St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1893-05-13
SUBSCRIPTION, $3.50 4 YEAR.

Inen II was tnaE rne soid1ers appeared
4 upon the bank. aAh! little people, =
one cried, 'syou swim, do you2 Well,
n You will drown; and il you do not
drown we know a ford, and we will
catch you and kill you. And he hurled
an asseagi after us, which fell between
us.
Now we SWAN hard, for we could
swim well It was just this: If we
could reach the bank before we got into
the rapids we were safe; if not, then
good night! We strained, we struggled.
Baleka was brave girl, and she SWAN
bravely; but the water pushed her down
below me, and could do nothing to
help her. got my foot upon the rock
and looked around. There she was, and
i eight PAGES from her the broken water
boiled could not go back. But the
4 dog Koos saw. He swan to her bark
ing, then turned around heading for the
shore. She grasped him by the tail
/ with her right hand She too struck
out with her feet and her left hand, and
slowly, very slowly, drew near. Then
stretched out the handle of my assegai
toward her. She caught it with her
left hand. pulled and Koos pulled,
and we brought her to the bank, and
there she fell gasping.
Now when the soldiers on the other
bank saw that we had crossed, they
shouted threats at us, then ran away
down the bank.
"Arise, Balelsa," said; sthey have
gone to seek a ford"
| 'sAh, let me die!'' she answered.
| But forced her to rise, and we walked
on till at last far away, we saw a large
kraal
o 'sKeep heart" l said. '.see. there is
| the kraal of Chala.
Presently we came to a path that ran
| to the kraal from the ford of the Um-
| folozi. We followed the path till at
| last we were but half an hours journey
from the kraal Then we looked back,
and lol there behind us were the pursuers.
Again we ran, but they gained upon
us Then once more ] thought of the
dog. called him and told him what to
do. He understood, and few toward
them growing. They tried to kill him
with spears and kerries, but he jumped
around them, biting at them and kept
them back. At last a man hit him, and
he sprang up and seized the man by the
throat There he clung, man and dog
rolling over and over together, till the
end of it was that they both died to-
gether.
Meanwhile we were but three hundred
PAGES from the gate of the kraal
ssRun on, Baleka, run on!'' said,
dropping behind. Now she staggered
on toward the kraal. ! sat down to get
| my breath again, for was about to fight
four men.
The men were running, two and two,
with the length of a spear throw between
them. But of the first pair one was five
or six PAGES in front of the other. This
| man shouted out loud and charged me,
shield and spear up. stood waiting for
him till he drew back the spear to stab
| me. Then suddenly dropped to my
| knees and thrust upward with all my
strength beneath the rim of his shield;
and he also thrust, but over me, his
spear only cutting the skin of my shoal-
der. And my assegai? Ahl it ran
through and through his middle. He
rolled over and over on the plain.
was now weaponless, for the haft Of my
spear-it was but light throwing asse-
gai-broke IN two, leaving nothing but
little bit of stick in my hand. And
the other one was on mel He looked tall
as a tree above me.
fell onto my hands and knees and
flung myself over sideways. My body
struck the legs of the man about TO stab
me, lifting his feet from beneath him.
Down he came heavily. Before he had
touched the ground / was off it. His
spear had fallen from his hand. Istoop-
ed, seized it, and as he rose stabbed him
through the back. In the shake of
leaf he also was dead. Then ran, for
my valor was gone. About a hundred
PAGES from me Baleka was staggering
along. By the time caught her she
was some forty PAGES from the gate of
the kraal. But then her powers left
her altogether. Yesl there she fell
senseless, and stood by. her. And there,
too, should have been slain had not
this chanced, for the other two men,
having staid one instant by their dead
fellows, came on against me mad with
wrath. For at that moment the gate Of
the kraal opened, and through it came
party of soldiers dragging man by the
arms. After them walked a great man,
who wore leopard skin on his shoul-
ders and was laughing, and with him
were five or six ringed councillors, and
after them again came company Of
warriors.
The soldiers saw that killing was go-
ing on and ran up just as the slayers
reached us.
"Who are you" they cried, "who dare
to kill at the gate OF the Elephants
kraal? Here the Elephant kills alonel''
We are of the children of Makeda-
ma they answered, 4and we follow
these evil doors who have done wicked
ness and murder in our kraal. See, but
now two of ms are dead at their hands,
and others lie dead along the road. Suf~
fer that we slay the1np'
ASK that of the Elephant, said the
soldiers; TASK, too, that he suffer you
should not be slain.
Just then sle tall chief saw blood and
heard words. He stalked up; and
great man he was to see, though still
young in years For he was taller by q
head than any around him, and his chest
was big as the chests of two; his face
was fierce and beautiful, and when he
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