The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1919-12-17

eyes for the first time and sat for
long while with bowed head: then h,
drew erect, looked the prisoner In the
eye and spoke three words. A gra.
hue crept into the blacks face us hi
turned away. II have surrendered hin
to the justice Of his tribe" murmured
msungo. poor dcvil!" And Andrea
knew that she hud witnessed the pre-.
cursor to an inevitable sentence OF
death.
That night Msungo was too tired to
talk and excused himself Immediately
I after dlhner. Andreu read until her
eyes ached and then went to bed won.
dering Il she were feeling only slight
cd or II existence were actually be-
| coming monotonous. She shrank from
the latter admission for she knew
! that, once made. 1t 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 message
from M'sungo to put on her toughest
and toughest she was so excited that
even the memory Of her donbt was
blOtted 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
scssing n hive just before 1t began to
hum.
M'Sungo was already sitting under
the dining tree engaged in a diminu-
tive palavcr with three wizencd blacks
who sluattcd on the ground sQuint
ing up ut him and speaking in turn
In answer 10 his patient questioning.
Around them but ut a respectful dis
tancc were gathered various members
Of the camps personal staff. On the
faces of the wizcncd three and also on
MSungo's was the same look of
fnnatical cNaltation, the look that pro.
claims any group Of diverse men
brothers ut heart.
"What is it?" asked Andrea, breath
less; from hurrying.
ELEPHANT" replied M'sunG0. He
drew chair to his side. "Sit down."
he said softly as one whose mind Is
haif-nnrcOtized and fearful of losing
the dream swatch and listen, for
these men bring great tidlngs." He
smiled almost like Il boy.
One Of the wizcncd produced a thin
wand, about twenty inches In length,
freshly broken at one end. He passed
It to his companions; who stared mt 1t
as though they saw 1t for the first IN
stead Of the hundrcdth time, fingered
It, gurglad over it and finally gvavcly
handed 1t to M'sungo. He went through
more or less the same process and re-
taincd 1t to the man who first pro.
Luccd ii with what was apparently q
sighting remark.
The man glanced UP with a panied
| look on his face, arose, laid the wand
| on the ground as Il measure and with
| laboriOus fingers began to trace a
| mighty oval. M'sungO leaned across
the table and gazed with fascinated
! eye; Andrea, watching him, could see
| the pulse throbbing at his temples. He
! VAS now M'Sungo, somebody young,
| approachable, lOvablc, an eager boy.
She leaned close to his shoulder.
Please, White Man." she murmurcd,
please tell me-"
Without turning he put one hand
out and graspcd her wrist as though
! to still her. "The little man." he cx-
| planned, ''is drawing the spoor OF a
mighty beast. Look at 1t and learn 1t
ny heat, for it will be photograph"
! Having completed the circumference
Of his oval. the native was making
various tracings on It's face, dividing it
as with Il maze Of tracks. When he
had apparently finished. he sank back
on his heels and gazed critically at his
handiwOrk.
"Watch," said M'sungo. "Before he
gets up, he'll put in some mark, some
distinctive feature that distinguishes
this spOOr from all others"
No sooner had he spoken than the
black leaned forward aud with q sure
touch deepened two Of the cracks till
they formed long narrow V running
diagonally half across the oval. That
done he turned abruptly from his
drawing, Joined his comrades. turned
his back on M'sungo and unstOppcring
cartridge case, proceeded to take
snuff.
| Msungo Strengthened with q long
! quivering sigh. ut is WELL" he said in
dialect. "We Will 60" The three
wlzencd men nodded their heads many
! times and grunted. With no further
instruction, gunbearers, water boys.
trackers and Marguerite's attendant
scattered to their various prcpara-
tiOns, hindcrcd by excited women and
children. The camp hummed. Bathtub
slapped breakfast on the table and