The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-01-26
Won HaIbeck's Adventure.
"a Tale of the Guiana Hinterland.
From the Evening Post. In Seven Parts-)
PART VI.

6ca drew near When the weeks became
DAYS l was in a painful state of excite
ment. which was the more trying as hao
to conceal every sign of it. On the Gay
which was TO see the selection of the VIC
tins. l was in a state of almost unendur-
able suspense, and it seemed TO me that
the evening would never come. Howev-
err about five in the afternoon, the loud
blowing of conch shells told me that the
time had arrived when l would have TO
begin the carrying out of my schemes
1 went TO the open space about the cary
ed pillar and found the whole tribe assem-
bled there with the exception of the senti-
nels. A large circle was formed, and then
the two virgins were brought out and
placed one on either side of the pillar
about ten PAGES apart.
A single thread OF grass fibre, such as
is ordinarily used by these people for
making ropes and hammocks, was given
to the girls, each holding an end. This
thread was TO be strained on until it
broke, and the victim would be the one
who retained the shorter piece. At sig
nal from Petarie the girls began to pull
steadily, and after a moment of breath
less anxiety I saw that the thread had
broken off quite close to Opaie's hand.
Up to this point perfect silence had been
maintained except for the signals given
by Petarie. Now Petarie rose and adj
dressed Opaie. I could not help plying
the man, although in the face of my plans
such pity seemed absurd.
"Opaie" he said, thy life is to be given
for the welfare of thy people. Great is
our love for thee, but the spirit has given
the sign, and we must obey. Speak thou
well Of US, Opaie, when thou hast Joined
the Great Spirit, and send good things to
thy people from the land thou goest to,
if the power is given thee"
Opaie and Malkoona We're then led back
to their house. for the latter would not
be free until after the sacrifice had taken
place. Far into the night the people re-
manned round the carved pillar, keeping
up a mournful, monotonous chant, but
towards midnight they all went to their
houses except Petarie and another man,
who remained behind to place the bum
die of sticks on the top of the pillar.
After waiting an hour, Bian and l went
out in order to substitute the sticks
which we had prepared. Not a sound was
TO be heard and fortunately there was no
moon. We had prepared a rough ladder
which we had concealed in the wood be-
hind our house. We accomplished our pur-
pose without interruption, and after con-
cealing the ladder again, crept back in
to our hammocks. Presently 1 crept out
the victims. Making a signal, 1 waited
for Opaie to come out to the paIisade
When she came 1 explained to her how we
had so far been successful. But she was
full of tears
Hail. she said, using the name I had
given her as mine, though it was but
the nickname used by my most intimate
friends when l was a student at Gotten
gen. Hal, I am indeed afraid. How can
L go through with it? I shall surely fall
when [ am standing on the rock. Is there
no other way?"
She was greatly distressed and indeed
hardly could help sharing her fears. How
ever L reflected that any wavering on my
part would only make things infinitely
worse, SO I talked as bravely as 1 could,
bidding her think of the happy days that
were in store for us when once the or
deal was passed. After saying all that
1 could to encourage her, I returned to
| my house. Sleep, of course, was impOs-
! sible, and / lay awake thinking over the
| position. Up to that time l had been in
! a most excited state, but later on the po-
| sition became terribly complicated by a
/ succession of entirely unforeseen circum-
| stances, and 1 have to thank that day
! for many gray hair.
Nothing occurred during the early part
! of the day. and in the afternoon 1 went
/ down to the riverside to watch the prepa-
! rations When / arrived on the scene the
/ stone was being fixed in the sling. As
stood there, the only idle one among so
many. 1 noticed something floating down
/ the river. When it came close to me I
! saw that it was piece of newspaper. 1t
! passed so close to the bank that there was
! no chance of my being mistaken. l was
! so intensely surprised at this strange
messenger of civilization that l nearly
! cried out. No one else noticed the frag-
| ment and in a moment it was swept over
| the fall.
There appeared to me on consideration
! only one explanation of the presence in
! the river of this piece of printed paper,
/ and that was the existence Of some person
or persons higher up the river. Recovered
from my first surprise, I reflected that
some party of explorers must have made
the ascent of the northern face of the
! plateau and were following the stream
down. AS the northern extremity of the
| plateau was considered unscalable by the
/ BarawOis, no sentinel was placed there
and if the party were engaged as
! ronjectured, they would be able to ap-
! proacn quite close to the village without
being discovered, provided they were OBJ
| serving the ordinary precautions OF Dlsh
! travellers. The question for me to con
| slider was this: How far away was this
| Dartv at the moment? They might be
| within a mile or two, or they might De
/ half a days Journey off. In any case
must fnd means of communicating WIN
! them. Il was no need waiting III hey
rn,-;t arrive at the village. Apart from
! the fact that they might not be follow
inc the river down as I supposed, aid
/ I'D .1,.-afora rOssiblv leave the pla-
teau without finding the village. l hac
/ another noirlt to consider SuppOsing that
ANYTHING went wrong with my plans anc
/ Opafe and l were compelled 10 make a
| holt for our lives, we might never meet
this party at ALL in which case splendid
/ chance of getting back to civilization
would be lost.
And now l was brought face to face
| with very serious difficulty, l could cas-
| ilv write note on a piece of rapulo "a
I kind OF fine BARK and despatch Bian NJ
the river with it, as she would not bt
/ STONED bv the sentinels. But If did thi:
/ and ANYTHING went wrong at the sacrifice
! I would be left in an extremely awkward
/ position, as Bian would not be there K
! create a diversion while l rescued Opaie
| After thinking the matter over, l decided
to risk it, The party of explorers, ever
/ if they did not arrive in time 10 stop thu
sacrifice. would at any rate hurry up and
might be counted on TO put in an ap-
pearance within a few hours, and It was
possible that I might delay the sacrifice
/ by some means or other, long enough 4
( allow them time TO get on the scene.
There was no time to be lost, so I wenf
TO my house and explained the matter
to Blan. She at once grasped the situa
ton. and sent her of with the following