United States or Rwanda ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Where do we meet again?" "I cannot say, Brother," he answered. "In Amada if that may be. "Does Karema come with me or bide with you?" I asked again. "She does neither," interrupted Tanofir, "she accompanies me to Amada, where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing, for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup, even if it be cracked."
"What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?" I asked. "The only part of the story whereof I am sure," he replied, evading a direct answer, "is that which said that I shall die, and that when I am dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see visions. For the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they may not.
"Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though the holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words this morning and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain gifts of secret wisdom which he said would be of use to her and me." "Where is she now, Bes?"
Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that beneath was the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my great-uncle, the holy Tanofir, the hermit and magician. "Great things happen yonder, Shabaka.
At any rate he worked upon the mind of that Cup of his having first settled that she should procure a younger sister of her own to fill her place in such fashion that when at length I spoke to her on the matter, she did not say no." "No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would not marry even to please the holy Tanofir." "Oh!
And a hundred other things." "Yes," I said, "it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good strategist or his Cup was, I don't know which." "And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes. Oh! what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My heart was on fire, yes, I seemed to burn for " and she stopped. "For whom?" I asked.
Yes, there not two feet from the ground seemed to float the head of the holy Tanofir, limned in faint flame, which I suppose must have been reflected on to it from the light of some camp-fire without. "O my beloved master!" cried Karema, and threw herself towards him. "O my beloved Cup!" answered Tanofir. "Glad am I to know you well and unshattered."
That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the bags of gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole matter before my mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out, answering little, then said, "The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until I have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir.
I say that they shall roll back like waves from a cliff; yes, again and again, growing ever fewer till the clamour of battle and the shouts of fear and agony reach their ears from beyond Amada where Shabaka and the archers do their work and the sight of the burning ships strikes terror in them and they fly." "Good again," said the holy Tanofir.
She lied so well that once or twice almost I believed her. At any rate I took her at her word, not altogether for myself, believe me, Master, but because without doubt what the holy Tanofir has shown us will come to pass, and it is necessary to you that I should be married." "You married her to help me, Bes?"
Word Of The Day