Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-09-16

arose and said TO me, in words which
| cannot translate in any other way:
May the glory of the sunset re-
main on the head of Rooa, the Merci-
full, forever
Years passed way and i neither
reformed o became civilized. l con
fess my mission in life was to defeat
and defraud the Englishman and to
play him into the hands of the Katfirs.
This was my mothers milk, you
understand, and looking back, | fancy
| must have been n thirsty child.
"In 1879 war hung like a dreadful
nightmare all over the land. The Xu-
lus had risen, they had met an army
of redcoats at The hill of the little
hand
THE long horns of the black regi-
ments had stretched out, turned,
closed in, rolled over the white camp,
and then halted.
and the Zulus had looked back and
had said to each other:
where are they"
well, on the morrow, some were
buried and others fell to the vultures.
Now, when n Boer cannot get an
Englishman's life he tries for his
money. i had cattle TO sell, so it hap
pencd was with two or three compa-
mics of a certain British regiment en-
route from Pretoria to Kambula, and
we halted II afternoon at a ford of
the lntombi river on the borders CT
Zululand.
Rain and nothing but rain, impos-
sible to cross, so we encamped in a
horseshoe bend of the river and made
ourselves comfortable for the night.
Behind us the raging torrent, in front
guns and the Kafir country. We
made ourselves comfortable, | say, the
officers i'll one way, the rank and file
in another, and for my part ! was
playing a game of Napoleon when l
noticed that it was II o'clock.
Zone of my drivers looked into the
tent and said: Two friendly Kafiirs
are outside the compound; they wish
to speak to you
80 ] followed my man and when
i saw the Kaflirs / knew in a minute
that they were disguised and not
friendly.
zone was Umtali, an old friend of
lllli0, dilu HulNhlN hN SdIb W lily
"Inkosi Mareng,' the child lnyoni
is in trouble. She sends the bangle
that you may know she is true and
the ravens plume that you may UNI
derstand her distress. She waits for
you over the hill and across the val
ley, Follow us
ut was almost midnight when we
found the girl, and this was her story:
"Inyoni cannot forget her captivi-
ty nor her friend Rooa. Tonight he
must sit by her side and listen. When
the warriors had left the kraals to join
the great commando, the heart of In
yoni was full of sorrow, and when she
was tired she fell asleep, and this was
her dream:
1.-THE plains were covered with bles-
bucks, and they were in great terror,
for the Bushmen were after them, and
were chasing them with their lean
ravenous dogs and their poisoned
arrows.
so the poor creatures said to
themselves, 1--WE will go down TO the
river and hide" But the little Bush
men soon found the hiding place and
drove them in panic into the river,
Then the little men with the hollow
backs and the cracked voices followed
the blesbucks into the water and
stabbed them one after another with.
out half and without pity.
Nov as | looked and wondered
the moon rose over the hill, and az
once the scene changed, for the bles.
bucks had become white men, and the
Bushmen were now Zulu warriors
The river was full of wagons and cat
tie, and men both black and white
Very soon, | saw the face of Rooa in
the torrent, and the hand Of one of my
brothers was raised to stab him wheT
Rooa cried aloud, Send Inyoni home
to her people," and then my brothers
assegai dropped harmlessly into tn,
water. With hat ! awoke and was
glad that Rooa was safe. But on tn,
morrow we heard that tse redcoats
were coming to the Intombi Drift, ant
that Rooa was with them, so | though
Of my dream and set out on a jour
ney.
81 have been running. My feet
you see, are bruised and bleeding
Come quickly, we must hide in thu
bushes, for they will soon be here
Yes, they were coming, for she hat
hardly ceased speaking when w
heard as it were the night wind com
ing up through the ~ravines sighin.
and moaning. Very soon it becam,
like the dull rumble of a waterfall il
the distance and then, later, as w,
crouched in the bushes, the hurrican'
came bowling by. a heavy mist huns
over the hills. We couldn't see any
thing, but we could hear the rattle o
the shields and the spears, and tn,
heavy trot and subdued grunts of 800
brawny warriors rushing down towar,
the ford. And when the sun appeare,
i'm the morning where was the cam
of the redcoats? Where was thei
discipline, their fine array, their gun
and their prancing horses?
Broken wheels, heaps of rubbish
tattered tents, fragments of cattle
pieces of men and the rest in the river
"Such was the raid of the Zulus a
the Intombi Drift, and, of course,
escaped from the massacre becaus
Inyoni, the Kaffir girl, had a dream.
THE books say these Kaffirs ar
sneaks, thieves and murderers, sc thei
/, white brothers always take that fo
granted and treat them accordingly.
Once in a while a white BARBARA
like myself comes along, understand
ing their traditions, speaking thei
language, feeling for their wrongs
and instead of treachery he finds hor
or, instead of death he finds poetr
and life."
CHAPTER III.
Containing Norma, the Daughter {
a Boer."
! After a time / took more interes
, in the conversation and the stories {
, my guide than / did in my W adver