The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1902-01-02

cloth and these beads, meet the war
riors and endeayor to detain them.
When you hear the signal. you must
drop the cloth and run for the shore.
Any one of you that falls me now will
be shot dead"
On with rush come the savages,
filling the air with their demoniacal
yells. Everything that Stanley has or
dered Is done. His men range them
selves by the boat, and the messenger
is dispatched with the cloth to inter-
cept the foe.
They pause In their headlong flight
to gather around the brave fellow, and
this is the crucial moment which
means life or death to the party.
The signal Is given, and madly the
boatmen rush the craft down to the
water. Meanwhile the faithful mes
senger has thrown the cloth on the
ground and Is running headlong for
the shore.
VIII the ruse succeed? Like maniacs
Stanley's followers tug at the boat, but
behind them come the horrible yells
and the swift pattering of the feet of
their deadly enemies.
With a mighty cheer the boat liz
rushed into the water, the men swim
ming and pushing 1t farther and far
Their from the shore Stanley has leap
ed inside and has seized his rifle, for
the faithful messenger has to be
thought Of.
Swim" he cries as the desperate
man, with the savages hard on his
heels, dashes waist deep into the wa
ter.
The explorer sees one of the enemy
pause and raise his spear to transfix
the messenger. "Bangp goes the rifle,
and the bullet speeds on its unerring
fight to drop the would be slayer dead
in his tracks.
One by one the men scramble into
the boat. The bottom boards are torn
up and used as paddles. The messen-
ger is saved, but all danger Is not yet
past. Two huge canoes full of yelling
savages put off from promontory and
are padded swiftly across the lagoon
in order to head off the explorers boat.
1t Is one man against a tribe. Can
Stanley do it?
He seizes his big elephant gun, which
is loaded with explosive bullets, and
calmly awaits the oncoming canoes.
At this moment terrified shrieks from
his men resound in the air.
"Masterl MASTER! HippopotomiI
Hippopotomiv'
Turning his head, the explorer sees
| b. 4, t.. I, INF
making headlong for the boat. The
danger is awful. Death threatens on
all hands. To hesitate is to lose.
"CrashP' goes the explosion of the
elephant gun. The explosive bullet
bursts in the brain Of the foremost hip
popotamus. Then "crash!" again. and
!: his mate, MORALLY wounded. sinks to
the bottom Of the lagoon.
But the canoes are coming up hand
!, over hand. Again the elephant gun
speaks. and at the third shot a huge
! hole Is made In the foremost Of the
enemy's craft, and. with wild shrieks,
the savages are plunged into the seeth-
ing waters.
: On comes the second canoe. "Crashp'
goes the elephant gun. The bottom Of
the canoe has been torn out by the ex-
! plosion. and, turning over, it sinks with
, its living freight.
Meanwhile other canoes have been
= put out, but the dreadful execution
that one man has done strikes them
: with dismay, and they retreat heller
3 SHELTER for the shore.
r Cheers upon cheers ring out from
Stanleys men. The sail Is hOisted,
D and through the limpid waters the gal
q liant craft cleaves it's way. making
g swiftly from the dark Island where
death had 20 nearly been the portion Of
e Its crew.