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

she pointed over the mountain. Also, | am
one of the wives of Wambe,' and her eyes
flashed as she said the name.
"'And how did you come hereF
"'On my feet she answered, laconically.
1--WE reached the packs, and, undoing one
of them, | extracted a handful of beads.
Now, said /, a gift for gift. Hand over
the naaalies.'
'.She took the beads without even looking
at them, which struck me as curious, and,
i putting the basket of mealies on the ground,
4 emp5.ed j..
AT the bottom of the basket were some
curiously shaped green leaves, something
/ like the leaves of the gutta percha tree in
1 shape. only somewhat thicker, and of a more
| 1csly substance. As though by hazard, the
/ girl picked one Of these leaves out Of the
basket and sniet at it; then she handed it to
me- took the leaf, and, supposing that she
/ wished me to smell it also, was about to
i oblge her by doing so, when my eye fell
upon some curious red scratches on the green
surface Of the leaf.
"'Alr said the girl twhose name, by the
way, was Maiwa), speaking beneath her
breath; read the signs, white man.
sThe largest elephant tusk OF which the editor
has any certain knowledge scaled $50 pounds.
fpiTor.
''Without answering her | continued to
stare at the leaf 1t had been scratched, or
rather written upon, with something sharp,
such as a nail, and wherever this instrument
had touched it the acid juice oozing through
the outer skin had turned rusty blood color
Presently found the beginning of the scrawl,
and read this, written in English, ana cover
ing the surface of the leaf and of two others
that were in the basket;
81 hear that a white man is hunting in the Ma
tuku country. This is TO warn him to fly over the
mountain to Nala. Wambe sends an lmpi at
daybreak to eat him up because he mas hunted
before bringing hongo. For Gods sake, whoever
you are, try 10 help mel have been the slave Of
this devil Wambe for nearly seven years, and am
beaten aud tortured continually He murdered
all the rest of us, but kept me because could
work iron, Maiwa his wife, takes this; she is
flying to Nala, her father, because Wanbe Killed
her child. Try and get Nala to attack Wambe.
Maiwa can guide them over the mountain You
won't come for nothing, for the stocknde Of
Wambe's private kraa is made of elephants
tusks. For Gods sake don't desert me, or l shall
kill myself can bear this no longer
"'JoHS EVERY
"'Great heavensl' I gasped Every
why, it must be my old friend The girl, or
rather the woman, Maiwa, pointed to the
other side of the leaf where there was some
more writing 1t ran thus: i have just
heard that the white man is called Macuma-
zahn. II so, it must be my old friend Qua
termain. Pray God il is for know he won't
desert an old chum in such fix as am. 1t
isn't that I'm afraid of dying; don't care if
die; but want TO get chance at Wambe
first
"'No, old boy thought TO myself, it
isn't likely that | am going to leave you
there while there is a chance of getting you
out. have played fox before now-thereis |
still double or two left in me. must make 4
plan that's all. And then there's that |
stockade Of tusks. am not going TO leave
that either Then spoke to the woman.
lyon are called Maiwa.
att is So
"'You are the daughter of Nala and the
wife of Wambe
at is so.'
"'You fly from Wambe to Nala'
aI do
"'Why do you Hyl Stay, would give an |
order and, calling to Gobo, | ordered him /
TO get the men ready for instant departure /
The woman, who, as | have said, was quite 4
young ard verv h~ndsome, put her hand into i
a kind Of h.. J.sl made Of antelope hide
which She wore fastened round the waist, 7
and 70 my horror drew from it the withered
hand Of child which had evidently been
carefully dried in the smoke,
" 4 fly for this cause she answered, hold
ing the poor little hand towards me. See
now, bore child. Wambe was its father,
and for eighteen months the child lived, and
/ loved it. But Wambe loves not his chill
dren; he kills them all; he fears lest they
should grow up to slay one so wicked: and ne
would nave killed this child also, but begged
its life One day some soldiers passing the
hut saw the child and saluted him, calling
him the 'ehief who soon shall be- Wambe
heard and was mad. He smote the babe.
and it wept Then be said that it should
weep for good cause Among the things
that he had stolen from the white men whom
he slew is trap that win mold lions So
strong is the trap that four men must stand
on 1t, two on either side before it can be
opened
Here old Quatermain broke off suddenly.
Look here you fellows he said, II can't
bear to 60 on with this part of the story. be-
cause | never could stand either seeing or
talking Of the sufferings of children. You
can guess what that devil did and what the
poor mother was forced TO witness. Would
you believe it, she told me the tale without
tremor, in the most matter of fact way. Only
noticed that her eyelid quivered all the
time.
Well said, as unconcernedly as though
Ind been talking of the death OF a lamb,
.hough inwardly was sick with horror and
boiling with rage, and what do YOU mean TO
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