o I see thee in the flesh, Lord
of the night, King of blood and terror, and is this thy priest? Or do
I but dream? Nay, I dream not; slay on, thou priest, and let my sin be
purged."

"Here it seems," said Otter, "that we have to do with one who is mad."

"Nay, Jal," the woman answered, "I am not mad, though madness has been
nigh to me of late."

"Neither am I named Jal or Darkness," answered the dwarf with
irritation; "cease to speak folly, and tell the White Lord whence you
come, for I weary of this talk."

"If you are not Jal, Black One, the thing is strange, for as Jal is so
you are. But perchance it does not please you, having put on the flesh,
to avow yourself before me. At the least be it as you will. If you are
not Jal, then I am safe from your vengeance, and if you are Jal I pray
you forget the sins of my youth and spare me."

"Who is Jal?" asked Leonard curiously.

"Nay, I know not," answered the woman, with a sudden change of manner.
"Hunger and weariness have turned my brain, and I spoke wandering words.
Forget them and give me food, White Man," she added in a piteous tone,
"give me food, for I starve."

"There is scant fare here," answered Leonard, "but you are welcome to
it. Follow me, mother," and he led the way across the donga to the cave,
the woman limping after him painfully.

There Otter gave her meat, and she ate as one eats who has gone hungry
for long, greedily and yet with effort. When she had finished she looked
at Leonard with her keen dark eyes and said:

"Say, White Lord, are you also a slave-trader?"

"No," he answered grimly, "I am a slave."

"Who is your master then--this Black One here?"

"Nay, he is but the slave of a slave. I have no master, mother; I have a
mistress, and she is named Fortune."

"The worst of mistresses," said the old woman, "or the best, for she
laughs ever behind her frown and mingles stripes with kisses."

"The stripes I know well, but not the kisses," answered Leonard
gloomily; then added in another tone, "What is your errand, mother? How
are you named, and what do you seek wandering alone in the mountains?"

"I am named Soa, and I seek succour for one whom I love and who is in
sore distress. Will my lord listen to my tale?"

"Speak on," said Leonard.

Then the woman crouched down before him and told this story.

CHAPTER VI

THE TALE OF SOA

"My lord, I, Soa, am the servant of a white man, a trader who lives
on the banks of the Zambesi s