The Ghost Kings

ell to the lot of Rachel Dove. To begin with, she had absolutely no associates, male or female, of her own a

n, who never for a single hour could forget the children she had lost, and whose constitutional mysticism increased

htnings, which she was supposed to have done upon this night; also that she could walk upon the waters, for otherwise how did she escape the flood? And, lastly, that the wild beasts were her servants, for had not the driver Tom and the natives seen the spoor of great lions right at the mouth of the cave where she and her companion sheltered, and had they not heard that she called these lions into the cave to protect her and him from the other creatures? Therefore, as has been said, they gave her a name, a very

ites are apt to consider ourselves the superior of such folk, whereas we are only different. In fact, taken altogether, it is quite a question whether the higher sections of the Bantu peoples are not our equals. Of course, we have learned more things, and our best men are their betters. But, on the other hand, among them

lso, although she kept herself apart from them, much the same may be said. For her they had a curious name which they would not, or were unable to explain. They called her "Flower-that-grows-on-a-grave." For Mr. Dove their appellation was less poetical. It was "Shouter-about-Things-he-does-not-understand," or, more briefly, "The Shouter," a name that he had acquired from his habit of raising his voice when he grew moved in speaking to them. The things that he did not understand, it may be explain

en to it, never would she lift her hand against anything that drew the breath of life. The buck would let her pass quite close to them, nor at her coming did the birds stir from off their trees. Often she stood and watched the great elephants feeding or at rest, and even dared to wander among the herds of

first they went to live where the city of Durban now stands, which at that time had but just received its name. It was inhabited by a few rough men, who made a living by trading and hunting, and surrounded

ength he found himself ostracised. If they could avoid it, no white men would speak to him, nor would they allow him to instruct their Kaffirs. Thus his work came to an end in Durban as it had done in other places. Now, again, his wife and daughter hoped that he would le

Durban they camped on a stream, a tributary of the Tugela River, which ran close by, and formed the boundary of the Zulu country. It was a singularly beautiful spot, for to the east of them, about a mile away, stretched the placid Indian Ocean, while to the west, overshadowing them almost, rose a towering cliff, over which the stream poured itself, looking like a li

ith her father, sprang from her horse and ran to it to help her mother to descend. She was now a tall young woman, full of health and vigour, strong and straightly shape

macked the near after-ox to make it turn round, which it d

y between the ox and the front wheel Rachel stretch

a sort of wondering admiration and a sad little smile

ting in that horrid waggon," and she led her quite to the top of the knoll. "There," she added, "isn't the view lovely? I neve

es, and lastly behind her at the towering cliff steeped in shadow-for the sun was

on this cliff Mrs.

said in a hurried voice.

Rachel. "We have never trek

at cliff and the waterfall; yes, and those th

I mean, mother, but of course it is all nonsense, beca

amt. What was the dream now? Rachel weeping-Rachel weeping-my lov

ant to go to Zululand, and see this horrid Dingaan, who is always killing people, and I am quite sure that father would never convert him, the wicked monster. It is like the Gar

was easy to do, a white man apparently clad in skins. He was engaged in crawling up a little rise of ground with the obvious intention of shooting

ooks more like Robinson Crusoe without his umbrella.

pples," remarked Rachel, "unless perhaps he was a ve

on the ground, while the rest, together with many others at a distance, turned and galloped off this way and that, frightened by this new and terrible noise.

os will catch him," said Rachel viciously. "Lo

alloped off to the right. The rhinoceros came to a standstill for a few moments as though it were wondering whether it dared attack these strange creatures, then making up its mind in the negative, rushed on and vanish

aid Rachel. "How should one

gs as to the effect that

he hunter. At any rate,

the brow, and next at

ist chiefly of the pel

ers manufactured from

s away, staring at them

see his face well, for

ore no head covering. It

ive years of age, with

and long black hair th

t each other for a whil

m an order in a clear, s

on the contrary, direct

ew yards of them, then

lu

chel in Zulu, a langua

fec

y and sends you a present of this buck," and, as he spoke, he loosed the riem or hide

r it was covered with blood, and u

nk your master. How is he na

he is named Ibubesi (lion), b

as something biblical, and of course Ishmael dwelt in the wilderness, didn't he, after his fat

le smile. "Your father would be very angry if he hea

him a mean old thing nowadays, almost as mean as Sarah. You know they

r she asked the Kaffir again: "Wh

nder, two hours' ride away. It is called Mafooti," and he pointed over th

d Rachel, whose cur

"No, he hates the Dutch; he

he must mean a subject of

you," and he grinned at her. "Have yo

e Dutch and wears zebra-skin trousers, that my father and my mother thank him

our, then repeated the message word for word, trying to pronounce Ishmael a

at Kaffir until your father came

Mr. Ishmael to call in order that he might find out his reli

ot, Ra

ed with conviction, "I think we shall have more of his company than we want before all is done. Oh! it is no good to say that I am prejudi

d, it seemed curious that this girl, so powerful in body and in mind, should have sprung from such a pair, a wrong-headed, narrow-viewed saint whose right place in the world would have been in a cell in the monastery or one of the stricter orders, and a gentle, unc

read the Greek Testament almost as well as he could, or even Homer, which she liked because the old, bloodthirsty heroes reminded her of the Zulus. He had taught her this and other knowledge, and she was an apt pupil. But there the resemblance stopped. Whereas his intelligence was narrow and enslaved by the priestly tradition, hers was wide and human. She se

eck. She felt and she knew, but feeling and knowledge did not frighten or make her weak, any more than the strength of her frame or of her spirit made her unwomanly. She accepted these things as part of her me

ien, she had known other things. But she did not, therefore, fear the man and his attendant evil. She only shrank from the first and looked through the second, onward and

to make a thorn fence round their camp as a protection against lions and hyenas. He looked older than when we last met him, and save for a fringe of white hair, which increased

e from?" he asked, looki

e said, not to have asked this very courteous gentleman into the camp, as he would much have liked to converse with him. He had often reproved her habit of

he dinner. I didn't like the look of the man; besides, he rode off. Then it wasn't my business to ask him here, but mother's, who stood staring at him and never

asing from argument which he felt to be useless with Rachel

e till the Kaffirs have time. We have the cold meat left for supper, and I will

e lay wide awake for a long while, listening to the Kaffirs who, having partaken heartily of the buck, were now making themselves drunk by smoking dakka, or Indian hemp, a habit of which Mr. Dove had tried in vain to break them. At length the fire around which they sat near the thorn fence on the further side of the waggon, grew low, and their inco

hyenas saw her also, for her head rose above the rough fence, and being cowardly beasts, slunk away. She could have shot them had she chose, but did not, first because she hated killing anything unnecessarily, even a wolf, and secondly because it would have aroused the camp. So she contented herself by throwing more dry wood on to the

of the savages among whom they lived, a person who was not worth a second thought. So she tried to put him from her mind, and by way of an antidote, since still she could not sleep, filled it with her recollections of Richard Darrien. Some years had gone by since they had met, and from that time to this she had never heard a word of him in which she could put the slightest faith. She did not even know whethe

ut little, but in it there were shoutings, and black faces, and the flashing of spears; also the white man Ishmael was present there. One part, however, she

achel was disturbed, she felt the need of action, of anything that would change the current of her thoughts. No one was about yet. What shoul