Beadle's Half Dime Library (no. 154) (1880 07 06)
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PELL hee we (S (om (RY) |e pa my |p pa a Ye a Vi \\ Te tA cH! el a! tt Ul nn Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as Second Class Mail Matter. PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY BEADLE AND ADAMS, Price, No, 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. 5 Cents. iif HAN : NG } i \ ( y HUN i Copyrighted in 1880 by BEADLE AND ADAMS, iis x » nN if Mi, p HI WN Mis Him CAN / - \ 1 Uy =i fs VY : or Heal - VK 7 \ ies See
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2 The Sword Hunters ; The Land of the Elephant Riders, A Sequel to “ Lance ang La so.” BY CAPT. FREDERICK WHITTAKER, AUTHOR OF ‘“‘ THE WILD HORSE HUNTERS,” “ THE DUMB PAGE,” “ THE SEA-CAT,” ‘‘ LANCE AND LASSO,” ETO. » CHAPTER. THREE OLD FRIENDS. A park, dirty sky, with a raw, chilly wind blow- ing, and a short, chopping sea underfoot, through which the snorting steamer plunged and rolled, dashing the white spray,in clouds as h as her mast-head. Sueh was the scene that met the eyes of a youth, with black eyes and hair, who stood on the quarter-deck of the steamer Imperatrice, of the Messageries Imperiales, bound from Marseilles to Algiers. e young man had the general appearance of a et yey and did not belie his looks, for he came of Spanish descent, but had been born and educated He was wrapped up in a heavy cloak in America. ef thick, rough cloth, with a pointed hood which | was drawn over the black astrachan cap which he wore. He was alone on the quarter-deck of the steamer, and paced quickly up and down, humming an air from a Irench opera, and watching the dim, misty | outline of the distant coast of Africa, far ahead. Ths captain of the steamer stood on the bridge | between the paddle-boxes, wrapped up to the eyes, while a few French sailors stood here and there about the deck, shivering, with their hands in their ets. Presently a head appeared at the companion- hatch, as another youth, hardly more than a boy. came on deck, his slouched hat pulled down and his collar turned up to his ears. The pnew-comer was a well-grown, stout ‘oy of sixteen, with a square bluff face, that looked the icture of reckless daring, while his broad, sturdy rame seemed to bid defiance to hardship. **Hello, Wiseman,” he called out in English, with | a strong accent that told of the Western lad, ** what sagt hay moping about, e hyar? Pickle’s as sick as m dog down-stairs, and wants to be put ashore. He'll never make a sailor, I reckon.” “He won't need to be sick, long, Plug,” said the | age man, smiling. ‘*There’s Algiers ahead now. ell be at anchor before night,” The lad with the queer name looked ahead through the driving spray before he said: * Glad of it. like a ship well enough, but we've had so much of this old steamer that I'd just as soon get ashore again. And then there's old Pickles; I hate to him looking so miserable. as cold at Alciers, Wiseman?” “The captain says no," replied Wiseman. “ This cold wind is what he calls the mistral, and it blows three days only. When it’s over, they get warm weather. See, yonder, where the clouds are break- . We shall have fine weather before we get into Algiers, or I mistake much.” Plug,” as his companion often called him, looked knowingly at the clouds. There was a little spot of blue sky in the south, which was spreading rap- idly over tue heavens, and even while Wiseman was 3 ing, the wind began to abate and vary in direc- on. A few minutes after it had ceased entirely, while the short chopping sea began to abate. I wonder if it'll be | | only too glad to follow wherever he led, for they | | | to proceed to “Here comes the sirocco,’’ remarked Wiseman, a | little later, as a puff of warm air struck their faces, | coming from the south, ‘Now we'll have warm weather, inside of half an hour.” And it turned out that he was right. Long houses of Algiers, the sky was bright and clear, the ‘clouds driven away to the north, and a warm wind that felt as if it came from the mouth of an oven, was blowing in their faces, while the motion of the vessel had diminished to a gentle swell. On went the steamer Imperatrice at a rapid pace, her paddles beating the water into clouds of spray, and as the sky cleared and the sea abated, the pas- ers who been so sea-sick began to come up on 2 Among them was a tall, handsome, fair-haired boy of seventeen, who. was at once add by our two frienis as ‘ Pickles,’ and who looked quite pale, as if he had recently suffered from sea-sickness as badly as any, which he had indeed. Doubtless those of our readers who have followed the fortunes of the heroes of “ Lance and Lasso” must have recognized by this time the person- ages with the queer names whom we have intro- They were none other than our old friends Tom Ballard, Jack Curtis, and Manuel Garcia, with their * wld schoolboy nicknames of “Plug,” “ Pickles,”’ and **Wiseman,’’ on board the French steamer bound for Algiers, only a little older and a very little wiser than when they chased and were ch by the chil- ‘dren of the Chaco. “And how came they there?’ our readers may vask. Well, the story is soon told, You may read part of it in Maunuel’s dress now, for he bas thrown off the heavy capote as the weather wages warmer, and ene can see that he is in deep mourning. It is true. Manuel is ir mourning, and for the best friend he ever had or ever will have, none other than his father. before they had sighted the white walls and | | civilization has not yet Don Luis Garcia has passed away, seized by a sud- den fever, and he left to Manuel all the large fortune | i | hodgepodge in Algiers. which he possessed. “But why,’’ you may ask, ‘is he in the French | Algerian steamer, and what is he dojng there?” There, again, his father’s influence has led him, active even in death. Don Luis, in dying, left_behind him a very’singu- lar will, After leaving his fortune to his son, and directing that Jack Curtis's father should act as ex- ecutor and guardian for Manuel, he proceeded: * And whereas. 1 have all my life cherished an ar- dent desire to travel, and go where no civilized man has ever been before, which cesire has been always thwarted by my inability to eseape from business, I now wish my son Manuel to execute my desire in his own person, and to do that after my death which | once hoped to do with him.) I wish him, during the ears that elapse before he becomes of age, to fol- ow out my design, and to travel, not on the conti- nent of Europe, in the beaten tracks, where thou- sands have preceded him, but, in the regions where yenetrated. 1 wish my ex- ecutor to furnish him with whatever funds he may require to prosecute his travels, and that he should | explore some place where no white man had ever before been. ‘1 especially recommend that he should travel in | Africa, the only continent now remaining of which | we are not informed pretty fully, Jeaving him to se- lect his own route, but trusting to him to pierce the vail of mystery that hangs over its central regions, and tell the world of the hidden countries.” The will went on to give minute directions as to the best way to proceed, according to the writer's notions, and concluded by recommending Manuel to take with him his “two friends, John Curtis and Thomas Bullard,:in whose courage and good sense I have full confidence, having seen them both tried to the utmost under my own eye.” And thus it was that our three friends now found themselves on the steamer Imperatrice, bound for | Algiers. “Kitty Ledoux had been left behind, much to his own discontent; but neither his father nor mother would allow him to go. They had been so much alarmed at the dangers he had run in the Gran Chaco, that they would not hear of his going. So that home, his father concluding that he had better enter his counting-house and learn business. Jack Curtis and Bullard had no difficulty in fol- lowing Manuel. Mr. Curtis was quite willing that his son should see as much of the world as possible before he was able to join him in business; and as for “‘ Plug,” his uncle John made no objection, es- yecially since Manuel agreed that Tom should not e put to any expense larger than his usual allow- ance, which uncle John paid regularly out of the lit- tle fortune lefteby Tom’s father. Manuel, on account of being the eidest, had be- come, by tacit consent, the leader of the expedition. The others agreed with him in everything, and were motley crowd of Arabs, Maltese, French, and all the other. nationalities that are mixed up in a great A neat French commissionaire, or hotel runner, soon took charge of them and their baggage, and in a short time they were comfortably installed in the Hotel de Paris, surrounded by French comfort and luxury, while below their windows lay the pictur- esque Arab town, so strangely unlike everything they had ever seen. The white-aproned French waiter had disappear- ed with a civil nitimation that dinner would be ready in ten minutes, anc our friends were thinking about dressing for it, when they heard coming through the open window the deep, mellow. tones of a man’s voice, loud and- sonorous, chanting a pecu- liar song, which seemed to come from peue in the air. It was taken up, far and near, in direc- tions, till the melodious chorus floated away over the housetops while thé buzz of the street below was instantly hushed., “Tt is the call to prayer,” whispered Manuel, rev- erently. Then they looked from the window, and perceived that the hotel was directly under the shadow of a great mosque, and there, on the balcony of a slender mninaret, stood a grave, long-bearded eee chanting the solemn summons to prayer. Riad could catch some of the words of the long chant. * Allah hu akbar ! Allah hu akbar! Allah hu akbar! Mohammed rasou Allah /” and more that they could not make out. “God is great! Godis great! Godis great! Mo- hammed is the prophet of God! Come to prayer, oh true believers! Prayer is better than sleep.” Such was the translation which they obtained from the hotel commissionaire, who understood the language of the — The boys could see from the windows, the poor simple Arabs and Moors, whom they had hitherto looked upon as dirty beggars, on their knees, where- ever they happened to be when the call was sound- ed, saying their prayers without any false shame. The Frenchmen shrugged their shoulders and pass- | ed on, but our boys could not help being struck with poor “ Kitty’ was compelled to stay at | the piety of these poor Mohammedans, and liking them all the better for it. The factis, that there are many of us who might take a lesson from the Arab, without suffering any harm from it. *“*And now, fellows,” said Jack Curtis, that even- | ing, after they had strolled over the town, to see all were sure to see new things and have plenty of ex- | citement. It had been agreed between them that they should first go to Algiers, where, under French protection, they could learn th and some of their language, after which they were Nile as was po: heart of Africa, If you will look at the map of Africa, boys, will see in its very center, far to the south of Tchad, a bare, — spot, which is even to-day marked *Unexplored country.” Tt does not seem very large, and yet if youlook at the numbers of the degrees of latitude and longitude which in- close it, you will find that it is dag of about ten degrees, or in other words nearly seven hundred miles, a country as large as France, Spain and Ital put together, or the whole of our States of Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Virginia. Soe ; It was this great country, never yet traveled over by European, that had excited Don Luis’s curiosity, and to explore which he had once ho to Manuel. Now Manuel and his two’ friends were going to try to find it, inobedience to his wish. In Algiers they were to learn howto travel in Africa. Now, as the steamer plowed her way onward, they began to see the of Africa more plainly. Far in the distance a chain of mountains with white tops rose st the blue sky. Nearer by, the brownish line of sandy coast, backed by aoe hills, was visible; and the white walls and ouses of the i of Algiers were in sight. ble, before striking west into the There was Algiers, a great square town surround- ed by fortifications, spread over the side of a steep slope down to the very edge of the water. The slender shafts of minarets, tall towers with pointed tops like heads, the minarets themselves cir- cled by nies, warned them that they were aPR a Mohammedan city. hese minarets Were grouped in fours, around i round donies covered with gilding, and shin- ng in the bright omy ig ‘What are those for, Wiseman?” asked Tom Bullard, who, like most American boys, knew little wr Fast. os ‘ ‘They are the minarets of the mosques, or Arab churches,’’ said uel. “The Mohiainnedans have no bells, but they call eg to prayers from the balconies of the minarets. ey have acertain or- der of priests, called muezzins, who go up on the minarets five times a day, and call out so that they res be heard all over the city. We shall em.” Half an hour later the steamer was moored at the quay, and our friends were ashore, surrounded by a | rode a bay stallion, mottled wit soon hear lgypt and pend¢trate as far up the | Key pe you | e . - | stone, and learning how to be é ways of the Arabs | | fully; ‘‘ but how are we to find out where to go? | made ua oy was to be seen, “whatis the first thing for us 0 do?” “What do you say, Tom?” asked Manuel, smiling. “Tsay, go for the lions,” said Tom, shortly. “But where shall we find them?” asked Jack, doubtfully, ; “Ask the French officers,’ answered Plug, sen- tentionsly” ‘“‘ They ought to know.” ‘** But while we’re hunting lions,” suggested Man- uel, “ we’re not traveling.’ ‘What's the difference?’ demanded Tom. ‘“ We- *ve got to learn Arabic, and the lions are all among the Arabs. We'll be apes two birds with one ave in Africa.” “Your idea is not bad,’ decided Manuel, thought- “Send for the landlord,’’ ordered Tom, and he pulled the bell. . The host Game when summoned, and was at once Ky Re and interested in the subject. ‘But, messieurs,”’ he pleaded, deprecatingly, ‘‘you do not know what our Algerine lions are. They are terrible, and all the Arabs fear them. I do not wish to offend you, messieurs, but you're all very— very— And the polite landlord shrugged his shoulders ex Spo tgine - -y rash,” added M “You mean young an 4 anuel, smiling. ‘‘ We eaamit it, monsieur, but we have our minds to kill a few lions before we leave Algiers. Is there any one here can tell us where to find them, think you?”’ ‘But, certainly,’ Poo grin the landlord. “There is the captain, Bouchard, who lost an arm by a lion's jaws last year, when the beast killed five soldiers, and chargeda whole regiment before he was killed. And there is Colonel Legal, and General Yusuf, all in town now, any one of whom can tell you ali about it. : “Enough,” said Manuel. “TJ have a letter to Col- onel Leg: myself. We will go and see him to-night. fellows.” : And so it was settled. CHAPTER I. 3 THE OULED CASSIM. THE news soon spread about the city that three Americans had come to huut lions, and the boys be- came the object of much curiosity. _ The French offi- cers of the different regiments fraternized with them, and gave them much valuable information as to the habitat of the lion, and_how to find him. Through the kindness of Colovel Legal, of the Spahis (irre; native cavalry), they were enabled to pur- chase good horses at a reasonable price, and had reason to rejoice at their good fortune in having letters to this officer, ne the progress of many a subsequent hunt. Three horses were of the Bar breed, not very large. Fourteen and a half to fitteen hands was the tallest. But they were put together like giants. Close-ribbed and round-barreled, with large muscular quarters and delicate little heads, their large, soft, dark eyes were the index of the spirit and endurance of those noble als. Manuel Garcia’s horse was a dapple gray; Bullard if black; and Jack — et
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ee The Sword Hunters. 3 Curtis’s steed was.as fine a chestnut.as ever was foaled. They had engaged an Arab ‘muleteer to accom- pany them, and their baggage was loaded. on his mules.. I’or themselves, they caracoled gayly ahead on tke road to Constantine, their Mexican spurs, with their huge rowels and jingling bells, attracting the attention of all the ragged Moors and Arabs in the neighborhood, They took the road to Constantine and traveled leisurely thither, passing the romantic defiles of the Atlas, and enjoying the magnificent scenery. They camped every night, pitching their comfortable lit- tle tent, and enjoying the gipsying life hugely. At last they arrived at Constantine, a terrifically situa- ted mountain fortress, surrounded by coping pre- cipices, thousands of feet deep, and from th yursued their way to Guelma, the former home of terard, the lion-killer, The fame of our friends preceded them all along the track, and when they arrived at Guelma, no less than three deputations of Arabs were waiting for | them, Sincé the departure of the great Gerard, it appeared that the lions had been greatly on the. in- crease, and the flocks and herds of the Arabs had been much harassed. The lion-killer had gone to Europe, and thence on an expedition up the Nile for the British government, and no one had been found to take his place for three years. The Arabs, hear- ing of the strangers from beyond the sea, had come to find what manner of men they were. - it think they must have been disappointed if they expected anything imposing. Manuel was the only one of the party who boasted of more than seven- teen years, and they all looked very youtlful, Jack Curtis wore his fair hair in curls, floating over his shoulders, and his velveteen shooting dress ond jaunty, gold-tasseled cap, made him look more like an actor on a spree than a grim lion-killer, The old Arab chief glanced contemptuously at him, and did not seem much more satisfied to see Bullard. His dress was that of a regular backwoods- man, made of gray deer-skin, fringed with Indian bead-work and poreupine quills, and all the para- phernalia of Western finery. The Arab looked equally disgusted with him, inasmuch as Bullard was just at that moment laughing uproariously at the antics of one of the mules, which was tormented by a gad-fly. The Arab never laughs, and judges it unworthy of amantodoso. Hence his contempt for Bullard. The old man seemed to think he had a bad job on his hands, and would get through it as quick as he could. He made a long speech in Arabic, which was translated by our friends' muleteer into French, and from which thev learned that a large lion had been | ravaging their flocks for some months, and that if they would only kill him the Arabs would be_ their slaves forever. Manuel promised for his party that they would visit him at once, and the old chief retired, when the other two deputations delivered their messages. They were of similar import. 4 likely to have lions enough on their hands, The nearest douar or Arab encampment, which had been persecuted by the lion, lay at the foot of the Atlas, toward the south, about twenty miles off. Thither the boys determined to proceed at once, They did not pitch any camp at Guelma at first intended, but rode through the place, accom- panied by a large cavalcade of Arab horsemen, the deputation from the Ouled Cassim, or sons of Cassim, as their friends of the first deputation were called, In the evening they reached the douar, and found the head sheikh, Mohammed Ben Cassim, ready to receive them. Huge fires were blazing, and an ox was roasting in front of the sheikh’s tent. Here they were entertained with true Arab hos- pitality, and all the camp crowded to see the stran- ers, “ Queer-looking dicks those Arabs are!’ remarked Bullard. ‘“‘ Out in Texas the men wear the breeches and the women the petticoats; but here I’m han red if they don’t all wear petticoats together, only ‘the women have ‘em the shortest.” “Very bad taste in the sheikh,” grumbled Curtis, “to let all these fellows come and stare at us while we're eating. I never knew before what it was to dine in state, but if this is like it, I don’t want to re- peat the operation.”’ “I don’t care for that,” declared practical Tom, a cay wish I could get a quiet chat with one of those lovely little creatures the blue dresses, if you can call them dresses.” “It’s as much as any of them wear here,” replied Jack. “You'll see we'll have offers of the whole ime and their daughters, if we kill the lion for them.”’ ; “Whew! how many wives do they allow a fellow iere?”’ ““As many as he can support,’ Manuel smilingly answered, “Why, that’s as liberal as old Brigham himself.” ‘* Hush, boys,” ordered the gentlemanly Manuel. ‘It’s not polite to keep the talk to ourselves. Let’s have a with the sheikh, Ismail, ask the sheikh what time the lion usually comes!” ‘Allah is great, and onammed is his prophet,” replied the ol me when the seignieur shall visit slaves? darkness and tempest you will hear his voice, and when the moon has hid tor face. But whether he is here now, or whether he come in the morning, he will not let bg: hear him before he comes. The seignieur is the king, and we are his slaves.” “The seignieur is not my king,” said Curtis, when this answer was translated to nin. “ Tell the sheikh that we are Americans, and have no king. That we laugh at kings, and have made the British Jion put bis tail between his legs and run, before this.” ence | So that our boys were | } as they had | | |} you? | ing thunder of the lion’s great voice. | at the tent-door. “ Allah kerim!”’ exclaimed the shiekh, when he heard this. ‘‘You have caused lion to run from He could not have been one of our lions though. Owr lions will charge an army alone.”’ “They’re not a circumstance to the British lion,” replied Jack, coolly. ‘‘He feeds on Frenchmen wherever he can find them, and the only thing that can whip him is the American eagle.” “But no eagle is large enough to kill a lion,” ob- jected the sheikh, not understanding the allusions of Jack. “ Our eagle is,”’ declared Curtis. ‘You shall see to-morrow morning that we will kill your seignieur.” “Tf you_can do thut,” exclaimed the old sheikh, impressively, ‘I will kiss your feet and be your slave, and you shall have the most beautiful maiden in the tribe for your wife.” “Thank the sheikh fcr his kindness, Ismail, and ask him if he'll clear the tent; we're getting very sleepy,”’ were Manuel’s orders. The hospitable old gentleman immédiately- rose. and made a short harangue in Arabic, which h the effect of clearing the tent of all the men in a few minutes. The women were more curious, es- pecially the old and -ugly ones. It was evidently their intention to watch the strangers going to bed, (to see if their clothes formed part of their bodies, as Ismail informed them.) Tom. Bullard settled the question by coolly commencing to take off his lea- thern hunting-shirt. The old sheikh laid hold of a big stick at this, and advanced to drive out the women. Manual Garcia, with all the chivalry of his nature, was yet so shocked at the indelicacy of the women, that he offered no interference, and they were soon driven out, while our friends were left in peace to sleep. How long they rested they could not tell, but it must have been for some time. Manuel dreamed that hé was out in a thunder-storm, with the heavy | peals deafening his ears, when a louder. clap than usual woke him. It was no dream. The sound of thunder was indeed in his ears, but it was the liv- It was rever- berating all round, and he could not tell from what direction it proceeded, This peculiar property of the Jion’s roar has often been remarked by others. Bullard and Curtis still slept, but Manuel routed ’ them out in quick time. “ Bullard, get up!’ he cried. I “Curtis, rouse up! Get your rifles and come out! Here's the lion |” CHAPTER III. LASSOING A LION. the lion!” growled Tom, only half- “OH, hang 8 eweye) ‘‘let’s go after him to-morrow. I want to eep.”” ‘Nonsense!’ retorted Jack Curtis, sharply. “Wiseman’s right. We must get up and go for him, or these Arabs will despise us.’ Bullard shook himself and rose to his feet, and was.soon as much awake as the rest. The tremen- dous voice of the lion, undoubtedly nearer, serve to rouse them all fully, as the old sheikh peeped in As he appeared, they all sallied forth and stood outside the tent-door. The night was intensely dark, but looking to the east the. boys could. see a few faint streaks that looked like dawn. It was unusual for the lion to come so late, but the moon had only just gone down, and it was ow- ing to her presence that he had not appeared sooner. The fires were blazing furiously, and the Arabs were hurrying to and fro with loud cries, gun in hand. When the three friends came out, they attracted no attention whatever, all the camp bein absorbed in receiving the coming enemy. Presently he roar- ed again, and this time quite close by. In an instant the camp was as still as death! It was pitiable, to American eyes, to see the abject terror to which these stalwart Arab warriors were reduced by a single lion. The boys had read of such things in Gerard, the lion-killer’s book, but had felt disposed to doubt the facts as exaggerated. But here was the evidence before their eyes. The ex- cited, yelling crowd was hushed in a moment, and began to slink into the tents. The cattle were hud- dled together in the center of the douar, trembling with fear. And now came a roar louder than any yet, and the dark figure of a huge lion sprung over the high thorn hedge that encircled the camp, and dashed into the midst of the frightened herd. These last seattered in an instant, and came tear- ing through the tents frantic with fear, amid a pandemonium of noise, as if Bedlam had broken oose. Manuel had stepped forward, and was about to fire at the lion, when the rush came, and he had to leap out of the way to avoid being trampled to death. Bullard and Curtis had a narrow escape of the same fate, and when they were free and ad- vanced to meet the lion, he had disappeared. _And to show his wonderful strength, he had ear- ried with him, in his twelve-foot leap, the carcass of a full grown bullock. The boys advanced cautiously to the place. The lion had gone; and they came to the conclusion that they would have to follow him, But as the 4 | turned to go to the gate of the douar, the old shei Arab, pe ary © “Who can tell | is In the and a crowd of Arabs rushed to intercept them, imploring them, as they valued their lives, not to venture out. The lion, they said, was satisfied, and would molest them no more that night, but if they followed aud wounded him, he would probably at- tack the douar in revenge. When this was translated to the boys, Tom Bul- lard laughed contemptuously, “ And are you afraid of the lion?” asked he, of the sheikh. ‘Who is not?” returned the Arab. “Till show you one who is not,” cried Tom, in French, do.” So saying, he was gate, when the sheikh threw his arms around him, and held him by main strength. “Wait till daylight!” he pleaded. ‘Life is the gift of Allah, and not.to be thrown away like a foo). Wait only half an hour.” f ‘* But the lion will be gone,” urged Bullard, in his urn. “No fear of that,” said the sheikh. ‘“ He will de- vour his prey in yonder thickets, and stay there till night. Allah grant that he may not come back!” he boys were finally induced to comply with the chief’s request, and remain till morning. The dogs of the douar were sent. out after the lion, and from their loud barking it was concluded that they had found him not far off, The three friends anxiously watched the fast- brightening east, and as soon as objects could be clearly distinguished, called for their horses. “T’m going to teach those Arabs a lesson,” de- clared Manuel Garcia, resolutely, as he swung into his saddle. “I dcn’t like their conceit and their contemptuous airs, because a fellow doesn’t hap- pen to be a six-footer with a big beard. Jel’s co out without any rifies,and lasso. thal lin. 1 know the thing has been done with a grizzly, and I'll swear he’s worse than any lion that ever roared.” ** Agreed,” cried devil-may-care Bullard, laughing gayly. ‘‘ We'll astonish the natives, and show them shay Americana can do,” When the Arabs saw them ready to ride out, 8 unarmed, apparently, their astonishment was oud, “Never mind, old boy,” put in Tom, to the sheikh, as he trotted by. ‘‘ We'll bring the lion into camp presently, and you can kill him if you want him.” The sheikh muttered something about Frankish madmen, and the whole population of the douar turned out to watch the operations of the oahee o> The. boys galloped briskly forward to a _ little thicket of bushes, near the camp, whe:e the dogs had given tongue first. Sure enough, there lay a page black-maned lion, calmly deyouring the bul- ioc “‘And you shall see what an American can ressing forward to the douar As they came by, he looked up with 2 savage snarl, that wrinkled his lips, and seponee alccutiiul set of white teeth to view. He evidently didn't propose to be driven from his breakfast, but the i cys were de- termined to do so, since it was impossible te cast a lasso at him so near the bushes. Now Manuel Garcia shone out in his true colors. As cool as a cucumber was Manuel, He sicoped from his saddle to ck up some pebbles, and then galloped past the lion, just outside of his spring. As he passed he threw a handful with all his force at the lion’s face, and then wheeled and galloped off, laughing, .The hair-brained nature of the feat excited a yell of applause from the Jately scornful Arabs. Of course the lion charged; Manuel expect- ed him to, and kept his horse just. ahead of him, to draw him into the open ground. The lion pursued him for some hundred yards, when Bullard, who had been coiling bis lasso. meanwhile, came down like a shot across his track, whirling the noose rcund his head. It parted from his hand, and in another moment had settled over the lion’s neck. The Jatter was so eager after Manuel that he did not notice it, till the pull of the galloping horse, catching him sidewise as he leaped, tumbled him over and over on the grass, in ignominious dcfeat. Bullard had calculated his distance and_his direc- tion with the skill of an old ceguvero. A moment earlier or later, and a different direction, would have only ineured his own fall. The Arabs were so astounded that a dead silence had fallen on them. But the lion, though stunned and choked, was full of fight. He a to bis feet and charged Bullard. But Manuel’s lasso had been swinging, even while the game was sruggling in the noose. It flew through the.air, settled on the lion’s neck, and ina moment more the grim beast was compa- ratively harmless. As fast as he dashed at one, the other would back his horse and compel him to drag him forward by main strength, and all the while the nooses were tightening steadily. The Arabs were dumb with amazement. They saw their old enemy powerlcss without having 1eceived asbot, He struggléd an roared, dragging the horses here and there with comparative ease, but the riders were cld bands with the lasso, and kigew how to manage him. His roars grew fainter and more strangled, and his_st les less violent. Finally they ceased en- tirely, his tongue hanging out of his mouth; and the desert king had died of strangulation. The Arabs could not believe their eyes at first, but when they realized the truth, their joy knew no bounds. They crowded around Manuel and Bullard to kiss the hem of their garments. Nothing wes too od for the lately-despised Franks, now the latter faa shown such indisputable courage, The Arabs were shamed before their own women, So highly do they value courage, that they made offers of mar- riage to al) three of the boys that night; offers of the most beautiful maidens of the tribe, if they would only take them. ‘The friends feasted gayly for three days among the Ouled Cassim, in all honor and respect, and then departed for their next neighbors, the Ouled Ibrahim, preceded by their fame gained in lassoing a lion. CHAPTER IV. UP THE NILE. reh of Shepherd’s Hotel, at Cairo, a few r, sat our three friends, bronzed and In the months
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a hardy-looking, afitcr their Algerian campaign against the lions. They had been successful beyond their hopes in hunting, and had acquired a stock of Arabic which enabled them to converse with the natives on most ordinary subjects without turning to their interpre- ter every moment. More than this, they had learn- ed much of Arab character, and knew how to deal with chiefs, and in hunting the flerce Algerine lions had realized what it was to have their lives depend- ing on the accuracy of their aim and firmness of their nerves. After about two months spent among the Algerine Arabs, and after killing four lions, they began to think it wes time that they were proceeding on their journey toward the unknown regions o Central Africa. Accordingly they returned to Algiers, took ship for Maita, and from thence by the English pe- ninsular and Oriental steamship, to Alexandria, and by railroad to Cairo. Now they sat on the porch of Shepherd's Hotel, watching the crowds of donkey-boys squabblin with each other over who should mount an iy fi traveler for a ride through the city. In Cairo there are no carriages. Every one rides, and almost every one rides a donkey. These Egyptian donkeys are little creatures, not much larger than a very big dog, but their strength and spirit are amazing. Small as they are, each will carry a man six feet high on his back, and gallop all day at that. Manuel and Jack were both questioning Tom, who had jus! dismounted from one of these very donkeys, from a visit to the river, where he had been to ex- amine the large boat in which the propos to ascend the Nile, and which was called ad “Well, Tom, how does she go now?” asked Curtis. “All right,” responded Tom, ‘Not a rat since she’s raised, and Mohammed’s used up ten pounds of sulphur for the bedbugs. I guess she'll do for three Yanks now.” . his sounds curious to you, no doubt; but the reader will understand that in the hot climate of Egypt, vermin of all sorts, insect and qnadruped, in- crease with wonderful rapidity. Consequently, travelers who hire boats to go up the Nile, always, if they are wise, fumigate their boat to expel the in- sects, then sink it to drown out the rats, and finally wee) it up again before they ascend the river to Nubia. Tom, since his arrival in Cairo, had been the busi- ness-man of the party, and now came to announce to them that their boat was ready to start. A few minutes later, the three travelers were gal- loping down to Boulak, the port of Cairo, to embark on their long and uncertain voyage. There was the dahabiah, a long, sharp boat, a hundred feet in length, with a large rais cabin in the stern, and a tall lateen sail, hanging ate ay at least seventy feet long, and flapping in the*wind. “Three cheers for the American eagle, and ho for Africa!” shouted Tom, gayly, as the dahabiah swept from her moorings and pointed her prow southward. The’three boy sportsmen left Cairo in the fall and traveled up the Nile in their dahabiah until they reached Nubia. Many were the curious and won- derful things which they saw on the route, the pyra- mids, which were built four thousand saan ago; the ruins of Egyptian temples, made of stones, eac one as big as asmall house; and the great sandy desert, where the Arabs roam about on camels, and where you have to travel for a week before you see a drop of water or a blade of grass. But, they were all anxiety to reach the upper Nile, where they were to find the hunting they sos and where they also heard for the first time, of the wonderful people called the Sword Hunters. The ptians told them that these men, who are a tribe of Arabs called Himravs, went out hunting lions and elephants with nothing but a sword, for they had no guns, nor bows and arrows. The young sportsmen were very anxious to see these men, and still more to see the game they hunted. But in order to be comfortable among the wild people they were going to see, it was first necessary to learn the Janguage better than they had. So the adventurers bought grammars and dictionaries of Arabic from the r at Cairo, and took a teacher with them, who did all their business with the natives, and who was called a Drajoman, which means interpreter. This D man was named Mohammed; and a very splendid looki fellow he was, dressed up*in velvet clothes, wit great trowsers three times as big as those of the *auchos they had seen at Buenos Ayres, and wear- ng a big turban on his head, with four or five pis- tols and daggers in his girdle. This Mohammed roved a very useful man to them, and they began ) pick up the Arabic very phe age In about two months from the time 4d left Cairo they had got as far as their boat would take them, to a little town called Khartoum, where the Blue and White Nile meet, The governor of Khartoum was very polite to them, for they carried a letter from the pasha of Egypt, which the American consul had obtained for them. There they procured horses and camels, and then set forth up the valley of the Blue Nile, into the country of the great game, in the south of Abys- ia. The Blue Nile is a very curious river, for it is almost dry half the year, and then, all of a sudden, in the spring, a great flood comes rushing down from the mountains, fills it up, and makes the river Nile rise, all the way down to Alexandria. But this great freshet does no harm, as it would on our Mississippi, On the contrary, the Egyptians corsider it a great blessing, for it brings down a quantity of rich black mud, which settles all over the fields of Egypt, and * plent The Sword Hunters. makes corn, rice, cotton and sugar grow luxuriously, without any more manure, causing Egypt to be called the ‘Garden of the World.” But when our travelers went up it, after the long dry summer of Africa, the river was shrunk into a dry channel, between high yellow banks, and the only trace of water was a succession of pools at different intervals, where the channel had worn deep holes, and had kept the water; but, even these | , /amouth about the size of a common door, lined pools were slowly drying up. } | of a creature it was, and Tom and Jack couldn't But the further they were from Khartoum the | | more water there was. As the country rose, and they got nearer the mountains, there were more trees and grass, and here and there the pools were nearly a mile long. At last Mohammed informed them that the next day they would be in_ the elephant country, and near to the tents of the Ham- rau Arabs. So they a nape their camp for the night in the dry bed of the river, close to the edge of a great ss a got all their guns ready for the expected unting. Thus far they had seen hardly any game, for the country was so dry that it had all moved up toward the mountains; but that night brought them, for the first time, into the presence of sorts of wild animals. The pool by which they had encamped was one of the oreent they had hi seen, Over a mile in length and quite deep. On the banks above was a grove of big trees on one side, and a slo green plain on the other. The moon was just at the full, and rose as bee sun ice ‘ : e camp of our boy travelers was ve ttil pitched. There was a beautiful la nt atriped white and blue, where the three bear and around the tent pole hung their guns and pistols. number of others, filled with servants, guards, camel- drivers, , and soon, You can and Arabs fora dollara month in Africa, though it takes three of them to do the work of one white man in our country, for they’re as lazy as they are cheap. All the baggage and tents have to be carried on camels there, and every camel needs a driver, so that there were fifty or sixty people in the wk | to take care of three young adventurers; and of them were useless. CHAPTER V. THE RIVER HORSE AND THE SWORD HUNTHKS. -Tom BuLLarp sat in front of the tent on a camp- chair looking at his new rifle. Tom was very proud of that rifle. Tt was the last new pattern of breech- loader, and carried a bullet with a steel point. It could be fired twelve or fourteen times in a minute without any trouble. Tom had been practicing ever since he had been in Egypt, and felt Mt eager to his hand on live game, for he could drive a nail into a tree, with a bullet, every time, at fifty paces, and could hit the bull’s-eye as far as he could see it. Curtis and Manuel both had practiced, and were good shots, though not as «3 Bullard. They were near Tom to-night, in front of a small fire be- fore the tent door, ‘Say, fellows,” said the Westerner, suddenly, “I guess there’s hippopotamuses in this pool here, I’m a-going to shoot one if there is.” ‘But you forget that if there are any, our fire will scare them away,” suggested Manuel, ‘‘ You might watch all night from here and not see one.” “Not from here,’ assented Tom, Paes A fellow knows that. I'm going to steal round to the other side of the pool, and lay for’em. Hark! what’s that but one, now?”’ The boys listened, and heard a loud snorting and blowing some way off, in the pool. They co see something flash in the moonlight in a cloud of white foam, and then disappear. was more snorting and blowing, and several more of the shining objects appeared. Tom started up, gun in hand. “There you are!” he cried. “That's them at last, and I'm a-goin’ for ’em! Good-night, fellows. See you n when I’ve shot one of them critters.” And Tom stalked away, bent on slaughter, for he’d shot pares, but a soy WH AoPse so far, and was ungry for hippopotam Curtis fidgeted a little while. “ Guess I'll go, too, Manuel,” he at length decided. * Will you come along?” “Not to-night,” returned Manuel. “One of us ought to be in camp, for they say that there are round to see what they can steal. I o my hunting in the daytime. But you go, Jack, if you wish, while I set the guard for ime ¢."" So Jack took his gun, and st after Bullard whom he soon overtook, and the two proceeded quivily along the shore of the pool, under the shade of the trees, watching the water. Every now and then they heard the great beasts | blow, and saw the huge heads, each as big as a mo- e barrel, rise out of the water, and then sink again. “ They ll come out to feed soon,” whispered Jack, who had been studying up the habits of the hippo- potamus in his books lately. So the boy hunters crept on quietly, waiting fora sure shot. The hip- | dg qecey were away at the other end of the poo or they are very shy beasts, and the fire frighten them. Presently Jack saw one of them come u and blow, close to shore, and he and Bullard ran si- lently on, & ting to head it off, And, sure enough, when oy got op ite to the place where they had seen t, the popeanes y on, and presently r his ungainly form up in the shallow came ily Feared still closer, swam swi water. “Then, for the first time, they saw what kind In a moment more there | tent, striped | ends had their | Behind this tent, and on each side, were a | ire Egyptians | | | | | of wild fellows in this seg ig? Oe J | ly 8 help laughing at the sight. Fane ya fat pig, about as big as a small elephant, with a head nearly as long as its body, a broad flat snout instead of a poin one, and you have a hip- popotam or river horse. his one had not r< seen the boys, who were hid- den by the shade of the trees. He paddled out of the water, looked around once or twice, and opened with a row of white tusks that looked big enough to crunch up a bar of iron. Tom and Jack didn’t much like his looks, but since they were in for it, they de- termined to have a shot. ‘* It’s an old bull, Tom,” whispered Jack. ‘ Look at his tusks. Which shall take the first shot?” “J will,” answered Bullard, quietly. “ Here oes.” And the Western boy stepped out of his cover and walked straight up to the old bull. In the daytime the old fellow would have gone back into the water, but he was hungry now, It is the habit of the pe apicae yarn to come out at night, _and feed on wild rice and other My dn bles that grow near the water; and when he is hungry he is quite bold. Instead of plunging back into the water, the reat beast gave a bellow, snapped his white tusks ogether, and charged straight at Bullard with gap- ing jaws. a was as cool as a veteran. He waited till the old fellow was close to him, when he fired right | into the vast cavernous mouth, and then turned and ran. The hip tamus stopped and staggered. He shook his t head from side to side, gave a snort and a bellow, and then went for the enemy. It was perfectly amazing to see how fast he went. The clumsy, fat beast ran like a fast trotting horse, and ained on Tom at every step. The boy ammed in a resh cartridge as he went, and called to Curtis. “Up the bank like a streak, Jack!” But Curtis was not the fellow to run and leave his friend. He weited under a big tree till Bullard had assed him, end the hippopotamus was thundering y, within ten feet, not seeing the second enemy. Jack tock a hurried aim in the uncertain light, _ fired at the tremendous head between the eye and ear. To his astonishment and delight down fell the old bull in an instant, and Jack shouted: “Hurrah, Tom! I’ve fixed him! Shot the first hippe tamus! Hurrah!" so he had, plumb through the brain, and the great beast was dead. Bullard came running back, wild with eget and not at all jealous. He and Jack pulled out their tapes and measured the old fellow. His mouth alone was six feet across, when it was open; and from snout to tail he was eighteen feet one, ack cut off his tail for a trophy, and they were joven of going back to camp, when they were pseabe by the sound of horses’ feet, on the bank above. Now, in these wild countries, you have to be on your guard all the time, for every man you meet ma: fe anenemy. Jack and Tom knew this, and each instinctively cocked his rifle, and moved behind the huge carcass of the hippopotamus, as four men | on horseback rode down the bank and halted in the ow. Jack called out in Arabic, which he could already speak a little: “Who are you? Takecare! We are Americans, and armed! 0 are you?” A voice came out of the darkness, replying: “Hunters of the Beni Hamrau. Peace be unto you, if you are friends.” Jack threw his rifle into the hollow of his arm. = They ‘re the famous Sword Hunters, Tom,” he said. ‘“Let’s invite them to our camp. uel will be tickled to death to see them.” He then turned to the strangers, and spoke in his best Arabic, inviting them to come to the camp and have some supper. “We than we very much,” replied the same e voice. “We willcome, We heard from our ribe that you were in the Veiporgat Bogs we have come to see your wonderful guns. e heard your shots just now. Come, brothers, let us salute the strangers.” And then the horsemen advanced into the moon- light, and the boys saw them for the first time. They were mounted on stout, compact little horses, much like the pampas horses. The men could hard- ly be seen, for as were muffled up in long white blankets called /ykes, and look like four old women, so far. They had neither gun nor lance, like the other Arabs the boys had seen, Each of | them had the hilt of a straight, cross-handled sword sticking up at the saddle-bow, and his left leg it against the side of the horse, and kept swinging about. The one that seemed to be the chief came for- ward and shook hands with Curtis, saying again: “Peace be unto you, brother. I am Abou Has- san, and these are my beowers, Hamet, Abdallah, and Selim. You have done well to kill this great i from | creature with that gun. It takes us all day to kill one.” Bullard shook hands with the Arabs all round, and at told ee oot ore ae the Arabs re ve ve uu rea ly mixed up. Then the "ttle. party roceeded to camp, where they found Manuel wai Bhan osc for them, and the Arabs were much with everything. Here they threw off their long cloaks, and appeared almost ne op Oc except for a little pair of breeches, like bathing breeches, and a strong belt round the waist. They turned their horses loose graze and every man took down the sword from his
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proud of, Now that the boys could see them clearly, they proved noble-looking fellows, active and graceful as cats and very handsome. They wore their hair very long, and elaborately oiled and curled. It was carefull round the forehead, and came almost to the Hassan had a, splendid black beard, but the rest own their backs, were young men, whose beards were just beginning | ~ ot in fact boys, of the same ages as our three ends. Manuel was very much interested with them at supper. These wild Arabs. behaved with as much 0 aah a single rude act. any one speaking, and if they were asked a ques- tion, always answered mggese Manuel was the best Arabic scholar of the party, being the oldest, and the dragoman was always by to help them, if there was a word they did not understand. Abou Hassan turned out to be one of the crack hunters of the Hamrau tribe, and, with his young brothers, was just about starting on a trip. Hear- ing that the white party was in the country, he had come to offer them his services, to hunt, and to find game for them. ‘But how do you go out hunting?’ asked Manuel. ‘* What kind of game do you hunt?” “ Everything,” said the Arab, gravely, “from an elephant to an antelope.” ¥ “* And what do you kill a lion with?” asked Tom whose mind was bent on killing one of the royal beasts. Abou Hassan smiled, and patted the sword in his arms. “With this,”’ he said, quietly. fear the best lion in the sountey, if we catch him - ts, open fields, but we can do nothing in the orest.”” ‘*And what do you kill an elephant with?’ asked Manuel, ‘“* With this,’’ replied Abou Hassan, again patting the sword affectionately. “What, kill an elephant, with asword? Why, how “We four do not many of you get at him?” “We four,” responded Abou Hassan, shrugging his shoulders, ‘‘ Sometimes we do it with only two. but four are safest. More are only in the way of each other,”’ ** Do you know where we can find any elephants?” asked Jack Curtis, ‘“We have marked a herd about three hours’ ride | from here,’ replied the Sword Hunter. ‘If my white brothers will go to-morrow, they shall see how the sons of Hamrau hunt the elephant. The boys were delighted with this news. soon made arrangements with the four Arabs, by which the latter were to find them all the game they wanted, stay with them as long as they were in the country, and hunt for them, and were to receive for their services half of the game, the tusks of all ele- phants killed, except what fell by the white hunters’ rifles, and a horse apiece at the end of their term of ges t hey agreed to show th e next morning they o show the boys a herd of wild elephants. CHAPTER VI. THE HERD. Lone before sunrise, next morning, Manuel was awakened by a touch on his shoulder, Looking up, he beheld the grave, handsome face of Abou Hassan. The Arab held ,his sword hug ed to his breast as usual, and his finger on ps. ‘Make no noise, white brother,” he said, in a low tone, ‘Elephants are near us, come to drink at the pool. Time to be off before they get to the forest.” Manuel jumped up and shook himself. In those wild countries people always sleep in their clothes, so he was re. in a. minute. He picked up his rifle and, cartridge-box and sallied out. Abon Hassan ang gone. 0nd when the ose oe bes beget ay m rousing the grooms, an ng them ge masters’ horses ready, .They found the three youn, Sword Hunters standing silently by the heads o their horses, and watching the I. It was nearly dark. The full moon was already half-set, and the sun was still behind the distant eae Only the stars looked twinkling down over- ead, ; At the end of the pool, on the side toward the open country, they could hear a distant splashing, different from the hippopotami, as if some large an- imals were bathing in the water. The experienced Sword Hunters knew that the noise proceeded from elephan said so. Presently Abou Hassan came back, with the grooms, leading the horses of our yo hunters. ey were all handsome horses, sma from the Arab, Abou, Hassan gave a silent signal, and they all mounted, and rode away round the back of the é Arabs had left their long camp, at a slow . hykes it behind, and rode n naked, with their swords ready under the left leg. To keep them | the top of the forehead, the other in from slipping and swinging, they were hung to the saddle-bow by a little strap, and two stiff = Pv of leather were sewed on the scabbards, sticking out, one above, and the other below, the rider's leg In,this way they rode off. The boys could hardly believe it possible that these men were goin, hunt a herd of elephants, with nothing but a little sword, Jack Curtis thought of his own experience with a sword in the fight with the Indians, and mut- tered to Bullard: ‘Those fellows can’t do anything, Tom. We shall have to shoot the elephants,’ *T offs weit and see. ground, when they sat down. Abou | ness as if they had been princes, and did not | They never interrupted | and compact, of the country breed, coming | saddle-bow and nursed it, as if it was a baby he was an kept out of their eyes by a leathern band | | | one will charge fiercely. | They | sa out to | Maybe they know more | The Sword Hunters. than we think they do. If not, we'll show them,” was Tom’s reply. ‘**Hush!” whispered Manuel. “Trust to them. They know more than we do about their game.” Abou Hassan turned and made a gesture for si- lence, and the party rode out of the river bed up the further bank. They chose a place where a little stream entered the river, now dried up, leaving a steep channel to the rising country. On this side of the river there was no cover, for some miles, and the elephants would have to cross an open plain, before they reached any wood. hile they were in the torrent bed, the hunters were protected from view of their game, and by | great good luck the wind was blowing from the ele- pee toward them. If it had not been, they would ave been compelled to go many miles round, for an elephant can scent a human being many miles off, if he be to windward. As they went slowly on, they could hear the ele- — still splashing in the water, and when the ad gone about a mile, the sky an to flush with a bright crimson glow. Presently the sun rose, and they could see that they were not far from the head of the torrent bed. But Abou Hassan did not go that far. As soon as the sun rose, he turned his horse to the left, and climbed the bank, calling to the others to follow him. They did so, and in a moment more beheld the object of all their hopes ly before them. A smooth slope stretched down to the river, eov- ered with long grass, dried up heats. Coming up the slo m the pool, lazily swingivg their trunks to and fro, was a herd of some twenty elephants, led by an old bull, with tusks as white as snow, and of enormous size. There were two other bulls, with tusks nearly as large, a number of female elephants with shorter ones, and five or six little baby Sea: without any, but trotting pay by their mothers’ sides, playing, with clumsy antics. The elephants saw the hunters just about as soon as they saw theelephants, andthe whole herd fell into confusion at once. The female elephants threw up their trunks with a shrill trumpeting, and ran back to the py with their little ones, while the three bulls, led by the stately old patriarch of the herd, stalked solemnly toward the strangers, as if to cover the retreat. “Come on, boys!’ shouted Bullard. pee for tusks. Let’s show the niggers how to unt.’ And he was dashing forward, when Manuel re- strained him. “Don’t go, Tom,” he protested. “Let the Arabs go to work. I want to see what they'll do.” And he repeated his wish in Arabic to Abou Has- by ine fierce summer ‘“‘Now’s your n. ‘““My white brother shall see,” said the Arab, avely. ‘*The elephants are coming to charge us, nut there are too many for the sword. Let m brothers come forward with us slowly, and fire at the two little bulls. They will run away, but the old Then let my brothers stand side, and leave us to deal with him,” ** That’s fair,’ said Curtis. ‘‘ We can’t expect four men, with nothing but swords, to attack three ele- phants together.’ “Let’s go forward, then,” said Manuel. ‘‘ When you fire, aim at the beasts’ foreheads. Perbaps we shall kill them both.” The seven horsemen. accordingly walked. their horses are, og toward the ele ts, which, on their part, gan to quicken their pace, throw up their trunks, and roar fiercely. Abou Hassan remarked that they had never been hunted before, or they would a+ th he was right. No white men or guns had evér been there before; in all probaly, and the Hamraus seldom attack herds. They prefer solitary ele old bulls with wicked tem , Which have the herd in d t. Such bulls are called in India “rogue a ants,’ and the Hamraus know. that they have the largest tusks; which will sell for most money, which is what they hunt. elephants for. A ood pair of tusks will be worth a hundred and fifty ollars, which will buy a good horse anda gu» and many other things in Africa. So the Hamraus, who have nothing but swords, wisely pick out si phants whenever they can find them, althoug always fight very hard. _ Now, as the boys went forward, they noticed the difference in the character of the elephants. The nearer they came the fiercer the old fellow. grew while the young ones began to drop behi and show of backing out. The rest of the herd was in full flight up the river, when Abou Hassan cried: ** Now, white brothers, drive off the children, and we will kill the father.” le ele- such The boys drew up and took deliberate aim, Bull- ' ard took the left-hand elephant, and sent a ball righ into the ap he aimed, the center of its forehead. But the bull never dropped. On the contrary, he ut- tered a shrill scream, wheeled round, and made off, woe Pi gtr after the herd, as if he was only fright- ened. il Manuel and Jack hit the other young bull, one in the trunk. The first bullet glanced off, and the second brought a stream of blood. As Abou Hassan icted | { so fierce; ait’~ ; ’ ; ’ | | away went the young fellow after his brother, in f ull | flight. T Look out, fellows! Here comes the old man himself!’ cried Tom, hastily cramming in a fresh cartridge. ‘*Keep back, white brothers !’’ shouted Abou Has- san, ‘Our turn now.” And at the same minute the old elephant, with a furious roar, came tearing up the slope to attack them, while all four of the Arado Sword Hunters dashed in their spurs and went off to meet him, as swift as so many birds on the wing, their horses a gad to enjoy the fun, and the riders yelling wildly. As thes neared the elephant, out flashed their swords, and they all scattered around the beast, and attacked him fiercely. CHAPTER VII. KILLING AN ELEPHANT WITH A SWORD. Ir was a splendid sight to see Abou Hassan and his brothers attacking the old bull with ne weapon but their swords, and seemed to the boys periect madness. But, when they saw the way the sword hunters went to work, they altered their opinion. As the Arabs came near the elephant, the whole four scattered, on either side, so as to yuzzle ‘the creature which to attack. Abou Hassan swept past on the right, two of his brothers on the left, while the qoizer, Selim, who was a slim boy of light weight, went almost up to the animal's nose’ before he turned. When he did turn he was not twenty feet from the old bull. This seemed to decide the ele- phant, who had stopped, and was pawing the earth, and trumpeting fiercely, with uplifted trunk. The old fellow gave a scream of rage, and ‘“went’’, for Selim like a mad creature. Away galloped the boy, before the elephant, with the beast’s trunk hanging almost over the horse’s tail, but in a very few jumps the rider began to gain upon him. Then Jack Curtis uttered an exclamation of won- der, for Selim actually began to pull ai his horse, and let the dephant catch up, so that it seemed every mo- ment as if the boy must be captured, as he looked back over his shoulder, and shouted at the elephant, exciting the beast to tenfold fury. But, while Selim was leading on the old bull in the delusive chase, the rest of the Hamraus were not idle. As soon as they were past the elephant, they all turned round like lightning, and came tearing up behind at full speed. Abou Hassan was the first. close to the bull’s hindteg. Then the active chief suddenly leaped out Of his saddle, going at full speed as he was, ran three or four steps on the ground, with his sword lifted in both hands, and made a tremendous blow at the elephant’s hind-leg, just above the heel. The boys could see the whole operation perfectly, for Selim was leading the elephant across their front. They saw a t red gash, two feet lerg, appear in the huge hind-leg, and heard a loud crack asthe back sinews parted. At the same instant the elephant stoy ped as if it had been shot; and remzin- ed Banaing utterly unable to move. Selim pulled up and all the hunters gave a shout together. Tie elephant’s foot was turned up in front just liké au Sid aboe: and the beast was disabled. There it stood, roaring, and lashing its trunk to and fro, holding up the wounded leg, and standing on the other three. : Then young Selim walked his horse back towrrd the bull, and stooped from his saddle to the pround, whence he picked up some dirt and threw it at the elephant. This insult enraged the old fellow so much that he tried to put down his foot and hop for- ward on three legs, to punish the saucy boy. But that was just what the Arabs wanted. Atou Hassan was watching his opportunity, and, just as the elephant strained to reach Selim, he ran forward and gave a mighty blow at the unwounded leg, opening a second awful gash, from whence the red blood spurted out all over the Arab. That finished the poor old bull. As the seeccnd sinew parted, with a loud crack, he fell on his knees, and remained there, with the blood pouring fcm the hind-legs like the stream from a pump. Abou Hassan stooped down and plucked seme Cry ptgbe. with which he carefully wiped bis sword c)c an efore he did anything. en he took the lng leathern scabbard from his saddle-bow and vse: it on the edge of the sword, as if the blade had leeua razor. e boys could see him st rapping the wer} on with great care, feeling the edge with bis finger. rr d gding at it again as if he never would have it +1. rp enough. They rode down to see him nearer, and as they cic so the old bull tottered to and tro a moment. : nd came crashing down on his side, dead. Abou Fas- san had eut the arteries of both hind-legs, anc the elephant had bled to death from the wounds. »The boys were wonderfully pleased with t}cir friends, the sword hunters, Jack Curtis, especi: ily, who was fond of the sword, and anxious to |: ow how to use it, was delighted with the bettle, He came to Abou Hassan and begged for permissicn tc see the blade which could make such cuts. The Arab showed it to him very politely, and told him t« feel the edge. Jack did so, and found that it was really and truly as sharp as a razor, for he could cut a single hair in two by just striking it over the cdg; of the sword, , ** And do yo make these weapons yours: lcs? asked Jack, when he had admired the keen ec pe. ‘*No,” Abou Hassan said. “We get then: irom the traders, who bring them from overthe ser. My father even this when he was a boy.” Jack looked at the weapon again very closely. H¢ thought it must be one of the famous Den rscu | blades he had read of. But no. They were all evi) ec he remembered, like a sickle. his was © |on straight sword, that came as high as his breast. v it |.a simple cross hilt of iron, and on the blecc : a stamped, in German text, “‘ Adi m Schmidt, : ) f ! without hurtin ult gen. Then Jack remembered that he had often h« arc of these Solingen swords as being of such food + tee that you could cut a cast-iron stove with on hai ee the edge, and also remember he had one himself, with a very handsome : scabbard,
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6 But then he knew that that was no sharper than a common table-knife, in fact not quite so sharp. So = resolved to have it ground the first opportun- ty. **.*~d how do you get them so sharp?’’ he asked Abou Hassan, while the others, with their swords, were cutting out the long white tusks of the ele- phant. ‘‘ Have you any grind-stones?”’ “We sh n them first on a wet stone,’ answer- ed the Arab, ‘It takes a week to sharpen a good sword, for the steel is very hard, and one must do it on Afterward we keep it strapped, three or four times a day.”’ oo was recalled from his talk by Bullard, who cried: “Come, Jack, come. The rest of those elephants are getting away. Let’s go after them.” Then Jack turned and saw that it was true. The rest of the elephants were over a mile off, now, up the river, on their way to a forest at some distance. The horses were still fresh; Abou Hassan thought they could catch up; so away they went, leaving the dead elephant behind them. The race was full of excitement, for the elephants had a long start, and were making for the cover at good speed. Manuel’s horse was the swiftest of the He a and the way was down a gentle slope, so that e went at a tremendous rate of speed, leading the crowd by several lengths, and gaining. Young Selim was second, Tom and Jack neck and neck for the third place, and Abou Hassan, with his two other brothers, was the last. They came up with the herd, hand over hand, as the elephants were going up a steep bank at the other side of the river, having crossed between two of the river pools when the hunters Game down the other slope. Over the bank was a small belt of open country and then some young forest. When the a ne had scrambled to the top of the bank the boys were down to the other side of the river. And now the chase grew very close. Down the first bank clattered the horsemen, across the dry bed of the river, and Bp the bank on the op- posite side, which they topped while the -herd was et in the midst of the open. Here Curtis, by a liberal use of his spurs, managed to shoot to the front, for Jack was an accomplished rider by this time. _He had had preach enough to make him one. Tom followed him, and they both came up on the right of the herd, nearly together, at the very edge of the forest. here was no more fight in the elephants. They were in full flight. Jack Curtis threw up his rifle as he galloped by within ten feet of the bull he and Manuel had hit be- fore. He had loaded his rifle with an explosive copper shell, aimed behind the shoulder and fired. rack! went the gun, and the bullet went thump into the elephant, which stopped, staggered, fell on its knees, struggled up again, and fina ly stumbled slowly off after the rest. Jack stuck to his game, and put in a fresh cartridge. As he did so, Hamet, the oldest of Abou Hassan’s brothers, came tearing by, and leaped off his horse behind the bull. Flash! went his sword, as the Arab made a furious cut, and the elephant was brought to a standstill at once. But the rifle-shell had already done his busi- ness, although the immense strength of the beast had enabled him to get up and stagger on, As they looked the bull shook all over, and fell crashin, down, dead; and Jack had again triumphed, in kill- ing the first elephant of the party, outside of the Arabs. He looked round and avery exciting scene was taking place. Bullard was firing into the other bull; and every time he put in a shot the elephant turne on him and charged. Tom put spurs to his horse and galloped away, till the elephant got tired and gave up thechase. The instant it did so, Tom turn- ed back, galloped alongside, and put in another bullet, behind the shoulder, which brought another charge, for Tom’s bullets were too small to kill an elephant, and he had not thought of using shells, which Curtis had found so useful. But Bullard stuck to his game like a leech, firing away at short range till the poor creature stopped at last, exhaus from loss of blood. Meanwhile, the rest were not idle by any means. Manuel Garcia was the coolest of the three boys, al- though he was not such a good shot as the Western- er. He watched his chance, galloped up infd the herd, and sent asteel-pointed bullet into one of the female elephants heads, between the eye and ear, in the temple. It was an-experiment, to see if he could kill an African elephant with a head shot, and it suc- ceeded. The game went down all in a heap, and Manuel had triumphed, too. But the Arabs had done best of all. A flying herd, well scared, was the very thing for them. Abou Hassan had stopped three elephants, and. each of his brothers one apiece, before they got into the forest, where the swordmen could not get at them. Then the party pulled up, very well satisfied. Ten of the herd had been bagged altogether, including the first bull killed by the sword hunters; and now Abou Hassan and his brothers rode back, and finished off the elephants they had before only stopped, for the deep sword-cuts had erippled them so completely, that they could not stir a foot from where they were left. But a second cut soon bled them to death. And now came the question what should be done with all these huge carcasses? If they were left aloné they would putrefy before the next day, and the country would be unbearable. When Manuel asked Abou Hassan the question, the Arab smiled, : ; “Gut out the tusks,” he said. “‘The meat will find eaters before night.” Ard Abou Hassan was correct. ws is > they Lad hardly seen ¢ The Sword Hunters. before noon there came straggling in froif all round the country, hundreds of people, Arabs, Gallas, Abyssinians and others, most of them half-starved, who flocked round the carcasses like ants, They were all nearly naked, and carried short spears, with very broad heads, shaped like a laurel leaf;and sharp as razors. They flocked to the huge earcasses, howling like wolves, coming in crowds from their distant villages, hid away in the moun- tains and woods. These pear had probably been watching our hunters all the time, and expecting their first full meal for months, for an elephant’s hide is too thick to be pierced by their puny bows and arrows. They dashed at the dead beasts, and in a very few minutes were cutting away the meat in great slabs, fighting and screaming among each other, covered with blood from head to foot. They actually jum inside of the carcasses and rooted out the entrails like wolves, presenting a sight dis- gusting enough to the white hunters. “Those are not your people, are they?’’ remarked Manuel to Abou Hassan. The Arab smiled disdainfully. “No,” he said. ‘Those are the miserable moun- tain tribes, that crawl on foot, and have no swords. My people are the kings of the land. You shall see them some day. These are but the dogs of Base.”’ CHAPTER VIIL - THE LIONS. Dvurine the rest of the day the hunters remained in fer) and reposed their tired horses, Their people brought in the tusks of the elephant, and such choice pieces of the meat as Abou Hassan assured them were good. It was amusing to see the way in which the hun: ry savages scattered, when the stately Hamrau swordsmen approached the carcass to cut out what the mecden. The Arabs yaid no more attertion to them than if they had yeen hyenas, and the negroes waited around re- spectfully till the brave hunters were served. Only one man tried to be impudent, It was a very large, powerful negro, at work at the big bull. He kept on cutting when young Selim came near, seemingly trusting to the latter being a boy for protection, Selim came near where the big fellow was hacking away at one of the tusks, which had been left half cut out. The young Hamrau ordered him away as if he had been his servant, and the big fellow laughed in a sneering manner, and told him to ‘make him go if he could.” Manuel Garcia was coming up, gun in hand, to look at the tusks, which he had offered to buy of the Hamrans. Selim had his sword on his shoulder, and Manuel heard him say, quietly: “Go, dog of a Galla, or I will leave you there in two pieces.” The Lig negro started up, spear in hand, shouting angrily: ° ny it then, little fellow, and see what will hap- pen to you.” Young Selim said not another word, but he ran to the negro.. As he came, the big man sent his spear | at him, and turned to run. But Selim, with wonderful dexterity, ponte the flying weapon with his sword, bounded after his enemy, and overtook him in two or three steps. He made but one blow with his razor-like sword, and cut the negro right in half at the waist, so that the unhappy creature never spoke again. Then the boy calmly stooped and wiped sword, and shook his hand at the frighten beyond as much as to say: * Look out I don’t serve you the same way.” Manuel was shocked, but he could not he P adinir- ing the boldness and skill of the boy, and the ‘tabs took off the tusks of the elephant in silence, undis- turbéd by any of the other crowd. By sunset, all that remained of the ten elephants was their bones; and crowds of. men, women and children weve trooping off to the hills, with huge loads of meat on their shoulders. E While our travelers were resting in camp, they learned a good deal about the game from the Ham- raus, Abou Hassau told them there were elephants, rhinoceroses, and plenty of giraffes and antelopes, a little further up river; and promised to show bene a lake, where they should have all the sport ey wanted. Accordingly, during the day, they got their guns in order, and made ready for their trip; and, as soon as the sun rose next morning they were on their way to the lake. They made an easy journey of some fifteen miles through a country that grew greener at every step, and at sunset they went into camp at the borders of a beautiful lake surrounded by hills. Their oe was in a Bi Ege little wood, and the coun’ was sp | over with copses of low, scrubby thorns, in the midst of real green , the first hey had seen since leaving Eu- rope, for everything in the country was burned up by the sun. They could see that Abou Hassan was right. Herds of antelopes were feeding about in full view like cattle, and the long necks of a number of giraffes were visible, here and there. Rhinoceroses were scattered about, in pairs, and a few had calves with them. Manuel took a telescope, and climbed = a tree, while the rest were pitching camp. He watched the tan with great interest, and counted four different inds of rhinoceros in sight. Two of them were white and very large. They were shaped just like huge pigs, but as tall as a horse. One kind had a single horn on its snout, the other had two, the front one being about four feetlong. The two other kinds were black, and differed in the same way, having one horn or two. The rhinoceroses seemed to be stupid, lazy beasts, hn- 4own a good deal; but suddenly one of them to grow crazy. It was a two crowd his | norsed black } fellow, feeding quietly. Manuel saw a large ante- lope, with horns shaped just like corkscrews, pass near this stupid-lo king beast. What he did, Man- uel could not see, but the rhinoceros took offense at him, and made a vicious charge at the antelope, which ran away, bounding over a low bush like a bird. When the rhinoceros found the antelope was gone, the beast seemed to think the bush had insult- ed him, for he rushed at it furiously, rooted it up with his long horn, and sent it flying in the air, when he bene it again, and did not rest till he had pounded it to bits. Manuel laughed heartily and asked Abou Hassan to explain the scene when he was in camp that hight. ‘The rhinoceros is a fool,” replied the Arab. “‘ He is subject to fits of fury about nothing at all, and is very dangerous to hunt, for he can run nearly as fast as a horse, and goes on three legs as well as four. We always have to cut him on both sides be- fore we can get him safe.” The travelers made their camp secure that night, for Abou Hassan told them there were 1 any lions about, that would steal their horses. So they made a stiff fence of thorn bushes, and lighted big fires, behind which they were secure, for the lion will not face fire as a general rule, at least not in that part of Africa. As we have seen, the lions of Algeria are Se different beasts. They seem to fear nothing. at night the travelers could hear the roar of lions all round them, and several of the beasts came close to the fence. Tom Bullard wanted to go out aut have a shot, butthe Arabs persuaded him not 0 £0, Ny white brother will only get killed for noth- ing,” said Abou Hassan, ‘‘God made the night for the lion and the day for man. Leave the lion his kingdom. In the morning we will show you how we kill them.”’ { So Tom was forced to remain quiet, and the lions had it all their own way outside. One of them pull- ed down some animal at the water side, for the boys heard a great splashing and roaring, and afterward all the beasts began to growl and fight over the car- cass, whatever it was, till it grew light, just before sunrise. Then Abou Hassan said that it was a good time to go out, for the carcass would keep the lions by the water, and sure enough it turned out as he said. The moon had not yet gone down, and the light in the east was increasing every moment, when the boys rode out of camp to find the lions, There they were, five altogether, three lions, a lioness, and a half-grown cub, finishing their meal on the carcass of a young giraffe, which they had dragged up from the water's edge. The Hamraus galloped out to get between them and the cover, and then the lions didn’t seem to know what to do, for they are cowardly beasts in day- light. They growled and grumbled a good deal, but that didn’t scare the Hamraus. They stood firm till the sun rose, and then the fight began in real earn- est. Tom Bullard had niyo by his experience of the day before, and had a supply of rifle shells, as well as bullets, for Jack’s success had told him what ter- rible things they were, bursting inside and tearing the most ferocious creature to pieces. But he was too proud of his shooting to use those on anything short of an elephant, and he was the first to try a shot at the lions, while they still stood undecided. Turning his horse round to take a good aim, he leveled his rifle at the head of the lioness, and fired. Theginimal was looking at Abou Hassan at the time, and offered a fair temple shot. “ Plug’ uttered a shout of triumph, for the lion- ess dropped, and Abou Hassan cried out: ‘* Well done, white brother!”’ The moment the shot was fired the three lions and the cub turned, and charged Manuel Garcia, who was on the opposite side from the Hamraus, bound- ing forward in a cloud of dust. Manuel and Jack fired together, and_were answered by loud roars. The next moment Manuel’s horse was knocked down by one of the lions, Manuel himself leaping off as it feil, a trick in which he had become expert among the gauchos of South America. The young Spaniard had a double-barreled breech- loader, and with the d ration natural to his dan- gerous position, he right into the lion's head as he thought, almost touching it with the muzzle of his gun. He heard a terrible roar through the smoke, and the next moment was sent flying to one side, like a kitten. He heard shouts and yells as he fell over, and two shots, and then the four Hamraus dashed past where he lay, as hard as they could tear. Manuel tried to get up, but he found his side so painful he could hardly move, and he felt very faint. He look- ed up, expecting to see the lion coming at him, but there it lay, stone dead, over his dead horse, and the others were gone. Then 4 eame Bullard end Cur- tis, in great anxiety, to see if he was badly hurt. j “Oh! Wiseman,” cried Tom almost erying, “are ou most dead, old fellow? Don’t die, Wiseman! | killed the lion, jus: as he hit yon that lick with his paw that sent you kiting. here did he hit ‘ou?’ we Here, on my side, I believe,” said Manuel, faint- . “Where are the rest?”’ “ Out there, catching Jesse!” said Bullard, vin- dictively. “Oh, Wiseman, if you could only sit u and see them Arabs at ‘em. There, that’s it, old fellow; lean on me. Now look!” Manuel looked, and almost forgot his pain in the excitement, There were the four Hamrau Arabs, not a hundred yards off, fighting the two old lions, the fiercest of all. The horsemen seemed to be quite devoid of fear, for they swooped down at the licns, full speed,
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The Sword Hunters. and cut them as they passed. The lions charged after them, and the oldest one made a desperate at- tack on Abou Hassan, leaping after his horse, and etting one claw on its haunches. But the fearless amrau dealt him a fierce cut in the face, that drove the lion back, howling, and at the same mo- ment Hamet came dashing up behind, on the right of the lion, stood up in his stirrups, and discharged a blow with both hands at. the creature's back, tak- ing it across the loins with hissword. It finished Mr. Lion’s business, for he fell down; and when he tried to rise, he dragged his hind legs powerless on the ground, and could not epeing. e was finished with a second cut on the neck. e other lion was a wary old fellow, who stood still, facing his foes, and seemed determined not to be flanked. As for the cub, he was running his “level best” toward the forest, and no one seemed to care where he went. ® But the old lion was no easy conquest. They tried to entice him to charge, but he was too knowing. He kept eo short rushes, snarling and growling, at the horses, but always keeping his face to his foes, and giving them no opportunity to serve him as they had his brother. And then the Hamraus showed what splendid hunters they were. They drew off from the lion, as if they were going to leave him alone, and he, think- ing himself safe, turned and bounded toward the forest to escape. Down rushed the four hunters like a whirlwind, two on each side, and each aimed a cut at him in passing. Too late the lion turned, for Abou Hassan’s sword caught him on the back of the neck, as he sprung at Hamet, cut clear through the thick mane and strong hair, and took the great head half off, with the tremendous blow. And down fell that lion, dead, while Abou Hassan and his brothers rode gently back to where Manuel was sitting down, feeling very sick. Then they told him how his first shot had only wounded the lion, who had knocked down his horse. His second shot had gone through the beast’s neck, only making it more savage. “And then,” said Curtis, ‘he sprung at you, and ave you a side blow with his paw, and Tom and I red together, and I guess we both hit him, Any- wa he dropped.” hen they examined Manuel's side, and found that the lion’s paw had bruised him fearfully, but by great good luck had broken no bones... And that lit- tle stroke, made about as a cat would toss a ball of yarn aside, might have kept Manuel in camp for over a week, but for the Arabs, who cured him in a very singular manner. They wrapped him up in the warm skin of the lion which had knocked him over; and when he awoke, next morning, his bruises were almost gone, and he felt nearly well. This remedy is always practiced by the Arabs in case of bruises. After a few days’ rest, our friends resumed their hunting, and their next adventure was met with, after a great black rhinoceros. CHAPTER IX. THE BORELE, THE application of the warm _lion’s skin cured Manuel's bruises in twenty-four hours, but he had received a shock that took him some days to recover from. When he was able to mount his horse it was several days after, and he did not care to go too near any more lions. “1 shall fire shells at them,” he said... ‘‘They are sure to disable the beasts, and I shall keep at a safe distance.” Bullard and Curtis, however, had acquired some- what of a contempt for the lions, for the animals did not come round their camp any more except at night. Inthe daytime, after their first_battle, they could not see one. The beasts kept hid in close thickets, and were very scarce; for they seemed to have destroyed the principal family of the neighbor- hood; and one family is as much as most localities will support, in the way of lions. But before Manuel was able to leave camp, Jack Curtis and Bullard had some pretty hunting, and harried the large game of the neighborhood to some effect. The first day they went out Hamet went with them, for Abou Hassan and his brothers had gone to their own tribe, which they promised to bring ack with them, to encamp along with the gene white strangers. Manuel was very glad of this, for he wanted to see the hamraus at home, and he knew that their presence would be a great protec- ie from the thieving n. s of the country. These become a n hanging around the camp to beg and pilfer what’ they could, and Manuel knew that they would not come around when the terrible Sword Hunters were encamped near them. So Abou Hassan left Hamet to show game, and rode off to his own people, whom he promised to bring back that night, Curtis and Bu went out soon after daylight with Hamet, seeing numerous herds of antelopes on the way, none of which did they disturb. The pretty creatures kept at a wary distance, but the hunters could watch their motions with a telescope to at iby: There were many different kinds, of all sizes, fro’ the tiny gazelle, with legs no thicker than a pencil, to the stately eland, with a body as large as an ox, the magnificent koodoo, with horns like corkscrews, at least four feet long, and the onyx, @ large antelope, in shape much fike a goat, but as tall as a donkey, with horns quite straight and ve apg Then there was the sable antelope, as bl as jet, with tanned points, the | caw roan antelope, and at least a dozen other kinds we have no time to mention. There were tall, ful gi- raffes and sullen, lowering buffaloes, rik 5 kind in its own separate herds, fe € peacefully, But Bullard cared for none of them,” He had come expected from out to shoot a rhinoceros, and he was bound to have one, the more horns the better. He was not long in finding what he wanted, for the rhinoceros is an easy beast to hunt up. Before they had been out half an hour they saw two together, asleep under a tree at some distance. There was no cover all the way, and Hamet warned them that the rhinoceros has a remarkably keen scent. Therefore they had to ride round a long way before they got to leeward of the creatures, and slowly advanced toward them. The rhinoceroses were both of the black, two- horned kind, considered the most ferocious of any, and known to the natives as the dorele. They la half asleep, with their heads turned to leeward, trusting to their noses to tell them of danger on the other side. But the sight of the rhinoceros is very or, aud he has a habit of shutting his eyes when e charges,so that our hunters anticipated little trouble in getting up to them. Hamet set them the example how to approach. The active Arab threw himself down alongside of his horse, with one arm around the animal’s neck, and his leg over the sad- dle. In this manner he hung alongside of his horse, keeping the animal as a shield between him and the boreles. Bullard had often practiced this trick asa | boy on the plains, and Jack had learned it during his trip to the estancia at Buenos Ayres. The two therefore imitated Hamet as well as they knew how, | and all three advanced on their sleeping game at an | easy walk. The two rhinoceroses Jay blinking and snoring, just like two pigs, and if they saw the horsemen, praniy took them for antelopes of some strange ind, for the hunters would sometimes let the reins | loose, when of course the horses would stoop their heads to graze. And so the whole approach had a | very natural air. At last they had arrived within about fifty yards, when Hamet gave the signal, aud the three instantly started up in their saddles. But instead of the boreles being frightened at the | sudden apparition the reverse was the case. They saw it quick enough. Almost before the hunters were up, the rhinoceroses were on their feet. They came up on all four legs together, like an India-rub- | ber ball, and each uttered a sort of whistling squeal, something like a : pig. And then with an agility un- eir clumsy frames, both charged together at the hunters, full of fury. Look out, Pickle,’ shouted Bullard, and as he spoke he sighted the head of the left hand borele with his rifle, heard the sharp smack of the bullet in the beast's head. But the rhinoceros did not seem to heed it, for he charged more viciously than ever. Tom's hdérse spun round on its baunches like a top, and oi ag ike a streak,’ as ‘Plug’ afterward obser- ved, Curtis fired a copper rifle shell into the other one, and saw it blow up on the beast’s forehead. This was the female borele. But she did not seem to mind it any more than a musketo-bite, and Curtis’s horse, with great prudence, followed Bullard as hard | Jack did not fall off this time, a | as he could tear. fact poaeely due to his beéng of the same mind with his horse, and turning with him. And the two hunters, instead of putting their foes to flight, were just doing their level best to escape from the creatures they had started to kill. As for Hamet, he shied off to one side at the first onset, and the rhinoceroses did not appear to see him, for they parted on after the boys. But no sooner were they oy, than down swooped Hamet after the female borele, spurring his horse desperately, and drawing his sword as he went. Jack turned one way and Bullard the other, with the boreles after them, the horses Pqvengey. fright- ened, and running their best. But the clumsy, pig- like beasts behind gave them all the running they wanted for some minutes, before Hamet could over- take the cow borele. When he did, he made a tre- mendous cut at her hind leg, and divided the sinew fairly, making her hop on three legs. She did not appear to mind it, however, running nearly as fast as ever, and it was not till Hamet had made a second blow at the other leg, that she came to astand. When she did, she dropped, for both legs were ut- terly supped. At the same moment the other borele, which had been chasing Tom Bullard, sud- denly caught scent of him. The beast - had chased him in a. semicircle, till it had got to lee- -ward, and caught a whiff for the first time, In- stantly it stopped, gave a sniff of disgust, wheeled Ghasod before beeniee auddenie terrible when tb tac ore e sudde: rrible when it was discovered to be a man. No sooner was the borele off, than away went Tom after it. As he went, he crammed a fresh cartridge into his and spurred his horse hard, to keep near the ng game. Curtis and Hamet both joined in, but Tom had the start by fifty yards, and was not twenty feet from the borele, when the brute turned. He not much distance to make up, therefore, but it taxed his little horse to its ut- most todo that much. However, by a vigorous dose of the long spurs. he managed to creep up to within ten feet, and further than that his horse would not o. The animal remembered the chase it had un- Sergone before, and feared a fresh charge, So Tom was forced to fire from where he was, or lose his game. He had ashell this time in his rifle and he took a hasty aim behind the shoulder of borele, and fired. Clap! went the ball into ,the tough hide, and the borele stopped short, quivered and shook, fell on its knees, rose again, and stag- ered along slowly, shaking its heayy head in evi- ba distress. Tom had another eariridge in before the beast was fairly up,and sent.a.second shell into borele’s body. That finished his business. As the second fearful missile exploded in the poor brute’s Crack! went the gun, and Bullard | lungs, it stopped again, trembled all over, and felt | over on its side, dying. Tom was a merciful fellow if he was a hunter. He reloaded with a steel-pointed bullet, — off his horse, and put the bullet inte the dying borele’s brain, to end its torments. Them Curtis and the Arab came up, and found him exam- ining the body for the trace of bullets. It was made quite plain why he had not killed the rhinoceros with the first shot in the forehead. The creature’s head is a mass of solid bone, as hard as @ rock, and the brain is very small and situated not. far from the nose, where the monstrous shield of horn renders it perfectly invulnerable. A side shot is the only chance by which the brain can be reach- ed, and then the shot is very difficult, But it is easy enough to strike it in the lungs, and when anexploisve bullet is used, even the tough rhi- noceros, which will carry off fifty common and live, succumbs at once to the suffocating gases. And from that day forth, Tom never used anything else on elephants and other large game, for his ex peri- ence with the rhinoceros had converted him entire- ly to the use of shells, which he had before con- emned as unsportsmanlike. ** But when a fellow has to pin his life to his gun,” remarked Tom to Curtis, “it don’t do to be too rticular; so we'll blow them all to Scratch for the uture.”’ They cut out the horns of the two boreles with very little trouble. The horn of the rhinoceros is a. very curious affair in this respect. It does not grow out of the bone like a cow’s horn, but is simply stuck on to the skin in some manner, so that if you cut away the piece of skin, off comes the horn with it. They found it of very tough, fine horn, and solid alk the way through. The borele has not such long horns as the great white rhinoceros, called tha | keobaoba, This beast is near as large as an elephant, and its horn is sometimes four feet Jong, and very white and clear. The white rhinoceros is a peace- ful, timid beast, rarely charging, except in defense of its calf, and much slower of foot than the borele, The horns of both seem to be used to root with, like pigs, and they tear up strong, thorny bushes with them like tufts of grass, eating thorns and for the rhinoceroses have palates that are as as iron. Our hunters returned home with their trophies, and tried some rhinoceros meat that night. was uncommonly good eating and reminded them of veal. They found Abou Hassan’s family or tribe, forty men, all told, with women and children, going into camp. CHAPTER X. TOM AND THE WILD ASS. Tuat evening the principal men of the little tribe of Sword Hunters were gathered around the camp- fire of our three friends. When I es “ tribe ’’ of Sword Hunters, you must not nk that they were allof the Hamraus, who are a powerful and numerous tribe. This was only the sub-tribe or band, to which Abou Hassan and his brothers be- lounges and was composed of one single family, from the great ndfather, an aged Arab over a hundred years old, down to Abou Hassan and his brothers, and their children. The old chief, or sheikh, as the Arabs call him, was a magnificent-looking old man, tall and erect as the youngest there, and riding his gray mare like a centaur. His descendants obeyed his slightest beck and nod as if it were a law, and the old sheikh was an absolute monarch in his band, without a rebel among them all. Manuel and the boys were wonderfully taken with this stately old gentleman, with his long, snow-white beard and princely manner, who behaved as though he had been used to good society all his life. Aid so he was, for the nobler tribes of Arabs are e” gentlemen, in the truest sense of the word+that is te say, always polite, hospitable, brave, erous and kind to all = It was interesting to notice how they all venerated the old man, listening to every word with respect, and not contradicting. He, on his part, was very kind to every one, and seemed especially fond of ‘on children. The boys found him a perfect mine of informa- tion on hunting, for Sheikh Haroun Abdel-Kerim had wielded a sword in the chase over eighty years before, and knew every bush in the country. His name—Haroun Abd-el-Kerim—sign “ Aar- on, servant of the Merciful,” and all the Arab names have a signification, except the proper names, such as Hamet, ete. assan means John, Hamet is a variety of Mo- hammed, A means “Servant of God,” Selim is a variety of Islam, or the ‘‘Chosen People,” re most of our Bible names have Arab equiva- ents. “ Are there any beasts so dangerous, oh! = anes ea: “that you cannot kill them with the swo ¥ “Not one,” said the sheikh, quietly. “If we can close with them they cannot escape. But some few, very few, are too swift for us.” “Ab, I suppose — mean antelopes!”’ ** No,” said She Haroun. “We can come up with any antelope but one, after a hard chase. . But the gazelle laughs at the speed of the horse, and the wild ass is even swifter. There is no horse can ual him, and he mocks at the best in our tribe.” om Bullard, who was listening, pricked his ears, ‘* How big are these wild asses?” he asked. “As tall as ahorse. Tallerthan mine,” the Arab answered. ‘“* Are there any here?” “Nay,” said the Sheikh Haroun; “tthe wild ass loves the desert. The nearest place to find them is at the border of the desert, a day’s journey from.
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& here. There is a troop of them, which come to drink | at a spring, at the foot of a mountain there, and the have come since Iwas a boy. We have lain in wait | them many a time, but no man has been near | enough to see the color of their eyes, though many have tried.” * Do you think I could catch one?’’ demanded Tom, enly. “T know 1 can; and if you'll show me where t: ~{ are, ll show you how we catch wild | horses in America,” Sheikh Haroun did not answer for a minute. He was too polite to tell Tom he was a fool, but he ht it, In the first place he had never heard of a horse, for in Africa there are none except tame. And in the next place he knew the swiftness of the wild ass to be prodigious. “You are a stranger, my son,” he said, presently, “end you do not. know the wild ass. We have no wild horses.here. You say you have them in your xountry, aud of course you must be right; but they | are not like our wild asses, or else your horses must | pe much. better than ours. I will show you where | are, but you can do nothing with them, except | } | ps to shout them, and that would be foolish, or they are not made to eat.”’ “Well,” persisted Tom, stubbornly, ‘if you will show me the place, I will promise you to ride a wild | inside of ten days from the time ave shown us how you hunt, and ’ ass into your cam Iseethem. You now we will show you how wedo the thing inTexas.”’ | So it was settled that they should move camp the | next day, for Tom was all on fire to catch a wildass, and he felt confident that he could do it by practic- iknga plan used.in Texas. What that plan is, you | ‘will perceive when you shell hear what Tom did. j el and Jack were as incredulous as the old | sheikh, till Tom explained the mode of doing things, | snd then ee were as anxious to try itas he was, | for they felt that, with such swift steeds to ride, they could catch any thing in the country with ease, from the elephant to the swiftest antelope. So the.next morning they once more broke camp, and veled ali day long to the south-west, the country growing dryer and more barren as they till the afternoon brought them to the ‘oot of the mountain the chief had spoken of, which was the extreme, spur of a range, that thencefor- ward barred the green country from the Lybian alesert. As they camein sight of the sandy plain be- low, Sheik Haroun pointed to a clump of palm trees, and then to some moving dots on the plain. “Behold the spring,” he said. ‘The wild asses are coming to drink at if. They will come again in the morning. But you cannot catch them.” Tom drew out his telescope and inspected the moving dots, They were indeed wild ASSES, but very different from our donkeys and mules. They were splendid. creatures, the old males standing sixteen hands high, itn ge went limbs, broad chests, and necks, e long ears were the only asinine features about) them, and they were not near as long as those of the domestic ass. Tem suddenly started, as if struck with an idea. “Tlitry it,’ he muttered. ‘tI could not have a better chance than uow.”’ At his desire, Manuel halted the caravan where they were, while Tom dismounted, and crept for- w behind rocks and bushes, till he was within about twenty yards of the spring, where the wild asses were coming to drink. Then he lay down be- hind a rock, and awaited their approach. The wind: was blowing from the desert toward him, so that there was no danger of their scenting ‘him, and) he -had) hidden his: advance so well that they had not caught sight of him, attracted as they were by the distant caravan, going into camp where Tom had left them: ' The troop of wild asses came. nearer and: néarer, gazing curiously at the caravan, but anticipating»no evil. Tom counted fifteen aitogether;y :of which three were magnificent males, of a bright sorrel color, with the) peetliar black cross-stripe on the characteristic of their race; and: four were little colts; of different ep oog to two yearsoldy The Texan xested rifle om the forking branch of the bush that hid him, and paciently wait- ed the coming of the troop. He was going to try a ¥ hazardous experiment, pec. liar’ to: his) native 18, called‘ creasing.’ It requires,a first-class shot to try it successfully, but, whemwell performed, furnishes ‘the surest way of capturing a:swift ani- mal yet known. Tom felt sufficient: confidence in his skill to.try it. He had brought with him several straps, which he proposed to use, if his shot was successful, to secure his prize, and he already counted on if as his own. f The wild, asses came slowly down to the spring, ~often stopping arid looking suspiciously at the care- and then coming on again, At last the leader | of herd pvt down his head, and drank delicately, | sand then pricked up bis ears, and looked rotnd away trom Tom. : | It was the chance the young man wis looking for. The next.mi>-ute he took a jon: andsteady aim at the wild creature. He aimed just behind the ears, | where the arching necis joined the; head,.and in- tended: his. bullét to raze the spot, just stunniug the unimal.. Tom's — pe erp ae — @ | perfectly true, as he glanced t e sights. | fie pulled the trizger,.and throngh theflash and “smoke saw the wild ass drop, as if dead, while the ne ae away; ina cloud of dust,and went out ht. Get ished Tom, rifle in hand, to view the prize, and found, to his intense joy, that the creature | breathed. The bullet had marked alittle * crease,” | exactly where it) was ‘aimed, and the wild creative was completely stunned. A hair's breadth lower, and | at would have been killed: Torn loct no time ia looking. He produced from ~ | terrible The Sword Hunters. a tn ea STR SS ee ee his pocket a strong strap, doubled up one fore leg of the wild ass, where it lay, and ——— it tight, just as circus-men hed been in the habit of doing for many years, before Rarey made the secret public. Ina moment more he had a strong halter on the animal's head, and secured it just in time, for, as he stepped away, the wild ass ateupeten to get up, having recovered from the momentary stun. And the way that creature struggled was exciting to see. Tom had never seen the like. The boy, as | ong we know, was a splendid rider, and had on spurs. Taking his advantage as the ass put out its fore leg to rise, ht was on its back before it could get up: The halter was a strong cord, knotted around the animal’s under jaw, with a rein on each side, and Bullard held on to it like grim death. The ass had one fore leg doubled up and strapped there but it rose upon three legs with a squeal of rage and commenced to kick. Yes, actually to kick wit both hind-legs, standing on one fore leg to do it/ A horse could not have performed this feat, but the wild ass, like the zebra, has a peculiar hardness and strength of muscle that enables it to perform deeds that are impossibilities to a horse, as Rarey found when he tamed the zebra. For a few minutes Bullard had | hard work to retain his seat. But even the wild ass is subject to fatigue. With one leg tied i it could not atrugets to any advantage, and the boy had a old upon the beast. It reared upright and came over backward, and Bullard was on his feet unhurt, and u p again before the wild creature could rise, It tried to bite him in the leg, but Bullard was expecting the trick, and had a —s whip hanging to his wrist, which he curled round the slim muzzle of the wild ass with a sharp lash every time it tried it. The animal was mad withrage. It squealed and reared up, ren! to be pulled back sharply by the self-possessed Bullard, He heard shouts of admira- tion from the Arabs, who were now galloping at full speed, in the notion of assisting him in some way. But Tom Bullard needed no assistance. He was bound to conquer that wild ass if he had to fight all night, and the sun was nearly setting already. itha — notion of nee | the creature’ out, he dug in his spurs till they fetched the blood, and wrenched its head round to the desert. The furious beast gave a tremendous bound, and suddenly dart- ed forward, on three legs as it was, swifter than any horse could run—away, away, into the fast-darken- ing desert, while Tom, with a wild halloo, laid on his whip to make it go faster. # Gow I've got you!’ muttered he, setting his teeth as he tlew on. ‘ We'll see who can stand this longest, you or I.” And away went the two, out into the silent degert, where the stars looked sottly down upon them, ihe wild ass leaving the horses far behind, and making Bullard think: “Tf he runs like this on three legs, whet chance should I have had with him on jour ?” CHAPTER XL “SEE, THE CONQUERING HERO COMES!”’ For some minutes after the wild ass carried away Tom Bullard to the desert, the mo+tion of the animal was so es as almost to take away the boy’s breath. ith only one fore leg to use; the creature ran as fast as a race-horse. In two minutes more, Tom was far out of sight of thé palm trees by the spring, in the deep soft sand of the desert. At the same tremendous speed his wild charger continued tocarry him for nearly a quarter of an hour more, exerting itself to the utmost, and still pressing straight ahead. And then at lastits efforts began to abate) and Tom could feel that it was failing. Its a . must have been tremendous, to’ do what t one. But Bullard was not disposed to give his mount any rest. Its conquest depended’ on its being ‘thor- oughly tired out. Tom had heard of Rarey, and how he had conquered the most: ferocious horses, and the’ zebra, said to be untamable; and the boy had made up his mind that the equally ferocious wild ass should be tamed by him. So he put to the:animal, gave it a fierce cut with the whi, and away went the wild ass as fast as ever. But, this spurt did not last as long as the first. The creature was nearly tired out, as it was. In @ state of nature the wild/ass will’ go a mile in a minute,.and will gallop for hours faster than any horse can follow. Wheu it trots, no ruming horse can come near it, and Dexter would be beaten in such a raee, But, with one leg ‘tied up, even’ the wild ass began to give in, aud when it slackened its pace the second time, Tonv could feel, from its | motions, that it was nearly exhausted, Finally it halted reeking with sweat, and trémb- ling violently. ) under hint, and when at last it fell on its knees on the-sand, the boy was prepared for it, He'pulled its head over to one side, so as to guide it in falling, and kept still on the animal’s back, his feet on the ground on’ either side. For ‘nearly a minute the wild ass remained on its: knees, with its hind-quar- ters in the air, hesitating whether it should not have | just one struggle more; and then, at last, it gave way and fell over on its side with a thump, quite | tired out, : ‘Tom was perfectly cool. He whipped out of his | pocket the second ‘strap he had provided, stooped HI ped up the free fore leg of the ani- down and st mil, and not till then did he get off. of danger of its heels, and found the benefit of his autions; for, no sooner had he touched it, than the animal ~~ to struggle again, making vicious attempts to bite. But Tom was too w to be sn and moreover, the wild ass was quite help- ess, It rose on its knees, and aetually succeeded ip rearing up on its hind legs, bound as it was. But the | effort was allin vain. Its wild struggles only tended | | | Tom could. feel it ‘slowly sinking | There lay the wild desert king, bound, and | perfectly helpless, both fore legs doubled up, and | secured with straps it had no power to break. Tom took out his handkerehief and wiped his fore- head, He was completely tired h , and glad of the respite. After a while he went to his prize, and commenced to pat its head coftly. He kept behind its back, out ; | whe! ' had ‘hardly dared to ho to make it more exhausted, and when it came down there was Tom at its head, pulling the off-rein des- perately, So as to keep the beast from biting him, and sti hanging on. A succession of such wild struggles lasted for near half an hour, and then the wild creature gave in, and lay still, panting and heaving. Tom again patted and stroked its head, talkin =? gy” to it, and met with no more resistance this time. He continued his caresses and gentle handlings, passing down the neck to the body, and handling the wild ass down to its very heels. hen he came tothe hocks, it kicked. an rites $ for a few times, but Tom stuck to it, and finally succeeded in taking up both hind feet, one after another, letting them fall like sticks of wood, the animal making no effort to retain them. Then he knew that the beast was conquered, for it lay there quite quiet and contented. he went to work and unstrapped the two fore legs, one after the other, stretching them out; and still the wild ass. made no effort to risé. It lay there as quiet as a lamb, tamed at last. Tom was too cautious to re it perfect freedom before he was on its back. He did not dare to trust a creature that had given him s0 much trouble. So he doubled up the fore legs again, and rolled the id ass up on its knees, mounting it in that posture. He had to practice a great deal of encouragement before he could get it to rise, and when it did, Tom was on its back. But the wild creature was tamed at last. The longer and harder an animal fights the more com- pletely it is subdued when it yields. Tom shook his rein, and his strange charger moved off at a slow walk, as gentle asalamb. He yaled the rein, ard it halted, and permitted him to dismount and mount again without any trouble, besides buckling on a narrow surcingle, which he took out of that inex- haustible coat-pocket. This surcingle was Tom's own invention, and had two loops of stiff leather sewed to it, which served as stirrups, being just the right feng, when his legs hung down, to put his feet in. ey had this great advantage over com- mon stirrups, that they wouldn't come up, and if the rider kept his feet in them, no animal could throw him, let it jum ever sohard, Tom called this in- vention his in ent riding-master,” for the poorest rider could stick on with it. He thoughtit quite pos- sible he might need it when his prize recovered its strength. But when he had mounted and got his feet into the loops, it seemed as if his fears were groundless. The wild ass kept on ata walk, and had no disposition to runas yet. Tom allowed it to take its own way at first, for he had no idea where he was. The night was dark, for the moon had not risen yet, as it was retting into the last quarter, The Texan looked at he stars for his guides, but nowhere could he see the pole star, for the Great Bear and Pointers, which he had been accustomed to use, to find it out, were far below the horizon, In those southern lati- tudes, near the equator, the pole star is very near the horizon, and hard to find. Its place is en by the beautiful constellation call the Southern ene and this Tom at last hit on, and used for his e. He set out then on his return to the east, from Whence he had come, allowing his prize to walk slowly to recover its strength, is the wild ass was. not slow todo. Bullard kept feeling its neck with his hand, and found the sweat rapidly drying, and the creature cooling off, It began to step ‘out more briskly, too, for the stre and én iran ice of the wild ass are wonder- ful. It will Be two or three days without food or drink, ata f Pea all the time, and even the strug- gle with its ér had not, except for a few minutes, tage ON a it. as rw oe e ook the id on ie patnal be- gan 5 W ng, prou , thar a horse would have been terribly rough bi tn ld ese roe smooth. It hardly seemed to touch the earth, bounding up and down as if springs, and ‘increased its pace every minute. This was what. Tom wanted, for he was an ardent trotter, He set- tled. to his work, and shot away at a speed that fairly took his breath at first. It beat all the trot- ting Tom had ever seen or heard of, and every min- ute he seemed to be going faster, ‘“Where’s Flora Temple now?” muttered Tom, gripping the reins firmly. ‘‘ Dexter wouldn't be no- re here! Go along, old boy! Tl bet my last shirt-button on your heels!” ) And away he went to the eastward, leaving a long trail of dust behind him, and nearing the mountains fast. He thought he was vatra ight for the camp of his friends, and pi to himself his own triumpb, and the amazement of the Hamraus when he should be so much better than his promise. His let." had worked wonders. He had loom a faint white glow, and he knew that the moon was rising. With a cry of joy he shook his rein, and his.
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charger broke up at once, and went ahead full gal- lop, so fast that Tom could see nothing for the wa- ter in his eyes_at first. The speed took away his breath too. When he got a little used to it, he dashed away the tears produced by the whizzing wind, and looked ahead. A long way off, and a little to the right, he saw some garing, lehee, and felt that he was near home at last. ey were camp- res. He turned the head of his wild steed toward the distant fires, and gave a shout, Away went the wild ass faster than ever, and the miles seemed to vanish like smoke under his flying hoofs. Tom bent his head over on the beast’s neck, and urged it on. _In a few minutes more he was close to the fires, and in the shadow of a lofty chain of moun- tains. Ho puiled hard at the reins, and the wild ass slackened his pace with perfect obedience. And then Tom wiped his eyes and looked round him, There, sure enough, were the ecamp-fires of the Arabs, and the low black tents spread around them, But he did not see the white tents of his own party. He pulled up short, and looked round. There were the mountains and the palm-tree spring, sure enough. Perhaps Manuel had not pitched tents that night, but was bivouacking, the night being fine, or perhaps was out hunting for him. Anyway, he galloped in, quite unsuspiciously, and was in the midst of the fires before he reatued that he had made a mistake, The Arabs were not Hamraus! The Hamraus wear long, curled hair. These men had great mops of bushy wool, like Feejee Islanders, They were active, gy and probably enemies. As Tom dashed into the camp like. a whirlwind, on the wild a crowd of dark Heures leaped up with sword aud shield, A few had long guns, which they peinted at him menacingly, and all shouted in Arabic: ‘ENTA MEN?’ (Who ae you ?) Tom couldn't stop to tell them. He was totally unarmed, having dropped his rifle when he seized the wild ass, He wheeled short round, leaped over a fire, and dashed through a group of Arabs, several shots whizzing past his head as he went. He saw several men jump on their horses, which stood, ready saddled, close by, and come tearing after him, sword in hand. . Tom Jaid on his whip, and flew off, leaving the alloping horses as if they had been standing still. en he realized at once what a treasure he had gained in the wild ass. It seemed to him as if, he would not fear to ride alone through the whole breadth of Sahara, on such a swift and_ tireless steed, He heard the Arabs calling out to each other behind, and then the cries faded away in the distance, and he was alone, He slackened his pace and looked around. He saw where he had made his mistake. The mountain was not the same mountain, and the spring was differ- ently situated, though it looked the same at first. Tom stopped and considered. He knew that the chain ran to the south, and therefore he must keep to the north to get to his ownecamp. He was too old in pare experience, young as he was, to be lost in the desert.. As the moon rose, not more than half full, the young Texan looked back. He could see the Arabs still alloping on, and rapidly nearing him, for he was pF a ata walk. The love of mis- chief, natural,to all boys, made him wish to give the Arabs_a chase, for he was sure they mus¢ have taken his mount for a horse, in the sudden burst in the darkness, and no doubt imagined they could oaton ise: ral" : ' e continued on at a slow walk, singing as he went, and soon heard the Arabs. coming r 0 looked round, and there were about a dozen fellows, with shields and swords, within a hundred y. oO him. Tom shook his rein, and started ata gentle trot, the, Arabs still gaining on him. When they were not more, than sixty feet. off, the boy gave a shout, gathered up animal, and trotted away at we omentog Pa. e Arabs shouted and yale, spurred violently, and used their best. endeavors, but | could not gain anineh. On the contrary, the wild.a sdvew away from them at first slowly, but, as he got warmed, more rapidly. And then Tom began puilat the bridle, to let his pursuers come up, He de: to lead them on near his own camp, when raus would soon fix them. His ruse was successful, The Arabs kept getting closer, fancied they were gaining. [very now and then, Tom would turn ce and shake his whip at them, daring them to follow, and tien shooting away at increased s He saw that his pursuers had no fire-arms, or he might not have been so rash. Anwwor heled them ‘on, their horses laboring. ter- ribly, the wild. ass going as.easy as ever, and ap- parently untired. He began to recognize the coun- try ahead of him now, and was not surprised when he suddenly Himes & spur of the mountain, to see the unmistakable camp-fires. of. the aus, and Manuel’s blue.and white tent standing in the midst. A few minutes more, and he tr into camp, shouting: “To arms, Hamraus! Here are your enemies!” CHAPTER XI. MAKING READY FOR IHE DESERT ROBBERS. THE camp was all in confusion in a moment. Twenty Hamraus were. on their feet in a momen running to their horses. The strange Arabs. h halted at the ight of the camp, and were running away. Butt horses. were. tired, while thosw of the Hamraus were fresh... Tom did not stay in cam to tell his story. He shouted for a sword. Tom been converted to the use of the sword since he had seen what wounds it gave,in the hands of hard hitters. ‘ One of the younger Hamraus, who had no horse, his hard rhinoceros-hide shield, and parried the blow, but Tom was on his left side, so that. he was unable The Sword Hunters. eagerly handed him his own. Tom tucked it under his tigh, as he had seen the Arabs do, and was oif like a shot. The Hamraus were already out, and slowly gaining on the strange Arabs. Tom went off at full speed this time, and came up with his enemies with perfect ease. Out flashed his sword, and the Texan made his first cut, just as he had seen Abou Hassan do, but it was not at the leg of the horse. It was at the neck of the rider. The Arab threw up to return it with any effect.. Bullard was utterly un- used to handling a sword, but he could cut and slash like the best. His wild steed was his greatest diffi- culty, for it shied away, frightened at the swords, and he could not get near enough to cut. This was perhaps lucky for hii, as he had _ no shield, and the sword of the Arab was as sharp as a razor, More- over, the man knew how to use it, and was much stronger than Tom Bullard. But if Tom could not burt the Arab, he could delay him, and he did delay the whole of them for some minutes, the Hamraus coming up all the while. At last these latter were close enough to join in the fight, and then it was soon over. ith thirty flash- ing swords around them, the strange Arabs surren- dered, and were brought into camp, several of them mg wounded, for these razor-like swords had only ve a slight slash to inflict terrible wounds. ne man had his hand taken off at the wrist, an- other’s horse was killed, and. the whole party was much cast down at their defeat. Then it turned out that these were desert Arabs, belonging to a powerful tribe, old enemies of the Hamraus. Abou Hassan told Tom that be was very lueky to have escaped as he did. “Tf they had taken a slave of you,’ said never ou, they would have made he Arab, ‘‘and we should have seenfyou again. Now we can very lik make peace with these men, by giving them bac their prisoners, and compelling them to swear good faith on the Koran.” Sheikh Haroun was very much pleased with the boy's daring feat, “My son,”’ he said, ‘‘ you have done what.no other man ever did before—ridden a wild ass, as you. said ou would. I thought you were buta ing boy, ut you have done a man's work this night. I wish that we had you in our tribe. be treated as my Own son.”* Curtis was never tired of admiring the beautiful creature that now stood in the midst of their camp, frightened at the fires, but quite still. Tom sent fora ir of bobbles, with which he confined .both fore- 2s of the wild ass,and Manuel assisted him in securing it for the night. They had but little sleep. Every one was too anxious, ey knew that, when the strange Arabs discovered the loss of their war, riors, they would, in all probability, come after them in numbers far exceeding those of the Hamraus, Wherefore everybody collected his arms, and. pre- for battle. The Hamraus were strappi heir swords, the only weapons they used, anue and his friends put on their revolvers and ammuni- tion-pouches, kept their rifles ready, and hung their swords in their belts. Ever since they had seen the Hamraus, they had their, servants at. work sharpening these last, and had, them as those . of a | v but they k li f fencin terrible cut t they kncw ve ttle of fencing. That night Tom =f for him, srApge } quest “ Jack,’ he aid, ‘ suppose you teach me how to use a sword, I'd no i You shoul as the Arabs, although much lighter. The refer heavy ari witch will. deal ullard came to Curtis, with a di. ea the or’nary thing. was so difficult. I.cut.at that cuss of an, Arab to-night six or seven, times, and the fellow, poked out his shield We it. onery time, and, would. you_belieye it, I n't so, mue. as cut his shield once, while Abou only eave, one clip, and off came a man’s had ia laughed. ‘He “had h daughed. wn much stro: since tee ane Cisco Tndian, had_defeated him so iene usly on, the. p . He had been peas ng with Manuel, and. the two had taken essons ‘aris, as the er shies, Ri must have open the flat.of the. blade,”’ he said. men to do the peeing ; So Tom went to work at once, phectictn all th and Manuel s 4 cuts and thrusts, owed While Jack and Tom were practicing sword exer- cise, Manuel was attending to fortifying the cam with a fence of loose stones, and getting his people into order, The cowardly Egyptian camel-drivers were. very much frightened, and would have run away if they had dared. The strange Arabs belong- called the Beni H. el to at owin or Sons of | | some | shots, and superintend the camel- always fighting them, and admitted that they were ood warriors “But the Hamraus fear no one on earth,” said Sheikh Haroun, proudly; ‘‘and we have killed many of the Beni Hallowin ere this. They are wolves cf the desert, and we are the lions of the mcuntains. To-morrow, my sons, you shall see them scattered like the sand before the wind.” Manuel did not feel much alarm about the result of the battle. Allor nearly all of his men had long Arab muskets, and he had taught them to reserve their fire till he ordered them to shoot. It was set- tled that in the morning, if the Beni Hallowin at- tacked them—Sheikh Haroun said that they were sure todo it just before daylight, if at all—Curtis and Tom Bullard were to stay in camp, as the best vers and _ ser- vants, to hold them to defend the breastwork, Man- uel and the Hamraus were to go out of camp on horseback, and to fall on the enemy in the rear while they were engaged in front, using the sword only, Tom Bullard was so much attached to Manuel that he offered to lend him the wild ass to ride, which nothing else would have made him do to a soul. “For you kin beat me riding,’ he admitted. ‘You kin beat any of us, and you kin use a sword like a ring-tailed squealer, Wiseman. If you have to shoot, though, remember whatI says: git as close as ever you kin, afore you pulls trigger. One shot acrost a table is worth fifty cross lots. You see if it ain’t, Wiseman. J ‘ve be’n thar!” So the night wore away in propenaiie and as the morning approached Manuel mounted the wild ass, using Tom's ‘‘ patent riding-master *’ in case of acci- dents, put on over his own little gaucho saddle, in which he rede from preference... Manuel had a saber as sharp as a razor, and a pair of revolvers; and as he.was now eighteen, and well grown, he looked a pretty tough customer to tackle. He left the Hamraus in rear of the camp, standing by their horses, and rode softly around to the front awalk,. The wild ass was quite submissive, an seemed. to recognize it had found a master, The young Spaniard was out in the desert ee, and rode softly on toward the camp of the Beni Hallo- win. As he had avtic.pated, they were coming, ight and early, He heard low voices ahead of him and the tramp of horses, before he had gone two hundred yards away. Manuel halted, dismounted, lay down on the sand, and looked ahead through the gloom, for it was so dark that. he.could see nothing from the saddle. He beheld a dense mass of dark figures on horseback outlined against the starlit sky. CHAPTER XIIt. THE BENI HALLOWIN. THE mrapgers were coming silently on, all to- gether, and Manuel judged that there must be over a hundred men in the crowd. He felt comforted, for, with the forty Hamraus and his own men, he had about eighty in his camp, with thirty-five gu He saw several long muskets on the shoulders of the horsemen, but that did not alarm him. He knew that shooting from a horse is my uncertain work, whereas his own men were on foot, with rocks to rest their. guns on. He waited for a little time, till his enemies were getting too close to be agreeable, when he threw the reins over his beast’s neck and mounted. The Arabs were so close, when he got up, that he could dimly see their dark crowd from the saddle. Manuel drew arevolver, pointed at a venture, and fired a shot ixto the dark mass to alarm the camp. The next minute the wild ass ve a frightened bound, wheeled round, and s off like an arrow the camp, where the fires were all smoldering dimly, in white embers. Manuel had a powerful Mameluke. bit in the crea- ture’s mouth, the same, as the South American bi with an iron Sng paca of a curb-chain. Had it no the night to alarm. his comrades, or t have been upso promptly ip the ae = They had of the night, and in- SVEN IG, outside onnty mane the dense body eng nope waar arging down, spreading as y advanced, an distance off yet. Jack Curtis and Bullard went upand down the lines of their men; who were ng behind the breastwork, and exhorted them to keep.cool and not fire before the word. The Egyptians were pale and trem but behaved pretty well, as their race will uader white officers. The blaze of the fires shot up higher than ever, and the Arabs came charging down, They could not Hallowin, dreaded by the dwellers on the borders of | see the musketeers, who were hidden by the rocks, but they saw the little troop of mounted Hamraus, the desert for their ferocity. The Hamraus were
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| | waiting behind the camp, and as they neared the breastwork, the whole body swerved round, and came sweeping along the face of it, in a dense crowd within ae yards. Suddenly Bullard fired off his revolver into their midst, Jack Curtis followed, and the camel-drivers poured in aclose volley, which wonderfully inspiri them, while it demoralized their whet rah The Beni Hallowin were terribly punished by the volley. The lent of the fires blinded and confused them, while it favored their antagonists. Tom and _Curtis fired off their revolvers as fast as they could pull the triggers, and the shots told on the packed mass in front every time, The Arabs fell into disorder, halted, swayed to and fro, and their discomfiture was completed by the Hamraus; for Manuel, seizing the opportune moment, gave the signal to charge, and away went the terrible swordsmen with a yell, Garcia far ahead of them, on the swift desert steed. The charge settled the matter at once. Before the Hamraus could exchange cuts, the enemy were in full flight, and what followed was a perfect slaughter. In five minutes both parties were scat- tered all over the desert, the Hamraus cutting the Beni Hallowin all to pieces. Even the old sheikh was out with the foremost, forgetting all his desire to make peace with his powerful foe, and they were chased up to their very camp, which the Hamraus entered pellmell with their foes, and quickly plun- dered of all valuables. The Beni Hallowin had fought pretty well, too, and were provided with shields as well as swords, but the Hamraus had a skill and quickness at their weapons which the others seemed unable to meet. Manuel Garcia found no difficulty in hitting the shield-armed Arabs. He would make a feint at the head, and up would go the shield to guard it, inter- cepting the Arab’s sight for a inoment. That mo- ment was sufficient for a quick swordsman, and the next minute would see the bright, keen blade slash- ing a leg half off left unguarded by the shield. As they dashed into the camp, the women and children ran shrieking into the black tents, the camels bellowed, the herds of sheep feeding nearran bleating about, and the cattle took to their heels in affright. The few remaining warriors threw down their arms, begging for mercy, and the victory was won. Manuel was pleased to see that the Hamraus were as merciful as they were brave, and did not in- dulgein useless slaughter. Sheikh Haroun exacted a heavy ransom from the flocks and herds of the Beni Hallowin, and compel- led their sheikh and all the warriors to swear eternal peace with his band of Hamraus on the Koran, which, you know, is the Mahometan Bible; and as the Arabs are all nominally Mahometans, that is the only oath they recognize as binding. Then Hamraus and whites alike came away from the humbled Beni Hallowin, very glad to have set- tled their business for them so quickly. They re- turned to camp and rested some days, during which Manuel and Jack both went to work to tame and train the wild ass, taking turns at the operation. It proved by no means so stubborn as they had antici- men and ‘ére long they had broken it perfectly to ear all sorts of noises, including firearms, like an old Nt fg 4 while it fairly amazed them with its speed. And then it was that Manuel, becoming ambitious of taking another to match it for his own use, pro- »0sed that they should try to run down the rest of the troop on his back, and catch them with the lasso. And Tom consented that Manuel should try it, for = oung Spaniard was as skillful as a gaucho with the fe ‘ CHAPTER XIV. MANUEL’S LUCK. Tr was no easy matter tofind the wild asses again. They are peouleaty shy creatures, and retreat into the trackless desert when molested, often going a hundred and fifty miles to the nearest oasis or green island in the sand, when they have been disturbed. Our friends never again saw the troop from which Tom had struck down the leader. But the Hamraus, who knew the country perfect- ly, promised them more at another spring further on, and soon after they moved camp to the desired lace, and pitched their tents at a short distance rom the water. They were hidden from view by a ridge of rocks, and Manuel would not allow the creatures to be disturbed the first night. The Arabs told them that they would come again in the morn- ing, and would not be so shy then as at night, so Manuel arranged his forces for the hunt, By a care- fulinspection of the wild asses through the telescope, he found that the troop was pretty numerous, near- ly twenty all told. e concluded to let Tom and irtis lie in wait at a suitable distance, and try the “creasing " plan on the two finest males, while he himself prepared to use his own national weapons, the lasso and bolas. a You know what the bolas is, boy—a sort of three- tailed cat, witha ballat the end of each tail. It is whirled around the head and thrown at an animal's legs, which it twists around in a general snarl. Being so light, one man can. carry several bolas at atime. Manuel took four of them along, besides the lasso, intending t6 usé the latter last. e Hamraus were full of interest now, and anxious to help. Matuel selected five or six of the best mounted, and told them to be ready to follow him ata signal. He knew that they could not hope to come up with the wild asses, but he hoped they would get up in time tosave and confine the entangled ones before they could get free. Manuel himself was to ride the wild ass. ‘From his gaucho habits as a boy, he had learn- The Sword Hunters. ed that a ridden horse can always catch a free one. and he trusted the same to be the case with ,the wild ass. Long before dawn they were all] at their posts, and waiting for the wild troop. The sun came nearer and nearer to the horizon, and the dawn grew stronger, and, true to time, they could see the graceful creatures coming in from the desert to drink. All night long they had been pas- turing on the rough, thorny bushes that are scatter- ed here and there in the sandy waste, their fae food. As in the first troop, there were several fo: = by their mothers in the usual manner. Manuel had set his heart upon having some of these, and had selected mares from the Hamraus to follow them, instead of horses. Bullard had told him of a plan often used on mustangs in Texas, called “run- ning out.’’ The hunter mounts a swift mare, gallops into a berd of mustangs, and gets in between a colt and its dam. In the fright and confusion the mother scours away, never thinking of the foal, and the innocent foal follows the strangé mare, taking her for its own parent. The hunter then sheers away and lets the herd go, when the foal follows him home in perfect content, and generally becomes the pet of the hunter’s wife or daughter. The Hamraus would not leave their swords behind although they promised not to use them, They said that there were too many bad Arabs around for them to go unarmed. Manuel had placed them in ambush behind some rock that the wild asses would have to pass. He calculated from the direction of the wind that just about the time the troop were op- site Bullard and Curtis they would scent the amraus. He himself waited behind a rock on the other side. The wild troo came forward quite unsuspicious- ly, for they h seen nothing. As Manuel had cal- the others. Instantly bray, the only ridiculous thing about him. It was terrible row for over a minute. The poor creature was wild to get back to its companions, That bray turned out to be a lucky stroke. Ina moment more the whole troop would have been off like the wind, but the sound of a companion’s voice halted them, The leader erected his long ears, and stood still, in an attitude of deep attention. Crack! went two rifles, and the leader and an- other old male dropped senseless. At the same mo- ment, out thunde the Hamraus on one side, and Manuel! on the other, at full s fro in confusion. Then stretching themselves out flat in their desperate haste, away they went toward the desert running the gantlet of the Ham- raus. For a few seconds horsemen and wild asses were mixed up ina heap. Then the swifter animals drew away like the wind, and Manuel shouted with laugh- ter. Four of the Hamraus in passing had grappled one of the young she asses; one of them was neck. Then Manuel found himself far ahead of the toil- ing horses, and close in rear of the alarmed troop, gaining rapidly. The reason was plain. Every now and then the game would look back and lose dis- tance, while the pursuer eg on, using whip and spur. As he went he took up his first bolas, flung it, and threw down a splendid female, with a colt fol- He saw that the balls of the weapon were well tangled round her legs, and passed on swinging the second bolas round his he Manuel was no bungler. He was used to the bolas and lasso ever since he could toddle alone. Many were the chickens he had overthrown with a twine bolas, the puppies he lassoed with a piece of string, before he could speak plain. When he used the bolas, he was bound to hitwhat he aimed at. His second, third, and fourth throws were successful. Each threw down a female with a foal, and each time the foal left the troop and stayed by its dam, as_ he had ex- pected. Then Manuel spurred his charger hard, took up the coils of his lasso, and prepared for his last throw. He selected the finest male of the troop, got up within distance, and the circling noose fell with exact precision just where it was aimed. In a moment the young gaucho had checked his steed, and was hanging back with a taut lasso, while the unlucky ovagra (the proper name of ‘the wild ass is the onagra) reared M4 in the air, and fell back, half strangled, on the sand. Away went the rest of the troop as Manuel pulled up. Ina flash he was off his own steed and haul- ing up, hand over hand, to the wild one. The onagra struggled violently to rise, but fell back exhausted every time. The taut lasso was fast depriving it of its senses. Manuel hauled up, and found it so near- ly gone, that he had no great difficulty in pape (sg up a foreleg, as Tom had done. Not till then he loosen the noose of the lasso, and give the onagra breath to rise. When he did, it was just time, for it lay there panting and breathin eat? till Man- uel had remounted his own animal, when it struggled to its feet. Then the lad started back to camp, pull- ing the captured animal along by main force at the end of the lasso. There was not very much difficul- ty in this. With its foreleg tied up, the wild ass could not hang back with any great effect, and was compelled to hop along, to avoid suffocation. As he went Manuel looked at what the Hamraus had been doing. They had performed their Sys of the duty with a skill and daring that showed them to be perfect horsemen. Every one of the thrown lowing her. animals had an Arab upon it, who sat on its back culated they passed the ambushed Hamraus, and | just as they got close the riflemen caught scent of | the leader uttered a loud | by Manuel’s mount, which kicked up a | ed. For a few minutes the wild asses pranced to and | } | | Jack despite its rearings and kickings. The legs of all were perfectly free, but their mouths were all bitted. | In the short space of time necessary to enable him to throw the wild ass, the Hamraus had galloped up, bridled their prizes, loosed their legs, and mounted. He glanced ahead to the spring, and there was rtis on another wild ass, which was bound- ing up in the air like an India rubber ball, and try- ing its best to unseat Jack. But the boy seemed to be sticking to it like a leech without any effort, for he had his feet fast in the loops of Bullard’s sur- cingle; and the devil himself could not have thrown him, while he kept his feet there. Another wild ass was also there, but it was lying extended on the ground. Manuel realized that one of the two had missed his shot, and killed his animal, as is easily done by an unskillful creaser. “‘Never mind,” he thought. ‘We each have an animal now, and we can run away from all the world when they’re tamed.” So he rode on * ened the first Hamrau, who pad oe started his beast into a run, with the foal follo ng. Manuel saw him scour away ina cloud of dust, just as the second onagra threw her Hamrau over her head by a well-executed combination of kick, jump, bie round, and stop short, ending with a lofty CK, But the Arab never let go of the bridle, and hung on like grim death, while the onagra pulled away at the other end. He actually succeeded in doing it, in spite of her frantie efforts, till he could pick up the bolas he had dropped when he released her. Then he let go of the bridle and brought: her to the Hd a as she turned to run, as skillfully as Manuel imself could have done. But it won’t do to make too long a story of these wild asses. One may have too much, even of a good thing. Suffice it to say, that before a week was out there were many sore bones, among both whites and Arabs, taming these furious creatures. But they suc- ceeded at last, what with the Rarey knee-strap and the gaucho spurs, and had seven magnificent ani- mals, as swift as the wind, with four little foals that were quite tame, and fed among the horses, as if pie had been of the same kind exactly. anuel had agreed to give the Hamraus all of the foals and half of the animals they themselves should tame, besides, but he was glad to trade off the other two female onagras for elephant tusks, of which the Arabs had plenty now. The boys were satisfied with their three males; and, indeed, they were the pick of the herd. Tom Bullard was a little mortified at this hunt, for Manuel was surprised to find that his was the bullet that had killed the onagra he meant to “crease.”’” Jack Curtis, who had aimed in fear and trembling, expecting to miss, had been the one who made the successful shot at the leader, and Jack had stuck to him well till he conquered him, : And now they all began to be anxious to ty their new steeds after the swift antelope, the giraffe, and | the clumsy-looking rhinoceros that had given them hanging to her tail, another on her back, and down | she came in the dust with two more hanging on her | | onagras could trot, at their natural pace, a meas- such an unexpected chase. _ They tried racing accordin: to time, and were amazed to find the results. ll three of the male ured mile, in a straight line, on the firm sand at the edge of the desert, inside of two minutes—in other words, as fast as many race-horses can Frye d At full speed they could pass the same distance ina little over a minute, never going much over ten or twelve seconds above that time! Manuel moved his camp away from the desert now, and they traveled back to the dry river-bed of the Blue Nile at their old camping place, and thence moved up to the little lake near the river where they had found such glorious hunting before. The season was far advanced by this time, and the grass beginning to get scarce. Game was shy, lean and swift, and they found the benefit of their three onagras now. Horses would have given in very soon on the poor pasture in the intense heat, whereas the onagras actually grew fat. Used, as they were, to desert thorns for a dinner, a dry grass and wither- ed bushes were a perfect feast to them, They seemed to be able to overtake the swiftest antelope in a twinkling, and the gazelle was the only creature that gave them a hard chase, ’ Tom grew so proud of his swordsmanship, prac- ticing every day, that he disdained to use a gun any more, and. hunted Hamrau fashion. As for the Hamraus, they were delighted. Abou Hassan and his three brothers, as the three crack hunters of their tribe, had been assigned the female onagras to ride, in exchange for their horses; and they became more successful than ever. And now an event happened which had a great in- fluence on their future movements, and determined them to leave the Na One evening, after a hard day’s hunt, in which Manuel had lassoed a young giraffe, who proved so: strong that he had to cut it loose, the boys were, sitting at their tent door after supper, drinking the strong black coffee, without milk or sugar, universal in the east, and smoking the long pipes brought them by their dragoman Mohammed, called chi- boucks. Sheikh Haroun and Abou Hassan were close to them, and they were looking down at the river-bed, where the pools had shrunk up, almost into mud-holes. “When does this river fill up, Sheikh Haroun?” asked Manuel, suddenly. **Tt is almost time now,” replied the old sheikh. ““When it comes, the rain will come with it, and the game will spread all over the country. The grass ws everywhere then, so long as to trip up the orses, and we have but little hunting till the dry season comes, which brings the game back to the place where the water runs. When the river comes
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x The Sword Hunters. we must live on our flocks, like other Arabs, and rest our horses,”’ “ And how long does the river take to rise?”’ asked Manuel. * As long as a man can count twenty,” said Sheikh Haroun, gravely. “It comes like a thief in the night, and woe be to those caught in its path.” he spoke they could hear a faint, distant _mur- mur, like the growl of far-off thunder, but gradually rising. Sheikh Haroun lifted his hand in attention, and observed: “The time has come; the river is nigh us. Ina little while you shall see it pass.” The distant murmur increased to a low roar, like the sound of a great waterfall, crashing and thunder- ing into an abyss. The animals in camp began to be uneasy and fidget about their tethers, and the Arabs ran to secure them. Manuel ordered double hobbles to be put on the precious onagras, behind and be- fore, that nothing might admit of their escape, and then he, Bullard and Curtis stood on the bank wait- ing for the river, if the approaching noise was really the river. Below them was the great river-bed, with banks at least a hundred feet high, sloping down, dry and yel- low, on either side. The pools in the bed had shrunk away, and the hippopotami had left them for higher places nearer the source of the river. The dry bed was at least half a mileacross. Could it be possible to fill itso quickly as the Arab had said? The thundering noise coming nearer every moment promised to tell them, CHAPTER XV. THE RIVER. * “Here it comes!’ said Tom Bullard, in a low voice of awe. ‘‘ Heavens! what a wave!” The boys looked round. The roar had now be- come deafening. Far up the river they saw a huge wall of white foam, coming down as fast as a locomotive on an express train, filling the river from side to side. The wall was quite a hundred feet high, and came whiz- zing on, with the sound of mighty thunder. It was over a mile off, but it reached them in less than a minute, the noise becoming louder and louder as it came. The animals in camp were plunging and strug- gling, men running about and shouting, but the roar of the water drowned ah other sound. Then with a rush, faster than a galloping horse, the mighty wave swept past them, and went beer | down the river-bed. Behind it was a dark torrent, full of fallen trees shooting past, tumbling one over the other in wild confusion under the still starlight. Where a great chasm had existed before, now was-a full rushing river; and they could hear the great wave roaring onward on its destructive course, miles away, crashing and tearing along, the sound sinking into a distant murmur at last, while the river be- came calm, and they could only tell how rapidly it was going by watching the great logs, that from time to time shot past, with lightning velocity. The great river Atbara was up, and the rains had come on the mountains of Abyssinia, swelling it so suddenly from a thousand rivulets. ‘* And in a few days more,” said Manuel, thought- fully, ‘‘the Nile will rise from Khartoum to Alex- andria, and the black mud that has traveled all the way from the equator will settle on the fields of Egypt till all the land will rejoice. Fellows, it is time we were off. We have seen enough of this country.” ey very soon found that Manuel was right. As Sheikh Haroun had predicted, the risiug of the river was soon followed by the rains, which were nothing but tremendous torrents, that penetrated the tents as if they had been sieves, Our travelers were very glad to load up and travel away from the region of rain into the lower plains. [t took them several days’ rapid marching, in which they were accompanied by the Hamraus, both parties camping and hunting together. The face of the country had undergone a change, as if by magic. Before, everything had been parched and withered, the grass burnt up, the trees dry and brown, not a sign of game anywhere, except close to the river. ow the fresh youn ra was shooting up in all directions, antelopes 0: fty different kinds were scattered here and there, and the graceful heads Of the giraffes could be seen in clusters by the tall mimosas. The elephants had retired to the deeper forests, but rhinoceroses were plenty, and lions seemed to be even more numerous. very thicket seemed to hold one, SS Se by the half-devoured ee some game slain the night before; and the sight grew so common that our boys ceased to fire at them, after they had collected eight lion skins in the first morning. The river was full of hippopotami, — plenty; and all nature had undergone a teful change. But after about three days’ march, they began to get out of the influence of the rainy season, as they ae ly Khartoum. Here they were once more at the edge offthe desert, and they Aes, See scorch- ing and n, away from the river They encamped near the town, an Khartoum —— they were welcome them back. The governor was wonderful- ly polite tothe Hamraus. He had often heard of their tribe, and was very anxious to cultivate their friendship, as the viceroy of Egypt wished to extend his dominions further south, and the good offices of a ors tribe like the Hamraus would be very useful. A grand reception was accordingly held, in front of Manuel’s tent, the distinguished American stran- gers being the entertainers of all parties. Sheikh Haroun, clothed in a long robe of crimson silk presented him by the Npiate od whose name was Achmet Pasha, was smoking a long chibouque, or Turkish pipe; the pasha, in a magnificent uni- the governor of ere, came out to | form, flashing all over with gold lace, sat between the sheikh and Manuel; Abou Hassan and Abdallah with others of the principal Arabs, were seated le toa with Curtis and Bullard, smoking and chatting. The conversation soon turned on the tribes to the south and west of them, and on the mysterious White Nile, which came from no one knew where. Manuel had heard of the discovery of the great lake Nyanza, which had been assumed as its source, and a keen desire began to possess his mind to find out for himself the great problem, and to go where no one else had been. He felt certain that if there was a lake, such as described by Speke and Baker, there must also be some river flowing into that lake, if not many such rivers. The largest of these would then be the true source of the Nile. The conversation turned on it in this wise: Manvuet. “Can any here tell whence comes the eat Bahr el Abiad? (The White Nile.) The tbara we know, but whence is the Bahr el Abiad?’’ SHEIKH Haroun. “No one can fathom the de- crees of Allah. It comes from the south, among a people that have eyes in their stomachs, and others with dogs’ heads on their shoulders.* We know no more.”’ Manvet. “Cannot the pashatell us more? Surely he knows of the English traveler that went by there but a year cr tw: ag0, and came back, saying he had found the source of the Nile.” _PasHa. ‘“‘The American effendi (gentleman) is right. Such a man came by, a tall man, as strong as a buffalo, with a beard like the lion’s mane. He had a lady with him, and went to the south. He came back safe once. His highness the khedive has sent him off again, and no one has heard of him since he reached Gondokoro.” Manuel recognized in this description the celebra- ted traveler, Sir Samuel Baker, a man of great size and strength, who had not been heard of for some time. He asked, therefore: ** Suppose I go with my friends here to look after this traveler—can you furnish us with guides, my lord the pasha?” PasHa. “I can give you guides as far as Khordo- fan. There you will have to find others.” Sern Haroun. ‘Beware, my son, of going among those accursed people with the dogs’ heads. They will devour you, of a surety.” MANUEL (smiling). ‘“‘My father is too cautious. Before I left home, I promised my kinsmen that I would go where no one else had ever been. Now this traveler has ew been up the Bahr el Abiad; therefore I wil) go to the westward and south, where no one has been.” Suemu Haroun. .‘* You will never get there, my son. There is a powerful and oar cog prince there, who lives many moons’ journey to the south-west, who kills all s ers, and whose people ride on elephants. No one has ever succeeded in reaching there, and come back to tell of it.” Manvet. “Then there will I go, and come back the first. How know you that the people ride on ele- phants if no one has ever come back to tell of it?” SuerkH Haroun. ‘People have been to the bor- ders of the river that separates this kingdom from the rest of the world, and have seen the terrible strangers across the river, on their elephants. They live in palaces, such as the giants once built along the great river to the north.’ Manuel began to be greatly interested. He had known that there were vague traditions in all parts of Africa, about a people‘somewhere in the interior “who rode on elephants.”’ Here the same tradition ain met him from the mouth of the old Arab chief, who was very cautious of his words. “Which o' et will Ry along with me?”’ he con- tinued. “I will reward him handsomely when I come back, and make his tribe rich.” “T will with my white brother,” said Abou Hassan, suddenly. “‘He has been good to me and mine, and I will accompany him to death.” ** And so will I,” joined in Selim and Abdallah. “Tt is well!” said Manuel. ‘‘My Arab brothers shall be well treated. When will the pasha give us a guide to Khordofan?” PasHa. ‘‘Whenever their American excellencies a However, I would not advise their trying to nd the hidden ceuntry. No one has gone there within my lifetime, and there are only doubtful stories 0: ople who went there many years ago. Their excellencies cannot always believe such sto- ries. There is such a country, but it may be too far off to be reached.” Manveu. “ Wherever it be, I am going to find it. I will go where no one else has been before me, and find out if there be really such a people as they say lives there.” PASHA itely). ‘‘Allah be with your under- taking. ‘You shall have all the help I can give you.” And accordingly, the next few days were con- sumed in preparations for the march into the un- known regions. The ptian servants were all dismissed, and desert Arabs hired, with their camels, to convey the b e of our travelers. Abou Hassan an Hamraus here proved invalua- ble. The lads knew that they could be depended on if it came to a fight, which was very possible where they were going, and the Hamraus took care to pick out men that they knew, from the numerous Arabs offering their services, for camel-drivers, grooms, ete. When the party was finally made up, to cross the desert to Khordofan, it was sufficiently formidable to resist any ordinary attack. Abou Hassan and his two brothers were a host in themselves, and had persuaded three other Hamraus tc join them, Man- nel had given them all Jong Turkish muskets, which * This is a common Arab superstition. scan are quite cheap at Khartoum, with which the Arabs were delighted. All of his camel-drivers and servants were armed in the same manner, and he and his two friends were furnished with breech-load- ers and revolvers. Their little caravan was compact and carefully loaded, composed of thirty camels, all told. The Hamraus and the Arab grooms were all mounted on good horses, and our three friends had the best mounts of all, the incomparable, swift, tireless ona- ras. * Ho! for the hidden land!” cried Jack Curtis, gay- ly, as they bounded out of the gate of Khartoum, ahead of their caravan. ‘* Who says we won't reach it?” ‘“No one,” responded “‘ Plug.”” “‘ They hain’t had any Yanks in this vicinity for a long time. We'l/ show them the way to do it.” And the caravan passed out on the west bank of the Nile, and struck into the dreary Lybian desert. CHAPTER XVI. THE HIDDEN PEOPLE, Tue low, mud walls of the city of Khordofan rose from the midst of a broad plain, now covered with short grass in the freshness of the rainy season. Flocks and herds of sheep, goats and camels, cover- ed the plain as far as the eye could see, all movin to the north, to escape the advancing rains, and fol- low returning verdure. Through the midst of these herds the caravan of our travelers pushed its way to the great gate of the city, passing groups of wild des- ert Arabs, on horses and camels, driving their herds to the north. Abou Hassan told Curtis that all the tribes of the Lybian desert, migrated in this way from south to north, and back again, to follow the pasturage at different times of the year. Inside the town they found long, narrow stree winding here and there, low huts, built of mud an thatched with millet-straw, and a great bare market- place in the center of the city, where the merchants went into camp with their caravans, and _ trafficked in ivory and gold-dust, ostrich-feathers and palm-oil, and slaves from the interior. Our friends were very much interested in every- thing they saw. There were caravans there from all over the recesses of Central Africa, merchants from Bornou, with jetty faces and enormous turbans, that seemed as if three ordinary blankets were rolled in- to each; tall, muscular negroes from Kooka and Kanem, and the countries that border Lake Tchad, and one little party of merchants from the Shoa tribe of Arabs, that dwell on the Shary river. These were the most interesting of all to our trav- elers. They came from that mysterious region where no white man had yet been; and beyond them, by common tradition, lay the country of the ‘“‘elephant-riders.”” Manuel at once opened commu- nication with these Arab merchants, and began _to uestion them about this mysterious country. He invited them to a feast at his caravanserai that even- ing. and the Shoa merchants came, A caravanserai is the substitute, in Mohammedan countries, for our hotels. It consists of a vast open court, surrounded with or gga which are divided into little bare stone cells. is is all the accommodation given, but it is enough in that climate, and it costs about a cent aday. Provisions and fuel have to be procured at the market, and every traveler brings his own bora ig is but a piece of carpet, ora mat and a cloak. Here, on the evening of their arrival in Khordofan, our travelers were seated, in the court of the cara- vanserai, with the Shoa merchants and the Hamrau chiefs, smoking their long chibouques and drinking coffee out of tiny cups, while the unloaded came’ knelt all round them. The Shoa merchants were very unlike the negroes. Their complexion was a light copper-color, and they had heavy beards, their faces were regular! aquiline, and they were fine-looking men. The hair, however, was frizzed in a very curious manner, standing out nearly a foot from the heads of _its wearers, which were without any other covering. The Shoas wore long robes, and carried clumsy cimeters with them, but no firearms. After many compliments passing, Manuel opened the conversation concerning the country he longed to hear about, Manver. “We are Fong to travel toward your country, very soon. e have heard of the valor and worth of the Shoas from afar, and have resolved to come and see them,” SHoA MercHant. “ My lord will be very welcome, ne have but a little, but that little all belongs to my _ ord. Manvet. “Your tribe feed their flocks on the banks of the Shary—is it not so—to the south of the Lake Tchad?” SHoa. “Wedo. The sultan of Bornou makes us pay tribute, but he protects us from our enemies.” anveL. “ And what people lie again to the south of you?” grok. “The black people of the little mountains. They are robbers, but they bave no arms, and live in caves.” “How can they rob, if they have no arms?”* SHoa. “They have nothing but knives, and they creep into our camps at night, and stab us asleep, But if a good watch is kept, there is no danger.” Manvet. ‘“ And how do these people live?” SHoa. “They run down the young buffaloes, when they catch them alone, and stab them, They are as swift as horses.” Manveu. ‘“Youinterest me greatly. And what people lies beyond them again?” SHoa. ‘Beyond them lie the great mountai whose tops reach heaven, covered with etern There is but one pass through these moun- snow.
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12 The Sword Hunters. tains, and on the other side lies the great river of the south, that flows through the country of the white people.” MANUEL (much i»teested.) ‘“*The country of the white people? What white people?” SHoa. “We cannot tell. Noone has ever been there and come back, They ride on elephants, and | live in palaces, but they willlet no one cross the | river to see their country. pa live alone.”’ Manveu. “Ihave heard of these ple, before. Tell us what you know about them. Have they guns as we have?’ ‘ Suoa. “We cannot tell, We think not. Noone has ever been through the dark pass to see, since our grandsires were children,” Manvueu, ‘Did any one ever go, then?” SHoa. ‘“‘My grandfather has told me that he once saw a man who had been among them, and who escaped. He said that they made him aslave, and put him to work on a temple, where the columns. were so big, that twenty men, with joined hands, could only Fast girdle them. That they had rcws of | statues miles long, of lions with women’s heads, and | elephants with castles on their backs; and that their armies marched to the sound of music, with swords | and een and shields. But who can tell if it be true | or not?” } Manveu. ‘“ Will you guide me to this country?” SHoa (astonished), ‘‘ Nay; it were tempting Allah to doit. They will kill us all.” EL. ‘“ Will you guide me to your own coun- Manu a then?”’ HOA. ‘Most surely we will, and be much honor- ed to see the great strangers from over the sea. We are going to leave here, and go back, in three days.” “By that time we will be ready. God UEL. be with you.” SHoa. ‘The blessings of Allah be on your lord- ship. We will retire, for it grows late.” And the little party broke up, with profound | bows on both sides, when Manuel and his friends proceeded to discuss the news, in their own lan- guage. The tidings of a wonderful people that lived in the | very heart of Africa, eorigeesd advanced in civili- | zation to have tamed the elephant, were growing more certain at every step. Whether they had guns or not, seemed to be doubtful, as also the situation of the country. It was in the midst of that bare spot on the map of Africa, still denominated nexplored Region, and fancy was at liberty to clothe the picture in any colors that suited the aste. ** What could he mean by ‘rows of statues a mile | long, of lions with women’s faces’?”’ asked Curtis, suddenly. “The people can’t be Egyptians, can they? How. could they get there?” veL. ‘I have a theory on that point, Jack, | which this may perhaps confirm. I have seen, in | Herodotus, a partece, saying, that Psammetichus, | the last tian king, who was driven out by Cam- | byses.of Persia, took an army of four hundred | thousand men, and marched off up the Nile into the | interior. H#was never heard of again, he nor his | army. Ihave always thought that some portion of that army must have founded a colony somewhere in the interior, and popenias Egyptian civiliza- tion. It may be possible that these are the descen- dants of that ptian army, who have kept them- | selves isolated from the world, like the Chinese, to presente their nationality. It is certain that Dr. vingstone traces a great likeness in the Makalolo and other southern tribes, to the Egyptian sculp- tures, These strange people have probably mixed with, the es eaaad of the south at some time, while keeping their main race pure in their own country. But.we, shall see when we get there. Are you all wBcreARD Ay, my boy! We'll fol D, , my boy! ell follow you any- where you thedes: Lite’s short. Let’s see all we can. Hooroar for the Egyptians!” , CHAPTER XVII. ; THE BLACK HILLS. In a few weeks, after the above conversation, a small, well-appointed carayan was wending its way through a most delightful country by the banks of a lovely little stream, the head-waters of the. Shary. Around them ;lay rolling, grcen meadows, spangied with yonsanes of flowers, and _ little park-like clumps of noble trees were scattered here and there, all over the face of the country, which fell away in a series of rolling terraces to the north, where the white er of water showed the existence of Lake Tchad. To the south it continued to rise b slow degrees, to where a distant blue line, of hills barred the Promnort, And beyond these again, cut- ting the blue sky sharply, were three white peaks, that glittered in the sun under their mantles of ice and snow. “Those are the Snow Mountains,”’ said Ibu Ayoud, the Shoa merchant, gravely. “ Beyond there lies the hidden country. of the Elephant-Riders, and those hills hold the black robbers I told you of. We will go with you to the foot of them, but nothing wapie tempt.us beyond there,”’ Manuel Garcia turned and looked proudly back over his well-appointed. cavalcade. ere were at least twenty well armed men, who could. be depend- ed on to the last gasp, who all bore muskets. uel had also unpacked acase of revolvers, and dis- tributed them to his six Hamraus, whom he knew to be the best soldiers of all, in point of courage, “Think you that all the elephants of the hidden country .can frighten us?’ he asked ieee ‘Nay, but see how easy it is to kill them. Iw are ok he galloped off. his swift 6 spoke, he G) off, on swift onagra, between two of the park-like clumps of trees, to- | | quantity and tameness of | up to Manuel, when | lon: “ e | “we will | fully. the said Manuel to Jack, as he rod | pleasant elated them to high spirits. The woods ward a herd of ele uarter of a mile o eatures of the country phante, quietly feeding not a . One of the most pleasing indeed, was the surprisin the game, Elephants anc iraffes, usually so timid, seemed to have no fear ere, and browsed as if they never were in the habit of being hunted, The poorly-armed negroes and Arabs, unprovided with fire-arms in most cases were afraid to tackle these elephants, who came and broke their fences, and trampled down their rice fields without merey. Manuel had no difficulty in riding up alougside of the finest pair of tusks in the , and plugging < shell into him at a few feet istance. e huge beast staggered and swayed, fell on its knees, and finally on its side, stone dead while the rest of the herd, panic-stricken dashed off, trumpeting shrilly, leaving the field to ‘Manuel, who had slain their leader with the deadly percus- sion shell. The little caravan pursued its march, and came 1e€ young man pointed to the white tusks, and said, briefly: “Cut them out, Selim, and load them on a camel. The Elephant-Riders will fare no better when the see us, if they a / to hurt us. Now, Ibu Ayoud, wi you guide us to the pass in the mountains?” “Indeed I dare not,” said Ibu. Ayoud, are but few of us have ever been further than here, “There | and I only know of one path through the Black Hills, which you can find without a guide, for it is quite plain. Beyond that we dare not go. The hidden people might attack us at any moment,”’ well, then,”’ said Manuel, good-naturedly ; not ask you to go any further. We can find our own way, I suppose. Will you go now from us? I press forward.” “Then we go back,” said [bu Ayoud, mournfully. “Oh, noble strangers! do not tempt Allah thus, by rush against certain death. No one ever came back who went on that track.” “Then we shall be the first,” said Manuel, cheer- “Farewell, Ibu Ayoud, Suecéss attend you in all your undertakings, and may we soon meet ain, and tell over our stories of the hidden peo- e.”” “T shall never see sorrowfully. And then the white travelers’ caval- cade separated from the Shoa merchants, and rode straigh on toward the Black Hills. “Now at last lam obeying my poor father’s will,” ou again,” quoth Ibu Ayoud, eon, “‘ and now at last I am where no white man has ever been before me. Denham. and Clapperton, fifty years ago, and Barth, twenty, only came as faras that lake we have left far in our rear. And now to see if the stories we have heard are true.”’ “Don’t believe ’em,” cried Tom Bullard, gruffly. “These niggers get scared about nothing. Because these people scare ‘hem, they think every one else is afraid, ell show them! These Hamraus are the only gritty fellows I've seen in all Africa, Won't we make the niggers hum, if they come any of their di- does over us!”’ Jack Curtis looked grave and thoughtful. “T’m thinking,” he said, “ that if pees as they say, with armies and riding on elephants, we shall be nowhere. Our little twenty or thirty men will stand no chance against.them,”’ pe 4 you're afraid, we'll fe back, Jack,” said Man uel. “No one shall say I forced him against his will into danger.” : ek you mistake,” answered Jack; “I am as eager to go as you are, but I want you to remember that we must keep a strict watch and ward now, for we are running into danger.” “Tam _ you say.so,”’ confessed, Manuel. must divide our men into three watches ever now, and put sentries all round the camp, with load- oo ou, Jack, shall take the first watch, Tom take the second, andT will take the third, that ends in the morning. 'That.is the time of most dan- er. The raus shall be put with us, fwo and wo, and 4 the men shall sleep on their arms, ready for an 4 Having thus de ined, they, kept on. their on- i riking ail the While toward ward course, the count the mysterious Black Hills. of which they had heard so much. The elevation had increased so that the air was sensibly cooler, and. forests, nut and elm, covered with wild vines, began to re- place the palms and tropical baobabs and teaks of the lowlands around Lake Tchad. As they looked back over the country, they had assed, they could see the faint white line of the e many miles away, but, it_was too far off to be plain; and as they entered the forest, they soon lost sight of all that looked like anything that had been visited before. Here, in the heart of Africa, close to the Equator, to, be riding through the open woods of a temperate climate, such as France or Italy might puss t, was a fact too bewildering to become familiar at once. The woods into which they had. entered were very open and cheérful. The trees stood at long distances apart, and apenas, out their long branches in all jrections, ny of them Suppartes vines, now loaded with luscious bunches of wild grapes, which the Arabs plucked and ate as they went along. ey are. such a “ We night | Every one felt the bracing influence of the cooler temperature and the pleasant scenery around them. The terrible stories they had heard had made them 80 gloomy, that the reaction of finding the reality so camé more and more open as they advanced, and they finally emerged on a lofty plateau, at the fur- ther extremity of which, not more than ten miles off, rose the Black Hills, The plateau was even more park-like than any- thing in the lower country. The ground was covered with short, green grass, as level as a bowling-green, interspersed with clumps of magnificent oaks; and herds of spotted fallow deer had replaced the, ante- lopes of the lower plains. It was a complete Ghanice from the tropic to the temperate zone; and the hills beyond, bare of trees, and covered with dark purple pe showed that the climate was even cooler ere. “It is just like Mexico,” exclaimed Manuel. *‘ Here we are in the temperate zone, and we look down to the torrid, and up to the frigid, within a day’s jour- os Hallo, Tom! what’s the matter?” ithout making any answer, Tom suddenly shook his rein, and darted away on his onagra, at the top of his speed, straight across the smooth grass, among the herds of deer, as swift as a falcon on the wing. As he went, Manuel looked ahead to see what bad sent him off at such a rate, He beheld three or four black human figures in the distance, running with immense speed toward the hills—such speed, that a horseman would have been puzzled to catch up with them. But Tom was mounted on a creature that could go almost a mile in a minute, and he came rapidly up with the flying creatures. ‘‘ Take charge here, Curtis,”’ said Manuel, hastily. **T'm off to pags Brg l And Manuel shot away on the track as fast as he the lasso that hung from his saddle-bow, as he did so. The three lads had retained their tough, serviceable pam- saddles, with strong ox-hide cinchas, or girths, and plaited leather lassoes. They had found them better than anything else for such hard work as they had had. Manuel saw Tom come up with one of the escaping men, a tall, long-legged fellow, as Llack as jet, who seemed to run as fresh as ever. The Texan whirled his lasso round his head with a shout, and the next minute sent the black noose flying through the air till it hovered over the head of the fugitive. It fell, and the poor fellow was plucked off his feet, with a howl of terror, and sent rolling over on the grass, while Manuel passed on after the rest. He saw two others running neck and neck, and made a successful cast of his lasso, catching both together, and plucking them off their feet. hen he turned The Texan sat on his at his captive, who knelt on the ground with his hands clasped, as if imploring mercy, and then it suddenly occurred to both that they did not understand a word of the negro’s Jan- guage, so that their captives were likely to prove useless, after all. In some perplexity they ay aited the arrival of Abou Hassan, who was the first to come up, The Hamrau looked at the captives with some contempt, and ejaculated: ‘* Base. Live in holes, Same in my country. Wal- lah! They are but dogs. Let us kill them.’ ** Not so,” said Manuel. ‘Do you know their lan- ry cat ‘“No,”. Abou Hassan responded scornfully. ‘Ido not talk to dogs. Ihavea slave here—a base dog like them. He can speak to them.” ‘*Good news,” said Manucl, “Bring him quick. We must get news of the country beyond,” CHAPTER XVIII. THE BABOOLAS, THE Base slave came forward, a tall, vigorous bo: enough, to be sure, but black as jet, with a stupid, animal face. On comparing him with the captives, it became evident that they were of the same race. The three men caught in the lassoes were all very tall, over six feet high in fact, withframes the very models of lightness and strength combined. They had been chased atfull speed for nearly half a, mile, and hardly aneared to be breathed, although quite overcome with terror, . They were entirely destitute of clothes, and their only appearance of weapons was each carried, stuck in his thick, matted wool, a sort of short knife made of flint, clumsy in the extreme, being merely a sharp wedge split oif a rock. They evidently expected instant death, for their faces expressed extreme terror. Manuel called the Base PAY. forward and addressed him in Arabic, bid- m tell them not to be afraid, that they would hurt by the strangers, and to ask them if they e travelers to the country of the Ele- could urge his own onagra, unslingin and looked round at Tom. horse, looking din nol be could guide phant Riders. The boy at once addressed the kneeling men in his own language, and the travelers could see that he was rtially understood by the savages. Manuel bid m what they called themselves, and one of them auswered at once, grinning and tappirg kim- self: ‘ ‘**Baboola! Baboola!”’ “More like a baboon,” growled Tom Bullard. ‘Good name for the cusses.. Ask Mr. Eaboola how far we are from the country of the Elephant Riders?” The Base boy asked, but declared he could not un- derstand the answer, The Baboola language was. like his own, but not quite the same. ey were compelled, {herefore, to trust to the language of signs to ete them out, and by these they made out that it would take twocays to cross the hills, and arrive at the pass through the mountains which they had beard of. The Baboola made signs that the pase lay between the two.tallest peaks, and that on the other side was a great. river the east. Manuel then caused them to be released, and presented each with a long knife, which he took from the stores. This won the confi- dence of the Baboolasentirely. They seemed to real- ize that their captors meant them no harm, and running to became communicative at once, It was then dis- covered, for the first time, that one of them could speak a little broken Arabic, which he explained by saying that he had been a slave among the Shoas, in former times, .
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It was now easy enough to converse, and Manuel uest.oned the Baboola closely about his tribe and their locality, aud about the mysterious Elephant | Riders. He found that the prejudices of the Shoa had made a formidabie people out of a tribe as harmless as the “diggers” of the Rocky Mountains, in the persons of the Baboolas themselves. “Tlow could we stab people asleep?” asked the Baboola, ““when all our stone knives can hardly | ekin a deer? We have crept into their camp some- | times, and stolen steel knives from them, but it was | cnly from their parties of slave-hunters, who came | after us to stealslaves, We are swift of foot, but it is only from oer ek from our enemies.” Manuel assured them that he was not after slaves, but to find thé country of the Elephant Riders. 4 a they ever cross the river to your side?’’ he asked, “No,” the Baboola told them; “‘they kept on their own side of the river, where there was a great city. There were poy, of boats on the river, but no one ab crossed to their side, except to anchor and sh.” Manuel asked if may one understood their lan- guage, or had heard them speak, and the Baboola said that there was one man who had been a slave among them who did. “How did he come to be a slave there?’ asked Manuel. “Do they also come over here slave- hunting?” “No, no,” said the Baboola, ‘They leave us alone. But one of our men who was very bold, thought he would swim over the river in the night, and try to steal some of their sheep, which are very tame. And they caught him, and made a slave of him in the at temple of their god Ozireez, and he was there four years before he made his escape.” Manuel turned to Jack with an animated face. “Twas right,” he said. ‘‘Who can this god Ozi- reez be, but Osiris, the ist reed Sun-God? Quick, tell me, Baboola, how did. your friend get away? Was he not better off in-that magnificent temple than in your rocks and caves?’ “Liberty is sweet, my lord,” replied the Baboola. “They gave bim to eat and drink, but he had to work, and a Baboola hates work.” ‘*Now listen,’ said Manuel. “Go and find this man if you can, and bring him to me, and come back yourself, and I will make you both happy. You shall have plenty to eat, fine cloth and a knife apiece, and I will not make you work. All 1 want a to do is to tell me what these people say when I go to see them.” Nut the Baboola was frightened at the bare idea of going ee mysterious Elephant Riders. He protested that he dared not, that the whole varty would be made slaves of, that the Elephant iders were more numerous than the leaves of the forest, etc., etc. “Well, then,’’ said Manuel, *‘ they cannot hurt us, for we carry thunder and lightning in these tubes. If your people have fears, we show them that we can put to flight all the armies of the Elephant Riders. All we want is a guide, and one to speak for us. You cannot keep those knives until you have ere us the man who was a slave. I have spoken, Go.” This altered the faces of the poor Baboolas. They looked Wepre at the coveted knives, and at length one of them volunteered to go for the man who had been a slave, if they would let him take his knife, and leave the other two behind. Manuel con- sented to this, and went forward with the caravan to the foot of the Black Hills, where he went into aattp by a little opening, ina grove of oak and beech rees. The caravan was made into a square, and two sen- tries were put on each face, with 1 ed muskers, to guard against treachery from the Baboolas. The two hostages were kept under guard in the middle of the camp, and the fires were kindled for supper. Toward sunset the absent Baboola returned with the desired individual, who proved to be a reckless, dare- devil-looking’ fellow, bearing a short javelin, the staff made of ebony inlaid with ivory in beautiful atterns, the head composed of a very hard, shining ronze, that took a keen Manuel examined the weapon with great curios- ity, when he learned that it had been stolen by the Baboola from the temple of Ozireez. The artistic excellence of the work was far ahead of anything that he had seen on tian monuments, the draw- ing of the figures (which were elephants led by men in procession) equal to that of a Greek bas-relief. It was evident that the tian colony had made some advances in art, in the lapse of centuries, and their new position, Manuel made much of this adventurous Baboola, who held communication in a roundabout way with him through his comrade, who understood Arabic. He had none of the latter’s fears, and expressed himself willing to guide the party across | the river. “You'll never get across it alive,” he said, laugh- | ing. “The men of the south have a town close to there, and they can march an army down to the river in half a day, that will eat you up. But I will show yon the . They treated me kin ly enough, tho I — eir slave.” ‘ “Have they an ns?’ inquired Manuel, curious to find if Sheikh ann was Tight. ‘ “No,” said the Baboola. ‘They have wonderful machines that cast great stones, and wey have bows and arrows and rs, but none of the fire weapons that come from the north. "The had some once, so the fame told me, which they took from the Felatahs, who attacked them; but that is long ago, and the captured weapons were hung up in the temples, for no man knew how to use them.” The travelers were never weary of asking ques- ‘ (iis ee ee ee rn ney eee The Sword Hunters. tions of the quick-witted Baboola, who seemed to | have lost all the timidity and lumpish look of the others, from his intercourse with the hidden people. They learned how the people had elephants in com- mon erploy rae throughout the country, to plow | the fields, drag and carry stone for buildings, and to serve in the army; tbat their only dreaded ene- mies were the Felatahs of the south, who had guns, and made forays on them, but that they had always beaten them off by superior discipline. The early part of the night passed in hearing the wonderful tales, and it was from a mingled dream of the splendors of the hidden people, that Manuel was roused by Curtis to take his morning watch. CHAPTER XIX, THE ELEPHANT RIDERS. Taree days after this, the caravan of the Sword Hunters and their American allies entered a tre- mendous pass between the two lofty peaks of the Snow Mountains. The scene around them was in- describably grand. Behind them lay the dark, roll- ing waves of the Black Hills, safely , and on each side of them towered a perpendicular wall of rock, shutting in the passage exactly like the can- yons of America. Above them, the mountains tow- ered away on either side, into regions of eternal snow, and the conical shape of one of them an- nounced that it was an extinct volcano, a Mom Nig eager a ype herd of a mile | eo an ro the center of it ran a cool rip ‘ te t stream rdered with very scanty, pale- grass, for the walls of rock shot up so high, even the breadth of the ge d not admit a full lare of sunlight and the e, sickly vegetation showed the effects of want of light. The caravan was gathered into military order, marching along by the bank of the stream. In front rode Manuel and the six Hamraus, three of whom were mounted on the female onagras. All were armed with revolvers, and bore their razor-like swords, ready for use. The camel-drivers, with their muskets on their shoulders, trudged on either flank beside their camels, under command of Jack Curtis. Bullard brought up the rear, with a rabble of naked Baboolas, who had accompanied them from curiosity and greed, having heard wonderful stories of the power of the white men’s rifles to slay ele- phants, and so procure abundance of food. They were now almost within sight of the “* hidden country,’ and every heart beat high at the ee, that around the next curve in the the view 0: that wondrous land would burst on them. Manuel could no longer restrain his impatience. He darted off at full speed, till the blue sky n to show through the gap, and then pulled up at the e of an abrupt descent, lost in wonder. e scene was all, and more than he expected. Be- low him, at a distance of some two thousand feet, a broad, beautiful river wound its way along by the foot of the mountain range on a spur of which he stood, and then meandered off toward the east, through a rolling plain, dotted with white villages and parceled into flelds, where the usual luxuriance of tropical vegetation seemed to have been pruned and trained down with a picture of perfect luxury. A network of white roads intersec the country, and every little eminence seemed to boast of a lord- ly mansion. On the other side of the river, down to whose ve banks it stretched, stood a large city, with b anti streets and numerous white temples; more cities, in different directions. Eagerly he unslung his telescope, and examined was correct. But no. It was not Egyptian in style. best periods of Greek art, with all the massive solid- ity of the old monuments of Memphis and Thebes. And there were other features about it resemb the Hindoo, notably so the introduction of carv elephants in many places to support the roofs in- stead of columns. e roofs themselves were fiat, and appeared to be used as promenades, while bridges seemed to be thrown m housetop to housetop over the principal streets. But the thing that most excited the gazer’s atten- tion was the presence of a mei oe body of elephants, who appeared to be under ect military training and were oa Byareay 5 heir exercise ‘on a great open field by city on the river. They were all loaded with armed men, whose weapons glittered in the sun, and seemed to be divided into ies of ten, which formed columns, and wheeled into lines with great precision. When Manuel saw the troops of obedient creatures, so powerful and grand, and counted fifty separate yg of ten, for the first time his heart seemed to fail him, as he thought over his p y means of resistance to such a power- ful body of men and animals, should they refuse him admittance. And yet he was determined to persevere. The very grandeur of everything only made him more set to discover what really lay in this hitherto un- _ known country, He had come so far, and had seen the hidden country from the mountains; and now he determined to press forward. As he sat on his o gazing at the scene be- low, Abou Hassan rode up alongside and uttered an / exclamation of wonder. ** Allah Kerim!” he cried; “it is true, after all. The people that ride on elephants are there, and we have seen “Will you dare to go forward with me then?” asked Manuel. ‘‘ Do you not fear such a great peo- e 9 “T fear nothing that my white brother fears not,” said the Arab, proudly. ‘‘The hidden people have elephants, but we have swords and guns. I and | rom his lofty elevation Manuel could count five | | length them, to see if his conjecture as to the architecture | There was a grace and finish about it worthy of the | 1 ride on with my white brother. After all, they may not be so bad as they are called. The Baboolas were called robbers, and they are but hegpern Manuel felt reassured at the confident tone of the Arab, and the whole caravan was soon up and halted in the pass, gazing down at the wonderful sight below. It was a most picturesque scene, from both points of. view, the gayly-clothed Arabs, and the loaded. camels with their brightly-striped hous- ings, the glittering arms of the horsemen in the pass on one, and below them the cerried squadrons of elephants moving in order by the walls of the mys- terious white city. The pass ended where they were, and the road was nothing but.a steep incline of bare rock, made slippery and dangerous in the middle by the little stream which trickled over its face, and formed green carpets of moss along its course as it spread out, It became evident that all their further progress must be made in full view of the people of the ‘hidden country,”” The descent was at least two thousand feet perpendicularly, and lay at an angle of not more than forty-five degrees straight down. But a narrow path appeared to have been cut in former times, just sufficient to admit of the camels going single file, which ran zig-zag across the face of the rock, and into this path Manuel rode boldly, calling to his men to follow. Before the caravan had half-emerged from the pass it was perceived from below. Manuel saw the great regiment of elephants cease its evolutions. en came the distant note of a nope ey remarkably om | and sonorous, which sounded a long Scaeeeeers signal. The elephants broke into a long column, marched solemnly down to the river, and drew up ina line along the bank, while a horseman who had been hovering among the tioop unperceived, went off at full speed to the city. That city itself appeared to be aroused as if by magic at the news. The white housetops became black with people in afew minutes, and all eyes appeared to be turned on the venturous caravan, which quietly pursued its way meanwhile down the face of the rock. Still the Sword Hunters kept on; and_ presently out of the gate of the city, which was walled, trotted anarrow stream of horsemen, who glittered from head to footin bright, brazen armor. The stream grew broader, and the men galloped out, forming squadrons a hundred broad, with as much regular- ity as any civilized horsemen Manuel had seen. ey all bore long lances, and looked sufficiently formidable, as they moved in straight, unbroken es. “Hello! here comes the mud-mashers!”’ cried Tom Bullard, as out of 4 second gate, near the water, issued a agen | column of ges with spears and huge shields and helmets, ‘ Golly, fellows! They’re turning out the whole empire to keep us out. What’ll we do?” “Keep on,” said Curtis, carelessly. “‘Now we're in for it; let’s see what those fellows are made of. They've no guns.” ~ What do you call thoset” interrupted Bullard, pointing to the field below. As he spoke, the columns of horse and foot ap- peared to be ended; and out of the first gate came, ata sl ng trot, a long file of camels, each of which bore on it k a strange-looking machine, which appeared to be nothing more than a gigantic cross- bow, the bow being from ten to twenty feet in . Each camel carried a rider, and was ac- res by a horseman in armor. “By Jove!” ejaculated Curtis; “here’s antiquity with a vengeance. It reminds me of old Wolcott and his lessons in Polybius at school. What are they poing to do with those machines?” “Shoot us, I suppose,” answered Bullard, coolly, “Wish ’em joy. I guess we could pick ‘em all off from here, without stirring another “ei Manuel said not a word. He rode on ahead, re-" volving plans of ente the “hidden country” without fighting, if possible, considering the enor- mous odds against any such attempt. “Ob! for a single piece of artillery!’’ he mentally cried. ‘“‘ We could put them all to fight in a single minute if we could drop a shell in amongsthem. But we have none, so we must do the best we can.” By the time the caravan had reached the foot of the mountain, there was a force of several thousand men accumulated on the other side of the river, waiting in silence the advent of the strangers. The stream was about three hundred yards broad here, and there were many boats on the other side. Man- uel halted his party og the river bank, bid them bring their weapons to bear on the men with the camels, whom he feared most, and went down him- self, accompanied by the two Baboolas, whom he had retained for interpreters, to hail the enemy. Appearances were decidedly menac: when he arrived, A long row of knecting camels was Op- te, and on their backs were the huge cross-bows, mt, with arrows about eight feet long leveled at him and his . Obviously the enemy must have confidence in their cross-bows carrying all that dis- so that missile weapons were about on an ty. “anual held up his open hand, with the palm toward the strangers, as if to show them that he was unarmed. Then he sounded a long call on a bugle which he always carried by his side, and beckoned, as if to invite a parley. There was a slight stir among the s ers, and presently a magnificent barge swept out of the crowd at the opposite landing, advanced to where Manuel stood. It was propelled by twenty casas and had a prow that rose up in the air in . nt, covered with gilding and carving, to a hight
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14 The Sword Hunters. of at least twelve feet. platform on the very top of this prow and leaning on a richly-ornamented spear, was a beautiful wo- man in a gorgeous dress, which at once recalled to Manuel all his ideas of the great Cleopatra. The lady was nearly white, only the faintest. tint of olive marking the difference of her race from the | | country once, many thousand years ago, when our Europeans. In fact, she was no darker than Man- uel himself, hardly so dark. Her face revealed her ancestry perfectly. It had all the severe regularity of feature, with a soft sensuousness of outline that marks the face of the mysterious Sphinx and the granite Memnon, The long aimoind-ale nea eyes, large, dark and swimming, the full red lips, the firm round chin, the oval face, framed in heavy masses of black hair, straight and silky, glistening blue in the sun, all were purely Egyptian.’ The hood-like | Standing on a little hidden | head-dress of gold cloth, gleaming with jewels, and | crowned with a single white ostrich feather, the long robes that left the arm bare to the shoulder, and revealed the feet in front, while trailing far behind, proclaimed the high rank of the lady; and Saki, the Baboola interpreter, whispered to Manuel: ‘It is Queen Lalamina, the queen of -yonder city. She is a great queen among the Maimouni- des.” Manuel had no time to inquire the meaning of his words, when the gorgeous barge swept up close to him, and the beautiful queen stood looking at him with a strange glance, mingled of curiosity, admira- tion and distrist. Manuel was a handsome young fellow enough, by this time. He was about nineteen, and his mustache was quite respectable. He had dressed himself in a handsome sporting dress of dark velveteen that day, on purpose to look imposing, thinking to overawe half-civilized men. The Cress stood him in good stead with this exquisitely beautiful lady. She look- ed at him with surprise, dnd opening her beautiful lips, addressed him in a strange tongue, which seemed to be composed entirely of 1 quids and yvow- els, as it fellfrom her mouth. But, unfortunately, Manel could not understand a word, and was com- pelled to turn for assistance to the wild Baboola, who acted as interpréter, Saki, the one who understood the queen, swelled with importance as he translated into his own gib- berish, and Toka,-the second interpreter, was even more important in his own capacity, though still in mortal terror of the Elephant Riders over the river, with the strange engines of war. “The queen of Lamphis salutes you,’’ he trans- lated; “‘and wants to know wherefore you come by the pass, never before trod by stranger in fifty years.” * “Tell her,” said Manuel, impulsively, ‘ that I came to see those beautiful eyes of hers, whose fame has fone over the whole world,” Queen Lalamina smiled when she heard it. CHAPTER XX. QUEEN LALAMINA,. Queen LALAMINA Stniled as the Baboola interpreter gave her the message from Manuel's lips. _Tt was an audacious fib, hut it had leaped to Manuel’s tongue before he knew what he said, and it produced a good effect. The queen looked upon Manuel, and, much to his surprise, addressed him in excellent Arabic, which she had first heard him speak. “The young stranger is too bold. Does he not know the laws of the Maimonides? It is death for any one of the outer world to cross the river of the north, unasked. It is only as a slave that he can eross it, even by invitation.” * Consider me, then, as your slave, lovely Lalami- na,” said Manuel, eagerly; ‘‘or rather as your friend, who can help youin your wars with the Fe- latahs, show you how to make guns, and teach you all the wisdom of the world.” ; Again the queen smiled, this time contemptuous- kc There is no wisdom in the world, outside of the children of Memnon,” she said. ‘ Twenty thousand years ago there were Farons in Soraphis, and we were kings of the world then.” This was all enigmatic to Manuel, except that he understood that the queen was “blowing,” to use Bullard’s expression. “Qan the children of Memnon bring yonder city here te us, so that one can count the stones in the walls?” he asked, pointing to the city of Lamphis, = — a mile off, and adjusting his telescope as e e. “Nay,” assented the queen; “no more canst thou,” ** Behold, then,” said Manuel, and he handed her the telescope, guessing at the similarity of their eye- sight. Itso ee that he was right. The beau- tiful ueen took the telescope without a sign of fear, looked through it at the city, and uttered an exclam- ation of surprise. ‘It is close by,” she cried. ‘‘I can tell the faces on the walls. This is a wonderful instrument.” ** And can your people make the lightning weapons of the Felatahs?” pursued Manuel, slinging his tele- scope again. ‘“We do not wish to,” answered the queen, haught- ily. ‘*It is not the custom of the Maimonides to war with evil spirits, and steal flames from the place of torment.” “And yet,” said Manuel, “if one were to come to you and show you how to make weapons that would throw fire, and show you that there was no mystery in. it, but only a compound of three things, all of which are good for fire, you would not call it by such aname, Icome from many moons’ Fedo away from here, and my people can make bigger weapons than ever you saw. We have great guns that would hurl a mass of iron, as heavy as three men, from here, far over the walls of your city, and could bat- ter it to pieces from where we stand, without going a foot nearer. queen of Lamphis, and offer her our friendship. She will do well not to reject it.” The queen listened attentively, and answered: “For a stranger, you promise fairly, but how can I be sure of your words? Strangers came to our fathers dwelt by the great river of the east, and they drove us from our own land. Till then we welcomed all strangers, but since then we bave kept them out for our own safety.” **And you are right, great. queen,” said Manuel, who recognized the legend of the conquest of Egypt in her words. ‘“ But we come to dwe friends, to become part of you, and toteach you how to conquer your enemies, as enemies? You have had Arabs among you, or how could you have learned to speak their lan- dry SEM *T learned from my slave,” said the queen, haugh- tily. ‘*The children of Memnon learn all languages, and have slaves of all nations to teach them, “Then let us be the first friends you admit,” said | Manuel, softly, ‘‘We want nothing from you but friendship, and we offer you power over all your enemies, and the knowledge of the great nations of the earth. You yourself, great queen, are but one among many. Youhavebut onecity. I could make you ruler over all the rest. Now you pay tribute to others. Then they will pay tribute to you.” He seemed to have struck the right chord—am- bition—at last. Saki had told him that the Elephant Riders had kings and queens in each city, who had to pay tribute to the great Faron—evidently another word for Pharaoh—in the capital city of Queen Lalamina hesitated. Then she said: **Send back your servants, that I may speak with you alone. You are, no doubt, a prince in your own country?” “There are three of us,’’ said Manuel; ‘and we belong to the princes of our own land, for we have | shi no master,” “Let your brothers advance then,” said the queén; “fand send your men back.”’ Manuel ordered back his attendants, and , beckon- ed forward Bullard and Curtis, who came up, dress- ed in their best clothes, and mounted on thelr fleet onagras. The queen gazed at them regress acae f and seemed to be especially pleased with the bold, de- termined face of Tom Bullard. Manuel, in a few words, told them of what he had said, and then re- sumed his leadings with the queen. - “We will teach you all we know,” he said; ‘‘and show you how to make steel swords like these ”’— and he showed his own—‘“‘ and we have with us three of the famous Sword Hunters, who can slay even an elephant with their blades, if you, will only allow us to be your friends.” z Queen Lalamina seemed not to hear him. She want looking at Tom Bullard. Suddenly she asked m: “ And what can you do, Prince Lion-face?” Tom was surprised and flattered at the epithet. He was a shrewd fellow, and thought that a little bragging would do no harm. “T can fight any twelve of your men,” he said, laughing; “and kill them all, if you'll give me an open field.” The queen looked gravely at Manuel. “Is Prince Lion-face jesting with us?” she asked, uite vexed; ‘‘or can he do what he says, Prince Ox-eye?”’ Manuel smiled. ‘He can.do it easily. He, and each of us, carries the life of twelve men in his girdle. And if you should trust to your elephants, we could put them to flight af once, from where we stand.”’ “ And if 1 permit you to cross,” said the queen, hesitatingly, ‘‘ will you assist me against all my ene- mies, who are many?” “We will,” said Tom Bullard, boldly, “I'm the fellow who can show your men how to fight, and Jack, here, can help me.” The queen looked at them, doultfully. “You say you can put my elephants to flight from here,” she said. ‘ Let me see you doit, and I will believe you, and you shall be my friend. But my men must be free to shoot you, if they can. If you can show me what you say, I will trust you; if not, I will kill you all, except Prince Lion-face, and he shall be my slave.” The proposition was somewhat startling, for at the same minute the queen gave a a to her pad- diers, and the boat shot away over the river. It be- came necessary to fight at once. But Manuel had been prepared for this. The car- avan had already been headed round toward the summit of the pass, and, at a blast from Manuel’s bugle, the whole line trotted off. It was just in time that they did so. There was heard the loud, hoarse blast of the great trumpet on the other side of the river, and the next moment a shower of luge ar- rows, shot from the cross-bows, rattled against the wall of rock behind them, Proving that the range of the weapons was beyond that of a pistol, for the dis- tance was at least two hundred yards. But if the range was good, the aim was poor, and the experi- ence satisfied Manuel that he had not much to fear while in motion. While the caravan kept on, he turned round and surveyed his enemy. The camel- men were winding up the winches of the huge cross- bows again, an operation that consumed a great of time, Manuel halted, jumped off his onagra, drew up his rifle, and took deliberate aim at the middle of the line of elephants. He had put a shell into his rifle, and saw it crack on an elephant’s forehead, as soon as he had fired. Bullard and Curtis followed his example, sending shell after shell into the huge targets, and before Why should you treat us | Icome from those people to see the | mong you as | they had fired six rounds the effect became appar- ent. Although the distance was too great for the shells to penetrate deep enough to kill the ele- phants, they grew very uneasy, and as shot after shot pealed out, inflicting stinging wounds, they and their drivers alike grew frightened and unmanage- able. First one great beast turned and dashed among his companions, mad with pain, and then the rest caught the panic, and rushed off toward the city, knocking over. camel-men, cavalry, and every- thing in their way, and spreading a wild stampede. The rapid fire of breech-loading rifles, and the terri- ble rifle-shells, small and insignificant as they look- ed, put the whole of that formidable force to flight in a few minutes, for they were powerless to return a shot, save by the camel cross-bows, and the ele- | unwonted humility. | colossal statues were planted phants had overturned these in their met flight. Manuel and his companions rode down again to the side of the river, and found nothing left to op- wg them that they need fear at that distance. he ay and infantry were still there, but there were such indications of eavcting among them, that Manuel felt convinced that a few shots would put them all to flight.. These shots he was not going to fire. He had awed the Elephant Riders with his power, but he did not wish to excite their vengeance by killing a single man. He and his friends waited uietly at the sree and they had not long to wait. Batore they had finished wiping out their rifle-bar- rels, the’ gorgeous barge swept out to meet them, and Manuel noticed that the paddlers all seemed to be in mortal terror, while the face of the queen was by no means as haughty as it had been, “Now, great queen,” cried Tom Bullard, ‘do you think we can cross the river, if we chose to. in spite of your army? Say the word, and we'll send the men into the city, after the elephants and camels.” “T believe your words,’ said the queen, with “You have the powers of the gods, and can destroy us. Wecrave your friend- “You shall have it,” said Manuel, courteously. ‘We offer it now as freely as before. Will you send over your boats to carry us across:” “JT will,’ said the queen. ‘Will not the Lion Prinee enter my boat, to see it done?” She indicated Bullard as she pols. by a wave of her.-hand. Tom was delighted, for the queen's beauty had taken great hold on his susceptible heart, already. He stepped into the boat with alacrity, and was conducted by the beautiful queen to a seat under a canopy at the stern. “ Good-by, Jack!” he called out. ‘‘ Good-by, Wise- man! I’m going to be king of the country now, and marry Queen Lalamina,”’ And indeed it seemed not unlikely, for Queen Lalamina appeared to have fallen desperately in love with Tom at first sight. Frcom that moment there was no more difficulty about es lgomnans J the river. Boats and barges came. sweeping out by the dozen from the city of Lamphis, and the caravan of | the Sword Hunters was ferried over to the further But ious. They were reassured, however, by the magnificent reception that awaited them at Lamphis. Broad, massive staircases of stone led up from the water, and the travelers passed through lofty archways into a street that seemed made of palaces and tem- les. Sumptuously dressed guards awaited them in ong lines, and they passed along over streets paved with marble, till they arrived in front of the ‘“ Pa- age of the Strangers,” as they were informed it was called. ‘ Here, surrounded by crowds of obsequious slaves, who waited on them as if they had been gods, they assed the rest of the afternoon, and still no news of Tom Bullard, and no sight of the queen. About an hour before sunset, however, they received an in- vitation to visit the queen, and, accordingly Manuel assumed his gayest dress, a military uniform, and Curtis attired himself in a handsome Turkish cos- tume, Both armed themselves with their revolvers and sabers, and mounted their beautiful onagras, which were loaded with gorgeous trappings. Abou Hassan remained in charge of the caravan in the palace, with strict orders to allow no straggling away as yet, for Manuel felt alittle uneasy at his position the midst of a powerful city, the people of which might be treacherous foes, for all he knew. Selim and Abdallah accompanied the two friends, and they carried sabers and revolvers, so that Man- uel felt safe against immediate treachery. The little party found a large squadron of cavalry waiting for them in the street, men clothed in brazen armor of chain-work, with conical helmets and long lances. The cavalry seemed to have been sent as a mark of pin, ey,» for an escort, for they fell in behind in regular order, and their commanding officer, in very good Arabic, told Manuel that he was sent to show them the way to the place. : They rode through streets, crowded with people in almost the same dress as that figured on the Egyptian sculptures thousands of years ago: and ar- rived at last at the entrance to the palace. This was rand beng Sera conception, a gateway of hewn stone Gone a hundred feet high. in front of a long avenue of sphinxes, which were backed by a second avenue of e stone elephants with castles on their backs, the whole over a thousand feet long. Between the palm trees, which gave a pleasant shade; and at the end of the avenue was the pile of white marble buildings, which com- posed the palace of Queen Lalamina. The friends dismounted at the doorway, which | } te
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— - was as large as a three-story house, and entered a grand hall, surrounded with columns, at the further end of which was a glittering assemblage of people gathered round a great white throne. As they en- tered, a burst of martial music filled the air, and the friends advanced to the throne. What was their surprise to see there, by the side of the beautiful queen, their old friend Tom, glitter- ing from head to foot in armor of gold chain-work, a plume of snowy feathers waving from his helmet, while the beautiful Lalamina’s arm rested confiding- ly on his shoulder! TI = ueen was so covered wit jewels as to dazzle the eye, and the effect of the whole picture was startling. “Tt’s all up, fellers,”’ said Tom, in his quaint Eng- lish, with a comical look that sat poorly on his new dignity. ‘“*Tain’t every day as a feller gets a queen to pop the question to him, I’ve been and gone and got married. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, and says. if you fellows want queens you can have ‘em for the asking, if you'll only stop here, and teach ‘em how to make guns and things. And a fel- ler might do worse; say, now, couldn’t he?” ueen Lalamina spoke in Arabic, saying: “My lord’s friends are very welcome to stay with us as long as they like, and if they will help us in our wars, they shall be kings also. Ihave spoken.” CHAPTER XXL THE ENVOY. THE moon shone down on the city of Lamphis about three nights later, and every street was bril- liantly illuminated with colored lanterns, while the people crowded the squares, and the sound of music came from all quarters. Lamphis was rejoicing over the marriage of Queen Lalamina to the wonder- ful white stranger who had come from afar with the terrible fire weapons. It was in the midst of this rejoicing that. our three friends were gathered in the grand banqueting hall of Queen Lalamina, the object of all the festivity. Tom Bullard, metamorphosed into an Egyptian prince, was seated by Lalamina’s side on the great white throne. Manuel sat on their right hand, and Curtis was on the left, while before them was spread the banqueting table, which accommodated five hun- dred guests at a time, and which was now full of the great lords of Lamphis, met to do honor to their queen's bridal feast. The feast was nearly over, and a number Of beau- tiful girls were dancing in slow, graceful movements to the music of golden harps, when a young noble- man in glittering armor, the officer of the queen’s guard, glided softly through the crowd of slaves beside the throne, and handed the queen a letter. It was a great square packet of papyrus, and covered With the same sort of characters which one now sees on the Egyptian monuments thousands of years old. Queen Lalamina opened it, glanced over it, and handed it to Tom. ‘ “Read, prince,’ she said, briefly, but her eye flashed and she looked as angry as only a queen used to absolute power can. Tom gravely inspected the packet in silence. turned over the leaves and look pictures of birds, beasts and human figures, of which of course he could not understand the full He | ed at a long array of | | meaning. Still, being, as we have intimated, a | sharp fellow, he made out a good deal of the general intention of the paper. At the head of the missive which excited Queen Lalamina’s ire, was a great oval stamp, with the crowned head of a king in the center, surrounded with hieroglyphics. ‘Tom had seen such seals in hundreds at Thebes and Memphis, and knew that they were called cartouches, being the names of the different kings who ordered certain in- scriptions. This cartouche was undoubtedly to tell who the | letter.came from, It was followed by some queer | characters resembling men bowing, and then came the cartouche of Queen Lalamina herself, a very good profile likeness. Tom interpreted it to be, * Ki cmp greets Queen Lalamina;” and he was it. What followed was not quite so clear, and you can see if you can make it out for yourselves as Tom did. He interpreted it to Curtis and Manuel very readily. **Look here, fellows,” said Tom, ““8omebody wants our scalps. You see that fellow running. That’s a messenger who’s brought news. You see these three chaps on donkeys. That’s we, us and company. See thehats. Mr. Do-no-hoo has heard about us. What's this next? Oh, Jack, by Jove! if it isn’t Lalamina hugging me! So he’s heard that, too. Then, see here. That's a club, I guess.” ‘*No,” said Manuel, smiling; ‘ that's a scepter, the symbol of command. It means, ‘I order you to do something.’ What is it he orders?” Tom burst out laughing. **Oh, Wiseman, look! He wants to give us rats. See here. There’s a fellow carrying our three heads, and there are our bodies being chucked into the river, That’s plain enough, I reckon. He wants the queen to throw us into the river and send him our heads. That’s what I call cool.” —. : All this while the beautiful queen sat looking at Tom with a strange expression. i de, anger and | love seemed to be struggling in her mind with some | gnawing anxiety and fear, and she looked at Tom, full of wonder at his coolness. “Well,” she said, when he turned round, smiling, *‘do you understand it, my lord?” “T think s0,” said Tom, coolly. ‘Some king me ou to kill us, and send him our heads. Isn't ‘““Yes,” she said, shuddering, and ssing one arm around his neck as if to shield Exe thom dan- ’ } | The Sword Hunters. er; “but he shall not touch my prince while La- amina lives.”” “Who is the old fellow?’ asked Tom, carelessly. ‘** He writes such a shocking bad hand 1 can’t make | out his name.” Lalamina looked round in a manner half-appre- hensive. “Do you not know? It is from the great Faron | himself, the great Sheshouk, who rules all the | Maimonides.” “Indeed?” said Tom, coolly. ‘‘ Well, then, I sup- pose we shall have to fight, my love. That is, if you think you don’t want to give us up.” “No, never!’’ said the queen, shuddering. Lamphis must fall, I will fall with it; but my ot tai my lion lord, shall only fall with me at his side.” “T see no need for any one falling, greati queen,” said Manuel, quietly. ‘‘ With us to help you, the Daron may be beaten.” * Alas, you know him not,” said the queen, sadly. “He can bring ten armies against our one, and five thousand elephants call him master.” “Tor all that,’ said Manuel, ‘‘ we can beat him. How long will it be before he can attack us, if we ‘“*TIn fifty days he would be before our walls.” “Tt is enough,” said Manuel, calmly. ‘‘ When we crossed the river, great queen, we promised to help you against your foes. Now is the time to redeem our promise. Make me your general; give me power to collect what I need, and to order your workmen, and I pledge you my word that when She- shouk comes before these walls, it shall only be to his ruin. Will you trust me?” The queen hesitated, ‘*Don’t be afraid,’ said Tom, briskly. . “I know old Wiseman, and we all do as he says. Only let me lead your cavalry, when the battle comes. We can beat the Faron all to pieces in one day.” Lalamina listened to Tom with sparkling eyes. She was wildly in love with her handsome young | “Twill show youwholTam. Seize the three stran- | gers and this wretched woman who dares to disobey Sheshouk, the Faron.”’ The four executioners bowed to the earth before | the envoy. Then each turned to a waiting slave be- hind, and took from him a pair of shackles, with which they were about to advance. “ Now, fellows,” cried Tom, in English, drawing both his pistols, ‘‘ thisis your time to cow these nig- gers.” In amoment Manuel and Jack Curtis had risen, a pistol in each hand, “Drop those shackles and leave the room,” said Tom, sternly, to the executioners, as they ad- vanced. Ho was answered by a hoarse laugh of scorn, as the huge fellows, not even hurrying their pace, came tovardhim. Evidently they were not used to being resisted, and had never seen a pistol before. “One at a timo,” said Tom, coolly. Then he leveled at the broad breast of the leader and shot him through the heart. *The sound of the shot caused a shriek of surprise from every one in the hall, save the followers of the Americans, who were gathered near the throne. Then on a sudden Abou Hassan rushed forward, erying in Arabic: * Leave the dogs to me, white brothers.” In a moment the Arab’s sword flashed through the air and another executioner fell, cut in half at the waist. The other two, as if struck by lightning, *ut- en! a howl of dismay, and fell prostrate before the throne. But it would be hard to picture. the face of the envoy as he saw the instant destruction which had overtaken the dreaded executioners of the Faron, He glared round at his suite, where there were some twenty armed men, then at the amazed Lam- piss nobles, then at the bold strangers who had de- ed him to his face. There they stood, the dark, | fierce Hamraus, the grinning Baboola, Saki, the re) stolid Egyptian servants and Mohammed the drago- husband, and believed all he said, when Manuel’s grave promises had no effect. She rose to her feet, and spoke in a loud tone to | the nobles at the board. Instantly all rose in silence. * n the doors,” cried the beautiful queen in Arabic, so that her husband could understand_her. The friends had found that Arabic was used in‘Lam- | phis by the unee classes, much as French is talked n England and America. “The Faron Sheshouk of Sorapis has sent us word to slay our guests,” said Lalamina, ina clear, cut- ting voice. ‘ Nobles of Lamphis, you know how he has ground us down for years with tribute, and how his insolent tax-gatherers have taken all our wealth to feed his luxury. Now he adds to this the insult of asking me to slay my lord and husband, and to give up our guests to be sacrificed in Sorapis. _He little knew who these guests were! Nobles of Lamphis, who of you will supp->t his queen? Shall we bow | to the Faron forever? Let us be bold at last, for we have the sreneers from afar to help us, and let | us throw off the yoke of the Faron forever!” | A shout of applause announced that the nobles of Lamphis supported their queen; and then, in the very midst of the shout, a tall, handsome man, ar- rayed in magnificent robes, swept into the room at the open door, followed by a glittering train. It was the Faron’s envoy! | The haughty noble glanced carelessly round the room, over which a great hush had fallen at his en- | trance, and then moved slowly and proudly up the | room to the foot of the throne. It was evident that | he was used to being obeyed and feared, for he met | none but. timid, averted glances, as he stared con- temptuously from side to side. Manuel, who was watching the whole scene with great keenness, could see that. the Lamphians were | used to being bullied, and that all their love for their ueen could not hold them up against the moral ef- ect of their ruler’s presence in the person of the envoy. Tom, who stood by Lalamina, could feel her trem- ble, and drew her arm through his own to support her. Then the envoy approached the throne, and with- ; said. out any of the ordinary marks of reverence, for the | first time looked up. Sin eyes met those of the American new-made | prince. By a sudden inspiration it occurred to Tom that if he were to address the envoy he might break the spell that seemed to be gathering over everybody, and encourage them all. As the thought crossed his mind, he gently placed Lalamina on her seat again, and <r alone be- fore the envoy, met his haughty gaze with one fierce and menacing, as he said in Arabic: Whose dog are pon to come into the presence of the king of Lamphis without Ldapetninge = yourself? Down on your face, or I will have you whipped with rods, for I am king here!” The effect of this fierce address was omennene: The cowering Lamphian nobles drew an audible shivering breath, and started half up, staring atthe envoy as if they expected to see him wither the s er with a thunderbolt. The envoy himself started back, divided between exasperation and blank amazement, almost choked with passion. Then he recovered himself with a tremendous ef- igantic negroes, each a perfect Hercules in muscu- ar development, but totally unarmed and naked | save for a gold fringe round the waist. Our friends | afterward learned that they were the Faron’s: exe- | cutioners, whom it was death to resist. The envoy spoke in Arabic, in low tonesof intense passion: ° ed | ed and bored smooth. | fort, and turned to his suite. Behind him were four | man, all looking ready to meet him -without fear, and waiting for the word. The hall was full of armed Lamphian soldiers on guard and it was evi- dent he had no chance in a struggle. By a great effort he controll is rage and spoke M3 Gace Lalamina in the language of the Maimon- ; des. Before he had said three words Tom interrupted him jn Arabic. “ Silence, dog. Will you dare address a king’s wife in the king’s presence? J am king of Lamphis. Speak to me.” : At this Lalamina, who had been sitting shudder- ing beside him, spoke in a low tone of great relief: “Yes, Rah Hotep, it is true. He is king now. I have given the kingdom to him.”’ . Rah Hotep turned on the new prince proudly. “Tt is well,” he said, in Arabic. ‘I will speak to you, rebel and traitor. You have defied the Faron and insulted his envoy. Before fifty days have rolled away not one stone of Lamphis shall be left unturned, and you shall be impaled.” He was turning away, when Tom stepped down and slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Tell your master,” said Tom, fiercely, “‘ that he is a dog and son of a dog. I am no subject of his, ene prince, come to take away his kingdom from him. 0. , The last words seemed to pierce the mask of pre which had sustained Rah Hotep so long, for n is countenance fell. There was a prophecy, as our friends afterward learned, that _a stranger should overthrow the Faron, and rule the Maimonides, some day. Rah Hotep regained his composure in a moment. “Do; bark,” he said, sententiously. ‘‘ Lions tear. In fifty os the lions will tear you.” Then he signed to his suite and strode away, leav- ing the two dead executioners lying at the foot of the throne. No sooner was he out of the room than Lalamina Sees herself at her husband’s feet, embracing his ees. “You are my lion king, and I adore you,” she And all the nobles gave a shout of joy, and crowd- ed round to kiss the hands and feet of the white strangers who came to promise them freedom. CHAPTER XXIL PREPARATIONS. A Few weeks later Lamphis was in a flutter of ex- citement. Outside the walls a little army was mus- tering, and the Lion King, as our Tom was called now, was to lead it against the ages of the Faron which was coming from Sorapis, with the forces of fifteen cities, to overwhelm Lamphis. Manuel had been hard at work during that time, assisted by Jack Curtis; for Tom had appointed him prime minister, and obeyed his counsel in every- thing. The lessons of superior civilization had borne great fruit among the already highly civilized Mai- monides. Manuel found them tobe skillful metal workers in brass, copper and iron; and at once set them to work to manufacture some cannon. Heknew that such fine work as muskets was be- yond their reach in the time they had, but Seeger and brass castings were easily made. He soon had thirty or forty short, wide-mouthed pieces construct- He concluded that these would be most effective against the heavy, dense bodies of troops.which the Faron used, like the old Egyptians. t Carriages for these were easily constructed, and npowder was manufactured under Manuel's or- ers, the sulphur being taken from the crater of the extinct voleano they had noticed when entering the Hidden Country.
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io Sane | Cannon-balls were cast in abundance, but Manuel | placed his great dependence on grape and canister, of which he had enough made to load five wagons for each gun. While Manuel attended to the foundries it was Curtis's part to drill the Lamphian soldiers with dummy pieces to the use of the cannon. As fast as a real one was turned out it was harnessed and drill- ed with, and the soldiers displayed as much delight as school-boys at their new pieces. But Manuel was careful not to let the secret of those weapons get out, for fear of warning the enemy, whom he knew to be ten to one in num- bers. He and his friends mixed all the powder themselves, and only allowed the workmen to han- dle it when mixed, the mill being erected across the river from Lamphis. The quantity required was so great that it required extreme caution in handling, to prevent accidents. ere our friends found their Egyptians and Arabs invaluable, they being used to firearms, and forming excellent instructors in the simpler maneu- vers of artillery, which the quick-witted Lamphians picked up very rapidly. As for Tom, he was at work drilling the cavalry to rapid movements, and increasing its force. The friends concluded that, since they could only get be about twenty thousand men anyway, while the Faron mustered nearly two hundred thou- sand spears, it was best to keep their yatge™ Sige the city, and fight a battle outside the walls, with nothing but guns and horsemen, so that, if de- feated, they could retreat without _ molestation from slow infantry, and trust to a siege to beat off the enemy. And meanwhile, day and night, the people of Lamphis were turning out guns and shot, and filling their magazine with powder, till they had a train of twenty-four guns in the field, and a hundred more twice as large mounted on the ramparts. And then at last, one glorious morning, the Lion King rode out of Lamphis, followed by a glittering group of officers, while Manuel bore the baton o general of the army, and Jack Curtis rode pif in front of the clattering, rambling train of artil- lery. -, Lalamina was near her husband, mounted on a splendid chariot; and the cavalry followed, di- vided into squadrons of a hundred each, and num- bering ten thousand horsemen. The couriers from the frontiers had prought in news that the Faron’s army was at hand, and that the nearest city, which had been friendly till then had shut its gates and shot arrows at the couriers of eat Now. Wi ” said T | th “ Now seman,”’ said Tom vely, as they rode at the head of the troops, ts fon" Balleve I'm such an ass as to think I know more than you, be- cause I’ve married a queen. I want you to give all the orders, old boy, and I promise to obey them, be- cause you know your business. All I want is.to have the cavalry, and for you tell me when to charge.” a Tl tell you that now,” said Manuel. ‘‘WhenI get them into confusion with the grape, then you shall sailin and cut them to pieces, but stop and come back when you hear me fire a single gun after a& pause.”’ MN All right, old fellow,” said the Boy King, and away he galloped to the side of Lalamina’s chariot, The queen would not go back, She had deter- mined to see the battle and share her husband’s fate, whatever it was, and the Faron’s army was within three hours’ march of the head of the column. CHAPTER XXIII. THE GREAT FIGHT. A pense column of dustin the distance announced the coming of the Faron’s army, as Manuel gave the signal for the Lamphians to halt. he theater of the coming battle was a t plain about four miles wide, and dotted over with clumps of great trees like a park, and which fed herds of giraffes and antelopes as tame as sheep. It was one of the great game preserves of the Faron himself, between the cities of Rametho and Bubaris, rivals of Lamphis, which stood at about twelve miles apart, the towers of Rametho plainly visible to the left at the e of the plain. . “We couldn't get a better position than this,” said Manuel, as Tom rode up to him to consult. “The Faron will probably attack in great masses, hoping to crush us by rs and these plains will enable us to maneuver our horse and inclose his flanks.” The little Lamphian army was drawn up at the edge of a gentle hill that overlooked the plain, and the artillery was brought to the front. It was divid- ed into four batteries of six guns each, two being placed in front of the center, and one on each wing, where Manuel and Jack Curtis commanded each a body of about two thousand cavalry, all lancers, clad in armor of chain-work. In the center was the new King of — —" with preys in — pn ene beside him, and twelve guns looking grimly out on the foe, while behind him towered the solid. squad- rons of all the rest of the heavy horsemen. There they stood, patiently waiting the comin, - the enemy that was hidden by that great cloud o' ust. _ In front of the little army_a number of light- armed horsemen, led by Abou Hassan and his bro- thers, were galloping out to meet and attack the enemy. On they came, and soon, through the dust, they could see the Pew of armor, presently a few scattering shots told that Abou Hassan and the few im firm were firing off their muskets. But it did not seem to have much effect on the enemy, as a | pe go! ry. Pp h diad mE 1 flerce shout replied, and the handful of light horse came galloping in a moment later, pursued by a cloud of mounted archers shooting arrows. It was only the sight of the glittering squadrons of the Lamphians that checked the victorious Maimon- ides, who must have been at least three thousand strong; and they slowly and sullenly retired, after shooting a volley of arrows that fell short of their mark. Manuel had forbidden a shot to be fired before he gave the signal, or the venturous archers would have paid dear for that volley, for they had come within a hundred and fifty yards of the guns, As the archers retired, they drew off to the right and left, and disclosed the head of a broad column of foot soldiers, with long lances and great square shields, These men came tramping steadily forward a yee about two hundred yards, when they ralted. Manuel had ridden up to Tom, leaving his wing to the charge of Abou Hassan. When he saw the spearmen halt he smiled. “If they'll only bring all their army up there,” he observed, ‘‘I don’t know that we need Bramble, for they are just within range of our grapeshot to spread we ” “We mustn’t let too many come on, though,” said Tom, looking down the lines of his own guards, “The Faron’s got a st of men, and these Lam- phians are so used to thinking him irresistible that a Very little will cow them. If those fellows gave a od yell and charged, it’s my belief half our men would turn tail.” ‘*We must encourage them then,” said Manuel. ** Ask your wife to make them as h. Tell them that we are nyt waiting to get the whole army to- ether to blow them to pieces, and that we're d hey ll run away if we begin ‘too soon,” ; “By Jove, not a bad idea,” said ‘Tom, heartily. “Tt takes you, old boy, to tell us what to do.” Anda few minutes later a loud cheer from the Lamphians proclaimed that the news encouraged them in the very nick of time. And now Manuel sat on his swift onagra in front of the line, steadily watching the enemy as body after body of spear- men, each arranged in a dense square mass, march- ed forward and ranged itself in m silence beside the first phalanx. Manuel counted a hundred shields in front of one of these bodies, and as it turned to take its place in line its depth was equal to its front. Ten thousand men were in each of these great pha- lanxes, and eight of them came marching up and halted in front of the Lamphians. They looked terrible in their vast masses, and the long thin lines in which the Lamphians were drawn up seemed quite useless to stop them when they chose to advance, but the Maimonides had halted without so much as a trumpet sound, and seemed to be waiting for something. ' Manuel guessed what that something was. It was the presence of the Faron. On came the huge masses of infantry, till twelve of them had halted, and still the slender lines of the Lamphians stretched far to the right and left of them, for where the Maimonides had a hundred ranks the Lamphians had only four, the rear ones some distance apart from the front. Then was heard a great shouting in the , and a huge cloud of dust asa great m of elephants came trotting up through a gap that _— been left in the center of the Faron’s line. In the very front, mounted ona gorgeous golden howdah, borne by two elephants harnessed side by side, sat a man with along black beard. His body glittered all over —_ jewels, and his head was crowned with a plum- em. ‘*Now’s your time, Tom! That’s the Faron! Give it to him with the guns!" cried Manuel, as he shook hisrein and galloped off down the line to give the 8 t was nota moment too soon. The Faron was waving his scepter, the elephants were moving for- ward crush every thing beneath their feet, the spearmen raised a tremendous shout, clashing their spears and shields, and only two hundred yards vided the armies. As Manuel galloped to his batteries he could see his cavalry was wavering, and that a feather might turn the scale. Then there wasa great crash, as — of Tom’s big battery, loaded to the muzzle with grapeshot, stones, pieces of waste co , and all sorts of rubbish, poured forth their dead- Ty volley into the midst of the mass of elephants. The effect was terrible. The whole crowd fell into confusion. The Faron’s howdah was upset and the monarch flung to the earth. With wild shrieks of pain and dismay, the frightened elephants recoiled and broke to the right and left, trampling down the men in the phalanx like insects. In another mo- ment the batteries on the right and left hg open- ed their fire, tearing broad lanes through the help- ess masses of infantry wedged in solid array. The army of the Maimon stood and wavered to and fro as if struck helpless. A moment later the terrible cannon began to fire singly as fast as the artillerymen could load them, their fire was directed on the dense masses of infantry and the struggil elephants. Before the fire had Jasted ten uu with a great wail of terror and dismay banger . -— vast array ete ean Sy roke, and fin dispersed a ruined, panic- stricken mass of tives, streaming over the plain. Up comes Manuel to the new king at a gallop. “Now's ro time, Tom,’ he cried. ‘* e and cut them to pieces, while I limber up and follow. Take the Faron if you can. He's worth all the rest.”’ ** Ay, ay, old fellow.” A moment later the wave of horsemen swept for- ward, and the battle was no longer a battle but a rout and a massacre. the twelve CHAPTER XXIV. CONCLUSION. Tue history of our Sword Hunters is almost over. We might tell how the Farén of the Maimonides was taken prisoner, compelled to resign his crown, and_how the other cities elected the Lion King, 3 Tom Bullard was now called, to be their new aron. Manuel and Jack were treated like princes, and might have married any one out of a dozen queens. ! But Manuel got tired of the country first after about two years. He had a fortune at home and longed to see his native land and be at home once more. He and Jack finally agreed to leave together, and Bullard, the new Faron, loaded them wit resents to take home. He preferred to stay, himself, more especially as he had two children, and didn’t pro- por to leave a throne and go back to work fora v iving. “Pell uncle John I’m all hunk,” he said, in part- ing, “‘and if he’ll come over here, I'll treat him like a king.” But uncle John never did come. He was dead when they reached America, and had left all his aig hs a girl whom he ‘married at sixty. So ‘om did a wise deed to stay in Africa, _ Manuel and Jack crossed the Zahara and reached Algiers in safety. They both agreed never to dis- close the mystery of the whereabouts of the Hidden Country, and they both kept their word. Noone to this day knows where it is, but Manuel and Jack, who are now living in America and peaatly married, and it was from them that your friend who writes this learned the history of the Sworp Hunrsrs. THE END. BEADLE’S Half-Dime Library. 87 Tue LAND Pirates. By Capt. Mayne Reid..... 88 PuHoroGraPH Prin. By Edward L. Wheeler.... 89 IsLAND Jim. By Bracebridge Hemyng 90 Tae Dreap Riper. By G. Waldo Browne. ... 91 be CAPTAIN OF THE CLUB. By Bracebridge emyn wer cve 0's. bona tiltvndaates 92 Canapa Cuet. By Edward L. Wheeler........ 93 Tur Boy Miners. By Edward §, Ellis 94 Mipnicut Jack. By T. C. Harbaugh... ..... 95 Tue RtvaL Rovers. By Lieut. Col. Hazeltine. 96 Warcu-Eyve. By Edward L. Wheeler. > ee 97 THe OutTLAw Brotners. By J. T. 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