Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-06-03

turned quickly into the jungle. They
were not five PAGES distant from me
when they left the road, and I felt
some surprise at their not having seen
me. By sudden overpowering i'm
pulse of curiosity 1 started to follow
them, in order to learn the meaning of
their strange journey. With as little
noise as possible swung round, step
ping almost in their footsteps. 1 had
little difficulty in doing so, for they
followed =. seemed to be beaten
track. FOR some hundreds of yards
the strange procession went slowly on.
Suddenly ! heard strange noise that
thrilled me through and through.
There was something about it, too,
that seemed familiar but my brain
was excited and refused to recall the
sound. 1t was kind of moan, half
human, half animal As the natives
and drew nearer it took the character
of chant; and then it flashed on me
tnat had heard the sound before; it
WAS the leper's voice! The poor
wretch was grooming dismal hymn or
invocation, Just as he had done when
soliciting his relatives to do what | was
to my great satisfaction, about to find
out. His low, weak voice rang out
strangely clear.
"Ohei, Ohei Mother, my mother.
Thou only art merciful. Thou only.
Ohei, Ohei, Brethren, my brethren,
lead me to my mother; she only will
welcome, she only will give peace.
Ohei, Ohei.
The voice died away in a moan that
mingled with and seemed to rise again
in the soft whistling of the long
grasses, as they quivered with the
breath of the wind that presaged the
coming rains. I shivered.
The party having now arrived at a
space which had been cleared of the
tangle-wood and grass, abruptly stopped
and formed into ring. I pressed for
ward as near as dared. Then saw,
in the centre of the ring, large cav
ity, perhaps four feet deep, with the
earth banked up on either side. The
torch bearers ranged themselves at the
head and foot of the hole, which, now
that it was in the light, L saw to be of
oblong shape, shelving somewhat at
the end nearer to me. The other ma
tives stood at the sides, four with tom
toms and two with little pots of burn
ing incense. The the leper limped out,
from the jungle seemingly, and crouched
at the shelving end of the hole. l had
expected him to appear on the scene,
yet when he did so, could not help
giving bit of start Not one of the
natives looked at the leper, nor did he
seem to see them. AS soon, however,
as he approached, the whole of the ma
tives set up cry-subdued and dismal
beyond description. The burden of it
was something like this: ''To Thee who
art all knowledge, all power, all love,
oil hate. To Thee, known only of Thy
self. To Thee who art Life and Death.
To Thee we bring our brother. He
seeks Thee where Thou art He comes
to Thee. He comes to Thee" Their
voices and the noise of the tom-toms
died down and as they faded away the
leper, who had been beating time by
nodding his head, crawled down the
slope and squatted down at the deep
end of the hole In a shril, quavering
voice that sounded strangely piercing
ON the electrically charged air he took
up the refrain.
"Ohei, Ohei. Fire of the Light
,;,o., 7 oo,oa HIaudlaee l,;,,ht,as~ -
the sky, come. Winged Messenger
of the Mountains, 1 come. Ohei.
comet
Then, amid more chanting and tom
tom beating, two of the natives handed
the leper some liquid in small bowl
and some food After drinking little
of the liquid and eating a little of the
food, he cast the remainder into the
hole in front of him, accompanying the
action with subdued but intense cries.
But now several of the natives re-
tired for moment, returning with
large fiat pieces of wood. With these
they started throwing earth into the
hole. The leper did not move. They
were going to bury the poor wretch
alive The thought in oil its hideous-
ness flashed through my brain. For the
instant went as cold as ice and was
unable to raise finger. Only for a
moment though; and then, acting for
the second time that night on the i'm
pulse of the moment, dashed forward,
my revolver still in my hand, to do
what, l could not tell. But before l
had gone two steps l found myself
seized, disarmed, gagged and pinioned.
| struggled, or, rather, attempted to
struggle, for l could neither move nor
utter the slightest sound / gave nv
self up for lost. l expected nothing
but death. and remember doing what
] had not done for years; offered up
a prayer -incoherent and vague; but
never was prayer more fervent. Con-
trary to my expectation l was only
dragged back several PAGES and tied
hand and foot to what suppose was
small tree. Ny captors had bound me
with my back towards the leper, appa-
rently determined that / should see
more of what was going on.
However, by screwing my neck round
could just catch sight of the wretched
creature in the pit that now felt GER
tain was to be his grave.
The horrible sight fascinated me. L
had no thought for anything else.
Even my own perilous situation caused
me no more fear or anxiety. The
natives, still singing that sad, monoto-
nous refrain, were now quickly thu ow-
ing the earth round the leper. Quicker
and quicker they shovened, louder and
Iodder they sang: ''0hei, Ohei, thy
wish is thine-is thine" The four
beating the tom-toms threw them down
and joined in. The earth mounted
higher and higher round the
doomed man. 1t reached his breast he
waved his poor stumps of arms towards
'he sky; he patted the earth with
hem, as if he were fondling a loved
one. 1t reached his shoulders-he
bent and kissed it passionately,