The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-08-20
CHAPTER Nv.
By J. o. PAGAN.


CHAPTER w.
Containing 1.-THE Raid On the Night-gowns."
Fingo is a square-built chestnut horse with
short ears, short back. long tail and large
daredevil eyes that never falter or soften
except when HIS master speaks to him. He
Is eight years old.
Some time ago 1 bought him from a
Dutchman. who said he was vicious, but we
soon took a fancy to each other and then l
built a stable for him in a country where
stables are Injuries.
Ffngo was grateful and from that day we
were brothers.
My store is built Of sheet iron; IT Is about
thirty feet long. twelve feet wide, and right
at the back of it is the stable. During the
daytime 1 sell commodities of all kinds to
the Dutchmen, and to the tramp Kafhrs who
pass the store in long strings eastward and
westward bound across the plains of the
Transvaai. When night comes 1 make up
my bed on the counter, place my rifle within
easy reach Of my hand and usually sleep
soundly.
Sometimes. however, when the nights
are long and / feel restless. l lie awake
listening to Fingo munching his hay. and
more than once 1 have dressed myself and
passed the night in the stable talking to
the horse and caressing his silky name.
Lonesome?
Not at all.
I read a great deal and think a great
deal about horses and men and gods.
A man must tie up TO something, even in
Africa, and If there are no stars 1 must
hitch my wagon TO something lower. In this
case the choice lies between a Dutchman,
q Kafir and a horse. Now Fingo is true
as steel, honest, brave and gentle, but the
Dutchman and the Kafhrs are built upon a
lower plane. .
I sometimes think I can understand a
good deal about the origin of animal wor-
ship; at any rate, Ffngo has become TO me
an object OF veneration and love. B.
So ] continue to thank God that the eli
mate in this delightful region is so uni
formly benevolent that I seldom strike
Ffngo, or am angry with him at the wrong
time.
This is now my third year on the high
veldt and / suppose if I had only kept away
from the bush country i might have been
there to-day. When / turned trader and
built me a store I made Hans my advisor
and factotum. He has remained with me
ever since and / have found out that his
good sense, his devotion and his stories are
alike unexaustible. One night during the
winter Of 1885 I awoke with a sense of de-
preston and great anxiety. At the moment
/ forgot what 1t meant, but on consulting
my chart i found It signifed the approach
Of a hail or snow storm. an event almost
without precedent in these parts. i knew
this meant death to hundreds of cattle If
not driven into shelter, so 1 called Hans and
told him that i was going to warn the
Beers and that on the morrow I would take
q trip down by the Crocodile river and re-
turn TO the store in a few days.
Dark as it was. 1 saddled Fingo and rode
around among the farmers giving the alarm,
and on the morrow when the blizzard
swept over the prairies they forgot and for
gave many a strange freak OF the man they
had christened.
1.-The Had American"
After transacting my business / came
to the town of Leydenburg and there found
q letter from Hans asking me to return as
soon as possible. as he wished to go and
visit a sick relative, but" he added, "be-
ware of the Kloof road"
But there was no fear in the atmosphere
at that time, so 1 left Leydenburg that
very evening, taking the Kloof road, the
first few miles of which IS a steady climb
over what is called the ''long rump." Then
the road passes over a mountain ridge be-
tween two giant peaks, and winds down
the other side through a long and rocky
kloof or gorge.
The sides of this narrow ravine are very
high and almost perpendicular. so that the
rays Of the sun seldom II ever penetrate its
dismal recesses- The Beers say the whole
mountain range is composed Of iron-stone
CT magnetic iron ore, and that IL contains
very strange and peculiar properties. Be
this as 1t may, the fact remains that quite
q proportion OF the travellers who ride or
drive through this rocky glen experience
strange shocks more or less violent. 1t
certainly adds somewhat to the mystery
Of the situation thu some Of the sufferers
assert that the bolts descend from the
clouds, while others are just as positive
that they issue from the surrounding
powders or from the highway itself over
which they are travelling. Stories without
number were circulated about"Kloof marks
and "Kloof-struck people, and 1 remem
bered a good many OF them, as / rode gay
ly along. When / had crossed the highest
point of the ridge and was about 10 descend
into the long gully 1t was midnight. They
called Ii three hours ride to the Lynch Pole
at Murder Neck. and from there about the
same distance TO Bert khnker' farm. on
the edge of the high veldt. We were about
half way through the gorge when Fingo
became very uneasy. jumping from side to
side as IL he were treadllg on not aSnes.
i dismounted and his hoofs. and
finding nothing unusual we started again.
After n while / began TO feel queer myself
/ became conscious OF a tickling sensation
all over my body, and 1t very soon dawned
upon me that L was becoming charged with
the Kloof lightning. but how or from what
quarter / could not imagine. Then F1ngc
became excited. and before long we were
galloping through the Kloof in regular Tan
OShanter fashion. as if his highness him
self were close upon our heels. But the
faster we flew the more bloated or stuffed
with the strange fluid i became. until at las
I must have reached the bursting point. fol
i began to lcse consciousness, while my eye:
and mind were filled with visions of elec'
trical or magnetic lines. figures and corus
cations of marvellous form and variety.
When 1 regained my senses 1 found FIngC
Standing quietly by my side-I must have
fallen heavily. for my shoulder was quite
painful and there was some kind of a wounC
on my right wrist When we arrived a
Klinker's farm the sun was high in tht
$500. C1~.-tLt,4 IN rnv. onnaarapca an,