Part 41 (1/2)

A bronzed Englishman arrived one day with a caravan fronized as Captain Waller, and he told a strange story of his adventures

Moolo, the Burman, who, in company with the captain and the Hindoos, had been taken into slavery by a tribe of Gallas elt far to the west, had been chosen chief of this tribe on the death of its king, probably on account of his stature and strength

His first royal act was to effect the deliverance of Captain Waller by sending him to the coast The Hindoos had chosen to remain where they were Captain Waller eventually returned to England, and Forbes was deeply grieved to learn that he would never see Moh it was some consolation to know that, instead of a slave, he was an African land barely in time to see his brother before he died As Sir Lucius Chutney was unmarried, Guy succeeded to the titles and estates

As a landed proprietor, his duties very plainly lay at honed his commission and settled down on the Hampshi+re estate

He spends much of his time in London He and Sir Arthur Ashby are members of the saether

”Chutney,” Sir Arthur said one day, as he lit his cigar after dinner, ”have you ever felt any desire to leave England and resume an adventurous life?”

Chutney puffed a moment in silence

”Soh I should enjoy laying aside houn in hand, enter the trackless forests once more So Don't you find it so, Ashby?”

”That,” replied Sir Arthur, ”is just what I was getting at Generally I feel a placid contenteneral, but once in a while a sort of fever stirs h it somewhere I tell you, a wild life has a certain charets into a man's blood Some day I really believe I'll return to Africa, or soarasped his hand

”When you do, old fellow, I'm with you,” he said But so far they have not decided on any definite arrangements They talk it over frequently, but continue to dine at the club

Sometimes Forbes drops in, and then fro with unwavering fidelity to that topic of deepest interest--the strange and thrilling things that befell them when they were under Africa

THE END

A PIPE OF MYSTERY

A jovial party were gathered round a blazing fire in an old grange near Warwick The hour was getting late; the very little ones had, after dancing round the Christaathered round their uncle, Colonel Harley, and asked hihost story

”But I have never seen any ghosts,” the colonel said, laughing; ”and, moreover, I don't believe in them one bit I have traveled pretty well all over the world, I have slept in houses said to be haunted, but nothing have I seen--no noises that could not be accounted for by rats or the wind have I ever heard I have never”--and here he paused--”never but once met with any circumstances or occurrence that could not be accounted for by the light of reason, and I know you prefer hearing stories of my own adventures to mere invention”

”Yes, uncle But as the 'once' when circumstances happened that you could not explain?”

”It's rather a long story,” the colonel said, ”and it's getting late”

”Oh! no, no, uncle; it does not er the story is, the better; and if you don't believe in ghosts how can it be a story of soht of nature?”

”You will see when I have done,” the colonel said ”It is rather a story of what the Scotch call second sight, than one of ghosts As to accounting for it, you shall form your own opinion when you have heard oing through the regular drill work iment, which was stationed at Jubbalpore, in the very heart of India It has become an important place since; the railroad across India passes through it and no end of changes have taken place; but at that time it was one of the most out-of-the-way stations in India, and, I h, there was capital boating on the Nerbudda, and, above all, it was a grand place for sport, for it lay at the foot of the hill country, an immense district, then but little known, covered with forests and jungle, and abounding with big gareat friend there was a ; we had coether, and were almost like brothers He was an old Etonian, I an old West, and, indeed, of sport of all kinds But I a to tell you of that now The people in these hills are called Gonds, a true hill tribe--that is to say, aborigines, soro type The chiefs are of mixed blood, but the people are alion of the Hindus, but are in reality deplorably ignorant and superstitious Their priests are a sort of co their principal duties is that of chares by means of incantations There, as in other parts of India, were a feandering fakirs, who enjoyed an io to thereat distances for charms or predictions, and believed in their poith implicit faith