The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-04-04
/ CAPTAINS OF
/ ADVENTURE
i BY ROGER POCOCK
opyig By sMsrrnC Comps
By ROGER POCOCK

him over the head and ordered the war
riors to lay down their arms on pain
of massacre. The five hundred sup
! posed themselves TO be ambushed. and
obeyed 1t was really great joke.
So far the adventurer had met only
with little chiefs, but now, at the head
| of fairly strong caravan, he set forth
on tour of the whole country. sending
presents to the great Chiefs Karkerrie
| and Wagomba, and word that he
wanted to trade for ivory. Karkerrie
| came to call and was much excited
over little clock that played tunes TO
order. especially when few drops of
rain seemed TO follow the music. "Does
| it make rain?" asked Karkerrie.
Certainly, it makes rain all right"
answered Boyes.
J But it so happened that rain was
very badly needed, and when Boyes
| failed to produce a proper downpour
| the folk got tired of hearing his ex-
| cuses. They blamed him for the
| drought, refused to trade and conspired
TO murder him. Boyes' camp became a
| fort, surrounded by several thousands
/ of hostile savages. One piteh-dark
evening the war cry of the tribe ran
from village TO village and there was
| wailing among the women and children.
The hyenas, knowing the signs of
| coming feast, howled, and all through
the neighborhood of the camp the war
riors were shouting, XIII the white
| man!
As hour by hour went by the sounds
and the silences got on the white mans
! nerves. 1t was always very difficult to
keep Kikuyu sentries awake, and as he
kept on his rounds, waiting the inevita-
Bile storming Of his camp at dawn,
Boyes felt the suspense becoming in
| tolerable. At last, hearing from one
! of his spies that Karkerrie was close
at hand disposing his men for the as
sault, Boyes stole out with couple of
men and, by miracle of luck, kid
mapped the hostile chief, whom he
| brought back into the fort a prisoner.
Great was the amaZement of the ma
tives when, at the gray of dawn, the
very moment fixed for their attack,
they heard Karkerrie shouting from
the midst of the fort orders to retreat,
and to dispense A revolver screwed
into his ear hole had converted the
Chief Karkerrie. Within few days
more came the copious rains brought
by the white chiefs clock, and he be-
came more popular than ever.
Ia 10 fa eli
Wakamba, biggest of all the chiefs,
whose seat was on the foothills of the
great snow mountain This chief was
quite friendly. and delightfully."- frank.
describing the foolishness of Arabs.
Swahali and that class of travellers
who neglected TO take proper precau-
tons and deserved their fate. He was
| making quite a nice collection of rifles.
With his camp constantly surrounded
and infested by thousands of savages,
Boyes complained to Wakamba about
| the cold weather; said he would like
| to put up warm house, and got plenty
of help in building fort. The chief
| thought this two-storied tower, with
its outlying breastworks was quite a
good idea. what good thing" said
he. ito keep a rush of sayages out"
After long negotiations, Boyes man.
| aged to bring the whole of the leading
chiefs of the nation together In friend
ly conference. The fact thar they all
hated one another like poison may ex-
plain some slight delay, for the white
mans purpose was nothing less than
solemn treaty of blood-brotherhood
with them all.
The ceremony began with the cutting
into small pieces of sleeps heart
and liver, these being toasted upon a
skewer, making a mutton Kabob. Olo-
monde, chief of the Wanderobo, a ma
ton of hunters, then took sharp ar
row with which to cut into the flesh
of each blo0d-brother just above the
heart. The Kabob was then passed
round, and each chief, taking a piece
of meat, rubbed it in his own blood and
gave it to his neighbor TO be eaten.
When Boyes had eaten blood of all the
| chiefs, and all had eaten his, the peace
was sealed which made him In prac-
tice king OF the Kikuku He was able
at last to take holiday, and spent
some months out hunting among the
Wanderobo.
While the Kikuku nation as whole
fed out of the white chiefs hand. he
still had the witch doctors for his enc
mics, and one very powerful sorcerer
caused the Chinga tribes to murder
three Goa Portuguese. These Eurs
sian traders, wearing European dress,
were mistaken for white men. and
their death showed the natives that il
would be quite possible to kill Boyes,
who was now returning toward civili-
cation with an immense load of ivory
Boyes came along in a hurry. riding
four attendants, and these he presently
distanced, galloping along path be-
tween two hedges among the fields of
friendly tribe-straight into deadly
native ambush. Then the mule SHE'D
out of his path, bolted across the fields
and saved his life. OF the four at
tendants behind, two We're speared.
Moreover the whole country was wild
with excitement, and five thousand
fighting men were marching against
Boyes. He camped. fenced his posi-
ton and stood to arms all night, short
of ammunition, put TO the last, the
s.. 800 in direct interest. Tf all inter-