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steiGOLDEN DAYS:+so=>
July 8, 1882,
~ And Karl screamed, and Barbara, in-
side the house, shrieked. It was awful.
“Take down the bells! take down the
bells!” cried the boy.
And the door was thrown open, and old
Caspar rushed out, and up the street.
na moment there was a crash, a loud
jangle, and all was still.
Every one held their breath. They
thought the world had come to an end.
But Lillylimpet laughed;
jerked the cap from Karl's head and put
it on his own, and ran away to the violet-
beds, where his people were still linger-
ing.
Old Caspar had cut the ropes that held
the bells. ‘hey lay broken on the
round, and the fairies could now stay
in their own country.
ee
STORIES OF REAL HAPPENINGS.
—Twenty miles west of Blackfoot, Ida-
ho, is one of the most desolate plains on
theearth. The lavalies in heaps at various
points, while here and there are deep fis-
sures, in which dwell many wild ani-
mals, Wherever there is soil over the
lava, however, sage brush flourishes, A
few weeks ago, while a coach was pass-
ing slowly through this wild place, agen-
tleman saw a little grizzly bear gambol-
ing over the ground about fifty yards
away. The coach was stopped, and the
gentleman, securing a stout rope, ap-
proachedthecub. Thatcreature, instead
of running away or making an outcry, so
that its savage mother could hear, began
to bob its head up and down asif pleased
at the gentleman’s attention. Ina few
minutes the cub wasacaptive. It was
taken to Wood River, and thence shipped
All the way
o
®
On the night of its arrival in Salt Lake
City the playfulness developed into
downright mischief. It had been placed
in a dry- x, but it got out and
thoroughly examined the articles in the
express 0! next morning the
express agent discovered that the little
grizzly had torn open a large package of
cigars, breaking and scattering them,
had chewed up a caddy of tobacco, and
had ruined many other articles of value.
When discovered, the cub had sticking
on one of his ears a bonnet that was in-
tended to be worn by a bride at her wed-
ding the next day. The little rogue was
caught and muzzled at once, and no
doubt the express agent was glad enough
to turn the animal over to its owner.
—In early summer, one frequently
hears of narrow escapes from drowning,
and of little acts of heroism in which
children are the actors. One of the best
incidents of the kind, during the present
suinmer, occurred at Tonawanda, N. Y.
A little daughter of Captain George Vick-
ery, of the canal boat Lottie Dean, fell
into the water when there were no grown
folks near. She came to the surface sev-
eral times, but was carried rapidly down
the stream by the current. Alfred Mo-
ran, a small lad, seeing that the little girl
surely would be drowned unless helped
immediately, sprang into the water and
brought her safely ashore. As soon as Cap-
tain Vickery came up, he drew his purse
from his pocket and offered it to young
Moran, but the latter refused to accept
the money, saying that what he did was
not for reward. A similar incident oc-
curred a few weeks ago on the Leona
River, near Uvalde, Texas, only in this
case the rescuer was a little girl, adaugh-
ter of Mr. T. B. Revell, and the rescued
one was her brother.
—A certain family living in Dallas,
Texas, were startled one morning re-
cently by what sounded like the cries of
the baby of the house. The cries seem-
ed to come from the bottom of the deep
well inthe yard. There was great ex-
citement. A rope was procured, and
in haste a young man was lowered into
the well. “Is baby alive?” anxiously
asked the mother; and she was puzzled
when the young man atthe bottom of
the well laughed a hearty laugh and sig-
naled to be drawn up. When he: reach-
ed the mouth of the well, all were grati-
‘fied to see that he had in his arms, not
the baby, but a little goat, which was
dripping wet and very frisky. Search
was then made for the baby, and that
important little creature was found in
the garden, cating goose berries, and en-
tiroly unaware that it hud caused the
—The English sparrow is a bird that is
much disliked by some persons, but he
is oceasionally seen to havea good deal
of sound sense, if not the actual gitt of
reason. In Boston, the other day, a
member of the tribe was noticed in the
act of working out what seemed to bea
difficult problem. He found in the street
a strip of. cotton-cloth an inch wide and
about half a yard long. He caught u
the end in his beak and tried to fly away
with the prize, but the cloth interfered
with the action of his wings and brought
him tumbling to the ground. He at-
teinpted the feat tive or six times, and
upon every occasion failed. n he
dropped the piece of cloth and devoted
himself toa moment of reflection. An
idea seemed to strike him. He rolled
the cloth into a convenient wad, took it
in his beak in such a way that no ends
escaped, and then flew easily to his nest
with the compact bundle. There was
some lively chattering by his mate over
his success.
()SCAR== AFRICA.
BY HARRY CASTLEMON.
CHAPTER XXNII—[ConT1NvEp].
GOOD-BY, M’CANN.
Nothing daunted by the preparations
that -had been made to receive him,
Oscar rode straight on toward the Boers,
and when the patriarch made a sign for
him to halt he paid no sort of attention
toit. The least show of tinidity or ir-
resolution would haye been fatal to him.
He had come there with plans of his
own’ fully developed, and he intended
to let the Dutchmen see that he had the
pluck to carry them out. He kept on
until he had come within ten feet of the
Boers, who held their cocked muskets
in their hands, all ready to shoot, and
then he drew up his horse.
“‘Thompson,’’ said he, ‘tell these men
that they are harboring a thief—that m.
cook has st n a horse, saddle, bridle
and rifie from me, and that I have come
here to get them. ‘ell them that I don’t
care for the thief himself—he isn’t worth
his grub, and they can have him if the:
want him—but I want my property, and,
what’s more, I’m bound to have it.”
‘« Let’s see you get it!” shouted Mc-
Cann, from his hiding-place behind the
wagon.
Osear’s face grew a shade paler, as
these words of defiance fell upon his
ears, but he made no reply. He had
come there to act, and not to argue with
McCann.
The Kaffir, however, was full of talk,
and, not receiving a satisfactory reply to
his translation, he proceeded tu abuse
the Dutchmen without stint.
The latter replied in angry tones,
shaking their fists and flourishing their
muskets in the air; and, fora moment or
two, things looked as though there was
oing to be a fight. .
oveat do they say, Thompson ?” yell-
®
a
sear.
“The Boer man he say he don’t know
nothing about the hoss and gun,” was
the interpreter’s reply.
“They don’t, eh?” exclaimed Oscar,
“Thav’s all Iwant to know. If they
won't help me get my property back,
I'll take it without hel p.’?
As Oscar said this, he put his horse in
motion, intending to ride to MeCann’s
place of concealment, and compel him
to surrender his ill-gotten gains, As he
was about to pass through the line, a
Boer attempted to seize his horse by the
bridle, but that was an unfortunate
inove for him.
rawing sharply in upon the curb-bit,
Osear struck his naga smart blow with
the rawhide whip that was tie i
wrist; whereupon the animal shot for-
ward Jike an arrow from a bow,
striking the Boer full in the breast, sent
him flying through the air as if he had
been thrown from a catapult.
Without waiting to see what had be-
come of him, or to learn what he was
ing todo about it when he recovered
is feet, Oscar e@ around the nearest
wagon, and found himself face to face
with his runaway cook,
There was his missing horse, saddled
and bridled, and at i head stood
McCann, with the stolen rifle in his
hand and his left arm passed through
Little Gray’s bridlerein. The man’s
face was as white as a sheet, and he was
trembling all over; but still he was try-
ing to keep up some show of courage.
**Come no nearer,’ said he, in a tone
which he intended should strike terror
to the boy’s heart. “If you don’t go
away and Jet me alone 1’ll shoot you, so
help me!”
Oscar made no reply. Swinging him-
self from his saddle with great coolness
and deliberation, he approached -the
tretnbling culprit with a steady step,
holding his cocked rifle in such « posi-
tion that the muzzle of it pointed straight
at McCann’s breast.
“Keep that shooting-iron directed to-
ward the clouds,” said he, sternly; and
almost involuntarily McCann obeyed.
* Now let go of it,’”? he added, when he
had come near enough to place his hand
upon the weapon,
The man dropped the elephant gun as
if it- had been a coal of fire. Oscar le
down the hammer, took hold of Little
-Gray’s bridle, from which MeCann with-
rew his arm without*being told, and
led him away.
A few seconds later, he and the Kaffir
were riding toward the fountain, while
the Boers stood watching them in silence.
They camped on the veldt that night,
and the next morning set out for the |a
wagon, which they reached in safety.
CHAPTER XXNXIII. -
OFF FOR THE COAST.
If time would permit, we might tell of
many more interesting and exciting
adventures of which Oscar was the
hero during his~career in Africa, but
those we have already described must
suflice. They will serve to give the read-
ers some idea of the poetry of the life he
Jed for thirteen long months. Of the
prose—of the trials, disappointments and
discouragements—we have had little to
say, preferring to deal as much as we
could with the bright side of his experi-
ence,
We remained in his camp nearly a
month, during which time he secured
heads of nearly all the larger animals
that were to be found in the country
round about, as well as many specimens
of the smaller ones, and then once more
set out on his travels,
Atthe same time the trouble began.
Some of the vleysand fountainsin which
he had expected to find water in abun-
dance were dried up, and not unfre-
quently he and his men were obliged to
dig for hours before they could procure
water enough to moisten the tongues of
the thirsty cattle.
he sun burned him by day, the frosts
chilled him at night, and when the rains
came on, these dry water-courses were
transformed into roaring torrents, which
he forded at the imminent risk of capsiz-
ing his wagon and losing all the fruits of
his toil.
Ile had always been unfortunate in re-
gard to his dogs. He hardly ever got
into a fight without losing one or more of
them, and his bad luck continued until
there were but three of his pack le:
Ralph and two cowardly mongrels that
were not worth the ineat they ate.
In process of time his stock began to
suffer also, One of his horses, that was
warranted “salted,” died of the distem-
per; the hyenas carried off all his goats,
and finally, a lion pulled down Little
iray, about a hundred yards from the
wagon, and killed him in broad daylight.
is was too much for Osear, who,
reckless of the consequences, caught up
one of his express rifles and sent two
bullets into the lion, whereupon the
brute charged through the camp with
the utmost fury, killing one of the oxen,
frightening the rest so badly that they
took to their heels and were not seen
again for two days, and wounding Ralph
so severely that his life was despaired of.
Up to this time, Oscar had enjoyed the
best of health; but now the fever at-
tacked him and laid him in his cot. He
was so ill that he began to be alarmed,
and, to make matters worse, Big Thomp-
son one night approached the wagon and
laid upon the fore-chest the musket that
Oscar had given him, together with the
powder-horn and all the ammunition he
ad left. Oscar understood the Ineaning
of this. It was a silent but emphatie
way of saying that his men had thrown
off their allegiance, and that, henceforth,
the young hunter must look out for him
self. -
_ This incident, if it did not save Oscar’s
life, at least hastened his recovery, for
the mutiny threw him into a perspira
fever sv com
pletely that he never even heard of it
again.
‘Ten minutes before, he would not have
thought it possible for hii to stand upon
his feet; but now he jumped out of his
cot with all his old-time activity, and,
catching up one of his rifles, ordered his
men to inspan and treck at once, and
they made all haste to obey.
One would think that, in the face of
such ‘discouragements as these, Oscar |
would have lost all heart.
Well, he often was dispirited, and
always lonely and homesick, but he
stuck to his purpose with dogged deter-
mination, working faithfully every day
and longing for the hour of his release.
Itcame at last, though long delayed,
and it was with a feeling a little short of
ecstatic that Oscar, one bright morning,
ordered his men toinspan and strike out
for Zurnst. .
The minute instructions he had re-
ecived from the committee, by which his |
movements had been governed during |
the whole of his stay in Africa, had been
carried out to the very letter. Every
species of animal on the list President |
Potter had given him was represented |
in his collection, either by a head or a
whole specimen, and his tinie was up to
ay. -
“What more can they ask?” thought
Oscar, as with a delicious feeling of re-
lief he took possession of his cot and
watched his travel-worn cattle as they = |
stepped briskly out over the blindtrail = |
athe trail his own wagon had made |
nionths before. “I’ve got everything
they told me to get, and many things
besides that they never thought of
tell you, I have been through the mill
since I passed along this route, headed
the other way, but Ihave come out all
right, and now, thank goodness! I am
tt for the coast and home. Treck along
there, Johnson! The faster we travel
the sooner we shall reach Maritzburg,
you know.”
Oscar stopped at his old camp long
enough to off-load and give his wagon a
overhauling, and then set out for
Zurnst.
The acquaintances he had there made
when he first came through had not for-
gotten him, but as they had received no
word from himsince he went away, they
had given him up for lost, and looked up-
on himas one risen fromthe dead. They
listened in genuine astonishment to the
stories of his adventures, and told him
that he had done something that any old
hunter might well be proud of. They
denounced McCann's cowardice and
treachery in the strongest terms, and
promised to see to it that he did not im-
pose upon any other traveler as he had
imposed u Oscar.
When he reached Leichtberg, Oscar
inailed almost half a peck of letters which
he had written at various times, and when
he reached Mr. Lawrence’s his heart was
gladdened by the sight of almostas many
more, addressed to himself, which had
been forwarded to that gentleman’s care
by Mr, Donahue, .
Oscar read these letters with no little
anxiety. It was so long since he had
heard ‘from: home, and so many things
migbt have happened during that inter-
val of silence! *
But there was only one of them: that
contained any bad news, and that was
from Sam Tynes, who, in a glowing
obituary, which took up nearly a whole
sheet of note paper, conveyed to Oscar
the news of Bugle's untimely death.
When the boy read that, he looked
down at Ralph, the only remaining ca
nine companion of his travels, the two
worthless curs of which we have spoken
having deserted him at Leichtberg. That
sagacious animal. was by no means &
beauty. The long journey he had made
across the burning sands, and the rough
treatment he had received from his foes,
had completely spoiled his good looks.
But there was plenty of fight left in him,
and Oscar decided on the instant that he
should go home with him to fill Bugle’s
place. Loe
The young hunter continued his jour-
ney with a light heart after reading thon’
cheering Jetters from home. Eve! tn
dreaded Drackenberg, which now an
then loomed up before bis mental vision,
had no terrors for him. ired
bad his wagon thoroughly repair
at Harrisinith, in readiness for the xscent,
crossed ass ‘in safety, and in due
time drew up before the hotel in Marita
burg. . d
Mr, Dibbits was there to meet bim, an
so were Harris and his gang of swin lers,
all of whom started as if they had seen 4
ghost.