Part 1 (2/2)
”Mauled by leopard Wounds won't heal, and fever I don't think he can last long”
”What do you know about it? Let s That tin box of his was full of ical instruments, which latter he boiled before he used theht the skin would coave poor Charlie a dose of so froh and cleaned theed theain, he gave him a drink that threw him into a sweat and took away the fever The end of it was that in two days' time his patient sat up and asked for a square in to carry hie of yours saved Brother Scroope's life,” said old John, as he watched him start
I h my own men I inquired a little as to Brother John's e It seeed to , but that about two hours after sunset suddenly he ordered the and follow hiust those Kaffirs were forced to trudge all night at the heels of Dogeetah, as they called him Indeed, so weary did they beco left alone in an unknown country in the darkness, they said they would have thron their loads and refused to go any further
That is as far as I was able to take the matter, which may be explained by telepathy, inspiration, instinct, or coincidence It is one as to which the reader ether in caoa Bay and thence by shi+p to Durban, Brother John and I grew very intimate, with limitations Of his past, as I have said, he never talked, or of the real object of his wanderings which I learned afterwards, but of his natural history and ethnological (I believe that is the word) studies he spoke a good deal As, in my humble way, I also a about African natives and their habits from practical experience, these subjects interested s, he showedhis recent journey; insects and beautiful butterflies neatly pinned into boxes, also a quantity of dried flowers pressed between sheets of blotting paper, a that these attracted me, he asked me if I would like to see the most wonderful orchid in the whole world Of course I said yes, whereon he produced out of one of his cases a flat package about two feet six square He undid the grass mats in which it rapped, striped, delicately woven hbourhood of Zanzibar Within these was the lid of a packing-case Then came more mats and some copies of The Cape Journal spread out flat Then sheets of blotting paper, and last of all between two pieces of cardboard, a flower and one leaf of the plant on which it grew
Even in its dried state it was a wondrous thing,or petal to the tip of the other, by twenty inches from the top of the back sheath to the bottom of the pouch The et, but it must have been quite a foot across In colour it was, or had been, bright golden, but the back sheath hite, barred with lines of black, and in the exact centre of the pouch was a single black spot shaped like the head of a great ape There were the overhanging brows, the deep recessed eyes, the surly h at that tiorilla in the flesh, I had seen a coloured picture of the brute, and if that picture had been photographed on the flower the likeness could not have been more perfect
”What is it?” I asked, amazed
”Sir,” said Brother John, sometimes he used this formal term when excited, ”it is the most marvellous Cypripedium in the whole earth, and, sir, I have discovered it A healthy root of that plant will be worth 20,000”
”That's better than gold ot the root?”
Brother John shook his head sadly as he answered: ”No such luck”
”How's that as you have the flower?”
”I'll tell you, Allan For a year past andin the district back of Kilwa and found sos, yes, wonderful At last, about three hundred miles inland, I came to a tribe, or rather, a people, that no white man had ever visited They are called the Mazitu, a numerous and warlike people of bastard Zulu blood”
”I have heard of them,” I interrupted ”They broke north before the days of Senzangakona, two hundred years orthem because they still talk a corrupt Zulu, as do all the tribes in those parts At first they wanted to kill ht that I was mad Everyone thinks that I am mad, Allan; it is a kind of public delusion, whereas I think that I am sane and that ested hurriedly, as I did not wish to discuss Brother John's sanity ”Well, go on about the Mazitu”
”Later they discovered that I had skill in , Bausi, careat external tumour I risked an operation and cured him It was anxious work, for if he had died I should have died too, though that would not have troubled hed ”Of course, froician Also Bausisome of his blood into my veins and some of mine into his I only hope he has not inoculated enital So I became Bausi and Bausi became me In other words, I was as much chief of the Mazitu as he was, and shall reht be useful,” I said, reflectively, ”but go on”
”I learned that on the western boundary of the Mazitu territory were great swamps; that beyond these swae and fertile land supposed to be an island, with a o, and so are the people who live there”
”That is a native naorilla, isn't it?” I asked ”At least so a felloho had been on the West Coast told e, as you will see Now these Pongo are supposed to be great orilla, which, if you are right, accounts for their name Or rather,” he went on, ”they have two Gods The other is that flower you see there Whether the floith the ested the worshi+p of the beast itself, or vice versa, I don't know Indeed I know very little, just what I was told by the Mazitu and a o chief, no more”
”What did they say?”
”The Mazitu said that the Pongo people are devils who cah the reeds in canoes and stole their children and women, whom they sacrificed to their Gods So like hyenas' The men they killed and the women and children they took away The Mazitu want to attack them but cannot do so, because they are not water people and have no canoes, and therefore are unable to reach the island, if it is an island Also they told rows in the place where the ape-God lives, and is worshi+pped like the God They had the story of it from some of their people who had been enslaved and escaped”
”Did you try to get to the island?” I asked
”Yes, Allan That is, I went to the edge of the reeds which lie at the end of a long slope of plain, where the lake begins Here I stopped for soht when I was camped there by o country after sunset, I woke up with a sense that I was no longer alone I crept out of , for dawn drew near, I saw a man who leant upon the handle of a very wide-bladed spear which was taller than hih, I should say, and broad in proportion He wore a long, white cloak reaching froht-fitting cap with lappets, also white In his ears were rings of copper or gold, and on his wrists bracelets of the same metal His skin was intensely black, but the features were not at all negroid They were pro sharp and the lips quite thin; indeed of an Arab type His left hand was bandaged, and on his face was an expression of great anxiety Lastly, he appeared to be about fifty years of age So still did he stand that I began to wonder whether he were one of those ghosts which the Mazitu swore the Pongo wizards send out to haunt their country
”For a long while we stared at each other, for I was determined that I would not speak first or show any concern At last he spoke in a low, deep voice and in Mazitu, or a language so similar that I found it easy to understand
”'Is not your naeetah, O White Lord, and are you not a master of medicine?'
”'Yes,' I answered, 'but who are you who dare to wake me from my sleep?'
”'Lord, I areat man in my own land yonder'
”'Then why do you coo?'
”'Why do you come here alone, White Lord?' he answered evasively
”'What do you want, anyway?' I asked
”'O! Dogeetah, I have been hurt, I want you to cure ed hand
”'Lay down that spear and open your robe that Ithe spear to some distance
”'Norap the hand'
”He did so I lit a reatly, although he asked no questions about it, and by its light exaone From the appearance of the stuhtly with a piece of flexible grass, I judged that it had been bitten off
”'What did this?' I asked
”'Monkey,' he answered, 'poisonous eetah, or tomorrow I die'
”'Why do you not tell your own doctors to cut off the finger, you who are Kalubi, Chief of the Pongo?'
”'No, no,' he replied, shaking his head 'They cannot do it It is not lawful And I, I cannot do it, for if the flesh is black the hand must come off too, and if the flesh is black at the wrist, then the arm must be cut off'
”I sat down onfor the sun to rise, since it was useless to atteht that I had refused his petition and becaitated
”'Be merciful, White Lord,' he prayed, 'do not let me die I am afraid to die Life is bad, but death is worse O! If you refuse host will haunt you till you die also of fear and come to join me What fee do you ask? Gold or ivory or slaves? Say and I will give it'