The woman looked round, and seeing that there was no one in sight, she slipped swiftly through the gate of the kraal, which he closed behind her.

“Noma,” said Hokosa, “here is one who tells me that her husband has deserted her, and who comes to seek my counsel.  Bring her milk to drink.”

“There are some wives who would not find that so great an evil,” replied Noma mockingly, as she rose to do his bidding.

Hokosa winced at the sarcasm, and turning to his visitor, said:—­

“Now tell me your tale; but say first, why are you so frightened?”

“I am frightened, master,” she answered, “lest any should have seen me enter here, for I have become a Christian, and the Christians are forbidden to consult the witch-doctors, as we were wont to do.  For my case, it is——­”

“No need to set it out,” broke in Hokosa, waving his hand.  “I see it written on your face; your husband has put you away and loves another woman, your own half-sister whom you brought up from a child.”

“Ah! master, you have heard aright.”

“I have not heard, I look upon you and I see.  Fool, am I not a wizard?  Tell me——­” and taking dust into his hand, he blew the grains this way and that, regarding them curiously.  “Yes, it is so.  Last night you crept to your husband’s hut—­do you remember, a dog growled at you as you passed the gate?—­and there in front of the hut he sat with his new wife.  She saw you coming, but pretending not to see, she threw her arms about his neck, kissing and fondling him before your eyes, till you could bear it no longer, and revealed yourself, upbraiding them.  Then your rival taunted you and stirred up the man with bitter words, till at length he took a stick and beat you from the door, and there is a mark of it upon your shoulder.”

“It is true, it is too true!” she groaned.

“Yes, it is true.  And now, what do you wish from me?”

“Master, I wish a medicine to make my husband hate my rival and to draw his heart back to me.”

“That must be a strong medicine,” said Hokosa, “which will turn a man from one who is young and beautiful to one who is past her youth and ugly.”

“I am as I am,” answered the poor woman, with a touch of natural dignity, “but at least I have loved him and worked for him for fifteen long years.”

“And that is why he would now be rid of you, for who cumbers his kraal with old cattle?”

“And yet at times they are the best, Master.  Wrinkles and smooth skin seem strange upon one pillow,” she added, glancing at Noma, who came from the hut carrying a bowl of milk in her hand.

“If you seek counsel,” said Hokosa quickly, “why do you not go to the white man, that Messenger in whom you believe, and ask him for a potion to turn your husband’s heart?”

“Master, I have been to him, and he is very good to me, for when I was driven out he gave me work to do and food.  But he told me that he had no medicine for such cases, and that the Great Man in the sky alone could soften the breast of my husband and cause my sister to cease from her wickedness.  Last night I went to see whether He would do it, and you know what befell me there.”