Well

　　"Well," she went on, resuming her robe, "the last words of those welove are always dear to us; therefore, Hokosa, you who were myhusband, I leave mine with you. You are a coward and a traitor, andyour doom shall be that of a coward and a traitor. For my sake youbetrayed Umsuka, your king and benefactor; for your own sake youbetrayed Nodwengo, who spared you; and now, for the sake of yourmiserable soul, you have betrayed Hafela to Nodwengo. Nay, I know thetale, do not answer me, but the end of it--ah! that is yet to learn.
　　Lie there, snake, and lick the hand that you have bitten, but I, thebird whom you have loosed, I fly afar--taking your heart with me!" andsuddenly she turned and was gone.
　　Presently Hokosa spoke in a thick voice:--"Messenger," he said, "this cross that you have given me to bear isheavy indeed.""Yes, Hokosa," answered Owen, "for to it your sins are nailed."
Chapter 18 The Passing Of Owen
Once she was outside of Owen's house, Noma did not tarry. First shereturned to Hokosa's kraal, where she had already learnt from his headwife, Zinti, and others the news of his betrayal of the plot ofHafela, of his conversion to the faith of the Christians, and of themarch of the /impi/ to ambush the prince. Here she took a littlespear, and rolling up in a skin blanket as much dried meat as shecould carry, she slipped unnoticed from the kraal. Her object was toescape from the Great Place, but this she did not try to do by any ofthe gates, knowing them to be guarded. Some months ago, before shestarted on her embassy, she had noted a weak spot in the fence, wheredogs had torn a hole through which they passed out to hunt at night.
　　To this spot she made her way under cover of the darkness--for thoughshe still greatly feared to be alone at night, her pressing needconquered her fears--and found that the hole was yet there, for a tallweed growing in its mouth had caused it to be overlooked by thosewhose duty it was to mend the fence. With her assegai she widened it alittle, then drew her lithe shape through it, and lying hidden tillthe guard had passed, climbed the two stone walls beyond. Once she wasfree of the town, she set her course by the stars and started forwardat a steady run.
　　"If my strength holds I shall yet be in time to warn him," shemuttered to herself. "Ah! friend Hokosa, this new madness of yours hasblunted your wits that once were sharp enough. You have set me free,and now you shall learn how I can use my freedom. Not for nothing haveI been your pupil, Hokosa the fox."Before the dawn broke Noma was thirty miles from the Great Place, andbefore the next dawn she was a hundred. At sunset on that second dayshe stood among mountains. To her right stretched a great defile, arugged place of rocks and bush, wherein she knew that the regiments ofthe king were hid in ambush. Perchance she was too late, perchance the/impi/ of Hafela had already passed to its doom in yonder gorge.
　　Swiftly she ran forward on to the trail which led to the gorge, tofind that it had been trodden by many feet and recently. Moving to andfro she searched the spoor with her eyes, then rose with a sigh ofjoy. It was old, and marked the passage of the great company of womenand children and their thousands of cattle which, in execution of theplot, had travelled this path some days before. Either the /impi/ hadnot yet arrived, or it had gone by some other road. Weary as she was,Noma followed the old spoor backwards. A mile or more away it crossedthe crest of a hog-backed mountain, from whose summit she searched theplain beyond, and not in vain, for there far beneath her twinkled thewatch-fires of the army of Hafela.