Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-07-06


primitive and most exhausting resources
Of towing her, For two hours we labored,
Mahomed, job, and myself who was
supposed to be strong enough To pun
against the two Of them. on the bank,
while Leo set in the bow of the boat and
brushed away the weeds which collected
round the cut-water with Mahomed ;
sword. AT dark we halted till midnight
to rest and enjoy the mosquitoes, but
when the moon got up we went on again,
taking advantage of the comparative cool
of the night AT dawn we halted for
three hours, and then started once more,
and labored on till about ten o clock, when
a thunder storm, accompanied 10y deluge
of rain. overlook us, and We spent the
next six hours practically under water.
do not know that there is any necces-
lty for me to describe the next four days
Of our voyage in detail, further than to
say that they were, on the whole, the
most miserable that | eyer spent in my
life, forming one monotonous record OF
heavy labor, heat, misery, and mosqui
toes All the way we passed through a
region of almost endless swamp. and can
only contribute our escape from fever
| aud death TO the constant doses OF qulnlne
and purgatiye which we took and the un-
ceasing toll which we were forced to
undergo. On the third day of our jour
ney up the canal we had sighted round
hill that doomed dimly through the vap-
ors of the marsh, and on the evening OF
the fourth night, when we camped, this
hill seemed to be within five and-twenty
or thirty miles Of US. We were by now
utterly exhausted and felt as though our
| bhstered hands could not pull the boat a
ward further. and that the best thing that
we could do would be TO lie down and
die in that dreadful wilderness Of swamp.
1t was an awful position, and one in
which trust no other white man Will
ever be placed; aud as | threw myself
down in the boat TO sleep the sleep oil
utter exhaustion, bitterly cursed my
folly in ever having been party to such
a mad undertaking. which could, | saw
only end in our death in this CHASTITY land
thought, | remember, as | slowly SUM
into a doze, of what the appearance o.
the boat and her unhappy crew would b'
in two or three months time from tina
night. There she would lie, with gasp
ing seams and half filled with feted water
that. when the mist-laden wind stirred her
would wash backward and forwar'
through our moldering bones, and tina
would be the end of her, who woul'
follow after myths and seek out the sec
rets Of nature,
Already seemed to hear the water rip
Ming against the dessicated bones an
rafting them together, rolling my skul
aaainst Mahomed's. and Mahomed
, against nine, till at last Mahomed's stoo
, straight up upon its vertebre, and glare
I at me through its empty eye-holeS, an
, cursed me with its grinning jaws, becaus
a dog Of Christian, disturbed the la'
n sleep of true believer. opened m
o ewes and shuddered at the horrid dream
. and then shuddered again at somethln
=. that was not dream, for two great eye
!. were cleaning down at me through Il
- misty darkness. | struggled up, and
- nv terror and confusion shrleked al
g shrieked again, so that the others sprur
4 up too. reeling, and drunken with slice
, and fright. And then all Of suddC
a there was flash of cold steel, and a gre
spear was held against my throat, and b
" hind it other spears cleaned cruelty.
t. Peace said voice, speaking
e Arabic or rather some dialect into whi'
ID Arabic entered very largely. "Who a
a We who come hither swimming on I
s, water? Speak, or We diel' and the ste
n dressed sharply against my throat, sen
ing a cold chill through me
ny 1--WE are travellers, and have come hitl
On by chance" answered, in my best a
n bic, which appeared to be understood.
II, the man turned his head and, address
EN- a tall form that lowered up in the baC
st, ground, said:
ly Father, shall we slay?'
~ What is the color of the men?'' said
he deep voice in answer.
NJ white is their color.
Ia. "Slay not, was the reply. -Four 81
lai since was the word brought to me fir
ny She-who- must be. obeyed, White n
-, come; if white men come, slay them Ii
VI ' Let them be brought to the land of 5
IN who-must-be obeyed. Bring forth
y men, and let that which they have W
0ie them be brought also. "
len
oro Come, said the man, half leading
Or half dragging Inc from the boat, and a:
-, did so preceived other mer doing
., same kind office to my companions.
ter On the bank were gathered comps
er. Of some fifty men. In the light al
de could make out was that they were arr
of with huge spears, were very tall,
i'm. strongly built, comparatively light in {
not or, and nude, save for leopard skin