The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 25, 1903, Page 3

Qi il =\ N =2 = Z7 | cia up which he had climbed oblivious to its awful thorns, the other from the bush. But Achmet, the poor wretch who had been running madly forward in the track of the rhinoceros, was smashed as by the biow of an express train. The brute's greater horn had gone through his back, and then lifting its head, it had tossed him ten yards behind it. The man's body was mangied to a jelly and his neck brok- en in his fall. The discharge of the big gun had, of course, frightened the game which Roy end his friend were stalking; it had also summoned Lord Winstone, who quickly appeared to help if possible, being pretty sure that Meldrum must have comse sud- denly upon something more inviting or more pressing than the buffalo. He heard the story, assisted to remove from the dead man's corpse his accou- terments, then directed the awe-stricken bearers by bury their comrade and read them & sermon on obedience and cour- as they did so. ‘Never forget this lesson,” he sald. “Remember the reward of him who flles from his master in the hour of need. Do your duty and all will be well; fail in it and death will reward you—death at the hand of our enemies or in the jaws of fierce beasts.” This sudden destruction of their serv- ant naturally changed the plans of the party. Three of the remaining bearers were quite unnerved by the sudden death of their companion, and clearly would be of little further use; while even had that not been the case, seldrum might have hesitat to purs sport after this un- event. He himself was unin- red save for a tremendous bruise on his right shoulder, They returned slowly toward camp, end Winstone, carrying his own heavy rifie, followed the track of the galloping rhinoceros until it reached high reeds that rose to a tall man's shoulder. The entrance of the beast wi marked by a wide downtreading of this growth, but no drop of blood or other evidence that Meldrum’s shot had st-uck her appeared. “End on, the horn of a rhino shields bis brain,” explained the elder sports- man. *“Now, we'll climb the bluff again and ses what that reed patch looks like from above. With luck we may have her yet.” They passed the water hole and then began to climb the steep ground beyond it. Raised a couple of hundred feet, his lordship swept the ground below and satisfied himself that the spot in which the murderous foe was now concealed extended for some fifty yards in one di- rection and a hundred in the other. It was surrounded by open ground and no or other obstacle approached & quarter of a mile of it. Lord tone shut up his glass with a snap. he brute’s there and to be bagged.,” sall, “You've had enough for one day, Roy, so call a halt and look on, and I'll take Yosef down with me and stir her up. The other men are all showing the white feather. They're only born to be beasts of burden; but they’'ll get braver presently.” “If you go I go,” answered Meldrum. “I'm all right, and I owe the beggar one he . h two guns, she should be a cer- tainty. Either you hurt her, in which case she’ll be on the lookout and dan- gerous, or else you missed her, in which case her burst of temper at being waked up is over, and she's very likely to de going to sleep again. We'll give her half an hour, then start and revenge the poor devil she smashed. Look through my glasses and tell me i#f you see any buphaga birds clustering over the place.” “Yet sald Meldrum, after a careful inspection. *“The birds are there; and, what's more,” he added, “I belleve I can see the beast itself lying down.” He pointed to the spot, but his friend would not commit himself to a definite declaration. Together with the native, Yosef, and Blackbird, a practiced hun- ter, they set out, each carrying his heaviest gun, while the servant held their eight-bores, and the expresses were left behind on the bluff. In twenty minutes they had reached the reed clump and begun their search. Then, gulded by the fluttering of birds, the proceeded inch by inch until a well-worn and miry wallow in the heart of the brake showed evidences of regular occupation. “With luck we may find more one,” whispered Lord Winstone. *“But it's your first shot, so come along. If the birds only keep quiet ycu'll find her as easy to kill as a milch cow. In ten minutes the gray bulk of the rhl- noceros was distinctly visible through the grass. Two birds were busy picking the ticks off her; the rest had fluttered some distance away. “She’ll run up wind,” whispered Win- stone, “so you stand here and give her the shoulder shot as soon as she’s on her legs. I'll go along & little; you could al- most walk up to the brute now and kick her while she sleeps the sleep of the just! Tell Yosef to shout and fling a stone at her when I wave my hat. That'll wake her up.” A few moments later loud shouts dis- turbed the silence, from where Yosef stood by a little mimosa on rising ground, and rhipo bicornis arose in her wrath. Her forehead was spattered with gore and her horns were still red with the life blood of unhappy Achmet. As Winstone had predicted., the beast prepared to go off up wind and presented & fair shoulder shot to Roy. The heavy rifie crashed out, and rhino, with a smashed shoulder blade and four ounces of lead in its heart, fell to rise no more. The delighted hunter pushed forward end was just approaching his fallen prey when a second shot echocd close at hand and the thyndering charge of another rhi- noceros made the ground shake. It came galloping on, bleeding from the mouth, and ran straight into its fallen compan- fon, then recovered itself and whirled round and round helplessly, after the manner of those beasts when shot through the lungs. It did not see Meldrum, who was with- in five yards of it, upon the other side of the dead rhinoceros, but suddenly mark- ing Blackbird, who stood not fifty yards off, it put its head down, its tail up and charged him, while blood spouted upward through its nostrils. Yosef fired and fled; while the negro hunter also fired twice, missed with his first bullet, which screamed dangerously close to Roy, but staggered the enemy with & second shot, and then, showing wonderful ability and nerve, swung him- self into the fork of the young mimosa tree behind him and prepared to mark the direction of the wounded beast when it regained the reeds. He reckoned without his host, for his colgn of vantage lay directly in the road of the rhinoceros, and a moment later, with head down and quite oblivious as to where he was going, the great crea- ture had struck Blackbird's mimosa fair- Iy and squarely and swept the slight tree before it like & straw. It snapped off two feet from the ground and the huntsman aloft came down on hands and knees upon the back of the rhinoceros. This was probably about the best place than he could have fallen upon, as in another moment he tumbled to earth clear of the creature and out of reach of molestation. But rhino's days were dong his last mimosa leaf eaten, his last rollick in the red mud ended. After the collision with the tree he slowed down, then staggered on his knees, still blowing blood, and finally rolled over upon his side and kicked away his life in a few mighty gasps and struggles. Lord Winstone arrived well pleased, for the creature proved & fine bull, half as large sgain as the cow which Meldrum had slain. His front horn was twenty- eight inches, his second horn but three inches shorter. It transpired that the hunter, all eyes for his friends and ready to help Roy In a moment if necessary, had nearly walked on top of the second beast, shot it in the shoulder at a range of t¢ yards, then leaped aside as rhino charged the smoke and shouted to his companions, in time to warn them of the oncoming dan- ger. Now they returned to the bluff from which their other bearers had witnessed the scene below and, later on, having re- gained camp, sent half a dozen men with Yoset for the horns of the dead monsters. To carry them forward was out of the question, but the trophies were buried two feet under ground, at the camp, in hope that did the expedition return by the same route, it might be possible to re- cover them in the.future. % That night, while Bessle lay asleep in her snug little tent and the wood fires glimmered in the camp Roy sat and smoked and listened to Winstone, while the Zanzibaris, save the watchmen on duty, slept and snored under the stars. CHAPTER XI. The Rubeho Mountains lay as a mist on the southwestern horizon as Roy Mel- drum’s expedition set forth upon its first foot march at dawn on the following day. The road proceeded not far from the slaughtered rhinoceroses, and as the col- umn passed within 200 yards of them a few started to see the sight while a halt was called. Among these were Bessle and Tracy Fain, but they quickly returned to report that the dead monsters had at- tracted other attention than that of vul- tures and hyenas. They had been sys- tematically cut up and their hides were removed, doubtless for making shields and utensils by the fortunate native find- ers. ““We are now in a land where doubt begins to exist aa to the nature and dis- position of the aborigines,” said Lord Winstone. “Fifteen miles or so of open country lle ahead and then we come to the forest. All's well until we get there; but once in it danger hides behind ev tree, and the man who falls out or strays to right or left is as good as dead.” The sullen green fringe of woods was reached in two days, and his Lordship, at Meldrum's request, solemnly addressed the column, urged every member of it to take no risk, assured them all of the awful danger and almost certaln gleath that awalted the wanderer, and pointed out how disobedience would most cer- tainly be followed by a terrible punish- ment. “’It is not from the anger of your lead- ers that you will suffer, but by the heavy kand of Allah,” he concluded. ‘“Here any error, any act of folly, must be in- stantly punished by nature, and the sav- age deities of these wild places. Obey, and all will be well with us; disobey and the hyenas will gnaw your bones; polson will rot you; death will make his dally feast of you.” With this grave caution, the expedition set forth, and In haif an hour, led by Meldrum, the ploneers were hard at it, cutting, chopping and tearing a way through the tropic vegetation. Roy him- self labored at this heavy task until urged to desist. The more methodical Zanzibaris, though possessed of half his strength, yet made better progress, and, foot by foot, the expedition wormed itself ln!'o the gloom of the woods. Under thelr luxuriance no sun could Penetrate. Aloft, indeed, sun glints like stars twinkled in the dense foliage, but it was only on rare occaslons that the bewlldering, seething, fighting armies of trees and creepers, hosts and para- sites, thinned out to give the sweeter air and purer light any opportunity to penetrate. At such places, where some tres that was young when Christ was hung on the cross had fallen in its old age to the lightning and tempest, and now lay extended, a bleached giant whose rot- ten wood fed a million ants and crawl- ing centipedes, at such spots a mist of golden sunlight indeed winnowed through the woods, and aloft small apes leaped and chattered and parrots screamed and flaunted their gaudy col- ors as they climbed among the scarlet berries of the phryna and hunted for nuts and fruits. But glimpses of such @ sort were rare and progress proved slow indeed — a belt of forest some fifty miles across occupying fifteen days in transit. 5 On the third day, dead to the warn- ings poured out for their benefit, two Zanzibaris, Salem and Ferez, weary of the rations of rice, plantains and plan- tain flour, fell out and went foraging for mushrooms and wood beans to vary the monotony of thelr food. When camp was pitched both men ‘were missing, and not until the follow- ing day did one crawl into the protected circle of the encampment. Ferez had been slain and fallen to a dozen simul- taneous spears; Salem had escaped with life, but was severely wounded in the thigh and arm, He described the natives as of dark color and great stature. See them he could not untll they were almost upon him, for they pressed their bodles upon the ground like snakes and hid themselves with extraordinary cunning in shadows or at the roots of trees. Often in his struggle to get back to camp he had passed near a believed the man a stock or & sudden movement and the scream of & spfear had convinced him of his error. Salem had slain two savages and his life was saved by the fact that he had never allowed his rifie out of his hand; but he explained that the other unfortu- nate, weary of the weight of it, actually set his weapon against a trec stem and wandéred, unarmed, until death suddenly overtook him. Five days after the entry into the for- est of Roy's expedition came upon a na- tive village in a clearing. The savages had fled to a man, long before Meldrum and his party arrived; but a woman, lurking In a plantain grove, was captured and brought before the explorers. Lord Winstone could not make her un- derstand Swahill, but the Arab, Raalt, whose private slave-dealing adventures had acquainted him with divers different dialects, found out the woman was a Ma- pora; that the main stronghold of the tribe lay right ahead, far beyond the for- est, and that her people were very strong and would certainly show fight. “They know the fire medicine and do not fear it,” sald the wi “They will an- HE SUNDAY CALL. W swer your guns with 10,000 spears, for they fight to the death against those Who would take their children into slavery.” Meldrum tried hard to explain that his party had nothing to do with the slave raiders, but the woman evidently disbe- lieved him. Finally, however, she con- sented to proceed to her friends, who lay hidden two miles off in the forest. A necklace of large glass beads was given her, and a present, which she promised should be conveyed to the mouarch of the Mapora, whose headquarters were twenty days’ march from the village in the wood, ‘was also Intrusted to her. She was prom- ised further handsome gifts it her kin, Kanatto, should prove friendly. The woman departed and, at any rate, 8o far®as her own little community was concerned, the gifts did good, for soon the savages came flocking back fearless- 1y, helped the Zanzibaris to cut plantains and showed great friendship. Their head man—a grandson of Kanat- to’s—assured Meldrum that his grandfat! er, once convinced that the column ha nothing to do with the cyrsed Arab slave traders, would welcome it gladly in so far as his own territory and nation were concerned. Then Meldrum received wel come gifts in the shape of two goats and & fowl. Bessie had the latter; it made three meals for her, and was an invalu- able change. At the Mapora village a halt of two days was called, and plantains sufficient for ten days’ provisions per man secured at reasonable cost of beads and wire. Such a store, with an occasional dip into the reserve stores of tinned meats and milk for the white men, would en- able the expedition to reach the head- quarters of Kanatto, supposing that mon- arch returned a favorable answer to their petition. During the brief halt at this spot the natives made great mystery about a for- est god known as the Elephant spirit, who had his home a few miles distant, near a deserted village. The spirit, which was very powerful, had been seen by hun- dreds of adventuro! Mapora and ap- peared well known to the whole tribe, though whether a good or evil demon none could tell, It appeared in shape like a man, but of huge stature, and while some natives maintained that it sat motionless and made no sign, others declared that they had seen it signal them to depart from ity presence, and others again solemnly swbre that the monster had leaped to- ward them and chased them from the for- est with unearthly cries. The Elephant Spirit was saild to be green in color and of forbidding aspect. It dwelt where the elephants were most wont to congregate and was supposed to be their guardian and protector. No Ma- pora would have dreamed of attempting 1o slay an elephant within a considerable distance qf the green monster's domain. These things were explained to Win- stone and Meldrum and while listening with all respect to the narrative as told by Kanatto's grandson, they yet permit- ted themselves some doubt in the privacy of their own tent after the chleftain re- tired. “I had suspected a big ape,” sald his lordship, “but for the fact that no such thing s recorded hereabout. Chimpanzees have bken known to grow to an awful size, and gorillas are of course still lazger, but the last named monster is a west coast customer, and though chimpanzees are reported pretty far east, yet none have ever been heard of, to my knowl- edge, near this district. If they are here, my zoology is all wrong.” “Beside, the brute is green.” “That's nothing. These people are vagueness itself about colors. Some nig- ger once vowed the thing, atever- it may be, was green; then all the rest stuck to it forever afterward. The legend appears to me too widespread to be whol- ly false. Nine-tenths of their talk Is lies, but there's some more or less interesting foundation in fact for most of their sto- ries, I fancy; and as to-morrow will be our last halt of any duration for a con- siderable time, I'll go and see if I can get an interview with their prize hobgoblin.” Next morning Roy, much to his surprise, had a touch of fever, and Fain, not car- ing for the proposed excursion, stopped with him, while Lord Winstone, Dan Hook, with three Zanzibari carriers, two native hunters of the Mapora and Black- bird, set out to the regions ruled by the elephant spirit. The aborigines led them a trying jour- ney over a deserted clearing, where the road extended along slippery tree trunks, above fetid marshes and through gor- geous tangles of climbing convolvulus, or- chids and dense undergrowth. At last the guides arrived at a little patch of plantains and refused to proceed. The place was the site of an old village, but had been deserted for countless years, and the ruined huts were now absolutely obliterated under tangles and torrents of wild living things. Only here and there through masses of lush green stuck up the rotten, sup-bleached . gkeletons of poles and props indicating ?e work ot man; but all soon promised to vanish, for nature had already sown the clearing with Young trees which rose above their ancestors and dominated the last evidence of man's presence, Elephant tracks were plainly visible on the edge of the plantain patch, and, through the deep silence of the desolate place, their heavy bodies could be heard crashing through the woods not a quarter of a mile off. But Winstone was after the green epirit, not the pachyderms it was sup- posed to protect, and he had to pursue his investigation alone, for even the Zan- gibari boys and Blackbird now dedlined to accompany him. The welirdness of the place had awakened fear in them, and the latter said: “Big game me know and savage beasts me fear not, but what is dis? Who be- fore or since de Prophet hab heard ob a glant green elephant spirit more huge dan de tallest man, more vast dan Bana Mkuba, our Great Master?” “All right—as you please. You'll come, Dan, of course?” But Mr. Hook was not at all sure. “It's like this,” he sald, scratching his head. *Blame me if I doan’t reckon th heathen toads to be in the right for onc I ban't. 'feared of anything, in reaso but theer’ good deal in these here plaguy plantations as have made me puzzle my brains since I fust comed in ‘em. They'm a darned sight too much out o repair for my lkin’, an’ & man’s a fool to run any risks in a God-forgotten place where he's purty nigh the awnly respectable citizen in a million square miles. What's true and what ban’t true 'twould puzzle the devil to say, beggin pardon for mentioning of un; an’ I'd so goon belleve In & green man twenty feet high as not. Awnly sort of green man I onderstands is that swinging on the sign of a public house; but you won't find nothin’ o' that sort here, else I'd be the first to come along with e, like a good Christian man.” “Well, give me the four-bore and wait, all of you, untll I return. If I fire, you'd better push on after me; if not, fire your- selves every ten minutes or 5o to teil me where you are; and fire in the alr, mind.” / spotted like toadstools, He departed alons, pushed forward through the purple stems of the plan- tains, and soon found himself in unut- terable loneliness and desolation. Three hundred yards from the starting point the shining stems and tattered follage of the grove thinned out somewhat, and after proceeding some fifty yards further the explorer discoveréd himself In an open space ringed about with trees and having some rising land at the center. A hundred yards distant rusty masses of ironstons preceded an undulation in the flat country, and toward the base of ons tall block his Lordship descried an ob- Ject which made him rub his eyes Wil frank aniazement. . Near the foot of the rock, his back against it, and shadowed entirely from the sun's light by a natural grotto in the stone, sat an enormous man or aps. Its stature was colossal, though smaller by far than the natives had described; its naked body was bright green; its hands ‘were folded over Its breast; its misshaped head was bent forward, and wild, snaky hair, also of vivid green, fell luxuriantly around {it, while pressed upon its crown was a wreath of flowers. So natural appeared the pose that Win- stone, contrary to his reason, almost ex- pected to ses the huge hermit rise, stand upon its feet and approach him; but the thing did not do so. .Its position was curi- ous, for it sat fn a sort of niche on the red sandstone boulder. There was no sound but the tinkle of falling water ands .the distant {ntermittent echo of great beasts, with an occasional crack like a pistol shot, where an elephant had broken & heavy bough or young tree. .ul:n :,m midst of this strange kingdom, motionless and alone, with un- couth face and distorted limbs, relgned this huge green monster in mortal shape. Lord Winstone got out his fleld glasses, without which he never hunted, and trained them on the grotto. He stared awhile, and then his breath left his lungs In & gasp of surprise, as he returned the Elasses to their case and pushed forward. To reach the Elephant Spirit proved difficult, for its grotto in the mass of Btone opened twelve feet above the ground and could only be approached after a difficult climb up ladders of wild Vine. TFalling water gushed in a beady stream from the cavity aloft, and its path was densely coated with small and slippery vegetation, but the wanderer finally reached his goal and stood Leside the huge sitting figure. It moved not, nor had it moved through years unnumbered and unknown, for it was the skeleton of a man densely coated with more than half a century’s growth of tough green moss and apparently bound together by branches of a small water-loving and flowering creeper, which, falllng in a stream from the skull, suggested green hair bound about with bright blossoms. Lord Winstone assumed that no man would have perished in that position so naturally, and some investigation showed that the corpse had been artificlally placed within this funeral niche. Scraping the heavy growth of moss from its skull and neck, he discovered that the bones were all fastened together with stout bark thread. This had held except in the case of the left foot, and the little spring, which, as it bubbled, from the ironstone, had spattered the dead body, served to explain the dense and close accumulation of moss and green lichen on every bone. The dead man’s skull, in the eye of which a yellow orchid flourished, was of negroid type, but extraordinarily large; his only companions in solitude me unwholesome looking efts, which crawled quickly away to their fastnesses In the ferny pool of the spring. Otheg evidences enabled the discoverer to arrive at a theory of this gigantic corpse, for scattered about, each coated as thickly with dense and rank mosses as the skeleton itself, lay various articles, which superstition had thers buried with the defunct savage. A glimmer of red rust was all that re- mained of his spearheads, and the han- dles were nearly rotted a , though enough remained to identify them, while an earthern Jjar, doubtless containing malwa, or native beer, in the far past, now stood at the hand of the Elephant Spirit, fyll of dead wood and rank trail- ing vegetation. Lord Winstone had discovered the quaint burial place of a chief and solved the prime mystery of the Mapora. But his Lordship knew the character of the natives too well to present them with this rational explanation of their precious tradition. Instead, he patted the moss down on the rotted bones again and stuff- ed the skeleton's broken ribs and jaws with living green things; then, captur- ing one of the hideous newts, fully a foot in length, he made it prisoner, worked his way cautiously down the precarious ladder of wild vine stems and soon reach- ed safety. At this moment a sound of the first dl tant_gun signal reached the explorer's ears, and, though the report came- from further oft than he expected, he set his face for it steadlly and pushed forward as quickly as possible. Ten minutes later the gun fired again, and he corrected his line of march by ! but then, within the space of three mi utes from the last discharge, came a sud- den fusillade, the shots following each other in rapid succession and sometimes simultaneously. Fearing a savage attack. he sped for ward at a remarkable pace, considering his heavy rifie and the. nature of the ground, but long before he could regain his companions all firing ceased and he moderated his pace, feeling that for his own safety a careful approach to the scene of action must now be essential. The road his little party pursued from the main camp of the expedition had been carefully blazed and the hunter was not fearful of losing it, even without the na- tive guldes, but to traverse it alone, sup- posing there had been treachery and his friends slain, would be to court death. Permitting himself no more gloomy re- flections until the realization of his fears, Lord Winstone proceeded with the utmost caution, and it was only a loud shout of two voices raised in laughter that caused him to improve his pace with a lighter heart. A strange scene met him, for his friends had Indeed been invaded during his ab- sence, though not by the -Mapora. A small herd of elephants, pursuing their resistless march, had cruhqld out of the banana plantation within fifty yards of the waiting party and Dan Hook. ‘Without a moment’s reflection the mar- iner had opened fire and attracted fhe un- pleasant attention of a bull who received the shot in the flank and promptly charged. Far from hastening to his rescue tha two Mapora, confident that the green Elephant Spirit would take terrible toll for this outrage, fled with screams of fear and the three coast men wavered, then ran after the natives. Blackbird alone stood firm and it was lucky for Hook that he did so, for the sailor must have been overtaken and de- stroyed in a few moments had not the hunter, with one of his master's rifles, brought the infuriated beast to the ground. With perfect nerve hs awalted the charge, and as the advancing ele- phant hesitated a moment at thirty yards between its two enemies, shifted his aim like lightning from the body shot he had meant to fire and pointed his rifle at its head. One vulnerable spot on the forehead, ‘where the bone is thin, was his mark, and as he fired, the instant fall of the big brute showed his alm was true. At the same moment the Zanzibaris, who had fled, began discharging thelr Weap- ons, and the forest echoed to the rattle of guns and the shrill trumpet of the stampeded elephantsa, ‘When Winstone arrived Hook had scaled the huge mass of his fallen foe and was dancing-a hornpipe on it. Blackbird clam- ored for the tusks, which proved a heavy palr, and would have amply repald him for his pluck and straight shooting; but Winstone, when he heard of what had happened, absolutely refused permission to take a halr of the elephant into camp. ““We dare not,” he sald. “As it is, you cannot remove the ivory without help, it we brought a fragment into camp it might lead to grave trouble. I shall not forget this day’s work, and the Master will not forget it, and Mr. Hook will not forget it, either, my good Blackbird, but you must walt for your reward until later. We dare not tell the Mapora that we have slain one of the Spirit's elephants. They would do I know not what, and Kanatto might refuse us a peaceful march through his territory at the very least.” “Hook was already heaping gifts upon his preserver. “You'm & gude-fashioned heathen, any- way, Blackbird, my son; an’ I thank 'e; an’ my kids an’ the missis, down Devon- shire way, would thank 'e if they knawed what you'd done. Here's my auld jack- knife, an’ here's my tobacco box wi' a butivul picter o’ Plymouth harbor in the lid of un; an’ here's my—" Lord Winstone interposed, while Black- bird, to whom Dan’s conversation was double Dutch, grinned and showed his great yellow teeth and stretched his hand ~for more. “That’'ll do, Dan, that'll do. Mr. Mel- drum will be responsible for the rest. No call to beggar yourself.” ““Well, then, I'll do more still for the bloke. Tell un I'll tattoo his black hide wi’ a pair o' love birds a-flyin’ in the air an’ a anchor -an’ a holy cross, an’ such like rare deviiries—all free, gratis’ an’ for nothin”.” The expression of Blackbird's face at the offer to tattoo a Christian cross up- on him had doubtless been instructive enough, seeing that he was a firm Mos- lem; but his Lordship attempted no trans- lation. . Together the trio returned, and, thread- ing the difficult way, reached camp at nightfall to find all well. The, cowardly Zanzibaris were disrated and ddprived of the distinction of weapon carrying, while the Mapora were assured by Mr. Hook that the elephant had made a mistake, and seeing that it was a white man who fired, had accepted an apology and as- sured him in elephant language no harm was done. As for the Green Spirit, Lord Winstone reported his interview with the monster most solemnly. It had showed him great kindness, spoken well of the white men and sént a gift of a wondrous spotted eft to King Kanatto. It had also directed that the expedition was to be allowed to pass in peace through Mapora territory. These things and the wretched mewt in a wicker cage were duly transported by runners to the capital, and when Meldrum and his friends made their march next day it was with high hopes that the im- mediate future might be considered prom- ising. As for Roy, Bessie's tender nursing and a few doses of quinine had done him much good, and, when the time came to start, he was quite equal to the task of leading his column forward through the aisles and avenues and jungles of the great for- est. A few cases of fevers and ulcers ‘were reported, but in the main the health of the expedition continued excellent. CHAPTER XIL THROUGH KANATTO'S. The long and weary struggle with the great forest tract ended at last, and once more the travelers stood under the clear sky and breathed sweet alr upon the grass lands. They had plodded through won- drous wildernesses of lush and reeking green; they had faced the fevers that arose like ghosts by mgnt from the bogs and swamps; they had struggled day after day with the snake-like vegetation, the wild vine and Innumerable other creepers, the pepper bush and huge arum; the wild mango, almona, sword grass, gigantic tree ferns, acacia, mimosa, phrynium, livid fungus and thick moss, bedewed with the warm moisture of the natural hothouse. And yet, save for half a dozen cases of fever and one death, the expedition was sound. Once on the rising plateaus that ap- peared after forest was past, the invalids quickly recovered; and it was well that they did so, for three days’ march from the mountain strongholds of Kanatto mes- sengers arrived from him. They came empty-handed, but their mouths were full of bad news. E: Kanatto refused to believe that a party of more than fifty persons, with nearly &8s many guns, could be engaged In any peaceful enterprise. He defined the east- ern and southern confines of Mapora ter- ritory and expressed a hope the expedi- tion would follow them. He absolutely declined to permit them to foot in his country, and declared that If any attempt was made to do 5o he should resist it with 5000 spears. Kanatto's messenger was polite, but firm, and the white leaders, co: us how much depended on t, treated him with every courtesy and gave him presents of consigerable value. Winstone explained to Roy that the route indicated would ex- tend the total journey by at least 250 miles, a very serious consideration, and a further halt was made, therefore, until the natives bearing the eft and the mes- sage from the Elephant Spirit should reach Kanatto and return. It was hoped that Lord Winstone's ex- pedient might prove effective, and as the first envoy from the monarch seemed enormously impressed by the incident and evidently attached much importance to the green deity of the wood, both Faln and Meldrum felt sanguine, though his Lordship did not share their hope. “It's good enough at least to wait for his answer, Fred,” declared Roy one night at a council of war held by the four white men. Most of the expedition slept, and strange eyes, like precious stones in pairs, crept about outside the zareba; while now was heard the howl of a hyena and now the deep thunder of a lion's roar. “I shouldn’'t walt if you ask me—not after to-morrow. Time is preclous and we must make friends pretty svon or we shall be in a fix for food and have to take without asking. We're not strong enough to bluff Kanatto and march through his kingdom without leave, for the KP:S are a tremendously powerful good enemy pro tion to other ‘worse,' “T'll give Kanatto Both Fain and I hoped & good deal that speckled, toadlike beast you to the monarch; we do still, for that mat- elephant spirit, and was disinclined to disobey its express order. He sent, though with evident reluctance, to say that the To make his permission the more gra~ clous he sent one ox as & gift, and ex- plained that from the capital onward to the river Ruaha he would lend the ex- plorers a guard of fifty fighting Mapora to be thelr escort. He also inquired the course he was to pursue with the gift from the Elephant Spirit. To this fairly amiable message Mel- drum returned another as friendly. forwarded a selection of the best gifis at his command, a brilllant scarlet coat, laced with gold braid, a cocked hat with red feathers, and a plcture book of wild animals. He also, at Fain's suggestion, directed Kanatto to slay the eft on the third day of the new moon and anoint the portals of its capital with its blood, as a sign of friendship with the Elephant Spirit and a promise of prosperity. The rainy season was now at hand and ‘Winstone hoped that before the middle of March, when steady and heavy down- falls must begin, the expedition might find fitself on somewhat higher lands, where there would be abuandant cover, but of a more healthy sogt than that af- forded by the forests. Five hours after the arrival of the mes- sengers camp was broken up and within .an hour the expedition entered Kanatto's territories. A sharp lookout was kept and military order maintained, for though ‘Winstone had little fear of treachery, the possibility yet existed. Crowds of natives assembled on either side of the moving column and here and there a youngster flourished his spear and looked warlike, but blows or sharp re- bukes from some older man speedily quieted-the most pugnacious. As for Kanatto's messenger, & native of fine aspect and almost intellectual fea- tures, he marched at the head of the Soudanese fighting men with Meldrum and Lord Winstone, Bessie, riding her white donkey, accom- panied them, for their road now lay upon broad, well known tracks, and Kanat- to’s envoy at his special request was per- mitted to walk beside her. The girl ex- cited his profound admiration, and indeed the spectators, ten deep on either side of the line of march, showed similar wonder and pleasure. Lord Winstone, quick to catch a hint from any incident of the passing moment, instantly realized that Bessie might be a power; and during a halt for luncheon he mentioned his opinion, “She must be queen.” he sald, “and we are her subjects. The idea will appeal td the average savage mind overywhere and carry weight in our negotiations.” “She’s a jolly sight too retiring,” sald Roy. f “We must give her & lesson then. Scme of our Zanzibaris will show her how to put on side,” declared Tracy Fain. “For that matter they call Miss Ogllvie ‘queen’ a'ready,” explained Dan Hook. “I mean our own squad do. "Twas that Arab cove's jdea, they tell me. Raalt thought of it. She be called Silver Sunrise by 'em, purty name enough,, come to think “T'll swear you never thought of any- thing so nice as that when you wers courting, Roy; come now?" laughed Lord Winstone; and Meldrum admitted no such poetic fancy had ever crossed his Saxon mind. “But it's a jolly good name for all that,” he declared. ‘“‘Queen of the Silver Sunrise must Bessie be hencefosth.” “She will look the part, but won't play it,”" declared Fain; then the bugler blew his blast and the column moved forward steadily. Splendid progress was made over the healthy open and undulating lands of the Mapora; indeed, eight miles proved an easy day's work, and on several occasions ten was exceeded. Then the pallsades of Kanatto's capital appeared, perched on a Httle hill at an elevation of some 3000 feet above the sea, and the monarch himself, with his medicine man and retinue, came forth to the wooden and monotonous thud of drums and the blare of a huge ivory trumpet. Kanatto wore the scarlet coat’and cocked hat, while a sky-blue petticoat sent with special respect to his favorite wife, had also appealed to his fancy and now covered his middle and descend- ed a trifle below his knees. He proved polite and self-possessed, but nof cordial. Upon hearing that Bessle was the queen of the expedition and that her territories were peopled with white men and women and extended beyond the sea he treated her with Increased respect and refused to address anybody else. The interpreter, a Zanzibari, turned the speeches into Swahill, and Lord ‘Winston en transiated them into Eng- lish for Bessie’s benefit, while her re- marks were translated into Swahill by his Lordship and then into Mapora for the ear of Kanatto. Thus Lord Winstons was in a position to say much that he pleased, for the interpreter knew no Eng- lish. An agreement was quickly come to and twenty days’ rations were promised by Kanatto on reasonable though not gener- ous terms. He furnished millet, sweet pota- toes and some hundreds of heads of ex- tremely large plantains. He spoke with reverence of the Blephant Spirit, and In- vited Queen Bessie and her white medl- cine men to be present at the ceremony of glaying the glant eft. This proposal was agreed to with sim- ulated gratification and Lord Winstens, in his character of the mighty hunter who had seen and spoken with the green deity of the forest, recelved very great honor, both from Kanatto and his medicine men. Two nights before the expedition pro- ceeded the wretched eft was duly slaln while a young moon shone like a silver sickle In the sky. Then the Soudanese fired a volley and the ceremony concluded with & war dance, which Bessie and her followers , witnessed and duly admired. Asked if her own fighting men could have equaled this display, she hesitated, then admitted the superiority of the Ma- but Lord Winstone translated to &"‘mc ‘purpose, knowing well that noth- ing more impolitic than to acknowledge a savage’s superior skill, craft, wealth, beauty or honor. (Continued next Sunday.)