Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1914-03-20
CHAPTER XIX.
In the Atlas Foothills.


r~7 HE shifts and strategies by
which Captain Owen Ket-
tie made his way from the
9GzSHI shore of the lagoon to the
foot of the rock on which the castle
of Sidi Mahommed Bergash is perch
ed would, if they could be got hold
of, make book of themselves.
When once the boat had set him
down on the beach, he worked his
where the caravan with the women
had first debouched from the sand
hills, guided only by his sailors eye
for distance and direction. The
night was still black dark but the
rib-band of phosphorescence which
marked the edge Of the lagoon gave
him a clear outline of the shore.
By the time he got down to the
point opposite the rusted Norman
Towers where the track turned in
land, scared moon appeared over
head, lodging in and out of racing
clouds. Dunes lay beyond the beach,
some of bald yellow sand, some
bristling with a dry coarse grass.
1t was his first attempt at track
ing, and though in after life he
came to be almost as good at pick.
ing up sign" as an Australian black,
1t must be remembered that l am
writing now of his apprentice days
in the art of adventure. and can
only depict him as the imperfect
practitioner that he then was
With the coming of morn, the
birds began to awake. When the
sun commenced to rise from beyond
Africa, there in the higher flats of
the atmosphere which were first to
be lighted, swan an eagle of the
Atlas and couple of carrion fowl,
already on station; the partridge
and quail began to scutter across
the path in another hard days
search for food; and when day was
fairly alight, great focks of blue
rock pigeons from the higher Atlas
crags flew swooping down, one flock
after another, to drink in some un-
seen wady.
He had walked all night; he was
bone-weary; the dew chilled him,
and by the thorns of the argans he
had been cruelty torn; but his spirit
was bright within him, and although
through sheer exhaustion he was at
length driven to pull off the path,
and rest under the shade of a
magnolia, it was only his limbs that
found repose.
Two Moors had been stalking him,
and they neared him so successfully
that they did not consider him
worth wasting a charge of powder
and shot on. Powder is an expen.
sive item on the southern flats OF
the Atlas The hooked dagger, on
the other hand, which. Is 30 effec.
tive for the upward jab, suffers no
deterioration from a little honest
work, and lasts the lifetime of two
ordinary fighting men.
BY way of doing the thing artis-
tically, and not getting In one an.
others way, the pair separated a
dozen yards away from their game
and worked out. one on either flank
The word for Col" was "Allah!'
and when one shouted 1t and lump.
ed, the other jumped also from the
other side.
But Captain Kettle had the &C
tivity of the sleeping dog approached
by the sudden cart wheel. Even
while the knives stabbed through
the air, hs sprang out backward
from where he was squatting and
landed on heels and wrists. Prac-
tically the same instant he was
erect on his feet, and springing for
ward again with all his force. His
fist shot out before him, and, with
every ounce of his weight driving
1t behind, impacted Just below the
corner of the right hand Moor'f
mouth. The mans jaw broke in two
places, and he dropped instantly as
II he had been poleaxed.
Number two Moor again aimed q
savage upward slash. which was near
enough to slit the front of the sail
or's coat; but the worst of that cut
1t, that though hard to parry, II
leaves the performer at a disad
vantage II the strike misses. Kettle
caught the brown wrist on its up
ward swing, and swirled 1t on up
ward and backward, and the vic