Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1892 — CHAPTER XV: [ARTICLE]

CHAPTER XV:

For several weeks following the recent event, Ned’s captors led him by long and constant marches toward the west, but since his gallant behavior in the encounter with the lion he had been kindly treated: both he and Tim were allowed to march free, and, moreover, they were permitted to carrj’ their arms, which were useless to the natives. Hardly a day had passed without a supply of meat, as the country abounded with game, and Ned had killed many large antelopes and buffaloes that had ted the entire party jthusupbnTim’s proverb, “Fill de nigger’s belly, make de nigger frens,” an alliance was established between the captors and their prisoners that was exceedingly favorable to the latter. After a march of three weeks, during which Ned calculated that they had traveled three hundred and twenty miles due west, they arrived in an elevated country, where the temperature cooler than any to which they had been accustomed. For several days they continued to ascend immense slopes of waving grass lands, interspersed with clumps of miamosas, whose dark green tops were an attraction for large herds of beautiful giraffes:., it was the first time that Ned had seen these stately animals, and as he sat upon a high rock during a halt upon the march, he looked down upon the beautiful country before him with admiration. As far as->he eye could reach wete undulating plains ornamented jjith trees, while lofty mountains formed a dark chain in the distance, and abrubt/ roeky hills rising here arid there, broke therncF notony of the vast prairie.- Animals of great variety ana numbers gave life to the scene; herds of beautiful zebras galloped over the plain when disturbed; ostriches stalked proudly upon a carpe of bright green turf, which afforded pasturage for thousands of an telopes an d buff aloes that were scattered in large troops over the face of the landscape. The first rains had commenced, thus all was verdant, but the march was drawing to a close, as the rainy season was unfavorable for traveling. Another week was passed in steady progress of about fifteen miles per day. Every night Ned took his latitude by the meridian altitude of a star, and as the natives watched him communicating (as they thought) with these heavenly bodies, tbe.y.re--.. garded him with feelings of profound respect, as they considered that he had brough down the recent showers that had so refreshed the land; thus he was looked upon as a rainmaker, a most important personage throughout the interior of Africa. Ned found that they had traveled due west, as they had seldom diverged more than a mile north or south of the same parallel of latitude upon which they had first started; therefore, allowing fifteen miles per day in a straight line as the distance marched, he knew by this dead reckoning his approximate position. It was on the twenty-eighth day of marching that a scene burst upon Ned’s view that almost repaid him for the fatigues of the long journey. During the morning they had passed through'a more than usually populated country, and by 10 o’clock they were near the summit of,, a hill, to which the negroes pointed as the end of their wearisome pilgrimage. Upon several occasion’s the guides had endeavored to explain something important connected with this day, and they now quickened their pace as they approached the brow of the steep slope, the negroes still pointing before them as though something extraordinary would be seen. The path now wound through a narrow rocky gorge that cleft the summit of the hill. Passing through this cleft, overhung with beautiful trees and climbing plants, a magnificent scene burst suddenly upon them. Ned stood for a few moments riveted to the spqt. He looked down from a height of about a thousand feet upon a vast inland sea, which sparkled in the sunshine like a valley of diamonds, as every ripple on the surface reflected the bright rays. On the western side of the lake a clear blue outline cut the sky, as a range of lofty mountains walled in the mass of waters, while from the spot o.n wlych Ned stood the ground sloped in rapid undulations of green turf, ornamented with numerous forest trees. Upon the rich pastures were innumerable cattle, that beionged to the many villages that were scattered at irregular intervals upon the slopes. Some of these dwellings appeared to be within a few yards of the water’s edge, and upon the beach could be plainly distinguished rows of canoes, many of which were engaged in fishing, but upon none could Ned perceive a sail. The country was extremely populous, and as the party now rapialy descended the hill Nea observed that every village was strongly protected

by stockades, while large cattle kraals were erected in the vicinity equally fortified, with the addition •f a live hedge of the impenetrable thorny cactus. There could be no doubt that he had arrived at a place of great importance, as be had seen nothing approaching to the wealth of this country throughout the long march from the sea coast, and Ned felt that if he were to become a slave this spot would most! probably be the scene of his captivity. As this thought passed through his mind, he observed that the more level portions of the ground, at the bottom of the valley, were cultivated with various crops, which, as he descended, he could plainly distinguish to be the tairtnillet and sweet potatoes, while thick groves of bananas surrounded every village and afforded both fruit and shade. There could pot be a more lovely- country, and Ned congratulated himself that his lot appeared to have fallen,in pleasant places, when, having completed the descent, the party passed through a large field of millet nearly twice the height of a man, and presently e 9 tered a plantation of bananas, upon a path which conducted them to the gateway of the principal town. They arrived at a curious archway in the thick stockade. This' was formed of innumerable sharp-pointed boughs of extremely hard wood, so closely fixed together and apparently interlaced with their points outward that i t was necessary to walk exactly in the middle of the narrow entrance, which would only permit the passage of men in single file. This peculiar arrangement was to prevent a sudden surprise by a rush of men in a large body; and to render the approach still more difficult there was a turn at right angles in the middle of the sharp pointed passage, which continued for a distance pf about twenty feet. The stockade Fence was composed of a double row of large trees, firmly fixed in the ground,and laced together with bamboos interwoyen with the branches of the hooked thorn mimosa, which would be perfectly impenetrable to any naked men, and the defence might Tye'-fidtfaidered impregnable unless destroyed by fire. , (to be continued. >