Part 5 (1/2)
”No, Mr Quater is extremely fine, and like the poor Hottentot, Hans, I have abjured the use of intoxicants Though we differ on ree”
”Then what the deuce is up?” I interrupted, to cut short his flow of fine language
”Sir, there is trouble on the shi+p” (re Mavovo I started at these words) ”where I passed the night in the company of Mr Somers at his special request” (It was the other way about really) ”This ht that everybody was asleep, the Portuguese captain and soh the anchor quite quietly; also to hoist the sails But Mr So very much awake, came out of the cabin and he sat upon the capstan with a revolver in his hand, saying-well, sir, I will not repeat what he said”
”No, don't What happened then?”
”Then, sir, there followed ee and the Arabs threatened Mr Somers, but he, sir, continued to sit upon the capstan with the stern courage of a rock in a rushi+ng stream, and remarked that he would see them all somewhere before they touched it After this, sir, I do not knohat occurred, since while I watched from the bulwarks so fortunately, a good swiained the shore and hurried here to advise you”
”And did you advise anyone else, you idiot?” I asked
”Yes, sir As I sped along I communicated to an officer of the port that there was the devil of a ate”
By this ti to Mavovo and the others Soon they arrived, for as the costume of Mavovo and his company consisted only of ato dress
”Mavovo,” I began, ”there is trouble on the shi+p--”
”O Baba,” he interrupted with soht I dreamed that I told you--”
”Curse your dreao down-no, that won't work, there would be ht Get the hunters ready; I coe can be fetched afterwards”
Within less than an hour ere at that wharf off which the Maria lay in what one day will be the splendid port of Durban, though in those tily pri band we must have been I, as completely dressed, and I trust tidy, marched ahead Next came Hans in the filthy wide-awake hat which he usually wore and greasy corduroys and after hiinous Sammy arrayed in European reach-ht blue tie striped with red, garments that would have looked very smart had it not been for his recent i Mavovo and his squad of hunters, all of ore the ”ring” or isicoco, as the Zulus call it; that is, a circle of polished black wax sewn into their short hair They were a gri to a recent laas not allowable for theuns had already been shi+pped, while their broad stabbing spears were rolled up in their sleeping rass
Each of thee knobkerry of red-wood, and they marched four by four in martial fashi+on It is true that e eo to the shi+p much of their warlike ardour evaporated, since theseon the land, were terribly afraid of that unfamiliar ele kind of tub, and cli that I saas Stephen seated on the capstan with a pistol in his hand, as Sa on the bulas the villainous-looking Portugee, Delgado, apparently in the worst of te Arab sailors clad in dirty white In front was the Captain of the port, a well-known and esteeentleone through many adventures Accoht, see
”Glad to see you, Quatermain,” he said ”There's some row on here, but I have only just arrived and don't understand Portuguese, and the gentleman on the capstan won't leave it to explain”
”What's up, Stephen?” I asked, after shaking Mr Cato by the hand
”What's up?” replied Soado, ”wanted to sneak out to sea with all our goods, that's all, to say nothing of me and Sammy, whom, no doubt, he'd have chucked overboard, as soon as he was out of sight of land However, Sauese, overheard his little plans and, as you see, I objected”
Well, Delgado was asked for his version of the affair, and, as I expected, explained that he only intended to get a little nearer to the bar and there wait till we arrived Of course he lied and knew that ere aware of the fact and that his intention had been to slip out to sea with all our valuable property, which he would sell after havingcould be proved, and ere now in strong enough force to look after ourselves and our belongings, I did not see the use of pursuing the argument So I accepted the explanation with a s nip
Afterwards Stephen told ht, a e had reached hie of our belongings, saying that he would be glad of so the cook's nervous nature, fortunately enough he o and sleep upon the Maria In thetrouble arose as Sammy had told me What he did not tell me was that he was not knocked overboard, as he said, but took to the water of his own accord, when coado appeared imminent
”I understand the position,” I said, ”and all's well that ends well But it's lucky you thought of coht I sent so effects, which they brought safely aboard, and in the evening we sailed Our voyage up to Kilas beautiful, a gentle breeze driving us forward over a sea so calm that not even Hans, who I think was one of the worst sailors in the world, or the Zulu hunters were really sick, though as Sammy put it, they ”declined their food”
I think it was on the fifth night of our voyage, or it may have been the seventh, that we anchored one afternoon off the island of Kilwa, not very far froado, e had little to do during the passage, hoisted sonal In response a boat ca what he called the Port officials, a band of cut-throat, desperate-looking, black fellows in charge of a pock-marked, elderly half-breed as introduced to us as the Bey Hassan-ben-Mohammed That Mr Hassan-ben-Mohammed entirely disapproved of our presence on the shi+p, and especially of our proposed landing at Kilas evident to me from the moment that I set eyes upon his ill-favoured countenance After a hurried conference with Delgado, he came forward and addressed me in Arabic, of which I could not understand a word Luckily, however, Sauist, had a fair acquaintance with this tongue, acquired, it appears, while at the Zanzibar hotel; so, not trusting Delgado, I called on hi, Saan to talk to Hassan and replied presently: ”Sir, he reat ado, also that you and Mr Solish, a nation which he adores”
”Does he?” I exclaiht it from his looks Thank hi to land here and march up country to shoot”
Sammy obeyed, and the conversation went on somewhat as follows: ”With all humility I (ie Hassan) request you not to land This country is not a fit place for such noble gentleame has been seen for years The people in the interior are savages of the worst sort, whoer has driven to take to cannibalis of you, therefore, to go on in this shi+p to Delagoa Bay, where you will find a good hotel, or to any other place you ht I ask you, noble sir, what is your position at Kilwa, that you consider yourself responsible for our safety?”
H: ”Honoured English lord, I auese nationality, but born of an Arabthat people I have gardens on the mainland, tended by row palround nuts and plantains and many other kinds of produce All the tribes in this district look upon me as their chief and venerated father”
AQ: ”Then, noble Hassan, you will be able to pass us through the that we are peaceful hunters ish to har consultation between Hassan and Delgado, during which I ordered Mavovo to bring his Zulus on deck with their guns) H: ”Honoured English lord, I cannot allow you to land”
AQ: ”noble son of the Prophet, I intend to land with oods early to-lad If not--” and I glanced at the fierce group of hunters behind rieved to use force, but let e ashore I have at least a hundred men armed with rifles, whereas here I see under twenty”
AQ, after reflection and a feords with Stephen Somers: ”Can you tell e you have yet sighted the English ed in watching for the dhows of wicked slavers? A letter from her captain informed me that he would be in these waters by yesterday Perhaps, however, he has been delayed for a day or two”
If I had exploded a bomb at the feet of the excellent Hassan its effect could scarcely have been more remarkable than that of this question He turned-not pale, but a horrible yellow, and exclaione to Aden to refit and would not be back at Zanzibar for four months”
AQ: ”You have been misinformed, noble Hassan She will not refit till October Shall I read you the letter?” and I produced a piece of paper fro since my friend, the captain, whom you remember is named Flowers, mentions you in it He says--”
Hassan waved his hand ”It is enough I see, honoured lord, that you are a man of mettle not easily to be turned from your purpose In the nao wheresoever you like”
AQ: ”I think that I had almost rather wait until the Crocodile coet up the cargo and man your boat Mine too is at the service of these lords You, Captain, will like to get away by this night's tide There is still light, Lord Quatermain, and such hospitality as I can offer is at your service”
AQ: ”Ah! I knew Bey Hassan, that you were only joking with o elsewhere An excellent jest, truly, from one whose hospitality is so famous Well, to fall in with your wishes, ill coado chances to sight the Queen's shi+p Crocodile before he sails, perhaps he will be so good as to signal to us with a rocket”
”Certainly, certainly,” interrupted Delgado, who up to this tiue in which I was speaking to the interpreter, Saave orders to his Arab crew to bring up our belongings from the hold and to lower the Maria's boat
Never did I see goods transferred in quicker ties was off that shi+p, for Stephen Soe went into the Maria's boat, and the goods together with the four donkeys which were lowered on to the top of the to Hassan Here also I was acco their seats in the sth all was ready and we cast off
”Farewell, Captain,” I cried to Delgado ”If you should sight the Crocodile--”
At this point Delgado broke into such a torrent of bad language in Portuguese, Arabic and English that I fear the rest of my remarks never reached him
As ed shorewards I observed that Hans, as seated near toat the sides and bottoht do, and asked him what he was about
”Very odd smell in this boat,” he whispered back in Dutch ”It stinks of Kaffir man, just like the hold of the Maria I think this boat is used to carry slaves”
”Be quiet,” I whispered back, ”and stop nosing at those planks” But to ht, we are in a nest of slave-traders, and this Hassan is their leader
We rowed past the island, on which I observed the ruins of an old Portuguese fort and sorass-roofed huts, where, I reflected, the slaves were probably kept until they could be shi+pped away Observing lance fixed upon these, Hassan hastened to explain, through Sammy, that they were storehouses in which he dried fish and hides, and kept goods
”How interesting!” I answered ”Further south we dry hides in the sun”