The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-09-19

we buried It, having first got rid of cur
bushmen allles. My boys wanted me to
go back to the Cape with it and sell It,
but was too much bent on my journey
to do this. The tusks lay buried for
Eve years. Then came and dug them
up; they were but little harmed. Ulti-
mately sold the ivory for something
over twelve hundred pounds-not bad
for one days shooting.
This is how began my career az an
elephant hunter. / have shot many hun
dreds Of them since, but have never
again attempted to do so on horseback.
| CHAPTER ".
After burying the elephant tusks, and
having taken careful notes of the bear
ings and peculiarities of the country so
that I might be able to find the spot
again, we proceeded on our journey. For
month or more we trekked along the
line which now divides the Orange Free
State from Griqualand West and the
Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The
| only difficulties met with were such as
| are still common to African travellers
| occasional want of water and troubles
| about crossing shuts and rivers. / re-
member that outspanned on the spot
where Kimberly now stands, and had to
press on again in hurry because there
was no water. / little dreamed then
that 1 should live to see Kimberly q
great city producing millions of pounds
worth of diamonds annually, and old
Indaba-zimbi's magic can not have been
worth SO much after all, or he would
have told me.
i found the country almost entirely
depopulated. Not very long before
Mosilikatzi the Lion, Chaka's General,
had swept across it in his progress
towards what is now Matabeleland. His
footsteps were evident enough. Time
upon time trekked up to what had evil
IDENTIFY been the sites of the Kaffir
kraals. Now the kraals were ashes and
piles of tumbled stones, and strewn
about among the rank grass were the
bones of hundreds of men, women and
children, all Of whom had kissed the Zulu
assegai. remember that in one of
these desolate places found the skull
of child in which a ground lark had
built its nest. 1t was the twittering of
the young birds inside that first
called my attention to it. Shortly after
this event we met with our second great
adventure, much more serious and
tragic one than the first.
We were trekking parallel with the
kolong river when a herd of blesbock
crossed the track. fired at one of
them and hit it behind. 1t galloped
about thousand yards with the rest of
the herd. then lay down. As we were
in want of meat, not having met with
any game for a few days past, jumped
on to my remaining horse, and. telling
Indaba-zimbi that i would overtake the
wagons or meet them on the further
side of rise about an hours trek
away, / started after the wounded buck
As soon as 1 came within hundred
yards of it, however, it jumped up and
ran away as fast as though it were un-
touched, only to lie down again at a
distance. 1 followed, thinking that
strength would soon fail it This hap
pened three times. On the third &C.
casion 1t vanished behind a ridge, and
though by now 1 was out of both tenn
per and patience, thought 1 might as
we'll ride to the ridge and see IL 1 could
get shot at it on the further side.
Preached the ridge, which was strewn
with stones, looked over it, and saw--a
Zulu Impi.
rubbed my eyes and looked again.
Yes, there was no doubt of it. They
were halted about thousand yards |
away, by the water; some were lying |
down, some were cooking at fires, others |
were stalking about with spears and |
shields in their hands; there might |
have been two thousand of them in all. |
While was wondering-and that with |
no little uneasiness-what on earth |
they could be doing there, suddenly III
heard wild cry to the right and left of |
me. / glanced first one way, then the |
other. From either side two great |
Zulus were bearing down on me, their |
broad, stabbing assegais aloft and
black shields in their left hands |
The man to the right was
about fifteen yards away, he to
the left was not more than ten. On they
came, their fierce eyes almost starting |
out of their heads, and I felt, with
cold thrill of fear, tina. in another three
seconds those great ''bang-wans" might |
Re buried in my vitals. On such occa-
sions We act, 1 suppose, more from in
stinct than any thing else-there is no
time for thought. At any rate,
dropped my reins and, raising my gun,
fired point blank at the left-hand man.
The bullet struck full in the middle of
his shield, pierced it and passed through
him, and over he rolled upon the voldt
l swung round in the saddle: most hap
PLY my horse was accustomed to stand
ing still when / fired from his back, also
he was so surprised he did not know
which way to shy. The other savage
was almost on me; his outstretched
shield touched the muzzle of my gun as
pulled the trigger of the left barrel.
It exploded, the warrior sprung high
into the air and fell against my horse
Head, his spear passing just in from. of
my face
Without waiting 10 reload, or even to
Iook If the main body OF the Zulus had
seen the death of their two SCOTS, /
Iurned my horse and drove my heels
INTO his sides As soon as was down
he slope Of the rise pulled little to
he right in order to intercept the wag-
ms before the Zulus saw them. l had
lot gone three hundred yards in this
lew direction when to my utter aston
struck a trail marked with
and the hoofs of oxen
Of wagons there must have been at least
light, and several hundred cattle. More