The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1908-09-16

|
In Petticoat pass were driven to de
TEND themselves. In q word. they be
gan to throw stones. So long as thu
wagons and the horsemen kept NOV
Ing all was well, but when they loi
tered or stopped the whirring of peb
bles through the air, and occasionally
tho appearance of enormous powders
cut loose from the crags above anG
shot down through the air like can
non balls, never failed to remind the
losterers that they were trespassers.
In their intercourse with the out
side world the balloons made no dis
tinctfon between black and white until
one day an event took place that prac
tically closed the pass to the black
races forever.
At the Steelpoort end of the pass
the kaf1rs began to encroach. They
built huts and planted gardens on the
fertile slopes near the portal. With
angry demonstrations the balloons pro.
tested, but the Kafirs were Indifferent
to the clamor. But when the sugar
cane ripened the balloons in the night
time swooped down from the crags
and helped themselves to what they
considered their rightful share of the
harvest, whereupon the Kafirs. who
thoroughly understood the peculiari-
ties of baboon nature, played upon
them villainous trick
One day, in plain sight of their
enemies, who were watching them
from the heights above, the Kafirs
brought a number of large calabashes
filled with a poisonous liquid and
placed them in row in one of the
gardens. Then they went through the
form of pretending to wash their
faces with the stuff, after which they
left the calabashes in the gardens and
departed. Watching their opportunity,
the balloons came down to investigate
the business and, being unable to re-
strain their hereditary impulse to i'm.
itate the proceedings of others, they
forthwith washed their faces in the
poison and scampered away again. In
short time the venom began to work,
the flesh fell from their faces, and
finally number of them died in great
agony.
For many days afterwards travellers
through the kloof reported an ex-
traordinary state of affairs. There
was much excitement and jabbering
and much pitiful crying and calling to
each other from cliff to cliff. But
when the period of mourning was over
the balloons settled down to business
the business of war. The prepare.
tons they made for hostilities with the
Kafirs were astonishing. Balloons
were summoned from far and near,
and the population in the kloof was
soon doubled. They divided them
selves into companies under leaders.
They worked like beavers, and before
long huge cairns of stones appeared at
intervals along the route, and at
places where the crass rose almost
perpendicularly from the roadway
great powders were rolled to the edge
of the precipices, and even lodges
were undermined and made ready to
slide down and overwhelm the in.
vaders.
From the day when these arrange
paid no attention whatever to white
men, and after two or three unfor-
tunate kafirs had been stoned to death
and torn to pieces the black race gave
Petticoat pass an extremely wide
berth. Consequently, the spider-like
n foe Lo<
long time to wait, but the whirligig of
time brings about it's opportunities for
revenge, even to balloons.
Just outside the Steelpoort end of
the pass Max Pincus, German trader,
conducted small store for the &C.
of travellers. On the
day the balloons were poisoned, Max
was riding through the kloof, and
came across a little boy baboon,
whose face was terribly burned by the
action Of the acid. The little fellow
was crying piteously. and Max took
him up in his arms and carried him to |
The store, where Max's mother, who
1ad some knowledge of remedies, doc. !
.ored him so successfully that his eye
sight was saved. For several months
Ter curious little patient was very
NY and wild. but the good woman was
ndefatigable in her efforts to tame
lin, and finally she was rewarded
With astonishing success. As the
'oung baboon grew up he became very
much attached to his benefactress, and
mere was no miStaking his gratitude, |
But one morning, to the great sur.
rise of Mother Pincus, a young lady
'aboon came down from the hills and
'egan to make love to Stoffel. Nearly
week passed before she finally tri.
implied and led him away.
The following morning, however, he
and after watching him for
day or two, Mother Pincus concluded
hat considerable business was mixed
p with his love affair. Indeed, the
'oers. who relate almost incredible