The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-10

Because of the way in which those indunas looked at each other just now. There was some evil serret in, their eyes. Richard, I am afraid
 CHAPTER XIV.
 What Glanced at Ranah.
 The news which reached Rachel that Ishmael had been ill after the rough handling of the captains in her pres ence, was true enough. For many days he was far too ill to travel, and when he recovered sufficiently to start he could only Journey slowly to the Tugela-
 It will be remembered that she was told that he had escaped, as indeed he seemed to do, slipping off at night, but this escape of his was carefully ar ranged beforehand, nor did any at tempt to relcapture him upon his way. When at length he came to the river he found the small impi awaiting him, not knowing whither they were to go or what they were to do, their only orders being that they must obey him in all things. He found also that the Tuge1a was in furious flood, so that to ford it proved Qufte impossible. Here, then, he was obliged to remain for ten full days while the water ram down.
 Ishmael was not idle during those ten days, which he spent in recovering his health. and incidentally in reflec. tion. Thus he thought a great deal of his past life, and did not find the rec ord satisfactory. With his exact his tory we need not trouble ourselves. He was wellIborn, as he had told Rachel, but had been badly brought up His strong passions had led him into trorl- ble while young, and instead of trying to reform him his belongings had cast him off. Then he had enlisted in the army, and so reached South Africa. There he committed a crime-as matter of fact 1t was murder or some thing like it-and fled from justice far into the wilderness. where a touch of imagination prompted him to take the name of Ishn1ael.
 For a while this new existence suited him we'll enough. Thus he had wives in plenty of a sort, and he grew rich, becoming just such a person as might unch ecked natural tendencies At length it happened that he met Rachel, who awoke in him certain forgotten asso- cautions. She was an English. lady, ben an English gentleman, years and years ago. Also she wasY beautiful, which appealed to his strong animal nature, and spiritual, which appealed to a materialist soaked in Kaffir su- perstition. So he fell in love with her. really in love; that is to say, he came to desire to make her his wife more than he desired anything else on earth For her sake he grew to dislike his black consorts, however handsome; even the heaping up of herds of cat tie after the native fashion ceased to appeal to him. He wanted to live as ably, with woman of his own class.
 So he made advances to her, with the results we know. For firteen years or more. he had been a savage, and he eyes, any more than he could break off the ties and entanglements that had grown up about him. .ts Had she happened to care for him, it is. very that in this he would have succeeded in tfme.t He might even have reformed himself completely and died in old age much-respected colonial gentleman; lature. But she did not; she detested him; she knew him for what he was, cowardly outcast whose good looks did not appeal to her So the spark of beneath her merciless heel, and there remained only the acquired savagery and superstition mixed with the in born instincts of blackguard.
 It was this superstition of his that had brought all her troubles upon Ra- chel, for however it came about,he had conceived the idea that she was some thing more than an ordinary woman and with many tales of her mysterious origin and powers. imparted it to the Zulus in whose minds it was fostered by the accident of the coincidence Of her native name and personal ioveh-
  white Spirit of their race, and by Mopo's Identification of her with that Spirit. Thus she became their god dess and his; at any rate TOT time. But while they desired to worship her olny, and use her rumored wisdom as an oracle he sought to make her .his wife; the more impossible 1t became, the more he sought it. She refused him with contumely, and he laid plots to decoy her to Zululand, thinking that there she would. be in his power. In the end -he-succeeded, -basety- enough, only to find that he was in her power and that the contumely, and more, were still his share.
 But all this did not in the least de- ter him from his aim, and as it chanc- ed, fortune had put other cards into his hands. He knew that Rachel would not stay among the Zulus, as they knew it. Therefore they had com missioned him to bring her people to her. If her people were not brought he was sure that she would come to seek them, and if she found no one, then where could she go. or at least who would be at hand to help her? Surely his opportunity had come at last and marriage by capture did not occur to him, who had spent so many years among Savages, as g. crime from which to shrink. Only he feared that the prospective captive, the Inkosaza- na-y-Zoola, was not one with whom it was safe to trif1e. But his love was stronger than his fear. He thought that he would take the risk.
 Such were the reflections of Ishmael upon the banks of the flooded Tugela, and when at length the waters went down suciently to enable him and the soldiers under his command to cross into Natal, he was fully determined to put them into practice, if the chance came his way. How this might best be done he left to luck, for if it could be avoided he did not wish to have more blood upon his hands. Only Ra- chel must be rendered homeless and friend1ess, for then who could protect his mind-she might protect herself, or that Power which seemed to go with her might protect her. Something warned him that his evil enterprise wasrvery dangerous. Yet the fire that burnt within him drove him on to face