The Ghost Kings

d that she feared nothing, and it was true, for extraordinary courage was one of this child's characteristics. She could scarcely ever remember having felt afraid-for herself,

believe in that punishment which he so vividly imagined. So it

away over the mountains the lightning flickered incessantly, as though a monster in the skies were licking their precipices and pinnacles with a thou

She became aware of some new influence drawing near to her life; of a sudden her budding womanhood burst into flower in her breast, shone on by an unseen sun; she was no more a child. Her being quickened and acknowledged the kinship of all things

the water flowed. Well, there was little enough of it now, only a pool or two to form a mirror for the lightning. In front of her lay the island where grew the Cape gooseberries, or winter cherries as they are sometimes called, which she came to seek. It was a low piece of ground, a quarter of a mile

nd above their fire-laced bosom floated glorious-coloured masses of misty vapour, enflamed in a thousand hues by the arrows of the sinking sun. Above

river. Here she began to gather her gooseberries, picking the silvery, octagonal pods from the green stems on which they grew. At first she opened these pods, removing from each the yellow, sub-acid berry, thinking that thus her b

w keen and hard, ruffling the surface of the marshy pools. Still Rachel went on with her task, for her basket was not more than half full, till presently the heavens above her began to mutter and to groan, and drops of rain as larg

the sea, and for a few minutes the darkness became so dense that she could scarcely stumble forward. Then there was light, a dreadful l

gs. The first was a seething, roaring noise so loud that it seemed to still even the bellowing of the thunder, and the next, now seen, now lost, as the lightning pulsed and darkened,

d was shouting to her,

s voice was lost in the

the lightning flared, an

i

a white boy could be do

t of his company, Rachel

never the lightning sho

o of these rushes whe

ts at length she underst

coming further, a

tains, and was advancing on her more swiftly than a horse could gallop. Rachel ran forward a little way, then understanding that she had no time to cross, stood bewildered, for the fearful tumult of the elements and the dreadful roaring of that advancing wall of foam overwhelmed

top ledge, in its very crest, was a bull buffalo, dead, but held head on and down as though it were charging, and Rachel thought vaguely that from the direction in which it came in a few moments its horns would strike her. Another second and an arm was about her waist-she noted how white it was where the sleeve was rolled up, dead white in the lightning-and she was being dragged towards the shore that sh

eath!" said an English

ly reached her

pt forward like bucks. T

ngry waters sprang at t

legs as though with hand

pon the shoulder, and wh

blood appeared. Almost

ed him. Then one more

d just clear of the li

m which he snatched her, and companioned by heaven's lightn

is years; sturdy in build, very fair-skinned and curiously enough with a singular resemblance to Rachel, except that his hair was a few shades darker than hers. They had the same clear

ear in one of the intervals of dar

he top of his voice, "and I don't know why I c

g sent you. If you had not come I should be d

aying over, "but you would have been rolling out to sea in the flood water, l

father isn't a miss

east he was, now he trades and hunts. We are

hel

you would be if you were cleaner-it is going to rain pr

e," she answered indigna

go and shelter, I will s

e

r be struck by lightni

really. Is the

ded, mo

. Come," and she st

kind of cave in which Rachel and her mother had sat for a little while when they visited the place. As they groped their way towards it the lightning blaze

ichard halting, "but come on, it isn'

all this while that weapon had been slung to his back

is a new one which my father gave

e was dry, being so situated that all water ran away from it. They crouched in it shivering, trying to cover them

we had a fire," said Rachel, he

nd some tinder. Pouring a little powder on the damp tinder, he struck the flint until at length a spark caught and fired the powder. The tinder c

Now they were able to warm and dry themselves, and as the heat entered into their chilled bodies, their spirits rose. Indeed the contrast between this snug hi

ry," said Rac

ime produced from the pocket of his coat

at biltong

" she answe

id, giving her the meat and his

I am. I forgot about that stick st

eeding. As it will be remembered that Rachel had no handkerchief, she asked Richard for his, which she soaked in a pool of rain water just outside the cave. Then, hav

ed with admiration. "Who ta

ered, as, having stretched out her hands for the pouring rain to w

of meat must, she declared, be put aside in case they should not be able to get off the island. Then he saw why she had made him eat first and was very angry with him

lowly, perhaps to pretend that her appetite was already satisfied with its superabundance. Then he fell to imploring her to take the

?" she asked to c

hant, but no lions yet. I was following the spoor of a lion just now, but it got up between

e are some about here; I have

island, I heard the sound of the water and saw it rushing down the

ning eyes. "You risked your life to save mine, and theref

her and rem

" and he pointed to the heavy gun at his side, "above everything else,

as, Rachel saw something in those of R

u going?" she

o sell the ivory. There are three others bes

o I suppose that after to-night we shall never see each other a

shook the earth, made it impossible for Richard and Rachel to hear each other speak. So they were silent perforce. Only Richard rose and looked out of the cave, then turned and beckoned to his companion. She came to him and watched, till suddenly a b

, we shall be drowned,

d, then c

eemed to Rachel that the "glory" of which her fa

ough, and for a while the two children, for they were little more, remained thus with clasped hands and

?" he asked when they ha

at my mother might not grieve for me to

e. I did not pray for my mother as sh

d Rachel, pointing to

flames of the fire, saw two great yellow shapes which app

asped, snatch

angry. Perhaps they only want to take refuge

e end of his ramrod, and this done, to reload with some powder that he had already placed to dry on a flat stone near the fire. This operation took five minutes or more.

ackwards and forwards as though they were in a cage, making a kind of whimpering noise as they went, and staring round them uneasily. Moreover, these were not alone, for gathered there were various other animals, driven down by the flood from the islands

ed, and will not harm us, unless the water rises more

n on its further side, w

f the lions passed away

each other the sto

emed, had been in Afri

d there on the death o

ay of a retired naval

a new land. He had be

ut like many other of th

ke money, he had taken

st returning from a very

, at that time an almost

rd to accompany the part

w, he was to be sent for

nce until then his fath

an education. Afterward

point he-Richard-had m

le about that. He would

old to hunt, when he int

told him hers, to whi

ad?" he asked whe

suggest it? He is only very good

?" said Richard, "for otherwise he would not have sent you

d you to hunt lions with such

gons must be a long way ahead now, for when I left them I returned to that kloof where I had seen the buck. I don't know how I sha

horse-tomorrow, what shall you do?" asked

to catch them

can't catc

wild Kaffirs ahead would k

would your f

all, and be sorry for a while. People often vanish

ight he could see no lions or any other animals, so he thought that they must have gone away somewhere. The flood waters also appeared to be running down. Comforted by this intelligence Rachel piled on the fire nearly all the