CHAPTER SEVEN.
WE CIRCUMVENT THE NATIVES.
We arose on the following morning with the dawn of day, and began tomake preparation for our departure.
To our satisfaction we found the king quite willing that we should go;so embarking our goods in one of the native canoes, we ordered ournegroes to embark, and commenced our journey amid the firing of guns andthe good wishes of the natives. I must confess that I felt someprobings of conscience at the thought of the double part we werecompelled to play; but the recollection of the horrid fate that awaitedthe poor negro girl put to flight such feelings, and induced a longingfor the time of action to arrive.
I have more than once referred to our goods. Perhaps it may be as wellto explain that, when we first landed on the African coast, we madeinquiries of those who were best acquainted with the nature andrequirements of the country we were about to explore, as to what goodswe ought to purchase of the traders, in order to be in a position to payour way as we went along; for we could not, of course, expect thesavages to feed us and lodge us and help us on our way for nothing.After mature consideration, we provided ourselves with a supply of suchthings as were most necessary and suitable--such as tobacco, powder, andshot, and ball, a few trade-guns, several pieces of brightly-colouredcloth, packages of beads (some white enamelled, others of colouredglass), coffee and tea, knives, scissors, rings, and a variety of otherknick-knacks. These, with a little brandy to be used medicinally, ourblankets and camp cooking utensils, formed a heavy load for ten men;but, of course, as we advanced, the load was lightened by theconsumption of our provisions and the giving away of goods. Theadditions which I made, however, in the shape of stuffed specimens,began in the course of time to more than counterbalance this advantage.
Being resolved to impress the natives with a respect for our physicalpowers, we made a point of each carrying a pretty heavy load on ourjourneys--excepting, of course, when we went out a-hunting. But toreturn.
Our crew worked willingly and well, so that ere night closed in upon uswe were a considerable distance away from the village. As the sun setwe landed, and ordering our men to advance in the canoe to a certainbend in the river, and there encamp and await our return, we landed andwent off into the woods as if to search for game.
"Now, Makarooroo, quick march, and don't draw rein till we reach thecave," said Jack when we were out of sight of the canoe.
Our guide obeyed in silence, and for the next two hours we travelledthrough the woods at a sort of half trot that must have carried us overthe ground at the rate of five miles in hour. The pace was indeedtremendous, and I now reaped the benefit of those long pedestrianexcursions which for years past I had been taking, with scientific endsin view, over the fields and hills of my native land. Jack and Peterkinseemed both to be made of iron, and incapable of suffering from fatigue.But I have no doubt that the exciting and hazardous nature of theexpedition on which we had embarked had much to do with our powers ofendurance.
After running and doubling, gliding and leaping through the dense woods,as I have said, for two hours, we arrived at a broken, rocky piece ofground, over which we passed, and eventually came upon a thick junglethat concealed a vast cliff almost entirely from view. The cracking ofthe bushes as we approached showed that we had disturbed the slumbers ofmore than one of the wild beasts that inhabited the spot. HereMakarooroo paused, and although it was intensely dark I could observethat he was trembling violently.
"Come, Mak," said I in a whisper, "surely you, who have received aChristian education, do not really believe that devils inhabit thisspot?"
"Me don know, massa. Eber since me was be a pikaniny me 'fraid--horrobably 'fraid ob dat cave."
"Come, come," said Jack impatiently; "we have no time for fears of anykind this night. Think of Okandaga, Mak, and be a man."
This was sufficient. The guide pushed boldly forward, and led us to themouth of a large cavern, at which he halted and pointed to the gloomyinterior.
"You have the matches, Peterkin; quick, strike a light. It is gettinglate," said Jack.
In another moment a light was struck, and with it we kindled threegoodly-sized torches with which we had provided ourselves. Holdingthese high over our heads, we entered the cavern--Jack first, Peterkinsecond, I next, and the terrified negro in rear.
We had scarcely entered, and were peering upwards at the black vaultoverhead, when an indescribable rushing sound filled the air of thecavern, and caused the flame of our torches to flicker with suchviolence that we could not see any object distinctly. We all came to asudden pause, and I confess that at that moment a feeling ofsuperstitious dread chilled the blood in my veins. Before we coulddiscover the cause of this strange effect, several large black objectspassed through the air near our heads with a peculiar muffled noise.Next instant the three torches were extinguished.
Unable to command himself any longer, the negro uttered a cry of terrorand turned to fly; but Jack, whose wits seemed always prepared for anyemergency, had foreseen the probability of this, and springing quicklyafter him, threw his arms round his neck and effectually prevented hisrunning away.
The noise caused by the scuffle seemed to arouse the fury of all theevil spirits of the place, for a perfect hurricane of whirring soundsraged around us for a few seconds.
"It's only bats," cried Jack.--"Look alive, Peterkin; another light."
In a few seconds the torches were rekindled, and we advanced into thecavern; and Mak, after recovering from his fright and learning the causethereof, became much bolder. The cave was about a hundred yards deep byabout fifty wide; but we could not ascertain its height, for the lightof our torches failed to penetrate the deep gloom overhead. It wasdivided into two natural chambers, the outer being large, the innersmall--a mere recess, in fact. In this latter we planted our torches,and proceeded with our hasty preparations. Peterkin was ready first.We endeavoured to make ourselves as like to the natives in all respectsas possible; and when I looked at my companions, I was obliged toconfess that, except in the full blaze of the torch-light, I could notdiscern any point of difference between them and our guide.
"Now then, Jack," said Peterkin, "as you're not quite ready and I am, Ishall employ myself in preparing a little plan of my own which I intendto put in force if the savages dare to venture into the cavern afterus."
"Very good; but see that you finish it in less than five minutes, forI'll be ready in that time."
Peterkin immediately poured out a large quantity of powder on a flatrock, and mingling with it a little water from a pool near by, convertedit into a semi-moist ball. This he divided into three parts, andforming each part into the shape of a tall cone, laid the wholecarefully aside.
"There!" said he, "lie you there until you are wanted."
At this moment, while Jack and I were bending down fastening the latchetof our shoes, our ears were saluted with one of the most appalling yellsI ever listened to. Makarooroo fell flat to the earth in his fright,and my own heart chilled with horror, while Jack sprang up andinstinctively grasped the handle of his hunting-knife.
"Very good," said Peterkin, as he stood laughing at us quietly, and weimmediately perceived that it was he who uttered the cry.
"Why, what mean you?" said Jack, almost angrily. "Surely this is notime for foolish jesting."
"I am anything but jesting, Jack. I'm only rehearsing another part ofmy plan."
"But you ought to give us warning when you are about to do suchstartling things," said I remonstratively.
"Nay, that would not have done at all, because then I should not haveknown what effect my cry is likely to produce on unexpectant ears."
"Well, now, are you all ready?" inquired Jack. "Then let us go."
Issuing forth armed only with our double-barrelled guns and heavyhunting-knives, we hastened towards the native village. When within ahundred yards of the edge of the wood that skirted it we stopped to pulloff our shoes, for it was necessary that we should have nothing aboutour
persons to tell who we were should any one chance to see us as weran. We also left our rifles beside the shoes at a spot where we couldfind them in an instant in passing, and then slowly approached theoutskirts of the village.
Presently we heard the hum of distant voices shouting, and the fear thatthe scene of bloodshed had already begun induced us to quicken our paceto a smart run. I never saw a man so deeply affected as was our poorguide, and when I looked at him I felt extremely anxious lest his stateof mind should unfit him for acting with needful caution.
We gained the first cottages--they were empty. The village having beenrecently built, no stockade had yet been thrown round it, so ourprogress was unimpeded.
"We must be very cautious now," observed Jack in a whisper.--"Restrainyourself, Makarooroo; Okandaga's life depends on our coolness."
On reaching the back of the next hut, which was also empty. Jackmotioned to us to halt, and coming close to us looked earnestly in eachof our faces without saying a word. I supposed that, like a wisegeneral, he was reviewing his troops--seeing whether the men he wasabout to lead into battle were fit for their work.
"Now," said he rapidly, "it's evident from the shouting that's going onthat they won't waste much time with their palaver. The hut in whichshe is confined is not fifty yards off; I took care to ascertain itsposition before leaving this morning. What we have to do is simple.Spring on the guards and knock them down with our fists or the hilts ofour hunting-knives, or with bits of stick, as suits us best. But_mind_"--here he looked pointedly at our guide--"no shedding of blood ifit can be avoided. These men are not our enemies. Follow me in singlefile; when I halt, come up into line; let each single out the mannearest to him, and when I hold up my hand spring like wild-cats. Ifthere happen to be five or six guards instead of four, leave theadditional ones to me." We merely nodded assent, and in another minutewere close upon the prison. Peterkin, Mak, and I had provided us withshort heavy bludgeons on our way. These we held in our right hands; ourleft hands we kept free either to grasp our opponents with, or to drawour knives if necessary. Jack carried his long knife--it might almosthave been termed a short sword--in his left hand, and from the manner inwhich he clinched his right I saw that he meant to make use of it as hisprincipal weapon.
On gaining the back of the house we heard voices within, but could seenothing, so we moved softly round to the front, keeping, however, wellbehind the screen of bushes. Here Jack halted, and we ranged upalongside of him and peeped through the bushes. The hut was quite openin front and the interior was brightly lighted by a strong fire, roundwhich the four guards--stout fellows all of them--were seated with theirspears beside them on the ground. They were conversing in an excitedtone, and taking no notice of Okandaga, who sat behind them, partiallyin the shade, with her face buried in her hands. She was not tied inany way, as the guards knew well enough that she could not hope toescape them by mere running way.
One rapid glance showed us all this, and enabled us to select our men.Then Jack gave the signal, and without an instant's hesitation we dartedupon them. I know not in what manner my comrades acted their part.From the moment I set eyes on the negro nearest to me, my blood began toboil. Somehow or other I saw Jack give the signal without taking myeyes off my intended victim, then I sprang forward, and he had barelytime to look up in alarm when I struck him with all my force on theright temple. He fell without a groan. I looked round instantly, andthere lay the other three, with my companions standing over them. Ourplan had been so well concerted and so promptly executed that the fourmen fell almost at the same instant, and without a cry.
Poor Okandaga leaped up and uttered a faint scream of alarm, butMakarooroo's voice instantly reassured her, and with an exclamation ofjoy she sprang into his arms. There was no time for delay. While thescene I have described was being enacted the shouts in the centre of thevillage had been increasing, and we guessed that in a few minutes morethe bloodthirsty executioners would come for their helpless victim. Wetherefore left the hut at once, and ran as fast as we could towards theplace where our guns and shoes had been left. Our guide seized Okandagaby the wrist and dragged her along; but indeed she was so nimble that atfirst she required no assistance. In a short time, however, we wereobliged to slacken our pace in order to enable her to keep up. Wereached the guns in safety; but while we were in the act of lifting thema burst of wild cries, that grew louder and fiercer as they approached,told that the natives were rushing tumultuously towards the prison.
"Now, lads," said Jack, "we must put on full speed.--Mak, take her righthand.--Here, Okandaga, your left."
At that instant there was a shout in the village, so loud that we knewthe escape was discovered. An indescribable hubbub ensued, but we soonlost it in the crackling of the underwood as we burst through it in ourheadlong flight towards the cave. The poor girl, feeling that her lifedepended on it, exerted herself to the utmost, and with the aid of Jackand her lover kept well up.
"She'll never hold out to the end," said Peterkin, glancing over hisshoulder as he ran.
The cries of the savages filled the woods in all directions, showingthat they had instantly scattered themselves in the pursuit, in order toincrease their chances of intercepting us. We had already traversed thegreater part of the wood that lay between the village and the hauntedcavern, when two negroes, who must have taken a shorter route, descriedus. They instantly uttered a yell of triumph and followed us at fullspeed, while from the cries closing in upon us we could tell that theothers had heard and understood the shout. Just then Okandaga'sstrength began to fail, and her extreme terror, as the pursuers gainedon us, tended still further to increase her weakness. This was all themore unfortunate that we were now almost within a couple of hundredyards of the mouth of the cave.
Makarooroo spoke encouragingly to her, but she was unable to reply, andit became evident that she was about to sink down altogether. Jackglanced over his shoulder. The two negroes were within fifty yards ofus, but no others were in sight.
"Hold my gun," said Jack to me sharply.
I seized it. He instantly stooped down, grasped Okandaga round thewaist, and without stopping, swung her, with an exertion of strengththat seemed to me incredible, into his arms. We gained the mouth of thecavern; Jack dropped Okandaga, who immediately ran in, while the rest ofus stopped abruptly and faced about.
"Back, all of you," cried Jack, "else they will be afraid to come on."
The words had scarcely passed his lips when the two negroes came up, buthalted a few yards from the mouth of the cave on seeing such a giantform guarding the entrance.
To let those men escape and reveal the place of our concealment was notto be thought of. Jack darted out upon them. They separated from eachother as they turned to fly. I was peeping out of the cave, and sawthat Jack could not secure them both; I therefore darted out, andquickly overtaking one, seized him by the hair of the head and draggedhim into the cave with the aid of Peterkin. Jack lifted the othersavage completely from the ground, and carried him in struggling in hisgripe like a child in its nurse's arms.
This last episode was enacted so quickly that the two negroes werecarried into the cavern and gagged before the other pursuers came up.At the cave's mouth the whole of the men of the village shortlyassembled with the king at their head. Thus far the excitement of thechase had led them; but now that the first burst of their rage was over,and they found themselves on the threshold of that haunted cavern, thefear of which had been an element in their training from infancy, theyfelt, no doubt, overawed by superstitious dread, and hesitated to enter,although most of them must have been convinced that the fugitives werethere. Their fears increased as their anger abated, and they crowdedround King Jambai, who seemed loath to take upon himself the honour ofleader.
"They must have sought shelter here," said the king, pointing to thecavern and looking round with an assumption of boldness which he wasevidently far from feeling. "Who among my warriors will follow me?"
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p; "Perhaps the evil spirits have carried them away," suggested one of thesable crew.
"That is the word of a coward," cried the king, who, although somewhattimorous about spirits, was in reality a bold, brave man, and feltnettled that any of his warriors should show the white feather. "Ifevil spirits are there, our fetishman will drive them away. Let thedoctor stand forth."
At that moment the doctor, worthy knave, must have wished in his inmostsoul that he had remained quietly at home and left to warriors the taskof capturing the fugitives, but there was no resisting the mandate ofthe king; besides, his honour and credit as a fetishman was at stake;moreover, no doubt he felt somewhat emboldened by the presence of such alarge number of men--there were certainly several hundreds on theground--so, all things considered, he thought it best to accept the postof leader with a good grace. Stepping quickly forward, he cried, "Lettorches be brought, and I will lead the way."
A murmur of approbation ran through the crowd of blacks, who, like aflock of sheep, felt bold enough to follow a leader blindly.
While the consultation was going on outside, we were making hastypreparation for defending ourselves to the last extremity. Peterkin, inparticular, was extremely active, and, to say truth, his actionssurprised us not a little. I once or twice fancied that excitement hadturned his brain. He first dressed up his head in a species of wildturban made of dried grass and tall sedgy leaves; then he put severalpatches of red and white earth on his black face, as well as on his bodyin various places, and fastened a number of loose pieces of rag, tornfrom a handkerchief, and bits of tattered leaves to his arms and legs insuch a manner as to give him an extremely wild and dishevelledappearance. I must say that when his hasty toilet was completed heseemed to me the most horrible-looking demon I had ever conceived of.He next poured out nearly a whole flask of gunpowder on a ledge of rock,the edge of which was visible from the entrance to the cave, while therock itself concealed him from view. Last of all, he took up the threecones of moistened gunpowder which the reader will remember he had madebefore we left the cave to attack the village. One of these he placedamong the grass and branches on his head, the other two he held in hishands.
"Now, boys," he said, when all was ready, "all I have to ask of you isthat you will stand by with matches, and when I give the word light thepoints of those three cones of gunpowder simultaneously and instantly,and leave me to finish the remainder of my part. Of course you will beprepared to back me up with your rifles if need be, but keep well out ofsight at first."
We now saw the drift of our eccentric friend's intention, but for mypart I felt little confidence in his success. The plan seemedaltogether too wild and absurd. But our danger was imminent. No way ofescape seemed possible, and it is wonderful how readily men will graspat anything in the shape of a ruse or stratagem, no matter how silly orwild, that affords the most distant chance of escape from danger. Jack,too, I could see from the look of his face, put little faith in theplan; and I observed an expression on the countenance of our negro guidewhich seemed to indicate that his respect for Peterkin's wisdom was onthe wane.
We had not to wait long. The doctor, with several torch-bearers,suddenly darted in with a shout, followed closely by the warriors, whoyelled furiously, in order, no doubt, to keep up their courage.
Alarmed by such an unusual hubbub in their usually quiet domain, thebats came swooping from their holes in the walls by hundreds, and thetorches were extinguished almost instantly. The savages who were nearthe entrance drew back in haste; those who had entered stood rooted tothe spot in terror.
"Now!" whispered Peterkin eagerly.
We struck our lights at once and applied them to the points of thegunpowder cones, which instantly began to spout forth a shower of sparkswith great violence. Peterkin darted out from behind the rock with ayell so appalling that we ourselves were startled by it, havingforgotten that it formed an element in his plan. In passing he alloweda few sparks to fall on the heap of powder, which exploded with sobright a flame that the whole cavern was illuminated for an instant. Italso set fire to the ragged scraps with which Peterkin had deckedhimself out--a result which had neither been intended nor anticipated--so that he rushed towards the mouth of the cave howling with pain aswell as with a desire to scare the savages.
The effect of this apparition was tremendous. The negroes turned andcrushed through the narrow entrance screaming and shrieking with terror.The bats, no less alarmed than the men, and half suffocated with smoke,fled out of the cave like a whirlwind, flapping their wings on the headsof the negroes in their flight, and adding, if that were possible, totheir consternation. The negroes ran as never men ran before, tumblingover each other in their mad haste, dashing against trees and crashingthrough bushes in their terror, while Peterkin stood leaping in thecave's mouth, smoking and blazing and spurting, and unable to containhimself, giving vent to prolonged peals of demoniacal laughter. Had thelaugh been that of negroes it might have been recognised; but Peterkin'swas the loud, violent, British guffaw, which, I make no doubt, wasdeemed by them worthy of the fiends of the haunted cave, and served tospur them on to still greater rapidity in their wild career.
Returning into the cave's innermost recess, we lighted one of thetorches dropped by the savages, and placing it in a sort of naturalniche, seated ourselves on several pieces of rock to rest.
Our first act was to look earnestly in each other's faces; our next toburst into peals of laughter.
"I say, comrades," I exclaimed, checking myself, "don't we run some riskin giving vent to our feelings so freely?"
"No fear," cried Peterkin, who was still smoking a little fromunextinguished sparks. "There is not a man in the whole crew who willdraw rein till he is sitting, with the teeth still chattering in hishead, at his own fireside. I never saw men in such a fright since I wasborn. Depend upon it, we are safe enough here from this day forth.--Don't you think so, Mak?"
Our guide, who was now trying to reassure his trembling bride, turned,with a broad grin on his sable countenance, and said--
"Safe? ho! yis, massa. Dere not be a man as'll come to dis yere cuvernfor de nix tree hun'r year or more. Massa Peterkin be de mosthorriboble ghost dey ever did saw, an' no mistake. But, massas, we mus'go 'way quick an' git to our camp, for de king sure to go dere an' seeif you no hab someting to do wid it all. Him's a bery clebber king, amJambai--bery clebber; him's no be bughummed bery easy."
"Humbugged, you mean," said Jack, laughing. "You're right, Mak; we mustset off at once. But what _are_ we to do with poor Okandaga, now thatwe have got her?"
This was indeed a puzzling question. It was impossible to take her toour camp and account to the negroes for her appearance in a satisfactorymanner; besides, if Jambai took it into his head to pursue us, in orderto ascertain whether we had had anything to do with the rescue, our casewould be hopeless. It was equally impossible to leave her where shewas, and to let her try to make her escape through the woods alone wasnot to be thought of. While we pondered this dilemma an idea occurredto me.
"It seems to me," said I, "that men are seldom, perhaps never, throwninto a danger or difficulty in this world without some way of escapebeing opened up, which, if they will but grasp at it promptly, willconduct them at last out of their perplexities. Now, it has justoccurred to me that, since everything else seems to be impossible, wemight send Okandaga into the woods, with Makarooroo to guide and defendher and to hunt for her. Let them travel in a line parallel with theriver route which we intend to follow. Each night Mak will make asecure shelter for her, and then return to our camp as if he had come infrom hunting. Each morning he will set off again into the woods as ifto hunt, rejoin Okandaga; and thus we will journey together, as it were,and when we reach the next tribe of natives we will leave the girl intheir charge until we return from the gorilla country. What do youthink of that plan?"
"Not a bad one," replied Jack; "but if Mak is away all day, what are weto do for an interpreter?"
"Make him d
escribe to us and to the men the day's route before leavingus," suggested Peterkin; "and as for the talking, we can manage thatwell enough for all needful purposes by a mixture of the few phrases weknow with signs."
In the excitement of this whole affair we had totally forgotten our twoprisoners, who lay not far from us on the ground, gagged and pinioned.We were now reminded of their presence rather abruptly. We must havesecured their fastenings badly, for during the time we were conversingthey managed to free themselves, and made a sudden dash past us. Jack'seye fortunately caught sight of them in time. He sprang up, rushed atthe one nearest him, and throwing out his foot as he passed, tripped himup. It chanced that at that spot there was a deep hole in the floor ofthe cavern. Into this the poor wretch plunged head first, and he waskilled on the spot. Meanwhile, the other gained the outlet of the cave,and had almost escaped into the forest, when Makarooroo darted after himwith the speed of an antelope. In a few seconds we heard a cry, andshortly after our guide returned with his knife clotted with blood. Hehad overtaken and slain the other negro.
I cannot convey to the reader the horror that filled me and my twocompanions at this unexpected and melancholy termination of the affair.Yet we felt that we were guiltless of rashly spilling human blood, forJack had no intention of killing the poor negro whom he tripped up; andas to the other, we could not have prevented our guide from doing whathe did. He himself deemed it justifiable, and said that if that man hadescaped to the village, and told who it was that frightened them out ofthe cave, they would certainly have come back and murdered us all.There was truth in this. Still we could not but feel overwhelmed withsadness at the incident.
We were now doubly anxious to get away from this cave, so we rapidlyfinished the discussion of our plan, and Jack arranged that he shouldaccompany what may be termed the overland part of our expedition. Thissettled, we washed the charcoal off our persons, with the exception ofthat on our faces, having been advised by King Jambai himself to huntwith black faces, as wild animals were quicker to perceive our whiteskins than their black ones. Then we resumed our garments, and quittingthe haunted cavern, set out on our return journey to the camp.