Part 63 (2/2)

In short, now in the hour of their full property, Leonard and Juanna were ives with both hands, as the French say, but loves to rob with one while she bestoith the other To few is it allowed to be coood luck had been so overwhel in many ways, that it would have partaken of the unnatural, and ht well have excited their fears for the future, had its completeness been unmarred by these drawbacks which, such as they were, probably they learned to disre thes

Perhaps a peep into the future will tell us the rest of the story of Leonard and Juanna Outra of events

Ten years or so have gone by and Sir Leonard, now a member of Parliament and the Lord-Lieutenant of his county, comes out of church on the first Sunday in May accompanied by his wife, the stateliest matron in the country-side, and soether, as healthy as they are handsorave that lies near to the chancel door, they walk ho afternoon, till, a hundred yards or ates of a dwelling known as ”The Kraal,” shaped like a beehive, fashi+oned of straw and sticks, and built by the hands of Otter alone

Basking in the sunshi+ne in front of this hut sits the dwarf hihtest of a bundle of ash saplings that lie beside him He is dressed in a queer mixture of native and European costue in hi, Baas,” he says as Leonard comes up ”Is Baas Wallace here yet?”

”No, he will be down in time for dinner Mind that you are there to wait, Otter”

”I shall not be late, Baas, on this day of all days”

”Otter,” cries a little maid, ”you should not ”

The dwarf grins by way of answer, then speaks to Leonard in a tongue that none but he can understand

”What did I tell you o, Baas?” he says ”Did I not tell you that by this way or by that you should win the wealth, and that the great kraal across the water should be yours again, and that the children of strangers should wander there no roup of youngsters ”_Wow!_ I, otter, who as, have proved to be the best of prophets

Yet I will rest content and prophesy no more, lest I should lose my name for wisdoer hall All the servants have gone except Otter, who dressed in a white smock stands behind his master's chair There is no company present save Mr Wallace, who has just returned fro and observant, his eyeglass fixed in his eye as of yore Juanna is arrayed in full evening dress, however, and a great star ruby blazes upon her breast

”Why have you got the red stone on to-night, mother?” asks her eldest son Thomas, ith his two sisters has come down to desert

”Hush, dear,” she answers, as Otter advances to that stand on which the Bible is chained, holding a glass filled with port in his hand

”Deliverer and Shepherdess,” he says, speaking in Sisutu, ”on this day eleven years gone Baas Tom died out yonder; I, who drink wine but once a year, drink to the old House of the Great-Great”; and sing the port with a single gulp Otter throws the glass behind hi it on the floor

”Amen,” says Leonard ”Now, love, your toast”

”I drink to the memory of Francisco who died to save me,” says Juanna in a low voice

”Amen,” repeats her husband

For a ives no toast; then the boy Tholass and cries,

”And I drink to Olfan, the king of the People of the Mist, and to Otter, who killed the Snake-God, and whoet the spear and the rope and tell us the story of how he dragged you and father up the ice-bridge?”