ALLAN'S WIFE by H. Rider Haggard DEDICATION My Dear Macumazahn, It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening of that Allen who has become as well known to me as any other friend I have. It is therefore fitting that I should dedicate to you this, his last tale--the story of his wife, and the history of some further adventures which befell him. They will remind you of many an African yarn--that with the baboons may recall an experience of your own which I did not share. And perhaps they will do more than this. Perhaps they will bring back to you some of the long past romance of days that are lost to us. The country of which Allan Quatermain tells his tale is now, for the most part, as well known and explored as are the fields of Norfolk. Where we shot and trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face of civilized man, there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The shadow of the flag of Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on the Transvaal plains; the game has gone; the misty charm of the morning has become the glare of day. All is changed. The blue gums that we planted in the garden of the "Palatial" must be large trees by now, and the "Palatial" itself has passed from us. Jess sat in it waiting for her love after we were gone. There she nursed him back to life. But Jess is dead, and strangers own it, or perhaps it is a ruin. For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the mystery and promise of the morning are outworn; the mid-day sun burns overhead, and at times the way is weary. Few of those we knew are left. Some are victims to battle and murder, their bones strew the veldt; death has taken some in a more gentle fashion; others are hidden from us, we know not where. We might well fear to return to that land lest we also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart to-day, the past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. Still we can remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, lightly undertaken, which now would strike us as hazardous indeed. Still we can recall the long familiar line of the Pretoria Horse, the face of war and panic, the weariness of midnight patrols; aye, and hear the roar of guns echoed from the Shameful Hill. To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those eventful years of youth which we passed together in the African towns and on the African veldt, I dedicate these pages, subscribing myself now as always, Your sincere friend, Indanda. To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq. ALLAN'S WIFE CHAPTER I EARLY DAYS It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written justbefore his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead wife, stating that he has written of her fully elsewhere. When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as hisliterary executor. Among them I found two manuscripts, of which thefollowing is one. The other is simply a record of events wherein Mr. Quatermain was not personally concerned--a Zulu novel, the story ofwhich was told to him by the hero many years after the tragedy hadoccurred. But with this we have nothing to do at present. I have often thought (Mr. Quatermain's manuscript begins) that I wouldset down on paper the events connected with my marriage, and the loss ofmy most dear wife. Many years have now passed since that event, and tosome extent time has softened the old grief, though Heaven knows itis still keen enough. On two or three occasions I have even begun therecord. Once I gave it up because the writing of it depressed me beyondbearing, once because I was suddenly called away upon a journey, andthe third time because a Kaffir boy found my manuscript convenient forlighting the kitchen fire. But now that I am at leisure here in England, I will make a fourthattempt. If I succeed, the story may serve to interest some one in afteryears when I am dead and gone; before that I should not wish it tobe published. It is a wild tale enough, and suggests some curiousreflections. I am the son of a missionary. My father was originally curate in chargeof a small parish in Oxfordshire. He had already been some ten yearsmarried to my dear mother when he went there, and he had four children, of whom I was the youngest. I remember faintly the place where we lived. It was an ancient long grey house, facing the road. There was a verylarge tree of some sort in the garden. It was hollow, and we childrenused to play about inside of it, and knock knots of wood from the roughbark. We all slept in a kind of attic, and my mother always came andkissed us when we were in bed. I used to wake up and see her bendingover me, a candle in her hand. There was a curious kind of poleprojecting from the wall over my bed. Once I was dreadfully frightenedbecause my eldest brother made me hang to it by my hands. That is allI remember about our old home. It has been pulled down long ago, or Iwould journey there to see it. A little further down the road was a large house with big iron gates toit, and on the top of the gate pillars sat two stone lions, whichwere so hideous that I was afraid of them. Perhaps this sentiment wasprophetic. One could see the house by peeping through the bars of thegates. It was a gloomy-looking place, with a tall yew hedge round it;but in the summer-time some flowers grew about the sun-dial in the grassplat. This house was called the Hall, and Squire Carson lived there. OneChristmas--it must have been the Christmas before my father emigrated, or I should not remember it--we children went to a Christmas-treefestivity at the Hall. There was a great party there, and footmenwearing red waistcoats stood at the door. In the dining-room, which waspanelled with black oak, was the Christmas-tree. Squire Carson stood infront of it. He was a tall, dark man, very quiet in his manners, and hewore a bunch of seals on his waistcoat. We used to think him old, butas a matter of fact he was then not more than forty. He had been, asI afterwards learned, a great traveller in his youth, and some sixor seven years before this date he married a lady who was half aSpaniard--a papist, my father called her. I can remember her well. Shewas small and very pretty, with a rounded figure, large black eyes, andglittering teeth. She spoke English with a curious accent. I supposethat I must have been a funny child to look at, and I know that my hairstood up on my head then as it does now, for I still have a sketch ofmyself that my mother made of me, in which this peculiarity is stronglymarked. On this occasion of the Christmas-tree I remember that Mrs. Carson turned to a tall, foreign-looking gentleman who stood besideher, and, tapping him affectionately on the shoulder with her goldeye-glasses, said-- "Look, cousin--look at that droll little boy with the big brown eyes;his hair is like a--what you call him?--scrubbing-brush. Oh, what adroll little boy!" The tall gentleman pulled at his moustache, and, taking Mrs. Carson'shand in his, began to smooth my hair down with it till I heard herwhisper-- "Leave go my hand, cousin. Thomas is looking like--like thethunderstorm. " Thomas was the name of Mr. Carson, her husband. After that I hid myself as well as I could behind a chair, for I wasshy, and watched little Stella Carson, who was the squire's only child, giving the children presents off the tree. She was dressed as FatherChristmas, with some soft white stuff round her lovely little face, andshe had large dark eyes, which I thought more beautiful than anythingI had ever seen. At last it came to my turn to receive a present--oddlyenough, considered in the light of future events, it was a large monkey. Stella reached it down from one of the lower boughs of the tree andhanded it to me, saying-- "Dat is my Christmas present to you, little Allan Quatermain. " As she did so her sleeve, which was covered with cotton wool, spangledover with something that shone, touched one of the tapers and caughtfire--how I do not know--and the flame ran up her arm towards herthroat. She stood quite still. I suppose that she was paralysed withfear; and the ladies who were near screamed very loud, but did nothing. Then some impulse seized me--perhaps instinct would be a better word touse, considering my age. I threw myself upon the child, and, beating atthe fire with my hands, mercifully succeeded in extinguishing it beforeit really got hold. My wrists were so badly scorched that they had to bewrapped up in wool for a long time afterwards, but with the exception ofa single burn upon her throat, little Stella Carson was not much hurt. This is all that I remember about the Christmas-tree at the Hall. What happened afterwards is lost to me, but to this day in my sleep Isometimes see little Stella's sweet face and the stare of terror in herdark eyes as the fire ran up her arm. This, however, is not wonderful, for I had, humanly speaking, saved the life of her who was destined tobe my wife. The next event which I can recall clearly is that my mother and threebrothers all fell ill of fever, owing, as I afterwards learned, to thepoisoning of our well by some evil-minded person, who threw a dead sheepinto it. It must have been while they were ill that Squire Carson came one dayto the vicarage. The weather was still cold, for there was a fire inthe study, and I sat before the fire writing letters on a piece of paperwith a pencil, while my father walked up and down the room talking tohimself. Afterwards I knew that he was praying for the lives of his wifeand children. Presently a servant came to the door and said that someone wanted to see him. "It is the squire, sir, " said the maid, "and he says he particularlywishes to see you. " "Very well, " answered my father, wearily, and presently Squire Carsoncame in. His face was white and haggard, and his eyes shone so fiercelythat I was afraid of him. "Forgive me for intruding on you at such a time, Quatermain, " he said, in a hoarse voice, "but to-morrow I leave this place for ever, and Iwish to speak to you before I go--indeed, I must speak to you. " "Shall I send Allan away?" said my father, pointing to me. "No; let him bide. He will not understand. " Nor, indeed, did I at thetime, but I remembered every word, and in after years their meaning grewon me. "First tell me, " he went on, "how are they?" and he pointed upwards withhis thumb. "My wife and two of the boys are beyond hope, " my father answered, witha groan. "I do not know how it will go with the third. The Lord's willbe done!" "The Lord's will be done, " the squire echoed, solemnly. "And now, Quatermain, listen--my wife's gone. " "Gone!" my father answered. "Who with?" "With that foreign cousin of hers. It seems from a letter she left methat she always cared for him, not for me. She married me because shethought me a rich English milord. Now she has run through my property, or most of it, and gone. I don't know where. Luckily, she did not careto encumber her new career with the child; Stella is left to me. " "That is what comes of marrying a papist, Carson, " said my father. Thatwas his fault; he was as good and charitable a man as ever lived, but hewas bigoted. "What are you going to do--follow her?" He laughed bitterly in answer. "Follow her!" he said; "why should I follow her? If I met her I mightkill her or him, or both of them, because of the disgrace they havebrought upon my child's name. No, I never want to look upon her faceagain. I trusted her, I tell you, and she has betrayed me. Let her goand find her fate. But I am going too. I am weary of my life. " "Surely, Carson, surely, " said my father, "you do not mean----" "No, no; not that. Death comes soon enough. But I will leave thiscivilized world which is a lie. We will go right away into the wilds, Iand my child, and hide our shame. Where? I don't know where. Anywhere, so long as there are no white faces, no smooth educated tongues----" "You are mad, Carson, " my father answered. "How will you live? How canyou educate Stella? Be a man and wear it down. " "I will be a man, and I will wear it down, but not here, Quatermain. Education! Was not she--that woman who was my wife--was not she highlyeducated?--the cleverest woman in the country forsooth. Too clever forme, Quatermain--too clever by half! No, no, Stella shall be broughtup in a different school; if it be possible, she shall forget her veryname. Good-bye, old friend, good-bye for ever. Do not try to find meout, henceforth I shall be like one dead to you, to you and all I knew, "and he was gone. "Mad, " said my father, with a heavy sigh. "His trouble has turned hisbrain. But he will think better of it. " At that moment the nurse came hurrying in and whispered something in hisear. My father's face turned deadly pale. He clutched at the table tosupport himself, then staggered from the room. My mother was dying! It was some days afterwards, I do not know exactly how long, that myfather took me by the hand and led me upstairs into the big room whichhad been my mother's bedroom. There she lay, dead in her coffin, withflowers in her hand. Along the wall of the room were arranged threelittle white beds, and on each of the beds lay one of my brothers. Theyall looked as though they were asleep, and they all had flowers in theirhands. My father told me to kiss them, because I should not see them anymore, and I did so, though I was very frightened. I did not know why. Then he took me in his arms and kissed me. "The Lord hath given, " he said, "and the Lord hath taken away; blessedbe the name of the Lord. " I cried very much, and he took me downstairs, and after that I have onlya confused memory of men dressed in black carrying heavy burdens towardsthe grey churchyard! Next comes a vision of a great ship and wide tossing waters. My fathercould no longer bear to live in England after the loss that had fallenon him, and made up his mind to emigrate to South Africa. We must havebeen poor at the time--indeed, I believe that a large portion ofour income went from my father on my mother's death. At any rate wetravelled with the steerage passengers, and the intense discomfort ofthe journey with the rough ways of our fellow emigrants still remainupon my mind. At last it came to an end, and we reached Africa, which Iwas not to leave again for many, many years. In those days civilization had not made any great progress in SouthernAfrica. My father went up the country and became a missionary among theKaffirs, near to where the town of Cradock now stands, and here I grewto manhood. There were a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, andgradually a little settlement of whites gathered round our missionstation--a drunken Scotch blacksmith and wheelwright was about the mostinteresting character, who, when he was sober, could quote the Scottishpoet Burns and the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently published, literallyby the page. It was from that I contracted a fondness for the latteramusing writings, which has never left me. Burns I never cared for somuch, probably because of the Scottish dialect which repelled me. Whatlittle education I got was from my father, but I never had much leaningtowards books, nor he much time to teach them to me. On the other hand, I was always a keen observer of the ways of men and nature. By the timethat I was twenty I could speak Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialectsperfectly, and I doubt if there was anybody in South Africa whounderstood native ways of thought and action more completely than Idid. Also I was really a very good shot and horseman, and I think--as, indeed, my subsequent career proves to have been the case--a great dealtougher than the majority of men. Though I was then, as now, light andsmall, nothing seemed to tire me. I could bear any amount of exposureand privation, and I never met the native who was my master in featsof endurance. Of course, all that is different now, I am speaking of myearly manhood. It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in suchsurroundings, but I was held back from this by my father's society. Hewas one of the gentlest and most refined men that I ever met; even themost savage Kaffir loved him, and his influence was a very good onefor me. He used to call himself one of the world's failures. Would thatthere were more such failures. Every morning when his work was done hewould take his prayer-book and, sitting on the little stoep or verandahof our station, would read the evening psalms to himself. Sometimesthere was not light enough for this, but it made no difference, he knewthem all by heart. When he had finished he would look out across thecultivated lands where the mission Kaffirs had their huts. But I knew it was not these he saw, but rather the grey English church, and the graves ranged side by side before the yew near the wicket gate. It was there on the stoep that he died. He had not been well, and oneevening I was talking to him, and his mind went back to Oxfordshire andmy mother. He spoke of her a good deal, saying that she had never beenout of his mind for a single day during all these years, and that herejoiced to think he was drawing near that land wither she had gone. Then he asked me if I remembered the night when Squire Carson came intothe study at the vicarage, and told him that his wife had run away, andthat he was going to change his name and bury himself in some remoteland. I answered that I remembered it perfectly. "I wonder where he went to, " said my father, "and if he and his daughterStella are still alive. Well, well! I shall never meet them again. Butlife is a strange thing, Allan, and you may. If you ever do, give themmy kind love. " After that I left him. We had been suffering more than usual from thedepredations of the Kaffir thieves, who stole our sheep at night, and, as I had done before, and not without success, I determined to watch thekraal and see if I could catch them. Indeed, it was from this habit ofmine of watching at night that I first got my native name of Macumazahn, which may be roughly translated as "he who sleeps with one eye open. " SoI took my rifle and rose to go. But he called me to him and kissed me onthe forehead, saying, "God bless you, Allan! I hope that you will thinkof your old father sometimes, and that you will lead a good and happylife. " I remember that I did not much like his tone at the time, but set itdown to an attack of low spirits, to which he grew very subject as theyears went on. I went down to the kraal and watched till within an hourof sunrise; then, as no thieves appeared, returned to the station. As Icame near I was astonished to see a figure sitting in my father's chair. At first I thought it must be a drunken Kaffir, then that my father hadfallen asleep there. And so he had, --for he was dead! CHAPTER II THE FIRE-FIGHT When I had buried my father, and seen a successor installed in hisplace--for the station was the property of the Society--I set to work tocarry out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to executebecause it would have involved separation from my father. Put shortly, it was to undertake a trading journey of exploration right through thecountries now known as the Free State and the Transvaal, and as muchfurther North as I could go. It was an adventurous scheme, for thoughthe emigrant Boers had begun to occupy positions in these territories, they were still to all practical purposes unexplored. But I was nowalone in the world, and it mattered little what became of me; so, drivenon by the overmastering love of adventure, which, old as I am, willperhaps still be the cause of my death, I determined to undertake thejourney. Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station, reserving only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The proceedsI invested in such goods as were then in fashion, for trading purposes, and in guns and ammunition. The guns would have moved any modernexplorer to merriment; but such as they were I managed to do a good dealof execution with them. One of them was a single-barrelled, smoothbore, fitted for percussion caps--a roer we called it--which threw athree-ounce ball, and was charged with a handful of coarse black powder. Many is the elephant that I killed with that roer, although it generallyknocked me backwards when I fired it, which I only did under compulsion. The best of the lot, perhaps, was a double-barrelled No. 12 shot-gun, but it had flint locks. Also there were some old tower muskets, whichmight or might not throw straight at seventy yards. I took six Kaffirswith me, and three good horses, which were supposed to be salted--thatis, proof against the sickness. Among the Kaffirs was an old fellownamed Indaba-zimbi, which, being translated, means "tongue of iron. "I suppose he got this name from his strident voice and exhaustlesseloquence. This man was a great character in his way. He had been anoted witch-doctor among a neighbouring tribe, and came to the stationunder the following circumstances, which, as he plays a considerablepart in this history, are perhaps worth recording. Two years before my father's death I had occasion to search the countryround for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it occurredto me that I had better go to the place where the oxen were bred by aKaffir chief, whose name I forget, but whose kraal was about fifty milesfrom our station. There I journeyed, and found the oxen safe at home. The chief entertained me handsomely, and on the following morning I wentto pay my respects to him before leaving, and was somewhat surprised tofind a collection of some hundreds of men and women sitting round himanxiously watching the sky in which the thunder-clouds were banking upin a very ominous way. "You had better wait, white man, " said the chief, "and see therain-doctors fight the lightning. " I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, hadfor some years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe, although he was not a member of it, having been born in the country nowknown as Zululand. But a son of the chief's, a man of about thirty, had lately set up as a rival in supernatural powers. This irritatedIndaba-zimbi beyond measure, and a quarrel ensued between the twowitch-doctors that resulted in a challenge to trial by lightning beinggiven and accepted. These were the conditions. The rivals must await thecoming of a serious thunderstorm, no ordinary tempest would serve theirturn. Then, carrying assegais in their hands, they must take their standwithin fifty paces of each other upon a certain patch of ground wherethe big thunderbolts were observed to strike continually, and by theexercise of their occult powers and invocations to the lightning, muststrive to avert death from themselves and bring it on their rival. Theterms of this singular match had been arranged a month previously, but no storm worthy of the occasion had arisen. Now the localweather-prophets believed it to be brewing. I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and wastold that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped thesecond time, however, they would be held to be equal in power, and bejointly consulted by the tribe upon occasions of importance. The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame mydesire to be gone, and I accepted the chief's invitation to see itout. Before mid-day I regretted it, for though the western heavens grewdarker and darker, and the still air heralded the coming of the storm, yet it did not come. By four o'clock, however, it became obvious thatit must burst soon--at sunset, the old chief said, and in the companyof the whole assembly I moved down to the place of combat. The kraal wasbuilt on the top of a hill, and below it the land sloped gently to thebanks of a river about half a mile away. On the hither side of thebank was the piece of land that was, the natives said, "loved of thelightning. " Here the magicians took up their stand, while the spectatorsgrouped themselves on the hillside about two hundred yards away--whichwas, I thought, rather too near to be pleasant. When we had sat therefor a while my curiosity overcame me, and I asked leave of the chief togo down and inspect the arena. He said I might do so at my own risk. Itold him that the fire from above would not hurt white men, and wentto find that the spot was a bed of iron ore, thinly covered with grass, which of course accounted for its attracting the lightning from thestorms as they travelled along the line of the river. At each end ofthis iron-stone area were placed the combatants, Indaba-zimbi facing theeast, and his rival the west, and before each there burned a littlefire made of some scented root. Moreover they were dressed in all theparaphernalia of their craft, snakeskins, fish-bladders, and I know notwhat beside, while round their necks hung circlets of baboons' teethand bones from human hands. First I went to the western end wherethe chief's son stood. He was pointing with his assegai towards theadvancing storm, and invoking it in a voice of great excitement. "Come, fire, and lick up Indaba-zimbi! "Hear me, Storm Devil, and lick Indaba-zimbi with your red tongue! "Spit on him with your rain! "Whirl him away in your breath! "Make him as nothing--melt the marrow in his bones! "Run into his heart and burn away the lies! "Show all the people who is the true Witch Finder! "Let me not be put to shame in the eyes of this white man!" Thus he spoke, or rather chanted, and all the while rubbed his broadchest--for he was a very fine man--with some filthy compound of medicineor _mouti_. After a while, getting tired of his song, I walked across theiron-stone, to where Indaba-zimbi sat by his fire. He was not chantingat all, but his performance was much more impressive. It consisted instaring at the eastern sky, which was perfectly clear of cloud, andevery now and again beckoning at it with his finger, then turning roundto point with the assegai towards his rival. For a while I looked at himin silence. He was a curious wizened man, apparently over fifty yearsof age, with thin hands that looked as tough as wire. His nose was muchsharper than is usual among these races, and he had a queer habit ofholding his head sideways like a bird when he spoke, which, inaddition to the humour that lurked in his eye, gave him a most comicalappearance. Another strange thing about him was that he had a singlewhite lock of hair among his black wool. At last I spoke to him: "Indaba-zimbi, my friend, " I said, "you may be a good witch-doctor, butyou are certainly a fool. It is no good beckoning at the blue sky whileyour enemy is getting a start with the storm. " "You may be clever, but don't think you know everything, white man, " theold fellow answered, in a high, cracked voice, and with something like agrin. "They call you Iron-tongue, " I went on; "you had better use it, or theStorm Devil won't hear you. " "The fire from above runs down iron, " he answered, "so I keep my tonguequiet. Oh, yes, let him curse away, I'll put him out presently. Looknow, white man. " I looked, and in the eastern sky there grew a cloud. At first it wassmall, though very black, but it gathered with extraordinary rapidity. This was odd enough, but as I had seen the same thing happen before itdid not particularly astonish me. It is by no means unusual in Africafor two thunderstorms to come up at the same time from different pointsof the compass. "You had better get on, Indaba-zimbi, " I said, "the big storm is comingalong fast, and will soon eat up that baby of yours, " and I pointed tothe west. "Babies sometimes grow to giants, white man, " said Indaba-zimbi, beckoning away vigorously. "Look now at my cloud-child. " I looked; the eastern storm was spreading itself from earth to sky, andin shape resembled an enormous man. There was its head, its shoulders, and its legs; yes, it was like a huge giant travelling across theheavens. The light of the setting sun escaping from beneath the loweredge of the western storm shot across the intervening space in a sheetof splendour, and, lighting upon the advancing figure of cloud, wrappedits middle in hues of glory too wonderful to be described; but beneathand above this glowing belt his feet and head were black as jet. Presently, as I watched, an awful flash of light shot from the head ofthe cloud, circled it about as though with a crown of living fire, andvanished. "Aha, " chuckled old Indaba-zimbi, "my little boy is putting on his man'sring, " and he tapped the gum ring on his own head, which natives assumewhen they reach a certain age and dignity. "Now, white man, unless youare a bigger wizard than either of us you had better clear off, for thefire-fight is about to begin. " I thought this sound advice. "Good luck go with you, my black uncle, " I said. "I hope you don't feelthe iniquities of a mis-spent life weighing on you at the last. " "You look after yourself, and think of your own sins, young man, " heanswered, with a grim smile, and taking a pinch of snuff, while at thatvery moment a flash of lightning, I don't know from which storm, struckthe ground within thirty paces of me. That was enough for me, I tookto my heels, and as I went I heard old Indaba-zimbi's dry chuckle ofamusement. I climbed the hill till I came to where the chief was sitting with hisindunas, or headmen, and sat down near to him. I looked at the man'sface and saw that he was intensely anxious for his son's safety, andby no means confident of the young man's powers to resist the magic ofIndaba-zimbi. He was talking in a low voice to the induna next to him. I affected to take no notice and to be concentrating my attention onthe novel scene before me; but in those days I had very quick ears, andcaught the drift of the conversation. "Hearken!" the chief was saying, "if the magic of Indaba-zimbi prevailsagainst my son I will endure him no more. Of this I am sure, that whenhe has slain my son he will slay me, me also, and make himself chief inmy place. I fear Indaba-zimbi. _Ou!_" "Black One, " answered the induna, "wizards die as dogs die, and, oncedead, dogs bark no more. " "And once dead, " said the chiefs, "wizards work no more spells, " and hebent and whispered in the induna's ear, looking at the assegai in hishand as he whispered. "Good, my father, good!" said the induna, presently. "It shall be doneto-night, if the lightning does not do it first. " "A bad look-out for old Indaba-zimbi, " I said to myself. "They mean tokill him. " Then I thought no more of the matter for a while, the scenebefore me was too tremendous. The two storms were rapidly rushing together. Between them was a gulf ofblue sky, and from time to time flashes of blinding light passed acrossthis gulf, leaping from cloud to cloud. I remember that they remindedme of the story of the heathen god Jove and his thunderbolts. The stormthat was shaped like a giant and ringed with the glory of the sinkingsun made an excellent Jove, and I am sure that the bolts which leaptfrom it could not have been surpassed even in mythological times. Oddly enough, as yet the flashes were not followed by thunder. A deadlystillness lay upon the place, the cattle stood silently on the hillside, even the natives were awed to silence. Dark shadows crept along thebosom of the hills, the river to the right and left was hidden inwreaths of cloud, but before us and beyond the combatants it shonelike a line of silver beneath the narrowing space of open sky. Now thewestern tempest was scrawled all over with lines of intolerable light, while the inky head of the cloud-giant to the east was continuallysuffused with a white and deadly glow that came and went in pulses, asthough a blood of flame was being pumped into it from the heart of thestorm. The silence deepened and deepened, the shadows grew blacker and blacker, then suddenly all nature began to moan beneath the breath of an icywind. On sped the wind; the smooth surface of the river was ruffled byit into little waves, the tall grass bowed low before it, and in itswake came the hissing sound of furious rain. Ah! the storms had met. From each there burst an awful blaze of dazzlingflame, and now the hill on which we sat rocked at the noise of thefollowing thunder. The light went out of the sky, darkness fell suddenlyon the land, but not for long. Presently the whole landscape grew vividin the flashes, it appeared and disappeared, now everything was visiblefor miles, now even the men at my side vanished in the blackness. Thethunder rolled and cracked and pealed like the trump of doom, whirlwindstore round, lifting dust and even stones high into the air, and in alow, continuous undertone rose the hiss of the rushing rain. I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, and looked beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone. As flash followedflash, from time to time I caught sight of the two wizards. They wereslowly advancing towards one another, each pointing at his foe with theassegai in his hand. I could see their every movement, and it seemed tome that the chain lightning was striking the iron-stone all round them. Suddenly the thunder and lightning ceased for a minute, everything grewblack, and, except for the rain, silent. "It is over one way or the other, chief, " I called out into thedarkness. "Wait, white man, wait!" answered the chief, in a voice thick withanxiety and fear. Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the heavens were lit upagain till they literally seemed to flame. There were the men, not tenpaces apart. A great flash fell between them, I saw them stagger beneaththe shock. Indaba-zimbi recovered himself first--at any rate when thenext flash came he was standing bolt upright, pointing with his assegaitowards his enemy. The chief's son was still on his legs, but he wasstaggering like a drunken man, and the assegai had fallen from his hand. Darkness! then again a flash, more fearful, if possible, than any thathad gone before. To me it seemed to come from the east, right over thehead of Indaba-zimbi. At that instant I saw the chief's son wrapped, as it were, in the heart of it. Then the thunder pealed, the rain burstover us like a torrent, and I saw no more. The worst of the storm was done, but for a while the darkness was sodense that we could not move, nor, indeed, was I inclined to leave thesafety of the hillside where the lightning was never known to strike, and venture down to the iron-stone. Occasionally there still cameflashes, but, search as we would, we could see no trace of either ofthe wizards. For my part, I believed that they were both dead. Now theclouds slowly rolled away down the course of the river, and with themwent the rain; and now the stars shone in their wake. "Let us go and see, " said the old chief, rising and shaking the waterfrom his hair. "The fire-fight is ended, let us go and see who hasconquered. " I rose and followed him, dripping as though I had swum a hundred yardswith my clothes on, and after me came all the people of the kraal. We reached the spot; even in that light I could see where the iron-stonehad been split and fused by the thunderbolts. While I was staring aboutme, I suddenly heard the chief, who was on my right, give a low moan, and saw the people cluster round him. I went up and looked. There, onthe ground, lay the body of his son. It was a dreadful sight. The hairwas burnt off his head, the copper rings upon his arms were fused, theassegai handle which lay near was literally shivered into threads, and, when I took hold of his arm, it seemed to me that every bone of it wasbroken. The men with the chief stood gazing silently, while the women wailed. "Great is the magic of Indaba-zimbi!" said a man, at length. The chiefturned and struck him a heavy blow with the kerrie in his hand. "Great or not, thou dog, he shall die, " he cried, "and so shalt thou ifthou singest his praises so loudly. " I said nothing, but thinking it probable that Indaba-zimbi had sharedthe fate of his enemy, I went to look. But I could see nothing of him, and at length, being thoroughly chilled with the wet, started back to mywaggon to change my clothes. On reaching it, I was rather surprised tosee a strange Kaffir seated on the driving-box wrapped up in a blanket. "Hullo! come out of that, " I said. The figure on the box slowly unrolled the blanket, and with greatdeliberation took a pinch of snuff. "It was a good fire-fight, white man, was it not?" said Indaba-zimbi, in his high, cracked voice. "But he never had a chance against me, poor boy. He knew nothing about it. See, white man, what becomes ofpresumption in the young. It is sad, very sad, but I made the flashesfly, didn't I?" "You old humbug, " I said, "unless you are careful you will soon learnwhat comes of presumption in the old, for your chief is after you withan assegai, and it will take all your magic to dodge that. " "Now you don't say so, " said Indaba-zimbi, clambering off the waggonwith rapidity; "and all because of this wretched upstart. There'sgratitude for you, white man. I expose him, and they want to kill me. Well, thank you for the hint. We shall meet again before long, " andhe was gone like a shot, and not too soon, for just then some of thechief's men came up to the waggon. On the following morning I started homewards. The first face I saw onarriving at the station was that of Indaba-zimbi. "How do you do, Macumazahn?" he said, holding his head on one side andnodding his white lock. "I hear you are Christians here, and I want totry a new religion. Mine must be a bad one seeing that my people wantedto kill me for exposing an impostor. " CHAPTER III NORTHWARDS I make no apology to myself, or to anybody who may happen to read thisnarrative in future, for having set out the manner of my meeting withIndaba-zimbi: first, because it was curious, and secondly, because hetakes some hand in the subsequent events. If that old man was ahumbug, he was a very clever one. What amount of truth there was in hispretensions to supernatural powers it is not for me to determine, thoughI may have my own opinion on the subject. But there was no mistake as tothe extraordinary influence he exercised over his fellow-natives. Alsohe quite got round my poor father. At first the old gentleman declinedto have him at the station, for he had a great horror of these Kaffirwizards or witch-finders. But Indaba-zimbi persuaded him that he wasanxious to investigate the truths of Christianity, and challenged him toa discussion. The argument lasted two years--to the time of my father'sdeath, indeed. At the conclusion of each stage Indaba-zimbi wouldremark, in the words of the Roman Governor, "Almost, praying white man, thou persuadest me to become a Christian, " but he never quite becameone--indeed, I do not think he ever meant to. It was to him that myfather addressed his "Letters to a Native Doubter. " This work, which, unfortunately, remains in manuscript, is full of wise saws and learnedinstances. It ought to be published together with a _précis_ of thedoubter's answers, which were verbal. So the talk went on. If my father had lived I believe it would be goingon now, for both the disputants were quite inexhaustible. MeanwhileIndaba-zimbi was allowed to live on the station on condition that hepractised no witchcraft, which my father firmly believed to be a wile ofthe devil. He said that he would not, but for all that there was neveran ox lost, or a sudden death, but he was consulted by those interested. When he had been with us a year, a deputation came to him from the tribehe had left, asking him to return. Things had not gone well with themsince he went away, they said, and now the chief, his enemy, wasdead. Old Indaba-zimbi listened to them till they had done, and, as helistened, raked sand into a little heap with his toes. Then he spoke, pointing to the little heap, "There is your tribe to-day, " he said. Then he lifted his heel and stamped the heap flat. "There is your tribebefore three moons are gone. Nothing is left of it. You drove me away: Iwill have no more to do with you; but when you are being killed think ofmy words. " The messengers went. Three months afterwards I heard that the wholecommunity had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos. When I was at length ready to start upon my expedition, I went to oldIndaba-zimbi to say good-bye to him, and was rather surprised to findhim engaged in rolling up medicine, assegais, and other sundries in hisblankets. "Good-bye, Indaba-zimbi, " I said, "I am going to trek north. " "Yes, Macumazahn, " he answered, with his head on one side; "and so amI--I want to see that country. We will go together. " "Will we!" I said; "wait till you are asked, you old humbug. " "You had better ask me, then, Macumazahn, for if you don't you willnever come back alive. Now that the old chief (my father) is gone towhere the storms come from, " and he nodded to the sky, "I feel myselfgetting into bad habits again. So last night I just threw up the bonesand worked out about your journey, and I can tell you this, that if youdon't take me you will die, and, what is more, you will lose one who isdearer to you than life in a strange fashion. So just because you gaveme that hint a couple of years ago, I made up my mind to come with you. " "Don't talk stuff to me, " I said. "Ah, very well, Macumazahn, very well; but what happened to my ownpeople six months ago, and what did I tell the messengers would happen?They drove me away, and they are gone. If you drive me away you willsoon be gone too, " and he nodded his white lock at me and smiled. NowI was not more superstitious than other people, but somehow oldIndaba-zimbi impressed me. Also I knew his extraordinary influence overevery class of native, and bethought me that he might be useful in thatway. "All right, " I said: "I appoint you witch-finder to the expeditionwithout pay. " "First serve, then ask for wages, " he answered. "I am glad to see thatyou have enough imagination not to be altogether a fool, like most whitemen, Macumazahn. Yes, yes, it is want of imagination that makespeople fools; they won't believe what they can't understand. You can'tunderstand my prophecies any more than the fool at the kraal couldunderstand that I was his master with the lightning. Well, it is time totrek, but if I were you, Macumazahn, I should take one waggon, not two. " "Why?" I said. "Because you will lose your waggons, and it is better to lose one thantwo. " "Oh, nonsense!" I said. "All right, Macumazahn, live and learn. " And without another word hewalked to the foremost waggon, put his bundle into it, and climbed on tothe front seat. So having bid an affectionate adieu to my white friends, including theold Scotchman who got drunk in honour of the event, and quoted Burnstill the tears ran down his face, at length I started, and travelledslowly northwards. For the first three weeks nothing very particularbefell me. Such Kaffirs as we came in contact with were friendly, andgame literally swarmed. Nobody living in those parts of South Africanowadays can have the remotest idea of what the veldt was like eventhirty years ago. Often and often I have crept shivering on to my waggon-box just as thesun rose and looked out. At first one would see nothing but a vast fieldof white mist suffused towards the east by a tremulous golden glow, through which the tops of stony koppies stood up like gigantic beacons. From the dense mist would come strange sounds--snorts, gruntings, bellows, and the thunder of countless hoofs. Presently this greatcurtain would grow thinner, then it would melt, as the smoke from apipe melts into the air, and for miles on miles the wide rolling countryinterspersed with bush opened to the view. But it was not tenantless asit is now, for as far as the eye could reach it would be literally blackwith game. Here to the right might be a herd of vilderbeeste that couldnot number less than two thousand. Some were grazing, some gambolled, whisking their white tails into the air, while all round the old bullsstood upon hillocks sniffing suspiciously at the breeze. There, infront, a hundred yards away, though to the unpractised eye they lookedmuch closer, because of the dazzling clearness of the atmosphere, wasa great herd of springbok trekking along in single file. Ah, they havecome to the waggon-track and do not like the look of it. What will theydo?--go back? Not a bit of it. It is nearly thirty feet wide, but thatis nothing to a springbok. See, the first of them bounds into the airlike a ball. How beautifully the sunshine gleams upon his goldenhide! He has cleared it, and the others come after him in numberlesssuccession, all except the fawns, who cannot jump so far, and have toscamper over the doubtful path with a terrified _bah_. What is thatyonder, moving above the tops of the mimosa, in the little dell at thefoot of the koppie? Giraffes, by George! three of them; there will bemarrow-bones for supper to-night. Hark! the ground shakes behind us, andover the brow of the rise rush a vast herd of blesbock. On they come atfull gallop, their long heads held low, they look like so many beardedgoats. I thought so--behind them is a pack of wild dogs, their furdraggled, their tongues lolling. They are in full cry; the giraffes hearthem and are away, rolling round the koppie like a ship in a heavy sea. No marrow-bones after all. See! the foremost dogs are close on a buck. He has galloped far and is outworn. One springs at his flank and misseshim. The buck gives a kind of groan, looks wildly round and sees thewaggon. He seems to hesitate a moment, then in his despair rushes upto it, and falls exhausted among the oxen. The dogs pull up some thirtypaces away, panting and snarling. Now, boy, the gun--no, not the rifle, the shot-gun loaded with loopers. Bang! bang! there, my friends, two of you will never hunt buck again. No, don't touch the buck, for he has come to us for shelter, and heshall have it. Ah, how beautiful is nature before man comes to spoil it! Such a sight as this have I seen many a hundred times, and I hope to seeit again before I die. The first real adventure that befell me on this particular journey waswith elephants, which I will relate because of its curious termination. Just before we crossed the Orange River we came to a stretch offorest-land some twenty miles broad. The night we entered this forestwe camped in a lovely open glade. A few yards ahead tambouki grass wasgrowing to the height of a man, or rather it had been; now, with theexception of a few stalks here and there, it was crushed quite flat. Itwas already dusk when we camped; but after the moon got up I walked fromthe fire to see how this had happened. One glance was enough for me;a great herd of elephants had evidently passed over the tall grass notmany hours before. The sight of their spoor rejoiced me exceedingly, for though I had seen wild elephants, at that time I had never shotone. Moreover, the sight of elephant spoor to the African hunter is what"colour in the pan" is to the prospector of gold. It is by the ivorythat he lives, and to shoot it or trade it is his chief aim in life. Myresolution was soon taken. I would camp the waggons for a while in theforest, and start on horseback after the elephants. I communicated my decision to Indaba-zimbi and the other Kaffirs. Thelatter were not loth, for your Kaffir loves hunting, which means plentyof meat and congenial occupation, but Indaba-zimbi would express noopinion. I saw him retire to a little fire that he had lit for himself, and go through some mysterious performances with bones and clay mixedwith ashes, which were watched with the greatest interest by the otherKaffirs. At length he rose, and, coming forward, informed me that it wasall right, and that I did well to go and hunt the elephants, as I shouldget plenty of ivory; but he advised me to go on foot. I said I shoulddo nothing of the sort, but meant to ride. I am wiser now; this wasthe first and last time that I ever attempted to hunt elephants onhorseback. Accordingly we started at dawn, I, Indaba-zimbi, and three men; the restI left with the waggons. I was on horseback, and so was my driver, agood rider and a skilful shot for a Kaffir, but Indaba-zimbi and theothers walked. From dawn till mid-day we followed the trail of the herd, which was as plain as a high road. Then we off-saddled to let the horsesrest and feed, and about three o'clock started on again. Another hour orso passed, and still there was no sign of elephants. Evidently the herdhad travelled fast and far, and I began to think that we should have togive it up, when suddenly I caught sight of a brown mass moving throughthe thorn-trees on the side of a slope about a quarter of a mile away. My heart seemed to jump into my mouth. Where is the hunter who has notfelt like this at the sight of his first elephant? I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to stalkthe bull. Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope till wecame to the bottom, which was densely covered with bush. Here I saw theelephants had been feeding, for broken branches and upturned trees layall about. I did not take much notice, however, for all my thoughtswere fixed upon the bull I was stalking, when suddenly my horse gavea violent start that nearly threw me from the saddle, and there came amighty rush and upheaval of something in front of me. I looked: therewas the hinder part of a second bull elephant not four yards off. Icould just catch sight of its outstretched ears projecting on eitherside. I had disturbed it sleeping, and it was running away. Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I wasyoung in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the moment Ilifted my "roer" or elephant gun and fired at the great brute over myhorse's head. The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me off thehorse. I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the bulllurch forward, for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the flank willquicken the movement even of an elephant. By this time I had realizedthe folly of the shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull would takeno further notice of it. But he took a different view of the matter. Pulling himself up in a series of plunges, he spun round and came forme with outstretched ears and uplifted trunk, screaming terribly. I wasquite defenceless, for my gun was empty, and my first thought was ofescape. I dug my heels into the sides of my horse, but he would not movean inch. The poor animal was paralyzed with terror, and he simply stoodstill, his fore-legs outstretched, and quivering all over like a leaf. On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort tostir the horse. Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above myhead. A thought flashed through my brain. Quick as light I rolled fromthe saddle. By the side of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick throughas a man's body. The tree was lifted a little off the ground by thebroken boughs which took its weight, and with a single movement, soactive is one in such necessities, I flung myself beneath it. As I didso, I heard the trunk of the elephant descend with a mighty thud on theback of my poor horse, and the next instant I was almost in darkness, for the horse, whose back was broken, fell over across the tree underwhich I lay ensconced. But he did not stop there long. In ten secondsmore the bull had wound his trunk about my dead nag's neck, and, with amighty effort, hurled him clear of the tree. I wriggled backwards as faras I could towards the roots of the tree, for I knew what he was after. Presently I saw the red tip of the bull's trunk stretching itselftowards me. If he could manage to hook it round any part of me I waslost. But in the position I occupied, that was just what he could notdo, although he knelt down to facilitate his operations. On came thesnapping tip like a great open-mouthed snake; it closed upon my hat, which vanished. Again it was thrust down, and a scream of rage wasbellowed through it within four inches of my head. Now it seemed toelongate itself. Oh, heavens! now it had me by the hair, which, luckilyfor myself, was not very long. Then it was my turn to scream, for nextinstant half a square inch of hair was dragged from my scalp by theroots. I was being plucked alive, as I have seen cruel Kaffir kitchenboys pluck a fowl. The elephant, however, disappointed with these moderate results, changedhis tactics. He wound his trunk round the fallen tree and lifted. Thetree stirred, but fortunately the broken branches embedded in the spongysoil, and some roots, which still held, prevented it from being turnedover, though he lifted it so much that, had it occurred to him, he couldnow easily have drawn me out with his trunk. Again he hoisted with allhis mighty strength, and I saw that the tree was coming, and roaredaloud for help. Some shots were fired close by in answer, but if theyhit the bull, their only effect was to stir his energies to more activelife. In another few seconds my shelter would be torn away, and I shouldbe done for. A cold perspiration burst out over me as I realized that Iwas lost. Then of a sudden I remembered that I had a pistol in my belt, which I often used for despatching wounded game. It was loaded andcapped. By this time the tree was lifted so much that I could easily getmy hand down to my middle and draw the pistol from its case. I drew andcocked it. Now the tree was coming over, and there, within three feet ofmy head, was the great brown trunk of the elephant. I placed themuzzle of the pistol within an inch of it and fired. The result wasinstantaneous. Down sunk the tree again, giving one of my legs aconsiderable squeeze, and next instant I heard a crashing sound. Theelephant had bolted. By this time, what between fright and struggling, I was pretty welltired. I cannot remember how I got from under the fallen tree, or indeedanything, until I found myself sitting on the ground drinking some peachbrandy from a flask, and old Indaba-zimbi opposite to me noddinghis white lock sagely, while he fired off moral reflections on thenarrowness of my escape, and my unwisdom in not having taken his adviceto go on foot. That reminded me of my horse--I got up and went to lookat it. It was quite dead, the blow of the elephant's trunk had fallenon the saddle, breaking the framework, and rendering it useless. Ireflected that in another two seconds it would have fallen on _me_. ThenI called to Indaba-zimbi and asked which way the elephants had gone. "There!" he said, pointing down the gully, "and we had better go afterthem, Macumazahn. We have had the bad luck, now for the good. " There was philosophy in this, though, to tell the truth, I did not feelparticularly sharp set on elephants at the moment. I seemed to have hadenough of them. However, it would never do to show the white featherbefore the boys, so I assented with much outward readiness, and westarted, I on the second horse, and the others on foot. When we hadtravelled for the best part of an hour down the valley, all of a suddenwe came upon the whole herd, which numbered a little more than eighty. Just in front of them the bush was so thick that they seemed to hesitateabout entering it, and the sides of the valley were so rocky and steepat this point that they could not climb them. They saw us at the same moment as we saw them, and inwardly I was filledwith fears lest they should take it into their heads to charge back upthe gully. But they did not; trumpeting aloud, they rushed at the thickbush which went down before them like corn before a sickle. I do notthink that in all my experiences I ever heard anything to equal thesound they made as they crashed through and over the shrubs and trees. Before them was a dense forest belt from a hundred to a hundred andfifty feet in width. As they rushed on, it fell, so that behind themwas nothing but a level roadway strewed with fallen trunks, crushedbranches, and here and there a tree, too strong even for them, leftstranded amid the wreck. On they went, and, notwithstanding the natureof the ground over which they had to travel, they kept their distanceahead of us. This sort of thing continued for a mile or more, and thenI saw that in front of the elephants the valley opened into a spacecovered with reeds and grass--it might have been five or six acres inextent--beyond which the valley ran on again. The herd reached the edge of this expanse, and for a moment pulled up, hesitating--evidently they mistrusted it. My men yelled aloud, as onlyKaffirs can, and that settled them. Headed by the wounded bull, whosemartial ardour, like my own, was somewhat cooled, they spread out anddashed into the treacherous swamp--for such it was, though just thenthere was no water to be seen. For a few yards all went well with them, though they clearly found it heavy going; then suddenly the great bullsank up to his belly in the stiff peaty soil, and remained fixed. Theothers, mad with fear, took no heed of his struggles and trumpetings, but plunged on to meet the same fate. In five minutes the whole herd ofthem were hopelessly bogged, and the more they struggled to escape, thedeeper they sunk. There was one exception, indeed, a cow managed to winback to firm shore, and, lifting her trunk, prepared to charge us as wecame up. But at that moment she heard the scream of her calf, and rushedback to its assistance, only to be bogged with the others. Such a scene I never saw before or since. The swamp was spotted allover with the large forms of the elephants, and the air rang with theirscreams of rage and terror as they waved their trunks wildly to and fro. Now and then a monster would make a great effort and drag his mass fromits peaty bed, only to stick fast again at the next step. It was a mostpitiable sight, though one that gladdened the hearts of my men. Even thebest natives have little compassion for the sufferings of animals. Well, the rest was easy. The marsh that would not bear the elephantscarried our weight well enough. Before midnight all were dead, for weshot them by moonlight. I would gladly have spared the young ones andsome of the cows, but to do so would only have meant leaving them toperish of hunger; it was kinder to kill them at once. The wounded bull Islew with my own hand, and I cannot say that I felt much compunction inso doing. He knew me again, and made a desperate effort to get at me, but I am glad to say that the peat held him fast. The pan presented a curious sight when the sun rose next morning. Owingto the support given by the soil, few of the dead elephants had fallen:there they stood as though they were asleep. I sent back for the waggons, and when they arrived on the morrow, formeda camp, about a mile away from the pan. Then began the work of cuttingout the elephants' tusks; it took over a week, and for obvious reasonswas a disgusting task. Indeed, had it not been for the help of somewandering bushmen, who took their pay in elephant meat, I do not thinkwe could ever have managed it. At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry, so we buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boyswanted me to go back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too muchbent on my journey to do this. The tusks lay buried for five years. ThenI came and dug them up; they were but little harmed. Ultimately I soldthe ivory for something over twelve hundred pounds--not bad pay for oneday's shooting. This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot manyhundreds of them since, but have never again attempted to do so onhorseback. CHAPTER IV THE ZULU IMPI After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of thebearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able tofind the spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or moreI trekked along the line which now divides the Orange Free Statefrom Griqualand West, and the Transvaal from Bechuanaland. Theonly difficulties met with were such as are still common to Africantravellers--occasional want of water and troubles about crossing sluitsand rivers. I remember that I outspanned on the spot where Kimberley nowstands, and had to press on again in a hurry because there was no water. I little dreamed then that I should live to see Kimberley a greatcity producing millions of pounds worth of diamonds annually, and oldIndaba-zimbi's magic cannot have been worth so much after all, or hewould have told me. I found the country almost entirely depopulated. Not very long beforeMosilikatze the Lion, Chaka's General had swept across it in hisprogress towards what is now Matabeleland. His footsteps were evidentenough. Time upon time I trekked up to what had evidently been the sitesof Kaffir kraals. Now the kraals were ashes and piles of tumbled stones, and strewn about among the rank grass were the bones of hundreds of men, women, and children, all of whom had kissed the Zulu assegai. I rememberthat in one of these desolate places I found the skull of a child inwhich a ground-lark had built its nest. It was the twittering of theyoung birds inside that first called my attention to it. Shortly afterthis we met with our second great adventure, a much more serious andtragic one than the first. We were trekking parallel with the Kolong river when a herd of blesbockcrossed the track. I fired at one of them and hit it behind. It gallopedabout a hundred yards with the rest of the herd, then lay down. As wewere in want of meat, not having met with any game for a few days past, I jumped on to my horse, and, telling Indaba-zimbi that I would overtakethe waggons or meet them on the further side of a rise about an hour'strek away, I started after the wounded buck. As soon as I came withina hundred yards of it, however, it jumped up and ran away as fastas though it were untouched, only to lie down again at a distance. Ifollowed, thinking that strength would soon fail it. This happened threetimes. On the third occasion it vanished behind a ridge, and, thoughby now I was out of both temper and patience, I thought I might as wellride to the crest and see if I could get a shot at it on the furtherside. I reached the ridge, which was strewn with stones, looked over it, andsaw--a Zulu Impi! I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt of it. Theywere halted about a thousand yards away, by the water; some were lyingdown, some were cooking at fires, others were stalking about with spearsand shields in their hands; there might have been two thousand ormore of them in all. While I was wondering--and that with no littleuneasiness--what on earth they could be doing there, suddenly I heard awild cry to the right and left of me. I glanced first one way, then theother. From either side a great Zulu was bearing down on me, their broadstabbing assegais aloft, and black shields in their left hands. The manto the right was about fifteen yards away, he to the left was not morethan ten. On they came, their fierce eyes almost starting out of theirheads, and I felt, with a cold thrill of fear, that in another threeseconds those broad "bangwans" might be buried in my vitals. On suchoccasions we act, I suppose, more from instinct than from anythingelse--there is no time for thought. At any rate, I dropped the reinsand, raising my gun, fired point blank at the left-hand man. The bulletstruck him in the middle of his shield, pierced it, and passed throughhim, and over he rolled upon the veldt. I swung round in the saddle;most happily my horse was accustomed to standing still when I fired fromhis back, also he was so surprised that he did not know which way toshy. The other savage was almost on me; his outstretched shield reachedthe muzzle of my gun as I pulled the trigger of the left barrel. Itexploded, the warrior sprung high into the air, and fell against myhorse dead, his spear passing just in front of my face. Without waiting to reload, or even to look if the main body of the Zulushad seen the death of their two scouts, I turned my horse and drovemy heels into his sides. As soon as I was down the slope of the rise Ipulled a little to the right in order to intercept the waggons beforethe Zulus saw them. I had not gone three hundred yards in this newdirection when, to my utter astonishment, I struck a trail marked withwaggon-wheels and the hoofs of oxen. Of waggons there must have beenat least eight, and several hundred cattle. Moreover, they had passedwithin twelve hours; I could tell that by the spoor. Then I understood;the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in allprobability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers. The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so Ifollowed it. About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, andthere, about five furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a roughlaager upon the banks of the river. There, too, were my own waggonstrekking down the slope towards them. In another five minutes I was there. The Boers--for Boers theywere--were standing about outside the little laager watching theapproach of my two waggons. I called to them, and they turned and sawme. The very first man my eyes fell on was a Boer named Hans Botha, whomI had known well years ago in the Cape. He was not a bad specimen of hisclass, but a very restless person, with a great objection to authority, or, as he expressed it, "a love of freedom. " He had joined a party ofthe emigrant Boers some years before, but, as I learned presently, had quarrelled with its leader, and was now trekking away into thewilderness to found a little colony of his own. Poor fellow! It was hislast trek. "How do you do, Meinheer Botha?" I said to him in Dutch. The man looked at me, looked again, then, startled out of his Dutchstolidity, cried to his wife, who was seated on the box of the waggon-- "Come here, Frau, come. Here is Allan Quatermain, the Englishman, theson of the 'Predicant. ' How goes it, Heer Quatermain, and what is thenews down in the Cape yonder?" "I don't know what the news is in the Cape, Hans, " I answered, solemnly;"but the news here is that there is a Zulu Impi upon your spoor andwithin two miles of the waggons. That I know, for I have just shot twoof their sentries, " and I showed him my empty gun. For a moment there was a silence of astonishment, and I saw the bronzedfaces of the men turn pale beneath their tan, while one or two of thewomen gave a little scream, and the children crept to their sides. "Almighty!" cried Hans, "that must be the Umtetwa Regiment that Dingaansent against the Basutus, but who could not come at them because of themarshes, and so were afraid to return to Zululand, and struck north tojoin Mosilikatze. " "Laager up, Carles! Laager up for your lives, and one of you jump on ahorse and drive in the cattle. " At this moment my own waggons came up. Indaba-zimbi was sitting on thebox of the first, wrapped in a blanket. I called him and told him thenews. "Ill tidings, Macumazahn, " he said; "there will be dead Boers aboutto-morrow morning, but they will not attack till dawn, then they willwipe out the laager _so!_" and he passed his hand before his mouth. "Stop that croaking, you white-headed crow, " I said, though I knewhis words were true. What chance had a laager of ten waggons all toldagainst at least two thousand of the bravest savages in the world? "Macumazahn, will you take my advice this time?" Indaba-zimbi said, presently. "What is it?" I asked. "This. Leave your waggons here, jump on that horse, and let us two runfor it as hard as we can go. The Zulus won't follow us, they will belooking after the Boers. " "I won't leave the other white men, " I said; "it would be the act of acoward. If I die, I die. " "Very well, Macumazahn, then stay and be killed, " he answered, takinga pinch of snuff. "Come, let us see about the waggons, " and we walkedtowards the laager. Here everything was in confusion. However, I got hold of Hans Botha andput it to him if it would not be best to desert the waggons and make arun for it. "How can we do it?" he answered; "two of the women are too fat to goa mile, one is sick in childbed, and we have only six horses among us. Besides, if we did we should starve in the desert. No, Heer Allan, wemust fight it out with the savages, and God help us!" "God help us, indeed. Think of the children, Hans!" "I can't bear to think, " he answered, in a broken voice, looking at hisown little girl, a sweet, curly-haired, blue-eyed child of six, namedTota, whom I had often nursed as a baby. "Oh, Heer Allan, your father, the Predicant, always warned me against trekking north, and I neverwould listen to him because I thought him a cursed Englishman; now I seemy folly. Heer Allan, if you can, try to save my child from those blackdevils; if you live longer than I do, or if you can't save her, killher, " and he clasped my hand. "It hasn't come to that yet, Hans, " I said. Then we set to work on the laager. The waggons, of which, includingmy two, there were ten, were drawn into the form of a square, and thedisselboom of each securely lashed with reims to the underworks of thatin front of it. The wheels also were locked, and the space between theground and the bed-planks of the waggons was stuffed with branchesof the "wait-a-bit" thorn that fortunately grew near in considerablequantities. In this way a barrier was formed of no mean strength asagainst a foe unprovided with firearms, places being left for the mento fire from. In a little over an hour everything was done that could bedone, and a discussion arose as to the disposal of the cattle, which hadbeen driven up close to the camp. Some of the Boers were anxious to getthem into the laager, small as it was, or at least as many of them as itwould hold. I argued strongly against this, pointing out that the bruteswould probably be seized with panic as soon as the firing began, andtrample the defenders of the laager under foot. As an alternative planI suggested that some of the native servants should drive the herd alongthe valley of the river till they reached a friendly tribe or some otherplace of safety. Of course, if the Zulus saw them they would be taken, but the nature of the ground was favourable, and it was possible thatthey might escape if they started at once. The proposition was promptlyagreed to, and, what is more, it was settled that one Dutchman and suchof the women and children as could travel should go with them. In halfan hour's time twelve of them started with the natives, the Boer incharge, and the cattle. Three of my own men went with the latter, thethree others and Indaba-zimbi stopped with me in the laager. The parting was a heart-breaking scene, upon which I do not care todwell. The women wept, the men groaned, and the children looked on withscared white faces. At length they were gone, and I for one was thankfulof it. There remained in the laager seventeen white men, four natives, the two Boer fraus who were too stout to travel, the woman in childbedand her baby, and Hans Bother's little daughter Tota, whom he could notmake up his mind to part with. Happily her mother was already dead. Andhere I may state that ten of the women and children, together with abouthalf of the cattle, escaped. The Zulu Impi never saw them, and on thethird day of travel they came to the fortified place of a Griqua chief, who sheltered them on receiving half the cattle in payment. Thenceby slow degrees they journeyed down to the Cape Colony, reaching acivilized region within a little more than a year from the date of theattack on the laager. The afternoon was now drawing towards evening, but still there were nosigns of the Impi. A wild hope struck us that they might have goneon about their business. Ever since Indaba-zimbi had heard that theregiment was supposed to belong to the Umtetwa tribe, he had, I noticed, been plunged in deep thought. Presently he came to me and volunteeredto go out and spy upon their movements. At first Hans Botha was againstthis idea, saying that he was a "verdomde swartzel"--an accursed blackcreature--and would betray us. I pointed out that there was nothing tobetray. The Zulus must know where the waggons were, but it was importantfor us to gain information of their movements. So it was agreed thatIndaba-zimbi should go. I told him this. He nodded his white lock, said"All right, Macumazahn, " and started. I noticed with some surprise, however, that before he did so he went to the waggon and fetched his"mouti, " or medicine, which, together with his other magical apparatus, he always carried in a skin bag. I asked him why he did this. Heanswered that it was to make himself invulnerable against the spearsof the Zulus. I did not in the least believe his explanation, for in myheart I was sure that he meant to take the opportunity to make a boltof it, leaving me to my fate. I did not, however, interfere to preventthis, for I had an affection for the old fellow, and sincerely hopedthat he might escape the doom which overshadowed us. So Indaba-zimbi sauntered off, and as I looked at his retreating form Ithought I should never see it again. But I was mistaken, and little knewthat he was risking his life, not for the Boers whom he hated one andall, but for me whom in his queer way he loved. When he had gone we completed our preparations for defence, strengthening the waggons and the thorns beneath with earth and stones. Then at sunset we ate and drank as heartily as we could under thecircumstances, and when we had done, Hans Botha, as head of the party, offered up prayer to God for our preservation. It was a touching sightto see the burly Dutchman, his hat off, his broad face lit up by thelast rays of the setting sun, praying aloud in homely, simple languageto Him who alone could save us from the spears of a cruel foe. Iremember that the last sentence of his prayer was, "Almighty, if we mustbe killed, save the women and children and my little girl Tota from theaccursed Zulus, and do not let us be tortured. " I echoed the request very earnestly in my own heart, that I know, for incommon with the others I was dreadfully afraid, and it must be admittednot without reason. Then the darkness came on, and we took up our appointed places eachwith a rifle in his hands and peered out into the gloom in silence. Occasionally one of the Boers would light his pipe with a brand from thesmouldering fire, and the glow of it would shine for a few moments onhis pale, anxious face. Behind me one of the stout "fraus" lay upon the ground. Even the terrorof our position could not keep her heavy eyes from their accustomedsleep, and she snored loudly. On the further side of her, just by thefire, lay little Tota, wrapped in a kaross. She was asleep also, herthumb in her mouth, and from time to time her father would come to lookat her. So the hours wore on while we waited for the Zulus. But from my intimateknowledge of the habits of natives I had little fear that they wouldattack us at night, though, had they done so, they could have compassedour destruction with but small loss to themselves. It is not the habitof this people, they like to fight in the light of day--at dawn forpreference. About eleven o'clock, just as I was nodding a little at my post, I hearda low whistle outside the laager. Instantly I was wide awake, and allalong the line I heard the clicking of locks as the Boers cocked theirguns. "Macumazahn, " said a voice, the voice of Indaba-zimbi, "are you there?" "Yes, " I answered. "Then hold a light so that I can see how to climb into the laager, " hesaid. "Yah! yah! hold a light, " put in one of the Boers. "I don't trustthat black schepsel of yours, Heer Quatermain; he may have some ofhis countrymen with him. " Accordingly a lantern was produced and heldtowards the voice. There was Indaba-zimbi alone. We let him into thelaager and asked him the news. "This is the news, white men, " he said. "I waited till dark, andcreeping up to the place where the Zulus are encamped, hid myself behinda stone and listened. They are a great regiment of Umtetwas as BaasBotha yonder thought. They struck the spoor of the waggons three daysago and followed it. To-night they sleep upon their spears, to-morrow atdaybreak they will attack the laager and kill everybody. They are verybitter against the Boers, because of the battle at Blood River and theother fights, and that is why they followed the waggons instead of goingstraight north after Mosilikatze. " A kind of groan went up from the group of listening Dutchmen. "I tell you what it is, Heeren, " I said, "instead of waiting to bebutchered here like buck in a pitfall, let us go out now and fall uponthe Impi while it sleeps. " This proposition excited some discussion, but in the end only one mancould be found to vote for it. Boers as a rule lack that dash whichmakes great soldiers; such forlorn hopes are not in their line, andrather than embark upon them they prefer to take their chance in alaager, however poor that chance may be. For my own part I firmlybelieve that had my advice been taken we should have routed the Zulus. Seventeen desperate white men, armed with guns, would have produced nosmall effect upon a camp of sleeping savages. But it was not taken, soit is no use talking about it. After that we went back to our posts, and slowly the weary night woreon towards the dawn. Only those who have watched under similarcircumstances while they waited the advent of almost certain and crueldeath, can know the torturing suspense of those heavy hours. But theywent somehow, and at last in the far east the sky began to lighten, while the cold breath of dawn stirred the tilts of the waggons andchilled me to the bone. The fat Dutchwoman behind me woke with a yawn, then, remembering all, moaned aloud, while her teeth chattered withcold and fear. Hans Botha went to his waggon and got a bottle of peachbrandy, from which he poured into a tin pannikin, giving us each a stiffdram, and making attempts to be cheerful as he did so. But his affectedjocularity only seemed to depress his comrades the more. Certainly itdepressed me. Now the light was growing, and we could see some way into the mist whichstill hung densely over the river, and now--ah! there it was. From theother side of the hill, a thousand yards or more from the laager, camea faint humming sound. It grew and grew till it gathered to a chant--theawful war chant of the Zulus. Soon I could catch the words. They weresimple enough: "We shall slay, we shall slay! Is it not so, my brothers? Our spearsshall blush blood-red. Is it not so, my brothers? For we are thesucklings of Chaka, blood is our milk, my brothers. Awake, childrenof the Umtetwa, awake! The vulture wheels, the jackal sniffs the air;Awake, children of the Umtetwa--cry aloud, ye ringed men: There isthe foe, we shall slay them. Is it not so, my brothers? _S'gee! S'gee!S'gee!_" Such is a rough translation of that hateful chant which to this very dayI often seem to hear. It does not look particularly imposing on paper, but if, while he waited to be killed, the reader could have heard itas it rolled through the still air from the throats of nearly threethousand warriors singing all to time, he would have found it impressiveenough. Now the shields began to appear over the brow of the rise. They cameby companies, each company about ninety strong. Altogether there werethirty-one companies. I counted them. When all were over they formedthemselves into a triple line, then trotted down the slope towards us. At a distance of a hundred and fifty yards or just out of the shot ofsuch guns as we had in those days, they halted and began singing again-- "Yonder is the kraal of the white man--a little kraal, my brothers; We shall eat it up, we shall trample it flat, my brothers. But where are the white man's cattle--where are his oxen, my brothers?" This question seemed to puzzle them a good deal, for they sang the songagain and again. At last a herald came forward, a great man with ivoryrings about his arm, and, putting his hands to his mouth, called out tous asking where our cattle were. Hans Botha climbed on to the top of a waggon and roared out that theymight answer that question themselves. Then the herald called again, saying that he saw the cattle had beensent away. "We shall go and find the cattle, " he said, "then we shall come and killyou, because without cattle you must stop where you are, but if we waitto kill you before we get the cattle, they may have trekked too far forus to follow. And if you try to run away we shall easily catch you whitemen!" This struck me as a very odd speech, for the Zulus generally attack anenemy first and take his cattle afterwards; still, there was a certainamount of plausibility about it. While I was still wondering what itall might mean, the Zulus began to run past us in companies towards theriver. Suddenly a shout announced that they had found the spoor of thecattle, and the whole Impi of them started down it at a run till theyvanished over a rise about a quarter of a mile away. We waited for half an hour or more, but nothing could we see of them. "Now I wonder if the devils have really gone, " said Hans Botha to me. "It is very strange. " "I will go and see, " said Indaba-zimbi, "if you will come with me, Macumazahn. We can creep to the top of the ridge and look over. " At first I hesitated, but curiosity overcame me. I was young in thosedays and weary with suspense. "Very well, " I said, "we will go. " So we started. I had my elephant gun and ammunition. Indaba-zimbi hadhis medicine bag and an assegai. We crept to the top of the rise likesportsmen stalking a buck. The slope on the other side was strewn withrocks, among which grew bushes and tall grass. "They must have gone down the Donga, " I said to Indaba-zimbi, "I can'tsee one of them. " As I spoke there came a roar of men all round me. From every rock, fromevery tuft of grass rose a Zulu warrior. Before I could turn, before Icould lift a gun, I was seized and thrown. "Hold him! Hold the White Spirit fast!" cried a voice. "Hold him, orhe will slip away like a snake. Don't hurt him, but hold him fast. LetIndaba-zimbi walk by his side. " I turned on Indaba-zimbi. "You black devil, you have betrayed me!" Icried. "Wait and see, Macumazahn, " he answered, coolly. "Now the fight is goingto begin. " CHAPTER V THE END OF THE LAAGER I gasped with wonder and rage. What did that scoundrel Indaba-zimbimean? Why had I been drawn out of the laager and seized, and why, beingseized, was I not instantly killed? They called me the "White Spirit. "Could it be that they were keeping me to make me into medicine? I hadheard of such things being done by Zulus and kindred tribes, and myblood ran cold at the thought. What an end! To be pounded up, mademedicine of, and eaten! However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the wholeImpi was pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had hiddenwhile their ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on the sideof the slope. I was taken to the crest of the slope and placed in thecentre of the reserve line in the especial charge of a huge Zulu namedBombyane, the same man who had come forward as a herald. This bruteseemed to regard me with an affectionate curiosity. Now and again hepoked me in the ribs with the handle of his assegai, as though to assurehimself that I was solid, and several times he asked me to be so goodas to prophesy how many Zulus would be killed before the "Amaboona, " asthey called the Boers, were "eaten up. " At first I took no notice of him beyond scowling, but presently, goadedinto anger, I prophesied that he would be dead in an hour! He only laughed aloud. "Oh! White Spirit, " he said, "is it so? Well, I've walked a long way from Zululand, and shall be glad of a rest. " And he got it shortly, as will be seen. Now the Zulus began to sing again-- "We have caught the White Spirit, my brother! my brother! Iron-Tongue whispered of him, he smelt him out, my brother. Now the Maboona are ours--they are already dead, my brother. " So that treacherous villain Indaba-zimbi had betrayed me. Suddenly thechief of the Impi, a grey-haired man named Sususa, held up his assegai, and instantly there was silence. Then he spoke to some indunas who stoodnear him. Instantly they ran to the right and left down the firstline, saying a word to the captain of each company as they passedhim. Presently they were at the respective ends of the line, andsimultaneously held up their spears. As they did so, with an awfulroar of "Bulala Amaboona"--"Slay the Boers, " the entire line, numberingnearly a thousand men, bounded forward like a buck startled from itsform, and rushed down upon the little laager. It was a splendid sightto see them, their assegais glittering in the sunlight as they rose andfell above their black shields, their war-plumes bending back upon thewind, and their fierce faces set intently on the foe, while the solidearth shook beneath the thunder of their rushing feet. I thought of mypoor friends the Dutchmen, and trembled. What chance had they against somany? Now the Zulus, running in the shape of a bow so as to wrap the laagerround on three sides, were within seventy yards, and now from everywaggon broke tongues of fire. Over rolled a number of the Umtetwa, but the rest cared little. Forward they sped straight to the laager, striving to force a way in. But the Boers plied them with volley aftervolley, and, packed as the Zulus were, the elephant guns loaded withslugs and small shot did frightful execution. Only one man even got onto a waggon, and as he did so I saw a Boer woman strike him on the headwith an axe. He fell down, and slowly, amid howls of derision from thetwo lines on the hill-side, the Zulus drew back. "Let us go, father!" shouted the soldiers on the slope, among whom Iwas, to their chief, who had come up. "You have sent out the littlegirls to fight, and they are frightened. Let us show them the way. " "No, no!" the chief Sususa answered, laughing. "Wait a minute and thelittle girls will grow to women, and women are good enough to fightagainst Boers!" The attacking Zulus heard the mockery of their fellows, and rushedforward again with a roar. But the Boers in the laager had found time toload, and they met with a warm reception. Reserving their fire till theZulus were packed like sheep in a kraal, they loosed into them with theroers, and the warriors fell in little heaps. But I saw that the bloodof the Umtetwas was up; they did not mean to be beaten back this time, and the end was near. See! six men had leapt on to a waggon, slain theman behind it, and sprung into the laager. They were killed there, butothers followed, and then I turned my head. But I could not shut my earsto the cries of rage and death, and the terrible _S'gee! S'gee!_ of thesavages as they did their work of murder. Once only I looked up and sawpoor Hans Botha standing on a waggon smiting down men with the butt ofhis rifle. The assegais shot up towards him like tongues of steel, andwhen I looked again he was gone. I turned sick with fear and rage. But alas! what could I do? They wereall dead now, and probably my own turn was coming, only my death withnot be so swift. The fight was ended, and the two lines on the slope broke their order, and moved down to the laager. Presently we were there, and a dreadfulsight it was. Many of the attacking Zulus were dead--quite fifty Ishould say, and at least a hundred and fifty were wounded, some of themmortally. The chief Sususa gave an order, the dead men were picked upand piled in a heap, while those who were slightly hurt walked off tofind some one to tie up their wounds. But the more serious cases metwith a different treatment. The chief or one of his indunas consideredeach case, and if it was in any way bad, the man was taken up and throwninto the river which ran near. None of them offered any objection, though one poor fellow swam to shore again. He did not stop there long, however, for they pushed him back and drowned him by force. The strangest case of all was that of the chief's own brother. He hadbeen captain of the line, and his ankle was smashed by a bullet. Sususacame up to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him soundly forfailing in the first onslaught. The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the Boershad hit him in the first rush. His brother admitted the truth of this, and talked to him amicably. "Well, " he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, "you cannotwalk again. " "No, chief, " said the wounded man, looking at his ankle. "And to-morrow we must walk far, " went on Sususa. "Yes, chief. " "Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or----" and he noddedtowards the river. The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though inthought. Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the face. "My ankle pains me, my brother, " he said; "I think I will go back toZululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if Icreep about it like a snake. "[*] [*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter into the bodies of large green snakes, which glide about the kraals. To kill these snakes is sacrilege. "It is well, my brother, " said the chief. "Rest softly, " and havingshaken hands with him, he gave an order to one of the indunas, andturned away. Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to thebanks of the stream. Here, at his request, they tied a heavy stoneround his neck, and then threw him into a deep pool. I saw the whole sadscene, and the victim never even winced. It was impossible not to admirethe extraordinary courage of the man, or to avoid being struck withthe cold-blooded cruelty of his brother the chief. And yet the act wasnecessary from his point of view. The man must either die swiftly, orbe left to perish of starvation, for no Zulu force will encumber itselfwith wounded men. Years of merciless warfare had so hardened thesepeople that they looked on death as nothing, and were, to do themjustice, as willing to meet it themselves as to inflict it on others. When this very Impi had been sent out by the Zulu King Dingaan, itconsisted of some nine thousand men. Now it numbered less than three;all the rest were dead. They, too, would probably soon be dead. What didit matter? They lived by war to die in blood. It was their natural end. "Kill till you are killed. " That is the motto of the Zulu soldier. Ithas the merit of simplicity. Meanwhile the warriors were looting the waggons, including my own, having first thrown all the dead Boers into a heap. I looked at theheap; all of them were there, including the two stout fraus, poorthings. But I missed one body, that of Hans Botha's daughter, littleTota. A wild hope came into my heart that she might have escaped; butno, it was not possible. I could only pray that she was already at rest. Just then the great Zulu, Bombyane, who had left my side to indulge inthe congenial occupation of looting, came out of a waggon crying thathe had got the "little white one. " I looked; he was carrying the childTota, gripping her frock in one of his huge black hands. He stalkedup to where we were, and held the child before the chief. "Is it dead, father?" he said, with a laugh. Now, as I could well see, the child was not dead, but had been hiddenaway, and fainted with fear. The chief glanced at it carelessly, and said-- "Find out with your kerrie. " Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about tokill it with his knobstick. This was more than I could bear. I sprang athim and struck him with all my force in the face, little caring if I wasspeared or not. He dropped Tota on the ground. "Ou!" he said, putting his hand to his nose, "the White Spirit has ahard fist. Come, Spirit, I will fight you for the child. " The soldiers cheered and laughed. "Yes! yes!" they said, "let Bombyanefight the White Spirit for the child. Let them fight with assegais. " For a moment I hesitated. What chance had I against this black giant?But I had promised poor Hans to save the child if I could, and what didit matter? As well die now as later. However, I had wit enough left tomake a favour of it, and intimated to the chief through Indaba-zimbithat I was quite willing to condescend to kill Bombyane, on conditionthat if I did so the child's life should be given to me. Indaba-zimbiinterpreted my words, but I noticed that he would not look on me ashe spoke, but covered his face with his hands and spoke of me as "theghost" or the "son of the spirit. " For some reason that I have neverquite understood, the chief consented to the duel. I fancy it wasbecause he believed me to be more than mortal, and was anxious to seethe last of Bombyane. "Let them fight, " he said. "Give them assegais and no shields; the childshall be to him who conquers. " "Yes! yes!" cried the soldiers. "Let them fight. Don't be afraid, Bombyane; if he is a spirit, he's a very small one. " "I never was frightened of man or beast, and I am not going to run awayfrom a White Ghost, " answered the redoubtable Bombyane, as he examinedthe blade of his great bangwan or stabbing assegai. Then they made a ring round us, gave me a similar assegai, and set ussome ten paces apart. I kept my face as calm as I could, and tried toshow no signs of fear, though in my heart I was terribly afraid. Humanlyspeaking, my doom was on me. The giant warrior before me had used theassegai from a child--I had no experience of the weapon. Moreover, though I was quick and active, he must have been at least twice asstrong as I am. However, there was no help for it, so, setting my teeth, I grasped the great spear, breathed a prayer, and waited. The giant stood awhile looking at me, and, as he stood, Indaba-zimbiwalked across the ring behind me, muttering as he passed, "Keep cool, Macumazahn, and wait for him. I will make it all right. " As I had not the slightest intention of commencing the fray, I thoughtthis good advice, though how Indaba-zimbi could "make it all right" Ifailed to see. Heavens! how long that half-minute seemed! It happened many years ago, but the whole scene rises up before my eyes as I write. There behind uswas the blood-stained laager, and near it lay the piles of dead; roundus was rank upon rank of plumed savages, standing in silence to waitthe issue of the duel, and in the centre stood the grey-haired chief andgeneral, Sususa, in all his war finery, a cloak of leopard skin upon hisshoulders. At his feet lay the senseless form of little Tota, to myleft squatted Indaba-zimbi, nodding his white lock and mutteringsomething--probably spells; while in front was my giant antagonist, hisspear aloft and his plumes wavering in the gentle wind. Then over all, over grassy slope, river, and koppie, over the waggons of the laager, the piles of dead, the dense masses of the living, the swooningchild, over all shone the bright impartial sun, looking down like theindifferent eye of Heaven upon the loveliness of nature and the crueltyof man. Down by the river grew thorn-trees, and from them floatedthe sweet scent of the mimosa flower, and came the sound of cooingturtle-doves. I never smell the one or hear the other without the sceneflashing into my mind again, complete in its every detail. Suddenly, without a sound, Bombyane shook his assegai and rushedstraight at me. I saw his huge form come; like a man in a dream, I sawthe broad spear flash on high; now he was on me! Then, prompted to it bysome providential impulse--or had the spells of Indaba-zimbi anything todo with the matter?--I dropped to my knee, and quick as light stretchedout my spear. He drove at me: the blade passed over my head. I felta weight on my assegai; it was wrenched from my hand; his great limbsknocked against me. I glanced round. Bombyane was staggering along withhead thrown back and outstretched arms from which his spear had fallen. His spear had fallen, but the blade of mine stood out between hisshoulders--I had transfixed him. He stopped, swung slowly round asthough to look at me: then with a sigh the giant sank down--_dead_. For a moment there was silence; then a great cry rose--a cry of"Bombyane is dead. The White Spirit has slain Bombyane. Kill the wizard, kill the ghost who has slain Bombyane by witchcraft. " Instantly I was surrounded by fierce faces, and spears flashed before myeyes. I folded my arms and stood calmly waiting the end. In a momentit would have come, for the warriors were mad at seeing their championoverthrown thus easily. But presently through the tumult I heard thehigh, cracked voice of Indaba-zimbi. "Stand back, you fools!" it cried; "can a spirit then be killed?" "Spear him! spear him!" they roared in fury. "Let us see if he is aspirit. How did a spirit slay Bombyane with an assegai? Spear him, rain-maker, and we shall see. " "Stand back, " cried Indaba-zimbi again, "and I will show you if hecan be killed. I will kill him myself, and call him back to life againbefore your eyes. " "Macumazahn, trust me, " he whispered in my ear in the Sisutu tongue, which the Zulus did not understand. "Trust me; kneel on the grass beforeme, and when I strike at you with the spear, roll over like one dead;then, when you hear my voice again, get up. Trust me--it is your onlyhope. " Having no choice I nodded my head in assent, though I had not thefaintest idea of what he was about to do. The tumult lessened somewhat, and once more the warriors drew back. "Great White Spirit--Spirit of victory, " said Indaba-zimbi, addressingme aloud, and covering his eyes with his hand, "hear me and forgive me. These children are blind with folly, and think thee mortal because thouhast dealt death upon a mortal who dared to stand against thee. Deign tokneel down before me and let me pierce thy heart with this spear, thenwhen I call upon thee, arise unhurt. " I knelt down, not because I wished to, but because I must. I had notovermuch faith in Indaba-zimbi, and thought it probable that he wasin truth about to make an end of me. But really I was so worn out withfears, and the horrors of the night and day had so shaken my nerves, that I did not greatly care what befell me. When I had been kneelingthus for about half a minute Indaba-zimbi spoke. "People of the Umtetwa, children of T'Chaka, " he said, "draw back alittle way, lest an evil fall on you, for now the air is thick withghosts. " They drew back a space, leaving us in a circle about twelve yards indiameter. "Look on him who kneels before you, " went on Indaba-zimbi, "andlisten to my words, to the words of the witch-finder, the words of therain-maker, Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is known to you. He seems to be ayoung man, does he not? I tell you, children of the Umtetwa, he is noman. He is the Spirit who gives victory to the white men, he it is whogave them assegais that thunder and taught them how to slay. Why werethe Impis of Dingaan rolled back at the Blood River? Because _he_was there. Why did the Amaboona slay the people of Mosilikatze by thethousand? Because _he_ was there. And so I say to you that, had I notdrawn him from the laager by my magic but three hours ago, you wouldhave been conquered--yes, you would have been blown away like the dustbefore the wind; you would have been burnt up like the dry grass inthe winter when the fire is awake among it. Ay, because he had but beenthere many of your bravest were slain in overcoming a few--a pinchof men who could be counted on the fingers. But because I loved you, because your chief Sususa is my half-brother--for had we not onefather?--I came to you, I warned you. Then you prayed me and I drew theSpirit forth. But you were not satisfied when the victory was yours, when the Spirit, of all you had taken asked but one little thing--awhite child to take away and sacrifice to himself, to make the medicineof his magic of----" Here I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting, but thoughtbetter of it. "You said him nay; you said, 'Let him fight with our bravest man, lethim fight with Bombyane the giant for the child. ' And he deigned to slayBombyane as you have seen, and now you say, 'Slay him; he is no spirit. 'Now I will show you if he is a spirit, for I will slay him beforeyour eyes, and call him to life again. But you have brought this uponyourselves. Had you believed, had you offered no insult to the Spirit, he would have stayed with you, and you should have become unconquerable. Now he will arise and leave you, and woe be on you if you try to stayhim. "Now all men, " he went on, "look for a space upon this assegai that Ihold up, " and he lifted the bangwan of the deceased Bombyane high abovehis head so that all the multitude could see it. Every eye was fixedupon the broad bright spear. For a while he held it still, then he movedit round and round in a circle, muttering as he did so, and still theirgaze followed it. For my part, I watched his movements with the greatestanxiety. That assegai had already been nearer my person than I found atall pleasant, and I had no desire to make a further acquaintance withit. Nor, indeed, was I sure that Indaba-zimbi was not really going tokill me. I could not understand his proceedings at all, and at the bestI did not relish playing the _corpus vile_ to his magical experiments. "_Look! look! look!_" he screamed. Then suddenly the great spear flashed down towards my breast. I feltnothing, but, to my sight, it seemed as though it had passed through me. "See!" roared the Zulus. "Indaba-zimbi has speared him; the red assegaistands out behind his back. " "Roll over, Macumazahn, " Indaba-zimbi hissed in my ear, "roll over andpretend to die--quick! quick!" I lost no time in following these strange instructions, but fallingon to my side, threw my arms wide, kicked my legs about, and died asartistically as I could. Presently I gave a stage shiver and lay still. "See!" said the Zulus, "he is dead, the Spirit is dead. Look at theblood upon the assegai!" "Stand back! stand back!" cried Indaba-zimbi, "or the ghost will hauntyou. Yes, he is dead, and now I will call him back to life again. Look!"and putting down his hand, he plucked the spear from wherever it wasfixed, and held it aloft. "The spear is red, is it not? Watch, men, watch! _it grows white!_" "Yes, it grows white, " they said. "Ou! it grows white. " "It grows white because the blood returns to whence it came, " saidIndaba-zimbi. "Now, great Spirit, hear me. Thou art dead, the breath hasgone out of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise. Awake, White Spirit, awakeand show thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!" I began to respond cheerfully to this imposing invocation. "Not so fast, Macumazahn, " whispered Indaba-zimbi. I took the hint, and first held up my arm, then lifted my head and letit fall again. "He lives! by the head of T'Chaka he lives!" roared the soldiers, stricken with mortal fear. Then slowly and with the greatest dignity I gradually arose, stretchedmy arms, yawned like one awaking from heavy sleep, turned and lookedupon them unconcernedly. While I did so, I noticed that old Indaba-zimbiwas almost fainting from exhaustion. Beads of perspiration stood uponhis brow, his limbs trembled, and his breast heaved. As for the Zulus, they waited for no more. With a howl of terror thewhole regiment turned and fled across the rise, so that presently wewere left alone with the dead, and the swooning child. "How on earth did you do that, Indaba-zimbi?" I asked in amaze. "Do not ask me, Macumazahn, " he gasped. "You white men are very clever, but you don't quite know everything. There are men in the world who canmake people believe they see things which they do not see. Let us begoing while we may, for when those Umtetwas have got over their fright, they will come back to loot the waggons, and then perhaps _they_ willbegin asking questions that I can't answer. " And here I may as well state that I never got any further information onthis matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But I have my theory, and here it isfor whatever it may be worth. I believe that Indaba-zimbi _mesmerized_the whole crowd of onlookers, myself included, making them believe thatthey saw the assegai in my heart, and the blood upon the blade. Thereader may smile and say, "Impossible;" but I would ask him howthe Indian jugglers do their tricks unless it is by mesmerism. Thespectators _seem_ to see the boy go under the basket and there piercedwith daggers, they _seem_ to see women in a trance supported in mid-airupon the point of a single sword. In themselves these things are notpossible, they violate the laws of nature, as those laws are known tous, and therefore must surely be illusion. And so through the glamourthrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi's will, that Zulu Impi seemed to see metransfixed with an assegai which never touched me. At least, that is mytheory; if any one has a better, let him adopt it. The explanation liesbetween illusion and magic of a most imposing character, and I prefer toaccept the first alternative. CHAPTER VI STELLA I was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi's hint. About a hundred and fiftyyards to the left of the laager was a little dell where I had hiddenmy horse, together with one belonging to the Boers, and my saddle andbridle. Thither we went, I carrying the swooning Tota in my arms. To ourjoy we found the horses safe, for the Zulus had not seen them. Now, ofcourse, they were our only means of locomotion, for the oxen had beensent away, and even had they been there we could not have found time toinspan them. I laid Tota down, caught my horse, undid his knee halter, and saddled up. As I was doing so a thought struck me, and I toldIndaba-zimbi to run to the laager and see if he could find mydouble-barrelled gun and some powder and shot, for I had only myelephant "roer" and a few charges of powder and ball with me. He went, and while he was away, poor little Tota came to herself andbegan to cry, till she saw my face. "Ah, I have had such a bad dream, " she said, in Dutch: "I dreamed thatthe black Kaffirs were going to kill me. Where is my papa?" I winced at the question. "Your papa has gone on a journey, dear, " Isaid, "and left me to look after you. We shall find him one day. Youdon't mind going with Heer Allan, do you?" "No, " she said, a little doubtfully, and began to cry again. Presentlyshe remembered that she was thirsty, and asked for water. I led her tothe river and she drank. "Why is my hand red, Heer Allan?" she asked, pointing to the smear of Bombyane's blood-stained fingers. At this moment I felt very glad that I had killed Bombyane. "It is only paint, dear, " I said; "see, we will wash it and your face. " As I was doing this, Indaba-zimbi returned. The guns were all gone;he said the Zulus had taken them and the powder. But he had found somethings and brought them in a sack. There was a thick blanket, abouttwenty pounds weight of biltong or sun-dried meat, a few double-handfulsof biscuits, two water-bottles, a tin pannikin, some matches andsundries. "And now, Macumazahn, " he said, "we had best be going, for thoseUmtetwas are coming back. I saw one of them on the brow of the rise. " That was enough for me. I lifted little Tota on to the bow of my saddle, climbed into it, and rode off, holding her in front of me. Indaba-zimbislipped a reim into the mouth of the best of the Boer horses, threwof the sack of sundries on to its back and mounted also, holding theelephant gun in his hand. We went eight or nine hundred yards in silencetill we were quite out of range of sight from the waggons, which werein a hollow. Then I pulled up, with such a feeling of thankfulness inmy heart as cannot be told in words; for now I knew that, mounted aswe were, those black demons could never catch us. But where were we tosteer for? I put the question to Indaba-zimbi, asking him if he thoughtthat we had better try and follow the oxen which we had sent away withthe Kaffirs and women on the preceding night. He shook his head. "The Umtetwas will go after the oxen presently, " he answered, "and wehave seen enough of them. " "Quite enough, " I answered, with enthusiasm; "I never want to seeanother; but where are we to go? Here we are alone with one gun and alittle girl in the vast and lonely veldt. Which way shall we turn?" "Our faces were towards the north before we met the Zulus, " answeredIndaba-zimbi; "let us still keep them to the north. Ride on, Macumazahn;to-night when we off-saddle I will look into the matter. " So all that long afternoon we rode on, following the course of theriver. From the nature of the ground we could only go slowly, but beforesunset I had the satisfaction of knowing that there must be at leasttwenty-five miles between us and those accursed Zulus. Little Tota sleptmost of the way, the motion of the horse was easy, and she was worn out. At last the sunset came, and we off-saddled in a dell by the river. There was not much to eat, but I soaked some biscuit in water for Tota, and Indaba-zimbi and I made a scanty meal of biltong. When we had done Itook off Tota's frock, wrapped her up in a blanket near the fire we hadmade, and lit a pipe. I sat there by the side of the sleeping orphanedchild, and from my heart thanked Providence for saving her life and minefrom the slaughter of that day. What a horrible experience it had been!It seemed like a nightmare to look back upon. And yet it was sober fact, one among those many tragedies which dotted the paths of the emigrantBoers with the bones of men, women, and children. These horrors arealmost forgotten now; people living in Natal now, for instance, canscarcely realize that some forty years ago six hundred white people, many of them women and children, were thus massacred by the Impis ofDingaan. But it was so, and the name of the district, _Weenen_, or thePlace of Weeping, will commemorate them for ever. Then I fell to reflecting on the extraordinary adroitness oldIndaba-zimbi had shown in saving my life. It appeared that he himselfhad lived among the Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier manhood, and was anoted rain-doctor and witch-finder. But when T'Chaka, Dingaan's brother, ordered a general massacre of the witch-finders, he alone had saved hislife by his skill in magic, and ultimately fled south for reasons toolong to set out here. When he heard, therefore, that the regiment wasan Umtetwa regiment, which, leaving their wives and children, had brokenaway from Zululand to escape the cruelties of Dingaan; under pretenceof spying on them, he took the bold course of going straight up to thechief, Sususa, and addressing him as his brother, which he was. Thechief knew him at once, and so did the soldiers, for his fame was stillgreat among them. Then he told them his cock and bull story about mybeing a white spirit, whose presence in the laager would render itinvincible, and with the object of saving my life in the slaughter whichhe knew must ensue, agreed to charm me out of the laager and deliver meinto their keeping. How the plan worked has already been told; it was arisky one; still, but for it my troubles would have been done with thesemany days. So I lay and thought with a heart full of gratitude, and as I did so sawold Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and going through some mysteriousperformances with bones which he produced from his bag, and ashes mixedwith water. I spoke to him and asked what he was about. He replied thathe was tracing out the route that we should follow. I felt inclined toanswer "bosh!" but remembering the very remarkable instances which hehad given of his prowess in occult matters I held my tongue, and takinglittle Tota into my arms, worn out with toil and danger and emotion, Iwent to sleep. I awoke just as the dawn was beginning to flame across the sky in sheetsof primrose and of gold, or rather it was little Tota who woke me bykissing me as she lay between sleep and waking, and calling me "papa. "It wrung my heart to hear her, poor orphaned child. I got up, washedand dressed her as best I could, and we breakfasted as we had supped, on biltong and biscuit. Tota asked for milk, but I had none to give her. Then we caught the horses, and I saddled mine. "Well, Indaba-zimbi, " I said, "now what path do your bones point to?" "Straight north, " he said. "The journey will be hard, but in about fourdays we shall come to the kraal of a white man, an Englishman, nota Boer. His kraal is in a beautiful place, and there is a great peakbehind it where there are many baboons. " I looked at him. "This is all nonsense, Indaba-zimbi, " I said. "Whoeverheard of an Englishman building a house in these wilds, and how do youknow anything about it? I think that we had better strike east towardsPort Natal. " "As you like, Macumazahn, " he answered, "but it will take us threemonths' journey to get to Port Natal, if we ever get there, and thechild will die on the road. Say, Macumazahn, have my words come trueheretofore, or have they not? Did I not tell you not to hunt theelephants on horseback? Did I not tell you to take one waggon with youinstead of two, as it is better to lose one than two?" "You told me all these things, " I answered. "And so I tell you now to ride north, Macumazahn, for there you willfind great happiness--yes, and great sorrow. But no man should run awayfrom happiness because of the sorrow. As you will, as you will!" Again I looked at him. In his divinations I did not believe, yet I cameto the conclusion that he was speaking what he knew to be the truth. Itstruck me as possible that he might have heard of some white man livinglike a hermit in the wilds, but preferring to keep up his propheticcharacter would not say so. "Very well, Indaba-zimbi, " I said, "let us ride north. " Shortly after we started, the river we had followed hitherto turnedoff in a westerly direction, so we left it. All that day we rode acrossrolling uplands, and about an hour before sunset halted at a littlestream which ran down from a range of hills in front of us. By this timeI was heartily tired of the biltong, so taking my elephant rifle--for Ihad nothing else--I left Tota with Indaba-zimbi, and started to try if Icould shoot something. Oddly enough we had seen no game all the day, nordid we see any on the subsequent days. For some mysterious reason theyhad temporarily left the district. I crossed the little streamlet inorder to enter the belt of thorns which grew upon the hill-side beyond, for there I hoped to find buck. As I did so I was rather disturbed tosee the spoor of two lions in the soft sandy edge of a pool. Breathinga hope that they might not still be in the neighbourhood, I went on intothe belt of scattered thorns. For a long while I hunted about withoutseeing anything, except one duiker buck, which bounded off with a crashfrom the other side of a stone without giving me a chance. At length, just as it grew dusk, I spied a Petie buck, a graceful little creature, scarcely bigger than a large hare, standing on a stone, about fortyyards from me. Under ordinary circumstances I should never have dreamedof firing at such a thing, especially with an elephant gun, but we werehungry. So I sat down with my back against a rock, and aimed steadily atits head. I did this because if I struck it in the body the three-ounceball would have knocked it to bits. At last I pulled the trigger, the gun went off with the report of a small cannon, and the buckdisappeared. I ran to the spot with more anxiety than I should have feltin an ordinary way over a koodoo or an eland. To my delight there thelittle creature lay--the huge bullet had decapitated it. Considering allthe circumstances I do not think I have often made a better shot thanthis, but if any one doubts, let him try his hand at a rabbit's headfifty yards away with an elephant gun and a three-ounce ball. I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp. There weskinned him and toasted his flesh over the fire. He just made a goodmeal for us, though we kept the hind legs for breakfast. There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenlyremembered about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tieup the horses quite close to us, we could not find them, though we knewthey were grazing within fifty yards. This being so we could only makeup the fire and take our chance. Shortly afterwards I went to sleepwith little Tota in my arms. Suddenly I was awakened by hearing thatpeculiarly painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite close to thefire, which was still burning brightly. Next second there came a noiseof galloping hoofs, and before I could even rise my poor horse appearedin the ring of firelight. As in a flash of lightning I saw his staringeyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with which he hadbeen knee-haltered, flying in the air. Also I saw something else, for onhis back was a great dark form with glowing eyes, and from the form camea growling sound. It was a lion. The horse dashed on. He galloped right through the fire, for which hehad run in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, andvanished into the night. We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or more, then there was silence, broken now and again by distant growls. As maybe imagined, we did not sleep any more that night, but waited anxiouslytill the dawn broke, two hours later. As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Totastill asleep, crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse hadvanished. When we had gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remainslying on the veldt, and caught sight of two great cat-like formsslinking away in the grey light. To go any further was useless; we knew all about it now, so we turnedto look for the other horse. But our cup of misfortune was not yet full;the horse was nowhere to be found. Terrified by the sight and smell ofthe lions, it had with a desperate effort also burst the reim with whichit had been knee-haltered, and galloped far away. I sat down, feelingas though I could cry like a woman. For now we were left alone in thesevast solitudes without a horse to carry us, and with a child who was notold enough to walk for more than a little way at a time. Well, it was no use giving in, so with a few words we went back to ourcamp, where I found Tota crying because she had woke to find herselfalone. Then we ate a little food and prepared to start. First we dividedsuch articles as we must take with us into two equal parts, rejectingeverything that we could possibly do without. Then, by an afterthought, we filled our water-bottles, though at the time I was rather againstdoing so, because of the extra weight. But Indaba-zimbi overruled mein the matter, fortunately for all three of us. I settled to look afterTota for the first march, and to give the elephant gun to Indaba-zimbi. At length all was ready, and we set out on foot. By the help ofoccasional lifts over rough places, Tota managed to walk up the slope ofthe hill-side where I had shot the Petie buck. At length we reached it, and, looking at the country beyond, I gave an exclamation of dismay. Tosay that it was desert would be saying too much; it was more like theKarroo in the Cape--a vast sandy waste, studded here and there with lowshrubs and scattered rocks. But it was a great expanse of desolate land, stretching further than the eye could reach, and bordered far away bya line of purple hills, in the centre of which a great solitary peaksoared high into the air. "Indaba-zimbi, " I said, "we can never cross this if we take six days. " "As you will, Macumazahn, " he answered; "but I tell you that there"--andhe pointed to the peak--"there the white man lives. Turn which way youlike, but if you turn you will perish. " I reflected for a moment, Our case was, humanly speaking, almosthopeless. It mattered little which way we went. We were alone, almostwithout food, with no means of transport, and a child to carry. As wellperish in the sandy waste as on the rolling veldt or among the treesof the hill-side. Providence alone could save us, and we must trust toProvidence. "Come on, " I said, lifting Tota on to my back, for she was alreadytired. "All roads lead to rest. " How am I to describe the misery of the next four days? How am I to tellhow we stumbled on through that awful desert, almost without food, andquite without water, for there were no streams, and we saw no springs?We soon found how the case was, and saved almost all the water in ourbottles for the child. To look back on it is like a nightmare. I canscarcely bear to dwell on it. Day after day, by turns carrying thechild through the heavy sand; night after night lying down in the scrub, chewing the leaves, and licking such dew as there was from the scantygrass! Not a spring, not a pool, not a head of game! It was the thirdnight; we were nearly mad with thirst. Tota was in a comatose condition. Indaba-zimbi still had a little water in his bottle--perhaps awine-glassful. With it we moistened our lips and blackened tongues. Thenwe gave the rest to the child. It revived her. She awoke from her swoonto sink into sleep. See, the dawn was breaking. The hills were not more than eight miles orso away now, and they were green. There must be water there. "Come, " I said. Indaba-zimbi lifted Tota into the kind of sling that we had made out ofthe blanket in which to carry her on our backs, and we staggered on foran hour through the sand. She awoke crying for water, and alas! wehad none to give her; our tongues were hanging from our lips, we couldscarcely speak. We rested awhile, and Tota mercifully swooned away again. ThenIndaba-zimbi took her. Though he was so thin the old man's strength waswonderful. Another hour; the slope of the great peak could not be more than twomiles away now. A couple of hundred yards off grew a large baobabtree. Could we reach its shade? We had done half the distance whenIndaba-zimbi fell from exhaustion. We were now so weak that neither ofus could lift the child on to our backs. He rose again, and we eachtook one of her hands and dragged her along the road. Fifty yards--theyseemed to be fifty miles. Ah, the tree was reached at last; comparedwith the heat outside, the shade of its dense foliage seemed like thedusk and cool of a vault. I remember thinking that it was a good placeto die in. Then I remember no more. I woke with a feeling as though the blessed rain were falling on my faceand head. Slowly, and with great difficulty, I opened my eyes, then shutthem again, having seen a vision. For a space I lay thus, while the raincontinued to fall; I saw now that I must be asleep, or off my head withthirst and fever. If I were not off my head how came I to imagine that alovely dark-eyed girl was bending over me sprinkling water on my face? Awhite girl, too, not a Kaffir woman. However, the dream went on. "Hendrika, " said a voice in English, the sweetest voice that I had everheard; somehow it reminded me of wind whispering in the trees at night. "Hendrika, I fear he dies; there is a flask of brandy in my saddle-bag;get it. " "Ah! ah!" grunted a harsh voice in answer; "let him die, Miss Stella. Hewill bring you bad luck--let him die, I say. " I felt a movement of airabove me as though the woman of my vision turned swiftly, and once againI opened my eyes. She had risen, this dream woman. Now I saw that shewas tall and graceful as a reed. She was angry, too; her dark eyesflashed, and she pointed with her hand at a female who stood before her, dressed in nondescript kind of clothes such as might be worn by eithera man or a woman. The woman was young, of white blood, very short, withbowed legs and enormous shoulders. In face she was not bad-looking, but the brow receded, the chin and ears were prominent--in short, shereminded me of nothing so much as a very handsome monkey. She might havebeen the missing link. The lady was pointing at her with her hand. "How dare you?" she said. "Are you going to disobey me again? Have you forgotten what I told you, Babyan?"[*] [*] Baboon. "Ah! ah!" grunted the woman, who seemed literally to curl and shrivel upbeneath her anger. "Don't be angry with me, Miss Stella, because I can'tbear it. I only said it because it was true. I will fetch the brandy. " Then, dream or no dream, I determined to speak. "Not brandy, " I gasped in English as well as my swollen tongue wouldallow; "give me water. " "Ah, he lives!" cried the beautiful girl, "and he talks English. See, sir, here is water in your own bottle; you were quite close to a spring, it is on the other side of the tree. " I struggled to a sitting position, lifted the bottle to my lips, anddrank from it. Oh! that drink of cool, pure water! never had I tastedanything so delicious. With the first gulp I felt life flow back intome. But wisely enough she would not let me have much. "No more! nomore!" she said, and dragged the bottle from me almost by force. "The child, " I said--"is the child dead?" "I do not know yet, " she answered. "We have only just found you, and Itried to revive you first. " I turned and crept to where Tota lay by the side of Indaba-zimbi. Itwas impossible to say if they were dead or swooning. The lady sprinkledTota's face with the water, which I watched greedily, for my thirstwas still awful, while the woman Hendrika did the same office forIndaba-zimbi. Presently, to my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes andtried to cry, but could not, poor little thing, because her tongue andlips were so swollen. But the lady got some water into her mouth, and, as in my case, the effect was magical. We allowed her to drink about aquarter of a pint, and no more, though she cried bitterly for it. Justthen old Indaba-zimbi came to with a groan. He opened his eyes, glancedround, and took in the situation. "What did I tell you, Macumazahn?" he gasped, and seizing the bottle, hetook a long pull at it. Meanwhile I sat with my back against the trunk of the great tree andtried to realize the situation. Looking to my left I saw too goodhorses--one bare-backed, and one with a rudely made lady's saddle onit. By the side of the horses were two dogs, of a stout greyhound breed, that sat watching us, and near the dogs lay a dead Oribé buck, whichthey had evidently been coursing. "Hendrika, " said the lady presently, "they must not eat meat just yet. Go look up the tree and see if there is any ripe fruit on it. " The woman ran swiftly into the plain and obeyed. Presently she returned. "I see some ripe fruit, " she said, "but it is high, quite at the top. " "Fetch it, " said the lady. "Easier said than done, " I thought to myself; but I was much mistaken. Suddenly the woman bounded at least three feet into the air and caughtone of the spreading boughs in her large flat hands; then came a swingthat would have filled an acrobat with envy--and she was on it. "Now there is an end, " I thought again, for the next bough was beyondher reach. But again I was mistaken. She stood up on the bough, grippingit with her bare feet, and once more sprang at the one above, caught itand swung herself into it. I suppose that the lady saw my expression of astonishment. "Do notwonder, sir, " she said, "Hendrika is not like other people. She will notfall. " I made no answer, but watched the progress of this extraordinary personwith the most breathless interest. On she went, swinging herself frombough to bough, and running along them like a monkey. At last shereached the top, and began to swarm up a thin branch towards the ripefruit. When she was near enough she shook the branch violently. Therewas a crack--a crash--it broke. I shut my eyes, expecting to see hercrushed on the ground before me. "Don't be afraid, " said the lady again, laughing gently. "Look, she isquite safe. " I looked, and so she was. She had caught a bough as she fell, clung toit, and was now calmly dropping to another. Old Indaba-zimbi had alsowatched this performance with interest, but it did not seem to astonishhim over-much. "Baboon-woman?" he said, as though such people werecommon, and then turned his attention to soothing Tota, who was moaningfor more water. Meanwhile Hendrika came down the tree with extraordinaryrapidity, and swinging by one hand from a bough, dropped about eightfeet to the ground. In another two minutes we were all three sucking the pulpy fruit. Inan ordinary way we should have found it tasteless enough: as it was Ithought it the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. After three daysspent without food or water, in the desert, one is not particular. Whilewe were still eating the fruit, the lady of my vision set her companionto work to partially flay the oribé which her dogs had killed, andbusied herself in making a fire of fallen boughs. As soon as it burnedbrightly she took strips of the oribé flesh, toasted them, and gave themto us on leaves. We ate, and now were allowed a little more water. Afterthat she took Tota to the spring and washed her, which she sadly needed, poor child! Next came our turn to wash, and oh, the joy of it! I came back to the tree, walking painfully, indeed, but a changed man. There sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her knees. She was lulling herto sleep, and held up her finger to me enjoining silence. At last thechild went off into a sound natural slumber--an example that I shouldhave been glad to follow had it not been for my burning curiosity. ThenI spoke. "May I ask what your name is?" I said. "Stella, " she answered. "Stella what?" I said. "Stella nothing, " she answered, in some pique; "Stella is my name; it isshort and easy to remember at any rate. My father's name is Thomas, andwe live up there, " and she pointed round the base of the great peak. Ilooked at her astonished. "Have you lived there long?" I asked. "Ever since I was seven years old. We came there in a waggon. Beforethat we came from England--from Oxfordshire; I can show you the place ona big map. It is called Garsingham. " Again I thought I must be dreaming. "Do you know, Miss Stella, " I said, "it is very strange--so strange that it almost seems as though it couldnot be true--but I also came from Garsingham in Oxfordshire many yearsago. " She started up. "Are you an English gentleman?" she said. "Ah, I havealways longed to see an English gentleman. I have never seen but oneEnglishman since we lived here, and he certainly was not a gentleman--nowhite people at all, indeed, except a few wandering Boers. We live amongblack people and baboons--only I have read about English people--lots ofbooks--poetry and novels. But tell me what is your name? Macumazahn theblack man called you, but you must have a white name, too. " "My name is Allan Quatermain, " I said. Her face turned quite white, her rosy lips parted, and she looked at mewildly with her beautiful dark eyes. "It is wonderful, " she said, "but I have often heard that name. Myfather has told me how a little boy called Allan Quatermain once savedmy life by putting out my dress when it was on fire--see!"--and shepointed to a faint red mark upon her neck--"here is the scar of theburn. " "I remember it, " I said. "You were dressed up as Father Christmas. Itwas I who put out the fire; my wrists were burnt in doing so. " Then for a space we sat silent, looking at each other, while Stellaslowly fanned herself with her wide felt hat, in which some whiteostrich plumes were fixed. "This is God's doing, " she said at last. "You saved my life when I wasa child; now I have saved yours and the little girl's. Is she your owndaughter?" she added, quickly. "No, " I answered; "I will tell you the tale presently. " "Yes, " she said, "you shall tell me as we go home. It is time to bestarting home, it will take us three hours to get there. Hendrika, Hendrika, bring the horses here!" CHAPTER VII THE BABOON-WOMAN Hendrika obeyed, leading the horses to the side of the tree. "Now, Mr. Allan, " said Stella, "you must ride on my horse, and the oldblack man must ride on the other. I will walk, and Hendrika will carrythe child. Oh, do not be afraid, she is very strong, she could carry youor me. " Hendrika grunted assent. I am sorry that I cannot express her methodof speech by any more polite term. Sometimes she grunted like a monkey, sometimes she clicked like a Bushman, and sometimes she did bothtogether, when she became quite unintelligible. I expostulated against this proposed arrangement, saying that we couldwalk, which was a fib, for I do not think that I could have done a mile;but Stella would not listen, she would not even let me carry my elephantgun, but took it herself. So we mounted with some difficulty, andHendrika took up the sleeping Tota in her long, sinewy arms. "See that the 'Baboon-woman' does not run away into the mountains withthe little white one, " said Indaba-zimbi to me in Kaffir, as he climbedslowly on to the horse. Unfortunately Hendrika understood his speech. Her face twisted and grewlivid with fury. She put down Tota and literally sprang at Indaba-zimbias a monkey springs. But weary and worn as he was, the old gentlemanwas too quick for her. With an exclamation of genuine fright he threwhimself from the horse on the further side, with the somewhat ludicrousresult that all in a moment Hendrika was occupying the seat which he hadvacated. Just then Stella realized the position. "Come down, you savage, come down!" she said, stamping her foot. The extraordinary creature flung herself from the horse and literallygrovelled on the ground before her mistress and burst into tears. "Pardon, Miss Stella, " she clicked and grunted in villainous English, "but he called me 'Babyan-frau' (Baboon-woman). " "Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrika, Mr. Allan, " Stella said to me. "If he does, " she added, in a whisper, "Hendrika will certainly kill him. " I explained this to Indaba-zimbi, who, being considerably frightened, deigned to apologize. But from that hour there was hate and war betweenthese two. Harmony having been thus restored, we started, the dogs following us. A small strip of desert intervened between us and the slope of thepeak--perhaps it was two miles wide. We crossed it and reached richgrass lands, for here a considerable stream gathered from the hills; butit did not flow across the barren lands, it passed to the east alongthe foot of the hills. This stream we had to cross by a ford. Hendrikawalked boldly through it, holding Tota in her arms. Stella leapt acrossfrom stone to stone like a roebuck; I thought to myself that she was themost graceful creature that I had ever seen. After this the track passedaround a pleasantly-wooded shoulder of the peak, which was, I found, known as Babyan Kap, or Baboon Head. Of course we could only go ata foot pace, so our progress was slow. Stella walked for some way insilence, then she spoke. "Tell me, Mr. Allan, " she said, "how it was that I came to find youdying in the desert?" So I began and told her all. It took an hour or more to do so, and shelistened intently, now and again asking a question. "It is all very wonderful, " she said when I had done, "very wonderfulindeed. Do you know I went out this morning with Hendrika and the dogsfor a ride, meaning to get back home by mid-day, for my father is ill, and I do not like to leave him for long. But just as I was going toturn, when we were about where we are now--yes, that was the verybush--an oribé got up, and the dogs chased it. I followed them for thegallop, and when we came to the river, instead of turning to the left asbucks generally do, the oribé swam the stream and took to the Bad Landsbeyond. I followed it, and within a hundred yards of the big tree thedogs killed it. Hendrika wanted to turn back at once, but I said thatwe would rest under the shade of the tree, for I knew that there was aspring of water near. Well, we went; and there I saw you all lying likedead; but Hendrika, who is very clever in some ways, said no--and youknow the rest. Yes, it is very wonderful. " "It is indeed, " I said. "Now tell me, Miss Stella, who is Hendrika?" She looked round before answering to see that the woman was not near. "Hers is a strange story, Mr. Allan. I will tell you. You must know thatall these mountains and the country beyond are full of baboons. When Iwas a girl of about ten I used to wander a great deal alone in the hillsand valleys, and watch the baboons as they played among the rocks. Therewas one family of baboons that I watched especially--they used to livein a kloof about a mile from the house. The old man baboon was verylarge, and one of the females had a grey face. But the reason whyI watched them so much was because I saw that they had with them acreature that looked like a girl, for her skin was quite white, and, what was more, that she was protected from the weather when it happenedto be cold by a fur belt of some sort, which was tied round her throat. The old baboons seemed to be especially fond of her, and would sit withtheir arms round her neck. For nearly a whole summer I watched thisparticular white-skinned baboon till at last my curiosity quiteovermastered me. I noticed that, though she climbed about the cliffswith the other monkeys, at a certain hour a little before sundown theyused to put her with one or two other much smaller ones into a littlecave, while the family went off somewhere to get food, to the mealiefields, I suppose. Then I got an idea that I would catch this whitebaboon and bring it home. But of course I could not do this by myself, so I took a Hottentot--a very clever man when he was not drunk--wholived on the stead, into my confidence. He was called Hendrik, and wasvery fond of me; but for a long while he would not listen to my plan, because he said that the babyans would kill us. At last I bribed himwith a knife that had four blades, and one afternoon we started, Hendrikcarrying a stout sack made of hide, with a rope running through it sothat the mouth could be drawn tight. "Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the treesat the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and gruntingto each other, till at length, according to custom, they took the whiteone and three other little babies and put them in the cave. Then the oldman came out, looked carefully round, called to his family, and went offwith them over the brow of the kloof. Now very slowly and cautiously wecrept up over the rocks till we came to the mouth of the cave and lookedin. All the four little baboons were fast asleep, with their backstowards us, and their arms round each other's necks, the white one beingin the middle. Nothing could have been better for our plans. Hendrik, who by this time had quite entered into the spirit of the thing, creptalong the cave like a snake, and suddenly dropped the mouth of the hidebag over the head of the white baboon. The poor little thing woke up andgave a violent jump which caused it to vanish right into the bag. ThenHendrik pulled the string tight, and together we knotted it so thatit was impossible for our captive to escape. Meanwhile the other babybaboons had rushed from the cave screaming, and when we got outside theywere nowhere to be seen. "'Come on, Missie, ' said Hendrik; 'the babyans will soon be back. ' Hehad shouldered the sack, inside of which the white baboon was kickingviolently, and screaming like a child. It was dreadful to hear itsshrieks. "We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast aswe could manage. When we were near the waterfall, and within about threehundred yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, and there, leaping from rock to rock, and running over the grass, was the wholefamily of baboons headed by the old man. "'Run, Missie, run!' gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the wind, leavinghim far behind. I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs wereworking, crying, 'The babyans! the babyans!' Luckily the men had theirsticks and spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, whowas almost overtaken. The baboons made a good fight for it, however, and it was not till the old man was killed with an assegai that they ranaway. "Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my fathersometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved. It is very strong, andhas a barred window. To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, havinguntied the mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, shutting the door behind him. In another moment the poor little thingwas out and dashing round the stone hut as though it were mad. It sprungat the bars of the window, clung there, and beat its head against themtill the blood came. Then it fell to the floor, and sat upon it cryinglike a child, and rocking itself backwards and forwards. It was so sadto see it that I began to cry too. "Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about. Itold him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, andsaid that it must be let go. But when he looked at it through the barsof the window he nearly fell down with astonishment. "'Why!' he said, 'this is not a baboon, it is a white child that thebaboons have stolen and brought up!' "Now, Mr. Allan, whether my father is right or wrong, you can judge foryourself. You see Hendrika--we named her that after Hendrik, who caughther--she is a woman, not a monkey, and yet she has many of the waysof monkeys, and looks like one too. You saw how she can climb, forinstance, and you hear how she talks. Also she is very savage, and whenshe is angry or jealous she seems to go mad, though she is as clever asanybody. I think that she must have been stolen by the baboons whenshe was quite tiny and nurtured by them, and that is why she is so likethem. "But to go on. My father said that it was our duty to keep Hendrikaat any cost. The worst of it was, that for three days she would eatnothing, and I thought that she would die, for all the while she satand wailed. On the third day, however, I went to the bars of the windowplace, and held out a cup of milk and some fruit to her. She looked atit for a long while, then crept up moaning, took the milk from my hand, drank it greedily, and afterwards ate the fruit. From that time forwardshe took food readily enough, but only if I would feed her. "But I must tell you of the dreadful end of Hendrik. From the day thatwe captured Hendrika the whole place began to swarm with baboons whichwere evidently employed in watching the kraals. One day Hendrik went outtowards the hills alone to gather some medicine. He did not come backagain, so the next day search was made. By a big rock which I can showyou, they found his scattered and broken bones, the fragments of hisassegai, and four dead baboons. They had set upon him and torn him topieces. "My father was very much frightened at this, but still he would not letHendrika go, because he said that she was human, and that it was ourduty to reclaim her. And so we did--to a certain extent, at least. Afterthe murder of Hendrik, the baboons vanished from the neighbourhood, and have only returned quite recently, so at length we ventured to letHendrika out. By this time she had grown very fond of me; still, on thefirst opportunity she ran away. But in the evening she returned again. She had been seeking the baboons, and could not find them. Shortlyafterwards she began to speak--I taught her--and from that time she hasloved me so that she will not leave me. I think it would kill her if Iwent away from her. She watches me all day, and at night sleeps on thefloor of my hut. Once, too, she saved my life when I was swept down theriver in flood; but she is jealous, and hates everybody else. Look, howshe is glaring at you now because I am talking to you!" I looked. Hendrika was tramping along with the child in her arms andstaring at me in a most sinister fashion out of the corners of her eyes. While I was reflecting on the Baboon-woman's strange story, and thinkingthat she was an exceedingly awkward customer, the path took a suddenturn. "Look!" said Stella, "there is our home. Is it not beautiful?" It was beautiful indeed. Here on the western side of the great peak abay had been formed in the mountain, which might have measured eighthundred or a thousand yards across by three-quarters of a mile in depth. At the back of this indentation the sheer cliff rose to the height ofseveral hundred feet, and behind it and above it the great Babyan Peaktowered up towards the heavens. The space of ground, embraced thus inthe arms of the mountain, as it were, was laid out, as though by thecunning hand of man, in three terraces that rose one above the other. Tothe right and left of the topmost terrace were chasms in the cliff, anddown each chasm fell a waterfall, from no great height, indeed, but ofconsiderable volume. These two streams flowed away on either side ofthe enclosed space, one towards the north, and the other, the courseof which we had been following, round the base of the mountain. At eachterrace they made a cascade, so that the traveller approaching had aview of eight waterfalls at once. Along the edge of the stream to ourleft were placed Kaffir kraals, built in orderly groups with verandahs, after the Basutu fashion, and a very large part of the entire space ofland was under cultivation. All of this I noted at once, as well as theextraordinary richness and depth of the soil, which for many ages pasthad been washed down from the mountain heights. Then following the lineof an excellent waggon road, on which we now found ourselves, that woundup from terrace to terrace, my eye lit upon the crowning wonder of thescene. For in the centre of the topmost platform or terrace, which mayhave enclosed eight or ten acres of ground, and almost surrounded bygroves of orange trees, gleamed buildings of which I had never seen thelike. There were three groups of them, one in the middle, and one oneither side, and a little to the rear, but, as I afterwards discovered, the plan of all was the same. In the centre was an edifice constructedlike an ordinary Zulu hut--that is to say, in the shape of a beehive, only it was five times the size of any hut I ever saw, and builtof blocks of hewn white marble, fitted together with extraordinaryknowledge of the principles and properties of arch building, and with somuch accuracy and finish that it was often difficult to find the jointsof the massive blocks. From this centre hut ran three covered passages, leading to other buildings of an exactly similar character, onlysmaller, and each whole block was enclosed by a marble wall about fourfeet in height. Of course we were as yet too far off to see all these details, but thegeneral outline I saw at once, and it astonished me considerably. Evenold Indaba-zimbi, whom the Baboon-woman had been unable to move, deignedto show wonder. "Ou!" he said; "this is a place of marvels. Who ever saw kraals built ofwhite stone?" Stella watched our faces with an expression of intense amusement, butsaid nothing. "Did your father build those kraals?" I gasped, at length. "My father! no, of course not, " she answered. "How would it have beenpossible for one white man to do so, or to have made this road? He foundthem as you see. " "Who built them, then?" I said again. "I do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for thepeople who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon another, and these huts are so wonderfully constructed that, though they musthave stood for ages, not a stone of them had fallen. But I can show youthe quarry where the marble was cut; it is close by and behind it is theentrance to an ancient mine, which my father thinks was a silver mine. Perhaps the people who worked the mine built the marble huts. Theworld is old, and no doubt plenty of people have lived in it and beenforgotten. "[*] [*] Kraals of a somewhat similar nature to those described by Mr. Quatermain have been discovered in the Marico district of the Transvaal, and an illustration of them is to be found in Mr. Anderson's "Twenty-five Years in a Waggon, " vol. Ii. P. 55. Mr. Anderson says, "In this district are the ancient stone kraals mentioned in an early chapter; but it requires a fuller description to show that these extensive kraals must have been erected by a white race who understood building in stone and at right angles, with door-posts, lintels, and sills, and it required more than Kaffir skill to erect the stone huts, with stone circular roofs, beautifully formed and most substantially erected; strong enough, if not disturbed, to last a thousand years. " --Editor. Then we rode on in silence. I have seen many beautiful sights in Africa, and in such matters, as in others, comparisons are odious and worthless, but I do not think that I ever saw a lovelier scene. It was no onething--it was the combination of the mighty peak looking forth on to theeverlasting plains, the great cliffs, the waterfalls that sparkledin rainbow hues, the rivers girdling the rich cultivated lands, thegold-specked green of the orange trees, the flashing domes of the marblehuts, and a thousand other things. Then over all brooded the peace ofevening, and the infinite glory of the sunset that filled heaven withchanging hues of splendour, that wrapped the mountain and cliffs incloaks of purple and of gold, and lay upon the quiet face of the waterlike the smile of a god. Perhaps also the contrast, and the memory of those three awful daysand nights in the hopeless desert, enhanced the charm, and perhaps thebeauty of the girl who walked beside me completed it. For of this I amsure, that of all sweet and lovely things that I looked on then, she wasthe sweetest and the loveliest. Ah, it did not take me long to find my fate. How long will it be beforeI find her once again? CHAPTER VIII THE MARBLE KRAALS At length the last platform, or terrace, was reached, and we pulled upoutside the wall surrounding the central group of marble huts--for soI must call them, for want of a better name. Our approach had beenobserved by a crowd of natives, whose race I have never been able todetermine accurately; they belonged to the Basutu and peaceful sectionof the Bantu peoples rather than to the Zulu and warlike. Several ofthese ran up to take the horses, gazing on us with astonishment, notunmixed with awe. We dismounted--speaking for myself, not withoutdifficulty--indeed, had it not been for Stella's support I should havefallen. "Now you must come and see my father, " she said. "I wonder what he willthink of it, it is all so strange. Hendrika, take the child to my hutand give her milk, then put her into my bed; I will come presently. " Hendrika went off with a somewhat ugly grin to do her mistress'sbidding, and Stella led the way through the narrow gateway in the marblewall, which may have enclosed nearly half an "erf, " or three-quarters ofan acre of ground in all. It was beautifully planted as a garden, manyEuropean vegetables and flowers were growing in it, besides others withwhich I was not acquainted. Presently we came to the centre hut, andit was then that I noticed the extraordinary beauty and finish of themarble masonry. In the hut, and facing the gateway, was a modern door, rather rudely fashioned of Buckenhout, a beautiful reddish wood thathas the appearance of having been sedulously pricked with a pin. Stellaopened it, and we entered. The interior of the hut was the size of alarge and lofty room, the walls being formed of plain polished marble. It was lighted somewhat dimly, but quite effectively, by peculiaropenings in the roof, from which the rain was excluded by overhangingeaves. The marble floor was strewn with native mats and skins ofanimals. Bookcases filled with books were placed against the walls, there was a table in the centre, chairs seated with rimpi or strips ofhide stood about, and beyond the table was a couch on which a man waslying reading. "Is that you, Stella?" said a voice, that even after so many yearsseemed familiar to me. "Where have you been, my dear? I began to thinkthat you had lost yourself again. " "No, father, dear, I have not lost myself, but I have found somebodyelse. " At that moment I stepped forward so that the light fell on me. The oldgentleman on the couch rose with some difficulty and bowed with muchcourtesy. He was a fine-looking old man, with deep-set dark eyes, a paleface that bore many traces of physical and mental suffering, and a longwhite beard. "Be welcome, sir, " he said. "It is long since we have seen a whiteface in these wilds, and yours, if I am not mistaken, is that of anEnglishman. There has been but one Englishman here for twelve years, andhe, I grieve to say, was an outcast flying from justice, " and he bowedagain and stretched out his hand. I looked at him, and then of a sudden his name flashed back into mymind. I took his hand. "How do you do, Mr. Carson?" I said. He started as though he had been stung. "Who told you that name?" he cried. "It is a dead name. Stella, is ityou? I forbade you to let it pass your lips. " "I did not speak it, father. I have never spoken it, " she answered. "Sir, " I broke in, "if you will allow me I will show you how I came toknow your name. Do you remember many years ago coming into the study ofa clergyman in Oxfordshire and telling him that you were going to leaveEngland for ever?" He bowed his head. "And do you remember a little boy who sat upon the hearthrug writingwith a pencil?" "I do, " he said. "Sir, I was that boy, and my name is Allan Quatermain. Those childrenwho lay sick are all dead, their mother is dead, and my father, your oldfriend, is dead also. Like you he emigrated, and last year he died inthe Cape. But that is not all the story. After many adventures, I, oneKaffir, and a little girl, lay senseless and dying in the Bad Lands, where we had wandered for days without water, and there we should haveperished, but your daughter, Miss----" "Call her Stella, " he broke in, hastily. "I cannot bear to hear thatname. I have forsworn it. " "Miss Stella found us by chance and saved our lives. " "By chance, did you say, Allan Quatermain?" he answered. "There islittle chance in all this; such chances spring from another will thanours. Welcome, Allan, son of my old friend. Here we live as it were in ahermitage, with Nature as our only friend, but such as we have is yours, and for as long as you will take it. But you must be starving; talk nomore now. Stella, it is time to eat. To-morrow we will talk. " To tell the truth I can recall very little of the events of thatevening. A kind of dizzy weariness overmastered me. I remember sittingat a table next to Stella, and eating heartily, and then I remembernothing more. I awoke to find myself lying on a comfortable bed in a hut built andfashioned on the same model as the centre one. While I was wonderingwhat time it was, a native came bringing some clean clothes on his arm, and, luxury of luxuries, produced a bath hollowed from wood. I rose, feeling a very different man, my strength had come back again to me; Idressed, and following a covered passage found myself in the centre hut. Here the table was set for breakfast with all manner of good things, such as I had not seen for many a month, which I contemplated withhealthy satisfaction. Presently I looked up, and there before me was amore delightful sight, for standing in one of the doorways which led tothe sleeping huts was Stella, leading little Tota by the hand. She was very simply dressed in a loose blue gown, with a wide collar, and girdled in at the waist by a little leather belt. In the bosom ofher robe was a bunch of orange blooms, and her rippling hair was tiedin a single knot behind her shapely head. She greeted me with a smile, asking how I had slept, and then held Tota up for me to kiss. Under herloving care the child had been quite transformed. She was neatly dressedin a garment of the same blue stuff that Stella wore, her fair hair wasbrushed; indeed, had it not been for the sun blisters on her face andhands, one would scarcely have believed that this was the same childwhom Indaba-zimbi and I had dragged for hour after hour through theburning, waterless desert. "We must breakfast alone, Mr. Allan, " she said; "my father is so upsetby your arrival that he will not get up yet. Oh, you cannot tell howthankful I am that you have come. I have been so anxious about him oflate. He grows weaker and weaker; it seems to me as though the strengthwere ebbing away from him. Now he scarcely leaves the kraal, I have tomanage everything about the farm; he does nothing but read and think. " Just then Hendrika entered, bearing a jug of coffee in one hand and ofmilk in the other, which she set down upon the table, casting a look oflittle love at me as she did so. "Be careful, Hendrika; you are spilling the coffee, " said Stella. "Don'tyou wonder how we come to have coffee here, Mr. Allan? I will tellyou--we grow it. That was my idea. Oh, I have lots of things to showyou. You don't know what we have managed to do in the time that we havebeen here. You see we have plenty of labour, for the people about lookupon my father as their chief. " "Yes, " I said, "but how do you get all these luxuries of civilization?"and I pointed to the books, the crockery, and the knives and forks. "Very simply. Most of the books my father brought with him when we firsttrekked into the wilds; there was nearly a waggon load of them. Butevery few years we have sent an expedition of three waggons right downto Port Natal. The waggons are loaded with ivory and other goods, andcome back with all kinds of things that been sent out from Englandfor us. So you see, although we live in this wild place, we are notaltogether cut off. We can send runners to Natal and back in threemonths, and the waggons get there and back in a year. The last lotarrived quite safe about three months ago. Our servants are veryfaithful, and some of them speak Dutch well. " "Have you ever been with the waggons?" I asked. "Since I was a child I have never been more than thirty miles fromBabyan's Peak, " she answered. "Do you know, Mr. Allan, that you are, with one exception, the first Englishman that I have known out of abook. I suppose that I must seem very wild and savage to you, but I havehad one advantage--a good education. My father has taught me everything, and perhaps I know some things that you don't. I can read French andGerman, for instance. I think that my father's first idea was to let merun wild altogether, but he gave it up. " "And don't you wish to go into the world?" I asked. "Sometimes, " she said, "when I get lonely. But perhaps my father isright--perhaps it would frighten and bewilder me. At any rate he wouldnever return to civilization; it is his idea, you know, although I amsure I do not know where he got it from, nor why he cannot bear thatour name should be spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make ourlives, we must take them as we find them. Have you done your breakfast?Let us go out, and I will show you our home. " I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned, Mr. Carson--for after all that was his name, though he would never allowit to be spoken--had come into the hut. He felt better now, he said, andwould accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an arm. So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old Indaba-zimbiwhom I found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing could tire thatold man. The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from thelower ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have said, faced west, consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow of thegreat peak till nearly eleven o'clock in the morning--a great advantagein that warm latitude. First we walked through the garden, which wasbeautifully cultivated, and one of the most productive that I ever saw. There were three or four natives working in it, and they all salutedmy host as "Baba, " or father. Then we visited the other two groups ofmarble huts. One of these was used for stables and outbuildings, theother as storehouses, the centre hut having been, however, turned intoa chapel. Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he earnestly tried to convertthe natives, most of whom were refugees who had come to him for shelter, and he had practised the more elementary rites of the church for so longthat I think he began to believe that he really was a clergyman. Forinstance, he always married those of his people who would consent to amonogamous existence, and baptized their children. When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marblehuts, and admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrivelike weeds in this marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the nextplatform, and saw the farming operations in full swing. I think that itwas the best farm I have ever seen in Africa. There was ample waterfor purposes of irrigation, the grass lands below gave pasturage forhundreds of head of cattle and horses, and, for natives, the people weremost industrious. Moreover, the whole place was managed by Mr. Carson onthe co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the produce--indeed, inthis land of teeming plenty, what was he to do with more? Consequentlythe tribesmen, who, by the way, called themselves the "Children ofThomas, " were able to accumulate considerable wealth. All their disputeswere referred to their "father, " and he also was judge of offences andcrimes. Some were punished by imprisonment, whipping, and loss of goods, other and graver transgressions by expulsion from the community, a fiatwhich to one of these favoured natives must have seemed as heavy as thedecree that drove Adam from the Garden of Eden. Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter's arm and contemplated the scenewith pride. "I have done all this, Allan Quatermain, " he said. "When renouncingcivilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the remotestplaces of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. Nothingwas to be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, and thewaterfalls. I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path of gardenland and planted the orange grove. I had only six natives then, but bydegrees others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand strong. Here welive in profound peace and plenty. I have all I need, and I seek nomore. Heaven has prospered me so far--may it do so to the end, which forme draws nigh. And now I am tired and will go back. If you wish to seethe old quarry and the mouth of the ancient mines, Stella will show themto you. No, my love, you need not trouble to come, I can manage. Look!some of the headmen are waiting to see me. " So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we turned, and, walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up behind themarble kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material of which theywere built had been cut in some remote age. The pit opened up a verythick seam of the whitest and most beautiful marble. I know anotherlike it in Natal. But by whom it had been worked I cannot say; notby natives, that is certain, though the builders of these kraals hadcondescended to borrow the shape of native huts for their model. Bythe way, the only relic of those builders that I ever saw was a highlyfinished bronze pick-axe which Stella had found one day in the quarry. After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hilltill we came to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in agorge. I believe them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long andnarrow, and the moment we entered it there rose from every side a soundof groaning and barking that was almost enough to deafen us. I knew whatit was at once: the whole place was filled with baboons, which clambereddown the rocks towards us from every direction, and in a manner thatstruck me as being unnaturally fearless. Stella turned a little pale andclung to my arm. "It is very silly of me, " she whispered. "I am not at all nervous, butever since they killed Hendrik I cannot bear the sight of those animals. I always think that there is something human about them. " Meanwhile the baboons drew nearer, talking to each other as they came. Tota began to cry, and clung to Stella. Stella clung to me, while Iand Indaba-zimbi put as bold a front on the matter as we could. OnlyHendrika stood looking at the brutes with an unconcerned smile on hermonkey face. When the great apes were quite near, she suddenly calledaloud. Instantly they stopped their hideous clamour as though at a wordof command. Then Hendrika addressed them: I can only describe it so. That is to say, she began to make a noise such as baboons do when theyconverse with each other. I have known Hottentots and Bushmen who saidthat they could talk with the baboons and understand their language, butI confess I never heard it done before or since. From the mouth of Hendrika came a succession of grunts, groans, squeals, clicks, and every other abominable noise that can be conceived, conveying to my mind a general idea of expostulation. At any rate thebaboons listened. One of them grunted back some answer, and then thewhole mob drew off to the rocks. I stood astonished, and without a word we turned back to the kraal, forHendrika was too close to allow me to speak. When we reached the dininghut Stella went in, followed by Hendrika. But Indaba-zimbi plucked me bythe sleeve, and I stopped outside. "Macumazahn, " he said. "Baboon-woman--devil-woman. Be careful, Macumazahn. She loves that Star (the natives aptly enough called Stellathe Star), and is jealous. Be careful, Macumazahn, or the Star willset!" CHAPTER IX "LET US GO IN, ALLAN!" It is very difficult for me to describe the period of time which elapsedbetween my arrival at Babyan's Peak and my marriage with Stella. When Ilook back on it, it seems sweet as with the odour of flowers, and dimas with the happy dusk of summer eves, while through the sweetness comesthe sound of Stella's voice, and through the gloom shines the starlightof her eyes. I think that we loved each other from the first, though fora while we said no word of love. Day by day I went about the place withher, accompanied by little Tota and Hendrika only, while she attendedto the thousand and one matters which her father's ever-growing weaknesshad laid upon her; or rather, as time drew on, I attended to thebusiness, and she accompanied me. All day through we were together. Thenafter supper, when the night had fallen, we would walk together in thegarden and come at length to hear her father read aloud sometimes fromthe works of a poet, sometimes from history. Or, if he did not feelwell, Stella would read, and when this was done, Mr. Carson wouldcelebrate a short form of prayer, and we would separate till the morningonce more brought our happy hour of meeting. So the weeks went by, and with every week I grew to know my darlingbetter. Often, I wonder now, if my fond fancy deceives me, or if indeedthere are women as sweet and dear as she. Was it solitude that had givensuch depth and gentleness to her? Was it the long years of communingwith Nature that had endowed her with such peculiar grace, the grace wefind in opening flowers and budding trees? Had she caught that murmuringvoice from the sound of the streams which fall continually about herrocky home? was it the tenderness of the evening sky beneath which sheloved to walk, that lay like a shadow on her face, and the light of theevening stars that shone in her quiet eyes? At the least to me she wasthe realization of that dream which haunts the sleep of sin-stained men;so my memory paints her, so I hope to find her when at last the sleephas rolled away and the fevered dreams are done. At last there came a day--the most blessed of my life, when we told ourlove. We had been together all the morning, but after dinner Mr. Carsonwas so unwell that Stella stopped in with him. At supper we met again, and after supper, when she had put little Tota, to whom she had grownmuch attached, to bed, we went out, leaving Mr. Carson dozing on thecouch. The night was warm and lovely, and without speaking we walked up thegarden to the orange grove and sat down upon a rock. There was a littlebreeze which shook the petals of the orange blooms over us in showers, and bore their delicate fragrance far and wide. Silence reigned around, broken only by the sound of the falling waterfalls that now died to afaint murmur, and now, as the wavering breeze turned, boomed loudlyin our ears. The moon was not yet visible, but already the dark cloudswhich floated through the sky above us--for there had been rain--showeda glow of silver, telling us that she shone brightly behind the peak. Stella began to talk in her low, gentle voice, speaking to me of herlife in the wilderness, how she had grown to love it, how her mind hadgone on from idea to idea, and how she pictured the great rushing worldthat she had never seen as it was reflected to her from the books whichshe had read. It was a curious vision of life that she had: things wereout of proportion to it; it was more like a dream than a reality--amirage than the actual face of things. The idea of great cities, andespecially of London, had a kind of fascination for her: she couldscarcely realize the rush, the roar and hurry, the hard crowds of menand women, strangers to each other, feverishly seeking for wealth andpleasure beneath a murky sky, and treading one another down in the furyof their competition. "What is it all for?" she asked earnestly. "What do they seek? Having sofew years to live, why do they waste them thus?" I told her that in the majority of instances it was actual hardnecessity that drove them on, but she could barely understand me. Livingas she had done, in the midst of the teeming plenty of a fruitful earth, she did not seem to be able to grasp the fact that there were millionswho from day to day know not how to stay their hunger. "I never want to go there, " she went on; "I should be bewildered andfrightened to death. It is not natural to live like that. God put Adamand Eve in a garden, and that is how he meant their children to live--inpeace, and looking always on beautiful things. This is my idea ofperfect life. I want no other. " "I thought you once told me that you found it lonely, " I said. "So I did, " she answered, innocently, "but that was before you came. NowI am not lonely any more, and it is perfect--perfect as the night. " Just then the full moon rose above the elbow of the peak, and herrays stole far and wide down the misty valley, gleaming on the water, brooding on the plain, searching out the hidden places of the rocks, wrapping the fair form of nature as in a silver bridal veil throughwhich her beauty shone mysteriously. Stella looked down the terraced valley; she turned and looked up at thescarred face of the golden moon, and then she looked at me. The beautyof the night was about her face, the scent of the night was on her hair, the mystery of the night shone in her shadowed eyes. She looked at me, Ilooked on her, and all our hearts' love blossomed within us. We spoke noword--we had no words to speak, but slowly we drew near, till lips werepressed to lips as we kissed our eternal troth. It was she who broke that holy silence, speaking in a changed voice, in soft deep notes that thrilled me like the lowest chords of a smittenharp. "Ah, now I understand, " she said, "now I know why we are lonely, and howwe can lose our loneliness. Now I know what it is that stirs us in thebeauty of the sky, in the sound of water and in the scent of flowers. It is Love who speaks in everything, though till we hear his voice weunderstand nothing. But when we hear, then the riddle is answered andthe gates of our heart are opened, and, Allan, we see the way that wendsthrough death to heaven, and is lost in the glory of which our love isbut a shadow. "Let us go in, Allan. Let us go before the spell breaks, so thatwhatever overtakes us, sorrow, death, or separation, we may always havethis perfect memory to save us. Come, dearest, let us go!" I rose like a man in a dream, still holding her by the hand. But as Irose my eye fell upon something that gleamed white among the foliageof the orange bush at my side. I said nothing, but looked. The breezestirred the orange leaves, the moonlight struck for a moment full uponthe white object. It was the face of Hendrika, the Babyan-woman, as Indaba-zimbi hadcalled her, and on it was a glare of hate that made me shudder. I said nothing; the face vanished, and just then I heard a baboon barkin the rocks behind. Then we went down the garden, and Stella passed into the centre hut. Isaw Hendrika standing in the shadow near the door, and went up to her. "Hendrika, " I said, "why were you watching Miss Stella and myself in thegarden?" She drew her lips up till her teeth gleamed in the moonlight. "Have I not watched her these many years, Macumazahn? Shall I cease towatch because a wandering white man comes to steal her? Why were youkissing her in the garden, Macumazahn? How dare you kiss her who is astar?" "I kissed her because I love her, and because she loves me, " I answered. "What has that to do with you, Hendrika?" "Because you love her, " she hissed in answer; "and do I not love heralso, who saved me from the babyans? I am a woman as she is, and you area man, and they say in the kraals that men love women better than womenlove women. But it is a lie, though this is true, that if a woman lovesa man she forgets all other love. Have I not seen it? I gather herflowers--beautiful flowers; I climb the rocks where you would never dareto go to find them; you pluck a piece of orange bloom in the garden andgive it to her. What does she do?--she takes the orange bloom, she putsit in her breast, and lets my flowers die. I call to her--she does nothear me--she is thinking. You whisper to some one far away, and shehears and smiles. She used to kiss me sometimes; now she kisses thatwhite brat you brought, because you brought it. Oh, I see it all--all; Ihave seen it from the first; you are stealing her from us, stealing herto yourself, and those who loved her before you came are forgotten. Becareful, Macumazahn, be careful, lest I am revenged upon you. You, youhate me; you think me half a monkey; that servant of yours calls meBaboon-woman. Well, I have lived with baboons, and they are clever--yes, they can play tricks and know things that you don't, and I am clevererthan they, for I have learnt the wisdom of white people also, and I sayto you, Walk softly, Macumazahn, or you will fall into a pit, " and withone more look of malice she was gone. I stood for a moment reflecting. I was afraid of this strange creaturewho seemed to combine the cunning of the great apes that had rearedher with the passions and skill of human kind. I foreboded evil at herhands. And yet there was something almost touching in the fierceness ofher jealousy. It is generally supposed that this passion only exists instrength when the object loved is of another sex from the lover, but Iconfess that, both in this instance and in some others which I have metwith, this has not been my experience. I have known men, and especiallyuncivilized men, who were as jealous of the affection of their friendor master as any lover could be of that of his mistress; and who hasnot seen cases of the same thing where parents and their children areconcerned? But the lower one gets in the scale of humanity, the morereadily this passion thrives; indeed, it may be said to come to itsintensest perfection in brutes. Women are more jealous than men, small-hearted men are more jealous than those of larger mind and widersympathy, and animals are the most jealous of all. Now Hendrika was insome ways not far removed from animal, which may perhaps account for theferocity of her jealousy of her mistress's affection. Shaking off my presentiments of evil, I entered the centre hut. Mr. Carson was resting on the sofa, and by him knelt Stella holding hishand, and her head resting on his breast. I saw at once that she hadbeen telling him of what had come about between us; nor was I sorry, for it is a task that a would-be son-in-law is generally glad to do bydeputy. "Come here, Allan Quatermain, " he said, almost sternly, and my heartgave a jump, for I feared lest he might be about to require me to goabout my business. But I came. "Stella tells me, " he went on, "that you two have entered into amarriage engagement. She tells me also that she loves you, and that yousay that you love her. " "I do indeed, sir, " I broke in; "I love her truly; if ever a woman wasloved in this world, I love her. " "I thank Heaven for it, " said the old man. "Listen, my children. Manyyears ago a great shame and sorrow fell upon me, so great a sorrow that, as I sometimes think, it affected my brain. At any rate, I determinedto do what most men would have considered the act of a madman, to go faraway into the wilderness with my only child, there to live remote fromcivilization and its evils. I did so; I found this place, and here wehave lived for many years, happily enough, and perhaps not without doinggood in our generation, but still in a way unnatural to our race andstatus. At first I thought I would let my daughter grow up in a state ofcomplete ignorance, that she should be Nature's child. But as time wenton, I saw the folly and the wickedness of my plan. I had no right todegrade her to the level of the savages around me, for if the fruitof the tree of knowledge is a bitter fruit, still it teaches good fromevil. So I educated her as well as I was able, till in the end I knewthat in mind, as in body, she was in no way inferior to her sisters, thechildren of the civilized world. She grew up and entered into womanhood, and then it came into my mind that I was doing her a bitter wrong, thatI was separating her from her kind and keeping her in a wilderness whereshe could find neither mate nor companion. But though I knew this, Icould not yet make up my mind to return to active life; I had grown tolove this place. I dreaded to return into the world I had abjured. Againand again I put my resolutions aside. Then at the commencement of thisyear I fell ill. For a while I waited, hoping that I might get better, but at last I realized that I should never get better, that the hand ofDeath was upon me. " "Ah, no, father, not that!" Stella said, with a cry. "Yes, love, that, and it is true. Now you will be able to forget ourseparation in the happiness of a new meeting, " and he glanced at meand smiled. "Well, when this knowledge came home to me, I determined toabandon this place and trek for the coast, though I well knew thatthe journey would kill me. I should never live to reach it. But Stellawould, and it would be better than leaving her here alone with savagesin the wilderness. On the very day that I had made up my mind to takethis step Stella found you dying in the Bad Lands, Allan Quatermain, andbrought you here. She brought you, of all men in the world, you, whosefather had been my dear friend, and who once with your baby hands hadsaved her life from fire, that she might live to save yours from thirst. At the time I said little, but I saw the hand of Providence in this, andI determined to wait and see what came about between you. At the worst, if nothing came about, I soon learned that I could trust you to see hersafely to the coast after I was gone. But many days ago I knew how itstood between you, and now things are determined as I prayed they mightbe. God bless you both, my children; may you be happy in your love;may it endure till death and beyond it. God bless you both!" and hestretched out his hand towards me. I took it, and Stella kissed him. Presently he spoke again-- "It is my intention, " he said, "if you two consent, to marry you nextSunday. I wish to do so soon, for I do not know how much longer will beallowed to me. I believe that such a ceremony, solemnly celebratedand entered into before witnesses, will, under the circumstances, beperfectly legal; but of course you will repeat it with every formalitythe first moment it lies in your power so to do. And now, there isone more thing: when I left England my fortunes were in a shatteredcondition; in the course of years they have recovered themselves, the accumulated rents, as I heard but recently, when the waggons lastreturned from Port Natal, have sufficed to pay off all charges, andthere is a considerable balance over. Consequently you will not marry onnothing, for of course you, Stella, are my heiress, and I wish to makea stipulation. It is this. That so soon as my death occurs you shouldleave this place and take the first opportunity of returning to England. I do not ask you to live there always; it might prove too much forpeople reared in the wilds, as both of you have been; but I do ask youto make it your permanent home. Do you consent and promise this?" "I do, " I answered. "And so do I, " said Stella. "Very well, " he answered; "and now I am tired out. Again God bless youboth, and good-night. " CHAPTER X HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. Firstof all I told him that I was going to marry Stella. "Oh!" he said, "I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you that youwould find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to watchthe Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on yourheart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set. " "Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?" I answered, angrily, for his words sent a thrill of fear through me. "A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. Ionly speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss, loss upon loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find allthe things that we have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, andthere was wisdom in his gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it ischange, that is all, Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the drops ofrain that were one water in the clouds fall side by side. They sink intothe ground; presently the sun will come out, the earth will be dry, thedrops will be gone. A fool looks and says the drops are dead, they willnever be one again, they will never again fall side by side. But I am arain-maker, and I know the ways of rain. It is not true. The drops willdrain by many paths into the river, and will be one water there. Theywill go up to the clouds again in the mists of morning, and there willagain be as they have been. We are the drops of rain, Macumazahn. Whenwe fall that is our life. When we sink into the ground that is death, and when we are drawn up again to the sky, what is that, Macumazahn? No!no! when we find we lose, and when we seem to lose, then we shall reallyfind. I am not a Christian, Macumazahn, but I am old, and have watchedand seen things that perhaps Christians do not see. There, I havespoken. Be happy with your star, and if it sets, wait, Macumazahn, waittill it rises again. It will not be long; one day you will go to sleep, then your eyes will open on another sky, and there your star will beshining, Macumazahn. " I made no answer at the time. I could not bear to talk of such a thing. But often and often in the after years I have thought of Indaba-zimbiand his beautiful simile and gathered comfort from it. He was a strangeman, this old rain-making savage, and there was more wisdom in him thanin many learned atheists--those spiritual destroyers who, in the nameof progress and humanity, would divorce hope from life, and leave uswandering in a lonesome, self-consecrated hell. "Indaba-zimbi, " I said, changing the subject, "I have something to say, "and I told him of the threats of Hendrika. He listened with an unmoved face, nodding his white lock at intervals asthe narrative went on. But I saw that he was disturbed by it. "Macumazahn, " he said at length, "I have told you that this is an evilwoman. She was nourished on baboon milk, and the baboon nature is inher veins. Such creatures should be killed, not kept. She will make youmischief if she can. But I will watch her, Macumazahn. Look, the Star iswaiting for you; go, or she will hate me as Hendrika hates you. " So I went, nothing loth, for attractive as was the wisdom ofIndaba-zimbi, I found a deeper meaning in Stella's simplest word. Allthe rest of that day I passed in her company, and the greater part ofthe two following days. At last came Saturday night, the eve of ourmarriage. It rained that night, so we did not go out, but spent theevening in the hut. We sat hand in hand, saying little, but Mr. Carsontalked a good deal, telling us tales of his youth, and of countriesthat he had visited. Then he read aloud from the Bible, and bade usgoodnight. I also kissed Stella and went to bed. I reached my hut bythe covered way, and before I undressed opened the door to see what thenight was like. It was very dark, and rain was still falling, but asthe light streamed out into the gloom I fancied that I caught sight ofa dusky form gliding away. The thought of Hendrika flashed into my mind;could she be skulking about outside there? Now I had said nothing ofHendrika and her threats either to Mr. Carson or Stella, because I didnot wish to alarm them. Also I knew that Stella was attached to thisstrange person, and I did not wish to shake her confidence in her unlessit was absolutely necessary. For a minute or two I stood hesitating, then, reflecting that if it was Hendrika, there she should stop, I wentin and put up the stout wooden bar that was used to secure the door. Forthe last few nights old Indaba-zimbi had made a habit of sleeping in thecovered passage, which was the only other possible way of access. As Icame to bed I had stepped over him rolled up in his blanket, and to allappearances fast asleep. So it being evident that I had nothing to fear, I promptly dismissed the matter from my mind, which, as may be imagined, was indeed fully occupied with other thoughts. I got into bed, and for awhile lay awake thinking of the great happinessin store for me, and of the providential course of events that hadbrought it within my reach. A few weeks since and I was wandering inthe desert a dying man, bearing a dying child, and with scarcely apossession left in the world except a store of buried ivory that I neverexpected to see again. And now I was about to wed one of the sweetestand loveliest women on the whole earth--a woman whom I loved more thanI could have thought possible, and who loved me back again. Also, asthough that were not good fortune enough, I was to acquire with hervery considerable possessions, quite sufficiently large to enable us tofollow any plan of life we found agreeable. As I lay and reflected onall this I grew afraid of my good fortune. Old Indaba-zimbi's melancholyprophecies came into my mind. Hitherto he had always prophesied truly. What if these should be true also? I turned cold as I thought of it, andprayed to the Power above to preserve us both to live and love together. Never was prayer more needed. While its words were still upon my lips Idropped asleep and dreamed a most dreadful dream. I dreamed that Stella and I were standing together to be married. She was dressed in white, and radiant with beauty, but it was a wild, spiritual beauty which frightened me. Her eyes shone like stars, a paleflame played about her features, and the wind that blew did not stir herhair. Nor was this all, for her white robes were death wrappings, andthe altar at which we stood was formed of the piled-up earth from anopen grave that yawned between us. So we stood waiting for one to wedus, but no one came. Presently from the open grave sprang the form ofHendrika. In her hand was a knife, with which she stabbed at me, butpierced the heart of Stella, who, without a cry, fell backwards into thegrave, still looking at me as she fell. Then Hendrika leaped after herinto the grave. I heard her feet strike heavily. "_Awake, Macumazahn! awake!_" cried the voice of Indaba-zimbi. I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me. In the darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furiousstruggling. Luckily I kept my head. Just by me was a chair on which werematches and a rush taper. I struck a match and held it to the taper. Nowin the growing light I could see two forms rolling one over the other onthe floor, and from between them came the flash of steel. The fat meltedand the light burnt up. It was Indaba-zimbi and the woman Hendrika whowere struggling, and, what is more, the woman was getting the better ofthe man, strong as he was. I rushed towards them. Now she was uppermost, now she had wrenched herself from his fierce grip, and now the greatknife she had in her hand flashed up. But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerkedwith all my strength. She fell backwards, and, in her effort to saveherself, most fortunately dropped the knife. Then we flung ourselvesupon her. Heavens! the strength of that she-devil! Nobody who has notexperienced it could believe it. She fought and scratched and bit, and at one time nearly mastered the two of us. As it was she did breakloose. She rushed at the bed, sprung on it, and bounded thence straightup at the roof of the hut. I never saw such a jump, and could notconceive what she meant to do. In the roof were the peculiar holes whichI have described. They were designed to admit light, and covered withoverhanging eaves. She sprung straight and true like a monkey, and, catching the edge of the hole with her hands, strove to draw herselfthrough it. But here her strength, exhausted with the long struggle, failed her. For a moment she swung, then dropped to the ground and fellsenseless. "Ou!" gasped Indaba-zimbi. "Let us tie the devil up before she comes tolife again. " I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the cornerof the room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion that evenshe could scarcely escape. Then we carried her into the passage, andIndaba-zimbi sat over her, the knife in his hand, for I did not wish toraise an alarm at that hour of the night. "Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?" he said. "For several nightsI have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made a plan. To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep. An hourafter you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a beam of lightcome into the hut through the hole in the roof. Presently I saw the beamof light vanish. At first I thought that a cloud was passing over themoon, but I listened and heard a noise as though some one was squeezinghimself through a narrow space. Presently he was through, and hanging byhis hands. Then the light came in again, and in the middle of it I sawthe Babyan-frau swinging from the roof, and about to drop into thehut. She clung by both hands, and in her mouth was a great knife. Shedropped, and I ran forward to seize her as she dropped, and gripped herround the middle. But she heard me come, and, seizing the knife, struckat me in the dark and missed me. Then we struggled, and you know therest. You were very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn. " "Very nearly indeed, " I answered, still panting, and arranging the ragsof my night-dress round me as best I might. Then the memory of my horriddream flashed into my mind. Doubtless it had been conjured up by thesound of Hendrika dropping to the floor--in my dream it had been a gravethat she dropped into. All of it, then, had been experienced in thatsecond of time. Well, dreams are swift; perhaps Time itself is nothingbut a dream, and events that seem far apart really occur simultaneously. We passed the rest of the night watching Hendrika. Presently she cameto herself and struggled furiously to break the reim. But the untannedbuffalo hide was too strong even for her, and, moreover, Indaba-zimbiunceremoniously sat upon her to keep her quiet. At last she gave it up. In due course the day broke--my marriage day. Leaving Indaba-zimbi towatch my would-be murderess, I went and fetched some natives from thestables, and with their aid bore Hendrika to the prison hut--thatsame hut in which she had been confined when she had been broughta baboon-child from the rocks. Here we shut her up, and, leavingIndaba-zimbi to watch outside, I returned to my sleeping-place anddressed in the best garments that the Babyan Kraals could furnish. Butwhen I looked at the reflection of my face, I was horrified. It wascovered with scratches inflicted by the nails of Hendrika. I doctoredthem up as best I could, then went out for a walk to calm my nerves, which, what between the events of the past night, and of those pendingthat day, were not a little disturbed. When I returned it was breakfast time. I went into the dining hut, andthere Stella was waiting to greet me, dressed in simple white and withorange flowers on her breast. She came forward to me shyly enough; then, seeing the condition of my face, started back. "Why, Allan! what have you been doing to yourself?" she asked. As I was about to answer, her father came in leaning on his stick, and, catching sight of me, instantly asked the same question. Then I told them everything, both of Hendrika's threats and of herfierce attempt to carry them into execution. But I did not tell myhorrid dream. Stella's face grew white as the flowers on her breast, but that of herfather became very stern. "You should have spoken of this before, Allan, " he said. "I now see thatI did wrong to attempt to civilize this wicked and revengeful creature, who, if she is human, has all the evil passions of the brutes thatreared her. Well, I will make an end of it this very day. " "Oh, father, " said Stella, "don't have her killed. It is all dreadfulenough, but that would be more dreadful still. I have been very fond ofher, and, bad as she is, she has loved me. Do not have her killed on mymarriage day. " "No, " her father answered, "she shall not be killed, for though shedeserves to die, I will not have her blood upon our hands. She is abrute, and has followed the nature of brutes. She shall go back whenceshe came. " No more was said on the matter at the time, but when breakfast--whichwas rather a farce--was done, Mr. Carson sent for his headman and gavehim certain orders. We were to be married after the service which Mr. Carson held everySunday morning in the large marble hut set apart for that purpose. Theservice began at ten o'clock, but long before that hour all the nativeson the place came up in troops, singing as they came, to be present atthe wedding of the "Star. " It was a pretty sight to see them, the mendressed in all their finery, and carrying shields and sticks in theirhands, and the women and children bearing green branches of trees, ferns, and flowers. At length, about half-past nine, Stella rose, pressed my hand, and left me to my reflections. A few minutes to ten shereappeared again with her father, dressed in a white veil, a wreath oforange flowers on her dark curling hair, a bouquet of orange flowersin her hand. To me she seemed like a dream of loveliness. With her camelittle Tota in a high state of glee and excitement. She was Stella'sonly bridesmaid. Then we all passed out towards the church hut. The barespace in front of it was filled with hundreds of natives, who set upa song as we came. But we went on into the hut, which was crowded withsuch of the natives as usually worshipped there. Here Mr. Carson, asusual, read the service, though he was obliged to sit down in order todo so. When it was done--and to me it seemed interminable--Mr. Carsonwhispered that he meant to marry us outside the hut in sight of all thepeople. So we went out and took our stand under the shade of a largetree that grew near the hut facing the bare space where the natives weregathered. Mr. Carson held up his hand to enjoin silence. Then, speaking in thenative dialect, he told them that he was about to make us man and wifeafter the Christian fashion and in the sight of all men. This done, heproceeded to read the marriage service over us, and very solemnly andbeautifully he did it. We said the words, I placed the ring--it was herfather's signet ring, for we had no other--upon Stella's finger, and itwas done. Then Mr. Carson spoke. "Allan and Stella, " he said, "I believe that theceremony which has been performed makes you man and wife in the sightof God and man, for all that is necessary to make a marriage bindingis, that it should be celebrated according to the custom of the countrywhere the parties to it reside. It is according to the custom that hasbeen in force here for fifteen years or more that you have been marriedin the face of all the people, and in token of it you will both sign theregister that I have kept of such marriages, among those of my peoplewho have adopted the Christian Faith. Still, in case there should beany legal flaw I again demand the solemn promise of you both that on thefirst opportunity you will cause this marriage to be re-celebrated insome civilized land. Do you promise?" "We do, " we answered. Then the book was brought out and we signed our names. At first mywife signed hers "Stella" only, but her father bade her write it StellaCarson for the first and last time in her life. Then several of theindunas, or headmen, including old Indaba-zimbi, put their marks inwitness. Indaba-zimbi drew his mark in the shape of a little star, inhumorous allusion to Stella's native name. That register is beforeme now as I write. That, with a lock of my darling's hair which liesbetween its leaves, is my dearest possession. There are all the namesand marks as they were written many years ago beneath the shadow of thetree at Babyan Kraals in the wilderness, but alas! and alas! where arethose who wrote them? "My people, " said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we hadkissed each other before them all--"My people, Macumazahn and the Star, my daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat ofone bowl, to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, mypeople, you know this woman, " and turning he pointed to Hendrika, who, unseen by us, had been led out of the prison hut. "Yes, yes, we know her, " said a little ring of headmen, who formedthe primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives hadsquatted themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. "We knowher, she is the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant ofthe Star. " "You know her, " said Mr. Carson, "but you do not know her altogether. Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about lastnight in the hut of Macumazahn. " Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told hismoving tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, finishing upby producing the great knife from which his watchfulness had saved me. Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated hisstory: indeed my face did that in the sight of all men. Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, hereyes fixed upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say. She looked up boldly and answered-- "Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would haverobbed him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which Ihave lost at his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for had Ikilled him and left no trace the Star would have forgotten him and shoneon me again. " "Never, " murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white withwrath. "My people, " he said, "you hear the words of this woman. You hear howshe pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She saysthat she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the man whois the husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, we tamedher, we fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us back. Say, my people, what reward should be given to her?" "Death, " said the circle of indunas, pointing their thumbs downwards, and all the multitude beyond echoed the word "Death. " "Death, " repeated the head induna, adding, "If you save her, myfather, we will slay her with our own hands. She is a Babyan-woman, adevil-woman; ah, yes, we have heard of such before; let her be slainbefore she works more evil. " Then it was that Stella stepped forward and begged for Hendrika's lifein moving terms. She pleaded the savagery of the woman's nature, herlong service, and the affection that she had always shown towardsherself. She said that I, whose life had been attempted, forgave her, and she, my wife, who had nearly been left a widow before she was made abride, forgave her; let them forgive her also, let her be sent away, notslain, let not her marriage day be stained with blood. Now her father listened readily enough, for he had no intention ofkilling Hendrika--indeed, he had already promised not to do so. But thepeople were in a different humour, they looked upon Hendrika as a devil, and would have torn her to pieces there and then, could they have hadtheir way. Nor were matters mended by Indaba-zimbi, who had alreadygained a great reputation for wisdom and magic in the place. Suddenlythe old man rose and made quite an impassioned speech, urging them tokill Hendrika at once or mischief would come of it. At last matters got very bad, for two of the Indunas came forward todrag her off to execution, and it was not until Stella burst into tearsthat the sight of her grief, backed by Mr. Carson's orders and my ownremonstrances, carried the day. All this while Hendrika had been standing quite unmoved. At last thetumult ceased, and the leading induna called to her to go, promisingthat if ever she showed her face near the kraals again she should bestabbed like a jackal. Then Hendrika spoke to Stella in a low voice andin English-- "Better let them kill me, mistress, better for all. Without you to loveI shall go mad and become a babyan again. " Stella did not answer, and they loosed her. She stepped forward andlooked at the natives with a stare of hate. Then she turned and walkedpast me, and as she passed whispered a native phrase in my ear, that, being literally translated, means, "Till another moon, " but which hasthe same significance as the French "au revoir. " It frightened me, for I knew she meant that she had not done with me, and saw that our mercy was misplaced. Seeing my face change she ranswiftly from me, and as she passed Indaba-zimbi, with a sudden movementsnatched her great knife from his hand. When she had gone about twentypaces she halted, looked long and earnestly on Stella, gave one loud cryof anguish, and fled. A few minutes later we saw her far away, boundingup the face of an almost perpendicular cliff--a cliff that nobody exceptherself and the baboons could possibly climb. "Look, " said Indaba-zimbi in my ear--"Look, Macumazahn, there goes theBabyan-frau. But, Macumazahn, _she will come back again_. Ah, whywill you not listen to my words. Have they not always been true words, Macumazahn?" and he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. For a while I was much disturbed, but at any rate Hendrika was gone forthe present, and Stella, my dear and lovely wife, was there at my side, and in her smiles I forgot my fears. For the rest of that day, why should I write of it?--there are thingstoo happy and too sacred to be written of. At last I had, if only for a little while, found that rest, that perfectjoy which we seek so continually and so rarely clasp. CHAPTER XI GONE! I wonder if many married couples are quite as happy as we foundourselves. Cynics, a growing class, declare that few illusions cansurvive a honeymoon. Well, I do not know about it, for I only marriedonce, and can but speak from my limited experience. But certainly ourillusion, or rather the great truth of which it is the shadow, didsurvive, as to this day it survives in my heart across all the years ofutter separation, and across the unanswering gulf of gloom. But complete happiness is not allowed in this world even for an hour. As our marriage day had been shadowed by the scene which has beendescribed, so our married life was shadowed by its own sorrow. Three days after our wedding Mr. Carson had a stroke. It had been longimpending, now it fell. We came into the centre hut to dinner and foundhim lying speechless on the couch. At first I thought that he was dying, but this was not so. On the contrary, within four days he recovered hisspeech and some power of movement. But he never recovered his memory, though he still knew Stella, and sometimes myself. Curiously enough heremembered little Tota best of all three, though occasionally he thoughtthat she was his own daughter in her childhood, and would ask her whereher mother was. This state of affairs lasted for some seven months. The old man gradually grew weaker, but he did not die. Of course hiscondition quite precluded the idea of our leaving Babyan Kraals till allwas over. This was the more distressing to me because I had a nervouspresentiment that Stella was incurring danger by staying there, and alsobecause the state of her health rendered it desirable that we shouldreach a civilized region as soon as possible. However, it could not behelped. At length the end came very suddenly. We were sitting one evening byMr. Carson's bedside in his hut, when to our astonishment he sat up andspoke in a strong, full voice. "I hear you, " he said. "Yes, yes, I forgive you. Poor woman! you toohave suffered, " and he fell back dead. I have little doubt that he was addressing his lost wife, some visionof whom had flashed across his dying sense. Stella, of course, wasoverwhelmed with grief at her loss. Till I came her father had been hersole companion, and therefore, as may be imagined, the tie between themwas much closer than is usual even in the case of father and daughter. So deeply did she mourn that I began to fear for the effect upon herhealth. Nor were we the only ones to grieve; all the natives on thesettlement called Mr. Carson "father, " and as a father they lamentedhim. The air resounded with the wailing of women, and the men went aboutwith bowed heads, saying that "the sun had set in the heavens, now onlythe Star (Stella) remained. " Indaba-zimbi alone did not mourn. He saidthat it was best that the Inkoos should die, for what was life worthwhen one lay like a log?--moreover, that it would have been well for allif he had died sooner. On the following day we buried him in the little graveyard near thewaterfall. It was a sad business, and Stella cried very much, in spiteof all I could do to comfort her. That night as I sat outside the hut smoking--for the weather was hot, and Stella was lying down inside--old Indaba-zimbi came up, saluted, andsquatted at my feet. "What is it, Indaba-zimbi?" I said. "This, Macumazahn. When are you going to trek towards the coast?" "I don't know, " I answered. "The Star is not fit to travel now, we mustwait awhile. " "No, Macumazahn, you must not wait, you must go, and the Star must takeher chance. She is strong. It is nothing. All will be well. " "Why do you say so? why must we go?" "For this reason, Macumazahn, " and he looked cautiously round and spokelow. "The baboons have come back in thousands. All the mountain is fullof them. " "I did not know that they had gone, " I said. "Yes, " he answered, "they went after the marriage, all but one or two;now they are back, all the baboons in the world, I think. I saw a wholecliff back with them. " "Is that all?" I said, for I saw that he had something behind. "I am notafraid of a pack of baboons. " "No, Macumazahn, it is not all. The Babyan-frau, Hendrika, is withthem. " Now nothing had been heard or seen of Hendrika since her expulsion, andthough at first she and her threats had haunted me somewhat, by degreesshe to a great extent had passed out of my mind, which was fullypreoccupied with Stella and my father-in-law's illness. I startedviolently. "How do you know this?" I asked. "I know it because I saw her, Macumazahn. She is disguised, she isdressed up in baboon skins, and her face is stained dark. But though shewas a long way off, I knew her by her size, and I saw the white fleshof her arm when the skins slipped aside. She has come back, Macumazahn, with all the baboons in the world, and she has come back to do evil. Nowdo you understand why you should trek?" "Yes, " I said, "though I don't see how she and the baboons can harmus, I think that it will be better to go. If necessary we can camp thewaggons somewhere for a while on the journey. Hearken, Indaba-zimbi: saynothing of this to the Star; I will not have her frightened. And hearkenagain. Speak to the headmen, and see that watchers are set all round thehuts and gardens, and kept there night and day. To-morrow we will getthe waggons ready, and next day we will trek. " He nodded his white lock and went to do my bidding, leaving me not alittle disturbed--unreasonably so, indeed. It was a strange story. Thatthis woman had the power of conversing with baboons I knew. [*] That wasnot so very wonderful, seeing that the Bushmen claim to be able to dothe same thing, and she had been nurtured by them. But that she hadbeen able to muster them, and by the strength of her human will andintelligence muster them in order to forward her ends of revenge, seemedto me so incredible that after reflection my fears grew light. Still Idetermined to trek. After all, a journey in an ox waggon would not besuch a very terrible thing to a strong woman accustomed to roughing it, whatever her state of health. And when all was said and done I didnot like this tale of the presence of Hendrika with countless hosts ofbaboons. [*] For an instance of this, see Anderson's "Twenty-five Years in a Waggon, " vol. I. P. 262. --Editor. So I went in to Stella, and without saying a word to her of the baboonstory, told her I had been thinking matters over, and had come to theconclusion that it was our duty to follow her father's instructions tothe letter, and leave Babyan Kraals at once. Into all our talk I neednot enter, but the end of it was that she agreed with me, and declaredthat she could quite well manage the journey, saying, moreover, that nowthat her dear father was dead she would be glad to get away. Nothing happened to disturb us that night, and on the following morningI was up early making preparations. The despair of the people when theylearned that we were going to leave them was something quite pitiable. Icould only console them by declaring that we were but on a journey, andwould return the following year. "They had lived in the shadow of their father, who was dead, " theydeclared; "ever since they were little they had lived in his shadow. Hehad received them when they were outcasts and wanderers without a matto lie on, or a blanket to cover them, and they had grown fat in hisshadow. Then he had died, and the Star, their father's daughter, hadmarried me, Macumazahn, and they had believed that I should take theirfather's place, and let them live in my shadow. What should they do whenthere was no one to protect them? The tribes were kept from attackingthem by fear of the white man. If we went they would be eaten up, " andso on. Alas! there was but too much foundation for their fears. I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella saidthat she was going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think itnecessary to caution her about going out alone, as I did not wish toallude to the subject of Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obligedto. I told her, however, that I would come back to help her as soon asI could get away. Then I went down to the native kraals to sort out suchcattle as had belonged to Mr. Carson from those which belonged to theKaffirs, for I proposed to take them with us. It was a large herd, and the business took an incalculable time. At length, a little beforesundown, I gave it up, and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the job, goton my horse and rode homewards. Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into thecentral hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she hadbeen packing lay about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping hut, thence one by one into all the others, but still saw no sign of her. Then I went out, and calling to a Kaffir in the garden asked him if hehad seen his mistress. He answered "yes. " He had seen her carrying flowers and walking towardsthe graveyard, holding the little white girl--my daughter--as he calledher, by the hand, when the sun stood "there, " and he pointed to a spoton the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a half before. "The two dogs were with them, " he added. I turned and ran towards thegraveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the huts. Of coursethere was no reason to be anxious--evidently she had gone to lay theflowers on her father's grave. And yet I was anxious. When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by myorders, had been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticedthat he was rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. Iasked him if he had seen his mistress, and he answered that he had not, which under the circumstances was not wonderful. Without stoppingto reproach him, I ordered the man to follow me, and went on to thegraveyard. There, on Mr. Carson's grave, lay the drooping flowers whichStella had been carrying, and there in the fresh mould was the spoor ofTota's veldschoon, or hide slipper. But where were they? I ran from the graveyard and called aloud at the top of my voice, but noanswer came. Meanwhile the native was more profitably engaged in tracingtheir spoor. He followed it for about a hundred yards till he came toa clump of mimosa bush that was situated between the stream and theancient marble quarries just over the waterfall, and at the mouth of theravine. Here he stopped, and I heard him give a startled cry. I rushedto the spot, passed through the trees, and saw this. The little openspace in the centre of the glade had been the scene of a struggle. There, in the soft earth, were the marks of three pairs of humanfeet--two shod, one naked--Stella's, Tota's, and _Hendrika's_. Nor wasthis all. There, close by, lay the fragments of the two dogs--they werenothing more--and one baboon, not yet quite dead, which had beenbitten in the throat by the dogs. All round was the spoor of numberlessbaboons. The full horror of what had happened flashed into my mind. My wife and Tota had been carried off by the baboons. As yet they hadnot been killed, for if so their remains would have been found withthose of the dogs. They had been carried off. The brutes, acting underthe direction of that woman-monkey, Hendrika, had dragged them away tosome secret den, there to keep them till they died--or kill them! For a moment I literally staggered beneath the terror of the shock. ThenI roused myself from my despair. I bade the native run and alarm thepeople at the kraals, telling them to come armed, and bring me guns andammunition. He went like the wind, and I turned to follow the spoor. Fora few yards it was plain enough--Stella had been dragged along. I couldsee where her heels had struck the ground; the child had, I presumed, been carried--at least there were no marks of her feet. At the water'sedge the spoor vanished. The water was shallow, and they had gone alongin it, or at least Hendrika and her victim had, in order to obliteratethe trail. I could see where a moss-grown stone had been freshly turnedover in the water-bed. I ran along the bank some way up the ravine, inthe vain hope of catching a sight of them. Presently I heard a bark inthe cliffs above me; it was answered by another, and then I saw thatscores of baboons were hidden about among the rocks on either side, andwere softly swinging themselves down to bar the path. To go on unarmedas I was would be useless. I should only be torn to pieces as the dogshad been. So I turned and fled back towards the huts. As I drew near Icould see that my messenger had roused the settlement, for natives withspears and kerries in their hands were running up towards the kraals. When I reached the hut I met old Indaba-zimbi, who wore a very seriousface. "So the evil has fallen, Macumazahn, " he said. "It has fallen, " I answered. "Keep a good heart, Macumazahn, " he said again. "She is not dead, nor isthe little maid, and before they die we shall find them. Remember this, Hendrika loves her. She will not harm her, or allow the babyans to harmher. She will try to hide her away from you, that is all. " "Pray God that we may find her, " I groaned. "The light is going fast. " "The moon rises in three hours, " he answered; "we will search bymoonlight. It is useless to start now; see, the sun sinks. Let us getthe men together, eat, and make things ready. _Hamba gachla_. Hastenslowly, Macumazahn. " As there was no help, I took his advice. I could eat no food, but Ipacked some up to take with us, and made ready ropes, and a rough kindof litter. If we found them they would scarcely be able to walk. Ah! ifwe found them! How slowly the time passed! It seemed hours before themoon rose. But at last it did rise. Then we started. In all we were about a hundred men, but we onlymustered five guns between us, my elephant roer and four that hadbelonged to Mr. Carson. CHAPTER XII THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI We gained the spot by the stream where Stella had been taken. Thenatives looked at the torn fragments of the dogs, and at the marks ofviolence, and I heard them swearing to each other, that whether theStar lived or died they would not rest till they had exterminated everybaboon on Babyan's Peak. I echoed the oath, and, as shall be seen, wekept it. We started on along the stream, following the spoor of the baboons as webest could. But the stream left no spoor, and the hard, rocky banks verylittle. Still we wandered on. All night we wandered through the lonelymoonlit valleys, startling the silence into a thousand echoes with ourcries. But no answer came to them. In vain our eyes searched the sidesof precipices formed of water-riven rocks fantastically piled oneupon another; in vain we searched through endless dells and fern-cladcrannies. There was nothing to be found. How could we expect to findtwo human beings hidden away in the recesses of this vast stretch ofmountain ground, which no man yet had ever fully explored. They werelost, and in all human probability lost for ever. To and fro we wandered hopelessly, till at last dawn found us footsoreand weary nearly at the spot whence we had started. We sat down waitingfor the sun to rise, and the men ate of such food as they had broughtwith them, and sent to the kraals for more. I sat upon a stone with a breaking heart. I cannot describe my feelings. Let the reader put himself in my position and perhaps he may get someidea of them. Near me was old Indaba-zimbi, who sat staring straightbefore him as though he were looking into space, and taking note ofwhat went on there. An idea struck me. This man had some occult power. Several times during our adventures he had prophesied, and in every casehis prophecies had proved true. He it was who, when we escaped from theZulu Impi, had told me to steer north, because there we should find theplace of a white man who lived under the shadow of a great peak that wasfull of baboons. Perhaps he could help in this extremity--at any rate itwas worth trying. "Indaba-zimbi, " I said, "you say that you can send your spirit throughthe doors of space and see what we cannot see. At the least I know thatyou can do strange things. Can you not help me now? If you can, and willsave her, I will give you half the cattle that we have here. " "I never said anything of the sort, Macumazahn, " he answered. "I dothings, I do not talk about them. Neither do I seek reward for what I dolike a common witch-doctor. It is well that you have asked me to use mywisdom, Macumazahn, for I should not have used it again without beingasked--no, not even for the sake of the Star and yourself, whom I love, for if so my Spirit would have been angry. In the other matters I had apart, for my life was concerned as well as yours; but in this matter Ihave no part, and therefore I might not use my wisdom unless you thoughtwell to call upon my Spirit. However, it would have been no good to askme before, for I have only just found the herb I want, " and he produceda handful of the leaves of a plant that was unfamiliar to me. It hadprickly leaves, shaped very much like those of the common Englishnettle. "Now, Macumazahn, " he went on, "bid the men leave us alone, and thenfollow me presently to the little glade down there by the water. " I did so. When I reached the glade I found Indaba-zimbi kindling a smallfire under the shadow of a tree by the edge of the water. "Sit there, Macumazahn, " he said, pointing to a stone near the fire, "and do not be surprised or frightened at anything you see. If you moveor call out we shall learn nothing. " I sat down and watched. When the fire was alight and burning brightly, the old fellow stripped himself stark naked, and, going to the foot ofthe pool, dipped himself in the water. Then he came back shivering withthe cold, and, leaning over the little fire, thrust leaves of the plantI have mentioned into his mouth and began to chew them, muttering as hechewed. Most of the remaining leaves he threw on to the fire. A densesmoke rose from them, but he held his head in this smoke and drewit down his lungs till I saw that he was exhibiting every sign ofsuffocation. The veins in his throat and chest swelled, he gaspedloudly, and his eyes, from which tears were streaming, seemed as thoughthey were going to start from his head. Presently he fell over on hisside, and lay senseless. I was terribly alarmed, and my first impulsewas to run to his assistance, but fortunately I remembered his caution, and sat quiet. Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground like a person quite dead. His limbs hadall the utter relaxation of death. But as I watched I saw them beginto stiffen, exactly as though _rigor mortis_ had set in. Then, to myastonishment, I perceived them once more relax, and this time thereappeared upon his chest the stain of decomposition. It spread andspread; in three minutes the man, to all appearance, was a livid corpse. I sat amazed watching this uncanny sight, and wondering if any furthernatural process was about to be enacted. Perhaps Indaba-zimbi wasgoing to fall to dust before my eyes. As I watched I observed thatthe discoloration was beginning to fade. First it vanished from theextremities, then from the larger limbs, and lastly from the trunk. Then in turn came the third stage of relaxation, the second stage ofstiffness or _rigor_, and the first stage of after-death collapse. Whenall these had rapidly succeeded each other, Indaba-zimbi quietly wokeup. I was too astonished to speak; I simply looked at him with my mouthopen. "Well, Macumazahn, " he said, putting his head on one side like a bird, and nodding his white lock in a comical fashion, "it is all right; Ihave seen her. " "Seen who?" I said. "The Star, your wife, and the little maid. They are much frightened, butunharmed. The Babyan-frau watches them. She is mad, but the baboons obeyher, and do not hurt them. The Star was sleeping from weariness, so Iwhispered in her ear and told her not to be frightened, for you wouldsoon rescue her, and that meanwhile she must seem to be pleased to haveHendrika near her. " "You whispered in her ear?" I said. "How could you whisper in her ear?" "Bah! Macumazahn. How could I seem to die and go rotten before youreyes? You don't know, do you? Well, I will tell you one thing. I had todie to pass the doors of space, as you call them. I had to draw all thehealthy strength and life from my body in order to gather power to speakwith the Star. It was a dangerous business, Macumazahn, for if I had letthings go a little further they must have stopped so, and there wouldhave been an end of Indaba-zimbi. Ah, you white men, you know so muchthat you think you know everything. But you don't! You are alwaysstaring at the clouds and can't see the things that lie at your feet. You hardly believe me now, do you, Macumazahn? Well, I will show you. Have you anything on you that the Star has touched or worn?" I thought for a moment, and said that I had a lock of her hair in mypocket-book. He told me to give it him. I did so. Going to the fire, helit the lock of hair in the flame, and let it burn to ashes, which hecaught in his left hand. These ashes he mixed up in a paste with thejuice of one of the leaves of the plant I have spoken of. "Now, Macumazahn, shut your eyes, " he said. I did so, and he rubbed his paste on to my eyelids. At first it burntme, then my head swam strangely. Presently this effect passed off, andmy brain was perfectly clear again, but I could not feel the ground withmy feet. Indaba-zimbi led me to the side of the stream. Beneath us was apool of beautifully clear water. "Look into the pool, Macumazahn, " said Indaba-zimbi, and his voicesounded hollow and far away in my ears. I looked. The water grew dark; it cleared, and in it was a picture. I saw a cave with a fire burning in it. Against the wall of the caverested Stella. Her dress was torn almost off her, she looked dreadfullypale and weary, and her eyelids were red as though with weeping. But sheslept, and I could almost think that I saw her lips shape my name in hersleep. Close to her, her head upon Stella's breast, was little Tota;she had a skin thrown over her to keep out the night cold. The child wasawake, and appeared to be moaning with fear. By the fire, and in such aposition that the light fell full upon her face, and engaged in cookingsomething in a rough pot shaped from wood, sat the Baboon-woman, Hendrika. She was clothed in baboon skins, and her face had beenrubbed with some dark stain, which was, however, wearing off it. Inthe intervals of her cooking she would turn on Stella her wild eyes, in which glared visible madness, with an expression of tenderness thatamounted to worship. Then she would stare at the child and gnash herteeth as though with hate. Clearly she was jealous of it. Round theentrance arch of the cave peeped and peered the heads of many baboons. Presently Hendrika made a sign to one of them; apparently she did notspeak, or rather grunt, in order not to wake Stella. The brute hoppedforward, and she gave it a second rude wooden pot which was lying byher. It took it and went. The last thing that I saw, as the visionslowly vanished from the pool, was the dim shadow of the baboonreturning with the pot full of water. Presently everything had gone. I ceased to feel strange. There beneathme was the pool, and at my side stood Indaba-zimbi, smiling. "You have seen things, " he said. "I have, " I answered, and made no further remark on the matter. What wasthere to say?[*] "Do you know the path to the cave?" I added. [*] For some almost equally remarkable instances of Kaffir magic the reader is referred to a work named "Among the Zulus, " by David Leslie. --Editor. He nodded his head. "I did not follow it all just now, because itwinds, " he said. "But I know it. We shall want the ropes. " "Then let us be starting; the men have eaten. " He nodded his head again, and going to the men I told them to makeready, adding that Indaba-zimbi knew the way. They said that was allright, if Indaba-zimbi had "smelt her out, " they should soon find theStar. So we started cheerfully enough, and my spirits were so muchimproved that I was able to eat a boiled mealie cob or two as we walked. We went up the valley, following the course of the stream for about amile; then Indaba-zimbi made a sudden turn to the right, along anotherkloof, of which there were countless numbers in the base of the greathill. On we went through kloof after kloof. Indaba-zimbi, who led us, wasnever at a loss, he turned up gulleys and struck across necks of hillswith the certainty of a hound on a hot scent. At length, after aboutthree hours' march, we came to a big silent valley on the northern slopeof the great peak. On one side of this valley was a series of stonykoppies, on the other rose a sheer wall of rock. We marched alongthe wall for a distance of some two miles. Then suddenly Indaba-zimbihalted. "There is the place, " he said, pointing to an opening in the cliff. Thisopening was about forty feet from the ground, and ellipse-shaped. It cannot have been more than twenty feet high by ten wide, and waspartially hidden by ferns and bushes that grew about it in the surfaceof the cliff. Keen as my eyes were, I doubt if I should ever havenoticed it, for there were many such cracks and crannies in the rockyface of the great mountain. We drew near and looked carefully at the place. The first thing Inoticed was that the rock, which was not quite perpendicular, had beenworn by the continual passage of baboons; the second, that somethingwhite was hanging on a bush near the top of the ascent. It was a pocket-handkerchief. Now there was no more doubt about the matter. With a beating heart Ibegan the ascent. For the first twenty feet it was comparatively easy, for the rock shelved; the next ten feet was very difficult, but stillpossible to an active man, and I achieved it, followed by Indaba-zimbi. But the last twelve or fifteen feet could only be scaled by throwing arope over the trunk of a stunted tree, which grew at the bottom of theopening. This we accomplished with some trouble, and the rest was easy. A foot or two above my head the handkerchief fluttered in the wind. Hanging to the rope, I grasped it. It was my wife's. As I did so Inoticed the face of a baboon peering at me over the edge of the cleft, the first baboon we had seen that morning. The brute gave a bark andvanished. Thrusting the handkerchief into my breast, I set my feetagainst the cliff and scrambled up as hard as I could go. I knew thatwe had no time to lose, for the baboon would quickly alarm the others. Igained the cleft. It was a mere arched passage cut by water, ending ina gulley, which led to a wide open space of some sort. I looked throughthe passage and saw that the gulley was black with baboons. On they cameby the hundred. I unslung my elephant gun from my shoulders and waited, calling to the men below to come up with all possible speed. The brutesstreamed on down the gloomy gulf towards me, barking, grunting, andshowing their huge teeth. I waited till they were within fifteen yards. Then I fired the elephant gun, which was loaded with slugs, right intothe thick of them. In that narrow place the report echoed like a cannonshot, but its sound was quickly swallowed in the volley of piercinghuman-sounding groans and screams that followed. The charge of heavyslugs had ploughed through the host of baboons, of which at least adozen lay dead or dying in the passage. For a moment they hesitated, then they came on again with a hideous clamour. Fortunately by this timeIndaba-zimbi, who also had a gun, was standing by my side, otherwise Ishould have been torn to pieces before I could re-load. He fired bothbarrels into them, and again checked the rush. But they came on again, and notwithstanding the appearance of two other natives with guns, whichthey let off with more or less success, we should have been overwhelmedby the great and ferocious apes had I not by this time succeeded inre-loading the elephant gun. When they were right on us, I fired, witheven more deadly effect than before, for at that distance every slugtold on their long line. The howls and screams of pain and rage werenow something inconceivable. One might have thought that we were doingbattle with a host of demons; indeed in that light--for the overhangingarch of rock made it very dark--the gnashing snouts and sombre glowingeyes of the apes looked like those of devils as they are represented bymonkish fancy. But the last shot was too much for them; they withdrew, dragging some of their wounded with them, and thus gave us time to getour men up the cliff. In a few minutes all were there, and we advanceddown the passage, which presently opened into a rocky gulley withshelving sides. This gulley had a water-way at the bottom of it; it wasabout a hundred yards long, and the slopes on either side were toppedby precipitous cliffs. I looked at these slopes; they literally swarmedwith baboons, grunting, barking, screaming, and beating their breastswith their long arms, in fury. I looked up the water-way; along it, accompanied by a mob, or, as it were, a guard of baboons, ran Hendrika, her long hair flying, madness written on her face, and in her arms wasthe senseless form of little Tota. She saw us, and a foam of rage burst from her lips. She screamed aloud. To me the sound was a mere inarticulate cry, but the baboons clearlyunderstood it, for they began to roll rocks down on to us. One boulderleaped past me and struck down a Kaffir behind; another fell from theroof of the arch on to a man's head and killed him. Indaba-zimbi liftedhis gun to shoot Hendrika; I knocked it up, so that the shot went overher, crying that he would kill the child. Then I shouted to the mento open out and form a line from side to side of the shelving gulley. Furious at the loss of their two comrades, they obeyed me, and keepingin the water-way myself, together with Indaba-zimbi and the other guns, I gave the word to charge. Then the real battle began. It is difficult to say who fought the mostfiercely, the natives or the baboons. The Kaffirs charged along theslopes, and as they came, encouraged by the screams of Hendrika, whorushed to and fro holding the wretched Tota before her as a shield, theapes bounded at them in fury. Scores were killed by the assegais, andmany more fell beneath our gun-shots; but still they came on. Nor didwe go scathless. Occasionally a man would slip, or be pulled over in thegrip of a baboon. Then the others would fling themselves upon him likedogs on a rat, and worry him to death. We lost five men in this way, andI myself received a bite through the fleshy part of the left arm, butfortunately a native near me assegaied the animal before I was pulleddown. At length, and all of a sudden, the baboons gave up. A panic seemed toseize them. Notwithstanding the cries of Hendrika they thought no moreof fight, but only of escape; some even did not attempt to get away fromthe assegais of the Kaffirs, they simply hid their horrible faces intheir paws, and, moaning piteously, waited to be slain. Hendrika saw that the battle was lost. Dropping the child from her arms, she rushed straight at us, a very picture of horrible insanity. I liftedmy gun, but could not bear to shoot. After all she was but a mad thing, half ape, half woman. So I sprang to one side, and she landed full onIndaba-zimbi, knocking him down. But she did not stay to do any more. Wailing terribly, she rushed down the gulley and through the arch, followed by a few of the surviving baboons, and vanished from our sight. CHAPTER XIII WHAT HAPPENED TO STELLA The fight was over. In all we had lost seven men killed, and severalmore severely bitten, while but few had escaped without some tokenswhereby he might remember what a baboon's teeth and claws are like. Howmany of the brutes we killed I never knew, because we did not count, butit was a vast number. I should think that the stock must have been lowabout Babyan's Peak for many years afterwards. From that day to this, however, I have always avoided baboons, feeling more afraid of them thanany beast that lives. The path was clear, and we rushed forward along the water-course. Butfirst we picked up little Tota. The child was not in a swoon, as I hadthought, but paralyzed by terror, so that she could scarcely speak. Otherwise she was unhurt, though it took her many a week to recover hernerve. Had she been older, and had she not remembered Hendrika, I doubtif she would have recovered it. She knew me again, and flung her littlearms about my neck, clinging to me so closely that I did not dare togive her to any one else to carry lest I should add to her terrors. So Iwent on with her in my arms. The fears that pierced my heart may well beimagined. Should I find Stella living or dead? Should I find her at all?Well, we should soon know now. We stumbled on up the stony watercourse;notwithstanding the weight of Tota I led the way, for suspense lent mewings. Now we were through, and an extraordinary scene lay before us. Wewere in a great natural amphitheatre, only it was three times the sizeof any amphitheatre ever shaped by man, and the walls were formed ofprecipitous cliffs, ranging from one to two hundred feet in height. For the rest, the space thus enclosed was level, studded with park-liketrees, brilliant with flowers, and having a stream running throughthe centre of it, that, as I afterwards discovered, welled up from theground at the head of the open space. We spread ourselves out in a line, searching everywhere, for Tota wastoo overcome to be able to tell us where Stella was hidden away. Fornearly half an hour we searched and searched, scanning the walls ofrock for any possible openings to a cave. In vain, we could find none. Iapplied to old Indaba-zimbi, but his foresight was at fault here. Allhe could say was that this was the place, and that the "Star" was hiddensomewhere in a cave, but where the cave was he could not tell. At lastwe came to the top of the amphitheatre. There before us was a wall ofrock, of which the lower parts were here and there clothed in grasses, lichens, and creepers. I walked along it, calling at the top of myvoice. Presently my heart stood still, for I thought I heard a faint answer. Idrew nearer to the place from which the sound seemed to come, and againcalled. Yes, there was an answer in my wife's voice. It seemed to comefrom the rock. I went up to it and searched among the creepers, butstill could find no opening. "Move the stone, " cried Stella's voice, "the cave is shut with a stone. " I took a spear and prodded at the cliff whence the sound came. Suddenlythe spear sunk in through a mass of lichen. I swept the lichen aside, revealing a boulder that had been rolled into the mouth of an opening inthe rock, which it fitted so accurately that, covered as it was bythe overhanging lichen, it might well have escaped the keenest eye. Wedragged the boulder out; it was two men's work to do it. Beyond wasa narrow, water-worn passage, which I followed with a beating heart. Presently the passage opened into a small cave, shaped like a picklebottle, and coming to a neck at the top end. We passed through and foundourselves in a second, much larger cave, that I at once recognized asthe one of which Indaba-zimbi had shown me a vision in the water. Lightreached it from above--how I know not--and by it I could see a formhalf-sitting, half lying on some skins at the top end of the cave. Irushed to it. It was Stella! Stella bound with strips of hide, bruised, torn, but still Stella, and alive. She saw me, she gave one cry, then, as I caught her in my arms, shefainted. It was happy indeed that she did not faint before, for had itnot been for the sound of her voice I do not believe we should ever havefound that cunningly hidden cave, unless, indeed, Indaba-zimbi's magic(on which be blessings) had come to our assistance. We bore her to the open air, laid her beneath the shade of a tree, andcut the bonds loose from her ankles. As we went I glanced at the cave. It was exactly as I had seen it in the vision. There burnt the fire, there were the rude wooden vessels, one of them still half full of thewater which I had seen the baboon bring. I felt awed as I looked, andmarvelled at the power wielded by a savage who could not even read andwrite. Now I could see Stella clearly. Her face was scratched, and haggardwith fear and weeping, her clothes were almost torn off her, and herbeautiful hair was loose and tangled. I sent for water, and we sprinkledher face. Then I forced a little of the brandy which we distilled frompeaches at the kraals between her lips, and she opened her eyes, andthrowing her arms about me clung to me as little Tota had done, sobbing, "Thank God! thank God!" After a while she grew quieter, and I made her and Tota eat some foodfrom the store that we had brought with us. I too ate and was thankful, for with the exception of the mealie cobs I had tasted nothing fornearly four-and-twenty hours. Then she washed her face and hands, andtidied her rags of dress as well as she was able. As she did so bydegrees I drew her story from her. It seemed that on the previous afternoon, being wearied with packing, she went out to visit her father's grave, taking Tota with her, and wasfollowed there by the two dogs. She wished to lay some flowers on thegrave and take farewell of the dust it covered, for as we had expectedto trek early on the morrow she did not know if she would find a lateropportunity. They passed up the garden, and gathering some flowers fromthe orange trees and elsewhere, went on to the little graveyard. Hereshe laid them on the grave as we had found them, and then sitting down, fell into a deep and sad reverie, such as the occasion would naturallyinduce. While she sat thus, Tota, who was a lively child and active asa kitten, strayed away without Stella observing it. With her went thedogs, who also had grown tired of inaction; a while passed, and suddenlyshe heard the dogs barking furiously about a hundred and fifty yardsaway. Then she heard Tota scream, and the dogs also yelling with fearand pain. She rose and ran as swiftly as she could towards the spotwhence the sound came. Presently she was there. Before her in theglade, holding the screaming Tota in her arms, was a figure in which, notwithstanding the rough disguise of baboon skins and colouring matter, she had no difficulty in recognizing Hendrika, and all about her werenumbers of baboons, rolling over and over in two hideous heaps, of whichthe centres were the unfortunate dogs now in process of being rent tofragments. "Hendrika, " Stella cried, "what does this mean? What are you doing withTota and those brutes?" The woman heard her and looked up. Then Stella saw that she was mad;madness stared from her eyes. She dropped the child, which instantlyflew to Stella for protection. Stella clasped it, only to be herselfclasped by Hendrika. She struggled fiercely, but it was of no use--theBabyan-frau had the strength of ten. She lifted her and Tota as thoughthey were nothing, and ran off with them, following the bed of thestream in order to avoid leaving a spoor. Only the baboons who came withher, minus the one the dogs had killed, would not take to the water, butkept pace with them on the bank. Stella said that the night which followed was more like a hideousnightmare than a reality. She was never able to tell me all thatoccurred in it. She had a vague recollection of being borne over rocksand along kloofs, while around her echoed the horrible grunts and clicksof the baboons. She spoke to Hendrika in English and Kaffir, imploringher to let them go; but the woman, if I may call her so, seemed in hermadness to have entirely forgotten these tongues. When Stella spoke shewould kiss her and stroke her hair, but she did not seem to understandwhat it was she said. On the other hand, she could, and did, talk tothe baboons, that seemed to obey her implicitly. Moreover, she would notallow them to touch either Stella or the child in her arms. Once oneof them tried to do so, and she seized a dead stick and struck itso heavily on the head that it fell senseless. Thrice Stella made anattempt to escape, for sometimes even Hendrika's giant strength wanedand she had to set them down. But on each occasion she caught them, andit was in these struggles that Stella's clothes were so torn. At lengthbefore daylight they reached the cliff, and with the first break oflight the ascent began. Hendrika dragged them up the first stages, butwhen they came to the precipitous place she tied the strips of hide, of which she had a supply wound round her waist, beneath Stella's arms. Steep as the place was the baboons ascended it easily enough, springingfrom a knock of rock to the trunk of the tree that grew on the edge ofthe crevasse. Hendrika followed them, holding the end of the hide reimin her teeth, one of the baboons hanging down from the tree to assisther ascent. It was while she was ascending that Stella bethought ofletting fall her handkerchief in the faint hope that some searcher mightsee it. By this time Hendrika was on the tree, and grunting out orders to thebaboons which clustered about Stella below. Suddenly these seized herand little Tota who was in her arms, and lifted her from the ground. Then Hendrika above, aided by other baboons, put out all her greatstrength and pulled the two of them up the rock. Twice Stella swungheavily against the cliff. After the second blow she felt her sensesgoing, and was consumed with terror lest she should drop Tota. But shemanaged to cling to her, and together they reached the cleft. "From that time, " Stella went on, "I remember no more till I woke tofind myself in a gloomy cave resting on a bed of skins. My legs werebound, and Hendrika sat near me watching me, while round the edge of thecave peered the heads of those horrible baboons. Tota was still in myarms, and half dead from terror; her moans were pitiful to hear. I spoketo Hendrika, imploring her to release us; but either she has lost allunderstanding of human speech, or she pretends to have done so. Allshe would do was to caress me, and even kiss my hands and dress withextravagant signs of affection. As she did so, Tota shrunk closer to me. This Hendrika saw and glared so savagely at the child that I feared lestshe was going to kill her. I diverted her attention by making signs thatI wanted water, and this she gave me in a wooden bowl. As you saw, thecave was evidently Hendrika's dwelling-place. There are stores of fruitin it and some strips of dried flesh. She gave me some of the fruit andTota a little, and I made Tota eat some. You can never know what I wentthrough, Allan. I saw now that Hendrika was quite mad, and but littleremoved from the brutes to which she is akin, and over which she hassuch unholy power. The only trace of humanity left about her was heraffection for me. Evidently her idea was to keep me here with her, tokeep me away from you, and to carry out this idea she was capable of theexercise of every artifice and cunning. In this way she was sane enough, but in every other way she was mad. Moreover, she had not forgotten herhorrible jealousy. Already I saw her glaring at Tota, and knew that thechild's murder was only a matter of time. Probably within a few hoursshe would be killed before my eyes. Of escape, even if I had thestrength, there was absolutely no chance, and little enough of our everbeing found. No, we should be kept here guarded by a mad thing, halfape, half woman, till we perished miserably. Then I thought of you, dear, and of all that you must be suffering, and my heart nearly broke. I could only pray to God that I might either be rescued or die swiftly. "As I prayed I dropped into a kind of doze from utter weariness, andthen I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that Indaba-zimbi stood overme nodding his white lock, and spoke to me in Kaffir, telling me not tobe frightened, for you would soon be with me, and that meanwhile I musthumour Hendrika, pretending to be pleased to have her near me. The dreamwas so vivid that I actually seemed to see and hear him, as I see andhear him now. " Here I looked up and glanced at old Indaba-zimbi, who was sitting near. But it was not till afterwards that I told Stella of how her vision wasbrought about. "At any rate, " she went on, "when I awoke I determined to act on mydream. I took Hendrika's hand, and pressed it. She actually laughed in awild kind of way with happiness, and laid her head upon my knee. Then Imade signs that I wanted food, and she threw wood on the fire, which Iforgot to tell you was burning in the cave, and began to make some ofthe broth that she used to cook very well, and she did not seem tohave forgotten all about it. At any rate the broth was not bad, thoughneither Tota nor I could drink much of it. Fright and weariness hadtaken away our appetites. "After the meal was done--and I prolonged it as much as possible--I sawHendrika was beginning to get jealous of Tota again. She glared at herand then at the big knife which was tied round her own body. I knewthe knife again, it was the one with which she had tried to murder you, dear. At last she went so far as to draw the knife. I was paralyzed withfear, then suddenly I remembered that when she was our servant, and usedto get out of temper and sulk, I could always calm her by singing toher. So I began to sing hymns. Instantly she forgot her jealousy and putthe knife back into its sheath. She knew the sound of the singing, andsat listening to it with a rapt face; the baboons, too, crowded in atthe entrance of the cave to listen. I must have sung for an hour ormore, all the hymns that I could remember. It was so very strangeand dreadful sitting there singing to mad Hendrika and those hideousman-like apes that shut their eyes and nodded their great heads as Isang. It was a horrible nightmare; but I believe that the baboons arealmost as human as the Bushmen. "Well, this went on for a long time till my voice was getting exhausted. Then suddenly I heard the baboons outside raise a loud noise, as they dowhen they are angry. Then, dear, I heard the boom of your elephantgun, and I think it was the sweetest sound that ever came to my ears. Hendrika heard it too. She sprang up, stood for a moment, then, to myhorror, swept Tota into her arms and rushed down the cave. Of courseI could not stir to follow her, for my feet were tied. Next instant Iheard the sound of a rock being moved, and presently the lessening ofthe light in the cave told me that I was shut in. Now the sound evenof the elephant gun only reached me very faintly, and presently I couldhear nothing more, straining my ears as I would. "At last I heard a faint shouting that reached me through the wall ofrock. I answered as loud as I could. You know the rest; and oh, my dearhusband, thank God! thank God!" and she fell weeping into my arms. CHAPTER XIV FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER Both Stella and Tota were too weary to be moved, so we camped that nightin the baboons' home, but were troubled by no baboons. Stella would notsleep in the cave; she said the place terrified her, so I made her up akind of bed under a thorn-tree. As this rock-bound valley was one of thehottest places I ever was in, I thought that this would not matter; butwhen at sunrise on the following morning I saw a veil of miasmatic misthanging over the surface of the ground, I changed my opinion. However, neither Stella nor Tota seemed the worse, so as soon as was practicalwe started homewards. I had already on the previous day sent some of themen back to the kraals to fetch a ladder, and when we reached the cliffwe found them waiting for us beneath. With the help of the ladder thedescent was easy. Stella simply got out of her rough litter at the topof the cliff, for we found it necessary to carry her, climbed down theladder, and got into it again at the bottom. Well, we reached the kraals safely enough, seeing nothing more ofHendrika, and, were this a story, doubtless I should end it herewith--"and lived happily ever after. " But alas! it is not so. How am Ito write it? My dearest wife's vital energy seemed completely to fail her now thatthe danger was past, and within twelve hours of our return I saw thather state was such as to necessitate the abandonment of any idea ofleaving Babyan Kraals at present. The bodily exertion, the anguish ofmind, and the terror which she had endured during that dreadful night, combined with her delicate state of health, had completely broken herdown. To make matters worse, also, she was taken with an attack offever, contracted no doubt in the unhealthy atmosphere of that accursedvalley. In time she shook the fever off, but it left her dreadfullyweak, and quite unfit to face the trial before her. I think she knew that she was going to die; she always spoke of myfuture, never of _our_ future. It is impossible for me to tell how sweetshe was; how gentle, how patient and resigned. Nor, indeed, do I wishto tell it, it is too sad. But this I will say, I believe that if evera woman drew near to perfection while yet living on the earth, StellaQuatermain did so. The fatal hour drew on. My boy Harry was born, and his mother livedto kiss and bless him. Then she sank. We did what we could, but we hadlittle skill, and might not hold her back from death. All through oneweary night I watched her with a breaking heart. The dawn came, the sun rose in the east. His rays falling on the peakbehind were reflected in glory upon the bosom of the western sky. Stellaawoke from her swoon and saw the light. She whispered to me to open thedoor of the hut. I did so, and she fixed her dying eyes on the splendourof the morning sky. She looked on me and smiled as an angel mightsmile. Then with a last effort she lifted her hand, and, pointing to theradiant heavens, whispered: "_There, Allan, there!_" It was done, and I was broken-hearted, and broken-hearted I must wanderto the end. Those who have endured my loss will know my sorrow; itcannot be written. In such peace and at such an hour may I also die! Yes, it is a sad story, but wander where we will about the world we cannever go beyond the sound of the passing bell. For me, as for my fatherbefore me, and for the millions who have been and who shall be, there isbut one word of comfort. "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath takenaway. " Let us, then, bow our heads in hope, and add with a humble heart, "Blessed be the name of the Lord. " I buried her by her father's side, and the weeping of the people who hadloved her went up to heaven. Even Indaba-zimbi wept, but I could weep nomore. On the second night from her burial I could not sleep. I rose, dressedmyself, and went out into the night. The moon was shining brightly, and by its rays I shaped my course towards the graveyard. I drew nearsilently, and as I came I thought that I heard a sound of moaning on thefurther side of the wall. I looked over it. Crouched by Stella's grave, and tearing at its sods with her hands, as though she would unearth thatwhich lay within, was _Hendrika_. Her face was wild and haggard, herform was so emaciated that when the pelts she wore slipped aside, theshoulder-blades seemed to project almost through her skin. Suddenly shelooked up and saw me. Laughing a dreadful maniac laugh, she put her handto her girdle and drew her great knife from it. I thought that she wasabout to attack me, and prepared to defend myself as I best could, for Iwas unarmed. But she made no effort to do so. Lifting the knife on high, for a moment she held it glittering in the moonlight, then plunged itinto her own breast, and fell headlong to the ground. I sprang over the wall and ran to her. She was not yet dead. Presentlyshe opened her eyes, and I saw that the madness had gone out of them. "Macumazahn, " she said, speaking in English and in an thick difficultvoice like one who half forgot and half remembered--"Macumazahn, Iremember now. I have been mad. Is she really dead, Macumazahn?" "Yes, " I said, "she is dead, and you killed her. " "I killed her!" the dying woman faltered, "and I loved her. Yes, yes, Iknow now. I became a brute again and dragged her to the brutes, and nowonce more I am a woman, and she is dead, and I killed her--because Iloved her so. I killed her who saved me from the brutes. I am not deadyet, Macumazahn. Take me and torture me to death, slowly, very slowly. It was jealousy of you that drove me mad, and I have killed her, and nowshe never can forgive me. " "Ask forgiveness from above, " I said, for Hendrika had been a Christian, and the torment of her remorse touched me. "I ask no forgiveness, " she said. "May God torture me for ever, becauseI killed her; may I become a brute for ever till she comes to find meand forgives me! I only want her forgiveness. " And wailing in an anguishof the heart so strong that her bodily suffering seemed to be forgotten, Hendrika, the Baboon-woman, died. I went back to the kraals, and, waking Indaba-zimbi, told him what hadhappened, asking him to send some one to watch the body, as I proposedto give it burial. But next morning it was gone, and I found that thenatives, hearing of the event, had taken the corpse and thrown it to thevultures with every mark of hate. Such, then, was the end of Hendrika. A week after Hendrika's death I left Babyan Kraals. The place washateful to me now; it was a haunted place. I sent for old Indaba-zimbiand told him that I was going. He answered that it was well. "The placehas served your turn, " he said; "here you have won that joy which it wasfated you should win, and have suffered those things that it was fatedyou should suffer. Yes, and though you know it not now, the joy and thesuffering, like the sunshine and the storm, are the same thing, and willrest at last in the same heaven, the heaven from which they came. Nowgo, Macumazahn. " I asked him if he was coming with me. "No, " he answered, "our paths lie apart henceforth, Macumazahn. We mettogether for certain ends. Those ends are fulfilled. Now each one goeshis own way. You have still many years before you, Macumazahn; my yearsare few. When we shake hands here it will be for the last time. Perhapswe may meet again, but it will not be in this world. Henceforth we haveeach of us a friend the less. " "Heavy words, " I said. "True words, " he answered. Well, I have little heart to write the rest of it. I went, leavingIndaba-zimbi in charge of the place, and making him a present of suchcattle and goods as I did not want. Tota, I of course took with me. Fortunately by this time she had almostrecovered the shock to her nerves. The baby Harry, as he was afterwardsnamed, was a fine healthy child, and I was lucky in getting arespectable native woman, whose husband had been killed in the fightwith the baboons, to accompany me as his nurse. Slowly, and followed for a distance by all the people, I trekked awayfrom Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal was along the edge of theBad Lands, and my first night's outspan was beneath that very tree whereStella, my lost wife, had found us as we lay dying of thirst. I did not sleep much that night. And yet I was glad that I had not diedin the desert about eleven months before. I felt then, as from yearto year I have continued to feel while I wander through the lonelywilderness of life, that I had been preserved to an end. I had won mydarling's love, and for a little while we had been happy together. Ourhappiness was too perfect to endure. She is lost to me now, but she islost to be found again. Here on the following morning I bade farewell to Indaba-zimbi. "Good-bye, Macumazahn, " he said, nodding his white lock at me. "Good-byefor a while. I am not a Christian; your father could not make me that. But he was a wise man, and when he said that those who loved each othershall meet again, he did not lie. And I too am a wise man in my way, Macumazahn, and I say it is true that we shall meet again. All myprophecies to you have come true, Macumazahn, and this one shall cometrue also. I tell you that you shall return to Babyan Kraals and shallnot find me. I tell you that you shall journey to a further land thanBabyan Kraals and shall find me. Farewell!" and he took a pinch ofsnuff, turned, and went. Of my journey down to Natal there is little to tell. I met with manyadventures, but they were of an every-day kind, and in the end arrivedsafely at Port Durban, which I now visited for the first time. Both Totaand my baby boy bore the journey well. And here I may as well chroniclethe destiny of Tota. For a year she remained under my charge. Then shewas adopted by a lady, the wife of an English colonel, who was stationedat the Cape. She was taken by her adopted parents to England, whereshe grew up a very charming and pretty girl, and ultimately married aclergyman in Norfolk. But I never saw her again, though we often wroteto each other. Before I returned to the country of my birth, she too had been gatheredto the land of shadows, leaving three children behind her. Ah me! allthis took place so long ago, when I was young who now am old. Perhaps it may interest the reader to know the fate of Mr. Carson'sproperty, which should of course have gone to his grandson Harry. Iwrote to England to claim the estate on his behalf, but the lawyerto whom the matter was submitted said that my marriage to Stella, nothaving been celebrated by an ordained priest, was not legal according toEnglish law, and therefore Harry could not inherit. Foolishly enoughI acquiesced in this, and the property passed to a cousin of myfather-in-law's; but since I have come to live in England I have beeninformed that this opinion is open to great suspicion, and that thereis every probability that the courts would have declared the marriageperfectly binding as having been solemnly entered into in accordancewith the custom of the place where it was contracted. But I am now sorich that it is not worth while to move in the matter. The cousin isdead, his son is in possession, so let him keep it. Once, and once only, did I revisit Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen yearsafter my darling's death, when I was a man in middle life, I undertookan expedition to the Zambesi, and one night outspanned at the mouth ofthe well-known valley beneath the shadow of the great peak. I mountedmy horse, and, quite alone, rode up the valley, noticing with a strangeprescience of evil that the road was overgrown, and, save for the musicof the waterfalls, the place silent as death. The kraals that used to beto the left of the road by the river had vanished. I rode towards theirsite; the mealie fields were choked with weeds, the paths were dumb withgrass. Presently I reached the place. There, overgrown with grass, werethe burnt ashes of the kraals, and there among the ashes, gleaming inthe moonlight, lay the white bones of men. Now it was clear to me. Thesettlement had been fallen on by some powerful foe, and its inhabitantsput to the assegai. The forebodings of the natives had come true; BabyanKraals were peopled by memories alone. I passed on up the terraces. There shone the roofs of the marble huts. They would not burn, and were too strong to be easily pulled down. Ientered one of them--it had been our sleeping hut--and lit a candlewhich I had with me. The huts had been sacked; leaves of books andbroken mouldering fragments of the familiar furniture lay about. ThenI remembered that there was a secret place hollowed in the floor andconcealed by a stone, where Stella used to hide her little treasures. Iwent to the stone and dragged it up. There was something within wrappedin rotting native cloth. I undid it. It was the dress my wife had beenmarried in. In the centre of the dress were the withered wreath andflowers she had worn, and with them a little paper packet. I opened it;it contained a lock of my own hair! I remembered then that I had searched for this dress when I came awayand could not find it, for I had forgotten the secret recess in thefloor. Taking the dress with me, I left the hut for the last time. Leavingmy horse tied to a tree, I walked to the graveyard, through the ruinedgarden. There it was a mass of weeds, but over my darling's grave grew aself-sown orange bush, of which the scented petals fell in showers on tothe mound beneath. As I drew near, there was a crash and a rush. A greatbaboon leapt from the centre of the graveyard and vanished into thetrees. I could almost believe that it was the wraith of Hendrika doomedto keep an eternal watch over the bones of the woman her jealous ragehad done to death. I tarried there a while, filled with such thoughts as may not bewritten. Then, leaving my dead wife to her long sleep where the watersfall in melancholy music beneath the shadow of the everlasting mountain, I turned and sought that spot where first we had told our love. Now theorange grove was nothing but a tangled thicket; many of the trees weredead, choked with creepers, but some still flourished. There stood theone beneath which we had lingered, there was the rock that had been ourseat, and there on the rock sat the wraith of _Stella_, the Stella whomI had wed! Ay! there she sat, and on her upturned face was that samespiritual look which I saw upon it in the hour when we first had kissed. The moonlight shone in her dark eyes, the breeze wavered in her curlinghair, her breast rose and fell, a gentle smile played about herparted lips. I stood transfixed with awe and joy, gazing on that lostloveliness which once was mine. I could not speak, and she spoke noword; she did not even seem to see me. Now her eyes fell. For a momentthey met mine, and their message entered into me. Then she was gone. She was gone; nothing was left but the tremulousmoonlight falling where she had been, the melancholy music of thewaters, the shadow of the everlasting mountain, and, in my heart, thesorrow and the hope.