The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1890-04-05

DAKOTA, SATURDAY,
and sacrifice to himself, to make the
medicine Of his magic off,
Here could hardly restrain myself
from interrupting, but thought better
of it.
"You said him nay; you said, Let him
fight with our bravest man, let him fight
with Bombyane, the giant, for the child
And he dcigned to slay Bombyane as you
have seen, and now you say, 'Slay him;
he is no spirit Now will show you if
he is q spirit, for will slay him before
your eyes, and call him to life again.
But you have brought this upon your
selves. Had you believed, had you Of
fered no insult to the spirit, he would
have stayed with you, and you should
have become unconquerable. Now he
will arise and leave you, and woe be on
you IT you try to stay him. Now all
men, he went on, "look for space upon
this assegai that hold up" and helifted
the bangwan of the deceased Bombyane
high above his head. so that ali the
multitude could see it. Every eye
was fixed upon the broad, bright spear
For while he held it still, then he
moved It round and round in n circle,
muttering as he did so, and still their
gaze followed it. For my part, l follow
ed his movements with the greatest
anxiety. That assegai had already been
nearer my person than found at all
pleasant, and had no desire to make a
further acquaintance with it. Nor, in
deed, was sure that Indaba-zimbi was
not really going to kill me. could not
understand his proceedings at all, and at
the best I did not relish playing the
corpus vile to his magical experiments
"Looh! lookl look!" he screamed.
Then suddenly the great spear flashed
down towards my breast. 1 felt nothing,
but it seemed as though it had passed
through me.
"See!' roared the Zulus. "Indaba-
zimbi has speared him; the rcd assegai
stands but behind his back"
"Roll over, Macumazahn," Indaba.
zimbi Missed in my ear, "roll over and
pretend to die-quickl quick!"
Ilostno time in following these strange
instructions, but falling on my side,
threw my arms wide, kicked my legs
about, and died as artistically as could.
Presently gave stage shiver and lay
still.
"See!" said the Zulus, "he is dead, the
spirit is dead. Look at the blood upon
the assegail"
"Stand backl stand backl" cried India
ba.zimbi, cor the ghost will haunt you.
Yes, he is dead, and now will call him
back to life again. Lookl" and putting
down his hand he plucked the spear from
wherever 1t was fixed, and held it aloft
"The spear is red, is it not2 Watch, men,
watch! 1t grows whitel"
eyes, it grows white, }" they said. ooh!
it grows white"
ut grows white because the blood re-
turns to whence it came," said Indaba-
zimbi. "Now, great spirit, hear me.
Thou art dead, the breath has gone out
of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise.
Awake, white spirit, awake and show
thy power. Awake! arise unhurt"
Ibegan to respond cheerfully to this
imposing invocation.
"Not SO fast, Macumazahn, !" whispered
Indaba-zimbi.
took the hint, and first held up my
arm, then lifted my head and let it fall
again.
"He lives! by the head of TChaka,
he lives!" roared the soldiers, stricken
with mortal fear.
Then slowly and with the greatest dig
nifty I gradually arose, stretched my
arms, yawned like one awaking from
heavy sleep, turned, and looked upon
them unconcernedly. AS did so, I no.
ticed that old Indaba-zimbi was almost
fainting from exhaustion. Beads of per-
spiration stood upon his brow, his limbs
trembled and his breast heaved.
AS for the Zulus, they waited for no
more. With n howl of terror the whole
regiment turned and fled across the rise,
so that presently we were left alone with
the dead and the swooning child.
"How on earth did you do that, Indaba-
zimbi?" asked in amaze.
"Don't ask me, Alacumazahn," he
gasped. "You white men are very clever,
but you don't quite know everything.
There are men in the world who can
make people believe they see things
which they do not see. Let us be going
while we may, for when these Umtetwas
have got over their fright they will come
back to loot the wagons, and then per-
haps they will begin to ask questions that
can't answer"
And here I may as well state that !
never got any further information on
this matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But
have my theory, and here it is for
whatever it may be worth. believe
that Indaba-zimbi mesmerized the whole
crowd of onlookers, making them believe
that they saw the assegai in my heart
and the blood upon the blade. The reader
may smile and say Impossible" but ]
would ask him how the Indian jugglers
do their tricks unless it is by mesmerism.
The spectators seem to see the boy go
under the basket and there pierced with
daggers; they seem to see women in a
trance supported in mid air upon the
point of single sword. In themselves
these things are not possible; they vio-
late the laws of nature, and therefore
must be illusion. And so, through the
glamor thrown upon them by Indaba-
zimbi's will, the Zulu impi seemed to see
me transflxed with an assegai that never
touched me. Atleast, that is my theory;
II any one has a better, let him adopt it.
The explanation lies between illusion and
magic Of most imposing character, and
prefer to accept the first alternative.
70 BE Continued