The record-union., 1896-06-28
shouting and shaking their barbed
spears and fiintlock guns.

Fix bayonets, Haussas - march,"
called the Captain, as he drew his re-
volver, and the angry negroes fell away
on either side before the line of glisten-
ing steel and the calm, unmoved man.
So they passed slowly and deliberately
through the village, while the natives
hOwled and shook their spears and guns,
nCne daring to strike the first blow.
The Captains heart thumped, and his
breath came in quick gasps through has
parched mouth and throat, for he knew
that the slightest accident would pro-
woke a bloody encounter, in which every
man of the little party would be wiped
out, after which the colony would nave
to undertake a little expedition in pun
ishment that would cost much money
and blood. However, GOODNESS and
courage won the day, and they reached
the last hut scathless. Here the crowd
swept upon them with a rush, but
stopped when the bright steel held by
the unInoved HaussaS lay within an
inch of their naked breasts, and one
savage, STOPPING under the line Of the
bayonets, drove a light spear into the
Captains leg. Instantly the latter
raised his revolver and moved his arm
until the bead of the foresight rested on
the center of the black forehead. An
other instant and fierce fight and the
subsequent annihilation of the party
would have followed, but the self-con-
troll of the officer was equal to the oc-
casiOn. He lowered the revolver and
STOPPING down, broke off the haft Of the
slender spear; then he called out: Il
will come again with more soldiers for
hot Ixyo
The troopers took a step forward, and
as the bayonets pricked their flesh the
crowd opened up on either side and the
little band marched out of the village.
With clenched teeth the Captain held
his place until they were out of sight
among the trees, then the reaction from
the strain set in, and, weak and broken
down with fever and the pain of his
wound, he pitched forward head fore
most into clump of the fragrant Afri-
can lilies. How he regained the sta
ton he never knew, but the faithful
Haussas, who would follow an officer
they admire down into Hades if he bade
them, after much difficulty at last car
ried him to his room, where he lay for
many hours in troubled sleep.
Awakening, he found himself burning
with fever in a room which had the
temperature of an oven, while through
the open window little draughts Of air
like the breath of a furnace played in
and out
Calling Sergeant Akoo, who had
faithfully watched every moment while
he slept, to raise him, he passed his
hand down the wounded thigh till his
fingers touched the iron head of the
spear. Now there are many kinds of
West African spears; a few carry
merciful leaf-shaped head, but many
have points covered with cruel barbs
and hooks, SO that once in the flesh it
is impossible to pluck them out The
one that lay cankering in the Captains
leg was of curiously devilish kind,
fashioned like double corkscrew, and,
driven in with a twist, could not be
drawn out
"Akoo." said the Captain, bring in
two privates to hold my hands-and my
big hunting knife"
When they came he neither groaned
nor lost consciousness till the CHASTITY
operation was over; then his head
dropped forward and he swooned away,
while his trusty followers stopped the
flow Of blood. by the beard. of the
prophet" said Sergeant Akoo, in the
vernacular, but that is man."
Next morning the Captain sent a
trooper hundred miles through the
forest to ask that a relief might be
sent; then he lay day after day in
canvas chair on the veranda, alter
aately shivering and burning with
fever, and unable to move on account
Of his injured leg, which obstinately
refused to heal. One weary week sue
ceeded another, while the Captain
watched the white mists roll away at
dawn, and the sun rise and shine all
day with pitiless heat out of a cloud
less sky. The same panorama of SOL
emn forest and glistening river stretch
ed itself before his weary eyes until
his heart was as sick as his fevered
body, and he feared his brain would
give way. Meanwhile, Sergeant Akoo,
who could neither read nor write, pa
t1olled the country, and ruled as su-
preme monarch many thousands of ma
tiveS, but the messenger never re-
turned. Then one day a buShman
came in by night with a letter from
the nearest Government station to say
that wounded HauSsa with a handful
Ct cast iron pot-leg shot into his body
had one day dragged himself to the
compound and, after holding out a let
ter, turned over and died; faithful unto
death, for this is the nature of the
MOhammedan soldier. The message
had been forwarded to headquarters,
and the reply now reached the Captain.
Calling in trooper to move his pill
lows and raise him, he broke the seal
and read that no relief could be sent for
some time, as there was no officer avail
g BILE, but that he had full authority to
abandon the post for the time being if
his health necessitated such a course.
Now the Captain was a simple man,
not given to any heroics, but he had
lived SO long away from white men
that he had no thought left but the
well-b being of his district, so he said, for
these dwellers in lonely wilds soon learn
to think aloud: "It is a temptation. If
| stay here / shall go out before the
rains, and if 1 go, there will be war,
gorgeous war, between two or three
chiefs, and the Government will send
mp an expedition and the district will
be broken up forever. No, must stay
and keep them in order, and face the
fever and the modification. The event
is with Allah, as Akoo says"
He dispatched another message, beg
ging that an officer from peaceable
district should be sent, as the post could
not be left. Then the weary waiting
commenced again, and the dreary
sitting days had to be faced some
how, with heat and fever, constant
suffering from the wound and the
dreadful loneliness. Still the Captain
held on, giving the Sergeant fresh or