I
have been burying their victims in a little cleft that we found, or rather
some of them. The vultures you know----" and he paused.
"I didn't save her, sir," answered the stranger humbly. "It seemed
hopeless, as she would not leave the Kaffir girl."
Mr. Dove looked at him searchingly, and there was a suspicion of contempt
in his voice as he replied:
"You would not have had her abandon the poor thing, would you? For the
rest, God saved them both, so it does not much matter exactly how, as
everything has turned out for the best. Won't you come in and have some
supper, Mr.--Ishmael--I am afraid I do not know the rest of your name."
"There is no more to know, Mr. Dove," he replied doggedly, then added:
"Look here, sir, as I daresay you have found out, this is a rough country,
and people come to it, some of them, whose luck has been rough elsewhere.
Now, perhaps I am as well born as you are, and perhaps _my_ luck was rough
in other lands, so that I chose to come and live in a place where there
are no laws or civilisation. Perhaps, too, I took the name of another man
who was driven into the wilderness--you will remember all about him--also
that it does not seem to have been his fault. Any way, if we should be
thrown up together I'll ask you to take me as I am, that is, a hunter and
a trader 'in the Zulu,' and not to bother about what I have been.
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