Part 13 (1/2)
”How true,” reely and profoundly true!”
Oh! I could have boxed his ears
We went into the courtyard again, whither Komba was suifts, or having them borne for them These consisted, I reested to me that their country could not be entirely surrounded by water, since elephants would scarcely live upon an island; gold dust in a gourd and copper bracelets, which showed that it was mineralized; white native linen, very oven, and so that the people had artistic tastes Where did they get thein of their race? I cannot answer the question, for I never found out with any certainty Nor do I think they knew themselves
The indaba was resumed Bausi announced that we three white men with a servant apiece (I stipulated for this) would visit Pongo-land as his envoys, taking no firearms with us, there to discuss terms of peace between the two peoples, and especially the questions of trade and intere Komba was very insistent that this should be included; at the time I wondered why He, Komba, on behalf of the Motombo and the Kalubi, the spiritual and teuaranteed us safe conduct on the understanding that we attempted no insult or violence to the Gods, a stipulation froh I liked it little He swore also that we should be delivered safe and sound in the Mazitu country within six days of our having left its shores
Bausi said that it was good, adding that he would send five hundred armed men to escort us to the place where ere to embark, and to receive us on our return; also that if any hurt cao people for ever until he found reed that ere to start upon our journey on the following
CHAPTER XIII
RICA TOWN
As a matter of fact we did not leave Beza Town till twenty-four hours later than had been arranged, since it took soe of it, to collect and provision our escort of five hundred ot back to our huts we found the two Mazitu bearers, To rather tired It appeared that in order to get rid of their favourable evidence, the ceased witch-doctor, Imbozho for some reason or other had feared to kill them, caused them to be marched off to a distant part of the land where they were imprisoned On the arrival of the news of the fall and death of Imbozwi and his subordinates, they were set at liberty, and at once returned to us at Beza Town
Of course it became necessary to explain to our servants ere about to do When they understood the nature of our proposed expedition they shook their heads, and when they learned that we had prouns behind us, they were speechless with amazement
”Kransick! Kransick!” which means ”ill in the skull,” or ”mad,” exclainificantly ”They have caught it froles in a net, and carries no gun to kill game Well, I knew they would”
The hunters nodded in assent, and Sah in prayer Only Mavovo seemed indifferent Then came the question of which of them was to accompany us
”So far as I ao with un I aht with a spear”
”And I, too, go with the Baas Quaterun I a, as my female ancestors were before me”
”Except when you take medicine, Spotted Snake, and lose yourself in the mist of sleep,” mocked one of the Zulus ”Does that fine bedstead which the king sent you go with you?”
”No, son of a fool!” answered Hans ”I'll lend it to you who do not understand that there is more wisdom within me when I am asleep than there is in you when you are awake”
It remained to be decided who the third man should be As neither of Brother John's two servants, who had accompanied hi ill and the other afraid, Stephen suggested Sammy as the man, chiefly because he could cook
”No, Mr Somers, no,” said Sammy, with earnestness ”At this proposal I draw the thick rope To ask one who can cook to visit a land where he will be cooked, is to seethe the offspring in its parent's ave him up, and after some discussion fixed upon Jerry, a s to acco our preparations which, if siht To my annoyance, at the ti When at length he appeared I asked him where he had been He answered, to cut himself a stick in the forest, as he understood we should have to walk a long way Also he showed , thick staff of a hard and beautiful kind of barows in Mazitu-land
”What do you want that clu for,” I said, ”when there are plenty of sticks about?”
”New journey, new stick! Baas Also this kind of wood is full of air and ht help me to float if we are upset into the water”
”What an idea!” I exclaimed, and dismissed theday, we started, Stephen and I riding on the two donkeys, which were now fat and lusty, and Brother John upon his white ox, a most docile beast that was quite attached to him All the hunters, fully armed, came with us to the borders of the Mazitu country, where they were to await our return in co hiate of the tohere he bade us all, and especially Brother John, an affectionate farewell Moreover, he sent for Koain swore to him that if any harm happened to us, he would not rest till he had found a way to destroy the Pongo, root and branch
”Have no fear,” answered the cold Kouests to stakes to be shot to death with arrows”
The repartee, which was undoubtedly neat, irritated Bausi, as not fond of allusions to this subject
”If the white uns with theically
”If webut few a so many For instance, could we not steal them, as you did when you plotted the o that no such ic weapon shall be allowed to enter their land”
”Why?” I asked, to change the conversation, for I saw that Bausi was growing very wrath and feared complications
”Because,us that when a gun is fired in Pongo-land, its Gods will desert us, and the Moto is very old, but until a little while ago none knehat it meant, since it spoke of 'a hollow spear that smoked,' and such a weapon was not known to us”
”Indeed,” I said,withinabout the fulfil his head sadly, ”was a great pity, a very great pity!”
Three days' radually sloped doards froht us to the lake called Kirua, a hich, I believe, means The Place of the Island Of the lake itself we could see nothing, because of the dense brake of tall reeds which grew out into the shalloater for quite a mile from the shore and was only pierced here and there with paths ht to feed Froh ht I know, may have been one, however, the blue waters beyond were visible, and in the far distance what, looked at through glasses, appeared to be a tree-clad ht be, and he answered that it was the Hoo-land
”What Gods?” I asked again, whereon he replied like a black Herodotus, that of these it was not lawful to speak
I have rarely id and un-African Komba
On the top of this mound we planted the Union Jack, fixed to the tallest pole that we could find Komba asked suspiciously e did so, and as I was determined to show this unsympathetic person that there were others as unpumpable as himself, I replied that it was the God of our tribe, which we set up there to be worshi+pped, and that anyone who tried to insult or injure it, would certainly die, as the witch-doctor, Imbozwi, and his children had found out For once Ko as he passed by
What I did not inforn and a beacon to us in case we should ever be forced to find our way back to this place unguided and in a hurry As a h originated with the most reckless of our party, Stephen, proved our salvation, as I shall tell later on At the foot of the ht, the Mazitu soldiers under Babe theirs nearer to the lake, just opposite to where a wide hippopota a little canal of clear water
I asked Komba when and hoere to cross the lake He said that wewhen, at this tienerally blew off shore, and that if the weather were favourable, we should reach the Pongo town of Rica by nightfall As to hoere to do this, he would show me if I cared to follow hi the edge of the reeds in a southerly direction
As ent, two things happened The first of these was that a very large, black rhinoceros, which was sleeping in soot our wind and, after the fashi+on of these beasts, charged down on us frole-barrelled rifle, for as yet we and our weapons were not parted On came the rhinoceros, and Komba, small blame to him for he only had a spear, started to run I cocked the rifle and waited my chance
When it was not more than fifteen paces away the rhinoceros threw up its head, at which, of course, it was useless to fire because of the horn, and I let drive at the throat The bullet hit it fair, and I suppose penetrated to the heart At any rate, it rolled over and over like a shot rabbit, and with a single stretch of its limbs, expired almost at my feet
Komba was much impressed He returned; he stared at the dead rhinoceros and at the hole in its throat; he stared at reat beast of the plains killed with a noise!” he muttered ”Killed in an instant by this little monkey of a white man” (I thanked hiic Oh! the Motombo hen he commanded--” and with an effort he stopped
”Well, friend, what is the matter?” I asked ”You see there was no need for you to run If you had stepped behind ”
”It is so, lord Macuive ive you, ood deal to learn in Pongo-land”
”Yes, my lord Macu by this time recovered his nerve and sarcastic powers
Then after telling Mavovo, who appearedus in case of accidents-to fetch men to cut up the rhinoceros, Komba and I proceeded on our walk
A little further on, just by the edge of the reeds, I caught sight of a narrow, oblong trench dug in a patch of stony soil, and of a rusted etation