Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1889 — KING SOLOMON’S MINES. [ARTICLE]

KING SOLOMON’S MINES.

BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.

' ' ' CHAPTER X. ’£ J thu Witch-Hunt. On reaching oar hut I motioned to Infadooa to enter with. us. “Now, Inhdooe,” I said, “we would speak with thee.’’ „ “Let my lords say on.” “It seems to us, Infadoos, that Twala, the king, is a cruel man.” “It ja so. mv lords. AM the land cries out with his cruelties. To-night ye will see. It is the great witch-hunt, and many will be smelled out sis wizards and slain. No man’s life is safe. If the king covets a man’s cattle, or a man’ll life, or if he fears a man that he should excite a rebellion against hitn.- then Gagool, whom ye saw.or some of the witch finding women whom she has taught, will smell that man out as a wizard, anU he wil< be killed. Many will die before the moon grows pale to-night, It is ever so. Perhaps 1, too. sha’l be killed. As yet I have beqn spared. because 1 am skilled in war and beloved by the soldiers; but I not how long I shall live. The land groans at the cruelties of Twala, the king; it is wearied of him and his red wavs.” “Then why is it. Inta loo*, that the people do not cast him down?” “Nay, my lords, he is the king and if he were killed Scragga would reign i.n» his place, and the heart of Scragga is blacker than the heart of Twala, his father. If Scragga were the king the yoke upon our neck would be heavier than the yoke of Twala If Imotu had never been slain, or if Ignosi, his son. had lived, it had been otherwise, but they are both dead.” « “How know you that Ignosi is dead?” said a voice behind us. We looked round wiih astonishment to see who spoke. It was Umbopa. “What, meanest thou, boy?’’ a.ked Infadoos; “whd t -Id thee to speak?” •tListenJlnfadoos," was the answer,“and I will tell thee a story. Years ago the King Imotu was killed in this country, and his wife fled with the boy Iguo.-i. Is it not so?” «

is 8O»” ” “It was said that the woman and the boy died upon the mountains. Is it not so?” Well, it came to pass that the mother and the boy |gno?i did not die. Thev crossed the mountains, and were led by a tribe of wandering desert men across the sands beyond, till at last they came to water and grass and trees again.” “How knowestthou that?” “Listen. They traveled on and on, many month’s journey, till they reached a land where a people called the Amazulu, who. too.are of the Kukuana stock, live by war, and with them they tarried many years, till at length the motner died.’ ’Teen the son. Ignosi, again became a wanderer, and went on into a land of Wonders, where white people live, and for many more years learned the wisdom of'the white peouL.” “It is a pretty story,” said Infadoos, incredulously.

“For many years he lived there workingas a servant and a soldier, but holdin his heart al! that his mother had told him of his own place, and casting about in lais mind to find how he might grt back there to see his own people and his father's house before he died. For many vearehe lived and wanted, and at last the time came, as it ever comes to him who can wait for it, juid he met some wnite men who would seek this unknown land, and joined himself to them. The white men started and journeyed ou and on, seeking for one who is lost. Thed crossed the burning dpsert, thev cfossey the snow-clad mountains, and reached the land of the Kukuanas, and" there they met thee, O Infadoos!” “jjurely thou art mad to talk thus,” said tge astonished old soldier. “Thou thinsest so; see, I will show thee, oh my uncle. lam Ignosi’, rightful king oi the “Look,” he said; “what is this?” and he pointed to the mark of a great snake tattoed in blue around his middle, its tail disappearing in its open mouth jfcst , above where the thighs are sst into the body. Infadoos looked his eyes starting nearly out of bis head, and then fell upon his knees. i “Kooai! Koom, he ejaculated; “It is the king.”

- “Did I not tell thee so, my uncle? . Rise; I am not yet the king, but with thy help, and with the help of those brave white men, who are my friends, I shall be. But the old woman Gagool was right, the la id shall run a’ith b.oo 1 first, and hers shall run with it. for she killed my father with her words, and drove my mother forth. And now, Infadoos, choose thou. Wilt thou put thy hands between my hands and be my man? Wilt tjhdu share the dangers that lie before me, and help me to overthrow this tyrant ami murderer, or wilt thou not? Choose thou. The old man put his hand to his head and thought. Then he rose, and advancing to ’’where Umbopa, or rather Ignosi. stood, knelt before him. and took his hand.

1 “Ignosi, rightful king oi the Knkuanas, I put my hand between thy hands, .pnd am thy man till death. When thou wast a baht L dandled thee upon my knee, now shall myoid arm stiike for thee and freedom.” “It is well, Infadoos; if I conquer, thou shall be the greatest man in the kingdom alfer the king. If I fail, thou canst only die, is not far off for thee, Rise, rnypncle.”;, “And-ye, white mm, willte help me” What have 1 to otter ye! The white atones, if I conquer and' can 'find them, ye shall have as many as ye can carry hence. Will that suffice ye?” I translated t his remark. “Tell him,” answered Sir Henry, “that he mistakes an Englishman. Wealth is good, and if it comes in our way we will take it; but a gentleman does not sell himself for wealth. Bur, speaking for mvself, I say this. I have always liked Umbopa. and so far as lies in me will stand by him in this business. It will be very pleasant to me to try and square matters -that cruel devil, Twain. What do you sky, Good, and you, Quatermain?” “Well,” said Good, to adopt the lan gua e of hyperbole, in which all these people seem to indulge, “you can tell him that a row is surely good, and warms ihe cockles of the heart, and that eo far as I am concerned I’m his boy. My only stipulation is, that he allows me to wear trousers.” I translated these answers. “It is Well, my friends,” said Ignosi, late Umbopa; “and what say you, Ma-

cumaiah, art thou too with me. old hunter. cleverer than a winded buffalo?”, I thought awhile and scratched mjfc head. , ••Umbopa,”or Ignosi?* I said, “I don’t like revolutions lam a man of peace and a bit of a coward” (here Umbopa smiled I,'“but. on the other hand, I stick to my friends, Ignosi. You have stuck to us and played the part of a man, and 1 will stick to you. But mind you, I ain a trader, and have to make my living, so I accept your offer about those diamonds incase we should ever be in a position to avail ourselves of it. Another thing: we came, as you know, for Incubti's (Sir Henry’s) lost brother. You' must help us to find hinj.” •That will I do,” answered Ignosi. “Stay, Infadoos, by the sign of the snake round tny middle, tell me the truth. Has any white man to *tfiy knowledge set his foot within the land?” • None, oh Ignosi.” %, ~ ; ‘ If any white man had been seen or heard of, wouList thou have known it?” “I should certainlv have known.” “Thou hearest, Incubu,” said Ignosi to Sir Henry, “he has not been here.”” —♦‘Well, well,” said Sir Henry, with a sigh; “there it is; I suppose he never got here. Poor fellow, poor fellow! 8o it has all been for nothing. ‘God’s will be done.’ ” “Now for business,” I put it, anxious to escape from a painful subject. “»t is all very well to be a king by right divine, Ignosi, but how do,you purpose to become a king indeed?” “Nay, I know not. - Infadoos, hast thou a plan?” “Ignosi, son of the lightning,” an swered his uncle, “to-night is the greadance and witch-hunt. Many will be smelled out and perish, and in the hearts of many others there will be grief and anguish and anger against the King Twala. When the dance is over, then will I speak to some of the great chiefs who in turn, if I can win them over, shall speak to their regiments. „ I shall speak to the chiefs soitly at first, and bring them to see that thou art indeed the king, and 1 think that by tomorrow's light thou shalt have twenty thousand spears at thy command. And now must I go and think, and hear, and make ready. After the dance is done I wnl, if lam yet alive, and we are all alive, meet thee here, and we will talk. At the best there wiil be war.’’

At this moment our conference was interrupted by the cry that messengers had come from the king. Advancing to the door of the hut we ordered that tUey should be admitted, and presently three men entered each bearing a shining shirt of chain armor, and a magnificent battle ax. • ‘The gifts of my lord the king to the white men from the stars!” exclaimed a herald who came with them. “We tnauk the king,” I answered; “withdraw.” The men went, and we examined the armor with great interest. It was the most beautiful chain work we had seen. “Do you make these things in this country, Infadoos?” I asked; “they are very beautiiul.” “Nay, my ford, they come down to us from our forefathers. We know not who made them, and there are but few left. None but those of royal blood may wear- them. They are magic coats through which no spear can pass. He who wears them is well-nigh safe in the battle. The king is well pleased or much afmd, or he would not have sent them. Wear them to-night, my lords.” Tae rest of the day we spent quietly resting and talking over the situation, which was sufficiently exciting. At last the sun went down,the thousand watchiires glowed out, and through the darnness we heard the trampot many feet and the clashing of hundreds of speftrs, as the regiments passed to their appoint ed places to be ready for the great dance. About ten the full moon came up in splendor, and as we stood watching her ascehl infadoos arrived, clad in full war toggery, and accompanied by a guard of twenty men to escort us to the dancA We bad already, as he recommended, donned the shirts vi chain armor which the king had sent us, pitting them on under our ordinary clothing, and finding to our surprise that they were neither very heavy nor uneomfortaule. These steel shirts, which had evidently been made lor men of a very large stature, hung somewhat loosely upon Good and mybiXt Sir Henry’s fitted his magnificent frame like a glove. TnOn strapping our revolvers round our waists, and taking the battle axes which the king had sent with the armor in our hands, we started.

Ou arriving at rhe great kraal, where we had that morning been interviewed by the king, we found that it was close v packed with some twenty thousand men arranged in regiments round it.' The. regiments were fn turn divided into c impanies, and between each company was a little path to allow free passage to ttre witch-finders to pass up and down. Anything more imposing than the sight that was presented by this vast and orderly concourse of armed men it is impossible, to conceive. There they stood p needy silent, and the bright moonlight poured its light upon the forest’of their raised spears, upon their majestic forms, waving plumes, and the harmonious shading of their various-

colored shields. Wherever we looked was line upon line of set faces surmounted by range upofl range of glittering spears. rSurely,” I said to Infadoos, “th< whole army is here?” “Nay. Macuniazahn,” he answered, “but a third part of it. One third part is present at this dance each year, another third part is mustered outside in case there snould be trouble when the Killing begins, ten thousand more garrison the outposts round Loo, and the rest watch at the kraals in tne country. Tboutseest it is a very great people.” . “Ttiey are very silent.” said Good,and indeed the intense stillness among such a vast concourse of hvtjng men was almost over-powerihg. •*. Wha: says Bong wan?” asked Infa doos. __ I translated. “Those over whom thp shadow of Death is » overing are silent,” he answered, grimly. " “Will many be killed?” x _ “Very many.” . “It seems,” I said to the other, “that we are going' /to at a sho w arranged regardfesS of expense.” Sir Henry shivered, and Good, said that he wistted that we could get out of it. r “Tell me,” tasked Infadoos, “are we in danger?” ' , .■( “I anow not, my lords, I trust not;,but du,not seem afraid. If ye live through

the night all may go Well The soldiers murmuragainst the king.” All thi while we had been advancing steadily toward the center of the open Space, in the midst of which were placeo some stools. As we proceeded we perceived another small p rty” coming from the direction of the royal hut *- “It is the king, Twala, and Scragga,bi* son, and Gagool the old, -and see, with them Are those who slay,”' and he pointed to a little group of about a dozen gigantic and savage-locking me®, armed with spears in one hand ainl clubs in the pther. , ’The kingaeated himself upon the center stool, Gagool crouched at his feet, and the others stood behind. “Greeting, white lords,” he cried, as he came up; “be seated, waste not the precious time —the night is all too shott for the deeds that must be done- Ye come in a good hour, and /shall see a glorious'uhow. Look round,” and he rolled his one wicked eye from regiment to regiment. ‘“Can the stars show *ye such a sight as this? See how they shake in their wickedness, alt those who have evil in their hearts and fear ihe judgment of ‘heaven above.’” “Begin! begin!”cried outGagool in her thin piercing voice,“the hyenas are hungry. they howl tor Begin! begin!” Then for a moment there was intense stillness, made horrible by a pressage Of what was to come. • .The king lifted his spear, and suddenly twenty thousand feet were raised as though they belonged to one man, and brought down with a stamp upon the earth. This was repeated three times, causing the solid grounff to trembl& Then from a far point of the circle aso itary voice began a wailing song, of which the refrain ran something as follows; , “What is the lot of man born of woman?” - Back came the answer rolling out from every throat in that vast company—“Deatp!” Gradually, however, the song was taken up by company after company, till the whole armed multitude weft singing it, and. I could no longer follow the words, except in so far as they ap peared to represent Various phases ot human passions, fears, and joys. 'Now in seemed to be a love-song, now a majestic swelling war chant and last of al) a death dirge ending suddenly in jjne heart-breaking wail that went echoing

and rolling away in a volumn of bloodcurdling sound. Again the silence fell upon the place, and again it was broken by the king lifting up his hand. Instantly there was a pattering of feet, and from out of the masses of tne warriors strange and awful figures came running toward us. As they dre-W near we saw th at they were those of women, rno.it oi them aged, for their white hair ornamented with small bladders taken fiom fish, streamed out bt hind them. Their faces were painted in stripes of white and yellow; down their backs hiiog snake-skins, and round their waists rattled circles of human bones, while each held in her hand a smallforked wand, In all there were ten of them. When they arrived in front of us they halted, and one of them pointing wi h her wand toward the crouching figure of Gagool cried out — •* “Mother, old mother, we are here ” “Good! good! good!” piped out that aged iniquity. “Are your eyes keen, Isanusis. (wi'ch doctresses), “ye seers in dark places?” “Mother they are keen.” “Good! good! good! Are your ears opep, Isanusis, ye who hear words that come not from the tongue?” “Mother, they are open.” “Good! good! good! Are your senses awake, Isanusis—can ye smell blood, can ye purge the land of the wicked ones who compass evil against the king and against their neighbors? Are .ye ready to do the justice of “Heaven above,’ ye whom I have taught, who have eaten of the.bread of my. wisdom and drunk of the water of my magic. “Mother, we can.” “Then go! Tarry not ye vultures; see the slayers,” pointing to the ominous group of execuiioners behind; “make sb irp their spears; the white men from afar are hungry to see. . Go. With a wild yell the weird party broke away in every direction, like fragments from a shej,l and the dry bones round their waists rattling as they ran, maie direct for various points of the dense human circle. We could not watch them ay, so we fixed our eyes upon the Isanusi nearest us. When she came within a fe.w paces of the warriors she halted and began.to dance wildly, turning round aid round with an almost incredible rapidity, and shrieking out sentences such as “I smell him, tne evil doer!” “He is near be who poisoned his mother!” “I hear the thoughts of him who thought evil of the king.” Quicker and quicker she danced, till she,, lashed herself into such a frenzy of excitement that the foam flew in flecks from her gnashing jaws, her eyes seemed to start from her head and her flesh to quiver visibly. Sadder iy she stopped dead, and stiffened all over like a pointer dog when he scents game, and then with outstretched wand began to creep steadily toward the soldiers before her, It seemed to us that as she came their stoicism gave away, and that they

shrank from her. As for ourselves, we followed her movements with a horrible fascination. Presently, still creeping and crouching like a dog, she was before them. Then she stopped and pointed, then again crept on a pace or two. Suddenly the end came. 4 With a shriek she sprung in and touched a tall warrior with the forked wand, nstantly two ot his cdmrads, those standing immediately next to him’Seized the d omed mon, each by one arm, and advanced with him toward the king. He did not res st, but we saw that he dragged his limbs as ttibagli they were paralyzed, and his fingers, from which the spear had fallen, were limp as those of a man newly dead. , As be came, two of the villainous executioners stepped forward to meet him. Presently they met, and the executioners turned round toward the king as though for orders. “Ki|i!” said the king. “Kdl!” squeaked Gagool. “Kill!” re echtted Scragga with a low chuckl *. \ . <ontn t ute<rneit.^riet > / The Pawnee Indians have become so civilized that most of the bucks wear paper collars, the squaws wear red stockings, and all are catching on to the popular songs and slang words. A good cigar and a gooa artist are alike in one respect—they both draw wed.