Part 11 (2/2)

They had known each other from childhood, and her brothers-in-law have been Burnham's aids and companions in every part of Africa and the West

Neither at the tie nor since did Mrs Burnham ”lay a hand on the bridle rein,” as is witnessed by the fact that for nine years after his e Burnha prospector And in 1893, when Burnharam, started for South Africa, Mrs Burnham ith them, and in every part of South Africa shared her husband's life of travel and danger

In inal idea was to look for gold in the territory owned by the German East African Co had broken out, he continued on down the coast, and volunteered for that ca of his fortunes The ”as not unlike the Indian fighting of his early days, and although the country was new to hied between the Kaffirs under King Lobengula and the white settlers of the British South Africa Company, the chartered company of Cecil Rhodes, he was intinize other big ht him to the notice of Rhodes and Dr Jan The as their own private war, and to them, at such a crisis in the history of their settlement, a man like Burnhan, the fa over all Great Britain and her colonies, was the gallant but hopeless stand made by Major Alan Wilson and his patrol of thirty-four men It was Burnham's attempt to save theseLobengula and his warriors were halted on one bank of the Shangani River, and on the other Major Forbes, with a picked force of three hundred h at thepursued by a force of Matabeles, ere gradually surrounding hihtfall Major Wilson and a patrol of twelveas scouts, were ordered to ula and, if possible, in the confusion of their sudden attack, and under cover of a terrific thunder-stor hi in their hands the white men believed the rebellion would collapse To the nu in a succession of caallop

But in the darkness it was difficult to distinguish the trek wagon of the king, and by the tier the Matabeles froiven the alarh the underbrush frouns, charged toward them and spread out to cut off their retreat

At a distance of about seven hundred yards froiant ant-hill, and the patrol rode toward it By the aid of the lightning flashes theywood and over soil which the rain had turned into thick black mud When the party drew rein at the ant-hill it was found that of the fourteen three wereAs the official scout of the patrol and the only one who could see in the dark, Wilson ordered Burnham back to find the the hoof-prints in the mud and that he would like some one with him to lead his pony Wilson said he would lead it With his fingers Burnhaht angles, the hoof-prints of the three others separated fro but the ht them back to their co British, Boers, and black ht thethe reins of their horses In the jungle about theh thesound of the branches as they swept back into place It was still raining Just before the dawn there came the sounds of voices and the welco the colu, but it was only a second patrol, under Captain Borroho had been sent forith twenty lorious iman the attack; and the white men at once learned that they were trapped in a complete circle of the enemy Hidden by the trees, the Kaffirs fired point-blank, and in a very little time half of Wilson's force was killed or wounded As the horses were shot down the men used them for breastworks There was no other shelter Wilson called Burnhah the lines of the enemy to Forbes

”Tell him to come up at once,” he said; ”we are nearly finished” He detailed a trooper narah,” he said Gooding was but lately out froram warned him, whether he saw the reason for it or not, to act exactly as they did

The threeat the fired at from every bush Then followed a remarkable ride, in which Burnham called to his aid all he had learned in thirty years of border warfare As the enemy rushed after them, the three doubled on their tracks, rode in triple loops, hid in dongas to breathe their horses; and to scatter their pursuers, separated, joined again, and again separated The ene the ”drift”

covered with the swollen waters, they were forced to swied with another force of the Matabeles

”I have been sent for re-enforcements,” Burnham said to Forbes, ”but I believe we are the only survivors of that party” Forbes hiive help to Wilson, and Burnhaan firing upon the new enemy

Six weeks later the bodies of Wilson's patrol were found lying in a circle Each of theula, itnessed their exterlish their national anthem, told how the fivetheir hats defiantly, sang ”God Save the Queen” The incident will long be recorded in song and story; and in London was reproduced in two theatres, in each of which the man who played ”Burnham, the American Scout,” as he rode off for re-enforcements, was as loudly cheered by those in the audience as by those on the stage

Hensman, in his ”History of Rhodesia,” says: ”One hardly knohich to h brush swarainst overwhel odds”

For his help in this war the Chartered Coold watch engraved ords of appreciation; and at the suggestion of Cecil Rhodes gave hiram, and the Hon

Maurice Clifford, jointly, a tract of land of three hundred square acres

After this can Burnham led an expedition of ten white men and seventy Kaffirs north of the Zaions to the north of Mashonaland, and to establish the boundaries of the concession given hiram, and Clifford

In order to protect Burnhaned a treaty with the native king of the country through which he wished to travel, by which the king gave hiainst attack

But Latea, the son of the king, refused to recognize the treaty and sent his young reat numbers to surround Burnhaht, and was torn between his desire to obey the Chartered Company and to prevent a massacre He decided to make it a sacrifice either of hiht fell, with only three companions and a missionary to act as a witness of what occurred, he slipped through the lines of Latea'sdown the fence around the prince's hut, suddenly appeared before him and covered him with his rifle

”Is it peace or war?” Burnhauarantee of protection, but your men surround us I have told my people if they hear shots to open fire We may all be killed, but you will be the first to die”

TheLatea to abide by the treaty Burnhauments of the missionary than by the fact that he still was covered by Burnhaument moved him, he called off his warriors On this expedition Burnharanite structures fifteen feet wide, andbefore the Phoenicians He also sought out the ruins described to hiard as King Soloht back for hiold ornaold bar

On this same expedition, which lasted five months, Burnham endured one of the severest hardshi+ps of his life Alone with ten Kaffir boys, he started on a week's journey across the dried-up basin of what once had been a great lake Water was carried in goat-skins on the heads of the bearers The boys, finding the bags an unwieldy burden, and believing, with the happy optis were needless, and that at a strearound

The tortures that followed this wanton waste were terrible Five of the boys died, and after several days, when Burnhaues of the others were so swollen that their jaws could not ion ravaged by the ”sleeping sickness,” where his nostrils were never free froes, as he expressed it, ”the hyenas were ed they could not ht back old manufactured before the Christian era, and ions It was in recognition of the inforathered by hiraphical Society

He returned to Rhodesia in time to take part in the second Matabele rebellion This was in 1896 By now Burnham was a very prominent member of the ”vortrekers” and pioneers at Buluwayo, and Sir Frederick Carrington, as in command of the forces, attached him to his staff