hrough a woman.
When a man's single--you know the rest. You used to be able to
laugh at anything, but now that you are practically double you
can't laugh any more. Well, that's the common lot of man and
you've got to put up with it. Adam was pretty jolly in his
garden until Eve was started, but you know what happened
afterwards. The rest of his life was a compound of temptation,
anxiety, family troubles, remorse, hard labour with primitive
instruments, and a flaming sword behind him. If you had left
your Eve alone you would have escaped all this. But you see you
didn't, and as a matter of fact, nobody ever does who is worth
his salt, for Nature has arranged it so."

"You appear to talk with experience, Allan," he retorted blandly.
"By the way, that girl Nombe, when she isn't star-gazing or
muttering incantations, is always trying to explain to Heda some
tale about you and a lady called Mameena. I gather that you were
introduced to her in this neighbourhood where, Nombe says, you
were in the habit of kissing her in public, which sounds an odd
kind of a thing to do; all of which happened before she, Nombe,
was born. She adds, according to Kaatje's interpretation, that
you met her again this afternoon, which, as I understand the
young woman has been long dead, seems so incomprehensible that I
wish you would explain."

"With reference to Heda," I said, ignoring the rest as unworthy
of notice, "I think you may make your mind easy. Zikali knows
that she is in my charge and I don't believe that he wants to
quarrel with me. Still, as you are uncomfortable here, the best
thing to do will be to get away as early as possible to-morrow
morning, where to we can decide afterwards. And now I am going
to sleep, so please stop arguing."

As I have already hinted, my attempts in the sleep line proved a
failure, for whenever I did drop off I was pursued by bad dreams,
which resulted from lying down so soon after supper. I heard the
cries of desperate men in their mortal agony. I saw a
rain-swollen river; its waters were red with blood. I beheld a
vision of one who I knew by his dress to be a Zulu king, although
I could not see his face. He was flying and staggering with
weariness as he fled. A great hound followed him. It lifted its
head from the spoor; it was that of Zikali set upon the hound's
body, Zikali who laughed instead of baying. Then one whose
copper ornaments tinkled as she walked, entered beside me,
wh