or Umslopogaas had fainted, and Nada
beat her breast, thinking that he was dead.

Presently he spoke, however, saying, "It may not be; we must perish
here, one on each side of the stone, not seeing the other's face, for
my might is as water; nor can I stand upon my feet to go and seek for
food."

"Are you wounded, Umslopogaas?" asked Nada.

"Ay, Nada, I am pierced to the brain with the point of an axe; no fair
stroke, the captain of Dingaan hurled it at me when I thought him dead,
and I fell. I do not know how long I have lain yonder under the shadow
of the rock, but it must be long, for my limbs are wasted, and those who
fell in the fray are picked clean by the vultures, all except Galazi,
for the old wolf Deathgrip lies on his breast dying, but not dead,
licking my brother's wounds, and scares the fowls away. It was the beak
of a vulture, who had smelt me out at last, that woke me from my sleep
beneath the stone, Nada, and I crept hither. Would that he had not
awakened me, would that I had died as I lay, rather than lived a little
while till you perish thus, like a trapped fox, Nada, and presently I
follow you."

"It is hard to die so, Umslopogaas," she answered, "I who am yet young
and fair, who love you, and hoped to give you children; but so it has
come about, and it may not be put away. I am well-nigh sped, husband;
horror and fear have conquered me, my strength fails, but I suffer
little. Let us talk no more of death, let us rather speak of our
childhood, when we wandered hand in hand; let us talk also of our love,
and of the happy hours that we have spent since your great axe rang upon
the rock in the Halakazi caves, and my fear told you the secret of my
womanhood. See, I thrust my hand through the hole; can you not kiss it,
Umslopogaas?"

Now Umslopogaas stooped his shattered head, and kissed the Lily's little
hand, then he held it in his own, and so they sat till the end--he
without, resting his back against the rock, she within, lying on her
side, her arm stretched through the little hole. They spoke of their
love, and tried to forget their sorrow in it; he told her also of the
fray which had been and how it went.

"Ah!" she said, "that was Zinita's work, Zinita who hated me, and
justly. Doubtless she set Dingaan on this path."

"A little while gone," quoth Umslopogaas; "and I hoped that your last
breath and mine might pass together, Nada, and that we might go together
to seek great Galazi, my brothe