But the storms passed, and when they had rolled away at length, doing her
no hurt, and the sun shone out again, she would go and sit beneath the
trees at the edge of the beautiful pool until the closing lilies and the
chill of the air told her that night drew on.
Oh! those long nights--how endless they seemed to Rachel in her
loneliness. Now she who used to sleep so well, could not sleep, or when
she slept she dreamed. She dreamed of her mother, always of her mother,
that she was ill, and calling her, until she came to believe that in truth
this was so. So much did this conviction work upon her mind, that she
determined not to wait for the return of Noie, but at all costs to try to
leave Zululand, and through Tamboosa declared her will to the King.
Next morning the answer cams back that of course none could control her
movements, but if she would go, she must fly, as all the rivers were in
flood, as she might see if she would walk to the top of the mountain
behind her kraal. Tamboosa added that a company of men who had been sent
to recapture Ishmael, were kept for a week upon the banks of the first of
them, and at length, being unable to cross, had returned, as her messenger
had done. Knowing from other sources that this was true, Rachel made no
answer.
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