The Ghost Kings by H. Rider Haggard Contents CHAPTER 1. THE GIRL CHAPTER 2. THE BOY CHAPTER 3. GOOD-BYE CHAPTER 4. ISHMAEL CHAPTER 5. NOIE CHAPTER 6. THE CASTING OF THE LOTS CHAPTER 7. THE MESSAGE OF THE KING CHAPTER 8. MR. DOVE VISITS ISHMAEL CHAPTER 9. THE TAKING OF NOIE CHAPTER 10. THE OMEN OF THE STAR CHAPTER 11. ISHMAEL VISITS THE Inkosazana CHAPTER 12. RACHEL SEES A VISION CHAPTER 13. RICHARD COMES CHAPTER 14. WHAT CHANCED AT RAMAH CHAPTER 15. RACHEL COMES HOME CHAPTER 16. THE THREE DAYS CHAPTER 17. RACHEL LOSES HER SPIRIT CHAPTER 18. THE CURSE OF THE Inkosazana CHAPTER 19. RACHEL FINDS HER SPIRIT CHAPTER 20. THE MOTHER OF THE TREES CHAPTER 21. THE CITY OF THE DEAD CHAPTER 22. IN THE SANCTUARY CHAPTER 23. THE DREAM IN THE NORTH CHAPTER 24. THE END AND THE BEGINNING EXTRACT FROM LETTER HEADED “THE KING’S KRAAL, ZULULAND, 12TH MAY, 1855.” “The Zulus about here have a strange story of a white girl who in Dingaan’s day was supposed to ‘hold the spirit’ of some legendary goddess of theirs who is also white. This girl, they say, was very beautiful and brave, and had great power in the land before the battle of the Blood River, which they fought with the emigrant Boers. Her title was Lady of the Zulus, or more shortly, Zoola, which means Heaven. “She seems to have been the daughter of a wandering, pioneer missionary, but the king, I mean Dingaan, murdered her parents, of whom he was jealous, after which she went mad and cursed the nation, and it is to this curse that they still attribute the death of Dingaan, and their defeats and other misfortunes of that time. “Ultimately, it appears, in order to be rid of this girl and her evil eye, they sold her to the doctors of a dwarf people, who lived far away in a forest and worshipped trees, since when nothing more has been heard of her. But according to them the curse stopped behind. “If I can find out anything more of this curious story I will let you know, but I doubt if I shall be able to do so. Although fifteen years or so have passed since Dingaan’s death in 1840 the Kaffirs are very shy of talking about this poor lady, and, I think, only did so to me because I am neither an official nor a missionary, but one whom they look upon as a friend because I have doctored so many of them. When I asked the Indunas about her at first they pretended total ignorance, but on my pressing the question, one of them said that ‘all that tale was unlucky and “went beyond” with Mopo.’ Now Mopo, as I think I wrote to you, was the man who stabbed King Chaka, Dingaan’s brother. He is supposed to have been mixed up in the death of Dingaan also, and to be dead himself. At any rate he vanished away after Panda came to the throne.” CHAPTER I. THE GIRL