Smith and the Pharaohs, and other TalesHaggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider)
General
Smith and the Pharaohs, and other Tales
Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider)
Adventure stories, English; Fantasy fiction, English; Short stories, English
The procession reached the edge of the rock where the railing was, only
now the railing had gone like the house. Then for the first time Dorcas
heard, for hitherto all had seemed to happen in silence.
“Die, _Umtakati!_ Die, you wizard, as the King commands, and feed
the river-dwellers,” said a deep voice.
There followed a struggle, a horrible twisting of shapes, and the
elderly man vanished over the cliff, while a moment later from below
came the noise of a great splash.
Next the girl was haled forward, and the words of doom were repeated.
She seemed to break from her murderers and stagger to the edge of the
precipice, crying out:
“O Father, I come!”
Then, with one blood-curdling shriek, she vanished also, and again there
followed the sound of a great splash that slowly echoed itself to
silence.
All had passed away, leaving Dorcas paralysed with terror, and wet with
its dew, so that her night-gear clung to her body. The room was just as
it had been, filled with the soft moonlight and looking very
comfortable.
“Thomas!” gasped his wife, “wake up.”
“I _am_ awake,” he answered in his deep voice, which shook a
little. “I have had a bad dream.”
“What did you dream? Did you see two people thrown from the cliff?”
“Something of that sort.”
“Oh! Thomas, Thomas, I have been in hell. This place is haunted.
Don’t talk to me of dreams. Tabitha will have seen and heard too. She
will be driven mad. Come to her.”
“I think not,” answered Thomas.
Still he came.
At the door of Tabitha’s room they found the woman Ivana, wide-eyed,
solemn, silent.
“Have you seen or heard anything, Ivana?” asked Thomas.
“Yes, Teacher,” she answered, “I have seen what I expected to
see and heard what I expected to hear on this night of full moon, but I
am guarded and do not fear.”
“The child! The child!” said Dorcas.
“The _Inkosikazi_ Imba sleeps. Disturb her not.”
Taking no heed, they thrust past her into the room. There on her little
white bed lay Tabitha fast asleep, and looking like an angel in her
sleep, for a sweet smile played about her mouth, and while they watched
she laughed in her dreams. Then they looked at each other and went back
to their own chamber to spend the rest of the night as may be imagined.
Next morning when they emerged, very shaken and upset, the first person
they met was Ivana, who was waiting for them with their coffee.
“I have a message for you, Teacher and Lady. Never mind who sends it,
I have a message for you to which you will do well to give heed. Sleep
no more in this house on the night of full moon, though all other
nights will be good for you. Only the little Chieftainess Imba ought to
sleep in this house on the night of full moon.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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