The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-17
THE LADY OF THE HEAVENS.
Copyright, 1908, by H. Rider Haggard


1
 can. Yes. as soon as you can. your l father will be very anxious" and she
 began to cry outright.
 Stop it." said Richard. Do you
 hear me. stop it! I am not going to 1 be made to snivel too, just because I shan't see a little girl any more whom
 l never met-till yesterday
 These last words came out with 8 1 gulp. and what is more. two tears
 came with them and trickled down his
 nose.
 ] For a moment they sat thus looking
 at each other pitifully. and-the truth
 must be told-weeping. both of them. | Then something got the better of 1 Richard. let us call it primeval in l st1nct. so that he put his arms about
 Rachel and kissed her. after which | they continued to weep. their heads
 resting upon each others shoulders. At | length he let her go and stood up, say l ing. argumentatively:
 You see now we are really friends. "Yes." she answered. again rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand for lack of a pocket handkerchief in the l fashion that on the previous day had | so irritated her father. but l don't know why you should kiss me like ! that. just because you are my friend, or" she added with an outburst of 1 truthfulness. "Why I should kiss you" Richard stood over her drowning and E. lu0ll lie gave up IIIS pIOU- | lem as beyond his powers of interpre- tation. and said:
 You remember that rubbish you dreamt just now. about me being tied to tree and the rest of it.. We'll, it wasn't nice. and it gives me the creepS to think of it. like the lions outside the cave. But I want to tell you that hope it is true. for then we shall meet again, if it is only to say goodnight" Yes Richard" she answered, plac- ing her slim fingers into his big brown hand, i've shall meet again, am sure
 I am quite sure. And think that it will be to say. not goodnight" and
 she looked up at him and smiled. "but gOOd-morning."
 AS Rachel spoke a puff of wind blew down the donga. rolling up the mist before it. and of sudden shining
 above them they saw the glorious sun. As though by magic butterflies ap-
 peared basking upon the rain-shatter-
 ed lily blooms: bright birds fitted
 from tree to tree. ring-doves began to
 500. The terror of the tempest and
 the darkness of night were overpast;
 the world awOke again to life and love
 and joy Instantly this change reflect
 ed itself in their young hearts. They
 whose natures had as it were ripened
 prematurely in the stress of danger
 and the shadow of death. became chill dren once again. The very real emo
 tions that they had experienced were
 forgotten or at any rate sank into abeyance. Now they thought, not of
 separation or of the dim. mysterious future that stretched before them, but
 only of how they should ford the stream and gain it's further side. where Rachel saw her father. Tom. the drlv.
 er and the other Kaffirs. and Richard saw his horse which he had reared was lost.
 They ran down to the brink of the water and examined it, but here It was still too deep for them to attempt it's crossing. Then, directed by the shouts and motions of the Kaffir Tom and MT. Dove, they pfoceeded up stream for several hundred yards, till they came to rapid where the lessen ing flood ran thinly over ridge o1 | rock and after investigation, proceed | ed to try its passage hand in hand. It proved difficult but not dangerous, Tor when they came near to. the further ! side where the current was swift and the water rather deep, Tom threw 1 them a wagon rope, clinging on to which they were dragged-Wet, but laughing-in safety to the further bank,
 "oN!" exclaimed the Kafirs, clap ping their hands. t'She is alive, the | her. she rules the waters and the lightnings!" and then and there, after | the native fashion they gave Rachel a name which was destined to play great part in her future. That name was Lady of the Lightnings' or to translate it more accurately, "of the Heavens"
 .I never thought to see you again, said her father, looking at Rachel with face that was still white and scared ''It was very wrong of me to send you so far with that storm coming on, and I have had terrible night-yes, terrible night; and so has your poor mother. However, she knows that you are safe by now, thank God, thank God!' and he took her in his arms and kissed her.
 .sWe1, father, you said that He would look after me, didn't you? And so He did, for He sent Richard here. If it hadn't been for Richard should have been drowned" she add ed inconsequently
 eyes, yes,'' said Mr. Dove. "Provi- dence manifests itself in many ways. But who is your young friend whom you call Richard? I suppose he has some other name.''
 "Of course,'' answered that youth himself, everybody has except Kaf- frs. Mine is Darrien."
 .Darrien? said MT. Dove. "I had a friend called Darrien at school. l never saw him after I left, but be- leve that he went into the navy.
 Then he must be my father, sir, for I have heard him say that there had been no other Darrien in the service for hundred years"
 "I think SOL answered MT. Dove, flor now that look at you, I can see a likeness. We slept side by side in the same dormitory once five and thirty years ago, so I remember And now you have saved my daughter; it is very strange. But tell me the story
 So between them they told it, all though to one scene of 1.-the last neither of them thought it necessary to allude; or perhaps it was forgotten.
 Truly the Almighty has had you both in His keep,'' exclaimed MT. Dove when their tale was done. "And now. Richard, my boy, what are you going to do? You see, we caught your horse-it was grazing about mile away with the saddle twisted under it's stomacl1-and wondered what white man could possibly have been riding it in this desolate place. Aft however. one of my voor-