MISSIS MULDOON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7292, 3 January 1902, Page 4

MISSIS MULDOON.

(By A. G. HALES.) Long before the present war between Briton and Boer broke out, Muldoon drafted from bis native lafnd to South Africa. He took very little to the Dark Continent- except a brogue as boundless as a mother's blessing, a superb physique, and an untamable spirit for adventure. When he arrived be did not know one end of a horse from the other, and a rifle was to him a dark and deadly mystery, yet when he heard that Baden-Powell wanted mounted riflemen in bis first nigger war, Muldoon promptly proffered' his services and was accepted, and for a season was the greatest danger that his comrades had to encounter. He openly expressed ' f ftis contempt for a rifle as a shooting instt<dm'eiit,' Ahd preferred to carry his weapon 'by the 1 ' ihuzzle, so that he might use it as a "cliib if he met amy of the enemy. _ Four times out of six in those early days his bandolier was almost guiltless of cartridges ; he preferred to carry his knife, fork, comb, and other implements jammed into the loop-holes which should have held ammunition, and when it caime to riding, then Muldoon proved- himself a human poem : before his horse had covered a mile, there was nothing on, the animal that Muldoon- had not rested upon, excepting perhaps the saddle. But if he was a, bad,, rider, he was a mighty walker ; and the way he picked up the lore of the plains was little short of marvellous. Before he had been with Baden-Powell's force three months be knew -more about the signs of the great silent, rolling veldt than: many men who had spent a lifetime studying its* mysteries. He seemed to bave an instinct for tracking, and once started upon the trail of a man or beast, he was as sure to run it down as if he had been born Jat bloodhound and trained in Cuba. For «_ time he was the despair of his sergeant, who openly stated that Muldoon was as unfit to be trusted with «, rifle as a child in the nursery ; bub by-and-bye, when he began to prove his worth as a veldtsanam, his stupidity with a rifle was forgiven, him. His great trouble was tbat he would not take a gun sieriou&ly ; he could not be induced to believe that "thim littble bits ay lead" could really and tnuly kill a man. He had expected to find bullets as big as walnuts; and when be saw the long, slender, shapely death-messengers he could not be convinced that they were meant for serious business. But a day came when he altered his opinion on that subject. He had been out doing, a little private Bcouting off bis own bat, and a couple of niggers came upon bim. Instead of lifting his rifle and potting them, as almost any of his comrades would have done, he clubbed his weapon, and with a yell of fury and delight had charged in on them. One of the niggers at once fired at him, breaking his jaw ahd spoiling his beauty for life ; tbey would have spoilt more than his beauty had not Badeh-Powell appeared upon the scene just then, with Lieutenant Jack Brabant and a couple of troopers. From that hour Muldoon's respect foT tbe rifle increased, and as soon as he could get about he began practising ipost. assiduously — so much so, in fact, that his comrades declared they were in as much danger through his zeal as they bad formerly, been from his negligence, and many a' man W outpost duty, hearing a bullet whistle ipa'st his ears, would call for curses on Muldoon, and promptly get into a hole or behind a rock.. In due peason- he learned to shoot with the best of them, but b. 6 never learned to ride. ■Once, when badly wounded, he was lef tins a native kraal to be attended to by SomV friendly natives, who had promised Baden-Powell tbat the big Irishman, should want for nothing ; and they were as good as their promise. They nursed him tenderly, and when enemies came near the kraal after the white, troopers had passed on, they hid him securely, and fed him on the best that they had. -Muldoon was still with these people when peace was declared 1 ; so, having no ofcheij. home, he decided to pitch his tent among them, and to that end he pegged out a bit of ground, built a kraal, and took unto himself a wife, who in due season became the heroine of this story, and the mother of three little Muldoons. When the Irishman first put in his pegs in that •location- tbe headman tried to insist upon .Muldoon learning the native dialect, and foregoing his own mother tongue.' •To the first portion of the programme -Muldoon- offered mo objection ; but when it came to parting with his own familiar speech he at once -rebelled', and as he was a great favourite with all the young people the tihief had to give way. So Muldooh flourished. He became a mighty hunter in. a few years, and a power amongst the coloured people, because in spite of his eccentricities he possessed an inherent sense of justice. Tbe Dutch settlers professed to despise him because of bis black alliance, but they soon learned, that it was healthier to keep their dislike to themselves, for though peaceful with the negroes, he was quarrelsome upon the slightest provocation with the Dutchmen, concerning whom he had an ingrained hatred. His wife learned to talk English with a round, joyous Irish accent, and the brogue of the little black-and-tan Muldoons was like the brogue of the boys in .County Kildare. When the great war commenced between Briton and Boer, Muldoon Mouldered his gun, collected about fifty-five young warriors, wished Mk Muldoon farewell, and started to join the British Army in the Free State. Great was his disgust when he found that the British would not mate use of his black warriors as soldiers, bub he drafted them all info the transport service, where they cursed the mules and encouraged the oxen in broadest of broad Irish, much to the astonishment of Major O'Toole, who told the General in confidence that he had not expected to drop across, a team of educated niggers in. Africa. As for Muldoon, he_ soon found out where his old-time chief, BadenPowell, was, and without a word to anyone he strode off into the night and marched calmly up to .Mafeking. During the day he hid in the dongas, and at sundown proceeded methodically upon his way, dodging the many Boer commandoes that were incessantly scouring the country. When at last, after a score of hairbreadth escapes, he walked unconcernedly into beleaguered Mafeking, he was greeted with delighted cheers by many of his old comrades who had enlisted Under their former chief. After tbe first rough but hearty greeting wa3 over, many sly inquiries were made concerning "Missis" Muldoon, to all of which Muldoon replied that he had left the " Missis " where he would be . able to find her when the fighting was done. It did not take tbe Irishman long to settle down into his place in that hot corner. If BadenPowell wanted any special news from outside, he used to send for Muldoon and say, "Look here, Dinny, my lad; I want to know just what the Dutchmen are doing out there beyond these kopjes. Do you think you could pick up a few scraps of news that will help me ?" And the Irishman would make answer, "I can take a stroll around and thry me luck, Sorr,", and at night he would slip out, using all the craft that the niggers had taught him,* and it was seldom indeed that he came home empty. Tbe garrison got into the habit of calling him Baden-Powell's Morning News, and one wag prophesied that sooner or later the Boers would catch bim and stop his circulation. One night Muldoon slipped out of Mafeking as usual, to try and pick up news of one of the relief columns that had been expected for many anxious weeks. He had scarcely left the ca*dp VI iiit' hour, when a strapping young negress;. m straight as a lance, marched in and asked for bim She did not speak the broken mixture of Dutch, Kaffir and English so common to the native women but rolled out her demand in richest Hibernian: "Where is Mistah Muldoon?" If Muldoon had been anywhere in or near the camp he would have heard that voice but he was not. As a matter of fact, he was in the hands of a Boer patrol— the pitcher had gone once too often to the well • the clever spy was captured. They took "Missis" Muldoon to the British leader. She had not left them many minutes in doubt concerning her identity, and when he told her of the nature of her lord's mission she had pucked up her face gravely; thea she squatted down at the Colonel's feef, drew out a short-stemmed

clay pipe, and smoked very thoughtfully until the pipe was empty ; then she knocked the ashes from the bowl by tapping the clay against her bare heel, and spoke her mind freely : " Dinny is a fool," she said, " the Boer is ' slim ' — he may not catch an Englishman the first time, nor the second time, but in the end he will surely catch him." "Why do you think so?" asked the Colonel. " Because the Boer is never in a hurry. He sets a trap to-day and fails ; he sets it again to-morrow, and the day after— he is never tired. We know him. There is al- ! ways ' to-morrow ' for the Boers. That is why they always beat the natives when they fight. When the lion springs and misses, he moves away and seeks new prey ; when the leopard springs and misses, he goes back and wa-its, and springs again." The next morning dawned in due course and brought no tidings concerning the spy. Noon came, and still no news; the day ! faded to evening, and nothing had been heard of him.' " Missis " Muldoon had sat placidly smoking all through the long summer day in 'front, of the Colonel's "dugout " ; she made no fuss, raised no outcry ; she did not. even shift whien shells from the Boer guns'ffell near the position she had taken up. Some of the men mistook her ; apathy for callousness, and chaffed as soldiers will. " She would not be a * widdy ' any length of time if Muldoon is gathered to bis fathers," said one. "Well," replied his mate, with a glance at the ebony figure sitting in mute, "she won't have to spend much in. mourningclothes ; she's got on a first-class suit of black how." " Yes," replied his comrade, " seems to *be . a • good serviceable outfit, but rather tight for a lady. Wonder what she will wear i for mourning." . "■ "Oh," laughed; tbe .other fellow, "just a band of white paint between her front curls and her forehead, that's > the proper badge for a ■ widdy ' in these, parts." If the " Missis " heard them she did not heed ; only at sundown did she show any sigh of shifting. When the stars came out she slipped through the lines and disappeared in the directioh of the Boers' laager. -Quickly but carefully she made her way across the veldt, keeping to .the sluits wherever she bad a chance, crouching with infinite patience behind an anthill to avoid a patrol, now scudding like a big black rabbit, now creeping like a slowly shifting shadow, winding her way sinuously but surely to the spot where the Boers were encamped, for her savage instinct told her that she would find " Dinny " there, -and the same instinct told her that he needed her. At last she reached a kopje that overlooked the laager. She saw the burghers moving from camp-fire to camp-fire ; saw, too, that men and women of her colour were at work in the camp, and that put hew heart into her. Slowly, almost an hieh at a time, she made her way down the steep side of the kopje, now biding' behind a clump of bushes, now sliding across the sharp rocks that cut the glistening skin from the superb figure — f or there are no finer-built women in the world than those black Amazons of South Africa; — so on until she had passed the inner line of sentries ; then she stood upright and strolled carelessly into the camp. She knew her danger, knew that if she were caught spying inside that laager the sjambok would bite into her very vitals. She belonged to a tribe who had fought the Boers often, and sat. was not ignorant of an atom of her peril, and her savage training niade her consider that death was the only just reward for a spy caught red-handed. She would have been one of the first to hound the warriors of her. tribe on to do, the killing, if a Boer had been taken in a camp of her tribe at war-time ; yet it never entered her mind to dream of leaving Muldoon to his fate. She mixed with the other coloured folk, and from their conversa» tion soon learnt ' where Muldoon was held captive. He was sitting against a waggon ; a green hide thong securely passed around his waist bound him to the wheel; a sentry sat upon an anthill a few yards away nursing his handy little Mauser carbine, and smoking contentedly; no man in the world is more easily satisfied than the fighting burgher of the Transvaal. Muldoon was smoking also, but he did not look happy ; for careless as his guard appeared, the Irishman knew that he would pump lead into him if he made the faintest sign of trying to get away. None of these things escaped the keen eyes of the "Missis" as she hung round a neighbouring fire. Suddenly she stooped, picked up a pannikin of coffee and a few rusks, and walked boldly over to the, prisoner. The sentry saw her ; be. noticed the food in ber bands, and concluded that she had been sent to feed the spy by the Field-Cornet. • He did not interfere. Muldoon knew bis "Missis" in a moment, and his blood surged to his head. " Are the throops comin' ?" he whispered eagerly. "No wan but tmesif is comin' at all, Dinny," was the low crooning repiy- . ''Thin I'm a dead malm," he muttered "I'm to be shot for a, spy at the dawn. Mother of God, but I'd give a thrifle to die fightin' l But whist, woman ; I'm forgetten' me duty. Get back to the British lines as quick as ye can fly, 'nd tell the Colonel — God bless 'im — tell him that the Boers are going to attack Mafeking two hours before dawn wid all their force. A Frinch officer has planned tbe whole attack, 'nd I'm thinking it's serious this time/ The woman's white teeth showed across the blackness of her face like a streak of snow in a coalyard, as she smiled. "Phwat are ye grinning at?" the mam muttered testily. " Let them go to the attack, • Dinny, 'nd I'll save you whilst they are gone," she replied, the words gurgling in her throat for very joy. " They'll take the British camp by surprise, and Mafeking will N fall,* the man whispered through his teeth. "Let 'em," the woman answered laconically. '" Sentries should look after themselves; we can go back to our kraal. " "Ye are only a poor black baythin, afther all me teachin', and ye don't understand at all. Go and do as I say, 'nd tell the Colonel I sent ye|, Missis." The woman gob up and walked away io the fire. Muldoon drank the coffee and ate the rusks; then he lib his pipe, and, as he smoked, his thoughts wandered away from Africa— wandered across the sea to Ireland, to the girl on Brannigans Farm who bad jilted him to marry the English bailiff. If it had not been for her, Muldoon would never have crossed the sea; yet he thought of her tenderly, sitting there in the 'starlight waiting for death to come to him; the dark-skinned daughter of Ham was not in his mind that night, yet she was planning his salvation. She came to him again carelessly, and picked up the pannikin . that had held his coffee, putting her body between him and the sentry. As. he did so. she slipped a knife into his hands. t * " Cut and run," she muttered, and then walked away, passing behind the sentry ; as she passed him she snatched his carbine as it lay across his knees, and placed the muzzle to his ear. "If you move or speak I'll, shoot," she growled in Dutch. The sentry was simply paralysed; this thing happening in the laager scattered his wits. He did nothing, only sat and amoked stolidly. The Commandant might shoot him if he did not give the alarm; if he did give it he was sure that black amgel would. Be was a wise man; he decided to chance the Commandant. Muldoon wasted no time. He out tbe green hiidie with one swift movement of his powerful arm, rose from beside the waggon, and walked quietly over to the " Missis." " Give me that carbine." She gave it to him. He dropped the butt heavily behind the sentry's ear ; then they both ran towards the kopje. It was only a few yairds ; thiey reached its shadow®; Boers were up on all sides ; .rifles, rang out ab random ; the sentries on. outpost thought the camp was attacked, and they too fired a waiming

shot and ran inwards ; no one knew what j had happened ; they all thought that Baidien-Powell bad stolen a march on them and was upon- -them with the bayonet. Every fellow seized his horse, hurled the saddle an to its back, amd leapt inito thie saddle. Field-Cornets shouted orders that no one heeded. The French officer stormed and raved *and. implored by turns. He might as well hate stormed at the kopje; a panic w&a upon the commando, the younger ones fired into the shadow of the kopjes until the hills answered witih echoes, and all the time Muldtoon and the "Missis" were stealing quietly off along a sluit towards Mafeking. " What's all the row about up there, Dinny?" asked the Colonel, when the Irishman and his helpmate strolled into camp. " Anyone would think a regi-memt of Highlanders had got aimongst 'em with the bayonet." , "Quite th-rue for ye, Sorr," replied Dennis; "and it's me own- opinion that a commando of -.devils -led by a Frenchman would a' been amongst you df it hadte'-b been for the Missis" ; amd lihe Colonel, thought it was very likely when h» heard the whole story. . j