Evening star., 1897-06-05

IuTIneF size Oh lNlS AOel Hau ulS HOISeS |
and guns IN readiness. while he himself.
lying fiat upon the level rock, watched the |
approaching Basatus as they came on fer
the coveted cattle.
tribes had horses-the southern Kafirs had
in fact. no name for that animal, but have
since called 1t "ihashe." q Kafirized form
of the English word.
Before driving OF the oxen the Basutus
prowled curiously about the ruins of Abel's
house. But when he saw them gather to-
gether in Il group locking in at the door.
where the corpses of his family had lain
gloating. perhaps they were. over their own
work-he could stand 1t no longer. but
rushed to his horse and rode desperately
down the hill. coming out on the plain two
or three hundred yards from the warriors.
They saw him, and yelling and brandishng
their assegais. rushed towards him. expect
ing to meet and slaughter him, for he was
their assegais. rushed toward him. expect
Abel knew when to turn. He knew too
much of assegais to be deceived In the dis
tance. He fired both of his guns, each
knocking over a Basutu. The others then
them fell before the remainder found shell
ter behind the rocks and powders.
Keeping well out Of range of their as
segais. he now dismounted ard picked them
off one by one, as some of them had only
partial cover and others foolishly and
vauntingly taunted him to come closer.
When no more heads appeared Abel
thought he might safely draw closer and
three times over he counted. but could not
find more than nineteen. Where was the
other? For when they first came In view
he had counted a score At all costs the
missing warrior must be found. So Abel
rode around the hill to the eastern side. and
there, afar off over the plain, he saw the
erstwhile most boastfu warrior Of them all
1eggfng 1t as hard as he could go for the
mountains. Abel galloped after him till
within good range, and then. dfsmounting.
stopped him with a bullet. On going up to
see II he were dead he found his own wife's
ring on the fellows finger
His Solitary Watch.
The fact that the warriors had hidden be-
hind the. powders on the hillside was not a
lost lesson to Abel. He determined that
never again would he let party of them
come so close to the hill. Every day after
that he kept his solitary watch on the hill
top while his horses, saddIed and ready.
browsed on the slope.
On the third day after he saw another
party come toward him from the noun
tains. When they were still a couple of
miles off he rode out to meet them. When
they saw him galloping toward them they
yelled. and with assegais ready came on
without quickening their pace. At safe
distance he refined up and fired, killing a
pair. Then he retreated and they pur-
sued at rum thinking they would frighten
him the more. as they thought he was go
ing away from fear. However, as soon as
he had reloaded he doubled back to meet
them and shot two more Then they stop
ped, FOR they thought 1t dangerous to fol- |
low HIM further When he saw them halt
ing he halted also, and continued coolly |
firing. and killing with every shot. At last |
they began running back, when they had
plain gave them no cover, and Abel follow |
ed and shot until the last man tumbled |
over on the veldt
Returning to his post on the hill, he
n VI ht,f
peared: neither did any of the burghers |
come that way-a thing Abel was glad of.
for he feared they might insist on his join |
ing their party.
To entice more Basutus out on the plain |
he ran the risk of starting off after dark |
to drive the cattle toward the mountains. |
At dawn. while still a considerable distance |
out on the plain he lighted a fire of with |
cred grass to attract their attention. Let |
ting the cattle Craze about for a time. he |
sat IN his saddle awaiting developments. |
When at last he saw party coming after |
the cattle. he commenced to drive them |
slowly toward his farm, as If he didn't no |
tiee that any one was after him. II he |
saw them gaining on him he would go a |
have trouble with the herd. so as to en- |
his pursuers and entice them !
further out upon the plain. On came the |
Basutus till Abel thought that they were |
far enough from the mountains for their |
friends TO remain ignorant of their fate. !
Then he treated them as he did the other |
bands that had preceded them-not one |
escaping to tell the fate of the others. |
How many different parties he succeeded |
in thus Hiping out is probably unknown.
but 1t is said that human skeletons lined |
the trail from Abel's farm to within three |
miles of the mountains. Stin the Basutus |
never suspected that one man was causing |
such havoc. But they found 1t out by ac- |
cident; for a larger party than usual hav- |
ing set out on the spoor of the cattle Abel |
made a serious miscalcu!a ii On he had too !
many to kill in the time. and was forced to |
let some of them escape. The effect of their |
return was soon seen. The news ran like |
wiidfre through E1sutuland. that some |
white medicine man was destroying |
every Basutu that went down on the way |
to krugsr's farm, and that the whole dis |
tance. from the iitt!. uat-topped hill to the |
was white with their bones. |
In Danger.
The consequence was that most of Mo- |
sheshes warriors were dreadfully fright |
ened. ard avoided going in that direction.
Nevertheless. the daring Boer soon got |
surprise. which showed him forcibly low |
precarious was his position.
Twelve young bloods. who wished to !
curry favor with the king, banded them. |
selves together and swore they would kill |
the Killer. They had heaI of his tactics |
from those who had escaped from his bull |
lets: so they took no risk Of advancing by |
-AXNn |