The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1919-11-22

There is no telling when Andrea
would have awaked had it not been
for Bathtub, who Numbered on her
door at the scandalously late hour in
that cline of eight in the morning.
Bath ready, Missis, Bath ready,
Missis.'' he was chanting monoto-
nously. She arose. put on her cloak,
opened the door and rubbed her eyes
at the shock of a MONDAY glare.
The boy grinned from ear to ear.
Bath ready!" he exclaimed with a
happy finality and bearing towels and
soap led her to the newly constructed
little hut in the yard. He placed the
paraphernalia on a chair set close to
a collapsible canvas tub and from a
neighboring smoldering fire fetched a
big tin of water.
''Hot waterw cried Andrea. "Why
I'm boiling myself Bring me cold
water"
Gold water no good" affirmed Bath
tub as he emptied the tin.
'But l wish cold water" said An
drea.
Gold water plenty no good for
white Missis,' reaffirmed Bathtub and
withdrew, carefully closing the door
behind him.
Andrea enjoyed the bath and learned
in ten minutes the soundness of the
tropical rule that it had taken some
0ld-timer ten years to evolve: The hot
ter the day the hotter the water. Feel
ing refreshed, almost cool, she started
back to her room, but stopped on the
veranda, her eyes held by sundry things
on the table, mans soft shirt, freshly
irOned, roll of khaki cloth, scissors,
a thimble and one of those pepper-pot
tins of assorted needles. She stared
at them long and helplessly, her lower
lip trembling; then she went in, put
on her things except her frOck and
covered it's lack with her cloak. She
did her hair last of all, by way of
change, and just as she finished heard
Bathtub's call to breakfast.
Neither white man nor black was in
evidence, but even so the day passed
swiftly, so many were the new features
Of the craaps changing scene. She
chose a book at random had her ham,
mock chair dragged into the shade of
the dining tree and stretched out to
her first lesson in lazy content. Grad
ually she grew drowsy with the heat,
but not so sleepy that she failed to
hear from away off the far-carrying
report. six times repeated. of II high
powered rifle.
Bathtub, squatted near by, looked
up with beatific smile. Master" he
stated
It was two hours later when the
incident was repeated in every detail
save that the shots came from still
farther away; and about three hours
after, once more the thing happened.
Bathtub rolled his eyes and Rugged
himself in gOrmandiZing anticipation
rs he brenthed the word, MASTER"
Andrea was vaguely interested until
the sequel to those eighteen shots
began to arrive and then she was
stunned with horror. Amid the shouts
of men and the shrill uIululoOing of
the women they began to come in,
beast after beast, each trussed to
pole and borne by six, sometimes eight,
naked and straining blacks.
First to arrive were five sable ante
Iope, beautiful even i'm death, the proud
sweep of their glorious horns inverted
Il TN 46I
The bearers did not stop within the
craaI, but passed through it, chant
ing wildly as though they We're en-
gagged in a perverted Bacchanalian
pageant of blood. Women and chill
tren streamed after them, and even
Bathtub looked Iongingly in the direc-
zion they had gone.
Scarcely had the hulabaloo of their
passing died into the distance when Il
new contingent arrived. 'M'sungo.
M-sungo," the enc word she knew,
cropped out from their jabber with
the steady recurrence of haunting
fugue What they bore were six wilde
beeSte. male and female. buffoons of
the DldluS, SIfit pun iiN SiVAtoquN,
their horse-like tails trailing like dis
cours ged funeral plumes.
"0h. White Man." gasped Andrea,
covering her eyes, ''oh, Msungot"
And then it came again, four loads
this time, but every one as big as a
horse. Eight men strained under each
of Gland, largest and gentlest
of all the hundred varieties of ante
lope that swarm over the length and
breadth of Africa.
Andrea arose, but her knees trem
bled so that she quickly sat down in
one of the wicker chairs, clutching its
arms with hands gone white as though
all the blood in her body had hidden
In shame. Then came the white man.
by gunbearers, water-boy and
crackers. His face and his bare arms
were streaked with sweat and dust.
His shirt and trousers chung to him in
great dark blots of MOISTURE He
nodded to Andrea as he made straight
for his hut.
Suddenly her strength came back