once she was outside of owen's house, noma did not tarry. first shereturned to hokosa's kraal, where she had already learnt from his headwife, zinti, and others the news of his betrayal of the plot ofhafela, of his conversion to the faith of the christians, and of themarch of the /impi/ to ambush the prince. here she took a littlespear, and rolling up in a skin blanket as much dried meat as shecould carry, she slipped unnoticed from the kraal. her object was toescape from the great place, but this she did not try to do by any ofthe gates, knowing them to be guarded. some months ago, before shestarted on her embassy, she had noted a weak spot in the fence, wheredogs had torn a hole through which they passed out to hunt at night.
to this spot she made her way under cover of the darkness--for thoughshe still greatly feared to be alone at night, her pressing needconquered her fears--and found that the hole was yet there, for a tallweed growing in its mouth had caused it to be overlooked by thosewhose duty it was to mend the fence. with her assegai she widened it alittle, then drew her lithe shape through it, and lying hidden tillthe guard had passed, climbed the two stone walls beyond. once she wasfree of the town, she set her course by the stars and started forwardat a steady run.
"if my strength holds i shall yet be in time to warn him," shemuttered to herself. "ah! friend hokosa, this new madness of yours hasblunted your wits that once were sharp enough. you have set me free,and now you shall learn how i can use my freedom. not for nothing havei been your pupil, hokosa the fox."before the dawn broke noma was thirty miles from the great place, andbefore the next dawn she was a hundred. at sunset on that second dayshe stood among mountains. to her right stretched a great defile, arugged place of rocks and bush, wherein she knew that the regiments ofthe king were hid in ambush. perchance she was too late, perchance the/impi/ of hafela had already passed to its doom in yonder gorge.
swiftly she ran forward on to the trail which led to the gorge, tofind that it had been trodden by many feet and recently. moving to andfro she searched the spoor with her eyes, then rose with a sigh ofjoy. it was old, and marked the passage of the great company of womenand children and their thousands of cattle which, in execution of theplot, had travelled this path some days before. either the /impi/ hadnot yet arrived, or it had gone by some other road. weary as she was,noma followed the old spoor backwards. a mile or more away it crossedthe crest of a hog-backed mountain, from whose summit she searched theplain beyond, and not in vain, for there far beneath her twinkled thewatch-fires of the army of hafela.
three hours later a woman, footsore and utterly exhausted, staggeredinto the camp, and waving aside the spears that were lifted to stabher, demanded to be led to the prince. presently she was there.
"who is this woman?" asked the great warrior; for, haggard as she waswith travel, exhaustion, and the terror of her haunted loneliness, hedid not know her in the uncertain firelight.
"hafela," she said, "i am noma who was the wife of hokosa, and forwhole nights and days i have journeyed as no woman ever journeyedbefore, to tell you of the treachery of hokosa and to save you fromyour doom.""what treachery and what doom?" asked the prince.
"before i answer you that question, hafela, you must pay me the priceof my news.""let me hear the price, noma.""it is this, prince: first, the head of hokosa, who has divorced me,when you have caught him.""that i promise readily. what more?""secondly, the place of your chief wife to-day; and a week hence, wheni shall have made you king, the name and state of queen of the peopleof fire with all that hangs thereto.""you are ambitious, woman, and know well how to drive a bargain. well,if you can ask, i can give, for i have ever loved you, and your mindis great as your body is beautiful. if through your help i shouldbecome king of the people of fire, you shall be their queen, i swearit by the spirits of my fathers and by my own head. and now--yourtidings.""these are they, hafela. hokosa has turned christian and betrayed theplot to nodwengo; and the great gorge yonder but three hours marchaway is ambushed. to-morrow you and your people would have been cutoff there had i not run so fast and far to warn you, after which the/impis/ of nodwengo were commanded to follow your women and cattleover the mountain pass and capture them.""this is news indeed," said the prince. "say now, how many regimentsare hidden in the gorge?""eight.""well, i have fourteen; so, being warned, there is little to fear. iwill catch these rats in their own hole.""i have a better plan," said noma; "it is this: leave six regimentsposted upon the brow of yonder hill and let them stay there. then whenthe generals of nodwengo see that they do not enter the gorge, theywill believe that the ambush is discovered, and, after waiting one dayor perhaps two, will move out to give battle, thinking that beforethem is all your strength. but command your regiments to run and notto fight, drawing the army of nodwengo after them. meanwhile, yes,this very night, you yourself with all the men that are left to youmust march upon the great place, which, though it be strong, can bestormed, for it is defended by less than five thousand soldiers.
there, having taken it, you shall slay nodwengo, proclaiming yourselfking, and afterwards, by the help of the /impi/ that you leave herewhich will march onward to your succour, you can deal with yonderarmy.""a great scheme truly," said hafela in admiration; "but how do i knowwhether all this tale is true, or whether you do but set a snare forme?""bid scouts go out and creep into yonder gully," answered noma, "andyou will see whether or no i have spoken falsely. for the rest, i amin your hands, and if i lie you can take my life in payment.""if i march upon the great place, it must be at midnight when none seeme go," said hafela, "and what will you do then, noma, who are tooweary to travel again so soon?""i will be borne in a litter till my strength comes back to me," sheanswered. "and now give me to eat and let me rest while i may."*****five hours later, hafela with the most of his army, a force ofsomething over twenty thousand men, was journeying swiftly but by acircuitous route towards the great place of the king. on the crest ofthe hill facing the gorge, as noma had suggested, he left sixregiments with instructions to fly before nodwengo's generals, andwhen they had led them far enough, to follow him as swiftly as theywere able. these orders, or rather the first part of them, theycarried out, for as it chanced after two days' flight, the king'ssoldiers got behind them by a night march, and falling on them atdawn, killed half of them and dispersed the rest. then it was thatnodwengo's generals learned for the first time that they werefollowing one wing of hafela's army only, while the main body wasstriking at the heart of the kingdom, and turned their faces homewardsin fear and haste.
*****on the morning after the flight of noma, owen passed into the laststage of his sickness, and it became evident, both to himself and tothose who watched him, that at the most he could not live for morethan a few days. for his part, he accepted his doom joyfully, spendingthe time which was left to him in writing letters that were to beforwarded to england whenever an opportunity should arise. also he setdown on paper a statement of the principal events of his strangemission, and other information for the guidance of his whitesuccessors, who by now should be drawing near to the land of theamasuka. in the intervals of these last labours, from time to time hesummoned the king and the wisest and trustiest of them whom he hadbaptised to his bedside, teaching them what they should do when he wasgone, and exhorting them to cling to the faith.
on the afternoon of the fourth day from that of the baptism of hokosahe fell into a quiet sleep, from which he did not wake till sundown.
"am i still here?" he asked wondering, of john and hokosa who watchedat his bedside. "from my dreams i thought that it was otherwise. john,send a messenger to the king and ask of him to assemble the people,all who care to come, in the open place before my house. i am about todie, and first i would speak with them."john went weeping upon his errand, leaving owen and hokosa alone.
"tell me know what shall i do?" said hokosa in a voice of despair,"seeing that it is i and no other who have brought this death uponyou.""fret not, my brother," answered owen, "for this and other things youdid in the days of your blindness, and it was permitted that youshould do them to an end. kneel down now, that i may absolve you fromyour sins before i pass away; for i tell you, hokosa, i believe thatere many days are over you must walk on the same path which i travelto-night.""is it so?" hokosa answered. "well, i am glad, for i have no longerany lust of life."then he knelt down and received the absolution.
now john returned and nodwengo with him, who told him that the peoplewere gathering in hundreds according to his wish.
"then clothe me in my robes and let us go forth," he said, "for iwould speak my last words in the ears of men."so they put the surplice and hood upon his wasted form and went out,john preceding him holding on high the ivory crucifix, while the kingand hokosa supported him, one on either side.
without his gate stood a low wooden platform, whence at times owen hadbeen accustomed to address any congregation larger than the churchwould contain. on this platform he took his seat. the moon was brightabove him, and by it he could see that already his audience numberedsome thousands of men, women and children. the news had spread thatthe wonderful white man, messenger, wished to take his farewell of thenation, though even now many did not understand that he was dying, butimagined that he was about to leave the country, or, for aught theyknew, to vanish from their sight into heaven. for a moment owen lookedat the sea of dusky faces, then in the midst of an intense stillness,he spoke in a voice low indeed but clear and steady:--"my children," he said, "hear my last words to you. more than threeyears ago, in a far, far land and upon such a night as this, a voicespoke to me from above commanding me to seek you out, to turn you fromyour idolatry and to lighten your darkness. i listened to the voice,and hither i journeyed across sea and land, though how this thingmight be done i could not guess. but to him who sent me all things arepossible, and while yet i lingered upon the threshold of your country,in a dream were revealed to me events that were to come. so i appearedbefore you boldly, and knowing that he had been poisoned and that icould cure him, i drew back your king from the mouth of death, and yousaid to yourselves: 'behold a wizard indeed! let us hear him.' then igave battle to your sorcerers yonder upon the plain, and from the footof the cross i teach, the lightnings were rolled back upon them andthey were not. look now, their chief stands at my side, among mydisciples one of the foremost and most faithful. afterwards troublesarose: your king died a christian, and many of the people fell away;but still a remnant remained, and he who became king was converted tothe truth. now i have sown the seed, and the corn is ripe before myeyes, but it is not permitted that i should reap the harvest. my workis ended, my task is done, and i, the messenger, return to make reportto him who sent the message.
"hear me yet a little while, for soon shall my voice be silent. 'icome not to bring peace, but a sword,'--so said the master whom ipreach, and so say i, the most unworthy of his servants. salvationcannot be bought at a little price; it must be paid for by the bloodand griefs of men, and in blood and griefs must you pay, o mychildren. through much tribulation must you also enter the kingdom ofgod. even now the heathen is at your gates, and many of you shallperish on his spears, but i tell you that he shall not conquer. befaithful, cling to the cross, and do not dare to doubt your lord, forhe will be your captain and you shall be his people. cleave to yourking, for he is good; and in the day of trial listen to the counsel ofthis hokosa who once was the first of evil-doers, for with him goes myspirit, and he is my son in the spirit.
"my children, fare you well! forget me not, for i have loved you; orif you will, forget me, but remember my teaching and hearken to thosewho shall tread upon the path i made. the peace of god be with you,the blessing of god be upon you, and the salvation of god await you,as it awaits me to-night! friends, lead me hence to die."they turned to him, but before their hands touched him thomas owenfell forward upon the breast of hokosa and lay there a while. thensuddenly, for the last time, he lifted himself and cried aloud:--"i have fought a good fight! i have finished my course! i have keptthe faith! henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. . . and not to me only, but to all those who love his appearing."then his head fell back, his dark eyes closed, and the messenger wasdead.
hokosa, the man who had murdered him, having lifted him up to show himto the people, amidst a sound of mighty weeping, took the body in hisarms and bore it thence to make it ready for burial.
