Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-02

shivered looking at me in a very sugges-
tive manner
At this moment our conversation was in
terrupted by the arrival of two Black
Kendahs, who brought us our breakfast of
porridge and n boiled fowl and stood there
while we ate il. For my part | was not
sorry as / had learned all | wanted to
know OF the theological opinions and prac-
tice of the land and had come to the con-
clusion that the terrible devil-god OF the
Black Kendall was merely a rogue elephant
Of unusual size and feroclty. which under
other circumstances II would have given
me the greatest pleasure to try to shoot.
When we had finished eating. that is
soon, for neither Of our appetites was good
that morning. we walked out of the house
into the surrounding compound and visited
the camelmen in their hut. Here we found
them squatted on the ground looking very
depressed indeed, When / asked them
what was the matter they replied. Moth
ing" except that they were men about to
die and life was pleasant. Also they had
wives and children whom they would never
see again
Having tried to cheer them up to the best
of my ability, which | fear did without
conviction, for in my heart | agreed with
their view of the case. we returned to the
guesthouse and mounted the stair which
led to the fiat roof. Hence we saw that
some curious ceremony was in progress in
the center of the market-place At that dis
tance we could not make out the details
for 1 forgot to say that my glasses had
been stolen with the pistol and knife prob
ably because they were supposed to be
lethal weapons or instruments of magic
A rough altar had been erected, on which
a fire burned. Behind 1t the king. Simba.
was seated on a stool with various coun-
cilors about him. In front of the altar was
stout wooden table, which lay what
looked like the body of a goat or a sheep.
A Enthusiastically dressed man, assisted by
other men. appeared to be engaged in in
specting the inside of this animal with,
we gathered unsatisfactory results. for
presently he raised his arms and uttered
a loud wall Then the creatures viscera
were removed from it and thrown upon the
fire. while the rest of the carcass was car
ried off
asked Marut what he thought they
were doing. He replied dejectedy:
consulting their Oracle: perhaps to
whether We should live or die, Macuma-
zana."
just then the priest In the strange, feath-
cred attire approached the king, carrying
some small object in his hand. | won
dered what it could be till the sound Of
a report reached my ears and | saw the
man begin to jump around upon one leg,
holding the other with both his hands at
the knee and bowling loudly.
"Ah! :" / said, that pistol was full cooked.
and the bullet has got him in the foot"
man picked up the pistol and threw 1t
into the fire. round which the others gath
cred to watch it burn
You wait" | said to Marut. and as
spoke the words the inevitable happened.
OFF went the other barrel OF the pistol.
which hoped out of the fire with tho re-
coil like living thing.
But as 1t happened one of the assistant
priests was standing in front of the mouth
of that barrel, and he also hoped once
but never again. for the heavy bullet struck
him somewhere in the body and killed him
Now there was CONSERVATION Every one
ran away. leaving the dead man lying on
the ground. Smba led the rout and the
head priest brought up the rear. skipping
along upon one leg.
Having observed these events. which
filled me with an unholy joy. we descended
into the house again, as there was nothing
more to see, also because 1t occurred to me
that our presence on the roof, watching
their discontinue, might irritate these saw
ages. About ten minutes later the gate
of the fence round the guest house was
thrown open and through II came four
men carrying on n stretcher the body Of
the priest whom the bullet had killed,
which they laid down In front of our door
Then followed the king with an armed
guard, and after him the defeathered di-
viner with his foot bound up who sun
ported himself upon the shoulders of two
OF his colleagues, This man, / now per-
ceived, wore a hideous mask from which
projected two tusks in imitation of those
OF an elephant Also there were others,
as many as the space would hold
The king called to us TO come out Of
the house, which, having no choice, we did
One glance at him showed me that the
man was frantic with fear. or rage, or
both
Look upon your work. magcians % he
said In terrible voice, pointing to the dead
priest, then to the diViner's wounded TO-.
1T is no work of ours, King Sinbs &"
answered Marut 1T is your own work.
You stole the magic weapon of the white
lord and made 1t angry, so that IL has
revenged itself upon you"
1T is true" said Slmba that the ,uha