Part 25 (1/2)
U upon lish white ood treatment he was prepared to promise to them, should he ever attain to authority in Zululand It was during one of the earliest of these conversations, which, of course, I saw had an ultimate object, that he met Maether in a little natural glade of the bush that bordered one side of the kraal, when, at the end of it, looking like so sun, appeared the lovely Mairdle of fur, her necklace of blue beads and soourd
U his political talk, of which he was obviously tired, asked ht be
”She is not an intoain a wife, the second wife of your friend and councillor, Saduko, and the daughter of your host, Umbezi”
”Is it so, Macuh, as it chances, I have never met her before No wonder that my sister Nandie is jealous, for she is beautiful indeed”
”Yes,” I answered, ”she looks pretty against the red sky, does she not?”
By noere drawing near to Ma
”Nothing, Macumazahn,” she answered in her delicate, modest way, for never did I know anyone who could seelance of her shy eyes at the tall and splendid U with the ave ht that perhaps, as the day has been so hot, you ourd from her head, she held it out to me
I thanked her, drank some--who could do less?--and returned it to her, whereon she h she would hasten to depart
”May I not drink also, daughter of Umbezi?” asked Umbelazi, who could scarcely take his eyes off her
”Certainly, sir, if you are a friend of Macuourd
”I am that, Lady, and more than that, since I am a friend of your husband, Saduko, also, as you will knohen I tell you that ht it must be so,” she replied, ”because of your--of your stature Let the Prince accept the offering of his servant, who one day hopes to be his subject,” and, dropping upon her knee, she held out the gourd to him Over it I saw their eyes meet He drank, and as he handed back the vessel she said:
”O Prince, ranted a ith you? I have that to tell which you would perhaps do well to hear, since news sometimes reaches the ears of humble women that escapes those of the men, oura hint which Ma about business and reat deal to tell Uone by before, by the light of the on-box, whence, according to eneral, I saw her slip back to the kraal silently as a snake, followed at a little distance by the towering form of Umbelazi
Apparently Mameena continued to be the recipient of information which she found it necessary to communicate in private to the prince At any rate, on sundry subsequent evenings the dullness of raceful figure gliding home from the kloof that Umbelazi seemed to find a very suitable spot for reflection after sunset On one of the last of these occasions I re coon for some medicine for her baby
”What does it one by, as they thought unobserved, since ere standing where they could not see us
”I don't know, and I don't want to know,” I answered sharply
”Neither do I, Macumazahn; but without doubt we shall learn in time If the crocodile is patient and silent the buck always drops into its jaws at last”
On the day after Nandie made this wise remark Saduko started on a mission, as I understood, to win over several doubtful chiefs to the cause of Indhlovu-ene-sihlonti (the Elephant-with-the-tuft-of-hair), as the Prince Uh not to his face
This mission lasted ten days, and before it was concluded an i Mae, and said that she could bear her present life no longer Presu on her rank and position as head-wife, Nandie treated her like a servant--nay, like a little dog, to be beaten with a stick She wished that Nandie would die
”It will be very unlucky for you if she does,” I answered, ”for then, perhaps, Zikali will be summoned to look into the matter, as he was before”
What was she to do, she went on, ignoring e that you have o away), I suggested ”There was no need for you to marry Saduko, any more than there was for you to marry Masapo”
”How can you talk toher foot, ”when you knoell it is your fault if I married anyone?