The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 1, 1903, Page 2

THE SUNDAY CALL t your mouth, theer's a good o d r in all your born days is down your scraggy ' thank your stars ro.” 3 w mouthfuls of the rank a & e of the White said Queen are he “This is & pre- of me what ? Can't tell I reckon, what- n’ doan’t lick vour fin u i pig. What be k for? i a dirty toad, try narch's presents of his tribe » the va obtained ! h with a ith inter iles est that river plains and ju ne & ack and white monarc w < e retinues, separ . s poured down and un gra »y's expedition pu midstream, while Unyah, with g prepared 10 return to the s overland. The king walked, but was irs of bearers ra began to assemble wn side of the river in large was impossible and to keep his flotilla far At dusk the camp d in Maga-Miga terri- double watches set to repel any rnal attack. For three days threat- ening demonstrations attended the advancing company; then the Mapora vanished and were seen no more, for their lands wers past. Steady and uneventful progress was made upon the river for a fortnight. Dis- comfort and misery wers, indeéd, endur- ed, but food was plentiful, the peacd’ul riparian natives all owed suit and ser- vice to the Maga-Miga, and many hands made light work at the various little falis and rapids when the canoes had to be emptied and taken onward and upward by and, sometimes for a mile at & time. Then it was that an Incident involving of life and unexpected treachery ain the ranks darkened the days ol e explorers. None knew at the time true a tremendous significance of e event or they had endured far deeper xiety and mental suffering than was e case. system of barefaced peculation was roed. Small things only vanished, for ge ones it would have been impossibl arry forward and still conceal. Man fter man, both Zanzibaris and the na- tive boatmen, came to headquarters with nplaints, but -threats and the v of es sitmilarly failed to find the thief or The coast men from Zanzibar the followers of Unyah, while Maga-Miga were loud in their protes- tations of innocence and imvlored their white leaders to search them and the scanty property they carried for the van- d articles. AN private kits were publicly examined without result and then a conference was held between representatives of the dif- ferent interests. Raalt, the Arab head man, spoke for the Zanzibari bearers and Soudanese; while two leaders from the boatmen stood for Unyah's people and Roy himself presided. But a long unsatisfactory wrangle was the only result of the investigation. Raalt, representing his party, pointed out that the Zanzibaris must be gulit- less, for how could they conceal anything that thelr scanty kits had been e ed? Again, if they hid the ticles by the wayside on the march, y did evil to no purpose, for they ht never return by this route. Indeed, it was most improbable that they would do The Maga-Miga, on the contrary, must soon be going back with their canoes; and to abstract the effects of the expe- dition wouid be easy enough for them, be- cause they had only to bury their stolen goods in the ground and blaze a tree hard by the spot. That done they could gather ur the treasure at thelr ease upon the hemeward journey. As an answer to this, the other side again protested their innocence, and re- minded Meldrum that they had no con- trol either of stores or goeds: that they slept at night In a camp of their own mazking some distance from the expedi- now s0 tion, and were absolutely without the power to abstract property, great or smell, even supposing that they pos- sessed any inclination to do so vile a thing. The matter ended with a display of much bad feeling between the different bodles of men, a circumstance in some respects serious, as it was necessary that all should work together for at least an- other fortnight. _ Two days passed, and still the petty thefts continued. Then came a crowning disaster, and with it the sensational ex- planation of the whole mystery. Seventy miles of the tortuous Ruaha River had now been traversed, and an excellent rate of progress maintained, considering the numercus rapids and falls. Then the nature of the surround- ing country began to change; the pre- vailing forest thinned somewhat; inter- vals of grass land became more frequent, and once or twice herds of zebra. ante- lope and other gregarious beasts were seen, though at considerable distances. The expedition was now in the Uhehe district, and as the rainy season at last drew toward its close with the advent of May, physical conditions soon promised to be more pleasant in every respect. A halt of three days was called, and general barter for food entered into with the friendly aborigines; while a small ex pedition of twelve men, under Lord Win- stone, was told off for a two days' hunt- ing trip in order that the camp might be supplied with a little fresh meat, of which it stood much In need. The expedition had only lost one man from fever during the past three weeks, but the rains were responsible for a good deal of debility, Ten of the Zanzibaris and Soudanese, though not actually prostrated, were nearly useless from weakn and among the white men both Tracy Fain and Lord Winstone were invalids. The latter, however, declared himself quite equal to a couple of days’ sport, and while Roy remained in cemp and looked after his ocousin, the hunter chose his men and perfected a plan of atiack on the big game of the district. Heavy antelope were of course desired, but Winstone in his secret heart hoped for sport of a different nature as well. Lions were plentiful, and on the first night of the temporary halt a luckiess Maga-Miga, straying beyond the boma around the boatmen's camp after the fires were lighted, had been stricken down and destroyed within thirty yards of his friends. Attracted by his screams they rushed in a body to his rescue with shouts and yells; but though they frightened a lion from its prey, they came too late to save their comrade. The muscles of his back were literally torn off the man, and he perished before his friends could carry him back or summon aid. Lord Winstone was up betimes on the morning .of his little expedition, but not before bad news had run like wildfire from one end of the camp to the other. As he emerged from the tent, that he shared with Roy and Tracy Fain, he found Bessie, Dan Hook and Blackbird walting for him. Then he learned their unpleasant intelligence. During the night, the Arab, Raalt, with two Zanzibaris—Mabruki (whose family name none knew) and Abdullah ‘Saboke— had disappeared. Bessie's Kaffir boy, Bungani, was also invisiblé, and, what appeared even more seriqus, the default- ing quartet had carrfed with them five rifies, two boxes of ammunition, one box of trinkets, two bales of cloth and num- berless trifles. Bessle herself reported some grave losses. While she slept, her tent had been entered, doubtless by Bungani, and a leathern dressing case, containing brushes, combs, bottles, mneedles and thread, and many little odds and ends, had been abstracted. The poor girl was crying, for greater than her own loss she esteemed that of Meldrum’s Golden Fetich. “Nothing else mattered really,” she said, “but his cousin se. on the disk. never forgive me.” “Hang Mr. Faln,” said Lord Winstone shortly. *“That's t* least important thing of the lot. Firsi your own comfort is Involved, which mnobody can regrét more than I do; secondly, we've lost five guns, which 1s frightfully serious, in my opinfon; thirdly, we've been robbed by our own men—a nice example for the aborigines. Raaht {s ‘at the bottom of this. I never met an honest Arab yet.” “Us must get on the varmint's track if us can. He's got some rascally plan in his ugly head, though what ’tls you'm more like to know than me. The camoes be all right, so he’m ashore somewhere, I reckon. Perhaps he's got friends in camp yet, as'll tell what his game be, if us can squeeze the truth out of ‘em.” But Dan found himself mistaken. The raid took everybody by surprise, and even Lord Winstone, after a lengthy in- quiry, was constrained to admit the van- jshed Raalt had no friends left behind him. Now that he was gone twenty of his own men brought forward stories to tell against him. He was a mischief maker; he never spoke well of the white men behind their backs; he had sounded more than one of the coast bearers as to the advisability of throwing off the yoke and mastering their leaders while they slept. Now, not one among them knew of the vanished rascal's destina- tion, or the nature-of his enterprise. 1 kMow what store Roy and Mr. Fain will e'll go hunting, notwithstanding ald his lordship. ‘‘There'll be a slight variation in the quality of the sport, that's all. The rascals probably mean to Join one of the big tribes lying ahead of us. our weskness, then help an enemy to overpower us, and trust to luck for the issue. Evidences of their road should not be difficult to find, and, seeing they have rather overburdened themselves, it is more than likely that, with double marches, we shall be into them before they know it.** X i Meldrum agreed with his friend’'s sug- gestion, and breakfast was hurriedly taken, while during the meal Blackbird, the hunter, and several aborigines from the neighborhood, mades a careful search of the environment of the camp, to dis- cover, if possible, any tyace or. trail of the absconding rogues. A local native it was who| finally.spied out some faint indications of a track. but the footsteps, if such they were, extend- ed directly from a point near camp fnto adjacent sandy grass lands, where they were lost sight of. The camp lay upon the river between two wide and marshy tributaries of the Ruaha, which here inclosed a space of very considerable extent. With the main stream as its base, these tributaries formed a rough triangle of country, and now two parties set forth, one under con- trol of Dan Hook, the other conducted by Lord Winstone. They proceeded in different directions to the points at which the tributaries ran into the main stream, and it was then arranged thgt each party should work up a side of the triangle until they met, near fts apex. At the same time scouts were to be thrown out, thqugh never bevond the sound of gun fire from their main party; and thus it was hoped to cover as much ground as possible and overtake or intercept the runaways before they got clear of the district. By 9 o'clock in the morning the two de- tachments set off. Their conStitution had been carefully considered, and only the most active and hardy volunteers were chosen, for great sveed had to be main- tained and forced marches would be the order of the day. ‘With Winstone went Blackbird as gun bearer, and the two men walked a hun- dfed yards ahead of their armed squad. A wild but easy country for traveling rolled around them in light forest, bush and grass. Reed swamps also occurred and as they met the efflux of the tribu- tary and began to follow its banks in- land, evidences of big game became most frequent, though no sign of the robbers rewarded a sharp lookout. Befoye a brief midday halt, howeyer, Blackbird's keen eyes made a discovery that created some excitement and acted as an incentive to additional exertion at They will represent our wealth and —M the crucial hour of the day’s work. Where the edges of a lofty sand dune covered with mimosa scrub and coarse grass broke abruptly into a low sheif overhanging the marshy margins of a pool there was evidence of an accident. The overhanging shelf had broken away un- der feet of beast or men, and a raw stain In the abraded sandy rock revealed a frac- ture of extremely recent date. Below Lord Winstone found exactly what he sought in the damp sand at the ‘water's edge, for bere appeared the print of-& naked foot, while a yard beyond it was a deep and sharp indentation evi- dently caused by the pressure of some regularly shaped object. Blackbird, who had served English mas- ters on more than one big sporting expe- dition to Somaliland, Kilima Njaro and clsewhere, now spoke and read the signs before him without difficulty. “Him walking along edge of de little sand cliff and de sand slip. Dat mark in mud de sharp edge of box what drop off his head when he fall down and de foot- print is small and flat. Him made from de foot'of Bungani, de Kaffir boy, de Queen's boy, what stole de case last night. 8o him with Raalt for certain.” No further evidence of the runaways rewarded Lord Wigstone on that day. A good twelve miles was traversed before dusk, then his Lordship got'a shot at a young hippopotamus and camp was pitched on a little hillock above the plains. Here a boma was constructed, fires lighted and a rough sleeping place of dry brushwood erected for the Eng- lishman. A steak from the young hippo- potamus turned out excellent fare and the Zanzibaris, long strangers tg flesh, cou- sumed enormous quantities Zf the meat. Soon after dark the hollow, metallic growl of a lion was heard, and a glance in the'direction of the sound showed two little green lamps that shone steadily together, scarcely thirty yards, from the hedge of the boma. A redhot firebrand hurled in his direction sent the beast off with another gngry growl; and the cir- cumstance reminded Lord Winstone of & ldu!y necessary before he fipally turned n. With guns and torches, he left the fires and proceeded twenty yards upward to the point of the light hill on which the camp was pitched. From here, with his glass, he swept the dark scene below, hoping. and indeed expecting, to find within his ken the glimmering campfire of the fugi- tives. A fire they must certainly hava in this land of lions, or they ran the risk of sudden and terrible catastrophe, of a sleep whose waking would be death For a fire Lord Winstone looked, there- fore, and his scrutiny was at length re- warded. After some time, like a dim red star on the inky darkness spread beneath the sky, he detected a little spot of flame. To calculate {ts remoteness was beyond the watcher’s power. It might have been any distance between three and ten mile: from the hill; but its position 1 pleased the discoverer, for the lo on which he #tood lay exactly the two camps. Thus, though he could set the distant light, those beside it would trace no glimmer of his ¢wn fires upon the noc- turnal darkness. Taking three sticks of unequal heights, the oid hunter marked his own stardpoint on the ground, and then set 'p the wands so that thelr summits =tood in an exact line beneath Thus, when the dawn came, he would know his way and be able to proceed by compass on a course as direct as possi- ble to the distant camp. CHAPTER XV. A GRIM NEMESIS. Lest the smoke of their fires should serve ag a signal to Raalt and his ac- complices, Lord Winstone went without his cup of coffée on the following morn- ing, and the men of his contingent were content to make a cold breakfast of plantain flour and water. Some revisited the carcass of the young hippopotamus, distant a quarter of a mile from camp, and despite the work of hyenas and car- rion birds cut from it mere meat for fu- ture use. Then, while yet the sun was below the horizon, the party. went forward, topp the hill and found the sticks in a that nointed almost due south. The pre- caution proved unnecessary, however, for pursuers were astir before pursued, and the runaways, unconscious of the near ap- proach of danger, still dawdled at their morning meal, as a thin column of smoke, rising like a blue thread into the gray air, testified. But even as they looked it waned and died away. “They're off,”” said Winstone. “I should calculate they've got the start of us by about four miles, or a little more if any- thing; and as they'll probably put in about ten miles to-day; we must go four- teen, my lads. Then we'll join them at their campfire, and they shall have the pleasure of seeing us eat their supper. Remember, they're heavily laden and we're in light marching trim. Yes, I expect to take them at nightfall, if not sooner. Our first_ speil shall be to that dying smoke yonder. Then we'll see what their camping ground can tell us, if anything, and so after them again.” The Zanzibaris grunted satisfaction at this programme. One or two among them were suffering agonles from undigested hippopotamus, but they put on a stoical front, and soon, over fairly open ground, the party was plodding forward at the rate of nearly three miles an hour. In an hour and a half they reached the deserted camp to find evidences of a feast. Two cans. of tinned milk, which were among the purloined stores, had been o ¢d and emptied, and the re- m ¢f a bush antelope indicated that Raait and his party had enjoyed a heavy meal of meat Blackbird grinned and pointed bones. “Dey very full—full to the froat wid de buck. D¢y go siow now. Fat belly— short march.’ A cry from one of the scouts attracted Lord Winstone's attentfon, and, ap- proaching, he discovered that the man had found a large, new made mound, al- most grave-like In its shape. It was hid- den in a little patch of brush, and two rough native spades of wood lay beside it. “They’ve buried something! Quick with the spades! must be away in half an hour at latest. “P'raps dat Raalt, he kill Abdullah or Mabruki or de boy,” sudgesied he hunter. “Very likely, indeed, Blackbird, but he isn't the man to bury them, even if he had done so. No; they're overladen and they're getting lazy. You'll find a box of ammunition most likely, perhaps both. They want to get out of danger and push on until they can find some powerful friends; then they'll come back and dig up the spofl, no doubt.” Lord Winstone's theory proved correct, and both boxes of ammunition appeared three feet below the earth. These by his direction were covered up again as speed- fly as possible, a hasty meal was taken and all were soon upon the march again. The progress of the robbers was now sufficiently obvious, for they took no trouble to conceal it, and upon.reaching a belt of rough land, mostly underbrush, the party opened out. and proceeded in a line, each In sight of his néighbor. Black- bird walked within twenty paces of Lord Winstone at the right hand of the col- umn, and as he moved forward he men- tioned one or two points of interest in connection with the arch-thief Raalt. “Him very cunning, long-eared man, dat Raalt. He hab ears all ober his head; him listen when you tink him sleep or drunk or saying him prayers. He hear all "bout ebberyting, sar, an” him tell me an’ many udder gen-men aill him hear *bout de Ba- tonca country and de precious diamond stones an’' de golden fetich de Queen keep.” “How the deuce did he hear anything about that?” “Him listen wid his ears at thq bottom of de tents, an’ he hear Missy Queen tell Massa Meldrum an’ Massa Fain an’ Massa ‘Winstone. So he get to know de gold fetich, a very wonnerful ting; an’ I specs bim say to himself, ‘Raalt must hab dat to the Personally, I that, but the g back. If I'd onlk ammunition I shou troubled no meore abo selves.” 2 “But it noble sport, sar, hunting de Raalt in de bush.” “] don’t agree with you. I'd soon and marks he he never as a doctor, pulsed its last and eye that ca The 1 stretched when they bed and stimulated by a few whisky nstone’s pocket Wheret re showed signs of ret consciousness, and within half a after further doses from the sp! had recovered sufficiently to sit up and recognize those about him. was precious. and gy force as rear sceed after him as soon as nough to eat a Mt- ried between a couple guard, to pr Bungan! was s tle food and be car of men. What the boy could say confirmed pre- vious suspicions. Raalt had awakened him in the dead of t before his parture and by dreads; i he declined forced k tent of mistress and abs dressing the Arab tained the golden fe Bungani, arot ing place at the had awakened breast, ha of the mom . the blankets where Bessie soundly and had taken its usual pla eside laden, Raalt bag in his too great ing his t ° the form bur: for his pres after the bu he had cor returning was ' {ll-time through b son t ing e and fast d wild beasts should destr. cruelty of the Arab had object and his intended alive to te Lord Win possible speed but not more difficult, and while hour followed eyes plerced the distance up each elevation, for now he be! self to be at close quarters w ber trio. He had proceeded as he six mi spot where Bungan his amazemen jungle of . his sight fell f upon two ster rifles and Bessie's leather dr case. There was no mistake and ing been informed of its contents by the owner of the bag, Lord Wnistone was now able to check all that it held. Bessie's property proved one particular; the golder ished. Seeing the importar had attached to the talisman tact, save in e doubt- less deemed it more precious than any- hidden it thing else in the bag and had about his person. Then, how appearances attracted his L. The high grass was crushed down close at hand: a gory tur I T were also wet blood eral direct His first thought had fallen was th out among then Raalt, now wit his destination, upon his accomy shout from Blackbird soon the brake The negro F lution of the mystery “Me Gard, L es! De ma t —him kill—-him eat by s boo! Bery uncomfera Raalt hab. Him pain certain!™ The nature of the Ar in one in the other, he and been suddeni hidden beast wit} Then the wre jr at tb I hungry brute its human me The man's sk neck broke now he lay pontions of his fra all gone; his sca 1 hand bitten Whether R: any effort to evidence their par close at hand, together with two stores and moods. Both men h ished, and with them they had taken but one ri “They were te y the sudder tack on their I flung down their burdens and ran for their lives,” decided Winstone. Then Blackbird touched his arm. “De Jon not far off marks Here d dey red “Begad! It w . party that frighte This is an old la hose ante- lope bones. Well, well, our task is done 1 suppose. Hunt v are y : every inch of grass and a r that blessed golden toy a his poar brute’s loin cloth and turban, whien were all the clothes he appears to have troubled himself of late. We sha ver be forziven if we don't bring "«u“ the disk, Keep awake, too, for your own sakes. There are lions very close But most careful search, brought to light the remaining rifle and sundry other articles dropped by Abdul- though it |