FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   223  
224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233   234   235   236   >>  
d in four on foot. So they went forward up the pass much refreshed, Zinti carrying the child. All day long they walked thus, resting at intervals, till by sunset they reached the crest of the pass, and saw the wide plains of Natal stretched out like a map beneath them, and on them, not so very far away and near to the banks of the river that wound at their feet, a white-topped koppie, beneath which, said Zinti, was the Boer camp. Suzanne sat down and looked, and there, yes, there the caps of the waggons gleamed in the fading light; and oh! her heart leapt at the sight of them, for in those waggons were white men and women such as she had not seen for years, and with whom at length she would be safe. But even as her breast heaved at the thought of it, an icy, unnatural wind seemed to stir her hair, and of a sudden she felt, or seemed to feel, the presence of Sihamba. For a moment, and one only, it was with her, then it was gone, nor during all her life did it ever come back again. "Oh! Sihamba is dead!" she cried. Zinti looked at her in question. "It may well be so," he said sadly, "but I pray that it is not so, for she is the best of chieftainesses. At least we have our own lives to save, so let us go on," and again they pressed forward through the gathering gloom. Soon it grew dark, and had her guide been any other man than Zinti Suzanne must have stopped where she was till the moon rose at midnight. But Zinti could find any path that his feet had trod even in the dark; yes, although it ran through piled-up rocks on the mountain side, and was cut with the course of streams which must be forded. In wading through one of these rivulets, Suzanne struck her bare ankle against a stone and lamed herself, so that from this time forward, shivering and wet with water, for her hurt was so sharp and sudden that she had fallen in the stream, she was forced to walk leaning on Zinti's shoulder, and indeed over some rough places he was obliged to carry her. Now again Zinti wished to abandon that heavy child, for strong though he was the weight of the two of them proved almost more than he could bear, but Suzanne would not listen to him. "Nay," she said, "this child that was sent to me by Heaven has saved me from shame and death, and shame and death be my portion if I will leave it while I live. Go on alone if you will, Zinti, and I will stay here with the child." "Truly white people are strange," answered Zinti, "t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   223  
224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233   234   235   236   >>  



Top keywords:

Suzanne

 

forward

 
waggons
 

looked

 

sudden

 
Sihamba
 
beneath
 
streams
 

forded

 

mountain


wading
 

rivulets

 

struck

 
strange
 
answered
 
people
 
stopped
 

Heaven

 

midnight

 
wished

abandon

 

strong

 

places

 

obliged

 

weight

 
listen
 

proved

 

portion

 

fallen

 

shivering


stream

 

leaning

 
shoulder
 

gathering

 

forced

 

fading

 

gleamed

 
carrying
 

length

 

refreshed


reached

 

sunset

 

stretched

 

plains

 

topped

 
koppie
 
walked
 

resting

 

intervals

 

breast