Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1888-10-25

peup.e a.u seize his goods. 1nen did the
..51ailer Of lrona [ilyers write the message
on the green leaves, and bid me seek thee out
and show forth the matter, that thou mightest
save thyself by fight; and behold, this thing
have | done, Macumazahn, the hunter, the
Slayer of Elephants
'as.Ah,' | said, Il thank thee. And how
many men be there in the Impi of WambeF
"a hundred of men and half a hundred
"'And where is the ImpiF
"'There to the north. 1t follows on thy
spoor | saw it pass yesterday, but myself |
guessed that thou wouldst be higher to the
mountain and came this way and found thee.
Tomorrow at the daybreak will the slayers
be here
Every possibly l thought to myself;
but they won't find Macumazan. | have
half mind TO put some strychnine into the
earcasses Of those elephants for their especial
benefit, though | knew that they would
stop to eat the elephants, as indeed they did,
to our great gain, but | abandoned the idea
of poisoning them, because / was rather short
of strychnine."
"Or because you did not like to play the
trick, Quatermain,n suggested, with a
laugh.
II said because had not enough of strych-
nine 1t would take great deal of strych-
nine to effeetually poison three elephants"
answered the old gentleman, testify.
said nothing further, but smiled, know
ing that old Allan could never have resorted
to such an artifce, however severe his strait.
But that was his way; he always made him
self out 10 be most unmerciful person.
"Wen,n he went on, "at that moment
Gobo came up and announced that we were
ready to march. 4 am glad that you are
ready said; because if you don't march,
and march quick, you will never march
again, that is ALL Wambe has an lmpi out
to kill us, and it viii be here presently
'sGobo turned positively green, and his
knees Knocked together. All, what did !
sayf he exclaimed. Fate walks about loose
in Wambe's country
every good; now all you have got to do
is to walk little quicker than he does. No,
no; you don't leave those elephant tusks be-
hind. ! am not going to part with them,
can tell you
"Gobo said no more, but hastily directed
the men to take up their loads and then
asked which way we were to run.
"'Ah,i | said to Maiwa, which waya
"'There,' she answered, pointing towards
the great mountain spur which lowered up
into the sky some forty miles away, separat-
ing the territories of Nala and Wambe.
There, below that small peak, is one place
where men may pass and one only. Also, it
can easily be blocked from above. If men
pass not there then they must go round the
great peak of the mountain two days jour
ney and bali day
"'And how far is the peak from usF
IAN tonight shall you walk and all to-
morrow, and if you walkfast, at sunset shall !
you stand on the peak.
Il whistled, for that meant five-and-forty /
miles trudge without sleep. Then called to
the men to take each of them as much cooked 4
elephants meat as he could conveniently |
carry. | did the same myself, and forced /
the woman Maiwa to eat some as we went 4
This | did with difficulty, for at that time /
she seemed neither to sleep, nor eat, nor rest |
20 fiercely was she set On vengeance.
"Then we started, Maiwa guiding us
After going some half hour over gradually |
rising ground we found ourselves on the far
her edge of a great bush clad depression
like the bottom of lake. This
depression through which we had been trav-
ling was to very great extent covered
With bush; indeed, almost altogether so, ex-
'ept where it was pitted with glades such as
hat wherein | had shot the elephants.
cat the top Of this slope Maiwa halted,
md, putting her hand over her eyes, looked
'aek. Presently she touched me ON the arm
md pointed over the sea Of forest toward
vacant space Of country some
TX or seven miles away. | looked and sud-
ienly | saw something fash in the red rays
# the setting sun. A pause, and then an
,ther quick fash.
What is III asked
"'It is the spears Of Wambe's Impi, and
hey travel fast, she answered coolly.
II suppose my face showed how little
liked the news, for she went on: