Men of Men - Smith Wilbur (книги бесплатно без txt) 📗

"Guards!" he shouted suddenly, and there were quick and urgent footfalls, and one of his cloaked executioners stooped through the doorway and prostrated himself on the threshold.

"Go to Nomusa, the Girlchild of Mercy, bid her come to me with all speed," said Lobengula.

Whereas I have been much molested of late by divers persons seeking and desiring to obtain grants and concessions of land and mining rights in my territories Now, therefore, for the following considerations: Item One, payment by the grantee to the grantor of 100 pounds per month in perpetuity.

Item Two, the provision by the grantee to the grantor of One Thousand Martini-Henry rifles, together with One Hundred Thousand rounds of Ammunition for the same.

Item Three, the provision by the grantee to the grantor of an armed steamboat to patrol the navigable reaches of the Zambezi river.

Now, therefore, I, Lobengula, King of the Matabele people, and Paramount Chief of Mashonaland, Monarch of all territories South of the Zambezi River and Northwards of the Shashi and Limpopo Rivers, do hereby grant Complete and exclusive charge over all metals and minerals in my Kingdom, Principalities and Dominions, together with full power to do all things that they may deem necessary to win and procure the same and to enjoy the profits and revenues, if any, derivable from the said metals and minerals.

in his fair hand, Jordan Ballantyne wrote out the document from mister Rudd's dictation.

Robyn Codrington read the text to Lobengula, and explained it to him, then she helped him attach the Great Elephant seal. Finally, she witnessed the mark that Lobengula made beside it.

"Damn me, Jordan, there's none of us here that can ride the way you can." Rudd made no effort to conceal his jubilation when they were alone. "It's speed now that counts. If you leave immediately, you can reach Khami Mission by nightfall. Pick the three best horses from those that we left there, and go like the winds my boy.

Take the concession to mister Rhodes, and tell him I will follow directly."

The twins ran down the front steps of Khami Mission and surrounded Jordan as he stepped down from the stirrup.

At the head of the steps, Cathy held a lantern high, and Salina stood beside her with her hands clasped demurely in front of her, and her eyes shining with joy in the lantern light.

"Welcome, Jordan," she called. "We have all missed you so."

Jordan came up the steps. "I can rest one night only," he told her, and a little of her delight died and her smile with it. "I ride south tomorrow at first light."

He was so beautiful, tall and straight, and fair, and though his shoulders were wide and his limbs finely muscled, yet he was lithe and light as a dancer and his expression gentle as a poet's as he looked down into Salina's face.

"Only one night," she murmured. "Then we must make the most of it They ate a dinner of smoked ham and roasted sweet yams, and afterwards they sat on the verandah and Salina sang for them while Jordan smoked a cigar and listened with obvious pleasure, tapping the time on his knee and joining with the others in the chorus.

The moment Salina had finished, Vicky leapt to her feet.

My turn," she announced. Uzzie and I have written a poem."

"Not tonight," said Cathy.

"Why?" demanded Vicky.

"Cathy," wailed the twins in unison. "It's Jordan's last night "That is precisely why." Cathy stood up. "Come on, both of you."

Still they cajoled and procrastinated, until suddenly Cathy's eyes slitted viciously, and she hissed at them with a vehemence that startled them to their feet, to bestow hasty pecks on Jordan's face and then hurry off down the verandah, with Cathy close behind.

Jordan chuckled fondly and flicked the cigar over the verandah rail. "Cathy is right, of course," he said. "I'll be in the saddle for twelve hours tomorrow, it's time we were all abed."

Salina did not reply but moved to the end of the verandah farthest from the bedrooms and leaned on the rail, staring down across the starlit valley.

After a moment, Jordan followed her, and asked softly: "Have I offended you?"

"No," she answered quickly. it's just that I am a little sad.

We all have such fun when you are here." Jordan did not reply, and after a minute she asked: "What will you do now, Jordan?"

"i shall not know until I reach Kimberley. If mister Rhodes is att Groote Schuur already, then I shall go there, but if he is still in London, then he will want me to join him., "How long will it take?"

"From Kimberley to London and back? Four months, if the sailings coincide."

"Tell me about London, Jordan. I read about it and dreamed about it."

He talked quietly, but lucidly and fluently, so that she laughed and exclaimed at his descriptions and anecdotes, and the minutes turned to hours, until suddenly Jordan interrupted himself.

"What am I thinking of; it's almost midnight."

She grasped at anything to keep him from going.

"You promised to tell me about mister Rhodes" house at Groote Schuur."

"It will have to wait for another time, Salina."

"Will there be another time?" she asked.

"Oh, I am sure there will," he answered lightly.

"You will go to England, and Cape Town, it could be years before you come back to Khami."

"Even years will not dim our friendship, Salina." And she stared at him as though he had struck her.

"Is that it, Jordan, are we friends, just friends?"

He took both her hands in his. "The dearest, most precious friends," he confirmed.

She was pale as ivory in the dim light, and her grip on his hands was like that of a drowning woman as she steeled herself to speak, but her voice, when at last she summoned it, was so strained that she was not sure he had understood her.

"Take me with you, Jordan."

"Salina, I don't know what you mean."

"I cannot bear to lose you, take me. Please take me."

"But he was confused and shaken, "but what would you do?"

"Whatever you tell me. I should be your slave, your loving slave, Jordan, for ever."

He tried to free his hands from hers, but he did it gently.

"You cannot just go away and leave me, Jordan. When you came to Khami, it was like the sun rising into my life; and if you go you will take the light with you. I love you, Jordan, oh sweet Jesus, forgive me, but I love you more than life itself."

"Salina, stop! Please stop now." He pleaded with her, but she clung to his hands.

"I cannot let you go without telling you, I love you, Jordan, I shall always love you."

"Salina." His voice was stricken. "Oh Salina, I love somebody else," he said.

"It's not true," she whispered. "Oh, please say it's not true.

"I am sorry, Salina. Terribly sorry."

"Nobody else can love you as much as I do, nobody would sacrifice what I would."

"Please stop, Salina. I don't want you to humiliate yourself."

"Humiliate myself?" she asked. "Oh, Jordan, that would be so small a price, you don't understand."

"Salina, please."

"Let me prove to you, Jordan, let me prove how joyfully I will make any sacrifice." And when he tried to speak, she put her hand lightly over his mouth. "We need not even have to wait for marriage. I will give myself to you this very night."