1940-03-21 — Page 16

SHORT STORY

THE CHINA MAIL, MARCH 21, 19

By

THE LONE CUB LIVES F. A. M. Webster

1

quired,

shoulders and steel-clawed gloves that was unguarded, because that day "Bwana Nguvu, such beasts are upon his hands he must not die until he had despatched the native police sacred," came the surprising answer, we have talked face to face."

sergeant and a yet stronger patrol upon The Commissioner treated the no-Iwa, Effendi!"

a further march in search of Tigiliki. and dawn was not far off when a Slowly the hours of rest stole away darker shadow

detached itself from

BILL Scaton shooed away the troop of untamed monkeys which had assembled at his call, and handed back to its unanxious mother the tiny baby he was holding,

tive to a long, level stare, before he The big Soudanese sergeant snap- For a moment he stood with head sent him about his business, Leopards ped hand to edge of scarlet tarbush, inclined, listening intently. Sounds are sacred only to the Leopard Meri, turned smartly and left the verandah. were echoing from the depths of that who represent perhaps the most dan- A bugle call was sounded and within African forest which held a peculiar gerous and certainly the most devil- half an hour the patrol moved off. significance for the big, bronzed Dis- ish secret society in the whole of They did not find Tigiliki, whom Bill trict Commissioner who was, not with- Africa,

Seaton would have hanged as high as out, cause, called by the natives, After Tigiliki had departed mutter- Haman; but at the village they came whose destinies he watched over, ing to himself, Bill Seaton, with the to at the end of the third day's march Bwana Anayenguvu Wanyama, or leopard cub tucked under his arm, there was lamentation and weeping. more briefly, Bwana Nguvu~"The commenced a careful search. It re- Master Who Controls Animals.” sulted in the finding among the tum- bled rocks of the dead bodies of two other cubs belonging to the same lit- ter as the one Seaton had rescued.

One small body the baboons had mangled almost beyond recognition, from the other the pelt had been re- moved by someone who was evident lý an expert in the skinning of dead beasts.

The monkeys, too had heard a sound and were chattering with excitement, When a leopard screams with rage at high noon the lesser beasts of bush and jungle are wont to hearken and heed.

It was not the scream of the leo- pard, however, but the echo of harsh barking, that sent Bill Seäton stalk- ing through the forest with long strides, as silent as the footsteps of a

· native hunter. High up among the tree-tops the troop of monkeys, in tent upon appeasing their insatiable curiosity, passed from branch to branch in breath-taking bounds.

Presently the forest path debouch- ed into an amphitheatre of tumbled rocks, Seaton, clearing the sweat from his eyes, just caught a glimpse of a big leopardess slinking away un- der a shower of stones, hurled at her by a dozen or more old-men baboons. There was a revolver át. his belt, but he did not so much as flip open. the flap of the holster as he regard- ed the remainder of the ugly brutes into whose midst he had walked.

Young baboons, not yet come to the growth of manhood, cursed wickedly; females, bearing their babies jockey fashion with tails intertwined, spat their venom at him; while the savage old men, having driven off the leo- pardess, came hurrying back.

The monkeys jumping up and down among the tree-tops looked on in eager anticipation.

Bill Seaton paid no heed. His grey eyes were fixed steadfastly upon an exceptionally big female baboon, who was carrying by the neck a half strangled leopard-cub. Nor did he move until the dangerous old men had formed a protective ring around the custodian of their, captive.

44

:

Upon the preceding evening the daughter of the paramount chief had gone alone to draw water. In the morning her badly mauled body- throat torn out and limbs lacerated as by a leopard's claws-had been found by the bank of a river. In the mud at the marge, however, there were no pug marks but the imprint of human feet.

Shouish Abp bin Selim agreed with Bill Seaton's tenderly humorous the paramount chief that the murder mouth moulded itself into the straight had been committed by a Leopard lines of a steel trap and the usual Man. kindly smile went out of his eyes, Meanwhile the bush telegraph, by

“Tigiliki!”

throbbing native drums, had spread The name was pronounced scarcely the news through all the forests of above the Commissioner's breath, and Kalamba that the servants of the yet the single word was given all the Serkali (Government) were out and quality of an angry snarl No one seeking for Tigiliki. who had seen this big Englishman The unholy young scoundrel him- only when he was playing with and self was not disturbed, for when the charming birds or beasts would have news reached him' he was squatting in recognised the present death-mask a secret place with a score of Leopard expression of his features, which had Men, each adorned with the horrible suddenly taken, an extraordinary insignia of their sect, who he well harshness.

knew would protect him to the death. "Before another moon is born," said Tiglliki, "Bwana Nguvu must die."

הין

witch

The peace of Kalamba was very dear to Bill Seaton; neither the Leo- pard Men, who worship Kungai the A murmur of "Ewa"-which means Leopard God, Nabingi, who

are death-ran round the attentive circle, sworn to drive all white people out Crouched in the mouth of a cave, of Africa, nor the priests of any other many miles away, an old crone named secret society had dared to practise Samara, who was a noted their devilish rites in his district since doctor and the mother of Tigiliki, also he had stamped them out in his first interpreted the message as it was year of office, but the evidence that tapped out by iron-wood sticks from now lay before him was bound to pro- the thin lips of the tree-trunk drums, vide plenty of food for thought." The old woman shuddered; but soon To qualify for priesthood an ini- she remembered the tale told by her tiate of the Leopard sect must kill son of how the Bwana Nguvu had a leopard in single combat and take rescued a leopard cub from a troop its pelt for his cloak, The Leopard of baboons and thereafter restored it Man's gloves, subsequently taloned to its dam. with steel claws for the tearing of A slow smile multiplied the human sacrifices, are usually made numerable increases in the old wo-

in from the skins of a pair of cubs. man's wrinkled countenance. The sea" That was why Tigiliki had asked for son of the coming of the new moon, the lone cub which lived by merit of she imagined, would be propitious for the Commissioner's courage and the the prosecution of the plan which was wild things he welded over all taking form already in her tortuous

mystery which had brain.

the black night and disappeared again into the dense shades of the verandah. Perhaps half an hour went by in a silence of quiet contentment.

Then other shadows appeared and the steps of the verandah creaked as someone ascended."

Still Bill Seaton slept on; but a silent watcher, crouched by the nest in which the cub lay, was alert.

The steps creaked again as the sec- ond of the slayers who had accom- panied Tigiliki to settle the Commis- sloner, ascended.

፡

for the last half hour suckling her Then the leopardess, who had lain cub,-unloosed her pent up power in a mighty spring. struck with malevolent strength, and As she sprang she a man's skull crumpled like an egg- shell beneath taloned paw.

the impact of her

At the same instant one of the Leo- pard Men whipped the blanket from the lantern he had carried concealed. One glimpse he had of a bloody body lying prone with a leopard couched above it, then a wild cry broken from his lips.

"Kungai. strikes!" he yelled and fled incontinently, followed by the rest who had come to help Tigiliki kill the Bwana Nguvu.

Bill Seaton, aroused by the uproar, appeared on the verandah, a heavy Service revolver in one hand, in the other a brightly shining electric torch,

Leopard Men, leopardess and cub, however, had vanished, and all he saw was Tigiliki lying in the pool of blood his shattered skull. and brains which oozed slowly from

Far off in her cave Samara awaited the coming of her son, of whose plans to kill the Commissioner she knew nothing, and the news that the leo- pardess, for whom she had laid a trail to the bungalow, had settled the ac- counts of the hated who had dared to issue orders for the Bwana Nguvu. apprehension of her beloved son Tigiliki.

Samara waited in vain, while Bill Seaton was left wondering.

GAS BALLOON

a long time was a mystery no long- was due to come to birth the aged

Two nights before the new moonRAID SCARE

er.

ee English

Suddenly an order was snapped out harshly; whereupon a shudder ran through the watching beasts. The strange power females withdrew altogether and the younger apes backed sullenly away. surrounded this particular native for. Only the savagely swearing old men stood their ground, maintaining the

Samara set out alone, and circle from which the female clutch-. Bill: Seaton's serious cogitations reached a certain place, stripped off a statement that balloons filled with

having

Greatest poison-gas scare of the war ing the leopard cub could not escape were abruptly concluded by the now her verminous rags.

Seaton moved a step forward, and completely revived leopard cub nip- patience she anointed every inch of German submarines and were floating With infinite deadly fumes had been released from was met with torrents of abuse and ping him sharply in the bare elbow. her shrivelled flesh the threat of upraised sticks. Another

with a pungent on the breeze towards The explosive Blast!" that rose to lotion she distilled from a particular coast ran through the country' re- step and the leader of the troop sprang Bill's lips was never uttered. From forest plant, the stupefying properties cently. forward to meet him. Seaton swept somewhere close at hand came a grat- of which the descending stick aside, while the ing, nerve-wracking noise, like the natives, even among the Leopard sect. were known to but few monkeys hooted and whistled in the sound made by a blunt saw being tree-tops, and struck the big ape driven through damp. wood.

The leopardess, into whose lair smartly across the muzzle with his ment later the green eyes of the leo- did not move, nor was she disturbed A mo- Samara crawled, sniffed delicately but. open palm.

pardess, who had made that noise as even when the woman snuggled down The cowed beast dropped to all she sought for her lost cubs, were against the warmth of her pelt fours, whimpering; the others fell glaring down at Bill from a rock a` silent, uncertain what would happen dozen feet above his helmeted head. Samara stole away bearing with her Presently the leopardess slept and next. They were not left long in This time he tried no tricks of the lone cub which Blu Seaton had doubt.

charming trouble from a savage rescued from the baboons. Next morn breast. Bill knew that mother-love ing Bill found the little creature and human-hate are very close akin, peacefully asleep in a corner of his and he was taking no chances. With verandah. a neat lob he landed the indignant cub on the rock ledge where

All through the day it slept while Its Bill wondered, for he knew nothing mother crouched ready to spring. of the properties of the strong lotion Then he slid out of sight round the with which Samara had bemused its corner of a big boulder and made his brain and that of its mother. way to his bungalow.

Seaton, kicking a couple out of his path, made straight for the bitch with the cub. She cowered away from his upraised hand and next moment the limp, but still breathing, body of the cub was in his arms.

At a second spitting command the troop of baboons departed, but they would have torn limb from limb any other person who had attempted to treat them as Seaton had done.

verandah at all he could not imagine, How the creature had come into his but he decided to leave it where he had found it for the night. The cub was by bed-time, so Bill Seaton plated a beginning to show signs of waking up

was

The leopardess, well satisfied with the recovery of even one of her cubs, Left to his own devices, Bill turn was content to let the white man de- ed his attention to the cub which part unmolested:** was slowly regaining consciousness. Bill himself was far less complac now that the sufocating pressure had ent, When he reached his bungalow bowl of warm milk beside, the com- been removed from its throat. He was he sent at once for his sergeant of na- fortable nest in which I had slept all still fondling the little creature when tive police. This Shouish Abu bin day. The night life-of-

a shadow came between him and the Selim was a huge Soudanese whose awakened already and sun.** Looking up he saw a native, Intelligence was quite exceptional for castonal roar of som whose, antecedents were mysterious, a native. regarding him narrowly,

made its kill ma

"Bwana Nguvu," said Tigiliki, "give me the mwana chui?!. “

And why Flukt, do you want the leopard's cub?" Bill Seaton en

"Take out a patrol, Shodish Abu, a moment "the ordered Bill, "and bring in the man that normally ill the who is named Tigiliki, Bring him. In, cal, darkness! ^^^^; you understand mer

though "Bill Seaton, sure of

you find the leopard's pelt about his slumbered peacefully in a bungalow

But before night the rapidly ex- panding rumour had burst like the balloon which started it. The Air Ministry announced that the suspect balloon was one of the type used for getting weather information. First warning of suspected 'gas at- gence in the Northumberland area. tack" was received by A.R.P. Intelli--

Reports had been received that a balloon had been seen floating over the North Sea. Soon afterwards zealand warden telephoned that he had found a burst balloon with a taint of gas about it.

At once. A.R.P. services were mo billaed."

A

a

When miners' left Northumberland villages for work they were turned the streets without their gas-masks. - back by wardens and told not to go on Children going to school were aimi- larly warned.

From Northumberland the warn-

read as far north as St. An rows and south to Durham

Lincolnshire, Norfolk and.

all this the mysterious bal

like it are

bara

which would not poison a rabbit,