Part 17 (1/2)
”You have hit hihost, for he doesn't like it But he's still very lively”
”Close up,” I answered, ”and hold out the spears while I reload”
My fear was that the brute would rush on us But it did not For all that dreadful nightor heard it no an to hope that after all the bullet had reached soth, it seemed to be weeks afterwards, the dawn broke and revealed us sitting white and shi+vering in the grey one co on Mavovo's shoulder He is a man so equably minded and so devoid of nerves, that I feel sure he will be one of the last to be disturbed by the trunantly when at length we roused his by results, Allan,” he said with a yawn ”I'h you had been to a ball with twelve extras Have you retrieved the Kalubi yet?”
Shortly afterwards, when the mist lifted a little, ent out in a line to ”retrieve the Kalubi,” and found-well, I won't describe e found He was a cruel wretch, as the incident of the herd-boy had told us, but I felt sorry for him Still, his terrors were over, or at least I hope so
We deposited him in the box that Komba had kindly provided in preparation for this inevitable event, and Brother John said a prayer over his miscellaneous remains Then, after consultation and in the very worst of spirits, we set out to seek the way to the hoh, for a distinct, though very faint path led fro up the slope of the hill Afterwards it becaan Fortunately very few creepers grew in this forest, but the flat tops of the huge trees looht
Oh! it was a melancholy journey as, filled with fears, we stole, a pallid throng, fro the only in whispers, lest the sound of our voices should attract the notice of the dreadful God After a mile or two of this we became aware that its notice was attracted despite our precautions, for at ti parallel to us between the boles of the trees Hans wantedthat the chances of hitting it were ses, or rather three caps left, it was necessary to be saving
We halted and held a consultation, as a result of which we decided that there was noto return So ent on, keeping close together To me, as I was the only one with a rifle, was accorded what I did not at all appreciate, the honour of heading the procession
Another half- sound which was produced, I believe, by the great brute beating upon its breast, but noted that it was not so continuous as on the previous night
”Ha!” said Hans, ”he can only strike his drum with one stick now Your bullet broke the other, Baas”
A little farther and the God roared quite close, so loudly that the air seeht, whatever may have happened to the sticks,” I said
A hundred yards or so more and the catastrophe occurred We had reached a spot in the forest where one of the great trees had fallen down, letting in a little light I can see it to this hour There lay the enoriant species of maidenhair fern On our side of it was the open space which ht fell in a perpendicular ray, as it does through the s at this prostrate trunk, I saw first two lurid and fiery eyes that glowed red in the shadow; and then, almost in the same instant, made out what looked like the head of a fiend enclosed in a wreath of the delicate green ferns I can't describe it, I can only repeat that it looked like the head of a very large fiend with a pallid face, huge overhanging eyebrows and great yellow tushes on either side of the et the rifle up, with one terrific roar the brute was on us I saw its enorrey shape on the top of the trunk, I saw it pass ht as a man does, but with the head held forward, and noted that the arh broken Then as I turned I heard a screaripped the poor Mazitu, Jerry, alked last but one of our line which was ended by Mavovo Yes, it had gripped hi him off, clasped to its breast with its sound arrown man and rather inclined to stoutness, looked like a child in that fell eive some idea of the creature's size
Mavovo, who had the courage of a buffalo, charged at it and drove the copper spear he carried into its side They all charged like berserkers, except myself, for even then, thank Heaven! I knew a trick worth two of that In three seconds there was a strugglingBrother John, Stephen, Mavovo and Hans were all stabbing at the enorh their blows seemed to do it no more harm than pinpricks Fortunately for theo of Jerry, and having only one sound arm, could but snap at its assailants, for if it had lifted a foot to rend them, its top-heavy bulk would have caused it to tuth it see down Brother John and Hans with his body Then it leapt on Mavovo, who, seeing it coainst his own breast, with the result that when the gorilla tried to crush hi the pain, it unwound its ar Stephen over with the backward sweep Then it raised its great hand to crush Mavovo with a blow, as I believe gorillas are wont to do
This was the chance for which I aiting Up till thatlest I should kill one of my companions Now for an instant it was clear of thee head and let drive The s quite still, like a creature lost in meditation
Then it threw up its sound ar one pitiful and hideous howl, sank down dead The bullet had entered just behind the ear and buried itself in the brain
The great silence of the forest flowed in over us, as it were; for quite a while no one did or said anything Then from somewhere down amidst the mosses I heard a thin voice, the sound of which re squeezed out of an indiarubber cushi+on
”Very good shot, Baas,” it piped up, ”as good as that which killed the king-vulture at Dingaan's kraal, and more difficult But if the Baas could pull the God off me I should say-Thank you”
The ”thank you” was almost inaudible, and no wonder, for poor Hans had fainted There he lay under the huge bulk of the gorilla, just his nose andbetween the brute's body and its arm Had it not been for the soft cushi+on of wet moss in which he reclined, I think that he would have been crushed flat
We rolled the creature off him somehow and poured a little brandy down his throat, which had a wonderful effect, for in less than afish, and asked forBrother John to exaht h He was quite dead Indeed, he seemed to be crushed out of shape like a buck that has been enveloped in the coils of a boa-constrictor Brother John told me afterwards that both his arms and nearly all his ribs had been broken in that terrible embrace Even his spine was dislocated
I have often wondered why the gorilla ran down the line without touching est that it was because the unlucky Mazitu had sat next to the Kalubi on the previous night, which may have caused the brute to identify him by smell with the priest whom he had learned to hate and killed It is true that Hans had sat on the other side of the Kalubi, but perhaps the odour of the Pongo had not clung to him so much, or perhaps it meant to deal with him after it had done with Jerry
When we knew that the Mazitu was past human help and had discovered to our joy that, save for a few bruises, no one else was really hurt, although Stephen's clothes were half-torn off him, we made an examination of the dead God Truly it was a fearful creature
What its exact weight or size , but I never saw or heard of such an enororilla is really an ape It needed the united strength of the five of us to lift the carcase with a great effort off the fainting Hans and even to roll it from side to side when subsequently we removed the skin I would never have believed that so ancient an animal of its stature, which could not have been more than seven feet when it stood erect, could have been so heavy For ancient undoubtedly it was The long, yellow, canine tusks orn half-aith use; the eyes were sunken far into the skull; the hair of the head, which I aenerally red or broas quite white, and even the bare breast, which should be black, was grey in hue Of course, it was iined that this creature o hundred years or more old, as the Motoested that it should be skinned, and although I saw little prospect of our being able to carry away the hide, I assented and helped in the operation on the h Brother John was restless and ht it necessary that we should have a rest after our fearful anxieties and still more fearful encounter with this consecrated monster So we set to work, and as a result of ed off the hide, which was so tough and thick that, as we found, the copper spears had scarcely penetrated to the flesh The bullet that I had put into it on the previous night struck, we discovered, upon the bone of the upper arm, which it shattered sufficiently to render that liether This, indeed, was fortunate for us, for had the creature retained both its arms uninjured, it would certainly have killed more of us in its attack We were saved only by the fact that when it was hugging Jerry it had no limb left hich it could strike, and luckily did not succeed in its atteet hold with its tremendous jaws that had nipped off the Kalubi's hand as easily as a pair of scissors severs the stalk of a flower
When the skin was removed, except that of the hands, which we did not atteed it out, raw side uppermost, to dry in the centre of the open place where the sun struck Then, having buried poor Jerry in the hollow trunk of the great fallen tree, ashed ourselves with the wet mosses and ate some of the food that reain in much better spirits Jerry, it was true, was dead, but so was the God, leaving us happily still alive and practically untouched Never o-land shi+ver out their lives at the feet of this dreadful divinity who soon or late must become their executioner, for I believe, with the exception of tho coh fear, that no Kalubi was ever known to have died except by the hand-or teeth-of the God
What would I not give to know that brute's history? Could it possibly, as the Motoo people from their hoht here by them in a state of captivity? I am unable to answer the question, but it should be noted that none of the Mazitu or other natives had ever heard of the existence of orillas in this part of Africa The creature, if it had its origin in the locality, must either have been solitary in its habits or driven away from its fellows, as soorilla, become fearfully ferocious
That is all I can say about the brute, though of course the Pongo had their own story According to them it was an evil spirit in the shape of an ape, which evil spirit had once inhabited the body of an early Kalubi, and had been annexed by the ape when it killed the said Kalubi Also they declared that the reason the creature put all the Kalubis to death, as well as a number of other people ere offered up to it, was that it needed ”to refresh itself with the spirits of e It will be remembered that the Motombo referred to this belief, of which afterwards I heard insupernatural about it, at least its ainst a bullet from a Purdey rifle
Only a little way fro, which we guessed at once must be that ”Garden of the God” where twice a year the unfortunate Kalubis were dooarden, several acres of it, lying on a shelf, as it were, of the rew in it, also other sorts of corn, while all round was a thick belt of plantain trees Of course these crops had forry, came to this place and helped itself, as we could see by arden ell kept and comparatively free from weeds At first ondered how this could be, till I remembered that the Kalubi, or someone, had told me that it was tended by the servants of the Mother of the Floere generally albinos or mutes
We crossed it and pushed on rapidly up thean easy and well-beaten path, for no that ere approaching e thought e of a crater Indeed, our excitement was so extreme that we did not speak, only scra, leading at a greater pace than we could equal He was the first to reach our goal, closely followed by Stephen Watching, I saw hih in a swoon Stephen also appeared astonished, for he threw up his hands
I rushed to them, and this hat I saw Beneath us was a steep slope quite bare of forest, which ceased at its crest This slope stretched doards for half a mile or more to the lip of a beautiful lake, of which the area was perhaps two hundred acres Set in the centre of the deep blue water of this lake, which we discovered afterwards to be unfathomable, was an island not more than five and twenty or thirty acres in extent, that seemed to be cultivated, for on it we could see fields, pal trees In the middle of the island stood a small, near house thatched after the fashi+on of the country, but civilized in its appearance, for it was oblong, not round, and encircled by a verandah and a reed fence At a distance from this house were a number of native huts, and in front of it a sh wall, on the top of whichfroasped Stephen excitedly-he could think of nothing but that confounded orchid ”Look, the , and those palive it shade”
”The Mother of the Flower lives there,” whispered Brother John, pointing to the house ”Who is she? Who is she? Suppose I should be mistaken after all God, let me not be mistaken, for it would be more than I can bear”
”We had better try to find out,” I reh I am sure I sympathised with his suspense, and started down the slope at a run
In five minutes or less we reached the foot of it, and, breathless and perspiring though ere, began to search ae of the lake for the canoe of which we had been told by the Kalubi What if there were none? How could we cross that wide stretch of deep water? Presently Hans, who, following certain indications which caught his practised eye, had cast away to the left, held up his hand and whistled We ran to hi in a tiny bush-fringed inlet, that at first sight looked like a heap of dead reeds We tore away at the reeds, and there, sure enough, was a canoe of sufficient size to hold twelve or fourteen people, and in it a nu across that lake
We ca-stage made of poles sunk into the lake We tied up the canoe, or rather I did, for nobody else remembered to take that precaution, and presently were on a path which led through the cultivated fields to the house Here I insisted upon going first with the rifle, in case we should be suddenly attacked The silence and the absence of any huht very well happen, since it would be strange if we had not been seen crossing the lake
Afterwards I discovered why the place see to two reasons First, it was now noontime, an hour at which these poor slaves retired to their huts to eat and sleep through the heat of the day Secondly, although the ”Watcher,” as she was called, had seen the canoe on the water, she concluded that the Kalubi was visiting the Mother of the Flower and, according to practice on these occasions, withdrew herself and everybody else, since the rare s of the Kalubi and the Mother of the Flower partook of the nature of a religious ceremony and must be held in private
First we came to the little enclosure that was planted about with palms and, as I have described, screened withup the wall, peeped over the top
Next instant he was sitting on the ground, having descended froh the head
”Oh! by Jingo!” he ejaculated, ”oh! by Jingo!” and that was all I could get out of hih it is true I did not try very hard at the time
Not five paces from this enclosure stood a tall reed fence that surrounded the house It had a gate also of reeds, which was a little ajar Creeping up to it very cautiously, for I thought I heard a voice within, I peeped through the half-opened gate Four or five feet aas the verandah from which a doorway led into one of the rooms of the house where stood a table on which was food
Kneeling on are, and wearing bracelets and other ornaold One of these appeared to be about forty years of age She was rather stout, fair in colouring, with blue eyes and golden hair that hung down her back The other ht have been about twenty She also was fair, but her eyes were grey and her long hair was of a chestnut hue I saw at once that she was tall and very beautiful The elder wo, while the other, who knelt by her side, listened and looked up vacantly at the sky
”O God,” prayed the woman, ”for Christ's sake look in pity upon us two poor captives, and if it be possible, send us deliverance froe land We thank Thee Who hast protected us unharmed and in health for so many years, and we put our trust in Thy mercy, for Thou alone canst help us Grant, O God, that our dear husband and father ood time we may be reunited to him Or if he be dead and there is no hope for us upon the earth, grant that we, too, may die and find him in Thy Heaven”