The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1919-11-12

upon him ana u deep flush mounted
from his neck and swept upward,
lighting the tan OF his face with
SubdIed glow.
''If that happened to me-" thought
Andrea, "Td be as red as field Of
poppies."
"I--I beg your pardon" stammcred
the man and started walking up and
down with quick strides. Andrea
knew instinctivcly that he was warm.
ing up muscles that had been sud-
denly frozen, stcadying shaking knees
and sl,nkJ heart.
Sue turned her eyes from him and
gazed around to get her first glimpse
Of tile real Africa. From the very
start 1t left her puzzled. She stood
at the far side Of great circular
court, beaten hard and swept clean
as q floor. Within It's bounds were
two acacia trees, thiclSly fronded,
e-spreading. Around the court,
thirty high-peakcd huts stood like SEN
tincls. Behind the huts other but far
smaller structures Standardization
houses, strongly withcd, granaries on
four stills, pigeon cOtes, Il Stockaded
cattle kraal and Il smaller goat fold.
But what puzzled her were the At
IicanS themselves. A flying machine
had dropped in their midst and dis
charged two fair If not exceptional
specimens OF white and dominant
race. yet the blacks continued their
various occupations and disoccupa-
tions apparently unperturbed. What
ever thc" OCcupati Il they made no
sudden move of variation; even their
tongues kept still.
In the shade of one Of the vast
acacias there was veritablc con-
course of men. They sat for the most
part Gil their heels smoking white,
slow-burnng chcroots. Two only
could be said TO be working. They
were very old and sat with their backs
against the trunk Of the tree, their
legs stretched straight out before
them and at their sides neat bundles
Of stripped palm leaves. Tley were
weaving baskets. The men at least
were not tonguc-ticd. They seemed tc
be going through some oral ceremony
First one aud then another would
take the chcroot from his lips anC
make q single remark; then the resi-
would all grunt in unison and will
n deep-chestcd eXpclling of all the
breath in their bodies that gave al
most the effect Of an explosion.
1t annoyed Andrea that her com
panion seemed to share the stole calm
Of the natives in what to her mint
ought to have been an occasion o.
much Excitement and chatter. 1t never
occurred to her that he was unmoyet
because he could understand what the
men were saying and was merely
bored.
At the moment the wheels Of thu
flying machine had struck the grount
the apparently interminable and. tt
Andrea, meaningless chant had beer
started by the native chief, n wizenet
figure distinguished in dress from hi
companions only by the ebony-blacl
ring Of polished wax that he wore lik'
Il halo OF darkness on his close
cropped and grizzled head.
The white man threw up his heat
and capped his hands once. Th
chief gruntcd; silence fell. @de spa
to one side and spoke deliberately
"Let us arise to greet the master"
They came forward and stood in
long file. The chief took one step Il
advance, raised his right hand an
fastened his gaze on the white man
face. His own seemed to be workin
in sudden excitement. "Bai-ye-te
f~1lD e.
quickly that 1T seemed but another sy
liable Of the salutation, n mighty grur
from the depths Of thirty chcst
"Huh !"
In moment the whole scene unde
went q startling transformation. Th
file broke and became garrulous. Chi
6s;aas1
l.