The Irish standard., 1890-02-22

/ Thy power. Awake! ARISE unn aalEla'
1 began 10 respond cheerful to this
I imposing invocat ton. 51 !,
! 4 ssNot SO fast, Macumazahn, " whispered
4 linda ba-zimbi.
u took the hint, and first held up my
] arm, then lifted my head and let 1t fall
again.
! ssHe livesl by the head Of TCbaka, he
| liyesl'' roared the soldiers, stricken with
| mortal fear.
Then slowly and with the greatest
dignity gradually arose, stretched my
! arms, yawned like one awakening from
heavy sleep, turned, and looked upon
them unconcernedly. AS / did SO /
noticed that old Indaba-zimbi was al
most fainting from exhaustion. Beads
of perspiration stood upon his brow, his
limbs tremb led and his breast heaved.
! AS for the Zulus, they waited for no
more. With howl of terror the whole
regiment turned and fed across the rise,
so that presently we were left alone
with the dead and the swooning child.
! elbow on earth did you do that, In
daba-zimbi?" asked, in amazement.
/ ssDon't ask me, Macumazahn," he
gasped. ssYou white men are very
clever, but you don't know every thing.
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
haveg got over their fright they will come
back to loot the wagons, and then per-
haps thy will begin to ask questions
that can't answer"
And here I may as we'll state that I
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 mesmea'ised the whole
crowd of onlookers, making them be-
lieve that they saw the assegai in my
; heart and the blood upon the blade.
! The reader may smile and say: Tim.
possiblel' but I would ask him how the
Indian jugglers do their tricks unless 1t
F; 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 a single
sword. In themselves these thjfgs are
not possible; they Violate the laws Of
! nature, and therefore must be illusions.
And so, through the glamor thrown
upon them by Indaba-zimbi's will,
the. Zulu Impi seemed to see
me transfxed with an assegai that
| never touched me. At least that is
my theory; if any one has better, let
him adopt it. The explanation lies be-
tween illusion and magic o. a most i'm
posing character, and prefer to accept
! the first alternative.
CHAPTER vi.
was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi's
| hint. About hundred and fifty yards
to the left Of the laager was little dell
! where had hidden my horse, together
with one belonging to the Beers, and
my saddle and bride. Thither we went,
I carrying the swooning Tota in my
arms. TO our JOY we found the horses
safe, for the Zulus had not seen them.
Now, of course, they were oug only
means of locomotion, for the oxen had
been sent away, and even had they been
there we could not have found time to
inspan them. / laid Tota down, caught
my horse, undid his knee halter and
saddled up. AS was doing so a thought
struck me, and l told Indaba-zi1nbi to
run to the lager and see if he could
find my aouble-barreled gun and some
powder and shot, for had only my ele-
plant s'roer' and few charges OF pow
der and ball with me.
He went, and while he was away poor
little Tota came to herself and began to
cry, till she saw my face -.... :.
ssAh, I have had such bad dream"
she said, in Dutch; 81 dreamed that the
black :Kafirs were going to kill me.
Where is my papa?"
WINGED at the question. ssYour papa
has gone on a journey, DEAR" said,
s.and left me to look after you. We shall
find him one day, You don't mind &C.
ing with Heer Allan, do you?"
s'No,', she said, little doubtfully,
and began to cry again. Presently she
remembered that she was thirsty, and
asked for water. I led her to the river
and she drank. t'Why is my hand red
Heer Allan?" she asked, pointing to the
smear of Bombyane's blood-stained
fingers. .@
At that moment felt very glad that
had killed Bombyane.
eft is only paint, DEAR" said; 'Fsee,
we will wash it and your face.''
As I was doing this Indaba-zimbi re.
turned. The guns were all gone; he
said the Zulus had taken them and the
powder. But he had found some things
and brought them in sack. There was
a thick blanket, about twenty pounds
weight of biltong or sun-dried meat, a
few double-handfuls of ships biscuits,
two bottles, a tin pannikin, some
matches and sundries.
s'And now, Macumazahn," he said,
''we had best be going, for those
Umtetwas are coming back. / saw one
of them on the brow Of the rise"
That was enough for me. 1 lifted
little Tota on to the bow of my saddle,
climbed into it and rode off, holding her
in front of me. Indaba-zimbi slipped a
rein into the mouth Of the best of the
Boer horses, threw the sack of sundries
on to it's back and mounted also, hold.
ing the elephant gun in his hand. We
! went eight or nine hundred yards in
silence till we wero quite out Of range
<>f cipb+ froro tho rva rnna (which uyora in