| Show OF DANGER Iel o ei by Arthur A. A Nelson Copyright 1915 by Robert M. M McBride Co SYNOPSIS man lan Severn is hunting for tor gold nith mth Africa a. a While visiting at Jo- Jo esburg ho he Kills a huge urge cobra which ea from A native The act arouses d of ot John and n nils is invited to his home him si kea Norma N gives e him he a a. iture ture t tur portrait portrait of herself when he heteS teS a love scene results in the the reat re- re ot the miniature Severn departs fa Ian at a mingled b n ed feeling of despair and andr ph Ith r h. h He learns learns that Norma Norma has most be n ned ed to ed to marry Lord Chalmes Chalm Almost time he ho finds that 1 ids B mine mille IY tile ho he Is studying his position a aman aman aman man approaches t toe to ton e mattes makes a p proposition approaches halt half Int in- in ff n. n n offering to purchase anc funds adv advance the mine and to t n 1 t ts further exploitation Cecil Rhode He lie the he intro intro- tre- tre as his accepts Severn ed Englishman Severn and andrt nd That night rt his kinsman ine with Rhodes meet neet Dr E Eric c a scientist chum of t tells of h hIs Intention to o p y put ides des Sunder sunder the theT English flag g and enlists l Mn the e u undertaking de den g S later Severn is found In Ins In's rn n weeks peeks s 's of Africa in the theo silence of ot the s 0 The party encamps s for the night o Banks ks of at the t and Severn e i Hot ns with withe I. I s II Is companions Ho He fights tr bodes asks S Sir r Alan here and his hisH jO dine with him where they H a ld friend of Mr Rhodes Rhodes Dr Eric Ello Ericson son and it is decided that he will wUl toe he trip with them w J from yesterday flee waver aye the dogs e saw the charging charing Ji lines es sul- sul I ll back down the hillside in inas inin as on o in 1 leaving ins more than two hune hun- hun e d and dying men meri behind them 1 dreadful shambles from which lei were re evidently glad to escape a he he foot of the rising ground ormed up again just out of ef- ef v anger ange and we knew It would ong before they would hurl hurleS tse e eS at us once more And Aud who I 1 sa say what the Issue would be bet Jes t close quarters we were no noor noor or them and not a man of us usI I In n w w they would charge again and anda a they struck home What I managed to rush us us' us Even en d c clark r faces of the Arabs blanched a their bronze at the thought though 1 would happen to us then and fighting son of Islam called ip p Q names of Allah and the thet t Bunder his breath g e after arter a brief lull the Mat Mal Maran Ma- Ma t l f leers ran to to and nd fro closing h h lines Then rhen with a hoarse of t tiry they leaped forward again J c as one man As they came Pouted out their wild battle a perfect gale of bass sound defies s description e C he suns sun's rays played with a affect affect affect on tho tossing spears and Id ch thrush rush surged forward like the 11 11 of breakers on some sullen l t f a a man could count fifty they aU way nay up the hill again We Ve eix eif rush with a terrible storm u ts and the Maxims l sent their mf gf eath lh right into the thick thiel of ofIr pr Dress s of men plowing plowing- a new and path among them is as Ir 53 they could close up their shot shot- Jn In less less' than five minutes minute w Ole hillside was a hell of man- man End rid nd dying men And out of or that I Inferno of carnage carnaJe with witha a roar came a e. swarm of ot naked Dlack ack figures leaping at us through a n shadowy canopy canopy canopy can can- opy of ot smoke We let them come coma on to fifteen yards and then we raked them with a sweepIng sweeping sweep sweep- Ing crossfire as a north wind sweeps ps down a field of ot withered corn In their packed formation the result was appalling Nothing Nothing- short of ot an army could have withstood that sort of reception Once more the Mat Mata Mata- belo reeled back under that st staggering ire fire and began to fall faU back in hi disorder I on the plain until the range rew in ineffective in- in effective though effective though almost all alt of ot the fhe stragglers were put out of the action as they retired Had their front ranks lived ived through that charge this chronicle chron chron- chronicle icle cle would never have b been en written for or the guns had literally grown too hot lot to handle and the bandoliers of the he Arabs were for the time being all I empty But we had wiped out four nearly half halt their force No wonder the foe paused a at 11 last to close up tip their disorganized ranks and gather heart icart for a final onset onset while we on our part seized th the brief respite to open fresh ammunition cases case and get ready to r receive them if they charged again Up to this this' time we e had not lost a man but if the matter ever came cameto cameto cameto to the to hand-to-hand stage we knew that our chances would not be worth a I broken sixpence Then from his station on the right I heard Sherry sing out suddenly in a awed ed admiration By UBy George they are actually going to try it again Ah Alt here they come It was a solemn fact they were and it was impossible not to admire the theiron theiron theiron iron discipline that could send those splendid savages savages up to theirs their certain death as IlS coolly as though they had been a lot of soldiers on para parade e. e t At last the affair began to lo look k frightfully frightfully fright fright- fully serious for by this time their blood was up The battle madness was on them at last the last the awful lust to kill and kill-and and little they reeked racked of the death that lurked behind the white mens men's fatal ring This time they meant that th the white men and their Arab allies alUes should all aU die with them and make an end of it all But the Matabele Matabele Mata- Mata Matabele bele had learned a terrible lesson none none the less and for this supreme effort they were wise enough to change their tactics Spreading out their lines in inan inan inan an irregular open formation like a monster letter U IT they came at us in inthis inthis inthis this shape at a jerky but rapid run so 80 that our fire while er very destructive I lost much of its effect This enabled them to reach and pass the fifteen- fifteen yard ard deadline with a loss of not more I than seventy or eighty men for heavy as our fire ire was it failed to stop them Men fell thick but still others sprang forward into their places undismayed ed and in the tho face of all we could do the rush came on unchecked In vain w we threw down our smoking rifles am an and d emptied our revolvers revolvers' into the ferocious ferocious ferocious fero fero- cious grinning faces dealing death and wounds with nearly every shot for at that distance it was almost impossible impossible impossible im im- possible to miss outright In the teeth of everything the Matabele began tomass tomass to j mass tog together ther for tor the final swoop swoop- and the tho last rush had begun I It was to hand-to-hand now and before e five fi minutes had elapsed we had lost as many men If It they ever broke through our ring we were as good as doomed There was sudden a a short lull luli then the fight closed in At this critical moment Ingulf rose to the emergency like the thA sea kings king's reincarnation With a v roar he threw himself into the melee melee me- me lee ee armed with the great claymore of ot Dougall MacDougall I saw him hurl himself upon those brave black lines JInes and hew a bloody path ring through them to the other side Then back he raged like a lion Uon at bay and cut another red furrow seating beating bea ing down own foe after foe and every time time Ime the great blade of the claymore hissed through the air a man fell where he st stood od Before its crashing sweep the ox ox hide shields of the Mata Mata Ma- Ma ta abele ele were like so much tinder Under I Isa sa saw saW mens men's heads go spinning from their shoulders t to fall a dozen feet away And as he fought he shouted out his bis battle cries crie in a barbaric tongue until as I 1 watched him I thought of the steel clad warriors of another age Presently a tall chief armed with an axe and an iron backed shield rushed up with a shout and engaged him One Ono stroke of Ingulf's blade shore through axe haft bait and arm and another another another an an- other bit deep into the Matabele's skulL As he stepped over the fallen man In Ingulf Ingulf Ingulf In- In gulf stooped and picked up the shield I At this crying cooing out that a devil in the shape of a huge man had broken in among them the soldiers immediately in his front whom the hall hail of bullets had failed to daunt broke and fled tied like Ilka sheep from the slaughter before this new and terrible weapon in the hands of their gigantic foe So they were cleared away oh nh the right and in front Land nd we gained a breathing space But on the side of the Giants Giant's Table where De was posted immediately to my left the issue still h hung ng wavering in the balance balance balance bal bal- ance though the Arabs At were making a gallant and stubborn resistance l Fortunately for the defenders the space available for jor for fighting was was' so ao Ur limited ted that only a few of their foes toes could crowd upon it it at ODe one time al although although although al- al though the pressure from below was terrific and threatened to sweep them all over the bluff into the river Asfor As Asfor Astor for tor the Marquis himself not in all the space space of my days had I ever eve seen aman a aman aman man fight tIght as he did or did or with a s more appalling calm He had thrown away his rifle now and was using only the rapier but his use ol ot it and his incredible sang froid frold was a a. revelation In Iri the hands of the little Frenchman that slender and apparently apparently apparently ap ap- insignificant but fatal strip of steel was gruesomely transformed transformer Into a thing of fear It seemed as swift as erratic and as continuously in motion as a humming moth on a flower trellis and quite as hard to follow follow follow fol fol- fol- fol low and it lent Itself to his purpose as if Instinct with life and reason And the tha man himself who himself who can hope to picture picture pic picture pic- pic ture him I had seen sPen men fight hand- hand to-hand to for their lives many times bu but never before had I seen one who smiled so astonishingly while he played with death He glided to and fro with almost almos feline swiftness springing now here and now there tireless sure o of foot foo and all aU but Argus eyed there eyed there was wasS S something positively uncanny in the way he would glide backward out o of reach of ot the short stabbing assegais assegai's futile thrust and then back In again and under it straightway htway with his re remorseless remorseless remorseless re- re yard of steel To be continued tomorrow |
