CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
STRANGE AND TERRIBLE DISCOVERIES--JACK IS MADE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF ANARMY.
When my consciousness returned, I found myself lying on my back besideour camp-fire, with my head resting on Peterkin's knee; and the firstsound I heard was his pleasant voice, as he said--
"All right, Jack; he's coming round. I'm quite certain that no seriousdamage is done. I know well what sort o' rap he must have got. It'llbother him a little at first, but it won't last long."
Comforted not a little by this assurance, I opened my eyes and lookedup.
"What has happened?" I inquired faintly.
"Ah! that's right, Ralph. I'm glad to hear your voice again. D'youknow, I thought at first it was all over with you?"
"Over with him!" echoed Peterkin; "it's only begun with him. Ralph'sdays of valorous deeds are but commencing.--Here, my boy; put this flaskto your mouth. It's lucky I fetched it with us. Here, drink."
"No, not until you tell me what has occurred," said I, for I still feltconfused in my brain.
"Then I _won't_ tell you a word until you drink," repeated my friend, ashe looked anxiously in my face and held the flask to my lips.
I sipped a mouthful, and felt much revived.
"Now," continued Peterkin, "I'll tell you what has happened. We'vefloored a rhinoceros and a giraffe and a lion, which, to my thinking, isa pretty fair bag to make after dusk of a Saturday night! And my bigrifle has floored _you_, which is the least satisfactory part of thenight's entertainment, but which wouldn't have occurred had youremembered my instructions, which you never do."
"Oh, I recollect now," said I, as the spirits revived me. "I'm allright.--But, Jack, I trust that you have not received damage?"
"Not a scratch, I'm thankful to say; though I must confess I was nearcatching an ugly wound."
"How so?" I inquired quickly, observing a peculiar smile on Jack's faceas he spoke.
"Oh, make your mind easy," put in Peterkin; "it was just a small bit ofan escape he made. When you let drive at the lion so effectively, oneof the balls went in at his mouth and smashed its way out at the back ofhis skull. The other ball shaved his cheek, and lodged in a tree nottwo inches from Jack's nose."
"You don't mean it!" cried I, starting up, regardless of the painoccasioned to my injured shoulder by the movement, and gazing intentlyin Jack's face.
"Come, come," said he, smiling; "you must not be so reckless, Ralph.Lie down again, sir."
"Peterkin, you should not talk lightly of so narrow an escape," said Ireproachfully. "The fact that such a terrible catastrophe has nearlyoccurred ought to solemnise one."
"Granted, my dear boy; but the fact that such a catastrophe did _not_occur, ought, I hold, to make us jolly. There's no managing a fellowlike you, Ralph. I knew that if I told you of this gravely, you wouldget into such a state of consternational self-reproachativeness, so tospeak, that you would infallibly make yourself worse. And now that Itell it to you `lightly,' as you call it, you take to blowing me up."
I smiled as my friend said this, and held out my hand, which he graspedand squeezed. Feeling at the moment overcome with drowsiness, Iunconsciously retained it in my grasp, and thus fell sound asleep.
Three days after this misadventure I was nearly as well as ever, and wewere once more journeying by forced marches towards the south. Two daysmore, we calculated, would bring us to Mbango's village. As the end ofour journey approached, we grew more desperately anxious to pushforward, lest we should be too late to give them timely warning of theslave-dealer's approach. We also became more taciturn, and I could seeplainly that the irrepressible forebodings that filled my own heart,were shared by my companions. Poor Makarooroo never spoke, save inreply to questions addressed pointedly to himself; and seeing the stateof his mind, we forbore to trouble him with conversation.
Yet, even while in this anxious state, I could not avoid noticing thesingular variety and beauty of both the animal and the vegetable kingdomin the regions through which we passed.
In one part of our journey we had to cross a portion of what is calleddesert country, but which, notwithstanding its name, was covered withgrass, and in many places with bushes, and even trees. Its vegetation,however, as compared with other parts of the country, was light; and itwas almost entirely destitute of water, there being no rivers orsprings; only a few pools of rain-water were to be found in the hardbeds of ancient river-courses. This desert land was inhabited bynumbers of bushmen and other natives, as well as by large quantities ofgame of various kinds. But what struck me as being most singular wasthe great variety of tuberous roots with which the region was supplied,and which were evidently designed by our beneficent Creator to make upto the inhabitants in a great degree for the want of a full supply ofwater.
I also observed, with much interest, a species of plant which, like man,is capable of being, as it were, acclimatised. It is not by nature atuber-bearing plant; yet here it had become so, in order to be able toretain a sufficiency of moisture during the dry season. Makarooroo alsodug up for us several tuber-roots, which were the size of a largeturnip, and filled with a most delicious juice, which, as we were muchoppressed with thirst at the time, appeared to us like nectar. Besidesthese, we also procured water-melons in abundance at certain spots,which were a great treat, not only to us, but also to elephants,rhinoceroses, antelopes, and many other animals, whose footprints wefound in great numbers, and whose depredations among the water-melonswere very evident.
During the whole of this journey we made a point, as I have alreadyremarked, of avoiding man; not that we were indifferent to him, butanxious not to be detained at that particular time. We were veryfortunate in this matter, for we succeeded in eluding the observation ofthe natives of many villages that we passed, in escaping others byflight, and in conciliating those who caught us by making them liberalgifts of beads.
One day we came to a halt under the most magnificent tree I ever saw.It was a mowano tree, whose trunk consisted of six stems united in one.The circumference a yard or so from the ground was eighty-four feet--upwards of nine yards in diameter.
"What a tree for a nobleman's park!" said Jack, as we gazed at it, lostin admiration.
"Ay; and behold a gentleman worthy to take up his residence under it,"said Peterkin, pointing as he spoke to a living creature that sat amongthe grass near its roots.
"What can it be?" I exclaimed.
"The original father of all frogs!" replied Peterkin, as he dartedforward and killed the thing with a stick.
"I believe it _is_ a frog," said Jack.
We all burst into a fit of laughter, for undoubtedly it _was_ a frog,but certainly the largest by far that any of us had ever seen. It wasquite as large as a chicken!
"What a shame to have killed it!" said I. "Why did you do it?"
"Shame! It was no shame. In the first place, I killed it because Iwish you to make scientific inspection of it; and in the second place, Iwanted to eat it. Why should not we as well as Frenchmen eat frogs? Bythe way, that reminds me that we might introduce this giant species intoFrance, and thereby make our fortunes."
"You greedy fellow," cried Jack, who was busying himself in lighting thefire, "your fortune is made already. How many would you have?"
"D'ye know, Jack, I have been in possession of my fortune, as you callit, so short a time that I cannot realise the fact that I have it.--Hollo! Mak, what's wrong with you?"
Peterkin thus addressed our guide because he came into the camp at thatmoment with a very anxious expression of countenance.
"Dere hab bin fight go on here," said he, showing several broken arrows,stained with blood, which he had picked up near our encampment.
"Ha! so there has, unless these have been shot at wild beasts," saidJack, examining the weapons carefully.
"No, massa; no shot at wild beast. De wild beast hab bin here too, butdey come for to eat mans after he dead."
"Come, let us see the spot," said Jack.
Makarooroo at once led the way, and we all followed him to a place not ahundred yards distant, where there were evident traces of a fight havingtaken place. Jack seemed to be much distressed at the sight.
"There can be no question as to the fact," he remarked as we returned toour fire; "and at any other time or in any other place I would havethought nothing of it, for we know well enough that the natives hereoften go to war with each other; but just at _this_ time, and so near toour friend Mbango--I fear, I fear much that that villain has been beforeus."
"No been long, massa," said Makarooroo earnestly. "If we go quick weketch 'im."
"We _shall_ go quick, Mak. But in order to do that, we must eat well,and sleep at least an hour or so. If we push on just now, after a hardday's journey, without food or rest, we shall make but slow progress;and even if we did come up with the slave-dealer, we should not be in avery fit state for a battle."
This was so obvious that we all felt the wisdom of Jack's remarks; so weate a hearty supper, and then lay down to rest. Peterkin declared thefrog to be excellent, but I could not at that time make up my mind totry it.
An hour and a half after lying down, our guide awakened us, and we setforth again with recruited energies.
That night the lions and hyenas roared around us more than was theirwont, as if they were aware of our anxious condition, and were desirousof increasing our discomforts. We had to keep a sharp lookout, and onceor twice discharged our rifles in the direction of the nearest sounds,not in the expectation of hitting any of the animals, but for thepurpose of scaring them away.
Towards morning we came out upon an open plain, and left these evilprowlers of the night behind us.
About daybreak we came within sight of Mbango's village, but the lightwas not sufficient to enable us to distinguish any object clearly. Hereagain we came upon traces of war, in the shape of broken arrows anddaggers, and human bones; for the poor wretches who had been slain hadbeen at once devoured by wild beasts.
Hurrying forward with intense anxiety, we reached the outskirts of thevillage; and here a scene presented itself that was well calculated tofill our breasts with horror and with the deepest anxiety. Many of thehouses had been set on fire, and were reduced to ashes. The mangledcorpses of human beings were seen lying here and there amongst theembers--some partially devoured by wild beasts, others reduced to simpleskeletons, and their bones left to whiten on the ruins of their oldhomes. In one place the form of a woman tied to a tree, and dreadfullymangled, showed that torture had been added to the other horrors of theattack.
With feelings of mingled rage, pity, and anxiety, we hastened towardsthe hut that had been the residence of Mbango, the chief. We found it,like the rest, in ruins, and among them discovered the remains of achild. Recollecting the little son of our friend Njamie, Okandaga'sguardian, I turned the body over in some anxiety; but the features weretoo much mutilated to be recognisable.
"Alas! alas!" I exclaimed, as we collected in a group round thisremnant of a little child, "what a dreadful sight! What an unhappy raceof beings! Without doubt our friends have been slain, or carried intocaptivity."
Poor Makarooroo, who had been from the first going about among the ruinslike a maniac, with a bewildered air of utter despair on his sablecountenance, looked at me as if he hoped for a slight word that mightreanimate hope in his bosom. But I could give him none, for I myselffelt hopeless.
Not so, Jack. With that buoyancy of spirit that was peculiar to him, hesuggested many ideas that consoled our guide not a little.
"You see," said he, "the rascally Portuguese trafficker in human fleshwould naturally try to effect his object with as little bloodshed aspossible. He would just fight until he had conquered, not longer; andthen he would try to take as many prisoners as he could, in order tocarry them away into slavery. Now, I cannot conceive it possible thathe could catch the whole tribe."
"Of course not," interrupted Peterkin; "he had a comparatively smallparty. To take a whole tribe prisoners with such a band wereimpossible."
"Ay, but you forget," said I, "that he might easily prevail on someother tribe to go to war along with him, and thus capture nearly thewhole. Yet some must have escaped into the woods, and it is probablethat among these may have been the chief and his household. Okandagamay be safe, and not far off, for all we know."
The guide shook his head.
"At any rate," observed Jack, "if caught they would certainly be guardedwith care from injury; so that if we could only find out which way theyhave gone, we might pursue and attack them."
"Four men attack forty or fifty!" said I despondingly.
"Ay, Ralph. Why not?" asked Peterkin.
"Oh, I doubt not our pluck to do it," I replied; "but I doubt very muchour chances of success."
While we were yet speaking our attention was attracted by a low wail,and the appearance of some living object creeping amongst the ruins notfar from us. At first we thought it must be a beast of prey lurking inthe neighbourhood of the dead, and impatient at our having interruptedits hideous banquet; but presently the object sat up and proved to be awoman. Yet she was so covered with blood and dust, and so awfullyhaggard in appearance, that we could with difficulty believe her to be ahuman being.
At first she appeared to be in ignorance of our presence. And indeed soshe actually was; for her whole soul was absorbed in the contemplationof the dead and mangled body of an infant which lay in her arms, andwhich she pressed ever and anon with frantic energy to her breast,uttering occasionally a wail of such heart-broken sadness that the tearssprang irresistibly into my eyes while I gazed upon her. There neededno explanation of her tale of woe. The poor mother had crept back toher hut after the fierce din of battle was over to search for her child,and she had found it; but ah, who can conceive the unutterable anguishof heart that its finding had occasioned!
"Speak to her, Mak," said Peterkin, in a husky voice; "she will be lessafraid of you, no doubt, than of us."
Our guide advanced. The slight noise he made in doing so attracted thepoor woman's attention, and caused her to look up with a wild, quickglance. The instant she saw us she leaped up with the agility of aleopard, clasped her dead child tightly to her breast, and utteringshriek upon shriek, rushed headlong into the jungle.
"After her!" cried Jack, bounding forward in pursuit. "She's our onlychance of gaining information."
We all felt the truth of this, and joined in the chase at top speed.But although we ran fast and well, the affrighted creature at firstoutstripped us. Then, as we tired her out and drew near, she doubled onher track, and dived hither and thither among the thick underwood in away that rendered it exceedingly difficult to catch her.
Peterkin was the first to come up with her. He gradually butperseveringly ran her down. When he came within a few yards of her, thepoor creature sank with a low wail to the ground, and turning halfround, glanced at her pursuer with a timid, imploring, yet despairingexpression. Alas! despair mingled with it, because she knew too wellthe terrible cruelty of savage men when their blood is up, and she knewnothing yet of the hearts of Christians.
Peterkin, whose susceptible nature was ever easily touched, felt athrill of self-reproach as the thought suddenly occurred that, howevergood his intentions might be, he was in reality running a helpless womandown like a bloodhound. He stopped short instantly, and acting, as onmost occasions he did, impulsively, he threw his rifle away from him,unclasped his belt, and throwing it, with his hunting-knife, also away,sat down on the ground and held out both his hands.
There was something almost ludicrous in the act, but it had the effectof, to some extent, relieving the poor woman's fears. Seeing this, aswe successively came up we all laid down our rifles, and stood beforethe crouching creature with our empty hands extended towards her, toshow that we meant her no harm. Still, although she seemed lessterrified, she trembled violently, and panted from her recent exertion,but never for a moment relaxed her hold of the dead child.
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"Speak to her, Mak," said Jack, as the guide came up. "Tell her who andwhat we are at once, to relieve her feelings; and let her knowespecially that we are the bitter enemies of the villain who has donethis deed."
While Makarooroo explained, the woman's countenance seemed to brightenup, and in a few minutes she began to tell with great volubility theevents of the attack. The trader, she said, had come suddenly on themin the dead of night with a large band, and had at once routed thewarriors of the village, who were completely taken by surprise. A fewhad escaped; but Mbango, with Okandaga and his household, had been takenprisoners, and carried away with many others.
"How long is it since this happened?" inquired Jack.
"She say two days, massa. Den dey go off to 'tack King Jambai."
"Ah! then it is too late to save him," returned Jack, in a tone ofsadness.
Our hearts sank on learning this; but on questioning the woman further,we found that the marauding party, deeming themselves too weak to attackso large a village as that of King Jambai, had talked of turning asideto secure the assistance of another tribe not far distant, who, theyknew, would be too glad to pick a quarrel with that chief.
"Then we shall do it yet!" cried Jack, springing up energetically. "Weshall be in time to warn Jambai and to save Okandaga and her friends.Come, Mak, cheer up; things begin to look better."
The cheerful, confident voice in which our friend said this raised myhopes wonderfully, even although, on consideration, I could not see thatour chances of success were very great. Our guide was visiblycomforted, and we stepped aside to pick up our rifles with considerablealacrity.
During the brief period in which we were thus employed, the poor womanmanaged to creep away, and when we again looked round she was gone. Ourfirst impulse was to give chase again, but the thought of the needlessterror which that would occasion her deterred us, and before we couldmake up our minds what to do she was almost beyond our reach, and wouldcertainly have cost us an hour of search, if not longer, to find her.Time pressed. To reach the village of King Jambai with the utmostpossible speed was essential to the safety of the tribe, so we resolvedto leave her, feeling as we did so that the poor creature could sustainherself on roots and berries without much difficulty or suffering untilshe reached the village of some neighbouring tribe.
We now pushed on again by forced marches, travelling by night and byday, shooting just enough game as we required for food, and taking nomore rest than was absolutely necessary to enable us to hold on our way.In a short time we reached the village, which, to our great joy, wefound in much the same state as it was when we left it.
King Jambai received us with great delight, and his people went into astate of immense rejoicing--firing guns, and shouting, and beatingkettles and drums, in honour of the arrival of the "white faces;" whichname was certainly a misnomer, seeing that our faces had by that timebecome the very reverse of white--indeed they were little lighter thanthe countenances of the good people by whom we were surrounded.
But the king's consternation was very great when we told him the reasonof our unexpected visit, and related to him the details of the terriblecalamity that had befallen poor Mbango and his people. He appearedsincerely grateful for the effort we had made to warn him of theimpending attack, and seemed unable to express his thanks when weoffered to aid him in the defence of his village.
We now deemed this a fitting moment to tell the king boldly of ourhaving assisted in the escape of Okandaga from his village, and beg hisforgiveness. He granted this at once, but strongly advised us to keepour secret quiet, and leave it to him to account to his warriors for thereappearance of the runaway maiden when retaken. Of course we couldmake no objection to this, so after thanking him we entered upon adiscussion of the best method of frustrating the slave-dealer's designs.
"Tell the king," said Jack, addressing himself to our guide, "that if hewill make me commander-in-chief of his forces, I will show him how whitewarriors manage to circumvent their enemies."
"I would like much," said Peterkin, laughing, "to know how Mak willtranslate the word `circumvent.' Your style is rather flowery, Jack,for such an interpreter; and upon my word, now I think of it, yourpresumption is considerable. How do you know that _I_ do not wish to becommander-in-chief myself?"
"I shall make over the command to you with all my heart, if you wishit," said Jack, smiling blandly.
"Nay, I'll none of it. However suited I may be to the work, the work isnot suited to me, so I resign in your favour."
"Well, then," said Jack, "since you decline to accept the chief command,I'll make you my second. Mak shall be my _aide-de-camp_; you and Ralphshall be generals of divisions."
"I thank you much, my honoured and honourable generalissimo; but perhapsbefore being thus liberal of your favours, it were well to ascertainthat your own services are accepted."
"That is soon done.--What says the king, Mak?"
"Hims say that him's delighted to git you, an' you may doos how youlike."
"That's plain and explicit. You see, Peterkin, that I'm fairlyinstalled; so you and I will take a short walk together, and hold aconsultation as to our plans in the approaching campaign, while Ralpharranges our hut and makes things comfortable."
"A glorious campaign, truly, to serve in an army of baboons, led by awhite gorilla! I would deem it almost comical, did I not see too sure aprobability of bloodshed before its conclusion," remarked Peterkin.
"That you shall not see, if I can prevent it; and it is for the purposeof consulting you on that point, and claiming your services in an oldand appropriate character, that I drag you along with me now," saidJack, as he rose, and, making a bow to the king, left the hut.