an, walking forward from
where she stood behind the _schimmel_. "Where else should I be? I
pray you, soldiers, draw a little way but not far apart, that yonder
half-breed may satisfy his eyes with the sight of me. So, a little
way, but not far, for I who know him like him best at a distance. Now,
Bull-Head," she went on, "what is it that you wish to talk about--the
Englishman, Ralph Kenzie, the husband of Swallow yonder? You thought you
killed him. Well, it was not so; I lifted him living from the water,
and I, who am a doctoress, tell you that his wound is of no account,
and that soon he will be strong again and seeking a word with you,
Half-breed. No, not of him? Then perhaps it is of your hidden krantz and
the new hut you built in it. Bah! I knew its secret long ago and--that
hut has too wide a smoke-hole. Go back and ask him who guarded it if
this is not true. What! Not of that either? Then would you speak of the
ride which we have taken? Ah! man, I thought at least that you were no
coward, and yet even when you had us in your hand, you did not dare to
face the Red Water which two women swam on one tired horse. Look at
him, soldiers, look at the brave cross-bred chief who dared not swim his
horse across one little stream."

Now while the soldiers laughed Swart Piet stamped upon the ground,
foaming with rage, for Sihamba's bitter words stuck in him like barbed
assegais.

"Snake's wife, witch!" he screamed, "I will catch you yet, and then you
shall learn how slowly a woman may die, yes, and her also, and she shall
learn other things, for if that husband of hers is not dead I will
kill him before her eyes. I tell you I will follow you both through
all Africa and across the sea if needful; yes, whenever you lie down to
sleep, you may be sure that Piet van Vooren is not far from you."

"Do you say so?" mocked Sihamba. "Well, now I think of it you have no
luck face to face with me, Half-breed, and were I you, I should look the
other way when you saw me coming, for I who have the Sight tell you that
when you behold the Walker-by-Moonlight for the last time, you will very
soon become a walker in the darkness for ever. Bah!" she went on, her
clear voice rising to a cry. "Bastard, dog, thief, murderer that you
are! I, Sihamba, who have met and beaten you in every pool of the
stream, will beat you for the last time where the stream falls into the
sea. Be not deceived, yonder Swallow never shall be yours; for many and
many a