The Irish standard., 1890-02-22
rae IRISH STANDARDS s. URI,KY FFBFUE

IRISH s IN D|.A. r J:
| ward the north. Ride On, Maoumazahn;
tonight when we of-saddle I will look
into the matter"
SO all that long afternoon we rode on,
following the course Of the river. From
4 the nature Of the ground we could only
/ go slowly, but before sunset had the
satisfaction Of knowing that there must
have been at least twenty-five miles
/ between us and those accnrsed Zulus.
Little Tota slept most ct the way, the
i motion Of the horse was easy, and she
! was worn out rs. sa.s
At last the sunset came, and we of.
! saddled in dell by the river. There
was not much to eat, but soaked some
/ biscuit in water for Tota, and Indaba.
zimbi and T made scanty meal off bill.
tong. When we had done took of
Totals frock, wrapped her up in the
| blanket near the fire we had made, and
lit pipe. / sat there by the side Of the
orphaned child, and from my heart
thanked Providence for saving her life
and rhine from the slaughter s,of thar
| day. What horrible experience it had
beenl It seemed like a nightmare to
look back upon. And yet it was sober
fact, one among those many tragedies
which dotted the path Of the emigrant
Beers with the bones of men, women and
children. These horrors are almost for
gotten now; people living in Natal, for
instance, can scarcely realize that some
forty years ago six hundred white peo-
pie, many Of them women and chill
dren, were thus mastered by the Impis
of Dingaan. But it was SO, and the
name Of the district, Weenea,, or the
Place of Weeping, villa commemorate
them forever.
Then fell to rejecting on the extra
ordinary adroitness old Indaba-zimbi
had shown in saving my life. It ap-
peared that he himself had lived among
the Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier man
hood, and was a noted rain-doctor and
witch-fnder. But when T'Chaka, Dim
gaan's brother, ordered a general
massacre of the witch-fnders, he had
fed south and so saved his life. When
he heard, therefore, that the regiment
was an Umtetwa regiment, which, leay-
ing their wives and children, had broken
away from Zululand to escape the cruel
ties of Dingaan, he, under pretense OF
spying on them, took the bold course of go
ing straight up to the thief, Sususa, and
addressing him as his brother, which he
was. The chief knew him at once, and
so did the soldiers, for his fame was still
great among them. Then he told him
his cock-and-bull story about my being
s. white spirit, whose presence in the
lager would render it invincible, and
with the object OF saving my life in the
slaughter which he knew must ensue
agreed to charm me out of the lager
and deliver me into their keeping. How
the plan worked has already been told;
it was risky one; still, but for it my
troubles would have been done with
these many days.
So Hay and thought with heart full
of, gratitude, and as I did so saw old
Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and go
ing through some mysterious perform
ance with bones: which he produced
from his bag, and ashes mixed with
water. spoke to him and asked him
what he was about. He replied chat he
was tracing out the route that we should
follow. I felt inclined to answer ssbosh, y
but remem bering the very remarkable
instances which he had given Of his
prowess in occult matters, held my
tongue, and taking little Tota into my
arms, worn out with toll and danger and
emotion, went to sleep. W.: ...
woke just as the dawn was begin
ming to fame across the sky in sheets OF
primrose and of gold, or rather it was
little Tota who woke me by kissing me
as she lay between sleep and waking,
and calling me ''papa." 1t wrung my
heart to hear her. got up, washed
and dressed the child as best I could,
and then we breakfasted as we had
supped, on biltong and biscuit. Tota
asked for milk, but I had none to give
her. Then we caught the horses, and
saddled mine.
swell, Indaba-zimbi,'' \ I said, 'snow
what path do your bones point TOP"
ssStraight north,'' he said. ''The jour-
ney will be hard, but in four days we
shall come to the kraal of a white man,
an Englishman, not . Boer. His kraal
is in beautiful place, and there is a
great peak behind it where there are
many balloons"
l looked at him. ''This is all nom
sense, Indaba-zimbi,'' said. whoever
heard of an Englishman building 8
house in these wilds, and how do you
know any thing about it? I think that
we had better strike east towards Port
Natal"
'As you like, Macumazahn," he an
swered, ssbut it will take US three
months Journey to get to Port Natal, if
we ever get there, and the child will
die on the road. Say, Macumazahn,
have my words come true, heretofore, or
have they not? Did not tell you not
to hunt the elephants on horseback?
Did not tell you to take one wagon
with you instead of two, as it is better
to lose one than two?"
ssYou told me all these things" I an
swered.
ssAnd so tell you now to ride north,
Nacumazahn, for there you will find
great happiness yes, and great sorrow.
But no man should run away from hap
A