The record-union., 1899-02-12
The MARCH OF kuLOP
CONTINUED from Tenth Page)

QtIly ulIIl, So ue Wtiit, seio AAE 1AoA ~|AtiS
alone. The dollars for which he had
exchanged his plunder were hard and
heavy upon his back, and he was fur
.ther loaded with rice, and. dried fish,
but hisl weapons were as bright as ever,
and to him they still seemed to be all
the companions that man need de-
sire. He Travelled on foot, for he could
not pole raft single handed against
the current, and he had to trust to such
paths as he could find, guiding himself
for the most part by the direction of
the river He had passed many Sakai
camps which were all abandoned at his
approach, and he halted in several of
them to replepish his scanty stock of
provisions, but he slept in the jungle.
1t was on the evening of the second
OF third night that Kulop became
l. faTe of an unpleasant sensation. The
bon was at the full, and he could see
gr many yards around him in the for
1T, and though no one was visible he
sscame painfully conscious that some
ody was watching him. Occasionally
NE thought that he caught the CLINT Of
Eyes in the underwood, and every now
and again dry twig snapped crisply,
now to the right, now to the left, now
in front of him, now behind him. He
started to his feet and sounded the So
rak-the war yell-that pealed inwiden-
ing echoes through the forest. A rustic
In half a dozen directions showed him
that the watchers had been numerous,
and that they We're now taking refuge
in flight.
Kulop of the Hare-lip sat down again
beside his fire, and a new and strange
sensation began to grip his heart queer
ly.s 1t was accompanied by an uneasy,
feeling in the small of his back, as
though he momentarily expected to re-
ceive a spear thrust there, and a clam
my dampness rose upon his forehead,
while of a sudden the skin behind his
ears seemed strangely cold Perhaps
even Kulop of the Hare-lip needed no
man to tell him that this was fear.
He replenished his fire and sat near
1t, trying to still the chattering of his
teeth. If he could find himself face to
face with an enemy fear would leave
him, he knew; but this eerie, uncanny.
feeling of being watched and hound
ed by foes whom he could not
see struck him with palsy. AS he sat
he glanced uneasily over his shoulder
from time to time, and at last he drew
back against the trunk of a large tree,
so that none might strike him from
behind. AS he sat thus, leaning slight
ly backward, he CHANGED to glance up,
and in a tree top, some fifty yards away
he saw the crouching form of Sakai
silhouetted blackly against the moor
lit sky.
He leaped to his feet once more, and
again the sorak rang out as he strove
to tear his way through the underwood
to the foot of the tree in which he had
seen his enemy. But the jungle was
thick, he lost his bearings quickly, and,
weary with his exertions, torn with
brambles and sweating profusely, he
was glad to make his way back to the
fire again.
All through that terrible night Kulop
of the Hare-lip strove to drive away
sleep from his heavy eyes. The hours
seemed incredibly long, and he feared
that the dawn would never, never
come. One minute he would tell him
self that he was wide awake. and
second later a rustic in the underwood
startled him into a knowledge that
he had slept Horror and fear had
their will of him, and those who know
them are aware that there are no more
dred times he leaped to his feet and
sent the sorak ringing through the
jungle, and each time those who
watched him fed in panic. While he
remained awake and on guard the
Sakai feared him too much to attack
him, His previous escape from the
dart which they had seen pierce his
side had originated in their minds the
idea that he was invulnerable, SO they
tried no longer to slay him from dis
tance. This he quickly perceived, but
fear clutched once more when he spec
ulated as to. what would happen when
he was at last forced to give way to
the weight of WEAKNESS that was now
depressing him SO sorely.
Presently a change began to creep
over the forest in which he sat. A lit
tie stir in the trees around him told him
that the bird-folk were awakening OBJ
jects which had hitherto been dark and
shapeless masses in the shadows cast
into prominence by the white moon
light gradually assumed more definite
shape. Later the coiors of the trunks
and leaves and creepers, still dark and
duiled, but none the less color began
TO be perceptible, and Kulop of the
Hare-lip rejoiced exceedingly in that
the dawn had come and the horrors Of
the night We're passing away.
All that day Kulop, albeit weary al
most to death, trudged onward through
the Forest; but the news had spread
among the Sakai that their enemy was
once more among them, and the num-
ber of the jungle-folk who dogged his
footsteps steadily increased Kulop
could hear their shrill whoops, as they
called to one another through the for
est giving warnings of his approach
or signaling the path which he was
taking Once or twice he fancied that
he caught a glimpse of a little brown
form, of two glinting eyes, or of a
struggling mop of frowzy hair, and
then he would charge, shouting angrily
But the fgure-if, indeed, it had any
existence save in his overwrought im-
agination-always vanished as suddenly
and as nciselessly as a shadow long be-
fore he could come within striking dis
tance. Kulop of the Hare-lip found
this far more terrible and frightening
than the most desperate hand-to-hand
fight could be, for the invisibility and
added the horrors of fever-dream to
the very real danger in which he now
knew himself to stand
The night that followed that day was
one of acute agony to the weary man.
who dared not sleep, and about mid
night he again marched forward
through the forest, hoping thereby to
elude his pursueTs.
For an hour he believed himself to
have been successful. Then the shrill