The Ogden standard. [volume], January 24, 1920, LAST EDITION - 4 P.M., Image 14

About The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1913-1920

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II ... . e..- vSfc
HI! CHAPTER VII (Continued.)
Ill TUST then C.iptain Robertson
li'J! ! arrIvCfl" calling out anxiously
Ifll j to know what was thc matten
113 My hoart sank at the sislu oC llim'
llj for how was I to tell such a story
Iff to the father o the murdered chll-
llfj dren and the abducted girl? In the
llj ' end I turned coward and bolted into
llj the wagon, bidding Haus go for-
1111 -ward and repeat his tale. Looking
Ijjjjf out between the curtains of! tho
Ijjjjj wagon I saw all that happened,
though I could not hear tho words
" Robertson, jumping from tho
HI wagon-box, strode forward and mot
j Hans, who began to speak with
Ml him, twitching his hat in his hands.
HI Gradually, as tho tale progressed, I
j ' saw the Captain's face freeze Into
48 a mask of horror. Then ho began
Ijjl to arguo and deny, then to weep
111 oh! it was a terrible sight to see
111 ' that great man weeping in such a
111 After this a kind of blind rago
Iff 'seized him and I thought he was
l going to kill Hans, who was of tho
111 ' same opinion, for he ran away,
llj Next ho staggered about, waving
111 ' his hands, cursing and shouting, till
111 presently ho fell of a heap and lay
lfj face downward, beating his head
111! ' a&amst tue ground and groaning.
Ill " Now I went to him because I
I jijj must He saw me coming and sat
III " "Tnat'B & Pretty story, Quatcr-
Ifjji nmain, which this little yellow mon-
lii key has been gibbering at me. Man,
11(1 do you understand what he says?
I He says that all those half-blood
Hill children of mine arc dead, mur-
Hll dored by savages from over the
Hnj Zambesi, yes, and eaten, too, with
Hljl 'their mothers. Do you take the
H point? Eaten like lambs- Those
flres your man saw last night were
Mi the fires on which they weru
Hjf cooked, my little so-and-so and so-
n and-so," and ho mentioned half a
HD dozen different names.
IR "Yes, cooked, Quatermaln. And
li that isn't all of it, they have taken
y Inez, too. They didn't eat her, but
ey nave dragged her off a captivo
Hll for God knows what reason. I
H couldn't understand. The whole
HH ship's crew is gone except the cap
8 tain absent on leave and the first
1 'officer, Thomaso, who deserted with
i some lascar stokers, and left the
women and children to their fate.
Mm My God, I'm going mad! If you
M have any mercy in you give mo
pj something to drink."
Hly "All right," I said.
Htl 1 went to the wagon and poured
Mli a stiff tot of spirits into which I
HI put an amazing dose of bromide
Bll and thirty drops of chlorodync. All
Wl this I mixed up with a little water
Bli and took it to him in a tin cup so
Bfl that he could not see thc color. He
In drank it at a gulp and throwing
lll the pannikin aside, sal down on the
Hd veld, groaning while the company
Bln watched him at a respectful dis-
tfl In a'few minutes the drugs began
1 to take effect upon his tortured
i nerves, for he rose and said quietly:
1 "Vengeance, or, rather, justice,"
fl I answered.
fl "Yes." he exclaimed, "vengeance.
I swear that I will be avenged, or
H Again I saw my opportunity and
said, "you must sWear more than
that, Robertson- Only sober men
can accomplish great things, for
drink destroys the judgment."
"Very well," he muttered. "I
j swear by God, by my mother like
these natives, and by my daughter
born in honest marriage, that I will
never touch another drop of strong
drink, until I have avenged those
poor women and their little chil
D dren, and rescued Inez from their
1 murderers. If I do you may pu. a
Hfl bulfet through me."
"Thai's all right," I said in an
offhand fashion, though inwardly I
HM glowed with pride at the success of
1 my great idea, for at the time I
thought it great. "Now let us get
HS to business. Tho first thing to do
is to trek to Strathmuir and make
Bl preparations; the next to start
upon the trail. Come and sit ou
Hl the wagon with me and tell me
1 what guns and ammunition you
1 He did as I asked, telling me all
1 he could remember. Then he said:
Hl "It is a strange thing, but now I
1 recall Uiat about two years ago a
Bl great savage with a high nose, who
1 talked a sort of Arabic which I un
1 derstand, turned up one day and
said he wanted to trade. I asked
Qini what in, and he answered that
he would like to buy some children.
I told him that I was not a slave
dealer. Then he looked at Inez and
said he would like to buy her to be
a wife for his Chief, and offered
some fabulous sum in ivory and in
"I snatched his big spear from
his hand, broke it over his head
and gave him a good hiding with its
shaft. Then I kicked him off the
place- He limped away, but when
1 ho was out of reach, turned and
tailed out that one day he would
pome back and take Inez, without
leaving thc price in ivory and gold.
I ran for my gun. but when I got
it he had gone and I never thought
of the matter again from that day
to this."
Wo reached Strathmuir too late
to think of attempting the pursuit
that day. Indeed, I had come to
the conclusion that to try to do so
would bo useless. Wo must rest
and make preparations; there was
no hope of our overtaking these
brutes who already had a clear
twelve hours' start, by n sudden
spurt
Captain Robertson was sleeping
off the effects of the powerful
draught I had given him when wc
passed the village, and of this I
was heartily glad, since the re
mains of a cannibal feast are not
pleasant to behold, especially when
they are ! Indeed of these I de
termined" to be rid at once, so slip
ping off the wagon with Hans and
some of the farm hoys I made up
two of the smouldering fires, and
on to them cast those poor frag
ments. Also I told the farm natives
to dig a big grave and in it placo
the other bodies.
Then I went on to
the house, and not
too soon. Seeing the
wagons arrive and
having made sure that
tho Amahagger were
gone, Thomaso and
the other cowarda
emerged from their
hiding places and re
i turned. Unfortunate
ly for the former tho
first, person he met;
was Umslopogaas, '.
who began to revile
the fat half-hreed,
calling him dog. cow
ard and deserter of
women and children.
Thomrfso tried to
swagger the matter
out, saying that ho
had gone to get as
sistance. Infuriated at . this
He, Umslopogaas leapt
upon him with a roar
and though he was a
strong man, dealt with
him as a lion docs
with a buck. Lifting
him from his feet ho
hurled him to tho
ground, then,, as ho
Btrove to rise and run,
caught him again and
it seemed to me, was
about to break his
back across his knee,
when I arrived.
"Lot tho man go."
I shouted to him. "Is
there not enough death
here already?"
1 k v'
ill for some time and, of course, de
pressed his spirits.
In fact, the man became totally
changed. He grew gloomy, but re
sourceful, also full of patience.
Only one idea obsessed him to
rescue his daughter and avenge tno
murder of his people; Indeed, ex
cept his sins, he thought of and
found interest in nothing elso.
Moreover ho grow so strong that
although I was pretty tough In
those days, he could out-tire me.
With his help I made a list of
what we should require on our ven
detta journey. Then I sent him to
bed, saying that I would call him
before dawn, having first put a lit
tle more bromide into his 'third cup
of cofTee. After this I did tho same
and notwithstanding the sight of
those remains of the cannibal feast
and the knowledge of tho dead men
(O 1X0. International
who lay outside my window, slept
liko a top.
Indeed, it was thc Captain who
awakened me, not I tho Captain.
Wo wont down to tho store, where
I was thankful to find that every
thing had been tidied up in accord
ance with my directions. 4
On our way Robertson asked mo
what had become of tho romains,
whereon I pointed to the smoulder
ing ashes of one of the great llros.
He wont to it and kneeling down
said a prayer Jn broad Scotch,
doubtless ono that ho had learnod
at his mother's knee. Then he
took some of the ashes from the
edge of the pyro and threw them
onto the glowing embers where, as
he knew, lay nil thai was lell of
thoso who had sprung from him.
Also ho tossed others
of them into tho air,
though what he meant
by this I did not un- fc
derstand and never
asked. Probably it ; J&f
i
' ' " V fell 'IttriWM'-. "' ?' ? ft "Then he looked at Inez and said he would like to buy her to be
' ' '1 'wM1 a wife for his chief"
'' ') '.
"r'
"Yes," answered Umslopogaas, "I
think thero is. Best that this
jackal should live to eat his own
shame," and he cast Thomaso to
the ground, where he lay groaning.
Robertson woke up at the noise
and descended from the wagon,
looking dazed. I got him to the
house and in doing so made piy way
past, or, rather, between the bodies
of the two Zulus and of the six
men whom they had killed; also of
him whom Inez had shot. Those
Zulus had made a splendid fight, for
ttioy were covered with wounds", all
of them In front.
Having made Robertson lie down
upon hiB bed, I took a good look at
the slain Amahagger They, were
magnificent men, tall, spare and
shapely with very clear-cut features
and rather frizzled hair. Prom
these characteristics, as well aa the
lightness of their color, I concluded
that they were of a Semitic or Arab
type, and that the admixluro of
their blood with that of tho Bantus
was but slight, if, Indeed, there
were any at all. Their spears, of
which one had been cut through
. by a blow of a Zulu's axe, wore
long and broad and of line work
manship. By this time thc sun was sotting,
and thoroughly tired I went into
the house to get something t6 eat.
As I sat down Robertson joined mo
and I made him also eat. His first
impulse was to go to tho cupboard
and fetch the spirit bottle', indeed,
ho rose to do so.
"Hans Is making coffee," I said,
warnlngly.
"Thank you," ho answered, "I
forgot. Force of habit, you know."
Hore I may stato that uover from
. that moment did I seo him touch
another drop of liquor, not even
whon I drank my modest tot In.
front of him. His triumph over
temptation was splendid
and complete, especially as
the absence of his nccus
tomed potations made him
i
'! ''-.was some rite Indicative
of explanation or of re
venge, or both, which he
had learned from the sav
, ages.
After this we went into
tho store and with tho
help Of some of the natives,
or half-breeds who had ac
companied us on the sea-cow expe
dition, selected all tho goods we
wanted.
As we returned I saw Umslopo
gaas and his men engaged, with the
usunl Zulu ceremonies, in burying
their two companions, I noted,
however, that they did not inter
their war-axes or their throwing
spears with them as is usual, prop
ably because they thought that
these might be needed. In place of
them they put with the dead little
models roughly shaped of bits of
wood, which models they "killed"
by first breaking them across.
I lingered to watch the funeral
and heard Goroko, the witch-doctor,
make a little speech.
"Good words," grunted Umslopo
gaas, when Goroko had finished.
Then he saluted the dead and came
to me to consult about our journey.
caturi: Serrlcc, fnc. Great Brit
CHAPTER VIII.
Pursuit.
AFTER all wo did not get away
much "bofore noon, because
first thero was a great deal
to be done. To begin with, the
loads had to bo arranged. These
consisted largely of ammunition.
To carry thoui we took two don
koys thero were on the place; also
half a dozen pack oxen, all of which
animals were supposed to be "salt
ed" that Is, to have suffered and
recovered from every kind of sick
ness, including tho bite of the dead-,
ly tsotso fly.
In thc event of their falling us,
wo took also ten 'of the best of
those Strathmuir men who had ac
companied us on the soa-cow trip,
to serve as bearers when it became
necessary. It cannot be said that
these snuff and butter follows were
exactly willing volunteers.
Their master, Robertson, ordered
them to come, and after a glance
nt the Zulus they concluded that
the command was one which would
be enforced, and that If they stop
ped behind It would not be as living
men- Also some of them had lost
wives or children In the slaughter,
which, If they were not very brave,
filled them with a desire for re
venge The farm and store, together
with my wngon and oxen, were put
in the charge of Thomaso. since
there was no one else who could be
trusted at all, a very battered and
crestfallen Thomaso. by the way.
When he heard of It he was much
relieved, since I think he feared
lest he also should be expected to
take part in the hunt of the Ama
hagger man-eaters. Also it may
have occurred to him that in all
probability none of us would ever
come back at all, Id which case he
might find himself the owner of
much valuable property. However,
aln Rlzhti Rencrrrrl.
v
he swore by sundry saints that ho
would look after everything as
though it wore his own.
"Hearken, fat pigs," said Um
slopogaas, Hans obligingly trans
lating so that there might bo no
mistake, "If I come back, and come
back I shall who travel with the
Great Medicine, and find even ono
of tho cattle of tho white lord,
Watcher-by-Nlght, missing, or one,
article stolon from his wagon, or
the fields of your master not culti
vated or 'his goods wastod, I swear
by the Axe that I will hew you into
pieces; yes, if to do It I have to
hunt you from where the sun rises
to where it sets and down tho
length of tho night betwee'l. Do
you understand, fat pip;, dfcsrter
of women and children
Thomaso replied that he under
stood very clearly indeed and that,
Heaven helping him, all should ha
kept safe and sound.
At last we got off. We were a
curious procession. First went
Hans, because at following a spoor
ho was, I believe, almost unequalled
in Africa, and v. 1th him Umslopo
gaas and three of his Zulus to
guard against surprise. These were
followed by Captain Robertson, who
seemed to prefer to walk alone.
Then I came, and after me followed
the Strathmuir boys with the pack
animals, the cavalcade being closed
by thc remaining Zulus under Go
roko. Less than nn hour's tranvo
brought us to the bushveld, where
I feared that our troubles might be
gin, since if the Amahagger were
cunning they would take advantage
of it to confuse or hide their spoor.
As it chanced, however, they had
done nothing of the sort and a
child could have followed their
march. Just before nightfall we
came to their first halting-place,
where they had made a fire and
eaten one of the hord of farm goats
which they had driven away with f;
them-
Hans showed us everything that 7
had happened; where the chair in i
which Inez was "carried was set I
down, where she and .Taneo had '"
been allowed to walk that she
might stretch her ktiff limbs, tho i
dregs of some coffee that Jancc had
ovldentiy made In, a saucepan, and
so forth. He oven told us tho ;
exact numbor of thc Amahagger, ;
which lie said was forty-one, in-
eluding the man whom Inez had K
wounded.
Tho next two days were repeti-
tions of the first, but on tho fourth 1
we passed out of the bushveld into fjn
tho swamp country that bordered a
the great river. Here our task. v;a Hi
still easy, sinco the Amahagger -1
had followed one of the paths made
by tl)e river-dwellers.
-On our second day in the reeds Ij
we came upon a sad sight. To our 1)
left stood one of tho mound vil- S
lagea, if a village it could bo called, 1
""'since it consisted only of four or
five huts inhabited perhaps by
twenty people. Wo went up to it m
to obtain information and stumbled
across the body of an old. man lying n
in tho pathway. A few yards fur-
ther on we found thc ashes of a big K
fire, and by it such remains as wo m
had seen at Strathmuir. Here K
there had been another cannibal JS
fcasL The miserablo huts were
empty, but as at Strathmuir, -had
not been burnt. -
We were going away when tho 11
acute ears of Hans caught tho 11
sound of groans.. We searched mi
about and In a- clump of reeds near 91
the foot of the mound found an old Vj
woman with a great spear wound ml
piercing deep into the vitals, but 1
of a nature which is not inimo- Si
dlately mortal. W.
She said that the Amahagger had J
attacked the village aud killed all !
who could not escape. They had
eaten a young woman and three
children. Sho had been wounded ,
and lied away Into the place whei-o
we found her, where none ol them ;
took the trouble to follow her, a3 j
she "was not worth eating."
The'Amahncsrer. sho said, warn r
fierce people who lived far up north El
across tho Great River, the rem II
nants of a race that had once "if
"ruled the world." Her grand-
father used to say that they were 1
not always cannibals, but had be- ft
come so long before because of a !
lack of food and now had acquired
the taste, It was for this purpose
that they still raided to get other
people ito eat, since their ruler
. could not allow them to eat one an
other. According to her grand
father they were a very evil people
and full of magic.
Her Information, as is common
with the aged, dwelt entirely with
the far past; of the history of tho
Amahagger since the days of her
grandfather she knew nothing, nor j
had she seen anything of Inez.
While Robertson and I were won
dering what we should do with tho
poor old creature whom it seemed
cruel to leave here to perish, she - i
cleared up the question by sudden- I
ly expiring before our eyes. x "'J- I
Next day we came to the edge of jj
the Great River. Perceiving quite V
a big village on our left, we wont i
to it and made inquiries, to find
that it had not been attacked by
the cannibals, probably because it
was too powerful, but that three
nights beforo some of their canoes
had been stolen.
As tho people of this village had !.
traded with Robertson at Strath- , i
muir we had no difficulty In obtain- !
lug other canoes from them in j
which to cross the Zambesi in re- '
turn for one of our oxen that was
already sickening from tsetse bite.
These canoes wore large enough to ;
take tho donkeys, but the cattle wo
could not get into them for fear ol
an upset. So we killed the two
driven beasts that wore loft to us
and took them with us for food, I
while the three remaining pack
oxen we tried to swim across, drag ;
ging them after tho canoes witl
reins round their horns. As a re
suit two were drowned, but one, ;
bold-hearted and enterprising anl f
mal, gained the other bank. '5-l
Here again we struck a sea ol
reeds, in which Hans once more
found the spoor of the Amahagger.
Thft it was theirs beyond doubt !
was proved by a fragment of a cot- i
ton dress which, because of thc pat- j
ternf wo all recognized as one that ' j
Inez had been wearing. At first 1 ;
thought that this had been torn off i
by the thorns, but on examination : :
we became certain that it had been
' placed there purposely to give us a K
clue. This conclusion was con- I ,
firmed when subsequently we 's B
found other fragments of the same 1
garment. R
This arduous chase endured for ! ; K
something over three weeks. Again , !
and again we lost tho trail and , K
Continued on Next Page ; j R
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