The Irish standard., 1890-02-22
n 5 STR A N CT; STORY
asSss s551 OF 55 sa5 5ss
!. Allan II 4 1 Qqatg ! Wife i
s BY III. RIDER HAGGARD,
AUTHoR OF "SnE," KING SoLonoN'l
MMEs,' g jess, CLEO
4 PATRA," Enc.
\ IA NEW AFRICAN ROMANCE.


tanault lessened somewhat, and once
snore the warriors drew back.
''Great white spirit-spirit of victory,
said Indaba-zimbi, addressing me alouG
sand covering his eyes with his hand
shear me and forqiye me. These chill
s1rsn are blind with folly, and think
sShee mortal because thou hast dealt
death upon a mortal who dared to stand
against thee. Deign to kneel before me
and let me pierce thy heart with this
4speart, then when I call upon thee arise
<unhurt"
Fknelt down, not because wished to,
but because + must. [ had not over
much faith in linda ba-zimE hi, and thought
At probable that he was in truth about to
snake an end of me. But really was so
worn with fears, and the horrors Of the
night and day had SO shaken my nerves,
that j did not greatly care what befell
ane. When I had been kneeling thus
for about half minute Indaba-zimbi
spoke.
1sPeople of the Umtetwa children of
TChaka," he said, s'draw back a little
space, lest an svil fall on you, for now
she air is thick with ghosts"
They drew back space, leaving us in
q circle about twelve yards in diameter.
@sLook on him who kneels before
you" went on Indaba-zimbi, t'and
listen to my words, to the words of the
<witch-fnder, the words of the rain
maker, Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is
known to you. He seems to be a man,
does he not? / tell you, children Of the
Umtetwa, he is no man. He is the
spirit who gives victory to the white
xmen, he it is who gave them assegais
Shat thunder and taught them how to
sslay. Why were the Impis of Dingaan
zrolled back at the Blood river. Because
tsse was there. Why did the Amaboona
sslay the people of Mosilikaayye by the
thousand? Because liz was there. Aid
go say to you that, had I not drawn
hin, from the lager by my magic but
three hours ago, you would have been
eonquered-yes, you would have been
Blown away like the dust before the
wind; you would have been burnt up
like the dry grass in the winter when
Che fire IS awake among it. Ay, be-
cause he had but been there many of
your braves were slain in overcoming
a few--a pinch of men who could be
counted on the fingers. But because /
loved you, because your chief, Susu a,
I is nav half brcther-for had We not one
fa5her?-I came to you, warned you.
= Then you prayed me and l drew tho
spirit forth. But you were not satisfied
zwhen the victory was yours, when the
spirit Of all you had taken asked but
one little thing--a white child to take
away and sacrifice to himself, to make
She medicine of his magic Of"
Here l could hardly restrain myself
from interrupting, but thought better
of it,
@'You said him nay; you said: Let
a1im fight with our bravest man, let him
fight with Bo1nbyane the giant for the
child And he deigned to Stay Bomby-
sane as you have seen, and now you say:
SHAY him; he is no spirit Now 1 will
show you if he is g spirit, for will Stay
&im before your eyes, and call him to
1ife again. But you have brought this
upon yourselves. Had you believed,
had you offered no insult to the spirit,
he would have stayed with you, and you
should have become unconquerabie.
Now he will arise and leave you, and
woe be on you if you try to stay him.
Now, all men," he went on. s'look for q
space upon this assegai that hold up, }"
and he lifted the bangwan of the de-
ceased Bombyane high above his head
so that all the multitude could see it.
Every eye was fixed upon the broad
;pright spear. For awhile he held it
still, then he moved it round and round
In circle, muttering as he did so, and
still their gaze followed it! For my
mart, I followed his movements with the
Greatest anxiety. That assegai had al
ready been nearer my person than l
found at all pleasant, and had no de-
sire to make further acquaintance with
1T. Nor, indeed, was sure that Indaba-
zimbi was not really going to kill me.
T could not understand his proceedings
at all, and at the best ! did not relish
shaving the corpus gi2e to hts magical ex-
periments.
eLook! look! zookn' he screamed.
Then suddenly the great spear flashed
down towards my breast, felt nothing,
but it seemed as though it passed
through me.
ssSee!' roared the Zulus. 'tIndaba-
simbi has speared him; the red assegai
stands out behind his back.
ssRoll over, Macumazahn, Indaba-
ximbi Kissed in my ear, ''roll over and
pretend to die quick! quick"
/ lost no time in following these
a.trange instructions, but falling on my
side, threw my arms wide, kicked my
legs about and died as artistically as l
could. Presently I gave stage shiver
and lay still.
.ssee!" said the zu1us, che is dead, the
spirit is dead. Look at the blood upon
the assegai."
s.stand backl stand backP' cried In
.daba-zimbi, ''or the ghost will haunt I'm
YOU. Yes, he is dead, and now ! will
call him back to life again. Look!' 4 and 11
putting down his hand, he plucked the
81 ear, from wherever it was fixed, and
held it aloft. ssThe spear IS red, is It
snotp Watch, men, watchl Il grows grows
WI lite. " ''a . /.
yes, it grows whites Z they saild, s y,
I. 1t grows VIII te !!' '% Il }g.s
t. grows white because the blood re- 4