The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-09-07

throwing a rope over the trunk OF .
stuuted tree which grew at the bottom
op' &he opcnine- This ~e accom- plishod
With sosne trouble md tn" Ies'
easy. A foot or two above i head the
handkerchief futtered in the wind.
Hanging to the rope, grasped it. 1t
was nv wife's. AS did so l noticed
the face Of baboon peering at me over
the edge Of the cleft, the first babooD
we had seen that morning. The brute
gave bark and vanished. Thrusting
She handkerchief into my breast, I set
nv feet against the cliff and scrambled
up as hard as I could 60. knew that
we had no time to lose, for the baboon
!. would quickly alarm the others. I
/ gained the cleft. It was mere arched
passage cut by water, ending in a
gully, which led to wide open space
OF some Sort. I looked through the
passage and saw that the gully was
black with baboons. On they came by
the hundreds. I unslung my elephant
gun from my shoulders and waited, call
Ing to the men below to come up with
all possible speed. The brutes streamed
on down the gloomy gulf towards
me, barking, grunting and show
ing their huge teeth. I waited till
they were within fifteen yards. Then l
fred the elephant gun, which was loaded
with slugs, rightinto the thick OF them. In
that narrow place the report echoed like
q cannon shot, butts sound was quickly
swallowed in the volley of piercing
humau-sounding groans and screams
that followed. The charge OF heavy
slugs had plowed thr ugh number
OF the baboons, Of which at least
dozen lay dead or dying in the passage.
For moment they hesitated, hen they
came on again with a hideous clamor.
fortunately by this time lndaba-zlm d.
who also had gun, was standing by my
aide, otherwise should have been torn
70 pieces before could reload. He fired
both barrels into them, and again
checked the rush. But they came on
again, and Notwithstanding the appear
sace OF two other natives with guns, which
shey let off with more or less success, we
should have been overwhelmed by the
great and ferocious apes had not by
this time succeeded in reloadlng the
elephant gun. When they were right
on to US I fired, with even more deadly
effect than before, for at that distance
every slug told on tLeir long line. The
howls and screams of rage and fury
were now something inconceivable.
One might have thought we were doing
battle with host OF demons; indeed in
thatlight-for the overhanging arch Of
rock made it very jark-the gnashing
snouts and somber, glowing eyes OF
the apes looked like those Of devils as
they are represented by monkish fancy.
they withdrew, dragging some OF their
wounded with them, and thus gave US
time to get our men up the cliff. In q
few minutes all were there, and We ad-
vanced down the passage, which pres
emily opened into a rocky gully with
shelving sides This gully had water
way at the bottom of it: it was about
hundred yards long, and the slopes on
either side were topped by precipitous
cliffs. looked at these slopes; they
literally swarned with baboons, grunt-
ing, barking, screaming and beating
their breasts with their long arms in
fury. Hooked up the waterway; along
1t, accompanied by mob, or, asst itwere,
a guard of baboons, came Hendriks, her
long hair flying, madness written on her
face, and in her arms was the senseless
form of little Tots.
She saw US, and foam of rage burst
from her lips. She screamed aloud. To
me the sound was mere articulate cry,
but the baboons clearly understood it.
for they began to roll rocks down on