The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-03-22

]: IJR D "A N a. re
It ton She lifted ner and Tota as
.hough they were nothing, and ran of
NTH them, following the bed OF the
stream in order to avoid leaving Q.
,poor. 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 hideons night
mare than q reality. She was never
| able to tell me all that occurred in It.
She had vague recollection Of being
borne over rocks and along kloofa,
while around her echoed the horri BILE
rrunts and clicks Of the balloons. She
spoke to Hendrika in English and
Kaffir, imploring her to let them go;
but the woman, II ! 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 inn
plicitly. Moreover, she would not allow
| them to touch either Stella or the child
/ In her arms Once one OF them
| tried to do so, and she seized dead
stick and struck it SO heavily on the
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
| Stella 8 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, but when they came to
the precipitous place she tied the strips
of hide, Of which she had a 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.
By this time Hendrika was on the
tree, and grunting out orders to the
| balloons which clustered about Stella
below. Suddenly these seized her and
little Tota, who was in her arms, and
lifted her from the ground. Then Hen
drika above, aided by other balloons, put
out all her great strength and pulled the
two of them up the rock. Twice Stella
swung heavily against the cliff. After
the second blow she felt her senses 60
ing, and was consumed with terror lest
she should drop Tota. But she man
aged to cling to her, and together they
reached the cliff.
ssFrom that time," Stella went on, II
remembe no more until awoke to find
| myself in gloomy cave resting ON a
| bed of skins. My legs were bound, and
| Hendrika sat near me watching me,
| the heads OF those horrible balloons.
Tota was still in my arms and half dead
from terror; her means were pitiful to
| hear. I spoke to Hendrika, imploring
! her to release us; but either she had lost
all understanding of human speech, Or
she pretended to have done so. All she
| would do was to caress me, and even
kiss my hands and dress with extrava-
CANT signs of affection. As she did so
Tota shrunk away closer to me. This
Hendrika saw and glared SO savagely at
| the child that feared lest she was
! going to kill her. diverted her atten-
ton by making signs that I wanted
water, and this she gave me in wooden
bowl. As you saw, the cave was evil
IDENTIFY Hendricks dwelling place.
There are stores of fruit in it and some
strips of dried flesh. She gave me some
of the fruit and Tota little, and made
| Tota eat some. You eau never know
what I went through, Allan. saw now
that Hendrika was quite mad, and but
little removed from the brutes to which
she is akin, and over which she mas
such unholy power. The only trace Of
humanity leftaboutherw was her affection
for me. Evidently her idea was to keep
me here with her, to keep me away from
you, and to carry out this idea she was
| Y: - =
Mznm - ~
| md1s9 Z N~G#~
| 4 80 ( { (