Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-02-16
THE PEOPLE
OF THE MIST
By II. RIDER HHGGARD.
copyright, 1898, by the Author.

you again. utterly Fapudlate this mar
tiaee. Before the ceremony began Mr..
Outram whispered to me to go through
with the farce, and it was q farce. Had
/ thought otherwise l should have taken
the poison. If there is any truth in what
the father says, have been deceived and
entrapped- "
Pardon, sonora, said the priest. "But
you should not speak SO angriiy Tho
Senior Outram and l only did what We
were forced to do. -
Surprising that Father Francisco is
right, which do not believe, " said Leon
ard, with sarcasm, do you think Miss
Rodd, that such a sudden undertaking
I would be more to my liking than to yours,
Believe me, had | wished to deceive and
entrap you i could not have done so with
! out involving myself. since if the mar
! riage is binding it is binding on both par
ties, and even such humble individual
as am does not take a wife on the faith of
| a five minutes acquaintance To be frank,
l undertook your rescue for purposes far
other than those of matrimony. -
Might ask what they were?' replied
| Juanna in a tone of equal acerbity.
Certainly, Miss Rodd. But first
must explain that l am no night Grant.
/ am an almost penniless adventurer, and
! for urgent reasons of my own | seek to
/ win fortune Therefore when the woman
yondcr, and he pointed to Soa, who was
| sitting watching them just out of range
Of the freight, came to me with mar
velous tale of a countless treasure of ru-
bies, which she promised to reveal to me
| if l would undertake the little matter Of
your rescue, and even paid down speci
! men stone of considerable value on ac
I count, having nothing better to do and
! nowhere to 60, being, in short, desperate, l
! consented Indeed l did more. / took
the precaution OF reducing the matter to
! writing / being one contracting party,
| and Son, acting on her own behalf and as
your attorney, being the other. I"
II have not the least idea to what you
! alludc, nor did l ever give Soa any author
| ity to sign documents on my behalf, bat
| may SEQ this writing?"
| Certainly" Leonard answered. and
! rising he went to the baggage, whence he
returned presently with lantern and the
prayer book.
Juanna placed the lantern beside her
and opened the book. The first thing thar
| she saw was a name on the title page,
Jane Beach," and beneath it this in
scription, which had evidently been writ
ten by some one in great hurry: ITO dear
est Leonard from Jane. % Jan"
Turn over, he said hastily. THE
document is on the other side
She was not slow to note both the writ
ing and the confusion which her perusal
of it caused him. Who was Jane Beach,
she wondered, and why did she call Mr.
Outram dearest Leonardo In a no
| mcnt, SO strange are the hearts of womc !,
Juanna felt herself much prepossessed
! against her, whoever she might be. But
! she turned the leaf and read the agree
mcnt. 1t was a pretty sight to see her
bending over the cramped writing in the
circle Of the lantern light, but when at
length she had finished and looked up
there was smile upon her lovely face
which had moro of scorn in it than was
pleasant.
Come hither soa," she said, "and tell
mo what all this nonsense is about rubies
ard the People of the Mist, among whom
am to play the part of Il goddess, if nee
essary."
"Shepherdess, - answered Soa, squatting
down on the ground before her, sit is not
nonsense. The language that ] taught
you when you were little is that Of this
people. 1t is true tale, though hitherto
have hidden it fron you and your father,
! Mavoom, lest Mavoom should seek to win
the precious stones and come to his death
through them. Listen, Shepherdess, and
she repeated the outlines of the story with
which she had already made Leonard ae-
quainted, ending thus:
Il told this tale to the white man, be-
cause [ saw hat he was greedy, after the
fashion of his race, and nay strait was des-
perate. For this reason l bribcd him with
the red stone, and with the promise that
! would lead aim to tho land of tho People
of the Mist, for had l not done 50 he would
never have used his wit or put out his
strength to rescuc you from tho Yellow
Devil. Therefore it was also that l marked
this paper on your behalf and my own,
know ing well that | had no right to speak
for you, and that by and by you could re
fuse to abide by it, though am bound. 80
Frank, az any rate, said Leonard to
himself. What a solicitor the old lady
would have madel''
Say, Soa, asked Juanna, ''to succeed
in the search for these stones is it necos-
sary that l should play the part OF god
doss among your peoples"
Il can see no other way" she answered.
But what Of that? You are free, and
what l promised ON your behalf is moth
ing. Let the white man go without his
reward. 1t Will save him a long journey
Three months had passed since that day
when Juanna declared her determination
to accompany Leonard upon his search for
the treasures Of the People of the Mist.
1t was evening, and party Of travellers
were encamped on the side of a river that
ran through great and desolate plain.
They were a small party, three white peo-
ple-namely, Leonard, Francisco and
Juanna--fiftecn Of the settlement men un-
der the leadership of Peter-thc same
hcadnan who had been rescued from the
slave camp-and of course the dwarf, OF
| ter, and .luanna's Old nurse, Soa.
For II weeks they had travelled almost
without intermission with Soa for their
guide, steering continually northward and
westward. First they followed the course
of the river in canoes for ten days or more.
Then, leaving the main stream, they pad
died for three weeks up that of tributary
called Mavuae, which ran for many miles
along the foot of a great range of noun
tains named Mang- ia. Here they made
but slow progress because of the frequent
rapids, which necessitated the porterage of
the canoes c7er broken ground and for
considerable distances. At length they
came to rapid which was so long and so
continuous that regretfully enough they
were oblighed to abandon the canoes alto
gothcr and proceed ON foot.
The dangers of their water Journey had
been many, but they were nothing COM
pared to those that now environed them,
and in addition to bodily perils they must
face the daily and terrible fatigue Of long
marches through an unknown country,
numbered as they were with arms and 9TH
er absolutely necessary baggage. The
country was named Marengi, a land unin-
habitcd by man, the home of herds OF
countless game.
/ On they went northward and upward
through a measureless waste: plain sue
ceeded plain in endless Rlenotony, distance
gave place to distance. and ever there were
more beyond. Gradually the climate grew
solder. They were trayersing portion Of
the unexplored plateau that separates
Eouthern from central Africa. Its l9neli-
ness was awful, and the bearers began to
murmur, saying that they had reached
the end of the werld and were walking
over its edge. Indeed they had only two
comforts in this part of their undertaking
the land lay SO high that none of them
were stricken by fever and they could not
well miss the road, which, if Soa was to
be believed, ran along the banks of the
river that had its source in the territories
Of the People of the Mist.
Now at length they halted on the bound
airy of the land of the People of the Mist.
There bpfore tbppl mot moro than a 1nile