Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1892-06-23

wisdom That give thee. IhOu shalt be
king of the ghost wolves, thou and an
other whom u lion shall bring thee.
Grid the black skin upon tiny shoulders
and the wolves shall follow thee-all
the three hundred and sixty and three
of them that are left, and let him who
shall be brought to thee grid on the skin
of gray. Where ye twain lead them,
there shall they raven, bringing you
victory till all are slain. But know this,
that there only may they raven where
in life they ravened, seeking for their
food. Yet that was an i'll gift thou
tookest from my mother-the gift of the
Watcher-for though without the
Watcher thou hadst never slain the
king of the ghost wolves, yet bearing
the Watcher thou shalt thyself be slain.
Now on the morrow carry me back to
my mother SO that l may sleep where
the ghost wolves leap no more. l have
spoken, Galazi.'
Now the Dead Ones voice seemed to
grow ever fainter and more hollow as
he spoke, till at the last could scarcely
hear his words, yet l answered him,
asking this of him:
"'Who is it, then, that the lion shall
bring to me to rule with me over the
ghost wolves, and how is he namedT
Then the Dead One spoke once moro
7ery family, yet in the silence of the
place | heard his Words
"'He is named Unslopogaas the
Slaughterer, son of Chaka, Lion of the
Zulu"
Now when Umslopogaas heard these
words he started up from his place by
the fire.
Il am named Umslopogaas, he said,
"but the Slaughterer am not named,
and | am the son of Mopo and not the
son Of Chaka, Lion of the Zulu. You
lave dreamed dream, Galazi, or, if it
was not dream, then the Dead One
lied to you"
"Perchance this was so, Umslopo-
! gaas," answered GalaZi the Wolf. Per
haps l dreamed, or perhaps the Dead
! One lied. Nevertheless, if he lied in
this matter, in other matters he did not
lie, as You shall hear.
after | had heard these words, or
| had dreamed that | heard them, slept
indeed, and when l woke | remembered
| the dream that | had dreamed. SO
rose, and leaving the cave found place
where | might climb up to the breasts
and head of the Stone Witch. climbed
and as drew near the likeness to the
face of woman faded away and | saw
nothing before me but rugged heaps of
/ piled up rock. Now was on tho breast
of the mountain and wandered to and
fro awhile between great heaps of stone
AT length | found a crack i'll the stone,
and near this crack stood great stones
blackened by fire and beneath them
| broken pots and knife of flint. |
looked down into the crack-it was very
/ deep and green with moss and tall ferns
| grew about III it. There was nothing
! else. had dreamed lying dream. |
turned 10 go, then found another mind
and climbed down into the cleft. push
| ing aside the ferns. Beneath the ferns
was moss. | scraped it away with the
| Watcher. Presently the iron of the
! club struck on something that was vel
| low and round like stone. and from
| the yellow thing came hollow sound.
I | lifted 1t. 1t was the skull OF a child.
Il dug deeper and scraped away more
/ moss. Beneath the moss was nothing
| but bones of men-Old bones that had
/ lain there lQany years; the little ones
| had rotted, the large ones remained
some We're yellow, some black and 9TH
/ ers yet white. They were not broken as
are those that hyenas and wolves have
worried, yet on some Of them | could
see the marks of teeth. Then | went
| back to the cave.
"Now l skinned the she wolf also
| When | had done the sun was up and
knew that it was time to 20. But | must
not go alOne-he who sat alOft in the
cleft of the cave must go with me. |
feared greatly to touch hin-this Dead
One who had spoken to me in dream
yet | must do it. SO | brought stones
and piled them up until | could reach
| him. Then | lifted him down, for he
was very light, for he was but skin and
bones. When he was down | bound the
hides of the wolves around me. placed
him on my shoulders, and holding him
by that foot which was left ON him set
out for the llraal. Down the slope |
went till drew near to the heart of the
forest, Then | heard wolf howl on
my right and from the left came an
swering hOwls, and these again were an
sWered by others in front Of and be-
hind me.
Now l could see forms of gray and
black Sinking near my path, shifting at
the air as they went, and now | came to
a little open place, and behold all the
wolves in the world We're gathered
together there. On every side We're
the brutes, great and hungry. | stood
still till they formed a deep circle around
me. Presently one sprang, but not at
me. He sprang at that which sat upon
my shoulders. l moved aside and he
missed his aim. Then | remembered
the words Of my dream, if dream it
We're, how that the Dead One had given
me wisdom that | should be king of the
ghost wolves-I and another whom the
lion should bear to me. Was it not so?
If it was not so how came it that the
wolves did not devour Inc? For a mo
ment | stood thinking, then | lifted up
4 l. 1 1