CHAPTER XIII
THE DRIFT OF THE LETABA
The dusk was gathering fast as we neared the stream. From the stagnantreaches above and below a fine white mist was rising, but the longshallows of the ford were clear. My heart was beginning to flutterwildly, but I kept a tight grip on myself and prayed for patience. AsI stared into the evening my hopes sank. I had expected, foolishlyenough, to see on the far bank some sign of my friends, but the tallbush was dead and silent.
The drift slants across the river at an acute angle, roughly S.S.W. Idid not know this at the time, and was amazed to see the van of themarch turn apparently up stream. Laputa's great voice rang out in someorder which was repeated down the column, and the wide flanks of theforce converged on the narrow cart-track which entered the water. Wehad come to a standstill while the front ranks began the passage.
I sat shaking with excitement, my eyes straining into the gloom. Waterholds the evening light for long, and I could make out pretty clearlywhat was happening. The leading horsemen rode into the stream withLaputa in front. The ford is not the best going, so they had to picktheir way, but in five or ten minutes they were over. Then came someof the infantry of the flanks, who crossed with the water to theirwaists, and their guns held high above their heads. They made aportentous splashing, but not a sound came from their throats. I shallnever know how Laputa imposed silence on the most noisy race on earth.Several thousand footmen must have followed the riders, and disappearedinto the far bush. But not a shot came from the bluffs in front.
I watched with a sinking heart. Arcoll had failed, and there was to beno check at the drift. There remained for me only the horrors atInanda's Kraal. I resolved to make a dash for freedom, at all costs,and was in the act of telling Arcoll's man to cut my bonds, when athought occurred to me.
Henriques was after the rubies, and it was his interest to get Laputaacross the river before the attack began. It was Arcoll's business tosplit the force, and above all to hold up the leader. Henriques wouldtell him, and for that matter he must have assumed himself, that Laputawould ride in the centre of the force. Therefore there would be nocheck till the time came for the priest's litter to cross.
It was well that I had not had my bonds cut. Henriques came ridingtowards me, his face sharp and bright as a ferret's. He pulled up andasked if I were safe. My Kaffir showed my strapped elbows and feet,and tugged at the cords to prove their tightness.
'Keep him well,' said Henriques, 'or you will answer to Inkulu.Forward with him now and get him through the water.' Then he turnedand rode back.
My warder, apparently obeying orders, led me out of the column and intothe bush on the right hand. Soon we were abreast of the litter andsome twenty yards to the west of it. The water gleamed through thetrees a few paces in front. I could see the masses of infantryconverging on the drift, and the churning like a cascade which theymade in the passage.
Suddenly from the far bank came an order. It was Laputa's voice, thinand high-pitched, as the Kaffir cries when he wishes his words to carrya great distance. Henriques repeated it, and the infantry halted. Theriders of the column in front of the litter began to move into thestream.
We should have gone with them, but instead we pulled our horses backinto the darkness of the bush. It seemed to me that odd things werehappening around the priest's litter. Henriques had left it, and dashedpast me so close that I could have touched him. From somewhere amongthe trees a pistol-shot cracked into the air.
As if in answer to a signal the high bluff across the stream burst intoa sheet of fire. 'A sheet of fire' sounds odd enough for scientificwarfare. I saw that my friends were using shot-guns and firing withblack powder into the mob in the water. It was humane and it was goodtactics, for the flame in the grey dusk had the appearance of a heavybattery of ordnance. Once again I heard Henriques' voice. He wasturning the column to the right. He shouted to them to get into cover,and take the water higher up. I thought, too, that from far away Iheard Laputa.
These were maddening seconds. We had left the business of cutting mybonds almost too late. In the darkness of the bush the strips of hidecould only be felt for, and my Kaffir had a woefully blunt knife.Reims are always tough to sever, and mine had to be sawn through. Soonmy arms were free, and I was plucking at my other bonds. The worstwere those on my ankles below the horse's belly. The Kaffir fumbledaway in the dark, and pricked my beast so that he reared and struckout. And all the while I was choking with impatience, and gabblingprayers to myself.
The men on the other side had begun to use ball-cartridge. I could seethrough a gap the centre of the river, and it was filled with a mass ofstruggling men and horses. I remember that it amazed me that no shotwas fired in return. Then I remembered the vow, and was still moreamazed at the power of a ritual on that savage horde.
The column was moving past me to the right. It was a disorderly rabblewhich obeyed Henriques' orders. Bullets began to sing through thetrees, and one rider was hit in the shoulder and came down with acrash. This increased the confusion, for most of them dismounted andtried to lead their horses in the cover. The infantry coming in fromthe wings collided with them, and there was a struggle of excitedbeasts and men in the thickets of thorn and mopani. And still myKaffir was trying to get my ankles loose as fast as a plunging horsewould let him. At last I was free, and dropped stiffly to the ground.I fell prone on my face with cramp, and when I got up I rolled like adrunk man. Here I made a great blunder. I should have left my horsewith my Kaffir, and bidden him follow me. But I was too eager to becautious, so I let it go, and crying to the Kaffir to await me, I rantowards the litter.
Henriques had laid his plans well. The column had abandoned thepriest, and by the litter were only the two bearers. As I caught sightof them one fell with a bullet in his chest. The other, wild withfright, kept turning his head to every quarter of the compass. Anotherbullet passed close to his head. This was too much for him, and with ayell he ran away.
As I broke through the thicket I looked to the quarter whence thebullets had come. These, I could have taken my oath, were not fired bymy friends on the farther bank. It was close-quarter shooting, and Iknew who had done it. But I saw nobody. The last few yards of theroad were clear, and only out in the water was the struggling shoutingmass of humanity. I saw a tall man on a big horse plunge into the riveron his way back. It must be Laputa returning to command the panic.
My business was not with Laputa but with Henriques. The old priest inthe litter, who had been sleeping, had roused himself, and was lookingvacantly round him. He did not look long. A third bullet, fired froma dozen yards away, drilled a hole in his forehead. He fell back dead,and the ivory box, which lay on his lap, tilted forward on the ground.
I had no weapon of any kind, and I did not want the fourth bullet formyself. Henriques was too pretty a shot to trifle with. I waitedquietly on the edge of the shade till the Portugoose came out of thethicket. I saw him running forward with a rifle in his hand. A whinnyfrom a horse told me that somewhere near his beast was tied up. It wasall but dark, but it seemed to me that I could see the lust of greed inhis eyes as he rushed to the litter.
Very softly I stole behind him. He tore off the lid of the box, andpulled out the great necklace. For a second it hung in his hands, butonly for a second. So absorbed was he that he did not notice mestanding full before him. Nay, he lifted his head, and gave me thefinest chance of my life. I was something of a boxer, and all myaccumulated fury went into the blow. It caught him on the point of thechin, and his neck cricked like the bolt of a rifle. He fell limply onthe ground and the jewels dropped from his hand.
I picked them up and stuffed them into my breeches pocket.
Then I pulled the pistol out of his belt. It was six-chambered, and Iknew that only three had been emptied. I remembered feelingextraordinarily cool and composed, and yet my wits must have beenwandering or I would have never taken the course I did.
The rig
ht thing to do--on Arcoll's instructions--was to make for theriver and swim across to my friends. But Laputa was coming back, and Idreaded meeting him. Laputa seemed to my heated fancy omnipresent. Ithought of him as covering the whole bank of the river, whereas I mighteasily have crossed a little farther down, and made my way up the otherbank to my friends. It was plain that Laputa intended to evade thepatrol, not to capture it, and there, consequently, I should be safe.The next best thing was to find Arcoll's Kaffir, who was not twentyyards away, get some sort of horse, and break for the bush. Longbefore morning we should have been over the Berg and in safety. Nay,if I wanted a mount, there was Henriques' whinnying a few paces off.
Instead I did the craziest thing of all. With the jewels in onepocket, and the Portugoose's pistol in the other, I started runningback the road we had come.