Part 28 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”John ordered his askaris to fire among the negroes on the left bank.”]
Night had now sunk upon the land. The moon would rise late, and for several hours the voyage must be continued in darkness. John called to Ferrier to ask whether he had not better run into the bank and wait until there was a little light upon the course.
”I can see well enough at present,” was the reply. ”Besides, those beggars are keeping it up.”
His expectation that the pursuit would be abandoned as soon as it became dark was not borne out. It was obvious from the shouts that were heard on either side from time to time that the enemy had screwed their resolution to an uncommon pitch. Their dread of the darkness was no less, but their savage resentment and vindictive desire for revenge was more. John was able to account for their pertinacity when he remembered what lay before him. The rapids! If he, on his light raft, had barely escaped with his life, how much less was the chance that two heavy-laden rafts would survive the battering they must receive! If they were not wrecked and broken up before they reached the pool, they would then become exposed to a terrific attack. He dared not think of what the fate of the safari would be if they were cast into the river and thrown upon the mercy of the enemy. Did they come safe through the first series of rapids and cross the pool, there was the second series beyond, sweeping through the gorge, from the heights of which the enemy could pour down upon them not merely a hail of bullets and arrows, but an avalanche of rocks which could not fail to send the rafts to the bottom.
Great as were the perils which had beset him since he quitted the farm, he recognized with a momentary sinking of heart that they were trifles compared with those that were to come. He felt that his confidence would be greater if he could be beside Ferrier on the first raft. Their comrades.h.i.+p during the past few months had brought them very close together. He wished that they could talk things over quietly; whereas now they were separated by forty feet of rope, and anything either had to say must be uttered in a bawl.
As the darkness thickened the navigation became increasingly difficult.
Sometimes, when long stretches of the river were banked by woods, it was pitch dark, and whatever obstacles might have occurred in the course, it would have been impossible to avoid them. Ferrier did his best to keep his raft in midstream, for he knew that crocodiles lurked on the banks; hippos might be sleeping in the shallows; and heavy as the raft was, he had little doubt that a heave of a hippo's huge body, a swish from a crocodile's terrible tail, would cause it to capsize, or at least break a gap in the breastwork.
At one such gloomy patch the raft ran ash.o.r.e upon a mud-bank projecting into the stream. Before Ferrier could pole it off, the second raft, borne on by the current, collided with it; there was a shock, John's raft spun round, and rocked so violently that the men yelled with fright. The attaching rope, however, pulled it up with a jerk, which had the effect of hauling the first raft off the bank. Their positions were now reversed; Said Mohammed was foremost down-stream, Ferrier last.
It was obviously impossible that the voyage could be continued thus.
John and Ferrier ran each to the forward end of his own raft.
”Run her ash.o.r.e again,” shouted Ferrier, ”and let me swing clear.”
John obeyed. He would not have s.h.i.+rked the task of leading, but Ferrier's experience might make all the difference between success and failure, and it was certainly not a time to run any avoidable risks.
Some minutes pa.s.sed before he managed to strike the bank, and then the raft crashed against the projecting stem of a tree with a violence that threw John on to his back. Up in an instant, he clutched a branch just in time to prevent the raft from drifting away, and held on until Ferrier had pa.s.sed in mid-stream, and the vessels had regained their former order. During this interlude nothing was heard of the enemy. The banks of the river were fortunately too steep and too densely wooded to allow their access.
For a little while all went well. Where the banks were low and free from tall trees the level rays of the rising moon threw a faint light upon the water, enabling Ferrier to use his pole with more confidence.
But on entering a narrower reach where the trees came down to the water's edge, the sudden pa.s.sage from comparative light to absolute darkness prevented him from seeing a rocky ledge jutting out from the right bank. The raft sc.r.a.ped it for a few feet, then stuck fast. The second raft, coming directly in its wake, did not this time sweep by, but b.u.mped the first, and both were now end to end on the rock. The most energetic work with the poles failing to dislodge them, John said--
”Let's have a rest. There's no sign of the enemy, and I'm desperately hungry.”
”That's all very well,” replied Ferrier, ”but the longer we delay the worse off we shall be presently. It gives the enemy time to get ahead of us, and they'll be waiting for us at the pool. I rather fancy they've already outstripped us by cutting across country; the river winds a good deal.”
”All the same, we shan't be any the better off for being famished when we meet them. Besides, I want to talk to you; we haven't settled what we're going to do.”
”Very well; we'll have a tuck-in. What's the time? My match-box is empty.”
John struck a match. His watch had stopped.
”The spring must have broken when I toppled over,” he said. ”Isn't yours going?”
”It hasn't been going for a couple of days. We can't tell how far we've come. How is our direction?”
”We're pointing north-west,” replied John, after a glance at his compa.s.s. ”There must be a big curve here. I fancy we must have just about got to the place where Bill and I launched our raft. If so, it will be getting light by the time we reach the pool. What do you think of doing then?”
”That depends on the look of things when we get there. How long are the rapids?”
”About half-a-mile, I should think.”
”Any rocks?”
”Upon my word I don't know. I was too anxious about holding on to notice. But judging from the battering we got I should say plenty.”
”Then the safest course would be to unload the rafts when we get to the head of the rapids and make a portage--carry the things along the bank until we come to the pool. We can't do that if the enemy are in force.