Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1919-11-28

7. smile; II he iOUks suueu, me elances
n are hundred TO one that he's inno-
j cent. I've never gone wrong. They
q think I'm a wonder. Next"
One case alone that day was appar-
: emily interminable. When at last it
was completed M'sungo dropped his
! eyes for the first time and sat for a
long while with bowed head; then he
; drew erect, looked the prisoner in the
eye and spoke three words. A gray
hue crept into the blacks face as he
: turned away. Il have surrendered him
} to the justice Of his tribe" murmured
M'sungo. Poor devilw And Andrea
knew that she had witnessed the pre-
cursor to an inevitable sentence of
death
That night M'sungo was too tired to
talk and excused himself Immediately
after dinner. Andrea read until her
eyes ached and then went to bed Won
dering If she were feeling only slight
ed or If existence were actually be-
coming monotonous. She shrank from
the latter admission for she knew
that, once made, it would shatter the
longest run of sheer peace of spirit /
which she had experienced in her short +
but much bored life She need not .
have worried When she stepped out
early next morning dressed for the
field in compliance with a message
from M'sungo to put on her toughest
and toughest she was so excited that
even the memory of her doubt was
blOited from her mind. Something was
in the air of the craal that could be
felt rather than heard, the sort of
something that one could imagine pos
sessing a hive just before it began to
hum.
M'sungo was already sitting under
the dining tree engaged in a diminu-
tive palaver with three wizened blacks
who squatted on the ground squint-
ing up at him and speaking in turn
in answer to his patient questioning !
Around them but at a respectful dis
lance were gathered various members
of the camps personal staff On the
faces of the wizened three and also on
M'sungo's was the same look of a
fanatical exaltation, the look that pro- {
claims any group of diverse men v
brothers at heart. Y
"What is it?" asked Andrea, breath o
less from hurrying. Ii
Elephant" replied Msungo He g
drew a chair to his side. "Sit down."
he said softly as one whose mind is S;
and fearful of losing '
the dream, swatch and listen, for al
these men bring great tidings." He OF
smiled almost like boy. Il
One of the wizened produced a thin nj
wand, about twenty inches in length p
freshly broken at one end. He passed /
t to his companions; who stared at it dl
is though they saw ii for the first in
tead of the hundredth time, fingered az
t, gurgled over it and finally gravely Fl
landed it TO Msungo. He went through tn
more or less the same process and re- in
lrned it to the man who first pro- III
uced it with what was apparently a 81.
lighting remark. i'
The man glanced up with a panied al
ok on his face, arose, laid the wand .u
the ground as measure and with -
borious fingers began to trace a en-
lightly oval M'sungo leaned across III
e table and gazed with fascinated as
Te; Andrea watching him, could see 'l'
e pulse throbbing at his temples. He va
as new Msungo, somebody young, ON
'proachable, lovable, an eager boy. -, -,
She leaned close to his shoulder. Joy
lease, White Man." she murmured,
lease tell me-"
Without turning he put one hand YO
It and grasped her wrist as though
sun her. Ihe niue man. he eX- Mrs.
aimed. "is drawing the spoor of
ghty beast Look at it and learn il
heart, for it will be photograph"
Having completed the circumference T
his oval, the native was making fror
rious tracings on its face, dividing it as
with maze of tracks. When he wifi
d apparently finished, he sank back kin,
his heels and gazed critically at his &c,
ndiwork ner
Watch" said Msungo Before he .~
s up, he'll put in some mark, some YOU
tinctive feature that distinguishes al
S spoor from all Others" hav,
No sooner had he spoken than the not
ok leaned forward and with a sure &C
oh deepened two of the cracks till am
Y formed a long narrow V running cool
gonally half across the oval That -
lie he turned abruptly from his cont
wing, Joined his comrades, turned OF Il
back on Msungo and unstoppering TT
case. proceeded 10 take 81
n. day
fsungo Strengthened with a long 'f
vering sigh. ut is WELL" he said in "A
lect. 1--WE will CO." The three I'll
ened men nodded their heads many repli
es and grunted. With no further to be
ruction, gunbearers, water boys.
'kers and Marguerite's attendant
tered TO their various prepare TIL