The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-09-19
By H. RIDER HAGGARD
V
Continued.

Inere, DelOW tnaC small peHh, is
.one place where men may pass, and
one only.
"Also, it can easily be blocked from
above.
IF men pass not there, then must
they so round the great peak Of the
mountain two days journey and half
a day"
"And how far is the peak from MS"
"All tonight shall you walk and all
tomorrow, and if you walk fast, at
sunset shall you stand Oh the peak"
1 :7histled, for that meant fve-and-
forty miles trudge without sleep.
Then I called to the men to take
each of them as much cooked ele-
,phant's meat as he could conveniently
carry.
did the same myself, and forced
the woman Maiwa to eat some as we
fwent.
i This did with difficulty, for at that
time she seemed neither to sleep nor
eat nor rest, so fercely was she set
on vengeance.
= After going for some half hour over
gradually rising ground we found our
selves on the farther edge of great
,bush-clad depression, something like
the bottom Of lake.
This depression through which we
had been travelling was to very great
extent covered with bush; indeed. al
most altogether so. except where 1t
was pitted with glades such as that
wherein I had shot the elephants.
At the top of this slope Maiwa
halted, and putting her hands over her
eyes, looked back.
Presently she touched me on the
arm, and pointed over the sea of forest
toward a comparatively vacent space
of country some six or seven miles
away.
, I looked, and suddenly I saw some
thing fash in the red rays of the set
ting sun.
A pause, and then another quick
flash.
What Is it?' I asked.
at is the spears of Wambe's lmpl.
and they travel fast" she answered,
coolly.
suppose that my face showed how
little l liked the news, for she went
on:
Fear. not; they will stay to feast
upon the elephants, and while they
feast We shall journey. -
After that we turned and pushed on
again, till at length it grew so dark
that we had to wait for the rising of
the moon, which lost us time, though
it gave US rest
Fortunately none of the men had
seen that ominous flashing of the
spears; if they had, doubt if l could
have kept control of them.
AS it was, they Travelled faster than
7 had ever known loaded natives to 20
before, so Thoroughbred was their
desire to see the last of Wambe's
country.
I, however. took the precaution to
march last of all, fearing lest they
should throw away their loads to
tighten themselves, or, worse still. the
,tucks: for these kind of fellows would
be capable Of throwing a: ything away
If their own skins were at stake.
If the pious Aeueas, whose story you
were reading to me the ether night,
had been a mongrel Delagoa Bay ma
tive, Anchises would have had poor
chance of getting out of Troy-that is,
if he was known tC have already made
a satisfactory will.
At moonrise we started on again. and
with short occasional halts travelled till
dawn, when we were forced to rest
and eat.
Starting once more. about balf-past
five, we crossed the river at noon.
Then began the long toilsome ascent
through thick bush, the same in which
] shot the bull buffalo, only some
twenty miles to the west of that spot,
and not more than twenty-five miles
on the hither side Of Wambe's kraal.
There were six or seven miles OF
this dense bush, and hard work it was
to get through it.
Next came belt of scattered for
est, which was easier to pass, though
in revenge the ground was sleeper.
This was about two miles wide, and
we passed it by about four in the
afternoon.
Above this scattered bush lay long
steep slope of bowlder strewn ground.
which ran up to the foot of the little
peak, some three miles away.
AS foot-sore and weary we emerged
on to this inhospitable plain, some of
the men, looking round, caught sight
of the spears of Wambi's 1mpi COM
ing rapidly along not more than q
mile behind us.
At first there was a panic. and the
bearers tried to throw off their loads
and run, but I harangucd them, call
ing out to them that would certain
ly shoot the first man who did so, and
that if they would but trust in me
/ would bring them through the mess.
Now ever since l had killed those
three elephants singlC-handled l had
gained great influence over these men,
and they listened to me.
SO off .e went as hard as ever we
could go; the members Of the Alpine
Club would not have been in it with us.
We made the powders burn, as a
Frenchman would say.
When we had done about mile. the
spears began to emerge ON the belt
OF scattered bush, and the whoop OF