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New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16672, 17 October 1917, Page 9

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' BY H. RIDER HAGGARD, or |vtifij V Author of " King Solomon's Mines," " Allan ' l I: Quatermain." " Heart of the World," , \ " She," " The Peoplo of the Mist!? f " Cleopatra." ' . dei (COPYRIGHT.) wli —■ — set CHAPTER (Continued.) thi " Why did you send Ncmbo?" I asked. a " Because he would have 110 other J* guide, who does not trust my men. H(. ro . means to keep her with him for some days so i and then let her go, and thus she will be Nc out of mischief. Meanwhile you and your "iv friends can depart untroubled by hei fancies, and join the white men who are near. To-raorrov you shall start." v " That is good," I said with a sigh of a !j relief. Then an ide» struck mo, and I a ' added, '"I suppose no harm will come to c< ij! Nombe, who might be thought to know ' too much?" _ ** "I hcne not," he replied indifferently, Vf "but Mult is a matter for her spirit to a( decide. .Sow go, Macumazahn, for I am j P! weary." th I also was weary after my prolonged j, 0 seclusion under that very hot skin rug. an For be it remembered I was not- yet strong again, and although this was not the real reason why I had stopped behind when the !? n others went to the plateau, I still grew easily tired. My real reason was that e ( of Nombe—that i thought they preferred to be alone. I looked about me and saw %,-ith relief that Oetewayo and every man w of his retinue wore really gone. They SI) had not even waited to eat the ox that eh had been killed for tlwm, but had carried wi off the meat with other provisions to their if sleeping-place outside the kloof. Having H made sure of this, I went to my hut and ey looked Lost, that fortunately enough had tii been unable to gnaw through the thick co buffalo hide riem with which I had fast- sn ened him to the pole. if He greeted me with rapture as though de we had been parted for years. Had he sp belonged to Ulysses himself he could not tr have been more joyful. When one is sir despondent and lonesome, how grateful is the whole-hearted welcome of a dog which, tu we aro sometimes tempted to think, is ]j 0 the only creature that cares for us in the world. * Every other living thing has side interests of its own, but that of a dog is centred in its master, though it is true that it also dreams affectionately of dinner Wl and rabbits. Then, with Lost at my feet, I sat out- *i side the hat smoking and waiting for the dc return of Anscombe and Heda. Presently se I caught sight of them in the gloaming. M Their arms were around one another, ana th in some remarkable way they had man- m aged to dispose their heads, forgetting sh that the slcy was /still light behind them, ui in such fashion that it was difficult to tell to cue from the other. I reflected that it pi was a goca thing that at last we were d( escaping from this confounded kloof ana in country for one where they could marry, H and became afflicted with a sneezing fit. w Heda asked where Nombe was, and why ; of supper was not ready, for Nombe played ai the part of cook ana parlourmaid com- ai bined. I told hep something of what had ki happened, whereon Heda,_ who did not ap- w predate its importance in the least, re- m marked that she, Nombe, might as well ti have put on the pot before she went and hi done sundry other things which I forget, v, Ultimately we got something to' eat anil T turned in, Heda grumbling a little be- ii cause she must sleep alone, for she had p grown used to the company of the ever- rr watchful Nombe, who made her bed s< across the door-hole of the but, _ d. Anscombe was soon lost in dreams, if t« he did dream, but I could not sleep well h that night I was fearful of I knew not what, and to, I think, was Lost, for ha y< fidgetted and kept poking mo with his qj nose. ■ At last. I think it must have been ej about two hours after midnight, he began to growl. I could hear nothing, although « my ears are sharp, but as he went on d growling I crept to the door-hole and drew t> aside the board. Lost slipped out and n vanished, while I waited, listening. Pre- 0 sently I thought I heard a soft footfall o and a whisper, also that I saw the shape b of a woman which reminded me of Nombe, a shown faintly by the starlight. It vanished in a moment- and Lost returned* 1 waging his tail, as he might well have s done if it were Nombe, who was attached f, to tho dog. As nothing further happened c I went back to bed, reflecting that I was t probably mistaken, as Nombe had been t sent away for some days by Zikali, and s would scarcely dare to return at once, even £ if she could do so. . c Shortly before daylight Lost began to t growl again in a subdued and thunder- r ous fashion. This time I got up. and f dressed myself more or less, inen 1 r went out. The dawn was just breaking, ? and by its ligU I saw a strange scene, i About fifty yards away, in that narrow t nek that ran over some rocks to the s site of our huts, stood what seemed to I be the goddeju Nomkubnlwana as I had ( seen her on the granite point in the Vale i of Bones. She wore the same radiant dress and in the dim glow had all the appearance of a white woman. I stood amazed, thinking that I dreamt, when ' from round the bend emerged a number of Zulus, creeping forward stealthily with raised spears. They caught sight of the supernatural figure which barred their I road, halted and whispered to each other, j Then they turned, to fly, but before they -went one of them, as it seemed to me through sheer terror, hurled his assegai | at the figure which remained still and un- , moved. • . In thirty seconds they were gone; m , sixtv their footsteps had died away, Then , the'figure wheeled slowly round and by the strengthening light I perceived that a spear transfixed its breast As it sank to the ground I ran up to it. It. was Nombe with her face and arms whitened and her life-blood running down the glittering feather robe. CHAPTER XXII. the MADNESS of nombe. "Tie doe reached Nombe first and began to lick her face, its tongue removing patches of the white which had not had time to dry. She was lying, her back supported by one of the rocks. With her left hand she patted the dog a head feebly and with her right drew out the assegai from her body, letting it fall upon the ground. Recognising me she smiled in her usual mysterious fashion and said. " All is well, Macumazahn, all is very well. I have deserved to die and Ido not die in vain." „ " Don't talk, let me see your wound, I exclaimed. , She opened her robe and pointed; it was quite a small gash beneath the breast from which blood ebbed slowly. '• Let it be, Macumazahn" she said. " I am bleeding inside and it is mortal. But I shall nut die yet. Listen to me while I have my mind. Yesterday when Mauriti and Hedina went up to the lam Iwished to go with them because I had news that Zulus were wandering everywhere and thought that I might be able to protect my mistress from danger. Mauriti spoke to me roughly, telling me that l was not wanted. Of that 1 thought for to such words I am accustomed f om him; moreover., they are to be excused to a man in love. But it■ did not end therj for my lady Hedina also pierced me with her tongue, which hurt "ore than hi ; spear thrust does, speech had been precould see that her speech had been preI-. pared and that she took this chance to throw it at me. She said that I dtf $ not know my place; that I wu, a taraMe C: find that whenever she wished to talk it. withMauriti, or vvith you fit I was ever there with my tar open like i. the mouth of a gourd. She ™ r me in future to come only when I was called; all of which things I . an ? sure |# . Mauriti had taught her, who in herse i is too gentle even to think them-unless B ■ you taught her, Macumazahn. fk I shook my head and she went on a w as not you wKo s0 ™ I m,\ • • . .

who has never suffered cannot do. Still, you too thought ma a trouble, one that sticks in the flesh like a hooked thorn, or a tick from the grass, and cannot be unfastened. You spoke to the master about it and he apoko to me." This time I nodded in assent. "I do not blame you, Macuroazahn; indeed now I see that you were vise, for what right has a poor black doctoress to seek the affection, or even to look upon the face of the great white lady whom for a little while Fate has caused to walk upon the same path with her? But yesterday I forgot that, Macuinaaahn, for you see we aro not one self, but amy solves, and each self has its times of : ale, Nombe alive was one woman, Nombe •Iving is another, and doubtless Nombe dead will be a third, unless, as she prays, she should sleep for ever. Macumazahn, those words of Hedina's were to me what gall is to sweet milk. My blood clotted and my heart turned sour. It was not against her that I was angry, because that can never happen, but against Mauriti and against you. Mv spirit whispered in my ear. It said. 'If Manriti and Macumazahn were dead the lady Hedina would be left alone in a strange land. Then she would learn to love the stick on which she rested, though it be so rough and homely,' But how can T kill them, T asked of my spirit and myself escape death? "' Poison is forbidden to you by the ' pact between us,' answered my spirit, 'yet T will show you a way, who am hound to serve you in all things good or ill.' "Then wo nodded to each other in my breast, Macumazabn, and I waited for what should happen who knew that my spirit would not lie. Yes, I waited for S chance to kill von both, forgettinc, as the wicked forget in their madness, that even if I were not found out, soon or late Hedina would guess <ho truth and then, even if she learned to iove me a thousand times more than she ever could, would come to hate me as a mother hates a snake that has slain her child. Or even if she never learned or guessed in life, after death she would learn and hunt me and spit on me from world to world as a traitorcss and a murderer, ono who has

sinned past pardon." Here she seemed to grow faint and I turned to seek for help. But she caught hold of my coat and said: " Hear me out, Macumazahn, or I will run after you till I fall and die." So, thinking it best, I stayed, and she went on: " My spirit, which must be an evil one, Zikali gave it me when I was made a doctoress, dealt truly with me, for presently the king and his people cameMoreover, my spirit brought it about that the king would have no other guide bub me to lead him to the kraal whore he slept last night, and I went as though unwillingly. At the kraal the king sent for me and questioned me ina dark hut, pretending to be alone, but * who am a doctoress knew that two other men were in that hut, taking note of all my words. He asked me of the Inkosazana-y-Zulu who appeared in the Vale of Bones and of the little assegai she held in her hand, and of the magic of the Opener of Koadß, and many other things. I said that I knew nothing of the Inkosazana, but that without doubt my master was a great magician. He did not believe me. He threatened that I should be tortured very horribly and was about to call his servants to torment me till I told the truth. Then my spirit spke in my heart, saying, ' Now the door is open to you, as I promised. Tell the kine of the two white men whom the master hidea, and he will send to kill them, leaving the lady Hedina and you alone together.' So I pretended to be afraid and told him, whereon he laughed and answered: " 'For your sake I am glad, girl, that you have'spoken the truth; besides it M useless to torture a witch, since then tha spirit in her only vomits libs.' "Next he called aloud and a mtm came; who it was I could not see in the dark. The king commanded him to take me to one of the other huts and tie me up there to the roof-pole. The mar obeyed, but he did not tie me up; he only blocked the hut with the doorboard and sat with me there in the dark alone. "Now I grew cunning and began to talk with him, spreading out a net of sweet words, as the fowler spreads a net for cranes from which he would tear the crests. Soon by his talk I found out that the king and his people knew more than I guessed. Macumazalm, they had seen the cart which still stands under the overhanging rock by the mouth of the cave. I asked him if that were all, pretending that the cart belonged to my master, to whom it had been brought from the field* of Isandhlwanfc, that he might be drawn about in it, who was too weak, to walk. Now the man said that if I would kiss him he would tell me everything. I bade him tell me first, swearing that then I would kiss him. Yes, Macumazahn, I, whom no man's lips have ever touched, fell as low as this. So he grew foolish and told me. He told me that they bad alsr seen a kappje, such as white women wear, hanging on the hut fence, and I remembered that after washing the head-dress of my mistress I had set it there to dry in the sun. He told me also that the king suspected that she who wore that kapp]e was she who had played the part of the Xnkosazana in the Vale of Bones. I asked him what the king would do about the matter, at the same time denying that 'there was any white woman in the Black Kloof. Ho said that at dawn the king would send and kill these foreijn rats, whom the Opener of Beads kept in the thatch of his hut. Now he drew near and asked his pay. I gave it to him— a knifepoint, Macumazahn. Oh! that was a good thrust. He never spoke again. Then I slipped away, for all the others were asleep, and was here a little after midnight." A . " I thought I saw you, Nombe, I said, " but was not sure, so I did nothing." She smilet. and answered : " And I \ as afraid that the Watcher-by-Night would be watcling by night; also, the dog ran up to mo, but he Knew me and I sent him back again Mow, while I was coming home, thoughts entered my heart. I saw, a3 one sees by j a lightning flash, all that I had done. The king and his people were not sure that the master was hiding white folk here and would never have sent back to toll them on the chance. I had made them sure, as, indeed, being mad, I meant to do Moreover, in throwing spears at the kites I had killed my own dove, since it was on the false Inkosazana, who had cau«ed them to declare war and brought the land to ruin, that they wished to be avenged, and perchance on b'.m who taught her her part, not on one or two wandering white men. I saw that when Cetewayo's people came, and there were many more of them outside, several hundreds I think, they would shave the whole head anil burn the whole tree. Everyone in the kloof would be killed. How could I undo the knot that I M tie' and stamp out the fire that I had lit? That was the question. I bethought me of coming to you, but without arms how could you help I bethought of going to the master, but I was ashamed. A'so, what cou'd he do with but a few servants, for the most of his people are away with the cattle? He is too weak to climb the steep path to the plain above, nor was there time to gather folk to carry him. Lastly, even if we went thither, thry would track us out and kill us. For the rest I did not care, nor for myself, but that the lady Hedina should be butchered, who was more to me than a hundred lives, and through my treachery | —ah ! for that I cared. "I called on my spirit to help me, but it would not come. My spirit was dead in me because now I would do good and not ill. Yet another spirit came—that of one whom once you knew. She came ancrily like a storm, and I shrank before her. She said: 'Vile witch, you have plotted to murder Macumazahn, and for that you shall answer to me before another sun lias set over this earth of yours. Now you will seek a way to escape from your own wickedness. Well, it can oe had, but at a price.' (To be continued on Saturday »«*W