The Irish standard., 1890-03-29

BY 81. RIDER HAGGARD, a 8S5
AUTHOR OF SIZE ssK1NG SoLoMoN's
M1rEs," JESS" CLEO
& PATRA," Eric.
"A NEW AFRICAN ROMANCE.


unately by this time she had almost re-
covered the shock to her nerves. The
baby Harry, as he was afterwards
named, was fine, healthy child, and /
was lucky in getting a respectable ma
tive 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 have
continued to feel while ! wander
through the lonely wilderness Of life,
that had been preserved to az end. l
had won my darling's love, and for lit
Jle while we had been happy together.
Our happiness was too perfect to endure.
She l. lost to me now, but she is lost to
be found again.
Here OH the following morning l babe
farewell to Indaba-zimbi
''Good-bye, Macumazahn,' he said,
nodding his white lock at me. "Good-
bye fer awhile. I am not Christian;
your father could not make me that.
But he was wise man, and when ne
said that those who love each other
shall meet again he did not lie. And l,
too, am wise man in my way, Macuma-
zahn. And say it is true that we shall
meet again. All my prophecies to you
have come true, Macumazahn, and this
one shall come true also. [ tell you that
YOU shall return to Babyan kraals and
shall journey to a further land than
.Babyan kraals and shall find me. Fare
WE'LL" and he took q pinch Of snuff,
turned, and went.
; OF my Journey down to Natal there is
little to tell. I met with many advent
ures, but they We're Of an everyday kind,
and in the end arrived safely in Port
Durham, which | now visited for the
first time. Both Tota and my baby boy
bore the journey we'll. And here may
as we'll 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 sta toned at the Cape She was
taken by her adopted parents to En-
gland, whore she grew up very charm
ing and pretty girl, and ultimately mar
ried clergyman in Norfolk. But L
never saw her again, though we often
wrote to each other.
Before I returned to the country Of
my birth, she, too, had been gathered to
the land of shadows. leaving three chill
dren behind her. An me! 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 mat
ter was submitted said that my mar
rage to Stella, not having been cele-
brated by an ordained priest, was not
legal according to English law, and
therefore Harry could not inherit.
Foolishly enough acquiesced in this,
and the property passed to cousin of
nv father-in-law; but since I have come
TO live in England have been informed
that this opinion is open to great sus-
picion, and that there is every probable
ity that the courts would have declared
the marriage perfectly binding, as hav~
,icr mt in a n.
cordance 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 cousin is dead,
his son is in possession, so let him keep
it.
Once, and once only, did Irevisit Bah
yam kraals. Some fifteen years after
my darling's death, when was man
in middle age, undertook an expedi-
ton to the Zambesi, and one night out
spanned at the mouth of the well-known
valley beneath the shadow of the great
peak. I mounted my horse, and, quite
alone, rode up the valley, noticing with
strange prescience of evil that the
road was oyergrown, and, save for the
music Of the waterfalls, the place silent
as death. The kraals that used to be to
the left OF the road by the river had van
ished. l rode toward their site; the
mealie fields were choked with weeds,
paths were dumb with grass. Presently
Preached the place. There, oYergrown
with grass, were the burnt ashes Of the
kraals, and there, among the ashes,
cleaning in the moonlight, lay the
white bones of men. Now it was clear
to me. The settlement had been fallen
on by some powerful foe, and its inhab-
itants put TO the assegai The forebod-
ings Of the natives had come true; Bah
yam kraals were peopled by memories
3 alone. l passed on up tho terraces.
There shone the roofs Of the marble
huts. They would not burn, and were
too strong to be easily pulled down.
4 entered one of them-it had beell
our sleeping hut-and lit a cam
die which I had with me. The
huts had been sacked; leaves of books
& And broken fragments Of the familiar
furniture lay about. Then I remem.
& bered that there was q secret place hol-
II lowed in the floor and concealed by
stone, where Stella used to hide her
49, u /. ~