Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-20


TO take to my mistress, that she may
know / have really seen you.
Blaine thought upon what he should
say, but he felt with o tinge of annoy
| ance how difficult thing it was to shape
| even one brief message that would con-
vey his thanks for her kindness and his
| sense of her regard for him. The blunt
directness of Pala's message applied to
him as inviting an equally plain reply,
| but his good feeling saved him from
sending a message which would have
mortally offended the self-respect OF
Miss Rath.
At last, by a happy inspiration he drew
| out the photo of his mother sud his little
| sweetheart.
"'Quick, - said Pala, hurriedly, "we
must not talk longer. The men are
| growing angry
Blaine with sigh passed over his
treasures, and Pala. as she took them,
looked upon the two faces anxiously.
"Yah, she exclaimed in astonish
meut, as she gazed on the brown eyes of
the little girl, "this is she herself, my
! mistress.''
CHAPTER XYII.-A QUARREL.
Capt. Blaine, at the startled exclama-
| ton of the Zulu girl, tried to recover the
! photograph to trace the likeness that had
| impressed her, but his wrist wac sharply
struck by a kerry-and he was bound
and hurried once again into the hut.
He sat awake that night, trying to re-
call the face of Mary Dawson, the little
sweetheart who had been set apart for
his wife by his grim old uncle Nicholson,
| but there was always some feature that
would not fit in with the perfect face of
| Mary Rath. The two were alike, yet
| unlike; sufficiently alike to account for
| Pala's mistake, yet to be dismissed as
one of those curious resemblances so
| commonly met with.
As he looked on the simmer of sill
very moonlight sparkling on the dewy
| grass, he became aware of two people
| slowly moving to and fro.
| Their voices were low, sibilant and
musical, and one of them laughed shyly,
as the other bent his head down. With
| q sense of the unftness of things that
would strike one at the spectacle of a
| tiger in love, he noticed that one was
| the dreaded chief, and that the other
was Pala.
Here, truly, was something astonish-
ing, and the young officer, who looked
| upon the Zulu as man without senti-
ment. thought he had made discovery.
There he made mistake. The day of
romance for the savage may be brief but
| II is full of warmth.
tGi-ye-tanda ni'' q love thee) said
Sirayo, bending his proud head to look
down into the glowing eyes upturned to
his.
That melodious phrase rang in Blaine's
| ear and soothed him into dreams as full
of the promise of happiness as though
his couch were not a thin mat and his
pillow curved piece of wood.
"Gi-ya-tanda ni!'' The melody IN
some subtle way linked him closer to
| Mary.
His awaking rudely dispelled these
visions. In fact he was dragged out of
the hut in such violence that he expected
the final moment had arrived. a gr up
of Young warriors gesticulated and
shouted in u manner which plainly
showed that Sirayo was not in the kraal.
Blaine looked about for Pala, but could
not see her, until following the gaze of a
love-sick youth by his side, he saw q
small body OF men, with them the chiefs
white horse, disappearing in the dis
lance, in the direction of kopje Alleen.
Pala s mediation with Sirayo had then
been of no avail, and he was to be left
to his fate.
One of the young warriors thrust his
hand violently into Blame s face, and in
his disgust he dashed his bound and
clenched hands into the Zulu's face,
laying the latter on his back.
The other warriors laughed loudly.
which SO exasperated the discounted
Zulu that he made VICIOUS lunge at
Blaine with his assegai, which would
have finished the young mans career at
once if ringed kaffir had not thrown
his shield across the prisoner body.
A tremendous hubbub ensued. The
young warrior abused the ringsd man,
and the quarrel spread to the others, the
married men ranging themselves on one
side and the unmarried men on the
other. A moment the two lines stood
facing; heads up, nostriIs expanded,
shields on the left, and assegais at the
ready, then with a shout they rushed to-
gether. Shield struck against shield,
and the long sharp blades flashed in the
sun. The dark mass swayed TO and fro,
then the rnged men outnumbsred,
turned and fled, some to the right aud
some to the left. With yell of victory
the others started in pursuit, and Blaine
was left alone, with half dozen dead
and dying men about him.
The suddenress and wild fury of the
fight had left him spellbound, but the
fierce shouts Of the pursuing warriors
brought back his faculties, and he felt
that now was his chance or never.
swift glance around showed that his
only chance of escape lay up the face of
the mountain, and IN a few moments he
was among the boulders at its base.
Crouchng down and keeping under
shelter of the rocks aud bushes he strug-
gled up until the steepness of the ascent
baffle1 his movements, hampered as he
was by the rheims about his wrists.
With feverish haste he tore with his
teeth at the knot, but as this made no
effect, he sawed the rheim against a
Jagged edge of the rock, cutting his
skin severely. With his hands free, up
he went, cautiously rs he could. using
feet, hands and shoulders, the blood
streaming from his hands aud the sweat
from his face, until utterely exhausted,
he threw himself on a fat rock on the
summit.
A wild shout from below made him
peer over the ridge, and he saw that bis
escape had been discovered. Warriors