San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-11-12

mense crooked myers ne cruuoned q whole
quarter Of a sheep, raw and bleeding, which
he was devouring The blood ran in streams
along his bony arms and dripped upon his
knees. A frightful smile distorted his face.
1t was evident that All saw this gigantic
phantom as we'll as myself, for he had turned
rs pale as n sheet; his hand clutched convul-
sively the carbine, which until this moment
had been slung to his belt. had not strength
to address this grisly specter, though Ali did
not give me time to do so. | saw him raise
his carbine to his shoulder, and the report
rang through the air, repeated a hundred
times by the echo in the ravine. But the
specter did not stir; he seemed only to devour
his repast more greedily than before.
Fire again, Ali! Fire for our livesp A
second bullet whistled through the air. l
snatched the carbine from his hand. | took
ce-twice-thrice-and each time as
if fascinated advanced several PAGES, as l
saw that my bullets met no resistance, but
went through empty air. Finally, beside
myself with terror, flung my carbine to
the earth, drew my saber, and springing on
the first shelf of the table rock where the old
man was still seated devouring his hideous
repast-when-oh my frends-oh, Heavenl
| shall never forget the horror of that mo-
ment-the old man slowly turned his head,
his beard stained with blood, and fixed on
me his cavelnOus, deep set eyes, whose orbits
cleaned like Goals of fire."
Here De Thon, who seemed to live over
again this frightful episode of his life, leaned
forward on the stone pillar. He went
through the whole scene. His hands were
clenChed, the veins in his neck swollen to
bursting, while the pale moonlight of the
tropics seemed to magnify his figure and
gestures In the silence Of the desert his
voice, half stihed with emotion, made us
shudder. The terrible vision seemed actually
to pass before our eyes.
Then, my friends" he continued, "a
nameless terror froze my blood. | could not
meet this internal gaze, and l started down
the slope at full speed. Springing over
masses of stone, wounding myself against
jagged points of rock, while my faithful and
terrified companion followed me, invoking
Allah in breathless, incoherent phrases. How
long this fight continued before we came to
our senses | cannot tell. Only the faint light
of the rapidly sinking sun showed us the in
eXtricable labyrinth through which we were
wandering. A burning thirst consumed me,
which | could only try to quench with few
handfuls of melting snow, mixed with earth.
When l recovered myself a little, / con-
Guided that had been the victim of an hal
Inclination induced Ey fatigue and by the
hunger and thirst which had tortured me for
so many hours and the horror of feeling
that we had lost our way. But then, why
should my faithful Ali have had the same
fear, and why should 1t have manifested
itself by exactly the same visions! l made
up my mind that whatever happened, or
whatever visions might cross my path, that
would not betray my perception Of them
by word or sign.
Our route now seemed every moment to
become more dreary, gloomy and monoto-
nous; we were utterly worn out; We went
along like automatons, stumbling through the
last gOrges which separated us from the
plain below, and from safety. Suddenly we
found ourselves in the bottom of a small ex-
tinct crater, and l saw advancing toward us
troop of horsemen. They were riding at
full gallop, wheeling abruptly to avoid the
points of rock, and sweeping in a circle
round and round the edge Of the crater.
the heaps of basalt; thousands of fiery
cavalier carried long, slender lance,
which was aimed at me. This must be an
hallucination, since Ali sees nothing, said
to myself, when suddenly at one of the in
Vulnerable charges of my enemies, Ali drew
his saber and flung himself in front of me to
cover my body from the lance Doubt was
no longer possible. The faithful fellow had
been watching these horsemen, but, like
myself, he had determined to say nothing;
but his devotion had overpowcred his viii
lave yourself. my master! Death to the
LoG-,--5. i5l!... your poniard or sc are lost"
-. o.. I'd ms. ps~zeu before RI eyes. l
uo.:.,.,42l forward and struck wildly with my
G;..ss. ,er. l tried to defend myself, but felt
sharp, cold steel pierce my side, and as dark
ness came OF | found myself stretched, ox-
ha,aced and bleeding, on the PLAIN, with Il
deep wound in my side Who dealt this
wound: Could | have done il myself in my
efforts at seif-dofenSe-or wGS it the ven
5c@ace OF the A.ri-Daht l shall never know
Bat one thing is certain-whilo this scar
,:.roDs in lay llesh, swear by the Heaven
tat looks down on us tonight, that never,
ne. moro will | attempt TO set foot on tie
..c",,i:,2! mountain. George kohn i'll Detroit
r?oO Press
Audiences OF south America.