Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1890-02-22
heaven from which they
tow

heaven from which they low
60, Macumazahn."
asked him if he was coming with me.
"No,n he answered, 'sour paths lie
apart henceforth, Macumazahn. We
met together for certain ends. Those
ends are fulfilled. Now each one goes
his own way. You have still many years
before YOU, Macumzahn; my years arc
few. When we shake hands here it will
be for the last time. Perhaps we may
meet again, but it will not be in this
world. Henceforth we have each of us
a friend the less"
"Heavy words" said.
"True words" he answered.
Well, / have little heart to write of this
rest of it. / went, leaving Indaba-zimbi
in charge of the place, and making him
a present Of such cattle and goods as /
did not want.
Tota, of course took with me. For
tunately by this time she had almost re-
covered the shock to her nerves. The
baby Harry, as he was afterwards named,
was a fine healthy child, and | twas lucky
in getting a respectable native woman,
whose husband had been killed in the
fight with the balloons, to accompany me
as his nurse.
Slowly, and followed for distance by
all the people, trekked away from
Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal
was along the edge Of the bad lands, and
my first nights outspan was beneath
that very tree where Stella, my lost wife,
had found us as we lay dying of thirst.
/ did not sleep much that night. And
yet was glad that had not died in the
desert about eleven months before. /
felt then, as from year to year l have
continued to feel while wander through
the lonely wilderness of life, that have
been preserved to an end. I had won
my darling's love, and for little while
we had been happy together. Our hap
piness was too perfect to endure. She is
lost to me now, but she is lost to be
found again.
Here on the following morning babe
farewell to Indaba-zimbi.
"Good-by, Macumazahn," he said, nod
ding his white lock at me. "Good-by
AOA ~ WlAiiCs L ebih llOb d N(lll AottSAlt yOoA
father could not make me that. But he
was wise man, and when he said that
those who love each other shall meet
again, he did not lie. And too am
wise man In my way. Macumazahn; and
say it is true that we shall meet again.
All my prophecies to you have come
true, Macumazahn, and this one shall
,r,,.a @x-xo .olrn wall xya.x fha< x,0,, bol II
return to Babyan Kraals and shall not
find me. Itell you that you shall journey
to further land than Babyan Kraals
and shall find me. FAREWELL" and he
took pinch of snuff, turned and went.
OF my Journey down to Natal there is
little to tell. met with many adven-
lures, but they were of an every day
kind, and in the end arrived safely at
Port Durham, which now visited for
the first time. Both Tota and my baby
boy bore the journey well. And here
may as well chronicle the destiny of
Tota. For year she remained under
my charge. Then she was adopted by a
lady, the wife of an English colonel, who
was stationed at the Cape. She was
taken by her adopted parents TO Eng
land, where she grew upa very charming
and pretty girl, and ultimately married
aclergyman in Norfolk. But never saw
her again, though we often wrote to each
other.
Before returned to the country of my
birth, she too had been gathered to the
land of shadows, leaving three children
behind her. All mel all this took place
so long ago, when was young who now
am old.
Perhaps it may interest the reader to
know the fate of Mr.. Carson's property,
which should of course have gone to his
grandson Harry. wrote to England to
claim the estate on his behalf, but the
lawyer to whom the matter was sub
mitted said that my marriage to Stella,
not having been celebrated by an or
dained priest, was not legal according to
English law, and therefore Harry could
not inherit. Foolishly enough acqui-
esced in this, and the property passed to
a cousin of my father-in-law's; but since
l have come to live in England 1 have
been informed that this opinion is open
to great suspicion, and that there is
every probability that the courts would
have declared the marriage perfectly
binding as having been solemnly entered
into in accordance with the custom of
the place where it was. contracted. But
am now so rich that it is not worth
while to move in the matter. The cou-
sin is dead, his son is in possession, so let
him keep it.
Once. and once only, did / revisit
Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen years after
my darlings death, when was a man
in middle life, undertook an expedi-
ton to the Zambesi, and one night out
spanned at the mouth of the we'll known
valley beneath the shadow Of the great
peak. 1 mounted my horse, and quite
alone rode up the valley, noticing with a
strange prescience of evil that the road
was overgrown, and, save for the music
of the waterfalls, the place silent as
I l. II. a