The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-09-03

full soldiers, he kept the entire Mata-
belle army at bay, and finally repulsed
them with heavy loss"
There is wondrous scene, but here
is scene which is more striking even;
scene which brings out the extraor-
binary courage, daring and will of
which the young Kruger was capable:
"After the Kaffirs had been besieged
for some time and suffered greatly
from famine, without our getting any
nearer to effecting our object, l en-
deavored to end the matter and bring
about surrender by stratagem. With
this object in view, crept in the dark,
unseen, into the cave where the KAT
frs lay hidden. l sat down among
them and began to talk to them in their
own language, as though l were one
of themselves, and suggested that it
would surely be better to surrender
than die Of hunger. Suddenly an armed
Kaftir exclaimed: 'Magoa! White manv
''But this dangerous moment also
passed, for when the Kaffir shouted
'Magoa! all the others fled deeper into
the cave, and L jumped up and ran
after them, right into the back of the
cave. The Kaftirs now began to hunt
for the white man, looking for him in
every direction except where he was,
in their very midst.
when they had quieted down lit
tie 1 once more addressed them in
their own language, and urged them
to surrender. Finally 1 succeeded in
bringing 40 or 1870 women and chill
dren out of the cave, and it was not
until I was outside that they perceived
that it was /, and not Kaftir, who
had been talking to them"
Only a man Of heroic courage would
have been capable Of such a deed.
kruger's adventures with wild beasts
show the same remarkable want and
even the thought of fear for the many
stories he tells of such adventures, one
in particular has always attracted me,
because it brings out such different
characteristics-ont the one hand Kru-
gers daring and presence of mind in
the face of danger and death; and on
the other the stern discipline, to which
even so strong and daring nature
was ready to submit. The adventure
took place during a rhinoceros hunt;
the leader of the party was Theunissen,
I\ruger's brother-in-law
Before the hunt began it was agreed
that anyone who behaved recklessly
OF, through cowardice, allowed game
which was only wounded to escape,
should receive sound thrashing.'
II did not pay much attention to the
warning, knowing Theunissen to be
overcautious, but jumped off my horse
and ran obliquely past the rhinoceros.
She had scarcely caught sight of me
before she was in hot pursuit 1 al
lowed her to come within distance of
three or four yards. When fired the
percussion cap refused, and there was
not time for a second shot. The ami
NAL was close upon me and there was
nothing to be done but to turn around
and run for dear life. In attempting
to do so my foot struck against the
thorn roots, and 1 came down fiat on
my face. The beast was upon me. The
dangerous horn just missed my back;
she pinned me to the ground with her
nose, intending to tralnple me to death.
But, at that moment, I turned under
her and got the contents Of the second
barrel full under the shoulder blade
right into her heart.
"N1y brother-in-law hurried up as
fast as he could, for he thought had
got mortally wounded by my own gun
in this deadly combat. When he saw,
however, that was standing up safe
and sound, he took his sjamboll and,
according to contract commenced to
belabor me soundly, because had, he
said, acted recklessly in disregarding
his warning"
The story of how he cut off his own
thumb after it had been wounded in
hunt, has often been told already; but
it will bear retelling:
II took my knife, intending to per-
form the operation, but they took it
away from me. 1 got hold of another
little later and cut across the ball Of
the thumb, removing as much as was
necessary. The wound healed
very slowly, and from time to time
had to remove the dead flesh with my
pocket knife; but gangrene set in after
all. Then they killed goat, took out
the stomach and cut it open. put
my hand into it while it was still
warm. This Boer remedy succeeded,
for when it came to the turn of the
second goat my hand was already
easier and the danger much less"
People forget this portion Of Kru-
gers career; it has been obscured by
the larger events in which he after
wards figured. For many years he
was constantly engaged in other con-
tlicts, not with savages, but with his
own people, and he was the central
figure Of more than one of these civil
wars. At one time he triumphed, at
another he was defeated, and had to
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