Adventure Magazine Cover — page 99: what you’re looking at

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

Kos, the Witch-Doctor several of the visiting doctors to come over where he stood. They responded in fear and trembling without any hesitation what- soever. He hit each one over the head in turn, stunning them. ‘They collapsed to the ground like logs. Those of the crowd in the distance who could not see, got to their feet and craned their necks. This caused a ripple of excitement torun through thecrowd. The man with horns threw aside the knobbed stick, and, spreading his arms wide with palms toward the ground, he slowly brought them together until they met over the body of one of the unconscious doctors. He bent down close, his palms extended ~ over the first man’s head and with a pull- ing motion straightened himself. Five times he did this until the people, nearly spellbound, were thinking in the terms of “pull.” Their bodies duplicated every mo- tion of his. Slowly the unconscious form of the doc- tor followed the two palms over its face and rose first diagonally, then straight up, and at last he with the horns gave it a terrible look and it stood still. The people looked on in their fright. The tops of their heads felt cold; they tried to swallow but their throats ached because of the suspended emotions. The man with the horns went over to the second form. As he did so he seemed un- real and seemed endowed with powers be- yond that of mortal man. The fires had ceased to blaze; some were merely aglow; several were smoking brands which made the man with the horns seem more mysterious as the smoke veiled him somewhat. He repeated his motions with the second man, but could hardly get the form to stand still until he went up to it and glared at it for a terrific half-minute; then it stood still. He went over to the third man. Though he made motion after motion a dozen times the unconscious form would not move. It was not until he lifted his eyes and looked over toward a certain direction, in the shadows as it were, that he saw Kos sitting there, looking straight at the unconscious man’s head. The man with the horns straightened up and strode over to where Kos was squat- ting. When he was about five feet away from Kos, Kos spat straight at the man’s feet. The saliva imstantly turned into a brown muddy ball. 93 The~man with the horns tried to ad- vance, but some invincible force seemed to hold him back. He turned to the right for several feet and then swung round quickly. As his foot, the left one, was in the air, Kos spat straight at it, missed it, but the man with the horns tripped and stumbled back- ward. He got up in a fury and walked around Kos inaecircle. Every time he tried to walk up to Kos, Kos would spit over his shoulder, whether it be the right or the left, depend- ing just where his: rival was at that mo- ment. The horde of people present mur- mured in encouraging tones: “Wena, Kos! Wena, Kos! Wena, Kost (You, Kos! You, Kos! You, Kos!) Kos held up his right hand, and the peo- ple became silent. He then stood up and said— “T know who killed the zkost.” Thousands of voices shouted: “Neu bani? Ngu bani? Ngu bani?” (Who was it? Whowasit? Who was it?) ‘“Negulom fol” (There is the man!) replied Kos, pointing to the man with the horns. The people were astounded beyond their understanding. An wmduna sprang up and gave an order for the man to be seized by some of the impis and his hands bound. In an instant the people swarmed around him, shouting and yelling— “Mba ka bulawel” (Let him be put to death.) - “No,” Kos thundered; “the nkosi has to decide that—he and his mba pakati.”’ (Council.) Then Songela came into the circle of the light with a strange look in his eyes. “Hum sent ekaya, noke ni lale,” he or- dered. (Take that man back to the kraal, and all of you take a rest.) The tmpis closed around the man with the horns and marched him toward the kraal. Fhe man with the horns was very defiant in his bearing as he was being marched toward the kraal and constantly remarked over and over again, “Ndz nak bulawa’”’ (They can not kill me) which made his guard very nervous. Some of the people followed the prisoner and his guard to the kraal, but the majority stayed just where they-were. And one by one little fires appeared until the whole of the open space surrounding the Songela’s kraal was dotted everywhere with the lights of many fires. CORMICLOOO (©)