Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-12-20
THE PEOPLE
OF The MIST.
By q. RIDER HAGGARD.
copyright. 1893. by the Author.l
CHAPTER ".

CHAPTER ".
The woman Soa gave Leonard a potion
which allayed the fever, and he was soon
restored to health. He remembered his
compact, and one morning looked about
him for paper on which to draw an agree
ment. He could find none The last had
been lost when the hut was blown away
on the night of his brothers death. Then
he bethought him of the prayer book which
Jane Beach had given him. He would not
use the fly leaf, because her name was on
it, so he must write across the title page.
And thus he wrote in small, neat letters
with his mixture of blood and gunpowder
straight through the order of common
prayer:
(Agreement Between Leonard Outram and
Soa, the Native Woman.)
/. The said LlI nard Outrum agrees to use his
best efforts TO rescue Juanna, the daughter of
Mr.. Rodd, noys reduced to n stRte Of slavery,
and believed to be in the power OF one PEREZ
IA, n slave dealer.
? In consideration of the services of the
said Leonard Outram, the said Soa delivers &c
him n certain stone believed to be a ruby, of
which the said Leonard Outram hereby &C
knOwledges the receipt
s. Should the rescue be effected the said
Soa hereby agrees. on behalf Of herself and
the said Juanna Rodd, to conduct the said
Leonard Outram to n certain spot in central
southeastern Africa, inhabited by n tribe
known as the People of the Mist, there to use
her best efforts to reveal to him and to enable
him to appropriate to his own uses the store Of
rubies used in the religious ceremonies Of the
said tribe. Further. the said Soa agrees, on
behalf OF the said Juanna Rodd, that she, the
said Juannal, will, if necessary, play the part
of goddess among the said People Of the
Mist, any other part that may be required
of her
1. 1t is mutually agreed that these enter
prises be prosecuted until the said Leonard Gu
tram is satisfied that they are fruitless-
IyN rf,saM
RIGA, on the 9th day of May, Is.
When he had finished this document,
perhaps one of the most remarkable that
was ever written since Pizarro drew up
his famous agreement for the division OF
the prospective spOils of Peru, Leonard
read it aloud and laughed heartily to him
self. 1t was the first time he had laughed
for some months Then he translated it to
his companions, not without complacency,
for it had n truly legal sound, and your
layman loves to affect the lawyer.
What do you think of that, Otter'" he
asked when he had finished
1T Is fine, haas, very fine" answered
the dwarf. Wonderful are the ways of
the white man! But, haas, how can the
old woman promise things on behalf of
another
Leonard pulled his bcagi reflectisely.
The dwarf had put his finger upon, the
weak spot in the document, but he'was
saved the necessity of answering by Soa
herself, who said quietly: Have no fear,
white man That which promise upon
her behalf my mistress will certainly per-
form. if so be that you can save her. Give
me the pen that l may make my mark
upon the paper, but first do you swear
upon the red Stone that you will perform
what you promise in this writing"
So Leonard laughed, sSore and signed,
and Soa made her mark Then Otter af-
fixed his As witness to the decd. and the
thing was finished Laughing once more
at the comicality of the transaction, which
indeed he had carried out more 10y way of
q joke than for any other reason, Leonard
put the prayer book in his pocket and the
great ruby into n division of his belt. The
old woman watched the stone vanish with
an expression of triumph. Then she cried
exultingly:
All. white man, you have taken my
pay, and now you are my servant to the
end! He who swears upon the blood OF
ACa swcars an oath indeed. and woe be to
him if he should h-'eik it,
Quito so answered Leonard. Il have
taken your pay. and 1 mean to earn it, so
we need not enter into the matter of the
blood of AGA. 1t seems to me more prob
able that our own blood will be in ques-
tion before all is said and done. And now
We shall not need to follow the footsteps
of Leonard Outram and his companions
day by day. For a week they travelled on,
journeying mostly by night, they had
purposed They climbed mountains; they
struggled through swamps and forests;
they SWAN rivers Indeed one of these
was in flood, and they never could have
crossed it had it not been for Offers pow
ers OF natation. Six times did the dwarf
ho haarinu rhPir trOOdS and
guns held above the water with one hand.
On the seventh journey he was still more
heavily weighted, for, with some assist
ance from Leonard, he must carry the
woman Soa, who could swim but little.
But he did it and without any great IA
tigue II was not until Otter was seen
stemming a heavy current that his vast
strength could be measured. Here indeed
his stunted stature was of positive advan
| taCc for il offered the less surface for the
water to act upon
| On the eighth night of their Journey
they halted ON the crest of = high noun
| tain. The moon had set, and it was i'm
| possible to go farther. Moreover, they
were weary with long marching Wrap
| ping themselves in their blankets, for herr
the air was piercing cold, they lay dowT
beneath the shelter of some bushes to sleeI
! till dawn. II was Otter who woke them
have marched straig ht. There below us i:
the big river, and there, far away to thu
| right, Is the sea
That night they camped near the slay,
road, n GOlgOtha, covered at intervals witt
the bones of slaves 1t was a gloomy nigh
for all, but at last the darkness passed
the sun shone out merrily, and the travel
ers arose, shook the night dew from theil
hair and ate n scanty meal, for they mus
husband such food as they had with them
Thus they went on for the most part o
that day till toward evening they reached
place where the particular canal tina
they were following suddenly divided it
self into two, one branch running nortl
and one in a southerly direction
Which way, Otisr?" asked Leonard.
Nay, baas, know not. The water ha
changed There was no land here TIL
canal went straight on"
This was a serious matter, for one falls
step in such labyrinth meant that the
would be lost utterly For long they dc
| hated which stream to take, and ut lns
decided to try that on the left hand, whic
| Otter thought ran more nearly in the tru
| direction. They had already started i
| pursuance of this advice when sSoa, VIII
had hitherto remained silent, suggeste
that they should first go n little way dow
the right hand stream on the chance {
finding a clew. Leonard demurred, bu
as the old woman seemed bent upon it b
yielded, and turning the canoe they PAD
died her some 800 yards in this new dire'
ton. As there was nothing to be seer
however, Otter began to put her abou
again
.. Stay, white man." said Soa, who ha
been searching the surface of the wate
with her keen eyes. What is that thin
yonderf" and she pointed to a clump
reeds about 40 yards away, among whic
some small white object was Just discern
| ible.
Feathers, 1 think, Leonard answered
but we will go and sec.'' In another IN,