The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-12-13

. 49, shN pNSh kNthtSAtkh =
yast force upon the far side Of tho river
Forthwith ,Albertyne crossed with hal
his troop, and reconnoitered for
circuit Of ten miles around the ford-n,
: difficult operation In the rolling, treeles
yeldt. At night no came back with u con
iident assurance that tho enemy had gon'
elsewhere. Yatcs resolved to visit til,
LANCER and to bring up its garrison L
Mnurfonlein II possible with tho stores
before daylight he started with m escort
Miss Bell had taken up her quarters II
tho house, and there she served brcakias
to Albertyne md Wood. They smilet
'neanlngly, observing her heavy eyes anG
white face.
~ told you, miss" said Wood, "tha,
Mcinhccr had probably left a million
tribes behind-which biteW
u didn't understand you until fatho,
woke me To- say good-by. After that the
hint was only too ineligible, and | wand
dered about thinking. Did you scout the
road toward tho laagcr, Mr.. Albertyne?
Don't you think It possible the Kaiilrs
may hive vanished In that directionY
"Everythlng Is possible-almost ? but
no body Of men has crossed tho river
within tho last few days, for | examined
THO mud carefully. Two footsteps only arc
to DO seen, andthcy point both ways. The
six men with your father will DO enough
to irigllton my casual Blacks"
Eyes, | suppose SO. You arc very good
TO me-" She served them and ate n little.
After time, "Many Batlapins Of this part
have been TO school, haven't ttcy%
"Ies. We arc among tho semi.civilized
lot here" n
"1f those two men whose footsteps YOU
saw crossed after the farmer had gone, isit
likely they could read his note"
well, it Is not impossible, but you arc
supposing n good deal"
"a woman Is allowed to suppose. II,
then, they read tho note and returned, the
blacks must know We are coming, and is it
non strange they should have vanished?"
mot strange at all. The ways Of a Kailir
arc not ours. Though he is guided by the
same rules as we, he is controlled by cir.
cumstances, superstitions, alliances, jeal-
otisics, and what not, which We know
nothing Of and VIC could not estimate the
force of them If We knew. The only
sound tactics in campaigning with kaiirs
Is to look out for the unexpected, and to
be always ready"
- "Mr. Albcrtync, I am haunted by pre-.
"Call them leas, Miss Bell" Wood
roared.
NOW want to ask you another oucs.
ton. Can kaiirs swimi?"
NOT oil, but very many can."
lis it impossible that tho main body
swan across2 How far is the next ford?h
About twenty miles up, l believe. and
~tflitlier probably tho kafirs have marched
to meet the Transvaal party. If they
wished to cross here, why should thew not
use the ford?'
Suppose the two scouts, told thora that
u party wa approaching, and they re.
solved to plant an ambush in the road to
the lager; would they not be shrewd
enough to avoid leaving traces Of their
pnssage?"
Your suppositions arc these, Miss Bell:
tho footprints in the muLwcrc not left by
harmless travellers, but by scouts. Tho
scouts crossed, not before Duplatz left that
note on the table, but aiterward, They
could read Dutch. The main force, warn
ed by them, observed TINT the traces OF
its passage would be seen. and they swan
over. This may be all truth, but there il
not a single fact, l think, to hang it on,
10 relieve your mind, however, l will
take q lew mon and ride down the bank"
"Oh. thank you! OF course it is silly.
but shall DO so much easier when nv
fancios arc disproved."
Wlthln an hour Albcrtync came back
tull gallop, care in his face. Miss Bell
was watching. ~ knew til" she cried,
claspins her hands. ooh, my poor father!"
"4ou are making luxury Of terror"
said he sternly. "a certain force Of
hatllrs has SWIM over apparently five or
six miles below; but it was two days since
at least. and there is not t Q slightest
reason to think thatthcy went toward tho
lager. Their tracks follow the stream"
Miss He'll showed no Sign OF comfort.
You are going to inspan and iollow?"
she asked ieverishly.
"fes. Pray get into your wagon"
1t was II o'clock when the troops cot
under way. Said one man to another,
This is Il FOOLS Grand wore on, eomrade,
look at it how you will. II old Yates has
got cotched, he's dead, and ifho amt he's
way"
THE blooming lager can take jolly
good care Of itself, aud 30 pould We 1t
Z%4nrlontein. hut with them wagons in
tow We sha'n't reach S%tockenstrom till
hours after dark. There was all Of five
thousand Kaflirs crossed the Harte, Jan
says, as seed she tracks,"
"a chap in love is never a %strateeist,
specially when he's got his girl in camp.
Ye see, Ally's bound 10 look alter her old
father, and there amt enough Of us to
leave 9 garrison at depot. So here We are
on the hop in an unknown country, just
inviting the enemy to tread on tho tails OF
our coats: For whyS Because our cap.
tain's in love!'
"Rlcss the women in their proper places,
but dom them when they get into camp!
ThereW DO wigs in the green tonight, |
bet Bell overheard this conversation
and others like it.
But half the distance had been trayers-
ed when the advance party came racing
back. Naked white bodies they saw
ahead, lying on the veldt. Albertyne ar,
ralyed luis party for defpnee, aud rode but
alone. rhrep' corpses lay there; n Of
them had been Yates. At this point two
deep SHUTS, flood channels, approached
each ,onther.i AlheFtyne saw Tho hanks
torn down in a rush Of naked feet. There
the ambush had been laid, and thence
had the Katlirs fired n yolley.
1t a no moment to tell she daughter
what had happened, OF, to. think oi her.
A!hertyne fetched Np half a;;dozen men