The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1899-09-16

hlil ner.
.Fivc and ten times Almightiest,
your slave Umsilo offers fifty COWS for
the girl
Strange her
":Lord of the world, once more. Her
father sends a wonderful ransom, he
puts his neck under the feet of Potpan
the Mighty, he says-spare the maiden
with the skin like the shining brown
berries that are sacred to every Katir
from the sea in the east TO the wind
ing river that flows under the plains
Then Potpan grew angry and
shouted: 'Boomn, look here, the sun
is now setting, drive the daughter Ut
Gumkatz into the snake ring, stone
her and quickly, too, or Booma UNI
kulu shall sleep tonight in the crops
of the Grey Vultures.'
This was enough for the Great
Short Cut, who sneaked away as if he
had received q stab in his vitals.
after q while the chief said to me:
Come and see Booma play and then
KILL
$50 we walked round till we came
TO the snake ring. There we found
scores of Katfirs in groups, crouching
and watching n little girl who stood
alone i'll the middle of the ring, hum
ming quietly to herself.
"She was about Is years of age I
should think, of a very light copper
color. She was clothed just as nature
decks and adorns her children, unless
you except a light girdle of blue beads
round her waist, n couple of brass
bangles on her ankles and a few on
her wrists.
"She might have been dead SO far
as motion was concerned, only she
continued t hum quietly until the
chief came in sight, when she ex-
claimed:
1.-The king is great,
"'The king is good,
1.-The king is immortal
"All this time Booma has been
prancing and sneaking round and
round her, chanting and singing about
his w bravery and skill.
"He has placed q little fat pebble
right on top Of the girls head, and
nov he will show the chief and the
people how easily and quickly he will
brighten it off, and finish the business.
But the Kaffir law says, While the
stone remains on the head, no blood
must flow.
s. Booma skips and skins round
the ring; he rolls, squirms and twists
this way and that, making dreadful
noises and hideous grimaces, and he
shakes his rattles and bones in de-
light. He begins to throw little rocks
at the girl, tossing them quite gently
at first, as if merely wishing TO tease
her, but every once in a while he hurls
a rock as big as your fist, just missing
the head or the body by an inch.
And so on in this. way for several
minutes, until the crowd gets excited
in it's hunger for the sight of blood,
and calls upon Booma to wake mp,
for as yet the girl hasn't moved u
muscle, but is quietly singing to her.
self something about Gumkatz being
brave, and she, Jnyoni, is his daugh-
ter.
Very soon / become nervous and
said to Potpan:
"'Let the girl go. You admire brav-
give you twenty blankets and the
weight Of my big dog in gunpowder
for her life
emo. Her father is a traitor; his
children are under the ban. When I
catch them, they die
"By this time the hideous Booma is
half crazy with rage and fear on ac-
count of the failure of his efforts.
With great leaps and somersaults he
threatens her, now with a spear, now
with a club, now with a keen-edged
knife, but all in vain, for the little
pebble still faces him, unmoved, i'm
movable.
..As for me, 1 could stand it no
longer. So | walked up to Potpan and
almost Kissed in his face:
"'Send Inyoni home to her people,
or Sy the sacred hide of your moth
er's white heifer l will betray you to
Cetywayo.'
'Potpan seemed to be d~umfounded
at my audncity, but he knew me of
old, so, stepping to one side, he said
to me:
".Let the blankets and the powder
be mine. AS for Inyoni, take her out
of my sight
Now, when | looked round, / saw
Booma sneaking away, with his rags
and his charms and his feathers, but
1nyoni sat in the dust, and was quietly
toying with a leaf which the evening
breeze had waited to her feet.
and the old grizzled warriors, with
the black rings of fat on their heads,
came crowding around, and one OF
them shouted:
"'She is worthy to couch with the
lion!' And another exclaimed: Or to
suckle the cubs of the tiger!'
after a few words with Potpan !,
too, crossed the ring, and, sitting down
In the dust at the feet of the girl,
said to her:
like great chief is willing. 1nyoni
is free. Two of my own faithful boys
shall guide and protect until Inyoni
has crossed the Sand river and can
see the white rocks shining on the
hillside where her home is and the
kraals of her people. And now Rooa,
the white man, asks Inyoni fer the
pebble which is still on her head, that
he may take away something to be
proud of. and lie will tell the story
of Inyoni, the brave, to the wondering
white nations
$50 she gave me the pebble, and, for
my part, l placed on her ankle a beau
tiful bangle made of gold and silver
rings cunningly twisted. Then she
arose and said to me, in words which
l 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 away and 1 neither
reformed nor became civilized. 1 con,
fess my mission in life was to defea,
and defraud the Englishman aud tt
play him into the hands of the Kaffirs
This was my mothers milk, you
understand, and looking back, + fancy
! must have been q thirsty child.
'.In 1879 var hung like a dreadful.