Part 4 (1/2)
”But by following this bank we are turning our backs upon Mo. See!” and he produced from his pocket an instrument which I did not know he possessed, a cheap mariner's compa.s.s.
”Bah!” cried Kouaga in anger, after he had looked at it a long time.
”That clock of the white men has an evil spirit within. See! its trembling finger points always in the direction of the Great Evil. It is bewitched. Cast it away. Kouaga has already made fetish for this journey.”
”But why should we travel in an entirely opposite direction to Mo?” I argued, seeing that a crowd of grinning impish-looking carriers had gathered around us, enjoying our controversy.
”For three-score years Kouaga has lived in the forest and on the plains,”
he answered, turning to me. ”He knows the direction of Mo.”
”Oh, let him have his own way,” Omar cried at last, finding persuasion of no avail. Then turning to the Grand Vizier he said in a firm tone: ”Listen, Kouaga. If by your obstinacy we are delayed one single day, I shall inform my mother of that fact, and you will a.s.suredly lose your office and most likely your head also. Therefore act as you think fit.
Omar, Prince of Mo, has spoken.”
”Kouaga bore the staff of the Great White Queen unto thee. He is the trusted of the Naya, if not of her son,” the negro answered, turning away. But in that brief instant I noticed an expression on his face of relentless cruelty. An expression such as one might expect to see upon the face of a murderer.
Truth to tell, I had never liked Kouaga; now I instinctively hated him.
But ere he had strode a dozen paces he turned back smiling, saying:
”I mean no defiance to the Son of my Queen. He is in my charge, and I will take him safely back unto Mo, the city with walls unbreakable, the capital of the kingdom unconquerable.”
”I shall act as I have decided,” Omar answered with true princely hauteur. ”The rulers of Mo never depart from their word.”
”Very well,” the other answered laughing, at the same time lighting his pipe with cool indifference. Then, glancing round to see that all was ready, he shouted an order to the head-man and the string of carriers moved away, jabbering and shouting, down the path into the dark gloomy forest depths.
In ill-humour we followed. I must confess that towards Kouaga I entertained an ill-defined feeling of distrust. Once or twice during that day's march in the dull dispiriting gloom, almost every ray of daylight being shut out by the thick canopy of creepers spreading from tree to tree, I had caught Omar surrept.i.tiously consulting his pocket compa.s.s, and saw upon his face a look of anxiety. Yet, on the other hand, Kouaga had become particularly jocular, and the carriers were now singing s.n.a.t.c.hes of songs, joking, and laughing good-humouredly at each other's misfortunes, whereas on our journey from the coast to the river they had generally preserved a sullen silence.
No. Try how I would I could not rid myself of the thought that there was something very mysterious in Kouaga's actions.
CHAPTER VI.
THE ROYAL JUJUS.
ON the fifth day after we had left our canoes the Grand Vizier of Mo had gone far forward along the line of carriers to speak with the head-man, and Omar was walking immediately before me at the rear of the procession.
As I pulled him by the sleeve he halted, and when the last carrier had got out of hearing I confided to my friend my misgivings.
”Have you not noticed of late a change in Kouaga's manner towards us?” I asked him. ”At first he was deferential and submissive to your every wish, but it occurs to me that of late his manner is overbearing, and he watches us closely, as if fearing we might escape.”
”Curiously enough,” my friend replied, ”I have for some days past had similar thoughts. If he's playing any double game his life won't be worth a moment's purchase when once we enter our own land.”
”But you had perfect confidence in him,” I observed.
”Yes. If my mother trusts him as her chief adviser I have no right to entertain any suspicion of his fidelity,” he said.
”True, but, after all, you are the Prince and heir. Surely he ought to have followed your desire as to the route we should take.”
”The route!” he cried. ”Since we left the river we have travelled in these cross-paths in such an amazing manner that at present I have no idea where we are.”