Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-29

habit Of holdng his had sideways ILL,
bard when he spoke, which. In addi
! ton to the hunor that lurked in his eye
give him most comical appearance
: Another strange thing about him wal
! that he had single white lock of kai,
, ! among his black wool. At last / spoke
< | to him:
'Indaha-imbi, my friend" I said
: "you may be good witch doctor, but
you are certainly fool It is no good
reckoning at the blue sky while your
: enemy is getting start with thestorm. y
"You may be clever, but don't think
you know everything, white man.. the
old fellow answered. in & high cracked
voice, and with something ike grin.
seThey call you IronteGgue," I went
son; ''yon had better use it, or the Storm
|, Devil wont hear you"
1.-The FIRE from above runs down iron, y
he answered, ''soI keep nay tongue quiet.
Oh, yes, let him curse away, I'll put him
out presently. Look now, white man"
looked, and in the eastern sky there
grew cloud. At first it was small, but
very black. but it gathered with extraor-
binary rapidity.
I This was odd enough, but as I had
seen the same thing happen before it did
not particularly astonish me. It is by
no means unusual in Africa for two
thunderstorms to come up at the same
time from different points of the COM
pass.
i You had better go on, Indaba-zimbi,"
said, 'tthe big storm is coming along
fast, and will soon eat up that baby Of
yours, and pointed to the west.
Babies sometimes grow TO giants,
white man." said Indaba-zimbi, beckon-
ing away vigorously. Look now at my
cloud-child."
| looked; the eastern storm had spread
itself from earth to sky, and in shape
resembled an enormous man. There
was its head, its shoulders, and its legs;
yes. it was like a huge giant travelling
across the heavens. The light of the
setting sun escaping from beneath the
lower edge Of the western storm shot
across the intervening space in sheet
Of splendor, and, lighting up the ad-
vancing figure, wrapped its middle in
hues of glory, too wonderful to be de-
scribed; but beneath and above this
glowing belt his feet and head were
black as Jet. Presently, as I watched,
an awful flash Of light shot from the
head of the cloud and circled 1T about as
though with crown of living fire and
vanished.
''Aha," chuckled old Indaba-zimbi,
'.my little boy is putting On his mans
ring" and he tapped the green ring on
his own head, which natives assume
when they reach certain age and dig
nifty. ''Now, white man, unless you are
a bigger wizard than either of us you
had better clear off, for the fire fight is
about to begin
| thought this sound advice.
Good luck go with you, my black
uncle" said. II hope you don't feel
the iniquities Of a misspent life weighing
on you at the last"
"You look after yourself, and think of
your own sins, young man." he an
swered, with grim smile, and taking
pinch of snuff, and at that very moment
a fash Of lightning, l don't know from
! which storm, struck the ground within
thirty PAGES of nae. That was enough
for me- fairly took to my heels, and
as went heard old Indaba-zimbrs dry
chuck,a of amusement
climbed the hill till ceIne u where
the chief was sitting with his Lndunas,
and sat down near to him. l looked at
- Co. l.
tensely anxious for his sons safety, and
by no means confident of his powers to
resist the magic Of Indaba-zimbi. He
was talking in low voice to the Iniuna
next to him.
"Hearken!' the chief was saying, eff
the magic of Indaba-zimni prevails
against my son, will endure him no
more. Of this am sure, that when he
has slain my son he will STAY me, me
also, and make himself chiefin nav place
l fear Indaba-Ambi. On!'
BLACK one," answered the Induna,
wizards die as dogs die, and, once dead,
dogs bark no more
And once dead" said the chief, "wiz-
ards work no more spells" and he bent
and whispered In the Induna's ear, look
ing at the assegai in his hand as he whis-
pered.
Good, my father, goodr' said the In
duna, presently. at shah be done to-
night, if the lightning does not do it
first"
"a bad lookout for old Indaba- zinbi,"
I said to myself. They mean to kill |
him" Then I thought no more of the |
matter for q whila-the scene before me |
was too tremendous.
The two storms were rapidly rushing |
together.
The silence dcspened and deepened. |
the shadows grew blscher and blacker. |
then suddenly all nature bagan to moan |
,eneath the breath of an icy wind. On |
came the wind; the smooth sarface OF
the river was ruffied by it into little |
waves, the tall grass bowed low before it, |
and in its wake came the Kissing sound |
of furious rain.
All. the storms had met. From each |
there burst an awful dazzling blaze Of |
light, and now the hill on which We sat |
rocked in the noise Of the following |
The light went out Of the sky. I
darkness fell suddenly on the land, but |
not for hong. Presently the whole land
scape grew vivid IN the flashes: il sp- !
peared and Disappeared; now every
thing was visible for miles, now even !
the men at my side vanished in the 4
hlactupSs