The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 28, 1898, Page 24

CO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 1898 7 e ek 7 " 7 i A i b I, 7% T THE THREE CLUNG TOGETHER @AMID THE WRECKAGE. RE was considerable trouble and risk in bringing zside, but it must be granted own them out into the At- tainly, though there was blowing; but the sea wa 1d all Captain Kettle's skill was boat from being {ncontinently > two Portuguese balled inces- half water-logged, in fact, ad made very wet weath- mer to have borne down and h she could have been more larger vessel made an Three times she rcle, got to windward, and d over the rugged furrows place again before she could r craft shelter. Three times , with maritime point and flu- e of the rust-streaked steamer Kettle, savagely, after the third armers on that ship? I've had a w more about handling a vessel.” ¢ tramp steamer had gone round in 's diameter and was climbing back dales of ocean. She » pitched and she wallowed among the seas, .y mind she would have seemed helplessness expert eye she showed defects in she took among the angry nd the mates must b staying down below * said Kettle, contemptuously, as he gazed. attle steamer, if not skilifully handled, at any e had more luck. She worked her way to . and then fell off into the trough, squat- t out of sight one minute, and, in fact, except a couple of stumpy, untidy e shed smokestack above the sea ing heaved up clear almost the next second, a s and yellow, spouting scuppers. fted to leeward before the wind, but the more surface and moved the quicker, ct of the maneuver. 1t seemed to those that they were not going to be missed this lowered away their sodden canvas, ship- ..pe and got out their oars. The two Portu- guese firemen did not assist at first, preferrng to sit in a gemi-dazed condition on the wet floor gratings, but Mec- Toc and Kettle thumped them aboyt the heaa, after the . time-honore: tom, till they turned to, and so presently the lifeboat, under three straining oars, was holding up toward her would-be deliverer. A man on the cattle-boat’s upper bridge was exhibiting himself as a very model of nervous incapacity, and two, at any rate, of the castaways in the lifeboat were watch- ing him with grim scorn. Keeping them on the dance in the engine-room, isn't -he?" sald McTodd. “‘He's rung that telegraph bell fifteen different ways this last minute.” ““That man isn’t fit to skipper anything that hasn’t got & tow rope made fast ahead,” said Kettle, contemptuously. .*“He hasn't the nerve of & pound of putty.~ ° “I'm thinking we shall lcse the boat. *hay'll never get her aboard in one piece.” .“If we get among their cowpens with our bare lives we shall be iucky. ey're going to heave us a line. Stand by to catch it, quick.” - The line was thrown and caught. Other lines were . thrown by the hands who stood against the rail above, and . the four men in the swamping boat each seized an end. Half clim} alf hoisted from above, they made thelr - way up the plating and the greedy waves from un- derneath sucked and clamored at their heels. The eattie boat’s mate, Who had been assisting tnefr ar- rival, sorted them into castes with ready perception the moment they reached deck. “Now you two dagoes.” he sald to the two Portuguese, “get away forrard—port side— and bid some of our firemen to give you a bunk. I'll tell the steward to bring you along a tot of rum directly.” H lapped a friendly hand on McTodd’s shoulder. *“Bo's'n,” said, “take this gentleman down to the messroom and ass the word to one of the engineers to come and give im a welcome.” And then he turned as to an equal and shook Kettle by the hand. ‘Very glad to welcome you aboard, old fellow—beg pardon, ‘captain/ T should have sald; dldn’t see the lace on your sleeve before. Come be- low with me, captain, and T'll fix you up with some dry (ofeelolofiofololclofofooJ oo oYoloR X X OR OF oY OF Y R OYOXOR RO OROROICRCACROJORORORORCRCOROR O R oY O o} things outside, and some wet things in, before we have any further chatter.” aid Kettle, “you're very polite, but hadn’t g0 up on the bridge and say ‘howdy’ to the sKipper boat grinned and tucked his d dragged him off with nway. “Take a synch e old man’s in such A he’d had Wi your boat at all. He said ) try and pick you up mth such a sea second mate and I put in some ugly just had to ¢ Here's the comnanion. I'il shut the door.” e ) let hi ates boss him!"” “Quite s a e agree with you all the way. But there’s no getting over it. n old Conway boy, and w y room, and there’s a change of ath the bed, and underwear be- > much of a build, and rour own's dry again.' s he watched Kettle, r that you're only , the hip stunks, . hing's as uncomfortable as Sut there's one fine amusement ahead of you, and r up the other passenger.” “Well, can be. that's try and ¢ Stowaway ? “No; bona fide passenger, if you can imagine any one being mug enough to book a room on a fout, cattle-loaded tramp like t But I guess it was because sne was hard up. She was a governess, or something of that sort, in Buesnos Ayres, lost her berth, and wanted to get back again che I guess we could afford to cut rates and make a profit there.”” “Poor lad. “I've not The second mate and I are most of the crew of this ship, as the old man ob- jects to our driving the regular deckhands, and when we're not at work we're asleep. 1 can’t stop to introduce you. ¢ chum on. Her name's Carnegie.” Carnegie?” Kettle repeated. “That sounds fa- Does she write poetry he mate “Don’t know. Never asked her. But perhaps s The mate went off to his room then, turned in all standing, and promptly asleep. Kettle, with memories of the past refreshed, took paper and a scratchy pen and fell to concocting v £ ame time he half dreaded e. He wondered, ana at the whether th! the s Miss Carnegie whom he had own befo days past she had given him a commis- sion to liberate her lover from the French penal settlement of ‘Cayenne. With infinite danger and difficulty he had wrenched the man free from his warders, and then, findin him a worthles ow, had by force marriea him to an ol Jamaican negress, and sent the girl their marriage lines as a token of her release. He had had no word or sign from her since, and was in some dread now lest she might bit- terly resent the liberty he had taken in meddling so far in her affairs. The squalid meal entitled tea came on, and he had to move his papers. A grimy steward spread a dirty cloth, wetted it flben\fly with water, and shipped fiddles to tl?l and induce the tableware to keep in place despite the roll- ing. The steward mentioned that none of the officers would be down, that the two passengers would meal to- gether. Captain Kettle watched the door with a haggard face. Hs was beginning to realize that.an emotion was stirred within him that should have had no place in his system. He told himself sternly that he was a married man with a family; that he had a deep affection for both his wife and children; that, in cold fact, he had seen Miss Carnegie in the flesh but once before. But there was no getting over the memory that she made poetry, a craft that he adored, and he could not forget that she had already lived in his mind for more months than he dared count. ‘His conscience took him by the ear, and sighed out the word love. On the instant all his pride of manhood was u; in arms, and he rejected the imputation with scorn; an then after some thought formulated his liking for the girl e term interest. 2e l’?hs‘n in the distance he heard her approaching. He wiped the moisture from his face with the mate’s pocket handkerchief. Above the din of the seas mnd the noises from the cattle pens outside, he could make out the rustle of draperies and the uncertain footsteps of some one pain- fully making a way along hand over hand against the bulkheads. A bunch of fingers appeared round the jamb of a door, slender, white fingers, one of them decked with a queer old ring which he had seen just once vefore, and had pictured a thousand times since. And then the girl herself Stepped out into the cabin, swaying to the roll of the ship. s&enodded to him with instant recognition. “It was you th;fiy picked up out of the boat? Oh, I am so glad you are safe.” Kettle strode out toward her on his steafly sea legs and stood before her, s have forgiven me?” 1l not daring to take her h. he murmu not have dared to do it."” She cast down her eyes and flushed. st man I ever met,” she sald. She took his hand in both hers, and gripped it with nerv- kind ous force. *“You said you liked poetry, when the first opportunity came. felt verses that ever came from me over that noble thing you tried to_do for a poor stranger like me.” Captain Kettle blushed like a mald. magazines?’ he asked. magazine offices. he shook her head sadly. would take any of my stuff.” It appeared that Miss Carnegie’s father had died since she and Kettle had last met, and the self left almost destitute. Buenos Ayres by an advertisement, but without finding and, sick at heart, had bougnt, with the last er scanty store of money, a cheap passage home in She would land in England entirely des- titute; and although she did not say this, spoke cheerfully act, Kettle was torn with pity for her But what, he asked himself with fierce scorn, could he do? He was penniless himself; he had a wife and fam- on him; and who was he to take this young, empl: of b this cattle boat. of the future; in state. fly dependin; unmarried “Do your three mates run this ship, captain?” asked Kettle, at his first and only interview with the cattle oymen She had been rl under his charge? boat’s captain. “They are handy fellows,” the captain answered. “If you should ask me, I should call them poor drivers. What for do they put in all the work themselves when there are that mob of deckhands and cattle-hands stand- ing around doing the gentlemen as though they were in the gallery of a theater?’ “There was some misunderstanding when the crew were shipped. They say they never signed on to handle dead_cattle.” “I've seen those kind of misunderstandin, captain, and I've started in to smooth them awa; Well?” said the captain of the cattle boat. Kettle, truculently, “‘they straight- If your mates agai struck. ‘Oh, with me,” said ened out so soon as ever 1 began to hit. knew their business they'd soon have that crew In hand n. “T don’t allow my mates to knock the men about. To ive them their due they wanted to; they were brou fn a school which would probably suit you, capt. three of them; but I don’t permit that sort of thing. a Christian man and I will not order my fellow men to be If the fellows refuse their duty, it lies between them and their consciences.” “‘As | tle to himself. “What I did Was a lib- erty, I know; but if 1 had not liked you so well, X should “You are the “The very kindest.” the girl whispered shyly, “I wrote the most heart. “For one of the “It was not published when I left England, and it had been sent back to me from four That was nothing new. They never irl had found her- lured out to gs before, f an old sailor had a conscience!" murmured Ket- “Well, captain, I'm no small plece of a Christian myself, but I was taught that whatever my hand findeth to do to do it with all my might, ing a lazy crew comes under that head. “T don’t want either your advice or your theol: G L8 wlisn'xt nhna!sheng;r here,”” said I(he,N.]e. tell you what I thought of your seamanship, tlun’of making a master’s ticket respected{) But I'll hold ,and I guess bash- ogy.” 29 'Hfle to and your no- A<, =P iwon my tongue on that. As it is I think I ought just to say I don’t consider this ship's safe, run the way she 1s.” The captain of "the cattle boat flushed darkly. He erked his head toward the ladder. “Get down off this ridge,” he said. “K¥hati ““You hear me! Get down off my bridge. If you've learnt anything about your profession, you must know this 1s private up here, and no place for blooming passengers.” Kettle glared and hesitated. He was not used to re- celving orders of this description, and the innovation did not please him. But for once in his life he submitted. Miss Carnegie was sitting under the lee of the deckhouse aft, Wwatching him, and somehow or other he did not choose to have a scene before her. It was all part of this strange new feeling which had come over him. He gripped his other tmpulses tight and went and sat bestde her. Perhaps of all the human freight that the cattle boat carried, Mr. McTodd was the only one person entirely happy. He had no watch to keep, no work to do; the mess- room was warm, stuffy and entirely to his taste; liquor was filen(g. and the official engineers of the ship were Scotch and ‘argumentative. He never came on deck for a Whifg of fresh air; never knew a moment’s tedium; he lived in a pleasant atmosphere of broad dialect, strong tobacco and toasting oil, and thoroughly enjoyed himself; though Wwhen the moment of trial came, and his thews and sinews and energies were wanted for the saving of human life, he quickly showed that this Capua had in no way sapped his efficiency. The steamer had carried foyl weather with her all the ¥ay across the Atlantic from the River Platte, as though it were a curse Inflicted for the cruelty of her stevedores. ;J':edre 18 no doubt that vigilance was dangerously slack- ed. A fog, too, which came down to cover the sea, stopped out all view of the sun, and compelled them for three days to depend on dead reckoning; and (after the event) it was :fkrlda strong current set the steamer unduly to the west- ard. Anyway, be the cause what it may, Kettle was pitched violently out of his bunk in the deep of one night, just after two bells, and from the symptoms which loudly ad- vertised themselves, it required no expert knowledge to tell that the vessel was beating her bottom out on rocks to the accompaniment of a murerously heavy sea. The en- gines stopped, steam began to blow off noisily from the es- capes, and .what with that and the cries of men and the clashing of seas and the beating of iron and the beast cries from the cattle decks, the din was almost enough to split the ear. And then the steam siren burst out into one vast bellow of pain, which drowned all the other noises as though they had been children’s whispers. «Kettle slid on coat and trousers over his pajamas, and :em and thumped at a door at the other side of the alley- vay. “Miss Carnegle?” *Yes.” “Dress_quickly. “T am dressin “Get finished when it's time.” It is all very well to be cool on these occasions, but sometimes the race s to the prompt. Captain Kettle made his way up on deck against a green avalanche of water, which was cascading down the companionway. No shore was in sight, the ship had backed off after she had struck and was now rolling heavily in a deep trough. She was low in the water and every second wave swept her. No one seemed to be in command. A dim light showed Kettle one lifeboat wrecked In the davits, and a disorderly mob of men trying to lower the other. But some one let o the stern fall so that the boat shot down perpendicular- v, and the next wave smashed the lower half of it into splinters. The frenzied crowd left it to try the port quar- ter boat and Kettle raced them across the streaming decks and got just to the davits. He plucked a greenheart belaying pin from the rail and laid about him viciously. ‘Back, you scum,” he shouted, “get back or I'll smash In every face among you. Good Lord, isn't there a mate or a man left on this stinking farmyard? Am I to keep off all this two-legged cattle by myseif?” They fought on, the black water swirling walst deep among them with évery roll, the siren bellowing for hel; overhead, and the ship sinking under thelr reet; and grad- uvally, with the frenzy of despair, the men drove Kettle back’against the rall while others of them cast off the falls of the quarterboat’s tackles preparatory to_lettin her drop. But then out of the darkness up came McTod and the steamer’s mate, both shrewd hitters and men not afraid to use thelr skill, and once more the tables were urned. The other quarterboat had been lowered and swamped; this boat was the only one remaining. “Now, Mac,” said Kettle, “help the mate take charge, and murder every one that interferes. Get the boat in the water and fend off. Tll be off below and fetch up Miss Carnegle. We must put some hurry fn it. The old_box hasn’t much longer to swim. Take the lady ashore and sea she comes to no harm. * sald McTodd, “and we'll keep a seat for aptain.*” h it, and then wait, I'll come for you ou needn’t bhother,” said Kettle. place in this sort of a téa party.” He splashed off across the streaming decks, and found the cattle boat’s captain sheltering under the lee of the companion wringing his hands. “Out, you blitherer,” he shouted, “and save your mangy life. Your ship’s gone now: you can’t play hash with her any more.” After which pleasant speech he worked his way below, half swimming, half wading, and once more knocked at Miss Carnegie’s floor. BEven in this moment of extremity he did not dream of going in un- asked. She came out to him in the half-swamped alleyway fully dressed. “Is there any hope?” he asked. ‘We'll get ashore, don't you fear.” He clapped an arm around her waist and drew her strongly on through the dark and the swirling water to- ward the foot of the companfon. “Excuse me, miss.” he said, “thls is not familiarity, But I have got the firmer sealegs, and we must hurry They pressed up the stair, battling with great green cascadés of water, and galned the dreadrul turmoil on deck. A few weak stars gleamed out above the wind, and showed the black wave-tops dimly. Already some of the cattle had been swept overboard, and were swimming about like horned beasts of a nightmare. The din of surf came to them among other noises, but no shore was v ible. The steamer had backed off the reef on which she had struck, and was foundering in deep water. It was in- deep a time for hurry. It was plain that she had very few more minutes to swim. Each sea now made a clean breach over her and a pas- sage about the decks was a thing of infinite aanger. But Kettle was resourceful and strong and he had a grip round Miss Carnegie and a hold on something solid when the waters drenched on him, and he contrived never to be wrested entirely from his hold. But when he had worked his way aft, a disappoint- ment was there ready for him. The quarterboat was gone. McTodd stood against one of the davits, cool and philo- sophical as evar. N “You infernal Scotchman, you’ve let them take' away the boat from you.!” Kettie snarled. “I should have thought you could have kept your end up with a mangy crowd like that.” & Use vour eyes,” said the engineer. “The boat's in the wash below there, at the end of the tackles with her side stove In. She drowned the three men that were lowered in her because they’d no’ sense enough to fend off."” “That comes of setting a lot of farmers to work a steamboat.” “‘Aweel” said McTodd, “steamers have been lost be- fore, and I have it in mind, captain, that you've helped.” “By James, if you don't carry a civil tbngue, you drunken Geordle, I'll knock some teeth down to cover it.” ‘Oh, T owed you that,” sald McTodd; “but now we're quits. T bided here, Captain Kettle, beemuse I thought maybe you'd like to swim the leddy off to the shore, and at that I can bear a useful hand.” “Mac,” sald Kettle, “I take back what I sald about you're being Scotch. You're a good soul—"’ He turned to the girl, still shouting to make his voice carry above the “I take no man’s clash of the seas and the bellow of the siren and the noises of thead ing ship. “It's our only chance, miss, swimming. The lifebuoys from the bridge are all gone. I looked. The hands will have taken them. There'll be a lot of timber floating about when sbe goes down, and we'll be best clear of that. Will you trust to us?” “I trust you in everything,” she said. Deeper and deeper the steamer sank in her wallow. The lower decks were swamped by this, and the miserable cattle were either drowned In their stalls or washed out of her. There was no needhrur the ithre[;:g):x;n‘?é fi-’éi’z just let go their hold, and the next inco v P them clogar of the steamer’s s‘gur deck and spurned them one hundred yards from her side. They found themselves among a herd of of floating cattle, some drowned, some swimming frenziedly; and with the inspiration of the®moment laid hold of a couple of beasts which were tangled together by a halter, and so supported themselves without further exertion. It was no use swimming for the present. They could not tell v,'hxch WB{ the shore lay. And it behooved them to reserve all thelr energies for the morning, so well as the numbing cold and the water would let them. Of a sudden the bellow of the steamer’s siren ceased, and a pang went through them as though they had lost a friend. Then came a dull, muffled explosion. And then a huge, ragged shape loomed up through the night like some vast monument, and sank swiftly straight downward out of sight beneath the black, tumbled sea. “Poor old girl,” said McTodd, spitting out the sea water, “they’'d a fine keg of whisky down in her mess- room.” “Poor devil of a skipper,” said Kettle, “It’s to be hoped he’s drownéd out of harm’s way, or it'll take lying to keep him any rags of his ticket. The talk died out of them after that, and the miseries of the situation closed in. The water was cold, but the air was piercing, and so they kept their bodies submerged, each holding on to the bovine raft, and each man sparing a few fingers to keep a grip on the girl. One of the beasts they clung to qulckry drowned; the other, strange to say, kept its nostrils above water, swimming strongly, and in the end came alive to the shore, the only four-footed occu- pant of the steamer to be saved. At the end of each minute it seemed to them that they were too bruised and numb to hang on another sixty sec- onds; and yet the next minute found them stili alive and dreading its successor. The sea moaned around them, mourning the dead; the fleet of drowned cattle surged helplessly to this way and to that, bruising them with rude collisions; and the chill bit them to the bone, merci- fully numbing their pain and anxiety. Long before the dawn the girl had sunk into a stupor, and was only held from sinking by the nervous fingers of the men; and then the men themselves were merely automata, completing their task with a legacy of will. ‘When from somewhere out of the morning mists a fisherboat sailed up, manned by ragged, kindly Irish all three were equally lost to consciousness and all three were hauled over the gunwale in one continuous, dripping string. The grip of the men’s fingers had endured too long to be loosened for a sudden call such as that. They were taken ashore and tended with all the care poor homes could give,-and the men, used to hardships, recovered with a dose of warmth and sleep. Miss Carnegie took longer to recover, and In fact for a week lay very near to death. Kettle stayed on In the vil- lage, making almost hourly inquiries for her. He ought to have gone away to seek fresh employment; he ought to have gone back to his wife and children, and he upbralded himself bitterly for his neglect of these dutie But still he could not tear himself away. For the future—well, he dreaded to think what might happen in the future. But at last the girl was able to sit up and see him, and he visited her, showing all the deference an ambassador might offer to a queen. I may go so far as to say that he went into the cottage quite infatuated; he came out of it disillusioned. She listened to his tale of the wreck with interest and surprise. She was almost startled to hear that others, in- cluding the captain and two of the mates, were saved from the disaster besides themselv but at the same time un- feignedly pleased. And she was pleased also to hear that Kettle was subpenaed to give evidence before the forth- coming inquiry. “I am glad of that,” sh said, “because I know you will speak with a free mind. You have told me so many times how incompetent the captain was, and now you will be able to tell it to the proper authorities.” Kettle looked at her blankly. “But that was different,” he sald. “I can’t say to them what I said to you.” "“'h{ not? Look what misery and suffering and loss of life the man fhas caused. -He isn't fit to commend a . ““But, miss,” sald Kettle, “it's his living. He’s been rbrought up to seafaring, and he isn’t fit for anything else. You wouldn’t have me send out the man to starve? Be- sides I'm a shipmaster myself, and you wouldn't have me try to take away another master's ticket? The cleverest captain afloat might meet with misfortune, and he's al- ways got to think of that when he's put up to give evi- dence against his fellows.” ““Well, what are you going to do, then?” *Oh, We've got together a tale, and when the old man 1s put up on his trial the mates and I will stick to it through thick and thin. You an bet that we are not g0ing to swear away his tieket" “His ticket?” ‘“Yes: his master’s certificate, his means of livelthood.” I think it's wrong,” she said, excitedly, inally wrong. And besides, you said you didn’t like the man. T don’t. I dislike him cordially. But that's nothing to do with the case. I've my own honor to think of, Miss, How'd I feel if I went about knowing I'd done my best to ruin a brother captain for good and always?” “You are wrong.” she repeated, vehemently. “The man is incompetent by your own saying, and, therefore, he should suffer.” Kettle's heart chilled. “Miss Carnegie,” he sald. “I am disappointed in you. I thought from your poetry that you had feelings; I thought you had charity, but I find that you are cold. “And you,” she retorted, “you that I had set up for myself as an’ideal of most of the manly virtues, do you think I feel no disappointment when I hear that you are deliberately proposing to be a liar?” “I am no liar,” he said sullenly. “I have most faults, but not that. This is different; you do not understand. It defend one’s fellow shipmaster before an ed to the pillow in her chair and hid her £0,” she sald, “ge!. I wish I had never met you. I thought you were so good and so brave and so hon- est, and when it comes to the pinch you are just like the st. Go! Go! I wish I tnought I could ever forget you!'" “You say you don’t understand,” said Kettle. “I think you deliberately won't understand, miss. You remember that I said I was disappointed in you, and I stick to that now. You make me remember that I have got a wife and family I am fond of. You make me ashamed I have not gone to them before.” He went to the door and opened it. “But I do not think I shall ever forget.” he said, “how much I cared for you . Good-by, miss.” “Good-by,” 'she sobbed from her pillow. “T wish T could think you are right, but perhaps it is best as It is." In the village street outside was McTodd. clothed in rasping serge and inclined to be sententious. ‘“They've whisky here,” he said, with a jerk of the thumb. “Irish whisky that's got a Smoky taste that's rather alluring when once vou've got over the first dislize. I'm out o siller mysel’ or I'd stand you a glass, but if ye be in funds I cqutd guide ve to the place.” Kettle was half tempted, but with a wrench he said “No,” adding that If he once started he might not know when_to stop. “Quite right” sald the engineer, “you're quite (hic) right, Skipper. A man with an Inclination to level himself th the beasts that perish should always be abstemious.” - sfle sat against a wayside fence and prepared for sleep. “Iike me,” he added, solemnly, and shut his eyes. “No,” sald Kettle to himself, “I won't forget it that way. Iguess I can manage without. She pretty well cured me herself, and a sight of the missis will do the rest.” [SXoYoXoXoYoXo OO Koo oY OROXORCHOROROROROROLORCJOOROJORORCRORCROROROR OO oo o ofoofoof oo o oo oRooJoRoToYoYofofolofolc oo fooRofo Jototo) [OXoXCICHCAOXONOROROXOROROJONOROXORORC K | HOW CANNIBALS SMOKE OUT A WITCH. FIRM bellef in witchcraft is one witch. They will brook no interference pard skin and carrying an of the characteristics that, de- tribes. The Zulus are probably hundred thousand of them dwell just English, and of late years, the Ameri- as the garden spot of Africa. The Zulus come to Durban, the capital, learn the eral customs, laws and religion of the whites, and then—return to their native in this practice. spite all civilizing Influences, 18 chief is taken il it is attributed to the still common to all South African evil Influence of the “Amaggwira” and his permission is always asked to per- 5 the most intelligent race of blacks form the “umhlaho” (smelling out for to be found to-day on the globe. Five witcheraft). We were tramping (writes an eye-witness) in the southeastern north of the colony of Natal, which the part of Zululand some months ago, and put up one night at the house of the cans, have developed, until it is known only white man in the wide radius of country. He kept a little store of gen- supplies, tools, sugar, salt and bread. About dusk the natives began dropping in, heath and put to death some alleged the men wearing a cloak made of leo- When & prominent bt 2 breechcloth, young chief to guide us there. such as agricultural- p,.oyie “like our corn. signal from one there was a simultane- ous “bang” and clatter of the javelins, whereupon the circle began to move around slowly, the women crooning a weird dirge and clapping their ha.ud_' the while. This is called “Ukwombela, or getting the first line on the witch. Suddenly there was a movement in one part of the circle, and through the line sprang the priest, his face streaked with white paint and wearing a pair of horns. He began to go through the most extraordinary contortions, strik- ing himself with a knobkerry and spin- ning round on one foot. The women became more violent all the time, screaming to the “Imishologo’” (spirits of their ancestors) to reveal the witch. ‘When the priest had wrought himself up to the point where he seemed about to collapse he abruptly stopped and re- tired to his assistants. “He is naming the witch,” explained our guide, his eyes strained, while he fairly gasped for breath. The silence was intense and the “ moment thrillingly tragic. The priest walked into the middle of the circle again to the beating of the drums, and looking all about the circle twice, finally fixed his gaze in the oppo- assegal and site direction from us. Every eye fol- a shield, the women clothed in little lowed it. We could not hear what he said, but that part of the circle fell We learned that there was to be a back, leaving one poor wretch standing “smelling out” next day to discover alone. who was responsible for the cattle dy- ing at a village about five miles to the on the witch and tore off his charms, north, and made an agreement with a bracelets, his cuross or shield, and took After this the whole camp pounced his weapons. At the same time a chief ‘We reached the village about 3 o'clock came over to us and said that “white in the afternoon and found the per- man has no right to stay here longer,” formance already in progress. In the and suggested to us to leave imme- middle of the circle were a dozen men diately. toggzed out with the leaves of palm trees and the foliage of a cereal called PR, Don't forget that worry kills assurely Six of them had buffalo hide drums 28 consumption. The only difference suspended from the shoulder; the oth- IS that you can break yourself of the ers carried bundles of assegais. At a worry habit A. B.—Well, sir, it's like this, thera. I'm all of a tremble! Fleet Surgeon—There doesn't seem much wrong with you, my man. What's the matter? sin I eats well, an’ I drinks well, an’ I sleeps well; but when I sees & Jab of work-—