Part 16 (1/2)
Several days pa.s.sed by, and every morning, when we were prepared to set out, we found the village guarded as before. When, however, we left our packs behind us, we were allowed to ramble at perfect freedom. Besides Aboh and s.h.i.+mbo we found a party always ready to accompany us and act as beaters.
Not wis.h.i.+ng it to be supposed that we intended to leave that morning, we quietly returned to our hut, and undoing our knapsacks again went out, simply with our rifles in our hands, as if we intended to have a little shooting before breakfast. We had not gone far when we saw a woman near the sh.o.r.e of the lake apparently hunting about and calling out to some one in tones of distress.
”Who is she? and what is it all about?” I asked Aboh.
”She king's wife. Go bathe, lose piccaninny.”
We hurried on until we met the poor woman. She then explained that while she was bathing in a sheltered pool she had left her little boy on the bank of the lake to play about and amuse himself, but when she came out of the water she could nowhere find him. Of course it at once occurred to us that a crocodile must have carried him off, but Aboh averred that if such was the case the mother would have heard him cry out. He might have slipped into the water and have been drowned, but that he might possibly be hiding from her, for the sake of playing a trick.
”In that case she will soon find him, I hope,” I observed.
Scarcely had I spoken than I saw a huge crocodile crawling out of the bank not twenty yards from us. The next instant, stooping down its head, it lifted up a little black boy by one of his legs.
At the sight the mother shrieked out, ”My son, my son!”
The fate of the child seemed certain. As the huge creature turned to run, I saw that its neck was exposed. Fortunately, having loaded my rifle with ball, I fired. By a miracle it seemed, the crocodile let the child drop, and after making a faint attempt to recover it, gave a few convulsive struggles, and rolled off the bank perfectly dead, for we could see it lying on its back in shallow water.
The poor mother rushed forward and picked up the little boy, who, although fearfully bitten about the leg, was still alive. It had not before uttered a sound, but now it began to cry as it saw the blood streaming from the wounded limb. As far as I could judge, no vital part had been touched, and I told Aboh to say to the mother, that if she would let us doctor it we would do so, as I had hopes of its recovery.
Having washed it then and there in cold water, we stopped the blood, bound up the wounds, and gave it to the mother to carry back. Quagomolo was, we found, especially fond of the child. It was six or seven years old, and, being in a healthy condition, by the evening appeared no worse. At the end of three days, as lock-jaw had not set in, and the wounds looked healthy, we a.s.sured the king of our belief that his son would in time get well. Quagomolo and his wife both appeared very grateful.
”Whatever you shall ask you shall have,” he said; ”half my kingdom, half of my wives, or half of my children, or half of my people for slaves.”
”Tell his majesty that we are much obliged to him,” answered Charley; ”but the only favour we ask is the loan of a couple of his faithful subjects, and permission to proceed on our journey to the northward, where we expect to fall in with some of our countrymen. We are friends to Africa and the Africans, and wish to do the people all the good we can, but that if he keeps us here, our plans will be defeated.”
The king replied ”that he would consider the matter, but that perhaps he knew what was for our good as well as we did ourselves, and that if we wished to benefit the Africans we should remain and exercise our skill on him and his people.”
This answer was anything but satisfactory. We had accordingly, as before, to shrug our shoulders and submit for the present, not intending, however, much longer to comply with the fancies of the sable monarch.
CHAPTER TEN.
KING QUAGOMOLO WILL NOT LET US GO--HE SHOWS US HIS PLANTAIN GROVE-- SCHEMES FOR ESCAPE--START ON AN ELEPHANT HUNT--ELEPHANTS CAUGHT BY TRAPS AND NETS--TWO NATIVES CRUSHED TO DEATH--PART OF AN ELEPHANT CUT OFF FOR THE IDOLS--A NATIVE DANCE--THE KING NOT SUCH A FOOL AS WE TAKE HIM FOR-- DETAINED BY RAIN--ENTER AN HOSTILE COUNTRY--ENCAMP AND FEAST--TOBACCO AND PALM-WINE MAKE HIS MAJESTY WAX VALIANT--WE KEEP WATCH--A NIGHT ATTACK--CAPTURED BY KING SANGA TANGA--HOW CAN TUBBS REJOIN US--TRY TO EXPLAIN TO THE KING--WE GO TO GET TOM--KING QUAGOMOLO'S SURPRISE--RETURN WITH TOM AND THE KNAPSACKS--HUGE APES--THE Ns.h.i.+EGO'S HOUSE--DISTURB DOMESTIC HAPPINESS--SEPARATED FROM MY COMPANIONS--SEE A FIRE--A CHARMING FAMILY--I RETREAT--CLIMB A TREE--AN UNPLEASANT VISITOR--I GO TO SLEEP.
Day after day pa.s.sed by, and still King Quagomolo made some excuse for not allowing us to proceed on our journey. He could well afford to support us, for, savage as were he and his people in most respects, they possessed an unusually large plantation of plantains, on a piece of level ground a short distance from the lake. He took special pride in it, and invited us to pay it a visit. We could not calculate how many trees there were, though there must have been upwards of twenty thousand. The trees stood about five feet apart, and the bunches of plantains which each tree produced weighed from thirty to fifty pounds, those from some of the larger trees much more. There were several varieties even in the same grove. The king informed us that some of these trees bear fruit six or seven months after the sprouts are planted, others, again, take two or three months longer before they bear fruit; and what we may consider the finer species do not begin to bear until about eighteen months after the sprouts are put into the ground, but these last bear by far the larger bunches. This plantain grove was one of the pleasantest sights we had witnessed since we had landed on the sh.o.r.es of Africa. No cereal on the same s.p.a.ce of ground, however highly cultivated, could afford the same amount of food.
We complimented the king, through Aboh, on the beauty and size of his plantation, and the fruit it contained.
”Very good for eat, but no good for trade,” was the answer. His majesty had, it was evident, an eye to commerce, and we discovered that the article which he could obtain with the least difficulty, and sell at the highest price, were elephants' tusks. His hunters, we found, frequently went in chase of the monsters for a twofold purpose,--to obtain ivory, and to keep them at a distance from the plantain grove, among which two or three elephants in a few hours might have committed immense damage.
He had arranged a grand elephant hunt, not having taken part in one since his illness. He had made up his mind that we should accompany him, believing that our rifles would be the means of securing more ivory than could his own people with their darts and spears. We hoped that if we complied with his wishes, he would be more ready to allow us to take our departure. We accordingly agreed to accompany him. Tom wished to go also, but, although he was able to walk, Charley advised him not to run the risk of again spraining his ankle, feeling sure that great activity would be required from the experience we had already had in getting out of the way of elephants.
”But I've been thinking, sir, that we might have a chance of making our escape while we are out hunting. We could easily slip away from the natives, and push on fast in the direction we want to go.”
”There are two objections to that,” answered Charley. ”In the first place, the natives can travel through the forest faster than we can, and would soon overtake us; then, as we could not go out hunting with our packs, we should have to leave them behind us; besides which, I would rather leave the king who has treated us so hospitably, in an open fas.h.i.+on, with his goodwill, instead of stealing off like deserters.”
”I dare say you are right, sir,” answered Tom, ”but we shall look very foolish if the king, after all, insists on our stopping with him.”
”Should such be the case, we can but take up our packs and march off, and should any attempt be made to stop us, fight the black fellows.”
”That's the sort of plain sailing I like,” said Tom.
We were surprised next morning at the extent of the preparations made for the hunt. We found nearly four hundred men, armed with spears and javelins, a.s.sembled in the great square of the village, a large number having come from the neighbouring hamlets. The king soon came out of his palace--for so I may call it, although it was but a rude hut, thickly thatched with palm-leaves. He was dressed far more elaborately than we had hitherto seen him, with a circle of feathers on his head, and a kilt of long gra.s.s round his waist secured by a belt, to which hung a number of fetishes or charms. The skin of a leopard hung over his shoulder, to which was suspended a gun, while he carried also a long spear, ornamented with a tuft of hair at the end. The rest of the huntsmen were attired as usual, in nothing but the waist cloth, which is worn by the most savage tribes.
The king divided his force into six different parties and desired us to accompany the one commanded by himself. He then gave the order to march. We all set out. Before long we reached the forest, through which we proceeded for several hours, occasionally having to cut our way where the thick vines which hung from all the trees impeded our progress. Towards evening we arrived at the spot where the king had determined to halt. His people immediately set about forming the camp, by collecting wood and putting up shelters, which consisted of lean-to's. Two poles with forked ends were stuck in the ground, on the top of which rested an horizontal pole; against this a number of others were placed, when large palm or other leaves were secured above them, so that the hardest rain was turned off, the roof, of course, being placed on the side against which the wind blew. A large one was built for the king, who invited us to share it with him. It was of the same construction as that of the rest. In front a large fire was kindled.