The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-01-19

spirit of all you had taken asked but one
little thing-a white child to take away
and sacrifice to himself, to make the
medicine of his magic Of
Here 1 could hardly restrain myself
from interrupting, but thought better
| of it.
You said him nay; you said, Let him
fight with our bravest man, let him fight
with Bombyane, the giant, for the child
And he deigned to slay Bombyane as you
have seen, and now you say, Stay him;
he is no spirit Now 1 will show you if
he is spirit, for I will slay him before
your eyes, and call him to life again
But you have brought this upon your
selves. Had you believed, had you Of
| fered no insult to the spirit, he would
have stayed with you, and you should
have become unconquerable. Now he
will arise and leave you, and woe be on
you if you try to stay him. Now all
men" he went on, F'look for space upon
this assegai that hold up, and he lifted
the bangwan Of the deceased Bombyane
high above his head, so that all the
multitude could see it, Every eve
was fixed upon the broad, bright spear.
For a while he held it still, then he
moved it round and round in circle,
muttering as he did so, and still their
gaze followed it. For my part, follow
ed his movements with the greatest
anxiety. That assegai had already been
nearer my person than l found at all
pleasant. and had no desire to make a
further acquaintance with ii. Nor, in
deed, was | sure that Indaba-zimbi was
not really going to kill me. l could not
understand his proceedings at all, and at
the best [ did not relish playing the
corpus vile to his magical experiments
Look! look! look" he screamed.
Then suddenly the great spear flashed
down towards my breast. l felt nothing,
but it seemed as though it had passed
through me.
''See" roared the Zulus. "Indaba-
zimbi has speared him; the red assegai
stands out behind his back"
''Roll over, Macumazahn, Indaba-
zimbi Kissed in my ear, roll over and
pretend to die-quick! quick!'
Host 10 time in following these strange
instructions, but falling on my side,
threw my arms wide, kicked my legs
about, and died as artistically as L could
Presently gave a stage SILVER and lay
STILL
''See!'' said the Zulus, ''he is dead, the
spirit is dead. Look at the blood upon
the assegai!''
''Stand back! stand back!" cried india
ba-zimbi, ''or the ghost will haunt you.
Yes, he is deal, and now will call him
back to life again. Lookr' and putting
down his hand he plucked the spear from
wherever it was fixed, and held it aloft.
''The spear is red, is it not? Watch, men,
watch! it grows white!'
Eyes, it grows white they said. "Oh
it grows white"
at grows white because the blood re-
turns to whence it came,' said Indaba
zimbi. Nov, great spirit, hear me-
Thou art dead, the breath has gone out
of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise
Awake. white spirit, awake and show
thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!'
began to respond cheerfully to thi:
: imposing invocation.
Not so fast, Macumazahn," whispered
Indaba-zimbi.
took the hint, and first held up my
arm, then lifted my head and let it fal
. again.
/ Tnen slowly and with the greatest dig
nifty 1 gradually arose, stretched my
/ arms, yawned like one awaking from
! heavy sleep, turned, and looked upol
t them unconcernedly. As l did so, no
/ ticed that old Indaba-zimbi was almos
| fainting from exhaustion. Beads of per
+ spiration stood upon his brow, his limb
S trembled and his breast heaved.
As for the Zulus, they waited for NJ
/ more. With howl of terror the who'll
t regiment turned and fled across the rise
e so that presently we were left alone witt
e the dead and the swooning child.
"How on earth did you do that, Indaba
" zimbi?" asked in amaze.
J, Don't ask me, Macumazahn,' h
, gasped. ''You white men are very clever
! but you don't quite know everything
k There are men in the world who ca
h make people believe they see thing
It which they do not see Let us be goin
e while we may, for when these Umtetwa
S have got over their fright they will com
e back to loot the wagons, and then pei
haps they will begin to ask questions tina
}, l can't answer"
h And here l may as well state that
t never got any further information O.
o this matter from old Indaba-zimbi Bu
s have my theory, and here it is fo
+ whatever it may be worth. [ believ
y that Indaba-zimbi mesmerized the Who'll
It crowd of onlookers, making them believ
6 that they saw the assegai in my heal
l. and the blood upon the blade. The reade
may smile and say Impossible" but
VI would ask him how the Indian jugglel
e do their tricks unless it is by mesmerisn
" The spectators seem to see the 10y @
under the basket and there pierced wit
n daggers; they seem to see women in
trance supported in mid air upon til
point of a single sword. In themselvt
% these things are not possible; they vi,
l. late the laws of nature, and therefor
r, must be illusion. And so. through tt
20 glamor thrown upon them by Indab
lie zinbi's will, the Zulu impi seemed to st
T. me tranSfXed with an assegai that nevt
10 touched me. At least, that is my theor,
is if any one has a better, let him adopt
er The explanation lies between illusion an
" magic OF a most imposing character, al
1T | prefer to accept the first alternative.