The Irish standard., 1890-03-15

Iterinr q he ,ohe,wed Most 81 me ~ ~.
naming leaves he threw on the fire. sllss
| dense smoke rose from then, but 1l1 heS
held his head in this smoke and drew &; Il
| down into his lungs till I saw that he a, q
was exhibiting every sign Of catlon.
II The veins in his throat and 8cness
svelled, he gasped loudly, and his has eyes,
from which tears were streaming,
seemed as though they were going 70
start from his head. Presently he fell
!. over on his side, and lay senseless.
n was terribly alarmed, and my first I'M
mise was to run to his assistance, but
fortunately ] remembered his caution,
and SAT quiet.
Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground Like
person quites dead. His limbs had al
| the utter relaxation of death. But as
watched I saw them begin to stlt1en,
exactly as though rigoa' naortas had set IN.
Then, to my astonishment, perceived
them once more relax, and THIS tlne
there appeared upon his chest the stain
of decomposition. It spread and spread;
in three minutes the man, to all appear
ance, was livid corpse.
/ T sat amazed watching this nncanny
sight, and wondering if any further
natural process was about to be enacted.
Perhaps Indaba-zimbi was going to fall
to dust before my eyes. AS watched l
noticed that the discolsration was be-
ginning to fade. First it vanished from
the extremities then from the larger
limbs and lastly from the trunk. Then
in turn came the third stage OF relaxa-
! ton. the second stage of stiffness Or
| q.ioor, and the first stage Of after-death
/ collapse. When these had all rapidly
! succeeded each other Indaba-zimb1
quietly woke up.
| was too astonished to speak. sim"
Div looked at him with my mouth open.
i ssWell, Macumazahn,' he said, putting
his head on one side like a bird, and nod
[, ding his white lock in a comical fashion;
! lit is all right; have seen her"
/ ssSeen who?" said.
ssThe Star, your wife, and the little
maid. They are much frightened, but
unframed. The Babyan-frau watches
them She is mad, but the balloons
! obey her, and do not hurt them. The
Star was sleeping from WEAKNESS, SO 1
whispered in her ear, and told her not to
be frightened, for you would soon. res
cue her, and that meanwhile she must
seem to be pleased to have Hendrika
near her"
'sYou whispered i'll her ear?' said L
elbow could you whisper in her carp
sBah! Macumazahn. How could
seem to die and go rotten before your
eyes? You don't know, do you? WE'LL
I will tell you one thing. had to die
to pass the doors of space, as you call
them. I had to draw all the healthy
strength from my body in order to
gather power to speak with the Star.
It was dangerous business, Macun1a-
zahn, for if I had let things go a. little
further they must have stopped so, and
there would have been an end OF In
daba-zimbi. All, you white men, you
know so much that you think you know
every thing. But you don't! You are
always staring at the clouds and can't
see the things that lie at your feet.
You hardly believe me now, do you,
Macumazahn2 Well, will show you.
Have you any thing on you that the
Star has touched Or worm"
/ I thought for a moment, and said that
had lock of her hair in my pocket
book. He told me to give it to him.
did so. Going to the fire, he lit the lock
Of hair in the flame, and let it burn to
ashes. which he caught in his left hand
These ashes he mixed up in paste
! with the Juice of one of the leaves Of
the plant have spoken of.
/ CHOW. Macumazahn, shut your eyes,"
he said.
T. Ibid so, and he rubbed his paste on to
my eyelids. At first it burnt me, then
my head swan strangely. Presently
: this effect passed off, and my brain YVES
perfectly clear again, but [ could not
feel the ground with my feet. Indaba-
zimbi led me to the side of the stream.
Beneath us was d pool of beautifully
clear water m+.
'sLook into the pool, Macumazahn,
said Indaba-zimbi, and his voice sounded
hollow and far away in my ears.
< looked. The water grew dark; it
cleared, and in it was picture. saw
cave with fire burning in it. Against
the wall of the cave rested Stella. Her
dress was torn almost off her, she looked
dreadfully pale and weary, and her eye
lids were red as though with weep
ing. But she slept, and could almost
think that saw her lips shape my nano
in her sleep. Close to her, her head
upon Stella's breast, was little Tota;
she had a skin thrown over her to keer
out the night cold. The child was
awake, and appeared to BE moaning
with fear. By the fire, and i'll such a
position that the light fell full upon her
face, and engaged in cooking something
in a rough pot shaped from wood, sat
the Baboon-woman, Hendrika. She
was clothed in baboon skins, and her
"a face had been rubbed with some dark
stain, which was, however, wearing Off
it. In the intervals of her cooking she
would turn on Stella her wild eyes. in
which glared visible madness, with an
/ expression Of tenderness that amounted
to worship. Then she would stare at
the poor child and gnash her teeth as
though with hate. Clearly she was
jealous of it, Round the entrance aroh
of the cave peeped and peered the heads
<f no Irif-