The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-14

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lonely hunt, even trusting TO him t.
safely guide him home after a debauch
! periodically he drank, and in excess
not in the Jail. nor in the village but
IN lonely roadside tavern some miles
away. Then for months he was sullenly
abstemious, cruelty strict and unap-
proachable. Sixpence welcomed these
| intermittent frenzies of the warden
with glee, for in them the mans naturs
swung about, and he was boisterously
! jovial. Then the Kaffir held high his
| head, and was filed with pride, because
| of the great cordially and friendship
| the drunken white man evinced for the
| utterly unsopisticated and faithful
| black. These outbreaks lasted about
two days; then the Kaffir would lead
| his masters horse home, the warden
slouching heavily in the saddle. Rev
erence, affection for something. how
ever poor the idol is good for man,
savage or civilized The raw Kaff1r in
his kraal revereS nothing, loves moth
ing. Therefore, though such a prison
life would have degraded white man
beyond hope, it was good for Sixpence:
he learned to love. He became human.
After such a debauch. one night when
the sun had gone down. the two went
homeward. The warden was singing
and abusing Sixpence, who tried to sing
also. for not keeping the tune They
made a hOrrid noise, a hoarSe and hid
eous below that spread far from them
over the ve1dt, until it seemed to dis
turb the solemn echoes of the distant
grimly darkening hills, and silence,
above the plains, the gentler voices of
the southern stars Sixpence had his
share of drink, and it took but little
Of that to turn his foolish BRAIN The
moon, also, was not yet risen, and, for
these reasons, as they passed along the
trek and were unaware of all but their
own diScorddnt music, a man stood in
front of them and blocked their path
before his approach was noticed 1t
was the resident magistrate, an English
civil servant, Just out, and a patron of
the warden. The latter, when he saw
who stopped him, strove to sit erect and
proffer a. salutation, but the effort only
unsettled his balance, and let him tum-
BILE sDrawlingly in the roadway. He
looked uo in an almost sober spasm of
shame, and by starlight saw duskily the
gentlemanly face of the magistrate
looking down upon him with deepest
disgust.
again, Mr.. De Jough?'' the high
official said, coldly. In spite of warn
ingsl This is too bad. 1t is impossible
that this can go on
De Jough staggered to his feet sui
lenly.
DO as you nke!" he cried, sulkiIy.
'T can't stop it. I've been warden of
the Jail for years. and no man can say
have not done my duty"
II grant it," the magistrate answered,
almost gently. Il grant it-but this
cannot go on, you know
IT'S got to so on. 1t can't be stopped.
Do you think L haven't tried to stop
myself?"
The poor wretch thrust his face
fiercely in front of the others. The
magistrate drew back with a shudder
from that horrid breath. Then he said,
firmly:
Il am sorry for you, but it can't go
on. You are under arrest"
De Jough gasped, in sudden sobriety.
Arrest? Inquiry? Dismissal meant
ruin. The official stepped forward in
the night Sixpence was standing va
cantly grinning at the horses head, un-
derstanding nothing of what was said.
In his hand he carried a knobkerry,
which the warden, as defense, always
allowed him on their night expeditions.
De Jough snatched it, a heavy-headed
club, studded with nails. The magis-
trate slowly walked away. De Jough
took a quick step after him, and the
club crashed into the officials skull. De
Jough dropped the stick as the man fell
and stood, still shaking with passion,
staring at the body. Then the frenzy
passed, but the trembling continued,
the chill of awful dismay He lurched
to the roadside and sat down on a dead |
anthill. The night was quite still. The !
late. round, big African moon was slow
ly rising above the Jail walls on the
kopje. more than mile away. The !
lonely trek was soundless of the feet |
of passengers, the low of wagon oxen, !
the lash-snap of the driver. In that I
lonely wilderness there was no traffic. I
The Kaffir still held the horse, still |
stared vacantly, his drunken grin not !
yet dead on his lips. De Jough looked !
up and met his servants eyes. He mo-
toned to him and called family for a |
drink. Sixpence went to the saddlebags /
and brought a bottle, and his master
drank greedily. Then his gaze was di- /
verted to the body in the path, and he
was conscious of thankfulness that it
had fallen face downward, so that the
eyes were hidden. He spoke in ''taar'
to Sixpence.
Isis he dead?'
The Kaffir slipped the horses rein
nto his masters hand. went to the body
and felt of it, and stirred it with his
foot as he might have done that of
lorse-not from contempt, not from
nate, but because a dead thing is
lead thing to Kaffir, and little more.
"Ba-as,' he said, in broken English.
Him very dead"
De Jough gulped another drink and
soon the trembling ceased. He was far
rom being a stranger to death by vio-
ence, and soon he was able to collect
lis wits and think. his face buried in
ais hands. But the face of Sixpence I'M
lerwent a change as he resumed charge
If the horse and looked down upon the
warden. The black mans slowly ac-
luired ideas of right and of wrong, of
he superiority of all white people to
LII black. were suddenly upset. This
hing which the warden had done was 1
What ne himself had done. what many
zaffirs had done, but a white man-to
mother white man? 1t was a surprise.
slowly Sixpences brain awoke TO the
horrible fact that De Jough-his mas
er, his model, whom he had so desired
o initiate, was no better than himself
Fhe warden looked up at last and saw
he Kaffir's bewildered. saddened face.
as a dogs eyes are saddened
When it misses something that is gone
nd cannot understand. Sixpence's
deal was dead; dimly and with dull
vain he felt that there was little to
hoose between being white or being
lack.
What are we to do?" the warden
sked. 1--WE can't go back to the jail2"
Sixpence had not thought of that.
tut he at once understood. He had es-
aped hanging for manslaughter by 81
arrow edge, because the Kaffir he had
lain had been in the wrong, but-now
ould the warden escape hanging?y
ITO the kraaIs," he said his mind re-
erting, childlike. to its affection for
nd obedience to his master. He sud- !
emily grovelled at the wardens feet,
nd began to howl softly, speaking in