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

care how long | remained TO enjoy II.
The change from the climate of New
England was inconceivable, and | be-
gan to feel like a new creature, with
prospects and q future before me.
But little did L imagine what was in
store fo- me. About this time the
faithful and entertaining Hans was
busily preparing a new story. He
seemed to be doing a lot of %scribbling
and note taking, which l had never be-
fore known him to indulge in. After
two or three weeks of preparation he
finally told me hat he was ready, and,
very much to my surprise, he added:
II am going to read you n story this
time, and / think you will be more
than usually interested, for the rea-
son that two of the characters in it
are Americans, with whom l hunted
and travelled only a few years ago.
This trip of ours had n romantic n
wonderful sequel, and / took great
pains to preserve all my correspond
ence and information in regard to it,
The following evening after making
everything snug around the wagons
we SEN the Kaffir drivers to hunt for
iackals, w%hereupon Hans produced his
manuscript and read as follows:
NORMA, THE DAUGHTER OF n
BOER.
The water is delicious, clear and
beautiful, but you cannot persuade a
Dutchman to drink n drop of it. They
call it 1.-The Pool of Blood"
Little round pebbles, chips of quartz,
ever specks of gold, twinkle and glis-
ten at the bottom of it. A little crys-
tai stream trickles in, another trickles
out and wanders down the hillside into
the brook that glides in and out among
the thorn trees. In the vicinity are
the ruins of about half a dozen houses,
and close to the pool is what looks like
an old orchard and the remains of a
! Boer lager now crumbling to pieces.
Here in days gone by a party OF
immigrant Beers halted in their trav-
els and founded n settlement.
After q while trouble arose with the
Kafirs.
On a fateful day the men seized thei
rifles and pursued a band of the
thieves for some distance into the
bush. They left, as they thought, a
strong guard to defend their homes
and their families.
On their return they found the set
Element in flames. Not a voice was
there TO greet them, not a hand &c
shake. The corpses of the men and
the women were scattered here and
there among the wagons, the beauti'
full pool was choked up with the bod
les of the children, and, instead o.
the sparkling water, there was blood
AS you stand by the pool and face
the sunrise, you see before you the
Highlands of the Komati in the Trans
vaal. This natural rampant looks like
a huge wall or fertilization. 1t reache:
away to the west and north for twenty
miles or more, and divides the higf
veldt from the low veldt, or busl
country.
When it is winter on the highland
and the country is a black stretch o
burned-up grass you will find tn
Beers with their families and thei
herds scattered all over the busl
country. The climate in these re
gions is delightful, the vegetation lux
uriant and the hunting ground
among the finest in the world.
Now, the wagon road between thes
districts passes within n short distanc
of the deserted settlement, and nearl,
all the year round wagons may be see
passing up and down the rocky high
way.
(To be continued.)