The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1890-05-17

tilat 1t fell SenSeless. Thrice Stella made
an attempt to escape, for sometimes even
Hendricks giantstrength waned and she
had to set them down. But on each oc-
casion she caught them, and it was in
these struggles that Stella's clothes were
so torn.
At length before daylight they reached
the cliff, and with the first break of light
the ascent began. Hendrika dragged
them up the first stages, but when they
came to the precipitous place she tied
che strips of hide, of which she had a
supply wound round her waist, beneath
Stella's arms. Steep us the place was
the balloons ascended 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 rein
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 a tree,
and grlnting out orders to the balloons
which clustered about Stella below. Sud-
denly these seized her and little Tota,
who was in her arms, and lifted her from
the ground. Then Hendrika above, aid
ed 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 going, and was con-
sumed with terror lest she should drop
Tota. But she managed to cling to her,
and together they reached the cliff.
"From that time" Stella went on, "l
remember no more till woke to find
myself in gloomy cave resting on q bed
of skins. My legs We're bound, and Hen
drika sat near me watching me, while
round the edge of the cave peered the
heads of those horrible balloons. Tota
was still in my arms, and half dead from
terror; her moans were pitiful to hear. l
spoke to Hendrika, imploring her to re-
lease us; but either she had lost all UNDER
standing of human speech, or she pre-
tended to have done SO. All she would
do was to caress me, and even kiss my
hands and dress with extravagant signs
of affection. AS she did so, Tota shrunk
away closer to me. This Hendrika saw
and glared SO savagely at the child that
1feared lest she was going to kill her. 1
diverted her attention by making signs
that wanted water, and this she gave
me in n wooden bowl AS you saw, the
cave was evidently Hendricks dwelling
place. There are stores of fruit in it
and some strips of dried flesh. She
gave me some of tho fruit and Tota a
little, and made Tota eat some. You
can never know what went through,
Allan. l saw now that Hendrika was
quite mad, and but little removed from
the brutes to which she is akin, and over
which she has such unholy power. The
only trace of humanity left about her
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 capable of the ex-
ercise of every artifice and cunning. In
that way she was sane enough, but in
every other way she was mad. More
over, she had not forgotten her horrible
jealousy. Already saw her glaring at
Tota, and l knew that the child's muir
der was only matter of time. Proba-
bly, within few hours she would be
killed before my eyes. Of escape, even
if l had the strength, there was abso-
lutely no chance, and little enough of
our ever being found. No, we should
be kept there guarded by a mad thing,
half ape, half woman, till VIC perished
miserably. Then thought of you, dear,
and of all that you must be suffering,
and my heart nearly broke. 1 could
only pray to God that might either be
rescued or die swiftly.
Gas I prayed, ! dropped into kind of
doze from utter WEAKNESS, and then
had the strangest dream. I dreamed
that 1ndaba-zimbi stood over me nod
ding his white lock, and spoke to me in
Kaffir, telling me not to be frightened,
for you would soon lie with me, and that
meanwhileI must humor Hendrika, pre-
tending to be pleased to have her near
me. The dream was so vivid that l
actually seemed to see and hear him. as
see and hear him now"
Here looked up and glanced at old
Indaba-zimbi, who was sitting near. But
it was not till afterwards that told
Stella of how her vision was brought
about.
Sat any rate" she went on, "when
awoke determined to act on my dream.
took Hendricks hand and pressed it.
She actually laughed in wild kind of
way with happiness, and laid her head
upon my knee. Then made signs tnat
l wanted food, and she threw wood on
the fire, which forgot to tell you was
burning in the cave, and began to make
some of the broth that she used to cook
very well, and she did not seem to have
forgotten all about it. At any rate the
broth was not bad, though neither Tota
nor could drink much of it. Fright and
weariness had taken away our appetites.
"After the meal was done-and pro-
longed it as much as possible-l saw
that Hendrika was beginning to get
jealous of Tota again. She glared at
her and then at the big knife which was
tied round her own body. / knew the
knife again; it was the one with which
she had tried to murder you, dear At
last she went so far as to draw the knife.
Twas paralyzed with fear, then suddenly
l remembered that when she was our
servant, and used to get out of temper
and sulk, could always calm her by
singing to her. So l began to sing
hymns. Instantly she forgot her jeal-
ousy and put the knife back into its
sheath. She knew the sound of the
singing, and sat listening to it with a
rapt face; the balloons, too, crowded in
at the entrance of the cave to listen.
must have sung for an hour or more, all
the hymns that l could remember. 1t
was so very strange and dreadful sitting
there singing to mad Hendrika and those
hideous man-like apes that shut their
eyes and nodded their great heads as
sang. 1t was like horrible Nightmares;
but believe that the balloons are almost
as human as the Bushmen.
"Well, this went on for a long time
till my voica wac ,roftipu oxho,,c+oJ