Part 14 (1/2)
Reaching a kind of wharf which was protected from erosion by piles formed of small trees driven into the mud, to which were tied a fleet of canoes, we landed just as the sun was beginning to sink Our approach had doubtless been observed, for as we drew near the wharf a horn was blown by someone on the shore, whereon a considerable number of men appeared I suppose out of the huts, and assisted to make the canoe fast I noted that these all resembled Komba and his companions in build and features; they were so like each other that, except for the difference of their ages, it was difficult to tell theht all have been members of one fa to constant inter in the appearance of these tall, cold, sharp-featured, white-robedunnatural and al of the usual African jollity No one shouted, no one laughed or chattered No one crowded on us, trying to handle our persons or clothes No one appeared afraid or even astonished Except for a word or two they were silent,and distant fashi+on, as though the arrival of three white men in a country where before no white man had ever set foot were an everyday occurrence
Moreover, our personal appearance did not seem to i beard and atthese out to each other with their slender fingers or with the handles of their big spears I remarked that they never used the blade of the spear for this purpose, perhaps because they thought that we ht take this for a hostile or even a warlike de to have to add that the only one of our company who seemed to ly and wrinkled countenance, it was clear, did appeal to the in the least like it before, or perhaps for another reason which the reader uess in due course
At any rate, I heard one of the to Hans, ask Komba whether the ape-man was our God or only our captain The compliment seemed to please Hans, who hitherto had never been looked on either as a God or a captain But the rest of us were not flattered; indeed, Mavovo was indignant, and told Hans outright that if he heard any more such talk he would beat him before these people, to show them that he was neither a captain nor a God
”Wait till I claim to be either, O butcher of a Zulu, before you threaten to treat nantly Then he added, with his peculiar Hottentot snigger, ”Still, it is true that before all the meat is eaten (ie before all is done) youwhich at the time we did not understand
When we had landed and collected our belongings, Komba told us to follow him, and led us up a wide street that was very tidily kept and bordered on either side by the large huts whereof I have spoken Each of these huts stood in a fenced garden of its own, a thing I have rarely seen elsewhere in Africa The result of this arrangeh as a matter of fact it had but a comparatively sreat The town, by the as not surrounded with any wall or other fortification, which showed that the inhabitants feared no attack The waters of the lake were their defence
For the rest, the chief characteristic of this place was the silence that brooded there Apparently they kept no dogs, for none barked, and no poultry, for I never heard a cock crow in Pongo-land Cattle and native sheep they had in abundance, but as they did not fear any enemy, these were pastured outside the town, their ht in as required A considerable nuathered to observe us, not in a crowd, but in little faardens
For the most part these consisted of a man and one or more wives, finely formed and handsome women Sometimes they had children with them, but these were very few; the most I saith any one family was three, and many seemed to possess none at all Both the women and the children, like the arments, another peculiarity which showed that these natives were no ordinary African savages
Oh! I can see Rica To after all these arnished, the brown-roofed, white-walled huts in their fertile, irrigated gardens, the tall, silent folk, the sht as a line in the still air, the graceful palms and other tropical trees, and at the head of the street, far away to the north, the rounded, towering shape of the forest-clad mountain that was called House of the Gods Often that vision co hours when soreat tru in profusion upon broad-leaved bushes that were planted in alarden
On we marched till at last we reached a tall, live fence that was covered with brilliant scarlet flowers, arriving at its gate just as the last red glow of day faded froate, revealing a scene that none of us are likely to forget The fence enclosed about an acre of ground of which the back part was occupied by two large huts standing in the usual gardens
In front of these, notof a totally different character It was about fifty feet in length by thirty broad and consisted only of a roof supported upon carved pillars of wood, the spaces between the pillars being filled with grass mats or blinds Most of these blinds were pulled down, but four exactly opposite the gate were open Inside the shed forty or fifty ed in chanting a dreadful, e fire that burned in a pit in the ground On the fourth side, that facing the gate, a man stood alone with his arms outstretched and his back towards us
Of a sudden he heard our footsteps and turned round, springing to the left, so that the light reat fire, that over it was an iron grid not unlike a srid lay some fearful object Stephen, as a little ahead, stared, then exclaimed in a horrified voice: ”My God! it is a wo everything, and the singing ceased
CHAPTER XIV
THE KALUBI'S OATH
”Be silent!” I whispered, and all understoodht have been a picture frolanced at Komba, as a pace or two in front of us Evidently he was much disturbed-the motions of his back told me this-by the sense of some terrible mistake that he had made For a moment he stood still, then wheeled round and asked
”Yes,” I answered indifferently, ” a nu reat moon, now almost at her full, was hidden behind a thick cloud, so that he could not read theh in relief as he said: ”The Kalubi and the head ether on those nights when the e Follow me, white lords”
Then he led us round the end of the long shed at which we did not even look, and through the garden on its farther side to the two fine huts I have mentioned Here he clapped his hands and a wo She went away and presently returned with four or five other women who carried clay lamps filled with oil in which floated a wick of palm fibre These lamps were set down in the huts that proved to be very clean and comfortable places, furnished after a fashi+on ooden stools and a kind of low table of which the legs were carved to the shape of antelope's feet Also there was a wooden platform at the end of the hut whereon lay beds covered with mats and stuffed with some soft fibre
”Here you may rest safe,” he said, ”for, white lords, are you not the honoured guests of the Pongo people? Presently food” (I shuddered at the word) ”will be brought to you, and after you have eaten well, if it is your pleasure, the Kalubi and his councillors will receive you in yonder feast-house and you can talk with theht, strike upon that jar with a stick,” and he pointed to what looked like a copper cauldron that stood in the garden of the hut near the place where the wo a fire, ”and sooods; none are , and here coo to make report to the Kalubi,” and with a courteous bow he departed
So after a while did the silent, handsome women-to fetch our th ere alone
”My aunt!” said Stephen, fanning himself with his pocket-handkerchief, ”did you see that lady toasting? I have often heard of cannibals, those slaves, for instance, but the actual business! Oh!your absent aunt-if you have got one What did you expect if you would insist on coloomily
”Can't say, old fellow Don't trouble myself much with expectations as a rule That's why I and et on I always quoted the text 'Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof' to hith he sent for the fae But I say, do you think that we shall be called upon to understudy St Lawrence on that grid?”
”Certainly, I do,” I replied, ”and, as old Babemba warned you, you can't complain”
”Oh! but I will and I can And so will you, won't you, Brother John?”
Brother John woke up fro beard
”Since you ask me, Mr Somers,” he said, reflectively, ”if it were a case of martyrdom for the Faith, like that of the saint to whom you have alluded, I should not object-at any rate in theory But I confess that, speaking froest dislike to being cooked and eaten by these very disagreeable savages Still, I see no reason to suppose that we shall fall victi in a depressed ue to the contrary, when Hans poked his head into the hut and said: ”Dinner coarden where the tall, iround Now the ht we examined their contents Some were cooked meat covered with a kind of sauce that uishable As a matter of fact, I believe it was etable nature For instance, there was a whole platter full of roastedof so this feast I became aware of a sudden and coetarianis to ht,” I said to hietables are the best diet in a hot climate At any rate I have made uprabbed four of the upper mealie cobs and the top of the pumpkin which I cut off with a knife Somehow I did not seem to fancy that portion of it which touched the platter, for who knehat those dishes ht have contained and how often they ashed
Stephen also appeared to have found salvation on this point, for he, too, patronized the mealie cobs and the pumpkin; so did Mavovo, and so did even that inveterate meat-eater, Hans Only the sio-land, with appetite, and declared that they were good I think that he, being the last of us through the gateway, had not realized what it hich lay upon the grid
At length we finished our si time to fill oneself with squashy pu ani-and washed it doater in preference to the sticky-looking milk which we left to the natives
”Allan,” said Brother John to me in a low voice as we lit our pipes, ”that ridiron was the Kalubi Against the firelight I saw the gap in his hand where I cut away the finger”
”Well, if ant to get any further, you must cultivate hiet further than-that grid? I believe we have been trapped here to be eaten”
Before Brother John could reply, Ko whether our appetites had been good, intimated that the Kalubi and head men were ready to receive us So off ith the exception of Jerry, e left to watch our things, taking with us the presents we had prepared
Komba led us to the feast-house, where the fire in the pit was out, or had been covered over, and the grid and its horrible burden had disappeared Also now all the ht flowed into and illuminated the place Seated in a seateere the Kalubi, who occupied the centre, and eight councillors, all of therey-haired e with, I think, the most nervous countenance that I ever saw His features twitched continually and his hands were never still The eyes, too, as far as I could see theht, were full of terrors
He rose and bowed, but the councillors re-continued and soft clapping of the hands, which, it seeo method of salute
We bowed in answer, then seated ourselves on three stools that had been placed for us, Brother John occupying the middle stool Mavovo and Hans stood behind us, the latter supporting hie bamboo stick As soon as these preliminaries were over the Kalubi called upon Koe as ”You-who-have-passed-the-God,” and ”You-the-Kalubi-to-be” (I thought I saw hiive an account of his mission and of how it ca the white lords there
Ko the Kalubi with every possible title of honour, such as ”Absolute Monarch,” ”Master whose feet I kiss,” ”He whose eyes are fire and whose tongue is a sword,” ”He at whose nod people die,” ”Lord of the Sacrifice, first Taster of the Sacred meat,” ”Beloved of the Gods” (here the Kalubi shrank as though he had been pricked with a spear), ”Second to none on earth save the Motombo the most holy, the most ancient, who comes from heaven and speaks with the voice of heaven,” etc, etc, he gave a clear but brief account of all that had happened in the course of his mission to Beza Town
Especially did he narrate how, in obedience to a e which he had received froo-land, and even accepted the Bausi's invitation to fill that office Only he had stipulated that they should bring with theic weapons which vomited out smoke and death, as the Motombo had commanded At this information the expressive countenance of the Kalubi once more betrayed mental disturbance that I think Ko, and after a pause, Koht, since, not satisfied with our word that this was so, he and his coe before we left Mazitu-land
Therefore, he added, there was no cause to fear that we should bring about the fulfil the Pongo the Gods would desert the land and the people cease to be a people
Having finished his speech, he sat down in a humble place behind us Then the Kalubi, after for of the Mazitu, discoursed at length upon the advantages which would result to both peoples fro peace between them Finally he propounded the articles of such a peace These, it was clear, had been carefully prepared, but to set the, and I doubt whether it was intended that they should Suffice it to say that they provided for intere, free trade between the countries, blood-brotherhood, and other things that I have forgotten, all of which was to be ratified by Bausi taking a daughter of the Kalubi to wife, and the Kalubi taking a daughter of Bausi
We listened in silence, and when he had finished, after a pretended consultation between us, I spoke as the Mouth of Brother John, who, I explained, was too grand a person to talk hi that the proposals seemed fair and reasonable, and that we should be happy to submit them to Bausi and his council on our return
The Kalubi expressed great satisfaction at this statement, but remarked incidentally that first of all the whole matter must be laid before the Motombo for his opinion, without which no State transaction had legal weight ao He added that with our approval he proposed that we should visit his Holiness on thewhen the sun was three hours old, as he lived at a distance of a day's journey froh we had little time to spare, as we understood that the Motombo was old and could not visit us, we, the white lords, would stretch a point and call on hio to bed Then we presented our gifts, which were gracefully accepted, with an intimation that return presents would be o-land
After this the Kalubi took a little stick and broke it, to inti bade hiht we retired to our huts
I should add, because it has a bearing on subsequent events, that on this occasion ere escorted, not by Komba, but by two of the councillors Koood-bye, was no longer present at the council When he left it I cannot say, since it will be remembered that his seat was behind us in the shadow, and none of us saw hio
”What do you make of all that?” I asked the others when the door was shut