Wichita eagle., 1890-01-18


to lose much of its dread character and |
found in a very little time after its arrival in
camp that Si1pence, one of the voorloopers
to the oxen, had developed quite an affec-
ton for it, and, by force Of example, had
broken through the fears and tremblings OF
| his brethren. l was glad of this, and did all
in my power to foster the intimacy, and
| helped not little to do SO by fabriceting a
marvellous history for the new found out, -
| stating among other things that he was q
| lost king of the Zulu nation for which tribe
! all my boys had great respect. / further
| told them that he was mentioned in the
| puka puka 1.-THE book)-all natives have great
respect for books.
In few days | had the satisfaction to feel
that my boys were quite reconciled to its
| presence, and, in a fashion, prided them
selves upon being followers of the discoverer
| Of so eminent parsonage as Inkose Mummi,
| for by that name he was ROW become famil-
| iarly known. Ny wifes objections were not
SO easily overcome; its presence in our wagon
made her uneasy, and it was only by repre-
senting to her that possible damage would
render him valueleSs as d trade commodity
that she ct last put away her scruples l
rugged up a chair shaped seat at the after
part of the wagon, IL which | placed the
mummy, SO that by keeping the sitting pos
ture his liability to fracture, by the jolting
he would have to put up with over the rough
tracks, became greatly nliniInized. At night
/ drew a curtain in front. so as to shut him
off from Norah's view when she turned in"
for the night, and so comfortably had
CHARTERED him that after the first week OF
our return trip never heard word raised
against his presence | must admit there
were at times expressions of wonderment as
to whence came certain noises that we heard,
but these lost force after time.
One bright moonlight night we had out
spanned at the edge of a pan of splendid
water; the oxen, having had long track
during the day, had grazed and watered to
their content, and wore nOw quietly resting
at the wagons; the boys, too, having Toasted
well Off harte beeste meat, We're inharmoni-
ously vieing with each other in nasal music,
Norah and myself fast asleep-at least | was
when [ was awakened by Norah shrieking
out and clutching me tightly.
''Oh, Geof! Geofl he is alive!"
Nv hat the deuce is the matter. little wom-
ana" l asked, and, raising myself up on one
arm, looked at her. She was CHASTITY pale
and apparently horribly startled
'Oh, Geof he is alive-loo1 p and pointing
to the mummy q had omitted to draw the
curtain) said: Look don't you see that he
moves"
l couldn't say that I did, but, when Norah
admitted that she had been lying awake
watching the moonbeams play on Inkoses
face-l expressed an opinion to the effect that
her imagination was most to blame.
She was, however, much upset, and it was
long ere l could soothe her; at last she
dropped off to sleep, and l prepared to do
likewise. L couldn't sleep; | kept glaring at
the wretched mummy. l was tired, very
tired, yet sleep would not come to me.
''Hullo! what's up now?' said to myself;
''surely I'm not going off my head, too--did
that mummy nod his head.' / could almost
have sworn he did. 1 watched for second
movement. Not the least move in life. l was
wide awake now, and feeling generally I'M
comfortable, l got out of the blankets and,
filling my pipe, began to smoke. In few
minutes the pleasant weed produced the de-
sired effect. l was just about to return to the
wagon, when again shrek from Norah
startled the night Rushing to her, 1 found
her in the extremity of distress, speeches.,
and shivering from head to foot.
To comfort her as best | might was all I
could do. Not q word could get from her
After waiting some time she recovered lit
tie, seeming to see the necessity fer some ex-
PLANTATION.
Pointing with her finger, she directed my
glance to the mummy, and 10. l saw that it
was headless. Again | followed the direction
in which she pointed.
No wonder the poor girl had been fright
ened; her two experiences that night might
well have scared a drawer heart The head
had broken off and rolled right up 10 where
she lay. picked up the severed Uranium and !
placed it on one side, then slipped into the |
blankets again and slept till coffee time We
were glad enough when morning broke. and |
it was only after cup of hot coffee that we !
felt equal to venturing upon the events OF the
previous night
On examining the head I found that the |
tendons which had held it to the trunk had |
been eaten asunder one by one, and the |
dried skin of the neck had broken under tho
weight. The vertebrR, having lost its gristly |
part, had separated without difficulty, and |
let the skull go rolling down on the sleeping |
Norah, whose brain, already full of fevered |
fancies, cOnjured up some much worse catas-
trophe
And now comes the queereSr bit of the
whole business. We had made tolerable !
breakfast and were preparing for inspanning
when Norah, who was already in the wagon,
said
I'm over my fright now, Geof. What do
you think I'm going to dos"
Il give 1t up, my dear, | replied. "You
women folk are too many for me-"
"Geof. am going to try and fix 1nkose
Munmi's head on again.
She had no sooner said these words when
just such another shrek as she had given in
the night came from her lips, followed i'm
by ringing, merry laugh and the
words:
''Oh, Geof. I've found out all about it. \
mouse has done the whole business, and look
here! if there isn't whole family-one, two,
three, four-oh, goodness, what a lot"
And sure enough, when I got up to look,
there was nest of Young mice in the inte-
lror of Ihe skull. The parent mouse, ne
doubt, hid played the headman's part, and
given Norah the scare Of the previous night.
The mice met the fate of mice without |
lnurmur. This act of righteous Judgment
over, proceeded 10 clear the skull of its odd
assortment of grass, hair and other staples
which formed the nests. Having done SO,
booked thrOn~h the r70-sa hole behind tia
ear and Saw sornett,r1L'5 resting in the cavi-
ty formed by the mouth AID which ratified
whenever l shook the skull
Whatever can it be-" said nv wife
''Oh, | suppose it is some charm or fetch
put in the fellows mouth to keep away bad
spirits. | mean to have it out, though; at
least il viii be curion
thsn made a hole neatly under the chin,
when the charm fell out into my hand It
was wrapped UP in what looked like piece
Of skin; upon removing this another cover
ing was disclosed and again another and an.