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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ghost Kings, 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: The Ghost Kings
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8184]
+This file was first posted on June 27, 2003
+Last Updated: April 10, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GHOST KINGS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, S. R. Ellison and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE GHOST KINGS
+
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+First published _July_ 1908. _Reprinted March_ 1909.
+
+Cheap Edition _December_ 1911.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+1. THE GIRL
+
+2. THE BOY
+
+3. GOOD-BYE
+
+4. ISHMAEL
+
+5. NOIE
+
+6. THE CASTING OF THE LOTS
+
+7. THE MESSAGE OF THE KING
+
+8. MR. DOVE VISITS ISHMAEL
+
+9. THE TAKING OF NOIE
+
+10. THE OMEN OF THE STAR
+
+11. ISHMAEL VISITS THE Inkosazana
+
+12. RACHEL SEES A VISION
+
+13. RICHARD COMES
+
+14. WHAT CHANCED AT RAMAH
+
+15. RACHEL COMES HOME
+
+16. THE THREE DAYS
+
+17. RACHEL LOSES HER SPIRIT
+
+18. THE CURSE OF THE Inkosazana
+
+19. RACHEL FINDS HER SPIRIT
+
+20. THE MOTHER OF THE TREES
+
+21. THE CITY OF THE DEAD
+
+22. IN THE SANCTUARY
+
+23. THE DREAM IN THE NORTH
+
+24. THE END AND THE BEGINNING
+
+
+
+
+EXTRACT FROM LETTER HEADED "THE KING'S KRAAL, ZULULAND, 12TH MAY, 1855."
+
+_"The Zulus about here have a strange story of a white girl who in
+Dingaan's day was supposed to 'hold the spirit' of some legendary goddess
+of theirs who is also white. This girl, they say, was very beautiful and
+brave, and had great power in the land before the battle of the Blood
+River, which they fought with the emigrant Boers. Her title was Lady of
+the Zulus, or more shortly, Zoola, which means Heaven.
+
+"She seems to have been the daughter of a wandering, pioneer missionary,
+but the king, I mean Dingaan, murdered her parents, of whom he was
+jealous, after which she went mad and cursed the nation, and it is to this
+curse that they still attribute the death of Dingaan, and their defeats
+and other misfortunes of that time.
+
+"Ultimately, it appears, in order to be rid of this girl and her evil eye,
+they sold her to the doctors of a dwarf people, who lived far away in a
+forest and worshipped trees, since when nothing more has been heard of
+her. But according to them the curse stopped behind.
+
+"If I can find out anything more of this curious story I will let you
+know, but I doubt if I shall be able to do so. Although fifteen years or
+so have passed since Dingaan's death in 1840 the Kaffirs are very shy of
+talking about this poor lady, and, I think, only did so to me because I am
+neither an official nor a missionary, but one whom they look upon as a
+friend because I have doctored so many of them. When I asked the Indunas
+about her at first they pretended total ignorance, but on my pressing the
+question, one of them said that 'all that tale was unlucky and "went
+beyond" with Mopo.' Now Mopo, as I think I wrote to you, was the man who
+stabbed King Chaka, Dingaan's brother. He is supposed to have been mixed
+up in the death of Dingaan also, and to be dead himself. At any rate he
+vanished away after Panda came to the throne."_
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE GIRL
+
+
+The afternoon was intensely, terribly hot. Looked at from the high ground
+where they were encamped above the river, the sea, a mile or two to her
+right--for this was the coast of Pondo-land--to little Rachel Dove staring
+at it with sad eyes, seemed an illimitable sheet of stagnant oil. Yet
+there was no sun, for a grey haze hung like a veil beneath the arch of the
+sky, so dense and thick that its rays were cut off from the earth which
+lay below silent and stifled. Tom, the Kaffir driver, had told her that a
+storm was coming, a father of storms, which would end the great drought.
+Therefore he had gone to a kloof in the mountains where the oxen were in
+charge of the other two native boys--since on this upland there was no
+pasturage to drive them back to the waggon. For, as he explained to her,
+in such tempests cattle are apt to take fright and rush away for miles,
+and without cattle their plight would be even worse than it was at
+present.
+
+At least this was what Tom said, but Rachel, who had been brought up among
+natives and understood their mind, knew that his real reason was that he
+wished to be out of the way when the baby was buried. Kaffirs do not like
+death, unless it comes by the assegai in war, and Tom, a good creature,
+had been fond of that baby during its short little life. Well, it was
+buried now; he had finished digging its resting-place in the hard soil
+before he went. Rachel, poor child, for she was but fifteen, had borne it
+to its last bed, and her father had unpacked his surplice from a box, put
+it on and read the Burial Service over the grave. Afterwards together they
+had filled in that dry, red earth, and rolled stones on to it, and as
+there were few flowers at this season of the year, placed a shrivelled
+branch or two of mimosa upon the stones--the best offering they had to
+make.
+
+Rachel and her father were the sole mourners at this funeral, if we may
+omit two rock rabbits that sat upon a shelf of stone in a neighbouring
+cliff, and an old baboon which peered at these strange proceedings from
+its crest, and finally pushed down a boulder before it departed, barking
+indignantly. Her mother could not come because she was ill with grief and
+fever in a little tent by the waggon. When it was all over they returned
+to her, and there had been a painful scene.
+
+Mrs. Dove was lying on a bed made of the cartel, or frame strung with
+strips of green hide, which had been removed from the waggon, a pretty,
+pale-faced woman with a profusion of fair hair. Rachel always remembered
+that scene. The hot tent with its flaps turned up to let in whatever air
+there might be. Her mother in a blue dressing-gown, dingy with wear and
+travel, from which one of the ribbon bows hung by a thread, her face
+turned to the canvas and weeping silently. The gaunt form of her father
+with his fanatical, saint-like face, pale beneath its tan, his high
+forehead over which fell one grizzled lock, his thin, set lips and
+far-away grey eyes, taking off his surplice and folding it up with quick
+movements of his nervous hands, and herself, a scared, wondering child,
+watching them both and longing to slip away to indulge her grief in
+solitude. It seemed an age before that surplice was folded, pushed into a
+linen bag which in their old home used to hold dirty clothes, and finally
+stowed away in a deal box with a broken hinge. At length it was done, and
+her father straightened himself with a sigh, and said in a voice that
+tried to be cheerful:
+
+"Do not weep, Janey. Remember this is all for the best. The Lord hath
+taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."
+
+Her mother sat up looking at him reproachfully with her blue eyes, and
+answered in her soft Scotch accent:
+
+"You said that to me before, John, when the other one went, down at
+Grahamstown, and I am tired of hearing it. Don't ask me to bless the Lord
+when He takes my babes, no, nor any mother, He Who could spare them if He
+chose. Why should the Lord give me fever so that I could not nurse it, and
+make a snake bite the cow so that it died? If the Lord's ways are such,
+then those of the savages are more merciful."
+
+"Janey, Janey, do not blaspheme," her father had exclaimed. "You should
+rejoice that the child is in Heaven."
+
+"Then do you rejoice and leave me to grieve. From to-day I only make one
+prayer, that I may never have another. John," she added with a sudden
+outburst, "it is your fault. You know well I told you how it would be. I
+told you that if you would come this mad journey the babe would die, aye,
+and I tell you"--here her voice sank to a kind of wailing whisper--"before
+the tale is ended others will die too, all of us, except Rachel there, who
+was born to live her life. Well, for my part, the sooner the better, for I
+wish to go to sleep with my children."
+
+"This is evil," broke in her husband, "evil and rebellious--"
+
+"Then evil and rebellious let it be, John. But why am I evil if I have the
+second sight like my mother before me? Oh! she warned me what must come if
+I married you, and I would not listen; now I warn you, and you will not
+listen. Well, so be it, we must dree our own weird, everyone of us, a
+short one; all save Rachel, who was born to live her life. Man, I tell
+you, that the Spirit drives you on to convert the heathen just for one
+thing, that the heathen may make a martyr of you."
+
+"So let them," her father answered proudly. "I seek no better end."
+
+"Aye," she moaned, sinking back upon the cartel, "so let them, but my
+babe, my poor babe! Why should my babe die because too much religion has
+made you mad to win a martyr's crown? Martyrs should not marry and have
+children, John."
+
+Then, unable to bear any more of it, Rachel had fled from the tent, and
+sat herself down at a distance to watch the oily sea.
+
+It has been said that Rachel was only fifteen, but in Southern Africa
+girls grow quickly to womanhood; also her experiences had been of a nature
+to ripen her intelligence. Thus she was quite able to form a judgment of
+her parents, their virtues and their weaknesses. Rachel was English born,
+but had no recollection of England since she came to South Africa when she
+was four years old. It was shortly after her birth that this
+missionary-fury seized upon her father as a result of some meetings which
+he had attended in London. He was then a clergyman with a good living in a
+quiet Hertfordshire parish, and possessed of some private means, but
+nothing would suit him short of abandoning all his prospects and sailing
+for South Africa, in obedience to his "call." Rachel knew all this because
+her mother had often told her, adding that she and her people, who were of
+a good Scotch family, had struggled against this South African scheme even
+to the verge of open quarrel.
+
+At length, indeed, it came to a choice between submission and separation.
+Mr. Dove had declared that not even for her sake would he be guilty of
+"sin against the Spirit" which had chosen him to bring light to those who
+sat in darkness--that is, the Kaffirs, and especially to that section of
+them who were in bondage to the Boers. For at this time an agitation was
+in progress in England which led ultimately to the freeing of the slaves
+of the Cape Dutch, and afterwards to the exodus of the latter into the
+wilderness and most of those wars with which our generation is familiar.
+So, as she was devoted to her husband, who, apart from his religious
+enthusiasm, or rather possession, was in truth a very lovable man, she
+gave way and came. Before they sailed, however, the general gloom was
+darkened by Mrs. Dove announcing that something in her heart told her that
+neither of them would ever see home again, as they were doomed to die at
+the hands of savages.
+
+Now whatever the reason or explanation, scientifically impossible as the
+fact might be, it remained a fact that Janey Dove, like her mother and
+several of her Scottish ancestors, was foresighted, or at least so her
+kith and kin believed. Therefore, when she communicated to them her
+conviction as though it were a piece of everyday intelligence, they never
+doubted its accuracy for a minute, but only redoubled their efforts to
+prevent her from going to Africa. Even her husband did not doubt it, but
+remarked irritably that it seemed a pity she could not sometimes be
+foresighted as to agreeable future events, since for his part he was quite
+willing to wait for disagreeable ones until they happened. Not that he
+quailed personally from the prospect of martyrdom; this he could
+contemplate with complacency and even enthusiasm, but, zealot though he
+was, he did shrink from the thought that his beautiful and delicate wife
+might be called upon to share the glory of that crown. Indeed, as his own
+purpose was unalterable, he now himself suggested that he should go forth
+to seek it alone.
+
+Then it was that his wife showed an unsuspected strength of character. She
+said that she had married him for better or for worse against the wishes
+of her family; that she loved and respected him, and that she would rather
+be murdered by Kaffirs in due season than endure a separation which might
+be lifelong. So in the end the pair of them with their little daughter
+Rachel departed in a sailing ship, and their friends and relations knew
+them no more.
+
+Their subsequent history up to the date of the opening of this story may
+be told in very few words. As a missionary the Reverend John Dove was not
+a success. The Boers in the eastern part of the Cape Colony where he
+laboured, did not appreciate his efforts to Christianise their slaves. The
+slaves did not appreciate them either, inasmuch as, saint though he might
+be, he quite lacked the sympathetic insight which would enable him to
+understand that a native with thousands of generations of savagery behind
+him is a different being from a highly educated Christian, and one who
+should be judged by another law. Their sins, amongst which he included all
+their most cherished inherited customs, appalled him, as he continually
+proclaimed from the housetops. Moreover, when occasionally he did snatch a
+brand from the burning, and the said brand subsequently proved that it was
+still alight, or worse still, replaced its original failings by those of
+the white man, such as drink, theft and lying, whereof before it had been
+innocent, he would openly condemn it to eternal punishment. Further, he
+was too insubordinate, or, as he called it, too honest, to submit to the
+authority of his local superiors in the Church, and therefore would only
+work for his own hand. Finally he caused his "cup to overflow," as he
+described it, or, in plain English, made the country too hot to hold him,
+by becoming involved in a bitter quarrel with the Boers. Of these, on the
+whole, worthy folk, he formed the worst; and in the main a very unjust
+opinion, which he sent to England to be reprinted in Church papers, or to
+the Home Government to be published in Blue-books. In due course these
+documents reached South Africa again, where they were translated into
+Dutch and became incidentally one of the causes of the Great Trek.
+
+The Boers were furious and threatened to shoot him as a slanderer. The
+English authorities were also furious, and requested him to cease from
+controversy or to leave the country. At last, stubborn as he might be,
+circumstances proved too much for him, and as his conscience would not
+allow him to be silent, Mr. Dove chose the latter alternative. The only
+question was whither he should go. As he was well off, having inherited a
+moderate fortune in addition to what he had before he left England, his
+poor wife pleaded with him to return home, pointing out that there he
+would be able to lay his case before the British public. This course had
+attractions for him, but after a night's reflection and prayer, he
+rejected it as a specious temptation sent by Satan.
+
+What, he argued, should he return to live in luxury in England not only
+unmartyred but a palpable failure, his mission quite unfulfilled? His wife
+might go if she liked, and take their surviving children, Rachel and the
+new-born baby boy, with her (they had buried two other little girls), but
+he would stick to his post and his duty. He had seen some Englishmen who
+had visited the country called Natal where white people were beginning to
+settle. In that land it seemed there were no slave-driving Boers, and the
+natives, according to all accounts, much needed the guidance of the
+Gospel, especially a certain king of the people called Zulus, who was
+named Chaka or Dingaan, he was not sure which. This ferocious person he
+particularly desired to encounter, having little doubt that in the absence
+of the contaminating Boer, he would be able to induce him to see the error
+of his ways and change the national customs, especially those of fighting
+and, worse still, of polygamy.
+
+His unhappy wife listened and wept, for now the martyr's crown which she
+had always foreseen, seemed uncomfortably near, indeed as it were, it
+glowed blood red within reach of her hand. Moreover, in her heart she did
+not believe that Kaffirs could be converted, at any rate at present. They
+were fighting men, as her Highland forefathers had been, and her Scottish
+blood could understand the weakness, while, as for this polygamy, she had
+long ago secretly concluded that the practice was one which suited them
+very well, as it had suited David and Solomon, and even Abraham. But for
+all this, although she was sure in her uncanny fashion that her baby's
+death would come of her staying, she refused to leave her husband as she
+had refused eleven years before.
+
+Doubtless affection was at the bottom of it, for Janey Dove was a very
+faithful woman; also there were other things--her fatalism, and stronger
+still, her weariness. She believed that they were doomed. Well, let the
+doom fall; she had no fear of the Beyond. At the best it might be happy,
+and at the worst deep, everlasting rest and peace, and she felt as though
+she needed thousands of years of rest and peace. Moreover, she was sure no
+harm would come to Rachel, the very apple of her eye; that she was marked
+to live and to find happiness even in this wild land. So it came about
+that she refused her husband's offer to allow her to return home where she
+had no longer any ties, and for perhaps the twentieth time prepared
+herself to journey she knew not whither.
+
+Rachel, seated there in the sunless, sweltering heat, reflected on these
+things. Of course she did not know all the story, but most of it had come
+under her observation in one way or other, and being shrewd by nature, she
+could guess the rest, for she who was companionless had much time for
+reflection and for guessing. She sympathised with her father in his ideas,
+understanding vaguely that there was something large and noble about them,
+but in the main, body and mind, she was her mother's child. Already she
+showed her mother's dreamy beauty, to which were added her father's
+straight features and clear grey eyes, together with a promise of his
+height. But of his character she had little, that is outside of a courage
+and fixity of purpose which marked them both.
+
+ For the rest she was far, or fore-seeing, like her mother, apprehending
+the end of things by some strange instinct; also very faithful in
+character.
+
+Rachel was unhappy. She did not mind the hardship and the heat, for she
+was accustomed to both, and her health was so perfect that it would have
+needed much worse things to affect her. But she loved the baby that was
+gone, and wondered whether she would ever see it again. On the whole she
+thought so, for here that intuition of hers came in, but at the best she
+was sure that there would be long to wait. She loved her mother also, and
+grieved more for her than for herself, especially now when she was so ill.
+Moreover, she knew and shared her mind. This journey, she felt, was
+foolishness; her father was a man "led by a star" as the natives say, and
+would follow it over the edge of the world and be no nearer. He was not
+fit to have charge of her mother.
+
+Of herself she did not think so much. Still, at Grahamstown, for a year or
+so there had been other children for companions, Dutch most of them, it is
+true, and all rough in mind and manner. Yet they were white and human.
+While she played with them she could forget she knew so much more than
+they did; that, for instance, she could read the Gospels in Greek--which
+her father had taught her ever since she was a little child--while they
+could scarcely spell them out in the Taal, or Boer dialect, and that they
+had never heard even of William the Conqueror. She did not care
+particularly about Greek and William the Conqueror, but she did care for
+friends, and now they were all gone from her, gone like the baby, as far
+off as William the Conqueror. And she, she was alone in the wilderness
+with a father who talked and thought of Heaven all day long, and a mother
+who lived in memories and walked in the shadow of doom, and oh! she was
+unhappy.
+
+Her grey eyes filled with tears so that she could no longer see that
+everlasting ocean, which she did not regret as it wearied her. She wiped
+them with the back of her hand that was burnt quite brown by the sun, and
+turning impatiently, fell to watching two of those strange insects known
+as the Praying Mantis, or often in South Africa as Hottentot gods, which
+after a series of genuflections, were now fighting desperately among the
+dead stalks of grass at her feet. Men could not be more savage, she
+reflected, for really their ferocity was hideous. Then a great tear fell
+upon the head of one of them, and astonished by this phenomenon, or
+thinking perhaps that it had begun to rain, it ran away and hid itself,
+while its adversary sat up and looked about it triumphantly, taking to
+itself all the credit of conquest.
+
+ She heard a step behind her, and having again furtively wiped her eyes
+with her hand, the only handkerchief available, looked round to see her
+father stalking towards her.
+
+"Why are you crying, Rachel?" he asked in an irritable voice. "It is wrong
+to cry because your little brother has been taken to glory."
+
+"Jesus cried over Lazarus, and He wasn't even His brother," she answered
+in a reflective voice, then by way of defending herself added
+inconsequently: "I was watching two Hottentot gods fight."
+
+As Mr. Dove could think of no reply to her very final Scriptural example,
+he attacked her on the latter point.
+
+"A cruel amusement," he said, "especially as I have heard that boys, yes,
+and men, too, pit these poor insects against each other, and make bets
+upon them."
+
+"Nature, is cruel, not I father. Nature is always cruel," and she glanced
+towards the little grave under the rock. Then, while for the second time
+her father hesitated, not knowing what to answer, she added quickly, "Is
+mother better now?"
+
+"No," he said, "worse, I think, very hysterical and quite unable to see
+things in the true light."
+
+She rose and faced him, for she was a courageous child, then asked:
+
+"Father, why don't you take her back? She isn't fit to go on. It is wrong
+to drag her into this wilderness."
+
+At this question he grew very angry, and began to scold and to talk of the
+wickedness of abandoning his "call."
+
+"But mother has not got a 'call,'" she broke in.
+
+Then, as for the third time he could find no answer, he declared
+vehemently that they were both in league against him, instruments used by
+the Evil One to tempt him from his duty by working on his natural fears
+and affections, and so forth.
+
+The child watched him with her clear grey eyes, saying nothing further,
+till at last he grew calm and paused.
+
+"We are all much upset," he went on, rubbing his high forehead with his
+thin hand. "I suppose it is the heat and this--this--trial of our faith.
+What did I come to speak to you about? Oh! I remember; your mother will
+eat nothing, and keeps asking for fruit. Do you know where there is any
+fruit?"
+
+"It doesn't grow here, father." Then her face brightened, and she added:
+"Yes, it does, though. The day that we outspanned in this camp mother and
+I went down to the river and walked to that kind of island beyond the dry
+donga to get some flowers that grow on the wet ground. I saw lots of Cape
+gooseberries there, all quite ripe."
+
+"Then go and get some, dear. You will have plenty of time before dark."
+
+She started up as though to obey, then checked herself and said:
+
+"Mother told me that I was not to go to the river alone, because we saw
+the spoor of lions and crocodiles in the mud."
+
+"God will guard you from the lions and the crocodiles, if there are any,"
+he answered doggedly, for was not this an opportunity to show his faith?
+"You are not afraid, are you?"
+
+"No, father. I am afraid of nothing, perhaps because I don't care what
+happens. I will get the basket and go at once."
+
+In another minute she was walking quickly towards the river, a lonely
+little figure in that great place. Mr. Dove watched her uneasily till she
+was hidden in the haze, for his reason told him that this was a foolish
+journey.
+
+"The Lord will send His angels to protect her," he muttered to himself.
+"Oh! if only I could have more faith, all these troubles come upon me from
+a lack of faith, and through that I am continually tempted. I think I will
+run after her and go, too. No, there is Janey calling me, I cannot leave
+her alone. The Lord will protect her, but I need not mention to Janey that
+she has gone, unless she asks me outright. She will be quite safe, the
+storm will not break to-night."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE BOY
+
+
+The river towards which Rachel headed, one of the mouths of the Umtavuna,
+was much further off than it looked; it was, indeed, not less than a mile
+and a half away. She had said that she feared nothing, and it was true,
+for extraordinary courage was one of this child's characteristics. She
+could scarcely ever remember having felt afraid--for herself, except
+sometimes of her father when he grew angry--or was it mad that he
+grew?--and raged at her, threatening her with punishment in another world
+in reward for her childish sins. Even then the sensation did not last
+long, because she could not believe in that punishment which he so vividly
+imagined. So it came about that now she had no fear when there was so much
+cause.
+
+For this place was lonely; not a living creature could be seen. Moreover,
+a dreadful hush brooded on the face of earth, and in the sky above; only
+far away over the mountains the lightning flickered incessantly, as though
+a monster in the skies were licking their precipices and pinnacles with a
+thousand tongues of fire. Nothing stirred, not even an insect; every
+creature that drew breath had hidden itself away until the coming terror
+was overpast.
+
+The atmosphere was full of electricity struggling to be free. Although she
+knew not what it was, Rachel felt it in her blood and brain. In some
+strange way it affected her mind, opening windows there through which the
+eyes of her soul looked out. She became aware of some new influence
+drawing near to her life; of a sudden her budding womanhood burst into
+flower in her breast, shone on by an unseen sun; she was no more a child.
+Her being quickened and acknowledged the kinship of all things that are.
+That brooding, flame-threaded sky--she was a part of it, the earth she
+trod, it was a part of her; the Mind that caused the stars to roll and her
+to live, dwelt in her bosom, and like a babe she nestled within the arm of
+its almighty will.
+
+Now, as in a dream, Rachel descended the steep, rock-strewn banks of the
+dry branch of the river-bed, wending her way between the boulders and
+noting that rotten weeds and peeled brushwood rested against the stems of
+the mimosa thorns which grew--there, tokens which told her that here in
+times of flood the water flowed. Well, there was little enough of it now,
+only a pool or two to form a mirror for the lightning. In front of her lay
+the island where grew the Cape gooseberries, or winter cherries as they
+are sometimes called, which she came to seek. It was a low piece of
+ground, a quarter of a mile long, perhaps, but in the centre of it were
+some great rocks and growing among the rocks, trees, one of them higher
+than the rest. Beyond it ran the true river, even now at the end of the
+dry season three or four hundred yards in breadth, though so shallow that
+it could be forded by an ox-drawn waggon.
+
+It was raining on the mountains yonder, raining in torrents poured from
+those inky clouds, as it had done off and on for the past twenty-four
+hours, and above their fire-laced bosom floated glorious-coloured masses
+of misty vapour, enflamed in a thousand hues by the arrows of the sinking
+sun. Above her, however, there was no sun, nothing but the curtain of
+cloud which grew gradually from grey to black and minute by minute sank
+nearer to the earth.
+
+Walking through the dry river-bed, Rachel reached the island which was the
+last and highest of a line of similar islands that, separated from each
+other by narrow breadths of water, lay like a chain, between the dry donga
+and the river. Here she began to gather her gooseberries, picking the
+silvery, octagonal pods from the green stems on which they grew. At first
+she opened these pods, removing from each the yellow, sub-acid berry,
+thinking that thus her basket would hold more, but presently abandoned
+that plan as it took too much time. Also although the plants were
+plentiful enough, in that low and curious light it was not easy to see
+them among the dense growth of reedy vegetation.
+
+While she was thus engaged she became aware of a low moaning noise and a
+stirring of the air about her which caused the leaves and grasses to
+quiver without bending. Then followed an ice-cold wind that grew in
+strength until it blew keen and hard, ruffling the surface of the marshy
+pools. Still Rachel went on with her task, for her basket was not more
+than half full, till presently the heavens above her began to mutter and
+to groan, and drops of rain as large as shillings fell upon her back and
+hands. Now she understood that it was time for her to be going, and
+started to walk across the island--for at the moment she was near its
+farther side--to reach the deep, rocky river-bed or donga.
+
+Before ever she came there, with awful suddenness and inconceivable fury,
+the tempest burst. A hurricane of wind tore down the valley to the sea,
+and for a few minutes the darkness became so dense that she could scarcely
+stumble forward. Then there was light, a dreadful light; all the heavens
+seemed to take fire, yes, and the earth, too; it was as though its last
+dread catastrophe had fallen on the world.
+
+Buffeted, breathless, Rachel at length reached the edge of the deep
+river-bed that may have been fifty yards in width, and was about to step
+into it when she became aware of two things. The first was a seething,
+roaring noise so loud that it seemed to still even the bellowing of the
+thunder, and the next, now seen, now lost, as the lightning pulsed and
+darkened, the figure of a youth, a white youth, who had dismounted from a
+horse that remained near to but above him, and stood, a gun in his hand,
+upon a rock at the farther side of the donga.
+
+He had seen her also and was shouting to her, of this she was sure, for
+although the sound of his voice was lost in the tumult, she could perceive
+his gesticulations when the lightning flared, and even the movement of his
+lips.
+
+ Wondering vaguely what a white boy could be doing in such a place and
+very glad at the prospect of his company, Rachel began to advance towards
+him in short rushes whenever the lightning showed her where to set her
+feet. She had made two of these rushes when from the violence and
+character of his movements at length she understood that he was trying to
+prevent her from coming further, and paused confused.
+
+Another instant and she knew why. Some hundreds of yards above her the
+river bed took a turn, and suddenly round this turn, crested with foam,
+appeared a wall of water in which trees and the carcases of animals were
+whirled along like straws. The flood had come down from the mountains, and
+was advancing on her more swiftly than a horse could gallop. Rachel ran
+forward a little way, then understanding that she had no time to cross,
+stood bewildered, for the fearful tumult of the elements and the dreadful
+roaring of that advancing wall of foam overwhelmed her senses. The
+lightnings went out for a moment, then began to play again with tenfold
+frequency and force. They struck upon, the nearing torrent, they struck in
+the dry bed before it, and leapt upwards from the earth as though Titans
+and gods were hurling spears at one another.
+
+In the lurid sheen of them she saw the lad leap from his rock and rush
+towards her. A flash fell and split a boulder not thirty paces from him,
+causing him to stagger, but he recovered himself and ran on. Now he was
+quite close, but the water was closer still. It was coming in tiers or
+ledges, a thin sheet of foam in front, then other layers laid upon it,
+each of them a few yards behind its fellow. On the top ledge, in its very
+crest, was a bull buffalo, dead, but held head on and down as though it
+were charging, and Rachel thought vaguely that from the direction in which
+it came in a few moments its horns would strike her. Another second and an
+arm was about her waist--she noted how white it was where the sleeve was
+rolled up, dead white in the lightning--and she was being dragged towards
+the shore that she had left. The first film of water struck her and nearly
+washed her from her feet, but she was strong and active, and the touch of
+that arm seemed to have given her back her wit, so she regained them and
+splashed forward. Now the next tier took them both above the knees, but
+for a moment shallowed so that they did not fall. The high bank was scarce
+five yards away, and the wall of waters perhaps a score.
+
+"Together for life or death!" said an English voice in her ear, and the
+shout of it only reached her in a whisper.
+
+ The boy and the girl leapt forward like bucks. They reached the bank and
+struggled up it. The hungry waters sprang at them like a living thing,
+grasping their feet and legs as though with hands; a stick as it whirled
+by them struck the lad upon the shoulder, and where it struck the clothes
+were rent away and red blood appeared. Almost he fell, but this time it
+was Rachel who supported him. Then one more struggle and they rolled
+exhausted on the ground just clear of the lip of the racing flood.
+
+Thus through tempest, threatened by the waters of death from which he
+snatched her, and companioned by heaven's lightnings, did Richard Darrien
+come into the life of Rachel Dove.
+
+Presently, having recovered their breath, they sat up and looked at each
+other by lightning light, which was all there was. He was a handsome lad
+of about seventeen, though short for his years; sturdy in build, very
+fair-skinned and curiously enough with a singular resemblance to Rachel,
+except that his hair was a few shades darker than hers. They had the same
+clear grey eyes, and the same well-cut features; indeed seen together,
+most people would have thought them brother and sister, and remarked upon
+their family likeness. Rachel spoke the first.
+
+"Who are you?" she shouted into his ear in one of the intervals of
+darkness, "and why did you come here?"
+
+"My name is Richard Darrien," he answered at the top of his voice, "and I
+don't know why I came. I suppose something sent me to save you."
+
+"Yes," she replied with conviction, "something sent you. If you had not
+come I should be dead, shouldn't I? In glory, as my father says."
+
+"I don't know about glory, or what it is," he remarked, after thinking
+this saying over, "but you would have been rolling out to sea in the flood
+water, like that buffalo, with not a whole bone in you, which isn't my
+idea of glory."
+
+"That's because your father isn't a missionary," said Rachel.
+
+"No, he is an officer, naval officer, or at least he was, now he trades
+and hunts. We are coming down from Natal. But what's your name?"
+
+"Rachel Dove."
+
+"Well, Rachel Dove--that's very pretty, Rachel Dove, as you would be if
+you were cleaner--it is going to rain presently. Is there any place where
+we can shelter here?"
+
+"I am as clean as you are," she answered indignantly. "The river muddied
+me, that's all. You can go and shelter, I will stop and let the rain wash
+me."
+
+ "And die of the cold or be struck by lightning. Of course I knew you
+weren't dirty really. Is there any, place?"
+
+She nodded, mollified.
+
+"I think I know one. Come," and she stretched out her hand.
+
+He took it, and thus hand in hand they made their way to the highest point
+of the island where the trees grew, for here the rocks piled up together
+made a kind of cave in which Rachel and her mother had sat for a little
+while when they visited the place. As they groped their way towards it the
+lightning blazed out and they saw a great jagged flash strike the tallest
+tree and shatter it, causing some wild beast that had sheltered there to
+rush past them snorting.
+
+"That doesn't look very safe," said Richard halting, "but come on, it
+isn't likely to hit the same spot twice."
+
+"Hadn't you better leave your gun?" she suggested, for all this while that
+weapon had been slung to his back and she knew that lightning has an
+affinity for iron.
+
+"Certainly not," he answered, "it is a new one which my father gave me,
+and I won't be parted from it."
+
+Then they went on and reached the little cave just as the rain broke over
+them in earnest. As it chanced the place was dry, being so situated that
+all water ran away from it. They crouched in it shivering, trying to cover
+themselves with dead sticks and brushwood that had lodged here in the wet
+season when the whole island was under water.
+
+"It would be nice enough if only we had a fire," said Rachel, her teeth
+chattering as she spoke.
+
+The lad Richard thought a while. Then he opened a leather case that hung
+on his rifle sling and took from it a powder flask and flint and steel and
+some tinder. Pouring a little powder on the damp tinder, he struck the
+flint until at length a spark caught and fired the powder. The tinder
+caught also, though reluctantly, and while Rachel blew on it, he felt
+round for dead leaves and little sticks, some of which were coaxed into
+flame.
+
+After this things were easy since fuel lay about in abundance, so that
+soon they had a splendid fire burning in the mouth of the cave whence the
+smoke escaped. Now they were able to warm and dry themselves, and as the
+heat entered into their chilled bodies, their spirits rose. Indeed the
+contrast between this snug hiding place and blazing fire of drift wood and
+the roaring tempest without, conduced to cheerfulness in young people who
+had just narrowly escaped from drowning.
+
+"I am so hungry," said Rachel, presently.
+
+Again Richard began to search, and this time produced from the pocket of
+his coat a long and thick strip of sun-dried meat.
+
+"Can you eat biltong?" he asked.
+
+"Of course," she answered eagerly.
+
+"Then you must cut it up," he said, giving her the meat and his knife. "My
+arm hurts me, I can't."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, "how selfish I am. I forgot about that stick striking
+you. Let me see the place."
+
+He took off his coat and knelt down while she stood over him and examined
+his wound by the light of the fire, to find that the left upper arm was
+bruised, torn and bleeding. As it will be remembered that Rachel had no
+handkerchief, she asked Richard for his, which she soaked in a pool of
+rain water just outside the cave. Then, having washed the hurt thoroughly,
+she bandaged his arm with the handkerchief and bade him put on his coat
+again, saying confidently that he would be well in a few days.
+
+"You are clever," he remarked with admiration. "Who taught you to bandage
+wounds?"
+
+"My father always doctors the Kaffirs and I help him," Rachel answered,
+as, having stretched out her hands for the pouring rain to wash them, she
+took the biltong and began to cut it in thin slices.
+
+These she made him eat before she touched any herself, for she saw that
+the loss of blood had weakened him. Indeed her own meal was a light one,
+since half the strip of meat must, she declared, be put aside in case they
+should not be able to get off the island. Then he saw why she had made him
+eat first and was very angry with himself and her, but she only laughed at
+him and answered that she had learned from the Kaffirs that men must be
+fed before women as they were more important in the world.
+
+"You mean more selfish," he answered, contemplating this wise little maid
+and her tiny portion of biltong, which she swallowed very slowly, perhaps
+to pretend that her appetite was already satisfied with its
+superabundance. Then he fell to imploring her to take the rest, saying
+that he would be able to shoot some game in the morning, but she only
+shook her little head and set her lips obstinately.
+
+"Are you a hunter?" she asked to change the subject.
+
+"Yes," he answered with pride, "that is, almost. At any rate I have shot
+eland, and an elephant, but no lions yet. I was following the spoor of a
+lion just now, but it got up between the rocks and bolted away before I
+could shoot. I think that it must have been after you."
+
+"Perhaps," said Rachel. "There are some about here; I have heard them
+roaring at night."
+
+"Then," he went on, "while I was staring at you running across this
+island, I heard the sound of the water and saw it rushing down the donga,
+and saw too that you must be drowned, and--you know the rest."
+
+"Yes, I know the rest," she said, looking at him with shining eyes. "You
+risked your life to save mine, and therefore," she added with quiet
+conviction, "it belongs to you."
+
+He stared at her and remarked simply:
+
+"I wish it did. This morning I wished to kill a lion with my new _roer_,"
+and he pointed to the heavy gun at his side, "above everything else, but
+to-night I wish that your life belonged to me--above anything else."
+
+Their eyes met, and child though she was, Rachel saw something in those of
+Richard that caused her to turn her head.
+
+"Where are you going?" she asked quickly.
+
+"Back to my father's farm in Graaf-Reinet, to sell the ivory. There are
+three others besides my father, two Boers and one Englishman."
+
+"And I am going to Natal where you come from," she answered, "so I suppose
+that after to-night we shall never see each other again, although my life
+does belong to you--that is if we escape."
+
+Just then the tempest which had lulled a little, came on again in fury,
+accompanied by a hurricane of wind and deluge of rain, through which the
+lightning blazed incessantly. The thunderclaps too were so loud and
+constant that the sound of them, which shook the earth, made it impossible
+for Richard and Rachel to hear each other speak. So they were silent
+perforce. Only Richard rose and looked out of the cave, then turned and
+beckoned to his companion. She came to him and watched, till suddenly a
+blinding sheet of flame lit up the whole landscape. Then she saw what he
+was looking at, for now nearly all the island, except that high part of it
+on which they stood, was under water, hidden by a brown, seething torrent,
+that tore past them to the sea.
+
+"If it rises much more, we shall be drowned," he shouted in her ear.
+
+She nodded, then cried back:
+
+"Let us say our prayers and get ready," for it seemed to Rachel that the
+"glory" of which her father spoke so often was nearer to them than ever.
+
+Then she drew him back into the cave and motioned to him to kneel beside
+her, which he did bashfully enough, and for a while the two children, for
+they were little more, remained thus with clasped hands and moving lips.
+Presently the thunder lessened a little so that once more they could hear
+each other speak.
+
+ "What did you pray about?" he asked when they had risen from their knees.
+
+"I prayed that you might escape, and that my mother might not grieve for
+me too much," she answered simply. "And you?"
+
+"I? Oh! the same--that you might escape. I did not pray for my mother as
+she is dead, and I forgot about father."
+
+"Look, look!" exclaimed Rachel, pointing to the mouth of the cave.
+
+He stared out at the darkness, and there, through the thin flames of the
+fire, saw two great yellow shapes which appeared to be walking up and down
+and glaring into the cave.
+
+"Lions," he gasped, snatching at his gun.
+
+"Don't shoot," she cried, "you might make them angry. Perhaps they only
+want to take refuge like ourselves. The fire will keep them away."
+
+He nodded, then remembering that the charge and priming, of his flint-lock
+_roer_ must be damp, hurriedly set to work by the help of Rachel to draw
+it with the screw on the end of his ramrod, and this done, to reload with
+some powder that he had already placed to dry on a flat stone near the
+fire. This operation took five minutes or more. When at length it was
+finished, and the lock reprimed with the dry powder, the two of them,
+Richard holding the _roer_, crept to the mouth of the cave and looked out
+again.
+
+The great storm was passing now, and the rain grew thinner, but from time
+to time the lightning, no longer forked or chain-shaped, flared in wide
+sheets. By its ghastly illumination they saw a strange sight. There on the
+island top the two lions marched backwards and forwards as though they
+were in a cage, making a kind of whimpering noise as they went, and
+staring round them uneasily. Moreover, these were not alone, for gathered
+there were various other animals, driven down by the flood from the
+islands above them, reed and water bucks, and a great eland. Among these
+the lions walked without making the slightest effort to attack them, nor
+did the antelopes, which stood sniffing and staring at the torrent, take
+any notice of the lions, or attempt to escape.
+
+"You are right," said Richard, "they are all frightened, and will not harm
+us, unless the water rises more, and they rush into the cave. Come, make
+up the fire."
+
+They did so, and sat down on its further side, watching till, as nothing
+happened, their dread of the lions passed away, and they began to talk
+again, telling to each other the stories of their lives.
+
+ Richard Darrien, it seemed, had been in Africa about five years, his
+father having emigrated there on the death of his mother, as he had
+nothing but the half-pay of a retired naval captain, and he hoped to
+better his fortunes in a new land. He had been granted a farm in the
+Graaf-Reinet district, but like many other of the early settlers, met with
+misfortunes. Now, to make money, he had taken to elephant-hunting, and
+with his partners was just returning from a very successful expedition in
+the coast lands of Natal, at that time an almost unexplored territory. His
+father had allowed Richard to accompany the party, but when they got back,
+added the boy with sorrow, he was to be sent for two or three years to the
+college at Capetown, since until then his father had not been able to
+afford him the luxury of an education. Afterwards he wished him to adopt a
+profession, but on this point he--Richard--had made up his mind, although
+at present he said little about that. He would be a hunter, and nothing
+else, until he grew too old to hunt, when he intended to take to farming.
+
+His story done, Rachel told him hers, to which he listened eagerly.
+
+"Is your father mad?" he asked when she had finished.
+
+"No," she answered. "How dare you suggest it? He is only very good; much
+better than anybody else."
+
+"Well, it seems to come to much the same thing, doesn't it?" said Richard,
+"for otherwise he would not have sent you to gather gooseberries here with
+such a storm coming on."
+
+"Then why did your father send you to hunt lions with such a storm coming
+on?" she asked.
+
+"He didn't send me. I came of myself; I said that I wanted to shoot a
+buck, and finding the spoor of a lion I followed it. The waggons must be a
+long way ahead now, for when I left them I returned to that kloof where I
+had seen the buck. I don't know how I shall overtake them again, and
+certainly nobody will ever think of looking for me here, as after this
+rain they can't spoor the horse."
+
+"Supposing you don't find it--I mean your horse--tomorrow, what shall you
+do?" asked Rachel. "We haven't got any to lend you."
+
+"Walk and try to catch them up," he replied.
+
+"And if you can't catch them up?"
+
+"Come back to you, as the wild Kaffirs ahead would kill me if I went on
+alone."
+
+"Oh! But what would your father think?"
+
+"He would think there was one boy the less, that's all, and be sorry for a
+while. People often vanish in Africa where there are so many lions and
+savages."
+
+Rachel reflected a while, then finding the subject difficult, suggested
+that he should find out what their own particular lions were doing. So
+Richard went to look, and reported that the storm had ceased, and that by
+the moonlight he could see no lions or any other animals, so he thought
+that they must have gone away somewhere. The flood waters also appeared to
+be running down. Comforted by this intelligence Rachel piled on the fire
+nearly all the wood that remained to them. Then they sat down again side
+by side, and tried to continue their conversation. By degrees it drooped,
+however, and the end of it was that presently this pair were fast asleep
+in each other's arms.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+GOOD-BYE
+
+
+Rachel was the first to wake, which she did, feeling cold, for the fire
+had burnt almost out. She rose and walked from the cave. The dawn was
+breaking quietly, for now no wind stirred, and no rain fell. So dense was
+the mist which rose from the river and sodden land, however, that she
+could not see two yards in front of her, and fearing lest she should
+stumble on the lions or some other animals, she did not dare to wander far
+from the mouth of the cave. Near to it was a large, hollow-surfaced rock,
+filled now with water like a bath. From this she drank, then washed and
+tidied herself as well as she could without the aid of soap, comb or
+towels, which done, she returned to the cave.
+
+As Richard was still sleeping, very quietly she laid a little more wood on
+the embers to keep him warm, then sat down by his side and watched him,
+for now the grey light of the dawning crept into their place of refuge. To
+her this slumbering lad looked beautiful, and as she studied him her
+childish heart was filled with a strange, new tenderness, such as she had
+never felt before. Somehow he had grown dear to her, and Rachel knew that
+she would never forget him while she lived. Then following this wave of
+affection came a sharp and sudden pain, for she remembered that presently
+they must part, and never see each other any more. At least this seemed
+certain, for how could they when he was travelling to the Cape and she to
+Natal?
+
+And yet, and yet a strange conviction told her otherwise. The power of
+prescience which came to her from her mother and her Highland forefathers
+awoke in her breast, and she knew that her life and this lad's life were
+interwoven. Perhaps she dozed off again, sitting there by the fire. At any
+rate it appeared to her that she dreamed and saw things in her dream. Wild
+tumultuous scenes opened themselves before her in a vision; scenes of
+blood and terror, sounds, too, of voices crying war. It appeared to her as
+if she were mad, and yet ruled a queen, death came near to her a score of
+times, but always fled away at her command. Now Richard Darrien was with
+her, and how she had lost him and sought--ah! how she sought through dark
+places of doom and unnatural night. It was as though he were dead, and she
+yet living, searched for him among the habitations of the dead. She found
+him also, and drew him towards her. How, she did not know.
+
+Then there was a scene, a last scene, which remained fixed in her mind
+after everything else had faded away. She saw the huge trunks of forest
+trees, enormous, towering trees, gloomy trees beneath which the darkness
+could be felt. Down their avenues shot the level arrows of the dawn. They
+fell on her, Rachel, dressed in robes of white skin, turning her long,
+outspread hair to gold. They fell upon little people with faces of a dusky
+pallor, one of them crouched against the bole of a tree, a wizened monkey
+of a man who in all that vastness looked small. They fell upon another
+man, white-skinned, half-naked, with a yellow beard, who was lashed by
+hide ropes to a second tree. It was Richard Darrien grown older, and at
+his feet lay a broad-bladed spear!
+
+The vision left her, or she was awakened from her sleep, whichever it
+might be, by the pleasant voice of this same Richard, who stood yawning
+before her, and said:
+
+"It is time to get up. I say, why do you look so queer? Are you ill?"
+
+"I have been up, long ago," she answered, struggling to her feet. "What do
+you mean?"
+
+"Nothing, except that you seemed a ghost a minute ago. Now you are a girl
+again, it must have been the light."
+
+"Did I? Well, I dreamed of ghosts, or something of the sort," and she told
+him of the vision of the trees, though of the rest she could remember
+little.
+
+"That's a queer story," he said when she had finished. "I wish you had got
+to the end of it, I should like to know what happened."
+
+"We shall find out one day," she answered solemnly.
+
+"Do you mean to say that you believe it is true, Rachel?"
+
+"Yes, Richard, one day I shall see you tied to that tree."
+
+"Then I hope you will cut me loose, that is all. What a funny girl you
+are," he added doubtfully. "I know what it is, you want something to eat.
+Have the rest of that biltong."
+
+"No," she answered. "I could not touch it. There is a pool of water out
+there, go and bathe your arm, and I will bind it up again."
+
+He went, still wondering, and a few minutes later returned, his face and
+head dripping, and whispered:
+
+"Give me the gun. There is a reed buck standing close by. I saw it through
+the mist; we'll have a jolly breakfast off him."
+
+She handed him the _roer_, and crept after him out of the cave. About
+thirty yards away to the right, looming very large through the dense fog,
+stood the fat reed buck. Richard wriggled towards it, for he wanted to
+make sure of his shot, while Rachel crouched behind a stone. The buck
+becoming alarmed, turned its head, and began to sniff at the air, whereon
+he lifted the gun and just as it was about to spring away, aimed and
+fired. Down it went dead, whereon, rejoicing in his triumph like any other
+young hunter who thinks not of the wonderful and happy life that he has
+destroyed, Richard sprang upon it exultantly, drawing his knife as he
+came, while Rachel, who always shrank from such sights, retreated to the
+cave. Half an hour later, however, being healthy and hungry, she had no
+objection to eating venison toasted upon sticks in the red embers of their
+fire.
+
+Their meal finished at length, they reloaded the gun, and although the
+mist was still very dense, set out upon a journey of exploration, as by
+now the sun was shining brightly above the curtain of low-lying vapour.
+Stumbling on through the rocks, they discovered that the water had fallen
+almost as quickly as it rose on the previous night. The island was strewn,
+however, with the trunks of trees and other debris that it had brought
+down, amongst which lay the carcases of bucks and smaller creatures, and
+with them a number of drowned snakes. The two lions, however, appeared to
+have escaped by swimming, at least they saw nothing of them. Walking
+cautiously, they came to the edge of the donga, and sat down upon a stone,
+since as yet they could not see how wide and deep the water ran.
+
+Whilst they remained thus, suddenly through the mist they heard a voice
+shouting from the other side of the donga.
+
+"Missie," cried the voice in Dutch, "are you there missie?"
+
+ "That is Tom, our driver," she said, "come to look for me. Answer for me,
+Richard."
+
+So the lad, who had very good lungs, roared in reply:
+
+"Yes, I'm here, safe, waiting for the mist to lift, and the water to run
+down."
+
+"God be thanked," yelled the distant Tom. "We thought that you were surely
+drowned. But, then, why is your voice changed?"
+
+"Because an English heer is with me," cried Rachel. "Go and look for his
+horse and bring a rope, then wait till the mist rises. Also send to tell
+the pastor and my mother that I am safe."
+
+"I am here, Rachel," shouted another voice, her father's. "I have been
+looking for you all night, and we have got the Englishman's horse. Don't
+come into the water yet. Wait till we can see."
+
+"That's good news, any way," said Richard, "though I shall have to ride
+hard to catch up the waggons."
+
+Rachel's face fell.
+
+"Yes," she said; "very good news."
+
+"Are you glad that I am going, then?" he asked in an offended tone.
+
+"It was you who said the news was good," she replied gently.
+
+"I meant I was glad that they had caught my horse, not that I had to ride
+away on it. Are you sorry, then?" and he glanced at her anxiously.
+
+"Yes, I am sorry, for we have made friends, haven't we? It won't matter to
+you who will find plenty of people down there at the Cape, but you see
+when you are gone I shall have no friend left in this wilderness, shall
+I?"
+
+Again Richard looked at her, and saw that her sweet grey eyes were full of
+tears. Then there rose within the breast of this lad who, be it
+remembered, was verging upon manhood, a sensation strangely similar, had
+he but known it, to that which had been experienced an hour or two before
+by the child at his side when she watched him sleeping in the cave. He
+felt as though these tear-laden grey eyes were drawing his heart as a
+magnet draws iron. Of love he knew nothing, it was but a name to him, but
+this feeling was certainly very new and queer.
+
+"What have you done to me?" he asked brusquely. "I don't want to go away
+from you at all, which is odd, as I never liked girls much. I tell you,"
+he went on with gathering vehemence, "that if it wasn't that it would be
+mean to play such a trick upon my father, I wouldn't go. I'd come with
+you, or follow after--all my life. Answer me--what have you done?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing at all," said Rachel with a little sob, "except tie up
+your arm."
+
+"That can't be it," he replied. "Anyone could tie up my arm. Oh! I know it
+is wrong, but I hope I shan't be able to overtake the waggons, for if I
+can't I will come back."
+
+"You mustn't come back; you must go away, quite away, as soon as you can.
+Yes, as soon as you can. Your father will be very anxious," and she began
+to cry outright.
+
+"Stop it," said Richard. "Do you hear me, stop it. I am not going to be
+made to snivel too, just because I shan't see a little girl any more whom
+I never met--till yesterday."
+
+These last words came out with a gulp, and what is more, two tears came
+with them and trickled down his nose.
+
+For a moment they sat thus looking at each other pitifully, and--the truth
+must be told--weeping, both of them. Then something got the better of
+Richard, let us call it primeval instinct, so that he put his arms about
+Rachel and kissed her, after which they continued to weep, their heads
+resting upon each other's shoulders. At length he let her go and stood up,
+saying argumentatively:
+
+"You see now we are really friends."
+
+"Yes," she answered, again rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand for
+lack of a pocket handkerchief in the fashion that on the previous day had
+so irritated her father, "but I don't know why you should kiss me like
+that, just because you are my friend, or" she added with an outburst of
+truthfulness, "why I should kiss you."
+
+Richard stood over her frowning and reflecting. Then he gave up the
+problem as beyond his powers of interpretation, and said:
+
+"You remember that rubbish you dreamt just now, about my being tied to a
+tree and the rest of it? Well, it wasn't nice, and it gives me the creeps
+to think of it, like the lions outside the cave. But I want to tell you
+that I hope it is true, for then we shall meet again, if it is only to say
+good-night."
+
+"Yes, Richard," she answered, placing her slim fingers into his big brown
+hand, "we shall meet again, I am sure--I am quite sure. And I think that
+it will be to say, not good-night," and she looked up at him and smiled,
+"but good-morning."
+
+As Rachel spoke a puff of wind blew down the donga, rolling up the mist
+before it, and of a sudden shining above them they saw the glorious sun.
+As though by magic butterflies appeared basking upon the rain-shattered
+lily blooms; bright birds flitted from tree to tree, ringdoves began to
+coo. The terror of the tempest and the darkness of night were overpast;
+the world awoke again to life and love and joy. Instantly this change
+reflected itself in their young hearts. They whose natures had as it were
+ripened prematurely in the stress of danger and the shadow of death,
+became children once again. The very real emotions that they had
+experienced were forgotten, or at any rate sank into abeyance. Now they
+thought, not of separation or of the dim, mysterious future that stretched
+before them, but only of how they should ford the stream and gain its
+further side, where Rachel saw her father, Tom, the driver, and the other
+Kaffirs, and Richard saw his horse which he had feared was lost.
+
+They ran down to the brink of the water and examined it, but here it was
+still too deep for them to attempt its crossing. Then, directed by the
+shouts and motions of the Kaffir Tom and Mr. Dove, they proceeded up
+stream for several hundred yards, till they came to a rapid where the
+lessening flood ran thinly over a ridge of rock, and after investigation,
+proceeded to try its passage hand in hand. It proved difficult but not
+dangerous, for when they came near to the further side where the current
+was swift and the water rather deep, Tom threw them a waggon rope,
+clinging on to which they were dragged--wet, but laughing--in safety to
+the further bank.
+
+"Ow!" exclaimed the Kaffirs, clapping their hands. "She is alive, the
+lightnings have turned away from her, she rules the waters, and the
+lightnings!" and then and there, after the native fashion, they gave
+Rachel a name which was destined to play a great part in her future. That
+name was "Lady of the Lightnings," or, to translate it more accurately,
+"of the Heavens."
+
+"I never thought to see you again," said her father, looking at Rachel
+with a face that was still white and scared. "It was very wrong of me to
+send you so far with that storm coming on, and I have had a terrible
+night--yes, a terrible night; and so has your poor mother. However, she
+knows that you are safe by now, thank God, thank God!" and he took her in
+his arms and kissed her.
+
+"Well, father, you said that He would look after me, didn't you? And so He
+did, for He sent Richard here If it hadn't been for Richard I should have
+been drowned," she added inconsequently.
+
+"Yes, yes," said Mr. Dove. "Providence manifests itself in many ways. But
+who is your young friend whom you call Richard? I suppose he has some
+other name."
+
+"Of course," answered that youth himself, "everybody has except Kaffirs.
+Mine is Darrien."
+
+"Darrien?" said Mr. Dove. "I had a friend called Darrien at school. I
+never saw him after I left, but I believe that he went into the Navy."
+
+"Then he must be my father, sir, for I have heard him say that there had
+been no other Darrien in the service for a hundred years."
+
+"I think so," answered Mr. Dove, "for now that I look at you, I can see a
+likeness. We slept side by side in the same dormitory once five-and-thirty
+years ago, so I remember. And now you have saved my daughter; it is very
+strange. But tell me the story."
+
+So between them they told it, although to one scene of it--the
+last--neither of them thought it necessary to allude; or perhaps it was
+forgotten.
+
+"Truly the Almighty has had you both in His keeping," exclaimed Mr. Dove,
+when their tale was done. "And now, Richard, my boy, what are you going to
+do? You see, we caught your horse--it was grazing about a mile away with
+the saddle twisted under its stomach--and wondered what white man could
+possibly have been riding it in this desolate place. Afterwards, however,
+one of my voor-loopers reported that he had seen two waggons yesterday
+afternoon trekking through the poort about five miles to the north there.
+The white men with them said that they were travelling towards the Cape,
+and pushing on to get out of the hills before the storm broke. They bade
+him, if he met you, to bid you follow after them as quickly as you could,
+and to say that they would wait for you, if you did not arrive before, at
+the Three Sluit outspan on this side of the Pondo country, at which you
+stopped some months ago."
+
+"Yes," answered Richard, "I remember, but that outspan is thirty miles
+away, so I must be getting on, or they will come back to hunt for me."
+
+"First you will stop and eat with us, will you not?" said Mr. Dove.
+
+"No, no, I have eaten. Also I have saved some meat in my pouch. I must go,
+I must indeed, for otherwise my father will be angry with me. You see," he
+added, "I went out shooting without his leave."
+
+"Ah! my boy," remarked Mr. Dove, who seldom neglected an opportunity for a
+word in season, "now you know what comes of disobedience."
+
+"Yes, I know, sir," he answered looking at Rachel. "I was just in time to
+save your daughter's life here; as you said just now, Providence sent me.
+Well, good-bye, and don't think me wicked if I am very glad that I was
+disobedient, as I believe you are, too."
+
+"Yes, I am. Good comes out of evil sometimes, though that is no reason why
+we should do evil," the missionary added, not knowing what else to say.
+Richard did not attempt to argue the point, for at the moment he was
+engaged in bidding farewell to Rachel. It was a very silent farewell;
+neither of them spoke a word, they only shook each other's hand and looked
+into each other's eyes. Then muttering something which it was as well that
+Mr. Dove did not hear, Richard swung himself into the saddle, for his
+horse stood at hand, and, without even looking back, cantered away towards
+the mountains.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Rachel presently, "call him, father."
+
+"What for?" asked Mr. Dove.
+
+"I want to give him our address, and to get his."
+
+"We have no address, Rachel. Also he is too far off, and why should you
+want the address of a chance acquaintance?"
+
+"Because he saved my life and I do," replied the child, setting her face.
+Then, without another word, she turned and began to walk towards their
+camp--a very heavy journey it was to Rachel.
+
+When Rachel reached the waggon she found that her mother was more or less
+recovered. At any rate the attack of fever had left her so that she felt
+able to rise from her bed. Now, although still weak, she was engaged in
+packing away the garments of her dead baby in a travelling chest, weeping
+in a silent, piteous manner as she worked. It was a very sad sight. When
+she saw Rachel she opened her arms without a word, and embraced her.
+
+"You were not frightened about me, mother?" asked the child.
+
+"No, my love," she answered, "because I knew that no harm would come to
+you. I have always known that. It was a mad thing of your father to send
+you to such a place at such a time, but no folly of his or of anyone else
+can hurt you who are destined to live. Never be afraid of anything,
+Rachel, for remember always you will only die in old age."
+
+"I am not sure that I am glad of that," answered the girl, as she pulled
+off her wet clothes. "Life isn't a very happy thing, is it, mother, at
+least for those who live as we do?"
+
+"There is good and bad in it, dear; we can't have one without the
+other--most of us. At any rate, we must take it as it comes, who have to
+walk a path that we did not make, and stop walking when our path comes to
+an end, not a step before or after. But, Rachel, you are changed since
+yesterday. I see it in your face. What has happened to you?"
+
+"Lots of things, mother. I will tell you the story, all of it, every word.
+Would you like to hear it?"
+
+Her mother nodded, and, the baby-clothes being at last packed away, shut
+the lid of-the box with a sigh, sat down upon it and listened.
+
+Rachel told her of her meeting with Richard Darrien, and of how he saved
+her from the flood. She told of the strange night that they had spent
+together in the little cave while the lions marched up and down without.
+She told of her vigil over the sleeping Richard at the daybreak, and of
+the dream that she had dreamed when she seemed to see him grown to
+manhood, and herself grown to womanhood, and clad in white skins, watching
+him lashed to the trunk of a gigantic tree as the first arrows of sunrise
+struck down the lanes of some mysterious forest. She told of how her heart
+had been stirred, and of how afterwards in the mist by the water's brink
+his heart had been stirred also, and of how they had kissed each other and
+wept because they must part.
+
+Then she stopped, expecting that her mother would be angry with her and
+scold her for her thoughts and conduct, as she knew well her father would
+have done. But she was not angry, and she did not scold. She only
+stretched out her thin hands and stroked the child's fair hair, saying:
+
+"Don't be frightened, Rachel, and don't be sad. You think that you have
+lost him, but soon or late he will come back to you, perhaps as you
+dreamed--perhaps otherwise."
+
+"If I were sure of that, mother, I would not mind anything," said the
+girl, "though really I don't know why I should care," she added defiantly.
+
+"No, you don't know now, but you will one day, and when you do, remember
+that, however long it seems to wait, you may be quite sure, because I who
+have the gift of knowing, told you so. Now tell me again what Richard
+Darrien was like while you remember, for perhaps I may never live to see
+his face, and I wish to get it into my mind."
+
+So Rachel told her, and when she had described every detail, asked
+suddenly:
+
+"Must we really go on, mother, into this awful wilderness? Would not
+father turn back if you asked him?"
+
+"Perhaps," she answered. "But I shall not ask. He would never forgive me
+for preventing him from doing what he thinks his duty. It is a madness
+when we might be happy in the Cape or in England, but that cannot be
+helped, for it is also his destiny and ours. Don't judge hardly of your
+father, Rachel, because he is a saint, and this world is a bad place for
+saints and their families, especially their families. You think that he
+does not feel; that he is heartless about me and the poor babe, and
+sacrifices us all, but I tell you he feels more than either you or I can
+do. At night when I pretend to go to sleep I watch him groaning over his
+loss and for me, and praying for strength to bear it, and for help to
+enable him to do his duty. Last night he was nearly crazed about you, and
+in all that awful storm, when the Kaffirs would not stir from the waggon,
+went alone down to the river guided by the lightnings, but of course
+returned half dead, having found nothing. By dawn he was back there again,
+for love and fear would not let him rest a minute. Yet he will never tell
+you anything of that, lest you should think that his faith in Providence
+was shaken. I know that he is strange--it is no use hiding it, but if I
+were to thwart him he would go quite mad, and then I should never forgive
+myself, who took him for better and for worse, just as he is, and not as I
+should like him to be. So, Rachel, be as happy as you can, and make the
+best of things, as I try to do, for your life is all before you, whereas
+mine lies behind me, and yonder," and she pointed towards the place where
+the infant was buried. "Hush! here he comes. Now, help me with the
+packing, for we are to trek to the ford this afternoon."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ISHMAEL
+
+
+It may he doubted whether any well-born young English lady ever had a
+stranger bringing-up than that which fell to the lot of Rachel Dove. To
+begin with, she had absolutely no associates, male or female, of her own
+age and station, for at that period in its history such people did not
+exist in the country where she dwelt. Practically her only companions were
+her father, a religious enthusiast, and her mother, a half broken-hearted
+woman, who never for a single hour could forget the children she had lost,
+and whose constitutional mysticism increased upon her continually until at
+times it seemed as though she had added some new quality to her normal
+human nature.
+
+Then there were the natives, amongst whom from the beginning Rachel was a
+sort of queen. In those first days of settlement they had never seen
+anybody in the least like her, no one so beautiful--for she grew up
+beautiful--so fearless, or so kind. The tale of that adventure of hers as
+a child upon the island in the midst of the flooded torrent spread all
+through the country with many fabulous additions. Thus the Kaffirs said
+that she was a "Heaven-herd," that is, a magical person who can ward off
+or direct the lightnings, which she was supposed to have done upon this
+night; also that she could walk upon the waters, for otherwise how did she
+escape the flood? And, lastly, that the wild beasts were her servants, for
+had not the driver Tom and the natives seen the spoor of great lions right
+at the mouth of the cave where she and her companion sheltered, and had
+they not heard that she called these lions into the cave to protect her
+and him from the other creatures? Therefore, as has been said, they gave
+her a name, a very long name that meant Chieftainess, or Lady of Heaven,
+_Inkosazana-y-Zoola;_ for Zulu or Zoola, which we know as the title of
+that people, means Heaven, and _Udade-y-Silwana,_ or Sister of wild
+beasts. As these appellations proved too lengthy for general use, even
+among the Bantu races, who have plenty of time for talking, ultimately it
+was shortened to Zoola alone, so that throughout that part of
+South-Eastern Africa Rachel came to enjoy the lofty title of "Heaven," the
+first girl, probably, who was ever so called.
+
+With all natives from her childhood up, Rachel was on the best of terms.
+She was never familiar with them indeed, for that is not the way for a
+white person to win the affection, or even the respect of a Kaffir. But
+she was intimate in the sense that she could enter into their thoughts and
+nature, a very rare gift. We whites are apt to consider ourselves the
+superior of such folk, whereas we are only different. In fact, taken
+altogether, it is quite a question whether the higher sections of the
+Bantu peoples are not our equals. Of course, we have learned more things,
+and our best men are their betters. But, on the other hand, among them
+there is nothing so low as the inhabitants of our slums, nor have they any
+vices which can surpass our vices. Is an assegai so much more savage than
+a shell? Is there any great gulf fixed between a Chaka and a Napoleon? At
+least they are not hypocrites, and they are not vulgar; that is the
+privilege of civilised nations.
+
+Well, with these folk Rachel was intimate. She could talk to the warrior
+of his wars, to the woman of her garden and her children to the children
+of that wonder world which surrounds childhood throughout the universe.
+And yet there was never a one of these but lifted the hand to her in
+salute when her shadow fell upon them. To them all she was the Inkosazana,
+the Great Lady. They would laugh at her father and mimic him behind his
+back, but Rachel they never laughed at or mimicked. Of her mother also,
+although she kept herself apart from them, much the same may be said. For
+her they had a curious name which they would not, or were unable to
+explain. They called her "Flower-that-grows-on-a-grave." For Mr. Dove
+their appellation was less poetical. It was
+"Shouter-about-Things-he-does-not-understand," or, more briefly, "The
+Shouter," a name that he had acquired from his habit of raising his voice
+when he grew moved in speaking to them. The things that he did not
+understand, it may be explained, were not to their minds his religious
+views, which, although they considered them remarkable, were evidently his
+own affair, but their private customs. Especially their family customs
+that he was never weary of denouncing to the bewilderment of these poor
+heathens, who for their part were not greatly impressed by those of the
+few white people with whom they came in contact. Therefore, with native
+politeness, they concluded that he spoke thus rudely because he did not
+understand. Hence his name.
+
+But Rachel had other friends. In truth she was Nature's child, if in a
+better and a purer sense than Byron uses that description. The sea, the
+veld, the sky, the forest and the river, these were her companions, for
+among them she dwelt solitary. Their denizens, too, knew her well, for
+unless she were driven to it, never would she lift her hand against
+anything that drew the breath of life. The buck would let her pass quite
+close to them, nor at her coming did the birds stir from off their trees.
+Often she stood and watched the great elephants feeding or at rest, and
+even dared to wander among the herds of savage buffalo. Of only two living
+things was she afraid--the snake and the crocodile, that are cursed above
+all cattle, and above every beast of the field, because being cursed they
+have no sympathy or gentleness. She feared nothing else, she who was
+always fearless, nor brute or bird, did they fear her.
+
+After Rachel's adventure in the flooded river she and her parents pursued
+their journey by slow and tedious marches, and at length, though in those
+days this was strange enough, reached Natal unharmed. At first they went
+to live where the city of Durban now stands, which at that time had but
+just received its name. It was inhabited by a few rough men, who made a
+living by trading and hunting, and surrounded themselves with natives,
+refugees for the most part from the Zulu country. Amongst these people and
+their servants Mr. Dove commenced his labours, but ere long a bitter
+quarrel grew up between him and them.
+
+These dwellers in the midst of barbarism led strange lives, and Mr. Dove,
+who rightly held it to be his duty to denounce wrong-doing of every sort,
+attacked them and their vices in no measured terms, and upon all
+occasions. For long years he kept up the fight, until at length he found
+himself ostracised. If they could avoid it, no white men would speak to
+him, nor would they allow him to instruct their Kaffirs. Thus his work
+came to an end in Durban as it had done in other places. Now, again, his
+wife and daughter hoped that he would leave South Africa for good, and
+return home. But it was not to be, for once more he announced that it was
+laid upon him to follow the example of his divine Master, and that the
+Spirit drove him into the wilderness. So, with a few attendants, they
+trekked away from Durban.
+
+On this occasion it was his wild design to settle in Zululand--where
+Chaka, the great king, being dead, Dingaan, his brother and murderer,
+ruled in his place--and there devote himself to the conversion of the
+Zulus. Indeed, it is probable that he would have carried out this plan had
+he not been prevented by an accident. One night when they were about forty
+miles from Durban they camped on a stream, a tributary of the Tugela
+River, which ran close by, and formed the boundary of the Zulu country. It
+was a singularly beautiful spot, for to the east of them, about a mile
+away, stretched the placid Indian Ocean, while to the west, overshadowing
+them almost, rose a towering cliff, over which the stream poured itself,
+looking like a line of smoke against its rocky face. They had outspanned
+upon a rising hillock at the foot of which this little river wound away
+like a silver snake till it joined the great Tugela. In its general aspect
+the country was like an English park, dotted here and there with timber,
+around which grazed or rested great elands and other buck, and amongst
+them a huge rhinoceros.
+
+When the waggon had creaked to the top of the rise, for, of course, there
+was no road, and the Kaffirs were beginning to unyoke the hungry oxen,
+Rachel, who was riding with her father, sprang from her horse and ran to
+it to help her mother to descend. She was now a tall young woman, full of
+health and vigour, strong and straightly shaped. Mrs. Dove, frail,
+delicate, grey-haired, placed her foot upon the disselboom and hesitated,
+for to her the ground seemed far off, and the heels of the cattle very
+near.
+
+"Jump," said Rachel in her clear, laughing voice, as she smacked the near
+after-ox to make it turn round, which it did obediently, for all the team
+knew her. "I'll catch you."
+
+But her mother still hesitated, so thrusting her way between the ox and
+the front wheel Rachel stretched out her arms and lifted her bodily to the
+ground.
+
+"How strong you are, my love!" said her mother, with a sort of wondering
+admiration and a sad little smile; "it seems strange to think that I ever
+carried you."
+
+"One had need to be in this country, dear," replied Rachel cheerfully.
+"Come and walk a little way, you must be stiff with sitting in that horrid
+waggon," and she led her quite to the top of the knoll. "There," she
+added, "isn't the view lovely? I never saw such a pretty place in all
+Africa. And oh! look at those buck, and yes--that is a rhinoceros. I hope
+it won't charge us."
+
+Mrs. Dove obeyed, gazing first at the glorious sea, then at the plain and
+the trees, and lastly behind her at the towering cliff steeped in
+shadow--for the sun was westering--down the face of which the waterfall
+seemed to hang like a silver rope.
+
+As her eyes fell upon this cliff Mrs. Dove's face changed.
+
+"I know this spot," she said in a hurried voice. "I have seen it before."
+
+"Nonsense, mother," answered Rachel. "We have never trekked here, so how
+could you?"
+
+"I can't say, love, but I have. I remember that cliff and the waterfall;
+yes, and those three trees, and the buck standing under them."
+
+"One often feels like that, about having seen places, I mean, mother, but
+of course it is all nonsense, because it is impossible, unless one dreams
+of them first."
+
+"Yes, love, unless one dreams. Well, I think that I must have dreamt. What
+was the dream now? Rachel weeping--Rachel weeping--my love, I think that
+we are going to live here, and I think--I think----"
+
+"All right," broke in her daughter quickly, with a shade of anxiety in her
+voice as though she did not wish to learn what her mother thought. "I
+don't mind, I am sure. I don't want to go to Zululand, and see this horrid
+Dingaan, who is always killing people, and I am quite sure that father
+would never convert him, the wicked monster. It is like the Garden of
+Eden, isn't it, with the sea thrown in. There are all the animals, and
+that green tree with the fruit on it might be the Tree of Life, and--oh,
+my goodness, there is Adam!"
+
+Mrs. Dove followed the line of her daughter's outstretched hand, and
+perceived three or four hundred yards away, as in that sparkling
+atmosphere it was easy to do, a white man apparently clad in skins. He was
+engaged in crawling up a little rise of ground with the obvious intention
+of shooting at some blesbuck which stood in a hollow beyond with quaggas
+and other animals, while behind him was a mounted Kaffir who held his
+master's horse.
+
+"I see," said Mrs. Dove, mildly interested. "But he looks more like
+Robinson Crusoe without his umbrella. Adam did not kill the animals in the
+Garden, my dear."
+
+"He must have lived on something besides forbidden apples," remarked
+Rachel, "unless perhaps he was a vegetarian as father wants to be.
+There--he has fired!"
+
+As she spoke a cloud of smoke arose above the man, and presently the loud
+report of a _roer_ reached their ears. One of the buck rolled over and lay
+struggling on the ground, while the rest, together with many others at a
+distance, turned and galloped off this way and that, frightened by this
+new and terrible noise. The old rhinoceros under the tree rose snorting,
+sniffed the air, then thundered away up wind towards the man, its pig-like
+tail held straight above its back.
+
+"Adam has spoilt our Eden; I hope the rhinoceros will catch him," said
+Rachel viciously. "Look, he has seen it and is running to his horse."
+
+Rachel was right. Adam--or whatever his name might be--was running with
+remarkable swiftness. Reaching the horse just as the rhinoceros appeared
+within forty yards of him, he bounded to the saddle, and with his servant
+galloped off to the right. The rhinoceros came to a standstill for a few
+moments as though it were wondering whether it dared attack these strange
+creatures, then making up its mind in the negative, rushed on and
+vanished. When it was gone, the white man and the Kaffir, who had pulled
+up their horses at a distance, returned to the fallen buck, cut its
+throat, and lifted it on to the Kaffir's horse, then rode slowly towards
+the waggon.
+
+"They are coming to call," said Rachel. "How should one receive a
+gentleman in skins?"
+
+Apparently some misgivings as to the effect that might be produced by his
+appearance occurred to the hunter. At any rate, he looked first at the two
+white women standing on the brow, and next at his own peculiar attire,
+which appeared to consist chiefly of the pelt of a lion, plus a very
+striking pair of trousers manufactured from the hide of a zebra, and
+halted about sixty yards away, staring at them. Rachel, whose sight was
+exceedingly keen, could see his face well, for the light of the setting
+sun fell on it, and he wore no head covering. It was a dark, handsome face
+of a man about thirty-five years of age, with strongly-marked features,
+black eyes and beard, and long black hair that fell down on to his
+shoulders. They gazed at each other for a while, then the man turned to
+his after-rider, gave him an order in a clear, strong voice, and rode away
+inland. The after-rider, on the contrary, directed his horse up the rise
+until he was within a few yards of them, then sprang to the ground and
+saluted.
+
+ "What is it?" asked Rachel in Zulu, a language which she now spoke
+perfectly.
+
+"Inkosikaas" (that is--Lady), answered the man, "my master thinks that you
+may be hungry and sends you a present of this buck," and, as he spoke, he
+loosed the riem or hide rope by which it was fastened behind his saddle,
+and let the animal fall to the ground.
+
+Rachel turned her eyes from it, for it was covered with blood, and
+unpleasant to look at, then replied:
+
+"My father and my mother thank your master. How is he named, and where
+does he dwell?"
+
+"Lady, among us black people he is named Ibubesi (lion), but his white
+name is Hishmel."
+
+"Hishmel, Hishmel?" said Rachel. "Oh! I know, he means Ishmael. There,
+mother, I told you he was something biblical, and of course Ishmael dwelt
+in the wilderness, didn't he, after his father had behaved so badly to
+poor Hagar, and was a wild man whose hand was against every man's."
+
+"Rachel, Rachel," said her mother suppressing a little smile. "Your father
+would be very angry if he heard you. You should not speak lightly of holy
+persons."
+
+"Well, mother, Abraham may have been a holy person, but we should think
+him a mean old thing nowadays, almost as mean as Sarah. You know they were
+most of them mean, so what is the use of pretending they were not?"
+
+Then without waiting for an answer she asked the Kaffir again: "Where does
+the Inkoos Ishmael dwell?"
+
+"In the wilderness," answered the man appropriately. "Now his kraal is
+yonder, two hours' ride away. It is called Mafooti," and he pointed over
+the top of the precipice, adding: "he is a hunter and trades with the
+Zulus."
+
+"Is he Dutch?" asked Rachel, whose curiosity was excited.
+
+The Kaffir shook his head. "No, he hates the Dutch; he is of the people of
+George."
+
+"The people of George? Why, he must mean a subject of King George--an
+Englishman."
+
+"Yes, yes, Lady, an Englishman, like you," and he grinned at her. "Have
+you any message for the Inkoos Hishmel?"
+
+"Yes. Say to the Inkoos Ishmael or Lion-who-dwells-in-the-wilderness,
+hates the Dutch and wears zebra-skin trousers, that my father and my
+mother thank him very much for his present, and hope that his health is
+good. Go. That is all."
+
+The man grinned again, suspecting a joke, for the Zulus have a sense of
+humour, then repeated the message word for word, trying to pronounce
+Ishmael as Rachel did, saluted, mounted his horse, and galloped off after
+his master.
+
+"Perhaps you should have kept that Kaffir until your father came,"
+suggested Mrs. Dove doubtfully.
+
+"What was the good?" said Rachel. "He would only have asked Mr. Ishmael to
+call in order that he might find out his religious opinions, and I don't
+want to see any more of the man."
+
+"Why not, Rachel?"
+
+"Because I don't like him, mother. I think he is worse than any of the
+rest down there, too bad to stop among them probably, and--" she added
+with conviction, "I think we shall have more of his company than we want
+before all is done. Oh! it is no good to say that I am prejudiced--I do,
+and what is more, he came into our Garden of Eden and shot the buck. I
+hope he will meet that rhinoceros on the way home. There!"
+
+Although she disapproved, or tried to think that she did, of such strong
+opinions so strongly expressed, Mrs. Dove offered no further opposition to
+them. The fact was that her daughter's bodily and mental vigour
+overshadowed her, as they did her husband also. Indeed, it seemed curious
+that this girl, so powerful in body and in mind, should have sprung from
+such a pair, a wrong-headed, narrow-viewed saint whose right place in the
+world would have been in a cell in the monastery or one of the stricter
+orders, and a gentle, uncomplaining, high-bred woman with a mind
+distinguished by its affectionate and mystical nature, a mind so unusual
+and refined that it seemed to be, and in truth was, open to influences
+whereof, mercifully enough, the majority of us never feel the subtle,
+secret power.
+
+Of her father there was absolutely no trace in Rachel, except a certain
+physical resemblance--so far as he was concerned she must have thrown back
+to some earlier progenitor. Even their intellects and moral outlook were
+quite different. She had, it is true, something of his scholarly power;
+thus, notwithstanding her wild upbringing, as has been said, she could
+read the Greek Testament almost as well as he could, or even Homer, which
+she liked because the old, bloodthirsty heroes reminded her of the Zulus.
+He had taught her this and other knowledge, and she was an apt pupil. But
+there the resemblance stopped. Whereas his intelligence was narrow and
+enslaved by the priestly tradition, hers was wide and human. She searched
+and she criticised; she believed in God as he did, but she saw His purpose
+working in the evil as in the good. In her own thought she often compared
+these forces to the Day and Night, and believed both of them to be
+necessary to the human world. For her, savagery had virtues as well as
+civilisation, although it is true of the latter she knew but little.
+
+From her mother Rachel had inherited more, for instance her grace of
+speech and bearing, and her intuition, or foresight. Only in her case this
+curious gift did not dominate her, her other forces held it in check. She
+felt and she knew, but feeling and knowledge did not frighten or make her
+weak, any more than the strength of her frame or of her spirit made her
+unwomanly. She accepted these things as part of her mental equipment, that
+was all, being aware that to her a door was opened which is shut firmly
+enough in the faces of most folk, but not on that account in the least
+afraid of looking through it as her mother was.
+
+Thus when she saw the man called Ishmael, she knew well enough that he was
+destined to bring great evil upon her and hers, as when as a child she met
+the boy Richard Darrien, she had known other things. But she did not,
+therefore, fear the man and his attendant evil. She only shrank from the
+first and looked through the second, onward and outward to the ultimate
+good which she was convinced lay at the end of everything, and meanwhile,
+being young and merry, she found his zebra-skin trousers very ridiculous.
+
+Just as Rachel and her mother finished their conversation about Mr.
+Ishmael, Mr. Dove arrived from a little Kloof, where he had been engaged
+with the Kaffirs in cutting bushes to make a thorn fence round their camp
+as a protection against lions and hyenas. He looked older than when we
+last met him, and save for a fringe of white hair, which increased his
+monkish appearance, was quite bald. His face, too, was even thinner and
+more eager, and his grey eyes were more far-away than formerly; also he
+had grown a long white beard.
+
+"Where did that buck come from?" he asked, looking at the dead creature.
+
+Rachel told him the story with the result that, as her mother had
+expected, he was very indignant with her. It was most unkind, and indeed,
+un-Christian, he said, not to have asked this very courteous gentleman
+into the camp, as he would much have liked to converse with him. He had
+often reproved her habit of judging by external, and in the veld, lion and
+zebra skins furnish a very suitable covering. She should remember that
+such were given to our first parents.
+
+"Oh! I know, father," broke in Rachel, "when the climate grew too cold for
+leaf petticoats and the rest. Now don't begin to scold me, because I must
+go to cook the dinner. I didn't like the look of the man; besides, he rode
+off. Then it wasn't my business to ask him here, but mother's, who stood
+staring at him and never said a single word. If you want to see him so
+much, you can go to call upon him to-morrow, only don't take me, please.
+And now will you send Tom to skin the buck?"
+
+Mr. Dove answered that Tom was busy with the fence, and, ceasing from
+argument which he felt to be useless with Rachel, suggested doubtfully
+that he had better be his own butcher.
+
+"No, no," she replied, "you know you hate that sort of thing, as I do. Let
+it be till the Kaffirs have time. We have the cold meat left for supper,
+and I will boil some mealies. Go and help with the fence, father while I
+light the fire."
+
+Usually Rachel was the best of sleepers. So soon as she laid her head upon
+whatever happened to serve her for a pillow, generally a saddle, her eyes
+shut to open no more till daylight came. On this night, however, it was
+not so. She had her bed in a little flap tent which hooked on to the side
+of the waggon that was occupied by her parents. Here she lay wide awake
+for a long while, listening to the Kaffirs who, having partaken heartily
+of the buck, were now making themselves drunk by smoking _dakka_, or
+Indian hemp, a habit of which Mr. Dove had tried in vain to break them. At
+length the fire around which they sat near the thorn fence on the further
+side of the waggon, grew low, and their incoherent talk ended in silence,
+punctuated by snores. Rachel began to dose but was awakened by the
+laughing cries of the hyenas quite close to her. The brutes had scented
+the dead buck and were wandering round the fence in hope of a midnight
+meal. Rachel rose, and taking the gun that lay at her side, threw a cloak
+over her shoulders and left the tent.
+
+The moon was shining brightly and by its light she saw the hyenas, two of
+them, wolves as they are called in South Africa, long grey creatures that
+prowled round the thorn fence hungrily, causing the oxen that were tied to
+the trek tow and the horses picketed on the other side of the waggon, to
+low and whinny in an uneasy fashion. The hyenas saw her also, for her head
+rose above the rough fence, and being cowardly beasts, slunk away. She
+could have shot them had she chose, but did not, first because she hated
+killing anything unnecessarily, even a wolf, and secondly because it would
+have aroused the camp. So she contented herself by throwing more dry wood
+on to the fire, stepping over the Kaffirs, who slept like logs, in order
+to do so. Then, resting upon her gun like some Amazon on guard, she gazed
+a while at the lovely moonlit sea, and the long line of game trekking
+silently to their drinking place, until seeing no more of the wolves or
+other dangerous beasts, she turned and sought her bed again.
+
+She was thinking of Mr. Ishmael and his zebra-skin trousers; wondering why
+the man should have filled her with such an unreasoning dislike. If she
+had disliked him at a distance of fifty paces, how she would hate him when
+he was near! And yet he was probably only one of those broken soldiers of
+fortune of whom she had met several, who took to the wilderness as a last
+resource, and by degrees sank to the level of the savages among whom they
+lived, a person who was not worth a second thought. So she tried to put
+him from her mind, and by way of an antidote, since still she could not
+sleep, filled it with her recollections of Richard Darrien. Some years had
+gone by since they had met, and from that time to this she had never heard
+a word of him in which she could put the slightest faith. She did not even
+know whether he were alive or dead, only she believed that if he were dead
+she would be aware of it. No, she had never heard of him, and it seemed
+probable that she never would hear of him again. Yet she did not believe
+that either. Had she done so her happiness--for on the whole Rachel was a
+happy girl--would have departed from her, since this once seen lad never
+left her heart, nor had she forgotten their farewell kiss.
+
+Reflecting thus, at length Rachel fell off to sleep and began to dream,
+still of Richard Darrien. It was a long dream whereof afterwards she could
+remember but little, but in it there were shoutings, and black faces, and
+the flashing of spears; also the white man Ishmael was present there. One
+part, however, she did remember; Richard Darrien, grown taller, changed
+and yet the same, leaning over her, warning her of danger to come, warning
+her against this man Ishmael.
+
+She awoke suddenly to see that the light of dawn was creeping into her
+tent, that low, soft light which is so beautiful in Southern Africa.
+Rachel was disturbed, she felt the need of action, of anything that would
+change the current of her thoughts. No one was about yet. What should she
+do? She knew; the sea was not more than a mile away, she would go down to
+it and bathe, and be back before the rest of them were awake.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+NOIE
+
+
+That a girl should set out alone to bathe through a country inhabited
+chiefly by wild beasts and a few wandering savages, sounds a somewhat
+dangerous form of amusement. So it was indeed, but Rachel cared nothing
+for such dangers, in fact she never even thought of them. Long ago she had
+discovered that the animals would not harm her if she did not harm them,
+except perhaps the rhinoceros, which is given to charging on sight, and
+that was large and could generally be discovered at a distance. As for
+elephants and lions, or even buffalo, her experience was that they ran
+away, except on rare occasions when they stood still, and stared at her.
+Nor was she afraid of the savages, who always treated her with the utmost
+respect, even if they had never seen her before. Still, in case of
+accidents she took her double-barrelled gun, loaded in one barrel with
+ball, and in the other with loopers or slugs, and awakened Tom, the
+driver, to tell him where she was going. The man stared at her sleepily,
+and murmured a remonstrance, but taking no heed of him she pulled out some
+thorns from the fence to make a passage, and in another minute was lost to
+sight in the morning mist.
+
+Following a game path through the dew-drenched grass which grew upon the
+swells and valleys of the veld, and passing many small buck upon her way,
+in about twenty minutes, just as the light was really beginning to grow,
+Rachel reached the sea. It was dead calm, and the tide chancing to be out,
+soon she found the very place she sought--a large, rock-bound pool where
+there would be no fear of sharks that never stay in such a spot, fearing
+lest they should be stranded. Slipping off her clothes she plunged into
+the cool and crystal water and began to swim round and across the pool,
+for at this art she was expert, diving and playing like a sea-nymph. Her
+bath done she dried herself with a towel she had brought, all except her
+long, fair hair, which she let loose for the wind to blow on, and having
+dressed, stood a while waiting to see the glory of the sun rising from the
+ocean.
+
+Whilst she remained thus, suddenly she heard the sound of horses galloping
+towards her, two of them she could tell that from the hoof beats, although
+the low-lying mist made them invisible. A few more seconds and they
+emerged out of the fog. The first thing that she saw were stripes which
+caused her to laugh, thinking that she had mistaken zebras for horses.
+Then the laugh died on her lips as she recognised that the stripes were
+those of Mr. Ishmael's trousers. Yes, there was no doubt about it, Mr.
+Ishmael, wearing a rough coat instead of his lion-skin, but with the rest
+of his attire unchanged, was galloping down upon her furiously, leading a
+riderless horse. Remembering her wet and dishevelled hair, Rachel threw
+the towel over it, whence it hung like an old Egyptian head-dress, setting
+her beautiful face in a most becoming frame. Next she picked up the
+double-barrelled gun and cocked it, for she misdoubted her of this man's
+intentions. Not many modern books came her way, but she had read stories
+of young women who were carried off by force.
+
+For an instance she was frightened, but as she lifted the hammer of the
+second barrel her constitutional courage returned.
+
+"Let him try it," she thought to herself. "If he had come ten minutes ago
+it would have been awful, but now I don't care."
+
+By this time Mr. Ishmael had arrived, and was dragging his horse to its
+haunches; also she saw that evidently he was much more frightened than she
+had been. The man's handsome face was quite white, and his lips were
+trembling. "Perhaps that rhinoceros is after him again, thought Rachel,
+then added aloud quietly:
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"Forgive me," he answered in a rich, and to Rachel's astonishment,
+perfectly educated voice, "forgive me for disturbing you. I am ashamed,
+but it is necessary. The Zulus--" and he paused.
+
+"Well, sir," asked Rachel, "what about the Zulus?"
+
+"A regiment of them are coming down here on the warpath. They are hunting
+fugitives. The fugitives, about fifty of them, passed my camp over an hour
+ago, and I saw the Impi following them. I rode to warn you all. They told
+me you were down by the sea. I came to bring you back to your waggon lest
+you should be cut off."
+
+"Thank you very much," said Rachel. "But I am not afraid of the Zulus. I
+do not think that they will hurt me."
+
+"Not hurt you! Not hurt you! White and beautiful as you are. Why not?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know," she replied with a laugh, "but you see I am called
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola. They won't touch one with that name."
+
+"Inkosazana-y-Zoola," he repeated astonished. "Why she is their Spirit,
+yes, and I remember--white like you, so they say. How did you get that
+name? But mount, mount! They will kill you first, and ask how you were
+called afterwards. Your father is much afraid."
+
+"My mother would not be afraid; she knows," muttered Rachel to herself, as
+she sprang to the saddle of the led-horse.
+
+Then, without more words, they began to gallop back towards the camp.
+Before they reached the crest of the second rise the sun shone out in
+earnest, thinning the seaward mist, although between them and the camp it
+still hung thick. Then suddenly in the fog-edge Rachel saw this sight:
+Towards them ran a delicately shaped and beautiful native girl, naked
+except for her moocha, and of a very light, copper-colour, whilst after
+her, brandishing an assegai, came a Zulu warrior. Evidently the girl was
+in the last stage of exhaustion; indeed she reeled over the ground, her
+tongue protruded from her lips and her eyes seemed to be starting from her
+head.
+
+"Come on," shouted the man called Ishmael. "It is only one of the
+fugitives whom they are killing."
+
+But Rachel did nothing of the sort; she pulled up her horse and waited.
+The girl caught sight of her and with a wild hoarse scream, redoubled her
+efforts, so that her pursuer, who had been quite close, was left behind.
+She reached Rachel and flung her arms about her legs gasping:
+
+"Save me, white lady, save me!"
+
+"Shoot her if she won't leave go," shouted Ishmael, "and come on."
+
+But Rachel only sprang from the horse and stood face to face with the
+advancing Zulu.
+
+"Stand," she said, and the man stopped.
+
+"Now," she asked, "what do you want with this woman?"
+
+"To take her or to kill her," gasped the soldier.
+
+"By whose order?"
+
+"By order of Dingaan the King."
+
+"For what crime?"
+
+"Witchcraft; but who are you who question me, white woman?"
+
+"One whom you must obey," answered Rachel proudly. "Go back and leave the
+girl. She is mine."
+
+The man stared at her, then laughed aloud and began to advance again.
+
+"Go back," repeated Rachel.
+
+He took no heed but still came on.
+
+"Go back or die," she said for the third time.
+
+"I shall certainly die if I go back to Dingaan without the girl," replied
+the soldier who was a bold-looking savage. "Now you, Noie, will you return
+with me or shall I kill you? Say, witch," and he lifted his assegai.
+
+The girl sank in a heap upon the veld. "Kill," she murmured faintly, "I
+will not go back. I did not bewitch him to make him dream of me, and I
+will be Death's wife, not his; a ghost in his kraal, not a woman."
+
+"Good," said the man, "I will carry your word to the king. Farewell,
+Noie," and he raised the assegai still higher, adding: "Stand aside, white
+woman, for I have no order to kill you also."
+
+By way of answer Rachel put the gun to her shoulder and pointed it at him.
+
+"Are you mad?" shouted Ishmael. "If you touch him they will murder every
+one of us. Are you mad?"
+
+"Are you a coward?" she asked quietly, without taking her eyes off the
+soldier. Then she said in Zulu, "Listen. The land on this side of the
+Tugela has been given by Dingaan to the English. Here he has no right to
+kill. This girl is mine, not his. Come one step nearer and you die."
+
+"We shall soon see who will die," answered the warrior with a laugh, and
+he sprang forward.
+
+They were his last words. Rachel aimed and pressed the trigger, the gun
+exploded heavily in the mist; the Zulu leapt into the air and fell upon
+his back, dead. The white man, Ishmael, rode to them, pulled up his horse
+and sat still, staring. It was a strange picture in that lonely, silent
+spot. The soldier so very still and dead, his face hidden by the shield
+that had fallen across it; the tall, white girl, rigid as a statue, in
+whose hand the gun still smoked, the delicate, fragile Kaffir maiden
+kneeling on the veld, and looking at her wildly as though she were a
+spirit, and the two horses, one with its ears pricked in curiosity, and
+the other already cropping grass.
+
+"My God! What have you done?" exclaimed Ishmael.
+
+"Justice," answered Rachel.
+
+"Then your blood be on your own head. I am not going to stop here to have
+my throat cut."
+
+"Don't," answered Rachel. "I have a better guardian than you, and will
+look after my own blood."
+
+To this speech the white man seemed to be able to find no answer. Turning
+his horse he galloped off swearing, but not towards the camp, whereon the
+other horse galloped after him, and presently they all vanished in the
+mist, leaving the two women alone.
+
+At this moment from the direction of the waggon they heard the sound of
+shouting and of screams, which appeared to come from the valley between
+them and it.
+
+"The king's men are killing my people," muttered the girl Noie. "Go, or
+they will kill you too."
+
+Rachel thought a moment. Evidently it was impossible to get through to the
+camp; indeed, even had they tried to do so on the horses they would have
+been cut off. An idea came to her. They stood upon the edge of a steep,
+bush-clothed kloof, where in the wet season a stream ran down to the sea.
+This stream was now represented by a chain of deep and muddy pools, one of
+which pools lay directly underneath them.
+
+"Help me to throw him into the water," said Rachel.
+
+The girl understood, and with desperate energy they seized the dead
+soldier, dragged him to the edge of the little cliff and thrust him over.
+He fell with a heavy splash into the pool and vanished.
+
+"Crocodiles live there," said Rachel, "I saw one as I passed. Now take the
+shield and spear and follow me."
+
+She obeyed, for with hope her strength seemed, to have returned to her,
+and the two of them scrambled down the cliffs into the kloof. As they
+reached the edge of the pool they saw great snouts and a disturbance in
+the water. Rachel was right, crocodiles lived there.
+
+"Now," she said, "throw your moocha on that rock. They will find it and
+think----"
+
+Noie nodded and did so, rending its fastening and wetting it in the water.
+Then quite naked she took Rachel's hand and swiftly, swiftly, the two of
+them leapt from stone to stone, so as to leave no footprints, heading for
+the sea. Only the fugitive stopped once to drink of the fresh water, for
+she was perishing with thirst. Now when Rachel was bathing she had
+observed upon the farther side of her pool and opening out of it, as it
+were, a little pocket in the rock, where the water was not more than three
+feet deep and covered by a dense growth of beautiful seaweed, some black
+and some ribbon-like and yellow. The pool was long, perhaps two hundred
+paces in all, and to go round it they would be obliged to expose
+themselves upon the sand, and thus become visible from a long way off.
+
+"Can you swim?" said Rachel to Noie.
+
+Again she nodded, and the two of them slipped into the water and swam
+across the pool till they reached the pocket-like place, on the edge of
+which they sat down, covering themselves with the seaweed.
+
+They had not been there five minutes when they heard the sound of voices
+drawing near down the kloof, and at once slid into the water, covering
+themselves in it in such fashion that only their heads remained above the
+surface, mixed with the black and yellow seaweed, so that without close
+search none could have said which was hair and which was weed.
+
+"The Zulus," said Noie, shivering so that the water shook about her, "they
+seek me."
+
+"Lie still, then," answered Rachel. "I can't shoot now, the gun is wet."
+
+The voices died away, and the two girls thought that the speakers had
+gone, but rendered cautious, still remained hidden in the water. It was
+well for them that they did so for presently they heard the voices again
+and much nearer. The Zulus were walking round the pool. Two of them came
+quite close to their little hiding-place, and sat down on some rocks to
+rest, and talk. Peeping through her covering of seaweed Rachel could see
+them, great men who held red spears in their hands.
+
+"You are a fool," said one of them to the other, "and have given us this
+walk for nothing, as though our feet were not sore enough already. The
+crocodiles have that Noie, her witchcraft could not save her from them; it
+was a baboon's spoor you saw in the mud, not a woman's."
+
+"It would seem so, brother," answered the other, "as we found the moocha.
+Still, if so, where is Bomba who was running her down? And what made that
+blood-mark on the grass?"
+
+"Doubtless," replied the first man, "Bomba came up with her there and
+wounded her, whereon being a woman and a coward, she ran from him and
+jumped into the pool in which the crocodiles finished her. As for Bomba, I
+expect that he has gone back to Zululand, or is asleep somewhere resting.
+The other spoor we saw was that of a white woman, who puts skins upon her
+feet. There is a camp of them up yonder, but you remember, our orders were
+not to touch any of the people of George, so we need not trouble about
+them."
+
+"Well, brother, if you are sure, we had better be starting back, lest
+there should be trouble with the white people. Dingaan will be satisfied
+when we show him the moocha, and sleep in peace henceforth. She must
+really have been _tagati_ (uncanny), that little Noie, for otherwise,
+although it is true she was pretty, why should Dingaan who has all
+Zululand to choose from, have fallen in love with her, and why should she
+have refused to enter his house, and persuaded all her kraal to run away?
+For my part, I don't believe that she is dead now, notwithstanding the
+moocha. I think that she is a witch, and has changed into something
+else--a bird or a snake, perhaps. Well, the rest of them will never change
+into anything, except black mould. Let us see. We have killed every one;
+all the common people, the mother of Noie, the dwarf-wizard Seyapi her
+father, and her other mothers, four of them, and her brothers and sisters,
+twelve in all."
+
+At these words Noie again trembled beneath her seaweed, so that the water
+shook all about her.
+
+"There is a fish there," said the first Kaffir, "I saw it rise. It is a
+small pool, shall we try to catch it?"
+
+"No, brother," answered the other, "only coast people eat fish. I am
+hungry, but I will wait for man's food. Take that, fish!" and he threw a
+stone into the pool which struck Rachel on the side, and caused her fair
+hair to float about among the yellow seaweed.
+
+Then the two of them got up and went away, walking arm-in-arm like friends
+and amiable men, as they were in their own fashion.
+
+For a long time the girls remained beneath their seaweed, fearing lest the
+men or others should return, until at length they could bear the cold of
+the water no longer, and crept out of it to the brink of the little pool,
+where, still wreathed in seaweed, they sat and warmed themselves in the
+hot sunlight. Now Noie seemed to be half dead; indeed Rachel thought that
+she would die.
+
+"Awake," she said, "life is still before you."
+
+"Would that it were behind me, Lady," moaned the poor girl. "You
+understand our tongue--did you not hear? My father, my own mother, my
+other mothers, my brothers and sisters, all killed, all killed for my
+sake, and I left living. Oh! you meant kindly, but why did you not let
+Bomba pass his spear through me? It would have been quickly over, and now
+I should sleep with the rest."
+
+Rachel made no answer, for she saw that talking was useless in such a
+case. Only she took Noie's hand and pressed it in silent sympathy, until
+at length the poor girl, utterly outworn with agony and the fatigue of her
+long flight, fell asleep, there in the sunshine. Rachel let her sleep,
+knowing that she would take no harm in that warmth. Quietly she sat at her
+side for hour after hour while the fierce sun, from which she protected
+her head with seaweed, dried her garments. At length the shadows told her
+that midday was past, and the sea water which began to trickle over the
+surrounding rocks that the tide was approaching its full. They could stop
+there no longer unless they wished to be drowned.
+
+"Come," she said to Noie, "the Zulus have gone, and the sea is here. We
+must swim to the shore and go back to my father's camp."
+
+"What place have I in your kraal, Lady?" asked the girl when her senses
+had returned to her.
+
+"I will find you a place," Rachel answered; "you are mine now."
+
+"Yes, Lady, that is true," said Noie heavily, "I am yours and no one
+else's," and taking Rachel's hand she pressed it to her forehead.
+
+Then together once more they swam the pool, and not too soon, for the tide
+was pouring into it. Reaching the shore in safety, no easy task for
+Rachel, who must hold the heavy gun above her head, Noie tied Rachel's
+towel about her middle to take the place of her moocha, and very
+cautiously they crept up the kloof, fearing lest some of the Zulus might
+still be lurking in the neighbourhood.
+
+At length they came to the pool into which they had thrown the soldier
+Bomba, and saw two crocodiles doubtless those that had eaten him, lying
+asleep in the sun upon flat rocks at its edge. Here they were obliged to
+leave the kloof both because they feared to pass the crocodiles, and for
+the reason that their road to the camp ran another way. So they climbed up
+the cliff and looked about, but could see only a pair of oribe bucks, one
+lying down under a tree, and one eating grass quite close to its mate.
+
+"The Zulus have gone or there would be no buck here," said Rachel. "Come,
+now, hold the shield before you and the spear in your hand, to hide that
+you are a woman, and let us go on boldly."
+
+So they went till they reached the crest of the next rise, and then sprang
+back behind it, for lying here and there they saw people who seemed to be
+asleep.
+
+"The Zulus resting!" exclaimed Rachel.
+
+"Nay," answered the girl with a sigh. "My people, dead! See the vultures
+gathered round them."
+
+Rachel looked again, and saw that it was so. Without a word they walked
+forward, and as they passed each body Noie gave it its name. Here lay a
+brother, there a sister, yonder four folk of her father's kraal. They came
+to a tall and handsome woman of middle age, and she shivered as she had
+done in the pool and said in an icy voice:
+
+"The mother who bore me!"
+
+A few more steps and in a patch of high grass that grew round an ant-heap,
+they found two Zulu soldiers, each pierced through with a spear. Seated
+against the ant-heap also, as though he were but resting, was a
+light-coloured man, a dwarf in stature, spare of frame, and with sharp
+features. His dress, if he wore any, seemed to have been removed from him,
+for he was almost naked, and Rachel noticed that no wound could be seen on
+him.
+
+"Behold my father!" said Noie in the same icy voice.
+
+"But," whispered Rachel, "he only sleeps. No spear has touched him."
+
+"Not so, he is dead, dead by the White Death after the fashion of his
+people."
+
+Now Rachel wondered what this White Death might be, and of which people
+the man was one. That he was not a Zulu who had been stunted in his growth
+she could see for herself, nor had she ever met a native who at all
+resembled him. Still she could ask no questions at that time; the thing
+was too awful. Moreover Noie had knelt down before the body, and with her
+arms thrown around its neck, was whispering into its ear. For a full
+minute she whispered thus, then set her own ear to the cold stirless lips,
+and for another minute or more, seemed to listen intently, nodding her
+head from time to time. Never before had Rachel witnessed anything so
+uncanny, and oddly enough, the fact that this scene was enacted in the
+bright sunlight added to its terrors. She stood paralysed, forgetting the
+Zulus, forgetting everything except that to all appearance the living was
+holding converse with the dead.
+
+At length Noie rose, and turning to her companion said:
+
+"My Spirit has been good to me; I thank my Spirit, which brought me here
+before it was too late for us to talk together. Now I have the message."
+
+"The message! Oh! what message?" gasped Rachel.
+
+An inscrutable look gathered on the face of the beautiful native girl.
+
+"It is to me alone," she answered, "but this I may say, much of it was of
+you, Inkosazana-y-Zoola."
+
+"Who told you that was my native name?" asked Rachel, springing back.
+
+"It was in the message, O thou before whom kings shall bow."
+
+"Nonsense," exclaimed Rachel, "you have heard it from our people."
+
+"So be it, Lady; I have heard it from your people whom I have never seen.
+Now let us go, your father is troubled for you."
+
+Again Rachel looked at her sideways, and Noie went on:
+
+"Lady, from henceforth I am your servant, am I not? and that service will
+not be light."
+
+"She thinks I shall make her dig," thought Rachel to herself, as the girl
+continued in her low, soft voice:
+
+"Now I ask you one thing--when I tell you my story, let it be for your
+breast alone. Say only that I am a common girl whom you saved from the
+soldier."
+
+"Why not?" answered Rachel. "That is all I have to tell."
+
+Then once more they went on, Rachel wondering if she dreamed, the girl
+Noie walking at her side, stern and cold-faced as a statue.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CASTING OF THE LOTS
+
+
+They reached the crest of the last rise, and there, facing them on the
+slope of the opposite wave of land, stood the waggon, surrounded by the
+thorn fence, within which the cattle and horses were still enclosed,
+doubtless for fear of the Zulus. Nothing could be more peaceful than the
+aspect of that camp. To look at it no one would have believed that within
+a few hundred yards a hideous massacre had just taken place. Presently,
+however, voices began to shout, and heads to bob up over the fence. Then
+it occurred to Rachel that they must think she was a prisoner in the
+charge of a Zulu, and she told Noie to lower the shield which she still
+held in front of her. The next instant some thorns were torn out, and her
+father, a gun in his hand, appeared striding towards them.
+
+"Thank God that you are safe," he said as they met. "I have suffered great
+anxiety, although I hoped that the white man Israel--no, Ishmael--had
+rescued you. He came here to warn us," he added in explanation, "very
+early this morning, then galloped off to find you. Indeed his after-rider,
+whose horse he took, is still here. Where on earth have you been, Rachel,
+and"--suddenly becoming aware of Noie, who, arrayed only in a towel, a
+shield, and a stabbing spear, presented a curious if an impressive
+spectacle--"who is this young person?"
+
+"She is a native girl I saved from the massacre," replied Rachel,
+answering the last question first. "It is a long story, but I shot the man
+who was going to kill her, and we hid in a pool. Are you all safe, and
+where is mother?"
+
+"Shot the man! Shed human blood! Hid in a pool!" ejaculated Mr. Dove,
+overcome. "Really, Rachel, you are a most trying daughter. Why should you
+go out before daybreak and do such things?"
+
+"I don't know, I am sure, father; predestination, I suppose--to save her
+life, you know."
+
+Again he contemplated the beautiful Noie, then, murmuring something about
+a blanket, ran back to the camp. By this time Mrs. Dove had climbed out of
+the waggon, and arrived with the Kaffirs.
+
+"I knew you would be safe, Rachel," she said in her gentle voice, "because
+nothing can hurt you. Still you do upset your poor father dreadfully,
+and--what are you going to do with that naked young woman?"
+
+"Give her something to eat, dear," answered Rachel. "Don't ask me any more
+questions now. We have been sitting up to our necks in water for hours,
+and are starved and frozen, to say nothing of worse things."
+
+At this moment Mr. Dove arrived with a blanket, which he offered to Noie,
+who took it from him and threw it round her body. Then they went into the
+camp, where Rachel changed her damp clothes, whilst Noie sat by her in a
+corner of the tent. Presently, too, food was brought, and Rachel ate
+hungrily, forcing Noie to do the same. Then she went out, leaving the girl
+to rest in the tent, and with certain omissions, such as the conduct of
+Noie when she found her dead father, told all the story which, wild as
+were the times and strange as were the things that happened in them, they
+found wonderful enough.
+
+When she had done Mr. Dove knelt down and offered up thanks for his
+daughter's preservation through great danger, and with them prayers that
+she might be forgiven for having shot the Zulu, a deed that, except for
+the physical horror of it, did not weigh upon Rachel's mind.
+
+"You know, father, you would have done the same yourself," she explained,
+"and so would mother there, if she could hold a gun, so what is the good
+of pretending that it is a sin? Also no one saw it except that white man
+and the crocodiles which buried the body, so the less we say about the
+matter the better it will be for all of us."
+
+"I admit," answered Mr. Dove, "that the circumstances justified the deed,
+though I fear that the truth will out, since blood calls for blood. But
+what are we to do with the girl? They will come to seek her and kill us
+all."
+
+"They will not seek, father, because they think that she is dead, and will
+never know otherwise unless that white man tells them, which he will
+scarcely do, as the Zulus would think that he shot the soldier, not I. She
+has been sent to us, and it is our duty to keep her."
+
+"I suppose so," said her father doubtfully. "Poor thing! Truly she has
+cause for gratitude to Providence: all her relations killed by those
+bloodthirsty savages, and she saved!"
+
+"If all of you were killed and I were saved, I do not know that I should
+feel particularly grateful," answered Rachel. "But it is no use arguing
+about such things, so let us be thankful that we are not killed too. Now I
+am tired out, and going to lie down, for of course we can't leave this
+place at present, unless we trek back to Durban."
+
+Such was the finding of Noie.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Rachel awoke from the sleep into which she had fallen, sunset was
+near at hand. She left the tent where Noie still lay slumbering or lost in
+stupor, to find that only her mother and Ishmael's after-rider remained in
+the camp, her father having gone out with the Kaffirs, in order to bury as
+many of the dead as possible before night came, and with it the jackals
+and hyenas. Rachel made up the fire and set to work with her mother's help
+to cook their evening meal. Whilst they were thus engaged her quick ears
+caught the sound of horses' hoofs, and she looked up to perceive the white
+man, Ishmael, still leading the spare horse on which she had ridden that
+morning. He had halted on the crest of ground where she had first seen him
+upon the previous day, and was peering at the camp, with the object
+apparently of ascertaining whether its occupants were still alive.
+
+"I will go and ask him in," said Rachel, who, for reasons of her own,
+wished to have a word or two with the man.
+
+Presently she came up to him, and saw at once that he seemed to be very
+much ashamed of himself.
+
+"Well," she said cheerfully, "you see here I am, safe enough, and I am
+glad that you are the same."
+
+"You are a wonderful woman," he replied, letting his eyes sink before her
+clear gaze, "as wonderful as you are beautiful."
+
+"No compliments, please," said Rachel, "they are out of place in this
+savage land."
+
+"I beg your pardon, I could not help speaking the truth. Did they kill the
+girl and let you go?"
+
+"No, I managed to hide up with her; she is here now."
+
+"That is very dangerous, Miss Dove. I know all about it; it is she whom
+Dingaan was after. When he hears that you have sheltered her he will send
+and kill you all. Take my advice and turn her out at once. I say it is
+most dangerous."
+
+"Perhaps," answered Rachel calmly, "but all the same I shall do nothing of
+the sort unless she wishes to go, nor do I think that my father will
+either. Now please listen a minute. If this story comes to the ears of the
+Zulus--and I do not see why it should, as the crocodiles have eaten that
+soldier--who will they think shot him, I or the white man who was with me?
+Do you understand?"
+
+"I understand and shall hold my tongue, for your sake."
+
+"No, for your own. Well, by way of making the bargain fair, for my part I
+shall say as little as possible of how we separated this morning. Not that
+I blame you for riding off and leaving an obstinate young woman whom you
+did not know to take her chance. Still, other people might think
+differently."
+
+ "Yes," he answered, "they might, and I admit that I am ashamed of myself.
+But you don't know the Zulus as I do, and I thought that they would be all
+on us in a moment; also I was mad with you and lost my nerve. Really I am
+very sorry."
+
+"Please don't apologise. It was quite natural, and what is more, all for
+the best. If we had gone on we should have ridden right into them, and
+perhaps never ridden out again. Now here comes my father; we have agreed
+that you will not say too much about this girl, have we not?"
+
+He nodded and advanced with her, leading the horses, for he had
+dismounted, to meet Mr. Dove at the opening in the fence.
+
+"Good evening," said the clergyman, who seemed depressed after his sad
+task, as he motioned to one of the Kaffirs to put down his mattock and
+take the horses. "I don't quite know what happened this morning, but I
+have to thank you for trying to save my daughter from those cruel men. I
+have been burying their victims in a little cleft that we found, or rather
+some of them. The vultures you know----" and he paused.
+
+"I didn't save her, sir," answered the stranger humbly. "It seemed
+hopeless, as she would not leave the Kaffir girl."
+
+Mr. Dove looked at him searchingly, and there was a suspicion of contempt
+in his voice as he replied:
+
+"You would not have had her abandon the poor thing, would you? For the
+rest, God saved them both, so it does not much matter exactly how, as
+everything has turned out for the best. Won't you come in and have some
+supper, Mr.--Ishmael--I am afraid I do not know the rest of your name."
+
+"There is no more to know, Mr. Dove," he replied doggedly, then added:
+"Look here, sir, as I daresay you have found out, this is a rough country,
+and people come to it, some of them, whose luck has been rough elsewhere.
+Now, perhaps I am as well born as you are, and perhaps _my_ luck was rough
+in other lands, so that I chose to come and live in a place where there
+are no laws or civilisation. Perhaps, too, I took the name of another man
+who was driven into the wilderness--you will remember all about him--also
+that it does not seem to have been his fault. Any way, if we should be
+thrown up together I'll ask you to take me as I am, that is, a hunter and
+a trader 'in the Zulu,' and not to bother about what I have been. Whatever
+I was christened, my name is Ishmael now, or among the Kaffirs Ibubesi,
+and if you want another, let us call it Smith."
+
+"Quite so, Mr. Ishmael. It is no affair of mine," replied Mr. Dove with a
+smile, for he had met people of this sort before in Africa.
+
+But within himself already he determined that this white and perchance
+fallen wanderer was one whom, perhaps, it would be his duty to lead back
+into the paths of Christian propriety and peace.
+
+These matters settled, they went into the little camp, and a sentry having
+been set, for now the night was falling fast, Ishmael was introduced to
+Mrs. Dove, who looked him up and down and said little, after which they
+began their supper. When their simple meal was finished, Ishmael lit his
+pipe and sat himself upon the disselboom of the waggon, looking extremely
+handsome and picturesque in the flare of the firelight which fell upon his
+dark face, long black hair and curious garments, for although he had
+replaced his lion-skin by an old coat, his zebra-hide trousers and
+waistcoat made of an otter's pelt still remained. Contemplating him,
+Rachel felt sure that whatever his present and past might be, he had
+spoken the truth when he hinted that he was well-born. Indeed, this might
+be gathered from his voice and method of expressing himself when he grew
+more at ease, although it was true that sometimes he substituted a Zulu
+for an English word, and employed its idioms in his sentences, doubtless
+because for years he had been accustomed to speak and even to think in
+that language.
+
+Now he was explaining to Mr. Dove the political and social position among
+that people, whose cruel laws and customs led to constant fights on the
+part of tribes or families, who knew that they were doomed, and their
+consequent massacre if caught, as had happened that day. Of course, the
+clergyman, who had lived for some years at Durban, knew that this was
+true, although, never having actually witnessed one of these dreadful
+events till now, he did not realise all their horror.
+
+"I fear that my task will be even harder than I thought," he said with a
+sigh.
+
+"What task?" asked Ishmael.
+
+"That of converting the Zulus. I am trekking to the king's kraal now, and
+propose to settle there."
+
+Ishmael knocked out his pipe and filled it again before he answered.
+Apparently he could find no words in which to express his thoughts, but
+when at length these came they were vigorous enough.
+
+"Why not trek to hell and settle _there_ at once?" he asked, "I beg
+pardon, I meant heaven, for you and your likes. Man," he went on
+excitedly, "have you any heart? Do you care about your wife and daughter?"
+
+"I have always imagined that I did, Mr. Ishmael," replied the missionary
+in a cold voice.
+
+ "Then do you wish to see their throats cut before your eyes, or," and he
+looked at Rachel, "worse?"
+
+"How can you ask such questions?" said Mr. Dove, indignantly. "Of course I
+know that there are risks among all wild peoples, but I trust to
+Providence to protect us."
+
+Mr. Ishmael puffed at his pipe and swore to himself in Zulu.
+
+"Yes," he said, when he had recovered a little, "so I suppose did Seyapi
+and his people, but you have been burying them this afternoon--haven't
+you?--all except the girl, Noie, whom you have sheltered, for which deed
+Dingaan will bury you all if you go into Zululand, or rather throw you to
+the vultures. Don't think that your being an _umfundusi_, I mean a
+teacher, will save you. The Almighty Himself can't save you there. You
+will be dead and forgotten in a month. What's more, you will have to drive
+your own waggon in, for your Kaffirs won't, they know better. A Bible
+won't turn the blade of an assegai."
+
+"Please, Mr. Ishmael, please do not speak so--so irreligiously," said Mr.
+Dove in an irritated but nervous voice. "You do not seem to understand
+that I have a mission to perform, and if that should involve
+martyrdom----"
+
+"Oh! bother martyrdom, which is what you are after, no doubt, 'casting
+down your golden crown upon a crystal sea,' and the rest of it--I remember
+the stuff. The question is, do you wish to murder your wife and daughter,
+for that's the plain English of it?"
+
+"Of course not. How can you suggest such a thing?"
+
+"Then you had better not cross the Tugela. Go back to Durban, or stop
+where you are at least, for, unless he finds out anything, Dingaan is not
+likely to interfere with a white man on this side of the river."
+
+"That would involve abandoning my most cherished ambition, and impulses
+that--but I will not speak to you of things which perhaps you might not
+understand."
+
+"I dare say I shouldn't, but I do understand what it feels like to have
+your neck twisted out of joint. Look here, sir, if you want to go into
+Zululand, you should go alone; it is no place for white ladies."
+
+"That is for them to judge, sir," answered Mr. Dove. "I believe that their
+faith will be equal to this trial," and he looked at his wife almost
+imploringly.
+
+For once, however, she failed him.
+
+"My dear John," she said, "if you want my opinion, I think that this
+gentleman is quite right. For myself I don't care much, but it can never
+have been intended that we should absolutely throw away our lives. I have
+always given way to you, and followed you to many strange places without
+grumbling, although, as you know, we might be quite comfortable at home,
+or at any rate in some civilised town. Now I say that I think you ought
+not to go to Zululand, especially as there is Rachel to think of."
+
+"Oh! don't trouble about me," interrupted that young lady, with a shrug of
+her shoulders. "I can take my chance as I have often done before--to-day,
+for instance."
+
+"But I do trouble about you, my dear, although it is true I don't believe
+that you will be killed; you know I have always said so. Still I do
+trouble, and John--John," she added in a kind of pitiful cry, "can't you
+see that you have worn me out? Can't you understand that I am getting old
+and weak? Is there nobody to whom you have a duty as well as to the
+heathen? Are there not enough heathen here?" she went on with gathering
+passion. "If you must mix with them, do what this gentleman says, and stop
+here, that is, if you won't go back. Build a house and let us have a
+little peace before we die, for death will come soon enough, and terribly
+enough, I am sure," and she burst into a fit of weeping.
+
+"My dear," said Mr. Dove, "you are upset; the unhappy occurrences of
+to-day, which--did we but know it--are doubtless all for the best, and
+your anxiety for Rachel have been too much for you. I think that you had
+better go to bed, and you too, Rachel. I will talk the matter over further
+with Mr. Ishmael, who, perhaps, has been sent to guide me. I am not
+unreasonable, as you think, and if he can convince me that there is any
+risk to your lives--for my own I care nothing--I will consider the
+suggestion of building a mission-station outside Zululand, at any rate for
+a few years. It may be that it is not intended that we should enter that
+country at present."
+
+So Mrs. Dove and her daughter went, but for two hours or more Rachel heard
+her father and the hunter talking earnestly, and wondered in a sleepy
+fashion to what conclusion he had come. Personally she did not mind much
+on which side of the Tugela they were to live, if they must bide at all in
+the region of that river. Still, for her mother's sake she determined that
+if she could bring it about, they should stay where they were. Indeed
+there was no choice between this and returning to England, as her father
+had quarrelled too bitterly with the white men at Durban to allow of his
+taking up his residence among them again.
+
+When Rachel woke on the following morning the first thing she saw in the
+growing light was the orphaned native Noie, seated on the further side of
+the little tent, her head resting upon her hand, and gazing at her
+vacantly. Rachel watched her a while, pretending to be still asleep, and
+for the first time understood how beautiful this girl was in her own
+fashion. Although small, that is in comparison with most Kaffir women, she
+was perfectly shaped and developed. Her soft skin in that light looked
+almost white, although it had about it nothing of the muddy colour of the
+half-breed; her hair was long, black and curly, and worn naturally, not
+forced into artificial shapes as is common among the Kaffirs. Her features
+were finely cut and intellectual, and her eyes, shaded by long lashes,
+somewhat oblong in shape, of a brown colour, and soft as those of a buck.
+Certainly for a native she was lovely, and what is more, quite unlike any
+Bantu that Rachel had ever seen, except indeed that dead man whom she said
+was her father, and who, although he was so small, had managed to kill two
+great Zulu warriors before, mysteriously enough, he died himself.
+
+"Noie," said Rachel, when she had completed her observations, whereon with
+a quick and agile movement the girl rose, sank again on her knees beside
+her, took the hand that hung from the bed between her own, and pressed it
+to her lips, saying in the soft Zulu tongue,
+
+"Inkosazana, I am here."
+
+"Is that white man still asleep, Noie?"
+
+"Nay, he has gone. He and his servant rode away before the light, fearing
+lest there might still be Zulus between him and his kraal."
+
+"Do you know anything about him, Noie?"
+
+"Yes, Lady, I have seen him in Zululand. He is a bad man. They call him
+there 'Lion,' not because he is brave, but because he hunts and springs by
+night."
+
+"Just what I should have thought of him," answered Rachel, "and we know
+that he is not brave," she added with a smile. "But never mind this jackal
+in a lion's hide; tell me your story, Noie, if you will, only speak low,
+for this tent is thin."
+
+"Lady," said the girl, "you who were born white in body and in spirit,
+hear me. I am but half a Zulu. My father who died yesterday in the flesh,
+departing back to the world of ghosts, was of another people who live far
+to the north, a small people but a strong. They live among the trees, they
+worship trees; they die when their tree dies; they are dealers in dreams;
+they are the companions of ghosts, little men before whom the tribes
+tremble; who hate the sun, and dwell in the deep of the forest. Myself I
+do not know them; I have never seen them, but my father told me these
+things, and others that I may not repeat. When he was a young man my
+father fled from his people."
+
+ "Why?" asked Rachel, for the girl paused.
+
+"Lady, I do not know; I think it was because he would have been their
+priest, or one of their priests, and he feared I think that he had seen a
+woman, a slave to them, whom therefore he might not marry. I think that
+woman was my mother. So he fled from them--with her, and came to live
+among the Zulus. He was a great doctor there in Chaka's time, not one of
+the _Abangomas_, not one of the 'Smellers-out-of-witches,' not a
+'Bringer-down-to-death,' for like all his race he hated bloodshed. No,
+none of these things, but a doctor of medicines, a master of magic, an
+interpreter of dreams, a lord of wisdom; yes, it was his wisdom that made
+Chaka great, and when he withdrew it from him because of his cruelties,
+then Chaka died.
+
+"Lady, Dingaan rules in Chaka's place, Dingaan who slew him, but although
+he had been Chaka's doctor, my father was spared because they feared him.
+I was the only child of my mother, but he took other wives after the Zulu
+fashion, not because he loved them, I think, but that he might not seem
+different to other men. So he grew great and rich, and lived in peace
+because they feared him. Lady, my father loved me, and to me alone he
+taught his language and his wisdom. I helped him with his medicines; I
+interpreted the dreams which he could not interpret, his blanket fell upon
+me. Often I was sought in marriage, but I did not wish to marry, Wisdom is
+my husband.
+
+"There came an evil day; we knew that it must come, my father and I, and I
+wished to fly the land, but he could not do so because of his other wives
+and children. The maidens of my district were marshalled for the king to
+see. His eye fell upon me, and he thought me fair because I am different
+from Zulu women, and--you can guess. Yet I was saved, for the other
+doctors and the head wives of the king said that it was not wise that I
+should be taken into his house, I who knew too many secrets and could
+bewitch him if I willed, or prison him with drugs that leave no trace. So
+I escaped a while and was thankful. Now it came about that because he
+might not take me Dingaan began to think much of me, and to dream of me at
+nights. At last he asked me of my father, as a gift, not as a right, for
+so he thought that no ill would come with me. But I prayed my father to
+keep me from Dingaan, for I hated Dingaan, and told him that if I were
+sent to the king, I would poison him. My father listened to me because he
+loved me and could not bear to part with me, and said Dingaan nay. Now
+Dingaan grew very angry and asked counsel of his other doctors, but they
+would give him none because they feared my father. Then he asked counsel
+of that white man, Hishmel, who is called the Lion, and who is much at the
+kraal of Umgungundhlovu."
+
+"Ah!" said Rachel, "now I understand why he wished you to be killed."
+
+"The white man, Hishmel, the jackal in a lion's skin, as you named him,
+laughed at Dingaan's fears. He said to him, 'It is of the father, Seyapi,
+you should be afraid. He has the magic, not the girl. Kill the father, and
+his house, and take the daughter whom your heart desires, and be happy.'
+
+"So spoke Hishmel, and Dingaan thought his counsel good, and paid him for
+it with the teeth of elephants, and certain women for whom he asked. Now
+my father foreboded ill, and I also, for both of us had dreamed a dream.
+Still we did not fly until the slayers were almost at the gates, because
+of his other wives and his children. Nor, save for them would he have fled
+then, or I either, but would have died after the fashion of his people, as
+he did at last."
+
+"The White Death?" queried Rachel.
+
+"Yes, Lady, the White Death. Still in the end we fled, thinking to gain
+the protection of the white men down yonder. I went first to escape the
+king's men who had orders to take me alive and bring me to him, that is
+why we were not together at the end. Lady, you know the rest. Hishmel
+doubtless had seen you, and thinking that the Impi would kill you, came to
+warn you. Then we met just as I was about to die, though perhaps not by
+that soldier's spear, as you thought. I have spoken."
+
+"What message came to you when you knelt down before your dead father?"
+asked Rachel for the second time, since on this point she was intensely
+curious.
+
+Again that inscrutable look gathered on the girl's face, and she answered.
+
+"Did I not tell you it was for my ear alone, O Inkosazana-y-Zoola? I dare
+not say it, be satisfied. But this I may say. Your fate and mine are
+intertwined; yours and mine and another's, for our spirits are sisters
+which have dwelt together in past days."
+
+"Indeed," said Rachel smiling, for she who had mixed with them from her
+childhood knew something of the mysticism of the natives, also that it was
+often nonsense. "Well, Noie, I love you, I know not why. Perhaps, for all
+you have suffered. Yet I say to you that if you wish to remain my sister
+in the spirit, you had better separate from me in the flesh. That jackal
+man knows your secret, girl, and soon or late will loose the assegai on
+you."
+
+"Doubtless," she answered, "doubtless many things will come about. But
+they are doomed to come about. Whether I go or whether I stay they will
+happen. Say you therefore, Lady, and I will obey. Shall I go or shall I
+stay, or shall I die before your eyes?"
+
+"It is on your own head," answered Rachel shrugging her shoulders.
+
+"Nay, nay, Lady, you forget, it is on yours also, seeing that if I stay I
+may bring peril on you and your house. Have you then no order for me?"
+
+"Noie, I have answered--one. Judge you."
+
+"I will not judge. Let Heaven-above judge. Lady, give me a hair from your
+head."
+
+Rachel plucked out the hair and handed it, a shining thread of gold, to
+Noie who drew one from her own dark tresses, and laid them side by side.
+
+"See," she said, "they are of the same length. Now, without the wind blows
+gently; come then to the door of the tent, and I will throw these two
+hairs into the wind. If that which is black floats first to the ground,
+then I stay, if that which is golden, then I go to seek my hair. Is it
+agreed?"
+
+"It is agreed."
+
+So the two girls went to the entrance of the tent, and Noie with a swift
+motion tossed up the hairs. As it happened one of those little eddies of
+wind which are common in South Africa, caught them, causing them to rise
+almost perpendicularly into the air. At a certain height, about forty
+feet, the supporting wind seemed to fail, that is so far as the hair from
+Noie's head was concerned, for there it floated high above them like a
+black thread in the sunlight, and gently by slow degrees came to the earth
+just at their feet. But the hair from Rachel's head, being caught by the
+fringe of the whirlwind, was borne upwards and onwards very swiftly, until
+at length it vanished from their sight.
+
+"It seems that I stay," said Noie.
+
+"Yes," answered Rachel. "I am very glad; also if any evil comes of it we
+are not to blame, the wind is to blame."
+
+"Yes, Lady, but what makes the wind to blow?"
+
+Again Rachel shrugged her shoulders, and asked a question in her turn.
+
+"Whither has that hair of mine been borne, Noie?"
+
+"I do not know, Lady. Perhaps my father's spirit took it for his own ends.
+I think so. I think it went northwards. At any rate when mine fell, it was
+snatched away, was it not? And yet they both floated up together. I think
+that one day you will follow that hair of yours, Lady, follow it to the
+land where great trees whisper secrets to the night."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE MESSAGE OF THE KING
+
+
+So it chanced that Noie became a member of the Dove household. For obvious
+reasons she changed her name, and thenceforward was called Nonha. Also it
+happened that Mr. Dove abandoned his idea of settling as a missionary in
+Zululand, and instead, took up his residence at this beautiful spot. He
+called it Ramah because it was a place of weeping, for here all the family
+and dependents of Seyapi had been destroyed by the spear. Mrs. Dove
+thought it an ill-omened name enough, but after her manner gave way to her
+husband in the matter.
+
+"I think there will be more weeping here before everything is done," she
+said.
+
+Rachel answered, however, that it was as good as any other, since names
+could alter nothing. Here, then, at Ramah, Mr. Dove built him a house on
+that knoll where first he had pitched his camp. It was a very good house
+after its fashion, for, as has been said, he did not lack for means, and
+was, moreover, clever in such matters. He hired a mason who had drifted to
+Natal to cut stone, of which a plenty lay at hand, and two half-breed
+carpenters to execute the wood-work, whilst the Kaffirs thatched the whole
+as only they can do. Then he set to work upon a church, which was placed
+on the crest of the opposite knoll where the white man, Ishmael, had
+appeared on the evening of their arrival. Like the house, it was excellent
+of its sort, and when at length it was finished after more than a year of
+labour, Mr. Dove felt a proud man.
+
+Indeed at Ramah he was happier than he had ever been since he landed upon
+the shores of Africa, for now at length his dream seemed to be in the way
+of realisation. Very soon a considerable native village sprang up around
+him, peopled almost entirely by remnants of the Natal tribes whom Chaka
+had destroyed and who were but too glad to settle under the aegis of the
+white man, especially when they discovered how good he was. Of the
+doctrines which he preached to them day and night, most of them, it is
+true, did not understand much. Still they accepted them as the price of
+being allowed "to live in his shadow," but in the vast majority of cases
+they sturdily refused to put away all wives but one, as he earnestly
+exhorted them to do.
+
+At first he wished to eject them from the settlement in punishment of this
+sin, but when it came to the point they absolutely refused to go,
+demonstrating to him that they had as much right to live there as he had,
+an argument that he was unable to controvert. So he was obliged to submit
+to the presence of this abomination, which he did in the hope that in time
+their hard hearts would be softened.
+
+"Continue to preach to us, O Shouter," they said, "and we will listen.
+Mayhap in years to come we shall learn to think as you do. Meanwhile give
+us space to consider the point."
+
+So he continued to preach, and contented himself with baptising the
+children and very old people who took no more wives. Except on this one
+point, however, they got on excellently together. Indeed, never since
+Chaka broke upon them like a destroying demon had these poor folk been so
+happy. The missionary imported ploughs and taught them to improve their
+agriculture, so that ere long this rich, virgin soil brought forth
+abundantly. Their few cattle multiplied also in an amazing fashion, as did
+their families, and soon they were as prosperous as they had been in the
+good old days before they knew the Zulu assegai, especially as, to their
+amazement, the Shouter never took from them even a calf or a bundle of
+corn by way of tax. Only the shadow of that Zulu assegai still lay upon
+them, for if Chaka was dead Dingaan ruled a few miles away across the
+Tugela. Moreover, hearing of the rise of this new town, and of certain
+strange matters connected with it, he sent spies to inspect and enquire.
+The spies returned and reported that there dwelt in it only a white
+medicine-man with his wife, and a number of Natal Kaffirs. Also they
+reported in great detail many wonderful stories concerning the beautiful
+maiden with a high name who passed as the white teacher's daughter, and
+who had already become the subject of so much native talk and rumour. On
+learning all these things Dingaan despatched an embassy, who delivered
+this message:
+
+"I, Dingaan, king of the Zulus, have heard that you, O White Shouter, have
+built a town upon my borders, and peopled it with the puppies of the
+jackals whom Chaka hunted. I send to you now to say that you and your
+jackals shall have peace from me so long as you harbour none of my
+runaways, but if I find but one of them there, then an Impi shall wipe you
+out. I hear also that there dwells with you a beautiful white maiden said
+to be your daughter, who is known, throughout the land as
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola. Now that is the name of our Spirit who, the doctors
+say, is also white, and it is strange to us that this maiden should bear
+that great name. Some of the _Isanusis_, the prophetesses, declare that
+she is our Spirit in the flesh, but that meat sticks in my throat, I
+cannot swallow it. Still, I invite this maiden to visit me that I may see
+her and judge of her, and I swear to you, and to her, by the ghosts of my
+ancestors, that no harm shall come to her then or at any time. He who so
+much as lays a finger upon her shall die, he and all his house. Because of
+her name, which I am told she has borne from a child, all the territories
+of the Zulus are her kraal and all the thousands of the Zulus are her
+servants. Yea, because of her high name I give to her power of life and
+death wherever men obey my word, and for an offering I send to her twelve
+of my royal white cattle and a bull, also an ox trained to riding. When
+she visits me let her ride upon the white ox that she may be known, but
+let no man come with her, for among the people of the Zulus she must be
+attended by Zulus only. I have spoken. I pray that she who is named
+Princess of the Zulus will appear before my messengers and acknowledge the
+gift of the King of the Zulus, that they may see her in the flesh and make
+report of her to me."
+
+Now when Mr. Dove had received this message, one evening at sundown, he
+went into the house and repeated it to Rachel, for it puzzled him much,
+and he knew not what to answer.
+
+Rachel in her turn took counsel with Noie who was hidden, away lest some
+of the embassy should see and recognise her.
+
+"Speak with the messengers," said Noie, "it is well to have power among
+the Zulus. I, who have some knowledge of this business, say, speak with
+them alone, and speak softly, saying that one day you will come."
+
+So having explained the matter to her father, and obtained his consent,
+Rachel, who desired to impress these savages, threw a white shawl about
+her, as Noie instructed her to do. Then, letting her long, golden hair
+hang down, she went out alone carrying a light assegai in her hand, to the
+place where the messengers, six of them, and those who had driven the
+cattle from Zululand, were encamped in the guest kraal, at the gate of
+which, as it chanced, lay a great boulder of rock. On this boulder she
+took her stand, unobserved, waiting there till the full moon shone out
+from behind a dark cloud, turning her white robe to silver. Now of a
+sudden the messengers who were seated together, talking and taking snuff,
+looked up and saw her.
+
+"_Inkosazana-y-Zoola_!" exclaimed one of them, rising, whereon they all
+sprang to their feet and perceiving this beautiful and mysterious figure,
+by a common impulse lifted their right arms and gave to her what no woman
+had ever received before--the royal salute.
+
+"Bayète!" they cried, "Bayète!" then stood silent.
+
+"I hear you," said Rachel, who spoke their tongue as well as she did her
+own. "It has been reported to me that you wished to see me, O Mouths of
+the King. Behold I am pleased to appear before you. What would you of
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola, O Mouths of the King?"
+
+Then their spokesman, an old man of high rank, with a withered hand,
+stepped forward from the line of his companions, stared at her for a
+while, and saluted again.
+
+"Lady," he said humbly, "Lady or Spirit, we would know how thou earnest by
+that great name of thine."
+
+"It was given me as a child far away from here," she answered, "because in
+a mighty tempest the lightnings turned aside and smote me not; because the
+waters raged yet drowned me not; because the lions slept with me yet
+harmed me not. It came to me from the high Heaven that was my friend. I do
+not know how it came."
+
+"We have heard the story," answered the old man (which indeed they had
+with many additions), "and we believe. We believe that the Heavens above
+gave thee their own name which is the name of the Spirit of our people.
+That Spirit I have seen in a dream, and she was like to thee, O
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola."
+
+"It may be so, Mouth of the King, still I am woman, not spirit."
+
+"Yet in every woman there dwells a spirit, or so we believe, and in thee a
+great one, or so we have heard and believe, O Lady of the Heavens. To
+thee, then, again we repeat the words of Dingaan and of his council which
+to-day we have said in the ears of him who thinks himself thy father. To
+thee the roads are open; thine are the cattle and the kraals; here is an
+earnest of them. Thine are the lives of men. Command now, if thou wilt,
+that one of us be slain before thee, and whilst thou watchest, he shall
+look his last upon the moon."
+
+"I hear you," said Rachel, quietly, "but I seek the life of none who are
+good. I thank the King for his gift; I wish the King well. I remember that
+life and death lie in my hands. Say these words to the King."
+
+"We will say them, but wilt thou not come, O Lady, as the King desires? A
+regiment shall meet thee on the river bank and lead thee to his house.
+Unharmed shalt thou come, unharmed shalt thou return, and what thou askest
+that shall be given thee."
+
+"One day, perchance, I will come, but not now. Go in peace, O Mouths of
+the King."
+
+As she spoke another dark cloud floated across the moon, and when it had
+passed away she stood no more upon the rock. Then, seeing that she was
+gone, those messengers gathered up their spears and mats, and returned
+swiftly to Zululand.
+
+When she readied the house again Rachel told her father and mother all
+that had passed, laughing as she spoke.
+
+ "It seems scarcely right, my dear," said Mr. Dove, when she had done.
+"Those benighted heathens will really believe that you are something
+unearthly."
+
+"Then let them," she answered. "It can do no one any harm, and the power
+of life and death with the rest of it, unless it was all talk as I
+suspect, might be very useful one day. Who knows? And now the Princess of
+the Heavens will go and set the supper, as Noie--I beg pardon, Nonha--is
+off duty for the present."
+
+Afterwards she asked Noie who was the old man with a withered hand who had
+spoken as the "King's Mouth."
+
+"Mopo is his name, Mopo or Umbopo, none other, O Zoola," she answered. "It
+was he who stabbed T'Chaka, the Black One. It is said also that alone
+among men living, he has seen the White Spirit: the Inkosazana. Thrice he
+has seen her, or so goes the tale that my father, who knew everything,
+told to me. That is why Dingaan sent him here to make report of you." And
+she told her all the wonderful story of Mopo and of the death of T'Chaka,
+which Rachel treasured in her mind. [Footnote: For the history of Mopo,
+see "Nada the Lily."--AUTHOR.]
+
+Such was Rachel's first introduction to the Zulus, an occasion on which
+her undoubted histrionic abilities stood her in good stead.
+
+This matter of the embassy happened and in due course was almost
+forgotten, that is until a certain event occurred which brought it into
+mind. For some time, however, Rachel thought of it a good deal, wondering
+how it came about that her native name and the strange significance which
+they appeared to give to it had taken such a hold of the imagination of
+the Zulus. Ultimately she discovered that the white man, Ishmael, was the
+chief cause of these things. He had lived so long among savages that he
+had caught something of their mind and dark superstitions. To him, as to
+them, it seemed a marvellous thing that she should have acquired the title
+of the legendary Spirit of the Zulu people. The calm courage, too, so
+unusual in a woman, which she showed when she shot the warrior, and at the
+risk of her own life saved that of the girl, Noie, impressed him as
+something almost ultra-human, especially when he remembered his own
+conduct on that occasion. All of this story, of course, he did not tell to
+the Zulus for he feared lest they should take vengeance for his share in
+it. But of Rachel he discoursed to the King and his _indunas_, or great
+men, as a white witch-doctoress of super-natural power, whose name showed
+that she was mixed up with the fortunes of the race. Therefore, in the
+end, Dingaan sent Mopo, "he who knew the Spirit," to make report of her.
+
+When he was not absent upon his hunting or trading expeditions, Ishmael
+visited Ramah a great deal and, as Rachel soon discovered, not without an
+object. Indeed, almost from the first, her feminine instincts led her to
+suspect that this man who, notwithstanding his good looks, repelled her so
+intensely, was falling in love with her, which in truth he had done once
+and for all at their first meeting. In the beginning he did not, it is
+true, say much that could be so interpreted, but his whole attitude
+towards her suggested it, as did other things. For instance, when he came
+to visit the Doves, he discarded his garments of hide, including the
+picturesque zebra-skin trousers, and appeared dressed in smart European
+clothes which he had contrived to obtain from Durban, and a large hat with
+a white ostrich feather, that struck Rachel as even more ludicrous than
+the famous trousers. Also he was continuously sending presents of game and
+of skins, or of rare karosses, that is, fur rugs, which he ordered to be
+delivered to her personally--tokens, all of them, that she could not
+misunderstand. Her father, however, misunderstood them persistently,
+although her mother saw something of the truth, and did her best to shield
+her from attentions which she knew to be unwelcome. Mr. Dove believed that
+it was his company which Ishmael sought. Indeed in this matter the man was
+very clever, contriving to give the clergyman the impression that he
+required spiritual instruction and comfort, which, of course, he found
+forthcoming in an abundant supply. When Mrs. Dove remonstrated, saying
+that she misdoubted her of him and his character, her husband answered
+obstinately, that it was his duty to turn a sinner from his way, and
+declined to pursue the conversation. So Ishmael continued to come.
+
+For her part Rachel did her best to avoid him, instructing Noie to keep a
+constant look-out both with her eyes and through the Kaffirs, and to warn
+her of his advent. Then she would slip away into the bush or down to the
+seashore, and remain there till he was gone, or if he came when she could
+not do so, in the evening for instance, would keep Noie at her side, and
+on the first opportunity retire to her own room.
+
+Now the result of this method of self-protection was to cause Ishmael to
+hate Noie as bitterly as she hated him. He guessed that the girl knew the
+dreadful truth about him; that it was he, and no other, who had counselled
+Dingaan to kill her father and all his family, and take her by force into
+his house, and although she said nothing of it, he suspected that she had
+told everything to Rachel. Moreover, it was she who always thwarted him,
+who prevented him time upon time from having a single word alone with her
+mistress. Therefore he determined to be revenged upon Noie whenever an
+opportunity occurred.
+
+ But as yet he could find none, since if he were to tell the Zulus that
+she still lived, and cause her to be killed or taken away, he was sure
+that it would mean a final breach with the Dove family, all of whom had
+learned to love this beautiful orphan maid. So he nursed his rage in
+secret.
+
+Meanwhile his passion increased daily, burning ever more fiercely for its
+continued repression, until at length the chance for which he had waited
+so long came to him.
+
+Having become aware of Rachel's habit of slipping away whenever he
+appeared, he showed himself on horseback at a little distance, then waited
+a while and, instead of going up to the mission station, rode round it,
+and hid in some bush whence he could command a view of the surrounding
+country. Presently he saw Rachel, who was alone, for she had not waited to
+call Noie, hurrying towards the seashore, along the edge of that kloof
+down which ran the stream where the crocodiles lived. Presently, when she
+had gone too far to return to the house if she caught sight of him, he
+followed after her, and, leaving his horse, at last came up with her
+seated on a rock by the pool in which she had bathed on the morning of the
+massacre.
+
+Walking softly in his veld-schoens, or shoes made of raw hide, on the
+sand, Rachel knew nothing of his coming until his shadow fell upon her.
+Then she sprang up and saw him, smiling and bowing, the ostrich-plume hat
+in his hand. Her first impulse was to run away, but recovering herself she
+nodded in a friendly fashion, and bade him "Good day," adding:
+
+"What are you doing here, Mr. Ishmael, hunting?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, "that's it. Hunting you. It has been a long chase, but
+I have caught you at last."
+
+"Really, I am not a wild creature, Mr. Ishmael," she said indignantly.
+
+"No," he answered, "you are more beautiful and more dangerous than any
+wild creature."
+
+Rachel looked at him. Then she made, as though she would pass him, saying
+that she was going home. Now Ishmael stood between two rocks filling the
+only egress from this place.
+
+He stretched out his arms so that his fingers touched the rocks on either
+side, and said:
+
+"You can't. You must listen to me first. I came here to say what I have
+wanted to tell you for a long time. I love you, and I ask you to marry
+me."
+
+"Indeed," she replied, setting her face. "How can that be? I understood
+that you were already married--several times over."
+
+"Who told you that?" he asked, angrily. "I know--that accursed little
+witch, Noie."
+
+ "Don't speak any ill of Noie, please; she is my friend."
+
+"Then you have a liar for your friend. Those women are only my servants."
+
+"It doesn't matter to me what they are, Mr. Ishmael. I have no wish to
+know your private affairs. Shall we stop this talk, which is not
+pleasant?"
+
+"No," he answered. "I tell you that I love you and I mean to marry you,
+with your will or without it. Let it be with your will, Rachel," he added,
+pleadingly, "for I will make you a good husband. Also I am well-born, much
+better than you think, and I am rich, rich enough to take you out of this
+country, if you like. I have thousands of cattle, and a great deal of
+money put by, good English gold that I have got from the sale of ivory.
+You shall come with me from among all these savage people back to England,
+and live as you like."
+
+"Thank you, but I prefer the savages, as you seem to have done until now.
+No, do not try to touch me; you know that I can defend myself if I
+choose," and she glanced at the pistol which she always carried in that
+wild land, "I am not afraid of you, Mr. Ishmael; it is you who are afraid
+of me."
+
+"Perhaps I am," he exclaimed, "because those Zulus are right, you are
+_tagati_, an enchantress, not like other women, white or black. If it were
+not so, would you have driven me mad as you have done? I tell you I can't
+sleep for thinking of you. Oh! Rachel, Rachel, don't be angry with me.
+Have pity on me. Give me some hope. I know that my life has been rough in
+the past, but I will become good again for your sake and live like a
+Christian. But if you refuse me, if you send me back to hell--then you
+shall learn what I can be."
+
+"I know what you are, Mr. Ishmael, and that is quite enough. I do not wish
+to be unkind, or to say anything that will pain you, but please go away,
+and never try to speak to me again like this, as it is quite useless. You
+must understand that I will never marry you, never."
+
+"Are you in love with somebody else?" he asked hoarsely, and at the
+question, do what she would to prevent it, Rachel coloured a little.
+
+"How can I be in love here, unless it were with a dream?"
+
+"A dream, a dream of a man you mean. Well, don't let him cross my path, or
+it will soon be the dream of a ghost. I tell you I'd kill him. If I can't
+have you, no one else shall. Do you understand?"
+
+"I understand that I am tired of this. Let me go home, please."
+
+"Home! Soon you will have no home to go to except mine--that is, if you
+don't change your mind about me. I have power here--don't you understand?
+I have power."
+
+As he spoke these words the man looked so evil that Rachel shivered a
+little. But she answered boldly enough:
+
+"I understand that you have no power at all against me; no one has. It is
+I who have the power."
+
+"Yes, because as I said, you are _tagati_, but there are others----"
+
+As these words passed his lips someone slipped by him. Starting back, he
+saw that it was Noie, draped in her usual white robe, for nothing would
+induce her to wear European clothes. Passing him as though she saw him
+not, she went to Rachel and said:
+
+"Inkosazana, I was at my work in the house yonder and I thought that I
+heard you calling me down here by the seashore, so I came. Is it your
+pleasure that I should accompany you home?"
+
+"For instance," he went on furiously, "there is that black slut whom you
+are fond of. Well, if I can't hurt you, I can hurt her. Daughter of
+Seyapi, you know how runaways die in Zululand, or if you don't you shall
+soon learn. I will pay you back for all your tricks," and he stopped,
+choking with rage.
+
+Noie looked him up and down with her soft, dreamy brown eyes.
+
+"Do you think so, Night-prowler?" she asked. "Do you think that what you
+did to the father and his house, you will do to the daughter also? Well,
+it is strange, but last night, just before the cock crew, I sat by
+Seyapi's grave, and he spoke to me of you, White Man. Listen, now, and I
+will tell you what he said," and stepping forward she whispered in his
+ear.
+
+Rachel, watching, saw the man's swarthy face turn pale as he hearkened,
+then he lifted his hand as though to strike her, let it fall again, and
+muttering curses in English and in Zulu, turned and walked, or rather
+staggered away.
+
+"What did you tell him, Noie?" asked Rachel.
+
+"Never mind, Zoola," she answered. "Perhaps the truth; perhaps what came
+into my mind. At any rate I frightened him away. He was making love to
+you, was he not, the low _silwana _(wild beast)? Ah! I thought so, for
+that he has wished to do for long. And he threatened, did he not? Well,
+you are right; he cannot hurt you at all, and me only a little, I think.
+But he is very dangerous and very strong, and can hurt others. If your
+father is wise he will leave this place, Zoola."
+
+"I think so too," answered Rachel. "Let us go home and tell him so."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+MR. DOVE VISITS ISHMAEL
+
+
+When Rachel and Noie reached the house, which they did not do for some
+time, as they waited to make sure that Ishmael had really gone, it was to
+see the man himself riding away from its gate.
+
+"Be prepared," said Noie; "I think that he has been here before us to pour
+poison into your father's ears."
+
+So it proved to be, indeed, for on the stoep or verandah they found Mr.
+Dove walking up and down evidently much disturbed in mind.
+
+"What is all this trouble, Rachel?" he asked. "What have you done to Mr.
+Smith"--for Mr. Dove in pursuance of the suggestion made by the man, had
+adopted that name for him which he considered less peculiar than Ishmael.
+"He has been here much upset, declaring that you have used him cruelly,
+and that Nonha threatened him with terrible things in the future, of
+which, of course, she can know nothing."
+
+"Well, father, if you wish to hear," answered Rachel, "Mr. Ishmael, or Mr.
+Smith as you call him, has been asking me to marry him, and when I
+refused, as of course I did, behaved very unpleasantly."
+
+"Indeed, Rachel. I gathered from him that something of the sort had
+happened, only his story is that it was you who behaved unpleasantly,
+speaking to him as though he were dirt. Now, Rachel, of course I do not
+want you to marry this person, in fact, I should dislike it, although I
+have seen a great change for the better in him lately--I mean spiritually,
+of course--and an earnest repentance for the errors of his past life. All
+I mean is that the proffered affection of an honest man should not be met
+with scorn and sharp words."
+
+Up to this point Rachel endured the lecture in silence, but now she could
+bear no more.
+
+"Honest man!" she exclaimed. "Father, are you deaf and blind, or only so
+good yourself that you cannot see evil in others? Do you know that it was
+this 'honest man' who brought about the murder of all Noie's people in
+order that he might curry favour with the Zulus?"
+
+Mr. Dove started, and turning, asked:
+
+"Is that so, Nonha?"
+
+"It is so, Teacher," answered Noie, "although I have never spoken of it to
+you. Afterwards I will tell you the story, if you wish."
+
+"And do you know," went on Rachel, "why he will never let you visit his
+kraal among the hills yonder? Well, I will tell you. It is because this
+'honest man,' who wishes me to marry him, keeps his Kaffir wives and
+children there!"
+
+"Rachel!" replied her father, in much distress, "I will never believe it;
+you are only repeating native scandal. Why, he has often spoken to me with
+horror of such things."
+
+"I daresay he has, father. Well, now, I ask you to judge for yourself.
+Take a guide and start two hours before daybreak to-morrow morning to
+visit that kraal, and see if what I say is not true."
+
+"I will, indeed," exclaimed Mr. Dove, who was now thoroughly aroused, for
+it was conduct of this sort that had caused his bitter quarrel with the
+first settlers in Natal. "I cannot believe the story, Rachel, I really
+cannot; but I promise you that if I should find cause to do so, the man
+shall never put foot in my house again."
+
+"Then I think that I am rid of him," said Rachel, with a sigh of relief,
+"only be careful, dear, that he does not do you a mischief, for such men
+do not like to be found out." Then she left the stoep, and went to tell
+her mother all that had happened.
+
+When she had heard the story, Mrs. Dove, who detested Ishmael as much as
+her daughter did, tried to persuade her husband not to visit his kraal,
+saying that it would only breed a feud, and that under the circumstances,
+it would be easy to forbid him the house upon other grounds. But Mr. Dove,
+obstinate as usual, refused to listen to her, saying that he would not
+judge the man without evidence, and that of the natives could not be
+relied on. Also, if the tale were true, it was his duty as his spiritual
+adviser to remonstrate with him.
+
+So his poor wife gave up arguing, as she always did, and long before dawn
+on the following morning, Mr. Dove, accompanied by two guides, departed
+upon his errand.
+
+After he had ridden some twelve miles across the plain which lay behind
+Ramah, just at daybreak, he reached a pass or nek between two swelling
+hills, beyond which the guides said lay the kraal that was called Mafooti.
+Presently he saw it, a place situated in a cup-like valley, chosen
+evidently because the approaches to it were easy to defend. On a knoll in
+the centre of this rich valley stood the kraal, a small native town
+surrounded by walls, and stone enclosures full of cattle. As they
+approached the kraal, from its main entrance issued four or five
+good-looking native women, one of them accompanied by a boy, and all
+carrying hoes in their hands, for they were going out at sunrise to work
+in the mealie fields. When they saw Mr. Dove they stood still, staring at
+him, till he called to them not to be afraid, and riding up, asked them
+who they were.
+
+"We are of the number of the wives of Ibubesi, the Lion," answered their
+spokeswoman, who held the little boy by the hand.
+
+"Do you mean the _Umlungu_ (that is, the white man), Ishmael?" he asked
+again.
+
+"Whom else should we mean?" she answered. "I am his head wife, now that he
+has put away old Mami, and this is his son. If the light were stronger you
+would see that he is almost white," she added, with pride.
+
+Mr. Dove knew not what to answer; this intelligence overwhelmed him, and
+he sat silent on his horse. The wives of Ishmael prepared to pass on to
+the mealie fields, then stopped, and began to whisper together. At length
+the mother of the boy turned and addressed him, while the others crowded
+behind her to listen.
+
+"We desire to ask you a question, Teacher," she said, somewhat shyly, for
+evidently they knew well enough who he was. "Is it true that we are to
+have a new sister?"
+
+"A new sister! What do you mean?" asked Mr. Dove.
+
+"We mean, Teacher," she replied smiling, "that we have heard that Ibubesi
+is courting the beautiful Zoola, the daughter of your head wife, and we
+thought that perhaps you had come to arrange about the cattle that he must
+pay for her. Doubtless if she is so fair, it will be a whole herd."
+
+This was too much, even for Mr. Dove.
+
+"How dare you talk so, you heathen hussies?" he gasped. "Where is the
+white man?"
+
+"Teacher," she replied with indignation, and drawing herself up, "why do
+you call us bad names? We are respectable women, the wives of one husband,
+as respectable as your own, although not so numerous, or so we hear from
+Ibubesi. If you desire to see him, he is in the big hut, yonder, with our
+youngest sister, she whom he married last month. We wish you good day, as
+we go to hoe our lord's fields, and we hope that when she comes, the
+Inkosazana, your daughter, will not be as rude as you are, for if so, how
+shall we love her as we wish to do?" Then wrapping her blanket round her
+with a dignified air, the offended lady stalked off, followed by her
+various "sisters."
+
+As for Mr. Dove, who for once in his life was in a towering rage, he cut
+his horse viciously with the sjambok, or hippopotamus-hide whip, which he
+carried, and followed by his guides, galloped forward to a big hut in the
+centre of the kraal.
+
+Apparently Ishmael heard the sound of his horse's hoofs, for as the
+missionary was dismounting he crawled out of the bee-hole of the hut upon
+his hands and knees, as a Kaffir does, followed by a young woman in the
+lightest of attire, who was yawning as though she had just been aroused
+from sleep. What is more, except for the colour of his skin, he _was_ a
+Kaffir and nothing else, for his costume consisted of a skin moocha such
+as the natives wear, and a fur kaross thrown over his shoulders.
+Straightening himself, Ishmael saw for the first time who was his visitor.
+His jaw dropped, and he uttered an ejaculation that need not be recorded,
+then stood silent. Mr. Dove was silent also; for his wrath would not allow
+him to speak.
+
+"How do you do, sir?" Ishmael jerked out at last. "You are an early
+visitor, and find me somewhat unprepared. If I had known that you were
+coming I would"--then suddenly he remembered his attire, or the lack of
+it, also his companion who was leaning on his shoulder, and peeping at the
+white man over it. Drawing the kaross tightly about him, he gave the poor
+girl a backward kick, and with a Kaffir oath bade her begone, then went on
+hurriedly: "I am afraid my dress is not quite what you are accustomed to,
+but among these poor heathens I find it necessary to conform more or less
+to their ways in order to gain their confidence and--um--affection. Will
+you come into the hut? My servant there will get you some _tywala_ (Kaffir
+beer)--I mean some _amasi_ (curdled milk) at once, and I will have a calf
+killed for breakfast."
+
+Mr. Dove could bear it no longer.
+
+"Ishmael, or Smith, or Ibubesi--whichever name you may prefer," he broke
+out, "do not lie to me about your servant, for now I know all the truth,
+which I refused to believe when my daughter and Nonha told it me. You are
+a black-hearted villain. But yesterday you dared to come and ask Rachel to
+marry you, and now I find that you are living--oh! I cannot say it, it
+makes me ashamed of my race. Listen to me, sir. If ever you dare to set
+foot in Ramah again, or to speak to my wife and daughter, the Kaffirs
+shall whip you off the place. Indeed," he added, shaking his sjambok in
+Ishmael's face, "although I am an older man than you are, were it not for
+my office I would give you the thrashing you deserve."
+
+At first Ishmael had shrunk beneath this torrent of invective, but the
+threat of violence roused his fierce nature. His face grew evil, and his
+long black hair and beard bristled with wrath.
+
+"You had best get out of this, you prayer-snuffling old humbug," he said
+savagely, "for if you stop much longer I will make you sing another tune.
+We have sea-cow whips here, too, and you shall learn what a hiding means,
+such a hiding that your own family won't know you, if you live to get back
+to them. Look here, I offered to marry your daughter on the square, and I
+meant what I said. I'd have got rid of all this black baggage, and she
+should have been the only one. Well, I'll marry her yet, only now she'll
+just take her place with the others. We are all one flesh and blood, black
+and white, ain't we? I have often heard you preach it. So what will she
+have to complain of?" he sneered. "She can go and hoe mealies like the
+rest."
+
+As this brutal talk fell upon his ears Mr. Dove's reason departed from him
+entirely. After all, he was an English gentleman first, and a clergyman
+afterwards; also he loved his daughter, and to hear her spoken of like
+this was intolerable to him, as it would have been to any father. Lifting
+the sjambok he cut Ishmael across the mouth so sharply that the blood came
+from his lips, then suddenly remembering that this deed would probably
+mean his death, stood still awaiting the issue. As it chanced it did not,
+for the man, like most brutes and bullies, was a coward, as Rachel had
+already found out. Obeying his first impulse he sprang at the clergyman
+with an oath, then seeing that his two guides, who carried assegais, had
+ranged themselves beside him, checked himself, for he feared lest those
+spears should pierce his heart.
+
+"You are in my house," he said, wiping the blood from his beard, "and an
+old man, so I can't kill you as I would anyone else. But you have made me
+your enemy now, you fool, and others can. I have protected you so far for
+your daughter's sake, but I won't do it any longer. You think of that when
+your time comes."
+
+"My time, like yours, will come when God wills," answered Mr. Dove
+unflinchingly, "not when you or anyone else wills. I do not fear you in
+the least. Still, I am sorry that I struck you, it was a sin of which I
+repent as I pray that you may repent."
+
+Then he mounted his horse and rode away from the kraal Mafooti.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Mr. Dove reached Ramah he only said to Rachel that what she had heard
+was quite true, and that he had forbidden Ishmael the house. Of course,
+however, Noie soon learnt the whole story from the Kaffir guides, and
+repeated it to her mistress. To his wife, on the other hand, he told
+everything, with the result that she was very much disturbed. She pointed
+out to him that this white outcast was a most dangerous man, who would
+certainly be revenged upon them in one way or another. Again she implored
+him, as she had often done before, to leave these savage countries wherein
+he had laboured for all the best years of his life, saying that it was not
+right that he should expose their daughter to the risks of them.
+
+"But," answered her husband, "you have often told me that you were sure no
+harm would come to Rachel, and I think that, too."
+
+"Yes, dear, I am sure; still, for many reasons it does not seem right to
+keep her here." She did not add, poor, unselfish woman, that there was
+another who should be considered as well as Rachel.
+
+"How can I go away," he went on excitedly, "just when all the seed that I
+have sown is ripening to harvest? If I did so, my work would be utterly
+lost, and my people relapse into barbarism again. I am not afraid of this
+man, or of anything that he can do to my body, but if I ran away from him
+it would be injuring my soul, and what account should I give of my
+cowardice when my time comes? Do you go, my love, and take Rachel with you
+if you wish, leaving me to finish my work alone."
+
+But now, as before, Mrs. Dove would not go, and Rachel, when she was
+asked, shrugged her shoulders and answered laughing that she was not
+afraid of anybody or anything, and, except for her mother's sake, did not
+care whether she went or stayed. Certainly she would not leave her, nor,
+she added, did she wish to say goodbye to Africa.
+
+When she was asked why, she replied vaguely that she had grown up there,
+and it was her home. But her mother, watching her, knew well enough that
+she had another reason, although no word of it every passed her lips. In
+Africa she had met Richard Darrien as a child, and in Africa and nowhere
+else she believed she would meet him again as a woman.
+
+The weeks and months went by, bringing to the Ramah household no sight or
+tidings of the white man, Ishmael. They heard through the Kaffirs, indeed,
+that although he still kept his kraal at Mafooti, he himself had gone away
+on some trading journey far to the north, and did not expect to return for
+a year, news at which everyone rejoiced, except Noie, who shook her wise
+little head and said nothing.
+
+So all fear of the man gradually died away, and things were very peaceful
+and prosperous at Ramah.
+
+In fact this quiet proved to be but the lull before the storm.
+
+One day, about eight months after Mr. Dove had visited the kraal Mafooti,
+another embassy came to Rachel from the Zulu king, Dingaan, bringing with
+it a present of more white cattle. She received them as she had done
+before, at night and alone, for they refused to speak to her in the
+presence of other people.
+
+In substance their petition was the same that it had been before, namely,
+that she would visit Zululand, as the king and his indunas desired her
+counsel upon an important matter. When asked what this matter was they
+either were, or pretended to be, ignorant, saying that it had not been
+confided to them. Thereon she said that if Dingaan chose to submit the
+question to her by messenger, she would give him her opinion on it, but
+that she could not come to his kraal. They asked why, seeing that the
+whole nation would guard her, and no hair of her head be harmed.
+
+"Because I am a child in the house of my people, and they will not allow
+me to leave even for a day," she answered, thinking that this reply would
+appeal to a race who believe absolutely in obedience to parents and every
+established authority.
+
+"Is it so?" remarked the old induna who spoke as Dingaan's Mouth--not
+Mopo, but another. "Now, how can the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, before whom a
+whole nation will bow, be in bonds to a white _Umfundusi_, a mere
+sky-doctor? Shall the wide heavens obey a cloud?"
+
+"If they are bred of that cloud," retorted Rachel.
+
+"The heavens breed the cloud, not the cloud the heavens," answered the
+induna aptly.
+
+Now it occurred to Rachel that this thing was going further than it
+should. To be set up as a kind of guardian spirit to the Zulus had seemed
+a very good joke, and naturally appealed to the love of power which is
+common to women. But when it involved, at any rate in the eyes of that
+people, dominion over her own parents, the joke was, she felt, becoming
+serious. So she determined suddenly to bring it to an end.
+
+"What mean you, Messenger of the King?" she asked. "I am but the child of
+my parents, and the parents are greater than the child, and must be obeyed
+of her."
+
+"Inkosazana," answered the old man with a deprecatory smile, "if it
+pleases you to tell us such tales, our ears must listen, as if it pleased
+you to order us to be killed, we must be killed. But learn that we know
+the truth. We know how as a child you came down from above in the
+lightning, and how these white people with whom you dwell found you lying
+in the mist on the mountain top, and took you to their home in place of a
+babe whom they had buried."
+
+ "Who told you that story?" asked Rachel amazed.
+
+"It was revealed to the council of the doctors, Lady."
+
+"Then that was revealed which is not true. I was born as other women are,
+and my name of 'Lady of the Heavens' came to me by chance, as by chance I
+resemble the Spirit of your people."
+
+"We hear you," answered the "Mouth" politely. "You were born as other
+women are, by chance you had your high name, by chance you are tall and
+fair and golden-haired like the Spirit of our people. We hear you."
+
+Then Rachel gave it up.
+
+"Bear my words to the King," she said, and they rose, saluted her with a
+Bayète, that royal salute which never before had been given to woman, and
+departed.
+
+When they had gone Rachel went into supper and told her parents all the
+story. Mr. Dove, now that she seemed to take a serious view of the matter,
+affected to treat it as absurd, although when she had laughed, his
+attitude, it may be remembered, was different. He talked of the silly Zulu
+superstitions, showed how they had twisted up the story of the death of
+her baby brother, and her escape from the flood in the Umtavuna river,
+into that which they had narrated to her. He even suggested that the whole
+thing was nonsense, part of some political move to enable the King, or a
+party in the state, to declare that they had with them the word of their
+traditional spirit and oracle.
+
+Mrs. Dove, however, who that night was strangely depressed and uneasy,
+thought far otherwise. She pointed out that they were playing with vast
+and cruel forces, and that whatever these people exactly believed about
+Rachel, it was a dreadful thing for a girl to be put in a position in
+which the lives of hundreds might hang upon her nod.
+
+"Yes, and," she added hysterically, "perhaps our own lives also--perhaps
+our own lives also!"
+
+To change the conversation, which was growing painful, Rachel asked if
+anyone had seen Noie. Her father answered that two hours ago, just before
+the embassy arrived, he had met her going down to the banks of the stream,
+as he supposed, to gather flowers for the table. Then he began to talk
+about the girl, saying what a sweet creature she was, and how strange it
+seemed to him that although she appeared to accept all the doctrines of
+the Christian faith, as yet she had never consented to be baptised.
+
+It was while he was speaking thus that Rachel suddenly observed her mother
+fall forward, so that her body rested on the table, as though a kind of
+fit had seized her. Rachel sprang towards her, but before she reached her
+she appeared to have quite recovered, only her face looked very white.
+
+ "What on earth is the matter, mother?"
+
+"Oh! don't ask me," she answered, "a terrible thing, a sort of fancy that
+came to me from talking about those Zulus. I thought I saw this place all
+red with blood and tongues of fire licking it up. It went as quickly as it
+came, and of course I know that it is nonsense."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE TAKING OF NOIE
+
+
+Presently Mrs. Dove, who seemed to have quite recovered from, her curious
+seizure, went to bed.
+
+"I don't like it, father," said Rachel when the door had closed behind
+her. "Of course it is contrary to experience and all that, but I believe
+that mother is fore-sighted."
+
+"Nonsense, dear, nonsense," said her father. "It is her Scotch
+superstition, that is all. We have been married for five-and-twenty years
+now, and I have heard this sort of thing again and again, but although we
+have lived in wild places where anything might happen to us, nothing out
+of the way ever has happened; in fact, we have always been most mercifully
+preserved."
+
+"That's true, father, still I am not sure; perhaps because I am rather
+that way myself, sometimes. Thus I _know_ that she is right about me; no
+harm will happen to me, at least no permanent harm. I feel that I shall
+live out my life, as I feel something else."
+
+"What else, Rachel?"
+
+"Do you remember the lad, Richard Darrien?" she asked, colouring a little.
+
+"What? The boy who was with you that night on the island? Yes, I remember
+him, although I have not thought of him for years."
+
+"Well, I feel that I shall see him again."
+
+Mr. Dove laughed. "Is that all?" he said. "If he is still alive and in
+Africa, it wouldn't be very wonderful if you did, would it? And at any
+rate, of course, you will one day when we all cease to be alive. Really,"
+he added with irritation, "there are enough bothers in life without
+rubbish of this kind, which comes from living among savages and absorbing
+their ideas. I am beginning to think that I shall have to give way and
+leave Africa, though it will break my heart just when, after all the
+striving, my efforts are being crowned with success."
+
+ "I have always told you, father, that I don't want to leave Africa,
+still, there is mother to be considered. Her health is not what it was."
+
+"Well," he said impatiently, "I will talk to her and weigh the thing.
+Perhaps I shall receive guidance, though for my part I cannot see what it
+matters. We've got to die some time, and if necessary I prefer that it
+should be while doing my duty. 'Take no thought for the morrow, sufficient
+unto the day is the evil thereof,' has always been my motto, who am
+content with what it pleases Providence to send me."
+
+Then Rachel, seeing no use in continuing the conversation, bade him
+good-night, and went to look for Noie, only to discover that she was not
+in the house. This disturbed her very much, although it occurred to her
+that she might possibly be with friends in the village, hiding till she
+was sure the Zulu embassy had gone. So she went to bed without troubling
+her father.
+
+At daybreak next morning she rose, not having slept very well, and went
+out to look for the girl, without success, for no one had heard or seen
+anything of her. As she was returning to the house, however, she met a
+solitary Zulu, a dignified middle-aged man, whom she thought she
+recognised as one of the embassy, although of this she could not be sure,
+as she had only seen these people in the moonlight. The man, who was quite
+unarmed, except for a kerry which he carried, crouched down on catching
+sight of heir in token of respect. As she approached he rose, and gave her
+the royal salute. Then she was sure.
+
+"Speak," she said.
+
+"Inkosazana," he answered humbly, "be not angry with me, I am Tamboosa,
+one of the King's indunas. You saw me with the others last night."
+
+"I saw you."
+
+"Inkosazana, there has been dwelling with you one Noie, the daughter of
+Seyapi the wizard, who with all his house was slain at this place by order
+of the King. She also should have been slain, but we have learned that you
+called down lightning from Heaven, and that with it you slew the soldier
+who had run her down, slew him and burned him up, as you had the right to
+do, and took the girl to be your slave, as you had the right to do."
+
+"Speak on," said Rachel, showing none of the surprise which she felt.
+
+"Inkosazana, we know that you have come to love this girl. Therefore,
+yesterday before we spoke with you we seized her as we were commanded, and
+hid her away, awaiting your answer to our message. Had you consented to
+visit the King at his Great Place, we would have let her go. But as you
+did not consent my companions have taken her to the King."
+
+"An ill deed. What more, Tamboosa?"
+
+"This; the King says by my mouth--Let the Inkosazana come and command, and
+her servant Noie shall go free and unharmed, for is she not a dog in her
+hut? But if she comes not and at once, then the girl dies."
+
+"How know I that this tale is true, Tamboosa?" asked Rachel, controlling
+herself with an effort, for she loved Noie dearly.
+
+The man turned towards some bushes that grew at a distance of about twenty
+paces, and cried: "Come hither."
+
+Thereon from among the bushes where she lay hidden, rose a little maid of
+about fourteen, whom Rachel knew well as a girl that Noie often took with
+her to carry baskets and other things.
+
+"Tell now the tale of the taking of Noie and deliver the message that she
+gave to you," commanded Tamboosa.
+
+Thereon the trembling child began, and after the native fashion,
+suppressing no detail or circumstance, however small, narrated how the
+Zulus had surprised her and Noie while they were gathering flowers, and
+having bound their arms, had caused them to be hurried away unseen to some
+dense bush about four miles off. Here they had been kept hidden till in
+the night the embassy returned. Then they had spoken with Noie, who in the
+end called her and gave her a message. This was the message: "Say to the
+Inkosazana that the Zulus have caught me, and are taking me to Dingaan the
+King. Say that they declare that if she is pleased to come and speak the
+word, I shall be set free unharmed, that is, if she comes at once. But if
+she does not come, then I shall be killed. Say to her that I do not ask
+that she should come who am ready to die, and that though I believe that
+no harm will happen to her in Zululand, I think that she had better not
+come. Say that, living or dead, I love her."
+
+Then the maid described how the embassy went on with Noie, leaving her in
+the charge of the man Tamboosa, who at the first break of dawn brought her
+back to Ramah, and made her hide in the bush.
+
+Now Rachel had no more doubts. Clearly the tale was true, and the question
+was--what must be done? She thought a while, then bade Tamboosa and the
+child to follow her to the mission-house. On the stoep she found her
+father and mother sitting in the sun and drinking coffee, after the South
+African fashion.
+
+"What is it?" asked Mr. Dove, looking at the man anxiously.
+
+Rachel ordered him to repeat his story, and this he did, addressing Rachel
+alone, for of her father and mother he would take no notice. When he had
+done the child told her tale also.
+
+"Go now, and wait without," said Rachel, when it was finished.
+
+"Inkosazana, I go," answered the man, "but if it pleases you to save your
+servant, know that you must come swiftly. If you are not across the Tugela
+by sunset this night, word will be passed to the King, and she dies at
+once. Know also that you must come alone with me, for if any, white or
+black, accompany you, they will be killed."
+
+"Now," said Rachel when the three of them were left alone, "now what is to
+be done?"
+
+Mrs. Dove shook her head helplessly, and looked at her husband, who broke
+into a tirade against the Zulus, their superstitions, cruelties, customs,
+and everything that was theirs, and ended by declaring that it was of
+course utterly impossible that Rachel should go upon such a mad errand,
+and thus place herself in the power of savages.
+
+"But, father," she said when he had done, "do you understand that you are
+pronouncing Noie's death sentence? If you were in my place, would you not
+go?"
+
+"Of course I would. In fact I propose to do so as it is. No doubt Dingaan
+will listen to me."
+
+"You mean that Dingaan will kill you. Did you not hear what that man
+Tamboosa said? Father, you must not go."
+
+"No, John," broke in Mrs. Dove, "Rachel is right, you must not go, for you
+would never come back again. Also, how can you be so cruel as to think of
+leaving me here alone?"
+
+"Then I suppose that we must abandon that poor girl to her fate,"
+exclaimed Mr. Dove.
+
+"How can you suppose anything so merciless, father, when it is in my power
+to save her?" asked Rachel. "If I let those horrible Zulus kill her I
+shall never be happy again all my life."
+
+"And what if the horrible Zulus kill you?"
+
+"They will not kill me, father; mother knows they will not, and so do I.
+But as they have got this madness into their heads, I am sure that if I do
+not go they will send an impi here to kill everybody else, and take me
+prisoner. The kidnapping of Noie is only a first move. It is one of two
+things: either I must visit Zululand, save Noie, and play my part there as
+best I can, or we must desert Noie, and all leave this place at once,
+tomorrow if possible. But then, as I told you, I shall never forgive
+myself, especially as I am not in the least afraid of the Zulus."
+
+ "It is true that God can protect you as much in Zululand as He can here,"
+replied Mr. Dove, beginning to weaken in face of this desperate
+alternative.
+
+"Of course, father, but if I go to Zululand I want you and mother to trek
+to Durban, and remain there till I return."
+
+"Why, Rachel? It is absurd."
+
+"Because I do not think that you are safe here, and it is not at all
+absurd," she answered stubbornly. "These people choose to believe that I
+am in some way in bondage to you; you remember all their talk about the
+heavens and the cloud. Of course it may mean nothing, but you will be much
+better in Durban for a while, where you can take to the water if
+necessary."
+
+Now Mr. Dove's obstinacy asserted itself. He refused to entertain any such
+idea, giving reason after reason why he should not do so. Thus for another
+half hour the argument raged till at length a compromise was arrived at,
+as usual in such cases, not of too satisfactory an order. Rachel was to be
+allowed to undertake her mission on behalf of Noie, and her parents were
+to remain at Ramah. On her return, which they hoped would be within a week
+or eight days, the question of the abandonment of the mission was to be
+settled by the help of the experience she had gained. To this arrangement,
+then, they agreed, reluctantly enough all of them, in order, to save
+Noie's life, and for no other reason.
+
+The momentous decision once taken, in half an hour Rachel was ready for
+her journey, which she determined she would make upon her own horse, a
+grey mare that she had ridden for a long while, and could rely on in every
+way. The white riding-ox that Dingaan had sent as a present was also to
+accompany her, to carry her spare garments and other articles packed in
+skin bags, such as coffee, sugar and a few medicines, and to serve as a
+remount in case anything should happen to the horse. When it was laden
+Rachel sent for the Zulu, Tamboosa, and, pointing to the ox, said:
+
+"I come to visit Dingaan the king, and to claim my servant. Lead the beast
+on, I will overtake you presently."
+
+The man saluted and began to _bonga_, that is, to give her titles of
+praise, but she cut him short with a wave of her hand, and he departed
+leading the ox.
+
+Now while Mr. Dove saw to the saddling of the horses, for he was to ride
+with her as far as the Tugela, Rachel went to bid farewell to her mother.
+She found her by herself in the sitting-room, seated at an open window,
+and looking out sadly towards the sea.
+
+ "I am quite ready, dear," she said in a cheerful voice. "Don't look so
+sad, I shall be back again in a week with Noie."
+
+"Yes," answered Mrs. Dove, "I think that you and Noie will come back
+safely, but--" and she paused.
+
+"But what, mother?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know. I am very much oppressed, my heart is heavy in me. I
+hate parting with you, Rachel. Remember we have never been separated since
+you were born."
+
+Her daughter looked at her, and was filled with grief and compunction.
+
+"Mother," she said, "if you feel like that--well, I love Noie, but after
+all you are more to me than Noie, and if you wish I will give up this
+business and stop with you. It is very terrible, but it can't be helped;
+Noie will understand, poor thing," and her eyes filled with tears at the
+thought of the girl's dreadful fate.
+
+"No, Rachel, somehow I think it best that you should go, not only for
+Noie's sake, but for your own. If your father would leave here to-day or
+to-morrow, as you suggested, it might be otherwise, but he won't do that,
+so it is no use talking of it. Let us hope for the best."
+
+"As you wish, mother."
+
+"Now, dear kiss me and go. I hear your father calling you; and, Rachel, if
+we should not meet again in this world, I know you won't forget me, or
+that there is another where we shall. I did not want to frighten you with
+my fancies, which come from my not being well. Goodbye, my love, good-bye.
+God be with you, and make you happy, always--always."
+
+Then Rachel kissed her in silence, for she could not trust herself to
+speak, and turning, left the room whence her mother watched her go, also
+in silence. In another minute she was mounted, and, accompanied by her
+father, riding on the road along which Tamboosa had led the white ox.
+
+Presently they overtook him, whereon he stopped, and looking at Mr. Dove,
+said:
+
+"Inkosazana, the King's orders are that none should accompany you into
+Zululand."
+
+"Be silent," answered Rachel, proudly. "He rides with me as far as the
+river bank."
+
+Then they went on, and Rachel was relieved to find that whatever might
+have been her mother's mood, that of her father was fairly cheerful.
+Indeed, his mind was so occupied with the details and object of her
+journey that he quite forgot its dangers.
+
+Two hours' steady riding brought them to the ford of the Tugela river,
+across which lay Zululand. On the hills beyond it they could see a number
+of Kaffirs watching, who on catching sight of Rachel, ran down to the
+river and entered it, shouting and beating the water with their sticks, as
+she guessed, to scare away any crocodiles that might be lurking there.
+
+Now that the moment of separation had come, Mr. Dove grew loth to part
+with his daughter, and again suggested to Tamboosa that he should
+accompany her to Dingaan's Great Place.
+
+"If you set a foot across that river, Praying Man," answered the induna
+grimly, "you shall die; look, there are the spears that will kill you."
+
+As he spoke he pointed to the crest of the opposing hill over which,
+running swiftly in ordered companies, now appeared a Zulu regiment who
+carried large white shields and wore white plumes rising from their head
+rings.
+
+"It is the escort of the Inkosazana," he added. "Do you think that she can
+take hurt among so many? And do you think, if you dare to disobey the
+words of Dingaan, that you can escape so many? Go back new, lest they
+should come over and kill you where you are."
+
+Then, seeing that both argument and resistance were useless, and that
+Tamboosa would brook no delay, Mr. Dove hurriedly embraced his daughter in
+farewell. Indeed, Rachel was glad that there was no time for words, for
+this parting was more terrible to her than she cared to own, and she
+feared lest she should break down before the Zulu who was watching her,
+and thereby be lowered in his eyes and in those of his people.
+
+It was over and done. She had entered the water, riding her grey mare
+while Tamboosa led the white ox at her side. Presently she looked, back,
+and saw her father kneeling in prayer upon the bank.
+
+"What does the man?" asked Tamboosa, uneasily. "Is he bewitching us?"
+
+"Nay," she answered, "he prays to the Heavens for us."
+
+On they went between the two lines of natives, who ceased their beating of
+the water, and were silent as she passed. The river was shallow, and they
+crossed it with ease. By now the regiment was gathered on its further
+bank, two thousand men or more, brought hither to do honour to this white
+girl in whom they chose to consider that the guardian spirit of their
+people was incarnate. Contemplating them, Rachel wondered how it came
+about that they should be thus prepared for her advent. The answer rose in
+her mind. If she had refused to visit Zululand, it was their mission to
+fetch her. It was wise, therefore, that she had come of her own will.
+
+Forward she rode, a striking figure in her long white cloak, down which
+her bright hair hung, sitting very proud and upright on her horse, without
+a sign of doubt or fear. As she approached, the captains of the regiment
+ran forward to meet her with lifted shield and crouching bodies.
+
+"Hail!" cried their leader. "In the name of the Great Elephant, of Dingaan
+the King, hail to thee, Princess of the Heavens, Holder of the Spirit of
+Nomkubulwana."
+
+Rachel rode on, taking no notice, marvelling who Nomkubulwana, whose
+spirit she was supposed to enshrine, might be. Afterwards she discovered
+that it was only another name for the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, that mysterious
+white ghost believed by this people to control their destinies, with whom
+it had pleased them to identify her. As her horse left the wide river and
+set foot upon dry land, every man of the two thousand soldiers, who were
+watching, as it seemed to her, with wonder and awe, began to beat his
+ox-hide shield with the handle of his spear. They beat very softly at
+first, producing a sound like the distant murmur of the sea, then harder
+and harder till its volume grew to a mighty roar, impossible to describe,
+a sound like the sound of thunder that echoed along the water and from
+hill to hill. The mighty noise sank and died away as it had begun, and for
+a moment there was silence. Then at some signal every spear flashed aloft
+in the sunlight, and from every throat came the royal salute--_Bayète_. It
+was a tremendous and most imposing welcome, so tremendous that Rachel
+could no longer doubt that this people regarded her as a being apart, and
+above the other white folk whom they knew.
+
+At the time, however, she had little space for such thoughts, since the
+mare she rode, terrified by the tumult, bucked and shied so violently that
+she could scarcely keep her seat. She was a good rider, which was
+fortunate for her, since, had she been ignominiously thrown upon such an
+occasion, her prestige must have suffered, if indeed it were not
+destroyed. As it proved, it was greatly enhanced by this accident. Many of
+the Zulus of that day had never even seen a horse, which was considered by
+all of them to be a dangerous if not a magical beast. That a woman could
+remain seated on such a wild animal when it sprang into the air, and
+swerved from side to side, struck them, therefore, as something marvellous
+and out of experience, a proof indeed that she was not as others are.
+
+She quieted the mare, and rode on between the white-shielded ranks, who,
+their greeting finished, remained absolutely still like bronze statues
+watching her with wondering eyes. When at length they were passed, the
+captains and a guard of about fifty men ran ahead of her.
+
+ Then she came, and after her Tamboosa, leading the white ox, followed by
+another guard, which in turn was followed by the entire regiment. Thus
+royally escorted, asking no questions, and speaking no word, did Rachel
+make her entry into Zululand. Only in her heart she wondered whither she
+was going, and how that strange journey would end, wondered, too, how it
+would fare with her father and her mother till she returned to them.
+
+Well might she wonder.
+
+When she had ridden thus for about two hours an incident occurred which
+showed her how great, and indeed how dreadful was the eminence on which
+she had been set among these people. Suddenly some cattle, frightened by
+the approach of the impi, rushed through it towards their kraal, and a
+bull that was with them, seeing this unaccustomed apparition of a white
+woman mounted on a strange animal, put down its head and charged her
+furiously. She saw it coming, and by pulling the mare on to its haunches,
+avoided its rush. Now at the time she was riding on a path which ran along
+the edge of a little rock-strewn donga not more than eight or ten feet
+deep, but steep-sided. Into this donga the bull, which had shut its eyes
+to charge after the fashion of its kind, plunged headlong, and as it
+chanced struck its horns against a stone, twisting and dislocating the
+neck, so that it lay there still and dead.
+
+When the Zulus saw what had happened they uttered a long-drawn _Ow-w_ of
+amazement, for had not the beast dared to attack the White Spirit, and had
+not the Spirit rewarded it with instant death? Then a captain made a
+motion with his hand and instantly men sprang upon the remaining cattle,
+four or five of them that were following the bull, and despatched them
+with assegais. Before Rachel could interfere they were pierced with a
+hundred wounds. Now there was a little pause, while the carcases of the
+beasts were dragged out of her path, and the bloodstains covered from her
+eyes with fresh earth. Just as this task was finished there appeared,
+scrambling up the denga, and followed, by some men, a fat and
+hideous-looking woman, with fish bladders in her hair, and snake-skins
+tied about her, who, from her costume, Rachel knew at once must be an
+_Isanuzi_ or witch-doctoress. Evidently she was in a fury, as might be seen
+by the workings of her face, and the extraordinary swiftness with which
+she moved notwithstanding her years and bulk.
+
+"Who has dared to kill my cattle?" she screamed. "Is it thou whom men name
+Nomkubulwana?"
+
+"Woman," answered Rachel quietly, "the Heavens killed the bull which would
+have hurt me. For the rest, ask of the captains of the King."
+
+ The witch-doctoress glanced at the dead bull which lay in the donga, its
+head twisted up in an unnatural fashion at right angles to the body, and
+for a moment seemed afraid. Then her rage at the loss of her herd broke
+out afresh, for she was a person in authority, one accustomed to be feared
+because of her black arts and her office.
+
+"When the Inkosazana is seen in Zululand," she gasped, "death walks with
+her. There is the token of it," and she pointed to the dead cattle. "So it
+has ever been and so shall it ever be. Red is thy road through life, White
+One. Go back, go back now to thine own kraal, and see whether or no my
+words are true," and springing at the horse she seized it by the bridle as
+though she would drag it round.
+
+Now in her hand Rachel held a little rod of white rhinoceros horn which
+she used as a riding whip, and with this rod she pointed at the woman,
+meaning that some of those with her should cause her to loose the bridle.
+Too late she remembered that in this savage land such a motion when made
+by the King or one in supreme command, had another dreadful
+interpretation--death without pity or reprieve.
+
+In an instant, before she could interfere, before she could speak, the
+witch-doctoress lay dead upon the carcase of the dead bull.
+
+"What of the others, Queen, what of the others?" asked the chief of the
+slayers, bending low before her, and pointing with his spear to the
+attendants of the witch-doctoress, who fled aghast. "Do they join this
+evil-doer who dared to lift her hand against thee?"
+
+"Nay," she answered in a low voice, for horror had made her almost dumb.
+"I give them life. Forward."
+
+"She gives them life!" shouted the praisers about her. "The Bearer of life
+and death gives life to the children of the evil-doer," and as the great
+cavalcade marched forward, company after company took up these words and
+sang them as a song.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE OMEN OF THE STAR
+
+
+As it chanced and can easily be understood, Rachel could not have made a
+more effective entry into Zululand, or one more calculated to confirm her
+supernatural reputation. When the "wild beast" she rode plunged about she
+had remained seated on it as though she grew there, whereas every warrior
+knew that he would have fallen off. When the bull charged her that bull
+had died, slain by the Heavens. When the Isanuzi, a witch of repute, had
+lifted voice and hand against her she had commanded her death, showing
+that she feared no rival magic. True the woman would have been killed in
+any case, for such was the order of the King as to all who should dare to
+affront the Inkosazana, yet the captains had waited to see what Rachel
+would do that they might judge her accordingly. If she had shown fear, if
+she had even neglected to avenge, they might have marvelled whether after
+all she were more than a beautiful white maiden filled with the wisdom of
+the whites.
+
+Now they knew better; she was a Spirit having the power of a Spirit over
+beast and man, who smote as a Spirit should. The fame of it went
+throughout the land, and little chance thence forward had Rachel of
+escaping from the shadow of her own fearful renown.
+
+Towards sundown they came to a kraal set upon a hill, and it was asked of
+her if she were pleased to spend the night there. She bowed her head in
+assent, and they entered the kraal. It was quite empty save for certain
+maidens dressed in bead petticoats, who waited there to serve her. All the
+other inhabitants had gone. They took her to a large and beautifully clean
+hut. Kneeling on their knees, the maidens presented her with food--meat
+and curdled milk, and roasted cobs of corn. She ate of the corn and the
+milk, but the meat she sent away as a gift to the captains. Then alone in
+that kraal, in which after they had served her even the girls seemed to
+fear to stay, Rachel slept as best she might in such solitude, while
+without the fence two thousand armed savages watched over her safety.
+
+It was a troubled sleep, for she dreamed always of that dreadful-looking
+Isanuzi with the fish-bladders in her hair, yelling to her that her path
+through life was watered with blood, and bidding her go back to her own
+kraal and see whether the words were true, an ominous saying of which she
+could not read the riddle. She dreamed also of the woman's coarse, furious
+face turned suddenly to one of abject terror, and then of the dreadful end
+the red death without mercy and without appeal which she had let loose by
+a motion of her hand. Another dream she had was of her father and her
+mother, who seemed to be lying side by side staring towards her with
+wide-open eyes, and that when she spoke to them they would not answer.
+
+So the long night wore away, till at length Rachel woke with a start
+thinking that a hand had been laid upon her face, to see by the faint
+light of dawn which struggled into the hut through the cracks of the
+door-boards that the hand was only a great rat that had crawled over her
+and now nibbled at her hair. She sat up, frightening it and its companions
+away, then rose and washed herself with water that stood by in great
+gourds while without she heard the women singing some kind of song or hymn
+of which she could not catch the words.
+
+Scarcely was she ready than they entered the hut, saluting her and
+bringing more food. Rachel ate, then bade one of them say to the captain
+of the impi that she was ready to start. Presently the girl returned with
+the message that all was prepared. She walked from the kraal to find her
+mare, which had been well fed and groomed by Tamboosa, who had seen horses
+in Natal, and knew how they should be treated, saddled and waiting, whilst
+before and behind it, arranged as on the previous day, stood the warriors,
+who received her in dead, respectful silence.
+
+She mounted, and the procession went forward. With a two hours' halt at
+midday they marched on over hill and dale, passing many villages of
+beehive-shaped huts. As they came the inhabitants of these places deserted
+them and fled, crying _"Nomkubulwana! Nomkubulwana!"_ It was evident to
+Rachel that the tale of the death of the Isanuzi had preceded her, and
+they feared lest, should they cross her path, her fate would be their
+fate. Indeed, one of the strangest circumstances of this strange adventure
+was the complete loneliness in which she lived. Except those who were
+actually ordered to wait upon her, none dared come near to Rachel; she was
+holy, a Spirit, to approach whom unbidden might mean death.
+
+At nightfall they reached another empty kraal, where again she slept
+alone. When they left it in the morning she called Tamboosa to her and
+asked him at what hour they would come to Dingaan's great town,
+Umgugundhlovo, which means the Place of the trumpeting of the Elephant. He
+answered, at sunset.
+
+So she rode on all that day also till as the sun began to sink, from a
+hill whereon grew large euphorbia trees, on a plain backed by mountains,
+she saw the town surrounded by a fence, inside of which were thousands of
+huts, that in their turn surrounded a great open space. Now they pushed
+forward quickly, and as darkness fell approached the main gate of the
+place, where, as usual, there was no one to be seen. But here they did not
+enter, marching on till they came to another gate, that of the Intunkulu,
+the King's house, where, their escort done, the regiment turned and went
+away, leaving Rachel alone with the envoy, Tamboosa, who still led the
+white ox. They entered this gate, and presently came to a second. It was
+that of the Emposeni, the Dwelling of the King's wives, out of which
+appeared women crawling on the ground before Rachel, and holding in their
+left hands torches of grass. These undid the baggage from the ox, and at
+their signals, for they did not seem to dare to speak to her, Rachel
+dismounted. Thereon Tamboosa saluted her, and taking the horse by the
+bridle, led it away with the ox.
+
+Then Rachel felt that she was indeed alone, for Tamboosa at any rate had
+seen her home, which now was so far away. Still proudly enough she
+followed the women, who, bent double as before, led her to a great hut lit
+by a rude lamp filled with melted hippopotamus fat, where they set down
+her bags, and departed, to return presently with food and water.
+
+Having washed off the dust of her long journey, and combed out her hair,
+Rachel ate all she could, for she was hungry, and guessed that she might
+need her strength that night. Then she lay down upon a pile of beautiful
+karosses that had been placed ready for her, and rested. An hour or more
+went by, and just as she was beginning to fall asleep the door-board of
+the hut was thrust aside, and a tall woman entered, who knelt to her and
+said:
+
+"Hail, Inkosazana! The King asks whether it be thy pleasure to appear
+before him this night."
+
+"It is my pleasure," answered Rachel; "for that purpose have I travelled
+here. Lead me to the King."
+
+So the woman went out of the hut, Rachel following her to find that the
+moon shone brightly in a clear sky. The woman conducted her through
+tortuous reed fences, until presently they came to an open court where, in
+the shadow of a hut, sat a number of men wrapped about with fur karosses.
+Guessing that she was in the presence of Dingaan, Rachel drew her white
+cloak round her tall form and walked forward slowly, till she reached the
+centre of the space, where she stopped and stood quite still, looking like
+a ghost in the moonlight. Then all the men to right and left rose and
+saluted her silently by the uplifting of one arm; only he who was in the
+midst of them remained seated and did not salute. Still she stayed
+motionless, uttering no word for a long while, six or seven minutes,
+perhaps. Her silence fought against theirs, and she knew that the one who
+spoke first would own to inferiority.
+
+At length, in answering salutation, she lifted the little wand of white
+horn that she carried and turned slowly as though to leave the place, so
+that now the moonlight glistened on her lovely hair. Then, fearing perhaps
+lest she should depart or vanish away, the man seated in the centre said
+in a low half-awed voice:
+
+"I am Dingaan, King of the Amazulu. Say, White One, who art thou?"
+
+"By what name am I known here, O Dingaan the King?" she replied, answering
+the question with a question.
+
+"By a high name, White One, a name that is seldom spoken, the name of
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola, the title of Nomkubulwana, the Spirit of our people.
+How camest thou by that name?"
+
+"My name is my name," she said.
+
+"We know, White One; the wind has borne all that story through the land,
+it whispers it from the leaves of the forest and the reeds of the water
+and the grass of the plains. We know that the Heavens gave thee their own
+name, O Child of Heaven, O Holder of the Spirit of Nomkubulwana."
+
+"Thou sayest it, King. I do not say it, thou sayest it."
+
+"I say it, and having seen thee I know that it is true, for thy beauty,
+White One, is not the beauty of woman alone, although still thou beest
+woman. Now I confirm to thee the words my messengers bore thee in past
+days. Here, with me, thou rulest. The land is thine, my impis wait thy
+word. Death and life are in thy hands; command, and they go forth to slay;
+command, and they return again. Only thou rulest alone with me, and the
+black folk, not the white, shall be thy servants."
+
+"I hear thee, King. Now, as a first fruit, give to me Noie, daughter of
+Seyapi, my slave whom the soldiers stole away from Ramah beyond the river
+where I dwell."
+
+"She is dead, White One, she is dead for her crimes," answered Dingaan,
+looking at her.
+
+Now Rachel's heart sank in her, for it might well be that a trick had been
+played on her, and that this was true. Or perhaps this tale of Noie's
+death was but a trap to test her powers; moreover, it was not likely that
+the King, who had promised that she should live, would dare to break his
+word to one whom he believed or half-believed to be a spirit.
+
+For a moment she thought; then, after her nature, determined to be bold
+and hazard all upon a throw. Therefore she did not argue or reproach, but
+said:
+
+"She is not dead. I have questioned every spear in Zululand, and none of
+them is red with her blood."
+
+"Thou art right," he answered; "the spears are clean. She died in the
+river."
+
+Now Rachel was sure, and answered in her clear voice:
+
+"I have questioned the waters, and I have questioned the crocodiles, and
+they answer that Noie has passed them safely."
+
+"Thou art right, White One. She died by a rope in yonder huts."
+
+Now Rachel looked at the huts and cried:
+
+"Noie, I hear thee, I see thee, I smell thee out. Come forth, Noie."
+
+The King and his councillors stared at her, whispering to one another, and
+before ever they had done their whisperings out from among the gloom of
+the huts crept Noie.
+
+To Rachel she crept, taking no heed even of the King, and crouching down
+in the faint shadow of her that the moonlight threw, she flung her arms
+about her knees and pressed her forehead on her feet. Now Rachel's heart
+bounded with joy at the sight of her, and she longed to bend down and kiss
+her, but did not, lest her great dignity should be lessened in the eyes of
+the King; only she said:
+
+"I greet you, Noie; be seated in my shadow, where you are safe, and tell
+me, have these men dealt well by you?"
+
+"Not so ill, Inkosazana, that is since I reached the Great Kraal. But one
+of them, he who sits yonder," and she pointed to a certain induna, "struck
+me on the journey, and took away my food."
+
+Now Rachel looked at the man angrily, playing with the little wand in her
+hand, whereon this induna shivered with terror, fearing lest she should
+point it at him. Rising, he came to Rachel and flung himself down before
+her.
+
+"What have you to say," asked Rachel, "you who have dared to strike my
+servant?"
+
+"Inkosazana," he mumbled, "the maid was obstinate, and tried to run away,
+and our orders were to bring her to the King. Spare my life, I pray thee."
+
+"King," said Rachel, "I have power over this man, have I not?"
+
+"It is so," answered Dingaan. "Kill him if thou wilt."
+
+Rachel seemed to consider while the poor wretch, with chattering teeth,
+implored her to forgive. Then she turned to Noie, saying:
+
+"He struck you, not me. I give him to you to do by as you will. Shall he
+sleep to-night with the living or the dead?"
+
+Noie looked at him, and next at a mark on her arm, and the induna, ceasing
+from his prayers to Rachel, clutched Noie by the ankle, and begged her
+mercy.
+
+"Your life has been given to you," he said, "give mine to me, lest
+ill-fortune follow you."
+
+ "Do you remember," asked Noie contemptuously, "how, when you had beaten
+me, yonder by the Tugela, you said you hoped that it would be your luck to
+put a spear through this heart of mine? And do you remember that I
+answered you that the spear would be over your own heart first, and that
+thereon you called me 'Daughter of Wizards' and struck me again--me, the
+child of Seyapi, upon whom the mantle of the Inkosazana lies, me who have
+drunk of her wisdom and of his--you struck _me_, you dog," and lifting her
+foot she spurned him in the face.
+
+Now the King and his company, concluding that the thing was finished,
+glanced at Rachel to see her point with the rod and thus give the man to
+death. But Rachel waited, sure that Noie had not done. Moreover, whatever
+Noie might say, she had determined to save him.
+
+Meanwhile, the girl, after a pause, said:
+
+"Were you a man you would be too proud to ask your life of me, but you are
+a dog; and, Dog, I remember that you have children, among them a daughter
+of my own age, whom, I saw come out to greet you. For her sake, then, take
+your life, and with it this new name that I give
+you--'Soldier-who-strikes-girls.'"
+
+So the man rose, and weak with shame and the agony of suspense, crept
+swiftly from the place, fearing lest the Inkosazana or her servant might
+change her mind and kill him after all. But Noie's name clung to him so
+closely that at length, unable to bear the ridicule of it, he and his
+family fled from Zululand.
+
+So this matter ended.
+
+Now the King spoke, saying:
+
+"White One, thy magic is great, and thine eyes could pierce the darkness
+and see thy servant hidden, and call her forth to thee. Yet know, she is
+mine, not thine, for when she fled I had already chosen her to be my wife,
+and afterwards I sent and killed the wizard Seyapi, and all his House."
+
+"But this girl thou didst not kill, O King, for I saved her."
+
+"It is so, White One. I have heard lately how thou didst call down the
+lightning and burn up my soldier who followed after her, so that nothing
+of him remained."
+
+"Yes," said Rachel quietly, "as, were it to please me, I could burn thee
+up also, O King," a saying at which. Dingaan looked afraid.
+
+"Yet," he went on, waving his hand as though to put aside this unpleasant
+suggestion, "the maid is mine, not thine, and therefore I took her."
+
+"How didst thou learn that she dwelt at my kraal?" asked Rachel.
+
+ The King hesitated.
+
+"The white man, Ishmael, he whom thou callest Ibubesi, told thee, did he
+not?"
+
+Dingaan bowed his head.
+
+"And he told thee that thou couldst make what promises thou wouldst to me
+as to the girl's life, but that afterwards when thou hadst called me here
+to claim it, thou mightest kill her or keep her as a wife, as it pleased
+thee."
+
+"I can hide nought from thee; it is so," said Dingaan.
+
+"Is that still in thy mind, O King?" asked Rachel again, beginning to play
+with the little wand.
+
+"Not so, not so," he answered hurriedly. "Hadst thou not come the girl
+would have died, as she deserved to do according to our law. But thou hast
+come and claimed her, O Holder of the Spirit of Nomkubulwana, and she sits
+in thy shadow and is clothed with thy garment. Take her then, for
+henceforth she is holy, as thou art holy."
+
+Rachel heard, and without any change of countenance waved her hand to show
+that this question was finished. Then she asked suddenly:
+
+"What is this great matter whereof thou wouldst speak with me, O King?"
+
+"Surely thy wisdom has told thee, White One," he answered uneasily.
+
+"Perchance, yet I would have it from thy lips, and now."
+
+Now Dingaan consulted a little with his council.
+
+"White One," he said presently, "the thing is grave, and we need guidance.
+Therefore, as the circle of the witch-doctors have declared must be done,
+we ask it of thee who art named with the name of the Spirit of our people
+and hast of her wisdom. Thou knowest, White One, of the fights in past
+years between the white people of Natal and the Zulus, in which many were
+slain on either side. But now, when we are at peace with the English, we
+hear of another white people, the Amaboona" (_i.e._ the Dutch Boers), "who
+are marching towards us from the Cape, and have already fought with
+Moselikatze--the traitor who was once my captain--and killed thousands of
+his men. These Amaboona threaten us also, and say aloud that they will eat
+us up, for they are brave and armed with the white man's weapons that spit
+out lightning. Now, White One, what shall we do? Shall I send out my impis
+and fall on them while they are unprepared, and make an end of them, as
+seems wisest, and is the wish of my indunas? Or, shall I sit at home and
+watch, trying to be at peace with them, and only strike back if they
+strike at me? Answer not lightly, O Zoola, for much may hang upon thy
+words. Remember also that he whose name may not be spoken, the Lion who
+ruled before me and is gone, with his last breath uttered a certain
+prophecy concerning the white people and this land."
+
+"Let me hear that prophecy, O King."
+
+"Come forth," said Dingaan pointing to a councillor who sat in the circle,
+"come forth, thou who knowest, and tell the tale in the ears of this White
+One."
+
+A figure rose, a draped figure whose face was hidden in a hood of blanket.
+It came forward, and as it came it drew the blanket tighter about it.
+Rachel, watching all things, saw, or thought she saw, that one of its
+hands was white as though it had been burned with fire. Surely she had
+seen such a hand before.
+
+"Speak," she said.
+
+"Name me by my name and tell me who I am and I will obey thee," answered
+the man.
+
+Then she was sure, for she remembered the voice. She looked at him
+indifferently and asked:
+
+"By what name shall I name you, O Slayer of a King? Will you be called
+Mopo or Umbopa, who have borne them both?"
+
+Now Dingaan stared, and the shrouded form before her started as though in
+surprise.
+
+"Why do you seek to mock me?" she went on. "Can a blanket of bark hide
+that face of yours from these eyes of mine which saw it a while ago at
+Ramah, when you came thither to judge of me, O Mouth of the King?"
+
+Now the man let the blanket slip from his head and looked at her.
+
+"It seems that it cannot," he answered. "Then I told thee that I had
+dreamed of the Spirit of our people, and that thou, White One, wast like
+to her of whom I had dreamed. Canst thou tell me what was the fashion of
+that dream of mine?"
+
+Now Rachel understood that notwithstanding his words at Ramah, this man
+still doubted her, and was set up to prove her, and all that Noie had told
+her about him and the secret history of the Zulus came back into her mind.
+
+"Surely Mopo or Umbopa," she replied, "you dreamed three dreams, not one.
+Is it of the last you speak?--that dream at the kraal Duguza, when the
+Inkosazana rode past you on a storm clothed in lightning, and shaking in
+her hand a spear of fire?"
+
+"Yes, I speak of it," he replied in an awed voice, "but if thou art but a
+woman as thou hast said, how knowest thou these things?"
+
+"Perchance I am both woman and spirit, and perchance the past tells them
+to me," Rachel answered; "but the past has many voices, and now that I
+dwell in the flesh I cannot hear them all. Let me search you out. Let me
+read your heart," and she bent forward and fixed her eyes upon him,
+holding him with her eyes.
+
+"Ah! now I see and I hear," she said presently. "Had you not a sister,
+Mopo, a certain Baleka, who afterwards entered the house of the Black One
+and bore a son and died in the Tatiyana Cleft? Shall I tell you how she
+died?"
+
+"Tell it not! Tell it not!" exclaimed the old man quaveringly.
+
+"So be it. There is no need. Yet ere she died you made a promise to this
+Baleka, and that promise you kept at the kraal Duguza, you and the prince
+Umhlangana, and another prince whose name I forget," and she looked at
+Dingaan, who put his hand before his face. "You kept that promise with an
+assegai--let me look, let me look into your heart--yes, with a little
+assegai handled with the royal red wood, an assegai that had drunk much
+blood."
+
+Now a low moan broke from the lips of Dingaan, and those who sat with
+them, while Umbopa shivered as though with cold.
+
+"Have mercy, I pray thee," he gasped. "Forgive me if at times since we met
+at Ramah I thought thee but a white maiden, beautiful and bold, as thou
+didst declare thyself to be. Now I see thou hast the spirit, or else how
+didst thou know these things?"
+
+Noie heard and smiled in the shadow, but Rachel stood silent.
+
+"I was bidden to tell thee of the last words of the Black One," went on
+Umbopa hurriedly; "but what need is there to tell thee anything who
+knowest all? They were that he heard the sound of the running of the feet
+of a great white people which shall stamp out the children of the Zulus."
+
+"Nay," answered Rachel, "I think they were; _'Where-fore wouldst thou kill
+me, Mopo?'"_
+
+Again Dingaan moaned, for he had heard these very words spoken. Umbopa
+turned and stared at him, and he stared at Umbopa.
+
+"Come hither," said Rachel, beckoning to the old man.
+
+He obeyed, and she threw the corner of her cloak over his head, and
+whispered into his ear. He listened to her whisperings, then with a cry
+broke from her and fled away out of the council of the King.
+
+When he had gone there was silence, though Dingaan looked a question with
+his eyes.
+
+"Ask it not," she said, "ask it not of me, or of him. I think this Mopo
+here had his secrets in the past. I think that once he sat in a hut at
+night and bargained with certain Great Ones, a prince who lives, and a
+prince who died. Come hither, come hither, thou son of Senzangacona, come
+from the fields of Death and tell me what was that bargain which thou
+madest with Mopo, thou and another?" and once again Rachel beckoned, this
+time upwards in the air.
+
+Now the face of Dingaan went grey, even in the moonlight it went grey
+beneath the blackness of his skin, for there rose before his mind a vision
+of a hut and of Mopo and of Umhlangana, the prince his brother whom he had
+slain, and of himself, seated in the darkness, their heads together
+beneath a blanket whispering of the murder of a king.
+
+"Thou knowest all," he gasped, "thou art Nomkubulwana and no other. Spare
+us, Spirit who canst summon our dead sins from the grave of time, and make
+them walk alive before us."
+
+"Nay, nay," she answered, mockingly, "surely I am but a woman, daughter of
+a Teacher who lives yonder over the Tugela, a white maiden who eats and
+sleeps and drinks as other maidens do. Take notice, King, and you his
+captains, that I am no spirit, nothing but a woman who chances to bear a
+high name, and to have some wisdom. Only," she added with meaning, "if any
+harm should come to me, if I should die, then I think that I should become
+a spirit, a terrible spirit, and that ill would it go with that people
+against whom my blood was laid."
+
+"Oh!" said the King, who still shook with fear, "we know, we know. Mock us
+not, I pray. Thou art the Spirit who hast chosen to wear the robe of
+woman, as flame hides itself in flint, and woe be to the hand that strikes
+the fire from this stone. White One, give us now that wisdom whereof thou
+speakest. Shall I fall upon the Boers or shall I let them be?"
+
+Rachel looked upwards, studying the stars.
+
+"She takes counsel with the Heavens, she who is their daughter," muttered
+one of the indunas in a low voice.
+
+As he spoke it chanced that a bright meteor travelling from the south-west
+swept across the sky to burst and vanish over the kraal of Umgugundhlovo.
+
+"It is a messenger to her," said one. "I saw the fire shine upon her hair
+and vanish in her breast."
+
+"Nay," answered another, "it is the _Ehlose_, the guardian ghost of the
+Amazulu that appears and dies."
+
+"Not so," broke in a third, "that light shows the Amaboona travelling from
+the south-west to be eaten up in the blackness of our impis."
+
+"Such a star runs ever before the death of king. It fell the night ere the
+Black One died," murmured a fourth as though he spoke to himself.
+
+ Only Dingaan, taking no heed of them, said, addressing Rachel:
+
+"Read thou the omen."
+
+"Nay," she replied upon the swift impulse of the moment, "I read it not.
+Interpret it as ye will. Here is my answer to thy question, King. _Those
+who lift the spear shall perish by the spear."_
+
+At this saying the captains murmured a little, for they, who desired war,
+understood that she counselled peace between them and the Boers, though
+others thought that she meant that the Boers would perish. Dingaan also
+looked downcast. Watching their faces, Rachel was sure that not even her
+hand could hold them back from their desire. That war must come. Again she
+spoke:
+
+"The star travels whither it is thrown by the hand of the Umkulunkulu, the
+Master of men; the spear finds the heart to which it is appointed. Read
+you the omen as you will. I have spoken, but ye will not understand. That
+which shall be, shall be."
+
+She bent her head, and turned her ear towards the ground as though to
+hearken.
+
+"What was that tale of the last words of the Great Lion who is gone?" she
+went on. "Ask it of Mopo, ask it of Dingaan the King. It seems to me that
+I also hear the feet of a people travelling over plain and mountain, and
+the rivers behind them run red with blood. Are they black feet or white
+feet? Read ye the omen as ye will. I have spoken for the first time and
+the last; trouble me no more with this matter of the white men and your
+war," and turning, Rachel glided from the court, followed by Noie with
+bowed head.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ISHMAEL VISITS THE INKOSAZANA
+
+
+When at last they were in the hut and the door-board had been safely
+closed, Rachel took Noie in her arms and kissed her. But Noie did not kiss
+her back; she only pressed her hand against her forehead.
+
+"Why do you not kiss me, Noie?" asked Rachel.
+
+"How can I kiss you, Inkosazana," replied the girl humbly, "I who am but
+the dog at your feet, the dog whom twice it has pleased you to save from
+death."
+
+"Inkosazana!" exclaimed Rachel. "I weary of that name. I am but a woman
+like yourself, and I hate this part which I must play."
+
+ "Yet it is a high part, and you play it very well. While I listened to
+you to-night, Zoola, twice and thrice I wondered if you are not something
+more than you deem yourself to be. That beautiful body of yours is but a
+cup like those of other women, but say, who fills the cup with the wine of
+wisdom? Why do kings and councillors fear you, and why do you fear
+nothing? Why did dead Seyapi talk to me of you in dreams? What strange
+chance gave you that name of yours and made you holy in these men's eyes?
+What power teaches you the truth and gives you wit and strength to speak
+it? Why are you different from the rest of maidens, white or black?"
+
+"I do not know, Noie. Something tells me what to do and say. Also, I
+understand these Zulus, and you have taught me much. You told me all the
+hidden tale of yonder Mopo a year gone by, or more, as you have told me
+many of the darkest secrets of this people that you had from your father,
+who knew them all. At the pinch I remembered it, no more, and played upon
+them by my knowledge."
+
+"What was it you said to Mopo under your cloak, Lady?"
+
+Rachel smiled as she answered:
+
+"I only asked him if it were not in his mind, having killed one king, to
+kill another also, and that spear went home."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Noie in admiration, "at least I never told you that."
+
+"No; I read it in his eyes; for a moment all his heart was open to
+me--yes, and the heart of Dingaan also. He fears Mopo, and Mopo hates him,
+and one day hate and fear will come together."
+
+"Ah!" said Noie again, "you know much."
+
+"Yes," answered Rachel with sudden passion, "more than I wish to know.
+Noie, you are right, I am not altogether as others are; there is a power
+in my blood. I see and hear what should not be seen and heard; at times
+fears fill me, or joys lift me up, and I think that I draw hear to another
+world than ours. No; it is folly. I am over-wrought. Who would not be that
+must endure so much and be set upon this throne, a goddess among
+barbarians with life and death upon my lips? Oh! when the King asked me
+his riddle I knew not what to answer, who feared lest ten thousand lives
+might pay the price of a girl's incautious words. Then that meteor broke;
+there have been several this night, but none noted them till I looked
+upwards, and you know the rest. Let them guess its meaning, which they
+cannot, for it has none."
+
+"Why did you not speak more plainly, Zoola?"
+
+"Oh! because I dared not. Who am I to meddle with such matters, who came
+here but to save you? I warned them not to make war upon the Boers; what
+more could I do? Moreover, it is useless, for fight they must and will and
+pay the price. Of that I am sure. I feel it here," and she pressed her
+hand upon her heart. "Yes, and other nearer things! Oh! Noie, I would that
+I were back at home. Say, can we start to-morrow at the dawn?"
+
+Noie shook her head.
+
+"I do not think that they will let you go; they will keep you to be their
+great doctoress. You should not have come. I sent you word--what did my
+life matter?"
+
+"Keep me," answered Rachel, stamping her foot. "They dare not; here at
+least I am the Inkosazana, and I will be obeyed."
+
+Noie made no answer; only she said:
+
+"Ishmael is here. I have seen him. He wished to have me killed at once
+because he is afraid of me. But when he was sure that you were coming,
+Dingaan would not break his word which he had sent to you."
+
+Rachel's face fell.
+
+"Ishmael!" she exclaimed in dismay, then recovered herself and added:
+"Well, I am not afraid of Ishmael, for here his life is in my hand. Oh! I
+am worn out; I cannot talk of the man to-night. I must sleep, Noie, I must
+sleep. Come, lie at my side and let us sleep."
+
+"Nay," answered the girl; "my place is at the door. But drink this milk
+and lay you down without fear, for I will watch."
+
+Rachel obeyed, and Noie sat by her, holding her hand, till presently her
+eyes shut and she slept. But Noie did not sleep. All that night she sat
+there watching and listening, till at length the dawn came and she lay
+down also by the door and rested.
+
+The sun was high in the heavens when Rachel woke.
+
+"Good morrow to you, Zoola," said the sweet voice of Noie. "You have slept
+well. Now you must rise, bathe yourself and eat, for already messengers
+from the King have been to the outer gate, saying that they wait to escort
+you to a better house that has been made ready for you."
+
+"I hoped that they waited to escort me out of Zululand," answered Rachel.
+
+"I asked them of that, Zoola, but they declared it must not be, as the
+council of the doctors had been summoned to consider your sayings, and two
+days will pass before it can meet. Also they declare that your horse is
+sick and not fit to travel, meaning that they will not let you go."
+
+ "But I have the right to go, Noie."
+
+"The bird has the right to fly, but what if it is in a cage, Zoola?"
+
+"I am queen here, Noie; the bars will burst at my word."
+
+"It may be so, Zoola, but what if the bird should find that it has no nest
+to fly to?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Rachel, paling.
+
+"Only that it seems best that you should not anger these Zulus, Lady, lest
+it should come into their minds to destroy your nest, thinking that so you
+might come to love this cage. No, no, I have heard nothing, but I guess
+their thoughts. You need rest; bide here, where you are safe, a day or
+two, and let us see what happens."
+
+"Speak plainly, Noie. I do not understand your parable of birds and
+cages."
+
+"Zoola, I obey. I think that if you say you will go, none, not the King
+himself, would dare to stay you, though you would have to go on foot, for
+then that horse would die. But an impi would go with you, or before you,
+and woe betide those who held you from returning to Zululand! Do you
+understand me now?"
+
+"Yes," answered Rachel. "You mean!--oh! I cannot speak it. I will remain
+here a few days."
+
+So she rose and bathed herself and was dressed by Noie, and ate of the
+food that had been brought to the door of the hut. Then she went out, and
+in the little courtyard found a litter waiting that was hung round with
+grass mats.
+
+"The King's word is that you should enter the litter," said Noie.
+
+She did so, whereon Noie clapped her hands and girls in bead dresses ran
+in, and having prostrated themselves before the litter, lifted it up and
+carried it away, Noie walking at its side.
+
+Rachel, peeping between the mats, saw that she was borne out of the town,
+surrounded, but at a distance, by a guard of hundreds of armed men.
+Presently they began to ascend a hill, whereon grew many trees, and after
+climbing it for a while, reached a large kraal with huts between the outer
+and inner fence, and in its centre a great space of park-like land through
+which ran a stream.
+
+Here, by the banks of the stream, stood a large new hut, and behind at a
+little distance two or three other huts. In front of this great hut the
+litter was set down by, the bearers, who at once went away. Then at Noie's
+bidding Rachel came out of it and looked at the place which had been given
+her in which to dwell.
+
+It was a beautiful spot, away from the dust and the noises of the Great
+Kraal, and so placed upon a shoulder of the hillside that the soldiers who
+guarded this House of the Inkosazana, as it was called, could not be seen
+or heard. Yet Rachel looked at it with distaste, feeling that it was that
+cage of which Noie had spoken,
+
+A cage it proved indeed, a solitary cage, for here Rachel abode in regal
+seclusion and in state that could only be called awful. No man might
+approach her house unbidden, and the maidens who waited upon her did so
+with downcast eyes, never speaking, and falling on to their knees if
+addressed. On the first day of her imprisonment, for it was nothing less,
+an unhappy Zulu, through ignorance or folly, slipped through the outer
+guard and came near to the inner fence. Rachel, who was seated above,
+heard some shouts of rage and horror, and saw soldiers running towards
+him, and in another minute a body being carried away upon a shield. He had
+died for his sacrilege.
+
+Once a day ambassadors came to her from the King to ask of her health, and
+if she had orders to give, but now even these, men were not allowed to
+look upon her. They were led in by the women, each of them with a piece of
+bark cloth over his head, and from beneath this cloth they addressed her
+as though she were in truth divine. On the first day she bade them tell
+the King that her mission being ended, it was her desire to depart to her
+own home beyond the river. They heard her words in silence, then asked if
+she had anything to add. She replied--yes, it was her will that they
+should cease to wear veils in her presence, also that no more men should
+be killed upon her account as had happened that morning. They said that
+they would convey the order at once, as several were under sentence of
+death who had argued as to whether she were really the Inkosazana, So she
+sent them away instantly, fearing lest they should be too late, and they
+were led off backwards bowing and giving the royal salute. Afterwards she
+rejoiced to hear that her commands had arrived just in time, and that the
+blood of these poor people was not upon her head.
+
+Next day the messengers returned at the same hour, unveiled as she
+desired, bearing the answer of the King and his council. It was to the
+effect that the Inkosazana had no need to ask permission to come or to go.
+Her Spirit, they knew, was mighty and could wander where it willed; all
+the impis of the Zulus could not hold her Sprint. But--and here came the
+sting of this clever answer--it was necessary, until her sayings had been
+considered, that the body in which that Spirit abode should remain with
+them a while. Therefore the King and his counsellors and the whole nation
+of the Zulus prayed her to be satisfied with the sending of her Spirit
+across the Tugela, leaving her body to dwell a space in the House of the
+Inkosazana.
+
+Rachel looked at them in despair, for what was she to reply to such
+reasoning as this? Before she could make up her mind, their spokesman said
+that a white man, Ibubesi, who said that he had often spoken with her,
+asked leave to visit her in her house.
+
+Now Rachel thought a while. Ishmael was the last person in the whole world
+whom she wished to see. After the interview when they parted, and all that
+had happened since, it could not be otherwise. She remembered the threats
+he had uttered then, and to her father afterwards, the brutal and
+revolting threats. Some of these had been directed against Noie, and
+subsequently Noie was kidnapped by the Zulus. That those directed at
+herself had not been fulfilled was, she felt sure, due to a lack of
+opportunity alone.
+
+Little wonder, then, that she feared and hated the man. Still he was of
+white blood, and perhaps for this reason had authority among the Zulus,
+who, as she knew, often consulted him. Moreover, notwithstanding his
+vapourings, like the Zulus whose superstitions he had contracted, he
+looked upon herself with something akin to fear. If she saw him she had no
+cause to dread anything that he could do to her, at any rate in this
+country where she was supreme, whereas on the other hand she might obtain
+information from him which would be very useful, or make use of him to
+enable her to escape from Zululand. On the whole, then, it seemed wisest
+to grant him an interview, especially as she gathered from the fact that
+the question was raised by Dingaan's indunas, that for some reason of his
+own, the King hoped that she would do so.
+
+Still she hesitated, loathing and despising him as she did.
+
+"You have heard," she said in English to Noie, who stood behind her. "Now
+what shall I say?"
+
+"Say--come," answered Noie in the same tongue.
+
+"Read his black heart and find out truth; he no can keep it from you.
+Say--come with soldiers. If he behave bad, tell them kill him. They obey
+you. No mind me. I not afraid of that wild beast now."
+
+Then Rachel said to the indunas:
+
+"I hear the King's word, and understand that he wishes me to receive this
+Ibubesi. Yet I know that man, as I know all men, white and black. He is an
+evil man, and it is not my pleasure to speak with him alone. Let him come
+with a guard of six captains, and let the captains be armed with spears,
+so that if I give the word there may be an end of this Ibubesi."
+
+Then the messengers saluted and departed as before.
+
+ On the morrow at about the same hour a praiser, or herald, arrived
+outside the inner fence of the kraal, and after he had shouted out
+Rachel's titles, attributes, beauties and supernatural powers for at least
+ten minutes, never repeating himself, announced that the indunas of the
+King were without accompanied by the white man, Ibubesi, awaiting her
+permission to enter. She gave it through Noie; and, the horn wand in her
+hand, seated herself upon a carved stool in front of the great hut.
+Presently an altercation arose upon the further side of the reed fence in
+which she recognised Ishmael's strident voice, mingled with the deeper
+tones of the Zulus, who seemed to be insisting upon something.
+
+"They command him to take off his headdress," said Noie, "and threaten to
+beat him if he will not."
+
+"Go, tell them to admit him as he is, that I may see his face, and learn
+if he be the white man whom I knew, or another," answered Rachel, and she
+went.
+
+Then the gate was opened and the messengers were led in by women. After
+these came six captains, carrying broad spears, as she had commanded, and
+last of all Ishmael himself. Rachel's whole nature shrank at the sight of
+his dark, handsome features. She loathed the man now as always; her
+instinct warned her of danger at his hands. Also she remembered his
+threats when last they met and she rejected him, and what had passed
+between him and her father on the following day. But of all this she
+showed nothing, remaining seated in silence with calm, set face.
+
+Ishmael was advancing with a somewhat defiant air. Except for a kaross
+upon his shoulders he wore European dress, and the ridiculous hat with the
+white ostrich feather in it, both of them now much the worse for wear,
+which she remembered so well. Also he had a lighted pipe in his mouth.
+Presently one of the captains appeared to become suddenly aware of this
+pipe, for, stretching out his hand, he snatched it away, and the hat with
+it, throwing them upon the ground. Ishmael, whose teeth and lips were
+hurt, turned on the man with an oath and struck him, whereon instantly he
+was seized, and would perhaps have been killed before Rachel could
+interfere had it not been unlawful to shed blood in her presence. As it
+was, with a motion of her wand, she signified that he was to be loosed, a
+command that Noie interpreted to them. At any rate, they let him go,
+though a captain placed his feet on the hat and pipe. Then Ishmael came
+forward and said awkwardly:
+
+"How do you do? I did not expect to see you here," and he devoured her
+beauty with his bold, greedy eyes, though not without doubt and dread, or
+so thought Rachel.
+
+ Taking no notice of his greeting, she said in a cold voice:
+
+"I have sent for you here to ask if you have any reason as to why I should
+not order you to be killed for your crime against my servant, Noie, and
+therefore against me?"
+
+Now Ishmael paled, for he had not expected such a welcome, and began to
+deny the thing.
+
+"Spare your falsehoods," went on Rachel. "I have it from the King's lips,
+and from my own knowledge. Remember only that here I am the Inkosazana,
+with power of life and death. If I speak the word, or point at you with
+this wand, in a minute you will have gone to your account."
+
+"Inkosazana or not," he answered in a cowed voice, "you know too much.
+Well, then, she was taken that you might follow her to Zululand to ask her
+life, and you see that the plan was good, for you came; and," he added,
+recovering some of his insolence and familiarity: "we are here together,
+two white people among all these silly niggers."
+
+Rachel looked him up and down; then she looked at the indunas seated in
+silence before her, at the great limbed captains with their broad spears
+beyond, reminding her in their plumes and attitudes of some picture that
+she had seen of Roman gladiators about to die. Lastly she looked at the
+delicately shaped Noie by her side, with her sweet, inscrutable face, the
+woman whose parents and kin this outcast had brought to a bloody death,
+the woman whom to forward his base ends he had vilely striven to murder.
+Slowly she looked at them all and at him, and said:
+
+"Shall I explain to these nobles and captains what you call them, and what
+you are called among your own people? Shall I tell them something of your
+story, Mr. Ishmael?"
+
+"You can do what you like," he answered sullenly. "You know why I got you
+here--because I love you: I told you that many months ago. While you were
+down at Ramah I had no chance with you, because of that old hypocrite of a
+father of yours, and this black girl," and he looked at Noie viciously.
+"Here I thought that it would be different--that you would be glad of my
+company, but you have turned yourself into a kind of goddess and hold me
+off," and he paused.
+
+"Go on," said Rachel.
+
+"All right, I will. You may think yourself a goddess, as I do myself
+sometimes. But I know that you are a woman too, and that soon you will get
+tired of this business. You want to go home to your father and mother,
+don't you? Well, you can't. You are a prisoner here, for these fools have
+got it into their heads that you are their Spirit, and that it would be
+unlucky to let you out of the country. So here you must stop, for years
+perhaps, or till they are sick of you and kill you. Just understand,
+Rachel, that nobody can help you to escape except me, and that I shan't do
+so for nothing."
+
+Rachel straightened herself upon her seat, gripping the edge of it with
+her hands, for her temper was rising, while Noie bent forward and said
+something in her ear.
+
+"What is that black devil whispering to you?" he asked. "Telling you to
+have me killed, I expect. Well, you daren't, for what would your holy
+parents say? It would be murder, wouldn't it, and you would go to hell,
+where I daresay you come from, for otherwise how could you be such a
+witch? Look here," he went on, changing his tone, "don't let's squabble.
+Make it up with me. I'll get you clear of this and marry you afterwards on
+the square. If you won't, it will be the worse for you--and everybody
+else, yes, everybody else."
+
+"Mr. Ishmael," answered Rachel calmly, "you are making a very great
+mistake, about my scruples as to taking life I mean, amongst other things.
+Once when it was necessary you saw me kill a man. Well, if I am forced to
+it, what I did then I will do again, only not with my own hand. Mr.
+Ishmael, you said just now that you could get me out of Zululand. I take
+you at your word, not for my own sake, for I am comfortable enough here,
+but for that of my father and mother, who will be anxious," and her voice
+weakened a little as she spoke of them.
+
+"Do you? Well, I won't. I am comfortable here also, and shall be more so
+as the husband of the Inkosazana. This is a very pretty kraal, and it is
+quite big enough for two," he added with an amorous sneer.
+
+Now for a minute at least Rachel sat still and rigid. When she spoke again
+it was in a kind of gasp:
+
+"Never," she said, "have you gone nearer to your death, you wanderer
+without name or shame. Listen now. I give you one week to arrange my
+escape home. If it is not done within that time, I will pay you back for
+those words. Be silent, I will hear no more."
+
+Then she called out:
+
+"Rise, men, and bear the message of the Inkosazana to Dingaan, King of the
+Zulus. Say to Dingaan that this wandering white dog whom he has sent into
+my house has done me insult. Say that he has asked me, the
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola, to be one of his wives."
+
+At these words the counsellors and captains uttered a shout of rage, and
+two of the latter seized Ishmael by the arm, lifting their spears to
+plunge them into him. Rachel waved her wand and they let them fall again.
+
+"Not yet," she said. "Take him to the King, and if my word comes to the
+King, then he dies, and not till then. I would not have his vile blood on
+my hands. Unless I speak, I, Queen of the Heavens, leave him to the
+vengeance of the Heavens. My mantle is over him, lead him back to the King
+and let me see his face no more."
+
+"We hear and it shall be so," they answered with one voice, then
+forgetting their ceremony hustled Ishmael from the kraal.
+
+"Have I done well?" asked Rachel of Noie, when they were alone.
+
+"No, Zoola," she answered, "you should have killed the snake while you
+were hot against him, since when your blood grows cold you can never do
+it, and he will live to bite you."
+
+"I have no right to kill a man, Noie, just because he makes love to me,
+and I hate him. Also, if I did so he could not help me to escape from
+Zululand, which he will do now because he is afraid of me."
+
+"Will he be afraid of you when you are both across the Tugela?" asked
+Noie. "Inkosazana, give me power and ask no questions. Ibubesi killed my
+father and mother and brethren, and has tried to kill me. Therefore my
+heart would not be sore if, after the fashion of this land, I paid him
+spears for battle-axes, for he deserves to die."
+
+"Perhaps, Noie, but not by my word."
+
+"Perhaps by your hand, then," said Noie, looking at her curiously. "Well,
+soon or late he will die a red death--the reddest of deaths, I learned
+that from the spirit of my father."
+
+"The spirit of your father?" said Rachel, looking at her.
+
+"Certainly, it speaks to me often and tells me many things, though I may
+not repeat them to you till they are accomplished. Thus I was not afraid
+in the hands of Dingaan, for it told me that you would save me."
+
+"I wish it would speak to me and tell me when I can go home," said Rachel
+with a sigh.
+
+"It would if it could, Zoola, but it cannot because the curtain is too
+thick. Had all you loved been slain before your eyes, then the veil would
+be worn thin as mine is, and through it, you who are akin to them, would
+hear the talk of the ghosts, and dimly see them wandering beneath their
+trees."
+
+"Beneath their trees----!"
+
+"Yes, the trees of their life, of which all the boughs are deeds and all
+the leaves are words, under the shadow of which they must abide for ever.
+My people could tell you of those trees, and perhaps they will one day
+when we visit them together. Nay, pay no heed, I was wandering in my talk.
+It is the sight of that wild beast, Ibubesi. You will not let me kill him!
+Well, doubtless it is fated so. I think one day you will be sorry--but too
+late."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+RACHEL SEES A VISION
+
+
+That evening Ishmael was brought before the King. He was in evil case, for
+the captains, some of whom had grudges against him, when he tried to break
+away from them outside the gate, had beaten him with their spear shafts
+nearly all the way from the kraal to the Great Place, remarking that he
+fought and remonstrated, that the Inkosazana had forbidden them to kill
+him, but had said nothing as to giving him the flogging which he deserved.
+His clothes were torn, his hat and pipe were lost--indeed hours before
+Noie had thrown both of them into the fire--his eyes were black from the
+blow of a heavy stick and he was bruised all over.
+
+Such was his appearance when he was thrust before Dingaan, seething with
+rage which he could scarcely suppress, even in that presence.
+
+"Did you visit the Inkosazana to-day, White Man?" asked the King blandly,
+while the indunas stared at him with grim amusement.
+
+Then Ishmael broke out into a recital of his wrongs, demanding that the
+captains who had beaten him, a white man, and a great person, should be
+killed.
+
+"Silence," said Dingaan at length. "The question, Night-prowler, is
+whether you should not be killed, you dog who dared to insult the
+Inkosazana by offering yourself to her as a husband. Had she commanded you
+to be speared, she would have done well, and if you trouble me with your
+shoutings, I will send you to sleep with the jackals to-night without
+waiting for her word."
+
+Now, seeing his danger, Ishmael was silent, and the King went on:
+
+"Did you discover, as I bade you, why it is that the Inkosazana desires to
+leave us?"
+
+"Yes, King. It is because she would return to her own people, the old
+prayer-doctor and his wife."
+
+"They are not her people!" exclaimed Dingaan. "We know that she came to
+them out of the storm, and that they are but the foster-parents chosen for
+her by the Heavens. You were the first to tell us that story, and how she
+caused the lightning to burn up my soldier yonder at Ramah. We are her
+people and no others. Can the Inkosazana have a father and a mother?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Ishmael, "but she is a woman and I never knew a
+woman who was without them. At least I am sure that she looks upon them as
+her father and mother, obeying them in all things, and that she will never
+leave them while they live, unless they command her to do so."
+
+Dingaan stared at him with his pig-like eyes, repeating after him--"while
+they live, unless they command her to do so." Then he asked:
+
+"If the Inkosazana desires to go, who is there that dares to stay her, and
+if she puts out her magic, who is there that has the power? If a hand is
+lifted against her, will she not lay a curse on us and bring destruction
+upon us?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Ishmael again, "but if she goes back among the
+white folk and is angry, I think that she will bring the Boers upon you."
+
+Now Dingaan's face grew very troubled, and bidding Ishmael stand back
+awhile, he consulted with his council. Then he said:
+
+"Listen to me, White Man. It would be a very evil thing if the Inkosazana
+were to leave us, for with her would go the Spirit of our people, and
+their good luck, so say the witch-doctors with one voice, and I believe
+them. Further, it is our desire that she should remain with us a while.
+This day the Council of the Diviners has spoken, saying that the words of
+the Inkosazana which she uttered here are too hard for them, and that
+other doctors of a people who live far away, must be sent for and brought
+face to face with her. Therefore here at Umgugundhlovo she should abide
+until they come."
+
+"Indeed," answered Ishmael indifferently.
+
+In the doctors who dwell far away, and the council of the Diviners he had
+no belief. But understanding the natives as he did he guessed correctly
+enough that the latter found themselves in a cleft stick. Worked on by
+their superstitions, which he had first awakened for his own ends, they
+had accepted Rachel as something more than human, as the incarnation of
+the Spirit of their people. This Mopo, who was said to have killed Chaka
+by command of that Spirit, had acknowledged her to be, and therefore they
+did not dare to declare that her words spoken as an oracle were empty
+words. But neither did they dare to interpret the saying that she meant
+that no attack must be made upon the Boers and should be obeyed.
+
+ To do this would be to fly in the face of the martial aspirations of the
+nation and the secret wishes of the King, and perhaps if war ultimately
+broke out, would cost them their lives. So it came about that they
+announced that they could not understand her sayings, and had decided to
+thrust off the responsibility on to the shoulders of some other diviners,
+though who these men might be Ishmael neither knew nor took the trouble to
+ask.
+
+"But," went on the King, "who can force the dove to build in a tree that
+does not please it, seeing that it has wings and can fly away? Yet if its
+own tree, that in which it was reared from the nest, could be brought to
+it, it might be pleased to abide there. Do you understand, White Man?"
+
+"No," answered Ishmael, though in fact he understood well enough that the
+King was playing upon Rachel's English name of Dove, and that he meant
+that her home might be moved into Zululand. "No, the Inkosazana is not a
+bird, and who can carry trees about?"
+
+"Have the spear-shafts knocked the wit out of you, Ibubesi," asked
+Dingaan, impatiently, "or are you drunk with beer? Learn then my meaning.
+The Inkosazana will not stay because her home is yonder, therefore it must
+be brought here and she will stay. At first I gave orders that if this old
+white teacher and his wife tried to accompany her, they should be killed.
+Now I eat up those words. They must come to Zululand."
+
+"How will you persuade them to be such fools?" asked Ishmael.
+
+"How did I persuade the Inkosazana herself to come? Was it not to seek one
+whom she loved?"
+
+"They will think that you have killed her, and wish to kill them also."
+
+"No, because you will go in command of an impi and show them otherwise."
+
+"I cannot go; your brutes of captains have hurt my head, and lamed me; I
+cannot walk or ride."
+
+"Then you can be carried in a litter, or," he added threateningly, "you
+can abide here with the vultures. The Inkosazana is merciful, but why
+should I not avenge her wrongs upon you, white dog, who have dared to
+scratch at the kraal gate of the Inkosazana-y-Zoola?"
+
+Now Ishmael saw that he had no choice; also a dark thought rose dimly in
+his mind. He desired to win Rachel above everything on earth, he was mad
+with love--or what he understood as love--of her, and this business might
+be worked to his advantage. Moreover, to stay was death. So he fell to
+bargaining for a reward for his services, a large reward in cattle and
+ivory; half of it to be paid down at once, and it was promised to him.
+Then he took his instructions. These were that he was to travel to the
+mission station of Ramah in command of a small impi of three hundred men,
+whose only orders would be that they were to obey him in all things! That
+he was to tell the Umfundusi who was called Shouter, that if they wished
+to see her any more, he and his wife must come to dwell with the
+Inkosazana, in Zululand: that if they refused he was to bring them by
+force. If, perchance, the Inkosazana, choosing to exercise her authority,
+crossed the Tugela and reached Ramah before he could do this, he was still
+to bring them, for then she would follow. In the same way, if the Shouter
+and his wife met her on the road, they were to travel on, for then she
+would turn and, accompany them. He was to go at once and execute these
+orders.
+
+"I hear," said Ishmael, "and will start as soon as the cattle have been
+delivered and sent on with the ivory to my kraal, Mafooti."
+
+There was something in the man's voice, or in the look of low cunning
+which spread itself over his face, that attracted Dingaan's attention.
+
+"The cattle and the ivory shall be sent," he said, sternly, "but ill shall
+it be for you, Ibubesi, if you seek to trick me in this matter. You have
+grown rich on my bounty, and yonder at your place, Mafooti, you have many
+cows, many wives, many children--my spies have given me count of all of
+them. Now, if you play me false, or if you dare to lift a finger against
+the White One, know that I will burn that kraal and slay the inhabitants
+with the spear and take the cattle, and when I catch you, Ibubesi, I will
+kill you, slowly, slowly. I have spoken, go.
+
+"I go, Great Elephant, Calf of the Black Cow, and I will obey in all
+things," answered Ishmael in a humble voice, for he was frightened. "The
+white people shall be brought, only I trust to you to protect me from the
+anger of the Inkosazana for all that I may do."
+
+"You must make your own peace with the Inkosazana," answered Dingaan, and
+turning, he crept into his hut.
+
+An hour later the great induna, Tamboosa, appeared at Rachel's kraal, and
+craved leave to speak with her.
+
+"What is it?" asked Rachel when he had been admitted. "Have you come to
+lead me out of Zululand, Tamboosa?"
+
+"Nay, White One," he answered, "the land needs you yet awhile. I have come
+to tell you that Dingaan would speak with your servant Noie, if it be your
+good pleasure to let her visit him. Fear not. No harm shall come to her,
+if it does you may order me to be put to death. You, yourself, could not
+be safer than she shall be."
+
+"Are you afraid to go?" asked Rachel of Noie.
+
+ "Not I," answered the girl, with a laugh. "I trust to the King's word and
+to your might."
+
+"Depart then," said Rachel, "and come back as swiftly as you may. Tamboosa
+shall lead you."
+
+So Noie went.
+
+Two hours after sundown, while Rachel was eating her evening meal in her
+Great Hut, attended by the maidens, the door-board was drawn aside, and
+Noie entered, saluted, and sat down. Rachel signed to the women to clear
+away the food and depart. When they had gone she asked what the King's
+business was, eagerly enough, for she hoped that it had to do with her
+leaving Zululand.
+
+"It is a long story, Zoola," answered Noie, "but here is the heart of it.
+I told you when first we met that I am not of this people, although my
+mother was a Zulu. I told you that I am of the Dream-people, the
+Ghost-people, the little Grey-people, who live away to the north beneath
+their trees, and worship their trees."
+
+"Yes," answered Rachel, "and that is why you care nothing for men as other
+women do, but dream dreams and talk with spirits. But what of it?"
+
+"That is why I dream dreams and talk with spirits, as one day I hope that
+I shall teach you to do, you whose soul is sister to my soul," replied
+Noie, her large eyes shining strangely in her delicate face. "And this of
+it--the Ghost-people are diviners, they can read the future and see the
+hearts of men; there are no diviners like them. Therefore chiefs and
+peoples who dwell far away send to them with great gifts, and pray them
+come read their fate, but they will seldom listen or obey. Now Dingaan and
+his councillors are troubled about this matter of the Boers, and the
+meaning of the words you spoke as to their waging war on them, and of the
+omen of the falling star. The council of the doctors can interpret none of
+these things, nor dare they ask you to do so, since you bade them speak no
+more to you of that matter, and they know, that if they did, either you
+would not answer, or, worse still, say words that would displease them."
+
+"They are right there," said Rachel. "To have to play the dark oracle once
+is enough for me. If I speak again, it shall be plainly."
+
+"Therefore they have bethought them of the Dealers in Dreams and desire to
+bring you face to face with their prophets, the Ghost-Kings, that these
+may see your greatness and tell them the meaning of your words, and of the
+omen that you caused to travel through the skies."
+
+"Do you mean that they wish me to visit these Ghost-Kings, Noie?"
+
+"Not so, Zoola, for then they must part with your presence. They wish that
+the priests of the Ghost-Kings should visit you, bearing with them the
+word of the Mother of the Trees."
+
+"Visit me! How can they? Who will bring them here?"
+
+"They wish that I should bring them, for as they know, I am of their
+blood, and I alone can talk their language, which my father taught me from
+a child."
+
+"But, Noie, that would moan that we must be separated," said Rachel, in
+alarm.
+
+"Yes, it would mean that, still I think it best that you should humour
+them and let me go, for otherwise I do not know how you will ever escape
+from Zululand. Now I told the King that I thought you would permit it on
+one condition only--that after you had been brought face to face with the
+priests of the Ghost-Kings, and they had interpreted your riddle, you
+should be escorted whence you came, and he answered that it should be so,
+and that meanwhile you could abide here in honour, peace and safety.
+Moreover, he promised that a messenger should be sent to Ramah to explain
+the reason of your delay."
+
+"But how long will you be on the journey, Noie, and what if these prophets
+of yours refuse to visit Dingaan?"
+
+"I cannot tell you who have never travelled that road. But I will march
+fast, and if I tire, swift runners shall bear me in a litter. To those who
+have the secret of its gate that country is not so very far away. Also,
+the Old Mother of the Trees is my father's aunt, and I think that the
+prophets will come at my prayer, or at the least send the answer to the
+question. Indeed, I am sure of it--ask me not why."
+
+Still for a long while Rachel reasoned against this separation, which she
+dreaded, while Noie reasoned for it. She pointed out that here at least
+none could harm her, as they had seen in the treatment meted out to
+Ishmael a white man whom the Zulus looked upon as their friend. Also she
+said with conviction that these mysterious Ghost-Kings were very powerful,
+and could free her from the clutches of the Zulus, and protect her from
+them afterwards, as they would do when they came to know her case.
+
+The end of it was that Rachel gave way, not because Noie's arguments
+convinced her, but because she was sure that she had other reasons she did
+not choose to advance.
+
+From that day when each of them tossed up a hair from her head at Ramah,
+notwithstanding the difference of their race and circumstances, these two
+had been as sisters. Rachel believed in Noie more, perhaps, than in any
+other living being, and thus also did Noie believe in Rachel. They knew
+that their destinies were intertwined, and were sure that not rivers or
+mountains or the will and violence of men, could keep them separate.
+
+ "I see," said Rachel, at length, "that you believe that my fate hangs
+upon this embassy of yours."
+
+"I do believe it," answered Noie, confidently.
+
+"Then go, but come back as swiftly as you may, for, my sister, I know not
+how without you I shall live on in this lonely greatness," and she took
+her in her arms and kissed her lips.
+
+Afterwards, as they were laying themselves down to sleep, Rachel asked her
+if she had heard anything about Ishmael. She answered that she learned at
+the Great Kraal that he had been brought before the King that afternoon,
+and then taken back to his hut, where he was under guard. One of her
+escort told her, too, that since he saw the King, Ibubesi had fallen very
+sick, it was thought from a blow that he had received at the house of
+Inkosazana, and that now he was out of his mind and being attended by the
+doctors. "I wish," added Noie viciously, "that he were out of his body
+also, for then much sorrow would be spared. But that cannot be before the
+time."
+
+On the next day before noon, Noie departed upon her journey. Rachel sent
+for the captains of her escort and the Isanusis, or doctors, who were to
+accompany her, and in a few stern words gave her into their charge, saying
+that they should answer for her safety with their lives, to which they
+replied that they knew it, and would do so. If any harm came to the
+daughter of Seyapi through their fault, they were prepared to die. Then
+she talked for a long while with Noie, telling her all she knew of the
+Boers and the purpose of their wanderings, that she might be able to
+repeat it to her people, and show them how dreadful would be a war between
+this white folk and the Zulus.
+
+Noie answered that she would give her message, but that it was needless,
+since the Ghost-Kings could see all that passed "in the bowls of water
+beneath their trees, and doubtless knew already of her coming and of the
+cause of it," a reply of which Rachel had not time to inquire the meaning.
+After this they embraced and parted, not without some tears.
+
+When the gate shut behind Noie, Rachel walked to the high ground at the
+back of her hut, whence she could see over the fence of the kraal, and
+watched her departure. She had an escort of a hundred picked soldiers,
+with whom went fifty or sixty strong bearers, who carried food, karosses,
+and a litter. Also there were three doctors of magic and medicine, and two
+women, widows of high rank who were to attend upon her. At the head of
+this procession, save for two guides, walked Noie herself, with sandals on
+her feet, a white robe about her shoulders, and in her hand a little bough
+on which grew shining leaves, whereof Rachel did not know the meaning. She
+watched them until they passed over the brow of the hill, on the crest of
+which Noie turned and waved the bough towards her. Then Rachel went back
+to her hut, and sat there alone and wept.
+
+This was the beginning of many dreadful days, most of which she passed
+wandering about within the circuit of the kraal fence, a space of some
+three or four acres, or seated under the shadow of certain beautiful
+trees, which overhung a deep, clear pool of the stream that ran through
+the kraal, a reed-fringed pool whereon floated blooming lilies. That quiet
+water, the happy birds that nested in the trees and the flowering lilies
+seemed to be her only friends. Of the last, indeed, she would count the
+buds, watching them open in the morning and close again for their sleep at
+night, until a day came when their loveliness turned to decay, and others
+appeared in their place.
+
+On the morrow of Noie's departure, Tamboosa and other indunas visited her,
+and asked her if she would not descend to the kraal of the King, and help
+him and his council to try cases, since while she was in the land she was
+its first judge. She answered, "No, that place smelt too much of blood."
+If they had cases for her to try, let them be brought before her in her
+own house. This she said idly, thinking no more of it, but next day was
+astonished to learn that the plaintiff and defendant in a great suit, with
+their respective advocates, and from thirty to forty witnesses, were
+waiting without to know when it was her pleasure to attend to their
+business.
+
+With characteristic courage Rachel answered, "Now." Her knowledge of law
+was, it is true, limited to what, for lack of anything more exciting, she
+had read in some handbooks belonging to her father, who had been a justice
+of the peace in the Cape Colony, and to a few cases which she had seen
+tried in a rough-and-ready fashion at Durban, to which must be added an
+intimate acquaintance with Kaffir customs. Still, being possessed with a
+sincere desire to discover the truth and execute justice, she did very
+well. The matter in dispute was a large one, that of the ownership of a
+great herd of cattle which was claimed as an inheritance by each of the
+parties. Rachel soon discovered that both these men were very powerful
+chiefs, and that the reason of their cause being remitted to her was that
+the King knew that if he decided in favour of either of them he would
+mortally offend the other.
+
+For a long while Rachel, seated on her stool, listened silently to the
+impassioned pleadings of the plaintiff's lawyers. Presently this plaintiff
+was called as a witness, and in the course of his evidence said something
+which convinced her that he was lying. Then breaking her silence for the
+first time, she asked him how he dared to give false witness before the
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola, to whom the truth was always open, and who was
+acquainted with every circumstance connected with the cattle in dispute.
+The man, seeing her eyes fixed upon him, and being convinced of her
+supernatural powers, grew afraid, broke down, and publicly confessed his
+attempted fraud, into which he said he had been led by envy of his cousin,
+the defendant's, riches.
+
+Rachel gave judgment accordingly, commanding that he should pay the costs
+in cattle and a fine to the King, and warned him to be more upright in
+future. The result was that her fame as a judge spread throughout the
+land, and every day her gates were beset with suitors whose causes she
+dealt with to the best of her ability, and to their entire satisfaction.
+Criminal prosecutions that involved the death-sentence or matters
+connected with witchcraft, however, she steadily refused to try, saying
+that the Inkosazana should not cause blood to flow. These things she left
+to the King and his Council, confining herself to such actions as in
+England would come before the Court of Chancery. Thus to her reputation as
+a spiritual queen, Rachel added that of an upright judge who could not be
+influenced by fear or bribes, the first, perhaps, that had ever been known
+in Zululand.
+
+But she could not try such cases all day, the strain was too great,
+although in the end most of them partook of the nature of arbitrations,
+since the parties involved, having come to the conclusion that it was not
+possible to deceive one so wise, grew truthful and submitted their
+differences to the decision of her wisdom.
+
+After they were dismissed, which was always at noon, for she opened her
+court at seven and would not sit more than five hours, Rachel was left in
+her solitary state until the next morning, and oh! the hours hung heavily
+upon her hands. A messenger was despatched to Ramah, but after ten days he
+returned saying that the Tugela was in flood, and he could not cross it.
+She sent him out again, and a week later was told that he had been killed
+by a lion on his journey. Then another messenger was chosen, but what
+became of him she never knew.
+
+It was about this time that Rachel learned that Ishmael, having recovered
+from his sickness, had escaped from Umgugundhlovo by night, whither none
+seemed to know. From that moment fears gathered thick upon the poor girl.
+She dreaded Ishmael and guessed that his departure without communicating
+with her boded her no good. Indeed, once or twice she almost wished that
+she had taken Noie's counsel and given him over to the justice of the
+King. Meanwhile of Noie herself nothing had been heard. She had vanished
+into the wilderness.
+
+Living this strange and most unnatural life, Rachel's nerves began to give
+way. While she tried her cases she seemed stern and calm. But when the
+crowd of humble suitors had dispersed from the outer court in which she
+sat as a judge, and the shouts of the praisers rushing up and down beyond
+the fence and roaring out her titles had died away, and having dismissed
+the obsequious maidens who waited upon her, she retired to the solitude of
+her hut to rest--ah! then it was different. Then she lay down upon her bed
+of rich furs and at times burst into tears because she who seemed to be a
+supernatural queen, was really but a white girl deserted by God and man.
+
+Now it was the season of thunderstorms, and almost every afternoon these
+dreadful tempests broke over her kraal, which shook in the roll and crash
+of the meeting clouds, while beyond the fence the jagged lightning struck
+and struck again upon the ironstone of the hillside.
+
+She had never feared such storms before, but now they terrified her. She
+dreaded their advent, and the worst of it was that she must not show her
+dread, she who was supposed to rule and direct the lightning. Indeed, the
+bounteous rains which fell ensuring a full harvest after several years of
+drought, were universally attributed to the good influence of her presence
+in the land. In the same way when a thunderbolt struck the hut of a doctor
+who but a day or two before had openly declared his disbelief in her
+powers, killing him and his principal wife, and destroying his kraal by
+fire, the accident was attributed to her vengeance, or to that of the
+Heavens, who were angry at this lack of faith. After this remarkable
+exhibition of supernatural strength, needless to say, the voice of adverse
+criticism was stayed; Rachel became supreme.
+
+But the storms passed, and when they had rolled away at length, doing her
+no hurt, and the sun shone out again, she would go and sit beneath the
+trees at the edge of the beautiful pool until the closing lilies and the
+chill of the air told her that night drew on.
+
+Oh! those long nights--how endless they seemed to Rachel in her
+loneliness. Now she who used to sleep so well, could not sleep, or when
+she slept she dreamed. She dreamed of her mother, always of her mother,
+that she was ill, and calling her, until she came to believe that in truth
+this was so. So much did this conviction work upon her mind, that she
+determined not to wait for the return of Noie, but at all costs to try to
+leave Zululand, and through Tamboosa declared her will to the King.
+
+ Next morning the answer cams back that of course none could control her
+movements, but if she would go, she must fly, as all the rivers were in
+flood, as she might see if she would walk to the top of the mountain
+behind her kraal. Tamboosa added that a company of men who had been sent
+to recapture Ishmael, were kept for a week upon the banks of the first of
+them, and at length, being unable to cross, had returned, as her messenger
+had done. Knowing from other sources that this was true, Rachel made no
+answer. What she did not know, however, was that Ishmael had crossed the
+smaller rivers before the flood came down, and gone on to meet the
+soldiers, who were ordered to await him on the banks of the Tugela.
+
+Escape was evidently impossible at present, and if it had been otherwise,
+clearly the Zulus did not mean to let her go. She must abide here in the
+company of her terrors and her dreams.
+
+At length, happily for her, these distressing dreams of Rachel's began to
+be varied by others of a pleasanter complexion, of which, although they
+were vivid enough, she could only remember upon waking that they had to do
+with Richard Darrien, the companion of her adventure in the river, of whom
+she had heard nothing for so many years. For aught she knew he might have
+died long ago, and yet she did not think that he was dead. Well, if he
+lived he might have forgotten her, and yet she did not believe that he had
+forgotten her, he who as a boy had wished to follow her all his life, and
+whom she had thought of day by day from that hour to this. Yes, she had
+thought of him, but not thus. Why, at such a time, did he arise in
+strength before her, seeming to occupy all her soul? Why was her mind
+never free of him? Could it be that they were about to meet again? She
+shivered as the hope took hold of her, shivered with joy, and remembered
+that her mother had always said that they would meet. Could it be that he
+of all men on the earth, for if he lived he was a man now, was coming to
+rescue her? Oh! then she would fear nothing. Then in every peril she would
+feel safe as a child in its mother's arms. No, the thing was too happy to
+come about; her imagination played tricks with her, no more. And yet, and
+yet, why did he haunt her sleep?
+
+The dreary days went on; a month had passed since Noie vanished over
+yonder ridge, and worst of all, for three nights the dreams of Richard had
+departed, while those of her mother remained.
+
+Rachel was worn out; she was in despair. All that morning she had spent in
+trying a long and heavy case, which occupied but wearied her mind, one of
+those eternal cases about the inheritance of cattle which were claimed by
+three brothers, descendants of different wives of a grandfather who had
+owned the herd. Finally she had effected a compromise between the parties,
+and amidst their salutes and acclamations, retired to her hut. But she
+could not eat; the sameness of the food disgusted her. Neither could she
+rest, for the daily tempest was coming up, and the heavy atmosphere, or
+the electricity with which it was charged, and the overpowering heat,
+exasperated her nervous system and made sleep impossible. At length came
+the usual rush of icy wind and the bursting of the great storm. The
+thunder crashed and bellowed; the lightning flickered and flared; the rain
+fell in a torrent. It passed as it always did, and the sun shone out
+again. Gasping with relief, Rachel went out of the oven-like hut into the
+cool, sweet air, and sat down upon a tanned bull's hide which she had
+ordered her servants to spread for her by the pool of water upon the bank
+beneath the trees. It was very pleasant here, and the raindrops shaken
+from the wet leaves fell upon her fevered face and hands and refreshed
+her.
+
+She tried to forget her troubles for a little while, and began to think of
+Richard Darrien, her boy-lover of a long-past hour, wondering what he
+looked like now that he was grown to be a man.
+
+"If only you would come to help me! Oh! Richard, if only you would come to
+help me," the poor, worn-out girl murmured to herself, and so murmuring
+fell asleep.
+
+Suddenly it seemed to her that she was wide awake, and staring into a part
+of the pool beneath her where the bottom was of granite and the water
+clear. In this water she saw a picture. She saw a great laager of waggons,
+and outside of one of them a group of bearded, jovial-looking men smoking
+and talking. Presently another man of sturdy build and resolute carriage,
+who was followed by a weary Kaffir, walked up to them. His back was
+towards her so that she could not see his face, but now she was able to
+hear all that was said, although the voices seemed thin and far away.
+
+"What is it, Nephew?" asked the oldest of the bearded men, speaking in
+Dutch. "Why are you in such a hurry?"
+
+"This, Uncle," he answered, in the same language, and in a pleasant voice
+that sounded familiar to Rachel's ears. "That spy, Quabi, whom we sent out
+a long time ago and who was reported dead, reached Dingaan's kraal, and
+has come back with a strange story."
+
+"Almighty!" grunted the old man, "all these spies have strange stories,
+but let him tell it. Speak on, swartzel." [Footnote: Black-fellow.]
+
+ Then the tired spy began to talk, telling a long tale. He described how
+he had got into Zululand, and reached Umgugundhlovo and lodged there with
+a relative of his, and done his best to collect information as to the
+attitude of the King and indunas towards the Boers. While he was there the
+news came that the white Spirit, who was called Inkosazana-y-Zoola, was
+approaching the kraal from Natal, where she dwelt with her parents, who
+were teachers.
+
+"Almighty!" interrupted the old man again, "What rubbish is this? How can
+a Spirit, white or black, have parents who are teachers?"
+
+The weary-looking spy answered that he did not know, it was not for him to
+answer riddles, all he knew was that there was great excitement about the
+coming of this Queen of the Heavens, and he, being desirous of obtaining
+first-hand information, slipped out of the town with his relative, and
+walked more than a day's journey on the path that ran to the Tugela, till
+they came to a place where they hid themselves to see her pass. This place
+he described with minuteness, so minutely, indeed, that in her dream,
+Rachel recognised it well. It was the spot where the witch-doctoress had
+died. He went on with his story; he told of her appearance riding on the
+white horse and surrounded by an impi. He described her beauty, her white
+cloak, her hair hanging down her back, the rod of horn she carried in her
+hand, the colour of her eyes, the shape of her features, everything about
+her, as only a native can. Then he told of the incident of the cattle
+rushing across her path, of the death of the bull that charged her, of the
+appearance of the furious witch-doctoress who seized the rein of the
+horse, of the pointing of the wand, and the instant execution of the
+woman.
+
+He told of how he had followed the impi to the Great Place, of the story
+of Noie as he had heard it, and the reports that had reached him
+concerning the interview between the King and this white Inkosazana, who,
+it was said, advised him not to fight the Boers.
+
+"And where is she now?" asked the old Dutchman.
+
+"There, at Umgugundhlovo," he answered, "ruling the land as its head
+Isanuzi, though it is said that she desires to escape, only the Zulus will
+not let her go."
+
+"I think that we should find out more about this woman, especially as she
+seems to be a friend to our people," said the old Boer. "Now, who dares to
+go and learn the truth?"
+
+"I will go," said the young man who had brought in the spy, and as he
+spoke he turned, and lo! _his face was the face of Richard Darrien_,
+bearded and grown to manhood, but without doubt Richard Darrien and none
+other.
+
+ "Why do you offer to undertake so dangerous a mission?" asked the Boer,
+looking at the young man kindly. "Is it because you wish to see this
+beautiful white witch of whom yonder Quabi tells us such lies, Nephew?"
+
+The shadow of Richard nodded, and his face reddened, for the Boers around
+him were laughing at him.
+
+"That is right, Uncle," he answered boldly. "You think me a fool, but I am
+not. Many years ago I knew a little maid who was the daughter of a
+teacher, and who, if she lives, must have grown into such a woman as Quabi
+describes. Well, I joined you Boers last year in order to look for that
+maid, and I am going to begin to look for her across the river yonder."
+
+As the words reached whatever sense of Rachel's it was that heard them, of
+a sudden, in an instant, laager, Boers, and Richard vanished. In her sleep
+she tried to recreate them, at first without avail, then the curtain of
+darkness appeared to lift, and in the still water of the pool she saw
+another picture, that of Richard Darrien mounted on a black horse with one
+white foot, riding along a native path through a bush-clad country, while
+by his side trotted the spy whose name was Quabi.
+
+They were talking together, and she heard, or, at any rate, knew their
+words.
+
+"How far is it now to Umgugundhlovo?" asked Richard.
+
+"Three days' journey, Inkosi, if we are not stopped by flooded rivers,"
+answered Quabi.
+
+For one second only Rachel saw and heard these things, then they, too,
+passed away, and she awoke to see in front of her the pool empty save for
+its lilies, and above to hear the whispering of the evening wind among the
+trees.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+RICHARD COMES
+
+
+As the sun set Rachel rose and walked to her hut. She was utterly dazed,
+she could not understand. Was this but a fiction of an overwrought and
+disordered mind, or had she seen a vision of things passing, or that had
+passed, far away? If it were a dream, then this was but another drop in
+her cup of bitterness. If a true vision--oh! then what did it mean to her?
+It meant that Richard Darrien lived, Richard, of whom her heart had been
+full for years. It meant that his heart was full of her also, for had she
+not seemed to hear him say that he had travelled from the Cape with the
+Boers to look for her, and was he not journeying alone through a hostile
+land to pursue his search? Who would do such a thing for the sake of a
+girl unless--unless? It meant that he would protect her, would rescue her
+from her terrible plight, would take her from among these savages to her
+home again--oh! and perhaps much more that she did not dare to picture to
+herself.
+
+Yet how could such things be? They were contrary to experience, at any
+rate, to the experience of white folk, though natives would believe in
+them easily enough. Yet in Nature things might be possible which were
+generally held to be impossible. Her mother had certain gifts--had she,
+perhaps, inherited them? Had her helplessness appealed to the pity of some
+higher power? Had her ceaseless prayers been heard? Yet, why should the
+universal laws be stretched for her? Why should she be allowed to lift a
+corner of the black veil of ignorance that hems us in, and see a glimpse
+of what lies beyond? If Richard were really coming, in a day or two she
+would have learned of his arrival naturally; there was no need that these
+mysterious influences should be set to work to inform her of his approach.
+
+How selfish she was. The warning might concern him, not her. It was
+probable enough that the Zulus would kill a solitary white man, especially
+if they discovered that he proposed to visit their Inkosazana. Well, she
+had the power to protect him. If she "threw her mantle" over him, no man
+in all the land would dare to do him violence. Surely it was for this
+reason that she had been allowed to learn these things, if she had learned
+them, not for her own sake, but his. _If_ she had learned them! Well, she
+would take the risk, would run the chance of failure and of mockery, yes,
+and of the loss of her power among these people. It should be done at
+once.
+
+Rachel clapped her hands, and a maiden appeared whom she bade summon the
+captain of the guard without the gate. Presently he came, surrounded by a
+band of her women, since no man might visit the Inkosazana alone. Bidding
+him to cease from his salutations, she commanded him to go swiftly to the
+Great Place and pray of Dingaan that he would send her an escort and a
+litter, as she must see him that night on a matter which would not brook
+delay.
+
+In an hour, just after she had finished her food, which she ate with more
+appetite than she had known for days, it was reported that they were
+there. Throwing on her white cloak, and taking her horn wand, she entered
+the litter and, guarded by a hundred men, was borne swiftly to the House
+of Dingaan. At its gate she descended, and once more entered that court by
+the moonlight.
+
+As before, there sat the King and his indunas without the Great Hut, and
+while she walked towards them every man rose crying "Hail! Inkosazana."
+Yes, even Dingaan, mountain of flesh though he was, struggled from his
+stool and saluted her. Rachel acknowledged the salutation by raising her
+wand, motioned to them to be seated, and waited.
+
+"Art thou come, White One," asked Dingaan, "to make clear those dark words
+thou spokest to us a moon ago?"
+
+"Nay, King," she answered, "what I said then, I said once and for all.
+Read thou the saying as thou wilt, or let the Ghost-people interpret it to
+thee. Hear me, King and Councillors. Ye have kept me here when I would be
+gone, my business being ended, that I might be a judge among this people.
+Ye have told me that the rivers were in flood, that the beast I rode was
+sick, that evil would befall the land if I deserted you. Now I know, and
+ye know, that if it pleased me I could have departed when and whither I
+would, but it was not fitting that the Inkosazana should creep out of
+Zululand like a thief in the night, so I abode on in my house yonder. Yet
+my heart grew wrath with you, and I, to whom the white people listen also,
+was half minded to bring hither the thousands of the Amaboona who are
+encamped beyond the Buffalo River, that they might escort me to my home."
+
+Now at these bold words the King looked uneasy, and one of the councillors
+whispered to another,
+
+"How knows she that the white men are camped beyond the Buffalo?"
+
+"Yet," went on Rachel, "I did not do so, for then there must have been
+much fighting and bloodshed, and blood I hate. But I have done this. With
+these Amaboona travels an English chief, a young man, one Darrien, whom I
+knew from long years ago, and who does me reverence. Him, then, I have
+commanded to journey hither, and to lead me to my own place across the
+Tugela. To-night I am told he sleeps a short three days' journey from this
+town, and I am come here to bid you send out swift messengers to guide him
+hither."
+
+She ceased, and they stared at her awhile. Then the King asked,
+
+"What messenger is it, Inkosazana, that thou hast sent to this white
+chief, Dario? We have seen none pass from thy house."
+
+"Dost thou think, then, King, that thou canst see my messengers? My
+thoughts flew from me to him, and called in his ear in the night, and I
+saw his coming in the still pool that lies near my huts."
+
+"_Ow!_" exclaimed one of the Council, "she sent her thoughts to him like
+birds, and she saw his coming in the water of the pool. Great is the magic
+of the Inkosazana."
+
+"The chief, Darrien," went on Rachel, without heeding the interruption,
+although she noted that it was Mopo of the withered hand who had spoken
+from beneath the blanket wrapped about his head, "may be known thus. He is
+fair of face, with eyes like my eyes, and beard and hair of the colour of
+gold. If I saw right, he rides upon a black horse with one white foot and
+his only companion is a Kaffir named Quabi who, I think," and she passed
+her hand across her forehead, "yes, who was surely visiting a relation of
+his, at this, the Great Place, when I crossed the Tugela."
+
+Now the King asked if any knew of this Quabi, and an induna answered in an
+awed voice, that it was true that a man so called had been in the town at
+the time given by the Inkosazana, staying with a soldier whose name he
+mentioned, but who was now away on service. He had, however, departed
+before the Inkosazana arrived, or so he believed, whither he knew not.
+
+"I thought it was so," went on Rachel. "As I saw him in the pool he is a
+thin man whose shoulders stoop, and whose beard is white, although his
+hair is black. He wears no ring upon his head."
+
+"That is the man," said the induna, "being a stranger I noted him well, as
+it was my business to do."
+
+"Summon the messengers swiftly, King," went on Rachel, "and let them
+depart at once, for know that this white chief and his servant are under
+the protection of the Heavens, and if harm comes to them, then I lay my
+curse upon the land, and it shall break up in blood and ruin. Bid them say
+to Darrien, that the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, she who stood with him once on
+the rock in the river while the lightnings fell and the lions roared about
+them, sends him greetings and awaits him."
+
+Now Dingaan turned to an induna and said,
+
+"Go, do the bidding of the Inkosazana. Bid swift runners search out this
+white chief, and lead him to her house, and remember that if aught of ill
+befalls him, those men die, and thou diest also."
+
+The induna leapt up and departed, and Rachel also made ready to go. A
+moment later the captain of the gate entered, fell upon his knees before
+Dingaan, and said,
+
+"O King, tidings."
+
+"What are they, man?" he asked.
+
+"King, the watchmen report that it has been called from hilltop to hilltop
+that a white man who rides a black horse, has crossed the Buffalo, and
+travels towards the Great Place. What is thy pleasure? Shall he be killed
+or driven back?"
+
+"When did that news come?" asked the King in the silence which followed
+this announcement.
+
+"Not a minute gone," he answered. "The inner watchman ran with it, and is
+without the gates. There has been no other tidings from the West for
+days."
+
+"Thy watchmen call but slowly, King, the water in the pool speaks
+swifter," said Rachel, then still in the midst of a heavy silence, for
+this thing was fearful to them, she turned and departed.
+
+"So it is true, so it is true!" Rachel kept repeating to herself, the
+words suiting themselves to the time of the footfall of her bearers. She
+was spent with all the labour and emotions of that long day, culminating
+in the last scene, when she must play her dangerous, superhuman part
+before these keen-witted savages. She could think no more; scarcely could
+she undress and throw herself upon her bed in the hut. Yet that night she
+slept soundly, better than she had done since Noie went away. No dreams
+came to trouble her and in the morning she woke refreshed.
+
+But now doubts did come. Might she not be mistaken after all? She knew the
+marvellous powers of the natives in the matter of the transmission of
+news, powers so strange that many, even among white people, attributed
+them to witchcraft. She had no doubt, therefore, as to the fact of some
+Englishman or Boer having entered Zululand. Doubtless the news of his
+arrival had been conveyed over scores of miles of country by the calling
+of it as the captain said, from hill to hill, or in some other fashion.
+But might not this arrival and the circumstance of her dream or vision be
+a mere coincidence? What was there to show that the stranger who was
+riding a black horse was really Richard Darrien? Perhaps it was all a
+mistake, and he was only one of those white wanderers of the stamp of the
+outcast Ishmael who, even at that date, made their way into savage
+countries for the purposes of gain or to enjoy a life of licence. And yet,
+and yet Quabi, of whom she also dreamed, had visited the Great Place--as
+she dreamed.
+
+The next two days were terrible to Rachel. She endured them as she had
+endured all those that went before, trying the cases that were brought to
+her, keeping up her appearance of distant dignity and utter indifference.
+She asked no questions, since to do so would be to show doubt and
+weakness, although she was aware that the tale of her vision had spread
+through the land, and that the issue of the matter was of intense interest
+to thousands. From some talk which she overheard while she pretended to be
+listening to evidence, she learned even that two men going to execution
+had discussed it, saying that they regretted they would not live to know
+the truth. On the second day she did hear one piece of news, for although
+she sat by her pool and again tried to sleep by its waters, these remained
+blind and dumb.
+
+The induna, Tamboosa, on one of his ceremonial visits, after speaking of
+the health of her mare, which, it seemed was improving, mentioned
+incidentally that the messengers running night and day had met the white
+man and "called back" that he was safe and well. He added that had it not
+been for her vision this said white man would certainly have been killed
+as a spy.
+
+"Yes, I knew that," answered Rachel, indifferently, although her heart
+thumped within her bosom. "I forget if I said that the Inkosi was to be
+brought straight here when he arrives. If not, let it be known that such
+is my command. The King can receive him afterwards if it pleases him to do
+so, as probably we shall not depart until the next day."
+
+Then she yawned, and as though by an afterthought asked if any news had
+been "called back" from Noie.
+
+Tamboosa answered, No; no system of intelligence had been organised in the
+direction in which she had gone, for that country was empty of enemies,
+and indeed of population. However, this would not distress the Inkosazana,
+who had only to consult her Spirit to see all that happened to her
+servant.
+
+Rachel replied that of course this was so, but as a matter of fact she had
+not troubled about the matter, then waved her hand to show that the
+interview was at an end.
+
+It was the morning of the third day, and while Rachel was delivering
+judgment in a case, a messenger entered and whispered something to the
+induna on duty, who rose and saluted her.
+
+"What is it?" she asked.
+
+"Only this, Inkosazana; the white Inkoos from the Buffalo River has
+arrived, and is without."
+
+"Good," said Rachel, "let him wait there." Then she went on with her
+judgment. Yes, she went on, although her eyes were blind, and the blood
+beating in her ears sounded like the roll of drums. She finished it, and
+after a decent interval, bowed her head in acknowledgement of the
+customary salutes, and made the sign which intimated that the Court was to
+be cleared.
+
+Slowly, slowly, all the crowd melted away, leaving her alone with her
+women.
+
+"Go," she said to one of them, "and bid the captain admit this white
+chief. Say that he is to come unarmed and alone. Then depart, all of you.
+If I should need you I will call."
+
+The girl went on her errand while her companions filed away through the
+back gate of the inner fence. Rachel glanced round to make sure of her
+solitude. It was complete, no one was left. There she sat in state upon
+her carved stool, her wand in her hand, her white cloak upon her
+shoulders, and the sunlight that passed over the round of the hut behind
+her glinting on her hair till it shone like a crown of gold, but leaving
+her face in shadow; sat quite still like some lovely tinted statue.
+
+The gate of the inner fence opened and closed again after a man who
+entered. He walked forward a few paces, then stood still, for the flood of
+light that revealed him so clearly at first prevented him from seeing her
+seated in the shadow. Oh! there could be no further doubt--before her was
+Richard Darrien, the lad grown to manhood, from, whom she had parted so
+many years ago. Now, as then, he was not tall, though very strongly built,
+and for the rest, save for his short beard, the change in him seemed
+little. The same clear, thoughtful, grey eyes, the same pleasant, open
+face, the same determined mouth. She was not disappointed in him, she knew
+this at once. She liked him as well as she had done at the first.
+
+Now he caught sight of her and stayed there, staring. She tried to speak,
+to welcome him, but could not, no words would come. He also seemed to be
+smitten with dumbness, and thus the two of them remained a while. At last
+he took off his hat almost mechanically, as though from instinct, and said
+vaguely,
+
+"You are the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, are you not?"
+
+"I am so called," she answered softly, and with effort.
+
+The moment that he heard her voice, with a movement so swift that it was
+almost a spring, he advanced to her, saying,
+
+"Now I am sure; you are Rachel Dove, the little girl who--Oh, Rachel, how
+lovely you have grown!"
+
+"I am glad you think so, Richard," she answered again in the same low,
+deep voice, a voice laden with the love within her, and reddening to her
+eyes. Then she let fall her wand, and rising, stretched out both her hands
+to him.
+
+They were face to face, now, but he did not take those hands; he passed
+his arms about her, drew her to him unresisting, and kissed her on the
+lips. She slipped from his embrace down on to her stool, white now as she
+had been red. Then while he stood over her, trembling and confused, Rachel
+looked up, her beautiful eyes filled with tears, and whispered,
+
+"Why should I be ashamed? It is Fate."
+
+"Yes," he answered, "Fate."
+
+ For so both, of them knew it to be. Though they had seen each other but
+once before, their love was so great, the bond between their natures so
+perfect and complete, that this outward expression of it would not be
+denied. Here was a mighty truth which burst through all wrappings of
+convention and proclaimed itself in its pure strength and beauty. That
+kiss of theirs was the declaration of an existent unity which
+circumstances did not create, nor their will control, and thus they
+confessed it to each other.
+
+"How long?" she asked, looking up at him.
+
+"Eight years to-day," he answered, "since I rode away after those
+waggons."
+
+"Eight years," she repeated, "and no word from you all that time. You have
+behaved badly to me, Richard."
+
+"No, no, I could not find out. I wrote three times, but always the letters
+were returned, except one that went to the wrong people, who were angry
+about it. Then two years ago, I heard that your father and mother had been
+in Natal, but had gone to England, and that you were dead. Yes, a man told
+me that you were dead," he added with a gulp. "I suppose he was speaking
+of somebody else, as he could not remember whether the name was Dove or
+Cove, or perhaps he was just lying. At any rate, I did not believe, him. I
+always felt that you were alive."
+
+"Why did you not come to see, Richard?"
+
+"Why? Because it was impossible. For years my father was an invalid,
+paralysed; and I was his only child, and could not leave him."
+
+She looked a question at him.
+
+"Yes," he answered with a nod, "dead, ten months ago, and for a few weeks
+I had to remain to arrange about the property, of which he left a good
+deal, for we did well of late years. Just then I heard a rumour of an
+English missionary and his wife and daughter who were said to be living
+somewhere beyond the boundaries of Natal, in a savage place on the
+Transvaal side of the Drakensberg, and as some Boers I knew were trekking
+into that country I came with them on the chance--a pretty poor one, as
+the story was vague enough."
+
+"You came--you came to seek the girl, Rachel Dove?"
+
+"Of course. Otherwise why should I have left my farms down in the Cape to
+risk my neck among these savages?"
+
+"And then," went on Rachel, "you or somebody else sent in the spy, Quabi,
+who returned to the Boer camp with his story about the Inkosazana-y-Zoola.
+You remember you brought him in limping to that old fellow with a grey
+beard and a large pipe, and the others who laughed at the tale. I mean
+when you said that this Inkosazana seemed very like an English maid, 'the
+daughter of a teacher,' whom you were looking for, and that you would go
+to find out the truth of the business."
+
+"Yes, that's all right; but Rachel," he added with a start, "how do you
+know anything about it--Oom Piet and the rest, and the words I used? Your
+spies must be very good and quick, for you can't have seen Quabi."
+
+"My spies are good and quick. Did you get my message sent by the King's
+men? It was that she who stood with you on the rock in the river, greeted
+you and awaited you?"
+
+"Yes, I could not understand. I do not understand now. Just before that
+they were going to kill me as a Boer spy. Who told you everything?"
+
+"My heart," she answered smiling. "I dreamed it all. I suppose that I was
+allowed to save your life that I might bring you here to save me. Listen
+now, Richard, while I tell you the strangest story that you ever heard;
+and if you don't believe it, go and ask the King and his indunas."
+
+Then she told him of her vision by the pool and all that happened after
+it. When she had finished Richard could only shake his head and say:
+
+"Still I don't understand; but no wonder these Zulus have made a goddess
+of you. Well, Rachel, what is to happen now? If you are to stop here they
+mayn't care for me as a high priest."
+
+"I am not; I am going home, and you must take me. I told them that you
+were coming to do so. You have your horse, have you not, the black horse
+with the white forefoot? Well, we will start at once--no, you must eat
+first, and there are things to arrange. Now stand at a distance from me
+and look as respectful as you can, for I fill a strange position here."
+
+Then Rachel clapped her hands and the women came running in.
+
+"Bring food for the Inkosi Darrien," she said, "and send hither the
+captain of the gate."
+
+Presently the man arrived crouched up in token of respect, and shouting
+her titles.
+
+"Go to the King," said Rachel, "and tell him the Inkosazana commands that
+the horse on which she came be brought to her at once, as she leaves
+Zululand for a while; also that an impi be assembled within an hour to
+escort her and this white chief, her servant, to the Tugela. Say that the
+Inkosi Darrien has brought her tidings which make it needful that she
+should travel hence speedily if the Zulus, her people, are to be saved
+from great misfortune, and say, too, that he goes with her. If the King or
+his indunas would see the Inkosazana, or the chief Darrien, let him or the
+indunas meet them on their road, since they have no time to visit the
+Great Place. Let Tamboosa be in command of the impi, and say also that if
+it is not here at once, the Inkosazana will be angry and summon an impi of
+her own. Go now, for the lives of many hang upon your speed; yes, the
+lives of the greatest in the land."
+
+The man saluted and shot away like an arrow.
+
+"Will they obey you?" asked Richard.
+
+"I think so, because they are afraid of me, especially since I saw you
+coming. At any rate we must act at once, it is our best chance--before
+they have time to think. Here is some food--eat. Woman, go, tell the guard
+that the Inkosi's horse must be fed at the gate, for he will need it
+presently, and his servant also."
+
+"I have no servant, Inkosazana," broke in Richard. "I left Quabi at a
+kraal fifty miles away, laid up with a cut foot. As soon as he is better
+he will slip back across the Buffalo River."
+
+Then while Richard ate, which he did heartily enough, for joy had made him
+very hungry, they talked, who had much to tell. He asked her why she
+thought it necessary to leave Zululand at once. She answered, for two
+reasons, first because of her desperate anxiety about her father and
+mother, as to whom her heart foreboded ill, and secondly for his own sake.
+She explained that the Zulus who had set her up as an image or a token of
+the guiding Spirit of their nation, were madly jealous concerning her, so
+jealous that if he remained here long she was by no means certain that
+even her power could protect him when they came to understand that he was
+much to her. It was impossible that she could see him often, and much more
+so that he could remain in her kraal. Therefore if they were detained he
+would be obliged to live at some distance from her where an assegai might
+find him at night or poison be put in his food. At present they were
+impressed by her foreknowledge of his arrival, and that was why he had
+been admitted to her at once. But this would wear off--and then who could
+say, especially if Ishmael returned?
+
+He asked who Ishmael was and what he had to do with her. Rachel told him
+briefly, and though she suppressed much, he looked very grave at that
+story.
+
+While she was finishing it a woman called without for leave to enter, and,
+as before, Rachel bade him stand in a respectful attitude, and at a
+distance from her. Richard obeyed, and the woman came in to say that
+certain of the King's indunas craved audience with her. They were admitted
+and saluted her in their usual humble fashion, but of Richard, beyond
+eyeing him curiously and, as she thought, hostilely, they took not the
+slightest heed.
+
+ "Are all things ready for my journey, as I commanded?" asked Rachel at
+once.
+
+"Inkosazana," answered their spokesman, "they are ready, for how canst
+thou be disobeyed? Tamboosa and the impi wait without. Yet, Inkosazana,
+the heart of the Black One and the hearts of his councillors, and of all
+the Zulu people are cut in two because thou wouldst go and leave them
+mourning. Their hearts are sore also with this white man Dario, who has
+come to lead thee hence, so sore, that were he not thy servant," the
+induna added grimly, "he at least should stay in Zululand."
+
+"He is my servant," answered Rachel haughtily, "whom I sent for. Let that
+suffice. Remember my words, all of you, and let them be told again in the
+ears of the King, that if any harm comes to this white chief who is my
+guest and yours, then there will be blood between me and the people of the
+Zulus that shall be terribly avenged in blood."
+
+The indunas seemed to cower at this declaration, but made no answer. Only
+the chief of them said:
+
+"The King would know if the Inkosi, thy servant, brings thee any tidings
+of the Amaboona, the white folk with whom he has been journeying."
+
+"He brings tidings that they seek peace with the Zulus, to whom they will
+do no hurt if no hurt is done to them. Shall I tell them that the Zulus
+also seek peace?"
+
+"The King gave us no message on that matter, Inkosazana," replied the
+induna. "He awaits the coming of the prophets of the Ghost-folk to
+interpret the meaning of thy words, and of the omen of the falling star."
+
+"So be it," said Rachel. "When my servant, Noie, returns, let her be sent
+on to me at once, that I may hear and consider the words of her people,"
+and she began to rise from her seat to intimate that the interview was
+finished.
+
+"Inkosazana," said the induna hurriedly, "one question from the King--when
+dost thou return to Zululand?"
+
+"I return when it is needful. Fear not, I think that I shall return, but I
+say to the King and to all of you: Be careful when I come that there is no
+blood between me and you, lest great evil fall upon your heads from
+Heaven. I have spoken. Good fortune go with you till we meet again."
+
+The indunas looked at each other, then rose and departed humbly as they
+had entered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An hour later, surrounded by the impi, and followed by Richard, Rachel was
+on the Tugela road. At the crest of a hill she pulled rein and looked back
+at the great kraal, Umgugundhlovu. Then she beckoned Richard to her side
+and said:
+
+"I think that before long I shall see that hateful place again."
+
+"Why?" he asked.
+
+"Because of the way in which those indunas looked at each other just now.
+There was some evil secret in their eyes. Richard, I am afraid."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WHAT CHANCED AT RAMAH
+
+
+The news which reached Rachel that Ishmael had been ill after the rough
+handling of the captains in her presence, was true enough. For many days
+he was far too ill to travel, and when he recovered sufficiently to start
+he could only journey slowly to the Tugela.
+
+It will be remembered that she was told that he had escaped, as indeed he
+seemed to do, slipping off at night, but this escape of his was carefully
+arranged beforehand, nor did any attempt to re-capture him upon his way.
+When at length he came to the river he found the small impi awaiting him,
+not knowing whither they were to go or what they were to do, their only
+orders being that they must obey him in all things. He found also that the
+Tugela was in furious flood, so that to ford it proved quite impossible.
+Here, then, he was obliged to remain for ten full days while the water ran
+down.
+
+Ishmael was not idle during those ten days, which be spent in recovering
+his health, and incidentally in reflection. Thus he thought a great deal
+of his past life, and did not find the record satisfactory. With his exact
+history we need not trouble ourselves. He was well-born, as he had told
+Rachel, but had been badly brought up. His strong passions had led him
+into trouble while young, and instead of trying to reform him his
+belongings had cast him off. Then he had enlisted in the army, and so
+reached South Africa. There he committed a crime--as a matter of fact it
+was murder or something like it--and fled from justice far into the
+wilderness, where a touch of imagination prompted him to take the name of
+Ishmael.
+
+For a while this new existence suited him well enough. Thus he had wives
+in plenty of a sort, and he grew rich, becoming just such a person as
+might be expected from his environment and unchecked natural tendencies.
+At length it happened that he met Rachel, who awoke in him certain
+forgotten associations. She was an English lady, and he remembered that
+once he had been an English gentleman, years and years ago. Also she was
+beautiful, which appealed to his strong animal nature, and spiritual,
+which appealed to a materialist soaked in Kaffir superstition. So he fell
+in love with her, really in love; that is to say, he came to desire to
+make her his wife more than he desired anything else on earth. For her
+sake he grew to dislike his black consorts, however handsome; even the
+heaping up of herds of cattle after the native fashion ceased to appeal to
+him. He wanted to live as his forbears had lived, quietly, respectably,
+with a woman of his own class.
+
+So he made advances to her, with the results we know. For fifteen years or
+more he had been a savage, and he could not hide his savagery from her
+eyes any more than he could break off the ties and entanglements that had
+grown up about him. Had she happened to care for him, it is very possible,
+however, that in this he would have succeeded in time. He might even have
+reformed himself completely, and died in old age a much-respected colonial
+gentleman; perhaps a member of the local Legislature. But she did not; she
+detested him; she knew him for what he was, a cowardly outcast whose good
+looks did not appeal to her. So the spark of his new aspirations was
+trampled out beneath her merciless heel, and there remained only the
+acquired savagery and superstition mixed with the inborn instincts of a
+blackguard.
+
+It was this superstition of his that had, brought all her troubles upon
+Rachel, for however it came about, he had conceived the idea that she was
+something more than an ordinary woman and, with many tales of her
+mysterious origin and powers, imparted it to the Zulus, in whose minds it
+was fostered by the accident of the coincidence of her native name and
+personal loveliness with those of the traditional white Spirit of their
+race, and by Mopo's identification of her with that Spirit. Thus she
+became their goddess and his; at any rate for a time. But while they
+desired to worship her only, and use her rumoured wisdom as an oracle, he
+sought to make her his wife; the more impossible it became, the more he
+sought it. She refused him with contumely, and he laid plots to decoy her
+to Zululand, thinking that there she would be in his power. In the end he
+succeeded, basely enough, only to find that he was in her power, and that
+the contumely, and more, were still his share.
+
+But all this did not in the least deter him from his aim, and as it
+chanced, fortune had put other cards into his hand. He knew that Rachel
+would not stay among the Zulus, as they knew it. Therefore they had
+commissioned him to bring her people to her. If her people were not
+brought he was sure that she would come to seek them, and _if she found no
+one_, then where could she go, or at least who would be at hand to help
+her? Surely his opportunity had come at last, and marriage by capture did
+not occur to him, who had spent so many years among savages, as a crime
+from which to shrink. Only he feared that the prospective captive, the
+Inkosazana-y-Zoola, was not one with whom it was safe to trifle. But his
+love was stronger than his fear. He thought that he would take the risk.
+
+Such were the reflections of Ishmael upon the banks of the flooded Tugela,
+and when at length the waters went down sufficiently to enable him and the
+soldiers under his command to cross into Natal, he was fully determined to
+put them into practice, if the chance came his way. How this might best be
+done he left to luck, for if it could be avoided he did not wish to have
+more blood upon his hands. Only Rachel must be rendered homeless and
+friendless, for then who could protect her from him? An answer came into
+his mind--she might protect herself, or that Power which seemed to go with
+her might protect her. Something warned him that this evil enterprise was
+very dangerous. Yet the fire that burnt within him drove him on to face
+the danger.
+
+Ishmael was still on the Zululand bank of the river when one day about
+noon an urgent message reached him from Dingaan. It said that the King was
+angry as a wounded buffalo to learn, as he had just done, that he,
+Ibubesi, still lingered on his road, and had not carried out his mission.
+The Inkosazana, accompanied by a white man, was travelling to Ramah, and
+unless he went forward at once, would overtake him. Therefore he must
+march instantly and bring back the old Teacher and his wife as he had been
+bidden. Should he meet the Inkosazana and her companion as he returned
+with the white prisoners she must not be touched or insulted in any way,
+only his ears and those of the soldiers with him were to be deaf to her
+orders or entreaties to release them, for then she would surely turn and
+follow of her own accord back to the Great Place. If the white man with
+her made trouble or resisted, he was to be bound, but on no account must
+his blood be made to flow, for if this happened it would bring a curse
+upon the land, and he, Dingaan, swore by the head of the Black One who was
+gone (that is Chaka) that he would kill him, Ibubesi, in payment. Yes, he
+would smear him with honey and bind him over an ant-heap in the sun till
+he died, if he hunted Africa from end to end to catch him. Moreover,
+should he fail in the business, he would send a regiment and destroy his
+town at Mafooti, and, put his wives and people to the spear, and seize his
+cattle. All this also he swore by the head of the Black One.
+
+Now when Ishmael received this message he was much frightened, for he knew
+that these were not idle threats. Indeed, the exhausted messenger told him
+that never had any living man seen Dingaan so mad with rage as he was when
+he learned that he, Ibubesi, was still lingering on the banks of the
+Tugela, adding that he had foamed at the mouth with fury and uttered
+terrible threats. Ishmael sent him back with a humble answer, pointing out
+that it had been impossible to cross the river, which was "in wrath," but
+that now he would do all things as he was commanded, and especially that
+not a hair of the white man's head should be harmed.
+
+"Then you must do them quickly," said the messenger with a grim smile as
+he rose and prepared to go, "for know that the Inkosazana is not more than
+half a day's march behind you, accompanied by the white Inkoos Dario."
+
+"What is this Dario like?" asked Ishmael.
+
+"Oh! he is young and very handsome, with hair and beard of gold, and eyes
+that are such as those of the Inkosazana herself. Some say that he is her
+brother, another child of the Heavens, and some that he is her husband.
+Who am I that I should speak of such high things? But it is evident that
+she loves him very much, for by her magic she told the King of his coming,
+and even when he is behind her she is always trying to turn her head to
+look at him."
+
+"Oh! she loves him very much, does she?" said Ishmael, setting his white
+teeth. Then he turned, and calling the captain of the impi, gave orders
+that the river must be crossed at once, for so the King commanded, and it
+was better to die with honour by water than with shame by the spear.
+
+So they waded and swam the river with great difficulty, but, as it
+chanced, without loss of life, Ishmael being borne over it upon the
+shoulders of the strongest men. Upon its further bank he summoned the
+captains and delivered to them the orders of the King. Then they set out
+for Ramah, Ishmael carried in a litter made of boughs.
+
+Whilst the soldiers were constructing this litter, he called two men of
+the Swamp-dwellers, who had their homes upon the banks of the Tugela, and
+promising them a reward, bade them run to his town, Mafooti, and tell his
+head man there to come at once with thirty of the best soldiers, and to
+hide them in the bush of the kloof above Ramah, where he would join them
+that night. The men, who knew Ibubesi, and what happened to those who
+failed upon his business, went swiftly, and a little while afterwards, the
+litter being finished, Ishmael entered it, and the impi started for Ramah.
+
+Before sundown they appeared upon a ridge overlooking the settlement, just
+as the herds were driving the cattle into their kraals. Seeing the Zulus
+while as yet they were some way off, these herds shouted an alarm, whereon
+the people of the place, thinking that Dingaan had sent a regiment to wipe
+them out, fled to the bush, the herds driving the cattle after them. Man,
+woman, and child, deserting their pastor, who knew nothing of all this,
+being occupied with a sad business, they fled, incontinently, so that when
+Ishmael and the impi entered Ramah, no one was left in it save a few aged
+and sick people, who could not walk.
+
+At the outskirts of the town Ishmael descended from his litter and
+commanded the soldiers to surround it, with orders that they were to hurt
+no one, but if the white Umfundusi, who was called Shouter, or his wife
+attempted to escape, they were to be seized and brought to him. Then
+taking with him some of the captains and a guard of ten men, he advanced
+to the mission-house.
+
+The door was open, and, followed by the Zulus, he entered to search the
+place, for he feared that its inhabitants might have seen them, and have
+gone with the others. Looking into the first room that they reached, of
+which, as it chanced, the door was also open, Ishmael saw that this was
+not so, for there upon the bed lay Mrs. Dove, apparently very ill, while
+by the side of the bed knelt her husband, praying. For a few moments
+Ishmael and the savages behind him stood still, staring at the pair, till
+suddenly Mrs. Dove turned her head and saw them. Lifting herself in the
+bed she pointed with her finger, and Ishmael noticed that her lips were
+quite blue, and that she did not seem to be able to speak. Then Mr. Dove,
+observing her outstretched hand, looked round. He had not seen Ishmael
+since that day when he struck him after their stormy interview at Mafooti,
+but recognising the man at once, he asked sternly:
+
+"What are you doing, sir, with these savages in my house? Cannot you see
+that my wife is sick, and must not be disturbed?"
+
+"I am sorry," Ishmael answered shamefacedly, for in his heart he was
+afraid of Mr. Dove, "but I am sent to you with a message from Dingaan the
+King, and," he added as an afterthought, "from your daughter."
+
+"From my daughter!" exclaimed Mr. Dove eagerly. "What of her? Is she well?
+We cannot get any certain news of her, only rumours."
+
+"I saw her but once." replied Ishmael, "and she was well enough, then. You
+know the Zulus have made her their Inkosazana, and keep her guarded."
+
+"Does she live quite alone then with these savages?"
+
+"She did, but I am sorry I must tell you that she seems to have a
+companion now, some scoundrel of a white man with whom she has taken up,"
+he sneered.
+
+"My daughter take up with a scoundrel of a white man! It is false. What is
+this man's name?"
+
+"I don't know, but the natives call him Dario, and say that he is young,
+and has fair hair, and that she is in love with him. That's all I can tell
+you about the man."
+
+Mr. Dove shook his head, but his wife sat up suddenly in bed, and plucked
+him by the sleeve, for she had been listening intently to everything that
+passed.
+
+"Dario! Young, fair hair, in love with him--" she repeated in a thick
+whisper, then added, "John, it is Richard Darrien grown up--the boy who
+saved her in the Umtooma River, years ago, and whom she has never
+forgotten. Oh! thank God! Thank God! With him she will be safe. I always
+knew that he would find her, for they belong to each other," and she sank
+back exhausted.
+
+"That's what the Zulus say, that they belong to each other," replied
+Ishmael, with another sneer. "Perhaps they are married native fashion."
+
+"Stop insulting my daughter, sir," said Mr. Dove angrily. "She would not
+take a husband as you take your wives, nor if this man is Richard Darrien,
+as I pray, would he be a party to such a thing. Tell me, are they coming
+here?"
+
+"Not they, they are far too comfortable where they are. Also the Zulus
+would prevent them. But don't be sad about it, for I am sent to take you
+both to join her at the Great Place where you are to live."
+
+"To join her! It is impossible," ejaculated Mr. Dove, glancing at his sick
+wife.
+
+"Impossible or not, you've got to come at once, both of you. That is the
+King's order and the Inkosazana's wish, and what is more there is an impi
+outside to see that you obey. Now I give you five minutes to get ready,
+and then we start."
+
+"Man, are you mad? How can my wife travel to Zululand in her state? She
+cannot walk a step."
+
+"Then she can be carried," answered Ishmael callously. "Come, don't waste
+time in talking. Those are my orders, and I am not going to have my throat
+cut for either of you. If Mrs. Dove won't dress wrap her up in blankets."
+
+"You go, John, you go," whispered his wife, "or they will kill you. Never
+mind about me; my time has come, and I die happy, for Richard Darrien is
+with Rachel."
+
+The mention of Richard's name seemed to infuriate Ishmael. At any rate he
+said brutally:
+
+"Are you coming, or must I use force?"
+
+"Coming, you wicked villain! How can I come?" shouted Mr. Dove, for he was
+mad with grief and rage. "Be off with your savages. I will shoot the first
+man who lays a finger on my wife," and as he spoke he snatched a
+double-barrelled pistol which hung upon the wall and cocked it.
+
+Ishmael turned to the Zulus who stood behind him watching this scene with
+curiosity.
+
+"Seize the Shouter," he said, "and bind him. Lift the old woman on her
+mattress, and carry her. If she dies on the road we cannot help it."
+
+The captains hesitated, not from fear, but because Mrs. Dove's condition
+moved even their savage hearts to pity.
+
+"Why do you not obey?" roared Ishmael. "Dogs and cowards, it is the King's
+word. Take her up or you shall die, every man of you, you know how. Knock
+down the old Evildoer with your sticks if he gives trouble."
+
+Now the men hesitated no longer. Springing forward, several of them seized
+the mattress and began to lift it bodily. Mrs. Dove rose and tried to
+struggle from the bed, then uttered a low moaning cry, fell back, and lay
+still.
+
+"You devils, you have killed her!" gasped Mr. Dove, as lifting the pistol
+he fired at the Zulu nearest to him, shooting him through the body so that
+he sank upon the floor dying. Then, fearing lest he should shoot again,
+the captains fell upon the poor old man, striking him with kerries and the
+handles of their spears, for they sought to disable him and make him drop
+the pistol.
+
+As it chanced, though this was not their intention, in the confusion a
+heavy blow from a knobstick struck him on the temple. The second barrel of
+the pistol went off, and the bullet from it but just missed Ishmael who
+was standing to one side. When the smoke cleared away it was seen that Mr.
+Dove had fallen backwards on to the bed. The martyrdom he always sought
+and expected had overtaken him. He was quite dead. They were both dead!
+
+The head induna in command of the impi stepped forward and looked at them,
+then felt their hearts.
+
+"_Wow!_" he said, "these white people have 'gone beyond.' They have gone
+to join the spirits, both of them. What now, Ibubesi?"
+
+Ishmael, who stood in the corner, very white-faced, and staring with round
+eyes, for the tragedy had taken a turn that he did not intend or expect,
+shook himself and rubbed his forehead with his hand, answering:
+
+"Carry them into the Great Place, I suppose. The King ordered that they
+should be brought there. Why did you kill that old Shouter, you fools?" he
+added with irritation. "You have brought his blood and the curse of the
+Inkosazana on our heads."
+
+"_Wow!_" answered the induna again, "you bade us strike him with sticks,
+and our orders were to obey you. Who would have guessed that the old man's
+skull was so thin from thinking? You or I would never have felt a tap like
+that. But they are 'gone beyond,' and we will not defile ourselves by
+touching them. Dead bones are of no use to anyone, and their ghosts might
+haunt us. Come, brethren, let us go back to the King and make report. The
+order was Ibubesi's, and we are not to blame."
+
+"Yes," they answered, "let us go back and make report. Are you coming,
+Ibubesi?"
+
+"Not I," he answered. "Do I want to have my neck twisted because of your
+clumsiness? Go you and win your own peace if you can, but if you see the
+Inkosazana, my advice is that you avoid her lest she learn the truth, and
+bring your deaths upon you, for, know, she travels hither, and she called
+these folk father and mother."
+
+"Without doubt we will avoid her," said the captain, "who fear her
+terrible curse. But, Ibubesi, it is on you that it will fall, not on us
+who did but obey you as we were bidden; yes, on you she will bring down
+death before this moon dies. Make your peace with the Heavens, if you can,
+Ibubesi, as we go to try to make ours with the King."
+
+"Would you bewitch me, you ill-omened dog?" shouted Ishmael, wiping the
+sweat of fear off his brow, "May you soon be stiff!"
+
+"Nay, nay, Ibubesi, it is you who shall be stiff. The Inkosazana will see
+to that, and were I not sure of it I would make you so myself, who am a
+noble who will not be called names by a white _umfagozan_, a low-born
+fellow who plots for blood, but leaves its shedding to brave men.
+Farewell, Ibubesi; if the jackals leave anything of you after the
+Inkosazana has spoken, we will return to bury your bones," and he turned
+to go.
+
+"Stay," cried the dying man on the floor, "would you leave me here in
+pain, my brothers?"
+
+The induna stepped to him and examined him.
+
+"It is mortal," he said, shaking his head, "right through the liver. Why
+did not the white man's thunder smite Ibubesi instead of you, and save the
+Inkosazana some trouble? Well, your arms are still strong and here is a
+spear; you know where to strike. Be quick with your messages. Yes, yes, I
+will see that they are delivered. Good-night, my brother. Do you remember
+how we stood side by side in that big fight twenty years ago, when the
+Pondo giant got me down and you fell on the top of me and thrust upwards
+and killed him? It was a very good fight, was it not? We will talk it over
+again in the World of Spirits. Good-night, my brother. Yes, yes, I will
+deliver the message to your little girl, and tell her where the necklace
+is to be found, and that you wish her to name her firstborn son after you.
+Good-night. Use that assegai at once, for your wound must be painful, or
+perhaps as you are down upon the ground Ibubesi will do it for you.
+Good-night, my brother, and Ibubesi, goodnight to you also. We cross the
+Tugela by another drift, wait you here for the Inkosazana, and tell her
+how the Shouter died."
+
+Then they turned and went. The wounded man watched them pass the door, and
+when the last of them had gone he used the assegai upon himself, and with
+his failing hand flung it feebly at Ishmael.
+
+The dying Zulu's spear struck Ishmael, who had turned his head away, upon
+the cheek, just pricking it and causing the blood to flow, no more.
+Ishmael was still also, paralysed almost, or so he seemed, for even the
+pain of the cut did not make him move. He stared at the bodies of Mr. and
+Mrs. Dove; he stared at the dead Zulu, and in his heart a voice cried:
+"You have murdered them. By now they are pleading to God for vengeance on
+you, Ishmael, the outcast. You will never dare to be alone again, for they
+will haunt you."
+
+As he thought it the relaxed hand of the old clergyman who had fallen in a
+sitting posture on the bed, slipped from his wounded head which he had
+clasped just before he died, and for a moment seemed to point at him. He
+shivered, but still he could not stir. How dreadful and solemn was that
+face! And those eyes, how they searched out the black record of his heart!
+The quiet rays of the afternoon sun suddenly flowed in through the window
+place and illumined the awful, accusing face till it shone like that of a
+saint in glory. A drop of blood from the cut upon his cheek splashed on to
+the floor, and the noise of it struck on his strained nerves loud as a
+pistol-shot. Blood, his own blood wherewith he must pay for that which he
+had shed. The sight and the thought seemed to break the spell. With an
+oath he bounded out of the room like a frightened wolf, those dead staring
+at him as he went, and rushed from the house that held them.
+
+Beyond its walls Ishmael paused. The Zulus had fled in one direction, and
+the inhabitants of Ramah in another; there was no one to be seen. His eye
+fell upon the dense mass of bush above the station, and he remembered the
+message that he had sent to his own people to meet him there. Perhaps they
+had already arrived. He would go to see, he who was in such sore need of
+human company. As he went his numbed faculties returned to him, and in the
+open light of day some of his terror passed. He began to think again. What
+was done was done; he could not bring the dead back to life. He was not
+really to blame, and after all, things had worked out well for him. Save
+for this white man, Dario, Rachel was now alone in the world, and dead
+people did not speak, there was no one to tell her of his share in the
+tragedy. Why should she not turn to him who had no one else to whom she
+could go? The white man, if he were still with her, could be got rid of
+somehow; very likely he would run away, and they two would be left quite
+alone. At any rate it was for her sake that be had entered on this black
+road of sin, and what did one step more matter, the step that led him to
+his reward? Of course it might lead him somewhere else. Rachel was a woman
+to be feared, and the Zulus were to be feared, and other things to which
+he could give no shape or name, but that he felt pressing round him, were
+still more to be feared. Perhaps he would do best to fly, far into the
+interior, or by ship to some other land where none would know him and his
+black story. What! Fly companioned by those ghosts, and leave Rachel, the
+woman for whom he burned, with this Dario, whom the Zulus said she loved,
+and with whom her mother, just before her end, had declared that she would
+be safe? Never. She was his; he had bought her with blood, and he would
+have the due the devil owed him.
+
+He was in the bush now, and a voice called him, that of his head man.
+
+"Come out, you dog," he said, searching the dense foliage with his eyes,
+and the man appeared, saluting him humbly.
+
+"We received your message and we have come, Inkoos. We are but just
+arrived. What has chanced here that the town is so still?"
+
+"The Zulus have been and gone. They have killed the white Teacher and his
+wife, though I thought to save them--look at my wound. Also the people are
+fled."
+
+"Ah!" replied the head man, "that was an ill deed, for he was holy, and a
+great prophet, and doubtless his spirit is strong to revenge. Well for you
+is it, Master, that you had no hand in the deed, as at first I feared
+might be the case, for know that last night a strange dog climbed on to
+your hut and howled there and would not be driven away, nor could we kill
+it with spears, so we think it was a ghost. All your wives thought that
+evil had drawn near to you."
+
+ Ishmael struck him across the mouth, exclaiming.
+
+"Be silent, you accursed wizard, or you shall howl louder than your
+ghost-dog."
+
+"I meant no harm," answered the man humbly, but with a curious gleam in
+his eye. "What are your commands, Chief?"
+
+"That we watch here. I think that the daughter of the Shouter, she who is
+called Inkosazana-y-Zoola, is coming, and she may need help. Have you
+brought thirty men with you as I bade you through my messengers?"
+
+"Aye, Ibubesi, they are all hidden in the bush. I go to summon them,
+though I think that the mighty Inkosazana, who can command all the Zulu
+impis and all the spirits of the dead, will need little help from us."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+RACHEL COMES HOME
+
+
+As Rachel had travelled up from the Tugela to the Great Place, so she
+travelled back from the Great Place to the Tugela in state and dignity
+such as became a thing divine, perhaps the first white woman, moreover,
+who had ever entered Zululand. All day she rode alone, Tamboosa leading
+the white ox before her and Richard following behind, while in front and
+to the rear marched the serried ranks of the impi, her escort. At night,
+as before, she slept alone in the empty kraals provided for her, attended
+by the best-born maidens, Richard being lodged in some hut without the
+fence.
+
+So at length, about noon one day, they reached the banks of the Tugela,
+not many hours after Ishmael had crossed it, and camped there. Now, after
+she had eaten, Rachel sent for Richard, with whom she had found but few
+opportunities to talk during that journey. He came and stood before her,
+as all must do, and she addressed him in English while the spies and
+captains watched him sullenly, for they were angry at this use of a
+foreign tongue which they could not understand. Preserving a cold and
+distant air, she asked him of his health, and how he had fared.
+
+"Well enough," he answered. "And now, what are your plans? The river is in
+flood, you will find it difficult to cross. Still it can be done, for I
+hear that the white man, Ishmael, of whom you told me, forded it this
+morning with a company of armed men."
+
+ Aware of the eyes that watched her, with an effort Rachel showed no
+surprise.
+
+"How is that?" she asked. "I thought the man fled from Zululand many days
+ago. Why then does he leave the country with soldiers?"
+
+"I can't tell you, Rachel. There is something queer about the business.
+When I inquire, everyone shrugs his shoulders. They say that the King
+knows his own business. If I were you I would ask no questions, for you
+will learn nothing, and if you do not ask they will think that you know
+all."
+
+"I understand," she said. "But, Richard, I must cross the river to-day.
+You and I must cross it alone and reach Ramah to-night. Richard, something
+weighs upon my heart; I am terribly afraid."
+
+"How will you manage it?" he asked, ignoring the rest.
+
+"I can't tell you yet, Richard, but keep my horse and yours saddled there
+where you are encamped," and she nodded towards a hut about fifty yards
+away. "I think that I shall come to you presently. Now go."
+
+So he saluted her and went.
+
+Presently Rachel sent for Tamboosa and the captains, and asked the state
+of the river which was out of sight about half a mile from them. They
+replied that it was "very angry"; none could think of attempting its
+passage, as much water was coming down.
+
+"Is it so?" she said indifferently. "Well, I must look," and with slow
+steps she walked towards the hut where she knew the horses were, followed
+by Tamboosa and the captains.
+
+Reaching it, she saw them standing saddled on its further side, and by
+them Richard, seated on the ground smoking. As she came he rose and
+saluted her, but, taking no heed of him, she went to her grey mare, and,
+placing her foot in the stirrup, sprang to the saddle, motioning to him to
+do likewise.
+
+"Whither goest thou, Inkosazana?" asked Tamboosa anxiously.
+
+"To throw a charm on the waters," she answered, "so that they may run down
+and I can cross them to morrow. Come, Dario, and come Tamboosa, but let
+the rest stay behind, since common eyes must not look upon my magic, and
+he who dares to look shall be struck with blindness."
+
+The captains hesitated, and turning on them fiercely she commanded them to
+obey her word lest some evil should befall them.
+
+Then they fell back and she rode towards the Tugela, followed by Richard
+on horseback and Tamboosa on foot. Arrived at that spot on the bank where
+she had received the salutation of the regiment when she entered Zululand,
+Rachel saw at once that although the great river was full it could easily
+be forded on horseback. Calling Richard to her, she said:
+
+"We must go, and now, while there is no one to stop us but Tamboosa. Do
+not hurt him unless he tries to spear you, for he has been kind to me."
+
+Then she addressed Tamboosa, saying:
+
+"I have spoken to the waters and they will not harm me. The hour has come
+when I must leave my people for a while, and go forward alone with my
+white servant, Dario. These are my commands, that none should dare to
+follow me save only yourself, Tamboosa, who can bring on the white ox with
+its load so soon as the water has run down and deliver them to me at
+Ramah. Do you hear me?"
+
+"I hear, Inkosazana," answered the old induna, "and thy words split my
+heart."
+
+"Yet you will obey them, Tamboosa."
+
+"Yes, I will obey them who know what would befall me otherwise, and that
+it is the King's will that none should dare to thwart thee, even if they
+could. Yet I think that very soon thou wilt return to thy children.
+Therefore, why not abide with us until to-morrow, when the waters will be
+low?"
+
+"Tamboosa," said Rachel, leaning forward and looking him in the eyes, "why
+did Ibubesi cross this river with soldiers but a few hours ago--Ibubesi,
+who fled from the Great Place when the moon was young that now is full?
+Look, there goes their spoor in the mud."
+
+"I know not," he answered, looking down. "Inkosazana, to-morrow I will
+bring on the white ox to Ramah, and I will bring it alone."
+
+"So be it, Tamboosa, but if by chance you should not find me, ask where
+Ibubesi is, and if need be, seek for me with an impi, Tamboosa--for me and
+for this white man, Dario," and again she bent forward and looked at him.
+
+"I know not what thou meanest, Inkosazana," he replied. "But of this be
+sure, that if I cannot find thee, then I will seek for thee, if need be
+with every spear in Zululand at my back."
+
+"Farewell, then, Tamboosa, and to the regiment farewell also. Say to the
+captains that it is my will that they should return to the Great Place,
+bearing my greetings to the King and those of the white lord, Dario. Look
+for me to-morrow at Ramah."
+
+Then, followed by Richard, she rode her horse past him into the lip of the
+water. As she went Tamboosa drew himself up and gave her the Bayète, the
+royal salute.
+
+Although it was red with earth and flecked with foam and the roar of it
+was loud as it sped towards the sea, the river did not prove very
+difficult to ford. But once, indeed, were the horses swept off their feet
+and forced to swim, and then but for a few paces, after which they
+regained them, and plunged to the farther bank without accident.
+
+"Free at last, Rachel, with our lives before us and nothing more to fear,"
+called Richard in his cheery voice, as he forced his horse alongside of
+hers. Then suddenly he caught sight of her face and saw that it was white
+and drawn as though with pain; also that she leaned forward on her saddle,
+clasping its pommel as though she were about to faint.
+
+"What is it?" he exclaimed in alarm. "Did the flood frighten you,
+Rachel--are you ill?"
+
+For a few moments she made no answer, then straightened herself with a
+sigh and said in a low voice:
+
+"Richard, I have been so long among those Zulus playing the part of a
+spirit that I begin to think I am one, or that their magic has got hold of
+me. I tell you that in the roar of the water I heard voices--the voices of
+my father and mother calling me and speaking of you--and, Richard, they
+seemed to be in great fear and pain, for a minute or more I heard them,
+then a dreadful cold wind blew on me not this wind, it seemed to come from
+above--and everything passed away, leaving my mind numb and empty so that
+I do not remember how we came out of the river. Don't laugh at me,
+Richard; it is so. The Kaffirs are right; I have some power of the sort.
+Remember how I saw you travelling towards me in the pool."
+
+"Why should I laugh at you, dearest?" he asked anxiously, for something of
+this uncanny fear passed from her mind into his, with which it was in
+tune. "Indeed, I don't laugh who know that you are not quite like other
+women. But, Rachel, the strain of those two months has worn you out, and
+now the reaction is too much. Perhaps it is nothing.".
+
+"Perhaps," she answered sadly, "I hope so. Richard, what is the time?"
+
+"About a quarter to six, to judge by the sun," he answered,
+
+"Then we shall not be able to reach Ramah before dark."
+
+"No, Rachel, but there is a good moon."
+
+"Yes, there is a good moon; I wonder what it will show us," and she
+shivered.
+
+Then they pressed their horses to a canter and rode on, speaking little,
+for the fount of words seemed to be frozen in them, although Richard
+recollected, with a curious sense of wonder how he had looked forward to
+this opportunity of long, unfettered talk with Rachel and how much he had
+to tell her. Over hill and valley, through bush and stream they rode, till
+at last with the short twilight they reached the plain that ran to Ramah.
+Then came the dark in which they must ride slowly, till presently the
+round edge of the moon pushed itself up above the shoulder of a hill and
+there was light again--pure, peaceful light that turned the veld to silver
+and shone whitely on the pale face of Rachel.
+
+Ramah was before them. They had met no living thing save some wild game
+trekking to the water, and heard no sound save the distant roar of some
+beast of prey. Ramah was before them. The moon shone on the roofs of the
+Mission-house and the little church and the clusters of Kaffir huts
+beyond. But, oh! it was silent: no cattle lowed, no child cried, nor did
+the bell of the church ring for evening prayer as at this hour it should
+have done. Also no lamp showed in the windows of the Mission-house and no
+smoke rose from the cooking fires of the kraals.
+
+"Where are all the people, Richard?" whispered Rachel. "There is the place
+unharmed, but where are the people?"
+
+But Richard could only shake his head: the terror of something dreadful
+had got hold of him also, and he knew not what to say.
+
+Now they had come to the wall of the Mission-house and sprang from their
+horses which they left loose. As they advanced side by side towards the
+open gate, something leapt the stoep and rushed through it. It was a
+striped hyena; they could see the hair bristle on its back as it passed
+them with a whining growl. Hand in hand they ran to the house across the
+little garden patch--Rachel, led by some instinct, guiding her companion
+straight to her parents' room whereof the windows, that opened like doors,
+stood wide as the gate had done.
+
+One more moment and they were there; another, and the moonlight showed
+them all.
+
+For a long while--to Richard it seemed hours--Rachel said nothing; only
+stood still like the statue of a woman, staring at those cold faces that
+looked back at her through the unearthly moonlight. Indeed, it was Richard
+who spoke first, feeling that if he did not this dreadful silence would
+choke him or cause him to faint.
+
+"The Zulus have murdered them," he said hoarsely, glancing at the dead
+Kaffir on the floor.
+
+"No," she answered in a cold, small voice; "Ishmael, Ishmael!" and she
+pointed to something that lay at his feet.
+
+Richard stooped and picked it up. It was a fly wisp of rhinoceros horn
+which the man had let fall when the Zulu's spear struck him.
+
+"I know it," she went on; "he always carried it. He is the real murderer.
+The Zulus would not have dared," and she choked and was silent.
+
+"Let me think," said Richard confusedly. "There is something in my mind.
+What is it? Oh! I know. If you are right that devil has not done this for
+nothing. He is somewhere near; he wants to take you"; and he ground his
+teeth at the thought, then added: "Rachel, we must get out of this and
+ride for Durban, at once--at once; the white people will protect you
+there."
+
+"Who will bury my father and mother?" she asked in the same cold voice.
+
+"I do not know, it does not matter, the living are more than the dead. I
+can return and see to it afterwards."
+
+"You are right," she answered. Then she knelt down by the bed and lifting
+her beautiful, agonised face, put up some silent prayer. Next she rose and
+kissed first her father, then her mother, kissed their dead brows in a
+last farewell and turned to go. As she went her eyes fell upon the assegai
+that lay near to the dead Zulu. Stooping down, she took it and with it in
+her hand passed on to the stoep. Here her strength seemed to fail her, for
+she reeled against the wall, then with an effort flung herself into
+Richard's arms, moaning:
+
+"Only you left, Richard, only you. Oh! if you were taken from me also,
+what would become of me?"
+
+A moment later she became aware that the stoep was swarming with men who
+seemed to arise out of the shadows. A voice said in the Kaffir tongue:
+
+"Seize that fellow and bind him."
+
+Instantly, before he could do anything, before he could even turn, Richard
+was torn from her, struggling furiously, and thrown to the ground. Rachel
+sprang to the wall and stood with her back to it, raising the spear she
+held. It flashed into her mind that these were Zulus, and of Zulus she was
+not afraid.
+
+"What dogs are these," she cried, "that dare to lift a hand against the
+Inkosazana and her servant?"
+
+The black men about her swayed and murmured, then made way for a man who
+walked up the steps of the stoep. The moonlight fell upon him and she saw
+that it was Ishmael.
+
+"Rachel," he said, taking off his hat politely, "these are my people. We
+saw that white scoundrel assault you, and of course seized him at once. As
+you know a dreadful thing has happened here. This afternoon the Zulus
+killed your father and mother, or rather they killed your father, and your
+mother, who was ill, died with the shock, because they refused to go to
+Zululand whither Dingaan had ordered that they should be taken. So seeing
+that you were travelling here I came to rescue you, lest you should fall
+into their hands, and," he added lamely, "you know the rest."
+
+Ishmael had spoken in English, but Rachel answered him in Zulu.
+
+"I know all, Night-prowler," she cried aloud. "I know that my father and
+mother were killed by your order, and in your presence; their spirits told
+me so but now, and for that crime I sentence you to death!" and she
+pointed at him with the spear. "Heaven above and earth beneath," she went
+on, "bear witness that I sentence this man to death. People of the Zulus,
+hear me in your kraals far away. Hear me, Dingaan, sitting in your Great
+Place. Hear me, every captain and induna, hear the voice of your
+Inkosazana: I sentence this man to death, since because of him there is
+blood between me and my people, the blood of my father and my mother. Now,
+Night-prowler, do your worst before you die, but know this, you his
+servants, that if I am harmed, or if this white man, the chief Dario, is
+harmed, then you shall die also, every one of you. What is your will,
+Night-prowler?"
+
+"I will tell you that at Mafooti," answered Ishmael, trying to look bold.
+"I am not afraid of you like those Zulu savages, and Dingaan is a long way
+off. Will you come quietly? I hope so, for I don't want to hurt you or put
+you to shame, but you've got to come, and this Dario, too. If you make any
+trouble, I will have him killed at once. Understand, Rachel, that if you
+don't come, he shall be killed at once. My people may be afraid of you,
+but they won't mind cutting his throat," he added significantly.
+
+"Never mind about me," said Richard in a choked voice from the ground
+where he was pinned down by the Kaffirs. "Do what you think best for
+yourself, Rachel."
+
+Now Rachel, whose wits were made keen by doubt and anguish, looked at the
+faces of the natives about her, and even in that dim moonlight read them
+like a book, as she could always do. She saw that they were afraid of her,
+and that if she commanded them, they would let her go free, whatever their
+master might say or do. But she saw also that Ishmael spoke truth when he
+declared that they had no such dread of Richard, and might even believe
+that he was doing her some violence. If she escaped therefore it would be
+at the cost of Richard's life. Instantly in her bold fashion she made up
+her mind. It was borne in upon her that she had declared the truth; that
+Ishmael was doomed, that he had no power to work her any hurt, however
+sore her case might seem. Since Richard's life hung on it she would go
+with him.
+
+"Servants of Ibubesi," she said, "lift the white chief Dario to his feet,
+and listen to my words."
+
+They obeyed her at once, without even waiting for their master to speak,
+only holding Richard by the arms.
+
+Now the most of the men went into the garden followed by Ishmael, and
+taking Richard with them, but a few remained to watch her. From this
+garden presently arose a sound of great quarrelling. Rachel was too far
+off to understand what was said, but from the sounds she judged that
+Ishmael was giving orders to his people which they refused to obey, for
+she could hear him cursing them furiously. Presently she heard something
+else--the loud report of a gun followed by groans. Then a Kaffir ran up to
+them and whispered something to those who surrounded her; it was that head
+man whom Ishmael had struck on the mouth in the bush when he told him that
+a dog had howled upon his hut, and his face was very frightened.
+
+Rachel leaned against the wall and looked at him, for she could not speak,
+she who thought that Richard had been murdered.
+
+"Have no fear, Inkosazana," said the man, answering the question in her
+eyes. "Ibubesi has killed one of us because we do not like this business
+and would clean it off our hands, that is all. The chief Dario is safe,
+and I swear to thee that no harm shall come to him from us. We will care
+for him and protect him to the death, and if we lead him away a prisoner
+it is because we must, since otherwise Ibubesi will kill us all. Therefore
+be merciful to us when the spear of thy power is lifted."
+
+Before Rachel could answer Ishmael's voice was heard asking why they did
+not bring the Inkosazana as the horses were ready.
+
+"I pray thee come, Zoola," said the man hurriedly "or he will shoot more
+of us."
+
+So Rachel walked down the steps of the stoep in front of them, holding her
+head high, leaving behind her the house of Ramah and its dead. At the gate
+of the garden stood the horses, on one of which, his own, Richard was
+already mounted, his arms bound, his feet made fast beneath it with a hide
+rope. Her path lay past him, and as she went by he said in a voice that
+was choking with rage:
+
+"I am helpless, I cannot save you, but our hour will come."
+
+"Yes, Richard," she answered quietly, "our hour will come when his has
+gone," and with the spear in her hand once more she pointed at Ishmael,
+who stood by watching them sullenly. Then she mounted her horse--how she
+could never remember--and they were separated.
+
+After this she seemed to hear Ishmael talking to her, arguing, explaining,
+but she made no answer to his words. Her mind was a blank, and all she
+knew was that they were riding on for hours. Her tired horse stumbled up a
+pass and down its further side. Then she heard dogs bark and saw lights.
+The horse stopped and she slid from it, and as she was too exhausted to
+walk, was supported or carried into a hut, as she thought by women who
+seemed very much afraid of touching her, after which she seemed to sink
+into blackness.
+
+Rachel woke from her stupor to find herself lying on a bed in a great
+Kaffir hut that was furnished like a European room, for in it were chairs
+and a table, also rough window places closed with reed mats that took the
+place of glass. Through the smoke-hole at the top of the hut struck a
+straight ray of sunlight, by which she judged that it must be about
+midday. She began to think, till by degrees everything came back to her,
+and in that hour she nearly died of horror and of grief. Indeed she was
+minded to die. There at her side lay a means of death--the assegai which
+she had found by the body of the Zulu in Ramah, and none had taken from
+her. She lifted it and felt its edge, then laid it down again. Into the
+darkness of her despair some comfort seemed to creep. She was sure that
+Richard lived, and if she died, he would die also. While he lived, why
+should she die? Moreover, it would be a crime which she should only dare
+when all hope had gone and she stood face to face with shame.
+
+Thrusting aside these thoughts she rose. On the table stood curdled milk
+and other food of which she forced herself to eat, that her strength might
+return to her, for she knew that she would need it all. Then she washed
+and dressed herself, for in a corner of the hut was water in wooden bowls,
+and even a comb and other things, that apparently had been set there for
+her to use. This done, she went to the door, which was made like that of a
+house, and finding that it was not secured, opened it and looked out.
+Beyond was a piece of ground floored with the soil taken from ant-heaps,
+and polished black after the native fashion. This space was surrounded by
+a high stone wall, and had at the end of it another very strong door. In
+its centre grew a large, shady tree under which was placed a bench. Taking
+the assegai with her she went to the door in the high wall and found that
+it was barred on the further side. Then she returned and sat down on the
+bench under the tree.
+
+It seemed that she had been observed, for a little while afterwards bolts
+were shot back, the door in the wall opened, and Ishmael entered, closing
+it behind him. She looked at the man, and at the sight of his handsome,
+furtive face, his dark, guilt-laden eyes, her gorge rose. She was alone in
+this secret place with the murderer of her father and her mother, who
+sought her love. Yet, strangely enough, her heart was filled not with
+tears, but with contempt and icy anger. She did not shrink away from him
+as he came towards her in his gaudy clothes, with an assumed air of
+insolent confidence, but sat pale and proud, as she had sat at
+Umgugundhlovu, when the Zulus brought their causes before her for
+judgment.
+
+He advanced into the shadow of the tree, took off his hat with a flourish
+and bowed. Then as she made no answer to these salutations, but only
+searched him with her grey eyes, he began to speak in jerky sentences.
+
+"I hope you have slept well, Rachel; I am, glad to see you looking so
+fresh. I was afraid that you would be over-tired after your long day. You
+rode many miles. Of course what you found at Ramah must have been a great
+shock to you. I want to explain to you quietly that I am not in the least
+to blame about that terrible business. It was those accursed Zulus who
+exceeded their orders."
+
+So he went on, pausing between each remark for an answer, but no answer
+came. At length he stopped, confused, and Rachel, lifting the assegai,
+examined its blade, and asked him suddenly:
+
+"Whose blood is on this spear? Yours?"
+
+"A little of it, perhaps," he answered. "That fool of a Kaffir flourished
+it about after your father shot him and cut me with it accidentally," and
+he pointed to the wound on his face.
+
+Rachel bent down and began to rub the blade against the foot of the bench
+as though to clean it. He did not know what she meant by this act, yet it
+frightened him.
+
+"What are you doing?" he asked.
+
+She paused in her task and said, looking up at him:
+
+"I do not wish that your blood should defile mine even in death," and went
+on with her cleansing of the spear.
+
+He watched her for a little while, then broke out:
+
+"Curse it all! I don't understand you. What do you mean?"
+
+"Ask the Zulus," she answered. "They understand me, and they will tell
+you. Or if there is no time, ask my father and mother--afterwards."
+
+Ishmael paled visibly, then recovered himself with an effort and said:
+
+"Let us finish with all this witch-doctor nonsense, and come to business.
+I had nothing to do with the death of your parents, indeed, I was wounded
+in trying to protect them----"
+
+ "Then why do I see both of them behind you with such accusing eyes?" she
+asked quietly.
+
+He stalled, turned his head and stared about him.
+
+"You won't frighten me like that," he went on. "I am not a silly Kaffir,
+so give it up. Look here, Rachel, you know I have loved you for a long
+while, and though you treat me so badly I love you more than ever now.
+Will you marry me?"
+
+"I told you last night that you would be dead in a few days. Do not waste
+your time in talking of marriage. Sit in the dust and repent your sins
+before you go down into the dust."
+
+"All right, Rachel, I know you are a good prophet----"
+
+"Noie, too, is a good prophet," she broke in reflectively. "You used the
+Zulus to kill _her_ father and mother also, did you not? Do you remember a
+message that she gave you from Seyapi one evening, down by the sea, before
+you kidnapped her to be a bait to trap me in Zululand?"
+
+"Remember!" he answered, scowling. "Am I likely to forget her devilries?
+If you are the witch, she is the familiar, the black _ehlosé_ (spirit) who
+whispers in your ears. Had she not gone I should never have caught you."
+
+"But she will come back--although I fear not in time to bid you farewell."
+
+"You tell me that I shall soon be dead," he exclaimed, ignoring this talk
+of Noie. "Well, I am not frightened. I don't believe you know anything
+about it, but if you are right the more reason I should live while I can.
+According to you, Rachel, we have no time to waste in a long engagement.
+When is it to be?"
+
+"Never!" she answered contemptuously, "in this or any other world. Never!
+Why, you are hateful to me; when I see you, I shiver as though a snake
+crawled across my foot, and when I look at your hands they are red with
+blood, the blood of my parents and of Noie's parents, and of many others.
+That is my answer."
+
+He looked at her a while, then said:
+
+"You seem to forget that I am only asking for what I can take. No one can
+see you or hear you here, except my women. You are in my power at last,
+Rachel Dove."
+
+These words which Ishmael intended should frighten her, as they might well
+have done, produced, as it chanced, a quite different effect. Rachel broke
+into a scornful laugh.
+
+"Look," she said, pointing to an eagle that circled so high in the blue
+heavens above them that it seemed no larger than a hawk, "that bird is
+more in your power, and nearer to you than I am. Before you laid a finger
+on me I would find a dozen means of death, but that, I tell you again, you
+will never live to do."
+
+For a while Ishmael was silent, weighing her words in his mind. Apparently
+he could find no answer to them, for when he spoke again it was of another
+matter.
+
+"You say that you hate me, Rachel. If so, it is because of that accursed
+fellow, Darrien--whom you don't hate. Well, he, at any rate, is in my
+power. Now look here. You've got to make your choice. Either you stop all
+this nonsense and become my wife, or--your friend Darrien dies. Do you
+hear me?"
+
+Rachel made no answer. Now for the first time she was really frightened,
+and feared lest her speech should show it.
+
+"You have been through a lot," he went on, slowly; "you are tired out, and
+don't know what you say, and you believe that I killed the old people,
+which I didn't, and, of course, that has set you against me. Now, I don't
+want to be rough, or to hurry you, especially as I have plenty of things
+to see about before we are married. So I give you three days. If you don't
+change your mind at the end of them, the young man dies, that's all, and
+afterwards we will see whether or no you are in my power. Oh! you needn't
+stare. I've gone too far to turn back, and I don't mind a few extra risks.
+Meanwhile make yourself easy, dear Richard shall be well looked after, and
+I won't bother you with any more love-making. That can wait."
+
+Rachel rose from her seat and pointed with the spear to the door in the
+wall.
+
+"Go," she said.
+
+"All right, I am going, Rachel. Good-bye till this time three days. I hope
+my women will make you as comfortable as possible in this rough place. Ask
+them for anything you want. Good-bye, Rachel," and he went, bolting the
+wall door behind him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE THREE DAYS
+
+
+He was gone, his presence had ceased to poison the air, and, the long
+strain over, Rachel gave a gasp of relief. Then she sat down upon the
+bench and began to think. Her position, and that of Richard, was
+desperate; it seemed scarcely possible that they could escape with their
+lives, for if he died, she would die also--as to that she was quite
+determined. But at least they had three days, and who could say what would
+happen in three days? For instance, they might escape somehow, the
+Providence in which she believed might intervene, or the Zulus might come
+to seek her, if they only knew where she was gone. Oh! why had she not
+brought a guard of them with her to Ramah? At least they would never have
+insulted her, and Ishmael's shrift would have been short.
+
+She wondered why he had given her three days. A reason suggested itself to
+her mind. Perhaps he believed what she had told him--that she was as safe
+from him as the eagle in the air--and was sure that the only way to snare
+her was by using Richard as a lure, in other words, by threatening to
+murder him. It is true that he could have brought the matter to a head at
+once, but then, if she remained obdurate, he must carry out his threat,
+and this, she believed, he was afraid to do unless it was absolutely
+forced upon him. Doubtless he had reflected that in three days she might
+weaken and give way.
+
+Whilst Rachel brooded thus the door in the wall opened, and through it
+came three women, who saluted her respectfully, and announced that they
+were sent to clean the hut, and attend upon her. Rachel took stock of them
+carefully. Two of them were young, ordinary, good-looking Kaffirs, but the
+third was between thirty and forty, and no longer attractive, having
+become old early, as natives do. Moreover, her face was sad and
+sympathetic. Rachel asked her her name. She answered that it was Mami, and
+that they were all the wives of Ibubesi.
+
+The women went about their duties in the hut in silence, and a while
+afterwards announced that all was made clean, and that they would return
+presently with food. Rachel answered that it was not necessary that three
+of them should be put to so much trouble. It would be enough if Mami came.
+She desired to be waited on by Mami alone, her sisters need not come any
+more.
+
+They all three saluted again, and said that she should be obeyed; the two
+younger ones with alacrity. To Rachel it was evident that these women were
+much afraid of her. Her reputation had reached them, and they shrank from
+this task of attending on the mighty Inkosazana of the Zulus in her cage,
+not knowing what evil it might bring upon them.
+
+An hour later the door was unbolted, and Mami reappeared with the food
+that had been very carefully cooked. Rachel ate of it, for she was
+determined to grow strong again, she who might need all her strength, and
+while she ate talked to Mami, who squatted on the ground before her. Soon
+she drew her story from her. The woman was Ishmael's first Kaffir wife,
+but he had never cared for her, and against all law and custom she was
+discarded, and made a slave. Even some of her cattle had been taken from
+her and given to other wives. So her heart was bitter against Ishmael, and
+she said that although once she was proud to be the wife of a white man,
+now she wished that she had never seen his face.
+
+Here, then, was material ready to Rachel's hand, but she did not press the
+matter too far at this time. Only she said that she wished Mami to stay
+with her after the evening meal, and to sleep in her hut, as she was not
+accustomed to be alone at night. Mami replied that she would do so gladly
+if Ibubesi allowed it, although she was not worthy of such honour.
+
+As it happened, Ishmael did allow it, for he thought that he could trust
+this old drudge, and told her to act as a spy upon Rachel, and report to
+him all that she said or did. Very soon Rachel found this out and warned
+her against obeying him, since if she did so it would come to her
+knowledge, and then great evil would fall on one who betrayed the words of
+the Inkosazana.
+
+Mami answered that she knew it, and that Rachel need not be afraid. Any
+tale would do for Ishmael, whom she hated. Then, saying little herself,
+Rachel encouraged her to talk, which Mami did freely. So she heard some
+news. She learned, for instance, that the whole town of Mafooti, whereof
+Ibubesi was chief, which counted some sixty or seventy heads of families,
+was much disturbed by the events of the last few days. They did not like
+the Inkosazana being brought there, thinking that where she went the Zulus
+would follow, and as they were of Zulu blood themselves, they knew what
+that meant. They were alarmed at the deaths of the white sky-doctor, who
+was called Shouter, and his wife, with which Ibubesi had something to do,
+for they feared lest they should be held responsible for their blood. They
+objected to the imprisonment of the white chief, Dario, among them,
+because "he had hurt no one, and was under the mantle of the Inkosazana,
+who was a spirit, not a woman," and who had warned them that if any harm
+came to her or to him, death would be their reward. They were angry, also,
+because Ibubesi had killed one of them in some quarrel about the chief
+Dario at Ramah. Still, they were so much afraid of Ibubesi, who was a
+great tyrant, that they did not dare to interfere with him and his plans,
+lest they should lose their cattle, or, perhaps, their lives. So they did
+not know what to do. As for Ibubesi himself, he was actively engaged in
+strengthening the fortifications of the place; even the old people and the
+children were being forced to carry stones to the walls, from which it was
+evident that he feared some attack.
+
+When Rachel had gathered this and much other information concerning
+Ishmael's past and habits, she asked Mami if she could convey a message
+from her to Richard. The woman answered that she would try on the
+following morning. So Rachel told her to say that she was safe and well,
+but that he must watch his footsteps, as both of them were in great
+danger. More she did not dare to say, fearing lest Mami should betray her,
+or be beaten till she confessed everything. Then, as there was nothing
+more to be done, Rachel lay down and slept as best she could.
+
+The next day passed in much the same fashion as the first had done. For
+the most of it Rachel sat under the tree in the walled yard, companioned
+only by her terrible thoughts and fears. Nobody came near her, and nothing
+happened. In the morning Mami went out, and returning at the dinner hour,
+told Rachel that she had seen Ishmael, who had questioned her closely as
+to what the Inkosazana had done and said, to which she replied that she
+had only eaten and slept, and invoked the spirits on her knees. As for
+words, none had passed her lips. She had not been able to get near the
+huts where Dario was in prison, as Ishmael was watching her. For the rest,
+the work of fortification went on without cease, even Ishmael's own wives
+being employed thereon.
+
+In the afternoon Mami went out again and did not return till night, when
+she had much to tell. To begin with, while the sentry was dozing, being
+wearied with carrying stones to the wall, she had managed to approach the
+fence of the hut where Richard was confined. She said that he was walking
+up and down inside the fence with his hands tied, and she had spoken to
+him through a crack in the reeds, and given him Rachel's message. He
+listened eagerly, and bade her tell the Inkosazana that he thanked her for
+her words; that he, too, was strong and well, though much troubled in
+mind, but the future was in the hands of the Heavens, and that she must
+keep a high heart. Just then the sentry woke up, so Mami could not wait to
+hear any more.
+
+That evening, however, a lad who had been sent out of the town to drive in
+some cattle, had returned with the tidings which she, Mami, heard him
+deliver to Ibubesi with her own ears.
+
+He said that whilst he was collecting the oxen, a ringed Zulu came upon
+him, who from his manner and bearing he took to be a great chief, although
+he was alone, and seemed to be tired with walking. The Zulu has asked him
+if it were true that the Inkosazana and the white chief Dario were in
+prison at Mafooti, and when he hesitated about replying, threatened him
+with his assegai, saying that he would cut out his heart unless he told
+the truth. The Zulu replied that he knew it, as he had just come from
+Ramah, where he had seen strange things, and spoken with a man of
+Ibubesi's, whom he found dying in the garden of the house. Then he had
+given him this message:
+
+"Say to Ibubesi that I know all his wickedness, and that if the Inkosazana
+is harmed, or if drop of the blood of the white chief, Dario, is shed, I
+will destroy him and everything that lives in his town down to the rats.
+Say to him also that he cannot escape, as already he is ringed in by the
+children of the Shouter, who have come back, and are watching him."
+
+The lad had asked who it was that sent such a message, whereon he
+answered, "I am the Horn of the Black Bull; I am the Trunk of the
+Elephant; I am the Mouth of Dingaan."
+
+Then straightway he turned and departed at a run towards Zululand.
+Moreover, Mami described the man in the words of the lad, and Rachel
+thought that he could be none other than Tamboosa, whom she had commanded
+to follow her with the white ox. Mami added that when he received this
+message Ibubesi seemed much disturbed, though to his people he declared
+that it was all nonsense, as Dingaan's Mouth would not come alone, or
+deliver the King's word to a boy. But the people thought otherwise, and
+murmured among themselves, fearing the terrible vengeance of Dingaan.
+
+On the next day Mami went out again. At nightfall, when she returned, she
+told Rachel that she had not found it possible to approach the huts where
+Dario was, as the hole she made in the fence to speak with him had been
+discovered, and a stricter watch was kept over him. Ibubesi, she said, was
+in an ill humour, and working furiously to finish his fortifications, as
+he was now sure that the town was being watched, either by the Kaffirs of
+Ramah, or others. As for the people of Mafooti, they were grumbling very
+much, both on account of the heavy-labour of working at the walls, and
+because they were in terror of being attacked and killed in payment for
+the evil deeds of their chief. Mami declared, indeed, that so great was
+their fear and discontent, that she thought they would desert the town in
+a body, were it not that they dreaded lest they should fall into the hands
+of the Kaffirs who were watching it. Rachel asked her whether they would
+not then take her and Dario and deliver them up to the Zulus, or to the
+white people on the coast. Mami answered she thought they would be afraid
+to do this, as Ibubesi alone had guns, and would shoot plenty of them;
+also if the Zulus found them with their Inkosazana they would kill them.
+She added that she had seen Ibubesi, who bade her tell the Inkosazana that
+he was coming for her answer on the morrow.
+
+Rachel slept ill that night. The space of her reprieve had gone by, and
+next morning she must face the issue. For herself she did not so greatly
+care, for at the worst she had a refuge whither Ishmael could not follow
+her--the grave. After all she had endured it seemed to her that this must
+be a peaceful place; moreover, in her case what Power could blame her? But
+there was Richard to be thought of. If she refused Ishmael he swore that
+he would kill Richard. And yet how could she pay that price even to save
+her lover's life? Perhaps he would not kill him after all; perhaps he
+would be afraid of the vengeance of the Zulus, and was only trying to
+frighten her. Ah! if only the Zulus would come--before it was too late! It
+was scarcely to be hoped for. Tamboosa, if it were he who had spoken with
+the lad, would not have had time to return to Zululand and collect an
+impi, and when they did come, the deed might be done. If only these
+servants of Ibubesi would rise against him and kill him, or carry off
+Richard and herself! Alas! they feared the man too much, and she could not
+get at them to persuade them. There was nothing that she could do except
+pray. Richard and she must take their chance. Things must go as they were
+decreed.
+
+If she could have seen Ishmael at this hour and read his thoughts, that
+sight and knowledge might have brought some comfort to her tortured heart.
+The man was seated in his hut alone, staring at the floor and pulling his
+long black beard with hands rough from toiling at the walls. He was
+drinking also, stiff tots of rum and water, but the fiery liquor seemed to
+bring him no comfort. As he drank, he thought. He was determined to get
+possession of Rachel; that desire had become a madness with him. He could
+never abandon it while he lived. But _she_ might not live. She had sworn
+that she would rather die than become his wife, and she was not a woman
+who broke her word. Also she hated him bitterly, and with good cause.
+There was only one way to work on her--through her love for this man,
+Richard Darrien; for that she did love him, he had little doubt. If it
+were choice between yielding and the death of Darrien, then perhaps she
+might give way. But there came the rub.
+
+Dingaan had sworn to him that if he made Darrien's blood to flow, then he
+should be killed, and, like Rachel, Dingaan kept his oaths. Moreover, that
+Zulu who met the cattle herd had sworn it again in almost the same words.
+Therefore it would seem that if he wished to continue to breathe,
+Darrien's blood must not be made to flow. All the rest might be explained
+when the impi came, as it would do sooner or later, especially if he could
+show to them that the Inkosazana was his willing wife, but the murder of
+Darrien could never be explained. Well, the man might die, or seem to die,
+and then who could hold him responsible? Or if they did, if any of his
+people remained faithful to him, an attack might be beaten off. Brave as
+they were, the Zulus could not storm those walls on which he had spent so
+much labour, though now he almost wished that he had left the walls alone
+and settled the affair of Rachel and of Darrien first.
+
+Ishmael poured out more rum and drank it, neat this time, as though to
+nerve himself for some undertaking. Then he went to the door of the hut
+and called, whereon presently a hideous old woman crept in and squatted
+down in the circle of light thrown by the lamp. She was wrinkled and
+deformed, and her snake-skin moocha, with the inflated fish-bladder in her
+hair, showed that she was a witch-doctoress.
+
+"Well, Mother," he said, "have you made the poison?"
+
+"Yes, Ibubesi, yes. I have made it as I alone can do. Oh! it is a
+wonderful drug, worth many cows. How many did you say you would give me?
+Six?"
+
+"No, three; but if it does what is wanted you shall have the other three
+as well. Tell me again, how does it work?"
+
+"Thus, Ibubesi. Whoever drinks this medicine becomes like one dead--none
+can tell the difference, no, not a doctor even--and remains so for a long
+while--perhaps one day, perhaps two, perhaps even three. Then life
+returns, and by degrees strength, but not memory; for whole moons the
+memory is gone, and he who has drunk remains like a child that has
+everything to learn."
+
+"You lie, Mother. I never heard of such a medicine."
+
+"You never heard of it because none can make it save me, and I had its
+secret from my grandmother; also few can afford to pay me for it. Still,
+it has been used, and were I not afraid I could give you cases. Stay, I
+will show you. Call that beast," and she pointed to a dog that was asleep
+at the side of the hut. "Here is milk; I will show you."
+
+Ishmael hesitated, for he was fond of this dog; then as he wished to test
+the stuff he called it. It came and sat down beside him, looking up in his
+face with faithful eyes. Then the old witch poured milk into a bowl, and
+in the milk mixed some white powder which she took out of a folded leaf,
+and offered it to the animal. The dog sniffed the milk, growled slightly,
+and refused it.
+
+"The evil beast does not like me; he bit me the other day," said the old
+doctoress. "Do you give it to him, Ibubesi; he will trust you."
+
+ So Ishmael patted the dog on the head, then, offered it the milk, which
+it lapped up to the last drop.
+
+"There, evil beast," said the woman, with a chuckle, "you won't bite me
+any more; you'll forget all about me for a long time. Look at him,
+Ibubesi, look at him."
+
+As she spoke, the poor dog's coat began to stare; then it uttered a low
+howl, ran to Ishmael, tried to lick his hand, and rolled over, to all
+appearance quite dead.
+
+"You have killed my dog, which I love, you hag!" he said angrily.
+
+"Then why did you give medicine to what you love, Ibubesi? But have no
+fear, the evil beast has only taken a small dose; to-morrow morning it
+will awake, but it will not know you or anyone. Who is the medicine for,
+Ibubesi? The Lady Zoola? If so, it may not work on her, for she is mighty,
+and cannot be harmed."
+
+"Fool! Do you think that I would play tricks with the Inkosazana?"
+
+"No, you want to marry her, don't you? but it seems to me that she has no
+mind that way. Then it is for the man for whom she has a mind for? Well,
+Ibubesi, you have promised the six cows, and you saved me once from being
+killed for witchcraft, so I will say something. Don't give it to the chief
+Dario."
+
+"Why not, you old fool; will it kill him after all?"
+
+"No, no; it will do what I said, no less and no more, in this quantity,"
+and she handed him another powder wrapped in dry leaves; "but I have had
+bad dreams about you, Ibubesi, and they were mixed up with the Inkosazana
+and this white man Dario. I dreamed they brought your death upon you--a
+dreadful death. Ibubesi, be wise, set Dario free, and change your mind as
+to marrying the Inkosazana, who is not for you."
+
+"How can I change my mind, Descendant of Wizards?" broke out Ishmael. "Can
+a river penned between rocks change its course? Can it run backwards from
+the sea to the hill? This woman draws me as the sea draws the river;
+because of her my blood is afire. I had rather win her and die, than live
+rich and safe without her to old age. The more she hates and scorns me,
+the more I love her."
+
+"I understand," said the doctoress, nodding her head till the bladder in
+her hair bobbed about like a float at which a fish is pulling. "I
+understand. I have seen people like this before--men and women too--when a
+bad spirit enters into them because of some crime they have committed. The
+Inkosazana, or those who guard her, have sent you this bad spirit, and,
+Ibubesi, you must run the road upon which it is appointed that you should
+travel; for joy or sorrow you must run that road. But when we meet in the
+world of ghosts, which I think will be soon, do not blame me, do not say
+that I did not warn you. Now it is all right about those cows, is it not?
+although I dare say the Zulus will milk them and not I, for to-night I
+seem to smell Zulus in the air," and she lifted her broad nose and sniffed
+like a hound. "I wish you could have left the Inkosazana alone, and that
+Dario too, for he is a part of her; in my dreams they seemed to be one.
+But you won't, you will walk your own path; so good night, Ibubesi. The
+dog will wake again in the morning, but he will not know you. Good night,
+Ibubesi--of course I understand that the cows will be young ones that have
+not had more than two calves. Mix the powder in milk, or water, or
+anything; it is without taste or colour. Good night, Ibubesi," and without
+waiting for an answer the old wretch crept out of the hut.
+
+When she was gone Ishmael cursed her aloud, then drank some more rum,
+which he seemed to need. The place was very lonely, and the sight of his
+dog, lying to all appearance dead at his side, oppressed him. He patted
+its head and it did not move; he lifted its paw and it fell down flabbily.
+The brute was as dead as anything could be. It occurred to him that before
+night came again he might look like that dog. His story might be told; he
+might have left the earth in company of all the deeds that he had done
+thereon. He had imagination enough to know his sins, and they were an evil
+host to face. Old Dove and his wife, for instance--holy people who
+believed in God and Vengeance, and had never done any wrong, only striven
+for years and years to benefit others; it would not be pleasant to meet
+them. Rachel had said that she saw them standing behind him, and he felt
+as though they were there at that moment. Look, one of them crossed
+between him and the lamp--there was the mark of the kerry on his head--and
+the woman followed; he could see her blue lips as she bent down to look at
+the dog. It was unbearable. He would go and talk to Rachel, and ask her if
+she had made up her mind. No, for if he broke in on her thus at night, he
+was sure that she would kill either herself or him with that spear she had
+taken from the dead Zulu, reddened with his own blood. He would keep faith
+with her and wait till the morrow. He would send for one of his wives. No,
+the thought of those women made him sick. He would go round the
+fortifications and beat any sentries whom he found asleep, or receive the
+reports of the spies. To stop in that hut in the company of a dog which
+seemed to be dead, and of imaginations that no rum could drown, was
+impossible.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Once more the morning came, and Rachel sat in the walled yard awaiting the
+dreadful hour of her trial, for it was the day and time that Ishmael had
+appointed for her answer. Until now Rachel had cherished hopes that
+something might happen: that the people of Mafooti might intervene to save
+her and Richard; that the Zulus might appear, even that Ishmael might
+relent and let them go. But Mami had been out that morning and brought
+back tidings which dispelled these hopes. She had ventured to sound some
+of the leading men, and said that, like all the people, they were very
+sullen and alarmed, but declared, as she had expected, that they dare do
+nothing, for Ibubesi would kill them, and if they escape him the Zulus
+would kill them because the Inkosazana was found in their possession. Of
+the Zulus themselves, scouts who had been out for miles, reported that
+they had seen no sign. It was clear also that Ishmael was as determined as
+ever, for he had sent her a message by Mami that he would wait upon her as
+he had promised, and bring the white man with him.
+
+Then what should she say and what should she do? Rachel could think of no
+plan; she could only sit still and pray while the shadow of that awful
+hour crept ever nearer.
+
+It had come; she heard voices without the wall, among them Ishmael's. Her
+heart stopped, then bounded like a live thing in her breast. He was
+commanding someone to "catch that dog and tie it up, for it was bewitched,
+and did not know him or anyone," then the sound of a dog being dragged
+away, whining feebly, and then the door opened. First Ishmael came in with
+an affectation of swaggering boldness, but looking like a man suffering
+from the effects of a long debauch. About his eyes were great black rings,
+and in them was a stare of sleeplessness. He carried a double-barrelled
+gun under his arm, but the hand with which he supported it shook visibly,
+and at every unusual sound he started. After him came Richard, his wrists
+bound together behind him, and on his legs hide shackles which only just
+allowed him to shuffle forward slowly. Moreover he was guarded by four men
+who carried spears. Rachel glanced quickly at his face, and saw that it
+was pale and resolute; quite untouched by fear.
+
+"Are you well?" she asked quietly, taking no note of Ishmael.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "and you, Rachel?"
+
+"Quite well bodily, Richard, but oh! my soul is sick."
+
+Before he could reply Ishmael turned on him savagely, and bade him be
+silent, or it would be the worse for him. Then he took off his hat with
+his shaking hand, and bowed to Rachel.
+
+"Rachel," he said, "I have kept my promise, and left you alone for three
+days, but time is up and now this gentleman and I have come to hear your
+decision, which is so important to both of us."
+
+"What am I to decide?" she asked in a low voice, looking straight before
+her.
+
+"Have you forgotten? Your memory must be very bad. Well, it is best to
+have no mistake, and no doubt our friend here would like to know exactly
+how things stand. You have to decide whether you will take me as your
+husband to-day of your own free will, or whether Mr. Richard Darrien shall
+suffer the punishment of death, for having tried to kill his sentry and
+escape, a crime of which he has been guilty, and afterwards I should take
+you as my wife with, or without, your consent."
+
+When Richard heard these words the veins in his forehead swelled with rage
+and horror till it seemed as though they would burst.
+
+"You unutterable villain," he gasped, "you cowardly hound! Oh! if only my
+hands were free."
+
+"Well, they ain't, Mr. Darrien, and it's no use your tugging at that
+buffalo hide, so hold your tongue, and let us hear the lady's answer,"
+sneered Ishmael.
+
+"Richard, Richard," said Rachel in a kind of wail, "you have heard. It is
+a matter of your life. What am I to do?"
+
+"Do?" he answered, in loud, firm tones, "do? How can you ask me such a
+question? The matter is not one of my life, but of your--of your--oh! I
+cannot say it. Let this foul beast kill me, of course, and then, if you
+care enough, follow the same road. A few years sooner or later make little
+difference, and so we shall soon be together again."
+
+She thought a moment, then said quietly:
+
+"Yes, I care enough, and a hundred times more than that. Yes, that is the
+only way out. Listen, you Ishmael:--Richard Darrien, the man to whom I am
+sworn, and I, give you this answer. Murder him if you will, and bring
+God's everlasting vengeance on your head. He will not buy his life on such
+terms, and if I consented to them I should be false to him. Murder him as
+you murdered my father and mother, and when I know that he is dead I will
+go to join him and them."
+
+"All right, Rachel," said Ishmael, whose face was white with fury, "I
+think I will take you at your word, and you can go to look for him down
+below, if you like, for if I am not to get you here, he shan't. Now then,
+say your prayers, Mr. Darrien," and stepping forward slowly he cocked the
+double-barrelled gun.
+
+"Men of Mafooti," exclaimed Rachel in Zulu, "Ibubesi is about to do murder
+on one who like myself is under the mantle of Dingaan. If his blood should
+flow to-day or to-morrow, yours shall flow in payment, yours, and that of
+your wives and children, for the crime of the chief is the crime of the
+people."
+
+At her words the four natives who had been watching this scene uneasily,
+although they could not understand the English talk, called out to Ishmael
+in remonstrance. His only answer was to lift the gun, and for an instant
+that seemed infinite Rachel waited to hear its explosion, and to see the
+grey-eyed, open-faced man she loved, who stood there like a rock, fall a
+shattered corpse. Then one of the Kaffirs, bolder than the rest, struck up
+the barrels with his arm, and not too soon, for whether or no he had meant
+to pull the trigger, the rifle went off.
+
+"Try the other barrel," said Richard sarcastically, as the smoke cleared
+away, "that shot was too high."
+
+Perhaps Ishmael might have done so, for the man was beside himself, but
+the Kaffirs would have no more of it. They rushed between them, lifting
+their spears threateningly, and shouting that they would not allow the
+blood of the white lord and the curse of the Inkosazana to be brought upon
+their heads and those of their families. Rather than that they would bind
+him, Ibubesi, and give him over to the Zulus. Then, whether or not he had
+really meant to kill Richard, Ishmael thought it politic to give way.
+
+"So be it," he said to Rachel, "I am merciful, and both of you shall have
+another chance. I am going with this fellow, but the woman, Mami, shall
+come to you. If within three hours you send her to me with a message to
+say that you have changed your mind, he shall be spared. If not, before
+nightfall you shall see his body, and afterwards we will settle matters."
+
+"Rachel, Rachel," cried Richard, "swear that you will send no such
+message."
+
+Now the brute, Ishmael, rushed at him to strike him in the face. But
+Richard saw him coming, and bound though he was, put down his head and
+butted at him so fiercely, that being much the stronger man, he knocked
+him to the ground, where he lay breathless.
+
+"Swear, Rachel, swear," he repeated, "or dead or living, I will never
+forgive you."
+
+"I swear," she said, faintly.
+
+Then he shuffled towards her. Bending down he kissed her on the face, and
+she kissed him back; no more words passed between them; this was their
+farewell. Two of the Kaffirs lifted Ishmael, and helped him from the yard,
+whilst the other two led away Richard, who made no resistance. At the gate
+he turned, and their eyes met for a moment. Then it closed behind him, and
+she was left alone again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+RACHEL LOSES HER SPIRIT
+
+
+A little while later Mami entered, and said that she had been sent by
+Ibubesi to serve the Inkosazana as a messenger, should she need one.
+Rachel, seated on the bench, motioned to her to go into the hut and bide
+there, and she obeyed.
+
+Minute by minute the time ebbed away, and still Rachel sat motionless on
+the bench. Towards the end of the third hour someone unbolted and knocked
+at the door. Mami opened it and reported that Ibubesi stood without, and
+desired to know whether she had any word for him.
+
+"None," answered Rachel, remembering her oath, and the door was barred
+again.
+
+After this a great silence seemed to fall upon the place. The sky was grey
+with distant rain, and the air heavy, and whatever may have been the
+cause, no sound came from man or beast without. To Rachel's strained
+nerves it seemed as though the Angel of Death had spread his wings above
+the town. There she sat paralysed, wondering what evil thing was being
+worked upon her lover; wondering if she had done right to give him as a
+sacrifice to this savage in order to save herself from dreadful
+wrong--wondering, wondering till the powers of her mind seemed to die
+within her, leaving it grey and empty as the grey and empty sky above.
+
+Night drew on and the setting sun, bursting through the envelope of cloud,
+filled earth and sky with fire, and it came into Rachel's heart, she knew
+not whence, that fire was near, that soon it would swallow up all this
+place.
+
+Look! the door was opening; it swung wide, and through it advanced eight
+Kaffirs, carrying something on a litter made of shields, something that
+was covered with a blanket of bark. They drew near to her with bent heads,
+and set down their burden at her feet. Then one of them lifted the
+blanket, revealing the body of Richard Darrien, and saying in an awed
+voice,
+
+"Inkosazana, Ibubesi sends you this to look or to show you that he keeps
+his word. Later he will visit you himself."
+
+Rachel knelt down by the litter of shields and looked at Richard's face.
+The stamp of death was on it. She felt his hand, it was turning cold; she
+felt his heart, it did not beat.
+
+"Show me this dead lord's wounds," she said in an awful whisper, "that
+presently mine may be like to them."
+
+"Inkosazana," said the spokesman, "he has no wound."
+
+"How, then, did he die? Strange that he should die, and I not feel his
+spirit pass."
+
+"Inkosazana, he was thirsty, and drank, then he died."
+
+"So, so! he was slain by poison, and I have no poison. Mami, come forth
+and look on the white lord whom Ibubesi has murdered by poison."
+
+The woman Mami, who had been sleeping in the hut, awoke and obeyed. She
+saw, and wailed aloud.
+
+"Woe to Mafooti!" she cried, like one inspired, "and woe, woe to those
+that dwell therein, for now vengeance, red vengeance, shall fall on them
+from Heaven. The blood of the innocent is upon them, the curse of the
+Inkosazana is upon them, the spears of the Zulus are upon them. Slay the
+_silwana,_ the wild beast--Ibubesi, and fly, people of Mafooti, fly, fly
+with that dead thing. Leave it not here to bear witness against you. Carry
+it far away, and heap a mountain on it. Bury it in a valley that no man
+can find; bury it in the black water, lest it should arise and bear
+witness against you. Leave it not here, but let the darkness cover it, and
+fly with it into the darkness, as I do," and turning she sped to the door
+and through it.
+
+The light from the sunk sun went out smothered in the gathering
+thunder-clouds. Through the gloom the terrified bearers muttered to each
+other.
+
+"Throw it down and away!" said one.
+
+"Nay," answered another, "wisdom has come to Mami, her _ehlosé_ has spoken
+to her. Take it with you, lest it should remain to bear witness against
+us."
+
+"Remember what the Zulu swore," said a third, "that if harm came to this
+lord they would kill all, down to the rats. Take it away so that it may
+not be found. If you meet Ibubesi, spear him. If not, leave him the
+vengeance for his share."
+
+Now, moved as though by a common impulse, the bearers cast back the
+blanket over the corpse, and lifting the litter, departed at a run. The
+door was shut and bolted behind them, and darkness fell upon the earth.
+
+For a while Rachel stood still in the darkness.
+
+"Now I am alone," she said in a quiet voice, yet to her ears the words
+seemed to be uttered with a roar of thunder that echoed through the
+firmament, and pierced upwards to the feet of God.
+
+Then suddenly something snapped in her brain and she was changed. The
+horror left her, the terror left her, she felt very well and strong, so
+well that she laughed aloud, and again that laugh filled earth and heaven.
+Oh! she was hungry, and food stood on a table near by. She sprang to it
+and ate, ate heartily. Then she drank, muttering to herself, "Richard
+drank before he died. Let me drink also and cease to be alone."
+
+Her meal finished, she walked up and down the place singing a song that
+seemed to be caught up triumphantly by a million voices, the voices of all
+who had ever lived and died. Their awful music stunned her and she ceased.
+Look! Wild beasts wearing the face of Ibubesi were licking the clouds with
+their tongues of fire. It was curious, but in that high-walled place she
+could not see it well. Now from the top of the hut the view would be
+better. Yes, and Ishmael was coming to visit her. Well, they would meet
+for the last time on the top of the hut. She was not afraid of him, not at
+all; but it would be strange to see him scrambling up the hut, and they
+would talk there for a little while with their faces close together,
+till--ah!--till what--? Till something strange happened, something unhappy
+for Ishmael. Oh! no, no, she would not kill herself, she would wait to see
+what it was that happened to Ishmael, that strange thing which she knew so
+well, and yet could not remember.
+
+How easy this hut was to climb, a cat could not have run up with less
+trouble. Now she stood on the top of it, her spear in one hand, and
+holding with the other to the pole that was set there to scare away the
+lightning; stood for a long time watching the wild beasts licking the
+clouds with their red tongues.
+
+The beasts grew weary of lapping up clouds. Their appetites were satisfied
+for a while, at any rate she saw their tongues no more. The air was very
+hot and heavy, and the darkness very dense, it seemed to press about her
+as though she were plunged in cream. Yet Rachel thought that she heard
+sounds through it, a sound of feet to the west and a sound of feet to the
+east.
+
+Then she heard another sound, that of the door in the wall opening, and of
+a soft, tentative footfall, like to the footfall of a questing wolf. She
+knew it at once, for now her senses were sharper than those of any savage;
+it was the step of Ibubesi, the Night-prowler. She felt inclined to laugh;
+it was so funny to think of herself standing there on the top of a hut
+while the Night-prowler slunk about below looking for her. But she
+refrained, remembering the dreadful noise when all the Heavens began to
+laugh in answer. So she was silent, for the Heavens do not reverberate
+silence, although she could hear her own thoughts passing through them,
+passing up one by one on their infinite journey.
+
+Listen! He was walking round and round the yard. He went to the bench
+beneath the tree and felt along it with his fingers to see if she were
+there. Now he was entering the hut and groping at the bedstead, and now he
+had kindled a light, for the rays of it shone faintly up through the
+smoke-hole. Discovering nothing he came out again, leaving the lamp
+burning within, and called her softly.
+
+"Rachel," he said, "Rachel, where are you?"
+
+There was no answer, and he began to talk to himself.
+
+"Has she got away?" he muttered. "Some of them have gone, I know, the
+accursed, cowardly fools. No, it is not possible, the watch was too good,
+unless she is really a spirit, and has melted, as spirits do. I hope not,
+for if so she will haunt me, and I want her company in the flesh, not in
+the spirit. I ought to have it too, for it has cost me pretty dear. She
+must have bewitched me, or why should I risk everything for her, just one
+white woman who hates the sight of me? The devil is at the back of it.
+This was his road from the first."
+
+So he went on until Rachel could bear it no more, the thing was too
+absurd.
+
+"Yes, yes," she said from the top of the hut, "his road from the first,
+and it ends not far away, at the red gates of Hell, Night-prowler."
+
+The man below gasped, and fell against the fence.
+
+"Whose voice is that? Where are you?" he asked of the air.
+
+Then as there was no answer, he added: "It sounded like Rachel, but it
+spoke above me. I suppose that she has killed herself. I thought she
+might, but better that she should be dead than belong to that fellow. Only
+then why does she speak?"
+
+He started to feel his way towards the hut, perhaps to fetch the lamp,
+when suddenly the skies behind were illumined in a blaze of light, a broad
+slow blaze that endured for several seconds. By it the eyes of Rachel,
+made quick with madness, saw many things. From her perch on the top of the
+hut she saw the town of Mafooti. On the plain to the west she saw a number
+of black dots, which she took to be people and cattle travelling away from
+the town. In the nek to the east she saw more dots, each of them crested
+with white, and carrying something white. Surely it was a Zulu impi
+marching! Some of these dots had come to the wall of the town; yes, and
+some of them were on the crest of it, while yet others were creeping down
+its main street not a hundred yards away.
+
+Also these caught sight of something, for they paused and seemed to fall
+together as though in fear. Lastly, just before the light went out, she
+perceived Ishmael in the yard below, glaring up at her, for he, too, had
+seen her. Seen her standing above him in the air, the spear in her hand,
+and in her eyes fire. But of the dots to the east and of the dots to the
+west he had seen nothing. He appeared to fall to his knees and remain
+there muttering. Then the Heavens blazed again, for the storm was coming
+up, and by the flare of them he read the truth. This was no ghost, but the
+living woman.
+
+"Oh!" he said, recovering himself, "that's where you've got to, is it?
+Come down, Rachel, and let us talk."
+
+She made no answer, none at all, she who was so curious to see what he
+would do. For quite a long while he harangued her from below, walking
+round and round the hut. Then at length in despair he began to climb it.
+But in that darkness which now and again turned to dazzling light, unlike
+Rachel, he found the task difficult, and once, missing his hold, he fell
+to the ground heavily. Finding his feet he rushed at the hut with an oath,
+and clutching the straw and the grass strings that bound it, struggled
+almost to the top, to be met by the point of Rachel's spear held in his
+face. There then he hung, looking like a toad on the slope of a rock,
+unable to advance because of that spear, and unwilling to go down, lest
+his labour must be begun again.
+
+"Rachel," he said, "come down, Rachel. Whatever I have done has been for
+your sake, come down and tell me that you forgive me."
+
+She laughed out loud, a wild, screaming laugh, for really he looked most
+ridiculous, sprawling there on the bend of the hut, and the lightning
+showed her all sorts of pictures in his eyes.
+
+"Did Richard Darrien forgive you?" she asked. "And what did you mix that
+poison with? Milk? The milk of human kindness! It was a very good poison,
+Toad, so good that I think you must have drawn it from your own blood.
+When you are dead all the Bushmen should come and dip their arrows in you,
+for then even crocodiles and the big snakes would die at a scratch."
+
+He made no answer, so she went on.
+
+"Have your people forgiven you? If so, why do they flee away, carrying
+that white thing which was a man? Have my father and mother forgiven you?
+Do you hear what they are saying to me--that judgment is the Lord's? Have
+the Zulus forgiven you, the Zulus who believe that judgment is the
+King's--and the Inkosazana's? Turn now, and ask them, for here they are,"
+and she pointed over his head with her spear. "Turn, Toad, and set out
+your case and I will stand above and try it, the case of Dingaan against
+Ibubesi, and one by one I will call up all those who died through you, and
+they shall give their evidence, and I, the Judge, will sum it up to a jury
+of sharp spears. See, here come the spears. Look at the wall, Toad, _look
+at the wall!_"
+
+As she raved on and pointed with her assegai, the lightning blazed out,
+and Ishmael, who had looked round at her bidding, saw Zulu warriors
+leaping down from the crest of the wall, and Zulu captains rushing in by
+the opened door. At this terrible sight he slid to the ground purposing to
+reach his gun which he had left there, and defend or kill himself, who
+knows which? But before ever he could lay a hand upon it, those fierce men
+had pounced upon him like leopards on a goat. Now they held him fast, and
+a voice--it was that of Tamboosa, called through the darkness,
+
+"Hail to thee! Inkosazana. Come down now and pass judgment on this wild
+beast who would have harmed thee."
+
+"Tamboosa," she cried, "the Inkosazana has fled away, only the white woman
+in whom she dwelt remains; her spirit hangs in wrath over the people of
+the Zulus, as an eagle hangs above a hare. Tamboosa, there is blood
+between the Inkosazana and the people of the Zulus, the blood of those who
+gave her the body that she wore, who lie slain by them upon the bed at
+Kamah. Tamboosa, there is blood between her and Ibubesi, the blood of the
+white man who loved the body that she wore, and whom she loved, the white
+lord whom Ibubesi did to death this day because she who was the Inkosazana
+would not give herself to him. Tamboosa, the Inkosazana has suffered much
+from this Ibubesi, many an insult, many a shame, and when she called upon
+the Zulus, out of all their thousand thousands there was not a single
+spear to help her, because they were too busy killing those holy ones whom
+she called her father and her mother. And so, Tamboosa, the spirit of the
+Inkosazana departed like a bird from the egg, leaving but this shell
+behind, that is full or sorrows and of dreams. Yet, Tamboosa, she still
+speaks through these lips of mine, and she says that from the seed of
+blood that they have sown, her people, the Zulus, must harvest woe upon
+woe, as while she dwelt among them, she warned them that it would be if
+ill came to those she loved. Tamboosa, this is her command--that ye shield
+the breast in which she hid from the wild beast, Ibubesi and all evil men,
+and that ye lead this shape to Noie, the daughter of Seyapi, whom Ibubesi
+brought to death, for with Noie it would dwell."
+
+Thus she wailed through the deep darkness, while the soldiers who packed
+the space below groaned in their grief and terror because the soul of the
+Inkosazana had been made a wanderer by their sins, and the curse of the
+Inkosazana had fallen on their land.
+
+Again the lightning flared, and in it they saw her standing on the crest
+of the hut. She had let drop the spear as though she needed it no more,
+and her arms were outstretched to the Heavens, and her beautiful face was
+upturned, and her long hair floated in the wind. Seen thus by that quick,
+white light, which shone in the madness of her eyes, she seemed no woman
+but what they had fabled her to be, a queen of Spirits, and at the vision
+of her they groaned again, while some of them fell to the earth and hid
+their faces with their hands.
+
+The darkness fell once more, and a man went into the hut to bring out the
+lamp that burned there. When he returned Rachel stood among them; they had
+not seen or heard her descend. Ishmael saw her also, and feeling his doom
+in the fierce eyes that glowered at him, stretched out his hand and caught
+her by the robe, praying for pity.
+
+At his touch she uttered a wild scream, which pierced like a knife through
+the hearts of all that heard it.
+
+"Suffer it not," she cried, "oh! my people, suffer not that I be thus
+defiled."
+
+They rent him from her with blows and execrations, looking up to their
+chief for his word to tear him to pieces.
+
+"No," said Tamboosa, grimly, "he shall to the King to tell this story ere
+he die."
+
+"Save me, Rachel, save me," he moaned. "You don't know what they mean. I
+was mad with love for you, do not judge me harshly and send me to be
+tortured."
+
+This appeal of his seemed to pierce the darkness of her brain, and for a
+little while her face grew human.
+
+"I judge not," she answered in Zulu; "pray to the Great One above who
+judges. Oh! man, man," she went on in a kind of eerie whisper, "what have
+I done to you that you should treat me thus? Why did you command the
+soldiers to kill my father and my mother? Why did you poison my lover? Why
+did you drive away my soul, and fill me with this madness? Take me away
+from this accursed town, Tamboosa, before Heaven's vengeance falls on it,
+and let me see that face no more."
+
+Then some of them made a guard about her and led her thence, along the
+central street, and through the barricaded gates, that they broke down for
+her passage. They led her to a little cave in the slope of the opposing
+hill, for although no rain fell, the gathered storm was breaking; the
+lightning flashed thick and fast, the thunder groaned and bellowed, and a
+wild wind beat the screeching trees.
+
+Here in the mouth of this cave Rachel sat herself down and looked at the
+kraal, Mafooti, awaiting she knew not what, while the impi pillaged the
+town, and Ishmael, already half dead with fear, remained bound to the
+roof-tree of the hut that had been her prison.
+
+ Whilst she waited thus, and watched, of a sudden one of the outer huts
+began to burn, though whether the lightning or some soldier had fired it
+none could tell. Then, in an instant, as it seemed, driven by the raging
+wind, the flame leapt from roof to roof till Mafooti was but a sheet of
+fire. The soldiers at their work of pillage saw, and rushed hither and
+thither, confusedly, for they did not know the paths, and were tangled in
+the fences.
+
+A figure appeared running down the central street, a figure of flame, for
+his clothes burned on him, and those by Rachel said,
+
+"See, see, _Ibubesi!_"
+
+He could not reach the gate, for a blazing hut fell across his path.
+Turning he sped to the edge of a cliff that rose near by, where, because
+of its steepness, there was no wall. Here for a while he ran up and down
+till the wind-driven fire from new-lit huts at its brink leapt out upon
+him like thin, scarlet tongues. He threw himself to the ground, he rose
+again, beating his head with his hand, for his long hair was ablaze. Then
+in his torment and despair, of a sudden he threw himself backwards into
+the dark gulf beneath. Fifty feet and more he fell to the rocks below, and
+where he fell there he lay till he died, and on the morrow the Zulus found
+and buried him.
+
+Thus did Ishmael depart out of the life of Rachel to the end which he had
+earned.
+
+Nor did he go alone, for of the Zulus in the town many were caught by the
+fire, and perished, so many that when the regiment mustered at dawn, that
+same regiment which had escorted the Inkosazana to the banks of the
+Tugela, fifty and one men were missing, whilst numbers of others appeared
+burned and blistered.
+
+"Ah!" said Tamboosa as he surveyed the injured and counted the dead, "the
+curse is quickly at work among us, and I think that this is but the
+beginning of evil. Well, I expected it, no less."
+
+As for the town of Mafooti it was utterly destroyed. To this day the place
+is a wilderness where the grass grows rank between the crumbling,
+fire-blackened walls. For the people of Ibubesi who had fled, returned
+thither no more, nor would others build where it had been, since still
+they swear that the spot is haunted by the figure of a white man who, in
+times of thunder, rushes across it wrapped in fire, and plunges blazing
+into the gulf upon its northern side.
+
+After the storm came the rain which poured all night long, a steady sheet
+of water reaching from earth to heaven. Rachel watched it vacantly for a
+while, then went to the head of the little cave and lay down wrapped in
+karosses that they had made ready for her. Moreover, she slept as a child
+sleeps until the sun shone bright on the morrow, then she woke and asked
+for food.
+
+But the impi did not sleep. All night long the soldiers stood in huddled
+groups beneath such shelter as the trees and rocks would give to them,
+while the water poured on them pitilessly till their teeth chattered and
+their limbs were frozen. Some died of the cold that night, and afterwards
+many others fell sick of agues and fevers of the lungs which killed a
+number of them.
+
+In the morning when the storm was past and the sun shone hotly Tamboosa
+called the Council of the captains together, and consulted with them as to
+whether they should follow after the people of Mafooti who had fled, and
+destroy them, or return straight to Zululand. Most of the captains
+answered that of Mafooti and its people they had seen enough. Ibubesi was
+dead, slain by the vengeance of Heaven; the Inkosazana they had rescued,
+alive, though filled with madness; the white lord, Dario, had been
+murdered by Ibubesi, it was said with poison, and doubtless his body was
+burned in the fire. As for the people of Mafooti themselves, it would seem
+that most of them were innocent as they had fled the place, deserting
+their chief. To these arguments other captains answered that the people of
+Mafooti were not innocent inasmuch as they had helped Ibubesi to carry off
+the Inkosazana and the white lord, Dario, from Ramah, and consented to
+their imprisonment and to the death of one of them, only flying when they
+had tidings that the impi was on the way. Moreover the command was that
+every one of these dogs should be killed, whereas they had killed none of
+them, but only taken those cattle which were left behind in their flight.
+At length the dispute growing fierce, the captains being unable to come to
+an agreement, decided that they would lay the matter before the
+Inkosazana, and be guided by the words that fell from her, if they could
+understand them.
+
+So Tamboosa went into the cave with one other man, and talked to Rachel,
+who sat staring at him with stony eyes as though she understood nothing.
+When at length he ceased, however, she cried:
+
+"Lead me to Noie at the Great Place. Lead me to Noie," nor would she say
+any more.
+
+So, as the people of Mafooti had fled they knew not where, and they had
+secured some of the cattle, and as many of the soldiers were sick from the
+cold and burns received in the fire, Tamboosa told the regiment that it
+was the will of the Inkosazana that they should return to Zululand.
+
+A while later they started, those of them who were so badly burned that
+they could not travel, being carried on shields. But Rachel would not be
+carried, choosing to walk alone surrounded at a distance by a ring of
+soldiers who guarded her. For hours she walked thus, showing no sign of
+weariness, but now and again bursting out into shrill laughter, as though
+she saw things that moved her to merriment. Only the regiment that
+listened was not merry, for it had heard the words that the Inkosazana
+spoke in the town of Mafooti, foretelling evil to the Zulus because of the
+blood that was between them and her. They thought that she laughed over
+the misfortunes that were to come, and over those that had already
+befallen them in the fire and in the rain.
+
+About midday they halted to eat, and as before Rachel took food in plenty,
+for now that her mind was wandering her body seemed to call for
+sustenance. When their meal was finished they moved down to the banks of
+the Buffalo River, which ran near by, to find that it was in great flood
+after the heavy rain and that it was not safe to try the ford. So they
+determined to camp there on the banks, murmuring among themselves that all
+went ill with them upon this journey, as was to be expected, and that they
+would have done better if they had spent the time in hunting down the
+people of Mafooti, instead of sitting idle like tired storks upon the
+banks of a river. Yet bad as things might seem, they were destined to be
+worse, for while some of them were cutting boughs and grass to make a hut
+for the Inkosazana, Rachel, who stood watching them with empty eyes, of a
+sudden laughed in her mad fashion, and sped like a swallow to the lip of
+the foaming ford. Here, before they could come up with her, she threw off
+the outer cloak she wore and rushed into the water till the current bore
+her from her feet. Then while the whole regiment shouted in dismay, she
+began to swim, striking out for the further bank, and being swept
+downwards by the stream. Now Tamboosa, who was almost crazed with fear
+lest she should drown, called out that where the Inkosazana went, they
+must follow, even to their deaths.
+
+"It is so!" answered the soldiers, as each man locking his arms round the
+middle of him who stood in front, company by company, they plunged into
+the water in a fourfold chain, hoping thus to bridge it from bank to bank.
+
+Meanwhile Rachel swam on in the strength of her madness as a woman has
+seldom swum before. Again and again the muddy waters broke over her head
+and the soldiers groaned, thinking that she was drowned. But always that
+golden hair reappeared above them. A great tree swept down upon her but
+she dived beneath it. She was dashed against a tall rock, but she warded
+herself away from it with her hands and still swam on, till at length with
+a shout of joy the Zulus saw her find her feet and struggle slowly to the
+further bank. Yes, and up it till she reached its crest where she stood
+and watched them idly as though unconscious of the danger she had passed,
+and of the water that ran from her hair and breast.
+
+"Where a woman can go, we can follow," said some, but others answered:
+
+"She is not a woman, but a spirit. Death himself cannot kill her."
+
+Now the fourfold chain was near the centre of the ford, when suddenly
+those at the tip of it were lifted from their feet as Rachel had been, nor
+could those behind hold on to them. They were torn from their grasp and
+swept away, the most of them never to be seen again, for of these men but
+few could swim. Thrice this happened until strong swimmers were sent to
+the front, and at length these men won across as Rachel had done, and
+caught hold of the stones on the further side, thus forming a living chain
+from bank to bank, whereof the centre floated and was bent outwards by the
+weight of the water as the back of a bow bends when the string is drawn.
+
+By the help of this human rope thus formed the companies began to come
+over, supporting themselves against it, till presently the strain and the
+push of them and of the angry river overcame its strength, and the chain
+burst in the middle so that many were borne down the stream and drowned.
+Yet with risk and toil and loss it joined itself together again and held
+fast until every man was over, save the sick and some lads who were left
+to tend them and the cattle on the further bank. Then that cable of brave
+warriors began to struggle forward like a great snake dragging its tail
+after it, and, so by degrees drew itself to safety and gasping out foam
+and water saluted the Inkosazana where she stood.
+
+Many were drowned, and others were bruised by rocks, but of this they
+thought little since she was safe and they had found her again, to have
+lost whom would have been a shame from generation to generation. She
+watched the captains reckoning up the number of the dead, and when
+Tamboosa and some of them came to make report of it to her, a shadow as of
+pity floated across her stony eyes.
+
+"Not on my head," she cried, "not on my head! There is blood between the
+Inkosazana and her people of the Zulus, and that blood avenges itself in
+blood," and she laughed her eerie laugh.
+
+"It is true, it is just, O Queen," answered Tamboosa solemnly; "the nation
+must pay for the sin of its children as the wild beast, Ibubesi, has paid
+for his sins."
+
+Then as they could travel no further that day, they built a hut, and lit a
+great fire by which Rachel sat and dried herself, nor did she take any
+harm from the water, for as the Zulus had said, it seemed as though
+nothing could harm her now.
+
+The soldiers also lit fires and despatched messengers to neighbouring
+kraals commanding them to bring food, and to send maidens to attend on the
+Inkosazana, while others went to a mountain to call all this ill-tidings
+from hill to hill till it came to the Great Place of the King.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE CURSE OF THE INKOSAZANA
+
+
+That night the regiment and Rachel slept upon the bank of the river, and
+nothing happened save that lions carried off two soldiers, while two more
+who had been injured against the rocks, died. Also others fell sick. On
+the following morning food arrived in plenty from the neighbouring kraals,
+and with it some girls of high birth to attend upon the Inkosazana.
+
+But with these Rachel would have nothing to do, and when they came near to
+her only said:
+
+"Where is Noie, daughter of Seyapi? Lead me to Noie."
+
+So they began their march again, Rachel walking as before in the centre of
+a ring of soldiers, and that night slept at a kraal upon a hill. Here
+messengers from the King met them charged with many fine words, to which
+Rachel listened without understanding them, and then scared them away with
+her laughter. Also they brought a beautiful cloak made of the skins of a
+rare white monkey, and this she took and wrapped herself in it, for she
+seemed to understand that her clothes were ragged.
+
+That day they passed through fertile country, where much corn was grown.
+Here they saw a strange sight, for as they went clouds seemed to arise in
+the sky from behind them, which presently were seen to be not clouds, but
+tens of millions of great winged grasshoppers that lit upon the corn,
+devouring it and every other green thing. Within a few hours nothing was
+left except the roots and bare branches, while the women of that land ran
+to and fro wailing, knowing that next winter they and their children must
+starve, and the cattle lowed about them hungrily, for the locusts had
+devoured all the grass. Moreover, having eaten everything, these insects
+themselves began to die in myriads so that soon the air was poisoned. The
+waters were also poisoned with their dead bodies, and at once sickness
+came which presently grew into a pestilence.
+
+Now the men of the country sent a deputation to the Inkosazana, praying
+her to remove the curse, but when they had spoken she only repeated the
+words she had used upon the banks of the Buffalo River.
+
+"Not on my head, not on my head! There is blood between the Inkosazana and
+her people of the Zulus. Famine and war and death upon the people of the
+Zulus because they have shed the holy blood!"
+
+Then the men grew afraid and went away, and the regiment marched on
+accompanied by the myriads of the locusts that wasted all the land through
+which they passed.
+
+At length, followed by a wail of misery, they came to the Great Place and
+entered it, preceded by the locusts which already were heaped up in the
+streets like winter leaves, and for lack of other provender gnawed at the
+straw of the huts, and the shields and moochas of the soldiers. It was a
+strange sight to see the men trying to stamp them to death, and the women
+and children rushing to and fro shrieking and brushing them from their
+hair.
+
+Amid such scenes as these they passed through the town of Umgugundhlovu
+into which Rachel had been brought in order that the people might see that
+their Inkosazana had returned, and on to that kraal upon the hill, where
+she had spent all those weary weeks until Richard came. She reached it as
+the sun was setting, and although she did not seem to know any of them was
+received with joy and adoration by the women who had been her attendants.
+Here she slept that night, for they thought that she must be too weary to
+see the King at once; moreover, he desired first to receive the reports of
+Tamboosa and the captains, and to learn all that had happened in this
+strange business.
+
+Next morning, whilst Rachel sat by the pool in which, once she had seen
+the vision of Richard, Tamboosa and an escort came to bring her to
+Dingaan. When they told her this, she said neither yea nor nay, but,
+refusing to enter a litter they had brought, walked at the head of them,
+back to the Great Place, and, watched by thousands, through the
+locust-strewn streets to the Intunkulu, the House of the King. Here, in
+front of his hut, and surrounded by his Council, sat Dingaan and the
+indunas who rose to greet her with the royal salute. She advanced towards
+them slowly, looking more beautiful than ever she had done, but with wild,
+wandering eyes. They set a stool for her, and she sat down on the stool,
+staring at the ground. Then as she said nothing, Dingaan, who seemed very
+sad and full of fear, commanded Tamboosa to report all that had happened
+in the ears of the Council, and he took up his tale.
+
+He told of the journey to the Tugela, and of how the Inkosazana and the
+white lord, Dario, had crossed the river alone but a few hours after
+Ibubesi, ordering him to follow next day, also alone, with the white ox
+that bore her baggage. He told how he had done so, and on reaching Ramah
+had found the white Umfundusi and his wife lying dead in their room, and
+on the floor of it a Zulu of the men who had been sent with Ibubesi, also
+dead, and in the garden of the house a man of the people of Ibubesi,
+dying, who, with his last breath narrated to him the story of the taking
+of the Inkosazana and the white lord, by Ibubesi. He told of how he had
+run to the town of Mafooti, to find out the truth, and of the message that
+he had sent by the herd boy to Ibubesi and his people. Lastly he told all
+the rest of that story, of how he had come back to Zululand "as though he
+had wings," and finding the regiment that had escorted the Inkosazana
+still in camp near the river, had returned with them to attack Mafooti,
+which they discovered to be deserted by its people.
+
+While he described how by the flare of the lightning they saw the
+Inkosazana standing on the roof of a hut, how they captured the wild
+beast, Ibubesi, how they learned that the Spirit of the Inkosazana was
+"wandering," and the dreadful words she said, the burning of Mafooti, and
+the fearful death of Ibubesi by fire, all the Council listened in utter
+silence. Thus they listened also whilst he showed how evil after evil had
+fallen upon the regiment, evil by fire and water and sickness, as evil had
+fallen upon the land also by the plague of locusts.
+
+At length Tamboosa's story was finished, and certain men were brought
+forward bound, who had been the captains of the band that went with
+Ishmael, among them those who had killed, or caused to die, the white
+teacher and his wife.
+
+Upon the stern command of the King these men also told their story, saying
+that they had not meant to kill the white man and that what they did was
+done at the word of Ibubesi, whom they were ordered to obey in all things,
+but who, as they now understood, had dared to lay a plot to capture the
+Inkosazana for himself. When they had finished the King rose and poured
+out his wrath on them, because through their deeds the Spirit of the
+Inkosazana had been driven away, and her curse laid upon the land, where
+already it was at work. Then he commanded that they should be led thence,
+all of them, and put to a terrible death, and with them those captains of
+the regiment who had spoken against the following of the people of
+Mafooti, who should, he said, have been destroyed, every one.
+
+At his words executioners rushed in to seize these wretched men, and then
+it was that Rachel, who all this while had sat as though she heard
+nothing, lifted her head and spoke, for the first time.
+
+"Set them free, set them, free!" she commanded. "Vengeance is from Heaven,
+and Heaven will pour it out in plenty. Not on my hands, not on my hands
+shall be the blood of those who sent the Spirit of the Inkosazana to
+wander in the skies. Who was it that bade an impi run to Ramah, and what
+did they there in the house of those who gave me birth? When the Master
+calls, the dogs must search and kill. Set them free, lest there be more
+blood between the Inkosazana and her people of the Zulus."
+
+When he heard these words, spoken in a strange, wailing voice, Dingaan
+trembled, for he knew that it was he who had bidden his dogs to run.
+
+"Let them go," he said, "and let the land see them no more for ever."
+
+So those men went thankfully enough, and the land saw them no more. As
+they passed the gate other men entered, starved and hungry-looking men,
+whose bones almost pierced their skins, and who carried in their hands
+remnants of shields that looked as though they had been gnawed by rats.
+They saluted the King with feeble voices, and squatted down upon the
+ground.
+
+"Who are those skeletons," he asked angrily, "who dare to break in upon my
+Council?"
+
+"King," answered their spokesman, "we are captains of the Nobambe, the
+Nodwenge, and the Isangu regiments whom thou didst send to destroy the
+chief, Madaku and his people, who dwell far away in the swamp land to the
+north near where the Great River runs into the sea. King, we could not
+come at this chief because he fled away on rafts and in boats, he and his
+people, and we lost our path among the reeds where again and again we were
+ambushed, and many of us sank in the swamps and were drowned. Also, we
+found no food, and were forced to live upon our shields," and he held up a
+gnawed fragment in his hand. "So we perished by hundreds, and of all who
+went forth but twenty-one times ten remain alive."
+
+When Dingaan heard this he groaned, for his arms had been defeated and
+three of his best regiments destroyed. But Rachel laughed aloud, the
+terrible laugh at which all who heard it shivered.
+
+"Did I not say," she asked, "that Heaven would pour out its vengeance in
+plenty because of the blood that runs between the Spirit of the Inkosazana
+and her people of the Zulus?"
+
+"Truly this curse works fast and well," exclaimed Dingaan. Then, turning
+to the men, he shouted: "Be gone, you starved rats, you cowards who do not
+know how to fight, and be thankful that the Great Elephant (Chaka) is
+dead, for surely he would have fed you upon shields until you perished."
+
+So these captains crept away also.
+
+Ere they were well gone a man appeared craving audience, a fat man who
+wore a woeful countenance, for tears ran down his bloated cheeks. Dingaan
+knew him well, for every week he saw him, and sometimes oftener.
+
+"What is it, Movo, keeper of the kine," he asked anxiously, "that you
+break in on me thus at my Council?"
+
+"O King," answered the fat man, "pardon me, but, O King, my tidings are so
+sad that I availed myself of my privilege, and pushed past the guards at
+the gate."
+
+"Those who bear ill news ever run quickly," grunted the King. "Stop that
+weeping and out with it, Movo."
+
+"Shaker of the Earth! Eater up of Enemies!" said Movo, "thou thyself art
+eaten up, or at least thy cattle are, the cattle that I love. A sore
+sickness has fallen on the great herd, the royal herd, the white herd with
+the twisted horns, and," here he paused to sob, "a thousand of them are
+dead, and many more are sick. Soon there will be no herd left," and he
+wept outright.
+
+Now Dingaan leapt up in his wrath and struck the man so sharply with the
+shaft of the spear he held that it broke upon his head.
+
+"Fat fool that you are," he exclaimed. "What have you done to my cattle?
+Speak, or you shall be slain for an evil-doer who has bewitched them."
+
+"Is it a crime to be fat, O King," answered the indignant Movo, rubbing
+his skull, "when others are so much fatter?" and he looked reproachfully
+at Dingaan's enormous person. "Can I help it if a thousand of thy oxen are
+now but hides for shields?"
+
+"Will you answer, or will you taste the other end of the spear?" asked
+Dingaan, grasping the broken shaft just above the blade. "What have you
+done to my cattle?"
+
+"O King, I have done nothing to them. Can I help it if those accursed
+beasts choose to eat dead locusts instead of grass, and foam at the mouth
+and choke? Can the cattle help it if all the grass has become locusts so
+that there is nothing else for them to eat? I am not to blame, and the
+cattle are not to blame. Blame the Heavens above, to whom thou, or
+rather," he added hastily, "some wicked wizard must have given offence,
+for no such thing as this has been known before in Zululand."
+
+Again Rachel broke in with her wild laughter, and said:
+
+"Did I not tell thee that vengeance would be poured down in plenty, poured
+down like the rain, O Dingaan? Vengeance on the King, vengeance on the
+people, vengeance on the soldiers, vengeance on the corn, vengeance on the
+kine, vengeance on the whole land, because blood runs between the Spirit
+of the Inkosazana and the race of the Amazulu, whom once she loved!"
+
+"It is true, it is true, White One, but why dost thou say it so often?"
+groaned the maddened Dingaan. "Why show the whip to those who must feel
+the blow? Now, you Movo, have you done?"
+
+"Not quite, O King," answered the melancholy Movo, still rubbing his head.
+"The cattle of all the kraals around are dying of this same sickness, and
+the crops are quite eaten, so that next winter everyone must perish of
+famine."
+
+"Is that all, O Movo?"
+
+"Not quite, O King, since messengers have come to me, as head keeper of
+the kine, to say that all the other royal herds within two days' journey
+are also stricken, although if I understand them right, of some other
+pest. Also, which I forgot to add--"
+
+"Hunt out this bearer of ill-tidings," roared Dingaan, "hunt him out, and
+send orders that his own cattle be taken to fill up the holes in my
+blanket."
+
+Now some attendants sprang on the luckless Movo and began to beat him with
+their sticks. Still, before he reached the gates he succeeded in turning
+round weeping in good earnest and shouted:
+
+"It is quite useless, O King, all my cattle are dead, too. They will find
+nothing but the horns and the hoofs, for I have sold the hides to the
+shield-makers."
+
+Then they thrust him forth.
+
+He was gone, and for a while there was silence, for despair filled the
+hearts of the King and his Councillors, as they gazed at Rachel dismayed,
+wondering within themselves how they might be rid of her and of the evils
+which she had brought upon them because of the blood of her people which
+lay at her doors.
+
+Whilst they still stared thus in silence yet another messenger came
+running through the gate like one in great haste.
+
+"Now I am minded to order this fellow to be killed before he opens his
+mouth," said Dingaan, "for of a surety he also is a bearer of
+ill-tidings."
+
+"Nay, O King," cried out the man in alarm, "my news is only that an
+embassy awaits without."
+
+"From whom?" asked Dingaan anxiously. "The white Amaboona?"
+
+"Nay, O King, from the queen of the Ghost-people to whom thou didst
+dispatch Noie, daughter of Seyapi, a while ago."
+
+Hearing the name Noie, Rachel lifted her head, and for the first time her
+face grew human.
+
+"I remember," said Dingaan. "Admit the embassy."
+
+Then followed a long pause. At length the gate opened and through it
+appeared Noie herself, clad in a garb of spotless white, and somewhat
+travel-worn, but beautiful as ever. She was escorted by four gigantic men
+who were naked except for their moochas, but wore copper ornaments on
+their wrists and ankles, and great rings of copper in their ears. After
+her came three litters whereof the grass curtains were tightly drawn,
+carried by bearers of the same size and race, and after these a bodyguard
+of fifty soldiers of a like stature. This strange and barbarous-looking
+company advanced slowly, whilst the Council stared at them wondering, for
+never before had they seen people so huge, and arriving in front of the
+King set down the litters, staring back in answer with their great round
+eyes.
+
+As they came Rachel rose from her stool and turned slowly so that she and
+Noie, who walked in front of the embassy, stood face to face. For a moment
+they gazed at each other, then Noie, running forward, knelt before Rachel
+and kissed the hem of her robe, but Rachel bent down and lifted her up in
+her strong arms, embracing her as a mother embraces a child.
+
+"Where hast thou been, Sister?" she asked. "I have sought thee long."
+
+"Surely on thy business, Zoola," answered Noie, scanning her curiously.
+"Dost thou not remember?"
+
+"Nay, I remember naught, Noie, save that I have sought thee long. My
+Spirit wanders, Noie."
+
+"Lady," she said, "my people told me that it was so. They told me many
+terrible things, they who can see afar, they for whom distance has no
+gates, but I did not believe them. Now I see with my own eyes. Be at
+peace, Lady, my people will give thee back thy Spirit, though perchance
+thou must travel to find it, for in their land all spirits dwell. Be at
+peace and listen."
+
+"With thee, Noie, I am at peace," replied Rachel, and still holding her
+hand, she reseated herself upon the stool.
+
+"Where are the messengers?" asked Dingaan. "I see none."
+
+"King," answered Noie, "they shall appear."
+
+Then she made signs to the escort of giants, some of whom came forward and
+drew the curtains of the litters, whilst others opened huge umbrellas of
+split cane which they carried in their hands.
+
+"Now what weapons are these?" asked Dingaan. "Daughter of Seyapi, you know
+that none may appear before the King armed."
+
+"Weapons against the sun, O King, which my people hate."
+
+"And who are the wizards that hate the sun?" queried Dingaan again in an
+astonished voice. Then he was silent, for out of the first litter came a
+little man, pale as the shoot from a bulb that has grown in darkness, with
+large, soft eyes like the eyes of an owl, that blinked in the light, and
+long hair out of which all the colour seemed to have faded.
+
+As the man, who, like Noie, was dressed in a white robe, and in size
+measured no more than a twelve-year-old child, set his sandalled feet upon
+the ground, one of the huge guards sprang forward to shield him with the
+umbrella, but being awkward, struck his leg against the pole of the litter
+and stumbled against him, nearly knocking him to the ground, and in his
+efforts to save himself, letting fall the umbrella. The little man turned
+on him furiously, and holding one hand above his head as though to shield
+himself from the sun, with the other pointed at him, speaking in a low
+sibilant voice that sounded like the hiss of a snake. Thereon the guard
+fell to his knees, and bending down with outstretched arms, beat his
+forehead on the earth as though in prayer for mercy. The sight of this
+giant making supplication to one whom he could have killed with a blow,
+was so strange that Dingaan, unable to restrain his curiosity, asked Noie
+if the dwarf was ordering the other to be killed.
+
+"Nay, King," answered Noie, "for blood is hateful to these people. He is
+saying that the soldier has offended many times. Therefore he curses him
+and tells him that he shall wither like a plucked leaf and die without
+seeing his home again."
+
+"And will he die?" asked Dingaan.
+
+"Certainly, King; those upon whom the Ghost-people lay their curse must
+obey the curse. Moreover, this man deserves his doom, for on the journey
+he killed another to take his food."
+
+"Of a truth a terrible people!" said Dingaan uneasily. "Bid them lay no
+curse on me lest they should see more blood than they wish for."
+
+"It is foolish to threaten the Great Ones of the Ghost-folk, King, for
+they hear even what they seem not to understand," answered Noie quietly.
+
+"Wow!" exclaimed the King; "let my words be forgotten. I am sorry that I
+troubled them to come so far to visit me."
+
+Meanwhile the offender had crept back upon his hands and knees, looking
+like a great beaten dog, whilst another soldier, taking his umbrella, held
+it over the angry dwarf. Also from the other litters two more dwarfs had
+descended, so like to the first that it was difficult to tell them apart,
+and were in the same fashion sheltered by guards with umbrellas. Mats were
+brought for them also, and on these they sat themselves down at right
+angles to Dingaan, and to Rachel, whose stool was set in front of the
+King, whilst behind them stood three of their escort, each holding an
+umbrella over the head of one of them with the left hand, while with the
+right they fanned them with small branches upon which the leaves, although
+they were dead, remained green and shining.
+
+With Dingaan and his Council the three dwarfs did not seem to trouble
+themselves, but at Rachel they peered earnestly. Then one of them made a
+sign and muttered something, whereon a soldier of the escort stepped
+forward with a fourth umbrella, which he opened over the heads of Rachel,
+and of Noie who stood at her side.
+
+"Why does he do that?" asked Dingaan. "The Inkosazana is not a bat that
+she fears the sun."
+
+"He does it," answered Noie, "that the Inkosazana may sit in the shade of
+the wisdom of the Ghost-people, and that her heart which is hot with many
+wrongs, may grow cool in the shade."
+
+"What does he know about the Inkosazana and her wrongs?" asked Dingaan
+again, but Noie only shrugged her shoulders and made no answer.
+
+Now one of the dwarfs made another sign, whereon more guards advanced,
+carrying small bowls of polished wood. These bowls they set upon the
+ground before the three dwarfs, one before each of them, filling them to
+the brim with water from a gourd.
+
+"If your people are thirsty, Noie," exclaimed the King, "I have beer for
+them to drink, for at least the locusts have left me that. Bid them throw
+away the water, and I will give them beer."
+
+"It is not water, King," she answered, "but dew gathered from certain
+trees before sunrise, and it is their spirits that are thirsty for
+knowledge, not their bodies, for in this dew they read the truth."
+
+"Then the Inkosazana must be of their family, Noie, for she read of the
+coming of the white chief Dario in water, or so they say."
+
+"Perhaps, O King, if it is so these prophets will know it and acknowledge
+her."
+
+Now for a long while there was silence, so long a while indeed that
+Dingaan and his Councillors began to move uneasily, for they felt as
+though the dwarf men were fingering their heart-strings. At length the
+three dwarfs lifted their wrinkled faces that were bleached to the colour
+of half-ripe corn, and gazed at each other with their round, owl-like
+eyes; then as though with one accord they said to each other:
+
+"What seest thou, Priest?" and at same sign from them Noie translated the
+words into Zulu.
+
+Now the first of them, he who had cursed the soldier, spoke in his low
+hissing voice, a voice like to the whisper of leaves in the wind, Noie
+rendering his words.
+
+"I see two maidens standing by a house that moves when cattle draw it. One
+of them is dark-skinned, it is she," and he pointed to Noie, "the other is
+fair-skinned, it is she," and he pointed to Rachel. "They cast, each of
+them, a hair from her head into the air. The black hair falls to the
+ground, but a spirit catches the hair of gold and bears it northward. It
+is the spirit of Seyapi whom the Zulus slew. Northwards he bears it, and
+lays it in the hand of the Mother of the Trees, and with it a message."
+
+"Yes, with it a message," repeated the other two nodding their heads.
+
+Then one of them drew a little package wrapped in leaves from his robe,
+and motioned to Noie that she should give it to Rachel. Noie obeyed, and
+the man said:
+
+"Let us see if she has vision. Tell us, thou White One, what lies within
+the leaves."
+
+Rachel, who had been sitting like a person in a dream, took the packet,
+and, without looking at it, answered:
+
+"Many other leaves, and within the last of them a hair from this head of
+mine. I see it, but three knots have been tied therein. They are three
+great troubles."
+
+"Open," said the dwarf to Noie, who cut the fibre binding the packet, and
+unfolded many layers of leaves. Within the last leaf was a golden hair,
+and in it were tied three knots.
+
+Noie laid the hair upon the head of Rachel--it was hers. Then she showed
+it to the King and his Council, who stared at the knots not knowing what
+to say, and after they had looked at it, refolded it in the leaves and
+returned the packet to the dwarf.
+
+Now the dwarf who had read the picture in his bowl turned to him who sat
+nearest and asked:
+
+"What seest thou, Priest?"
+
+The man stared at the limpid water and answered:
+
+"I see this place at night. I see yonder King and his Councillors talking
+to a white man with evil eyes and the face of a hawk, who has been wounded
+on the head and foot. I read their lips. They bargain together; it is of
+the bringing of an old prophet and his wife hither by force. I see the
+prophet and his wife in a house, and with them Zulus. By the command of
+the white man with the evil eyes the Zulus kill the prophet whose head is
+bald, and his wife dies upon the bed. Before they kill the prophet he
+slays one of the Zulus with smoke that comes from an iron tube."
+
+When he heard all this Dingaan groaned, but the dwarf who had spoken,
+taking no heed of him, said to the third dwarf:
+
+"What seest thou, Priest?" to which that dwarf answered:
+
+"I see the White One yonder standing on a hut, but her Spirit has fled
+from her, it has fled from her to haunt the Trees. In her hand is a spear,
+and below is the white man with, the evil eyes, held by Zulus. I read her
+words: she says that there is blood," and he shivered as he said the word,
+"yes, blood between her Spirit and the people of the Zulus. She prophesies
+evil to them. I see the ill; I see many burnt in a great fire. I see many
+drowned in an angry river. I see the demons of sickness lay hold of many.
+I see her Spirit call up the locusts from the coast land. I see it bring
+disaster on their arms; I see it scatter plague among their cattle; I see
+a dim shape that it summons striding towards this land. It travels fast
+over a winter veld, and the head of it is the head of a skull, and the
+name of it is Famine."
+
+As he ended his words the three dwarfs bent forward, and with one movement
+seized their bowls and emptied them on to the ground, saying:
+
+"Earth, Earth, drink, drink and bear record of these visions!"
+
+Now the Council was much disturbed, for, although there were great witch
+doctors among them, none had known magic like to this. Only Dingaan stared
+down brooding. Then he looked up, and his fat body shook with hoarse
+laughter.
+
+"You play pretty tricks, little men," he said, "with your giants and your
+boughs and your huts that open, and your bowls of water. But for all that
+they are only tricks, since Noie, or others have told you of these things
+that happened in the past. Now if you are wizards indeed, read me the
+riddle of the words of the Inkosazana that she spoke before her Spirit
+left her because of the evil acts of the wolf, Ibubesi. Show me the answer
+to them in your bowls of water, little men, or be driven hence as cheats
+and liars. Also tell us your names by which we may know you."
+
+When Noie had translated this speech the three dwarfs gathered themselves
+under one umbrella, and spoke to each other; then they slid back to their
+places, and the first of them, he who had cursed the soldier, said:
+
+"King of the Zulus, I am Eddo, this on my right is Pani, and that on my
+left is Hana. We are children of the Mother of the Trees; we are
+high-priests of the Grey-people, the Dream-people, who rule by dreams and
+wisdom, not by spears as thou dost, O King. We are the Ghost-kings whom
+the ghosts obey, we are the masters of the dead, and the readers of
+hearts. Those are our names and titles, O King. We have travelled hither
+because thou sentest a messenger of our own blood who whispered a strange
+tale in the ear of the Mother of the Trees, a tale of one of whom we knew
+already but desired to see," and all three of them nodded towards Rachel
+seated on her stool. "We will read thy riddle, O King, but first thou must
+fix the fee."
+
+"What do you demand, Ghost-people?" asked Dingaan. "Cattle are somewhat
+scarce here just now, and wives, I think, would be of little use to you.
+What is there, then, that you desire, and I can give?"
+
+They looked at each other, then Eddo said, pointing with his thin hand
+upon which the nails grew long:
+
+"We ask for the White One who sits there. We think that her Spirit dwells
+with us already, and we ask her body that we may join it to the Spirit
+again."
+
+Now the Council murmured, but Dingaan replied:
+
+"Once we sought to keep her in whom dwelt the Inkosazana of the Zulus. But
+things have gone amiss, and she brings curses on us. If shape and spirit
+were joined together again, mayhap the curses would be taken off our
+heads. Yet we dare not give her to you, unless she gives herself of her
+own will. Moreover, first the divination, then the pay. Is that enough?"
+
+"It is enough," they answered, speaking all together. "Set out the matter,
+King of the Zulus, and we will see what we can do."
+
+Then Dingaan beckoned to a man with a withered hand who sat close to him,
+listening and noting all things, but saying nothing, and said:
+
+"Stand forth, thou Mopo, and tell the tale."
+
+So Mopo rose and began his story. He told how he alone among the people of
+the Zulus had thrice seen the spirit of the Inkosazana in the days of the
+"Black-One-who-was-gone." He told how many moons ago the white man,
+Ibubesi, had come to the Great Place speaking of a beautiful white maiden
+who was known by the name of the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, a maiden who ruled
+the lightning, and was not as other maidens are, and how he had been sent
+to see her, and found that as was the Spirit of the Inkosazana which he
+knew, so was this maiden.
+
+"_Wow_!" he added, "save that the one walked on air and the other on
+earth, they are the same."
+
+Moreover, as a spirit she seemed wise. He told of the trapping of Noie,
+and of the decoying of Rachel into Zululand, and of the interview between
+her and the King by moonlight when she smelt out Noie. Now he was going on
+to speak of the question put by Dingaan to the Inkosazana, and the answer
+that she gave to him, when one of the little men who all this while sat as
+though they were asleep, blinking their eyes in the light--it was
+Eddo--said:
+
+"Surely thou forgettest something. Tongue of the King, thou who are named
+Mopo, or Umbopa, Son of Makedama; thou forgettest certain words which the
+Inkosazana whispered to thee when she threw her cloak about thy head ere
+thou fleddest away from the Council of the King. Of course, we do not know
+the words, but why dost thou not repeat them, Tongue of the King?"
+
+Mopo stared at them, and his teeth chattered, then he answered:
+
+"Because they have nothing to do with the story, Ghost-men; because they
+were of my own death, which is a little matter."
+
+The three dwarfs turned their heads towards each other and said, each to
+the other:
+
+"Hearest thou, Priest, and hearest thou, Priest, and hearest thou, Priest?
+He says that the words were of his own death and have nothing to do with
+the story," and they smiled and nodded, and appeared to go to sleep again.
+
+Now Mopo went on with his tale. He told of the question of the King, how
+he had asked the Inkosazana whether he should fall upon the Boers or let
+them be; of how she had searched the Heavens with her eyes; of how the
+meteor had travelled before them, and burst over the kraal, Umgugundhlovu,
+that star which she said was thrown by the hand of the Great-Great, the
+Umkulunkulu, and of how she had sworn that she also heard the feet of a
+people travelling over plain and mountain, and saw the rivers behind them
+running red with blood. Lastly, he told of how she had refused to add to
+or take from her words, or to set out their meaning.
+
+Then Mopo sat himself down again in the circle of the Councillors, and
+watched and hearkened like a hungry wolf.
+
+"Ye have heard, Ghost-men," said the King. "Now, if ye are really wise,
+interpret to us the meaning of this saying of the Inkosazana, and of the
+running star which none can read."
+
+The priests awoke and consulted with each other, then Eddo said:
+
+"This matter is too high for us, King of the Zulus."
+
+Dingaan heard, and laughed angrily.
+
+"I thought it, I thought it!" he cried. "Ye are but cheats after all who,
+like any common doctor, repeat the gossip that ye have heard, and pretend
+that it is a message from Heaven. Now why should I not whip you from my
+town with rods till ye see that red blood which ye so greatly fear?"
+
+At the mention of the word blood, the little men seemed to curl up like
+cut grass before fire; then Eddo smiled, a sickly smile, and answered:
+
+"Be gentle, King, walk softly, King. We are but poor cheats, yet we will
+do our best, we, or another for us. A new bowl, a big bowl, a red bowl for
+the red King, and fill it to the brink with dew."
+
+As he piped out the words a man from among their company appeared with a
+vessel much larger than those into which they had gazed, and made of
+beautiful, polished, blood-hued wood that gleamed in the sunlight. Eddo
+took it in his hand and another slave filled it with water from the gourd;
+the last drop of the water filled it to the brim. Then the three of them
+muttered invocations over it, and Eddo, beckoning to Noie, bade her bear
+it to the Inkosazana that she might gaze therein.
+
+Rachel received it and looked; as she looked all the emptiness left her
+eyes which grew quick and active and full of horror.
+
+"Thou seest something, Maiden?" queried Eddo.
+
+"Aye," answered Rachel, "I see much. Must I speak?"
+
+"Nay, nay! Breathe on the water thrice and fix the visions. Now bear the
+bowl to yonder King and let him look. Perchance he also will see
+something."
+
+Rachel breathed on the water thrice, rose like one in a trance, and
+advancing to Dingaan placed the brimming bowl upon his knees.
+
+"Look, King, look," cried Eddo, "and tell us if in what thou seest lies an
+answer to the oracle of the Inkosazana."
+
+Dingaan stared at the water, angrily at first, as one who smells a trick.
+Then his face changed.
+
+"By the head of the Black One," he said, "I see people fighting in this
+kraal, white men and Zulus, and the white men are mastered and the Zulus
+drag them out to death. The Zulus conquer, O my people. It is as I thought
+that it would be--that is the meaning of the riddle of the Inkosazana."
+
+"Good, good," said the Council. "Doubtless it shall come to pass."
+
+But the dwarf Eddo only smiled again and waved his hand.
+
+"Look once more, King," he said in his low, hissing voice, and Dingaan
+looked.
+
+Now his face darkened. "I see fire," he said. "Yes, in this kraal.
+Umgugundhlovu burns, my royal House burns, and yonder come the white men
+riding upon horses. Oh! they are gone."
+
+Eddo waved his hand, saying:
+
+"Look again and tell us what thou seest, King."
+
+Unwillingly enough, but as though he could not resist, Dingaan looked and
+said:
+
+"I see a mountain whereof the top is like the shape of a woman, and
+between her knees is the mouth of a cave. Beneath the floor of that cave I
+see bodies, the body of a great man and the body of a girl; she must have
+been fair, that girl."
+
+Now when he heard this the Councillor who was named Mopo, he with the
+withered hand, started up, then sat down again, but all were so intent
+upon listening to Dingaan that none noticed his movements save Noie and
+the priests of the ghosts.
+
+"I see a man, a fat man come out of the cave," went on Dingaan. "He seems
+to be wounded and weary, also his stomach is sunken as though with hunger.
+Two other men seize him, a tall warrior with muscles that stand out on his
+legs, and another that is thin and short. They drag him up the mountain to
+a great cleft that is between the breasts of her who sits thereon. They
+speak with him, but I cannot see their faces, for they are wrapped in
+mist, or the face of the fat man, for that also is wrapped in mist. They
+hale him to the edge of the cleft, they hurl him over, he falls headlong,
+and the mist is swept from his face. Ah! _it is my own face!_" [Footnote:
+See "Nada the Lily," CHAPTER XXXV.]
+
+"Priest," whispered each of the little men to his fellow in the dead
+silence that followed, "Priest, this King says that he sees his own face.
+Priest, tell me now, has not the spirit of the Inkosazana interpreted the
+oracle of the Inkosazana? Will not yonder King be hurled down this cleft?
+Is _he_ not the star that falls?"
+
+And they nodded and smiled at each other.
+
+But Dingaan leapt up in his rage and terror, and with him leapt up the
+Councillors and witch doctors, all save he who was named Mopo, son of
+Makedama, who sat still gazing at the ground. Dingaan leapt up, and
+seizing the bowl hurled it from him so that the water in it fell over
+Rachel like rain from the clouds. He leapt up, and he cursed the
+Ghost-priests as evil wizards, bidding them begone from his land. He raved
+at them, he threatened them, he cursed them again and again. The little
+men sat still and smiled till he grew weary and ceased. Then they spoke to
+each other, saying:
+
+"He has sprinkled the White One with the dew of out Trees, and henceforth
+she belongs to the Trees. Is it not so, Priest?"
+
+They nodded in assent, and Eddo rose and addressed the King in a new
+voice, a shrill commanding voice, saying:
+
+"O man, thou that art called a King and causest much blood to flow, thou
+are but a bubble on a river of blood, thou slayer that shalt be slain,
+thou thrower of spears upon whom the spear shall fall, thou who shalt look
+upon the Face of Stone that knows not pity, thou whom the earth shall
+swallow, thou who shalt perish at the hands of--"
+
+"The faces of the slayers were veiled, Priest," broke in the other two
+dwarfs, peeping up at him from beneath the shadow of their umbrellas;
+"surely the faces of those slayers were veiled, O Priest."
+
+"Thou who shalt perish at the hands of avengers whose faces are veiled,
+thy riddle is read for thee as the Mother of the Trees decreed that it
+should be read. It is well read, it is truly read, it shall befall in its
+season. Now give to thy servants their reward and let them depart in
+peace. Give to them, that White One whose lost Spirit spoke to thee from
+the water."
+
+"Take her," roared Dingaan, "take her and begone, for to the Zulus she and
+Noie, the witch, bring naught but ill."
+
+But one of the Council cried:
+
+"The Inkosazana cannot be sent away with these magicians unless it is her
+will to go."
+
+Then the little men nodded to Noie, and Noie whispered in the ear of
+Rachel.
+
+Rachel listened and answered: "Whither thou goest, Noie, thither I go with
+thee, I who seek my Spirit."
+
+So Noie took Rachel by the hand and led her from the Council-place of the
+King, and as she went, followed by the Ghost-priests and their escort, for
+the last time all the Councillors rose up and gave to her the royal
+salute. Only Dingaan sat upon the ground and beat it with his fists in
+fury.
+
+Thus did the Inkosazana-y-Zoola depart from the Great Place of the King of
+the Zulus, and Mopo, the son of Makedama, shading his eyes with his hand,
+watched her go from between his withered fingers.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+RACHEL FINDS HER SPIRIT
+
+
+Northward, ever northward, journeyed Rachel with the Ghost-priests; for
+days and weeks they journeyed, slowly, and for the most part at night,
+since these people dreaded the glare of the sun. Sometimes she was borne
+along in a litter with Noie upon the shoulders of the huge slaves, but
+more often she walked between the litters in the midst of a guard of
+soldiers, for now she was so strong that she never seemed to weary, nor
+even in the fever swamps where many fell ill, did any sickness touch her.
+Also this labour of the body seemed to soothe her wandering and tormented
+mind, as did the touch of Noie's hand and the sound of Noie's voice. At
+times, however, her madness got hold of her and she broke out into those
+bursts of wild laughter which had scared the Zulus. Then Eddo would
+descend from his litter and lay his long fingers on her forehead and look
+into her eyes in such a fashion that she went to sleep and was at peace.
+But if Noie spoke to her in these sleeps, she answered her questions, and
+even talked reasonably as she had done before the people of Mafooti laid
+the body of Richard at her feet, and she stood upon the roof of the hut
+which Ishmael strove to climb.
+
+Thus it was that Noie came to learn all that had happened to her since
+they parted, for though she had gathered much from them, the Zulus could
+not, or would not tell her everything. In past days she had heard from
+Rachel of the lad, Richard Darrien, who had been her companion years
+before through that night of storm on the island in the river, and now she
+understood that her lady loved this Richard, and that it was because of
+his murder by the wild brute, Ibubesi, that she had become mad.
+
+Yes, she was mad, and for that reason Noie rejoiced that the dwarf people
+were taking her to their home, since if she could be cured at all, they
+were able to heal her, they the great doctors. Moreover, if these priests
+and the Zulus would have let her go, whither else could she have gone
+whose parents and lover were dead, except to the white people on the
+coast, who did not reverence the insane, as do all black folk, but would
+have locked her up in a house with others like her until she died. No
+although she knew that there were dangers before them, many and great
+dangers, Noie rejoiced that things had befallen thus.
+
+Also in her tender care already Rachel improved much, and Noie believed
+that one day she would be herself again. Only she wished that she and her
+lady were alone together; that there were no priests with them, and above
+all no Eddo. For Eddo as she knew well was jealous of her authority over
+Rachel; jealous too of the love that they bore one to the other. He wished
+to use this crazed white chieftainess who had been accepted as their
+Inkosazana by the great Zulu people, for his own purposes. This had been
+clear from the beginning, and that was why when he first heard of her he
+had consented to go on the embassy to Dingaan, since by his magic he could
+foresee much of the future that was dark to Noie, whose blood was mixed
+and who had not all the gifts of the Ghost-kings.
+
+Moreover, the Mother of the Trees was Noie's great aunt, being the sister
+of her grandfather, or of his father, Noie was not sure which, for she had
+dwelt among them but a few days, and never thought to inquire of the
+matter. But of one thing she was sure, that Eddo the first priest, hated
+this Mother of the Trees, who was named Nya, and desired that "when her
+tree fell" the next mother should be his servant, which Nya was not.
+Perhaps, reflected Noie, it was in his mind that her lady would fill this
+part, and being mad, obey him in all things.
+
+Still she kept a watch upon her words, and even on her thoughts, for Eddo
+and his fellow-priests, Pani and Hana, were able to peer into human
+hearts, and read their secrets. Also she protected Rachel from him as much
+as she was able, never leaving her side for a moment, however weary she
+might be, for she feared lest he should become the master of her will.
+Only when the fits of madness fell upon her mistress, she was forced to
+allow Eddo to quell them with his touch and eye, since herself she lacked
+this power, nor dared she call the others to her help, for they were under
+the hand of Eddo.
+
+Northward, ever northward. First they passed through the Zulus and their
+subject tribes who knew of them and of the Inkosazana. All of these were
+suffering from the curse that lay upon the land because, as they believed,
+there was blood between the Inkosazana and her people. The locusts
+devoured their crops and the plague ravaged their cattle, so that they
+were terrified of her, and of the little Grey-folk with whom she
+travelled, the wizards who had shown fearful things to Dingaan and left
+him sick with dread. They fled at their approach, only leaving a few of
+their old people to prostrate themselves before this Inkosazana who
+wandered in search of her own Spirit, and the Dream-men who dwelt with the
+ghosts in the heart of a forest, and to pray her and them to lift this
+cloud of evil from the land, bringing gifts of such things as were left to
+them.
+
+At length all the Zulus were passed, and they entered into the territories
+of other tribes, wild, wandering tribes.
+
+ But even these knew of the Ghost-kings, and attempted nothing against
+them, as they had attempted nothing against Noie and her escort when she
+travelled through this land on her embassy to the People of the Trees.
+Indeed, some of their doctors would visit them at their camps and ask an
+oracle, or an interpretation of dreams, or a charm against their enemies,
+or a deadly poison, offering great gifts in return. At times Eddo and his
+fellow-priests would listen, and the giants would bring a tiny bowl filled
+with dew into which they gazed, telling them the pictures they saw there,
+though this they did but seldom, as the supply of dew which they had
+brought with them from their own country ran low, and since it could not
+be used twice they kept it for their own purposes.
+
+Next they came to a country of vast swamps, where dwelt few men and many
+wild beasts, a country full of fevers and reeds and pools, in which lived
+snakes and crocodiles. Yet no harm came to them from these things, for the
+Ghost-priests had medicines that warded off sickness, and charms that
+protected them from all evil creatures, and in their bowls they read what
+road to take and how dangers could be avoided. So they passed the swamps
+safely; only here that slave whom Eddo had cursed at the kraal of Dingaan,
+and who from that day onward had wasted till he seemed to be nothing but a
+great skeleton, sickened and died.
+
+"Did I not tell you that it should be so?" said Eddo to the other slaves,
+who trembled before him as reeds tremble in the wind. "Be warned, ye
+fools, who think that the strength of men lies in their bodies and their
+spears." Then he kicked the corpse of the dead giant gently with his
+sandalled foot, and bade his brothers throw him into a pool for the
+crocodiles to eat.
+
+Having passed the swamps and many rivers, at length they turned westward,
+travelling for days over grassy uplands like to those of Natal, among
+which wandered pastoral tribes with their herds of cattle. On these plains
+were multitudes of game and many lions, especially in the bush-clad slopes
+of great isolated mountains that rose up here and there. These lions
+roared round them at night, but the priests did not seem to be afraid, for
+when the brutes became overbold they placed deadly poison in the carcases
+of buck that the nomad tribes brought them as offerings, of which the
+lions ate and died in numbers. Also they sold some of the poison to the
+tribe for a great price in cattle, as to the delivery of which cattle they
+gave minute directions, for they knew that none dared to cheat the Mother
+of the Trees and her prophets.
+
+After the plains were left behind, they reached a vast, fertile and
+low-lying country that sloped upwards for miles and miles, which, as Noie
+explained to Rachel, when she would listen, was the outer territory of the
+Ghost-people, for here dwelt the race of the Umkulus, or Great Ones, who
+were their slaves, that folk to which the soldiers of their escort
+belonged. Of these there were thousands and tens of thousands who earned
+their living by agriculture, since although they were so huge and
+fierce-looking, they did not fight unless they were attacked. The chiefs
+of this people had their dwellings in vast caves in the sides of cliffs
+which, if need be, could be turned into impregnable fortresses, but their
+real ruler was the Mother of the Trees, and their office was to protect
+the country of the Trees and furnish it with food, since the Tree-people
+were dreamers who did little work.
+
+While they travelled through this land all the headmen of the Umkulus
+accompanied them, and every morning a council was held at which these made
+report to the priests of all that had chanced of late, and laid their
+causes before them for judgment. These causes Eddo and his fellow-priests
+heard and settled as seemed best to them, nor did any dare to dispute
+their rulings. Indeed, even when they deposed a high chief and set another
+in his place, the man who had lost all knelt before them and thanked them
+for their goodness. Also they tried criminals who had stolen women or
+committed murder, but they never ordered such men to be slain outright.
+Sometimes Eddo would look at them dreamily and curse them in his slow,
+hissing voice, bidding them waste in body and in mind, as he had done to
+the soldier at Umgugundhlovu, and die within one year, or two, or three,
+as the case might be. Or sometimes, if the crime was very bad, he would
+command that they should be sent to "travel in the desert," that is,
+wander to and fro without food or water until death found them. Now and
+again miserable-looking men, mere skeletons, with hollow cheeks, and eyes
+that seemed to start from their heads, would appear at their camps weeping
+and imploring that the curse which had been laid upon them in past days
+should be taken off their heads. At such people Eddo and his
+brother-priests, Pani and Hana, would laugh softly, asking them how they
+throve upon the wrath of the Mother of the Trees, and whether they thought
+that others who saw them would be encouraged to sin as they had done. But
+when the poor wretches prayed that they might be killed outright with the
+spear, the priests shrank up in horror beneath their umbrellas, and asked
+if they were mad that they should wish them to "sprinkle their trees with
+blood."
+
+One morning a number of these bewitched Umkulus, men, women and children,
+appeared, and when the three priests mocked them, as was their wont, and
+the guards, some of whom were their own relatives, sought to beat them
+away with sticks, threw themselves upon the ground and burst into weeping.
+Rachel, who was camped at a little distance with Noie, in a reed tent that
+the guard had made for her, which they folded up and carried as they did
+the umbrellas, heard the sound of this lamentation, and came out followed
+by Noie. For a space she stood contemplating their misery with a troubled
+air, then asked Noie why these people seemed so starved and why they wept.
+Noie told her that when she was on her embassy the head of their kraal, an
+enormous man of middle age, whom she pointed out to Rachel, had sought to
+detain her because she was beautiful, and he wished to make her his wife,
+although he knew well that she was on an embassy to the Mother of the
+Trees. She had escaped, but it was for this reason that the curse of which
+they were perishing had been laid upon him and his folk.
+
+Now Rachel went on to where the three priests sat beneath their umbrellas
+dozing away the hours of sunlight, beckoning to the doomed family to
+follow her.
+
+"Wake, priests," she cried in a loud voice, and they looked up astonished,
+rubbing their eyes, and asked what was the matter.
+
+"This," said Rachel. "I command you to lift the weight of your malediction
+off the head of these people who have suffered enough."
+
+"Thou commandest us!" exclaimed Eddo astonished. "And if we will not,
+Beautiful One, what then?"
+
+"Then," answered Rachel, "_I_ will lift it and set it on to your heads,
+and you shall perish as they are perishing. Oh! you think me mad, you
+priests, who kill more cruelly than did the Zulus, and mad I am whose
+Spirit wanders. Yet I tell you that new powers grow within me, though
+whence they come I know not, and what I say I can perform."
+
+Now they stared at her muttering together, and sending for a wooden bowl,
+peeped into it. Whatever it was they saw there did not please them, for at
+length Eddo addressed the crowd of suppliants, saying:
+
+"The Mother of the Trees forgives; the knot she tied she looses; the tree
+she planted she digs up. You are forgiven. Bones, put on strength; mouths,
+receive food; eyes, forget your blindness, and feet, your wanderings. Grow
+fat and laugh; increase and multiply; for the curse we give you a
+blessing, such is the will of the Mother of the Trees."
+
+"Nay, nay," cried Rachel, when she understood their words, "believe him
+not, ye starvelings. Such is the will of the Inkosazana of the Zulus, she
+who has lost her Spirit and another's, and travels all this weary way to
+find them."
+
+Then her madness seemed to come upon her again, for she tossed her arms on
+high and burst into one of her wild fits of laughter. But those whom she
+had redeemed heeded it not, for they ran to her, and since they dared not
+touch her, or even her robe, kissed the ground on which she had stood and
+blessed her. Moreover from that moment they began to mend, and within a
+few days were changed folk. This Noie knew, for they followed up Rachel to
+the confines of the desert, and she saw it with her eyes. Also the fame of
+the deed spread among the Umkulu people who groaned under the cruel rule
+of the Ghost-kings, and mad or sane, from that day forward they adored
+Rachel even more than the Zulus had done, and like the Zulus believed her
+to be a Spirit. No mere human being, they declared, could have lifted off
+the curse of the Mother of the Trees from those upon whom it had fallen.
+
+Thenceforward Eddo, Pani, and Hana hid their judgments from Rachel, and
+would not suffer such suppliants to approach the camp. Also when they
+seized a number of men because these had conspired together to rebel
+against the Ghost-people, and brought them on towards their own country
+for a certain purpose, they forced them to act as bearers like the others,
+so that Rachel might not guess their doom. For now, with all their power,
+they also were afraid of this white Inkosazana, as Dingaan had been
+afraid.
+
+So they travelled up this endless slope of fertile land, leaving all the
+kraals of the giant Umkulus behind them, and one morning at the dawn
+camped upon the edge of a terrible desert; a place of dry sands and
+sun-blasted rocks, that looked like the bottom of a drained ocean, where
+nothing lived save the fire lizards and certain venomous snakes that
+buried themselves in the sand, all except their heads, and only crawled
+out at night. After the people of the Umkulus this horrible waste was the
+great defence of the Ghost-kings, whose country it ringed about, since
+none could pass it without guides and water. Indeed, Noie had been forced
+to stay here for days with her escort, until the Mother of the Trees,
+learning of her coming in some strange fashion, had sent priests and
+guards to bring her to her land. But the Zulus who were with her they did
+not bring, except one witch-doctor to bear witness to her words. These
+they left among the Umkulus till she should return, nor were those Zulus
+sorry who had already heard enough of the magic of the Ghost-kings, and
+feared to come face to face with them.
+
+But it is true that they also feared the Umkulus, whom, because of their
+great size and the fierceness of their air, the Zulus took to be evil
+spirits, though if this were so, they could not understand why they should
+obey a handful of grey dwarfs who lived far from them beyond the desert.
+Still these Umkulus did them no harm, for on her return Noie found them
+all safe and well.
+
+That afternoon Rachel and the dwarfs plunged into the dreadful wilderness,
+heading straight for the ball of the sinking sun. Here, although she
+wished to do so, she was not allowed to walk, for fear lest the serpents
+should bite her, said Eddo, but must journey in the litter with Noie. So
+they entered it, and were borne forward at a great pace, the bearers
+travelling at a run, and being often changed. Also many other bearers came
+with them, and on the shoulders of each of them was strapped a hide bag of
+water. Of this they soon discovered the reason, for the sand of that
+wilderness was white with salt; the air also seemed to be full of salt, so
+that the thirst of those who travelled there was sharp and constant, and
+if it could not be satisfied they died.
+
+It was a very strange journey, and although she did not seem to take much
+note of them at the time, its details and surroundings burned themselves
+deeply into Rachel's mind. The hush of the infinite desert, the white
+moonlight gleaming upon the salt, white sand; the tall rocks which stood
+up here and there like unfinished obelisks and colossal statues, the snowy
+clouds of dust that rose beneath the feet of the company; the hoarse
+shouts of the guides, the close heat, the halts for water which was
+greedily swallowed in great gulps; the occasional cry and confusion when a
+man fell out exhausted, or because he had been bitten by one of the
+serpents--all these things, amongst others, were very strange.
+
+Once Rachel asked vaguely what became of these outworn and snake-poisoned
+men, and Noie only shook her head in answer, for she did not think fit to
+tell her that they were left to find their way back, or to perish, as
+might chance.
+
+All that night and for the first hours of the day that followed, they went
+forward swiftly, camping at last to eat and sleep in the shadow of a mass
+of rock that looked like a gigantic castle with walls and towers. Here
+they remained in the burning heat until the sun began to sink once more,
+and then went on again, leaving some of the bearers behind them, because
+there was no longer water for so many. There the great men sat in patient
+resignation and watched them go, they who knew that having little or no
+water, few of them could hope to see their homes again. Still, so great
+was their dread of the Ghost-priests, that they never dared to murmur, or
+to ask that any of the store of water should be given to them, they who
+were but cattle to be used until they died.
+
+The second night's journey was like the first, for this desert never
+changed, its aspect, and on the following morning they halted beneath
+another pile of fantastic, sand-burnished rocks, from some of which hung
+salt like icicles. Here one of the bearers who had been denied water as a
+punishment for laziness, although in truth he was sick, began to suck the
+salt-icicles. Suddenly he went raving mad, and rushing with a knife at
+Eddo, Pani, and Hana where they sat under their cane umbrellas that, for
+the sake of coolness, were damped with this precious water, he tried to
+kill them.
+
+Then as they saw the knife gleaming, all their imperturbable calm departed
+from these dwarfs. They squeaked in terror with thin voices as rats speak;
+they rolled upon the ground yelling to the slaves to save them from a "red
+death." The man was seized and, though he fought with all his giant
+strength, held down and choked in the sand. Once, however, he twisted his
+head free, howling a curse at them. Also he managed to hurl his knife at
+Eddo, and the point of it scratched him on the hand, causing the pale
+blood to flow, a sight at which Eddo and the other priests broke into
+tears and lamentations, that continued long after the Umkulu was dead.
+
+"Why are they such cowards?" asked Rachel, dreamily, for she had not seen
+the murder of the slave, and thought that Eddo had only scratched himself.
+
+"Because they fear the sight of blood, Zoola," answered Noie, "which is a
+very evil omen to them. Death they do not fear who are already among
+ghosts, but if it is a red death, their souls are spilt with their life,
+or so they believe."
+
+Towards noon that day the sky banked up with lurid-coloured clouds; the
+sun which should have shone so hotly, went out, and a hush that was almost
+fearful in its heat and intensity, fell upon the desert. The Umkulu
+bearers became disturbed, and gathered together into knots, talking in low
+tones. Eddo and his brother priests who, either because of the adventure
+of the morning or the oppressive air, could not sleep, as was usual with
+them, were also disturbed. They crept from beneath their umbrellas which,
+as the sun had vanished, were of no use to them, and stood together
+staring at the salty plain, which under that leaden and lowering sky
+looked white as snow, and at the brooding clouds above. They even sent for
+their bowls to read in them pictures of what was about to happen, but
+there was no dew left, so these could not be used.
+
+Then they consulted with the captains of the bearers, who told then what
+no magic was needed to guess that a mighty storm was gathering, and that
+if it overtook them in the desert, they would be buried beneath the
+drifting sand. Now this was a "white death" which the dwarfs did not seem
+to desire, so they ordered an instant departure, instead of delaying the
+start until sunset, as they had intended, for then, if all went well, they
+would have arrived at their homes by dawn, and not in the middle of the
+night. So that litters were made ready, and they went forward through the
+overpowering heat, that caused the bearers to hang out their tongues and
+reel as they walked.
+
+Towards evening the storm began to stir. Little wandering puffs of wind
+blew upon them and died away, and lightnings flickered intermittently.
+Then a hot breeze sprang up that gradually increased in strength until the
+sand rolled and rippled before it, now one way and now another, for this
+breeze seemed to blow in turn from every quarter of the heavens. Suddenly,
+however, after trying them all, it settled in the west, and drove straight
+into their faces with ever increasing force. Now Eddo thrust out his head
+between the curtains of his litter and called to the bearers to hurry, as
+they had but a little distance of desert left to pass, after which came
+the grass country where there would be no danger from the sand. They heard
+and obeyed, changing the pole gangs frequently, as those who carried the
+litters became exhausted.
+
+But the storm was quicker than they; it burst upon them while they were
+still in the waste, though not in its full strength. Then the darkness
+came, utter darkness, for no moon or stars could be seen, and salt and
+sand drove down on them like hail. Through it all, the bearers fought on,
+though how they found their way Noie, who was watching them, could not
+guess, since no landmarks were left to guide them. They fought on,
+blinded, choked with the salt sand that drove into their eyes and lungs,
+till man after man, they fell down and perished. Others took their places,
+and yet they fought on.
+
+It must have been near to midnight when the company, or those who were
+left of them, staggered to the edge of that dreadful wilderness which was
+but a vast plain of stone and sand, bordered on the west as on the east by
+slopes of fertile soil. For a while the fierce tempest lifted a little,
+and the light of the stars which struggled through breaks in the clouds
+showed that they were marching down a steep descent of grassland. Thus
+they went on for several more hours, till at length the bearers of the
+litter in which were Rachel and Noie, who for a long time had been
+staggering to and fro like drunken men, came to a halt, and litter and
+all, sank to the ground, utterly exhausted.
+
+ Rachel and Noie disentangled themselves from the litter, for they were
+unhurt, and stood by it, not knowing where to go, till presently two other
+litters containing the priests came up, for the third had been abandoned,
+and its occupant crowded in with Eddo. Now a great clamour arose in the
+darkness, the priests hissing commands to the surviving bearers to take up
+the litter and proceed. But great as was their strength, this the poor men
+could not do. There they lay upon the ground answering that Eddo might
+curse them if he wished, or even kill them as their brothers had been
+killed, but they were unable to stir another step until they had rested
+and drunk. Where they were, there they must lie until rain fell. Then the
+priests wished Rachel to enter one of their litters, leaving Noie to walk,
+which they were afraid to do themselves. But when she understood, Rachel
+cut the matter short by answering,
+
+"Not so, I will walk," and picking up the spear of one of the fallen
+Umkulu to serve as a staff, she took Noie by the hand and started forward
+down the hill.
+
+One of the priests clasped her robe to draw her back, but she turned on
+him with the spear, whereon he shrank back into his litter like a snail
+into his shell and left her alone. So following the steep path they
+marched on, and after them came the two litters with the priests, carried
+by all the bearers who could still stand, for these old men weighed no
+more than children. From far below them rose a mighty sound as of an angry
+sea.
+
+"What is that noise?" called Rachel into the ear of Noie, for the gale was
+rising again.
+
+"The sound of wind in the forest where the Tree-folk dwell," she answered.
+
+Then the dawn broke, an awful, blood-red dawn, and by degrees they saw.
+Beneath them ran a shallow river, and beyond it, stretching for league
+upon league farther than the eye could see, lay the mighty forest whereof
+the trees soared two hundred feet or more into the air; the dark
+illimitable forest that rolled as the sea rolls beneath the pressure of
+the gale, and indeed, seen from above, looked like a green and tossing
+ocean. At the sight of the water Rachel and Noie began to run towards it
+hand in hand, for they were parched with thirst whose mouths were full of
+the salt dust of the desert. The bearers of the litters in which were the
+three priests ran also, paying no heed to the cries of the dwarfs within.
+At length it was reached, and throwing themselves down they drank until
+that raging thirst of theirs was satisfied; even Eddo and his companions
+crawled out of their litters and drank. Then having washed their hands and
+faces in the cool water, they forded the fleet stream, and, filled with a
+new life, followed the road that ran beyond towards the forest. Scarcely
+had they set foot upon the farther bank when the heart of the tempest,
+which had been eddying round them all night long, burst over them in its
+fury. The lightnings blazed, the thunder rolled, and the wild wind grew to
+a hurricane, so fierce that the litters in which were Eddo, Pani, and Hana
+were torn from the grasp of the bearers and rolled upon the ground. From
+the wreck of them, for they were but frail things, the little grey priests
+emerged trembling, or rather were dragged by the hands of their giant
+bearers, to whom they clung as a frightened infant clings to its mother.
+Rachel saw them and, laughed.
+
+"Look at the Masters of Magic!" she cried to Noie, "those who kill with a
+curse, those who rule the Ghosts," and she pointed to the tiny,
+contemptible figures with fluttering robes being dragged along by those
+giants whom but a little while before they had threatened with death.
+
+"I see them," answered Noie into her ear. "Their spirits are strong when
+they are at peace, but in trouble they fear doom more than others. Now, if
+I were those Umkulu, I would make an end of them while they can."
+
+But these great, patient men did otherwise; indeed, when the dwarfs, worn
+out and bewildered by the hurricane, could walk no more, they took them up
+and carried them as a woman carries a babe.
+
+Now they were passing a belt of open land between the river and the forest
+in which terrified mobs of cattle rushed to and fro, while their herds,
+slave-men of large size like the Umkulu, tried to drive them to some place
+where they would be safe from the tempest In this belt also grew broad
+fields of grain, which furnished food for the Tree-folk. At last they came
+to the confines of the forest, and Rachel, looking round her with
+wondering eyes, saw at the foot of each great tree a tiny hut shaped like
+a tent, and in front of the hut a dwarf seated on the ground staring into
+a bowl of water, and beating his breast with his hands.
+
+"What do they?" she asked of Noie.
+
+"They strive to read their fates, Lady, and weep because the wind ripples
+the dew in their bowls, so that they can see nothing, and cannot be sure
+whether their tree will stand or fall. Follow me, follow me; I know the
+way, here we are not safe."
+
+The hurricane was at its height; the huge trees about them rocked and bent
+like reeds, great boughs came crashing down; one of them fell upon a
+praying dwarf and crushed him to a pulp. Those around him saw it and
+uttered a wild shrill scream; Eddo, Pani, and Hana saw it and screamed
+also, in the arms of their bearers, for this sight of blood was terrible
+to them. The forest was alive with the voices of the storm, it seemed to
+howl and groan, and the lightnings illumined its gloomy aisles. The
+grandeur and the fearfulness of the scene excited Rachel; she waved the
+spear she carried, and began to laugh in the wild fashion of her madness,
+so that even the grey dwarfs, seated each at the foot of his tree, ceased
+from his prayers to glance at her askance.
+
+On they went, expecting death at every step, but always escaping it, until
+they reached a wide clearing in the forest. In the centre of this clearing
+grew a tree more huge than any that Rachel had ever dreamed of, the bole
+of it, that sprang a hundred feet without a branch, was thicker than
+Dingaan's Great Hut, and its topmost boughs were lost in the scudding
+clouds. In front of this tree was gathered a multitude of people, men,
+women, and children, all dwarfs, and all of them on their knees engaged in
+prayer. At its bole, by a tent-shaped house, stood a little figure, a
+woman whose long grey hair streamed upon the wind.
+
+"The Mother of the Trees," cried Noie through the screaming gale. "Come to
+her, she will shelter us," and she gripped Rachel's arm to lead her
+forward.
+
+Scarcely had they gone a step when the lightning blazed above them
+fearfully, and with it came an awful rush of wind. Perhaps that flash fell
+upon the tree, or perhaps the wind snapped its roots. At least its mighty
+trunk burst in twain, and with a crash that for a moment seemed to master
+even the roar of the volleying thunder, down it came to earth. Two huge
+limbs fell on either side of Rachel and Noie, but they were not touched. A
+bough struck the Umkulu slave who was carrying Eddo, and swept off his
+head, leaving the dwarf unharmed. Another bough fell upon Pani and his
+bearer, and buried them in the earth beneath its bulk, so that they were
+never seen again. As it chanced the most of the worshippers were beyond
+the reach of the falling branches, but some of these that were torn loose
+in the fall, or shattered by the lightning, the wind caught and hurled
+among them, slaying several and wounding others.
+
+In ten seconds the catastrophe had come and gone, the Queen-Tree that had
+ruled the forest for a thousand years was down, a stack of green leaves,
+through which the shattered branches showed like bones, and a prostrate,
+splintered trunk. The shock threw Noie and Rachel to the ground, but
+Rachel, rising swiftly, pulled Noie to her feet after her; then, acting
+upon some impulse, leapt forward, and climbing on to the trunk where it
+forked, ran down it till she almost reached its base, and stood there
+against the great shield of earth that had been torn up with the roots.
+After that last fearful outburst a stillness fell, the storm seemed to
+have exhausted itself, at any rate for a while. Rachel was able to get her
+breath and look about her.
+
+All around were lines of enormous trees, solemn aisles that seemed to lead
+up to the Queen of the Trees, and down these aisles, piercing the shadows
+cast by the interlacing branches overhead, shone the lights of that lurid
+morning. Rachel saw, and something struggled in the darkness of her brain,
+as the light struggled in the darkness of the forest aisles. She
+remembered--oh! what was it she remembered? Now she knew. It was the dream
+she had dreamed upon the island in the river, years and years ago, a dream
+of such trees as these, and of little grey people like to these, and of
+the boy, Richard, grown to manhood, lashed to the trunk of one of the
+trees. What had happened to her? She could recall nothing since she saw
+the body of Richard upon its bier in the kraal Mafooti.
+
+But this was not the kraal Mafooti, nor had Noie, who stood at her side,
+been with her there, Noie, who had gone on an embassy to her father's
+folk, the dwarf people. Ah! these people were dwarfs. Look at them running
+to and fro screaming like little monkeys. She must have been dreaming a
+long, bad dream, whereof the pictures had escaped her. Doubtless she was
+still dreaming and presently would awake. Well, the torment had gone out
+of it, and the fear, only the wonder remained. She would stand still and
+see what happened. Something was happening now. A little thin hand
+appeared, gripping the rough bark at the side of the fallen tree.
+
+She peeped over the swell of it and saw an old dwarf woman with long white
+hair, whose feet were set in a cleft of the shattered bole, and who hung
+to it as an ape hangs. Beneath her to the ground was a fall of full thirty
+feet, for the base of the bole was held high up by the roots, so that the
+little woman's hair hung down straight towards the ground, whither she
+must presently fall and be killed. Rachel wondered how she had come there,
+if she had clung to the trunk when it fell, or been thrown up by the
+shock, or lifted by a bough. Next she wondered how long it would be before
+she was obliged to leave go, and whether her white head or her back would
+first strike the earth all that depth beneath. Then it occurred to her
+that she might be saved.
+
+"Hold my feet," she said to Noie, who had followed her along the trunk,
+speaking in her own natural voice, at the sound of which Noie looked at
+her in joyful wonder. "Hold my feet; I think I can reach that old woman,"
+and without waiting for an answer she laid herself down upon the bole, her
+body hanging over the curve of it.
+
+Now Noie saw her purpose, and seating herself with her heels set against
+the roughness of the bark, grasped her by the ankles. Supporting some of
+her weight on one hand, with the other Rachel reached downwards all the
+length of her long arm, and just as the grasp of the old woman below was
+slackening, contrived to grip her by the wrist. The dwarf swung loose,
+hanging in the air, but she was very light, of the weight of a
+five-year-old child, perhaps, no more, and Rachel was very strong. With an
+effort she lifted her up till the monkey-like fingers gripped the rough
+bark again. Another effort and the little body was resting on the round of
+the tree, one more and she was beside her.
+
+Now Rachel rose to her feet again and laughed, but it was not the mad
+laughter that had scared Ishmael and the Zulus; it was her own laughter,
+that of a healthy, cultured woman.
+
+The little creature, crouching on hands and knees at Rachel's feet, lifted
+her head and stared with her round eyes. At that moment, too, the sun
+broke out, and its rays, shining where they had never shone for ages, fell
+upon Rachel, upon her bright hair, and the white robes in which the dwarfs
+had clothed her, and the gleaming spear in her hand, causing her to look
+like some ancient statue of a goddess upon a temple roof.
+
+"Who art thou," said the dwarf woman in the hissing voice of her race,
+"thou Beautiful One? I know! I know! Thou art that Inkosazana of the Zulus
+of whom we have had many visions, she for whom I sent. But the Inkosazana
+was mad, she had lost her Spirit; it has been seen here. Beautiful One,
+_thou_ art not mad."
+
+"What does she say, Noie?" asked Rachel. "I can only understand some
+words."
+
+Noie told her, and Rachel hid her eyes in her hand. Presently she let it
+fall, saying:
+
+"She is right. I lost my Spirit for a while; it went away with another
+Spirit. But I think that I have found it again. Tell her, Noie, that I
+have travelled far to seek my Spirit, and that I have found it again."
+
+Noie, who could scarcely take her eyes from Rachel's face, obeyed, but the
+old woman hardly seemed to heed her words; a grief had got hold of her.
+She rocked herself to and fro like a monkey that has lost its young, and
+cried out:
+
+"My tree has fallen, the tree of my House, which stood from the beginning
+of the world, has fallen, but that of Eddo still stands," and she pointed
+to another giant of the forest that soared up, unharmed, at a little
+distance. "Nya's tree has fallen--Eddo's tree still stands. His magic has
+prevailed against me, his magic has prevailed against me!"
+
+ As she spoke a man appeared scrambling along the bole towards them; it
+was Eddo himself. His round eyes shone, on his pale face there was a look
+of triumph, for whoever might be lost, the danger had passed him by.
+
+"Nya," he piped, tapping her on the shoulder, "thy Ghost has deserted
+thee, old woman, thy tree is down. See, I spit upon it," and he did so.
+"Thou art no longer Mother of the Trees; thou art only the old woman Nya.
+The Ghost people, the Dream people, the little Grey people, have a new
+queen, and I am her minister, for I rule her Spirit. Yonder she stands,"
+and he pointed at the tall and glittering Rachel. "Now, thou new-born
+Mother of the Trees, who wast the Inkosazana of the Zulus, obey me. Give
+death to this old woman, the Red Death, that her spirit may be spilt with
+her blood, and lost for ever. Give it to her with that spear in thy hand,
+while I hide my eyes, and reign thou in her place through me," and he
+bowed his head and waited.
+
+"Not the Red Death, not the Red Death," wailed Nya. "Give me the White
+Death and save my soul, Beautiful One, and in return I will give thee
+something that thou desirest, who am still the wisest of them all,
+although my Tree is down."
+
+Noie whispered for a while in Rachel's ear. Then while all the dwarf
+people gathered beneath them, watching, Rachel bent forward, and putting
+her arms about the trembling creature, lifted her up as though she were a
+child, and held her to her bosom.
+
+"Mother," she said, "I give thee no death, red or white; I give thee love.
+Thy tree is down; sit thou in my shadow and be safer On him who harms
+thee"--and she looked at Eddo--"on him shall the Red Death fall."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE MOTHER OF THE TREES
+
+
+When Eddo understood these words he lifted his head and stared at Rachel
+amazed.
+
+"This is thy doing, Bastard," he said savagely, addressing Noie, who had
+translated them. "I have felt thee fighting against me for long, and now
+thou causest this Inkosazana to defy me. It was thou who didst work upon
+that old woman, thine aunt, to command that the white witch should be
+brought hither, and because as yet I dared not disobey, I made a terrible
+journey to bring her. Yes, and I did this gladly, for when my eyes fell
+upon her, there in the town of Dingaan, I saw that she was great and
+beautiful, but that her Spirit had gone, and I knew that I could make her
+mouth to speak my words, and her pure eyes to see things that are denied
+to mine, even the future as, when I bade her, she saw it yonder in the
+court of Dingaan. But now it seems that her Spirit has returned to her, so
+that there is no room for mine in her heart, and she speaks her own words,
+not my words. And thou hast done this thing, O Bastard."
+
+"Perhaps," answered Noie unconcernedly.
+
+"Thou thinkest," went on Eddo, in his fury beating the bole on which he
+sat, "thou thinkest to protect that old hag, Nya, because her blood runs
+in thee. But, fool, it is in vain, for her tree is down, her tree is down,
+and as its leaves wither, and its sap dries up, so must she wither and her
+blood dry up until she dies, she who thought to live on for many years."
+
+"What does that matter?" asked Noie, "seeing that then she will only join
+the great company of the ghosts with whom she longs to be, and return with
+them to torment thee, Eddo, until thou, too, art one of them, and lookest
+on the face of Judgment."
+
+"Thou thinkest," screamed the dwarf, ignoring this ominous suggestion,
+"thou thinkest, when she is gone, to be queen in her place, or to rule as
+high priestess through this White One."
+
+"If I do, that will be a bad hour for thee, Eddo," replied Noie.
+
+"It shall not be, woman. No bastard shall reign here as Mother of the
+Trees while the nations round cringe before her feet. I have spells; I
+have poisons; I have slaves who can shoot with arrows."
+
+"Then use them if thou canst, thou evil-doer," said "Noie contemptuously.
+
+"Aye, I will use them all, and not on thee only, but on that white witch
+whom thou lovest. She shall never pass living from this land that is
+ringed in by the desert and the forest. She shall choose me to reign
+through her as her high priest, or she shall die--die miserably. For a
+little while that old hag, Nya, may protect her with her wisdom, but when
+she passes, as she must, and quickly, for I will light fires beneath this
+fallen tree of hers, then I tell thee the Beautiful One shall choose
+between my rule and doom."
+
+Now Noie would hear no more.
+
+"Dog," she cried, "filthy night-bird, darest thou speak thus of the
+Inkosazana? Another word and I will offer that heart of thine to the sun
+thou hatest," and snatching the spear from Rachel's hand, she charged at
+him, holding it aloft.
+
+Eddo saw her come. With a scream of fear he leapt to his feet, and ran
+swiftly along the bole till he reached the mass of the fallen branches.
+Into these he sprang, swinging himself from bough to bough like an ape
+until he vanished amongst the dark green foliage. Then, having quite lost
+sight of him, Noie returned laughing to Rachel, by whom stood the old
+Mother of the Trees who had slid from her arms, and gave her back the
+spear, saying in the dwarf language:
+
+"This Eddo speaks great words, but he is also a great coward."
+
+"Yes, yes," answered the old woman, "he is a great coward, because like
+all our folk he fears the Red Death; but, child, I tell thee he is
+terrible. He hates me because I rule through the white art, not the black,
+but while my tree stood he must obey me, and I was safe. Now it is down,
+and he may kill me if he can, according to the custom of my land, and set
+up another to be queen, she at whose feet my tree bowed itself and fell by
+the will of the Heavens, and whom, therefore, the people will accept.
+Through her he will wield all the power of the Ghost-kings, over whom no
+man may rule, but a woman only. Come, Child, and thou, White One, come
+also. I know where we may hide. Lady, the power that was mine is thine;
+protect me till I die, and in payment I will give thee whatever thy heart
+desires."
+
+"I ask no payment," Rachel answered wearily, when she understood the
+words; "and I think that it is I who need protection from that wicked
+dwarf."
+
+Then, guided by Nya, who clung to Rachel's hand, they walked down the bole
+of the tree and along a great branch, till at length they reached a place
+whence they could climb to the ground. Before they were clear of the
+boughs the dethroned Mother, from whose round eyes the tears fell, turned
+and kissed the bark of one of them, wailing aloud.
+
+"Farewell, thou mighty one, under whose shade I, and the queens of my race
+before me, have dreamed for centuries. Thou art fallen beneath the stroke
+of Heaven, and great was thy fall, and I am fallen with thee. Save me from
+the Red Death, O Spirit of my tree, that in the land of ghosts I still may
+sleep beneath thy shade for ever."
+
+Then she ran to the very point of the tree and broke off its topmost twig,
+which was covered with narrow and shining green leaves, and holding it in
+her hand, returned to Rachel.
+
+"I will plant it," she said, "and perchance it will grow to be the house
+of queens unborn. Come, now, come," and she turned her face towards the
+forest.
+
+The thunder had rolled away, and from time to time the sun shone fiercely,
+so fiercely that, unable to bear its rays, all the dwarfs who were
+gathered about the fallen tree had retreated into the shadow of the other
+trees around the open space. There they stood and sat watching the three
+of them go by. Men, women and children, they all watched, and Rachel they
+saluted with their raised hands; but to her who had been their mother for
+unknown years they did no reverence. Only one hideous little man ran up to
+her and called out:
+
+"Thou didst punish me once, old woman, now why should I not kill thee in
+payment? Thy tree is down at last."
+
+Nya looked at him sadly, and answered:
+
+"I remember. Thou shouldst have died, for thy sin was great, but I laid a
+lesser burden on thee. Man, thou canst not kill me yet; my tree is down,
+but it is not dead."
+
+She held up the green bough in her hand and looked at him from beneath it,
+then went on slowly: "Man, my wisdom remains within me, and I tell thee
+that before I die thou shalt die, and not as thou desirest. Remember my
+words, people of the Ghosts."
+
+Then she walked on with the others, leaving the dwarf staring after her
+with a face wherein hate struggled with fear.
+
+"Thou liest," he screamed after her; "thy power is gone with thy tree."
+
+Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when they heard a crash which
+caused them to look round. A bough, broken by the storm, had fallen from
+on high. It had fallen on to the head of the dwarf, and there he lay
+crushed and dead.
+
+"Ah!" piped the other dwarfs, pointing towards the corpse with their
+fingers, and closing their eyes to shut out the sight of blood, "ah! Nya
+is right; she still has power. Those who would kill her must wait till her
+tree dies."
+
+Taking no heed of what had happened, Nya walked on into the forest. For a
+while Rachel noted the little huts built, each of them, at the foot of a
+tree. There were hundreds of these huts that they could see, showing that
+the people were many, but by degrees they grew fewer, only one was visible
+here and there, set beneath some particularly vigorous and handsome
+timber. At last they ceased altogether; they had passed through that city,
+the strangest city in the world.
+
+Trees--everywhere trees, hundreds of trees, tens of thousands of trees
+soaring up to heaven, making a canopy of their interlacing boughs,
+shutting out the light so that beneath them was a deep oppressive gloom.
+There was silence also, for if any beasts or birds dwelt there the
+hurricane had scared them away, silence only broken from time to time by
+the crash of some giant of the forest that, its length of days fulfilled
+at last, sank suddenly to ruin, to be buried in a tomb of brushwood whence
+in due course its successor would arise.
+
+"Another life gone," said the old woman, Nya, flitting before them like a
+little grey ghost, every time that this weird sound struck upon their
+ears; "whose was it, I wonder? I will look in my bowl, I will look in my
+bowl."
+
+For, as Rachel discovered afterwards, these people believed that the
+spirit of each tree of the forest is attached to the spirit of a human
+being, although that being may dwell in other lands, far away, which dies
+when the tree dies, sometimes slowly by disease, and sometimes in swift
+collapse, so that they pass together into the world of ghosts.
+
+On they flitted through the gloom, on for mile after mile. Although the
+leaf-strewn ground showed no traces of it, evidently they were following
+some kind of path, for no fallen trunks barred their progress, nor were
+there any creepers or brushwood, although to right and left of them all
+these could be seen in plenty. At last, quite of a sudden, for the bole of
+a tree at the end of the path had hidden it from them, they came upon a
+clearing in the forest. It seemed to be a natural, or, at any rate, a very
+ancient clearing, since in it no stumps were visible, nor any scrub, or
+creepers, only tall grass and flowering plants. In the centre of this
+place, covering a quarter of it, perhaps, was a vast circular wall, fifty
+feet or more in height, and clothed with ferns. This wall, they noted, was
+built of huge blocks of stone, so huge indeed that it seemed wonderful
+that they could have been moved by human beings. At the sight of that
+marvellous wall Rachel and Noie halted involuntarily, and Noie asked:
+
+"Who made it, Mother?"
+
+"The giants who lived when the world was young. Can our hands lift such
+stones?" Nya answered, as, bending down, she thrust the top shoot from her
+fallen tree deep into the humid soil, then added: "On, child; there is
+danger here."
+
+As she spoke something hissed through the air just above her head, and
+stuck fast in the bark of a sapling. Noie sprang forward and plucked it
+out. It was a little reed, feathered with grasses, and having a sharp
+ivory point, smeared with some green substance.
+
+"Touch it not," cried Nya, "it is deadly poison. Eddo's work, Eddo's work!
+but my hour is not yet. Into the open before another comes."
+
+ So they ran forward, all three of them, seeing and bearing nothing of the
+shooter of the arrow. As they approached the titanic wall they saw that it
+enclosed a mound, on the top of which mound grew a cedar-like tree with
+branches so wide that they seemed to overshadow half of the enclosure.
+There were no gates to this wall, but while they wondered how it could be
+entered, Nya led them to a kind of cleft in its stones, not more than two
+feet in width, across which cleft were stretched strings of plaited grass.
+She pressed herself against them, breaking them, and walked forward,
+followed by Rachel and Noie. Suddenly they heard a noise above them, and,
+looking up, saw white-robed dwarfs perched upon the stones of the cleft,
+holding bent bows in their hands, whereof the arrows were pointed at their
+breasts. Nya halted, beckoning to them, whereon, recognising her, they
+dropped the arrows into the little quivers which they wore, and scrambled
+off, whither Rachel could not see.
+
+"These are the guardians of the Temple that cannot either speak or hear,
+who were summoned by the breaking of the thread," said Nya, and went
+forward again.
+
+Now to the right, and now to the left, ran the narrow path that wound its
+way in the thickness of the mighty wall, which towered so high above them
+that they walked almost in darkness, and at each turn of it were recesses;
+and above these projecting stones, where archers could stand for its
+defence. At length this path ended in a _cul-de-sac_, for in front of them
+was nothing but blank masonry. Whilst Rachel and Noie stared at it
+wondering whither they should go now, a large stone in this wall turned,
+leaving a narrow doorway through which they passed, whereon it shut again
+behind them, though by what machinery they could not see.
+
+Thus they passed through the wall, emerging, however, at a different point
+in its circumference to that at which they had entered. In the centre of
+the enclosure rose the hill of earth that they had seen from without,
+which evidently was kept free from weeds and swept, and on its crest grew
+the huge cedar-like tree, the Tree of the Tribe. Between the base of this
+hill and the foot of the wall was a wide ring of level ground, also swept
+and weeded, and on this space, neatly arranged in lines, were hundreds of
+little hillocks that resembled ant-heaps.
+
+"The burying-place of the Ghost-priests, Lady," said Nya, nodding at the
+hillocks. "Soon my bones will be added to them."
+
+Walking across this strange cemetery, they came to the foot of the mound
+that was entirely overshadowed by the cedar above, from the outspread
+limbs of which hung long grey moss, that swayed ceaselessly in the wind.
+Here dwarfs appeared from right and left, the same whom they had seen
+within the thickness of the wall, or others like to them, some male and
+some female; melancholy-eyed little creatures who bowed to Nya, and looked
+with fear and wonder at the tall while Rachel. Evidently they were all of
+them deaf mutes, for they made signs to Nya, who answered them with other
+signs, the purport of which seemed to sadden and disturb them greatly.
+
+"They have seen the fall of my tree in their bowls," explained Nya to
+Noie, "and ask me if it is a true vision. I tell them that I am come here
+to die and that is why they are sad. This is the place of dying of all the
+Ghost-priests, whence they pass into the world of spirits, and here no
+blood may be shed, no, not that of the most wicked evil-doer. If any one
+of the family of the priests reaches this place living, the glory of the
+White Death is won. Follow and see."
+
+So they followed her up the mound, past what looked like the entrance to a
+cave, until they reached a low fence of reeds whereof the gate stood open.
+
+"The gate is open, but enter not there," whispered the old Mother of the
+Trees, "for those who enter there live not long. Look, Lady, look."
+
+Rachel peered through the gate, but so dense was the gloom in that holy
+spot that at first she could only see the enormous red bole of the cedar,
+and the ghostly, moss-clad branches which sprang from it at no great
+height above the ground. Presently, however, her eyes, grown accustomed to
+the light, distinguished several little white-robed figures seated upon
+the earth at some distance from the trunk staring into vessels of wood
+which were placed before them. These figures appeared to be those of both
+men and women, while one was that of a child. Even as they watched, the
+figure nearest to them fell forward over its bowl and lay quite still,
+whereon those around it set up a feeble, piping cry, that yet had in it a
+note of gladness. The dwarf-mutes who had accompanied them, and who alone
+seemed to have a right of entry into this sad place, ran forward and
+looked. Then very gently they lifted up the fallen figure and bore it out.
+As it was carried past them Rachel noted that it was the body of quite a
+young woman, whose little face, wasted to nothing, still looked sweet and
+gentle.
+
+"Was she ill?" asked Rachel in an awed voice.
+
+"Perhaps," answered the Mother, shaking her grey head, "or perhaps she was
+very unhappy, and came here to die. What does it matter? She is happy
+now."
+
+"Ask her, Noie, if all must die who sit beneath that tree," said Rachel.
+
+"Aye," answered Nya, "all save these dumb people who have been priests of
+the Tree from generation to generation. To touch its stem is to perish
+soon or late, for it is the Tree of Life and Death, and in it dwells the
+Spirit of the whole race."
+
+"What then would happen if it fell down, or was destroyed like your tree,
+Mother?"
+
+"Then the race would perish also," answered Nya, "since their Spirit would
+lack a home and depart to the world of Ghosts, whither they must follow.
+When it dies of old age, if it should ever die, then the race will die
+with it."
+
+"And if someone should cut it down, Mother, what then?"
+
+Now when Noie translated these words to her, the face of the old queen was
+filled with horror, and as her face was, so was Noie's face.
+
+"White Maiden," she gasped, "speak not such wickedness lest the very
+thought of it should bring the curse upon us all. He who destroyed that
+tree would bring ruin upon this people. They would fly away, every one of
+them, far into the heart of the forest, and be seen no more by man.
+Moreover, he who did this evil thing would perish and pass down to
+vengeance among the ghosts, such vengeance as may not be spoken. Put that
+thought from thy mind, I pray thee, and let it never pass thy lips again."
+
+"Do you believe all this, Noie?" asked Rachel in English with a smile.
+
+"Yes, Zoola," answered Noie, shuddering, "for it is true. My father told
+me of it, and of what happened once to some wild men who broke into the
+sanctuary, and shot arrows at the Tree. No, no, I will not tell the story;
+it is dreadful."
+
+"Yet it must be foolishness, Noie, for how can a tree have power over the
+lives of men?"
+
+"I do not know, but it has, it has! If I were but to cast a stone at it, I
+should be dead in a day, and so would you--yes, even you--nothing could
+save you. Oh!" she went on earnestly, "swear to me, Sister, that you will
+never so much as touch that tree; I pray you, swear."
+
+So Rachel swore, to please her, for she was tired of this tree and its
+powers.
+
+Then they went down the hill again, till they came to the mouth of the
+cave.
+
+"Enter, Lady," Nya said, "for this must be thy home a while until thou
+goest to rule as Mother of the Trees after me, or, if it pleases thee
+better, up yonder to die."
+
+They went into the cave, having no choice. It was a great place lit dimly
+by the outer light, and farther down its length with lamps. Looking round
+her, Rachel saw that its roof was supported by white columns which she
+knew to be stalactites, for as a child she had seen their like. At the end
+of it, where the lamps burned and a fountain bubbled from the ground, rose
+a very large column shaped like the trunk of a tree, with branches at the
+top that looked like the boughs of a tree. Gazing at it Rachel understood
+why these dwarfs, or some ancient people before them, had chosen this cave
+as their temple.
+
+"The ghost Tree of my race," said old Nya, pointing to it, "the only tree
+that never falls, the Tree that lives and grows for ever. Yes, it grows,
+for it is larger now than when my mother was a child."
+
+As they drew near to this wondrous and ghostly looking object Rachel saw
+piled around and beyond it many precious things. There was gold in dust
+and heaps, and rings and nuggets; there were shining stones, red and green
+and white, that she knew were jewels; there were tusks of ivory and
+carvings in ivory; there were karosses and furs mouldering to decay; there
+were grotesque gods, fetishes of wood and stone.
+
+"Offerings," said Nya, "which all the nations that live in darkness bring
+to the Mother of the Trees, and the priests of the Cave. Costly things
+which they value, but we value them not, who prize power and wisdom only.
+Yes, yes, costly things which they give to the Mother of the Trees, the
+fools without a spirit, when they come here to ask her oracle. Look, there
+are some of the gifts which were sent by Dingaan of the Zulus in payment
+for the oracle of his death. Thou broughtest them, Noie, my child."
+
+"Yes," answered Noie, "I brought them, and the Inkosazana here, she
+delivered the oracle. Eddo gave her the bowl, and she saw pictures in the
+bowl and showed them to Dingaan."
+
+"Nay, nay," said the old woman testily, "it was I who saw the pictures,
+and I showed them to Eddo and to this white virgin. You cannot understand,
+but it was so, it was so. Eddo's gift of vision is small, mine is great.
+None have ever had it as I have it, and that is why Eddo and the others
+have suffered my tree to live so long, because the light of my wisdom has
+shone about their heads and spoken through their tongues, and when I am
+gone they will seek and find it not. In thee they might have found it,
+Maiden, had thy heart remained empty, but now, it is full again and what
+room is there for wisdom such as ours?--the wisdom of the ghosts, not the
+wisdom of life and love and beating hearts."
+
+Noie translated the words, but Rachel seemed to take no heed of them.
+
+ "Dingaan?" she asked. "Is Dingaan dead? He was well enough when--when
+Richard came to Zululand, and since then I have seen nothing of him. How
+did he die?"
+
+"He did not die, Zoola," answered Noie, "though I think that ere long he
+will die, for you told him so. It was you who died for a while, not
+Dingaan. By-and-bye you shall learn all that story. Now you are very weary
+and must rest."
+
+"Yes," said Rachel with a sob, "I think I died when Richard died, but now
+I seem to have come to life again--that is the worst of it. Oh!! Noie,
+Noie, why did you not let me remain dead, instead of bringing me to life
+again in this dreadful place?"
+
+"Because it was otherwise fated, Sister," replied Noie. "No, do not begin
+to laugh and cry; it was otherwise fated," and bending down she whispered
+something into Nya's ear.
+
+The old dwarf nodded, then, taking Rachel by the hand, led her to where
+some skins were spread upon the floor.
+
+"Lie down," she said, "and rest. Rest, beautiful White One, and wake up to
+eat and be strong again," and she gazed into Rachel's eyes as Eddo had
+done when the fits of wild laughter were on her, singing something as she
+gazed.
+
+While she sang the madness that was gathering there again went out of
+Rachel's eyes, the lids closed over them, and presently they were fast
+shut in sleep, nor did she open them again for many hours.
+
+Rachel awoke and sat up looking round her wonderingly. Then by the dim
+light of the lamps she saw Noie seated at her side, and the old
+dwarf-woman, who was called Mother of the Trees, squatted at a little
+distance watching them both--and remembered.
+
+"Thou hast had happy dreams, Lady, and thou art well again, is it not so?"
+queried Nya.
+
+"Aye, Mother," she answered, "too happy, for they make my waking the more
+sad. And I am well, I who desire to die."
+
+"Then go up through the open gate which thou sawest not so long ago, and
+satisfy thy desire, as it is easy to do," replied Nya grimly. "Nay," she
+added in a changed voice, "go not up, thou art too young and fair, the
+blood runs too red in those blue veins of thine. What hast thou to do with
+ghosts and death, and the darkness of the trees, thou child of the air and
+sunshine? Death for the dwarf-folk, death for the dealers in dreams, death
+for the death-lovers, but for thee life--life."
+
+ "Tell her, Noie," said Rachel, "that my mother, who was fore-sighted,
+always said that I should live out my days, and I fear that it is true,
+who must live them out alone."
+
+"Yes, yes, she was right, that mother of thine," answered Nya, "and for
+the rest, who knows? But thou art hungry, eat; afterwards we will talk,"
+and she pointed to a stool upon which was food.
+
+Rachel tasted and found it very good, a kind of porridge, made of she knew
+not what, and with it forest fruits, but no flesh. So she ate heartily,
+and Noie ate with her. Nya ate also, but only a very little.
+
+"Why should I trouble to eat?" she said, "I to whom death draws near?"
+
+When they had finished eating, at some signal which Rachel did not
+perceive, mutes came in who bore away the fragments of the meal. After
+they had gone the three women washed themselves in the water of the
+fountain. Then Noie combed out Rachel's golden hair, and clothed her again
+in her robe of silken fur that she had cleansed, throwing over it a mantle
+of snowy white fibre, such as the dwarfs wove into cloth, which she and
+Nya had made ready while Rachel slept.
+
+As Noie put it about her mistress and stepped back to see how it became
+her beauty, two of the dwarf-mutes appeared creeping up the cave, and
+squatting down before Nya began to make signs to her.
+
+"What is it?" asked Rachel nervously.
+
+"Eddo is without," answered the Mother, "and would speak with us."
+
+"I fear Eddo and will not go," exclaimed Rachel.
+
+"Nay, have no fear, Maiden, for here he can not harm thee or any of us; it
+is the place of sanctuary. Come, let us see this priest; perhaps we may
+learn something from him."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE CITY OF THE DEAD
+
+
+Nya led the way down the cave, followed by Rachel and Noie. Squatted in
+its entrance, so as to be out of reach of the rays of the sun, sat Eddo,
+looking like a malevolent toad, and with him were Hana and some other
+priests. As Rachel approached they all rose and saluted, but to Nya and
+Noie they gave no salute. Only to Nya Eddo said:
+
+ "Why art thou not within the Fence, old woman?" and he pointed with his
+chin towards the place of death above. "Thy tree is down, and all last
+night we were hacking off its branches that it may dry up the sooner. It
+is time for thee to die."
+
+"I die when my tree dies, not before, Priest," answered Nya. "I have still
+some work to do before I die, also I have planted my tree again in good
+soil, and it may grow."
+
+"I saw," said Eddo; "it is without the wall there, but many a generation
+must go by before a new Mother sits beneath its shade. Well, die when it
+pleases you, it does not matter when, since thou art no more our Mother.
+Moreover, learn that all have deserted thee, save a very few, most of whom
+have just now passed within the Fence above that they may attend thee
+amongst the ghosts."
+
+"I thank them," said Nya simply, "and in that world we will rule
+together."
+
+"The rest," went on Eddo, "have turned against thee, having heard how thou
+didst bring one of us to the Red Death yesterday by thy evil magic, him
+upon whom the bough fell."
+
+"Who was it that strove to bring me to the Red Death before I reached the
+sanctuary? Who shot the poisoned arrow, Priest?"
+
+"I do not know," answered Eddo, "but it seems that he shot badly for thou
+art still here. Now enough of thee, old woman. For many years we bore thy
+rule, which was always foolish, and sometimes bad, because we could not
+help it, for the tree of her who went before thee fell at thy feet, as thy
+tree has fallen at the feet of the White Virgin there. For long thou and I
+have struggled for the mastery, and now thou art dead and I have won, so
+be silent, old woman, and since that arrow missed thee, go hence in peace,
+for none need thee any more, who hast neither youth, nor comeliness, nor
+power."
+
+"Aye," answered Nya, stung to fury by these insults, "I shall go hence in
+peace, but thou shalt not abide in peace, thou traitor, nor those who
+follow thee. When youth and comeliness fade then wisdom grows, and wisdom
+is power, Eddo, true power. I tell thee that last night I looked in my
+bowl and saw things concerning thee--aye, and all of our people, that are
+hid from thy eyes, terrible things, things that have not befallen since
+the Tree of the Tribe was a seed, and the Spirit of the Tribe came to
+dwell within it."
+
+"Speak them, then," said Eddo, striving to hide the fear which showed
+through his round eyes.
+
+"Nay, Priest, I speak them not. Live on and thou shalt discover them, thou
+and thy traitors. Well have I served you all for many years, mercy have I
+given to all, white magic have I practised and not black, none have died
+that I could save, none have suffered whom I could protect, no, not even
+the slave-peoples beneath our rule. All this have I done, knowing that ye
+plotted against me, knowing that ye strove to kill my tree by spells,
+knowing what the end must be. It has come at last, as come it must, and I
+do not grieve. Fool, I knew that it would come, and I knew the manner of
+its coming. It was I who sent for this virgin queen whom ye would set up
+to rule over you, foreseeing that at her feet my tree would fall. The
+ghost of Seyapi, who is of my blood, Seyapi whom years ago ye drove away
+for no offence, to dwell in a strange land, told me of her and of this
+Noie, his daughter, and of the end of it all. So she came; thou didst not
+bring her as thou thoughtest, _I_ brought her, and my tree fell at her
+feet as it was doomed to fall, and she saved me from the Red Death as she
+was doomed to do, giving me love, not hate, as I gave her love not hate.
+For the rest ye shall see--all of you. I am finished--I am dead--but I
+live on elsewhere, and ye shall see."
+
+Now Eddo would have answered, but the priest Hana, who appeared to be much
+frightened by Nya's words, plucked at his sleeve, whispering in his ear,
+and he was silent. Presently he spoke again, but to Rachel, bidding Noie
+translate:
+
+"Thou White Maid," he said, "who wast called Princess of the Zulus, pay no
+heed to this old dotard, but listen to me. When thy Spirit wandered
+yonder, even then I saw the seeds of greatness in thee, and begged thee
+from the savage Dingaan. Also I and Pani, who is dead, and Hana, who
+lives, read by our magic that at thy feet the tree of Nya would fall, and
+that after her thou wast appointed to rule over us. All the Ghost-people
+read it also, and now they have named thee their Mother, and chosen thee a
+tree, a great tree, but young and strong, that shall stand for ages. Come
+forth, then, and take thy seat beneath that tree, and be our queen."
+
+"Why should I come?" asked Rachel. "It seems that you dwarfs bring your
+queens to ill ends. Choose you another Mother."
+
+"Inkosazana, we cannot if we would," answered Eddo, "for these matters are
+not in our hands, but in those of our Spirit. Hearken, we will deal well
+with thee; we will make thee great, and grow in thy greatness, for thou
+shall give us of thy wisdom, that although thou knowest it not, thou hast
+above all other women. We weary of little things, we would rule the world.
+All the nations from sea to sea shall bow down before thee, and seek thine
+oracle. Thou shall take their wealth, thou shalt drive them hither and
+thither as the wind drives clouds. Thou shalt make war, thou shalt ordain
+peace. At thy pleasure they shall rise up in life and lie down in death.
+Their kings shall cower before thee, their princes shall bring thee
+tribute, thou shalt reign a god."
+
+"Until it shall please Eddo to bring thee to thine end, Lady, as it
+pleases him to bring me to mine," muttered Nya behind her. "Be not
+beguiled, Maiden; remain a woman and uncrowned, for so thou shalt find
+most joy."
+
+"Thou meanest, Eddo," said Rachel, "that thou wilt rule and I do thy
+bidding. Noie, tell him that I will have none of it. When I came here a
+great sorrow had made me mad, and I knew nothing. Now I have found my
+Spirit again, and presently I go hence."
+
+At this answer Eddo grew very angry.
+
+"One thing I promise thee, Zoola," he said; "in the name of all the
+Ghost-people I promise it, that thou shalt not go hence alive. In this
+sanctuary thou art safe indeed, seated in the shadow of the Death-tree
+that is the Tree of Life, but soon or late a way will be found to draw
+thee hence, and then thou shalt learn who is the stronger--thou or
+Eddo--as the old woman behind thee has learned. Fare thee well for a
+while. I will tell the people that thou art weary and restest, and
+meanwhile I rule in thy name. Fare thee well, Inkosazana, till we meet
+without the wall," and he rose and went, accompanied by Hana and the other
+priests.
+
+When he had gone a little way he turned, and pointing up the hill,
+screamed back to Nya:
+
+"Go and look within the Fence, old hag. There thou wilt see the best of
+those that clung to thee, seeking for peace. Art thou a coward that thou
+lingerest behind them?"
+
+"Nay, Eddo," she answered, "thou art the coward that hast driven them to
+death, because they are good and thou art evil. When my hour is ripe I
+join them, not before. Nor shalt thou abide here long behind me. One short
+day of triumph for thee, Eddo, and then night, black night for ever."
+
+Eddo heard, and his yellow face grew white with rage, or fear. He stamped
+upon the ground, he shook his small fat fists, and spat out curses as a
+toad spits venom. Nya did not stay to listen to them, but walked up the
+cave and sat herself down upon her mat.
+
+"Why does he hate thee so, Mother?" asked Rachel.
+
+"Because those that are bad hate those that are good, Maiden. For many a
+year Eddo has sought to rule through me, and to work evil in the world,
+but I have not suffered it. He would abandon our secret, ancient faith,
+and reign a king, as Dingaan the Zulu reigns. He would send the
+slave-tribes out to war and conquer the nations, and build him a great
+house, and have many wives. But I held him fast, so that he could do few
+of these things. Therefore he plotted against me, but my magic was greater
+than his, and while my tree stood he could not prevail. At length it fell
+at thy feet, as he knew that it was doomed to fall, for all these things
+are fore-ordained, and at once he would have slain me by the Red Death,
+but thou didst protect me, and for that blessed be thou for ever."
+
+"And why does he wish to make me Mother in thy place, Nya?"
+
+"Because my tree fell at thy feet, and all the people demand it. Because
+he thinks that once the bond of the priesthood is tied between you, and
+his blood runs in thee, thy pure spirit will protect his spirit from its
+sins, and that thy wisdom, which he sees in thee, will make him greater
+than any of the Ghost-people that ever lived. Yet consent not, for
+afterwards if thou dost thwart him, he will find a way to bring down thy
+tree, and with it thy life, and set another to rule in thy place. Consent
+not, for know that here thou art safe from him."
+
+"It may be so, Mother, but how can I dwell on in this dismal place?
+Already my heart is broken with its sorrows, and soon, like those poor
+folk, I should seek peace within the Fence."
+
+"Tell me of those sorrows," said Nya gently. "Perhaps I do not know them
+all, and perhaps I could help thee."
+
+So Rachel sat herself down also, and Noie, interpreting for her, told all
+her tale up to that point when she saw the body of Richard borne away, for
+after this she remembered nothing until she found herself standing upon
+the fallen tree in the land of the Ghost Kings. It was a long tale, and
+before ever she finished it night fell, but throughout its telling the old
+dwarf-woman said never a word, only watched Rachel's face with her kind,
+soft eyes. At last it was done, and she said:
+
+"A sad story. Truly there is much evil in the world beyond the country of
+the Trees, for here at least we shed little blood. Now, Maiden, what is
+thy desire?"
+
+"This is my desire," said Rachel, "to be joined again to him I love, whom
+Ishmael slew; yes, and to my father and mother also, whom the Zulus slew
+at the command of Ishmael."
+
+"If they are all dead, how can that be, Maiden, unless thou seekest them
+in death? Pass within the Fence yonder, and let the poison of the Tree of
+the Tribe fall upon thee, and soon thou wilt find them."
+
+ "Nay, Mother, I may not, for it would be self-murder, and my faith knows
+few greater crimes."
+
+"Then thou must wait till death finds thee, and that road may be very
+long."
+
+"Already it is long, Mother, so long that I know not how to travel it, who
+am alone in the world without a friend save Noie here," and she began to
+weep.
+
+"Not so. Thou hast another friend," and she laid her hand upon Rachel's
+heart, "though it is true that I may bide with thee but a little while."
+
+After this they were all silent for a space, until Nya looked up at Rachel
+and asked suddenly:
+
+"Art thou brave?"
+
+"The Zulus and others thought so, Mother; but what can courage avail me
+now?"
+
+"Courage of the body, nothing, Maiden; courage of the spirit much,
+perhaps. If thou sawest this lover of thine, and knew for certain that he
+lives on beneath the world awaiting thee, would it bring thee comfort?"
+
+Rachel's breast heaved and her eyes sparkled with joy, as she answered:
+
+"Comfort! What is there that could bring so much? But how can it be,
+Mother, seeing that the last gulf divides us, a gulf which mortals may not
+pass and live?"
+
+"Thou sayest it; still I have great power, and thy spirit is white and
+clean. Perhaps I could despatch it across that gulf and call it back to
+earth again. Yet there are dangers, dangers to me of which I reck little,
+and dangers to thee. Whither I sent thee, there thou mightest bide."
+
+"I care not if I bide there, Mother, if only it be with him! Oh! send me
+on this journey to his side, and living or dead I will bless thee."
+
+Now Nya thought a while and answered:
+
+"For thy sake I will try what I would try for none other who has breathed,
+or breathes, for thou didst save me from the Red Death at the hands of
+Eddo. Yes, I will try, but not yet--first thou must eat and rest. Obey, or
+I do nothing."
+
+So Rachel ate, and afterwards, feeling drowsy, even slept a while, perhaps
+because she was still weary with her journeying and her new-found mind
+needed repose, or perhaps because some drug had been mingled with her
+drink. When she awoke Nya led her to the mouth of the cave. There they
+stood awhile studying the stars. No breath of air stirred, and the silence
+was intense, only from time to time the sound of trees falling in the
+forest reached their ears. Sometimes it was quite soft, as though a fleece
+of wool had been dropped to the earth, that was when the tree that died
+had grown miles and miles away from them; and sometimes the crash was as
+that of sudden thunder, that was when the tree which died had grown near
+to them.
+
+A sense of the mystery and wonder of the place and hour sank into Rachel's
+heart. The stars above, the mighty entombing forest, in which the trees
+fell unceasingly after their long centuries of life, the encircling wall,
+built perhaps by hands that had ceased from their labours hundreds of
+thousands of years before those trees began to grow; the huge moss-clad
+cedar upon the mound beneath the shadow of whose branches day by day its
+worshippers gave up their breath, that immemorial cedar whereof, as they
+believed, the life was the life of the nation; the wizened little
+witch-woman at her side with the seal of doom already set upon her brow
+and the stare of farewell in her eyes; the sad, spiritual face of Noie,
+who held her hand, the loving, faithful Noie, who in that light seemed
+half a thing of air; the grey little dwarf-mutes who squatted on their
+mats staring at the ground, or now and again passed down the hill from the
+Fence of Death above, bearing between them a body to its burial; all were
+mysterious, all were wonderful.
+
+As she looked and listened, a new strength stirred in Rachel's heart. At
+first she had felt afraid, but now courage flowed into her, and it seemed
+to come from the old, old woman at her side, the mistress of mysteries,
+the mother of magic, in whom was gathered the wisdom of a hundred
+generations of this half human race.
+
+"Look at the stars, and the night," she was saying in her soft voice, "for
+soon thou shalt be beyond them all, and perchance thou shall never see
+them more. Art thou fearful? If so, speak, and we will not try this
+journey in search of one whom we may not find."
+
+"No," answered Rachel; "but, Mother, whither go we?"
+
+"We go to the Land, of Death. Come, then, the moment is at hand. It is
+hard on midnight. See, yonder star stands above the holy Tree," and she
+pointed to a bright orb that hung almost over the topmost bough of the
+cedar, "it marks thy road, and if thou wouldst pass it, now is the hour."
+
+"Mother," asked Noie, "may I come with her? I also have my dead, and where
+my Sister goes I follow."
+
+"Aye, if thou wilt, daughter of Seyapi, the path is wide enough for three,
+and if I stay on high, perchance thou that art of my blood mayest find
+strength to guide her earthwards through the wandering worlds."
+
+Then Nya walked up the cave and sat herself down within the circle of the
+lamps with her back to the stalactite that was shaped like a tree, bidding
+Rachel and Noie be seated in front of her. Two of the dwarf-mutes
+appeared, women both of them, and squatted to right and left, each gazing
+into a bowl of limpid dew. Nya made a sign, and still gazing into their
+bowls, these dwarfs began to beat upon little drums that gave out a
+curious, rolling noise, while Nya sang to the sound of the drums a wild,
+low song. With her thin little hands she grasped the right hand of Rachel
+and of Noie and gazed into their eyes.
+
+Things changed to Rachel. The dwarfs to right and left vanished away, but
+the low murmuring of their drums grew to a mighty music, and the stars
+danced to it. The song of Nya swelled and swelled till it filled all the
+space between earth and heaven; it was the rush of the gale among the
+forests, it was the beating of the sea upon an illimitable coast, it was
+the shout of all the armies of the world, it was the weeping of all the
+women of the world. It lessened again, she seemed to be passing away from
+it, she heard it far beneath her, it grew tiny in its volume--tiny as if
+it were an infinite speck or point of sound which she could still discern
+for millions and millions of miles, till at length distance and vastness
+overcame it, and it ceased. It ceased, this song of the earth, but a new
+song began, the song of the rushing worlds. Far away she could hear it,
+that ineffable music, far in the utter depths of space. Nearer it would
+come and nearer, a ringing, glorious sound, a sound and yet a voice, one
+mighty voice that sang and was answered by other voices as sun crossed the
+path of sun, and caught up and re-echoed by the innumerable choir of the
+constellations.
+
+They were falling past her, those vast, glowing suns, those rounded
+planets that were now vivid with light, and now steeped in gloom, those
+infinite showers of distant stars. They were gone, they and their music
+together; she was far beyond them in a region where all life was
+forgotten, beyond the rush of the uttermost comet, beyond the last glimmer
+of the spies and outposts of the universe. One shape of light she sped
+into the black bosom of fathomless space, and its solitude shrivelled up
+her soul. She could not endure, she longed for some shore on which to set
+her mortal feet.
+
+Behold! far away a shore appeared, a towering, cliff-bound shore, upon
+whose iron coasts all the black waves of space beat vainly and were
+eternally rolled back. Here there was light, but no such light as she had
+ever known; it did not fall from sun or star, but, changeful and radiant,
+welled upward from that land in a thousand hues, as light might well from
+a world of opal. In its dazzling, beautiful rays she saw fantastic palaces
+and pyramids, she saw seas and pure white mountains, she saw plains and
+new-hued flowers, she saw gulfs and precipices, and pale lakes pregnant
+with wavering flame. All that she had ever conceived of as lovely or as
+fearful, she beheld, far lovelier or a thousandfold more fearful.
+
+Like a great rose of glory that world bloomed and changed beneath her.
+Petal by petal its splendours fell away and were swallowed in the sea of
+space, whilst from the deep heart of the immortal rose new splendours took
+their birth, and fresh-fashioned, mysterious, wonderful, reappeared the
+measureless city with its columns, its towers, and its glittering gates.
+It endured a moment, or a million years, she knew not which, and lo! where
+it had been, stood another city, different, utterly different, only a
+hundred times more glorious. Out of the prodigal heart of the world-rose
+were they created, into the black bosom of nothingness were they gathered;
+whilst others, ever more perfect, pressed into their place. So, too,
+changed the mountains, and so the trees, while the gulfs became a garden
+and the fiery lakes a pleasant stream, and from the seed of the strange
+flowers grew immemorial forests wreathed about with rosy mists and
+bedecked in glimmering dew. With music they were born, on the wings of
+music they fled away, and after them that sweet music wailed like
+memories.
+
+A hand took hers and drew her downwards, and up to meet her leapt myriads
+of points of light, in every point a tiny face. They gazed at her with
+their golden eyes; they whispered together concerning her, and the sound
+of their whispering was the sound of a sea at peace. They accompanied her
+to the very heart of the opal rose of life whence all these wonders
+welled, they set her in a great grey hall roofed in with leaning cliffs,
+and there they left her desolate.
+
+Fear came upon her, the loneliness choked her, it held her by the throat
+like a thing alive. She seemed about to die of it, when she became aware
+that once more she was companioned. Shapes stood about her. She could not
+see the shapes, save dimly now and again as they moved, but their eyes she
+could see, their great calm, pitiful eyes, which looked down on her, as
+the eye of a giant might look down upon a babe. They were terrible, but
+she did not fear them so much as the loneliness, for at least they lived.
+
+One of the shapes bent over her, for its holy eyes drew near to her, and
+she heard a voice in her heart asking her for what great cause she had
+dared to journey hither before the time. She answered, in her heart, not
+with her lips, that she was bereaved of all she loved and came to seek
+them. Then; still in her heart, she heard that voice command:
+
+ "Let all this Rachel's dead be brought before her."
+
+Instantly doors swung open at the end of that grey hall, and through them
+with noiseless steps, with shadowy wings, floated a being that bore in its
+arms a child. Before her it stayed, and the light of its starry head
+illumined the face of the child. She knew it at once--it was that baby
+brother whose bones lay by the shore of the African sea. It awoke from its
+sleep, it opened its eyes, it stretched out its arms and smiled at her.
+Then it was gone.
+
+Other Shapes appeared, each of them bearing its burden--a companion who
+had died at school, friends of her youth and childhood whom she had
+thought yet living, a young man who once had wished to marry her and who
+was drowned, the soldier whom she had killed to save the life of Noie. At
+the sight of him she shrank, for his blood was on her hands, but he only
+smiled like the rest, and was borne away, to be followed by that
+witch-doctoress whom the Zulus had slain because of her, who neither
+smiled nor frowned but passed like one who wonders.
+
+Then another shadow swept down the hall, and in its arms her mother--her
+mother with joyful eyes, who held thin hands above her as though in
+blessing, and to whom she strove to speak but strove in vain. She was
+borne on still blessing her, and where she had been was her father, who
+blessed her also, and whose presence seemed to shed peace upon her soul.
+He pointed upwards and was gone, gazing at her earnestly, and lo! a form
+of darkness cast something at her feet. It was Ishmael who knelt before
+her, Ishmael whose tormented face gazed up at her as though imploring
+pardon.
+
+A struggle rent her heart. Could she forgive? Oh! could she forgive him
+who had slain them all? Now she was aware that the place was filled with
+the points of light that were Spirits, and that every one of them looked
+at her awaiting the free verdict of her heart. Rank upon rank, also, the
+mighty Shapes gathered about her, and in their arms her dead, and all of
+them looked and looked, awaiting the free verdict of her heart. Then it
+arose within her, drawn how she knew not from every fibre of her infinite
+being, it arose within her, that spirit of pity and of pardon. As the dead
+had stretched out their arms above her, so she stretched out her arms over
+the head of that tortured soul, and for the first time her lips were given
+power to speak.
+
+"As I hope for pardon, so I pardon," she said. "Go in peace!"
+
+Voices and trumpets caught up the words, and through the grey hall they
+rang and echoed, proclaimed for ever and as they died away he too was
+gone, and with him went the myriad points of flame, in each of which
+gleamed a tiny face. She looked about her seeking another Spirit, that
+Spirit she had, travelled so far and dared so much to find. But there came
+only a little dwarf that shambled alone down the great hall. She knew him
+at once for Pani, the priest, he who had been crushed in the tempest,
+Pani, the brother of Eddo. No Shape bore him, for he who on earth had been
+half a ghost, could walk this ghost-world on his mortal feet, or so her
+mind conceived. Past her he shuffled shamefaced, and was gone.
+
+Now the great doors at the end of the hall closed; from far away she could
+see them roll together like lightning-severed clouds, and once more that
+awful loneliness overcame her. Her knees gave way beneath her, she sank
+down upon the floor, one little spot of white in its expanse, wishing that
+the roof of rock would fall and hide her. She covered her face with her
+golden hair, and wept behind its veil. She looked up and saw two great
+eyes gazing at her--no face, only two great, steady eyes. Then a voice
+speaking in her heart asked her why she wept, whose desire had been
+fulfilled, and she answered that it was because she could not find him
+whom she sought, Richard Darrien. Instantly the tongues and trumpets took
+up the name.
+
+"Richard Darrien!" they cried, "Richard Darrien!"
+
+But no Shape swept in bearing the spirit of Richard in its arms.
+
+"He is not here," said the voice in her heart. "Go, seek him in some other
+world."
+
+She grew angry.
+
+"Thou mockest me," she answered, "He is dead, and this is the home of the
+dead; therefore he must be here. Shadow, thou mockest me."
+
+"I mock not," came the swift answer. "Mortal, look now and learn."
+
+Again the doors burst open, and through them poured the infinite rout of
+the dead. That hall would not hold them all, therefore it grew and grew
+till her sight could scarcely reach from wall to wall. Shapes headed and
+marshalled them by races and by generations, perhaps because thus only
+could her human heart imagine them, but now none were borne in their arms.
+They came in myriads and in millions, in billions and tens of billions,
+men and women and children, kings and priests and beggars, all wearing the
+garments of their age and country. They came like an ocean-tide, and their
+floating hair was the foam on the tide, and their eyes gleamed like the
+first shimmer of dawn above the snows. They came for hours and days and
+years and centuries, they came eternally, and as they came every finger of
+that host, compared to which all the sands of all the seas were but as a
+handful, was pointed at her, and every mouth shaped the words:
+
+"Is it I whom thou seekest?"
+
+Million by million she scanned them all, but the face of Richard Darrien
+was not there.
+
+Now the dead Zulus were marching by. Down the stream of Time they marched
+in their marshalled regiments. Chaka stood over her--she knew him by his
+likeness to Dingaan--and threatened her with a little, red-handled spear,
+asking her how she dared to sit upon the throne of the Spirit of his
+nation. She began to tell him her story, but as she spoke the wide
+receding walls of that grey hall fell apart and crumbled, and amidst a
+mighty laughter the great-eyed Shapes rebuilt them to the fashion of the
+cave in the mound beneath the tree of the dwarf-folk. The sound of the
+trumpets died away, the shrill, sweet music of the spheres grew far and
+faint.
+
+Rachel opened her eyes. There in front of her sat Nya, crooning her low
+song, and there, on either side crouched the mutes tapping upon their
+little drums and gazing into their bowls of water, while against her
+leaned Noie, who stirred like one awaking from sleep. Ages and ages ago
+when she started on that dread journey, the dwarf to her left was
+stretching out her hand to steady the bowl at her feet, and now it had but
+just reached the bowl. A great moth had singed its wings in the lamp, and
+was fluttering to the ground--it was still in mid-air. Noie was placing
+her arm about her neck, and it had but begun to fall upon her shoulder!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+IN THE SANCTUARY
+
+
+Nya ceased her singing, and the dwarf women their beating on the drums.
+
+"Hast thou been a journey, Maiden?" she asked, looking at Rachel
+curiously.
+
+"Aye, Mother," she answered in a faint voice, "and a journey far and
+strange."
+
+"And thou, Noie, my niece?"
+
+"Aye, Mother," she answered, shivering as though with cold or fear, "but I
+went not with my Sister here, I went alone--for years and years."
+
+"A far journey thou sayest, Inkosazana, and one that was for years and
+years, thou sayest, Noie, yet the eyes of both of you have been shut for
+so long only as it takes a burnt moth to fall from the lamp flame to the
+ground. I think that you slept and dreamed a moment, that is all."
+
+"Mayhap, Mother," replied Rachel, "but if so mine was a most wondrous
+dream, such as has never visited me before, and as I pray, never may
+again. For I was borne beyond the stars into the glorious cities of the
+dead, and I saw all the dead, and those that I had known in life were
+brought to me by Shapes and Powers whereof I could only see the eyes."
+
+"And didst thou find him whom thou soughtest most of all?"
+
+"Nay," she answered, "him alone I did not find. I sought him, I prayed the
+Guardians of the dead to show him to me, and they called up all the dead,
+and I scanned them every one, and they summoned him by his name, but he
+was not of their number, and he came not. Only they spoke in my heart,
+bidding me to look for him in some other world."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Nya starting a little, "they said that to thee, did they?
+Well, worlds are many, and such a search would be long." Then as though to
+turn the subject, she added, "And what sawest thou, Noie?"
+
+"I, Mother? I went not beyond the stars, I climbed down endless ladders
+into the centre of the earth, my feet are still sore with them. I reached
+vast caves full of a blackness that shone, and there many dead folk were
+walking, going nowhere, and coming back from nowhere. They seemed
+strengthless but not unhappy, and they looked at me and asked me tidings
+of the upper world, but I could not answer them, for whenever I opened my
+lips to speak a cold hand was laid upon my mouth. I wandered among them
+for many moons, only there was no moon, nothing but the blackness that
+shone like polished coal, wandered from cave to cave. At length I came to
+a cave in which sat my father, Seyapi, and near to him my mother, and my
+other mothers, his wives, and my brothers and sisters, all of whom the
+Zulus killed, as the wild beast, Ibubesi, told them to do."
+
+"I saw Ibubesi, and he prayed me for my pardon, and I granted it to him,"
+broke in Rachel.
+
+"I did not see him," went on Noie fiercely, "nor would I have pardoned him
+if I had. Nor do I think that my father and his family pardon him; I think
+that they wait to bear testimony against him before the Lord of the dead."
+
+"Did Seyapi tell you so?" asked Rachel.
+
+"Nay, he sat there beneath a black tree whereof I could not see the top,
+and gazed into a bowl of black water, and in that bowl he showed me many
+pictures of things that have been and things that are to come, but they
+are secret, I may say nothing of them."
+
+"And what was the end of it, my niece?" asked Nya, bending forward
+eagerly.
+
+"Mother, the end of it was that the black tree which was shaped like the
+tree of our tribe above us, took fire and went up in a fierce flame. Then
+the roofs of the caves fell in and all the people of the dwarfs flew
+through the roofs, singing and rejoicing, into a place of light; only,"
+she added slowly, "it seemed to me that I was left alone amidst the ruins
+of the caves, I and the white ghost of the tree. Then a voice cried to me
+to make my heart bold, to bear all things with patience, since to those
+who dare much for love's sake, much will be forgiven. So I woke, but what
+those words mean I cannot guess, seeing that I love no man, and never
+shall," and she rested her chin upon her hand and sat there musing.
+
+"No," replied Nya, "thou lovest no man, and therefore the riddle is hard,"
+but as she spoke her eyes fell upon Rachel.
+
+"Mother," said Rachel presently, "my heart is the hungrier for all that it
+has fed upon. Can thy magic send me back to that country of the dead that
+I may search for him again? If so, for his sake I will dare the journey."
+
+"Not so," answered Nya shaking her head; "it is a road that very few have
+travelled, and none may travel twice and live."
+
+Now Rachel began to weep.
+
+"Weep not, Maiden, there are other roads and perchance to-morrow thou
+shall walk them. Now lie down and sleep, both of you, and fear no dreams."
+
+So they laid themselves down and slept, but the old witch-wife, Nya, sat
+waiting and watched them.
+
+"I think I understand," she murmured to herself, as She gazed at the
+slumbering Rachel, "for to her who is so pure and good, and who has
+suffered such cruel wrong, the Guardians would not lie. I think that I
+understand and that I can find a path. Sleep on, sweet maiden, sleep on in
+hope."
+
+Then she looked at Noie and shook her grey head.
+
+"I do not understand," she muttered. "The black tree shaped like the Tree
+of our Tribe, and Seyapi of the old blood seated beneath it. The tree that
+went up in fire, and the maid of the old blood left alone with the ghost
+of it, while the dwarf people fled into light and freedom. What does it
+mean? Ah! that picture in the bowl! Now I can guess. 'Those who dare much
+for love.' It did not say for love of man, and woman can love woman. But
+would she dare a deed that none of our race could even dream? Well, the
+Zulu blood is bold. Perhaps, perhaps. Oh! Eddo, thou black sorcerer,
+whither art thou leading the Children of the Tree? On thy head be it,
+Eddo, not on mine; on thy head for ever and for ever."
+
+When Rachel awoke, refreshed, on the following day, she lay a while
+thinking. Every detail of her vision was perfectly clear in her mind, only
+now she was sure that it had been but a dream. Yet what a wonderful dream!
+How, even in her sleep, had she found the imagination to conceive
+circumstances so inconceivable? That magic rush beyond the stars; that
+mighty world set round with black cliffs against which rolled the waves of
+space; that changeful, wondrous world which unfolded itself petal by petal
+like a rose, every petal lovelier and different from the last; that grey
+hall roofed with tilted precipices; and then those dead, those multitudes
+of the dead!
+
+What power had been born in her that she could imagine such things as
+these? Vision she had, like her mother, but not after this sort. Perhaps
+it was but an aftermath of her madness, for into the minds of the mad
+creep strange sights and sounds, and this place, and the people amongst
+whom she sojourned, the Ghost-people, the grey Dwarf-people, the Dealers
+in dreams, the Dwellers in the sombre forest, might well open new doors in
+such a soul as hers. Or perhaps she was still mad. She did not know, she
+did not greatly care. All she knew was that her poor heart ached with love
+for a man who was dead, and yet whom she could not find even among the
+dead. She had wished to die, but now she longed for death no more, fearing
+lest after all there should be something in that vision which the magic of
+Nya had summoned up, and that when she reached the further shore she might
+not find him who dwelt in a different world. Oh! if only she could find
+him, then she would be glad enough to go wherever it was that he had gone.
+
+Now Noie was awake at her side, and they talked together.
+
+"We must have dreamt dreams, Noie," she said. "Perhaps the Mother mingled
+some drug with our food."
+
+"I do not know, Zoola," answered Noie; "but, if so, I want no more of
+those dreams which bode no good to me. Besides, who can tell what is dream
+and what is truth? Mayhap this world is the dream, and the truth is such
+things as we saw last night," and she would say no more on the matter.
+
+Nothing happened within the Wall that day--that is, nothing out of the
+common. A certain number of the privileged, priestly caste of the dwarfs
+were carried or conducted into the holy place, and up to the Fence of
+Death that they might die there, and a certain number were brought out for
+burial. Some of those who came in were folk weary of life, or, in other
+words, suicides, and these walked; and some were sick of various diseases,
+and these were carried. But the end was the same, they always died, though
+whether this result was really brought about by some poison distilled from
+the tree, as Nya alleged, or whether it was the effect of a physical
+collapse induced by that inherited belief, Rachel never discovered.
+
+At least they died, some almost at once, and some within a day or two of
+entering that deadly shade, and were borne away to burial by the mutes who
+spent their spare time in the digging of little graves which they must
+fill. Indeed, these mutes either knew, or pretended that they knew who
+would be the occupant of each grave. At least they intimated by signs that
+this was revealed to them in their bowls, and when the victims appeared
+within the Wall, took pleasure in leading them to the holes they had
+prepared, and showing to them with what care these had been dug to suit
+their stature. For this service they received a fee that such moribund
+persons brought with them, either of finely woven robes, or of mats, or of
+different sorts of food, or sometimes of gold and copper rings
+manufactured by the Umkulu or other subject savages, which they wore upon
+their wrists and ankles.
+
+Certain of these doomed folk, however, went to their fate with no light
+hearts, which was not wonderful, as it seemed that these were neither ill
+nor sought a voluntary euthanasia. They were political victims sent
+thither by Eddo as an alternative to the terror of the Red Death, whereby
+according to their strange and ancient creed, they would have risked the
+spilling of their souls. For the most part the crime of these poor people
+was that they had been adherents and supporters of the old Mother of the
+Tree, Nya, over whom Eddo was at last triumphant. On their way up to the
+Fence such individuals would stop to exchange a last few, sad words with
+their dethroned priestess.
+
+Then without any resistance they went on with the rest, but from them the
+mutes received scant offerings, or none at all, with the result that they
+were cast into the worst situated and most inconvenient graves, or even
+tumbled two or three together into some shapeless corner hole. But, after
+all, that mattered nothing to them so long as they received sepulchre
+within the Wall, which was their birth-or, rather, their death-right.
+
+The priest-mutes themselves were a strange folk, and, oddly enough, Rachel
+observed, by comparison, quite cheerful in their demeanour, for when off
+duty they would smile and gibber at each other like monkeys, and carry on
+a kind of market between themselves. They lived in that part of the
+circumference of the Wall which was behind the hill whereon grew the
+sacred tree. Here no burials took place, and instead of graves appeared
+their tiny huts arranged in neat streets and squares. In these they and
+their forefathers had dwelt from time immemorial; indeed, each little hut
+with a few yards of fenced-in ground about it ornamented with dwarf trees,
+was a freehold that descended from father to son. For the mutes married,
+and were given in marriage, like other folk, though their children were
+few, a family of three being considered very large, while many of the
+couples had none at all. But those who were born to them were all
+deaf-mutes, although their other senses seemed to be singularly acute.
+
+These mutes had their virtues; thus some of them were very kind to each
+other, and especially to those from the outer forest world who came hither
+to bid farewell to that world, and others, renouncing marriage and all
+earthly joys, devoted their lives, which appeared to be long, to the
+worship of the Spirit of the Tree. Also they had their vices, such as
+theft, and the seducing away of the betrothed of others, but the chief of
+them was jealousy, which sometimes led to murder by poisoning, an art
+whereof they were great masters.
+
+When such a crime was discovered, and a case of it happened during the
+first days of Rachel's sojourn among them, the accused was put upon his
+trial before the chief of the mutes, evidence for and against him being
+given by signs which they all understood. Then if a case were established
+against him, he was forced to drink a bowl of medicine. If he did this
+with impunity he was acquitted, but if it disagreed with him his guilt was
+held to be established. Now came the strange part of the matter. All his
+life the evil-doer had been accustomed to go within the Fence about his
+business and take no harm, but after such condemnation he was conducted
+there with the usual ceremonies and very shortly perished like any other
+uninitiated person. Whether this issue was due to magic or to mental
+collapse, or to the previous administration of poison, no one seemed to
+know, not even Nya herself. So, at least, she declared to Rachel.
+
+At each new moon these mutes celebrated what Rachel was informed they
+looked upon as a festival. That is, they climbed the Tree of the Tribe and
+scattered themselves among its enormous branches, where for several hours
+they mumbled and gibbered in the dark like a troop of baboons. Then they
+came down, and mounting the huge, surrounding wall, crept around its
+circumference. Occasionally this journey resulted in an accident, as one
+of them would fall from the wall and be dashed to pieces, although it was
+noticed that the unfortunate was generally a person who, although guilty
+of no actual crime, chanced to be out of favour with the other priests and
+priestesses. After the circuit of the wall had been accomplished, with or
+without accidents, the dwarfs feasted round a fire, drinking some spirit
+that threw them into a sleep in which wonderful visions appeared to them.
+Such was their only entertainment, if so it could be called, since
+doubtless the ceremony was of a religious character. For the rest they
+seldom if ever left the holy place, which was known as "Within the Wall,"
+most of them never doing so in the course of a long life.
+
+Beyond the burial of the dead they did no work, as their food was brought
+to them daily by outside people, who were called "the slaves of the Wall."
+Their only method of conversation was by signs, and they seemed to desire
+no other. Indeed, if, as occasionally happened, a child was born to any of
+them who could hear or speak like other human beings, it was either given
+over to the other dwarfs, or if the discovery was not made until it was
+old enough to observe, it was sacrificed by being bound to the trunk of
+the tribal tree "lest it should tell the secret of the Tree."
+
+Such were the weird, half-human folk among whom Rachel was destined to
+dwell. The Zulus had been bad and bloodthirsty, but compared to these
+little wizards they seemed to her as angels. The Zulus at any rate had
+left her her thoughts, but these stunted wretches, she was sure, pried
+into them and read them with the help of their bowls, for often she caught
+sight of them signing to each other about her as she passed, and pointing
+with grins to pictures which they saw in the water.
+
+
+
+It was night again, still, silent night made odorous with the heavy cedar
+scents of the huge tree upon the mound. Rachel and Noie sat before Nya in
+the cave beneath the burning lamp about which fluttered the big-winged,
+gilded moths.
+
+"Thou didst not find him yonder among the Shades," said Nya suddenly, as
+though she were continuing a conversation. "Say now, Maiden, art thou
+satisfied, or wouldst thou seek for him again?"
+
+"I would seek him through all the heavens and all the earths. Mother, my
+soul burns for a sight of him, and if I cannot find him, then I must die,
+and go perchance where he is not."
+
+"Good," said Nya; "the effort wearies me, for I grow weak, yet for thy
+sake I will try to help thee, who saved me from the Red Death."
+
+Then the dwarf-women came in and beat upon their drums, and, as before,
+the old Mother of the Trees began to sing, but Noie sat aside, for in this
+night's play she would take no part. Again Rachel sank into sleep, and
+again it seemed to her that she was swept from the earth into the region
+of the stars and there searched world after world.
+
+She saw many strange and marvellous things, things so wonderful that her
+memory was buried beneath the mass of them, so that when she woke again
+she could not recall their details. Only of Richard she saw nothing. Yet
+as her life returned to her, it seemed to Rachel that for one brief moment
+she was near to Richard. She could not see him, and she could not hear
+him, yet certainly he was near her. Then her eyes opened, and Nya ceasing
+from her song, asked:
+
+"What tidings, Wanderer?"
+
+"Little," she answered feebly, for she was very tired, and in a faint
+voice she told her all.
+
+"Good," said Nya, nodding her grey head. "This time he was not so far
+away. To-morrow I will make thy spirit strong, and then perhaps he will
+come to thee. Now rest."
+
+So next night Nya laid her charm upon Rachel as before, and again her
+spirit sought for Richard. This time it seemed to her that she did not
+leave the earth, but with infinite pain, with terrible struggling,
+wandered to and fro about it, bewildered by a multitude of faces, led
+astray by myriads of footsteps. Yet in the end she found him. She heard
+him not, she saw him not, she knew not where he was, but undoubtedly for a
+while she was with him, and awoke again, exhausted, but very happy.
+
+Nya heard her story, weighing every word of it but saying nothing. Then
+she signed to the dwarfs to bring her a bowl of dew, and stared in it for
+a long while. The dwarf-women also stared into their bowls, and afterwards
+came to her, talking to her on their fingers, after which all three of
+them upset the dew upon a rock, "breaking the pictures."
+
+"Hast thou seen aught?" asked Rachel eagerly.
+
+"Yes, Maiden," answered the mother. "I and these wise women have seen
+something, the same thing, and therefore a true thing. But ask not what it
+was, for we may not tell thee, nor would it help thee if we did. Only be
+of a good courage, for this I say, there is hope for thee."
+
+So Rachel went to sleep, pondering on these words, of which neither she
+nor Noie could guess the meaning. The next night when she prayed Nya to
+lay the spell upon her, the old Mother would not.
+
+"Not so," she said. "Thrice have I rent thy soul from thy body and sent it
+afar, and this I may do no more and keep thee living, nor could I if I
+would, for I grow feeble. Neither is it necessary, seeing that although
+thou knowest it not, that spirit of thine, having found him, is with him
+wherever he may be, yes, at his side comforting him."
+
+"Aye, but Where is he, Mother? Let me look in the bowl and see his face,
+as I believe that thou hast done."
+
+"Look if thou wilt," and she motioned to one of the dwarf-women to place a
+bowl before her.
+
+So Rachel looked long and earnestly, but saw nothing of Richard, only many
+fantastic pictures, most of which she knew again for scenes from her own
+past. At length, worn out, she thrust away the bowl, and asked in a bitter
+voice why they mocked her, and how it came about that she who had seen the
+coming of Richard in the pool in Zululand, and the fate of Dingaan the
+King in the bowl of Eddo, could now see nothing of any worth.
+
+"As regards the vision of the pool I cannot say, Maiden," replied Nya,
+"for that was born of thine own heart, and had nothing to do with our
+magic. As regards the visions in the bowl of Eddo, they were his visions,
+not thine, or rather my visions that I saw before he started hence. I
+passed them on to him, and he passed them on to thee, and thou didst pass
+them on to King Dingaan. Far-sighted and pure-souled as thou art, yet not
+having been instructed in their wizardry, thou wilt see nothing in the
+bowls of the dwarfs unless their blood is mingled with thy blood."
+
+"'Their blood mingled with my blood?' What dost thou mean, Mother?"
+
+"What I say, neither more nor less. If Eddo has his will, thou wilt rule
+after me here as Mother of the Trees. But first thy veins must be opened,
+and the veins of Eddo must be opened, and Eddo's blood must be poured into
+thee, and thy blood into him. Then thou wilt be able to read in the bowls
+as we can, and Eddo will be thy master, and thou must do his bidding while
+you both shall live."
+
+"If so," answered Rachel, "I think that neither of us will live long."
+
+That night Rachel felt too exhausted to sleep, though why this should be
+she could not guess, as she had done nothing all day save watch the mutes
+at their dreary tasks, and it was strange, therefore, that she should feel
+as though she had made a long journey upon her feet. About an hour before
+the dawn she saw Nya rise and glide past her towards the mouth of the
+cave, carrying in her hand a little drum, like those used by the mute
+women. Something impelled her to follow, and waking Noie at her side, she
+bade her come also.
+
+ Outside of the cave by the faint starlight they saw the little shape of
+Nya creeping down the mound, and thence across the open space towards the
+wall, and went after her, thinking that she intended to pass the wall. But
+this she did not do, for when she came to its foot Nya, notwithstanding
+her feebleness, began to climb the rough stones as actively as any cat,
+and though their ascent seemed perilous enough, reached the crest of the
+wall sixty feet above in safety, and there sat herself down. Next they
+heard her beating upon the drum she bore, single strokes always, but some
+of them slow, and some rapid, with a pause between every five or ten
+strokes, "as though she were spelling out words," thought Rachel.
+
+After a while Nya ceased her beating, and in the utter silence of the
+night, which was broken only, as always, by the occasional crash of
+falling trees, for no breath of air stirred, and all the beasts of prey
+had sought their lairs before light came, both she and Noie seemed to
+hear, far, infinitely far away, the faint beat of an answering drum. It
+would appear that Nya heard it also, for she struck a single note upon
+hers as though in acknowledgement, after which the distant beating went
+on, paused as though for a reply from some other unheard drum, and again
+from time to time went on, perhaps repeating that reply.
+
+For a long while this continued until the sky began to grow grey indeed,
+when Nya beat for several minutes and was answered by a single, far-off
+note. Then glancing at the heavens she prepared to descend the wall, while
+Rachel and Noie slipped back to the cave and feigned to be asleep. Soon
+she entered, and stood over them shaking her grey head and asking how it
+came about that they thought that she, the Mother of the Trees, should be
+so easily deceived.
+
+"So thou sawest us," said Rachel, trying not to look ashamed.
+
+"No; I saw you not with my eyes, either of you, but I felt both of you
+following me, and heard in my heart what you were whispering to each
+other. Well, Inkosazana, art thou the wiser for this journey?"
+
+"No, Mother, but tell us if thou wilt what thou wast beating on that
+drum."
+
+"Gladly," she answered. "I was sending certain orders to the slave peoples
+who still know me as Mother of the Trees, and obey my words. Perhaps thou
+dost not believe that while I sat upon yonder wall I talked across the
+desert to the chiefs of the marches upon the far border of the land of the
+Umkulu, and that by now at my bidding they have sent out men upon an
+errand of mine."
+
+ "What was the errand, Mother?" asked Rachel curiously.
+
+"I said the errand was mine, not thine, Maiden. It is not pressing, but as
+I do not know how long my strength will last, I thought it well that it
+should be settled." Then without more words she coiled herself up on her
+mat and seemed to go to sleep.
+
+It was after this incident of the drums that Rachel experienced the
+strangest days, or rather weeks of her life. Nya sent her into no more
+trances, and to all outward seeming nothing happened. Yet within her much
+did happen. Her madness had utterly left her and still she was not as
+other women are, or as she herself had been in health. Her mind seemed to
+wander and she knew not whither it wandered. Yet for long hours, although
+she was awake and, so Noie said, talking or eating or walking as usual, it
+was away from her, and afterwards she could remember nothing. Also this
+happened at night as well as during the day, and ever more and more often.
+
+She could remember nothing, yet out of this nothingness there grew upon
+her a continual sense of the presence of Richard Darrien, a presence that
+seemed to come nearer and nearer, closer and closer to her heart. It was
+the assurance of this presence that made those long days so happy to her,
+though when she was herself, she felt that it could be naught but a dream.
+Yet why should a dream move her so strangely, and why should a dream weary
+her so much? Why, after sleeping all night, should she awake feeling as
+though she had journeyed all night? Why should her limbs ache and she grow
+thin like one who travels without cease? Why should she seem time after
+time to have passed great dangers, to have known cold, and heat and want
+and struggle against waters and the battling against storms? Why should
+her knowledge of this Richard, of the very heart and soul of Richard, grow
+ever deeper till it was as though they were not twain, but one?
+
+She could not answer these questions, and Noie could not answer them, and
+when she asked Nya the old Mother shook her head and could not, or would
+not answer. Only the dwarf-mutes seemed to know the answer, for when she
+passed them they nudged each other, and grinned and thrust their little
+woolly heads together staring, several of them, into one bowl. But if Noie
+and Nya knew nothing of the cause of these things the effect of them
+stirred them both, for they saw that Rachel, the tall and strong, grew
+faint and weak and began to fade away as one fades upon whom deadly
+sickness has laid its hand.
+
+Thus three weeks or so went by, until one day in some fashion of her own
+Nya caused to arise an the mind of Eddo a knowledge of her desire to speak
+with him. Early the next morning Eddo arrived at the Holy Place
+accompanied only by his familiar, Hana, and Nya met them alone in the
+mouth of the cave.
+
+"I see that thou art very white and thin, but still alive, old woman,"
+sneered Eddo, adding: "All the thousands of the people yonder thought that
+long ere this thou wouldst have passed within the Fence. May I take back
+that good tidings to them?"
+
+The ancient Mother of the Trees looked at him sternly.
+
+"It is true, thou evil mocker," she said, "that I am white and thin. It is
+true that I grow like to the skeleton of a rotted leaf, all ribs and
+netted veins without substance. It is true that my round eyes start from
+my head like to those of a bush plover, or the tree lizard, and that soon
+I must pass within the Fence, as thou hast so long desired that I should
+do that thou mayest reign alone over the thousands of the People of the
+Dwarfs and wield their wisdom to increase thy power, thou poison-bloated
+toad. All these things are true, Eddo, yet ere I go I have a word to say
+to thee to which thou wilt do well to listen."
+
+"Speak on," said Eddo. "Without doubt thou hast wisdom of a sort; honey
+thou hast garnered during many years, and it is well that I should suck
+the store before it is too late."
+
+"Eddo," said Nya, "I am not the only one in this Holy Place who grows
+white and thin. Look, there is another," and she nodded towards Rachel,
+who walked past them aimlessly with dreaming eyes, attended by Noie, upon
+whose arm she leant.
+
+"I see," answered Eddo; "this haunted death-prison presses the life out of
+her, also I think that thou hast sent her Spirit travelling, as thou
+knowest how to do, and such journeys sap the strength of flesh and blood."
+
+"Perhaps; but now before it is too late I would send her body travelling
+also; only thou, who hast the power for a while, dost bar the road."
+
+"I know," said Eddo, nodding his bead and looking at his companion. "We
+all know, do we not, Hana? we who have heard certain beatings of drums in
+the night, and studied dew drops beneath the trees at dawn. Thou wouldst
+send her to meet another traveller."
+
+"Yes, and if thou art wise thou wilt let her go."
+
+"Why should I let her go," asked the priest passionately, "and with her
+all my greatness? She must reign here after thee, for at her feet thy Tree
+fell, and it is the will of the people, who weary of dwarf queens and
+desire one that is tall and beautiful and white. Moreover, when my blood
+has been poured into her, her wisdom will be great, greater than thine or
+that of any Mother that went before thee, for she is '_Wensi_' the Virgin,
+and her soul is purer than them all. I will not let her go. If she leaves
+this Holy Place where none may do her harm, she shall die, and then her
+Spirit may go to seek that other traveller."
+
+"Thou art mad, Eddo, mad and blind with pride and folly. Let her be, and
+choose another Mother. Now, there is Noie."
+
+"Thy great-niece, Nya, who thinks as thou thinkest, and hates those whom
+thou hatest. Nay, I will have none of that half-breed. Yonder white
+Inkosazana shall be our queen and no other."
+
+"Then, Eddo," whispered Nya, leaning forward and looking into his eyes,
+"she shall be the last Mother of this people. Fool, there are those who
+fight for her against whom thou canst not prevail. Thou knowest them not,
+but I know them, and I tell thee that they make ready thy doom. Have thy
+way, Eddo; it was not for her that I pleaded with thee, but for the sake
+of the ancient People of the Ghosts, whose fate draws nigh to them. Fool,
+have thy way, spin thy web, and be caught in it thyself. I tell thee,
+Eddo, that thy death shall be redder than any thou hast ever dreamed, nor
+shall it fall on thee alone. Begone now, and trouble me no more till in
+another place all that is left of thee shall creep to my feet, praying me
+for a pardon thou shalt not find. Begone, for the last leaf withers on my
+Tree and to-morrow I pass within the Fence. Say to the people that their
+Mother against whom they rebelled is dead, and that she bids them prepare
+to meet the evil which, alive, she warded from their heads."
+
+Now Eddo strove to answer, but could not, for there was something in the
+flaming eyes of Nya which frightened him. He looked at Hana, and Hana
+looked back at him, then taking each other's hand they slunk away towards
+the wall, staggering blindly through the sunshine towards the shade.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE DREAM IN THE NORTH
+
+
+Richard Darrien remembered drinking a bowl of milk in the hut in which he
+was imprisoned at Mafooti, and instantly feeling a cold chill run to his
+heart and brain, after which he remembered no more for many a day. At
+length, however, by slow degrees, and with sundry slips back into
+unconsciousness, life and some share of his reason and memory returned to
+him. He awoke to find himself lying in a hut roughly fashioned of
+branches, and attended by a Kaffir woman of middle age.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked.
+
+"I am named Mami," she answered.
+
+"Mami, Mami! I know the name, and I know the voice. Say, were you one of
+the wives of Ibubesi, she who spoke with me through the fence?" and he
+strove to raise himself on his arm to look at her, but fell back from
+weakness.
+
+"Yes, Inkoos, I was one of his wives."
+
+"Was? Then where is Ibubesi now?"
+
+"Dead, Inkoos. The fire has burned him up with his kraal Mafooti."
+
+"With the kraal Mafooti! Where, then, is the Inkosazana? Answer, woman,
+and be swift," he cried in a hollow voice.
+
+"Alas! Inkoos, alas! she is dead also, for she was in the kraal when the
+fire swept it, and was seen standing on the top of a hut where she had
+taken refuge, and after that she was seen no more."
+
+"Then let me die and go to her," exclaimed Richard with a groan, as he
+fell back upon his bed, where he lay almost insensible for three more
+days.
+
+Yet he did not die, for he was young and very strong, and Mami poured milk
+down his throat to keep the life in him. Indeed little by little something
+of his strength came back, so that at last he was able to think and talk
+with her again, and learned all the dreadful story.
+
+He learned how the people of Mafooti, fearing the vengeance of Dingaan,
+had fled away from their kraal, carrying what they thought to be his body
+with them, lest it should remain in evidence against them, and taking all
+the cattle that they could gather. Every one of them had fled that could
+travel, only Ibubesi and a few sick, and certain folk who chanced to be
+outside the walls, remaining behind. It was from two of these, who escaped
+during the burning of the kraal by the Zulus, or by fire from the Heavens,
+they knew not which, that they had heard of the awful end of Ibubesi, and
+of his prisoner, the Inkosazana. As for themselves, they had travelled
+night and day, till they reached a certain secret and almost inaccessible
+place in the great Quathlamba Mountains, in which people had lived whom
+Chaka wiped out, and there hidden themselves. In this place they remained,
+hoping that Dingaan would not care to follow them so far, and purposing to
+make it their home, since here they found good mealie lands, and
+fortunately the most of their cattle remained alive. That was all the
+story, there was nothing more to tell.
+
+A day or two later Richard was able to creep out of the hut and see the
+place. It was as Mami had said, very strong, a kind of tableland ringed
+round with precipices that could only be climbed through a single narrow
+nek, and overshadowed by the great Quathlamba range. The people, who were
+engaged in planting their corn, gathered round him, staring at him as
+though he were one risen from the dead, and greeted him with respectful
+words. He spoke to several of them, including the two men who had seen the
+burning of Mafooti, though from a little distance. But they could tell him
+no more than Mami had done, except that they were sure that the Inkosazana
+had perished in the flames, as had many of the Zulus, who broke into the
+town. Richard was sure of it also--who would not have been?--and crept
+back broken-hearted to his hut, he who had lost all, and longed that he
+might die.
+
+But he did not die, he grew strong again, and when he was well and fit to
+travel, went to the headmen of the people, saying that now he desired to
+leave them and return to his own place in the Cape Colony. The headmen
+said No, he must not leave, for in their hearts they were sure that he
+would go, not to the Cape Colony, but to Zululand, there to discover all
+he could as to the death of the Inkosazana. So they told him that with
+them he must bide, for then if the Zulus tracked them out they would be
+able to produce him, who otherwise would be put to the spear, every man of
+them, as his murderers. The sin of Ibubesi who had been their chief, clung
+to them, and they knew well what Dingaan and Tamboosa had sworn should
+happen to those who harmed the white chief, Dario, who was under the
+mantle of their Inkosazana.
+
+Richard reasoned with them, but it was of no use, they, would not let him
+go. Therefore in the end he appeared to fall in with their humour, and
+meanwhile began to plan escape. One dark night he tried it indeed, only to
+be seized in the mouth of the nek, and brought back to his hut. Next
+morning the headman spoke with him, telling him that he should only depart
+thence over their dead bodies, and that they watched him night and day;
+that the nek, moreover, was always guarded. Then they made an offer to
+him. He was a white man, they said, and cleverer than they were; let them
+come under his wing, let him be their chief, for he would know how to
+protect them from the Zulus and any other enemies. He could take over the
+wives of Ibubesi (at this proposition Richard shuddered), and they would
+obey him in all things, only he must not attempt to leave them--which he
+should never do alive.
+
+ Richard put the proposal by, but in the end, not because he wished it,
+but by the mere weight of his white man's blood, and for the lack of
+anything else to do, drifted into some such position. Only at the wives of
+Ibubesi, or any other wives, he would not so much as look, a slight that
+gave offence to those women, but made the others laugh.
+
+So, for certain long weeks he sat in that secret nook in the mountains as
+the chief of a little Kaffir tribe, occupying himself with the planting of
+crops, the building of walls and huts, the drilling of men and the
+settling of quarrels. All day he worked thus, but after the day came the
+night when he did not work, and those nights he dreaded. For then the
+languor, not of body, but of mind, which the poison the old
+witch-doctoress had given to Ishmael had left behind it, would overcome
+him, bringing with it black despair, and his grief would get a hold of
+him, torturing his heart. For of the memory of Rachel he could never be
+rid for a single hour, and his love for her grew deeper day by day. And
+she was dead! Oh, she was dead, leaving him living.
+
+One night he dreamed of Rachel, dreamed that she was searching for him and
+calling him. It was a very vivid dream, but he woke up and it passed away
+as such dreams do. Only all the day that followed he felt a strange
+throbbing in his head, and found himself turning ever towards the north.
+The next night he dreamed again of her, and heard her say, "The search has
+been far and long, but I have found you, Richard. Open your eyes now, and
+you will see my face." So he opened his eyes, and there, sure enough, in
+the darkness he perceived the outline of her sweet, remembered face, about
+which fell her golden hair. For one moment only he perceived it, then it
+was gone, and after that her presence never seemed to leave him. He could
+not see her, he could not touch her, and yet she was ever at his side. His
+brain ached with the thought of her, her breath seemed to fan his hands
+and hair. At night her face floated before him, and in his dreams her
+voice called him, saying: _"Come to me, come to me, Richard. I am in need
+of you. Come to me. I myself will be your guide."_
+
+Then he would wake, and remembering that she was dead, grew sure and ever
+surer that the Spirit of Rachel was calling him down to death. It called
+him from the north, always from the north. Soon he could scarcely walk
+southwards, or east or west, for ere he had gone many yards his feet
+turned and set his face towards the north, that was to the narrow nek
+between the precipices which the Kaffirs guarded night and day.
+
+One evening he went to his hut to sleep, if sleep would come to him. It
+came, and with it that face and voice, but the face seemed paler, and the
+voice more insistent.
+
+"Will you not listen to me," it said, "you who were my love? For how long
+must I plead with you? Soon my power will leave me, the opportunity will
+be passed, and then how will you find me, Richard, my lover? Rise up, rise
+up and follow ere it be too late, for I myself will be your guide."
+
+He awoke. He could bear it no more. Perhaps he was mad, and these were
+visions of his madness, mocking visions that led him to his death. Well,
+if so, he still would follow them. Perhaps her body was buried in the
+north. If so, he would be buried there also; perhaps her Soul dwelt in the
+north. If so, his soul would fly thither to join it. The Kaffirs would
+kill him in the pass. Well, if so, he would die with his face set
+northwards whither Rachel drew him.
+
+He rose up and wrapped himself in a cloak of goatskins. He filled a hide
+bag with sun-dried flesh and parched corn, and hung it about his shoulders
+with a gourd of water, for after all he might live a little while and need
+food and drink. As he had no gun he took a staff and a knife and a
+broad-bladed spear, and leaving the hut, set his face northward and walked
+towards the mouth of the nek. At the first step which he took the torment
+in his head seemed to leave him, who fought no longer, who had seemed
+obedient to that mysterious summons. Quietness and confidence possessed
+him. He was going to his end, but what did it matter? The dream beckoned
+and he must follow. The moon shone bright, but he took no trouble to hide
+himself, it did not seem to be worth while.
+
+Now he was in the nek and drawing near to the place where the guard was
+stationed, still he marched on, boldly, openly. As he thought, they were
+on the alert. They drew out from behind the rocks and barred his path.
+
+"Whither goest thou, lord Dario?" asked their captain. "Thou knowest that
+here thou mayest not pass."
+
+"I follow a Ghost to the north," he answered, "and living or dead, I
+pass."
+
+"_Ow_!" said the captain. "He says that he follows a Ghost. Well, we have
+nothing to do with ghosts. Take him, unharmed if possible, but take him."
+
+So, urged thereto by their own fears, since for their safety's sake they
+dared not let him go, the men sprang towards him. They sprang towards him
+where he stood waiting the end, for give back he would not, and of a
+sudden fell down upon their faces, hiding their heads among the stones.
+Richard did not know what had happened to them that they behaved thus
+strangely, nor did he care. Only seeing them fallen he walked on over
+them, and pursued his way along the nek and down it to the plains beyond.
+
+All that night he walked, looking behind him from time to time to see if
+any followed, but none came. He was alone, quite alone, save for the dream
+that led him towards the north. At sunrise he rested and slept a while,
+then, awaking after midday, went on his road. He did not know the road,
+yet never was he in doubt for a moment. It was always clear to him whither
+he should go. That night he finished his food and again slept a while,
+going forward at the dawn. In the morning he met some Kaffirs, who
+questioned him, but he answered only that he was following a Dream to the
+north. They stared at him, seemed to grow frightened and ran away. But
+presently some of them came back and placed food in his path, which he
+took and left them.
+
+He came to the kraal Mafooti. It was utterly deserted, and he wandered
+amidst its ashes. Here and there he found the bones of those who had
+perished in the fire, and turned them over with his staff wondering
+whether any of them had belonged to Rachel. In that place he slept a night
+thinking that perhaps his journey was ended, and that here he would die
+where he believed Rachel had died. But when he waked at the dawn, it was
+to find that something within him still drew him towards the north, more
+strongly indeed than ever before.
+
+So he left what had been the town Mafooti. Walking along the edge of the
+cleft into which Ishmael had leapt on fire, he climbed the walls built
+with so much toil to keep out the Zulus, and at last came to the river
+which Rachel had swum. It was low now, and wading it he entered Zululand.
+Here the natives seemed to know of his approach, for they gathered in
+numbers watching him, and put food in his path. But they would not speak
+to him, and when he addressed them saying that he followed a Dream and
+asking if they had seen the Dream, they cried out that he was _tagali_,
+bewitched, and fled away.
+
+He continued his journey, finding each night a hut prepared for him to
+sleep in, and food for him to eat, till at length one evening he reached
+the Great Place, Umgugundhlovu. Through its streets he marched with a set
+face, while thousands stared at him in silence. Then a captain pointed out
+a hut to him, and into it he entered, ate and slept. At dawn he rose, for
+he knew that here he must not tarry; the spirit face of Rachel still hung
+before him, the spirit voice still whispered--"_Forward, forward to the
+north. I myself will be your guide_." In his path sat the King and his
+Councillors, and around them a regiment of men. He walked through them
+unheeding, till at length, when he was in front of the King, they barred
+his road, and he halted.
+
+"Who art thou and what is thy business?" asked an old Councillor with a
+withered hand.
+
+"I am Richard Darrien," he answered, "and here I have no business. I
+journey to the north. Stay me not."
+
+"We know thee," said the Councillor, "thou art the lord Dario that didst
+dwell in the shadow of the Inkosazana. Thou art the white chief whom the
+wild beast, Ibubesi, slew at the kraal Mafooti. Why does thy ghost come
+hither to trouble us?"
+
+"Living or dead, ghost or man, I travel to the north. Stay me not," he
+answered.
+
+"What seekest thou in the north, thou lord Dario?"
+
+"I seek a Dream; a Spirit leads me to find a Dream. Seest thou it not, Man
+with the withered hand?"
+
+"Ah!" they repeated, "he seeks a Dream. A Spirit leads him to find a Dream
+in the north."
+
+"What is this Dream like?" asked Mopo of the withered hand.
+
+"Come, stand at my side and look. There, dost thou see it floating in the
+air before us, thou who hast eyes that can read a Dream?"
+
+Mopo came and looked, then his knees trembled a little and he said:
+
+"Aye, lord Dario, I see and I know that face."
+
+"Thou knowest the face, old fool," broke in Dingaan angrily. "Then whose
+is it?"
+
+"O King," answered Mopo, dropping his eyes, "it is not lawful to speak the
+name, but the face is the face of one who sat where that wanderer stands,
+and showed thee certain pictures in a bowl of water."
+
+Now Dingaan trembled, for the memory of those visions haunted him night
+and day; moreover he thought at times that they drew near to their
+fulfilment.
+
+"The white man is mad," he said, "and thou, Mopo, art mad also. I have
+often thought it, and that it would be well if thou wentest on a long
+journey--for thy health. This Dario shall stay here a while. I will not
+suffer him to wander through my land crazing the people with his tales of
+dreams and visions. Take him and hold him; the Circle of the Doctors shall
+inquire into the matter."
+
+So Dingaan spoke, who in his heart was afraid lest this wild-eyed Dario
+should learn that he had given the Inkosazana to the dwarf folk when she
+was mad, to appease them after they had prophesied evil to him. Also he
+remembered that it was because of the murders done by Ibubesi that the
+Inkosazana had gone mad, and did not understand if Dario had been killed
+at the kraal Mafooti how it could be that he now stood before him.
+Therefore he thought that he would keep him a prisoner until he found out
+all the truth of the matter, and whether he were still a man or a ghost or
+a wizard clothed in the shape of the dead.
+
+At the bidding of the King, guards sprang forward to seize Richard, but
+the old Councillor, Mopo, shrunk away behind him hiding his eyes with his
+withered hand. They sprang forward, and yet they laid no finger on him,
+but fell oft to right and left, saying:
+
+"Kill us, if thou wilt, Black One, we cannot!"
+
+"The wizard has bewitched them," said Dingaan angrily. "Here, you Doctors,
+you whose trade it is to catch wizards, take this white fellow and bind
+him."
+
+Unwillingly enough the Doctors, of whom there were eight or ten sitting
+apart, rose to do the King's bidding. They came on towards Richard, some
+of them singing songs, and some muttering charms, and as they came he
+laughed and said:
+
+"Beware! you _Abangoma_, the Dream is looking at you very angrily." Then
+they too broke away to right and left, crying out that this was a wizard
+against whom they had no power.
+
+Now Dingaan grew mad with wrath, and shouted to his soldiers to seize the
+white man, and if he resisted them to kill him with their sticks, for of
+witchcraft they had known enough in Zululand of late.
+
+So thick as bees the regiment formed up in front of him, shouting and
+waving their kerries, for here in the King's Place they bore no spears.
+
+"Make way there," said Richard, "I can stay no longer, I must to the
+north."
+
+The soldiers did not stir, only a captain stepped out bidding him give up
+his spear and yield himself, or be killed. Richard walked forward and at a
+sign from the captain, men sprang at him, lifting their kerries, to dash
+out his brains. Then suddenly in front of Richard there appeared something
+faint and white, something that walked before him. The soldiers saw it,
+and the kerries fell from their hands. The regiment behind saw it, and
+turning, burst away like a scared herd of cattle. They did not wait to
+seek the gates, they burst through the fence of the enclosure, and were
+gone, leaving it flat behind them. The King and his Councillors saw it
+also, and more clearly than the rest.
+
+_"The Inkosazana!"_ they cried. "It is the Inkosazana who walks before him
+that she loved!" and they fell upon their faces. Only Dingaan remained
+seated on his stool.
+
+"Go," he said hoarsely to Richard, "go, thou wizard, north or south or
+east or west, if only thou wilt take that Spirit with thee, for she bodes
+evil to my land."
+
+ So Richard, who had seen nothing, marched away from the kraal
+Umgugundhlovu, and once more set his face towards the north, the north
+that drew him as it draws the needle of a compass.
+
+The road that Rachel and the dwarfs had travelled he travelled also.
+Although from day to day he knew not where his feet would lead him, still
+he travelled it step by step. Nor did any hurt come to him. In the country
+where men dwelt, being forewarned of his coming by messengers, they
+brought him food and guarded him, and when he passed out into the
+wilderness some other power guarded him. He had no fear at all. At night
+he would lie down without a fire, and the lions would roar about him, but
+they never harmed him. He would plunge into a swamp or a river and always
+pass it safely. When water failed he would find it without search; when
+there was no food, it would seem to be brought to him. Once an eagle
+dropped a bustard at his feet. Once he found a buck fresh slain by
+leopards. Once when he was very hungry he saw that he had laid down to
+sleep by a nest of ostrich eggs, and this food he cooked, making fire
+after the native fashion with sharp sticks, as he knew how to do.
+
+At length all the swamps were passed and in the third week of his
+journeyings he reached the sloping uplands, on the edge of which he awoke
+one morning to find himself surrounded by a circle of great men, giants,
+who stood staring at him. He arose, thinking that at last his hour had
+come, as it seemed to him that they were about to kill him. But instead of
+killing him these huge men saluted him humbly, and offered him food upon
+their knees, and new hide shoes for his feet--for his own were worn
+out--and cloaks and garments of skin, which things he accepted thankfully,
+for by now he was almost naked. Then they brought a litter and wished him
+to enter it, but this he refused. Heeding them no more, as soon as he had
+eaten and filled his bag and water-bottle, he started on towards the
+north. Indeed, he could not have stayed if he had wished; his brain seemed
+to be full of one thought only, to travel till he reached his journey's
+end, whatever it might be, and before his eyes he saw one thing only, the
+spirit face of Rachel, that led him on towards that end. Sometimes it was
+there for hours, then for hours again it would be absent. When it was
+present he looked at it; when it was gone he dreamed of it, for him it was
+the same. But one thing was ever with him, that magnet in his heart which
+drew his feet towards the north, and from step to step showed him the road
+that he should travel.
+
+A number of the giant men accompanied him. He noticed it, but took no
+heed. So long as they did not attempt to stay or turn him he was
+indifferent whether they came or went away. As a result he travelled in
+much more comfort, since now everything was made easy and ready for him.
+Thus he was fed with the best that the land provided, and at night
+shelters were built for him to sleep in. He discovered that a captain of
+the giants could understand a few words of some native language which he
+knew, and asked him why they helped him. The captain replied by order of
+"Mother of Trees." Who or what "Mother of Trees" might be Richard was
+unable to discover, so he gave up his attempts at talk and walked on.
+
+They traversed the fertile uplands and reached the edge of the fearful
+desert. It did not frighten him; he plunged into it as he would have
+plunged into a sea, or a lake of fire, had it lain in his way. He was like
+a bird whose instinct at the approach of summer or of winter leads it
+without doubt or error to some far spot, beyond continents and oceans,
+some land that it has never seen, leads it in surety and peace to its
+appointed rest. A guard of the giant men came with him into the desert,
+also carriers who bore skins of water. In that burning heat the journey
+was dreadful, yet Richard accomplished it, wearing down all his escort,
+until at its further lip but one man was left. There even he sank
+exhausted and began to beat upon a little drum that he carried, which drum
+had been passed on to him by those who were left behind. But Richard was
+not exhausted. His strength seemed to be greater than it had ever been
+before, or that which drew him forward had acquired more power. He
+wondered vaguely why a man should choose such a place and time to play
+upon a drum, and went on alone.
+
+Before him, some miles away, he saw a forest of towering trees that
+stretched further than his eye could reach. As he approached that forest
+heading for a certain tall tree, why he knew not, the sunset dyed it red
+as though it had been on fire, and he thought that he discerned little
+shapes flitting to and fro amidst the boles of trees. Then he entered the
+forest, whereof the boughs arched above him like the endless roof of a
+cathedral borne upon innumerable pillars. There was deep gloom that grew
+presently to darkness wherein here and there glow-worms shone faintly like
+tapers dying before an altar, and winds sighed like echoes of evening
+prayers. He could see to walk no longer, sudden weariness overcame him, so
+according to his custom he laid himself down to sleep at the bole of a
+great tree.
+
+A while had passed, he never knew how long, when Richard was awakened from
+deep slumber by feeling many hands fiercely at work upon him. These hands
+were small like those of children; this he could tell from the touch of
+them, although the darkness was so dense that he was able to see nothing.
+Two of them gripped him by the throat so as to prevent him from crying
+out; others passed cords about his wrists, ankles and middle until he
+could not stir a single limb. Then he was dragged back a few paces and
+lashed to the bole of a tree, as he guessed, that under which he had been
+sleeping. The hands let go of him, and his throat being free he called out
+for help. But those vast forest aisles seemed to swallow up his voice. It
+fell back on him from the canopy of huge boughs above, it was lost in the
+immense silence. Only from close at hand he heard little peals of thin and
+mocking laughter. So he too grew silent, for who was there to help him
+here? He struggled to loose himself, for the impalpable power which had
+guided him so far was now at work within him more strongly than ever
+before. It called to him to come, it drew him onward, it whispered to him
+that the goal was near. But the more he writhed and twisted the deeper did
+the cruel cords or creepers cut into his flesh. Yet he fought on till,
+utterly exhausted, his head fell forward, and he swooned away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE END AND THE BEGINNING
+
+
+On the day following that when she had summoned Eddo to speak with her,
+Nya sat at the mouth of the cave. It was late afternoon, and already the
+shadows gathered so quickly that save for her white hair, her little
+childlike shape, withered now almost to a skeleton, was scarcely visible
+against the black rock. Walking to and fro in her aimless fashion, as she
+would do for hours at a time, Rachel accompanied by Noie passed and
+repassed her, till at length the old woman lifted her head and listened to
+something which was quite inaudible to their ears. Then she beckoned to
+Noie, who led Rachel to her.
+
+"Maiden beloved," she said in a feeble voice, after they had sat down in
+front of her, "my hour has come, I have sent for thee to bid thee farewell
+till we meet again in a country where thou hast travelled for a little
+while. Before the sun sets I pass within the Fence."
+
+At this tidings Rachel began to weep, for she had learned to love this old
+dwarf-woman who had been so kind to her in her misery, and she was now so
+weak that she could not restrain her fears.
+
+"Mother," she said, "for thee it is joy to go. I know it, and therefore
+cannot wish that thou shouldst stay. Yet what shall I do when thou hast
+left me alone amidst all these cruel folk? Tell me, what shall I do?"
+
+"Perchance thou wilt seek another helper. Maiden, and perchance thou shall
+find another to guard and comfort thee. Follow thy heart, obey thy heart,
+and remember the last words of Nya--that no harm shall come to thee.
+Nay--if I know it, I may tell thee no more, thou who couldst not hear what
+the drums said to me but now. Farewell," and turning round she made a sign
+to certain dwarf-mutes who were gathered behind her as though they awaited
+her commands.
+
+"Hast thou no last word for me, Mother?" asked Noie.
+
+"Aye, Child," she answered. "Thy heart is very bold, and thou also must
+follow it. Though thy sin should be great, perchance thy greater love may
+pay its price. At least thou art but an arrow set upon the string, and
+that which must be, will be. I think that we shall meet again ere long.
+Come hither and kneel at my side."
+
+Noie obeyed, and for a little space Nya whispered in her ear, while as she
+listened Rachel saw strange lights shining in Noie's eyes, lights of
+terror and of pride, lights of hope and of despair.
+
+"What did she say to you, Noie?" asked Rachel presently.
+
+"I may not tell, Zoola," she answered. "Question me no more."
+
+Now the mutes brought forward a slight litter woven of boughs on which the
+withered leaves still hung, boughs from Nya's fallen tree. In this litter
+they placed her, for she could no longer walk, and lifted it on to their
+shoulders. For one moment she bade them halt, and calling Rachel and Noie
+to her, kissed them upon the brow, holding up her thin child-like hands
+over them in blessing. Then followed by them both, the bearers went
+forward with their burden, taking the road that ran up the hill towards
+the sacred tree. As the sun set they passed within the Fence, and laying
+down the litter without a word by the bole of the tree, turned and
+departed.
+
+The darkness fell, and through it Rachel and Noie heard Nya singing for a
+little while. The song ceased, and they descended the hill to the cave,
+for there they feared to stay lest the Tree should draw them also. They
+ate a little food whilst the two women mutes who had sat on each side of
+Nya when she showed her magic, stared, now at them, and now into the bowls
+of dew that were set before them, wherein they seemed to find something
+that interested them much. Noie prayed Rachel to sleep, and she tried to
+do so, and could not. For hour after hour she tossed and turned, and at
+length sat up, saying to Noie:
+
+ "I have fought against it, and I can stay here no longer. Noie, I am
+being drawn from this place out into the forest, and I must go."
+
+"What draws thee, Sister?" asked Noie. "Is it Eddo?"
+
+"No, I think not, nothing to do with Eddo. Oh! Noie, Noie, it is the
+spirit of Richard Darrien. He is dead, but for days and weeks his spirit
+has been with my spirit, and now it draws me into the forest to die and
+find him."
+
+"Then that is an evil journey thou wouldst take, Zoola?"
+
+"Not so, Noie, it is the best and happiest of journeys. The thought of it
+fills me with joy. What said Nya? Follow thy heart. So I follow it. Noie,
+farewell, for I must go away."
+
+"Nay," answered Noie, "if thou goest I go, who also was bidden to follow
+my heart that is sister to thy heart."
+
+Rachel reasoned with her, but she would not listen. The end of it was that
+the two of them rose and threw on their cloaks; also Rachel took the great
+Umkulu spear which she had used as a staff on her journey from the desert
+to the forest. All this while the dwarf-women watched her, but did
+nothing, only watched.
+
+They left the cave and walked to the mouth of the zig-zag slit in the
+great wall which was open.
+
+"Perhaps the mutes will kill us in the heart of the wall," said Noie.
+
+"If so the end will be soon and swift," answered Rachel.
+
+Now they were in the cleft, following its slopes and windings. Above them
+they could hear the movements of the guardians of the wall who sat amongst
+the rough stones, but these did not try to stop them; indeed once or twice
+when they did not know which way to turn in the darkness, little hands
+took hold of Rachel's cloak and guided her. So they passed through the
+wall in safety. Outside of it Rachel paused a moment, looking this way and
+that. Then of a sudden she turned and walked swiftly towards the south.
+
+It was dark, densely dark in the forest, yet she never seemed to lose her
+path. Holding Noie by the hand she wound in and out between the
+tree-trunks without stumbling or even striking her foot against a root.
+For an hour or more they walked on this, the strangest of strange
+journeys, till at length Rachel whispered;
+
+"Something tells me to stay here," and she leaned against a tree and
+stayed, while Noie, who was tired, sat down between the jutting roots of
+the tree.
+
+It was a dead tree, and the top of it had been torn off in some hurricane
+so that they could see the sky above them, and by the grey hue of it knew
+that it was drawing near to dawn.
+
+The sun rose, and its arrows, that even at midday could never pass the
+canopy of foliage, shot straight and vivid between the tall bare trunks.
+Oh! Rachel knew the place. It was that place which she had dreamed of as a
+child in the island of the flooded river. Just so had the light of the
+rising sun fallen on the boles of the great trees, and on her white cloak
+and out-spread hair, fallen on her and on another. She strained her eyes
+into the gloom. Now those rays pierced it also, and now by them she saw
+the yellow-bearded, half-naked man of that long-dead dream leaning against
+the tree. His eyes were shut, without doubt he was dead, this was but a
+vision of him who had drawn her hither to share his death. It was the
+spirit of Richard Darrien!
+
+She drew a little nearer, and the eyes opened, gazing at her. Also from
+that form of his was cast a long shadow--there it lay upon the dead
+leaves. How came it, she wondered, that a spirit could throw a shadow, and
+why was a spirit bound to a tree, as now she perceived he was? He saw her,
+and in those grey eyes of his there came a wonderful look. He spoke.
+
+"You have drawn me from far, Rachel, but I have never seen all of you
+before, only your face floating in the air before me, although others saw
+you. Now I see you also, so I suppose that my time has come. It will soon
+be over. Wait a little there, where I can look at you, and presently we
+shall be together again. I am glad."
+
+Rachel could not speak. A lump rose in her throat and choked her. Betwixt
+fear and hope her heart stood still. Only with the spear in her hand she
+pointed at her own shadow thrown by the level rays of the rising sun. He
+looked, and notwithstanding the straitness of his bonds she saw him start.
+
+"If you are a ghost why have you a shadow?" he asked hoarsely. "And if you
+are not a ghost, how did you come into this haunted place?"
+
+Still Rachel did not seem to be able to speak. Only she glided up to him
+and kissed him on the lips. Now at length he understood--they both
+understood that they were still living creatures beneath the sky, not the
+denizens of some dim world which lies beyond.
+
+"Free me," he said in a faint voice, for his brain reeled. "I was bound
+here in my sleep. They will be back presently."
+
+Her intelligence awoke. With a few swift cuts of the spear she held Rachel
+severed his bonds, then picked up his own assegai that lay at his feet she
+thrust it into his numbed hand. As he took it the forest about them seemed
+to become alive, and from behind the boles of the trees around appeared a
+number of dwarfs who ran towards them, headed by Eddo. Noie sprang forward
+also, and stood at their side. Rachel turned on Eddo swiftly as a startled
+deer. She seemed to tower over him, the spear in her hand.
+
+"What does this mean, Priest?" she asked.
+
+"Inkosazana," he answered humbly, "it means that I have found a way to
+tempt thee from within the Wall where none might break thy sanctuary. Thou
+drewest this man to thee from far with the strength that old Nya gave
+thee. We knew it all, we saw it all, and we waited. Day by day in our
+bowls of dew we watched him coming nearer to thee. We heard the messages
+of Nya on the drums, bidding the Umkulu meet and escort him; we heard the
+last answering message from the borders of the desert, telling her that he
+was nigh. Then while he followed his magic path through the darkness of
+the forest we seized and bound him, knowing well that if he could not come
+to thee, thou wouldst come to him. And thou hast come."
+
+"I understand. What now, Eddo?"
+
+"This, Inkosazana: Thou hast been named Mother of the Trees by the people
+of the Dwarfs; be pleased to come with us that we may instal thee in thy
+great office."
+
+"This lord here," said Rachel, "is my promised husband. What of him?"
+
+Eddo bowed and smiled, a fearful smile, and answered:
+
+"The Mother of the Trees has no husband. Wisdom is her husband. He has
+served his purpose, which was to draw thee from within the Wall, and for
+this reason only we permitted him to enter the holy forest living. Now he
+bides here to die, and since he has won thy love we will honour him with
+the White Death. Bind him to the tree again."
+
+In an instant the spear that Rachel held was at Eddo's throat.
+
+"Dwarf," she cried, "this is my man, and I am no Mother of Trees and no
+pale ghost, but a living woman. Let but one of these monkeys of thine lay
+a hand upon him, and thou diest, by the Red Death, Eddo, aye, by the Red
+Death. Stir a single inch, and this spear goes through thy heart, and thy
+spirit shall be spilled with thy blood."
+
+The little priest sank to his knees trembling, glancing about him for a
+means of escape.
+
+"If thou killest me, thou diest also," he hissed.
+
+"What do I care if I die?" she answered. "If my man dies, I wish to die,"
+then added in English: "Richard, take hold of him by one arm, and Noie,
+take the other. If he tries to escape kill him at once, or if you are
+afraid, I will."
+
+So they seized him by his arms.
+
+"Now," said Rachel, "let us go back to the Sanctuary, for there they dare
+not touch, us. We cannot try the desert without water; also they would
+follow and kill us with their poisoned arrows. Tell them, Noie, that if
+they do not attempt to harm us, we will set this priest of theirs free
+within the Wall. But if a hand is lifted against us, then he dies at
+once--by the Red Death."
+
+"Touch them not, touch them not," piped Eddo, "lest my ghost should be
+spilt with my blood. Touch them not, I command you."
+
+The company of dwarfs chattered together like parrots at the dawn, and the
+march began. First went Eddo, dragged along between Richard and Noie, and
+after them, the raised spear in her hand, followed Rachel, while on either
+side, hiding themselves behind the boles of the trees, scrambled the
+people of the dwarfs. Back they went thus through the forest, Rachel
+telling them the road till at length the huge grey wall loomed up before
+them. They came to the slit in it, and Noie asked:
+
+"What shall we do now? Kill this priest, take him in with us as a hostage,
+or let him go?"
+
+"I said that he should be set free," answered Rachel, "and he would do us
+more harm dead than living; also his blood would be on our hands. Take him
+through the Wall, and loose him there."
+
+So once more they passed the slopes and passages, while the mutes above
+watched them from their stones with marvelling eyes, till they reached the
+open space beyond, and there they loosed Eddo. The priest sprang back out
+of reach of the dreaded spears, and in a voice thick with rage, cried to
+them:
+
+"Fools! You should have killed me while you could, for now you are in a
+trap, not I. You are strong and great, but you cannot live without food.
+We may not enter here to hurt you, but you shall starve, you shall starve
+until you creep out and beg my mercy."
+
+Then making signs to the dwarfs who sat about above, he vanished between
+the stones.
+
+"You should have killed him, Zoola," said Noie, "for now he will live to
+kill us."
+
+"I think not, Sister," answered Rachel. "Nya said that I should follow my
+heart, and my heart bid me let him go. Our hands are clean of his blood,
+but if he had died, who can tell? Blood is a bad seed to sow."
+
+Then, forgetting Eddo, she turned to Richard and began to ply him with
+questions.
+
+But he seemed to be dazed and could answer little. It was as though some
+unnatural, supporting strength had been withdrawn, and now all the
+fatigues of his fearful journey were taking effect upon him. He could
+scarcely stand, but reeled to and fro like a man in drink, so that the two
+women were obliged to support him across the burial ground towards the
+cave. Advancing thus they entered into the shadow of the Holy Tree, and
+there at the edge of it met another procession descending from the mound.
+Eight mutes bore a litter of boughs, and on it lay Nya, dead, her long
+white hair hanging down on either side of the litter. With bowed heads
+they stood aside to let her pass to the grave made ready for her in a
+place of honour near the Wall where for a thousand years only the Mothers
+of the Trees had been laid to rest.
+
+Then they went on, and entered the cave where the lamps burned before the
+great stalactite and the heap of offerings that were piled about it. Here
+sat the two women priests gazing into their bowls as they had left them.
+The death of Nya had not moved them, the advent of this white man did not
+seem to move them. Perhaps they expected him; at any rate food was made
+ready, and a bed of rugs prepared on which he could lie.
+
+Richard ate some of the food, staring at Rachel all the while with vacant
+eyes as though she were still but a vision, the figment of a dream. Then
+he muttered something about being very tired, and sinking back upon the
+rugs fell into a deep sleep.
+
+In that sleep he remained scarcely stirring for full four-and-twenty
+hours, while Rachel watched by his side, till at length her weariness
+overcame her, and she slept also. When she opened her eyes again they saw
+no other light than that which crept in from the mouth of the cave. The
+lamps which always burned there were out. Noie, who was seated near by,
+heard her stir, and spoke.
+
+"If thou art rested, Zoola," she said, "I think that we had better carry
+the white lord from this place, for the two witch-women have gone, and I
+can find no more oil to fill the lamps."
+
+So they felt their way to Richard, purposing to lift him between them, but
+at Rachel's touch he awoke, and with their help walked out of the cave. In
+the open space beyond they saw a strange sight, for across it were
+streaming all the dwarf-mutes carrying their aged and sick and infants,
+and bearing on their backs or piled up in litters their mats and cooking
+utensils. Evidently they were deserting the Sanctuary.
+
+"Why are they going?" asked Rachel.
+
+"I do not know," answered Noie, "but I think it is because no food has
+been brought to them as usual, and they are hungry. You remember that Eddo
+said we should starve. Only fear of death by hunger would make them leave
+a place where they and their forefathers have lived for generations."
+
+Presently they were all gone. Not a living creature was left within the
+Wall except these three, nor were any more dwarfs brought in to die
+beneath the Holy Tree. Now, at length Richard seemed to awake, and taking
+Rachel by the hand began to ask questions of her in a low stammering
+voice, since words did not seem to come readily to him who had not spoken
+his own language for so long.
+
+"Before you begin to talk, Sister," broke in Noie, "let us go and see if
+we can close the cleft in the Wall, for otherwise how shall we sleep in
+peace? Eddo and the dwarfs might creep in by night and murder us."
+
+"I do not think they dare shed blood in their Holy Place," answered
+Rachel. "Still, let us see what we can do; it may be best."
+
+So they went to the cleft, and as the stone door was open and they could
+not shut it, at one very narrow spot they rolled down rocks from the loose
+sides of the ancient wall above in such a fashion that it would be
+difficult to pass through or over them from without. This hard task took
+them many hours, moreover, it was labour wasted, since, as Rachel had
+thought probable, the dwarfs never tried to pass the Wall, but waited till
+hunger forced them to surrender.
+
+Towards evening they returned to the cave and collected what food they
+could find. It was but little, enough for two spare meals, no more; nor
+could they discover any in the town of the dwarfs behind the Tree. Only of
+water they had plenty from the stream that ran out of the cave.
+
+They ate a few mouthfuls, then took their mats and cloaks and went to camp
+by the opening in the wall, so that they might guard against surprise. Now
+for the first time they found leisure to talk, and Rachel and Richard told
+each other a little of their wonderful stories. But they did not tell them
+all, for their minds seemed to be bewildered, and there was much that they
+were not able to explain. It was enough for them to know that they had
+been brought together again thus marvellously, by what power they knew
+not, and that still living, they who for long weeks had deemed the other
+dead, were able to hold each other's hands and gaze into each other's
+eyes. Moreover, now that this had been brought about they were tired, so
+tired that they could scarcely speak above a whisper. The end of it was
+that they fell asleep, all of them, and so slept till morning, when they
+awoke somewhat refreshed, and ate what remained of the food.
+
+The second day was like the first, only hotter and more sultry. Noie
+climbed to the top of the wall to watch, while Richard and Rachel wandered
+about among the little, antheap-like graves, and through the dwarf
+village, talking and wondering, happy even in their wretchedness. But
+before the day was gone hunger began to get a hold of them; also the
+terrible, stifling heat oppressed them so that their words seemed to die
+between their lips, and they could only sit against the wall, looking at
+one another.
+
+Towards evening Noie descended from the Wall and reported that large
+numbers of the dwarfs were keeping watch without, flitting to and fro
+between the trunks of the trees like shadows. The stifling night went by,
+and another day dawned. Having no food they went to the stream and drank
+water. Then they sat down in the shadow and waited through the long hot
+hours. Towards evening, when it grew a little cooler, they gathered up
+their strength and tried to find some way of escape before it was too
+late. Richard suggested that as flight was impossible they should give
+themselves up to the dwarfs, but Rachel answered No, for then Eddo would
+certainly kill him and Noie, and take her to fill the place of Mother of
+the Trees until she became useless to him, when she would be murdered
+also.
+
+"Then there is nothing left for us but to die," said Richard.
+
+"Nothing but to die," she answered, "to die together; and, dear, that
+should not be so hard, seeing that for so long we have thought each other
+dead apart."
+
+"Yet it is hard," answered Richard, "after living through so much and
+being led so far to die at last and go whither we know not, before our
+time."
+
+Rachel looked at Noie, who sat opposite to them, her head rested on her
+hand.
+
+"Have you anything to say, Sister?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, Zoola. Here is a little moss that I have found upon the stones," and
+she produced a small bundle. "Let us boil it and eat, it will keep us
+alive for another day."
+
+"What is the use?" asked Rachel, "unless there is more."
+
+"There is no more," said Noie, "for the leaves of yonder tree are deadly
+poison, and here grows no other living thing. Still, eat and live on, for
+I wait a message."
+
+"A message from whom?" asked Rachel.
+
+"A message from the dead, Sister. It was promised to me by Nya before she
+passed, and if it does not come, then it will be time to die."
+
+So they made fire and boiled the moss till it was a horrible, sticky
+substance, which they swallowed as best they could, washing it down with
+gulps of water. Still it was food of a kind, and for a while stayed the
+gnawing, empty pains within them; only Noie ate but little, so that there
+might be more for the others.
+
+That night was even hotter than those that had gone before, and during the
+day which followed the place became like a hell. They crept into the cave
+and lay there gasping, while from without came loud cracking sounds,
+caused, as they thought, by the trees of the forest splitting in the heat.
+About midday the sky suddenly became densely overcast, although no breath
+stirred; the air was thicker than ever, to breathe it was like breathing
+hot cream. In their restless despair they wandered out of the cave, and to
+their surprise saw a dwarf standing upon the top of the wall. It was Eddo,
+who called to them to come out and give themselves up.
+
+"What are the terms?" asked Noie.
+
+"That thou and the Wanderer shall die by the White Death, and that the
+Inkosazana shall be installed Mother of the Trees," was the answer.
+
+"We refuse them," said Noie. "Let us go now and give us food and escort,
+and thou shall be spared. Refuse, and it is thou and thy people who will
+die by that Red Death which Nya promised thee."
+
+"That we shall learn before to-morrow," said Eddo with a mocking laugh,
+and vanished down the wall.
+
+As he went a hot gust of wind burst upon them, causing the forest without
+to rock and groan. Noie turned her face towards it and seemed to listen.
+
+"What is it?" asked Rachel.
+
+"I heard a voice in the wind, Sister," she answered. "The message I
+awaited has come to me."
+
+"What message?" asked Richard listlessly.
+
+"That I will tell you by and by, Chief," she answered. "Come to the cave,
+it is no longer safe here, the hurricane breaks."
+
+So supporting each other they crept back to the cave, and there Noie made
+fire, feeding it with the idols and precious woods that had been brought
+thither as offerings. Richard and Rachel watched her wondering, for it
+seemed strange that she should make a fire in that heat where there was
+nothing to cook. Meanwhile gust succeeded gust, until a tempest of
+screaming wind swept over them, though no rain fell. Soon it was so fierce
+that the deep-rooted Tree of the Tribe rocked above them, and loose stones
+were blown from the crest of the great wall.
+
+Then of a sudden Noie sprang up, and seized a flaming brand from the fire;
+it was the limb of a fetish, made of some resinous wood. She ran from the
+cave swiftly, before they could stop her, and vanished in the gathering
+gloom, to return again in a few moments weak and breathless. "Come out,
+now," she said, "and see a sight such as you shall never behold again,"
+and there was something so strange in her voice that, notwithstanding
+their weakness, they rose and followed her.
+
+Outside the cave they could not stand because of the might of the
+hurricane, but cast themselves upon the ground, and following Noie's
+outstretched arm, looked up towards the top of the mound. Then they saw
+that the Tree of the Tribe was _on fire_. Already its vast trunk and
+boughs were wrapped in flame, which burnt furiously because of the resin
+within them, while long flakes of blazing moss were being swept away to
+leeward, to fall among the forest that lay beyond the wall.
+
+"Did you do this?" cried Rachel to Noie.
+
+"Aye, Zoola, who else? That was the message which came to me. Now my
+office is fulfilled, but you two will live though I must die, I who have
+destroyed the People of the Dwarfs; I who was born that I should destroy
+them."
+
+"Destroyed them!" exclaimed Rachel. "What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that when their Tree dies, they die, the whole race of them. Oh!
+Nya told me, Nya told me--they die as their Tree dies, by fire. To the
+Wall, to the Wall now, and look. Follow me."
+
+Forgetting their hunger-bred weakness in the wild excitement of that
+moment, Rachel and Richard struggled hand in hand, after Noie's thin,
+ethereal form. Across the open space they struggled, through the furious
+bufferings of the gale, sometimes on their feet, sometimes on their hands
+and knees, till they came to the great wall where a stairway ran up it to
+an outlook tower. Up this stair they climbed slowly since at times the
+weight of the wind pinned them against the blocks of stone, till at length
+they reached its crest and crept into the shelter of the hollow tower.
+Hence, looking through the loopholes in the ancient masonry, they saw a
+fearful sight. The flakes of burning moss from the Tree of the Tribe had
+fallen among the tops of the forest, parched almost to tinder with drought
+and heat, and fired them here and there. Fanned by the screaming gale the
+flames spread rapidly, leaping from tree to tree, now in one direction,
+now in another, as the hurricane veered, which it did continually, till
+the whole green forest became a sheet of fire, an ever-widening sheet
+which spread east and west and north and south for miles and miles and
+tens of miles.
+
+Earth and sky were one blaze of light given out by the torch-like resinous
+trees as they burned from the top downwards. By that intense light the
+three watchers could see hundreds of the People of the Dwarfs flitting
+about between the trunks. Waving their arms and gibbering, they rushed
+this way and that, to the north to be met by fire, to the south to be met
+by fire, till at length the blazing boughs and boles fell upon them and
+they disappeared in showers of red sparks, or, more fortunate, fled away,
+never to return, before the flame that leapt after them. One company of
+them ran towards the Sanctuary; they could see them threading their path
+between the trees, and growing ever fewer as the burning branches fell
+among them from above. They leapt, they ran, they battled, springing this
+way and that, but ever the great flaring boughs crashed down among them,
+crushing them, shrivelling them up, till at length of all their number but
+a single man staggered into the open belt between the edge of the forest
+and the wall. His white hair and his garments seemed to be smouldering. He
+gripped at them with his hands, then coming to a little bush--it was the
+top of Nya's tree which she had thrust into the ground to grow
+there--dragged it up and began to beat himself with it as though to
+extinguish the flames. In an instant it took fire also, burning him
+horribly, so that with a yell he threw it to the ground, and ran on
+towards the wall. As he came they saw his face. It was that of Eddo.
+
+At this moment, seized by some sudden weakness, Noie sank down upon the
+stones. Richard bent over her to lift her to her feet again, but she
+thrust him away, saying slowly and in gasps:
+
+"Let me be, the doom has hold of me, I am dying. I passed within the Fence
+to fire the Tree, and its poison is at work within me, and the curse of
+all my people has fallen on my head. Yet I have saved thee, my sister, I
+have saved thee and thy lover, for the Dwarfs are no more, the Grey People
+are grey ashes. For my love's sake I did the sin; let my love atone the
+sin if it may, or at the least think kindly of me through the long, happy
+years that are to come, and at the end of them then seek for lost Noie in
+the World of Ghosts if she may be found there."
+
+As she spoke they heard a sound of something scrambling among the stones,
+and at one of the four entrances of the turret there appeared a hideous,
+fire-twisted face, and a little form about which hung charred and
+smouldering strips of raiment. It was Eddo, who had climbed the wall and
+found them out. There he sat glowering at them, or rather at Noie, who was
+crouched upon the floor.
+
+"Come hither, daughter of Seyapi," he screamed in his hissing, snake-like
+voice, "come hither, and see thy work, thou who hast made an end of the
+ancient People of the Ghosts. Come hither and tell me why thou didst this
+thing, for I would learn the truth before I die, that I may make report of
+it to the Fathers of our race."
+
+Noie heard, and crept towards him; to Rachel and Richard it seemed as
+though she could not disobey that summons. Now they sat face to face
+outside the turret, clinging to the stones, and her long hair flowed
+outwards on the gale.
+
+"I did it, Eddo," she said, "to save one whom I love, and him whom she
+loves. I did it to avenge the death of Nya upon you all, as she bade me to
+do. I did it because the cup of thy wickedness is full, and because I was
+appointed to bring thy doom upon thee. Thus ends the greatness thou hast
+plotted so many years to win, Eddo."
+
+"Aye," he answered, "thus it ends, for the magic of the White One there
+has overcome me, and thus with it ends the reign of the Ghost Kings, and
+the forest wherein they reigned, and thus too, thou endest, traitress, who
+hast murdered them and whose soul shall be spilt with their souls."
+
+As the words left his lips suddenly Eddo sprang upon Noie and gripped her
+about the middle. Richard and Rachel leapt forward, but before ever they
+could lay a hand upon her to save her, the dwarf in his rage and agony had
+dragged her to the edge of the wall. For a moment they struggled there in
+the vivid light of the flaming forest. Then Eddo screamed aloud, one wild
+savage shriek, and still holding Noie in his arms hurled himself from the
+wall, to fall crushed upon its foundation stones sixty feet beneath.
+
+Thus perished Noie, who, for love's sake, gave her life to save Rachel, as
+once Rachel had saved her.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was morning, and after the tempest the sky was clear and cool, for
+heavy rain had fallen when the wind dropped, although far away the dense
+clouds of rolling smoke showed where the great fire still ate into the
+heart of the forest. Rachel and Richard, seated hand in hand in the little
+tower on the wall, looked at one another in that pure light, and saw signs
+in each other's face that could not be mistaken.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Richard. "Death is very near to us."
+
+Rachel thought awhile, then answered:
+
+"The dwarfs are gone, we have nothing more to fear from them. Yonder where
+the fire did not burn, dwell their slaves, whose villages are full of
+food, and beyond them live the Umkulu, who know and would befriend me. Let
+us go and seek food who desire to live on together, if we may."
+
+So they climbed down the wall, and with difficulty, for they were very
+feeble, crawled over the stones which they had piled up in the passage to
+keep out the dwarfs, and thus passed to the open belt beyond. A strange
+scene met their eyes, all the wide lands that had been covered with giant
+trees were now piled over with white ashes amongst which, here and there,
+stood a black and smouldering trunk. The journey was terrible, but
+following a ridge of rock whereon no great trees had grown, hand in hand
+they passed through the outer edge of the burnt forest in safety, until
+they came to one of the towns of the slaves upon the fertile plain beyond,
+which led up to the desert. No human being could they see, since all had
+fled, but the kraal was full of sheep and cattle that had been penned
+there before the fire began, and in the huts were milk and food in plenty.
+They drank of the milk and, after a while, ate a little, then rested and
+drank more milk, till their strength began to return to them. Towards
+evening they went out of the town, and standing on a mound looked at the
+fire-wasted plain behind, and the green, grassy slopes in front.
+
+They seemed quite alone in the world, those two, and yet their hearts were
+full of joy and thankfulness, for while they were left to each other they
+knew that they could never be alone.
+
+"See, Rachel," said Richard, pointing to the smouldering wreck of the
+forest, "there lies our past, and here in front of us spreads the future
+clothed with flowers."
+
+"Yes, Richard," she answered, "but Noie and all whom I love save you are
+buried in that past, and in front of us the desert is not far away."
+
+"Life is ours, Rachel, and love is ours, and that which saved us through
+many a danger and brought me back to you, will surely keep us safe. Do you
+fear to pass the desert at my side?"
+
+She looked at him with shining eyes, and answered:
+
+"No, Richard, I fear no more, for now I seem to hear the voice of Noie
+speaking in my heart, telling me that trouble is behind us, and that we
+shall live out our lives together, as my mother foresaw that we should
+do."
+
+And there on the mound, standing between that dead sea of ashes and the
+green slopes of flowering plain, Rachel stretched out her arms to the man
+to whom she was decreed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ghost Kings, by H. Rider Haggard
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