"Yes," she answered quietly, "I think that, if anywhere, you saw it
in my eyes, since the coming of this messenger is the first of all the
great things that are to happen to the Swallow and to those who live in
her nest. I do not know the things; still, it may happen that another
who has Vision may see them in the glass of my eyes."



CHAPTER XII

WHAT THE COW SHOWED ZINTI

Twelve days passed, and one morning when I went out to feed the
chickens, I saw the red Kaffir with the scar on his face seated beyond
the _stoep_ taking snuff.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A letter," he answered, giving me a paper.

I took it into the house, where the others were gathered for breakfast,
and as before Ralph read it. It was to this effect:


"Well-beloved Heer Botmar,--I have received your honoured letter, and I
think that the unchristian spirit which it shows cannot be pleasing to
our Lord. Still, as I seek peace and not war, I take no offence, nor
shall I come near your place to provoke the shedding of the blood of
men. I love your daughter, but if she rejects me for another, I have
nothing more to say, except that I hope she may be happy in the life she