Part 27 (2/2)
While the second raft was being finished, the men who were not engaged upon it were set to weave a light framework of canes, rushes, and slender branches, about three feet high, and strong enough to be impenetrable by spears or arrows. As portions of this were completed, they were lashed to the edges of the first raft. Fore and aft the framework was raised to the height of six feet, and a hole was cut in it through which a pole might be thrust, to ward off rocks or other obstructions as the raft floated downstream, and to steer the unwieldy craft.
At midday a good deal of the work still remained to be done. The sun beat down mercilessly upon the workers, and John, eager as he was to finish, ordered a rest and a meal. The negroes threw themselves on the gra.s.s, and appeared to feel no discomfort from the heat; but the white men were glad to seek the shade of the trees crowning the knoll, where Said Mohammed served their dinner.
The order had just been given to resume work when they saw a vast crowd of dusky warriors pouring over the brow of the hill.
”Here they come!” said John, starting up; ”and by the look of them, and their yells, we're in for a tight little scrimmage.”
Ferrier laughed.
”Not unless they're prepared to attack us over the bodies of their wives,” he said. ”They can't shoot at us without hitting them.”
”Of course not. I hadn't thought of that. But they're so mad that they may be ready to sacrifice their nearest and dearest. We must prevent the women from running away. It's shameful coercion, but we can't help it.”
The furious villagers halted within a short distance of the knoll, and one or two let fly arrows at the busy workers behind their rampart of baggage. A wild shriek arose from the terrified women, though none had been hit; and John, running among them, told them sternly that their only safety lay in remaining at their work. To give point to his warning, and at the same time to daunt the warriors, he lifted his rifle and fired towards the dense mob, taking care to aim above their heads.
The result was a general stampede. The men had already learnt the power of the wasungu's weapons, and being exposed on the bare hillside they recognized their disadvantage. They retreated up the hill to a position of security, and stood there in impotent wrath, watching their womenkind toiling for the hated enemy.
The work went on without pause until the rafts were finished. The next thing was to launch them. The river swept round the knoll in a half-circle, and John decided to have the rafts carried to the water on the side remote from the village and out of sight of the warriors, any interference being guarded against by leaving his askaris with loaded rifles at the baggage. When the rafts were launched and moored to prevent their being carried down by the current, the ivory was conveyed to them. One side of each had been left undefended by the framework until the loading was finished. The tusks having been stowed on one raft, half-a-dozen men were set to lash on the framework while the stores and the rest of the baggage were carried to the second raft. It was clear that Bill had by no means exaggerated the value of the ivory.
There were twenty-three tusks, varying in weight and size, but scaling in all at least half a ton. John did not know the market value of ivory, but so large a quant.i.ty would probably fetch several hundreds of pounds.
By the time the loads were stacked round the rafts, close against the framework, it was drawing towards evening.
”I'm afraid we shall have to wait until morning before we start,” said John. ”It will be very risky to navigate these clumsy things in the darkness. They lie very heavy in the water, and I shouldn't be surprised if they founder before we've gone far.”
”We must chance that,” said Ferrier. ”I think we had better start at once. There are no rapids in this part of the river; our real trouble will begin when we come above the pool. If we stay here till the morning, we may be set upon before we are well away, whereas by starting now we shall be past the village by the time it is dark, and when they see us fairly off they may chuck up the sponge.”
”All right. Is there anything else to be done?”
”We'll rope the rafts together, but we must be ready to cut the hawser if there's any need. I'll go in the first raft, of course. Perhaps Coja had better come with me to try his hand at steering, if you don't mind taking Said Mohammed. Your raft ought to come along in the wake of mine without any difficulty; but have your pole ready to push off if we strike a shoal.”
”What's the rate of the current, do you think?”
”Three to four miles an hour, at a guess. Better let the women go now.”
John withdrew the askaris who had been keeping guard, and the women, on being told that they might go, fled away up the hill like a flock of sheep. All the men of the safari then took their places on the rafts; these were roped together; the framework was lashed on the unprotected sides; the mooring ropes were released, and the strange overladen craft, sinking so low that the logs were covered with water, took the current and began to float down. Luckily the bales of provisions had been placed above the ammunition boxes and other baggage, which would not suffer from a wetting.
The actual start was hidden from the enemy by the projecting knoll; but as the rafts swept round the curve their appearance was hailed with loud shouts from the hill-top, where the women had now joined the warriors.
The left bank was here too precipitous and too densely wooded to permit the enemy to approach near enough to do any damage; and as the voyagers came into the straight reach that ran by the foot of the hill on which the village was perched, they saw the yelling horde rush over the brow.
”Going to meet us on the level,” shouted Ferrier from his place behind the breastwork of the foremost raft. ”Keep the men crouching behind the palisade.”
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH--Ferrier takes the Lead
The river varied in breadth at this part of its course from sixty to eighty yards. The steersmen, Coja in the first, Said Mohammed in the second, kept the rafts in midstream, and they glided on the full current with a steadiness that augured well for the voyage. In less than half-an-hour they were level with the village. Then a shot rang out from the right bank. Clearly Juma had been on the watch. The shot fell short, and the sound of it caused great consternation among the villagers, who had taken up a position a few hundred yards down-stream on a stretch of treeless land on the left bank, raised a few feet above the level of the river. They had evidently been as yet unaware of the proximity of their allies. But their apprehension was immediately changed to wild excitement as they saw Juma, accompanied by his band, appear on a similar eminence on the opposite bank. They shouted with delight, leaping, brandis.h.i.+ng spears, little suspecting the trick which the Swahilis had played on them.
As the rafts approached, they were a.s.sailed with showers of arrows from both sides, mingled with rifle shots from the right bank. Ferrier and John ordered their men to lie flat on their faces, for those on the starboard side were exposed to the fire from the right bank, those on the port side to that from the left. The two white men themselves, and their two steersmen, could not find shelter in the same way, being bound to stand erect in order to keep the rafts in midstream. As the missiles flew around him, John felt that this was a vastly unpleasant way of running the gauntlet. He instinctively pressed his body close to the framework; and whether it was due to the growing darkness, or to the inability of the enemy to hit a moving target, he escaped unhurt. The immediate danger was past when the banks of the river fell away to the level of the stream. Both parties of the enemy still fired, running along in time with the rafts; but their missiles now flew over the top of the breastwork. Ferrier thought it worth risking a volley from his own men. He ordered them to kneel, rest their rifles on the palisade, and take good aim at the Swahilis. Their skill or luck was superior, for when the volley flashed forth, a yell told that one at least of the bullets had got home. Immediately afterwards John ordered his askaris to fire among the negroes on the left bank; but these were somewhat remoter from the river, and he could not learn that any of the shots took effect.
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