Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1919-08-08

Occasionally Akut brought him juicy
fruits which helped to slake his thirst
and allny his fever, and little by little
his powerful constitution overcame the
effects of the spear thrusts. The
wounds healed and his strength re-
turned.
All during his rational moments as
he had lain upon the soft furs which
lined Meriems nest he had suffered
more acutely from fears for Meriem
than from the pain of his own wounds.
For her he must live; for her he must
regain his strength that he might set
out in search of her. But It was many
a day before strength returned to him.
Meriem, bound and under heavy
| guard In koyudoo's own hut, had no
| doubt but that Kornk would come
back and still less that he would cas-
lily free her.
go now as she lay waiting for him
she dreamed of him and Of all that he
meant to her. She compared him with
the sheik. her father, and ut the
thought of the stern, grizzled old Arab
she shuddered. Even the savage blacks
had been less harsh to her than he.
Not understanding their tongue, she
could not guess what purpose they had
In keeping her a prisoner. She knew
that man ate man, and she had ex-
pected to be eaten, but she had been
with them for some time now, and no
harm had befallen her.
h,t ha 4
been dispatched to the distant village
Of the sheik to barter with him for q,
ransom. She did not know, nor did
Kovudoo, that the runner had never
reached his destination; that he had
fallen In with the safari of Jensen
and Malbihn and with the talk
ativeness of native had I'M
folded his whole mission to the
black servants of the two Swedes.
These had not been long in retailing
, the matter to their masters, and the
result was that when the runner left
their camp to continue his journey he
, had scarce passed from sight before
I there came the report Of rifle, and
{ he rolled lifeless into the underbrusf
with bullet hole in his back.
n A few moments later MalbihI
y strolled back into the encampment
where he went to some pains to let l
fine buck and missed. The Swede
knew that their men hated them an,
that an overt act against Kovudo'
would quickly be carried to the chic
at the first opportunity. Nor were the,
sufficiently strong In either guns o
loyal followers to risk antagonizin
the willy old chief.
The next day the Swedes set out 70
Kovudoo's village bent on securing pos
session of the person of the white CIR
whom Kovudoos runner had told then
, lay captive in the chiefs village. How
they were to accomplish their en-
they did not know. Force was out O
the question, though they would no
b have hesitated to use 1t had they pos
Sessed it.
In former years they had marche
roughshod over enormous areas, tax
4 ing toll by brute force even when kind
: illness or diplomacy would have az
+ complished more. But now they wer
\ in bad straits-so bad that they ha
not shown their true colors scare
u twice in year, and then only whe
they came upon an isolated weak vi
lage.
Kovudoo was not Of these, ant
re though his village was in way r.
mote from the more populous distri'
es to the north, his power was such ths
80 he maintained an acknowledged SUI
NJ rainty over the thin thread Of village
which connected him with the savae
be- lords to the north.
wv To have antagonized him would hay
al spelled ruin for the Swedes. 1t wou
~ have meant that they might new
N. reach civilization by the northel
,ot route. To the west the village of Il
lie sheik lay directly in their path, barrir
them effectually. To the east the tra
Cd was unknown to them, and to Il
south there WAS no trail