The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1890-12-03

savage who could not even read and
write.
Now 1 could see Stella clearly. Her
face was scratched and haggard with
fear and weeping, her clothes were al
most torn off her, and her beautiful hair
was looss and tangled. sent for water,
and we sprinkled her face. Then I
forced a little of the brandy which we
distilled from peaches at the kraals be-
tween her lips, and she opened her eyes,
and throwing her arms about me chung
to me as little Tota had done, sobbing:
Thank God! thank God!'
After awhile she grew quieter, and l
made her and Tota eat a little food from
the store that we had brought with us.
l, too, ate, and was thankful, for with
the exception of the mealie cobs had
tasted nothing for nearly four-and-
twenty hours. Then she washed her
face and hands, and tidied her rags of
dress as well as she was able. AS she
did SO, by degrees drew her story from
her.
1t seemed that on the previous after
noon, being wearied with packing, she
went out to visit her fathers grave,
taking Tota with her, and was followed
there by the two dogs. She wished to
lay some flowers on the grave and take
farewell of the dust it covered, for, as
we had expected to trek early on the
morrow, she did not know if she would
find later opportunity. They passed
up the garden, and, gathering some
flowers from the orange trees and else
where, went on to the little grave
yard. Here she laid them on the grave
as we had found them, and then, sit
ting down, fell into a deep and sad
reverie, such as the occasion would nat
urally induce. While she sat thus,
Tota, who was lively child and active
as kitten, strayed away without
Stella observing it. With her wentthe
dogs, who had also grown tired of in
action; while passed, and, suddenly,
she heard the dogs barking furiously
about hundred and fifty yards away.
Then she heard Tota scream, and the
dogs also yelling with fear and pain.
She rose and ran as swiftly as she could
toward the spot whence the sound
came. Presently she was there. Be-
fore her in the glade, holding the
screaming Tota in her arms, was a
figure in which, notwithstanding the
rough disguise of baboon skins and col
oring matter, she had no difficulty in
recognizing Hendrika, and all about
her were numbers of balloons, rolling
over and over in two hideous heaps, of
which the centers We're the two unfort-
innate dogs now in process OF being
rent TO fragments.
s'Hendrika," Stella cried, 'what does
this mean? What are you doing with
Tota and those brutes?"
The woman heard her and looked up.
Then she saw that she was mad: mad
ness stared from her eyes. She dropped
the child, which instantly flew to
Stella for protection. Stella clasped it,
only to be herself clasped by Hendrika.
She struggled fiercely, but it was of no
use-the Babyan-frau had the strength
of ten. She lifted her and Tota as
though they were nothing, and ran off
with them, following the bed of the
stream in order to avoid leaving a
spoor. Only the balloons who came
with her, minus the one the dogs had
killed, would not take to the water, but
kept pace with them on the bank.
Stella said that the night which
followed was more like a hideous night
mare than a reality. She was never
able to tell me all that occurred in it.
She had vague recollection of being
borne over rocks and along kloofs,
while around her echoed the horrible
grunts and clicks of the balloons. She
spoke to Hendrika in English and
Kaffir, imploring her to let them GO:
but the woman, if | may call her SO.
seemed in her madness to have entirely
forgotten these tongues. When Stella
spoke she would kiss her and stroke her
hair, but she did not seem to understand
what it was she said. On the other
hand, she could, and did, talk to the
balloons, that seemed to obey her i'm
plicitly. Moreover. she would not allow
them to touch either Stella or the child
in her arms. Once one OF them
tried to Go so, and she seized dead
SUCK anu SlTuCh IL 50 EtdNAly oii tiic
head that it fell senseless. Thrice
Stella made an attempt to escape, for
sometimes even Hendricks giant
strength waned and she had to set them
down. But on each occasion she caught
them. and it WAS in these struggles that
StellaS clothes were SO torn. At length
before daylight they reached the cliff.
and with the first break of light the as
cent began. Hendrika dragged them up
the first stages, bat when they came to
the precipitous place she tied the strips
of hide. of which she hada supply wound
round her waist, beneath Stella's arms.
Steep as the place was. the balloons as
cended it easily enough. springing from
knob of rock to the trunk of the tree
that grew on the edge OF the crevasse.
Hendrika followed them. holding the
end of the hide in her teeth, one of the
balloons hanging down from the tree to
assist her ascent. 1t was while she was
ascending that Stella bethought her Of
letting fall her handkerchief in the
faint hope that some searcher might see
it.