Part 19 (1/2)

'Ah, is it so?' he exclaiht; 'then will there be war as surely as the rivers rise in the rains--war to the end Women love the last bloell as the last word, and when they fight for love they are pitiless as a wounded buffalo See thou, Macuh blood to her desire, and think nought of it

With these eyes have I seen it once, and twice also Ah, Macu yet, and hear the battle cries co up the street After all, I have not wandered for nothing Can this folk fight, think ye?'

Just then Sir Henry joined us, and Good arrived, too, fro very pale and hollow-eyed The aas saw the latter he stopped his bloodthirsty talk and greeted hi to thee, Inkoos! Thou art surely weary Didst thou hunt toofor an answer, he went on--

'Listen, Bougwan, and I will tell thee a story; it is about a woman, therefore wilt thou hear it, is it not so?

'There was a man and he had a brother, and there was a woman who loved the man's brother and was beloved of the man But the man's brother had a favourite wife and loved not the wo very cunning and fierce-hearted for revenge, took counsel with herself and said to the man, ”I love thee, and if thou wilt make war upon thy brother I will reat love of the woman, as very fair, did he listen to her words and made war And when , ”Why slayest thou me? What hurt have I done unto thee? From my youth up have I not loved thee? When thou wast little did I not nurture thee, and have we not gone down to war together and divided the cattle, girl by girl, ox by ox, and cow by cow? Why slayest thou me, my brother, son of my own mother?”

'Then the man's heart was heavy, and he knew that his path was evil, and he put aside the te of the woman and ceased to make war on his brother, and lived at peace in the same kraal with him And after a time the woman came to him and said, ”I have lost the past, I will be thy wife” And in his heart he knew that it was a lie and that she thought the evil thing, yet because of his love did he take her to wife

'And the very night that they hen the ed into a deep sleep, did the woman arise and take his axe from his hand and creep into the hut of his brother and slay hied lioness and place the thong of the red axe back upon his wrist and go her ways

'And at the dawning the people caht,” and they came unto the hut of the man, and there he lay asleep and by him was the red axe Then did they remember the war and say, ”Lo!

he hath of a surety slain his brother,” and they would have taken and killed him, but he rose and fled swiftly, and as he fleeted by he slew the woman

'But death could not wipe out the evil she had done, and on hiht of all her sin Therefore is he an outcast and his na his own people; for on him, and him only, resteth the burden of her who betrayed And, therefore, does he wander afar, without a kraal and without an ox or a wife, and therefore will he die afar like a stricken buck and his naeneration, in that the people say that he slew his brother, Lousta, by treachery in the night-time'

The old Zulu paused, and I saw that he was deeply agitated by his own story Presently he lifted his head, which he had bowed to his breast, and went on:

'I was the wan Ou! I was that man, and now hark thou! Even as I a, an ox of burden to carry the evil deeds of another Listen! When thou didst creep after the ”Lady of the Night” I was hard upon thy track When she struck thee with the knife in the sleeping place of the White Queen I was there also; when thou didst let her slip away like a snake in the stones I saw thee, and I knew that she had bewitched thee and that a true man had abandoned the truth, and he who aforetiive me, my father, if my words are sharp, but out of a full heart are they spoken See her no rave Else because of the beauty of a woarment of fur shalt thou be even as I ahout this long and eloquent address Good had been perfectly silent, but when the tale began to shape itself so aptly to his own case, he coloured up, and when he learnt that what had passed between him and Sorais had been overseen he was evidently much distressed And nohen at last he spoke, it was in a tone of hun to hih, 'that I scarcely thought that I should live to be taught my duty by a Zulu; but it just shoe can come to I wonder if you fellows can understand how humiliated I feel, and the bitterest part of it is that I deserve it all Of course I should have handed Sorais over to the guard, but I could not, and that is a fact I let her go and I pro, more is the shame to me She told me that if I would side with her she would oodness I did find the heart to say that even to marry her I could not desert my friends And now you can do what you like, I deserve it all

All I have to say is that I hope that you may never love a woman with all your heart and then be so sorely teo

'Look here, old fellow,' said Sir Henry, 'just stop a minute I have a little tale to tell you too' And he went on to narrate what had taken place on the previous day between Sorais and hi stroke to poor Good It is not pleasant to any man to learn that he has been made a tool of, but when the circumstances are as peculiarly atrocious as in the present case, it is about as bitter a pill as anybody can be called on to s

'Do you know,' he said, 'I think that between you, you fellows have about worked a cure,' and he turned and walked away, and I for one felt very sorry for him Ah, if the moths would always carefully avoid the candle, ho burnt wings there would be!

That day was a Court day, when the Queens sat in the great hall and received petitions, discussed laws, rants, and so forth, and thither we adjourned shortly afterwards On our ere joined by Good, as looking exceedingly depressed

When we got into the hall Nyleptha was already on her throne and proceeding with business as usual, surrounded by councillors, courtiers, lawyers, priests, and an unusually strong guard It was, however, easy to see from the air of excitement and expectation on the faces of everybody present that nobody was payingthat the knowledge that civil as iot abroad We saluted Nyleptha and took our accustos went on as usual, when suddenly the trureat crowd that was gathered there in anticipation of some unusual event there rose a roar of '_Sorais! Sorais!_'

Then careat curtains at the end of the hall were draide and through theht' herself Nor did she coh Priest, arrayed in his eous vestments, and on either side were other priests The reason for their presence was obvious--coe to attereat lords, and behind thelance at Sorais herself was enough to show that her old eolden scales, and on her head a little golden helmet In her hand, too, she bore a toy spear, beautifully made and fashi+oned of solid silver Up the hall she ca like a lioness in her conscious pride and beauty, and as she ca and made a path for her By the sacred stone she halted, and laying her hand on it, she cried out with a loud voice to Nyleptha on the throne, 'Hail, oh Queen!'

'All hail, my royal sister!' answered Nyleptha 'Draw thou near Fear not, I give thee safe conduct'

Sorais answered with a haughty look, and swept on up the hall till she stood right before the thrones

'A boon, oh Queen!' she cried again

'Speak on, ive thee who hath half our kingdom?'