The Ghost Kings

or some time, as they waited to make sure that Ishmael had real

that he has been here before us to

p or verandah they found Mr. Dove walking u

he man, had adopted that name for him which he considered less peculiar than Ishmael. "He has been here much upset, declaring that yo

, or Mr. Smith as you call him, has been asking me to marry him, a

Now, Rachel, of course I do not want you to marry this person, in fact, I should dislike it, although I have seen a great change for the better in him lately-I mean spiritually

ed the lecture in silence, bu

at you cannot see evil in others? Do you know that it was this 'honest man' who brought a

rted, and tu

at so,

gh I have never spoken of it to you. Afterw

l among the hills yonder? Well, I will tell you. It is because this 'honest

ever believe it; you are only repeating native scandal. W

rself. Take a guide and start two hours before daybreak to-morro

d caused his bitter quarrel with the first settlers in Natal. "I cannot believe the story, Rachel, I really c

areful, dear, that he does not do you a mischief, for such men do not like to be fo

feud, and that under the circumstances, it would be easy to forbid him the house upon other grounds. But Mr. Dove, obstinate as usual, refused to listen to her, saying that he wou

nd long before dawn on the following morning, Mr. Dove

vidently because the approaches to it were easy to defend. On a knoll in the centre of this rich valley stood the kraal, a small native town surrounded by walls, and stone enclosures full of cattle. As they approached the kraal, from its main entrance issued four or five good-looking n

ubesi, the Lion," answered their spokesw

(that is, the white man),

at he has put away old Mami, and this is his son. If the light were s

wives of Ishmael prepared to pass on to the mealie fields, then stopped, and began to whisper together.

somewhat shyly, for evidently they knew well enough wh

hat do you mean?

ful Zoola, the daughter of your head wife, and we thought that perhaps you had come to arrange a

much, even

heathen hussies?" he gasped

besi. If you desire to see him, he is in the big hut, yonder, with our youngest sister, she whom he married last month. We wish you good day, as we go to hoe our lord's fields, and we hope that when she comes, the Inkosazana

se viciously with the sjambok, or hippopotamus-hide whip, which he carried, and

awning as though she had just been aroused from sleep. What is more, except for the colour of his skin, he was a Kaffir and nothing else, for his costume consisted of a skin moocha such as the natives wear, and a fur kaross thrown over his sho

ping at the white man over it. Drawing the kaross tightly about him, he gave the poor girl a backward kick, and with a Kaffir oath bade her begone, then went on hurriedly: "I am afraid my dress is not quite what you are accustomed to, but among these poor heathens I find i

uld bear it

villain. But yesterday you dared to come and ask Rachel to marry you, and now I find that you are living-oh! I cannot say it, it makes me ashamed of my race. Listen to me, sir. If ever you dare to set foot in Ramah again, or to speak t

but the threat of violence roused his fierce nature. His face g

wn family won't know you, if you live to get back to them. Look here, I offered to marry your daughter on the square, and I meant what I said. I'd have got rid of all this black baggage, and she should have been the only one. Well, I'll marry her

ather. Lifting the sjambok he cut Ishmael across the mouth so sharply that the blood came from his lips, then suddenly remembering that this deed would probably mean his death, stood still awaiting the issue. As it chanced it did not, for the man, like most brutes and bullies,

I would anyone else. But you have made me your enemy now, you fool, and others can. I have protected yo

not when you or anyone else wills. I do not fear you in the least. Still, I am sorr

orse and rode away fr

tress. To his wife, on the other hand, he told everything, with the result that she was very much disturbed. She pointed out to him that this white outcast was a most dangerous man, who would certainly be revenged upon them in one way or a

ten told me that you were sure no harm wo

ight to keep her here." She did not add, poor, unselfish woman, t

ople relapse into barbarism again. I am not afraid of this man, or of anything that he can do to my body, but if I ran away from him it would be injuring my soul

laughing that she was not afraid of anybody or anything, and, except for her mother's sake, did not care wheth

ing her, knew well enough that she had another reason, although no word of it every passed her lips. In Africa she

affirs, indeed, that although he still kept his kraal at Mafooti, he himself had gone away on some trading journey far to the north,

died away, and things were very

roved to be but the

l from the Zulu king, Dingaan, bringing with it a present of more white cattle. She received them as sh

d what this matter was they either were, or pretended to be, ignorant, saying that it had not been confided to them. Thereon she said that if Dingaan chose to submit the question to her by

ave even for a day," she answered, thinking that this reply would appeal to a rac

er. "Now, how can the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, before whom a whole nation will bow, be in

d of that cloud,

, not the cloud the heavens,

med a very good joke, and naturally appealed to the love of power which is common to women. But when it involved, at any rate in the eyes

I am but the child of my parents, and the parents ar

der us to be killed, we must be killed. But learn that we know the truth. We know how as a child you came down from above in the lightning, and how the

hat story?" ask

o the council of t

r women are, and my name of 'Lady of the Heavens' came to me

women are, by chance you had your high name, by chance you are tall

chel ga

, saluted her with a Bayète, that royal salute which

may be remembered, was different. He talked of the silly Zulu superstitions, showed how they had twisted up the story of the death of her baby brother, and her escape from the flood in the Umtavuna river, into that which they h

at they were playing with vast and cruel forces, and that whatever these people exactly believed about Rachel, i

ally, "perhaps our own lives a

e had met her going down to the banks of the stream, as he supposed, to gather flowers for the table. Then he began to talk about the girl, saying what a sweet creatur

her body rested on the table, as though a kind of fit had seized her. Rachel sprang towards her,

th is the ma

talking about those Zulus. I thought I saw this place all red with blood and tongues of fi