The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-09-12
THH STRANGE STORY
Allan Quatermain'S Wife
BY Fl. RIDER HAGGARD,
AUTHOR OF "SHE," "kING SoLoMoN's
MNEs," "JEss," CLEO
PATRA," ETC.
A NEW AFRICAN ROMANCE

a NE w AT N1NtaAS M hA-A W.
sI killed herr the dying woman
faltered, "and I loved her. Yes' yes
know now. became brute again and
dragged her to the brutes, and now once
more am woman, and she is dead'
and killed her-because loved her SO.
killed her who saved nc from the
brutes. I am not dead yet, Macuma-
zabn. Take me and torture ME todeath,
slowly, very slowly. 1t was jealousy OF
you that drove me mad ana nave
killed her, and now she never can for
give me-" ;,
"Ask forgiveness from above" I said,
for Hendrka had been Christian, and
the torment of her remorse touched
me.
81 ask no forgiveness" she said
"May God torture me forever, because l
killed her; may become brute for
ever till she comes to find me a4d for
give me! I only want her forgiveness."
And wailing in an anguish Of the heart
40 strc ng that her bodily suffering
seemed to be forgotten, Hendrika' the
Baboon-woman, died.
Invent back to the kraals, and, wax
ing Indaba-zimbi, told him what had
happened, asking him to send some
one to watch the body, as I proposed to
give it burial. But next morning 1t
was gone, and I found that the natives,
hearing Of tho event, had taken the
CORPSE and thrown 1t to the vultures
with every mark Of hate. Such, then,
was the end of Hendrika.
Aweek after Hendricks death I left
Babyan kraals. The place was hateful
to me now, it was haunted place. 1
sent for old Indaba-zimbi and told him
that was going. He answered that it
was we'll. "The place has served your
turn" he said; "here you have won that
ioy which it was fated you should win,
and have suffered those things which it
was fated you should suffer. Yes, and
though you know it not now, the JOY and
the suffering, like the sunshine and
| storm, are the same thing, and will rest
at last in the same heaven, the heaven
from which they came. Now go, Ma
cumazahn."
asked him if he was coming with
me. =.
ono" he answered, ''our paths lie
apart hencetorth, Macumazahn. We met
topether for certain ends. Those ends
are fulfilled. Now each one goes bis
own way. You have still many
wears before you, Macumazshn; my year:
are few. When we shake hands here II
will be for the last time. Perhaps we
NAV meet again, but it will not be II
| 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 o.
the rest of it. went, leaving Indaba
zimbi in charge of the place, and max
ing him a present of such cattle ahe
goods as did not want.
Tota I, of course, took with ne. Fort
nnatalv hv this tiroa, shesL a1s::!ss:----sa1 10
I baby Harry, as he was afterwards
named, was fine, healthy child, and
vas lucky in getting respectable na
woman, whose husband had beer
killed in the fight with the baboons, t.
accompany me as his nurse.
Slowly, and followed for distance BY
all the people, I trekked away from
Babyan kraals. Ny route towards
Natal was along the edge Of the Bai
Lands, and my first nights outspan wa
beneath that very tree where Stella, my
lost wife, had found US as we lay dying
Of thirst.
| Ibid not sleep much that night. And
yet I was glad that l had not died in the
desert about eleven months before.
felt then, as from year to year I have
continued to feel while I wander
through the lonely wilderness of life
that had been preserved to an end.
! had won my darling's love, and for lit
tie while we had been happy together.
Our happiness was too perfect to endure.
She j. lost to me now, but she is lost to
be found again.
Here on the following morning l bado
farewell to Indaba-zimbi.
"Good-bye, Macumazahn," he said,
nodding his white lock at me. "Good-
bye for awhile. T am not a Christian;
your father could not make me that.
But he was wise mnns and when he
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 not find me. tell you that you
shall journey to further land than
Babyan kraals and shall find me. Fare.
WE'LL" and he took 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 were of an everyday kind,
and in the end arrived safely in Port
Durham, which I 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 stationed at the Cape. She was
taken by her adopted parents to En-
gland, where she grew up very charm
ing and pretty girl, and ultimately mar
ried clergyman in Norfolk. But I
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 a6o. when was young who
now am old.