Part 18 (2/2)

CHAPTER XVIII WAR! RED WAR!

Telling Uaas to wait, I tumbled into my clothes and went off with him to Sir Henry's room, where the Zulu repeated his story word for word It was a sight to watch Curtis' face as he heard it

'Great Heavens!' he said: 'here have I been sleeping ahile Nyleptha was nearly h me, too What a fiend that Sorais aas had cut her down in the act'

'Ay,' said the Zulu 'Fear not; I should have slain her ere she struck

I was but waiting thethat many a thousand doomed lives would have been saved if he had meted out to Sorais the fate she ht

After he had told his tale U

At first he was very bitter against Good, who, he said, was no longer to be trusted, having designedly allowed Sorais to escape by some secret stair when it was his duty to have handed her over to justice Indeed, he spoke in the most unmeasured ter to myself how easy we find it to be hard on the weaknesses of others, and how tender we are to our own

'Really, th, 'one would never think, to hear you talk, that you were the man who had an intervieith this same lady yesterday, and found it rather difficult to resist her fascinations, notwithstanding your ties to one of the loveliest andwomen in the world Now suppose it was Nyleptha who had tried to ht her, and she had pleaded with you, would you have been so very eager to hand her over to an open shah Good's eyeglass for a minute before you denounce an old friend as a scoundrel'

He listened to this jobation subed that he had spoken hardly It is one of the best points in Sir Henry's character that he is always ready to adh I spoke up thus for Good, I was not blind to the fact that, however natural his behaviourinvolved in a very aard and disgraceful complication A foul and wicked murder had been atte other things, allowed her to gain a complete ascendency over himself In fact, he was in a fair way to become her tool--and no more dreadful fate can befall a man than to become the tool of an unscrupulous woman, or indeed of any woman There is but one end to it: when he is broken, or has served her purpose, he is throay--turned out on the world to hunt for his lost self-respect Whilst I was pondering thus, and wondering as to be done--for the whole subject was a thorny one--I suddenly heard a great clauished the voice of U furiously, and the latter yelling in terror

Hurrying out to see as the ht

The little French up the courtyard at an extraordinary speed, and after hireyhound Just as I cas, carried hi shrub which bore a flower not unlike the gardenia, but was covered with short thorns Next, despite his howls and struggles, he with one ed poor Alphonse head first into the bush, so that nothing but the calves of his legs and heels remained in evidence Then, satisfied hat he had done, the Zulu folded his ar the French to his yells, which were awful

'What art thou doing?' I said, running up 'Wouldst thou kill the e grunt he obeyed, seizing the wretched Alphonse by the ankle, and with a jerk thathiht as he presented, his clothes half torn off his back, and bleeding as he was in every direction from the sharp thorns There he lay and yelled and rolled, and there was no getting anything out of hi hiaas by every saint in the calendar, vowing by the blood of his heroic grandfather that he would poison hiot to the truth of the aas's porridge, which the latter ate for breakfast in the corner of the courtyard, just as he would have done at hoourd, and with a wooden spoon Now Ureat horror of fish, which he considered a species of water-snake; so Alphonse, as as fond of playing tricks as a monkey, and as also a consurated up a quantity of white fish very finely, and e, ed it nearly all down in ignorance of what he was eating But, unfortunately for Alphonse, he could not restrain his joy at this sight, and caaas, as very clever in his way, suspected so, and, after a careful exae, discovered 'the buffalo heifer's trick', and, in revenge, served him as I have said Indeed, the little et a broken neck for his pains; for, as one would have thought, he ht have learnt from the episode of his display of axemanshi+p that 'le Monsieur noir' was an ill person to play practical jokes upon

This incident was unih in itself, but I narrate it because it led to serious consequences As soon as he had stanched the bleeding from his scratches and washed hi, to recover his temper, a process which I knew froave Uaas a jobation and told him that I was ashamed of his behaviour

'Ah, well, Macuentle with me, for here is notand drinking, of sleeping and giving in e I love not this soft life in stone houses that takes the heart out of a th to water and his flesh to fat I love not the white robes and the delicate wo of hawks

When we fought the Masai at the kraal yonder, ah, then life orth the living, but here is never a blow struck in anger, and I begin to think I shall go the way of my fathers and lift Inkosi-kaas no azed at it in sorrow

'Ah,' I said, 'that is thy complaint, is it? Thou hast the blood-sickness, hast thou? And the Woodpecker wants a tree And at thy age, too Shaaas'

'Ay, Macumazahn, mine is a red trade, yet is it better and ht than to suck out his heart's blood in buying and selling and usury after your white fashi+on

Many a man have I slain, yet is there never a one that I should fear to look in the face again, ay, ht glad to snuff with But there! there! thou hast thy ways, and I h-veldt ox will die in the fat bush country, and so is it with h, I know it, and when my blood is warm I know not what to do, but yet wilt thou be sorry when the night ss me and I am utterly lost in blackness, for in thy heart thou lovest ht but a broken-down Zulu war-dog--a chief for whom there is no rooe places: ay, I love thee, Macuether, and there is that between us that cannot be seen, and yet is too strong for breaking;' and he took his snuff-box, which was e, from the slit in his ear where he always carried it, and handed it to me for me to help myself

I took the pinch of snuff with some emotion It was quite true, I was much attached to the bloodthirsty old ruffian I do not knoas the charm of his character, but it had a charm; perhaps it was its fierce honesty and directness; perhaps one adth, or it may have been simply that he was so absolutely unique Frankly, with all es, I never knew a man quite like hih it seehable to say so, like the hero of the Yankee parody, he 'had a tender heart' Anyway, I was very fond of hi hie love Thou wouldst split me to the chin if I stood in thy path tomorrow'

'Thou speakest truth, Macumazahn, that would I if it came in the way of duty, but I should love thee all the saone fairly ho here, Macuht that what I saw last night did show that the two great Queens were vexed one with another Else had the ”Lady of the Night” not brought that dagger with her'

I agreed with him that it showed that more or less pique and irritation existed between the ladies, and told hi over Incubu