Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-01-08

sun shone brightly, and guided by its art
ne struck westWa d by what seemed al
old and forgotten ath thst was nearly
hidden oW BY tall coarse grass and long
| Towering tralIers.
| The inhh h.tante-for the district was
| inhabited, IRON many indications thst
Lonsdale saw-must have fed, inspired
| by false terror of tho British troops on
one hand and real terror of the blood
thirsty DacOits on the other; and as q
! proof Of their recent presence, after pro-
ceeding about TWO miles he came upon a
zazal, or rest-house, of comparatively re-
cent construction-sn edifice only about
| with broad roof projecting all round 1t
| with march that was toilsome, devious
and over very rough ground, in district
! strange and track,ess, without guide or
certainty, among rocks, old water-cuts,
and places encountered by the nutmeg,
spikenard and bamboo, ali growing wild
together, crept therein, and was fsin to
pass the second night of his freedom
assured that In II he would be safe, at
least, from any OF the four-footed deni-
2sns of the place.
For the second time, also, as he had to
be careful OF his little store, he examined
| it, and psrtook of what remained of the
contents OF sabeit given him by the Ra
hoan, consisting Of piece Of boiled
goats flesh, with q few cherpathis Ct
dough, toasted before fire, and a. mouth
full Of shumshei from little china flask
the native stimulant, which tastes
strongly ofcocoanut oil and has greater
! odour OF it.
When this food and refreshment was
dsne there would be but slender chance
OF his procuring more, unless he reached
our gunbosts or British shelter of some
kind on the river or the land.
The next morning was somewhat I'D.
vanced-the hours he knew not, having
long since been deprived Of his watch
when he again set forth, vaguely but reso-
lutely, westward; but he had not pro-
coed far from the sequestered z.zal when
he heard sounds-voices-in his rear,
and while shrinking down among some
tall grass he could see about fifteen OF
twenty armed Dacoits, among them the
gigantic fellow with the tatooed skin and
white quilted frock, coming leisurely
along in Indian file by the kind OF path
that led to the rest-house, into which,
with the hope Of plumber, they all went
on their fauds and kne ss; and then he
Stole swf ~ away-sway through the
long grass 8 fast as its tantalizing Oh
s.ructiveness permitted and his limbs
could carry him.
To his eyes there seemed something
almost disbolical in the aspect of the tall
Dacoit leader, es he had never before
seen tattooiDg, which the Burmese gen
orally use about the thighs alone, accord
ing to some travellers; but this man had
1t over the most Of his face and neck, in
strange concentric rings of black and
blue-now the result of lamp black mixed
with the gall OF the mirga fish. But Nicolo
Cont refers to the hideous custom SO far
back as 1925, when he states that all Bur-
mese. "both men and women paynte or
embroider their skinnes with iron pennies,
putting indellible tincture thereto"
Now the women never do It, and in
complexion msny Of them are as fair and
delicate as Europeans.
! Just as Lonsdale had qaitted that
tedious and exhaustiEg mode OF progress
sion among the tall coarse grass, among
which he saw more than one poisonous
snake in dangerous proximity to him, and
reached an angle in narrow rocky path,
by ascending which he hoped to find a
plsce Of concealment II ne Necessary, an ex-
ultant shout echoed through the little
valley wherein the ziZal stood, and he
| knew that therein some traces OK his re-
Cent repast had been detected By the d.
colts, who now proceeded to beat the
bush, the glass; and everything else, in
evident search for hin.
CHAPTER LvI-THE TATTooKD BURMAN.
Now for English pluck, and the muscu-
lcr energy born Of outdoor sports in the
cricket and hunting field, and in handling
the oer and the gun. All were requisite
for Lonsdale now.
Upward and onward he toiled, the path
for beaten path it was he pursued
| though narrow and half hidden by wild
vines, laurel bushes and capeicum plants,
| leading him higher and higher till the
slope became the side of a lofty and
rocky hill, snd exsrtion strung every
| nerve and fibre, and his breath grew
thick and fast, while his heart beat
fiercely with rage and bitterness but
never with despair or fear.
So on he toiled, keeping well ahead Ct
them, their voices, and an occasional
random shot following him, for though
they had not seen him yet they were well
assured of being upon his trail.
They were not less than fifteen in num-
Der; his revolver shots were only SIX, ana
all these, if any, might not be successful.
1t was time Of supreme peril, and be
conceived that he was now somewhere
within ten miles Of the Irawaddy.
A succession of wild yells that pierced
the welkin suddenly announced that they
had obtained sight Of him, and this added
spurs.to his steps.
On one side of the path wss now Dor
dered by sheer aud terrible preciplce,
far down below which ne could sea
poddy and rice flslds, intersected by shin
ing water cuts, with here and there
ruined house, and in some places only
gigantic guinea grass, amid which great
gray boalders lay, and coarse looking elks
were grazing.
Ga the other side rose wall of rock,
without Granny or crevice into which he
could creep and there sell his life IS
dearly as possible. In some places these
cliffs were bare, and Redeemed by the
splendour of cloudless sun; in others
they were shrouded by luxurisnt and
leefy screens of wild vine. papan fig trees
and fragrant flowers Of the most brilliant
colours.
Eight, at least, OF the pursuers were
now upon his track, and more than once
their rife shoss, making the rocks re-
echo, were sent after him, but went wide
of the mark, IS 1t was evident that these
Dacoiss were uuskilled in the use of
modern fire arms and the mode Of sight
ING them