Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1913-09-19

surprised when l answered hlnl III 'h0
/, same tongue.
- 1--WE must kill YOU he said but there is
q no hurry We shall wait
AS though acting the suggestion, the
thirty black fiends squatted in a semFcHcle
about me and fell slowly and deliberately 10
sharpening their knives
"There Is no hurry, the chief said again.
We must do so before the coming OF day'
that is all.
Then in a flash it came back to me that
had heard from men of our own tribe that the
Aneza were sun worshippers and that IT was the
greatest Of all religious crimes among them TO
commit murder when the sun-their god-Was In
the ascendancy. Like shot it came to me that
If could delay the execution until sunrise my
life would be saved. But how?
"The hope seemed futile l wondered what
time it was I knew it was after midnight. AS
| lay on my blankets, watching those hideous
black faces that were doubly black and grotesque
in the weird flame of the torches began to work
nv hand slowly toward my pocket where kept
my watch | got it out and dropped my eyes to
the face In the gloom I could make out the
hands pointing to o'clock. 1t was nearly three
hours to sunup. There was not the ghost or
chance of holding them off until then.
But just the same, I kept trying to figure 1t
out in my mind-to devise some plan to that end
And meanwhile | began to witness the services
that were to precede my death. Squatting there
with their black legs crossed that grim semi
circle of fends began to rock slowly back and
forth from the hips, humming a strange I'M
canny minor monotone. Out in front the big
chief led them 1t the Aneza sacrifice pre-
Jude so to speak. And was to be the sacrifice
Il tell you, it got into my nerves. / don't think
I am natural coward but half rythmically
keeping time as it were to the beating chant of
those voices and the sway and swing of the black
bodies heard my teeth begin to click.
II glanced over my shoulder to the other flap
40 T he Arah seemed
divine my thought, for at motion of his hand
the semi-circle moved forward couple OF feet
closer and, squatting again, went on with the
gruesome ceremonies. There was no chance OF
escape by flight, that was certain.
But never for moment did stop thinking;
struggling to drag an idea out of the confusion in
nv brain And all the time the Aneza went on
whetting the knives and grooming and swayng.
Half an hour, then an hour went by I count
ed the minutes, for l knew they measured the
time left yet to live. And then, suddenly, l
turned cold. Ny heart leaped and something fill
ed my throat 1t was the idea had been comb
ing my brain for, and it was a chance, ever so
faint perhaps. but still chance.
Across the tent not ten feet distant, my
trunk with my stereopticon lantern and my
slides-slides had made of New York CITY, of
the Metropolitan tower and Broadway and all
the other sights of home. Could l but!
must. Speaking in Arab, addressed the chief.
Before the time came to make the sacrifice had
something to show them-somethng the like Of
which they had never seen. Would they like to
see it?
"Breathless, I awaited the answer. There was
silence: then it came. The chief would like to
see l pointed to the trunk. They brought it to
me- / unpacked the lantern and set it up, the
long knives were following not two inches
away the while The side of the tent was the
screen. / lighted the lantern and dropped in the
fist slide. Across the circle OF light foated in
co = the great Metropolitan tower. As it did so
the lnutter,ng murmur of the death prelude wav-
cred and died out.
There was a silence; then sharp words OF
mystery or wonder of-fear Working swiftly,
I killed the exterior of the tower and shot into
its place view of its interior, then another and
another. / followed with pictures from its top
pictures of the river. of Broadway below, of
motor cars tearing along with visible means
OF locomotion of the loom of giant skyscrapers
in the distance, of huge bridges across the East
river of steamboats, and liners running out of the
harbor, of Miss Liberty on Bedoe's Island and of
the marvellous tangle OF Coney Island.
"The death prelude was forgotten The fear
gave place to an ersrgrowing wonder. The
semtctrcie teamed forward. a mass Of peering,
crowdiag black heads and black shoulders;