Part 35 (1/2)
”What, Toad! More slander?” cried Saduko ”I went over for one reason only--to be revenged upon the Prince because he had taken from me her as more to me than life or honour Aye, and when I went over U; it was because I went that he lost and died, as I h now,” he added sadly, ”I would that I had not brought him to ruin and the dust, who think that, like ers
”O King,” he added, turning to Panda, ”kill me, I pray you, who am not worthy to live, since to him whose hand is red with the blood of his friend, death alone is left, hile he breathes, ry eyes”
Then Nandie sprang up and said:
”Nay, Father, listen not to him who is mad, and therefore holy[]
What he has done, he has done, who, as he has said, was but a tool in another's hand As for our babe, I knoell that he would have died sooner than harm it, for he loved it hts he wept and would touch no food Give this poor man to o hence to soet”
[--The Zulus suppose that insane people are inspired
--AQ]
”Be silent, daughter,” said the King; ”and you, O Zikali, the Nyanga, be silent also”
They obeyed, and, after thinking awhile, Panda made a motion with his hand, whereon the two councillors lifted the kaross from off Mameena, who looked about her cala part in a great gaame of life and death
Now, have you heard the tale of Zikali the Little and Wise, and the words of Saduko, as once your husband, or ; , and I would not waste your time”
”Then what have you to say, wo of her shoulders, ”except that I have lost in this game You will not believe me, but if you had left me alone I should have told you so, who did not wish to see that poor fool, Saduko, killed for deeds he had never done Still, the tale he told you was not told because I had bewitched him; it was told for love of me, whom he desired to save It was Zikali yonder; Zikali, the enemy of your House, who in the end will destroy your House, O Son of Senzangakona, that bewitched him, as he has bewitched you all, and forced the truth out of his unwilling heart
”Nohat s that are laid to s which have not been stated Oh, I played for great stakes, I, who meant to be the Inkosazana of the Zulus, and, as it chances, by the weight of a hair I have lost
I thought that I had counted everything, but the hair's weight which turned the balance against me was the mad jealousy of this fool, Saduko, upon which I had not reckoned I see now that when I left Saduko I should have left hiht of it Once I mixed the poison in his drink, and then he cas, and kissed rew soft and I overset the bowl that was at his lips Do you not remember, Saduko?
”So, so! For that folly alone I deserve to die, for she ould reign”--and her beautiful eyes flashed royally--”er's heart, not that of a woman Well, because I was too kind I o hence awaited by thousands upon thousands that I have sent before reeted presently by your son, Indhlovu-ene-Sihlonti, and his warriors, greeted as the Inkosazana of Death, with red, lifted spears and with the royal salute!
”Now, I have spoken Walk your little road, O King and Prince and Councillors, till you reach the gulf into which I sink, that yawns for all of you O King, when you ulf, what a tale you will have to tell , you whose heart henceforth must be eaten out by a worm that is called _Love-of-the-Lost_ O Prince and Conqueror Cetewayo, what a tale you will have to tell ulf, you ill bring your nation to a wreck and at last die as I must die--only the servant of others and by the will of others Nay, askof your House and will see its end Oh, yes, as you say, I am a witch, and I know, I know! Come, I a but fools whom it is so easy toPiff! I a, and I am tired of you drunken and brutal, you who, after all, are but beasts of the field to whoiven heads which can think, but which always think wrong
”Now, King, before you unchain your dogs upon me, I ask one moment
I said that I hated all men, yet, as you know, no woman can tell the truth--quite There is a man whom I do not hate, whom I never hated, whom I think I love because he would not love me He sits there,” and to my utter dismay, and the intense interest of that company, she pointed at ic,' of which you have heard so o; yes, I let the rare fish go when he was on o, since, had I kept him, a fine story would have been spoiled and I should have beco but a white hunter's servant, to be thrust away behind the door when the white Inkosikazi came to eat his ht behind a door Well, when he was at my feet and I spared him, he made me a promise, a very small promise, which yet I think he will keep noe part for a little while Macumazahn, did you not promise to kiss me once more upon the lips whenever and wherever I should ask you?”
”I did,” I answered in a hollow voice, for in truth her eyes held me as they had held Saduko
”Then co will permit it, and since I have now no husband, who take Death to husband, there is none to say you nay”
I rose It seemed to me that I could not help myself I went to her, this woman surrounded by ireat stakes and lost them, and who kneell how to lose I stood before her, ashareatness, evil though it ht be, drove out my shaedy
Slowly she lifted her languid arm and threw it about my neck; slowly she bent her red lips to mine and kissed me, once upon the mouth and once upon the forehead But between those two kisses she did a thing so swiftly that my eyes could scarcely follohat she did It seemed to me that she brushed her left hand across her lips, and that I saw her throat rise as though she sed so:
”Farewell, O Macuet this kiss of ain we shall have much to talk of, for between now and then your story will be long Farewell, Zikali I pray that all your plannings may succeed, since those you hate are those I hate, and I bear you no grudge because you told the truth at last Farewell, Prince Cetewayo You will never be the man your brother would have been, and your lot is very evil, you who are dooreat Farewell, Saduko the fool, who threay your fortune for a woh the world were not full of wo will nurse you well until your haunted end Oh! why does Umbelazi lean over your shoulder, Saduko, and look at ely? Farewell, Panda the Shado let loose your slayers Oh! let them loose swiftly, lest they should be balked of my blood!”