OCR Text |
Show IK (Continued from Page 9) K But as yet there was to bo no quiet for me, for there I found Cap-!: Cap-!: lain Robertson, who, I think, hai ' been refreshing himself out of a' ,; bottle and was in a great state of excitement about a man who had been killed and another whose leg was broken. Me declared vehemently vehem-ently that the hippopotamus that had done UiIb had been wounded and rushed Into some bushes a few hundred yards away, and that he Hr meant to take vengeance upon It. Wi Seeing his agitated state I Wt thought It wisest to follow him. He Mi found that hippopotamus and I blazed both barrels at it in the I bushes, hitting it but not seriously. I; Out lumbered the creature with Its 1 mouth open. Robertson turned to I fly, tripped and fell. Certainly ho . would have been crushed beneath t, its huge feet had I not steppod in k I front of him and sent two solid k : eight-bore bullets down that yawn- ing throat, killing it dead within J ; three feet o where Robertson was trying to rise. BThis narrow escape sobered him, . and I am bound to say that his ' I gratitude was profuse. I "You arc a brave man," he said, "and had it not been for you by I now I should be wherever bad peo- pie go. I'll not forget It, Mr. Qua-tormaln, Qua-tormaln, and If ever you want anything any-thing that John Robertson can give, f why, it's yours." "Very well." I answered, being r f seized by an inspiration, "I do ; want something that you can give easily enough." "Give it a name and it's yours i half my place, if you like' "I want," I went on, as I slipped jj i new cartridges into the rifle, "I j want you to promise to give up J f drink for your daughter's sake. X That's what nearly did for you just In now, you know." aM "Man, you ask a hard thing," he w said slowly. "But, by heaven, I'll X- try for her sake and yours, too." m CHAPTER VII. B The Oatk. Wm STT SDent tnrec more days at M X tnat Placc- First, it was necessaryto' allow time to r elapse before the gases which generated gen-erated In their bodies caused those of the sea-cows which had been killed in the water to float. Then they must be skinned and their thick hides cut Into pieces to bo traded for sjam&oks, or to make I small native shields, for which - some of the East Coast tribes will I (pay heavily. At last all was over and we started homeward, the man with a broken leg being carried in a kind of litter. On the edge of the bushvold.wo found the wagon qulto safe, also ono of Captain Robertson's Robert-son's that had followed us from Strathmuir In order to carry tho expected load of hippopotamus hides and ivory. I asked my voor-looper voor-looper If anything had happened during our absence. He answered nothing, but that on the previous evening after dark he had seen a glow In the directlou of Strath mulr, as though numerous fires had been lighted there. I suggested that It was caused by some grass fire, to which he replied re-plied that he did not think so, as tho line of glow was not sufficiently sufficient-ly continuous. We had trekked at a time which we calculated would bring us to Strathmuir about an hour before sundown. I was tho first away, after a short half-wny rest, fol lowed at a littlo distance by Urn-,sIopogaas, Urn-,sIopogaas, who preferred to wal": with his Zulus. Tho truth was, that I could not get thnt story about the glow of fires out of my mind and was anxious to hurry. Perhaps" we had covered a couple of miles of tho ten or twelve which lay between us and Strathmuir when far off on the crest of one of the waves of the veld I saw a small figure approaching us at a rapid troL A short scrutiny through my ' glasses convinced me that it waa Plans. - Filled with uneasiness, I ordered the driver to flog up the oxen, with tho result that in a little over five minutes we met. Plaiting tho wagon I leaped from the wagon-box, wagon-box, and calling to Umslopogaas who had kept up with us at a slow swinging trot, went to Hans, who. when he saw me, stood still at a little distance, swinging his apology apol-ogy for a hat in his hand, as was his fashion when ashamed or perplexed. per-plexed. "What is the matter, Plans?" I asked when wo were within speaking speak-ing distance. "Oh. Baas, everthing," he answered, an-swered, and I noticed that he kept his eyes fixed upon the ground and that his lips twitched. "Speak, you fool, and in Zulu," I said, for by now Umslopogaas had joined me. "Baas," he answered In that tongue, "a terrible thing has come about at the farm of Red-Beard yonder. Yesterday afternoon, at the time when people are In the habit of sleeping there till. the sun grows less hot, a body of great men, with fierce faces, who carrfed big spears perhaps there were fifty of them, Baas crept up to the place through tho long grass and growing crops, and attacked it," "Did you see them come?" I asked. - -J. ; . :" - X-. ' but tv, Zulus mdde a great t .' '"tE? A 1"&v i ' flght in front of tho little stops and f . rcfllK killed six of them before they them- , ''lils, '--"M' - solves cro killed. Also Sad-Eyes '" l, . v jffi shot one with a pistol and wounded y k ''fi ij'- " another so that the spear fell out WW&& ?iy2m. '' of his hand. S5 Pf W!k ' 'Then the rest fell on her and f'A rae Z$f& '' ?& . T V t,ed llQr UP setting her In a chair M&'it' on tne stoen """here two remained ' ' ! l ? ' ' ' t0 walch her Thoy did her 110 "He brought me some beautiful flowers "V iA:, and made a long speech which I V ''"fev could not understand." - . - -..'v-- "No, Baas. I was watching at a littlo distance, as you bade me do, and the sun being hot I shut my eyes to keep out the glare of it, so that I did not see them until they had passed me and heard the noise." "You mean that you Avere "asleep ' or drunk, Hans, but go on." "Baas, I do not know," he answered, an-swered, shamefacedly. "But after that I climbed a tall tree, and from it I saw everything without being seen." "What did you see, Hans?" I asked him. "I saw the big men run up and make a kind of circle round the village. Then they shouted, and the people in the village came out to see what was the matter. Tho-" Tho-" niaso and some of the men caught sight of them first and ran away before the circle was complete. Then-the women' and the- children" came out and the big men killed them with their spears, all, all!" "Good heavens!" I exclaimed. "And what happened at the houso and to the lady?" "Baas, somo of the men had surrounded sur-rounded that also and when she hoard the noise Sad-Eyes came out on to the stoop and with her came the two Zulus of the Axe who had been left sick. A number of the big men ran as though to take her, . 1 hurt, Baas; indeed, .they seemed . treat her as gentlyas they couml Also, they went into tho house and thoro they caught that tall yellow "girrcallcd Janee.'she who waits "up"-' on the Lady Sad-Eyes, and brought her out. I think they told her that she must look after her mistress, and that if she tried to run away she would be killed, for afterward I saw Janee bring her food and other things." "And then, Hans?" "Then, Baas, most of the great men rested a while, though some of them went through the store gathering gath-ering blankets, knives and iron cooking pots, but they sec flro to tl nothing, nor did they try to catch tl the cattlo. Also, they took dry wood I from the pile and lit big flres, and s when tho sun set they bogan to T feast." 8 "What did they feast on, Hans', s: if thoy took no cattle?" I asked with tl a shiver, for I was afraid of I know - v not what. j "Baas," answered Hans turning a his head away and looking at the - ground, "they feasted on the chll- dren whom thoy had killed, also on 1 some of the young women. These ' tall soldiers are man-eaters, Baas." 1 At this horrible intelligence I turned faint and felt as though I was going to fall, but recovering myself, signed to him to go on with i his story. "They feasted quite quietly, Baas," he continued, "making no noise. Then some of them slept while others watched, and that wont on all night. As soon as it was dark, but before the moon rose I slid down tho tree and crept round to the back of the house without being seen or heard, as I can, Baas. I got into the house by the back door and crawled to the window of the sitting room. It was open, and peeping through I saw Sad-Eyes Sad-Eyes still tied to the seat on tho stoep, not more than a pace away, while the girl Janee crouched on the floor at her feet I think she was asleep or fainting. "I made a little noise, like a night-adder hissing, and kept on making it till jat last Sad-Eyes turned her head. Then I spoke in a very low whisper, for fear lest I should wake the two guards who were dozing on either side of her, wrapped in their blankets, saying 'It is I, Hans, come to help you.' " 'You cannot,' she answered, also speaking very low. 'Get to your master and tell him and my father to follow. These men are called Amahagger and live far away across the river. Thoy are going to take me to their home, as I understand to rule" over them, because be-cause they want a white woman to be a queen over them, who have always been ruled by a white, jfjjj'queen, against .wh'om 'jthey have ' rebelled. I do not think thoy mean to do me harm, unless perhaps they vuwant to marry mo to their chief, but of this I am not sure from their talk, which I understand "badly. Now go, before they catch you.' " 'I think you might get away,' I whispered back. 'I will cut your ' bonds. When you are free, slip through the window and I will guide you.' " 'Very well, try it,' she said. "So I drew my knife and stretched out my arm. But then. Baas, I, showed myself a fool if io Great Medicino had still boon lere I should have known better. forgot tho moonlight " which hone upon the blade of the knife. 'hat girl Janee came out of her leep or swoon, lifted her head and aw tho knife. She acrcamod once, lien at a word from her mistress -as silent. But it was enough, for t woke up the guards, who glared ibout them and threatened Janee vlth their great spoarB, also they vent to sleep no more. After this, inowlng that I could do no good md-might get myself killed, I crept ack to my tree." "Why did you not come to me?" asked. "Because I still hoped I might ha able to holp Sad-Eyes. AIbo, I wanted to see what happened, and I knew that I could not bring you here in time to be any good, though, it is true, I thought o coming." "Perhaps you were right." "At the first dawn," continued Hans, "the great men rose and ate what was left over from the night before. Then they gathered them-selvos them-selvos together and went to the house. Plere they found a large chair and lashed two poles to it. Beneath the chair they tied the garments and other things of the Lady Sad-Eyes, which thoy made JM Janee gather. This done, very gently they sat Sad-Eyes in tho chair, bowing while they made her fast. After this eight of them set the poles upon their shoulders, and they all went away at a trot, making Janee . run by the chair. I saw everything, Baas, for they passed just beneath my tree. Then I came to seek "Hans," i said, "you have been drinking, and because of It tho Lady Sad-Eyes is taken by cannl-bals, cannl-bals, for had you been awake and watching you might have seen them coming and saved her and the rest. Still, afterward you did well, and for the rest you must an- swer to heaven." IH "I must tell your reverend fa-ther, fa-ther, Baas, that the white master tm gave me tho liquor, and it is rude - P not to do as a great white master? - does and drink it up. I am sure he will understand, Baas," said Hans, abjectly. "Did you say," asked Umslopo-gaas, Umslopo-gaas, speaking for tho first time, "that my servants killed only six of these men-eaters?" Hans nodded. "It was 111 done; they Bhould have killed six each," said TJni. slopogaas, moodily. "Well, they have left the more for ub to finish' . and he fingered the great axe. To Be Continued Copyright, 1010, Sir H. Elder Hngcari, ! |