a stipulation. It is this. That so soon as my death occurs you should
leave this place and take the first opportunity of returning to England.
I do not ask you to live there always; it might prove too much for
people reared in the wilds, as both of you have been; but I do ask you
to make it your permanent home. Do you consent and promise this?"

"I do," I answered.

"And so do I," said Stella.

"Very well," he answered; "and now I am tired out. Again God bless you
both, and good-night."

CHAPTER X

HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL

On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. First
of all I told him that I was going to marry Stella.

"Oh!" he said, "I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you that you
would find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to watch
the Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on your
heart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set."

"Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?" I answered, angrily,
for his words sent a thrill of fear through me.

"A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. I
only speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss,
loss upon loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find all
the things that we have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, and
there was wisdom in his gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it is
change, that is all, Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the drops of
rain that were one water in the clouds fall side by side. They sink into
the ground; presently the sun will come out, the earth will be dry, the
drops will be gone. A fool looks and says the drops are dead, they will
never be one again, they will never again fall side by side. But I am a
rain-maker, and I know the ways of rain. It is not true. The drops will
drain by many paths into the river, and will be one water there. They
will go up to the clouds again in the mists of morning, and there will
again be as they have been. We are the drops of rain, Macumazahn. When
we fall that is our life. When we sink into the ground that is death,
and when we are drawn up again to the sky, what is that, Macumazahn? No!
no! when we find we lose, and when we seem to lose, then we shall really
find. I am not a Christian, Macumazahn, but I am old, and have watched
and seen things that perhaps Christians do not see. There, I have
spoken. Be happy with your star, and if it sets, wait, Mac