Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-06

In an instant the mongrel mob realized that
they had made q terrible mistake. What had
seemed to be only despised coach -xiog acted
liked q camoufiaged Hon. Dog after dog was
ripped and gashed and trampied under foot
until finally the circle broke and the whole
crowd tails between their legs, ned hmptug
and yelping down the village street. From
that day the real Quit conveyed his master
and the trap through the streets Of Pinetown,
nor did ever a deg so much as wag his tongue
against him.
For several months after the squire had
taken possession OF his plantation there was no
sign Of Long-toe, and he was more than ever
convinced that the stories Of his haunting the
bush we're native legends not worthy Of belief
Then there came q day when one OF his best
oxen broke out of pasture and wandered away.
The native herdsmsn trailed it to the very edge
of the bush, but not foot farther would he
venture. It was In vain that the squire ordered
one man after another to go IN after the miss
ing beast. Neither orders, persuasions, nor
even brfbes awaited.
Finally, with the rashness of ignorance the
squire decided to hunt for the lost OK himself.
Unfortunately for him, there were no other
white men on the plantation that day to advise
against such action. The overseer, o hard.
bittsn, experienced old Ecotchman, had gone
to Pinetown for supplies. and his assistant was
in the Port Elizabeth Hospital with an attack
of black water fever. Wherefore It happened
that daybreak found the squire, armed only
with shotgun, following the narrow trail
which led through the strip Of jungle that
fringed the bush proper With him went Grit,
greatly interested In this unfamiliar territory,
while Quit also insisted upon going although
he hesitated and whined protestingly as they
reached the edge OF the bush.
Behind the three, as they entered the Jungle,
the newiy-risen run drenched the thorn scrub
with that liquid amber gold which Is the color
Of Africa. The trail of the last o3 allowed
black against the silver Of the dewy grasses as
the trio penetrated deeper and deeper into the
sinister shade. Here and there showed spikes
of aloe tall euphorbias, and the fiat-topped
acacias on which the CRATES feed, while spears
of wild sizal stood up like sharpened stakes
among patches of gray impenetrable thorn
scrub For an hour the dogs and man followed
the trail, until it ended in a trampled circle SO
feet across, filled with round, deep holes. From
the farther edge Of the circle Quit, who had
pressed on ahead came hurrying back with his
tail between his legs. There the squire found
the carcass OF the lost OK, o shapeless mass OF
trampled flesh.
AS he stared down at that ghastly proof OF
the stories about Long-toe, the monster who
haunted the Aldo bush, suddenly D gaunt,
gray black mountain of an animal drtfted into
the open not 80 feet away. For an instant the
man and the monster faced each other. Then,
pricking up his ears and hoisttng his short tail,
with that ripping, snorting below with which
an elephant warns Of killing, the grim bull
charged.
No one had ever questioned Squire Westcn's
courage. In his younger days he had shot
tigers on foot in the sal jungleS OF India, and
since he had been in Africa had already faced
and killed charging lion. That day. how.
ever, the sight Of the vast bulk Of the elephant
rushing down upon him gave him the same
sense Of helpless terror as II he were facing an
avalanche or a tornado. Hurting his useless
gun to one side he wriggled Ike y snake
beneath patch of mimosa scrub hristlfng with
1o-inch thorns, sharp as needles. Just as he
came to the center Of that guarded circle the
elephant reached its circumference, and tried
by main strength to thrust his way through the
1aggered steel-strong boughs.
FALLING in his first attack, the crafty,
! ferocious brute circled the thicket, trying
again and again to find some opening through
which he might thrust his long trunk and drag
the man out to his death, but only succeeded in