Part 22 (2/2)

At the top of the rise we halted for a second to breathe our horses; and, turning, glanced at the battle beneath us, which, illu the whole scene red, looked from where ere more like some wild titanic picture than an actual hand-to-hand co scenic effect froht reflected frorand as reen lap of sward in which the struggle was being fought out, the bold round outline of the hills behind, and the wide sweep of the plain beyond, seeh when one was in it, grew insignificant when viewed from the distance But is it not thus with all the affairs and doings of our race about which we blow the loud trumpet and make such a fuss and worry? How utterly antlike, and nificant, must they see depths above!

'We win the day, Macu in the whole situation with a glance of his practised eye 'Look, the Lady of the Night's forces give on every side, there is no stiffness left in the with but half a heart But alas! the battle will in a iments will not be able to follow and slay!'--and he shook his head sadly 'But,' he added, 'I do not think that they will fight again We have fed the a ht worth seeing'

By this tiain, and as ent side by side I told him what our mission was, and how that, if it failed, all the lives that had been lost that day would have been lost in vain

'Ah!' he said, 'nigh on a hundred miles and no horses but these, and to be there before the dawn! Well--away! away! man can but try, Macumazahn; and mayhap we shall be there in tion's] skull for him Once he wanted to burn us, the old ”rain-maker”, did he? And noould set a snare for my mother [Nyleptha], would he?

Good! So sure as my name is the name of the Woodpecker, so surely, be my mother alive or dead, will I split him to the beard Ay, by T'Chaka's head I swear it!' and he shook Inkosi-kaas as he galloped By now the darkness was closing in, but fortunately there would be a h the twilight, the two splendid horses we bestrode had got their wind by this, and were sweeping along with a wide steady stride that neither failed nor varied for alloped, across wide vales that stretched to the foot of far-off hills Nearer and nearer grew the blue hills; noere travelling up their steeps, and noere over and passing towards others that sprang up like visions in the far, faint distance beyond

On, never pausing or drawing rein, through the perfect quiet of the night, that was set like a song to the falling es, where only so howled a s; on, through the white patchy ht, that lay coldly upon the wide bosoh there was no warmth in it; on, knee to knee, for hour after hour!

We spake not, but bent us forward on the necks of those two glorious horses, and listened to their deep, long-drawn breaths as they filled their great lungs, and to the regular unfaltering ring of their round hoofs Griaas look beside reat white horse, like Death in the Revelation of St John, as now and again lifting his fierce set face he gazed out along the road, and pointed with his axe towards some distant rise or house

And so on, still on, without break or pause for hour after hour

At last I felt that even the splendid aniive out I looked at ht, and ere considerably , which I rehts before, and here I ive the horses and ourselves ten minutes to breathe in He did so, and we disaas did, and then helped ue, stiffness, and the pain of allant horses stood panting there, resting first one leg and then another, while the sweat fell drip, drip, fro in pale clouds in the still night air

Leaving U and drank deep of its saters I had had nothing but a single an, and I was parched up, though ry Then, having laved my fevered head and hands, I returned, and the Zulu went and drank Next we allowed the horses to take a couple of et the poor beasts away from the water! There were yet twoup and down to try and relievethe condition of the horses My h she as evidentlyher head, and her eye looked sick and dull; but Daylight, Nyleptha's glorious horse--who, if he is served aright, should, like the steeds who saved great Raoldenfresh, notwithstanding the fact that he had had by far the heavier weight to carry He was 'tucked up', indeed, and his legs eary, but his eye was bright and clear, and he held his shapely head up and gazed out into the darkness round hiood for those five-and-forty aas helped e that he was!--vaulted into his oithout touching a stirrup, and ere off once ot into their stride, and then more swiftly So we passed over another ten , weary rise of some six or seven miles, and three tiround with ether, and rattled down the slope with long, convulsive strides, breathing in gasps We did that three or four miles more swiftly than any since we had started on our wild ride, but I felt it to be a last effort, and I was right Suddenly my poor horse took the bit between her teeth and bolted furiously along a stretch of level ground for some three or four hundred yards, and then, with two or three jerky strides, pulled herself up and fell with a crash right on to her head, I rolling led to my feet the brave beast raised her head and looked at me with piteous bloodshot eyes, and then her head dropped with a groan and she was dead Her heart was broken

Uaas pulled up beside the carcase, and I looked at him in dismay

There were still more than twenty miles to do by dawn, and hoe to do it with one horse? It seeotten the old Zulu's extraordinary running powers

Without a single word he sprang froan to hoist me into it

'What wilt thou do?' I asked

'Run,' he answered, seizing ain, alet that change of horses! Anybody who has ever ridden against ti at a long stretching hand-gallop, giving the gaunt Zulu a lift at every stride It was a wonderful thing to see old Uhtly parted and his nostrils agape like the horse's Every five et his breath, and then flew on again

'Canst thou go farther,' I said at the third of these stoppages, 'or shall I leave thee to follow me?'

He pointed with his axe to a dim mass before us It was the Temple of the Sun, now not asped

Oh, that last five s, and every uish Nor was that all

I was exhausted with toil, want of food and sleep, and also suffering very much froh a piece of bone or soht, too, was pretty nearly finished, and no wonder But there was a sht not stay; better that all three of us should die upon the road than that we should linger while there was life in us The air was thick and heavy, as it son in certain parts of Zu-Vendis that sunrise is at hand--hundreds of little spiders pendant on the end of long tough ere floating about in it These early-rising creatures, or rather their webs, caught upon the horse's and our own fory to brush therey threads that streae appearance they e brazen gates of the outer wall of the Frowning City, and a new and horrible doubt strikes me: What if they will not let us in?

'_Open! open!_' I shout i the royal password '_Open! open!_ a s of the war!'

'What news?' cried the guard 'And who art thou that ridest so ue lolls out'--and it actually did--'and who runs by thee like a dog by a chariot?'