“Thou who shalt perish at the hands of avengers
whose faces are veiled, thy riddle is read for thee
as the Mother of the Trees decreed that it should
be read. It is well read, it is truly read, it
shall befall in its season. Now give to thy servants
their reward and let them depart in peace. Give
to them, that White One whose lost Spirit spoke to
thee from the water.”
“Take her,” roared Dingaan, “take
her and begone, for to the Zulus she and Noie, the
witch, bring naught but ill.”
But one of the Council cried:
“The Inkosazana cannot be sent away with these
magicians unless it is her will to go.”
Then the little men nodded to Noie, and Noie whispered
in the ear of Rachel.
Rachel listened and answered: “Whither
thou goest, Noie, thither I go with thee, I who seek
my Spirit.”
So Noie took Rachel by the hand and led her from the
Council-place of the King, and as she went, followed
by the Ghost-priests and their escort, for the last
time all the Councillors rose up and gave to her the
royal salute. Only Dingaan sat upon the ground
and beat it with his fists in fury.
Thus did the Inkosazana-y-Zoola depart from the Great
Place of the King of the Zulus, and Mopo, the son
of Makedama, shading his eyes with his hand, watched
her go from between his withered fingers.
RACHEL FINDS HER SPIRIT
Northward, ever northward, journeyed Rachel with the
Ghost-priests; for days and weeks they journeyed,
slowly, and for the most part at night, since these
people dreaded the glare of the sun. Sometimes
she was borne along in a litter with Noie upon the
shoulders of the huge slaves, but more often she walked
between the litters in the midst of a guard of soldiers,
for now she was so strong that she never seemed to
weary, nor even in the fever swamps where many fell
ill, did any sickness touch her. Also this labour
of the body seemed to soothe her wandering and tormented
mind, as did the touch of Noie’s hand and the
sound of Noie’s voice. At times, however,
her madness got hold of her and she broke out into
those bursts of wild laughter which had scared the
Zulus. Then Eddo would descend from his litter
and lay his long fingers on her forehead and look
into her eyes in such a fashion that she went to sleep
and was at peace. But if Noie spoke to her in
these sleeps, she answered her questions, and even
talked reasonably as she had done before the people
of Mafooti laid the body of Richard at her feet, and
she stood upon the roof of the hut which Ishmael strove
to climb.
Thus it was that Noie came to learn all that had happened
to her since they parted, for though she had gathered
much from them, the Zulus could not, or would not
tell her everything. In past days she had heard
from Rachel of the lad, Richard Darrien, who had been
her companion years before through that night of storm
on the island in the river, and now she understood
that her lady loved this Richard, and that it was because
of his murder by the wild brute, Ibubesi, that she
had become mad.
