with the horse. I will creep to the
houses and see if any dwell there."

"Be careful, baas," he answered, "lest you should find Zulus, for those
black devils are all about."

I nodded, for I could not speak, and then began the ascent. For several
hundred yards I crept from stone to stone, feeling my way, for the
Kaffir path that led to the little plateau where the spring was, above
which the shanties stood, ran at the other end of the hill. I struck the
spruit or rivulet that was fed by this spring, being guided to it by the
murmur of the water, and followed up its bank till I heard a sound which
caused me to crouch and listen.

I could not be sure because of the ceaseless babble of the brook,
but the sound seemed like that of sobs. While I waited the great moon
appeared suddenly above a bank of inky cloud, flooding the place with
light, and oh! by that light, looking more ethereal than woman I saw--I
saw Marie!

She stood not five paces from me, by the side of the stream, whither
she had come to draw water, for she held a vessel in her hand. She was
clothed in some kind of a black garment, such as widows wear, but made
of rough stuff, and above it her face showed white in the white rays
of the moon. Gazing at her from the shadow, I could even see the tears
running down her cheeks, for it was she who wept in this lonely place,
wept for one who would return no more.

My voice choked in my throat; I could not utter a single word. Rising
from behind a rock I moved towards her. She saw me and started, then
said in a thrilling whisper:

"Oh! husband, has God sent you to call me? I am ready, husband, I am
ready!" and she stretched out her arms wildly, letting fall the vessel,
that clanked upon the ground.

"Marie!" I gasped at length; and at that word the blood rushed to her
face and brow, and I saw her draw in her breath as though to scream.

"Hush!" I whispered. "It is I, Allan, who have escaped alive."

The next thing I remember was that she lay in my arms.

"What has happened here?" I asked when I had told my tale, or some of
it.

"Nothing, Allan," she answered. "I received your letter at the camp, and
we trekked away as you bade us, without telling the others why, because
you remember the Commandant Retief wrote to us not to do so. So we were
out of the great slaughter, for the Zulus did not know where we had
gone, and never followed us here, although I have heard that they sought
for me. My father and m