The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-09-12

ri;f7a Il vi: c5J 5rac5 5ld: -t;it All i,':;e |
so rich shat it is not worth while 70
move iii the matter. The cousin IS dcad' !
his SON is in possession, 50 let him keep
1t.
Once, and once only, did lreTlslt bao-
van kraals. Some fifteen years al'er
NV darling's death, when was q man
in middle age, undertook an cAPeoi-
ton to the Zambesi, and one night OUT
snanned at the mouth Of the weIL-kno"n
valley beneath the shadow OF the grea0
peak. I mounted my horse, and' quite
alone, rode up the valley, noticing WIN
a strange prescience OF evil tha0 Inc
road was oyergrown, and, save tor the
music of the waterfalls, the place silent
as death. The kraals that used to DC 10
the left of the road by the river had van
ished. I rode toward their sito' inc
mealie fields were cholsed with "eeds'
paths were dumb with grass. Presently
1 reached the place. There, overgrown
with grass, were the burnt ashes Oh Iho
lkraals, and there, among the asnes'
cleaning in the moonlight, lay the
white bones of men. Now it was clear
to me. The settlement had been fallen
on bv some powerful foe, and its lnhao-
itants put to the assegai. The foreoou-
mos of the natives had come true; bao-
van kraals were peopled by memories
alone. I passed on up the terraces
| There shone the roofs OF the marolc
huts. They would not burn, and were
too strong TO be easily pulled down.
I entered one of them--it had peen
our sleeping hut-and lit a can ca,
die which I had with me. Inc
huts had been sacked; leaves OF BOOKS
and broken fragments of the familiar
furniture lay about. Then remen-
bered that there was secret place mol
lowed in the floor and concealed by a
stone, where Stella used to hide her
little treasures. I went to the stone
and dragged it up. There was some
thing within wrapped in molderlng,
native cloth. I undid it. It was the
dress my wife had been married IN. IN
the center of the dress were the
withered wreath and flowers she had
worn, and with them little paper
packet. I opened it; it contained
lock of my own hair. l remembered
that had searched for this dress wher
came away and couldn't find 1t, for
had forgotten the secret recess in the
floor.
Taking the dress with me l LETT tne
= hut for the last time. Leaving my
horse tied to a tree, walked to the
graveyard, through the ruined garden
There it was mass of weeds, but oVel
my darling's grave grew a selt-soWI
orange tree, of which the scented petals
j., fell in showers on to the mound be
! meath. AS I drew near there was
: crash and a rush. A great baboo1
; leapt from the center of the graveyard
and vanished into the trees. Icould al
; most believe thatit was the wrath O.
. Hendrika doomed to keep an eterna
watch over the bones OF the woman he'
Jealous rage had done to death.
! I tarried therc awhile, filed witt
: such thoughts as may not bo written
Then, leaving my dead wife to hor long
sleep where the waters fell in melan
choly music beneath the shadow OF the
? everlasting mountain, turned ant
! sought that spot where first we had toIt
] our love. Now the orange grove wa
! nothing but tangled thicket; many o
: the trees were dead, choked with creep
ers, but some still flourished. There
stood the ~ cths x issaa -a2l
sff been our seat, and there on the rock sa
+ Stella, the Stella whom I had wed. Ay
there she sat, and on her upturned face
was that same spiritual look which
saw upon it in the hour when we frs
had kissed. The moonlight shone II
her dark eyes, the breeze waved in hel
curling hair, her breast rose and fell
agentle smile played about her parted
,. lips. Istood transfxed, gazing on thai
= lost loveliness which once was mine.
, could not speak, and she spokeno word
she did not even seem to see me.
drew near. Now her eyes fell. For {
moment they met mine, and their mes
sage entered into me.
Then she was gone; nothing was left
but the tremulous moonlight falling
where she had been, the melancholy
music of the waters, the shadow Of the
everlasting mountain, and, in my heart
the sorrow and the hope.
THE END.