went nigh to weeping. But she thought that I did not answer her
because I was angry, and about to drag her to this unknown chief, and

implored me the more even with tears.
"My father," she said, "do not this wicked thing by me. Let me go and

show me the path that I shall ask: you who are old, you know that I am
too fair to be dragged before this chief of yours. Hearken! All I knew

are dead, I am alone except for this brother I seek. Oh! if you betray
me may such a fate fall upon your own daughter also! May she also know

the day of slavery, and the love that she wills not!" and she ceased,
sobbing.

Now I turned my head and spoke towards the hut, "Chief," I said, "your
Ehlose is kind to you to-night, for he has given you a maid fair as

the Lily of the Halakazi"--here Nada glanced up wildly. "Come, then,
and take the girl."

Now Nada turned to snatch up the assegai from the ground, but whether
to kill me, or the chief she feared so much, or herself, I do not

know, and as she turned, in her woe she called upon the name of
Umslopogaas. She found the assegai, and straightened herself again.

And lo! there before her stood a tall chief leaning on an axe; but the
old man who threatened her was gone--not very far, in truth, but round

the corner of the hut.
Now Nada the Lily looked, then rubbed her eyes, and looked again.

"Surely I dream?" she said at last. "But now I spoke to an old man,
and in his place there stands before me the shape of one whom I desire

to see."
"I thought, Maiden, that the voice of a certain Nada called upon one

Umslopogaas," said he who leaned upon the axe.
"Ay, I called: but where is the old man who treated me so scurvily?

Nay, what does it matter?--where he is, there let him stop. At least,
you are Umslopogaas, my brother, or should be by your greatness and

the axe. To the man I cannot altogether swear in this light; but to
the axe I can swear, for once it passed so very near my eyes."

Thus she spoke on, gaining time, and all the while she watched
Umslopogaas till she was sure that it was he and no other. Then she

ceased talking, and, flinging herself on him, she kissed him.
"Now I trust that Zinita sleeps sound," murmured Umslopogaas, for

suddenly he remembered that Nada was no sister of his, as she thought.
Nevertheless, he took her by the hand and said, "Enter, sister. Of all

maidens in the world you are the most welcome here, for know I
believed you dead."

But I, Mopo, ran into the hut before her, and when she entered she
found me sitting by the fire.

"Now, here, my brother," said Nada, pointing at me with her finger,
"here is that old umfagozan, that low fellow, who, unless I dream, but

a very little while ago brought shame upon me--ay, my brother, he
struck me, a maid, with his kerrie, and that only because I said that

I would stab him for his insolence, and he did worse: he swore that he
would drag me to some old chief of his to be a gift to him, and this

he was about to do, had you not come. Will you suffer these things to
go unpunished, my brother?"

Now Umslopogaas smiled grimly, and I answered:--
"What was it that you called me just now, Nada, when you prayed me to

protect you? Father, was it not?" and I turned my face towards the
blaze of the fire, so that the full light fell upon it.

"Yes, I called you father, old man. It is not strange, for a homeless
wanderer must find fathers where she can--and yet! no, it cannot be--

so changed--and that white hand? And yet, oh! who are you? Once there
was a man named Mopo, and he had a little daughter, and she was called

Nada--Oh! my father, my father, I know you now!"
"Ay, Nada, and I knew you from the first; through all your man's

wrappings I knew you after these many years."
So the Lily fell upon my neck and sobbed there, and I remember that I

also wept.
Now when she had sobbed her fill of joy, Umslopogaas brought Nada the

Lily mass to eat and mealie porridge. She ate the curdled milk, but
the porridge she would not eat, saying that she was too weary.

Then she told us all the tale of her wanderings since she had fled
away from the side of Umslopogaas at the stronghold of the Halakazi,

and it was long, so long that I will not repeat it, for it is a story
by itself. This I will say only: that Nada was captured by robbers,

and for awhile passed herself off among them as a youth. But, in the
end, they found her out and would have given her as a wife to their

chief, only she persuaded them to kill the chief and make her their
ruler. They did this because of that medicine of the eyes which Nada

had only among women, for as she ruled the Halakazi so she ruled the
robbers. But, at the last, they all loved her, and she gave it out

that she would wed the strongest. Then some of them fell to fighting,
and while they killed each other--for it came about that Nada brought

death upon the robbers as on all others--she escaped, for she said
that she did not wish to look upon their struggle but would await the

upshot in a place apart.
After that she had many further adventures, but at length she met an

old woman who guided her on her way to the Ghost Mountain. And who
this old woman was none could discover, but Galazi swore afterwards

that she was the Stone Witch of the mountain, who put on the shape of
an aged woman to guide Nada to Umslopogaas, to be the sorrow and the

joy of the People of the Axe. I do not know, my father, yet it seems
to me that the old witch would scarcely have put off her stone for so

small a matter.
Now, when Nada had made an end of her tale, Umslopogaas told his, of

how things had gone with Dingaan. When he told her how he had given
the body of the girl to the king, saying that it was the Lily's stalk,

she said it had been well done; and when he spoke of the slaying of
the traitor she clapped her hands, though Nada, whose heart was

gentle, did not love to hear of deeds of death. At last he finished,
and she was somewhat sad, and said it seemed that her fate followed

her, and that now the People of the Axe were in danger at the hands of
Dingaan because of her.

"Ah! my brother," she cried, taking Umslopogaas by the hand, "it were
better I should die than that I should bring evil upon you also."

"That would not mend matters, Nada," he answered. "For whether you be
dead or alive, the hate of Dingaan. Also, Nada, know this: I am not

your brother."
When the Lily heard these words she uttered a little cry, and, letting

fall the hand of Umslopogaas, clasped mine, shrinking up against me.
"What is this tale, father?" she asked. "He who was my twin, he with

whom I have been bred up, says that he has deceived me these many
years, that he is not my brother; who, then, is he, father?"

"He is your cousin, Nada."
"Ah," she answered, "I am glad. It would have grieved me had he whom I

loved been shown to be but a stranger in whom I have no part," and she
smiled a little in the eyes and at the corners of her mouth. "But tell

me this tale also."
So I told her the tale of the birth of Umslopogaas, for I trusted her.

"Ah," she said, when I had finished, "ah! you come of a bad stock,
Umslopogaas, though it is a kingly one. I shall love you little

henceforth, child of the hyena man."
"Then that is bad news," said Umslopogaas, "for know, Nada, I desire

now that you should love me more than ever--that you should be my wife
and love me as your husband!"

Now the Lily's face grew sad and sweet, and all the hidden mockery
went out of her talk--for Nada loved to mock.

"Did you not speak to me on that night in the Halakazi caves,
Umslopogaas, of one Zinita, who is your wife, and Inkosikaas of the

People of the Axe?"
Then the brow of Umslopogaas darkened: "What of Zinita?" he said. "It

is true she is my chieftainess; is it not allowed a man to take more
than one wife?"

"So I trust," answered Nada, smiling, "else men would go unwed for
long, for few maids would marry them who then must labour alone all

their days. But, Umslopogaas, if there are twenty wives, yet one must
be first. Now this has come about hitherto: that wherever I have been

it has been thrust upon me to be first, and perhaps it might be thus
once more--what then, Umslopogaas?"

"Let the fruit ripen before you pluck it, Nada," he answered. "If you
love me and will wed me, it is enough."

"I pray that it may not be more than enough," she said, stretching out
her hand to him. "Listen, Umslopogaas: ask my father here what were

the words I spoke to him many years ago, before I was a woman, when,
with my mother, Macropha, I left him to go among the Swazi people. It

was after you had been borne away by the lion, Umslopogaas, I told my
father that I would marry no man all my life, because I loved only

you, who were dead. My father reproached me, saying that I must not
speak thus of my brother, but it was my heart which spoke, and it

spoke truly; for see, Umslopogaas, you are no brother to me! I have
kept that vow. How many men have sort me in wedlock since I became a

woman, Umslopogaas? I tell you that they are as the leaves upon a
tree. Yet I have given myself to none, and this has been my fortune:

that none have sought to constrain me to marriage. Now I have my
reward, for he whom I lost is found again, and to him alone I give my

love. Yet, Umslopogaas, beware! Little luck has come to those who have
loved me in the past; no, not even to those who have but sought to

look on me."
"I will bear the risk, Nada," the Slaughterer answered, and gathering

her to his great breast he kissed her.
Presently she slipped from his arms and bade him begone, for she was

weary and would rest.
So he went.

CHAPTER XXXI
THE WAR OF THE WOMEN

Now on the morrow at daybreak, leaving his wolves, Galazi came down
from the Ghost Mountain and passed through the gates of the kraal.

In front of my hut he saw Nada the Lily and saluted her, for each
remembered the other. Then he walked on to the place of assembly and

spoke to me.
"So the Star of Death has risen on the People of the Axe, Mopo," he

said. "Was it because of her coming that my grey people howled so
strangely last night? I cannot tell, but I know this, the Star shone

first on me this morning, and that is my doom. Well, she is fair
enough to be the doom of many, Mopo," and he laughed and passed on,

swinging the Watcher. But his words troubled me, though they were
foolish; for I could not but remember that wherever the beauty of Nada

had pleased the sight of men, there men had been given to death.
Then I went to lead Nada to the place of assembly and found her

awaiting me. She was dressed now in some woman's garments that I had
brought her; her curling hair fell upon her shoulders; on her wrist

and neck and knee were bracelets of ivory, and in her hand she bore a
lily bloom which she had gathered as she went to bathe in the river.

Perhaps she did this, my father, because she wished here, as
elsewhere, to be known as the Lily, and it is the Zulu fashion to name

people from some such trifle. But who can know a woman's reason, or
whether a thing is by chance alone, my father? Also she had begged me

of a cape I had; it was cunningly made by Basutus, of the whitest
feathers of the ostrich; this she put about her shoulders, and it hung

down to her middle. It had been a custom with Nada from childhood not
to go about as do other girls, naked except for their girdles, for she

would always find some rag or skin to lie upon her breast. Perhaps it
was because her skin was fairer than that of other women, or perhaps

because she knew that she who hides her beauty often seems the
loveliest, or because there was truth in the tale of her white blood

and the fashion came to her with the blood. I do not know, my father;
at the least she did so.

Now I took Nada by the hand and led her through the morning air to the
place of assembly, and ah! she was sweeter than the air and fairer

than the dawn.
There were many people in the place of assembly, for it was the day of

the monthly meeting of the council of the headmen, and there also were
all the women of the kraal, and at their head stood Zinita. Now it had

got about that the girl whom the Slaughterer went to seek in the caves
of the Halakazi had come to the kraal of the People of the Axe, and

all eyes watched for her.

• wicked [´wikid] a.邪恶的；不道德的 (初中英语单词)
• slavery [´sleivəri] n.奴隶制；奴役 (初中英语单词)
• snatch [snætʃ] v.&n.抢，夺取，抓住 (初中英语单词)
• maiden [´meidn] n.少女 a.未婚的 (初中英语单词)
• altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全；总而言之 (初中英语单词)
• welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
• awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
• traitor [´treitə] n.叛徒，卖国贼 (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
• thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推；冲；刺；挤进 (初中英语单词)
• assembly [ə´sembli] n.集会；装配；与会者 (初中英语单词)
• trifle [´traifəl] n.琐事，小事；少量 (初中英语单词)
• childhood [´tʃaildhud] n.幼年(时代)；早期 (初中英语单词)
• greatness [´greitnis] n.巨大；高尚；卓越 (高中英语单词)
• grimly [´grimli] ad.严厉地；坚强地 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• hitherto [,hiðə´tu:] ad.至今，迄今 (高中英语单词)
• cunningly [´kʌniŋli] ad.狡猾地；精巧地 (高中英语单词)
• monthly [´mʌnθli] a.每月(的) n.月刊 (高中英语单词)
• stronghold [´strɔŋhəuld] n.要塞；根据地 (英语四级单词)
• kingly [´kiŋli] a.国王的 ad.国王似地 (英语四级单词)
• constrain [kən´strein] vt.强逼；强使 (英语四级单词)
• morrow [´mɔrəu] n.翌日 (英语四级单词)
• daybreak [´deibreik] n.黎明，拂晓 (英语四级单词)
• weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)
• insolence [´insələns] n.傲慢；无礼 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• ostrich [´ɔstritʃ] n.鸵鸟 (英语六级单词)