CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
AN UNEXPECTED MEETING--WE FLY, AND I MAKE A NARROW ESCAPE FROM ANAPPALLING FATE.
During many days after the incidents narrated in the last chapter didJack, and Peterkin, and Makarooroo, and I, push across the continentthrough bush and brake, over hill and dale, morass and plain, at ourutmost possible speed. We did not, during the whole course of ourjourney, overtake the Portuguese slave-dealer; but we thought little ofthat, for it was not very probable that we should hit upon exactly thesame route, and we entertained sanguine hopes that the energy and speedwith which we kept steadily and undeviatingly on our way would enable usto reach the village of Mbango before the slave-dealer and his party.
When I look back upon that time now, and reflect calmly on the dangerswe encountered and the hardships we endured, I confess that I am filledwith amazement. I might easily fill several volumes such as this withanecdotes of our encounters with wild animals, and other adventures; buthowever interesting these might be in themselves, I must not forget thatsome of the main incidents of our sojourn in Africa have yet to berelated, and that there is a limit to the patience of even youthfulreaders.
Our power of enduring fatigue and sustained active exertion, withcomparatively short intervals of nightly repose, was much greater than Icould have believed to be possible. I have no doubt that anxiety tosave Okandaga from the terrible fate that hung over her enabled us tobear up under fatigues which would at other times have overcome us. Iknow not well how it was that I kept up with my strong and agilecomrades. Oftentimes I felt ready to drop down as I walked, yet somehowI never thought of falling behind, but went doggedly on, and at nightsfound myself little worse in condition than they. Peterkin, althoughsmall, was tough and springy, and his spirits seemed rather to rise thanotherwise as his strength abated. As for Jack, I never saw any one likehim. He seemed like a lion roaming in his strength over his nativedeserts. So hardened had we all become during the course of our travelsthat we found ourselves not only equal to Makarooroo in pedestrianpowers, but superior; for when occasion required we could almost knockhim up, but I am free to admit that we never succeeded in doing thisthoroughly. In short, we were all as nearly as possible equal to eachother, with the exception of Jack, who seemed in every way invulnerable.
During this long and hurried but intensely interesting and delightfuljourney we came upon, at different times, almost every species ofanimal, plant, and tree peculiar to the African continent. Oftentimeswe passed by droves and herds of elephants, deer, buffalo, giraffes,antelopes, and zebras; we saw rhinoceroses, alligators, leopards, lions,apes of several kinds, and smaller monkeys innumerable. We also sawgreat numbers of birds--some curious on account of their habits andform, others beautiful and bright as the rainbow.
Yet although, as I have said, this journey was very delightful, ourfeelings were at different times exceedingly varied, and notunfrequently pained; for while we saw around us much that was beautiful,innocent, and lovely, we also witnessed the conflicts of many wildcreatures, and sometimes came across evidences of the savage and crueldispositions of the human beings by whom the country was peopled. Wealways, however, carefully avoided native villages, being anxious not tobe interrupted on our forced march. Neither did we turn aside to hunt,although we were much tempted so to do, but contented ourselves withkilling such animals as we required for our daily subsistence; and ofthese we shot as many as we required without having to turn aside fromour straight course.
Thus we went on day after day, and slept under the shade of the trees orunder the wide canopy of heaven night after night, until we arrived oneday at a beautiful valley, bordered by a plain, and traversed by ariver, where Peterkin met with a sad accident, and our onward progresswas for a short period arrested.
It happened thus:--The region through which we chanced to be passing waspeopled by so many natives that we had the utmost difficulty in avoidingthem, and more than once were compelled to halt during the daytime insome sequestered dell, and resume our journey during the night.
One day--it was, if I remember rightly, about two o'clock in theafternoon--we came suddenly in sight of a native village on the banks ofthe river whose course we were at that time following, and made a widedetour in order to avoid it. We had passed it several miles, and weregradually bending into our course again, when we came unexpectedly upona band of natives who had been out hunting and were returning to theirvillage with the spoils of the chase on their shoulders. Both partiesat once came to an abrupt halt, and we stood for several minutes lookingat each other--the natives in speechless amazement, while we conversedin whispers, uncertain what to do.
We knew that if we made friendly advances we should no doubt bewelcomed, but then we should certainly be compelled to go back with themto their village and spend at least a day or two with them, as we couldnot hope to give them a satisfactory reason for our going on at once.We also knew that to go on in spite of them would produce a quarrel,and, of course, a fight, which, as it would certainly result inbloodshed, was by all means to be avoided for we could not bear to thinkthat a mere caprice of ours in visiting Africa should be the means ofcausing the death of a single human being, if we could prevent it.
"What _is_ to be done?" said Peterkin, looking at Jack in despair.
"I don't know," replied Jack. "It's very awkward. It will never do togo all the way back to the village with these stupid fellows, and wecannot tell them our real reason for going on; for, in the first place,they would perhaps not believe us, or, in the second place, they mightoffer to join us."
"Fight," said Makarooroo in a low tone, grinding his teeth together andclutching his rifle.
I felt deep sympathy with the poor fellow, for I knew well that indisposition he was naturally the reverse of quarrelsome, and that hispresent state of mind was the consequence of anxiety for the deliveranceof his faithful bride.
"No, no," replied Jack quickly; "we shall not fight."
"Suppose we bolt!" whispered Peterkin, brightening up as the ideaoccurred to him--"regularly run away!"
We seized at the idea instantly. We were all of us hard of muscle andstrong of wind now, and we knew that we could outstrip the savages.
"We'll do it!" said Jack hastily. "Let us scatter, too, so as toperplex them at the outset."
"Capital! Then here goes. I'm off," cried Peterkin.
"Stay!" said Jack.
"Why?" demanded Peterkin.
"Because we must appoint a place of rendezvous if we would hope to meetagain."
"True; I forgot that."
"D'you all see yonder blue mountain-peak?"
"Let us meet there. If we miss each other at the base, let us proceedto the summit and wait. Away!"
As Jack uttered the last word we all turned right about and fled likethe wind. The savages instantly set up a hideous yell, and darted afterus; but we made for the thick woods, and scattering in all directions,as had been previously arranged, speedily threw them off the scent, andfinally made our escape.
For the first time since landing on the continent of Africa, I now foundmyself totally alone in the wild forest. After separating from mycompanions, I ran at my utmost speed in the direction of a dense jungle,where I purposed taking shelter until the natives should pass by, andthen come out and pursue my way leisurely. But I was prevented fromadopting this course in consequence of two very fleet negroesdiscovering my intention, and, by taking a short cut, frustrating it. Iwas compelled, therefore, to keep in the more open part of the forest,and trust simply to speed and endurance for escape.
I should think that I ran nearly two miles at full speed, and kept wellahead of my pursuers. Indeed, I had distanced them considerably; butfeeling that I could not hold out long at such a killing pace, I pulledup a little, and allowed them to gain on me slightly. I was just aboutto resume my full speed, and, if possible, throw them at once farbehind, when my foot was caught by a thorny shrub, and I fell headlongto the ground. I was completely stunned for a moment or t
wo, and layquite motionless. But my consciousness suddenly returned, accompaniedby a feeling of imminent danger, which caused me to spring up and renewmy headlong career. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that the twonatives had gained so much on me that had I lain a few seconds longer Imust inevitably have been captured.
I exerted myself now beyond my powers. My head, too, from the shock Ihad received, became confused, and I scarce knew whither I was going.Presently a loud, dull roar, as if of distant thunder, struck upon myear, and I beheld what appeared to me to be a vast white plain coveredwith mist before. Next moment I found myself on the brink of aprecipice of a hundred feet deep, over which, a little to my left, alarge river fell, and thundered down into a dark abyss, whence issuedthose clouds of spray which I had taken for a white plain in theconfusion of my brain and vision.
I made a desperate effort to check myself, but it was too late. Myheels broke off the earthy edge of the cliff, and I obtained just oneawful glance of the horrid turmoil directly below me as I fell over witha mass of debris. I uttered an involuntary shriek of agony, and flungmy arms wildly out. My hand clutched the branch of an overhanging bush.This, slight though it was, was the means, under God, of saving mylife. The branch broke off, but it checked my fall, and at the sametime swung me into the centre of a tree which projected out from thecliff almost horizontally. Through this tree I went crashing withfearful violence, until I was arrested by my chest striking against astout branch. This I clutched with the tenacity of despair, andwriggling myself, as it were, along it, wound my arms and legs round it,and held on for some time with the utmost fervour of muscular energy.
My position now was beyond conception horrible. I shut my eyes andprayed earnestly for help. Presently I opened them, and in the positionin which I then lay, the first thing I saw was the boiling water of thefall more than a hundred feet below me. My agony was such that largedrops of perspiration broke out all over my forehead. It was manyminutes before I could summon up courage to turn my head so as to lookupward, for I had a vague feeling that if I were to move the branch onwhich I lay would break off. When I did so, I observed that thebranches over my head completely screened the sky from me, so that Iknew I had escaped one danger; for the natives, believing, no doubt,that I had fallen down into the river, would at once give up theirhopeless pursuit. The branch on which I lay was so slender that itswayed about with every motion that I made, and the longer I remainedthere the more nervous did I become.
At last I bethought me that unless I made a manful effort I shouldcertainly perish, so I looked about me until I became accustomed to thegiddy position. Then I perceived that, by creeping along the branchuntil I gained the trunk of the tree, I could descend by means of it tothe face of the precipice from which it projected, and thus gain anarrow ledge of rock that overhung the abyss. In any othercircumstances I would as soon have ventured to cross the Falls ofNiagara on a tight-rope; but I had no other alternative, so I creptalong the branch slowly and nervously, clinging to it, at the same time,with terrible tenacity. At last I gained the trunk of the tree andbreathed more freely, for it was much steadier than the branch.
The trunk projected, as I have said, almost horizontally from theprecipice, so I had to draw myself carefully along it, not daring to geton my hands and knees, and finally reached the ledge above referred to.Compared with my former position, this was a place of temporary safety,for it was three feet wide, and having a good head, I had no fear offalling over. But on looking up my heart sank within me, for the barecliff offered no foothold whatever. I do not believe that a monkeycould have climbed it. To descend the precipice was equally impossible,for it was like a wall. My only hope, therefore, lay in the ledge onwhich I stood, and which, I observed, ran along to the right and turnedround a projecting rock that hid the remainder of it from view.
Hasting along it, I found, to my inexpressible relief, that itcommunicated with the top of the precipice. The ascent was difficultand dangerous; but at last I succeeded in passing the most serious part,and soon gained the summit of the cliff in safety, where I immediatelyfell on my knees and returned thanks for my deliverance.
I had passed nearly an hour in the trying adventure which I have justrelated, and feeling that my companions would naturally begin soon to beanxious about me, I started for our rendezvous, which I reached inlittle more than an hour and a half. Here I found Jack seated alonebeside a stream of water, from which he occasionally lifted a little inthe hollow of his hand and drank greedily.
"Ah, Ralph, my boy!" he exclaimed joyfully as I came up, "I'm gladyou've come. I had begun to fear that you must have been captured. Ay,drink, lad! You seem warm enough, though I scarcely think you can bemuch more so than I am. What a run we have had, to be sure! But, what,Ralph--your clothes are much torn, and your face and hands arescratched. Why, you must have got among thorns. Not badly hurt, Itrust?"
"Oh no; nothing to speak of. I have, however, had a narrow escape. Butbefore I speak of that, what of Peterkin?"
"I don't know," replied Jack, with an anxious expression; "and to saytruth, I begin to feel uneasy about him, for he ought to have been herealmost as soon as myself."
"How so? Did you, then, run together?"
"Latterly we did. At first we separated, and I knew not what had becomeeither of him or you. The fact is, I had enough to do to look out formyself, for a dozen of rascally niggers kept close upon my heels andtried my powers of running somewhat; so I took to the thick wood andmade a detour, to throw them off the scent. All at once I heard asmashing of the bushes right in front of me, and before I knew what Iwas about, Peterkin bounced through the underwood and almost plungedinto my arms. We both gave an involuntary yell of alarm.
"`There's two of 'em right on my heels,' said he in a gasp, as he dashedoff again. `Come along with me, Jack.'
"I followed as fast as I could, and we crossed an open plain together,when I looked over my shoulder, and saw that all the other fellows hadgiven up the chase except the two mentioned by Peterkin. These kept onafter us, and somehow or other we got separated again, just afterre-entering the wood on the other side of the plain. Of course I ranon, expecting to see my companion every minute. Finally I came to therendezvous, and here I found that the savages had given up all hope ofovertaking me, for I could see nothing of them."
"How long ago is that?" I inquired quickly.
"About an hour."
"Then poor Peterkin must have been caught," said I, in a voice ofdespair.
"No, that is not likely," replied Jack; "for I climbed a high tree andsaw the savages recrossing the plain alone. I think it probable he mayhave lost his way, and is afraid to climb trees or to fire off his gunto signal us, for fear of being heard or seen by the niggers. I havesent Mak, who came here soon after I did, to search for him."
"It may be as you say, Jack, but we must go at once to look for him."
"With all my heart, Ralph. I only waited until you had sufficientlyrested."
"The body cannot rest when the mind is ill at ease. Come, let us startat once. I shall tell you of my little adventure as we go along."
We soon reached the edge of the plain where Jack had been separated fromhis companion, and here we proceeded to make a careful search. Beingcertain that the savages were now out of earshot, we began to halloooccasionally as we went along. But monkeys and parrots alone replied tous.
"This is the very spot where I last saw him," said Jack, leading me to apalm-tree which stood a little within the outer verge of the wood; "andhere are his footsteps faintly indicated on the grass."
"Ah! then let us follow these up," said I eagerly.
"We might, if we were North American backwoodsmen or Red Indians; but Ican scarcely follow. Stay, here they enter upon a piece of soft ground,and are more distinct. Now, then, we shall get on."
For nearly quarter of an hour we followed the footprints; then we cameto dry ground again, and lost all traces of them. We wandered aboutperseveringly, nev
ertheless, and were rewarded by again discovering themabout quarter of a mile farther on, leading down to the banks of theriver on another part of which I had had such a narrow escape.
While we were advancing--I in front--I felt the ground beneath mesuddenly begin to give way with a crackling sound. I instinctivelythrew up my arms and sprang back.
"Hollo, Ralph!" cried my companion, seizing me with one hand by thecollar, and hauling, or rather lifting me back, as if I had been apoodle dog. "Why, you were as near as possible into a pitfall."
"Thanks to you, Jack, that I am not actually in," said I, putting mysomewhat twisted costume to rights. "But, I say, does it not strike youthat perhaps Peterkin has fallen into one of these?"
We both started and listened with breathless attention, for at thatmoment we heard a faint groan not far from us. It was repeated almostimmediately, though so faintly that we could scarcely ascertain thedirection whence it came. We advanced cautiously, however, a few paces,and discovered a hole in the ground, from which, at that very moment,the dishevelled head of poor Peterkin appeared, like Jack coming out ofhis box. His sudden appearance and serio-comic expression would havebeen at any other time sufficient to have set us off in fits oflaughter; but joy at finding him, and anxiety lest he should prove to beseriously hurt, restrained us at that time effectually.
"My dear fellow!" cried Jack, hurrying forward.
"Keep back! avaunt ye. Oh dear me, Jack, my poor head!" said Peterkinwith a sigh, pressing his hand to his forehead; "what an intolerablewhack I have got on my miserable caput. There; don't come nearer, elseyou'll break through. Reach me your hand. That's it; thank'ee."
"There you are, all safe, my boy," cried Jack, as he drew Peterkin outof the hole.--"But hollo! I say, Ralph, run down for some water; Ibelieve the poor fellow has fainted."
I sprang down the river-bank, and speedily returned with some water inthe crown of my wide-awake. Peterkin had recovered before I came back,and a long draught quite restored him, so that in a few minutes he wasable to relate how the accident had befallen him.
"You see," said he, in a jocular tone, for it was a most unusuallysevere accident indeed that could drive the fun out of our littlefriend--"you see, after I lost sight of Jack, I took a leaf out of thehare's book, and doubled on my course. This brought me, unhappily, tothe banks of the river, where I came upon one of the pitfalls that aremade by the niggers here to catch wild beasts, and in I went. I kepthold of the surface boughs, however, scrambled out again, and pushed on.But I had not gone ten yards when the ground began to crackle and sink.I made a desperate bound to clear it, but my foot caught in a branch,and down I went head foremost into the pit. And that's the whole of mystory. How long I remained there I know not. If I had known what timeit was when I dived in, and you were to tell me what o'clock it is now,we might arrive at a knowledge of the time I have spent at the bottom ofthat hole. All that I can positively affirm is, that I went in, andwithin in the last ten minutes I came out!"
We laughed at this free-and-easy manner of narrating the incident, andthen prepared to return to our rendezvous; but on attempting to walk,Peterkin found that he had received a greater shake than at first he hadimagined. Several times during our march he became giddy, and had to besupported; and after reaching our encampment, where we found Makarooroowaiting for us, he fainted. We were therefore obliged to make up ourminds to encamp where we were for a few days.