The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-05-16

its strength and defiance. All night
long the drumming sounded. AT last
the black faded away into lesser gloom.
and Ogowanna descended from his
couch
Six corpses lay on their sides. Ogo-
wanna circled round them. drawing in
nearer each time. All the while he
kept up a conversation with an imagi-
nary person. in which he lamented the
elephants deaths with the cunning
purpose of convincing their souls OF his
own innocence in the matter. But the
tiny eyes sadly reproached him through
their CLASSY films. He scoOped up hand
fuls of leaf mud. sneaking up behind
the carcasses, deposited a cake of the
mud squarely over all the eyes Then
he climbed to the neck of one of the
big tuskers, and sitting astride, set to
work patiently hacking out it's tusks
with his ugly knife. He kept at the
task until he had the ivory on the
ground. Then he breakfasted off the
meaty contents of his mud oven.
drained his gourd. rinsed his mouth.
cut chawchaw stick and. cleaning his
teeth, bound the two tusks together.
swung them to his woolly head and
faced homeward without the least hest
fancy as to direction. having the sixth
sense, peculiar to birds and animals,
of location Not a thought did he give
to the other ivory, his sole want in the
world being the Life Guard uniform,
which his present load would purchase
easily, even leaving a surplus for the
witch doctors demands and a few lit
tie comforts in the way of tobacco leaf
and trade gin for himself
All that day he maintained the China
mans run walk in a direct short cut
to the village. which he entered Just
as the evening peace OF the mealie pots
and the 'mammies' elaborate Golf
~ -
gave to the place that touch OF the
simple life so heralded in civilization.
He hurried to get to the compound be-
fore the gates were closed and the
watchmen set for the night. AS he
passed through the market place he at
tracted crowd of fat tummied picia-
ninnies and curious masculine idlers
eager to see the bartering.
Never had such pair of tusks come
to the station The white man turned
them over in his hands with greedy
eyes. while his old. experienced darkey
buyer argued with Ogowanna as to
their barter value Such a bargaining
as that vast Soft Weddings. simu-
lated Indifference. retreat pursuit. de-
nunciation, shrill personalities, In
which the spectators Joined. 1t was not
that Ogowanna was so keen on wealth.
for there lay the other tusks If he
cared to go for them. but it was the
excitement and the fun of it, Event
ua1ly he got the coveted trade slips
and went over to the big store to ex-
change them for the thing on which
his heart was set. The white man
strolled over behind him, curious to
see the reason Of the shining light In
the boys eyes. for he knew the ma
tives as school teacher knows her
children.
Ogowanna made a straight line for
the glittering uniform. The coIored
clerk took 1t down from its long home
on its nail. and, piece by piece. the
savage. with the help of the white
man, pulled 1t over his nakednesa:
first. the blue and gold tunic: then the
cuirass and epaulets, and. lastly. a steel
helmet with streaming white plumes
which the clerk resuscitated from a
shelf. Ogowanna drew himself erect
In conscious dignity and looked around
disdainfully on the approving. envious
crowd The tunic reached down to his
thin. muscled calves and hung in over
folds about his 1.-the body in such gro
tesque appeal to the white mans sense
of humor that he had to make himself
scarce behind pile of cloth as Ogo-
wanna strutted from the store with all
the pride Of a society dame on an
Easter Sunday parade in q new crsa-
ton just from Paris.