Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1910-10-20
CHAPTER XIII.

Iney were pOth SeaSlck and both tired
of the task they had set themselves
upon. In Chicago darkest Africa had
looked to them rather small and I'M
important province, shrunken Rhode
Island. In Algiers darkest Africa over
Tapped every continent on the globe.
The apparent futility of the undertake
ing weighed them down.
Night fell. Then followed stars and
subdued rumble of the city life for a
brief and restful interlude. Later the
mirth and ribaldry of the cafes-Al-
giers at her worst.
This was Africa. Bad enough on
the coast. But to ship for the inlandl
1t was an impossibility. They sought
forgetfulness in the cafes. Before one
in particular the crowds were swarm
ing like flies over molasses. Within,
woman, she looked to be an Ameri-
can at that, blonde and full figured,
singing an atrocious French song with
an even more atrocious Maine accent.
Between verses she mingled the cake
walk
Let's get out of this" said Larry.
John, look at the negro over there.
Did you ever see such a Colossus in
your 1ife?"
More than the two newspaper men
were watching the negro in question.
He was nearly seven feet high, mag
nificent in his proportions, and dressed
in immaculate white duck His fea-
lures were typically African, but ne
had the bearing of ancient kings and
high intelligence lurked in his eyes,
and was planted at the corners of his
n.,tl I l..
trils.
Standing in the corner close to the
stage, he was regarding the pitiful
thing that gamboled there with the
same impressive pity that a man
watches a butcher kill little squeal-
ing pig. The pig is not worth much in
the aesthetic scale as life goes, but
through him life may be sustained.
One pig more or less to feed the mass
es benefits the masses, and is very
good for the pig. 1t let's him out of
being pig, and provides for his trans
mogrification into another shape.
AS the two Americans turned to look
at the negro he was leaving the cafe.
All eyes turned from the dancer to his
coal black pulchritude. The dancer.
noting this waver of allegiance, lurch-
ed forward and kicked into the air
with deft aim. One gaudy red satin
slipper flew directly through the crowd
and grazed the giant|on the back, fall
ing within a foot or two of the two
Americans.
That was a good shotl" calculated
Johnny. Larry Morris was watching
the muscles working in the Africans
face as he stopped to pick up the slip
per-
Because I'm black" he heard the
man mutter, in pure English. Be
cause I'm black"
Straight through the crowd strobe
the black man, and up to the stage,
overturning half of the tables in his
way as he went. At the footlights ne
leaned over, held out the shoe and
beckoned for the dancer to place her
foot within it. But the women, with
the whimsicality of her sex, turned her
head away and smote the African
twice across the cheek.
The black man Strengthened himself
up like steel bar, uncurved in
white hot furnace. He took the shoe
and flung it at the dancer, lightly but
accurately. 1t struck her across her
painted mouth, and the steel plate on
the heel tore the gentle skin of her
full lip. The blood streamed down in
a tiny thread over her chin and drop
per on her white shoulders.
The habitues of the cafe could not
endure this treatm of their favorite.
Pandemonium was loosed Bottles,
lamps, glasses, even chairs, they hurl-
ed at the retreating figure of the Afri-
can. He was cut and bruised in 4
dozen places and almost overcome, for
the strength of a Hercules could not
have resisted such onslaughts. John
son and Morris had gone out of the
door when the riot began, and were
turning down the street when the
black burst out, winded, painting, and
closely pursued.
BY the curb stood an automobile
a great red touring car; it belonged .
Suiveler, the Associated Press man ar
Algiers. A weak, dissipated little fell
low, Suiveler was at that moment the
foremost in consoling the dancer.
Larry Morris thought quickly. He
knew Suiveler well; they had worked
together in the States, and the negro
interested him.
Crank her, Johnny" he cried. point
ing to the automobile, and while john
ny cranked the machine Morris hus-
tied the black within the car, threw
from his perch. the dazed chauffeur and
in three minutes the black, Larry Nor
ris and Johnson, in Suiveler's car, were
headed for the desert with the mob
bowling hyena- like behind them.
"All right, old fellow; Wen help
you," Larry had whispered in the
blacks ear as he hurried him towards
the motor. Larry had had to do it, for