The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-05

or excited. lowering about the fire
where the men cooked their food rest
lessly, but speaking to no one. until al
a late hour the negro slipped silently
back, and TO the surprise of GabFie
as we'll as the lads, brought with hin
two other blacks. DiXey alone seemed
to expect these and received them calm
~. Old Gabriel was palpably disturbed
and ran to Lynch'S side. who let hin
stay, unconcerned, While DonnereaU
and he and the negroes, who were of q
very savage appearance and almost
naked, talked in a language which the
trader could not understand. 1t APP
peared then to come to Gabriel of q
sudden how helpless he himself was
how entirely open to treachery from
Lynch. His face twitched; he looked
on Lynch, on his men, on DOnnereau
and the strange negroes and again al
his men, and, prompted by fear OF
some trick of DiXey's, he slipped among
these and whispered here and there, SC
that, as quietly and as suddenly. he
had the schooners crew standing about
him, facing the others with loaded
muskets aimed menacingly on Lynch
and the savages. This left Justin and
Oziel for the time, the first time I'M
watched. They sat together on the
further side OF the fire. Quickly JUS
tin touched his cOmrade on the elbow,
motioned him to haste and silence and
swiftly glided into the nearby thickets
and made off. 1t was done without
generalization, without thought, and so
silently that they were some hundreds
of yards away, pushing their road
through the jungle and the sweltering
heat, before angry and excited voices
in their rear told them they were pur-
sued. At d game of this sort Justin
took the lead where wit was more need
ed than muscle. and OZiel followed
blindly. wondering at the sudden dOub-
lings the slender built, hare-like Justin
conceived in that unknown wilderness
and acted upon with a cats quickness-
For a time they heard the crashing OF
the chase, and then it died away and
the lads threw themselves down in a
close thicket, painting and exhausted by
the run and the fearful heat.
Oziel looked at Justin and his eyes,
for his lips were too parched to speak,
asked why"
4 know not Justin answered, gasp
ing. Il could not bear their mysteries
longer, nor the neighborhood of these
villains. I had 70 run"
1t was dark. Faintest starlight made
each face just visible to the other, and
Oziel's now was dismayed. They were
free. indeed, but in what better off -?
They were in a land of savages, and
the schooner they dared not return to.
Already the more prudent lad regretted
their hasty escape.
He did not speak, and for a time the
two lay still. Neither had the slightest
idea, after their many turns and twist
ings, how the camp of the treasure
seekers lay, but, as they recovered
breath, they rose and explored cauti-
ously about them. A weak moon was
now shining dimly through the branch
es, and by its light they made out
they We're on the slope of a wooded hill
Water shimmered 100 feet below, and
gradually, as their eyes got used to the
night, they saw that this was a little
lake in the hills. which rose all about
it, so that it seemed as wine in a COB
let. AS they stood looking down upon
the water there came to their ears a
distant sound of strange music, at
whose notes they crept deeper into the
shadows and We're filed with new
alarms. Breathlessly they listened to it
drawing nearer, a sound in that soli-
tude, and in that unnerving heat, so
strange and unnatural, so unlike any
thing they had ever heard, that they
shook and stood close together. There
was no other noise save that of strange
instruments, rude drums and reeds.
and an accompaniment, as il seemed,
some jangling strings. Nearer and
nearer it came. until it was beneath
them, and at last there shot from the