Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-01-12
Give me food, white man, !" she added in
a piGeous tone. Give me food, for I


| low me, MOTHER and he led the way
across the donga to the cave, the woman
/ limping after him painfully.
There Otter gave her meat, and she ate
as one eats who has gone hungry for long,
greedily and yet with effort When she
| had finished, she looked at Leonard with
her keen dark eyes and said:
| Say, white lord, are you also q slave
trader"
NO." he answered grimly; II am a
slave"
''Who is your master, then-this black
that he is no gods'
Nay, he is but slave of slave.
] have no master, mother. / have a mis-
tress, and she is named Fortune"
1.-The worst OF mistresses, said the old
woman, ''or the best, for she laughs ever
behind her frown and mingles stripes with
kisses. -
1.-The stripes know we'll, but not the
kisses, answered Leonard gloomily. then
added in another tone: What is your err
rand, mother? How are you named, and
what do you seek wandering alone in tho
mountains"
Il am named Soa, and seek succor
for one whom love and who is in sore
| distress. Will my lord listen to my tales"
'Speak on, said Leonard.
Then the woman crouched down before
him and told this story:
My lord, J., Soa, am the servant of a
white man, a trader who lives on the banks
of the Zambezi some four days march
from here, having house there which he
built many years ago"
How is the white man named?" asked
Leonard
The black people call him Mavoom,
but his white name is Rodd. He is good
master and no common man, but he has
this fault-that at times he is drunken.
Twenty years ago or more Mavoom, my
master, married a white woman, Portu-
gueso whose father dwelt at Delagoa bay,
and who was beautiful-ah, beautiful
Then he settled on the banks of the Fam
| beZi and became a trader, building the
house where it is now, or rather where its
ruins are. Here his wife died in childbirth.
Yes, she died in my arms, and it was
who reared her daughter Juanna, tending
her from the cradle to this day.
Now, after the death of his wife Ma
yoom became more drunken. Still when
ho is not in liquor he is very clever and a
good trader, and many times he has COL
lected ivory and feathers and gold worth
much money and also has bred cattle by
hundreds. Then he would say that he
would leave the wilderness and 20 to an
other country across the water l know
not where, that country whence English
men come. Twice he started to go, and
with him and his daughter, Juanna, my
mistress, who is named the Shepherdess
of Heaven by the black people because
| they think that she has the gift of fore
telling rain. But once Mavoom stopped in
a town at Durham, in Natal, and getting
drunk gambled away all his money in /.
month"; and once he lost it in q river, the
boat being overset by a river horse and
the ivory and gold sinking out of sight
Still the last time he started he left his
| daughter, the Shepherdess, at Durham,
and there she staid for three years, learn
ing those things that the white women
know, for she is very clever, us clever as
she is beautiful and good. Now, for two
years she has been back Mt the settlement,
for she came to Delagoa bay in a ship, and
with her, and Mavoom with US.
But one month gone my mistress the
Shepherdess, spoke to her father, Mavoom,
telling him that she wearied of life in the
Wilderness and would sail across the wa
tiers to tho land which is called home He
listened to her. for Mavoom loves his
daughter, and said that it should be So
But he said this also-first he would go on
trading journey up the river to buy a
store of ivory which he knew of. Now,
she was against this, saying: Let us start
at once. We have tempted chance too
! long and once again we are rich Let us
go by land to Natal and pass over the seas ,
still he would not listen, for he is u
headstrong man. So ON the morrow he
started to search for the store of ivory, and
Juanna, his daughter, wept, for though she
is fearless, it was not fitting that she
should be left thus alone; also she hated
to be apart from her father, for it is when
she, is not there to watch that he becomes
drunken.
Mavoom left and IL days went by
while | and my mistress, the Shephcrdess
sat at the settlement waiting till he re
turned. Now, it is the custom of my mis-
tress when she is dressed to read each
morning from certain holy book in
which are written the laws of that great
great whom she worships. On the thir-
teenth morning, therefore, she sat beneath
the veranda of the house, reading in the
book, according to her custom, and went
about my work making food ready Sud
denly heard tumult, and looking over
the wall which is around the garden and
to the left of the house, saw great num-
Der of men, some of them white, some
Arabs and some half breeds, one mounted
and the Others on foot, and behind them a
long caravan of slaves, with the slave
sticks set upon their necks. AS they came
these men fired guns at the people of the
settlement, who rap this way and that.
Some of the people .eIl, some were made
captive, but others of them got away, for
they We're at work in the fields and had
seen the slave traders coming. Now, as |
gazed, affrighted, l saw my mistress, the
Shepherdess, flying toward the wall behind
which stood, the book she had been read
ing from being still in her hand. But as
she reached it the man mounted ON the
mule overlook her, and she turned about
and faced him, setting her back against
the wall. Then / crouched down and hid
myself among some banana trees and
watched what passed through crack in
the wall.
1.-The man on the mule was old and fat,
his hair was white and his face yellow
and wrinkled. l knew him at once. for
I, often l have heard Of him before, who has
been the terror of this country for many
years. He is named the Yellow Devil by
the black people, but his Portuguese name
is Pereira, and he has his place in secret
spot down by one of the mouths of the
Zambezi. Here he collects the slaves, and
here the traders come twice year with
their dhows to carry them to market
Now, this man looked at my mistress
as she stood terrified with her back against
the wall. Then he laughed and cried
aloud in Portuguese: Here we have a
pretty prize This must be that Juanna
of whose beauty l have heard. Where is
your father, my dove? Gone trading up the
river, has he notS All, l knew 1t, or per
haps / should not have ventured here.
But it was wrong of him to leave one so
pretty all alone. Well, well, he is about
his business and must be about mine,
for l also am merchant, my dove, a
merchant who trades in blackbirds. One
with silver feathers does not often come
my way, and l must make the most of her.
There is many young man in our part
who will bid briskly for such eyes as
yours. Never fear, my dove, We will soon
find you husband.
And now IL you are ready. he said,
I'VE will be moving, for it is eight days
journey to my little nest on the coast, and
who can tell when the dhows will come to
fetch my blackbirdsf Have you anything
to say before you go, my dove!'
"A mule was brought, and Juanna, my
mistress, was set upon it. Then the slave
traders shot down such of the captiyes as
they thought to be of no value, the driv-