re
me now as I write. That, with a lock of my darling's hair which lies
between its leaves, is my dearest possession. There are all the names
and marks as they were written many years ago beneath the shadow of the
tree at Babyan Kraals in the wilderness, but alas! and alas! where are
those who wrote them?

"My people," said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we had
kissed each other before them all--"My people, Macumazahn and the Star,
my daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat of
one bowl, to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, my
people, you know this woman," and turning he pointed to Hendrika, who,
unseen by us, had been led out of the prison hut.

"Yes, yes, we know her," said a little ring of headmen, who formed
the primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives had
squatted themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. "We know
her, she is the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant of
the Star."

"You know her," said Mr. Carson, "but you do not know her altogether.
Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about last
night in the hut of Macumazahn."

Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told his
moving tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, finishing up
by producing the great knife from which his watchfulness had saved me.

Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated his
story: indeed my face did that in the sight of all men.

Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, her
eyes fixed upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say.

She looked up boldly and answered--

"Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would have
robbed him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which I
have lost at his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for had I
killed him and left no trace the Star would have forgotten him and shone
on me again."

"Never," murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white with
wrath.

"My people," he said, "you hear the words of this woman. You hear how
she pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She says
that she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the man who
is the husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, we tamed
her, we fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us back. Say,
my people, what reward