The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-04-04
A KING AT TWENTY-FIVE
A. D. 1898

When boy has the sea In his blood,
whan he prays for plague, pestilence
and famine, for battle and murder and
sudden death, his parents will do Well
TO thrash him tame. For then, If he
can be tanned, he may turn out well as
a respectable clerk but if he has the
force of character to get what he wants
he viii prove himself and be, perhaps,
like John Boyes OF Hull, England, a
king at twenty-five.
Boyes ran away to sea, and out of
the tame humdrum of the merchant
service made for himself a world of
high adventure. As a seaman he land
ed at Durham, in southeast Africa, then
earned his way up-country in all sorts
OF trades. until he enlisted in the Ma
tabeleland Mounted Police, then fought
his way through the second Matabele
war. Afterward he was a trader, then
an actor, next at sea again, and at
Zanzibar Joined an Arab trading dhow.
When the dhow was wrecked, and the
crew appealed to Allah, Boyes took
command, so coming TO Mombasa
From here the crown colony was build
ing railway to Uganda, difficult job
because the lions ate all the laborers
they could catch, and had even the
cheek to gobble up white officials. Up
country, the black troops were enjoy
ing a mutiny, the native tribes were
prickly, the roads were impossible and
there was no food to be had. Boyes
was very soon ar the head of a big
transport company. working with
donkey carts and native carriers to
carry food for the authorities
Northward of the railway was Mount
Kenia, a lofty snow-clad volcano; and
round his foothills, covering a tract
the size of Massachusetts, lived the
kikuyu, a negro people numbering half
a million, who always made point of
besieging British camps, treating cara
vans to volleys of poisoned darts. and
numbering every visitor who came
within their borders. Boyes went
into that country to buy food TO supply
to the railway workers (1S9S).
He went with an old Martini-H Henry
rifle, and seven carriers, over a twelve
thousand-foot pass of the hills, and
down through bamboo forests into a
populous country, where at sight of
him the war cry went fran hill to hill,
and five hundred warriors assembled
for their first look at a white man.
Through his interpreter he explained
that he came to trade for food. Pres
emily he showed what his old rife
could do, and when the bullet bored
hole through a tree he told them that
it had gone through the mountain be-
yond and out at the other side. A
man with such a gun was worthy of
respect, especially when his drugs
worked miracles among the sick. Next
day the neighbors attacked this tribe
which had received a white man in
stead of killing him, but Boyes with
his rifle turned defeat to victory, and
with iodoform treated the wounded.
The stuff smelt so strong that there
could be no doubt of its magic.
The white man made a friend of the
Chief Karuri, and through the adven-
lures which followed they were loyal
allies. Little by little he taught the
triDesmea to hold themselves in check,
TO act together: He began TO drill them
In military formation, front rank of
spearmen with shields touching, rear
rank Of bowmen with poisoned arrows.
So, when they were next attacked,
they captured the enemy's chief, and
here again the white mans magic was
very powerful. Don't waste him."
said Boyes The captive leader was
put TO ransom, released and made an
ally, goat being dubbed to death in
token that the tribes were friends.
Then a night raid obtained thirty
rifles and plenty of ammunition, and a
squad of picked men with modern arms
soon formed the nucleus of the white
mans growing army. When the Nasal
came up against him Boyes caught
them in ambush, cut their line of re-
treat. killed fifty. took hundreds of
prisoners and proved that raiding his
district was an error. He was great
man now, and crowds would assemble
when he refreshed himself with a dose
of fruit salts that looked like boiling
water. His district was at peace, and
soon made prosperous with a carrier
trade supplying food to the white men,
Many attempts were made by the
witch doctors against his life, but he
seemed to thrive on all the native poi
sons 1t was part of his clever policy
TO take his people by rail drawn by
railway engine, which they supposed
10 be alive, in a fever, and most fright
fully thirsty. He took them down TO
the sea at Mombasa, even on board a
ship, and on his return from all these
wonders he rode a mule into the Kiku-
yu country-"Some sort of non," the
natives thought. 1t impressed the
whole nation when they heard of the
white man riding lion.
He had kettle, too, with cup and
saucer, TO brew tea for the chiefs. and
a Union Jack at the head of his march
ing column, and his rifiemen in khaki
uniform. All that was good stage man.
agement, but Boyes had other tricks
beyond mere bluff A native chief de-
fed him and had five hundred warriors
in line Of battle; but Boyes. with ten
followers only, marched up, dubbed