CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
KING M'BONGWELE IS TEMPORARILY REDUCED TO SUBMISSION.
In the return of the _Flying Fish_ to her former berth the subject ofthe reception to be accorded to king M'Bongwele, in the event of hisobeying their summons, was somewhat anxiously discussed by thetravellers. They had already seen and heard enough to convince themthat the individual in question was a sovereign of considerable power,as African kings go, and former experience among savages had taught themthat he would, as likely as not, prove to be a crafty, unscrupulous, andslippery customer to deal with. To satisfactorily carry out the objectof their visit to this man's country--namely, the examination andexploration of the mysterious and very interesting ruins whichsurrounded them--it would be absolutely necessary that they should beable to pass to and fro, freely and unmolested, between the ship and thevarious points selected for examination; and, in order to secure thisperfect freedom, it would be necessary not only to conciliate thispowerful ruler and his people, but also to so thoroughly impress him andthem with the mysterious and wonderful attributes of their unbiddenguests that they should, one and all, be absolutely _afraid_ tointerfere with them. The question was, how could this be mosteffectually achieved? The first part of the programme, namely theconciliation of sovereign and subjects, appeared simple enough; theobvious pride and delight with which Lualamba had received his flashypresents of beads and Manchester finery furnished a key to thesatisfactory solution of this difficulty; but how was the second andequally important part of the programme to be carried out? Lualamba, itwas true, had been effectually cowed by the simple expedient of carryinghim a few thousand feet up into the air; but something more than themere repetition of this experiment would be necessary to produce therequired impression upon M'Bongwele and the crowd of warriors he wouldbe certain to bring with him. The matter was placed in the hands of theprofessor for settlement, and he promptly avowed himself to be fullyequal to the task.
"Science, my friends," he remarked, "is constantly revealing wonderswhich surprise and astound even the most cultured minds of the civilisedworld; how much more capable is it then of overawing the unculturedsavage, however shrewd and clever he may be in those simple matterswhich affect his everyday life! Leave it to me; we have amplescientific means at our command to quell this man and his followers, andto reduce them to a state of the most abject and servile subjection."
Von Schalckenberg then retired to make his preparations, which were sooncomplete. When next he appeared he carried upon one arm a glitteringmass of what at first sight appeared to be drapery, but which, on hisunfolding it, proved to be three suits of chain armour (minus helmet andgauntlets), constructed of very small fine links of aethereum, light andflexible as silk.
"I think," said he, "it will be unadvisable to make any change in ouroutward appearance in preparing to receive this royal savage; any suchchange would be certainly noticed, and as certainly regarded as anindication of the importance we attach to his visit. Now, our policy isto treat the whole affair as a matter of no moment whatever, and we willtherefore (if you agree with my views) continue to wear the whiteflannel suits in which we received Lualamba this morning. But I wouldrecommend that each of you don a suit of this mail under your clothing(I have already assumed mine), and we shall then be pretty well preparedfor emergencies. These savages are often exceedingly treacherousfellows, and it is quite among the possibilities that certain of thisking's followers may have received instructions to test our supposedinvulnerability by a sly stab in the back or something of that kind; itwill be well, therefore, that we should be properly prepared foranything of the kind. I had in view some such occasion as the presentwhen I arranged for the construction of these suits. There is a helmetand gauntlets for each; but we shall scarcely need them today, I think,and it would hardly be politic to wear any _visible_ defensive armour."
The luncheon hour arrived and passed without sign or token of thepresence of a single savage in the neighbourhood, and as the afternoonwaned with still no indication of human vicinity, the travellers--butfor the absolute impregnability of the _Flying Fish_--would have begunto feel uneasy. About half-past four o'clock, however, as the quartettewere languidly puffing at their cigars, lolling meanwhile in the mostluxurious of deck-chairs, a huge cloud of yellow dust rising into theair beyond the ruins announced the approach of the cavalcade, and aminute or two later king M'Bongwele at the head of his cavalry sweptlike a whirlwind into the open space occupied by the great ship, and,charging in a solid square close up to her, suddenly wheeled right andleft into line, and came to an abrupt halt. The evolution was verybrilliantly executed, and as Lethbridge lazily scanned the performersthrough the thin filmy smoke of his cigar, he could not restrain a lowmurmur of admiration, followed by the remark:
"By George! what splendid soldiers those fellows would make with acouple of months' training!"
"Y-e-s," agreed the baronet, "that was very well done; but I supposethat particular evolution is the one in which they most excel, and ofcourse it was done purely for effect. Ah! the individual nowdismounting is, I suppose, our royal visitor."
The baronet was quite right in his conjecture. As the party halted,some ten or a dozen individuals, including Lualamba, flung themselvesfrom their horses, and, advancing reverentially, grouped themselvesabout the royal charger. Two of them then stepped to the creature'shead and grasped the bridle, whilst two more assisted the king todismount. The horse was then handed over to the care of a warrior, andthe king, closely followed by the members of his suite, advanced to thefoot of the rope-ladder, which had been lowered for their accommodation;the professor at the same time stepping to the gangway and inviting theparty to ascend.
M'Bongwele looked somewhat doubtfully at the swaying ladder for a momentor two, and then essayed the ascent; but the oscillation set up by hismovements proved too much for his nerves--or his dignity--and, muchchagrined, he was obliged to desist. The professor then in compassionsuggested the steadying of the ladder at its foot, when the king,promptly giving the necessary order to his suite, ascended to the deck,leaving those who followed him to manage as best they could.
The first glance of the travellers satisfied them that in kingM'Bongwele they had a man of more than ordinary intelligence to dealwith. The colour of his skin and complexion was a rich deep brown, hestood nearly six feet high on his naked feet, and, but for his somewhatexcessive corpulence, he would have been a man of magnificentproportions. His lips were rather thick, and his nose somewhatflattened, but not nearly as much so as in the case of the genuinenegro. His forehead was broad and lofty, though receding, his eyeskeen, restless, and piercing, and there was a crafty, cruel, resolutelook about the lower part of his face which taught his hosts that theywould have to be exceedingly cautious in their dealings with him. Hewas accommodated with a chair between Sir Reginald and the professor,the former being flanked by Lethbridge (Mildmay, in accordance withprevious arrangements, had ensconced himself in the pilothouse);Lualamba and the rest of the suite were quietly allowed to squat in asemicircle before them on the deck.
The king opened the conversation by somewhat abruptly demanding thereason for the strangers' visit to his dominions; to which the professorreplied by pointing to the ruins, explaining that they were believed tobe the remains of a great city built many ages ago by a very interestingrace of people of whom but little was known, and he and his companionswere anxious to minutely examine and explore what was left, in the hopeof discovering some sculptured or other record bearing upon the origin,habits, and history of the builders.
A few minutes of profound meditation on the part of the king followedthis announcement, and then he suddenly demanded where the travellershad come from. The professor replied by a comprehensive sweep of thehand skyward.
"But," objected M'Bongwele, "if you are spirits you should know all thatyou want to know about these ruins without coming here to investigate.The spirits know everything."
A low murmur of applause from the ki
ng's adherents followed thisenunciation, showing that they evidently considered their monarch to begetting the better of the strangers, and a smile of gratificationflickered for an instant over M'Bongwele's features.
"Not everything," corrected the professor. "We know a great manythings, but not everything. And what we know we have been obliged tofind out by investigation. We spend the greater part of our existencein passing from place to place investigating and finding out things."
"Then I have been misinformed, and the spirits are neither so wise norso powerful as I thought them to be," retorted the king.
"Perhaps so," quietly remarked the professor. "Nevertheless we are verypowerful--sufficiently so to destroy you and your whole army in amoment, should we choose to do so. Would you like to witness a specimenor two of our power?"
M'Bongwele glanced somewhat nervously about him for a second or two, andthen with an obvious effort answered:
"Yes."
"I see that some of your followers here are armed with bows," continuedthe professor. "Are they good marksmen?"
"The best in the world," answered the king proudly.
The professor in his turn hesitated an instant; he was about to make adangerous experiment. Then he drew from his pocket a small crimson silkrosette, and, placing it in M'Bongwele's hand, said:
"I will attach this to any part of my dress you choose to point out;then order one of your archers to shoot an arrow at it, and observe theresult."
The king took the rosette in his hand, examined it carefully, and passedit round among his suite for inspection. On receiving it back hesuddenly wheeled round in his chair, and, reaching over, laid his fingeron Lethbridge's breast exactly over the heart.
"Fasten it _there_," he said with a scornful smile, "and I will shoot atit myself."
The professor was disconcerted. The danger of the experiment consistedin the possibility that the archer, instead of aiming at the rosette,would select an eye or some part of the head for a mark, in which casethe result would be fatal. He was quite willing to incur the riskhimself, trusting that the archer's vanity would impel him to aim at theright spot; but he had never contemplated the turn which affairs had nowtaken.
Lethbridge, however, with a languid smile and a shrug of the shoulders,rose to his feet, and, nonchalantly flicking the ash off the end of hiscigar, waited for the professor to affix the rosette.
A happy inspiration just then occurred to von Schalckenberg. "It is avery small mark," he murmured confidentially to M'Bongwele; "I do notbelieve you can hit it. Shall I get something larger?"
The king would not listen to any such proposal; he was evidently anxiousto exhibit his skill; and the professor, reassured, attached the rosetteto Lethbridge's coat in the exact spot indicated, M'Bongwele and hiscompanions watching the operation with the keenest interest.
The colonel, glancing round for a good background against which to placehimself, noticed a large clump of trees with olive-green foliage growingat a short distance directly astern of the ship. Against these hiswhite-clad figure would stand out in strong relief. He accordinglystepped leisurely out to a suitable position on the deck, and, with onehand in his pocket and his smouldering cigar in the other, patientlyawaited the decisive moment. M'Bongwele in the meantime snatched a bowfrom one of his followers, and, selecting a long straight arrow from thesheaf, retired to the other end of the deck, a distance of about onehundred and fifty feet from his living target. He strung the bowcarefully, adjusted the arrow to the string with the utmost nicety, drewit to the head, and then paused for a full minute, apparently waitingfor some indication of flinching on Lethbridge's part. In this,however, he was disappointed, not the faintest suggestion of uneasinesscould be detected in the colonel's face--indeed, he seemed to beabsorbed in a critical contemplation of the smoke which lazily wreathedupward from the end of the cigar. Suddenly the bow twanged loudly, thearrow whizzed through the air, and, striking fair upon the rosette, fellin splinters to the deck. Lethbridge somewhat contemptuously kicked thefragments aside, unpinned the rosette from the breast of his coat, andsauntered back to his former seat. The group of chiefs gathered on thedeck glanced at each other and uttered suppressed ejaculations ofdismay. As for M'Bongwele, he was thoroughly discomfited; he had beenshrewd enough to suspect in the professor's proposal some preconcertedarrangement, which he flattered himself he had skilfully baffled;instead of which his _ruse_ had simply redounded to his own morecomplete confusion.
The professor rose and picked up the pierced rosette, which he handed tothe king.
"You are very skilful," he remarked, pointing to the puncture; "Icompliment you." Then, changing his tone, he continued: "We haveallowed you to do this in order that you may be thoroughly convinced ofthe impossibility of injuring us. Now you shall have a further exampleof our power. Order your warriors to dismount and try their best tolift this ship from off the ground."
The king turned to Lualamba and gave him the necessary order; whereuponthe chief, descending the ladder to the ground, advanced to the troops,and, dismounting them, assembled them all round the hull; then, at agiven signal, the entire body exerted themselves to the utmost to liftthe immense fabric from the ground--of course without effect, as herchambers were full of air.
"Now," said the professor when the savages had pretty well exhaustedthemselves, "let all but one man retire."
This was done, Mildmay meanwhile exhausting the chambers until the gaugeshowed that the ship weighed only a few pounds. The professor glancedcarelessly at the pilot-house, caught the signal that all was inreadiness, and said to the king:
"Now order that man to lift the ship on to his shoulders."
M'Bongwele duly repeated the order, without the slightest expectationthat it would be fulfilled; and the man--who would have plunged into ablazing bonfire if he had been so ordered--advanced, and, to theunutterable astonishment of himself, the king, and in fact the wholeconcourse of natives, raised the gigantic structure to his shoulders andheld it there with scarcely an effort.
"Now, tell him to toss us into the air," commanded von Schalckenberg,shouting down from the gangway to Lualamba.
And in another second the terrified king and his suite felt a slightmovement, and saw the earth sinking far away beneath them. This wasaltogether too much for the suite, who grovelled on the deck in mortalfear; and even king M'Bongwele felt his courage rapidly oozing away ashe sat uneasily in his deck-chair convulsively gripping its arms andglancing anxiously about him.
The ascent was continued to a height of about fifteen thousand feet, atwhich altitude the wretched savages were shivering even more with coldthan they had hitherto done with fear. The ship was then headedstraight for the sea, which she soon reached, and, speeding onward atthe rate of thirty miles an hour, her course was continued, accompaniedby a gradual descent until the land was lost sight of; when a wide sweepwas made, and, at a height of only one hundred feet above the waves, thereturn journey was commenced. This experience proved sufficient, andmore than sufficient, for M'Bongwele; he was completely cowed; and whenhe found himself hovering over the illimitable sea, without a sign ofland in any direction, he flung himself upon his knees before theprofessor and piteously entreated to be restored to his home and people,abjectly promising that he and they would be the willing slaves of theWhite Spirits for ever; and as for the ruins, the Spirits might dowhatever they chose with them, freely and without let or hindrance.This was all very well, but von Schalckenberg had not yet fully carriedout his programme; he had still one more item in the entertainment whichhe was determined to produce, and which he fully believed would renderM'Bongwele's subjugation not only complete but permanent.
Accordingly, on returning to their starting-place (by which time it wasnearly dark), the demoralised warriors, who had all but given up theirking as lost, were set to work by von Schalckenberg's orders to collectwood for a gigantic bonfire. This was soon done, and the fire waskindled; but, much of the wood being green, an immense cloud of smokew
as raised, with very little flame, which exactly suited the professor'spurpose. When the fire was fairly alight, the troops were re-formed inline as close to the ship as possible, and M'Bongwele and his suite werearranged in position on the deck immediately beneath the pilot-housewalls. By this time it was perfectly dark, save for the starlight andthe flickering gleam of the bonfire; and the air was stark calm.
Gradually and imperceptibly the dense cloud of smoke which hungmotionless over the smouldering pile became faintly luminous. Theradiance grew stronger and stronger, and presently an immense circulardisc of light appeared reflected on the slowly-rising cloud of vapour,in which a host of forms were indistinctly traceable. Another momentand a loud ejaculation of astonishment burst from the savage spectators,for, with another sudden brightening of the luminous disc there appearedthe phantom presentment of M'Bongwele's troops drawn up as they hadappeared a couple of hours before, when the king had first boarded the_Flying Fish_ So clear and vivid was the representation that it met withinstant recognition, amid loud murmurs of amazement from the beholders;the king being quite as strongly moved as any of his subjects.
"Do you recognise the vision?" demanded the professor sternly ofM'Bongwele.
"I do, I do. Those are the spirits of my bravest soldiers," murmuredthe king. "Truly the Spirits of the Winds have wondrous powers."
"You say well," answered von Schalckenberg. "Now, look again and youshall see a few of _our_ warriors."
As he spoke the picture became blurred and indistinct, prismatic coloursbegan to come and go upon the curtain of vapour, and suddenly outflashed the image of a wide-stretching sun-lit plain, upon which weredrawn up on parade, in illimitable perspective, a countless host ofBritish troops, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, with bayonets, swords,and lance-points gleaming in the sun, with colours uncased, gunslimbered up, and all apparently ready and waiting for the order tomarch. So realistic was the picture that even the baronet andLethbridge could scarcely repress an exclamation of astonishment, and asfor M'Bongwele and his people, they were perfectly breathless withsurprise. The picture was allowed to remain clear, brilliant, anddistinct for some ten minutes, then the radiant disc rapidly faded untilit vanished altogether, and nothing remained but the red glimmer of thesmouldering fire.
A heavy sigh issued from M'Bongwele's breast, and he rose to his feet.
"It is enough," he said. "Let me go home."
He advanced gropingly to the gangway (for it was now very dark), when,in an instant, every one of the electric lights in the ship flashed outat their fullest brightness, brilliantly illuminating the deck, andturning night into day for fully a mile round, and, under the clearsteely radiance thus unexpectedly furnished him, the king slowly madehis way to the ground, mounted his horse in silence, and galloped awayat the head of his followers. The illumination of the ship wasmaintained until the cavalcade was well clear of the ruins, when theside-ladder was drawn up, the lights extinguished, and M'Bongwele wasleft to make the remainder of his way as best he could in the darkness.
"Well," said the professor as the quartette wended their way below todinner, "how have I managed?"
"Admirably," answered Sir Reginald and the colonel together. "Never,surely," continued the latter, "was African king so completely overawedin so short a time as this fellow has been to-day."
"We all, and I especially, owe you thanks, colonel, for the sublime_sang froid_ with which you stood up and allowed yourself to be made atarget of to-day," said von Schalckenberg. "Believe me, I would neverhave made the proposal I did had I suspected that the part of targetwould have been so cleverly transferred to someone else. But the craftyfellow evidently suspected what you English call `a plant'--aprearranged plan--and he thought that by adopting the course he did hewould have us at advantage."
"Oh," laughed the colonel scornfully, "that was a mere trifle, less thannothing. I saw that the fellow was confident of his skill as a marksmanand anxious to show off, so I felt perfectly easy in my mind. Had itbeen one of our own men, now--" An expressive shrug of the shouldersfinished the sentence.
"Yes," remarked the baronet reflectively, "what a pity it is that theyare not trained to individually select and aim at a particular object.If they were, no troops in the world could stand up for ten minutesbefore them. But, speaking of troops, professor, what a master-strokethat was of yours to give the darkies an opportunity of comparing theirown soldiers with ours. How on earth did you manage it?"
"Oh, easily enough," laughed the professor. "A magic lantern and acouple of slides did the whole business. The throwing of the picturesupon the smoke-wreath certainly enhanced its effectiveness a good deal,but it is quite an old trick, which I have often done before withexcellent results. Everyone who is going much among savages ought toinclude a lantern and an assortment of good startling slides in hisoutfit if possible."
"But how did you get the first of your two slides? That was surely arepresentation of M'Bongwele's own people."
"Certainly. And our friend Mildmay very cleverly secured it with acamera which I set up and prepared for him in the pilot-house. He onlyhad to release a spring at the right moment, and the thing was done. Hedeveloped the picture whilst we were making our little excursion out tosea and back. Well, the whole thing was a farce; but I believe it haseffectually secured us from interruption during our researches among theruins; and if so, it was worth playing."