      rate, I cannot go up there without you, and I will not take you there
+      against your wish, for it is a long way off, and a queer business. The
+      question is, will you go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She thought a space, while the two men watched her anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered at length, in a quiet voice. &ldquo;I will go if you wish to
+      go, not because I want to find treasure, but because the story and the
+      country where it happened interest me. Indeed, I don&rsquo;t believe much in the
+      treasure. Even if they are superstitious and afraid to look for it
+      themselves, I doubt whether they would allow you to look if they thought
+      it could be found. To me the journey does not seem a good business
+      speculation, also there are risks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We think it good enough,&rdquo; broke in Meyer decidedly. &ldquo;And one does not
+      expect to get millions without trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; said her father; &ldquo;but she is right&mdash;there are risks,
+      great risks&mdash;fever, wild beasts, savages, and others that one cannot
+      foresee. Have I a right to expose her to them? Ought we not to go alone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be useless,&rdquo; answered Meyer. &ldquo;Those messengers have seen your
+      daughter, and mixed her up with their superstitious story of a ghost, of
+      which I, who know that there are no such things, believe nothing. Without
+      her now we shall certainly fail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As for the risks, father,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;personally I take no account of
+      them, for I am sure that what is to happen will happen, and if I knew that
+      I was to die upon the Zambesi, it would make no difference to me who do
+      not care. But as it chances, I think&mdash;I cannot tell you why&mdash;that
+      you and Mr. Meyer are in more danger than I am. It is for you to consider
+      whether you will take the risks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford smiled. &ldquo;I am old,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;that is my answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I am accustomed to such things,&rdquo; said Meyer, with a shrug of his
+      shoulders. &ldquo;Who would not run a little danger for the sake of such a
+      glorious chance? Wealth, wealth, more wealth than we can dream of, and
+      with it, power&mdash;power to avenge, to reward, to buy position, and
+      pleasure, and all beautiful things which are the heritage of the very rich
+      alone,&rdquo; and he spread out his hands and looked upwards, as though in
+      adoration of this golden god.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Except such trifles as health and happiness,&rdquo; commented Benita, not
+      without sarcasm, for this man and his material desires disgusted her
+      somewhat, especially when she contrasted him with another man who was lost
+      to her, though it was true that <i>his</i> past had been idle and
+      unproductive enough. Yet they interested her also, for Benita had never
+      met anyone like Mr. Meyer, so talented, so eager, and so soulless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I understand it is settled?&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford hesitated, but Meyer answered at once:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, settled as far as anything can be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited a moment for her father to speak, but he said nothing; his
+      chance had gone by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well. Now we shall not need to trouble ourselves with further doubts
+      or argument. We are going to Bambatse on the Zambesi, a distant place, to
+      look for buried gold, and I hope, Mr. Meyer, that if you find it, the
+      results will come up to your expectations, and bring you all sorts of good
+      luck. Good-night, father dear, good-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My daughter thinks it will bring us ill-luck,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, when
+      the door had closed behind her. &ldquo;That is her way of saying so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Meyer gloomily; &ldquo;she thinks that, and she is one of those
+      who have vision. Well, she may be wrong. Also, the question is, shall we
+      seize our opportunity and its dangers, or remain here and breed bad horses
+      all our lives, while she who is not afraid laughs at us? I am going to
+      Bambatse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Mr. Clifford made no direct answer, only asked a question:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long will it take to get the guns and ammunition, and what will they
+      cost?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About a week from Wakkerstroom,&rdquo; replied Meyer. &ldquo;Old Potgieter, the
+      trader there, has just imported a hundred Martinis and a hundred
+      Westley-Richards falling-blocks. Fifty of each, with ten thousand rounds
+      of cartridges, will cost about £600, and we have as much as that in the
+      bank; also we have the new waggon, and plenty of good oxen and horses. We
+      can take a dozen of the horses with us, and sell them in the north of the
+      Transvaal for a fine price, before we get into the tetsefly belt. The oxen
+      will probably carry us through, as they are most of them salted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have thought it all out, Jacob, I see; but it means a lot of money
+      one way and another, to say nothing of other things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a lot of money, and those rifles are too good for Kaffirs.
+      Birmingham gas-pipes would have done for them, but there are none to be
+      had. But what is the money, and what are the guns, compared to all they
+      will bring us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you had better ask my daughter, Jacob. She seems to have her own
+      ideas upon the subject.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Clifford has made up her mind, and it will not change. I shall ask
+      her no more,&rdquo; replied Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he, too, left the room, to give orders about the journey to
+      Wakkerstroom that he must take upon the morrow. But Mr. Clifford sat there
+      till past midnight, wondering whether he had done right, and if they would
+      find the treasure of which he had dreamed for years, and what the future
+      had in store for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If only he could have seen!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Benita came to breakfast the next morning, she asked where Mr. Meyer
+      was, and learned that he had already departed for Wakkerstroom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly he is in earnest,&rdquo; she said with a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered her father; &ldquo;Jacob is always in earnest, though, somehow,
+      his earnestness has not brought him much good so far. If we fail, it will
+      not be want of thought and preparation on his part.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearly a week went by before Meyer returned again, and meanwhile Benita
+      made ready for her journey. In the intervals of her simple preparations
+      also she talked a good deal, with the help of her father, to the three
+      sturdy-looking Makalanga, who were resting thankfully after their long
+      journey. Their conversation was general, since by tacit consent no further
+      mention was made of the treasure or of anything to do with it, but it
+      enabled her to form a fair opinion of them and their people. She gathered
+      that although they spoke a dialect of Zulu, they had none of the bravery
+      of the Zulus, and indeed lived in deadly terror of the Matabele, who are
+      bastard Zulus&mdash;such terror, in fact, that she greatly doubted whether
+      the hundred rifles would be of much use to them, should they ever be
+      attacked by that tribe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were what their fathers had been before them, agriculturists and
+      workers in metals&mdash;not fighting men. Also she set herself to learn
+      what she could of their tongue, which she did not find difficult, for
+      Benita had a natural aptitude for languages, and had never forgotten the
+      Dutch and Zulu she used to prattle as a child, which now came back to her
+      very fast. Indeed, she could already talk fairly in either of those
+      languages, especially as she spent her spare hours in studying their
+      grammar, and reading them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So the days went on, till one evening Jacob Meyer appeared with two Scotch
+      carts laden with ten long boxes that looked like coffins, and other
+      smaller boxes which were very heavy, to say nothing of a multitude of
+      stores. As Mr. Clifford prophesied, he had forgotten nothing, for he even
+      brought Benita various articles of clothing, and a revolver for which she
+      had not asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three days later they trekked away from Rooi Krantz upon a peculiarly
+      beautiful Sunday morning in the early spring, giving it out that they were
+      going upon a trading and shooting expedition in the north of the
+      Transvaal. Benita looked back at the pretty little stead and the wooded
+      kloof behind it over which she had nearly fallen, and the placid lake in
+      front of it where the nesting wildfowl wheeled, and sighed. For to her,
+      now that she was leaving it, the place seemed like home, and it came into
+      her mind that she would never see it any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BAMBATSE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Nearly four months had gone by when at length the waggon with which were
+      Mr. Clifford, Benita, and Jacob Meyer camped one night within the country
+      of the Molimo of Bambatse, whose name was Mambo. Or perhaps that was his
+      title, since (according to Tamas his son) every chief in succession was
+      called Mambo, though not all of them were Molimos, or representatives and
+      prophets of God, or the Great Spirit whom they knew as Munwali. Thus
+      sometimes the Molimo, or priest of Munwali, and the Mambo or chief were
+      different persons. For instance, he said that he, Tamas, would be Mambo on
+      his father&rsquo;s death, but no visions were given to him; therefore as yet, at
+      any rate, he was not called to be Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the course of this long journey they had met with many adventures, such
+      as were common to African travellers before the days of railroads;
+      adventures with wild beasts and native tribes, adventures with swollen
+      rivers also, and one that was worst, with thirst, since for three days
+      (owing to the failure of a pit or pan, where they expected to find water)
+      they were obliged to go without drink. Still, none of these were very
+      serious, nor had any of the three of them ever been in better health than
+      they were at this moment, for by good luck they had escaped all fever.
+      Indeed, their rough, wild life had agreed with Benita extraordinarily
+      well, so well that any who had known her in the streets of London would
+      scarcely have recognized her as the sunburnt, active and well-formed young
+      woman who sat that night by the camp fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the horses they had brought with them had been sold, except some which
+      had died, and three that were &ldquo;salted,&rdquo; or proof against the deadly horse
+      sickness, which they took on with them. Their own servants also had been
+      sent back to Rooi Krantz in charge of a Scotch cart laden with ivory,
+      purchased from Boer hunters who had brought it down from the north of the
+      Transvaal. Therefore, for this was part of the bargain, the three
+      Makalanga were now their only attendants who drove and herded the cattle,
+      while Benita cooked the food which the two white men shot, or sometimes
+      bought from natives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For days they had been passing through a country that was practically
+      deserted, and now, having crossed a high nek, the same on which Robert
+      Seymour had left his waggon, they were camped in low land which, as they
+      could see by the remains of walls that appeared everywhere, had once been
+      extensively enclosed and cultivated. To their right was a rising
+      mountainous ground, beyond which, said the Makalanga, ran the Zambesi, and
+      in front of them, not more than ten miles away, a great isolated hill,
+      none other than that place that they had journeyed so far to reach,
+      Bambatse, round which flowed the great river. Indeed, thither one of the
+      three Makalanga, he who was named Hoba, had gone on to announce their
+      approach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had outspanned amongst ruins, most of them circular in shape, and
+      Benita, studying them in the bright moonlight, guessed that once these had
+      been houses. That place now so solitary, hundreds or thousands of years
+      ago was undoubtedly the home of a great population. Thousands, rather than
+      hundreds, she thought, since close at hand in the middle of one of these
+      round houses, grew a mighty baobab tree, that could not have seen less
+      than ten or fifteen centuries since the seed whence it sprang pierced the
+      cement floor which was still visible about its giant bole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tamas, the Molimo&rsquo;s son, saw her studying these evidences of antiquity,
+      and, approaching, saluted her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said in his own language, which by now she spoke very well,
+      &ldquo;lady&rdquo;&mdash;and he waved his hand with a fine gesture&mdash;&ldquo;behold the
+      city of my people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that it was their city?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, lady. Stones cannot speak, the spirits are silent, and we
+      have forgotten. Still, I think so, and our fathers have told us that but
+      six or eight generations ago many folk lived here, though it was not they
+      who built these walls. Even fifty years ago there were many, but now the
+      Matabele have killed them, and we are few; to-morrow you will see how few.
+      Come here and look,&rdquo; and he led her through the entrance of a square
+      cattle kraal which stood close by. Within were tufts of rank grass, and a
+      few bushes, and among these scores of skulls and other bones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele killed these in the time of Moselikatse,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now do
+      you wonder that we who remain fear the Matabele, and desire guns to defend
+      ourselves from them, even if we must sell our secrets, in order to buy
+      those guns, who have no money to pay for them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she answered, looking at the tall, dignified man, into whose soul
+      the irons of fear and slavery had burnt so deep. &ldquo;No, I do not wonder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning at daybreak they trekked on, always through these evidences
+      of dead, forgotten people. They had not more than ten miles to cover to
+      reach their long journey&rsquo;s end, but the road, if so it could be called,
+      ran up-hill, and the oxen, whereof only fourteen were now left to drag the
+      heavy-laden waggon, were thin and footsore, so that their progress was
+      very slow. Indeed, it was past midday when at length they began to enter
+      what by apology might be called the town of Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we go away from this, it will have to be by water, I think, unless
+      we can buy trek-cattle,&rdquo; said Meyer, looking at the labouring oxen with a
+      doubtful eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because several of those beasts have been bitten by tetsefly, like my
+      horse, and the poison is beginning to work. I thought so last night, but
+      now I am sure. Look at their eyes. It was down in that bit of bush veld
+      eight days ago. I said that we ought not to camp there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment they came to the crest of the ridge, and on its further
+      side saw the wonderful ruins of Bambatse close at hand. In front of them
+      stood a hill jutting out, as it were into the broad waters of the Zambesi
+      river, which, to a great extent, protected it upon three sides. The
+      fourth, that opposite to them, except at one place where a kind of natural
+      causeway led into the town, was also defended by Nature, since here for
+      more than fifty feet in height the granite rock of the base of the hill
+      rose sheer and unclimbable. On the mount itself, that in all may have
+      covered eight or ten acres of ground, and surrounded by a deep donga or
+      ditch, were three rings of fortifications, set one above the other, mighty
+      walls which, it was evident, had been built by no modern hand. Looking at
+      them Benita could well understand how it came about that the poor fugitive
+      Portuguese had chosen this as their last place of refuge, and were
+      overcome at length, not by the thousands of savages who followed and
+      surrounded them, but by hunger. Indeed, the place seemed impregnable to
+      any force that was not armed with siege guns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the hither side of this natural fosse, which, doubtless, in ancient
+      times had been filled with water led from the Zambesi, stood the village
+      of the Bambatse Makalanga, a collection of seventy or eighty wretched
+      huts, round, like those of their forefathers, but built of mud and thatch.
+      About them lay the gardens, or square fields, that were well cultivated,
+      and at this season rich with ripening corn. Benita, however, could see no
+      cattle, and concluded, therefore, that these must be kept on the hill for
+      safety, and within its walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Down the rough road they lumbered, and through the village, where the few
+      women and children stared at them in a frightened way. Then they came to
+      the causeway, which, on its further side, was blocked with thorns and
+      rough stones taken from the ruins. While they waited for these to be
+      removed by some men who now appeared, Benita looked at the massive,
+      circular wall still thirty or forty feet in height, by perhaps twenty
+      through its base, built of granite blocks without mortar, and ornamented
+      with quaint patterns of other coloured stones. In its thickness she could
+      see grooves, where evidently had once been portcullises, but these had
+      disappeared long ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a wonderful place,&rdquo; she said to her father. &ldquo;I am glad that I came.
+      Have you been all over it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; only between the first and second walls, and once between the second
+      and third. The old temple, or whatever it is, is on the top, and into that
+      they would never admit us. It is there that the treasure lies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That the treasure is supposed to lie,&rdquo; she answered with a smile. &ldquo;But,
+      Father, what guarantee have you that they will do so now? Perhaps they
+      will take the guns and show us the door&mdash;or rather the gate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your daughter is right, there is none; and before a box is taken off the
+      waggon we must get one,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;Oh! I know it is risky, and it would
+      have been better to make sure first, but it is too late to talk of that
+      now. Look, the stones are cleared. Trek on&mdash;trek!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The long waggon-whip cracked, the poor, tired-out oxen strained at the
+      yokes, and on they went through the entrance of that fateful fortress that
+      was but just wide enough to admit them. Inside lay a great open space,
+      which, as they could see from the numerous ruins, had once been filled
+      with buildings that now were half hidden by grass, trees, and creepers.
+      This was the outer ring of the temple where, in ancient days, the priests
+      and captains had their home. Travelling across it for perhaps a hundred
+      and fifty yards, they came near the second wall, which was like the first,
+      only not quite so solid, and saw that on a stretch of beaten ground, and
+      seated in the shadow, for the day was hot, the people of Bambatse were
+      gathered to greet them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When within fifty yards they dismounted from the horses, which were left
+      with the waggon in the charge of the Makalanga, Tamala. Then Benita taking
+      her position between her father and Jacob Meyer, they advanced towards the
+      ring of natives, of whom there may have been two hundred&mdash;all of them
+      adult men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they came, except one figure who remained seated with his back against
+      the wall, the human circle stood up as a token of respect, and Benita saw
+      that they were of the same stamp as the messengers&mdash;tall and
+      good-looking, with melancholy eyes and a cowed expression, wearing the
+      appearance of people who from day to day live in dread of slavery and
+      death. Opposite to them was a break in the circle, through which Tamas led
+      them, and as they crossed it Benita felt that all those people were
+      staring at her with their sad eyes. A few paces from where the man
+      crouched against the wall, his head hidden by a beautifully worked blanket
+      that was thrown over it, were placed three well-carved stools. Upon these,
+      at a motion from Tamas, they sat themselves down, and, as it was not
+      dignified for them to speak first, remained silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be patient and forgive,&rdquo; said Tamas at length. &ldquo;My father, Mambo, prays
+      to the Munwali and the spirits of his fathers that this coming of yours
+      may be fortunate, and that a vision of those things that are to be may
+      descend upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita, feeling nearly two hundred pairs of eyes concentrated upon her,
+      wished that the vision might come quickly, but after a minute or two fell
+      into tune with the thing, and almost enjoyed this strange experience.
+      Those mighty ancient walls built by hands unknown, which had seen so much
+      history and so much death; the silent, triple ring of patient, solemn men,
+      the last descendants of a cultured race, the crouching figure hidden
+      beneath the blanket, who imagined himself to be communicating with his god&mdash;it
+      was all very strange, very well worth the seeing to one who had wearied of
+      the monotony of civilization.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Look, the man stirred, and threw back his blanket, revealing a head white
+      with age, a spiritual, ascetic face, so thin that every bone showed in it,
+      and dark eyes which stared upwards unseeingly, like those of a person in a
+      trance. Thrice he sighed, while his tribesmen watched him. Then he let his
+      eyes fall upon the three white people seated in front of him. First he
+      looked at Mr. Clifford, and his face grew troubled; then at Jacob Meyer,
+      and it was anxious and alarmed. Lastly, he stared at Benita, and while he
+      did so the dark eyes became calm and happy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White maiden,&rdquo; he said in a soft, low voice, &ldquo;for you, at least, I have
+      good tidings. Though Death come near to you, though you see him on your
+      right hand and your left, and in front of you and behind you, I say, fear
+      not. Here you, who have known deep sorrow, shall find happiness and rest,
+      O maiden, with whom goes the spirit of one pure and fair as you, who died
+      so long ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, while Benita wondered at his words, spoken with such sweet
+      earnestness that although she believed nothing of them, they brought a
+      kind of comfort to her, he looked once more at her father and Jacob Meyer,
+      and, as it were with an effort, was silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you no pleasant prophecy for me, old friend,&rdquo; said Jacob, &ldquo;who have
+      come so far to hear it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At once the aged face grew inscrutable, all expression vanished behind a
+      hundred wrinkles, and he answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, white man&mdash;none that I am charged to deliver. Search the skies
+      for yourself, you who are so wise, and read them if you can. Lords,&rdquo; he
+      went on in another voice, &ldquo;I greet you in the name and presence of my
+      children. Son Tamas, I greet you also; you have done your mission well.
+      Listen, now&mdash;you are weary and would rest and eat; still, bear with
+      me, for I have a word to say. Look around you. You see all my tribe, not
+      twenty times ten above the age of boys, we who once were countless as the
+      leaves on yonder trees in spring. Why are we dead? Because of the
+      Amandabele, those fierce dogs whom, two generations ago, Moselikatse, the
+      general of Chaka, brought up to the south of us, who ravish us and kill us
+      year by year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are not warlike, we who have outlived war and the lust of slaying. We
+      are men of peace, who desire to cultivate the land, and to follow our arts
+      which have descended to us from our ancestors, and to worship the Heavens
+      above us, whither we depart to join the spirits of our forefathers. But
+      they are fierce and strong and savage, and they come up and murder our
+      children and old people, and take away the young women and the maidens to
+      be slaves, and with them all our cattle. Where are our cattle? Lobengula,
+      chief of the Amandabele, has them; scarce a cow is left to give milk to
+      the sick or to the motherless babe. And yet he sends for cattle. Tribute,
+      say his messengers, deliver tribute, or my impi will come and take it with
+      your lives. But we have no cattle&mdash;all are gone. We have nothing left
+      to us but this ancient mountain and the works built thereon, and a little
+      corn on which we live. Yes, I say it&mdash;I, the Molimo&mdash;I whose
+      ancestors were great kings&mdash;I who have still more wisdom in me than
+      all the hosts of the Amandabele,&rdquo; and as he spoke the old man&rsquo;s grey head
+      sank upon his breast and the tears ran down his withered cheeks, while his
+      people answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mambo, it is true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now listen again,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;Lobengula threatens us, therefore I sent
+      to these white men who were here before, saying that if they would bring
+      me a hundred guns, and powder and ball, to enable us to beat off the
+      Amandabele from behind these strong walls of ours, I would take them into
+      the secret holy place where for six generations no white man has set a
+      foot, and there suffer them to search for the treasure which is hid
+      therein, no man knows where, that treasure which they asked leave to find
+      four winters gone. We refused it then and drove them hence, because of the
+      curse laid upon us by the white maid who died, the last of the Portuguese,
+      who foretold her people&rsquo;s fate for us if we gave up the buried gold save
+      to one appointed. My children, the Spirit of Bambatse has visited me; I
+      have seen her and others have seen her, and in my sleep she said to me:
+      &lsquo;Suffer the men to come and search, for with them is one of the blood to
+      whom my people&rsquo;s wealth is given; and great is your danger, for many
+      spears draw nigh.&rsquo; My children, I sent my son and other messengers on a
+      far journey to where I knew the men dwelt, and they have returned after
+      many months bringing those men with them, bringing with them also another
+      of whom I knew nothing&mdash;yes, her who is appointed, her of whom the
+      Spirit spoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he lifted his withered hand and held it towards Benita, saying: &ldquo;I
+      tell you that yonder she sits for whom the generations have waited.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; answered the Makalanga. &ldquo;It is the White Lady come again to
+      take her own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Friends,&rdquo; asked the Molimo, while they wondered at his strange speech,
+      &ldquo;tell me, have you brought the guns?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford, &ldquo;they are there in the waggon, every one
+      of them, the best that can be made, and with them ten thousand cartridges,
+      bought at a great cost. We have fulfilled our share of the bargain; now
+      will you fulfil yours, or shall we go away again with the guns and leave
+      you to meet the Matabele with your assegais?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say you the agreement while we listen,&rdquo; answered the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;It is this: That you shall find us food and
+      shelter while we are with you. That you shall lead us into the secret
+      place at the head of the hill, where the Portuguese died, and the gold is
+      hidden. That you shall allow us to search for that gold when and where we
+      will. That if we discover the gold, or anything else of value to us, you
+      shall suffer us to take it away, and assist us upon our journey, either by
+      giving us boats and manning them to travel down the Zambesi, or in
+      whatever fashion may be most easy. That you shall permit none to hurt,
+      molest, or annoy us during our sojourn among you. Is that our contract?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not quite all of it,&rdquo; said the Molimo. &ldquo;There is this to add: first that
+      you shall teach us how to use the guns; secondly, that you shall search
+      for and find the treasure, if so it is appointed, without our help, since
+      in this matter it is not lawful for us to meddle; thirdly, that if the
+      Amandabele should chance to attack us while you are here, you shall do
+      your best to assist us against their power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you, then, expect attack?&rdquo; asked Meyer suspiciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man, we always expect attack. Is it a bargain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer in one voice, the latter
+      adding: &ldquo;the guns and the cartridges are yours. Lead us now to the hidden
+      place. We have fulfilled our part; we trust to the honour of you and all
+      your people to fulfil yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White Maiden,&rdquo; asked the Molimo, addressing Benita, &ldquo;do you also say that
+      it is a bargain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What my father says, I say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said the Molimo. &ldquo;Then, in the presence of my people, and in the
+      name of the Munwali, I, Mambo, who am his prophet, declare that it is so
+      agreed between us, and may the vengeance of the heavens fall upon those
+      who break our pact! Let the oxen of the white men be outspanned, their
+      horses fed, their waggon unloaded, that we may count the guns. Let food be
+      brought into the guest-house also, and after they have eaten, I, who alone
+      of all of you have ever entered it, will lead them to the holy place, that
+      there they may begin to search for that which the white men desire from
+      age to age&mdash;to find it if they can; if not, to depart satisfied and
+      at peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE OATH OF MADUNA
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford and Meyer rose to return to the waggon in order to
+      superintend the unyoking of the oxen and to give directions as to their
+      herding, and the off-saddling of the horses. Benita rose also, wondering
+      when the food that had been promised would be ready, for she was hungry.
+      Meanwhile, the Molimo was greeting his son Tamas, patting his hand
+      affectionately and talking to him, when suddenly Benita, who watched this
+      domestic scene with interest, heard a commotion behind her. Turning to
+      discover its cause, she perceived three great man clad in full war
+      panoply, shields on their left arms, spears in their right hands, black
+      ostrich plumes rising from the polished rings woven in their hair, black
+      moochas about their middles, and black oxtails tied beneath their knees,
+      who marched through the throng of Makalanga as though they saw them not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele! The Matabele are on us!&rdquo; cried a voice; while other voices
+      shouted, &ldquo;Fly to your walls!&rdquo; and yet others, &ldquo;Kill them! They are few.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the three men marched on unheeding till they stood before Mambo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you, and what do you seek?&rdquo; the old man asked boldly, though the
+      fear that had taken hold of him at the sight of these strangers was
+      evident enough, for his whole body shook.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely you should know, chief of Bambatse,&rdquo; answered their spokesman with
+      a laugh, &ldquo;for you have seen the like of us before. We are the children of
+      Lobengula, the Great Elephant, the King, the Black Bull, the Father of the
+      Amandabele, and we have a message for your ear, little Old Man, which,
+      finding that you leave your gate open, we have walked in to deliver.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak your message then, envoys of Lobengula, in my ear and in those of
+      my people,&rdquo; said the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your people! Are these all your people?&rdquo; the spokesman replied
+      contemptuously. &ldquo;Why then, what need was there for the indunas of the King
+      to send so large an impi under a great general against you, when a company
+      of lads armed with sticks would have served the turn? We thought that
+      these were but the sons of your house, the men of your own family, whom
+      you had called together to eat with the white strangers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Close the entrance in the wall,&rdquo; cried the Molimo, stung to fury by the
+      insult; and a voice answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, it is already done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Matabele, who should have been frightened, only laughed again, and
+      their spokesman said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See, my brothers, he thinks to trap us who are but three. Well, kill on,
+      Old Wizard, if you will, but know that if a hand is lifted, this spear of
+      mine goes through your heart, and that the children of Lobengula die hard.
+      Know also that then the impi which waits not far away will destroy you
+      every one, man and woman, youth and maiden, little ones who hold the hand
+      and infants at the breast; none shall be left&mdash;none at all, to say,
+      &lsquo;Here once lived the cowardly Makalanga of Bambatse.&rsquo; Nay, be not foolish,
+      but talk softly with us, so that perhaps we may spare your lives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the three men placed themselves back to back, in such fashion that
+      they faced every way, and could not be smitten down from behind, and
+      waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not kill envoys,&rdquo; said the Molimo, &ldquo;but if they are foul-mouthed, I
+      throw them out of my walls. Your message, men of the Amandabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear you. Hearken now to the word of Lobengula.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the envoy began to speak, using the pronoun I as though it were the
+      Matabele king himself who spoke to his vassal, the Makalanga chief: &ldquo;I
+      sent to you last year, you slave, who dare to call yourself Mambo of the
+      Makalanga, demanding a tribute of cattle and women, and warning you that
+      if they did not come, I would take them. They did not come, but that time
+      I spared you. Now I send again. Hand over to my messengers fifty cows and
+      fifty oxen, with herds to drive them, and twelve maidens to be approved by
+      them, or I wipe you out, who have troubled the earth too long, and that
+      before another moon has waned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those are the words of Lobengula,&rdquo; he concluded, and taking the horn
+      snuff-box from the slit in his ear, helped himself, then insolently passed
+      it to the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So great was the old chief&rsquo;s rage that, forgetting his self-control, he
+      struck the box from the hand of his tormentor to the ground, where the
+      snuff lay spilled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just so shall the blood of your people be spilled through your rash
+      foolishness,&rdquo; said the messenger calmly, as he picked up the box, and as
+      much of the snuff as he could save.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken,&rdquo; said the Molimo, in a thin, trembling voice. &ldquo;Your king demands
+      cattle, knowing that all the cattle are gone, that scarce a cow is left to
+      give drink to a motherless babe. He asks for maidens also, but if he took
+      those he seeks we should have none left for our young men to marry. And
+      why is this so? It is because the vulture, Lobengula, has picked us to the
+      bone; yes, while we are yet alive he has torn the flesh from us. Year by
+      year his soldiers have stolen and killed, till at last nothing is left of
+      us. And now he seeks what we have not got to give, in order that he may
+      force a quarrel upon us and murder us. There is nought left for us to give
+      Lobengula. You have your answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo; replied the envoy with a sneer. &ldquo;How comes it, then, that yonder
+      I see a waggon laden with goods, and oxen in the yokes? Yes,&rdquo; he repeated
+      with meaning, &ldquo;with goods whereof we have known the like at Buluwayo; for
+      Lobengula also sometimes buys guns from white men, O! little Makalanga.
+      Come now, give us the waggon with its load and the oxen and the horses,
+      and though it be but a small gift, we will take it away and ask nothing
+      more this year.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I give you the property of my guests, the white men?&rdquo; asked the
+      Molimo. &ldquo;Get you gone, and do your worst, or you shall be thrown from the
+      walls of the fortress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, but know that very soon we shall return and make an end of you, who
+      are tired of these long and troublesome journeys to gather so little. Go,
+      tend your corn, dwellers in Bambatse, for this I swear in the name of
+      Lobengula, never shall you see it ripen more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the crowd of listening Makalanga trembled at his words, but in the old
+      Molimo they seemed only to rouse a storm of prophetic fury. For a moment
+      he stood staring up at the blue sky, his arms outstretched as though in
+      prayer. Then he spoke in a new voice&mdash;a clear, quiet voice, that did
+      not seem to be his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who am I?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am the Molimo of the Bambatse Makalanga; I am the
+      ladder between them and Heaven; I sit on the topmost bough of the tree
+      under which they shelter, and there in the crest of the tree Munwali
+      speaks with me. What to you are winds, to me are voices whispering in my
+      spirit&rsquo;s ears. Once my forefathers were great kings, they were Mambos of
+      all the land, and that is still my name and dignity. We lived in peace; we
+      laboured, we did wrong to no man. Then you Zulu savages came upon us from
+      the south-east and your path was red with blood. Year after year you
+      robbed and you destroyed; you raided our cattle, you murdered our men, you
+      took our maidens and our children to be your women and your slaves, until
+      at length, of all this pit filled with the corn of life, there is left but
+      a little handful. And this you say you will eat up also, lest it should
+      fall into good ground and grow again. I tell you that I think it will not
+      be so; but whether or no that happens, I have words for the ear of your
+      king&mdash;a message for a message. Say to him that thus speaks the wise
+      old Molimo of Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see him hunted like a wounded hyena through the rivers, in the deep
+      bush, and over the mountain. I see him die in pain and misery; but his
+      grave I see not, for no man shall know it. I see the white man take his
+      land and all his wealth; yea, to them and to no son of his shall his
+      people give the Bayéte, the royal salute. Of his greatness and his power,
+      this alone shall remain to him&mdash;a name accursed from generation to
+      generation. And last of all I see peace upon the land and upon my
+      children&rsquo;s children.&rdquo; He paused, then added: &ldquo;For you, cruel dog that you
+      are, this message also from the Munwali, by the lips of his Molimo. I lift
+      no hand against you, but you shall not live to look again upon your king&rsquo;s
+      face. Begone now, and do your worst.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment the three Matabele seemed to be frightened, and Benita heard
+      one of them say to his companions:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Wizard has bewitched us! He has bewitched the Great Elephant and all
+      his people! Shall we kill him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But quickly shaking off his fears their spokesman laughed, and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So that is what you have brought the white people here for, old traitor&mdash;to
+      plot against the throne of Lobengula.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He wheeled round and stared at Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer; then added:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, Grey-beard and Black-Beard: I myself will put you both to such a
+      death as you have never heard of, and as for the girl, since she is well
+      favoured, she shall brew the king&rsquo;s beer, and be numbered amongst the
+      king&rsquo;s wives&mdash;unless, indeed, he is pleased to give her to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In an instant the thing was done! At the man&rsquo;s words about Benita, Meyer,
+      who had been listening to his threats and bombast unconcerned, suddenly
+      seemed to awake. His dark eyes flashed, his pale face turned cruel.
+      Snatching the revolver from his belt he seemed to point and fire it with
+      one movement, and down&mdash;dead or dying&mdash;went the Matabele.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Men did not stir, they only stared. Accustomed as they were to death in
+      that wild land, the suddenness of this deed surprised them. The contrast
+      between the splendid, brutal savage who had stood before them a moment
+      ago, and the limp, black thing going to sleep upon the ground, was strange
+      enough to move their imaginations. There he lay, and there, over him, the
+      smoking pistol in his hand, Meyer stood and laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita felt that the act was just, and the awful punishment deserved. Yet
+      that laugh of Jacob&rsquo;s jarred upon her, for in it she thought she heard the
+      man&rsquo;s heart speaking; and oh, its voice was merciless! Surely Justice
+      should not laugh when her sword falls!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behold, now,&rdquo; said the Molimo in his still voice, pointing at the dead
+      Matabele with his finger; &ldquo;do I speak lies, or is it true that this man
+      shall not look more upon his king&rsquo;s face? Well, as it was with the
+      servant, so it shall be with the lord, only more slowly. It is the decree
+      of the Munwali, spoken by the voice of his Mouth, the Molimo of Bambatse.
+      Go, children of Lobengula, and bear with you as an offering this
+      first-fruit of the harvest that the white men shall reap among the
+      warriors of his people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The thin voice died away, and there was silence so intense that Benita
+      thought she heard the scraping of the feet of a green lizard which crept
+      across a stone a yard or two away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then of a sudden it ended. Of a sudden the two remaining Matabele turned
+      and fled for their lives, and as, when dogs run, a flock of sheep will
+      wheel about and pursue them, so did the Makalanga. They grabbed at the
+      messengers with their hands, tearing their finery from them; they struck
+      them with sticks, they pounded them with stones, till at length two
+      bruised and bleeding men, finding all escape cut off, and led perhaps by
+      some instinct, staggered back to where Benita stood horrified at this
+      dreadful scene, and throwing themselves upon the ground, clutched at her
+      dress and prayed for mercy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Move a little, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;Three of those brutes will
+      not weigh heavier than one upon my conscience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, you shall not,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Mambo, these men are messengers;
+      spare them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken to the voice of pity,&rdquo; said the old prophet, &ldquo;spoken in a place
+      where pity never was, and not in vain. Let them go. Give mercy to the
+      merciless, for she buys their lives with a prayer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will bring the others on us,&rdquo; muttered Tamas, and even old Mr.
+      Clifford shook his head sadly. But the Molimo only said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have spoken. Let them go. That which will befall must befall, and from
+      this deed no ill shall come that would not have come otherwise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hear? Depart swiftly,&rdquo; said Benita, in Zulu.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With difficulty the two men dragged themselves to their feet, and
+      supporting each other, stood before her. One of them, a clever,
+      powerful-faced man, whose black hair was tinged with grey, addressing
+      himself to Benita, gasped:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me. That fool there,&rdquo; and he pointed to his dead companion, &ldquo;whose
+      boasting brought his death upon him, was but a low fellow. I, who kept
+      silence and let him talk, am Maduna, a prince of the royal house who
+      justly deserve to die because I turned my back upon these dogs. Yet I and
+      my brother here take life at your hands, Lady, who, now that I have had
+      time to think, would refuse it at theirs. For, whether I stay or go does
+      not matter. The impi waits; the slayers are beneath the walls. Those
+      things which are decreed will happen; there, yonder old Wizard speaks
+      true. Listen, Lady: should it chance that you have cause to demand two
+      lives at the hands of Maduna, in his own name and the name of his king he
+      promises them to you. In safety shall they pass, they and all that is
+      theirs, without toll taken. Remember the oath of Maduna, Lady, in the hour
+      of your need, and do you, my brother, bear witness to it among our
+      people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, straightening themselves as well as they were able, these two sorely
+      hurt men lifted their right arms and gave Benita the salute due to a
+      chieftainess. This done, taking no note of any other creature there, they
+      limped away to the gate that had been opened for them, and vanished beyond
+      the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while Meyer had stood silent; now he spoke with a bitter smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Charity, Miss Clifford, said a certain Paul, as reported in your New
+      Testament, covers a multitude of sins. I hope very much that it will serve
+      to cover our remains from the aasvogels, after we have met our deaths in
+      some such fashion as that brute promised us,&rdquo; and he pointed to the dead
+      man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita looked at her father in question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Meyer means, my dear, that you have done a foolish thing in begging
+      the lives of those Matabele. It would have been safer for us if they were
+      dead, who, as it is, have gone off burning for revenge. Of course, I
+      understand it was natural enough, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he hesitated and
+      stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The chief did not say so,&rdquo; broke in Benita with agitation; &ldquo;besides, if
+      he had, I should not have cared. It was bad enough to see one man killed
+      like that,&rdquo; and she shivered; &ldquo;I could not bear any more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should not be angry at the fellow&rsquo;s death, seeing that it was what he
+      said of you which brought it upon him,&rdquo; Meyer replied with meaning.
+      &ldquo;Otherwise he might have gone unharmed as far as I was concerned. For the
+      rest, I did not interfere because I saw it was useless; also I am a
+      fatalist like our friend, the Molimo, and believe in what is decreed. The
+      truth is,&rdquo; he added sharply, &ldquo;among savages ladies are not in place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you not say that down at Rooi Krantz, Jacob?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+      &ldquo;You know I thought so all the while, but somehow I was over-ruled. Now
+      what I suggest is, that we had better get out of this place as fast as we
+      can&mdash;instantly, as soon as we have eaten, before our retreat is cut
+      off.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer looked at the oxen which had been outspanned: nine were wandering
+      about picking up what food they could, but the five which were supposed to
+      have been bitten by tetsefly had lain down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nine worn-out and footsore oxen will not draw the waggon,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;also
+      in all probability the place is already surrounded by Matabele, who merely
+      let us in to be sure of the guns which their spies must have told them we
+      were carrying. Lastly, having spent so much and come so far, I do not mean
+      to go without what we seek. Still, if you think that your daughter&rsquo;s
+      danger is greater within these walls than outside of them, you might try,
+      if we can hire servants, which I doubt. Or possibly, if any rowers are to
+      be had, you could go down the Zambesi in a canoe, risking the fever. You
+      and she must settle it, Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Difficulties and dangers every way one looks. Benita, what do you say?&rdquo;
+       asked her father distractedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita thought a moment. She wished to escape from Mr. Meyer, of whom she
+      was weary and afraid, and would have endured much to do so. On the other
+      hand, her father was tired out, and needed rest; also to turn his back
+      upon this venture now would have been a bitter blow to him. Moreover,
+      lacking cattle and men, how was it to be done? Lastly, something within
+      her, that same voice which had bidden her to come, seemed to bid her to
+      stay. Very soon she had made up her mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;thank you for thinking of me, but as far as I
+      can see, we should run more risks trying to get away than we do in
+      stopping here. I wanted to come, though you warned me against it, and now
+      I must take my chance and trust to God to bring us safe through all
+      dangers. Surely with all those rifles the Makalanga ought to be able to
+      hold such a place as this against the Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; answered her father; &ldquo;but they are a timid folk. Still,
+      though it would have been far better never to have come, I think with you
+      that it is best to stay where we are, and trust to God.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      X
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MOUNTAIN TOP
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      If our adventurers, or any of them, hoped that they were going to be led
+      to the secret places of the fortress that day, they were destined to
+      disappointment. Indeed, the remainder of it was employed arduously enough
+      in unpacking rifles, and a supply of ammunition; also in giving to a few
+      of the leading Makalanga preliminary lessons in the method of their use, a
+      matter as to which their ideas were of the vaguest. The rest of the tribe,
+      having brought their women and children into the outer enclosure of the
+      ancient stronghold, and with them their sheep and goats and the few cattle
+      which remained to them, were employed in building up the entrance
+      permanently with stones, a zigzag secret path upon the river side, that
+      could be stopped in a few minutes, being now their only method of ingress
+      and egress through the thickness of the walls. A certain number of men
+      were also sent out as spies to discover, if possible, the whereabouts of
+      the Matabele impi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That there was some impi they were almost sure, for a woman who had
+      followed them reported that the injured captain, Maduna, and his companion
+      had been met at a distance of about three miles from Bambatse by a small
+      party of Matabele, who were hiding in some bushes, and that these men had
+      made litters for them, and carried them away; whither she did not know,
+      for she had not dared to pursue them further.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night Benita passed in the guesthouse, which was only a hut rather
+      larger than the others, while the two men slept in the waggon just
+      outside. She was so tired that for a long while she could not rest. Her
+      mind kept flying back to all the events of the day: the strange words of
+      that mystic old Molimo, concerning herself; the arrival of the brutal
+      messengers and the indaba that followed; then the sudden and awful
+      destruction of their spokesman at the hand of Jacob Meyer. The scene would
+      not leave her eyes, she saw it again and yet again: the quick
+      transformation of Meyer&rsquo;s indifferent face when the soldier began to
+      insult and threaten her, the lightning-like movement of his hand, the
+      flash, the report, the change from life to death, and the slayer&rsquo;s cruel
+      laugh. He could be very terrible, Jacob Meyer, when his passions were
+      roused!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And what had roused them then? She could not doubt that it was herself&mdash;not
+      mere chivalry towards a woman. Even if he were capable of chivalry, merely
+      for that he would never have taken such risk of future trouble and
+      revenge. No; it was something deeper. He had never said anything or done
+      anything, yet long ago instinct or insight had caused Benita to suspect
+      the workings of his mind, and now she was sure of them. The thought was
+      terrible&mdash;worse than all her other dangers put together. True, she
+      had her father to rely on, but he had been somewhat ailing of late; age
+      and these arduous journeys and anxieties had told upon him. Supposing that
+      anything were to happen to him&mdash;if he died, for instance, how
+      dreadful her position might become, left alone far from the reach of help,
+      with savages&mdash;and Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh! if it had not been for that dreadful shipwreck, how different might be
+      her lot to-day! Well, it was the thought of the shipwreck and of him whom
+      she had lost therein, which had driven her on to this adventure, that in
+      it perhaps her suffering mind might be numbed to rest; and now she must
+      face its issues. God still remained above her, and she would put her trust
+      in Him. After all, if she died, what did it matter?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But that old Molimo had promised her that she was safe from death, that
+      she should find here happiness and rest, though not that of the grave. He
+      promised this, speaking as one who knew of all her grief, and a very
+      little while afterwards, in the case of the Matabele soldier, he had
+      proved himself a prophet of awful power. Also&mdash;she knew not how, she
+      knew not why&mdash;now, as before, her inmost heart seemed to bear witness
+      that this old dreamer&rsquo;s words were true, and that for her, in some strange
+      manner unforeseen, there still remained a rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Comforted a little by this intuition, at length Benita fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning, when she came out of the hut, Benita was met by her father,
+      who with a cheerful countenance informed her that at any rate as yet there
+      was no sign of the Matabele. A few hours later, too, some spies came in
+      who said that for miles round nothing could be seen or heard of them.
+      Still the preparations for defence went on, and the hundred best men
+      having been furnished with the rifles, were being drilled in the use of
+      them by Tamas and his two companions, Tamala and Hoba, who had learned how
+      to handle a gun very well in the course of their long journey. The
+      shooting of these raw recruits, however, proved to be execrable; indeed,
+      so dangerous were they that when one of them fired at a mark set upon the
+      wall, it was found necessary to order all the rest to lie down. As it was,
+      a poor trek ox&mdash;luckily it was sick&mdash;and two sheep were killed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Foreseeing a scarcity of provisions in the event of a siege, Meyer,
+      provident as ever, had already decreed the death of the tetse-bitten
+      cattle. These were accordingly despatched, and having been skinned and cut
+      up, their flesh was severed into long strips to be dried in the burning
+      sun as biltong, which secretly Benita hoped she might never be called upon
+      to eat. Yet the time was to come when she would swallow that hard,
+      tetse-poisoned flesh with thankfulness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At midday, after they had eaten, Mr. Clifford and Meyer went to the
+      Molimo, where he sat against the second wall, and, pointing to the men
+      with the guns, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have fulfilled our bargain. Now fulfil yours. Lead us to the holy
+      place that we may begin our search.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Follow me, white people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, quite unattended, he guided them round the inner wall till they came
+      to a path of rock not more than a yard wide, beneath which was a precipice
+      fifty feet or so in depth that almost overhung the river. This giddy path
+      they followed for about twenty paces, to find that it ended in a cleft in
+      the wall so narrow that only one person could walk through it at a time.
+      That it must have been the approach to the second stronghold was evident,
+      however, since it was faced on either side with dressed stones, and even
+      the foundation granite had been worn by the human feet which had passed
+      here for ages upon ages. This path zigzagged to and fro in the thickness
+      of the wall till it brought them finally within its circle, a broad belt
+      of steeply-rising ground, covered like that below with the tumbled ruins
+      of buildings amidst which grew bush and trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heaven send that the gold is not buried here,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford,
+      surveying the scene; &ldquo;for if it is, we shall never find it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Molimo seemed to guess the meaning of his words from his face, for he
+      answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not here. The besiegers won this place and camped in it for many
+      weeks. I could show you were they built their fires and tried to undermine
+      the last wall within which the Portuguese sat about until hunger killed
+      them, for they could not eat their gold. Follow me again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So on they went up the slope till they came to the base of the third wall,
+      and as before, passed round it, and reached a point above the river. But
+      now there was no passage, only some shallow and almost precipitous steps
+      cut from single stones leading from the foot of the wall to its summit,
+      more than thirty feet above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said Benita, contemplating this perilous ascent with dismay,
+      &ldquo;the ways of treasure seekers are hard. I don&rsquo;t think I can,&rdquo; while her
+      father also looked at them and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must get a rope,&rdquo; said Meyer to the Molimo angrily. &ldquo;How can we climb
+      that place without one, with such a gulf below?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am old, but I climb it,&rdquo; said the aged man in mild surprise, since to
+      him, who had trodden it all his life, it seemed not difficult. &ldquo;Still,&rdquo; he
+      added, &ldquo;I have a rope above which I use upon dark nights. I will ascend
+      and let it down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ascend he did accordingly; indeed, it was a wondrous sight to see his
+      withered legs scrambling from step to step as unconcernedly as though he
+      were going upstairs. No monkey could have been more agile, or more
+      absolutely impervious to the effects of height. Soon he vanished in&mdash;or,
+      rather, through&mdash;the crest of the wall, and presently appeared again
+      on the top step, whence he let down a stout hide rope, remarking that it
+      was securely tied. So anxious was Meyer to enter the hidden place of which
+      he had dreamed so long that he scarcely waited for it to reach his hand
+      before he began the climb, which he accomplished safely. Then, sitting on
+      the top of the wall, he directed Mr. Clifford to fasten the end of the
+      rope round Benita&rsquo;s waist, and her turn came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not so bad as she expected, for she was agile, and the knowledge
+      that the rope would prevent disaster gave her confidence. In a very little
+      while she had grasped Meyer&rsquo;s outstretched hand, and been drawn into
+      safety through a kind of aperture above the top step. Then the rope was
+      let down again for her father, who tied it about his middle. Well was it
+      that he did so, since when he was about half-way up, awkwardness, or
+      perhaps loss of nerve&mdash;neither of them wonderful in an old man&mdash;caused
+      his foot to slip, and had it not been for the rope which Meyer and the
+      Molimo held, he would certainly have fallen into the river some hundreds
+      of feet below. As it was, he recovered himself, and presently arrived
+      panting and very pale. In her relief Benita kissed him, and even as she
+      did so thought again that she had been very near to being left alone with
+      Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All&rsquo;s well that ends well, my dear,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But upon my word I am
+      beginning to wish that I had been content with the humble profits of
+      horse-breeding.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita made no answer; it seemed too late for any useful consideration of
+      the point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clever men, those ancients,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;See,&rdquo; and he pointed out to her
+      how, by drawing a heavy stone which still lay close by over the aperture
+      through which they had crept, the ascent of the wall could be made
+      absolutely impossible to any enemy, since at its crest it was battened
+      outwards, not inwards, as is usual in these ancient ruins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;we ought to feel safe enough inside here, and that&rsquo;s
+      as well since I do not feel inclined to go out again at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they paused to look about them, and this was what they saw:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wall, built like those below, of unmortared blocks of stone, remained
+      in a wonderfully good state of preservation, for its only enemies had been
+      time, the tropical rains, and the growth of shrubs and trees which here
+      and there had cracked and displaced the stones. It enclosed all the top of
+      the hill, perhaps three acres of ground, and on it at intervals were
+      planted soap-stone pillars, each of them about twelve feet in height, and
+      fashioned at the top to a rude resemblance of a vulture. Many of these
+      columns, however had been blown down, or perhaps struck by lightning, and
+      lay broken upon the wall, or if they had fallen inward, at its foot; but
+      some, six or eight perhaps, were still standing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita learned afterwards that they must have been placed there by the
+      ancient Phoenicians, or whatever people constructed this gigantic
+      fortification, and had something to do with the exact recordings of the
+      different seasons of the year, and their sub-divisions, by means of the
+      shadows which they cast. As yet, however, she did not pay much attention
+      to them, for she was engaged in considering a more remarkable relic of
+      antiquity which stood upon the very verge of the precipice, the wall,
+      indeed, being built up to its base on either side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the great cone of which Richard Seymour had told her, fifty feet
+      high or more, such as once was found in the Phoenician temples. But in
+      this case it was not built of masonry, but shaped by the hand of man out
+      of a single gigantic granite monolith of the sort that are sometimes to be
+      met with in Africa, that thousands or millions of years ago had been left
+      standing thus when the softer rock around it was worn away by time and
+      weather. On the inner side of this cone were easy steps whereby it could
+      be ascended, and its top, which might have been six feet in diameter, was
+      fashioned in the shape of a cup, probably for the purposes of acts of
+      worship and of sacrifice. This extraordinary monument, which, except on
+      the river side, could not be seen from below on account of the slope of
+      the hill, leaned slightly outwards, so that a stone dropped from its crest
+      would fall into the waters of the stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thence it was,&rdquo; said the Molimo, &ldquo;that my forefathers saw the last of the
+      Portuguese, the fair daughter of the great Captain Ferreira, hurl herself
+      to death after she had given the gold into our keeping, and laid the curse
+      upon it, until she came again. So in my dreams have I seen and heard her
+      also, ay, and others have seen her, but these only from by the river far
+      below.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused awhile, looking at Benita with his queer, dreamy eyes; then said
+      suddenly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, Lady, do you remember nothing of that matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Benita grew vexed, for the whole thing was uncanny and jarred upon
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I remember,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;who was born not five and twenty years
+      ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;How should I know, who am but an ignorant
+      old black man, who was born not much more than eighty years ago? Yet,
+      Lady, tell me, for I seek your wisdom, where were you born from? Out of
+      the earth, or out of the heavens? What? You shake your head, you who do
+      not remember? Well, neither do I remember. Yet it is true that all circles
+      meet somewhere, and it is true that the Portuguese maiden said she would
+      come again; and lastly it is true that she was such an one as you are, for
+      she haunts this place, and I, who have seen her sitting yonder in the
+      moonlight, know her beauty well. Yet mayhap she comes no more in flesh,
+      but still her spirit comes; for, Lady, out of those eyes of yours I see it
+      gaze at me. Come,&rdquo; he added abruptly, &ldquo;let us descend the wall, for as you
+      cannot remember, there is more to show you. Have no fear&mdash;the steps
+      are easy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went down without much difficulty, since, from the accumulation of
+      rubbish and other causes, the wall was a great deal lower on this side,
+      and found themselves in the usual dense growth of vegetation and brushwood
+      through which ran a little path. It led them past the ruins of buildings
+      whereof the use and purpose were long since forgotten, for their roofs had
+      fallen in hundreds or thousands of years ago, to the entrance of a cave
+      which was placed almost at the foot of the monolithic cone, but thirty or
+      forty yards further from the circle of the wall. Here the Molimo bade them
+      stay while he lit the lamps within. Five minutes passed and he returned,
+      saying that all was ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be not afraid of what you may see,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;for know, white people,
+      that save my forefathers and myself, none have entered this place since
+      the Portuguese perished here, nor have we, who do but come hither to pray
+      and receive the word of the Munwali, ever ventured to disturb it. As it
+      was, so it is. Come, Lady, come; she whose spirit goes with you was the
+      last of your white race to pass this door. It is therefore fitting that
+      your feet and her spirit should be the first to enter it again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita hung back a little, for the adventure was eerie, then, determined
+      that she would show no fear in the presence of this old priest, took the
+      thin hand he stretched out to her, and walked forward with head erect. The
+      two men began to follow her, but the Molimo stopped them, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so. The maiden enters first alone with me; it is her house, and
+      should it please her to ask you to dwell therein, so be it. But first she
+      must visit her house alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford angrily. &ldquo;I will not have it. It will
+      frighten her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady, do you trust me?&rdquo; asked the Molimo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered; adding, &ldquo;Father, I think you had better let me go
+      alone. I am not afraid now, and it may be wisest not to thwart him. This
+      is a very strange business&mdash;not like anything else&mdash;and really I
+      think that I had better go alone. If I do not come back presently, you can
+      follow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those who break in upon the sleep of the dead should walk gently,
+      gently,&rdquo; piped the old Molimo in a sing-song voice. &ldquo;The maiden&rsquo;s breath
+      is pure; the maiden&rsquo;s foot is light; her breath will not offend the dead;
+      her step will not disturb the dead. White men, white men, anger not the
+      dead, for the dead are mighty, and will be revenged upon you when you are
+      dead; soon, very soon, when you are dead&mdash;dead in your sorrows, dead
+      in your sins, dead, gathered to that company of the dead who await us
+      here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And, still chanting his mystic song, he led Benita by the hand out of the
+      light, onward into darkness, away from life, onward into the place of
+      death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE SLEEPERS IN THE CAVE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Like every other passage in this old fortress, the approach to the cave
+      was narrow and winding; presumably the ancients had arranged them thus to
+      facilitate their defence. After the third bend, however, Benita saw a
+      light ahead which flowed from a native lamp lit in the arched entrance. At
+      the side of this arch was a shell-shaped hollow, cut in the rock about
+      three feet above the floor. Its appearance seemed familiar to her; why,
+      she was soon to learn, although at the moment she did not connect it with
+      anything in particular. The cave beyond was large, lofty, and not
+      altogether natural, for its walls had evidently been shaped, or at any
+      rate trimmed, by man. Probably here the old Priests had established their
+      oracle, or place of offering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At first Benita could not see much, since in that great cavern two lamps
+      of hippopotamus oil gave but little light. Presently, however, her eyes
+      became accustomed to the gloom, and as they advanced up its length she
+      perceived that save for a skin rug upon which she guessed the Molimo sat
+      at his solitary devotions, and some gourds and platters for water and
+      food, all the front part of the place appeared to be empty. Beyond, in its
+      centre, stood an object of some gleaming metal, that from its double
+      handles and roller borne upon supports of rock she took to be some kind of
+      winch, and rightly, for beneath it was the mouth of a great well, the
+      water supply of the topmost fortification.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Beyond the well was a stone altar, shaped like a truncated cone or
+      pyramid, and at some distance away against the far wall, as she dimly
+      discovered by the lamp that stood upon the altar, cut in relief upon that
+      wall indeed, a colossal cross to which, vigorously if rudely executed in
+      white stone, hung the image of Christ crucified, the crown of thorns upon
+      His drooping head. Now she understood. Whatever may have been the first
+      worship to which this place was dedicated, Christians had usurped it, and
+      set up here the sacred symbol of their faith, awful enough to look upon in
+      such surroundings. Doubtless, also, the shell-shaped basin at the entrance
+      had served the worshippers in this underground chapel as a stoup for holy
+      water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Molimo lifted the lamp from the altar, and having adjusted its wick,
+      held it up in front of the rood before which, although she was no
+      Catholic, Benita bowed her head and crossed herself, while he watched her
+      curiously. Then he lowered it, and she perceived that on the cemented
+      floor lay great numbers of shrouded forms that at first looked to her like
+      folk asleep. He stepped to one of them and touched it with his foot,
+      whereon the cloth which with it was covered crumbled into dust, revealing
+      beneath a white skeleton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All those sleepers rested well indeed, for they had been dead at least two
+      hundred years. There they lay&mdash;men, women, and children, though of
+      the last but few. Some of them had ornaments on their bones, some were
+      clad in armour, and by all the men were swords, or spears, or knives, and
+      here and there what she took to be primitive fire-arms. Certain of them
+      also had turned into mummies in that dry air&mdash;grotesque and dreadful
+      objects from which she gladly averted her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Molimo led her forward to the foot of the crucifix, where, upon its
+      lowest step and upon the cemented floor immediately beneath it
+      respectively, lay two shapes decorously covered with shawls of some heavy
+      material interwoven with gold wire, for the manufacture of which the
+      Makalanga were famous when first the Portuguese came into contact with
+      them. The Molimo took hold of the cloths that seemed almost as good now as
+      on the day when they were woven, and lifted them, revealing beneath the
+      figures of a man and woman. The features were unrecognizable, although the
+      hair, white in the man&rsquo;s case and raven black in that of the woman,
+      remained perfect. They had been great people, for orders glittered upon
+      the man&rsquo;s breast, and his sword was gold hilted, whilst the woman&rsquo;s bones
+      were adorned with costly necklaces and jewels, and in her hand was still a
+      book bound in sheets of silver. Benita took it up and looked at it. It was
+      a missal beautifully illuminated, which doubtless the poor lady had been
+      reading when at length she sank exhausted into the sleep of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See the Lord Ferreira and his wife,&rdquo; said the Molimo, &ldquo;whom their
+      daughter laid thus before she went to join them.&rdquo; Then, at a motion from
+      Benita, he covered them up again with their golden cloths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here they sleep,&rdquo; he went on in his chanting voice, &ldquo;a hundred and fifty
+      and three of them&mdash;a hundred and fifty and three; and when I dream in
+      this place at night, I have seen the ghosts of every one of them arise
+      from beside their forms and come gliding down the cave&mdash;the husband
+      with the wife, the child with the mother&mdash;to look at me, and ask when
+      the maiden returns again to take her heritage and give them burial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shuddered; the solemn awfulness of the place and scene oppressed
+      her. She began to think that she, too, saw those ghosts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is enough,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Let us be going.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went, and the pitiful, agonized Christ upon the cross, at which
+      she glanced from time to time over her shoulder, faded to a white blot,
+      then vanished away in the darkness, through which, from generation to
+      generation, it kept its watch above the dead, those dead that in their
+      despair once had cried to it for mercy, and bedewed its feet with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Glad, oh! glad was she when she had left that haunted place behind her,
+      and saw the wholesome light again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have you seen?&rdquo; asked her father and Meyer, in one breath, as they
+      noted her white and frightened face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sank upon a stone seat at the entrance of the cave, and before she
+      could open her lips the Molimo answered for her:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The maiden has seen the dead. The Spirit who goes with her has given
+      greeting to its dead that it left so long ago. The maiden has done
+      reverence to the White One who hangs upon the cross, and asked a blessing
+      and a pardon of Him, as she whose Spirit goes with her did reverence
+      before the eyes of my forefathers, and asked a blessing and a pardon ere
+      she cast herself away.&rdquo; And he pointed to the little golden crucifix which
+      hung upon Benita&rsquo;s bosom, attached to the necklace which Tamas, the
+      messenger, had given her at Rooi Krantz.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;now the spell is broken, and the sleepers must depart
+      to sleep elsewhere. Enter, white men; enter, if you dare, and ask for
+      pardon and for blessing if it may be found, and gather up the dry bones
+      and take the treasure that was theirs, if it may be found, and conquer the
+      curse that goes with the treasure for all save one, if you can, if you
+      can, if you can! Rest you here, maiden, in the sweet sunshine, and follow
+      me, white men; follow me into the dark of the dead to seek for that which
+      the white men love.&rdquo; And once more he vanished down the passage, turning
+      now and again to beckon to them, while they went after him as though drawn
+      against their wish. For now, at the last moment, some superstitious fear
+      spread from him to them, and showed itself in their eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Benita, half fainting upon the stone seat, for this experience had
+      shaken her to the heart, it seemed but a few minutes, though really the
+      best part of an hour had gone by, when her father reappeared as
+      white-faced as she had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is Mr. Meyer?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;He is collecting all the golden ornaments off those
+      poor bodies, and tumbling their bones together in a corner of the cave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita uttered an exclamation of horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what you mean,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;But, curse the fellow! he has no
+      reverence, although at first he seemed almost as scared as I was myself.
+      He said that as we could not begin our search with all those corpses
+      about, they had best be got out of the way as soon as possible. Or perhaps
+      it was because he is really afraid of them, and wanted to prove to himself
+      that they are nothing more than dust. Benita,&rdquo; went on the old man, &ldquo;to
+      tell you the truth, I wish heartily that we had left this business alone.
+      I don&rsquo;t believe that any good will come of it, and certainly it has
+      brought enough trouble already. That old prophet of a Molimo has the
+      second sight, or something like it, and he does not hide his opinion, but
+      keeps chuckling away in that dreadful place, and piping out his promises
+      of ill to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He promised me nothing but good,&rdquo; said Benita with a little smile.
+      &ldquo;Though I don&rsquo;t see how it can happen. But if you dislike the thing,
+      father, why not give it up and try to escape?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too late, dear,&rdquo; he replied passionately. &ldquo;Meyer would never come,
+      and I can&rsquo;t in honour leave him. Also, I should laugh at myself for the
+      rest of my life; and, after all, why should we not have the gold if it can
+      be found? It belongs to nobody. We do not get it by robbery, or murder;
+      nuggets are of no use to Portuguese who have been dead two hundred years,
+      and whose heirs, if they have any, it is impossible to discover. Nor can
+      it matter to them whether they lie about singly as they died or were
+      placed after death, or piled together in a corner. Our fears were mere
+      churchyard superstitions, which we have caught from that ghoul of a
+      Molimo. Don&rsquo;t you agree with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I suppose so,&rdquo; answered Benita, &ldquo;though a fate may cling to certain
+      things or places, perhaps. At any rate, I think that it is of no use
+      turning back now, even if we had anywhere to turn, so we may as well go
+      through with the venture and await its end. Give me the water-bottle,
+      please. I am thirsty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A while later Jacob Meyer appeared, carrying a great bundle of precious
+      objects wrapped in one of the gold cere-cloths, which bundle he hid away
+      behind a stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The cave is much tidier now,&rdquo; he said, as he flicked the thick dust which
+      had collected on them during his unhallowed task from his hands, and hair,
+      and garments. Then he drank greedily, and asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you two made any plans for our future researches?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They shook their heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, I have. I thought them out while I was bone-carting, and here
+      they are. It is no use our going down below again; for one thing, the
+      journey is too dangerous, and takes too long; and for another, we are
+      safer up above, where we have plenty to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;how about things to eat and sleep on, and the rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Simple enough, Miss Clifford; we must get them up. The Kaffirs will bring
+      them to the foot of the third wall, and we will haul them to its top with
+      a rope. Of water it seems there is plenty in that well, which is fed by a
+      spring a hundred and fifty feet down, and the old chain is still on the
+      roller, so we only need a couple of buckets from the waggon. Of wood for
+      cooking there is plenty also, growing on the spot; and we can camp in the
+      cave or outside of it, as we like, according to the state of the weather.
+      Now, do you rest here while I go down. I will be back in an hour with some
+      of the gear, and then you must help me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So he went, and the end of it was that before nightfall they had enough
+      things for their immediate needs, and by the second night, working very
+      hard, were more or less comfortably established in their strange
+      habitation. The canvas flap from the waggon was arranged as a tent for
+      Benita, the men sleeping beneath a thick-leaved tree near by. Close at
+      hand, under another tree, was their cooking place. The provisions of all
+      sorts, including a couple of cases of square-face and a large supply of
+      biltong from the slaughtered cattle, they stored with a quantity of
+      ammunition in the mouth of the cave. Fresh meat also was brought to them
+      daily, and hauled up in baskets&mdash;that is, until there was none to
+      bring&mdash;and with it grain for bread, and green mealies to serve as
+      vegetables. Therefore, as the water from the well proved to be excellent
+      and quite accessible, they were soon set up in all things necessary, and
+      to these they added from time to time as opportunity offered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In all these preparations the old Molimo took a part, nor, when they were
+      completed, did he show any inclination to leave them. In the morning he
+      would descend to his people below, but before nightfall he always returned
+      to the cave, where for many years it had been his custom to sleep&mdash;at
+      any rate several times a week, in the gruesome company of the dead
+      Portuguese. Jacob Meyer persuaded Mr. Clifford that his object was to spy
+      upon them, and talked of turning him out; but Benita, between whom and the
+      old man had sprung up a curious friendship and sympathy, prevented it,
+      pointing out that they were much safer with the Molimo, as a kind of
+      hostage, than they could be without him; also, that his knowledge of the
+      place, and of other things, might prove of great help to them. So in the
+      end he was allowed to remain, as indeed he had a perfect right to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while there was no sign of any attack by the Matabele. Indeed,
+      the fear of such a thing was to some extent dying away, and Benita,
+      watching from the top of the wall, could see that their nine remaining
+      oxen, together with the two horses&mdash;for that belonging to Jacob Meyer
+      had died&mdash;and the Makalanga goats and sheep, were daily driven out to
+      graze; also, that the women were working in the crops upon the fertile
+      soil around the lowest wall. Still, a strict watch was kept, and at night
+      everyone slept within the fortifications; moreover, the drilling of the
+      men and their instruction in the use of firearms went on continually under
+      Tamas, who now, in his father&rsquo;s old age, was the virtual chief of the
+      people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was on the fourth morning that at length, all their preparations being
+      completed, the actual search for the treasure began. First, the Molimo was
+      closely interrogated as to its whereabouts, since they thought that even
+      if he did not know this exactly, some traditions of the fact might have
+      descended to him from his ancestors. But he declared with earnestness that
+      he knew nothing, save that the Portuguese maiden had said that it was
+      hidden; nor, he added, had any dream or vision come to him concerning this
+      matter, in which he took no interest. If it was there, it was there; if it
+      was not there, it was not there&mdash;it remained for the white men to
+      search and see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For no very good reason Meyer had concluded that the gold must have been
+      concealed in or about the cave, so here it was that they began their
+      investigations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First, they bethought them of the well into which it might possibly have
+      been thrown, but the fact of this matter proved very difficult to
+      ascertain. Tying a piece of metal&mdash;it was an old Portuguese
+      sword-hilt&mdash;to a string, they let it down and found that it touched
+      water at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and bottom at a depth of
+      one hundred and forty-seven feet. Therefore there were twenty-seven feet
+      of water. Weighting a bucket they sank it until it rested upon this
+      bottom, then wound it up again several times. On the third occasion it
+      brought up a human bone and a wire anklet of pure gold. But this proved
+      nothing, except that some ancient, perhaps thousands of years ago, had
+      been thrown, or had fallen, into the well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still unsatisfied, Jacob Meyer, who was a most intrepid person, determined
+      to investigate the place himself, a task of no little difficulty and
+      danger, since proper ladders were wanting, nor, had they existed, was
+      there anything to stand them on. Therefore it came to this: a seat must be
+      rigged on to the end of the old copper chain, and be lowered into the pit
+      after the fashion of the bucket. But, as Benita pointed out, although they
+      might let him down, it was possible that they would not be able to draw
+      him up again, in which case his plight must prove unfortunate. So, when
+      the seat had been prepared, an experiment was made with a stone weighing
+      approximately as much as a man. This Benita and her father let down easily
+      enough, but, as they anticipated, when it came to winding it up again,
+      their strength was barely sufficient to the task. Three people could do it
+      well, but with two the thing was risky. Now Meyer asked&mdash;or, rather,
+      commanded&mdash;the Molimo to order some of his men to help him, but this
+      the old chief refused point blank to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First, he made a number of excuses. They were all employed in drilling,
+      and in watching for the Matabele; they were afraid to venture here, and so
+      forth. At last Meyer grew furious; his eyes flashed, he ground his teeth,
+      and began to threaten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man,&rdquo; said the Molimo, when he had done, &ldquo;it cannot be. I have
+      fulfilled my bargain with you. Search for the gold; find it and take it
+      away if you can. But this place is holy. None of my tribe, save he who
+      holds the office of Molimo for the time, may set a foot therein. Kill me
+      if you will&mdash;I care not; but so it is, and if you kill me, afterwards
+      they will kill you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Meyer, seeing that nothing was to be gained by violence, changed his
+      tone, and asked if he himself would help them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am old, my strength is small,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;yet I will put my hand to
+      the chain and do my best. But, if I were you, I would not descend that
+      pit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, I will descend it, and to-morrow,&rdquo; said Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly, on the next day the great experiment was made. The chain and
+      ancient winding gear had been tested and proved to be amply sufficient to
+      the strain. Therefore, nothing remained save for Meyer to place himself in
+      the wooden seat with an oil-lamp, and in case this should be extinguished,
+      matches and candles, of both of which they had a large supply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did so boldly enough, and swung out over the mouth of the pit, while
+      the three of them clutched the handles of the winch. Then they began to
+      lower, and slowly his white face disappeared into the black depth. At
+      every few turns his descent was stopped that he might examine the walls of
+      the well, and when he was about fifty feet down he called to them to hold
+      on, which they did, listening while he struck at the rock with a hammer,
+      for here it sounded very hollow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length he shouted to them to lower away again, and they obeyed, until
+      nearly all the chain was out, and they knew he must be near the water. Now
+      Benita, peeping over the edge, saw that the star of light had vanished.
+      His lamp was out, nor did he appear to attempt to re-light it. They
+      shouted down the well to him, but no answer coming, began to wind up as
+      fast as they were able. It was all that their united strength could
+      manage, and very exhausted were they when at length Jacob reappeared at
+      the top. At first, from the look of him they thought that he was dead, and
+      had he not tied himself to the chain, dead he certainly would have been,
+      for evidently his senses had left him long ago. Indeed, he had fallen
+      almost out of the seat, over which his legs hung limply, his weight being
+      supported by the hide rope beneath his arms which was made fast to the
+      chain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They swung him in and dashed water over his face, till, to their relief,
+      at last he began to gasp for breath, and revived sufficiently to enable
+      them to half-lead and half-carry him out into the fresh air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened to you?&rdquo; asked Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poisoned with gases, I suppose,&rdquo; Meyer answered with a groan, for his
+      head was aching sadly. &ldquo;The air is often bad at the bottom of deep wells,
+      but I could smell or feel nothing until suddenly my senses left me. It was
+      a near thing&mdash;a very near thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he told them that at one spot
+      deep down in the well, on the river side of it, he found a place where it
+      looked as though the rock had been cut away for a space of about six feet
+      by four, and afterwards built up again with another sort of stone set in
+      hard mortar or cement. Immediately beneath, too, were socket-holes in
+      which the ends of beams still remained, suggesting that here had been a
+      floor or platform. It was while he was examining these rotted beams that
+      insensibility overcame him. He added that he thought that this might be
+      the entrance to the place where the gold was hidden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If so,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, &ldquo;hidden it must remain, since it can have no
+      better guardian than bad air. Also, floors like that are common in all
+      wells to prevent rubbish from falling into the water, and the stonework
+      you saw probably was only put there by the ancients to mend a fault in the
+      rock and prevent the wall from caving in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; said Meyer, &ldquo;since unless that atmosphere purifies a good
+      deal I don&rsquo;t think that even I dare go down again, and until one gets
+      there, of that it is difficult to be sure, though of course a lantern on a
+      string will tell one something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the end of their first attempt. The search was not renewed until
+      the following afternoon, when Meyer had recovered a little from the
+      effects of the poisoning and the chafing of the hide ropes beneath his
+      arms. Indeed, from the former he never did quite recover, since
+      thenceforward Benita, who for her own reasons watched the man closely,
+      discovered a marked and progressive change in his demeanour. Hitherto he
+      had appeared to be a reserved man, one who kept tight hand upon himself,
+      and, if she knew certain things about him, it was rather because she
+      guessed, or deduced them, than because he allowed them to be seen. On two
+      occasions only had he shown his heart before her&mdash;when they had
+      spoken together by the shores of Lake Chrissie on the day of the arrival
+      of the messengers, and he declared his ardent desire for wealth and power;
+      and quite recently, when he killed the Matabele envoy. Yet she felt
+      certain that this heart of his was very passionate and insurgent; that his
+      calm was like the ice that hides the stream, beneath which its currents
+      run fiercely, none can see whither. The fashion in which his dark eyes
+      would flash, even when his pale countenance remained unmoved, told her so,
+      as did other things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For instance, when he was recovering from his swoon, the first words that
+      passed his lips were in German, of which she understood a little, and she
+      thought that they shaped themselves to her name, coupled with endearing
+      epithets. From that time forward he became less guarded&mdash;or, rather,
+      it seemed as though he were gradually losing power to control himself. He
+      would grow excited without apparent cause, and begin to declaim as to what
+      he would do when he had found the gold; how he would pay the world back
+      all it had caused him to suffer&mdash;how he would become a &ldquo;king.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid that you will find that exalted position rather lonely,&rdquo; said
+      Benita with a careless laugh, and next minute was sorry that she had
+      spoken, for he answered, looking at her in a way that she did not like:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no! There will be a queen&mdash;a beautiful queen, whom I shall endow
+      with wealth, and deck with jewels, and surround with love and worship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a fortunate lady!&rdquo; she said, still laughing, but taking the
+      opportunity to go away upon some errand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At other times, especially after dark, he would walk up and down in front
+      of the cave, muttering to himself, or singing wild old German songs in his
+      rich voice. Also, he made a habit of ascending the granite pillar and
+      seating himself there, and more than once called down to her to come up
+      and share his &ldquo;throne.&rdquo; Still, these outbreaks were so occasional that her
+      father, whose perceptions appeared to Benita to be less keen than
+      formerly, scarcely noticed them, and for the rest his demeanour was what
+      it had always been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Further researches into the well being out of the question, their next
+      step was to make a thorough inspection of the chapel-cave itself. They
+      examined the walls inch by inch, tapping them with a hammer to hear if
+      they sounded hollow, but without result. They examined the altar, but it
+      proved to be a solid mass of rock. By the help of a little ladder they had
+      made, they examined the crucifix, and discovered that the white figure on
+      the cross had evidently been fashioned out of some heathen statue of soft
+      limestone, for at its back were the remains of draperies, and long hair
+      which the artist had not thought it necessary to cut away. Also, they
+      found that the arms had been added, and were of a slightly different
+      stone, and that the weight of the figure was taken partly by an iron
+      staple which supported the body, and partly by strong copper wire twisted
+      to resemble cord, and painted white, which was passed round the wrists and
+      supported the arms. This wire ran through loops of rock cut in the
+      traverse of the cross, that itself was only raised in relief by chiselling
+      away the solid stone behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Curiously enough, this part of the search was left to Mr. Clifford and
+      Benita, since it was one that Jacob Meyer seemed reluctant to undertake. A
+      Jew by birth, and a man who openly professed his want of belief in that or
+      any other religion, he yet seemed to fear this symbol of the Christian
+      faith, speaking of it as horrible and unlucky; yes, he who, without qualm
+      or remorse, had robbed and desecrated the dead that lay about its feet.
+      Well, the crucifix told them nothing; but as Mr. Clifford, lantern in
+      hand, descended the ladder, which Benita held, Jacob Meyer, who was in
+      front of the altar, called to them excitedly that he had found something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it is more than we have,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, as he laid down the
+      ladder and hurried to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer was sounding the floor with a staff of wood&mdash;an operation which
+      he had only just began after the walls proved barren.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen now,&rdquo; he said, letting the heavy staff drop a few paces to the
+      right of the altar, where it produced the hard, metallic clang that comes
+      from solid stone when struck. Then he moved to the front of the altar and
+      dropped it again, but now the note was hollow and reverberant. Again and
+      again he repeated the experiment, till they had exactly mapped out where
+      the solid rock ended and that which seemed to be hollow began&mdash;a
+      space of about eight feet square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got it,&rdquo; he said triumphantly. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the entrance to the place
+      where the gold is,&rdquo; and the others were inclined to agree with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now it remained to put their theory to the proof&mdash;a task of no small
+      difficulty. Indeed, it took them three days of hard, continual work. It
+      will be remembered that the floor of the cave was cemented over, and first
+      of all this cement, which proved to be of excellent quality, being largely
+      composed of powdered granite, must be broken up. By the help of a steel
+      crowbar, which they had brought with them in the waggon, at length that
+      part of their task was completed, revealing the rock beneath. By this time
+      Benita was confident that, whatever might lie below, it was not the
+      treasure, since it was evident that the poor, dying Portuguese would not
+      have had the time or the strength to cement it over. When she told the
+      others so, however, Meyer, convinced that he was on the right tack,
+      answered that doubtless it was done by the Makalanga after the Portuguese
+      days, as it was well known that they retained a knowledge of the building
+      arts of their forefathers until quite a recent period, when the Matabele
+      began to kill them out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When at length the cement was cleared away and the area swept, they
+      discovered&mdash;for there ran the line of it&mdash;that here a great
+      stone was set into the floor; it must have weighed several tons. As it was
+      set in cement, however, to lift it, even if they had the strength to work
+      the necessary levers, proved quite impossible. There remained only one
+      thing to be done&mdash;to cut a way through. When they had worked at this
+      task for several hours, and only succeeded in making a hole six inches
+      deep, Mr. Clifford, whose old bones ached and whose hands were very sore,
+      suggested that perhaps they might break it up with gunpowder. Accordingly,
+      a pound flask of that explosive was poured into the hole, which they
+      closed over with wet clay and a heavy rock, leaving a quill through which
+      ran an extemporized fuse of cotton wick. All being prepared, their fuse
+      was lit, and they left the cave and waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Five minutes afterwards the dull sound of an explosion reached their ears,
+      but more than an hour went by before the smoke and fumes would allow them
+      to enter the place, and then it was to find that the results did not equal
+      their expectations. To begin with, the slab was only cracked&mdash;not
+      shattered, since the strength of the powder had been expended upwards, not
+      downwards, as would have happened in the case of dynamite, of which they
+      had none. Moreover, either the heavy stone which they had placed upon it,
+      striking the roof of the cave, or the concussion of the air, had brought
+      down many tons of rock, and caused wide and dangerous-looking cracks.
+      Also, though she said nothing of it, it seemed to Benita that the great
+      white statue on the cross was leaning a little further forward than it
+      used to do. So the net result of the experiment was that they were obliged
+      to drag away great fragments of the fallen roof that lay upon the stone,
+      which remained almost as solid and obdurate as before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So there was nothing for it but to go on working with the crowbar. At
+      length, towards the evening of the third day of their labour, when the two
+      men were utterly tired out, a hole was broken through, demonstrating the
+      fact that beneath this cover lay a hollow of some sort. Mr. Clifford, to
+      say nothing of Benita, who was heartily weary of the business, wished to
+      postpone proceedings till the morrow, but Jacob Meyer would not. So they
+      toiled on until about eleven o&rsquo;clock at night, when at length the aperture
+      was of sufficient size to admit a man. Now, as in the case of the well,
+      they let down a stone tied to a string, to find that the place beneath was
+      not more than eight feet deep. Then, to ascertain the condition of the
+      air, a candle was lowered, which at first went out, but presently burnt
+      well enough. This point settled, they brought their ladder, whereby Jacob
+      descended with a lantern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In another minute they heard the sound of guttural German oaths rising
+      through the hole. Mr. Clifford asked what was the matter, and received the
+      reply that the place was a tomb, with nothing in it but an accursed dead
+      monk, information at which Benita could not help bursting into laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The end of it was that both she and her father went down also, and there,
+      sure enough, lay the remains of the old missionary in his cowl, with an
+      ivory crucifix about his neck, and on his breast a scroll stating that he,
+      Marco, born at Lisbon in 1438, had died at Bambatse in the year 1503,
+      having laboured in the Empire of Monomotapa for seventeen years, and
+      suffered great hardships and brought many souls to Christ. The scroll
+      added that it was he, who before he entered into religion was a sculptor
+      by trade, that had fashioned the figure on the cross in this chapel out of
+      that of the heathen goddess which had stood in the same place from unknown
+      antiquity. It ended with a request, addressed to all good Christians in
+      Latin, that they who soon must be as he was would pray for his soul and
+      not disturb his bones, which rested here in the hope of a blessed
+      resurrection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this pious wish was translated to Jacob Meyer by Mr. Clifford, who
+      still retained some recollection of the classics which he had painfully
+      acquired at Eton and Oxford, the Jew could scarcely contain his wrath.
+      Indeed, looking at his bleeding hands, instead of praying for the soul of
+      that excellent missionary, to reach whose remains he had laboured with
+      such arduous, incessant toil, he cursed it wherever it might be, and
+      unceremoniously swept the bones, which the document asked him not to
+      disturb, into a corner of the tomb, in order to ascertain whether there
+      was not, perhaps, some stair beneath them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; said Benita, who, in spite of the solemnity of the
+      surroundings, could not control her sense of humour, &ldquo;if you are not
+      careful the ghosts of all these people will haunt you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let them haunt me if they can,&rdquo; he answered furiously. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe
+      in ghosts, and defy them all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment, looking up, Benita saw a figure gliding out of the
+      darkness into the ring of light, so silently that she started, for it
+      might well have been one of those ghosts in whom Jacob Meyer did not
+      believe. In fact, however, it was the old Molimo, who had a habit of
+      coming upon them thus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What says the white man?&rdquo; he asked of Benita, while his dreamy eyes
+      wandered over the three of them, and the hole in the violated tomb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He says that he does not believe in spirits, and that he defies them,&rdquo;
+       she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The white gold-seeker does not believe in spirits, and he defies them,&rdquo;
+       Mambo repeated in his sing-song voice. &ldquo;He does not believe in the spirits
+      that I see all around me now, the angry spirits of the dead, who speak
+      together of where he shall lie and of what shall happen to him when he is
+      dead, and of how they will welcome one who disturbs their rest and defies
+      and curses them in his search for the riches which he loves. There is one
+      standing by him now, dressed in a brown robe with a dead man cut in ivory
+      like to that,&rdquo; and he pointed to the crucifix in Jacob&rsquo;s hands, &ldquo;and he
+      holds the ivory man above him and threatens him with sleepless centuries
+      of sorrow, when he is also one of those spirits in which he does not
+      believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Meyer&rsquo;s rage blazed out. He turned upon the Molimo and reviled him in
+      his own tongue, saying that he knew well where the treasure was hidden,
+      and that if he did not point it out he would kill him and send him to his
+      friends, the spirits. So savage and evil did he look that Benita retreated
+      a little way, while Mr. Clifford strove in vain to calm him. But although
+      Meyer laid his hand upon the knife in his belt and advanced upon him, the
+      old Molimo neither budged an inch nor showed the slightest fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let him rave on,&rdquo; he said, when at length Meyer paused exhausted. &ldquo;Just
+      so in a time of storm the lightnings flash and the thunder peals, and the
+      water foams down the face of rock; but then comes the sun again, and the
+      hill is as it has ever been, only the storm is spent and lost. I am the
+      rock, he is but the wind, the fire, and the rain. It is not permitted that
+      he should hurt me, and those spirits in whom he does not believe treasure
+      up his curses, to let them fall again like stones upon his head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, with a contemptuous glance at Jacob, the old man turned and glided
+      back into the darkness out of which he had appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BENITA PLANS ESCAPE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, while she was cooking breakfast, Benita saw Jacob Meyer
+      seated upon a rock at a little distance, sullen and disconsolate. His chin
+      was resting on his hand, and he watched her intently, never taking his
+      eyes from her face. She felt that he was concentrating his will upon her;
+      that some new idea concerning her had come into his mind; for it was one
+      of her miseries that she possessed the power of interpreting the drift of
+      this man&rsquo;s thoughts. Much as she detested him, there existed that curious
+      link between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It may be remembered that, on the night when they first met at the crest
+      of Leopard&rsquo;s Kloof, Jacob had called her a &ldquo;thought-sender,&rdquo; and some
+      knowledge of their mental intimacy had come home to Benita. From that day
+      forward her chief desire had been to shut a door between their natures, to
+      isolate herself from him and him from her. Yet the attempt was never
+      entirely successful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fear and disgust took hold of her, bending there above the fire, all the
+      while aware of the Jew&rsquo;s dark eyes that searched her through and through.
+      Benita formed a sudden determination. She would implore her father to come
+      away with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course, such an attempt would be terribly dangerous. Of the Matabele
+      nothing had been seen; but they might be about, and even if enough cattle
+      could be collected to draw the waggon, it belonged to Meyer as much as to
+      her father, and must therefore be left for him. Still, there remained the
+      two horses, which the Molimo had told her were well and getting fat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment Meyer rose and began to speak to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you thinking of, Miss Clifford?&rdquo; he asked in his soft foreign
+      voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She started, but answered readily enough:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of the wood which is green, and the kid cutlets which are getting smoked.
+      Are you not tired of kid, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo; she went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waved the question aside. &ldquo;You are so good&mdash;oh! I mean it&mdash;so
+      really good that you should not tell stories even about small things. The
+      wood is not green; I cut it myself from a dead tree; and the meat is not
+      smoked; nor were you thinking of either. You were thinking of me, as I was
+      thinking of you; but what exactly was in your mind, this time I do not
+      know, and that is why I ask you to tell me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she answered flushing; &ldquo;my mind is my own property.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! do you say so? Now I hold otherwise&mdash;that it is my property, as
+      mine is yours, a gift that Nature has given to each of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I seek no such gift,&rdquo; she answered; but even then, much as she would have
+      wished to do so, she could not utter a falsehood, and deny this horrible
+      and secret intimacy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry for that, as I think it very precious; more precious even than
+      the gold which we cannot find; for Miss Clifford, it brings me nearer
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned upon him, but he held up his hand, and went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! do not be angry with me, and do not fear that I am going to trouble
+      you with soft speeches, for I shall not, unless a time should come, as I
+      think that perhaps it will, when you may wish to listen to them. But I
+      want to point out something to you, Miss Clifford. Is it not a wonderful
+      thing that our minds should be so in tune, and is there not an object in
+      all this? Did I believe as you do, I should say that it was Heaven working
+      in us&mdash;no: do not answer that the working comes from lower down. I
+      take no credit for reading that upon your lips; the retort is too easy and
+      obvious. I am content to say, however, that the work is that of instinct
+      and nature, or, if you will, of fate, pointing out a road by which
+      together we might travel to great ends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I travel my road alone, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, I know, and that is the pity of it. The trouble between man and
+      woman is that not in one case out of a million, even if they be lovers, do
+      they understand each other. Their eyes may seek one another, their hands
+      and lips may meet, and yet they remain distinct, apart, and often
+      antagonistic. There is no communication of the soul. But when it chances
+      to be hewn from the same rock as it were&mdash;oh! then what happiness may
+      be theirs, and what opportunities!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly, Mr. Meyer; but, to be frank, the question does not interest
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet; but I am sure that one day it will. Meanwhile, I owe you an
+      apology. I lost my temper before you last night. Well, do not judge me
+      hardly, for I was utterly worn out, and that old idiot vexed me with his
+      talk about ghosts, in which I do not believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did it make you so angry? Surely you could have afforded to
+      treat it with contempt, instead of doing&mdash;as you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word! I don&rsquo;t know, but I suppose most of us are afraid lest we
+      should be forced to accept that which we refuse. This ancient place gets
+      upon the nerves, Miss Clifford; yours as well as mine. I can afford to be
+      open about it, because I know that you know. Think of its associations:
+      all the crime that has been committed here for ages and ages, all the
+      suffering that has been endured here. Doubtless human sacrifices were
+      offered in this cave or outside of it; that great burnt ring in the rock
+      there may have been where they built the fires. And then those Portuguese
+      starving to death, slowly starving to death while thousands of savages
+      watched them die. Have you ever thought what it means? But of course you
+      have, for like myself you are cursed with imagination. God in heaven! is
+      it wonderful that it gets upon the nerves? especially when one cannot find
+      what one is looking for, that vast treasure&rdquo;&mdash;and his face became
+      ecstatic&mdash;&ldquo;that shall yet be yours and mine, and make us great and
+      happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But which at present only makes me a scullery-maid and most unhappy,&rdquo;
+       replied Benita cheerfully, for she heard her father&rsquo;s footstep. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t
+      talk any more of the treasure, Mr. Meyer, or we shall quarrel. We have
+      enough of that during business hours, when we are hunting for it, you
+      know. Give me the dish, will you? This meat is cooked at last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Still Benita could not be rid of that treasure, since after breakfast the
+      endless, unprofitable search began again. Once more the cave was sounded,
+      and other hollow places were discovered upon which the two men got to
+      work. With infinite labour three of them were broken into in as many days,
+      and like the first, found to be graves, only this time of ancients who,
+      perhaps, had died before Christ was born. There they lay upon their sides,
+      their bones burnt by the hot cement that had been poured over them, their
+      gold-headed and gold-ferruled rods of office in their hands, their
+      gold-covered pillows of wood, such as the Egyptians used, beneath their
+      skulls, gold bracelets upon their arms and ankles, cakes of gold beneath
+      them which had fallen from the rotted pouches that once hung about their
+      waists, vases of fine glazed pottery that had been filled with offerings,
+      or in some cases with gold dust to pay the expenses of their journey in
+      the other world, standing round them, and so forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In their way these discoveries were rich enough&mdash;from one tomb alone
+      they took over a hundred and thirty ounces of gold&mdash;to say nothing of
+      their surpassing archæological interest. Still they were not what they
+      sought: all that gathered wealth of Monomotapa which the fleeing
+      Portuguese had brought with them and buried in this, their last
+      stronghold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita ceased to take the slightest interest in the matter; she would not
+      even be at the pains to go to look at the third skeleton, although it was
+      that of a man who had been almost a giant, and, to judge from the amount
+      of bullion which he took to the tomb with him, a person of great
+      importance in his day. She felt as though she wished never to see another
+      human bone or ancient bead or bangle; the sight of a street in Bayswater
+      in a London fog&mdash;yes, or a toy-shop window in Westbourne Grove&mdash;would
+      have pleased her a hundred times better than these unique remains that,
+      had they known of them in those days, would have sent half the learned
+      societies of Europe crazy with delight. She wished to escape from
+      Bambatse, its wondrous fortifications, its mysterious cone, its cave, its
+      dead, and&mdash;from Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita stood upon the top of her prison wall and looked with longing at
+      the wide, open lands below. She even dared to climb the stairs which ran
+      up the mighty cone of granite, and seated herself in the cup-like
+      depression on its crest, whence Jacob Meyer had called to her to come and
+      share his throne. It was a dizzy place, for the pillar leaning outwards,
+      its point stood almost clear of the water-scarped rock, so that beneath
+      her was a sheer drop of about four hundred feet to the Zambesi bed. At
+      first the great height made her feel faint. Her eyes swam, and unpleasant
+      tremors crept along her spine, so that she was glad to sink to the floor,
+      whence she knew she could not fall. By degrees, however, she recovered her
+      nerve, and was able to study the glorious view of stream and marshes and
+      hills beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For she had come here with a purpose, to see whether it would not be
+      possible to escape down the river in a canoe, or in native boats such as
+      the Makalanga owned and used for fishing, or to cross from bank to bank.
+      Apparently it was impossible, for although the river beneath and above
+      them was still enough, about a mile below began a cataract that stretched
+      as far as she could see, and was bordered on either side by rocky hills
+      covered with forest, over which, even if they could obtain porters, a
+      canoe could not be carried. This, indeed, she had already heard from the
+      Molimo, but knowing his timid nature, she wished to judge of the matter
+      for herself. It came to this then: if they were to go, it must be on the
+      horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Descending the cone Benita went to find her father, to whom as yet she had
+      said nothing of her plans. The opportunity was good, for she knew that he
+      would be alone. As it chanced, on that afternoon Meyer had gone down the
+      hill in order to try to persuade the Makalanga to give them ten or twenty
+      men to help them in their excavations. In this, it will be remembered, he
+      had already failed so far as the Molimo was concerned, but he was not a
+      man easily turned from his purpose, and he thought that if he could see
+      Tamas and some of the other captains he might be able by bribery, threats,
+      or otherwise, to induce them to forget their superstitious fears, and help
+      in the search. As a matter of fact, he was utterly unsuccessful, since one
+      and all they declared that for them to enter that sacred place would mean
+      their deaths, and that the vengeance of Heaven would fall upon their tribe
+      and destroy it root and branch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford, on whom all this heavy labour had begun to tell, was taking
+      advantage of the absence of his taskmaster, Jacob, to sleep awhile in the
+      hut which they had now built for themselves beneath the shadow of the
+      baobab-tree. As she reached it he came out yawning, and asked her where
+      she had been. Benita told him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A giddy place,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have never ventured to try it myself. What
+      did you go up there for, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To look at the river while Mr. Meyer was away, father; for if he had seen
+      me do so he would have guessed my reason; indeed, I dare say that he will
+      guess it now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What reason, Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To see whether it would not be possible to escape down it in a boat. But
+      there is no chance. It is all rapids below, with hills and rocks and trees
+      on either bank.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What need have you to escape at present?&rdquo; he asked eyeing her curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every need,&rdquo; she answered with passion. &ldquo;I hate this place; it is a
+      prison, and I loathe the very name of treasure. Also,&rdquo; and she paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also what, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also,&rdquo; and her voice sank to a whisper, as though she feared that he
+      should overhear her even at the bottom of the hill; &ldquo;also, I am afraid of
+      Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This confession did not seem to surprise her father, who merely nodded his
+      head and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, I think that he is going mad, and it is not pleasant for us to be
+      cooped up here alone with a madman, especially when he has begun to speak
+      to me as he does now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean that he has been impertinent to you,&rdquo; said the old man,
+      flushing up, &ldquo;for if so&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not impertinent&mdash;as yet,&rdquo; and she told him what had passed
+      between Meyer and herself, adding, &ldquo;You see, father, I detest this man;
+      indeed, I want to have nothing to do with any man; for me all that is over
+      and done with,&rdquo; and she gave a dry little sob which appeared to come from
+      her very heart. &ldquo;And yet, he seems to be getting some kind of power over
+      me. He follows me about with his eyes, prying into my mind, and I feel
+      that he is beginning to be able to read it. I can bear no more. Father,
+      father, for God&rsquo;s sake, take me away from this hateful hill and its gold
+      and its dead, and let us get out into the veld again together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be glad enough, dearest,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I have had plenty of
+      this wildgoose chase, which I was so mad as to be led into by the love of
+      wealth. Indeed, I am beginning to believe that if it goes on much longer I
+      shall leave my bones here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if such a dreadful thing as that were to happen, what would become of
+      me, alone with Jacob Meyer?&rdquo; she asked quietly. &ldquo;I might even be driven to
+      the same fate as that poor girl two hundred years ago,&rdquo; and she pointed to
+      the cone of rock behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Heaven&rsquo;s sake, don&rsquo;t talk like that!&rdquo; he broke in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not? One must face things, and it would be better than Jacob Meyer;
+      for who would protect me here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford walked up and down for a few minutes, while his daughter
+      watched him anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see no plan,&rdquo; he said, stopping opposite her. &ldquo;We cannot take the
+      waggon even if there are enough oxen left to draw it, for it is his as
+      much as mine, and I am sure that he will never leave this treasure unless
+      he is driven away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I am sure I hope that he will not. But, father, the horses are our
+      own; it was his that died, you remember. We can ride away on them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared at her and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we could ride away to our deaths. Suppose they got sick or lame;
+      suppose we meet the Matabele, or could find no game to shoot; suppose one
+      of us fell ill&mdash;oh! and a hundred things. What then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, then it is just as well to perish in the wilderness as here, where
+      our risks are almost as great. We must take our chance, and trust to God.
+      Perhaps He will be merciful and help us. Listen now, father. To-morrow is
+      Sunday, when you and I do no work that we can help. Mr. Meyer is a Jew,
+      and he won&rsquo;t waste Sunday. Well now, I will say that I want to go down to
+      the outer wall to fetch some clothes which I left in the waggon, and to
+      take others for the native women to wash, and of course you will come with
+      me. Perhaps he will be deceived, and stay behind, especially as he has
+      been there to-day. Then we can get the horses and guns and ammunition, and
+      anything else that we can carry in the way of food, and persuade the old
+      Molimo to open the gate for us. You know, the little side gate that cannot
+      be seen from up here, and before Mr. Meyer misses us and comes to look, we
+      shall be twenty miles away, and&mdash;horses can&rsquo;t be overtaken by a man
+      on foot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will say that we have deserted him, and that will be true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can leave a letter with the Molimo explaining that it was my fault,
+      that I was getting ill and thought that I should die, and that you knew it
+      would not be fair to ask him to come, and so to lose the treasure, to
+      every halfpenny of which he is welcome when it is found. Oh! father, don&rsquo;t
+      hesitate any longer; say that you will take me away from Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it then,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford, and as he spoke, hearing a sound,
+      they looked up and saw Jacob approaching them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Luckily he was so occupied with his own thoughts that he never noted the
+      guilty air upon their faces, and they had time to compose themselves a
+      little. But even thus his suspicions were aroused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you talking of so earnestly?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were wondering how you were getting on with the Makalanga,&rdquo; answered
+      Benita, fibbing boldly, &ldquo;and whether you would persuade them to face the
+      ghosts. Did you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not I,&rdquo; he answered with a scowl. &ldquo;Those ghosts are our worst enemies in
+      this place; the cowards swore that they would rather die. I should have
+      liked to take some of them at their word and make ghosts of them; but I
+      remembered the situation and didn&rsquo;t. Don&rsquo;t be afraid, Miss Clifford, I
+      never even lost my temper, outwardly at any rate. Well, there it is; if
+      they won&rsquo;t help us, we must work the harder. I&rsquo;ve got a new plan, and
+      we&rsquo;ll begin on it to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not to-morrow, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; replied Benita with a smile. &ldquo;It is Sunday,
+      and we rest on Sunday, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! I forgot. The Makalanga with their ghosts and you with your Sunday&mdash;really
+      I do not know which is the worse. Well, then, I must do my own share and
+      yours too, I suppose,&rdquo; and he turned with a shrug of his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE FLIGHT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, Sunday, Meyer went to work on his new plan. What it was
+      Benita did not trouble to inquire, but she gathered that it had something
+      to do with the measuring out of the chapel cave into squares for the more
+      systematic investigation of each area. At twelve o&rsquo;clock he emerged for
+      his midday meal, in the course of which he remarked that it was very
+      dreary working in that place alone, and that he would be glad when it was
+      Monday, and they could accompany him. His words evidently disturbed Mr.
+      Clifford not a little, and even excited some compunction in the breast of
+      Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What would his feelings be, she wondered, when he found that they had run
+      away, leaving him to deal with their joint undertaking single-handed!
+      Almost was she minded to tell him the whole truth; yet&mdash;and this was
+      a curious evidence of the man&rsquo;s ascendancy over her&mdash;she did not.
+      Perhaps she felt that to do so would be to put an end to their scheme,
+      since then by argument, blandishments, threats, force, or appeal to their
+      sense of loyalty, it mattered not which, he would bring about its
+      abandonment. But she wanted to fulfil that scheme, to be free of Bambatse,
+      its immemorial ruins, its graveyard cave, and the ghoul, Jacob Meyer, who
+      could delve among dead bones and in living hearts with equal skill and
+      insight, and yet was unable to find the treasure that lay beneath either
+      of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So they hid the truth, and talked with feverish activity about other
+      things, such as the drilling of the Makalanga, and the chances of an
+      attack by the Matabele, which happily now seemed to be growing small; also
+      of the conditions of their cattle, and the prospect of obtaining more to
+      replace those that had died. Indeed, Benita went farther; in her new-found
+      zeal of deception she proceeded to act a lie, yes, even with her father&rsquo;s
+      reproachful eyes fixed upon her. Incidentally she mentioned that they were
+      going to have an outing, to climb down the ladder and visit the Makalanga
+      camp between the first and second walls and mix with the great world for a
+      few hours; also to carry their washing to be done there, and bring up some
+      clean clothes and certain books which she had left below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob came out of his thoughts and calculations, and listened gloomily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have half a mind to come with you,&rdquo; he said, words at which Benita
+      shivered. &ldquo;It certainly is most cursed lonesome in that cave, and I seem
+      to hear things in it, as though those old bones were rattling, sounds like
+      sighs and whispers too, which are made by the draught.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, why don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded. If he had any doubts they
+      vanished, and he answered at once:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I have not the time. We have to get this business finished one
+      way or another before the wet season comes on, and we are drowned out of
+      the place with rain, or rotted by fever. Take your afternoon out, Miss
+      Clifford; every maid of all work is entitled to as much, and I am afraid
+      that is your billet here. Only,&rdquo; he added, with that care for her safety
+      which he always showed in his more temperate moods, &ldquo;pray be careful,
+      Clifford, to get back before sundown. That wall is too risky for your
+      daughter to climb in the dusk. Call me from the foot of it; you have the
+      whistle, and I will come down to help her up. I think I&rsquo;ll go with you
+      after all. No, I won&rsquo;t. I made myself so unpleasant to them yesterday that
+      those Makalanga can&rsquo;t wish to see any more of me at present. I hope you
+      will have a more agreeable afternoon than I shall. Why don&rsquo;t you take a
+      ride outside the wall? Your horses are fat and want exercise, and I do not
+      think that you need be afraid of the Matabele.&rdquo; Then without waiting for
+      an answer, he rose and left them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford looked after him doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;it seems horribly mean, but one must do shabby
+      things sometimes. Here are the bundles all ready, so let us be off.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly they went, and from the top of the wall Benita glanced back to
+      bid goodbye to that place which she hoped never to see again. Yet she
+      could not feel as though she looked her last upon it; to her it wore no
+      air of farewell, and even as she descended the perilous stairs, she found
+      herself making mental notes as to how they might best be climbed again.
+      Also, she could not believe that she had done with Mr. Meyer. It seemed to
+      her as though for a long while yet her future would be full of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached the outer fortifications in safety, and there were greeted
+      with some surprise but with no displeasure by the Makalanga, whom they
+      found still drilling with the rifles, in the use of which a certain number
+      of them appeared to have become fairly proficient. Going to the hut in
+      which the spare goods from the waggon had been stored, they quickly made
+      their preparations. Here also, Mr. Clifford wrote a letter, one of the
+      most unpleasant that he had ever been called upon to compose. It ran thus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear Meyer,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you will think of us, but we are escaping from this
+      place. The truth is that I am not well, and my daughter can bear it no
+      longer. She says that if she stops here, she will die, and that hunting
+      for treasure in that ghastly grave-yard is shattering her nerves. I should
+      have liked to tell you, but she begged me not, being convinced that if I
+      did, you would over-persuade us or stop us in some way. As for the gold,
+      if you can find it, take it all. I renounce my share. We are leaving you
+      the waggon and the oxen, and starting down country on our horses. It is a
+      perilous business, but less so than staying here, under the circumstances.
+      If we never meet again we hope that you will forgive us, and wish you all
+      good fortune.&mdash;Yours sincerely and with much regret,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;T. Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The letter written, they saddled the horses which had been brought up for
+      their inspection, and were found to be in good case, and fastened their
+      scanty belongings, and as many cartridges as they could carry in packs
+      behind their saddles. Then, each of them armed with a rifle&mdash;for
+      during their long journeyings Benita had learned to shoot&mdash;they
+      mounted and made for the little side-entrance, as the main gate through
+      which they had passed on their arrival was now built up. This
+      side-entrance, a mere slit in the great wall, with a precipitous approach,
+      was open, for now that their fear of the Matabele had to some extent
+      passed off, the Makalanga used it to drive their sheep and goats in and
+      out, since it was so constructed with several twists and turns in the
+      thickness of the wall, that in a few minutes it could be effectually
+      blocked by stones that lay at hand. Also, the ancient architect had
+      arranged it in such a fashion that it was entirely commanded from the
+      crest of the wall on either side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Makalanga, who had been watching their proceedings curiously, made no
+      attempt to stop them, although they guessed that they might have a little
+      trouble with the sentries who guarded the entrances all day, and even when
+      it was closed at night, with whom also Mr. Clifford proposed to leave the
+      letter. When they reached the place, however, and had dismounted to lead
+      the horses down the winding passage and the steep ascent upon its further
+      side, it was to find that the only guard visible proved to be the old
+      Molimo himself, who sat there, apparently half asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But as they came he showed himself to be very much awake, for without
+      moving he asked them at once whither they were going.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To take a ride,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;The lady, my daughter, is weary
+      of being cooped up in this fortress, and wishes to breathe the air
+      without. Let us pass, friend, or we shall not be back by sunset.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you be coming back at sunset, white man, why do you carry so many
+      things upon your packs, and why are your saddle-bags filled with
+      cartridges?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Surely you do not speak the truth to me, and you
+      hope that never more will you see the sun set upon Bambatse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now understanding that it was hopeless to deceive him, Benita exclaimed
+      boldly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so; but oh! my Father, stay us not, for fear is behind us, and
+      therefore we fly hence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is there no fear before you, maiden? Fear of the wilderness, where
+      none wander save perchance the Amandabele with their bloody spears; fear
+      of wild beasts and of sickness that may overtake you so that, first one
+      and then the other, you perish there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is plenty, my Father, but none of them so bad as the fear behind.
+      Yonder place is haunted, and we give up our search and would dwell there
+      no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is haunted truly, maiden, but its spirits will not harm you whom they
+      welcome as one appointed, and we are ever ready to protect you because of
+      their command that has come to me in dreams. Nor, indeed, is it the
+      spirits whom you fear, but rather the white man, your companion, who would
+      bend you to his will. Deny it not, for I have seen it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then knowing the truth, surely you will let us go,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;for I
+      swear to you that I dare not stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who am I that I should forbid you?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Yet I tell you that you
+      would do well to stay and save yourselves much terror. Maiden, have I not
+      said it days and day ago, that here and here only you must accomplish your
+      fate? Go now if you will, but you shall return again,&rdquo; and once more he
+      seemed to begin to doze in the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two of them consulted hastily together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is no use turning back now,&rdquo; said Benita, who was almost weeping with
+      doubt and vexation. &ldquo;I will not be frightened by his vague talk. What can
+      he know of the future more than any of the rest of us? Besides, all he
+      says is that we shall come back again, and if that does happen, at least
+      we shall have been free for a little while. Come, father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you wish,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford, who seemed too miserable and
+      depressed to argue. Only he threw down the letter upon the Molimo&rsquo;s lap,
+      and begged him to give it to Meyer when he came to look for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man took no notice; no, not even when Benita bade him farewell and
+      thanked him for his kindness, praying that all good fortune might attend
+      him and his tribe, did he answer a single word or even look up. So they
+      led their horses down the narrow passage where there was scarcely room for
+      them to pass, and up the steep path beyond. On the further side of the
+      ancient ditch they remounted them while the Makalanga watched them from
+      the walls, and cantered away along the same road by which they had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now this road, or rather track, ran first through the gardens and then
+      among the countless ruined houses that in bygone ages formed the great
+      city whereof the mount Bambatse had been the citadel and sanctuary. The
+      relics of a lost civilization extended for several miles, and were bounded
+      by a steep and narrow neck or pass in the encircling hills, the same that
+      Robert Seymour and his brother had found too difficult for their waggon at
+      the season in which they visited the place some years before. This pass,
+      or port as it is called in South Africa, had been strongly fortified, for
+      on either side of it were the ruins of towers. Moreover, at its crest it
+      was so narrow and steep-sided that a few men posted there, even if they
+      were armed only with bows and arrows, could hold an attacking force in
+      check for a considerable time. Beyond it, after the hill was descended, a
+      bush-clad plain dotted with kopjes and isolated granite pillars formed of
+      boulders piled one upon another, rolled away for many miles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford and Benita had started upon their mad journey about three
+      o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon, and when the sun began to set they found
+      themselves upon this plain fifteen or sixteen miles from Bambatse, of
+      which they had long lost sight, for it lay beyond the intervening hills.
+      Near to them was a kopje, where they had outspanned by a spring of water
+      when on their recent journey, and since they did not dare to travel in the
+      dark, here they determined to off-saddle, for round this spring was good
+      grass for the horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it chanced, they came upon some hartebeeste here which were trekking
+      down to drink, but although they would have been glad of meat, they were
+      afraid to shoot, fearing lest they should attract attention; nor for the
+      same reason did they like to light a fire. So having knee-haltered the
+      horses in such fashion that they could not wander far, and turned them
+      loose to feed, they sat down under a tree, and made some sort of a meal
+      off the biltong and cooked corn which they had brought with them. By the
+      time this was finished darkness fell, for there was little moon, so that
+      nothing remained to do except to sleep within a circle of a few dead
+      thorn-boughs which they had drawn about their camp. This, then, they did,
+      and so weary were they both, that notwithstanding all the emotions through
+      which they had passed, and their fears lest lions should attack them&mdash;for
+      of these brutes there were many in this veld&mdash;rested soundly and
+      undisturbed till within half an hour of dawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rising somewhat chilled, for though the air was warm a heavy dew had
+      soaked their blankets, once more they ate and drank by starlight, while
+      the horses, which they had tied up close to them during the night, filled
+      themselves with grass. At the first break of day they saddled them, and
+      before the sun rose were on their road again. At length up it came, and
+      the sight and warmth of it put new heart into Benita. Her fears seemed to
+      depart with the night, and she said to her father that this successful
+      start was of good augury, to which he only answered that he hoped so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All that day they rode forward in beautiful weather, not pressing their
+      horses, for now they were sure that Jacob Meyer, who if he followed at all
+      must do so on foot, would never be able to overtake them. At noon they
+      halted, and having shot a small buck, Benita cooked some of it in the one
+      pot that they had brought with them, and they ate a good meal of fresh
+      meat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Riding on again, towards sundown they came to another of their old
+      camping-places, also a bush-covered kopje. Here the spring of water was
+      more than halfway up the hill, so there they off-saddled in a green bower
+      of a place that because of its ferns and mosses looked like a rock garden.
+      Now, although they had enough cold meat for food, they thought themselves
+      quite safe in lighting a fire. Indeed, this it seemed necessary to do,
+      since they had struck the fresh spoor of lions, and even caught sight of
+      one galloping away in the tall reeds on the marshy land at the foot of the
+      hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That evening they fared sumptuously upon venison, and as on the previous
+      day lay down to rest in a little &ldquo;boma&rdquo; or fence made of boughs. But they
+      were not allowed to sleep well this night, for scarcely had they shut
+      their eyes when a hyena began to howl about them. They shouted and the
+      brute went away, but an hour or two later, they heard ominous grunting
+      sounds, followed presently by a loud roar, which was answered by another
+      roar, whereat the horses began to whinny in a frightened fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lions!&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, jumping up and throwing dead wood on the fire
+      till it burnt to a bright blaze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After that all sleep became impossible, for although the lions did not
+      attack them, having once winded the horses they would not go away, but
+      continued wandering round the kopje, grunting and growling. This went on
+      till abut three o&rsquo;clock in the morning, when at last the beasts took their
+      departure, for they heard them roaring in the distance. Now that they
+      seemed safe, having first made up the fire, they tried to get some rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When, as it appeared to her, Benita had been asleep but a little while,
+      she was awakened by a new noise. It was still dark, but the starlight
+      showed her that the horses were quite quiet; indeed, one of them was lying
+      down, and the other eating some green leaves from the branches of the tree
+      to which it was tethered. Therefore that noise had not come from any wild
+      animal of which they were afraid. She listened intently, and presently
+      heard it again; it was a murmur like to that of people talking somewhere
+      at the bottom of the hill. Then she woke her father and told him, but
+      although once or twice they thought they heard the sound of footsteps,
+      nothing else could be distinguished. Still they rose, and having saddled
+      and bridled the horses as noiselessly as might be, waited for the dawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last it came. Up on the side of the kopje they were in clear air, above
+      which shone the red lights of morning, but under them lay billows of
+      dense, pearl-hued mist. By degrees this thinned beneath the rays of the
+      risen sun, and through it, looking gigantic in that light, Benita saw a
+      savage wrapped in a kaross, who was walking up and down and yawning, a
+      great spear in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;look!&rdquo; and Mr. Clifford stared down the line of
+      her outstretched finger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My God! the Matabele!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE CHASE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The Matabele it was, sure enough; there could be no doubt of it, for soon
+      three other men joined the sentry and began to talk with him, pointing
+      with their great spears at the side of the hill. Evidently they were
+      arranging a surprise when there was sufficient light to carry it out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have seen our fire,&rdquo; whispered her father to Benita; &ldquo;now, if we
+      wish to save our lives, there is only one thing to do&mdash;ride for it
+      before they muster. The impi will be camped upon the other side of the
+      hill, so we must take the road we came by.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That runs back to Bambatse,&rdquo; faltered Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bambatse is better than the grave,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;Pray Heaven that we
+      may get there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To this argument there was no answer, so having drunk a sup of water, and
+      swallowing a few mouthfuls of food as they went, they crept to the horses,
+      mounted them, and as silently as possible began to ride down the hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sentry was alone again, the other three men having departed. He stood
+      with his back towards them. Presently when they were quite close on to
+      him, he heard their horses&rsquo; hoofs upon the grass, wheeled round at the
+      sound, and saw them. Then with a great shout he lifted his spear and
+      charged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford, who was leading, held out his rifle at arm&rsquo;s length&mdash;to
+      raise it to his shoulder he had no time&mdash;and pulled the trigger.
+      Benita heard the bullet clap upon the hide shield, and next instant saw
+      the Matabele warrior lying on his back, beating the air with his hands and
+      feet. Also, she saw beyond the shoulder of the kopje, which they were
+      rounding, hundreds of men marching, and behind them a herd of cattle, the
+      dim light gleaming upon the stabbing spears and on the horns of the oxen.
+      She glanced to the right, and there were more men. The two wings of the
+      impi were closing upon them. Only a little lane was left in the middle.
+      They must get through before it shut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; she gasped, striking the horse with her heel and the butt of her
+      gun, and jerking at its mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father saw also, and did likewise, so that the beasts broke into a
+      gallop. Now from the point of each wing sprang out thin lines of men,
+      looking like great horns, or nippers, whose business it was to meet and
+      cut them off. Could they pass between them before they did meet? That was
+      the question, and upon its answer it depended whether or no they had
+      another three minutes to live. To think of mercy at the hands of these
+      bloodthirsty brutes, after they had just killed one of their number before
+      their eyes, was absurd. It was true he had been shot in self-defence; but
+      what count would savages take of that, or of the fact that they were but
+      harmless travellers? White people were not very popular with the Matabele
+      just then, as they knew well; also, their murder in this remote place,
+      with not another of their race within a couple of hundred miles, would
+      never even be reported, and much less avenged. It was as safe as any crime
+      could possibly be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this passed through their minds as they galloped towards those closing
+      points. Oh! the horror of it! But two hundred yards to cover, and their
+      fate would be decided. Either they would have escaped at least for a
+      while, or time would be done with them; or, a third alternative, they
+      might be taken prisoners, in all probability a yet more dreadful doom.
+      Even then Benita determined that if she could help it this should not
+      befall her. She had the rifle and the revolver that Jacob Meyer had given
+      her. Surely she would be able to find a moment to use one or the other
+      upon herself. She clenched her teeth, and struck the horse again and
+      again, so that now they flew along. The Matabele soldiers were running
+      their best to catch them, and if these had been given but five seconds of
+      start, caught they must have been. But that short five seconds saved their
+      lives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they rushed through them the foremost men of the nippers were not
+      more than twenty yards apart. Seeing that they had passed, these halted
+      and hurled a shower of spears after them. One flashed by Benita&rsquo;s cheek, a
+      line of light; she felt the wind of it. Another cut her dress, and a third
+      struck her father&rsquo;s horse in the near hind leg just above the knee-joint,
+      remaining fast there for a stride or two, and then falling to the ground.
+      At first the beast did not seem to be incommoded by this wound; indeed, it
+      only caused it to gallop quicker, and Benita rejoiced, thinking that it
+      was but a scratch. Then she forgot about it, for some of the Matabele, who
+      had guns, began to shoot them, and although their marksmanship was vile,
+      one or two of the bullets went nearer than was pleasant. Lastly a man, the
+      swiftest runner of them all, shouted after them in Zulu:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The horse is wounded. We will catch you both before the sun sets.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they passed over the crest of a rise and lost sight of them for a
+      while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God!&rdquo; gasped Benita when they were alone again in the silent veld;
+      but Mr. Clifford shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think they will follow us?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You heard what the fellow said,&rdquo; he answered evasively. &ldquo;Doubtless they
+      are on their way to attack Bambatse, and have been round to destroy some
+      other wretched tribe, and steal the cattle which we saw. Yes, I fear that
+      they will follow. The question is, which of us can get to Bambatse first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely we ought to on the horses, father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, if nothing happens to them,&rdquo; and as he spoke the words the mare
+      which he was riding dropped sharply upon her hind leg, the same that had
+      been struck with the spear; then recovered herself and galloped on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you see that?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded; then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall we get off and look at the cut?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Our only chance is to keep her moving; if
+      once the wound stiffens, there&rsquo;s an end. The sinew cannot have been
+      severed, or it would have come before now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they pushed on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All that morning did they canter forward wherever the ground was smooth
+      enough to allow them to do so, and notwithstanding the increasing lameness
+      of Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s mare, made such good progress that by midday they
+      reached the place where they had passed the first night after leaving
+      Bambatse. Here sheer fatigue and want of water forced them to stop a
+      little while. They dismounted and drank greedily from the spring, after
+      which they allowed the horses to drink also; indeed it was impossible to
+      keep them away from the water. Then they ate a little, not because they
+      desired food, but to keep up their strength, and while they did so
+      examined the mare. By now her hind leg was much swollen, and blood still
+      ran from the gash made by the assegai. Moreover, the limb was drawn up so
+      that the point of the hoof only rested on the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must get on before it sets fast,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, and they mounted
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great heavens! what was this? The mare would not stir. In his despair Mr.
+      Clifford beat it cruelly, whereupon the poor brute hobbled forward a few
+      paces on three legs, and again came to a standstill. Either an injured
+      sinew had given or the inflammation was now so intense that it could not
+      bend its knee. Understanding what this meant to them, Benita&rsquo;s nerve gave
+      out at last, and she burst into weeping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t cry, love,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;God&rsquo;s will be done. Perhaps they have given
+      up the hunt by now; at any rate, my legs are left, and Bambatse is not
+      more than sixteen miles away. Forward now,&rdquo; and holding to her
+      saddle-strap they went up the long, long slope which led to the poort in
+      the hills around Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They would have liked to shoot the mare, but being afraid to fire a rifle,
+      could not do so. So they left the unhappy beast to its fate, and with it
+      everything it carried, except a few of the cartridges. Before they went,
+      however, at Benita&rsquo;s prayer, her father devoted a few seconds to
+      unbuckling the girths and pulling off the bridle, so that it might have a
+      chance of life. For a little way it hobbled after them on three legs,
+      then, the saddle still upon its back, stood whinnying piteously, till at
+      last, to Benita&rsquo;s intense relief, a turn in their path hid it from their
+      sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Half a mile further on she looked round in the faint hope that it might
+      have recovered itself and followed. But no mare was to be seen. Something
+      else was to be seen, however, for there, three or four miles away upon the
+      plain behind them, easy to be distinguished in that dazzling air, were a
+      number of black spots that occasionally seemed to sparkle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are they?&rdquo; she asked faintly, as one who feared the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Matabele who follow us,&rdquo; answered her father, &ldquo;or rather a company of
+      their swiftest runners. It is their spears that glitter so. Now, my love,
+      this is the position,&rdquo; he went on, as they struggled forward: &ldquo;those men
+      will catch us before ever we can get to Bambatse; they are trained to run
+      like that, for fifty miles, if need be. But with this start they cannot
+      catch your horse, you must go on and leave me to look after myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never, never!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you shall, and you must. I am your father and I order you. As for me,
+      what does it matter? I may hide from them and escape, or&mdash;at least I
+      am old, my life is done, whereas yours is before you. Now, good-bye, and
+      go on,&rdquo; and he let go of the saddle-strap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By way of answer Benita pulled up the horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not one yard,&rdquo; she said, setting her mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he began to storm at her, calling her disobedient, and undutiful, and
+      when this means failed to move her, to implore her almost with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, dear,&rdquo; she said, leaning down towards him as he walked, for now
+      they were going on again, &ldquo;I told you why I wanted to run away from
+      Bambatse, didn&rsquo;t I?&mdash;because I would rather risk my life than stay.
+      Well, do you think that I wish to return there and live in that place
+      alone with Jacob Meyer? Also, I will tell you another thing. You remember
+      about Mr. Seymour? Well, I can&rsquo;t get over that; I can&rsquo;t get over it at
+      all, and therefore, although of course I am afraid, it is all one to me.
+      No, we will escape together, or die together; the first if we can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then with a groan he gave up the argument, and as he found breath they
+      discussed their chances. Their first idea was to hide, but save for a few
+      trees all the country was open; there was no place to cover them. They
+      thought of the banks of the Zambesi, but between them and the river rose a
+      bare, rock-strewn hill with several miles of slope. Long before they could
+      reach its crest, even if a horse were able to travel there, they must be
+      overtaken. In short, there was nothing to do except to push for the nek,
+      and if they were fortunate enough to reach it before the Matabele, to
+      abandon the horse there and try to conceal themselves among the ruins of
+      the houses beyond. This, perhaps, they might do when once the sun was
+      down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they did not deceive themselves; the chances were at least fifty to
+      one against them, unless indeed their pursuers grew weary and let them go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At present, however, they were by no means weary, for having perceived
+      them from far away, the long-legged runners put on the pace, and the
+      distance between them and their quarry was lessening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; said Benita, &ldquo;please understand one thing. I do not mean to be
+      taken alive by those savages.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! how can I&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; he faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t ask you,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I will see to that myself. Only, if I
+      should make any mistake&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and she looked at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man was getting very tired. He panted up the steep hillside, and
+      stumbled against the stones. Benita noted it, and slipping from the horse,
+      made him mount while she ran alongside. Then when he was a little rested
+      they changed places again, and so covered several miles of country.
+      Subsequently, when both of them were nearly exhausted, they tried riding
+      together&mdash;she in front and he behind, for their baggage had long
+      since been thrown away. But the weary beast could not carry this double
+      burden, and after a few hundred yards of it, stumbled, fell, struggled to
+      its feet again, and stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So once more they were obliged to ride and walk alternately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now there was not much more than an hour of daylight left, and the narrow
+      pass lay about three miles ahead of them. That dreadful three miles; ever
+      thereafter it was Benita&rsquo;s favourite nightmare! At the beginning of it the
+      leading Matabele were about two thousand yards behind them; half-way,
+      about a thousand; and at the commencement of the last mile, say five
+      hundred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nature is a wonderful thing, and great are its resources in extremity. As
+      the actual crisis approached, the weariness of these two seemed to depart,
+      or at any rate it was forgotten. They no longer felt exhausted, nor, had
+      they been fresh from their beds, could they have climbed or run better.
+      Even the horse seemed to find new energy, and when it lagged Mr. Clifford
+      dug the point of his hunting knife into its flank. Gasping, panting, now
+      one mounted and now the other, they struggled on towards that crest of
+      rock, while behind them came death in the shape of those sleuth-hounds of
+      Matabele. The sun was going down, and against its flaming ball, when they
+      glanced back they could see their dark forms outlined; the broad spears
+      also looked red as though they had been dipped in blood. They could even
+      hear their taunting shouts as they called to them to sit down and be
+      killed, and save trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now they were not three hundred yards away, and the crest of the pass was
+      still half a mile ahead. Five minutes passed, and here, where the track
+      was very rough, the horse blundered upwards slowly. Mr. Clifford was
+      riding at the time, and Benita running at his side, holding to the stirrup
+      leather. She looked behind her. The savages, fearing that their victims
+      might find shelter over the hill, were making a rush, and the horse could
+      go no faster. One man, a great tall fellow, quite out-distanced his
+      companions. Two minutes more and he was not over a hundred paces from
+      them, a little nearer than they were to the top of the pass. Then the
+      horse stopped and refused to stir any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford jumped from the saddle, and Benita, who could not speak,
+      pointed to the pursuing Matabele. He sat down upon a rock, cocked his
+      rifle, took a deep breath, and aimed and fired at the soldier who was
+      coming on carelessly in the open. Mr. Clifford was a good shot, and shaken
+      though he was, at this supreme moment his skill did not fail him. The man
+      was struck somewhere, for he staggered about and fell; then slowly picked
+      himself up, and began to hobble back towards his companions, who, when
+      they met him, stopped a minute to give him some kind of assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That halt proved their salvation, for it gave them time to make one last
+      despairing rush, and gain the brow of the poort. Not that this would have
+      saved them, however, since where they could go the Matabele could follow,
+      and there was still light by which the pursuers would have been able to
+      see to catch them. Indeed, the savages, having laid down the wounded man,
+      came on with a yell of rage, fifty or more of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Over the pass father and daughter struggled, Benita riding; after them,
+      perhaps sixty yards away, ran the Matabele, gathered in a knot now upon
+      the narrow, ancient road, bordered by steep hillsides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then suddenly from all about them, as it appeared to Benita, broke out the
+      blaze and roar of rifles, rapid and continuous. Down went the Matabele by
+      twos and threes, till at last it seemed as though but quite a few of them
+      were left upon their feet, and those came on no more; they turned and fled
+      from the neck of the narrow pass to the open slope beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita sank to the ground, and the next thing that she could remember was
+      hearing the soft voice of Jacob Meyer, who said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you have returned from your ride, Miss Clifford, and perhaps it was as
+      well that the thought came from you to me that you wished me to meet you
+      here in this very place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BACK AT BAMBATSE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      How they reached Bambatse Benita never could remember, but afterwards she
+      was told that both she and her father were carried upon litters made of
+      ox-hide shields. When she came to her own mind again, it was to find
+      herself lying in her tent outside the mouth of the cave within the third
+      enclosure of the temple-fortress. Her feet were sore and her bones ached,
+      physical discomforts that brought back to her in a flash all the terrors
+      through which she had passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again she saw the fierce pursuing Matabele; again heard their cruel shouts
+      and the answering crack of the rifles; again, amidst the din and the
+      gathering darkness, distinguished the gentle, foreign voice of Meyer
+      speaking his words of sarcastic greeting. Next oblivion fell upon her, and
+      after it a dim memory of being helped up the hill with the sun pouring on
+      her back and assisted to climb the steep steps of the wall by means of a
+      rope placed around her. Then forgetfulness again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The flap of her tent was drawn aside and she shrank back upon her bed,
+      shutting her eyes for fear lest they should fall upon the face of Jacob
+      Meyer. Feeling that it was not he, or learning it perhaps from the
+      footfall, she opened them a little, peeping at her visitor from between
+      her long lashes. He proved to be&mdash;not Jacob or her father, but the
+      old Molimo, who stood beside her holding in his hand a gourd filled with
+      goat&rsquo;s milk. Then she sat up and smiled at him, for Benita had grown very
+      fond of this ancient man, who was so unlike anyone that she had ever met.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Lady,&rdquo; he said softly, smiling back at her with his lips and
+      dreamy eyes, for his old face did not seem to move beneath its thousand
+      wrinkles. &ldquo;I bring you milk. Drink; it is fresh and you need food.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So she took the gourd and drank to the last drop, for it seemed to her
+      that she had never tasted anything so delicious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, good,&rdquo; murmured the Molimo; &ldquo;now you will be well again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I shall get well,&rdquo; she answered; &ldquo;but oh! what of my father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fear not; he is still sick, but he will recover also. You shall see him
+      soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have drunk all the milk,&rdquo; she broke out; &ldquo;there is none left for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Plenty, plenty,&rdquo; he answered, waving his thin hand. &ldquo;There are two cups
+      full&mdash;one for each. We have not many she-goats down below, but the
+      best of their milk is saved for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me all that has happened, Father,&rdquo; and the old priest, who liked her
+      to call him by that name, smiled again with his eyes, and squatted down in
+      the corner of the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You went away, you remember that you would go, although I told you that
+      you must come back. You refused my wisdom and you went, and I have learned
+      all that befell you and how you two escaped the impi. Well, that night
+      after sunset, when you did not return, came the Black One&mdash;yes, yes,
+      I mean Meyer, whom we name so because of his beard, and,&rdquo; he added
+      deliberately, &ldquo;his heart. He came running down the hill asking for you,
+      and I gave him the letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He read it, and oh! then he went mad. He cursed in his own tongue; he
+      threw himself about; he took a rifle and wished to shoot me, but I sat
+      silent and looked at him till he grew quiet. Then he asked why I had
+      played him this trick, but I answered that it was no trick of mine who had
+      no right to keep you and your father prisoners against your will, and that
+      I thought you had gone away because you were afraid of him, which was not
+      wonderful if that was how he talked to you. I told him, too, I who am a
+      doctor, that unless he was careful he would go mad; that already I saw
+      madness in his eye; after which he became quiet, for my words frightened
+      him. Then he asked what could be done, and I said&mdash;that night,
+      nothing, since you must be far away, so that it would be useless to follow
+      you, but better to go to meet you when you came back. He asked what I
+      meant by your coming back, and I answered that I meant what I said, that
+      you would come back in great haste and peril&mdash;although you would not
+      believe me when I told you so&mdash;for I had it from the Munwali whose
+      child you are.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I sent out my spies, and that night went by, and the next day and
+      night went by, and we sat still and did nothing, though the Black One
+      wished to wander out alone after you. But on the following morning, at the
+      dawn, a messenger came in who reported that it had been called to him by
+      his brethren who were hidden upon hilltops and in other places for miles
+      and miles, that the Matabele impi, having destroyed another family of the
+      Makalanga far down the Zambesi, was advancing to destroy us also. And in
+      the afternoon came a second spy, who reported that you two had been
+      surrounded by the impi, but had broken through them, and were riding
+      hitherward for your lives. Then I took fifty of the best of our people and
+      put them under the command of Tamas, my son, and sent them to ambush the
+      pass, for against the Matabele warriors on the plain we, who are not
+      warlike, do not dare to fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Black One went with them, and when he saw how sore was your strait,
+      wished to run down to meet the Matabele, for he is a brave man. But I had
+      said to Tamas&mdash;&lsquo;No, do not try to fight them in the open, for there
+      they will certainly kill you.&rsquo; Moreover, Lady, I was sure that you would
+      reach the top of the poort. Well, you reached it, though but by the
+      breadth of a blade of grass, and my children shot with the new rifles, and
+      the place being narrow so that they could not miss, killed many of those
+      hyenas of Amandabele. But to kill Matabele is like catching fleas on a
+      dog&rsquo;s back: there are always more. Still it served its turn, you and your
+      father were brought away safely, and we lost no one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where, then, are the Matabele now?&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Outside our walls, a whole regiment of them: three thousand men or more,
+      under the command of the Captain Maduna, he of the royal blood, whose life
+      you begged, but who nevertheless hunted you like a buck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he did not know who it was,&rdquo; suggested Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps not,&rdquo; the Molimo answered, rubbing his chin, &ldquo;for in such matters
+      even a Matabele generally keeps faith, and you may remember he promised
+      you life for life. However, they are here ravening like lions round the
+      walls, and that is why we carried you up to the top of the hill, that you
+      might be safe from them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But are you safe, my Father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so,&rdquo; he replied with a dry little chuckle in his throat. &ldquo;Whoever
+      built this fortress built it strong, and we have blocked the gates. Also,
+      they caught no one outside; all are within the walls, together with the
+      sheep and goats. Lastly, we have sent most of the women and children
+      across the Zambesi in canoes, to hide in places we know of whither the
+      Amandabele cannot follow, for they dare not swim a river. Therefore, for
+      those of us that remain we have food for three months, and before then the
+      rains will drive the impi out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you not all go across the river, Father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For two reasons, Lady. The first is, that if we once abandoned our
+      stronghold, which we have held from the beginning, Lobengula would take
+      it, and keep it, so that we could never re-enter into our heritage, which
+      would be a shame to us and bring down the vengeance of the spirits of our
+      ancestors upon our heads. The second is, that as you have returned to us
+      we stay to protect you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very good to me,&rdquo; murmured Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, nay, we brought you here, and we do what I am told to do from Above.
+      Trouble may still come upon you; yes, I think that it will come, but once
+      more I pray you, have no fear, for out of this evil root shall spring a
+      flower of joy,&rdquo; and he rose to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stay,&rdquo; said Benita. &ldquo;Has the chief Meyer found the gold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; he has found nothing; but he hunts and hunts like a hungry jackal
+      digging for a bone. But that bone is not for him; it is for you, Lady, you
+      and you only. Oh! I know, you do not seek, still you shall find. Only the
+      next time that you want help, do not run away into the wilderness. Hear
+      the word of Munwali given by his mouth, the Molimo of Bambatse!&rdquo; And as he
+      spoke, the old priest backed himself out of the tent, stopping now and
+      again to bow to Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few minutes later her father entered, looking very weak and shaken, and
+      supporting himself upon a stick. Happy was the greeting of these two who,
+      with their arms about each other&rsquo;s neck, gave thanks for their escape from
+      great peril.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Benita, we can&rsquo;t get away from this place,&rdquo; Mr. Clifford said
+      presently. &ldquo;We must find that gold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bother the gold,&rdquo; she answered with energy; &ldquo;I hate its very name. Who
+      can think of gold with three thousand Matabele waiting to kill us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Somehow I don&rsquo;t feel afraid of them any more,&rdquo; said her father; &ldquo;they
+      have had their chance and lost it, and the Makalanga swear that now they
+      have guns to command the gates, the fortress cannot be stormed. Still, I
+      am afraid of someone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jacob Mayer. I have seen him several times, and I think that he is going
+      mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Molimo said that too, but why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the look of him. He sits about muttering and glowing with those dark
+      eyes of his, and sometimes groans, and sometimes bursts into shouts of
+      laughter. That is when the fit is on him, for generally he seems right
+      enough. But get up if you think you can, and you shall judge for
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to,&rdquo; said Benita feebly. &ldquo;Father, I am more afraid of him
+      now than ever. Oh! why did you not let me stop down below, among the
+      Makalanga, instead of carrying me up here again, where we must live alone
+      with that terrible Jew?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wished to, dear, but the Molimo said we should be safer above, and
+      ordered his people to carry you up. Also, Jacob swore that unless you were
+      brought back he would kill me. Now you understand why I believe that he is
+      mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, why?&rdquo; gasped Benita again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God knows,&rdquo; he answered with a groan; &ldquo;but I think that he is sure that
+      we shall never find the gold without you, since the Molimo has told him
+      that it is for you and you alone, and he says the old man has second
+      sight, or something of the sort. Well, he would have murdered me&mdash;I
+      saw it in his eye&mdash;so I thought it better to give in rather than that
+      you should be left here sick and alone. Of course there was one way&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+       and he paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him and asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To shoot him before he shot me,&rdquo; he answered in a whisper, &ldquo;for your
+      sake, dear&mdash;but I could not bring myself to do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said with a shudder, &ldquo;not that&mdash;not that. Better that we
+      should die than that his blood should be upon our hands. Now I will get up
+      and try to show no fear. I am sure that is best, and perhaps we shall be
+      able to escape somehow. Meanwhile, let us humour him, and pretend to go on
+      looking for this horrible treasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Benita rose to discover that, save for her stiffness, she was but
+      little the worse, and finding all things placed in readiness, set to work
+      with her father&rsquo;s help to cook the evening meal as usual. Of Meyer, who
+      doubtless had placed things in readiness, she saw nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before nightfall he came, however, as she knew he would. Indeed, although
+      she heard no step and her back was towards him, she felt his presence; the
+      sense of it fell upon her like a cold shadow. Turning round she beheld the
+      man. He was standing close by, but above her, upon a big granite boulder,
+      in climbing which his soft veld schoons, or hide shoes, had made no noise,
+      for Meyer could move like a cat. The last rays from the sinking sun struck
+      him full, outlining his agile, nervous shape against the sky, and in their
+      intense red light, which flamed upon him, he appeared terrible. He looked
+      like a panther about to spring; his eyes shone like a panther&rsquo;s, and
+      Benita knew that she was the prey whom he desired. Still, remembering her
+      resolution, she determined to show no fear, and addressed him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-evening, Mr. Meyer. Oh! I am so stiff that I cannot lift my neck to
+      look at you,&rdquo; and she laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He bounded softly from the rock, like a panther again, and stood in front
+      of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should thank the God you believe in,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that by now you are
+      not stiff indeed&mdash;all that the jackals have left of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do, Mr. Meyer, and I thank you, too; it was brave of you to come out to
+      save us. Father,&rdquo; she called, &ldquo;come and tell Mr. Meyer how grateful we are
+      to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford hobbled out from his hut under the tree, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told him already, dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Jacob, &ldquo;you have told me; why repeat yourself? I see that
+      supper is ready. Let us eat, for you must be hungry; afterwards I have
+      something to tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they ate, with no great appetite, any of them&mdash;indeed Meyer
+      touched but little food, though he drank a good deal, first of strong
+      black coffee and afterwards of squareface and water. But on Benita he
+      pressed the choicest morsels that he could find, eyeing her all the while,
+      and saying that she must take plenty of nutriment or her beauty would
+      suffer and her strength wane. Benita bethought her of the fairy tales of
+      her childhood, in which the ogre fed up the princess whom he purposed to
+      devour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should think of your own strength, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;you cannot
+      live on coffee and squareface.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all I need to-night. I am astonishingly well since you came back. I
+      can never remember feeling so well, or so strong. I can do the work of
+      three men, and not be tired; all this afternoon, for instance, I have been
+      carrying provisions and other things up that steep wall, for we must
+      prepare for a long siege together; yet I should never know that I had
+      lifted a single basket. But while you were away&mdash;ah! then I felt
+      tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita changed the subject, asking him if he had made any discoveries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet, but now that you are back the discoveries will soon come. Do not
+      be afraid; I have my plan which cannot fail. Also, it was lonely working
+      in that cave without you, so I only looked about a little outside till it
+      was time to go to meet you, and shoot some of those Matabele. Do you know?&mdash;I
+      killed seven of them myself. When I was shooting for your sake I could not
+      miss,&rdquo; and he smiled at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shrank from him visibly, and Mr. Clifford said in an angry voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t talk of those horrors before my daughter. It is bad enough to have
+      to do such things, without speaking about them afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; he replied reflectively; &ldquo;and I apologise, though
+      personally I never enjoyed anything so much as shooting those Matabele.
+      Well, they are gone, and there are plenty more outside. Listen! They are
+      singing their evening hymn,&rdquo; and with his long finger he beat time to the
+      volleying notes of the dreadful Matabele war-chant, which floated up from
+      the plain below. &ldquo;It sounds quite religious, doesn&rsquo;t it? only the words&mdash;no,
+      I will not translate them. In our circumstances they are too personal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I have something to say to you. It was unkind of you to run away and
+      leave me like that, not honourable either. Indeed,&rdquo; he added with a sudden
+      outbreak of the panther ferocity, &ldquo;had you alone been concerned, Clifford,
+      I tell you frankly that when we met again, I should have shot you.
+      Traitors deserve to be shot, don&rsquo;t they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please stop talking to my father like that,&rdquo; broke in Benita in a stern
+      voice, for her anger had overcome her fear. &ldquo;Also it is I whom you should
+      blame.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a pleasure to obey you,&rdquo; he answered bowing; &ldquo;I will never mention
+      the subject any more. Nor do I blame you&mdash;who could?&mdash;not Jacob
+      Meyer. I quite understand that you found it very dull up here, and ladies
+      must be allowed their fancies. Also you have come back; so why talk of the
+      matter? But listen: on one point I have made up my mind; for your own sake
+      you shall not go away any more until we leave this together. When I had
+      finished carrying up the food I made sure of that. If you go to look
+      to-morrow morning you will find that no one can come up that wall&mdash;and,
+      what is more, no one can go down it. Moreover, that I may be quite
+      certain, in future I shall sleep near the stair myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita and her father stared at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Molimo has a right to come,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it is his sanctuary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he must celebrate his worship down below for a little while. The old
+      fool pretends to know everything, but he never guessed what I was going to
+      do. Besides, we don&rsquo;t want him breaking in upon our privacy, do we? He
+      might see the gold when we find it, and rob us of it afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XVII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE FIRST EXPERIMENT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Again Benita and her father stared at each other blankly, almost with
+      despair. They were trapped, cut off from all help; in the power of a man
+      who was going mad. Mr. Clifford said nothing. He was old and growing
+      feeble; for years, although he did not know it, Meyer had dominated him,
+      and never more so than in this hour of stress and bewilderment. Moreover,
+      the man had threatened to murder him, and he was afraid, not so much for
+      himself as for his daughter. If he were to die now, what would happen to
+      her, left alone with Jacob Meyer? The knowledge of his own folly,
+      understood too late, filled him with shame. How could he have been so
+      wicked as to bring a girl upon such a quest in the company of an
+      unprincipled Jew, of whose past he knew nothing except that it was murky
+      and dubious? He had committed a great crime, led on by a love of lucre,
+      and the weight of it pressed upon his tongue and closed his lips; he knew
+      not what to say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a little while Benita was silent also; hope died within her. But she
+      was a bold-spirited woman, and by degrees her courage re-asserted itself.
+      Indignation filled her breast and shone through her dark eyes. Suddenly
+      she turned upon Jacob, who sat before them smoking his pipe and enjoying
+      their discomfiture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How dare you?&rdquo; she asked in a low, concentrated voice. &ldquo;How dare you, you
+      coward?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrank a little beneath her scorn and anger; then seemed to recover and
+      brace himself, as one does who feels that a great struggle is at hand,
+      upon the issue of which everything depends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not be angry with me,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I cannot bear it. It hurts&mdash;ah!
+      you don&rsquo;t know how it hurts. Well, I will tell you, and before your
+      father, for that is more honourable. I dare&mdash;for your sake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my sake? How can it benefit me to be cooped up in this horrible place
+      with you? I would rather trust myself with the Makalanga, or even,&rdquo; she
+      added with bitter scorn, &ldquo;even with those bloody-minded Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ran away from them very fast a little while ago, Miss Clifford. But
+      you do not understand me. When I said for your sake, I meant for my own.
+      See, now. You tried to leave me the other day and did not succeed. Another
+      time you might succeed, and then&mdash;what would happen to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; and her eyes added&mdash;&ldquo;I do not care.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! but I know. Last time it drove me nearly mad; next time I should go
+      quite mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you believe that through me you will find this treasure of which
+      you dream day and night, Mr. Meyer&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he interrupted quickly. &ldquo;Because I believe that in you I shall find
+      the treasure of which I dream day and night, and because that treasure has
+      become necessary to my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita turned quickly towards her father, who was puzzling over the words,
+      but before either of them could speak Jacob passed his hand across his
+      brow in a bewildered way and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was I talking of? The treasure, yes, the uncountable treasure of
+      pure gold, that lies hid so deep, that is so hard to discover and to
+      possess; the useless, buried treasure that would bring such joy and glory
+      to us both, if only it could be come at and reckoned out, piece by piece,
+      coin by coin, through the long, long years of life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he paused; then went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Miss Clifford, you are quite right; that is why I have dared to
+      make you a prisoner, because, as the old Molimo said, the treasure is
+      yours and I wish to share it. Now, about this treasure, it seems that it
+      can&rsquo;t be found, can it, although I have worked so hard?&rdquo; and he looked at
+      his delicate, scarred hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so, Mr. Meyer, it can&rsquo;t be found, so you had better let us go down
+      to the Makalanga.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But there is a way, Miss Clifford, there is a way. You know where it
+      lies, and you can show me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I knew I would show you soon enough, Mr. Meyer, for then you could
+      take the stuff and our partnership would be at an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not until it is divided ounce by ounce and coin by coin. But first&mdash;first
+      you must show me, as you say you will, and as you can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How, Mr. Meyer? I am not a magician.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! but you are. I will tell you how, having your promise. Listen now,
+      both of you. I have studied. I know a great many secret things, and I read
+      in your face that you have the gift&mdash;let me look in your eyes a
+      while, Miss Clifford, and you will go to sleep quite gently, and then in
+      your sleep, which shall not harm you at all, you will see where that gold
+      lies hidden, and you will tell us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; asked Benita, bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what he means,&rdquo; broke in Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;You mean that you want to
+      mesmerize her as you did the Zulu chief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita opened her lips to speak, but Meyer said quickly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no; hear me first before you refuse. You have the gift, the precious
+      gift of clairvoyance, that is so rare.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that, Mr. Meyer? I have never been mesmerized in my
+      life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does not matter how. I do know it; I have been sure of it from the
+      moment when first we met, that night by the kloof. Although, perhaps, you
+      felt nothing then, it was that gift of yours working upon a mind in tune,
+      my mind, which led me there in time to save you, as it was that gift of
+      yours which warned you of the disaster about to happen to the ship&mdash;oh!
+      I have heard the story from your own lips. Your spirit can loose itself
+      from the body: it can see the past and the future; it can discover the
+      hidden things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not believe it,&rdquo; answered Benita; &ldquo;but at least it shall not be
+      loosed by you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It shall, it shall,&rdquo; he cried with passion, his eyes blazing on her as he
+      spoke. &ldquo;Oh! I foresaw all this, and that is why I was determined you
+      should come with us, so that, should other means fail, we might have your
+      power to fall back upon. Well, they have failed; I have been patient, I
+      have said nothing, but now there is no other way. Will you be so selfish,
+      so cruel, as to deny me, you who can make us all rich in an hour, and take
+      no hurt at all, no more than if you had slept awhile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita. &ldquo;I refuse to deliver my will into the keeping of
+      any living man, and least of all into yours, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to her father with a gesture of despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cannot you persuade her, Clifford? She is your daughter, she will obey
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not in that,&rdquo; said Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;I cannot, and I wouldn&rsquo;t if I could. My
+      daughter is quite right. Moreover, I hate this supernatural kind of thing.
+      If we can&rsquo;t find this gold without it, then we must let it alone, that is
+      all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer turned aside to hide his face, and presently looked up again, and
+      spoke quite softly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that I must accept my answer, but when you talked of any living
+      man just now, Miss Clifford, did you include your father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then will you allow him to try to mesmerize you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, if he likes,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But I do not think that the operation
+      will be very successful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, we will see to-morrow. Now, like you, I am tired. I am going to bed
+      in my new camp by the wall,&rdquo; he added significantly.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why are you so dead set against this business?&rdquo; asked her father, when he
+      had gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, father!&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;can&rsquo;t you see, don&rsquo;t you understand? Then it
+      is hard to have to tell you, but I must. In the beginning Mr. Meyer only
+      wanted the gold. Now he wants more, me as well as the gold. I hate him!
+      You know that is why I ran away. But I have read a good deal about this
+      mesmerism, and seen it once or twice, and who knows? If once I allow his
+      mind to master my mind, although I hate him so much, I might become his
+      slave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand now,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford. &ldquo;Oh, why did I ever bring you here?
+      It would have been better if I had never seen your face again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On the morrow the experiment was made. Mr. Clifford attempted to mesmerize
+      his daughter. All the morning Jacob, who, it now appeared, had practical
+      knowledge of this doubtful art, tried to instruct him therein. In the
+      course of the lesson he informed him that for a short period in the past,
+      having great natural powers in that direction, he had made use of them
+      professionally, only giving up the business because he found it wrecked
+      his health. Mr. Clifford remarked that he had never told him that before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are lots of things in my life that I have never told you,&rdquo; replied
+      Jacob with a little secret smile. &ldquo;For instance, once I mesmerized you,
+      although you did not know it, and that is why you always have to do what I
+      want you to, except when your daughter is near you, for her influence is
+      stronger than mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford stared at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No wonder Benita won&rsquo;t let you mesmerize her,&rdquo; he said shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Jacob saw his mistake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are more foolish than I thought,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;How could I mesmerize you
+      without your knowing it? I was only laughing at you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see the laugh,&rdquo; replied Mr. Clifford uneasily, and they went on
+      with the lesson.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That afternoon it was put to proof&mdash;in the cave itself, where Meyer
+      seemed to think that the influences would be propitious. Benita, who found
+      some amusement in the performance, was seated upon the stone steps
+      underneath the crucifix, one lamp on the altar and others one each side of
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In front stood her father, staring at her and waving his hands
+      mysteriously in obedience to Jacob&rsquo;s directions. So ridiculous did he look
+      indeed while thus engaged that Benita had the greatest difficulty in
+      preventing herself from bursting into laughter. This was the only effect
+      which his grimaces and gesticulations produced upon her, although
+      outwardly she kept a solemn appearance, and even from time to time shut
+      her eyes to encourage him. Once, when she opened them again, it was to
+      perceive that he was becoming very hot and exhausted, and that Jacob was
+      watching him with such an unpleasant intentness that she re-closed her
+      eyes that she might not see his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was shortly after this that of a sudden Benita did feel something, a
+      kind of penetrating power flowing upon her, something soft and subtle that
+      seemed to creep into her brain like the sound of her mother&rsquo;s lullaby in
+      the dim years ago. She began to think that she was a lost traveller among
+      alpine snows wrapped round by snow, falling, falling in ten myriad flakes,
+      every one of them with a little heart of fire. Then it came to her that
+      she had heard this snow-sleep was dangerous, the last of all sleeps, and
+      that its victims must rouse themselves, or die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita roused herself just in time&mdash;only just, for now she was being
+      borne over the edge of a precipice upon the wings of swans, and beneath
+      her was darkness wherein dim figures walked with lamps where their hearts
+      should be. Oh, how heavy were her eyelids! Surely a weight hung to each of
+      them, a golden weight. There, there, they were open, and she saw. Her
+      father had ceased his efforts; he was rubbing his brow with a red
+      pocket-handkerchief, but behind him, with rigid arms outstretched, his
+      glowing eyes fastened on her face, stood Jacob Meyer. By an effort she
+      sprang to her feet, shaking her head as a dog does.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have done with this nonsense,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It tires me,&rdquo; and snatching one
+      of the lamps she ran swiftly down the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita expected that Jacob Meyer would be very angry with her, and braced
+      herself for a scene. But nothing of the sort happened. A while afterwards
+      she saw the two of them approaching, engaged apparently in amicable talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Meyer says that I am no mesmerist, love,&rdquo; said her father, &ldquo;and I can
+      quite believe him. But for all that it is a weary job. I am as tired as I
+      was after our escape from the Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To judge by results I agree with you. The occult is not in your line,
+      father. You had better give it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you, then, feel nothing?&rdquo; asked Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all,&rdquo; she answered, looking him in the eyes. &ldquo;No, that&rsquo;s
+      wrong, I felt extremely bored and sorry to see my father making himself
+      ridiculous. Grey hairs and nonsense of that sort don&rsquo;t go well together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I agree with you&mdash;not of that sort,&rdquo; and the
+      subject dropped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the next few days, to her intense relief, Benita heard no more of
+      mesmerism. To begin with, there was something else to occupy their minds.
+      The Matabele, tired of marching round the fortress and singing endless
+      war-songs, had determined upon an assault. From their point of vantage on
+      the topmost wall the three could watch the preparations which they made.
+      Trees were cut down and brought in from a great distance that rude ladders
+      might be fashioned out of them; also spies wandered round reconnoitring
+      for a weak place in the defences. When they came too near the Makalanga
+      fired on them, killing some, so that they retreated to the camp, which
+      they had made in a fold of ground at a little distance. Suddenly it
+      occurred to Meyer that although here the Matabele were safe from the
+      Makalanga bullets, it was commanded from the greater eminence, and by way
+      of recreation he set himself to harass them. His rifle was a sporting
+      Martini, and he had an ample supply of ammunition. Moreover, he was a
+      beautiful marksman, with sight like that of a hawk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few trial shots gave him the range; it was a shade under seven hundred
+      yards, and then he began operations. Lying on the top of the wall and
+      resting his rifle upon a stone, he waited until the man who was
+      superintending the manufacture of the ladders came out into the open,
+      when, aiming carefully, he fired. The soldier, a white-bearded savage,
+      sprang into the air, and fell backwards, while his companions stared
+      upwards, wondering whence the bullet had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pretty, wasn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; said Meyer to Benita, who was watching through a pair
+      of field-glasses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to see any more,&rdquo; and giving
+      the glasses to her father, she climbed down the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Meyer stayed there, and from time to time she heard the report of his
+      rifle. In the evening he told her that he had killed six men and wounded
+      ten more, adding that it was the best day&rsquo;s shooting which he could
+      remember.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the use when there are so many?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not much,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;But it annoys them and amuses me. Also, it was
+      part of our bargain that we should help the Makalanga if they were
+      attacked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that you like killing people,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind it, Miss Clifford, especially as they tried to kill you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XVIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE OTHER BENITA
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      At irregular times, when he had nothing else to do, Jacob went on with his
+      man-shooting, in which Mr. Clifford joined him, though with less effect.
+      Soon it became evident that the Matabele were very much annoyed by the
+      fatal accuracy of this fire. Loss of life they did not mind in the
+      abstract, but when none of them knew but that their own turn might come
+      next to perish beneath these downward plunging bullets, the matter wore a
+      different face to them. To leave their camp was not easy, since they had
+      made a thorn <i>boma</i> round it, to protect them in case the Makalanga
+      should make a night sally; also they could find no other convenient spot.
+      The upshot of it all was to hurry their assault, which they delivered
+      before they had prepared sufficient ladders to make it effective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the first break of dawn on the third day after Mr. Clifford&rsquo;s attempt
+      at mesmerism, Benita was awakened by the sounds of shouts and firing.
+      Having dressed herself hastily, she hurried in the growing light towards
+      that part of the wall from below which the noise seemed to come, and
+      climbing it, found her father and Jacob already seated there, their rifles
+      in hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fools are attacking the small gate through which you went out riding,
+      Miss Clifford, the very worst place that they could have chosen, although
+      the wall looks very weak there,&rdquo; said the latter. &ldquo;If those Makalanga have
+      any pluck they ought to teach them a lesson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the sun rose and they saw companies of Matabele, who carried ladders
+      in their hands, rushing onwards through the morning mist till their sight
+      of them was obstructed by the swell of the hill. On these companies the
+      two white men opened fire, with what result they could not see in that
+      light. Presently a great shout announced that the enemy had gained the
+      fosse and were setting up the ladders. Up to this time the Makalanga
+      appeared to have done nothing, but now they began to fire rapidly from the
+      ancient bastions which commanded the entrance the impi was striving to
+      storm, and soon through the thinning fog they perceived wounded Matabele
+      staggering and crawling back towards their camp. Of these, the light now
+      better, Jacob did not neglect to take his toll.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, the ancient fortress rang with the hideous tumult of the
+      attack. It was evident that again and again, as their fierce war-shouts
+      proclaimed, the Matabele were striving to scale the wall, and again and
+      again were beaten back by the raking rifle fire. Once a triumphant yell
+      seemed to announce their success. The fire slackened and Benita grew pale
+      with fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Makalanga cowards are bolting,&rdquo; muttered Mr. Clifford, listening with
+      terrible anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But if so their courage came back to them, for presently the guns cracked
+      louder and more incessant than before, and the savage cries of &ldquo;Kill!
+      Kill! Kill!&rdquo; dwindled and died away. Another five minutes and the Matabele
+      were in full retreat, bearing with them many dead and wounded men upon
+      their backs or stretched out on the ladders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our Makalanga friends should be grateful to us for those hundred rifles,&rdquo;
+       said Jacob as he loaded and fired rapidly, sending his bullets wherever
+      the clusters were thickest. &ldquo;Had it not been for them their throats would
+      have been cut by now,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;for they could never have stopped those
+      savages with the spear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and ours too before nightfall,&rdquo; said Benita with a shudder, for the
+      sight of this desperate fray and fear of how it might end had sickened
+      her. &ldquo;Thank Heaven, it is over! Perhaps they will give up the siege and go
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But, notwithstanding their costly defeat, for they had lost over a hundred
+      men, the Matabele, who were afraid to return to Buluwayo except as
+      victors, did nothing of the sort. They only cut down a quantity of reeds
+      and scrub, and moved their camp nearly to the banks of the river, placing
+      it in such a position that it could no longer be searched by the fire of
+      the two white men. Here they sat themselves down sullenly, hoping to
+      starve out the garrison or to find some other way of entering the
+      fortress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Meyer&rsquo;s shooting having come to an end for lack of men to shoot at,
+      since the enemy exposed themselves no more, he was again able to give his
+      full attention to the matter of the treasure hunt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As nothing could be found in the cave he devoted himself to the outside
+      enclosure which, it may be remembered, was grown over with grass and trees
+      and crowded with ruins. In the most important of these ruins they began to
+      dig somewhat aimlessly, and were rewarded by finding a certain amount of
+      gold in the shape of beads and ornaments, and a few more skeletons of
+      ancients. But of the Portuguese hoard there was no sign. Thus it came
+      about that they grew gloomier day by day, till at last they scarcely spoke
+      to each other. Jacob&rsquo;s angry disappointment was written on his face, and
+      Benita was filled with despair, since to escape from their gaoler above
+      and the Matabele below seemed impossible. Moreover, she had another cause
+      for anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ill-health which had been threatening her father for a long while now
+      fell upon him in earnest, so that of a sudden he became a very old man.
+      His strength and energy left him, and his mind was so filled with remorse
+      for what he held to be his crime in bringing his daughter to this awful
+      place, and with terror for the fate that threatened her, that he could
+      think of nothing else. In vain did she try to comfort him. He would only
+      wring his hands and groan, praying that God and she would forgive him.
+      Now, too, Meyer&rsquo;s mastery over him became continually more evident. Mr.
+      Clifford implored the man, almost with tears, to unblock the wall and
+      allow them to go down to the Makalanga. He even tried to bribe him with
+      the offer of all his share of the treasure, if it were found, and when
+      that failed, of his property in the Transvaal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Jacob only told him roughly not to be a fool, as they had to see the
+      thing through together. Then he would go again and brood by himself, and
+      Benita noticed that he always took his rifle or a pistol with him.
+      Evidently he feared lest her father should catch him unprepared, and take
+      the law into his own hands by means of a sudden bullet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One comfort she had, however: although he watched her closely, the Jew
+      never tried to molest her in any way, not even with more of his enigmatic
+      and amorous speeches. By degrees, indeed, she came to believe that all
+      this was gone from his mind, or that he had abandoned his advances as
+      hopeless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A week passed since the Matabele attack, and nothing had happened. The
+      Makalanga took no notice of them, and so far as she was aware the old
+      Molimo never attempted to climb the blocked wall or otherwise to
+      communicate with them, a thing so strange that, knowing his affection for
+      her, Benita came to the conclusion that he must be dead, killed perhaps in
+      the attack. Even Jacob Meyer had abandoned his digging, and sat about all
+      day doing nothing but think.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their meal that night was a miserable affair, since in the first place
+      provisions were running short and there was little to eat, and in the
+      second no one spoke a word. Benita could swallow no food; she was weary of
+      that sun-dried trek-ox, for since Meyer had blocked the wall they had
+      little else. But by good fortune there remained plenty of coffee, and of
+      this she drank two cups, which Jacob prepared and handed to her with much
+      politeness. It tasted very bitter to her, but this, Benita reflected, was
+      because they lacked milk and sugar. Supper ended, Meyer rose and bowed to
+      her, muttering that he was going to bed, and a few minutes later Mr.
+      Clifford followed his example. She went with her father to the hut beneath
+      the tree, and having helped him to remove his coat, which now he seemed to
+      find difficulty in doing for himself, bade him good-night and returned to
+      the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was very lonely there in the silence, for no sound came from either the
+      Matabele or the Makalanga camps, and the bright moonlight seemed to people
+      the place with fantastic shadows that looked alive. Benita cried a little
+      now that her father could not see her, and then also sought refuge in bed.
+      Evidently the end, whatever it might be, was near, and of it she could not
+      bear to think. Moreover, her eyes were strangely heavy, so much so that
+      before she had finished saying her prayers sleep fell upon her, and she
+      knew no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had she remained as wakeful as it was often her fate to be during those
+      fearful days, towards midnight she might have heard some light-footed
+      creature creeping to her tent, and seen that the moon-rays which flowed
+      through the gaping and ill-closed flap were cut off by the figure of a man
+      with glowing eyes, whose projected arms waved over her mysteriously. But
+      Benita neither heard nor saw. In her drugged rest she did not know that
+      her sleep turned gradually to a magic swoon. She had no knowledge of her
+      rising, or of how she threw her thick cloak about her, lit her lamp, and,
+      in obedience to that beckoning finger, glided from the tent. She never
+      heard her father stumble from his hut, disturbed by the sound of
+      footsteps, or the words that passed between him and Jacob Meyer, while,
+      lamp in hand, she stood near them like a strengthless ghost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you dare to wake her,&rdquo; hissed Jacob, &ldquo;I tell you that she will die,
+      and afterwards you shall die,&rdquo; and he fingered the pistol at his belt. &ldquo;No
+      harm shall come to her&mdash;I swear it! Follow and see. Man, man, be
+      silent; our fortunes hang on it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, overcome also by the strange fierceness of that voice and gaze, he
+      followed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On they go to the winding neck of the cavern, first Jacob walking
+      backwards like the herald of majesty; then majesty itself in the shape of
+      this long-haired, death-like woman, cloaked and bearing in her hand the
+      light; and last, behind, the old, white-bearded man, like Time following
+      Beauty to the grave. Now they were in the great cavern, and now, avoiding
+      the open tombs, the well mouth and the altar, they stood beneath the
+      crucifix.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be seated,&rdquo; said Meyer, and the entranced Benita sat herself down upon
+      the steps at the foot of the cross, placing the lamp on the rock pavement
+      before her, and bowing her head till her hair fell upon her naked feet and
+      hid them. He held his hands above her for a while, then asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you sleep?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sleep,&rdquo; came the strange, slow answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your spirit awake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Command it to travel backwards through the ages to the beginning, and
+      tell me what you see here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see a rugged cave and wild folk dwelling in it; an old man is dying
+      yonder,&rdquo; and she pointed to the right; &ldquo;and a black woman with a babe at
+      her breast tends him. A man, it is her husband, enters the cave. He holds
+      a torch in one hand, and with the other drags a buck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cease,&rdquo; said Meyer. &ldquo;How long is this ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thirty-three thousand two hundred and one years,&rdquo; came the answer, spoken
+      without any hesitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pass on,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;pass on thirty thousand years, and tell me what you
+      see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a long while there was silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you not speak?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be patient; I am living through those thirty thousand years; many a life,
+      many an age, but none may be missed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again there was silence for a long while, till at length she spoke:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are done, all of them, and now three thousand years ago I see this
+      place changed and smoothly fashioned, peopled by a throng of worshippers
+      clad in strange garments with clasps upon them. Behind me stands the
+      graven statue of a goddess with a calm and cruel face, in front of the
+      altar burns a fire, and on the altar white-robed priests are sacrificing
+      an infant which cries aloud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pass on, pass on,&rdquo; Meyer said hurriedly, as though the horror of that
+      scene had leapt to his eyes. &ldquo;Pass on two thousand seven hundred years and
+      tell me what you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again there was a pause, while the spirit he had evoked in the body of
+      Benita lived through those ages. Then slowly she answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, the place is black and desolate, only the dead sleep beneath its
+      floor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait till the living come again,&rdquo; he commanded; &ldquo;then speak.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are here,&rdquo; she replied presently. &ldquo;Tonsured monks, one of whom
+      fashions this crucifix, and their followers who bow before the Host upon
+      the altar. They come, they go&mdash;of whom shall I tell you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me of the Portuguese; of those who were driven here to die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see them all,&rdquo; she answered, after a pause. &ldquo;Two hundred and three of
+      them. They are ragged and wayworn and hungry. Among them is a beautiful
+      woman, a girl. She draws near to me, she enters into me. You must ask
+      her,&rdquo;&mdash;this was spoken in a very faint voice&mdash;&ldquo;I am I no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford attempted to interrupt, but fiercely Meyer bade him to be
+      silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak,&rdquo; he commanded, but the crouching figure shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak,&rdquo; he said again, whereon another voice, not that of Benita,
+      answered in another tongue:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear; but I do not understand your language.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great Heaven!&rdquo; said Meyer, &ldquo;it is Portuguese,&rdquo; and for a while the terror
+      of the thing struck him dumb, for he was aware that Benita knew no
+      Portuguese. He knew it, however, who had lived at Lorenço Marquez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he asked in that tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am Benita da Ferreira. I am the daughter of the Captain da Ferreira and
+      of his wife, the lady Christinha, who stand by you now. Turn, and you will
+      see them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob started and looked about him uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did she say? I did not catch it all,&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He translated her words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But this is black magic,&rdquo; exclaimed the old man. &ldquo;Benita knows no
+      Portuguese, so how comes she to speak it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because she is no longer our Benita; she is another Benita, Benita da
+      Ferreira. The Molimo was right when he said that the spirit of the dead
+      woman went with her, as it seems the name has gone,&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have done,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford; &ldquo;the thing is unholy. Wake her up, or I
+      will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And bring about her death. Touch or disturb her, and I tell you she will
+      die,&rdquo; and he pointed to Benita, who crouched before them so white and
+      motionless that indeed it seemed as though already she were dead. &ldquo;Be
+      quiet,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I swear to you that no hurt shall come to her, also
+      that I will translate everything to you. Promise, or I will tell you
+      nothing, and her blood be on your head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Mr. Clifford groaned and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me your story, Benita da Ferreira. How came you and your people
+      here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The tribes of Monomotapa rose against our rule. They killed many of us in
+      the lower land, yes, they killed my brother and him to whom I was
+      affianced. The rest of us fled north to this ancient fortress, hoping
+      thence to escape by the river, the Zambesi. The Mambo, our vassal, gave us
+      shelter here, but the tribes besieged the walls in thousands, and burnt
+      all the boats so that we could not fly by the water. Many times we beat
+      them back from the wall; the ditch was full of their dead, and at last
+      they dared to attack no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we began to starve and they won the first wall. We went on starving
+      and they won the second wall, but the third wall they could not climb. So
+      we died; one by one we laid ourselves down in this cave and died, till I
+      alone was left, for while our people had food they gave it to me who was
+      the daughter of their captain. Yes, alone I knelt at the foot of this
+      crucifix by the body of my father, praying to the blessed Son of Mary for
+      the death that would not come, and kneeling there I swooned. When I awoke
+      again the Mambo and his men stood about me, for now, knowing us to be
+      dead, the tribes had gone, and those who were in hiding across the river
+      had returned and knew how to climb the wall. They bore me from among the
+      dead, they gave me food so that my strength came back; but in the night I,
+      who in my wickedness would not live, escaped from them and climbed the
+      pillar of black rock, so that when the sun rose they saw me standing
+      there. They begged of me to come down, promising to protect me, but I said
+      &lsquo;No,&rsquo; who in the evil of my heart only desired to die, that I might join
+      my father and my brother, and one who was dearer to me than all. They
+      asked of me where the great treasure was hidden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words Jacob gasped, then rapidly translated them, while the
+      figure before them became silent, as though it felt that for the moment
+      the power of his will was withdrawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak on, I bid you,&rdquo; he said, and she continued, the rich, slow voice
+      dropping word after word from the lips of Benita in the alien speech that
+      this Benita never knew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I answered that it was where it was, and that if they gave it up to any
+      save the one appointed, then that fate which had befallen my people would
+      befall theirs also. Yes, I gave it into their keeping until I came again,
+      since with his dying breath my father had commanded me to reveal it to
+      none, and I believed that I who was about to die should never come again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I made my last prayer, I kissed the golden crucifix that now hangs
+      upon this breast wherein I dwell,&rdquo; and the hand of the living Benita was
+      lifted, and moving like the hand of a dead thing, slowly drew out the
+      symbol from beneath the cloak, held it for a moment in the lamplight, and
+      let it fall to its place again. &ldquo;I put my hands before my eyes that I
+      might not see, and I hurled myself from the pinnacle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the voice ceased, but from the lips came a dreadful sound, such as
+      might be uttered by one whose bones are shattered upon rocks, followed by
+      other sounds like those of one who chokes in water. They were so horrible
+      to hear that Mr. Clifford nearly fainted, and even Jacob Meyer staggered
+      and turned white as the white face of Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wake her! For God&rsquo;s sake, wake her!&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;She is dying, as
+      that woman died hundreds of years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not till she has told us where the gold is. Be quiet, you fool. She does
+      not feel or suffer. It is the spirit within her that lives through the
+      past again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more there was silence. It seemed as though the story were all told
+      and the teller had departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita da Ferreira,&rdquo; said Meyer at length, &ldquo;I command you, tell me, are
+      you dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! would that I were dead, as my body is dead!&rdquo; wailed the lips of
+      Benita. &ldquo;Alas! I cannot die who suffer this purgatory, and must dwell on
+      here alone until the destined day. Yes, yes, the spirit of her who was
+      Benita da Ferreira must haunt this place in solitude. This is her doom, to
+      be the guardian of that accursed gold which was wrung from the earth by
+      cruelty and paid for with the lives of men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it still safe?&rdquo; whispered Jacob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will look;&rdquo; then after a pause, &ldquo;I have looked. It is there, every
+      grain of it, in ox-hide bags; only one of them has fallen and burst, that
+      which is black and red.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is it?&rdquo; he said again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may not tell you; never, never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there anyone whom you may tell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Her in whose breast I lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell her then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told her; she knows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And may she tell me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let her guard the secret as she will. O my Guardian, I thank thee. My
+      burden is departed; my sin of self-murder is atoned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita da Ferreira, are you gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Benita Clifford, do you hear me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear you,&rdquo; said the voice of Benita, speaking in English, although
+      Jacob, forgetting, had addressed her in Portuguese.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the gold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In my keeping.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, I command you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But no words came; though he questioned her many times no words came, till
+      at last her head sank forward upon her knees, and in a faint voice she
+      murmured:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Loose me, or I die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XIX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE AWAKING
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Still Jacob Meyer hesitated. The great secret was unlearned, and, if this
+      occasion passed, might never be learned. But if he hesitated, Mr. Clifford
+      did not. The knowledge of his child&rsquo;s danger, the sense that her life was
+      mysteriously slipping away from her under pressure of the ghastly spell in
+      which she lay enthralled, stirred him to madness. His strength and manhood
+      came back to him. He sprang straight at Meyer&rsquo;s throat, gripped it with
+      one hand, and with the other drew the knife he wore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You devil!&rdquo; he gasped. &ldquo;Wake her or you shall go with her!&rdquo; and he lifted
+      the knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Jacob gave in. Shaking off his assailant he stepped to Benita, and
+      while her father stood behind him with the lifted blade, began to make
+      strange upward passes over her, and to mutter words of command. For a long
+      while they took no effect; indeed, both of them were almost sure that she
+      was gone. Despair gripped her father, and Meyer worked at his black art so
+      furiously that the sweat burst out upon his forehead and fell in great
+      drops to the floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, at last, at last she stirred! Her head lifted itself a little, her
+      breast heaved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord in Heaven, I have saved her!&rdquo; muttered Jacob in German, and worked
+      on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the eyes of Benita opened, and now she stood up and sighed. But she
+      said nothing; only like a person walking in her sleep, she began to move
+      towards the entrance of the cave, her father going before her with the
+      lamp. On she went, and out of it straight to her tent, where instantly she
+      cast herself upon her bed and sank into deep slumber. It was as though the
+      power of the drug-induced oblivion, which for a while was over-mastered by
+      that other stronger power invoked by Jacob, had reasserted itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer watched her for awhile; then said to Mr. Clifford:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be afraid and don&rsquo;t attempt to disturb her. She will wake naturally
+      in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so for both our sakes,&rdquo; he answered, glaring at him, &ldquo;for if not,
+      you or I, or the two of us, will never see another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meyer took no notice of his threats; indeed the man seemed so exhausted
+      that he could scarcely stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am done,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now, as she is safe, I don&rsquo;t care what happens to
+      me. I must rest,&rdquo; and he staggered from the tent, like a drunken man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside, at the place where they ate, Mr. Clifford heard him gulping down
+      raw gin from the bottle. Then he heard no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the rest of the night, and for some hours of the early morning, did
+      her father watch by the bed of Benita, although, lightly clad as he was,
+      the cold of dawn struck to his bones. At length, when the sun was well up,
+      she rose in her bed, and her eyes opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you doing here, father?&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have come to see where you were, dear. You are generally out by now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that I must have overslept myself then,&rdquo; she replied wearily.
+      &ldquo;But it does not seem to have refreshed me much, and my head aches. Oh! I
+      remember,&rdquo; she added with a start. &ldquo;I have had such a horrid dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What about?&rdquo; he asked as carelessly as he could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t recall it quite, but it had to do with Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; and she
+      shivered. &ldquo;It seemed as though I had passed into his power, as though he
+      had taken possession of me, body and soul, and forced me to tell him all
+      the secret things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What secret things, Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know now, but we went away among dead people, and I told him
+      there. Oh! father, I am afraid of that man&mdash;terribly afraid! Protect
+      me from him,&rdquo; and she began to cry a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I will protect you, dear. Something has upset your nerves.
+      Come, dress yourself and you&rsquo;ll soon forget it all. I&rsquo;ll light the fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A quarter of an hour later Benita joined him, looking pale and shaken, but
+      otherwise much as usual. She was ravenously hungry, and ate of the
+      biscuits and dried meat with eagerness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The coffee tastes quite different from that which I drank last night,&rdquo;
+       she said. &ldquo;I think there must have been something in it which gave me
+      those bad dreams. Where is Mr. Meyer? Oh, I know!&rdquo; and again she put her
+      hand to her head. &ldquo;He is still asleep by the wall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who told you that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say, but it is so. He will not come here till one o&rsquo;clock. There,
+      I feel much better now. What shall we do, father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit in the sun and rest, I think, dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, let us do that, on the top of the wall. We can see the Makalanga
+      from there, and it will be a comfort to be sure that there are other human
+      beings left in the world besides ourselves and Jacob Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So presently they went, and from the spot whence Meyer used to shoot at
+      the Matabele camp, looked down upon the Makalanga moving about the first
+      enclosure far below. By the aid of the glasses Benita even thought that
+      she recognised Tamas, although of this it was difficult to be sure, for
+      they were all very much alike. Still, the discovery quite excited her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure it is Tamas,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And oh! how I wish that we were down
+      there with him, although it is true that then we should be nearer to the
+      Matabele. But they are better than Mr. Meyer, much better.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now for a while they were silent, till at length she said suddenly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, you are keeping something back from me, and things begin to come
+      back. Tell me; did I go anywhere last night with Mr. Meyer&mdash;you and
+      he and I together?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hesitated and looked guilty; Mr. Clifford was not a good actor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that we did; I am sure that we did. Father, tell me. I must know, I
+      will know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he gave way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to speak, dear, but perhaps it is best. It is a very
+      strange story. Will you promise not to be upset?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will promise not to be more upset than I am at present,&rdquo; she answered,
+      with a sad little laugh. &ldquo;Go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You remember that Jacob Meyer wanted to mesmerize you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not likely to forget it,&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, last night he did mesmerize you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;<i>What?</i> Oh! how dreadful! Now I understand it all.
+      But when?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you were sound asleep, I suppose. At least, the first I knew of it
+      was that some noise woke me, and I came out of the hut to see you
+      following him like a dead woman, with a lamp in your hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he told her all the story, while she listened aghast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How dared he!&rdquo; she gasped, when her father had finished the long tale. &ldquo;I
+      hate him; I almost wish that you had killed him,&rdquo; and she clenched her
+      little hands and shook them in the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is not very Christian of you, Miss Clifford,&rdquo; said a voice behind
+      her. &ldquo;But it is past one o&rsquo;clock, and as I am still alive I have come to
+      tell you that it is time for luncheon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita wheeled round upon the stone on which she sat, and there, standing
+      amidst the bushes a little way from the foot of the wall, was Jacob Meyer.
+      Their eyes met; hers were full of defiance, and his of conscious power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not want any luncheon, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I am sure that you do. Please come down and have some. Please come
+      down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The words were spoken humbly, almost pleadingly, yet to Benita they seemed
+      as a command. At any rate, with slow reluctance she climbed down the
+      shattered wall, followed by her father, and without speaking they went
+      back to their camping place, all three of them, Jacob leading the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had eaten, or made pretence to eat, he spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that your father has told you everything, Miss Clifford, and of
+      that I am glad. As for me, it would have been awkward, who must ask your
+      forgiveness for so much. But what could I do? I knew, as I have always
+      known, that it was only possible to find this treasure by your help. So I
+      gave you something to make you sleep, and then in your sleep I hypnotized
+      you, and&mdash;you know the rest. I have great experience in this art, but
+      I have never seen or heard of anything like what happened, and I hope I
+      never shall again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hitherto Benita had sat silent, but now her burning indignation and
+      curiosity overcame her shame and hatred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you have done a shameful and a wicked thing, and I
+      tell you at once that I can never forgive you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t say that. Please don&rsquo;t say that,&rdquo; he interrupted in tones of real
+      grief. &ldquo;Make allowances for me. I had to learn, and there was no other
+      way. You are a born clairvoyante, one among ten thousand, my art told me
+      so, and you know all that is at stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By which you mean so many ounces of gold, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By which I mean the greatness that gold can give, Miss Clifford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such greatness, Mr. Meyer, as a week of fever, or a Matabele spear, or
+      God&rsquo;s will can rob you of. But the thing is done, and soon or late the sin
+      must be paid for. Now I want to ask you a question. You believe in
+      nothing; you have told me so several times. You say that there is no such
+      thing as a spirit, that when we die, we die, and there&rsquo;s an end. Do you
+      not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then tell me, what was it that spoke out of my lips last night, and how
+      came it that I, who know no Portuguese, talked to you in that tongue?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have put a difficult question, but one I think that can be answered.
+      There is no such thing as a spirit, an identity that survives death. But
+      there is such a thing as the subconscious self, which is part of the
+      animating principle of the universe, and, if only its knowledge can be
+      unsealed, knows all that has passed and all that is passing in that
+      universe. One day perhaps you will read the works of my compatriot, Hegel,
+      and there you will find it spoken of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You explain nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am about to explain, Miss Clifford. Last night I gave to your
+      sub-conscious self&mdash;that which knows all&mdash;the strength of
+      liberty, so that it saw the past as it happened in this place. Already you
+      knew the story of the dead girl, Benita da Ferreira, and that story you
+      re-enacted, talking the tongue she used as you would have talked Greek or
+      any other tongue, had it been hers. It was not her spirit that animated
+      you, although at the time I called it so for shortness, but your own
+      buried knowledge, tricked out and furnished by the effort of your human
+      imagination. That her name, Benita, should have been yours also is no
+      doubt a strange coincidence, but no more. Also we have no proof that it
+      was so; only what you said in your trance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; said Benita, who was in no mood for philosophical argument.
+      &ldquo;Perhaps also one day you will see a spirit, Mr. Meyer, and think
+      otherwise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I see a spirit and know that it is a spirit, then doubtless I shall
+      believe in spirits. But what is the good of talking of such things? I do
+      not seek spirits; I seek Portuguese gold. Now, I am sure you can tell
+      where that gold lies. You would have told us last night, had not your
+      nervous strength failed you, who are unaccustomed to the state of trance.
+      Speaking as Benita da Ferreira, you said that you saw it and described its
+      condition. Then you could, or would, say no more, and it became necessary
+      to waken you. Miss Clifford, you must let me mesmerize you once again for
+      a few minutes only, for then we will waste no time on past histories, and
+      we shall find the gold. Unless, indeed,&rdquo; he added by an afterthought, and
+      looking at her sharply, &ldquo;you know already where it is; in which case I
+      need not trouble you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, Mr. Meyer. I remember nothing about the gold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which proves my theory. What purported to be the spirit of Benita da
+      Ferreira said that it had passed the secret on to you, but in your waking
+      state you do not know that secret. In fact, she did not pass it on because
+      she had no existence. But in your sub-conscious state you will know.
+      Therefore I must mesmerize you again. Not at once, but in a few days&rsquo; 
+      time, when you have quite recovered. Let us say next Wednesday, three days
+      hence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall never mesmerize me again, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not while I live,&rdquo; broke in her father, who had been listening to
+      this discussion in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob bowed his head meekly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think so now, but I think otherwise. What I did last night I did
+      against your will, and that I can do again, only much more easily. But I
+      had rather do it with your will, who work not for my own sake only, but
+      for the sake of all of us. And now let us talk no more of the matter, lest
+      we should grow angry.&rdquo; Then he rose and went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next three days were passed by Benita in a state of constant dread.
+      She knew in herself that Jacob Meyer had acquired a certain command over
+      her; that an invincible intimacy had sprung up between them. She was
+      acquainted with his thoughts; thus, before he asked for it, she would find
+      herself passing him some article at table or elsewhere, or answering a
+      question that he was only about to ask. Moreover, he could bring her to
+      him from a little distance. Thus, on two or three occasions when she was
+      wandering about their prison enclosure, as she was wont to do for the sake
+      of exercise, she found her feet draw to some spot&mdash;now one place and
+      now another&mdash;and when she reached it there before her was Jacob
+      Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me for bringing you here,&rdquo; he would say, smiling after his
+      crooked fashion, and lifting his hat politely, &ldquo;but I wish to ask you if
+      you have not changed your mind as to being mesmerized?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then for a while he would hold her with his eyes, so that her feet seemed
+      rooted to the ground, till at length it was as though he cut a rope by
+      some action of his will and set her free, and, choked with wrath and blind
+      with tears, Benita would turn and run from him as from a wild beast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But if her days were evil, oh! what were her nights? She lived in constant
+      terror lest he should again drug her food or drink, and, while she slept,
+      throw his magic spell upon her. To protect herself from the first danger
+      she would swallow nothing that had been near him. Now also she slept in
+      the hut with her father, who lay near its door, a loaded rifle at his
+      side, for he had told Jacob outright that if he caught him at his
+      practices he would shoot him, a threat at which the younger man laughed
+      aloud, for he had no fear of Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the long hours of darkness they kept watch alternately, one of
+      them lying down to rest while the other peered and listened. Nor did
+      Benita always listen in vain, for twice at least she heard stealthy
+      footsteps creeping about the hut, and felt that soft and dreadful
+      influence flowing in upon her. Then she would wake her father, whispering,
+      &ldquo;He is there, I can feel that he is there.&rdquo; But by the time that the old
+      man had painfully dragged himself to his feet&mdash;for now he was
+      becoming very feeble and acute rheumatism or some such illness had got
+      hold of him&mdash;and crept from the hut, there was no one to be seen.
+      Only through the darkness he would hear the sound of a retreating step,
+      and of low, mocking laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus those miserable days went by, and the third morning came, that
+      dreaded Wednesday. Before it was dawn Benita and her father, neither of
+      whom had closed their eyes that night, talked over their strait long and
+      earnestly, and they knew that its crisis was approaching.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that I had better try to kill him, Benita,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am
+      growing dreadfully weak, and if I put it off I may find no strength, and
+      you will be at his mercy. I can easily shoot him when his back is turned,
+      and though I hate the thought of such a deed, surely I shall be forgiven.
+      Or if not, I cannot help it. I must think of my duty to you, not of
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I will not have it. It would be murder, although
+      he has threatened you. After all, father, I believe that the man is half
+      mad, and not responsible. We must take our chance and trust to God to save
+      us. If He does not,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;at the worst I can always save myself,&rdquo;
+       and she touched the pistol which now she wore day and night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford, with a groan. &ldquo;Let us pray for deliverance
+      from this hell and keep our hands clean of blood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      JACOB MEYER SEES A SPIRIT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      For a while they were silent, then Benita said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, is it not possible that we might escape, after all? Perhaps that
+      stair on the rampart is not so completely blocked that we could not climb
+      over it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford, thinking of his stiff limbs and aching back, shook his head
+      and answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know; Meyer has never let me near enough to see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, why do you not go to look? You know he sleeps till late now,
+      because he is up all night. Take the glasses and examine the top of the
+      wall from inside that old house near by. He will not see or hear you, but
+      if I came near, he would know and wake up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you like, love, I can try, but what are you going to do while I am
+      away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall climb the pillar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, nothing of that sort. I shall not follow the example of Benita da
+      Ferreira unless I am driven to it; I want to look, that is all. One can
+      see far from that place, if there is anything to see. Perhaps the Matabele
+      are gone now, we have heard nothing of them lately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they dressed themselves, and as soon as the light was sufficiently
+      strong, came out of the hut and parted, Mr. Clifford, rifle in hand,
+      limping off towards the wall, and Benita going towards the great cone. She
+      climbed it easily enough, and stood in the little cup-like depression on
+      its dizzy peak, waiting for the sun to rise and disperse the mists which
+      hung over the river and its banks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now whatever may have been the exact ceremonial use to which the ancients
+      put this pinnacle, without doubt it had something to do with sun-worship.
+      This, indeed, was proved by the fact that, at any rate at this season of
+      the year, the first rays of the risen orb struck full upon its point. Thus
+      it came about that, as she stood there waiting, Benita of a sudden found
+      herself suffused in light so vivid and intense that, clothed as she was in
+      a dress which had once been white, it must have caused her to shine like a
+      silver image. For several minutes, indeed, this golden spear of fire
+      blinded her so that she could see nothing, but stood quite still, afraid
+      to move, and waiting until, as the sun grew higher, its level rays passed
+      over her. This they did presently, and plunging into the valley, began to
+      drive away the fog. Now she looked down, along the line of the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Matabele camp was invisible, for it lay in a hollow almost at the foot
+      of the fortress. Beyond it, however, was a rising swell of ground; it may
+      have been half a mile from where she stood, and on the crest of it she
+      perceived what looked like a waggon tent with figures moving round it.
+      They were shouting also, for through the silence of the African morn the
+      sound of their voices floated up to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the mist cleared off Benita saw that without doubt it was a waggon, for
+      there stood the long row of oxen, also it had just been captured by the
+      Matabele, for these were about it in numbers. At the moment, however, they
+      appeared to be otherwise occupied, for they were pointing with their
+      spears to the pillar on Bambatse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it occurred to Benita that, placed as she was in that fierce light
+      with only the sky for background, she must be perfectly visible from the
+      plain below, and that it might be her figure perched like an eagle between
+      heaven and earth which excited their interest. Yes, and not theirs only,
+      for now a white man appeared, who lifted what might have been a gun, or a
+      telescope, towards her. She was sure from the red flannel shirt and the
+      broad hat which he wore that he must be a white man, and oh! how her heart
+      yearned towards him, whoever he might be! The sight of an angel from
+      heaven could scarcely have been more welcome to Benita in her
+      wretchedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet surely she must be dreaming. What should a white man and a waggon be
+      doing in that place? And why had not the Matabele killed him at once? She
+      could not tell, yet they appeared to have no murderous intentions, since
+      they continued to gesticulate and talk whilst he stared upwards with the
+      telescope, if it were a telescope. So things went on for a long time, for
+      meanwhile the oxen were outspanned, until, indeed, more Matabele arrived,
+      who led off the white man, apparently against his will, towards their
+      camp, where he disappeared. Then there was nothing more to be seen. Benita
+      descended the column.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At its foot she met her father, who had come to seek her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter?&rdquo; he asked, noting her excited face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she said or rather sobbed, &ldquo;there is a waggon with a white man
+      below. I saw the Matabele capture him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am sorry for the poor devil,&rdquo; answered the father, &ldquo;for he is dead
+      by now. But what could a white man have been doing here? Some hunter, I
+      suppose, who has walked into a trap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Benita fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hoped,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that he might help us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As well might he hope that we could help him. He is gone, and there is an
+      end. Well, peace to his soul, and we have our own troubles to think of. I
+      have been to look at that wall, and it is useless to think of climbing it.
+      If he had been a professional mason, Meyer could not have built it up
+      better; no wonder that we have seen nothing more of the Molimo, for only a
+      bird could reach us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where was Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; asked Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Asleep in a blanket under a little shelter of boughs by the stair. At
+      least, I thought so, though it was rather difficult to make him out in the
+      shadow; at any rate, I saw his rifle set against a tree. Come, let us go
+      to breakfast. No doubt he will turn up soon enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went, and for the first time since the Sunday Benita ate a hearty
+      meal of biscuits soaked in coffee. Although her father was so sure that by
+      now he must have perished on the Matabele spears, the sight of the white
+      man and his waggon had put new life into her, bringing her into touch with
+      the world again. After all, might it not chance that he had escaped?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while there had been no sign of Jacob Meyer. This, however, did
+      not surprise them, for now he ate his meals alone, taking his food from a
+      little general store, and cooking it over his own fire. When they had
+      finished their breakfast Mr. Clifford remarked that they had no more
+      drinking water left, and Benita said that she would go to fetch a pailful
+      from the well in the cave. Her father suggested that he should accompany
+      her, but she answered that it was not necessary as she was quite able to
+      wind the chain by herself. So she went, carrying the bucket in one hand
+      and a lamp in the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she walked down the last of the zigzags leading to the cave, Benita
+      stopped a moment thinking that she saw a light, and then went on, since on
+      turning the corner there was nothing but darkness before her. Evidently
+      she had been mistaken. She reached the well and hung the pail on to the
+      great copper hook, wondering as she did so how many folk had done likewise
+      in the far, far past, for the massive metal of that hook was worn quite
+      thin with use. Then she let the roller run, and the sound of the
+      travelling chain clanked dismally in that vaulted, empty place. At length
+      the pail struck the water, and she began to wind up again, pausing at
+      times to rest, for the distance was long and the chain heavy. The bucket
+      appeared. Benita drew it to the side of the well, and lifted it from the
+      hook, then took up her lamp to be gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Feeling or seeing something, which she was not sure, she held the lamp
+      above her head, and by its light perceived a figure standing between her
+      and the entrance to the cave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; she asked, whereon a soft voice answered out of the
+      darkness, the voice of Jacob Meyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mind standing still for a few minutes, Miss Clifford? I have some
+      paper here and I wish to make a sketch. You do not know how beautiful you
+      look with that light above your head illuminating the shadows and the
+      thorn-crowned crucifix beyond. You know, whatever paths fortune may have
+      led me into, by nature I am an artist, and never in my life have I seen
+      such a picture. One day it will make me famous.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &lsquo;How statue-like I see thee stand!
+     The agate lamp within thy hand.&rsquo; 
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      That&rsquo;s what I should put under it; you know the lines, don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Meyer, but I am afraid you will have to paint your picture from
+      memory, as I cannot hold up this lamp any longer; my arm is aching
+      already. I do not know how you came here, but as you have followed me
+      perhaps you will be so kind as to carry this water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not follow you, Miss Clifford. Although you never saw me I entered
+      the cave before you to take measurements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you take measurements in the dark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was not in the dark. I put out my light when I caught sight of you,
+      knowing that otherwise you would run away, and fate stood me in good
+      stead. You came on, as I willed that you should do. Now let us talk. Miss
+      Clifford, have you changed your mind? You know the time is up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall never change my mind. Let me pass you, Mr. Meyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, not until you have listened. You are very cruel to me, very cruel
+      indeed. You do not understand that, rather than do you the slightest harm,
+      I would die a hundred times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not ask you to die; I ask you to leave me alone&mdash;a much easier
+      matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how can I leave you alone when you are a part of me, when&mdash;I
+      love you? There, the truth is out, and now say what you will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita lifted the bucket of water; its weight seemed to steady her. Then
+      she put it down again, since escape was impracticable; she must face the
+      situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing to say, Mr. Meyer, except that <i>I</i> do not love <i>you</i>
+      or any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment you
+      have paid me, and there is an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any living man,&rdquo; he repeated after her. &ldquo;That means you love a dead man&mdash;Seymour,
+      he who was drowned. No wonder that I hated him when first my eyes fell on
+      him years ago, long before you had come into our lives. Prescience, the
+      sub-conscious self again. Well, what is the use of loving the dead, those
+      who no longer have any existence, who have gone back into the clay out of
+      which they were formed and are not, nor evermore shall be? You have but
+      one life; turn, turn to the living, and make it happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not agree with you, Mr. Meyer. To me the dead are still living; one
+      day I shall find them. Now let me go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not let you go. I will plead and wrestle with you as in the old
+      fable my namesake of my own race wrestled with the angel, until at length
+      you bless me. You despise me because I am a Jew, because I have had many
+      adventures and not succeeded; because you think me mad. But I tell you
+      that there is the seed of greatness in me. Give yourself to me and I will
+      make you great, for now I know that it was you whom I needed to supply
+      what is lacking in my nature. We will win the wealth, and together we will
+      rule&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until a few days hence we starve or the Matabele make an end of us. No,
+      Mr. Meyer, no,&rdquo; and she tried to push past him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stretched out his arms and stopped her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I have pleaded with you as man with woman. Now, as you
+      refuse me and as you alone stand between me and madness, I will take
+      another course. I am your master, your will is servant to my will; I bid
+      you obey me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He fixed his eyes upon hers, and Benita felt her strength begin to fail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you are my servant now, and to show it I shall kiss you on
+      the lips; then I shall throw the sleep upon you, and you will tell me what
+      I want to know. Afterwards we can be wed when it pleases me. Oh! do not
+      think that your father will defend you, for if he interferes I shall kill
+      that foolish old man, whom until now I have only spared for your sake.
+      Remember that if you make me angry, I shall certainly kill him, and your
+      father&rsquo;s blood will be on your head. Now I am going to kiss you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita lifted her hand to find the pistol at her waist. It fell back
+      again; she had no strength; it was as though she were paralysed as a bird
+      is paralysed by a snake so that it cannot open its wings and fly away, but
+      sits there awaiting death. She was given over into the hands of this man
+      whom she hated. Could Heaven allow such a thing? she wondered dimly, and
+      all the while his lips drew nearer to her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They touched her own, and then, why or wherefore Benita never understood,
+      the spell broke. All his power was gone, she was as she had been, a free
+      woman, mistress of herself. Contemptuously she thrust the man aside, and,
+      not even troubling to run, lifted her pail of water and walked away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon she saw the light again, and joyfully extinguished her lamp. Indeed,
+      the breast of Benita, which should have been so troubled after the scene
+      through which she had passed, strangely enough was filled with happiness
+      and peace. As that glorious sunlight had broken on her eyes, so had
+      another light of freedom arisen in her soul. She was no longer afraid of
+      Jacob Meyer; that coward kiss of his had struck off the shackles which
+      bound her to him. Her mind had been subject to his mind, but now that his
+      physical nature was brought into the play, his mental part had lost its
+      hold upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she approached the hut she saw her father seated on a stone outside it,
+      since the poor old man was now so weak and full of pain that he could not
+      stand for very long, and seeing, remembered Meyer&rsquo;s threats against him.
+      At the thought all her new-found happiness departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She might be safe; she felt sure that she was safe, but how about her
+      father? If Meyer could not get his way probably he would be as good as his
+      word, and kill him. She shivered at the thought, then, recovering herself,
+      walked forward steadily with her bucket of water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have been a long while gone, my love,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, father, Mr. Meyer was in the cave, and kept me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did he get there, and what did he want?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how he got there&mdash;crept in when we were not looking, I
+      suppose. But as for what he wanted&mdash;listen, dear,&rdquo; and word for word
+      she told him what had passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before she had finished, her father was almost choking with wrath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dirty Jew! The villain!&rdquo; he gasped. &ldquo;I never dreamed that he would
+      dare to attempt such an outrage. Well, thank Heaven! I can still hold a
+      rifle, and when he comes out&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; she said gently, &ldquo;that man is mad. He is not responsible for his
+      actions, and therefore, except in self-defence, you must not think of such
+      a thing. As for what he said about you, I believe it was only an empty
+      threat, and for me you need have no fear, his power over me is gone; it
+      went like a flash when his lips touched me,&rdquo; and she rubbed her own as
+      though to wipe away some stain. &ldquo;I am afraid of nothing more. I believe&mdash;yes,
+      I believe the old Molimo was right, and that all will end well&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As she was speaking Benita heard a shuffling sound behind her, and turned
+      to learn its cause. Then she saw a strange sight. Jacob Meyer was
+      staggering towards them, dragging one foot after the other through the
+      grass and stones. His face was ghastly pale, his jaw had dropped like that
+      of a dead man, and his eyes were set wide open and full of horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with you, man?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&mdash;I&mdash;have seen a ghost,&rdquo; he whispered. &ldquo;You did not come back
+      into the cave, did you?&rdquo; he added, pointing at Benita, who shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What ghost?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, but my lamp went out, and then a light began to shine
+      behind me. I turned, and on the steps of that crucifix I saw a woman
+      kneeling. Her arms clasped the feet of the figure, her forehead rested
+      upon the feet, her long black hair flowed down, she was dressed in white,
+      and the light came from her body and her head. Very slowly she turned and
+      looked at me, and oh, Heaven! that face&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he put his hand
+      before his eyes and groaned. &ldquo;It was beautiful; yes, yes, but fearful to
+      see, like an avenging angel. I fled, and the light&mdash;only the light&mdash;came
+      with me down the cave, even at the mouth of it there was a little. I have
+      seen a spirit, I who did not believe in spirits, I have seen a spirit, and
+      I tell you that not for all the gold in the world will I enter that place
+      again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then before they could answer, suddenly as though his fear had got some
+      fresh hold of him, Jacob sprang forward and fled away, crashing through
+      the bushes and leaping from rock to rock like a frightened buck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XXI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Meyer always said that he did not believe in spirits,&rdquo; remarked Mr.
+      Clifford reflectively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he believes in them now,&rdquo; answered Benita with a little laugh.
+      &ldquo;But, father, the poor man is mad, that is the fact of it, and we must pay
+      no attention to what he says.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The old Molimo and some of his people&mdash;Tamas, for instance&mdash;declared
+      that they have seen the ghost of Benita da Ferreira. Are they mad also,
+      Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, father. Who can say? All these things are a mystery. All I
+      do know is that I have never seen a ghost, and I doubt if I ever shall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but when you were in that trance something that was not you spoke out
+      of your mouth, which something said that it was your namesake, the other
+      Benita. Well, as you say, we can&rsquo;t fathom these things, especially in a
+      haunted kind of place like this, but the upshot of it is that I don&rsquo;t
+      think we have much more to fear from Jacob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not so sure, father. Mad people change their moods very suddenly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As it happened Benita was quite right. Towards suppertime Jacob Meyer
+      reappeared, looking pale and shaken, but otherwise much as usual.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had a kind of fit this morning,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;the result of an
+      hallucination which seized me when my light went out in that cave. I
+      remember that I thought I had seen a ghost, whereas I know very well that
+      no such thing exists. I was the victim of disappointment, anxieties, and
+      other still stronger emotions,&rdquo; and he looked at Benita. &ldquo;Therefore,
+      please forget anything I said or did, and&mdash;would you give me some
+      supper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita did so, and he ate in silence, with some heartiness. When he had
+      finished his food, and swallowed two or three tots of squareface, he spoke
+      again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have come here, where I know I am not welcome, upon business,&rdquo; he said
+      in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. &ldquo;I am tired of this place, and I think it
+      is time that we attained the object of our journey here, namely, to find
+      the hidden gold. That, as we all know, can only be done in a certain way,
+      through the clairvoyant powers of one of us and the hypnotic powers of
+      another. Miss Clifford, I request that you will allow me to throw you into
+      a state of trance. You have told us everything else, but you have not yet
+      told us where the treasure is hidden, and this it is necessary that we
+      should know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if I refuse, Mr. Meyer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am sorry, but I must take means to compel your obedience. Under
+      those circumstances, much against my will, I shall be obliged&rdquo;&mdash;here
+      his eye blazed out wildly&mdash;&ldquo;to execute your father, whose obstinacy
+      and influence stand between us and splendid fortunes. No, Clifford,&rdquo; he
+      added, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t stretch out your hand towards that rifle, for I am already
+      covering you with the pistol in my pocket, and the moment your hand
+      touches it I shall fire. You poor old man, do you imagine for a single
+      second that, sick as you are, and with your stiff limbs, you can hope to
+      match yourself against my agility, intellect, and strength? Why, I could
+      kill you in a dozen ways before you could lift a finger against me, and by
+      the God I do not believe in, unless your daughter is more compliant, kill
+      you I will!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That remains to be seen, my friend,&rdquo; said Mr. Clifford with a laugh, for
+      he was a brave old man. &ldquo;I am not certain that the God&mdash;whom you do
+      not believe in&mdash;will not kill you first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Benita, who had been taking counsel with herself, looked up and said
+      suddenly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Mr. Meyer, I consent&mdash;because I must. To-morrow morning
+      you shall try to mesmerize me, if you can, in the same place, before the
+      crucifix in the cave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered quickly. &ldquo;It was not there, it was here, and here it
+      shall be again. The spot you mention is unpropitious to me; the attempt
+      would fail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the spot that I have chosen,&rdquo; answered Benita stubbornly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And this is the spot that I have chosen, Miss Clifford, and my will must
+      prevail over yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you who do not believe in spirits are afraid to re-enter the
+      cave, Mr. Meyer, lest you should chance&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind what I am or am not afraid of,&rdquo; he replied with fury. &ldquo;Make
+      your choice between doing my will and your father&rsquo;s life. To-morrow
+      morning I shall come for your answer, and if you are still obstinate,
+      within half an hour he will be dead, leaving you and me alone together.
+      Oh! you may call me wicked and a villain, but it is you who are wicked,
+      you, you, <i>you</i> who force me to this deed of justice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then without another word he sprang up and walked away from them
+      backwards, as he went covering Mr. Clifford with the pistol which he had
+      drawn from his pocket. The last that they saw of him were his eyes, which
+      glowered at them through the darkness like those of a lion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; said Benita, when she was sure that he had gone, &ldquo;that madman
+      really means to murder you; there is no doubt of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None whatever, dear; if I am alive to-morrow night I shall be lucky,
+      unless I can kill him first or get out of his way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she said hurriedly, &ldquo;I think you can. I have an idea. He is afraid
+      to go into that cave, I am sure. Let us hide ourselves there. We can take
+      food and shall have plenty of water, whereas, unless rain falls, he can
+      get nothing to drink.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what then, Benita? We can&rsquo;t stop in the dark for ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but we can wait there until something happens. Something must and
+      will happen. His disease won&rsquo;t stand still. He may go raving mad and kill
+      himself. Or he may attempt to attack us, though that is not likely, and
+      then we must do what we can in self defence. Or help may reach us from
+      somewhere. At the worst we shall only die as we should have died outside.
+      Come, let us be quick, lest he should change his mind, and creep back upon
+      us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Mr. Clifford gave way, knowing that even if he could steel himself to
+      do the deed of attempting to kill Jacob, he would have little chance
+      against that strong and agile man. Such a struggle would only end in his
+      own death, and Benita must then be left alone with Meyer and his insane
+      passions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hurriedly they carried their few belongings into the cave. First they took
+      most of the little store of food that remained, the three hand-lamps and
+      all the paraffin; there was but one tin. Then returning they fetched the
+      bucket, the ammunition, and their clothes. Afterwards, as there was still
+      no sign of Meyer, they even dared to drag in the waggon tent to make a
+      shelter for Benita, and all the wood that they had collected for firing.
+      This proved a wearisome business, for the logs were heavy, and in his
+      crippled state Mr. Clifford could carry no great burden. Indeed, towards
+      the end Benita was forced to complete the task alone, while he limped
+      beside her with his rifle, lest Jacob should surprise them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When at length everything was done it was long past midnight, and so
+      exhausted were they that, notwithstanding their danger, they flung
+      themselves down upon the canvas tent, which lay in a heap at the end of
+      the cave near the crucifix, and fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Benita woke the lamp had gone out, and it was pitch dark.
+      Fortunately, however, she remembered where she had put the matches and the
+      lantern with a candle in it. She lit the candle and looked at her watch.
+      It was nearly six o&rsquo;clock. The dawn must be breaking outside, within an
+      hour or two Jacob Meyer would find that they had gone. Suppose that his
+      rage should overcome his fear and that he should creep upon them. They
+      would know nothing of it until his face appeared in the faint ring of
+      light. Or he might even shoot her father out of the darkness. What could
+      she do that would give them warning? A thought came to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking one of the tent ropes and the lantern, for her father still slept
+      heavily, she went down to the entrance of the cave, and at the end of the
+      last zigzag where once a door had been, managed to make it fast to a stone
+      hinge about eighteen inches above the floor, and on the other side to an
+      eye opposite that was cut in the solid rock to receive a bolt of wood or
+      iron. Meyer, she knew, had no lamps or oil, only matches and perhaps a few
+      candles. Therefore if he tried to enter the cave it was probable that he
+      would trip over the rope and thus give them warning. Then she went back,
+      washed her face and hands with some water that they had drawn on the
+      previous night to satisfy their thirst, and tidied herself as best she
+      could. This done, as her father still slept, she filled the lamps, lit one
+      of them, and looked about her, for she was loth to wake him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Truly it was an awful place in which to dwell. There above them towered
+      the great white crucifix; there in the corner were piled the remains of
+      the Portuguese. A skull with long hair still hanging to it grinned at her,
+      a withered hand was thrust forward as though to clutch her. Oh, no wonder
+      that in such a spot Jacob Meyer had seen ghosts! In front, too, was the
+      yawning grave where they had found the monk; indeed, his bones wrapped in
+      dark robes still lay within, for Jacob had tumbled them back again. Then
+      beyond and all around deep, dark, and utter silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last her father woke, and glad enough was she of his human company.
+      They breakfasted upon some biscuits and water, and afterwards, while Mr.
+      Clifford watched near the entrance with his rifle, Benita set to work to
+      arrange their belongings. The tent she managed to prop up against the wall
+      of the cave by help of some of the wood which they had carried in. Beneath
+      it she spread their blankets, that it might serve as a sleeping place for
+      them both, and outside placed the food and other things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While she was thus engaged she heard a sound at the mouth of the cave&mdash;Jacob
+      Meyer was entering and had fallen over her rope. Down it she ran, lantern
+      in hand, to her father, who, with his rifle raised, was shouting:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you come in here, I put a bullet through you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came the answer in Jacob&rsquo;s voice, which rang hollow in that vaulted
+      place:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not want to come in; I shall wait for you to come out. You cannot
+      live long in there; the horror of the dark will kill you. I have only to
+      sit in the sunlight and wait.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he laughed, and they heard the sound of his footsteps retreating down
+      the passage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are we to do?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford despairingly. &ldquo;We cannot live
+      without light, and if we have light he will certainly creep to the
+      entrance and shoot us. He is quite mad now; I am sure of it from his
+      voice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita thought a minute, then she answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must build up the passage. Look,&rdquo; and she pointed to the lumps of rock
+      that the explosion of their mine had shaken down from the roof, and the
+      slabs of cement that they had broken from the floor with the crowbar. &ldquo;At
+      once, at once,&rdquo; she went on; &ldquo;he will not come back for some hours,
+      probably not till night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they set to work, and never did Benita labour as it was her lot to do
+      that day. Such of the fragments as they could lift they carried between
+      them, others they rolled along by help of the crowbar. For hour after hour
+      they toiled at their task. Luckily for them, the passage was not more than
+      three feet wide by six feet six high, and their material was ample. Before
+      the evening they had blocked it completely with a wall several feet in
+      thickness, which wall they supported on the inside with lengths of the
+      firewood lashed across to the old hinges and bolt-holes, or set obliquely
+      against its face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was done, and they regarded their work with pride, although it seemed
+      probable that they were building up their own tomb. Because of its
+      position at an angle of the passage, they knew that Meyer could not get to
+      it with a pole to batter it down. Also, there was no loose powder left, so
+      his only chance would be to pull it to pieces with his hands, and this,
+      they thought, might be beyond his power. At least, should he attempt it,
+      they would have ample warning. Yet that day was not to pass without
+      another trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as they had rolled up and levered into place a long fragment of rock
+      designed to prevent the ends of their supporting pieces of wood from
+      slipping on the cement floor, Mr. Clifford uttered an exclamation, then
+      said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have wrung my back badly. Help me to the tent. I must lie down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly and with great pain they staggered up the cave, Mr. Clifford
+      leaning on Benita and a stick, till, reaching the tent at last, he almost
+      fell on to the blankets and remained there practically crippled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now began Benita&rsquo;s terrible time, the worst of all her life. Every hour
+      her father became more ill. Even before they took refuge in the cave he
+      was completely broken down, and now after this accident he began to suffer
+      very much. His rheumatism or sciatica, or whatever it was, seemed to
+      settle upon the hurt muscles of his back, causing him so much pain that he
+      could scarcely sleep for ten minutes at a stretch. Moreover, he would
+      swallow but little of the rough food which was all Benita was able to
+      prepare for him; nothing, indeed, except biscuit soaked in black coffee,
+      which she boiled over a small fire made of wood that they had brought with
+      them, and occasionally a little broth, tasteless stuff enough, for it was
+      only the essence of biltong, or sun-dried flesh, flavoured with some salt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there were two other terrors against she must fight, the darkness and
+      the dread of Jacob Meyer. Perhaps the darkness was the worse of them. To
+      live in that hideous gloom in which their single lamp, for she dared burn
+      no more lest the oil should give out, seemed but as one star to the whole
+      night, ah! who that had not endured it could know what it meant? There the
+      sick man, yonder the grinning skeletons, around the blackness and the
+      silence, and beyond these again a miserable death, or Jacob Meyer. But of
+      him Benita saw nothing, though once or twice she thought that she heard
+      his voice raving outside the wall which they had built. If so, either he
+      did not try to pull it down, or he failed in the attempt, or perhaps he
+      feared that should he succeed, he would be greeted by a bullet. So at last
+      she gave up thinking about him. Should he force his way into the cave she
+      must deal with the situation as best she could. Meanwhile, her father&rsquo;s
+      strength was sinking fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three awful days went by in this fashion, and the end drew near. Although
+      she tried to force herself to it, Benita could not swallow enough food to
+      keep up her strength. Now that the passage was closed the atmosphere of
+      this old vault, for it was nothing more, thickened by the smoke of the
+      fire which she was obliged to burn, grew poisonous and choked her. Want of
+      sleep exhausted her, dread of what the morrow might bring forth crushed
+      her strong spirit. She began to break down, knowing that the hour was near
+      when she and her father must die together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, as she slept awhile at his side, being wakened by his groaning,
+      Benita looked at her watch. It was midnight. She rose, and going to the
+      embers of the little fire, warmed up some of her biltong broth which she
+      poured into a tin pannikin. With difficulty she forced him to swallow a
+      few mouthfuls of it, then, feeling a sudden weakness, drank the rest
+      herself. It gave her power to think, and her father dozed off into an
+      uneasy sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Alas! thinking was of no use, nothing could be done. There was no hope
+      save in prayer. Restlessness seized Benita, and taking the lantern she
+      wandered round the cave. The wall that they had built remained intact, and
+      oh! to think that beyond it flowed the free air and shone the blessed
+      stars! Back she came again, skirting the pits that Jacob Meyer had dug,
+      and the grave of the old monk, till she reached the steps of the crucifix,
+      and holding up her candle, looked at the thorn-crowned brow of the Christ
+      above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was wonderfully carved; that dying face was full of pity. Would not He
+      Whom it represented pity her? She knelt down on the topmost step, and
+      clasping the pierced feet with her arms, began to pray earnestly, not for
+      herself but that she might save her father. She prayed as she had never
+      prayed before, and so praying, sank into a torpor or a swoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Benita that this sleep of hers suddenly became alive; in it
+      she saw many things. For instance, she saw herself seated in a state of
+      trance upon that very step where now she knelt, while before her stood her
+      father and Jacob Meyer. Moreover, something spoke in her; she could not
+      hear a voice, but she seemed to see the words written in the air before
+      her. These were the words:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Clasp the feet of the Christ and draw them to the left. The passage
+      beneath leads to the chamber where the gold is hid, and thence to the
+      river bank. That is the secret which ere I depart, I the dead Benita, pass
+      on to you, the living Benita, as I am commanded. In life and death peace
+      be to your soul.</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thrice did this message appear to repeat itself in the consciousness of
+      Benita. Then, suddenly as she had slept, she woke again with every letter
+      of it imprinted on her mind. Doubtless it was a dream, nothing but a dream
+      bred by the fact that her arms were clasping the feet of the crucifix.
+      What did it say? &ldquo;Draw them to the left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She did so, but nothing stirred. Again she tried, and still nothing
+      stirred. Of course it was a dream. Why had such been sent to mock her? In
+      a kind of mad irritation she put out all her remaining strength and
+      wrestled with those stony feet. <i>They moved a little</i>&mdash;then of a
+      sudden, without any further effort on her part, swung round as high as the
+      knees where drapery hung, concealing the join in them. Yes, they swung
+      round, revealing the head of a stair, up which blew a cold wind that it
+      was sweet to breathe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita rose, gasping. Then she seized her lantern and ran to the little
+      tent where her father lay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XXII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE VOICE OF THE LIVING
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford was awake again now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where have you been?&rdquo; he asked querulously in a thin voice. &ldquo;I wanted
+      you.&rdquo; Then as the light from the candle shone upon it, he noted the change
+      that had come over her pale face, and added: &ldquo;What has happened? Is Meyer
+      dead? Are we free?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita shook her head. &ldquo;He was alive a few hours ago, for I could hear him
+      raving and shouting outside the wall we built. But, father, it has all
+      come back to me; I believe that I have found it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What has come back? What have you found? Are you mad, too, like Jacob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What something told me when I was in the trance which afterwards I
+      forgot, but now remember. And I have found the passage which leads to
+      where they hid the gold. It begins behind the crucifix, where no one ever
+      thought of looking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This matter of the gold did not seem to interest Mr. Clifford. In his
+      state all the wealth beneath the soil of Africa would not have appealed to
+      him. Moreover, he hated the name of that accursed treasure, which was
+      bringing them to such a miserable end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where does the passage run? Have you looked?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet, but the voice in me said&mdash;I mean, I dreamed&mdash;that it
+      goes down to the river-side. If you leant on me do you think that you
+      could walk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not one inch,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Here where I am I shall die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, don&rsquo;t talk like that. We may be saved now that I have found a
+      way. Oh, if only you could&mdash;if only you could walk, or if I had the
+      strength to carry you!&rdquo; and she wrung her hands and began to weep, so weak
+      was she.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father looked at her searchingly. Then he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, love, I cannot, so there&rsquo;s an end. But you can, and you had better
+      go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! And leave you? Never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and leave me. Look, there is but a little oil left and only a few
+      candles. The biscuits are done and neither of us can swallow that biltong
+      any more. I suppose that I am dying, and your health and strength are
+      failing you quickly in this darkness; if you stop here you must soon
+      follow me. And what is the alternative? The madman outside&mdash;that is,
+      if you could find strength to pull down the wall, which I doubt. You had
+      best go, Benita.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But still she said she would not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you not see,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;that it is my only chance of life? If you go
+      you may be able to bring me help before the end comes. Should there be a
+      passage the probability is that, although they know nothing of it, it
+      finishes somewhere by the wall of the first enclosure where the Makalanga
+      are. If so, you may find the Molimo, or if he is dead, Tamas or one of the
+      others, and they will help us. Go, Benita, go at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never thought of that,&rdquo; she answered in a changed voice. &ldquo;Of course, it
+      may be so, if the passage goes down at all. Well, at least I can look and
+      come back to tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Benita placed the remainder of the oil close by her father&rsquo;s side, so
+      that he could refill the lamp, for the use of his hands still remained to
+      him. Also, she set there such crumbs of biscuit as were left, some of the
+      biltong, a flask of Hollands, and a pail of water. This done, she put on
+      her long cloak, filled one of its pockets with biltong, and the other with
+      matches and three of the four remaining candles. The fourth she insisted
+      on leaving beside her father&rsquo;s bed. When everything was ready she knelt
+      down at his side, kissed him, and from her heart put up a prayer that they
+      might both live to meet again, although she knew well that this they could
+      scarcely hope to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had two people ever been in a more dreadful situation, she wondered, as
+      she looked at her father lying there, whom she must leave to fight with
+      Death alone in that awful place, while she went forth to meet him in the
+      unknown bowels of the earth!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Clifford read her thoughts. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it is a strange parting
+      and a wild errand. But who knows? It may please Providence to take you
+      through, and if not&mdash;why, our troubles will soon be over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then once more they kissed, and not daring to try to speak, Benita tore
+      herself away. Passing into the passage whereof the lower half of the
+      crucifix formed the door, she paused for a moment to examine it and to
+      place a fragment of rock in such fashion that it could not shut again
+      behind her. Her idea was that it worked by aid of some spring, but now she
+      saw that this was not so, as the whole mass hung upon three stone hinges
+      beautifully concealed. The dust and corrosion of ages which had made this
+      door so hard to open, by filling up the tiny spaces between it and its
+      framework, had also rendered these cracks utterly imperceptible to the
+      eye. So accurately was it fashioned, indeed, that no one who did not know
+      its secret would have discovered it if they searched for months or years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though at the time Benita took little note of such details, the passage
+      beyond and the stair descending from it showed the same perfect
+      workmanship. Evidently this secret way dated not from the Portuguese
+      period, but from that of the Phoenicians or other ancients, to whose
+      treasure-chamber it was the approach, opening as it did from their holy of
+      holies, to which none were admitted save the head priests. The passage,
+      which was about seven feet high by four wide, had been hewn out of the
+      live rock of the mountain, for thousands of little marks left by the
+      workmen&rsquo;s chisels were still discernible upon its walls. So it was with
+      the stair, that had been but little used, and remained fresh as the day
+      when it was finished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Down the steps, candle in hand, flitted Benita, counting them as she went.
+      The thirtieth brought her to a landing. Here it was that she saw the first
+      traces of that treasure which they had suffered so much to find. Something
+      glittered at her feet. She picked it up. It was a little bar of gold
+      weighing two or three ounces that doubtless had been dropped there.
+      Throwing it down again she looked in front of her, and to her dismay saw a
+      door of wood with iron bolts. But the bolts had never been shot, and when
+      she pulled at it the door creaked upon its rusty hinges and opened. She
+      was on the threshold of the treasure-chamber!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was square and of the size of a small room, packed on either side
+      almost to the low, vaulted roof with small bags of raw hide, carelessly
+      arranged. Quite near to the door one of these bags had slipped down and
+      burst open. It was filled with gold, some in ingots and some in raw
+      nuggets, for there they lay in a shining, scattered heap. As she stooped
+      to look it came into the mind of Benita that her father had said that in
+      her trance she had told them that one of the bags of treasure was burst,
+      and that the skin of which it had been made was black and red. Behold!
+      before her lay the burst bag, and the colour of the hide was black and
+      red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She shivered. The thing was uncanny, terrible. Uncanny was it also to see
+      in the thick dust, which in the course of twenty or more of centuries had
+      gathered on the floor, the mark of footprints, those of the last persons
+      who had visited this place. There had been two of them, a man and a woman,
+      and they were no savages, for they wore shoes. Benita placed her foot in
+      the print left by that dead woman. It filled it exactly, it might have
+      been her own. Perhaps, she thought to herself, that other Benita had
+      descended here with her father, after the Portuguese had hidden away their
+      wealth, that she might be shown where it was, and of what it consisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One more glance at all this priceless, misery-working gold, and on she
+      went, she who was seeking the gold of life and liberty for herself and him
+      who lay above. Supposing that the stairway ended there? She stopped, she
+      looked round, but could see no other door. To see the better she halted
+      and opened the glass of her lantern. Still she could perceive nothing, and
+      her heart sank. Yet why did the candle flicker so fiercely? And why was
+      the air in this deep place so fresh? She walked forward a pace or two,
+      then noticed suddenly that those footprints of the dead that she was
+      following disappeared immediately in front of her, and she stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was but just in time. One step more and she would have fallen down the
+      mouth of a deep pit. Once it had been covered with a stone, but this stone
+      was removed, and had never been replaced. Look! there it stood against the
+      wall of the chamber. Well was this for Benita, since her frail strength
+      would not have sufficed to stir that massive block, even if she had
+      discovered its existence beneath the dust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now she saw that down the pit ran another ladderlike stair of stone, very
+      narrow and precipitous. Without hesitation she began its descent. Down she
+      went and down&mdash;one hundred steps, two hundred steps, two hundred and
+      seventy-five steps, and all the way wherever the dust had gathered the
+      man&rsquo;s and the woman&rsquo;s footprints ran before her. There was a double line
+      of them, one line going down and the other line returning. Those that
+      returned were the last, for often they appeared over those that descended.
+      Why had these dead people returned, Benita wondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stair had ended; now she was in a kind of natural cave, for its sides
+      and roof were rugged; moreover, water trickled and dripped from them. It
+      was not very large, and it smelt horribly of mud and other things. Again
+      she searched by the feeble light of her candle, but could see no exit.
+      Suddenly she saw something else, however, for stepping on what she took to
+      be a rock, to her horror it moved beneath her. She heard a snap as of
+      jaws, a violent blow upon the leg nearly knocked her off her feet, and as
+      she staggered backwards she saw a huge and loathsome shape rushing away
+      into the darkness. The rock that she had trodden on was a crocodile which
+      had its den here! With a little scream she retreated to her stair. Death
+      she had expected&mdash;but to be eaten by crocodiles!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet as Benita stood there panting a blessed hope rose in her breast. If a
+      crocodile came in there it must also get out, and where such a great
+      creature could go, a woman would be able to follow. Also, she must be near
+      the water, since otherwise it could never have chosen this hole for its
+      habitation. She collected her courage, and having clapped her hands and
+      waved the lantern about to scare any alligators that might still be
+      lurking there, hearing and seeing nothing more, she descended to where she
+      had trodden upon the reptile. Evidently this was its bed, for its long
+      body had left an impress upon the mud, and all about lay the remains of
+      creatures that it had brought in for food. Moreover, a path ran outwards,
+      its well-worn trail distinct even in that light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She followed this path, which ended apparently in a blank wall. Then it
+      was that Benita guessed why those dead folks&rsquo; footprints had returned, for
+      here had been a doorway which in some past age those who used it built up
+      with blocks of stone and cement. How, then, did the crocodile get out?
+      Stooping down she searched, and perceived, a few yards to the right of the
+      door, a hole that looked as though it were water-worn. Now Benita thought
+      that she understood. The rock was softer here, and centuries of flood had
+      eaten it away, leaving a crack in the stratum which the crocodiles had
+      found out and enlarged. Down she went on her hands and knees, and
+      thrusting the lantern in front of her, crept along that noisome drain, for
+      this was what it resembled. And now&mdash;oh! now she felt air blowing in
+      her face, and heard the sound of reeds whispering, and water running, and
+      saw hanging like a lamp in the blue sky, a star&mdash;the morning star!
+      Benita could have wept, she could have worshipped it, yet she pushed on
+      between rocks till she found herself among tall reeds, and standing in
+      water. She had gained the banks of the Zambesi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly, by instinct as it were, Benita extinguished her candle, fearing
+      lest it should betray her, for constant danger had made her very cunning.
+      The dawn had not yet broken, but the waning moon and the stars gave a good
+      light. She paused to look. There above her towered the outermost wall of
+      Bambatse, against which the river washed, except at such times as the
+      present, when it was very low.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So she was not in the fortress as she had hoped, but without it, and oh!
+      what should she do? Go back again? How would that serve her father or
+      herself? Go on? Then she might fall into the hands of the Matabele whose
+      camp was a little lower down, as from her perch upon the top of the cone
+      she had seen that poor white man do. Ah! the white man! If only he lived
+      and she could reach him! Perhaps they had not killed him after all. It was
+      madness, yet she would try to discover; something impelled her to take the
+      risk. If she failed and escaped, perhaps then she might call to the
+      Makalanga, and they would let down a rope and draw her up the wall before
+      the Matabele caught her. She would not go back empty-handed, to die in
+      that dreadful place with her poor father. Better perish here in the sweet
+      air and beneath the stars, even if it were upon a Matabele spear, or by a
+      bullet from her own pistol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked about her to take her bearings in case it should ever be
+      necessary for her to return to the entrance of the cave. This proved easy,
+      for a hundred or so feet above her&mdash;where the sheer face of the cliff
+      jutted out a little, at that very spot indeed on which tradition said that
+      the body of the Señora da Ferreira had struck in its fall, and the
+      necklace Benita wore to-day was torn from her&mdash;a stunted mimosa grew
+      in some cleft of the rock. To mark the crocodile run itself she bent down
+      a bunch of reeds, and having first lit a few Tandstickor brimstone matches
+      and thrown them about inside of it, that the smell of them might scare the
+      beast should it wish to return, she set her lantern behind a stone near to
+      the mouth of the hole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Benita began her journey which, when the river was high, it would not
+      have been possible for her to make except by swimming. As it was, a margin
+      of marsh was left between her and the steep, rocky side of the mount from
+      which the great wall rose, and through this she made her way. Never was
+      she likely to forget that walk. The tall reeds dripped their dew upon her
+      until she was soaked; long, black-tailed finches&mdash;saccaboolas the
+      natives call them&mdash;flew up undisturbed, and lobbed away across the
+      river; owls flitted past and bitterns boomed at the coming of the dawn.
+      Great fish splashed also in the shallows, or were they crocodiles? Benita
+      hoped not&mdash;for one day she had seen enough of crocodiles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was all very strange. Could she be the same woman, she wondered, who
+      not a year before had been walking with her cousins down Westbourne Grove,
+      and studying Whiteley&rsquo;s windows? What would these cousins say now if they
+      could see her, white-faced, large-eyed, desperate, splashing through the
+      mud upon the unknown banks of the Zambesi, flying from death to death!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On she struggled, above her the pearly sky in which the stars were fading,
+      around her the wet reeds, and pervading all the heavy low-lying mists of
+      dawn. She was past the round of the walls, and at length stood upon dry
+      ground where the Matabele had made their camp. But in that fog she saw no
+      Matabele; probably their fires were out, and she chanced to pass between
+      the sentries. Instinctively, more than by reason, she headed for that
+      hillock upon which she had seen the white man&rsquo;s waggon, in the vague hope
+      that it might still be there. On she struggled, still on, till at length
+      she blundered against something soft and warm, and perceived that it was
+      an ox tied to a trek-tow, beyond which were other oxen and a white
+      waggon-cap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it <i>was</i> still there! But the white man, where was he? Through the
+      dense mist Benita crept to the disselboom. Then, seeing and hearing
+      nothing, she climbed to the voorkissie and kneeling on it, separated the
+      tent flaps and peered into the waggon. Still she could see nothing because
+      of the mist, yet she heard something, a man breathing in his sleep.
+      Somehow she thought that it was a white man; a Kaffir did not breathe like
+      that. She did not know what to do, so remained kneeling there. It seemed
+      as though the man who was asleep began to feel her presence, for he
+      muttered to himself&mdash;surely the words were English! Then quite
+      suddenly he struck a match and lit a candle which stood in a beer bottle
+      by his side. She could not see his face while he lit the match, for his
+      arm hid it, and the candle burned up slowly. Then the first thing she saw
+      was the barrel of a revolver pointing straight at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, my black friend,&rdquo; said a pleasant voice, &ldquo;down you go or I shoot.
+      One, two! Oh, my God!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The candle burned up, its light fell upon the white, elfish face of
+      Benita, whose long dark hair streamed about her; it shone in her great
+      eyes. Still she could see nothing, for it dazzled her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my God!&rdquo; said the voice again. &ldquo;Benita! Benita! Have you come to tell
+      me that I must join you? Well, I am ready, my sweet, my sweet! Now I shall
+      hear your answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she whispered, and crawling forward down the cartel Benita fell
+      upon his breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For she knew him at last&mdash;dead or living she cared not&mdash;she knew
+      him, and out of hell crept to him, her heaven and her home!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XXIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BENITA GIVES HER ANSWER
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your answer, Benita,&rdquo; Robert said dreamily, for to him this thing seemed
+      a dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have I not given it, months ago? Oh, I remember, it was only in my heart,
+      not on my lips, when that blow fell on me! Then afterwards I heard what
+      you had done and I nearly died. I wished that I might die to be with you,
+      but I could not. I was too strong; now I understand the reason. Well, it
+      seems that we are both living, and whatever happens, here is my answer, if
+      it is worth anything to you. Once and for all, I love you. I am not
+      ashamed to say it, because very soon we may be separated for the last
+      time. But I cannot talk now, I have come here to save my father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he, Benita?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dying in a cave up at the top of that fortress. I got down by a secret
+      way. Are the Matabele still here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much so,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;But something has happened. My guard woke me
+      an hour ago to say that a messenger had arrived from their king,
+      Lobengula, and now they are talking over the message. That is how you came
+      to get through, otherwise the sentries would have assegaied you, the
+      brutes,&rdquo; and he drew her to him and kissed her passionately for the first
+      time; then, as though ashamed of himself, let her go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you anything to eat?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I&mdash;I&mdash;am starving. I
+      didn&rsquo;t feel it before, but now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Starving, you starving, while I&mdash;look, here is some cold meat which
+      I could not get down last night, and put by for the Kaffirs. Great
+      Heavens! that I should feed you with Kaffirs&rsquo; leavings! But it is good&mdash;eat
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita took the stuff in her fingers and swallowed it greedily; she who
+      for days had lived on nothing but a little biscuit and biltong. It tasted
+      delicious to her&mdash;never had she eaten anything so good. And all the
+      while he watched her with glowing eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you look at me?&rdquo; she said at length. &ldquo;I must be horrible; I have
+      been living in the dark and crawling through mud. I trod upon a
+      crocodile!&rdquo; and she shuddered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever you are I never want to see you different,&rdquo; he answered slowly.
+      &ldquo;To me you are most beautiful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Even then, wreck as she was, the poor girl flushed, and there was a mist
+      in her eyes as she looked up and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you. I don&rsquo;t care now what happens to me, and what has happened
+      doesn&rsquo;t matter at all. But can we get away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;but I doubt it. Go and sit on the waggon-box
+      for a few minutes while I dress, and we will see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita went. The mist was thinning now, and through it she saw a sight at
+      which her heart sank, for between her and the mount Bambatse Matabele were
+      pouring towards their camp on the river&rsquo;s edge. They were cut off. A
+      couple of minutes later Robert joined her, and as he came she looked at
+      him anxiously in the growing light. He seemed older than when they had
+      parted on the <i>Zanzibar</i>; changed, too, for now his face was serious,
+      and he had grown a beard; also, he appeared to limp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid there is an end,&rdquo; she said, pointing to the Matabele below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it looks like it. But like you, I say, what does it matter now?&rdquo; and
+      he took her hand in his, adding: &ldquo;let us be happy while we can if only for
+      a few minutes. They will be here presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;A prisoner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s it. I was following you when they captured me; for I have been
+      here before and knew the way. They were going to kill me on general
+      principles, only it occurred to one of them who was more intelligent than
+      the rest that I, being a white man, might be able to show them how to
+      storm the place. Now I was sure that you were there, for I saw you
+      standing on that point, though they thought you were the Spirit of
+      Bambatse. So I wasn&rsquo;t anxious to help them, for then&mdash;you know what
+      happens when the Matabele are the stormers! But&mdash;as you still lived&mdash;I
+      wasn&rsquo;t anxious to die either. So I set them to work to dig a hole with
+      their assegais and sharp axes, through granite. They have completed
+      exactly twenty feet of it, and I reckon that there are one hundred and
+      forty to go. Last night they got tired of that tunnel and talked of
+      killing me again, unless I could show them a better plan. Now all the fat
+      is in the fire, and I don&rsquo;t know what is to happen. Hullo! here they come.
+      Hide in the waggon, quick!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita obeyed, and from under cover of the tent where the Matabele could
+      not see her, watched and listened. The party that approached consisted of
+      a chief and about twenty men, who marched behind him as a guard. Benita
+      knew that chief. He was the captain Maduna, he of the royal blood whose
+      life she had saved. By his side was a Natal Zulu, Robert Seymour&rsquo;s driver,
+      who could speak English and acted as interpreter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man,&rdquo; said Maduna, &ldquo;a message has reached us from our king.
+      Lobengula makes a great war and has need of us. He summons us back from
+      this petty fray, this fight against cowards who hide behind walls, whom
+      otherwise we would have killed, everyone, yes, if we sat here till we grew
+      old. So for this time we leave them alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert answered politely that he was glad to hear it, and wished them a
+      good journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wish yourself a good journey, white man,&rdquo; was the stern reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why? Do you desire that I should accompany you to Lobengula?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you go before us to the kraal of the Black One who is even greater
+      than the child of Moselikatse, to that king who is called Death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert crossed his arms and said: &ldquo;Say on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man, I promised you life if you would show us how to pierce or
+      climb those walls. But you have made fools of us&mdash;you have set us to
+      cut through rock with spears and axes. Yes, to hoe at rock as though it
+      were soil&mdash;you who with the wisdom of your people could have taught
+      us some better way. Therefore we must go back to our king disgraced,
+      having failed in his service, and therefore you who have mocked us shall
+      die. Come down now, that we may kill you quietly, and learn whether or no
+      you are a brave man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it was, while her lover&rsquo;s hand was moving towards the pistol hidden
+      beneath his coat, that Benita, with a quick movement, emerged from the
+      waggon in which she crouched, and stood up at his side upon the driving
+      box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Ow!</i>&rdquo; said the Captain. &ldquo;It is the White Maiden. Now how came she
+      here? Surely this is great magic. Can a woman fly like a bird?&rdquo; and they
+      stared at her amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does it matter how I came, chief Maduna?&rdquo; she answered in Zulu. &ldquo;Yet
+      I will tell you why I came. It was to save you from dipping your spear in
+      the innocent blood, and bringing on your head the curse of the innocent
+      blood. Answer me now. Who gave you and your brother yonder your lives
+      within that wall when the Makalanga would have torn you limb from limb, as
+      hyenas tear a buck? Was it I or another?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inkosi-kaas&mdash;Chieftainess,&rdquo; replied the great Captain, raising his
+      broad spear in salute. &ldquo;It was you and no other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you promise me then, Prince Maduna?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden of high birth, I promised you your life and your goods, should you
+      ever fall into my power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does a leader of the Amandabele, one of the royal blood, lie like a
+      Mashona or a Makalanga slave? Does he do worse&mdash;tell half the truth
+      only, like a cheat who buys and keeps back half the price?&rdquo; she asked
+      contemptuously. &ldquo;Maduna, you promised me not one life, but two, two lives
+      and the goods that belong to both. Ask of your brother there, who was
+      witness of the words.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great Heavens!&rdquo; muttered Robert Seymour to himself, as he looked at
+      Benita standing with outstretched hand and flashing eyes. &ldquo;Who would have
+      thought that a starved woman could play such a part with death on the
+      hazard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is as this daughter of white chiefs says,&rdquo; answered the man to whom
+      she had appealed. &ldquo;When she freed us from the fangs of those dogs, you
+      promised her two lives, my brother, one for yours and one for mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear him,&rdquo; went on Benita. &ldquo;He promised me two lives, and how did this
+      prince of the royal blood keep his promise? When I and the old man, my
+      father, rode hence in peace, he loosed his spears upon us; he hunted us.
+      Yet it was the hunters who fell into the trap, not the hunted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden,&rdquo; replied Maduna, in a shamed voice, &ldquo;that was your fault, not
+      mine. If you had appealed to me I would have let you go. But you killed my
+      sentry, and then the chase began, and ere I knew who you were my runners
+      were out of call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Little time had I to ask your mercy; but so be it,&rdquo; said Benita. &ldquo;I
+      accept your word, and I forgive you that offence. Now fulfil your oath.
+      Begone and leave us in peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Still Maduna hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must make report to the king,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What is this white man to you
+      that I should spare him? I give you your life and your father&rsquo;s life, not
+      that of this white man who has tricked us. If he were your father, or your
+      brother, it would be otherwise. But he is a stranger, and belongs to me,
+      not to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maduna,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;do women such as I am share the waggon of a
+      stranger? This man is more to me than father or brother. He is my husband,
+      and I claim his life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Ow!</i>&rdquo; said the spokesman of the audience, &ldquo;we understand now. She
+      is his wife, and has a right to him. If she were not his wife she would
+      not be in his waggon. It is plain that she speaks the truth, though how
+      she came here we do not know, unless, as we think, she is a witch,&rdquo; and he
+      smiled at his own cleverness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inkosi-kaas,&rdquo; said Maduna, &ldquo;you have persuaded me. I give you the life of
+      that white fox, your husband, and I hope that he will not trick you as he
+      has tricked us, and set you to hoe rock instead of soil,&rdquo; and he looked at
+      Robert wrathfully. &ldquo;I give him to you and all his belongings. Now, is
+      there anything else that you would ask?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Benita coolly, &ldquo;you have many oxen there which you took
+      from the other Makalanga. Mine are eaten and I need cattle to draw my
+      waggon. I ask a present of twenty of them, and,&rdquo; she added by an
+      afterthought, &ldquo;two cows with young calves, for my father is sick yonder,
+      and must have milk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! give them to her. Give them to her,&rdquo; said Maduna, with a tragic
+      gesture that in any other circumstances would have made Benita laugh.
+      &ldquo;Give them to her and see that they are good ones, before she asks our
+      shields and spears also&mdash;for after all she saved my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So men departed to fetch those cows and oxen, which presently were driven
+      in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While this talk was in progress the great impi of the Matabele was massing
+      for the march, on the flat ground a little to the right of them. Now they
+      began to come past in companies, preceded by the lads who carried the mats
+      and cooking-pots and drove the captured sheep and cattle. By this time the
+      story of Benita, the witch-woman whom they could not kill, and who had
+      mysteriously flown from the top of the peak into their prisoner&rsquo;s waggon,
+      had spread among them. They knew also that it was she who had saved their
+      general from the Makalanga, and those who had heard her admired the wit
+      and courage with which she had pleaded and won her cause. Therefore, as
+      they marched past in their companies, singing a song of abuse and defiance
+      of the Makalanga who peered at them from the top of the wall, they lifted
+      their great spears in salutation to Benita standing upon the waggon-box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, they were a wondrous and imposing spectacle, such a one as few
+      white women have ever seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length all were gone except Maduna and a body-guard of two hundred men.
+      He walked to the front of the waggon and addressed Robert Seymour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, you fox who set us to hoe granite,&rdquo; he said indignantly. &ldquo;You
+      have outwitted us this time, but if ever I meet you again, then you die.
+      Now I have given you your life, but,&rdquo; he added, almost pleadingly, &ldquo;if you
+      are really brave as white men are said to be, will you not come down and
+      fight me man to man for honour&rsquo;s sake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not,&rdquo; answered Robert, when he understood this challenge, &ldquo;for
+      what chance should I have against so brave a warrior? Also this lady&mdash;my
+      wife&mdash;needs my help on her journey home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Maduna turned from him contemptuously to Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I go,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and fear not; you will meet no Matabele on that journey.
+      Have you more words for me, O Beautiful One, with a tongue of oil and a
+      wit that cuts like steel?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita. &ldquo;You have dealt well with me, and in reward I give
+      you of my good luck. Bear this message to your king from the White Witch
+      of Bambatse, for I am she and no other. That he leave these Makalanga, my
+      servants, to dwell unharmed in their ancient home, and that he lift no
+      spear against the White Men, lest that evil which the Molimo foretold to
+      you, should fall upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Maduna, &ldquo;now I understand how you flew from the mountain top
+      into this man&rsquo;s waggon. You are not a white woman, you are the ancient
+      Witch of Bambatse herself. You have said it, and with such it is not well
+      to war. Great lady of Magic, Spirit from of old, I salute you, and I thank
+      you for your gifts of life and fortune. Farewell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he, too, stalked away at the head of his guard, so that presently,
+      save for the three Zulu servants and the herd of cattle, Robert and Benita
+      were left utterly alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, her part played and the victory won, Benita burst into tears and fell
+      upon her lover&rsquo;s breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently she remembered, and freed herself from his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a selfish wretch,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;How dare I be so happy when my father
+      is dead or dying? We must go at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go where?&rdquo; asked the bewildered Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To the top of the mountain, of course, whence I came. Oh! please don&rsquo;t
+      stop to question me, I&rsquo;ll tell you as we walk. Stay,&rdquo; and she called to
+      the Zulu driver, who with an air of utter amazement was engaged in milking
+      one of the gift cows, to fill two bottles with the milk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had we not better shout to the Makalanga to let us in?&rdquo; suggested Robert,
+      while this was being done, and Benita wrapped some cooked meat in a cloth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no. They will think I am what I said I was&mdash;the Witch of
+      Bambatse, whose appearance heralds misfortune, and fear a trap. Besides,
+      we could not climb the top wall. You must follow my road, and if you can
+      trust them, bring two of those men with you with lanterns. The lad can
+      stop to herd the cattle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Three minutes later, followed by the two Zulus, they were walking&mdash;or
+      rather, running&mdash;along the banks of the Zambesi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you not come quicker?&rdquo; she asked impatiently. &ldquo;Oh, I beg your
+      pardon, you are lame. Robert, what made you lame, and oh! why are you not
+      dead, as they all swore you were, you, you&mdash;hero, for I know that
+      part of the story?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For a very simple reason, Benita: because I didn&rsquo;t die. When that Kaffir
+      took the watch from me I was insensible, that&rsquo;s all. The sun brought me to
+      life afterwards. Then some natives turned up, good people in their way,
+      although I could not understand a word they said. They made a stretcher of
+      boughs and carried me for some miles to their kraal inland. It hurt
+      awfully, for my thigh was broken, but I arrived at last. There a Kaffir
+      doctor set my leg in his own fashion; it has left it an inch shorter than
+      the other, but that&rsquo;s better than nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that place I lay for two solid months, for there was no white man
+      within a hundred miles, and if there had been I could not have
+      communicated with him. Afterwards I spent another month limping up towards
+      Natal, until I could buy a horse. The rest is very short. Hearing of my
+      reported death, I came as fast as I could to your father&rsquo;s farm, Rooi
+      Krantz, where I learned from the old vrouw Sally that you had taken to
+      treasure-hunting, the same treasure that I told you of on the <i>Zanzibar</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I followed your spoor, met the servants whom you had sent back, who
+      told me all about you, and in due course, after many adventures, as they
+      say in a book, walked into the camp of our friends, the Matabele.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were going to kill me at once, when suddenly you appeared upon that
+      point of rock, glittering like&mdash;like the angel of the dawn. I knew
+      that it must be you, for I had found out about your attempted escape, and
+      how you were hunted back to this place. But the Matabele all thought that
+      it was the Spirit of Bambatse, who has a great reputation in these parts.
+      Well, that took off their attention, and afterwards, as I told you, it
+      occurred to them that I might be an engineer. You know the rest, don&rsquo;t
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Benita softly. &ldquo;I know the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they plunged into the reeds and were obliged to stop talking, since
+      they must walk in single file. Presently Benita looked up and saw that she
+      was under the thorn which grew in the cleft of the rock. Also, with some
+      trouble she found the bunch of reeds that she had bent down, to mark the
+      inconspicuous hole through which she had crept, and by it her lantern. It
+      seemed weeks since she had left it there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;light your candles, and if you see a crocodile, please
+      shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XXIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE TRUE GOLD
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me go first,&rdquo; said Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Benita. &ldquo;I know the way; but please do watch for that
+      horrible crocodile.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she knelt down and crept into the hole, while after her came Robert,
+      and after him the two Zulus, who protested that they were not ant-bears to
+      burrow under ground. Lifting the lantern she searched the cave, and as she
+      could see no signs of the crocodile, walked on boldly to where the stair
+      began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be quick,&rdquo; she whispered to Robert, for in that place it seemed natural
+      to speak low. &ldquo;My father is above and near his death. I am dreadfully
+      afraid lest we should be too late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they toiled up the endless steps, a very strange procession, for the
+      two Zulus, bold men enough outside, were shaking with fright, till at
+      length Benita clambered out of the trap door on to the floor of the
+      treasure chamber, and turned to help Robert, whose lameness made him
+      somewhat slow and awkward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s all that?&rdquo; he asked, pointing to the hide sacks, while they waited
+      for the two scared Kaffirs to join them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she answered indifferently, &ldquo;gold, I believe. Look, there is some of
+      it on the floor, over Benita da Ferreira&rsquo;s footsteps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gold! Why, it must be worth&mdash;&mdash;! And who on earth is Benita da
+      Ferreira?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you afterwards. She has been dead two or three hundred years;
+      it was her gold, or her people&rsquo;s, and those are her footprints in the
+      dust. How stupid you are not to understand! Never mind the hateful stuff;
+      come on quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they passed the door which she had opened that morning, and clambered
+      up the remaining stairway. So full was Benita of terrors that she could
+      never remember how she climbed them. Suppose that the foot of the crucifix
+      had swung to; suppose that her father were dead; suppose that Jacob Meyer
+      had broken into the cave? Well for herself she was no longer afraid of
+      Jacob Meyer. Oh, they were there! The heavy door <i>had</i> begun to
+      close, but mercifully her bit of rock kept it ajar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father! Father!&rdquo; she cried, running towards the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No answer came. She threw aside the flap, held down the lantern and
+      looked. There he lay, white and still. She was too late!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is dead, he is dead!&rdquo; she wailed. Robert knelt down at her side, and
+      examined the old man, while she waited in an agony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He ought to be,&rdquo; he said slowly; &ldquo;but, Benita, I don&rsquo;t think he is. I can
+      feel his heart stir. No, don&rsquo;t stop to talk. Pour out some of that
+      squareface, and here, mix it with this milk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She obeyed, and while he held up her father&rsquo;s head, with a trembling hand
+      emptied a little of the drink into his mouth. At first it ran out again,
+      then almost automatically he swallowed some, and they knew that he was
+      alive, and thanked Heaven. Ten minutes later Mr. Clifford was sitting up
+      staring at them with dull and wondering eyes, while outside the two Zulus,
+      whose nerves had now utterly broken down, were contemplating the pile of
+      skeletons in the corner and the white towering crucifix, and loudly
+      lamenting that they should have been brought to perish in this place of
+      bones and ghosts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it Jacob Meyer who makes that noise?&rdquo; asked Mr. Clifford faintly.
+      &ldquo;And, Benita, where have you been so long, and&mdash;who is this gentleman
+      with you? I seem to remember his face.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is the white man who was in the waggon, father, an old friend come to
+      life again. Robert, can&rsquo;t you stop the howling of those Kaffirs? Though I
+      am sure I don&rsquo;t wonder that they howl; I should have liked to do so for
+      days. Oh! father, father, don&rsquo;t you understand me? We are saved, yes,
+      snatched out of hell and the jaws of death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Jacob Meyer dead, then?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where he is or what has happened to him, and I don&rsquo;t care,
+      but perhaps we had better find out. Robert, there is a madman outside.
+      Make the Kaffirs pull down that wall, would you? and catch him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What wall? What madman?&rdquo; he asked, staring at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, of course you don&rsquo;t know that, either. You know nothing. I&rsquo;ll show
+      you, and you must be prepared, for probably he will shoot at us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It all sounds a little risky, doesn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; asked Robert doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but we must take the risk. We cannot carry my father down that
+      place, and unless we can get him into light and air soon, he will
+      certainly die. The man outside is Jacob Meyer, his partner&mdash;you
+      remember him. All these weeks of hardship and treasure-hunting have sent
+      him off his head, and he wanted to mesmerize me and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what? Make love to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded, then went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So when he could not get his way about the mesmerism and so forth, he
+      threatened to murder my father, and that is why we had to hide in this
+      cave and build ourselves up, till at last I found the way out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer, now as always,&rdquo; said Robert flushing.
+      &ldquo;To think that you should have been in the power of a scoundrel like that!
+      Well, I hope to come square with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t hurt him, dear, unless you are obliged. Remember he is not
+      responsible. He thought he saw a ghost here the other day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless he behaves himself he is likely to see a good many soon,&rdquo; muttered
+      Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they went down the cave, and as silently as possible began to work at
+      the wall, destroying in a few minutes what had been built up with so much
+      labour. When it was nearly down the Zulus were told that there was an
+      enemy outside, and that they must help to catch him if necessary, but were
+      not to harm him. They assented gladly enough; indeed, to get out of that
+      cave they would have faced half a dozen enemies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now there was a hole right through the wall, and Robert bade Benita stand
+      to one side. Then as soon as his eyes became accustomed to the little
+      light that penetrated there, he drew his revolver and beckoned the Kaffirs
+      to follow. Down the passage they crept, slowly, lest they should be
+      blinded when they came to the glare of the sunshine, while Benita waited
+      with a beating heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little time went by, she never knew how long, till suddenly a rifle shot
+      rang through the stillness. Benita was able to bear no more. She rushed
+      down the winding passage, and presently, just beyond its mouth, in a
+      blurred and indistinct fashion saw that the two white men were rolling
+      together on the ground, while the Kaffirs sprang round watching for an
+      opportunity to seize one of them. At that moment they succeeded, and
+      Robert rose, dusting his hands and knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer,&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;I could have killed
+      him as his back was towards me, but didn&rsquo;t because you asked me not. Then
+      I stumbled with my lame leg, and he whipped round and let drive with his
+      rifle. Look,&rdquo; and he showed her where the bullet had cut his ear. &ldquo;Luckily
+      I got hold of him before he could loose off another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Benita could find no words, her heart was too full of thankfulness. Only
+      she seized Robert&rsquo;s hand and kissed it. Then she looked at Jacob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was lying upon the broad of his back, the two big Zulus holding his
+      arms and legs; his lips were cracked, blue and swollen; his face was
+      almost black, but his eyes still shone bright with insanity and hate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you,&rdquo; he screamed hoarsely to Robert. &ldquo;You are another ghost, the
+      ghost of that man who was drowned. Otherwise my bullet would have killed
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Meyer,&rdquo; Seymour answered, &ldquo;I am a ghost. Now, you boys, here&rsquo;s a
+      bit of rope. Tie his hands behind his back and search him. There is a
+      pistol in that pocket.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They obeyed, and presently Meyer was disarmed and bound fast to a tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Water,&rdquo; he moaned. &ldquo;For days I have had nothing but the dew I could lick
+      off the leaves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pitying his plight, Benita ran into the cave and returned presently with a
+      tin of water. One of the Kaffirs held it to his lips, and he drank
+      greedily. Then, leaving one Zulu to watch him, Robert, Benita, and the
+      other Zulu went back, and as gently as they could carried out Mr. Clifford
+      on his mattress, placing him in the shade of a rock, where he lay blessing
+      them feebly, because they had brought him into the light again. At the
+      sight of the old man Meyer&rsquo;s rage blazed up afresh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; he screamed, &ldquo;if only I had killed you long ago, she would be mine
+      now, not that fellow&rsquo;s. It was you who stood between us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, my friend,&rdquo; broke in Robert. &ldquo;I forgive you everything else,
+      but, mad or sane, be good enough to keep Miss Clifford&rsquo;s name off your
+      lips, or I will hand you over to those Kaffirs to be dealt with as you
+      deserve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Jacob understood, and was silent. They gave him more water and food
+      to eat, some of the meat that they had brought with them, which he
+      devoured ravenously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you sensible now?&rdquo; asked Robert when he had done. &ldquo;Then listen to me;
+      I have some good news for you. That treasure you have been hunting for has
+      been found. We are going to give you half of it, one of the waggons and
+      some oxen, and clear you out of this place. Then if I set eyes on you
+      again before we get to a civilized country, I shoot you like a dog.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You lie!&rdquo; said Meyer sullenly. &ldquo;You want to turn me out into the
+      wilderness to be murdered by the Makalanga or the Matabele.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Robert. &ldquo;Untie him, boys, and bring him along. I will
+      show him whether I lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are they taking me to?&rdquo; asked Meyer. &ldquo;Not into the cave? I won&rsquo;t go
+      into the cave; it is haunted. If it hadn&rsquo;t been for the ghost there I
+      would have broken down their wall long ago, and killed that old snake
+      before her eyes. Whenever I went near that wall I saw it watching me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First time I ever heard of a ghost being useful,&rdquo; remarked Robert. &ldquo;Bring
+      him along. No, Benita, he shall see whether I am a liar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the lights were lit, and the two stalwart Zulus hauled Jacob forward,
+      Robert and Benita following. At first he struggled violently, then, on
+      finding that he could not escape, went on, his teeth chattering with fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is cruel,&rdquo; remonstrated Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A little cruelty will not do him any harm,&rdquo; Robert answered. &ldquo;He has
+      plenty to spare for other people. Besides, he is going to get what he has
+      been looking for so long.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They led Jacob to the foot of the crucifix, where a paroxysm seemed to
+      seize him, then pushed him through the swinging doorway beneath, and down
+      the steep stairs, till once more they all stood in the treasure-chamber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look,&rdquo; said Robert, and, drawing his hunting-knife, he slashed one of the
+      hide bags, whereon instantly there flowed out a stream of beads and
+      nuggets. &ldquo;Now, my friend, am I a liar?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this wondrous sight Jacob&rsquo;s terror seemed to depart from him, and he
+      grew cunning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beautiful, beautiful!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;more than I thought&mdash;sacks and
+      sacks of gold. I shall be a king indeed. No, no, it is all a dream&mdash;like
+      the rest. I don&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s there. Loose my arms and let me feel it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Untie him,&rdquo; said Robert, at the same time drawing his pistol and covering
+      the man; &ldquo;he can&rsquo;t do us any hurt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Kaffirs obeyed, and Jacob, springing at the slashed bag, plunged his
+      thin hands into it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No lie,&rdquo; he screamed, &ldquo;no lie,&rdquo; as he dragged the stuff out and smelt at
+      it. &ldquo;Gold, gold, gold! Hundreds of thousands of pounds&rsquo; worth of gold!
+      Let&rsquo;s make a bargain, Englishman, and I won&rsquo;t kill you as I meant to do.
+      You take the girl and give me all the gold,&rdquo; and in his ecstasy he began
+      to pour the glittering ingots over his head and body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A new version of the tale of Danaë,&rdquo; began Robert in a sarcastic voice,
+      then suddenly paused, for a change had come over Jacob&rsquo;s face, a terrible
+      change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It turned ashen beneath the tan, his eyes grew large and round, he put up
+      his hands as though to thrust something from him, his whole frame
+      shivered, and his hair seemed to erect itself. Slowly he retreated
+      backwards, and would have fallen down the unclosed trap-hole had not one
+      of the Kaffirs pushed him away. Back he went, still back, till he struck
+      the further wall and stood there, perhaps for half a minute. He lifted his
+      hand and pointed first to those ancient footprints, some of which still
+      remained in the dust of the floor, and next, as they thought, at Benita.
+      His lips moved fast, he seemed to be pleading, remonstrating, yet&mdash;and
+      this was the ghastliest part of it&mdash;from them there came no sound.
+      Lastly, his eyes rolled up until only the whites of them were visible, his
+      face became wet as though water had been poured over it, and, still
+      without a sound, he fell forward and moved no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So terrible was the scene that with a howl of fear the two Kaffirs turned
+      and fled up the stairway. Robert sprang to the Jew, dragged him over on to
+      his back, put his hand upon his breast and lifted his eyelids.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dead,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Stone dead. Privation, brain excitement, heart failure&mdash;that&rsquo;s
+      the story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; answered Benita faintly; &ldquo;but really I think that I begin to
+      believe in ghosts also. Look, I never noticed them before, and I didn&rsquo;t
+      walk there, but those footsteps seem to lead right up to him.&rdquo; Then she
+      turned too and fled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another week had gone by. The waggons were laden with a burden more
+      precious perhaps than waggons have often borne before. In one of them, on
+      a veritable bed of gold, slept Mr. Clifford, still very weak and ill, but
+      somewhat better than he had been, and with a good prospect of recovery, at
+      any rate for a while. They were to trek a little after dawn, and already
+      Robert and Benita were up and waiting. She touched his arm and said to
+      him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come with me. I have a fancy to see that place once more, for the last
+      time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they climbed the hill and the steep steps in the topmost wall that
+      Meyer had blocked&mdash;re-opened now&mdash;and reaching the mouth of the
+      cave, lit the lamps which they had brought with them, and entered. There
+      were the fragments of the barricade that Benita had built with desperate
+      hands, there was the altar of sacrifice standing cold and grey as it had
+      stood for perhaps three thousand years. There was the tomb of the old monk
+      who had a companion now, for in it Jacob Meyer lay with him, his bones
+      covered by the <i>débris</i> that he himself had dug out in his mad search
+      for wealth; and there the white Christ hung awful on His cross. Only the
+      skeletons of the Portuguese were gone, for with the help of his Kaffirs
+      Robert had moved them every one into the empty treasure-chamber, closing
+      the trap beneath, and building up the door above, so that there they might
+      lie in peace at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this melancholy place they tarried but a little while, then, turning
+      their backs upon it for ever, went out and climbed the granite cone to
+      watch the sun rise over the broad Zambesi. Up it came in glory, that same
+      sun which had shone upon the despairing Benita da Ferreira, and upon the
+      English Benita when she had stood there in utter hopelessness, and seen
+      the white man captured by the Matabele.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, different was their state indeed, and there in that high place,
+      whence perhaps many a wretched creature had been cast to death, whence
+      certainly the Portuguese maiden had sought her death, these two happy
+      beings were not ashamed to give thanks to Heaven for the joy which it had
+      vouchsafed to them, and for their hopes of life full and long to be
+      travelled hand in hand. Behind them was the terror of the cave, beneath
+      them were the mists of the valley, but above them the light shone and
+      rolled and sparkled, and above them stretched the eternal sky!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They descended the pillar, and near the foot of it saw an old man sitting.
+      It was Mambo, the Molimo of the Makalanga: even when they were still far
+      away from him they knew his snow-white head and thin, ascetic face. As
+      they drew near Benita perceived that his eyes were closed, and whispered
+      to Robert that he was asleep. Yet he had heard them coming, and even
+      guessed her thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden,&rdquo; he said in his gentle voice, &ldquo;maiden who soon shall be a wife, I
+      do not sleep, although I dream of you as I have dreamt before. What did I
+      say to you that day when first we met? That for you I had good tidings;
+      that though death was all about you, you need not fear; that in this place
+      you who had known great sorrow should find happiness and rest. Yet,
+      maiden, you would not believe the words of the Munwali, spoken by his
+      prophet&rsquo;s lips, as he at your side, who shall be your husband, would not
+      believe me in years past when I told him that we should meet again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;I thought your rest was that which we find only
+      in the grave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would not believe,&rdquo; he went on without heeding her, &ldquo;and therefore
+      you tried to fly, and therefore your heart was torn with terror and with
+      agony, when it should have waited for the end in confidence and peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, my trial was very sore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden, I know it, and because it was so sore that patient Spirit of
+      Bambatse bore with you, and through it all guided your feet aright. Yes,
+      with you has that Spirit gone, by day, by night, in the morning and in the
+      evening. Who was it that smote the man who lies dead yonder with horror
+      and with madness when he would have bent your will to his and made you a
+      wife to him? Who was it that told you the secret of the treasure-pit, and
+      what footsteps went before you down its stair? Who was it that led you
+      past the sentries of the Amandabele and gave you wit and power to snatch
+      your lord&rsquo;s life from Maduna&rsquo;s bloody hand? Yes, with you it has gone and
+      with you it will go. No more shall the White Witch stand upon the pillar
+      point at the rising of the sun, or in the shining of the moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father, I have never understood you, and I do not understand you now,&rdquo;
+       said Benita. &ldquo;What has this spirit to do with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled a little, then answered slowly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That I may not tell you; that you shall learn one day, but never here.
+      When you also have entered into silence, then you shall learn. But I say
+      to you that this shall not be till your hair is as white as mine, and your
+      years are as many. Ah! you thought that I had deserted you, when fearing
+      for your father&rsquo;s life you wept and prayed in the darkness of the cave.
+      Yet it was not so, for I did but suffer the doom which I had read to
+      fulfil itself as it must do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose to his feet and, resting on his staff, laid one withered hand upon
+      the head of Benita.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maiden,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we meet no more beneath the sun. Yet because you have
+      brought deliverance to my people, because you are sweet and pure and true,
+      take with you the blessing of Munwali, spoken by the mouth of his servant
+      Mambo, the old Molimo of Bambatse. Though from time to time you must know
+      tears and walk in the shade of sorrows, long and happy shall be your days
+      with him whom you have chosen. Children shall spring up about you, and
+      children&rsquo;s children, and with them also shall the blessing go. The gold
+      you white folk love is yours, and it shall multiply and give food to the
+      hungry and raiment to those that are a-cold. Yet in your own heart lies a
+      richer store that cannot melt away, the countless treasure of mercy and of
+      love. When you sleep and when you wake Love shall take you by the hand,
+      till at length he leads you through life&rsquo;s dark cave to that eternal house
+      of purest gold which soon or late those that seek it shall inherit,&rdquo; and
+      with his staff he pointed to the glowing morning sky wherein one by one
+      little rosy clouds floated upwards and were lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Robert and to Benita&rsquo;s misty eyes they looked like bright-winged angels
+      throwing wide the black doors of night, and heralding that conquering
+      glory at whose advent despair and darkness flee away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
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+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg's Benita, An African Romance, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Benita, An African Romance
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2761]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENITA, AN AFRICAN ROMANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Emma Dudding; Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+BENITA--AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+     NOTES
+
+     It may interest readers of this story to know that its author
+     believes it to have a certain foundation in fact.
+
+     It was said about five-and-twenty or thirty years ago that an
+     adventurous trader, hearing from some natives in the territory
+     that lies at the back of Quilimane, the legend of a great treasure
+     buried in or about the sixteenth century by a party of Portuguese
+     who were afterwards massacred, as a last resource attempted its
+     discovery by the help of a mesmerist. According to this history
+     the child who was used as a subject in the experiment, when in a
+     state of trance, detailed the adventures and death of the unhappy
+     Portuguese men and women, two of whom leapt from the point of a
+     high rock into the Zambesi. Although he knew no tongue but
+     English, this clairvoyant child is declared to have repeated in
+     Portuguese the prayers these unfortunates offered up, and even to
+     have sung the very hymns they sang. Moreover, with much other
+     detail, he described the burial of the great treasure and its
+     exact situation so accurately that the white man and the mesmerist
+     were able to dig for and find the place where _it had been_--for
+     the bags were gone, swept out by the floods of the river.
+
+     Some gold coins remained, however, one of them a ducat of Aloysius
+     Mocenigo, Doge of Venice. Afterwards the boy was again thrown into
+     a trance (in all he was mesmerized eight times), and revealed
+     where the sacks still lay; but before the white trader could renew
+     his search for them, the party was hunted out of the country by
+     natives whose superstitious fears were aroused, barely escaping
+     with their lives.
+
+     It should be added that, as in the following tale, the chief who
+     was ruling there when the tragedy happened, declared the place to
+     be sacred, and that if it were entered evil would befall his
+     tribe. Thus it came about that for generations it was never
+     violated, until at length his descendants were driven farther from
+     the river by war, and from one of them the white man heard the
+     legend.
+
+
+
+
+BENITA--AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+CONFIDENCES
+
+Beautiful, beautiful was that night! No air that stirred; the black
+smoke from the funnels of the mail steamer _Zanzibar_ lay low over the
+surface of the sea like vast, floating ostrich plumes that vanished one
+by one in the starlight. Benita Beatrix Clifford, for that was her full
+name, who had been christened Benita after her mother and Beatrix after
+her father's only sister, leaning idly over the bulwark rail, thought
+to herself that a child might have sailed that sea in a boat of bark and
+come safely into port.
+
+Then a tall man of about thirty years of age, who was smoking a cigar,
+strolled up to her. At his coming she moved a little as though to make
+room for him beside her, and there was something in the motion which,
+had anyone been there to observe it, might have suggested that these two
+were upon terms of friendship, or still greater intimacy. For a moment
+he hesitated, and while he did so an expression of doubt, of distress
+even, gathered on his face. It was as though he understood that a great
+deal depended on whether he accepted or declined that gentle invitation,
+and knew not which to do.
+
+Indeed, much did depend upon it, no less than the destinies of both of
+them. If Robert Seymour had gone by to finish his cigar in solitude, why
+then this story would have had a very different ending; or, rather, who
+can say how it might have ended? The dread, foredoomed event with which
+that night was big would have come to its awful birth leaving certain
+words unspoken. Violent separation must have ensued, and even if both of
+them had survived the terror, what prospect was there that their lives
+would again have crossed each other in that wide Africa?
+
+But it was not so fated, for just as he put his foot forward to continue
+his march Benita spoke in her low and pleasant voice.
+
+"Are you going to the smoking-room or to the saloon to dance, Mr.
+Seymour? One of the officers just told me that there is to be a dance,"
+she added, in explanation, "because it is so calm that we might fancy
+ourselves ashore."
+
+"Neither," he answered. "The smoking-room is stuffy, and my dancing days
+are over. No; I proposed to take exercise after that big dinner, and
+then to sit in a chair and fall asleep. But," he added, and his voice
+grew interested, "how did you know that it was I? You never turned your
+head."
+
+"I have ears in my head as well as eyes," she answered with a little
+laugh, "and after we have been nearly a month together on this ship I
+ought to know your step."
+
+"I never remember that anyone ever recognized it before," he said, more
+to himself than to her, then came and leaned over the rail at her side.
+His doubts were gone. Fate had spoken.
+
+For a while there was silence between them, then he asked her if she
+were not going to the dance.
+
+Benita shook her head.
+
+"Why not? You are fond of dancing, and you dance very well. Also there
+are plenty of officers for partners, especially Captain----" and he
+checked himself.
+
+"I know," she said; "it would be pleasant, but--Mr. Seymour, will you
+think me foolish if I tell you something?"
+
+"I have never thought you foolish yet, Miss Clifford, so I don't know
+why I should begin now. What is it?"
+
+"I am not going to the dance because I am afraid, yes, horribly afraid."
+
+"Afraid! Afraid of what?"
+
+"I don't quite know, but, Mr. Seymour, I feel as though we were all
+of us upon the edge of some dreadful catastrophe--as though there were
+about to be a mighty change, and beyond it another life, something
+new and unfamiliar. It came over me at dinner--that was why I left the
+table. Quite suddenly I looked, and all the people were different, yes,
+all except a few."
+
+"Was I different?" he asked curiously.
+
+"No, you were not," and he thought he heard her add "Thank God!" beneath
+her breath.
+
+"And were you different?"
+
+"I don't know. I never looked at myself; I was the seer, not the seen. I
+have always been like that."
+
+"Indigestion," he said reflectively. "We eat too much on board ship,
+and the dinner was very long and heavy. I told you so, that's why I'm
+taking--I mean why I wanted to take exercise."
+
+"And to go to sleep afterwards."
+
+"Yes, first the exercise, then the sleep. Miss Clifford, that is the
+rule of life--and death. With sleep thought ends, therefore for some of
+us your catastrophe is much to be desired, for it would mean long sleep
+and no thought."
+
+"I said that they were changed, not that they had ceased to think.
+Perhaps they thought the more."
+
+"Then let us pray that your catastrophe may be averted. I prescribe
+for you bismuth and carbonate of soda. Also in this weather it seems
+difficult to imagine such a thing. Look now, Miss Clifford," he added,
+with a note of enthusiasm in his voice, pointing towards the east,
+"look."
+
+Her eyes followed his outstretched hand, and there, above the level
+ocean, rose the great orb of the African moon. Lo! of a sudden all that
+ocean turned to silver, a wide path of rippling silver stretched from
+it to them. It might have been the road of angels. The sweet soft light
+beat upon their ship, showing its tapering masts and every detail of the
+rigging. It passed on beyond them, and revealed the low, foam-fringed
+coast-line rising here and there, dotted with kloofs and their clinging
+bush. Even the round huts of Kaffir kraals became faintly visible in
+that radiance. Other things became visible also--for instance, the
+features of this pair.
+
+The man was light in his colouring, fair-skinned, with fair hair which
+already showed a tendency towards greyness, especially in the moustache,
+for he wore no beard. His face was clean cut, not particularly handsome,
+since, their fineness notwithstanding, his features lacked regularity;
+the cheekbones were too high and the chin was too small, small faults
+redeemed to some extent by the steady and cheerful grey eyes. For
+the rest, he was broad-shouldered and well-set-up, sealed with the
+indescribable stamp of the English gentleman. Such was the appearance of
+Robert Seymour.
+
+In that light the girl at his side looked lovely, though, in fact, she
+had no real claims to loveliness, except perhaps as regards her figure,
+which was agile, rounded, and peculiarly graceful. Her foreign-looking
+face was unusual, dark-eyed, a somewhat large and very mobile mouth,
+fair and waving hair, a broad forehead, a sweet and at times wistful
+face, thoughtful for the most part, but apt to be irradiated by sudden
+smiles. Not a beautiful woman at all, but exceedingly attractive, one
+possessing magnetism.
+
+She gazed, first at the moon and the silver road beneath it, then,
+turning, at the land beyond.
+
+"We are very near to Africa, at last," she said.
+
+"Too near, I think," he answered. "If I were the captain I should stand
+out a point or two. It is a strange country, full of surprises. Miss
+Clifford, will you think me rude if I ask you why you are going there?
+You have never told me--quite."
+
+"No, because the story is rather a sad one; but you shall hear it if you
+wish. Do you?"
+
+He nodded, and drew up two deck chairs, in which they settled themselves
+in a corner made by one of the inboard boats, their faces still towards
+the sea.
+
+"You know I was born in Africa," she said, "and lived there till I was
+thirteen years old--why, I find I can still speak Zulu; I did so this
+afternoon. My father was one of the early settlers in Natal. His father
+was a clergyman, a younger son of the Lincolnshire Cliffords. They are
+great people there still, though I don't suppose that they are aware of
+my existence."
+
+"I know them," answered Robert Seymour. "Indeed, I was shooting at their
+place last November--when the smash came," and he sighed; "but go on."
+
+"Well, my father quarrelled with his father, I don't know what about,
+and emigrated. In Natal he married my mother, a Miss Ferreira, whose
+name--like mine and her mother's--was Benita. She was one of two
+sisters, and her father, Andreas Ferreira, who married an English lady,
+was half Dutch and half Portuguese. I remember him well, a fine old man
+with dark eyes and an iron-grey beard. He was wealthy as things went
+in those days--that is to say, he had lots of land in Natal and the
+Transvaal, and great herds of stock. So you see I am half English, some
+Dutch, and more than a quarter Portuguese--quite a mixture of races. My
+father and mother did not get on well together. Mr. Seymour, I may as
+well tell you all the truth: he drank, and although he was passionately
+fond of her, she was jealous of him. Also he gambled away most of her
+patrimony, and after old Andreas Ferreira's death they grew poor. One
+night there was a dreadful scene between them, and in his madness he
+struck her.
+
+"Well, she was a very proud woman, determined, too, and she turned on
+him and said--for I heard her--'I will never forgive you; we have done
+with each other.' Next morning, when my father was sober, he begged her
+pardon, but she made no answer, although he was starting somewhere on
+a fortnight's trek. When he had gone my mother ordered the Cape cart,
+packed up her clothes, took some money that she had put away, drove to
+Durban, and after making arrangements at the bank about a small private
+income of her own, sailed with me for England, leaving a letter for my
+father in which she said that she would never see him again, and if he
+tried to interfere with me she would put me under the protection of the
+English court, which would not allow me to be taken to the home of a
+drunkard.
+
+"In England we went to live in London with my aunt, who had married a
+Major King, but was a widow with five children. My father often wrote to
+persuade my mother to go back to him, but she never would, which I think
+was wrong of her. So things went on for twelve years or more, till
+one day my mother suddenly died, and I came into her little fortune of
+between L200 and L300 a year, which she had tied up so that nobody can
+touch it. That was about a year ago. I wrote to tell my father of her
+death, and received a pitiful letter; indeed, I have had several of
+them. He implored me to come out to him and not to leave him to die in
+his loneliness, as he soon would do of a broken heart, if I did not. He
+said that he had long ago given up drinking, which was the cause of the
+ruin of his life, and sent a certificate signed by a magistrate and a
+doctor to that effect. Well, in the end, although all my cousins and
+their mother advised me against it, I consented, and here I am. He is to
+meet me at Durban, but how we shall get on together is more than I can
+say, though I long to see him, for after all he is my father."
+
+"It was good of you to come, under all the circumstances. You must have
+a brave heart," said Robert reflectively.
+
+"It is my duty," she answered. "And for the rest, I am not afraid who
+was born to Africa. Indeed, often and often have I wished to be back
+there again, out on the veld, far away from the London streets and fog.
+I am young and strong, and I want to see things, natural things--not
+those made by man, you know--the things I remember as a child. One can
+always go back to London."
+
+"Yes, or at least some people can. It is a curious thing, Miss Clifford,
+but as it happens I have met your father. You always reminded me of the
+man, but I had forgotten his name. Now it comes back to me; it _was_
+Clifford."
+
+"Where on earth?" she asked, astonished.
+
+"In a queer place. As I told you, I have visited South Africa before,
+under different circumstances. Four years ago I was out here big-game
+shooting. Going in from the East coast my brother and I--he is dead now,
+poor fellow--got up somewhere in the Matabele country, on the banks of
+the Zambesi. As we didn't find much game there we were going to strike
+south, when some natives told us of a wonderful ruin that stood on
+a hill overhanging the river a few miles farther on. So, leaving the
+waggon on the hither side of the steep nek, over which it would have
+been difficult to drag it, my brother and I took our rifles and a bag
+of food and started. The place was farther off than we thought, although
+from the top of the nek we could see it clearly enough, and before we
+reached it dark had fallen.
+
+"Now we had observed a waggon and a tent outside the wall which we
+thought must belong to white men, and headed for them. There was a light
+in the tent, and the flap was open, the night being very hot. Inside
+two men were seated, one old, with a grey beard, and the other, a
+good-looking fellow--under forty, I should say--with a Jewish face,
+dark, piercing eyes, and a black, pointed beard. They were engaged
+in examining a heap of gold beads and bangles, which lay on the table
+between them. As I was about to speak, the black-bearded man heard or
+caught sight of us, and seizing a rifle that leaned against the table,
+swung round and covered me.
+
+"'For God's sake don't shoot, Jacob,' said the old man; 'they are
+English.'
+
+"'Best dead, any way,' answered the other, in a soft voice, with a
+slight foreign accent, 'we don't want spies or thieves here.'
+
+"'We are neither, but I can shoot as well as you, friend,' I remarked,
+for by this time my rifle was on him.
+
+"Then he thought better of it, and dropped his gun, and we explained
+that we were merely on an archaeological expedition. The end of it was
+that we became capital friends, though neither of us could cotton much
+to Mr. Jacob--I forget his other name. He struck me as too handy with
+his rifle, and was, I gathered, an individual with a mysterious and
+rather lurid past. To cut a long story short, when he found out that
+we had no intention of poaching, your father, for it was he, told us
+frankly that they were treasure-hunting, having got hold of some
+story about a vast store of gold which had been hidden away there by
+Portuguese two or three centuries before. Their trouble was, however,
+that the Makalanga, who lived in the fortress, which was called
+Bambatse, would not allow them to dig, because they said the place was
+haunted, and if they did so it would bring bad luck to their tribe."
+
+"And did they ever get in?" asked Benita.
+
+"I am sure I don't know, for we went next day, though before we left we
+called on the Makalanga, who admitted us all readily enough so long as
+we brought no spades with us. By the way, the gold we saw your father
+and his friend examining was found in some ancient graves outside the
+walls, but had nothing to do with the big and mythical treasure."
+
+"What was the place like? I love old ruins," broke in Benita again.
+
+"Oh! wonderful. A gigantic, circular wall built by heaven knows who,
+then half-way up the hill another wall, and near the top a third wall
+which, I understood, surrounded a sort of holy of holies, and above
+everything, on the brink of the precipice, a great cone of granite."
+
+"Artificial or natural?"
+
+"I don't know. They would not let us up there, but we were introduced
+to their chief and high priest, Church and State in one, and a wonderful
+old man he was, very wise and very gentle. I remember he told me he
+believed we should meet again, which seemed an odd thing for him to say.
+I asked him about the treasure and why he would not let the other white
+men look for it. He answered that it would never be found by any man,
+white or black, that only a woman would find it at the appointed time,
+when it pleased the Spirit of Bambatse, under whose guardianship it
+was."
+
+"Who was the Spirit of Bambatse, Mr. Seymour?"
+
+"I can't tell you, couldn't make out anything definite about her, except
+that she was said to be white, and to appear sometimes at sunrise, or in
+the moonlight, standing upon the tall point of rock of which I told you.
+I remember that I got up before the dawn to look for her--like an idiot,
+for of course I saw nothing--and that's all I know about the matter."
+
+"Did you have any talk with my father, Mr. Seymour--alone, I mean?"
+
+"Yes, a little. The next day he walked back to our waggon with us, being
+glad, I fancy, of a change from the perpetual society of his partner
+Jacob. That wasn't wonderful in a man who had been brought up at
+Eton and Oxford, as I found out he had, like myself, and whatever his
+failings may have been--although we saw no sign of them, for he would
+not touch a drop of spirits--was a gentleman, which Jacob wasn't. Still,
+he--Jacob--had read a lot, especially on out-of-the-way subjects,
+and could talk every language under the sun--a clever and agreeable
+scoundrel in short."
+
+"Did my father say anything about himself?"
+
+"Yes; he told me that he had been an unsuccessful man all his life,
+and had much to reproach himself with, for we got quite confidential at
+last. He added that he had a family in England--what family he didn't
+say--whom he was anxious to make wealthy by way of reparation for past
+misdeeds, and that was why he was treasure-hunting. However, from what
+you tell me, I fear he never found anything."
+
+"No, Mr. Seymour, he never found it and never will, but all the same
+I am glad to hear that he was thinking of us. Also I should like to
+explore that place, Bambatse."
+
+"So should I, Miss Clifford, in your company, and your father's, but not
+in that of Jacob. If ever you should go there with him, I say:--'Beware
+of Jacob.'"
+
+"Oh! I am not afraid of Jacob," she answered with a laugh, "although I
+believe that my father still has something to do with him--at least in
+one of his letters he mentioned his partner, who was a German."
+
+"A German! I think that he must have meant a German Jew."
+
+After this there was silence between them for a time, then he said
+suddenly, "You have told me your story, would you like to hear mine?"
+
+"Yes," she answered.
+
+"Well, it won't take you long to listen to it, for, Miss Clifford,
+like Canning's needy knife-grinder, I have really none to tell. You
+see before you one of the most useless persons in the world, an
+undistinguished member of what is called in England the 'leisured
+class,' who can do absolutely nothing that is worth doing, except shoot
+straight."
+
+"Indeed," said Benita.
+
+"You do not seem impressed with that accomplishment," he went on, "yet
+it is an honest fact that for the last fifteen years--I was thirty-two
+this month--practically my whole time has been given up to it, with a
+little fishing thrown in in the spring. As I want to make the most of
+myself, I will add that I am supposed to be among the six best shots in
+England, and that my ambition--yes, great Heavens! my ambition--was to
+become better than the other five. By that sin fell the poor man who
+speaks to you. I was supposed to have abilities, but I neglected them
+all to pursue this form of idleness. I entered no profession, I did
+no work, with the result that at thirty-two I am ruined and almost
+hopeless."
+
+"Why ruined and hopeless?" she asked anxiously, for the way in which
+they were spoken grieved her more than the words themselves.
+
+"Ruined because my old uncle, the Honourable John Seymour Seymour, whose
+heir I was, committed the indiscretion of marrying a young lady who has
+presented him with thriving twins. With the appearance of those twins my
+prospects disappeared, as did the allowance of L1,500 a year that he
+was good enough to make me on which to keep up a position as his
+next-of-kin. I had something of my own, but also I had debts, and at the
+present moment a draft in my pocket for L2,163 14s. 5d., and a little
+loose cash, represents the total of my worldly goods, just about the sum
+I have been accustomed to spend per annum."
+
+"I don't call that ruin, I call that riches," said Benita, relieved.
+"With L2,000 to begin on you may make a fortune in Africa. But how about
+the hopelessness?"
+
+"I am hopeless because I have absolutely nothing to which to look
+forward. Really, when that L2,000 is gone I do not know how to earn a
+sixpence. In this dilemma it occurred to me that the only thing I could
+do was to turn my shooting to practical account, and become a hunter of
+big game. Therefore I propose to kill elephants until an elephant kills
+me. At least," he added in a changed voice, "I did so propose until half
+an hour ago."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE END OF THE "ZANZIBAR."
+
+"Until half an hour ago? Then why----" and Benita stopped.
+
+"Have I changed my very modest scheme of life? Miss Clifford, as you are
+so good as to be sufficiently interested, I will tell you. It is because
+a temptation which hitherto I have been able to resist, has during the
+last thirty minutes become too strong for me. You know everything has
+its breaking strain." He puffed nervously at his cigar, threw it into
+the sea, paused, then went on: "Miss Clifford, I have dared to fall in
+love with you. No; hear me out. When I have done it will be quite time
+enough to give me the answer that I expect. Meanwhile, for the first
+time in my life, allow me the luxury of being in earnest. To me it is a
+new sensation, and therefore very priceless. May I go on?"
+
+Benita made no answer. He rose with a certain deliberateness which
+characterized all his movements--for Robert Seymour never seemed to be
+in a hurry--and stood in front of her so that the moonlight shone upon
+her face, while his own remained in shadow.
+
+"Beyond that L2,000 of which I have spoken, and incidentally its
+owner, I have nothing whatsoever to offer to you. I am an indigent and
+worthless person. Even in my prosperous days, when I could look forward
+to a large estate, although it was often suggested to me, I never
+considered myself justified in asking any lady to share--the prospective
+estate. I think now that the real reason was that I never cared
+sufficiently for any lady, since otherwise my selfishness would probably
+have overcome my scruples, as it does to-night. Benita, for I will call
+you so, if for the first and last time, I--I--love you.
+
+"Listen now," he went on, dropping his measured manner, and speaking
+hurriedly, like a man with an earnest message and little time in which
+to deliver it, "it is an odd thing, an incomprehensible thing, but
+true, true--I fell in love with you the first time I saw your face. You
+remember, you stood there leaning over the bulwark when I came on board
+at Southampton, and as I walked up the gangway, I looked and my eyes met
+yours. Then I stopped, and that stout old lady who got off at Madeira
+bumped into me, and asked me to be good enough to make up my mind if I
+were going backward or forward. Do you remember?"
+
+"Yes," she answered in a low voice.
+
+"Which things are an allegory," he continued. "I felt it so at the time.
+Yes, I had half a mind to answer 'Backward' and give up my berth in
+this ship. Then I looked at you again, and something inside of me said
+'Forward.' So I came up the rest of the gangway and took off my hat
+to you, a salutation I had no right to make, but which, I recall, you
+acknowledged."
+
+He paused, then continued: "As it began, so it has gone on. It is always
+like that, is it not? The beginning is everything, the end must follow.
+And now it has come out, as I was fully determined that it should not do
+half an hour ago, when suddenly you developed eyes in the back of your
+head, and--oh! dearest, I love you. No, please be quiet; I have not
+done. I have told you what I am, and really there isn't much more to say
+about me, for I have no particular vices except the worst of them all,
+idleness, and not the slightest trace of any virtue that I can discover.
+But I have a certain knowledge of the world acquired in a long course of
+shooting parties, and as a man of the world I will venture to give you a
+bit of advice. It is possible that to you my life and death affair is
+a mere matter of board-ship amusement. Yet it is possible also that you
+might take another view of the matter. In that case, as a friend and a
+man of the world, I entreat you--don't. Have nothing to do with me. Send
+me about my business; you will never regret it."
+
+"Are you making fun, or is all this meant, Mr. Seymour?" asked Benita,
+still speaking beneath her breath, and looking straight before her.
+
+"Meant? Of course it is meant. How can you ask?"
+
+"Because I have always understood that on such occasions people wish to
+make the best of themselves."
+
+"Quite so, but I never do what I ought, a fact for which I am grateful
+now come to think of it, since otherwise I should not be here to-night.
+I wish to make the worst of myself, the very worst, for whatever I am
+not, at least I am honest. Now having told you that I am, or was half
+an hour ago, an idler, a good-for-nothing, prospectless failure, I ask
+you--if you care to hear any more?"
+
+She half rose, and, glancing at him for the first time, saw his face
+contract itself and turn pale in the moonlight. It may be that the
+sight of it affected her, even to the extent of removing some adverse
+impression left by the bitter mocking of his self-blame. At any rate,
+Benita seemed to change her mind, and sat down again, saying:
+
+"Go on, if you wish."
+
+He bowed slightly, and said:
+
+"I thank you. I have told you what I _was_ half an hour ago; now, hoping
+that you will believe me, I will tell you what I _am_. I am a truly
+repentant man, one upon whom a new light has risen. I am not very old,
+and I think that underneath it all I have some ability. Opportunity
+may still come my way; if it does not, for your sake I will make the
+opportunity. I do not believe that you can ever find anyone who would
+love you better or care for you more tenderly. I desire to live for you
+in the future, more completely even than in the past I have lived for
+myself. I do not wish to influence you by personal appeals, but in fact
+I stand at the parting of the ways. If you will give yourself to me
+I feel as though I might still become a husband of whom you could be
+proud--if not, I write 'Finis' upon the tombstone of the possibilities
+of Robert Seymour. I adore you. You are the one woman with whom I desire
+to pass my days; it is you who have always been lacking to my life. I
+ask you to be brave, to take the risk of marrying me, although I can see
+nothing but poverty ahead of us, for I am an adventurer."
+
+"Don't speak like that," she said quickly. "We are all of us adventurers
+in this world, and I more than you. We have just to consider ourselves,
+not what we have or have not."
+
+"So be it, Miss Clifford. Then I have nothing more to say; now it is for
+you to answer."
+
+Just then the sound of the piano and the fiddle in the saloon ceased.
+One of the waltzes was over, and some of the dancers came upon deck to
+flirt or to cool themselves. One pair, engaged very obviously in the
+former occupation, stationed themselves so near to Robert and Benita
+that further conversation between them was impossible, and there
+proceeded to interchange the remarks common to such occasions.
+
+For a good ten minutes did they stand thus, carrying on a mock quarrel
+as to a dance of which one of them was supposed to have been defrauded,
+until Robert Seymour, generally a very philosophical person, could have
+slain those innocent lovers. He felt, he knew not why, that his chances
+were slipping away from him; that sensation of something bad about to
+happen, of which Benita had spoken, spread from her to him. The suspense
+grew exasperating, terrible even, nor could it be ended. To ask her to
+come elsewhere was under the circumstances not feasible, especially as
+he would also have been obliged to request the other pair to make way
+for them, and all this time, with a sinking of the heart, he felt that
+probably Benita was beating down any tenderness which she might feel
+towards him; that when her long-delayed answer did come the chances were
+it would be "No."
+
+The piano began to play again in the saloon, and the young people, still
+squabbling archly, at length prepared to depart. Suddenly there was a
+stir upon the bridge, and against the tender sky Robert saw a man dash
+forward. Next instant the engine-room bell rang fiercely. He knew the
+signal--it was "Stop," followed at once by other ringings that meant
+"Full speed astern."
+
+"I wonder what is up?" said the young man to the young woman.
+
+Before the words had left his lips they knew. There was a sensation as
+though all the hull of the great ship had come to a complete standstill,
+while the top part of her continued to travel forward; followed by
+another sensation still more terrible and sickening in its nature--that
+of slipping over something, helplessly, heavily, as a man slips upon ice
+or a polished floor. Spars cracked, ropes flew in two with a noise as of
+pistol shots. Heavy objects rushed about the deck, travelling forwards
+all of them. Benita was hurled from her chair against Robert so that the
+two of them rolled into the scuppers. He was unhurt and picked himself
+up, but she lay still, and he saw that something had struck her upon the
+head, for blood was running down her cheek. He lifted her, and, filled
+with black horror and despair--for he thought her gone--pressed his hand
+upon her heart. Thank God! it began to beat again--she still lived.
+
+The music in the saloon had stopped, and for a little while there
+was silence. Then of an instant there arose the horrible clamour of
+shipwreck; wild-eyed people rushed to and fro aimlessly; here and there
+women and children shrieked; a clergyman fell upon his knees and began
+to pray.
+
+This went on for a space, till presently the second officer appeared
+and, affecting an unconcerned air, called out that it was all right, the
+captain said no one was to be afraid. He added that they were not more
+than six miles from the shore, and that the ship would be beached in
+half an hour. Indeed, as he spoke the engines, which had been stopped,
+commenced to work again, and her head swung round in a wide circle,
+pointing to the land. Evidently they had passed over the rock and were
+once more in deep water, through which they travelled at a good speed
+but with a heavy list to starboard. The pumps got to work also with a
+monotonous, clanging beat, throwing out great columns of foaming water
+on to the oily sea. Men began to cut the covers off the boats, and to
+swing some of them outboard. Such were the things that went on about
+them.
+
+With the senseless Benita clasped to his breast, the blood from her cut
+head running down his shoulder, Robert stood still awhile, thinking.
+Then he made up his mind. As it chanced, she had a deck cabin, and
+thither he forced his way, carrying her tenderly and with patience
+through the distracted throng of passengers, for there were five hundred
+souls on board that ship. He reached the place to find that it was quite
+empty, her cabinmate having fled. Laying Benita upon the lower bunk,
+he lit the swinging candle. As soon as it burned up he searched for
+the lifebelts and by good fortune found two of them, one of which, not
+without great difficulty, he succeeded in fastening round her. Then he
+took a sponge and bathed her head with water. There was a great bruise
+upon her temple where the block or whatever it was had struck her, and
+the blood still flowed; but the wound was not very deep or extensive,
+nor, so far as he could discover, did the bone appear to be broken or
+driven in. He had good hope that she was only stunned, and would revive
+presently. Unable to do more for her, a thought struck him. On the floor
+of the cabin, thrown by the shock from the rack, lay her writing case.
+He opened it, and taking a piece of paper wrote these words hurriedly in
+pencil:
+
+"You gave me no answer, and it is more than probable that I shall
+receive none in this world which one or both of us may be upon the
+verge of leaving. In the latter case we can settle the matter
+elsewhere--perhaps. In the former, should it be my lot to go and yours
+to stay, I hope that you will think kindly of me at times as of one
+who loved you truly. Should it be yours to go, then you will never read
+these words. Yet if to the dead is given knowledge, be assured that as
+you left me so you shall find me, yours and yours alone. Or perhaps we
+both may live; I pray so.--S. R. S."
+
+Folding up the paper, he undid a button of Benita's blouse and thrust
+it away there, knowing that thus she would certainly find it should she
+survive. Then he stepped out on to the deck to see what was happening.
+The vessel still steamed, but made slow progress; moreover, the list to
+starboard was now so pronounced that it was difficult to stand upright.
+On account of it nearly all the passengers were huddled together upon
+the port side, having instinctively taken refuge as far as possible
+above the water. A man with a white, distraught face staggered towards
+him, supporting himself by the bulwarks. It was the captain. For a
+moment he paused as though to think, holding to a stanchion. Robert
+Seymour saw his opportunity and addressed him.
+
+"Forgive me," he said; "I do not like interfering with other people's
+business, but for reasons unconnected with myself I suggest to you that
+it would be wise to stop this ship and get out the boats. The sea is
+calm; if it is not left till too late there should be no difficulty in
+launching them."
+
+The man stared at him absently, then said:
+
+"They won't hold everybody, Mr. Seymour. I hope to beach her."
+
+"At least they will hold some," he answered, "whereas----" And he
+pointed to the water, which by now was almost level with the deck.
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Mr. Seymour. It doesn't matter to me, anyway. I
+am a ruined man; but the poor passengers--the poor passengers!" And he
+scrambled away fiercely towards the bridge like a wounded cat along
+the bough of a tree, whence in a few seconds Robert heard him shouting
+orders.
+
+A minute or so afterwards the steamer stopped. Too late the captain
+had decided to sacrifice his ship and save those she carried. They were
+beginning to get out the boats. Now Robert returned to the cabin where
+Benita was lying senseless, and wrapped her up in a cloak and some
+blankets. Then, seeing the second lifebelt on the floor, by an
+afterthought he put it on, knowing that there was time to spare. Next he
+lifted Benita, and feeling sure that the rush would be for the starboard
+side, on which the boats were quite near the water, carried her, with
+difficulty, for the slope was steep, to the port-cutter, which he knew
+would be in the charge of a good man, the second officer, whom he had
+seen in command there at Sunday boat-drills.
+
+Here, as he had anticipated, the crowd was small, since most people
+thought that it would not be possible to get this boat down safely to
+the water; or if their powers of reflection were gone, instinct told
+them so. That skilful seaman, the second officer, and his appointed
+crew, were already at work lowering the cutter from the davits.
+
+"Now," he said, "women and children first."
+
+A number rushed in, and Robert saw that the boat would soon be full.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that I must count myself a woman as I carry
+one," and by a great effort, holding Benita with one arm, with the other
+he let himself down the falls and, assisted by a quartermaster, gained
+the boat in safety.
+
+One or two other men scrambled after him.
+
+"Push her off," said the officer; "she can hold no more," and the ropes
+were let go.
+
+When they were about twelve feet from the ship's side, from which
+they thrust themselves clear with oars, there came a rush of people,
+disappointed of places in the starboard boats. A few of the boldest
+of these swarmed down the falls, others jumped and fell among them, or
+missed and dropped into the sea, or struck upon the sides of the boat
+and were killed. Still she reached the water upon an even keel, though
+now much overladen. The oars were got out, and they rowed round the bow
+of the great ship wallowing in her death-throes, their first idea being
+to make for the shore, which was not three miles away.
+
+This brought them to the starboard side, where they saw a hideous scene.
+Hundreds of people seemed to be fighting for room, with the result that
+some of the boats were overturned, precipitating their occupants into
+the water. Others hung by the prow or the stern, the ropes having jammed
+in the davits in the frantic haste and confusion, while from them human
+beings dropped one by one. Round others not yet launched a hellish
+struggle was in progress, the struggle of men, women, and children
+battling for their lives, in which the strong, mad with terror, showed
+no mercy to the weak.
+
+From that mass of humanity, most of them about to perish, went up a
+babel of sounds which in its sum shaped itself to one prolonged scream,
+such as might proceed from a Titan in his agony. All this beneath a
+brooding, moonlit sky, and on a sea as smooth as glass. Upon the ship,
+which now lay upon her side, the siren still sent up its yells for
+succour, and some brave man continued to fire rockets, which rushed
+heavenwards and burst in showers of stars.
+
+Robert remembered that the last rocket he had seen was fired at an
+evening _fete_ for the amusement of the audience. The contrast struck
+him as dreadful. He wondered whether there were any power or infernal
+population that could be amused by a tragedy such as enacted itself
+before his eyes; how it came about also that such a tragedy was
+permitted by the merciful Strength in which mankind put their faith.
+
+The vessel was turning over, compressed air or steam burst up the decks
+with loud reports; fragments of wreckage flew into the air. There the
+poor captain still clung to the rail of the bridge. Seymour could see
+his white face--the moonlight seemed to paint it with a ghastly smile.
+The officer in command of their boat shouted to the crew to give way
+lest they should be sucked down with the steamer.
+
+Look! Now she wallowed like a dying whale, the moonrays shone white upon
+her bottom, showing the jagged rent made in it by the rock on which she
+had struck, and now she was gone. Only a little cloud of smoke and steam
+remained to mark where the _Zanzibar_ had been.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+HOW ROBERT CAME ASHORE
+
+In place of the _Zanzibar_ a great pit on the face of the ocean, in
+which the waters boiled and black objects appeared and disappeared.
+
+"Sit still, for your lives' sake," said the officer in a quiet voice;
+"the suck is coming."
+
+In another minute it came, dragging them downward till the water
+trickled over the sides of the boat, and backward towards the pit. But
+before ever they reached it the deep had digested its prey, and, save
+for the great air-bubbles which burst about them and a mixed, unnatural
+swell, was calm again. For the moment they were safe.
+
+"Passengers," said the officer, "I am going to put out to sea--at any
+rate, till daylight. We may meet a vessel there, and if we try to row
+ashore we shall certainly be swamped in the breakers."
+
+No one objected; they seemed too stunned to speak, but Robert thought to
+himself that the man was wise. They began to move, but before they had
+gone a dozen yards something dark rose beside them. It was a piece
+of wreckage, and clinging to it a woman, who clasped a bundle to her
+breast. More, she was alive, for she began to cry to them to take her
+in.
+
+"Save me and my child!" she cried. "For God's sake save me!"
+
+Robert recognized the choking voice; it was that of a young married lady
+with whom he had been very friendly, who was going out with her baby to
+join her husband in Natal. He stretched out his hand and caught hold of
+her, whereon the officer said, heavily:
+
+"The boat is already overladen. I must warn you that to take more aboard
+is not safe."
+
+Thereon the passengers awoke from their stupor.
+
+"Push her off," cried a voice; "she must take her chance." And there was
+a murmur of approval at the dreadful words.
+
+"For Christ's sake--for Christ's sake!" wailed the drowning woman, who
+clung desperately to Robert's hand.
+
+"If you try to pull her in, we will throw you overboard," said the voice
+again, and a knife was lifted as though to hack at his arm. Then the
+officer spoke once more.
+
+"This lady cannot come into the boat unless someone goes out of it. I
+would myself, but it is my duty to stay. Is there any man here who will
+make place for her?"
+
+But all the men there--seven of them, besides the crew--hung their heads
+and were silent.
+
+"Give way," said the officer in the same heavy voice; "she will drop off
+presently."
+
+While the words passed his lips Robert seemed to live a year. Here was
+an opportunity of atonement for his idle and luxurious life. An hour ago
+he would have taken it gladly, but now--now, with Benita senseless on
+his breast, and that answer still locked in her sleeping heart? Yet
+Benita would approve of such a death as this, and even if she loved him
+not in life, would learn to love his memory. In an instant his mind was
+made up, and he was speaking rapidly.
+
+"Thompson," he said to the officer, "if I go, will you swear to take her
+in and her child?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Seymour."
+
+"Then lay to; I am going. If any of you live, tell this lady how I
+died," and he pointed to Benita, "and say I thought that she would wish
+it."
+
+"She shall be told," said the officer again, "and saved, too, if I can
+do it."
+
+"Hold Mrs. Jeffreys, then, till I am out of this. I'll leave my coat to
+cover her."
+
+A sailor obeyed, and with difficulty Robert wrenched free his hand.
+
+Very deliberately he pressed Benita to his breast and kissed her on the
+forehead, then let her gently slide on to the bottom of the boat. Next
+he slipped off his overcoat and slowly rolled himself over the gunwale
+into the sea.
+
+"Now," he said, "pull Mrs. Jeffreys in."
+
+"God bless you; you are a brave man," said Thompson. "I shall remember
+you if I live a hundred years."
+
+But no one else said anything; perhaps they were all too much ashamed,
+even then.
+
+"I have only done my duty," Seymour answered from the water. "How far is
+it to the shore?"
+
+"About three miles," shouted Thompson. "But keep on that plank, or you
+will never live through the rollers. Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," answered Robert.
+
+Then the boat passed away from him and soon vanished in the misty face
+of the deep.
+
+Resting on the plank which had saved the life of Mrs. Jeffreys, Robert
+Seymour looked about him and listened. Now and again he heard a faint,
+choking scream uttered by some drowning wretch, and a few hundred yards
+away caught sight of a black object which he thought might be a boat. If
+so, he reflected that it must be full. Moreover, he could not overtake
+it. No; his only chance was to make for the shore. He was a strong
+swimmer, and happily the water was almost as warm as milk. There seemed
+to be no reason why he should not reach it, supported as he was by a
+lifebelt, if the sharks would leave him alone, which they might, as
+there was plenty for them to feed on. The direction he knew well enough,
+for now in the great silence of the sea he could hear the boom of the
+mighty rollers breaking on the beach.
+
+Ah, those rollers! He remembered how that very afternoon Benita and he
+had watched them through his field glass sprouting up against the cruel
+walls of rock, and wondered that when the ocean was so calm they had
+still such power. Now, should he live to reach them, he was doomed to
+match himself against that power. Well, the sooner he did so the sooner
+it would be over, one way or the other. This was in his favour: the tide
+had turned, and was flowing shorewards. Indeed, he had little to do but
+to rest upon his plank, which he placed crosswise beneath his breast,
+and steered himself with his feet. Even thus he made good progress,
+nearly a mile an hour perhaps. He could have gone faster had he swum,
+but he was saving his strength.
+
+It was a strange journey upon that silent sea beneath those silent
+stars, and strange thoughts came into Robert's soul. He wondered whether
+Benita would live and what she would say. Perhaps, however, she was
+already dead, and he would meet her presently. He wondered if he were
+doomed to die, and whether this sacrifice of his would be allowed to
+atone for his past errors. He hoped so, and put up a petition to that
+effect, for himself and for Benita, and for all the poor people who had
+gone before, hurled from their pleasure into the halls of Death.
+
+So he floated on while the boom of the breakers grew ever nearer,
+companioned by his wild, fretful thoughts, till at length what he took
+to be a shark appeared quite close to him, and in the urgency of the
+moment he gave up wondering. It proved to be only a piece of wood, but
+later on a real shark did come, for he saw its back fin. However, this
+cruel creature was either gorged or timid, for when he splashed upon the
+water and shouted, it went away, to return no more.
+
+Now, at length, Robert entered upon the deep hill and valley swell which
+preceded the field of the rollers. Suddenly he shot down a smooth slope,
+and without effort of his own found himself borne up an opposing steep,
+from the crest of which he had a view of white lines of foam, and beyond
+them of a dim and rocky shore. At one spot, a little to his right, the
+foam seemed thinner and the line of cliff to be broken, as though here
+there was a cleft. For this cleft, then, he steered his plank, taking
+the swell obliquely, which by good fortune the set of the tide enabled
+him to do without any great exertion.
+
+The valleys grew deeper, and the tops of the opposing ridges were
+crested with foam. He had entered the rollers, and the struggle for life
+began. Before him they rushed solemn and mighty. Viewed from some safe
+place even the sight of these combers is terrible, as any who have
+watched them from this coast, or from that of the Island of Ascension,
+can bear witness. What their aspect was to this shipwrecked man,
+supported by a single plank, may therefore be imagined, seen, as he
+saw them, in the mysterious moonlight and in utter loneliness. Yet his
+spirit rose to meet the dread emergency; if he were to die, he would die
+fighting. He had grown cold and tired, but now the chill and weariness
+left him; he felt warm and strong. From the crest of one of the high
+rollers he thought he saw that about half a mile away from him a little
+river ran down the centre of the gorge, and for the mouth of this river
+he laid his course.
+
+At first all went well. He was borne up the seas; he slid down the seas
+in a lather of white foam. Presently the rise and fall grew steeper,
+and the foam began to break over his head. Robert could no longer guide
+himself; he must go as he was carried. Then in an instant he was carried
+into a hell of waters where, had it not been for his lifebelt and the
+plank, he must have been beaten down and have perished. As it was, now
+he was driven into the depths, and now he emerged upon their surface to
+hear their seething hiss around him, and above it all a continuous boom
+as of great guns--the boom of the breaking seas.
+
+The plank was almost twisted from his grasp, but he clung to it
+desperately, although its edges tore his arms. When the rollers broke
+over him he held his breath, and when he was tossed skywards on their
+curves, drew it again in quick, sweet gasps. Now he sat upon the very
+brow of one of them as a merman might; now he dived like a dolphin,
+and now, just as his senses were leaving him, his feet touched bottom.
+Another moment and Robert was being rolled along that bottom with a
+weight on him like the weight of mountains. The plank was rent from him,
+but his cork jacket brought him up. The backwash drew him with it into
+deeper water, where he lay helpless and despairing, for he no longer had
+any strength to struggle against his doom.
+
+Then it was that there came a mighty roller, bigger than any that he had
+seen--such a one as on that coast the Kaffirs call "a father of waves."
+It caught him in the embrace of its vast green curve. It bore him
+forward as though he were but a straw, far forward over the stretch of
+cruel rocks. It broke in thunder, dashing him again upon the stones
+and sand of the little river bar, rolling him along with its resistless
+might, till even that might was exhausted, and its foam began to return
+seawards, sucking him with it.
+
+Robert's mind was almost gone, but enough of it remained to tell him
+that if once more he was dragged into the deep water he must be lost. As
+the current haled him along he gripped at the bottom with his hands,
+and by the mercy of Heaven they closed on something. It may have been
+a tree-stump embedded there, or a rock--he never knew. At least, it was
+firm, and to it he hung despairingly. Would that rush never cease? His
+lungs were bursting; he must let go! Oh! the foam was thinning; his head
+was above it now; now it had departed, leaving him like a stranded fish
+upon the shingle. For half a minute or more he lay there gasping, then
+looked behind him to see another comber approaching through the
+gloom. He struggled to his feet, fell, rose again, and ran, or rather,
+staggered forward with that tigerish water hissing at his heels.
+Forward, still forward, till he was beyond its reach--yes, on dry
+sand. Then his vital forces failed him; one of his legs gave way, and,
+bleeding from a hundred hurts, he fell heavily onto his face, and there
+was still.
+
+The boat in which Benita lay, being so deep in the water, proved
+very hard to row against the tide, for the number of its passengers
+encumbered the oarsmen. After a while a light off land breeze sprang
+up, as here it often does towards morning; and the officer, Thompson,
+determined to risk hoisting the sail. Accordingly this was done--with
+some difficulty, for the mast had to be drawn out and shipped--although
+the women screamed as the weight of the air bent their frail craft over
+till the gunwale was almost level with the water.
+
+"Anyone who moves shall be thrown overboard!" said the officer, who
+steered, after which they were quiet.
+
+Now they made good progress seawards, but the anxieties of those who
+knew were very great, since the wind showed signs of rising, and if any
+swell should spring up that crowded cutter could scarcely hope to live.
+In fact, two hours later they were forced to lower the sail again and
+drift, waiting for the dawn. Mr. Thompson strove to cheer them, saying
+that now they were in the track of vessels, and if they could see none
+when the light came, he would run along the shore in the hope of finding
+a place free of breakers where they might land. If they did not inspire
+hope, at least his words calmed them, and they sat in heavy silence,
+watching the sky.
+
+At length it grew grey, and then, with a sudden glory peculiar to South
+Africa, the great red sun arose and began to dispel the mist from the
+surface of the sea. Half an hour more and this was gone, and now the
+bright rays brought life back into their chilled frames as they stared
+at each other to see which of their company were still left alive. They
+even asked for food, and biscuit was given to them with water.
+
+All this while Benita remained unconscious. Indeed, one callous fellow,
+who had been using her body as a footstool, said that she must be dead,
+and had better be thrown overboard, as it would lighten the boat.
+
+"If you throw that lady into the sea, living or dead," said Mr.
+Thompson, with an ominous lift of his eye, "you go with her, Mr. Batten.
+Remember who brought her here and how he died."
+
+Then Mr. Batten held his peace, while Thompson stood up and scanned the
+wide expanse of sea. Presently he whispered to a sailor near him, who
+also stood up, looked, and nodded.
+
+"That will be the other Line's intermediate boat," he said, and the
+passengers, craning their heads round, saw far away to the right a
+streak of smoke upon the horizon. Orders were given, a little corner of
+sail was hoisted, with a white cloth of some sort tied above it, and the
+oars were got out. Once more the cutter moved forward, bearing to the
+left in the hope of intercepting the steamer.
+
+She came on with terrible swiftness, and they who had miles of water to
+cover, dared hoist no more sail in that breeze. In half an hour she was
+nearly opposite to them, and they were still far away. A little more
+sail was let out, driving them through the water at as quick a rate
+as they could venture to go. The steamer was passing three miles or so
+away, and black despair took hold of them. Now the resourceful Thompson,
+without apologies, undressed, and removing the white shirt that he had
+worn at the dance, bade a sailor to tie it to an oar and wave it to and
+fro.
+
+Still the steamer went on, until presently they heard her siren going,
+and saw that she was putting about.
+
+"She has seen us," said Thompson. "Thank God, all of you, for there is
+wind coming up. Pull down that sail; we shan't need it any more."
+
+Half an hour later, with many precautions, for the wind he prophesied
+was already troubling the sea and sending little splashes of water over
+the stern of their deeply laden boat, they were fast to a line thrown
+from the deck of the three thousand ton steamer _Castle_, bound for
+Natal. Then, with a rattle, down came the accommodation ladder, and
+strong-armed men, standing on its grating, dragged them one by one from
+the death to which they had been so near. The last to be lifted up,
+except Thompson, was Benita, round whom it was necessary to reeve a
+rope.
+
+"Any use?" asked the officer on the grating as he glanced at her quiet
+form.
+
+"Can't say; I hope so," answered Thompson. "Call your doctor." And
+gently enough she was borne up the ship's side.
+
+They wanted to cast off the boat, but Thompson remonstrated, and in the
+end that also was dragged to deck. Meanwhile the news had spread,
+and the awakened passengers of the _Castle_, clad in pyjamas,
+dressing-gowns, and even blankets, were crowding round the poor
+castaways or helping them to their cabins.
+
+"I am a teetotaller," said second officer Thompson when he had made a
+brief report to the captain of the _Castle_, "but if anyone will stand
+me a whiskey and soda I shall be obliged to him."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+MR. CLIFFORD
+
+Although the shock of the blow she had received upon her head was
+sufficient to make her insensible for so many hours, Benita's injuries
+were not of a really serious nature, for as it happened the falling
+block, or whatever it may have been, had hit her forehead slantwise, and
+not full, to which accident she owed it that, although the skin was
+torn and the scalp bruised, her skull had escaped fracture. Under proper
+medical care her senses soon came back to her, but as she was quite
+dazed and thought herself still on board the _Zanzibar_, the doctor
+considered it wise to preserve her in that illusion for a while. So
+after she had swallowed some broth he gave her a sleeping draught, the
+effects of which she did not shake off till the following morning.
+
+Then she came to herself completely, and was astonished to feel the pain
+in her head, which had been bandaged, and to see a strange stewardess
+sitting by her with a cup of beef-tea in her hand.
+
+"Where am I? Is it a dream?" she asked.
+
+"Drink this and I will tell you," answered the stewardess.
+
+Benita obeyed, for she felt hungry, then repeated her question.
+
+"Your steamer was shipwrecked," said the stewardess, "and a great many
+poor people were drowned, but you were saved in a boat. Look, there are
+your clothes; they were never in the water."
+
+"Who carried me into the boat?" asked Benita in a low voice.
+
+"A gentleman, they say, Miss, who had wrapped you in a blanket and put a
+lifebelt on you."
+
+Now Benita remembered everything that happened before the darkness
+fell--the question to which she had given no answer, the young couple
+who stood flirting by her--all came back to her.
+
+"Was Mr. Seymour saved?" she whispered, her face grey with dread.
+
+"I dare say, Miss," answered the stewardess evasively. "But there is no
+gentleman of that name aboard this ship."
+
+At that moment the doctor came in, and him, too, she plied with
+questions. But having learned the story of Robert's self-sacrifice from
+Mr. Thompson and the others, he would give her no answer, for he guessed
+how matters had stood between them, and feared the effects of the shock.
+All he could say was that he hoped Mr. Seymour had escaped in some other
+boat.
+
+It was not until the third morning that Benita was allowed to learn
+the truth, which indeed it was impossible to conceal any longer. Mr.
+Thompson came to her cabin and told her everything, while she listened
+silently, horrified, amazed.
+
+"Miss Clifford," he said, "I think it was one of the bravest things that
+a man ever did. On the ship I always thought him rather a head-in-air
+kind of swell, but he was a splendid fellow, and I pray God that he has
+lived, as the lady and child for whom he offered himself up have done,
+for they are both well again."
+
+"Yes," she repeated after him mechanically, "splendid fellow indeed,
+and," she added, with a strange flash of conviction, "I believe that he
+_is_ still alive. If he were dead I should know it."
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so," said Mr. Thompson, who believed the
+exact contrary.
+
+"Listen," she went on. "I will tell you something. When that dreadful
+accident occurred Mr. Seymour had just asked me to marry him, and I was
+going to answer that I would--because I love him. I believe that I shall
+still give him that answer."
+
+Mr. Thompson replied again that he hoped so, which, being as honest and
+tender-hearted as he was brave and capable, he did most earnestly; but
+in his heart he reflected that her answer would not be given this side
+of the grave. Then, as he had been deputed to do, he handed her the note
+which had been found in the bosom of her dress, and, able to bear no
+more of this painful scene, hurried from the cabin. She read it greedily
+twice, and pressed it to her lips, murmuring:
+
+"Yes, I will think kindly of you, Robert Seymour, kindly as woman can of
+man, and now or afterwards you shall have your answer, if you still wish
+for it. Whenever you come or wherever I go, it shall be ready for you."
+
+That afternoon, when she was more composed, Mrs. Jeffreys came to see
+Benita, bringing her baby with her. The poor woman was still pale and
+shaken, but the child had taken no hurt at all from its immersion in
+that warm water.
+
+"What can you think of me?" she said, falling on her knees by Benita.
+"But oh! I did not know what I was doing. It was terror and my child,"
+and she kissed the sleeping infant passionately. "Also I did not
+understand at the time--I was too dazed. And--that hero--he gave his
+life for me when the others wished to beat me off with oars. Yes, his
+blood is upon my hands--he who died that I and my child might live."
+
+Benita looked at her and answered, very gently:
+
+"Perhaps he did not die after all. Do not grieve, for if he did it was a
+very glorious death, and I am prouder of him than I could have been
+had he lived on like the others--who wished to beat you off with oars.
+Whatever is, is by God's Will, and doubtless for the best. At the least,
+you and your child will be restored to your husband, though it cost me
+one who would have been--my husband."
+
+That evening Benita came upon the deck and spoke with the other ladies
+who were saved, learning every detail that she could gather. But to none
+of the men, except to Mr. Thompson, would she say a single word, and
+soon, seeing how the matter stood, they hid themselves away from her as
+they had already done from Mrs. Jeffreys.
+
+The _Castle_ had hung about the scene of the shipwreck for thirty hours,
+and rescued one other boatload of survivors, also a stoker clinging to
+a piece of wreckage. But with the shore she had been unable to
+communicate, for the dreaded wind had risen, and the breakers were quite
+impassable to any boat. To a passing steamer bound for Port Elizabeth,
+however, she had reported the terrible disaster, which by now was known
+all over the world, together with the names of those whom she had picked
+up in the boats.
+
+On the night of the day of Benita's interview with Mrs. Jeffreys, the
+_Castle_ arrived off Durban and anchored, since she was too big a vessel
+to cross the bar as it was in those days. At dawn the stewardess awoke
+Benita from the uneasy sleep in which she lay, to tell her that an old
+gentleman had come off in the tug and wished to see her; for fear of
+exciting false hopes she was very careful to add that word "old." With
+her help Benita dressed herself, and as the sun rose, flooding the
+Berea, the Point, the white town and fair Natal beyond with light, she
+went on to the deck, and there, leaning over the bulwark, saw a thin,
+grey-bearded man of whom after all these years the aspect was still
+familiar.
+
+A curious thrill went through her as she looked at him leaning there
+lost in thought. After all, he was her father, the man to whom she owed
+her presence upon this bitter earth, this place of terrors and delights,
+of devastation and hope supernal. Perhaps, too, he had been as much
+sinned against as sinning. She stepped up to him and touched him on the
+shoulder.
+
+"Father," she said.
+
+He turned round with all the quickness of a young man, for about him
+there was a peculiar agility which his daughter had inherited. Like his
+mind, his body was still nimble.
+
+"My darling," he said, "I should have known your voice anywhere. It has
+haunted my sleep for years. My darling, thank you for coming back to me,
+and thank God for preserving you when so many were lost." Then he threw
+his arms about her and kissed her.
+
+She shrank from him a little, for by inadvertence he had pressed upon
+the wound in her forehead.
+
+"Forgive me," she said; "it is my head. It was injured, you know."
+
+Then he saw the bandage about her brow, and was very penitent.
+
+"They did not tell me that you had been hurt, Benita," he exclaimed in
+his light, refined voice, one of the stamps of that gentility of blood
+and breeding whereof all his rough years and errors had been unable to
+deprive him. "They only told me that you were saved. It is part of my
+ill-fortune that at our first moment of greeting I should give you pain,
+who have caused you so much already."
+
+Benita felt that the words were an apology for the past, and her heart
+was touched.
+
+"It is nothing," she answered. "You did not know or mean it."
+
+"No, dear, I never knew or meant it. Believe me, I was not a willing
+sinner, only a weak one. You are beautiful, Benita--far more so than I
+expected."
+
+"What," she answered smiling, "with this bandage round my head? Well,
+in your eyes, perhaps." But inwardly she thought to herself that the
+description would be more applicable to her father, who in truth,
+notwithstanding his years, was wonderfully handsome, with his quick blue
+eyes, mobile face, gentle mouth with the wistful droop at the corners so
+like her own, and grey beard. How, she wondered, could this be the man
+who had struck her mother. Then she remembered him as he had been years
+before when he was a slave to liquor, and knew that the answer was
+simple.
+
+"Tell me about your escape, love," he said, patting her hand with his
+thin fingers. "You don't know what I've suffered. I was waiting at
+the Royal Hotel here, when the cable came announcing the loss of the
+_Zanzibar_ and all on board. For the first time for many a year I drank
+spirits to drown my grief--don't be afraid, dear--for the first time and
+the last. Then afterwards came another cable giving the names of those
+who were known to be saved, and--thank God, oh! thank God--yours among
+them," and he gasped at the recollection of that relief.
+
+"Yes," she said; "I suppose I should thank--Him--and another. Have you
+heard the story about--how Mr. Seymour saved me, I mean?"
+
+"Some of it. While you were dressing yourself, I have been talking to
+the officer who was in command of your boat. He was a brave man, Benita,
+and I am sorry to tell you he is gone."
+
+She grasped a stanchion and clung there, staring at him with a wild,
+white face.
+
+"How do you know that, Father?"
+
+Mr. Clifford drew a copy of the _Natal Mercury_ of the previous day from
+the pocket of his ulster, and while she waited in an agony he hunted
+through the long columns descriptive of the loss of the _Zanzibar_.
+Presently he came to the paragraph he sought, and read it aloud to her.
+It ran:
+
+"The searchers on the coast opposite the scene of the shipwreck report
+that they met a Kaffir who was travelling along the seashore, who
+produced a gold watch which he said he had taken from the body of a
+white man that he found lying on the sand at the mouth of the Umvoli
+River. Inside the watch is engraved, 'To Seymour Robert Seymour, from
+his uncle, on his twenty-first birthday.' The name of Mr. Seymour
+appears as a first-class passenger to Durban by the _Zanzibar_. He was
+a member of an old English family in Lincolnshire. This was his second
+journey to South Africa, which he visited some years ago with his
+brother on a big-game shooting expedition. All who knew him then will
+join with us in deploring his loss. Mr. Seymour was a noted shot and
+an English gentleman of the best stamp. He was last seen by one of the
+survivors of the catastrophe, carrying Miss Clifford, the daughter of
+the well-known Natal pioneer of that name, into a boat, but as this
+young lady is reported to have been saved, and as he entered the boat
+with her, no explanation is yet forthcoming as to how he came to his sad
+end."
+
+"I fear that is clear enough," said Mr. Clifford, as he folded up his
+paper.
+
+"Yes, clear enough," she repeated in a strained voice. "And
+yet--yet--oh! Father, he had just asked me to marry him, and I can't
+believe that he is dead before I had time to answer."
+
+"Good Heavens!" said the old man, "they never told me that. It is
+dreadfully sad. God help you, my poor child! There is nothing more to
+say except that he was only one among three hundred who have gone with
+him. Be brave now, before all these people. Look--here comes the tug."
+
+
+The following week was very much of a blank to Benita. When they reached
+shore some old friends of her father's took her and him to their house,
+a quiet place upon the Berea. Here, now that the first excitement of
+rescue and grief was over, the inevitable reaction set in, bringing with
+it weakness so distressing that the doctor insisted upon her going to
+bed, where she remained for the next five days. With the healing up of
+the wound in her head her strength came back to her at last, but it
+was a very sad Benita who crept from her room one afternoon on to the
+verandah and looked out at the cruel sea, peaceful now as the sky above.
+
+Her father, who had nursed her tenderly during these dark days, came and
+sat by her, taking her hand in his.
+
+"This is capital," he said, glancing at her anxiously. "You are getting
+quite yourself again."
+
+"I shall never be myself again," she answered. "My old self is dead,
+although the outside of me has recovered. Father, I suppose that it is
+wrong, but I wish that I were dead too. I wish that he had taken me with
+him when he jumped into the sea to lighten the boat."
+
+"Don't speak like that," he broke in hastily. "Of course I know that I
+am not much to you--how can I be after all that is past? But I love you,
+dear, and if I were left quite alone again----" And he broke off.
+
+"You shall not be left alone if I can help it," she replied, looking at
+the old man with her dark and tender eyes. "We have only each other in
+the world now, have we? The rest have gone, never to return."
+
+He threw his arms about her, and, drawing her to him, kissed her
+passionately.
+
+"If only you could learn to love me!" he said.
+
+"I do love you," she answered, "who now shall never love any other man
+upon the earth."
+
+This was the beginning of a deep affection which sprang up between Mr.
+Clifford and his daughter, and continued to the end.
+
+"Is there any news?" she asked a little later.
+
+"None--none about him. The tide took his body away, no doubt, after the
+Kaffir had gone. I remember him well now. He was a fine young man, and
+it comes into my mind that when I said good-bye to him above those old
+ruins, I wished that I had a son like that. And to think that he went
+so near to becoming a son to me! Well, the grass must bend when the wind
+blows, as the natives say."
+
+"I am glad that you knew him," she answered simply.
+
+Then they began talking about other matters. He told her that all the
+story had become known, and that people spoke of Robert Seymour as "the
+hero"; also that there was a great deal of curiosity about her.
+
+"Then let us get away as soon as we can," she said nervously. "But,
+Father, where are we going?"
+
+"That will be for you to decide, love. Listen, now; this is my position.
+I have been quite steady for years, and worked hard, with the result
+that I and my partner have a fine farm in the Transvaal, on the high
+land near Lake Chrissie, out Wakkerstroom way. We breed horses there,
+and have done very well with them. I have L1,500 saved, and the farm
+brings us in quite L600 a year beyond the expenses. But it is a lonely
+place, with only a few Boers about, although they are good fellows
+enough. You might not care to live there with no company."
+
+"I don't think that I should mind," she answered, smiling.
+
+"Not now, but by-and-by you would when you know what it is like. Now I
+might sell my share in the farm to my partner, who, I think, would buy
+it, or I might trust to him to send me a part of the profits, which
+perhaps he would not. Then, if you wish it, we could live in or near
+one of the towns, or even, as you have an income of your own, go home to
+England, if that is your will."
+
+"Is it your will?" she asked.
+
+He shook his head. "No; all my life is here. Also, I have something to
+find before I die--for your sake, dear."
+
+"Do you mean up among those ruins?" she asked, looking at him curiously.
+
+"Yes. So you know about it?" he answered, with a flash of his blue eyes.
+"Oh! of course, Seymour told you. Yes, I mean among the ruins--but I
+will tell you that story another time--not here, not here. What do you
+wish to do, Benita? Remember, I am in your hands; I will obey you in all
+things."
+
+"Not to stop in a town and not to go to England," she replied, while he
+hung eagerly upon her words, "for this has become my holy land. Father,
+I will go with you to your farm; there I can be quiet, you and I
+together."
+
+"Yes," he answered rather uneasily; "but, you see, Benita, we shall not
+be quite alone there. My partner, Jacob Meyer, lives with me."
+
+"Jacob Meyer? Ah! I remember," and she winced. "He is a German, is he
+not--and odd?"
+
+"German Jew, I imagine, and very odd. Should have made his fortune a
+dozen times over, and yet has never done anything. Too unpractical, too
+visionary, with all his brains and scheming. Not a good man, Benita,
+although he suits me, and, for the matter of that, under our agreement I
+cannot get rid of him."
+
+"How did he become your partner?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! a good many years ago he turned up at the place with a doleful
+story. Said that he had been trading among the Zulus; he was what we
+call a 'smouse' out here, and got into a row with them, I don't
+know how. The end of it was that they burned his waggon, looted his
+trade-goods and oxen, and killed his servants. They would have killed
+him too, only, according to his own account, he escaped in a very queer
+fashion."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Well, he says by mesmerising the chief and making the man lead him
+through his followers. An odd story enough, but I can quite believe
+it of Jacob. He worked for me for six months, and showed himself very
+clever. Then one night, I remember it was a few days after I had told
+him of the story of the Portuguese treasure in Matabeleland, he produced
+L500 in Bank of England notes out of the lining of his waistcoat, and
+offered to buy a half interest in the farm. Yes, L500! Although for
+all those months I had believed him to be a beggar. Well, as he was so
+_slim_, and better than no company in that lonely place, in the end I
+accepted. We have done well since, except for the expedition after the
+treasure which we did not get, although we more than paid our expenses
+out of the ivory we bought. But next time we shall succeed, I am sure,"
+he added with enthusiasm, "that is, if we can persuade those Makalanga
+to let us search on the mountain."
+
+Benita smiled.
+
+"I think you had better stick to the horsebreeding," she said.
+
+"You shall judge when you hear the story. But you have been brought up
+in England; will you not be afraid to go to Lake Chrissie?"
+
+"Afraid of what?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! of the loneliness, and of Jacob Meyer."
+
+"I was born on the veld, Father, and I have always hated London. As for
+your odd friend, Mr. Meyer, I am not afraid of any man on earth. I have
+done with men. At the least I will try the place and see how I get on."
+
+"Very well," answered her father with a sigh of relief. "You can always
+come back, can't you?"
+
+"Yes," she said indifferently. "I suppose that I can always come back."
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+JACOB MEYER
+
+More than three weeks had gone by when one morning Benita, who slept
+upon the cartel or hide-strung bed in the waggon, having dressed herself
+as best she could in that confined place, thrust aside the curtain and
+seated herself upon the voorkisse, or driving-box. The sun was not yet
+up, and the air was cold with frost, for they were on the Transvaal
+high-veld at the end of winter. Even through her thick cloak Benita
+shivered and called to the driver of the waggon, who also acted as cook,
+and whose blanket-draped form she could see bending over a fire into
+which he was blowing life, to make haste with the coffee.
+
+"By and by, Missie--by and by," he answered, coughing the rank smoke
+from his lungs. "Kettle no sing yet, and fire black as hell."
+
+Benita reflected that popular report painted this locality red, but
+without entering into argument sat still upon the chest waiting till the
+water boiled and her father appeared.
+
+Presently he emerged from under the side flap of the waggon where he
+slept, and remarking that it was really too cold to think of washing,
+climbed to her side by help of the disselboom, and kissed her.
+
+"How far are we now from Rooi Krantz, Father?" she asked, for that was
+the name of Mr. Clifford's farm.
+
+"About forty miles, dear. The waggon cannot make it to-night with these
+two sick oxen, but after the midday outspan we will ride on, and be
+there by sundown. I am afraid you are tired of this trekking."
+
+"No," she answered. "I like it very much; it is so restful, and I sleep
+sound upon that cartel. I feel as though I should like to trek on for
+the rest of my life."
+
+"So you shall if you wish, dear, for whole months. South Africa is big,
+and when the grass grows, if you still wish it, we will take a long
+journey."
+
+She smiled, but made no answer, knowing that he was thinking of the
+place so far away where he believed that once the Portuguese had buried
+gold.
+
+The kettle was singing now merrily enough, and Hans, the cook, lifting
+it from the fire in triumph--for his blowing exertions had been
+severe--poured into it a quantity of ground coffee from an old mustard
+tin. Then, having stirred the mixture with a stick, he took a red
+ember from the fire and dropped it into the kettle, a process which, as
+travellers in the veld know well, has a clearing effect upon the coffee.
+Next he produced pannikins, and handed them up with a pickle jar full
+of sugar to Mr. Clifford, upon the waggon chest. Milk they had none, yet
+that coffee tasted a great deal better than it looked; indeed, Benita
+drank two cups of it to warm herself and wash down the hard biscuit.
+Before the day was over glad enough was she that she had done so.
+
+The sun was rising; huge and red it looked seen through the clinging
+mist, and, their breakfast finished, Mr. Clifford gave orders that the
+oxen, which were filling themselves with the dry grass near at hand,
+should be got up and inspanned. The voorlooper, a Zulu boy, who had left
+them for a little while to share the rest of the coffee with Hans, rose
+from his haunches with a grunt, and departed to fetch them. A minute or
+two later Hans ceased from his occupation of packing up the things, and
+said in a low voice:
+
+"_Kek!_ Baas"--that is "Look!"
+
+Following the line of his outstretched hand, Benita and her father
+perceived, not more than a hundred yards away from them, a great troop
+of wilderbeeste, or gnu, travelling along a ridge, and pausing now and
+again to indulge in those extraordinary gambols which cause the Boers to
+declare that these brutes have a worm in their brains.
+
+"Give me my rifle, Hans," said Mr. Clifford. "We want meat."
+
+By the time that the Westley-Richards was drawn from its case and
+loaded, only one buck remained, for, having caught sight of the waggon,
+it turned to stare at it suspiciously. Mr. Clifford aimed and fired.
+Down went the buck, then springing to its feet again, vanished behind
+the ridge. Mr. Clifford shook his head sadly.
+
+"I don't often do that sort of thing, my dear, but the light is still
+very bad. Still, he's hit. What do you say? Shall we get on the horses
+and catch him? A canter would warm you."
+
+Benita, who was tender-hearted, reflected that it would be kinder to
+put the poor creature out of its pain, and nodded her head. Five minutes
+later they were cantering together up the rise, Mr. Clifford having
+first ordered the waggon to trek on till they rejoined it, and slipped a
+packet of cartridges into his pocket. Beyond the rise lay a wide stretch
+of marshy ground, bordered by another rise half a mile or more away,
+from the crest of which--for now the air was clear enough--they saw the
+wounded bull standing. On they went after him, but before they could
+come within shot, he had moved forward once more, for he was only
+lightly hurt in the flank, and guessed whence his trouble came.
+
+Again and again did he retreat as they drew near, until at length, just
+as Mr. Clifford was about to dismount to risk a long shot, the beast
+took to its heels in earnest.
+
+"Come on," he said; "don't let's be beat," for by this time the hunter
+was alive in him.
+
+So off they went at a gallop, up slopes and down slopes that reminded
+Benita of the Bay of Biscay in a storm, across half-dried vleis that in
+the wet season were ponds, through stony ground and patches of ant-bear
+holes in which they nearly came to grief. For five miles at least the
+chase went on, since at the end of winter the wilderbeeste was thin and
+could gallop well, notwithstanding its injury, faster even than their
+good horses. At last, rising a ridge, they found whither it was going,
+for suddenly they were in the midst of vast herds of game, thousands and
+tens of thousands of them stretching as far as the eye could reach.
+
+It was a wondrous sight that now, alas! will be seen no more--at any
+rate upon the Transvaal veld; wilderbeeste, blesbok, springbok, in
+countless multitudes, and amongst them a few quagga and hartebeeste.
+With a sound like that of thunder, their flashing myriad hoofs casting
+up clouds of dust from the fire-blackened veld, the great herds
+separated at the appearance of their enemy, man. This way and that they
+went in groups and long brown lines, leaving the wounded and exhausted
+wilderbeeste behind them, so that presently he was the sole tenant of
+that great cup of land.
+
+At him they rode till Mr. Clifford, who was a little ahead of his
+daughter, drew almost alongside. Then the poor maddened brute tried its
+last shift. Stopping suddenly, it wheeled round and charged head down.
+Mr. Clifford, as it came, held out his rifle in his right hand and fired
+at a hazard. The bullet passed through the bull, but could not stop its
+charge. Its horns, held low, struck the forelegs of the horse, and next
+instant horse, man, and wilderbeeste rolled on the veld together.
+
+Benita, who was fifty yards behind, uttered a little cry of fear, but
+before ever she reached him, her father had risen laughing, for he was
+quite unhurt. The horse, too, was getting up, but the bull could rise
+no more. It struggled to its forefeet, uttered a kind of sobbing groan,
+stared round wildly, and rolled over, dead.
+
+"I never knew a wilderbeeste charge like that before," said Mr.
+Clifford. "Confound it! I believe my horse is lamed."
+
+Lamed it was, indeed, where the bull had struck the foreleg, though,
+as it chanced, not badly. Having tied a handkerchief to the horn of the
+buck in order to scare away the vultures, and thrown some tufts of dry
+grass upon its body, which he proposed, if possible, to fetch or send
+for, Mr. Clifford mounted his lame horse and headed for the waggon. But
+they had galloped farther than they thought, and it was midday before
+they came to what they took to be the road. As there was no spoor upon
+it, they followed this track backwards, expecting to find the waggon
+outspanned, but although they rode for mile upon mile, no waggon could
+they see. Then, realizing their mistake, they retraced their steps, and
+leaving this path at the spot where they had found it, struck off again
+to the right.
+
+Meanwhile, the sky was darkening, and at about three o'clock in the
+afternoon a thunderstorm broke over them accompanied by torrents of icy
+rain, the first fall of the spring, and a bitter wind which chilled them
+through. More, after the heavy rain came drizzle and a thick mist that
+deepened as evening approached.
+
+Now their plight was very wretched. Lost, starved, soaked to the skin,
+with tired horses one of which was lame, they wandered about on the
+lonely veld. Only one stroke of fortune came to them. As the sun set,
+for a few moments its rays pierced the mist, telling them in what
+direction they should go. Turning their horses, they headed for it,
+and so rode on until the darkness fell. Then they halted a while,
+but feeling that if they stood still in that horrible cold they would
+certainly perish before morning, once more pushed on again. By now Mr.
+Clifford's horse was almost too lame to ride, so he led it, walking
+at his daughter's side, and reproaching himself bitterly for his
+foolishness in having brought her into this trouble.
+
+"It doesn't matter, Father," she answered wearily, for she was very
+tired. "Nothing matters; one may as well die upon the veld as in the sea
+or anywhere else."
+
+On they plodded, they knew not whither. Benita fell asleep upon her
+saddle, and was awakened once by a hyena howling quite close to them,
+and once by her horse falling to its knees.
+
+"What is the time?" she said at last.
+
+Her father struck a match and looked at his watch. It was ten o'clock;
+they had been fifteen hours away from the waggon and without food. At
+intervals Mr. Clifford, who had remounted, fired his rifle. Now there
+was but one cartridge left, and having caught sight of his daughter's
+exhausted face by the light of the match, he fired this also, though in
+that desperate wilderness there was little hope of its bringing succour.
+
+"Shall we stop or go on?" he asked.
+
+"I do not care," she answered. "Only if I stop I think it will be for
+ever. Let us go on."
+
+Now the rain had ceased, but the mist was as dense as before. Also
+they seemed to have got among bush, for wet leaves brushed their faces.
+Utterly exhausted they stumbled forward, till suddenly Benita felt her
+horse stop as though a hand had seized its bridle, and heard a man's
+voice, speaking with a foreign accent, say:
+
+"Mein Gott! Where are you going?"
+
+"I wish I knew," she answered, like one in a dream.
+
+At this instant the moon rose above the mists, and Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer for the first time.
+
+In that light his appearance was not unpleasing. A man of about forty
+years of age, not over tall, slight and active in build, with a pointed
+black beard, regular, Semitic features, a complexion of an ivory pallor
+which even the African sun did not seem to tan, and dark, lustrous eyes
+that appeared, now to sleep, and now to catch the fire of the thoughts
+within. Yet, weary though she was, there was something in the man's
+personality which repelled and alarmed Benita, something wild and cruel.
+She felt that he was filled with unsatisfied ambitions and desires, and
+that to attain to them he would shrink at nothing. In a moment he was
+speaking again in tones that compelled her attention.
+
+"It was a good thought that brought me here to look for you. No; not a
+thought--what do you call it?--an instinct. I think your mind must have
+spoken to my mind, and called me to save you. See now, Clifford, my
+friend, where you have led your daughter. See, see!" And he pointed
+downwards.
+
+They leaned forward and stared. There, immediately beneath them, was a
+mighty gulf whereof the moonlight did not reveal the bottom.
+
+"You are no good veld traveller, Clifford, my friend; one more step of
+those silly beasts, and down below there would have been two red heaps
+with bits of bones sticking out of them--yes, there on the rocks five
+hundred feet beneath. Ah! you would have slept soundly to-night, both of
+you."
+
+"Where is the place?" asked Mr. Clifford in a dazed fashion. "Leopard's
+Kloof?"
+
+"Yes; Leopard's Kloof, no other. You have travelled along the top of the
+hill, not at the bottom. Certainly that was a good thought which came to
+me from the lady your daughter, for she is one of the thought senders, I
+am sure. Ah! it came to me suddenly; it hit me like a stick whilst I was
+searching for you, having found that you had lost the waggon. It said to
+me, 'Ride to the top of Leopard's Kloof. Ride hard.' I rode hard through
+the rocks and the darkness, through the mist and the rain, and not one
+minute had I been here when you came and I caught the lady's bridle."
+
+"I am sure we are very grateful to you," murmured Benita.
+
+"Then I am paid back ten thousand times. No; it is I who am grateful--I
+who have saved your life through the thought you sent me."
+
+"Thought or no thought, all's well that ends well," broke in Mr.
+Clifford impatiently. "And thank Heaven we are not more than three miles
+away from home. Will you lead the way, Jacob? You always could see in
+the dark?"
+
+"Yes, yes," and he took hold of Benita's bridle with his firm, white
+hand. "Oh! my horse will follow, or put your arm through his rein--so.
+Now come on, Miss Clifford, and be afraid no more. With Jacob Meyer you
+are safe."
+
+So they began their descent of the hill. Meyer did not speak again;
+all his attention seemed to be concentrated upon finding a safe path on
+which the horses would not stumble. Nor did Benita speak; she was
+too utterly exhausted--so exhausted, indeed, that she could no longer
+control her mind and imagination. These seemed to loose themselves from
+her and to acquire new powers, notably that of entering into the secret
+thoughts of the man at her side. She saw them pass before her like
+living things, and yet she could not read them. Still, something she did
+understand--that she had suddenly grown important to this man, not in
+the way in which women are generally important to men, but otherwise.
+She felt as though she had become interwoven with the objects of his
+life, and was henceforth necessary to their fulfilment, as though she
+were someone whom he had been seeking for years on years, the one person
+who could give him light in his darkness.
+
+These imaginings troubled her, so that she was very thankful when they
+passed away as swiftly as they had arisen, and she knew only that she
+was half dead with weariness and cold; that her limbs ached and that the
+steep path seemed endless.
+
+At length they reached level ground, and after travelling along it for
+a while and crossing the bed of a stream, passed through a gate, and
+stopped suddenly at the door of a house with lighted windows.
+
+"Here is your home at last, Miss Clifford," said the musical voice of
+Jacob Meyer, "and I thank the Fate which rules us that it has taught me
+to bring you to it safely."
+
+Making no answer she slid from the saddle, only to find that she could
+not stand, for she sank into a heap upon the ground. With a gentle
+exclamation he lifted her, and calling to two Kaffirs who had appeared
+to take the horses, led her into the house.
+
+"You must go to bed at once," he said, conducting her to a door which
+opened out of the sitting-room. "I have had a fire lit in your chamber
+in case you should come, and old Tante Sally will bring you soup with
+brandy in it, and hot water for your feet. Ah! there you are, old vrouw.
+Come now; help the lady, your mistress. Is all ready?"
+
+"All, Baas," answered the woman, a stout half-breed with a kindly face.
+"Come now, my little one, and I will undress you."
+
+Half an hour later Benita, having drunk more brandy than ever she had
+done in her life before, was wrapped up and fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke the sun was streaming through the curtained window of her
+room, and by the light of it she saw that the clock which stood upon the
+mantelpiece pointed to half-past eleven. She had slept for nearly twelve
+hours, and felt that, notwithstanding the cold and exposure, save for
+stiffness and a certain numb feeling in her head--the result, perhaps,
+of the unaccustomed brandy--she was well and, what was more, quite
+hungry.
+
+Outside on the verandah she heard the voice of Jacob Meyer, with which
+she seemed already to have become familiar, telling some natives to stop
+singing, as they would wake the chieftainess inside. He used the
+Zulu word Inkosi-kaas, which, she remembered, meant head-lady or
+chieftainess. He was very thoughtful for her, she reflected, and was
+grateful, till suddenly she remembered the dislike she had taken to the
+man.
+
+Then she looked round her room and saw that it was very pretty, well
+furnished and papered, with water-colour pictures on the walls of no
+mean merit, things that she had not expected in this far-off place. Also
+on a table stood a great bowl of arum lilies. She wondered who had put
+them there; whether it were the old half-breed, Sally, or Jacob Meyer.
+Also she wondered who had painted the pictures, which were all of
+African scenery, and something told her that both the flowers and the
+pictures came from Jacob Meyer.
+
+On the little table by her bed was a handbell, which presently she rang.
+Instantly she heard the voice of Sally calling for the coffee "quick,"
+and next minute the woman entered, bringing a tray with it, and bread
+and butter--yes, and toast and eggs, which had evidently been made ready
+for her. Speaking in English mixed with Dutch words, she told Benita
+that her father was still in bed, but sent her his love, and wished to
+know how she did. Then, while she ate her breakfast with appetite, Sally
+set her a bath, and subsequently appeared carrying the contents of the
+box she had used upon the waggon, which had now arrived safely at the
+farm. Benita asked who had ordered the box to be unpacked, and Sally
+answered that the Heer Meyer had ordered it so that she might not be
+disturbed in her sleep, and that her things should be ready for her when
+she woke.
+
+"The Heer Meyer thinks a great deal about other people," said Benita.
+
+"Ja, ja!" answered the old half-breed. "He tink much about people when
+he want to tink about them, but he tink most about himself. Baas Meyer,
+he a very clever man--oh! a very clever man, who want to be a great man
+too. And one day, Missee, he be a great man, great and rich--if the Heer
+God Almighty let him."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE GOLD COIN
+
+Six weeks had gone by since the eventful evening of Benita's arrival at
+Rooi Krantz. Now the spring had fully come, the veld was emerald with
+grass and bright with flowers. In the kloof behind the house trees had
+put out their leaves, and the mimosas were in bloom, making the air
+heavy with their scent. Amongst them the ringdoves nested in hundreds,
+and on the steep rocks of the precipice the red-necked vultures fed
+their young. Along the banks of the stream and round the borders of
+the lake the pig-lilies bloomed, a sheet of white. All the place was
+beautiful and full of life and hope. Nothing seemed dead and hopeless
+except Benita's heart.
+
+Her health had quite come back to her; indeed, never before had she felt
+so strong and well. But the very soul had withered in her breast. All
+day she thought, and all night she dreamed of the man who, in cold
+blood, had offered up his life to save a helpless woman and her child.
+She wondered whether he would have done this if he had heard the answer
+that was upon her lips. Perhaps that was why she had not been given time
+to speak that answer, which might have made a coward of him. For nothing
+more had been heard of Robert Seymour; indeed, already the tragedy of
+the ship _Zanzibar_ was forgotten. The dead had buried their dead, and
+since then worse disasters had happened in the world.
+
+But Benita could not bury her dead. She rode about the veld, she sat
+by the lake and watched the wild fowl, or at night heard them flighting
+over her in flocks. She listened to the cooing of the doves, the booming
+of the bitterns in the reeds, and the drumming of the snipe high in air.
+She counted the game trekking along the ridge till her mind grew weary.
+She sought consolation from the breast of Nature and found none; she
+sought it in the starlit skies, and oh! they were very far away. Death
+reigned within her who outwardly was so fair to see.
+
+In the society of her father, indeed, she took pleasure, for he loved
+her, and love comforted her wounded heart. In that of Jacob Meyer also
+she found interest, for now her first fear of the man had died away,
+and undoubtedly he was very interesting; well-bred also after a fashion,
+although a Jew who had lost his own faith and rejected that of the
+Christians.
+
+He told her that he was a German by birth, that he had been sent to
+England as a boy, to avoid the conscription, which Jews dislike, since
+in soldiering there is little profit. Here he had become a clerk in a
+house of South African merchants, and, as a consequence--having shown
+all the ability of his race--was despatched to take charge of a branch
+business in Cape Colony. What happened to him there Benita never
+discovered, but probably he had shown too much ability of an oblique
+nature. At any rate, his connection with the firm terminated, and for
+years he became a wandering "smouse," or trader, until at length he
+drifted into partnership with her father.
+
+Whatever might have been his past, however, soon she found that he was
+an extremely able and agreeable man. It was he and no other who had
+painted the water-colours that adorned her room, and he could play and
+sing as well as he painted. Also, as Robert had told her, Mr. Meyer was
+very well-read in subjects that are not usually studied on the veld
+of South Africa; indeed, he had quite a library of books, most of them
+histories or philosophical and scientific works, of which he would lend
+her volumes. Fiction, however, he never read, for the reason, he told
+her, that he found life itself and the mysteries and problems which
+surround it so much more interesting.
+
+One evening, when they were walking together by the lake, watching
+the long lights of sunset break and quiver upon its surface, Benita's
+curiosity overcame her, and she asked him boldly how it happened that
+such a man as he was content to live the life he did.
+
+"In order that I may reach a better," he answered. "Oh! no, not in the
+skies, Miss Clifford, for of them I know nothing, nor, as I believe, is
+there anything to know. But here--here."
+
+"What do you mean by a better life, Mr. Meyer?"
+
+"I mean," he answered, with a flash of his dark eyes, "great wealth,
+and the power that wealth brings. Ah! I see you think me very sordid and
+materialistic, but money is God in this world, Miss Clifford--money is
+God."
+
+She smiled and answered: "I fear, then, that he is likely to prove an
+invisible god on the high veld, Mr. Meyer. You will scarcely make a
+great fortune out of horse-breeding, and here there is no one to rule."
+
+"Do you suppose, then, that is why I stop at Rooi Krantz, just to breed
+horses? Has not your father told you about the great treasure hidden
+away up there among the Makalanga?"
+
+"I have heard something of it," she answered with a sigh. "Also that
+both of you went to look for it and were disappointed."
+
+"Ah! The Englishman who was drowned--Mr. Seymour--he spoke of it, did he
+not? He found us there."
+
+"Yes; and you wished to shoot him--do you remember?"
+
+"God in Heaven! Yes, because I thought he had come to rob us. Well, I
+did not shoot, and afterwards we were hunted out of the place, which
+does not much matter, as those fools of natives refused to let us dig in
+the fortress."
+
+"Then why do you still think about this treasure which probably does not
+exist?"
+
+"Why, Miss Clifford, do you think about various things that probably
+do not exist? Perhaps because you feel that here or elsewhere they _do_
+exist. Well, that is what I feel about the treasure, and what I have
+always felt. It exists, and I shall find it--now. I shall live to see
+more gold than you can even imagine, and that is why I still continue
+to breed horses on the Transvaal veld. Ah! you laugh; you think it is a
+nightmare that I breed----"
+
+Then suddenly he became aware of Sally, who had appeared over the fold
+of the rise behind them, and asked irritably:
+
+"What is it now, old vrouw?"
+
+"The Baas Clifford wants to speak with you, Baas Jacob. Messengers have
+come to you from far away."
+
+"What messengers?" he asked.
+
+"I know not," answered Sally, fanning her fat face with a yellow
+pocket-handkerchief. "They are strange people to me, and thin with
+travelling, but they talk a kind of Zulu. The Baas wishes you to come."
+
+"Will you come also, Miss Clifford? No? Then forgive me if I leave you,"
+and lifting his hat he went.
+
+"A strange man, Missee," said old Sally, when he had vanished, walking
+very fast.
+
+"Yes," answered Benita, in an indifferent voice.
+
+"A very strange man," went on the old woman. "Too much in his kop," and
+she tapped her forehead. "I tink it will burst one day; but if it does
+not burst, then he will be great. I tell you that before, now I tell it
+you again, for I tink his time come. Now I go cook dinner."
+
+Benita sat by the lake till the twilight fell, and the wild geese began
+to flight over her. Then she walked back to the house thinking no more
+of Heer Meyer, thinking only that she was weary of this place in which
+there was nothing to occupy her mind and distract it from its ever
+present sorrow.
+
+At dinner, or rather supper, that night she noticed that both her father
+and his partner seemed to be suffering from suppressed excitement, of
+which she thought she could guess the cause.
+
+"Did you find your messengers, Mr. Meyer?" she asked, when the men had
+lit their pipes, and the square-face--as Hollands was called in those
+days, from the shape of the bottle--was set upon the rough table of
+speckled buchenhout wood.
+
+"Yes, I found them," he answered; "they are in the kitchen now." And he
+looked at Mr. Clifford.
+
+"Benita, my dear," said her father, "rather a curious thing has
+happened." Her face lit up, but he shook his head. "No, nothing to do
+with the shipwreck--that is all finished. Still, something that may
+interest you, if you care to hear a story."
+
+Benita nodded; she was in a mood to hear anything that would occupy her
+thoughts.
+
+"You know something about this treasure business," went on her father.
+"Well, this is the tale of it. Years ago, after you and your mother
+had gone to England, I went on a big game shooting expedition into the
+interior. My companion was an old fellow called Tom Jackson, a rolling
+stone, and one of the best elephant hunters in Africa. We did pretty
+well, but the end of it was that we separated north of the Transvaal, I
+bringing down the ivory that we had shot, and traded, and Tom stopping
+to put in another season, the arrangement being that he was to join me
+afterwards, and take his share of the money. I came here and bought this
+farm from a Boer who was tired of it--cheap enough, too, for I only gave
+him L100 for the 6,000 acres. The kitchens behind were his old house,
+for I built a new one.
+
+"A year had gone by before I saw any more of Tom Jackson, and then he
+turned up more dead than alive. He had been injured by an elephant, and
+lay for some months among the Makalanga to the north of Matabeleland,
+where he got fever badly at a place called Bambatse, on the Zambesi.
+These Makalanga are a strange folk. I believe their name means the
+People of the Sun; at any rate, they are the last of some ancient
+race. Well, while he was there he cured the old Molimo, or hereditary
+high-priest of this tribe, of a bad fever by giving him quinine, and
+naturally they grew friendly. The Molimo lived among ruins of which
+there are many over all that part of South Africa. No one knows who
+built them now; probably it was people who lived thousands of years ago.
+However, this Molimo told Tom Jackson a more recent legend connected
+with the place.
+
+"He said that six generations before, when his great-great-great
+grandfather was chief (Mambo, he called it), the natives of all
+that part of South Africa rose against the white men--Portuguese, I
+suppose--who still worked the gold there. They massacred them and their
+slaves by thousands, driving them up from the southward, where Lobengula
+rules now, to the Zambesi by which the Portuguese hoped to escape to the
+coast. At length a remnant of them, not more than about two hundred men
+and women, arrived at the stronghold called Bambatse, where the Molimo
+now lives in a great ruin built by the ancients upon an impregnable
+mountain which overhangs the river. With them they brought an enormous
+quantity of gold, all the stored-up treasure of the land which they were
+trying to carry off. But although they reached the river they could not
+escape by it, since the natives, who pursued them in thousands, watched
+day and night in canoes, and the poor fugitives had no boats. Therefore
+it came about that they were shut up in this fortress which it was
+impossible to storm, and there slowly perished of starvation.
+
+"When it was known that they were all dead, the natives who had followed
+them from the south, and who wanted blood and revenge, not gold, which
+was of no use to them, went away; but the old priest's forefather who
+knew the secret entrance to the place, and who had been friendly to
+the Portuguese, forced his way in and there, amidst the dead, found
+one woman living, but mad with grief--a young and beautiful girl, the
+daughter of the Portuguese lord or captain. He gave her food, but in
+the night, when some strength had returned to her, she left him, and
+at daybreak he found her standing on the peak that overhangs the river,
+dressed all in white.
+
+"He called some of his councillors, and they tried to persuade her to
+come down from the rock, but she answered, 'No, her betrothed and all
+her family and friends were dead, and it was her will to follow them.'
+Then they asked where was the gold, for having watched day and night
+they knew it had not been thrown into the river. She answered that it
+was where it was, and that, seek as he might, no black man would ever
+find it. She added that she gave it into his keeping, and that of his
+descendants, to safeguard until she came again. Also she said that if
+they were faithless to that trust, then it had been revealed to her from
+heaven above that those same savages who had killed her father and her
+people, would kill his people also. When she had spoken thus she stood a
+while praying on the peak, then suddenly hurled herself into the river,
+and was seen no more.
+
+"From that day to this the ruin has been held to be haunted, and
+save the Molimo himself, who retires there to meditate and receive
+revelations from the spirits, no one is allowed to set a foot in
+its upper part; indeed, the natives would rather die than do so.
+Consequently the gold still remains where it was hidden. This place
+itself Tom Jackson did not see, since, notwithstanding his friendship
+for him, the Molimo refused to allow him to enter there.
+
+"Well, Tom never recovered; he died here, and is buried in the little
+graveyard behind the house which the Boers made for some of their
+people. It was shortly before his death that Mr. Meyer became my
+partner, for I forgot to say that I had told him the story, and we
+determined to have a try for that great wealth. You know the rest. We
+trekked to Bambatse, pretending to be traders, and found the old Molimo
+who knew of me as having been Tom Jackson's friend. We asked him if the
+story he had told to Jackson were true, and he answered that, surely as
+the sun shone in the heavens, it was true--every word of it--for it,
+and much more than he had spoken of, had been handed down from father to
+son, and that they even knew the name of the white lady who had killed
+herself. It was Ferreira--your mother's name, Benita, though a common
+one enough in South Africa.
+
+"We asked him to allow us to enter the topmost stronghold, which stands
+upon the hill, but he refused, saying that the curse still lay upon
+him and his, and that no man should enter until the lady Ferreira came
+again. For the rest the place was free to us; we might dig as we would.
+So we did dig, and found some gold buried with the ancients, beads and
+bangles and wire--about L100 worth. Also--that was on the day when the
+young Seymours came upon us, and accounts for Meyer's excitement, for
+he thought that we were on the track of the treasure--we found a single
+gold coin, no doubt one that had been dropped by the Portuguese. Here it
+is." And he threw a thin piece of gold on the table before her. "I have
+shown it to a man learned in those matters, and he says that it is a
+ducat struck by one of the doges of Venice.
+
+"Well, we never found any more. The end of it was that the Makalanga
+caught us trying to get in to the secret stronghold by stealth, and gave
+us the choice of clearing out or being killed. So we cleared out, for
+treasure is not of much use to dead men."
+
+Mr. Clifford ceased speaking, and filled his pipe, while Meyer helped
+himself to squareface in an absent manner. As for Benita, she stared at
+the quaint old coin, which had a hole in it, wondering with what scenes
+of terror and of bloodshed it had been connected.
+
+"Keep it," said her father. "It will go on that bracelet of yours."
+
+"Thank you, dear," she answered. "Though I don't know why I should take
+all the Portuguese treasure since we shall never see any more of it."
+
+"Why not, Miss Clifford?" asked Meyer quickly.
+
+"The story tells you why--because the natives won't even let you look
+for it; also, looking and finding are different things."
+
+"Natives change their minds sometimes, Miss Clifford. That story is
+not done, it is only begun, and now you shall hear its second chapter.
+Clifford, may I call in the messengers?" And without waiting for an
+answer he rose and left the room.
+
+Neither Mr. Clifford nor his daughter said anything after he had gone.
+Benita appeared to occupy herself in fixing the broad gold coin to a
+little swivel on her bracelet, but while she did so once more that sixth
+sense of hers awoke within her. As she had been afraid at the dinner on
+the doomed steamer, so again she was afraid. Again death and great fear
+cast their advancing shadows on to her soul. That piece of gold seemed
+to speak to her, yet, alas! she could not understand its story. Only she
+knew that her father and Jacob Meyer and--yes, yes, yes--Robert Seymour,
+had all a part in that tragedy. Oh! how could that be when he was dead?
+How could this gold link him to her? She knew not--she cared not. All
+she knew was that she would follow this treasure to the edge of the
+world, and if need be, over it, if only it brought her back to him
+again.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+The door opened, and through it came Jacob Meyer, followed by three
+natives. Benita did not see or hear them; her soul was far away. There
+at the head of the room, clad all in white, for she wore no mourning
+save in her heart, illuminated by the rays of the lamp that hung above
+her, she stood still and upright, for she had risen; on the face and
+in her wide, dark eyes a look that was very strange to see. Jacob
+Meyer perceived it and stopped; the three natives perceived it also
+and stopped. There they stood, all four of them, at the end of the long
+sitting-room, staring at the white Benita and at her haunted eyes.
+
+One of the natives pointed with his thin finger to her face, and
+whispered to the others. Meyer, who understood their tongue, caught the
+whisper. It was:
+
+"Behold the Spirit of the Rock!"
+
+"What spirit, and what rock?" he asked in a low voice.
+
+"She who haunts Bambatse; she whom our eyes have seen," answered the
+man, still staring at Benita.
+
+Benita heard the whispering, and knew it was about herself, though not
+one word of it did she catch. With a sigh she shook herself free from
+her visions and sat down in a chair close by. Then one by one the
+messengers drew near to her, and each, as he came, made a profound
+obeisance, touching the floor with his finger-tips, and staring at her
+face. But her father they only saluted with an uplifted hand. She looked
+at them with interest, and indeed they were interesting in their way;
+tall, spare men, light coloured, with refined, mobile faces. Here was no
+negro-blood, but rather that of some ancient people such as Egyptians or
+Phoenicians: men whose forefathers had been wise and civilized thousands
+of years ago, and perchance had stood in the courts of Pharaoh or of
+Solomon.
+
+Their salutations finished, the three men squatted in a line upon the
+floor, drawing their fur karosses, or robes, about them, and waited in
+silence. Jacob Meyer thought a while, then said:
+
+"Clifford, will you translate to your daughter, so that she may be sure
+she is told exactly what passes?"
+
+Next he turned and addressed the natives.
+
+"Your names are Tamas, Tamala, and Hoba, and you, Tamas, are the son of
+the Molimo of Bambatse, who is called Mambo, and you, Tamala and Hoba,
+are his initiated councillors. Is it so?"
+
+They bowed their heads.
+
+"Good. You, Tamas, tell the story and give again your message that this
+lady, the lady Benita, may hear it, for she has a part in the matter."
+
+"We understand that she has a part," answered Tamas. "We read in her
+face that she has the greatest part. Doubtless it is of her that the
+Spirit told my father. These, spoken by my mouth, are the words of the
+Molimo, my father, which we have travelled so far to deliver.
+
+"'When you two white men visited Bambatse four years ago, you asked of
+me, Mambo, to be admitted to the holy place, that you might look for the
+treasure there which the Portuguese hid in the time of my ancestor in
+the sixth generation. I refused to allow you to look, or even to enter
+the holy place, because I am by birth the guardian of that treasure,
+although I know not where it lies. But now I am in a great strait. I
+have news that Lobengula the usurper, who is king of the Matabele, has
+taken offence against me for certain reasons, among them that I did not
+send him a sufficient tribute. It is reported to me that he purposes
+next summer to despatch an impi to wipe me and my people out, and to
+make my kraal black as the burnt veld. I have little strength to resist
+him who is mighty, and my people are not warlike. From generation to
+generation they have been traders, cultivators of the land, workers in
+metal, and men of peace, who desire not to kill or be killed. Also they
+are few. Therefore I have no power to stand against Lobengula.
+
+"'I remember the guns that you and your companion brought with you,
+which can kill things from far away. If I had a supply of those guns
+from behind my walls I might defy the impi of Lobengula, whose warriors
+use the assegai. If you will bring me a hundred good guns and plenty of
+powder and bullets for them, it is revealed to me that it will be lawful
+for me to admit you to the secret, holy place, where you may look for
+the buried gold for as long as you wish, and if you can find it, take
+it all away without hindrance from me or my people. But I will be honest
+with you. That gold will never be found save by the one appointed. The
+white lady said so in the time of my forefather; he heard it with his
+ears, and I have heard it from his descendants with my ears, and so it
+shall be. Still, if you bring the guns you can come and see if either
+of you is that one appointed. But I do not think that any man is so
+appointed, for the secret is hid in woman. But of this you can learn for
+yourselves. I do but speak as I am bidden.
+
+"'This is my message spoken by my mouth, Tamas, son of my body, and my
+councillors who go with him will bear witness that he speaks the truth.
+I, Mambo, the Molimo of Bambatse, send you greeting, and will give you
+good welcome and fulfil my promise, if you come with the far-shooting
+guns, ten times ten of them, and the powder, and the bullets wherewith
+I may drive off the Matabele, but not otherwise. My son, Tamas, and my
+councillors will drive your waggon into my country but you must bring
+no strange servants. The Spirit of the white woman who killed herself
+before the eyes of my forefather has been seen of late standing upon the
+point of rock; also she has visited me at night in my secret place where
+her companions died. I do not know all that this portends, but I think
+that amongst other things she wished to tell me that the Matabele are
+about to attack us. I await the decree of the Heavens. I send you two
+karosses as a gift, and a little ancient gold, since ivory is too heavy
+for my messengers to carry, and I have no waggon. Farewell.'"
+
+"We have heard you," said Meyer, when Mr. Clifford had finished
+translating, "and we wish to ask you a question. What do you mean when
+you say that the Spirit of the white woman has been seen?"
+
+"I mean what I say, white man," answered Tamas. "She was seen by all
+three of us, standing upon the pinnacle at the dawn; also my father saw
+and spoke with her alone in his sleep at night. This is the third time
+in my father's day that she has appeared thus, and always before some
+great event."
+
+"What was she like?" asked Meyer.
+
+"Like? Oh! like the lady who sits yonder. Yes, quite the same, or so it
+seemed to us. But who knows? We have seen no other white women, and we
+were not very near. Let the lady come and stand side by side with the
+Spirit, so that we can examine them both, and we shall be able to answer
+better. Do you accept the offer of the Molimo?"
+
+"We will tell you to-morrow morning," replied Meyer. "A hundred rifles
+are many to find, and will cost much money. Meanwhile, for you there is
+food and a sleeping-place."
+
+The three men seemed disappointed at his answer, which they evidently
+believed to be preliminary to a refusal. For a moment or two they
+consulted together, then Tamas put his hand into a pouch and drew from
+it something wrapped in dry leaves, which he undid, revealing a quaint
+and beautiful necklace, fashioned of twisted gold links, wherein were
+set white stones, that they had no difficulty in recognising as uncut
+diamonds of considerable value. From this necklace also hung a crucifix
+moulded in gold.
+
+"We offer this gift," he said, "on behalf of Mambo, my father, to the
+lady yonder, to whom the karosses and the rough gold are of no use.
+The chain has a story. When the Portuguese lady hurled herself into the
+river she wore it about her neck. As she fell into the river she struck
+against a little point of rock which tore the chain away from her--see
+where it is broken and mended with gold wire. It remained upon the point
+of rock, and my forefather took it thence. It is a gift to the lady if
+she will promise to wear it."
+
+"Accept it," muttered Mr. Clifford, when he had finished translating
+this, "or you will give offence."
+
+So Benita said: "I thank the Molimo, and accept his gift."
+
+Then Tamas rose, and, advancing, cast the ancient, tragic thing over her
+head. As it fell upon her shoulders, Benita knew that it was a chain of
+destiny drawing her she knew not where, this ornament that had last been
+worn by that woman, bereaved and unhappy as herself, who could find no
+refuge from her sorrow except in death. Had she felt it torn from her
+breast, she wondered, as she, the living Benita of to-day, felt it fall
+upon her own?
+
+The three envoys rose, bowed, and went, leaving them alone. Jacob Meyer
+lifted his head as though to address her, then changed his mind and was
+silent. Both the men waited for her to speak, but she would not, and in
+the end it was her father who spoke first.
+
+"What do you say, Benita?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"I? I have nothing to say, except that I have heard a very curious
+story. This priest's message is to you and Mr. Meyer, father, and must
+be answered by you. What have I to do with it?"
+
+"A great deal, I think, my dear, or so those men seemed to believe.
+At any rate, I cannot go up there without you, and I will not take you
+there against your wish, for it is a long way off, and a queer business.
+The question is, will you go?"
+
+She thought a space, while the two men watched her anxiously.
+
+"Yes," she answered at length, in a quiet voice. "I will go if you wish
+to go, not because I want to find treasure, but because the story and
+the country where it happened interest me. Indeed, I don't believe much
+in the treasure. Even if they are superstitious and afraid to look for
+it themselves, I doubt whether they would allow you to look if they
+thought it could be found. To me the journey does not seem a good
+business speculation, also there are risks."
+
+"We think it good enough," broke in Meyer decidedly. "And one does not
+expect to get millions without trouble."
+
+"Yes, yes," said her father; "but she is right--there are risks, great
+risks--fever, wild beasts, savages, and others that one cannot foresee.
+Have I a right to expose her to them? Ought we not to go alone?"
+
+"It would be useless," answered Meyer. "Those messengers have seen your
+daughter, and mixed her up with their superstitious story of a ghost,
+of which I, who know that there are no such things, believe nothing.
+Without her now we shall certainly fail."
+
+"As for the risks, father," said Benita, "personally I take no account
+of them, for I am sure that what is to happen will happen, and if I knew
+that I was to die upon the Zambesi, it would make no difference to me
+who do not care. But as it chances, I think--I cannot tell you why--that
+you and Mr. Meyer are in more danger than I am. It is for you to
+consider whether you will take the risks."
+
+Mr. Clifford smiled. "I am old," he said; "that is my answer."
+
+"And I am accustomed to such things," said Meyer, with a shrug of his
+shoulders. "Who would not run a little danger for the sake of such a
+glorious chance? Wealth, wealth, more wealth than we can dream of,
+and with it, power--power to avenge, to reward, to buy position, and
+pleasure, and all beautiful things which are the heritage of the very
+rich alone," and he spread out his hands and looked upwards, as though
+in adoration of this golden god.
+
+"Except such trifles as health and happiness," commented Benita, not
+without sarcasm, for this man and his material desires disgusted her
+somewhat, especially when she contrasted him with another man who
+was lost to her, though it was true that _his_ past had been idle and
+unproductive enough. Yet they interested her also, for Benita had never
+met anyone like Mr. Meyer, so talented, so eager, and so soulless.
+
+"Then I understand it is settled?" she said.
+
+Mr. Clifford hesitated, but Meyer answered at once:
+
+"Yes, settled as far as anything can be."
+
+She waited a moment for her father to speak, but he said nothing; his
+chance had gone by.
+
+"Very well. Now we shall not need to trouble ourselves with further
+doubts or argument. We are going to Bambatse on the Zambesi, a distant
+place, to look for buried gold, and I hope, Mr. Meyer, that if you find
+it, the results will come up to your expectations, and bring you all
+sorts of good luck. Good-night, father dear, good-night."
+
+"My daughter thinks it will bring us ill-luck," said Mr. Clifford, when
+the door had closed behind her. "That is her way of saying so."
+
+"Yes," answered Meyer gloomily; "she thinks that, and she is one of
+those who have vision. Well, she may be wrong. Also, the question is,
+shall we seize our opportunity and its dangers, or remain here and breed
+bad horses all our lives, while she who is not afraid laughs at us? I am
+going to Bambatse."
+
+Again Mr. Clifford made no direct answer, only asked a question:
+
+"How long will it take to get the guns and ammunition, and what will
+they cost?"
+
+"About a week from Wakkerstroom," replied Meyer. "Old Potgieter,
+the trader there, has just imported a hundred Martinis and a hundred
+Westley-Richards falling-blocks. Fifty of each, with ten thousand rounds
+of cartridges, will cost about L600, and we have as much as that in the
+bank; also we have the new waggon, and plenty of good oxen and horses.
+We can take a dozen of the horses with us, and sell them in the north
+of the Transvaal for a fine price, before we get into the tetsefly
+belt. The oxen will probably carry us through, as they are most of them
+salted."
+
+"You have thought it all out, Jacob, I see; but it means a lot of money
+one way and another, to say nothing of other things."
+
+"Yes, a lot of money, and those rifles are too good for Kaffirs.
+Birmingham gas-pipes would have done for them, but there are none to be
+had. But what is the money, and what are the guns, compared to all they
+will bring us?"
+
+"I think you had better ask my daughter, Jacob. She seems to have her
+own ideas upon the subject."
+
+"Miss Clifford has made up her mind, and it will not change. I shall ask
+her no more," replied Meyer.
+
+Then he, too, left the room, to give orders about the journey to
+Wakkerstroom that he must take upon the morrow. But Mr. Clifford sat
+there till past midnight, wondering whether he had done right, and if
+they would find the treasure of which he had dreamed for years, and what
+the future had in store for them.
+
+If only he could have seen!
+
+
+When Benita came to breakfast the next morning, she asked where Mr.
+Meyer was, and learned that he had already departed for Wakkerstroom.
+
+"Certainly he is in earnest," she said with a laugh.
+
+"Yes," answered her father; "Jacob is always in earnest, though,
+somehow, his earnestness has not brought him much good so far. If we
+fail, it will not be want of thought and preparation on his part."
+
+Nearly a week went by before Meyer returned again, and meanwhile Benita
+made ready for her journey. In the intervals of her simple preparations
+also she talked a good deal, with the help of her father, to the three
+sturdy-looking Makalanga, who were resting thankfully after their long
+journey. Their conversation was general, since by tacit consent no
+further mention was made of the treasure or of anything to do with it,
+but it enabled her to form a fair opinion of them and their people. She
+gathered that although they spoke a dialect of Zulu, they had none
+of the bravery of the Zulus, and indeed lived in deadly terror of the
+Matabele, who are bastard Zulus--such terror, in fact, that she greatly
+doubted whether the hundred rifles would be of much use to them, should
+they ever be attacked by that tribe.
+
+They were what their fathers had been before them, agriculturists and
+workers in metals--not fighting men. Also she set herself to learn what
+she could of their tongue, which she did not find difficult, for Benita
+had a natural aptitude for languages, and had never forgotten the Dutch
+and Zulu she used to prattle as a child, which now came back to her
+very fast. Indeed, she could already talk fairly in either of those
+languages, especially as she spent her spare hours in studying their
+grammar, and reading them.
+
+So the days went on, till one evening Jacob Meyer appeared with two
+Scotch carts laden with ten long boxes that looked like coffins, and
+other smaller boxes which were very heavy, to say nothing of a multitude
+of stores. As Mr. Clifford prophesied, he had forgotten nothing, for
+he even brought Benita various articles of clothing, and a revolver for
+which she had not asked.
+
+Three days later they trekked away from Rooi Krantz upon a peculiarly
+beautiful Sunday morning in the early spring, giving it out that they
+were going upon a trading and shooting expedition in the north of the
+Transvaal. Benita looked back at the pretty little stead and the wooded
+kloof behind it over which she had nearly fallen, and the placid lake in
+front of it where the nesting wildfowl wheeled, and sighed. For to her,
+now that she was leaving it, the place seemed like home, and it came
+into her mind that she would never see it any more.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+BAMBATSE
+
+Nearly four months had gone by when at length the waggon with which
+were Mr. Clifford, Benita, and Jacob Meyer camped one night within the
+country of the Molimo of Bambatse, whose name was Mambo. Or perhaps
+that was his title, since (according to Tamas his son) every chief in
+succession was called Mambo, though not all of them were Molimos, or
+representatives and prophets of God, or the Great Spirit whom they knew
+as Munwali. Thus sometimes the Molimo, or priest of Munwali, and the
+Mambo or chief were different persons. For instance, he said that he,
+Tamas, would be Mambo on his father's death, but no visions were given
+to him; therefore as yet, at any rate, he was not called to be Molimo.
+
+In the course of this long journey they had met with many adventures,
+such as were common to African travellers before the days of railroads;
+adventures with wild beasts and native tribes, adventures with swollen
+rivers also, and one that was worst, with thirst, since for three days
+(owing to the failure of a pit or pan, where they expected to find
+water) they were obliged to go without drink. Still, none of these
+were very serious, nor had any of the three of them ever been in better
+health than they were at this moment, for by good luck they had escaped
+all fever. Indeed, their rough, wild life had agreed with Benita
+extraordinarily well, so well that any who had known her in the streets
+of London would scarcely have recognized her as the sunburnt, active and
+well-formed young woman who sat that night by the camp fire.
+
+All the horses they had brought with them had been sold, except some
+which had died, and three that were "salted," or proof against the
+deadly horse sickness, which they took on with them. Their own servants
+also had been sent back to Rooi Krantz in charge of a Scotch cart laden
+with ivory, purchased from Boer hunters who had brought it down from the
+north of the Transvaal. Therefore, for this was part of the bargain, the
+three Makalanga were now their only attendants who drove and herded the
+cattle, while Benita cooked the food which the two white men shot, or
+sometimes bought from natives.
+
+For days they had been passing through a country that was practically
+deserted, and now, having crossed a high nek, the same on which Robert
+Seymour had left his waggon, they were camped in low land which, as they
+could see by the remains of walls that appeared everywhere, had once
+been extensively enclosed and cultivated. To their right was a rising
+mountainous ground, beyond which, said the Makalanga, ran the Zambesi,
+and in front of them, not more than ten miles away, a great isolated
+hill, none other than that place that they had journeyed so far to
+reach, Bambatse, round which flowed the great river. Indeed, thither one
+of the three Makalanga, he who was named Hoba, had gone on to announce
+their approach.
+
+They had outspanned amongst ruins, most of them circular in shape, and
+Benita, studying them in the bright moonlight, guessed that once these
+had been houses. That place now so solitary, hundreds or thousands of
+years ago was undoubtedly the home of a great population. Thousands,
+rather than hundreds, she thought, since close at hand in the middle
+of one of these round houses, grew a mighty baobab tree, that could not
+have seen less than ten or fifteen centuries since the seed whence it
+sprang pierced the cement floor which was still visible about its giant
+bole.
+
+Tamas, the Molimo's son, saw her studying these evidences of antiquity,
+and, approaching, saluted her.
+
+"Lady," he said in his own language, which by now she spoke very well,
+"lady"--and he waved his hand with a fine gesture--"behold the city of
+my people."
+
+"How do you know that it was their city?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know, lady. Stones cannot speak, the spirits are silent, and
+we have forgotten. Still, I think so, and our fathers have told us that
+but six or eight generations ago many folk lived here, though it was not
+they who built these walls. Even fifty years ago there were many, but
+now the Matabele have killed them, and we are few; to-morrow you will
+see how few. Come here and look," and he led her through the entrance
+of a square cattle kraal which stood close by. Within were tufts of
+rank grass, and a few bushes, and among these scores of skulls and other
+bones.
+
+"The Matabele killed these in the time of Moselikatse," he said. "Now
+do you wonder that we who remain fear the Matabele, and desire guns to
+defend ourselves from them, even if we must sell our secrets, in order
+to buy those guns, who have no money to pay for them?"
+
+"No," she answered, looking at the tall, dignified man, into whose soul
+the irons of fear and slavery had burnt so deep. "No, I do not wonder."
+
+Next morning at daybreak they trekked on, always through these evidences
+of dead, forgotten people. They had not more than ten miles to cover to
+reach their long journey's end, but the road, if so it could be called,
+ran up-hill, and the oxen, whereof only fourteen were now left to drag
+the heavy-laden waggon, were thin and footsore, so that their progress
+was very slow. Indeed, it was past midday when at length they began to
+enter what by apology might be called the town of Bambatse.
+
+"When we go away from this, it will have to be by water, I think, unless
+we can buy trek-cattle," said Meyer, looking at the labouring oxen with
+a doubtful eye.
+
+"Why?" asked Mr. Clifford anxiously.
+
+"Because several of those beasts have been bitten by tetsefly, like my
+horse, and the poison is beginning to work. I thought so last night, but
+now I am sure. Look at their eyes. It was down in that bit of bush veld
+eight days ago. I said that we ought not to camp there."
+
+At this moment they came to the crest of the ridge, and on its further
+side saw the wonderful ruins of Bambatse close at hand. In front of
+them stood a hill jutting out, as it were into the broad waters of the
+Zambesi river, which, to a great extent, protected it upon three sides.
+The fourth, that opposite to them, except at one place where a kind of
+natural causeway led into the town, was also defended by Nature, since
+here for more than fifty feet in height the granite rock of the base of
+the hill rose sheer and unclimbable. On the mount itself, that in all
+may have covered eight or ten acres of ground, and surrounded by a deep
+donga or ditch, were three rings of fortifications, set one above the
+other, mighty walls which, it was evident, had been built by no modern
+hand. Looking at them Benita could well understand how it came about
+that the poor fugitive Portuguese had chosen this as their last place of
+refuge, and were overcome at length, not by the thousands of savages who
+followed and surrounded them, but by hunger. Indeed, the place seemed
+impregnable to any force that was not armed with siege guns.
+
+On the hither side of this natural fosse, which, doubtless, in ancient
+times had been filled with water led from the Zambesi, stood the village
+of the Bambatse Makalanga, a collection of seventy or eighty wretched
+huts, round, like those of their forefathers, but built of mud and
+thatch. About them lay the gardens, or square fields, that were well
+cultivated, and at this season rich with ripening corn. Benita, however,
+could see no cattle, and concluded, therefore, that these must be kept
+on the hill for safety, and within its walls.
+
+Down the rough road they lumbered, and through the village, where the
+few women and children stared at them in a frightened way. Then they
+came to the causeway, which, on its further side, was blocked with
+thorns and rough stones taken from the ruins. While they waited for
+these to be removed by some men who now appeared, Benita looked at the
+massive, circular wall still thirty or forty feet in height, by perhaps
+twenty through its base, built of granite blocks without mortar,
+and ornamented with quaint patterns of other coloured stones. In
+its thickness she could see grooves, where evidently had once been
+portcullises, but these had disappeared long ago.
+
+"It is a wonderful place," she said to her father. "I am glad that I
+came. Have you been all over it?"
+
+"No; only between the first and second walls, and once between the
+second and third. The old temple, or whatever it is, is on the top,
+and into that they would never admit us. It is there that the treasure
+lies."
+
+"That the treasure is supposed to lie," she answered with a smile. "But,
+Father, what guarantee have you that they will do so now? Perhaps they
+will take the guns and show us the door--or rather the gate."
+
+"Your daughter is right, there is none; and before a box is taken off
+the waggon we must get one," said Meyer. "Oh! I know it is risky, and it
+would have been better to make sure first, but it is too late to talk of
+that now. Look, the stones are cleared. Trek on--trek!"
+
+The long waggon-whip cracked, the poor, tired-out oxen strained at the
+yokes, and on they went through the entrance of that fateful fortress
+that was but just wide enough to admit them. Inside lay a great open
+space, which, as they could see from the numerous ruins, had once been
+filled with buildings that now were half hidden by grass, trees, and
+creepers. This was the outer ring of the temple where, in ancient
+days, the priests and captains had their home. Travelling across it for
+perhaps a hundred and fifty yards, they came near the second wall, which
+was like the first, only not quite so solid, and saw that on a stretch
+of beaten ground, and seated in the shadow, for the day was hot, the
+people of Bambatse were gathered to greet them.
+
+When within fifty yards they dismounted from the horses, which were
+left with the waggon in the charge of the Makalanga, Tamala. Then Benita
+taking her position between her father and Jacob Meyer, they
+advanced towards the ring of natives, of whom there may have been two
+hundred--all of them adult men.
+
+As they came, except one figure who remained seated with his back
+against the wall, the human circle stood up as a token of respect, and
+Benita saw that they were of the same stamp as the messengers--tall and
+good-looking, with melancholy eyes and a cowed expression, wearing the
+appearance of people who from day to day live in dread of slavery and
+death. Opposite to them was a break in the circle, through which Tamas
+led them, and as they crossed it Benita felt that all those people
+were staring at her with their sad eyes. A few paces from where the
+man crouched against the wall, his head hidden by a beautifully worked
+blanket that was thrown over it, were placed three well-carved stools.
+Upon these, at a motion from Tamas, they sat themselves down, and, as it
+was not dignified for them to speak first, remained silent.
+
+"Be patient and forgive," said Tamas at length. "My father, Mambo, prays
+to the Munwali and the spirits of his fathers that this coming of yours
+may be fortunate, and that a vision of those things that are to be may
+descend upon him."
+
+Benita, feeling nearly two hundred pairs of eyes concentrated upon her,
+wished that the vision might come quickly, but after a minute or
+two fell into tune with the thing, and almost enjoyed this strange
+experience. Those mighty ancient walls built by hands unknown, which
+had seen so much history and so much death; the silent, triple ring
+of patient, solemn men, the last descendants of a cultured race, the
+crouching figure hidden beneath the blanket, who imagined himself to be
+communicating with his god--it was all very strange, very well worth the
+seeing to one who had wearied of the monotony of civilization.
+
+Look, the man stirred, and threw back his blanket, revealing a head
+white with age, a spiritual, ascetic face, so thin that every bone
+showed in it, and dark eyes which stared upwards unseeingly, like those
+of a person in a trance. Thrice he sighed, while his tribesmen watched
+him. Then he let his eyes fall upon the three white people seated
+in front of him. First he looked at Mr. Clifford, and his face grew
+troubled; then at Jacob Meyer, and it was anxious and alarmed. Lastly,
+he stared at Benita, and while he did so the dark eyes became calm and
+happy.
+
+"White maiden," he said in a soft, low voice, "for you, at least, I have
+good tidings. Though Death come near to you, though you see him on your
+right hand and your left, and in front of you and behind you, I say,
+fear not. Here you, who have known deep sorrow, shall find happiness and
+rest, O maiden, with whom goes the spirit of one pure and fair as you,
+who died so long ago."
+
+Then, while Benita wondered at his words, spoken with such sweet
+earnestness that although she believed nothing of them, they brought
+a kind of comfort to her, he looked once more at her father and Jacob
+Meyer, and, as it were with an effort, was silent.
+
+"Have you no pleasant prophecy for me, old friend," said Jacob, "who
+have come so far to hear it?"
+
+At once the aged face grew inscrutable, all expression vanished behind a
+hundred wrinkles, and he answered:
+
+"None, white man--none that I am charged to deliver. Search the skies
+for yourself, you who are so wise, and read them if you can. Lords," he
+went on in another voice, "I greet you in the name and presence of my
+children. Son Tamas, I greet you also; you have done your mission well.
+Listen, now--you are weary and would rest and eat; still, bear with me,
+for I have a word to say. Look around you. You see all my tribe, not
+twenty times ten above the age of boys, we who once were countless as
+the leaves on yonder trees in spring. Why are we dead? Because of the
+Amandabele, those fierce dogs whom, two generations ago, Moselikatse,
+the general of Chaka, brought up to the south of us, who ravish us and
+kill us year by year.
+
+"We are not warlike, we who have outlived war and the lust of slaying.
+We are men of peace, who desire to cultivate the land, and to follow our
+arts which have descended to us from our ancestors, and to worship
+the Heavens above us, whither we depart to join the spirits of our
+forefathers. But they are fierce and strong and savage, and they come
+up and murder our children and old people, and take away the young women
+and the maidens to be slaves, and with them all our cattle. Where are
+our cattle? Lobengula, chief of the Amandabele, has them; scarce a cow
+is left to give milk to the sick or to the motherless babe. And yet he
+sends for cattle. Tribute, say his messengers, deliver tribute, or my
+impi will come and take it with your lives. But we have no cattle--all
+are gone. We have nothing left to us but this ancient mountain and the
+works built thereon, and a little corn on which we live. Yes, I say
+it--I, the Molimo--I whose ancestors were great kings--I who have still
+more wisdom in me than all the hosts of the Amandabele," and as he spoke
+the old man's grey head sank upon his breast and the tears ran down his
+withered cheeks, while his people answered:
+
+"Mambo, it is true."
+
+"Now listen again," he went on. "Lobengula threatens us, therefore I
+sent to these white men who were here before, saying that if they would
+bring me a hundred guns, and powder and ball, to enable us to beat off
+the Amandabele from behind these strong walls of ours, I would take them
+into the secret holy place where for six generations no white man has
+set a foot, and there suffer them to search for the treasure which is
+hid therein, no man knows where, that treasure which they asked leave to
+find four winters gone. We refused it then and drove them hence, because
+of the curse laid upon us by the white maid who died, the last of the
+Portuguese, who foretold her people's fate for us if we gave up the
+buried gold save to one appointed. My children, the Spirit of Bambatse
+has visited me; I have seen her and others have seen her, and in my
+sleep she said to me: 'Suffer the men to come and search, for with them
+is one of the blood to whom my people's wealth is given; and great is
+your danger, for many spears draw nigh.' My children, I sent my son and
+other messengers on a far journey to where I knew the men dwelt, and
+they have returned after many months bringing those men with them,
+bringing with them also another of whom I knew nothing--yes, her who is
+appointed, her of whom the Spirit spoke."
+
+Then he lifted his withered hand and held it towards Benita, saying: "I
+tell you that yonder she sits for whom the generations have waited."
+
+"It is so," answered the Makalanga. "It is the White Lady come again to
+take her own."
+
+"Friends," asked the Molimo, while they wondered at his strange speech,
+"tell me, have you brought the guns?"
+
+"Surely," answered Mr. Clifford, "they are there in the waggon, every
+one of them, the best that can be made, and with them ten thousand
+cartridges, bought at a great cost. We have fulfilled our share of the
+bargain; now will you fulfil yours, or shall we go away again with the
+guns and leave you to meet the Matabele with your assegais?"
+
+"Say you the agreement while we listen," answered the Molimo.
+
+"Good," said Mr. Clifford. "It is this: That you shall find us food and
+shelter while we are with you. That you shall lead us into the secret
+place at the head of the hill, where the Portuguese died, and the gold
+is hidden. That you shall allow us to search for that gold when and
+where we will. That if we discover the gold, or anything else of value
+to us, you shall suffer us to take it away, and assist us upon our
+journey, either by giving us boats and manning them to travel down the
+Zambesi, or in whatever fashion may be most easy. That you shall permit
+none to hurt, molest, or annoy us during our sojourn among you. Is that
+our contract?"
+
+"Not quite all of it," said the Molimo. "There is this to add: first
+that you shall teach us how to use the guns; secondly, that you shall
+search for and find the treasure, if so it is appointed, without our
+help, since in this matter it is not lawful for us to meddle; thirdly,
+that if the Amandabele should chance to attack us while you are here,
+you shall do your best to assist us against their power."
+
+"Do you, then, expect attack?" asked Meyer suspiciously.
+
+"White man, we always expect attack. Is it a bargain?"
+
+"Yes," answered Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer in one voice, the latter
+adding: "the guns and the cartridges are yours. Lead us now to the
+hidden place. We have fulfilled our part; we trust to the honour of you
+and all your people to fulfil yours."
+
+"White Maiden," asked the Molimo, addressing Benita, "do you also say
+that it is a bargain?"
+
+"What my father says, I say."
+
+"Good," said the Molimo. "Then, in the presence of my people, and in the
+name of the Munwali, I, Mambo, who am his prophet, declare that it is so
+agreed between us, and may the vengeance of the heavens fall upon those
+who break our pact! Let the oxen of the white men be outspanned, their
+horses fed, their waggon unloaded, that we may count the guns. Let food
+be brought into the guest-house also, and after they have eaten, I, who
+alone of all of you have ever entered it, will lead them to the holy
+place, that there they may begin to search for that which the white
+men desire from age to age--to find it if they can; if not, to depart
+satisfied and at peace."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE OATH OF MADUNA
+
+Mr. Clifford and Meyer rose to return to the waggon in order to
+superintend the unyoking of the oxen and to give directions as to their
+herding, and the off-saddling of the horses. Benita rose also, wondering
+when the food that had been promised would be ready, for she was hungry.
+Meanwhile, the Molimo was greeting his son Tamas, patting his hand
+affectionately and talking to him, when suddenly Benita, who watched
+this domestic scene with interest, heard a commotion behind her. Turning
+to discover its cause, she perceived three great man clad in full war
+panoply, shields on their left arms, spears in their right hands, black
+ostrich plumes rising from the polished rings woven in their hair, black
+moochas about their middles, and black oxtails tied beneath their knees,
+who marched through the throng of Makalanga as though they saw them not.
+
+"The Matabele! The Matabele are on us!" cried a voice; while other
+voices shouted, "Fly to your walls!" and yet others, "Kill them! They
+are few."
+
+But the three men marched on unheeding till they stood before Mambo.
+
+"Who are you, and what do you seek?" the old man asked boldly, though
+the fear that had taken hold of him at the sight of these strangers was
+evident enough, for his whole body shook.
+
+"Surely you should know, chief of Bambatse," answered their spokesman
+with a laugh, "for you have seen the like of us before. We are the
+children of Lobengula, the Great Elephant, the King, the Black Bull, the
+Father of the Amandabele, and we have a message for your ear, little Old
+Man, which, finding that you leave your gate open, we have walked in to
+deliver."
+
+"Speak your message then, envoys of Lobengula, in my ear and in those of
+my people," said the Molimo.
+
+"Your people! Are these all your people?" the spokesman replied
+contemptuously. "Why then, what need was there for the indunas of the
+King to send so large an impi under a great general against you, when a
+company of lads armed with sticks would have served the turn? We thought
+that these were but the sons of your house, the men of your own family,
+whom you had called together to eat with the white strangers."
+
+"Close the entrance in the wall," cried the Molimo, stung to fury by the
+insult; and a voice answered:
+
+"Father, it is already done."
+
+But the Matabele, who should have been frightened, only laughed again,
+and their spokesman said:
+
+"See, my brothers, he thinks to trap us who are but three. Well, kill
+on, Old Wizard, if you will, but know that if a hand is lifted,
+this spear of mine goes through your heart, and that the children of
+Lobengula die hard. Know also that then the impi which waits not far
+away will destroy you every one, man and woman, youth and maiden,
+little ones who hold the hand and infants at the breast; none shall be
+left--none at all, to say, 'Here once lived the cowardly Makalanga of
+Bambatse.' Nay, be not foolish, but talk softly with us, so that perhaps
+we may spare your lives."
+
+Then the three men placed themselves back to back, in such fashion that
+they faced every way, and could not be smitten down from behind, and
+waited.
+
+"I do not kill envoys," said the Molimo, "but if they are foul-mouthed,
+I throw them out of my walls. Your message, men of the Amandabele."
+
+"I hear you. Hearken now to the word of Lobengula."
+
+Then the envoy began to speak, using the pronoun I as though it were the
+Matabele king himself who spoke to his vassal, the Makalanga chief: "I
+sent to you last year, you slave, who dare to call yourself Mambo of the
+Makalanga, demanding a tribute of cattle and women, and warning you that
+if they did not come, I would take them. They did not come, but that
+time I spared you. Now I send again. Hand over to my messengers fifty
+cows and fifty oxen, with herds to drive them, and twelve maidens to
+be approved by them, or I wipe you out, who have troubled the earth too
+long, and that before another moon has waned.
+
+"Those are the words of Lobengula," he concluded, and taking the horn
+snuff-box from the slit in his ear, helped himself, then insolently
+passed it to the Molimo.
+
+So great was the old chief's rage that, forgetting his self-control, he
+struck the box from the hand of his tormentor to the ground, where the
+snuff lay spilled.
+
+"Just so shall the blood of your people be spilled through your rash
+foolishness," said the messenger calmly, as he picked up the box, and as
+much of the snuff as he could save.
+
+"Hearken," said the Molimo, in a thin, trembling voice. "Your king
+demands cattle, knowing that all the cattle are gone, that scarce a cow
+is left to give drink to a motherless babe. He asks for maidens also,
+but if he took those he seeks we should have none left for our young men
+to marry. And why is this so? It is because the vulture, Lobengula, has
+picked us to the bone; yes, while we are yet alive he has torn the flesh
+from us. Year by year his soldiers have stolen and killed, till at last
+nothing is left of us. And now he seeks what we have not got to give, in
+order that he may force a quarrel upon us and murder us. There is nought
+left for us to give Lobengula. You have your answer."
+
+"Indeed!" replied the envoy with a sneer. "How comes it, then, that
+yonder I see a waggon laden with goods, and oxen in the yokes? Yes,"
+he repeated with meaning, "with goods whereof we have known the like
+at Buluwayo; for Lobengula also sometimes buys guns from white men, O!
+little Makalanga. Come now, give us the waggon with its load and the
+oxen and the horses, and though it be but a small gift, we will take it
+away and ask nothing more this year."
+
+"How can I give you the property of my guests, the white men?" asked the
+Molimo. "Get you gone, and do your worst, or you shall be thrown from
+the walls of the fortress."
+
+"Good, but know that very soon we shall return and make an end of
+you, who are tired of these long and troublesome journeys to gather so
+little. Go, tend your corn, dwellers in Bambatse, for this I swear in
+the name of Lobengula, never shall you see it ripen more."
+
+Now the crowd of listening Makalanga trembled at his words, but in the
+old Molimo they seemed only to rouse a storm of prophetic fury. For a
+moment he stood staring up at the blue sky, his arms outstretched as
+though in prayer. Then he spoke in a new voice--a clear, quiet voice,
+that did not seem to be his own.
+
+"Who am I?" he said. "I am the Molimo of the Bambatse Makalanga; I am
+the ladder between them and Heaven; I sit on the topmost bough of
+the tree under which they shelter, and there in the crest of the
+tree Munwali speaks with me. What to you are winds, to me are voices
+whispering in my spirit's ears. Once my forefathers were great kings,
+they were Mambos of all the land, and that is still my name and dignity.
+We lived in peace; we laboured, we did wrong to no man. Then you Zulu
+savages came upon us from the south-east and your path was red with
+blood. Year after year you robbed and you destroyed; you raided our
+cattle, you murdered our men, you took our maidens and our children to
+be your women and your slaves, until at length, of all this pit filled
+with the corn of life, there is left but a little handful. And this you
+say you will eat up also, lest it should fall into good ground and grow
+again. I tell you that I think it will not be so; but whether or no that
+happens, I have words for the ear of your king--a message for a message.
+Say to him that thus speaks the wise old Molimo of Bambatse.
+
+"I see him hunted like a wounded hyena through the rivers, in the deep
+bush, and over the mountain. I see him die in pain and misery; but his
+grave I see not, for no man shall know it. I see the white man take his
+land and all his wealth; yea, to them and to no son of his shall his
+people give the Bayete, the royal salute. Of his greatness and his
+power, this alone shall remain to him--a name accursed from generation
+to generation. And last of all I see peace upon the land and upon my
+children's children." He paused, then added: "For you, cruel dog that
+you are, this message also from the Munwali, by the lips of his Molimo.
+I lift no hand against you, but you shall not live to look again upon
+your king's face. Begone now, and do your worst."
+
+For a moment the three Matabele seemed to be frightened, and Benita
+heard one of them say to his companions:
+
+"The Wizard has bewitched us! He has bewitched the Great Elephant and
+all his people! Shall we kill him?"
+
+But quickly shaking off his fears their spokesman laughed, and answered:
+
+"So that is what you have brought the white people here for, old
+traitor--to plot against the throne of Lobengula."
+
+He wheeled round and stared at Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer; then added:
+
+"Good, Grey-beard and Black-Beard: I myself will put you both to such a
+death as you have never heard of, and as for the girl, since she is well
+favoured, she shall brew the king's beer, and be numbered amongst the
+king's wives--unless, indeed, he is pleased to give her to me."
+
+In an instant the thing was done! At the man's words about Benita,
+Meyer, who had been listening to his threats and bombast unconcerned,
+suddenly seemed to awake. His dark eyes flashed, his pale face turned
+cruel. Snatching the revolver from his belt he seemed to point and fire
+it with one movement, and down--dead or dying--went the Matabele.
+
+Men did not stir, they only stared. Accustomed as they were to death in
+that wild land, the suddenness of this deed surprised them. The contrast
+between the splendid, brutal savage who had stood before them a moment
+ago, and the limp, black thing going to sleep upon the ground, was
+strange enough to move their imaginations. There he lay, and there, over
+him, the smoking pistol in his hand, Meyer stood and laughed.
+
+Benita felt that the act was just, and the awful punishment deserved.
+Yet that laugh of Jacob's jarred upon her, for in it she thought she
+heard the man's heart speaking; and oh, its voice was merciless! Surely
+Justice should not laugh when her sword falls!
+
+"Behold, now," said the Molimo in his still voice, pointing at the dead
+Matabele with his finger; "do I speak lies, or is it true that this
+man shall not look more upon his king's face? Well, as it was with
+the servant, so it shall be with the lord, only more slowly. It is the
+decree of the Munwali, spoken by the voice of his Mouth, the Molimo of
+Bambatse. Go, children of Lobengula, and bear with you as an offering
+this first-fruit of the harvest that the white men shall reap among the
+warriors of his people."
+
+The thin voice died away, and there was silence so intense that Benita
+thought she heard the scraping of the feet of a green lizard which crept
+across a stone a yard or two away.
+
+Then of a sudden it ended. Of a sudden the two remaining Matabele turned
+and fled for their lives, and as, when dogs run, a flock of sheep will
+wheel about and pursue them, so did the Makalanga. They grabbed at the
+messengers with their hands, tearing their finery from them; they struck
+them with sticks, they pounded them with stones, till at length two
+bruised and bleeding men, finding all escape cut off, and led perhaps
+by some instinct, staggered back to where Benita stood horrified at this
+dreadful scene, and throwing themselves upon the ground, clutched at her
+dress and prayed for mercy.
+
+"Move a little, Miss Clifford," said Meyer. "Three of those brutes will
+not weigh heavier than one upon my conscience."
+
+"No, no, you shall not," she answered. "Mambo, these men are messengers;
+spare them."
+
+"Hearken to the voice of pity," said the old prophet, "spoken in a place
+where pity never was, and not in vain. Let them go. Give mercy to the
+merciless, for she buys their lives with a prayer."
+
+"They will bring the others on us," muttered Tamas, and even old Mr.
+Clifford shook his head sadly. But the Molimo only said:
+
+"I have spoken. Let them go. That which will befall must befall, and
+from this deed no ill shall come that would not have come otherwise."
+
+"You hear? Depart swiftly," said Benita, in Zulu.
+
+With difficulty the two men dragged themselves to their feet, and
+supporting each other, stood before her. One of them, a clever,
+powerful-faced man, whose black hair was tinged with grey, addressing
+himself to Benita, gasped:
+
+"Hear me. That fool there," and he pointed to his dead companion, "whose
+boasting brought his death upon him, was but a low fellow. I, who kept
+silence and let him talk, am Maduna, a prince of the royal house who
+justly deserve to die because I turned my back upon these dogs. Yet I
+and my brother here take life at your hands, Lady, who, now that I have
+had time to think, would refuse it at theirs. For, whether I stay or
+go does not matter. The impi waits; the slayers are beneath the walls.
+Those things which are decreed will happen; there, yonder old Wizard
+speaks true. Listen, Lady: should it chance that you have cause to
+demand two lives at the hands of Maduna, in his own name and the name
+of his king he promises them to you. In safety shall they pass, they
+and all that is theirs, without toll taken. Remember the oath of Maduna,
+Lady, in the hour of your need, and do you, my brother, bear witness to
+it among our people."
+
+Then, straightening themselves as well as they were able, these two
+sorely hurt men lifted their right arms and gave Benita the salute
+due to a chieftainess. This done, taking no note of any other creature
+there, they limped away to the gate that had been opened for them, and
+vanished beyond the wall.
+
+All this while Meyer had stood silent; now he spoke with a bitter smile.
+
+"Charity, Miss Clifford, said a certain Paul, as reported in your New
+Testament, covers a multitude of sins. I hope very much that it will
+serve to cover our remains from the aasvogels, after we have met our
+deaths in some such fashion as that brute promised us," and he pointed
+to the dead man.
+
+Benita looked at her father in question.
+
+"Mr. Meyer means, my dear, that you have done a foolish thing in begging
+the lives of those Matabele. It would have been safer for us if they
+were dead, who, as it is, have gone off burning for revenge. Of course,
+I understand it was natural enough, but----" and he hesitated and
+stopped.
+
+"The chief did not say so," broke in Benita with agitation; "besides, if
+he had, I should not have cared. It was bad enough to see one man killed
+like that," and she shivered; "I could not bear any more."
+
+"You should not be angry at the fellow's death, seeing that it was what
+he said of you which brought it upon him," Meyer replied with meaning.
+"Otherwise he might have gone unharmed as far as I was concerned. For
+the rest, I did not interfere because I saw it was useless; also I am
+a fatalist like our friend, the Molimo, and believe in what is decreed.
+The truth is," he added sharply, "among savages ladies are not in
+place."
+
+"Why did you not say that down at Rooi Krantz, Jacob?" asked Mr.
+Clifford. "You know I thought so all the while, but somehow I was
+over-ruled. Now what I suggest is, that we had better get out of this
+place as fast as we can--instantly, as soon as we have eaten, before our
+retreat is cut off."
+
+Meyer looked at the oxen which had been outspanned: nine were wandering
+about picking up what food they could, but the five which were supposed
+to have been bitten by tetsefly had lain down.
+
+"Nine worn-out and footsore oxen will not draw the waggon," he said;
+"also in all probability the place is already surrounded by Matabele,
+who merely let us in to be sure of the guns which their spies must have
+told them we were carrying. Lastly, having spent so much and come so
+far, I do not mean to go without what we seek. Still, if you think that
+your daughter's danger is greater within these walls than outside
+of them, you might try, if we can hire servants, which I doubt. Or
+possibly, if any rowers are to be had, you could go down the Zambesi in
+a canoe, risking the fever. You and she must settle it, Clifford."
+
+"Difficulties and dangers every way one looks. Benita, what do you say?"
+asked her father distractedly.
+
+Benita thought a moment. She wished to escape from Mr. Meyer, of whom
+she was weary and afraid, and would have endured much to do so. On the
+other hand, her father was tired out, and needed rest; also to turn
+his back upon this venture now would have been a bitter blow to him.
+Moreover, lacking cattle and men, how was it to be done? Lastly,
+something within her, that same voice which had bidden her to come,
+seemed to bid her to stay. Very soon she had made up her mind.
+
+"Father, dear," she said, "thank you for thinking of me, but as far as
+I can see, we should run more risks trying to get away than we do in
+stopping here. I wanted to come, though you warned me against it, and
+now I must take my chance and trust to God to bring us safe through all
+dangers. Surely with all those rifles the Makalanga ought to be able to
+hold such a place as this against the Matabele."
+
+"I hope so," answered her father; "but they are a timid folk. Still,
+though it would have been far better never to have come, I think with
+you that it is best to stay where we are, and trust to God."
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE MOUNTAIN TOP
+
+If our adventurers, or any of them, hoped that they were going to be
+led to the secret places of the fortress that day, they were destined
+to disappointment. Indeed, the remainder of it was employed arduously
+enough in unpacking rifles, and a supply of ammunition; also in giving
+to a few of the leading Makalanga preliminary lessons in the method of
+their use, a matter as to which their ideas were of the vaguest. The
+rest of the tribe, having brought their women and children into the
+outer enclosure of the ancient stronghold, and with them their sheep
+and goats and the few cattle which remained to them, were employed in
+building up the entrance permanently with stones, a zigzag secret path
+upon the river side, that could be stopped in a few minutes, being now
+their only method of ingress and egress through the thickness of the
+walls. A certain number of men were also sent out as spies to discover,
+if possible, the whereabouts of the Matabele impi.
+
+That there was some impi they were almost sure, for a woman who had
+followed them reported that the injured captain, Maduna, and his
+companion had been met at a distance of about three miles from Bambatse
+by a small party of Matabele, who were hiding in some bushes, and that
+these men had made litters for them, and carried them away; whither she
+did not know, for she had not dared to pursue them further.
+
+That night Benita passed in the guesthouse, which was only a hut rather
+larger than the others, while the two men slept in the waggon just
+outside. She was so tired that for a long while she could not rest. Her
+mind kept flying back to all the events of the day: the strange words
+of that mystic old Molimo, concerning herself; the arrival of the brutal
+messengers and the indaba that followed; then the sudden and awful
+destruction of their spokesman at the hand of Jacob Meyer. The scene
+would not leave her eyes, she saw it again and yet again: the quick
+transformation of Meyer's indifferent face when the soldier began to
+insult and threaten her, the lightning-like movement of his hand, the
+flash, the report, the change from life to death, and the slayer's cruel
+laugh. He could be very terrible, Jacob Meyer, when his passions were
+roused!
+
+And what had roused them then? She could not doubt that it was
+herself--not mere chivalry towards a woman. Even if he were capable of
+chivalry, merely for that he would never have taken such risk of future
+trouble and revenge. No; it was something deeper. He had never said
+anything or done anything, yet long ago instinct or insight had caused
+Benita to suspect the workings of his mind, and now she was sure of
+them. The thought was terrible--worse than all her other dangers put
+together. True, she had her father to rely on, but he had been somewhat
+ailing of late; age and these arduous journeys and anxieties had told
+upon him. Supposing that anything were to happen to him--if he died, for
+instance, how dreadful her position might become, left alone far from
+the reach of help, with savages--and Jacob Meyer.
+
+Oh! if it had not been for that dreadful shipwreck, how different might
+be her lot to-day! Well, it was the thought of the shipwreck and of him
+whom she had lost therein, which had driven her on to this adventure,
+that in it perhaps her suffering mind might be numbed to rest; and now
+she must face its issues. God still remained above her, and she would
+put her trust in Him. After all, if she died, what did it matter?
+
+But that old Molimo had promised her that she was safe from death, that
+she should find here happiness and rest, though not that of the grave.
+He promised this, speaking as one who knew of all her grief, and a very
+little while afterwards, in the case of the Matabele soldier, he had
+proved himself a prophet of awful power. Also--she knew not how, she
+knew not why--now, as before, her inmost heart seemed to bear witness
+that this old dreamer's words were true, and that for her, in some
+strange manner unforeseen, there still remained a rest.
+
+Comforted a little by this intuition, at length Benita fell asleep.
+
+Next morning, when she came out of the hut, Benita was met by her
+father, who with a cheerful countenance informed her that at any rate
+as yet there was no sign of the Matabele. A few hours later, too, some
+spies came in who said that for miles round nothing could be seen or
+heard of them. Still the preparations for defence went on, and the
+hundred best men having been furnished with the rifles, were being
+drilled in the use of them by Tamas and his two companions, Tamala and
+Hoba, who had learned how to handle a gun very well in the course of
+their long journey. The shooting of these raw recruits, however, proved
+to be execrable; indeed, so dangerous were they that when one of them
+fired at a mark set upon the wall, it was found necessary to order
+all the rest to lie down. As it was, a poor trek ox--luckily it was
+sick--and two sheep were killed.
+
+Foreseeing a scarcity of provisions in the event of a siege, Meyer,
+provident as ever, had already decreed the death of the tetse-bitten
+cattle. These were accordingly despatched, and having been skinned and
+cut up, their flesh was severed into long strips to be dried in the
+burning sun as biltong, which secretly Benita hoped she might never be
+called upon to eat. Yet the time was to come when she would swallow that
+hard, tetse-poisoned flesh with thankfulness.
+
+At midday, after they had eaten, Mr. Clifford and Meyer went to the
+Molimo, where he sat against the second wall, and, pointing to the men
+with the guns, said:
+
+"We have fulfilled our bargain. Now fulfil yours. Lead us to the holy
+place that we may begin our search."
+
+"So be it," he answered. "Follow me, white people."
+
+Then, quite unattended, he guided them round the inner wall till they
+came to a path of rock not more than a yard wide, beneath which was a
+precipice fifty feet or so in depth that almost overhung the river. This
+giddy path they followed for about twenty paces, to find that it ended
+in a cleft in the wall so narrow that only one person could walk
+through it at a time. That it must have been the approach to the second
+stronghold was evident, however, since it was faced on either side with
+dressed stones, and even the foundation granite had been worn by the
+human feet which had passed here for ages upon ages. This path zigzagged
+to and fro in the thickness of the wall till it brought them finally
+within its circle, a broad belt of steeply-rising ground, covered like
+that below with the tumbled ruins of buildings amidst which grew bush
+and trees.
+
+"Heaven send that the gold is not buried here," said Mr. Clifford,
+surveying the scene; "for if it is, we shall never find it."
+
+The Molimo seemed to guess the meaning of his words from his face, for
+he answered:
+
+"I think not here. The besiegers won this place and camped in it for
+many weeks. I could show you were they built their fires and tried to
+undermine the last wall within which the Portuguese sat about until
+hunger killed them, for they could not eat their gold. Follow me again."
+
+So on they went up the slope till they came to the base of the third
+wall, and as before, passed round it, and reached a point above the
+river. But now there was no passage, only some shallow and almost
+precipitous steps cut from single stones leading from the foot of the
+wall to its summit, more than thirty feet above.
+
+"Really," said Benita, contemplating this perilous ascent with dismay,
+"the ways of treasure seekers are hard. I don't think I can," while her
+father also looked at them and shook his head.
+
+"We must get a rope," said Meyer to the Molimo angrily. "How can we
+climb that place without one, with such a gulf below?"
+
+"I am old, but I climb it," said the aged man in mild surprise, since to
+him, who had trodden it all his life, it seemed not difficult. "Still,"
+he added, "I have a rope above which I use upon dark nights. I will
+ascend and let it down."
+
+Ascend he did accordingly; indeed, it was a wondrous sight to see his
+withered legs scrambling from step to step as unconcernedly as though
+he were going upstairs. No monkey could have been more agile, or more
+absolutely impervious to the effects of height. Soon he vanished in--or,
+rather, through--the crest of the wall, and presently appeared again on
+the top step, whence he let down a stout hide rope, remarking that it
+was securely tied. So anxious was Meyer to enter the hidden place of
+which he had dreamed so long that he scarcely waited for it to reach
+his hand before he began the climb, which he accomplished safely. Then,
+sitting on the top of the wall, he directed Mr. Clifford to fasten the
+end of the rope round Benita's waist, and her turn came.
+
+It was not so bad as she expected, for she was agile, and the knowledge
+that the rope would prevent disaster gave her confidence. In a very
+little while she had grasped Meyer's outstretched hand, and been drawn
+into safety through a kind of aperture above the top step. Then the rope
+was let down again for her father, who tied it about his middle. Well
+was it that he did so, since when he was about half-way up, awkwardness,
+or perhaps loss of nerve--neither of them wonderful in an old
+man--caused his foot to slip, and had it not been for the rope which
+Meyer and the Molimo held, he would certainly have fallen into the
+river some hundreds of feet below. As it was, he recovered himself, and
+presently arrived panting and very pale. In her relief Benita kissed
+him, and even as she did so thought again that she had been very near to
+being left alone with Jacob Meyer.
+
+"All's well that ends well, my dear," he said. "But upon my word I am
+beginning to wish that I had been content with the humble profits of
+horse-breeding."
+
+Benita made no answer; it seemed too late for any useful consideration
+of the point.
+
+"Clever men, those ancients," said Meyer. "See," and he pointed out
+to her how, by drawing a heavy stone which still lay close by over the
+aperture through which they had crept, the ascent of the wall could
+be made absolutely impossible to any enemy, since at its crest it was
+battened outwards, not inwards, as is usual in these ancient ruins.
+
+"Yes," she answered, "we ought to feel safe enough inside here, and
+that's as well since I do not feel inclined to go out again at present."
+
+Then they paused to look about them, and this was what they saw:
+
+The wall, built like those below, of unmortared blocks of stone,
+remained in a wonderfully good state of preservation, for its only
+enemies had been time, the tropical rains, and the growth of shrubs
+and trees which here and there had cracked and displaced the stones. It
+enclosed all the top of the hill, perhaps three acres of ground, and
+on it at intervals were planted soap-stone pillars, each of them about
+twelve feet in height, and fashioned at the top to a rude resemblance
+of a vulture. Many of these columns, however had been blown down, or
+perhaps struck by lightning, and lay broken upon the wall, or if they
+had fallen inward, at its foot; but some, six or eight perhaps, were
+still standing.
+
+Benita learned afterwards that they must have been placed there by
+the ancient Phoenicians, or whatever people constructed this gigantic
+fortification, and had something to do with the exact recordings of the
+different seasons of the year, and their sub-divisions, by means of the
+shadows which they cast. As yet, however, she did not pay much attention
+to them, for she was engaged in considering a more remarkable relic of
+antiquity which stood upon the very verge of the precipice, the wall,
+indeed, being built up to its base on either side.
+
+It was the great cone of which Richard Seymour had told her, fifty feet
+high or more, such as once was found in the Phoenician temples. But in
+this case it was not built of masonry, but shaped by the hand of man out
+of a single gigantic granite monolith of the sort that are sometimes to
+be met with in Africa, that thousands or millions of years ago had been
+left standing thus when the softer rock around it was worn away by time
+and weather. On the inner side of this cone were easy steps whereby
+it could be ascended, and its top, which might have been six feet in
+diameter, was fashioned in the shape of a cup, probably for the purposes
+of acts of worship and of sacrifice. This extraordinary monument, which,
+except on the river side, could not be seen from below on account of
+the slope of the hill, leaned slightly outwards, so that a stone dropped
+from its crest would fall into the waters of the stream.
+
+"Thence it was," said the Molimo, "that my forefathers saw the last of
+the Portuguese, the fair daughter of the great Captain Ferreira, hurl
+herself to death after she had given the gold into our keeping, and laid
+the curse upon it, until she came again. So in my dreams have I seen and
+heard her also, ay, and others have seen her, but these only from by the
+river far below."
+
+He paused awhile, looking at Benita with his queer, dreamy eyes; then
+said suddenly:
+
+"Say, Lady, do you remember nothing of that matter?"
+
+Now Benita grew vexed, for the whole thing was uncanny and jarred upon
+her.
+
+"How can I remember," she asked, "who was born not five and twenty years
+ago?"
+
+"I do not know," he answered. "How should I know, who am but an ignorant
+old black man, who was born not much more than eighty years ago? Yet,
+Lady, tell me, for I seek your wisdom, where were you born from? Out of
+the earth, or out of the heavens? What? You shake your head, you who
+do not remember? Well, neither do I remember. Yet it is true that all
+circles meet somewhere, and it is true that the Portuguese maiden said
+she would come again; and lastly it is true that she was such an one
+as you are, for she haunts this place, and I, who have seen her sitting
+yonder in the moonlight, know her beauty well. Yet mayhap she comes no
+more in flesh, but still her spirit comes; for, Lady, out of those eyes
+of yours I see it gaze at me. Come," he added abruptly, "let us descend
+the wall, for as you cannot remember, there is more to show you. Have no
+fear--the steps are easy."
+
+So they went down without much difficulty, since, from the accumulation
+of rubbish and other causes, the wall was a great deal lower on this
+side, and found themselves in the usual dense growth of vegetation and
+brushwood through which ran a little path. It led them past the ruins
+of buildings whereof the use and purpose were long since forgotten, for
+their roofs had fallen in hundreds or thousands of years ago, to the
+entrance of a cave which was placed almost at the foot of the monolithic
+cone, but thirty or forty yards further from the circle of the wall.
+Here the Molimo bade them stay while he lit the lamps within. Five
+minutes passed and he returned, saying that all was ready.
+
+"Be not afraid of what you may see," he added, "for know, white people,
+that save my forefathers and myself, none have entered this place since
+the Portuguese perished here, nor have we, who do but come hither to
+pray and receive the word of the Munwali, ever ventured to disturb it.
+As it was, so it is. Come, Lady, come; she whose spirit goes with you
+was the last of your white race to pass this door. It is therefore
+fitting that your feet and her spirit should be the first to enter it
+again."
+
+Benita hung back a little, for the adventure was eerie, then, determined
+that she would show no fear in the presence of this old priest, took the
+thin hand he stretched out to her, and walked forward with head erect.
+The two men began to follow her, but the Molimo stopped them, saying:
+
+"Not so. The maiden enters first alone with me; it is her house, and
+should it please her to ask you to dwell therein, so be it. But first
+she must visit her house alone."
+
+"Nonsense," said Mr. Clifford angrily. "I will not have it. It will
+frighten her."
+
+"Lady, do you trust me?" asked the Molimo.
+
+"Yes," she answered; adding, "Father, I think you had better let me go
+alone. I am not afraid now, and it may be wisest not to thwart him. This
+is a very strange business--not like anything else--and really I think
+that I had better go alone. If I do not come back presently, you can
+follow."
+
+"Those who break in upon the sleep of the dead should walk gently,
+gently," piped the old Molimo in a sing-song voice. "The maiden's breath
+is pure; the maiden's foot is light; her breath will not offend the
+dead; her step will not disturb the dead. White men, white men, anger
+not the dead, for the dead are mighty, and will be revenged upon you
+when you are dead; soon, very soon, when you are dead--dead in your
+sorrows, dead in your sins, dead, gathered to that company of the dead
+who await us here."
+
+And, still chanting his mystic song, he led Benita by the hand out of
+the light, onward into darkness, away from life, onward into the place
+of death.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE SLEEPERS IN THE CAVE
+
+Like every other passage in this old fortress, the approach to the cave
+was narrow and winding; presumably the ancients had arranged them thus
+to facilitate their defence. After the third bend, however, Benita saw a
+light ahead which flowed from a native lamp lit in the arched entrance.
+At the side of this arch was a shell-shaped hollow, cut in the rock
+about three feet above the floor. Its appearance seemed familiar to her;
+why, she was soon to learn, although at the moment she did not connect
+it with anything in particular. The cave beyond was large, lofty, and
+not altogether natural, for its walls had evidently been shaped, or at
+any rate trimmed, by man. Probably here the old Priests had established
+their oracle, or place of offering.
+
+At first Benita could not see much, since in that great cavern two lamps
+of hippopotamus oil gave but little light. Presently, however, her eyes
+became accustomed to the gloom, and as they advanced up its length she
+perceived that save for a skin rug upon which she guessed the Molimo sat
+at his solitary devotions, and some gourds and platters for water and
+food, all the front part of the place appeared to be empty. Beyond, in
+its centre, stood an object of some gleaming metal, that from its double
+handles and roller borne upon supports of rock she took to be some kind
+of winch, and rightly, for beneath it was the mouth of a great well, the
+water supply of the topmost fortification.
+
+Beyond the well was a stone altar, shaped like a truncated cone or
+pyramid, and at some distance away against the far wall, as she dimly
+discovered by the lamp that stood upon the altar, cut in relief upon
+that wall indeed, a colossal cross to which, vigorously if rudely
+executed in white stone, hung the image of Christ crucified, the crown
+of thorns upon His drooping head. Now she understood. Whatever may have
+been the first worship to which this place was dedicated, Christians
+had usurped it, and set up here the sacred symbol of their faith,
+awful enough to look upon in such surroundings. Doubtless, also, the
+shell-shaped basin at the entrance had served the worshippers in this
+underground chapel as a stoup for holy water.
+
+The Molimo lifted the lamp from the altar, and having adjusted its
+wick, held it up in front of the rood before which, although she was no
+Catholic, Benita bowed her head and crossed herself, while he watched
+her curiously. Then he lowered it, and she perceived that on the
+cemented floor lay great numbers of shrouded forms that at first looked
+to her like folk asleep. He stepped to one of them and touched it with
+his foot, whereon the cloth which with it was covered crumbled into
+dust, revealing beneath a white skeleton.
+
+All those sleepers rested well indeed, for they had been dead at least
+two hundred years. There they lay--men, women, and children, though of
+the last but few. Some of them had ornaments on their bones, some were
+clad in armour, and by all the men were swords, or spears, or knives,
+and here and there what she took to be primitive fire-arms. Certain
+of them also had turned into mummies in that dry air--grotesque and
+dreadful objects from which she gladly averted her eyes.
+
+The Molimo led her forward to the foot of the crucifix, where, upon
+its lowest step and upon the cemented floor immediately beneath it
+respectively, lay two shapes decorously covered with shawls of some
+heavy material interwoven with gold wire, for the manufacture of which
+the Makalanga were famous when first the Portuguese came into contact
+with them. The Molimo took hold of the cloths that seemed almost as
+good now as on the day when they were woven, and lifted them,
+revealing beneath the figures of a man and woman. The features were
+unrecognizable, although the hair, white in the man's case and raven
+black in that of the woman, remained perfect. They had been great
+people, for orders glittered upon the man's breast, and his sword was
+gold hilted, whilst the woman's bones were adorned with costly necklaces
+and jewels, and in her hand was still a book bound in sheets of
+silver. Benita took it up and looked at it. It was a missal beautifully
+illuminated, which doubtless the poor lady had been reading when at
+length she sank exhausted into the sleep of death.
+
+"See the Lord Ferreira and his wife," said the Molimo, "whom their
+daughter laid thus before she went to join them." Then, at a motion from
+Benita, he covered them up again with their golden cloths.
+
+"Here they sleep," he went on in his chanting voice, "a hundred and
+fifty and three of them--a hundred and fifty and three; and when I dream
+in this place at night, I have seen the ghosts of every one of them
+arise from beside their forms and come gliding down the cave--the
+husband with the wife, the child with the mother--to look at me, and
+ask when the maiden returns again to take her heritage and give them
+burial."
+
+Benita shuddered; the solemn awfulness of the place and scene oppressed
+her. She began to think that she, too, saw those ghosts.
+
+"It is enough," she said. "Let us be going."
+
+So they went, and the pitiful, agonized Christ upon the cross, at which
+she glanced from time to time over her shoulder, faded to a white blot,
+then vanished away in the darkness, through which, from generation to
+generation, it kept its watch above the dead, those dead that in their
+despair once had cried to it for mercy, and bedewed its feet with tears.
+
+Glad, oh! glad was she when she had left that haunted place behind her,
+and saw the wholesome light again.
+
+"What have you seen?" asked her father and Meyer, in one breath, as they
+noted her white and frightened face.
+
+She sank upon a stone seat at the entrance of the cave, and before she
+could open her lips the Molimo answered for her:
+
+"The maiden has seen the dead. The Spirit who goes with her has given
+greeting to its dead that it left so long ago. The maiden has done
+reverence to the White One who hangs upon the cross, and asked a
+blessing and a pardon of Him, as she whose Spirit goes with her did
+reverence before the eyes of my forefathers, and asked a blessing and a
+pardon ere she cast herself away." And he pointed to the little golden
+crucifix which hung upon Benita's bosom, attached to the necklace which
+Tamas, the messenger, had given her at Rooi Krantz.
+
+"Now," he went on, "now the spell is broken, and the sleepers must
+depart to sleep elsewhere. Enter, white men; enter, if you dare, and ask
+for pardon and for blessing if it may be found, and gather up the dry
+bones and take the treasure that was theirs, if it may be found, and
+conquer the curse that goes with the treasure for all save one, if
+you can, if you can, if you can! Rest you here, maiden, in the sweet
+sunshine, and follow me, white men; follow me into the dark of the dead
+to seek for that which the white men love." And once more he vanished
+down the passage, turning now and again to beckon to them, while they
+went after him as though drawn against their wish. For now, at the last
+moment, some superstitious fear spread from him to them, and showed
+itself in their eyes.
+
+To Benita, half fainting upon the stone seat, for this experience had
+shaken her to the heart, it seemed but a few minutes, though really
+the best part of an hour had gone by, when her father reappeared as
+white-faced as she had been.
+
+"Where is Mr. Meyer?" she asked.
+
+"Oh!" he answered. "He is collecting all the golden ornaments off those
+poor bodies, and tumbling their bones together in a corner of the cave."
+
+Benita uttered an exclamation of horror.
+
+"I know what you mean," said her father. "But, curse the fellow! he
+has no reverence, although at first he seemed almost as scared as I was
+myself. He said that as we could not begin our search with all those
+corpses about, they had best be got out of the way as soon as possible.
+Or perhaps it was because he is really afraid of them, and wanted to
+prove to himself that they are nothing more than dust. Benita," went on
+the old man, "to tell you the truth, I wish heartily that we had left
+this business alone. I don't believe that any good will come of it, and
+certainly it has brought enough trouble already. That old prophet of a
+Molimo has the second sight, or something like it, and he does not hide
+his opinion, but keeps chuckling away in that dreadful place, and piping
+out his promises of ill to be."
+
+"He promised me nothing but good," said Benita with a little smile.
+"Though I don't see how it can happen. But if you dislike the thing,
+father, why not give it up and try to escape?"
+
+"It is too late, dear," he replied passionately. "Meyer would never
+come, and I can't in honour leave him. Also, I should laugh at myself
+for the rest of my life; and, after all, why should we not have the gold
+if it can be found? It belongs to nobody. We do not get it by robbery,
+or murder; nuggets are of no use to Portuguese who have been dead two
+hundred years, and whose heirs, if they have any, it is impossible to
+discover. Nor can it matter to them whether they lie about singly as
+they died or were placed after death, or piled together in a corner. Our
+fears were mere churchyard superstitions, which we have caught from that
+ghoul of a Molimo. Don't you agree with me?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," answered Benita, "though a fate may cling to
+certain things or places, perhaps. At any rate, I think that it is of no
+use turning back now, even if we had anywhere to turn, so we may as well
+go through with the venture and await its end. Give me the water-bottle,
+please. I am thirsty."
+
+A while later Jacob Meyer appeared, carrying a great bundle of precious
+objects wrapped in one of the gold cere-cloths, which bundle he hid away
+behind a stone.
+
+"The cave is much tidier now," he said, as he flicked the thick dust
+which had collected on them during his unhallowed task from his hands,
+and hair, and garments. Then he drank greedily, and asked:
+
+"Have you two made any plans for our future researches?"
+
+They shook their heads.
+
+"Well, then, I have. I thought them out while I was bone-carting, and
+here they are. It is no use our going down below again; for one thing,
+the journey is too dangerous, and takes too long; and for another, we
+are safer up above, where we have plenty to do."
+
+"But," said Benita, "how about things to eat and sleep on, and the
+rest?"
+
+"Simple enough, Miss Clifford; we must get them up. The Kaffirs will
+bring them to the foot of the third wall, and we will haul them to its
+top with a rope. Of water it seems there is plenty in that well, which
+is fed by a spring a hundred and fifty feet down, and the old chain
+is still on the roller, so we only need a couple of buckets from the
+waggon. Of wood for cooking there is plenty also, growing on the spot;
+and we can camp in the cave or outside of it, as we like, according to
+the state of the weather. Now, do you rest here while I go down. I will
+be back in an hour with some of the gear, and then you must help me."
+
+So he went, and the end of it was that before nightfall they had enough
+things for their immediate needs, and by the second night, working
+very hard, were more or less comfortably established in their strange
+habitation. The canvas flap from the waggon was arranged as a tent for
+Benita, the men sleeping beneath a thick-leaved tree near by. Close at
+hand, under another tree, was their cooking place. The provisions of all
+sorts, including a couple of cases of square-face and a large supply
+of biltong from the slaughtered cattle, they stored with a quantity of
+ammunition in the mouth of the cave. Fresh meat also was brought to
+them daily, and hauled up in baskets--that is, until there was none
+to bring--and with it grain for bread, and green mealies to serve as
+vegetables. Therefore, as the water from the well proved to be excellent
+and quite accessible, they were soon set up in all things necessary, and
+to these they added from time to time as opportunity offered.
+
+In all these preparations the old Molimo took a part, nor, when they
+were completed, did he show any inclination to leave them. In the
+morning he would descend to his people below, but before nightfall he
+always returned to the cave, where for many years it had been his custom
+to sleep--at any rate several times a week, in the gruesome company of
+the dead Portuguese. Jacob Meyer persuaded Mr. Clifford that his object
+was to spy upon them, and talked of turning him out; but Benita, between
+whom and the old man had sprung up a curious friendship and sympathy,
+prevented it, pointing out that they were much safer with the Molimo,
+as a kind of hostage, than they could be without him; also, that his
+knowledge of the place, and of other things, might prove of great help
+to them. So in the end he was allowed to remain, as indeed he had a
+perfect right to do.
+
+All this while there was no sign of any attack by the Matabele. Indeed,
+the fear of such a thing was to some extent dying away, and Benita,
+watching from the top of the wall, could see that their nine remaining
+oxen, together with the two horses--for that belonging to Jacob Meyer
+had died--and the Makalanga goats and sheep, were daily driven out to
+graze; also, that the women were working in the crops upon the fertile
+soil around the lowest wall. Still, a strict watch was kept, and at
+night everyone slept within the fortifications; moreover, the drilling
+of the men and their instruction in the use of firearms went on
+continually under Tamas, who now, in his father's old age, was the
+virtual chief of the people.
+
+It was on the fourth morning that at length, all their preparations
+being completed, the actual search for the treasure began. First,
+the Molimo was closely interrogated as to its whereabouts, since they
+thought that even if he did not know this exactly, some traditions of
+the fact might have descended to him from his ancestors. But he declared
+with earnestness that he knew nothing, save that the Portuguese maiden
+had said that it was hidden; nor, he added, had any dream or vision come
+to him concerning this matter, in which he took no interest. If it was
+there, it was there; if it was not there, it was not there--it remained
+for the white men to search and see.
+
+For no very good reason Meyer had concluded that the gold must have been
+concealed in or about the cave, so here it was that they began their
+investigations.
+
+First, they bethought them of the well into which it might possibly
+have been thrown, but the fact of this matter proved very difficult
+to ascertain. Tying a piece of metal--it was an old Portuguese
+sword-hilt--to a string, they let it down and found that it touched
+water at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and bottom at a depth
+of one hundred and forty-seven feet. Therefore there were twenty-seven
+feet of water. Weighting a bucket they sank it until it rested upon this
+bottom, then wound it up again several times. On the third occasion it
+brought up a human bone and a wire anklet of pure gold. But this proved
+nothing, except that some ancient, perhaps thousands of years ago, had
+been thrown, or had fallen, into the well.
+
+Still unsatisfied, Jacob Meyer, who was a most intrepid person,
+determined to investigate the place himself, a task of no little
+difficulty and danger, since proper ladders were wanting, nor, had they
+existed, was there anything to stand them on. Therefore it came to this:
+a seat must be rigged on to the end of the old copper chain, and be
+lowered into the pit after the fashion of the bucket. But, as Benita
+pointed out, although they might let him down, it was possible that they
+would not be able to draw him up again, in which case his plight must
+prove unfortunate. So, when the seat had been prepared, an experiment
+was made with a stone weighing approximately as much as a man. This
+Benita and her father let down easily enough, but, as they anticipated,
+when it came to winding it up again, their strength was barely
+sufficient to the task. Three people could do it well, but with two the
+thing was risky. Now Meyer asked--or, rather, commanded--the Molimo to
+order some of his men to help him, but this the old chief refused point
+blank to do.
+
+First, he made a number of excuses. They were all employed in drilling,
+and in watching for the Matabele; they were afraid to venture here, and
+so forth. At last Meyer grew furious; his eyes flashed, he ground his
+teeth, and began to threaten.
+
+"White man," said the Molimo, when he had done, "it cannot be. I have
+fulfilled my bargain with you. Search for the gold; find it and take it
+away if you can. But this place is holy. None of my tribe, save he who
+holds the office of Molimo for the time, may set a foot therein. Kill
+me if you will--I care not; but so it is, and if you kill me, afterwards
+they will kill you."
+
+Now Meyer, seeing that nothing was to be gained by violence, changed his
+tone, and asked if he himself would help them.
+
+"I am old, my strength is small," he replied; "yet I will put my hand to
+the chain and do my best. But, if I were you, I would not descend that
+pit."
+
+"Still, I will descend it, and to-morrow," said Meyer.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH
+
+Accordingly, on the next day the great experiment was made. The
+chain and ancient winding gear had been tested and proved to be amply
+sufficient to the strain. Therefore, nothing remained save for Meyer
+to place himself in the wooden seat with an oil-lamp, and in case this
+should be extinguished, matches and candles, of both of which they had a
+large supply.
+
+He did so boldly enough, and swung out over the mouth of the pit, while
+the three of them clutched the handles of the winch. Then they began to
+lower, and slowly his white face disappeared into the black depth. At
+every few turns his descent was stopped that he might examine the walls
+of the well, and when he was about fifty feet down he called to them to
+hold on, which they did, listening while he struck at the rock with a
+hammer, for here it sounded very hollow.
+
+At length he shouted to them to lower away again, and they obeyed, until
+nearly all the chain was out, and they knew he must be near the water.
+Now Benita, peeping over the edge, saw that the star of light had
+vanished. His lamp was out, nor did he appear to attempt to re-light it.
+They shouted down the well to him, but no answer coming, began to wind
+up as fast as they were able. It was all that their united strength
+could manage, and very exhausted were they when at length Jacob
+reappeared at the top. At first, from the look of him they thought that
+he was dead, and had he not tied himself to the chain, dead he certainly
+would have been, for evidently his senses had left him long ago. Indeed,
+he had fallen almost out of the seat, over which his legs hung limply,
+his weight being supported by the hide rope beneath his arms which was
+made fast to the chain.
+
+They swung him in and dashed water over his face, till, to their relief,
+at last he began to gasp for breath, and revived sufficiently to enable
+them to half-lead and half-carry him out into the fresh air.
+
+"What happened to you?" asked Clifford.
+
+"Poisoned with gases, I suppose," Meyer answered with a groan, for
+his head was aching sadly. "The air is often bad at the bottom of deep
+wells, but I could smell or feel nothing until suddenly my senses left
+me. It was a near thing--a very near thing."
+
+Afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he told them that at one
+spot deep down in the well, on the river side of it, he found a place
+where it looked as though the rock had been cut away for a space of
+about six feet by four, and afterwards built up again with another sort
+of stone set in hard mortar or cement. Immediately beneath, too, were
+socket-holes in which the ends of beams still remained, suggesting that
+here had been a floor or platform. It was while he was examining these
+rotted beams that insensibility overcame him. He added that he thought
+that this might be the entrance to the place where the gold was hidden.
+
+"If so," said Mr. Clifford, "hidden it must remain, since it can have no
+better guardian than bad air. Also, floors like that are common in all
+wells to prevent rubbish from falling into the water, and the stonework
+you saw probably was only put there by the ancients to mend a fault in
+the rock and prevent the wall from caving in."
+
+"I hope so," said Meyer, "since unless that atmosphere purifies a good
+deal I don't think that even I dare go down again, and until one gets
+there, of that it is difficult to be sure, though of course a lantern on
+a string will tell one something."
+
+This was the end of their first attempt. The search was not renewed
+until the following afternoon, when Meyer had recovered a little from
+the effects of the poisoning and the chafing of the hide ropes beneath
+his arms. Indeed, from the former he never did quite recover, since
+thenceforward Benita, who for her own reasons watched the man closely,
+discovered a marked and progressive change in his demeanour. Hitherto he
+had appeared to be a reserved man, one who kept tight hand upon himself,
+and, if she knew certain things about him, it was rather because she
+guessed, or deduced them, than because he allowed them to be seen. On
+two occasions only had he shown his heart before her--when they had
+spoken together by the shores of Lake Chrissie on the day of the arrival
+of the messengers, and he declared his ardent desire for wealth and
+power; and quite recently, when he killed the Matabele envoy. Yet she
+felt certain that this heart of his was very passionate and insurgent;
+that his calm was like the ice that hides the stream, beneath which its
+currents run fiercely, none can see whither. The fashion in which his
+dark eyes would flash, even when his pale countenance remained unmoved,
+told her so, as did other things.
+
+For instance, when he was recovering from his swoon, the first words
+that passed his lips were in German, of which she understood a little,
+and she thought that they shaped themselves to her name, coupled with
+endearing epithets. From that time forward he became less guarded--or,
+rather, it seemed as though he were gradually losing power to control
+himself. He would grow excited without apparent cause, and begin to
+declaim as to what he would do when he had found the gold; how he would
+pay the world back all it had caused him to suffer--how he would become
+a "king."
+
+"I am afraid that you will find that exalted position rather lonely,"
+said Benita with a careless laugh, and next minute was sorry that she
+had spoken, for he answered, looking at her in a way that she did not
+like:
+
+"Oh, no! There will be a queen--a beautiful queen, whom I shall endow
+with wealth, and deck with jewels, and surround with love and worship."
+
+"What a fortunate lady!" she said, still laughing, but taking the
+opportunity to go away upon some errand.
+
+At other times, especially after dark, he would walk up and down in
+front of the cave, muttering to himself, or singing wild old German
+songs in his rich voice. Also, he made a habit of ascending the granite
+pillar and seating himself there, and more than once called down to
+her to come up and share his "throne." Still, these outbreaks were so
+occasional that her father, whose perceptions appeared to Benita to be
+less keen than formerly, scarcely noticed them, and for the rest his
+demeanour was what it had always been.
+
+Further researches into the well being out of the question, their next
+step was to make a thorough inspection of the chapel-cave itself. They
+examined the walls inch by inch, tapping them with a hammer to hear if
+they sounded hollow, but without result. They examined the altar, but it
+proved to be a solid mass of rock. By the help of a little ladder they
+had made, they examined the crucifix, and discovered that the white
+figure on the cross had evidently been fashioned out of some heathen
+statue of soft limestone, for at its back were the remains of draperies,
+and long hair which the artist had not thought it necessary to cut away.
+Also, they found that the arms had been added, and were of a slightly
+different stone, and that the weight of the figure was taken partly by
+an iron staple which supported the body, and partly by strong copper
+wire twisted to resemble cord, and painted white, which was passed round
+the wrists and supported the arms. This wire ran through loops of rock
+cut in the traverse of the cross, that itself was only raised in relief
+by chiselling away the solid stone behind.
+
+Curiously enough, this part of the search was left to Mr. Clifford and
+Benita, since it was one that Jacob Meyer seemed reluctant to undertake.
+A Jew by birth, and a man who openly professed his want of belief in
+that or any other religion, he yet seemed to fear this symbol of the
+Christian faith, speaking of it as horrible and unlucky; yes, he who,
+without qualm or remorse, had robbed and desecrated the dead that
+lay about its feet. Well, the crucifix told them nothing; but as Mr.
+Clifford, lantern in hand, descended the ladder, which Benita held,
+Jacob Meyer, who was in front of the altar, called to them excitedly
+that he had found something.
+
+"Then it is more than we have," said Mr. Clifford, as he laid down the
+ladder and hurried to him.
+
+Meyer was sounding the floor with a staff of wood--an operation which he
+had only just began after the walls proved barren.
+
+"Listen now," he said, letting the heavy staff drop a few paces to the
+right of the altar, where it produced the hard, metallic clang that
+comes from solid stone when struck. Then he moved to the front of the
+altar and dropped it again, but now the note was hollow and reverberant.
+Again and again he repeated the experiment, till they had exactly
+mapped out where the solid rock ended and that which seemed to be hollow
+began--a space of about eight feet square.
+
+"We've got it," he said triumphantly. "That's the entrance to the place
+where the gold is," and the others were inclined to agree with him.
+
+Now it remained to put their theory to the proof--a task of no small
+difficulty. Indeed, it took them three days of hard, continual work.
+It will be remembered that the floor of the cave was cemented over, and
+first of all this cement, which proved to be of excellent quality, being
+largely composed of powdered granite, must be broken up. By the help
+of a steel crowbar, which they had brought with them in the waggon,
+at length that part of their task was completed, revealing the rock
+beneath. By this time Benita was confident that, whatever might lie
+below, it was not the treasure, since it was evident that the poor,
+dying Portuguese would not have had the time or the strength to cement
+it over. When she told the others so, however, Meyer, convinced that
+he was on the right tack, answered that doubtless it was done by the
+Makalanga after the Portuguese days, as it was well known that they
+retained a knowledge of the building arts of their forefathers until
+quite a recent period, when the Matabele began to kill them out.
+
+When at length the cement was cleared away and the area swept, they
+discovered--for there ran the line of it--that here a great stone was
+set into the floor; it must have weighed several tons. As it was set in
+cement, however, to lift it, even if they had the strength to work the
+necessary levers, proved quite impossible. There remained only one thing
+to be done--to cut a way through. When they had worked at this task for
+several hours, and only succeeded in making a hole six inches deep,
+Mr. Clifford, whose old bones ached and whose hands were very
+sore, suggested that perhaps they might break it up with gunpowder.
+Accordingly, a pound flask of that explosive was poured into the hole,
+which they closed over with wet clay and a heavy rock, leaving a
+quill through which ran an extemporized fuse of cotton wick. All being
+prepared, their fuse was lit, and they left the cave and waited.
+
+Five minutes afterwards the dull sound of an explosion reached their
+ears, but more than an hour went by before the smoke and fumes would
+allow them to enter the place, and then it was to find that the results
+did not equal their expectations. To begin with, the slab was only
+cracked--not shattered, since the strength of the powder had been
+expended upwards, not downwards, as would have happened in the case of
+dynamite, of which they had none. Moreover, either the heavy stone
+which they had placed upon it, striking the roof of the cave, or the
+concussion of the air, had brought down many tons of rock, and caused
+wide and dangerous-looking cracks. Also, though she said nothing of it,
+it seemed to Benita that the great white statue on the cross was leaning
+a little further forward than it used to do. So the net result of the
+experiment was that they were obliged to drag away great fragments of
+the fallen roof that lay upon the stone, which remained almost as solid
+and obdurate as before.
+
+So there was nothing for it but to go on working with the crowbar. At
+length, towards the evening of the third day of their labour, when the
+two men were utterly tired out, a hole was broken through, demonstrating
+the fact that beneath this cover lay a hollow of some sort. Mr.
+Clifford, to say nothing of Benita, who was heartily weary of the
+business, wished to postpone proceedings till the morrow, but Jacob
+Meyer would not. So they toiled on until about eleven o'clock at night,
+when at length the aperture was of sufficient size to admit a man. Now,
+as in the case of the well, they let down a stone tied to a string, to
+find that the place beneath was not more than eight feet deep. Then, to
+ascertain the condition of the air, a candle was lowered, which at first
+went out, but presently burnt well enough. This point settled, they
+brought their ladder, whereby Jacob descended with a lantern.
+
+In another minute they heard the sound of guttural German oaths rising
+through the hole. Mr. Clifford asked what was the matter, and received
+the reply that the place was a tomb, with nothing in it but an accursed
+dead monk, information at which Benita could not help bursting into
+laughter.
+
+The end of it was that both she and her father went down also, and
+there, sure enough, lay the remains of the old missionary in his cowl,
+with an ivory crucifix about his neck, and on his breast a scroll
+stating that he, Marco, born at Lisbon in 1438, had died at Bambatse in
+the year 1503, having laboured in the Empire of Monomotapa for seventeen
+years, and suffered great hardships and brought many souls to Christ.
+The scroll added that it was he, who before he entered into religion was
+a sculptor by trade, that had fashioned the figure on the cross in this
+chapel out of that of the heathen goddess which had stood in the same
+place from unknown antiquity. It ended with a request, addressed to all
+good Christians in Latin, that they who soon must be as he was would
+pray for his soul and not disturb his bones, which rested here in the
+hope of a blessed resurrection.
+
+When this pious wish was translated to Jacob Meyer by Mr. Clifford, who
+still retained some recollection of the classics which he had painfully
+acquired at Eton and Oxford, the Jew could scarcely contain his wrath.
+Indeed, looking at his bleeding hands, instead of praying for the soul
+of that excellent missionary, to reach whose remains he had laboured
+with such arduous, incessant toil, he cursed it wherever it might be,
+and unceremoniously swept the bones, which the document asked him not to
+disturb, into a corner of the tomb, in order to ascertain whether there
+was not, perhaps, some stair beneath them.
+
+"Really, Mr. Meyer," said Benita, who, in spite of the solemnity of the
+surroundings, could not control her sense of humour, "if you are not
+careful the ghosts of all these people will haunt you."
+
+"Let them haunt me if they can," he answered furiously. "I don't believe
+in ghosts, and defy them all."
+
+At this moment, looking up, Benita saw a figure gliding out of the
+darkness into the ring of light, so silently that she started, for it
+might well have been one of those ghosts in whom Jacob Meyer did not
+believe. In fact, however, it was the old Molimo, who had a habit of
+coming upon them thus.
+
+"What says the white man?" he asked of Benita, while his dreamy eyes
+wandered over the three of them, and the hole in the violated tomb.
+
+"He says that he does not believe in spirits, and that he defies them,"
+she answered.
+
+"The white gold-seeker does not believe in spirits, and he defies them,"
+Mambo repeated in his sing-song voice. "He does not believe in the
+spirits that I see all around me now, the angry spirits of the dead,
+who speak together of where he shall lie and of what shall happen to
+him when he is dead, and of how they will welcome one who disturbs their
+rest and defies and curses them in his search for the riches which he
+loves. There is one standing by him now, dressed in a brown robe with a
+dead man cut in ivory like to that," and he pointed to the crucifix in
+Jacob's hands, "and he holds the ivory man above him and threatens him
+with sleepless centuries of sorrow, when he is also one of those spirits
+in which he does not believe."
+
+Then Meyer's rage blazed out. He turned upon the Molimo and reviled
+him in his own tongue, saying that he knew well where the treasure was
+hidden, and that if he did not point it out he would kill him and send
+him to his friends, the spirits. So savage and evil did he look that
+Benita retreated a little way, while Mr. Clifford strove in vain to calm
+him. But although Meyer laid his hand upon the knife in his belt and
+advanced upon him, the old Molimo neither budged an inch nor showed the
+slightest fear.
+
+"Let him rave on," he said, when at length Meyer paused exhausted. "Just
+so in a time of storm the lightnings flash and the thunder peals, and
+the water foams down the face of rock; but then comes the sun again, and
+the hill is as it has ever been, only the storm is spent and lost. I
+am the rock, he is but the wind, the fire, and the rain. It is not
+permitted that he should hurt me, and those spirits in whom he does not
+believe treasure up his curses, to let them fall again like stones upon
+his head."
+
+Then, with a contemptuous glance at Jacob, the old man turned and glided
+back into the darkness out of which he had appeared.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+BENITA PLANS ESCAPE
+
+The next morning, while she was cooking breakfast, Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer seated upon a rock at a little distance, sullen and disconsolate.
+His chin was resting on his hand, and he watched her intently, never
+taking his eyes from her face. She felt that he was concentrating his
+will upon her; that some new idea concerning her had come into his
+mind; for it was one of her miseries that she possessed the power of
+interpreting the drift of this man's thoughts. Much as she detested him,
+there existed that curious link between them.
+
+It may be remembered that, on the night when they first met at the crest
+of Leopard's Kloof, Jacob had called her a "thought-sender," and some
+knowledge of their mental intimacy had come home to Benita. From that
+day forward her chief desire had been to shut a door between their
+natures, to isolate herself from him and him from her. Yet the attempt
+was never entirely successful.
+
+Fear and disgust took hold of her, bending there above the fire, all
+the while aware of the Jew's dark eyes that searched her through and
+through. Benita formed a sudden determination. She would implore her
+father to come away with her.
+
+Of course, such an attempt would be terribly dangerous. Of the Matabele
+nothing had been seen; but they might be about, and even if enough
+cattle could be collected to draw the waggon, it belonged to Meyer as
+much as to her father, and must therefore be left for him. Still, there
+remained the two horses, which the Molimo had told her were well and
+getting fat.
+
+At this moment Meyer rose and began to speak to her.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Miss Clifford?" he asked in his soft foreign
+voice.
+
+She started, but answered readily enough:
+
+"Of the wood which is green, and the kid cutlets which are getting
+smoked. Are you not tired of kid, Mr. Meyer?" she went on.
+
+He waved the question aside. "You are so good--oh! I mean it--so really
+good that you should not tell stories even about small things. The wood
+is not green; I cut it myself from a dead tree; and the meat is not
+smoked; nor were you thinking of either. You were thinking of me, as I
+was thinking of you; but what exactly was in your mind, this time I do
+not know, and that is why I ask you to tell me."
+
+"Really, Mr. Meyer," she answered flushing; "my mind is my own
+property."
+
+"Ah! do you say so? Now I hold otherwise--that it is my property, as
+mine is yours, a gift that Nature has given to each of us."
+
+"I seek no such gift," she answered; but even then, much as she would
+have wished to do so, she could not utter a falsehood, and deny this
+horrible and secret intimacy.
+
+"I am sorry for that, as I think it very precious; more precious even
+than the gold which we cannot find; for Miss Clifford, it brings me
+nearer you."
+
+She turned upon him, but he held up his hand, and went on:
+
+"Oh! do not be angry with me, and do not fear that I am going to trouble
+you with soft speeches, for I shall not, unless a time should come, as
+I think that perhaps it will, when you may wish to listen to them. But I
+want to point out something to you, Miss Clifford. Is it not a wonderful
+thing that our minds should be so in tune, and is there not an object
+in all this? Did I believe as you do, I should say that it was Heaven
+working in us--no: do not answer that the working comes from lower down.
+I take no credit for reading that upon your lips; the retort is too
+easy and obvious. I am content to say, however, that the work is that
+of instinct and nature, or, if you will, of fate, pointing out a road by
+which together we might travel to great ends."
+
+"I travel my road alone, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"I know, I know, and that is the pity of it. The trouble between man and
+woman is that not in one case out of a million, even if they be lovers,
+do they understand each other. Their eyes may seek one another, their
+hands and lips may meet, and yet they remain distinct, apart, and often
+antagonistic. There is no communication of the soul. But when it chances
+to be hewn from the same rock as it were--oh! then what happiness may be
+theirs, and what opportunities!"
+
+"Possibly, Mr. Meyer; but, to be frank, the question does not interest
+me."
+
+"Not yet; but I am sure that one day it will. Meanwhile, I owe you an
+apology. I lost my temper before you last night. Well, do not judge me
+hardly, for I was utterly worn out, and that old idiot vexed me with his
+talk about ghosts, in which I do not believe."
+
+"Then why did it make you so angry? Surely you could have afforded to
+treat it with contempt, instead of doing--as you did."
+
+"Upon my word! I don't know, but I suppose most of us are afraid lest we
+should be forced to accept that which we refuse. This ancient place gets
+upon the nerves, Miss Clifford; yours as well as mine. I can afford
+to be open about it, because I know that you know. Think of its
+associations: all the crime that has been committed here for ages and
+ages, all the suffering that has been endured here. Doubtless human
+sacrifices were offered in this cave or outside of it; that great burnt
+ring in the rock there may have been where they built the fires. And
+then those Portuguese starving to death, slowly starving to death while
+thousands of savages watched them die. Have you ever thought what it
+means? But of course you have, for like myself you are cursed with
+imagination. God in heaven! is it wonderful that it gets upon the
+nerves? especially when one cannot find what one is looking for, that
+vast treasure"--and his face became ecstatic--"that shall yet be yours
+and mine, and make us great and happy."
+
+"But which at present only makes me a scullery-maid and most unhappy,"
+replied Benita cheerfully, for she heard her father's footstep. "Don't
+talk any more of the treasure, Mr. Meyer, or we shall quarrel. We have
+enough of that during business hours, when we are hunting for it, you
+know. Give me the dish, will you? This meat is cooked at last."
+
+Still Benita could not be rid of that treasure, since after breakfast
+the endless, unprofitable search began again. Once more the cave was
+sounded, and other hollow places were discovered upon which the two men
+got to work. With infinite labour three of them were broken into in as
+many days, and like the first, found to be graves, only this time of
+ancients who, perhaps, had died before Christ was born. There they lay
+upon their sides, their bones burnt by the hot cement that had been
+poured over them, their gold-headed and gold-ferruled rods of office in
+their hands, their gold-covered pillows of wood, such as the Egyptians
+used, beneath their skulls, gold bracelets upon their arms and ankles,
+cakes of gold beneath them which had fallen from the rotted pouches that
+once hung about their waists, vases of fine glazed pottery that had
+been filled with offerings, or in some cases with gold dust to pay the
+expenses of their journey in the other world, standing round them, and
+so forth.
+
+In their way these discoveries were rich enough--from one tomb alone
+they took over a hundred and thirty ounces of gold--to say nothing of
+their surpassing archaeological interest. Still they were not what
+they sought: all that gathered wealth of Monomotapa which the fleeing
+Portuguese had brought with them and buried in this, their last
+stronghold.
+
+Benita ceased to take the slightest interest in the matter; she would
+not even be at the pains to go to look at the third skeleton, although
+it was that of a man who had been almost a giant, and, to judge from the
+amount of bullion which he took to the tomb with him, a person of
+great importance in his day. She felt as though she wished never to see
+another human bone or ancient bead or bangle; the sight of a street
+in Bayswater in a London fog--yes, or a toy-shop window in Westbourne
+Grove--would have pleased her a hundred times better than these unique
+remains that, had they known of them in those days, would have sent half
+the learned societies of Europe crazy with delight. She wished to escape
+from Bambatse, its wondrous fortifications, its mysterious cone, its
+cave, its dead, and--from Jacob Meyer.
+
+Benita stood upon the top of her prison wall and looked with longing at
+the wide, open lands below. She even dared to climb the stairs which
+ran up the mighty cone of granite, and seated herself in the cup-like
+depression on its crest, whence Jacob Meyer had called to her to come
+and share his throne. It was a dizzy place, for the pillar leaning
+outwards, its point stood almost clear of the water-scarped rock, so
+that beneath her was a sheer drop of about four hundred feet to the
+Zambesi bed. At first the great height made her feel faint. Her eyes
+swam, and unpleasant tremors crept along her spine, so that she was glad
+to sink to the floor, whence she knew she could not fall. By degrees,
+however, she recovered her nerve, and was able to study the glorious
+view of stream and marshes and hills beyond.
+
+For she had come here with a purpose, to see whether it would not be
+possible to escape down the river in a canoe, or in native boats such as
+the Makalanga owned and used for fishing, or to cross from bank to bank.
+Apparently it was impossible, for although the river beneath and
+above them was still enough, about a mile below began a cataract that
+stretched as far as she could see, and was bordered on either side by
+rocky hills covered with forest, over which, even if they could obtain
+porters, a canoe could not be carried. This, indeed, she had already
+heard from the Molimo, but knowing his timid nature, she wished to judge
+of the matter for herself. It came to this then: if they were to go, it
+must be on the horses.
+
+Descending the cone Benita went to find her father, to whom as yet she
+had said nothing of her plans. The opportunity was good, for she knew
+that he would be alone. As it chanced, on that afternoon Meyer had gone
+down the hill in order to try to persuade the Makalanga to give them
+ten or twenty men to help them in their excavations. In this, it will
+be remembered, he had already failed so far as the Molimo was concerned,
+but he was not a man easily turned from his purpose, and he thought that
+if he could see Tamas and some of the other captains he might be able
+by bribery, threats, or otherwise, to induce them to forget their
+superstitious fears, and help in the search. As a matter of fact, he was
+utterly unsuccessful, since one and all they declared that for them to
+enter that sacred place would mean their deaths, and that the vengeance
+of Heaven would fall upon their tribe and destroy it root and branch.
+
+Mr. Clifford, on whom all this heavy labour had begun to tell, was
+taking advantage of the absence of his taskmaster, Jacob, to sleep
+awhile in the hut which they had now built for themselves beneath the
+shadow of the baobab-tree. As she reached it he came out yawning, and
+asked her where she had been. Benita told him.
+
+"A giddy place," he said. "I have never ventured to try it myself. What
+did you go up there for, dear?"
+
+"To look at the river while Mr. Meyer was away, father; for if he had
+seen me do so he would have guessed my reason; indeed, I dare say that
+he will guess it now."
+
+"What reason, Benita?"
+
+"To see whether it would not be possible to escape down it in a boat.
+But there is no chance. It is all rapids below, with hills and rocks and
+trees on either bank."
+
+"What need have you to escape at present?" he asked eyeing her
+curiously.
+
+"Every need," she answered with passion. "I hate this place; it is a
+prison, and I loathe the very name of treasure. Also," and she paused.
+
+"Also what, dear?"
+
+"Also," and her voice sank to a whisper, as though she feared that he
+should overhear her even at the bottom of the hill; "also, I am afraid
+of Mr. Meyer."
+
+This confession did not seem to surprise her father, who merely nodded
+his head and said:
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Father, I think that he is going mad, and it is not pleasant for us to
+be cooped up here alone with a madman, especially when he has begun to
+speak to me as he does now."
+
+"You don't mean that he has been impertinent to you," said the old man,
+flushing up, "for if so----"
+
+"No, not impertinent--as yet," and she told him what had passed between
+Meyer and herself, adding, "You see, father, I detest this man; indeed,
+I want to have nothing to do with any man; for me all that is over and
+done with," and she gave a dry little sob which appeared to come from
+her very heart. "And yet, he seems to be getting some kind of power over
+me. He follows me about with his eyes, prying into my mind, and I feel
+that he is beginning to be able to read it. I can bear no more. Father,
+father, for God's sake, take me away from this hateful hill and its gold
+and its dead, and let us get out into the veld again together."
+
+"I should be glad enough, dearest," he answered. "I have had plenty of
+this wildgoose chase, which I was so mad as to be led into by the love
+of wealth. Indeed, I am beginning to believe that if it goes on much
+longer I shall leave my bones here."
+
+"And if such a dreadful thing as that were to happen, what would become
+of me, alone with Jacob Meyer?" she asked quietly. "I might even be
+driven to the same fate as that poor girl two hundred years ago," and
+she pointed to the cone of rock behind her.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, don't talk like that!" he broke in.
+
+"Why not? One must face things, and it would be better than Jacob Meyer;
+for who would protect me here?"
+
+Mr. Clifford walked up and down for a few minutes, while his daughter
+watched him anxiously.
+
+"I can see no plan," he said, stopping opposite her. "We cannot take the
+waggon even if there are enough oxen left to draw it, for it is his
+as much as mine, and I am sure that he will never leave this treasure
+unless he is driven away."
+
+"And I am sure I hope that he will not. But, father, the horses are our
+own; it was his that died, you remember. We can ride away on them."
+
+He stared at her and answered:
+
+"Yes, we could ride away to our deaths. Suppose they got sick or lame;
+suppose we meet the Matabele, or could find no game to shoot; suppose
+one of us fell ill--oh! and a hundred things. What then?"
+
+"Why, then it is just as well to perish in the wilderness as here, where
+our risks are almost as great. We must take our chance, and trust
+to God. Perhaps He will be merciful and help us. Listen now, father.
+To-morrow is Sunday, when you and I do no work that we can help. Mr.
+Meyer is a Jew, and he won't waste Sunday. Well now, I will say that I
+want to go down to the outer wall to fetch some clothes which I left
+in the waggon, and to take others for the native women to wash, and
+of course you will come with me. Perhaps he will be deceived, and stay
+behind, especially as he has been there to-day. Then we can get the
+horses and guns and ammunition, and anything else that we can carry in
+the way of food, and persuade the old Molimo to open the gate for us.
+You know, the little side gate that cannot be seen from up here, and
+before Mr. Meyer misses us and comes to look, we shall be twenty miles
+away, and--horses can't be overtaken by a man on foot."
+
+"He will say that we have deserted him, and that will be true."
+
+"You can leave a letter with the Molimo explaining that it was my fault,
+that I was getting ill and thought that I should die, and that you knew
+it would not be fair to ask him to come, and so to lose the treasure,
+to every halfpenny of which he is welcome when it is found. Oh! father,
+don't hesitate any longer; say that you will take me away from Mr.
+Meyer."
+
+"So be it then," answered Mr. Clifford, and as he spoke, hearing a
+sound, they looked up and saw Jacob approaching them.
+
+Luckily he was so occupied with his own thoughts that he never noted the
+guilty air upon their faces, and they had time to compose themselves a
+little. But even thus his suspicions were aroused.
+
+"What are you talking of so earnestly?" he asked.
+
+"We were wondering how you were getting on with the Makalanga," answered
+Benita, fibbing boldly, "and whether you would persuade them to face the
+ghosts. Did you?"
+
+"Not I," he answered with a scowl. "Those ghosts are our worst enemies
+in this place; the cowards swore that they would rather die. I should
+have liked to take some of them at their word and make ghosts of
+them; but I remembered the situation and didn't. Don't be afraid, Miss
+Clifford, I never even lost my temper, outwardly at any rate. Well,
+there it is; if they won't help us, we must work the harder. I've got a
+new plan, and we'll begin on it to-morrow."
+
+"Not to-morrow, Mr. Meyer," replied Benita with a smile. "It is Sunday,
+and we rest on Sunday, you know."
+
+"Oh! I forgot. The Makalanga with their ghosts and you with your
+Sunday--really I do not know which is the worse. Well, then, I must do
+my own share and yours too, I suppose," and he turned with a shrug of
+his shoulders.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE FLIGHT
+
+The next morning, Sunday, Meyer went to work on his new plan. What it
+was Benita did not trouble to inquire, but she gathered that it had
+something to do with the measuring out of the chapel cave into squares
+for the more systematic investigation of each area. At twelve o'clock he
+emerged for his midday meal, in the course of which he remarked that it
+was very dreary working in that place alone, and that he would be glad
+when it was Monday, and they could accompany him. His words evidently
+disturbed Mr. Clifford not a little, and even excited some compunction
+in the breast of Benita.
+
+What would his feelings be, she wondered, when he found that they
+had run away, leaving him to deal with their joint undertaking
+single-handed! Almost was she minded to tell him the whole truth;
+yet--and this was a curious evidence of the man's ascendancy over
+her--she did not. Perhaps she felt that to do so would be to put an end
+to their scheme, since then by argument, blandishments, threats, force,
+or appeal to their sense of loyalty, it mattered not which, he would
+bring about its abandonment. But she wanted to fulfil that scheme, to
+be free of Bambatse, its immemorial ruins, its graveyard cave, and
+the ghoul, Jacob Meyer, who could delve among dead bones and in living
+hearts with equal skill and insight, and yet was unable to find the
+treasure that lay beneath either of them.
+
+So they hid the truth, and talked with feverish activity about other
+things, such as the drilling of the Makalanga, and the chances of an
+attack by the Matabele, which happily now seemed to be growing small;
+also of the conditions of their cattle, and the prospect of obtaining
+more to replace those that had died. Indeed, Benita went farther; in her
+new-found zeal of deception she proceeded to act a lie, yes, even with
+her father's reproachful eyes fixed upon her. Incidentally she mentioned
+that they were going to have an outing, to climb down the ladder and
+visit the Makalanga camp between the first and second walls and mix with
+the great world for a few hours; also to carry their washing to be done
+there, and bring up some clean clothes and certain books which she had
+left below.
+
+Jacob came out of his thoughts and calculations, and listened gloomily.
+
+"I have half a mind to come with you," he said, words at which Benita
+shivered. "It certainly is most cursed lonesome in that cave, and I seem
+to hear things in it, as though those old bones were rattling, sounds
+like sighs and whispers too, which are made by the draught."
+
+"Well, why don't you?" asked Benita.
+
+It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded. If he had any doubts they
+vanished, and he answered at once:
+
+"Because I have not the time. We have to get this business finished one
+way or another before the wet season comes on, and we are drowned out of
+the place with rain, or rotted by fever. Take your afternoon out, Miss
+Clifford; every maid of all work is entitled to as much, and I am afraid
+that is your billet here. Only," he added, with that care for her safety
+which he always showed in his more temperate moods, "pray be careful,
+Clifford, to get back before sundown. That wall is too risky for your
+daughter to climb in the dusk. Call me from the foot of it; you have the
+whistle, and I will come down to help her up. I think I'll go with you
+after all. No, I won't. I made myself so unpleasant to them yesterday
+that those Makalanga can't wish to see any more of me at present. I hope
+you will have a more agreeable afternoon than I shall. Why don't you
+take a ride outside the wall? Your horses are fat and want exercise, and
+I do not think that you need be afraid of the Matabele." Then without
+waiting for an answer, he rose and left them.
+
+Mr. Clifford looked after him doubtfully.
+
+"Oh, I know," said Benita, "it seems horribly mean, but one must do
+shabby things sometimes. Here are the bundles all ready, so let us be
+off."
+
+Accordingly they went, and from the top of the wall Benita glanced back
+to bid goodbye to that place which she hoped never to see again. Yet she
+could not feel as though she looked her last upon it; to her it wore
+no air of farewell, and even as she descended the perilous stairs, she
+found herself making mental notes as to how they might best be climbed
+again. Also, she could not believe that she had done with Mr. Meyer. It
+seemed to her as though for a long while yet her future would be full of
+him.
+
+They reached the outer fortifications in safety, and there were greeted
+with some surprise but with no displeasure by the Makalanga, whom they
+found still drilling with the rifles, in the use of which a certain
+number of them appeared to have become fairly proficient. Going to
+the hut in which the spare goods from the waggon had been stored, they
+quickly made their preparations. Here also, Mr. Clifford wrote a letter,
+one of the most unpleasant that he had ever been called upon to compose.
+It ran thus:
+
+"Dear Meyer,
+
+"I don't know what you will think of us, but we are escaping from this
+place. The truth is that I am not well, and my daughter can bear it no
+longer. She says that if she stops here, she will die, and that hunting
+for treasure in that ghastly grave-yard is shattering her nerves. I
+should have liked to tell you, but she begged me not, being convinced
+that if I did, you would over-persuade us or stop us in some way. As for
+the gold, if you can find it, take it all. I renounce my share. We are
+leaving you the waggon and the oxen, and starting down country on our
+horses. It is a perilous business, but less so than staying here, under
+the circumstances. If we never meet again we hope that you will forgive
+us, and wish you all good fortune.--Yours sincerely and with much
+regret,
+
+"T. Clifford."
+
+
+The letter written, they saddled the horses which had been brought up
+for their inspection, and were found to be in good case, and fastened
+their scanty belongings, and as many cartridges as they could carry in
+packs behind their saddles. Then, each of them armed with a rifle--for
+during their long journeyings Benita had learned to shoot--they mounted
+and made for the little side-entrance, as the main gate through which
+they had passed on their arrival was now built up. This side-entrance, a
+mere slit in the great wall, with a precipitous approach, was open, for
+now that their fear of the Matabele had to some extent passed off, the
+Makalanga used it to drive their sheep and goats in and out, since it
+was so constructed with several twists and turns in the thickness of the
+wall, that in a few minutes it could be effectually blocked by stones
+that lay at hand. Also, the ancient architect had arranged it in such
+a fashion that it was entirely commanded from the crest of the wall on
+either side.
+
+The Makalanga, who had been watching their proceedings curiously, made
+no attempt to stop them, although they guessed that they might have a
+little trouble with the sentries who guarded the entrances all day, and
+even when it was closed at night, with whom also Mr. Clifford proposed
+to leave the letter. When they reached the place, however, and had
+dismounted to lead the horses down the winding passage and the steep
+ascent upon its further side, it was to find that the only guard visible
+proved to be the old Molimo himself, who sat there, apparently half
+asleep.
+
+But as they came he showed himself to be very much awake, for without
+moving he asked them at once whither they were going.
+
+"To take a ride," answered Mr. Clifford. "The lady, my daughter, is
+weary of being cooped up in this fortress, and wishes to breathe the air
+without. Let us pass, friend, or we shall not be back by sunset."
+
+"If you be coming back at sunset, white man, why do you carry so
+many things upon your packs, and why are your saddle-bags filled with
+cartridges?" he asked. "Surely you do not speak the truth to me, and you
+hope that never more will you see the sun set upon Bambatse."
+
+Now understanding that it was hopeless to deceive him, Benita exclaimed
+boldly:
+
+"It is so; but oh! my Father, stay us not, for fear is behind us, and
+therefore we fly hence."
+
+"And is there no fear before you, maiden? Fear of the wilderness, where
+none wander save perchance the Amandabele with their bloody spears; fear
+of wild beasts and of sickness that may overtake you so that, first one
+and then the other, you perish there?"
+
+"There is plenty, my Father, but none of them so bad as the fear behind.
+Yonder place is haunted, and we give up our search and would dwell there
+no more."
+
+"It is haunted truly, maiden, but its spirits will not harm you whom
+they welcome as one appointed, and we are ever ready to protect you
+because of their command that has come to me in dreams. Nor, indeed, is
+it the spirits whom you fear, but rather the white man, your companion,
+who would bend you to his will. Deny it not, for I have seen it all."
+
+"Then knowing the truth, surely you will let us go," she pleaded, "for I
+swear to you that I dare not stay."
+
+"Who am I that I should forbid you?" he asked. "Yet I tell you that you
+would do well to stay and save yourselves much terror. Maiden, have
+I not said it days and day ago, that here and here only you must
+accomplish your fate? Go now if you will, but you shall return again,"
+and once more he seemed to begin to doze in the sun.
+
+The two of them consulted hastily together.
+
+"It is no use turning back now," said Benita, who was almost weeping
+with doubt and vexation. "I will not be frightened by his vague talk.
+What can he know of the future more than any of the rest of us? Besides,
+all he says is that we shall come back again, and if that does happen,
+at least we shall have been free for a little while. Come, father."
+
+"As you wish," answered Mr. Clifford, who seemed too miserable and
+depressed to argue. Only he threw down the letter upon the Molimo's lap,
+and begged him to give it to Meyer when he came to look for them.
+
+The old man took no notice; no, not even when Benita bade him farewell
+and thanked him for his kindness, praying that all good fortune might
+attend him and his tribe, did he answer a single word or even look
+up. So they led their horses down the narrow passage where there was
+scarcely room for them to pass, and up the steep path beyond. On
+the further side of the ancient ditch they remounted them while the
+Makalanga watched them from the walls, and cantered away along the same
+road by which they had come.
+
+Now this road, or rather track, ran first through the gardens and then
+among the countless ruined houses that in bygone ages formed the great
+city whereof the mount Bambatse had been the citadel and sanctuary.
+The relics of a lost civilization extended for several miles, and were
+bounded by a steep and narrow neck or pass in the encircling hills, the
+same that Robert Seymour and his brother had found too difficult for
+their waggon at the season in which they visited the place some years
+before. This pass, or port as it is called in South Africa, had been
+strongly fortified, for on either side of it were the ruins of towers.
+Moreover, at its crest it was so narrow and steep-sided that a few men
+posted there, even if they were armed only with bows and arrows, could
+hold an attacking force in check for a considerable time. Beyond it,
+after the hill was descended, a bush-clad plain dotted with kopjes and
+isolated granite pillars formed of boulders piled one upon another,
+rolled away for many miles.
+
+Mr. Clifford and Benita had started upon their mad journey about three
+o'clock in the afternoon, and when the sun began to set they found
+themselves upon this plain fifteen or sixteen miles from Bambatse, of
+which they had long lost sight, for it lay beyond the intervening hills.
+Near to them was a kopje, where they had outspanned by a spring of water
+when on their recent journey, and since they did not dare to travel in
+the dark, here they determined to off-saddle, for round this spring was
+good grass for the horses.
+
+As it chanced, they came upon some hartebeeste here which were trekking
+down to drink, but although they would have been glad of meat, they were
+afraid to shoot, fearing lest they should attract attention; nor for the
+same reason did they like to light a fire. So having knee-haltered the
+horses in such fashion that they could not wander far, and turned them
+loose to feed, they sat down under a tree, and made some sort of a meal
+off the biltong and cooked corn which they had brought with them. By the
+time this was finished darkness fell, for there was little moon, so that
+nothing remained to do except to sleep within a circle of a few dead
+thorn-boughs which they had drawn about their camp. This, then, they
+did, and so weary were they both, that notwithstanding all the emotions
+through which they had passed, and their fears lest lions should attack
+them--for of these brutes there were many in this veld--rested soundly
+and undisturbed till within half an hour of dawn.
+
+Rising somewhat chilled, for though the air was warm a heavy dew had
+soaked their blankets, once more they ate and drank by starlight, while
+the horses, which they had tied up close to them during the night,
+filled themselves with grass. At the first break of day they saddled
+them, and before the sun rose were on their road again. At length up
+it came, and the sight and warmth of it put new heart into Benita. Her
+fears seemed to depart with the night, and she said to her father that
+this successful start was of good augury, to which he only answered that
+he hoped so.
+
+All that day they rode forward in beautiful weather, not pressing their
+horses, for now they were sure that Jacob Meyer, who if he followed at
+all must do so on foot, would never be able to overtake them. At noon
+they halted, and having shot a small buck, Benita cooked some of it in
+the one pot that they had brought with them, and they ate a good meal of
+fresh meat.
+
+Riding on again, towards sundown they came to another of their old
+camping-places, also a bush-covered kopje. Here the spring of water
+was more than halfway up the hill, so there they off-saddled in a green
+bower of a place that because of its ferns and mosses looked like a rock
+garden. Now, although they had enough cold meat for food, they thought
+themselves quite safe in lighting a fire. Indeed, this it seemed
+necessary to do, since they had struck the fresh spoor of lions, and
+even caught sight of one galloping away in the tall reeds on the marshy
+land at the foot of the hill.
+
+That evening they fared sumptuously upon venison, and as on the previous
+day lay down to rest in a little "boma" or fence made of boughs. But
+they were not allowed to sleep well this night, for scarcely had they
+shut their eyes when a hyena began to howl about them. They shouted
+and the brute went away, but an hour or two later, they heard ominous
+grunting sounds, followed presently by a loud roar, which was answered
+by another roar, whereat the horses began to whinny in a frightened
+fashion.
+
+"Lions!" said Mr. Clifford, jumping up and throwing dead wood on the
+fire till it burnt to a bright blaze.
+
+After that all sleep became impossible, for although the lions did not
+attack them, having once winded the horses they would not go away, but
+continued wandering round the kopje, grunting and growling. This went
+on till abut three o'clock in the morning, when at last the beasts took
+their departure, for they heard them roaring in the distance. Now that
+they seemed safe, having first made up the fire, they tried to get some
+rest.
+
+When, as it appeared to her, Benita had been asleep but a little while,
+she was awakened by a new noise. It was still dark, but the starlight
+showed her that the horses were quite quiet; indeed, one of them was
+lying down, and the other eating some green leaves from the branches
+of the tree to which it was tethered. Therefore that noise had not come
+from any wild animal of which they were afraid. She listened intently,
+and presently heard it again; it was a murmur like to that of people
+talking somewhere at the bottom of the hill. Then she woke her father
+and told him, but although once or twice they thought they heard the
+sound of footsteps, nothing else could be distinguished. Still they
+rose, and having saddled and bridled the horses as noiselessly as might
+be, waited for the dawn.
+
+At last it came. Up on the side of the kopje they were in clear air,
+above which shone the red lights of morning, but under them lay billows
+of dense, pearl-hued mist. By degrees this thinned beneath the rays of
+the risen sun, and through it, looking gigantic in that light, Benita
+saw a savage wrapped in a kaross, who was walking up and down and
+yawning, a great spear in his hand.
+
+"Look," she whispered, "look!" and Mr. Clifford stared down the line of
+her outstretched finger.
+
+"The Matabele," he said. "My God! the Matabele!"
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE CHASE
+
+The Matabele it was, sure enough; there could be no doubt of it, for
+soon three other men joined the sentry and began to talk with him,
+pointing with their great spears at the side of the hill. Evidently they
+were arranging a surprise when there was sufficient light to carry it
+out.
+
+"They have seen our fire," whispered her father to Benita; "now, if
+we wish to save our lives, there is only one thing to do--ride for it
+before they muster. The impi will be camped upon the other side of the
+hill, so we must take the road we came by."
+
+"That runs back to Bambatse," faltered Benita.
+
+"Bambatse is better than the grave," said her father. "Pray Heaven that
+we may get there."
+
+To this argument there was no answer, so having drunk a sup of water,
+and swallowing a few mouthfuls of food as they went, they crept to the
+horses, mounted them, and as silently as possible began to ride down the
+hill.
+
+The sentry was alone again, the other three men having departed. He
+stood with his back towards them. Presently when they were quite close
+on to him, he heard their horses' hoofs upon the grass, wheeled round at
+the sound, and saw them. Then with a great shout he lifted his spear and
+charged.
+
+Mr. Clifford, who was leading, held out his rifle at arm's length--to
+raise it to his shoulder he had no time--and pulled the trigger. Benita
+heard the bullet clap upon the hide shield, and next instant saw the
+Matabele warrior lying on his back, beating the air with his hands and
+feet. Also, she saw beyond the shoulder of the kopje, which they were
+rounding, hundreds of men marching, and behind them a herd of cattle,
+the dim light gleaming upon the stabbing spears and on the horns of the
+oxen. She glanced to the right, and there were more men. The two wings
+of the impi were closing upon them. Only a little lane was left in the
+middle. They must get through before it shut.
+
+"Come," she gasped, striking the horse with her heel and the butt of her
+gun, and jerking at its mouth.
+
+Her father saw also, and did likewise, so that the beasts broke into a
+gallop. Now from the point of each wing sprang out thin lines of men,
+looking like great horns, or nippers, whose business it was to meet and
+cut them off. Could they pass between them before they did meet? That
+was the question, and upon its answer it depended whether or no they had
+another three minutes to live. To think of mercy at the hands of these
+bloodthirsty brutes, after they had just killed one of their number
+before their eyes, was absurd. It was true he had been shot in
+self-defence; but what count would savages take of that, or of the
+fact that they were but harmless travellers? White people were not very
+popular with the Matabele just then, as they knew well; also, their
+murder in this remote place, with not another of their race within a
+couple of hundred miles, would never even be reported, and much less
+avenged. It was as safe as any crime could possibly be.
+
+All this passed through their minds as they galloped towards those
+closing points. Oh! the horror of it! But two hundred yards to cover,
+and their fate would be decided. Either they would have escaped at least
+for a while, or time would be done with them; or, a third alternative,
+they might be taken prisoners, in all probability a yet more dreadful
+doom. Even then Benita determined that if she could help it this should
+not befall her. She had the rifle and the revolver that Jacob Meyer had
+given her. Surely she would be able to find a moment to use one or the
+other upon herself. She clenched her teeth, and struck the horse again
+and again, so that now they flew along. The Matabele soldiers were
+running their best to catch them, and if these had been given but
+five seconds of start, caught they must have been. But that short five
+seconds saved their lives.
+
+When they rushed through them the foremost men of the nippers were not
+more than twenty yards apart. Seeing that they had passed, these halted
+and hurled a shower of spears after them. One flashed by Benita's cheek,
+a line of light; she felt the wind of it. Another cut her dress, and
+a third struck her father's horse in the near hind leg just above the
+knee-joint, remaining fast there for a stride or two, and then falling
+to the ground. At first the beast did not seem to be incommoded by this
+wound; indeed, it only caused it to gallop quicker, and Benita rejoiced,
+thinking that it was but a scratch. Then she forgot about it, for some
+of the Matabele, who had guns, began to shoot them, and although their
+marksmanship was vile, one or two of the bullets went nearer than was
+pleasant. Lastly a man, the swiftest runner of them all, shouted after
+them in Zulu:
+
+"The horse is wounded. We will catch you both before the sun sets."
+
+Then they passed over the crest of a rise and lost sight of them for a
+while.
+
+"Thank God!" gasped Benita when they were alone again in the silent
+veld; but Mr. Clifford shook his head.
+
+"Do you think they will follow us?" she asked.
+
+"You heard what the fellow said," he answered evasively. "Doubtless they
+are on their way to attack Bambatse, and have been round to destroy some
+other wretched tribe, and steal the cattle which we saw. Yes, I fear
+that they will follow. The question is, which of us can get to Bambatse
+first."
+
+"Surely we ought to on the horses, father."
+
+"Yes, if nothing happens to them," and as he spoke the words the mare
+which he was riding dropped sharply upon her hind leg, the same that had
+been struck with the spear; then recovered herself and galloped on.
+
+"Did you see that?" he asked.
+
+She nodded; then said:
+
+"Shall we get off and look at the cut?"
+
+"Certainly not," he answered. "Our only chance is to keep her moving;
+if once the wound stiffens, there's an end. The sinew cannot have been
+severed, or it would have come before now."
+
+So they pushed on.
+
+All that morning did they canter forward wherever the ground was smooth
+enough to allow them to do so, and notwithstanding the increasing
+lameness of Mr. Clifford's mare, made such good progress that by midday
+they reached the place where they had passed the first night after
+leaving Bambatse. Here sheer fatigue and want of water forced them to
+stop a little while. They dismounted and drank greedily from the
+spring, after which they allowed the horses to drink also; indeed it was
+impossible to keep them away from the water. Then they ate a little, not
+because they desired food, but to keep up their strength, and while
+they did so examined the mare. By now her hind leg was much swollen, and
+blood still ran from the gash made by the assegai. Moreover, the limb
+was drawn up so that the point of the hoof only rested on the ground.
+
+"We must get on before it sets fast," said Mr. Clifford, and they
+mounted again.
+
+Great heavens! what was this? The mare would not stir. In his despair
+Mr. Clifford beat it cruelly, whereupon the poor brute hobbled forward
+a few paces on three legs, and again came to a standstill. Either an
+injured sinew had given or the inflammation was now so intense that it
+could not bend its knee. Understanding what this meant to them, Benita's
+nerve gave out at last, and she burst into weeping.
+
+"Don't cry, love," he said. "God's will be done. Perhaps they have given
+up the hunt by now; at any rate, my legs are left, and Bambatse is
+not more than sixteen miles away. Forward now," and holding to her
+saddle-strap they went up the long, long slope which led to the poort in
+the hills around Bambatse.
+
+They would have liked to shoot the mare, but being afraid to fire a
+rifle, could not do so. So they left the unhappy beast to its fate, and
+with it everything it carried, except a few of the cartridges. Before
+they went, however, at Benita's prayer, her father devoted a few seconds
+to unbuckling the girths and pulling off the bridle, so that it might
+have a chance of life. For a little way it hobbled after them on three
+legs, then, the saddle still upon its back, stood whinnying piteously,
+till at last, to Benita's intense relief, a turn in their path hid it
+from their sight.
+
+Half a mile further on she looked round in the faint hope that it
+might have recovered itself and followed. But no mare was to be seen.
+Something else was to be seen, however, for there, three or four miles
+away upon the plain behind them, easy to be distinguished in that
+dazzling air, were a number of black spots that occasionally seemed to
+sparkle.
+
+"What are they?" she asked faintly, as one who feared the answer.
+
+"The Matabele who follow us," answered her father, "or rather a company
+of their swiftest runners. It is their spears that glitter so. Now,
+my love, this is the position," he went on, as they struggled forward:
+"those men will catch us before ever we can get to Bambatse; they are
+trained to run like that, for fifty miles, if need be. But with this
+start they cannot catch your horse, you must go on and leave me to look
+after myself."
+
+"Never, never!" she exclaimed.
+
+"But you shall, and you must. I am your father and I order you. As for
+me, what does it matter? I may hide from them and escape, or--at least I
+am old, my life is done, whereas yours is before you. Now, good-bye, and
+go on," and he let go of the saddle-strap.
+
+By way of answer Benita pulled up the horse.
+
+"Not one yard," she said, setting her mouth.
+
+Then he began to storm at her, calling her disobedient, and undutiful,
+and when this means failed to move her, to implore her almost with
+tears.
+
+"Father, dear," she said, leaning down towards him as he walked, for
+now they were going on again, "I told you why I wanted to run away from
+Bambatse, didn't I?--because I would rather risk my life than stay.
+Well, do you think that I wish to return there and live in that place
+alone with Jacob Meyer? Also, I will tell you another thing. You
+remember about Mr. Seymour? Well, I can't get over that; I can't get
+over it at all, and therefore, although of course I am afraid, it is all
+one to me. No, we will escape together, or die together; the first if we
+can."
+
+Then with a groan he gave up the argument, and as he found breath they
+discussed their chances. Their first idea was to hide, but save for a
+few trees all the country was open; there was no place to cover them.
+They thought of the banks of the Zambesi, but between them and the river
+rose a bare, rock-strewn hill with several miles of slope. Long before
+they could reach its crest, even if a horse were able to travel there,
+they must be overtaken. In short, there was nothing to do except to push
+for the nek, and if they were fortunate enough to reach it before the
+Matabele, to abandon the horse there and try to conceal themselves among
+the ruins of the houses beyond. This, perhaps, they might do when once
+the sun was down.
+
+But they did not deceive themselves; the chances were at least fifty to
+one against them, unless indeed their pursuers grew weary and let them
+go.
+
+At present, however, they were by no means weary, for having perceived
+them from far away, the long-legged runners put on the pace, and the
+distance between them and their quarry was lessening.
+
+"Father," said Benita, "please understand one thing. I do not mean to be
+taken alive by those savages."
+
+"Oh! how can I----" he faltered.
+
+"I don't ask you," she answered. "I will see to that myself. Only, if I
+should make any mistake----" and she looked at him.
+
+The old man was getting very tired. He panted up the steep hillside,
+and stumbled against the stones. Benita noted it, and slipping from the
+horse, made him mount while she ran alongside. Then when he was a
+little rested they changed places again, and so covered several miles
+of country. Subsequently, when both of them were nearly exhausted, they
+tried riding together--she in front and he behind, for their baggage had
+long since been thrown away. But the weary beast could not carry this
+double burden, and after a few hundred yards of it, stumbled, fell,
+struggled to its feet again, and stopped.
+
+So once more they were obliged to ride and walk alternately.
+
+Now there was not much more than an hour of daylight left, and the
+narrow pass lay about three miles ahead of them. That dreadful three
+miles; ever thereafter it was Benita's favourite nightmare! At the
+beginning of it the leading Matabele were about two thousand yards
+behind them; half-way, about a thousand; and at the commencement of the
+last mile, say five hundred.
+
+Nature is a wonderful thing, and great are its resources in extremity.
+As the actual crisis approached, the weariness of these two seemed to
+depart, or at any rate it was forgotten. They no longer felt exhausted,
+nor, had they been fresh from their beds, could they have climbed or run
+better. Even the horse seemed to find new energy, and when it lagged
+Mr. Clifford dug the point of his hunting knife into its flank. Gasping,
+panting, now one mounted and now the other, they struggled on towards
+that crest of rock, while behind them came death in the shape of those
+sleuth-hounds of Matabele. The sun was going down, and against its
+flaming ball, when they glanced back they could see their dark forms
+outlined; the broad spears also looked red as though they had been
+dipped in blood. They could even hear their taunting shouts as they
+called to them to sit down and be killed, and save trouble.
+
+Now they were not three hundred yards away, and the crest of the pass
+was still half a mile ahead. Five minutes passed, and here, where the
+track was very rough, the horse blundered upwards slowly. Mr. Clifford
+was riding at the time, and Benita running at his side, holding to the
+stirrup leather. She looked behind her. The savages, fearing that their
+victims might find shelter over the hill, were making a rush, and
+the horse could go no faster. One man, a great tall fellow, quite
+out-distanced his companions. Two minutes more and he was not over a
+hundred paces from them, a little nearer than they were to the top of
+the pass. Then the horse stopped and refused to stir any more.
+
+Mr. Clifford jumped from the saddle, and Benita, who could not speak,
+pointed to the pursuing Matabele. He sat down upon a rock, cocked his
+rifle, took a deep breath, and aimed and fired at the soldier who was
+coming on carelessly in the open. Mr. Clifford was a good shot, and
+shaken though he was, at this supreme moment his skill did not fail
+him. The man was struck somewhere, for he staggered about and fell;
+then slowly picked himself up, and began to hobble back towards his
+companions, who, when they met him, stopped a minute to give him some
+kind of assistance.
+
+That halt proved their salvation, for it gave them time to make one last
+despairing rush, and gain the brow of the poort. Not that this would
+have saved them, however, since where they could go the Matabele could
+follow, and there was still light by which the pursuers would have been
+able to see to catch them. Indeed, the savages, having laid down the
+wounded man, came on with a yell of rage, fifty or more of them.
+
+Over the pass father and daughter struggled, Benita riding; after them,
+perhaps sixty yards away, ran the Matabele, gathered in a knot now upon
+the narrow, ancient road, bordered by steep hillsides.
+
+Then suddenly from all about them, as it appeared to Benita, broke
+out the blaze and roar of rifles, rapid and continuous. Down went the
+Matabele by twos and threes, till at last it seemed as though but quite
+a few of them were left upon their feet, and those came on no more;
+they turned and fled from the neck of the narrow pass to the open slope
+beyond.
+
+Benita sank to the ground, and the next thing that she could remember
+was hearing the soft voice of Jacob Meyer, who said:
+
+"So you have returned from your ride, Miss Clifford, and perhaps it was
+as well that the thought came from you to me that you wished me to meet
+you here in this very place."
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+BACK AT BAMBATSE
+
+How they reached Bambatse Benita never could remember, but afterwards
+she was told that both she and her father were carried upon litters made
+of ox-hide shields. When she came to her own mind again, it was to find
+herself lying in her tent outside the mouth of the cave within the
+third enclosure of the temple-fortress. Her feet were sore and her bones
+ached, physical discomforts that brought back to her in a flash all the
+terrors through which she had passed.
+
+Again she saw the fierce pursuing Matabele; again heard their cruel
+shouts and the answering crack of the rifles; again, amidst the din and
+the gathering darkness, distinguished the gentle, foreign voice of Meyer
+speaking his words of sarcastic greeting. Next oblivion fell upon her,
+and after it a dim memory of being helped up the hill with the sun
+pouring on her back and assisted to climb the steep steps of the wall by
+means of a rope placed around her. Then forgetfulness again.
+
+The flap of her tent was drawn aside and she shrank back upon her bed,
+shutting her eyes for fear lest they should fall upon the face of Jacob
+Meyer. Feeling that it was not he, or learning it perhaps from the
+footfall, she opened them a little, peeping at her visitor from between
+her long lashes. He proved to be--not Jacob or her father, but the old
+Molimo, who stood beside her holding in his hand a gourd filled with
+goat's milk. Then she sat up and smiled at him, for Benita had grown
+very fond of this ancient man, who was so unlike anyone that she had
+ever met.
+
+"Greeting, Lady," he said softly, smiling back at her with his lips and
+dreamy eyes, for his old face did not seem to move beneath its thousand
+wrinkles. "I bring you milk. Drink; it is fresh and you need food."
+
+So she took the gourd and drank to the last drop, for it seemed to her
+that she had never tasted anything so delicious.
+
+"Good, good," murmured the Molimo; "now you will be well again."
+
+"Yes, I shall get well," she answered; "but oh! what of my father?"
+
+"Fear not; he is still sick, but he will recover also. You shall see him
+soon."
+
+"I have drunk all the milk," she broke out; "there is none left for
+him."
+
+"Plenty, plenty," he answered, waving his thin hand. "There are two cups
+full--one for each. We have not many she-goats down below, but the best
+of their milk is saved for you."
+
+"Tell me all that has happened, Father," and the old priest, who liked
+her to call him by that name, smiled again with his eyes, and squatted
+down in the corner of the tent.
+
+"You went away, you remember that you would go, although I told you
+that you must come back. You refused my wisdom and you went, and I have
+learned all that befell you and how you two escaped the impi. Well, that
+night after sunset, when you did not return, came the Black One--yes,
+yes, I mean Meyer, whom we name so because of his beard, and," he added
+deliberately, "his heart. He came running down the hill asking for you,
+and I gave him the letter.
+
+"He read it, and oh! then he went mad. He cursed in his own tongue; he
+threw himself about; he took a rifle and wished to shoot me, but I sat
+silent and looked at him till he grew quiet. Then he asked why I had
+played him this trick, but I answered that it was no trick of mine who
+had no right to keep you and your father prisoners against your will,
+and that I thought you had gone away because you were afraid of him,
+which was not wonderful if that was how he talked to you. I told him,
+too, I who am a doctor, that unless he was careful he would go mad; that
+already I saw madness in his eye; after which he became quiet, for my
+words frightened him. Then he asked what could be done, and I said--that
+night, nothing, since you must be far away, so that it would be useless
+to follow you, but better to go to meet you when you came back. He asked
+what I meant by your coming back, and I answered that I meant what I
+said, that you would come back in great haste and peril--although you
+would not believe me when I told you so--for I had it from the Munwali
+whose child you are.
+
+"So I sent out my spies, and that night went by, and the next day and
+night went by, and we sat still and did nothing, though the Black One
+wished to wander out alone after you. But on the following morning, at
+the dawn, a messenger came in who reported that it had been called to
+him by his brethren who were hidden upon hilltops and in other places
+for miles and miles, that the Matabele impi, having destroyed another
+family of the Makalanga far down the Zambesi, was advancing to destroy
+us also. And in the afternoon came a second spy, who reported that you
+two had been surrounded by the impi, but had broken through them, and
+were riding hitherward for your lives. Then I took fifty of the best
+of our people and put them under the command of Tamas, my son, and sent
+them to ambush the pass, for against the Matabele warriors on the plain
+we, who are not warlike, do not dare to fight.
+
+"The Black One went with them, and when he saw how sore was your strait,
+wished to run down to meet the Matabele, for he is a brave man. But I
+had said to Tamas--'No, do not try to fight them in the open, for there
+they will certainly kill you.' Moreover, Lady, I was sure that you would
+reach the top of the poort. Well, you reached it, though but by the
+breadth of a blade of grass, and my children shot with the new rifles,
+and the place being narrow so that they could not miss, killed many of
+those hyenas of Amandabele. But to kill Matabele is like catching fleas
+on a dog's back: there are always more. Still it served its turn, you
+and your father were brought away safely, and we lost no one."
+
+"Where, then, are the Matabele now?" asked Benita.
+
+"Outside our walls, a whole regiment of them: three thousand men or
+more, under the command of the Captain Maduna, he of the royal blood,
+whose life you begged, but who nevertheless hunted you like a buck."
+
+"Perhaps he did not know who it was," suggested Benita.
+
+"Perhaps not," the Molimo answered, rubbing his chin, "for in such
+matters even a Matabele generally keeps faith, and you may remember he
+promised you life for life. However, they are here ravening like lions
+round the walls, and that is why we carried you up to the top of the
+hill, that you might be safe from them."
+
+"But are you safe, my Father?"
+
+"I think so," he replied with a dry little chuckle in his throat.
+"Whoever built this fortress built it strong, and we have blocked the
+gates. Also, they caught no one outside; all are within the walls,
+together with the sheep and goats. Lastly, we have sent most of the
+women and children across the Zambesi in canoes, to hide in places we
+know of whither the Amandabele cannot follow, for they dare not swim
+a river. Therefore, for those of us that remain we have food for three
+months, and before then the rains will drive the impi out."
+
+"Why did you not all go across the river, Father?"
+
+"For two reasons, Lady. The first is, that if we once abandoned our
+stronghold, which we have held from the beginning, Lobengula would take
+it, and keep it, so that we could never re-enter into our heritage,
+which would be a shame to us and bring down the vengeance of the
+spirits of our ancestors upon our heads. The second is, that as you have
+returned to us we stay to protect you."
+
+"You are very good to me," murmured Benita.
+
+"Nay, nay, we brought you here, and we do what I am told to do from
+Above. Trouble may still come upon you; yes, I think that it will come,
+but once more I pray you, have no fear, for out of this evil root shall
+spring a flower of joy," and he rose to go.
+
+"Stay," said Benita. "Has the chief Meyer found the gold?"
+
+"No; he has found nothing; but he hunts and hunts like a hungry jackal
+digging for a bone. But that bone is not for him; it is for you, Lady,
+you and you only. Oh! I know, you do not seek, still you shall find.
+Only the next time that you want help, do not run away into the
+wilderness. Hear the word of Munwali given by his mouth, the Molimo of
+Bambatse!" And as he spoke, the old priest backed himself out of the
+tent, stopping now and again to bow to Benita.
+
+A few minutes later her father entered, looking very weak and shaken,
+and supporting himself upon a stick. Happy was the greeting of these
+two who, with their arms about each other's neck, gave thanks for their
+escape from great peril.
+
+"You see, Benita, we can't get away from this place," Mr. Clifford said
+presently. "We must find that gold."
+
+"Bother the gold," she answered with energy; "I hate its very name. Who
+can think of gold with three thousand Matabele waiting to kill us?"
+
+"Somehow I don't feel afraid of them any more," said her father; "they
+have had their chance and lost it, and the Makalanga swear that now they
+have guns to command the gates, the fortress cannot be stormed. Still, I
+am afraid of someone."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Jacob Mayer. I have seen him several times, and I think that he is
+going mad."
+
+"The Molimo said that too, but why?"
+
+"From the look of him. He sits about muttering and glowing with those
+dark eyes of his, and sometimes groans, and sometimes bursts into shouts
+of laughter. That is when the fit is on him, for generally he seems
+right enough. But get up if you think you can, and you shall judge for
+yourself."
+
+"I don't want to," said Benita feebly. "Father, I am more afraid of him
+now than ever. Oh! why did you not let me stop down below, among the
+Makalanga, instead of carrying me up here again, where we must live
+alone with that terrible Jew?"
+
+"I wished to, dear, but the Molimo said we should be safer above, and
+ordered his people to carry you up. Also, Jacob swore that unless you
+were brought back he would kill me. Now you understand why I believe
+that he is mad."
+
+"Why, why?" gasped Benita again.
+
+"God knows," he answered with a groan; "but I think that he is sure that
+we shall never find the gold without you, since the Molimo has told him
+that it is for you and you alone, and he says the old man has second
+sight, or something of the sort. Well, he would have murdered me--I saw
+it in his eye--so I thought it better to give in rather than that you
+should be left here sick and alone. Of course there was one way----" and
+he paused.
+
+She looked at him and asked:
+
+"What way?"
+
+"To shoot him before he shot me," he answered in a whisper, "for your
+sake, dear--but I could not bring myself to do it."
+
+"No," she said with a shudder, "not that--not that. Better that we
+should die than that his blood should be upon our hands. Now I will get
+up and try to show no fear. I am sure that is best, and perhaps we shall
+be able to escape somehow. Meanwhile, let us humour him, and pretend to
+go on looking for this horrible treasure."
+
+So Benita rose to discover that, save for her stiffness, she was but
+little the worse, and finding all things placed in readiness, set to
+work with her father's help to cook the evening meal as usual. Of Meyer,
+who doubtless had placed things in readiness, she saw nothing.
+
+Before nightfall he came, however, as she knew he would. Indeed,
+although she heard no step and her back was towards him, she felt his
+presence; the sense of it fell upon her like a cold shadow. Turning
+round she beheld the man. He was standing close by, but above her, upon
+a big granite boulder, in climbing which his soft veld schoons, or hide
+shoes, had made no noise, for Meyer could move like a cat. The last rays
+from the sinking sun struck him full, outlining his agile, nervous shape
+against the sky, and in their intense red light, which flamed upon him,
+he appeared terrible. He looked like a panther about to spring; his eyes
+shone like a panther's, and Benita knew that she was the prey whom he
+desired. Still, remembering her resolution, she determined to show no
+fear, and addressed him:
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. Meyer. Oh! I am so stiff that I cannot lift my neck
+to look at you," and she laughed.
+
+He bounded softly from the rock, like a panther again, and stood in
+front of her.
+
+"You should thank the God you believe in," he said, "that by now you are
+not stiff indeed--all that the jackals have left of you."
+
+"I do, Mr. Meyer, and I thank you, too; it was brave of you to come out
+to save us. Father," she called, "come and tell Mr. Meyer how grateful
+we are to him."
+
+Mr. Clifford hobbled out from his hut under the tree, saying:
+
+"I have told him already, dear."
+
+"Yes," answered Jacob, "you have told me; why repeat yourself? I see
+that supper is ready. Let us eat, for you must be hungry; afterwards I
+have something to tell you."
+
+So they ate, with no great appetite, any of them--indeed Meyer touched
+but little food, though he drank a good deal, first of strong black
+coffee and afterwards of squareface and water. But on Benita he pressed
+the choicest morsels that he could find, eyeing her all the while, and
+saying that she must take plenty of nutriment or her beauty would suffer
+and her strength wane. Benita bethought her of the fairy tales of her
+childhood, in which the ogre fed up the princess whom he purposed to
+devour.
+
+"You should think of your own strength, Mr. Meyer," she said; "you
+cannot live on coffee and squareface."
+
+"It is all I need to-night. I am astonishingly well since you came back.
+I can never remember feeling so well, or so strong. I can do the work
+of three men, and not be tired; all this afternoon, for instance, I have
+been carrying provisions and other things up that steep wall, for we
+must prepare for a long siege together; yet I should never know that
+I had lifted a single basket. But while you were away--ah! then I felt
+tired."
+
+Benita changed the subject, asking him if he had made any discoveries.
+
+"Not yet, but now that you are back the discoveries will soon come. Do
+not be afraid; I have my plan which cannot fail. Also, it was lonely
+working in that cave without you, so I only looked about a little
+outside till it was time to go to meet you, and shoot some of those
+Matabele. Do you know?--I killed seven of them myself. When I was
+shooting for your sake I could not miss," and he smiled at her.
+
+Benita shrank from him visibly, and Mr. Clifford said in an angry voice:
+
+"Don't talk of those horrors before my daughter. It is bad enough to
+have to do such things, without speaking about them afterwards."
+
+"You are right," he replied reflectively; "and I apologise, though
+personally I never enjoyed anything so much as shooting those Matabele.
+Well, they are gone, and there are plenty more outside. Listen! They are
+singing their evening hymn," and with his long finger he beat time to
+the volleying notes of the dreadful Matabele war-chant, which floated up
+from the plain below. "It sounds quite religious, doesn't it? only the
+words--no, I will not translate them. In our circumstances they are too
+personal.
+
+"Now I have something to say to you. It was unkind of you to run away
+and leave me like that, not honourable either. Indeed," he added with a
+sudden outbreak of the panther ferocity, "had you alone been concerned,
+Clifford, I tell you frankly that when we met again, I should have shot
+you. Traitors deserve to be shot, don't they?"
+
+"Please stop talking to my father like that," broke in Benita in a
+stern voice, for her anger had overcome her fear. "Also it is I whom you
+should blame."
+
+"It is a pleasure to obey you," he answered bowing; "I will never
+mention the subject any more. Nor do I blame you--who could?--not Jacob
+Meyer. I quite understand that you found it very dull up here, and
+ladies must be allowed their fancies. Also you have come back; so why
+talk of the matter? But listen: on one point I have made up my mind;
+for your own sake you shall not go away any more until we leave this
+together. When I had finished carrying up the food I made sure of that.
+If you go to look to-morrow morning you will find that no one can come
+up that wall--and, what is more, no one can go down it. Moreover, that I
+may be quite certain, in future I shall sleep near the stair myself."
+
+Benita and her father stared at each other.
+
+"The Molimo has a right to come," she said; "it is his sanctuary."
+
+"Then he must celebrate his worship down below for a little while. The
+old fool pretends to know everything, but he never guessed what I was
+going to do. Besides, we don't want him breaking in upon our privacy, do
+we? He might see the gold when we find it, and rob us of it afterwards."
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE FIRST EXPERIMENT
+
+Again Benita and her father stared at each other blankly, almost with
+despair. They were trapped, cut off from all help; in the power of a
+man who was going mad. Mr. Clifford said nothing. He was old and growing
+feeble; for years, although he did not know it, Meyer had dominated
+him, and never more so than in this hour of stress and bewilderment.
+Moreover, the man had threatened to murder him, and he was afraid, not
+so much for himself as for his daughter. If he were to die now, what
+would happen to her, left alone with Jacob Meyer? The knowledge of his
+own folly, understood too late, filled him with shame. How could he have
+been so wicked as to bring a girl upon such a quest in the company of an
+unprincipled Jew, of whose past he knew nothing except that it was murky
+and dubious? He had committed a great crime, led on by a love of lucre,
+and the weight of it pressed upon his tongue and closed his lips; he
+knew not what to say.
+
+For a little while Benita was silent also; hope died within her. But
+she was a bold-spirited woman, and by degrees her courage re-asserted
+itself. Indignation filled her breast and shone through her dark eyes.
+Suddenly she turned upon Jacob, who sat before them smoking his pipe and
+enjoying their discomfiture.
+
+"How dare you?" she asked in a low, concentrated voice. "How dare you,
+you coward?"
+
+He shrank a little beneath her scorn and anger; then seemed to recover
+and brace himself, as one does who feels that a great struggle is at
+hand, upon the issue of which everything depends.
+
+"Do not be angry with me," he answered. "I cannot bear it. It hurts--ah!
+you don't know how it hurts. Well, I will tell you, and before your
+father, for that is more honourable. I dare--for your sake."
+
+"For my sake? How can it benefit me to be cooped up in this horrible
+place with you? I would rather trust myself with the Makalanga, or
+even," she added with bitter scorn, "even with those bloody-minded
+Matabele."
+
+"You ran away from them very fast a little while ago, Miss Clifford. But
+you do not understand me. When I said for your sake, I meant for my
+own. See, now. You tried to leave me the other day and did not succeed.
+Another time you might succeed, and then--what would happen to me?"
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Meyer," and her eyes added--"I do not care."
+
+"Ah! but I know. Last time it drove me nearly mad; next time I should go
+quite mad."
+
+"Because you believe that through me you will find this treasure of
+which you dream day and night, Mr. Meyer----"
+
+"Yes," he interrupted quickly. "Because I believe that in you I shall
+find the treasure of which I dream day and night, and because that
+treasure has become necessary to my life."
+
+Benita turned quickly towards her father, who was puzzling over the
+words, but before either of them could speak Jacob passed his hand
+across his brow in a bewildered way and said:
+
+"What was I talking of? The treasure, yes, the uncountable treasure of
+pure gold, that lies hid so deep, that is so hard to discover and to
+possess; the useless, buried treasure that would bring such joy and
+glory to us both, if only it could be come at and reckoned out, piece by
+piece, coin by coin, through the long, long years of life."
+
+Again he paused; then went on.
+
+"Well, Miss Clifford, you are quite right; that is why I have dared to
+make you a prisoner, because, as the old Molimo said, the treasure is
+yours and I wish to share it. Now, about this treasure, it seems that it
+can't be found, can it, although I have worked so hard?" and he looked
+at his delicate, scarred hands.
+
+"Quite so, Mr. Meyer, it can't be found, so you had better let us go
+down to the Makalanga."
+
+"But there is a way, Miss Clifford, there is a way. You know where it
+lies, and you can show me."
+
+"If I knew I would show you soon enough, Mr. Meyer, for then you could
+take the stuff and our partnership would be at an end."
+
+"Not until it is divided ounce by ounce and coin by coin. But
+first--first you must show me, as you say you will, and as you can."
+
+"How, Mr. Meyer? I am not a magician."
+
+"Ah! but you are. I will tell you how, having your promise. Listen now,
+both of you. I have studied. I know a great many secret things, and I
+read in your face that you have the gift--let me look in your eyes a
+while, Miss Clifford, and you will go to sleep quite gently, and then
+in your sleep, which shall not harm you at all, you will see where that
+gold lies hidden, and you will tell us."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Benita, bewildered.
+
+"I know what he means," broke in Mr. Clifford. "You mean that you want
+to mesmerize her as you did the Zulu chief."
+
+Benita opened her lips to speak, but Meyer said quickly:
+
+"No, no; hear me first before you refuse. You have the gift, the
+precious gift of clairvoyance, that is so rare."
+
+"How do you know that, Mr. Meyer? I have never been mesmerized in my
+life."
+
+"It does not matter how. I do know it; I have been sure of it from the
+moment when first we met, that night by the kloof. Although, perhaps,
+you felt nothing then, it was that gift of yours working upon a mind in
+tune, my mind, which led me there in time to save you, as it was that
+gift of yours which warned you of the disaster about to happen to the
+ship--oh! I have heard the story from your own lips. Your spirit can
+loose itself from the body: it can see the past and the future; it can
+discover the hidden things."
+
+"I do not believe it," answered Benita; "but at least it shall not be
+loosed by you."
+
+"It shall, it shall," he cried with passion, his eyes blazing on her as
+he spoke. "Oh! I foresaw all this, and that is why I was determined you
+should come with us, so that, should other means fail, we might have
+your power to fall back upon. Well, they have failed; I have been
+patient, I have said nothing, but now there is no other way. Will you be
+so selfish, so cruel, as to deny me, you who can make us all rich in an
+hour, and take no hurt at all, no more than if you had slept awhile?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita. "I refuse to deliver my will into the keeping of
+any living man, and least of all into yours, Mr. Meyer."
+
+He turned to her father with a gesture of despair.
+
+"Cannot you persuade her, Clifford? She is your daughter, she will obey
+you."
+
+"Not in that," said Benita.
+
+"No," answered Mr. Clifford. "I cannot, and I wouldn't if I could. My
+daughter is quite right. Moreover, I hate this supernatural kind of
+thing. If we can't find this gold without it, then we must let it alone,
+that is all."
+
+Meyer turned aside to hide his face, and presently looked up again, and
+spoke quite softly.
+
+"I suppose that I must accept my answer, but when you talked of any
+living man just now, Miss Clifford, did you include your father?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Then will you allow him to try to mesmerize you?"
+
+Benita laughed.
+
+"Oh, yes, if he likes," she said. "But I do not think that the operation
+will be very successful."
+
+"Good, we will see to-morrow. Now, like you, I am tired. I am going to
+bed in my new camp by the wall," he added significantly.
+
+*****
+
+"Why are you so dead set against this business?" asked her father, when
+he had gone.
+
+"Oh, father!" she answered, "can't you see, don't you understand? Then
+it is hard to have to tell you, but I must. In the beginning Mr. Meyer
+only wanted the gold. Now he wants more, me as well as the gold. I hate
+him! You know that is why I ran away. But I have read a good deal about
+this mesmerism, and seen it once or twice, and who knows? If once I
+allow his mind to master my mind, although I hate him so much, I might
+become his slave."
+
+"I understand now," said Mr. Clifford. "Oh, why did I ever bring you
+here? It would have been better if I had never seen your face again."
+
+
+On the morrow the experiment was made. Mr. Clifford attempted to
+mesmerize his daughter. All the morning Jacob, who, it now appeared, had
+practical knowledge of this doubtful art, tried to instruct him therein.
+In the course of the lesson he informed him that for a short period in
+the past, having great natural powers in that direction, he had made use
+of them professionally, only giving up the business because he found
+it wrecked his health. Mr. Clifford remarked that he had never told him
+that before.
+
+"There are lots of things in my life that I have never told you,"
+replied Jacob with a little secret smile. "For instance, once I
+mesmerized you, although you did not know it, and that is why you always
+have to do what I want you to, except when your daughter is near you,
+for her influence is stronger than mine."
+
+Mr. Clifford stared at him.
+
+"No wonder Benita won't let you mesmerize her," he said shortly.
+
+Then Jacob saw his mistake.
+
+"You are more foolish than I thought," he said. "How could I mesmerize
+you without your knowing it? I was only laughing at you."
+
+"I didn't see the laugh," replied Mr. Clifford uneasily, and they went
+on with the lesson.
+
+That afternoon it was put to proof--in the cave itself, where Meyer
+seemed to think that the influences would be propitious. Benita, who
+found some amusement in the performance, was seated upon the stone steps
+underneath the crucifix, one lamp on the altar and others one each side
+of her.
+
+In front stood her father, staring at her and waving his hands
+mysteriously in obedience to Jacob's directions. So ridiculous did he
+look indeed while thus engaged that Benita had the greatest difficulty
+in preventing herself from bursting into laughter. This was the only
+effect which his grimaces and gesticulations produced upon her, although
+outwardly she kept a solemn appearance, and even from time to time shut
+her eyes to encourage him. Once, when she opened them again, it was to
+perceive that he was becoming very hot and exhausted, and that Jacob was
+watching him with such an unpleasant intentness that she re-closed her
+eyes that she might not see his face.
+
+It was shortly after this that of a sudden Benita did feel something,
+a kind of penetrating power flowing upon her, something soft and subtle
+that seemed to creep into her brain like the sound of her mother's
+lullaby in the dim years ago. She began to think that she was a lost
+traveller among alpine snows wrapped round by snow, falling, falling in
+ten myriad flakes, every one of them with a little heart of fire. Then
+it came to her that she had heard this snow-sleep was dangerous, the
+last of all sleeps, and that its victims must rouse themselves, or die.
+
+Benita roused herself just in time--only just, for now she was being
+borne over the edge of a precipice upon the wings of swans, and beneath
+her was darkness wherein dim figures walked with lamps where their
+hearts should be. Oh, how heavy were her eyelids! Surely a weight hung
+to each of them, a golden weight. There, there, they were open, and she
+saw. Her father had ceased his efforts; he was rubbing his brow with a
+red pocket-handkerchief, but behind him, with rigid arms outstretched,
+his glowing eyes fastened on her face, stood Jacob Meyer. By an effort
+she sprang to her feet, shaking her head as a dog does.
+
+"Have done with this nonsense," she said. "It tires me," and snatching
+one of the lamps she ran swiftly down the place.
+
+Benita expected that Jacob Meyer would be very angry with her, and
+braced herself for a scene. But nothing of the sort happened. A while
+afterwards she saw the two of them approaching, engaged apparently in
+amicable talk.
+
+"Mr. Meyer says that I am no mesmerist, love," said her father, "and I
+can quite believe him. But for all that it is a weary job. I am as tired
+as I was after our escape from the Matabele."
+
+She laughed and answered:
+
+"To judge by results I agree with you. The occult is not in your line,
+father. You had better give it up."
+
+"Did you, then, feel nothing?" asked Meyer.
+
+"Nothing at all," she answered, looking him in the eyes. "No, that's
+wrong, I felt extremely bored and sorry to see my father making
+himself ridiculous. Grey hairs and nonsense of that sort don't go well
+together."
+
+"No," he answered. "I agree with you--not of that sort," and the subject
+dropped.
+
+For the next few days, to her intense relief, Benita heard no more
+of mesmerism. To begin with, there was something else to occupy their
+minds. The Matabele, tired of marching round the fortress and singing
+endless war-songs, had determined upon an assault. From their point of
+vantage on the topmost wall the three could watch the preparations which
+they made. Trees were cut down and brought in from a great distance that
+rude ladders might be fashioned out of them; also spies wandered round
+reconnoitring for a weak place in the defences. When they came too near
+the Makalanga fired on them, killing some, so that they retreated to
+the camp, which they had made in a fold of ground at a little distance.
+Suddenly it occurred to Meyer that although here the Matabele were safe
+from the Makalanga bullets, it was commanded from the greater eminence,
+and by way of recreation he set himself to harass them. His rifle was a
+sporting Martini, and he had an ample supply of ammunition. Moreover, he
+was a beautiful marksman, with sight like that of a hawk.
+
+A few trial shots gave him the range; it was a shade under seven hundred
+yards, and then he began operations. Lying on the top of the wall
+and resting his rifle upon a stone, he waited until the man who was
+superintending the manufacture of the ladders came out into the open,
+when, aiming carefully, he fired. The soldier, a white-bearded savage,
+sprang into the air, and fell backwards, while his companions stared
+upwards, wondering whence the bullet had come.
+
+"Pretty, wasn't it?" said Meyer to Benita, who was watching through a
+pair of field-glasses.
+
+"I dare say," she answered. "But I don't want to see any more," and
+giving the glasses to her father, she climbed down the wall.
+
+But Meyer stayed there, and from time to time she heard the report of
+his rifle. In the evening he told her that he had killed six men and
+wounded ten more, adding that it was the best day's shooting which he
+could remember.
+
+"What is the use when there are so many?" she asked.
+
+"Not much," he answered. "But it annoys them and amuses me. Also, it
+was part of our bargain that we should help the Makalanga if they were
+attacked."
+
+"I believe that you like killing people," she said.
+
+"I don't mind it, Miss Clifford, especially as they tried to kill you."
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE OTHER BENITA
+
+At irregular times, when he had nothing else to do, Jacob went on with
+his man-shooting, in which Mr. Clifford joined him, though with less
+effect. Soon it became evident that the Matabele were very much annoyed
+by the fatal accuracy of this fire. Loss of life they did not mind in
+the abstract, but when none of them knew but that their own turn might
+come next to perish beneath these downward plunging bullets, the matter
+wore a different face to them. To leave their camp was not easy, since
+they had made a thorn _boma_ round it, to protect them in case the
+Makalanga should make a night sally; also they could find no other
+convenient spot. The upshot of it all was to hurry their assault, which
+they delivered before they had prepared sufficient ladders to make it
+effective.
+
+At the first break of dawn on the third day after Mr. Clifford's attempt
+at mesmerism, Benita was awakened by the sounds of shouts and firing.
+Having dressed herself hastily, she hurried in the growing light towards
+that part of the wall from below which the noise seemed to come, and
+climbing it, found her father and Jacob already seated there, their
+rifles in hand.
+
+"The fools are attacking the small gate through which you went out
+riding, Miss Clifford, the very worst place that they could have chosen,
+although the wall looks very weak there," said the latter. "If those
+Makalanga have any pluck they ought to teach them a lesson."
+
+Then the sun rose and they saw companies of Matabele, who carried
+ladders in their hands, rushing onwards through the morning mist till
+their sight of them was obstructed by the swell of the hill. On these
+companies the two white men opened fire, with what result they could not
+see in that light. Presently a great shout announced that the enemy had
+gained the fosse and were setting up the ladders. Up to this time the
+Makalanga appeared to have done nothing, but now they began to fire
+rapidly from the ancient bastions which commanded the entrance the impi
+was striving to storm, and soon through the thinning fog they perceived
+wounded Matabele staggering and crawling back towards their camp. Of
+these, the light now better, Jacob did not neglect to take his toll.
+
+Meanwhile, the ancient fortress rang with the hideous tumult of the
+attack. It was evident that again and again, as their fierce war-shouts
+proclaimed, the Matabele were striving to scale the wall, and again and
+again were beaten back by the raking rifle fire. Once a triumphant yell
+seemed to announce their success. The fire slackened and Benita grew
+pale with fear.
+
+"The Makalanga cowards are bolting," muttered Mr. Clifford, listening
+with terrible anxiety.
+
+But if so their courage came back to them, for presently the guns
+cracked louder and more incessant than before, and the savage cries of
+"Kill! Kill! Kill!" dwindled and died away. Another five minutes and the
+Matabele were in full retreat, bearing with them many dead and wounded
+men upon their backs or stretched out on the ladders.
+
+"Our Makalanga friends should be grateful to us for those hundred
+rifles," said Jacob as he loaded and fired rapidly, sending his bullets
+wherever the clusters were thickest. "Had it not been for them their
+throats would have been cut by now," he added, "for they could never
+have stopped those savages with the spear."
+
+"Yes, and ours too before nightfall," said Benita with a shudder,
+for the sight of this desperate fray and fear of how it might end had
+sickened her. "Thank Heaven, it is over! Perhaps they will give up the
+siege and go away."
+
+But, notwithstanding their costly defeat, for they had lost over a
+hundred men, the Matabele, who were afraid to return to Buluwayo except
+as victors, did nothing of the sort. They only cut down a quantity of
+reeds and scrub, and moved their camp nearly to the banks of the river,
+placing it in such a position that it could no longer be searched by
+the fire of the two white men. Here they sat themselves down sullenly,
+hoping to starve out the garrison or to find some other way of entering
+the fortress.
+
+Now Meyer's shooting having come to an end for lack of men to shoot at,
+since the enemy exposed themselves no more, he was again able to give
+his full attention to the matter of the treasure hunt.
+
+As nothing could be found in the cave he devoted himself to the outside
+enclosure which, it may be remembered, was grown over with grass and
+trees and crowded with ruins. In the most important of these ruins they
+began to dig somewhat aimlessly, and were rewarded by finding a certain
+amount of gold in the shape of beads and ornaments, and a few more
+skeletons of ancients. But of the Portuguese hoard there was no sign.
+Thus it came about that they grew gloomier day by day, till at last they
+scarcely spoke to each other. Jacob's angry disappointment was written
+on his face, and Benita was filled with despair, since to escape from
+their gaoler above and the Matabele below seemed impossible. Moreover,
+she had another cause for anxiety.
+
+The ill-health which had been threatening her father for a long while
+now fell upon him in earnest, so that of a sudden he became a very old
+man. His strength and energy left him, and his mind was so filled with
+remorse for what he held to be his crime in bringing his daughter to
+this awful place, and with terror for the fate that threatened her, that
+he could think of nothing else. In vain did she try to comfort him. He
+would only wring his hands and groan, praying that God and she would
+forgive him. Now, too, Meyer's mastery over him became continually more
+evident. Mr. Clifford implored the man, almost with tears, to unblock
+the wall and allow them to go down to the Makalanga. He even tried to
+bribe him with the offer of all his share of the treasure, if it were
+found, and when that failed, of his property in the Transvaal.
+
+But Jacob only told him roughly not to be a fool, as they had to see the
+thing through together. Then he would go again and brood by himself,
+and Benita noticed that he always took his rifle or a pistol with him.
+Evidently he feared lest her father should catch him unprepared, and
+take the law into his own hands by means of a sudden bullet.
+
+One comfort she had, however: although he watched her closely, the
+Jew never tried to molest her in any way, not even with more of his
+enigmatic and amorous speeches. By degrees, indeed, she came to believe
+that all this was gone from his mind, or that he had abandoned his
+advances as hopeless.
+
+A week passed since the Matabele attack, and nothing had happened. The
+Makalanga took no notice of them, and so far as she was aware the
+old Molimo never attempted to climb the blocked wall or otherwise to
+communicate with them, a thing so strange that, knowing his affection
+for her, Benita came to the conclusion that he must be dead, killed
+perhaps in the attack. Even Jacob Meyer had abandoned his digging, and
+sat about all day doing nothing but think.
+
+Their meal that night was a miserable affair, since in the first place
+provisions were running short and there was little to eat, and in the
+second no one spoke a word. Benita could swallow no food; she was weary
+of that sun-dried trek-ox, for since Meyer had blocked the wall they had
+little else. But by good fortune there remained plenty of coffee, and
+of this she drank two cups, which Jacob prepared and handed to her
+with much politeness. It tasted very bitter to her, but this, Benita
+reflected, was because they lacked milk and sugar. Supper ended, Meyer
+rose and bowed to her, muttering that he was going to bed, and a few
+minutes later Mr. Clifford followed his example. She went with her
+father to the hut beneath the tree, and having helped him to remove his
+coat, which now he seemed to find difficulty in doing for himself, bade
+him good-night and returned to the fire.
+
+It was very lonely there in the silence, for no sound came from either
+the Matabele or the Makalanga camps, and the bright moonlight seemed to
+people the place with fantastic shadows that looked alive. Benita cried
+a little now that her father could not see her, and then also sought
+refuge in bed. Evidently the end, whatever it might be, was near, and of
+it she could not bear to think. Moreover, her eyes were strangely heavy,
+so much so that before she had finished saying her prayers sleep fell
+upon her, and she knew no more.
+
+Had she remained as wakeful as it was often her fate to be during those
+fearful days, towards midnight she might have heard some light-footed
+creature creeping to her tent, and seen that the moon-rays which flowed
+through the gaping and ill-closed flap were cut off by the figure of a
+man with glowing eyes, whose projected arms waved over her mysteriously.
+But Benita neither heard nor saw. In her drugged rest she did not know
+that her sleep turned gradually to a magic swoon. She had no knowledge
+of her rising, or of how she threw her thick cloak about her, lit her
+lamp, and, in obedience to that beckoning finger, glided from the tent.
+She never heard her father stumble from his hut, disturbed by the sound
+of footsteps, or the words that passed between him and Jacob Meyer,
+while, lamp in hand, she stood near them like a strengthless ghost.
+
+"If you dare to wake her," hissed Jacob, "I tell you that she will die,
+and afterwards you shall die," and he fingered the pistol at his belt.
+"No harm shall come to her--I swear it! Follow and see. Man, man, be
+silent; our fortunes hang on it."
+
+Then, overcome also by the strange fierceness of that voice and gaze, he
+followed.
+
+On they go to the winding neck of the cavern, first Jacob walking
+backwards like the herald of majesty; then majesty itself in the shape
+of this long-haired, death-like woman, cloaked and bearing in her hand
+the light; and last, behind, the old, white-bearded man, like Time
+following Beauty to the grave. Now they were in the great cavern, and
+now, avoiding the open tombs, the well mouth and the altar, they stood
+beneath the crucifix.
+
+"Be seated," said Meyer, and the entranced Benita sat herself down
+upon the steps at the foot of the cross, placing the lamp on the rock
+pavement before her, and bowing her head till her hair fell upon her
+naked feet and hid them. He held his hands above her for a while, then
+asked:
+
+"Do you sleep?"
+
+"I sleep," came the strange, slow answer.
+
+"Is your spirit awake?"
+
+"It is awake."
+
+"Command it to travel backwards through the ages to the beginning, and
+tell me what you see here."
+
+"I see a rugged cave and wild folk dwelling in it; an old man is dying
+yonder," and she pointed to the right; "and a black woman with a babe
+at her breast tends him. A man, it is her husband, enters the cave. He
+holds a torch in one hand, and with the other drags a buck."
+
+"Cease," said Meyer. "How long is this ago?"
+
+"Thirty-three thousand two hundred and one years," came the answer,
+spoken without any hesitation.
+
+"Pass on," he said, "pass on thirty thousand years, and tell me what you
+see."
+
+For a long while there was silence.
+
+"Why do you not speak?" he asked.
+
+"Be patient; I am living through those thirty thousand years; many a
+life, many an age, but none may be missed."
+
+Again there was silence for a long while, till at length she spoke:
+
+"They are done, all of them, and now three thousand years ago I see this
+place changed and smoothly fashioned, peopled by a throng of worshippers
+clad in strange garments with clasps upon them. Behind me stands the
+graven statue of a goddess with a calm and cruel face, in front of the
+altar burns a fire, and on the altar white-robed priests are sacrificing
+an infant which cries aloud."
+
+"Pass on, pass on," Meyer said hurriedly, as though the horror of that
+scene had leapt to his eyes. "Pass on two thousand seven hundred years
+and tell me what you see."
+
+Again there was a pause, while the spirit he had evoked in the body of
+Benita lived through those ages. Then slowly she answered:
+
+"Nothing, the place is black and desolate, only the dead sleep beneath
+its floor."
+
+"Wait till the living come again," he commanded; "then speak."
+
+"They are here," she replied presently. "Tonsured monks, one of whom
+fashions this crucifix, and their followers who bow before the Host upon
+the altar. They come, they go--of whom shall I tell you?"
+
+"Tell me of the Portuguese; of those who were driven here to die."
+
+"I see them all," she answered, after a pause. "Two hundred and three of
+them. They are ragged and wayworn and hungry. Among them is a beautiful
+woman, a girl. She draws near to me, she enters into me. You must ask
+her,"--this was spoken in a very faint voice--"I am I no more."
+
+Mr. Clifford attempted to interrupt, but fiercely Meyer bade him to be
+silent.
+
+"Speak," he commanded, but the crouching figure shook her head.
+
+"Speak," he said again, whereon another voice, not that of Benita,
+answered in another tongue:
+
+"I hear; but I do not understand your language."
+
+"Great Heaven!" said Meyer, "it is Portuguese," and for a while the
+terror of the thing struck him dumb, for he was aware that Benita knew
+no Portuguese. He knew it, however, who had lived at Lorenco Marquez.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked in that tongue.
+
+"I am Benita da Ferreira. I am the daughter of the Captain da Ferreira
+and of his wife, the lady Christinha, who stand by you now. Turn, and
+you will see them."
+
+Jacob started and looked about him uneasily.
+
+"What did she say? I did not catch it all," asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+He translated her words.
+
+"But this is black magic," exclaimed the old man. "Benita knows no
+Portuguese, so how comes she to speak it?"
+
+"Because she is no longer our Benita; she is another Benita, Benita da
+Ferreira. The Molimo was right when he said that the spirit of the dead
+woman went with her, as it seems the name has gone," he added.
+
+"Have done," said Mr. Clifford; "the thing is unholy. Wake her up, or I
+will."
+
+"And bring about her death. Touch or disturb her, and I tell you she
+will die," and he pointed to Benita, who crouched before them so white
+and motionless that indeed it seemed as though already she were dead.
+"Be quiet," he went on. "I swear to you that no hurt shall come to her,
+also that I will translate everything to you. Promise, or I will tell
+you nothing, and her blood be on your head."
+
+Then Mr. Clifford groaned and said:
+
+"I promise."
+
+"Tell me your story, Benita da Ferreira. How came you and your people
+here?"
+
+"The tribes of Monomotapa rose against our rule. They killed many of
+us in the lower land, yes, they killed my brother and him to whom I was
+affianced. The rest of us fled north to this ancient fortress, hoping
+thence to escape by the river, the Zambesi. The Mambo, our vassal, gave
+us shelter here, but the tribes besieged the walls in thousands, and
+burnt all the boats so that we could not fly by the water. Many times we
+beat them back from the wall; the ditch was full of their dead, and at
+last they dared to attack no more.
+
+"Then we began to starve and they won the first wall. We went on
+starving and they won the second wall, but the third wall they could not
+climb. So we died; one by one we laid ourselves down in this cave and
+died, till I alone was left, for while our people had food they gave it
+to me who was the daughter of their captain. Yes, alone I knelt at the
+foot of this crucifix by the body of my father, praying to the blessed
+Son of Mary for the death that would not come, and kneeling there I
+swooned. When I awoke again the Mambo and his men stood about me, for
+now, knowing us to be dead, the tribes had gone, and those who were in
+hiding across the river had returned and knew how to climb the wall.
+They bore me from among the dead, they gave me food so that my strength
+came back; but in the night I, who in my wickedness would not live,
+escaped from them and climbed the pillar of black rock, so that when
+the sun rose they saw me standing there. They begged of me to come down,
+promising to protect me, but I said 'No,' who in the evil of my heart
+only desired to die, that I might join my father and my brother, and one
+who was dearer to me than all. They asked of me where the great treasure
+was hidden."
+
+At these words Jacob gasped, then rapidly translated them, while the
+figure before them became silent, as though it felt that for the moment
+the power of his will was withdrawn.
+
+"Speak on, I bid you," he said, and she continued, the rich, slow voice
+dropping word after word from the lips of Benita in the alien speech
+that this Benita never knew.
+
+"I answered that it was where it was, and that if they gave it up to
+any save the one appointed, then that fate which had befallen my people
+would befall theirs also. Yes, I gave it into their keeping until I came
+again, since with his dying breath my father had commanded me to reveal
+it to none, and I believed that I who was about to die should never come
+again.
+
+"Then I made my last prayer, I kissed the golden crucifix that now hangs
+upon this breast wherein I dwell," and the hand of the living Benita was
+lifted, and moving like the hand of a dead thing, slowly drew out the
+symbol from beneath the cloak, held it for a moment in the lamplight,
+and let it fall to its place again. "I put my hands before my eyes that
+I might not see, and I hurled myself from the pinnacle."
+
+Now the voice ceased, but from the lips came a dreadful sound, such as
+might be uttered by one whose bones are shattered upon rocks, followed
+by other sounds like those of one who chokes in water. They were so
+horrible to hear that Mr. Clifford nearly fainted, and even Jacob Meyer
+staggered and turned white as the white face of Benita.
+
+"Wake her! For God's sake, wake her!" said her father. "She is dying, as
+that woman died hundreds of years ago."
+
+"Not till she has told us where the gold is. Be quiet, you fool. She
+does not feel or suffer. It is the spirit within her that lives through
+the past again."
+
+Once more there was silence. It seemed as though the story were all told
+and the teller had departed.
+
+"Benita da Ferreira," said Meyer at length, "I command you, tell me, are
+you dead?"
+
+"Oh! would that I were dead, as my body is dead!" wailed the lips of
+Benita. "Alas! I cannot die who suffer this purgatory, and must dwell on
+here alone until the destined day. Yes, yes, the spirit of her who was
+Benita da Ferreira must haunt this place in solitude. This is her doom,
+to be the guardian of that accursed gold which was wrung from the earth
+by cruelty and paid for with the lives of men."
+
+"Is it still safe?" whispered Jacob.
+
+"I will look;" then after a pause, "I have looked. It is there, every
+grain of it, in ox-hide bags; only one of them has fallen and burst,
+that which is black and red."
+
+"Where is it?" he said again.
+
+"I may not tell you; never, never."
+
+"Is there anyone whom you may tell?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Whom?"
+
+"Her in whose breast I lie."
+
+"Tell her then."
+
+"I have told her; she knows."
+
+"And may she tell me?"
+
+"Let her guard the secret as she will. O my Guardian, I thank thee. My
+burden is departed; my sin of self-murder is atoned."
+
+"Benita da Ferreira, are you gone?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Benita Clifford, do you hear me?"
+
+"I hear you," said the voice of Benita, speaking in English, although
+Jacob, forgetting, had addressed her in Portuguese.
+
+"Where is the gold?"
+
+"In my keeping."
+
+"Tell me, I command you."
+
+But no words came; though he questioned her many times no words came,
+till at last her head sank forward upon her knees, and in a faint voice
+she murmured:
+
+"Loose me, or I die."
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE AWAKING
+
+Still Jacob Meyer hesitated. The great secret was unlearned, and, if
+this occasion passed, might never be learned. But if he hesitated, Mr.
+Clifford did not. The knowledge of his child's danger, the sense that
+her life was mysteriously slipping away from her under pressure of the
+ghastly spell in which she lay enthralled, stirred him to madness. His
+strength and manhood came back to him. He sprang straight at Meyer's
+throat, gripped it with one hand, and with the other drew the knife he
+wore.
+
+"You devil!" he gasped. "Wake her or you shall go with her!" and he
+lifted the knife.
+
+Then Jacob gave in. Shaking off his assailant he stepped to Benita, and
+while her father stood behind him with the lifted blade, began to make
+strange upward passes over her, and to mutter words of command. For a
+long while they took no effect; indeed, both of them were almost sure
+that she was gone. Despair gripped her father, and Meyer worked at his
+black art so furiously that the sweat burst out upon his forehead and
+fell in great drops to the floor.
+
+Oh, at last, at last she stirred! Her head lifted itself a little, her
+breast heaved.
+
+"Lord in Heaven, I have saved her!" muttered Jacob in German, and worked
+on.
+
+Now the eyes of Benita opened, and now she stood up and sighed. But she
+said nothing; only like a person walking in her sleep, she began to move
+towards the entrance of the cave, her father going before her with the
+lamp. On she went, and out of it straight to her tent, where instantly
+she cast herself upon her bed and sank into deep slumber. It was as
+though the power of the drug-induced oblivion, which for a while
+was over-mastered by that other stronger power invoked by Jacob, had
+reasserted itself.
+
+Meyer watched her for awhile; then said to Mr. Clifford:
+
+"Don't be afraid and don't attempt to disturb her. She will wake
+naturally in the morning."
+
+"I hope so for both our sakes," he answered, glaring at him, "for if
+not, you or I, or the two of us, will never see another."
+
+Meyer took no notice of his threats; indeed the man seemed so exhausted
+that he could scarcely stand.
+
+"I am done," he said. "Now, as she is safe, I don't care what happens to
+me. I must rest," and he staggered from the tent, like a drunken man.
+
+Outside, at the place where they ate, Mr. Clifford heard him gulping
+down raw gin from the bottle. Then he heard no more.
+
+All the rest of the night, and for some hours of the early morning, did
+her father watch by the bed of Benita, although, lightly clad as he was,
+the cold of dawn struck to his bones. At length, when the sun was well
+up, she rose in her bed, and her eyes opened.
+
+"What are you doing here, father?" she said.
+
+"I have come to see where you were, dear. You are generally out by now."
+
+"I suppose that I must have overslept myself then," she replied wearily.
+"But it does not seem to have refreshed me much, and my head aches. Oh!
+I remember," she added with a start. "I have had such a horrid dream."
+
+"What about?" he asked as carelessly as he could.
+
+"I can't recall it quite, but it had to do with Mr. Meyer," and she
+shivered. "It seemed as though I had passed into his power, as though he
+had taken possession of me, body and soul, and forced me to tell him all
+the secret things."
+
+"What secret things, Benita?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I don't know now, but we went away among dead people, and I told him
+there. Oh! father, I am afraid of that man--terribly afraid! Protect me
+from him," and she began to cry a little.
+
+"Of course I will protect you, dear. Something has upset your nerves.
+Come, dress yourself and you'll soon forget it all. I'll light the
+fire."
+
+A quarter of an hour later Benita joined him, looking pale and shaken,
+but otherwise much as usual. She was ravenously hungry, and ate of the
+biscuits and dried meat with eagerness.
+
+"The coffee tastes quite different from that which I drank last night,"
+she said. "I think there must have been something in it which gave me
+those bad dreams. Where is Mr. Meyer? Oh, I know!" and again she put her
+hand to her head. "He is still asleep by the wall."
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"I can't say, but it is so. He will not come here till one o'clock.
+There, I feel much better now. What shall we do, father?"
+
+"Sit in the sun and rest, I think, dear."
+
+"Yes, let us do that, on the top of the wall. We can see the Makalanga
+from there, and it will be a comfort to be sure that there are other
+human beings left in the world besides ourselves and Jacob Meyer."
+
+So presently they went, and from the spot whence Meyer used to shoot at
+the Matabele camp, looked down upon the Makalanga moving about the first
+enclosure far below. By the aid of the glasses Benita even thought that
+she recognised Tamas, although of this it was difficult to be sure, for
+they were all very much alike. Still, the discovery quite excited her.
+
+"I am sure it is Tamas," she said. "And oh! how I wish that we were down
+there with him, although it is true that then we should be nearer to the
+Matabele. But they are better than Mr. Meyer, much better."
+
+Now for a while they were silent, till at length she said suddenly:
+
+"Father, you are keeping something back from me, and things begin to
+come back. Tell me; did I go anywhere last night with Mr. Meyer--you and
+he and I together?"
+
+He hesitated and looked guilty; Mr. Clifford was not a good actor.
+
+"I see that we did; I am sure that we did. Father, tell me. I must know,
+I will know."
+
+Then he gave way.
+
+"I didn't want to speak, dear, but perhaps it is best. It is a very
+strange story. Will you promise not to be upset?"
+
+"I will promise not to be more upset than I am at present," she
+answered, with a sad little laugh. "Go on."
+
+"You remember that Jacob Meyer wanted to mesmerize you?"
+
+"I am not likely to forget it," she answered.
+
+"Well, last night he did mesmerize you."
+
+"What?" she said. "_What?_ Oh! how dreadful! Now I understand it all.
+But when?"
+
+"When you were sound asleep, I suppose. At least, the first I knew of
+it was that some noise woke me, and I came out of the hut to see you
+following him like a dead woman, with a lamp in your hand."
+
+Then he told her all the story, while she listened aghast.
+
+"How dared he!" she gasped, when her father had finished the long tale.
+"I hate him; I almost wish that you had killed him," and she clenched
+her little hands and shook them in the air.
+
+"That is not very Christian of you, Miss Clifford," said a voice behind
+her. "But it is past one o'clock, and as I am still alive I have come to
+tell you that it is time for luncheon."
+
+Benita wheeled round upon the stone on which she sat, and there,
+standing amidst the bushes a little way from the foot of the wall, was
+Jacob Meyer. Their eyes met; hers were full of defiance, and his of
+conscious power.
+
+"I do not want any luncheon, Mr. Meyer," she said.
+
+"But I am sure that you do. Please come down and have some. Please come
+down."
+
+The words were spoken humbly, almost pleadingly, yet to Benita they
+seemed as a command. At any rate, with slow reluctance she climbed down
+the shattered wall, followed by her father, and without speaking they
+went back to their camping place, all three of them, Jacob leading the
+way.
+
+When they had eaten, or made pretence to eat, he spoke.
+
+"I see that your father has told you everything, Miss Clifford, and of
+that I am glad. As for me, it would have been awkward, who must ask your
+forgiveness for so much. But what could I do? I knew, as I have always
+known, that it was only possible to find this treasure by your help.
+So I gave you something to make you sleep, and then in your sleep I
+hypnotized you, and--you know the rest. I have great experience in this
+art, but I have never seen or heard of anything like what happened, and
+I hope I never shall again."
+
+Hitherto Benita had sat silent, but now her burning indignation and
+curiosity overcame her shame and hatred.
+
+"Mr. Meyer," she said, "you have done a shameful and a wicked thing, and
+I tell you at once that I can never forgive you."
+
+"Don't say that. Please don't say that," he interrupted in tones of real
+grief. "Make allowances for me. I had to learn, and there was no other
+way. You are a born clairvoyante, one among ten thousand, my art told me
+so, and you know all that is at stake."
+
+"By which you mean so many ounces of gold, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"By which I mean the greatness that gold can give, Miss Clifford."
+
+"Such greatness, Mr. Meyer, as a week of fever, or a Matabele spear, or
+God's will can rob you of. But the thing is done, and soon or late the
+sin must be paid for. Now I want to ask you a question. You believe in
+nothing; you have told me so several times. You say that there is no
+such thing as a spirit, that when we die, we die, and there's an end. Do
+you not?"
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"Then tell me, what was it that spoke out of my lips last night, and how
+came it that I, who know no Portuguese, talked to you in that tongue?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You have put a difficult question, but one I think that can be
+answered. There is no such thing as a spirit, an identity that survives
+death. But there is such a thing as the subconscious self, which is part
+of the animating principle of the universe, and, if only its knowledge
+can be unsealed, knows all that has passed and all that is passing in
+that universe. One day perhaps you will read the works of my compatriot,
+Hegel, and there you will find it spoken of."
+
+"You explain nothing."
+
+"I am about to explain, Miss Clifford. Last night I gave to your
+sub-conscious self--that which knows all--the strength of liberty, so
+that it saw the past as it happened in this place. Already you knew
+the story of the dead girl, Benita da Ferreira, and that story you
+re-enacted, talking the tongue she used as you would have talked Greek
+or any other tongue, had it been hers. It was not her spirit that
+animated you, although at the time I called it so for shortness, but
+your own buried knowledge, tricked out and furnished by the effort of
+your human imagination. That her name, Benita, should have been yours
+also is no doubt a strange coincidence, but no more. Also we have no
+proof that it was so; only what you said in your trance."
+
+"Perhaps," said Benita, who was in no mood for philosophical argument.
+"Perhaps also one day you will see a spirit, Mr. Meyer, and think
+otherwise."
+
+"When I see a spirit and know that it is a spirit, then doubtless
+I shall believe in spirits. But what is the good of talking of such
+things? I do not seek spirits; I seek Portuguese gold. Now, I am sure
+you can tell where that gold lies. You would have told us last night,
+had not your nervous strength failed you, who are unaccustomed to the
+state of trance. Speaking as Benita da Ferreira, you said that you saw
+it and described its condition. Then you could, or would, say no more,
+and it became necessary to waken you. Miss Clifford, you must let me
+mesmerize you once again for a few minutes only, for then we will waste
+no time on past histories, and we shall find the gold. Unless, indeed,"
+he added by an afterthought, and looking at her sharply, "you know
+already where it is; in which case I need not trouble you."
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Meyer. I remember nothing about the gold."
+
+"Which proves my theory. What purported to be the spirit of Benita
+da Ferreira said that it had passed the secret on to you, but in your
+waking state you do not know that secret. In fact, she did not pass it
+on because she had no existence. But in your sub-conscious state you
+will know. Therefore I must mesmerize you again. Not at once, but in
+a few days' time, when you have quite recovered. Let us say next
+Wednesday, three days hence."
+
+"You shall never mesmerize me again, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"No, not while I live," broke in her father, who had been listening to
+this discussion in silence.
+
+Jacob bowed his head meekly.
+
+"You think so now, but I think otherwise. What I did last night I did
+against your will, and that I can do again, only much more easily. But I
+had rather do it with your will, who work not for my own sake only, but
+for the sake of all of us. And now let us talk no more of the matter,
+lest we should grow angry." Then he rose and went away.
+
+The next three days were passed by Benita in a state of constant dread.
+She knew in herself that Jacob Meyer had acquired a certain command over
+her; that an invincible intimacy had sprung up between them. She was
+acquainted with his thoughts; thus, before he asked for it, she
+would find herself passing him some article at table or elsewhere, or
+answering a question that he was only about to ask. Moreover, he could
+bring her to him from a little distance. Thus, on two or three occasions
+when she was wandering about their prison enclosure, as she was wont to
+do for the sake of exercise, she found her feet draw to some spot--now
+one place and now another--and when she reached it there before her was
+Jacob Meyer.
+
+"Forgive me for bringing you here," he would say, smiling after his
+crooked fashion, and lifting his hat politely, "but I wish to ask you if
+you have not changed your mind as to being mesmerized?"
+
+Then for a while he would hold her with his eyes, so that her feet
+seemed rooted to the ground, till at length it was as though he cut a
+rope by some action of his will and set her free, and, choked with wrath
+and blind with tears, Benita would turn and run from him as from a wild
+beast.
+
+But if her days were evil, oh! what were her nights? She lived in
+constant terror lest he should again drug her food or drink, and, while
+she slept, throw his magic spell upon her. To protect herself from the
+first danger she would swallow nothing that had been near him. Now also
+she slept in the hut with her father, who lay near its door, a loaded
+rifle at his side, for he had told Jacob outright that if he caught him
+at his practices he would shoot him, a threat at which the younger man
+laughed aloud, for he had no fear of Mr. Clifford.
+
+Throughout the long hours of darkness they kept watch alternately, one
+of them lying down to rest while the other peered and listened. Nor
+did Benita always listen in vain, for twice at least she heard stealthy
+footsteps creeping about the hut, and felt that soft and dreadful
+influence flowing in upon her. Then she would wake her father,
+whispering, "He is there, I can feel that he is there." But by the time
+that the old man had painfully dragged himself to his feet--for now he
+was becoming very feeble and acute rheumatism or some such illness had
+got hold of him--and crept from the hut, there was no one to be seen.
+Only through the darkness he would hear the sound of a retreating step,
+and of low, mocking laughter.
+
+Thus those miserable days went by, and the third morning came, that
+dreaded Wednesday. Before it was dawn Benita and her father, neither of
+whom had closed their eyes that night, talked over their strait long and
+earnestly, and they knew that its crisis was approaching.
+
+"I think that I had better try to kill him, Benita," he said. "I am
+growing dreadfully weak, and if I put it off I may find no strength,
+and you will be at his mercy. I can easily shoot him when his back is
+turned, and though I hate the thought of such a deed, surely I shall be
+forgiven. Or if not, I cannot help it. I must think of my duty to you,
+not of myself."
+
+"No, no," she answered. "I will not have it. It would be murder,
+although he has threatened you. After all, father, I believe that the
+man is half mad, and not responsible. We must take our chance and trust
+to God to save us. If He does not," she added, "at the worst I can
+always save myself," and she touched the pistol which now she wore day
+and night.
+
+"So be it," said Mr. Clifford, with a groan. "Let us pray for
+deliverance from this hell and keep our hands clean of blood."
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+JACOB MEYER SEES A SPIRIT
+
+For a while they were silent, then Benita said:
+
+"Father, is it not possible that we might escape, after all? Perhaps
+that stair on the rampart is not so completely blocked that we could not
+climb over it."
+
+Mr. Clifford, thinking of his stiff limbs and aching back, shook his
+head and answered:
+
+"I don't know; Meyer has never let me near enough to see."
+
+"Well, why do you not go to look? You know he sleeps till late now,
+because he is up all night. Take the glasses and examine the top of the
+wall from inside that old house near by. He will not see or hear you,
+but if I came near, he would know and wake up."
+
+"If you like, love, I can try, but what are you going to do while I am
+away?"
+
+"I shall climb the pillar."
+
+"You don't mean----" and he stopped.
+
+"No, no, nothing of that sort. I shall not follow the example of Benita
+da Ferreira unless I am driven to it; I want to look, that is all. One
+can see far from that place, if there is anything to see. Perhaps the
+Matabele are gone now, we have heard nothing of them lately."
+
+So they dressed themselves, and as soon as the light was sufficiently
+strong, came out of the hut and parted, Mr. Clifford, rifle in hand,
+limping off towards the wall, and Benita going towards the great
+cone. She climbed it easily enough, and stood in the little cup-like
+depression on its dizzy peak, waiting for the sun to rise and disperse
+the mists which hung over the river and its banks.
+
+Now whatever may have been the exact ceremonial use to which the
+ancients put this pinnacle, without doubt it had something to do with
+sun-worship. This, indeed, was proved by the fact that, at any rate at
+this season of the year, the first rays of the risen orb struck full
+upon its point. Thus it came about that, as she stood there waiting,
+Benita of a sudden found herself suffused in light so vivid and intense
+that, clothed as she was in a dress which had once been white, it must
+have caused her to shine like a silver image. For several minutes,
+indeed, this golden spear of fire blinded her so that she could see
+nothing, but stood quite still, afraid to move, and waiting until,
+as the sun grew higher, its level rays passed over her. This they did
+presently, and plunging into the valley, began to drive away the fog.
+Now she looked down, along the line of the river.
+
+The Matabele camp was invisible, for it lay in a hollow almost at the
+foot of the fortress. Beyond it, however, was a rising swell of ground;
+it may have been half a mile from where she stood, and on the crest
+of it she perceived what looked like a waggon tent with figures moving
+round it. They were shouting also, for through the silence of the
+African morn the sound of their voices floated up to her.
+
+As the mist cleared off Benita saw that without doubt it was a waggon,
+for there stood the long row of oxen, also it had just been captured
+by the Matabele, for these were about it in numbers. At the moment,
+however, they appeared to be otherwise occupied, for they were pointing
+with their spears to the pillar on Bambatse.
+
+Then it occurred to Benita that, placed as she was in that fierce light
+with only the sky for background, she must be perfectly visible from
+the plain below, and that it might be her figure perched like an eagle
+between heaven and earth which excited their interest. Yes, and not
+theirs only, for now a white man appeared, who lifted what might have
+been a gun, or a telescope, towards her. She was sure from the red
+flannel shirt and the broad hat which he wore that he must be a white
+man, and oh! how her heart yearned towards him, whoever he might be! The
+sight of an angel from heaven could scarcely have been more welcome to
+Benita in her wretchedness.
+
+Yet surely she must be dreaming. What should a white man and a waggon
+be doing in that place? And why had not the Matabele killed him at once?
+She could not tell, yet they appeared to have no murderous intentions,
+since they continued to gesticulate and talk whilst he stared upwards
+with the telescope, if it were a telescope. So things went on for a
+long time, for meanwhile the oxen were outspanned, until, indeed, more
+Matabele arrived, who led off the white man, apparently against his
+will, towards their camp, where he disappeared. Then there was nothing
+more to be seen. Benita descended the column.
+
+At its foot she met her father, who had come to seek her.
+
+"What is the matter?" he asked, noting her excited face.
+
+"Oh!" she said or rather sobbed, "there is a waggon with a white man
+below. I saw the Matabele capture him."
+
+"Then I am sorry for the poor devil," answered the father, "for he
+is dead by now. But what could a white man have been doing here? Some
+hunter, I suppose, who has walked into a trap."
+
+The face of Benita fell.
+
+"I hoped," she said, "that he might help us."
+
+"As well might he hope that we could help him. He is gone, and there is
+an end. Well, peace to his soul, and we have our own troubles to think
+of. I have been to look at that wall, and it is useless to think of
+climbing it. If he had been a professional mason, Meyer could not have
+built it up better; no wonder that we have seen nothing more of the
+Molimo, for only a bird could reach us."
+
+"Where was Mr. Meyer," asked Benita.
+
+"Asleep in a blanket under a little shelter of boughs by the stair. At
+least, I thought so, though it was rather difficult to make him out in
+the shadow; at any rate, I saw his rifle set against a tree. Come, let
+us go to breakfast. No doubt he will turn up soon enough."
+
+So they went, and for the first time since the Sunday Benita ate a
+hearty meal of biscuits soaked in coffee. Although her father was so
+sure that by now he must have perished on the Matabele spears, the sight
+of the white man and his waggon had put new life into her, bringing her
+into touch with the world again. After all, might it not chance that he
+had escaped?
+
+All this while there had been no sign of Jacob Meyer. This, however, did
+not surprise them, for now he ate his meals alone, taking his food from
+a little general store, and cooking it over his own fire. When they had
+finished their breakfast Mr. Clifford remarked that they had no more
+drinking water left, and Benita said that she would go to fetch a
+pailful from the well in the cave. Her father suggested that he should
+accompany her, but she answered that it was not necessary as she was
+quite able to wind the chain by herself. So she went, carrying the
+bucket in one hand and a lamp in the other.
+
+As she walked down the last of the zigzags leading to the cave, Benita
+stopped a moment thinking that she saw a light, and then went on,
+since on turning the corner there was nothing but darkness before her.
+Evidently she had been mistaken. She reached the well and hung the pail
+on to the great copper hook, wondering as she did so how many folk had
+done likewise in the far, far past, for the massive metal of that hook
+was worn quite thin with use. Then she let the roller run, and the sound
+of the travelling chain clanked dismally in that vaulted, empty place.
+At length the pail struck the water, and she began to wind up again,
+pausing at times to rest, for the distance was long and the chain heavy.
+The bucket appeared. Benita drew it to the side of the well, and lifted
+it from the hook, then took up her lamp to be gone.
+
+Feeling or seeing something, which she was not sure, she held the lamp
+above her head, and by its light perceived a figure standing between her
+and the entrance to the cave.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, whereon a soft voice answered out of the
+darkness, the voice of Jacob Meyer.
+
+"Do you mind standing still for a few minutes, Miss Clifford? I have
+some paper here and I wish to make a sketch. You do not know how
+beautiful you look with that light above your head illuminating the
+shadows and the thorn-crowned crucifix beyond. You know, whatever paths
+fortune may have led me into, by nature I am an artist, and never in my
+life have I seen such a picture. One day it will make me famous.
+
+     'How statue-like I see thee stand!
+     The agate lamp within thy hand.'
+
+That's what I should put under it; you know the lines, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Meyer, but I am afraid you will have to paint your picture
+from memory, as I cannot hold up this lamp any longer; my arm is aching
+already. I do not know how you came here, but as you have followed me
+perhaps you will be so kind as to carry this water."
+
+"I did not follow you, Miss Clifford. Although you never saw me I
+entered the cave before you to take measurements."
+
+"How can you take measurements in the dark?"
+
+"I was not in the dark. I put out my light when I caught sight of you,
+knowing that otherwise you would run away, and fate stood me in good
+stead. You came on, as I willed that you should do. Now let us talk.
+Miss Clifford, have you changed your mind? You know the time is up."
+
+"I shall never change my mind. Let me pass you, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"No, no, not until you have listened. You are very cruel to me, very
+cruel indeed. You do not understand that, rather than do you the
+slightest harm, I would die a hundred times."
+
+"I do not ask you to die; I ask you to leave me alone--a much easier
+matter."
+
+"But how can I leave you alone when you are a part of me, when--I love
+you? There, the truth is out, and now say what you will."
+
+Benita lifted the bucket of water; its weight seemed to steady her. Then
+she put it down again, since escape was impracticable; she must face the
+situation.
+
+"I have nothing to say, Mr. Meyer, except that _I_ do not love _you_ or
+any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment you
+have paid me, and there is an end."
+
+"Any living man," he repeated after her. "That means you love a dead
+man--Seymour, he who was drowned. No wonder that I hated him when first
+my eyes fell on him years ago, long before you had come into our lives.
+Prescience, the sub-conscious self again. Well, what is the use of
+loving the dead, those who no longer have any existence, who have
+gone back into the clay out of which they were formed and are not, nor
+evermore shall be? You have but one life; turn, turn to the living, and
+make it happy."
+
+"I do not agree with you, Mr. Meyer. To me the dead are still living;
+one day I shall find them. Now let me go."
+
+"I will not let you go. I will plead and wrestle with you as in the
+old fable my namesake of my own race wrestled with the angel, until at
+length you bless me. You despise me because I am a Jew, because I have
+had many adventures and not succeeded; because you think me mad. But I
+tell you that there is the seed of greatness in me. Give yourself to me
+and I will make you great, for now I know that it was you whom I needed
+to supply what is lacking in my nature. We will win the wealth, and
+together we will rule----"
+
+"Until a few days hence we starve or the Matabele make an end of us. No,
+Mr. Meyer, no," and she tried to push past him.
+
+He stretched out his arms and stopped her.
+
+"Listen," he said, "I have pleaded with you as man with woman. Now, as
+you refuse me and as you alone stand between me and madness, I will take
+another course. I am your master, your will is servant to my will; I bid
+you obey me."
+
+He fixed his eyes upon hers, and Benita felt her strength begin to fail.
+
+"Ah!" he said, "you are my servant now, and to show it I shall kiss you
+on the lips; then I shall throw the sleep upon you, and you will tell me
+what I want to know. Afterwards we can be wed when it pleases me. Oh! do
+not think that your father will defend you, for if he interferes I shall
+kill that foolish old man, whom until now I have only spared for your
+sake. Remember that if you make me angry, I shall certainly kill him,
+and your father's blood will be on your head. Now I am going to kiss
+you."
+
+Benita lifted her hand to find the pistol at her waist. It fell back
+again; she had no strength; it was as though she were paralysed as a
+bird is paralysed by a snake so that it cannot open its wings and fly
+away, but sits there awaiting death. She was given over into the
+hands of this man whom she hated. Could Heaven allow such a thing? she
+wondered dimly, and all the while his lips drew nearer to her face.
+
+They touched her own, and then, why or wherefore Benita never
+understood, the spell broke. All his power was gone, she was as she had
+been, a free woman, mistress of herself. Contemptuously she thrust the
+man aside, and, not even troubling to run, lifted her pail of water and
+walked away.
+
+Soon she saw the light again, and joyfully extinguished her lamp.
+Indeed, the breast of Benita, which should have been so troubled after
+the scene through which she had passed, strangely enough was filled with
+happiness and peace. As that glorious sunlight had broken on her eyes,
+so had another light of freedom arisen in her soul. She was no longer
+afraid of Jacob Meyer; that coward kiss of his had struck off the
+shackles which bound her to him. Her mind had been subject to his mind,
+but now that his physical nature was brought into the play, his mental
+part had lost its hold upon her.
+
+As she approached the hut she saw her father seated on a stone outside
+it, since the poor old man was now so weak and full of pain that he
+could not stand for very long, and seeing, remembered Meyer's threats
+against him. At the thought all her new-found happiness departed.
+
+She might be safe; she felt sure that she was safe, but how about her
+father? If Meyer could not get his way probably he would be as good as
+his word, and kill him. She shivered at the thought, then, recovering
+herself, walked forward steadily with her bucket of water.
+
+"You have been a long while gone, my love," said Mr. Clifford.
+
+"Yes, father, Mr. Meyer was in the cave, and kept me."
+
+"How did he get there, and what did he want?"
+
+"I don't know how he got there--crept in when we were not looking, I
+suppose. But as for what he wanted--listen, dear," and word for word she
+told him what had passed.
+
+Before she had finished, her father was almost choking with wrath.
+
+"The dirty Jew! The villain!" he gasped. "I never dreamed that he would
+dare to attempt such an outrage. Well, thank Heaven! I can still hold a
+rifle, and when he comes out----"
+
+"Father," she said gently, "that man is mad. He is not responsible for
+his actions, and therefore, except in self-defence, you must not think
+of such a thing. As for what he said about you, I believe it was only
+an empty threat, and for me you need have no fear, his power over me is
+gone; it went like a flash when his lips touched me," and she rubbed her
+own as though to wipe away some stain. "I am afraid of nothing more. I
+believe--yes, I believe the old Molimo was right, and that all will end
+well----"
+
+As she was speaking Benita heard a shuffling sound behind her, and
+turned to learn its cause. Then she saw a strange sight. Jacob Meyer was
+staggering towards them, dragging one foot after the other through the
+grass and stones. His face was ghastly pale, his jaw had dropped like
+that of a dead man, and his eyes were set wide open and full of horror.
+
+"What is the matter with you, man?" asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+"I--I--have seen a ghost," he whispered. "You did not come back into the
+cave, did you?" he added, pointing at Benita, who shook her head.
+
+"What ghost?" asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+"I don't know, but my lamp went out, and then a light began to shine
+behind me. I turned, and on the steps of that crucifix I saw a woman
+kneeling. Her arms clasped the feet of the figure, her forehead rested
+upon the feet, her long black hair flowed down, she was dressed in
+white, and the light came from her body and her head. Very slowly she
+turned and looked at me, and oh, Heaven! that face----" and he put
+his hand before his eyes and groaned. "It was beautiful; yes, yes, but
+fearful to see, like an avenging angel. I fled, and the light--only the
+light--came with me down the cave, even at the mouth of it there was a
+little. I have seen a spirit, I who did not believe in spirits, I have
+seen a spirit, and I tell you that not for all the gold in the world
+will I enter that place again."
+
+Then before they could answer, suddenly as though his fear had got some
+fresh hold of him, Jacob sprang forward and fled away, crashing through
+the bushes and leaping from rock to rock like a frightened buck.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD
+
+"Meyer always said that he did not believe in spirits," remarked Mr.
+Clifford reflectively.
+
+"Well, he believes in them now," answered Benita with a little laugh.
+"But, father, the poor man is mad, that is the fact of it, and we must
+pay no attention to what he says."
+
+"The old Molimo and some of his people--Tamas, for instance--declared
+that they have seen the ghost of Benita da Ferreira. Are they mad also,
+Benita?"
+
+"I don't know, father. Who can say? All these things are a mystery.
+All I do know is that I have never seen a ghost, and I doubt if I ever
+shall."
+
+"No, but when you were in that trance something that was not you spoke
+out of your mouth, which something said that it was your namesake, the
+other Benita. Well, as you say, we can't fathom these things, especially
+in a haunted kind of place like this, but the upshot of it is that I
+don't think we have much more to fear from Jacob."
+
+"I am not so sure, father. Mad people change their moods very suddenly."
+
+As it happened Benita was quite right. Towards suppertime Jacob Meyer
+reappeared, looking pale and shaken, but otherwise much as usual.
+
+"I had a kind of fit this morning," he explained, "the result of an
+hallucination which seized me when my light went out in that cave. I
+remember that I thought I had seen a ghost, whereas I know very
+well that no such thing exists. I was the victim of disappointment,
+anxieties, and other still stronger emotions," and he looked at Benita.
+"Therefore, please forget anything I said or did, and--would you give me
+some supper?"
+
+Benita did so, and he ate in silence, with some heartiness. When he had
+finished his food, and swallowed two or three tots of squareface, he
+spoke again:
+
+"I have come here, where I know I am not welcome, upon business," he
+said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. "I am tired of this place, and
+I think it is time that we attained the object of our journey here,
+namely, to find the hidden gold. That, as we all know, can only be done
+in a certain way, through the clairvoyant powers of one of us and the
+hypnotic powers of another. Miss Clifford, I request that you will allow
+me to throw you into a state of trance. You have told us everything
+else, but you have not yet told us where the treasure is hidden, and
+this it is necessary that we should know."
+
+"And if I refuse, Mr. Meyer?"
+
+"Then I am sorry, but I must take means to compel your obedience. Under
+those circumstances, much against my will, I shall be obliged"--here
+his eye blazed out wildly--"to execute your father, whose obstinacy
+and influence stand between us and splendid fortunes. No, Clifford," he
+added, "don't stretch out your hand towards that rifle, for I am already
+covering you with the pistol in my pocket, and the moment your hand
+touches it I shall fire. You poor old man, do you imagine for a single
+second that, sick as you are, and with your stiff limbs, you can hope to
+match yourself against my agility, intellect, and strength? Why, I could
+kill you in a dozen ways before you could lift a finger against me, and
+by the God I do not believe in, unless your daughter is more compliant,
+kill you I will!"
+
+"That remains to be seen, my friend," said Mr. Clifford with a laugh,
+for he was a brave old man. "I am not certain that the God--whom you do
+not believe in--will not kill you first."
+
+Now Benita, who had been taking counsel with herself, looked up and said
+suddenly:
+
+"Very well, Mr. Meyer, I consent--because I must. To-morrow morning you
+shall try to mesmerize me, if you can, in the same place, before the
+crucifix in the cave."
+
+"No," he answered quickly. "It was not there, it was here, and here it
+shall be again. The spot you mention is unpropitious to me; the attempt
+would fail."
+
+"It is the spot that I have chosen," answered Benita stubbornly.
+
+"And this is the spot that I have chosen, Miss Clifford, and my will
+must prevail over yours."
+
+"Because you who do not believe in spirits are afraid to re-enter the
+cave, Mr. Meyer, lest you should chance----"
+
+"Never mind what I am or am not afraid of," he replied with fury. "Make
+your choice between doing my will and your father's life. To-morrow
+morning I shall come for your answer, and if you are still obstinate,
+within half an hour he will be dead, leaving you and me alone together.
+Oh! you may call me wicked and a villain, but it is you who are wicked,
+you, you, _you_ who force me to this deed of justice."
+
+Then without another word he sprang up and walked away from them
+backwards, as he went covering Mr. Clifford with the pistol which he
+had drawn from his pocket. The last that they saw of him were his eyes,
+which glowered at them through the darkness like those of a lion.
+
+"Father," said Benita, when she was sure that he had gone, "that madman
+really means to murder you; there is no doubt of it."
+
+"None whatever, dear; if I am alive to-morrow night I shall be lucky,
+unless I can kill him first or get out of his way."
+
+"Well," she said hurriedly, "I think you can. I have an idea. He is
+afraid to go into that cave, I am sure. Let us hide ourselves there.
+We can take food and shall have plenty of water, whereas, unless rain
+falls, he can get nothing to drink."
+
+"But what then, Benita? We can't stop in the dark for ever."
+
+"No, but we can wait there until something happens. Something must and
+will happen. His disease won't stand still. He may go raving mad and
+kill himself. Or he may attempt to attack us, though that is not likely,
+and then we must do what we can in self defence. Or help may reach us
+from somewhere. At the worst we shall only die as we should have died
+outside. Come, let us be quick, lest he should change his mind, and
+creep back upon us."
+
+So Mr. Clifford gave way, knowing that even if he could steel himself
+to do the deed of attempting to kill Jacob, he would have little chance
+against that strong and agile man. Such a struggle would only end in his
+own death, and Benita must then be left alone with Meyer and his insane
+passions.
+
+Hurriedly they carried their few belongings into the cave. First
+they took most of the little store of food that remained, the three
+hand-lamps and all the paraffin; there was but one tin. Then returning
+they fetched the bucket, the ammunition, and their clothes. Afterwards,
+as there was still no sign of Meyer, they even dared to drag in the
+waggon tent to make a shelter for Benita, and all the wood that they
+had collected for firing. This proved a wearisome business, for the logs
+were heavy, and in his crippled state Mr. Clifford could carry no great
+burden. Indeed, towards the end Benita was forced to complete the task
+alone, while he limped beside her with his rifle, lest Jacob should
+surprise them.
+
+When at length everything was done it was long past midnight, and so
+exhausted were they that, notwithstanding their danger, they flung
+themselves down upon the canvas tent, which lay in a heap at the end of
+the cave near the crucifix, and fell asleep.
+
+When Benita woke the lamp had gone out, and it was pitch dark.
+Fortunately, however, she remembered where she had put the matches and
+the lantern with a candle in it. She lit the candle and looked at her
+watch. It was nearly six o'clock. The dawn must be breaking outside,
+within an hour or two Jacob Meyer would find that they had gone. Suppose
+that his rage should overcome his fear and that he should creep upon
+them. They would know nothing of it until his face appeared in the faint
+ring of light. Or he might even shoot her father out of the darkness.
+What could she do that would give them warning? A thought came to her.
+
+Taking one of the tent ropes and the lantern, for her father still slept
+heavily, she went down to the entrance of the cave, and at the end of
+the last zigzag where once a door had been, managed to make it fast to a
+stone hinge about eighteen inches above the floor, and on the other side
+to an eye opposite that was cut in the solid rock to receive a bolt of
+wood or iron. Meyer, she knew, had no lamps or oil, only matches and
+perhaps a few candles. Therefore if he tried to enter the cave it was
+probable that he would trip over the rope and thus give them warning.
+Then she went back, washed her face and hands with some water that they
+had drawn on the previous night to satisfy their thirst, and tidied
+herself as best she could. This done, as her father still slept, she
+filled the lamps, lit one of them, and looked about her, for she was
+loth to wake him.
+
+Truly it was an awful place in which to dwell. There above them towered
+the great white crucifix; there in the corner were piled the remains of
+the Portuguese. A skull with long hair still hanging to it grinned at
+her, a withered hand was thrust forward as though to clutch her. Oh, no
+wonder that in such a spot Jacob Meyer had seen ghosts! In front, too,
+was the yawning grave where they had found the monk; indeed, his bones
+wrapped in dark robes still lay within, for Jacob had tumbled them back
+again. Then beyond and all around deep, dark, and utter silence.
+
+At last her father woke, and glad enough was she of his human company.
+They breakfasted upon some biscuits and water, and afterwards, while Mr.
+Clifford watched near the entrance with his rifle, Benita set to work
+to arrange their belongings. The tent she managed to prop up against the
+wall of the cave by help of some of the wood which they had carried in.
+Beneath it she spread their blankets, that it might serve as a sleeping
+place for them both, and outside placed the food and other things.
+
+While she was thus engaged she heard a sound at the mouth of the
+cave--Jacob Meyer was entering and had fallen over her rope. Down it
+she ran, lantern in hand, to her father, who, with his rifle raised, was
+shouting:
+
+"If you come in here, I put a bullet through you!"
+
+Then came the answer in Jacob's voice, which rang hollow in that vaulted
+place:
+
+"I do not want to come in; I shall wait for you to come out. You cannot
+live long in there; the horror of the dark will kill you. I have only to
+sit in the sunlight and wait."
+
+Then he laughed, and they heard the sound of his footsteps retreating
+down the passage.
+
+"What are we to do?" asked Mr. Clifford despairingly. "We cannot live
+without light, and if we have light he will certainly creep to the
+entrance and shoot us. He is quite mad now; I am sure of it from his
+voice."
+
+Benita thought a minute, then she answered:
+
+"We must build up the passage. Look," and she pointed to the lumps of
+rock that the explosion of their mine had shaken down from the roof,
+and the slabs of cement that they had broken from the floor with the
+crowbar. "At once, at once," she went on; "he will not come back for
+some hours, probably not till night."
+
+So they set to work, and never did Benita labour as it was her lot to do
+that day. Such of the fragments as they could lift they carried between
+them, others they rolled along by help of the crowbar. For hour after
+hour they toiled at their task. Luckily for them, the passage was not
+more than three feet wide by six feet six high, and their material was
+ample. Before the evening they had blocked it completely with a wall
+several feet in thickness, which wall they supported on the inside with
+lengths of the firewood lashed across to the old hinges and bolt-holes,
+or set obliquely against its face.
+
+It was done, and they regarded their work with pride, although it seemed
+probable that they were building up their own tomb. Because of its
+position at an angle of the passage, they knew that Meyer could not get
+to it with a pole to batter it down. Also, there was no loose powder
+left, so his only chance would be to pull it to pieces with his hands,
+and this, they thought, might be beyond his power. At least, should he
+attempt it, they would have ample warning. Yet that day was not to pass
+without another trouble.
+
+Just as they had rolled up and levered into place a long fragment of
+rock designed to prevent the ends of their supporting pieces of wood
+from slipping on the cement floor, Mr. Clifford uttered an exclamation,
+then said:
+
+"I have wrung my back badly. Help me to the tent. I must lie down."
+
+Slowly and with great pain they staggered up the cave, Mr. Clifford
+leaning on Benita and a stick, till, reaching the tent at last, he
+almost fell on to the blankets and remained there practically crippled.
+
+Now began Benita's terrible time, the worst of all her life. Every hour
+her father became more ill. Even before they took refuge in the cave
+he was completely broken down, and now after this accident he began to
+suffer very much. His rheumatism or sciatica, or whatever it was, seemed
+to settle upon the hurt muscles of his back, causing him so much pain
+that he could scarcely sleep for ten minutes at a stretch. Moreover, he
+would swallow but little of the rough food which was all Benita was
+able to prepare for him; nothing, indeed, except biscuit soaked in black
+coffee, which she boiled over a small fire made of wood that they had
+brought with them, and occasionally a little broth, tasteless stuff
+enough, for it was only the essence of biltong, or sun-dried flesh,
+flavoured with some salt.
+
+Then there were two other terrors against she must fight, the darkness
+and the dread of Jacob Meyer. Perhaps the darkness was the worse of
+them. To live in that hideous gloom in which their single lamp, for she
+dared burn no more lest the oil should give out, seemed but as one star
+to the whole night, ah! who that had not endured it could know what it
+meant? There the sick man, yonder the grinning skeletons, around the
+blackness and the silence, and beyond these again a miserable death,
+or Jacob Meyer. But of him Benita saw nothing, though once or twice she
+thought that she heard his voice raving outside the wall which they had
+built. If so, either he did not try to pull it down, or he failed in
+the attempt, or perhaps he feared that should he succeed, he would be
+greeted by a bullet. So at last she gave up thinking about him. Should
+he force his way into the cave she must deal with the situation as best
+she could. Meanwhile, her father's strength was sinking fast.
+
+Three awful days went by in this fashion, and the end drew near.
+Although she tried to force herself to it, Benita could not swallow
+enough food to keep up her strength. Now that the passage was closed the
+atmosphere of this old vault, for it was nothing more, thickened by
+the smoke of the fire which she was obliged to burn, grew poisonous and
+choked her. Want of sleep exhausted her, dread of what the morrow might
+bring forth crushed her strong spirit. She began to break down, knowing
+that the hour was near when she and her father must die together.
+
+Once, as she slept awhile at his side, being wakened by his groaning,
+Benita looked at her watch. It was midnight. She rose, and going to the
+embers of the little fire, warmed up some of her biltong broth which she
+poured into a tin pannikin. With difficulty she forced him to swallow
+a few mouthfuls of it, then, feeling a sudden weakness, drank the rest
+herself. It gave her power to think, and her father dozed off into an
+uneasy sleep.
+
+Alas! thinking was of no use, nothing could be done. There was no hope
+save in prayer. Restlessness seized Benita, and taking the lantern she
+wandered round the cave. The wall that they had built remained intact,
+and oh! to think that beyond it flowed the free air and shone the
+blessed stars! Back she came again, skirting the pits that Jacob Meyer
+had dug, and the grave of the old monk, till she reached the steps of
+the crucifix, and holding up her candle, looked at the thorn-crowned
+brow of the Christ above.
+
+It was wonderfully carved; that dying face was full of pity. Would not
+He Whom it represented pity her? She knelt down on the topmost step, and
+clasping the pierced feet with her arms, began to pray earnestly, not
+for herself but that she might save her father. She prayed as she had
+never prayed before, and so praying, sank into a torpor or a swoon.
+
+It seemed to Benita that this sleep of hers suddenly became alive; in it
+she saw many things. For instance, she saw herself seated in a state of
+trance upon that very step where now she knelt, while before her stood
+her father and Jacob Meyer. Moreover, something spoke in her; she could
+not hear a voice, but she seemed to see the words written in the air
+before her. These were the words:--
+
+"_Clasp the feet of the Christ and draw them to the left. The passage
+beneath leads to the chamber where the gold is hid, and thence to the
+river bank. That is the secret which ere I depart, I the dead Benita,
+pass on to you, the living Benita, as I am commanded. In life and death
+peace be to your soul._"
+
+Thrice did this message appear to repeat itself in the consciousness
+of Benita. Then, suddenly as she had slept, she woke again with every
+letter of it imprinted on her mind. Doubtless it was a dream, nothing
+but a dream bred by the fact that her arms were clasping the feet of the
+crucifix. What did it say? "Draw them to the left."
+
+She did so, but nothing stirred. Again she tried, and still nothing
+stirred. Of course it was a dream. Why had such been sent to mock her?
+In a kind of mad irritation she put out all her remaining strength and
+wrestled with those stony feet. _They moved a little_--then of a sudden,
+without any further effort on her part, swung round as high as the knees
+where drapery hung, concealing the join in them. Yes, they swung round,
+revealing the head of a stair, up which blew a cold wind that it was
+sweet to breathe.
+
+Benita rose, gasping. Then she seized her lantern and ran to the little
+tent where her father lay.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+THE VOICE OF THE LIVING
+
+Mr. Clifford was awake again now.
+
+"Where have you been?" he asked querulously in a thin voice. "I wanted
+you." Then as the light from the candle shone upon it, he noted the
+change that had come over her pale face, and added: "What has happened?
+Is Meyer dead? Are we free?"
+
+Benita shook her head. "He was alive a few hours ago, for I could hear
+him raving and shouting outside the wall we built. But, father, it has
+all come back to me; I believe that I have found it."
+
+"What has come back? What have you found? Are you mad, too, like Jacob?"
+
+"What something told me when I was in the trance which afterwards I
+forgot, but now remember. And I have found the passage which leads to
+where they hid the gold. It begins behind the crucifix, where no one
+ever thought of looking."
+
+This matter of the gold did not seem to interest Mr. Clifford. In his
+state all the wealth beneath the soil of Africa would not have appealed
+to him. Moreover, he hated the name of that accursed treasure, which was
+bringing them to such a miserable end.
+
+"Where does the passage run? Have you looked?" he asked.
+
+"Not yet, but the voice in me said--I mean, I dreamed--that it goes down
+to the river-side. If you leant on me do you think that you could walk?"
+
+"Not one inch," he answered. "Here where I am I shall die."
+
+"No, no, don't talk like that. We may be saved now that I have found
+a way. Oh, if only you could--if only you could walk, or if I had the
+strength to carry you!" and she wrung her hands and began to weep, so
+weak was she.
+
+Her father looked at her searchingly. Then he said:
+
+"Well, love, I cannot, so there's an end. But you can, and you had
+better go."
+
+"What! And leave you? Never."
+
+"Yes, and leave me. Look, there is but a little oil left and only a
+few candles. The biscuits are done and neither of us can swallow
+that biltong any more. I suppose that I am dying, and your health and
+strength are failing you quickly in this darkness; if you stop here
+you must soon follow me. And what is the alternative? The madman
+outside--that is, if you could find strength to pull down the wall,
+which I doubt. You had best go, Benita."
+
+But still she said she would not.
+
+"Do you not see," he added, "that it is my only chance of life? If you
+go you may be able to bring me help before the end comes. Should there
+be a passage the probability is that, although they know nothing of
+it, it finishes somewhere by the wall of the first enclosure where the
+Makalanga are. If so, you may find the Molimo, or if he is dead, Tamas
+or one of the others, and they will help us. Go, Benita, go at once."
+
+"I never thought of that," she answered in a changed voice. "Of course,
+it may be so, if the passage goes down at all. Well, at least I can look
+and come back to tell you."
+
+Then Benita placed the remainder of the oil close by her father's
+side, so that he could refill the lamp, for the use of his hands still
+remained to him. Also, she set there such crumbs of biscuit as were
+left, some of the biltong, a flask of Hollands, and a pail of water.
+This done, she put on her long cloak, filled one of its pockets with
+biltong, and the other with matches and three of the four remaining
+candles. The fourth she insisted on leaving beside her father's bed.
+When everything was ready she knelt down at his side, kissed him, and
+from her heart put up a prayer that they might both live to meet again,
+although she knew well that this they could scarcely hope to do.
+
+Had two people ever been in a more dreadful situation, she wondered, as
+she looked at her father lying there, whom she must leave to fight with
+Death alone in that awful place, while she went forth to meet him in the
+unknown bowels of the earth!
+
+Mr. Clifford read her thoughts. "Yes," he said, "it is a strange parting
+and a wild errand. But who knows? It may please Providence to take you
+through, and if not--why, our troubles will soon be over."
+
+Then once more they kissed, and not daring to try to speak, Benita tore
+herself away. Passing into the passage whereof the lower half of the
+crucifix formed the door, she paused for a moment to examine it and to
+place a fragment of rock in such fashion that it could not shut again
+behind her. Her idea was that it worked by aid of some spring, but now
+she saw that this was not so, as the whole mass hung upon three stone
+hinges beautifully concealed. The dust and corrosion of ages which had
+made this door so hard to open, by filling up the tiny spaces between it
+and its framework, had also rendered these cracks utterly imperceptible
+to the eye. So accurately was it fashioned, indeed, that no one who did
+not know its secret would have discovered it if they searched for months
+or years.
+
+Though at the time Benita took little note of such details, the
+passage beyond and the stair descending from it showed the same perfect
+workmanship. Evidently this secret way dated not from the Portuguese
+period, but from that of the Phoenicians or other ancients, to whose
+treasure-chamber it was the approach, opening as it did from their
+holy of holies, to which none were admitted save the head priests. The
+passage, which was about seven feet high by four wide, had been hewn out
+of the live rock of the mountain, for thousands of little marks left by
+the workmen's chisels were still discernible upon its walls. So it was
+with the stair, that had been but little used, and remained fresh as the
+day when it was finished.
+
+Down the steps, candle in hand, flitted Benita, counting them as she
+went. The thirtieth brought her to a landing. Here it was that she saw
+the first traces of that treasure which they had suffered so much to
+find. Something glittered at her feet. She picked it up. It was a little
+bar of gold weighing two or three ounces that doubtless had been dropped
+there. Throwing it down again she looked in front of her, and to her
+dismay saw a door of wood with iron bolts. But the bolts had never been
+shot, and when she pulled at it the door creaked upon its rusty hinges
+and opened. She was on the threshold of the treasure-chamber!
+
+It was square and of the size of a small room, packed on either side
+almost to the low, vaulted roof with small bags of raw hide, carelessly
+arranged. Quite near to the door one of these bags had slipped down
+and burst open. It was filled with gold, some in ingots and some in raw
+nuggets, for there they lay in a shining, scattered heap. As she stooped
+to look it came into the mind of Benita that her father had said that in
+her trance she had told them that one of the bags of treasure was burst,
+and that the skin of which it had been made was black and red. Behold!
+before her lay the burst bag, and the colour of the hide was black and
+red.
+
+She shivered. The thing was uncanny, terrible. Uncanny was it also
+to see in the thick dust, which in the course of twenty or more of
+centuries had gathered on the floor, the mark of footprints, those of
+the last persons who had visited this place. There had been two of them,
+a man and a woman, and they were no savages, for they wore shoes. Benita
+placed her foot in the print left by that dead woman. It filled it
+exactly, it might have been her own. Perhaps, she thought to herself,
+that other Benita had descended here with her father, after the
+Portuguese had hidden away their wealth, that she might be shown where
+it was, and of what it consisted.
+
+One more glance at all this priceless, misery-working gold, and on she
+went, she who was seeking the gold of life and liberty for herself and
+him who lay above. Supposing that the stairway ended there? She stopped,
+she looked round, but could see no other door. To see the better she
+halted and opened the glass of her lantern. Still she could perceive
+nothing, and her heart sank. Yet why did the candle flicker so fiercely?
+And why was the air in this deep place so fresh? She walked forward a
+pace or two, then noticed suddenly that those footprints of the dead
+that she was following disappeared immediately in front of her, and she
+stopped.
+
+It was but just in time. One step more and she would have fallen down
+the mouth of a deep pit. Once it had been covered with a stone, but this
+stone was removed, and had never been replaced. Look! there it stood
+against the wall of the chamber. Well was this for Benita, since her
+frail strength would not have sufficed to stir that massive block, even
+if she had discovered its existence beneath the dust.
+
+Now she saw that down the pit ran another ladderlike stair of stone,
+very narrow and precipitous. Without hesitation she began its descent.
+Down she went and down--one hundred steps, two hundred steps, two
+hundred and seventy-five steps, and all the way wherever the dust had
+gathered the man's and the woman's footprints ran before her. There was
+a double line of them, one line going down and the other line returning.
+Those that returned were the last, for often they appeared over those
+that descended. Why had these dead people returned, Benita wondered.
+
+The stair had ended; now she was in a kind of natural cave, for its
+sides and roof were rugged; moreover, water trickled and dripped from
+them. It was not very large, and it smelt horribly of mud and other
+things. Again she searched by the feeble light of her candle, but could
+see no exit. Suddenly she saw something else, however, for stepping
+on what she took to be a rock, to her horror it moved beneath her. She
+heard a snap as of jaws, a violent blow upon the leg nearly knocked
+her off her feet, and as she staggered backwards she saw a huge and
+loathsome shape rushing away into the darkness. The rock that she had
+trodden on was a crocodile which had its den here! With a little scream
+she retreated to her stair. Death she had expected--but to be eaten by
+crocodiles!
+
+Yet as Benita stood there panting a blessed hope rose in her breast. If
+a crocodile came in there it must also get out, and where such a great
+creature could go, a woman would be able to follow. Also, she must be
+near the water, since otherwise it could never have chosen this hole for
+its habitation. She collected her courage, and having clapped her hands
+and waved the lantern about to scare any alligators that might still be
+lurking there, hearing and seeing nothing more, she descended to where
+she had trodden upon the reptile. Evidently this was its bed, for
+its long body had left an impress upon the mud, and all about lay the
+remains of creatures that it had brought in for food. Moreover, a path
+ran outwards, its well-worn trail distinct even in that light.
+
+She followed this path, which ended apparently in a blank wall. Then it
+was that Benita guessed why those dead folks' footprints had returned,
+for here had been a doorway which in some past age those who used it
+built up with blocks of stone and cement. How, then, did the crocodile
+get out? Stooping down she searched, and perceived, a few yards to the
+right of the door, a hole that looked as though it were water-worn.
+Now Benita thought that she understood. The rock was softer here, and
+centuries of flood had eaten it away, leaving a crack in the stratum
+which the crocodiles had found out and enlarged. Down she went on her
+hands and knees, and thrusting the lantern in front of her, crept along
+that noisome drain, for this was what it resembled. And now--oh! now she
+felt air blowing in her face, and heard the sound of reeds whispering,
+and water running, and saw hanging like a lamp in the blue sky,
+a star--the morning star! Benita could have wept, she could have
+worshipped it, yet she pushed on between rocks till she found herself
+among tall reeds, and standing in water. She had gained the banks of the
+Zambesi.
+
+Instantly, by instinct as it were, Benita extinguished her candle,
+fearing lest it should betray her, for constant danger had made her very
+cunning. The dawn had not yet broken, but the waning moon and the stars
+gave a good light. She paused to look. There above her towered the
+outermost wall of Bambatse, against which the river washed, except at
+such times as the present, when it was very low.
+
+So she was not in the fortress as she had hoped, but without it, and oh!
+what should she do? Go back again? How would that serve her father or
+herself? Go on? Then she might fall into the hands of the Matabele whose
+camp was a little lower down, as from her perch upon the top of the cone
+she had seen that poor white man do. Ah! the white man! If only he lived
+and she could reach him! Perhaps they had not killed him after all. It
+was madness, yet she would try to discover; something impelled her to
+take the risk. If she failed and escaped, perhaps then she might call to
+the Makalanga, and they would let down a rope and draw her up the wall
+before the Matabele caught her. She would not go back empty-handed, to
+die in that dreadful place with her poor father. Better perish here in
+the sweet air and beneath the stars, even if it were upon a Matabele
+spear, or by a bullet from her own pistol.
+
+She looked about her to take her bearings in case it should ever be
+necessary for her to return to the entrance of the cave. This proved
+easy, for a hundred or so feet above her--where the sheer face of the
+cliff jutted out a little, at that very spot indeed on which tradition
+said that the body of the Senora da Ferreira had struck in its fall, and
+the necklace Benita wore to-day was torn from her--a stunted mimosa grew
+in some cleft of the rock. To mark the crocodile run itself she bent
+down a bunch of reeds, and having first lit a few Tandstickor brimstone
+matches and thrown them about inside of it, that the smell of them might
+scare the beast should it wish to return, she set her lantern behind a
+stone near to the mouth of the hole.
+
+Then Benita began her journey which, when the river was high, it would
+not have been possible for her to make except by swimming. As it was,
+a margin of marsh was left between her and the steep, rocky side of the
+mount from which the great wall rose, and through this she made her way.
+Never was she likely to forget that walk. The tall reeds dripped
+their dew upon her until she was soaked; long, black-tailed
+finches--saccaboolas the natives call them--flew up undisturbed, and
+lobbed away across the river; owls flitted past and bitterns boomed at
+the coming of the dawn. Great fish splashed also in the shallows, or
+were they crocodiles? Benita hoped not--for one day she had seen enough
+of crocodiles.
+
+It was all very strange. Could she be the same woman, she wondered,
+who not a year before had been walking with her cousins down Westbourne
+Grove, and studying Whiteley's windows? What would these cousins say
+now if they could see her, white-faced, large-eyed, desperate, splashing
+through the mud upon the unknown banks of the Zambesi, flying from death
+to death!
+
+On she struggled, above her the pearly sky in which the stars were
+fading, around her the wet reeds, and pervading all the heavy low-lying
+mists of dawn. She was past the round of the walls, and at length stood
+upon dry ground where the Matabele had made their camp. But in that fog
+she saw no Matabele; probably their fires were out, and she chanced
+to pass between the sentries. Instinctively, more than by reason, she
+headed for that hillock upon which she had seen the white man's waggon,
+in the vague hope that it might still be there. On she struggled, still
+on, till at length she blundered against something soft and warm, and
+perceived that it was an ox tied to a trek-tow, beyond which were other
+oxen and a white waggon-cap.
+
+So it _was_ still there! But the white man, where was he? Through the
+dense mist Benita crept to the disselboom. Then, seeing and hearing
+nothing, she climbed to the voorkissie and kneeling on it, separated
+the tent flaps and peered into the waggon. Still she could see nothing
+because of the mist, yet she heard something, a man breathing in his
+sleep. Somehow she thought that it was a white man; a Kaffir did not
+breathe like that. She did not know what to do, so remained kneeling
+there. It seemed as though the man who was asleep began to feel her
+presence, for he muttered to himself--surely the words were English!
+Then quite suddenly he struck a match and lit a candle which stood in
+a beer bottle by his side. She could not see his face while he lit the
+match, for his arm hid it, and the candle burned up slowly. Then the
+first thing she saw was the barrel of a revolver pointing straight at
+her.
+
+"Now, my black friend," said a pleasant voice, "down you go or I shoot.
+One, two! Oh, my God!"
+
+The candle burned up, its light fell upon the white, elfish face of
+Benita, whose long dark hair streamed about her; it shone in her great
+eyes. Still she could see nothing, for it dazzled her.
+
+"Oh, my God!" said the voice again. "Benita! Benita! Have you come to
+tell me that I must join you? Well, I am ready, my sweet, my sweet! Now
+I shall hear your answer."
+
+"Yes," she whispered, and crawling forward down the cartel Benita fell
+upon his breast.
+
+For she knew him at last--dead or living she cared not--she knew him,
+and out of hell crept to him, her heaven and her home!
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+BENITA GIVES HER ANSWER
+
+"Your answer, Benita," Robert said dreamily, for to him this thing
+seemed a dream.
+
+"Have I not given it, months ago? Oh, I remember, it was only in my
+heart, not on my lips, when that blow fell on me! Then afterwards I
+heard what you had done and I nearly died. I wished that I might die
+to be with you, but I could not. I was too strong; now I understand the
+reason. Well, it seems that we are both living, and whatever happens,
+here is my answer, if it is worth anything to you. Once and for all,
+I love you. I am not ashamed to say it, because very soon we may be
+separated for the last time. But I cannot talk now, I have come here to
+save my father."
+
+"Where is he, Benita?"
+
+"Dying in a cave up at the top of that fortress. I got down by a secret
+way. Are the Matabele still here?"
+
+"Very much so," he answered. "But something has happened. My guard woke
+me an hour ago to say that a messenger had arrived from their king,
+Lobengula, and now they are talking over the message. That is how you
+came to get through, otherwise the sentries would have assegaied you,
+the brutes," and he drew her to him and kissed her passionately for the
+first time; then, as though ashamed of himself, let her go.
+
+"Have you anything to eat?" she asked. "I--I--am starving. I didn't feel
+it before, but now----"
+
+"Starving, you starving, while I--look, here is some cold meat which
+I could not get down last night, and put by for the Kaffirs. Great
+Heavens! that I should feed you with Kaffirs' leavings! But it is
+good--eat it."
+
+Benita took the stuff in her fingers and swallowed it greedily; she
+who for days had lived on nothing but a little biscuit and biltong. It
+tasted delicious to her--never had she eaten anything so good. And all
+the while he watched her with glowing eyes.
+
+"How can you look at me?" she said at length. "I must be horrible; I
+have been living in the dark and crawling through mud. I trod upon a
+crocodile!" and she shuddered.
+
+"Whatever you are I never want to see you different," he answered
+slowly. "To me you are most beautiful."
+
+Even then, wreck as she was, the poor girl flushed, and there was a mist
+in her eyes as she looked up and said:
+
+"Thank you. I don't care now what happens to me, and what has happened
+doesn't matter at all. But can we get away?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered; "but I doubt it. Go and sit on the
+waggon-box for a few minutes while I dress, and we will see."
+
+Benita went. The mist was thinning now, and through it she saw a sight
+at which her heart sank, for between her and the mount Bambatse Matabele
+were pouring towards their camp on the river's edge. They were cut off.
+A couple of minutes later Robert joined her, and as he came she looked
+at him anxiously in the growing light. He seemed older than when
+they had parted on the _Zanzibar_; changed, too, for now his face was
+serious, and he had grown a beard; also, he appeared to limp.
+
+"I am afraid there is an end," she said, pointing to the Matabele below.
+
+"Yes, it looks like it. But like you, I say, what does it matter now?"
+and he took her hand in his, adding: "let us be happy while we can if
+only for a few minutes. They will be here presently."
+
+"What are you?" she asked. "A prisoner?"
+
+"That's it. I was following you when they captured me; for I have been
+here before and knew the way. They were going to kill me on general
+principles, only it occurred to one of them who was more intelligent
+than the rest that I, being a white man, might be able to show them how
+to storm the place. Now I was sure that you were there, for I saw you
+standing on that point, though they thought you were the Spirit of
+Bambatse. So I wasn't anxious to help them, for then--you know what
+happens when the Matabele are the stormers! But--as you still lived--I
+wasn't anxious to die either. So I set them to work to dig a hole with
+their assegais and sharp axes, through granite. They have completed
+exactly twenty feet of it, and I reckon that there are one hundred and
+forty to go. Last night they got tired of that tunnel and talked of
+killing me again, unless I could show them a better plan. Now all the
+fat is in the fire, and I don't know what is to happen. Hullo! here they
+come. Hide in the waggon, quick!"
+
+Benita obeyed, and from under cover of the tent where the Matabele could
+not see her, watched and listened. The party that approached consisted
+of a chief and about twenty men, who marched behind him as a guard.
+Benita knew that chief. He was the captain Maduna, he of the royal blood
+whose life she had saved. By his side was a Natal Zulu, Robert Seymour's
+driver, who could speak English and acted as interpreter.
+
+"White man," said Maduna, "a message has reached us from our king.
+Lobengula makes a great war and has need of us. He summons us back from
+this petty fray, this fight against cowards who hide behind walls, whom
+otherwise we would have killed, everyone, yes, if we sat here till we
+grew old. So for this time we leave them alone."
+
+Robert answered politely that he was glad to hear it, and wished them a
+good journey.
+
+"Wish yourself a good journey, white man," was the stern reply.
+
+"Why? Do you desire that I should accompany you to Lobengula?"
+
+"No, you go before us to the kraal of the Black One who is even greater
+than the child of Moselikatse, to that king who is called Death."
+
+Robert crossed his arms and said: "Say on."
+
+"White man, I promised you life if you would show us how to pierce or
+climb those walls. But you have made fools of us--you have set us to cut
+through rock with spears and axes. Yes, to hoe at rock as though it were
+soil--you who with the wisdom of your people could have taught us some
+better way. Therefore we must go back to our king disgraced, having
+failed in his service, and therefore you who have mocked us shall die.
+Come down now, that we may kill you quietly, and learn whether or no you
+are a brave man."
+
+Then it was, while her lover's hand was moving towards the pistol hidden
+beneath his coat, that Benita, with a quick movement, emerged from the
+waggon in which she crouched, and stood up at his side upon the driving
+box.
+
+"_Ow!_" said the Captain. "It is the White Maiden. Now how came she
+here? Surely this is great magic. Can a woman fly like a bird?" and they
+stared at her amazed.
+
+"What does it matter how I came, chief Maduna?" she answered in Zulu.
+"Yet I will tell you why I came. It was to save you from dipping your
+spear in the innocent blood, and bringing on your head the curse of the
+innocent blood. Answer me now. Who gave you and your brother yonder your
+lives within that wall when the Makalanga would have torn you limb from
+limb, as hyenas tear a buck? Was it I or another?"
+
+"Inkosi-kaas--Chieftainess," replied the great Captain, raising his
+broad spear in salute. "It was you and no other."
+
+"And what did you promise me then, Prince Maduna?"
+
+"Maiden of high birth, I promised you your life and your goods, should
+you ever fall into my power."
+
+"Does a leader of the Amandabele, one of the royal blood, lie like a
+Mashona or a Makalanga slave? Does he do worse--tell half the truth
+only, like a cheat who buys and keeps back half the price?" she asked
+contemptuously. "Maduna, you promised me not one life, but two, two
+lives and the goods that belong to both. Ask of your brother there, who
+was witness of the words."
+
+"Great Heavens!" muttered Robert Seymour to himself, as he looked at
+Benita standing with outstretched hand and flashing eyes. "Who would
+have thought that a starved woman could play such a part with death on
+the hazard?"
+
+"It is as this daughter of white chiefs says," answered the man to whom
+she had appealed. "When she freed us from the fangs of those dogs, you
+promised her two lives, my brother, one for yours and one for mine."
+
+"Hear him," went on Benita. "He promised me two lives, and how did this
+prince of the royal blood keep his promise? When I and the old man, my
+father, rode hence in peace, he loosed his spears upon us; he hunted us.
+Yet it was the hunters who fell into the trap, not the hunted."
+
+"Maiden," replied Maduna, in a shamed voice, "that was your fault, not
+mine. If you had appealed to me I would have let you go. But you killed
+my sentry, and then the chase began, and ere I knew who you were my
+runners were out of call."
+
+"Little time had I to ask your mercy; but so be it," said Benita. "I
+accept your word, and I forgive you that offence. Now fulfil your oath.
+Begone and leave us in peace."
+
+Still Maduna hesitated.
+
+"I must make report to the king," he said. "What is this white man to
+you that I should spare him? I give you your life and your father's
+life, not that of this white man who has tricked us. If he were your
+father, or your brother, it would be otherwise. But he is a stranger,
+and belongs to me, not to you."
+
+"Maduna," she asked, "do women such as I am share the waggon of a
+stranger? This man is more to me than father or brother. He is my
+husband, and I claim his life."
+
+"_Ow!_" said the spokesman of the audience, "we understand now. She is
+his wife, and has a right to him. If she were not his wife she would not
+be in his waggon. It is plain that she speaks the truth, though how she
+came here we do not know, unless, as we think, she is a witch," and he
+smiled at his own cleverness.
+
+"Inkosi-kaas," said Maduna, "you have persuaded me. I give you the life
+of that white fox, your husband, and I hope that he will not trick you
+as he has tricked us, and set you to hoe rock instead of soil," and he
+looked at Robert wrathfully. "I give him to you and all his belongings.
+Now, is there anything else that you would ask?"
+
+"Yes," replied Benita coolly, "you have many oxen there which you took
+from the other Makalanga. Mine are eaten and I need cattle to draw
+my waggon. I ask a present of twenty of them, and," she added by an
+afterthought, "two cows with young calves, for my father is sick yonder,
+and must have milk."
+
+"Oh! give them to her. Give them to her," said Maduna, with a tragic
+gesture that in any other circumstances would have made Benita laugh.
+"Give them to her and see that they are good ones, before she asks our
+shields and spears also--for after all she saved my life."
+
+So men departed to fetch those cows and oxen, which presently were
+driven in.
+
+While this talk was in progress the great impi of the Matabele was
+massing for the march, on the flat ground a little to the right of
+them. Now they began to come past in companies, preceded by the lads
+who carried the mats and cooking-pots and drove the captured sheep and
+cattle. By this time the story of Benita, the witch-woman whom they
+could not kill, and who had mysteriously flown from the top of the peak
+into their prisoner's waggon, had spread among them. They knew also that
+it was she who had saved their general from the Makalanga, and those who
+had heard her admired the wit and courage with which she had pleaded
+and won her cause. Therefore, as they marched past in their companies,
+singing a song of abuse and defiance of the Makalanga who peered at them
+from the top of the wall, they lifted their great spears in salutation
+to Benita standing upon the waggon-box.
+
+Indeed, they were a wondrous and imposing spectacle, such a one as few
+white women have ever seen.
+
+At length all were gone except Maduna and a body-guard of two hundred
+men. He walked to the front of the waggon and addressed Robert Seymour.
+
+"Listen, you fox who set us to hoe granite," he said indignantly. "You
+have outwitted us this time, but if ever I meet you again, then you die.
+Now I have given you your life, but," he added, almost pleadingly, "if
+you are really brave as white men are said to be, will you not come down
+and fight me man to man for honour's sake?"
+
+"I think not," answered Robert, when he understood this challenge, "for
+what chance should I have against so brave a warrior? Also this lady--my
+wife--needs my help on her journey home."
+
+Maduna turned from him contemptuously to Benita.
+
+"I go," he said, "and fear not; you will meet no Matabele on that
+journey. Have you more words for me, O Beautiful One, with a tongue of
+oil and a wit that cuts like steel?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita. "You have dealt well with me, and in reward I
+give you of my good luck. Bear this message to your king from the
+White Witch of Bambatse, for I am she and no other. That he leave these
+Makalanga, my servants, to dwell unharmed in their ancient home, and
+that he lift no spear against the White Men, lest that evil which the
+Molimo foretold to you, should fall upon him."
+
+"Ah!" said Maduna, "now I understand how you flew from the mountain top
+into this man's waggon. You are not a white woman, you are the ancient
+Witch of Bambatse herself. You have said it, and with such it is not
+well to war. Great lady of Magic, Spirit from of old, I salute you, and
+I thank you for your gifts of life and fortune. Farewell."
+
+Then he, too, stalked away at the head of his guard, so that presently,
+save for the three Zulu servants and the herd of cattle, Robert and
+Benita were left utterly alone.
+
+Now, her part played and the victory won, Benita burst into tears and
+fell upon her lover's breast.
+
+Presently she remembered, and freed herself from his arms.
+
+"I am a selfish wretch," she said. "How dare I be so happy when my
+father is dead or dying? We must go at once."
+
+"Go where?" asked the bewildered Robert.
+
+"To the top of the mountain, of course, whence I came. Oh! please don't
+stop to question me, I'll tell you as we walk. Stay," and she called
+to the Zulu driver, who with an air of utter amazement was engaged in
+milking one of the gift cows, to fill two bottles with the milk.
+
+"Had we not better shout to the Makalanga to let us in?" suggested
+Robert, while this was being done, and Benita wrapped some cooked meat
+in a cloth.
+
+"No, no. They will think I am what I said I was--the Witch of Bambatse,
+whose appearance heralds misfortune, and fear a trap. Besides, we could
+not climb the top wall. You must follow my road, and if you can trust
+them, bring two of those men with you with lanterns. The lad can stop to
+herd the cattle."
+
+Three minutes later, followed by the two Zulus, they were walking--or
+rather, running--along the banks of the Zambesi.
+
+"Why do you not come quicker?" she asked impatiently. "Oh, I beg your
+pardon, you are lame. Robert, what made you lame, and oh! why are you
+not dead, as they all swore you were, you, you--hero, for I know that
+part of the story?"
+
+"For a very simple reason, Benita: because I didn't die. When that
+Kaffir took the watch from me I was insensible, that's all. The sun
+brought me to life afterwards. Then some natives turned up, good people
+in their way, although I could not understand a word they said. They
+made a stretcher of boughs and carried me for some miles to their kraal
+inland. It hurt awfully, for my thigh was broken, but I arrived at last.
+There a Kaffir doctor set my leg in his own fashion; it has left it an
+inch shorter than the other, but that's better than nothing.
+
+"In that place I lay for two solid months, for there was no white
+man within a hundred miles, and if there had been I could not have
+communicated with him. Afterwards I spent another month limping up
+towards Natal, until I could buy a horse. The rest is very short.
+Hearing of my reported death, I came as fast as I could to your father's
+farm, Rooi Krantz, where I learned from the old vrouw Sally that you had
+taken to treasure-hunting, the same treasure that I told you of on the
+_Zanzibar_.
+
+"So I followed your spoor, met the servants whom you had sent back, who
+told me all about you, and in due course, after many adventures, as they
+say in a book, walked into the camp of our friends, the Matabele.
+
+"They were going to kill me at once, when suddenly you appeared upon
+that point of rock, glittering like--like the angel of the dawn. I knew
+that it must be you, for I had found out about your attempted escape,
+and how you were hunted back to this place. But the Matabele all thought
+that it was the Spirit of Bambatse, who has a great reputation in these
+parts. Well, that took off their attention, and afterwards, as I told
+you, it occurred to them that I might be an engineer. You know the rest,
+don't you?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita softly. "I know the rest."
+
+Then they plunged into the reeds and were obliged to stop talking, since
+they must walk in single file. Presently Benita looked up and saw that
+she was under the thorn which grew in the cleft of the rock. Also, with
+some trouble she found the bunch of reeds that she had bent down, to
+mark the inconspicuous hole through which she had crept, and by it her
+lantern. It seemed weeks since she had left it there.
+
+"Now," she said, "light your candles, and if you see a crocodile, please
+shoot."
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+THE TRUE GOLD
+
+"Let me go first," said Robert.
+
+"No," answered Benita. "I know the way; but please do watch for that
+horrible crocodile."
+
+Then she knelt down and crept into the hole, while after her came
+Robert, and after him the two Zulus, who protested that they were not
+ant-bears to burrow under ground. Lifting the lantern she searched the
+cave, and as she could see no signs of the crocodile, walked on boldly
+to where the stair began.
+
+"Be quick," she whispered to Robert, for in that place it seemed natural
+to speak low. "My father is above and near his death. I am dreadfully
+afraid lest we should be too late."
+
+So they toiled up the endless steps, a very strange procession, for the
+two Zulus, bold men enough outside, were shaking with fright, till at
+length Benita clambered out of the trap door on to the floor of the
+treasure chamber, and turned to help Robert, whose lameness made him
+somewhat slow and awkward.
+
+"What's all that?" he asked, pointing to the hide sacks, while they
+waited for the two scared Kaffirs to join them.
+
+"Oh!" she answered indifferently, "gold, I believe. Look, there is some
+of it on the floor, over Benita da Ferreira's footsteps."
+
+"Gold! Why, it must be worth----! And who on earth is Benita da
+Ferreira?"
+
+"I will tell you afterwards. She has been dead two or three hundred
+years; it was her gold, or her people's, and those are her footprints in
+the dust. How stupid you are not to understand! Never mind the hateful
+stuff; come on quickly."
+
+So they passed the door which she had opened that morning, and clambered
+up the remaining stairway. So full was Benita of terrors that she
+could never remember how she climbed them. Suppose that the foot of the
+crucifix had swung to; suppose that her father were dead; suppose that
+Jacob Meyer had broken into the cave? Well for herself she was no longer
+afraid of Jacob Meyer. Oh, they were there! The heavy door _had_ begun
+to close, but mercifully her bit of rock kept it ajar.
+
+"Father! Father!" she cried, running towards the tent.
+
+No answer came. She threw aside the flap, held down the lantern and
+looked. There he lay, white and still. She was too late!
+
+"He is dead, he is dead!" she wailed. Robert knelt down at her side, and
+examined the old man, while she waited in an agony.
+
+"He ought to be," he said slowly; "but, Benita, I don't think he is. I
+can feel his heart stir. No, don't stop to talk. Pour out some of that
+squareface, and here, mix it with this milk."
+
+She obeyed, and while he held up her father's head, with a trembling
+hand emptied a little of the drink into his mouth. At first it ran out
+again, then almost automatically he swallowed some, and they knew that
+he was alive, and thanked Heaven. Ten minutes later Mr. Clifford was
+sitting up staring at them with dull and wondering eyes, while
+outside the two Zulus, whose nerves had now utterly broken down, were
+contemplating the pile of skeletons in the corner and the white towering
+crucifix, and loudly lamenting that they should have been brought to
+perish in this place of bones and ghosts.
+
+"Is it Jacob Meyer who makes that noise?" asked Mr. Clifford faintly.
+"And, Benita, where have you been so long, and--who is this gentleman
+with you? I seem to remember his face."
+
+"He is the white man who was in the waggon, father, an old friend come
+to life again. Robert, can't you stop the howling of those Kaffirs?
+Though I am sure I don't wonder that they howl; I should have liked
+to do so for days. Oh! father, father, don't you understand me? We are
+saved, yes, snatched out of hell and the jaws of death."
+
+"Is Jacob Meyer dead, then?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know where he is or what has happened to him, and I don't care,
+but perhaps we had better find out. Robert, there is a madman outside.
+Make the Kaffirs pull down that wall, would you? and catch him."
+
+"What wall? What madman?" he asked, staring at her.
+
+"Oh, of course you don't know that, either. You know nothing. I'll show
+you, and you must be prepared, for probably he will shoot at us."
+
+"It all sounds a little risky, doesn't it?" asked Robert doubtfully.
+
+"Yes, but we must take the risk. We cannot carry my father down that
+place, and unless we can get him into light and air soon, he will
+certainly die. The man outside is Jacob Meyer, his partner--you remember
+him. All these weeks of hardship and treasure-hunting have sent him off
+his head, and he wanted to mesmerize me and----"
+
+"And what? Make love to you?"
+
+She nodded, then went on:
+
+"So when he could not get his way about the mesmerism and so forth, he
+threatened to murder my father, and that is why we had to hide in this
+cave and build ourselves up, till at last I found the way out."
+
+"Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer, now as always," said Robert
+flushing. "To think that you should have been in the power of a
+scoundrel like that! Well, I hope to come square with him."
+
+"Don't hurt him, dear, unless you are obliged. Remember he is not
+responsible. He thought he saw a ghost here the other day."
+
+"Unless he behaves himself he is likely to see a good many soon,"
+muttered Robert.
+
+Then they went down the cave, and as silently as possible began to work
+at the wall, destroying in a few minutes what had been built up with so
+much labour. When it was nearly down the Zulus were told that there was
+an enemy outside, and that they must help to catch him if necessary, but
+were not to harm him. They assented gladly enough; indeed, to get out of
+that cave they would have faced half a dozen enemies.
+
+Now there was a hole right through the wall, and Robert bade Benita
+stand to one side. Then as soon as his eyes became accustomed to the
+little light that penetrated there, he drew his revolver and beckoned
+the Kaffirs to follow. Down the passage they crept, slowly, lest they
+should be blinded when they came to the glare of the sunshine, while
+Benita waited with a beating heart.
+
+A little time went by, she never knew how long, till suddenly a rifle
+shot rang through the stillness. Benita was able to bear no more. She
+rushed down the winding passage, and presently, just beyond its mouth,
+in a blurred and indistinct fashion saw that the two white men were
+rolling together on the ground, while the Kaffirs sprang round watching
+for an opportunity to seize one of them. At that moment they succeeded,
+and Robert rose, dusting his hands and knees.
+
+"Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer," he repeated. "I could have killed
+him as his back was towards me, but didn't because you asked me not.
+Then I stumbled with my lame leg, and he whipped round and let drive
+with his rifle. Look," and he showed her where the bullet had cut his
+ear. "Luckily I got hold of him before he could loose off another."
+
+Benita could find no words, her heart was too full of thankfulness. Only
+she seized Robert's hand and kissed it. Then she looked at Jacob.
+
+He was lying upon the broad of his back, the two big Zulus holding his
+arms and legs; his lips were cracked, blue and swollen; his face was
+almost black, but his eyes still shone bright with insanity and hate.
+
+"I know you," he screamed hoarsely to Robert. "You are another ghost,
+the ghost of that man who was drowned. Otherwise my bullet would have
+killed you."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Meyer," Seymour answered, "I am a ghost. Now, you boys, here's
+a bit of rope. Tie his hands behind his back and search him. There is a
+pistol in that pocket."
+
+They obeyed, and presently Meyer was disarmed and bound fast to a tree.
+
+"Water," he moaned. "For days I have had nothing but the dew I could
+lick off the leaves."
+
+Pitying his plight, Benita ran into the cave and returned presently with
+a tin of water. One of the Kaffirs held it to his lips, and he drank
+greedily. Then, leaving one Zulu to watch him, Robert, Benita, and
+the other Zulu went back, and as gently as they could carried out Mr.
+Clifford on his mattress, placing him in the shade of a rock, where he
+lay blessing them feebly, because they had brought him into the light
+again. At the sight of the old man Meyer's rage blazed up afresh.
+
+"Ah," he screamed, "if only I had killed you long ago, she would be mine
+now, not that fellow's. It was you who stood between us."
+
+"Look here, my friend," broke in Robert. "I forgive you everything else,
+but, mad or sane, be good enough to keep Miss Clifford's name off your
+lips, or I will hand you over to those Kaffirs to be dealt with as you
+deserve."
+
+Then Jacob understood, and was silent. They gave him more water and
+food to eat, some of the meat that they had brought with them, which he
+devoured ravenously.
+
+"Are you sensible now?" asked Robert when he had done. "Then listen to
+me; I have some good news for you. That treasure you have been hunting
+for has been found. We are going to give you half of it, one of the
+waggons and some oxen, and clear you out of this place. Then if I set
+eyes on you again before we get to a civilized country, I shoot you like
+a dog."
+
+"You lie!" said Meyer sullenly. "You want to turn me out into the
+wilderness to be murdered by the Makalanga or the Matabele."
+
+"Very well," said Robert. "Untie him, boys, and bring him along. I will
+show him whether I lie."
+
+"Where are they taking me to?" asked Meyer. "Not into the cave? I won't
+go into the cave; it is haunted. If it hadn't been for the ghost there
+I would have broken down their wall long ago, and killed that old snake
+before her eyes. Whenever I went near that wall I saw it watching me."
+
+"First time I ever heard of a ghost being useful," remarked Robert.
+"Bring him along. No, Benita, he shall see whether I am a liar."
+
+So the lights were lit, and the two stalwart Zulus hauled Jacob forward,
+Robert and Benita following. At first he struggled violently, then, on
+finding that he could not escape, went on, his teeth chattering with
+fear.
+
+"It is cruel," remonstrated Benita.
+
+"A little cruelty will not do him any harm," Robert answered. "He has
+plenty to spare for other people. Besides, he is going to get what he
+has been looking for so long."
+
+They led Jacob to the foot of the crucifix, where a paroxysm seemed to
+seize him, then pushed him through the swinging doorway beneath,
+and down the steep stairs, till once more they all stood in the
+treasure-chamber.
+
+"Look," said Robert, and, drawing his hunting-knife, he slashed one of
+the hide bags, whereon instantly there flowed out a stream of beads and
+nuggets. "Now, my friend, am I a liar?" he asked.
+
+At this wondrous sight Jacob's terror seemed to depart from him, and he
+grew cunning.
+
+"Beautiful, beautiful!" he said, "more than I thought--sacks and sacks
+of gold. I shall be a king indeed. No, no, it is all a dream--like the
+rest. I don't believe it's there. Loose my arms and let me feel it."
+
+"Untie him," said Robert, at the same time drawing his pistol and
+covering the man; "he can't do us any hurt."
+
+The Kaffirs obeyed, and Jacob, springing at the slashed bag, plunged his
+thin hands into it.
+
+"No lie," he screamed, "no lie," as he dragged the stuff out and smelt
+at it. "Gold, gold, gold! Hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of
+gold! Let's make a bargain, Englishman, and I won't kill you as I meant
+to do. You take the girl and give me all the gold," and in his ecstasy
+he began to pour the glittering ingots over his head and body.
+
+"A new version of the tale of Danae," began Robert in a sarcastic
+voice, then suddenly paused, for a change had come over Jacob's face, a
+terrible change.
+
+It turned ashen beneath the tan, his eyes grew large and round, he put
+up his hands as though to thrust something from him, his whole frame
+shivered, and his hair seemed to erect itself. Slowly he retreated
+backwards, and would have fallen down the unclosed trap-hole had not one
+of the Kaffirs pushed him away. Back he went, still back, till he struck
+the further wall and stood there, perhaps for half a minute. He lifted
+his hand and pointed first to those ancient footprints, some of which
+still remained in the dust of the floor, and next, as they thought, at
+Benita. His lips moved fast, he seemed to be pleading, remonstrating,
+yet--and this was the ghastliest part of it--from them there came no
+sound. Lastly, his eyes rolled up until only the whites of them were
+visible, his face became wet as though water had been poured over it,
+and, still without a sound, he fell forward and moved no more.
+
+So terrible was the scene that with a howl of fear the two Kaffirs
+turned and fled up the stairway. Robert sprang to the Jew, dragged
+him over on to his back, put his hand upon his breast and lifted his
+eyelids.
+
+"Dead," he said. "Stone dead. Privation, brain excitement, heart
+failure--that's the story."
+
+"Perhaps," answered Benita faintly; "but really I think that I begin to
+believe in ghosts also. Look, I never noticed them before, and I didn't
+walk there, but those footsteps seem to lead right up to him." Then she
+turned too and fled.
+
+
+Another week had gone by. The waggons were laden with a burden more
+precious perhaps than waggons have often borne before. In one of them,
+on a veritable bed of gold, slept Mr. Clifford, still very weak and
+ill, but somewhat better than he had been, and with a good prospect
+of recovery, at any rate for a while. They were to trek a little after
+dawn, and already Robert and Benita were up and waiting. She touched his
+arm and said to him:
+
+"Come with me. I have a fancy to see that place once more, for the last
+time."
+
+So they climbed the hill and the steep steps in the topmost wall that
+Meyer had blocked--re-opened now--and reaching the mouth of the cave,
+lit the lamps which they had brought with them, and entered. There were
+the fragments of the barricade that Benita had built with desperate
+hands, there was the altar of sacrifice standing cold and grey as it had
+stood for perhaps three thousand years. There was the tomb of the old
+monk who had a companion now, for in it Jacob Meyer lay with him, his
+bones covered by the _debris_ that he himself had dug out in his mad
+search for wealth; and there the white Christ hung awful on His cross.
+Only the skeletons of the Portuguese were gone, for with the help of his
+Kaffirs Robert had moved them every one into the empty treasure-chamber,
+closing the trap beneath, and building up the door above, so that there
+they might lie in peace at last.
+
+In this melancholy place they tarried but a little while, then, turning
+their backs upon it for ever, went out and climbed the granite cone to
+watch the sun rise over the broad Zambesi. Up it came in glory, that
+same sun which had shone upon the despairing Benita da Ferreira, and
+upon the English Benita when she had stood there in utter hopelessness,
+and seen the white man captured by the Matabele.
+
+Now, different was their state indeed, and there in that high place,
+whence perhaps many a wretched creature had been cast to death, whence
+certainly the Portuguese maiden had sought her death, these two happy
+beings were not ashamed to give thanks to Heaven for the joy which it
+had vouchsafed to them, and for their hopes of life full and long to be
+travelled hand in hand. Behind them was the terror of the cave, beneath
+them were the mists of the valley, but above them the light shone and
+rolled and sparkled, and above them stretched the eternal sky!
+
+They descended the pillar, and near the foot of it saw an old man
+sitting. It was Mambo, the Molimo of the Makalanga: even when they were
+still far away from him they knew his snow-white head and thin, ascetic
+face. As they drew near Benita perceived that his eyes were closed, and
+whispered to Robert that he was asleep. Yet he had heard them coming,
+and even guessed her thought.
+
+"Maiden," he said in his gentle voice, "maiden who soon shall be a wife,
+I do not sleep, although I dream of you as I have dreamt before. What
+did I say to you that day when first we met? That for you I had good
+tidings; that though death was all about you, you need not fear; that
+in this place you who had known great sorrow should find happiness
+and rest. Yet, maiden, you would not believe the words of the Munwali,
+spoken by his prophet's lips, as he at your side, who shall be your
+husband, would not believe me in years past when I told him that we
+should meet again."
+
+"Father," she answered, "I thought your rest was that which we find only
+in the grave."
+
+"You would not believe," he went on without heeding her, "and therefore
+you tried to fly, and therefore your heart was torn with terror and with
+agony, when it should have waited for the end in confidence and peace."
+
+"Father, my trial was very sore."
+
+"Maiden, I know it, and because it was so sore that patient Spirit of
+Bambatse bore with you, and through it all guided your feet aright. Yes,
+with you has that Spirit gone, by day, by night, in the morning and in
+the evening. Who was it that smote the man who lies dead yonder with
+horror and with madness when he would have bent your will to his and
+made you a wife to him? Who was it that told you the secret of the
+treasure-pit, and what footsteps went before you down its stair? Who was
+it that led you past the sentries of the Amandabele and gave you wit and
+power to snatch your lord's life from Maduna's bloody hand? Yes, with
+you it has gone and with you it will go. No more shall the White Witch
+stand upon the pillar point at the rising of the sun, or in the shining
+of the moon."
+
+"Father, I have never understood you, and I do not understand you now,"
+said Benita. "What has this spirit to do with me?"
+
+He smiled a little, then answered slowly:
+
+"That I may not tell you; that you shall learn one day, but never here.
+When you also have entered into silence, then you shall learn. But I say
+to you that this shall not be till your hair is as white as mine, and
+your years are as many. Ah! you thought that I had deserted you, when
+fearing for your father's life you wept and prayed in the darkness of
+the cave. Yet it was not so, for I did but suffer the doom which I had
+read to fulfil itself as it must do."
+
+He rose to his feet and, resting on his staff, laid one withered hand
+upon the head of Benita.
+
+"Maiden," he said, "we meet no more beneath the sun. Yet because you
+have brought deliverance to my people, because you are sweet and pure
+and true, take with you the blessing of Munwali, spoken by the mouth of
+his servant Mambo, the old Molimo of Bambatse. Though from time to time
+you must know tears and walk in the shade of sorrows, long and happy
+shall be your days with him whom you have chosen. Children shall spring
+up about you, and children's children, and with them also shall the
+blessing go. The gold you white folk love is yours, and it shall
+multiply and give food to the hungry and raiment to those that are
+a-cold. Yet in your own heart lies a richer store that cannot melt away,
+the countless treasure of mercy and of love. When you sleep and when
+you wake Love shall take you by the hand, till at length he leads you
+through life's dark cave to that eternal house of purest gold which soon
+or late those that seek it shall inherit," and with his staff he pointed
+to the glowing morning sky wherein one by one little rosy clouds floated
+upwards and were lost.
+
+To Robert and to Benita's misty eyes they looked like bright-winged
+angels throwing wide the black doors of night, and heralding that
+conquering glory at whose advent despair and darkness flee away.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Benita, An African Romance, by H. Rider Haggard
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+
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+
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz
+Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com
+and Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com
+
+
+
+
+
+Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz
+Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com
+and Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com
+
+
+
+
+
+BENITA
+AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+by H. RIDER HAGGARD
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+  It may interest readers of this story to know that its author
+  believes it to have a certain foundation in fact.
+
+  It was said about five-and-twenty or thirty years ago that an
+  adventurous trader, hearing from some natives in the territory
+  that lies at the back of Quilimane, the legend of a great treasure
+  buried in or about the sixteenth century by a party of Portuguese
+  who were afterwards massacred, as a last resource attempted its
+  discovery by the help of a mesmerist. According to this history
+  the child who was used as a subject in the experiment, when in a
+  state of trance, detailed the adventures and death of the unhappy
+  Portuguese men and women, two of whom leapt from the point of a
+  high rock into the Zambesi. Although he knew no tongue but
+  English, this clairvoyant child is declared to have repeated in
+  Portuguese the prayers these unfortunates offered up, and even to
+  have sung the very hymns they sang. Moreover, with much other
+  detail, he described the burial of the great treasure and its
+  exact situation so accurately that the white man and the mesmerist
+  were able to dig for and find the place where /it had been/--for
+  the bags were gone, swept out by the floods of the river.
+
+  Some gold coins remained, however, one of them a ducat of Aloysius
+  Mocenigo, Doge of Venice. Afterwards the boy was again thrown into
+  a trance (in all he was mesmerized eight times), and revealed
+  where the sacks still lay; but before the white trader could renew
+  his search for them, the party was hunted out of the country by
+  natives whose superstitious fears were aroused, barely escaping
+  with their lives.
+
+  It should be added that, as in the following tale, the chief who
+  was ruling there when the tragedy happened, declared the place to
+  be sacred, and that if it were entered evil would befall his
+  tribe. Thus it came about that for generations it was never
+  violated, until at length his descendants were driven farther from
+  the river by war, and from one of them the white man heard the
+  legend.
+
+
+
+
+BENITA
+
+AN AFRICAN ROMANCE
+
+
+
+I
+
+CONFIDENCES
+
+Beautiful, beautiful was that night! No air that stirred; the black
+smoke from the funnels of the mail steamer /Zanzibar/ lay low over the
+surface of the sea like vast, floating ostrich plumes that vanished
+one by one in the starlight. Benita Beatrix Clifford, for that was her
+full name, who had been christened Benita after her mother and Beatrix
+after her father's only sister, leaning idly over the bulwark rail,
+thought to herself that a child might have sailed that sea in a boat
+of bark and come safely into port.
+
+Then a tall man of about thirty years of age, who was smoking a cigar,
+strolled up to her. At his coming she moved a little as though to make
+room for him beside her, and there was something in the motion which,
+had anyone been there to observe it, might have suggested that these
+two were upon terms of friendship, or still greater intimacy. For a
+moment he hesitated, and while he did so an expression of doubt, of
+distress even, gathered on his face. It was as though he understood
+that a great deal depended on whether he accepted or declined that
+gentle invitation, and knew not which to do.
+
+Indeed, much did depend upon it, no less than the destinies of both of
+them. If Robert Seymour had gone by to finish his cigar in solitude,
+why then this story would have had a very different ending; or,
+rather, who can say how it might have ended? The dread, foredoomed
+event with which that night was big would have come to its awful birth
+leaving certain words unspoken. Violent separation must have ensued,
+and even if both of them had survived the terror, what prospect was
+there that their lives would again have crossed each other in that
+wide Africa?
+
+But it was not so fated, for just as he put his foot forward to
+continue his march Benita spoke in her low and pleasant voice.
+
+"Are you going to the smoking-room or to the saloon to dance, Mr.
+Seymour? One of the officers just told me that there is to be a
+dance," she added, in explanation, "because it is so calm that we
+might fancy ourselves ashore."
+
+"Neither," he answered. "The smoking-room is stuffy, and my dancing
+days are over. No; I proposed to take exercise after that big dinner,
+and then to sit in a chair and fall asleep. But," he added, and his
+voice grew interested, "how did you know that it was I? You never
+turned your head."
+
+"I have ears in my head as well as eyes," she answered with a little
+laugh, "and after we have been nearly a month together on this ship I
+ought to know your step."
+
+"I never remember that anyone ever recognized it before," he said,
+more to himself than to her, then came and leaned over the rail at her
+side. His doubts were gone. Fate had spoken.
+
+For a while there was silence between them, then he asked her if she
+were not going to the dance.
+
+Benita shook her head.
+
+"Why not? You are fond of dancing, and you dance very well. Also there
+are plenty of officers for partners, especially Captain----" and he
+checked himself.
+
+"I know," she said; "it would be pleasant, but--Mr. Seymour, will you
+think me foolish if I tell you something?"
+
+"I have never thought you foolish yet, Miss Clifford, so I don't know
+why I should begin now. What is it?"
+
+"I am not going to the dance because I am afraid, yes, horribly
+afraid."
+
+"Afraid! Afraid of what?"
+
+"I don't quite know, but, Mr. Seymour, I feel as though we were all of
+us upon the edge of some dreadful catastrophe--as though there were
+about to be a mighty change, and beyond it another life, something new
+and unfamiliar. It came over me at dinner--that was why I left the
+table. Quite suddenly I looked, and all the people were different,
+yes, all except a few."
+
+"Was I different?" he asked curiously.
+
+"No, you were not," and he thought he heard her add "Thank God!"
+beneath her breath.
+
+"And were you different?"
+
+"I don't know. I never looked at myself; I was the seer, not the seen.
+I have always been like that."
+
+"Indigestion," he said reflectively. "We eat too much on board ship,
+and the dinner was very long and heavy. I told you so, that's why I'm
+taking--I mean why I wanted to take exercise."
+
+"And to go to sleep afterwards."
+
+"Yes, first the exercise, then the sleep. Miss Clifford, that is the
+rule of life--and death. With sleep thought ends, therefore for some
+of us your catastrophe is much to be desired, for it would mean long
+sleep and no thought."
+
+"I said that they were changed, not that they had ceased to think.
+Perhaps they thought the more."
+
+"Then let us pray that your catastrophe may be averted. I prescribe
+for you bismuth and carbonate of soda. Also in this weather it seems
+difficult to imagine such a thing. Look now, Miss Clifford," he added,
+with a note of enthusiasm in his voice, pointing towards the east,
+"look."
+
+Her eyes followed his outstretched hand, and there, above the level
+ocean, rose the great orb of the African moon. Lo! of a sudden all
+that ocean turned to silver, a wide path of rippling silver stretched
+from it to them. It might have been the road of angels. The sweet soft
+light beat upon their ship, showing its tapering masts and every
+detail of the rigging. It passed on beyond them, and revealed the low,
+foam-fringed coast-line rising here and there, dotted with kloofs and
+their clinging bush. Even the round huts of Kaffir kraals became
+faintly visible in that radiance. Other things became visible also--
+for instance, the features of this pair.
+
+The man was light in his colouring, fair-skinned, with fair hair which
+already showed a tendency towards greyness, especially in the
+moustache, for he wore no beard. His face was clean cut, not
+particularly handsome, since, their fineness notwithstanding, his
+features lacked regularity; the cheekbones were too high and the chin
+was too small, small faults redeemed to some extent by the steady and
+cheerful grey eyes. For the rest, he was broad-shouldered and well-
+set-up, sealed with the indescribable stamp of the English gentleman.
+Such was the appearance of Robert Seymour.
+
+In that light the girl at his side looked lovely, though, in fact, she
+had no real claims to loveliness, except perhaps as regards her
+figure, which was agile, rounded, and peculiarly graceful. Her
+foreign-looking face was unusual, dark-eyed, a somewhat large and very
+mobile mouth, fair and waving hair, a broad forehead, a sweet and at
+times wistful face, thoughtful for the most part, but apt to be
+irradiated by sudden smiles. Not a beautiful woman at all, but
+exceedingly attractive, one possessing magnetism.
+
+She gazed, first at the moon and the silver road beneath it, then,
+turning, at the land beyond.
+
+"We are very near to Africa, at last," she said.
+
+"Too near, I think," he answered. "If I were the captain I should
+stand out a point or two. It is a strange country, full of surprises.
+Miss Clifford, will you think me rude if I ask you why you are going
+there? You have never told me--quite."
+
+"No, because the story is rather a sad one; but you shall hear it if
+you wish. Do you?"
+
+He nodded, and drew up two deck chairs, in which they settled
+themselves in a corner made by one of the inboard boats, their faces
+still towards the sea.
+
+"You know I was born in Africa," she said, "and lived there till I was
+thirteen years old--why, I find I can still speak Zulu; I did so this
+afternoon. My father was one of the early settlers in Natal. His
+father was a clergyman, a younger son of the Lincolnshire Cliffords.
+They are great people there still, though I don't suppose that they
+are aware of my existence."
+
+"I know them," answered Robert Seymour. "Indeed, I was shooting at
+their place last November--when the smash came," and he sighed; "but
+go on."
+
+"Well, my father quarrelled with his father, I don't know what about,
+and emigrated. In Natal he married my mother, a Miss Ferreira, whose
+name--like mine and her mother's--was Benita. She was one of two
+sisters, and her father, Andreas Ferreira, who married an English
+lady, was half Dutch and half Portuguese. I remember him well, a fine
+old man with dark eyes and an iron-grey beard. He was wealthy as
+things went in those days--that is to say, he had lots of land in
+Natal and the Transvaal, and great herds of stock. So you see I am
+half English, some Dutch, and more than a quarter Portuguese--quite a
+mixture of races. My father and mother did not get on well together.
+Mr. Seymour, I may as well tell you all the truth: he drank, and
+although he was passionately fond of her, she was jealous of him. Also
+he gambled away most of her patrimony, and after old Andreas
+Ferreira's death they grew poor. One night there was a dreadful scene
+between them, and in his madness he struck her.
+
+"Well, she was a very proud woman, determined, too, and she turned on
+him and said--for I heard her--'I will never forgive you; we have done
+with each other.' Next morning, when my father was sober, he begged
+her pardon, but she made no answer, although he was starting somewhere
+on a fortnight's trek. When he had gone my mother ordered the Cape
+cart, packed up her clothes, took some money that she had put away,
+drove to Durban, and after making arrangements at the bank about a
+small private income of her own, sailed with me for England, leaving a
+letter for my father in which she said that she would never see him
+again, and if he tried to interfere with me she would put me under the
+protection of the English court, which would not allow me to be taken
+to the home of a drunkard.
+
+"In England we went to live in London with my aunt, who had married a
+Major King, but was a widow with five children. My father often wrote
+to persuade my mother to go back to him, but she never would, which I
+think was wrong of her. So things went on for twelve years or more,
+till one day my mother suddenly died, and I came into her little
+fortune of between �200 and �300 a year, which she had tied up so that
+nobody can touch it. That was about a year ago. I wrote to tell my
+father of her death, and received a pitiful letter; indeed, I have had
+several of them. He implored me to come out to him and not to leave
+him to die in his loneliness, as he soon would do of a broken heart,
+if I did not. He said that he had long ago given up drinking, which
+was the cause of the ruin of his life, and sent a certificate signed
+by a magistrate and a doctor to that effect. Well, in the end,
+although all my cousins and their mother advised me against it, I
+consented, and here I am. He is to meet me at Durban, but how we shall
+get on together is more than I can say, though I long to see him, for
+after all he is my father."
+
+"It was good of you to come, under all the circumstances. You must
+have a brave heart," said Robert reflectively.
+
+"It is my duty," she answered. "And for the rest, I am not afraid who
+was born to Africa. Indeed, often and often have I wished to be back
+there again, out on the veld, far away from the London streets and
+fog. I am young and strong, and I want to see things, natural things--
+not those made by man, you know--the things I remember as a child. One
+can always go back to London."
+
+"Yes, or at least some people can. It is a curious thing, Miss
+Clifford, but as it happens I have met your father. You always
+reminded me of the man, but I had forgotten his name. Now it comes
+back to me; it /was/ Clifford."
+
+"Where on earth?" she asked, astonished.
+
+"In a queer place. As I told you, I have visited South Africa before,
+under different circumstances. Four years ago I was out here big-game
+shooting. Going in from the East coast my brother and I--he is dead
+now, poor fellow--got up somewhere in the Matabele country, on the
+banks of the Zambesi. As we didn't find much game there we were going
+to strike south, when some natives told us of a wonderful ruin that
+stood on a hill overhanging the river a few miles farther on. So,
+leaving the waggon on the hither side of the steep nek, over which it
+would have been difficult to drag it, my brother and I took our rifles
+and a bag of food and started. The place was farther off than we
+thought, although from the top of the nek we could see it clearly
+enough, and before we reached it dark had fallen.
+
+"Now we had observed a waggon and a tent outside the wall which we
+thought must belong to white men, and headed for them. There was a
+light in the tent, and the flap was open, the night being very hot.
+Inside two men were seated, one old, with a grey beard, and the other,
+a good-looking fellow--under forty, I should say--with a Jewish face,
+dark, piercing eyes, and a black, pointed beard. They were engaged in
+examining a heap of gold beads and bangles, which lay on the table
+between them. As I was about to speak, the black-bearded man heard or
+caught sight of us, and seizing a rifle that leaned against the table,
+swung round and covered me.
+
+"'For God's sake don't shoot, Jacob,' said the old man; 'they are
+English.'
+
+"'Best dead, any way,' answered the other, in a soft voice, with a
+slight foreign accent, 'we don't want spies or thieves here.'
+
+"'We are neither, but I can shoot as well as you, friend,' I remarked,
+for by this time my rifle was on him.
+
+"Then he thought better of it, and dropped his gun, and we explained
+that we were merely on an arch�ological expedition. The end of it was
+that we became capital friends, though neither of us could cotton much
+to Mr. Jacob--I forget his other name. He struck me as too handy with
+his rifle, and was, I gathered, an individual with a mysterious and
+rather lurid past. To cut a long story short, when he found out that
+we had no intention of poaching, your father, for it was he, told us
+frankly that they were treasure-hunting, having got hold of some story
+about a vast store of gold which had been hidden away there by
+Portuguese two or three centuries before. Their trouble was, however,
+that the Makalanga, who lived in the fortress, which was called
+Bambatse, would not allow them to dig, because they said the place was
+haunted, and if they did so it would bring bad luck to their tribe."
+
+"And did they ever get in?" asked Benita.
+
+"I am sure I don't know, for we went next day, though before we left
+we called on the Makalanga, who admitted us all readily enough so long
+as we brought no spades with us. By the way, the gold we saw your
+father and his friend examining was found in some ancient graves
+outside the walls, but had nothing to do with the big and mythical
+treasure."
+
+"What was the place like? I love old ruins," broke in Benita again.
+
+"Oh! wonderful. A gigantic, circular wall built by heaven knows who,
+then half-way up the hill another wall, and near the top a third wall
+which, I understood, surrounded a sort of holy of holies, and above
+everything, on the brink of the precipice, a great cone of granite."
+
+"Artificial or natural?"
+
+"I don't know. They would not let us up there, but we were introduced
+to their chief and high priest, Church and State in one, and a
+wonderful old man he was, very wise and very gentle. I remember he
+told me he believed we should meet again, which seemed an odd thing
+for him to say. I asked him about the treasure and why he would not
+let the other white men look for it. He answered that it would never
+be found by any man, white or black, that only a woman would find it
+at the appointed time, when it pleased the Spirit of Bambatse, under
+whose guardianship it was."
+
+"Who was the Spirit of Bambatse, Mr. Seymour?"
+
+"I can't tell you, couldn't make out anything definite about her,
+except that she was said to be white, and to appear sometimes at
+sunrise, or in the moonlight, standing upon the tall point of rock of
+which I told you. I remember that I got up before the dawn to look for
+her--like an idiot, for of course I saw nothing--and that's all I know
+about the matter."
+
+"Did you have any talk with my father, Mr. Seymour--alone, I mean?"
+
+"Yes, a little. The next day he walked back to our waggon with us,
+being glad, I fancy, of a change from the perpetual society of his
+partner Jacob. That wasn't wonderful in a man who had been brought up
+at Eton and Oxford, as I found out he had, like myself, and whatever
+his failings may have been--although we saw no sign of them, for he
+would not touch a drop of spirits--was a gentleman, which Jacob
+wasn't. Still, he--Jacob--had read a lot, especially on out-of-the-way
+subjects, and could talk every language under the sun--a clever and
+agreeable scoundrel in short."
+
+"Did my father say anything about himself?"
+
+"Yes; he told me that he had been an unsuccessful man all his life,
+and had much to reproach himself with, for we got quite confidential
+at last. He added that he had a family in England--what family he
+didn't say--whom he was anxious to make wealthy by way of reparation
+for past misdeeds, and that was why he was treasure-hunting. However,
+from what you tell me, I fear he never found anything."
+
+"No, Mr. Seymour, he never found it and never will, but all the same I
+am glad to hear that he was thinking of us. Also I should like to
+explore that place, Bambatse."
+
+"So should I, Miss Clifford, in your company, and your father's, but
+not in that of Jacob. If ever you should go there with him, I say:--
+'Beware of Jacob.'"
+
+"Oh! I am not afraid of Jacob," she answered with a laugh, "although I
+believe that my father still has something to do with him--at least in
+one of his letters he mentioned his partner, who was a German."
+
+"A German! I think that he must have meant a German Jew."
+
+After this there was silence between them for a time, then he said
+suddenly, "You have told me your story, would you like to hear mine?"
+
+"Yes," she answered.
+
+"Well, it won't take you long to listen to it, for, Miss Clifford,
+like Canning's needy knife-grinder, I have really none to tell. You
+see before you one of the most useless persons in the world, an
+undistinguished member of what is called in England the 'leisured
+class,' who can do absolutely nothing that is worth doing, except
+shoot straight."
+
+"Indeed," said Benita.
+
+"You do not seem impressed with that accomplishment," he went on, "yet
+it is an honest fact that for the last fifteen years--I was thirty-two
+this month--practically my whole time has been given up to it, with a
+little fishing thrown in in the spring. As I want to make the most of
+myself, I will add that I am supposed to be among the six best shots
+in England, and that my ambition--yes, great Heavens! my ambition--was
+to become better than the other five. By that sin fell the poor man
+who speaks to you. I was supposed to have abilities, but I neglected
+them all to pursue this form of idleness. I entered no profession, I
+did no work, with the result that at thirty-two I am ruined and almost
+hopeless."
+
+"Why ruined and hopeless?" she asked anxiously, for the way in which
+they were spoken grieved her more than the words themselves.
+
+"Ruined because my old uncle, the Honourable John Seymour Seymour,
+whose heir I was, committed the indiscretion of marrying a young lady
+who has presented him with thriving twins. With the appearance of
+those twins my prospects disappeared, as did the allowance of �1,500 a
+year that he was good enough to make me on which to keep up a position
+as his next-of-kin. I had something of my own, but also I had debts,
+and at the present moment a draft in my pocket for �2,163 14s. 5d.,
+and a little loose cash, represents the total of my worldly goods,
+just about the sum I have been accustomed to spend per annum."
+
+"I don't call that ruin, I call that riches," said Benita, relieved.
+"With �2,000 to begin on you may make a fortune in Africa. But how
+about the hopelessness?"
+
+"I am hopeless because I have absolutely nothing to which to look
+forward. Really, when that �2,000 is gone I do not know how to earn a
+sixpence. In this dilemma it occurred to me that the only thing I
+could do was to turn my shooting to practical account, and become a
+hunter of big game. Therefore I propose to kill elephants until an
+elephant kills me. At least," he added in a changed voice, "I did so
+propose until half an hour ago."
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE END OF THE "ZANZIBAR."
+
+"Until half an hour ago? Then why----" and Benita stopped.
+
+"Have I changed my very modest scheme of life? Miss Clifford, as you
+are so good as to be sufficiently interested, I will tell you. It is
+because a temptation which hitherto I have been able to resist, has
+during the last thirty minutes become too strong for me. You know
+everything has its breaking strain." He puffed nervously at his cigar,
+threw it into the sea, paused, then went on: "Miss Clifford, I have
+dared to fall in love with you. No; hear me out. When I have done it
+will be quite time enough to give me the answer that I expect.
+Meanwhile, for the first time in my life, allow me the luxury of being
+in earnest. To me it is a new sensation, and therefore very priceless.
+May I go on?"
+
+Benita made no answer. He rose with a certain deliberateness which
+characterized all his movements--for Robert Seymour never seemed to be
+in a hurry--and stood in front of her so that the moonlight shone upon
+her face, while his own remained in shadow.
+
+"Beyond that �2,000 of which I have spoken, and incidentally its
+owner, I have nothing whatsoever to offer to you. I am an indigent and
+worthless person. Even in my prosperous days, when I could look
+forward to a large estate, although it was often suggested to me, I
+never considered myself justified in asking any lady to share--the
+prospective estate. I think now that the real reason was that I never
+cared sufficiently for any lady, since otherwise my selfishness would
+probably have overcome my scruples, as it does to-night. Benita, for I
+will call you so, if for the first and last time, I--I--love you.
+
+"Listen now," he went on, dropping his measured manner, and speaking
+hurriedly, like a man with an earnest message and little time in which
+to deliver it, "it is an odd thing, an incomprehensible thing, but
+true, true--I fell in love with you the first time I saw your face.
+You remember, you stood there leaning over the bulwark when I came on
+board at Southampton, and as I walked up the gangway, I looked and my
+eyes met yours. Then I stopped, and that stout old lady who got off at
+Madeira bumped into me, and asked me to be good enough to make up my
+mind if I were going backward or forward. Do you remember?"
+
+"Yes," she answered in a low voice.
+
+"Which things are an allegory," he continued. "I felt it so at the
+time. Yes, I had half a mind to answer 'Backward' and give up my berth
+in this ship. Then I looked at you again, and something inside of me
+said 'Forward.' So I came up the rest of the gangway and took off my
+hat to you, a salutation I had no right to make, but which, I recall,
+you acknowledged."
+
+He paused, then continued: "As it began, so it has gone on. It is
+always like that, is it not? The beginning is everything, the end must
+follow. And now it has come out, as I was fully determined that it
+should not do half an hour ago, when suddenly you developed eyes in
+the back of your head, and--oh! dearest, I love you. No, please be
+quiet; I have not done. I have told you what I am, and really there
+isn't much more to say about me, for I have no particular vices except
+the worst of them all, idleness, and not the slightest trace of any
+virtue that I can discover. But I have a certain knowledge of the
+world acquired in a long course of shooting parties, and as a man of
+the world I will venture to give you a bit of advice. It is possible
+that to you my life and death affair is a mere matter of board-ship
+amusement. Yet it is possible also that you might take another view of
+the matter. In that case, as a friend and a man of the world, I
+entreat you--don't. Have nothing to do with me. Send me about my
+business; you will never regret it."
+
+"Are you making fun, or is all this meant, Mr. Seymour?" asked Benita,
+still speaking beneath her breath, and looking straight before her.
+
+"Meant? Of course it is meant. How can you ask?"
+
+"Because I have always understood that on such occasions people wish
+to make the best of themselves."
+
+"Quite so, but I never do what I ought, a fact for which I am grateful
+now come to think of it, since otherwise I should not be here
+to-night. I wish to make the worst of myself, the very worst, for
+whatever I am not, at least I am honest. Now having told you that I
+am, or was half an hour ago, an idler, a good-for-nothing,
+prospectless failure, I ask you--if you care to hear any more?"
+
+She half rose, and, glancing at him for the first time, saw his face
+contract itself and turn pale in the moonlight. It may be that the
+sight of it affected her, even to the extent of removing some adverse
+impression left by the bitter mocking of his self-blame. At any rate,
+Benita seemed to change her mind, and sat down again, saying:
+
+"Go on, if you wish."
+
+He bowed slightly, and said:
+
+"I thank you. I have told you what I /was/ half an hour ago; now,
+hoping that you will believe me, I will tell you what I /am/. I am a
+truly repentant man, one upon whom a new light has risen. I am not
+very old, and I think that underneath it all I have some ability.
+Opportunity may still come my way; if it does not, for your sake I
+will make the opportunity. I do not believe that you can ever find
+anyone who would love you better or care for you more tenderly. I
+desire to live for you in the future, more completely even than in the
+past I have lived for myself. I do not wish to influence you by
+personal appeals, but in fact I stand at the parting of the ways. If
+you will give yourself to me I feel as though I might still become a
+husband of whom you could be proud--if not, I write 'Finis' upon the
+tombstone of the possibilities of Robert Seymour. I adore you. You are
+the one woman with whom I desire to pass my days; it is you who have
+always been lacking to my life. I ask you to be brave, to take the
+risk of marrying me, although I can see nothing but poverty ahead of
+us, for I am an adventurer."
+
+"Don't speak like that," she said quickly. "We are all of us
+adventurers in this world, and I more than you. We have just to
+consider ourselves, not what we have or have not."
+
+"So be it, Miss Clifford. Then I have nothing more to say; now it is
+for you to answer."
+
+Just then the sound of the piano and the fiddle in the saloon ceased.
+One of the waltzes was over, and some of the dancers came upon deck to
+flirt or to cool themselves. One pair, engaged very obviously in the
+former occupation, stationed themselves so near to Robert and Benita
+that further conversation between them was impossible, and there
+proceeded to interchange the remarks common to such occasions.
+
+For a good ten minutes did they stand thus, carrying on a mock quarrel
+as to a dance of which one of them was supposed to have been
+defrauded, until Robert Seymour, generally a very philosophical
+person, could have slain those innocent lovers. He felt, he knew not
+why, that his chances were slipping away from him; that sensation of
+something bad about to happen, of which Benita had spoken, spread from
+her to him. The suspense grew exasperating, terrible even, nor could
+it be ended. To ask her to come elsewhere was under the circumstances
+not feasible, especially as he would also have been obliged to request
+the other pair to make way for them, and all this time, with a sinking
+of the heart, he felt that probably Benita was beating down any
+tenderness which she might feel towards him; that when her long-
+delayed answer did come the chances were it would be "No."
+
+The piano began to play again in the saloon, and the young people,
+still squabbling archly, at length prepared to depart. Suddenly there
+was a stir upon the bridge, and against the tender sky Robert saw a
+man dash forward. Next instant the engine-room bell rang fiercely. He
+knew the signal--it was "Stop," followed at once by other ringings
+that meant "Full speed astern."
+
+"I wonder what is up?" said the young man to the young woman.
+
+Before the words had left his lips they knew. There was a sensation as
+though all the hull of the great ship had come to a complete
+standstill, while the top part of her continued to travel forward;
+followed by another sensation still more terrible and sickening in its
+nature--that of slipping over something, helplessly, heavily, as a man
+slips upon ice or a polished floor. Spars cracked, ropes flew in two
+with a noise as of pistol shots. Heavy objects rushed about the deck,
+travelling forwards all of them. Benita was hurled from her chair
+against Robert so that the two of them rolled into the scuppers. He
+was unhurt and picked himself up, but she lay still, and he saw that
+something had struck her upon the head, for blood was running down her
+cheek. He lifted her, and, filled with black horror and despair--for
+he thought her gone--pressed his hand upon her heart. Thank God! it
+began to beat again--she still lived.
+
+The music in the saloon had stopped, and for a little while there was
+silence. Then of an instant there arose the horrible clamour of
+shipwreck; wild-eyed people rushed to and fro aimlessly; here and
+there women and children shrieked; a clergyman fell upon his knees and
+began to pray.
+
+This went on for a space, till presently the second officer appeared
+and, affecting an unconcerned air, called out that it was all right,
+the captain said no one was to be afraid. He added that they were not
+more than six miles from the shore, and that the ship would be beached
+in half an hour. Indeed, as he spoke the engines, which had been
+stopped, commenced to work again, and her head swung round in a wide
+circle, pointing to the land. Evidently they had passed over the rock
+and were once more in deep water, through which they travelled at a
+good speed but with a heavy list to starboard. The pumps got to work
+also with a monotonous, clanging beat, throwing out great columns of
+foaming water on to the oily sea. Men began to cut the covers off the
+boats, and to swing some of them outboard. Such were the things that
+went on about them.
+
+With the senseless Benita clasped to his breast, the blood from her
+cut head running down his shoulder, Robert stood still awhile,
+thinking. Then he made up his mind. As it chanced, she had a deck
+cabin, and thither he forced his way, carrying her tenderly and with
+patience through the distracted throng of passengers, for there were
+five hundred souls on board that ship. He reached the place to find
+that it was quite empty, her cabinmate having fled. Laying Benita upon
+the lower bunk, he lit the swinging candle. As soon as it burned up he
+searched for the lifebelts and by good fortune found two of them, one
+of which, not without great difficulty, he succeeded in fastening
+round her. Then he took a sponge and bathed her head with water. There
+was a great bruise upon her temple where the block or whatever it was
+had struck her, and the blood still flowed; but the wound was not very
+deep or extensive, nor, so far as he could discover, did the bone
+appear to be broken or driven in. He had good hope that she was only
+stunned, and would revive presently. Unable to do more for her, a
+thought struck him. On the floor of the cabin, thrown by the shock
+from the rack, lay her writing case. He opened it, and taking a piece
+of paper wrote these words hurriedly in pencil:
+
+ "You gave me no answer, and it is more than probable that I shall
+  receive none in this world which one or both of us may be upon
+  the verge of leaving. In the latter case we can settle the matter
+  elsewhere--perhaps. In the former, should it be my lot to go and
+  yours to stay, I hope that you will think kindly of me at times
+  as of one who loved you truly. Should it be yours to go, then
+  you will never read these words. Yet if to the dead is given
+  knowledge, be assured that as you left me so you shall find me,
+  yours and yours alone. Or perhaps we both may live; I pray
+  so.--S. R. S."
+
+Folding up the paper, he undid a button of Benita's blouse and thrust
+it away there, knowing that thus she would certainly find it should
+she survive. Then he stepped out on to the deck to see what was
+happening. The vessel still steamed, but made slow progress; moreover,
+the list to starboard was now so pronounced that it was difficult to
+stand upright. On account of it nearly all the passengers were huddled
+together upon the port side, having instinctively taken refuge as far
+as possible above the water. A man with a white, distraught face
+staggered towards him, supporting himself by the bulwarks. It was the
+captain. For a moment he paused as though to think, holding to a
+stanchion. Robert Seymour saw his opportunity and addressed him.
+
+"Forgive me," he said; "I do not like interfering with other people's
+business, but for reasons unconnected with myself I suggest to you
+that it would be wise to stop this ship and get out the boats. The sea
+is calm; if it is not left till too late there should be no difficulty
+in launching them."
+
+The man stared at him absently, then said:
+
+"They won't hold everybody, Mr. Seymour. I hope to beach her."
+
+"At least they will hold some," he answered, "whereas----" And he
+pointed to the water, which by now was almost level with the deck.
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Mr. Seymour. It doesn't matter to me, anyway.
+I am a ruined man; but the poor passengers--the poor passengers!" And
+he scrambled away fiercely towards the bridge like a wounded cat along
+the bough of a tree, whence in a few seconds Robert heard him shouting
+orders.
+
+A minute or so afterwards the steamer stopped. Too late the captain
+had decided to sacrifice his ship and save those she carried. They
+were beginning to get out the boats. Now Robert returned to the cabin
+where Benita was lying senseless, and wrapped her up in a cloak and
+some blankets. Then, seeing the second lifebelt on the floor, by an
+afterthought he put it on, knowing that there was time to spare. Next
+he lifted Benita, and feeling sure that the rush would be for the
+starboard side, on which the boats were quite near the water, carried
+her, with difficulty, for the slope was steep, to the port-cutter,
+which he knew would be in the charge of a good man, the second
+officer, whom he had seen in command there at Sunday boat-drills.
+
+Here, as he had anticipated, the crowd was small, since most people
+thought that it would not be possible to get this boat down safely to
+the water; or if their powers of reflection were gone, instinct told
+them so. That skilful seaman, the second officer, and his appointed
+crew, were already at work lowering the cutter from the davits.
+
+"Now," he said, "women and children first."
+
+A number rushed in, and Robert saw that the boat would soon be full.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that I must count myself a woman as I carry
+one," and by a great effort, holding Benita with one arm, with the
+other he let himself down the falls and, assisted by a quartermaster,
+gained the boat in safety.
+
+One or two other men scrambled after him.
+
+"Push her off," said the officer; "she can hold no more," and the
+ropes were let go.
+
+When they were about twelve feet from the ship's side, from which they
+thrust themselves clear with oars, there came a rush of people,
+disappointed of places in the starboard boats. A few of the boldest of
+these swarmed down the falls, others jumped and fell among them, or
+missed and dropped into the sea, or struck upon the sides of the boat
+and were killed. Still she reached the water upon an even keel, though
+now much overladen. The oars were got out, and they rowed round the
+bow of the great ship wallowing in her death-throes, their first idea
+being to make for the shore, which was not three miles away.
+
+This brought them to the starboard side, where they saw a hideous
+scene. Hundreds of people seemed to be fighting for room, with the
+result that some of the boats were overturned, precipitating their
+occupants into the water. Others hung by the prow or the stern, the
+ropes having jammed in the davits in the frantic haste and confusion,
+while from them human beings dropped one by one. Round others not yet
+launched a hellish struggle was in progress, the struggle of men,
+women, and children battling for their lives, in which the strong, mad
+with terror, showed no mercy to the weak.
+
+From that mass of humanity, most of them about to perish, went up a
+babel of sounds which in its sum shaped itself to one prolonged
+scream, such as might proceed from a Titan in his agony. All this
+beneath a brooding, moonlit sky, and on a sea as smooth as glass. Upon
+the ship, which now lay upon her side, the siren still sent up its
+yells for succour, and some brave man continued to fire rockets, which
+rushed heavenwards and burst in showers of stars.
+
+Robert remembered that the last rocket he had seen was fired at an
+evening /f�te/ for the amusement of the audience. The contrast struck
+him as dreadful. He wondered whether there were any power or infernal
+population that could be amused by a tragedy such as enacted itself
+before his eyes; how it came about also that such a tragedy was
+permitted by the merciful Strength in which mankind put their faith.
+
+The vessel was turning over, compressed air or steam burst up the
+decks with loud reports; fragments of wreckage flew into the air.
+There the poor captain still clung to the rail of the bridge. Seymour
+could see his white face--the moonlight seemed to paint it with a
+ghastly smile. The officer in command of their boat shouted to the
+crew to give way lest they should be sucked down with the steamer.
+
+Look! Now she wallowed like a dying whale, the moonrays shone white
+upon her bottom, showing the jagged rent made in it by the rock on
+which she had struck, and now she was gone. Only a little cloud of
+smoke and steam remained to mark where the /Zanzibar/ had been.
+
+
+
+III
+
+HOW ROBERT CAME ASHORE
+
+In place of the /Zanzibar/ a great pit on the face of the ocean, in
+which the waters boiled and black objects appeared and disappeared.
+
+"Sit still, for your lives' sake," said the officer in a quiet voice;
+"the suck is coming."
+
+In another minute it came, dragging them downward till the water
+trickled over the sides of the boat, and backward towards the pit. But
+before ever they reached it the deep had digested its prey, and, save
+for the great air-bubbles which burst about them and a mixed,
+unnatural swell, was calm again. For the moment they were safe.
+
+"Passengers," said the officer, "I am going to put out to sea--at any
+rate, till daylight. We may meet a vessel there, and if we try to row
+ashore we shall certainly be swamped in the breakers."
+
+No one objected; they seemed too stunned to speak, but Robert thought
+to himself that the man was wise. They began to move, but before they
+had gone a dozen yards something dark rose beside them. It was a piece
+of wreckage, and clinging to it a woman, who clasped a bundle to her
+breast. More, she was alive, for she began to cry to them to take her
+in.
+
+"Save me and my child!" she cried. "For God's sake save me!"
+
+Robert recognized the choking voice; it was that of a young married
+lady with whom he had been very friendly, who was going out with her
+baby to join her husband in Natal. He stretched out his hand and
+caught hold of her, whereon the officer said, heavily:
+
+"The boat is already overladen. I must warn you that to take more
+aboard is not safe."
+
+Thereon the passengers awoke from their stupor.
+
+"Push her off," cried a voice; "she must take her chance." And there
+was a murmur of approval at the dreadful words.
+
+"For Christ's sake--for Christ's sake!" wailed the drowning woman, who
+clung desperately to Robert's hand.
+
+"If you try to pull her in, we will throw you overboard," said the
+voice again, and a knife was lifted as though to hack at his arm. Then
+the officer spoke once more.
+
+"This lady cannot come into the boat unless someone goes out of it. I
+would myself, but it is my duty to stay. Is there any man here who
+will make place for her?"
+
+But all the men there--seven of them, besides the crew--hung their
+heads and were silent.
+
+"Give way," said the officer in the same heavy voice; "she will drop
+off presently."
+
+While the words passed his lips Robert seemed to live a year. Here was
+an opportunity of atonement for his idle and luxurious life. An hour
+ago he would have taken it gladly, but now--now, with Benita senseless
+on his breast, and that answer still locked in her sleeping heart? Yet
+Benita would approve of such a death as this, and even if she loved
+him not in life, would learn to love his memory. In an instant his
+mind was made up, and he was speaking rapidly.
+
+"Thompson," he said to the officer, "if I go, will you swear to take
+her in and her child?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Seymour."
+
+"Then lay to; I am going. If any of you live, tell this lady how I
+died," and he pointed to Benita, "and say I thought that she would
+wish it."
+
+"She shall be told," said the officer again, "and saved, too, if I can
+do it."
+
+"Hold Mrs. Jeffreys, then, till I am out of this. I'll leave my coat
+to cover her."
+
+A sailor obeyed, and with difficulty Robert wrenched free his hand.
+
+Very deliberately he pressed Benita to his breast and kissed her on
+the forehead, then let her gently slide on to the bottom of the boat.
+Next he slipped off his overcoat and slowly rolled himself over the
+gunwale into the sea.
+
+"Now," he said, "pull Mrs. Jeffreys in."
+
+"God bless you; you are a brave man," said Thompson. "I shall remember
+you if I live a hundred years."
+
+But no one else said anything; perhaps they were all too much ashamed,
+even then.
+
+"I have only done my duty," Seymour answered from the water. "How far
+is it to the shore?"
+
+"About three miles," shouted Thompson. "But keep on that plank, or you
+will never live through the rollers. Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," answered Robert.
+
+Then the boat passed away from him and soon vanished in the misty face
+of the deep.
+
+Resting on the plank which had saved the life of Mrs. Jeffreys, Robert
+Seymour looked about him and listened. Now and again he heard a faint,
+choking scream uttered by some drowning wretch, and a few hundred
+yards away caught sight of a black object which he thought might be a
+boat. If so, he reflected that it must be full. Moreover, he could not
+overtake it. No; his only chance was to make for the shore. He was a
+strong swimmer, and happily the water was almost as warm as milk.
+There seemed to be no reason why he should not reach it, supported as
+he was by a lifebelt, if the sharks would leave him alone, which they
+might, as there was plenty for them to feed on. The direction he knew
+well enough, for now in the great silence of the sea he could hear the
+boom of the mighty rollers breaking on the beach.
+
+Ah, those rollers! He remembered how that very afternoon Benita and he
+had watched them through his field glass sprouting up against the
+cruel walls of rock, and wondered that when the ocean was so calm they
+had still such power. Now, should he live to reach them, he was doomed
+to match himself against that power. Well, the sooner he did so the
+sooner it would be over, one way or the other. This was in his favour:
+the tide had turned, and was flowing shorewards. Indeed, he had little
+to do but to rest upon his plank, which he placed crosswise beneath
+his breast, and steered himself with his feet. Even thus he made good
+progress, nearly a mile an hour perhaps. He could have gone faster had
+he swum, but he was saving his strength.
+
+It was a strange journey upon that silent sea beneath those silent
+stars, and strange thoughts came into Robert's soul. He wondered
+whether Benita would live and what she would say. Perhaps, however,
+she was already dead, and he would meet her presently. He wondered if
+he were doomed to die, and whether this sacrifice of his would be
+allowed to atone for his past errors. He hoped so, and put up a
+petition to that effect, for himself and for Benita, and for all the
+poor people who had gone before, hurled from their pleasure into the
+halls of Death.
+
+So he floated on while the boom of the breakers grew ever nearer,
+companioned by his wild, fretful thoughts, till at length what he took
+to be a shark appeared quite close to him, and in the urgency of the
+moment he gave up wondering. It proved to be only a piece of wood, but
+later on a real shark did come, for he saw its back fin. However, this
+cruel creature was either gorged or timid, for when he splashed upon
+the water and shouted, it went away, to return no more.
+
+Now, at length, Robert entered upon the deep hill and valley swell
+which preceded the field of the rollers. Suddenly he shot down a
+smooth slope, and without effort of his own found himself borne up an
+opposing steep, from the crest of which he had a view of white lines
+of foam, and beyond them of a dim and rocky shore. At one spot, a
+little to his right, the foam seemed thinner and the line of cliff to
+be broken, as though here there was a cleft. For this cleft, then, he
+steered his plank, taking the swell obliquely, which by good fortune
+the set of the tide enabled him to do without any great exertion.
+
+The valleys grew deeper, and the tops of the opposing ridges were
+crested with foam. He had entered the rollers, and the struggle for
+life began. Before him they rushed solemn and mighty. Viewed from some
+safe place even the sight of these combers is terrible, as any who
+have watched them from this coast, or from that of the Island of
+Ascension, can bear witness. What their aspect was to this shipwrecked
+man, supported by a single plank, may therefore be imagined, seen, as
+he saw them, in the mysterious moonlight and in utter loneliness. Yet
+his spirit rose to meet the dread emergency; if he were to die, he
+would die fighting. He had grown cold and tired, but now the chill and
+weariness left him; he felt warm and strong. From the crest of one of
+the high rollers he thought he saw that about half a mile away from
+him a little river ran down the centre of the gorge, and for the mouth
+of this river he laid his course.
+
+At first all went well. He was borne up the seas; he slid down the
+seas in a lather of white foam. Presently the rise and fall grew
+steeper, and the foam began to break over his head. Robert could no
+longer guide himself; he must go as he was carried. Then in an instant
+he was carried into a hell of waters where, had it not been for his
+lifebelt and the plank, he must have been beaten down and have
+perished. As it was, now he was driven into the depths, and now he
+emerged upon their surface to hear their seething hiss around him, and
+above it all a continuous boom as of great guns--the boom of the
+breaking seas.
+
+The plank was almost twisted from his grasp, but he clung to it
+desperately, although its edges tore his arms. When the rollers broke
+over him he held his breath, and when he was tossed skywards on their
+curves, drew it again in quick, sweet gasps. Now he sat upon the very
+brow of one of them as a merman might; now he dived like a dolphin,
+and now, just as his senses were leaving him, his feet touched bottom.
+Another moment and Robert was being rolled along that bottom with a
+weight on him like the weight of mountains. The plank was rent from
+him, but his cork jacket brought him up. The backwash drew him with it
+into deeper water, where he lay helpless and despairing, for he no
+longer had any strength to struggle against his doom.
+
+Then it was that there came a mighty roller, bigger than any that he
+had seen--such a one as on that coast the Kaffirs call "a father of
+waves." It caught him in the embrace of its vast green curve. It bore
+him forward as though he were but a straw, far forward over the
+stretch of cruel rocks. It broke in thunder, dashing him again upon
+the stones and sand of the little river bar, rolling him along with
+its resistless might, till even that might was exhausted, and its foam
+began to return seawards, sucking him with it.
+
+Robert's mind was almost gone, but enough of it remained to tell him
+that if once more he was dragged into the deep water he must be lost.
+As the current haled him along he gripped at the bottom with his
+hands, and by the mercy of Heaven they closed on something. It may
+have been a tree-stump embedded there, or a rock--he never knew. At
+least, it was firm, and to it he hung despairingly. Would that rush
+never cease? His lungs were bursting; he must let go! Oh! the foam was
+thinning; his head was above it now; now it had departed, leaving him
+like a stranded fish upon the shingle. For half a minute or more he
+lay there gasping, then looked behind him to see another comber
+approaching through the gloom. He struggled to his feet, fell, rose
+again, and ran, or rather, staggered forward with that tigerish water
+hissing at his heels. Forward, still forward, till he was beyond its
+reach--yes, on dry sand. Then his vital forces failed him; one of his
+legs gave way, and, bleeding from a hundred hurts, he fell heavily
+onto his face, and there was still.
+
+The boat in which Benita lay, being so deep in the water, proved very
+hard to row against the tide, for the number of its passengers
+encumbered the oarsmen. After a while a light off land breeze sprang
+up, as here it often does towards morning; and the officer, Thompson,
+determined to risk hoisting the sail. Accordingly this was done--with
+some difficulty, for the mast had to be drawn out and shipped--
+although the women screamed as the weight of the air bent their frail
+craft over till the gunwale was almost level with the water.
+
+"Anyone who moves shall be thrown overboard!" said the officer, who
+steered, after which they were quiet.
+
+Now they made good progress seawards, but the anxieties of those who
+knew were very great, since the wind showed signs of rising, and if
+any swell should spring up that crowded cutter could scarcely hope to
+live. In fact, two hours later they were forced to lower the sail
+again and drift, waiting for the dawn. Mr. Thompson strove to cheer
+them, saying that now they were in the track of vessels, and if they
+could see none when the light came, he would run along the shore in
+the hope of finding a place free of breakers where they might land. If
+they did not inspire hope, at least his words calmed them, and they
+sat in heavy silence, watching the sky.
+
+At length it grew grey, and then, with a sudden glory peculiar to
+South Africa, the great red sun arose and began to dispel the mist
+from the surface of the sea. Half an hour more and this was gone, and
+now the bright rays brought life back into their chilled frames as
+they stared at each other to see which of their company were still
+left alive. They even asked for food, and biscuit was given to them
+with water.
+
+All this while Benita remained unconscious. Indeed, one callous
+fellow, who had been using her body as a footstool, said that she must
+be dead, and had better be thrown overboard, as it would lighten the
+boat.
+
+"If you throw that lady into the sea, living or dead," said Mr.
+Thompson, with an ominous lift of his eye, "you go with her, Mr.
+Batten. Remember who brought her here and how he died."
+
+Then Mr. Batten held his peace, while Thompson stood up and scanned
+the wide expanse of sea. Presently he whispered to a sailor near him,
+who also stood up, looked, and nodded.
+
+"That will be the other Line's intermediate boat," he said, and the
+passengers, craning their heads round, saw far away to the right a
+streak of smoke upon the horizon. Orders were given, a little corner
+of sail was hoisted, with a white cloth of some sort tied above it,
+and the oars were got out. Once more the cutter moved forward, bearing
+to the left in the hope of intercepting the steamer.
+
+She came on with terrible swiftness, and they who had miles of water
+to cover, dared hoist no more sail in that breeze. In half an hour she
+was nearly opposite to them, and they were still far away. A little
+more sail was let out, driving them through the water at as quick a
+rate as they could venture to go. The steamer was passing three miles
+or so away, and black despair took hold of them. Now the resourceful
+Thompson, without apologies, undressed, and removing the white shirt
+that he had worn at the dance, bade a sailor to tie it to an oar and
+wave it to and fro.
+
+Still the steamer went on, until presently they heard her siren going,
+and saw that she was putting about.
+
+"She has seen us," said Thompson. "Thank God, all of you, for there is
+wind coming up. Pull down that sail; we shan't need it any more."
+
+Half an hour later, with many precautions, for the wind he prophesied
+was already troubling the sea and sending little splashes of water
+over the stern of their deeply laden boat, they were fast to a line
+thrown from the deck of the three thousand ton steamer /Castle/, bound
+for Natal. Then, with a rattle, down came the accommodation ladder,
+and strong-armed men, standing on its grating, dragged them one by one
+from the death to which they had been so near. The last to be lifted
+up, except Thompson, was Benita, round whom it was necessary to reeve
+a rope.
+
+"Any use?" asked the officer on the grating as he glanced at her quiet
+form.
+
+"Can't say; I hope so," answered Thompson. "Call your doctor." And
+gently enough she was borne up the ship's side.
+
+They wanted to cast off the boat, but Thompson remonstrated, and in
+the end that also was dragged to deck. Meanwhile the news had spread,
+and the awakened passengers of the /Castle/, clad in pyjamas,
+dressing-gowns, and even blankets, were crowding round the poor
+castaways or helping them to their cabins.
+
+"I am a teetotaller," said second officer Thompson when he had made a
+brief report to the captain of the /Castle/, "but if anyone will stand
+me a whiskey and soda I shall be obliged to him."
+
+
+
+IV
+
+MR. CLIFFORD
+
+Although the shock of the blow she had received upon her head was
+sufficient to make her insensible for so many hours, Benita's injuries
+were not of a really serious nature, for as it happened the falling
+block, or whatever it may have been, had hit her forehead slantwise,
+and not full, to which accident she owed it that, although the skin
+was torn and the scalp bruised, her skull had escaped fracture. Under
+proper medical care her senses soon came back to her, but as she was
+quite dazed and thought herself still on board the /Zanzibar/, the
+doctor considered it wise to preserve her in that illusion for a
+while. So after she had swallowed some broth he gave her a sleeping
+draught, the effects of which she did not shake off till the following
+morning.
+
+Then she came to herself completely, and was astonished to feel the
+pain in her head, which had been bandaged, and to see a strange
+stewardess sitting by her with a cup of beef-tea in her hand.
+
+"Where am I? Is it a dream?" she asked.
+
+"Drink this and I will tell you," answered the stewardess.
+
+Benita obeyed, for she felt hungry, then repeated her question.
+
+"Your steamer was shipwrecked," said the stewardess, "and a great many
+poor people were drowned, but you were saved in a boat. Look, there
+are your clothes; they were never in the water."
+
+"Who carried me into the boat?" asked Benita in a low voice.
+
+"A gentleman, they say, Miss, who had wrapped you in a blanket and put
+a lifebelt on you."
+
+Now Benita remembered everything that happened before the darkness
+fell--the question to which she had given no answer, the young couple
+who stood flirting by her--all came back to her.
+
+"Was Mr. Seymour saved?" she whispered, her face grey with dread.
+
+"I dare say, Miss," answered the stewardess evasively. "But there is
+no gentleman of that name aboard this ship."
+
+At that moment the doctor came in, and him, too, she plied with
+questions. But having learned the story of Robert's self-sacrifice
+from Mr. Thompson and the others, he would give her no answer, for he
+guessed how matters had stood between them, and feared the effects of
+the shock. All he could say was that he hoped Mr. Seymour had escaped
+in some other boat.
+
+It was not until the third morning that Benita was allowed to learn
+the truth, which indeed it was impossible to conceal any longer. Mr.
+Thompson came to her cabin and told her everything, while she listened
+silently, horrified, amazed.
+
+"Miss Clifford," he said, "I think it was one of the bravest things
+that a man ever did. On the ship I always thought him rather a head-
+in-air kind of swell, but he was a splendid fellow, and I pray God
+that he has lived, as the lady and child for whom he offered himself
+up have done, for they are both well again."
+
+"Yes," she repeated after him mechanically, "splendid fellow indeed,
+and," she added, with a strange flash of conviction, "I believe that
+he /is/ still alive. If he were dead I should know it."
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so," said Mr. Thompson, who believed the
+exact contrary.
+
+"Listen," she went on. "I will tell you something. When that dreadful
+accident occurred Mr. Seymour had just asked me to marry him, and I
+was going to answer that I would--because I love him. I believe that I
+shall still give him that answer."
+
+Mr. Thompson replied again that he hoped so, which, being as honest
+and tender-hearted as he was brave and capable, he did most earnestly;
+but in his heart he reflected that her answer would not be given this
+side of the grave. Then, as he had been deputed to do, he handed her
+the note which had been found in the bosom of her dress, and, able to
+bear no more of this painful scene, hurried from the cabin. She read
+it greedily twice, and pressed it to her lips, murmuring:
+
+"Yes, I will think kindly of you, Robert Seymour, kindly as woman can
+of man, and now or afterwards you shall have your answer, if you still
+wish for it. Whenever you come or wherever I go, it shall be ready for
+you."
+
+That afternoon, when she was more composed, Mrs. Jeffreys came to see
+Benita, bringing her baby with her. The poor woman was still pale and
+shaken, but the child had taken no hurt at all from its immersion in
+that warm water.
+
+"What can you think of me?" she said, falling on her knees by Benita.
+"But oh! I did not know what I was doing. It was terror and my child,"
+and she kissed the sleeping infant passionately. "Also I did not
+understand at the time--I was too dazed. And--that hero--he gave his
+life for me when the others wished to beat me off with oars. Yes, his
+blood is upon my hands--he who died that I and my child might live."
+
+Benita looked at her and answered, very gently:
+
+"Perhaps he did not die after all. Do not grieve, for if he did it was
+a very glorious death, and I am prouder of him than I could have been
+had he lived on like the others--who wished to beat you off with oars.
+Whatever is, is by God's Will, and doubtless for the best. At the
+least, you and your child will be restored to your husband, though it
+cost me one who would have been--my husband."
+
+That evening Benita came upon the deck and spoke with the other ladies
+who were saved, learning every detail that she could gather. But to
+none of the men, except to Mr. Thompson, would she say a single word,
+and soon, seeing how the matter stood, they hid themselves away from
+her as they had already done from Mrs. Jeffreys.
+
+The /Castle/ had hung about the scene of the shipwreck for thirty
+hours, and rescued one other boatload of survivors, also a stoker
+clinging to a piece of wreckage. But with the shore she had been
+unable to communicate, for the dreaded wind had risen, and the
+breakers were quite impassable to any boat. To a passing steamer bound
+for Port Elizabeth, however, she had reported the terrible disaster,
+which by now was known all over the world, together with the names of
+those whom she had picked up in the boats.
+
+On the night of the day of Benita's interview with Mrs. Jeffreys, the
+/Castle/ arrived off Durban and anchored, since she was too big a
+vessel to cross the bar as it was in those days. At dawn the
+stewardess awoke Benita from the uneasy sleep in which she lay, to
+tell her that an old gentleman had come off in the tug and wished to
+see her; for fear of exciting false hopes she was very careful to add
+that word "old." With her help Benita dressed herself, and as the sun
+rose, flooding the Berea, the Point, the white town and fair Natal
+beyond with light, she went on to the deck, and there, leaning over
+the bulwark, saw a thin, grey-bearded man of whom after all these
+years the aspect was still familiar.
+
+A curious thrill went through her as she looked at him leaning there
+lost in thought. After all, he was her father, the man to whom she
+owed her presence upon this bitter earth, this place of terrors and
+delights, of devastation and hope supernal. Perhaps, too, he had been
+as much sinned against as sinning. She stepped up to him and touched
+him on the shoulder.
+
+"Father," she said.
+
+He turned round with all the quickness of a young man, for about him
+there was a peculiar agility which his daughter had inherited. Like
+his mind, his body was still nimble.
+
+"My darling," he said, "I should have known your voice anywhere. It
+has haunted my sleep for years. My darling, thank you for coming back
+to me, and thank God for preserving you when so many were lost." Then
+he threw his arms about her and kissed her.
+
+She shrank from him a little, for by inadvertence he had pressed upon
+the wound in her forehead.
+
+"Forgive me," she said; "it is my head. It was injured, you know."
+
+Then he saw the bandage about her brow, and was very penitent.
+
+"They did not tell me that you had been hurt, Benita," he exclaimed in
+his light, refined voice, one of the stamps of that gentility of blood
+and breeding whereof all his rough years and errors had been unable to
+deprive him. "They only told me that you were saved. It is part of my
+ill-fortune that at our first moment of greeting I should give you
+pain, who have caused you so much already."
+
+Benita felt that the words were an apology for the past, and her heart
+was touched.
+
+"It is nothing," she answered. "You did not know or mean it."
+
+"No, dear, I never knew or meant it. Believe me, I was not a willing
+sinner, only a weak one. You are beautiful, Benita--far more so than I
+expected."
+
+"What," she answered smiling, "with this bandage round my head? Well,
+in your eyes, perhaps." But inwardly she thought to herself that the
+description would be more applicable to her father, who in truth,
+notwithstanding his years, was wonderfully handsome, with his quick
+blue eyes, mobile face, gentle mouth with the wistful droop at the
+corners so like her own, and grey beard. How, she wondered, could this
+be the man who had struck her mother. Then she remembered him as he
+had been years before when he was a slave to liquor, and knew that the
+answer was simple.
+
+"Tell me about your escape, love," he said, patting her hand with his
+thin fingers. "You don't know what I've suffered. I was waiting at the
+Royal Hotel here, when the cable came announcing the loss of the
+/Zanzibar/ and all on board. For the first time for many a year I
+drank spirits to drown my grief--don't be afraid, dear--for the first
+time and the last. Then afterwards came another cable giving the names
+of those who were known to be saved, and--thank God, oh! thank God--
+yours among them," and he gasped at the recollection of that relief.
+
+"Yes," she said; "I suppose I should thank--Him--and another. Have you
+heard the story about--how Mr. Seymour saved me, I mean?"
+
+"Some of it. While you were dressing yourself, I have been talking to
+the officer who was in command of your boat. He was a brave man,
+Benita, and I am sorry to tell you he is gone."
+
+She grasped a stanchion and clung there, staring at him with a wild,
+white face.
+
+"How do you know that, Father?"
+
+Mr. Clifford drew a copy of the /Natal Mercury/ of the previous day
+from the pocket of his ulster, and while she waited in an agony he
+hunted through the long columns descriptive of the loss of the
+/Zanzibar/. Presently he came to the paragraph he sought, and read it
+aloud to her. It ran:
+
+ "The searchers on the coast opposite the scene of the shipwreck
+  report that they met a Kaffir who was travelling along the
+  seashore, who produced a gold watch which he said he had taken
+  from the body of a white man that he found lying on the sand at
+  the mouth of the Umvoli River. Inside the watch is engraved, 'To
+  Seymour Robert Seymour, from his uncle, on his twenty-first
+  birthday.' The name of Mr. Seymour appears as a first-class
+  passenger to Durban by the /Zanzibar/. He was a member of an old
+  English family in Lincolnshire. This was his second journey to
+  South Africa, which he visited some years ago with his brother on
+  a big-game shooting expedition. All who knew him then will join
+  with us in deploring his loss. Mr. Seymour was a noted shot and an
+  English gentleman of the best stamp. He was last seen by one of
+  the survivors of the catastrophe, carrying Miss Clifford, the
+  daughter of the well-known Natal pioneer of that name, into a
+  boat, but as this young lady is reported to have been saved, and
+  as he entered the boat with her, no explanation is yet forthcoming
+  as to how he came to his sad end."
+
+"I fear that is clear enough," said Mr. Clifford, as he folded up his
+paper.
+
+"Yes, clear enough," she repeated in a strained voice. "And yet--yet--
+oh! Father, he had just asked me to marry him, and I can't believe
+that he is dead before I had time to answer."
+
+"Good Heavens!" said the old man, "they never told me that. It is
+dreadfully sad. God help you, my poor child! There is nothing more to
+say except that he was only one among three hundred who have gone with
+him. Be brave now, before all these people. Look--here comes the tug."
+
+
+
+The following week was very much of a blank to Benita. When they
+reached shore some old friends of her father's took her and him to
+their house, a quiet place upon the Berea. Here, now that the first
+excitement of rescue and grief was over, the inevitable reaction set
+in, bringing with it weakness so distressing that the doctor insisted
+upon her going to bed, where she remained for the next five days. With
+the healing up of the wound in her head her strength came back to her
+at last, but it was a very sad Benita who crept from her room one
+afternoon on to the verandah and looked out at the cruel sea, peaceful
+now as the sky above.
+
+Her father, who had nursed her tenderly during these dark days, came
+and sat by her, taking her hand in his.
+
+"This is capital," he said, glancing at her anxiously. "You are
+getting quite yourself again."
+
+"I shall never be myself again," she answered. "My old self is dead,
+although the outside of me has recovered. Father, I suppose that it is
+wrong, but I wish that I were dead too. I wish that he had taken me
+with him when he jumped into the sea to lighten the boat."
+
+"Don't speak like that," he broke in hastily. "Of course I know that I
+am not much to you--how can I be after all that is past? But I love
+you, dear, and if I were left quite alone again----" And he broke off.
+
+"You shall not be left alone if I can help it," she replied, looking
+at the old man with her dark and tender eyes. "We have only each other
+in the world now, have we? The rest have gone, never to return."
+
+He threw his arms about her, and, drawing her to him, kissed her
+passionately.
+
+"If only you could learn to love me!" he said.
+
+"I do love you," she answered, "who now shall never love any other man
+upon the earth."
+
+This was the beginning of a deep affection which sprang up between Mr.
+Clifford and his daughter, and continued to the end.
+
+"Is there any news?" she asked a little later.
+
+"None--none about him. The tide took his body away, no doubt, after
+the Kaffir had gone. I remember him well now. He was a fine young man,
+and it comes into my mind that when I said good-bye to him above those
+old ruins, I wished that I had a son like that. And to think that he
+went so near to becoming a son to me! Well, the grass must bend when
+the wind blows, as the natives say."
+
+"I am glad that you knew him," she answered simply.
+
+Then they began talking about other matters. He told her that all the
+story had become known, and that people spoke of Robert Seymour as
+"the hero"; also that there was a great deal of curiosity about her.
+
+"Then let us get away as soon as we can," she said nervously. "But,
+Father, where are we going?"
+
+"That will be for you to decide, love. Listen, now; this is my
+position. I have been quite steady for years, and worked hard, with
+the result that I and my partner have a fine farm in the Transvaal, on
+the high land near Lake Chrissie, out Wakkerstroom way. We breed
+horses there, and have done very well with them. I have �1,500 saved,
+and the farm brings us in quite �600 a year beyond the expenses. But
+it is a lonely place, with only a few Boers about, although they are
+good fellows enough. You might not care to live there with no
+company."
+
+"I don't think that I should mind," she answered, smiling.
+
+"Not now, but by-and-by you would when you know what it is like. Now I
+might sell my share in the farm to my partner, who, I think, would buy
+it, or I might trust to him to send me a part of the profits, which
+perhaps he would not. Then, if you wish it, we could live in or near
+one of the towns, or even, as you have an income of your own, go home
+to England, if that is your will."
+
+"Is it your will?" she asked.
+
+He shook his head. "No; all my life is here. Also, I have something to
+find before I die--for your sake, dear."
+
+"Do you mean up among those ruins?" she asked, looking at him
+curiously.
+
+"Yes. So you know about it?" he answered, with a flash of his blue
+eyes. "Oh! of course, Seymour told you. Yes, I mean among the ruins--
+but I will tell you that story another time--not here, not here. What
+do you wish to do, Benita? Remember, I am in your hands; I will obey
+you in all things."
+
+"Not to stop in a town and not to go to England," she replied, while
+he hung eagerly upon her words, "for this has become my holy land.
+Father, I will go with you to your farm; there I can be quiet, you and
+I together."
+
+"Yes," he answered rather uneasily; "but, you see, Benita, we shall
+not be quite alone there. My partner, Jacob Meyer, lives with me."
+
+"Jacob Meyer? Ah! I remember," and she winced. "He is a German, is he
+not--and odd?"
+
+"German Jew, I imagine, and very odd. Should have made his fortune a
+dozen times over, and yet has never done anything. Too unpractical,
+too visionary, with all his brains and scheming. Not a good man,
+Benita, although he suits me, and, for the matter of that, under our
+agreement I cannot get rid of him."
+
+"How did he become your partner?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! a good many years ago he turned up at the place with a doleful
+story. Said that he had been trading among the Zulus; he was what we
+call a 'smouse' out here, and got into a row with them, I don't know
+how. The end of it was that they burned his waggon, looted his trade-
+goods and oxen, and killed his servants. They would have killed him
+too, only, according to his own account, he escaped in a very queer
+fashion."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Well, he says by mesmerising the chief and making the man lead him
+through his followers. An odd story enough, but I can quite believe it
+of Jacob. He worked for me for six months, and showed himself very
+clever. Then one night, I remember it was a few days after I had told
+him of the story of the Portuguese treasure in Matabeleland, he
+produced �500 in Bank of England notes out of the lining of his
+waistcoat, and offered to buy a half interest in the farm. Yes, �500!
+Although for all those months I had believed him to be a beggar. Well,
+as he was so /slim/, and better than no company in that lonely place,
+in the end I accepted. We have done well since, except for the
+expedition after the treasure which we did not get, although we more
+than paid our expenses out of the ivory we bought. But next time we
+shall succeed, I am sure," he added with enthusiasm, "that is, if we
+can persuade those Makalanga to let us search on the mountain."
+
+Benita smiled.
+
+"I think you had better stick to the horsebreeding," she said.
+
+"You shall judge when you hear the story. But you have been brought up
+in England; will you not be afraid to go to Lake Chrissie?"
+
+"Afraid of what?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! of the loneliness, and of Jacob Meyer."
+
+"I was born on the veld, Father, and I have always hated London. As
+for your odd friend, Mr. Meyer, I am not afraid of any man on earth. I
+have done with men. At the least I will try the place and see how I
+get on."
+
+"Very well," answered her father with a sigh of relief. "You can
+always come back, can't you?"
+
+"Yes," she said indifferently. "I suppose that I can always come
+back."
+
+
+
+V
+
+JACOB MEYER
+
+More than three weeks had gone by when one morning Benita, who slept
+upon the cartel or hide-strung bed in the waggon, having dressed
+herself as best she could in that confined place, thrust aside the
+curtain and seated herself upon the voorkisse, or driving-box. The sun
+was not yet up, and the air was cold with frost, for they were on the
+Transvaal high-veld at the end of winter. Even through her thick cloak
+Benita shivered and called to the driver of the waggon, who also acted
+as cook, and whose blanket-draped form she could see bending over a
+fire into which he was blowing life, to make haste with the coffee.
+
+"By and by, Missie--by and by," he answered, coughing the rank smoke
+from his lungs. "Kettle no sing yet, and fire black as hell."
+
+Benita reflected that popular report painted this locality red, but
+without entering into argument sat still upon the chest waiting till
+the water boiled and her father appeared.
+
+Presently he emerged from under the side flap of the waggon where he
+slept, and remarking that it was really too cold to think of washing,
+climbed to her side by help of the disselboom, and kissed her.
+
+"How far are we now from Rooi Krantz, Father?" she asked, for that was
+the name of Mr. Clifford's farm.
+
+"About forty miles, dear. The waggon cannot make it to-night with
+these two sick oxen, but after the midday outspan we will ride on, and
+be there by sundown. I am afraid you are tired of this trekking."
+
+"No," she answered. "I like it very much; it is so restful, and I
+sleep sound upon that cartel. I feel as though I should like to trek
+on for the rest of my life."
+
+"So you shall if you wish, dear, for whole months. South Africa is
+big, and when the grass grows, if you still wish it, we will take a
+long journey."
+
+She smiled, but made no answer, knowing that he was thinking of the
+place so far away where he believed that once the Portuguese had
+buried gold.
+
+The kettle was singing now merrily enough, and Hans, the cook, lifting
+it from the fire in triumph--for his blowing exertions had been
+severe--poured into it a quantity of ground coffee from an old mustard
+tin. Then, having stirred the mixture with a stick, he took a red
+ember from the fire and dropped it into the kettle, a process which,
+as travellers in the veld know well, has a clearing effect upon the
+coffee. Next he produced pannikins, and handed them up with a pickle
+jar full of sugar to Mr. Clifford, upon the waggon chest. Milk they
+had none, yet that coffee tasted a great deal better than it looked;
+indeed, Benita drank two cups of it to warm herself and wash down the
+hard biscuit. Before the day was over glad enough was she that she had
+done so.
+
+The sun was rising; huge and red it looked seen through the clinging
+mist, and, their breakfast finished, Mr. Clifford gave orders that the
+oxen, which were filling themselves with the dry grass near at hand,
+should be got up and inspanned. The voorlooper, a Zulu boy, who had
+left them for a little while to share the rest of the coffee with
+Hans, rose from his haunches with a grunt, and departed to fetch them.
+A minute or two later Hans ceased from his occupation of packing up
+the things, and said in a low voice:
+
+"/Kek!/ Baas"--that is "Look!"
+
+Following the line of his outstretched hand, Benita and her father
+perceived, not more than a hundred yards away from them, a great troop
+of wilderbeeste, or gnu, travelling along a ridge, and pausing now and
+again to indulge in those extraordinary gambols which cause the Boers
+to declare that these brutes have a worm in their brains.
+
+"Give me my rifle, Hans," said Mr. Clifford. "We want meat."
+
+By the time that the Westley-Richards was drawn from its case and
+loaded, only one buck remained, for, having caught sight of the
+waggon, it turned to stare at it suspiciously. Mr. Clifford aimed and
+fired. Down went the buck, then springing to its feet again, vanished
+behind the ridge. Mr. Clifford shook his head sadly.
+
+"I don't often do that sort of thing, my dear, but the light is still
+very bad. Still, he's hit. What do you say? Shall we get on the horses
+and catch him? A canter would warm you."
+
+Benita, who was tender-hearted, reflected that it would be kinder to
+put the poor creature out of its pain, and nodded her head. Five
+minutes later they were cantering together up the rise, Mr. Clifford
+having first ordered the waggon to trek on till they rejoined it, and
+slipped a packet of cartridges into his pocket. Beyond the rise lay a
+wide stretch of marshy ground, bordered by another rise half a mile or
+more away, from the crest of which--for now the air was clear enough--
+they saw the wounded bull standing. On they went after him, but before
+they could come within shot, he had moved forward once more, for he
+was only lightly hurt in the flank, and guessed whence his trouble
+came.
+
+Again and again did he retreat as they drew near, until at length,
+just as Mr. Clifford was about to dismount to risk a long shot, the
+beast took to its heels in earnest.
+
+"Come on," he said; "don't let's be beat," for by this time the hunter
+was alive in him.
+
+So off they went at a gallop, up slopes and down slopes that reminded
+Benita of the Bay of Biscay in a storm, across half-dried vleis that
+in the wet season were ponds, through stony ground and patches of ant-
+bear holes in which they nearly came to grief. For five miles at least
+the chase went on, since at the end of winter the wilderbeeste was
+thin and could gallop well, notwithstanding its injury, faster even
+than their good horses. At last, rising a ridge, they found whither it
+was going, for suddenly they were in the midst of vast herds of game,
+thousands and tens of thousands of them stretching as far as the eye
+could reach.
+
+It was a wondrous sight that now, alas! will be seen no more--at any
+rate upon the Transvaal veld; wilderbeeste, blesbok, springbok, in
+countless multitudes, and amongst them a few quagga and hartebeeste.
+With a sound like that of thunder, their flashing myriad hoofs casting
+up clouds of dust from the fire-blackened veld, the great herds
+separated at the appearance of their enemy, man. This way and that
+they went in groups and long brown lines, leaving the wounded and
+exhausted wilderbeeste behind them, so that presently he was the sole
+tenant of that great cup of land.
+
+At him they rode till Mr. Clifford, who was a little ahead of his
+daughter, drew almost alongside. Then the poor maddened brute tried
+its last shift. Stopping suddenly, it wheeled round and charged head
+down. Mr. Clifford, as it came, held out his rifle in his right hand
+and fired at a hazard. The bullet passed through the bull, but could
+not stop its charge. Its horns, held low, struck the forelegs of the
+horse, and next instant horse, man, and wilderbeeste rolled on the
+veld together.
+
+Benita, who was fifty yards behind, uttered a little cry of fear, but
+before ever she reached him, her father had risen laughing, for he was
+quite unhurt. The horse, too, was getting up, but the bull could rise
+no more. It struggled to its forefeet, uttered a kind of sobbing
+groan, stared round wildly, and rolled over, dead.
+
+"I never knew a wilderbeeste charge like that before," said Mr.
+Clifford. "Confound it! I believe my horse is lamed."
+
+Lamed it was, indeed, where the bull had struck the foreleg, though,
+as it chanced, not badly. Having tied a handkerchief to the horn of
+the buck in order to scare away the vultures, and thrown some tufts of
+dry grass upon its body, which he proposed, if possible, to fetch or
+send for, Mr. Clifford mounted his lame horse and headed for the
+waggon. But they had galloped farther than they thought, and it was
+midday before they came to what they took to be the road. As there was
+no spoor upon it, they followed this track backwards, expecting to
+find the waggon outspanned, but although they rode for mile upon mile,
+no waggon could they see. Then, realizing their mistake, they retraced
+their steps, and leaving this path at the spot where they had found
+it, struck off again to the right.
+
+Meanwhile, the sky was darkening, and at about three o'clock in the
+afternoon a thunderstorm broke over them accompanied by torrents of
+icy rain, the first fall of the spring, and a bitter wind which
+chilled them through. More, after the heavy rain came drizzle and a
+thick mist that deepened as evening approached.
+
+Now their plight was very wretched. Lost, starved, soaked to the skin,
+with tired horses one of which was lame, they wandered about on the
+lonely veld. Only one stroke of fortune came to them. As the sun set,
+for a few moments its rays pierced the mist, telling them in what
+direction they should go. Turning their horses, they headed for it,
+and so rode on until the darkness fell. Then they halted a while, but
+feeling that if they stood still in that horrible cold they would
+certainly perish before morning, once more pushed on again. By now Mr.
+Clifford's horse was almost too lame to ride, so he led it, walking at
+his daughter's side, and reproaching himself bitterly for his
+foolishness in having brought her into this trouble.
+
+"It doesn't matter, Father," she answered wearily, for she was very
+tired. "Nothing matters; one may as well die upon the veld as in the
+sea or anywhere else."
+
+On they plodded, they knew not whither. Benita fell asleep upon her
+saddle, and was awakened once by a hyena howling quite close to them,
+and once by her horse falling to its knees.
+
+"What is the time?" she said at last.
+
+Her father struck a match and looked at his watch. It was ten o'clock;
+they had been fifteen hours away from the waggon and without food. At
+intervals Mr. Clifford, who had remounted, fired his rifle. Now there
+was but one cartridge left, and having caught sight of his daughter's
+exhausted face by the light of the match, he fired this also, though
+in that desperate wilderness there was little hope of its bringing
+succour.
+
+"Shall we stop or go on?" he asked.
+
+"I do not care," she answered. "Only if I stop I think it will be for
+ever. Let us go on."
+
+Now the rain had ceased, but the mist was as dense as before. Also
+they seemed to have got among bush, for wet leaves brushed their
+faces. Utterly exhausted they stumbled forward, till suddenly Benita
+felt her horse stop as though a hand had seized its bridle, and heard
+a man's voice, speaking with a foreign accent, say:
+
+"Mein Gott! Where are you going?"
+
+"I wish I knew," she answered, like one in a dream.
+
+At this instant the moon rose above the mists, and Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer for the first time.
+
+In that light his appearance was not unpleasing. A man of about forty
+years of age, not over tall, slight and active in build, with a
+pointed black beard, regular, Semitic features, a complexion of an
+ivory pallor which even the African sun did not seem to tan, and dark,
+lustrous eyes that appeared, now to sleep, and now to catch the fire
+of the thoughts within. Yet, weary though she was, there was something
+in the man's personality which repelled and alarmed Benita, something
+wild and cruel. She felt that he was filled with unsatisfied ambitions
+and desires, and that to attain to them he would shrink at nothing. In
+a moment he was speaking again in tones that compelled her attention.
+
+"It was a good thought that brought me here to look for you. No; not a
+thought--what do you call it?--an instinct. I think your mind must
+have spoken to my mind, and called me to save you. See now, Clifford,
+my friend, where you have led your daughter. See, see!" And he pointed
+downwards.
+
+They leaned forward and stared. There, immediately beneath them, was a
+mighty gulf whereof the moonlight did not reveal the bottom.
+
+"You are no good veld traveller, Clifford, my friend; one more step of
+those silly beasts, and down below there would have been two red heaps
+with bits of bones sticking out of them--yes, there on the rocks five
+hundred feet beneath. Ah! you would have slept soundly to-night, both
+of you."
+
+"Where is the place?" asked Mr. Clifford in a dazed fashion.
+"Leopard's Kloof?"
+
+"Yes; Leopard's Kloof, no other. You have travelled along the top of
+the hill, not at the bottom. Certainly that was a good thought which
+came to me from the lady your daughter, for she is one of the thought
+senders, I am sure. Ah! it came to me suddenly; it hit me like a stick
+whilst I was searching for you, having found that you had lost the
+waggon. It said to me, 'Ride to the top of Leopard's Kloof. Ride
+hard.' I rode hard through the rocks and the darkness, through the
+mist and the rain, and not one minute had I been here when you came
+and I caught the lady's bridle."
+
+"I am sure we are very grateful to you," murmured Benita.
+
+"Then I am paid back ten thousand times. No; it is I who am grateful--
+I who have saved your life through the thought you sent me."
+
+"Thought or no thought, all's well that ends well," broke in Mr.
+Clifford impatiently. "And thank Heaven we are not more than three
+miles away from home. Will you lead the way, Jacob? You always could
+see in the dark?"
+
+"Yes, yes," and he took hold of Benita's bridle with his firm, white
+hand. "Oh! my horse will follow, or put your arm through his rein--so.
+Now come on, Miss Clifford, and be afraid no more. With Jacob Meyer
+you are safe."
+
+So they began their descent of the hill. Meyer did not speak again;
+all his attention seemed to be concentrated upon finding a safe path
+on which the horses would not stumble. Nor did Benita speak; she was
+too utterly exhausted--so exhausted, indeed, that she could no longer
+control her mind and imagination. These seemed to loose themselves
+from her and to acquire new powers, notably that of entering into the
+secret thoughts of the man at her side. She saw them pass before her
+like living things, and yet she could not read them. Still, something
+she did understand--that she had suddenly grown important to this man,
+not in the way in which women are generally important to men, but
+otherwise. She felt as though she had become interwoven with the
+objects of his life, and was henceforth necessary to their fulfilment,
+as though she were someone whom he had been seeking for years on
+years, the one person who could give him light in his darkness.
+
+These imaginings troubled her, so that she was very thankful when they
+passed away as swiftly as they had arisen, and she knew only that she
+was half dead with weariness and cold; that her limbs ached and that
+the steep path seemed endless.
+
+At length they reached level ground, and after travelling along it for
+a while and crossing the bed of a stream, passed through a gate, and
+stopped suddenly at the door of a house with lighted windows.
+
+"Here is your home at last, Miss Clifford," said the musical voice of
+Jacob Meyer, "and I thank the Fate which rules us that it has taught
+me to bring you to it safely."
+
+Making no answer she slid from the saddle, only to find that she could
+not stand, for she sank into a heap upon the ground. With a gentle
+exclamation he lifted her, and calling to two Kaffirs who had appeared
+to take the horses, led her into the house.
+
+"You must go to bed at once," he said, conducting her to a door which
+opened out of the sitting-room. "I have had a fire lit in your chamber
+in case you should come, and old Tante Sally will bring you soup with
+brandy in it, and hot water for your feet. Ah! there you are, old
+vrouw. Come now; help the lady, your mistress. Is all ready?"
+
+"All, Baas," answered the woman, a stout half-breed with a kindly
+face. "Come now, my little one, and I will undress you."
+
+Half an hour later Benita, having drunk more brandy than ever she had
+done in her life before, was wrapped up and fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke the sun was streaming through the curtained window of
+her room, and by the light of it she saw that the clock which stood
+upon the mantelpiece pointed to half-past eleven. She had slept for
+nearly twelve hours, and felt that, notwithstanding the cold and
+exposure, save for stiffness and a certain numb feeling in her head--
+the result, perhaps, of the unaccustomed brandy--she was well and,
+what was more, quite hungry.
+
+Outside on the verandah she heard the voice of Jacob Meyer, with which
+she seemed already to have become familiar, telling some natives to
+stop singing, as they would wake the chieftainess inside. He used the
+Zulu word Inkosi-kaas, which, she remembered, meant head-lady or
+chieftainess. He was very thoughtful for her, she reflected, and was
+grateful, till suddenly she remembered the dislike she had taken to
+the man.
+
+Then she looked round her room and saw that it was very pretty, well
+furnished and papered, with water-colour pictures on the walls of no
+mean merit, things that she had not expected in this far-off place.
+Also on a table stood a great bowl of arum lilies. She wondered who
+had put them there; whether it were the old half-breed, Sally, or
+Jacob Meyer. Also she wondered who had painted the pictures, which
+were all of African scenery, and something told her that both the
+flowers and the pictures came from Jacob Meyer.
+
+On the little table by her bed was a handbell, which presently she
+rang. Instantly she heard the voice of Sally calling for the coffee
+"quick," and next minute the woman entered, bringing a tray with it,
+and bread and butter--yes, and toast and eggs, which had evidently
+been made ready for her. Speaking in English mixed with Dutch words,
+she told Benita that her father was still in bed, but sent her his
+love, and wished to know how she did. Then, while she ate her
+breakfast with appetite, Sally set her a bath, and subsequently
+appeared carrying the contents of the box she had used upon the
+waggon, which had now arrived safely at the farm. Benita asked who had
+ordered the box to be unpacked, and Sally answered that the Heer Meyer
+had ordered it so that she might not be disturbed in her sleep, and
+that her things should be ready for her when she woke.
+
+"The Heer Meyer thinks a great deal about other people," said Benita.
+
+"Ja, ja!" answered the old half-breed. "He tink much about people when
+he want to tink about them, but he tink most about himself. Baas
+Meyer, he a very clever man--oh! a very clever man, who want to be a
+great man too. And one day, Missee, he be a great man, great and rich
+--if the Heer God Almighty let him."
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE GOLD COIN
+
+Six weeks had gone by since the eventful evening of Benita's arrival
+at Rooi Krantz. Now the spring had fully come, the veld was emerald
+with grass and bright with flowers. In the kloof behind the house
+trees had put out their leaves, and the mimosas were in bloom, making
+the air heavy with their scent. Amongst them the ringdoves nested in
+hundreds, and on the steep rocks of the precipice the red-necked
+vultures fed their young. Along the banks of the stream and round the
+borders of the lake the pig-lilies bloomed, a sheet of white. All the
+place was beautiful and full of life and hope. Nothing seemed dead and
+hopeless except Benita's heart.
+
+Her health had quite come back to her; indeed, never before had she
+felt so strong and well. But the very soul had withered in her breast.
+All day she thought, and all night she dreamed of the man who, in cold
+blood, had offered up his life to save a helpless woman and her child.
+She wondered whether he would have done this if he had heard the
+answer that was upon her lips. Perhaps that was why she had not been
+given time to speak that answer, which might have made a coward of
+him. For nothing more had been heard of Robert Seymour; indeed,
+already the tragedy of the ship /Zanzibar/ was forgotten. The dead had
+buried their dead, and since then worse disasters had happened in the
+world.
+
+But Benita could not bury her dead. She rode about the veld, she sat
+by the lake and watched the wild fowl, or at night heard them
+flighting over her in flocks. She listened to the cooing of the doves,
+the booming of the bitterns in the reeds, and the drumming of the
+snipe high in air. She counted the game trekking along the ridge till
+her mind grew weary. She sought consolation from the breast of Nature
+and found none; she sought it in the starlit skies, and oh! they were
+very far away. Death reigned within her who outwardly was so fair to
+see.
+
+In the society of her father, indeed, she took pleasure, for he loved
+her, and love comforted her wounded heart. In that of Jacob Meyer also
+she found interest, for now her first fear of the man had died away,
+and undoubtedly he was very interesting; well-bred also after a
+fashion, although a Jew who had lost his own faith and rejected that
+of the Christians.
+
+He told her that he was a German by birth, that he had been sent to
+England as a boy, to avoid the conscription, which Jews dislike, since
+in soldiering there is little profit. Here he had become a clerk in a
+house of South African merchants, and, as a consequence--having shown
+all the ability of his race--was despatched to take charge of a branch
+business in Cape Colony. What happened to him there Benita never
+discovered, but probably he had shown too much ability of an oblique
+nature. At any rate, his connection with the firm terminated, and for
+years he became a wandering "smouse," or trader, until at length he
+drifted into partnership with her father.
+
+Whatever might have been his past, however, soon she found that he was
+an extremely able and agreeable man. It was he and no other who had
+painted the water-colours that adorned her room, and he could play and
+sing as well as he painted. Also, as Robert had told her, Mr. Meyer
+was very well-read in subjects that are not usually studied on the
+veld of South Africa; indeed, he had quite a library of books, most of
+them histories or philosophical and scientific works, of which he
+would lend her volumes. Fiction, however, he never read, for the
+reason, he told her, that he found life itself and the mysteries and
+problems which surround it so much more interesting.
+
+One evening, when they were walking together by the lake, watching the
+long lights of sunset break and quiver upon its surface, Benita's
+curiosity overcame her, and she asked him boldly how it happened that
+such a man as he was content to live the life he did.
+
+"In order that I may reach a better," he answered. "Oh! no, not in the
+skies, Miss Clifford, for of them I know nothing, nor, as I believe,
+is there anything to know. But here--here."
+
+"What do you mean by a better life, Mr. Meyer?"
+
+"I mean," he answered, with a flash of his dark eyes, "great wealth,
+and the power that wealth brings. Ah! I see you think me very sordid
+and materialistic, but money is God in this world, Miss Clifford--
+money is God."
+
+She smiled and answered: "I fear, then, that he is likely to prove an
+invisible god on the high veld, Mr. Meyer. You will scarcely make a
+great fortune out of horse-breeding, and here there is no one to
+rule."
+
+"Do you suppose, then, that is why I stop at Rooi Krantz, just to
+breed horses? Has not your father told you about the great treasure
+hidden away up there among the Makalanga?"
+
+"I have heard something of it," she answered with a sigh. "Also that
+both of you went to look for it and were disappointed."
+
+"Ah! The Englishman who was drowned--Mr. Seymour--he spoke of it, did
+he not? He found us there."
+
+"Yes; and you wished to shoot him--do you remember?"
+
+"God in Heaven! Yes, because I thought he had come to rob us. Well, I
+did not shoot, and afterwards we were hunted out of the place, which
+does not much matter, as those fools of natives refused to let us dig
+in the fortress."
+
+"Then why do you still think about this treasure which probably does
+not exist?"
+
+"Why, Miss Clifford, do you think about various things that probably
+do not exist? Perhaps because you feel that here or elsewhere they
+/do/ exist. Well, that is what I feel about the treasure, and what I
+have always felt. It exists, and I shall find it--now. I shall live to
+see more gold than you can even imagine, and that is why I still
+continue to breed horses on the Transvaal veld. Ah! you laugh; you
+think it is a nightmare that I breed----"
+
+Then suddenly he became aware of Sally, who had appeared over the fold
+of the rise behind them, and asked irritably:
+
+"What is it now, old vrouw?"
+
+"The Baas Clifford wants to speak with you, Baas Jacob. Messengers
+have come to you from far away."
+
+"What messengers?" he asked.
+
+"I know not," answered Sally, fanning her fat face with a yellow
+pocket-handkerchief. "They are strange people to me, and thin with
+travelling, but they talk a kind of Zulu. The Baas wishes you to
+come."
+
+"Will you come also, Miss Clifford? No? Then forgive me if I leave
+you," and lifting his hat he went.
+
+"A strange man, Missee," said old Sally, when he had vanished, walking
+very fast.
+
+"Yes," answered Benita, in an indifferent voice.
+
+"A very strange man," went on the old woman. "Too much in his kop,"
+and she tapped her forehead. "I tink it will burst one day; but if it
+does not burst, then he will be great. I tell you that before, now I
+tell it you again, for I tink his time come. Now I go cook dinner."
+
+Benita sat by the lake till the twilight fell, and the wild geese
+began to flight over her. Then she walked back to the house thinking
+no more of Heer Meyer, thinking only that she was weary of this place
+in which there was nothing to occupy her mind and distract it from its
+ever present sorrow.
+
+At dinner, or rather supper, that night she noticed that both her
+father and his partner seemed to be suffering from suppressed
+excitement, of which she thought she could guess the cause.
+
+"Did you find your messengers, Mr. Meyer?" she asked, when the men had
+lit their pipes, and the square-face--as Hollands was called in those
+days, from the shape of the bottle--was set upon the rough table of
+speckled buchenhout wood.
+
+"Yes, I found them," he answered; "they are in the kitchen now." And
+he looked at Mr. Clifford.
+
+"Benita, my dear," said her father, "rather a curious thing has
+happened." Her face lit up, but he shook his head. "No, nothing to do
+with the shipwreck--that is all finished. Still, something that may
+interest you, if you care to hear a story."
+
+Benita nodded; she was in a mood to hear anything that would occupy
+her thoughts.
+
+"You know something about this treasure business," went on her father.
+"Well, this is the tale of it. Years ago, after you and your mother
+had gone to England, I went on a big game shooting expedition into the
+interior. My companion was an old fellow called Tom Jackson, a rolling
+stone, and one of the best elephant hunters in Africa. We did pretty
+well, but the end of it was that we separated north of the Transvaal,
+I bringing down the ivory that we had shot, and traded, and Tom
+stopping to put in another season, the arrangement being that he was
+to join me afterwards, and take his share of the money. I came here
+and bought this farm from a Boer who was tired of it--cheap enough,
+too, for I only gave him �100 for the 6,000 acres. The kitchens behind
+were his old house, for I built a new one.
+
+"A year had gone by before I saw any more of Tom Jackson, and then he
+turned up more dead than alive. He had been injured by an elephant,
+and lay for some months among the Makalanga to the north of
+Matabeleland, where he got fever badly at a place called Bambatse, on
+the Zambesi. These Makalanga are a strange folk. I believe their name
+means the People of the Sun; at any rate, they are the last of some
+ancient race. Well, while he was there he cured the old Molimo, or
+hereditary high-priest of this tribe, of a bad fever by giving him
+quinine, and naturally they grew friendly. The Molimo lived among
+ruins of which there are many over all that part of South Africa. No
+one knows who built them now; probably it was people who lived
+thousands of years ago. However, this Molimo told Tom Jackson a more
+recent legend connected with the place.
+
+"He said that six generations before, when his great-great-great
+grandfather was chief (Mambo, he called it), the natives of all that
+part of South Africa rose against the white men--Portuguese, I suppose
+--who still worked the gold there. They massacred them and their
+slaves by thousands, driving them up from the southward, where
+Lobengula rules now, to the Zambesi by which the Portuguese hoped to
+escape to the coast. At length a remnant of them, not more than about
+two hundred men and women, arrived at the stronghold called Bambatse,
+where the Molimo now lives in a great ruin built by the ancients upon
+an impregnable mountain which overhangs the river. With them they
+brought an enormous quantity of gold, all the stored-up treasure of
+the land which they were trying to carry off. But although they
+reached the river they could not escape by it, since the natives, who
+pursued them in thousands, watched day and night in canoes, and the
+poor fugitives had no boats. Therefore it came about that they were
+shut up in this fortress which it was impossible to storm, and there
+slowly perished of starvation.
+
+"When it was known that they were all dead, the natives who had
+followed them from the south, and who wanted blood and revenge, not
+gold, which was of no use to them, went away; but the old priest's
+forefather who knew the secret entrance to the place, and who had been
+friendly to the Portuguese, forced his way in and there, amidst the
+dead, found one woman living, but mad with grief--a young and
+beautiful girl, the daughter of the Portuguese lord or captain. He
+gave her food, but in the night, when some strength had returned to
+her, she left him, and at daybreak he found her standing on the peak
+that overhangs the river, dressed all in white.
+
+"He called some of his councillors, and they tried to persuade her to
+come down from the rock, but she answered, 'No, her betrothed and all
+her family and friends were dead, and it was her will to follow them.'
+Then they asked where was the gold, for having watched day and night
+they knew it had not been thrown into the river. She answered that it
+was where it was, and that, seek as he might, no black man would ever
+find it. She added that she gave it into his keeping, and that of his
+descendants, to safeguard until she came again. Also she said that if
+they were faithless to that trust, then it had been revealed to her
+from heaven above that those same savages who had killed her father
+and her people, would kill his people also. When she had spoken thus
+she stood a while praying on the peak, then suddenly hurled herself
+into the river, and was seen no more.
+
+"From that day to this the ruin has been held to be haunted, and save
+the Molimo himself, who retires there to meditate and receive
+revelations from the spirits, no one is allowed to set a foot in its
+upper part; indeed, the natives would rather die than do so.
+Consequently the gold still remains where it was hidden. This place
+itself Tom Jackson did not see, since, notwithstanding his friendship
+for him, the Molimo refused to allow him to enter there.
+
+"Well, Tom never recovered; he died here, and is buried in the little
+graveyard behind the house which the Boers made for some of their
+people. It was shortly before his death that Mr. Meyer became my
+partner, for I forgot to say that I had told him the story, and we
+determined to have a try for that great wealth. You know the rest. We
+trekked to Bambatse, pretending to be traders, and found the old
+Molimo who knew of me as having been Tom Jackson's friend. We asked
+him if the story he had told to Jackson were true, and he answered
+that, surely as the sun shone in the heavens, it was true--every word
+of it--for it, and much more than he had spoken of, had been handed
+down from father to son, and that they even knew the name of the white
+lady who had killed herself. It was Ferreira--your mother's name,
+Benita, though a common one enough in South Africa.
+
+"We asked him to allow us to enter the topmost stronghold, which
+stands upon the hill, but he refused, saying that the curse still lay
+upon him and his, and that no man should enter until the lady Ferreira
+came again. For the rest the place was free to us; we might dig as we
+would. So we did dig, and found some gold buried with the ancients,
+beads and bangles and wire--about �100 worth. Also--that was on the
+day when the young Seymours came upon us, and accounts for Meyer's
+excitement, for he thought that we were on the track of the treasure--
+we found a single gold coin, no doubt one that had been dropped by the
+Portuguese. Here it is." And he threw a thin piece of gold on the
+table before her. "I have shown it to a man learned in those matters,
+and he says that it is a ducat struck by one of the doges of Venice.
+
+"Well, we never found any more. The end of it was that the Makalanga
+caught us trying to get in to the secret stronghold by stealth, and
+gave us the choice of clearing out or being killed. So we cleared out,
+for treasure is not of much use to dead men."
+
+Mr. Clifford ceased speaking, and filled his pipe, while Meyer helped
+himself to squareface in an absent manner. As for Benita, she stared
+at the quaint old coin, which had a hole in it, wondering with what
+scenes of terror and of bloodshed it had been connected.
+
+"Keep it," said her father. "It will go on that bracelet of yours."
+
+"Thank you, dear," she answered. "Though I don't know why I should
+take all the Portuguese treasure since we shall never see any more of
+it."
+
+"Why not, Miss Clifford?" asked Meyer quickly.
+
+"The story tells you why--because the natives won't even let you look
+for it; also, looking and finding are different things."
+
+"Natives change their minds sometimes, Miss Clifford. That story is
+not done, it is only begun, and now you shall hear its second chapter.
+Clifford, may I call in the messengers?" And without waiting for an
+answer he rose and left the room.
+
+Neither Mr. Clifford nor his daughter said anything after he had gone.
+Benita appeared to occupy herself in fixing the broad gold coin to a
+little swivel on her bracelet, but while she did so once more that
+sixth sense of hers awoke within her. As she had been afraid at the
+dinner on the doomed steamer, so again she was afraid. Again death and
+great fear cast their advancing shadows on to her soul. That piece of
+gold seemed to speak to her, yet, alas! she could not understand its
+story. Only she knew that her father and Jacob Meyer and--yes, yes,
+yes--Robert Seymour, had all a part in that tragedy. Oh! how could
+that be when he was dead? How could this gold link him to her? She
+knew not--she cared not. All she knew was that she would follow this
+treasure to the edge of the world, and if need be, over it, if only it
+brought her back to him again.
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+The door opened, and through it came Jacob Meyer, followed by three
+natives. Benita did not see or hear them; her soul was far away. There
+at the head of the room, clad all in white, for she wore no mourning
+save in her heart, illuminated by the rays of the lamp that hung above
+her, she stood still and upright, for she had risen; on the face and
+in her wide, dark eyes a look that was very strange to see. Jacob
+Meyer perceived it and stopped; the three natives perceived it also
+and stopped. There they stood, all four of them, at the end of the
+long sitting-room, staring at the white Benita and at her haunted
+eyes.
+
+One of the natives pointed with his thin finger to her face, and
+whispered to the others. Meyer, who understood their tongue, caught
+the whisper. It was:
+
+"Behold the Spirit of the Rock!"
+
+"What spirit, and what rock?" he asked in a low voice.
+
+"She who haunts Bambatse; she whom our eyes have seen," answered the
+man, still staring at Benita.
+
+Benita heard the whispering, and knew it was about herself, though not
+one word of it did she catch. With a sigh she shook herself free from
+her visions and sat down in a chair close by. Then one by one the
+messengers drew near to her, and each, as he came, made a profound
+obeisance, touching the floor with his finger-tips, and staring at her
+face. But her father they only saluted with an uplifted hand. She
+looked at them with interest, and indeed they were interesting in
+their way; tall, spare men, light coloured, with refined, mobile
+faces. Here was no negro-blood, but rather that of some ancient people
+such as Egyptians or Ph�nicians: men whose forefathers had been wise
+and civilized thousands of years ago, and perchance had stood in the
+courts of Pharaoh or of Solomon.
+
+Their salutations finished, the three men squatted in a line upon the
+floor, drawing their fur karosses, or robes, about them, and waited in
+silence. Jacob Meyer thought a while, then said:
+
+"Clifford, will you translate to your daughter, so that she may be
+sure she is told exactly what passes?"
+
+Next he turned and addressed the natives.
+
+"Your names are Tamas, Tamala, and Hoba, and you, Tamas, are the son
+of the Molimo of Bambatse, who is called Mambo, and you, Tamala and
+Hoba, are his initiated councillors. Is it so?"
+
+They bowed their heads.
+
+"Good. You, Tamas, tell the story and give again your message that
+this lady, the lady Benita, may hear it, for she has a part in the
+matter."
+
+"We understand that she has a part," answered Tamas. "We read in her
+face that she has the greatest part. Doubtless it is of her that the
+Spirit told my father. These, spoken by my mouth, are the words of the
+Molimo, my father, which we have travelled so far to deliver.
+
+"'When you two white men visited Bambatse four years ago, you asked of
+me, Mambo, to be admitted to the holy place, that you might look for
+the treasure there which the Portuguese hid in the time of my ancestor
+in the sixth generation. I refused to allow you to look, or even to
+enter the holy place, because I am by birth the guardian of that
+treasure, although I know not where it lies. But now I am in a great
+strait. I have news that Lobengula the usurper, who is king of the
+Matabele, has taken offence against me for certain reasons, among them
+that I did not send him a sufficient tribute. It is reported to me
+that he purposes next summer to despatch an impi to wipe me and my
+people out, and to make my kraal black as the burnt veld. I have
+little strength to resist him who is mighty, and my people are not
+warlike. From generation to generation they have been traders,
+cultivators of the land, workers in metal, and men of peace, who
+desire not to kill or be killed. Also they are few. Therefore I have
+no power to stand against Lobengula.
+
+"'I remember the guns that you and your companion brought with you,
+which can kill things from far away. If I had a supply of those guns
+from behind my walls I might defy the impi of Lobengula, whose
+warriors use the assegai. If you will bring me a hundred good guns and
+plenty of powder and bullets for them, it is revealed to me that it
+will be lawful for me to admit you to the secret, holy place, where
+you may look for the buried gold for as long as you wish, and if you
+can find it, take it all away without hindrance from me or my people.
+But I will be honest with you. That gold will never be found save by
+the one appointed. The white lady said so in the time of my
+forefather; he heard it with his ears, and I have heard it from his
+descendants with my ears, and so it shall be. Still, if you bring the
+guns you can come and see if either of you is that one appointed. But
+I do not think that any man is so appointed, for the secret is hid in
+woman. But of this you can learn for yourselves. I do but speak as I
+am bidden.
+
+"'This is my message spoken by my mouth, Tamas, son of my body, and my
+councillors who go with him will bear witness that he speaks the
+truth. I, Mambo, the Molimo of Bambatse, send you greeting, and will
+give you good welcome and fulfil my promise, if you come with the far-
+shooting guns, ten times ten of them, and the powder, and the bullets
+wherewith I may drive off the Matabele, but not otherwise. My son,
+Tamas, and my councillors will drive your waggon into my country but
+you must bring no strange servants. The Spirit of the white woman who
+killed herself before the eyes of my forefather has been seen of late
+standing upon the point of rock; also she has visited me at night in
+my secret place where her companions died. I do not know all that this
+portends, but I think that amongst other things she wished to tell me
+that the Matabele are about to attack us. I await the decree of the
+Heavens. I send you two karosses as a gift, and a little ancient gold,
+since ivory is too heavy for my messengers to carry, and I have no
+waggon. Farewell.'"
+
+"We have heard you," said Meyer, when Mr. Clifford had finished
+translating, "and we wish to ask you a question. What do you mean when
+you say that the Spirit of the white woman has been seen?"
+
+"I mean what I say, white man," answered Tamas. "She was seen by all
+three of us, standing upon the pinnacle at the dawn; also my father
+saw and spoke with her alone in his sleep at night. This is the third
+time in my father's day that she has appeared thus, and always before
+some great event."
+
+"What was she like?" asked Meyer.
+
+"Like? Oh! like the lady who sits yonder. Yes, quite the same, or so
+it seemed to us. But who knows? We have seen no other white women, and
+we were not very near. Let the lady come and stand side by side with
+the Spirit, so that we can examine them both, and we shall be able to
+answer better. Do you accept the offer of the Molimo?"
+
+"We will tell you to-morrow morning," replied Meyer. "A hundred rifles
+are many to find, and will cost much money. Meanwhile, for you there
+is food and a sleeping-place."
+
+The three men seemed disappointed at his answer, which they evidently
+believed to be preliminary to a refusal. For a moment or two they
+consulted together, then Tamas put his hand into a pouch and drew from
+it something wrapped in dry leaves, which he undid, revealing a quaint
+and beautiful necklace, fashioned of twisted gold links, wherein were
+set white stones, that they had no difficulty in recognising as uncut
+diamonds of considerable value. From this necklace also hung a
+crucifix moulded in gold.
+
+"We offer this gift," he said, "on behalf of Mambo, my father, to the
+lady yonder, to whom the karosses and the rough gold are of no use.
+The chain has a story. When the Portuguese lady hurled herself into
+the river she wore it about her neck. As she fell into the river she
+struck against a little point of rock which tore the chain away from
+her--see where it is broken and mended with gold wire. It remained
+upon the point of rock, and my forefather took it thence. It is a gift
+to the lady if she will promise to wear it."
+
+"Accept it," muttered Mr. Clifford, when he had finished translating
+this, "or you will give offence."
+
+So Benita said: "I thank the Molimo, and accept his gift."
+
+Then Tamas rose, and, advancing, cast the ancient, tragic thing over
+her head. As it fell upon her shoulders, Benita knew that it was a
+chain of destiny drawing her she knew not where, this ornament that
+had last been worn by that woman, bereaved and unhappy as herself, who
+could find no refuge from her sorrow except in death. Had she felt it
+torn from her breast, she wondered, as she, the living Benita of
+to-day, felt it fall upon her own?
+
+The three envoys rose, bowed, and went, leaving them alone. Jacob
+Meyer lifted his head as though to address her, then changed his mind
+and was silent. Both the men waited for her to speak, but she would
+not, and in the end it was her father who spoke first.
+
+"What do you say, Benita?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"I? I have nothing to say, except that I have heard a very curious
+story. This priest's message is to you and Mr. Meyer, father, and must
+be answered by you. What have I to do with it?"
+
+"A great deal, I think, my dear, or so those men seemed to believe. At
+any rate, I cannot go up there without you, and I will not take you
+there against your wish, for it is a long way off, and a queer
+business. The question is, will you go?"
+
+She thought a space, while the two men watched her anxiously.
+
+"Yes," she answered at length, in a quiet voice. "I will go if you
+wish to go, not because I want to find treasure, but because the story
+and the country where it happened interest me. Indeed, I don't believe
+much in the treasure. Even if they are superstitious and afraid to
+look for it themselves, I doubt whether they would allow you to look
+if they thought it could be found. To me the journey does not seem a
+good business speculation, also there are risks."
+
+"We think it good enough," broke in Meyer decidedly. "And one does not
+expect to get millions without trouble."
+
+"Yes, yes," said her father; "but she is right--there are risks, great
+risks--fever, wild beasts, savages, and others that one cannot
+foresee. Have I a right to expose her to them? Ought we not to go
+alone?"
+
+"It would be useless," answered Meyer. "Those messengers have seen
+your daughter, and mixed her up with their superstitious story of a
+ghost, of which I, who know that there are no such things, believe
+nothing. Without her now we shall certainly fail."
+
+"As for the risks, father," said Benita, "personally I take no account
+of them, for I am sure that what is to happen will happen, and if I
+knew that I was to die upon the Zambesi, it would make no difference
+to me who do not care. But as it chances, I think--I cannot tell you
+why--that you and Mr. Meyer are in more danger than I am. It is for
+you to consider whether you will take the risks."
+
+Mr. Clifford smiled. "I am old," he said; "that is my answer."
+
+"And I am accustomed to such things," said Meyer, with a shrug of his
+shoulders. "Who would not run a little danger for the sake of such a
+glorious chance? Wealth, wealth, more wealth than we can dream of, and
+with it, power--power to avenge, to reward, to buy position, and
+pleasure, and all beautiful things which are the heritage of the very
+rich alone," and he spread out his hands and looked upwards, as though
+in adoration of this golden god.
+
+"Except such trifles as health and happiness," commented Benita, not
+without sarcasm, for this man and his material desires disgusted her
+somewhat, especially when she contrasted him with another man who was
+lost to her, though it was true that /his/ past had been idle and
+unproductive enough. Yet they interested her also, for Benita had
+never met anyone like Mr. Meyer, so talented, so eager, and so
+soulless.
+
+"Then I understand it is settled?" she said.
+
+Mr. Clifford hesitated, but Meyer answered at once:
+
+"Yes, settled as far as anything can be."
+
+She waited a moment for her father to speak, but he said nothing; his
+chance had gone by.
+
+"Very well. Now we shall not need to trouble ourselves with further
+doubts or argument. We are going to Bambatse on the Zambesi, a distant
+place, to look for buried gold, and I hope, Mr. Meyer, that if you
+find it, the results will come up to your expectations, and bring you
+all sorts of good luck. Good-night, father dear, good-night."
+
+"My daughter thinks it will bring us ill-luck," said Mr. Clifford,
+when the door had closed behind her. "That is her way of saying so."
+
+"Yes," answered Meyer gloomily; "she thinks that, and she is one of
+those who have vision. Well, she may be wrong. Also, the question is,
+shall we seize our opportunity and its dangers, or remain here and
+breed bad horses all our lives, while she who is not afraid laughs at
+us? I am going to Bambatse."
+
+Again Mr. Clifford made no direct answer, only asked a question:
+
+"How long will it take to get the guns and ammunition, and what will
+they cost?"
+
+"About a week from Wakkerstroom," replied Meyer. "Old Potgieter, the
+trader there, has just imported a hundred Martinis and a hundred
+Westley-Richards falling-blocks. Fifty of each, with ten thousand
+rounds of cartridges, will cost about �600, and we have as much as
+that in the bank; also we have the new waggon, and plenty of good oxen
+and horses. We can take a dozen of the horses with us, and sell them
+in the north of the Transvaal for a fine price, before we get into the
+tetsefly belt. The oxen will probably carry us through, as they are
+most of them salted."
+
+"You have thought it all out, Jacob, I see; but it means a lot of
+money one way and another, to say nothing of other things."
+
+"Yes, a lot of money, and those rifles are too good for Kaffirs.
+Birmingham gas-pipes would have done for them, but there are none to
+be had. But what is the money, and what are the guns, compared to all
+they will bring us?"
+
+"I think you had better ask my daughter, Jacob. She seems to have her
+own ideas upon the subject."
+
+"Miss Clifford has made up her mind, and it will not change. I shall
+ask her no more," replied Meyer.
+
+Then he, too, left the room, to give orders about the journey to
+Wakkerstroom that he must take upon the morrow. But Mr. Clifford sat
+there till past midnight, wondering whether he had done right, and if
+they would find the treasure of which he had dreamed for years, and
+what the future had in store for them.
+
+If only he could have seen!
+
+
+
+When Benita came to breakfast the next morning, she asked where Mr.
+Meyer was, and learned that he had already departed for Wakkerstroom.
+
+"Certainly he is in earnest," she said with a laugh.
+
+"Yes," answered her father; "Jacob is always in earnest, though,
+somehow, his earnestness has not brought him much good so far. If we
+fail, it will not be want of thought and preparation on his part."
+
+Nearly a week went by before Meyer returned again, and meanwhile
+Benita made ready for her journey. In the intervals of her simple
+preparations also she talked a good deal, with the help of her father,
+to the three sturdy-looking Makalanga, who were resting thankfully
+after their long journey. Their conversation was general, since by
+tacit consent no further mention was made of the treasure or of
+anything to do with it, but it enabled her to form a fair opinion of
+them and their people. She gathered that although they spoke a dialect
+of Zulu, they had none of the bravery of the Zulus, and indeed lived
+in deadly terror of the Matabele, who are bastard Zulus--such terror,
+in fact, that she greatly doubted whether the hundred rifles would be
+of much use to them, should they ever be attacked by that tribe.
+
+They were what their fathers had been before them, agriculturists and
+workers in metals--not fighting men. Also she set herself to learn
+what she could of their tongue, which she did not find difficult, for
+Benita had a natural aptitude for languages, and had never forgotten
+the Dutch and Zulu she used to prattle as a child, which now came back
+to her very fast. Indeed, she could already talk fairly in either of
+those languages, especially as she spent her spare hours in studying
+their grammar, and reading them.
+
+So the days went on, till one evening Jacob Meyer appeared with two
+Scotch carts laden with ten long boxes that looked like coffins, and
+other smaller boxes which were very heavy, to say nothing of a
+multitude of stores. As Mr. Clifford prophesied, he had forgotten
+nothing, for he even brought Benita various articles of clothing, and
+a revolver for which she had not asked.
+
+Three days later they trekked away from Rooi Krantz upon a peculiarly
+beautiful Sunday morning in the early spring, giving it out that they
+were going upon a trading and shooting expedition in the north of the
+Transvaal. Benita looked back at the pretty little stead and the
+wooded kloof behind it over which she had nearly fallen, and the
+placid lake in front of it where the nesting wildfowl wheeled, and
+sighed. For to her, now that she was leaving it, the place seemed like
+home, and it came into her mind that she would never see it any more.
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+BAMBATSE
+
+Nearly four months had gone by when at length the waggon with which
+were Mr. Clifford, Benita, and Jacob Meyer camped one night within the
+country of the Molimo of Bambatse, whose name was Mambo. Or perhaps
+that was his title, since (according to Tamas his son) every chief in
+succession was called Mambo, though not all of them were Molimos, or
+representatives and prophets of God, or the Great Spirit whom they
+knew as Munwali. Thus sometimes the Molimo, or priest of Munwali, and
+the Mambo or chief were different persons. For instance, he said that
+he, Tamas, would be Mambo on his father's death, but no visions were
+given to him; therefore as yet, at any rate, he was not called to be
+Molimo.
+
+In the course of this long journey they had met with many adventures,
+such as were common to African travellers before the days of
+railroads; adventures with wild beasts and native tribes, adventures
+with swollen rivers also, and one that was worst, with thirst, since
+for three days (owing to the failure of a pit or pan, where they
+expected to find water) they were obliged to go without drink. Still,
+none of these were very serious, nor had any of the three of them ever
+been in better health than they were at this moment, for by good luck
+they had escaped all fever. Indeed, their rough, wild life had agreed
+with Benita extraordinarily well, so well that any who had known her
+in the streets of London would scarcely have recognized her as the
+sunburnt, active and well-formed young woman who sat that night by the
+camp fire.
+
+All the horses they had brought with them had been sold, except some
+which had died, and three that were "salted," or proof against the
+deadly horse sickness, which they took on with them. Their own
+servants also had been sent back to Rooi Krantz in charge of a Scotch
+cart laden with ivory, purchased from Boer hunters who had brought it
+down from the north of the Transvaal. Therefore, for this was part of
+the bargain, the three Makalanga were now their only attendants who
+drove and herded the cattle, while Benita cooked the food which the
+two white men shot, or sometimes bought from natives.
+
+For days they had been passing through a country that was practically
+deserted, and now, having crossed a high nek, the same on which Robert
+Seymour had left his waggon, they were camped in low land which, as
+they could see by the remains of walls that appeared everywhere, had
+once been extensively enclosed and cultivated. To their right was a
+rising mountainous ground, beyond which, said the Makalanga, ran the
+Zambesi, and in front of them, not more than ten miles away, a great
+isolated hill, none other than that place that they had journeyed so
+far to reach, Bambatse, round which flowed the great river. Indeed,
+thither one of the three Makalanga, he who was named Hoba, had gone on
+to announce their approach.
+
+They had outspanned amongst ruins, most of them circular in shape, and
+Benita, studying them in the bright moonlight, guessed that once these
+had been houses. That place now so solitary, hundreds or thousands of
+years ago was undoubtedly the home of a great population. Thousands,
+rather than hundreds, she thought, since close at hand in the middle
+of one of these round houses, grew a mighty baobab tree, that could
+not have seen less than ten or fifteen centuries since the seed whence
+it sprang pierced the cement floor which was still visible about its
+giant bole.
+
+Tamas, the Molimo's son, saw her studying these evidences of
+antiquity, and, approaching, saluted her.
+
+"Lady," he said in his own language, which by now she spoke very well,
+"lady"--and he waved his hand with a fine gesture--"behold the city of
+my people."
+
+"How do you know that it was their city?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know, lady. Stones cannot speak, the spirits are silent, and
+we have forgotten. Still, I think so, and our fathers have told us
+that but six or eight generations ago many folk lived here, though it
+was not they who built these walls. Even fifty years ago there were
+many, but now the Matabele have killed them, and we are few; to-morrow
+you will see how few. Come here and look," and he led her through the
+entrance of a square cattle kraal which stood close by. Within were
+tufts of rank grass, and a few bushes, and among these scores of
+skulls and other bones.
+
+"The Matabele killed these in the time of Moselikatse," he said. "Now
+do you wonder that we who remain fear the Matabele, and desire guns to
+defend ourselves from them, even if we must sell our secrets, in order
+to buy those guns, who have no money to pay for them?"
+
+"No," she answered, looking at the tall, dignified man, into whose
+soul the irons of fear and slavery had burnt so deep. "No, I do not
+wonder."
+
+Next morning at daybreak they trekked on, always through these
+evidences of dead, forgotten people. They had not more than ten miles
+to cover to reach their long journey's end, but the road, if so it
+could be called, ran up-hill, and the oxen, whereof only fourteen were
+now left to drag the heavy-laden waggon, were thin and footsore, so
+that their progress was very slow. Indeed, it was past midday when at
+length they began to enter what by apology might be called the town of
+Bambatse.
+
+"When we go away from this, it will have to be by water, I think,
+unless we can buy trek-cattle," said Meyer, looking at the labouring
+oxen with a doubtful eye.
+
+"Why?" asked Mr. Clifford anxiously.
+
+"Because several of those beasts have been bitten by tetsefly, like my
+horse, and the poison is beginning to work. I thought so last night,
+but now I am sure. Look at their eyes. It was down in that bit of bush
+veld eight days ago. I said that we ought not to camp there."
+
+At this moment they came to the crest of the ridge, and on its further
+side saw the wonderful ruins of Bambatse close at hand. In front of
+them stood a hill jutting out, as it were into the broad waters of the
+Zambesi river, which, to a great extent, protected it upon three
+sides. The fourth, that opposite to them, except at one place where a
+kind of natural causeway led into the town, was also defended by
+Nature, since here for more than fifty feet in height the granite rock
+of the base of the hill rose sheer and unclimbable. On the mount
+itself, that in all may have covered eight or ten acres of ground, and
+surrounded by a deep donga or ditch, were three rings of
+fortifications, set one above the other, mighty walls which, it was
+evident, had been built by no modern hand. Looking at them Benita
+could well understand how it came about that the poor fugitive
+Portuguese had chosen this as their last place of refuge, and were
+overcome at length, not by the thousands of savages who followed and
+surrounded them, but by hunger. Indeed, the place seemed impregnable
+to any force that was not armed with siege guns.
+
+On the hither side of this natural fosse, which, doubtless, in ancient
+times had been filled with water led from the Zambesi, stood the
+village of the Bambatse Makalanga, a collection of seventy or eighty
+wretched huts, round, like those of their forefathers, but built of
+mud and thatch. About them lay the gardens, or square fields, that
+were well cultivated, and at this season rich with ripening corn.
+Benita, however, could see no cattle, and concluded, therefore, that
+these must be kept on the hill for safety, and within its walls.
+
+Down the rough road they lumbered, and through the village, where the
+few women and children stared at them in a frightened way. Then they
+came to the causeway, which, on its further side, was blocked with
+thorns and rough stones taken from the ruins. While they waited for
+these to be removed by some men who now appeared, Benita looked at the
+massive, circular wall still thirty or forty feet in height, by
+perhaps twenty through its base, built of granite blocks without
+mortar, and ornamented with quaint patterns of other coloured stones.
+In its thickness she could see grooves, where evidently had once been
+portcullises, but these had disappeared long ago.
+
+"It is a wonderful place," she said to her father. "I am glad that I
+came. Have you been all over it?"
+
+"No; only between the first and second walls, and once between the
+second and third. The old temple, or whatever it is, is on the top,
+and into that they would never admit us. It is there that the treasure
+lies."
+
+"That the treasure is supposed to lie," she answered with a smile.
+"But, Father, what guarantee have you that they will do so now?
+Perhaps they will take the guns and show us the door--or rather the
+gate."
+
+"Your daughter is right, there is none; and before a box is taken off
+the waggon we must get one," said Meyer. "Oh! I know it is risky, and
+it would have been better to make sure first, but it is too late to
+talk of that now. Look, the stones are cleared. Trek on--trek!"
+
+The long waggon-whip cracked, the poor, tired-out oxen strained at the
+yokes, and on they went through the entrance of that fateful fortress
+that was but just wide enough to admit them. Inside lay a great open
+space, which, as they could see from the numerous ruins, had once been
+filled with buildings that now were half hidden by grass, trees, and
+creepers. This was the outer ring of the temple where, in ancient
+days, the priests and captains had their home. Travelling across it
+for perhaps a hundred and fifty yards, they came near the second wall,
+which was like the first, only not quite so solid, and saw that on a
+stretch of beaten ground, and seated in the shadow, for the day was
+hot, the people of Bambatse were gathered to greet them.
+
+When within fifty yards they dismounted from the horses, which were
+left with the waggon in the charge of the Makalanga, Tamala. Then
+Benita taking her position between her father and Jacob Meyer, they
+advanced towards the ring of natives, of whom there may have been two
+hundred--all of them adult men.
+
+As they came, except one figure who remained seated with his back
+against the wall, the human circle stood up as a token of respect, and
+Benita saw that they were of the same stamp as the messengers--tall
+and good-looking, with melancholy eyes and a cowed expression, wearing
+the appearance of people who from day to day live in dread of slavery
+and death. Opposite to them was a break in the circle, through which
+Tamas led them, and as they crossed it Benita felt that all those
+people were staring at her with their sad eyes. A few paces from where
+the man crouched against the wall, his head hidden by a beautifully
+worked blanket that was thrown over it, were placed three well-carved
+stools. Upon these, at a motion from Tamas, they sat themselves down,
+and, as it was not dignified for them to speak first, remained silent.
+
+"Be patient and forgive," said Tamas at length. "My father, Mambo,
+prays to the Munwali and the spirits of his fathers that this coming
+of yours may be fortunate, and that a vision of those things that are
+to be may descend upon him."
+
+Benita, feeling nearly two hundred pairs of eyes concentrated upon
+her, wished that the vision might come quickly, but after a minute or
+two fell into tune with the thing, and almost enjoyed this strange
+experience. Those mighty ancient walls built by hands unknown, which
+had seen so much history and so much death; the silent, triple ring of
+patient, solemn men, the last descendants of a cultured race, the
+crouching figure hidden beneath the blanket, who imagined himself to
+be communicating with his god--it was all very strange, very well
+worth the seeing to one who had wearied of the monotony of
+civilization.
+
+Look, the man stirred, and threw back his blanket, revealing a head
+white with age, a spiritual, ascetic face, so thin that every bone
+showed in it, and dark eyes which stared upwards unseeingly, like
+those of a person in a trance. Thrice he sighed, while his tribesmen
+watched him. Then he let his eyes fall upon the three white people
+seated in front of him. First he looked at Mr. Clifford, and his face
+grew troubled; then at Jacob Meyer, and it was anxious and alarmed.
+Lastly, he stared at Benita, and while he did so the dark eyes became
+calm and happy.
+
+"White maiden," he said in a soft, low voice, "for you, at least, I
+have good tidings. Though Death come near to you, though you see him
+on your right hand and your left, and in front of you and behind you,
+I say, fear not. Here you, who have known deep sorrow, shall find
+happiness and rest, O maiden, with whom goes the spirit of one pure
+and fair as you, who died so long ago."
+
+Then, while Benita wondered at his words, spoken with such sweet
+earnestness that although she believed nothing of them, they brought a
+kind of comfort to her, he looked once more at her father and Jacob
+Meyer, and, as it were with an effort, was silent.
+
+"Have you no pleasant prophecy for me, old friend," said Jacob, "who
+have come so far to hear it?"
+
+At once the aged face grew inscrutable, all expression vanished behind
+a hundred wrinkles, and he answered:
+
+"None, white man--none that I am charged to deliver. Search the skies
+for yourself, you who are so wise, and read them if you can. Lords,"
+he went on in another voice, "I greet you in the name and presence of
+my children. Son Tamas, I greet you also; you have done your mission
+well. Listen, now--you are weary and would rest and eat; still, bear
+with me, for I have a word to say. Look around you. You see all my
+tribe, not twenty times ten above the age of boys, we who once were
+countless as the leaves on yonder trees in spring. Why are we dead?
+Because of the Amandabele, those fierce dogs whom, two generations
+ago, Moselikatse, the general of Chaka, brought up to the south of us,
+who ravish us and kill us year by year.
+
+"We are not warlike, we who have outlived war and the lust of slaying.
+We are men of peace, who desire to cultivate the land, and to follow
+our arts which have descended to us from our ancestors, and to worship
+the Heavens above us, whither we depart to join the spirits of our
+forefathers. But they are fierce and strong and savage, and they come
+up and murder our children and old people, and take away the young
+women and the maidens to be slaves, and with them all our cattle.
+Where are our cattle? Lobengula, chief of the Amandabele, has them;
+scarce a cow is left to give milk to the sick or to the motherless
+babe. And yet he sends for cattle. Tribute, say his messengers,
+deliver tribute, or my impi will come and take it with your lives. But
+we have no cattle--all are gone. We have nothing left to us but this
+ancient mountain and the works built thereon, and a little corn on
+which we live. Yes, I say it--I, the Molimo--I whose ancestors were
+great kings--I who have still more wisdom in me than all the hosts of
+the Amandabele," and as he spoke the old man's grey head sank upon his
+breast and the tears ran down his withered cheeks, while his people
+answered:
+
+"Mambo, it is true."
+
+"Now listen again," he went on. "Lobengula threatens us, therefore I
+sent to these white men who were here before, saying that if they
+would bring me a hundred guns, and powder and ball, to enable us to
+beat off the Amandabele from behind these strong walls of ours, I
+would take them into the secret holy place where for six generations
+no white man has set a foot, and there suffer them to search for the
+treasure which is hid therein, no man knows where, that treasure which
+they asked leave to find four winters gone. We refused it then and
+drove them hence, because of the curse laid upon us by the white maid
+who died, the last of the Portuguese, who foretold her people's fate
+for us if we gave up the buried gold save to one appointed. My
+children, the Spirit of Bambatse has visited me; I have seen her and
+others have seen her, and in my sleep she said to me: 'Suffer the men
+to come and search, for with them is one of the blood to whom my
+people's wealth is given; and great is your danger, for many spears
+draw nigh.' My children, I sent my son and other messengers on a far
+journey to where I knew the men dwelt, and they have returned after
+many months bringing those men with them, bringing with them also
+another of whom I knew nothing--yes, her who is appointed, her of whom
+the Spirit spoke."
+
+Then he lifted his withered hand and held it towards Benita, saying:
+"I tell you that yonder she sits for whom the generations have
+waited."
+
+"It is so," answered the Makalanga. "It is the White Lady come again
+to take her own."
+
+"Friends," asked the Molimo, while they wondered at his strange
+speech, "tell me, have you brought the guns?"
+
+"Surely," answered Mr. Clifford, "they are there in the waggon, every
+one of them, the best that can be made, and with them ten thousand
+cartridges, bought at a great cost. We have fulfilled our share of the
+bargain; now will you fulfil yours, or shall we go away again with the
+guns and leave you to meet the Matabele with your assegais?"
+
+"Say you the agreement while we listen," answered the Molimo.
+
+"Good," said Mr. Clifford. "It is this: That you shall find us food
+and shelter while we are with you. That you shall lead us into the
+secret place at the head of the hill, where the Portuguese died, and
+the gold is hidden. That you shall allow us to search for that gold
+when and where we will. That if we discover the gold, or anything else
+of value to us, you shall suffer us to take it away, and assist us
+upon our journey, either by giving us boats and manning them to travel
+down the Zambesi, or in whatever fashion may be most easy. That you
+shall permit none to hurt, molest, or annoy us during our sojourn
+among you. Is that our contract?"
+
+"Not quite all of it," said the Molimo. "There is this to add: first
+that you shall teach us how to use the guns; secondly, that you shall
+search for and find the treasure, if so it is appointed, without our
+help, since in this matter it is not lawful for us to meddle; thirdly,
+that if the Amandabele should chance to attack us while you are here,
+you shall do your best to assist us against their power."
+
+"Do you, then, expect attack?" asked Meyer suspiciously.
+
+"White man, we always expect attack. Is it a bargain?"
+
+"Yes," answered Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer in one voice, the latter
+adding: "the guns and the cartridges are yours. Lead us now to the
+hidden place. We have fulfilled our part; we trust to the honour of
+you and all your people to fulfil yours."
+
+"White Maiden," asked the Molimo, addressing Benita, "do you also say
+that it is a bargain?"
+
+"What my father says, I say."
+
+"Good," said the Molimo. "Then, in the presence of my people, and in
+the name of the Munwali, I, Mambo, who am his prophet, declare that it
+is so agreed between us, and may the vengeance of the heavens fall
+upon those who break our pact! Let the oxen of the white men be
+outspanned, their horses fed, their waggon unloaded, that we may count
+the guns. Let food be brought into the guest-house also, and after
+they have eaten, I, who alone of all of you have ever entered it, will
+lead them to the holy place, that there they may begin to search for
+that which the white men desire from age to age--to find it if they
+can; if not, to depart satisfied and at peace."
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE OATH OF MADUNA
+
+Mr. Clifford and Meyer rose to return to the waggon in order to
+superintend the unyoking of the oxen and to give directions as to
+their herding, and the off-saddling of the horses. Benita rose also,
+wondering when the food that had been promised would be ready, for she
+was hungry. Meanwhile, the Molimo was greeting his son Tamas, patting
+his hand affectionately and talking to him, when suddenly Benita, who
+watched this domestic scene with interest, heard a commotion behind
+her. Turning to discover its cause, she perceived three great man clad
+in full war panoply, shields on their left arms, spears in their right
+hands, black ostrich plumes rising from the polished rings woven in
+their hair, black moochas about their middles, and black oxtails tied
+beneath their knees, who marched through the throng of Makalanga as
+though they saw them not.
+
+"The Matabele! The Matabele are on us!" cried a voice; while other
+voices shouted, "Fly to your walls!" and yet others, "Kill them! They
+are few."
+
+But the three men marched on unheeding till they stood before Mambo.
+
+"Who are you, and what do you seek?" the old man asked boldly, though
+the fear that had taken hold of him at the sight of these strangers
+was evident enough, for his whole body shook.
+
+"Surely you should know, chief of Bambatse," answered their spokesman
+with a laugh, "for you have seen the like of us before. We are the
+children of Lobengula, the Great Elephant, the King, the Black Bull,
+the Father of the Amandabele, and we have a message for your ear,
+little Old Man, which, finding that you leave your gate open, we have
+walked in to deliver."
+
+"Speak your message then, envoys of Lobengula, in my ear and in those
+of my people," said the Molimo.
+
+"Your people! Are these all your people?" the spokesman replied
+contemptuously. "Why then, what need was there for the indunas of the
+King to send so large an impi under a great general against you, when
+a company of lads armed with sticks would have served the turn? We
+thought that these were but the sons of your house, the men of your
+own family, whom you had called together to eat with the white
+strangers."
+
+"Close the entrance in the wall," cried the Molimo, stung to fury by
+the insult; and a voice answered:
+
+"Father, it is already done."
+
+But the Matabele, who should have been frightened, only laughed again,
+and their spokesman said:
+
+"See, my brothers, he thinks to trap us who are but three. Well, kill
+on, Old Wizard, if you will, but know that if a hand is lifted, this
+spear of mine goes through your heart, and that the children of
+Lobengula die hard. Know also that then the impi which waits not far
+away will destroy you every one, man and woman, youth and maiden,
+little ones who hold the hand and infants at the breast; none shall be
+left--none at all, to say, 'Here once lived the cowardly Makalanga of
+Bambatse.' Nay, be not foolish, but talk softly with us, so that
+perhaps we may spare your lives."
+
+Then the three men placed themselves back to back, in such fashion
+that they faced every way, and could not be smitten down from behind,
+and waited.
+
+"I do not kill envoys," said the Molimo, "but if they are foul-
+mouthed, I throw them out of my walls. Your message, men of the
+Amandabele."
+
+"I hear you. Hearken now to the word of Lobengula."
+
+Then the envoy began to speak, using the pronoun I as though it were
+the Matabele king himself who spoke to his vassal, the Makalanga
+chief: "I sent to you last year, you slave, who dare to call yourself
+Mambo of the Makalanga, demanding a tribute of cattle and women, and
+warning you that if they did not come, I would take them. They did not
+come, but that time I spared you. Now I send again. Hand over to my
+messengers fifty cows and fifty oxen, with herds to drive them, and
+twelve maidens to be approved by them, or I wipe you out, who have
+troubled the earth too long, and that before another moon has waned.
+
+"Those are the words of Lobengula," he concluded, and taking the horn
+snuff-box from the slit in his ear, helped himself, then insolently
+passed it to the Molimo.
+
+So great was the old chief's rage that, forgetting his self-control,
+he struck the box from the hand of his tormentor to the ground, where
+the snuff lay spilled.
+
+"Just so shall the blood of your people be spilled through your rash
+foolishness," said the messenger calmly, as he picked up the box, and
+as much of the snuff as he could save.
+
+"Hearken," said the Molimo, in a thin, trembling voice. "Your king
+demands cattle, knowing that all the cattle are gone, that scarce a
+cow is left to give drink to a motherless babe. He asks for maidens
+also, but if he took those he seeks we should have none left for our
+young men to marry. And why is this so? It is because the vulture,
+Lobengula, has picked us to the bone; yes, while we are yet alive he
+has torn the flesh from us. Year by year his soldiers have stolen and
+killed, till at last nothing is left of us. And now he seeks what we
+have not got to give, in order that he may force a quarrel upon us and
+murder us. There is nought left for us to give Lobengula. You have
+your answer."
+
+"Indeed!" replied the envoy with a sneer. "How comes it, then, that
+yonder I see a waggon laden with goods, and oxen in the yokes? Yes,"
+he repeated with meaning, "with goods whereof we have known the like
+at Buluwayo; for Lobengula also sometimes buys guns from white men, O!
+little Makalanga. Come now, give us the waggon with its load and the
+oxen and the horses, and though it be but a small gift, we will take
+it away and ask nothing more this year."
+
+"How can I give you the property of my guests, the white men?" asked
+the Molimo. "Get you gone, and do your worst, or you shall be thrown
+from the walls of the fortress."
+
+"Good, but know that very soon we shall return and make an end of you,
+who are tired of these long and troublesome journeys to gather so
+little. Go, tend your corn, dwellers in Bambatse, for this I swear in
+the name of Lobengula, never shall you see it ripen more."
+
+Now the crowd of listening Makalanga trembled at his words, but in the
+old Molimo they seemed only to rouse a storm of prophetic fury. For a
+moment he stood staring up at the blue sky, his arms outstretched as
+though in prayer. Then he spoke in a new voice--a clear, quiet voice,
+that did not seem to be his own.
+
+"Who am I?" he said. "I am the Molimo of the Bambatse Makalanga; I am
+the ladder between them and Heaven; I sit on the topmost bough of the
+tree under which they shelter, and there in the crest of the tree
+Munwali speaks with me. What to you are winds, to me are voices
+whispering in my spirit's ears. Once my forefathers were great kings,
+they were Mambos of all the land, and that is still my name and
+dignity. We lived in peace; we laboured, we did wrong to no man. Then
+you Zulu savages came upon us from the south-east and your path was
+red with blood. Year after year you robbed and you destroyed; you
+raided our cattle, you murdered our men, you took our maidens and our
+children to be your women and your slaves, until at length, of all
+this pit filled with the corn of life, there is left but a little
+handful. And this you say you will eat up also, lest it should fall
+into good ground and grow again. I tell you that I think it will not
+be so; but whether or no that happens, I have words for the ear of
+your king--a message for a message. Say to him that thus speaks the
+wise old Molimo of Bambatse.
+
+"I see him hunted like a wounded hyena through the rivers, in the deep
+bush, and over the mountain. I see him die in pain and misery; but his
+grave I see not, for no man shall know it. I see the white man take
+his land and all his wealth; yea, to them and to no son of his shall
+his people give the Bay�te, the royal salute. Of his greatness and his
+power, this alone shall remain to him--a name accursed from generation
+to generation. And last of all I see peace upon the land and upon my
+children's children." He paused, then added: "For you, cruel dog that
+you are, this message also from the Munwali, by the lips of his
+Molimo. I lift no hand against you, but you shall not live to look
+again upon your king's face. Begone now, and do your worst."
+
+For a moment the three Matabele seemed to be frightened, and Benita
+heard one of them say to his companions:
+
+"The Wizard has bewitched us! He has bewitched the Great Elephant and
+all his people! Shall we kill him?"
+
+But quickly shaking off his fears their spokesman laughed, and
+answered:
+
+"So that is what you have brought the white people here for, old
+traitor--to plot against the throne of Lobengula."
+
+He wheeled round and stared at Mr. Clifford and Jacob Meyer; then
+added:
+
+"Good, Grey-beard and Black-Beard: I myself will put you both to such
+a death as you have never heard of, and as for the girl, since she is
+well favoured, she shall brew the king's beer, and be numbered amongst
+the king's wives--unless, indeed, he is pleased to give her to me."
+
+In an instant the thing was done! At the man's words about Benita,
+Meyer, who had been listening to his threats and bombast unconcerned,
+suddenly seemed to awake. His dark eyes flashed, his pale face turned
+cruel. Snatching the revolver from his belt he seemed to point and
+fire it with one movement, and down--dead or dying--went the Matabele.
+
+Men did not stir, they only stared. Accustomed as they were to death
+in that wild land, the suddenness of this deed surprised them. The
+contrast between the splendid, brutal savage who had stood before them
+a moment ago, and the limp, black thing going to sleep upon the
+ground, was strange enough to move their imaginations. There he lay,
+and there, over him, the smoking pistol in his hand, Meyer stood and
+laughed.
+
+Benita felt that the act was just, and the awful punishment deserved.
+Yet that laugh of Jacob's jarred upon her, for in it she thought she
+heard the man's heart speaking; and oh, its voice was merciless!
+Surely Justice should not laugh when her sword falls!
+
+"Behold, now," said the Molimo in his still voice, pointing at the
+dead Matabele with his finger; "do I speak lies, or is it true that
+this man shall not look more upon his king's face? Well, as it was
+with the servant, so it shall be with the lord, only more slowly. It
+is the decree of the Munwali, spoken by the voice of his Mouth, the
+Molimo of Bambatse. Go, children of Lobengula, and bear with you as an
+offering this first-fruit of the harvest that the white men shall reap
+among the warriors of his people."
+
+The thin voice died away, and there was silence so intense that Benita
+thought she heard the scraping of the feet of a green lizard which
+crept across a stone a yard or two away.
+
+Then of a sudden it ended. Of a sudden the two remaining Matabele
+turned and fled for their lives, and as, when dogs run, a flock of
+sheep will wheel about and pursue them, so did the Makalanga. They
+grabbed at the messengers with their hands, tearing their finery from
+them; they struck them with sticks, they pounded them with stones,
+till at length two bruised and bleeding men, finding all escape cut
+off, and led perhaps by some instinct, staggered back to where Benita
+stood horrified at this dreadful scene, and throwing themselves upon
+the ground, clutched at her dress and prayed for mercy.
+
+"Move a little, Miss Clifford," said Meyer. "Three of those brutes
+will not weigh heavier than one upon my conscience."
+
+"No, no, you shall not," she answered. "Mambo, these men are
+messengers; spare them."
+
+"Hearken to the voice of pity," said the old prophet, "spoken in a
+place where pity never was, and not in vain. Let them go. Give mercy
+to the merciless, for she buys their lives with a prayer."
+
+"They will bring the others on us," muttered Tamas, and even old Mr.
+Clifford shook his head sadly. But the Molimo only said:
+
+"I have spoken. Let them go. That which will befall must befall, and
+from this deed no ill shall come that would not have come otherwise."
+
+"You hear? Depart swiftly," said Benita, in Zulu.
+
+With difficulty the two men dragged themselves to their feet, and
+supporting each other, stood before her. One of them, a clever,
+powerful-faced man, whose black hair was tinged with grey, addressing
+himself to Benita, gasped:
+
+"Hear me. That fool there," and he pointed to his dead companion,
+"whose boasting brought his death upon him, was but a low fellow. I,
+who kept silence and let him talk, am Maduna, a prince of the royal
+house who justly deserve to die because I turned my back upon these
+dogs. Yet I and my brother here take life at your hands, Lady, who,
+now that I have had time to think, would refuse it at theirs. For,
+whether I stay or go does not matter. The impi waits; the slayers are
+beneath the walls. Those things which are decreed will happen; there,
+yonder old Wizard speaks true. Listen, Lady: should it chance that you
+have cause to demand two lives at the hands of Maduna, in his own name
+and the name of his king he promises them to you. In safety shall they
+pass, they and all that is theirs, without toll taken. Remember the
+oath of Maduna, Lady, in the hour of your need, and do you, my
+brother, bear witness to it among our people."
+
+Then, straightening themselves as well as they were able, these two
+sorely hurt men lifted their right arms and gave Benita the salute due
+to a chieftainess. This done, taking no note of any other creature
+there, they limped away to the gate that had been opened for them, and
+vanished beyond the wall.
+
+All this while Meyer had stood silent; now he spoke with a bitter
+smile.
+
+"Charity, Miss Clifford, said a certain Paul, as reported in your New
+Testament, covers a multitude of sins. I hope very much that it will
+serve to cover our remains from the aasvogels, after we have met our
+deaths in some such fashion as that brute promised us," and he pointed
+to the dead man.
+
+Benita looked at her father in question.
+
+"Mr. Meyer means, my dear, that you have done a foolish thing in
+begging the lives of those Matabele. It would have been safer for us
+if they were dead, who, as it is, have gone off burning for revenge.
+Of course, I understand it was natural enough, but----" and he
+hesitated and stopped.
+
+"The chief did not say so," broke in Benita with agitation; "besides,
+if he had, I should not have cared. It was bad enough to see one man
+killed like that," and she shivered; "I could not bear any more."
+
+"You should not be angry at the fellow's death, seeing that it was
+what he said of you which brought it upon him," Meyer replied with
+meaning. "Otherwise he might have gone unharmed as far as I was
+concerned. For the rest, I did not interfere because I saw it was
+useless; also I am a fatalist like our friend, the Molimo, and believe
+in what is decreed. The truth is," he added sharply, "among savages
+ladies are not in place."
+
+"Why did you not say that down at Rooi Krantz, Jacob?" asked Mr.
+Clifford. "You know I thought so all the while, but somehow I was
+over-ruled. Now what I suggest is, that we had better get out of this
+place as fast as we can--instantly, as soon as we have eaten, before
+our retreat is cut off."
+
+Meyer looked at the oxen which had been outspanned: nine were
+wandering about picking up what food they could, but the five which
+were supposed to have been bitten by tetsefly had lain down.
+
+"Nine worn-out and footsore oxen will not draw the waggon," he said;
+"also in all probability the place is already surrounded by Matabele,
+who merely let us in to be sure of the guns which their spies must
+have told them we were carrying. Lastly, having spent so much and come
+so far, I do not mean to go without what we seek. Still, if you think
+that your daughter's danger is greater within these walls than outside
+of them, you might try, if we can hire servants, which I doubt. Or
+possibly, if any rowers are to be had, you could go down the Zambesi
+in a canoe, risking the fever. You and she must settle it, Clifford."
+
+"Difficulties and dangers every way one looks. Benita, what do you
+say?" asked her father distractedly.
+
+Benita thought a moment. She wished to escape from Mr. Meyer, of whom
+she was weary and afraid, and would have endured much to do so. On the
+other hand, her father was tired out, and needed rest; also to turn
+his back upon this venture now would have been a bitter blow to him.
+Moreover, lacking cattle and men, how was it to be done? Lastly,
+something within her, that same voice which had bidden her to come,
+seemed to bid her to stay. Very soon she had made up her mind.
+
+"Father, dear," she said, "thank you for thinking of me, but as far as
+I can see, we should run more risks trying to get away than we do in
+stopping here. I wanted to come, though you warned me against it, and
+now I must take my chance and trust to God to bring us safe through
+all dangers. Surely with all those rifles the Makalanga ought to be
+able to hold such a place as this against the Matabele."
+
+"I hope so," answered her father; "but they are a timid folk. Still,
+though it would have been far better never to have come, I think with
+you that it is best to stay where we are, and trust to God."
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE MOUNTAIN TOP
+
+If our adventurers, or any of them, hoped that they were going to be
+led to the secret places of the fortress that day, they were destined
+to disappointment. Indeed, the remainder of it was employed arduously
+enough in unpacking rifles, and a supply of ammunition; also in giving
+to a few of the leading Makalanga preliminary lessons in the method of
+their use, a matter as to which their ideas were of the vaguest. The
+rest of the tribe, having brought their women and children into the
+outer enclosure of the ancient stronghold, and with them their sheep
+and goats and the few cattle which remained to them, were employed in
+building up the entrance permanently with stones, a zigzag secret path
+upon the river side, that could be stopped in a few minutes, being now
+their only method of ingress and egress through the thickness of the
+walls. A certain number of men were also sent out as spies to
+discover, if possible, the whereabouts of the Matabele impi.
+
+That there was some impi they were almost sure, for a woman who had
+followed them reported that the injured captain, Maduna, and his
+companion had been met at a distance of about three miles from
+Bambatse by a small party of Matabele, who were hiding in some bushes,
+and that these men had made litters for them, and carried them away;
+whither she did not know, for she had not dared to pursue them
+further.
+
+That night Benita passed in the guesthouse, which was only a hut
+rather larger than the others, while the two men slept in the waggon
+just outside. She was so tired that for a long while she could not
+rest. Her mind kept flying back to all the events of the day: the
+strange words of that mystic old Molimo, concerning herself; the
+arrival of the brutal messengers and the indaba that followed; then
+the sudden and awful destruction of their spokesman at the hand of
+Jacob Meyer. The scene would not leave her eyes, she saw it again and
+yet again: the quick transformation of Meyer's indifferent face when
+the soldier began to insult and threaten her, the lightning-like
+movement of his hand, the flash, the report, the change from life to
+death, and the slayer's cruel laugh. He could be very terrible, Jacob
+Meyer, when his passions were roused!
+
+And what had roused them then? She could not doubt that it was herself
+--not mere chivalry towards a woman. Even if he were capable of
+chivalry, merely for that he would never have taken such risk of
+future trouble and revenge. No; it was something deeper. He had never
+said anything or done anything, yet long ago instinct or insight had
+caused Benita to suspect the workings of his mind, and now she was
+sure of them. The thought was terrible--worse than all her other
+dangers put together. True, she had her father to rely on, but he had
+been somewhat ailing of late; age and these arduous journeys and
+anxieties had told upon him. Supposing that anything were to happen to
+him--if he died, for instance, how dreadful her position might become,
+left alone far from the reach of help, with savages--and Jacob Meyer.
+
+Oh! if it had not been for that dreadful shipwreck, how different
+might be her lot to-day! Well, it was the thought of the shipwreck and
+of him whom she had lost therein, which had driven her on to this
+adventure, that in it perhaps her suffering mind might be numbed to
+rest; and now she must face its issues. God still remained above her,
+and she would put her trust in Him. After all, if she died, what did
+it matter?
+
+But that old Molimo had promised her that she was safe from death,
+that she should find here happiness and rest, though not that of the
+grave. He promised this, speaking as one who knew of all her grief,
+and a very little while afterwards, in the case of the Matabele
+soldier, he had proved himself a prophet of awful power. Also--she
+knew not how, she knew not why--now, as before, her inmost heart
+seemed to bear witness that this old dreamer's words were true, and
+that for her, in some strange manner unforeseen, there still remained
+a rest.
+
+Comforted a little by this intuition, at length Benita fell asleep.
+
+Next morning, when she came out of the hut, Benita was met by her
+father, who with a cheerful countenance informed her that at any rate
+as yet there was no sign of the Matabele. A few hours later, too, some
+spies came in who said that for miles round nothing could be seen or
+heard of them. Still the preparations for defence went on, and the
+hundred best men having been furnished with the rifles, were being
+drilled in the use of them by Tamas and his two companions, Tamala and
+Hoba, who had learned how to handle a gun very well in the course of
+their long journey. The shooting of these raw recruits, however,
+proved to be execrable; indeed, so dangerous were they that when one
+of them fired at a mark set upon the wall, it was found necessary to
+order all the rest to lie down. As it was, a poor trek ox--luckily it
+was sick--and two sheep were killed.
+
+Foreseeing a scarcity of provisions in the event of a siege, Meyer,
+provident as ever, had already decreed the death of the tetse-bitten
+cattle. These were accordingly despatched, and having been skinned and
+cut up, their flesh was severed into long strips to be dried in the
+burning sun as biltong, which secretly Benita hoped she might never be
+called upon to eat. Yet the time was to come when she would swallow
+that hard, tetse-poisoned flesh with thankfulness.
+
+At midday, after they had eaten, Mr. Clifford and Meyer went to the
+Molimo, where he sat against the second wall, and, pointing to the men
+with the guns, said:
+
+"We have fulfilled our bargain. Now fulfil yours. Lead us to the holy
+place that we may begin our search."
+
+"So be it," he answered. "Follow me, white people."
+
+Then, quite unattended, he guided them round the inner wall till they
+came to a path of rock not more than a yard wide, beneath which was a
+precipice fifty feet or so in depth that almost overhung the river.
+This giddy path they followed for about twenty paces, to find that it
+ended in a cleft in the wall so narrow that only one person could walk
+through it at a time. That it must have been the approach to the
+second stronghold was evident, however, since it was faced on either
+side with dressed stones, and even the foundation granite had been
+worn by the human feet which had passed here for ages upon ages. This
+path zigzagged to and fro in the thickness of the wall till it brought
+them finally within its circle, a broad belt of steeply-rising ground,
+covered like that below with the tumbled ruins of buildings amidst
+which grew bush and trees.
+
+"Heaven send that the gold is not buried here," said Mr. Clifford,
+surveying the scene; "for if it is, we shall never find it."
+
+The Molimo seemed to guess the meaning of his words from his face, for
+he answered:
+
+"I think not here. The besiegers won this place and camped in it for
+many weeks. I could show you were they built their fires and tried to
+undermine the last wall within which the Portuguese sat about until
+hunger killed them, for they could not eat their gold. Follow me
+again."
+
+So on they went up the slope till they came to the base of the third
+wall, and as before, passed round it, and reached a point above the
+river. But now there was no passage, only some shallow and almost
+precipitous steps cut from single stones leading from the foot of the
+wall to its summit, more than thirty feet above.
+
+"Really," said Benita, contemplating this perilous ascent with dismay,
+"the ways of treasure seekers are hard. I don't think I can," while
+her father also looked at them and shook his head.
+
+"We must get a rope," said Meyer to the Molimo angrily. "How can we
+climb that place without one, with such a gulf below?"
+
+"I am old, but I climb it," said the aged man in mild surprise, since
+to him, who had trodden it all his life, it seemed not difficult.
+"Still," he added, "I have a rope above which I use upon dark nights.
+I will ascend and let it down."
+
+Ascend he did accordingly; indeed, it was a wondrous sight to see his
+withered legs scrambling from step to step as unconcernedly as though
+he were going upstairs. No monkey could have been more agile, or more
+absolutely impervious to the effects of height. Soon he vanished in--
+or, rather, through--the crest of the wall, and presently appeared
+again on the top step, whence he let down a stout hide rope, remarking
+that it was securely tied. So anxious was Meyer to enter the hidden
+place of which he had dreamed so long that he scarcely waited for it
+to reach his hand before he began the climb, which he accomplished
+safely. Then, sitting on the top of the wall, he directed Mr. Clifford
+to fasten the end of the rope round Benita's waist, and her turn came.
+
+It was not so bad as she expected, for she was agile, and the
+knowledge that the rope would prevent disaster gave her confidence. In
+a very little while she had grasped Meyer's outstretched hand, and
+been drawn into safety through a kind of aperture above the top step.
+Then the rope was let down again for her father, who tied it about his
+middle. Well was it that he did so, since when he was about half-way
+up, awkwardness, or perhaps loss of nerve--neither of them wonderful
+in an old man--caused his foot to slip, and had it not been for the
+rope which Meyer and the Molimo held, he would certainly have fallen
+into the river some hundreds of feet below. As it was, he recovered
+himself, and presently arrived panting and very pale. In her relief
+Benita kissed him, and even as she did so thought again that she had
+been very near to being left alone with Jacob Meyer.
+
+"All's well that ends well, my dear," he said. "But upon my word I am
+beginning to wish that I had been content with the humble profits of
+horse-breeding."
+
+Benita made no answer; it seemed too late for any useful consideration
+of the point.
+
+"Clever men, those ancients," said Meyer. "See," and he pointed out to
+her how, by drawing a heavy stone which still lay close by over the
+aperture through which they had crept, the ascent of the wall could be
+made absolutely impossible to any enemy, since at its crest it was
+battened outwards, not inwards, as is usual in these ancient ruins.
+
+"Yes," she answered, "we ought to feel safe enough inside here, and
+that's as well since I do not feel inclined to go out again at
+present."
+
+Then they paused to look about them, and this was what they saw:
+
+The wall, built like those below, of unmortared blocks of stone,
+remained in a wonderfully good state of preservation, for its only
+enemies had been time, the tropical rains, and the growth of shrubs
+and trees which here and there had cracked and displaced the stones.
+It enclosed all the top of the hill, perhaps three acres of ground,
+and on it at intervals were planted soap-stone pillars, each of them
+about twelve feet in height, and fashioned at the top to a rude
+resemblance of a vulture. Many of these columns, however had been
+blown down, or perhaps struck by lightning, and lay broken upon the
+wall, or if they had fallen inward, at its foot; but some, six or
+eight perhaps, were still standing.
+
+Benita learned afterwards that they must have been placed there by the
+ancient Ph�nicians, or whatever people constructed this gigantic
+fortification, and had something to do with the exact recordings of
+the different seasons of the year, and their sub-divisions, by means
+of the shadows which they cast. As yet, however, she did not pay much
+attention to them, for she was engaged in considering a more
+remarkable relic of antiquity which stood upon the very verge of the
+precipice, the wall, indeed, being built up to its base on either
+side.
+
+It was the great cone of which Richard Seymour had told her, fifty
+feet high or more, such as once was found in the Ph�nician temples.
+But in this case it was not built of masonry, but shaped by the hand
+of man out of a single gigantic granite monolith of the sort that are
+sometimes to be met with in Africa, that thousands or millions of
+years ago had been left standing thus when the softer rock around it
+was worn away by time and weather. On the inner side of this cone were
+easy steps whereby it could be ascended, and its top, which might have
+been six feet in diameter, was fashioned in the shape of a cup,
+probably for the purposes of acts of worship and of sacrifice. This
+extraordinary monument, which, except on the river side, could not be
+seen from below on account of the slope of the hill, leaned slightly
+outwards, so that a stone dropped from its crest would fall into the
+waters of the stream.
+
+"Thence it was," said the Molimo, "that my forefathers saw the last of
+the Portuguese, the fair daughter of the great Captain Ferreira, hurl
+herself to death after she had given the gold into our keeping, and
+laid the curse upon it, until she came again. So in my dreams have I
+seen and heard her also, ay, and others have seen her, but these only
+from by the river far below."
+
+He paused awhile, looking at Benita with his queer, dreamy eyes; then
+said suddenly:
+
+"Say, Lady, do you remember nothing of that matter?"
+
+Now Benita grew vexed, for the whole thing was uncanny and jarred upon
+her.
+
+"How can I remember," she asked, "who was born not five and twenty
+years ago?"
+
+"I do not know," he answered. "How should I know, who am but an
+ignorant old black man, who was born not much more than eighty years
+ago? Yet, Lady, tell me, for I seek your wisdom, where were you born
+from? Out of the earth, or out of the heavens? What? You shake your
+head, you who do not remember? Well, neither do I remember. Yet it is
+true that all circles meet somewhere, and it is true that the
+Portuguese maiden said she would come again; and lastly it is true
+that she was such an one as you are, for she haunts this place, and I,
+who have seen her sitting yonder in the moonlight, know her beauty
+well. Yet mayhap she comes no more in flesh, but still her spirit
+comes; for, Lady, out of those eyes of yours I see it gaze at me.
+Come," he added abruptly, "let us descend the wall, for as you cannot
+remember, there is more to show you. Have no fear--the steps are
+easy."
+
+So they went down without much difficulty, since, from the
+accumulation of rubbish and other causes, the wall was a great deal
+lower on this side, and found themselves in the usual dense growth of
+vegetation and brushwood through which ran a little path. It led them
+past the ruins of buildings whereof the use and purpose were long
+since forgotten, for their roofs had fallen in hundreds or thousands
+of years ago, to the entrance of a cave which was placed almost at the
+foot of the monolithic cone, but thirty or forty yards further from
+the circle of the wall. Here the Molimo bade them stay while he lit
+the lamps within. Five minutes passed and he returned, saying that all
+was ready.
+
+"Be not afraid of what you may see," he added, "for know, white
+people, that save my forefathers and myself, none have entered this
+place since the Portuguese perished here, nor have we, who do but come
+hither to pray and receive the word of the Munwali, ever ventured to
+disturb it. As it was, so it is. Come, Lady, come; she whose spirit
+goes with you was the last of your white race to pass this door. It is
+therefore fitting that your feet and her spirit should be the first to
+enter it again."
+
+Benita hung back a little, for the adventure was eerie, then,
+determined that she would show no fear in the presence of this old
+priest, took the thin hand he stretched out to her, and walked forward
+with head erect. The two men began to follow her, but the Molimo
+stopped them, saying:
+
+"Not so. The maiden enters first alone with me; it is her house, and
+should it please her to ask you to dwell therein, so be it. But first
+she must visit her house alone."
+
+"Nonsense," said Mr. Clifford angrily. "I will not have it. It will
+frighten her."
+
+"Lady, do you trust me?" asked the Molimo.
+
+"Yes," she answered; adding, "Father, I think you had better let me go
+alone. I am not afraid now, and it may be wisest not to thwart him.
+This is a very strange business--not like anything else--and really I
+think that I had better go alone. If I do not come back presently, you
+can follow."
+
+"Those who break in upon the sleep of the dead should walk gently,
+gently," piped the old Molimo in a sing-song voice. "The maiden's
+breath is pure; the maiden's foot is light; her breath will not offend
+the dead; her step will not disturb the dead. White men, white men,
+anger not the dead, for the dead are mighty, and will be revenged upon
+you when you are dead; soon, very soon, when you are dead--dead in
+your sorrows, dead in your sins, dead, gathered to that company of the
+dead who await us here."
+
+And, still chanting his mystic song, he led Benita by the hand out of
+the light, onward into darkness, away from life, onward into the place
+of death.
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE SLEEPERS IN THE CAVE
+
+Like every other passage in this old fortress, the approach to the
+cave was narrow and winding; presumably the ancients had arranged them
+thus to facilitate their defence. After the third bend, however,
+Benita saw a light ahead which flowed from a native lamp lit in the
+arched entrance. At the side of this arch was a shell-shaped hollow,
+cut in the rock about three feet above the floor. Its appearance
+seemed familiar to her; why, she was soon to learn, although at the
+moment she did not connect it with anything in particular. The cave
+beyond was large, lofty, and not altogether natural, for its walls had
+evidently been shaped, or at any rate trimmed, by man. Probably here
+the old Priests had established their oracle, or place of offering.
+
+At first Benita could not see much, since in that great cavern two
+lamps of hippopotamus oil gave but little light. Presently, however,
+her eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and as they advanced up its
+length she perceived that save for a skin rug upon which she guessed
+the Molimo sat at his solitary devotions, and some gourds and platters
+for water and food, all the front part of the place appeared to be
+empty. Beyond, in its centre, stood an object of some gleaming metal,
+that from its double handles and roller borne upon supports of rock
+she took to be some kind of winch, and rightly, for beneath it was the
+mouth of a great well, the water supply of the topmost fortification.
+
+Beyond the well was a stone altar, shaped like a truncated cone or
+pyramid, and at some distance away against the far wall, as she dimly
+discovered by the lamp that stood upon the altar, cut in relief upon
+that wall indeed, a colossal cross to which, vigorously if rudely
+executed in white stone, hung the image of Christ crucified, the crown
+of thorns upon His drooping head. Now she understood. Whatever may
+have been the first worship to which this place was dedicated,
+Christians had usurped it, and set up here the sacred symbol of their
+faith, awful enough to look upon in such surroundings. Doubtless,
+also, the shell-shaped basin at the entrance had served the
+worshippers in this underground chapel as a stoup for holy water.
+
+The Molimo lifted the lamp from the altar, and having adjusted its
+wick, held it up in front of the rood before which, although she was
+no Catholic, Benita bowed her head and crossed herself, while he
+watched her curiously. Then he lowered it, and she perceived that on
+the cemented floor lay great numbers of shrouded forms that at first
+looked to her like folk asleep. He stepped to one of them and touched
+it with his foot, whereon the cloth which with it was covered crumbled
+into dust, revealing beneath a white skeleton.
+
+All those sleepers rested well indeed, for they had been dead at least
+two hundred years. There they lay--men, women, and children, though of
+the last but few. Some of them had ornaments on their bones, some were
+clad in armour, and by all the men were swords, or spears, or knives,
+and here and there what she took to be primitive fire-arms. Certain of
+them also had turned into mummies in that dry air--grotesque and
+dreadful objects from which she gladly averted her eyes.
+
+The Molimo led her forward to the foot of the crucifix, where, upon
+its lowest step and upon the cemented floor immediately beneath it
+respectively, lay two shapes decorously covered with shawls of some
+heavy material interwoven with gold wire, for the manufacture of which
+the Makalanga were famous when first the Portuguese came into contact
+with them. The Molimo took hold of the cloths that seemed almost as
+good now as on the day when they were woven, and lifted them,
+revealing beneath the figures of a man and woman. The features were
+unrecognizable, although the hair, white in the man's case and raven
+black in that of the woman, remained perfect. They had been great
+people, for orders glittered upon the man's breast, and his sword was
+gold hilted, whilst the woman's bones were adorned with costly
+necklaces and jewels, and in her hand was still a book bound in sheets
+of silver. Benita took it up and looked at it. It was a missal
+beautifully illuminated, which doubtless the poor lady had been
+reading when at length she sank exhausted into the sleep of death.
+
+"See the Lord Ferreira and his wife," said the Molimo, "whom their
+daughter laid thus before she went to join them." Then, at a motion
+from Benita, he covered them up again with their golden cloths.
+
+"Here they sleep," he went on in his chanting voice, "a hundred and
+fifty and three of them--a hundred and fifty and three; and when I
+dream in this place at night, I have seen the ghosts of every one of
+them arise from beside their forms and come gliding down the cave--the
+husband with the wife, the child with the mother--to look at me, and
+ask when the maiden returns again to take her heritage and give them
+burial."
+
+Benita shuddered; the solemn awfulness of the place and scene
+oppressed her. She began to think that she, too, saw those ghosts.
+
+"It is enough," she said. "Let us be going."
+
+So they went, and the pitiful, agonized Christ upon the cross, at
+which she glanced from time to time over her shoulder, faded to a
+white blot, then vanished away in the darkness, through which, from
+generation to generation, it kept its watch above the dead, those dead
+that in their despair once had cried to it for mercy, and bedewed its
+feet with tears.
+
+Glad, oh! glad was she when she had left that haunted place behind
+her, and saw the wholesome light again.
+
+"What have you seen?" asked her father and Meyer, in one breath, as
+they noted her white and frightened face.
+
+She sank upon a stone seat at the entrance of the cave, and before she
+could open her lips the Molimo answered for her:
+
+"The maiden has seen the dead. The Spirit who goes with her has given
+greeting to its dead that it left so long ago. The maiden has done
+reverence to the White One who hangs upon the cross, and asked a
+blessing and a pardon of Him, as she whose Spirit goes with her did
+reverence before the eyes of my forefathers, and asked a blessing and
+a pardon ere she cast herself away." And he pointed to the little
+golden crucifix which hung upon Benita's bosom, attached to the
+necklace which Tamas, the messenger, had given her at Rooi Krantz.
+
+"Now," he went on, "now the spell is broken, and the sleepers must
+depart to sleep elsewhere. Enter, white men; enter, if you dare, and
+ask for pardon and for blessing if it may be found, and gather up the
+dry bones and take the treasure that was theirs, if it may be found,
+and conquer the curse that goes with the treasure for all save one, if
+you can, if you can, if you can! Rest you here, maiden, in the sweet
+sunshine, and follow me, white men; follow me into the dark of the
+dead to seek for that which the white men love." And once more he
+vanished down the passage, turning now and again to beckon to them,
+while they went after him as though drawn against their wish. For now,
+at the last moment, some superstitious fear spread from him to them,
+and showed itself in their eyes.
+
+To Benita, half fainting upon the stone seat, for this experience had
+shaken her to the heart, it seemed but a few minutes, though really
+the best part of an hour had gone by, when her father reappeared as
+white-faced as she had been.
+
+"Where is Mr. Meyer?" she asked.
+
+"Oh!" he answered. "He is collecting all the golden ornaments off
+those poor bodies, and tumbling their bones together in a corner of
+the cave."
+
+Benita uttered an exclamation of horror.
+
+"I know what you mean," said her father. "But, curse the fellow! he
+has no reverence, although at first he seemed almost as scared as I
+was myself. He said that as we could not begin our search with all
+those corpses about, they had best be got out of the way as soon as
+possible. Or perhaps it was because he is really afraid of them, and
+wanted to prove to himself that they are nothing more than dust.
+Benita," went on the old man, "to tell you the truth, I wish heartily
+that we had left this business alone. I don't believe that any good
+will come of it, and certainly it has brought enough trouble already.
+That old prophet of a Molimo has the second sight, or something like
+it, and he does not hide his opinion, but keeps chuckling away in that
+dreadful place, and piping out his promises of ill to be."
+
+"He promised me nothing but good," said Benita with a little smile.
+"Though I don't see how it can happen. But if you dislike the thing,
+father, why not give it up and try to escape?"
+
+"It is too late, dear," he replied passionately. "Meyer would never
+come, and I can't in honour leave him. Also, I should laugh at myself
+for the rest of my life; and, after all, why should we not have the
+gold if it can be found? It belongs to nobody. We do not get it by
+robbery, or murder; nuggets are of no use to Portuguese who have been
+dead two hundred years, and whose heirs, if they have any, it is
+impossible to discover. Nor can it matter to them whether they lie
+about singly as they died or were placed after death, or piled
+together in a corner. Our fears were mere churchyard superstitions,
+which we have caught from that ghoul of a Molimo. Don't you agree with
+me?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," answered Benita, "though a fate may cling to
+certain things or places, perhaps. At any rate, I think that it is of
+no use turning back now, even if we had anywhere to turn, so we may as
+well go through with the venture and await its end. Give me the water-
+bottle, please. I am thirsty."
+
+A while later Jacob Meyer appeared, carrying a great bundle of
+precious objects wrapped in one of the gold cere-cloths, which bundle
+he hid away behind a stone.
+
+"The cave is much tidier now," he said, as he flicked the thick dust
+which had collected on them during his unhallowed task from his hands,
+and hair, and garments. Then he drank greedily, and asked:
+
+"Have you two made any plans for our future researches?"
+
+They shook their heads.
+
+"Well, then, I have. I thought them out while I was bone-carting, and
+here they are. It is no use our going down below again; for one thing,
+the journey is too dangerous, and takes too long; and for another, we
+are safer up above, where we have plenty to do."
+
+"But," said Benita, "how about things to eat and sleep on, and the
+rest?"
+
+"Simple enough, Miss Clifford; we must get them up. The Kaffirs will
+bring them to the foot of the third wall, and we will haul them to its
+top with a rope. Of water it seems there is plenty in that well, which
+is fed by a spring a hundred and fifty feet down, and the old chain is
+still on the roller, so we only need a couple of buckets from the
+waggon. Of wood for cooking there is plenty also, growing on the spot;
+and we can camp in the cave or outside of it, as we like, according to
+the state of the weather. Now, do you rest here while I go down. I
+will be back in an hour with some of the gear, and then you must help
+me."
+
+So he went, and the end of it was that before nightfall they had
+enough things for their immediate needs, and by the second night,
+working very hard, were more or less comfortably established in their
+strange habitation. The canvas flap from the waggon was arranged as a
+tent for Benita, the men sleeping beneath a thick-leaved tree near by.
+Close at hand, under another tree, was their cooking place. The
+provisions of all sorts, including a couple of cases of square-face
+and a large supply of biltong from the slaughtered cattle, they stored
+with a quantity of ammunition in the mouth of the cave. Fresh meat
+also was brought to them daily, and hauled up in baskets--that is,
+until there was none to bring--and with it grain for bread, and green
+mealies to serve as vegetables. Therefore, as the water from the well
+proved to be excellent and quite accessible, they were soon set up in
+all things necessary, and to these they added from time to time as
+opportunity offered.
+
+In all these preparations the old Molimo took a part, nor, when they
+were completed, did he show any inclination to leave them. In the
+morning he would descend to his people below, but before nightfall he
+always returned to the cave, where for many years it had been his
+custom to sleep--at any rate several times a week, in the gruesome
+company of the dead Portuguese. Jacob Meyer persuaded Mr. Clifford
+that his object was to spy upon them, and talked of turning him out;
+but Benita, between whom and the old man had sprung up a curious
+friendship and sympathy, prevented it, pointing out that they were
+much safer with the Molimo, as a kind of hostage, than they could be
+without him; also, that his knowledge of the place, and of other
+things, might prove of great help to them. So in the end he was
+allowed to remain, as indeed he had a perfect right to do.
+
+All this while there was no sign of any attack by the Matabele.
+Indeed, the fear of such a thing was to some extent dying away, and
+Benita, watching from the top of the wall, could see that their nine
+remaining oxen, together with the two horses--for that belonging to
+Jacob Meyer had died--and the Makalanga goats and sheep, were daily
+driven out to graze; also, that the women were working in the crops
+upon the fertile soil around the lowest wall. Still, a strict watch
+was kept, and at night everyone slept within the fortifications;
+moreover, the drilling of the men and their instruction in the use of
+firearms went on continually under Tamas, who now, in his father's old
+age, was the virtual chief of the people.
+
+It was on the fourth morning that at length, all their preparations
+being completed, the actual search for the treasure began. First, the
+Molimo was closely interrogated as to its whereabouts, since they
+thought that even if he did not know this exactly, some traditions of
+the fact might have descended to him from his ancestors. But he
+declared with earnestness that he knew nothing, save that the
+Portuguese maiden had said that it was hidden; nor, he added, had any
+dream or vision come to him concerning this matter, in which he took
+no interest. If it was there, it was there; if it was not there, it
+was not there--it remained for the white men to search and see.
+
+For no very good reason Meyer had concluded that the gold must have
+been concealed in or about the cave, so here it was that they began
+their investigations.
+
+First, they bethought them of the well into which it might possibly
+have been thrown, but the fact of this matter proved very difficult to
+ascertain. Tying a piece of metal--it was an old Portuguese sword-hilt
+--to a string, they let it down and found that it touched water at a
+depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and bottom at a depth of one
+hundred and forty-seven feet. Therefore there were twenty-seven feet
+of water. Weighting a bucket they sank it until it rested upon this
+bottom, then wound it up again several times. On the third occasion it
+brought up a human bone and a wire anklet of pure gold. But this
+proved nothing, except that some ancient, perhaps thousands of years
+ago, had been thrown, or had fallen, into the well.
+
+Still unsatisfied, Jacob Meyer, who was a most intrepid person,
+determined to investigate the place himself, a task of no little
+difficulty and danger, since proper ladders were wanting, nor, had
+they existed, was there anything to stand them on. Therefore it came
+to this: a seat must be rigged on to the end of the old copper chain,
+and be lowered into the pit after the fashion of the bucket. But, as
+Benita pointed out, although they might let him down, it was possible
+that they would not be able to draw him up again, in which case his
+plight must prove unfortunate. So, when the seat had been prepared, an
+experiment was made with a stone weighing approximately as much as a
+man. This Benita and her father let down easily enough, but, as they
+anticipated, when it came to winding it up again, their strength was
+barely sufficient to the task. Three people could do it well, but with
+two the thing was risky. Now Meyer asked--or, rather, commanded--the
+Molimo to order some of his men to help him, but this the old chief
+refused point blank to do.
+
+First, he made a number of excuses. They were all employed in
+drilling, and in watching for the Matabele; they were afraid to
+venture here, and so forth. At last Meyer grew furious; his eyes
+flashed, he ground his teeth, and began to threaten.
+
+"White man," said the Molimo, when he had done, "it cannot be. I have
+fulfilled my bargain with you. Search for the gold; find it and take
+it away if you can. But this place is holy. None of my tribe, save he
+who holds the office of Molimo for the time, may set a foot therein.
+Kill me if you will--I care not; but so it is, and if you kill me,
+afterwards they will kill you."
+
+Now Meyer, seeing that nothing was to be gained by violence, changed
+his tone, and asked if he himself would help them.
+
+"I am old, my strength is small," he replied; "yet I will put my hand
+to the chain and do my best. But, if I were you, I would not descend
+that pit."
+
+"Still, I will descend it, and to-morrow," said Meyer.
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH
+
+Accordingly, on the next day the great experiment was made. The chain
+and ancient winding gear had been tested and proved to be amply
+sufficient to the strain. Therefore, nothing remained save for Meyer
+to place himself in the wooden seat with an oil-lamp, and in case this
+should be extinguished, matches and candles, of both of which they had
+a large supply.
+
+He did so boldly enough, and swung out over the mouth of the pit,
+while the three of them clutched the handles of the winch. Then they
+began to lower, and slowly his white face disappeared into the black
+depth. At every few turns his descent was stopped that he might
+examine the walls of the well, and when he was about fifty feet down
+he called to them to hold on, which they did, listening while he
+struck at the rock with a hammer, for here it sounded very hollow.
+
+At length he shouted to them to lower away again, and they obeyed,
+until nearly all the chain was out, and they knew he must be near the
+water. Now Benita, peeping over the edge, saw that the star of light
+had vanished. His lamp was out, nor did he appear to attempt to
+re-light it. They shouted down the well to him, but no answer coming,
+began to wind up as fast as they were able. It was all that their
+united strength could manage, and very exhausted were they when at
+length Jacob reappeared at the top. At first, from the look of him
+they thought that he was dead, and had he not tied himself to the
+chain, dead he certainly would have been, for evidently his senses had
+left him long ago. Indeed, he had fallen almost out of the seat, over
+which his legs hung limply, his weight being supported by the hide
+rope beneath his arms which was made fast to the chain.
+
+They swung him in and dashed water over his face, till, to their
+relief, at last he began to gasp for breath, and revived sufficiently
+to enable them to half-lead and half-carry him out into the fresh air.
+
+"What happened to you?" asked Clifford.
+
+"Poisoned with gases, I suppose," Meyer answered with a groan, for his
+head was aching sadly. "The air is often bad at the bottom of deep
+wells, but I could smell or feel nothing until suddenly my senses left
+me. It was a near thing--a very near thing."
+
+Afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he told them that at one
+spot deep down in the well, on the river side of it, he found a place
+where it looked as though the rock had been cut away for a space of
+about six feet by four, and afterwards built up again with another
+sort of stone set in hard mortar or cement. Immediately beneath, too,
+were socket-holes in which the ends of beams still remained,
+suggesting that here had been a floor or platform. It was while he was
+examining these rotted beams that insensibility overcame him. He added
+that he thought that this might be the entrance to the place where the
+gold was hidden.
+
+"If so," said Mr. Clifford, "hidden it must remain, since it can have
+no better guardian than bad air. Also, floors like that are common in
+all wells to prevent rubbish from falling into the water, and the
+stonework you saw probably was only put there by the ancients to mend
+a fault in the rock and prevent the wall from caving in."
+
+"I hope so," said Meyer, "since unless that atmosphere purifies a good
+deal I don't think that even I dare go down again, and until one gets
+there, of that it is difficult to be sure, though of course a lantern
+on a string will tell one something."
+
+This was the end of their first attempt. The search was not renewed
+until the following afternoon, when Meyer had recovered a little from
+the effects of the poisoning and the chafing of the hide ropes beneath
+his arms. Indeed, from the former he never did quite recover, since
+thenceforward Benita, who for her own reasons watched the man closely,
+discovered a marked and progressive change in his demeanour. Hitherto
+he had appeared to be a reserved man, one who kept tight hand upon
+himself, and, if she knew certain things about him, it was rather
+because she guessed, or deduced them, than because he allowed them to
+be seen. On two occasions only had he shown his heart before her--when
+they had spoken together by the shores of Lake Chrissie on the day of
+the arrival of the messengers, and he declared his ardent desire for
+wealth and power; and quite recently, when he killed the Matabele
+envoy. Yet she felt certain that this heart of his was very passionate
+and insurgent; that his calm was like the ice that hides the stream,
+beneath which its currents run fiercely, none can see whither. The
+fashion in which his dark eyes would flash, even when his pale
+countenance remained unmoved, told her so, as did other things.
+
+For instance, when he was recovering from his swoon, the first words
+that passed his lips were in German, of which she understood a little,
+and she thought that they shaped themselves to her name, coupled with
+endearing epithets. From that time forward he became less guarded--or,
+rather, it seemed as though he were gradually losing power to control
+himself. He would grow excited without apparent cause, and begin to
+declaim as to what he would do when he had found the gold; how he
+would pay the world back all it had caused him to suffer--how he would
+become a "king."
+
+"I am afraid that you will find that exalted position rather lonely,"
+said Benita with a careless laugh, and next minute was sorry that she
+had spoken, for he answered, looking at her in a way that she did not
+like:
+
+"Oh, no! There will be a queen--a beautiful queen, whom I shall endow
+with wealth, and deck with jewels, and surround with love and
+worship."
+
+"What a fortunate lady!" she said, still laughing, but taking the
+opportunity to go away upon some errand.
+
+At other times, especially after dark, he would walk up and down in
+front of the cave, muttering to himself, or singing wild old German
+songs in his rich voice. Also, he made a habit of ascending the
+granite pillar and seating himself there, and more than once called
+down to her to come up and share his "throne." Still, these outbreaks
+were so occasional that her father, whose perceptions appeared to
+Benita to be less keen than formerly, scarcely noticed them, and for
+the rest his demeanour was what it had always been.
+
+Further researches into the well being out of the question, their next
+step was to make a thorough inspection of the chapel-cave itself. They
+examined the walls inch by inch, tapping them with a hammer to hear if
+they sounded hollow, but without result. They examined the altar, but
+it proved to be a solid mass of rock. By the help of a little ladder
+they had made, they examined the crucifix, and discovered that the
+white figure on the cross had evidently been fashioned out of some
+heathen statue of soft limestone, for at its back were the remains of
+draperies, and long hair which the artist had not thought it necessary
+to cut away. Also, they found that the arms had been added, and were
+of a slightly different stone, and that the weight of the figure was
+taken partly by an iron staple which supported the body, and partly by
+strong copper wire twisted to resemble cord, and painted white, which
+was passed round the wrists and supported the arms. This wire ran
+through loops of rock cut in the traverse of the cross, that itself
+was only raised in relief by chiselling away the solid stone behind.
+
+Curiously enough, this part of the search was left to Mr. Clifford and
+Benita, since it was one that Jacob Meyer seemed reluctant to
+undertake. A Jew by birth, and a man who openly professed his want of
+belief in that or any other religion, he yet seemed to fear this
+symbol of the Christian faith, speaking of it as horrible and unlucky;
+yes, he who, without qualm or remorse, had robbed and desecrated the
+dead that lay about its feet. Well, the crucifix told them nothing;
+but as Mr. Clifford, lantern in hand, descended the ladder, which
+Benita held, Jacob Meyer, who was in front of the altar, called to
+them excitedly that he had found something.
+
+"Then it is more than we have," said Mr. Clifford, as he laid down the
+ladder and hurried to him.
+
+Meyer was sounding the floor with a staff of wood--an operation which
+he had only just began after the walls proved barren.
+
+"Listen now," he said, letting the heavy staff drop a few paces to the
+right of the altar, where it produced the hard, metallic clang that
+comes from solid stone when struck. Then he moved to the front of the
+altar and dropped it again, but now the note was hollow and
+reverberant. Again and again he repeated the experiment, till they had
+exactly mapped out where the solid rock ended and that which seemed to
+be hollow began--a space of about eight feet square.
+
+"We've got it," he said triumphantly. "That's the entrance to the
+place where the gold is," and the others were inclined to agree with
+him.
+
+Now it remained to put their theory to the proof--a task of no small
+difficulty. Indeed, it took them three days of hard, continual work.
+It will be remembered that the floor of the cave was cemented over,
+and first of all this cement, which proved to be of excellent quality,
+being largely composed of powdered granite, must be broken up. By the
+help of a steel crowbar, which they had brought with them in the
+waggon, at length that part of their task was completed, revealing the
+rock beneath. By this time Benita was confident that, whatever might
+lie below, it was not the treasure, since it was evident that the
+poor, dying Portuguese would not have had the time or the strength to
+cement it over. When she told the others so, however, Meyer, convinced
+that he was on the right tack, answered that doubtless it was done by
+the Makalanga after the Portuguese days, as it was well known that
+they retained a knowledge of the building arts of their forefathers
+until quite a recent period, when the Matabele began to kill them out.
+
+When at length the cement was cleared away and the area swept, they
+discovered--for there ran the line of it--that here a great stone was
+set into the floor; it must have weighed several tons. As it was set
+in cement, however, to lift it, even if they had the strength to work
+the necessary levers, proved quite impossible. There remained only one
+thing to be done--to cut a way through. When they had worked at this
+task for several hours, and only succeeded in making a hole six inches
+deep, Mr. Clifford, whose old bones ached and whose hands were very
+sore, suggested that perhaps they might break it up with gunpowder.
+Accordingly, a pound flask of that explosive was poured into the hole,
+which they closed over with wet clay and a heavy rock, leaving a quill
+through which ran an extemporized fuse of cotton wick. All being
+prepared, their fuse was lit, and they left the cave and waited.
+
+Five minutes afterwards the dull sound of an explosion reached their
+ears, but more than an hour went by before the smoke and fumes would
+allow them to enter the place, and then it was to find that the
+results did not equal their expectations. To begin with, the slab was
+only cracked--not shattered, since the strength of the powder had been
+expended upwards, not downwards, as would have happened in the case of
+dynamite, of which they had none. Moreover, either the heavy stone
+which they had placed upon it, striking the roof of the cave, or the
+concussion of the air, had brought down many tons of rock, and caused
+wide and dangerous-looking cracks. Also, though she said nothing of
+it, it seemed to Benita that the great white statue on the cross was
+leaning a little further forward than it used to do. So the net result
+of the experiment was that they were obliged to drag away great
+fragments of the fallen roof that lay upon the stone, which remained
+almost as solid and obdurate as before.
+
+So there was nothing for it but to go on working with the crowbar. At
+length, towards the evening of the third day of their labour, when the
+two men were utterly tired out, a hole was broken through,
+demonstrating the fact that beneath this cover lay a hollow of some
+sort. Mr. Clifford, to say nothing of Benita, who was heartily weary
+of the business, wished to postpone proceedings till the morrow, but
+Jacob Meyer would not. So they toiled on until about eleven o'clock at
+night, when at length the aperture was of sufficient size to admit a
+man. Now, as in the case of the well, they let down a stone tied to a
+string, to find that the place beneath was not more than eight feet
+deep. Then, to ascertain the condition of the air, a candle was
+lowered, which at first went out, but presently burnt well enough.
+This point settled, they brought their ladder, whereby Jacob descended
+with a lantern.
+
+In another minute they heard the sound of guttural German oaths rising
+through the hole. Mr. Clifford asked what was the matter, and received
+the reply that the place was a tomb, with nothing in it but an
+accursed dead monk, information at which Benita could not help
+bursting into laughter.
+
+The end of it was that both she and her father went down also, and
+there, sure enough, lay the remains of the old missionary in his cowl,
+with an ivory crucifix about his neck, and on his breast a scroll
+stating that he, Marco, born at Lisbon in 1438, had died at Bambatse
+in the year 1503, having laboured in the Empire of Monomotapa for
+seventeen years, and suffered great hardships and brought many souls
+to Christ. The scroll added that it was he, who before he entered into
+religion was a sculptor by trade, that had fashioned the figure on the
+cross in this chapel out of that of the heathen goddess which had
+stood in the same place from unknown antiquity. It ended with a
+request, addressed to all good Christians in Latin, that they who soon
+must be as he was would pray for his soul and not disturb his bones,
+which rested here in the hope of a blessed resurrection.
+
+When this pious wish was translated to Jacob Meyer by Mr. Clifford,
+who still retained some recollection of the classics which he had
+painfully acquired at Eton and Oxford, the Jew could scarcely contain
+his wrath. Indeed, looking at his bleeding hands, instead of praying
+for the soul of that excellent missionary, to reach whose remains he
+had laboured with such arduous, incessant toil, he cursed it wherever
+it might be, and unceremoniously swept the bones, which the document
+asked him not to disturb, into a corner of the tomb, in order to
+ascertain whether there was not, perhaps, some stair beneath them.
+
+"Really, Mr. Meyer," said Benita, who, in spite of the solemnity of
+the surroundings, could not control her sense of humour, "if you are
+not careful the ghosts of all these people will haunt you."
+
+"Let them haunt me if they can," he answered furiously. "I don't
+believe in ghosts, and defy them all."
+
+At this moment, looking up, Benita saw a figure gliding out of the
+darkness into the ring of light, so silently that she started, for it
+might well have been one of those ghosts in whom Jacob Meyer did not
+believe. In fact, however, it was the old Molimo, who had a habit of
+coming upon them thus.
+
+"What says the white man?" he asked of Benita, while his dreamy eyes
+wandered over the three of them, and the hole in the violated tomb.
+
+"He says that he does not believe in spirits, and that he defies
+them," she answered.
+
+"The white gold-seeker does not believe in spirits, and he defies
+them," Mambo repeated in his sing-song voice. "He does not believe in
+the spirits that I see all around me now, the angry spirits of the
+dead, who speak together of where he shall lie and of what shall
+happen to him when he is dead, and of how they will welcome one who
+disturbs their rest and defies and curses them in his search for the
+riches which he loves. There is one standing by him now, dressed in a
+brown robe with a dead man cut in ivory like to that," and he pointed
+to the crucifix in Jacob's hands, "and he holds the ivory man above
+him and threatens him with sleepless centuries of sorrow, when he is
+also one of those spirits in which he does not believe."
+
+Then Meyer's rage blazed out. He turned upon the Molimo and reviled
+him in his own tongue, saying that he knew well where the treasure was
+hidden, and that if he did not point it out he would kill him and send
+him to his friends, the spirits. So savage and evil did he look that
+Benita retreated a little way, while Mr. Clifford strove in vain to
+calm him. But although Meyer laid his hand upon the knife in his belt
+and advanced upon him, the old Molimo neither budged an inch nor
+showed the slightest fear.
+
+"Let him rave on," he said, when at length Meyer paused exhausted.
+"Just so in a time of storm the lightnings flash and the thunder
+peals, and the water foams down the face of rock; but then comes the
+sun again, and the hill is as it has ever been, only the storm is
+spent and lost. I am the rock, he is but the wind, the fire, and the
+rain. It is not permitted that he should hurt me, and those spirits in
+whom he does not believe treasure up his curses, to let them fall
+again like stones upon his head."
+
+Then, with a contemptuous glance at Jacob, the old man turned and
+glided back into the darkness out of which he had appeared.
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+BENITA PLANS ESCAPE
+
+The next morning, while she was cooking breakfast, Benita saw Jacob
+Meyer seated upon a rock at a little distance, sullen and
+disconsolate. His chin was resting on his hand, and he watched her
+intently, never taking his eyes from her face. She felt that he was
+concentrating his will upon her; that some new idea concerning her had
+come into his mind; for it was one of her miseries that she possessed
+the power of interpreting the drift of this man's thoughts. Much as
+she detested him, there existed that curious link between them.
+
+It may be remembered that, on the night when they first met at the
+crest of Leopard's Kloof, Jacob had called her a "thought-sender," and
+some knowledge of their mental intimacy had come home to Benita. From
+that day forward her chief desire had been to shut a door between
+their natures, to isolate herself from him and him from her. Yet the
+attempt was never entirely successful.
+
+Fear and disgust took hold of her, bending there above the fire, all
+the while aware of the Jew's dark eyes that searched her through and
+through. Benita formed a sudden determination. She would implore her
+father to come away with her.
+
+Of course, such an attempt would be terribly dangerous. Of the
+Matabele nothing had been seen; but they might be about, and even if
+enough cattle could be collected to draw the waggon, it belonged to
+Meyer as much as to her father, and must therefore be left for him.
+Still, there remained the two horses, which the Molimo had told her
+were well and getting fat.
+
+At this moment Meyer rose and began to speak to her.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Miss Clifford?" he asked in his soft
+foreign voice.
+
+She started, but answered readily enough:
+
+"Of the wood which is green, and the kid cutlets which are getting
+smoked. Are you not tired of kid, Mr. Meyer?" she went on.
+
+He waved the question aside. "You are so good--oh! I mean it--so
+really good that you should not tell stories even about small things.
+The wood is not green; I cut it myself from a dead tree; and the meat
+is not smoked; nor were you thinking of either. You were thinking of
+me, as I was thinking of you; but what exactly was in your mind, this
+time I do not know, and that is why I ask you to tell me."
+
+"Really, Mr. Meyer," she answered flushing; "my mind is my own
+property."
+
+"Ah! do you say so? Now I hold otherwise--that it is my property, as
+mine is yours, a gift that Nature has given to each of us."
+
+"I seek no such gift," she answered; but even then, much as she would
+have wished to do so, she could not utter a falsehood, and deny this
+horrible and secret intimacy.
+
+"I am sorry for that, as I think it very precious; more precious even
+than the gold which we cannot find; for Miss Clifford, it brings me
+nearer you."
+
+She turned upon him, but he held up his hand, and went on:
+
+"Oh! do not be angry with me, and do not fear that I am going to
+trouble you with soft speeches, for I shall not, unless a time should
+come, as I think that perhaps it will, when you may wish to listen to
+them. But I want to point out something to you, Miss Clifford. Is it
+not a wonderful thing that our minds should be so in tune, and is
+there not an object in all this? Did I believe as you do, I should say
+that it was Heaven working in us--no: do not answer that the working
+comes from lower down. I take no credit for reading that upon your
+lips; the retort is too easy and obvious. I am content to say,
+however, that the work is that of instinct and nature, or, if you
+will, of fate, pointing out a road by which together we might travel
+to great ends."
+
+"I travel my road alone, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"I know, I know, and that is the pity of it. The trouble between man
+and woman is that not in one case out of a million, even if they be
+lovers, do they understand each other. Their eyes may seek one
+another, their hands and lips may meet, and yet they remain distinct,
+apart, and often antagonistic. There is no communication of the soul.
+But when it chances to be hewn from the same rock as it were--oh! then
+what happiness may be theirs, and what opportunities!"
+
+"Possibly, Mr. Meyer; but, to be frank, the question does not interest
+me."
+
+"Not yet; but I am sure that one day it will. Meanwhile, I owe you an
+apology. I lost my temper before you last night. Well, do not judge me
+hardly, for I was utterly worn out, and that old idiot vexed me with
+his talk about ghosts, in which I do not believe."
+
+"Then why did it make you so angry? Surely you could have afforded to
+treat it with contempt, instead of doing--as you did."
+
+"Upon my word! I don't know, but I suppose most of us are afraid lest
+we should be forced to accept that which we refuse. This ancient place
+gets upon the nerves, Miss Clifford; yours as well as mine. I can
+afford to be open about it, because I know that you know. Think of its
+associations: all the crime that has been committed here for ages and
+ages, all the suffering that has been endured here. Doubtless human
+sacrifices were offered in this cave or outside of it; that great
+burnt ring in the rock there may have been where they built the fires.
+And then those Portuguese starving to death, slowly starving to death
+while thousands of savages watched them die. Have you ever thought
+what it means? But of course you have, for like myself you are cursed
+with imagination. God in heaven! is it wonderful that it gets upon the
+nerves? especially when one cannot find what one is looking for, that
+vast treasure"--and his face became ecstatic--"that shall yet be yours
+and mine, and make us great and happy."
+
+"But which at present only makes me a scullery-maid and most unhappy,"
+replied Benita cheerfully, for she heard her father's footstep. "Don't
+talk any more of the treasure, Mr. Meyer, or we shall quarrel. We have
+enough of that during business hours, when we are hunting for it, you
+know. Give me the dish, will you? This meat is cooked at last."
+
+Still Benita could not be rid of that treasure, since after breakfast
+the endless, unprofitable search began again. Once more the cave was
+sounded, and other hollow places were discovered upon which the two
+men got to work. With infinite labour three of them were broken into
+in as many days, and like the first, found to be graves, only this
+time of ancients who, perhaps, had died before Christ was born. There
+they lay upon their sides, their bones burnt by the hot cement that
+had been poured over them, their gold-headed and gold-ferruled rods of
+office in their hands, their gold-covered pillows of wood, such as the
+Egyptians used, beneath their skulls, gold bracelets upon their arms
+and ankles, cakes of gold beneath them which had fallen from the
+rotted pouches that once hung about their waists, vases of fine glazed
+pottery that had been filled with offerings, or in some cases with
+gold dust to pay the expenses of their journey in the other world,
+standing round them, and so forth.
+
+In their way these discoveries were rich enough--from one tomb alone
+they took over a hundred and thirty ounces of gold--to say nothing of
+their surpassing arch�ological interest. Still they were not what they
+sought: all that gathered wealth of Monomotapa which the fleeing
+Portuguese had brought with them and buried in this, their last
+stronghold.
+
+Benita ceased to take the slightest interest in the matter; she would
+not even be at the pains to go to look at the third skeleton, although
+it was that of a man who had been almost a giant, and, to judge from
+the amount of bullion which he took to the tomb with him, a person of
+great importance in his day. She felt as though she wished never to
+see another human bone or ancient bead or bangle; the sight of a
+street in Bayswater in a London fog--yes, or a toy-shop window in
+Westbourne Grove--would have pleased her a hundred times better than
+these unique remains that, had they known of them in those days, would
+have sent half the learned societies of Europe crazy with delight. She
+wished to escape from Bambatse, its wondrous fortifications, its
+mysterious cone, its cave, its dead, and--from Jacob Meyer.
+
+Benita stood upon the top of her prison wall and looked with longing
+at the wide, open lands below. She even dared to climb the stairs
+which ran up the mighty cone of granite, and seated herself in the
+cup-like depression on its crest, whence Jacob Meyer had called to her
+to come and share his throne. It was a dizzy place, for the pillar
+leaning outwards, its point stood almost clear of the water-scarped
+rock, so that beneath her was a sheer drop of about four hundred feet
+to the Zambesi bed. At first the great height made her feel faint. Her
+eyes swam, and unpleasant tremors crept along her spine, so that she
+was glad to sink to the floor, whence she knew she could not fall. By
+degrees, however, she recovered her nerve, and was able to study the
+glorious view of stream and marshes and hills beyond.
+
+For she had come here with a purpose, to see whether it would not be
+possible to escape down the river in a canoe, or in native boats such
+as the Makalanga owned and used for fishing, or to cross from bank to
+bank. Apparently it was impossible, for although the river beneath and
+above them was still enough, about a mile below began a cataract that
+stretched as far as she could see, and was bordered on either side by
+rocky hills covered with forest, over which, even if they could obtain
+porters, a canoe could not be carried. This, indeed, she had already
+heard from the Molimo, but knowing his timid nature, she wished to
+judge of the matter for herself. It came to this then: if they were to
+go, it must be on the horses.
+
+Descending the cone Benita went to find her father, to whom as yet she
+had said nothing of her plans. The opportunity was good, for she knew
+that he would be alone. As it chanced, on that afternoon Meyer had
+gone down the hill in order to try to persuade the Makalanga to give
+them ten or twenty men to help them in their excavations. In this, it
+will be remembered, he had already failed so far as the Molimo was
+concerned, but he was not a man easily turned from his purpose, and he
+thought that if he could see Tamas and some of the other captains he
+might be able by bribery, threats, or otherwise, to induce them to
+forget their superstitious fears, and help in the search. As a matter
+of fact, he was utterly unsuccessful, since one and all they declared
+that for them to enter that sacred place would mean their deaths, and
+that the vengeance of Heaven would fall upon their tribe and destroy
+it root and branch.
+
+Mr. Clifford, on whom all this heavy labour had begun to tell, was
+taking advantage of the absence of his taskmaster, Jacob, to sleep
+awhile in the hut which they had now built for themselves beneath the
+shadow of the baobab-tree. As she reached it he came out yawning, and
+asked her where she had been. Benita told him.
+
+"A giddy place," he said. "I have never ventured to try it myself.
+What did you go up there for, dear?"
+
+"To look at the river while Mr. Meyer was away, father; for if he had
+seen me do so he would have guessed my reason; indeed, I dare say that
+he will guess it now."
+
+"What reason, Benita?"
+
+"To see whether it would not be possible to escape down it in a boat.
+But there is no chance. It is all rapids below, with hills and rocks
+and trees on either bank."
+
+"What need have you to escape at present?" he asked eyeing her
+curiously.
+
+"Every need," she answered with passion. "I hate this place; it is a
+prison, and I loathe the very name of treasure. Also," and she paused.
+
+"Also what, dear?"
+
+"Also," and her voice sank to a whisper, as though she feared that he
+should overhear her even at the bottom of the hill; "also, I am afraid
+of Mr. Meyer."
+
+This confession did not seem to surprise her father, who merely nodded
+his head and said:
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Father, I think that he is going mad, and it is not pleasant for us
+to be cooped up here alone with a madman, especially when he has begun
+to speak to me as he does now."
+
+"You don't mean that he has been impertinent to you," said the old
+man, flushing up, "for if so----"
+
+"No, not impertinent--as yet," and she told him what had passed
+between Meyer and herself, adding, "You see, father, I detest this
+man; indeed, I want to have nothing to do with any man; for me all
+that is over and done with," and she gave a dry little sob which
+appeared to come from her very heart. "And yet, he seems to be getting
+some kind of power over me. He follows me about with his eyes, prying
+into my mind, and I feel that he is beginning to be able to read it. I
+can bear no more. Father, father, for God's sake, take me away from
+this hateful hill and its gold and its dead, and let us get out into
+the veld again together."
+
+"I should be glad enough, dearest," he answered. "I have had plenty of
+this wildgoose chase, which I was so mad as to be led into by the love
+of wealth. Indeed, I am beginning to believe that if it goes on much
+longer I shall leave my bones here."
+
+"And if such a dreadful thing as that were to happen, what would
+become of me, alone with Jacob Meyer?" she asked quietly. "I might
+even be driven to the same fate as that poor girl two hundred years
+ago," and she pointed to the cone of rock behind her.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, don't talk like that!" he broke in.
+
+"Why not? One must face things, and it would be better than Jacob
+Meyer; for who would protect me here?"
+
+Mr. Clifford walked up and down for a few minutes, while his daughter
+watched him anxiously.
+
+"I can see no plan," he said, stopping opposite her. "We cannot take
+the waggon even if there are enough oxen left to draw it, for it is
+his as much as mine, and I am sure that he will never leave this
+treasure unless he is driven away."
+
+"And I am sure I hope that he will not. But, father, the horses are
+our own; it was his that died, you remember. We can ride away on
+them."
+
+He stared at her and answered:
+
+"Yes, we could ride away to our deaths. Suppose they got sick or lame;
+suppose we meet the Matabele, or could find no game to shoot; suppose
+one of us fell ill--oh! and a hundred things. What then?"
+
+"Why, then it is just as well to perish in the wilderness as here,
+where our risks are almost as great. We must take our chance, and
+trust to God. Perhaps He will be merciful and help us. Listen now,
+father. To-morrow is Sunday, when you and I do no work that we can
+help. Mr. Meyer is a Jew, and he won't waste Sunday. Well now, I will
+say that I want to go down to the outer wall to fetch some clothes
+which I left in the waggon, and to take others for the native women to
+wash, and of course you will come with me. Perhaps he will be
+deceived, and stay behind, especially as he has been there to-day.
+Then we can get the horses and guns and ammunition, and anything else
+that we can carry in the way of food, and persuade the old Molimo to
+open the gate for us. You know, the little side gate that cannot be
+seen from up here, and before Mr. Meyer misses us and comes to look,
+we shall be twenty miles away, and--horses can't be overtaken by a man
+on foot."
+
+"He will say that we have deserted him, and that will be true."
+
+"You can leave a letter with the Molimo explaining that it was my
+fault, that I was getting ill and thought that I should die, and that
+you knew it would not be fair to ask him to come, and so to lose the
+treasure, to every halfpenny of which he is welcome when it is found.
+Oh! father, don't hesitate any longer; say that you will take me away
+from Mr. Meyer."
+
+"So be it then," answered Mr. Clifford, and as he spoke, hearing a
+sound, they looked up and saw Jacob approaching them.
+
+Luckily he was so occupied with his own thoughts that he never noted
+the guilty air upon their faces, and they had time to compose
+themselves a little. But even thus his suspicions were aroused.
+
+"What are you talking of so earnestly?" he asked.
+
+"We were wondering how you were getting on with the Makalanga,"
+answered Benita, fibbing boldly, "and whether you would persuade them
+to face the ghosts. Did you?"
+
+"Not I," he answered with a scowl. "Those ghosts are our worst enemies
+in this place; the cowards swore that they would rather die. I should
+have liked to take some of them at their word and make ghosts of them;
+but I remembered the situation and didn't. Don't be afraid, Miss
+Clifford, I never even lost my temper, outwardly at any rate. Well,
+there it is; if they won't help us, we must work the harder. I've got
+a new plan, and we'll begin on it to-morrow."
+
+"Not to-morrow, Mr. Meyer," replied Benita with a smile. "It is
+Sunday, and we rest on Sunday, you know."
+
+"Oh! I forgot. The Makalanga with their ghosts and you with your
+Sunday--really I do not know which is the worse. Well, then, I must do
+my own share and yours too, I suppose," and he turned with a shrug of
+his shoulders.
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE FLIGHT
+
+The next morning, Sunday, Meyer went to work on his new plan. What it
+was Benita did not trouble to inquire, but she gathered that it had
+something to do with the measuring out of the chapel cave into squares
+for the more systematic investigation of each area. At twelve o'clock
+he emerged for his midday meal, in the course of which he remarked
+that it was very dreary working in that place alone, and that he would
+be glad when it was Monday, and they could accompany him. His words
+evidently disturbed Mr. Clifford not a little, and even excited some
+compunction in the breast of Benita.
+
+What would his feelings be, she wondered, when he found that they had
+run away, leaving him to deal with their joint undertaking single-
+handed! Almost was she minded to tell him the whole truth; yet--and
+this was a curious evidence of the man's ascendancy over her--she did
+not. Perhaps she felt that to do so would be to put an end to their
+scheme, since then by argument, blandishments, threats, force, or
+appeal to their sense of loyalty, it mattered not which, he would
+bring about its abandonment. But she wanted to fulfil that scheme, to
+be free of Bambatse, its immemorial ruins, its graveyard cave, and the
+ghoul, Jacob Meyer, who could delve among dead bones and in living
+hearts with equal skill and insight, and yet was unable to find the
+treasure that lay beneath either of them.
+
+So they hid the truth, and talked with feverish activity about other
+things, such as the drilling of the Makalanga, and the chances of an
+attack by the Matabele, which happily now seemed to be growing small;
+also of the conditions of their cattle, and the prospect of obtaining
+more to replace those that had died. Indeed, Benita went farther; in
+her new-found zeal of deception she proceeded to act a lie, yes, even
+with her father's reproachful eyes fixed upon her. Incidentally she
+mentioned that they were going to have an outing, to climb down the
+ladder and visit the Makalanga camp between the first and second walls
+and mix with the great world for a few hours; also to carry their
+washing to be done there, and bring up some clean clothes and certain
+books which she had left below.
+
+Jacob came out of his thoughts and calculations, and listened
+gloomily.
+
+"I have half a mind to come with you," he said, words at which Benita
+shivered. "It certainly is most cursed lonesome in that cave, and I
+seem to hear things in it, as though those old bones were rattling,
+sounds like sighs and whispers too, which are made by the draught."
+
+"Well, why don't you?" asked Benita.
+
+It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded. If he had any doubts they
+vanished, and he answered at once:
+
+"Because I have not the time. We have to get this business finished
+one way or another before the wet season comes on, and we are drowned
+out of the place with rain, or rotted by fever. Take your afternoon
+out, Miss Clifford; every maid of all work is entitled to as much, and
+I am afraid that is your billet here. Only," he added, with that care
+for her safety which he always showed in his more temperate moods,
+"pray be careful, Clifford, to get back before sundown. That wall is
+too risky for your daughter to climb in the dusk. Call me from the
+foot of it; you have the whistle, and I will come down to help her up.
+I think I'll go with you after all. No, I won't. I made myself so
+unpleasant to them yesterday that those Makalanga can't wish to see
+any more of me at present. I hope you will have a more agreeable
+afternoon than I shall. Why don't you take a ride outside the wall?
+Your horses are fat and want exercise, and I do not think that you
+need be afraid of the Matabele." Then without waiting for an answer,
+he rose and left them.
+
+Mr. Clifford looked after him doubtfully.
+
+"Oh, I know," said Benita, "it seems horribly mean, but one must do
+shabby things sometimes. Here are the bundles all ready, so let us be
+off."
+
+Accordingly they went, and from the top of the wall Benita glanced
+back to bid goodbye to that place which she hoped never to see again.
+Yet she could not feel as though she looked her last upon it; to her
+it wore no air of farewell, and even as she descended the perilous
+stairs, she found herself making mental notes as to how they might
+best be climbed again. Also, she could not believe that she had done
+with Mr. Meyer. It seemed to her as though for a long while yet her
+future would be full of him.
+
+They reached the outer fortifications in safety, and there were
+greeted with some surprise but with no displeasure by the Makalanga,
+whom they found still drilling with the rifles, in the use of which a
+certain number of them appeared to have become fairly proficient.
+Going to the hut in which the spare goods from the waggon had been
+stored, they quickly made their preparations. Here also, Mr. Clifford
+wrote a letter, one of the most unpleasant that he had ever been
+called upon to compose. It ran thus:
+
+ "Dear Meyer,
+
+ "I don't know what you will think of us, but we are escaping from
+  this place. The truth is that I am not well, and my daughter can
+  bear it no longer. She says that if she stops here, she will die,
+  and that hunting for treasure in that ghastly grave-yard is
+  shattering her nerves. I should have liked to tell you, but she
+  begged me not, being convinced that if I did, you would over-
+  persuade us or stop us in some way. As for the gold, if you can
+  find it, take it all. I renounce my share. We are leaving you the
+  waggon and the oxen, and starting down country on our horses. It
+  is a perilous business, but less so than staying here, under the
+  circumstances. If we never meet again we hope that you will
+  forgive us, and wish you all good fortune.--Yours sincerely and
+  with much regret,
+
+"T. Clifford."
+
+
+The letter written, they saddled the horses which had been brought up
+for their inspection, and were found to be in good case, and fastened
+their scanty belongings, and as many cartridges as they could carry in
+packs behind their saddles. Then, each of them armed with a rifle--for
+during their long journeyings Benita had learned to shoot--they
+mounted and made for the little side-entrance, as the main gate
+through which they had passed on their arrival was now built up. This
+side-entrance, a mere slit in the great wall, with a precipitous
+approach, was open, for now that their fear of the Matabele had to
+some extent passed off, the Makalanga used it to drive their sheep and
+goats in and out, since it was so constructed with several twists and
+turns in the thickness of the wall, that in a few minutes it could be
+effectually blocked by stones that lay at hand. Also, the ancient
+architect had arranged it in such a fashion that it was entirely
+commanded from the crest of the wall on either side.
+
+The Makalanga, who had been watching their proceedings curiously, made
+no attempt to stop them, although they guessed that they might have a
+little trouble with the sentries who guarded the entrances all day,
+and even when it was closed at night, with whom also Mr. Clifford
+proposed to leave the letter. When they reached the place, however,
+and had dismounted to lead the horses down the winding passage and the
+steep ascent upon its further side, it was to find that the only guard
+visible proved to be the old Molimo himself, who sat there, apparently
+half asleep.
+
+But as they came he showed himself to be very much awake, for without
+moving he asked them at once whither they were going.
+
+"To take a ride," answered Mr. Clifford. "The lady, my daughter, is
+weary of being cooped up in this fortress, and wishes to breathe the
+air without. Let us pass, friend, or we shall not be back by sunset."
+
+"If you be coming back at sunset, white man, why do you carry so many
+things upon your packs, and why are your saddle-bags filled with
+cartridges?" he asked. "Surely you do not speak the truth to me, and
+you hope that never more will you see the sun set upon Bambatse."
+
+Now understanding that it was hopeless to deceive him, Benita
+exclaimed boldly:
+
+"It is so; but oh! my Father, stay us not, for fear is behind us, and
+therefore we fly hence."
+
+"And is there no fear before you, maiden? Fear of the wilderness,
+where none wander save perchance the Amandabele with their bloody
+spears; fear of wild beasts and of sickness that may overtake you so
+that, first one and then the other, you perish there?"
+
+"There is plenty, my Father, but none of them so bad as the fear
+behind. Yonder place is haunted, and we give up our search and would
+dwell there no more."
+
+"It is haunted truly, maiden, but its spirits will not harm you whom
+they welcome as one appointed, and we are ever ready to protect you
+because of their command that has come to me in dreams. Nor, indeed,
+is it the spirits whom you fear, but rather the white man, your
+companion, who would bend you to his will. Deny it not, for I have
+seen it all."
+
+"Then knowing the truth, surely you will let us go," she pleaded, "for
+I swear to you that I dare not stay."
+
+"Who am I that I should forbid you?" he asked. "Yet I tell you that
+you would do well to stay and save yourselves much terror. Maiden,
+have I not said it days and day ago, that here and here only you must
+accomplish your fate? Go now if you will, but you shall return again,"
+and once more he seemed to begin to doze in the sun.
+
+The two of them consulted hastily together.
+
+"It is no use turning back now," said Benita, who was almost weeping
+with doubt and vexation. "I will not be frightened by his vague talk.
+What can he know of the future more than any of the rest of us?
+Besides, all he says is that we shall come back again, and if that
+does happen, at least we shall have been free for a little while.
+Come, father."
+
+"As you wish," answered Mr. Clifford, who seemed too miserable and
+depressed to argue. Only he threw down the letter upon the Molimo's
+lap, and begged him to give it to Meyer when he came to look for them.
+
+The old man took no notice; no, not even when Benita bade him farewell
+and thanked him for his kindness, praying that all good fortune might
+attend him and his tribe, did he answer a single word or even look up.
+So they led their horses down the narrow passage where there was
+scarcely room for them to pass, and up the steep path beyond. On the
+further side of the ancient ditch they remounted them while the
+Makalanga watched them from the walls, and cantered away along the
+same road by which they had come.
+
+Now this road, or rather track, ran first through the gardens and then
+among the countless ruined houses that in bygone ages formed the great
+city whereof the mount Bambatse had been the citadel and sanctuary.
+The relics of a lost civilization extended for several miles, and were
+bounded by a steep and narrow neck or pass in the encircling hills,
+the same that Robert Seymour and his brother had found too difficult
+for their waggon at the season in which they visited the place some
+years before. This pass, or port as it is called in South Africa, had
+been strongly fortified, for on either side of it were the ruins of
+towers. Moreover, at its crest it was so narrow and steep-sided that a
+few men posted there, even if they were armed only with bows and
+arrows, could hold an attacking force in check for a considerable
+time. Beyond it, after the hill was descended, a bush-clad plain
+dotted with kopjes and isolated granite pillars formed of boulders
+piled one upon another, rolled away for many miles.
+
+Mr. Clifford and Benita had started upon their mad journey about three
+o'clock in the afternoon, and when the sun began to set they found
+themselves upon this plain fifteen or sixteen miles from Bambatse, of
+which they had long lost sight, for it lay beyond the intervening
+hills. Near to them was a kopje, where they had outspanned by a spring
+of water when on their recent journey, and since they did not dare to
+travel in the dark, here they determined to off-saddle, for round this
+spring was good grass for the horses.
+
+As it chanced, they came upon some hartebeeste here which were
+trekking down to drink, but although they would have been glad of
+meat, they were afraid to shoot, fearing lest they should attract
+attention; nor for the same reason did they like to light a fire. So
+having knee-haltered the horses in such fashion that they could not
+wander far, and turned them loose to feed, they sat down under a tree,
+and made some sort of a meal off the biltong and cooked corn which
+they had brought with them. By the time this was finished darkness
+fell, for there was little moon, so that nothing remained to do except
+to sleep within a circle of a few dead thorn-boughs which they had
+drawn about their camp. This, then, they did, and so weary were they
+both, that notwithstanding all the emotions through which they had
+passed, and their fears lest lions should attack them--for of these
+brutes there were many in this veld--rested soundly and undisturbed
+till within half an hour of dawn.
+
+Rising somewhat chilled, for though the air was warm a heavy dew had
+soaked their blankets, once more they ate and drank by starlight,
+while the horses, which they had tied up close to them during the
+night, filled themselves with grass. At the first break of day they
+saddled them, and before the sun rose were on their road again. At
+length up it came, and the sight and warmth of it put new heart into
+Benita. Her fears seemed to depart with the night, and she said to her
+father that this successful start was of good augury, to which he only
+answered that he hoped so.
+
+All that day they rode forward in beautiful weather, not pressing
+their horses, for now they were sure that Jacob Meyer, who if he
+followed at all must do so on foot, would never be able to overtake
+them. At noon they halted, and having shot a small buck, Benita cooked
+some of it in the one pot that they had brought with them, and they
+ate a good meal of fresh meat.
+
+Riding on again, towards sundown they came to another of their old
+camping-places, also a bush-covered kopje. Here the spring of water
+was more than halfway up the hill, so there they off-saddled in a
+green bower of a place that because of its ferns and mosses looked
+like a rock garden. Now, although they had enough cold meat for food,
+they thought themselves quite safe in lighting a fire. Indeed, this it
+seemed necessary to do, since they had struck the fresh spoor of
+lions, and even caught sight of one galloping away in the tall reeds
+on the marshy land at the foot of the hill.
+
+That evening they fared sumptuously upon venison, and as on the
+previous day lay down to rest in a little "boma" or fence made of
+boughs. But they were not allowed to sleep well this night, for
+scarcely had they shut their eyes when a hyena began to howl about
+them. They shouted and the brute went away, but an hour or two later,
+they heard ominous grunting sounds, followed presently by a loud roar,
+which was answered by another roar, whereat the horses began to whinny
+in a frightened fashion.
+
+"Lions!" said Mr. Clifford, jumping up and throwing dead wood on the
+fire till it burnt to a bright blaze.
+
+After that all sleep became impossible, for although the lions did not
+attack them, having once winded the horses they would not go away, but
+continued wandering round the kopje, grunting and growling. This went
+on till abut three o'clock in the morning, when at last the beasts
+took their departure, for they heard them roaring in the distance. Now
+that they seemed safe, having first made up the fire, they tried to
+get some rest.
+
+When, as it appeared to her, Benita had been asleep but a little
+while, she was awakened by a new noise. It was still dark, but the
+starlight showed her that the horses were quite quiet; indeed, one of
+them was lying down, and the other eating some green leaves from the
+branches of the tree to which it was tethered. Therefore that noise
+had not come from any wild animal of which they were afraid. she
+listened intently, and presently heard it again; it was a murmur like
+to that of people talking somewhere at the bottom of the hill. Then
+she woke her father and told him, but although once or twice they
+thought they heard the sound of footsteps, nothing else could be
+distinguished. Still they rose, and having saddled and bridled the
+horses as noiselessly as might be, waited for the dawn.
+
+At last it came. Up on the side of the kopje they were in clear air,
+above which shone the red lights of morning, but under them lay
+billows of dense, pearl-hued mist. By degrees this thinned beneath the
+rays of the risen sun, and through it, looking gigantic in that light,
+Benita saw a savage wrapped in a kaross, who was walking up and down
+and yawning, a great spear in his hand.
+
+"Look," she whispered, "look!" and Mr. Clifford stared down the line
+of her outstretched finger.
+
+"The Matabele," he said. "My God! the Matabele!"
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE CHASE
+
+The Matabele it was, sure enough; there could be no doubt of it, for
+soon three other men joined the sentry and began to talk with him,
+pointing with their great spears at the side of the hill. Evidently
+they were arranging a surprise when there was sufficient light to
+carry it out.
+
+"They have seen our fire," whispered her father to Benita; "now, if we
+wish to save our lives, there is only one thing to do--ride for it
+before they muster. The impi will be camped upon the other side of the
+hill, so we must take the road we came by."
+
+"That runs back to Bambatse," faltered Benita.
+
+"Bambatse is better than the grave," said her father. "Pray Heaven
+that we may get there."
+
+To this argument there was no answer, so having drunk a sup of water,
+and swallowing a few mouthfuls of food as they went, they crept to the
+horses, mounted them, and as silently as possible began to ride down
+the hill.
+
+The sentry was alone again, the other three men having departed. He
+stood with his back towards them. Presently when they were quite close
+on to him, he heard their horses' hoofs upon the grass, wheeled round
+at the sound, and saw them. Then with a great shout he lifted his
+spear and charged.
+
+Mr. Clifford, who was leading, held out his rifle at arm's length--to
+raise it to his shoulder he had no time--and pulled the trigger.
+Benita heard the bullet clap upon the hide shield, and next instant
+saw the Matabele warrior lying on his back, beating the air with his
+hands and feet. Also, she saw beyond the shoulder of the kopje, which
+they were rounding, hundreds of men marching, and behind them a herd
+of cattle, the dim light gleaming upon the stabbing spears and on the
+horns of the oxen. She glanced to the right, and there were more men.
+The two wings of the impi were closing upon them. Only a little lane
+was left in the middle. They must get through before it shut.
+
+"Come," she gasped, striking the horse with her heel and the butt of
+her gun, and jerking at its mouth.
+
+Her father saw also, and did likewise, so that the beasts broke into a
+gallop. Now from the point of each wing sprang out thin lines of men,
+looking like great horns, or nippers, whose business it was to meet
+and cut them off. Could they pass between them before they did meet?
+That was the question, and upon its answer it depended whether or no
+they had another three minutes to live. To think of mercy at the hands
+of these bloodthirsty brutes, after they had just killed one of their
+number before their eyes, was absurd. It was true he had been shot in
+self-defence; but what count would savages take of that, or of the
+fact that they were but harmless travellers? White people were not
+very popular with the Matabele just then, as they knew well; also,
+their murder in this remote place, with not another of their race
+within a couple of hundred miles, would never even be reported, and
+much less avenged. It was as safe as any crime could possibly be.
+
+All this passed through their minds as they galloped towards those
+closing points. Oh! the horror of it! But two hundred yards to cover,
+and their fate would be decided. Either they would have escaped at
+least for a while, or time would be done with them; or, a third
+alternative, they might be taken prisoners, in all probability a yet
+more dreadful doom. Even then Benita determined that if she could help
+it this should not befall her. She had the rifle and the revolver that
+Jacob Meyer had given her. Surely she would be able to find a moment
+to use one or the other upon herself. She clenched her teeth, and
+struck the horse again and again, so that now they flew along. The
+Matabele soldiers were running their best to catch them, and if these
+had been given but five seconds of start, caught they must have been.
+But that short five seconds saved their lives.
+
+When they rushed through them the foremost men of the nippers were not
+more than twenty yards apart. Seeing that they had passed, these
+halted and hurled a shower of spears after them. One flashed by
+Benita's cheek, a line of light; she felt the wind of it. Another cut
+her dress, and a third struck her father's horse in the near hind leg
+just above the knee-joint, remaining fast there for a stride or two,
+and then falling to the ground. At first the beast did not seem to be
+incommoded by this wound; indeed, it only caused it to gallop quicker,
+and Benita rejoiced, thinking that it was but a scratch. Then she
+forgot about it, for some of the Matabele, who had guns, began to
+shoot them, and although their marksmanship was vile, one or two of
+the bullets went nearer than was pleasant. Lastly a man, the swiftest
+runner of them all, shouted after them in Zulu:
+
+"The horse is wounded. We will catch you both before the sun sets."
+
+Then they passed over the crest of a rise and lost sight of them for a
+while.
+
+"Thank God!" gasped Benita when they were alone again in the silent
+veld; but Mr. Clifford shook his head.
+
+"Do you think they will follow us?" she asked.
+
+"You heard what the fellow said," he answered evasively. "Doubtless
+they are on their way to attack Bambatse, and have been round to
+destroy some other wretched tribe, and steal the cattle which we saw.
+Yes, I fear that they will follow. The question is, which of us can
+get to Bambatse first."
+
+"Surely we ought to on the horses, father."
+
+"Yes, if nothing happens to them," and as he spoke the words the mare
+which he was riding dropped sharply upon her hind leg, the same that
+had been struck with the spear; then recovered herself and galloped
+on.
+
+"Did you see that?" he asked.
+
+She nodded; then said:
+
+"Shall we get off and look at the cut?"
+
+"Certainly not," he answered. "Our only chance is to keep her moving;
+if once the wound stiffens, there's an end. The sinew cannot have been
+severed, or it would have come before now."
+
+So they pushed on.
+
+All that morning did they canter forward wherever the ground was
+smooth enough to allow them to do so, and notwithstanding the
+increasing lameness of Mr. Clifford's mare, made such good progress
+that by midday they reached the place where they had passed the first
+night after leaving Bambatse. Here sheer fatigue and want of water
+forced them to stop a little while. They dismounted and drank greedily
+from the spring, after which they allowed the horses to drink also;
+indeed it was impossible to keep them away from the water. Then they
+ate a little, not because they desired food, but to keep up their
+strength, and while they did so examined the mare. By now her hind leg
+was much swollen, and blood still ran from the gash made by the
+assegai. Moreover, the limb was drawn up so that the point of the hoof
+only rested on the ground.
+
+"We must get on before it sets fast," said Mr. Clifford, and they
+mounted again.
+
+Great heavens! what was this? The mare would not stir. In his despair
+Mr. Clifford beat it cruelly, whereupon the poor brute hobbled forward
+a few paces on three legs, and again came to a standstill. Either an
+injured sinew had given or the inflammation was now so intense that it
+could not bend its knee. Understanding what this meant to them,
+Benita's nerve gave out at last, and she burst into weeping.
+
+"Don't cry, love," he said. "God's will be done. Perhaps they have
+given up the hunt by now; at any rate, my legs are left, and Bambatse
+is not more than sixteen miles away. Forward now," and holding to her
+saddle-strap they went up the long, long slope which led to the poort
+in the hills around Bambatse.
+
+They would have liked to shoot the mare, but being afraid to fire a
+rifle, could not do so. So they left the unhappy beast to its fate,
+and with it everything it carried, except a few of the cartridges.
+Before they went, however, at Benita's prayer, her father devoted a
+few seconds to unbuckling the girths and pulling off the bridle, so
+that it might have a chance of life. For a little way it hobbled after
+them on three legs, then, the saddle still upon its back, stood
+whinnying piteously, till at last, to Benita's intense relief, a turn
+in their path hid it from their sight.
+
+Half a mile further on she looked round in the faint hope that it
+might have recovered itself and followed. But no mare was to be seen.
+Something else was to be seen, however, for there, three or four miles
+away upon the plain behind them, easy to be distinguished in that
+dazzling air, were a number of black spots that occasionally seemed to
+sparkle.
+
+"What are they?" she asked faintly, as one who feared the answer.
+
+"The Matabele who follow us," answered her father, "or rather a
+company of their swiftest runners. It is their spears that glitter so.
+Now, my love, this is the position," he went on, as they struggled
+forward: "those men will catch us before ever we can get to Bambatse;
+they are trained to run like that, for fifty miles, if need be. But
+with this start they cannot catch your horse, you must go on and leave
+me to look after myself."
+
+"Never, never!" she exclaimed.
+
+"But you shall, and you must. I am your father and I order you. As for
+me, what does it matter? I may hide from them and escape, or--at least
+I am old, my life is done, whereas yours is before you. Now, good-bye,
+and go on," and he let go of the saddle-strap.
+
+By way of answer Benita pulled up the horse.
+
+"Not one yard," she said, setting her mouth.
+
+Then he began to storm at her, calling her disobedient, and undutiful,
+and when this means failed to move her, to implore her almost with
+tears.
+
+"Father, dear," she said, leaning down towards him as he walked, for
+now they were going on again, "I told you why I wanted to run away
+from Bambatse, didn't I?--because I would rather risk my life than
+stay. Well, do you think that I wish to return there and live in that
+place alone with Jacob Meyer? Also, I will tell you another thing. You
+remember about Mr. Seymour? Well, I can't get over that; I can't get
+over it at all, and therefore, although of course I am afraid, it is
+all one to me. No, we will escape together, or die together; the first
+if we can."
+
+Then with a groan he gave up the argument, and as he found breath they
+discussed their chances. Their first idea was to hide, but save for a
+few trees all the country was open; there was no place to cover them.
+They thought of the banks of the Zambesi, but between them and the
+river rose a bare, rock-strewn hill with several miles of slope. Long
+before they could reach its crest, even if a horse were able to travel
+there, they must be overtaken. In short, there was nothing to do
+except to push for the nek, and if they were fortunate enough to reach
+it before the Matabele, to abandon the horse there and try to conceal
+themselves among the ruins of the houses beyond. This, perhaps, they
+might do when once the sun was down.
+
+But they did not deceive themselves; the chances were at least fifty
+to one against them, unless indeed their pursuers grew weary and let
+them go.
+
+At present, however, they were by no means weary, for having perceived
+them from far away, the long-legged runners put on the pace, and the
+distance between them and their quarry was lessening.
+
+"Father," said Benita, "please understand one thing. I do not mean to
+be taken alive by those savages."
+
+"Oh! how can I----" he faltered.
+
+"I don't ask you," she answered. "I will see to that myself. Only, if
+I should make any mistake----" and she looked at him.
+
+The old man was getting very tired. He panted up the steep hillside,
+and stumbled against the stones. Benita noted it, and slipping from
+the horse, made him mount while she ran alongside. Then when he was a
+little rested they changed places again, and so covered several miles
+of country. Subsequently, when both of them were nearly exhausted,
+they tried riding together--she in front and he behind, for their
+baggage had long since been thrown away. But the weary beast could not
+carry this double burden, and after a few hundred yards of it,
+stumbled, fell, struggled to its feet again, and stopped.
+
+So once more they were obliged to ride and walk alternately.
+
+Now there was not much more than an hour of daylight left, and the
+narrow pass lay about three miles ahead of them. That dreadful three
+miles; ever thereafter it was Benita's favourite nightmare! At the
+beginning of it the leading Matabele were about two thousand yards
+behind them; half-way, about a thousand; and at the commencement of
+the last mile, say five hundred.
+
+Nature is a wonderful thing, and great are its resources in extremity.
+As the actual crisis approached, the weariness of these two seemed to
+depart, or at any rate it was forgotten. They no longer felt
+exhausted, nor, had they been fresh from their beds, could they have
+climbed or run better. Even the horse seemed to find new energy, and
+when it lagged Mr. Clifford dug the point of his hunting knife into
+its flank. Gasping, panting, now one mounted and now the other, they
+struggled on towards that crest of rock, while behind them came death
+in the shape of those sleuth-hounds of Matabele. The sun was going
+down, and against its flaming ball, when they glanced back they could
+see their dark forms outlined; the broad spears also looked red as
+though they had been dipped in blood. They could even hear their
+taunting shouts as they called to them to sit down and be killed, and
+save trouble.
+
+Now they were not three hundred yards away, and the crest of the pass
+was still half a mile ahead. Five minutes passed, and here, where the
+track was very rough, the horse blundered upwards slowly. Mr. Clifford
+was riding at the time, and Benita running at his side, holding to the
+stirrup leather. She looked behind her. The savages, fearing that
+their victims might find shelter over the hill, were making a rush,
+and the horse could go no faster. One man, a great tall fellow, quite
+out-distanced his companions. Two minutes more and he was not over a
+hundred paces from them, a little nearer than they were to the top of
+the pass. Then the horse stopped and refused to stir any more.
+
+Mr. Clifford jumped from the saddle, and Benita, who could not speak,
+pointed to the pursuing Matabele. He sat down upon a rock, cocked his
+rifle, took a deep breath, and aimed and fired at the soldier who was
+coming on carelessly in the open. Mr. Clifford was a good shot, and
+shaken though he was, at this supreme moment his skill did not fail
+him. The man was struck somewhere, for he staggered about and fell;
+then slowly picked himself up, and began to hobble back towards his
+companions, who, when they met him, stopped a minute to give him some
+kind of assistance.
+
+That halt proved their salvation, for it gave them time to make one
+last despairing rush, and gain the brow of the poort. Not that this
+would have saved them, however, since where they could go the Matabele
+could follow, and there was still light by which the pursuers would
+have been able to see to catch them. Indeed, the savages, having laid
+down the wounded man, came on with a yell of rage, fifty or more of
+them.
+
+Over the pass father and daughter struggled, Benita riding; after
+them, perhaps sixty yards away, ran the Matabele, gathered in a knot
+now upon the narrow, ancient road, bordered by steep hillsides.
+
+Then suddenly from all about them, as it appeared to Benita, broke out
+the blaze and roar of rifles, rapid and continuous. Down went the
+Matabele by twos and threes, till at last it seemed as though but
+quite a few of them were left upon their feet, and those came on no
+more; they turned and fled from the neck of the narrow pass to the
+open slope beyond.
+
+Benita sank to the ground, and the next thing that she could remember
+was hearing the soft voice of Jacob Meyer, who said:
+
+"So you have returned from your ride, Miss Clifford, and perhaps it
+was as well that the thought came from you to me that you wished me to
+meet you here in this very place."
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+BACK AT BAMBATSE
+
+How they reached Bambatse Benita never could remember, but afterwards
+she was told that both she and her father were carried upon litters
+made of ox-hide shields. When she came to her own mind again, it was
+to find herself lying in her tent outside the mouth of the cave within
+the third enclosure of the temple-fortress. Her feet were sore and her
+bones ached, physical discomforts that brought back to her in a flash
+all the terrors through which she had passed.
+
+Again she saw the fierce pursuing Matabele; again heard their cruel
+shouts and the answering crack of the rifles; again, amidst the din
+and the gathering darkness, distinguished the gentle, foreign voice of
+Meyer speaking his words of sarcastic greeting. Next oblivion fell
+upon her, and after it a dim memory of being helped up the hill with
+the sun pouring on her back and assisted to climb the steep steps of
+the wall by means of a rope placed around her. Then forgetfulness
+again.
+
+The flap of her tent was drawn aside and she shrank back upon her bed,
+shutting her eyes for fear lest they should fall upon the face of
+Jacob Meyer. Feeling that it was not he, or learning it perhaps from
+the footfall, she opened them a little, peeping at her visitor from
+between her long lashes. He proved to be--not Jacob or her father, but
+the old Molimo, who stood beside her holding in his hand a gourd
+filled with goat's milk. Then she sat up and smiled at him, for Benita
+had grown very fond of this ancient man, who was so unlike anyone that
+she had ever met.
+
+"Greeting, Lady," he said softly, smiling back at her with his lips
+and dreamy eyes, for his old face did not seem to move beneath its
+thousand wrinkles. "I bring you milk. Drink; it is fresh and you need
+food."
+
+So she took the gourd and drank to the last drop, for it seemed to her
+that she had never tasted anything so delicious.
+
+"Good, good," murmured the Molimo; "now you will be well again."
+
+"Yes, I shall get well," she answered; "but oh! what of my father?"
+
+"Fear not; he is still sick, but he will recover also. You shall see
+him soon."
+
+"I have drunk all the milk," she broke out; "there is none left for
+him."
+
+"Plenty, plenty," he answered, waving his thin hand. "There are two
+cups full--one for each. We have not many she-goats down below, but
+the best of their milk is saved for you."
+
+"Tell me all that has happened, Father," and the old priest, who liked
+her to call him by that name, smiled again with his eyes, and squatted
+down in the corner of the tent.
+
+"You went away, you remember that you would go, although I told you
+that you must come back. You refused my wisdom and you went, and I
+have learned all that befell you and how you two escaped the impi.
+Well, that night after sunset, when you did not return, came the Black
+One--yes, yes, I mean Meyer, whom we name so because of his beard,
+and," he added deliberately, "his heart. He came running down the hill
+asking for you, and I gave him the letter.
+
+"He read it, and oh! then he went mad. He cursed in his own tongue; he
+threw himself about; he took a rifle and wished to shoot me, but I sat
+silent and looked at him till he grew quiet. Then he asked why I had
+played him this trick, but I answered that it was no trick of mine who
+had no right to keep you and your father prisoners against your will,
+and that I thought you had gone away because you were afraid of him,
+which was not wonderful if that was how he talked to you. I told him,
+too, I who am a doctor, that unless he was careful he would go mad;
+that already I saw madness in his eye; after which he became quiet,
+for my words frightened him. Then he asked what could be done, and I
+said--that night, nothing, since you must be far away, so that it
+would be useless to follow you, but better to go to meet you when you
+came back. He asked what I meant by your coming back, and I answered
+that I meant what I said, that you would come back in great haste and
+peril--although you would not believe me when I told you so--for I had
+it from the Munwali whose child you are.
+
+"So I sent out my spies, and that night went by, and the next day and
+night went by, and we sat still and did nothing, though the Black One
+wished to wander out alone after you. But on the following morning, at
+the dawn, a messenger came in who reported that it had been called to
+him by his brethren who were hidden upon hilltops and in other places
+for miles and miles, that the Matabele impi, having destroyed another
+family of the Makalanga far down the Zambesi, was advancing to destroy
+us also. And in the afternoon came a second spy, who reported that you
+two had been surrounded by the impi, but had broken through them, and
+were riding hitherward for your lives. Then I took fifty of the best
+of our people and put them under the command of Tamas, my son, and
+sent them to ambush the pass, for against the Matabele warriors on the
+plain we, who are not warlike, do not dare to fight.
+
+"The Black One went with them, and when he saw how sore was your
+strait, wished to run down to meet the Matabele, for he is a brave
+man. But I had said to Tamas--'No, do not try to fight them in the
+open, for there they will certainly kill you.' Moreover, Lady, I was
+sure that you would reach the top of the poort. Well, you reached it,
+though but by the breadth of a blade of grass, and my children shot
+with the new rifles, and the place being narrow so that they could not
+miss, killed many of those hyenas of Amandabele. But to kill Matabele
+is like catching fleas on a dog's back: there are always more. Still
+it served its turn, you and your father were brought away safely, and
+we lost no one."
+
+"Where, then, are the Matabele now?" asked Benita.
+
+"Outside our walls, a whole regiment of them: three thousand men or
+more, under the command of the Captain Maduna, he of the royal blood,
+whose life you begged, but who nevertheless hunted you like a buck."
+
+"Perhaps he did not know who it was," suggested Benita.
+
+"Perhaps not," the Molimo answered, rubbing his chin, "for in such
+matters even a Matabele generally keeps faith, and you may remember he
+promised you life for life. However, they are here ravening like lions
+round the walls, and that is why we carried you up to the top of the
+hill, that you might be safe from them."
+
+"But are you safe, my Father?"
+
+"I think so," he replied with a dry little chuckle in his throat.
+"Whoever built this fortress built it strong, and we have blocked the
+gates. Also, they caught no one outside; all are within the walls,
+together with the sheep and goats. Lastly, we have sent most of the
+women and children across the Zambesi in canoes, to hide in places we
+know of whither the Amandabele cannot follow, for they dare not swim a
+river. Therefore, for those of us that remain we have food for three
+months, and before then the rains will drive the impi out."
+
+"Why did you not all go across the river, Father?"
+
+"For two reasons, Lady. The first is, that if we once abandoned our
+stronghold, which we have held from the beginning, Lobengula would
+take it, and keep it, so that we could never re-enter into our
+heritage, which would be a shame to us and bring down the vengeance of
+the spirits of our ancestors upon our heads. The second is, that as
+you have returned to us we stay to protect you."
+
+"You are very good to me," murmured Benita.
+
+"Nay, nay, we brought you here, and we do what I am told to do from
+Above. Trouble may still come upon you; yes, I think that it will
+come, but once more I pray you, have no fear, for out of this evil
+root shall spring a flower of joy," and he rose to go.
+
+"Stay," said Benita. "Has the chief Meyer found the gold?"
+
+"No; he has found nothing; but he hunts and hunts like a hungry jackal
+digging for a bone. But that bone is not for him; it is for you, Lady,
+you and you only. Oh! I know, you do not seek, still you shall find.
+Only the next time that you want help, do not run away into the
+wilderness. Hear the word of Munwali given by his mouth, the Molimo of
+Bambatse!" And as he spoke, the old priest backed himself out of the
+tent, stopping now and again to bow to Benita.
+
+A few minutes later her father entered, looking very weak and shaken,
+and supporting himself upon a stick. Happy was the greeting of these
+two who, with their arms about each other's neck, gave thanks for
+their escape from great peril.
+
+"You see, Benita, we can't get away from this place," Mr. Clifford
+said presently. "We must find that gold."
+
+"Bother the gold," she answered with energy; "I hate its very name.
+Who can think of gold with three thousand Matabele waiting to kill
+us?"
+
+"Somehow I don't feel afraid of them any more," said her father; "they
+have had their chance and lost it, and the Makalanga swear that now
+they have guns to command the gates, the fortress cannot be stormed.
+Still, I am afraid of someone."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Jacob Mayer. I have seen him several times, and I think that he is
+going mad."
+
+"The Molimo said that too, but why?"
+
+"From the look of him. He sits about muttering and glowing with those
+dark eyes of his, and sometimes groans, and sometimes bursts into
+shouts of laughter. That is when the fit is on him, for generally he
+seems right enough. But get up if you think you can, and you shall
+judge for yourself."
+
+"I don't want to," said Benita feebly. "Father, I am more afraid of
+him now than ever. Oh! why did you not let me stop down below, among
+the Makalanga, instead of carrying me up here again, where we must
+live alone with that terrible Jew?"
+
+"I wished to, dear, but the Molimo said we should be safer above, and
+ordered his people to carry you up. Also, Jacob swore that unless you
+were brought back he would kill me. Now you understand why I believe
+that he is mad."
+
+"Why, why?" gasped Benita again.
+
+"God knows," he answered with a groan; "but I think that he is sure
+that we shall never find the gold without you, since the Molimo has
+told him that it is for you and you alone, and he says the old man has
+second sight, or something of the sort. Well, he would have murdered
+me--I saw it in his eye--so I thought it better to give in rather than
+that you should be left here sick and alone. Of course there was one
+way----" and he paused.
+
+She looked at him and asked:
+
+"What way?"
+
+"To shoot him before he shot me," he answered in a whisper, "for your
+sake, dear--but I could not bring myself to do it."
+
+"No," she said with a shudder, "not that--not that. Better that we
+should die than that his blood should be upon our hands. Now I will
+get up and try to show no fear. I am sure that is best, and perhaps we
+shall be able to escape somehow. Meanwhile, let us humour him, and
+pretend to go on looking for this horrible treasure."
+
+So Benita rose to discover that, save for her stiffness, she was but
+little the worse, and finding all things placed in readiness, set to
+work with her father's help to cook the evening meal as usual. Of
+Meyer, who doubtless had placed things in readiness, she saw nothing.
+
+Before nightfall he came, however, as she knew he would. Indeed,
+although she heard no step and her back was towards him, she felt his
+presence; the sense of it fell upon her like a cold shadow. Turning
+round she beheld the man. He was standing close by, but above her,
+upon a big granite boulder, in climbing which his soft veld schoons,
+or hide shoes, had made no noise, for Meyer could move like a cat. The
+last rays from the sinking sun struck him full, outlining his agile,
+nervous shape against the sky, and in their intense red light, which
+flamed upon him, he appeared terrible. He looked like a panther about
+to spring; his eyes shone like a panther's, and Benita knew that she
+was the prey whom he desired. Still, remembering her resolution, she
+determined to show no fear, and addressed him:
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. Meyer. Oh! I am so stiff that I cannot lift my neck
+to look at you," and she laughed.
+
+He bounded softly from the rock, like a panther again, and stood in
+front of her.
+
+"You should thank the God you believe in," he said, "that by now you
+are not stiff indeed--all that the jackals have left of you."
+
+"I do, Mr. Meyer, and I thank you, too; it was brave of you to come
+out to save us. Father," she called, "come and tell Mr. Meyer how
+grateful we are to him."
+
+Mr. Clifford hobbled out from his hut under the tree, saying:
+
+"I have told him already, dear."
+
+"Yes," answered Jacob, "you have told me; why repeat yourself? I see
+that supper is ready. Let us eat, for you must be hungry; afterwards I
+have something to tell you."
+
+So they ate, with no great appetite, any of them--indeed Meyer touched
+but little food, though he drank a good deal, first of strong black
+coffee and afterwards of squareface and water. But on Benita he
+pressed the choicest morsels that he could find, eyeing her all the
+while, and saying that she must take plenty of nutriment or her beauty
+would suffer and her strength wane. Benita bethought her of the fairy
+tales of her childhood, in which the ogre fed up the princess whom he
+purposed to devour.
+
+"You should think of your own strength, Mr. Meyer," she said; "you
+cannot live on coffee and squareface."
+
+"It is all I need to-night. I am astonishingly well since you came
+back. I can never remember feeling so well, or so strong. I can do the
+work of three men, and not be tired; all this afternoon, for instance,
+I have been carrying provisions and other things up that steep wall,
+for we must prepare for a long siege together; yet I should never know
+that I had lifted a single basket. But while you were away--ah! then I
+felt tired."
+
+Benita changed the subject, asking him if he had made any discoveries.
+
+"Not yet, but now that you are back the discoveries will soon come. Do
+not be afraid; I have my plan which cannot fail. Also, it was lonely
+working in that cave without you, so I only looked about a little
+outside till it was time to go to meet you, and shoot some of those
+Matabele. Do you know?--I killed seven of them myself. When I was
+shooting for your sake I could not miss," and he smiled at her.
+
+Benita shrank from him visibly, and Mr. Clifford said in an angry
+voice:
+
+"Don't talk of those horrors before my daughter. It is bad enough to
+have to do such things, without speaking about them afterwards."
+
+"You are right," he replied reflectively; "and I apologise, though
+personally I never enjoyed anything so much as shooting those
+Matabele. Well, they are gone, and there are plenty more outside.
+Listen! They are singing their evening hymn," and with his long finger
+he beat time to the volleying notes of the dreadful Matabele war-
+chant, which floated up from the plain below. "It sounds quite
+religious, doesn't it? only the words--no, I will not translate them.
+In our circumstances they are too personal.
+
+"Now I have something to say to you. It was unkind of you to run away
+and leave me like that, not honourable either. Indeed," he added with
+a sudden outbreak of the panther ferocity, "had you alone been
+concerned, Clifford, I tell you frankly that when we met again, I
+should have shot you. Traitors deserve to be shot, don't they?"
+
+"Please stop talking to my father like that," broke in Benita in a
+stern voice, for her anger had overcome her fear. "Also it is I whom
+you should blame."
+
+"It is a pleasure to obey you," he answered bowing; "I will never
+mention the subject any more. Nor do I blame you--who could?--not
+Jacob Meyer. I quite understand that you found it very dull up here,
+and ladies must be allowed their fancies. Also you have come back; so
+why talk of the matter? But listen: on one point I have made up my
+mind; for your own sake you shall not go away any more until we leave
+this together. When I had finished carrying up the food I made sure of
+that. If you go to look to-morrow morning you will find that no one
+can come up that wall--and, what is more, no one can go down it.
+Moreover, that I may be quite certain, in future I shall sleep near
+the stair myself."
+
+Benita and her father stared at each other.
+
+"The Molimo has a right to come," she said; "it is his sanctuary."
+
+"Then he must celebrate his worship down below for a little while. The
+old fool pretends to know everything, but he never guessed what I was
+going to do. Besides, we don't want him breaking in upon our privacy,
+do we? He might see the gold when we find it, and rob us of it afterwards."
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+THE FIRST EXPERIMENT
+
+Again Benita and her father stared at each other blankly, almost with
+despair. They were trapped, cut off from all help; in the power of a
+man who was going mad. Mr. Clifford said nothing. He was old and
+growing feeble; for years, although he did not know it, Meyer had
+dominated him, and never more so than in this hour of stress and
+bewilderment. Moreover, the man had threatened to murder him, and he
+was afraid, not so much for himself as for his daughter. If he were to
+die now, what would happen to her, left alone with Jacob Meyer? The
+knowledge of his own folly, understood too late, filled him with
+shame. How could he have been so wicked as to bring a girl upon such a
+quest in the company of an unprincipled Jew, of whose past he knew
+nothing except that it was murky and dubious? He had committed a great
+crime, led on by a love of lucre, and the weight of it pressed upon
+his tongue and closed his lips; he knew not what to say.
+
+For a little while Benita was silent also; hope died within her. But
+she was a bold-spirited woman, and by degrees her courage re-asserted
+itself. Indignation filled her breast and shone through her dark eyes.
+Suddenly she turned upon Jacob, who sat before them smoking his pipe
+and enjoying their discomfiture.
+
+"How dare you?" she asked in a low, concentrated voice. "How dare you,
+you coward?"
+
+He shrank a little beneath her scorn and anger; then seemed to recover
+and brace himself, as one does who feels that a great struggle is at
+hand, upon the issue of which everything depends.
+
+"Do not be angry with me," he answered. "I cannot bear it. It hurts--
+ah! you don't know how it hurts. Well, I will tell you, and before
+your father, for that is more honourable. I dare--for your sake."
+
+"For my sake? How can it benefit me to be cooped up in this horrible
+place with you? I would rather trust myself with the Makalanga, or
+even," she added with bitter scorn, "even with those bloody-minded
+Matabele."
+
+"You ran away from them very fast a little while ago, Miss Clifford.
+But you do not understand me. When I said for your sake, I meant for
+my own. See, now. You tried to leave me the other day and did not
+succeed. Another time you might succeed, and then--what would happen
+to me?"
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Meyer," and her eyes added--"I do not care."
+
+"Ah! but I know. Last time it drove me nearly mad; next time I should
+go quite mad."
+
+"Because you believe that through me you will find this treasure of
+which you dream day and night, Mr. Meyer----"
+
+"Yes," he interrupted quickly. "Because I believe that in you I shall
+find the treasure of which I dream day and night, and because that
+treasure has become necessary to my life."
+
+Benita turned quickly towards her father, who was puzzling over the
+words, but before either of them could speak Jacob passed his hand
+across his brow in a bewildered way and said:
+
+"What was I talking of? The treasure, yes, the uncountable treasure of
+pure gold, that lies hid so deep, that is so hard to discover and to
+possess; the useless, buried treasure that would bring such joy and
+glory to us both, if only it could be come at and reckoned out, piece
+by piece, coin by coin, through the long, long years of life."
+
+Again he paused; then went on.
+
+"Well, Miss Clifford, you are quite right; that is why I have dared to
+make you a prisoner, because, as the old Molimo said, the treasure is
+yours and I wish to share it. Now, about this treasure, it seems that
+it can't be found, can it, although I have worked so hard?" and he
+looked at his delicate, scarred hands.
+
+"Quite so, Mr. Meyer, it can't be found, so you had better let us go
+down to the Makalanga."
+
+"But there is a way, Miss Clifford, there is a way. You know where it
+lies, and you can show me."
+
+"If I knew I would show you soon enough, Mr. Meyer, for then you could
+take the stuff and our partnership would be at an end."
+
+"Not until it is divided ounce by ounce and coin by coin. But first--
+first you must show me, as you say you will, and as you can."
+
+"How, Mr. Meyer? I am not a magician."
+
+"Ah! but you are. I will tell you how, having your promise. Listen
+now, both of you. I have studied. I know a great many secret things,
+and I read in your face that you have the gift--let me look in your
+eyes a while, Miss Clifford, and you will go to sleep quite gently,
+and then in your sleep, which shall not harm you at all, you will see
+where that gold lies hidden, and you will tell us."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Benita, bewildered.
+
+"I know what he means," broke in Mr. Clifford. "You mean that you want
+to mesmerize her as you did the Zulu chief."
+
+Benita opened her lips to speak, but Meyer said quickly:
+
+"No, no; hear me first before you refuse. You have the gift, the
+precious gift of clairvoyance, that is so rare."
+
+"How do you know that, Mr. Meyer? I have never been mesmerized in my
+life."
+
+"It does not matter how. I do know it; I have been sure of it from the
+moment when first we met, that night by the kloof. Although, perhaps,
+you felt nothing then, it was that gift of yours working upon a mind
+in tune, my mind, which led me there in time to save you, as it was
+that gift of yours which warned you of the disaster about to happen to
+the ship--oh! I have heard the story from your own lips. Your spirit
+can loose itself from the body: it can see the past and the future; it
+can discover the hidden things."
+
+"I do not believe it," answered Benita; "but at least it shall not be
+loosed by you."
+
+"It shall, it shall," he cried with passion, his eyes blazing on her
+as he spoke. "Oh! I foresaw all this, and that is why I was determined
+you should come with us, so that, should other means fail, we might
+have your power to fall back upon. Well, they have failed; I have been
+patient, I have said nothing, but now there is no other way. Will you
+be so selfish, so cruel, as to deny me, you who can make us all rich
+in an hour, and take no hurt at all, no more than if you had slept
+awhile?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita. "I refuse to deliver my will into the keeping
+of any living man, and least of all into yours, Mr. Meyer."
+
+He turned to her father with a gesture of despair.
+
+"Cannot you persuade her, Clifford? She is your daughter, she will
+obey you."
+
+"Not in that," said Benita.
+
+"No," answered Mr. Clifford. "I cannot, and I wouldn't if I could. My
+daughter is quite right. Moreover, I hate this supernatural kind of
+thing. If we can't find this gold without it, then we must let it
+alone, that is all."
+
+Meyer turned aside to hide his face, and presently looked up again,
+and spoke quite softly.
+
+"I suppose that I must accept my answer, but when you talked of any
+living man just now, Miss Clifford, did you include your father?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Then will you allow him to try to mesmerize you?"
+
+Benita laughed.
+
+"Oh, yes, if he likes," she said. "But I do not think that the
+operation will be very successful."
+
+"Good, we will see to-morrow. Now, like you, I am tired. I am going to
+bed in my new camp by the wall," he added significantly.
+
+*****
+
+"Why are you so dead set against this business?" asked her father,
+when he had gone.
+
+"Oh, father!" she answered, "can't you see, don't you understand? Then
+it is hard to have to tell you, but I must. In the beginning Mr. Meyer
+only wanted the gold. Now he wants more, me as well as the gold. I
+hate him! You know that is why I ran away. But I have read a good deal
+about this mesmerism, and seen it once or twice, and who knows? If
+once I allow his mind to master my mind, although I hate him so much,
+I might become his slave."
+
+"I understand now," said Mr. Clifford. "Oh, why did I ever bring you
+here? It would have been better if I had never seen your face again."
+
+
+
+On the morrow the experiment was made. Mr. Clifford attempted to
+mesmerize his daughter. All the morning Jacob, who, it now appeared,
+had practical knowledge of this doubtful art, tried to instruct him
+therein. In the course of the lesson he informed him that for a short
+period in the past, having great natural powers in that direction, he
+had made use of them professionally, only giving up the business
+because he found it wrecked his health. Mr. Clifford remarked that he
+had never told him that before.
+
+"There are lots of things in my life that I have never told you,"
+replied Jacob with a little secret smile. "For instance, once I
+mesmerized you, although you did not know it, and that is why you
+always have to do what I want you to, except when your daughter is
+near you, for her influence is stronger than mine."
+
+Mr. Clifford stared at him.
+
+"No wonder Benita won't let you mesmerize her," he said shortly.
+
+Then Jacob saw his mistake.
+
+"You are more foolish than I thought," he said. "How could I mesmerize
+you without your knowing it? I was only laughing at you."
+
+"I didn't see the laugh," replied Mr. Clifford uneasily, and they went
+on with the lesson.
+
+That afternoon it was put to proof--in the cave itself, where Meyer
+seemed to think that the influences would be propitious. Benita, who
+found some amusement in the performance, was seated upon the stone
+steps underneath the crucifix, one lamp on the altar and others one
+each side of her.
+
+In front stood her father, staring at her and waving his hands
+mysteriously in obedience to Jacob's directions. So ridiculous did he
+look indeed while thus engaged that Benita had the greatest difficulty
+in preventing herself from bursting into laughter. This was the only
+effect which his grimaces and gesticulations produced upon her,
+although outwardly she kept a solemn appearance, and even from time to
+time shut her eyes to encourage him. Once, when she opened them again,
+it was to perceive that he was becoming very hot and exhausted, and
+that Jacob was watching him with such an unpleasant intentness that
+she re-closed her eyes that she might not see his face.
+
+It was shortly after this that of a sudden Benita did feel something,
+a kind of penetrating power flowing upon her, something soft and
+subtle that seemed to creep into her brain like the sound of her
+mother's lullaby in the dim years ago. She began to think that she was
+a lost traveller among alpine snows wrapped round by snow, falling,
+falling in ten myriad flakes, every one of them with a little heart of
+fire. Then it came to her that she had heard this snow-sleep was
+dangerous, the last of all sleeps, and that its victims must rouse
+themselves, or die.
+
+Benita roused herself just in time--only just, for now she was being
+borne over the edge of a precipice upon the wings of swans, and
+beneath her was darkness wherein dim figures walked with lamps where
+their hearts should be. Oh, how heavy were her eyelids! Surely a
+weight hung to each of them, a golden weight. There, there, they were
+open, and she saw. Her father had ceased his efforts; he was rubbing
+his brow with a red pocket-handkerchief, but behind him, with rigid
+arms outstretched, his glowing eyes fastened on her face, stood Jacob
+Meyer. By an effort she sprang to her feet, shaking her head as a dog
+does.
+
+"Have done with this nonsense," she said. "It tires me," and snatching
+one of the lamps she ran swiftly down the place.
+
+Benita expected that Jacob Meyer would be very angry with her, and
+braced herself for a scene. But nothing of the sort happened. A while
+afterwards she saw the two of them approaching, engaged apparently in
+amicable talk.
+
+"Mr. Meyer says that I am no mesmerist, love," said her father, "and I
+can quite believe him. But for all that it is a weary job. I am as
+tired as I was after our escape from the Matabele."
+
+She laughed and answered:
+
+"To judge by results I agree with you. The occult is not in your line,
+father. You had better give it up."
+
+"Did you, then, feel nothing?" asked Meyer.
+
+"Nothing at all," she answered, looking him in the eyes. "No, that's
+wrong, I felt extremely bored and sorry to see my father making
+himself ridiculous. Grey hairs and nonsense of that sort don't go well
+together."
+
+"No," he answered. "I agree with you--not of that sort," and the
+subject dropped.
+
+For the next few days, to her intense relief, Benita heard no more of
+mesmerism. To begin with, there was something else to occupy their
+minds. The Matabele, tired of marching round the fortress and singing
+endless war-songs, had determined upon an assault. From their point of
+vantage on the topmost wall the three could watch the preparations
+which they made. Trees were cut down and brought in from a great
+distance that rude ladders might be fashioned out of them; also spies
+wandered round reconnoitring for a weak place in the defences. When
+they came too near the Makalanga fired on them, killing some, so that
+they retreated to the camp, which they had made in a fold of ground at
+a little distance. Suddenly it occurred to Meyer that although here
+the Matabele were safe from the Makalanga bullets, it was commanded
+from the greater eminence, and by way of recreation he set himself to
+harass them. His rifle was a sporting Martini, and he had an ample
+supply of ammunition. Moreover, he was a beautiful marksman, with
+sight like that of a hawk.
+
+A few trial shots gave him the range; it was a shade under seven
+hundred yards, and then he began operations. Lying on the top of the
+wall and resting his rifle upon a stone, he waited until the man who
+was superintending the manufacture of the ladders came out into the
+open, when, aiming carefully, he fired. The soldier, a white-bearded
+savage, sprang into the air, and fell backwards, while his companions
+stared upwards, wondering whence the bullet had come.
+
+"Pretty, wasn't it?" said Meyer to Benita, who was watching through a
+pair of field-glasses.
+
+"I dare say," she answered. "But I don't want to see any more," and
+giving the glasses to her father, she climbed down the wall.
+
+But Meyer stayed there, and from time to time she heard the report of
+his rifle. In the evening he told her that he had killed six men and
+wounded ten more, adding that it was the best day's shooting which he
+could remember.
+
+"What is the use when there are so many?" she asked.
+
+"Not much," he answered. "But it annoys them and amuses me. Also, it
+was part of our bargain that we should help the Makalanga if they were
+attacked."
+
+"I believe that you like killing people," she said.
+
+"I don't mind it, Miss Clifford, especially as they tried to kill you."
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE OTHER BENITA
+
+At irregular times, when he had nothing else to do, Jacob went on with
+his man-shooting, in which Mr. Clifford joined him, though with less
+effect. Soon it became evident that the Matabele were very much
+annoyed by the fatal accuracy of this fire. Loss of life they did not
+mind in the abstract, but when none of them knew but that their own
+turn might come next to perish beneath these downward plunging
+bullets, the matter wore a different face to them. To leave their camp
+was not easy, since they had made a thorn /boma/ round it, to protect
+them in case the Makalanga should make a night sally; also they could
+find no other convenient spot. The upshot of it all was to hurry their
+assault, which they delivered before they had prepared sufficient
+ladders to make it effective.
+
+At the first break of dawn on the third day after Mr. Clifford's
+attempt at mesmerism, Benita was awakened by the sounds of shouts and
+firing. Having dressed herself hastily, she hurried in the growing
+light towards that part of the wall from below which the noise seemed
+to come, and climbing it, found her father and Jacob already seated
+there, their rifles in hand.
+
+"The fools are attacking the small gate through which you went out
+riding, Miss Clifford, the very worst place that they could have
+chosen, although the wall looks very weak there," said the latter. "If
+those Makalanga have any pluck they ought to teach them a lesson."
+
+Then the sun rose and they saw companies of Matabele, who carried
+ladders in their hands, rushing onwards through the morning mist till
+their sight of them was obstructed by the swell of the hill. On these
+companies the two white men opened fire, with what result they could
+not see in that light. Presently a great shout announced that the
+enemy had gained the fosse and were setting up the ladders. Up to this
+time the Makalanga appeared to have done nothing, but now they began
+to fire rapidly from the ancient bastions which commanded the entrance
+the impi was striving to storm, and soon through the thinning fog they
+perceived wounded Matabele staggering and crawling back towards their
+camp. Of these, the light now better, Jacob did not neglect to take
+his toll.
+
+Meanwhile, the ancient fortress rang with the hideous tumult of the
+attack. It was evident that again and again, as their fierce war-
+shouts proclaimed, the Matabele were striving to scale the wall, and
+again and again were beaten back by the raking rifle fire. Once a
+triumphant yell seemed to announce their success. The fire slackened
+and Benita grew pale with fear.
+
+"The Makalanga cowards are bolting," muttered Mr. Clifford, listening
+with terrible anxiety.
+
+But if so their courage came back to them, for presently the guns
+cracked louder and more incessant than before, and the savage cries of
+"Kill! Kill! Kill!" dwindled and died away. Another five minutes and
+the Matabele were in full retreat, bearing with them many dead and
+wounded men upon their backs or stretched out on the ladders.
+
+"Our Makalanga friends should be grateful to us for those hundred
+rifles," said Jacob as he loaded and fired rapidly, sending his
+bullets wherever the clusters were thickest. "Had it not been for them
+their throats would have been cut by now," he added, "for they could
+never have stopped those savages with the spear."
+
+"Yes, and ours too before nightfall," said Benita with a shudder, for
+the sight of this desperate fray and fear of how it might end had
+sickened her. "Thank Heaven, it is over! Perhaps they will give up the
+siege and go away."
+
+But, notwithstanding their costly defeat, for they had lost over a
+hundred men, the Matabele, who were afraid to return to Buluwayo
+except as victors, did nothing of the sort. They only cut down a
+quantity of reeds and scrub, and moved their camp nearly to the banks
+of the river, placing it in such a position that it could no longer be
+searched by the fire of the two white men. Here they sat themselves
+down sullenly, hoping to starve out the garrison or to find some other
+way of entering the fortress.
+
+Now Meyer's shooting having come to an end for lack of men to shoot
+at, since the enemy exposed themselves no more, he was again able to
+give his full attention to the matter of the treasure hunt.
+
+As nothing could be found in the cave he devoted himself to the
+outside enclosure which, it may be remembered, was grown over with
+grass and trees and crowded with ruins. In the most important of these
+ruins they began to dig somewhat aimlessly, and were rewarded by
+finding a certain amount of gold in the shape of beads and ornaments,
+and a few more skeletons of ancients. But of the Portuguese hoard
+there was no sign. Thus it came about that they grew gloomier day by
+day, till at last they scarcely spoke to each other. Jacob's angry
+disappointment was written on his face, and Benita was filled with
+despair, since to escape from their gaoler above and the Matabele
+below seemed impossible. Moreover, she had another cause for anxiety.
+
+The ill-health which had been threatening her father for a long while
+now fell upon him in earnest, so that of a sudden he became a very old
+man. His strength and energy left him, and his mind was so filled with
+remorse for what he held to be his crime in bringing his daughter to
+this awful place, and with terror for the fate that threatened her,
+that he could think of nothing else. In vain did she try to comfort
+him. He would only wring his hands and groan, praying that God and she
+would forgive him. Now, too, Meyer's mastery over him became
+continually more evident. Mr. Clifford implored the man, almost with
+tears, to unblock the wall and allow them to go down to the Makalanga.
+He even tried to bribe him with the offer of all his share of the
+treasure, if it were found, and when that failed, of his property in
+the Transvaal.
+
+But Jacob only told him roughly not to be a fool, as they had to see
+the thing through together. Then he would go again and brood by
+himself, and Benita noticed that he always took his rifle or a pistol
+with him. Evidently he feared lest her father should catch him
+unprepared, and take the law into his own hands by means of a sudden
+bullet.
+
+One comfort she had, however: although he watched her closely, the Jew
+never tried to molest her in any way, not even with more of his
+enigmatic and amorous speeches. By degrees, indeed, she came to
+believe that all this was gone from his mind, or that he had abandoned
+his advances as hopeless.
+
+A week passed since the Matabele attack, and nothing had happened. The
+Makalanga took no notice of them, and so far as she was aware the old
+Molimo never attempted to climb the blocked wall or otherwise to
+communicate with them, a thing so strange that, knowing his affection
+for her, Benita came to the conclusion that he must be dead, killed
+perhaps in the attack. Even Jacob Meyer had abandoned his digging, and
+sat about all day doing nothing but think.
+
+Their meal that night was a miserable affair, since in the first place
+provisions were running short and there was little to eat, and in the
+second no one spoke a word. Benita could swallow no food; she was
+weary of that sun-dried trek-ox, for since Meyer had blocked the wall
+they had little else. But by good fortune there remained plenty of
+coffee, and of this she drank two cups, which Jacob prepared and
+handed to her with much politeness. It tasted very bitter to her, but
+this, Benita reflected, was because they lacked milk and sugar. Supper
+ended, Meyer rose and bowed to her, muttering that he was going to
+bed, and a few minutes later Mr. Clifford followed his example. She
+went with her father to the hut beneath the tree, and having helped
+him to remove his coat, which now he seemed to find difficulty in
+doing for himself, bade him good-night and returned to the fire.
+
+It was very lonely there in the silence, for no sound came from either
+the Matabele or the Makalanga camps, and the bright moonlight seemed
+to people the place with fantastic shadows that looked alive. Benita
+cried a little now that her father could not see her, and then also
+sought refuge in bed. Evidently the end, whatever it might be, was
+near, and of it she could not bear to think. Moreover, her eyes were
+strangely heavy, so much so that before she had finished saying her
+prayers sleep fell upon her, and she knew no more.
+
+Had she remained as wakeful as it was often her fate to be during
+those fearful days, towards midnight she might have heard some light-
+footed creature creeping to her tent, and seen that the moon-rays
+which flowed through the gaping and ill-closed flap were cut off by
+the figure of a man with glowing eyes, whose projected arms waved over
+her mysteriously. But Benita neither heard nor saw. In her drugged
+rest she did not know that her sleep turned gradually to a magic
+swoon. She had no knowledge of her rising, or of how she threw her
+thick cloak about her, lit her lamp, and, in obedience to that
+beckoning finger, glided from the tent. She never heard her father
+stumble from his hut, disturbed by the sound of footsteps, or the
+words that passed between him and Jacob Meyer, while, lamp in hand,
+she stood near them like a strengthless ghost.
+
+"If you dare to wake her," hissed Jacob, "I tell you that she will
+die, and afterwards you shall die," and he fingered the pistol at his
+belt. "No harm shall come to her--I swear it! Follow and see. Man,
+man, be silent; our fortunes hang on it."
+
+Then, overcome also by the strange fierceness of that voice and gaze,
+he followed.
+
+On they go to the winding neck of the cavern, first Jacob walking
+backwards like the herald of majesty; then majesty itself in the shape
+of this long-haired, death-like woman, cloaked and bearing in her hand
+the light; and last, behind, the old, white-bearded man, like Time
+following Beauty to the grave. Now they were in the great cavern, and
+now, avoiding the open tombs, the well mouth and the altar, they stood
+beneath the crucifix.
+
+"Be seated," said Meyer, and the entranced Benita sat herself down
+upon the steps at the foot of the cross, placing the lamp on the rock
+pavement before her, and bowing her head till her hair fell upon her
+naked feet and hid them. He held his hands above her for a while, then
+asked:
+
+"Do you sleep?"
+
+"I sleep," came the strange, slow answer.
+
+"Is your spirit awake?"
+
+"It is awake."
+
+"Command it to travel backwards through the ages to the beginning, and
+tell me what you see here."
+
+"I see a rugged cave and wild folk dwelling in it; an old man is dying
+yonder," and she pointed to the right; "and a black woman with a babe
+at her breast tends him. A man, it is her husband, enters the cave. He
+holds a torch in one hand, and with the other drags a buck."
+
+"Cease," said Meyer. "How long is this ago?"
+
+"Thirty-three thousand two hundred and one years," came the answer,
+spoken without any hesitation.
+
+"Pass on," he said, "pass on thirty thousand years, and tell me what
+you see."
+
+For a long while there was silence.
+
+"Why do you not speak?" he asked.
+
+"Be patient; I am living through those thirty thousand years; many a
+life, many an age, but none may be missed."
+
+Again there was silence for a long while, till at length she spoke:
+
+"They are done, all of them, and now three thousand years ago I see
+this place changed and smoothly fashioned, peopled by a throng of
+worshippers clad in strange garments with clasps upon them. Behind me
+stands the graven statue of a goddess with a calm and cruel face, in
+front of the altar burns a fire, and on the altar white-robed priests
+are sacrificing an infant which cries aloud."
+
+"Pass on, pass on," Meyer said hurriedly, as though the horror of that
+scene had leapt to his eyes. "Pass on two thousand seven hundred years
+and tell me what you see."
+
+Again there was a pause, while the spirit he had evoked in the body of
+Benita lived through those ages. Then slowly she answered:
+
+"Nothing, the place is black and desolate, only the dead sleep beneath
+its floor."
+
+"Wait till the living come again," he commanded; "then speak."
+
+"They are here," she replied presently. "Tonsured monks, one of whom
+fashions this crucifix, and their followers who bow before the Host
+upon the altar. They come, they go--of whom shall I tell you?"
+
+"Tell me of the Portuguese; of those who were driven here to die."
+
+"I see them all," she answered, after a pause. "Two hundred and three
+of them. They are ragged and wayworn and hungry. Among them is a
+beautiful woman, a girl. She draws near to me, she enters into me. You
+must ask her"--this was spoken in a very faint voice--"I am I no
+more."
+
+Mr. Clifford attempted to interrupt, but fiercely Meyer bade him to be
+silent.
+
+"Speak," he commanded, but the crouching figure shook her head.
+
+"Speak," he said again, whereon another voice, not that of Benita,
+answered in another tongue:
+
+"I hear; but I do not understand your language."
+
+"Great Heaven!" said Meyer, "it is Portuguese," and for a while the
+terror of the thing struck him dumb, for he was aware that Benita knew
+no Portuguese. He knew it, however, who had lived at Loren�o Marquez.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked in that tongue.
+
+"I am Benita da Ferreira. I am the daughter of the Captain da Ferreira
+and of his wife, the lady Christinha, who stand by you now. Turn, and
+you will see them."
+
+Jacob started and looked about him uneasily.
+
+"What did she say? I did not catch it all," asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+He translated her words.
+
+"But this is black magic," exclaimed the old man. "Benita knows no
+Portuguese, so how comes she to speak it?"
+
+"Because she is no longer our Benita; she is another Benita, Benita da
+Ferreira. The Molimo was right when he said that the spirit of the
+dead woman went with her, as it seems the name has gone," he added.
+
+"Have done," said Mr. Clifford; "the thing is unholy. Wake her up, or
+I will."
+
+"And bring about her death. Touch or disturb her, and I tell you she
+will die," and he pointed to Benita, who crouched before them so white
+and motionless that indeed it seemed as though already she were dead.
+"Be quiet," he went on. "I swear to you that no hurt shall come to
+her, also that I will translate everything to you. Promise, or I will
+tell you nothing, and her blood be on your head."
+
+Then Mr. Clifford groaned and said:
+
+"I promise."
+
+"Tell me your story, Benita da Ferreira. How came you and your people
+here?"
+
+"The tribes of Monomotapa rose against our rule. They killed many of
+us in the lower land, yes, they killed my brother and him to whom I
+was affianced. The rest of us fled north to this ancient fortress,
+hoping thence to escape by the river, the Zambesi. The Mambo, our
+vassal, gave us shelter here, but the tribes besieged the walls in
+thousands, and burnt all the boats so that we could not fly by the
+water. Many times we beat them back from the wall; the ditch was full
+of their dead, and at last they dared to attack no more.
+
+"Then we began to starve and they won the first wall. We went on
+starving and they won the second wall, but the third wall they could
+not climb. So we died; one by one we laid ourselves down in this cave
+and died, till I alone was left, for while our people had food they
+gave it to me who was the daughter of their captain. Yes, alone I
+knelt at the foot of this crucifix by the body of my father, praying
+to the blessed Son of Mary for the death that would not come, and
+kneeling there I swooned. When I awoke again the Mambo and his men
+stood about me, for now, knowing us to be dead, the tribes had gone,
+and those who were in hiding across the river had returned and knew
+how to climb the wall. They bore me from among the dead, they gave me
+food so that my strength came back; but in the night I, who in my
+wickedness would not live, escaped from them and climbed the pillar of
+black rock, so that when the sun rose they saw me standing there. They
+begged of me to come down, promising to protect me, but I said 'No,'
+who in the evil of my heart only desired to die, that I might join my
+father and my brother, and one who was dearer to me than all. They
+asked of me where the great treasure was hidden."
+
+At these words Jacob gasped, then rapidly translated them, while the
+figure before them became silent, as though it felt that for the
+moment the power of his will was withdrawn.
+
+"Speak on, I bid you," he said, and she continued, the rich, slow
+voice dropping word after word from the lips of Benita in the alien
+speech that this Benita never knew.
+
+"I answered that it was where it was, and that if they gave it up to
+any save the one appointed, then that fate which had befallen my
+people would befall theirs also. Yes, I gave it into their keeping
+until I came again, since with his dying breath my father had
+commanded me to reveal it to none, and I believed that I who was about
+to die should never come again.
+
+"Then I made my last prayer, I kissed the golden crucifix that now
+hangs upon this breast wherein I dwell," and the hand of the living
+Benita was lifted, and moving like the hand of a dead thing, slowly
+drew out the symbol from beneath the cloak, held it for a moment in
+the lamplight, and let it fall to its place again. "I put my hands
+before my eyes that I might not see, and I hurled myself from the
+pinnacle."
+
+Now the voice ceased, but from the lips came a dreadful sound, such as
+might be uttered by one whose bones are shattered upon rocks, followed
+by other sounds like those of one who chokes in water. They were so
+horrible to hear that Mr. Clifford nearly fainted, and even Jacob
+Meyer staggered and turned white as the white face of Benita.
+
+"Wake her! For God's sake, wake her!" said her father. "She is dying,
+as that woman died hundreds of years ago."
+
+"Not till she has told us where the gold is. Be quiet, you fool. She
+does not feel or suffer. It is the spirit within her that lives
+through the past again."
+
+Once more there was silence. It seemed as though the story were all
+told and the teller had departed.
+
+"Benita da Ferreira," said Meyer at length, "I command you, tell me,
+are you dead?"
+
+"Oh! would that I were dead, as my body is dead!" wailed the lips of
+Benita. "Alas! I cannot die who suffer this purgatory, and must dwell
+on here alone until the destined day. Yes, yes, the spirit of her who
+was Benita da Ferreira must haunt this place in solitude. This is her
+doom, to be the guardian of that accursed gold which was wrung from
+the earth by cruelty and paid for with the lives of men."
+
+"Is it still safe?" whispered Jacob.
+
+"I will look;" then after a pause, "I have looked. It is there, every
+grain of it, in ox-hide bags; only one of them has fallen and burst,
+that which is black and red."
+
+"Where is it?" he said again.
+
+"I may not tell you; never, never."
+
+"Is there anyone whom you may tell?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Whom?"
+
+"Her in whose breast I lie."
+
+"Tell her then."
+
+"I have told her; she knows."
+
+"And may she tell me?"
+
+"Let her guard the secret as she will. O my Guardian, I thank thee. My
+burden is departed; my sin of self-murder is atoned."
+
+"Benita da Ferreira, are you gone?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Benita Clifford, do you hear me?"
+
+"I hear you," said the voice of Benita, speaking in English, although
+Jacob, forgetting, had addressed her in Portuguese.
+
+"Where is the gold?"
+
+"In my keeping."
+
+"Tell me, I command you."
+
+But no words came; though he questioned her many times no words came,
+till at last her head sank forward upon her knees, and in a faint
+voice she murmured:
+
+"Loose me, or I die."
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE AWAKING
+
+Still Jacob Meyer hesitated. The great secret was unlearned, and, if
+this occasion passed, might never be learned. But if he hesitated, Mr.
+Clifford did not. The knowledge of his child's danger, the sense that
+her life was mysteriously slipping away from her under pressure of the
+ghastly spell in which she lay enthralled, stirred him to madness. His
+strength and manhood came back to him. He sprang straight at Meyer's
+throat, gripped it with one hand, and with the other drew the knife he
+wore.
+
+"You devil!" he gasped. "Wake her or you shall go with her!" and he
+lifted the knife.
+
+Then Jacob gave in. Shaking off his assailant he stepped to Benita,
+and while her father stood behind him with the lifted blade, began to
+make strange upward passes over her, and to mutter words of command.
+For a long while they took no effect; indeed, both of them were almost
+sure that she was gone. Despair gripped her father, and Meyer worked
+at his black art so furiously that the sweat burst out upon his
+forehead and fell in great drops to the floor.
+
+Oh, at last, at last she stirred! Her head lifted itself a little, her
+breast heaved.
+
+"Lord in Heaven, I have saved her!" muttered Jacob in German, and
+worked on.
+
+Now the eyes of Benita opened, and now she stood up and sighed. But
+she said nothing; only like a person walking in her sleep, she began
+to move towards the entrance of the cave, her father going before her
+with the lamp. On she went, and out of it straight to her tent, where
+instantly she cast herself upon her bed and sank into deep slumber. It
+was as though the power of the drug-induced oblivion, which for a
+while was over-mastered by that other stronger power invoked by Jacob,
+had reasserted itself.
+
+Meyer watched her for awhile; then said to Mr. Clifford:
+
+"Don't be afraid and don't attempt to disturb her. She will wake
+naturally in the morning."
+
+"I hope so for both our sakes," he answered, glaring at him, "for if
+not, you or I, or the two of us, will never see another."
+
+Meyer took no notice of his threats; indeed the man seemed so
+exhausted that he could scarcely stand.
+
+"I am done," he said. "Now, as she is safe, I don't care what happens
+to me. I must rest," and he staggered from the tent, like a drunken
+man.
+
+Outside, at the place where they ate, Mr. Clifford heard him gulping
+down raw gin from the bottle. Then he heard no more.
+
+All the rest of the night, and for some hours of the early morning,
+did her father watch by the bed of Benita, although, lightly clad as
+he was, the cold of dawn struck to his bones. At length, when the sun
+was well up, she rose in her bed, and her eyes opened.
+
+"What are you doing here, father?" she said.
+
+"I have come to see where you were, dear. You are generally out by
+now."
+
+"I suppose that I must have overslept myself then," she replied
+wearily. "But it does not seem to have refreshed me much, and my head
+aches. Oh! I remember," she added with a start. "I have had such a
+horrid dream."
+
+"What about?" he asked as carelessly as he could.
+
+"I can't recall it quite, but it had to do with Mr. Meyer," and she
+shivered. "It seemed as though I had passed into his power, as though
+he had taken possession of me, body and soul, and forced me to tell
+him all the secret things."
+
+"What secret things, Benita?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I don't know now, but we went away among dead people, and I told him
+there. Oh! father, I am afraid of that man--terribly afraid! Protect
+me from him," and she began to cry a little.
+
+"Of course I will protect you, dear. Something has upset your nerves.
+Come, dress yourself and you'll soon forget it all. I'll light the
+fire."
+
+A quarter of an hour later Benita joined him, looking pale and shaken,
+but otherwise much as usual. She was ravenously hungry, and ate of the
+biscuits and dried meat with eagerness.
+
+"The coffee tastes quite different from that which I drank last
+night," she said. "I think there must have been something in it which
+gave me those bad dreams. Where is Mr. Meyer? Oh, I know!" and again
+she put her hand to her head. "He is still asleep by the wall."
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"I can't say, but it is so. He will not come here till one o'clock.
+There, I feel much better now. What shall we do, father?"
+
+"Sit in the sun and rest, I think, dear."
+
+"Yes, let us do that, on the top of the wall. We can see the Makalanga
+from there, and it will be a comfort to be sure that there are other
+human beings left in the world besides ourselves and Jacob Meyer."
+
+So presently they went, and from the spot whence Meyer used to shoot
+at the Matabele camp, looked down upon the Makalanga moving about the
+first enclosure far below. By the aid of the glasses Benita even
+thought that she recognised Tamas, although of this it was difficult
+to be sure, for they were all very much alike. Still, the discovery
+quite excited her.
+
+"I am sure it is Tamas," she said. "And oh! how I wish that we were
+down there with him, although it is true that then we should be nearer
+to the Matabele. But they are better than Mr. Meyer, much better."
+
+Now for a while they were silent, till at length she said suddenly:
+
+"Father, you are keeping something back from me, and things begin to
+come back. Tell me; did I go anywhere last night with Mr. Meyer--you
+and he and I together?"
+
+He hesitated and looked guilty; Mr. Clifford was not a good actor.
+
+"I see that we did; I am sure that we did. Father, tell me. I must
+know, I will know."
+
+Then he gave way.
+
+"I didn't want to speak, dear, but perhaps it is best. It is a very
+strange story. Will you promise not to be upset?"
+
+"I will promise not to be more upset than I am at present," she
+answered, with a sad little laugh. "Go on."
+
+"You remember that Jacob Meyer wanted to mesmerize you?"
+
+"I am not likely to forget it," she answered.
+
+"Well, last night he did mesmerize you."
+
+"What?" she said. "/What?/ Oh! how dreadful! Now I understand it all.
+But when?"
+
+"When you were sound asleep, I suppose. At least, the first I knew of
+it was that some noise woke me, and I came out of the hut to see you
+following him like a dead woman, with a lamp in your hand."
+
+Then he told her all the story, while she listened aghast.
+
+"How dared he!" she gasped, when her father had finished the long
+tale. "I hate him; I almost wish that you had killed him," and she
+clenched her little hands and shook them in the air.
+
+"That is not very Christian of you, Miss Clifford," said a voice
+behind her. "But it is past one o'clock, and as I am still alive I
+have come to tell you that it is time for luncheon."
+
+Benita wheeled round upon the stone on which she sat, and there,
+standing amidst the bushes a little way from the foot of the wall, was
+Jacob Meyer. Their eyes met; hers were full of defiance, and his of
+conscious power.
+
+"I do not want any luncheon, Mr. Meyer," she said.
+
+"But I am sure that you do. Please come down and have some. Please
+come down."
+
+The words were spoken humbly, almost pleadingly, yet to Benita they
+seemed as a command. At any rate, with slow reluctance she climbed
+down the shattered wall, followed by her father, and without speaking
+they went back to their camping place, all three of them, Jacob
+leading the way.
+
+When they had eaten, or made pretence to eat, he spoke.
+
+"I see that your father has told you everything, Miss Clifford, and of
+that I am glad. As for me, it would have been awkward, who must ask
+your forgiveness for so much. But what could I do? I knew, as I have
+always known, that it was only possible to find this treasure by your
+help. So I gave you something to make you sleep, and then in your
+sleep I hypnotized you, and--you know the rest. I have great
+experience in this art, but I have never seen or heard of anything
+like what happened, and I hope I never shall again."
+
+Hitherto Benita had sat silent, but now her burning indignation and
+curiosity overcame her shame and hatred.
+
+"Mr. Meyer," she said, "you have done a shameful and a wicked thing,
+and I tell you at once that I can never forgive you."
+
+"Don't say that. Please don't say that," he interrupted in tones of
+real grief. "Make allowances for me. I had to learn, and there was no
+other way. You are a born clairvoyante, one among ten thousand, my art
+told me so, and you know all that is at stake."
+
+"By which you mean so many ounces of gold, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"By which I mean the greatness that gold can give, Miss Clifford."
+
+"Such greatness, Mr. Meyer, as a week of fever, or a Matabele spear,
+or God's will can rob you of. But the thing is done, and soon or late
+the sin must be paid for. Now I want to ask you a question. You
+believe in nothing; you have told me so several times. You say that
+there is no such thing as a spirit, that when we die, we die, and
+there's an end. Do you not?"
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"Then tell me, what was it that spoke out of my lips last night, and
+how came it that I, who know no Portuguese, talked to you in that
+tongue?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You have put a difficult question, but one I think that can be
+answered. There is no such thing as a spirit, an identity that
+survives death. But there is such a thing as the subconscious self,
+which is part of the animating principle of the universe, and, if only
+its knowledge can be unsealed, knows all that has passed and all that
+is passing in that universe. One day perhaps you will read the works
+of my compatriot, Hegel, and there you will find it spoken of."
+
+"You explain nothing."
+
+"I am about to explain, Miss Clifford. Last night I gave to your sub-
+conscious self--that which knows all--the strength of liberty, so that
+it saw the past as it happened in this place. Already you knew the
+story of the dead girl, Benita da Ferreira, and that story you
+re-enacted, talking the tongue she used as you would have talked Greek
+or any other tongue, had it been hers. It was not her spirit that
+animated you, although at the time I called it so for shortness, but
+your own buried knowledge, tricked out and furnished by the effort of
+your human imagination. That her name, Benita, should have been yours
+also is no doubt a strange coincidence, but no more. Also we have no
+proof that it was so; only what you said in your trance."
+
+"Perhaps," said Benita, who was in no mood for philosophical argument.
+"Perhaps also one day you will see a spirit, Mr. Meyer, and think
+otherwise."
+
+"When I see a spirit and know that it is a spirit, then doubtless I
+shall believe in spirits. But what is the good of talking of such
+things? I do not seek spirits; I seek Portuguese gold. Now, I am sure
+you can tell where that gold lies. You would have told us last night,
+had not your nervous strength failed you, who are unaccustomed to the
+state of trance. Speaking as Benita da Ferreira, you said that you saw
+it and described its condition. Then you could, or would, say no more,
+and it became necessary to waken you. Miss Clifford, you must let me
+mesmerize you once again for a few minutes only, for then we will
+waste no time on past histories, and we shall find the gold. Unless,
+indeed," he added by an afterthought, and looking at her sharply, "you
+know already where it is; in which case I need not trouble you."
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Meyer. I remember nothing about the gold."
+
+"Which proves my theory. What purported to be the spirit of Benita da
+Ferreira said that it had passed the secret on to you, but in your
+waking state you do not know that secret. In fact, she did not pass it
+on because she had no existence. But in your sub-conscious state you
+will know. Therefore I must mesmerize you again. Not at once, but in a
+few days' time, when you have quite recovered. Let us say next
+Wednesday, three days hence."
+
+"You shall never mesmerize me again, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"No, not while I live," broke in her father, who had been listening to
+this discussion in silence.
+
+Jacob bowed his head meekly.
+
+"You think so now, but I think otherwise. What I did last night I did
+against your will, and that I can do again, only much more easily. But
+I had rather do it with your will, who work not for my own sake only,
+but for the sake of all of us. And now let us talk no more of the
+matter, lest we should grow angry." Then he rose and went away.
+
+The next three days were passed by Benita in a state of constant
+dread. She knew in herself that Jacob Meyer had acquired a certain
+command over her; that an invincible intimacy had sprung up between
+them. She was acquainted with his thoughts; thus, before he asked for
+it, she would find herself passing him some article at table or
+elsewhere, or answering a question that he was only about to ask.
+Moreover, he could bring her to him from a little distance. Thus, on
+two or three occasions when she was wandering about their prison
+enclosure, as she was wont to do for the sake of exercise, she found
+her feet draw to some spot--now one place and now another--and when
+she reached it there before her was Jacob Meyer.
+
+"Forgive me for bringing you here," he would say, smiling after his
+crooked fashion, and lifting his hat politely, "but I wish to ask you
+if you have not changed your mind as to being mesmerized?"
+
+Then for a while he would hold her with his eyes, so that her feet
+seemed rooted to the ground, till at length it was as though he cut a
+rope by some action of his will and set her free, and, choked with
+wrath and blind with tears, Benita would turn and run from him as from
+a wild beast.
+
+But if her days were evil, oh! what were her nights? She lived in
+constant terror lest he should again drug her food or drink, and,
+while she slept, throw his magic spell upon her. To protect herself
+from the first danger she would swallow nothing that had been near
+him. Now also she slept in the hut with her father, who lay near its
+door, a loaded rifle at his side, for he had told Jacob outright that
+if he caught him at his practices he would shoot him, a threat at
+which the younger man laughed aloud, for he had no fear of Mr.
+Clifford.
+
+Throughout the long hours of darkness they kept watch alternately, one
+of them lying down to rest while the other peered and listened. Nor
+did Benita always listen in vain, for twice at least she heard
+stealthy footsteps creeping about the hut, and felt that soft and
+dreadful influence flowing in upon her. Then she would wake her
+father, whispering, "He is there, I can feel that he is there." But by
+the time that the old man had painfully dragged himself to his feet--
+for now he was becoming very feeble and acute rheumatism or some such
+illness had got hold of him--and crept from the hut, there was no one
+to be seen. Only through the darkness he would hear the sound of a
+retreating step, and of low, mocking laughter.
+
+Thus those miserable days went by, and the third morning came, that
+dreaded Wednesday. Before it was dawn Benita and her father, neither
+of whom had closed their eyes that night, talked over their strait
+long and earnestly, and they knew that its crisis was approaching.
+
+"I think that I had better try to kill him, Benita," he said. "I am
+growing dreadfully weak, and if I put it off I may find no strength,
+and you will be at his mercy. I can easily shoot him when his back is
+turned, and though I hate the thought of such a deed, surely I shall
+be forgiven. Or if not, I cannot help it. I must think of my duty to
+you, not of myself."
+
+"No, no," she answered. "I will not have it. It would be murder,
+although he has threatened you. After all, father, I believe that the
+man is half mad, and not responsible. We must take our chance and
+trust to God to save us. If He does not," she added, "at the worst I
+can always save myself," and she touched the pistol which now she wore
+day and night.
+
+"So be it," said Mr. Clifford, with a groan. "Let us pray for
+deliverance from this hell and keep our hands clean of blood."
+
+
+
+XX
+
+JACOB MEYER SEES A SPIRIT
+
+For a while they were silent, then Benita said:
+
+"Father, is it not possible that we might escape, after all? Perhaps
+that stair on the rampart is not so completely blocked that we could
+not climb over it."
+
+Mr. Clifford, thinking of his stiff limbs and aching back, shook his
+head and answered:
+
+"I don't know; Meyer has never let me near enough to see."
+
+"Well, why do you not go to look? You know he sleeps till late now,
+because he is up all night. Take the glasses and examine the top of
+the wall from inside that old house near by. He will not see or hear
+you, but if I came near, he would know and wake up."
+
+"If you like, love, I can try, but what are you going to do while I am
+away?"
+
+"I shall climb the pillar."
+
+"You don't mean----" and he stopped.
+
+"No, no, nothing of that sort. I shall not follow the example of
+Benita da Ferreira unless I am driven to it; I want to look, that is
+all. One can see far from that place, if there is anything to see.
+Perhaps the Matabele are gone now, we have heard nothing of them
+lately."
+
+So they dressed themselves, and as soon as the light was sufficiently
+strong, came out of the hut and parted, Mr. Clifford, rifle in hand,
+limping off towards the wall, and Benita going towards the great cone.
+She climbed it easily enough, and stood in the little cup-like
+depression on its dizzy peak, waiting for the sun to rise and disperse
+the mists which hung over the river and its banks.
+
+Now whatever may have been the exact ceremonial use to which the
+ancients put this pinnacle, without doubt it had something to do with
+sun-worship. This, indeed, was proved by the fact that, at any rate at
+this season of the year, the first rays of the risen orb struck full
+upon its point. Thus it came about that, as she stood there waiting,
+Benita of a sudden found herself suffused in light so vivid and
+intense that, clothed as she was in a dress which had once been white,
+it must have caused her to shine like a silver image. For several
+minutes, indeed, this golden spear of fire blinded her so that she
+could see nothing, but stood quite still, afraid to move, and waiting
+until, as the sun grew higher, its level rays passed over her. This
+they did presently, and plunging into the valley, began to drive away
+the fog. Now she looked down, along the line of the river.
+
+The Matabele camp was invisible, for it lay in a hollow almost at the
+foot of the fortress. Beyond it, however, was a rising swell of
+ground; it may have been half a mile from where she stood, and on the
+crest of it she perceived what looked like a waggon tent with figures
+moving round it. They were shouting also, for through the silence of
+the African morn the sound of their voices floated up to her.
+
+As the mist cleared off Benita saw that without doubt it was a waggon,
+for there stood the long row of oxen, also it had just been captured
+by the Matabele, for these were about it in numbers. At the moment,
+however, they appeared to be otherwise occupied, for they were
+pointing with their spears to the pillar on Bambatse.
+
+Then it occurred to Benita that, placed as she was in that fierce
+light with only the sky for background, she must be perfectly visible
+from the plain below, and that it might be her figure perched like an
+eagle between heaven and earth which excited their interest. Yes, and
+not theirs only, for now a white man appeared, who lifted what might
+have been a gun, or a telescope, towards her. She was sure from the
+red flannel shirt and the broad hat which he wore that he must be a
+white man, and oh! how her heart yearned towards him, whoever he might
+be! The sight of an angel from heaven could scarcely have been more
+welcome to Benita in her wretchedness.
+
+Yet surely she must be dreaming. What should a white man and a waggon
+be doing in that place? And why had not the Matabele killed him at
+once? She could not tell, yet they appeared to have no murderous
+intentions, since they continued to gesticulate and talk whilst he
+stared upwards with the telescope, if it were a telescope. So things
+went on for a long time, for meanwhile the oxen were outspanned,
+until, indeed, more Matabele arrived, who led off the white man,
+apparently against his will, towards their camp, where he disappeared.
+Then there was nothing more to be seen. Benita descended the column.
+
+At its foot she met her father, who had come to seek her.
+
+"What is the matter?" he asked, noting her excited face.
+
+"Oh!" she said or rather sobbed, "there is a waggon with a white man
+below. I saw the Matabele capture him."
+
+"Then I am sorry for the poor devil," answered the father, "for he is
+dead by now. But what could a white man have been doing here? Some
+hunter, I suppose, who has walked into a trap."
+
+The face of Benita fell.
+
+"I hoped," she said, "that he might help us."
+
+"As well might he hope that we could help him. He is gone, and there
+is an end. Well, peace to his soul, and we have our own troubles to
+think of. I have been to look at that wall, and it is useless to think
+of climbing it. If he had been a professional mason, Meyer could not
+have built it up better; no wonder that we have seen nothing more of
+the Molimo, for only a bird could reach us."
+
+"Where was Mr. Meyer," asked Benita.
+
+"Asleep in a blanket under a little shelter of boughs by the stair. At
+least, I thought so, though it was rather difficult to make him out in
+the shadow; at any rate, I saw his rifle set against a tree. Come, let
+us go to breakfast. No doubt he will turn up soon enough."
+
+So they went, and for the first time since the Sunday Benita ate a
+hearty meal of biscuits soaked in coffee. Although her father was so
+sure that by now he must have perished on the Matabele spears, the
+sight of the white man and his waggon had put new life into her,
+bringing her into touch with the world again. After all, might it not
+chance that he had escaped?"
+
+All this while there had been no sign of Jacob Meyer. This, however,
+did not surprise them, for now he ate his meals alone, taking his food
+from a little general store, and cooking it over his own fire. When
+they had finished their breakfast Mr. Clifford remarked that they had
+no more drinking water left, and Benita said that she would go to
+fetch a pailful from the well in the cave. Her father suggested that
+he should accompany her, but she answered that it was not necessary as
+she was quite able to wind the chain by herself. So she went, carrying
+the bucket in one hand and a lamp in the other.
+
+As she walked down the last of the zigzags leading to the cave, Benita
+stopped a moment thinking that she saw a light, and then went on,
+since on turning the corner there was nothing but darkness before her.
+Evidently she had been mistaken. She reached the well and hung the
+pail on to the great copper hook, wondering as she did so how many
+folk had done likewise in the far, far past, for the massive metal of
+that hook was worn quite thin with use. Then she let the roller run,
+and the sound of the travelling chain clanked dismally in that
+vaulted, empty place. At length the pail struck the water, and she
+began to wind up again, pausing at times to rest, for the distance was
+long and the chain heavy. The bucket appeared. Benita drew it to the
+side of the well, and lifted it from the hook, then took up her lamp
+to be gone.
+
+Feeling or seeing something, which she was not sure, she held the lamp
+above her head, and by its light perceived a figure standing between
+her and the entrance to the cave.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, whereon a soft voice answered out of the
+darkness, the voice of Jacob Meyer.
+
+"Do you mind standing still for a few minutes, Miss Clifford? I have
+some paper here and I wish to make a sketch. You do not know how
+beautiful you look with that light above your head illuminating the
+shadows and the thorn-crowned crucifix beyond. You know, whatever
+paths fortune may have led me into, by nature I am an artist, and
+never in my life have I seen such a picture. One day it will make me
+famous.
+
+ 'How statue-like I see thee stand!
+  The agate lamp within thy hand.'
+
+That's what I should put under it; you know the lines, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Meyer, but I am afraid you will have to paint your picture
+from memory, as I cannot hold up this lamp any longer; my arm is
+aching already. I do not know how you came here, but as you have
+followed me perhaps you will be so kind as to carry this water."
+
+"I did not follow you, Miss Clifford. Although you never saw me I
+entered the cave before you to take measurements."
+
+"How can you take measurements in the dark?"
+
+"I was not in the dark. I put out my light when I caught sight of you,
+knowing that otherwise you would run away, and fate stood me in good
+stead. You came on, as I willed that you should do. Now let us talk.
+Miss Clifford, have you changed your mind? You know the time is up."
+
+"I shall never change my mind. Let me pass you, Mr. Meyer."
+
+"No, no, not until you have listened. You are very cruel to me, very
+cruel indeed. You do not understand that, rather than do you the
+slightest harm, I would die a hundred times."
+
+"I do not ask you to die; I ask you to leave me alone--a much easier
+matter."
+
+"But how can I leave you alone when you are a part of me, when--I love
+you? There, the truth is out, and now say what you will."
+
+Benita lifted the bucket of water; its weight seemed to steady her.
+Then she put it down again, since escape was impracticable; she must
+face the situation.
+
+"I have nothing to say, Mr. Meyer, except that /I/ do not love /you/
+or any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment
+you have paid me, and there is an end."
+
+"Any living man," he repeated after her. "That means you love a dead
+man--Seymour, he who was drowned. No wonder that I hated him when
+first my eyes fell on him years ago, long before you had come into our
+lives. Prescience, the sub-conscious self again. Well, what is the use
+of loving the dead, those who no longer have any existence, who have
+gone back into the clay out of which they were formed and are not, nor
+evermore shall be? You have but one life; turn, turn to the living,
+and make it happy."
+
+"I do not agree with you, Mr. Meyer. To me the dead are still living;
+one day I shall find them. Now let me go."
+
+"I will not let you go. I will plead and wrestle with you as in the
+old fable my namesake of my own race wrestled with the angel, until at
+length you bless me. You despise me because I am a Jew, because I have
+had many adventures and not succeeded; because you think me mad. But I
+tell you that there is the seed of greatness in me. Give yourself to
+me and I will make you great, for now I know that it was you whom I
+needed to supply what is lacking in my nature. We will win the wealth,
+and together we will rule----"
+
+"Until a few days hence we starve or the Matabele make an end of us.
+No, Mr. Meyer, no," and she tried to push past him.
+
+He stretched out his arms and stopped her.
+
+"Listen," he said, "I have pleaded with you as man with woman. Now, as
+you refuse me and as you alone stand between me and madness, I will
+take another course. I am your master, your will is servant to my
+will; I bid you obey me."
+
+He fixed his eyes upon hers, and Benita felt her strength begin to
+fail.
+
+"Ah!" he said, "you are my servant now, and to show it I shall kiss
+you on the lips; then I shall throw the sleep upon you, and you will
+tell me what I want to know. Afterwards we can be wed when it pleases
+me. Oh! do not think that your father will defend you, for if he
+interferes I shall kill that foolish old man, whom until now I have
+only spared for your sake. Remember that if you make me angry, I shall
+certainly kill him, and your father's blood will be on your head. Now
+I am going to kiss you."
+
+Benita lifted her hand to find the pistol at her waist. It fell back
+again; she had no strength; it was as though she were paralysed as a
+bird is paralysed by a snake so that it cannot open its wings and fly
+away, but sits there awaiting death. She was given over into the hands
+of this man whom she hated. Could Heaven allow such a thing? she
+wondered dimly, and all the while his lips drew nearer to her face.
+
+They touched her own, and then, why or wherefore Benita never
+understood, the spell broke. All his power was gone, she was as she
+had been, a free woman, mistress of herself. Contemptuously she thrust
+the man aside, and, not even troubling to run, lifted her pail of
+water and walked away.
+
+Soon she saw the light again, and joyfully extinguished her lamp.
+Indeed, the breast of Benita, which should have been so troubled after
+the scene through which she had passed, strangely enough was filled
+with happiness and peace. As that glorious sunlight had broken on her
+eyes, so had another light of freedom arisen in her soul. She was no
+longer afraid of Jacob Meyer; that coward kiss of his had struck off
+the shackles which bound her to him. Her mind had been subject to his
+mind, but now that his physical nature was brought into the play, his
+mental part had lost its hold upon her.
+
+As she approached the hut she saw her father seated on a stone outside
+it, since the poor old man was now so weak and full of pain that he
+could not stand for very long, and seeing, remembered Meyer's threats
+against him. At the thought all her new-found happiness departed.
+
+She might be safe; she felt sure that she was safe, but how about her
+father? If Meyer could not get his way probably he would be as good as
+his word, and kill him. She shivered at the thought, then, recovering
+herself, walked forward steadily with her bucket of water.
+
+"You have been a long while gone, my love," said Mr. Clifford.
+
+"Yes, father, Mr. Meyer was in the cave, and kept me."
+
+"How did he get there, and what did he want?"
+
+"I don't know how he got there--crept in when we were not looking, I
+suppose. But as for what he wanted--listen, dear," and word for word
+she told him what had passed.
+
+Before she had finished, her father was almost choking with wrath.
+
+"The dirty Jew! The villain!" he gasped. "I never dreamed that he
+would dare to attempt such an outrage. Well, thank Heaven! I can still
+hold a rifle, and when he comes out----"
+
+"Father," she said gently, "that man is mad. He is not responsible for
+his actions, and therefore, except in self-defence, you must not think
+of such a thing. As for what he said about you, I believe it was only
+an empty threat, and for me you need have no fear, his power over me
+is gone; it went like a flash when his lips touched me," and she
+rubbed her own as though to wipe away some stain. "I am afraid of
+nothing more. I believe--yes, I believe the old Molimo was right, and
+that all will end well----"
+
+As she was speaking Benita heard a shuffling sound behind her, and
+turned to learn its cause. Then she saw a strange sight. Jacob Meyer
+was staggering towards them, dragging one foot after the other through
+the grass and stones. His face was ghastly pale, his jaw had dropped
+like that of a dead man, and his eyes were set wide open and full of
+horror.
+
+"What is the matter with you, man?" asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+"I--I--have seen a ghost," he whispered. "You did not come back into
+the cave, did you?" he added, pointing at Benita, who shook her head.
+
+"What ghost?" asked Mr. Clifford.
+
+"I don't know, but my lamp went out, and then a light began to shine
+behind me. I turned, and on the steps of that crucifix I saw a woman
+kneeling. Her arms clasped the feet of the figure, her forehead rested
+upon the feet, her long black hair flowed down, she was dressed in
+white, and the light came from her body and her head. Very slowly she
+turned and looked at me, and oh, Heaven! that face----" and he put his
+hand before his eyes and groaned. "It was beautiful; yes, yes, but
+fearful to see, like an avenging angel. I fled, and the light--only
+the light--came with me down the cave, even at the mouth of it there
+was a little. I have seen a spirit, I who did not believe in spirits,
+I have seen a spirit, and I tell you that not for all the gold in the
+world will I enter that place again."
+
+Then before they could answer, suddenly as though his fear had got
+some fresh hold of him, Jacob sprang forward and fled away, crashing
+through the bushes and leaping from rock to rock like a frightened
+buck.
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD
+
+"Meyer always said that he did not believe in spirits," remarked Mr.
+Clifford reflectively.
+
+"Well, he believes in them now," answered Benita with a little laugh.
+"But, father, the poor man is mad, that is the fact of it, and we must
+pay no attention to what he says."
+
+"The old Molimo and some of his people--Tamas, for instance--declared
+that they have seen the ghost of Benita da Ferreira. Are they mad
+also, Benita?"
+
+"I don't know, father. Who can say? All these things are a mystery.
+All I do know is that I have never seen a ghost, and I doubt if I ever
+shall."
+
+"No, but when you were in that trance something that was not you spoke
+out of your mouth, which something said that it was your namesake, the
+other Benita. Well, as you say, we can't fathom these things,
+especially in a haunted kind of place like this, but the upshot of it
+is that I don't think we have much more to fear from Jacob."
+
+"I am not so sure, father. Mad people change their moods very
+suddenly."
+
+As it happened Benita was quite right. Towards suppertime Jacob Meyer
+reappeared, looking pale and shaken, but otherwise much as usual.
+
+"I had a kind of fit this morning," he explained, 'the result of an
+hallucination which seized me when my light went out in that cave. I
+remember that I thought I had seen a ghost, whereas I know very well
+that no such thing exists. I was the victim of disappointment,
+anxieties, and other still stronger emotions," and he looked at
+Benita. "Therefore, please forget anything I said or did, and--would
+you give me some supper?"
+
+Benita did so, and he ate in silence, with some heartiness. When he
+had finished his food, and swallowed two or three tots of squareface,
+he spoke again:
+
+"I have come here, where I know I am not welcome, upon business," he
+said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. "I am tired of this place, and I
+think it is time that we attained the object of our journey here,
+namely, to find the hidden gold. That, as we all know, can only be
+done in a certain way, through the clairvoyant powers of one of us and
+the hypnotic powers of another. Miss Clifford, I request that you will
+allow me to throw you into a state of trance. You have told us
+everything else, but you have not yet told us where the treasure is
+hidden, and this it is necessary that we should know."
+
+"And if I refuse, Mr. Meyer?"
+
+"Then I am sorry, but I must take means to compel your obedience.
+Under those circumstances, much against my will, I shall be obliged"--
+here his eye blazed out wildly--"to execute your father, whose
+obstinacy and influence stand between us and splendid fortunes. No,
+Clifford," he added, "don't stretch out your hand towards that rifle,
+for I am already covering you with the pistol in my pocket, and the
+moment your hand touches it I shall fire. You poor old man, do you
+imagine for a single second that, sick as you are, and with your stiff
+limbs, you can hope to match yourself against my agility, intellect,
+and strength? Why, I could kill you in a dozen ways before you could
+lift a finger against me, and by the God I do not believe in, unless
+your daughter is more compliant, kill you I will!"
+
+"That remains to be seen, my friend," said Mr. Clifford with a laugh,
+for he was a brave old man. "I am not certain that the God--whom you
+do not believe in--will not kill you first."
+
+Now Benita, who had been taking counsel with herself, looked up and
+said suddenly:
+
+"Very well, Mr. Meyer, I consent--because I must. To-morrow morning
+you shall try to mesmerize me, if you can, in the same place, before
+the crucifix in the cave."
+
+"No," he answered quickly. "It was not there, it was here, and here it
+shall be again. The spot you mention is unpropitious to me; the
+attempt would fail."
+
+"It is the spot that I have chosen," answered Benita stubbornly.
+
+"And this is the spot that I have chosen, Miss Clifford, and my will
+must prevail over yours."
+
+"Because you who do not believe in spirits are afraid to re-enter the
+cave, Mr. Meyer, lest you should chance----"
+
+"Never mind what I am or am not afraid of," he replied with fury.
+"Make your choice between doing my will and your father's life.
+To-morrow morning I shall come for your answer, and if you are still
+obstinate, within half an hour he will be dead, leaving you and me
+alone together. Oh! you may call me wicked and a villain, but it is
+you who are wicked, you, you, /you/ who force me to this deed of
+justice."
+
+Then without another word he sprang up and walked away from them
+backwards, as he went covering Mr. Clifford with the pistol which he
+had drawn from his pocket. The last that they saw of him were his
+eyes, which glowered at them through the darkness like those of a
+lion.
+
+"Father," said Benita, when she was sure that he had gone, "that
+madman really means to murder you; there is no doubt of it."
+
+"None whatever, dear; if I am alive to-morrow night I shall be lucky,
+unless I can kill him first or get out of his way."
+
+"Well," she said hurriedly, "I think you can. I have an idea. He is
+afraid to go into that cave, I am sure. Let us hide ourselves there.
+We can take food and shall have plenty of water, whereas, unless rain
+falls, he can get nothing to drink."
+
+"But what then, Benita? We can't stop in the dark for ever."
+
+"No, but we can wait there until something happens. Something must and
+will happen. His disease won't stand still. He may go raving mad and
+kill himself. Or he may attempt to attack us, though that is not
+likely, and then we must do what we can in self defence. Or help may
+reach us from somewhere. At the worst we shall only die as we should
+have died outside. Come, let us be quick, lest he should change his
+mind, and creep back upon us."
+
+So Mr. Clifford gave way, knowing that even if he could steel himself
+to do the deed of attempting to kill Jacob, he would have little
+chance against that strong and agile man. Such a struggle would only
+end in his own death, and Benita must then be left alone with Meyer
+and his insane passions.
+
+Hurriedly they carried their few belongings into the cave. First they
+took most of the little store of food that remained, the three hand-
+lamps and all the paraffin; there was but one tin. Then returning they
+fetched the bucket, the ammunition, and their clothes. Afterwards, as
+there was still no sign of Meyer, they even dared to drag in the
+waggon tent to make a shelter for Benita, and all the wood that they
+had collected for firing. This proved a wearisome business, for the
+logs were heavy, and in his crippled state Mr. Clifford could carry no
+great burden. Indeed, towards the end Benita was forced to complete
+the task alone, while he limped beside her with his rifle, lest Jacob
+should surprise them.
+
+When at length everything was done it was long past midnight, and so
+exhausted were they that, notwithstanding their danger, they flung
+themselves down upon the canvas tent, which lay in a heap at the end
+of the cave near the crucifix, and fell asleep.
+
+When Benita woke the lamp had gone out, and it was pitch dark.
+Fortunately, however, she remembered where she had put the matches and
+the lantern with a candle in it. She lit the candle and looked at her
+watch. It was nearly six o'clock. The dawn must be breaking outside,
+within an hour or two Jacob Meyer would find that they had gone.
+Suppose that his rage should overcome his fear and that he should
+creep upon them. They would know nothing of it until his face appeared
+in the faint ring of light. Or he might even shoot her father out of
+the darkness. What could she do that would give them warning? A
+thought came to her.
+
+Taking one of the tent ropes and the lantern, for her father still
+slept heavily, she went down to the entrance of the cave, and at the
+end of the last zigzag where once a door had been, managed to make it
+fast to a stone hinge about eighteen inches above the floor, and on
+the other side to an eye opposite that was cut in the solid rock to
+receive a bolt of wood or iron. Meyer, she knew, had no lamps or oil,
+only matches and perhaps a few candles. Therefore if he tried to enter
+the cave it was probable that he would trip over the rope and thus
+give them warning. Then she went back, washed her face and hands with
+some water that they had drawn on the previous night to satisfy their
+thirst, and tidied herself as best she could. This done, as her father
+still slept, she filled the lamps, lit one of them, and looked about
+her, for she was loth to wake him.
+
+Truly it was an awful place in which to dwell. There above them
+towered the great white crucifix; there in the corner were piled the
+remains of the Portuguese. A skull with long hair still hanging to it
+grinned at her, a withered hand was thrust forward as though to clutch
+her. Oh, no wonder that in such a spot Jacob Meyer had seen ghosts! In
+front, too, was the yawning grave where they had found the monk;
+indeed, his bones wrapped in dark robes still lay within, for Jacob
+had tumbled them back again. Then beyond and all around deep, dark,
+and utter silence.
+
+At last her father woke, and glad enough was she of his human company.
+They breakfasted upon some biscuits and water, and afterwards, while
+Mr. Clifford watched near the entrance with his rifle, Benita set to
+work to arrange their belongings. The tent she managed to prop up
+against the wall of the cave by help of some of the wood which they
+had carried in. Beneath it she spread their blankets, that it might
+serve as a sleeping place for them both, and outside placed the food
+and other things.
+
+While she was thus engaged she heard a sound at the mouth of the cave
+--Jacob Meyer was entering and had fallen over her rope. Down it she
+ran, lantern in hand, to her father, who, with his rifle raised, was
+shouting:
+
+"If you come in here, I put a bullet through you!"
+
+Then came the answer in Jacob's voice, which rang hollow in that
+vaulted place:
+
+"I do not want to come in; I shall wait for you to come out. You
+cannot live long in there; the horror of the dark will kill you. I
+have only to sit in the sunlight and wait."
+
+Then he laughed, and they heard the sound of his footsteps retreating
+down the passage.
+
+"What are we to do?" asked Mr. Clifford despairingly. "We cannot live
+without light, and if we have light he will certainly creep to the
+entrance and shoot us. He is quite mad now; I am sure of it from his
+voice."
+
+Benita thought a minute, then she answered:
+
+"We must build up the passage. Look," and she pointed to the lumps of
+rock that the explosion of their mine had shaken down from the roof,
+and the slabs of cement that they had broken from the floor with the
+crowbar. "At once, at once," she went on; "he will not come back for
+some hours, probably not till night."
+
+So they set to work, and never did Benita labour as it was her lot to
+do that day. Such of the fragments as they could lift they carried
+between them, others they rolled along by help of the crowbar. For
+hour after hour they toiled at their task. Luckily for them, the
+passage was not more than three feet wide by six feet six high, and
+their material was ample. Before the evening they had blocked it
+completely with a wall several feet in thickness, which wall they
+supported on the inside with lengths of the firewood lashed across to
+the old hinges and bolt-holes, or set obliquely against its face.
+
+It was done, and they regarded their work with pride, although it
+seemed probable that they were building up their own tomb. Because of
+its position at an angle of the passage, they knew that Meyer could
+not get to it with a pole to batter it down. Also, there was no loose
+powder left, so his only chance would be to pull it to pieces with his
+hands, and this, they thought, might be beyond his power. At least,
+should he attempt it, they would have ample warning. Yet that day was
+not to pass without another trouble.
+
+Just as they had rolled up and levered into place a long fragment of
+rock designed to prevent the ends of their supporting pieces of wood
+from slipping on the cement floor, Mr. Clifford uttered an
+exclamation, then said:
+
+"I have wrung my back badly. Help me to the tent. I must lie down."
+
+Slowly and with great pain they staggered up the cave, Mr. Clifford
+leaning on Benita and a stick, till, reaching the tent at last, he
+almost fell on to the blankets and remained there practically
+crippled.
+
+Now began Benita's terrible time, the worst of all her life. Every
+hour her father became more ill. Even before they took refuge in the
+cave he was completely broken down, and now after this accident he
+began to suffer very much. His rheumatism or sciatica, or whatever it
+was, seemed to settle upon the hurt muscles of his back, causing him
+so much pain that he could scarcely sleep for ten minutes at a
+stretch. Moreover, he would swallow but little of the rough food which
+was all Benita was able to prepare for him; nothing, indeed, except
+biscuit soaked in black coffee, which she boiled over a small fire
+made of wood that they had brought with them, and occasionally a
+little broth, tasteless stuff enough, for it was only the essence of
+biltong, or sun-dried flesh, flavoured with some salt.
+
+Then there were two other terrors against she must fight, the darkness
+and the dread of Jacob Meyer. Perhaps the darkness was the worse of
+them. To live in that hideous gloom in which their single lamp, for
+she dared burn no more lest the oil should give out, seemed but as one
+star to the whole night, ah! who that had not endured it could know
+what it meant? There the sick man, yonder the grinning skeletons,
+around the blackness and the silence, and beyond these again a
+miserable death, or Jacob Meyer. But of him Benita saw nothing, though
+once or twice she thought that she heard his voice raving outside the
+wall which they had built. If so, either he did not try to pull it
+down, or he failed in the attempt, or perhaps he feared that should he
+succeed, he would be greeted by a bullet. So at last she gave up
+thinking about him. Should he force his way into the cave she must
+deal with the situation as best she could. Meanwhile, her father's
+strength was sinking fast.
+
+Three awful days went by in this fashion, and the end drew near.
+Although she tried to force herself to it, Benita could not swallow
+enough food to keep up her strength. Now that the passage was closed
+the atmosphere of this old vault, for it was nothing more, thickened
+by the smoke of the fire which she was obliged to burn, grew poisonous
+and choked her. Want of sleep exhausted her, dread of what the morrow
+might bring forth crushed her strong spirit. She began to break down,
+knowing that the hour was near when she and her father must die
+together.
+
+Once, as she slept awhile at his side, being wakened by his groaning,
+Benita looked at her watch. It was midnight. She rose, and going to
+the embers of the little fire, warmed up some of her biltong broth
+which she poured into a tin pannikin. With difficulty she forced him
+to swallow a few mouthfuls of it, then, feeling a sudden weakness,
+drank the rest herself. It gave her power to think, and her father
+dozed off into an uneasy sleep.
+
+Alas! thinking was of no use, nothing could be done. There was no hope
+save in prayer. Restlessness seized Benita, and taking the lantern she
+wandered round the cave. The wall that they had built remained intact,
+and oh! to think that beyond it flowed the free air and shone the
+blessed stars! Back she came again, skirting the pits that Jacob Meyer
+had dug, and the grave of the old monk, till she reached the steps of
+the crucifix, and holding up her candle, looked at the thorn-crowned
+brow of the Christ above.
+
+It was wonderfully carved; that dying face was full of pity. Would not
+He Whom it represented pity her? She knelt down on the topmost step,
+and clasping the pierced feet with her arms, began to pray earnestly,
+not for herself but that she might save her father. She prayed as she
+had never prayed before, and so praying, sank into a torpor or a
+swoon.
+
+It seemed to Benita that this sleep of hers suddenly became alive; in
+it she saw many things. For instance, she saw herself seated in a
+state of trance upon that very step where now she knelt, while before
+her stood her father and Jacob Meyer. Moreover, something spoke in
+her; she could not hear a voice, but she seemed to see the words
+written in the air before her. These were the words:--
+
+ "/Clasp the feet of the Christ and draw them to the left. The
+  passage beneath leads to the chamber where the gold is hid, and
+  thence to the river bank. That is the secret which ere I depart, I
+  the dead Benita, pass on to you, the living Benita, as I am
+  commanded. In life and death peace be to your soul./"
+
+Thrice did this message appear to repeat itself in the consciousness
+of Benita. Then, suddenly as she had slept, she woke again with every
+letter of it imprinted on her mind. Doubtless it was a dream, nothing
+but a dream bred by the fact that her arms were clasping the feet of
+the crucifix. What did it say? "Draw them to the left."
+
+She did so, but nothing stirred. Again she tried, and still nothing
+stirred. Of course it was a dream. Why had such been sent to mock her?
+In a kind of mad irritation she put out all her remaining strength and
+wrestled with those stony feet. /They moved a little/--then of a
+sudden, without any further effort on her part, swung round as high as
+the knees where drapery hung, concealing the join in them. Yes, they
+swung round, revealing the head of a stair, up which blew a cold wind
+that it was sweet to breathe.
+
+Benita rose, gasping. Then she seized her lantern and ran to the
+little tent where her father lay.
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+THE VOICE OF THE LIVING
+
+Mr. Clifford was awake again now.
+
+"Where have you been?" he asked querulously in a thin voice. "I wanted
+you." Then as the light from the candle shone upon it, he noted the
+change that had come over her pale face, and added: "What has
+happened? Is Meyer dead? Are we free?"
+
+Benita shook her head. "He was alive a few hours ago, for I could hear
+him raving and shouting outside the wall we built. But, father, it has
+all come back to me; I believe that I have found it."
+
+"What has come back? What have you found? Are you mad, too, like
+Jacob?"
+
+"What something told me when I was in the trance which afterwards I
+forgot, but now remember. And I have found the passage which leads to
+where they hid the gold. It begins behind the crucifix, where no one
+ever thought of looking."
+
+This matter of the gold did not seem to interest Mr. Clifford. In his
+state all the wealth beneath the soil of Africa would not have
+appealed to him. Moreover, he hated the name of that accursed
+treasure, which was bringing them to such a miserable end.
+
+"Where does the passage run? Have you looked?" he asked.
+
+"Not yet, but the voice in me said--I mean, I dreamed--that it goes
+down to the river-side. If you leant on me do you think that you could
+walk?"
+
+"Not one inch," he answered. "Here where I am I shall die."
+
+"No, no, don't talk like that. We may be saved now that I have found a
+way. Oh, if only you could--if only you could walk, or if I had the
+strength to carry you!" and she wrung her hands and began to weep, so
+weak was she.
+
+Her father looked at her searchingly. Then he said:
+
+"Well, love, I cannot, so there's an end. But you can, and you had
+better go."
+
+"What! And leave you? Never."
+
+"Yes, and leave me. Look, there is but a little oil left and only a
+few candles. The biscuits are done and neither of us can swallow that
+biltong any more. I suppose that I am dying, and your health and
+strength are failing you quickly in this darkness; if you stop here
+you must soon follow me. And what is the alternative? The madman
+outside--that is, if you could find strength to pull down the wall,
+which I doubt. You had best go, Benita."
+
+But still she said she would not.
+
+"Do you not see," he added, "that it is my only chance of life? If you
+go you may be able to bring me help before the end comes. Should there
+be a passage the probability is that, although they know nothing of
+it, it finishes somewhere by the wall of the first enclosure where the
+Makalanga are. If so, you may find the Molimo, or if he is dead, Tamas
+or one of the others, and they will help us. Go, Benita, go at once."
+
+"I never thought of that," she answered in a changed voice. "Of
+course, it may be so, if the passage goes down at all. Well, at least
+I can look and come back to tell you."
+
+Then Benita placed the remainder of the oil close by her father's
+side, so that he could refill the lamp, for the use of his hands still
+remained to him. Also, she set there such crumbs of biscuit as were
+left, some of the biltong, a flask of Hollands, and a pail of water.
+This done, she put on her long cloak, filled one of its pockets with
+biltong, and the other with matches and three of the four remaining
+candles. The fourth she insisted on leaving beside her father's bed.
+When everything was ready she knelt down at his side, kissed him, and
+from her heart put up a prayer that they might both live to meet
+again, although she knew well that this they could scarcely hope to
+do.
+
+Had two people ever been in a more dreadful situation, she wondered,
+as she looked at her father lying there, whom she must leave to fight
+with Death alone in that awful place, while she went forth to meet him
+in the unknown bowels of the earth!
+
+Mr. Clifford read her thoughts. "Yes," he said, "it is a strange
+parting and a wild errand. But who knows? It may please Providence to
+take you through, and if not--why, our troubles will soon be over."
+
+Then once more they kissed, and not daring to try to speak, Benita
+tore herself away. Passing into the passage whereof the lower half of
+the crucifix formed the door, she paused for a moment to examine it
+and to place a fragment of rock in such fashion that it could not shut
+again behind her. Her idea was that it worked by aid of some spring,
+but now she saw that this was not so, as the whole mass hung upon
+three stone hinges beautifully concealed. The dust and corrosion of
+ages which had made this door so hard to open, by filling up the tiny
+spaces between it and its framework, had also rendered these cracks
+utterly imperceptible to the eye. So accurately was it fashioned,
+indeed, that no one who did not know its secret would have discovered
+it if they searched for months or years.
+
+Though at the time Benita took little note of such details, the
+passage beyond and the stair descending from it showed the same
+perfect workmanship. Evidently this secret way dated not from the
+Portuguese period, but from that of the Ph�nicians or other ancients,
+to whose treasure-chamber it was the approach, opening as it did from
+their holy of holies, to which none were admitted save the head
+priests. The passage, which was about seven feet high by four wide,
+had been hewn out of the live rock of the mountain, for thousands of
+little marks left by the workmen's chisels were still discernible upon
+its walls. So it was with the stair, that had been but little used,
+and remained fresh as the day when it was finished.
+
+Down the steps, candle in hand, flitted Benita, counting them as she
+went. The thirtieth brought her to a landing. Here it was that she saw
+the first traces of that treasure which they had suffered so much to
+find. Something glittered at her feet. She picked it up. It was a
+little bar of gold weighing two or three ounces that doubtless had
+been dropped there. Throwing it down again she looked in front of her,
+and to her dismay saw a door of wood with iron bolts. But the bolts
+had never been shot, and when she pulled at it the door creaked upon
+its rusty hinges and opened. She was on the threshold of the treasure-
+chamber!
+
+It was square and of the size of a small room, packed on either side
+almost to the low, vaulted roof with small bags of raw hide,
+carelessly arranged. Quite near to the door one of these bags had
+slipped down and burst open. It was filled with gold, some in ingots
+and some in raw nuggets, for there they lay in a shining, scattered
+heap. As she stooped to look it came into the mind of Benita that her
+father had said that in her trance she had told them that one of the
+bags of treasure was burst, and that the skin of which it had been
+made was black and red. Behold! before her lay the burst bag, and the
+colour of the hide was black and red.
+
+She shivered. The thing was uncanny, terrible. Uncanny was it also to
+see in the thick dust, which in the course of twenty or more of
+centuries had gathered on the floor, the mark of footprints, those of
+the last persons who had visited this place. There had been two of
+them, a man and a woman, and they were no savages, for they wore
+shoes. Benita placed her foot in the print left by that dead woman. It
+filled it exactly, it might have been her own. Perhaps, she thought to
+herself, that other Benita had descended here with her father, after
+the Portuguese had hidden away their wealth, that she might be shown
+where it was, and of what it consisted.
+
+One more glance at all this priceless, misery-working gold, and on she
+went, she who was seeking the gold of life and liberty for herself and
+him who lay above. Supposing that the stairway ended there? She
+stopped, she looked round, but could see no other door. To see the
+better she halted and opened the glass of her lantern. Still she could
+perceive nothing, and her heart sank. Yet why did the candle flicker
+so fiercely? And why was the air in this deep place so fresh? She
+walked forward a pace or two, then noticed suddenly that those
+footprints of the dead that she was following disappeared immediately
+in front of her, and she stopped.
+
+It was but just in time. One step more and she would have fallen down
+the mouth of a deep pit. Once it had been covered with a stone, but
+this stone was removed, and had never been replaced. Look! there it
+stood against the wall of the chamber. Well was this for Benita, since
+her frail strength would not have sufficed to stir that massive block,
+even if she had discovered its existence beneath the dust.
+
+Now she saw that down the pit ran another ladderlike stair of stone,
+very narrow and precipitous. Without hesitation she began its descent.
+Down she went and down--one hundred steps, two hundred steps, two
+hundred and seventy-five steps, and all the way wherever the dust had
+gathered the man's and the woman's footprints ran before her. There
+was a double line of them, one line going down and the other line
+returning. Those that returned were the last, for often they appeared
+over those that descended. Why had these dead people returned, Benita
+wondered.
+
+The stair had ended; now she was in a kind of natural cave, for its
+sides and roof were rugged; moreover, water trickled and dripped from
+them. It was not very large, and it smelt horribly of mud and other
+things. Again she searched by the feeble light of her candle, but
+could see no exit. Suddenly she saw something else, however, for
+stepping on what she took to be a rock, to her horror it moved beneath
+her. She heard a snap as of jaws, a violent blow upon the leg nearly
+knocked her off her feet, and as she staggered backwards she saw a
+huge and loathsome shape rushing away into the darkness. The rock that
+she had trodden on was a crocodile which had its den here! With a
+little scream she retreated to her stair. Death she had expected--but
+to be eaten by crocodiles!
+
+Yet as Benita stood there panting a blessed hope rose in her breast.
+If a crocodile came in there it must also get out, and where such a
+great creature could go, a woman would be able to follow. Also, she
+must be near the water, since otherwise it could never have chosen
+this hole for its habitation. She collected her courage, and having
+clapped her hands and waved the lantern about to scare any alligators
+that might still be lurking there, hearing and seeing nothing more,
+she descended to where she had trodden upon the reptile. Evidently
+this was its bed, for its long body had left an impress upon the mud,
+and all about lay the remains of creatures that it had brought in for
+food. Moreover, a path ran outwards, its well-worn trail distinct even
+in that light.
+
+She followed this path, which ended apparently in a blank wall. Then
+it was that Benita guessed why those dead folks' footprints had
+returned, for here had been a doorway which in some past age those who
+used it built up with blocks of stone and cement. How, then, did the
+crocodile get out? Stooping down she searched, and perceived, a few
+yards to the right of the door, a hole that looked as though it were
+water-worn. Now Benita thought that she understood. The rock was
+softer here, and centuries of flood had eaten it away, leaving a crack
+in the stratum which the crocodiles had found out and enlarged. Down
+she went on her hands and knees, and thrusting the lantern in front of
+her, crept along that noisome drain, for this was what it resembled.
+And now--oh! now she felt air blowing in her face, and heard the sound
+of reeds whispering, and water running, and saw hanging like a lamp in
+the blue sky, a star--the morning star! Benita could have wept, she
+could have worshipped it, yet she pushed on between rocks till she
+found herself among tall reeds, and standing in water. She had gained
+the banks of the Zambesi.
+
+Instantly, by instinct as it were, Benita extinguished her candle,
+fearing lest it should betray her, for constant danger had made her
+very cunning. The dawn had not yet broken, but the waning moon and the
+stars gave a good light. She paused to look. There above her towered
+the outermost wall of Bambatse, against which the river washed, except
+at such times as the present, when it was very low.
+
+So she was not in the fortress as she had hoped, but without it, and
+oh! what should she do? Go back again? How would that serve her father
+or herself? Go on? Then she might fall into the hands of the Matabele
+whose camp was a little lower down, as from her perch upon the top of
+the cone she had seen that poor white man do. Ah! the white man! If
+only he lived and she could reach him! Perhaps they had not killed him
+after all. It was madness, yet she would try to discover; something
+impelled her to take the risk. If she failed and escaped, perhaps then
+she might call to the Makalanga, and they would let down a rope and
+draw her up the wall before the Matabele caught her. She would not go
+back empty-handed, to die in that dreadful place with her poor father.
+Better perish here in the sweet air and beneath the stars, even if it
+were upon a Matabele spear, or by a bullet from her own pistol.
+
+She looked about her to take her bearings in case it should ever be
+necessary for her to return to the entrance of the cave. This proved
+easy, for a hundred or so feet above her--where the sheer face of the
+cliff jutted out a little, at that very spot indeed on which tradition
+said that the body of the Se�ora da Ferreira had struck in its fall,
+and the necklace Benita wore to-day was torn from her--a stunted
+mimosa grew in some cleft of the rock. To mark the crocodile run
+itself she bent down a bunch of reeds, and having first lit a few
+Tandstickor brimstone matches and thrown them about inside of it, that
+the smell of them might scare the beast should it wish to return, she
+set her lantern behind a stone near to the mouth of the hole.
+
+Then Benita began her journey which, when the river was high, it would
+not have been possible for her to make except by swimming. As it was,
+a margin of marsh was left between her and the steep, rocky side of
+the mount from which the great wall rose, and through this she made
+her way. Never was she likely to forget that walk. The tall reeds
+dripped their dew upon her until she was soaked; long, black-tailed
+finches--saccaboolas the natives call them--flew up undisturbed, and
+lobbed away across the river; owls flitted past and bitterns boomed at
+the coming of the dawn. Great fish splashed also in the shallows, or
+were they crocodiles? Benita hoped not--for one day she had seen
+enough of crocodiles.
+
+It was all very strange. Could she be the same woman, she wondered,
+who not a year before had been walking with her cousins down
+Westbourne Grove, and studying Whiteley's windows? What would these
+cousins say now if they could see her, white-faced, large-eyed,
+desperate, splashing through the mud upon the unknown banks of the
+Zambesi, flying from death to death!
+
+On she struggled, above her the pearly sky in which the stars were
+fading, around her the wet reeds, and pervading all the heavy low-
+lying mists of dawn. She was past the round of the walls, and at
+length stood upon dry ground where the Matabele had made their camp.
+But in that fog she saw no Matabele; probably their fires were out,
+and she chanced to pass between the sentries. Instinctively, more than
+by reason, she headed for that hillock upon which she had seen the
+white man's waggon, in the vague hope that it might still be there. On
+she struggled, still on, till at length she blundered against
+something soft and warm, and perceived that it was an ox tied to a
+trek-tow, beyond which were other oxen and a white waggon-cap.
+
+So it /was/ still there! But the white man, where was he? Through the
+dense mist Benita crept to the disselboom. Then, seeing and hearing
+nothing, she climbed to the voorkissie and kneeling on it, separated
+the tent flaps and peered into the waggon. Still she could see nothing
+because of the mist, yet she heard something, a man breathing in his
+sleep. Somehow she thought that it was a white man; a Kaffir did not
+breathe like that. She did not know what to do, so remained kneeling
+there. It seemed as though the man who was asleep began to feel her
+presence, for he muttered to himself--surely the words were English!
+Then quite suddenly he struck a match and lit a candle which stood in
+a beer bottle by his side. She could not see his face while he lit the
+match, for his arm hid it, and the candle burned up slowly. Then the
+first thing she saw was the barrel of a revolver pointing straight at
+her.
+
+"Now, my black friend," said a pleasant voice, "down you go or I
+shoot. One, two! Oh, my God!"
+
+The candle burned up, its light fell upon the white, elfish face of
+Benita, whose long dark hair streamed about her; it shone in her great
+eyes. Still she could see nothing, for it dazzled her.
+
+"Oh, my God!" said the voice again. "Benita! Benita! Have you come to
+tell me that I must join you? Well, I am ready, my sweet, my sweet!
+Now I shall hear your answer."
+
+"Yes," she whispered, and crawling forward down the cartel Benita fell
+upon his breast.
+
+For she knew him at last--dead or living she cared not--she knew him,
+and out of hell crept to him, her heaven and her home!
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+BENITA GIVES HER ANSWER
+
+"Your answer, Benita," Robert said dreamily, for to him this thing
+seemed a dream.
+
+"Have I not given it, months ago? Oh, I remember, it was only in my
+heart, not on my lips, when that blow fell on me! Then afterwards I
+heard what you had done and I nearly died. I wished that I might die
+to be with you, but I could not. I was too strong; now I understand
+the reason. Well, it seems that we are both living, and whatever
+happens, here is my answer, if it is worth anything to you. Once and
+for all, I love you. I am not ashamed to say it, because very soon we
+may be separated for the last time. But I cannot talk now, I have come
+here to save my father."
+
+"Where is he, Benita?"
+
+"Dying in a cave up at the top of that fortress. I got down by a
+secret way. Are the Matabele still here?"
+
+"Very much so," he answered. "But something has happened. My guard
+woke me an hour ago to say that a messenger had arrived from their
+king, Lobengula, and now they are talking over the message. That is
+how you came to get through, otherwise the sentries would have
+assegaied you, the brutes," and he drew her to him and kissed her
+passionately for the first time; then, as though ashamed of himself,
+let her go.
+
+"Have you anything to eat?" she asked. "I--I--am starving. I didn't
+feel it before, but now----"
+
+"Starving, you starving, while I--look, here is some cold meat which I
+could not get down last night, and put by for the Kaffirs. Great
+Heavens! that I should feed you with Kaffirs' leavings! But it is good
+--eat it."
+
+Benita took the stuff in her fingers and swallowed it greedily; she
+who for days had lived on nothing but a little biscuit and biltong. It
+tasted delicious to her--never had she eaten anything so good. And all
+the while he watched her with glowing eyes.
+
+"How can you look at me?" she said at length. "I must be horrible; I
+have been living in the dark and crawling through mud. I trod upon a
+crocodile!" and she shuddered.
+
+"Whatever you are I never want to see you different," he answered
+slowly. "To me you are most beautiful."
+
+Even then, wreck as she was, the poor girl flushed, and there was a
+mist in her eyes as she looked up and said:
+
+"Thank you. I don't care now what happens to me, and what has happened
+doesn't matter at all. But can we get away?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered; "but I doubt it. Go and sit on the
+waggon-box for a few minutes while I dress, and we will see."
+
+Benita went. The mist was thinning now, and through it she saw a sight
+at which her heart sank, for between her and the mount Bambatse
+Matabele were pouring towards their camp on the river's edge. They
+were cut off. A couple of minutes later Robert joined her, and as he
+came she looked at him anxiously in the growing light. He seemed older
+than when they had parted on the /Zanzibar/; changed, too, for now his
+face was serious, and he had grown a beard; also, he appeared to limp.
+
+"I am afraid there is an end," she said, pointing to the Matabele
+below.
+
+"Yes, it looks like it. But like you, I say, what does it matter now?"
+and he took her hand in his, adding: "let us be happy while we can if
+only for a few minutes. They will be here presently."
+
+"What are you?" she asked. "A prisoner?"
+
+"That's it. I was following you when they captured me; for I have been
+here before and knew the way. They were going to kill me on general
+principles, only it occurred to one of them who was more intelligent
+than the rest that I, being a white man, might be able to show them
+how to storm the place. Now I was sure that you were there, for I saw
+you standing on that point, though they thought you were the Spirit of
+Bambatse. So I wasn't anxious to help them, for then--you know what
+happens when the Matabele are the stormers! But--as you still lived--I
+wasn't anxious to die either. So I set them to work to dig a hole with
+their assegais and sharp axes, through granite. They have completed
+exactly twenty feet of it, and I reckon that there are one hundred and
+forty to go. Last night they got tired of that tunnel and talked of
+killing me again, unless I could show them a better plan. Now all the
+fat is in the fire, and I don't know what is to happen. Hullo! here
+they come. Hide in the waggon, quick!"
+
+Benita obeyed, and from under cover of the tent where the Matabele
+could not see her, watched and listened. The party that approached
+consisted of a chief and about twenty men, who marched behind him as a
+guard. Benita knew that chief. He was the captain Maduna, he of the
+royal blood whose life she had saved. By his side was a Natal Zulu,
+Robert Seymour's driver, who could speak English and acted as
+interpreter.
+
+"White man," said Maduna, "a message has reached us from our king.
+Lobengula makes a great war and has need of us. He summons us back
+from this petty fray, this fight against cowards who hide behind
+walls, whom otherwise we would have killed, everyone, yes, if we sat
+here till we grew old. So for this time we leave them alone."
+
+Robert answered politely that he was glad to hear it, and wished them
+a good journey.
+
+"Wish yourself a good journey, white man," was the stern reply.
+
+"Why? Do you desire that I should accompany you to Lobengula?"
+
+"No, you go before us to the kraal of the Black One who is even
+greater than the child of Moselikatse, to that king who is called
+Death."
+
+Robert crossed his arms and said: "Say on."
+
+"White man, I promised you life if you would show us how to pierce or
+climb those walls. But you have made fools of us--you have set us to
+cut through rock with spears and axes. Yes, to hoe at rock as though
+it were soil--you who with the wisdom of your people could have taught
+us some better way. Therefore we must go back to our king disgraced,
+having failed in his service, and therefore you who have mocked us
+shall die. Come down now, that we may kill you quietly, and learn
+whether or no you are a brave man."
+
+Then it was, while her lover's hand was moving towards the pistol
+hidden beneath his coat, that Benita, with a quick movement, emerged
+from the waggon in which she crouched, and stood up at his side upon
+the driving box.
+
+"/Ow!/" said the Captain. "It is the White Maiden. Now how came she
+here? Surely this is great magic. Can a woman fly like a bird?" and
+they stared at her amazed.
+
+"What does it matter how I came, chief Maduna?" she answered in Zulu.
+"Yet I will tell you why I came. It was to save you from dipping your
+spear in the innocent blood, and bringing on your head the curse of
+the innocent blood. Answer me now. Who gave you and your brother
+yonder your lives within that wall when the Makalanga would have torn
+you limb from limb, as hyenas tear a buck? Was it I or another?"
+
+"Inkosi-kaas--Chieftainess," replied the great Captain, raising his
+broad spear in salute. "It was you and no other."
+
+"And what did you promise me then, Prince Maduna?"
+
+"Maiden of high birth, I promised you your life and your goods, should
+you ever fall into my power."
+
+"Does a leader of the Amandabele, one of the royal blood, lie like a
+Mashona or a Makalanga slave? Does he do worse--tell half the truth
+only, like a cheat who buys and keeps back half the price?" she asked
+contemptuously. "Maduna, you promised me not one life, but two, two
+lives and the goods that belong to both. Ask of your brother there,
+who was witness of the words."
+
+"Great Heavens!" muttered Robert Seymour to himself, as he looked at
+Benita standing with outstretched hand and flashing eyes. "Who would
+have thought that a starved woman could play such a part with death on
+the hazard?"
+
+"It is as this daughter of white chiefs says," answered the man to
+whom she had appealed. "When she freed us from the fangs of those
+dogs, you promised her two lives, my brother, one for yours and one
+for mine."
+
+"Hear him," went on Benita. "He promised me two lives, and how did
+this prince of the royal blood keep his promise? When I and the old
+man, my father, rode hence in peace, he loosed his spears upon us; he
+hunted us. Yet it was the hunters who fell into the trap, not the
+hunted."
+
+"Maiden," replied Maduna, in a shamed voice, "that was your fault, not
+mine. If you had appealed to me I would have let you go. But you
+killed my sentry, and then the chase began, and ere I knew who you
+were my runners were out of call."
+
+"Little time had I to ask your mercy; but so be it," said Benita. "I
+accept your word, and I forgive you that offence. Now fulfil your
+oath. Begone and leave us in peace."
+
+Still Maduna hesitated.
+
+"I must make report to the king," he said. "What is this white man to
+you that I should spare him? I give you your life and your father's
+life, not that of this white man who has tricked us. If he were your
+father, or your brother, it would be otherwise. But he is a stranger,
+and belongs to me, not to you."
+
+"Maduna," she asked, "do women such as I am share the waggon of a
+stranger? This man is more to me than father or brother. He is my
+husband, and I claim his life."
+
+"/Ow!/" said the spokesman of the audience, "we understand now. She is
+his wife, and has a right to him. If she were not his wife she would
+not be in his waggon. It is plain that she speaks the truth, though
+how she came here we do not know, unless, as we think, she is a
+witch," and he smiled at his own cleverness.
+
+"Inkosi-kaas," said Maduna, "you have persuaded me. I give you the
+life of that white fox, your husband, and I hope that he will not
+trick you as he has tricked us, and set you to hoe rock instead of
+soil," and he looked at Robert wrathfully. "I give him to you and all
+his belongings. Now, is there anything else that you would ask?"
+
+"Yes," replied Benita coolly, "you have many oxen there which you took
+from the other Makalanga. Mine are eaten and I need cattle to draw my
+waggon. I ask a present of twenty of them, and," she added by an
+afterthought, "two cows with young calves, for my father is sick
+yonder, and must have milk."
+
+"Oh! give them to her. Give them to her," said Maduna, with a tragic
+gesture that in any other circumstances would have made Benita laugh.
+"Give them to her and see that they are good ones, before she asks our
+shields and spears also--for after all she saved my life."
+
+So men departed to fetch those cows and oxen, which presently were
+driven in.
+
+While this talk was in progress the great impi of the Matabele was
+massing for the march, on the flat ground a little to the right of
+them. Now they began to come past in companies, preceded by the lads
+who carried the mats and cooking-pots and drove the captured sheep and
+cattle. By this time the story of Benita, the witch-woman whom they
+could not kill, and who had mysteriously flown from the top of the
+peak into their prisoner's waggon, had spread among them. They knew
+also that it was she who had saved their general from the Makalanga,
+and those who had heard her admired the wit and courage with which she
+had pleaded and won her cause. Therefore, as they marched past in
+their companies, singing a song of abuse and defiance of the Makalanga
+who peered at them from the top of the wall, they lifted their great
+spears in salutation to Benita standing upon the waggon-box.
+
+Indeed, they were a wondrous and imposing spectacle, such a one as few
+white women have ever seen.
+
+At length all were gone except Maduna and a body-guard of two hundred
+men. He walked to the front of the waggon and addressed Robert
+Seymour.
+
+"Listen, you fox who set us to hoe granite," he said indignantly. "You
+have outwitted us this time, but if ever I meet you again, then you
+die. Now I have given you your life, but," he added, almost
+pleadingly, "if you are really brave as white men are said to be, will
+you not come down and fight me man to man for honour's sake?"
+
+"I think not," answered Robert, when he understood this challenge,
+"for what chance should I have against so brave a warrior? Also this
+lady--my wife--needs my help on her journey home."
+
+Maduna turned from him contemptuously to Benita.
+
+"I go," he said, "and fear not; you will meet no Matabele on that
+journey. Have you more words for me, O Beautiful One, with a tongue of
+oil and a wit that cuts like steel?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita. "You have dealt well with me, and in reward I
+give you of my good luck. Bear this message to your king from the
+White Witch of Bambatse, for I am she and no other. That he leave
+these Makalanga, my servants, to dwell unharmed in their ancient home,
+and that he lift no spear against the White Men, lest that evil which
+the Molimo foretold to you, should fall upon him."
+
+"Ah!" said Maduna, "now I understand how you flew from the mountain
+top into this man's waggon. You are not a white woman, you are the
+ancient Witch of Bambatse herself. You have said it, and with such it
+is not well to war. Great lady of Magic, Spirit from of old, I salute
+you, and I thank you for your gifts of life and fortune. Farewell."
+
+Then he, too, stalked away at the head of his guard, so that
+presently, save for the three Zulu servants and the herd of cattle,
+Robert and Benita were left utterly alone.
+
+Now, her part played and the victory won, Benita burst into tears and
+fell upon her lover's breast.
+
+Presently she remembered, and freed herself from his arms.
+
+"I am a selfish wretch," she said. "How dare I be so happy when my
+father is dead or dying? We must go at once."
+
+"Go where?" asked the bewildered Robert.
+
+"To the top of the mountain, of course, whence I came. Oh! please
+don't stop to question me, I'll tell you as we walk. Stay," and she
+called to the Zulu driver, who with an air of utter amazement was
+engaged in milking one of the gift cows, to fill two bottles with the
+milk.
+
+"Had we not better shout to the Makalanga to let us in?" suggested
+Robert, while this was being done, and Benita wrapped some cooked meat
+in a cloth.
+
+"No, no. They will think I am what I said I was--the Witch of
+Bambatse, whose appearance heralds misfortune, and fear a trap.
+Besides, we could not climb the top wall. You must follow my road, and
+if you can trust them, bring two of those men with you with lanterns.
+The lad can stop to herd the cattle."
+
+Three minutes later, followed by the two Zulus, they were walking--or
+rather, running--along the banks of the Zambesi.
+
+"Why do you not come quicker?" she asked impatiently. "Oh, I beg your
+pardon, you are lame. Robert, what made you lame, and oh! why are you
+not dead, as they all swore you were, you, you--hero, for I know that
+part of the story?"
+
+"For a very simple reason, Benita: because I didn't die. When that
+Kaffir took the watch from me I was insensible, that's all. The sun
+brought me to life afterwards. Then some natives turned up, good
+people in their way, although I could not understand a word they said.
+They made a stretcher of boughs and carried me for some miles to their
+kraal inland. It hurt awfully, for my thigh was broken, but I arrived
+at last. There a Kaffir doctor set my leg in his own fashion; it has
+left it an inch shorter than the other, but that's better than
+nothing.
+
+"In that place I lay for two solid months, for there was no white man
+within a hundred miles, and if there had been I could not have
+communicated with him. Afterwards I spent another month limping up
+towards Natal, until I could buy a horse. The rest is very short.
+Hearing of my reported death, I came as fast as I could to your
+father's farm, Rooi Krantz, where I learned from the old vrouw Sally
+that you had taken to treasure-hunting, the same treasure that I told
+you of on the /Zanzibar/.
+
+"So I followed your spoor, met the servants whom you had sent back,
+who told me all about you, and in due course, after many adventures,
+as they say in a book, walked into the camp of our friends, the
+Matabele.
+
+"They were going to kill me at once, when suddenly you appeared upon
+that point of rock, glittering like--like the angel of the dawn. I
+knew that it must be you, for I had found out about your attempted
+escape, and how you were hunted back to this place. But the Matabele
+all thought that it was the Spirit of Bambatse, who has a great
+reputation in these parts. Well, that took off their attention, and
+afterwards, as I told you, it occurred to them that I might be an
+engineer. You know the rest, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," answered Benita softly. "I know the rest."
+
+Then they plunged into the reeds and were obliged to stop talking,
+since they must walk in single file. Presently Benita looked up and
+saw that she was under the thorn which grew in the cleft of the rock.
+Also, with some trouble she found the bunch of reeds that she had bent
+down, to mark the inconspicuous hole through which she had crept, and
+by it her lantern. It seemed weeks since she had left it there.
+
+"Now," she said, "light your candles, and if you see a crocodile,
+please shoot."
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+THE TRUE GOLD
+
+"Let me go first," said Robert.
+
+"No," answered Benita. "I know the way; but please do watch for that
+horrible crocodile."
+
+Then she knelt down and crept into the hole, while after her came
+Robert, and after him the two Zulus, who protested that they were not
+ant-bears to burrow under ground. Lifting the lantern she searched the
+cave, and as she could see no signs of the crocodile, walked on boldly
+to where the stair began.
+
+"Be quick," she whispered to Robert, for in that place it seemed
+natural to speak low. "My father is above and near his death. I am
+dreadfully afraid lest we should be too late."
+
+So they toiled up the endless steps, a very strange procession, for
+the two Zulus, bold men enough outside, were shaking with fright, till
+at length Benita clambered out of the trap door on to the floor of the
+treasure chamber, and turned to help Robert, whose lameness made him
+somewhat slow and awkward.
+
+"What's all that?" he asked, pointing to the hide sacks, while they
+waited for the two scared Kaffirs to join them.
+
+"Oh!" she answered indifferently, "gold, I believe. Look, there is
+some of it on the floor, over Benita da Ferreira's footsteps."
+
+"Gold! Why, it must be worth----! And who on earth is Benita da
+Ferreira?"
+
+"I will tell you afterwards. She has been dead two or three hundred
+years; it was her gold, or her people's, and those are her footprints
+in the dust. How stupid you are not to understand! Never mind the
+hateful stuff; come on quickly."
+
+So they passed the door which she had opened that morning, and
+clambered up the remaining stairway. So full was Benita of terrors
+that she could never remember how she climbed them. Suppose that the
+foot of the crucifix had swung to; suppose that her father were dead;
+suppose that Jacob Meyer had broken into the cave? Well for herself
+she was no longer afraid of Jacob Meyer. Oh, they were there! The
+heavy door /had/ begun to close, but mercifully her bit of rock kept
+it ajar.
+
+"Father! Father!" she cried, running towards the tent.
+
+No answer came. She threw aside the flap, held down the lantern and
+looked. There he lay, white and still. She was too late!
+
+"He is dead, he is dead!" she wailed. Robert knelt down at her side,
+and examined the old man, while she waited in an agony.
+
+"He ought to be," he said slowly; "but, Benita, I don't think he is. I
+can feel his heart stir. No, don't stop to talk. Pour out some of that
+squareface, and here, mix it with this milk."
+
+She obeyed, and while he held up her father's head, with a trembling
+hand emptied a little of the drink into his mouth. At first it ran out
+again, then almost automatically he swallowed some, and they knew that
+he was alive, and thanked Heaven. Ten minutes later Mr. Clifford was
+sitting up staring at them with dull and wondering eyes, while outside
+the two Zulus, whose nerves had now utterly broken down, were
+contemplating the pile of skeletons in the corner and the white
+towering crucifix, and loudly lamenting that they should have been
+brought to perish in this place of bones and ghosts.
+
+"Is it Jacob Meyer who makes that noise?" asked Mr. Clifford faintly.
+"And, Benita, where have you been so long, and--who is this gentleman
+with you? I seem to remember his face."
+
+"He is the white man who was in the waggon, father, an old friend come
+to life again. Robert, can't you stop the howling of those Kaffirs?
+Though I am sure I don't wonder that they howl; I should have liked to
+do so for days. Oh! father, father, don't you understand me? We are
+saved, yes, snatched out of hell and the jaws of death."
+
+"Is Jacob Meyer dead, then?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know where he is or what has happened to him, and I don't
+care, but perhaps we had better find out. Robert, there is a madman
+outside. Make the Kaffirs pull down that wall, would you? and catch
+him."
+
+"What wall? What madman?" he asked, staring at her.
+
+"Oh, of course you don't know that, either. You know nothing. I'll
+show you, and you must be prepared, for probably he will shoot at us."
+
+"It all sounds a little risky, doesn't it?" asked Robert doubtfully.
+
+"Yes, but we must take the risk. We cannot carry my father down that
+place, and unless we can get him into light and air soon, he will
+certainly die. The man outside is Jacob Meyer, his partner--you
+remember him. All these weeks of hardship and treasure-hunting have
+sent him off his head, and he wanted to mesmerize me and----"
+
+"And what? Make love to you?"
+
+She nodded, then went on:
+
+"So when he could not get his way about the mesmerism and so forth, he
+threatened to murder my father, and that is why we had to hide in this
+cave and build ourselves up, till at last I found the way out."
+
+"Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer, now as always," said Robert
+flushing. "To think that you should have been in the power of a
+scoundrel like that! Well, I hope to come square with him."
+
+"Don't hurt him, dear, unless you are obliged. Remember he is not
+responsible. He thought he saw a ghost here the other day."
+
+"Unless he behaves himself he is likely to see a good many soon,"
+muttered Robert.
+
+Then they went down the cave, and as silently as possible began to
+work at the wall, destroying in a few minutes what had been built up
+with so much labour. When it was nearly down the Zulus were told that
+there was an enemy outside, and that they must help to catch him if
+necessary, but were not to harm him. They assented gladly enough;
+indeed, to get out of that cave they would have faced half a dozen
+enemies.
+
+Now there was a hole right through the wall, and Robert bade Benita
+stand to one side. Then as soon as his eyes became accustomed to the
+little light that penetrated there, he drew his revolver and beckoned
+the Kaffirs to follow. Down the passage they crept, slowly, lest they
+should be blinded when they came to the glare of the sunshine, while
+Benita waited with a beating heart.
+
+A little time went by, she never knew how long, till suddenly a rifle
+shot rang through the stillness. Benita was able to bear no more. She
+rushed down the winding passage, and presently, just beyond its mouth,
+in a blurred and indistinct fashion saw that the two white men were
+rolling together on the ground, while the Kaffirs sprang round
+watching for an opportunity to seize one of them. At that moment they
+succeeded, and Robert rose, dusting his hands and knees.
+
+"Amiable gentleman, Mr. Jacob Meyer," he repeated. "I could have
+killed him as his back was towards me, but didn't because you asked me
+not. Then I stumbled with my lame leg, and he whipped round and let
+drive with his rifle. Look," and he showed her where the bullet had
+cut his ear. "Luckily I got hold of him before he could loose off
+another."
+
+Benita could find no words, her heart was too full of thankfulness.
+Only she seized Robert's hand and kissed it. Then she looked at Jacob.
+
+He was lying upon the broad of his back, the two big Zulus holding his
+arms and legs; his lips were cracked, blue and swollen; his face was
+almost black, but his eyes still shone bright with insanity and hate.
+
+"I know you," he screamed hoarsely to Robert. "You are another ghost,
+the ghost of that man who was drowned. Otherwise my bullet would have
+killed you."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Meyer," Seymour answered, "I am a ghost. Now, you boys,
+here's a bit of rope. Tie his hands behind his back and search him.
+There is a pistol in that pocket."
+
+They obeyed, and presently Meyer was disarmed and bound fast to a
+tree.
+
+"Water," he moaned. "For days I have had nothing but the dew I could
+lick off the leaves."
+
+Pitying his plight, Benita ran into the cave and returned presently
+with a tin of water. One of the Kaffirs held it to his lips, and he
+drank greedily. Then, leaving one Zulu to watch him, Robert, Benita,
+and the other Zulu went back, and as gently as they could carried out
+Mr. Clifford on his mattress, placing him in the shade of a rock,
+where he lay blessing them feebly, because they had brought him into
+the light again. At the sight of the old man Meyer's rage blazed up
+afresh.
+
+"Ah," he screamed, "if only I had killed you long ago, she would be
+mine now, not that fellow's. It was you who stood between us."
+
+"Look here, my friend," broke in Robert. "I forgive you everything
+else, but, mad or sane, be good enough to keep Miss Clifford's name
+off your lips, or I will hand you over to those Kaffirs to be dealt
+with as you deserve."
+
+Then Jacob understood, and was silent. They gave him more water and
+food to eat, some of the meat that they had brought with them, which
+he devoured ravenously.
+
+"Are you sensible now?" asked Robert when he had done. "Then listen to
+me; I have some good news for you. That treasure you have been hunting
+for has been found. We are going to give you half of it, one of the
+waggons and some oxen, and clear you out of this place. Then if I set
+eyes on you again before we get to a civilized country, I shoot you
+like a dog."
+
+"You lie!" said Meyer sullenly. "You want to turn me out into the
+wilderness to be murdered by the Makalanga or the Matabele."
+
+"Very well," said Robert. "Untie him, boys, and bring him along. I
+will show him whether I lie."
+
+"Where are they taking me to?" asked Meyer. "Not into the cave? I
+won't go into the cave; it is haunted. If it hadn't been for the ghost
+there I would have broken down their wall long ago, and killed that
+old snake before her eyes. Whenever I went near that wall I saw it
+watching me."
+
+"First time I ever heard of a ghost being useful," remarked Robert.
+"Bring him along. No, Benita, he shall see whether I am a liar."
+
+So the lights were lit, and the two stalwart Zulus hauled Jacob
+forward, Robert and Benita following. At first he struggled violently,
+then, on finding that he could not escape, went on, his teeth
+chattering with fear.
+
+"It is cruel," remonstrated Benita.
+
+"A little cruelty will not do him any harm," Robert answered. "He has
+plenty to spare for other people. Besides, he is going to get what he
+has been looking for so long."
+
+They led Jacob to the foot of the crucifix, where a paroxysm seemed to
+seize him, then pushed him through the swinging doorway beneath, and
+down the steep stairs, till once more they all stood in the treasure-
+chamber.
+
+"Look," said Robert, and, drawing his hunting-knife, he slashed one of
+the hide bags, whereon instantly there flowed out a stream of beads
+and nuggets. "Now, my friend, am I a liar?" he asked.
+
+At this wondrous sight Jacob's terror seemed to depart from him, and
+he grew cunning.
+
+"Beautiful, beautiful!" he said, "more than I thought--sacks and sacks
+of gold. I shall be a king indeed. No, no, it is all a dream--like the
+rest. I don't believe it's there. Loose my arms and let me feel it."
+
+"Untie him," said Robert, at the same time drawing his pistol and
+covering the man; "he can't do us any hurt."
+
+The Kaffirs obeyed, and Jacob, springing at the slashed bag, plunged
+his thin hands into it.
+
+"No lie," he screamed, "no lie," as he dragged the stuff out and smelt
+at it. "Gold, gold, gold! Hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of
+gold! Let's make a bargain, Englishman, and I won't kill you as I
+meant to do. You take the girl and give me all the gold," and in his
+ecstasy he began to pour the glittering ingots over his head and body.
+
+"A new version of the tale of Dana�," began Robert in a sarcastic
+voice, then suddenly paused, for a change had come over Jacob's face,
+a terrible change.
+
+It turned ashen beneath the tan, his eyes grew large and round, he put
+up his hands as though to thrust something from him, his whole frame
+shivered, and his hair seemed to erect itself. Slowly he retreated
+backwards, and would have fallen down the unclosed trap-hole had not
+one of the Kaffirs pushed him away. Back he went, still back, till he
+struck the further wall and stood there, perhaps for half a minute. He
+lifted his hand and pointed first to those ancient footprints, some of
+which still remained in the dust of the floor, and next, as they
+thought, at Benita. His lips moved fast, he seemed to be pleading,
+remonstrating, yet--and this was the ghastliest part of it--from them
+there came no sound. Lastly, his eyes rolled up until only the whites
+of them were visible, his face became wet as though water had been
+poured over it, and, still without a sound, he fell forward and moved
+no more.
+
+So terrible was the scene that with a howl of fear the two Kaffirs
+turned and fled up the stairway. Robert sprang to the Jew, dragged him
+over on to his back, put his hand upon his breast and lifted his
+eyelids.
+
+"Dead," he said. "Stone dead. Privation, brain excitement, heart
+failure--that's the story."
+
+"Perhaps," answered Benita faintly; "but really I think that I begin
+to believe in ghosts also. Look, I never noticed them before, and I
+didn't walk there, but those footsteps seem to lead right up to him."
+Then she turned too and fled.
+
+
+
+Another week had gone by. The waggons were laden with a burden more
+precious perhaps than waggons have often borne before. In one of them,
+on a veritable bed of gold, slept Mr. Clifford, still very weak and
+ill, but somewhat better than he had been, and with a good prospect of
+recovery, at any rate for a while. They were to trek a little after
+dawn, and already Robert and Benita were up and waiting. She touched
+his arm and said to him:
+
+"Come with me. I have a fancy to see that place once more, for the
+last time."
+
+So they climbed the hill and the steep steps in the topmost wall that
+Meyer had blocked--re-opened now--and reaching the mouth of the cave,
+lit the lamps which they had brought with them, and entered. There
+were the fragments of the barricade that Benita had built with
+desperate hands, there was the altar of sacrifice standing cold and
+grey as it had stood for perhaps three thousand years. There was the
+tomb of the old monk who had a companion now, for in it Jacob Meyer
+lay with him, his bones covered by the /d�bris/ that he himself had
+dug out in his mad search for wealth; and there the white Christ hung
+awful on His cross. Only the skeletons of the Portuguese were gone,
+for with the help of his Kaffirs Robert had moved them every one into
+the empty treasure-chamber, closing the trap beneath, and building up
+the door above, so that there they might lie in peace at last.
+
+In this melancholy place they tarried but a little while, then,
+turning their backs upon it for ever, went out and climbed the granite
+cone to watch the sun rise over the broad Zambesi. Up it came in
+glory, that same sun which had shone upon the despairing Benita da
+Ferreira, and upon the English Benita when she had stood there in
+utter hopelessness, and seen the white man captured by the Matabele.
+
+Now, different was their state indeed, and there in that high place,
+whence perhaps many a wretched creature had been cast to death, whence
+certainly the Portuguese maiden had sought her death, these two happy
+beings were not ashamed to give thanks to Heaven for the joy which it
+had vouchsafed to them, and for their hopes of life full and long to
+be travelled hand in hand. Behind them was the terror of the cave,
+beneath them were the mists of the valley, but above them the light
+shone and rolled and sparkled, and above them stretched the eternal
+sky!
+
+They descended the pillar, and near the foot of it saw an old man
+sitting. It was Mambo, the Molimo of the Makalanga: even when they
+were still far away from him they knew his snow-white head and thin,
+ascetic face. As they drew near Benita perceived that his eyes were
+closed, and whispered to Robert that he was asleep. Yet he had heard
+them coming, and even guessed her thought.
+
+"Maiden," he said in his gentle voice, "maiden who soon shall be a
+wife, I do not sleep, although I dream of you as I have dreamt before.
+What did I say to you that day when first we met? That for you I had
+good tidings; that though death was all about you, you need not fear;
+that in this place you who had known great sorrow should find
+happiness and rest. Yet, maiden, you would not believe the words of
+the Munwali, spoken by his prophet's lips, as he at your side, who
+shall be your husband, would not believe me in years past when I told
+him that we should meet again."
+
+"Father," she answered, "I thought your rest was that which we find
+only in the grave."
+
+"You would not believe," he went on without heeding her, "and
+therefore you tried to fly, and therefore your heart was torn with
+terror and with agony, when it should have waited for the end in
+confidence and peace."
+
+"Father, my trial was very sore."
+
+"Maiden, I know it, and because it was so sore that patient Spirit of
+Bambatse bore with you, and through it all guided your feet aright.
+Yes, with you has that Spirit gone, by day, by night, in the morning
+and in the evening. Who was it that smote the man who lies dead yonder
+with horror and with madness when he would have bent your will to his
+and made you a wife to him? Who was it that told you the secret of the
+treasure-pit, and what footsteps went before you down its stair? Who
+was it that led you past the sentries of the Amandabele and gave you
+wit and power to snatch your lord's life from Maduna's bloody hand?
+Yes, with you it has gone and with you it will go. No more shall the
+White Witch stand upon the pillar point at the rising of the sun, or
+in the shining of the moon."
+
+"Father, I have never understood you, and I do not understand you
+now," said Benita. "What has this spirit to do with me?"
+
+He smiled a little, then answered slowly:
+
+"That I may not tell you; that you shall learn one day, but never
+here. When you also have entered into silence, then you shall learn.
+But I say to you that this shall not be till your hair is as white as
+mine, and your years are as many. Ah! you thought that I had deserted
+you, when fearing for your father's life you wept and prayed in the
+darkness of the cave. Yet it was not so, for I did but suffer the doom
+which I had read to fulfil itself as it must do."
+
+He rose to his feet and, resting on his staff, laid one withered hand
+upon the head of Benita.
+
+"Maiden," he said, "we meet no more beneath the sun. Yet because you
+have brought deliverance to my people, because you are sweet and pure
+and true, take with you the blessing of Munwali, spoken by the mouth
+of his servant Mambo, the old Molimo of Bambatse. Though from time to
+time you must know tears and walk in the shade of sorrows, long and
+happy shall be your days with him whom you have chosen. Children shall
+spring up about you, and children's children, and with them also shall
+the blessing go. The gold you white folk love is yours, and it shall
+multiply and give food to the hungry and raiment to those that are
+a-cold. Yet in your own heart lies a richer store that cannot melt
+away, the countless treasure of mercy and of love. When you sleep and
+when you wake Love shall take you by the hand, till at length he leads
+you through life's dark cave to that eternal house of purest gold
+which soon or late those that seek it shall inherit," and with his
+staff he pointed to the glowing morning sky wherein one by one little
+rosy clouds floated upwards and were lost.
+
+To Robert and to Benita's misty eyes they looked like bright-winged
+angels throwing wide the black doors of night, and heralding that
+conquering glory at whose advent despair and darkness flee away.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Benita, by H. Rider Haggard
+
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