Adventure Magazine Cover — page 117: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

According to the Law to tell you the truth, because of the red baas, who came here after we had gone hunting, but me they have told.” “Well, and what have they told you?” I asked. “Do you remember the woman, Usta, who went away with the red baas, after my baas had beaten him?” he asked. I told him yes. “Well,” said he, ‘he caught her trying to run away with one of his voorloers and told her he would punish her for it. Then he brought her here and shut her in one of our huts, while we were away; that night he set fire to the hut and burned her to death. He beat the farm boys next morn- ing with the syambok and told them if they did not say my baas did it he would come back and kill them as well. “T got this evidence corroborated by the farm boys and also the evidence of the boys who had been hunting with Mercer, and took it in to the Magistrate. After that Mercer was released. - I never saw a man so angry in my life. ‘The dirty, white-livered swine,” he said. “To think that after being beaten in a fair fight, brought about by a quarrel of his own © making, he should try to get back at me this way. Think of it, he burned that woman out of sheer deviltry, and then tried to fix the murder on to me. I know that after the fight he swore to have my blood, but I thought that was only his over- heated temper at the time. In any case, I expected that he’d try to get me fairly and at the risk of his own dirty hide.” The next day a police patrol was ordered out to hunt for Jake on a charge of murder. When. the news reached us Mercer went straight to the fort and asked the police officer’s permission to join in the hunt, but the official wouldn’t hear of it. Mercer came back to me cursing like a stevedore. Nothing would content him but he must set off on a private man-hunt of his own. I tried to dissuade him, but his mind was made up. Seeing the sort of temper he was in, I decided to go along too to make sure that he did not get arrested on a second and better-founded charge of murder. There was a nasty, purposeful look in his eye which boded ill for Jake if we found him. Just as we were starting out, a fine big Zulu who had been squatting on his heels in the road got up and stalked over majes- 107 tically to where we were standing beside the horses. Having given the usual form of greeting, he stood silent, waiting for one of us tc speak. He was magnificently built, ever for a Zulu, and looked like a big_ bronze statue standing there in the sun glare. A light dancing-shield was on his left arm and in his right hand he held a couple of throwing assagais and a knobkerrie. He wore a fringe of white buffalo tails below his right knee, and upon his head was the keshler, the black ring, which denotes man- hood among the Zulu people. ‘Well, what do you want?” I asked. “Baas,” he said, addressing Mercer, ‘‘you go to seek the Slaughterer”—‘“‘Bulalio” was the word he used: ‘“What is that to your” asked Mercer. “Baas,” he replied, “I would go with ou.” ‘““Whyr” asked Mercer. “Because, baas, I am Umpomba, brother of Usta, whom Bulalio burned to death at your kraal.”’ - “A valuable ally,” said Mercer, in En- glish, turning tome. ‘‘What do you think?’ “Take him by all means,” I said. “He will find out far more from the natives than we can hope to do of where Red Jake is in hiding.” So Umpomba came with us. After we had been trekking best part of a week he brought the first definite news of the man we were after. Up to that time we had followed his trail by guesswork and hearsay. “Baas,” said-Umpomba, coming up to our camp-fire one night, “I have found Bulalio and have watched his hiding-place all through the heat of the day.” ‘“‘Where is he, then?” asked Mercer eagerly. ‘“‘Not ten miles from here,’’ came the unexpected answer. “There is a kloof in the hills by the big mountains. It is deep and very narrow at the entering in, so that half a dozen men might hold it easily against an impi. And,” he added after a pause, during which he took snuff, “Bulalio has five other white men and.some ‘bad’ natives with him now.” That information fairly staggered us, for we had expected to catch our quarry alone with a few native servants and voorloopers. We stayed where we were among the kopjes for awhile after that. Umpomba used to go out every morning before dawn ? DOOK C@