Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-07-20
SH E..
A History Of Adventure.
BY II. RIDER HAGGARD. !
(vu Continued


the whole say on the whole, for per
sonally | went through most horrible
nightmare of being burned alive. induced,
no doubt, by the sepulchral nature of my
surroundings Al dawn we were aroused
by loud trumpedng sound, produced as
we afterward discovered, by "a young
Amahagger blowing through a hole Dor
ed in lis side into followed elephant
~tusk. which was kept for the purpose
Taking tie hint, we got up, and went
down to the stream to wash, at which the
morning meal was served. AT breakfast
one of the women, no longer quite young
advanced and publicly kissed Job. lie
sprung to his feet, and pushed the woman,
buxom party of about thirty, from him.
"Well, | never" he gasped; where UP
on she embraced HIM again.
BE off with you! Get away, you
mink" he shouted, waving the wooden
spoon with which he was eating his break
fast up and down before the ladys face
Beg your pardon, gentlemen. lam sure
| haven't encouraged her. Oh, Lord.
She is coming for me again. Hold her,
Mr.. Holly please hold her can't stand
il: can't indeed This has never happen
ed to me before, gentlemen, never There's
nothing against my character; and here
he broke of. and ran as hard as he could
no down the cave and for once | saw the
Amahagger laugh AS for the woman,
however, she did not laugh On the con
trary. she seemed to brlstle with fury,
which the meckery Of the other women
about only served TO intensity. She stood
there literally snarling and shaking with
Indignation; and seeing her, l wished Jobs
scrupes had been at Jericho-forming a
shrewd guess that his admirable behavior
had endangered our throats. Nor, as the
sequel shows was | wrong
The lady having retreated, Job returned
in a great state of nervousness, and keep
ing his weather eye fixed upon every wo
man who came with him. ! took an op
portunity to explain to our hosts that Job
was married man, and had had very un-
happy experiences in his domestic rela.
tions, which accounted for his presence
here. and his terror at the sight of wo-
man; but only my remarks were received
YIN grim silence, it being evident that our
retainer's behavior was considered as a
slight to the "household" at large, although
the women, after the manner Of their
more civilized sisters, made merry at the
rebuff of their companion
AT first we were mnch puzzled as to the
origin and constitution Of this extraordi
nary race, points upon which they were
singuarly uncommunicative. As the time
went on-for the next four days passed
without any striking event-we learned
something from Leo's lady friend Ustane.
who, by the way, stuck to that young
gentleman like his own shadow. As to
origin. they had none, at least so far as
she was aware There were, however,
she informed US, mounds Of masonry and
many pillars near the place where She
lived. which was called Kor, and which
the wise said had once been houses where
in men lived, and it was suggested that
N.hey were descended from these men
No one, however, dared 60 near these
great ruins, because they were hauntcd
they only looked on them from a distance
Other similar ruins were to be seen, she
had heard i'm various parts of the country
that is. wherever one of the mountains
rose above the level Of the swamp. Also
the caves in which they lived had been
followed out of the rocks by men, perhaps
the same who built the cities They them
selves have no written laws, only custom
which was, however, quite as binding as
law. If any man offended against the
custom, he was put to death by order Of
the father of the "household'. | ask
ed how he was put to death, and she only
smiled and said might see one day soon
They had a queen however. She was
their queen, but she was very rarely SEEN
perhaps once IN two or three years when
she came forth to pass sentence on some
offenders, and when seen was mutiied up
in big cloak, so that nobody could look
urtn her face. Those who waited upon
her were deaf and dumb, and therefore
could tell no tales, but ii was reported that
she was lovely as no other woman was
lovely, or even had been. 1t was rumored
also that she was immortal, and had pow
er over all things but she, Ustane, could
say nothing Of all that. What she believ-
ed was that the queen chose a husband
from time to time, and as soon as
a female child was born. this husband
who was never again seen, was put to
death Then the female child grew up,
and took the place of the queen when its
mother died and had been buried in the
great caves But Of these matters none
could speak for certain. She kept aguard,
but had no regular army, and to disobey
her was to die.
| asked what the land was, and how
many people lived in it. She answered