CHAPTER II
A NOVEL CRAFT
A month was devoted to preparation--a month that was full ofpleasure to the two friends, for they came into close touch withDave Hume the hunter, and learnt to regard him almost as a brother.Ordinarily, he was curt in his speech and cold in manner, especiallywith strangers; but at night, when he had shed his boots and coat,he would talk to them freely of his hunting experiences, and listenwith interest to their opinions. He never laughed at their mistakes,nor damped their enthusiasm, but he got the best out of them by afine courtesy that seemed part of his nature.
Thus it was that when, early in the first week, Venning said he hadan idea for a boat that could be easily carried round the cataractsand worked without much labour, he was at once encouraged to giveplans and specifications.
"I read once about a 'sneak-box'--a flat-bottomed shooting canoe--that could carry a sail and serve at the same time as a cabin."
"I have used one myself duck-shooting. Go on."
"Well, sir, I built a boat on the plan given, and spent a holidayone year on the Broads. It drew very little water, and was easilymanaged. However, you know all that. But what I was thinking aboutwas a design for a larger boat of the kind, with a propellerattached to it which could be worked by lever."
"By a lever?"
"Perhaps you have seen a lame man working a bicycle by a lever--well, after that principle. There would be a steel rod with cog-wheels, and one man could work the lever as the lame cyclist doeswithout the labour of rowing." Venning waited nervously for thecriticism.
"At any rate the lever would be a relief after the paddles," saidMr. Hume, gravely.
"But that is not all," continued the inventor, hastily. "I would rigup a light American windmill amidships, which could work the screwand get more speed with a following wind in conjunction with a sailrigged up forward."
"Bravo, my boy!" said Mr. Hume, laughing. "How many revolutions ofthe screw to the minute do you expect to get out of your windmill?"
"That depends on the power of the wind, sir. Do you think it is amad scheme?"
"It would impress the natives," said Compton, "and at any rate wecould start wheat-milling, you know, in case we came to the end ofour resources."
"There's no wheat in Central Africa, you duffer! Besides, sir, it'smainly a question of gear. With a lever, cog-wheels, and a runningchain after the pattern of the cycle chain, one could----"
"And ball bearings," suggested Compton, slyly.
"Yes; and ball bearings--the friction would be reduced, and we couldget more power out of a screw and propeller than we could from fourpaddles."
"You may be right," said Mr. Hume, thoughtfully.
"We don't want to take a large party, and I confess the watertransport has bothered me very much. The wind-mill, I am afraid, wemust leave to some other time, but the other part of your scheme isworth placing before practical men, and I will give you a letter toa friend of mine who had a boat built on the Thames."
Venning saw the friend the very next day; the friend gave him anintroduction to a member of a great firm of torpedo-boat builders onthe Thames, and this gentleman very kindly gave the matter fiveminutes' attention.
"Your idea, eh?" said the great designer. "Explain what advantageyou expect to gain."
"Less labour in working than with paddles, and greater speed."
"Humph! Well, my lad, you leave the matter with me, and I willreport. You can look over the yards if you like."
Venning spent the rest of the morning among the wicked-lookingsharks of the Navy, and he went back depressed with the thought thathis "sneak-box" was merely a plaything. However, he picked upconfidence when the next day brought an offer from the builders toturn out an aluminium sneak-box in three divisions, with capacityfor a crew of six, to be worked on occasion by two men pulling atlevers, driving the propeller by means of endless chains and cog-wheels, the gear to be made of best oil-tempered nickel-steel, withhardened ball bearings. Each division, when detached, of such weightthat it could be easily carried by three men, but no guarantee giventhat the propeller would give the speed desired.
"That is good enough for us, I think," said Mr. Hume.
"They give no guarantee," remarked Compton, cautiously.
"No; but they would not undertake the work unless they had somebelief in the idea, and if the propeller proves useless, we can atthe worst unship it. In any case we must have the boat, and we couldnot improve on the makers."
The order was given, and by the fourth week the little boat waslaunched on the Thames for its first trial. It looked workmanlike inspite of its wide beam and shallow draught, for the great designerwho had fashioned the lines of the fastest destroyer afloat hadhimself drawn up the plans after giving a day's careful thought tothe job. The shaft, which rested on nickel-steel sockets, with ballbearings supported by nickel-steel ribs for lightness, was protectedby a water-tight casing, and all the other parts made of the verybest metal, so as to secure both lightness and strength, with acomplicated set of cog-wheels to take off the strain. The steeringwas by a neat wheel right forward, where the look-out man could havean uninterrupted view. Forward, too, was the socket for the metalmast. The boat was fifteen feet in length, with a beam of four feetamidships, tapering fore and aft, with a well in the centre, and theremaining space covered in with a light aluminium deck, strengthenedby oak bends. There was sleeping-room for two, so that with a crewof four there would have to be four watches of three hours each. Thepeculiar features of the long, low craft were the two levers risingabove the after-deck through slots, which gave each a thrust ofabout one and a half feet, and two saddle-like seats borne on stoutsupports, one near the stem facing the bows, and the other furtherforward facing the stem. Venning perched himself on one seat,Compton on the other, one of the hands took the wheel, and Mr. Humeand the designer sat in the well.
Compton's clear-cut face, with well-formed jaws, showed no othersign of interest than a rather amused smile, but Venning's fairfeatures were flushed with excitement and nervous expectation, A manpushed the boat out. It moved at first sluggishly.
"Full speed ahead!" cried out Mr. Hume.
Venning pulled his lever over, and as he shot it back Compton pulledhis, the two moving to and fro easily as if they had been rowing asteady stroke.
"She moves, she moves!" cried Mr. Hume, with a shout.
"Take her over the mile," said the designer to the steersman; and hepulled out his watch with exactly the same look of calm interest heshowed when presiding over the trial of the fastest craft afloat.
The shining aluminium boat answered to her helm, slipped through themuddy waters in a graceful curve, and then steadied for the straightcourse.
"Let her go, boys."
The levers worked to and fro with an easy swing; there rose the humof the chains moving easily below, and the quickened churning of thepropeller blades.
The designer glanced from his watch to the bank, which was fastslipping away, and nodded his head at Mr. Hume.
"Easy all. I think she will do;" and he nodded at Venning. "Tenminutes."
"Ten minutes!"
"A mile in ten minutes--six miles an hour!"
"And it was as easy as nothing," said Venning--"wasn't it, Dick?"
"Like cutting bread," said Compton.
"Very good, I think; but you must remember that she carries nocargo. Now we'll try her with the sail alone, and then with the sailand screw combined, and then with the screw and oars, for you willsee that I have fitted row-locks."
Under a fair breeze the boat skimmed along at a merry pace, with nowave worth speaking of; and with the sail and screw she put on anadditional four miles, and with the oars an extra three, making fromnine to ten miles an hour.
"I congratulate you, Mr. Venning," said the designer, as theystepped out, thoroughly pleased.
"I am sure, sir, we thank you," said the boy, warmly.
"Eight," said Mr. Hume; "and we are thoroughly pleased with thecraft, every one of us
."
"She is a beauty," put in Compton--"a real beauty; and I think shewould be perfect if a light awning could be fixed up over the after-deck."
"That could be done easily.
"It would be an improvement, certainly," said Mr. Hume.
"I will rig up brackets to hold the rods for the awning."
"And we could fix up mosquito curtains round the sides. That is A 1.Now, what is her name to be?" And Mr. Hume looked at Venning.
He had thought of a name, and was prompt with it--the Okapi.
"And what does that mean?" asked the builder, with a smile.
Venning explained, and the name was adopted.
"Now," said the builder, "if Mr. Venning will come down to-morrowafternoon, my workmen will take the Okapi to pieces in his presencebefore packing it for delivery in the docks, and explain thoroughlyhow it is to be put together. I will give orders for several extraplates with fittings to be placed in one of the divisions, so thatif you have an accident you will have the material for repairing themischief. You understand, aluminium cannot be soldered, but youcould cover a hole by means of nuts and screws."
Venning was in time next day to receive his instructions, and madein his note-book an outline sketch of each part. While he was soengaged, Mr. Hume, with Compton, were seeing the outfit packed forthe steamer, every purchase having been made with great judgment, sothat nothing superfluous figured in the list. Their armamentconsisted of one double express for Mr. Hume, two sporting carbinesfor the boys, three Mauser revolvers, and one fowling-piece, stronghunting-knives, as well as four Ghoorka knives for cutting a paththrough the forest. As far as possible all their food-stuff wasconcentrated in tabloids and essences; each had his own special tin-lined medicine-case, in addition to the common drug-chest; eachhis own water-bottle of double canvas, a material which, permittingevaporation, keeps the water cool; and each his regulation "billy,"or cooking-tin. As for clothing, it was a mixture of luxury andrough wear, of the best silk underwear, cellular shirts of a lightblue, and yellow chamois-skin breeches, warranted to grow tougherwith use. Putties were discarded, as likely to give harbourage to"jiggers," which bore into the toes, in favour of soft leather highboots, tightly fastened at the knee; and the outfit included needlesfor the making of moccasins, or veld schoen, from the hides of thelarger antelope.
"Why do you select all blue shirts, Mr. Hume?" asked Venning.
"On account of the mosquitoes."
"Consider the feeling of the gorillas," said Compton, dryly."Perhaps they would prefer green."
"They may find us green enough for their taste, Compton; but I amnot joking. Mosquitoes have a preference for some colours and anaversion for others. They dislike blue most of all, so you see Ihave a purpose in selecting blue--not only for the shirts, but forthe mosquito curtains."
"All these precautions for a wretched fly."
"Exactly. A mosquito's gimlet carries more terrors for the explorerthan the elephant's trunk, and his hum is more dreaded than the roarof the lion. The mosquito is fever-winged, alert, and bloodthirsty.He carries the germs of malaria with him; and malaria kills off moremen than all the reptiles and wild animals combined."
"Is there no way of fighting?" asked Compton, impressed.
"Oh ay; they are fighting him on the West Coast by draining theswamps, where he breeds about the villages. But who can drain theswamps of the Congo, or let light into the Great Forest?"
"Then we stand a fair chance to catch malaria?"
"A better chance," said Mr. Hume, grimly, "than we have of catchingthe okapi. Fear the mosquito, but at the same time take everyprecaution against its attack. I have an idea myself that nature hasprovided a safeguard."
"Quinine?" said Venning.
"Quinine is an antidote. I mean a preventive--but that is yourdepartment, Venning. It will be one of your duties to study thelittle brute, and you may make a great discovery, for instance, ithas been discovered that the mosquito dislikes certain colours. Why?It may be that he would show more distinctly on one colour than onanother, and so fall an easy victim to an insect-eating bird. But itmay be that the leaves of some plant of a particular hue, or thejuices of the plant, are distasteful to the insect. Flies don't likethe leaves of the blue-gum, and I guess mosquitoes have their likesand dislikes. Find the plant they dislike, and we may defy them."
They had no accommodation for such a luxury as a tent, but insteadthey purchased canvas hammocks, each with a waterproof covering, anda roll of green canvas with strong eyelet-holes, to serve thepurpose of a tent, in addition to a canvas awning with bamboo rods,to cover the whole boat in case they were not able to land for anylength of time.
It was a pleasant time for the boys, and when at last they werepitching down the Channel into the Bay of Biscay, having meanwhilepassed through a miserable twenty-four hours, they inhaled thestrong salt air and clapped each other on the back.
It was grand!
They stood in the bows, one hand on the rail, the other on the brimof a hat, and tasted the salt with a smack of the lips. The windblew its life into their eyes, brightened them, toughened theirskins, reddened them, and the spray, drying on the red, softened thecolour to a fine healthy brown. Then the good ship heeled over androlled back with a swing of the yards, and the first roller from theAtlantic went majestically by. They were on the old, old track ofthe adventurers, of the sea-rovers, of the great captains, of theempire builders, and before them, far off in the fastness of theDark Continent, was the Great Forest with all its secrets fast held.