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

upon him and q deep flush mounted
from his neck and swept upward,
lighting the tan of his face with
subdued glow.
eff that happened to me-" thought
Andrea, "Pd be as red as field Of
poppies."
"I--I beg your pardon" stanmcred
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,nky heart.
She turned her eyes from him and
gazed around to get her first glimpse
Of tile real Africa. From tie very
start 1t left her puzzled. She stood
at the far side Of great circular
us floor. Within It's BOUNDS were
tive acacia trees, thiclly fronded,
wide-sprcading. Around the court,
thirty high-peakcd huts stood like SEN
tinels. Behind the huts other but far
smaller structures Swarmcd-chiclkcn
houses, strongly withcd, granarics on
four stills, pigeon cOtes, Il stockaded
cattle kraal and smaller goat fold.
But what puzzled her were the AT
ricans 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 diSoccul,.- :
| tions apparently unperturbcd. What
ever tllci" occupation they made no
| sudden move Of variation; even their
tongues kept still.
| In the shade of one Of the vast
acacias there was a vcritablc con-
course Of men. They sat for the most
part Gil their heels smoking white,
slow-burnnt cheroots Two only
could be said to be working. They
were very old and sat With their backs
against tho trunk Of the tree, their
legs stretched straight out before
them and at their sides neat bundles
Of stripped palm leaves. They were
weaving baskets. The mon at least
were not tonguc-ticd They seemed to
be going through some oral ceremony
First one and then another would
take the chcroot from his lips and
make q single remark; then the rest
would all grunt in unison and with
n deep-chcsted eXpelling 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 OF
much excitement and chatter. 1t never
occurred to her that he was unmOvet
because he could understand what the
men were saying and was merely
bored.
At the moment the wheels Of the
flying machine had struck the GROUND
the apparently intcrmnable and, tC
Andrea, meaningless chant had beer
started by the native chief, wiZenet
figure distinguished in dress from his
companions only by the ebony-blncl
ring Of polished wax that he wore like
Il halo Of darkness on his close
cropped and grizzled head.
The white man threw up his heat
ard clappcd his hands once. The
chief grunted; silence fell. Ue 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 working
in sudden excitement. "Bni-ye-te |!
he roared and there followed, S
quickly that it seemed but another syl
liable Of the salutation, mighty grun
from the depths Of thirty chests
Huh !"
In moment the whole scene under
went a startling transformation. Th
file broke and became garrulous. Chi
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