"Speak on," said Leonard.

Then the woman crouched down before him and told this story.



CHAPTER VI

THE TALE OF SOA

"My lord, I, Soa, am the servant of a white man, a trader who lives
on the banks of the Zambesi some four days' march from hence, having a
house there which he built many years ago."

"How is the white man named?" asked Leonard.

"The black people call him Mavoom, but his white name is Rodd. He is a
good master and no common man, but he has this fault, that at times he
is drunken. Twenty years ago or more Mavoom, my lord, married a white
woman, a Portuguese whose father dwelt at Delagoa Bay, and who was
beautiful, ah! beautiful. Then he settled on the banks of the Zambesi
and became a trader, building the house where he is now, or rather where
its ruins are. Here his wife died in childbirth; yes, she died in my
arms, and it was I who reared her daughter Juanna, tending her from the
cradle to this day.

"Now, after the death of his wife Mavoom became more drunken. Still,
when he is not in liquor he is very clever and a good trader, and
several times he has collected ivory and feathers and gold worth much
money, and also has bred cattle by hundreds. Then he would say that he