t dead, though he was hurt to death. He
sat up, and with his last strength he hurled the axe in his hand at
him whose might had prevailed against him. The axe sped true, and
Umslopogaas did not see it fly. It sped true, and its point struck him
on the left temple, driving in the bone and making a great hole. Then
Faku fell back dying, and Umslopogaas threw up his arms and dropped like
an ox drops beneath the blow of the butcher, and lay as one dead, under
the shadow of a stone.

All day long Nada crouched in the cave listening to the sounds of war
that crept faintly up the mountain side; howling of wolves, shouting
of men, and the clamour of iron on iron. All day long she sat, and now
evening came apace, and the noise of battle drew near, swelled, and
sank, and died away. She heard the voices of the Wolf-Brethren as they
called to each other like bucks, naming the number of the slain. She
heard Galazi's cry of "Victory!" and her heart leapt to it, though she
knew that there was death in the cry. Then for the last time she heard
the faint ringing of iron on iron, and the light went out and all grew
still.

All grew still as the night. There came no more shouting of men and
no more clash of arms, no howlings of wolves, no cries of pain or
triumph--all was quiet as death, for death had taken all.

For awhile Nada the Lily sat in the dark of the cave, saying to herself,
"Presently he will come, my husband, he will surely come; the Slayers
are slain--he does not but tarry to bind his wounds; a scratch,
perchance, here and there. Yes, he will come, and it is well, for I am
weary of my loneliness, and this place is grim and evil."

Thus she spoke to herself in hope, but nothing came except the silence.
Then she spoke again, and her voice echoed in the hollow cave. "Now I
will be bold, I will fear nothing, I will push aside the stone and go
out to find him. I know well he does but linger to tend some who are
wounded, perhaps Galazi. Doubtless Galazi is wounded. I must go and
nurse him, though he never loved me, and I do not love him overmuch who
would stand between me and my husband. This wild wolf-man is a foe to
women, and, most of all, a foe to me; yet I will be kind to him. Come, I
will go at once," and she rose and pushed at the rock.

Why, what was this? It did not stir. Then she remembered that she had
pulled it beyond the socket because of her fear of the wolf, and that
the rock had slipped a little way down the ne