The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-08

had not time to inquire the meaning
 After this they embraced and part ed. not without some tears.
 When the gate shut behind Noie
 Rachel walked to the high ground al
 the back of her hut, whence she coul6
 see over the fence of the kraal, ana | watched her departure. She had ar
 escort of a hundred picked soldiers
 with whom went fifty or sixty strong | bearers, who carried food, karosses
 and litter. Also there were three
 two women, widows of high rank who | were to attend upon her. At the
 head of the procession, save for two guides, walked Noie herself with san-
 daIs on. her feet, white robe about l her shoulders, and in her hand a lit | tie bough on which grew shining
 leaves, whereof Rachel did not know
 the meaning. She watched them un-
 til they passed over the brow of the l hill, on the crest of which Noie turned
 and waved the bough towards her.
 Then Rachel went back to her hut, l and sat there alone and wept.
 This was the beginning of many dreadful days, most of which she pass | ed wandering about within the circuit Of the kraal fence, a space of some three or four acres, or seated under the shadow of certain beautiful trees. which overhung a deep, clear pool of the stream that ran through the kraaI reed-fringed pool whereon foated
 blooming lilies. That quiet water, the
 happy birds that nestled in the trees
 and the Towering lilies seemed to be
 her only friends. Of the last, indeed, she would count the buds, watching them open in the morning and close again for their sleep at night, until day came when their loveIiness turned to decay, and others appeared in their place.
 On the morrow of Noie's departure
 Tambossa and other indunas visited
 her, and asked her if she would not descend to the kraal of the King, and help him and his council to try cases
 since while she was in the land she was its first judge. She answered,
 NO, that place smelt too much of blood If they had cases for her to try, let them be brought before her in her own house. This she said idly, thinking no more of 1t, but next day was astonished to learn that. the plain tiff and defendant in a great suit with their respective advocates. and rom thirty to forty witnesses, were waiting without to know when 1t was her please to attend to their busi- ness.
 With characteristic couraxe Rach l law was, it is true limited to what, for lack of anything more exciting, she had read In some handbooics belonging to her father, who had been a justice or the peace in the Cape Colony, and to a few cases which she had seen tried in a rough and-ready fashion at Durban, to which must be added an intimate acquaintance with Kaffir GUS toms. Still. being possessed with a sincere desire to discover the truth and execute justice. she did very we'll The matter in dispute was q large one that of the ownership of a great herd herttance by each of the parties. Rachel soon discovered that both these men were very powerful chiefs, and that the reason of their cause being knew that if he decided in favour of either o6 them he would mortally of fend the other. 1
 For a long while Rachel, seated on her stool, listened silently to the i'm passioned pleadinss of the plaintiffs s lawyers. Presently this plaintiff was called as a witness, and in the course.t of his evidence said something which convinced her that he was lying. Then breaking her silence for the first time, she asked him how he dared to give false witness before the Inkosazana-y-l Zoola, to whom the truth was always open, and who was acquainted with every circumstance connected with the eyes fixed upon him, and being con- vinced of her supernatural powers, grew afraid, broke down, and publicly confessed his attempted fraud, into | which he said he had been led by envy of his cousin, the defendants, riches.
 Rachel gave judgment accordingly, | that he should pay the | costs in cattle and a. fine to the King. | and warned him to be more upright in | future The result was that her fame as judge spread throughout the land, l and every day her gates were beset | with suitors whose causes she dealt | with to the best of her ability, and to | their entire satisfaction Criminal | that involved the death- | sentence or matters connected with | however, she steadily re- k<,k A. should not cause blood to flow. These things she left to the King and his | Council, confining herself to such ac- tions as in England would come before | the Court of Chancery. Thus to her reputation as a spiritual queen, Rachel | added that of an upright judge who | could not be influenced by fear or | br-bbes. the first, perhaps, that had ever | been known in Zululand.
 But she could not try such cases all | day, the strain was too great, although | in the end most of them partook of the | nature of arbitrations, since the parties | involved, having come to the conclu- sion that it was not possible to deceive | one so wise, grew truthful and submit | ted their differences to the decision of | her wisdom
 After they were dismissed, which was always at noon, for she opened her | court at seven and would not sit more | than five hours, Rachel was left in | her solitary state until the next morn | ing, and oh! the hours hung heavy up on her hands. A messenger was des- | patched to Ramah, but after ten days | he returned saying that the Tugeia was in flood, and he could not cross it. | She sent him out again, and a week | later was told that he had been killed | by a. lion on his journey. Then am other messenger was chosen, but what | became of him she never knew.
 It was about this time that Rachel learned that Ishmael, having recov- | cred from his sickness, had escaped l from Umgugundhlovu by night, whith- | CT none seemed to know. From that | fears gathered thick upon the | poor girl. She dreaded Ishmael and l guessed that his departure without l with her boded her no l good. Indeed, once or twice she al- l most wished that she had taken Noie's | counsel and given him over to the jus tice of the King. Meanwhile of Noie | herself nothing had been heard. She | had vanished into the wilderness.
 Living this strange and most unnat- |