The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-08-22


merrily over his head and disappeared
beyond the bluffs, unhurt. A Zulu serv-
ant led down two saddled horses, but
the warden looked at the setting sun
and shrugged his shoulders.
mo use," he said. It'll be dark in
ten minutes, and the black fellow will
be hidden somewhere. l suppose you
know he was in for manslaughter?"
The village guard hung his head
ooh, l don't blame you," said the
warden. colder hands than you can
be taken in. suppose he buried him
self in the mud. OF course there will
be an inquiry"
There was, but very short one.
held in the Jail. In the middle of it a
laundering demand for admittance
was made with a knobkerry on the
outer gate. The guard who opened
the wicket led Sixpence before the
court of inquiry, as cheerful and fat
and with as broad smile as ever. He
explained to the court that he had
been home, had suffered from home
sickness, had enjoyed himself and was
gladly back again.
every little food over there" he said,
pointing to the north, "but plenty
'scoff' here"
| So the bewildered officials took him
in, to his great content and, after giy-
| ing him twelve lashes for the trouble
| he had caused, allowed the man who
preferred prison to freedom to resume
his former life. He never after that
behaved otherwise than as a model
prisoner, save once again, two years
| later, when he escaped and returned
as before, taking his lashes with per-
| feet good humor and eating a big sup
per Immediately after them. He be-
came privileged character, an uncom-
missioned assistant about the office,
| until in ten years, with African self
complacence, he looked upon himself
as far above all other prisoners and
rather as permanent semiofficial per-
mitted even on occasion to hold the
keys. Indeed he had committed mur-
der under the greatest provocation,
and his good humor, his strength and
his faithfulness to the only home he
had ever known, where meals were
certain all the year round, made of
him a favorite with the warden, to
whom he attached himself as kind
of body servant.
| Now, in those days, when the land
was very young and white men were
few and white women were unknown,
the methods of disciplining the un-
ruly Kaffirs were primitive. Yet there
were greater intimacy and closer in
tercourse between the whites and the
blacks than there ever will be again.
They fought frequently and were gull
ty alike of savagery the one to the
other. The white man, of course, was
the victor always in the end, but the
Kaffir, on the surface at least, bore
little malice, and, having been knocked
down, arose with some admiration in
his heart for the man who had thrash
| ed him.
Sixpence had fought with his tribe
and been conquered, had committed a
crime and had been promptly punished
for it. Far from sulking over his mis-
fortunes, he was possessed with a spirit
of respect for the invaders of his coun-
try. The only time the negro ever
signs is when he wishes he was white.
SiXpence wished SO hard and so often
and initiated the white people so ear
nestly that, save when he thrust his
broadly laughing face at mirror, he
was convinced that he was pretty near
ly white. One man, however, was his
IDEAL his master, his demigod-the
warden.
His attractions were such as to draw
to him perhaps dog, and he fed and
thrashed Sixpence like dog. His ac-
complishments appealed to the convict
He was crack shot with revolver OF
rifle, he rode daringly, he could throw
an assagai as well as Sixpence himself,
and he had mysterious powers over
pen and ink which awed Sixpence,
crouching in a corner of the Office. De
Jough was an Afrikander. His father
had been a discharged English soldier;
his mother no one knew. He had won
his wardenship by ferocious fighting
in the territory and by the respect his
prowess gained for him among the ma
tives. His sullen reticence and sudden
furies had won him enemies Never
had he called any man friend. There
fore the life prisoners doglike affection
for him, after amusing him at first, in
the slow movement of the months drag
ged from him feeling as near akin to
regard as is that of a school bully for
the small boy whom he daily thrashes,
but whom he will allow no other to
threaten. 1t was his privilege to Sc
lect from the convicts personal serv-
ant, and he chose Sixpence. even TAX
ing him away on lonely hunt, even
trusting to him to safely guide him
home after debaueh.
Periodically he drank and in excess,
not in the Jail or in the village, but in
lonely roadside tavern some miles
away. Then for months he was sui
lenly abstemious, cruelty strict and un-
approachable. Sixpence welcomed these
intermittent frenzies of the warden
with glee, for in them the mans ma
ture swung about, and he was bolster
Ously jovial. Then the Kaffir held high
his head and was filled with pride be-
cause Of the great cordiality and friend
ship the drunken white man evinced
for the utterly unsophistieated and
faithful black. These outbreaks lasted
about two days. Then the Kaffir would
lead his masters horse home, the ward
fn slouching heavily in the saddle.
Reverence, affection for something,
however poor the idol, is good for man,