Part 28 (1/2)
In a nal, the voices died away Then other things happened To begin with I felt very faint, as though all the strength were being taken out of ot a hold of me I don't quite knohat it was, but it had to do with the Bible story of Adam when he fell asleep and a rib was removed from him and made into a woman I reflected that I felt as Adam must have done when he came out of his trance after this terrific operation, very weak and empty Also, as it chanced, presently I saw Eve-or rather a wo at the fire in a kind of dise from it, which srees, and through the veil of s else, namely, a wohtly clad enough, her fingers playing with the blue beads of her necklace, an inscrutable sness
Oh! Heaven, I knew her, or rather thought I did at the moment, for now I am almost sure that it was Noe ca deceived by the uncertain light, that the long dead Mameena stood before us as she had see a kind of supernatural life and beauty
A little wind arose, shaking the dry leaves of the aloes in the kloof; I thought it whispered-Hail, Ma the voices murmured, ”It is Marew silent
As for the figure it stood there patient and un with the blue beads I heard theainst each other, which proves that it was huh it is true that Christhosts are said to clank their chains Her eyes roved idly and without interest over the serees they fixed the, whereon Goza sank paralyzed to the ground She contemplated this tree for a while that seearew intent and alert She ceased playing with the beads and stretched out her slender hand towards -
”O Watcher-by-Night, is it thus you greet her to whoth to stand once more beneath the moon? Come hither and tell me, have you no kiss for one from whom you parted with a kiss?”
I heard Without doubt the voice was the very voice of Mameena (so well had Nombe been instructed) Still I deter-stock for a second ti with the dead seemed to me somewhat unholy, and not on any account would I take a part in it
All the company turned and stared at me, even Goza lifted his head and stared, but I sat still and conteht
”If it is the spirit of Mameena, he will come,” whispered Cetewayo to Umnyamana
”Yes, yes,” answered the Prime Minister, ”for the rope of his love will draw hiain when she asks”
Hearing this I grew furiously indignant and was about to break into explanations, when tofro to it, but, as it only cao
”Hold ood fellow clutched me by the ankle, whereon I promptly kicked him in the mouth, at leasttowards that Shape-shadooman-like a man in his sleep, and as I came she stretched out her arh I felt quite sure that she was nothing of the sort
Now I stood opposite to her alongside the fire of which the smoke smelt like roses at the dawn, and she seemed to bend towards me With shame and humiliation I perceived that in another moment those arms would be about ht of them in the rose-scented smoke, only the sweet, slow voice which I could have sas that of Mameena, murmured in my ear-well, words known to her and h of course I am aware now that they must also have been known to soer?” went on the”Say, am I Nombe now? Or-or am I in truth that Mameena, whose kiss thrills your lips and soul? Hearken, Macureat battle that shall be, do not fly with the white men, but set your face towards Ulundi One as your friend will guard you, and whoever dies, no harm shall come to you now that the fire which burns in my heart has set all Zululand aflame Hearken once ht-in-Darkness, he who died aives you praise He bids me tell you that now of his own accord he renders to me, Mameena, the royal salute, because royal I must ever be; because also he and I who are so far apart are yet one in the love that is our life”
The sht -
”Tell us, are the lips of the dead witch warroaned, ”for I never touched her”
”How he lies! Oh! how he lies even about what our eyes saw,” said Cetewayo reflectively as I blundered past hiot ure that pretended to be Ma, I suppose in answer to some question of Zikali's which I had not heard It said-
”O Lord of the Spirits, you have called me from the land of Spirits to make reply as to two matters which have not yet happened upon the earth These replies I will give but no others, since the th that I have borrowed returns whence it came The first matter is, if there be war between the White and Black, ill happen in that war? I see a plain ringed round with hills and on it a strange-shaped o down like corn before a tempest; I see the spears of the impis redden; I see the white soldiers lie like leaves cut from a tree by frost They are dead, all dead, save a handful that have fled away I hear the ingo here at Ulundi It is finished
”The second ? I see him tossed on the Black Water; I see hi with a royal woman and her councillors There, too, he conquers, for they offer hiifts I see hireeted with the royal salute Last of all I see him dead, asof the wo Cetewayo, I pass to tell Panda, your father, how it fares with you When last we parted did I not prophesy to you that we should ulf, think you, or another? One day you shall learn Farewell, or fare ill, as it may happen!”
Once more the sether again, the Shape was gone
Now I thought that the Zulus would be so impressed by this very queer exhibition, that they would seek no uidance, but make up their minds for war at once This, however, was just what they did not do As it happened, areat repute as a witch-doctor, and therefore burned with jealousy of Zikali who appeared to be able to do things that he had never even attempted This man leapt up and declared that all which they had see trickery, carried out after long preparation by Zikali and his confederates The voices, he said, came from persons placed in certain spots, or sometimes were produced by Zikali himself As for the vision, it was not that of a spirit but of a real woman, in proof of which he called attention to certain anatoure Finally, with much sense, he pointed out that the Council would be ive faith to prophecies, whereof the truth or falsity could only be known in the future
Now a fierce debate broke out, the war party enuine, the peace party that they were a fraud In the end, as neither side would give way and as Zikali, when appealed to, sat silent as a stone, refusing any explanation, the king said-
”Must we sit here talking, talking, till daylight? There is but one man who can know the truth, that is Macumazahn Let him deny it as he will, he was the lover of this Mameena while she was alive, for with my own eyes I saw him kiss her before she killed herself It is certain, therefore, that he knows if the woman we sees which a ets I propose, therefore, that we should question himent of his answer”
This advice, which seemed to promise a road out of a blind ally, met with instant acceptance
”Let it be so,” they cried with one voice, and in another minute I was once more conducted from behind my tree and set down upon the stool in front of the Council, with ht not charh you have lied to us in a certain matter, of this we do not think much, since it is one upon which both e will know Therefore we still believe you to be an honest s have proved for ive us a true answer to a plain question Was the Shapebefore us just noohost of Mameena, the beautiful witch who died near this place nearly the quarter of a hundred years ago, she who, since a man always loves a woman who loves him, or thinks that he does?”