Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-06-15
by II. RIDER HACCARD.
THE sQuALL.

cawing rocks and the familiar volumes Oh
the shelves and in their place there rises
vision of the great calm ocean cleaning in
shaded SILVER lights beneath the beams of
the full African moon \ gentle breeze
fills the huge sail Of our dhow, and draws
US through the water that ripples unsteady
against our sides Most of the men are
sleeping forward, for it is near midnight
but a stout swarthy Arab. Mahomed by
name, stands at the tiller, lazly steering
by the stars Three miles or more to our
starboard Is a low dim line 1t is the east.
ern sh ore of Central Africa. We are run
ming to the southwark, before the north
east monsoon, between the mainland and
the reef that for hundreds of miles fringes
that perilous coast The night is quiet, SO
quiet that a whisper can be heard fore and
aft the dhow; so quiet that faint boom
ing sound rolls across the water TO us from
the distant land
The Arab at the tiler holds up his hand,
and says one word: "Simba" dion,
We all sit up and listen. Then it comes
again a slow majestic sound that thrills
Us to the marrow.
Tomorrow, by ten o'clock, | say,
we ought, if the captain is not out in his
reckoning, which | think very probable,
to make this mysterious rock with mans
head and begin our shooting"
And begin our search for the ruined
city and the Fire Of Life" corrected Leo,
taking his pipe from his mouth and laugh
ing a little
NONSENSE" | answered you were
airing your Arabic with that man at the
tiller this afternoon What did he tell Guy?
He has been trading (slave.trading, prob
ably up and down these ATTITUDES for half
of his iniqutous life, and once landed on
this very man rock Did he ever hear
anything of the ruined city or the caves?'
NO" answered Leo. He says that the
country is all swamp behind, and full of
snakes, especially pythons, and game, and
that no man lives there. But then there
is a belt Of swamp all along the east Afri'
Can coast so that does not 90 for much,
laria You see what sort Of an opinion these
gentry have of the country Not one of
them will 90 with us They think that we
are mad, and upon my word | believe
that they are right. If eyer we see old
England again shall be astonished. How
ever, it does not greatly matter to me, at
my age, but am anxious for you, Leo,
and Job. It's Tom FOOLS business, my
boy
"All right, Uncle Horace So far as
am willing to take my chance. Look!
What is that cloud?" and he pointed to a
dark blotch upon the starry sky, some
miles astern of US.
go and ask the man at the tIler' | said.
lie rose and stretched his long arms.
and went Presently he returned.
lie says it is a squall, but it will pass
far on one side Of us
Just then Job came up, looking very
stout and English in his shooting suit of
brown flannel, and with sort Of perpleXed
appearance upon his honest round face
that had been very common with HIM since
he got into these strange waters.
Please, sir, ~ he sale. touching his sun
hat, which was stuck on to the back OF his
head in a somewhat ludicrous fashion,
cas- we have got all those guns and things
in the whale boat astern to say nothing of
the provisions in the lockers, think it
would be best if got down and slept in
her. / don't like the looks"-here he
dropped his voice TO portentous whisper
-"of these black gentry; they have such
a wonderful thievish way about them.
Supposing, now, that some OF them were
to slip into the boat at night and cut the
cable, and make off with her? 1t would
be a pretty CO. that would"
The whale boat, may explain, was one
that we had had built at Dundee, in the
north of England, and brought with us,
as we knew that this coast was a net work
of creeks, and that we might require some
thing to navigate them with. She was
beautiful boat, thirty feet in length, with a
center board for sailing, copper-bottomed
to keep the worm out of her, and full of
water tight compartments. The captain
of the dhow had told us that when we
reached the rock, which he knew we'll, and
which appeared to be identical with the |
one described upon the sherd and by Leo's |
father, he would not probably be able to |
run up to it on account of the shadows |
and breakers, so we had employed three
hours that very morning, while we were
totally becalmed, the wind having dropped |
at sunrise. in transferring most of our
goods and chattels to the whale boat, plac-
ing the guns, ammunition, and preserved |
provisions in the water.tight lockers spe
cialy prepared for them, so that when we
did sight the tabled rock we should have
nothing to do but step into the boat and run
her ashore. Another reason that induced
us to take this precautionary step was that
Arab captains are apt to run past the point
shat they are making, either from careless
ness or owing to a mistake in its identity.