Ella Wheeler Wilcox - "Custer, and Other Poems."

Frank Norris - "A Deal in Wheat"

Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay) - "Cecilia vol. 2"

by Alfred Russell Wallace - "The Malay Archipelago"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

The Ghost Kings

H >> H. Rider Haggard >> The Ghost Kings




He came to the kraal Mafooti. It was utterly deserted, and he wandered
amidst its ashes. Here and there he found the bones of those who had
perished in the fire, and turned them over with his staff wondering
whether any of them had belonged to Rachel. In that place he slept a night
thinking that perhaps his journey was ended, and that here he would die
where he believed Rachel had died. But when he waked at the dawn, it was
to find that something within him still drew him towards the north, more
strongly indeed than ever before.

So he left what had been the town Mafooti. Walking along the edge of the
cleft into which Ishmael had leapt on fire, he climbed the walls built
with so much toil to keep out the Zulus, and at last came to the river
which Rachel had swum. It was low now, and wading it he entered Zululand.
Here the natives seemed to know of his approach, for they gathered in
numbers watching him, and put food in his path. But they would not speak
to him, and when he addressed them saying that he followed a Dream and
asking if they had seen the Dream, they cried out that he was _tagali_,
bewitched, and fled away.

He continued his journey, finding each night a hut prepared for him to
sleep in, and food for him to eat, till at length one evening he reached
the Great Place, Umgugundhlovu. Through its streets he marched with a set
face, while thousands stared at him in silence. Then a captain pointed out
a hut to him, and into it he entered, ate and slept. At dawn he rose, for
he knew that here he must not tarry; the spirit face of Rachel still hung
before him, the spirit voice still whispered--"_Forward, forward to the
north. I myself will be your guide_." In his path sat the King and his
Councillors, and around them a regiment of men. He walked through them
unheeding, till at length, when he was in front of the King, they barred
his road, and he halted.

"Who art thou and what is thy business?" asked an old Councillor with a
withered hand.

"I am Richard Darrien," he answered, "and here I have no business. I
journey to the north. Stay me not."

"We know thee," said the Councillor, "thou art the lord Dario that didst
dwell in the shadow of the Inkosazana. Thou art the white chief whom the
wild beast, Ibubesi, slew at the kraal Mafooti. Why does thy ghost come
hither to trouble us?"

"Living or dead, ghost or man, I travel to the north. Stay me not," he
answered.

"What seekest thou in the north, thou lord Dario?"

"I seek a Dream; a Spirit leads me to find a Dream. Seest thou it not, Man
with the withered hand?"

"Ah!" they repeated, "he seeks a Dream. A Spirit leads him to find a Dream
in the north."

"What is this Dream like?" asked Mopo of the withered hand.

"Come, stand at my side and look. There, dost thou see it floating in the
air before us, thou who hast eyes that can read a Dream?"

Mopo came and looked, then his knees trembled a little and he said:

"Aye, lord Dario, I see and I know that face."

"Thou knowest the face, old fool," broke in Dingaan angrily. "Then whose
is it?"

"O King," answered Mopo, dropping his eyes, "it is not lawful to speak the
name, but the face is the face of one who sat where that wanderer stands,
and showed thee certain pictures in a bowl of water."

Now Dingaan trembled, for the memory of those visions haunted him night
and day; moreover he thought at times that they drew near to their
fulfilment.

"The white man is mad," he said, "and thou, Mopo, art mad also. I have
often thought it, and that it would be well if thou wentest on a long
journey--for thy health. This Dario shall stay here a while. I will not
suffer him to wander through my land crazing the people with his tales of
dreams and visions. Take him and hold him; the Circle of the Doctors shall
inquire into the matter."

So Dingaan spoke, who in his heart was afraid lest this wild-eyed Dario
should learn that he had given the Inkosazana to the dwarf folk when she
was mad, to appease them after they had prophesied evil to him. Also he
remembered that it was because of the murders done by Ibubesi that the
Inkosazana had gone mad, and did not understand if Dario had been killed
at the kraal Mafooti how it could be that he now stood before him.
Therefore he thought that he would keep him a prisoner until he found out
all the truth of the matter, and whether he were still a man or a ghost or
a wizard clothed in the shape of the dead.

At the bidding of the King, guards sprang forward to seize Richard, but
the old Councillor, Mopo, shrunk away behind him hiding his eyes with his
withered hand. They sprang forward, and yet they laid no finger on him,
but fell oft to right and left, saying:

"Kill us, if thou wilt, Black One, we cannot!"

"The wizard has bewitched them," said Dingaan angrily. "Here, you Doctors,
you whose trade it is to catch wizards, take this white fellow and bind
him."

Unwillingly enough the Doctors, of whom there were eight or ten sitting
apart, rose to do the King's bidding. They came on towards Richard, some
of them singing songs, and some muttering charms, and as they came he
laughed and said:

"Beware! you _Abangoma_, the Dream is looking at you very angrily." Then
they too broke away to right and left, crying out that this was a wizard
against whom they had no power.

Now Dingaan grew mad with wrath, and shouted to his soldiers to seize the
white man, and if he resisted them to kill him with their sticks, for of
witchcraft they had known enough in Zululand of late.

So thick as bees the regiment formed up in front of him, shouting and
waving their kerries, for here in the King's Place they bore no spears.

"Make way there," said Richard, "I can stay no longer, I must to the
north."

The soldiers did not stir, only a captain stepped out bidding him give up
his spear and yield himself, or be killed. Richard walked forward and at a
sign from the captain, men sprang at him, lifting their kerries, to dash
out his brains. Then suddenly in front of Richard there appeared something
faint and white, something that walked before him. The soldiers saw it,
and the kerries fell from their hands. The regiment behind saw it, and
turning, burst away like a scared herd of cattle. They did not wait to
seek the gates, they burst through the fence of the enclosure, and were
gone, leaving it flat behind them. The King and his Councillors saw it
also, and more clearly than the rest.

_"The Inkosazana!"_ they cried. "It is the Inkosazana who walks before him
that she loved!" and they fell upon their faces. Only Dingaan remained
seated on his stool.

"Go," he said hoarsely to Richard, "go, thou wizard, north or south or
east or west, if only thou wilt take that Spirit with thee, for she bodes
evil to my land."

So Richard, who had seen nothing, marched away from the kraal
Umgugundhlovu, and once more set his face towards the north, the north
that drew him as it draws the needle of a compass.

The road that Rachel and the dwarfs had travelled he travelled also.
Although from day to day he knew not where his feet would lead him, still
he travelled it step by step. Nor did any hurt come to him. In the country
where men dwelt, being forewarned of his coming by messengers, they
brought him food and guarded him, and when he passed out into the
wilderness some other power guarded him. He had no fear at all. At night
he would lie down without a fire, and the lions would roar about him, but
they never harmed him. He would plunge into a swamp or a river and always
pass it safely. When water failed he would find it without search; when
there was no food, it would seem to be brought to him. Once an eagle
dropped a bustard at his feet. Once he found a buck fresh slain by
leopards. Once when he was very hungry he saw that he had laid down to
sleep by a nest of ostrich eggs, and this food he cooked, making fire
after the native fashion with sharp sticks, as he knew how to do.

At length all the swamps were passed and in the third week of his
journeyings he reached the sloping uplands, on the edge of which he awoke
one morning to find himself surrounded by a circle of great men, giants,
who stood staring at him. He arose, thinking that at last his hour had
come, as it seemed to him that they were about to kill him. But instead of
killing him these huge men saluted him humbly, and offered him food upon
their knees, and new hide shoes for his feet--for his own were worn
out--and cloaks and garments of skin, which things he accepted thankfully,
for by now he was almost naked. Then they brought a litter and wished him
to enter it, but this he refused. Heeding them no more, as soon as he had
eaten and filled his bag and water-bottle, he started on towards the
north. Indeed, he could not have stayed if he had wished; his brain seemed
to be full of one thought only, to travel till he reached his journey's
end, whatever it might be, and before his eyes he saw one thing only, the
spirit face of Rachel, that led him on towards that end. Sometimes it was
there for hours, then for hours again it would be absent. When it was
present he looked at it; when it was gone he dreamed of it, for him it was
the same. But one thing was ever with him, that magnet in his heart which
drew his feet towards the north, and from step to step showed him the road
that he should travel.

A number of the giant men accompanied him. He noticed it, but took no
heed. So long as they did not attempt to stay or turn him he was
indifferent whether they came or went away. As a result he travelled in
much more comfort, since now everything was made easy and ready for him.
Thus he was fed with the best that the land provided, and at night
shelters were built for him to sleep in. He discovered that a captain of
the giants could understand a few words of some native language which he
knew, and asked him why they helped him. The captain replied by order of
"Mother of Trees." Who or what "Mother of Trees" might be Richard was
unable to discover, so he gave up his attempts at talk and walked on.

They traversed the fertile uplands and reached the edge of the fearful
desert. It did not frighten him; he plunged into it as he would have
plunged into a sea, or a lake of fire, had it lain in his way. He was like
a bird whose instinct at the approach of summer or of winter leads it
without doubt or error to some far spot, beyond continents and oceans,
some land that it has never seen, leads it in surety and peace to its
appointed rest. A guard of the giant men came with him into the desert,
also carriers who bore skins of water. In that burning heat the journey
was dreadful, yet Richard accomplished it, wearing down all his escort,
until at its further lip but one man was left. There even he sank
exhausted and began to beat upon a little drum that he carried, which drum
had been passed on to him by those who were left behind. But Richard was
not exhausted. His strength seemed to be greater than it had ever been
before, or that which drew him forward had acquired more power. He
wondered vaguely why a man should choose such a place and time to play
upon a drum, and went on alone.

Before him, some miles away, he saw a forest of towering trees that
stretched further than his eye could reach. As he approached that forest
heading for a certain tall tree, why he knew not, the sunset dyed it red
as though it had been on fire, and he thought that he discerned little
shapes flitting to and fro amidst the boles of trees. Then he entered the
forest, whereof the boughs arched above him like the endless roof of a
cathedral borne upon innumerable pillars. There was deep gloom that grew
presently to darkness wherein here and there glow-worms shone faintly like
tapers dying before an altar, and winds sighed like echoes of evening
prayers. He could see to walk no longer, sudden weariness overcame him, so
according to his custom he laid himself down to sleep at the bole of a
great tree.

A while had passed, he never knew how long, when Richard was awakened from
deep slumber by feeling many hands fiercely at work upon him. These hands
were small like those of children; this he could tell from the touch of
them, although the darkness was so dense that he was able to see nothing.
Two of them gripped him by the throat so as to prevent him from crying
out; others passed cords about his wrists, ankles and middle until he
could not stir a single limb. Then he was dragged back a few paces and
lashed to the bole of a tree, as he guessed, that under which he had been
sleeping. The hands let go of him, and his throat being free he called out
for help. But those vast forest aisles seemed to swallow up his voice. It
fell back on him from the canopy of huge boughs above, it was lost in the
immense silence. Only from close at hand he heard little peals of thin and
mocking laughter. So he too grew silent, for who was there to help him
here? He struggled to loose himself, for the impalpable power which had
guided him so far was now at work within him more strongly than ever
before. It called to him to come, it drew him onward, it whispered to him
that the goal was near. But the more he writhed and twisted the deeper did
the cruel cords or creepers cut into his flesh. Yet he fought on till,
utterly exhausted, his head fell forward, and he swooned away.



CHAPTER XXIV

THE END AND THE BEGINNING


On the day following that when she had summoned Eddo to speak with her,
Nya sat at the mouth of the cave. It was late afternoon, and already the
shadows gathered so quickly that save for her white hair, her little
childlike shape, withered now almost to a skeleton, was scarcely visible
against the black rock. Walking to and fro in her aimless fashion, as she
would do for hours at a time, Rachel accompanied by Noie passed and
repassed her, till at length the old woman lifted her head and listened to
something which was quite inaudible to their ears. Then she beckoned to
Noie, who led Rachel to her.

"Maiden beloved," she said in a feeble voice, after they had sat down in
front of her, "my hour has come, I have sent for thee to bid thee farewell
till we meet again in a country where thou hast travelled for a little
while. Before the sun sets I pass within the Fence."

At this tidings Rachel began to weep, for she had learned to love this old
dwarf-woman who had been so kind to her in her misery, and she was now so
weak that she could not restrain her fears.

"Mother," she said, "for thee it is joy to go. I know it, and therefore
cannot wish that thou shouldst stay. Yet what shall I do when thou hast
left me alone amidst all these cruel folk? Tell me, what shall I do?"

"Perchance thou wilt seek another helper. Maiden, and perchance thou shall
find another to guard and comfort thee. Follow thy heart, obey thy heart,
and remember the last words of Nya--that no harm shall come to thee.
Nay--if I know it, I may tell thee no more, thou who couldst not hear what
the drums said to me but now. Farewell," and turning round she made a sign
to certain dwarf-mutes who were gathered behind her as though they awaited
her commands.

"Hast thou no last word for me, Mother?" asked Noie.

"Aye, Child," she answered. "Thy heart is very bold, and thou also must
follow it. Though thy sin should be great, perchance thy greater love may
pay its price. At least thou art but an arrow set upon the string, and
that which must be, will be. I think that we shall meet again ere long.
Come hither and kneel at my side."

Noie obeyed, and for a little space Nya whispered in her ear, while as she
listened Rachel saw strange lights shining in Noie's eyes, lights of
terror and of pride, lights of hope and of despair.

"What did she say to you, Noie?" asked Rachel presently.

"I may not tell, Zoola," she answered. "Question me no more."

Now the mutes brought forward a slight litter woven of boughs on which the
withered leaves still hung, boughs from Nya's fallen tree. In this litter
they placed her, for she could no longer walk, and lifted it on to their
shoulders. For one moment she bade them halt, and calling Rachel and Noie
to her, kissed them upon the brow, holding up her thin child-like hands
over them in blessing. Then followed by them both, the bearers went
forward with their burden, taking the road that ran up the hill towards
the sacred tree. As the sun set they passed within the Fence, and laying
down the litter without a word by the bole of the tree, turned and
departed.

The darkness fell, and through it Rachel and Noie heard Nya singing for a
little while. The song ceased, and they descended the hill to the cave,
for there they feared to stay lest the Tree should draw them also. They
ate a little food whilst the two women mutes who had sat on each side of
Nya when she showed her magic, stared, now at them, and now into the bowls
of dew that were set before them, wherein they seemed to find something
that interested them much. Noie prayed Rachel to sleep, and she tried to
do so, and could not. For hour after hour she tossed and turned, and at
length sat up, saying to Noie:

"I have fought against it, and I can stay here no longer. Noie, I am
being drawn from this place out into the forest, and I must go."

"What draws thee, Sister?" asked Noie. "Is it Eddo?"

"No, I think not, nothing to do with Eddo. Oh! Noie, Noie, it is the
spirit of Richard Darrien. He is dead, but for days and weeks his spirit
has been with my spirit, and now it draws me into the forest to die and
find him."

"Then that is an evil journey thou wouldst take, Zoola?"

"Not so, Noie, it is the best and happiest of journeys. The thought of it
fills me with joy. What said Nya? Follow thy heart. So I follow it. Noie,
farewell, for I must go away."

"Nay," answered Noie, "if thou goest I go, who also was bidden to follow
my heart that is sister to thy heart."

Rachel reasoned with her, but she would not listen. The end of it was that
the two of them rose and threw on their cloaks; also Rachel took the great
Umkulu spear which she had used as a staff on her journey from the desert
to the forest. All this while the dwarf-women watched her, but did
nothing, only watched.

They left the cave and walked to the mouth of the zig-zag slit in the
great wall which was open.

"Perhaps the mutes will kill us in the heart of the wall," said Noie.

"If so the end will be soon and swift," answered Rachel.

Now they were in the cleft, following its slopes and windings. Above them
they could hear the movements of the guardians of the wall who sat amongst
the rough stones, but these did not try to stop them; indeed once or twice
when they did not know which way to turn in the darkness, little hands
took hold of Rachel's cloak and guided her. So they passed through the
wall in safety. Outside of it Rachel paused a moment, looking this way and
that. Then of a sudden she turned and walked swiftly towards the south.

It was dark, densely dark in the forest, yet she never seemed to lose her
path. Holding Noie by the hand she wound in and out between the
tree-trunks without stumbling or even striking her foot against a root.
For an hour or more they walked on this, the strangest of strange
journeys, till at length Rachel whispered;

"Something tells me to stay here," and she leaned against a tree and
stayed, while Noie, who was tired, sat down between the jutting roots of
the tree.

It was a dead tree, and the top of it had been torn off in some hurricane
so that they could see the sky above them, and by the grey hue of it knew
that it was drawing near to dawn.

The sun rose, and its arrows, that even at midday could never pass the
canopy of foliage, shot straight and vivid between the tall bare trunks.
Oh! Rachel knew the place. It was that place which she had dreamed of as a
child in the island of the flooded river. Just so had the light of the
rising sun fallen on the boles of the great trees, and on her white cloak
and out-spread hair, fallen on her and on another. She strained her eyes
into the gloom. Now those rays pierced it also, and now by them she saw
the yellow-bearded, half-naked man of that long-dead dream leaning against
the tree. His eyes were shut, without doubt he was dead, this was but a
vision of him who had drawn her hither to share his death. It was the
spirit of Richard Darrien!

She drew a little nearer, and the eyes opened, gazing at her. Also from
that form of his was cast a long shadow--there it lay upon the dead
leaves. How came it, she wondered, that a spirit could throw a shadow, and
why was a spirit bound to a tree, as now she perceived he was? He saw her,
and in those grey eyes of his there came a wonderful look. He spoke.

"You have drawn me from far, Rachel, but I have never seen all of you
before, only your face floating in the air before me, although others saw
you. Now I see you also, so I suppose that my time has come. It will soon
be over. Wait a little there, where I can look at you, and presently we
shall be together again. I am glad."

Rachel could not speak. A lump rose in her throat and choked her. Betwixt
fear and hope her heart stood still. Only with the spear in her hand she
pointed at her own shadow thrown by the level rays of the rising sun. He
looked, and notwithstanding the straitness of his bonds she saw him start.

"If you are a ghost why have you a shadow?" he asked hoarsely. "And if you
are not a ghost, how did you come into this haunted place?"

Still Rachel did not seem to be able to speak. Only she glided up to him
and kissed him on the lips. Now at length he understood--they both
understood that they were still living creatures beneath the sky, not the
denizens of some dim world which lies beyond.

"Free me," he said in a faint voice, for his brain reeled. "I was bound
here in my sleep. They will be back presently."

Her intelligence awoke. With a few swift cuts of the spear she held Rachel
severed his bonds, then picked up his own assegai that lay at his feet she
thrust it into his numbed hand. As he took it the forest about them seemed
to become alive, and from behind the boles of the trees around appeared a
number of dwarfs who ran towards them, headed by Eddo. Noie sprang forward
also, and stood at their side. Rachel turned on Eddo swiftly as a startled
deer. She seemed to tower over him, the spear in her hand.

"What does this mean, Priest?" she asked.

"Inkosazana," he answered humbly, "it means that I have found a way to
tempt thee from within the Wall where none might break thy sanctuary. Thou
drewest this man to thee from far with the strength that old Nya gave
thee. We knew it all, we saw it all, and we waited. Day by day in our
bowls of dew we watched him coming nearer to thee. We heard the messages
of Nya on the drums, bidding the Umkulu meet and escort him; we heard the
last answering message from the borders of the desert, telling her that he
was nigh. Then while he followed his magic path through the darkness of
the forest we seized and bound him, knowing well that if he could not come
to thee, thou wouldst come to him. And thou hast come."

"I understand. What now, Eddo?"

"This, Inkosazana: Thou hast been named Mother of the Trees by the people
of the Dwarfs; be pleased to come with us that we may instal thee in thy
great office."

"This lord here," said Rachel, "is my promised husband. What of him?"

Eddo bowed and smiled, a fearful smile, and answered:

"The Mother of the Trees has no husband. Wisdom is her husband. He has
served his purpose, which was to draw thee from within the Wall, and for
this reason only we permitted him to enter the holy forest living. Now he
bides here to die, and since he has won thy love we will honour him with
the White Death. Bind him to the tree again."

In an instant the spear that Rachel held was at Eddo's throat.

"Dwarf," she cried, "this is my man, and I am no Mother of Trees and no
pale ghost, but a living woman. Let but one of these monkeys of thine lay
a hand upon him, and thou diest, by the Red Death, Eddo, aye, by the Red
Death. Stir a single inch, and this spear goes through thy heart, and thy
spirit shall be spilled with thy blood."

The little priest sank to his knees trembling, glancing about him for a
means of escape.

"If thou killest me, thou diest also," he hissed.

"What do I care if I die?" she answered. "If my man dies, I wish to die,"
then added in English: "Richard, take hold of him by one arm, and Noie,
take the other. If he tries to escape kill him at once, or if you are
afraid, I will."

So they seized him by his arms.

"Now," said Rachel, "let us go back to the Sanctuary, for there they dare
not touch, us. We cannot try the desert without water; also they would
follow and kill us with their poisoned arrows. Tell them, Noie, that if
they do not attempt to harm us, we will set this priest of theirs free
within the Wall. But if a hand is lifted against us, then he dies at
once--by the Red Death,"

"Touch them not, touch them not," piped Eddo, "lest my ghost should be
spilt with my blood. Touch them not, I command you."

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