CHAPTER XIII.
THE WAY OF THE THOUSAND STEPS.
TO describe in detail our long toilsome journey and the terriblehardships we suffered during the next two months is unnecessary. Sufficeit to say that without means of barter, unarmed, and living upon fruitand roots, we tramped along that narrow path through the pestilentialmarshes and the great forests where no light penetrated through the thickfoliage of the giant trees for several weeks, always due north andpassing villages sometimes, until we crossed the Sene river, ascended themountains beyond, and found ourselves upon a great level grass-coveredplateau, which occupied us several days in traversing. At last we came tothe border of Prempeh's kingdom, crossed the Volta river that wound inthe brilliant sunlight for many miles like a golden thread among thetrees, and soon entered the fertile country of the Dagombas, awild-looking tribe who were allies of the great Naya. At Yendi, sevendays' march through the bush from the Volta, we interviewed the Dagombaking and received a most enthusiastic welcome. Presents of food andslaves were given us, as well as a musket each, with some curiousivory-hilted knives, and we were treated as honoured guests of his sablemajesty, who, Omar informed me, was indebted to the Naya for his royalposition.
This welcome was therefore only what we expected, nevertheless, our lifeduring the few days at Yendi was of a very different character to themiserable existence we had experienced during our long march to theconfines of Ashanti. But Omar was impatient to fulfil the commands of hismother, and we did not remain longer than was absolutely necessary, inorder not to give offence to the king; however, one morning we snappedfingers with him and, with two hundred decidedly savage-looking men asescort, we moved away still due north on our journey to the mysteriousland of the Great White Queen.
The King of Dagomba had told me, in answer to my enquiries, that neitherhimself nor any of his men had ever entered Mo. The inhabitants were avery powerful and fearless people, he knew, and their soldiers were asnumerous as an army of locusts. The men of Mo were an admirable race, headded, and although no stranger had ever been admitted to the mysteriousrealm, yet its power was feared by every West African ruler withoutexception.
It gratified me to think that I should be the first to set foot within aland forbidden to any who had not been born there, and I grew extremelyimpatient to set eyes upon the country to the throne of which mylight-hearted friend Omar was heir. Travelling quickly, with but fewdelays, we crossed the Busanga country, mainly covered by dense, darkforest and unhealthy marshes, where the odour of decayed vegetable matterwas sickening, until we came to a great mountain rearing its snowy crestinto the clouds, which Omar told me was called the Nauri. Hence, when wehad rested two days to recruit in the sunlight after the dispiritinggloom of the primeval forest, we held on our way, passing many nativevillages, the inhabitants of each showing marked friendliness towards ourDagombas.
Kona, our headman, was a tall, pleasant-faced negro, raw-boned andawkward, with huge hands and splay feet, but his muscles were hard asiron and his strength astounding. He treated Omar as a prince, alwaysdeferential to his wishes, and regarded me as an honoured visitor to theunknown but powerful protector of his sovereign. Though fraught with manydangers on account of the wild beasts lurking in the forests and thesnakes on the plains, our journey nevertheless proved extremely pleasant,for in Kona we found a true and sympathetic friend.
Once he spoke to me of Queen Victoria, and his words amused me. He saidwith impressive earnestness:
"Ah! The Queen of the English is, next to the Great White Queen, themightiest and cleverest woman in the world. She sees the treasures in theinterior of the earth, and has them lifted. She spans the world with ironthreads, and when she touches them they carry her words into the world.She has steamers running on dry land. If a mountain is in her way she hasa hole made through it. If a river interferes, she builds a road acrossin the air. And the Queen of the English and the Great White Queen of Moare richer than all other women together. They are the most beautifulwomen in the world, and their husbands paid nothing for them."
When at night around our camp fire we would relate to him the treacheryof Kouaga, and our adventures in the hands of Samory and Prempeh, hewould stir the embers viciously and call down the curse of Zomara uponthem all.
"When the son of the great Naya of Mo punishes his enemies, Kona will goand assist in their destruction," he said one night. "Kona's knife shallseek their hearts."
"So it shall," Omar had replied, assured of the loyalty of this negroally. "You are our guide and friend; rest assured that when we enter Moyou shall not be forgotten."
And we went forward next day all in excellent spirits, all eager to enterthe unknown land.
A few days' march from the mystic mountain of Nauri we approached alittle town called Imigu, but found it had been sacked and burned,evidently by Arab slave-raiders, who, Omar said, were constantlydescending upon the towns and villages on the border of his land. Atevening we went over the ruins of what not long ago must have been apopulous trading town, saw how wanton had been the destruction, andjudged from the heaps of bleaching bones how terrible had been thebutchery of its inhabitants.
At dawn, however, we moved forward again, but at noon, while we weredescending a beautiful fertile valley Kona stopped suddenly, gazed aroundwonderingly, and then halting his men addressed them, telling them thatthey were about to enter a country wherein no stranger had ever beforeset foot, and urging them to patiently face any difficulty they found intheir path, and to offer sacrifices of food to the fetish to give themstrength to surmount all obstacles.
Omar, with folded arms, stood by and listened. When Kona had finished heraised his hand, saying:
"Men of the Dagomba. You have guided us to the furthermost limit of theearth as known to you; in fact to the point where your knowledge of thisland ends and mine commences. For this service you deserve reward, andI, Omar, Prince of Mo, promise that none who have accompanied me hithershall leave the palace of the Great White Queen without his just reward."
Two hundred black faces thereupon glistened with delight. All were eagerto see the wonders of this much-talked-of country, but the promise of areward at the hands of the great queen was a pleasant surprise thatevoked the wildest enthusiasm. They yelled with pleasure, bestowed uponus all the terms of adulation until they exhausted their vocabulary, andblew their elephants' tusks until I confess I was compelled to stuff myfingers into my ears, fearing deafness.
"Lead us on, O our lord the prince!" they cried. "Let us go forward. Wewill follow thee if thou wilt point out the right path leading unto Mo,and appease thy land's jealous guardians who smite back all would-beintruders with swords of fire."
This latter was a tradition. I had heard it many times during my journeywith Omar. The natives of Ashanti, of Kong, of Gurunsi, and of Dagomba,had all told me that the country of Mo, wherever it might be situated,was surrounded by a great cordon of guards--demons they believed them tobe--who had never allowed a stranger to enter, for they simply liftedtheir deadly swords that blazed like fire-brands, and slew the offendingwanderer.
"The guardians of Mo shall be appeased," Omar assured them. "Not a hairon the head of any of our party shall be injured, although the way isstill long and full of terrors and pitfalls. But I will lead, and thosewho obey will enter Mo. Those who depart from my words will assuredlyperish. Omar, Prince of Mo, has spoken."
"May the fetish be good," they all cried aloud. "We will follow andattend to each word that falleth from thy lips."
Then in a few minutes we moved on again down the long beautiful valleythrough which a clear river wound among green swards and clumps of trees,forming a park-like scene such as might have been witnessed in England.Presently, however, the character of the country suddenly changed, and wewere passing through a rocky defile, arid and waterless, while at the endcould be seen a wide open country without rock or tree stretching away asfar as the eye could reach to the misty horizon.
It appeared like a great limitless wilderness, a
nd those in frontquickened their pace in order to fully view the character of the land wewere approaching.
For their haste, however, they received an unpleasant reward.
When those who ran forward emerged into the open plain, they suddenlyfound the soft earth give way beneath their feet without warning, and erethey realized their danger a dozen of them were struggling up to theirarm-pits in the sea of fine ever-shifting sand that seemed kept inconstant motion by some unknown natural cause. With each movement theysank deeper, until, fearing that the sandy quagmire would envelop andsuffocate them, they cried aloud for assistance. Help was ready at hand,for the remainder of our followers ran forward, and stretching forthropes of monkey-creeper were enabled to drag out their intrepidcompanions, much to Omar's amusement.
"Those who deviate from the course that I myself take will assuredlyperish," he exclaimed a moment later. Then, turning to me, he added:"This desert you see before you is one of the barriers dividing my landfrom those of our enemies. To those who know not the secret it isimpassable."
"Yes," I answered, surprised at the strange treacherous character of thesand. "Those who ventured upon it had narrow escapes."
"Exactly. Any weight upon its surface will sink to the depth of manyfeet, sucked down as swiftly and surely as a piece of wood is drawn downby a whirlpool. In an attempt to cross this unsafe region many men havelost their lives, for once upon its surface escape is impossible. See!"And he cast his staff away upon the sand. In an instant it had sunk outof sight.
"Then how shall we gain the land beyond?" I asked in fear at the softnature of the earth's surface.
"There is but one way. It is known only to the Naya and to myself, and iscalled the Way of the Thousand Steps. Its existence is preserved as aroyal secret in case my family are compelled at any time to fly from ourcountry, in which case they could escape safely, while all their pursuerswould assuredly be overwhelmed and perish. For that reason the knowledgehas been for centuries solely in the keeping of the reigning Naya orNaba. It was by this secret path that I left Mo and came to you inEngland; by the same path I return."
"Lead the way. We will follow," I said.
"Come, men," he exclaimed, lifting his hand as he addressed them. "Fearnot, but follow so closely in my footprints that your feet obliteratethem, and I will bridge the great gulf that lieth between Mo and theouter world."
The mishap to the advance guard had evoked the wildest speculations amongthe natives, and all were eagerly pressing forward, when, in a fewmoments, Omar took up his position before them, and urging the utmostcaution held up the staff he took from my hand, taking what appeared tobe the bearings between his own eye and the summit of a low mound faraway on the horizon. The preparations did not take long, and very soon,with his staff held in the same position before him, he began to ventureforward upon the unsafe sand.
Carefully he trod the great treeless plain, being followed by all insingle file. With such caution did we tread, and so excited were we all,that at first scarcely was a word spoken. Very soon, however, withconfidence in Omar's leadership the natives grew hilarious again, andkeeping straight behind the young prince they found the way, about a footin width, hard, although dry, and extremely unpleasant to tread.Nevertheless we all were ready to encounter and overcome every obstacleproviding that we could enter the forbidden land, and thus we wentforward. Now and then one of the natives, in speaking to the man nextbehind him, would turn and thus deviate from the path over which Omar hadpassed, and he would quickly pay for this carelessness, suddenly findinghimself floundering helplessly up to the ears in the deadly quicksands.Then the whole of our party would halt and, amid broad laughter and muchridicule, the unfortunate one would be dragged forth from a certain andterrible doom.
But the path was not straight. Heedless of the chatter and excitementbehind him Omar walked on before, his staff raised on a level with hiseye, counting aloud each step he took, measuring the distance, until whenhe had taken a thousand paces he suddenly stopped, examined the groundwell, and then turning at exact right angles, took bearings by anothermound that I had noticed far in the distant haze.
Again and again we faced always at exact angles after pacing a thousandsteps, so that our path became a zig-zag one, long and toilsome, withmany halts, yet without rest and without seeing anything beyond thewondrous expanse of burning sky and the loose sand that swallowed allthings dead or living.
Everything thrown upon it sank and disappeared almost as quickly as ironcast into water.