The Washington times., 1920-02-08

Horrorstruek. translated this
insane screed TO Umslopogaas and
Hans. The former nodded grayely.
did ! not tell you that he was
talking with his spirit. Macuma'
zahn1" Il had rendered "the merct
ful Lord" as the Good Spirit.)
We'll. he has gone and doubtless
his spirit will take care OF him. II
is finished"
AT any rate we cannot, Baas,"
broke In Hans. who l think feared
that l might send him out TO look
for Robertson. Il can follow most
spoors, but not on such a night as
this, when one could cut the black.
ness into Jumps and build a wall
OF H."
"Yes," | answered, "he has gone
and nothing can be done at pres.
ent," though to myself / reflected
that probably he had not gone far
and would be found when the moon
rose. or. at any rate. on the follow
ing morning.
Still, was most uneasy about
the man, who, as ! had noted for a
long while, was losing his balance
more and more. The shock OF the
barbarous and dreadful slaughter
of his half-bred children and Of the
abduction OF Inez by these grim.
man-eating sayages began the busL
ness, and l think that II was in
creased and accentuated by his sud
den conversion to- complete tenn
perance after years of heavy drink
ing.
When persuaded him to this
course I was very proud Of myself.
thinking that I had done a clever
thing, but now ] was not SO sure.
Perhaps II would have been better
IL he had continued to drink some
thing, at any rate for a while, but
the trouble is that "a such cases
there is generally. no halfway
house.
- "A man, or, still more, a woman,
given to this frailty, either turns
aggressively sober or rema!ns very
drunken. At any rate, even II
had made a mess of 1t, had acted
for the best and could not blame
myself.
For the rest it was clear that in
his new phase the religious asso-
Citations Of his youth had re-assert-
ed themselves with remarkable
vigor, for I gathered that he had
been brought up almost as Cal
whist, and in the rush of their re-
turn had overset his equilibrium.
AS / have said, he prayed night
and day without any Of those re-
serves which most people prefer in
their religious exercises, and when
he talked of matters outside our
quest, his conversation generally
revolved round the devil or hell and
it's torments. which, to say the
truth, did not make him a cheerful
companion; indeed, in this resrect
I liked him much better in his old.
unregenerate days, being, / fear,
myself a somewhat worldly soul.
Well, the sum of it was that the
poor fellow had gone mad and
given us the slip, and, as Hans
said, to search for him in that
darkness was impossible. Indeed.
even il II had been lighter I do not
think that it would have been safe
among these Amahagger night
birds, whom / did not trust.
Certainly / could not have asked
Hans to undertake the task, and II
l had, do not think he would have
gone, since he was afraid of the
Amahagger. So there was nothing
to be done except wait and hope
for the best.
So waited till at last the moon
came, and with it Ayesha, as she
had promised. Clad in a rich, dark
cloak she arrived in some pomp,
accompanied by some women, also
cloaked, and surrounded by a
guard of tall spearmen.
l was seated outside the house,
smoking, when suddenly she ap-
peared from the shadows and
stood before me. | rose respect
fully and bowed, while Umslopo-
gaas, Goroko and the other Zulus
who were with me gave her the
royal salute, and Hans cringed
like a dog that is afraid Of being
kicked.
After a swift glance at them, as
] guessed by 4 the motion OF her
veiled head, she seemed to fix
her attention on something that
excited her curiosity, and asked
me what 1t was. explained as
we'll as l could, expatiating on the
charms of smoking.
$50 men have learned another
useless vice since I left the world.
and one that is filthy also," and
she shifted at the smoke and
waved her hand before her face,
whereon l dropped the pipe into
my pocket, where, being alight, it
burnt hole in my best remaining
coat.
remember the remark because
1t showed me what a clever actress
she was who, to keep up her char
acter Of antiquity, pretended to be
astonished at habit with which
she must have been well acglaint.
ed, although I believe that IT. was
unlxnown In tho anpippt World