The Irish standard., 1890-02-22


girl, /. and he talks Eng - Ilil,l
here is water fl own bottle; yo,IIS
were quite close 70 . spring the Other
side Of the tree. sa3
struggled to 81 tting position, lifted
the bottle to my lips and drained ~. d
Oil that drink Of cool, pure waterf
never had I tasted apY. thing 90 delicious.
At the first gulp I felt life flow back
into me- But, wisely enough, she would
not let me have much. No morel no
more!'' she said, and dragged the bottle
from me almost by force. n NJ 81 !. sS
sssThe child, said - SIS the child
dead 2" 5s
ST do not know yet, }" she answered,
eve have only just found you, and
tried to revive you first.
I turned and crept to where Tota lay
by the side of Indaba-zimbi. 1t was i'm
possible to say if they were dead or
swooning. The lady sprinkled Tota'a
face with the water, which watched
greedily, for my thirst was still awful,
while the woman Hendrika did the same
Office for linda ba-zimbi. Presently, to-
my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes
and tried to cry, but could not, poor
little thing, because her tongue and
lips were SO swollen. But the lady got
some water into her mouth, and, as in
my case, the effect was magical. We
allowed her to drink about quarter OF
pint, and no more, though she cried
E1,n ~ Tra1n 1A.
zimbi came to with groan. He opened
his eyes, glanced around, and took in
the situation.
''What did I tell you, Macumazahn?'
and he seized the bottle and took a long
pull at it.
Meanwhile I sat with my back againsa
the trunk of the great tree and tried to
realize the situation. Looking to my
left saw two good Horseshoe bare.
backed and one with rude ladys saddle
on it. By the side of the horses were
two dogs, of a stout greyhound breed,
that sat watching us, and near the dogs
lay dead Airlie buck, which they had
evidently been coursing.
'sHendrika,' said the lady, presently
''they must not eat meat just yet &c
and look up the tree and see if there is
any ripe fruit on it."
The woman ran swiftly into the plair
and obeyed. Presently she returned
81 see some ripe fruit, she said, 'sbut II
is high, quite at the top"
''Fetch it," said the lady.
''Easier said than done," thought to
myself; but was much mistaken. Sud-
denly the woman bounded at least three
feet into the air and caught one Of the
spreading boughs in her large fiat hands
"a swing that would have filled an
acrobat with envy-and she was on it.
'tNow there is an end," thougha
again, for the next bough was beyond
her reach. But again was mistaken.
She stood up on the bough, gripping Il
with her bare feet, and once more
sprang at the one above, caught it and
swung herself into it.
I suppose that the lady saw my express
sion of astonishment. 'tDo not wonder,
SIR" she said. ssHendrika is not like
other people. She will not fall"
made no answer but watched the
progress OF this extraordinary person
with the most breathless interest. On
she went, swinging herself from bough
to bough, and running along them like
a monkey. At last she got to the top
and began to swarm along a thin branch
towards the ripe fruit. When she was
near enough she shook the branch vio-
lently. There was a crack-a crash-it
broke. shut my eyes, expecting to see
her crushed on the ground before me.
''Don't be afraid said the lady again,
laughing gently. ssLoolz, she is quite
safe"
I looked and so she was She had
caught a bough as she fell, chung to it,
and was now calmly dropping to another.
Old Indaba-zimbi had also watched this
performance with interest, but it did
not seem to astonish him over much.
ttBaboon- woman," he said, as though
such people were common, and then
turned hi- attention to soothing Tota,
who was moaring for more water.
Meanwhile Held ika came down the
tree wi h extraordinary rapidity, and
sw -nging b. one hand from bough,
dropped about ton feet to the ground.
In ano her two minutes we were all
three sucking the pulpy fruit. In al.
OruuaIy Wa We SHOulu nave IOuuu ~
as Q ess en- ugh: as it was thought I'd
W +he most coli ,ious thing had ever
t-ste.!. Alter three days spent without
food OF voter N the desert one is not
particular. While we were still eating
the -r',i The LADY of my vision set her
companion to work to partially fay the
or1De which her dogs had killed, and
bust = herself making fire Of fallen
boug' s. AS soon as it burned brightly
she to strips of the oribe flesh, toasted
them, and gave them to US on leaves.
We ate, and now were allowed little
more water. After that she took little
Tota to the spring and washed her.
which she sadly needed, poor childl
Next came our turn to wash, and oh! the
Joy of it!
/ came back to the tree, walking PAIN
fully, indeed, but changed man. There
sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her
knees. She was lulling her to Sleep
and held up her finger to me enjoining
silence. At last the child went off into
sound natural slumber-an example,
IL - 3 49, - ~