nd that
man, a Mormon_.
Having once disposed of the "fetish palaver," Kenyon became more eager
than anyone to turn his face homewards, and two days afterwards the
whole party accordingly left Equatoria, and after destroying the Bridge
of Rope, firing the public building, and razing to the ground the last
stronghold of Zero the slaver, his conquerors steered a straight course
for the south-western seaboard.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
FAREWELL.
Months later the whole band reached safely a small Portuguese haven on
the south-west coast, in which there lay at anchor the Mormon's own
steam-vessel, the _Brigham Young_, and all going on board of her, the
old Prophet, who had now become excellent friends with Grenville and his
party, ordered steam to be got up, and, running comfortably down the
coast, soon landed our friends at Cape Town to wait for the English
mail-boat, whilst he himself, after revictualling his ship, set sail for
home with the remnant of his victorious army of the "Elect."
Bitter was the final parting between Grenville and Amaxosa, though the
great Zulu to some extent concealed his true feelings under the mask of
his accustomed stoicism.
"The light has gone out of my sun, my father," he said; "the
storm-clouds are very heavy, and my heart is split in twain. What can
the chieftain of the Undi say more? Yet, my father, if aught of evil
comes upon thee, then, out of the trackless deserts of the unknown land
beyond, call thou aloud for Amaxosa, thy true and only son, and thy
faithful war-dog will answer, `Here am I, my father!' and will
straightway follow on along the narrow, bloodstained path, even through
the darksome shadows of the dead, and into the glorious land of the
great hereafter.
"Fare ye well, Inkoosis, wise and mighty chiefs!
"Adieu, my little sister, who from the shadows of the cruel past hast
come to bless us!
"And to thee, my father--to thee, with whom the spirit of thy son is
bound in the bundle of life here and hereafter, to thee the Lion of the
Zulu gives his greeting last and best. Greeting to thee, bravest of the
brave!
"Greeting and farewell!"
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Zero the Slaver, by Lawrence Fletcher
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