BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7738, 18 April 1896, Page 4

BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART.

[BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.]

A ZULU IDYL.

GHAPTSIi VL—lContinucd.)

'I hat <?ay also a great army of King Oetywayo's, numbering 20,000 men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon tbo stony plain that lies a mile and a halt' to the eaet of Isandhlwana. No fires wero lit. and it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors were ' sleeping on tbeir spears.' With that impi was the Umoityu regiment, 3.500 strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the Urncityu looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which he had covered his body, and through the thick mist ho saw a great man standing before him clothed only in a mooch*, a «aunt, wildeyed in&n, who held a rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to the man made no answer, he only leaned upon his club, looking from right to left along the deaee array of innumerable shields. ' Who is this silwana (wild oreature) ?' asked tho Induna of his captains wontioriug 'ihe captains starad at tho wanderer, and one of them answered, • This is Hahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of 2iomba, who not long ago held raoir in this regiment oS the Umcityu. JBi* betrothed, I'Sanea, daughter Oi Uwgona, was killed, together with her father, by order of the blue*! one, and jtfahoon went mad with grief at the sight of it, for the fire of heaven entered his brain, and mad he hss wandered ever since.' ' What would you here, Nahoon-ka-Zom-ba?' asked the Induna.

't hen Wahoon spoke slowly : 'My regiment goes down to war against the white men; give me a ahiold aud a spear, O captain of the King, that I may fight with my regiment, for I seek a face in battle.' So they gave him a shield and & spea?, for they dared not turn one away whose brain was alight with the fire of heavon. When tha sun \tsh high that day bullets began to fall among the ranks of tho Umoityu Then the black-shielded, black plumed Umcityu arose, company by company, and after them arose the whoie vast Zulu army, bcsitst *.D.d horns together, and swept down in eiluace upon the doomed British camp, a moving sheen of speara. The buliote patierad oa the shields, the ehulls tore long lines through their array, but they never halted or wavered. Forward on either rdde shot out tho horns of armed men, clasping the camp ia an embrace of steel. Then as these began to close, out burets the war cry of the Zulus, end with tho roar of a torrent and the ruah of a storm, ■with a sound like tho humming of a billion bees, wave after wave the deep breast o» the inipi rolled dowa upon tbo white men. With, it wf-nt the black-shielded Umcityu and with them went Nabuion, the son of Zomba, A bullet struck him in the side, glanoing from his ribs; he did not heed, a white is an fell from his horsa before him, he did not atab, for he sought but one face in the battle. He sought and at last he found it. There among the wagons whero the spears were busiest, there standing by bia horse and rapidly firing wae Black boart, he who had given his betrothed, Nanea, to death. Three soldiers btood between them, one of them Ntthoon stabbed, and two he brushed aside; then he rushed straight at Hadden.

But the whit.i man saw him come, and even through tha sausk of Ma madne's he knew him Hgaio, and terror took hold of him. Throwing away Mb empty rifle, for hie ammunition was spent, he leapt upon his horse and drove his spurs into its flanks. Away it went through the carnage, springing ovej the dead and bursting through the lines of shields, and after it oamo Nahoon, running long end low with stretched forward and trailing spear, running as a hound when the buok is in view.

HaMen's first plan was to bead lor Borke's Drift, but a glance to the left showed him that ijhe masses of the Undi barred the way, so he fled straight on, leaving his path to fate. In five minutes he was over a ridgo and there was nothing , of the battle to be peen, in ten all sounds of it had died away, for few guns were fired in the dread ruoe to Fugitive's Drift, and the assegai makes no noiae. In some atrange fashion, even at that moment the oontrast between the dreadful scene of blood and turmoil that he had left and the peaceful face of Nature over which he was passing came home to his brain, vividly. Here birds sang and cattle grazed; here the sun shone undimmed by the emolse of guns. Only high up in the blue and silent air long streams of vultures could be seen winging their way to the plain of leandhlwana. jL'he ground was very rough, and Sadden* horse began to tire. Hβ looked over his shoulde?; there, Bomo two hundred yards behind, oama the tulu, grim as death, unswerving as fate. Ha examined the pistol in his belt; there was bat one cartridge left; all the rest had been fired and the pouch was empty. Well, one ballet should be enough for oae savage; the question waa, Should he stop and uee it now ? No, ha might miss or fail to kill the man ; ho was on horseback and his foe oa foot; surely he could tire him out.

t\ while passed and they paseod through a little stream. It Remned familiar to Hadden. Yee, that was the pool where he used to bathe when ha was the guest of Umgorss, the father of Wauea, and there on the kaoll to his right were the huts, or, rather, the remains of them, for they had been buret v.'ith fire. Wnat ohance had brought him to thia place, he wondered; then again looked behind him at Nahoon, who ffeemed to read his thoughts, for he shook his epear and pointed to the ruined kraal.

On ho went at speed, for here the land was level, and to his joy he lost sight of his pursuer. But presently there came a mile of rocky ground, and whtn it was past, glancing back, ho saw that Nahoou was once more in his old place. Hia horse'a •strength was almost spent, but Haddea spurred forward blindly, whisher he knew not. Now he was travelling alon;? & atiip (•if turf, and ahead of him he heard the music of a river, whiie to his left was a high b'intc. Preeeatly tho turf ben- inward, and there, not twenty yards away from bios, was a Kaffir hut standing on the brink of tho river. Ho looked at it; yes, is was the hut of that cureod inyauga, the bee, and, standing by the fonce of it, was none other than the bee herself. At tho sistht oi her the exhausted horao swerved violently, stumbled, aad came to tha ground, where it lay panting, Sadden wan thrown from the saddle, but sprang to his feet unhurt. 'Ah, black heart, is it you ? What neve of tha bati'e, black heart ?* cried the bee, in a rnooking voice. ' Belp me, mother—l am pursued!' he gapped. ' What of it, black heart ? It is but by one tifed man. Stand then and face him, for now black heart and white heart are together again. You will not? Then away to the forest and seek shelter among tho dead who await you ther» j" tell me. facQ of £ I bei-ioath tha waters a whi.s ago ? 'Iliea Ibeay lay to her when you two j matt in the housu of tho dead.'

Hadden looked at the stream. It was in flood, and ho could not pwim it. So, followed b> , the evil laugh of the prophetess, he sped toward the forest, fi f ter him came Nuhoon, h;s tongue hanging from hia jawe like the tonpue of a wolf. Slow ho waa in tho shadow of it but still he sped on, folfowing the courso of the river, till at length his breath failed Bnd ho halted on the further eide of a little glade, boyond which a great tree grew. Hahoon was more than p. i-peur's throw behind him. 'ihotefore, ha had time to draw hie pisicl und make ready. . ' Halt, Nahoon !' he cried, as once before be h.d cried. ' I would speak with you.'

Tho Zulu hoard Lie voioe and obeyed. ' Listen," Huid Hodden. ' Wo have run a lonfj race uni fought a loug %ht, you and I, ivud w* are still alive, both of ua Very book, if you C!>ruo oa, one of as must bo dead, and ie will bo you, i-iuhoon. lam armod, and, as you know, 1 can ehoot straight. What do you say V ■Muhoou made no answer, but stood still on the edge oi she glado, hje wild and glowering eyes fixed oh the white man's faoo and his broath coming in ehcrt gaßps. ' Will you lot mo go if I lot you go f" ho nshod, oaoo morn. ' I know why you bate mo; but the past cannot bo undone, nor can tho dead bo brought to earth aguin.' Still Nahoou made no answer, and his " —>• Heeaied more fateful und crushing meiio- • Hα accusation would than liny Fr t >eeen - " ? - Hβ havo been so tutriblo in Haddon s our. made no answer, but, lifting his assegai, ne | etalked Krimiy toward his foe. When ho wus within live paces, Huddoa covered him unci flred. iho bullet struck him sotnewhero, *'or Hahoon'o right unn dropped to hia ti' 7 o a«d lho stabbing spear that he hold w»B jerked from it hartnlossly over tho white man's hend ; but, stdl mak iug no sound, tho Zuluoainooutiud gripped hitn by \ha throiit with bin left hand. jß'or a space thoy etrugaled tertibiy, swiiyiug to and fro; but -t,uid-!on war) uiihurt and fought iitli tho fury of lioon had bcou twio« wounded s-nd there reniainud to hiiu but ouo nound «m wiierowith to Dtriko I'reaeatly, foieud to earth by tUo white man's iron strength, tho soldier was down, aor could he rise again

' Now, we will make an oud," muttered Haddon, savagely, and he turned to seek the assegai, then staggered L-lowly back, with starting eyes and reeling gait, for there, before him, still clad in her white robe, a spear in her hand, stood the spirit of Nanea! ' Think of eaid to himeelf, dimly remembering the words of the inyanga, " when you stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in the home of ihe dead.' There was a ory mid. a flash of steel—tho broad spear leaped toward him, to bury itself in his breast. He swayed, he fell, and preaently black heart clasped that great reward which tho word of the bee had promised him. 'Kahoon! Nahoon!' murmured a soft Toioe. ' Awake! It is no ghost, but I, Nanea; I, your living wife, to whom ray ehlose (guardian spirit) has given it me to stive you!' Nahoon heard and opened his eyes to look, and his madness left him. ' Welcome, wife,' ha said, faintly. ' Now I will live, since death haa brought you back to ma in the house of the dead.' To-day Nahoon is one of the indunas of tho Englieh government in Zululand, end there are children about his kraal. It was from the lips of Nanea, his wife, that the narrator of this history heard the tale of it. Ihe bee also lives, and practices as much magic as she dares under the white man's rule. On her black hand shines a golden ring, shaped like a snake, with ruby eyes, end of this trinket the bee is very proud. [thh end. !