Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-08-17

II ~
went as well as could be expected, ana
then an accident happened that nearly lost
US the pleasure Of the company OF our
venerable friend Bilali, whose litter was
leading the cavalcade. We were gong
through II particularly dangerous piece OF
ouagmire, in which the bearers sometimes
sunk up to their knees. Indeed l. was
mystery TO me how they contrived to carry
the heavy filters at all over such GROUND
~ that which we were traversing' though
the two spare hands, rs well as the four
regular ones. had Of course to put thelr
shoulders to the pole.
Presently, as we Numbered and Hound
cred along there was sharp cry theh
storm of ordinations, and, last OF ALL
most tremendous splash, and the whole
caravan halted.
jumped from my litter and ran LOT
ward About twenty yards head was
the edge of one of those sulen peaty pools
Of which have spoken the path we were
following. running along the top OF It's
bank. which ms it happened, was steep
one Looking toward this pool, to my
horror | saw that Bllalis litter was float
inc ON if. and as for Billal himself, he was
nowhere to be seen. To make matters
clear may as well aXplain at once what
hammered. one of Billalis bearers had
unfortunately trodden on basklng snake,
which had bitten him IN the leg, wherein
ne had. not unnaturally, let go OF the pole,
and then finding that he was tumollng
down the bank, grasping at the litter TO
save himself. The result of this was
what might have been expected. Inc
litter was pulled over the edge OF the bank
the hearers let 90. and the whole thing
Including Bflali and the man who had
been bitten, rolled into the Shiny pool
When | got to the edge of the water
neither of them was to be seen, ana, IN
deed the unfortunate bearer never was
seen again. Either he strdck his head
against something, or got wedged IN the
mud or possibly the snake bite paralyzed
him. At any rate, he vanished. But
though Billali was not to be seen, his
whereabouts was clear enough from the
agitation of the floating litter. in the bear
inc cloth and curtains Of which he was
entangled.
"He is there Our father is there!
said one of the men; but he did not STIR a
finger to help him, nor did any of the
others. They simply stood and stared at
the water.
, "Out of the way, you brutes" shouted
in English. and throwing off my hat,
, took a run and sprung well out into the
horrid slimy.looklng pool. y couple OF
strokes took me to where Bialli was slrug
- cling beneath the cloth
q Somehow, don't quite know how,
y managed to push this free of him, and his
h venerable head, all covered in green slime
Y like that of yellowish Bacchus with ivy
leaves emerged upon the surface of The
= water. The rest was easy, for Billali wa
4 an eminentlv practical individual, ant
# had the common sense not to grasp holC
: Of me as drowning people often do, so
Il cot him by the arm, and towed him TO thu
=. bank. through the mud Of which we wer
with difficulty dragged. Such filthy
+ spectacle as we presented | have neve
II seen before or since and it Will perhap
V rive some idea of the almost superhumal
= dignity of Bilalis appearance when | sa
# that coughing half drowned, and covere
r with green slime as he was, with hi
" beautiful beard coming to a trippin
point. like a chinamau freshly oiled pig
? tail he still looked venerable and impos
g ing
n "Ye dogs he said addressing the bear
ne ers, as soon as he had sufficiently recov
ID cred to speak; Eye left me- your father. t
ID drown. Had it not been for this stranger
my son the Baboon, assuredly | shoul
d. have drowned. Well, | will remember it;
at and he fixed them with his cleaning
t. though slightly watery eye ina way | sa'
they did not like, though they tried to al
~ pear sulkily Indifferent. CAS- for thee, m
son, " the old man went on, turning tOwar
, me aud grasping my hand, rest assure
Is that am thy friend through good an
n evil. Thou hast saved my life; perchanC
a day may come when | shall save thine
! After that we cleaned ourselves as be
IT. we could, fished out the hitter, and wei
ed on, minus the man that had been drowned
ly don't know if it was owing to his bein
10 an unpopular character, or from natiV
'r. indifference and selfishness of temper
IL ment, but | am bound to say that nobod
he seemed to greve much over his suddt
ly and final disappearance, unless, perhap
r. IT was the man that had to do his share
en- the work.
ly
W Nj
no THE PLAIN OF KOR.