Evening star., 1909-03-13

and the first of them, he who had cursed
the soldier. said:
king of the Zulus. l am Eddo. this
on my right is PAM and that on my ief'
is Hama We are children Of the mother
of the trees; we are high priests OF the
gray-people. the dream people, who rule
by dreams and wisdom. not by spears at
thou dost, o king. We are the ghost
kings whom the ghosts obey. we are the
masters Of the dead and the readers OF
hearts Those are our names and titles
king. We have travelled hither be
cause thou sentest a messenger or oul
own blood who whispered strange tale
In the ear of the mother of the trees. a
tale of one of whom we knew already bu'
desired TO see" and all three of them
nodded toward Rachel seated on her
stool I'VE will read thy riddle, . king
but first thou must fix the fee"
What do you demand, ghos;-peopie?
asked Dingaan Cattle are somewhat
scarce here just now and wives, I think
would be of little use to YOU What Is
there then that. you desire and l can
give?
They looked at each other: then Eddc
said. pointing with his thin hand upon
which the nails grew long:
We ask for the white one who sits
there. We think that her spirit dwells
with us already, and We ask her body
that we may join 1t to the spirit again.
Now the council murmured. but Din
gaan replied:
once we sought to keep her In whom
dwelt the Inkosazana Of the Zuus. But
things have gone amiss and she brings
curses on us. If shape and spirit were
Joined together again. mayhap the curses
would he taken off our heads. Yet we
dare not give her to you. unless she gives
herself Of her own will. Moreover, hrst
the divnation. sthen the pay. Is that
enough"
cit is enough" they answered. speaking
altogether Set out the matter king OF
the Zulus, and we will see what we can
do"
Then Dinsaan beckoned TO a man with
a Withered hand who sat close to him
listening and noting all things, put say
ing nothing. and said:
"Stand forth, thou MOpo. and tell the
ale
told how he alone among the people OF
the ZuluS had thrice seen the spirit or lhe
InkosaZana IN the days OF the Black
e-who-was-eone'' He told how many
moons ago the white man. lpuDesl' mao
come to the Great Place speaking or a
beautiful white maiden who was known
by the name of the Inkosa Zana- y-Loola
q maiden who ruled the hSntnlns ana
was not as other maidens are. ana now
he had been sent TO see her and round
that as was the spirit of the lnkosazaha
which he knew was this maiden
Wow he added. save that the one
walked on air and the other on earth
they are the same
Moreover as spirit she seemed wise.
He told Of the trapping of Noie and of
the decoying of Rachel into Lululand and
of the interview between her and the
king by moonlight when she smelt out
Note Now he was going on 20 speak OF
the question put by Dingaan to the
InkosaZana. and the answer that she
gave to him. when one of the little men
who all this while sat as though they
were asleep. blinking their eyes In the
liSht-it was Eddo-said:
Surely thou forgettest something.
tongue OF the king. thou who art named
Mopo or Umbopa, son Of Makedama; thou
forcettest certain words which the lnko-
sazana whispered to thee when she threw
her cloak about thy head ere thou f1eddest
away from the council of the king. Of
course we do not know the words. but
why dost thou not repeat them, tongue of
the lling?'e
Mopo stared at them and his teeth chat
;ered. then he answered:
Because they have nothing to do with
the story, Shost-men: because they were
of my own death. which is a little mat
ter.
The three dwarfs turned. their heads