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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12051-0.txt b/12051-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8ddbae --- /dev/null +++ b/12051-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14941 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12051 *** + + Dick Sand; or, a Captain at Fifteen by Jules Verne + +[Redactor's Note: _Dick Sand; or, a Captain at Fifteen_, number V018 in +the T&M listing of the works of Jules Verne, is a translation of _Un +capitaine de quinze ans (1878)_. This translation was first published +by George Munro (N.Y.) in 1878 and reprinted many times in the U.S. +This is a different translation from that of Ellen E. Frewer who +translated the book for Sampson and Low in London entitled _Dick Sands, +the Boy Captain_. American translations were often free of the +religious and colonial bias inserted by the English translators of +Verne's works.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +DICK SAND; + +or, + +A CAPTAIN AT FIFTEEN. + +By JULES VERNE, + +_Author of "Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon," "Twenty +Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," "The Mysterious +Island," "Tour of the World in Eighty Days," +"Michael Strogoff," etc., etc._ + +A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS + +52-58 Duane STREET, NEW YORK. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +CONTENTS. + + _PART I._ + + + CHAPTER I. The Brig-Schooner "Pilgrim." + + CHAPTER II. Dick Sand. + + CHAPTER III. The Wreck. + + CHAPTER IV. The Survivors of the "Waldeck." + + CHAPTER V. "S. V." + + CHAPTER VI. A Whale in Sight. + + CHAPTER VII. Preparations. + + CHAPTER VIII. The Jubarte. + + CHAPTER IX. Captain Sand. + + CHAPTER X. The Four Days which Follow. + + CHAPTER XI. Tempest. + + CHAPTER XII. On the Horizon. + + CHAPTER XIII. Land! Land. + + CHAPTER XIV. The Best to Do. + + CHAPTER XV. Harris. + + CHAPTER XVI. On the Way. + + CHAPTER XVII. A Hundred Miles in Ten Days. + + CHAPTER XVIII. The Terrible Word. + + _PART II._ + + CHAPTER I. The Slave Trade. + + CHAPTER II. Harris and Negoro. + + CHAPTER III. On the March. + + CHAPTER IV. The Bad Roads of Angola. + + CHAPTER V. Ants and their Dwelling. + + CHAPTER VI. The Diving-Bell. + + CHAPTER VII. In Camp on the Banks of the Coanza. + + CHAPTER VIII. Some of Dick Sand's Notes. + + CHAPTER IX. Kazounde. + + CHAPTER X. The Great Market-day. + + CHAPTER XI. The King of Kazounde is Offered a Punch. + + CHAPTER XII. A Royal Burial. + + CHAPTER XIII. The Interior of a Factory. + + CHAPTER XIV. Some News of Dr. Livingston. + + CHAPTER XV. Where a Manticore may Lead. + + CHAPTER XVI. A Magician. + + CHAPTER XVII. Drifting. + + CHAPTER XVIII. Various Incidents. + + CHAPTER XIX. "S. V." + + CHAPTER XX. Conclusion. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +DICK SAND + +_PART I._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BRIG-SCHOONER "PILGRIM." + + +On February 2, 1876, the schooner "Pilgrim" was in latitude 43° 57' +south, and in longitude 165° 19' west of the meridian of Greenwich. + +This vessel, of four hundred tons, fitted out at San Francisco for +whale-fishing in the southern seas, belonged to James W. Weldon, a rich +Californian ship-owner, who had for several years intrusted the command +of it to Captain Hull. + +The "Pilgrim" was one of the smallest, but one of the best of that +flotilla, which James W. Weldon sent each season, not only beyond +Behring Strait, as far as the northern seas, but also in the quarters +of Tasmania or of Cape Horn, as far as the Antarctic Ocean. She sailed +in a superior manner. Her very easily managed rigging permitted her to +venture, with a few men, in sight of the impenetrable fields of ice of +the southern hemisphere. Captain Hull knew how to disentangle himself, +as the sailors say, from among those icebergs, which, during the +summer, drift by the way of New Zealand or the Cape of Good Hope, under +a much lower latitude than that which they reach in the northern seas +of the globe. It is true that only icebergs of small dimensions were +found there; they were already worn by collisions, eaten away by the +warm waters, and the greater number of them were going to melt in the +Pacific or the Atlantic. + +Under the command of Captain Hull, a good seaman, and also one of the +most skilful harpooners of the flotilla, was a crew composed of five +sailors and a novice. It was a small number for this whale-fishing, +which requires a good many persons. Men are necessary as well for the +management of the boats for the attack, as for the cutting up of the +captured animals. But, following the example of certain ship-owners, +James W. Weldon found it much more economical to embark at San +Francisco only the number of sailors necessary for the management of +the vessel. New Zealand did not lack harpooners, sailors of all +nationalities, deserters or others, who sought to be hired for the +season, and who followed skilfully the trade of fishermen. The busy +period once over, they were paid, they were put on shore, and they +waited till the whalers of the following year should come to claim +their services again. There was obtained by this method better work +from the disposable sailors, and a much larger profit derived by their +co-operation. + +They had worked in this way on board the "Pilgrim." + +The schooner had just finished her season on the limit of the Antarctic +Circle. But she had not her full number of barrels of oil, of coarse +whalebones nor of fine. Even at that period, fishing was becoming +difficult. The whales, pursued to excess, were becoming rare. The +"right" whale, which bears the name of "North Caper," in the Northern +Ocean, and that of "Sulphur Bottom," in the South Sea, was likely to +disappear. The whalers had been obliged to fall back on the finback or +jubarte, a gigantic mammifer, whose attacks are not without danger. + +This is what Captain Hull had done during this cruise; but on his next +voyage he calculated on reaching a higher latitude, and, if necessary, +going in sight of Clarie and Adelie Lands, whose discovery, contested +by the American Wilkes, certainly belongs to the illustrious commander +of the "Astrolabe" and the Zelee, to the Frenchman, Dumont d'Urville. + +In fact, the season had not been favorable for the "Pilgrim." In the +beginning of January, that is to say, toward the middle of the Southern +summer, and even when the time for the whalers to return had not yet +arrived Captain Hull had been obliged to abandon the fishing places. +His additional crew--a collection of pretty sad subjects--gave him an +excuse, as they say, and he determined to separate from them. + +The "Pilgrim" then steered to the northwest, for New Zealand, which she +sighted on the 15th of January. She arrived at Waitemata, port of +Auckland, situated at the lowest end of the Gulf of Chouraki, on the +east coast of the northern island, and landed the fishermen who had +been engaged for the season. + +The crew was not satisfied. The cargo of the "Pilgrim" was at least two +hundred barrels of oil short. There had never been worse fishing. +Captain Hull felt the disappointment of a hunter who, for the first +time, returns as he went away--or nearly so. His self-love, greatly +excited, was at stake, and he did not pardon those scoundrels whose +insubordination had compromised the results of his cruise. + +It was in vain that he endeavored to recruit a new fishing crew at +Auckland. All the disposable seamen were embarked on the other whaling +vessels. He was thus obliged to give up the hope of completing the +"Pilgrim's" cargo, and Captain Hull was preparing to leave Auckland +definitely, when a request for a passage was made which he could not +refuse. + +Mrs. Weldon, wife of the "Pilgrim's" owner, was then at Auckland with +her young son Jack, aged about five years, and one of her relatives, +her Cousin Benedict. James W. Weldon, whom his business operations +sometimes obliged to visit New Zealand, had brought the three there, +and intended to bring them back to San Francisco. + +But, just as the whole family was going to depart, little Jack became +seriously ill, and his father, imperatively recalled by his business, +was obliged to leave Auckland, leaving his wife, his son, and Cousin +Benedict there. + +Three months had passed away--three long months of separation, which +were extremely painful to Mrs. Weldon. Meanwhile her young child was +restored to health, and she was at liberty to depart, when she was +informed of the arrival of the "Pilgrim." + +Now, at that period, in order to return to San Francisco, Mrs. Weldon +found herself under the necessity of going to Australia by one of the +vessels of the Golden Age Trans-oceanic Company, which ply between +Melbourne and the Isthmus of Panama by Papeiti. Then, once arrived at +Panama, it would be necessary for her to await the departure of the +American steamer, which establishes a regular communication between the +Isthmus and California. Thence, delays, trans-shipments, always +disagreeable for a woman and a child. It was just at this time that the +"Pilgrim" came into port at Auckland. Mrs. Weldon did not hesitate, but +asked Captain Hull to take her on board to bring her back to San +Francisco--she, her son, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, an old negress who +had served her since her infancy. Three thousand marine leagues to +travel on a sailing vessel! But Captain Hull's ship was so well +managed, and the season still so fine on both sides of the Equator! +Captain Hull consented, and immediately put his own cabin at the +disposal of his passenger. He wished that, during a voyage which might +last forty or fifty days, Mrs. Weldon should be installed as well as +possible on board the whaler. + +There were then certain advantages for Mrs. Weldon in making the voyage +under these conditions. The only disadvantage was that this voyage +would be necessarily prolonged in consequence of this circumstance--the +"Pilgrim" would go to Valparaiso, in Chili, to effect her unloading. +That done, there would be nothing but to ascend the American coast, +with land breezes, which make these parts very agreeable. + +Besides, Mrs. Weldon was a courageous woman, whom the sea did not +frighten. Then thirty years of age, she was of robust health, being +accustomed to long voyages, for, having shared with her husband the +fatigues of several passages, she did not fear the chances more or less +contingent, of shipping on board a ship of moderate tonnage. She knew +Captain Hull to be an excellent seaman, in whom James W. Weldon had +every confidence. The "Pilgrim" was a strong vessel, capital sailer, +well quoted in the flotilla of American whalers. The opportunity +presented itself. It was necessary to profit by it. Mrs. Weldon did +profit by it. + +Cousin Benedict--it need not be said--would accompany her. + +This cousin was a worthy man, about fifty years of age. But, +notwithstanding his fifty years, it would not have been prudent to let +him go out alone. Long, rather than tall, narrow, rather than thin, his +figure bony, his skull enormous and very hairy, one recognized in his +whole interminable person one of those worthy savants, with gold +spectacles, good and inoffensive beings, destined to remain great +children all their lives, and to finish very old, like centenaries who +would die at nurse. + +"Cousin Benedict"--he was called so invariably, even outside of the +family, and, in truth, he was indeed one of those good men who seem to +be the born cousins of all the world--Cousin Benedict, always impeded +by his long arms and his long limbs, would be absolutely incapable of +attending to matters alone, even in the most ordinary circumstances of +life. He was not troublesome, oh! no, but rather embarrassing for +others, and embarrassed for himself. Easily satisfied, besides being +very accommodating, forgetting to eat or drink, if some one did not +bring him something to eat or drink, insensible to the cold as to the +heat, he seemed to belong less to the animal kingdom than to the +vegetable kingdom. One must conceive a very useless tree, without fruit +and almost without leaves, incapable of giving nourishment or shelter, +but with a good heart. + +Such was Cousin Benedict. He would very willingly render service to +people if, as Mr. Prudhomme would say, he were capable of rendering it. + +Finally, his friends loved him for his very feebleness. Mrs. Weldon +regarded him as her child--a large elder brother of her little Jack. + +It is proper to add here that Cousin Benedict was, meanwhile, neither +idle nor unoccupied. On the contrary, he was a worker. His only +passion--natural history--absorbed him entirely. + +To say "Natural History" is to say a great deal. + +We know that the different parts of which this science is composed are +zoology, botany, mineralogy, and geology. + +Now Cousin Benedict was, in no sense, a botanist, nor a mineralogist, +nor a geologist. + +Was he, then, a zoologist in the entire acceptation of the word, a kind +of Cuvier of the New World, decomposing an animal by analysis, or +putting it together again by synthesis, one of those profound +connoisseurs, versed in the study of the four types to which modern +science refers all animal existence, vertebrates, mollusks, +articulates, and radiates? Of these four divisions, had the artless but +studious savant observed the different classes, and sought the orders, +the families, the tribes, the genera, the species, and the varieties +which distinguish them? + +No. + +Had Cousin Benedict devoted himself to the study of the vertebrates, +mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes? + +No. + +Was it to the mollusks, from the cephalopodes to the bryozoans, that he +had given his preference, and had malacology no more secrets for him? + +Not at all. + +Then it was on the radiates, echinoderms, acalephes, polypes, +entozoons, sponges, and infusoria, that he had for such a long time +burned the midnight oil? + +It must, indeed, be confessed that it was not on the radiates. + +Now, in zoology there only remains to be mentioned the division of the +articulates, so it must be that it was on this division that Cousin +Benedict's only passion was expended. + +Yes, and still it is necessary to select. + +This branch of the articulates counts six classes: insects, myriapodes, +arachnides, crustaceans, cirrhopodes, and annelides. + +Now, Cousin Benedict, scientifically speaking, would not know how to +distinguish an earth-worm from a medicinal leech, a sand-fly from a +glans-marinus, a common spider from a false scorpion, a shrimp from a +frog, a gally-worm from a scolopendra. + +But, then, what was Cousin Benedict? Simply an entomologist--nothing +more. + +To that, doubtless, it may be said that in its etymological +acceptation, entomology is that part of the natural sciences which +includes all the articulates. That is true, in a general way; but it is +the custom to give this word a more restricted sense. It is then only +applied, properly speaking, to the study of insects, that is to say: +"All the articulate animals of which the body, composed of rings placed +end to end, forms three distinct segments, and which possesses three +pairs of legs, which have given them the name of hexapodes." + +Now, as Cousin Benedict had confined himself to the study of the +articulates of this class, he was only an entomologist. + +But, let us not be mistaken about it. In this class of the insects are +counted not less than ten orders: + + 1. Orthopterans as grasshoppers, crickets, etc. + 2. Neuropters as ant-eaters, dragon-flies or libellula. + 3. Hymenopters as bees, wasps, ants. + 4. Lepidopters as butterflies, etc. + 5. Hemipters as cicada, plant-lice, fleas, etc. + 6. Coleopters as cockchafers, fire-flies, etc. + 7. Dipters as gnats, musquitoes, flies. + 8. Rhipipters as stylops. + 9. Parasites as acara, etc. + 10. Thysanurans as lepidotus, flying-lice, etc. + +Now, in certain of these orders, the coleopters, for example, there are +recognized thirty thousand species, and sixty thousand in the dipters; +so subjects for study are not wanting, and it will be conceded that +there is sufficient in this class alone to occupy a man! + +Thus, Cousin Benedict's life was entirely and solely consecrated to +entomology. + +To this science he gave all his hours--all, without exception, even the +hours of sleep, because he invariably dreamt "hexapodes." That he +carried pins stuck in his sleeves and in the collar of his coat, in the +bottom of his hat, and in the facings of his vest, need not be +mentioned. + +When Cousin Benedict returned from some scientific promenade his +precious head-covering in particular was no more than a box of natural +history, being bristling inside and outside with pierced insects. + +And now all will be told about this original when it is stated, that it +was on account of his passion for entomology that he had accompanied +Mr. and Mrs. Weldon to New Zealand. There his collection was enriched +by some rare subjects, and it will be readily understood that he was in +haste to return to classify them in the cases of his cabinet in San +Francisco. + +So, as Mrs. Weldon and her child were returning to America by the +"Pilgrim," nothing more natural than for Cousin Benedict to accompany +them during that passage. + +But it was not on him that Mrs. Weldon could rely, if she should ever +find herself in any critical situation. Very fortunately, the prospect +was only that of a voyage easily made during the fine season, and on +board of a ship whose captain merited all her confidence. + +During the three days that the "Pilgrim" was in port at Waitemata, Mrs. +Weldon made her preparations in great haste, for she did not wish to +delay the departure of the schooner. The native servants whom she +employed in her dwelling in Auckland were dismissed, and, on the 22d +January, she embarked on board the "Pilgrim," bringing only her son +Jack, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, her old negress. + +Cousin Benedict carried all his curious collection of insects in a +special box. In this collection figured, among others, some specimens +of those new staphylins, species of carnivorous coleopters, whose eyes +are placed above the head, and which, till then, seemed to be peculiar +to New Caledonia. A certain venomous spider, the "katipo," of the +Maoris, whose bite is often fatal to the natives, had been very highly +recommended to him. But a spider does not belong to the order of +insects properly so called; it is placed in that of the arachnida, and, +consequently, was valueless in Cousin Benedict's eyes. Thus he scorned +it, and the most beautiful jewel of his collection was a remarkable +staphylin from New Zealand. + +It is needless to say that Cousin Benedict, by paying a heavy premium, +had insured his cargo, which to him seemed much more precious than all +the freight of oil and bones stowed away in the hold of the "Pilgrim." + +Just as the "Pilgrim" was getting under sail, when Mrs. Weldon and her +companion for the voyage found themselves on the deck of the schooner, +Captain Hull approached his passenger: + +"It is understood, Mrs. Weldon," he said to her, "that, if you take +passage on board the 'Pilgrim,' it is on your own responsibility." + +"Why do you make that observation to me, Mr. Hull?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Because I have not received an order from your husband in regard to +it, and, all things considered, a schooner cannot offer you the +guarantees of a good passage, like a packet-boat, specially intended to +carry travelers." + +"If my husband were here," replied Mrs. Weldon, "do you think, Mr. +Hull, that he would hesitate to embark on the 'Pilgrim,' in company +with his wife and child?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, he would not hesitate," said Captain Hull; "no, +indeed! no more than I should hesitate myself! The 'Pilgrim' is a good +ship after all, even though she has made but a sad cruise, and I am +sure of her, as much so as a seaman can be of the ship which he has +commanded for several years. The reason I speak, Mrs. Weldon, is to get +rid of personal responsibility, and to repeat that you will not find on +board the comfort to which you have been accustomed." + +"As it is only a question of comfort, Mr. Hull," replied Mrs. Weldon, +"that should not stop me. I am not one of those troublesome passengers +who complain incessantly of the narrowness of the cabins, and the +insufficiency of the table." + +Then, after looking for a few moments at her little Jack, whom she held +by the hand, Mrs. Weldon said: + +"Let us go, Mr. Hull!" + +The orders were given to get under way at once, the sails were set, and +the "Pilgrim," working to get out to sea in the shortest time possible, +steered for the American coast. + +But, three days after her departure, the schooner, thwarted by strong +breezes from the east, was obliged to tack to larboard to make headway +against the wind. So, at the date of February 2d, Captain Hull still +found himself in a higher latitude than he would have wished, and in +the situation of a sailor who wanted to double Cape Horn rather than +reach the New Continent by the shortest course. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DICK SAND. + + +Meanwhile the sea was favorable, and, except the delays, navigation +would be accomplished under very supportable conditions. + +Mrs. Weldon had been installed on board the "Pilgrim" as comfortably as +possible. + +Neither poop nor "roufle" was at the end of the deck. There was no +stern cabin, then, to receive the passengers. She was obliged to be +contented with Captain Hull's cabin, situated aft, which constituted +his modest sea lodging. And still it had been necessary for the captain +to insist, in order to make her accept it. There, in that narrow +lodging, was installed Mrs. Weldon, with her child and old Nan. She +took her meals there, in company with the captain and Cousin Benedict, +for whom they had fitted up a kind of cabin on board. + +As to the commander of the "Pilgrim," he had settled himself in a cabin +belonging to the ship's crew--a cabin which would be occupied by the +second officer, if there were a second one on board. But the +brig-schooner was navigated, we know, under conditions which enabled +her to dispense with the services of a second officer. + +The men of the "Pilgrim," good and strong seamen, were very much united +by common ideas and habits. This fishing season was the fourth which +they had passed together. All Americans of the West, they were +acquainted for a long period, and belonged to the same coast of the +State of California. + +These brave men showed themselves very thoughtful towards Mrs. Weldon, +the wife of the owner of their ship, for whom they professed boundless +devotion. It must be said that, largely interested in the profits of +the ship, they had navigated till then with great gain. If, by reason +of their small number, they did not spare themselves, it was because +every labor increased their earnings in the settling of accounts at the +end of each season. This time, it is true, the profit would be almost +nothing, and that gave them just cause to curse and swear against those +New Zealand scoundrels. + +One man on board, alone among all, was not of American origin. +Portuguese by birth, but speaking English fluently, he was called +Negoro, and filled the humble position of cook on the schooner. + +The "Pilgrim's" cook having deserted at Auckland, this Negoro, then out +of employment, offered himself for the place. He was a taciturn man, +not at all communicative, who kept to himself, but did his work +satisfactorily. In engaging him, Captain Hull seemed to be rather +fortunate, and since embarking, the master cook had merited no reproach. + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull regretted not having had the time to inform +himself sufficiently about Negoro's antecedents. His face, or rather +his look, was only half in his favor, and when it is necessary to bring +an unknown into the life on board, so confined, so intimate, his +antecedents should be carefully inquired into. + +Negoro might be forty years old. Thin, nervous, of medium height, with +very brown hair, skin somewhat swarthy, he ought to be strong. Had he +received any instruction? Yes; that appeared in certain observations +which escaped him sometimes. Besides, he never spoke of his past life, +he said not a word about his family. Whence he came, where he had +lived, no one could tell. What would his future be? No one knew any +more about that. He only announced his intention of going on shore at +Valparaiso. He was certainly a singular man. At all events, he did not +seem to be a sailor. He seemed to be even more strange to marine things +than is usual with a master cook, part of whose existence is passed at +sea. + +Meanwhile, as to being incommoded by the rolling and pitching of the +ship, like men who have never navigated, he was not in the least, and +that is something for a cook on board a vessel. + +Finally, he was little seen. During the day, he most generally remained +confined in his narrow kitchen, before the stove for melting, which +occupied the greater part of it. When night came and the fire in the +stove was out, Negoro went to the cabin which was assigned to him at +the end of the crew's quarters. Then he went to bed at once and went to +sleep. + +It has been already said that the "Pilgrim's" crew was composed of five +sailors and a novice. + +This young novice, aged fifteen, was the child of an unknown father and +mother. This poor being, abandoned from his birth, had been received +and brought up by public charity. + +Dick Sand--that was his name--must have been originally from the State +of New York, and doubtless from the capital of that State. + +If the name of Dick--an abbreviation of Richard--had been given to the +little orphan, it was because it was the name of the charitable +passer-by who had picked him up two or three hours after his birth. As +to the name of Sand, it was attributed to him in remembrance of the +place where he had been found; that is to say, on that point of land +called Sandy-Hook, which forms the entrance of the port of New York, at +the mouth of the Hudson. + +Dick Sand, when he should reach his full growth, would not exceed +middle height, but he was well built. One could not doubt that he was +of Anglo-Saxon origin. He was brown, however, with blue eyes, in which +the crystalline sparkled with ardent fire. His seaman's craft had +already prepared him well for the conflicts of life. His intelligent +physiognomy breathed forth energy. It was not that of an audacious +person, it was that of a darer. These three words from an unfinished +verse of Virgil are often cited: + + "Audaces fortuna juvat".... + +but they are quoted incorrectly. The poet said: + + "Audentes fortuna juvat".... + +It is on the darers, not on the audacious, that Fortune almost always +smiled. The audacious may be unguarded. The darer thinks first, acts +afterwards. There is the difference! + +Dick Sand was _audens_. + +At fifteen he already knew how to take a part, and to carry out to the +end whatever his resolute spirit had decided upon. His manner, at once +spirited and serious, attracted attention. He did not squander himself +in words and gestures, as boys of his age generally do. Early, at a +period of life when they seldom discuss the problems of existence, he +had looked his miserable condition in the face, and he had promised "to +make" himself. + +And he had made himself--being already almost a man at an age when +others are still only children. + +At the same time, very nimble, very skilful in all physical exercises, +Dick Sand was one of those privileged beings, of whom it may be said +that they were born with two left feet and two right hands. In that +way, they do everything with the right hand, and always set out with +the left foot. + +Public charity, it has been said, had brought up the little orphan. He +had been put first in one of those houses for children, where there is +always, in America, a place for the little waifs. Then at four, Dick +learned to read, write and count in one of those State of New York +schools, which charitable subscriptions maintain so generously. + +At eight, the taste for the sea, which Dick had from birth, caused him +to embark as cabin-boy on a packet ship of the South Sea. There he +learned the seaman's trade, and as one ought to learn it, from the +earliest age. Little by little he instructed himself under the +direction of officers who were interested in this little old man. So +the cabin-boy soon became the novice, expecting something better, of +course. The child who understands, from the beginning, that work is the +law of life, the one who knows, from an early age, that he will gain +his bread only by the sweat of his brow--a Bible precept which is the +rule of humanity--that one is probably intended for great things; for +some day he will have, with the will, the strength to accomplish them. + +It was, when he was a cabin-boy on board a merchant vessel, that Dick +Sand was remarked by Captain Hull. This honest seaman immediately +formed a friendship with this honest young boy, and later he made him +known to the ship-owner, James W. Weldon. The latter felt a lively +interest in this orphan, whose education he completed at San Francisco, +and he had him brought up in the Catholic religion, to which his family +adhered. + +During the course of his studies, Dick Sand showed a particular liking +for geography, for voyages, while waiting till he was old enough to +learn that branch of mathematics which relates to navigation. Then to +this theoretical portion of his instruction, he did not neglect to join +the practical. It was as novice that he was able to embark for the +first time on the "Pilgrim." A good seaman ought to understand fishing +as well as navigation. It is a good preparation for all the +contingencies which the maritime career admits of. Besides, Dick Sand +set out on a vessel of James W. Weldon's, his benefactor, commanded by +his protector, Captain Hull. Thus he found himself in the most +favorable circumstances. + +To speak of the extent of his devotion to the Weldon family, to whom he +owed everything, would be superfluous. Better let the facts speak for +themselves. But it will be understood how happy the young novice was +when he learned that Mrs. Weldon was going to take passage on board the +"Pilgrim." Mrs. Weldon for several years had been a mother to him, and +in Jack he saw a little brother, all the time keeping in remembrance +his position in respect to the son of the rich ship-owner. But--his +protectors knew it well--this good seed which they had sown had fallen +on good soil. The orphan's heart was filled with gratitude, and some +day, if it should be necessary to give his life for those who had +taught him to instruct himself and to love God, the young novice would +not hesitate to give it. Finally, to be only fifteen, but to act and +think as if he were thirty, that was Dick Sand. + +Mrs. Weldon knew what her _protégé_ was worth. She could trust little +Jack with him without any anxiety. Dick Sand cherished this child, who, +feeling himself loved by this "large brother," sought his company. +During those long leisure hours, which are frequent in a voyage, when +the sea is smooth, when the well set up sails require no management, +Dick and Jack were almost always together. The young novice showed the +little boy everything in his craft which seemed amusing. + +Without fear Mrs. Weldon saw Jack, in company with Dick Sand, spring +out on the shrouds, climb to the top of the mizzen-mast, or to the +booms of the mizzen-topmast, and come down again like an arrow the +whole length of the backstays. Dick Sand went before or followed him, +always ready to hold him up or keep him back, if his six-year-old arms +grew feeble during those exercises. All that benefited little Jack, +whom sickness had made somewhat pale; but his color soon came back on +board the "Pilgrim," thanks to this gymnastic, and to the bracing +sea-breezes. + +So passed the time. Under these conditions the passage was being +accomplished, and only the weather was not very favorable, neither the +passengers nor the crew of the "Pilgrim" would have had cause to +complain. + +Meanwhile this continuance of east winds made Captain Hull anxious. He +did not succeed in getting the vessel into the right course. Later, +near the Tropic of Capricorn, he feared finding calms which would delay +him again, without speaking of the equatorial current, which would +irresistibly throw him back to the west. He was troubled then, above +all, for Mrs. Weldon, by the delays for which, meanwhile, he was not +responsible. So, if he should meet, on his course, some transatlantic +steamer on the way toward America, he already thought of advising his +passenger to embark on it. Unfortunately, he was detained in latitudes +too high to cross a steamer running to Panama; and, besides, at that +period communication across the Pacific, between Australia and the New +World, was not as frequent as it has since become. + +It then was necessary to leave everything to the grace of God, and it +seemed as if nothing would trouble this monotonous passage, when the +first incident occurred precisely on that day, February 2d, in the +latitude and longitude indicated at the beginning of this history. + +Dick Sand and Jack, toward nine o'clock in the morning, in very clear +weather, were installed on the booms of the mizzen-topmast. Thence they +looked down on the whole ship and a portion of the ocean in a largo +circumference. Behind, the perimeter of the horizon was broken to their +eyes, only by the mainmast, carrying brigantine and fore-staff. That +beacon hid from them a part of the sea and the sky. In the front, they +saw the bowsprit stretching over the waves, with its three jibs, which +were hauled tightly, spread out like three great unequal wings. +Underneath rounded the foremast, and above, the little top-sail and +the little gallant-sail, whose bolt-rope quivered with the pranks of +the breeze. The schooner was then running on the larboard tack, and +hugging the wind as much as possible. + +Dick Sand explained to Jack how the "Pilgrim," ballasted properly, well +balanced in all her parts, could not capsize, even if she gave a pretty +strong heel to starboard, when the little boy interrupted him. + +"What do I see there?" said he. + +"You see something, Jack?" demanded Dick Sand, who stood up straight on +the booms. + +"Yes--there!" replied little Jack, showing a point of the sea, left +open by the interval between the stays of the standing-jib and the +flying-jib. + +Dick Sand looked at the point indicated attentively, and forthwith, +with a loud voice, he cried; + +"A wreck to windward, over against starboard!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE WRECK. + + +Dick Sand's cry brought all the crew to their feet. The men who were +not on watch came on deck. Captain Hull, leaving his cabin, went toward +the bow. + +Mrs. Weldon, Nan, even the indifferent Cousin Benedict himself, came to +lean over the starboard rail, so as to see the wreck signaled by the +young novice. + +Negoro, alone, did not leave the cabin, which served him for a kitchen; +and as usual, of all the crew, he was the only one whom the encounter +with a wreck did not appear to interest. + +Then all regarded attentively the floating object which the waves were +rocking, three miles from the "Pilgrim." + +"Ah! what can that be?" said a sailor. + +"Some abandoned raft," replied another. + +"Perhaps there are some unhappy shipwrecked ones on that raft," said +Mrs. Weldon. + +"We shall find out," replied Captain Hull. "But that wreck is not a +raft. It is a hull thrown over on the side." + +"Ah! is it not more likely to be some marine animal--some mammifer of +great size?" observed Cousin Benedict. + +"I do not think so," replied the novice. + +"Then what is your idea, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"An overturned hull, as the captain has said, Mrs. Weldon. It even +seems to me that I see its copper keel glistening in the sun." + +"Yes--indeed," replied Captain Hull. Then addressing the helmsman: +"Steer to the windward, Bolton. Let her go a quarter, so as to come +alongside the wreck." + +"Yes, sir," replied the helmsman. + +"But," continued Cousin Benedict, "I keep to what I have said. +Positively it is an animal." + +"Then this would be a whale in copper," replied Captain Hull, "for, +positively, also, I see it shine in the sun!" + +"At all events, Cousin Benedict," added Mrs. Weldon, "you will agree +with us that this whale must be dead, for it is certain that it does +not make the least movement." + +"Ah! Cousin Weldon," replied Cousin Benedict, who was obstinate, "this +would not be the first time that one has met a whale sleeping on the +surface of the waves." + +"That is a fact," replied Captain Hull; "but to-day, the thing is not a +whale, but a ship." + +"We shall soon see," replied Cousin Benedict, who, after all, would +give all the mammifers of the Arctic or Antarctic seas for an insect of +a rare species. + +"Steer, Bolton, steer!" cried Captain Hull again, "and do not board the +wreck. Keep a cable's length. If we cannot do much harm to this hull, +it might cause us some damage, and I do not care to hurt the sides of +the 'Pilgrim' with it. Tack a little, Bolton, tack!" + +The "Pilgrim's" prow, which had been directed toward the wreck, was +turned aside by a slight movement of the helm. + +The schooner was still a mile from the capsized hull. The sailors were +eagerly looking at it. Perhaps it held a valuable cargo, which it would +be possible to transfer to the "Pilgrim." We know that, in these +salvages, the third of the value belongs to the rescuers, and, in this +case, if the cargo was not damaged, the crew, as they say, would make +"a good haul." This would be a fish of consolation for their incomplete +fishing. + +A quarter of an hour later the wreck was less than a mile from the +"Pilgrim." + +It was indeed a ship, which presented itself on its side, to the +starboard. Capsized as far as the nettings, she heeled so much that it +would be almost impossible to stand upon her deck. Nothing could be +seen beyond her masts. From the port-shrouds were banging only some +ends of broken rope, and the chains broken by the cloaks of +white-crested waves. On the starboard side opened a large hole between +the timbers of the frame-work and the damaged planks. + +"This ship has been run into," cried Dick Sand. + +"There is no doubt of that," replied Captain Hull; "and it is a miracle +that she did not sink immediately." + +"If there has been a collision," observed Mrs. Weldon, "we must hope +that the crew of this ship has been picked up by those who struck her." + +"It is to be hoped so, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain, Hull, "unless +this crew sought refuge in their own boats after the collision, in case +the colliding vessel should sail right on--which, alas! sometimes +happens." + +"Is it possible? That would be a proof of very great inhumanity, Mr. +Hull." + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon. Yes! and instances are not wanting. As to the crew +of this ship, what makes me believe that it is more likely they have +left it, is that I do not see a single boat; and, unless the men on +board have been picked up, I should be more inclined to think that they +have tried to roach the land. But, at this distance from the American +continent, or from the islands of Oceanica, it is to be feared that +they have not succeeded." + +"Perhaps," said Mrs. Weldon, "we shall never know the secret of this +catastrophe. Meanwhile, it might be possible that some man of the crew +is still on board." + +"That is not probable, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. "Our +approach would be already known, and they would make some signals to +us. But we shall make sure of it.--Luff a little, Bolton, luff," cried +Captain Hull, while indicating with his hand what course to take. + +The "Pilgrim" was now only three cables' length from the wreck, and +they could no longer doubt that this hull had been completely abandoned +by all its crew. + +But, at that moment, Dick Sand made a gesture which imperiously +demanded silence. + +"Listen, listen!" said he. + +Each listened. + +"I hear something like a bark!" cried Dick Sand. In fact, a distant +barking resounded from the interior of the hull. Certainly there was a +living dog there, imprisoned perhaps, for it was possible that the +hatches were hermetically closed. But they could not see it, the deck +of the capsized vessel being still invisible. + +"If there be only a dog there, Mr. Hull," said Mrs. "Weldon," we shall +save it." + +"Yes, yes!" cried little Jack, "we shall save it. I shall give it +something to eat! It will love us well! Mama, I am going to bring it a +piece of sugar!" + +"Stay still, my child," replied Mrs. Weldon smiling. "I believe that +the poor animal is dying of hunger, and it will prefer a good mess to +your morsel of sugar." + +"Well, then, let it have my soup," cried little Jack. "I can do without +it very well." + +At that moment the barking was more distinctly heard. Three hundred +feet, at the most, separated the two ships. Almost immediately a dog of +great height appeared on the starboard netting, and clung there, +barking more despairingly than ever. + +"Howik," said Captain Hull, turning toward the master of the +"Pilgrim's" crew, "heave to, and lower the small boat." + +"Hold on, my dog, hold on!" cried little Jack to the animal, which +seemed to answer him with a half-stifled bark. + +The "Pilgrim's" sails were rapidly furled, so that the ship should +remain almost motionless, less than half a cable's length from the +wreck. + +The boat was brought alongside. Captain Hull, Dick Sand and two sailors +got into it at once. + +The dog barked all the time. It tried to hold on to the netting, but +every moment it fell back on the deck. One would say that its barks +were no longer addressed to those who were coming to him. Were they +then addressed to some sailors or passengers imprisoned in this ship? + +"Is there, then, on board some shipwrecked one who has survived?" Mrs. +Weldon asked herself. + +A few strokes of the oars and the "Pilgrim's" boat would reach the +capsized hull. + +But, suddenly, the dog's manner changed. Furious barks succeeded its +first barks inviting the rescuers to come. The most violent anger +excited the singular animal. + +"What can be the matter with that dog?" said Captain Hull, while the +boat was turning the stern of the vessel, so as to come alongside of +the part of the deck lying under the water. + +What Captain Hull could not then observe, what could not be noticed +even on board the "Pilgrim," was that the dog's fury manifested itself +just at the moment when Negoro, leaving his kitchen, had just come +toward the forecastle. + +Did the dog then know and recognize the master cook? It was very +improbable. + +However that may be, after looking at the dog, without showing any +surprise, Negoro, who, however, frowned for an instant, returned to the +crew's quarters. + +Meanwhile the boat had rounded the stern of the ship. Her aftboard +carried this single name: "Waldeck." + +"Waldeck," and no designation of the port attached. But, by the form of +the hull, by certain details which a sailor seizes at the first glance, +Captain Hull had, indeed, discovered that this ship was of American +construction. Besides, her name confirmed it. And now, this hull, it +was all that remained of a large brig of five hundred tons. + +At the "Waldeck's" prow a large opening indicated the place where the +collision had occurred. In consequence of the capsizing of the hull, +this opening was then five or six feet above the water--which explained +why the brig had not yet foundered. + +On the deck, which Captain Hull saw in its whole extent, there was +nobody. + +The dog, having left the netting, had just let itself slip as far as +the central hatch, which was open; and it barked partly toward the +interior, partly toward the exterior. + +"It is very certain that this animal is not alone on board!" observed +Dick Sand. + +"No, in truth!" replied Captain Hull. + +The boat then skirted the larboard netting, which was half under water. +A somewhat strong swell of the sea would certainly submerge the +"Waldeck" in a few moments. + +The brig's deck had been swept from one end to the other. There was +nothing left except the stumps of the mainmast and of the mizzen-mast, +both broken off two feet above the scuttles, and which had fallen in +the collision, carrying away shrouds, back-stays, and rigging. +Meanwhile, as far as the eye could see, no wreck was visible around the +"Waldeck"--which seemed to indicate that the catastrophe was already +several days old. + +"If some unhappy creatures have survived the collision," said Captain +Hull, "it is probable that either hunger or thirst has finished them, +for the water must have gained the store-room. There are only dead +bodies on board!" + +"No," cried Dick Sand, "no! The dog would not bark that way. There are +living beings on board!" + +At that moment the animal, responding to the call of the novice, slid +to the sea, and swam painfully toward the boat, for it seemed to be +exhausted. + +They took it in, and it rushed eagerly, not for a piece of bread that +Dick Sand offered it first, but to a half-tub which contained a little +fresh water. + +"This poor animal is dying of thirst!" cried Dick Sand. + +The boat then sought a favorable place to board the "Waldeck" more +easily, and for that purpose it drew away a few strokes. The dog +evidently thought that its rescuers did not wish to go on board, for he +seized Dick Sand by his jacket, and his lamentable barks commenced +again with new strength. + +They understood it. Its pantomime and its language were as clear as a +man's language could be. The boat was brought immediately as far as the +larboard cat-head. There the two sailors moored it firmly, while +Captain Hull and Dick Sand, setting foot on the deck at the same time +as the dog, raised themselves, not without difficulty, to the hatch +which opened between the stumps of the two masts. + +By this hatch the two made their way into the hold. + +The "Waldeck's" hold, half full of water, contained no goods. The brig +sailed with ballast--a ballast of sand which had slid to larboard and +which helped to keep the ship on her side. On that head, then, there +was no salvage to effect. + +"Nobody here," said Captain Hull. + +"Nobody," replied the novice, after having gone to the foremost part of +the hold. + +But the dog, which was on the deck, kept on barking and seemed to call +the captain's attention more imperatively. + +"Let us go up again," said Captain Hull to the novice. + +Both appeared again on the deck. + +The dog, running to them, sought to draw them to the poop. + +They followed it. + +There, in the square, five bodies--undoubtedly five corpses--were lying +on the floor. + +By the daylight which entered in waves by the opening, Captain Hull +discovered the bodies of five negroes. + +Dick Sand, going from one to the other, thought he felt that the +unfortunates were still breathing. + +"On board! on board!" cried Captain Hull. + +The two sailors who took care of the boat were called, and helped to +carry the shipwrecked men out of the poop. + +This was not without difficulty, but two minutes after, the five blacks +were laid in the boat, without being at all conscious that any one was +trying to save them. A few drops of cordial, then a little fresh water +prudently administered, might, perhaps, recall them to life. + +The "Pilgrim" remained a half cable's length from the wreck, and the +boat would soon reach her. + +A girt-line was let down from the main-yard, and each of the blacks +drawn up separately reposed at last on the "Pilgrim's" deck. + +The dog had accompanied them. + +"The unhappy creatures!" cried Mrs. Weldon, on perceiving those poor +men, who were only inert bodies. + +"They are alive, Mrs. Weldon. We shall save them. Yes, we shall save +them," cried Dick Sand. + +"What has happened to them?" demanded Cousin Benedict. + +"Wait till they can speak," replied Captain Hull, "and they will tell +us their history. But first of all, let us make them drink a little +water, in which we shall mix a few drops of rum." Then, turning round: +"Negoro!" he called. + +At that name the dog stood up as if it knew the sound, its hair +bristling, its mouth open. + +Meanwhile, the cook did not appear. + +"Negoro!" repeated Captain Hull. + +The dog again gave signs of extreme fury. + +Negoro left the kitchen. + +Hardly had he shown himself on the deck, than the dog sprang on him and +wanted to jump at his throat. + +With a blow from the poker with which he was armed, the cook drove away +the animal, which some of the sailors succeeded in holding. + +"Do you know this dog?" Captain Hull asked the master cook. + +"I?" replied Negoro. "I have never seen it." + +"That is singular," murmured Dick Sand. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SURVIVORS OF THE "WALDECK." + + +The slave trade was still carried on, on a large scale, in all +equinoctial Africa. Notwithstanding the English and French cruisers, +ships loaded with slaves leave the coasts of Angola and Mozambique +every year to transport negroes to various parts of the world, and, it +must be said, of the civilized world. + +Captain Hull was not ignorant of it. Though these parts were not +ordinarily frequented by slave-ships, he asked himself if these blacks, +whose salvage he had just effected, were not the survivors of a cargo +of slaves that the "Waldeck" was going to sell to some Pacific colony. +At all events, if that was so, the blacks became free again by the sole +act of setting foot on his deck, and he longed to tell it to them. + +Meanwhile the most earnest care had been lavished on the shipwrecked +men from the "Waldeck." Mrs. Weldon, aided by Nan and Dick Sand, had +administered to them a little of that good fresh water of which they +must have been deprived for several days, and that, with some +nourishment, sufficed to restore them to life. + +The eldest of these blacks--he might be about sixty years old--was soon +able to speak, and he could answer in English the questions which were +addressed to him. + +"The ship which carried you was run into?" asked Captain Hull, first of +all. + +"Yes," replied the old black. "Ten days ago our ship was struck, during +a very dark night. We were asleep----" + +"But the men of the 'Waldeck'--what has become of them?" + +"They were no longer there, sir, when my companions and I reached the +deck." + +"Then, was the crew able to jump on board the ship which struck the +'Waldeck'?" demanded Captain Hull. + +"Perhaps, and we must indeed hope so for their sakes." + +"And that ship, after the collision, did it not return to pick you up?" + +"No." + +"Did she then go down herself?" + +"She did not founder," replied the old black, shaking his head, "for we +could see her running away in the night." + +This fact, which was attested by all the survivors of the "Waldeck," +may appear incredible. It is only too true, however, that captains, +after some terrible collision, due to their imprudence, have often +taken flight without troubling themselves about the unfortunate ones +whom they had put in danger, and without endeavoring to carry +assistance to them. + +That drivers do as much and leave to others, on the public way, the +trouble of repairing the misfortune which they have caused, that is +indeed to be condemned. Still, their victims are assured of finding +immediate help. But, that men to men, abandon each other thus at sea, +it is not to be believed, it is a shame! + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull knew several examples of such inhumanity, and +he was obliged to tell Mrs. Weldon that such facts, monstrous as they +might be, were unhappily not rare. + +Then, continuing: + +"Whence came the 'Waldeck?'" he asked. + +"From Melbourne." + +"Then you are not slaves?" + +"No, sir!" the old black answered quickly, as he stood up straight. "We +are subjects of the State of Pennsylvania, and citizens of free +America!" + +"My friends," replied Captain Hull, "believe me that you have not +compromised your liberty in coming on board of the American brig, the +'Pilgrim.'" + +In fact, the five blacks which the "Waldeck" carried belonged to the +State of Pennsylvania. The oldest, sold in Africa as a slave at the age +of six years, then brought to the United States, had been freed already +many years ago by the Emancipation Proclamation. As to his companions, +much younger than he, sons of slaves liberated before their birth, they +were born free; no white had ever had the right of property over them. +They did not even speak that "negro" language, which does not use the +article, and only knows the infinitive of the verbs--a language which +has disappeared little by little, indeed, since the anti-slavery war. +These blacks had, then, freely left the United States, and they were +returning to it freely. + +As they told Captain Hull, they were engaged as laborers at an +Englishman's who owned a vast mine near Melbourne, in Southern +Australia. There they had passed three years, with great profit to +themselves; their engagement ended, they had wished to return to +America. + +They then had embarked on the "Waldeck," paying their passage like +ordinary passengers. On the 5th of December they left Melbourne, and +seventeen days after, during a very black night, the "Waldeck" had been +struck by a large steamer. + +The blacks were in bed. A few seconds after the collision, which was +terrible, they rushed on the deck. + +Already the ship's masts had fallen, and the "Waldeck" was lying on the +side; but she would not sink, the water not having invaded the hold +sufficiently to cause it. + +As to the captain and crew of the "Waldeck," all had disappeared, +whether some had been precipitated into the sea, whether others were +caught on the rigging of the colliding ship, which, after the +collision, had fled to return no more. + +The five blacks were left alone on board, on a half-capsized hull, +twelve hundred miles from any land. + +Then oldest of the negroes was named Tom. His age, as well as his +energetic character, and his experience, often put to the proof during +a long life of labor, made him the natural head of the companions who +were engaged with him. + +The other blacks were young men from twenty-five to thirty years old, +whose names were Bat (abbreviation of Bartholomew), son of old Tom, +Austin, Acteon, and Hercules, all four well made and vigorous, and who +would bring a high price in the markets of Central Africa. Even though +they had suffered terribly, one could easily recognize in them +magnificent specimens of that strong race, on which a liberal +education, drawn from the numerous schools of North America, had +already impressed its seal. + +Tom and his companions then found themselves alone on the "Waldeck" +after the collision, having no means of raising that inert hull, +without even power to leave it, because the two boats on board had been +shattered in the boarding. They were reduced to waiting for the passage +of a ship, while the wreck drifted little by little under the action of +the currents. This action explained why she had been encountered so far +out of her course, for the "Waldeck," having left Melbourne, ought to +be found in much lower latitude. + +During the ten days which elapsed between the collision and the moment +when the "Pilgrim" arrived in sight of the shipwrecked vessel the five +blacks were sustained by some food which they had found in the office +of the landing-place. But, not being able to penetrate into the +steward's room, which the water entirely covered, they had had no +spirits to quench their thirst, and they had suffered cruelly, the +water casks fastened to the deck having been stove in by the collision. +Since the night before, Tom and his companions, tortured by thirst, had +become unconscious. + +Such was the recital which Tom gave, in a few words, to Captain Hull. +There was no reason to doubt the veracity of the old black. His +companions confirmed all that he had said; besides, the facts pleaded +for the poor men. + +Another living being, saved on the wreck, would doubtless have spoken +with the same sincerity if it had been gifted with speech. + +It was that dog, that the sight of Negoro seemed to affect in such a +disagreeable manner. There was in that some truly inexplicable +antipathy. + +Dingo--that was the name of the dog--belonged to that race of mastiffs +which is peculiar to New Holland. It was not in Australia, however, +that the captain of the "Waldeck" had found it. Two years before Dingo, +wandering half dead of hunger, had been met on the western coast of +Africa, near the mouth of the Congo. The captain of the "Waldeck" had +picked up this fine animal, who, being not very sociable, seemed to be +always regretting some old master, from whom he had been violently +separated, and whom it would be impossible to find again in that desert +country. S. V.--those two letters engraved on his collar--were all that +linked this animal to a past, whose mystery one would seek in vain to +solve. + +Dingo, a magnificent and robust beast, larger than the dogs of the +Pyrenees, was then a superb specimen of the New Holland variety of +mastiffs. When it stood up, throwing its head back, it equaled the +height of a man. Its agility--its muscular strength, would be +sufficient for one of those animals which without hesitation attack +jaguars and panthers, and do not fear to face a bear. Its long tail of +thick hair, well stocked and stiff like a lion's tail, its general hue +dark fawn-color, was only varied at the nose by some whitish streaks. +This animal, under the influence of anger, might become formidable, and +it will be understood that Negoro was not satisfied with the reception +given him by this vigorous specimen of the canine race. + +Meanwhile, Dingo, if it was not sociable, was not bad. It seemed rather +to be sad. An observation which had been made by old Tom on board the +"Waldeck" was that this dog did not seem to like blacks. It did not +seek to harm them, but certainly it shunned them. May be, on that +African coast where it wandered, it had suffered some bad treatment +from the natives. So, though Tom and his companions were honest men, +Dingo was never drawn toward them. During the ten days that the +shipwrecked dog had passed on the "Waldeck," it had kept at a distance, +feeding itself, they knew not how, but having also suffered cruelly +from thirst. + +Such, then, were the survivors of this wreck, which the first surge of +the sea would submerge. No doubt it would have carried only dead bodies +into the depths of the ocean if the unexpected arrival of the +"Pilgrim," herself kept back by calms and contrary winds, had not +permitted Captain Hull to do a work of humanity. + +This work had only to be completed by bringing back to their country +the shipwrecked men from the "Waldeck," who, in this shipwreck, had +lost their savings of three years of labor. This is what was going to +be done. The "Pilgrim," after having effected her unloading at +Valparaiso, would ascend the American coast as far as California. There +Tom and his companions would be well received by James W. Weldon--his +generous wife assured them of it--and they would be provided with all +that would be necessary for them to return to the State of Pennsylvania. + +These honest men, reassured about the future, had only to thank Mrs. +Weldon and Captain Hull. Certainly they owed them a great deal, and +although they were only poor negroes, perhaps, they did not despair of +some day paying this debt of gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +S. V. + + +Meanwhile, the "Pilgrim" had continued her course, making for the east +as much as possible. This lamentable continuance of calms did not cease +to trouble Captain Hull--not that he was uneasy about two or three +weeks' delay in a passage from New Zealand to Valparaiso, but because +of the extra fatigue which this delay might bring to his lady passenger. + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Weldon did not complain, and philosophically took her +misfortune in patience. + +That same day, February 2d, toward evening, the wreck was lost sight of. + +Captain Hull was troubled, in the first place, to accommodate Tom and +his companions as conveniently as possible. The crew's quarters on the +"Pilgrim," built on the deck in the form of a "roufle," would be too +small to hold them. An arrangement was then made to lodge them under +the forecastle. Besides, these honest men, accustomed to rude labors, +could not be hard to please, and with fine weather, warm and +salubrious, this sleeping-place ought to suffice for the whole passage. + +The life on board, shaken for a moment from its monotony by this +incident, then went on as usual. + +Tom, Austin, Bat, Acteon, and Hercules would indeed wish to make +themselves useful. But with these constant winds, the sails once set, +there was nothing more to do. Meanwhile, when there was a veering +about, the old black and his companions hastened to give a hand to the +crew, and it must be confessed that when the colossal Hercules hauled +some rope, they were aware of it. This vigorous negro, six feet high, +brought in a tackle all by himself. + +It was joy for little Jack to look at this giant. He was not afraid of +him, and when Hercules hoisted him up in his arms, as if he were only a +cork baby, there were cries of joy to go on. + +"Lift me very high," said little Jack. + +"There, Master Jack!" replied Hercules. + +"Am I very heavy?" + +"I do not even feel you." + +"Well, higher still! To the end of your arm!" And Hercules, holding the +child's two little feet in his large hand, walked him about like a +gymnast in a circus. Jack saw himself, tall, taller, which amused him +very much. He even tried to make himself heavy--which the colossus did +not perceive at all. + +Dick Sand and Hercules, they were two friends for little Jack. He was +not slow in making himself a third--that was Dingo. + +It has been said that Dingo was not a sociable dog. Doubtless that held +good, because the society of the "Waldeck" did not suit it. On board +the "Pilgrim" it was quite another thing. Jack probably knew how to +touch the fine animal's heart. The latter soon took pleasure in playing +with the little boy, whom this play pleased. It was soon discovered +that Dingo was one of those dogs who have a particular taste for +children. Besides, Jack did it no harm. His greatest pleasure was to +transform Dingo into a swift steed, and it is safe to affirm that a +horse of this kind is much superior to a pasteboard quadruped, even +when it has wheels to its feet. So Jack galloped bare-back on the dog, +which let him do it willingly, and, in truth, Jack was no heavier to it +than the half of a jockey to a race-horse. + +But what a break each day in the stock of sugar in the store-room! + +Dingo soon became a favorite with the whole crew. Alone, Negoro +continued to avoid any encounter with the animal, whose antipathy was +always as strong as it was inexplicable. + +Meanwhile, little Jack had not neglected Dick Sand, his friend of old, +for Dingo. All the time that was unclaimed by his duties on board, the +novice passed with the little boy. + +Mrs. Weldon, it is needless to say, always regarded this intimacy with +the most complete satisfaction. + +One day, February 6th, she spoke of Dick to Captain Hull, and the +captain praised the young novice in the highest terms. + +"That boy," he said to Mrs. Weldon, "will be a good seaman some day, +I'll guarantee. He has truly a passion for the sea, and by this passion +he makes up for the theoretical parts of the calling which he has not +yet learned. What he already knows is astonishing, when we think of +the short time he has had to learn." + +"It must be added," replied Mrs. Weldon, "that he is also an excellent +person, a true boy, very superior to his age, and who has never merited +any blame since we have known him." + +"Yes, he is a good young man," continued the captain, "justly loved and +appreciated by all." + +"This cruise finished," said Mrs. Weldon, "I know that my husband's +intention is to have him follow a course of navigation, so that, he may +afterwards obtain a captain's commission." + +"And Mr. Weldon is right," replied Captain Hull. "Dick Sand will one +day do honor to the American marine." + +"This poor orphan commenced life sadly," observed Mrs. Weldon. "He has +been in a hard school!" + +"Doubtless, Mrs. Weldon; but the lessons have not been lost on him. He +has learned that he must make his own way in this world, and he is in a +fair way to do it." + +"Yes, the way of duty!" + +"Look at him now, Mrs. Weldon," continued Captain Hull. "He is at the +helm, his eye fixed on the point of the foresail. No distraction on the +part of this young novice, as well as no lurch to the ship. Dick Sand +has already the confidence of an old steersman. A good beginning for a +seaman. Our craft, Mrs. Weldon, is one of those in which it is +necessary to begin very young. He who has not been a cabin-boy will +never arrive at being a perfect seaman, at least in the merchant +marine. Everything must be learned, and, consequently, everything must +be at the same time instinctive and rational with the sailor--the +resolution to grasp, as well as the skill to execute." + +"Meanwhile, Captain Hull," replied Mrs. Weldon, "good officers are not +lacking in the navy." + +"No," replied Captain Hull; "but, in my opinion, the best have almost +all begun their career as children, and, without speaking of Nelson and +a few others, the worst are not those who began by being cabin-boys." + +At that moment they saw Cousin Benedict springing up from the rear +companion-way. As usual he was absorbed, and as little conscious of +this world as the Prophet Elias will be when he returns to the earth. + +Cousin Benedict began to walk about on the deck like an uneasy spirit, +examining closely the interstices of the netting, rummaging under the +hen-cages, putting his hand between the seams of the deck, there, where +the pitch had scaled off. + +"Ah! Cousin Benedict," asked Mrs. Weldon, "do you keep well?" + +"Yes--Cousin Weldon--I am well, certainly--but I am in a hurry to get +on land." + +"What are you looking for under that bench, Mr. Benedict?" asked +Captain Hull. + +"Insects, sir," returned Cousin Benedict. "What do you expect me to +look for, if not insects?" + +"Insects! Faith, I must agree with you; but it is not at sea that you +will enrich your collection." + +"And why not, sir? It is not impossible to find on board some specimen +of----" + +"Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "do you then slander Captain Hull? +His ship is so well kept, that you will return empty-handed from your +hunt." + +Captain Hull began to laugh. + +"Mrs. Weldon exaggerates," replied he. "However, Mr. Benedict, I +believe you will lose your time rummaging in our cabins." + +"Ah! I know it well," cried Cousin Benedict, shrugging his shoulders. +"I have had a good search----" + +"But, in the 'Pilgrim's' hold," continued Captain Hull, "perhaps you +will find some cockroaches--subjects of little interest, however." + +"Of little interest, those nocturnal orthopters which have incurred the +maledictions of Virgil and Horace!" retorted Cousin Benedict, standing +up straight. "Of little interest, those near relations of the +'periplaneta orientalis' and of the American kakerlac, which +inhabit----" + +"Which infest!" said Captain Hull. + +"Which reign on board!" retorted Cousin Benedict, fiercely. + +"Amiable sovereignty!" + +"Ah! you are not an entomologist, sir?" + +Never at my own expense." + +"Now, Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, smiling, "do not wish us to +be devoured for love of science." + +"I wish, nothing, Cousin Weldon," replied, the fiery entomologist, +"except to be able to add to my collection some rare subject which +might do it honor." + +"Are you not satisfied, then, with the conquests that you have made in +New Zealand?" + +"Yes, truly, Cousin Weldon. I have been rather fortunate in conquering +one of those new staphylins which till now had only been found some +hundreds of miles further, in New Caledonia." + +At that moment Dingo, who was playing with Jack, approached Cousin +Benedict, gamboling. + +"Go away! go away!" said the latter, pushing off the animal. + +"To love cockroaches and detest dogs!" cried Captain Hull. "Oh! Mr. +Benedict!" + +"A good dog, notwithstanding," said little Jack, taking Dingo's great +head in his small hands. + +"Yes. I do not say no," replied Cousin Benedict. "But what do you want? +This devil of an animal has not realized the hopes I conceived on +meeting it." + +"Ah! my goodness!" cried Mrs. Weldon, "did you, then, hope to be able +to classify it in the order of the dipters or the hymenopters?" + +"No," replied Cousin Benedict, seriously. "But is it not true that this +Dingo, though it be of the New Zealand race, was picked up on the +western coast of Africa?" + +"Nothing is more true," replied Mrs. Weldon, "and Tom had often heard +the captain of the 'Waldeck' say so." + +"Well, I had thought--I had hoped--that this dog would have brought +away some specimens of hemipteras peculiar to the African fauna." + +"Merciful heavens!" cried Mrs. Weldon. + +"And that perhaps," added Cousin Benedict, "some penetrating or +irritating flea--of a new species----" + +"Do you understand, Dingo?" said Captain Hull. "Do you understand, my +dog? You have failed in all your duties!" + +"But I have examined it well," added the entomologist, with an accent +of deep regret. "I have not been able to find a single insect." + +"Which you would have immediately and mercilessly put to death, I +hope!" cried Captain Hull. + +"Sir," replied Cousin Benedict, dryly, "learn that Sir John Franklin +made a scruple of killing the smallest insect, be it a mosquito, whose +attacks are otherwise formidable as those of a flea; and meanwhile you +will not hesitate to allow, that Sir John Franklin was a seaman who was +as good as the next." + +"Surely," said Captain Hull, bowing. + +"And one day, after being frightfully devoured by a dipter, he blew and +sent it away, saying to it, without even using _thou_ or _thee_: 'Go! +the world is large enough for you and for me!'" + +"Ah!" ejaculated Captain Hull. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, Mr. Benedict," retorted Captain Hull, "another had said that +long before Sir John Franklin." + +"Another?" + +"Yes; and that other was Uncle Toby." + +"An entomologist?" asked Cousin Benedict, quickly. + +"No! Sterne's Uncle Toby, and that worthy uncle pronounced precisely +the same words, while setting free a mosquito that annoyed him, but +which he thought himself at liberty to _thee_ and _thou_: 'Go, poor +devil,' he said to it, 'the world is large enough to contain us, thee +and me!'" + +"An honest man, that Uncle Toby!" replied Cousin Benedict. "Is he dead?" + +"I believe so, indeed," retorted Captain Hull, gravely, "as he has +never existed!" + +And each began to laugh, looking at Cousin Benedict. + +Thus, then, in these conversations, and many others, which invariably +bore on some point of entomological science, whenever Cousin Benedict +took part, passed away long hours of this navigation against contrary +winds. The sea always fine, but winds which obliged the schooner to +tack often. The "Pilgrim" made very little headway toward the east--the +breeze was so feeble; and they longed to reach those parts where the +prevailing winds would be more favorable. + +It must be stated here that Cousin Benedict had endeavored to initiate +the young novice into the mysteries of entomology. But Dick Sand had +shown himself rather refractory to these advances. For want of better +company the savant had fallen back on the negroes, who comprehended +nothing about it. Tom, Acteon, Bat, and Austin had even finished by +deserting the class, and the professor found himself reduced to +Hercules alone, who seemed to him to have some natural disposition to +distinguish a parasite from a thysanuran. + +So the gigantic black lived in the world of coleopteras, carnivorous +insects, hunters, gunners, ditchers, cicindelles, carabes, sylphides, +moles, cockchafers, horn-beetles, tenebrions, mites, lady-birds, +studying all Cousin Benedict's collection, not but the latter trembled +on seeing his frail specimens in Hercules' great hands, which were hard +and strong as a vise. But the colossal pupil listened so quietly to the +professor's lessons that it was worth risking something to give them. + +While Cousin Benedict worked in that manner, Mrs. Weldon did not leave +little Jack entirely unoccupied; She taught him to read and to write. +As to arithmetic, it was his friend Dick Sand who inculcated the first +elements. + +At the age of five, one is still only a little child, and is perhaps +better instructed by practical games than by theoretical lessons +necessarily a little arduous. + +Jack learned to read, not in a primer, but by means of movable letters, +printed in red on cubes of wood. He amused himself by arranging the +blocks so as to form words. Sometimes Mrs. Weldon took these cubes and +composed a word; then she disarranged them, and it was for Jack to +replace them in the order required. + +The little boy liked this manner of learning to read very much. Each +day he passed some hours, sometimes in the cabin, sometimes on the +deck, in arranging and disarranging the letters of his alphabet. + +Now, one day this led to an incident so extraordinary, so unexpected, +that it is necessary to relate with some detail. + +It was on the morning of February 9th, Jack, half-lying on the deck, +was amusing himself forming a word which old Tom was to put together +again, after the letters had been mixed. Tom, with his hand over his +eyes so as not to cheat, as he agreed, would see nothing, and did see +nothing of the work of the little boy. + +Of these different letters, about fifty in number, some were large, +others small. Besides, some of these cubes carried a figure, which +taught the child to form numbers as well as to form words. + +These cubes were arranged on the deck, and little Jack was taking +sometimes one, sometimes another, to make a word--a truly great labor. + +Now, for same moments, Dingo was moving round the young child, when +suddenly it stopped. Its eyes became fixed, its right paw was raised, +its tail wagged convulsively. Then, suddenly throwing itself on one of +the cubes, it seized it in its mouth and laid it on the deck a few +steps from Jack. + +This cube bore a large letter--the letter S. + +"Dingo, well Dingo!" cried the little boy, who at first was afraid that +his S was swallowed by the dog. + +But Dingo had returned, and, beginning the same performance again, it +seized another cube, and went to lay it near the first. + +This second cube was a large V. + +This time Jack gave a cry. + +At this cry, Mrs. Weldon, Captain Hull, and the young novice, who were +walking on the deck, assembled. Little Jack then told them what had +just passed. + +Dingo knew its letters; Dingo knew how to read! That was very certain, +that! Jack had seen it! + +Dick Sand wanted to go and take the two cubes, to restore them to his +friend Jack, but Dingo showed him its teeth. + +However, the novice succeeded in gaining possession of the two cubes, +and he replaced them in the set. + +Dingo advanced again, seized again the same two letters, and carried +them to a distance. This time its two paws lay on them; it seemed +decided to guard them at all hazards. As to the other letters of the +alphabet, it did not seem as if it had any knowledge of them. + +"That is a curious thing," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"It is, in fact, very singular," replied Captain Hull, who was looking +attentively at the two letters. + +"S. V.," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"S. V.," repeated Captain Hull. "But those are precisely the letters +which are on Dingo's collar!" + +Then, all at once, turning to the old black: "Tom," he asked, "have you +not told me that this dog only belonged to the captain of the 'Waldeck' +for a short time?" + +"In fact, sir," replied Tom, "Dingo was only on board two years at the +most." + +"And have you not added that the captain of the 'Waldeck' had picked up +this dog on the western coast of Africa?" + +"Yes, sir, in the neighborhood of the mouth of the Congo. I have often +heard the captain say so." + +"So," asked Captain Hull, "it has never been known to whom this dog had +belonged, nor whence it came?" + +"Never, sir. A dog found is worse than a child! That has no papers, +and, more, it cannot explain." + +Captain Hull was silent, and reflected. + +"Do those two letters, then, awake some remembrance?" Mrs. Weldon asked +Captain Hull, after leaving him to his reflections for some moments. + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon, a remembrance, or rather a coincidence at least +singular." + +What?" + +"Those two letters might well have a meaning, and fix for us the fate +of an intrepid traveler." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Mrs. Weldon. + +"Here is what I mean, Mrs. Weldon. In 1871--consequently two years +ago--a French traveler set out, under the auspices of the Paris +Geographical Society, with the intention of crossing Africa from the +west to the east. His point of departure was precisely the mouth of the +Congo. His point of arrival would be as near as possible to Cape +Deldago, at the mouths of the Rovuma, whose course he would descend. +Now, this French traveler was named Samuel Vernon." + +"Samuel Vernon!" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon; and those two names begin precisely by those two +letters which Dingo has chosen among all the others, and which are +engraved on its collar." + +"Exactly," replied Mrs. Weldon. "And that traveler----" + +"That traveler set out," replied Captain Hull, "and has not been heard +of since his departure." + +"Never?" said the novice. + +"Never," repeated Captain Hull. + +"What do you conclude from it?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"That, evidently, Samuel Vernon has not been able to reach the eastern +coast of Africa, whether he may have been made prisoner by the natives, +whether death may have struck him on the way." + +"And then this dog?" + +"This dog would have belonged to him; and, more fortunate than its +master, if my hypothesis is true, it would have been able to return to +the Congo coast, because it was there, at the time when these events +must have taken place, that it was picked up by the captain of the +'Waldeck.'" + +"But," observed Mrs. Weldon, "do you know if this French traveler was +accompanied on his departure by a dog? Is it not a mere supposition on +your part?" + +"It is only a supposition, indeed, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. +"But what is certain is, that Dingo knows these two letters S and V, +which are precisely the initials of the two names of the French +traveler. Now, under what circumstances this animal would learn to +distinguish them is what I cannot explain; but, I repeat it, it very +certainly knows them; and look, it pushes them with its paw, and seems +to invite us to read them with it." + +In fact, they could not misunderstand Dingo's intention. + +"Then was Samuel Vernon alone when he left the sea-coast of the Congo?" +ask Dick Sand. + +"That I know not," replied Captain Hull. "However, it is probable that +he would take a native escort." + +At that moment Negoro, leaving his post, showed himself on the deck. At +first no one remarked his presence, and could not observe the singular +look he cast on the dog when he perceived the two letters over which +the animal seem to mount guard. But Dingo, having perceived the +master-cook, began to show signs of the most extreme fury. + +Negoro returned immediately to the crew's quarters, not without a +menacing gesture at the dog's skill having escaped him. + +"There is some mystery there," murmured Captain Hull, who had lost none +of this little scene. + +"But, sir," said the novice, "is it not very astonishing that a dog +should know the letters of the alphabet?" + +"No!" cried little Jack. "Mama has often told me the story of a dog +which knew how to read and write, and even play dominoes, like a real +schoolmaster!" + +"My dear child," replied Mrs. Weldon, smiling, "that dog, whose name +was Munito, was not a savant, as you suppose. If I may believe what has +been told me about it, Munito would not have been able to distinguish +the letters which served to compose the words. But its master, a clever +American, having remarked what fine hearing Munito had, applied himself +to cultivating that sense, and to draw from it some very curious +effects." + +"How did he set to work, Mrs. Weldon?" asked Dick Sand, whom the +history interested almost as much as little Jack. + +"In this way, my friend." When Munito was 'to appear' before the +public, letters similar to these were displayed on a table. On that +table the poodle walked about, waiting till a word was proposed, +whether in a loud voice or in a low voice. Only, one essential +condition was that its master should know the word." + +"And, in the absence of its master--" said the novice. + +"The dog could have done nothing," replied Mrs. Weldon, "and here is +the reason. The letters spread out on the table, Munito walked about +through this alphabet. When it arrived before the letter which it +should choose to form the word required, it stopped; but if it stopped +it was because it heard the noise--imperceptible to all others--of a +toothpick that the American snapped in his pocket. That noise was the +signal for Munito to take the letter and arrange it in suitable order." + +"And that was all the secret?" cried Dick Sand. + +"That was the whole secret," replied Mrs. Weldon. "It is very simple, +like all that is done in the matter of prestidigitation. In case of the +American's absence, Munito would be no longer Munito. I am, then, +astonished, his master not being there--if, indeed, the traveler, +Samuel Vernon, has ever been its master--that Dingo could have +recognized those two letters." + +"In fact," replied Captain Hull, "it is very astonishing. But, take +notice, there are only two letters in question here, two particular +letters, and not a word chosen by chance. After all, that dog which +rang at the door of a convent to take possession of the plate intended +for the poor passers-by, that other which commissioned at the same time +with one of its kind, to turn the spit for two days each, and which +refused to fill that office when its turn had not come, those two dogs, +I say, advanced farther than Dingo into that domain of intelligence +reserved for man. Besides, we are in the presence of an inscrutable +fact. Of all the letters of that alphabet, Dingo has only chosen these +two: S and V. The others it does not even seem to know. Therefore we +must conclude that, for a reason which escapes us, its attention has +been especially drawn to those two letters." + +"Ah! Captain Hull," replied the young novice, "if Dingo could speak! +Perhaps he would tell us what those two letters signify, and why it has +kept a tooth ready for our head cook." + +"And what a tooth!" replied Captain Hull, as Dingo, opening its mouth, +showed its formidable fangs. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A WHALE IN SIGHT. + + +It will be remembered that this singular incident was made, more than +once, the subject of conversation held in the stern of the "Pilgrim" +between Mrs. Weldon, Captain Hull, and the young novice. The latter, +more particularly, experienced an instinctive mistrust with regard to +Negoro, whose conduct, meanwhile, merited no reproach. + +In the prow they talked of it also, but they did not draw from it the +same conclusions. There, among the ship's crew, Dingo passed merely for +a dog that knew how to read, and perhaps even write, better than more +than one sailor on board. As for talking, if he did not do it, it was +probably for good reasons that he kept silent. + +"But, one of these fine days," says the steersman, Bolton, "one fine +day that dog will come and ask us how we are heading; if the wind is to +the west-north-west-half-north, and we will have to answer him! There +are animals that speak! Well, why should not a dog do as much if he +took it into his head? It is more difficult to talk with a beak than +with a mouth!" + +"No doubt," replied the boatswain, Howik. "Only it has never been +known." + +It would have astonished these brave men to tell them that, on the +contrary, it had been known, and that a certain Danish servant +possessed a dog which pronounced distinctly twenty words. But whether +this animal comprehended what he said was a mystery. Very evidently +this dog, whose glottis was organized in a manner to enable him to emit +regular sounds, attached no more sense to his words than do the +paroquets, parrots, jackdaws, and magpies to theirs. A phrase with +animals is nothing more than a kind of song or spoken cry, borrowed +from a strange language of which they do not know the meaning. + +However that might be, Dingo had become the hero of the deck, of which +fact he took no proud advantage. Several times Captain Hull repeated +the experiment. The wooden cubes of the alphabet were placed before +Dingo, and invariably, without an error, without hesitation, the two +letters, S and V, were chosen from among all by the singular animal, +while the others never attracted his attention. + +As for Cousin Benedict, this experiment was often renewed before him, +without seeming to interest him. + +"Meanwhile," he condescended to say one day, "we must not believe that +the dogs alone have the privilege of being intelligent in this manner. +Other animals equal them, simply in following their instinct. Look at +the rats, who abandon the ship destined to founder at sea; the beavers, +who know how to foresee the rising of the waters, and build their dams +higher in consequence; those horses of Nicomedes, of Scanderberg, and +of Oppien, whose grief was such that they died when their masters did; +those asses, so remarkable for their memory, and many other beasts +which have done honor to the animal kingdom. Have we not seen birds, +marvelously erect, that correctly write words dictated by their +professors; cockatoos that count, as well as a reckoner in the +Longitude Office, the number of persons present in a parlor? Has there +not existed a parrot, worth a hundred gold crowns, that recited the +Apostle's Creed to the cardinal, his master, without missing a word? +Finally, the legitimate pride of an entomologist should be raised to +the highest point, when he sees simple insects give proofs of a +superior intelligence, and affirm eloquently the axiom: + + "'In minimis maximus Deus,' + +those ants which, represent the inspectors of public works in the +largest cities, those aquatic _argyronetes_ which manufacture +diving-bells, without having ever learned the mechanism; those fleas +which draw carriages like veritable coachmen, which go through the +exercise as well as riflemen, which fire off cannon better than the +commissioned artillerymen of West Point? No! this Dingo does not merit +so many eulogies, and if he is so strong on the alphabet, it is, +without doubt, because he belongs to a species of mastiff, not yet +classified in zoological science, the _canis alphabeticus_ of New +Zealand." + +In spite of these discourses and others of the envious entomologist, +Dingo lost nothing in the public estimation, and continued to be +treated as a phenomenon in the conversations of the forecastle. + +All this time, it is probable that Negoro did not share the enthusiasm +of the ship in regard to the animal. Perhaps he found it too +intelligent. However, the dog always showed the same animosity against +the head cook, and, doubtless, would have brought upon itself some +misfortune, if it had not been, for one thing, "a dog to defend +itself," and for another, protected by the sympathy of the whole crew. + +So Negoro avoided coming into Dingo's presence more than ever. But Dick +Sand had observed that since the incident of the two letters, the +reciprocal antipathy between the man and the dog was increased. That +was truly inexplicable. + +On February 10th, the wind from the northeast, which, till then, had +always succeeded those long and overwhelming calms, during which the +"Pilgrim" was stationary, began to abate perceptibly. Captain Hull then +could hope that a change in the direction of the atmospheric currents +was going to take place. Perhaps the schooner would finally sail with +the wind. It was still only nineteen days since her departure from the +port of Auckland. The delay was not yet of much account, and, with a +favorable wind, the "Pilgrim," well rigged, would easily make up for +lost time. But several days must still elapse before the breezes would +blow right from the west. + +This part of the Pacific was always deserted. No vessel showed itself +in these parts. It was a latitude truly forsaken by navigators. The +whalers of the southern seas were not yet prepared to go beyond the +tropic. On the "Pilgrim," which peculiar circumstances had obliged to +leave the fishing grounds before the end of the season, they must not +expect to cross any ship bound for the same destination. + +As to the trans-pacific packet-boats, it has been already said that +they did not follow so high a parallel in their passages between +Australia and the American continent. + +However, even if the sea is deserted, one must not give up observing it +to the extreme limits of the horizon. Monotonous as it may appear to +heedless minds, it is none the less infinitely varied for him who knows +how to comprehend it. Its slightest changes charm the imagination of +one who feels the poetry of the ocean. A marine herb which floats up +and down on the waves, a branch of sargasso whose light track zebras, +the surface of the waters, and end of a board, whose history he would +wish to guess, he would need nothing more. Facing this infinite, the +mind is no longer stopped by anything. Imagination runs riot. Each of +those molecules of water, that evaporation is continually changing from +the sea to the sky, contains perhaps the secret of some catastrophe. +So, those are to be envied, whose inner consciousness knows how to +interrogate the mysteries of the ocean, those spirits who rise from its +moving surface to the heights of heaven. + +Besides, life always manifests itself above as well as below the seas. +The "Pilgrim's" passengers could see flights of birds excited in the +pursuit of the smallest fishes, birds which, before winter, fly from +the cold climate of the poles. And more than once, Dick Sand, a scholar +of Mrs. Weldon's in that branch as in others, gave proofs of marvelous +skill with the gun and pistol, in bringing down some of those +rapid-winged creatures. + +There were white petrels here; there, other petrels, whose wings were +embroidered with brown. Sometimes, also, companies of _damiers_ passed, +or some of those penquins whose gait on land is so heavy and so +ridiculous. However, as Captain Hull remarked, these penquins, using +their stumps like true fins, can challenge the most rapid fishes in +swimming, to such an extent even, that sailors have often confounded +them with bonitoes. + +Higher, gigantic albatrosses beat the air with great strokes, +displaying an extent of ten feet between the extremities of their +wings, and then came to light on the surface of the waters, which they +searched with their beaks to get their food. + +All these scenes made a varied spectacle, that only souls closed to the +charms of nature would have found monotonous. + +That day Mrs. Weldon was walking aft on the "Pilgrim," when a rather +curious phenomenon attracted her attention. The waters of the sea had +become reddish quite suddenly. One might have believed that they had +just been stained with blood; and this inexplicable tinge extended as +far as the eye could reach. + +Dick Sand. was then with little Jack near Mrs. Weldon. + +"Dick," she said to the young novice, "Do you see that singular color +of the waters of the Pacific? Is it due to the presence of a marine +herb?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, "that tinge is produced by +myriads of little crustaceans, which generally serve to nourish the +great mammifers. Fishermen call that, not without reason, 'whales' +food.'" + +"Crustaceans!" said Mrs. Weldon. "But they are so small that we might +almost call them sea insects. Perhaps Cousin Benedict would be very +much enchanted to make a collection of them." Then calling: "Cousin +Benedict!" cried she. + +Cousin Benedict appeared out of the companion-way almost at the same +time as Captain Hull. + +"Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "see that immense reddish field +which extends as far as we can see." + +"Hold!" said Captain Hull. "That is whales' food. Mr. Benedict, a fine +occasion to study this curious species of crustacea." + +"Phew!" from the entomologist. + +"How--phew!" cried the captain. "But you have no right to profess such +indifference. These crustaceans form one of the six classes of the +articulates, if I am not mistaken, and as such----" + +"Phew!" said Cousin Benedict again, shaking his lead. + +"For instance----I find you passably disdainful for an entomologist!" + +"Entomologist, it may be," replied Cousin Benedict, "but more +particularly hexapodist, Captain Hull, please remember." + +"At all events," replied Captain Hull, "if these crustaceans do not +interest you, it can't be helped; but it would be otherwise if you +possessed a whale's stomach. Then what a regale! Do you see, Mrs. +Weldon, when we whalers, during the fishing season, arrive in sight of +a shoal of these crustaceans, we have only time to prepare our harpoons +and our lines. We are certain that the game is not distant." + +"Is it possible that such little beasts can feed such large ones?" +cried Jack. + +"Ah! my boy," replied Captain Hull, "little grains of vermicelli, of +flour, of fecula powder, do they not make very good porridge? Yes; and +nature has willed that it should be so. When a whale floats in the +midst of these red waters, its soup is served; it has only to open its +immense mouth. Myriads of crustaceans enter it. The numerous plates of +those whalebones with which the animal's palate is furnished serve to +strain like fishermen's nets; nothing can get out of them again, and +the mass of crustaceans is ingulfed in the whale's vast stomach, as the +soup of your dinner in yours." + +"You think right, Jack," observed Dick Sand, "that Madam Whale does not +lose time in picking these crustaceans one by one, as you pick shrimps." + +"I may add," said Captain Hull, "that it is just when the enormous +gourmand is occupied in this way, that it is easiest to approach it +without exciting its suspicion. That is the favorable moment to harpoon +it with some success." + +At that instant, and as if to corroborate Captain Hull, a sailor's +voice was heard from the front of the ship: + +"A whale to larboard!" + +Captain Hull strode up. + +"A whale!" cried he. + +And his fisherman's instinct urging him, he hastened to the "Pilgrim's" +forecastle. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Dick Sand, Cousin Benedict himself, followed him at +once. + +In fact, four miles to windward a certain bubbling indicated that a +huge marine mammifer was moving in the midst of the red waters. Whalers +could not be mistaken in it. But the distance was still too +considerable to make it possible to recognize the species to which this +mammifer belonged. These species, in fact, are quite distinct. + +Was it one of those "right" whales, which the fishermen of the Northern +Ocean seek most particularly? Those cetaceans, which lack the dorsal +fin, but whose skin covers a thick stratum of lard, may attain a length +of eighty feet, though the average does not exceed sixty, and then a +single one of those monsters furnishes as much as a hundred barrels of +oil. + +Was it, on the contrary, a "humpback," belonging to the species of +baloenopters, a designation whose termination should at least gain it +the entomologist's esteem? These possess dorsal fins, white in color, +and as long as half the body, which resemble a pair of wings--something +like a flying whale. + +Had they not in view, more likely, a "finback" mammifer, as well known +by the name "jubarte," which is provided with a dorsal fin, and whose +length may equal that of the "right" whale? + +Captain Hull and his crew could not yet decide, but they regarded the +animal with more desire than admiration. + +If it is true that a clockmaker cannot find himself in a room in the +presence of a clock without experiencing the irresistible wish to wind +it up, how much more must the whaler, before a whale, be seized with +the imperative desire to take possession of it? The hunters of large +game, they say, are more eager than the hunters of small game. Then, +the larger the animal, the more it excites covetousness. Then, how +should hunters of elephants and fishers of whalers feel? And then there +was that disappointment, felt by all the "Pilgrim's" crew, of returning +with an incomplete cargo. + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull tried to distinguish the animal which had been +signaled in the offing. It was not very visible from that distance. +Nevertheless, the trained eye of a whaler could not be deceived in +certain details easier to discern at a distance. + +In fact, the water-spout, that is, that column of vapor and water which +the whale throws back by its rents, would attract Captain Hull's +attention, and fix it on the species to which this cetacean belonged. + +"That is not a 'right' whale," cried he. "Its water-spout would be at +once higher and of a smaller volume. On the other hand, if the noise +made by that spout in escaping could be compared to the distant noise +of a cannon, I should be led to believe that that whale belongs to the +species of 'humpbacks;' but there is nothing of the kind, and, on +listening, we are assured that this noise is of quite a different +nature. What is your opinion on this subject, Dick?" asked Captain +Hull, turning toward the novice. + +"I am ready to believe, captain," replied Dick Sand, "that we have to +do with a jubarte. See how his rents throw that column of liquid +violently into the air. Does it not seem to you also--which would +confirm my idea--that that spout contains more water than condensed +vapor? And, if I am not mistaken, it is a special peculiarity of the +jubarte." + +"In fact, Dick," replied Captain Hull, "there is no longer any doubt +possible! It is a jubarte which floats on the surface of these red +waters." + +"That's fine," cried little Jack. + +"Yes, my boy! and when we think that the great beast is there, in +process of breakfasting, and little suspecting that the whalers are +watching it." + +"I would dare to affirm that it is a jubarte of great size," observed +Dick Sand. + +"Truly," replied Captain Hull, who was gradually becoming more excited. +"I think it is at least seventy feet long!" + +"Good!" added the boatswain. "Half a dozen whales of that size would +suffice to fill a ship as large as ours!" + +"Yes, that would be sufficient," replied Captain Hull, who mounted on +the bowsprit to see better. + +"And with this one," added the boatswain, "we should take on board in a +few hours the half of the two hundred barrels of oil which we lack." + +"Yes!--truly--yes!" murmured Captain Hull. + +"That is true," continued Dick Sand; "but it is sometimes a hard matter +to attack those enormous jubartes!" + +"Very hard, very hard!" returned Captain Hull. "Those baloenopters have +formidable tails, which must not be approached without distrust. The +strongest pirogue would not resist a well-given blow. But, then, the +profit is worth the trouble!" + +"Bah!" said one of the sailors, "a fine jubarte is all the same a fine +capture!" + +"And profitable!" replied another. + +"It would be a pity not to salute this one on the way!" + +It was evident that these brave sailors were growing excited in looking +at the whale. It was a whole cargo of barrels of oil that was floating +within reach of their hands. To hear them, without doubt there was +nothing more to be done, except to stow those barrels in the +"Pilgrim's" hold to complete her lading. Some of the sailors, mounted +on the ratlines of the fore-shrouds, uttered longing cries. Captain +Hull, who no longer spoke, was in a dilemma. There was something there, +like an irresistible magnet, which attracted the "Pilgrim" and all her +crew. + +"Mama, mama!" then cried little Jack, "I should like to have the whale, +to see how it is made." + +"Ah! you wish to have this whale, my boy? Ah! why not, my friends?" +replied Captain Hull, finally yielding to his secret desire. "Our +additional fishermen are lacking, it is true, but we alone----" + +"Yes! yes!" cried the sailors, with a single voice. + +"This will not be the first time that I have followed the trade of +harpooner," added Captain Hull, "and you will see if I still know how +to throw the harpoon!" + +"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" responded the crew. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PREPARATIONS. + + +It will be understood that the sight of this prodigious mammifer was +necessary to produce such excitement on board the "Pilgrim." + +The whale, which floated in the middle of the red waters, appeared +enormous. To capture it, and thus complete the cargo, that was very +tempting. Could fishermen let such an occasion escape them? + +However, Mrs. Weldon believed she ought to ask Captain Hull if it was +not dangerous for his men and for him to attack a whale under those +circumstances. + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. "More than once it has been my +lot to hunt the whale with a single boat, and I have always finished by +taking possession of it. I repeat it, there is no danger for us, nor, +consequently, for yourself." + +Mrs. Weldon, reassured, did not persist. + +Captain Hull at once made his preparations for capturing the jubarte. +He knew by experience that the pursuit of that baloenopter was not free +from difficulties, and he wished to parry all. + +What rendered this capture less easy was that the schooner's crew could +only work by means of a single boat, while the "Pilgrim" possessed a +long-boat, placed on its stocks between the mainmast and the +mizzen-mast, besides three whale-boats, of which two were suspended on +the larboard and starboard pegs, and the third aft, outside the +crown-work. + +Generally these three whale-boats were employed simultaneously in the +pursuit of cetaceans. But during the fishing season, we know, an +additional crew, hired at the stations of New Zealand, came to the +assistance of the "Pilgrim's" sailors. + +Now, in the present circumstances, the "Pilgrim" could only furnish the +five sailors on board--that is, enough to arm a single whale-boat. To +utilize the group of Tom and his friends, who had offered themselves at +once, was impossible. In fact, the working of a fishing pirogue +requires very well trained seamen. A false move of the helm, or a false +stroke of an oar, would be enough to compromise the safety of the +whale-boat during an attack. + +On the other hand, Captain Hull did not wish to leave his ship without +leaving on board at least one man from the crew, in whom he had +confidence. It was necessary to provide for all eventualities. + +Now Captain Hull, obliged to choose strong seamen to man the +whale-boat, was forced to put on Dick Sand the care of guarding the +"Pilgrim." + +"Dick," said he to him, "I shall charge you to remain on board during +my absence, which I hope will be short." + +"Well, sir," replied the young novice. + +Dick Sand would have wished to take part in this fishing, which had a +great attraction for him, but he understood that, for one reason, a +man's arms were worth more than his for service in a whale-boat, and +that for another, he alone could replace Captain Hull. So he was +satisfied. The whale-boat's crew must be composed of the five men, +including the master, Howik, which formed the whole crew of the +"Pilgrim." The four sailors were going to take their places at the +oars, and Howik would hold the stern oar, which serves to guide a boat +of this kind. A simple rudder, in fact, would not have a prompt enough +action, and in case the side oars should be disabled, the stern oar, +well handled, could put the whale-boat beyond the reach of the +monster's blows. + +There was only Captain Hull besides. He had reserved to himself the +post of harpooner, and, as he had said, this would not be his first +attempt. It was he who must first throw the harpoon, then watch the +unrolling of the long line fastened at its end; then, finally finish +the animal with spears, when it should return to the surface of the +ocean. + +Whalers sometimes employ firearms for this kind of fishing. By means of +a special instrument, a sort of small cannon, stationed either on board +the ship or at the front of the boat, they throw either a harpoon, +which draws with it the rope fastened to its end, or explosive balls, +which produce great ravages in the body of the animal. + +But the "Pilgrim" was not furnished with apparatus of this kind. This +was, besides, an instrument of high price, rather difficult to manage, +and fishermen, but little friendly to innovations, seem to prefer the +employment of primitive weapons, which they use skilfully--that is to +say,--the harpoon and spear. + +It was then by the usual method, attacking the whale with the sword, +that Captain Hull was going to attempt to capture the jubarte signaled +five miles from his ship. + +Besides, the weather would favor this expedition. The sea, being very +calm, was propitious for the working of a whale-boat. The wind was +going down, and the "Pilgrim" would only drift in an insensible manner +while her crew were occupied in the offing. + +So the starboard whale-boat was immediately lowered, and the four +sailors went into it. + +Howik passed them two of those long spears which serve as harpoons, +then two long lances with sharp points. To those offensive arms he +added five coils of those strong flexible ropes that the whalers call +"lines," and which measure six hundred feet in length. Less would not +do, for it sometimes happens that these cords, fastened end to end, are +not enough for the "demand," the whale plunges down so deep. + +Such were the different weapons which were carefully disposed in the +front of the boat. + +Howik and the four sailors only waited for the order to let go the rope. + +A single place was vacant in the prow of the whale-boat--that which +Captain Hull would occupy. + +It is needless to say that the "Pilgrim's" crew, before quitting her, +had brought the ship's sails aback. In other words, the yards were +braced in such a manner that the sails, counteracting their action, +kept the vessel almost stationary. + +Just as he was about to embark, Captain Hull gave a last glance at his +ship. He was sure that all was in order, the halliards well turned, the +sails suitably trimmed. As he was leaving the young novice on board +during an absence which might last several hours, he wished, with a +good reason, that unless for some urgent cause, Dick Sand would not +have to execute a single maneuver. + +At the moment of departing he gave the young man some last words of +advice. + +"Dick," said he, "I leave you alone. Watch over everything. If, as is +possible, it should become necessary to get the ship under way, in case +we should be led too far in pursuit of this jubarte, Tom and his +companions could come to your aid perfectly well. After telling them +clearly what they would have to do, I am assured that they would do it." + +"Yes, Captain Hull," replied old Tom, "and Mr. Dick can count on us." + +"Command! command!" cried Bat. "We have such a strong desire to make +ourselves useful." + +"On what must we pull?" asked Hercules, turning up the large sleeves of +his jacket. + +"On nothing just now," replied Dick Sand, smiling. + +"At your service," continued the colossus. + +"Dick," continued Captain Hull, "the weather is beautiful. The wind has +gone down. There is no indication that it will freshen again. Above +all, whatever may happen, do not put a boat to sea, and do not leave +the ship." + +"That is understood." + +"If it should become necessary for the 'Pilgrim' to come to us, I shall +make a signal to you, by hoisting a flag at the end of a boat-hook." + +"Rest assured, captain, I shall not lose sight of the whale-boat," +replied Dick Sand. + +"Good, my boy," replied Captain Hull. "Courage and coolness. Behold +yourself assistant captain. Do honor to your grade. No one has been +such at your age!" + +Dick Sand did not reply, but he blushed while smiling. Captain Hull +understood that blush and that smile. + +"The honest boy!" he said to himself; "modesty and good humor, in +truth, it is just like him!" + +Meanwhile, by these urgent recommendations, it was plain that, even +though there would be no danger in doing it, Captain Hull did not leave +his ship willingly, even for a few hours. But an irresistible +fisherman's instinct, above all, the strong desire to complete his +cargo of oil, and not fall short of the engagements made by James W. +Weldon in Valparaiso, all that told him to attempt the adventure. +Besides, that sea, so fine, was marvelously conducive to the pursuit of +a cetacean. Neither his crew nor he could resist such a temptation. The +fishing cruise would be finally complete, and this last consideration +touched Captain Hull's heart above everything. + +Captain Hull went toward the ladder. + +"I wish you success," said Mrs. Weldon to him. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Weldon." + +"I beg you, do not do too much harm to the poor whale," cried little +Jack. + +"No, my boy," replied Captain Hull. + +"Take it very gently, sir." + +"Yes--with gloves, little Jack." + +"Sometimes," observed Cousin Benedict, "we find rather curious insects +on the back of these large mammals." + +"Well, Mr. Benedict," replied Captain Hull, laughing, "you shall have +the right to 'entomologize' when our jubarte will be alongside of the +'Pilgrim.'" + +Then turning to Tom: + +"Tom, I count on your companions and you," said he, "to assist us in +cutting up the whale, when it is lashed to the ship's hull--which will +not be long." + +"At your disposal, sir," replied the old black. + +"Good!" replied Captain Hull. + +"Dick, these honest men will aid you in preparing the empty barrels. +During our absence they will bring them on deck, and by this means the +work will go fast on our return." + +"That shall be done, captain." + +For the benefit of those who do not know, it is necessary to say that +the jubarte, once dead, must be towed as far as the "Pilgrim," and +firmly lashed to her starboard side. Then the sailors, shod in boots, +with cramp-hooks would take their places on the back of the enormous +cetacean, and cut it up methodically in parallel bands marked off from +the head to the tail. These bands would be then cut across in slices of +a foot and a half, then divided into pieces, which, after being stowed +in the barrels, would be sent to the bottom of the hold. + +Generally the whaling ship, when the fishing is over, manages to land +as soon as possible, so as to finish her manipulations. The crew lands, +and then proceeds to melt the lard, which, under the action of the +heat, gives up all its useful part--that is, the oil. In this +operation, the whale's lard weighs about a third of its weight. + +But, under present circumstances, Captain Hull could not dream of +putting back to finish that operation. He only counted on melting this +quantity of lard at Valparaiso. Besides, with winds which could not +fail to hail from the west, he hoped to make the American coast before +twenty days, and that lapse of time could not compromise the results of +his fishing. + +The moment for setting out had come. Before the "Pilgrim's" sails had +been brought aback, she had drawn a little nearer to the place where +the jubarte continued to signal its presence by jets of vapor and water. + +The jubarte was all this time swimming in the middle of the vast red +field of crustaceans, opening its large mouth automatically, and +absorbing at each draught myriads of animalcules. + +According to the experienced ones on board, there was no fear that the +whale dreamt of escaping. It was, doubtless, what the whalers call a +"fighting" whale. + +Captain Hull strode over the netting, and, descending the rope ladder, +he reached the prow of the whale-boat. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Cousin Benedict, Tom, and his companions, for a last +time wished the captain success. + +Dingo itself, rising on its paws and passing its head above the +railing, seemed to wish to say good-by to the crew. + +Then all returned to the prow, so as to lose none of the very +attractive movements of such a fishing. + +The whale-boat put off, and, under the impetus of its four oars, +vigorously handled, it began to distance itself from the "Pilgrim." + +"Watch well, Dick, watch well!" cried Captain Hull to the young novice +for the last time. + +"Count on me, sir." + +"One eye for the ship, one eye for the whale-boat, my boy. Do not +forget it." + +"That shall be done, captain," replied Dick Sand, who went to take his +place near the helm. + +Already the light boat was several hundred feet from the ship. Captain +Hull, standing at the prow, no longer able to make himself heard, +renewed his injunctions by the most expressive gestures. + +It was then that Dingo, its paws still resting on the railing, gave a +sort of lamentable bark, which would have an unfavorable effect upon +men somewhat given to superstition. + +That bark even made Mrs. Weldon shudder. + +"Dingo," said she, "Dingo, is that the way you encourage your friends? +Come, now, a fine bark, very clear, very sonorous, very joyful." + +But the dog barked no more, and, letting itself fall back on its paws, +it came slowly to Mrs. Weldon, whose hand it licked affectionately. + +"It does not wag its tail," murmured Tom in a low tone. "Bad sign--bad +sign." + +But almost at once Dingo stood up, and a howl of anger escaped it. + +Mrs. Weldon turned round. + +Negoro had just left his quarters, and was going toward the forecastle, +with the intention, no doubt, of looking for himself at the movements +of the whale-boat. + +Dingo rushed at the head cook, a prey to the strongest as well as to +the most inexplicable fury. + +Negoro seized a hand-spike and took an attitude of defense. + +The dog was going to spring at his throat. + +"Here, Dingo, here!" cried Dick Sand, who, leaving his post of +observation for an instant, ran to the prow of the ship. + +Mrs. Weldon on her side, sought to calm the dog. + +Dingo obeyed, not without repugnance, and returned to the young novice, +growling secretly. + +Negoro had not pronounced a single word, but his face had grown pale +for a moment. Letting go of his hand-spike, he regained his cabin. + +"Hercules," then said Dick Sand, "I charge you especially to watch over +that man." + +"I shall watch," simply replied Hercules, clenching his two enormous +fists in sign of assent. + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand then turned their eyes again on the +whale-boat, which the four oarsmen bore rapidly away. + +It was nothing but a speck on the sea. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE JUBARTE. + + +Captain Hull, an experienced whaler, would leave nothing to chance. The +capture of a jubarte is a difficult thing. No precaution ought to be +neglected. None was in this case. + +And, first of all, Captain Hull sailed so as to come up to the whale on +the leeward, so that no noise might disclose the boat's approach. + +Howik then steered the whale-boat, following the rather elongated curve +of that reddish shoal, in the midst of which floated the jubarte. They +would thus turn the curve. + +The boatswain, set over this work, was a seaman of great coolness, who +inspired Captain Hull with every confidence. He had not to fear either +hesitation or distraction from Howik. + +"Attention to the steering, Howik," said Captain Hull. "We are going to +try to surprise the jubarte. We will only show ourselves when we are +near enough to harpoon it." + +"That is understood, sir," replied the boatswain. + +"I am going to follow the contour of these reddish waters, so as to +keep to the leeward." + +"Good!" said Captain Hull. "Boys, as little noise as possible in +rowing." + +The oars, carefully muffled with straw, worked silently. The boat, +skilfully steered by the boatswain, had reached the large shoal of +crustaceans. The starboard oars still sank in the green and limpid +water, while those to larboard, raising the reddish liquid, seemed to +rain drops of blood. + +"Wine and water!" said one of the sailors. + +"Yes," replied Captain Hull, "but water that we cannot drink, and wine +that we cannot swallow. Come, boys, let us not speak any more, and +heave closer!" + +The whale-boat, steered by the boatswain, glided noiselessly on the +surface of those half-greased waters, as if it were floating on a bed +of oil. + +The jubarte did not budge, and did not seem to have yet perceived the +boat, which described a circle around it. + +Captain Hull, in making the circuit, necessarily went farther than the +"Pilgrim," which gradually grew smaller in the distance. This rapidity +with which objects diminish at sea has always an odd effect. It seems +as if we look at them shortened through the large end of a telescope. +This optical illusion evidently takes place because there are no points +of comparison on these large spaces. It was thus with the "Pilgrim," +which decreased to the eye and seemed already much more distant than +she really was. + +Half an hour after leaving her, Captain Hull and his companions found +themselves exactly to the leeward of the whale, so that the latter +occupied an intermediate point between the ship and the boat. + +So the moment had come to approach, while making as little noise as +possible. It was not impossible for them to get beside the animal and +harpoon it at good range, before its attention would be attracted. + +"Row more slowly, boys," said Captain Hull, in a low voice. + +"It seems to me," replied Howik, "that the gudgeon suspects something. +It breathes less violently than it did just now!" + +"Silence! silence!" repeated Captain Hull. + +Five minutes later the whale-boat was at a cable's length from the +jubarte. A cable's length, a measure peculiar to the sea, comprises a +length of one hundred and twenty fathoms, that is to say, two hundred +meters. + +The boatswain, standing aft, steered in such a manner as to approach +the left side of the mammal, but avoiding, with the greatest care, +passing within reach of the formidable tail, a single blow of which +would be enough to crush the boat. + +At the prow Captain Hull, his legs a little apart to maintain his +equilibrium, held the weapon with which he was going to give the first +blow. They could count on his skill to fix that harpoon in the thick +mass which emerged from the waters. + +Near the captain, in a pail, was coiled the first of the five lines, +firmly fastened to the harpoon, and to which they would successively +join the other four if the whale plunged to great depths. + +"Are we ready, boys?" murmured Captain Hull. + +"Yes," replied Howik, grasping his oar firmly in his large hands. + +"Alongside! alongside!" + +The boatswain obeyed the order, and the whale-boat came within less +than ten feet of the animal. + +The latter no longer moved, and seemed asleep. + +Whales thus surprised while asleep offer an easier prize, and it often +happens that the first blow which is given wounds them mortally. + +"This immovableness is quite astonishing!" thought Captain Hull. "The +rascal ought not to be asleep, and nevertheless----there is something +there!" + +The boatswain thought the same, and he tried to see the opposite side +of the animal. + +But it was not the moment to reflect, but to attack. + +Captain Hull, holding his harpoon by the middle of the handle, balanced +it several times, to make sure of good aim, while he examined the +jubarte's side. Then he threw it with all the strength of his arm. + +"Back, back!" cried he at once. + +And the sailors, pulling together, made the boat recoil rapidly, with +the intention of prudently putting it in safety from the blows of the +cetacean's tail. + +But at that moment a cry from the boatswain made them understand why +the whale was so extraordinarily motionless for so long a time on the +surface of the sea. + +"A young whale!" said he. + +In fact, the jubarte, after having been struck by the harpoon, was +almost entirely overturned on the side, thus discovering a young whale, +which she was in process of suckling. + +This circumstance, as Captain Hull well knew, would render the capture +of the jubarte much more difficult. The mother was evidently going to +defend herself with greater fury, as much for herself as to protect her +"little one "--if, indeed, we can apply that epithet to an animal which +did not measure less than twenty feet. + +Meanwhile, the jubarte did not rush at the boat, as there was reason to +fear, and there was no necessity, before taking flight, to quickly cut +the line which connected the boat with the harpoon. On the contrary, +and as generally happens, the whale, followed by the young one, dived, +at first in a very oblique line; then rising again with an immense +bound, she commenced to cleave the waters with extreme rapidity. + +But before she had made her first plunge, Captain Hull and the +boatswain, both standing, had had time to see her, and consequently to +estimate her at her true value. + +This jubarte was, in reality, a whale of the largest size. From the +head to the tail, she measured at least eighty feet. Her skin, of a +yellowish brown, was much varied with numerous spots of a darker brown. + +It would indeed be a pity, after an attack so happily begun, to be +under the necessity of abandoning so rich a prey. + +The pursuit, or rather the towing, had commenced. The whale-boat, whose +oars had been raised, darted like an arrow while swinging on the tops +of the waves. + +Howik kept it steady, notwithstanding those rapid and frightful +oscillations. Captain Hull, his eye on his prey, did not cease making +his eternal refrain: + +"Be watchful, Howik, be watchful!" + +And they could be sure that the boatswain's vigilance would not be at +fault for an instant. + +Meanwhile, as the whale-boat did not fly nearly as fast as the whale, +the line of the harpoon spun out with such rapidity that it was to be +feared that it would take fire in rubbing against the edge of the +whale-boat. So Captain Hull took care to keep it damp, by filling with +water the pail at the bottom of which the line was coiled. + +All this time the jubarte did not seem inclined to stop her flight, nor +willing to moderate it. The second line was then lashed to the end of +the first, and it was not long before it was played out with the same +velocity. + +At the end of five minutes it was necessary to join on the third line, +which ran off under the water. + +The jubarte did not stop. The harpoon had evidently not penetrated into +any vital part of the body. They could even observe, by the increased +obliquity of the line, that the animal, instead of returning to the +surface, was sinking into lower depths. + +"The devil!" cried Captain Hull, "but that rascal will use up our five +lines!" + +"And lead us to a good distance from the 'Pilgrim,'" replied the +boatswain. + +"Nevertheless, she must return to the surface to breathe," replied +Captain Hull. "She is not a fish, and she must have the provision of +air like a common individual." + +"She has held her breath to run better," said one of the sailors, +laughing. + +In fact, the line was unrolling all the time with equal rapidity. + +To the third line, it was soon necessary to join the fourth, and that +was not done without making the sailors somewhat anxious touching their +future part of the prize. + +"The devil! the devil!" murmured Captain Hull. "I have never seen +anything like that! Devilish jubarte!" + +Finally the fifth line had to be let out, and it was already half +unrolled when it seemed to slacken. + +"Good! good!" cried Captain Hull. "The line is less stiff. The jubarte +is getting tired." + +At that moment, the "Pilgrim" was more than five miles to the leeward +of the whale-boat. Captain Hull, hoisting a flag at the end of a +boat-hook, gave the signal to come nearer. + +And almost at once, he could see that Dick Sand, aided by Tom and his +companions, commenced to brace the yards in such a manner as to trim +them close to the wind. + +But the breeze was feeble and irregular. It only came in short puffs. +Most certainly, the "Pilgrim" would have some trouble in joining the +whale-boat, if indeed she could reach it. Meanwhile, as they had +foreseen, the jubarte had returned to the surface of the water to +breathe, with the harpoon fixed in her side all the time. She then +remained almost motionless, seeming to wait for her young whale, which +this furious course must have left behind. + +Captain Hull made use of the oars so as to join her again, and soon he +was only a short distance from her. + +Two oars were laid down and two sailors armed themselves, as the +captain had done, with long lances, intended to strike the enemy. + +Howik worked skilfully then, and held himself ready to make the boat +turn rapidly, in case the whale should turn suddenly on it. + +"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "Do not lose a blow! Aim well, boys! +Are we ready, Howik?" + +"I am prepared, sir," replied the boatswain, "but one thing troubles +me. It is that the beast, after having fled so rapidly, is very quiet +now." + +"In fact, Howik, that seems to me suspicious. Let us be careful!" + +"Yes, but let us go forward." + +Captain Hull grew more and more animated. + +The boat drew still nearer. The jubarte only turned in her place. Her +young one was no longer near her; perhaps she was trying to find it +again. + +Suddenly she made a movement with her tail, which took her thirty feet +away. + +Was she then going to take flight again, and must they take up this +interminable pursuit again on the surface of the waters? + +"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "The beast is going to take a spring +and throw herself on us. Steer, Howik, steer!" + +The jubarte, in fact, had turned in such a manner as to present herself +in front of the whale-boat. Then, beating the sea violently with her +enormous fins, she rushed forward. + +The boatswain, who expected this direct blow, turned in such a fashion +that the jubarte passed by the boat, but without reaching it. + +Captain Hull and the two sailors gave her three vigorous thrusts on the +passage, seeking to strike some vital organ. + +The jubarte stopped, and, throwing to a great height two columns of +water mingled with blood, she turned anew on the boat, bounding, so to +say, in a manner frightful to witness. + +These seamen must have been expert fishermen, not to lose their +presence of mind on this occasion. + +Howik again skilfully avoided the jubarte's attack, by darting the boat +aside. + +Three new blows, well aimed, again gave the animal three new wounds. +But, in passing, she struck the water so roughly with her formidable +tail, that an enormous wave arose, as if the sea were suddenly opened. + +The whale-boat almost capsized, and, the water rushing in over the +side, it was half filled. + +"The bucket, the bucket!" cried Captain Hull. + +The two sailors, letting go their oars, began to bale out the boat +rapidly, while the captain cut the line, now become useless. + +No! the animal, rendered furious by grief, no longer dreamt of flight. +It was her turn to attack, and her agony threatened to be terrible. + +A third time she turned round, "head to head," a seaman would say, and +threw herself anew on the boat. + +But the whale-boat, half full of water, could no longer move with the +same facility. In this condition, how could it avoid the shock which +threatened it? If it could be no longer steered, there was still less +power to escape. + +And besides, no matter how quickly the boat might be propelled, the +swift jubarte would have always overtaken it with a few bounds. It was +no longer a question of attack, but of defense. + +Captain Hull understood it all. + +The third attack of the animal could not be entirely kept off. In +passing she grazed the whale-boat with her enormous dorsal fin, but +with so much force that Howik was thrown down from his bench. + +The three lances, unfortunately affected by the oscillation, this time +missed their aim. + +"Howik! Howik!" cried Captain Hull, who himself had been hardly able to +keep his place. + +"Present!" replied the boatswain, as he got up. But he then perceived +that in his fall his stern oar had broken in the middle. + +"Another oar!" said Captain Hull. + +"I have one," replied Howik. + +At that moment, a bubbling took place under the waters only a few +fathoms from the boat. + +The young whale had just reappeared. The jubarte saw it, and rushed +towards it. + +This circumstance could only give a more terrible character to the +contest. The whale was going to fight for two. + +Captain Hull looked toward the "Pilgrim." His hand shook the boat-hook, +which bore the flag, frantically. + +What could Dick Sand do that had not been already done at the first +signal from the captain? The "Pilgrim's" sails were trimmed, and the +wind commenced to fill them. Unhappily the schooner did not possess a +helix, by which the action could be increased to sail faster. + +To lower one of the boats, and, with the aid of the blacks, row to the +assistance of the captain, would be a considerable loss of time; +besides, the novice had orders not to quit the ship, no matter what +happened. However, he had the stern-boat lowered from its pegs, and +towed it along, so that the captain and his companions might take +refuge in it, in case of need. + +At that moment the jubarte, covering the young whale with her body, had +returned to the charge. This time she turned in such a manner as to +reach the boat exactly. + +"Attention, Howik!" cried Captain Hull, for the last time. + +But the boatswain was, so to speak, disarmed. Instead of a lever, whose +length gave force, he only held in his hand an oar relatively short. He +tried to put about; it was impossible. + +The sailors knew that they were lost. All rose, giving a terrible cry, +which was perhaps heard on the "Pilgrim." + +A terrible blow from the monster's tail had just struck the whale-boat +underneath. The boat, thrown into the air with irresistible violence, +fell back, broken in three pieces, in the midst of waves furiously +lashed by the whale's bounds. + +The unfortunate sailors, although grievously wounded, would have had, +perhaps, the strength to keep up still, either by swimming or by +hanging on to some of the floating wreck. That is what Captain Hull +did, for he was seen for a moment hoisting the boatswain on a wreck. + +But the jubarte, in the last degree of fury, turned round, sprang up, +perhaps in the last pangs of a terrible agony, and with her tail she +beat the troubled waters frightfully, where the unfortunate sailors +were still swimming. + +For some minutes one saw nothing but a liquid water-spout scattering +itself in sheafs on all sides. + +A quarter of an hour after, when Dick Sand, who, followed by the +blacks, had rushed into the boat, had reached the scene of the +catastrophe, every living creature had disappeared. There was nothing +left but some pieces of the whale-boat on the surface of the waters, +red with blood. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CAPTAIN SAND. + + +The first impression felt by the passengers of the "Pilgrim" in +presence of this terrible catastrophe was a combination of pity and +horror. They only thought of this frightful death of Captain Hull and +the five sailors. This fearful scene had just taken place almost under +their eyes, while they could do nothing to save the poor men. They had +not even been able to arrive in time to pick up the whale-boat's crew, +their unfortunate companions, wounded, but still living, and to oppose +the "Pilgrim's" hull to the jubarte's formidable blows. Captain Hull +and his men had forever disappeared. + +When the schooner arrived at the fatal place, Mrs. Weldon fell on her +knees, her hands raised toward Heaven. + +"Let us pray!" said the pious woman. + +She was joined by her little Jack, who threw himself on his knees, +weeping, near his mother. The poor child understood it all. Dick Sand, +Nan, Tom, and the other blacks remained standing, their heads bowed. +All repeated the prayer that Mrs. Weldon addressed to God, recommending +to His infinite goodness those who had just appeared before Him. + +Then Mrs. Weldon, turning to her companions, "And now, my friends," +said she, "let us ask Heaven for strength and courage for ourselves." + +Yes! They could not too earnestly implore the aid of Him who can do all +things, for their situation was one of the gravest! + +This ship which carried them had no longer a captain to command her, no +longer a crew to work her. She was in the middle of that immense +Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from any land, at the mercy of the +winds and waves. + +What fatality then had brought that whale in the "Pilgrim's" course? +What still greater fatality had urged the unfortunate Captain Hull, +generally so wise, to risk everything in order to complete his cargo? +And what a catastrophe to count among the rarest of the annals of +whale-fishing was this one, which did not allow of the saving of one of +the whale-boat's sailors! + +Yes, it was a terrible fatality! In fact, there was no longer a seaman +on board the "Pilgrim." Yes, one--Dick Sand--and he was only a +beginner, a young man of fifteen. Captain, boatswain, sailors, it may +be said that the whole crew was now concentrated in him. + +On board there was one lady passenger, a mother and her son, whose +presence would render the situation much more difficult. Then there +were also some blacks, honest men, courageous and zealous without a +doubt, ready to obey whoever should undertake to command them, but +ignorant of the simplest notions of the sailor's craft. + +Dick Sand stood motionless, his arms crossed, looking at the place +where Captain Hull had just been swallowed up--Captain Hull, his +protector, for whom he felt a filial affection. Then his eyes searched +the horizon, seeking to discover some ship, from which he would demand +aid and assistance, to which he might be able at least to confide Mrs. +Weldon. He would not abandon the "Pilgrim," no, indeed, without having +tried his best to bring her into port. But Mrs. Weldon and her little +boy would be in safety. He would have had nothing more to fear for +those two beings, to whom he was devoted body and soul. + +The ocean was deserted. Since the disappearance of the jubarte, not a +speck came to alter the surface. All was sky and water around the +"Pilgrim." The young novice knew only too well that he was beyond the +routes followed by the ships of commerce, and that the other whalers +were cruising still farther away at the fishing-grounds. + +However, the question was, to look the situation in the face, to see +things as they were. That is what Dick Sand did, asking God, from the +depths of his heart, for aid and succor. What resolution was he going +to take? + +At that moment Negoro appeared on the deck, which he had left after the +catastrophe. What had been felt in the presence of this irreparable +misfortune by a being so enigmatical, no one could tell. He had +contemplated the disaster without making a gesture, without departing +from his speechlessness. His eye had evidently seized all the details +of it. But if at such a moment one could think of observing him, he +would be astonished at least, because not a muscle of his impassible +face had moved. At any rate, and as if he had not heard it, he had not +responded to the pious appeal of Mrs. Weldon, praying for the engulfed +crew. Negoro walked aft, there even where Dick Sand was standing +motionless. He stopped three steps from the novice. + +"You wish to speak to me?" asked Dick Sand. + +"I wish to speak to Captain Hull," replied Negoro, coolly, "or, in his +absence, to boatswain Howik." + +"You know well that both have perished!" cried the novice. + +"Then who commands on board now?" asked Negoro, very insolently. + +"I," replied Dick Sand, without hesitation. + +"You!" said Negoro, shrugging his shoulders. "A captain of fifteen +years?" + +"A captain of fifteen years!" replied the novice, advancing toward the +cook. + +The latter drew back. + +"Do not forget it," then said Mrs. Weldon. "There is but one captain +here--Captain Sand, and it is well for all to remember that he will +know how to make himself obeyed." + +Negoro bowed, murmuring in an ironical tone a few words that they could +not understand, and he returned to his post. + +We see, Dick's resolution was taken. + +Meanwhile the schooner, under the action of the breeze, which commenced +to freshen, had already passed beyond the vast shoal of crustaceans. + +Dick Sand examined the condition of the sails; then his eyes were cast +on the deck. He had then this sentiment, that, if a frightful +responsibility fell upon him in the future, it was for him to have the +strength to accept it. He dared to look at the survivors of the +"Pilgrim," whose eyes were now fixed on him. And, reading in their +faces that he could count on them, he said to them in two words, that +they could in their turn count on him. + +Dick Sand had, in all sincerity, examined his conscience. + +If he was capable of taking in or setting the sails of the schooner, +according to circumstances, by employing the arms of Tom and his +companions, he evidently did not yet possess all the knowledge +necessary to determine his position by calculation. + +In four or five years more, Dick Sand would know thoroughly that +beautiful and difficult sailor's craft. He would know how to use the +sextant--that instrument which Captain Hull's hand had held every day, +and which gave him the height of the stars. He would read on the +chronometer the hour of the meridian of Greenwich, and from it would be +able to deduce the longitude by the hour angle. The sun would be made +his counselor each day. The moon--the planets would say to him, "There, +on that point of the ocean, is thy ship!" That firmament, on which the +stars move like the hands of a perfect clock, which nothing shakes nor +can derange, and whose accuracy is absolute--that firmament would tell +him the hours and the distances. By astronomical observations he would +know, as his captain had known every day, nearly to a mile, the place +occupied by the "Pilgrim," and the course followed as well as the +course to follow. + +And now, by reckoning, that is by the progress measured on the log, +pointed out by the compass, and corrected by the drift, he must alone +ask his way. + +However, he did not falter. + +Mrs. Weldon understood all that was passing in the young novice's +resolute heart. + +"Thank you, Dick," she said to him, in a voice which did not tremble. +"Captain Hull is no more. All his crew have perished with him. The fate +of the ship is in your hands! Dick, you will save the ship and those on +board!" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, "yes! I shall attempt it, with +the aid of God!" + +"Tom and his companions are honest men on whom you can depend entirely." + +"I know it, and I shall make sailors of them, and we shall work +together. With fine weather that will be easy. With bad weather--well, +with bad weather, we shall strive, and we shall save you yet, Mrs. +Weldon--you and your little Jack, both! Yes, I feel that I shall do it." + +And he repeated: + +"With the aid of God!" + +"Now, Dick, can you tell where the 'Pilgrim' is?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Easily," replied the novice. "I have only to consult the chart on +board, on which her position was marked yesterday by Captain Hull." + +"And will you be able to put the ship in the right direction?" + +"Yes, I shall be able to put her prow to the east, nearly at the point +of the American coast that we must reach." + +"But, Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "you well understand, do you not, +that this catastrophe may, and indeed must, modify our first projects? +It is no longer a question of taking the 'Pilgrim' to Valparaiso. The +nearest port of the American coast is now her port of destination." + +"Certainly, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "So fear nothing! We +cannot fail to reach that American coast which stretches so far to the +south." + +"Where is it situated?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"There, in that direction," replied Dick Sand, pointing to the east, +which he knew by means of the compass. + +"Well, Dick, we may reach Valparaiso, or any other part of the coast. +What matter? What we want is to land." + +"And we shall do it, Mrs. Weldon, and I shall land you on a good +place," replied the young man, in a firm voice. "Besides, in standing +in for the land, I do not renounce the hope of encountering some of +those vessels which do the coasting trade on that shore. Ah! Mrs. +Weldon, the wind begins to blow steadily from the northwest! God grant +that it may keep on; we shall make progress, and good progress. We +shall drive in the offing with all our sails set, from the brigantine +to the flying-jib!" + +Dick Sand had spoken with the confidence of the seaman, who feels that +he stands on a good ship, a ship of whose every movement he is master. +He was going to take the helm and call his companions to set the sails +properly, when Mrs. Weldon reminded him that he ought first to know the +"Pilgrim's" position. + +It was, indeed, the first thing to do. Dick Sand went into the +captain's cabin for the chart on which the position of the day before +was indicated. He could then show Mrs. Weldon that the schooner was in +latitude 43° 35', and in longitude 164° 13', for, in the last +twenty-four hours, she had not, so to say, made any progress. + +Mrs. Weldon leaned over this chart. She looked at the brown color which +represented the land on the right of the ocean. It was the coast of +South America, an immense barrier thrown between the Pacific and the +Atlantic from Cape Horn to the shores of Columbia. To consider it in +that way, that chart, which, was then spread out under her eyes, on +which was drawn a whole ocean, gave the impression that it would be +easy to restore the "Pilgrim's" passengers to their country. It is an +illusion which is invariably produced on one who is not familiar with +the scale on which marine charts are drawn. And, in fact, it seemed to +Mrs. Weldon that the land ought to be in sight, as it was on that piece +of paper! + +And, meanwhile, on that white page, the "Pilgrim" drawn on an exact +scale, would be smaller than the most microscopic of infusoria! That +mathematical point, without appreciable dimensions, would appear lost, +as it was in reality in the immensity of the Pacific! + +Dick Sand himself had not experienced the same impression as Mrs. +Weldon. He knew how far off the land was, and that many hundreds of +miles would not suffice to measure the distance from it. But he had +taken his part; he had become a man under the responsibility which had +fallen upon him. + +The moment to act had come. He must profit by this northwest breeze +which was blowing up. Contrary winds had given place to favorable +winds, and some clouds scattered in the zenith under the cirrous form, +indicated that they would blow steadily for at least a certain time. + +Dick called Tom and his companions. + +"My friends," he said to them, "our ship has no longer any crew but +you. I cannot work without your aid. You are not sailors, but you have +good arms. Place them, then, at the 'Pilgrim's' service and we can +steer her. Every one's salvation depends on the good work of every one +on board." + +"Mr. Dick," replied Tom, "my companions and I, we are your sailors. Our +good will shall not be wanting. All that men can do, commanded by you, +we shall do it." + +"Well spoken, old Tom," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, well spoken," continued Dick Sand; "but we must be prudent, and I +shall not carry too much canvas, so as not to run any risk. +Circumstances require a little less speed, but more security. I will +show you, my friends, what each will have to do in the work. As to me, +I shall remain at the helm, as long as fatigue does not oblige me to +leave it. From time to time a few hours' sleep will be sufficient to +restore me. But, during those few hours, it will be very necessary for +one of you to take my place. Tom, I shall show you how we steer by +means of the mariner's compass. It is not difficult, and, with a little +attention, you will soon learn to keep the ship's head in the right +direction." + +"Whenever you like, Mr. Dick," replied the old black. + +"Well," replied the novice, "stay near me at the helm till the end of +the day, and if fatigue overcomes me, you will then be able to replace +me for a few hours." + +"And I," said little Jack, "will I not be able to help my friend, Dick, +a little?" + +"Yes, dear child," replied Mrs. Weldon, clasping Jack in her arms, "you +shall learn to steer, and I am sure that while you are at the helm we +shall have good winds." + +"Very sure--very sure. Mother, I promise it to you," replied the little +boy, clapping his hands. + +"Yes," said the young novice, smiling, "good cabin-boys know how to +maintain good winds. That is well known by old sailors." Then, +addressing Tom, and the other blacks: "My friends," he said to them, +"we are going to put the 'Pilgrim' under full sail. You will only have +to do what I shall tell you." + +"At your orders," replied Tom, "at your orders, Captain Sand." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE FOUR DAYS WHICH FOLLOW. + + +Dick Sand was then captain of the "Pilgrim," and, without losing an +instant, he took the necessary measures for putting the ship under full +sail. + +It was well understood that the passengers could have only one +hope--that of reaching some part of the American coast, if not +Valparaiso. What Dick Sand counted on doing was to ascertain the +direction and speed of the "Pilgrim," so as to get an average. For +that, it was sufficient to make each day on the chart the way made, as +it has been said, by the log and the compass. There was then on board +one of those "patent logs," with an index and helix, which give the +speed very exactly for a fixed time. This useful instrument, very +easily handled, could render the most useful services, and the blacks +were perfectly adapted to work it. + +A single cause of error would interfere--the currents. To combat it, +reckoning would be insufficient; astronomical observations alone would +enable one to render an exact calculation from it. Now, those +observations the young novice was still unable to make. + +For an instant Dick Sand had thought of bringing the "Pilgrim" back to +New Zealand. The passage would be shorter, and he would certainly have +done it if the wind, which, till then, had been contrary, had not +become favorable. Better worth while then to steer for America. + +In fact, the wind had changed almost to the contrary direction, and now +it blew from the northwest with a tendency to freshen. It was then +necessary to profit by it and make all the headway possible. + +So Dick Sand prepared to put the "Pilgrim" under full sail. + +In a schooner brig-rigged, the foremast carries four square sails; the +foresail, on the lower mast; above, the top-sail, on the topmast; +then, on the top-gallant mast, a top-sail and a royal. + +The mainmast, on the contrary, has fewer sails. It only carries a +brigantine below, and a fore-staffsail above. Between these two masts, +on the stays which support them at the prow, a triple row of triangular +sails may be set. + +Finally, at the prow, on the bowsprit, and its extreme end, were hauled +the three jibs. + +The jibs, the brigantine, the fore-staff, and the stay-sails are easily +managed. They can be hoisted from the deck without the necessity of +climbing the masts, because they are not fastened on the yards by means +of rope-bands, which must be previously loosened. + +On the contrary, the working of the foremast sails demands much greater +proficiency in seamanship. In fact, when it is necessary to set them, +the sailors must climb by the rigging--it may be in the foretop, it +may be on the spars of the top-gallant mast, it may be to the top of +the said mast--and that, as well in letting them fly as in drawing them +in to diminish their surface in reefing them. Thence the necessity of +running out on foot-ropes--movable ropes stretched below the yards--of +working with one hand while holding on by the other--perilous work for +any one who is not used to it. The oscillation from the rolling and +pitching of the ship, very much increased by the length of the lever, +the flapping of the sails under a stiff breeze, have often sent a man +overboard. It was then a truly dangerous operation for Tom and his +companions. + +Very fortunately, the wind was moderate. The sea had not yet had time +to become rough. The rolling and pitching kept within bounds. + +When Dick Sand, at Captain Hull's signal, had steered toward the scene +of the catastrophe, the "Pilgrim" only carried her jibs, her +brigantine, her foresail, and her top-sail. To get the ship under way +as quickly as possible, the novice had only to make use of, that is, to +counter-brace, the foresail. The blacks had easily helped him in that +maneuver. + +The question now was to get under full sail, and, to complete the +sails, to hoist the top-sails, the royal, the fore-staff, and the +stay-sails. + +"My friends," said the novice to the five blacks, "do as I tell you, +and all will go right." + +Dick Sand was standing at the wheel of the helm. + +"Go!" cried he. "Tom, let go that rope quickly!" + +"Let go?" said Tom, who did not understand that expression. + +"Yes, loosen it! Now you, Bat--the same thing! Good! Heave--haul taut. +Let us see, pull it in!" + +"Like that?" said Bat. + +"Yes, like that. Very good. Come, Hercules--strong. A good pull there!" + +To say "strong" to Hercules was, perhaps, imprudent. The giant of +course gave a pull that brought down the rope. + +"Oh! not so strong, my honest fellow!" cried Dick Sand, smiling. "You +are going to bring down the masts!" + +"I have hardly pulled," replied Hercules. + +"Well, only make believe! You will see that that will be enough! Well, +slacken--cast off! Make fast--Make fast--like that! Good! All together! +Heave--pull on the braces." + +And the whole breadth of the foremast, whose larboard braces had been +loosened, turned slowly. The wind then swelling the sails imparted a +certain speed to the ship. + +Dick Sand then had the jib sheet-ropes loosened. Then he called the +blacks aft: + +"Behold what is done, my friends, and well done. Now let us attend to +the mainmast. But break nothing, Hercules." + +"I shall try," replied the colossus, without being willing to promise +more. + +This second operation was quite easy. The main-boom sheet-rope having +been let go gently, the brigantine took the wind more regularly, and +added its powerful action to that of the forward sails. + +The fore-staff was then set above the brigantine, and, as it is simply +brailed up, there was nothing to do but bear on the rope, to haul +aboard, then to secure it. But Hercules pulled so hard, along with his +friend Acteon, without counting little Jack, who had joined them, that +the rope broke off. + +All three fell backwards--happily, without hurting themselves. Jack was +enchanted. + +"That's nothing! that's nothing!" cried the novice. "Fasten the two +ends together for this time and hoist softly!" + +That was done under Dick Sand's eyes, while he had not yet left the +helm. The "Pilgrim" was already sailing rapidly, headed to the east, +and there was nothing more to be done but keep it in that direction. +Nothing easier, because the wind was favorable, and lurches were not to +be feared. + +"Good, my friends!" said the novice. "You will be good sailors before +the end of the voyage!" + +"We shall do our best, Captain Sand," replied Tom. + +Mrs. Weldon also complimented those honest men. + +Little Jack himself received his share of praise, for he had worked +bravely. + +"Indeed, I believe, Mr. Jack," said Hercules, smiling, "that it was you +who broke the rope. What a good little fist you have. Without you we +should have done nothing right." + +And little Jack, very proud of himself, shook his friend Hercules' hand +vigorously. + +The setting of the "Pilgrim's" sails was not yet complete. She still +lacked those top-sails whose action is not to be despised under this +full-sail movement. Top-sail, royal, stay-sails, would add sensibly to +the schooner's speed, and Dick Sand resolved to set them. + +This operation would be more difficult than the others, not for the +stay-sails, which could be hoisted, hauled aboard and fastened from +below, but for the cross-jacks of the foremast. It was necessary to +climb to the spars to let them out, and Dick Sand, not wishing to +expose any one of his improvised crew, undertook to do it himself. + +He then called Tom and put him at the wheel, showing him how he should +keep the ship. Then Hercules, Bat, Acteon and Austin being placed, some +at the royal halyards, others at those of the top-sails, he proceeded +up the mast. To climb the rattlings of the fore-shrouds, then the +rattlings of the topmast-shrouds, to gain the spars, that was only play +for the young novice. In a minute he was on the foot-rope of the +top-sail yard, and he let go the rope-bands which kept the sail bound. + +Then he stood on the spars again and climbed on the royal yard, where +he let out the sail rapidly. + +Dick Sand had finished his task, and seizing one of the starboard +backstays, he slid to the deck. + +There, under his directions, the two sails were vigorously hauled and +fastened, then the two yards hoisted to the block. The stay-sails being +set next between the mainmast and the foremast, the work was finished. +Hercules had broken nothing this time. + +The "Pilgrim" then carried all the sails that composed her rigging. +Doubtless Dick Sand could still add the foremast studding-sails to +larboard, but it was difficult work under the present circumstances, +and should it be necessary to take them in, in case of a squall, it +could not be done fast enough. So the novice stopped there. + +Tom was relieved from his post at the wheel, which Dick Sand took +charge of again. + +The breeze freshened. The "Pilgrim," making a slight turn to starboard, +glided rapidly over the surface of the sea, leaving behind her a very +flat track, which bore witness to the purity of her water-line. + +"We are well under way, Mrs. Weldon," then said Dick Sand, "and, now, +may God preserve this favorable wind!" + +Mrs. Weldon pressed the young man's hand. Then, fatigued with all the +emotions of that last hour, she sought her cabin, and fell into a sort +of painful drowsiness, which was not sleep. + +The new crew remained on the schooner's deck, watching on the +forecastle, and ready to obey Dick Sand's orders--that is to say, to +change the set of the sails according to the variations of the wind; +but so long as the breeze kept both that force and that direction, +there would be positively nothing to do. + +During all this time what had become of Cousin Benedict? + +Cousin Benedict was occupied in studying with a magnifying glass an +articulate which he had at last found on board--a simple orthopter, +whose head disappeared under the prothorax; an insect with flat +elytrums, with round abdomen, with rather long wings, which belonged to +the family of the roaches, and to the species of American cockroaches. + +It was exactly while ferreting in Negoro's kitchen, that he had made +that precious discovery, and at the moment when the cook was going to +crush the said insect pitilessly. Thence anger, which, indeed, Negoro +took no notice of. + +But this Cousin Benedict, did he know what change had taken place on +board since the moment when Captain Hull and his companions had +commenced that fatal whale-fishing? Yes, certainly. He was even on the +deck when the "Pilgrim" arrived in sight of the remains of the +whale-boat. The schooner's crew had then perished before his eyes. + +To pretend that this catastrophe had not affected him, would be to +accuse his heart. That pity for others that all people feel, he had +certainly experienced it. He was equally moved by his cousin's +situation. He had come to press Mrs. Weldon's hand, as if to say to +her: "Do not be afraid. I am here. I am left to you." + +Then Cousin Benedict had turned toward his cabin, doubtless so as to +reflect on the consequences of this disastrous event, and on the +energetic measures that he must take. But on his way he had met the +cockroach in question, and his desire was--held, however, against +certain entomologists--to prove the cockroaches of the phoraspe +species, remarkable for their colors, have very different habits from +cockroaches properly so called; he had given himself up to the study, +forgetting both that there had been a Captain Hull in command of the +"Pilgrim," and that that unfortunate had just perished with his crew. +The cockroach absorbed him entirely. He did not admire it less, and he +made as much time over it as if that horrible insect had been a golden +beetle. + +The life on board had then returned to its usual course, though every +one would remain for a long time yet under the effects of such a keen +and unforeseen catastrophe. + +During this day Dick Sand was everywhere, so that everything should be +in its place, and that he could be prepared for the smallest +contingency. The blacks obeyed him with zeal. The most perfect order +reigned on board the "Pilgrim." It might then be hoped that all would +go well. + +On his side, Negoro made no other attempt to resist Dick Sand's +authority. He appeared to have tacitly recognized him. Occupied as +usual in his narrow kitchen, he was not seen more than before. Besides, +at the least infraction--at the first symptom of insubordination, Dick +Sand was determined to send him to the hold for the rest of the +passage. At a sign from him, Hercules would take the head cook by the +skin of the neck; that would not have taken long. In that case, Nan, +who knew how to cook, would replace the cook in his functions. Negoro +then could say to himself that he was indispensable, and, as he was +closely watched, he seemed unwilling to give any cause of complaint. + +The wind, though growing stronger till evening, did not necessitate any +change in the "Pilgrim's" sails. Her solid masting, her iron rigging, +which was in good condition, would enable her to bear in this condition +even a stronger breeze. + +During the night it is often the custom to lessen the sails, and +particularly to take in the high sails, fore-staff, top-sail, royal, +etc. That is prudent, in case some squall of wind should come up +suddenly. But Dick Sand believed he could dispense with this +precaution. The state of the atmosphere indicated nothing of the kind, +and besides, the young novice determined to pass the first night on the +deck, intending to have an eye to everything. Then the progress was +more rapid, and he longed to be in less desolate parts. + +It has been said that the log and the compass were the only instruments +which Dick Sand could use, so as to estimate approximately the way made +by the "Pilgrim." + +During this day the novice threw the log every half-hour, and he noted +the indications furnished by the instrument. + +As to the instrument which bears the name of compass, there were two on +board. One was placed in the binnacle, under the eyes of the man at the +helm. Its dial, lighted by day by the diurnal light, by night by two +side-lamps, indicated at every moment which way the ship headed--that +is, the direction she followed. The other compass was an inverted one, +fixed to the bars of the cabin which Captain Hull formerly occupied. By +that means, without leaving his chamber, he could always know if the +route given was exactly followed, if the man at the helm, from +ignorance or negligence, allowed the ship to make too great lurches. + +Besides, there is no ship employed in long voyages which does not +possess at least two compasses, as she has two chronometers. It is +necessary to compare these instruments with each other, and, +consequently, control their indications. + +The "Pilgrim" was then sufficiently provided for in that respect, and +Dick Sand charged his men to take the greatest care of the two +compasses, which were so necessary to him. + +Now, unfortunately, during the night of the 12th to the 13th of +February, while the novice was on watch, and holding the wheel of the +helm, a sad accident took place. The inverted compass, which was +fastened by a copper ferule to the woodwork of the cabin, broke off and +fell on the floor. It was not seen till the next day. + +How had the ferule come to break. It was inexplicable enough. It was +possible, however, that it was oxydized, and that the pitching and +rolling had broken it from the woodwork. Now, indeed, the sea had been +rougher during the night. However it was, the compass was broken in +such a manner that it could not be repaired. + +Dick Sand was much thwarted. Henceforth he was reduced to trust solely +to the compass in the binnacle. Very evidently no one was responsible +for the breaking of the second compass, but it might have sad +consequences. The novice then took every precaution to keep the other +compass beyond the reach of every accident. + +Till then, with that exception, all went well on board the "Pilgrim." + +Mrs. Weldon, seeing Dick Sand's calmness, had regained confidence. It +was not that she had ever yielded to despair. Above all, she counted on +the goodness of God. Also, as a sincere and pious Catholic, she +comforted herself by prayer. + +Dick Sand had arranged so as to remain at the helm during the night. He +slept five or six hours in the day, and that seemed enough for him, as +he did not feel too much fatigued. During this time Tom or his son Bat +took his place at the wheel of the helm, and, thanks to his counsels, +they were gradually becoming passable steersmen. + +Often Mrs. Weldon and the novice talked to each other. Dick Sand +willingly took advice from this intelligent and courageous woman. Each +day he showed her on the ship's chart the course run, which he took by +reckoning, taking into account only the direction and the speed of the +ship. "See, Mrs. Weldon," he often repeated to her, "with these winds +blowing, we cannot fail to reach the coast of South America. I should +not like to affirm it, but I verily believe that when our vessel shall +arrive in sight of land, it will not be far from Valparaiso." + +Mrs. Weldon could not doubt the direction of the vessel was right, +favored above all by those winds from the northwest. But how far the +"Pilgrim" still seemed to be from the American coast! How many dangers +between her and the firm land, only counting those which might come +from a change in the state of the sea and the sky! + +Jack, indifferent like children of his age, had returned to his usual +games, running on the deck, amusing himself with Dingo. He found, of +course, that his friend Dick was less with him than formerly; but his +mother had made him understand that they must leave the young novice +entirely to his occupations. Little Jack had given up to these reasons, +and no longer disturbed "Captain Sand." + +So passed life on board. The blacks did their work intelligently, and +each day became more skilful in the sailor's craft. Tom was naturally +the boatswain, and it was he, indeed, whom his companions would have +chosen for that office. He commanded the watch while the novice rested, +and he had with him his son Bat and Austin. Acteon and Hercules formed +the other watch, under Dick Sand's direction. By this means, while one +steered, the others watched at the prow. + +Even though these parts were deserted, and no collision was really to +be feared, the novice exacted a rigorous watch during the night. He +never sailed without having his lights in position--a green light on +the starboard, a red light on the larboard--and in that he acted wisely. + +All the time, during those nights which Dick Sand passed entirely at +the helm, he occasionally felt an irresistible heaviness over him. His +hand then steered by pure instinct. It was the effect of a fatigue of +which he did not wish to take account. + +Now, it happened that during the night of the 13th to the 14th of +February, that Dick Sand was very tired, and was obliged to take a few +hours' rest. He was replaced at the helm by old Tom. + +The sky was covered with thick clouds, which had gathered with the +evening, under the influence of the cold air. It was then very dark, +and it was impossible to distinguish the high sails lost in the +darkness. Hercules and Acteon were on watch on the forecastle. + +Aft, the light from the binnacle only gave a faint gleam, which the +metallic apparatus of the wheel reflected softly. The ship's lanterns +throwing their lights laterally, left the deck of the vessel in +profound darkness. + +Toward three o'clock in the morning, a kind of hypnotic phenomenon took +place, of which old Tom was not even conscious. His eves, which were +fixed too long on a luminous point of the binnacle, suddenly lost the +power of vision, and he fell into a true anæsthetic sleep. + +Not only was he incapable of seeing, but if one had touched or pinched +him hard he would probably have felt nothing. + +So he did not see a shadow which glided over the deck. + +It was Negoro. + +Arrived aft, the head cook placed under the binnacle a pretty heavy +object which he held in hand. + +Then, after observing for an instant the luminous index of the compass, +he retired without having been seen. + +If, the next day, Dick Sand had perceived that object placed by Negoro +under the binnacle, he might have hastened to take it away. + +In fact, it was a piece of iron, whose influence had just altered the +indications of the compass. The magnetic needle had been deviated, and +instead of marking the magnetic north, which differs a little from the +north of the world, it marked the northeast. It was then, a deviation +of four points; in other words, of half a right angle. + +Tom soon recovered from his drowsiness. His eyes were fixed on the +compass. He believed, he had reason to believe, that the "Pilgrim" was +not in the right direction. He then moved the helm so as to head the +ship to the east--at least, he thought so. + +But, with the deviation of the needle, which he could not suspect, that +point, changed by four points, was the southeast. + +And thus, while under the action of a favorable wind, the "Pilgrim" was +supposed to follow the direction wished for, she sailed with an error +of forty-five degrees in her route! + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TEMPEST. + + +During the week which followed that event, from the 14th of February to +the 21st, no incident took place on board. The wind from the northwest +freshened gradually, and the "Pilgrim" sailed rapidly, making on an +average one hundred and sixty miles in twenty-four hours. It was nearly +all that could be asked of a vessel of that size. + +Dick Sand thought the schooner must be approaching those parts more +frequented by the merchant vessels which seek to pass from one +hemisphere to the other. The novice was always hoping to encounter one +of those ships, and he clearly intended either to transfer his +passengers, or to borrow some additional sailors, and perhaps an +officer. But, though he watched vigilantly, no ship could be signaled, +and the sea was always deserted. + +Dick Sand continued to be somewhat astonished at that. He had crossed +this part of the Pacific several times during his three fishing voyages +to the Southern Seas. Now, in the latitude and longitude where his +reckoning put him, it was seldom that some English or American ship did +not appear, ascending from Cape Horn toward the equator, or coming +toward the extreme point of South America. + +But what Dick Sand was ignorant of, what he could not even discover, +was that the "Pilgrim" was already in higher latitude--that is to say, +more to the south than he supposed. That was so for two reasons: + +The first was, that the currents of these parts, whose swiftness the +novice could only imperfectly estimate, had contributed--while he could +not possibly keep account of them--to throw the ship out of her route. + +The second was, that the compass, made inaccurate by Negoro's guilty +hand, henceforth only gave incorrect bearings--bearings that, since the +loss of the second compass, Dick Sand could not control. So that, +believing, and having reason to believe, that he was sailing eastward, +in reality, he was sailing southeast. The compass, it was always before +his eyes. The log, it was thrown regularly. His two instruments +permitted him, in a certain measure, to direct the "Pilgrim," and to +estimate the number of miles sailed. But, then, was that sufficient? + +However, the novice always did his best to reassure Mrs. Weldon, whom +the incidents of this voyage must at times render anxious. + +"We shall arrive, we shall arrive!" he repeated. "We shall reach the +American coast, here or there; it matters little, on the whole, but we +cannot fail to land there!" + +"I do not doubt it, Dick." + +"Of course, Mrs. Weldon, I should be more at ease if you were not on +board--if we had only ourselves to answer for; but----" + +"But if I were not on board," replied Mrs. Weldon; "if Cousin Benedict, +Jack, Nan and I, had not taken passage on the 'Pilgrim,' and if, on the +other hand, Tom and his companions had not been picked up at sea, Dick, +there would be only two men here, you and Negoro! What would have +become of you, alone with that wicked man, in whom you cannot have +confidence? Yes, my child, what would have become of you?" + +"I should have begun," replied Dick Sand, resolutely, "by putting +Negoro where he could not injure me." + +"And you would have worked alone?" + +"Yes--alone--with the aid of God!" + +The firmness of these words was well calculated to encourage Mrs. +Weldon. But, nevertheless, while thinking of her little Jack, she often +felt uneasy. If the woman would not show what she experienced as a +mother, she did not always succeed in preventing some secret anguish +for him to rend her heart. + +Meanwhile, if the young novice was not sufficiently advanced in his +hydrographic studies to make his point, he possessed a true sailor's +scent, when the question was "to tell the weather." The appearance of +the sky, for one thing; on the other hand, the indications of the +barometer, enabled him to be on his guard. Captain Hull, a good +meteorologist, had taught him to consult this instrument, whose +prognostications are remarkably sure. + +Here is, in a few words, what the notices relative to the observation +of the barometer contain: + +1. When, after a rather long continuance of fine weather, the barometer +begins to fall in a sudden and continuous manner, rain will certainly +fall; but, if the fine weather has had a long duration, the mercury may +fall two or three days in the tube of the barometer before any change +in the state of the atmosphere may be perceived. Then, the longer the +time between the falling of the mercury and the arrival of the rain, +the longer will be the duration of rainy weather. + +2. If, on the contrary, during a rainy period which has already had a +long duration, the barometer commences to rise slowly and regularly, +very certainly fine weather will come, and it will last much longer if +a long interval elapses between its arrival and the rising of the +barometer. + +3. In the two cases given, if the change of weather follows immediately +the movement of the barometrical column, that change will last only a +very short time. + +4. If the barometer rises with slowness and in a continuous manner for +two or three days, or even more, it announces fine weather, even when +the rain will not cease during those three days, and _vice versa;_ but +if the barometer rises two days or more during the rain, then, the fine +weather having come, if it commences to fall again, the fine weather +will last a very short time, and _vice versa_. + +5. In the spring and in the autumn, a sudden fall of the barometer +presages wind. In the summer, if the weather is very warm, it announces +a storm. In winter, after a frost of some duration, a rapid falling of +the barometrical column announces a change of wind, accompanied by a +thaw and rain; but a rising which happens during a frost which has +already lasted a certain time, prognosticates snow. + +6. Rapid oscillations of the barometer should never be interpreted as +presaging dry or rainy weather of any duration. Those indications are +given exclusively by the rising or the falling which takes place in a +slow and continuous manner. + +7. Toward the end of autumn, if after prolonged rainy and windy +weather, the barometer begins to rise, that rising announces the +passage of the wind to the north and the approach of the frost. + +Such are the general consequences to draw from the indications of this +precious instrument. + +Dick Sand knew all that perfectly well, as he had ascertained for +himself in different circumstances of his sailor's life, which made him +very skilful in putting himself on his guard against all contingencies. + +Now, just toward the 20th of February, the oscillations of the +barometrical column began to preoccupy the young novice, who noted them +several times a day with much care. In fact, the barometer began to +fall in a slow and continuous manner, which presages rain; but, this +rain being delayed, Dick Sand concluded from that, that the bad weather +would last. That is what must happen. + +But the rain was the wind, and in fact, at that date, the breeze +freshened so much that the air was displaced with a velocity of sixty +feet a second, say thirty-one miles an hour. + +Dick Sand was obliged to take some precautions so as not to risk the +"Pilgrim's" masting and sails. + +Already he had the royal, the fore-staff, and the flying-jib taken in, +and he resolved to do the same with the top-sail, then take in two +reefs in the top-sail. + +This last operation must present certain difficulties with a crew of +little experience. Hesitation would not do, however, and no one +hesitated. Dick Sand, accompanied by Bat and Austin, climbed into the +rigging of the foremast, and succeeded, not without trouble, in taking +in the top-sail. In less threatening weather he would have left the two +yards on the mast, but, foreseeing that he would probably be obliged to +level that mast, and perhaps even to lay it down upon the deck, he +unrigged the two yards and sent them to the deck. In fact, it is +understood that when the wind becomes too strong, not only must the +sails be diminished, but also the masting. That is a great relief to +the ship, which, carrying less weight above, is no longer so much +strained with the rolling and pitching. + +This first work accomplished--and it took two hours--Dick Sand and his +companions were busy reducing the surface of the top-sail, by taking in +two reefs. The "Pilgrim" did not carry, like the majority of modern +ships, a double top-sail, which facilitates the operation. It was +necessary, then, to work as formerly--that is to say, to run out on the +foot-ropes, pull toward you a sail beaten by the wind, and lash it +firmly with its reef-lines. It was difficult, long, perilous; but, +finally, the diminished top-sail gave less surface to the wind, and the +schooner was much relieved. + +Dick Sand came down again with Bat and Austin. The "Pilgrim" was then +in the sailing condition demanded by that state of the atmosphere which +has been qualified as "very stiff." + +During the three days which followed, 20th, 21st and 22d of February, +the force and direction of the wind were not perceptibly changed. All +the time the mercury continued to fall in the barometrical tube, and, +on this last day, the novice noted that it kept continually below +twenty-eight and seven-tenths inches. + +Besides, there was no appearance that the barometer would rise for some +time. The aspect of the sky was bad, and extremely windy. Besides, +thick fogs covered it constantly. Their stratum was even so deep that +the sun was no longer seen, and it would have been difficult to +indicate precisely the place of his setting and rising. + +Dick Sand began to be anxious. He no longer left the deck; he hardly +slept. However, his moral energy enabled him to drive back his fears to +the bottom of his heart. + +The next day, February 22d, the breeze appeared to decrease a little in +the morning, but Dick Sand did not trust in it. He was right, for in +the afternoon the wind freshened again, and the sea became rougher. + +Toward four o'clock, Negoro, who was rarely seen, left his post and +came up on the forecastle. Dingo, doubtless, was sleeping in some +corner, for it did not bark as usual. + +Negoro, always silent, remained for half an hour observing the horizon. + +Long surges succeeded each other without, as yet, being dashed +together. However, they were higher than the force of the wind +accounted for. One must conclude from that, that there was very bad +weather in the west, perhaps at a rather short distance, and that it +would not be long in reaching these parts. + +Negoro watched that vast extent of sea, which was greatly troubled, +around the "Pilgrim." Then his eyes, always cold and dry, turned toward +the sky. + +The aspect of the sky was disturbing. The vapors moved with very +different velocities. The clouds of the upper zone traveled more +rapidly than those of the low strata of the atmosphere. The case then +must be foreseen, in which those heavy masses would fall, and might +change into a tempest, perhaps a hurricane, what was yet only a very +stiff breeze--that is to say, a displacement of the air at the rate of +forty-three miles an hour. + +Whether Negoro was not a man to be frightened, or whether he understood +nothing of the threats of the weather, he did not appear to be +affected. However, an evil smile glided over his lips. One would say, +at the end of his observations, that this state of things was rather +calculated to please him than to displease him. One moment he mounted +on the bowsprit and crawled as far as the ropes, so as to extend his +range of vision, as if he were seeking some indication on the horizon. +Then he descended again, and tranquilly, without having pronounced a +single word, without having made a gesture, he regained the crew's +quarters. + +Meanwhile, in the midst of all these fearful conjunctions, there +remained one happy circumstance which each one on board ought to +remember; it was that this wind, violent as it was or might become, was +favorable, and that the "Pilgrim" seemed to be rapidly making the +American coast. If, indeed, the weather did not turn to tempest, this +navigation would continue to be accomplished without great danger, and +the veritable perils would only spring up when the question would be to +land on some badly ascertained point of the coast. + +That was indeed what Dick Sand was already asking himself. When he +should once make the land, how should he act, if he did not encounter +some pilot, some one who knew the coast? In case the bad weather should +oblige him to seek a port of refuge, what should he do, because that +coast was to him absolutely unknown? Indeed, he had not yet to trouble +himself with that contingency. However, when the hour should come, he +would be obliged to adopt some plan. Well, Dick Sand adopted one. + +During the thirteen days which elapsed, from the 24th of February to +the 9th of March, the state of the atmosphere did not change in any +perceptible manner. The sky was always loaded with heavy fogs. For a +few hours the wind went down, then it began to blow again with the same +force. Two or three times the barometer rose again, but its +oscillation, comprising a dozen lines, was too sudden to announce a +change of weather and a return of more manageable winds. Besides the +barometrical column fell again almost immediately, and nothing could +inspire any hope of the end of that bad weather within a short period. + +Terrible storms burst forth also, which very seriously disturbed Dick +Sand. Two or three times the lightning struck the waves only a few +cable-lengths from the ship. Then the rain fell in torrents, and made +those whirlpools of half condensed vapors, which surrounded the +"Pilgrim" with a thick mist. + +For entire hours the man at the lookout saw nothing, and the ship +sailed at random. + +Even though the ship, although resting firmly on the waves, was +horribly shaken, Mrs. Weldon, fortunately, supported this rolling and +pitching without being incommoded. But her little boy was very much +tried, and she was obliged to give him all her care. + +As to Cousin Benedict, he was no more sick than the American +cockroaches which he made his society, and he passed his time in +studying, as if he were quietly settled in his study in San Francisco. + +Very fortunately, also, Tom and his companions found themselves little +sensitive to sea-sickness, and they could continue to come to the young +novice's aid--well accustomed, himself, to all those excessive +movements of a ship which flies before the weather. + +The "Pilgrim" ran rapidly under this reduced sail, and already Dick +Sand foresaw that he would be obliged to reduce it again. But he wished +to hold out as long as it would be possible to do so without danger. +According to his reckoning, the coast ought to be no longer distant. So +they watched with care. All the time the novice could hardly trust his +companions' eyes to discover the first indications of land. In fact, no +matter what good sight he may have, he who is not accustomed to +interrogating the sea horizons is not skilful in distinguishing the +first contours of a coast, above all in the middle of fogs. So Dick +Sand must watch himself, and he often climbed as far as the spars to +see better. But no sign yet of the American coast. + +This astonished him, and Mrs. Weldon, by some words which escaped him, +understood that astonishment. + +It was the 9th of March. The novice kept at the prow, sometimes +observing the sea and the sky, sometimes looking at the "Pilgrim's" +masting, which began to strain under the force of the wind. + +"You see nothing yet, Dick?" she asked him, at a moment when he had +just left the long lookout. + +"Nothing, Mrs. Weldon, nothing," replied the novice; and meanwhile, the +horizon seems to clear a little under this violent wind, which is going +to blow still harder." + +"And, according to you, Dick, the American coast ought not to be +distant now." + +"It cannot be, Mrs. Weldon, and if anything astonishes me, it is not +having made it yet." + +"Meanwhile," continued Mrs. Weldon, "the ship has always followed the +right course." + +"Always, since the wind settled in the northwest," replied Dick Sand; +"that is to say, since the day when we lost our unfortunate captain and +his crew. That was the 10th of February. We are now on the 9th of +March. There have been then, twenty-seven since that." + +"But at that period what distance were we from the coast?" asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"About four thousand five hundred miles, Mrs. Weldon. If there are +things about which I have more than a doubt, I can at least guarantee +this figure within about twenty miles." + +"And what has been the ship's speed?" + +"On an average, a hundred and eighty miles a day since the wind +freshened," replied the novice. "So, I am surprised at not being in +sight of land. And, what is still more extraordinary, is that we do not +meet even a single one of those vessels which generally frequent these +parts!" + +"Could you not be deceived, Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "in estimating +the 'Pilgrim's' speed?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon. On that point I could not be mistaken. The log has +been thrown every half hour, and I have taken its indications very +accurately. Wait, I am going to have it thrown anew, and you will see +that we are sailing at this moment at the rate of ten miles an hour, +which would give us more than two hundred miles a day." + +Dick Sand called Tom, and gave him the order to throw the log, an +operation to which the old black was now quite accustomed. + +The log, firmly fastened to the end of the line, was brought and sent +out. + +Twenty-five fathoms were hardly unrolled, when the rope suddenly +slackened between Tom's hands. + +"Ah! Mr. Dick!" cried he. + +"Well, Tom?" + +"The rope has broken!" + +"Broken!" cried Dick Sand. "And the log is lost!" + +Old Tom showed the end of the rope which remained in his hand. + +It was only too true. It was not the fastening which had failed. The +rope had broken in the middle. And, nevertheless, that rope was of the +first quality. It must have been, then, that the strands of the rope at +the point of rupture were singularly worn! They were, in fact, and Dick +Sand could tell that when he had the end of the rope in his hands! But +had they become so by use? was what the novice, become suspicious, +asked himself. + +However that was, the log was now lost, and Dick Sand had no longer any +means of telling exactly the speed of his ship. In the way of +instruments, he only possessed one compass, and he did not know that +its indications were false. + +Mrs. Weldon saw him so saddened by this accident, that she did not wish +to insist, and, with a very heavy heart, she retired into her cabin. + +But if the "Pilgrim's" speed and consequently the way sailed over could +no longer be estimated, it was easy to tell that the ship's headway was +not diminishing. + +In fact, the next day, March 10th, the barometer fell to twenty-eight +and two-tenths inches. It was the announcement of one of those blasts +of wind which travel as much as sixty miles an hour. + +It became urgent to change once more the state of the sails, so as not +to risk the security of the vessel. + +Dick Sand resolved to bring down his top-gallant mast and his +fore-staff, and to furl his low sails, so as to sail under his +foretop-mast stay-sail and the low reef of his top-sail. + +He called Tom and his companions to help him in that difficult +operation, which, unfortunately, could not be executed with rapidity. + +And meanwhile time pressed, for the tempest already declared itself +with violence. + +Dick Sands, Austin, Acteon, and Bat climbed into the masting, while Tom +remained at the wheel, and Hercules on the deck, so as to slacken the +ropes, as soon as he was commanded. + +After numerous efforts, the fore-staff and the top-gallant mast were +gotten down upon the deck, not without these honest men having a +hundred times risked being precipitated into the sea, the rolling shook +the masting to such an extent. Then, the top-sail having been lessened +and the foresail furled, the schooner carried only her foretop-mast +stay-sail and the low reef of the top-sail. + +Even though her sails were then extremely reduced, the "Pilgrim" +continued, none the less, to sail with excessive velocity. + +The 12th the weather took a still worse appearance. On that day, at +dawn, Dick Sand saw, not without terror, the barometer fall to +twenty-seven and nine-tenths inches. It was a real tempest which was +raging, and such that the "Pilgrim" could not carry even the little +sail she had left. + +Dick Sand, seeing that his top-sail was going to be torn, gave the +order to furl. But it was in vain. A more violent gust struck the ship +at that moment, and tore off the sail. Austin, who was on the yard of +the foretop-sail, was struck by the larboard sheet-rope. Wounded, but +rather slightly, he could climb down again to the deck. + +Dick Sand, extremely anxious, had but one thought. It was that the +ship, urged with such fury, was going to be dashed to pieces every +moment; for, according to his calculation, the rocks of the coast could +not be distant. He then returned to the prow, but he saw nothing which +had the appearance of land, and then, came back to the wheel. + +A moment after Negoro came on deck. There, suddenly, as if in spite of +himself, his arm was extended toward a point of the horizon. One would +say that he recognized some high land in the fogs! + +Still, once more he smiled wickedly, and without saying anything of +what he had been able to see, he returned to his post. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ON THE HORIZON. + + +At that date the tempest took its most terrible form, that of the +hurricane. The wind had set in from the southwest. The air moved with a +velocity of ninety miles an hour. It was indeed a hurricane, in fact, +one of those terrible windstorms which wrecks all the ships of a +roadstead, and which, even on land, the most solid structures cannot +resist. Such was the one which, on the 25th of July, 1825, devastated +Guadaloupe. When heavy cannons, carrying balls of twenty-four pounds, +are raised from their carriages, one may imagine what would become of a +ship which has no other point of support than an unsteady sea? And +meanwhile, it is to its mobility alone that she may owe her salvation. +She yields to the wind, and, provided she is strongly built, she is in +a condition to brave the most violent surges. That was the case with +the "Pilgrim." + +A few minutes after the top-sail had been torn in pieces, the +foretop-mast stay-sail was in its turn torn off. Dick Sand must then +give up the idea of setting even a storm-jib--a small sail of strong +linen, which would make the ship easier to govern. + +The "Pilgrim" then ran without canvas, but the wind took effect on her +hull, her masts, her rigging, and nothing more was needed to impart to +her an excessive velocity. Sometimes even she seemed to emerge from the +waves, and it was to be believed that she hardly grazed them. Under +these circumstances, the rolling of the ship, tossed about on the +enormous billows raised by the tempest, was frightful. There was danger +of receiving some monstrous surge aft. Those mountains of water ran +faster than the schooner, threatening to strike her stern if she did +not rise pretty fast. That is extreme danger for every ship which scuds +before the tempest. But what could be done to ward off that +contingency? Greater speed could not be imparted to the "Pilgrim," +because she would not have kept the smallest piece of canvas. She must +then be managed as much as possible by means of the helm, whose action +was often powerless. + +Dick Sand no longer left the helm. He was lashed by the waist, so as +not to be carried away by some surge. Tom and Bat, fastened also, stood +near to help him. Hercules and Acteon, bound to the bitts, watched +forward. As to Mrs. Weldon, to Little Jack, to Cousin Benedict, to Nan, +they remained, by order of the novice, in the aft cabins. Mrs. Weldon +would have preferred to have remained on deck, but Dick Sand was +strongly opposed to it; it would be exposing herself uselessly. + +All the scuttles had been hermetically nailed up. It was hoped that +they would resist if some formidable billow should fall on the ship. +If, by any mischance, they should yield under the weight of these +avalanches, the ship might fill and sink. Very fortunately, also, the +stowage had been well attended to, so that, notwithstanding the +terrible tossing of the vessel, her cargo was not moved about. + +Dick Sand had again reduced the number of hours which he gave to sleep. +So Mrs. Weldon began to fear that he would take sick. She made him +consent to take some repose. + +Now, it was while he was still lying down, during the night of the 13th +to the 14th of March, that a new incident took place. + +Tom and Bat were aft, when Negoro, who rarely appeared on that part of +the deck, drew near, and even seemed to wish to enter into conversation +with them; but Tom and his son did not reply to him. + +Suddenly, in a violent rolling of the ship, Negoro fell, and he would, +doubtless, have been thrown into the sea if he had not held on to the +binnacle. + +Tom gave a cry, fearing the compass would be broken. + +Dick Sand, in a moment of wakefulness, heard that cry, and rushing out +of his quarters, he ran aft. + +Negoro had already risen, but he held in his hand the piece of iron +which he had just taken from under the binnacle, and he hid it before +Dick Sand could see it. + +Was it, then, Negoro's interest for the magnetic needle to return to +its true direction? Yes, for these southwest winds served him now! + +"What's the matter?" asked the novice. + +"It's that cook of misfortune, who has just fallen on the compass!" +replied Tom. + +At those words Dick Sand, in the greatest anxiety, leaned over the +binnacle. It was in good condition; the compass, lighted by two lamps, +rested as usual on its concentric circles. + +The young novice was greatly affected. The breaking of the only compass +on board would be an irreparable misfortune. + +But what Dick Sand could not observe was that, since the taking away of +the piece of iron, the needle had returned to its normal position, and +indicated exactly the magnetic north as it ought to be under that +meridian. + +Meanwhile, if Negoro could not be made responsible for a fall which +seemed to be involuntary, Dick Sand had reason to be astonished that he +was, at that hour, aft in the ship. + +"What are you doing there?" he asked him. + +"What I please," replied Negoro. + +"You say----" cried Dick Sand, who could not restrain his anger. + +"I say," replied the head cook, "that there is no rule which forbids +walking aft." + +"Well, I make that the rule," replied Dick Sand, "and I forbid you, +remember, to come aft." + +"Indeed!" replied Negoro. + +That man, so entirely under self-control, then made a menacing gesture. + +The novice drew a revolver from his pocket, and pointed it at the head +cook. + +"Negoro," said he, "recollect that I am never without this revolver, +and that on the first act of insubordination I shall blow out your +brains!" + +At that moment Negoro felt himself irresistibly bent to the deck. + +It was Hercules, who had just simply laid his heavy hand on Negoro's +shoulder. + +"Captain Sand," said the giant, "do you want me to throw this rascal +overboard? He will regale the fishes, who are not hard to please!" + +"Not yet," replied Dick Sand. + +Negoro rose as soon as the black's hand no longer weighed upon him. +But, in passing Hercules: + +"Accursed negro," murmured he, "I'll pay you back!" + +Meanwhile, the wind had just changed; at least, it seemed to have +veered round forty-five degrees. And, notwithstanding, a singular +thing, which struck the novice, nothing in the condition of the sea +indicated that change. The ship headed the same way all the time, but +the wind and the waves, instead of taking her directly aft, now struck +her by the larboard quarter--a very dangerous situation, which exposes +a ship to receive bad surges. So Dick Sand was obliged to veer round +four points to continue to scud before the tempest. + +But, on the other hand, his attention was awakened more than ever. He +asked himself if there was not some connection between Negoro's fall +and the breaking of the first compass. What did the head cook intend to +do there? Had he some interest in putting the second compass out of +service also? What could that interest be? There was no explanation of +that. Must not Negoro desire, as they all desired, to land on the +American coast as soon as possible? + +When Dick Sand spoke of this incident to Mrs. Weldon, the latter, +though she shared his distrust in a certain measure, could find no +plausible motive for what would be criminal premeditation on the part +of the head cook. + +However, as a matter of prudence, Negoro was well watched. Thereafter +he attended to the novice's orders and he did not risk coming aft in +the ship, where his duties never called him. Besides, Dingo having been +installed there permanently, the cook took earn to keep away. + +During all that week the tempest did not abate. The barometer fell +again. From the 14th to the 26th of March it was impossible to profit +by a single calm to set a few sails. The "Pilgrim" scudded to the +northeast with a speed which could not be less than two hundred miles +in twenty-four hours, and still the land did not appear!--that land, +America, which is thrown like an immense barrier between the Atlantic +and the Pacific, over an extent of more than a hundred and twenty +degrees! + +Dick Sand asked himself if he was not a fool, if he was still in his +right mind, if, for so many days, unknown to him, he was not sailing in +a false direction. No, he could not find fault with himself on that +point. The sun, even though he could not perceive it in the fogs, +always rose before him to set behind him. But, then, that land, had it +disappeared? That America, on which his vessel would go to pieces, +perhaps, where was it, if it was not there? Be it the Southern +Continent or the Northern Continent--for anything way possible in that +chaos--the "Pilgrim" could not miss either one or the other. What had +happened since the beginning of this frightful tempest? What was still +going on, as that coast, whether it should prove salvation or +destruction, did not appear? Must Dick Sand suppose, then, that he was +deceived by his compass, whose indications he could no longer control, +because the second compass was lacking to make that control? Truly, he +had that fear which the absence of all land might justify. + +So, when he was at the helm, Dick Sand did not cease to devour the +chart with his eyes. But he interrogated it in vain; it could not give +him the solution of an enigma which, in the situation in which Negoro +had placed him, was incomprehensible for him, as it would have been for +any one else. + +On this day, however, the 26th of March, towards eight o'clock in the +morning, an incident of the greatest importance took place. + +Hercules, on watch forward, gave this cry: + +"Land! land!" + +Dick Sand sprang to the forecastle. Hercules could not have eyes like a +seaman. Was he not mistaken? + +"Land?" cried Dick Sand. + +"There," replied Hercules, showing an almost imperceptible point on the +horizon in the northeast. + +They hardly heard each other speak in the midst of the roaring of the +sea and the sky. + +"You have seen the land?" said the novice. + +"Yes," replied Hercules. + +And his hand was still stretched out to larboard forward. + +The novice looked. He saw nothing. + +At that moment, Mrs. Weldon, who had heard the cry given by Hercules, +came up on deck, notwithstanding her promise not to come there. + +"Madam!" cried Dick Sand. + +Mrs. Weldon, unable to make herself heard, tried, for herself, to +perceive that land signaled by the black, and she seemed to have +concentrated all her life in her eyes. + +It must be believed that Hercules's hand indicated badly the point of +the horizon which he wished to show: neither Mrs. Weldon nor the novice +could see anything. + +But, suddenly, Dick Sand in turn stretched out his hand. + +"Yes! yes! land!" said he. + +A kind of summit had just appeared in an opening in the fog. His +sailor's eyes could not deceive him. + +"At last!" cried he; "at last!" + +He clang feverishly to the netting. Mrs. Weldon, sustained by Hercules, +continued to watch that land almost despaired of. + +The coast, formed by that high summit, rose at a distance of ten miles +to leeward. + +The opening being completely made in a breaking of the clouds, they saw +it again more distinctly. Doubtless it was some promontory of the +American continent. The "Pilgrim," without sails, was not in a +condition to head toward it, but it could not fail to make the land +there. + +That could be only a question of a few hours. Now, it was eight o'clock +in the morning. Then, very certainly, before noon the "Pilgrim" would +be near the land. + +At a sign from Dick Sand, Hercules led Mrs. Weldon aft again, for she +could not bear up against the violence of the pitching. + +The novice remained forward for another instant, then he returned to +the helm, near old Tom. + +At last, then, he saw that coast, so slowly made, so ardently desired! +but it was now with a feeling of terror. + +In fact, in the "Pilgrim's" present condition, that is to say, scudding +before the tempest, land to leeward, was shipwreck with all its +terrible contingencies. + +Two hours passed away. The promontory was then seen off from the ship. + +At that moment they saw Negoro come on deck. This time he regarded the +coast with extreme attention, shook his head like a man who would know +what to believe, and went down again, after pronouncing a name that +nobody could hear. + +Dick Sand himself sought to perceive the coast, which ought to round +off behind the promontory. + +Two hours rolled by. The promontory was standing on the larboard stern, +but the coast was not yet to be traced. + +Meanwhile the sky cleared at the horizon, and a high coast, like the +American land, bordered by the immense chain of the Andes, should be +visible for more than twenty miles. + +Dick Sand took his telescope and moved it slowly over the whole eastern +horizon. + +Nothing! He could see nothing! + +At two o'clock in the afternoon every trace of land had disappeared +behind the "Pilgrim." Forward, the telescope could not seize any +outline whatsoever of a coast, high or low. + +Then a cry escaped Dick Sand. Immediately leaving the deck, he rushed +into the cabin, where Mrs. Weldon was with little Jack, Nan, and Cousin +Benedict. + +"An island! That was only an island!" said he. + +"An island, Dick! but what?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"The chart will tell us," replied the novice. + +And running to his berth, he brought the ship's chart. + +"There, Mrs. Weldon, there!" said he. "That land which we have seen, it +can only be this point, lost in the middle of the Pacific! It can only +be the Isle of Paques; there is no other in these parts." + +"And we have already left it behind?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, well to the windward of us." + +Mrs. Weldon looked attentively at the Isle of Paques, which only formed +an imperceptible point on the chart. + +"And at what distance is it from the American coast?" + +"Thirty-five degrees." + +"Which makes----" + +"About two thousand miles." + +"But then the 'Pilgrim' has not sailed, if we are still so far from the +continent?" + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, who passed his hand over his forehead +for a moment, as if to concentrate his ideas, "I do not know--I cannot +explain this incredible delay! No! I cannot--unless the indications of +the compass have been false? But that island can only be the Isle of +Paques, because we have been obliged to scud before the wind to the +northeast, and we must thank Heaven, which has permitted me to mark our +position! Yes, it is still two thousand miles from the coast! I know, +at last, where the tempest has blown us, and, if it abates, we shall be +able to land on the American continent with some chance of safety. Now, +at least, our ship is no longer lost on the immensity of the Pacific!" + +This confidence, shown by the young novice, was shared by all those who +heard him speak. Mrs. Weldon, herself, gave way to it. It seemed, +indeed, that these poor people were at the end of their troubles, and +that the "Pilgrim," being to the windward of her port, had only to wait +for the open sea to enter it! The Isle of Paques--by its true name +Vai-Hon--discovered by David in 1686, visited by Cook and Laperouse, is +situated 27° south latitude and 112° east longitude. If the schooner +had been thus led more than fifteen degrees to the north, that was +evidently due to that tempest from the southwest, before which it had +been obliged to scud. + +Then the "Pilgrim" was still two thousand miles from the coast. +However, under the impetus of that wind which blew like thunder, it +must, in less than ten days, reach some point of the coast of South +America. + +But could they not hope, as the novice had said, that the weather would +become more manageable, and that it would be possible to set some sail, +when they should make the land? + +It was still Dick Sand's hope. He said to himself that this hurricane, +which had lasted so many days, would end perhaps by "killing itself." +And now that, thanks to the appearance of the Isle of Paques, he knew +exactly his position, he had reason to believe that, once master of his +vessel again, he would know how to lead her to a safe place. + +Yes! to have had knowledge of that isolated point in the middle of the +sea, as by a providential favor, that had restored confidence to Dick +Sand; if he was going all the time at the caprice of a hurricane, which +he could not subdue, at least, he was no longer going quite blindfold. + +Besides, the "Pilgrim," well-built and rigged, had suffered little +during those rude attacks of the tempest. Her damages reduced +themselves to the loss of the top-sail and the foretop-mast +stay-sail--a loss which it would be easy to repair. Not a drop of water +had penetrated through the well-stanched seams of the hull and the +deck. The pumps were perfectly free. In this respect there was nothing +to fear. + +There was, then, this interminable hurricane, whose fury nothing seemed +able to moderate. If, in a certain measure, Dick Sand could put his +ship in a condition to struggle against the violent storm, he could not +order that wind to moderate, those waves to be still, that sky to +become serene again. On board, if he was "master after God," outside +the ship, God alone commanded the winds and the waves. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +LAND! LAND! + + +Meanwhile, that confidence with which Dick Sand's heart filled +instinctively, was going to be partly justified. + +The next day, March 27th, the column of mercury rose in the +barometrical tube. The oscillation was neither sudden nor +considerable--a few lines only--but the progression seemed likely to +continue. The tempest was evidently going to enter its decreasing +period, and, if the sea did remain excessively rough, they could tell +that the wind was going down, veering slightly to the west. + +Dick Sand could not yet think of using any sail. The smallest sail +would be carried away. However, he hoped that twenty-four hours would +not elapse before it would be possible for him to rig a storm-jib. + +During the night, in fact, the wind went down quite noticeably, if they +compared it to what it had been till then, and the ship was less tossed +by those violent rollings which had threatened to break her in pieces. + +The passengers began to appear on deck again. They no longer ran the +risk of being carried away by some surge from the sea. + +Mrs. Weldon was the first to leave the hatchway where Dick Sand, from +prudent motives, had obliged them to shut themselves up during the +whole duration of that long tempest. She came to talk with the novice, +whom a truly superhuman will had rendered capable of resisting so much +fatigue. Thin, pale under his sunburnt complexion, he might well be +weakened by the loss of that sleep so necessary at his age. No, his +valiant nature resisted everything. Perhaps he would pay dearly some +day for that period of trial. But that was not the moment to allow +himself to be cast down. Dick Sand had said all that to himself. Mrs. +Weldon found him as energetic as he had ever been. + +And then he had confidence, that brave Sand, and if confidence does not +command itself, at least it commands. + +"Dick, my dear child, my captain," said Mrs. Weldon, holding out her +hand to the young novice. + +"Ah! Mrs. Weldon," exclaimed Dick Sand, smiling, "you disobey your +captain. You return on deck, you leave your cabin in spite of +his--prayers." + +"Yes, I disobey you," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I have, as it were, a +presentiment that the tempest is going down or is going to become calm." + +"It is becoming calm, in fact, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "You +are not mistaken. The barometer has not fallen since yesterday. The +wind has moderated, and I have reason to believe that our hardest +trials are over." + +"Heaven hears you, Dick. All! you have suffered much, my poor child! +You have done there----" + +"Only my duty, Mrs. Weldon." + +"But at last will you be able to take some rest?" + +"Rest!" replied the novice; "I have no need of rest, Mrs. Weldon. I am +well, thank God, and it is necessary for me to keep up to the end. You +have called me captain, and I shall remain captain till the moment when +all the 'Pilgrim's' passengers shall be in safety." + +"Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "my husband and I, we shall never forget +what you have just done." + +"God has done all," replied Dick Sand; "all!" + +"My child, I repeat it, that by your moral and physical energy, you +have shown yourself a man--a man fit to command, and before long, as +soon as your studies are finished--my husband will not contradict +me--you will command for the house of James W. Weldon!" + +"I--I----" exclaimed Dick Sand, whose eyes filled with tears. + +"Dick," replied Mrs. Weldon, "you are already our child by adoption, +and now, you are our son, the deliverer of your mother, and of your +little brother Jack. My dear Dick, I embrace you for my husband and for +myself!" + +The courageous woman did not wish to give way while clasping the young +novice in her arms, but her heart overflowed. As to Dick Sand's +feelings, what pen could do them justice? He asked himself if he could +not do more than give his life for his benefactors, and he accepted in +advance all the trials which might come upon him in the future. + +After this conversation Dick Sand felt stronger. If the wind should +become so moderate that he should be able to hoist some canvas, he did +not doubt being able to steer his ship to a port where all those which +it carried would at last be in safety. + +On the 29th, the wind having moderated a little, Dick Sand thought of +setting the foresail and the top-sail, consequently to increase the +speed of the "Pilgrim" while directing her course. + +"Come, Tom; come, my friends!" cried he, when he went on deck at +daybreak; "come, I need your arms!" + +"We are ready, Captain Sand," replied old Tom. + +"Ready for everything," added Hercules. "There was nothing to do during +that tempest, and I begin to grow rusty." + +"You should have blown with your big mouth," said little Jack; "I bet +you would have been as strong as the wind!" + +"That is an idea, Jack," replied Dick Sand, laughing. "When there is a +calm we shall make Hercules blow on the sails." + +"At your service, Mister Dick!" replied the brave black, inflating his +cheeks like a gigantic Boreas. + +"Now, my friends," continued the novice, we are to begin by binding a +spare sail to the yard, because our top-sail was carried away in the +hurricane. It will be difficult, perhaps, but it must be done." + +"It shall be done!" replied Acteon. + +"Can I help you?" asked little Jack, always ready to work. + +"Yes, my Jack," replied the novice. "You will take your place at the +wheel, with our friend Bat, and you will help him to steer." + +If little Jack was proud of being assistant helmsman on the "Pilgrim," +it is superfluous to say so. + +"Now to work," continued Dick Sand, "and we must expose ourselves as +little as possible." + +The blacks, guided by the novice, went to work at once. To fasten a +top-sail to its yard presented some difficulties for Tom and his +companions. First the rolled up sail must be hoisted, then fastened to +the yard. + +However, Dick Sand commanded so well, and was so well obeyed, that +after an hour's work the sail was fastened to its yard, the yard +hoisted, and the top-sail properly set with two reefs. + +As to the foresail and the second jib, which had been furled before the +tempest, those sails were set without a great deal of trouble, in spite +of the force of the wind. + +At last, on that day, at ten o'clock in the morning, the "Pilgrim" was +sailing under her foresail, her top-sail, and her jib. + +Dick Sand had not judged it prudent to set more sail. The canvas which +he carried ought to assure him, as long as the wind did not moderate, a +speed of at least two hundred miles in twenty-four hours, and he did +not need any greater to reach the American coast before ten days. + +The novice was indeed satisfied when, returning to the wheel, he again +took his post, after thanking Master Jack, assistant helmsman of the +"Pilgrim." He was no longer at the mercy of the waves. He was making +headway. His joy will be understood by all those who are somewhat +familiar with the things of the sea. + +The next day the clouds still ran with the same velocity, but they left +large openings between them, through which the rays of the sun made +their way to the surface of the waters. The "Pilgrim" was at times +overspread with them. A good thing is that vivifying light! Sometimes +it was extinguished behind a large mass of vapors which came up in the +east, then it reappeared, to disappear again, but the weather was +becoming fine again. + +The scuttles had been opened to ventilate the interior of the ship. A +salubrious air penetrated the hold, the rear hatchway, the crew's +quarters. They put the wet sails to dry, stretching them out in the +sun. The deck was also cleaned. Dick Sand did not wish his ship to +arrive in port without having made a bit of toilet. Without overworking +the crew, a few hours spent each day at that work would bring it to a +good end. + +Though the novice could no longer throw the log, he was so accustomed +to estimating the headway of a ship that he could take a close account +of her speed. He had then no doubt of reaching land before seven days, +and he gave that opinion to Mrs. Weldon, after showing her, on the +chart, the probable position of the ship. + +"Well, at what point of the coast shall we arrive, my dear Dick?" she +asked him. + +"Here, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice, indicating that long coast +line which extends from Peru to Chili. "I do not know how to be more +exact. Here is the Isle of Paques, that we have left behind in the +west, and, by the direction of the wind, which has been constant, I +conclude that we shall reach land in the east. Ports are quite numerous +on that coast, but to name the one we shall have in view when we make +the land is impossible at this moment." + +"Well, Dick, whichever it may be, that port will be welcome." + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon, and you will certainly find there the means to +return promptly to San Francisco. The Pacific Navigation Company has a +very well organized service on this coast. Its steamers touch at the +principal points of the coast; nothing will be easier than to take +passage for California." + +"Then you do not count on bringing the 'Pilgrim' to San Francisco?" +asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, after having put you on shore, Mrs. Weldon. If we can procure an +officer and a crew, we are going to discharge our cargo at Valparaiso, +as Captain Hull would have done. Then we shall return to our own port. +But that would delay you too much, and, though very sorry to be +separated from you----" + +"Well, Dick," replied Mrs. Weldon, "we shall see later what must be +done. Tell me, you seem to fear the dangers which the land presents." + +"In fact, they are to be feared," replied the novice, "but I am always +hoping to meet some ship in these parts, and I am even very much +surprised at not seeing any. If only one should pass, we would enter +into communication with her; she would give us our exact situation, +which would greatly facilitate our arrival in sight of land." + +"Are there not pilots who do service along this coast?" asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"There ought to be," replied Dick Sand, "but much nearer land. We must +then continue to approach it." + +"And if we do not meet a pilot?" asked Mrs. Weldon, who kept on +questioning him in order to know how the young novice would prepare for +all contingencies. + +"In that case, Mrs. Weldon, either the weather will be clear, the wind +moderate, and I shall endeavor to sail up the coast sufficiently near +to find a refuge, or the wind will be stronger, and then----" + +"Then what will you do, Dick?" + +"Then, in the present condition of the 'Pilgrim,'" replied Dick Sand, +"once near the land, it will be very difficult to set off again." + +"What will you do?" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"I shall be forced to run my ship aground," replied the novice, whose +brow darkened for a moment. "Ah! it is a hard extremity. God grant that +we may not be reduced to that. But, I repeat it, Mrs. Weldon, the +appearance of the sky is reassuring, and it is impossible for a vessel +or a pilot-boat not to meet us. Then, good hope. We are headed for the +land, we shall see it before long." + +Yes, to run a ship aground is a last extremity, to which the most +energetic sailor does not resort without fear! Thus, Dick Sand did not +wish to foresee it, while he had some chances of escaping it. + +For several days there were, in the state of the atmosphere, +alternatives which, anew, made the novice very uneasy. The wind kept in +the condition of a stiff breeze all the time, and certain oscillations +of the barometrical column indicated that it tended to freshen. Dick +Sand then asked himself, not without apprehension, if he would be again +forced to scud without sails. He had so much interest in keeping at +least his top-sail, that he resolved to do so so long as it was not +likely to be carried away. But, to secure the solidity of the masts, he +had the shrouds and backstays hauled taut. Above all, all unnecessary +risk must be avoided, as the situation would become one of the gravest, +if the "Pilgrim" should be disabled by losing her masts. + +Once or twice, also, the barometer rising gave reason to fear that the +wind might change point for point; that is to say, that it might pass +to the east. It would then be necessary to sail close to the wind! + +A new anxiety for Dick Sand. What should he do with a contrary wind? +Tack about? But if he was obliged to come to that, what new delays and +what risks of being thrown into the offing. + +Happily those fears were not realized. The wind, after shifting for +several days, blowing sometimes from the north, sometimes from the +south, settled definitely in the west. But it was always a strong +breeze, almost a gale, which strained the masting. + +It was the 5th of April. So, then, more than two months had already +elapsed since the "Pilgrim" had left New Zealand. For twenty days a +contrary wind and long calms had retarded her course. Then she was in a +favorable condition to reach land rapidly. Her speed must even have +been very considerable during the tempest. Dick Sand estimated its +average at not less than two hundred miles a day! How, then, had he not +yet made the coast? Did it flee before the "Pilgrim?" It was absolutely +inexplicable. + +And, nevertheless, no land was signaled, though one of the blacks kept +watch constantly in the crossbars. + +Dick Sand often ascended there himself. There, with a telescope to his +eyes, he sought to discover some appearance of mountains. The Andes +chain is very high. It was there in the zone of the clouds that he must +seek some peak, emerging from the vapors of the horizon. + +Several times Tom and his companions were deceived by false indications +of land. They were only vapors of an odd form, which rose in the +background. It happened sometimes that these honest men were obstinate +in their belief; but, after a certain time, they were forced to +acknowledge that they had been dupes of an optical illusion. The +pretended land, moved away, changed form and finished by disappearing +completely. + +On the 6th of April there was no longer any doubt possible. + +It was eight o'clock in the morning. Dick Sand had just ascended into +the bars. At that moment the fogs were condensed under the first rays +of the sun, and the horizon was pretty clearly defined. + +From Dick Sand's lips escaped at last the so long expected cry: + +"Land! land before us!" + +At that cry every one ran on deck, little Jack, curious as folks are at +that age, Mrs. Weldon, whose trials were going to cease with the +landing, Tom and his companions, who were at last going to set foot +again on the American continent, Cousin Benedict himself, who had great +hope of picking up quite a rich collection of new insects for himself. + +Negoro, alone, did not appear. + +Each then saw what Dick Sand had seen, some very distinctly, others +with the eyes of faith. But on the part of the novice, so accustomed to +observe sea horizons, there was no error possible, and an hour after, +it must be allowed he was not deceived. + +At a distance of about four miles to the east stretched a rather low +coast, or at least what appeared such. It must be commanded behind by +the high chain of the Andes, but the last zone of clouds did not allow +the summits to be perceived. + +The "Pilgrim" sailed directly and rapidly to this coast, which grew +larger to the eye. + +Two hours after it was only three miles away. + +This part of the coast ended in the northeast by a pretty high cape, +which covered a sort of roadstead protected from land winds. On the +contrary, in the southeast, it lengthened out like a thin peninsula. + +A few trees crowned a succession of low cliffs, which were then clearly +defined under the sky. But it was evident, the geographical character +of the country being given, that the high mountain chain of the Andes +formed their background. + +Moreover, no habitation in sight, no port, no river mouth, which might +serve as a harbor for a vessel. + +At that moment the "Pilgrim" was running right on the land. With the +reduced sail which she carried, the winds driving her to the coast, +Dick Sand would not be able to set off from it. + +In front lay a long band of reefs, on which the sea was foaming all +white. They saw the waves unfurl half way up the cliffs. There must be +a monstrous surf there. + +Dick Sand, after remaining on the forecastle to observe the coast, +returned aft, and, without saying a word, he took the helm. + +The wind was freshening all the time. The schooner was soon only a mile +from the shore. + +Dick Sand then perceived a sort of little cove, into which he resolved +to steer; but, before reaching it, he must cross a line of reefs, among +which it would be difficult to follow a channel. The surf indicated +that the water was shallow everywhere. + +At that moment Dingo, who was going backwards and forwards on the deck, +dashed forward, and, looking at the land, gave some lamentable barks. +One would say that the dog recognized the coast, and that its instinct +recalled some sad remembrance. + +Negoro must have heard it, for an irresistible sentiment led him out of +his cabin; and although he had reason to fear the dog, he came almost +immediately to lean on the netting. + +Very fortunately for him Dingo, whose sad barks were all the time being +addressed to that land, did not perceive him. + +Negoro looked at that furious surf, and that did not appear to frighten +him. Mrs. Weldon, who was looking at him, thought she saw his face +redden a little, and that for an instant his features were contracted. + +Then, did Negoro know this point of the continent where the winds were +driving the "Pilgrim?" + +At that moment Dick Sand left the wheel, which he gave back to old Tom. +For a last time he came to look at the cove, which gradually opened. +Then: + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, in a firm voice, "I have no longer any hope of +finding a harbor! Before half an hour, in spite of all my efforts, the +'Pilgrim' will be on the reefs! We must run aground! I shall not bring +the ship into port! I am forced to lose her to save you! But, between +your safety and hers, I do not hesitate!" + +"You have done all that depended on you, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"All," replied the young novice. + +And at once he made his preparations for stranding the ship. + +First of all, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Cousin Benedict and Nan, must put on +life-preservers. Dick Sand, Tom and the blacks, good swimmers, also +took measures to gain the coast, in case they should be precipitated +into the sea. + +Hercules would take charge of Mrs. Weldon. The novice took little Jack +under his care. + +Cousin Benedict, very tranquil, however, reappeared on the deck with +his entomologist box strapped to his shoulder. The novice commended him +to Bat and Austin. As to Negoro, his singular calmness said plainly +enough that he had no need of anybody's aid. + +Dick Sand, by a supreme precaution, had also brought on the forecastle +ten barrels of the cargo containing whale's oil. + +That oil, properly poured the moment the "Pilgrim" would be in the +surf, ought to calm the sea for an instant, in lubricating, so to say, +the molecules of water, and that operation would perhaps facilitate the +ship's passage between the reefs. Dick Sand did not wish to neglect +anything which might secure the common safety. + +All these precautions taken, the novice returned to take his place at +the wheel. + +The "Pilgrim" was only two cables' lengths from the coast, that is, +almost touching the reefs, her starboard side already bathed in the +white foam of the surf. Each moment the novice thought that the +vessel's keel was going to strike some rocky bottom. + +Suddenly, Dick Sand knew, by a change in the color of the water, that a +channel lengthened out among the reefs. He must enter it bravely +without hesitating, so as to make the coast as near as possible to the +shore. + +The novice did not hesitate. A movement of the helm thrust the ship +into the narrow and sinuous channel. In this place the sea was still +more furious, and the waves dashed on the deck. + +The blacks were posted forward, near the barrels, waiting for the +novice's orders. + +"Pour the oil--pour!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +Under this oil, which was poured on it in quantities, the sea grew +calm, as by enchantment, only to become more terrible again a moment +after. + +The "Pilgrim" glided rapidly over those lubricated waters and headed +straight for the shore. + +Suddenly a shock took place. The ship, lifted by a formidable wave, had +just stranded, and her masting had fallen without wounding anybody. + +The "Pilgrim's" hull, damaged by the collision, was invaded by the +water with extreme violence. But the shore was only half a cable's +length off, and a chain of small blackish rocks enabled it to be +reached quite easily. + +So, ten minutes after, all those carried by the "Pilgrim" had landed at +the foot of the cliff. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BEST TO DO. + + +So then, after a voyage long delayed by calms, then favored by winds +from the northwest and from the southwest--a voyage which had not +lasted less than seventy-four days--the "Pilgrim" had just run aground! + +However, Mrs. Weldon. and her companions thanked Providence, because +they were in safety. In fact, it was on a continent, and not on one of +the fatal isles of Polynesia, that the tempest had thrown them. Their +return to their country, from any point of South America on which they +should land, ought not, it seemed, to present serious difficulties. + +As to the "Pilgrim," she was lost. She was only a carcass without +value, of which the surf was going to disperse the _débris_ in a few +hours. It would be impossible to save anything. But if Dick Sand had +not that joy of bringing back a vessel intact to his ship-owner, at +least, thanks to him, those who sailed in her were safe and sound on +some hospitable coast, and among them, the wife and child of James W. +Weldon. + +As to the question of knowing on what part of the American coast the +schooner had been wrecked, they might dispute it for a long time. Was +it, as Dick Sand must suppose, on the shore of Peru? Perhaps, for he +knew, even by the bearings of the Isle of Paques, that the "Pilgrim" +had been thrown to the northeast under the action of the winds; and +also, without doubt, under the influence of the currents of the +equatorial zone. From the forty-third degree of latitude, it had, +indeed, been possible to drift to the fifteenth. + +It was then important to determine, as soon as possible, the precise +point of the coast where the schooner had just been lost. Granted that +this coast was that of Peru, ports, towns and villages were not +lacking, and consequently it would be easy to gain some inhabited +place. As to this part of the coast, it seemed deserted. + +It was a narrow beach, strewed with black rocks, shut off by a cliff of +medium height, very irregularly cut up by large funnels due to the +rupture of the rock. Here and there a few gentle declivities gave +access to its crest. + +In the north, at a quarter of a mile from the stranding place, was the +mouth of a little river, which could not have been perceived from the +offing. On its banks hung numerous _rhizomas_, sorts of mangroves, +essentially distinct from their congeners of India. + +The crest of the cliff--that was soon discovered--was overhung by a +thick forest, whose verdant masses undulated before the eyes, and +extended as far as the mountains in the background. There, if Cousin +Benedict had been a botanist, how many trees, new to him, would not +have failed to provoke his admiration. + +There were high baobabs--to which, however, an extraordinary longevity +has been falsely attributed--the bark of which resembles Egyptian +syenite, Bourbon palms, white pines, tamarind-trees, pepper-plants of a +peculiar species, and a hundred other plants that an American is not +accustomed to see in the northern region of the New Continent. + +But, a circumstance rather curious, among those forest productions one +would not meet a single specimen of that numerous family of palm-trees +which counts more than a thousand species, spread in profusion over +almost the whole surface of the globe. + +Above the sea-shore a great number of very noisy birds were flying, +which belonged for the greater part to different varieties of swallows, +of black plumage, with a steel-blue shade, but of a light chestnut +color on the upper part of the head. Here and there also rose some +partridges, with necks entirely white, and of a gray color. + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand observed that these different birds did not +appear to be at all wild. They approached without fearing anything. +Then, had they not yet learned to fear the presence of man, and was +this coast so deserted that the detonation of a firearm had never been +heard there? + +At the edge of the rocks were walking some pelicans of the species of +"pelican minor," occupied in filling with little fish the sack which +they carry between the branches of their lower jaw. Some gulls, coming +from the offing, commenced to fly about around the "Pilgrim." + +Those birds were the only living creatures that seemed to frequent this +part of the coast, without counting, indeed, numbers of interesting +insects that Cousin Benedict would well know how to discover. But, +however little Jack would have it, one could not ask them the name of +the country; in order to learn it, it would be necessary to address +some native. There were none there, or at least, there was not one to +be seen. No habitation, hut, or cabin, neither in the north, beyond the +little river, nor in the south, nor finally on the upper part of the +cliff, in the midst of the trees of the thick forest. No smoke ascended +into the air, no indication, mark, or imprint indicated that this +portion of the continent was visited by human beings. Dick Sand +continued to be very much surprised. + +"Where are we? Where can we be?" he asked himself. "What! nobody to +speak to?" + +Nobody, in truth, and surely, if any native had approached, Dingo would +have scented him, and announced him by a bark. The dog went backward +and forward on the strand, his nose to the ground, his tail down, +growling secretly--certainly very singular behavior--but neither +betraying the approach of man nor of any animal whatsoever. + +"Dick, look at Dingo!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, that is very strange," replied the novice. "It seems as if he +were trying to recover a scent." + +"Very strange, indeed," murmured Mrs. Weldon; then, continuing, "what +is Negoro doing?" she asked. + +"He is doing what Dingo is doing," replied Dick Sand. "He goes, he +comes! After all, he is free here. I have no longer the right to +control him. His service ended with the stranding of the Pilgrim.'" + +In fact, Negoro surveyed the strand, turned back, and looked at the +shore and the cliff like a man trying to recall recollections and to +fix them. Did he, then, know this country? He would probably have +refused to reply to that question if it had been asked. The best thing +was still to have nothing to do with that very unsociable personage. +Dick Sand soon saw him walk from the side of the little river, and when +Negoro had disappeared on the other side of the cliff, he ceased to +think of him. + +Dingo had indeed barked when the cook had arrived on the steep bank, +but became silent almost immediately. + +It was necessary, now, to consider the most pressing wants. Now, the +most pressing was to find a refuge, a shelter of some kind, where they +could install themselves for the time, and partake of some nourishment. +Then they would take counsel, and they would decide what it would be +convenient to do. + +As to food, they had not to trouble themselves. Without speaking of the +resources which the country must offer, the ship's store-room had +emptied itself for the benefit of the survivors of the shipwreck. The +surf had thrown here and there among the rocks, then uncovered by the +ebb-tide, a great quantity of objects. Tom and his companions had +already picked up some barrels of biscuit, boxes of alimentary +preserves, cases of dried meat. The water not having yet damaged them, +food for the little troop was secured for more time, doubtless, than +they would require to reach a town or a village. In that respect there +was nothing to fear. These different waifs, already put in a safe +place, could no longer be taken back by a rising sea. + +Neither was sweet water lacking. First of all Dick Sand had taken care +to send Hercules to the little river for a few pints. But it was a cask +which the vigorous negro brought back on his shoulder, after having +filled it with water fresh and pure, which the ebb of the tide left +perfectly drinkable. + +As to a fire, if it were necessary to light one, dead wood was not +lacking in the neighborhood, and the roots of the old mangroves ought +to furnish all the fuel of which they would have need. Old Tom, an +ardent smoker, was provided with a certain quantity of German tinder, +well preserved in a box hermetically closed, and when they wanted it, +he would only have to strike the tinder-box with the flint of the +strand. + +It remained, then, to discover the hole in which the little troop would +lie down, in case they must take one night's rest before setting out. + +And, indeed, it was little Jack who found the bedroom in question, +While trotting about at the foot of the cliff, he discovered, behind a +turn of the rock, one of those grottoes well polished, well hollowed +out, which the sea herself digs, when the waves, enlarged by the +tempest, beat the coast. + +The young child was delighted. He called his mother with cries of joy, +and triumphantly showed her his discovery. + +"Good, my Jack!" replied Mrs. Weldon. "If we were Robinson Crusoes, +destined to live a long time on this shore, we should not forget to +give your name to that grotto!" + +The grotto was only from ten to twelve feet long, and as many wide; +but, in little Jack's eyes, it was an enormous cavern. At all events, +it must suffice to contain the shipwrecked ones; and, as Mrs. Weldon +and Nan noted with satisfaction, it was very dry. The moon being then +in her first quarter, they need not fear that those neap-tides would +reach the foot of the cliff, and the grotto in consequence. Then, +nothing more was needed for a few hours' rest. + +Ten minutes after everybody was stretched out on a carpet of sea-weed. +Negoro himself thought he must rejoin the little troop and take his +part of the repast, which was going to be made in common. Doubtless he +had not judged it proper to venture alone under the thick forest, +through which the winding river made its way. + +It was one o'clock in the afternoon. The preserved meat, the biscuit, +the sweet water, with the addition of a few drops of rum, of which Bat +had saved a quarter cask, made the requisites for this repast. But if +Negoro took part in it, he did not at all mingle in the conversation, +in which were discussed the measures demanded by the situation of the +shipwrecked. All the time, without appearing to do so, he listened to +it, and doubtless profited by what he heard. + +During this time Dingo, who had not been forgotten, watched outside the +grotto. They could be at ease. No living being would show himself on +the strand without the faithful animal giving the alarm. + +Mrs. Weldon, holding her little Jack, half lying and almost asleep on +her lap, began to speak. + +"Dick, my friend," said she, "in the name of all, I thank you for the +devotion that you have shown us till now; but we do not consider you +free yet. You will be our guide on land, as you were our captain at +sea. We place every confidence in you. Speak, then! What must we do?" + +Mrs. Weldon, old Nan, Tom and his companions, all had their eyes fixed +on the young novice. Negoro himself looked at him with a singular +persistence. Evidently, what Dick Sand was going to reply interested +him very particularly. + +Dick Sand reflected for a few moments. Then: + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, "the important thing is to know, first, where +we are. I believe that our ship can only have made the land on that +portion of the American sea-coast which forms the Peruvian shore. The +winds and currents must have carried her as far as that latitude. But +are we here in some southern province of Peru, that is to say on the +least inhabited part which borders upon the pampas? Maybe so. I would +even willingly believe it, seeing this beach so desolate, and, it must +be, but little frequented. In that case, we might be very far from the +nearest town, which would be unfortunate." + +"Well, what is to be done?" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"My advice," replied Dick Sand, "would be not to leave this shelter +till we know our situation. To-morrow, after a night's rest, two of us +could go to discover it. They would endeavor, without going too far, to +meet some natives, to inform themselves from them, and return to the +grotto. It is not possible that, in a radius of ten or twelve miles, we +find nobody." + +"To separate!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"That seems necessary to me," replied the novice. "If no information +can be picked up, if, as is not impossible, the country is absolutely +desolate, well, we shall consider some other way of extricating +ourselves." + +"And which of us shall go to explore?" asked Mrs. Weldon, after a +moment's reflection. + +"That is yet to be decided," replied Dick Sand. "At all events, I think +that you, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Mr. Benedict, and Nan, ought not to quit +this grotto. Bat, Hercules, Acteon, and Austin should remain near you, +while Tom and I should go forward. Negoro, doubtless, will prefer to +remain here?" added Dick Sand, looking at the head-cook. + +"Probably," replied Negoro, who was not a man to commit himself any +more than that. + +"We should take Dingo with us," continued the novice. "He would be +useful to us during our exploration." + +Dingo, hearing his name pronounced, reappeared at the entrance of the +grotto, and seemed to approve of Dick Sand's projects by a little bark. + +Since the novice had made this proposition, Mrs. Weldon remained +pensive. Her repugnance to the idea of a separation, even short, was +very serious. Might it not happen that the shipwreck of the "Pilgrim" +would soon be known to the Indian tribes who frequented the sea-shore, +either to the north or to the south, and in case some plunderers of the +wrecks thrown on the shore should present themselves, was it not better +for all to be united to repulse them? + +That objection, made to the novice's proposition, truly merited a +discussion. + +It fell, however, before Dick Sand's arguments, who observed that the +Indians ought not to be confounded with the savages of Africa or +Polynesia, and any aggression on their part was probably not to be +feared. But to entangle themselves in this country without even knowing +to what province of South America it belonged, nor at what distance the +nearest town of that province was situated, was to expose themselves to +many fatigues. Doubtless separation might have its inconveniences, but +far less than marching blindly into the midst of a forest which +appeared to stretch as far as the base of the mountains. + +"Besides," repeated Dick Sand, persistently, "I cannot admit that this +separation will be of long duration, and I even affirm that it will not +be so. After two days, at the most, if Tom and I have come across +neither habitation nor inhabitant, we shall return to the grotto. But +that is too improbable, and we shall not have advanced twenty miles +into the interior of the country before we shall evidently be satisfied +about its geographical situation. I may be mistaken in my calculation, +after all, because the means of fixing it astronomically have failed +me, and it is not impossible for us to be in a higher or lower +latitude." + +"Yes--you are certainly right, my child," replied Mrs. Weldon, in great +anxiety. + +"And you, Mr. Benedict," asked Dick Sand, "what do you think of this +project?" + +"I?" replied Cousin Benedict. + +"Yes; what is your advice?" + +"I have no advice," replied Cousin Benedict. "I find everything +proposed, good, and I shall do everything that you wish. Do you wish to +remain here one day or two? that suits me, and I shall employ my time +in studying this shore from a purely entomological point of view." + +"Do, then, according to your wish," said Mrs. Weldon to Dick Sand. "We +shall remain here, and you shall depart with old Tom." + +"That is agreed upon," said Cousin Benedict, in the most tranquil +manner in the world. "As for me, I am going to pay a visit to the +insects of the country." + +"Do not go far away, Mr. Benedict," said the novice. "We urge you +strongly not to do it." + +"Do not be uneasy, my boy." + +"And above all, do not bring back too many musquitoes," added old Tom. + +A few moments after, the entomologist, his precious tin box strapped to +his shoulders, left the grotto. + +Almost at the same time Negoro abandoned it also. It appeared quite +natural to that man to, be always occupied with himself. But, while +Cousin Benedict clambered up the slopes of the cliff to go to explore +the border of the forest, he, turning round toward the river, went away +with slow steps and disappeared, a second time ascending the steep bank. + +Jack slept all the time. Mrs. Weldon, leaving him on Nan's knees, then +descended toward the strand. Dick Sand and his companions followed her. +The question was, to see if the state of the sea then would permit them +to go as far as the "Pilgrim's" hull, where there were still many +objects which might be useful to the little troop. + +The rocks on which the schooner had been wrecked were now dry. In the +midst of the _débris_ of all kinds stood the ship's carcass, which the +high sea had partly covered again. That astonished Dick Sand, for he +knew that the tides are only very moderate on the American sea-shore of +the Pacific. But, after all, this phenomenon might be explained by the +fury of the wind which beat the coast. + +On seeing their ship again, Mrs. Weldon and her companions experienced +a painful impression. It was there that they had lived for long days, +there that they had suffered. The aspect of that poor ship, half +broken, having neither mast nor sails, lying on her side like a being +deprived of life, sadly grieved their hearts. But they must visit this +hull, before the sea should come to finish demolishing it. + +Dick Sand and the blacks could easily make their way into the interior, +after having hoisted themselves on deck by means of the ropes which +hung over the "Pilgrim's" side. While Tom, Hercules, Bat, and Austin +employed themselves in taking from the storeroom all that might be +useful, as much eatables as liquids, the novice made his way into the +arsenal. Thanks to God, the water had not invaded this part of the +ship, whose rear had remained out of the water after the stranding. + +There Dick Sand found four guns in good condition, excellent Remingtons +from Purdy & Co.'s factory, as well as a hundred cartridges, carefully +shut up in their cartridge-boxes. There was material to arm his little +band, and put it in a state of defense, if, contrary to all +expectation, the Indians attacked him on the way. + +The novice did not neglect to take a pocket-lantern; but the ship's +charts, laid in a forward quarter and damaged by the water, were beyond +use. + +There were also in the "Pilgrim's" arsenal some of those solid +cutlasses which serve to cut up whales. Dick Sand chose six, destined +to complete the arming of his companions, and he did not forget to +bring an inoffensive child's gun, which belonged to little Jack. + +As to the other objects still held by the ship, they had either been +dispersed, or they could no longer be used. Besides, it was useless to +overburden themselves for the few days the journey would last. In food, +in arms, in munitions, they were more than provided for. Meanwhile, +Dick Sand, by Mrs. Weldon's advice, did not neglect to take all the +money which he found on board--about five hundred dollars. + +That was a small sum, indeed! Mrs. Weldon had carried a larger amount +herself and she did not find it again. + +Who, then, except Negoro, had been able to visit the ship before them +and to lay hands on Captain Hull's and Mrs. Weldon's reserve? No one +but he, surely, could be suspected. However, Dick Sand hesitated a +moment. All that he knew and all that he saw of him was that everything +was to be feared from that concentrated nature, from whom the +misfortunes of others could snatch a smile. Yes, Negoro was an evil +being, but must they conclude from that that he was a criminal? It was +painful to Dick Sand's character to go as far as that. And, meanwhile, +could suspicion rest on any other? No, those honest negroes had not +left the grotto for an instant, while Negoro had wandered over the +beach. He alone must be guilty. Dick Sand then resolved to question +Negoro, and, if necessary, have him searched when he returned. He +wished to know decidedly what to believe. + +The sun was then going down to the horizon. At that date he had not yet +crossed the equator to carry heat and light into the northern +hemisphere, but he was approaching it. He fell, then, almost +perpendicularly to that circular line where the sea and the sky meet. +Twilight was short, darkness fell promptly--which confirmed the novice +in the thought that he had landed on a point of the coast situated +between the tropic of Capricorn and the equator. + +Mrs. Weldon, Dick Sand, and the blacks then returned to the grotto, +where they must take some hours' rest. + +"The night will still be stormy," observed Tom, pointing to the horizon +laden with heavy clouds. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "there is a strong breeze blowing up. But +what matter, at present? Our poor ship is lost, and the tempest can no +longer reach us?" + +"God's will be done!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +It was agreed that during that night, which would be very dark, each of +the blacks would watch turn about at the entrance to the grotto. They +could, besides, count upon Dingo to keep a careful watch. + +They then perceived that Cousin Benedict had not returned. + +Hercules called him with all the strength of his powerful lungs, and +almost immediately they saw the entomologist coming down the slopes of +the cliff, at the risk of breaking his neck. + +Cousin Benedict was literally furious. He had not found a single new +insect in the forest--no, not one--which was fit to figure in his +collection. Scorpions, scolopendras, and other myriapodes, as many as +he could wish, and even more, were discovered. And we know that Cousin +Benedict did not interest himself in myriapodes. + +"It was not worth the trouble," added he, "to travel five or six +thousand miles, to have braved the tempest, to be wrecked on the coast, +and not meet one of those American hexapodes, which do honor to an +entomological museum! No; the game was not worth the candle!" + +As a conclusion, Cousin Benedict asked to go away. He did not wish to +remain another hour on that detested shore. + +Mrs. Weldon calmed her large child. They made him hope that he would be +more fortunate the next day, and all went to lie down in the grotto, to +sleep there till sunrise, when Tom observed that Negoro had not yet +returned, though night had arrived. + +"Where can he be?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"What matter!" said Bat. + +"On the contrary, it does matter," replied Mrs. Weldon. "I should +prefer having that man still near us." + +"Doubtless, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand; "but if he has forsaken +our company voluntarily, I do not see how we could oblige him to rejoin +us. Who knows but he has his reasons for avoiding us forever?" + +And taking Mrs. Weldon aside, Dick Sand confided to her his suspicions. +He was not astonished to find that she had them also. Only they +differed on one point. + +"If Negoro reappears," said Mrs. Weldon, "he will have put the product +of his theft in a safe place. Take my advice. What we had better do, +not being able to convict him, will be to hide our suspicions from him, +and let him believe that we are his dupes." + +Mrs. Weldon was right. Dick Sand took her advice. + +However, Negoro was called several times. + +He did not reply. Either he was still too far away to hear, or he did +not wish to return. + +The blacks did not regret being rid of his presence; but, as Mrs. +Weldon had just said, perhaps he was still more to be feared afar than +near. And, moreover, how explain that Negoro would venture alone into +that unknown country? Had he then lost his way, and on this dark night +was he vainly seeking the way to the grotto? + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand did not know what to think. However it was, +they could not, in order to wait for Negoro, deprive themselves of a +repose so necessary to all. + +At that moment the dog, which was running on the strand, barked aloud. + +"What is the matter with Dingo?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"We must, indeed, find out," replied the novice. "Perhaps it is Negoro +coming back." + +At once Hercules, Bat, Austin, and Dick Sand took their way to the +mouth of the river. + +But, arrived at the bank, they neither saw nor heard anything. Dingo +now was silent. + +Dick Sand and the blacks returned to the grotto. + +The going to sleep was organized as well as possible. Each of the +blacks prepared himself to watch in turn outside. But Mrs. Weldon, +uneasy, could not sleep. It seemed to her that this land so ardently +desired did not give her what she had been led to hope for, security +for hers, and rest for herself. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HARRIS. + + +The next day, April 7th, Austin, who was on guard at sunrise, saw Dingo +run barking to the little river. Almost immediately Mrs. Weldon, Dick +Sand and the blacks came out of the grotto. + +Decidedly there was something there. + +"Dingo has scented a living creature, man or beast," said the novice. + +"At all events it was not Negoro," observed Tom, "for Dingo would bark +with fury." + +"If it is not Negoro, where can he be?" asked Mrs. Weldon, giving Dick +Sand a look which was only understood by him; "and if it is not he, +who, then, is it?" + +"We are going to see, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. Then, +addressing Bat, Austin, and Hercules, "Arm yourselves, my friends, and +come!" + +Each of the blacks took a gun and a cutlass, as Dick Sand had done. A +cartridge was slipped into the breech of the Remingtons, and, thus +armed, all four went to the bank of the river. + +Mrs. Weldon, Tom, and Acteon remained at the entrance of the grotto, +where little Jack and Nan still rested by themselves. + +The sun was then rising. His rays, intercepted by the high mountains in +the east, did not reach the cliff directly; but as far as the western +horizon, the sea sparkled under the first fires of day. + +Dick Sand and his companions followed the strand of the shore, the +curve of which joined the mouth of the river. + +There Dingo, motionless, and as if on guard, was continually barking. + +It was evident that he saw or scented some native. + +And, in fact, it was no longer against Negoro, against its enemy on +board the ship, that the dog had a grudge this time. + +At that moment a man turned the last plane of the cliff. He advanced +prudently to the strand, and, by his familiar gestures, he sought to +calm Dingo. They saw that he did not care to face the anger of the +vigorous animal. + +"It is not Negoro!" said Hercules. + +"We cannot lose by the change," replied Bat. + +"No," said the novice. "It is probably some native, who will spare us +the _ennui_ of a separation. We are at last going to know exactly where +we are." + +And all four, putting their guns back on their shoulders, went rapidly +toward the unknown. + +The latter, on seeing them approach, at first gave signs of the +greatest surprise. Very certainly, he did not expect to meet strangers +on that part of the coast. Evidently, also, he had not yet perceived +the remains of the "Pilgrim," otherwise the presence of the shipwrecked +would very naturally be explained to him. Besides, during the night the +surf had finished demolishing the ship's hull; there was nothing left +but the wrecks that floated in the offing. + +At the first moment the unknown, seeing four armed men marching toward +him, made a movement as if he would retrace his steps. He carried a gun +in a shoulder-belt, which passed rapidly into his hand, and from his +hand to his shoulder. They felt that he was not reassured. + +Dick Sand made a gesture of salutation, which doubtless the unknown +understood, for, after some hesitation, he continued to advance. + +Dick Sand could then examine him with attention. + +He was a vigorous man, forty years old at the most, his eyes bright, +his hair and beard gray, his skin sunburnt like that of a nomad who has +always lived in the open air, in the forest, or on the plain. A kind of +blouse of tanned skin served him for a close coat, a large hat covered +his head, leather boots came up above his knees, and spurs with large +rowels sounded from their high heels. + +What Dick Sand noticed at first--and which was so, in fact--was that he +had before him, not one of those Indians, habitual rovers over the +pampas, but one of those adventurers of foreign blood, often not very +commendable, who are frequently met with in those distant countries. + +It also seemed, by his rather familiar attitude, by the reddish color +of a few hairs of his beard, that this unknown must be of Anglo-Saxon +origin. At all events, he was neither an Indian nor a Spaniard. + +And that appeared certain, when in answer to Dick Sand, who said to him +in English, "Welcome!" he replied in the same language and without any +accent. + +"Welcome yourself, my young friend," said the unknown, advancing toward +the novice, whose hand he pressed. + +As to the blacks, he contented himself with making a gesture to them +without speaking to them. + +"You are English?" he asked the novice. + +"Americans," replied Dick Sand. + +"From the South?" + +"From the North." + +This reply seemed to please the unknown, who shook the novice's hand +more vigorously and this time in very a American manner. + +"And may I know, my young friend," he asked, "how you find yourself on +this coast?" + +But, at that moment, without waiting till the novice had replied to his +question, the unknown took off his hat and bowed. + +Mrs. Weldon had advanced as far as the steep bank, and she then found +herself facing him. + +It was she who replied to this question. + +"Sir," said she, "we are shipwrecked ones whose ship was broken to +pieces yesterday on these reefs." + +An expression of pity spread over the unknown's face, whose eyes sought +the vessel which had been stranded. + +"There is nothing left of our ship," added the novice. "The surf has +finished the work of demolishing it during the night." + +"And our first question," continued Mrs. Weldon, "will be to ask you +where we are." + +"But you are on the sea-coast of South America," replied the unknown, +who appeared surprised at the question. "Can you have any doubt about +that?" + +"Yes, sir, for the tempest had been able to make us deviate from our +route," replied Dick Sand. "But I shall ask where we are more exactly. +On the coast of Peru, I think." + +"No, my young friend, no! A little more to the south! You are wrecked +on the Bolivian coast." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +"And you are even on that southern part of Bolivia which borders on +Chili." + +"Then what is that cape?" asked Dick Sand, pointing to the promontory +on the north. + +"I cannot tell you the name," replied the unknown, "for if I know the +country in the interior pretty well from having often traversed it, it +is my first visit to this shore." + +Dick Sand reflected on what he had just learned. That only half +astonished him, for his calculation might have, and indeed must have, +deceived him, concerning the currents; but the error was not +considerable. In fact, he believed himself somewhere between the +twenty-seventh and the thirtieth parallel, from the bearings he had +taken from the Isle of Paques, and it was on the twenty-fifth parallel +that he was wrecked. There was no impossibility in the "Pilgrim's" +having deviated by relatively small digression, in such a long passage. + +Besides, there was no reason to doubt the unknown's assertions, and, as +that coast was that of lower Bolivia there was nothing astonishing in +its being so deserted. + +"Sir," then said Dick Sand, "after your reply I must conclude that we +are at a rather great distance from Lima." + +"Oh! Lima is far away--over there--in the north!" + +Mrs. Weldon, made suspicious first of all by Negoro's disappearance, +observed the newly-arrived with extreme attention; but she could +discover nothing, either in his attitude or in his manner of expressing +himself which could lead her to suspect his good faith. + +"Sir," said she, "without doubt my question is not rash. You do not +seem to be of Peruvian origin?" + +"I am American as you are, madam," said the unknown, who waited for an +instant for the American lady to tell him her name. + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied the latter. + +"I? My name is Harris and I was born in South Carolina. But here it is +twenty years since I left my country for the pampas of Bolivia, and it +gives me pleasure to see compatriots." + +"You live in this part of the province, Mr. Harris?" again asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Harris, "I live in the South, on the Chilian +frontier; but at this present moment I am going to Atacama, in the +northeast." + +"Are we then on the borders of the desert of that name?" asked Dick +Sand. + +"Precisely, my young friend, and this desert extends far beyond the +mountains which shut off the horizon." + +"The desert of Atacama?" repeated Dick Sand. + +"Yes," replied Harris. "This desert is like a country by itself, in +this vast South America, from which it differs in many respects. It is, +at the same time, the most curious and the least known portion of this +continent." + +"And you travel alone?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Oh, it is not the first time that I have taken this journey!" replied +the American. "There is, two hundred miles from here, an important +farm, the Farm of San Felice, which belongs to one of my brothers, and +it is to his house that I am going for my trade. If you wish to follow +me you will be well received, and the means of transport to gain the +town of Atacama will not fail you. My brother will be happy to furnish, +them." + +These offers, made freely, could only prepossess in favor of the +American, who immediately continued, addressing Mrs. Weldon: + +"These blacks are your slaves?" + +And he pointed to Tom and his companions. + +"We have no longer any slaves in the United States," replied Mrs. +Weldon, quickly. "The North abolished slavery long ago, and the South +has been obliged to follow the example of the North!" + +"Ah! that is so," replied Harris. "I had forgotten that the war of 1862 +had decided that grave question. I ask those honest men's pardon for +it," added Harris, with that delicate irony which a Southerner must put +into his language when speaking to blacks. "But on seeing those +gentlemen in your service, I believed----" + +"They are not, and have never been, in my service, sir," replied Mrs. +Weldon, gravely. + +"We should be honored in serving you, Mrs. Weldon," then said old Tom. +"But, as Mr. Harris knows, we do not belong to anybody. I have been a +slave myself, it is true, and sold as such in Africa, when I was only +six years old; but my son Bat, here, was born of an enfranchised +father, and, as to our companions, they were born of free parents." + +"I can only congratulate you about it," replied Harris, in a tone which +Mrs. Weldon did not find sufficiently serious. "In this land of +Bolivia, also, we have no slaves. Then you have nothing to fear, and +you can go about as freely here as in the New England States." + +At that moment little Jack, followed by Nan, came out of the grotto +rubbing his eyes. Then, perceiving his mother, he ran to her. Mrs. +Weldon embraced him tenderly. + +"The charming little boy!" said the American, approaching Jack. + +"It is my son," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Oh, Mrs. Weldon, you must have been doubly tried, because your child +has been exposed to so many dangers." + +"God has brought him out of them safe and sound, as He has us, Mr. +Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Will you permit me to kiss him on his pretty cheeks?" asked Harris. + +"Willingly," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +But Mr. Harris's face, it appeared, did not please little Jack, for he +clung more closely to his mother. + +"Hold!" said Harris, "you do not want me to embrace you? You are afraid +of me, my good little man?" + +"Excuse him, sir," Mrs. Weldon hastened to say. "It is timidity on his +part." + +"Good! we shall become better acquainted," replied Harris. "Once at the +Farm, he will amuse himself mounting a gentle pony, which will tell him +good things of me." + +But the offer of the gentle pony did not succeed in cajoling Jack any +more than the proposition to embrace Mr. Harris. + +Mrs. Weldon, thus opposed, hastened to change the conversation. They +must not offend a man who had so obligingly offered his services. + +During this time Dick Sand was reflecting on the proposition which had +been made to them so opportunely, to gain the Farm of San Felice. It +was, as Harris had said, a journey of over two hundred miles, sometimes +through forests, sometimes through plains--a very fatiguing journey, +certainly, because there were absolutely no means of transport. + +The young novice then presented some observations to that effect, and +waited for the reply the American was going to make. + +"The journey is a little long, indeed," replied Harris, "but I have +there, a few hundred feet behind the steep bank, a horse which I count +on offering to Mrs. Weldon and her son. For us, there is nothing +difficult, nor even very fatiguing in making the journey on foot. +Besides, when I spoke of two hundred miles, it was by following, as I +have already done, the course of this river. But if we go through the +forest, our distance will be shortened by at least eighty miles. Now, +at the rate of ten miles a day, it seems to me that we shall arrive at +the Farm without too much distress." + +Mrs. Weldon thanked the American. + +"You cannot thank me better than by accepting," replied Harris. "Though +I have never crossed this forest, I do not believe I shall be +embarrassed in finding the way, being sufficiently accustomed to the +pampas. But there is a graver question--that of food. I have only what +is barely enough for myself while on the way to the Farm of San Felice." + +"Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon, "fortunately we have food in more +than sufficient quantity, and we shall be happy to share with you." + +"Well, Mrs. Weldon, it seems to me that all is arranged for the best, +and that we have only to set out." + +Harris went toward the steep bank, with the intention of going to take +his horse from the place where he had left it, when Dick Sand stopped +him again, by asking him a question. + +To abandon the sea-coast, to force his way into the interior of the +country, under that interminable forest, did not please the young +novice. The sailor reappeared in him, and either to ascend or descend +the coast would be more to his mind. + +"Mr. Harris," said he, "instead of traveling for one hundred and twenty +miles in the Desert of Atacama, why not follow the coast? Distance for +distance, would it not be better worth while to seek to reach the +nearest town, either north or south?" + +"But my young friend," replied Harris, frowning slightly, "it seems to +me that on this coast, which I know very imperfectly, there is no town +nearer than three or four hundred miles." + +"To the north, yes," replied Dick Sand; "but to the south----" + +"To the south," replied the American, "we must descend as far as Chili. +Now, the distance is almost as long, and, in your place, I should not +like to pass near the pampas of the Argentine Republic. As to me, to my +great regret, I could not accompany you there." + +"The ships which go from Chili to Peru, do they not pass, then, in +sight of this coast?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"No," replied Harris. "They keep much more out at sea, and you ought +not to meet any of them." + +"Truly," replied Mrs. Weldon. "Well, Dick, have you still some question +to ask Mr. Harris?" + +"A single one, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice, who experienced some +difficulty in giving up. "I shall ask Mr. Harris in what port he thinks +we shall be able to find a ship to bring us back to San Francisco?" + +"Faith, my young friend, I could not tell you," replied the American. +"All that I know is, that at the Farm of San Felice we will furnish you +with the means of gaining the town of Atacama, and from there----" + +"Mr. Harris," then said Mrs. Weldon, "do not believe that Dick Sand +hesitates to accept your offers." + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, no; surely I do not hesitate," replied the young +novice; "but I cannot help regretting not being stranded a few degrees +farther north or farther south. We should have been in proximity to a +port, and that circumstance, in facilitating our return to our country, +would prevent us from taxing Mr. Harris's good will." + +"Do not fear imposing upon me, Mrs. Weldon," returned Harris. "I repeat +to you that too rarely have I occasion to find myself again in the +presence of my compatriots. For me it is a real pleasure to oblige you." + +"We accept your offer, Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I should +not wish, however, to deprive you of your horse. I am a good walker----" + +"And I am a very good walker," replied Harris, bowing. "Accustomed to +long journeys across the pampas, it is not I who will keep back our +caravan. No, Mrs. Weldon, you and your little Jack will use this horse. +Besides, it is possible that we may meet some of the farm servants on +the way, and, as they will be mounted--well, they will yield their +horses to us." + +Dick Sand saw well that in making new objections he would oppose Mrs. +Weldon. + +"Mr. Harris," said he, "when do we set out?" + +"Even to-day, my young friend," replied Harris. "The bad season +commences with the month of April, and it is of the utmost importance +for you to reach the farm of San Felice first. Finally, the way across +the forest is the shortest, and perhaps the safest. It is less exposed +than the coast to the incursions of wandering Indians, who are +indefatigable robbers." + +"Tom, my friends," replied Dick Sand, turning to the blacks, "it only +remains for us to make preparations for departure. Let us select, then, +from among the provisions on hand, those which can be most easily +transported, and let us make packs, of which each will take his share." + +"Mr. Dick," said Hercules, "if you wish, I shall carry the whole load +very well." + +"No, my brave Hercules," replied the novice; "it will be better for us +all to share the burden." + +"You are a strong companion, Hercules," then said Harris, who looked at +the negro as if the latter were for sale. "In the markets of Africa you +would be worth a good price." + +"I am worth what I am worth," replied Hercules, laughing, "and the +buyers will only have to run well, if they wish to catch me." + +All was agreed upon, and to hasten the departure, each went to work. +However, they had only to think of feeding the little troop for the +journey from the sea-coast to the farm, that is to say, for a march of +ten days. + +"But, before setting out, Mr. Harris," said Mrs. Weldon, "before +accepting your hospitality, I beg you to accept ours. We offer it to +you with our best wishes." + +"I accept, Mrs. Weldon; I accept with eagerness," replied Harris, gayly. + +"In a few minutes our breakfast will be ready." + +"Good, Mrs. Weldon. I am going to profit by those ten minutes to go and +get my horse and bring it here. He will have breakfasted, he will." + +"Do you want me to go with you, sir?" asked Dick Sand. + +"As you please, my young friend," replied Harris. "Come; I shall make +you acquainted with the lower course of this river." + +Both set out. + +During this time, Hercules was sent in search of the entomologist. +Faith, Cousin Benedict was very uneasy indeed about what was passing +around him. + +He was then wandering on the summit of the cliff in quest of an +"unfindable" insect, which, however, he did not find. + +Hercules brought him back against his will. Mrs. Weldon informed him +that departure was decided upon, and that, for ten days, they must +travel to the interior of the country. + +Cousin Benedict replied that he was ready to set out, and that he would +not ask better than to cross America entirely, provided they would let +him "collect" on the way. + +Mrs. Weldon then occupied herself, with Nan's assistance, in preparing +a comfortable repast--a good precaution before setting out. + +During this time, Harris, accompanied by Dick Sand, had turned the +angle of the cliff. Both followed the high bank, over a space of three +hundred steps. There, a horse, tied to a tree, gave joyous neighing at +the approach of his master. + +It was a vigorous beast, of a species that Dick Sand could not +recognize. Neck and shoulders long, loins short, and hindquarters +stretched out, shoulders flat, forehead almost pointed. This horse +offered, however, distinctive signs of those races to which we +attribute an Arabian origin. + +"You see, my young friend," said Harris, "that it is a strong animal, +and you may count on it not failing you on the route." + +Harris detached his horse, took it by the bridle, and descended the +steep bank again, preceding Dick Sand. The latter had thrown a rapid +glance, as well over the river as toward the forest which shut up its +two banks. But he saw nothing of a nature to make him uneasy. + +However, when he had rejoined the American, he suddenly gave him the +following question, which the latter could little expect: + +"Mr. Harris," he asked, "you have not met a Portuguese, named Negoro, +in the night?" + +"Negoro?" replied Harris, in the tone of a man who does not understand +what is said. "Who is this Negoro?" + +"He was the cook on board," replied Dick Sand, "and he has disappeared." + +"Drowned, perhaps," said Harris. + +"No, no," replied Dick Sand. "Yesterday evening he was still with us, +but during the night he has left us, and he has probably ascended the +steep bank of this river. So I asked you, who have come from that side, +if you had not met him." + +"I have met nobody," replied the American; "and if your cook has +ventured alone into the forest, he runs a great risk of going astray. +Perhaps we shall overtake him on the way." + +"Yes; perhaps!" replied Dick Sand. + +When the two returned to the grotto, breakfast was ready. It was +composed, like the supper of the evening before, of alimentary +conserves, of corned beef and of biscuit. Harris did honor to it, like +a man whom nature had endowed with a great appetite. + +"Let us go," said he; "I see that we shall not die of hunger on the +way! I shall not say as much for that poor devil of a Portuguese, of +whom our young friend has spoken." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Weldon, "Dick Sand has told you that we have not seen +Negoro again?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "I desired to know if Mr. +Harris had not met him." + +"No," replied Harris; "so let us leave that deserter where he is, and +think of our departure--whenever you are ready, Mrs. Weldon." + +Each took the pack which was intended for him. Mrs. Weldon, assisted by +Hercules, placed herself on the horse, and the ungrateful little Jack, +with his gun strapped on his back, straddled the animal without even +thinking of thanking him who had put that excellent beast at his +disposal. Jack, placed before his mother, then said to her that he +would know how to lead the gentleman's horse very well. + +They then gave him the bridle to hold, and he did not doubt that he was +the veritable head of the caravan. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ON THE WAY. + + +It was not without a certain apprehension--nothing seemed to justify +it, however--that Dick Sand, three hundred steps from the steep bank of +the river, penetrated into the thick forest, the difficult paths of +which he and his companions were going to follow for ten days. On the +contrary, Mrs. Weldon herself, a woman and a mother, whom the perils +would make doubly anxious, had every confidence. Two very serious +motives had contributed to reassure her; first, because this region of +the pampas was neither very formidable on account of the natives, nor +on account of the animals which were found there; next, because, under +the direction of Harris, of a guide so sure of himself as the American +appeared to be, they could not be afraid of going astray. + +Here is the order of proceeding, which, as far as possible, would be +observed during the journey: + +Dick Sand and Harris, both armed, one with his long gun, the other with +a Remington, kept at the head of the little troop. + +Then came Bat and Austin, also armed, each with a gun and a cutlass. + +Behind them followed Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, on horseback; then +Nan and Tom. + +In the rear, Acteon, armed with the fourth Remington, and Hercules, +with a hatchet in his belt, closed the march. + +Dingo went backwards and forwards, and, as Dick Sand remarked, always +like an uneasy dog seeking a scent. The dog's ways had visibly changed +since the "Pilgrim's" shipwreck had cast it on this sea-coast. It +seemed agitated, and almost incessantly it kept up a dull grumbling, +rather lamentable than furious. That was remarked by all, though no one +could explain it. + +As to Cousin Benedict, it had been as impossible to assign him an order +of marching as Dingo. Unless he had been held by a string, he would not +have kept it. His tin box strapped to his shoulder, his net in his +hand, his large magnifying glass suspended to his neck, sometimes +behind, sometimes in front, he scampered away among the high herbs, +watching for orthopters or any other insect in "pter," at the risk of +being bit by some venomous serpent. + +During the first hour Mrs. Weldon, uneasy, called him back twenty +times. It was no use. + +"Cousin Benedict," she finished by saying to him, "I beg you very +seriously not to go far away, and I urge you for the last time to pay +attention to my entreaties." + +"Meanwhile, cousin," replied the intractable entomologist, "when I +perceive an insect?" + +"When you perceive an insect," replied Mrs. Weldon, "you would do well +to let it go in peace, or you will put me under the necessity of taking +your box away from you." + +"Take away my box!" cried Cousin Benedict, as if it were a question of +snatching away his heart. + +"Your box and your net," added Mrs. Weldon, pitilessly. + +"My net, cousin! And why not my glasses? You will not dare! No; you +will not dare!" + +"Even, your glasses, which I forgot. I thank you, Cousin Benedict, for +reminding me that I have that means of making you blind, and, in that +way, forcing you to be wise." + +This triple menace had the effect of making him keep quiet--this +unsubmissive cousin--for about an hour. Then he began to go away again, +and, as he would do the same, even without net, without box, and +without glasses, they were obliged to let him do as he pleased. But +Hercules undertook to watch him closely--which quite naturally became +one of his duties--and it was agreed that he would act with Cousin +Benedict as the latter would with an insect; that is, that he would +catch him, if necessary, and bring him back as delicately as the other +would with the rarest of the lepidopters. + +That rule made, they troubled themselves no more about Cousin Benedict. + +The little troop, it has been seen, was well armed, and guarded itself +carefully. But, as Harris repeated, there was no encounter to fear +except with wandering Indians, and they would probably see none. + +At all events, the precautions taken would suffice to keep them +respectful. + +The paths which wound across the thick forest did not merit that name. +They were rather the tracks of animals than the tracks of men. They +could only be followed with difficulty. So, in fixing the average +distance that the little troop would make in a march of twelve hours at +only five or six miles, Harris had calculated wisely. + +The weather, however, was very fine. The sun mounted toward the zenith, +spreading in waves his almost perpendicular rays. On the plain this +heat would be unbearable, Harris took care to remark; but, under those +impenetrable branches, they bore it easily and with impunity. + +The greater part of the trees of this forest were unknown, as well to +Mrs. Weldon as to her companions, black or white. + +However, an expert would remark that they were more remarkable for +their quality than for their height. Here, it was the "banhinia," or +iron wood; there, the "molompi," identical with the "pterocarpe," a +solid and light wood, fit for making the spoons used in sugar +manufactories or oars, from the trunk of which exuded an abundant +resin; further on, "fusticks," or yellow wood, well supplied with +coloring materials, and lignum-vitæs, measuring as much as twelve feet +in diameter, but inferior in quality to the ordinary lignum-vitæs. + +While walking, Dick Sand asked Harris the name of these different trees. + +"Then you have never been on the coast of South America?" Harris asked +him before replying to his question. + +"Never," replied the novice; "never, during my voyages, have I had +occasion to visit these coasts, and to say the truth, I do not believe +that anybody who knew about them has ever spoken to me of them." + +"But have you at least explored the coasts of Colombia, those of Chili, +or of Patagonia?" + +"No, never." + +"But perhaps Mrs. Weldon has visited this part of the new continent?" +asked Harris. "Americans do not fear voyages, and doubtless----" + +"No, Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon. "The commercial interests of my +husband have never called him except to New Zealand, and I have not had +to accompany him elsewhere. Not one of us, then, knows this portion of +lower Bolivia." + +"Well, Mrs. Weldon, you and your companions will see a singular +country, which contrasts strangely with the regions of Peru, of Brazil, +or of the Argentine Republic. Its flora and fauna would astonish a +naturalist. Ah! we may say that you have been shipwrecked at a good +place, and if we may ever thank chance----" + +"I wish to believe that it is not chance which has led us here, but +God, Mr. Harris." + +"God! Yes! God!" replied Harris, in the tone of a man who takes little +account of providential intervention in the things of this world. + +Then, since nobody in the little troop knew either the country or its +productions, Harris took a pleasure in naming pleasantly the most +curious trees of the forest. + +In truth, it was a pity that, in Cousin Benedict's case, the +entomologist was not supplemented by the botanist! If, up to this time, +he had hardly found insects either rare or new, he might have made fine +discoveries in botany. There was, in profusion, vegetation of all +heights, the existence of which in the tropical forests of the New +World had not been yet ascertained. Cousin Benedict would certainly +have attached his name to some discovery of this kind. But he did not +like botany--he knew nothing about it. He even, quite naturally, held +flowers in aversion, under the pretext that some of them permit +themselves to imprison the insects in their corollas, and poison them +with their venomous juices. + +At times, the forest became marshy. They felt under foot quite a +network of liquid threads, which would feed the affluents of the little +river. Some of the rills, somewhat large, could only be crossed by +choosing fordable places. + +On their banks grew tufts of reeds, to which Harris gave the name of +papyrus. He was not mistaken, and those herbaceous plants grew +abundantly below the damp banks. + +Then, the marsh passed, thickets of trees again covered the narrow +routes of the forest. + +Harris made Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand remark some very fine +ebony-trees, much larger than the common ebony-tree, which furnish a +wood much blacker and much stronger than that of commerce. Then there +were mango-trees, still numerous, though they were rather far from the +sea. A kind of fur of white moss climbed them as far as the branches. +Their thick shade and their delicious fruit made them precious trees, +and meanwhile, according to Harris, not a native would dare to +propagate the species. "Whoever plants a mango-tree dies!" Such is the +superstitious maxim of the country. + +During the second half of this first day of the journey, the little +troop, after the midday halt, began to ascend land slightly inclined. +They were not as yet the slopes of the chain of the first plane, but a +sort of undulating plateau which connected the plain with the mountain. + +There the trees, a little less compact, sometimes clustered in groups, +would have rendered the march easier, if the soil had not been invaded +by herbaceous plants. One might believe himself in the jungles of +Oriental India. Vegetation appeared to be less luxuriant than in the +lower valley of the little river, but it was still superior to that of +the temperate regions of the Old or of the New World. + +Indigo was growing there in profusion, and, according to Harris, this +leguminous plant passed with reason for the most usurping plant of the +country. If a field came to be abandoned, this parasite, as much +despised as the thistle or the nettle, took possession of it +immediately. + +One tree seemed lacking in this forest, which ought to be very common +in this part of the new continent; it was the caoutchouc-tree. In fact, +the "ficus primoides," the "castilloa elastica," the "cecropia +peltats," the "collophora utilis," the "cameraria letifolia," and above +all, the "syphonia elastica," which belong to different families, +abound in the provinces of South America. And meanwhile, a rather +singular thing, there was not a single one to be seen. + +Now, Dick Sand had particularly promised his friend Jack to show him +some caoutchouc trees. So a great deception for the little boy, who +figured to himself that gourds, speaking babies, articulate +punchinellos, and elastic balloons grew quite naturally on those trees. +He complained. + +"Patience, my good little man," replied Harris. "We shall find some of +those caoutchoucs, and by hundreds, in the neighborhood of the farm." + +"Handsome ones, very elastic?" asked little Jack. + +"The most elastic there are. Hold! while waiting, do you want a good +fruit to take away your thirst?" And, while speaking, Harris went to +gather from a tree some fruits, which seemed to be as pleasant to the +taste as those from the peach-tree. + +"Are you very sure, Mr. Harris," asked Mrs. Weldon, "that this fruit +can do no harm?" + +"Mrs. Weldon, I am going to convince you," replied the American, who +took a large mouthful of one of those fruits. "It is a mango." + +And little Jack, without any more pressing, followed Harris's example, +He declared that it was very good, "those pears," and the tree was at +once put under contribution. + +Those mangos belonged to a species whose fruit is ripe in March and +April, others being so only in September, and, consequently, their +mangos were just in time. + +"Yes, it is good, good, good!" said little Jack, with his mouth full. +"But my friend Dick has promised me caoutchoucs, if I was very good, +and I want caoutchoucs!" + +"You will have them, Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon, "because Mr. Harris +assures you of it." + +"But that is not all," went on Jack. "My friend Dick has promised me +some other thing!" + +"What then, has friend Dick promised?" asked Harris, smiling. + +"Some humming-birds, sir." + +"And you shall have some humming-birds, my good little man, but farther +on--farther on," replied Harris. + +The fact is that little Jack had a right to claim some of these +charming creatures, for he was now in a country where they should +abound. The Indians, who know how to weave their feathers artistically, +have lavished the most poetical names on those jewels of the flying +race. They call them either the "rays" or the "hairs of the sun." Here, +it is "the little king of the flowers;" there, "the celestial flower +that comes in its flight to caress the terrestrial flower." It is again +"the bouquet of jewels, which sparkles in the fire of the day." It can +be believed that their imagination would know how to furnish a new +poetical appellation for each of the one hundred and fifty species +which constitute this marvelous tribe of humming-birds. + +Meanwhile, however numerous these humming-birds might be in the forests +of Bolivia, little Jack was obliged to still content himself with +Harris's promise. According to the American, they were still too close +to the coast, and the humming-birds did not like these deserts so near +the ocean. The presence of man did not frighten them at the "hacienda;" +they heard nothing all day but their cry of "teretere" and the murmur +of their wings, similar to that of a spinning-wheel. + +"Ah! how I should like to be there!" cried little Jack. + +The surest method of getting there--to the "hacienda" of San +Felice--was not to stop on the road. Mrs. Weldon and her companions +only took the time absolutely necessary for repose. + +The aspect of the forest already changed. Between the less crowded +trees large clearings opened here and there. The sun, piercing the +green carpet, then showed its structure of red, syenite granite, +similar to slabs of lapis-lazuli. On some heights the sarsaparilla +abounded, a plant with fleshy tubercles, which formed an inextricable +tangle. The forest, with the narrow paths, was better for them. + +Before sunset the little troop were about eight miles from the point of +departure. This journey had been made without accident, and even +without great fatigue. It is true, it was the first journey on the +march, and no doubt the following halting places would be rougher. + +By a common consent they decided to make a halt at this place. The +question then was, not to establish a real camp, but to simply organize +a resting-place. One man on guard, relieved every two hours, would +suffice to watch during the night, neither the natives nor the deer +being truly formidable. + +They found nothing better for shelter than an enormous mango-tree, +whose large branches, very bushy, formed a kind of natural veranda. If +necessary, they could nestle in the branches. + +Only, on the arrival of the little troop, a deafening concert arose +from the top of the tree. + +The mango served as a perch for a colony of gray parrots, prattling, +quarrelsome, ferocious birds, which set upon living birds, and those +who would judge them from their congeners which Europe keeps in cages, +would be singularly mistaken. + +These parrots jabbered with such a noise that Dick Sand thought of +firing at them to oblige them to be silent, or to put them to flight. +But Harris dissuaded him, under the pretext that in these solitudes it +was better not to disclose his presence by the detonation of a fire-arm. + +"Let us pass along without noise," he said, "and we shall pass along +without danger." + +Supper was prepared at once, without any need of proceeding to cook +food. It was composed of conserves and biscuit. A little rill, which +wound under the plants, furnished drinkable water, which they did not +drink without improving it with a few drops of rum. As to _dessert_, +the mango was there with its juicy fruit, which the parrots did not +allow to be picked without protesting with their abominable cries. + +At the end of the supper it began to be dark. The shade rose slowly +from the ground to the tops of the trees, from which the foliage soon +stood out like a fine tracery on the more luminous background of the +sky. The first stars seemed to be shining flowers, which twinkled at +the end of the last branches. The wind went down with the night, and no +longer trembled in the branches of the trees. The parrots themselves +had become mute. Nature was going to rest, and inviting every living +being to follow her in this deep sleep. + +Preparations for retiring had to be of a very primitive character. + +"Shall we not light a large fire for the night?" Dick Sand asked the +American. + +"What's the good?" replied Harris. "Fortunately the nights are not +cold, and this enormous mango will preserve the soil from all +evaporation. We have neither cold nor dampness to fear. I repeat, my +young friend, what I told you just now. Let us move along incognito. No +more fire than gunshots, if possible." + +"I believe, indeed," then said Mrs. Weldon, "that we have nothing to +fear from the Indians--even from those wanderers of the woods, of whom +you have spoken, Mr. Harris. But, are there not other four-footed +wanderers, that the sight of a fire would help to keep at a distance?" + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied the American, "you do too much honor to the deer +of this country. Indeed, they fear man more than he fears them." + +"We are in a wood," said Jack, "and there is always beasts in the +woods." + +"There are woods and woods, my good little man, as there are beasts and +beasts," replied Harris, laughing. "Imagine that you are in the middle +of a large park. Truly, it is not without reason that the Indians say +of this country, 'Es como el pariso!' It is like an earthly paradise!" + +"Then there are serpents?" said Jack. + +"No, my Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon, "there are no serpents, and you may +sleep tranquilly." + +"And lions?" asked Jack. + +"Not the ghost of a lion, my good little man," replied Harris. + +"Tigers, then?" + +"Ask your mama if she has ever heard tell of tigers on this continent." + +"Never," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Good!" said Cousin Benedict, who, by chance, was listening to the +conversation: "if there are neither lions nor tigers in the New World, +which is perfectly true, we at least encounter cougars and jaguars." + +"Are they bad?" asked little Jack. + +"Phew!" replied Harris; "a native has little fear of attacking those +animals, and we are strong. Stay! Hercules would be strong enough to +crush two jaguars at once, one in each hand!" + +"You will watch well, Hercules," then said little Jack, "and if a beast +comes to bite us----" + +"It is I who will bite it, Mr. Jack!" replied Hercules, showing his +mouth, armed with superb teeth. + +"Yes, you will watch, Hercules," said the novice, "but your companions +and I will relieve you, turn about." + +"No, Mr. Dick," replied Acteon, "Hercules, Bat, Austin, and I, we four +will be enough for this labor. You must rest the whole night." + +"Thank you, Acteon," replied Dick Sand, "but I ought to----" + +"No! let those brave men do it, my dear Dick!" then said Mrs. Weldon. + +"I, also; I shall watch!" added little Jack, whose eyelids were already +closing. + +"Yes, my Jack, yes, you will watch!" replied his mother, who did not +wish to contradict him. + +"But," the little boy said again, "if there are no lions, if there are +no tigers in the forest, there are wolves!" + +"Oh! wolves in jest!" replied the American. "They are not even wolves, +but kinds of foxes, or rather of those dogs of the woods which they +call 'guaras.'" + +"And those _guaras_, they bite?" asked little Jack. + +"Bah! Dingo would make only one mouthful of those beasts!" + +"Never mind," replied Jack, with a last yawn; "guaras are wolves, +because they are called wolves!" + +And with that Jack fell asleep peaceably in Nan's arms, beside the +trunk of the mango. Mrs. Weldon, lying near her, gave a last kiss to +her little boy, and her tired eyes quickly closed for the night. + +A few moments later Hercules brought back to the camp Cousin Benedict, +who had just gone off to commence a chase for pyrophores. They are +"cocuyos," or luminous flies, which the stylish put in their hair, like +so many living gems. These insects which throw a bright and bluish +light from two spots situated at the base of their corselet, are very +numerous in South America. Cousin Benedict then counted on making a +large collection, but Hercules did not leave him time, and, in spite of +his recriminations, the negro brought him to the halting-place. That +was because, when Hercules had orders, he executed them with military +preciseness, which, no doubt, prevented the incarceration of a notable +quantity of luminous flies in the entomologist's tin box. + +A few moments after, with the exception of the giant, who was watching, +all were reposing in a profound sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A HUNDRED MILES IN TWO DAYS. + + +Generally, travelers or ramblers in the woods, who have slept in the +forests under the lovely stars, are awakened by howlings as fantastic +as disagreeable. There is everything in this morning concert: clucking, +grunting, croaking, sneering, barking, and almost "speaking," if one +may make use of this word, which completes the series of different +noises. + +There are the monkeys who thus salute the daybreak. There we meet the +little "marikina," the marmoset with a speckled mask; the "mono gris," +the skin of which the Indians use to recover the batteries of their +guns; the "sagous," recognizable from their long bunches of hair, and +many others, specimens of this numerous family. + +Of these various four-handed animals, the most remarkable are decidedly +the "gueribas," with curling tails and a face like Beelzebub. When the +sun rises, the oldest of the band, with an imposing and mysterious +voice, sings a monotonous psalm. It is the baritone of the troop. The +young tenors repeat after him the morning symphony. The Indians say +then that the "gueribas" recite their _pater-nosters_. + +But, on this day, it seemed that the monkeys did not offer their +prayer, for no one heard them; and, meanwhile, their voice is loud, for +it is produced by the rapid vibration of a kind of bony drum, formed by +a swelling of the hyoides bone in the neck. + +In short, for one reason or for another, neither the "gueribas," nor +the "sagous," nor any other four-handed animals of this immense forest, +sang, on this morning, their usual concert. + +This would not have satisfied the wandering Indians. Not that these +natives appreciate this kind of strange choral music, but they +willingly give chase to the monkeys, and if they do, it is because the +flesh of this animal is excellent, above all, when it is smoke-dried. + +Dick Sand, of course, could not be familiar with the habits of the +"gueribas," neither were his companions, or this not hearing them would +have undoubtedly been a subject of surprise. They awoke then, one after +the other, much refreshed by these few hours of repose, which no alarm +had come to disturb. + +Little Jack was not the last to stretch his arms. His first question +was, to ask if Hercules had eaten a wolf during the night. No wolf had +shown himself, and consequently Hercules had not yet breakfasted. + +All, besides, were fasting like him, and after the morning prayer, Nan +occupied herself preparing the repast. + +The bill of fare was that of the supper of the night before, but with +appetites sharpened by the morning air of the forest, no one dreamed of +being difficult to please. It was necessary, above all, to gather +strength for a good day's march, and they did it. For the first time, +perhaps, Cousin Benedict comprehended that to eat was not an action +indifferent or useless to life; only, he declared that he had not come +to "visit" this country to walk with his hands in his pockets, and +that, if Hercules prevented him from chasing the "cocuyos," and other +luminous flies, Hercules would have some trouble with him. + +This threat did not seem to frighten the giant to any great extent. +However, Mrs. Weldon took him aside and told him that, perhaps, he +might allow his big baby to run to the right and left, but on condition +that he did not lose sight of him. It would not do to completely sever +Cousin Benedict from the pleasures so natural to his age. + +At seven o'clock in the morning, the little troop took up their journey +toward the east, preserving the order of march that had been adopted +the previous day. It was always the forest. On this virgin soil, where +the heat and the moisture agreed to produce vegetation, it might well +be thought that the reign of growth appeared in all its power. The +parallel of this vast plateau was almost confounded with tropical +latitudes, and, during certain months in summer, the sun, in passing to +the zenith, darted its perpendicular rays there. There was, therefore, +an enormous quantity of imprisoned heat in this earth, of which the +subsoil preserved the damp. Also, nothing could be more magnificent +than this succession of forests, or rather this interminable forest. + +Meanwhile, Dick Sand had not failed to observe this--that, according to +Harris, they were in the region of the pampas. Now, pampas is a word +from the "quichna" language, which signifies a plain. Now, if his +recollections did not deceive him, he believed that these plains +presented the following characteristics: Lack of water, absence of +trees, a failure of stones, an almost luxuriant abundance of thistles +during the rainy season, thistles which became almost shrubby with the +warm season, and then formed impenetrable thickets; then, also, dwarf +trees, thorny shrubs, the whole giving to these plains a rather arid +and desolate aspect. + +Now, it had not been thus, since the little troop, guided by the +American, had left the coast. The forest had not ceased to spread to +the limits of the horizon. No, this was not the pampas, such as the +young novice had imagined them. Had nature, as Harris had told him, +been able to make a region apart from the plateau of Atacama, of which +he knew nothing, if it did not form one of the most vast deserts of +South America, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean? + +On that day Dick Sand propounded some questions on this subject, and +expressed to the American the surprise he felt at this singular +appearance of the pampas. + +But he was quickly undeceived by Harris, who gave him the most exact +details about this part of Bolivia, thus witnessing to his great +knowledge of the country. + +"You are right, my young friend," he said to the novice. "The true +pampa is indeed such as the books of travels have depicted it to you, +that is, a plain rather arid, and the crossing of which is often +difficult. It recalls our savannahs of North America--except that these +are a little marshy. Yes, such is indeed the pampa of the Rio Colorado, +such are the "llanos" of the Orinoco and of Venezuela. But here, we are +in a country, the appearance of which even astonishes me. It is true, +it is the first time I have followed this route across the plateau, a +route which has the advantage of shortening our journey. But, if I have +not yet seen it, I know that it presents an extraordinary contrast to +the veritable pampa. As to this one, you would find it again, not +between the Cordilleras of the west and the high chain of the Andes, +but beyond the mountains, over all that eastern part of the continent +which extends as far as the Atlantic." + +"Must we then clear the Andes range?" Dick Sand asked, quickly. + +"No, my young friend, no," replied the American, smiling. "So I said: +You _would_ find it again, and not: You _will_ find it again. Be +reassured, we shall not leave this plateau, the greatest elevations of +which do not exceed fifteen hundred feet. Ah! if it had been necessary +to cross the Cordilleras with only the means of transport at our +disposal, I should never have drawn you into such an undertaking." + +"In fact," replied Dick Sand, "it would be better to ascend or descend +the coast." + +"Oh! a hundred times!" replied Harris. "But the Farm of San Felice is +situated on this side of the Cordilleras. So, then, our journey, +neither in its first nor in its second part, will offer any real +difficulty." + +"And you do not fear going astray in these forests, which you cross for +the first time?" asked Dick Sand. + +"No, my young friend, no," replied Harris. "I know indeed that this +forest is like an immense sea, or rather like the bottom of a sea, +where a sailor himself could not take the latitude nor recognize his +position. But accustomed to traveling in the woods, I know how to find +my route only by the inclination of certain trees, by the direction of +their leaves, by the movement or the composition of the soil, by a +thousand details which escape you! Be sure of it, I will lead you, you +and yours, where you ought to go!" + +All these things were said very clearly by Harris. Dick Sand and he, at +the head of the troop, often talked without any one mingling in their +conversation. If the novice felt some doubts that the American did not +always succeed in scattering, he preferred to keep them to himself. + +The 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of April passed in this manner, +without any incident to mark the journey. They did not make more than +eight to nine miles in twelve hours. The times consecrated to eating or +repose came at regular intervals, and though a little fatigue was felt +already, the sanitary condition was still very satisfactory. + +Little Jack began to suffer a little from this life in the woods, to +which he was not accustomed, and which was becoming very monotonous for +him. And then all the promises which had been made him had not been +kept. The caoutchouc jumping-jacks, the humming-birds, all those seemed +constantly to recede. There had also been a question of showing him the +most beautiful parrots in the world, and they ought not to be wanting +in these rich forests. Where, then, were the popinjays with green +plumage, almost all originally from these countries, the _aras_, with +naked cheeks, with long pointed tails, with glittering colors, whose +paws never rest on the earth, and the "camindes," which are more +peculiar to tropical countries, and the many-colored she-parrots, with +feathered faces, and finally all those prattling birds which, according +to the Indians, still speak the language of extinct tribes? + +Of parrots, little Jack only saw ash-gray jakos, with red tails, which +abounded under the trees. But these jakos were not new to him. They +have transported them into all parts of the world. On the two +continents they fill the houses with their insupportable chattering, +and, of all the family of the "psittacius," they are the ones which +learn to speak most easily. + +It must be said, besides, that if Jack was not contented, Cousin +Benedict was no more so. He had been allowed to wander a little to the +right or to the left during the march. However, he had not found any +insect which was fit to enrich his collection. Even the "pyrophores" +obstinately refused to show themselves to him, and attract him by the +phosphorescences of their corselet. Nature seemed truly to mock the +unhappy entomologist, whose temper was becoming cross. + +For four days more the march toward the northeast was continued in the +same way. On the 16th of April the distance traversed from the coast +could not be estimated at less than one hundred miles. If Harris had +not gone astray--and he affirmed it without hesitation--the Farm of San +Felice was no more than twenty miles from the halting place of that +day. Before forty-eight hours the little troop then would have a +comfortable shelter where its members could at last repose from their +fatigues. + +Meanwhile, though the plateau had been almost entirely crossed in its +middle part, not a native, not a wanderer had been encountered under +the immense forest. + +More than once, without saying anything about it, Dick Sand regretted +being unable to go ashore on some other point of the coast. More to the +south, or more to the north, villages, hamlets, or plantations would +not have been lacking, and long before this Mrs. Weldon and her +companions would have found an asylum. + +But, if the country seemed to be abandoned by man, animals showed +themselves more frequently during these last days. At times was heard a +kind of long, plaintive cry, that Harris attributed to some of those +large tardi-grades, habitual denizens of those vast wooded regions, +named "ais." + +On that day, also, during the midday halt, a hissing passed through the +air, which made Mrs. Weldon very uneasy, because it was so strange. + +"What is that?"' she asked, rising hastily. + +"A serpent!" cried Dick Sand, who gun, in hand, threw himself before +Mrs. Weldon. + +They might fear, in fact, that some reptile would glide among the +plants to the halting place. It would be nothing astonishing if it were +one of those enormous "sucurus," kinds of boas, which sometimes measure +forty feet in length. + +But Harris reminded Dick Sand that the blacks were already following, +and he reassured Mrs. Weldon. + +According to him, that hissing could not be produced by a "sucuru," +because that serpent does not hiss; but he indicated the presence of +several inoffensive quadrupeds, rather numerous in that country. + +"Be reassured, then," said he, "and make no movement which may frighten +those animals." + +"But what are they?" asked Dick Sand, who made it like a law of +conscience to interrogate and make the American speak--who, however, +never required pressing before replying. + +"They are antelopes, my young friend," replied Harris. + +"Oh! how I should like to see them!" cried Jack. + +"That is very difficult, my good little man," replied the American, +"very difficult." + +"Perhaps we may try to approach than--those hissing antelopes?" +returned Dick Sand. + +"Oh! you will not take three steps," replied the American, shaking his +head, "before the whole band will take flight. I beg of you, then, not +to trouble yourself." + +But Dick Sand had his reasons for being curious. He wished to see, and, +gun in hand, he glided among the herbs. Immediately a dozen graceful +gazelles, with small, sharp horns, passed with the rapidity of a +water-spout. Their hair, bright red, looked like a cloud of fire under +the tall underwood of the forest. + +"I had warned you," said Harris, when the novice returned to take his +place. + +Those antelopes were so light of foot, that it had been truly +impossible to distinguish them; but it was not so with another troop of +animals which was signaled the same day. Those could be +seen--imperfectly, it is true--but their apparition led to a rather +singular discussion between Harris and some of his companions. + +The little troop, about four o'clock in the afternoon, had stopped for +a moment near an opening in the woods, when three or four animals of +great height went out of a thicket a hundred steps off, and scampered +away at once with remarkable speed. + +In spite of the American's recommendations, this time the novice, +having quickly shouldered his gun, fired at one of these animals. But +at the moment when the charge was going off, the weapon had been +rapidly turned aside by Harris, and Dick Sand, skilful as he was, had +missed his aim. + +"No firing; no firing!" said the American. + +"Ah, now, but those are giraffes!" cried Dick Sand, without otherwise +replying to Harris's observation. + +"Giraffes!" repeated Jack, standing up on the horse's saddle. "Where +are they, the large beasts?" + +"Giraffes!" replied Mrs. Weldon. "You are mistaken, my dear Dick. There +are no giraffes in America." + +"Indeed," said Harris, who appeared rather surprised, "there cannot be +any giraffes in this country." + +"What, then?" said Dick Sand. + +"I really do not know what to think," replied Harris. "Have not your +eyes deceived you, my young friend, and are not those animals more +likely to be ostriches?" + +"Ostriches!" repeated Dick Sand and Mrs. Weldon, looking at each other +in great surprise. + +"Yes, only ostriches," repeated Harris. + +"But ostriches are birds," returned Dick Sand, "and consequently they +have only two feet." + +"Well," replied Harris, "I indeed thought I saw that those animals, +which have just made off so rapidly, were bipeds." + +"Bipeds!" replied the novice. + +"Indeed it seemed to me that I saw animals with four legs," then said +Mrs. Weldon. + +"I also," added old Tom; then Bat, Acteon, and Austin confirmed those +words. + +"Ostriches with four legs!" cried Harris, with a burst of laughter. +"That would be ridiculous!" + +"So," returned Dick Sand, "we have believed they were giraffes, and not +ostriches." + +"No, my young friend, no," said Harris. "You have certainly seen badly. +That is explained by the rapidity with which those animals have flown +away. Besides, it has happened more than once that hunters have been +deceived like you, and in the best faith in the world." + +What the American said was very plausible. Between an ostrich of great +height and a giraffe of medium height, seen at a certain distance, it +is easy to make a mistake. If it were a question of a beak or a nose, +both are none the less joined to the end of a long neck turned +backward, and, strictly speaking, it may be said that an ostrich is +only a half giraffe. It only needs the hind legs. Then, this biped and +this quadruped, passing rapidly, on a sudden may, very properly, be +taken one for the other. + +Besides, the best proof that Mrs. Weldon and the others were mistaken +was that there are no giraffes in America. + +Dick Sand then made this reflection: + +"But I believed that ostriches were not met with in the New World any +more than giraffes." + +"Yes, my young friend," replied Harris; "and, indeed, South America +possesses a peculiar species. To this species belongs the 'nandon,' +which you have just seen." + +Harris spoke the truth. The "nandon" is a long-legged bird, rather +common in the plains of South America, and its flesh, when it is young, +is good to eat. + +This strong animal, whose height sometimes exceeds two meters, has a +straight beak; wings long, and formed of tufted feathers of a bluish +shade; feet formed of three claws, furnished with nails--which +essentially distinguishes it from the ostriches of Africa. + +These very exact details were given by Harris, who appeared to be very +strongly posted on the manners of the "nandons." + +Mrs. Weldon and her companions were obliged to acknowledge that they +had been deceived. + +"Besides," added Harris, "possibly we may encounter another band of +these ostriches. Well, next time look better, and no longer allow +yourselves to takes birds for quadrupeds! But above all, my young +friend, do not forget my recommendations, and do not fire on any animal +whatsoever. We have no need of hunting to procure food, and no +detonation of a fire-arm must announce our presence in this forest." + +Meanwhile Dick Sand remained pensive. Once more a doubt had just arisen +on his mind. + +The next day, April 17th, the march was continued, and the American +affirmed that twenty-four hours would not pass before the little troop +should be installed at the Farm of San Felice. + +"There, Mrs. Weldon," added he, "you will receive all the care +necessary to your position, and a few days' rest will quite restore +you. Perhaps you will not find at this farm the luxury to which you are +accustomed in your residence in San Francisco, but you will see that +our improved lands in the interior do not lack what is comfortable. We +are not absolutely savages." + +"Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon, "if we have only thanks to offer you +for your generous resort, at least we shall offer them to you with all +our hearts. Yes! It is time for us to arrive there!" + +"You are very much fatigued, Mrs. Weldon?" + +"I, no matter!" replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I perceive that my little +Jack is gradually becoming exhausted! The fever begins to affect him at +certain hours!" + +"Yes," replied Harris, "and although the climate of this plateau is +very healthful, it must be acknowledged that in March and April +intermittent fevers reign." + +"Doubtless," then said Dick Sand, "but also Nature, who is always and +everywhere provident, has put the remedy near the evil!" + +"And how is that, my young friend?" asked Harris, who did not seem to +understand. + +"Are we not, then, in the region of the quinquinas?" replied Dick Sand. + +"In fact," said Harris, "you are perfectly right. The trees which +furnish, the precious febrifuge bark are native here." + +"I am even astonished," added Dick Sand, "that we have not yet seen a +single one." + +"Ah! my young friend," replied Harris, "those trees are not easy to +distinguish. Though they are often of great height, though their leaves +are large, their flowers rosy and odoriferous, we do not discover them +easily. It is rarely that they grow in groups. They are rather +scattered through the forests, and the Indians who collect the +quinquina can only recognize them by their foliage, always green." + +"Mr. Harris," said Mrs. Weldon, "if you see one of those trees you will +show it to me." + +"Certainly, Mrs. Weldon, but at the farm you will find some sulphate of +quinine. That is worth still more to break the fever than the simple +bark of the tree." + +Formerly, this bark was only reduced to powder, which bore the name of +"Jesuits' Powder," because, in 1649, the Jesuits of Rome received a +considerable quantity from their mission in America. + +This last day of the journey passed without other incident. Evening +came and the halt was organized for the whole night as usual. Till then +it had not rained, but the weather was preparing to change, for a warm +mist rose from the soil and soon found a thick fog. + +They were touching, in fact, on the rainy season. Fortunately, the next +day, a comfortable shelter would be hospitably offered to the little +troop. There were only a few hours to elapse. + +Though, according to Harris, who could only establish his calculation +by the time which the journey had lasted, they could not be more than +six miles from the farm, the ordinary precautions were taken for the +night. Tom and his companions would watch one after the other. Dick +Sand insisted that nothing should be neglected in that respect. Less +than ever, would he depart from his habitual prudence, for a terrible +suspicion was incrusted in his mind; but he did not wish to say +anything yet. + +The retiring to rest had been made at the feet of a group of large +trees. Fatigue aiding, Mrs. Weldon and hers were already asleep, when +they were awakened by a great cry. + +"Eh! what's the matter?" asked Dick Sand, quickly, who was on his feet +first of all. + +"It is I! it is I who have cried!" replied Cousin Benedict. + +"And what is the matter with you?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"I have just been bit!" + +"By a serpent?" asked Mrs. Weldon, with alarm. + +"No, no! It was not a serpent, but an insect," replied Cousin Benedict. +"Ah! I have it! I have it!" + +"Well, crush your insect," said Harris, "and let us sleep, Mr. +Benedict!" + +"Crush an insect!" cried Cousin Benedict. "Not so! I must see what it +is!" + +"Some mosquito!" said Harris, shrugging his shoulders. + +"No! It is a fly," replied Cousin Benedict, "and a fly which ought to +be very curious!" + +Dick Sand had lit a little portable lantern, and he approached Cousin +Benedict. + +"Divine goodness!" cried the latter. "Behold what consoles me for all +my deceptions! I have, then, at last made a discovery!" + +The honest man was raving. He looked at his fly in triumph. He would +willingly kiss it. + +"But what is it, then?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"A dipter, cousin, a famous dipter!" And Cousin Benedict showed a fly +smaller than a bee, of a dull color, streaked with yellow on the lower +part of its body. + +"And this fly is not venomous?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"No, cousin, no; at least not for man. But for animals, for antelopes, +for buffaloes, even for elephants, it is another thing. Ah! adorable +insect!" + +"At last," asked Dick Sand, "will you tell us, Mr. Benedict, what is +this fly?" + +"This fly," replied the entomologist, "this fly that I hold between my +fingers, this fly--it is a _tsetse_! It is that famous dipter that is +the honor of a country, and, till now, no one has ever found a _tsetse_ +in America!" + +Dick Sand did not dare to ask Cousin Benedict in what part of the world +this redoubtable _tsetse_ was only to be met. And when his companions, +after this incident, had returned to their interrupted sleep, Dick +Sand, in spite of the fatigue which overwhelmed him, did not close his +eyes the whole night. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE TERRIBLE WORD. + + +It was time to arrive. Extreme lassitude made it impossible for Mrs. +Weldon to continue any longer a journey made under such painful +conditions. Her little boy, crimson during the fits of fever, very pale +during the intermissions, was pitiable to see. His mother extremely +anxious, had not been willing to leave Jack even in the care of the +good Nan. She held him, half-lying, in her arms. + +Yes, it was time to arrive. But, to trust to the American, on the very +evening of this day which was breaking--the evening of the 18th of +April, the little troop should finally reach the shelter of the +"hacienda" of San Felice. + +Twelve days' journey for a woman, twelve nights passed in the open air; +it was enough to overwhelm Mrs. Weldon, energetic as she was. But, for +a child, it was worse, and the sight of little Jack sick, and without +the most ordinary cares, had sufficed to crush her. + +Dick Sand, Nan, Tom, and his companions had supported the fatigues of +the journey better. + +Their provisions, although they were commencing to get exhausted, had +not become injured, and their condition was satisfactory. + +As for Harris, he seemed made for the difficulties of these long +journeys across the forests, and it did not appear that fatigue could +affect him. Only, in proportion as he neared the farm, Dick Sand +observed that he was more preoccupied and less frank in behavior than +before. The contrary would have been more natural. This was, at least, +the opinion of the young novice, who had now become more than +suspicious of the American. And meanwhile, what interest could Harris +have in deceiving them? Dick Sand could not have explained it, but he +watched their guide more closely. + +The American probably felt himself suspected by Dick Sand, and, no +doubt, it was this mistrust which made him still more taciturn with +"his young friend." + +The march had been resumed. + +In the forest, less thick, the trees were scattered in groups, and no +longer formed impenetrable masses. Was it, then, the true pampas of +which Harris had spoken? + +During the first hours of the day, no accident happened to aggravate +the anxieties that Dick Sand felt. Only two facts were observed by him. +Perhaps they were not very important, but in these actual junctures, no +detail could be neglected. + +It was the behavior of Dingo which, above all, attracted more +especially the young man's attention. + +In fact the dog, which, during all this journey, had seemed to be +following a scent, became quite different, and that almost suddenly. +Until then, his nose to the ground, generally smelling the herbs or the +shrubs, he either kept quiet, or he made a sort of sad, barking noise, +like an expression of grief or of regret. + +Now, on this day, the barking of the singular animal became like +bursts, sometimes furious, such as they formerly were when Negoro +appeared on the deck of the "Pilgrim." A suspicion crossed suddenly +Dick Sand's mind, and it was confirmed by Tom, who said to him: + +"How very singular, Mr. Dick! Dingo no longer smells the ground as he +did yesterday! His nose is in the air, he is agitated, his hair stands +up! One would think he scented in the distance----" + +"Negoro, is it not so?" replied Dick Sand, who seized the old black's +arm, and signed to him to speak in a low voice. + +"Negoro, Mr. Dick! May it not be that he has followed our steps?" + +"Yes, Tom; and that at this moment even he may not be very far from us." + +"But why?" said Tom. + +"Either Negoro does not know this country," went on Dick Sand, "and +then he would have every interest in not losing sight of us----" + +"Or?" said Tom, who anxiously regarded the novice. + +"Or," replied Dick Sand, "he does know it, and then he----" + +"But how should Negoro know this country? He has never come here!" + +"Has he never been here?" murmured Dick Sand. + +"It is an incontestable fact that Dingo acts as if this man whom he +detests were near us!" + +Then, interrupting himself to call the dog, which, after some +hesitation, came to him: + +"Eh!" said he; "Negoro! Negoro!" + +A furious barking was Dingo's reply. This name had its usual effect +upon him, and he darted forward, as if Negoro had been hidden behind +some thicket. + +Harris had witnessed all this scene. With his lips a little drawn, he +approached the novice. + +"What did you ask Dingo then?" said he. + +"Oh, not much, Mr. Harris," replied old Tom, jokingly. "We asked him +for news of the ship-companion whom we have lost!" + +"Ah!" said the American, "the Portuguese, the ship's cook of whom you +have already spoken to me?" + +"Yes." replied Tom. "One would say, to hear Dingo, that Negoro is in +the vicinity." + +"How could he get as far as this?" replied Harris. + +"He never was in this country that I know of; at least, he concealed it +from us," replied Tom. + +"It would be astonishing," said Harris. "But, if you wish, we will beat +these thickets. It is possible that this poor devil has need of help; +that he is in distress." + +"It is useless, Mr. Harris," replied Dick Sand. "If Negoro has known +how to come as far as this, he will know how to go farther. He is a man +to keep out of trouble." + +"As you please," replied Harris. + +"Let us go. Dingo, be quiet," added Dick Sand, briefly, so as to end +the conversation. + +The second observation made by the novice was in connection with the +American horse. He did not appear to "feel the stable," as do animals +of his species. He did not suck in the air; he did not hasten his +speed; he did not dilate his nostrils; he uttered none of the neighings +that indicate the end of a journey. To observe him well, he appeared to +be as indifferent as if the farm, to which he had gone several times, +however, and which he ought to know, had been several hundreds of miles +away. + +"That is not a horse near home," thought the young novice. + +And, meanwhile, according to what Harris had said the evening before, +there only remained six miles to go, and, of these last six miles, at +five o'clock in the evening four had been certainly cleared. + +Now, if the horse felt nothing of the stable, of which he should have +great need, nothing besides announced the approaches to a great +clearing, such as the Farm of San Felice must be. + +Mrs. Weldon, indifferent as she then was to what did not concern her +child, was struck at seeing the country still so desolate. What! not a +native, not a farm-servant, at such a short distance! Harris must be +wild! No! she repulsed this idea. A new delay would have been the death +of her little Jack! + +Meanwhile, Harris always kept in advance, but he seemed to observe the +depths of the wood, and looked to the right and left, like a man who +was not sure of himself--nor of his road. + +Mrs. Weldon shut her eyes so as not to see him. + +After a plain a mile in extent, the forest, without being as dense as +in the west, had reappeared, and the little troop was again lost under +the great trees. + +At six o'clock in the evening they had reached a thicket, which +appeared to have recently given passage to a band of powerful animals. +Dick Sand looked around him very attentively. At a distance winch far +surpassed the human height, the branches were torn off or broken. At +the same time the herbs, roughly scattered, exhibited on the soil, a +little marshy, prints of steps which could not be those of jaguars, or +cougars. + +Were these, then, the "ais," or some other tardi-graves, whose feet had +thus marked the soil? But how, then, explain the break in the branches +at such a height? + +Elephants might have, without doubt, left such imprints, stamped these +large traces, made a similar hole in the impenetrable underwood. But +elephants are not found in America. These enormous thick-skinned +quadrupeds are not natives of the New World. As yet, they have never +been acclimated there. + +The hypothesis that elephants had passed there was absolutely +inadmissible. + +However that might be, Dick Sand hardly knew how much this inexplicable +fact gave him to think about. He did not even question the American on +this point. What could he expect from a man who had tried to make him +take giraffes for ostriches? Harris would have given him some +explanation, more or less imaginative, which would not have changed the +situation. + +At all events, Dick had formed his opinion of Harris. He felt in him a +traitor! He only awaited an occasion to unmask his disloyalty, to have +the right to do it, and everything told him that this opportunity was +near. + +But what could be Harris's secret end? What future, then, awaited the +survivors of the "Pilgrim?" Dick Sand repeated to himself that his +responsibility had not ceased with the shipwreck. It was more than ever +necessary for him to provide for the safety of those whom the waves had +thrown on this coast! This woman, this young child, these blacks--all +his companions in misfortune--it was he alone who must save them! But, +if he could attempt anything on board ship, if he could act on the sea, +here, in the midst of the terrible trials which he foresaw, what part +could he take? + +Dick Sand would not shut his eyes before the frightful reality that +each instant made more indisputable. In this juncture he again became +the captain of fifteen years, as he had been on the "Pilgrim." But he +would not say anything which could alarm the poor mother before the +moment for action had arrived. + +And he said nothing, not even when, arrived on the bank of a rather +large stream, preceding the little troop about one hundred feet, he +perceived enormous animals, which threw themselves under the large +plants on the brink. + +"Hippopotami! hippopotami!" he was going to exclaim. + +And they were, indeed, these thick-skinned animals, with a big head, a +large, swollen snout, a mouth armed with teeth which extend a foot +beyond it--animals which are squat on their short limbs, the skin of +which, unprovided with hair, is of a tawny red. Hippopotami in America! + +They continued to march during the whole day, but painfully. Fatigue +commenced to retard even the most robust. It was truly time to arrive, +or they would be forced to stop. + +Mrs. Weldon, wholly occupied with her little Jack, did not perhaps feel +the fatigue, but her strength was exhausted. All, more or less, were +tired. Dick Sand, resisted by a supreme moral energy, caused by the +sentiment of duty. + +Toward four o'clock in the evening, old Tom found, in the grass, an +object which attracted his attention. It was an arm, a kind of knife, +of a particular shape, formed of a large, curved blade, set in a +square, ivory handle, rather roughly ornamented. Tom carried this knife +to Dick Sand, who took it, examined it, and, finally, showed it to the +American, saying: + +"No doubt the natives are not very far off." + +"That is so," replied Harris, "and meanwhile----" + +"Meanwhile?" repeated Dick Sand, who now steadily looked Harris in the +face. + +"We should be very near the farm," replied Harris, hesitating, "and I +do not recognize----" + +"You are then astray?" quickly asked Dick Sand. + +"Astray! no. The farm cannot be more than three miles away, now. But, I +wished to take the shortest road through the forest, and perhaps I have +made a little mistake!" + +"Perhaps," replied Dick Sand. + +"I would do well, I think, to go in advance," said Harris. + +"No, Mr. Harris, we will not separate," replied Dick Sand, in a decided +tone. + +"As you will," replied the American. "But, during the night, it will be +difficult for me to guide you." + +"Never mind that!" replied Dick Sand. "We are going to halt. Mrs. +Weldon will consent to pass a last night under the trees, and +to-morrow, when it is broad daylight, we will proceed on our journey! +Two or three miles still, that will be an hour's walk!" + +"Be it so," replied Harris. + +At that moment Dingo commenced to bark furiously. + +"Here, Dingo, here!" cried Dick Sand. "You know well that no one is +there, and that we are in the desert!" + +This last halt was then decided upon. + +Mrs. Weldon let her companions work without saying a word. Her little +Jack was sleeping in her arms, made drowsy by the fever. + +They sought the best place to pass the night. This was under a large +bunch of trees, where Dick Sand thought of disposing all for their +rest. But old Tom, who was helping him in these preparations, stopped +suddenly, crying out: + +"Mr. Dick! look! look!" + +"What is it, old Tom?" asked Dick Sand, in the calm tone of a man who +attends to everything. + +"There--there!" cried Tom; "on those trees--blood stains!--and--on the +ground--mutilated limbs!" + +Dick Sand rushed toward the spot indicated by old Tom. Then, returning +to him: "Silence, Tom, silence!" said he. + +In fact, there on the ground were hands cut off, and above these human +remains were several broken forks, and a chain in pieces! + +Happily, Mrs. Weldon had seen nothing of this horrible spectacle. + +As for Harris, he kept at a distance, and any one observing him at this +moment would have been struck at the change made in him. His face had +something ferocious in it. + +Dingo had rejoined Dick Sand, and before these bloody remains, he +barked with rage. + +The novice had hard work to drive him away. + +Meanwhile, old Tom, at the sight of these forks, of this broken chain, +had remained motionless, as if his feet were rooted in the soil. His +eyes were wide open, his hands clenched; he stared, murmuring these +incoherent words: + +"I have seen--already seen--these forks--when little--I have seen!" + +And no doubt the memories of his early infancy returned to him vaguely. +He tried to recall them. He was going to speak. + +"Be silent, Tom!" repeated Dick Sand. "For Mrs. Weldon's sake, for all +our sakes, be silent!" + +And the novice led the old black away. + +Another halting place was chosen, at some distance, and all was +arranged for the night. + +The repast was prepared, but they hardly touched it. Fatigue took away +their hunger. All were under an indefinable impression of anxiety which +bordered on terror. + +Darkness came gradually: soon it was profound. The sky was covered with +great stormy clouds. Between the trees in the western horizon they saw +some flashes of heat lightning. The wind had fallen; not a leaf moved +on the trees. An absolute silence succeeded the noises of the day, and +it might be believed that the heavy atmosphere, saturated with +electricity, was becoming unfit for the transmission of sounds. + +Dick Sand, Austin, and Bat watched together. They tried to see, to +hear, during this very dark night, if any light whatsoever, or any +suspicious noise should strike their eyes or their ears. Nothing +troubled either the calm or the obscurity of the forest. + +Torn, not sleepy, but absorbed in his remembrances, his head bent, +remained quiet, as if he had been struck by some sudden blow. + +Mrs. Weldon rocked her child in her arms, and only thought of him. + +Only Cousin Benedict slept, perhaps, for he alone did not suffer from +the common impression. His faculty for looking forward did not go so +far. + +Suddenly, about eleven o'clock, a prolonged and grave roaring was +heard, with which was mingled a sort of sharper shuddering. Tom stood +up and stretched out his hand toward a dense thicket, a mile or more +distant. + +Dick Sand seized his arm, but he could not prevent Tom from crying in a +loud voice: "The lion! the lion!" + +This roaring, which he had so often heard in his infancy, the old black +had just recognized it. + +"The lion!" he repeated. + +Dick Sand, incapable of controlling himself longer, rushed, cutlass in +hand, to the place occupied by Harris. + +Harris was no longer there, and his horse had disappeared with him. + +A sort of revelation took place in Dick Sand's mind. He was not where +he had believed he was! + +So it was not on the American coast that the "Pilgrim" had gone ashore! +It was not the Isle of Paques, whose bearing the novice had taken at +sea, but some other island situated exactly to the west of this +continent, as the Isle of Paques is situated to the west of America. + +The compass had deceived him during a part of the voyage, we know why! +Led away by the tempest over a false route, he must have doubled Cape +Horn, and from the Pacific Ocean he had passed into the Atlantic! The +speed of his ship, which he could only imperfectly estimate, had been +doubled, unknown to him, by the force of the hurricane! + +Behold why the caoutchouc trees, the quinquinas, the products of South +America were missing in this country, which was neither the plateau of +Atacama nor the Bolivian pampa! + +Yes, they were giraffes, not ostriches, which had fled away in the +opening! They were elephants that had crossed the thick underwood! They +were hippopotami whose repose Dick Sand had troubled under the large +plants! It was the _tsetse_, that dipter picked up by Benedict, the +formidable _tsetse_ under whose stings the animals of the caravans +perish! + +Finally, it was, indeed, the roaring of the lion that had just sounded +through the forest! And those forks, those chains, that knife of +singular form, they were the tools of the slave-trader! Those mutilated +hands, they were the hands of captives! + +The Portuguese Negoro, and the American Harris, must be in collusion! +And those terrible words guessed by Dick Sand, finally escaped his lips: + +"Africa! Equatorial Africa! Africa of the slave-trade and the slaves!" + +End of Part I + + + + +_PART II_ + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SLAVE TRADE. + + +The slave trade! Nobody is ignorant of the significance of this +word, which should never have found a place in human language. This +abominable traffic, for a long time practised to the profit of the +European nations which possessed colonies beyond the sea, has been +already forbidden for many years. Meanwhile it is always going on +a large scale, and principally in Central Africa. Even in this +nineteenth century the signature of a few States, calling themselves +Christians, are still missing from the Act for the Abolition of +Slavery. + +We might believe that the trade is no longer carried on; that this +buying and this selling of human creatures has ceased: it is not so, +and that is what the reader must know if he wishes to become more +deeply interested in the second part of this history. He must learn +what these men-hunts actually are still, these hunts which threaten +to depopulate a whole continent for the maintenance of a few slave +colonies; where and how these barbarous captures are executed; how +much blood they cost; how they provoke incendiarism and pillage; +finally, for whose profit they are made. + +It is in the fifteenth century only that we see the trade in blacks +carried on for the first time. Behold under what circumstances it was +established: + +The Mussulmans, after being expelled from Spain, took refuge beyond +the Strait on the coast of Africa. The Portuguese, who then occupied +that part of the coast, pursued them with fury. A certain number of +those fugitives were made prisoners and brought back to Portugal. +Reduced to slavery, they constituted the first nucleus of African +slaves which has been formed in Western Europe since the Christian +Era. + +But those Mussulmans belonged, for the most part, to rich families, +who wished to buy them back for gold. The Portuguese refused to accept +a ransom, however large it might be. They had only to make foreign +gold. What they lacked were the arms so indispensable then for the +work of the growing colonies, and, to say it all, the arms of the +slave. + +The Mussulman families, being unable to buy back their captive +relatives, then offered to exchange them for a much larger number of +black Africans, whom it was only too easy to carry off. The offer +was accepted by the Portuguese, who found that exchange to their +advantage, and thus the slave trade was founded in Europe. + +Toward the end of the sixteenth century this odious traffic was +generally admitted, and it was not repugnant to the still barbarous +manners. All the States protected it so as to colonize more rapidly +and more surely the isles of the New World. In fact, the slaves of +black origin could resist the climate, where the badly acclimated +whites, still unfit to support the heat of intertropical climates, +would have perished by thousands. The transport of negroes to the +American colonies was then carried on regularly by special vessels, +and this branch of transatlantic commerce led to the creation of +important stations on different points of the African coast. The +"merchandise" cost little in the country of production, and the +returns were considerable. + +But, necessary as was the foundation of the colonies beyond the sea +from all points of view, it could not justify those markets for human +flesh. Generous voices soon made themselves heard, which protested +against the trade in blacks, and demanded from the European +governments a decree of abolition in the name of the principles of +humanity. + +In 1751, the Quakers put themselves at the head of the abolition +movement, even in the heart of that North America where, a hundred +years later, the War of Secession was to burst forth, to which this +question of slavery was not a foreign one. Different States in the +North--Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania--decreed the +abolition of the slave trade, and freed the slaves brought to their +territories at great expense. + +But the campaign commenced by the Quakers did not limit itself to the +northern provinces of the New World. Slaveholders were warmly attacked +beyond the Atlantic. France and England, more particularly, recruited +partisans for this just cause. "Let the colonies perish rather than a +principle!" Such was the generous command which resounded through all +the Old World, and, in spite of the great political and commercial +interests engaged in the question, it was effectively transmitted +through Europe. + +The impetus was given. In 1807, England abolished the slave-trade +in her colonies, and France followed her example in 1814. The two +powerful nations exchanged a treaty on this subject--a treaty +confirmed by Napoleon during the Hundred Days. + +However, that was as yet only a purely theoretical declaration. The +slave-ships did not cease to cross the seas, and to dispose of their +"ebony cargoes" in colonial ports. + +More practical measures must be taken in order to put an end to this +commerce. The United States, in 1820, and England, in 1824, declared +the slave trade an act of piracy, and those who practised it pirates. +As such, they drew on themselves the penalty of death, and they were +pursued to the end. France soon adhered to the new treaty; but the +States of South America, and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, +did not join in the Act of Abolition. The exportation of blacks +then continued to their profit, notwithstanding the right of search +generally recognized, which was limited to the verification of the +flag of suspicious vessels. + +Meanwhile, the new Law of Abolition had not a retroactive effect. No +more new slaves were made, but the old ones had not yet recovered +their liberty. + +It was under those circumstances that England set an example. In May, +1833, a general declaration emancipated all the blacks in the colonies +of Great Britain, and in August, 1838, six hundred and seventy +thousand slaves were declared free. + +Ten years later, in 1848, the Republic emancipated the slaves of the +French colonies, say about two hundred and sixty thousand blacks. In +1861, the war which broke out between the Federals and Confederates, +of the United States, finishing the work of emancipation, extended it +to all North America. + +The three great powers had then accomplished this work of humanity. At +the present hour, the trade is no longer carried on, except for the +benefit of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and to satisfy the +wants of the populations of the Orient, Turks, or Arabs. Brazil, if +she has not yet restored her old slaves to liberty, at least no longer +receives new ones, and the children of the blacks are born free there. + +It is in the interior of Africa, in the prosecution of those bloody +wars, waged by the African chiefs among themselves for this man-hunt, +that entire tribes are reduced to slavery. Two opposite directions are +then given to the caravans: one to the west, toward the Portuguese +colony of Angola; the other to the east, on the Mozambique. Of these +unfortunate beings, of whom only a small portion arrive at their +destination, some are exported, it may be to Cuba, it may be to +Madagascar; others to the Arab or Turkish provinces of Asia, to Mecca, +or to Muscat. The English and French cruisers can only prevent +this traffic to a small extent, as it is so difficult to obtain an +effective surveillance over such far-extended coasts. + +But the figures of these odious exportations, are they still +considerable? + +Yes! The number of slaves who arrive at the coast is estimated at +not less than eighty thousand; and this number, it appears, only +represents the tenth of natives massacred. + +After these dreadful butcheries the devastated fields are deserted, +the burnt villages are without inhabitants, the rivers carry down dead +bodies, deer occupy the country. Livingstone, the day after one of +these men-hunts, no longer recognized the provinces he had visited +a few months before. All the other travelers--Grant, Speke, Burton, +Cameron, and Stanley--do not speak otherwise of this wooded plateau of +Central Africa, the principal theater of the wars between the chiefs. +In the region of the great lakes, over all that vast country which +feeds the market of Zanzibar, in Bornou and Fezzan, farther south, +on the banks of the Nyassa and the Zambesi, farther west, in the +districts of the upper Zaire, which the daring Stanley has just +crossed, is seen the same spectacle--ruins, massacres, depopulation. +Then will slavery in Africa only end with the disappearance of the +black race; and will it be with this race as it is with the Australian +race, or the race in New Holland? + +But the market of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies will close some +day. That outlet will be wanting. Civilized nations can no longer +tolerate the slave trade! + +Yes, without doubt; and this year even, 1878, ought to see the +enfranchisement of all the slaves still possessed by Christian States. +However, for long years to come the Mussulman nations will maintain +this traffic, which depopulates the African continent. It is for them, +in fact, that the most important emigration of the blacks is made, as +the number of natives snatched from their provinces and brought to +the eastern coast annually exceeds forty thousand. Long before the +expedition to Egypt the negroes of the Seunaar were sold by thousands +to the negroes of the Darfour, and reciprocally. General Bonaparte was +able to buy a pretty large number of these blacks, of whom he made +organized soldiers, like the Mamelukes. Since then, during this +century, of which four-fifths have now passed away, commerce in slaves +has not diminished in Africa. On the contrary. + +And, in fact, Islamism is favorable to the slave trade. The black +slave must replace the white slave of former times, in Turkish +provinces. So contractors of every origin pursue this execrable +traffic on a large scale. They thus carry a supplement of population +to those races, which are dying out and will disappear some day, +because they do not regenerate themselves by labor. These slaves, as +in the time of Bonaparte, often become soldiers. With certain nations +of the upper Niger, they compose the half of the armies of the African +chiefs. Under these circumstances, their fate is not sensibly inferior +to that of free men. Besides, when the slave is not a soldier, he is +money which has circulation; even in Egypt and at Bornou, officers and +functionaries are paid in that money. William Lejean has seen it and +has told of it. + +Such is, then, the actual state of the trade. + +Must it be added that a number of agents of the great European powers +are not ashamed to show a deplorable indulgence for this commerce. +Nevertheless, nothing is truer; while the cruisers watch the coasts of +the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, the traffic goes on regularly +in the interior, the caravans walk on under the eyes of certain +functionaries, and massacres, where ten blacks perish to furnish one +slave, take place at stated periods! + +So it will now be understood how terrible were those words just +pronounced by Dick Sand. + +"Africa! Equatorial Africa! Africa of slave-traders and slaves!" + +And he was not deceived; it was Africa with all its dangers, for his +companions and for himself. + +But on what part of the African continent had an inexplicable fatality +landed him? Evidently on the western coast, and as an aggravating +circumstance, the young novice was forced to think that the "Pilgrim" +was thrown on precisely that part of the coast of Angola where the +caravans, which clear all that part of Africa, arrive. + +In fact it was there. It was that country which Cameron on the south +and Stanley on the north were going to cross a few years later, and at +the price of what efforts! Of this vast territory, which is composed +of three provinces, Benguela, Congo, and Angola, there was but little +known then except the coast. It extends from the Nourse, in the south, +as far as the Zaire in the north, and the two principal towns form two +ports, Benguela and St. Paul' de Loanda, the capital of the colony +which set off from the kingdom of Portugal. + +In the interior this country was then almost unknown. Few travelers +had dared to venture there. A pernicious climate, warm and damp lands, +which engender fevers, barbarous natives, some of whom are still +cannibals, a permanent state of war between tribes, the slave-traders' +suspicion of every stranger who seeks to discover the secrets of their +infamous commerce; such are the difficulties to surmount, the dangers +to overcome in this province of Angola, one of the most dangerous of +equatorial Africa. + +Tuckey, in 1816, had ascended the Congo beyond the Yellala Falls; +but over an extent of two hundred miles at the most. This simple +halting-place could not give a definite knowledge of the country, +and nevertheless, it had caused the death of the greater part of the +savants and officers who composed the expedition. Thirty-seven years +later, Dr. Livingstone had advanced from the Cape of Good Hope as +far as the upper Zambesi. Thence, in the month of November, with a +hardihood which has never been surpassed, he traversed Africa from the +south to the northwest, cleared the Coango, one of the branches of the +Congo, and on the 31st of May, 1854, arrived at St. Paul de Loanda. It +was the first view in the unknown of the great Portuguese Colony. + +Eighteen years after, two daring discoverers crossed Africa from the +east to the west, and arrived, one south, the other north, of Angola, +after unheard-of difficulties. + +The first, according to the date, was a lieutenant in the English +navy, Verney-Howet Cameron. In 1872, there was reason to fear that the +expedition of the American, Stanley, was in great danger. It had been +sent to the great lake region in search of Livingstone. Lieutenant +Cameron offered to go over the same road. + +The offer was accepted. Cameron, accompanied by Dr. Dillon, Lieutenant +Cecil Murphy and Robert Moffat, a nephew of Livingstone, started from +Zanzibar. After having crossed Ougogo, he met Livingstone's faithful +servants carrying their master's body to the eastern coast. He +continued his route to the west, with the unconquerable desire to pass +from one coast to the other. + +He crossed Ounyanyembe, Ougounda, and Kahouele, where he collected +the great traveler's papers. Having passed over Tanganyika, and the +Bambarre mountains, he reached Loualaba, but could not descend its +course. After having visited all the provinces devastated by war and +depopulated by the slave trade, Kilemmba, Ouroua, the sources of the +Lomane, Oulouda, Lovale, and having crossed the Coanza and the +immense forests in which Harris has just entrapped Dick Sand and his +companions, the energetic Cameron finally perceived the Atlantic Ocean +and arrived at Saint Philip of Benguela. This journey of three years +and four months had cost the lives of his two companions, Dr. Dillon +and Robert Moffat. + +Henry Moreland Stanley, the American, almost immediately succeeded the +Englishman, Cameron, on the road of discoveries. We know that this +intrepid correspondent of the New York _Herald_, sent in search of +Livingstone, had found him on October 30th, 1871, at Oujiji, on Lake +Tanganyika. Having so happily accomplished his object for the sake of +humanity, Stanley determined to pursue his journey in the interest of +geographical science. His object then was to gain a complete knowledge +of Loualaba, of which he had only had a glimpse. + +Cameron was then lost in the provinces of Central Africa, when, in +November, 1874, Stanley quitted Bagamoga, on the eastern coast. +Twenty-one months after, August 24th, 1876, he abandoned Oujiji, which +was decimated by an epidemic of smallpox. In seventy-four days he +effected the passage of the lake at N'yangwe, a great slave market, +which had been already visited by Livingstone and Cameron. Here he +witnessed the most horrible scenes, practised in the Maroungou and +Manyouema countries by the officers of the Sultan of Zanzibar. + +Stanley then took measures to explore the course of the Loualaba and +to descend it as far as its mouth. One hundred and forty bearers, +engaged at N'yangwe, and nineteen boats, formed the material and the +force of his expedition. + +From the very start he had to fight the cannibals of Ougouson. From +the start, also, he had to attend to the carrying of boats, so as to +pass insuperable cataracts. + +Under the equator, at the point where the Loualaba makes a bend to +the northeast, fifty-four boats, manned by several hundred natives, +attacked Stanley's little fleet, which succeeded in putting them to +flight. Then the courageous American, reascending as far as the second +degree of northern latitude, ascertained that the Loualaba was the +upper Zaire, or Congo, and that by following its course he could +descend directly to the sea. + +This he did, fighting nearly every day against the tribes that lived +near the river. On June 3d, 1877, at the passage of the cataracts of +Massassa, he lost one of his companions, Francis Pocock. July 18th he +was drawn with his boat into the falls of M'belo, and only escaped +death by a miracle. + +Finally, August 6th, Henry Stanley arrived at the village of Ni-Sanda, +four days' journey from the coast. + +Two days after, at Banza-M'bouko, he found the provisions sent by two +merchants from Emboma. + +He finally rested at this little coast town, aged, at thirty-five +years, by over-fatigue and privations, after an entire passage of the +African continent, which had taken two years and nine months of his +life. + +However, the course of the Loualaba was explored as far as the +Atlantic; and if the Nile is the great artery of the North, if the +Zambesi is the great artery of the East, we now know that Africa still +possesses in the West the third of the largest rivers in the world--a +river which, in a course of two thousand, nine hundred miles, under +the names of Loualaba, Zaire, and Congo, unites the lake region with +the Atlantic Ocean. + +However, between these two books of travel--Stanley's and +Cameron's--the province of Angola is somewhat better known in this +year than in 1873, at that period when the "Pilgrim" was lost on the +African coast. It was well known that it was the seat of the western +slave-trade, thanks to its important markets of Bihe, Cassange, and +Kazounde. + +It was into this country that Dick Sand had been drawn, more than one +hundred miles from the coast, with a woman exhausted by fatigue and +grief, a dying child, and some companions of African descent, the +prey, as everything indicated, to the rapacity of slave merchants. + +Yes, it was Africa, and not that America where neither the natives, +nor the deer, nor the climate are very formidable. It was not that +favorable region, situated between the Cordilleras and the coast, +where straggling villages abound, and where missions are hospitably +opened to all travelers. + +They were far away, those provinces of Peru and Bolivia, where the +tempest would have surely carried the "Pilgrim," if a criminal hand +had not changed its course, where the shipwrecked ones would have +found so many facilities for returning to their country. + +It was the terrible Angola, not even that part of the coast inspected +by the Portuguese authorities, but the interior of the colony, which +is crossed by caravans of slaves under the whip of the driver. + +What did Dick Sand know of this country where treason had thrown him? +Very little; what the missionaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries had said of it; what the Portuguese merchants, who +frequented the road from St. Paul de Loanda to the Zaïre, by way of +San Salvador, knew of it; what Dr. Livingstone had written about it, +after his journey of 1853, and that would have been sufficient to +overwhelm a soul less strong than his. + +Truly, the situation was terrible. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HARRIS AND NEGORO. + + +The day after that on which Dick Sand and his companions had +established their last halt in the forest, two men met together about +three miles from there, as it had been previously arranged between +them. + +These two men were Harris and Negoro; and we are going to see now what +chance had brought together, on the coast of Angola, the Portuguese +come from New Zealand, and the American, whom the business of trader +obliged to often traverse this province of Western Africa. + +Harris and Negoro were seated at the foot of an enormous banyan, on +the steep bank of an impetuous stream, which ran between a double +hedge of papyrus. + +The conversation commenced, for the Portuguese and the American +had just met, and at first they dwelt on the deeds which had been +accomplished during these last hours. + +"And so, Harris," said Negoro, "you have not been able to draw this +little troop of Captain Sand, as they call this novice of fifteen +years, any farther into Angola?" + +"No, comrade," replied Harris; "and it is even astonishing that I have +succeeded in leading him a hundred miles at least from the coast. +Several days ago my young friend, Dick Sand, looked at me with an +anxious air, his suspicions gradually changed into certainties--and +faith--" + +"Another hundred miles, Harris, and those people would be still more +surely in our hands! However, they must not escape us!" + +"Ah! How could they?" replied Harris, shrugging his shoulders. "I +repeat it, Negoro, there was only time to part company with them. Ten +times have I read in my young friend's eyes that he was tempted to +send a ball into my breast, and I have too bad a stomach to digest +those prunes which weigh a dozen to the pound." + +"Good!" returned Negoro; "I also have an account to settle with this +novice." + +"And you shall settle it at your ease, with interest, comrade. As to +me, during the first three days of the journey I succeeded very well +in making him take this province for the Desert of Atacama, which +I visited formerly. But the child claimed his caoutchoucs and his +humming-birds. The mother demanded her quinquinas. The cousin was +crazy to find cocuyos. Faith, I was at the end of my imagination, +and after with great difficulty making them swallow ostriches for +giraffes--a god-send, indeed, Negoro!--I no longer knew what to +invent. Besides, I well saw that my young friend no longer accepted my +explanations. Then we fell on elephants' prints. The hippopotami were +added to the party. And you know, Negoro, hippopotami and elephants +in America are like honest men in the penitentiaries of Benguela. +Finally, to finish me, there was the old black, who must find forks +and chains at the foot of a tree. Slaves had freed themselves from +them to flee. At the same moment the lion roared, starting the +company, and it is not easy to pass off that roaring for the mewing +of an inoffensive cat. I then had only time to spring on my horse and +make my way here." + +"I understand," replied Negoro. "Nevertheless, I would wish to hold +them a hundred miles further in the province."' + +"One does what he can, comrade," replied Harris. "As to you, who +followed our caravan from the coast, you have done well to keep your +distance. They felt you were there. There is a certain Dingo that does +not seem to love you. What have you done to that animal?" + +"Nothing," replied Negoro; "but before long it will receive a ball in +the head." + +"As you would have received one from Dick Sand, if you had shown ever +so little of your person within two hundred feet of his gun. Ah! how +well he fires, my young friend; and, between you and me, I am obliged +to admit that he is, in his way, a fine boy." + +"No matter how fine he is, Harris, he will pay dear for his +insolence," replied Negoro, whose countenance expressed implacable +cruelty. + +"Good," murmured Harris, "my comrade remains just the same as I have +always known him! Voyages have not injured him!" + +Then, after a moment's silence: "Ah, there, Negoro," continued he, +"when I met you so fortunately there below, at the scene of the +shipwreck, at the mouth of the Longa, you only had time to recommend +those honest people to me, while begging me to lead them as far as +possible across this pretended Bolivia. You have not told me what you +have been doing these two years! Two years, comrade, in our chance +existence, is a long time. One fine day, after having taken charge of +a caravan of slaves on old Alvez's account--whose very humble agents +we are--you left Cassange, and have not been heard of since! I have +thought that you had some disagreement with the English cruiser, and +that you were hung!" + +"I came very near it, Harris." + +"That will come, Negoro." + +"Thank you!" + +"What would you have?" replied Harris, with an indifference quite +philosophical; "it is one of the chances of the trade! We do not carry +on the slave-trade on the coast of Africa without running the risk of +dying elsewhere than in our beds! So, you have been taken?" + +"Yes!" + +"By the English?" + +"No! By the Portuguese." + +"Before or after having delivered your cargo?" asked Harris. + +"After--," replied Negoro, who had hesitated a little about replying. +"These Portuguese now make difficulties. They want no more slavery, +though they have used it so long to their profit. I was denounced +--watched. They took me--" + +"And condemned--" + +"Me to finish my days in the penitentiary of St. Paul de Loanda." + +"A thousand devils!" exclaimed Harris. "That is an unhealthy place for +men accustomed, like us, to live in the open air. As to me, perhaps I +should prefer being hung." + +"One does not escape from the gallows," replied Negoro; "but from +prison--" + +"You were able to make your escape?" + +"Yes, Harris. Only fifteen days after being put in prison. I was +able to hide myself at the bottom of the hold of an English steamer, +sailing for Auckland, of New Zealand. A barrel of water and a case of +conserves, between which I had intruded, furnished me with food and +drink during the whole passage. Oh! I suffered terribly, from not +being willing to show myself when we were at sea. But, if I had been +imprudent enough to do it, I would have been confined again at the +bottom of the hold, and, voluntarily or not, the torture would be the +same. Besides, on my arrival at Auckland, they would have returned me +again to the English authorities, and finally brought me back to the +penitentiary of Loanda, or, perhaps, hung me, as you said. That was +why I preferred to travel incognito." + +"And without paying your passage!" exclaimed Harris, laughing. "Ah! +that is not considerate, comrade, to be fed and carried gratis!" + +"Yes," returned Negoro, "but thirty days' passage at the bottom of the +hold--" + +"At last that was over, Negoro. You set out for New Zealand, in the +land of the Maoris. But you have returned. Was the return made under +the same circumstances?" + +"Not so, Harris. You may well believe that, over there, I had only one +idea--to return to Angola and take up my trade of slave-trader again." + +"Yes," replied Harris, "one loves his trade--from habit." + +"For eighteen months--" + +Having pronounced those last words, Negoro stopped suddenly. He seized +his companion's arm, and listened. + +"Harris," said he, lowering his voice, "was there not a trembling in +that papyrus bush?" + +"Yes, indeed," replied Harris, seizing his gun, always ready to fire. + +Negoro and he stood up, looked around them, and listened with the +greatest attention. + +"There is nothing there," said Harris. "It is this brook, swelled by +the storm, which runs more noisily. For two years, comrade, you have +been unaccustomed to the noises of the forest, but you will get used +to them again. Continue, then, the narration of your adventures. When +I understand the past, we shall talk of the future." + +Negoro and Harris sat down again at the foot of the banyan. The +Portuguese continued, in these terms: + +"For eighteen months I vegetated in Auckland. When the steamer arrived +there I was able to leave it without being seen; but not a piastre, +not a dollar in my pocket! In order to live I had to follow all +trades--" + +"Even the trade of an honest man, Negoro?" + +"As you say, Harris." + +"Poor boy!" + +"Now, I was always waiting for an opportunity, which was long coming, +when the 'Pilgrim,' a whaler, arrived at the port of Auckland." + +"That vessel which went ashore on the coast of Angola?" + +"Even the same, Harris, and on which Mrs. Weldon, her child, and her +cousin were going to take passage. Now, as an old sailor, having even +been second on board a slave ship, I was not out of my element in +taking service on a ship. I then presented myself to the 'Pilgrim's' +captain, but the crew was made up. Very fortunately for me, the +schooner's cook had deserted. Now, he is no sailor who does not know +how to cook. I offered myself as head cook. For want of a better, I +was accepted. A few days after, the 'Pilgrim' had lost sight of the +land of New Zealand." + +"But," asked Harris, "according to what my young friend has told me, +the 'Pilgrim' did not set sail at all for the coast of Africa. How +then has she arrived here?" + +"Dick Sand ought not to be able to understand it yet, and perhaps he +will never understand it," replied Negoro; "but I am going to explain +to you what has passed, Harris, and you will be able to tell it again +to your young friend, if it pleases you to do so." + +"How, then?" replied Harris. "Speak, comrade, speak!" + +"The 'Pilgrim,'" continued Negoro, "as on the way to Valparaiso. When +I went on board, I only intended to go to Chili. It was always a good +half of the way between New Zealand and Angola, and I was drawing +nearer Africa's coast by several thousand miles. But it so happened +that only three weeks after leaving Auckland, Captain Hull, who +commanded the 'Pilgrim,' disappeared with all his crew, while chasing +a whale. On that day, then, only two sailors remained on board--the +novice and the cook, Negoro." + +"And you took command of the ship?" asked Harris. + +"I had that idea at first, but I saw that they distrusted me. There +were live strong blacks on board, free men. I would not have been +the master, and, on reflection, I remained what I was at the +departure--the 'Pilgrim's' cook." + +"Then it was chance that led this ship to the coast of Africa?" + +"No, Harris," replied Negoro; "there has been no chance in all this +adventure except meeting you, in one of your journeys, just on that +part of the coast where the 'Pilgrim' was wrecked. But as to coming +in sight of Angola, it was by my will, my secret will, that that was +done. Your young friend, still much of a novice in navigation, could +only tell his position by means of the log and the compass. Well, one +day, the log went to the bottom. One night the compass was made false, +and the 'Pilgrim,' driven by a violent tempest, took the wrong route. +The length of the voyage, inexplicable to Dick Sand, would be the same +to the most experienced seaman. Without the novice knowing or even +suspecting it, Cape Horn was doubled, but I, Harris, I recognized +it in the midst of the fogs. Then, thanks to me, the needle in the +compass took its true direction again, and the ship, blown to the +northeast by that frightful hurricane, has just been cast on the coast +of Africa, just on this land of Angola which I wished to reach." + +"And even at that moment, Negoro," replied Harris, "chance had led me +there to receive you, and guide those honest people to the interior. +They believed themselves--they could only believe themselves in +America. It was easy for me to make them take this province for lower +Bolivia, to which it has really some resemblance." + +"Yes, they believed it, as your young friend believed they had made +the Isle of Paques, when they passed in sight of Tristan d'Acunha." + +"Anybody would be deceived by it, Negoro." + +"I know it, Harris, and I even counted on profiting by that error. +Finally, behold Mrs. Weldon and her companions one hundred miles in +the interior of this Africa, where I wanted to bring them!" + + +"But," replied Harris, "they know now where they are." + +"Ah! what matter at present!" cried Negoro. + +"And what will you do with them?" asked Harris. + +"What will I do with them?" replied Negoro. "Before telling you, +Harris, give me news of our master, the slave-trader, Alvez, whom I +have not seen for two years." + +"Oh, the old rascal is remarkably well," replied Harris, "and he will +be enchanted to see you again." + +"Is he at the Bihe market?" asked Negoro. + +"No, comrade, he has been at his establishment at Kazounde for a +year." + +"And business is lively?" + +"Yes, a thousand devils!" exclaimed Harris, "although the slave +trade becomes more and more difficult, at least on this coast. The +Portuguese authorities on one side, and the English cruisers on +the other, limit exportations. There are few places, except in the +environs of Mossamedes, to the south of Angola, that the shipping of +blacks can now be made with any chance of success. So, at this time, +the pens are filled with slaves, waiting for the ships which ought to +carry them to Spanish colonies. As to passing them by Benguela, or +St. Paul de Loanda, that is not possible. The governors no longer +understand reason, no more do the chiefs (title given to the +Portuguese governors of secondary establishments). We must, then, +return to the factories of the interior. This is what old Alvez +intends to do. He will go from the Nyangwe and Tanganyika side to +change his stuffs for ivory and slaves. Business is always profitable +with upper Egypt and the Mozambique coast, which furnishes all +Madagascar. But I fear the time will come when the trade can be no +longer carried on. The English are making great progress in the +interior of Africa. The missionaries advance and work against us. That +Livingstone, curse him, after exploring the lake region, is going, +they say, to travel toward Angola. Then they speak of a Lieutenant +Cameron, who proposes to cross the continent from east to west. They +also fear that the American, Stanley, wishes to do as much. All these +visits will end by damaging our operations, Negoro, and if we care for +our own interests, not one of those visitors will return to relate in +Europe what he has had the indiscretion to come to see in Africa." + +Would not one say, to hear them, the rascals, that they were speaking +like honest merchants whose affairs were momentarily cramped by a +commercial crisis? Who would believe that, instead of sacks of coffee +or casks of sugar, they were talking of human beings to export like +merchandise? These traders have no other idea of right or wrong. The +moral sense is entirely lacking in them, and if they had any, how +quickly they would lose it among the frightful atrocities of the +African slave trade. + +But where Harris was right, was when he said that civilization was +gradually penetrating those savage countries in the wake of those +hardy travelers, whose names are indissoluble linked to the +discoveries of Equatorial Africa. At the head, David Livingstone, +after him, Grant, Speke, Burton, Cameron, Stanley, those heroes will +leave imperishable names as benefactors of humanity. + +When their conversation reached that point, Harris knew what the last +two years of Negoro's life had been. The trader Alvez's old agent, the +escaped prisoner from the Loanda penitentiary, reappeared the same as +Harris had always known him, that is, ready to do anything. But what +plan Negoro intended to take in regard to the shipwrecked from the +"Pilgrim," Harris did not yet know. He asked his accomplice about it. + +"And now," said he, "what are you going to do with those people?" + +"I shall make two parties of them," replied Negoro, like a man whose +plan had been long formed, "those whom I shall sell as slaves, and +those whom----" + +The Portuguese did not finish, but his ferocious physiognomy spoke +plainly enough. + +"Which will you sell?" asked Harris. + +"Those blacks who accompany Mrs. Weldon," replied Negoro. "Old Tom is +not perhaps of much value, but the others are four strong fellows, who +will bring a high price in the Kazounde market." + +"I well believe it, Negoro," replied Harris. "Four negroes, well made, +accustomed to work, have very little resemblance to those brutes which +come to us from the interior. Certainly, you will sell them at a high +price. Slaves, born in America, and exported to the markets of Angola; +that is rare merchandise! But," added the American, "you have not told +me if there was any money on board the 'Pilgrim.'" + +"Oh! a few hundred dollars only, which I have succeeded in saving. +Fortunately, I count on certain returns." + +"Which, then, comrade?" asked Harris, with curiosity. + +"Nothing!" replied Negoro, who appeared to regret having spoken more +than he intended. + +"It now remains to take possession of all that high-priced +merchandise," said Harris. + +"Is it, then, so difficult?" asked Negoro. + +"No, comrade. Ten miles from here, on the Coanza, a caravan of slaves +is encamped, conducted by the Arab, Ibn Hamis. He only awaits my +return to take the road for Kazounde. There are more native soldiers +there than are needed to capture Dick Sand and his companions. It will +be sufficient for my young friend to conceive the idea of going to the +Coanza." + +"But will he get that idea?" asked Negoro. + +"Surely," replied Harris, "because he is intelligent, and cannot +suspect the danger that awaits him. Dick Sand would not think of +returning to the coast by the way we have followed together. He would +be lost among these immense forests. He will seek, then, I am sure, to +reach one of the rivers that flow toward the coast, so as to descend +it on a raft. He has no other plan to take, and I know he will take +it." + +"Yes, perhaps so," replied Negoro, who was reflecting. + +"It is not 'perhaps so,' it is 'assuredly so,' that must be said," +continued Harris. "Do you see, Negoro? It is as if I had appointed a +rendezvous with my young friend on the banks of the Coanza." + +"Well, then," replied Negoro, "let us go. I know Dick Sand. He will +not delay an hour, and we must get before him." + +"Let us start, comrade." + +Harris and Negoro both stood up, when the noise that had before +attracted the Portuguese's attention was renewed. It was a trembling +of the stems between the high papyrus. + +Negoro stopped, and seized Harris's hand. + +Suddenly a low barking was heard. A dog appeared at the foot of the +bank, with its mouth open, ready to spring. + +"Dingo!" cried Harris. + +"Ah! this time it shall not escape me!" replied Negoro. + +Dingo was going to jump upon him, when Negoro, seizing Harris's gun, +quickly put it to his shoulder and fired. + +A long howl of pain replied to the detonation, and Dingo disappeared +between the double row of bushes that bordered the brook. + +Negoro descended at once to the bottom of the bank. + +Drops of blood stained some of the papyrus stems, and a long red track +was left on the pebbles of the brook. + +"At last that cursed animal is paid off!" exclaimed Negoro. + +Harris had been present at this whole scene without saying a word. + +"Ah now, Negoro," said he, "that dog had a particular grudge against +you." + +"It seemed so, Harris, but it will have a grudge against me no +longer!" + +"And why did it detest you so much, comrade?" + +"Oh! an old affair to settle between it and me." + +"An old affair?" replied Harris. + +Negoro said no more about it, and Harris concluded that the Portuguese +had been silent on some past adventure, but he did not insist on +knowing it. + +A few moments later, both, descending the course of the brook, went +toward the Coanza, across the forest. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ON THE MARCH. + + +Africa! That name so terrible under the present circumstances, that +name which he must now substitute for that of America, was not for an +instant out of Dick Sand's thoughts. When the young novice traced back +the last weeks, it was to ask himself how the "Pilgrim" had ended +by reaching this dangerous shore, how it had doubled Cape Horn, and +passed from one ocean to the other! He could now explain to himself +why, in spite of the rapid motion of his vessel, land was so long +coming in sight, because the length of the distance which he should +have made to reach the American coast had been doubled without his +knowledge. + +"Africa! Africa!" Dick Sand repeated. + +Then, suddenly, while he called up with tenacious mind all the +incidents of this inexplicable voyage, he felt that his compass must +have been injured. He remembered, too, that the first compass had been +broken, and that the log-line had snapped--a fact which had made it +impossible for him to establish the speed of the "Pilgrim." + +"Yes," thought he, "there remained but one compass on board, one only, +the indications of which I could not control! And one night I was +awakened by a cry from old Tom. Negoro was there, aft. He had just +fallen on the binnacle. May he not have put it out of order?" + +Dick Sand was growing enlightened. He had his finger on the truth. He +now understood all that was ambiguous in Negoro's conduct. He saw +his hand in this chain of incidents which had led to the loss of the +"Pilgrim," and had so fearfully endangered those on board of her. + +But what, then, was this miserable man? Had he been a sailor and known +so well how to hide the fact? Was he capable of contriving this odious +plot which had thrown the ship on the coast of Africa? + +At any rate, if obscure points still existed in the past, the present +could offer no more of them. The young novice knew only too well that +he was in Africa, and very probably in the fatal province of Angola, +more than a hundred miles from the coast. He also knew that Harris's +treason could no longer be doubted. From this fact, the most simple +logic led him to conclude that the American and the Portuguese had +long known each other, that a fatal chance had united them on this +coast, and that a plan had been concerted between them, the result of +which would be dreadful for the survivors of the "Pilgrim." + +And now, why these odious actions? That Negoro wished, at all hazards, +to seize Tom and his companions, and sell them for slaves in this +slave-trading country, might be admitted. That the Portuguese, moved +by a sentiment of hatred, would seek to be revenged on him, Dick Sand, +who had treated him as he deserved, might also be conceived. But Mrs. +Weldon, this mother, and this young child--what would the wretch +do with them? If Dick Sand could have overheard a little of the +conversation between Harris and Negoro, he would have known what to +expect, and what dangers menaced Mrs. Weldon, the blacks, and himself. + +The situation was frightful, but the young novice did not yield under +it. Captain on board, he remained captain on land. He must save Mrs. +Weldon, little Jack, all those whose fate Heaven had placed in his +hands. His task was only commencing. He would accomplish it to the +end. + +After two or three hours, during which the present and the future were +summed up in his mind, with their good and their evil chances--the +last, alas! the most numerous--Dick Sand rose, firm and resolved. + +The first glimmer of light then touched the summits of the forest. +With the exception of the novice and Tom, all slept. Dick Sand +approached the old black. + +"Tom," he said to him, in a low tone, "you have recognized the roaring +of the lion, you have remembered the instruments of the slave-traders. +You know that we are in Africa!" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick, I know it." + +"Well, Tom, not a word of all that, neither to Mrs. Weldon nor to your +companions. We must be the only ones to know, the only ones to have +any fears." + +"Alone--in fact. It is necessary," replied Tom. + +"Tom," continued the novice, "we have to watch more carefully than +ever. We are in an enemy's country--and what enemies! what a country! +To keep our companions on their guard, it will be enough to tell them +that we have been betrayed by Harris. They will think that we fear an +attack from wandering Indians, and that will suffice." + +"You can count absolutely on their courage and devotion, Mr. Dick." + +"I know it, as I count on your good sense and your experience. You +will come to my help, old Tom?" + +"Always, and everywhere, Mr. Dick." + +Dick Sand's plan was accepted and approved by the old black. If Harris +were detected in open treason before the hour for action, at least +the young novice and his companions were not in fear of any immediate +danger. In fact, it was the discovery of the irons abandoned by some +slaves, and the roaring of the lion, that had caused the American's +sudden disappearance. + +He knew that he was discovered, and he had fled probably before the +little party which he guided had reached the place where an attack +had been arranged. As for Negoro, whose presence Dingo had certainly +recognized during these last days of the march, he must have rejoined +Harris, so as to consult with him. At any rate, several hours would +pass before Dick Sand and his friends would be assailed, and it was +necessary to profit by them. + +The only plan was to regain the coast as quickly as possible. This +coast, as the young novice had every reason to believe, was that of +Angola. After having reached it, Dick Sand would try to gain, either +to the north or to the south, the Portuguese settlements, where his +companions could await in safety some opportunity to return to their +country. + +But, to effect this return to the coast, should they take the road +already passed over? Dick Sand did not think so, and in that he +was going to agree with Harris, who had clearly foreseen that +circumstances would oblige the young novice to shorten the road. + +In fact, it would have been difficult, not to say imprudent, to +recommence this difficult journey through the forest, which, besides, +could only tend to bring them out at the place they had started from. +This would also allow Negoro's accomplices to follow an assured track. +The only thing they could do was to cross a river, without leaving any +traces, and, later on, to descend its course. At the same time, there +was less to fear from an attack by animals, which by a happy chance +had so far kept at a good distance. Even the animosity of the natives, +under these circumstances, seemed less important. Once embarked on a +solid raft, Dick Sand and his companions, being well armed, would be +in the best condition to defend themselves. The whole thing was to +find the river. + +It must be added that, given the actual state of Mrs. Weldon and her +little Jack, this mode of traveling would be the most suitable. Arms +would not fail to carry the sick child. Lacking Harris's horse, they +could even make a litter of branches, on which Mrs. Weldon could be +borne. But this would require two men out of five, and Dick Sand +wished, with good reason, that all his companions might be free in +their movements in case of a sudden attack. + +And then, in descending the current of a river, the young novice would +find himself in his element! + +The question now was, whether a navigable stream of water existed in +the neighborhood. Dick Sand thought it probable, and for this reason: +The river which emptied into the Atlantic at the place where the +"Pilgrim" had stranded could not ascend much to the north, nor much to +the east, of the province, because a chain of mountains quite close to +them--those which they had mistaken for the Cordilleras--shut in the +horizon on these two sides. Then, either the river descended from +these heights, or it made a bend toward the south, and, in these two +cases, Dick Sand could not take long to find the course. Perhaps, even +before reaching the river--for it had a right to this qualification, +being a direct tributary of the ocean--one of its affluents would be +met with which would suffice for the transport of the little party. + +At any rate, a stream of some sort could not be far away. + +In fact, during the last miles of the journey the nature of the earth +had been modified. The declivities diminished and became damp. Here +and there ran narrow streams, which indicated that the sub-soil +enclosed everywhere a watery network. During the last day's march the +caravan had kept along one of these rivulets, whose waters, reddened +with oxyde of iron, eat away its steep, worn banks. To find it again +could not take long, or be very difficult. Evidently they could not +descend its impetuous course, but it would be easy to follow it to its +junction with a more considerable, possibly a navigable, affluent. + +Such was the very simple plan which Dick Sand determined upon, after +having conferred with old Tom. + +Day came, all their companions gradually awoke. Mrs. Weldon placed +little Jack in Nan's arms. The child was drowsy and faded-looking +during the intermittent periods, and was sad to see. + +Mrs. Weldon approached Dick Sand. "Dick," she asked, after a steady +glance, "where is Harris? I do not perceive him." + +The young novice thought that, while letting his companions believe +that they were treading on the soil of Bolivia, it would not do to +hide from them the American's treason. So he said, without hesitation: +"Harris is no longer here." + +"Has he, then, gone ahead?" asked Mrs. Weldon. "He has fled, Mrs. +Weldon," replied Dick Sand. "This Harris is a traitor, and it is +according to Negoro's plan that he led us this far." "For what +motive?" quickly asked Mrs. Weldon. "I do not know," replied Dick +Sand; "but what I do know is, that we must return, without delay, to +the coast." + +"That man--a traitor!" repeated Mrs. Weldon. "I had a presentiment of +it! And you think, Dick, that he is in league with Negoro?" + +"That may be, Mrs. Weldon. The wretch is on our track. Chance has +brought these two scoundrels together, and--" + +"And I hope that they will not be separated when I find them again!" +said Hercules. "I will break the head of one against the other's +head!" added the giant, holding out his formidable fists. + +"But my child!" cried Mrs. Weldon. "The care that I hoped to find for +him at the farm of San Felice--" + +"Jack will get well," said old Tom, "when he approaches the more +healthy part of the coast." + +"Dick," remarked Mrs. Weldon, "you are sure that this Harris has +betrayed us?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied the young novice, who would have liked to +avoid any explanation on this subject. + +He also hastened to add, while looking at the old black: + +"This very night Tom and I discovered his treason, and if he had not +jumped on his horse and fled, I would have killed him." + +"So this farm--" + +"There is neither farm, nor village, nor settlement in the +neighborhood," replied Dick Sand. "Mrs. Weldon, I repeat to you, we +must return to the coast." + +"By the same road, Dick?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, but by descending a river which will take us to the +sea without fatigue and without danger. A few more miles on foot, and +I do not doubt--" + +"Oh, I am strong, Dick!" replied Mrs. Weldon, who struggled against +her own weakness. "I will walk! I will carry my child!" + +"We are here, Mrs. Weldon," said Bat, "and we will carry you!" + +"Yes. yes," added Austin. "Two branches of a tree, foliage laid +across." + +"Thanks, my friends," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I want to march. I +will march. Forward!" + +"Forward!" exclaimed the young novice. + +"Give me Jack," said Hercules, who took the child from Nan's arms. +"When I am not carrying something, I am tired." + +The brave negro gently took in his strong arms the little sleeping +boy, who did not even wake. + +Their arms were carefully examined. What remained of the provisions +was placed in one package, so as to be carried by one man. Austin +threw it on his back, and his companions thus became free in their +movements. + +Cousin Benedict, whose long limbs were like steel and defied all +fatigue, was ready to set out. Had he remarked Harris's disappearance? +It would be imprudent to affirm it. Little disturbed him. Besides, he +was under the effects of one of the most terrible catastrophes that +could befall him. + +In fact, a grave complication, Cousin Benedict had lost his +magnifying-glass and his spectacles. Very happily, also, but without +his suspecting it, Bat had found the two precious articles in the tall +grass where they had slept, but, by Dick Sand's advice, he kept them +safely. By this means they would be sure that the big child would keep +quiet during the march, because he could see no farther, as they say, +than the end of his nose. + +Thus, placed between Acteon and Austin, with the formal injunction not +to leave them, the woful Benedict uttered no complaint, but followed +in his place, like a blind man led by a string. + +The little party had not gone fifty steps when old Tom suddenly +stopped it with one word. + +"Dingo?" said he. + +"In fact, Dingo is not here!" replied Hercules. + +The black called the dog several times with his powerful voice. + +No barking replied to him. + +Dick Sand remained silent. The absence of the dog, was to be +regretted, for he had preserved the little party from all surprise. + +"Could Dingo have followed Harris?" asked Tom. + +"Harris? No," replied Dick Sand; "but he may have put himself on +Negoro's scent. He felt him in our steps." + +"This cook of misfortune would quickly end him with a ball!" cried +Hercules. + +"Provided Dingo did not first strangle him," replied Bat. + +"Perhaps so," replied the young novice. "But we cannot wait for +Dingo's return. Besides, if he is living, the intelligent animal will +know how to find us. Forward!" + +The weather was very warm. Since daybreak large clouds obscured the +horizon. Already a storm was threatened in the air. Probably the day +would not end without some thunder-claps. Happily the forest, more or +less dense, retained a little freshness of the surface of the soil. +Here and there great forest trees inclosed prairies covered with +a tall, thick grass. In certain spots enormous trunks, already +petrified, lay on the ground, indicating the presence of coal mines, +which are frequently met with on the African continent. Then, in the +clearings, where the green carpet was mingled with some sprigs of +roses, the flowers were various in color, yellow and blue ginger +plants, pale lobelias, red orchids, incessantly visited by the insects +which fertilized them. + +The trees no longer formed impenetrable masses, but their nature was +more varied. There were a kind of palm-tree, which gives an oil found +only in Africa; cotton-trees forming thickets from eight to ten feet +high, whose wood-stalks produce a cotton with long hairs, almost +analogous to that of Fernambouc. From the copals there oozes, by the +holes which certain insects make, an odorous gum, which runs along +the ground and collects for the wants of the natives. Here spread the +lemon-trees, the grenadiers of a savage condition of a country, and +twenty other odorous plants, which prove the prodigious fertility of +this plateau of Central Africa. In several places, also, the perfume +was agreeably mingled with the tine odor of vanilla, although they +could not discover what tree exhaled it. + +This whole collection of trees and plants was perfectly green, +although it was in the middle of the dry season, and only rare storms +could water these luxuriant forests. It was then the time for fevers; +but, as Livingstone has observed, they can be cured by leaving the +place where they have been contracted. Dick Sand knew this remark of +the great traveler, and he hoped that little Jack would not contradict +it. He told it to Mrs. Weldon, after having observed that the +periodical access had not returned as they feared, and that the child +slept quietly in Hercules' arms. + +Thus they went forward carefully and rapidly. Sometimes they +discovered traces where men or animals had recently passed. The +twisted and broken branches of the brushwood and the thickets afforded +an opportunity to walk with a more equal step. But the greater part of +the time numerous obstacles, which they had to overcome, retarded the +little party, to Dick Sand's great disappointment. + +There were twisted lianes that might justly be compared with the +disordered rigging of a ship, certain vines similar to bent swords, +whose blades were ornamented with long thorns, vegetable serpents, +fifty or sixty feet long, which had the faculty of turning to prick +the passer-by with their sharp spikes. The blacks, hatchet in +hand, cut them down with vigorous blows, but the lianes reappeared +constantly, reaching from the earth to the top of the highest trees +which they encircled. + +The animal kingdom was not less curious than the vegetable kingdom +in this part of the province. Birds flew in vast numbers under these +powerful branches; but it will be understood that they had no gunshot +to fear from the men, who wished to pass as secretly as rapidly. There +were Guinea fowls in large flocks, heath-cocks of various kinds, very +difficult to approach, and some of those birds which the Americans +of the North have, by onomatopoeia, called "whip-poor-wills," three +syllables which exactly reproduce their cries. Dick Sand and Tom might +truly have believed themselves in some province of the new continent. +But, alas! they knew what to expect. + +Until then the deer, so dangerous in Africa, had not approached the +little troop. They again saw, in this first halt, some giraffes, which +Harris had undoubtedly called ostriches. These swift animals +passed rapidly, frightened by the apparition of a caravan in these +little-frequented forests. In the distance, on the edge of the +prairie, there arose at times a thick cloud of dust. It was a herd of +buffaloes, which galloped with the noise of wagons heavily laden. + +For two miles Dick Sand thus followed the course of the rivulet which +must end in a more important river. He was in haste to confide his +companions to the rapid current of one of the coast rivers. He felt +sure that the dangers and the fatigue would be much less than on the +shore. + +Towards noon three miles had been cleared without any bad incident or +meeting. There was no trace of either Harris or Negoro. Dingo had not +reappeared. It was necessary to halt to take rest and nourishment. + +The encampment was established in a bamboo thicket, which completely +sheltered the little party. + +They talked very little during this repast. Mrs. Weldon had taken her +little boy in her arms; she could not take her eyes off of him; she +could not eat. + +"You must take some nourishment, Mrs. Weldon," Dick Sand repeated +several times. "What will become of you if your strength gives out? +Eat, eat! We will soon start again, and a good current will carry us +without fatigue to the coast." + +Mrs. Weldon looked in Dick Sand's face while he thus talked. The young +novice's burning eyes spoke of the courage by which he felt animated. +In seeing him thus, in observing these brave, devoted blacks, wife +and mother, she could not yet despair; and, besides, why was she +abandoned? Did she not think herself on hospitable ground? Harris's +treason could not, in her eyes, have any very serious consequences. +Dick Sand read her thought, and he kept his eyes on the ground. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BAD ROADS OF ANGOLA. + + +At this moment little Jack awoke, and put his arms around his mother's +neck. His eyes looked better. The fever had not returned. + +"You are better, my darling," said Mrs. Weldon, pressing the sick +child to her heart. + +"Yes, mama," replied Jack, "but I am a little thirsty." + +They could only give the child some fresh water, of which he drank +with pleasure. + +"And my friend Dick?" he said. + +"Here I am, Jack," replied Dick Sand, coming to take the young child's +hand. + +"And my friend Hercules?" + +"Hercules is here, Mr. Jack," replied the giant, bringing nearer his +good face. + +"And the horse?" demanded little Jack. + +"The horse? Gone, Mr. Jack," replied Hercules. "I will carry you. Will +you find that I trot too hard?" + +"No," replied little Jack; "but then I shall no longer have any bridle +to hold." + +"Oh! you will put a bit in _my_ mouth, if you wish," said Hercules, +opening his large mouth, "and you may pull back so long as that will +give you pleasure." + +"You know very well that I shall not pull back." + +"Good! You would be wrong! I have a hard mouth." + +"But Mr. Harris's farm?" the little boy asked again. + +"We shall soon arrive there, my Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon. "Yes, +soon!" + +"Will we set out again?" then said Dick Sand, in order to cut short +this conversation. + +"Yes, Dick, let us go," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +The camp was broken up, and the march continued again in the same +order. It was necessary to pass through the underwood, so as not to +leave the course of the rivulet. There had been some paths there, +formerly, but those paths were dead, according to the native +expression--that is, brambles and brushwood had usurped them. In these +painful conditions they might spend three hours in making one mile. +The blacks worked without relaxation. Hercules, after putting little +Jack back in Nan's arms, took his part of the work; and what a part! +He gave stout "heaves," making his ax turn round, and a hole was made +before them, as if he had been a devouring fire. + +Fortunately, this fatiguing work would not last. This first mile +cleared, they saw a large hole, opened through the underwood, which +ended obliquely at the rivulet and followed its bank. It was a passage +made by elephants, and those animals, doubtless by hundreds, were in +the habit of traversing this part of the forest. Great holes, made by +the feet of the enormous pachyderms, riddled a soil softened during +the rainy season. Its spongy nature also prepared it for those large +imprints. + +It soon appeared that this passage did not serve for those gigantic +animals alone. Human beings had more than once taken this route, but +as flocks, brutally led to the slaughter-house, would have followed +it. Here and there bones of dead bodies strewed the ground; remains +of skeletons, half gnawed by animals, some of which still bore the +slave's fetters. + +There are, in Central Africa, long roads thus marked out by human +débris. Hundreds of miles are traversed by caravans, and how many +unhappy wretches fall by the way, under the agents' whips, killed by +fatigue or privations, decimated by sickness! How many more massacred +by the traders themselves, when food fails! Yes, when they can no +longer feed them, they kill them with the gun, with the sword, with +the knife! These massacres are not rare. + +So, then, caravans of slaves had followed this road. For a mile Dick +Sand and his companions struck against these scattered bones at each +step, putting to flight enormous fern-owls. Those owls rose at their +approach, with a heavy flight, and turned round in the air. + +Mrs. Weldon looked without seeing. Dick Sand trembled lest she should +question him, for he hoped to lead her back to the coast without +telling her that Harris's treachery had led them astray in an African +province. Fortunately, Mrs. Weldon did not explain to herself what +she had under her eyes. She had desired to take her child again, and +little Jack, asleep, absorbed all her care. Nan walked near her, and +neither of them asked the young novice the terrible questions he +dreaded. + +Old Tom went along with his eyes down. He understood only too well why +this opening was strewn with human bones. + +His companions looked to the right, to the left, with an air of +surprise, as if they were crossing an interminable cemetery, the +tombs of which had been overthrown by a cataclysm; but they passed in +silence. + +Meanwhile, the bed of the rivulet became deeper and wider at the same +time. Its current was less impetuous. Dick Sand hoped that it would +soon become navigable, or that it would before long reach a more +important river, tributary to the Atlantic. + +Cost what it might, the young novice was determined to follow this +stream of water. Neither did he hesitate to abandon this opening; +because, as ending by an oblique line, it led away from the rivulet. + +The little party a second time ventured through the dense underwood. +They marched, ax in hand, through leaves and bushes inextricably +interlaced. + +But if this vegetation obstructed the ground, they were no longer in +the thick forest that bordered the coast. Trees became rare. Large +sheaves of bamboo alone rose above the grass, and so high that even +Hercules was not a head over them. The passage of the little party was +only revealed by the movement of these stalks. + +Toward three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, the nature of the +ground totally changed. Here were long plains, which must have been +entirely inundated in the rainy season. The earth, now more swampy, +was carpeted by thick mosses, beneath charming ferns. Should it be +diversified by any steep ascents, they would see brown hematites +appear, the last deposits of some rich vein of mineral. + +Dick Sand then recalled--and very fortunately--what he had read in +"Livingstone's Travels." More than once the daring doctor had nearly +rested in these marshes, so treacherous under foot. + +"Listen to me, my friends," said he, going ahead. "Try the ground +before stepping on it." + +"In fact," replied Tom, "they say that these grounds have been +softened by the rain; but, however, it has not rained during these +last days." + +"No," replied Bat; "but the storm is not far off." + +"The greater reason," replied Dick Sand, "why we should hurry and get +clear of this swamp before it commences. Hercules, take little Jack +in your arms. Bat, Austin, keep near Mrs. Weldon, so as to be able to +help her if necessary. You, Mr. Benedict--Why, what are you doing, +Mr. Benedict?" + +"I am falling!" innocently replied Cousin Benedict, who had just +disappeared as if a trap had been suddenly opened beneath his feet. + +In fact, the poor man had ventured on a sort of quagmire, and had +disappeared half-way in the sticky mud. They stretched out their +hands, and he rose, covered with slime, but quite satisfied at not +having injured his precious entomologist's box. Acteon went beside +him, and made it his duty to preserve the unlucky, near-sighted man +from any new disasters. + +Besides, Cousin Benedict had made rather a bad choice of the quagmire +for his plunge. When they drew him out of the sticky earth a large +quantity of bubbles rose to the surface, and, in bursting, they +emitted some gases of a suffocating odor. Livingstone, who had been +sunk up to his chest in this slime, compared these grounds to a +collection of enormous sponges, made of black, porous earth, from +which numerous streams of water spouted when they were stepped upon. +These places were always very dangerous. + +For the space of half a mile Dick Sand and his companions must march +over this spongy soil. It even became so bad that Mrs. Weldon was +obliged to stop, for she sank deep in the mire. Hercules, Bat, and +Austin, wishing to spare her the unpleasantness more than the fatigue +of a passage across this marshy plain, made a litter of bamboos, on +which she consented to sit. Her little Jack was placed in her arms, +and they endeavored to cross that pestilential marsh in the quickest +manner. + +The difficulties were great. Acteon held Cousin Benedict firmly. Tom +aided Nan, who, without him, would have disappeared several times in +some crevice. The three other blacks carried the litter. At the head, +Dick Sand sounded the earth. The choice of the place to step on was +not made without trouble. They marched from preference on the edges, +which were covered by a thick and tough grass. Often the support +failed, and they sank to the knees in the slime. + +At last, about five o'clock in the evening, the marsh being cleared, +the soil regained sufficient firmness, thanks to its clayey nature; +but they felt it damp underneath. Very evidently these lands lay below +the neighboring rivers, and the water ran through their pores. + +At that time the heat had become overwhelming. It would even have +been unbearable, if thick storm clouds had not interposed between the +burning rays and the ground. Distant lightnings began to rend the sky +and low rollings of thunder grumbled in the depths of the heavens. A +formidable storm was going to burst forth. + +Now, these cataclysms are terrible in Africa: rain in torrents, +squalls of wind which the strongest trees cannot resist, clap after +clap of thunder, such is the contest of the elements in that latitude. + +Dick Sand knew it well, and he became very uneasy. They could not pass +the night without shelter. The plain was likely to be inundated, and +it did not present a single elevation on which it was possible to seek +refuge. + +But refuge, where would they seek it in this low desert, without a +tree, without a bush? The bowels of the earth even would not give it. +Two feet below the surface they would find water. + +However, toward the north a series of low hills seemed to limit the +marshy plain. It was as the border of this depression of land. A few +trees were profiled there on a more distant, clearer belt, left by the +clouds on the line of the horizon. + +There, if shelter were still lacking, the little band would at least +no longer risk being caught in a possible inundation. There perhaps +was salvation for all. + +"Forward, my friends, forward!" repeated Dick Sand. "Three miles more +and we shall be safer than in these bottom-lands." + +"Hurry! hurry!" cried Hercules. + +The brave black would have wished to take that whole world in big arms +and carry it alone. + +Those words inspired those courageous men, and in spite of the fatigue +of a day's march, they advanced more quickly than they had done at the +commencement from the halting-place. + +When the storm burst forth the end to be attained was still more than +two miles off. Now--a fact which was the more to be feared--the rain +did not accompany the first lightnings exchanged between the ground +and the electrical clouds. Darkness then became almost complete, +though the sun had not disappeared below the horizon. But the dome of +vapors gradually lowered, as if it threatened to fall in--a falling in +which must result in a torrent of rain. Lightnings, red or blue, split +it in a thousand places, and enveloped the plain in an inextricable +network of fire. + +Twenty times Dick and his companions ran the risk of being struck by +lightning. On this plateau, deprived of trees, they formed the only +projecting points which could attract the electrical discharges. Jack, +awakened by the noise of the thunder, hid himself in Hercules' arms. +He was very much afraid, poor little boy, but he did not wish to let +his mother see it, for fear of afflicting her more. Hercules, while +taking great steps, consoled him as well as he could. + +"Do not be afraid, little Jack," he repeated. "If the thunder comes +near us, I will break it in two with a single hand. I am stronger than +it!" + +And, truly, the giant's strength reassured Jack a little. + +Meanwhile the rain must soon fall, and then it would in torrents, +poured out by those clouds in condensing. What would become of Mrs. +Weldon and her companions, if they did not find a shelter? + +Dick Sand stopped a moment near old Tom. + +"What must be done?" said he. + +"Continue our march, Mr. Dick," replied Tom. "We cannot remain on this +plain, that the rain is going to transform into a marsh!" + +"No, Tom, no! But a shelter! Where? What? If it were only a hut--" + +Dick Sand had suddenly broken off his sentence. A more vivid flash of +lightning had just illuminated the whole plain. + +"What have I seen there, a quarter of a mile off?" exclaimed Dick +Sand. + +"Yes, I also, I have seen--" replied old Tom, shaking his head. + +"A camp, is it not?" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick, it must be a camp, but a camp of natives!" + +A new flash enabled them to observe this camp more closely. It +occupied a part of the immense plain. + +There, in fact, rose a hundred conical tents, symmetrically arranged, +and measuring from twelve to fifteen feet in height. Not a soldier +showed himself, however. Were they then shut up under their tents, so +as to let the storm pass, or was the camp abandoned? + +In the first case, whatever Heaven should threaten, Dick Sand must +flee in the quickest manner. In the second, there was, perhaps, the +shelter he asked. + +"I shall find out," he said to himself; then, addressing old Tom: +"Stay here. Let no one follow me. I shall go to reconnoiter that +camp." + +"Let one of us accompany you, Mr. Dick." + +"No, Tom, I shall go alone. I can approach without being seen. Stay +here." + +The little troop, that followed Tom and Dick Sand, halted. The young +novice left at once and disappeared in the darkness, which was +profound when the lightning did not tear the sky. + +Some large drops of rain already began to fall. + +"What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Weldon, approaching the old black. + +"We have perceived a camp, Mrs. Weldon," replied Tom; "a camp--or, +perhaps, a village, and our captain wished to reconnoiter it before +leading us to it." + +Mrs. Weldon was satisfied with this reply. Three minutes after, Dick +Sand was returning. + +"Come! come!" he cried, in a voice which expressed his entire +satisfaction. + +"The camp is abandoned?" asked Tom. + +"It is not a camp," replied the young novice; "it is not a village. +They are ant-hills!" + +"Ant-hills!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, whom that word aroused. + +"Yes, Mr. Benedict, but ant-hills twelve feet high, at least, and in +which we shall endeavor to hide ourselves." + +"But then," replied Cousin Benedict, "those would be ant-hills of the +warlike termite or of the devouring termite. Only those ingenious +insects raise such monuments, which the greatest architects would not +disown." + +"Whether they be termites or not, Mr. Benedict," replied Dick Sand, +"we must dislodge them and take their place." + +"They will devour us. They will be defending their rights." + +"Forward! Forward!" + +"But, wait now!" said Cousin Benedict again. "I thought those +ant-hills only existed in Africa." + +"Forward!" exclaimed Dick Sand, for the last time, with a sort of +violence. He was so much afraid that Mrs. Weldon might hear the last +word pronounced by the entomologist. + +They followed Dick Sand with all haste. A furious wind had sprung up. +Large drops crackled on the ground. In a few moments the squalls of +wind would become unbearable. Soon one of those cones which stood on +the plain was reached. No matter how threatening the termites might +be, the human beings must not hesitate. If they could not drive the +insects away, they must share their abode. + +At the bottom of this cone, made with a kind of reddish clay, there +was a very narrow hole. Hercules enlarged it with his cutlass in a few +moments, so as to give a passage even to a man like himself. + +To Cousin Benedict's extreme surprise, not one of the thousands of +termites that ought to occupy the ant-hill showed itself. Was, then, +the cone abandoned? + +The hole enlarged, Dick and his companions glided into it. Hercules +disappeared the last, just as the rain fell with such rage that it +seemed to extinguish the lightnings. + +But those wind squalls were no longer to be feared. A happy chance had +furnished this little troop with a solid shelter, better than a tent, +better than a native's hut. + +It was one of those termite cones that, according to Lieutenant +Cameron's comparison, are more astonishing than the pyramids of Egypt, +raised by the hands of men, because they have been built by such small +insects. + +"It is," said he, "as if a nation had built Mount Everest, the highest +mountain of the Himalaya chain." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANTS AND THEIR DWELLING. + + +At this moment the storm burst with a violence unknown in temperate +latitudes. + +It was providential that Dick Sand and his companions had found this +refuge! + +In fact, the rain did not fall in distinct drops, but in streams of +various thickness. Sometimes it was a compact mass forming a sheet of +water, like a cataract, a Niagara. Imagine an aerial basin, containing +a whole sea, being upset. Under such showers the ground was hollowed +out, the plains were changed to lakes, the streams to torrents, the +rivers, overflowing, inundated vast territories. In temperate zones +the violence of the storms decreases according to their duration; but +in Africa, however heavy they are, they continue for several entire +days. How can so much electricity be collected in the clouds? How +can such quantities of vapor be accumulated? It is very difficult to +comprehend this. However, such are the facts, and one might suppose +himself transported to the extraordinary epochs of the diluvian +period. + +Fortunately, the ant-cone, with its thick walls, was perfectly +impervious. A beaver's hut, of well-beaten earth, could not have been +more water-tight. A torrent could have passed over it without a single +drop of water filtering through its pores. + +As soon as Dick Sand and his companions had taken possession of the +cone they occupied themselves in examining its interior arrangement. +The lantern was lighted, and the ant-hill was sufficiently +illuminated. This cone, which measured twelve feet in height inside, +was eleven feet wide, except in its upper part, which rounded in the +form of a sugar loaf. Everywhere the walls were about one foot in +thickness, and there was a distance between the stories of cells which +adorned them. + +We may be astonished at the construction of such monuments, due to +these industrious swarms of insects, but it is true that they are +frequently found in the interior of Africa. Smeathman, a Dutch +traveler of the last century, with four of his companions, occupied +the top of one of these cones. In the Lounde, Livingstone observed +several of these ant-hills, built of reddish clay, and attaining a +height of fifteen and twenty feet. Lieutenant Cameron has many a time +mistaken for a camp these collections of cones which dotted the plain +in N'yangwe. He has even stopped at the foot of great edifices, not +more than twenty feet high, but composed of forty or fifty enormous +rounded cones, flanked with bell-towers like the dome of a cathedral, +such as Southern Africa possesses. + +To what species of ant was due, then, the prodigious style of +architecture of these cones? + +"To the warlike termite," Cousin Benedict had replied, without +hesitating, as soon as he had recognized the nature of the materials +employed in their construction. + +And, in fact, the walls, as has been said, were made of reddish clay. +Had they been formed of a gray or black alluvian earth, they must have +been attributed to the "termes mordax" or the "termes atrox." As we +see, these insects have not very cheering names--a fact which cannot +but please a strong entomologist, such as Cousin Benedict. + +The central part of the cone, in which the little troop had first +found shelter, and which formed the empty interior, would not have +contained them; but large cavities, in close contact, made a number +of divisions, in which a person of medium height could find refuge. +Imagine a succession of open drawers, and at the bottom of those +drawers millions of cells which the termites had occupied, and the +interior disposition of the ant-hill is easily understood. To sum up, +these drawers are in tiers, like the berths in a ship's cabin. In the +upper ones Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, Nan, and Cousin Benedict took +refuge. In the lower row Austin, Bat, and Acteon hid themselves. As +for Dick Sand, Tom, and Hercules, they remained in the lower part of +the cone. + +"My friends," then said the young novice to the two blacks, "the +ground is becoming damp. We must fill it up by crumbling the red clay +from the base; but take care not to obstruct the hole by which the air +enters. We cannot risk being smothered in this ant-hill." + +"We have only one night to spend here," replied old Tom. + +"Well, let us try and make it recover us from our fatigue. This is the +first time in ten days that we have not to sleep in the open air." + +"Ten days!" repeated Tom. + +"Besides," added Dick Sand, "as this cone forms a solid shelter, +perhaps we had better stay here twenty-four hours. During that time, I +will go in search of the stream that we are in need of; it cannot be +very distant. I think that until we have constructed our raft, it will +be better not to quit this shelter. The storm cannot reach us here. +Let us make the floor stronger and dryer." + +Dick Sand's orders were executed at once. Hercules, with his ax, +crumbled the first story of cells, which was composed of crisp red +clay. He thus raised, more than a foot, the interior part of the +swampy earth on which the ant-hill rested, and Dick Sand made sure +that the air could freely penetrate to the interior of the cone +through the orifice pierced at its base. + +It was, certainly, a fortunate circumstance that the ant-hill had been +abandoned by the termites. With a few thousands of these ants, it +would have been uninhabitable. But, had it been evacuated for some +time, or had the voracious newroptera but just quitted it? It was not +superfluous to ponder this question. + +Cousin Benedict was so much surprised at the abandonment, that he at +once considered the reason for it, and he was soon convinced that the +emigration had been recent. + +In fact, he did not wait, but, descending to the lower part of the +cone, and taking the lantern, he commenced to examine the most secret +corners of the ant-hill. He thus discovered what is called the +"general store-house" of the termites, that is to say, the place where +these industrious insects lay up the provisions of the colony. + +It was a cavity hollowed in the wall, not far from the royal cell, +which Hercules's labor had destroyed, along with the cells destined +for the young larvae. + +In this store-room Cousin Benedict collected a certain quantity of +particles of gum and the juices of plants, scarcely solidified, which +proved that the termites had lately brought them from without. + +"Well, no!" cried he. "No!" as if he were replying to some +contradiction, "No, this ant-hill has not been long abandoned." + +"Who says to the contrary, Mr. Benedict?" said Dick Sand. "Recently +or not, the important thing for us is that the termites have left it, +because we have to take their place." + +"The important thing," replied Cousin Benedict, "will be to know why +they have left it. Yesterday--this morning, perhaps--these sagacious +newroptera were still here, because, see these liquid juices; and this +evening----" + +"Well, what do you conclude, Mr. Benedict?" asked Dick Sand. + +"That a secret presentiment has caused them to abandon the cone. Not +only have all the termites left their cells, but they have taken care +to carry away the young larvae, of which I cannot find one. Well, I +repeat that all this was not done without a motive, and that these +sagacious insects foresaw some near danger." + +"They foresaw that we were going to invade their dwelling," replied +Hercules, laughing. + +"Indeed!" replied Cousin Benedict, whom this answer sensibly shocked. +"You think yourself so strong that you would be dangerous to these +courageous insects? A few thousand of these newroptera would quickly +reduce you to a skeleton if they found you dead on the road." + +"Dead, certainly," replied Hercules, who would not give up; "but, +living, I could crush masses of them." + +"You might crush a hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, a +million," replied Cousin Benedict, with animation, "but not a thousand +millions; and a thousand millions would devour you, living or dead, to +the last morsel." + +During this discussion, which was less trifling than might be +supposed, Dick Sand reflected on the observations made by Cousin +Benedict. There was no doubt that the savant knew too much about the +habits of the termites to be mistaken. If he declared that a secret +instinct warned them to leave the ant-hill recently, it was because +there was truly peril in remaining in it. + +Meanwhile, as it was impossible to abandon this shelter at a moment +when the storm was raging with unparalleled intensity, Dick +Sand looked no farther for an explanation of what seemed to be +inexplicable, and he contented himself with saying: + +"Well, Mr. Benedict, if the termites have left their provisions in +this ant-hill, we must not forget that we have brought ours, and +let us have supper. To-morrow, when the storm will be over, we will +consult together on our future plans." + +They then occupied themselves in preparing the evening meal, for, +great as their fatigue was, it had not affected the appetite of these +vigorous walkers. On the contrary, the food, which had to last for two +more days, was very welcome. The damp had not reached the biscuits, +and for several minutes it could be heard cracking under the solid +teeth of Dick Sand and his companions. Between Hercules's jaws it +was like grain under the miller's grindstone. It did not crackle, it +powdered. + +Mrs. Weldon alone scarcely eat, and even Dick Sand's entreaties were +vain. It seemed to him that this brave woman was more preoccupied, +more sad than she had been hitherto. Meanwhile her little Jack +suffered less; the fever had not returned, and at this time he was +sleeping, under his mother's eyes, in a cell well lined with garments. +Dick Sand knew not what to think. + +It is useless to say that Cousin Benedict did honor to the repast, not +that he paid any attention either to the quality or to the quantity of +the food that he devoured, but because he had found an opportunity to +deliver a lecture in entomology on the termites. Ah! if he had been +able to find a termite, a single one, in the deserted ant hill! But +nothing. + +"These admirable insects," said he, without taking the trouble to find +out if any one were listening--"these admirable insects belong to the +marvelous order of newroptera, whose horns are longer than the head, +the jaws very distinct, and whose lower wings are generally equal to +the upper ones. Five tribes constitute this order: the Panorpates +(scorpion flies), the Myrmileoniens, the Hemerobins, the Termitines +and the Perlides. It is useless to add that the insects which now +interest us, and whose dwelling we occupy, perhaps unduly, are the +Termitines." + +At this moment Dick Sand listened very attentively to Cousin Benedict. +Had the meeting with these termites excited in him the thought that he +was perhaps on the African continent, without knowing by what chance +he had arrived there? The young novice was very anxious to find out. + +The savant, mounted on his favorite hobby, continued to ride it +beautifully. + +"Now these termitines," said he, "are characterized by four joints +on the instep, horned jaws, and remarkable strength. We have the +_mantispe_ species, the _raphidie_, and the termite species. The last +is often known under the term of white ants, in which we count the +deadly termite, the yellow corslet termite, the termite that shuns the +light, the biter, the destroyer--" + +"And those that constructed this ant-hill?" asked Dick Sand. + +"They are the martial ants," replied Cousin Benedict, who pronounced +this word as if it had been the Macedonians, or some other ancient +people brave in war. "Yes, the warlike ants, and of all sizes. +Between Hercules and a dwarf the difference would be less than +between the largest of these insects and the smallest. Among them are +'workers' of five millimeters in length 'soldiers' of ten, and males +and females of twenty. We find also a kind otherwise very curious: the +_sirafous_ half an inch in length, which have pincers for jaws, and a +head larger than the body, like the sharks. They are the sharks among +insects, and in a fight between some _sirafous_ and a shark, I would +bet on the _sirafous_." + +"And where are these _sirafous_ commonly observed?" then asked Dick +Sand. + +"In Africa," replied Cousin Benedict; "in the central and southern +provinces. Africa is, in fact, the country of ants. You should read +what Livingstone says of them in the last notes reported by Stanley. +More fortunate than myself, the doctor has witnessed a Homeric battle, +joined between an army of black ants and an army of red ants. The +latter, which are called 'drivers,' and which the natives name +_sirafous_, were victorious. + +"The others, the '_tchoungous_,' took flight, carrying their eggs and +their young, not without having bravely defended themselves. Never, +according to Livingstone, never was the spirit of battle carried +farther, either among men or beasts! With their tenacious jaws, which +tear out the piece, these _sirafous_ make the bravest man recoil. The +largest animals--even lions and elephants--flee before them. + +"Nothing stops them; neither trees, which they climb to the summit, +nor streams, which they cross by making a suspension bridge of +their own bodies, hooked together. And numerous! Another African +traveler--Du Chaillu--has seen a column of these ants defile past him +for twelve hours without stopping on the road. But why be astonished +at the sight of such myriads? The fecundity of these insects is +surprising; and, to return to our fighting termites, it has been +proved that a female deposits as much as sixty thousand eggs in a +day! Besides, these newroptera furnish the natives with a juicy food. +Broiled ants, my friends; I know of nothing better in the world!" + +"Have you then eaten them, Mr. Benedict?" asked Hercules. + +"Never," replied the wise professor; "but I shall eat some." + +"Where?" + +"Here." + +"Here; we are not in Africa!" said Tom, very quickly. + +"No, no!" replied Cousin Benedict; "and, thus far, these warlike +termites, and their villages of ant-hills, have only been observed on +the African Continent. Ah! such travelers. They do not know how to +see! Well! all the better, after all. I have discovered a _tsetse_ in +America. To the glory of this, I shall join that of having found the +warlike termites on the same continent! What matter for an article +that will make a sensation in educated Europe, and, perhaps, appear in +folio form, with prints and engravings, besides the text!" + +It was evident that the truth had not entered Cousin Benedict's brain. +The poor man and all his companions, Dick Sand and Tom excepted, +believed themselves, and must believe themselves, where they were +not! It needed other incidents, facts still more grave than certain +scientific curiosities, to undeceive them! + +It was then nine o'clock in the morning. Cousin Benedict had talked +for a long time. Did he perceive that his auditors, propped up in +their cells, had gradually fallen asleep during his entomological +lecture? No; certainly not. He lectured for himself. Dick Sand no +longer questioned him, and remained motionless, although he did not +sleep. As for Hercules, he had resisted longer than the others; but +fatigue soon finished by shutting his eyes, and, with his eyes, his +ears. + +For some time longer Cousin Benedict continued to lecture. However, +sleep finally got the best of him, and he mounted to the upper cavity +of the cone, in which he had chosen his domicile. + +Deep silence fell on the interior of the cone, while the storm filled +space with noise and fire. Nothing seemed to indicate that the tempest +was nearly over. + +The lantern had been extinguished. The interior of the ant-hill was +plunged in complete darkness. + +No doubt all slept. However, Dick Sand, alone, did not seek in sleep +the repose which was so necessary to him. Thought absorbed him. He +dreamed of his companions, whom he would save at all hazards. The +wrecking of the "Pilgrim" had not been the end of their cruel trials, +and others, still more terrible, threatened them should they fall into +the hands of these natives. + +And how to avoid this danger, the worst of all, during their return to +the coast. Harris and Negoro had not led them a hundred miles into the +interior of Angola without a secret design to gain possession of them. + +But what did this miserable Portuguese intend? Who had merited his +hatred? The young novice repeated to himself, that he alone had +incurred it. Then he passed in review all the incidents that had taken +place during the "Pilgrim's" voyage; the meeting with the wreck and +the blacks; the pursuit of the whale; the disappearance of Captain +Hull and his crew. + +Dick Sand had found himself, at the age of fifteen, intrusted with the +command of a vessel, the compass and log of which were soon injured by +Negoro's criminal actions. He again saw himself using his authority in +the presence of this insolent cook, threatening to put him in irons, +or to blow out his brains with a pistol shot. Ah, why had he hesitated +to do it? Negoro's corpse would have been thrown overboard, and none +of these catastrophes would have happened. + +Such were the young man's various thoughts. Then they dwelt a moment +on the shipwreck which had ended the "Pilgrim's" voyage. The traitor +Harris appeared then, and this province of South America gradually +became transformed. Bolivia changed to the terrible Angola, with its +feverish climate, its savage deer, its natives still more cruel. Could +the little party escape during its return to the coast? This river +which he was seeking, which he hoped to find, would it conduct them to +the shore with more safety, and with less fatigue? He would not doubt +it, for he knew well that a march of a hundred miles through this +inhospitable country, in the midst of incessant dangers, was no longer +possible. + +"Happily," he said to himself, "Mrs. Weldon and all are ignorant of +the danger of the situation. Old Tom and I, we alone are to know that +Negoro has thrown us on the coast of Africa; and that Harris has led +me into the wilds of Angola." + +Dick Sand was thus sunk in overpowering thoughts, when he felt a +breath on his forehead. A hand rested on his shoulder, and a trembling +voice murmured these words in his ear: + +"I know all, my poor Dick, but God can yet save us! His will be done!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE DIVING-BELL. + + +To this unexpected revelation Dick Sand could not reply. Besides, Mrs. +Weldon had gone back at once to her place beside little Jack. She +evidently did not wish to say any more about it, and the young novice +had not the courage to detain her. + +Thus Mrs. Weldon knew what to believe. The various incidents, of the +way had enlightened her also, and perhaps, too, that word, "Africa!" +so unluckily pronounced the night before by Cousin Benedict. + +"Mrs. Weldon knows everything," repeated Dick Sand to himself. "Well, +perhaps it is better so. The brave woman does not despair. I shall not +despair either." + +Dick Sand now longed for day to return, that he might explore the +surroundings of this termite village. He must find a tributary of the +Atlantic with a rapid course to transport all his little troop. He had +a presentiment that this watercourse could not be far distant. Above +all, they must avoid an encounter with the natives, perhaps already +sent in pursuit of them under Harris's and Negoro's direction. + +But it was not day yet. No light made its way into the cone through +the lower orifice. Rumblings, rendered low by the thickness of the +walls, indicated that the storm still raged. Listening, Dick Sand also +heard the rain falling with violence at the base of the ant-hill. As +the large drops no longer struck a hard soil, he must conclude that +the whole plain was inundated. + +It must have been about eleven o'clock. Dick Sand then felt that a +kind of torpor, if not a true sleep, was going to overcome him. It +would, however, be rest. But, just as he was yielding to it, the +thought came to him that, by the settling of the clay, washed in, the +lower orifice was likely to be obstructed. All passage for the outer +air would be closed. Within, the respiration of ten persons would soon +vitiate the air by loading it with carbonic acid. + +Dick Sand then slipped to the ground, which had been raised by the +clay from the first floor of cells. + +That cushion was still perfectly dry, and the orifice entirely free. +The air penetrated freely to the interior of the cone, and with it +some flashes of lightning, and the loud noises of that storm, that a +diluvian rain could not extinguish. + +Dick Sand saw that all was well. No immediate danger seemed to menace +these human termites, substituted for the colony of newroptera. The +young novice then thought of refreshing himself by a few hours' sleep, +as he already felt its influence. Only with supreme precaution Dick +Sand lay on that bed of clay, at the bottom of the cone, near the +narrow edifice. + +By this means, if any accident happened outside, he would be the first +to remark it. The rising day would also awaken him, and he would be +ready to begin the exploration of the plain. + +Dick Sand lay down then, his head against the wall, his gun under his +hand, and almost immediately he was asleep. + +How long this drowsiness lasted he could not tell, when he was +awakened by a lively sensation of coolness. + +He rose and recognized, not without great anxiety, that the water was +invading the ant hill, and even so rapidly, that in a few seconds it +would reach the story of cells occupied by Tom and Hercules. + +The latter, awakened by Dick Sand, were told about this new +complication. + +The lighted lantern soon showed the interior of the cone. + +The water had stopped at a height of about five feet, and remained +stationary. + +"What is the matter, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"It is nothing," replied the young novice. "The lower part of the +cone has been inundated. It is probably that during this storm a +neighboring river has overflowed on this plain." + +"Good!" said Hercules; "that proves the river is there!" + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and it will carry us to the coast. Be +reassured, then, Mrs. Weldon; the water cannot reach you, nor little +Jack, nor Nan, nor Mr. Benedict." + +Mrs. Weldon did not reply. As to the cousin, he slept like a veritable +termite. + +Meanwhile the blacks, leaning over this sheet of water, which +reflected the lantern's light, waited for Dick Sand to indicate +to them what should be done. He was measuring the height of the +inundation. + +After having the provisions and arms put out of the reach of the +inundation, Dick Sand was silent. + +"The water has penetrated by the orifice," said Tom. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and now it prevents the interior air from +being renewed." + +"Could we not make a hole in the wall above the level of the water?" +asked the old black. + +"Doubtless, Tom; but if we have five feet of water within, there are +perhaps six or seven, even more, without." + +"You think, Mr. Dick--?" + +"I think, Tom, that the water, rising inside the ant-hill, has +compressed the air in the upper part, and that this air now makes an +obstacle to prevent the water from rising higher. But if we pierce a +hole in the wall by which the air would escape, either the water would +still rise till it reached the outside level, or if it passed the +hole, it would rise to that point where the compressed air would again +keep it back. We must be here like workmen in a diving-bell." + +"What must be done?" asked Tom. + +"Reflect well before acting," replied Dick Sand. "An imprudence might +cost us our lives!" + +The young novice's observation was very true. + +In comparing the cone to a submerged bell, he was right. Only in that +apparatus the air is constantly renewed by means of pumps. The divers +breathe comfortably, and they suffer no other inconveniences than +those resulting from a prolonged sojourn in a compressed atmosphere, +no longer at a normal pressure. + +But here, beside those inconveniences, space was already reduced a +third by the invasion of the water. As to the air, it would only be +renewed if they put it in communication with the outer atmosphere by +means of a hole. + +Could they, without running the danger spoken of by Dick Sand, pierce +that hole? Would not the situation be aggravated by it? + +What was certain was, that the water now rested at a level which only +two causes could make it exceed, namely: if they pierced a hole, and +the level of the rising waters was higher outside, or if the height +of this rising water should still increase. In either of these cases, +only a narrow space would remain inside the cone, where the air, not +renewed, would be still more compressed. + +But might not the ant-hill be torn from the ground and overthrown by +the inundation, to the extreme danger of those within it? No, no more +than a beaver's hut, so firmly did it adhere by its base. + +Then, the event most to be feared was the persistence of the storm, +and, consequently, the increase of the inundation. Thirty feet of +water on the plain would cover the cone with eighteen feet of water, +and bear on the air within with the pressure of an atmosphere. + +Now, after reflecting well upon it, Dick Sand was led to fear that +this inundation might increase considerably. + +In fact, it could not be due solely to that deluge poured out by +the clouds. It seemed more probable that a neighboring watercourse, +swelled by the storm, had burst its banks, and was spreading over this +plain lying below it. What proof had they that the ant-hill was not +then entirely submerged, and that it was full time to leave it by the +top part, which would not be difficult to demolish? + +Dick Sand, now extremely anxious, asked himself what he ought to +do. Must he wait or suddenly announce the probable result of the +situation, after ascertaining the condition of things? + +It was then three o'clock in the morning. All, motionless, silent, +listened. The noise from outside came very feebly through the +obstructed orifice. All the time a dull sound, strong and continued, +well indicated that the contest of the elements had not ceased. + +At that moment old Tom observed that the water level was gradually +rising. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and if it rises, as the air cannot escape +from within, it is because the rising of the waters increases and +presses it more and more." + +"It is but slight so far," said Tom. + +"Without doubt," replied Dick Sand; "but where will this level stop?" + +"Mr. Dick," asked Bat, "would you like me to go out of the ant-hill? +By diving, I should try to slip out by the hole." + +"It will be better for me to try it," replied Dick Sand. + +"No, Mr. Dick, no," replied old Tom, quickly; "let my son do it, and +trust to his skill. In case he could not return, your presence is +necessary here." + +Then, lower: + +"Do not forget Mrs. Weldon and little Jack." + +"Be it so," replied Dick Sand. "Go, then, Bat. If the ant-hill is +submerged, do not seek to enter it again. We shall try to come out as +you will have done. But if the cone still emerges, strike on its top +with the ax that you will take with you. We will hear you, and it +will be the signal for us to demolish the top from our side. You +understand?" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick," replied Bat. + +"Go, then, boy," added old Tom, pressing his son's hand. + +Bat, after laying in a good provision of air by a long aspiration, +plunged under the liquid mass, whose depth then exceeded five feet. It +was a rather difficult task, because he would have to seek the lower +orifice, slip through it, and then rise to the outside surface of the +waters. + +That must be done quickly. + +Nearly half a minute passed away. Dick Sand then thought that Bat had +succeeded in passing outside when the black emerged. + +"Well!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +"The hole is stopped up by rubbish!" replied Bat, as soon as he could +take breath. + +"Stopped up!" repeated Tom. + +"Yes," replied Bat. "The water has probably diluted the clay. I have +felt around the walls with my hand. There is no longer any hole." + +Dick Sand shook his head. His companions and he were hermetically +sequestered in this cone, perhaps submerged by the water. + +"If there is no longer any hole," then said Hercules, "we must make +one." + +"Wait," replied the young novice, stopping Hercules, who, hatchet in +hand, was preparing to dive. + +Dick Sand reflected for a few moments, and then he said: + +"We are going to proceed in another manner. The whole question is to +know whether the water covers the ant-hill or not. If we make a small +opening at the summit of the cone, we shall find out which it is. But +in case the ant-hill should be submerged now, the water would fill it +entirely, and we would be lost. Let us feel our way." + +"But quickly," replied Tom. + +In fact, the level continued to rise gradually. There were then six +feet of water inside the cone. With the exception of Mrs. Weldon, +her son, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, who had taken refuge in the upper +cavities, all were immersed to the waist. + +Then there was a necessity for quick action, as Dick Sand proposed. + +It was one foot above the interior level, consequently seven feet from +the ground, that Dick Sand resolved to pierce a hole in the clay wall. + +If, by this hole, they were in communication with the outer air, the +cone emerges. If, on the contrary, this hole was pierced below the +water level outside, the air would be driven inward, and in that case +they must stop it up at once, or the water would rise to its orifice. +Then they would commence again a foot higher, and so on. If, at last, +at the top, they did not yet find the outer air, it was because there +was a depth of more than fifteen feet of water in the plain, and that +the whole termite village had disappeared under the inundation. Then +what chance had the prisoners in the ant-hill to escape the most +terrible of deaths, death by slow asphyxia? + +Dick Sand knew all that, but he did not lose his presence of mind for +a moment. He had closely calculated the consequences of the experiment +he wished to try. Besides, to wait longer was not possible. Asphyxia +was threatening in this narrow space, reduced every moment, in a +medium already saturated with carbonic acid. + +The best tool Dick Sand could employ to pierce a hole through the wall +was a ramrod furnished with a screw, intended to draw the wadding from +a gun. By making it turn rapidly, this screw scooped out the clay like +an auger, and the hole was made little by little. Then it would not +have a larger diameter than that of the ramrod, but that would be +sufficient. The air could come through very well. + +Hercules holding up the lantern lighted Dick Sand. They had some wax +candles to take its place, and they had not to fear lack of light from +that source. + +A minute after the beginning of the operation, the ramrod went freely +through the wall. At once a rather dull noise was produced, resembling +that made by globules of air escaping through a column of water. The +air escaped, and, at the same moment, the level of the water rose in +the cone, and stopped at the height of the hole. This proved that they +had pierced too low--that is to say, below the liquid mass. + +"Begin again," the young novice said, coolly, after rapidly stopping +the hole with a handful of clay. + +The water was again stationary in the cone, but the reserved space had +diminished more than eight inches. Respiration became difficult, for +the oxygen was beginning to fail. They saw it also by the lantern's +light, which reddened and lost a part of its brightness. + +One foot above the first hole, Dick Sand began at once to pierce a +second by the same process. If the experiment failed, the water would +rise still higher inside the cone--but that risk must be run. + +While Dick Sand was working his auger, they heard Cousin Benedict cry +out, suddenly: + +"Mercy! look--look--look why!" + +Hercules raised his lantern and threw its light on Cousin Benedict, +whose face expressed the most perfect satisfaction. + +"Yes," repeated he, "look why those intelligent termites have +abandoned the ant-hill! They had felt the inundation beforehand. Ah! +instinct, my friends, instinct. The termites are wiser than we are, +much wiser." + +And that was all the moral Cousin Benedict drew from the situation. + +At that moment Dick Sand drew out the ramrod, which had penetrated the +wall. A hissing was produced. The water rose another foot inside the +cone--the hole had not reached the open air outside. + +The situation was dreadful. Mrs. Weldon, then almost reached by the +water, had raised little Jack in her arms. All were stifling in this +narrow space. Their ears buzzed. + +The lantern only threw a faint light. + +"Is the cone, then, entirely under water?" murmured Dick Sand. + +He must know; and, in order to know, he must pierce a third hole, at +the very top. + +But it was asphyxia, it was immediate death, if the result of this +last attempt should prove fruitless. The air remaining inside would +escape through the upper sheet of water, and the water would fill the +whole cone. + +"Mrs. Weldon," then said Dick Sand, "you know the situation. If we +delay, respirable air will fail us. If the third attempt fails, water +will fill all this space. Our only chance is that the summit of the +cone is above the level of the inundation. We must try this last +experiment. Are you willing?" + +"Do it, Dick!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +At that moment the lantern went out in that medium already unfit for +combustion. Mrs. Weldon and her companions were plunged in the most +complete darkness. + +Dick Sand was perched on Hercules's shoulders. The latter was hanging +on to one of the lateral cavities. Only his head was above the bed of +water. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict were in the last story of +cells. + +Dick Sand scratched the wall, and his ramrod pierced the clay rapidly. +In this place the wall, being thicker and harder also, was more +difficult to penetrate. Dick Sand hastened, not without terrible +anxiety, for by this narrow opening either life was going to penetrate +with the air, or with the water it was death. + +Suddenly a sharp hissing was heard. The compressed air escaped--but a +ray of daylight filtered through the wall. The water only rose eight +inches, and stopped, without Dick Sand being obliged to close the +hole. The equilibrium was established between the level within and +that outside. The summit of the cone emerged. Mrs. Weldon and her +companions were saved. + +At once, after a frantic hurra, in which Hercules's thundering voice +prevailed, the cutlasses were put to work. The summit, quickly +attacked, gradually crumbled. The hole was enlarged, the pure air +entered in waves, and with it the first rays of the rising sun. The +top once taken off the cone, it would be easy to hoist themselves on +to its wall, and they would devise means of reaching some neighboring +height, above all inundations. + +Dick Sand first mounted to the summit of the cone. + +A cry escaped him. + +That particular noise, too well known by African travelers, the +whizzing of arrows, passed through the air. + +Dick Sand had had time to perceive a camp a hundred feet from the +ant-hill, and ten feet from the cone, on the inundated plain, long +boats, filled with natives. + +It was from one of those boats that the flight of arrows had come the +moment the young novice's head appeared out of the hole. + +Dick Sand, in a word, had told all to his companions. Seizing his gun, +followed by Hercules, Acteon, and Bat, he reappeared at the summit of +the cone, and all fired on one of the boats. + +Several natives fell, and yells, accompanied by shots, replied to the +detonation of the fire-arms. + +But what could Dick Sand and his companions do against a hundred +Africans, who surrounded them on all sides? + +The ant-hill was assailed. Mrs. Weldon, her child, and Cousin +Benedict, all were brutally snatched from it, and without having had +time to speak to each other or to shake hands for the last time, they +saw themselves separated from each other, doubtless in virtue of +orders previously given. + +A last boat took away Mrs. Weldon, little Jack and Cousin Benedict. +Dick Sand saw them disappear in the middle of the camp. + +As to him, accompanied by Nan, Old Tom, Hercules, Bat, Acteon and +Austin, he was thrown into a second boat, which went toward another +point of the hill. + +Twenty natives entered this boat. + +It was followed by five others. + +Resistance was not possible, and nevertheless, Dick Sand and his +companions attempted it. Some soldiers of the caravan were wounded +by them, and certainly they would have paid for this resistance with +their lives, if there had not been a formal order to spare them. + +In a few minutes, the passage was made. But just as the boat landed, +Hercules, with an irresistible bound, sprang on the ground. Two +natives having sprung on him, the giant turned his gun like a club, +and the natives fell, with their skulls broken. + +A moment after, Hercules disappeared under the cover of the trees, +in the midst of a shower of balls, as Dick Sand and his companions, +having been put on land, were chained like slaves. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN CAMP ON THE BANKS OF THE COANZA. + + +The aspect of the country was entirely changed since the inundation. +It had made a lake of the plain where the termite village stood. The +cones of twenty ant-hills emerged, and formed the only projecting +points on this large basin. + +The Coanza had overflowed during the night, with the waters of its +tributaries swelled by the storm. + +This Coanza, one of the rivers of Angola, flows into the Atlantic, a +hundred miles from the cape where the "Pilgrim" was wrecked. It was +this river that Lieutenant Cameron had to cross some years later, +before reaching Benguela. The Coanza is intended to become the vehicle +for the interior transit of this portion of the Portuguese colony. +Already steamers ascend its lower course, and before ten years elapse, +they will ply over its upper bed. Dick Sand had then acted wisely in +seeking some navigable river toward the north. The rivulet he had +followed had just been emptied into the Coanza. Only for this sudden +attack, of which he had had no intimation to put him on his guard, he +would have found the Coanza a mile farther on. His companions and he +would have embarked on a raft, easily constructed, and they would have +had a good chance to descend the stream to the Portuguese villages, +where the steamers come into port. There, their safety would be +secured. + +It would not be so. + +The camp, perceived by Dick Sand, was established on an elevation near +the ant-hill, into which fate had thrown him, as in a trap. At the +summit of that elevation rose an enormous sycamore fig-tree, which +would easily shelter five hundred men under its immense branches. +Those who have not seen those giant trees of Central Africa, can form +no idea of them. Their branches form a forest, and one could be lost +in it. Farther on, great banyans, of the kind whose seeds do not +change into fruits, completed the outline of this vast landscape. + +It was under the sycamore's shelter, hidden, as in a mysterious +asylum, that a whole caravan--the one whose arrival Harris had +announced to Negoro--had just halted. This numerous procession of +natives, snatched from their villages by the trader Alvez's agents, +were going to the Kazounde market. Thence the slaves, as needed, would +be sent either to the barracks of the west coast, or to N'yangwe, +toward the great lake region, to be distributed either in upper Egypt, +or in the factories of Zanzibar. + +As soon as they arrived at the camp, Dick Sand and his companions had +been treated as slaves. Old Tom, his son Austin, Acteon, poor Nan, +negroes by birth, though they did not belong to the African race, were +treated like captive natives. After they were disarmed, in spite of +the strongest resistance, they were held by the throat, two by two, by +means of a pole six or seven feet long, forked at each end, and closed +by an iron rod. By this means they were forced to march in line, one +behind the other, unable to get away either to the right or to the +left. As an over precaution, a heavy chain was attached to their +waists. They had their arms free, to carry burdens, their feet free to +march, but they could not use them to flee. Thus they were going to +travel hundreds of miles under an overseer's lash. Placed apart, +overcome by the reaction which followed the first moments of their +struggle against the negroes, they no longer made a movement. Why had +they not been able to follow Hercules in his flight? And, meanwhile, +what could they hope for the fugitive? Strong as he was, what would +become of him in that inhospitable country, where hunger, solitude, +savage beasts, natives, all were against him? Would he not soon regret +his companion's fate? They, however, had no pity to expect from the +chiefs of the caravan, Arabs or Portuguese, speaking a language they +could not understand. These chiefs only entered into communication +with their prisoners by menacing looks and gestures. + +Dick Sand himself was not coupled with any other slave. He was a white +man, and probably they had not dared to inflict the common treatment +on him. Unarmed, he had his feet and hands free, but a driver watched +him especially. He observed the camp, expecting each moment to see +Negoro or Harris appear. His expectation was in vain. He had no doubt, +however, that those two miserable men had directed the attack against +the ant-hill. + +Thus the thought came to him that Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, and Cousin +Benedict had been led away separately by orders from the American or +from the Portuguese. Seeing neither one nor the other, he said to +himself that perhaps the two accomplices even accompanied their +victims. Where were they leading them? What would they do with them? +It was his most cruel care. Dick Sand forgot his own situation to +think only of Mrs. Weldon and hers. + +The caravan, camped under the gigantic sycamore, did not count less +than eight hundred persons, say five hundred slaves of both sexes, +two hundred soldiers, porters, marauders, guards, drivers, agents, or +chiefs. + +These chiefs were of Arab and Portugese origin. It would be difficult +to imagine the cruelties that these inhuman beings inflicted on their +captives. They struck them without relaxation, and those who fell +exhausted, not fit to be sold, were finished with gunshots or the +knife. Thus they hold them by terror. But the result of this system +is, that on the arrival of the caravan, fifty out of a hundred slaves +are missing from the trader's list. A few may have escaped, but the +bones of those who died from torture mark out the long routes from the +interior to the coast. + +It is supposed that the agents of European origin, Portuguese for the +most part, are only rascals whom their country has rejected, convicts, +escaped prisoners, old slave-drivers whom the authorities have been +unable to hang--in a word, the refuse of humanity. Such was Negoro, +such was Harris, now in the service of one of the greatest contractors +of Central Africa, Jose-Antonio Alvez, well known by the traders of +the province, about whom Lieutenant Cameron has given some curious +information. + +The soldiers who escort the captives are generally natives in the pay +of the traders. But the latter have not the monopoly of those raids +which procure the slaves for them. The negro kings also make atrocious +wars with each other, and with the same object. Then the vanquished +adults, the women and children, reduced to slavery, are sold by the +vanquishers for a few yards of calico, some powder, a few firearms, +pink or red pearls, and often even, as Livingstone says, in periods of +famine, for a few grains of maize. + +The soldiers who escorted old Alvez's caravan might give a true idea +of what African armies are. + +It was an assemblage of negro bandits, hardly clothed, who brandished +long flint-lock guns, the gun-barrels garnished with a great number of +copper rings. With such an escort, to which are joined marauders who +are no better, the agents often have all they can do. They dispute +orders, they insist on their own halting places and hours, they +threaten to desert, and it is not rare for the agents to be forced to +yield to the exactions of this soldiery. + +Though the slaves, men or women, are generally subjected to carry +burdens while the caravan is on the march, yet a certain number of +porters accompany it. They are called more particularly "Pagazis," and +they carry bundles of precious objects, principally ivory. Such is the +size of these elephants' teeth sometimes, of which some weigh as much +as one hundred and sixty pounds, that it takes two of these "Pagazis" +to carry them to the factories. Thence this precious merchandise is +exported to the markets of Khartoum, of Zanzibar and Natal. + +On arriving, these "Pagazis" are paid the price agreed upon. It +consists in twenty yards of cotton cloth, or of that stuff which bears +the name of "Merikani," a little powder, a handful of cowry (shells +very common in that country, which serve as money), a few pearls, or +even those of the slaves who would be difficult to sell. The slaves +are paid, when the trader has no other money. + +Among the five hundred slaves that the caravan counted, there were +few grown men. That is because, the "Razzia" being finished and +the village set on fire, every native above forty is unmercifully +massacred and hung to a neighboring tree. Only the young adults of +both sexes and the children are intended to furnish the markets. +After these men-hunts, hardly a tenth of the vanquished survive. This +explains the frightful depopulation which changes vast territories of +equatorial Africa into deserts. + +Here, the children and the adults were hardly clothed with a rag of +that bark stuff, produced by certain trees, and called "mbouzon" in +the country. Thus the state of this troop of human beings, women +covered with wounds from the "havildars'" whips, children ghastly +and meager, with bleeding feet, whom their mothers tried to carry in +addition to their burdens, young men closely riveted to the fork, more +torturing than the convict's chain, is the most lamentable that can be +imagined. + +Yes, the sight of the miserable people, hardly living, whose voices +have no sound, ebony skeletons according to Livingstone's expression, +would touch the hearts of wild beasts. But so much misery did not +touch those hardened Arabs nor those Portuguese, who, according to +Lieutenant Cameron, are still more cruel. This is what Cameron says: +"To obtain these fifty women, of whom Alvez called himself proprietor, +ten villages had been destroyed, ten villages having each from one +hundred to two hundred souls: a total of fifteen hundred inhabitants. +Some had been able to escape, but the greater part--almost all--had +perished in the flames, had been killed in defending their families, +or had died of hunger in the jungle, unless the beasts of prey had +terminated their sufferings more promptly. + +"Those crimes, perpetrated in the center of Africa by men who boast of +the name of Christians, and consider themselves Portuguese, would seem +incredible to the inhabitants of civilized countries. It is impossible +that the government of Lisbon knows the atrocities committed by people +who boast of being her subjects." _--Tour of the World_. + +In Portugal there have been very warm protestations against these +assertions of Cameron's. + +It need not be said that, during the marches, as during the halts, the +prisoners were very carefully guarded. Thus, Dick Sand soon understood +that he must not even attempt to get away. But then, how find Mrs. +Weldon again? That she and her child had been carried away by Negoro +was only too certain. The Portuguese had separated her from her +companions for reasons unknown as yet to the young novice. But he +could not doubt Negoro's intervention, and his heart was breaking at +the thought of the dangers of all kinds which threatened Mrs. Weldon. + +"Ah!" he said to himself, "when I think that I have held those two +miserable men, both of them, at the end of my gun, and that I have not +killed them!" + +This thought was one of those which returned most persistently to Dick +Sand's mind. What misfortunes the death, the just death of Harris and +Negoro might have prevented! What misery, at least, for those whom +these brokers in human flesh were now treating as slaves! + +All the horror of Mrs. Weldon's and little Jack's situation now +represented itself to Dick Sand. Neither the mother nor the child +could count on Cousin Benedict. The poor man could hardly take care of +himself. + +Doubtless they were taking all three to some district remote from the +province of Angola. But who was carrying the still sick child? + +"His mother; yes, his mother," Dick Sand repeated to himself. "She +will have recovered strength for him; she will have done what these +unhappy female slaves do, and she will fall like them. Ah! may God put +me again in front of her executioners, and I--" + +But he was a prisoner! He counted one head in this live-stock that the +overseers were driving to the interior of Africa. He did not even know +whether Negoro and Harris themselves were directing the convoy of +which their victims made a part. Dingo was no longer there to scent +the Portuguese, to announce his approach. Hercules alone might come to +the assistance of the unfortunate Mrs. Weldon. But was that miracle to +be hoped for? + +However, Dick Sand fell back again on that idea. He said to himself +that the strong black man was free. Of his devotion there was no +doubt. All that a human being could do, Hercules would do in Mrs. +Weldon's interest. Yes, either Hercules would try to find them and put +himself in communication with them; or if that failed him, he would +endeavor to concert with him, Dick Sand, and perhaps carry him off, +deliver him by force. During the night halts, mingling with these +prisoners, black like them, could he not deceive the soldier's +vigilance, reach him, break his bonds, and lead him away into the +forest? And both of them, then free, what would they not do for Mrs. +Weldon's safety. A water course would enable them to descend to the +coast. Dick Sand would again take up that plan so unfortunately +prevented by the natives' attack, with new chances of success and a +greater knowledge of the difficulties. + +The young novice thus alternated between fear and hope. In fact, he +resisted despair, thanks to his energetic nature, and held himself in +readiness to profit by the least chance that might offer itself to +him. + +What he most desired to know was to what market the agents were taking +the convoy of slaves. Was it to one of the factories of Angola, and +would it be an affair of a few halting-places only, or would this +convoy travel for hundreds of miles still, across Central Africa? The +principal market of the contractors is that of N'yangwe, in Manyema, +on that meridian which divides the African continent into two almost +equal parts, there where extends the country of the great lakes, that +Livingstone was then traversing. But it was far from the camp on the +Coanza to that village. Months of travel would not suffice to reach +it. + +That was one of Dick Sand's most serious thoughts; for, once at +N'yangwe, in case even Mrs. Weldon, Hercules, the other blacks and +he should succeed in escaping, how difficult it would be, not to say +impossible, to return to the seacoast, in the midst of the dangers of +such a long route. + +But Dick Sand soon had reason to think that the convoy would soon +reach its destination. Though he did not understand the language +employed by the chiefs of the caravan, sometimes Arab, sometimes the +African idiom, he remarked that the name of an important market of +that region was often pronounced. It was the name Kazounde, and he +knew that a very great trade in slaves was carried on there. He was +then naturally led to believe that there the fate of the prisoners +would be decided, whether for the profit of the king of that district +or for the benefit of some rich trader of the country. We know that he +was not mistaken. + +Now, Dick Sand, being posted in the facts of modern geography, knew +very exactly what is known of Kazounde. The distance from Saint +Paul de Loanda to this city does not exceed four hundred miles, and +consequently two hundred and fifty miles, at the most, separates +it from the camp established on the Coanza. Dick Sand made his +calculation approximately, taking the distance traveled by the +little troop under Harris's lead as the base. Now, under ordinary +circumstances, this journey would only require from ten to twelve +days. Doubling that time for the needs of a caravan already exhausted +by a long route, Dick Sand might estimate the length of the journey +from the Coanza to Kazounde at three weeks. + +Dick Sand wished very much to impart what he believed he knew to Tom +and his companions. It would be a kind of consolation for them to be +assured that they were not being led to the center of Africa, into +those fatal countries which they could not hope to leave. Now, a few +words uttered in passing would be sufficient to enlighten them. Would +he succeed in saying those words? + +Tom and Bat--chance had reunited the father and son--Acteon and +Austin, forked two by two, were at the right extremity of the camp. An +overseer and a dozen soldiers watched them. + +Dick Sand, free in his movements, resolved to gradually diminish the +distance that separated him from his companions to fifty steps. He +then commenced to maneuver to that end. + +Very likely old Tom divined Dick Sand's thought. A word, pronounced in +a low voice, warned his companions to be attentive. They did not stir, +but they kept themselves ready to see, as well as to hear. + +Soon, with an indifferent air, Dick Sand had gained fifty steps more. +From the place where he then was, he could have called out, in such +a manner as to be heard, that name Kazounde, and tell them what +the probable length of the journey would be. But to complete his +instructions, and confer with them on their conduct during the +journey, would be still better. He then continued to draw nearer to +them. Already his heart was beating with hope; he was only a few +steps from the desired end, when the overseer, as if he had suddenly +penetrated his intention, rushed on him. At the cries of that enraged +person, ten soldiers ran to the spot, and Dick Sand was brutally led +back to the rear, while Tom and his companions were taken to the other +extremity of the camp. + +Exasperated, Dick Sand had thrown himself upon the overseer. He had +ended by breaking his gun in his hands. He had almost succeeded in +snatching it from him. But seven or eight soldiers assailed him at +once, and force was used to secure him. Furious, they would have +massacred him, if one of the chiefs of the caravan, an Arab of great +height and ferocious physiognomy, had not intervened. This Arab was +the chief Ibn Hamis, of whom Harris had spoken. He pronounced a few +words which Dick Sand could not understand, and the soldiers, obliged +to release their prey, went away. + +It was, then, very evident, for one thing, that there had been a +formal order not to allow the young novice to communicate with his +companions; and for another, that his life should not be taken. + +Who could have given such orders, if not Harris or Negoro? + +At that moment--it was nine o'clock in the morning, April 19th--the +harsh sounds from a "condou's" horn (a kind of ruminating animal among +the African deer) burst forth, and the drum was heard. The halt was +going to end. + +All, chiefs, porters, soldiers, slaves, were immediately on foot. +Laden with their packs, several groups of captives were formed under +the leadership of an overseer, who unfurled a banner of bright colors. + +The signal for departure was given. Songs then rose on the air; but +they were the vanquished, not the vanquishers, who sang thus. + +This is what they said in these songs--a threatening expression of a +simple faith from the slaves against their oppressors--against their +executioners: + +"You have sent me to the coast, but I shall be dead; I shall have a +yoke no longer, and I shall return to kill you." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SOME OF DICK SAND'S NOTES. + + +Though the storm of the day before had ceased, the weather was still +very unsettled. It was, besides, the period of the "masika," the +second period of the rainy season, under this zone of the African +heaven. The nights in particular would be rainy during one, two, or +three weeks, which could only increase the misery of the caravan. + +It set out that day in cloudy weather, and, after quitting the banks +of the Coanza, made its way almost directly to the east. Fifty +soldiers marched at the head, a hundred on each of the two sides of +the convoy, the rest as a rear-guard. It would be difficult for the +prisoners to flee, even if they had not been chained. Women, children, +and men were going pell-mell, and the overseers urged them on with the +whip. There were unfortunate mothers who, nursing one child, held a +second by the hand that was free. Others dragged these little beings +along, without clothing, without shoes, on the sharp grasses of the +soil. + +The chief of the caravan, that ferocious Ibn Hamis, who had interfered +in the struggle between Dick Sand and his overseer, watched this whole +troop, going backwards and forwards from the head to the foot of the +long column. If his agents and he troubled themselves but little about +the sufferings of their captives, they must reckon more seriously +either with the soldiers who claimed some additional rations, or with +the "pagazis" who wanted to halt. Thence discussions; often even an +exchange of brutality. The slaves suffered more from the overseers' +constant irritation. Nothing was heard but threats from one side, and +cries of grief from the other. Those who marched in the last ranks +treaded a soil that the first had stained with their blood. + +Dick Sand's companions, always carefully kept in front of the convoy, +could have no communication with him. They advanced in file, the neck +held in the heavy fork, which did not permit a single head-movement. +The whips did not spare them any more than their sad companions in +misfortune. + +Bat, coupled with his father, marched before him, taxing his ingenuity +not to shake the fork, choosing the best places to step on, because +old Tom must pass after him. From time to time, when the overseer was +a little behind, he uttered various words of encouragement, some of +which reached Tom. He even tried to retard his march, if he felt that +Tom was getting tired. It was suffering, for this good son to be +unable to turn his head towards his good father, whom he loved. +Doubtless, Tom had the satisfaction of seeing his son; however, he +paid dear for it. How many times great tears flowed from his eyes when +the overseer's whip fell upon Bat! It was a worse punishment than if +it had fallen on his own flesh. + +Austin and Acteon marched a few steps behind, tied to each other, and +brutally treated every moment. Ah, how they envied Hercules's fate! +Whatever were the dangers that threatened the latter in that savage +country, he could at least use his strength and defend his life. + +During the first moments of their captivity, old Tom had finally made +known the whole truth to his companions. They had learned from him, to +their profound astonishment, that they were in Africa; that Negoro's +and Harris's double treachery had first thrown them there, and then +led them away, and that no pity was to be expected from their masters. + +Nan was not better treated. She made part of a group of women who +occupied the middle of the convoy. They had chained her with a young +mother of two children, one at the breast, the other aged three years, +who walked with difficulty. Nan, moved with pity, had burdened herself +with the little creature, and the poor slave had thanked her by a +tear. Nan then carried the infant, at the same time, sparing her the +fatigue, to which she would have yielded, and the blows the overseer +would have given her. But it was a heavy burden for old Nan. She felt +that her strength would soon fail her, and then she thought of little +Jack. She pictured him to herself in his mother's arms. Sickness had +wasted him very much, but he must be still heavy for Mrs. Weldon's +weakened arms. Where was she? What would become of her? Would her old +servant ever see her again? + +Dick Sand had been placed almost in the rear of the convoy. He could +neither perceive Tom, nor his companions, nor Nan. The head of the +long caravan was only visible to him when it was crossing some plain. +He walked, a prey, to the saddest thoughts, from which the agents' +cries hardly drew his attention. He neither thought of himself, nor +the fatigues he must still support, nor of the tortures probably +reserved for him by Negoro. He only thought of Mrs. Weldon. In rain +he sought on the ground, on the brambles by the paths, on the lower +branches of the trees, to find some trace of her passage. She could +not have taken another road, if, as everything indicated, they +were leading her to Kazounde. What would he not give to find some +indication of her march to the destination where they themselves were +being led! + +Such was the situation of the young novice and his companions in body +and mind. But whatever they might have to fear for themselves, great +as was their own sufferings, pity took possession of them on seeing +the frightful misery of that sad troop of captives, and the revolting +brutality of their masters. Alas! they could do nothing to succor the +afflicted, nothing to resist the others. + +All the country situated east of the Coanza was only a forest for over +an extent of twenty miles. The trees, however, whether they perish +under the biting of the numerous insects of these countries, or +whether troops of elephants beat them down while they are still young, +are less crowded here than in the country next to the seacoast. The +march, then, under the trees, would not present obstacles. The shrubs +might be more troublesome than the trees. There was, in fact, an +abundance of those cotton-trees, seven to eight feet high, the cotton +of which serves to manufacture the black and white striped stuffs used +in the interior of the province. + +In certain places, the soil transformed itself into thick jungles, in +which the convoy disappeared. Of all the animals of the country, +the elephants and giraffes alone were taller than those reeds which +resemble bamboos, those herbs, the stalks of which measure an inch in +diameter. The agents must know the country marvelously well, not to be +lost in these jungles. + +Each day the caravan set out at daybreak, and only halted at midday +for an hour. Some packs containing tapioca were then opened, and this +food was parsimoniously distributed to the slaves. To this potatoes +were added, or goat's meat and veal, when the soldiers had pillaged +some village in passing. But the fatigue had been such, the repose so +insufficient, so impossible even during these rainy nights, that when +the hour for the distribution of food arrived the prisoners could +hardly eat. So, eight days after the departure from the Coanza, twenty +had fallen by the way, at the mercy of the beasts that prowled behind +the convoy. Lions, panthers and leopards waited for the victims which +could not fail them, and each evening after sunset their roaring +sounded at such a short distance that one might fear a direct attack. + +On hearing those roars, rendered more formidable by the darkness, +Dick Sand thought with terror of the obstacles such encounters would +present against Hercules's enterprise, of the perils that menaced each +of his steps. And meanwhile if he himself should find an opportunity +to flee, he would not hesitate. + +Here are some notes taken by Dick Sand during this journey from the +Coanza to Kazounde. Twenty-five "marches" were employed to make this +distance of two hundred and fifty miles, the "march" in the traders' +language being ten miles, halting by day and night. + +_From 25th to 27th April._--Saw a village surrounded by walls of +reeds, eight or nine feet high. Fields cultivated with maize, beans, +"sorghas" and various arachides. Two blacks seized and made prisoners. +Fifteen killed. Population fled. + +The next day crossed an impetuous river, one hundred and fifty yards +wide. Floating bridge, formed of trunks of trees, fastened with +lianes. Piles half broken. Two women, tied to the same fork, +precipitated into the water. One was carrying her little child. The +waters are disturbed and become stained with blood. Crocodiles glide +between the parts of the bridge. There is danger of stepping into +their open mouths. + +_April 28th_.--Crossed a forest of bauhiniers. Trees of straight +timber--those which furnish the iron wood for the Portuguese. + +Heavy rain. Earth wet. March extremely painful. + +Perceived, toward the center of the convoy, poor Nan, carrying +a little negro child in her arms. She drags herself along with +difficulty. The slave chained with her limps, and the blood flows from +her shoulder, torn by lashes from the whip. + +In the evening camped under an enormous baobab with white flowers and +a light green foliage. + +During the night roars of lions and leopards. Shots fired by one of +the natives at a panther. What has become of Hercules? + +_April 29th and 30th_.--First colds of what they call the African +winter. Dew very abundant. End of the rainy season with the month of +April; it commences with the month of November. Plains still largely +inundated. East winds which check perspiration and renders one more +liable to take the marsh fevers. + +No trace of Mrs. Weldon, nor of Mr. Benedict. Where would they take +them, if not to Kazounde? They must have followed the road of the +caravan and preceded us. I am eaten up with anxiety. Little Jack must +be seized again with the fever in this unhealthy region. But does he +still live? + +_From May 1st to May 6th_.--Crossed, with several halting-places, +long plains, which evaporation has not been able to dry up. Water +everywhere up to the waist. Myriads of leeches adhering to the skin. +We must march for all that. On some elevations that emerge are lotus +and papyrus. At the bottom, under the water, other plants, with large +cabbage leaves, on which the feet slip, which occasions numerous +falls. + +In these waters, considerable quantities of little fish of the silurus +species. The natives catch them by billions in wickers and sell them +to the caravans. + +Impossible to find a place to camp for the night. We see no limit to +the inundated plain. We must march in the dark. To-morrow many slaves +will be missing from the convoy. What misery! When one falls, why get +up again? A few moments more under these waters, and all would be +finished. The overseer's stick would not reach you in the darkness. + +Yes, but Mrs. Weldon and her son! I have not the right to abandon +them. I shall resist to the end. It is my duty. + +Dreadful cries are heard in the night. Twenty soldiers have torn some +branches from resinous trees whose branches were above water. Livid +lights in the darkness. + +This is the cause of the cries I heard. An attack of crocodiles; +twelve or fifteen of those monsters have thrown themselves in the +darkness on the flank of the caravan. + +Women and children have been seized and carried away by the crocodiles +to their "pasture lands"--so Livingstone calls those deep holes where +this amphibious animal deposits its prey, after having drowned it, for +it only eats it when it has reached a certain degree of decomposition. + +I have been rudely grazed by the scales of one of these crocodiles. An +adult slave has been seized near me and torn from the fork that held +him by the neck. The fork was broken. What a cry of despair! What a +howl of grief! I hear it still! + +_May 7th and 8th_.--The next day they count the victims. Twenty slaves +have disappeared. + +At daybreak I look for Tom and his companions. God be praised! they +are living. Alas! ought I to praise God? Is one not happier to be done +with all this misery! + +Tom is at the head of the convoy. At a moment when his son Bat made a +turn, the fork was presented obliquely, and Tom was able to see me. + +I search in vain for old Nan. Is she in the central group? or has she +perished during that frightful night? + +The next day, passed the limit of the inundated plain, after +twenty-four hours in the water. We halt on a hill. The sun dries us +a little. We eat, but what miserable food! A little tapioca, a few +handfuls of maize. Nothing but the troubled water to drink. Prisoners +extended on the ground--how many will not get up! + +No! it is not possible that Mrs. Weldon and her son have passed +through so much misery! God would be so gracious to them as to have +them led to Kazounde by another road. The unhappy mother could not +resist. + +New case of small-pox in the caravan; the "ndoue," as they say. The +sick could not be able to go far. Will they abandon them? + +_May 9th_.--They have begun the march again at sunrise. No laggards. +The overseer's whip has quickly raised those overcome by fatigue or +sickness. Those slaves have a value; they are money. The agents will +not leave them behind while they have strength enough to march. + +I am surrounded by living skeletons. They have no longer voice enough +to complain. I have seen old Nan at last. She is a sad sight. The +child she was carrying is no longer in her arms. She is alone, too. +That will be less painful for her; but the chain is still around her +waist, and she has been obliged to throw the end over her shoulder. + +By hastening, I have been able to draw near her. One would say that +she did not recognize me. Am I, then, changed to that extent? + +"Nan," I said. + +The old servant looked at me a long time, and then she exclaimed: + +"You, Mr. Dick! I--I--before long I shall be dead!" + +"No, no! Courage!" I replied, while my eyes fell so as not to see what +was only the unfortunate woman's bloodless specter. + +"Dead!" she continued; "and I shall not see my dear mistress again, +nor my little Jack. My God! my God! have pity on me!" + +I wished to support old Nan, whose whole body trembled under her torn +clothing. It would have been a mercy to see myself tied to her, and +to carry my part of that chain, whose whole weight she bore since her +companion's death. + +A strong arm pushes me back, and the unhappy Nan is thrown back into +the crowd of slaves, lashed by the whips. I wished to throw myself on +that brutal----The Arab chief appears, seizes my arm, and holds me +till I find myself again in the caravan's last rank. + +Then, in his turn, he pronounces the name, "Negoro!" + +Negoro! It is then by the Portuguese's orders that he acts and treats +me differently from my companions in misfortune? + +For what fate am I reserved? + +_May 10th_.--To-day passed near two villages in flames. The stubble +burns on all sides. Dead bodies are hung from the trees the fire has +spared. Population fled. + +Fields devastated. The _razzie_ is exercised there. Two hundred +murders, perhaps, to obtain a dozen slaves. + +Evening has arrived. Halt for the night. Camp made under great trees. +High shrubs forming a thicket on the border of the forest. + +Some prisoners fled the night before, after breaking their forks. +They have been retaken, and treated with unprecedented cruelty. The +soldiers' and overseers' watchfulness is redoubled. + +Night has come. Roaring of lions and hyenas, distant snorting of +hippopotami. Doubtless some lake or watercourse near. + +In spite of my fatigue, I cannot sleep. I think of so many things. + +Then, it seems to me that I hear prowling in the high grass. Some +animal, perhaps. Would it dare force an entrance into the camp? + +I listen. Nothing! Yes! An animal is passing through the reeds. I am +unarmed! I shall defend myself, nevertheless. My life may be useful to +Mrs. Weldon, to my companions. + +I look through the profound darkness. There is no moon. The night is +extremely dark. + +Two eyes shine in the darkness, among the papyrus--two eyes of a hyena +or a leopard. They disappear--reappear. + +At last there is a rustling of the bushes. An animal springs upon me! + +I am going to cry out, to give the alarm. Fortunately, I was able to +restrain myself. I cannot believe my eyes! It is Dingo! Dingo, who is +near me! Brave Dingo! How is it restored to me? How has it been able +to find me again? Ah! instinct! Would instinct be sufficient to +explain such miracles of fidelity? It licks my hands. Ah! good dog, +now my only friend, they have not killed you, then! + +It understands me. + +I return its caresses. + +It wants to bark. + +I calm it. It must not be heard. + +Let it follow the caravan in this way, without being seen, and +perhaps----But what! It rubs its neck obstinately against my hands. It +seems to say to me: "Look for something." I look, and I feel something +there, fastened to its neck. A piece of reed is slipped under the +collar, on which are graven those two letters, S.V., the mystery of +which is still inexplicable to us. + +Yes. I have unfastened the reed. I have broken it! There is a +letter inside. But this letter--I cannot read it. I must wait for +daylight!--daylight! I should like to keep Dingo; but the good +animal, even while licking my hands, seems in a hurry to leave me. It +understands that its mission is finished. With one bound aside, it +disappears among the bushes without noise. May God spare it from the +lions' and hyenas' teeth! + +Dingo has certainly returned to him who sent it to me. + +This letter, that I cannot yet read, burns my hands! Who has written +it? Would it come from Mrs. Weldon? Does it come from Hercules? How +has the faithful animal, that we believed dead, met either the one +or the other? What is this letter going to tell me? Is it a plan of +escape that it brings me? Or does it only give me news of those dear +to me? Whatever it may be, this incident has greatly moved me, and has +relaxed my misery. + +Ah! the day comes so slowly. I watch for the least light on the +horizon. I cannot close my eyes. I still hear the roaring of the +animals. My poor Dingo, can you escape them? At last day is going to +appear, and almost without dawn, under these tropical latitudes. + +I settle myself so as not to be seen. I try to read--I cannot yet. At +last I have read. The letter is from Hercules's hand. It is written on +a bit of paper, in pencil. Here is what it says: + + "Mrs. Weldon was taken away with little Jack in a _kitanda_. + Harris and Negoro accompany it. They precede the caravan by three + or four marches, with Cousin Benedict. I have not been able to + communicate with her. I have found Dingo, who must have been + wounded by a shot, but cured. Good hope, Mr. Dick. I only think of + you all, and I fled to be more useful to you. HERCULES." + +Ah! Mrs. Weldon and her son are living. God be praised! They have not +to suffer the fatigues of these rude halting-places. A _kitanda_--it +is a kind of litter of dry grass, suspended to a long bamboo, that two +men carry on the shoulder. A stuff curtain covers it over. Mrs. Weldon +and her little Jack are in that _kitanda_. What does Harris and Negoro +want to do with them? Those wretches are evidently going to Kazounde. +Yes, yes, I shall find them again. Ah! in all this misery it is good +news, it is joy that Dingo has brought me! + +_From May 11th to 15th_.--The caravan continues its march. The +prisoners drag themselves along more and more painfully. The majority +have marks of blood under their feet. I calculate that it will take +ten days more to reach Kazounde. How many will have ceased to suffer +before then? But I--I must arrive there, I shall arrive there. + +It is atrocious! There are, in the convoy, unfortunate ones whose +bodies are only wounds. The cords that bind them enter into the flesh. + +Since yesterday a mother carries in her arms her little infant, dead +from hunger. She will not separate from it. + +Our route is strewn with dead bodies. The smallpox rages with new +violence. + +We have just passed near a tree. To this tree slaves were attached by +the neck. They were left there to die of hunger. + +_From May 16th to 24th_.--I am almost exhausted, but I have no right +to give up. The rains have entirely ceased. We have days of "hard +marching." That is what the traders call the "tirikesa," or afternoon +march. We must go faster, and the ground rises in rather steep +ascents. + +We pass through high shrubs of a very tough kind. They are the +"nyassi," the branches of which tear the skin off my face, whose sharp +seeds penetrate to my skin, under my dilapidated clothes. My strong +boots have fortunately kept good. + +The agents have commenced to abandon the slaves too sick to keep up. +Besides, food threatens to fail; soldiers and _pagazis_ would revolt +if their rations were diminished. They dare not retrench from them, +and then so much worse for the captives. + +"Let them eat one another!" said the chief. + +Then it follows that young slaves, still strong, die without the +appearance of sickness. I remember what Dr. Livingstone has said on +that subject: "Those unfortunates complain of the heart; they put +their hands there, and they fall. It is positively the heart +that breaks! That is peculiar to free men, reduced to slavery +unexpectedly!" + +To-day, twenty captives who could no longer drag themselves along, +have been massacred with axes, by the _havildars_! The Arab chief is +not opposed to massacre. The scene has been frightful! + +Poor old Nan has fallen under the knife, in this horrible butchery! +I strike against her corpse in passing! I cannot even give her a +Christian burial! She is first of the "Pilgrim's" survivors whom God +has called back to him. Poor good creature! Poor Nan! + +I watch for Dingo every night. It returns no more! Has misfortune +overtaken it or Hercules? No! no! I do not want to believe it! This +silence, which appears so long to me, only proves one thing--it is +that Hercules has nothing new to tell me yet. Besides, he must be +prudent, and on his guard. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +KAZOUNDE. + + +ON May 26th, the caravan of slaves arrived at Kazounde. Fifty per +cent. of the prisoners taken in the last raid had fallen on the road. +Meanwhile, the business was still good for the traders; demands were +coming in, and the price of slaves was about to rise in the African +markets. + +Angola at this period did an immense trade in blacks. The Portuguese +authorities of St. Paul de Loanda, or of Benguela, could not stop it +without difficulty, for the convoys traveled towards the interior +of the African continent. The pens near the coast overflowed with +prisoners, the few slavers that succeeded in eluding the cruisers +along the shore not being sufficient to carry all of them to the +Spanish colonies of America. + +Kazounde, situated three hundred miles from the mouth of the Coanza, +is one of the principal "lakonis," one of the most important markets +of the province. On its grand square the "tchitoka" business is +transacted; there, the slaves are exposed and sold. It is from this +point that the caravans radiate toward the region of the great lakes. + +Kazounde, like all the large towns of Central Africa, is divided into +two distinct parts. One is the quarter of the Arab, Portuguese or +native traders, and it contains their pens; the other is the residence +of the negro king, some ferocious crowned drunkard, who reigns through +terror, and lives from supplies furnished by the contractors. + +At Kazounde, the commercial quarter then belonged to that Jose-Antonio +Alvez, of whom Harris and Negoro had spoken, they being simply agents +in his pay. This contractor's principal establishment was there, he +had a second at Bihe, and a third at Cassange, in Benguela, which +Lieutenant Cameron visited some years later. + +Imagine a large central street, on each side groups of houses, +"tembes," with flat roofs, walls of baked earth, and a square court +which served as an enclosure for cattle. At the end of the street was +the vast "tchitoka" surrounded by slave-pens. Above this collection +of buildings rose some enormous banyans, whose branches swayed with +graceful movements. Here and there great palms, with their heads in +the air, drove the dust on the streets like brooms. Twenty birds of +prey watched over the public health. Such is the business quarter of +Kazounde. + +Near by ran the Louhi, a river whose course, still undetermined, is an +affluent, or at least a sub-affluent, of the Coango, a tributary of +the Zoire. + +The residence of the King of Kazounde, which borders on the business +quarter, is a confused collection of ill-built hovels, which spread +over the space of a mile square. Of these hovels, some are open, +others are inclosed by a palisade of reeds, or bordered with a hedge +of fig-trees. In one particular enclosure, surrounded by a fence of +papyrus, thirty of these huts served us dwellings for the chief's +slaves, in another group lived his wives, and a "tembe," still larger +and higher, was half hidden in a plantation of cassada. Such was +the residence of the King of Kazounde, a man of fifty--named Moini +Loungga; and already almost deprived of the power of his predecessors. +He had not four thousand of soldiers there, where the principal +Portuguese traders could count twenty thousand, and he could no +longer, as in former times, decree the sacrifice of twenty-five or +thirty slaves a day. + +This king was, besides, a prematurely-aged man, exhausted by debauch, +crazed by strong drink, a ferocious maniac, mutilating his subjects, +his officers or his ministers, as the whim seized him, cutting the +nose and ears off some, and the foot or the hand from others. His own +death, not unlooked for, would be received without regret. + +A single man in all Kazounde might, perhaps, lose by the death of +Moini Loungga. This was the contractor, Jose-Antonio Alvez, who agreed +very well with the drunkard, whose authority was recognized by the +whole province. If the accession of his first wife, Queen Moini, +should be contested, the States of Moini Loungga might be invaded by +a neighboring competitor, one of the kings of Oukonson. The latter, +being younger and more active, had already seized some villages +belonging to the Kazounde government. He had in his services another +trader, a rival of Alvez Tipo-Tipo, a black Arab of a pure race, whom +Cameron met at N'yangwe. + +What was this Alvez, the real sovereign under the reign of an imbruted +negro, whose vices he had developed and served? + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, already advanced in years, was not, as one might +suppose, a "msoungou," that is to say, a man of the white race. There +was nothing Portuguese about him but his name, borrowed, no doubt, for +the needs of commerce. He was a real negro, well known among traders, +and called Kenndele. He was born, in fact, at Donndo, or the borders +of the Coanza. He had commenced by being simply the agent of the +slave-brokers, and would have finished as a famous trader, that is to +say, in the skin of an old knave, who called himself the most honest +man in the world. + +Cameron met this Alvez in the latter part of 1874, at Kilemmba, the +capital of Kassonngo, chief of Ouroua. He guided Cameron with his +caravan to his own establishment at Bihe, over a route of seven +hundred miles. The convoy of slaves, on arriving at Kazounde, had been +conducted to the large square. + +It was the 26th of May. Dick Sand's calculations were then verified. +The journey had lasted thirty-eight days from the departure of the +army encamped on the banks of the Coanza. Five weeks of the most +fearful miseries that human beings could support. + +It was noon when the train entered Kazounde. The drums were beaten, +horns were blown in the midst of the detonations of fire-arms. The +soldiers guarding the caravan discharged their guns in the air, and +the men employed by Jose-Antonio Alvez replied with interest. All +these bandits were happy at meeting again, after an absence which had +lasted for four months. They were now going to rest and make up for +lost time in excesses and idleness. + +The prisoners then formed a total of two hundred and fifty, the +majority being completely exhausted. After having been driven like +cattle, they were to be shut up in pens, which American farmers would +not have used for pigs. Twelve or fifteen hundred other captives +awaited them, all of whom would be exposed in the market at Kazounde +on the next day but one. These pens were filled up with the slaves +from the caravan. The heavy forks had been taken off them, but they +were still in chains. + +The "pagazis" had stopped on the square after having disposed of their +loads of ivory, which the Kazounde dealers would deliver. Then, being +paid with a few yards of calico or other stuff at the highest price, +they would return and join some other caravan. + +Old Tom and his companions had been freed from the iron collar which +they had carried for five weeks. Bat and his father embraced each +other, and all shook hands; but no one ventured to speak. What could +they say that would not be an expression of despair. Bat, Acteon and +Austin, all three vigorous, accustomed to hard work, had been able +to resist fatigue; but old Tom, weakened by privations, was nearly +exhausted. A few more days and his corpse would have been left, like +poor Nan's, as food for the beasts of the province. + +As soon as they arrived, the four men had been placed in a narrow pen, +and the door had been at once shut upon them. There they had found +some food, and they awaited the trader's visit, with whom, although +quite in vain, they intended to urge the fact that they were +Americans. + +Dick Sand had remained alone on the square, under the special care of +a keeper. + +At length he was at Kazounde, where he did not doubt that Mrs. Weldon, +little Jack, and Cousin Benedict had preceded him. He had looked for +them in crossing the various quarters of the town, even in the depths +of the "tembes" that lined the streets, on this "tchitoka" now almost +deserted. + +Mrs. Weldon was not there. + +"Have they not brought her here?" he asked himself. "But where could +she be? No; Hercules cannot be mistaken. Then, again, he must have +learned the secret designs of Negoro and Harris; yet they, too--I do +not see them." + +Dick Sand felt the most painful anxiety. He could understand that Mrs. +Weldon, retained a prisoner, would be concealed from him. But Harris +and Negoro, particularly the latter, should hasten to see him, now in +their power, if only to enjoy their triumph--to insult him, torture +him, perhaps avenge themselves. From the fact that they were not +there, must he conclude that they had taken another direction, and +that Mrs. Weldon was to be conducted to some other point of Central +Africa? Should the presence of the American and the Portuguese be the +signal for his punishment, Dick Sand impatiently desired it. Harris +and Negoro at Kazounde, was for him the certainty that Mrs. Weldon and +her child were also there. + +Dick Sand then told himself that, since the night when Dingo had +brought him Hercules's note, the dog had not been seen. The young man +had prepared an answer at great risks. In it he told Hercules to +think only of Mrs. Weldon, not to lose sight of her, and to keep her +informed as well as possible of what happened; but he had not been +able to send it to its destination. If Dingo had been able to +penetrate the ranks of the caravan once, why did not Hercules let +him try it a second time? Had the faithful animal perished in some +fruitless attempt? Perhaps Hercules was following Mrs. Weldon, as Dick +Sand would have done in his place. Followed by Dingo, he might have +plunged into the depths of the woody plateau of Africa, in the hope of +reaching one of the interior establishments. + +What could Dick Sand imagine if, in fact, neither Mrs. Weldon nor her +enemies were there? He had been so sure, perhaps foolishly, of finding +them at Kazounde, that not to see them there at once gave him a +terrible shock. He felt a sensation of despair that he could not +subdue. His life, if it were no longer useful to those whom he loved, +was good for nothing, and he had only to die. But, in thinking in that +manner, Dick Sand mistook his own character. Under the pressure of +these trials, the child became a man, and with him discouragement +could only be an accidental tribute paid to human nature. + +A loud concert of trumpet-calls and cries suddenly commenced. Dick +Sand, who had just sunk down in the dust of the "tchitoka," stood up. +Every new incident might put him on the track of those whom he sought. + +In despair a moment before, he now no longer despaired. + +"Alvez! Alvez!" This name was repeated by a crowd of natives and +soldiers who now invaded the grand square. The man on whom the fate +of so many unfortunate people depended was about to appear. It was +possible that his agents, Harris and Negoro, were with him. Dick Sand +stood upright, his eyes open, his nostrils dilated. The two traitors +would find this lad of fifteen years before them, upright, firm, +looking them in the face. It would not be the captain of the "Pilgrim" +who would tremble before the old ship's cook. + +A hammock, a kind of "kitanda" covered by an old patched curtain, +discolored, fringed with rags, appeared at the end of the principal +street. An old negro descended. It was the trader, Jose-Antonio Alvez. +Several attendants accompanied him, making strong demonstrations. + +Along with Alvez appeared his friend Coimbra, the son of Major Coimbra +of Bihe, and, according to Lieutenant Cameron, the greatest scamp in +the province. He was a dirty creature, his breast was uncovered, his +eyes were bloodshot, his hair was rough and curly, his face yellow; +he was dressed in a ragged shirt and a straw petticoat. He would have +been called a horrible old man in his tattered straw hat. This Coimbra +was the confidant, the tool of Alvez, an organizer of raids, worthy of +commanding the trader's bandits. + +As for the trader, he might have looked a little less sordid than his +attendant. He wore the dress of an old Turk the day after a carnival. +He did not furnish a very high specimen of the factory chiefs who +carry on the trade on a large scale. + +To Dick Sand's great disappointment, neither Harris nor Negoro +appeared in the crowd that followed Alvez. Must he, then, renounce all +hope of finding them at Kazounde? + +Meanwhile, the chief of the caravan, the Arab, Ibn Hamis, shook hands +with Alvez and Coimbra. He received numerous congratulations. Alvez +made a grimace at the fifty per cent. of slaves failing in the general +count, but, on the whole, the affair was very satisfactory. With +what the trader possessed of human merchandise in his pens, he could +satisfy the demands from the interior, and barter slaves for ivory +teeth and those "hannas" of copper, a kind of St. Andrew's cross, in +which form this metal is carried into the center of Africa. + +The overseers were also complimented. As for the porters, the trader +gave orders that their salary should be immediately paid them. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez and Coimbra spoke a kind of Portuguese mingled +with a native idiom, which a native of Lisbon would scarcely have +understood. Dick Sand could not hear what these merchants were saying. +Were they talking of him and his companions, so treacherously joined +to the persons in the convoy? The young man could not doubt it, when, +at a gesture from the Arab, Ibn Hamis, an overseer, went toward the +pen where Tom, Austin, Bat and Acteon had been shut up. + +Almost immediately the four Americans were led before Alvez. + +Dick Sand slowly approached. He wished to lose nothing of this scene. + +Alvez's face lit up at the sight of these few well-made blacks, to +whom rest and more abundant food had promptly restored their natural +vigor. He looked with contempt at old Tom, whose age would affect his +value, but the other three would sell high at the next Kazounde sale. + +Alvez remembered a few English words which some agents, like the +American, Harris, had taught him, and the old monkey thought he would +ironically welcome his new slaves. + +Tom understood the trader's words; he at once advanced, and, showing +his companions, said: + +"We are free men--citizens of the United States." + +Alvez certainly understood him; he replied with a good-humored +grimace, wagging his head: + +"Yes, yes, Americans! Welcome, welcome!" + +"Welcome," added Coimbra. + +He advanced toward Austin, and like a merchant who examines a sample, +after having felt his chest and his shoulders, he wanted to make him +open his mouth, so as to see his teeth. + +But at this moment Signor Coimbra received in his face the worst blow +that a major's son had ever caught. + +Alvez's confidant staggered under it. + +Several soldiers threw themselves on Austin, who would perhaps pay +dearly for this angry action. + +Alvez stopped them by a look. He laughed, indeed, at the misfortune +of his friend, Coimbra, who had lost two of the five or six teeth +remaining to him. + +Alvez did not intend to have his merchandise injured. Then, he was of +a gay disposition, and it was a long time since he had laughed so +much. + +Meanwhile, he consoled the much discomfited Coimbra, and the latter, +helped to his feet, again took his place near the trader, while +throwing a menacing look at the audacious Austin. + +At this moment Dick Sand, driven forward by an overseer, was led +before Alvez. + +The latter evidently knew all about the young man, whence he came, and +how he had been taken to the camp on the Coanza. + +So he said, after having given him an evil glance: + +"The little Yankee!" + +"Yes, Yankee!" replied Dick Sand. "What do they wish to do with my +companions and me?" + +"Yankee! Yankee! Yankee!" repeated Alvez. + +Did he not or would he not understand the question put to him? + +A second time Dick Sand asked the question regarding his companions +and himself. He then turned to Coimbra, whose features, degraded as +they were by the abuse of alcoholic liquors, he saw were not of native +origin. + +Coimbra repeated the menacing gesture already made at Austin, and did +not answer. + +During this time Alvez talked rapidly with the Arab, Ibn Hamis, and +evidently of things that concerned Dick Sand and his friends. + +No doubt they were to be again separated, and who could tell if +another chance to exchange a few words would ever again be offered +them. + +"My friends," said Dick, in a low voice, and as if he were only +speaking to himself, "just a few words! I have received, by Dingo, a +letter from Hercules. He has followed the caravan. Harris and Negoro +took away Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Mr. Benedict. Where? I know not, if +they are not here at Kazounde. Patience! courage! Be ready at any +moment. God may yet have pity on us!" + +"And Nan?" quickly asked old Tom. + +"Nan is dead!" + +"The first!" + +"And the last!" replied Dick Sand, "for we know well----" + +At this moment a hand was laid on his shoulder, and he heard these +words, spoken in the amiable voice which he knew only too well: + +"Ah, my young friend, if I am not mistaken! Enchanted to see you +again!" + +Dick Sand turned. + +Harris was before him. + +"Where is Mrs. Weldon?" cried Dick Sand, walking toward the American. + +"Alas!" replied Harris, pretending a pity that he did not feel, "the +poor mother! How could she survive!" + +"Dead!" cried Dick Sand. "And her child?" + +"The poor baby!" replied Harris, in the same tone, "how could he +outlive such fatigue!" + +So, all whom Dick Sand loved were dead! + +What passed within him? An irresistible movement of anger, a desire +for vengeance, which he must satisfy at any price! + +Dick Sand jumped upon Harris, seized a dagger from the American's +belt, and plunged it into his heart. + +"Curse you!" cried Harris, falling. + +Harris was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE GREAT MARKET DAY. + + +Dick Sand's action had been so rapid that no one could stop him. A few +natives threw themselves upon him, and he would have been murdered had +not Negoro appeared. + +At a sign from the Portuguese, the natives drew back, raised Harris's +corpse and carried it away. Alvez and Coimbra demanded Dick Sand's +immediate death, but Negoro said to them in a low voice that they +would lose nothing by waiting. The order was given to take away the +young novice, with a caution not to lose sight of him for a moment. + +Dick Sand had seen Negoro for the first time since their departure +from the coast. He knew that this wretch was alone responsible for +the loss of the "Pilgrim." He ought to hate him still more than his +accomplices. And yet, after having struck the American, he scorned to +address a word to Negoro. Harris had said that Mrs. Weldon and her +child had succumbed. Nothing interested him now, not even what they +would do with him. They would send him away. Where? It did not matter. + +Dick Sand, heavily chained, was left on the floor of a pen without a +window, a kind of dungeon where the trader, Alvez, shut up the slaves +condemned to death for rebellion or unlawful acts. There he could no +longer have any communication with the exterior; he no longer dreamed +of regretting it. He had avenged those whom he loved, who no longer +lived. Whatever fate awaited him, he was ready for it. + +It will be understood that if Negoro had stopped the natives who were +about to punish Harris's murderer, it was only because he wished to +reserve Dick Sand for one of those terrible torments of which the +natives hold the secret. The ship's cook held in his power the captain +of fifteen years. He only wanted Hercules to make his vengeance +complete. + +Two days afterward, May 28th, the sale began, the great "lakoni," +during which the traders of the principal factories of the interior +would meet the natives of the neighboring provinces. This market was +not specially for the sale of slaves, but all the products of this +fertile Africa would be gathered there with the producers. + +From early morning all was intense animation on the vast "tchitoka" of +Kazounde, and it is difficult to give a proper idea of the scene. It +was a concourse of four or five thousand persons, including Alvez's +slaves, among whom were Tom and his companions. These four men, for +the reason that they belonged to a different race, are all the more +valuable to the brokers in human flesh. Alvez was there, the first +among all. Attended by Coimbra, he offered the slaves in lots. These +the traders from the interior would form into caravans. Among these +traders were certain half-breeds from Oujiji, the principal market +of Lake Tanganyika, and some Arabs, who are far superior to the +half-breeds in this kind of trade. + +The natives flocked there in great numbers. There were children, men, +and women, the latter being animated traders, who, as regards a genius +for bargaining, could only be compared to their white sisters. + +In the markets of large cities, even on a great day of sale, there is +never much noise or confusion. Among the civilized the need of selling +exceeds the desire to buy. Among these African savages offers are made +with as much eagerness as demands. + +The "lakoni" is a festival day for the natives of both sexes, and if +for good reasons they do not put on their best clothes, they at least +wear their handsomest ornaments. + +Some wear the hair divided in four parts, covered with cushions, and +in plaits tied like a chignon or arranged in pan-handles on the front +of the head with bunches of red feathers. Others have the hair in bent +horns sticky with red earth and oil, like the red lead used to close +the joints of machines. In these masses of real or false hair is worn +a bristling assemblage of skewers, iron and ivory pins, often even, +among elegant people, a tattooing-knife is stuck in the crisp mass, +each hair of which is put through a "sofi" or glass bead, thus forming +a tapestry of different-colored grains. Such are the edifices most +generally seen on the heads of the men. + +The women prefer to divide their hair in little tufts of the size of +a cherry, in wreaths, in twists the ends of which form designs in +relief, and in corkscrews, worn the length of the face. A few, more +simple and perhaps prettier, let their long hair hang down the back, +in the English style, and others wear it cut over the forehead in a +fringe, like the French. Generally they wear on these wigs a greasy +putty, made of red clay or of glossy "ukola," a red substance +extracted from sandal-wood, so that these elegant persons look as if +their heads were dressed with tiles. + +It must not be supposed that this luxury of ornamentation is confined +to the hair of the natives. What are ears for if not to pass pins of +precious wood through, also copper rings, charms of plaited maize, +which draw them forward, or little gourds which do for snuff-boxes, +and to such an extent that the distended lobes of these appendages +fall sometimes to the shoulders of their owners? + +After all, the African savages have no pockets, and how could they +have any? This gives rise to the necessity of placing where they can +their knives, pipes, and other customary objects. As for the neck, +arms, wrists, legs, and ankles, these various parts of the body are +undoubtedly destined to carry the copper and brass bracelets, the +horns cut off and decorated with bright buttons, the rows of red +pearls, called _same-sames_ or "talakas," and which were very +fashionable. Besides, with these jewels, worn in profusion, the +wealthy people of the place looked like traveling shrines. + +Again, if nature gave the natives teeth, was it not that they could +pull out the upper and lower incisors, file them in points, and curve +them in sharp fangs like the fangs of a rattlesnake? If she has placed +nails at the end of the fingers, is it not that they may grow so +immoderately that the use of the hand is rendered almost impossible? +If the skin, black or brown, covers the human frame, is it not so as +to zebra it by "temmbos" or tattooings representing trees, birds, +crescents, full moons, or waving lines, in which Livingstone thought +he could trace the designs of ancient Egypt? This tattooing, done by +fathers, is practised by means of a blue matter introduced into the +incisions, and is "stereotyped" point by point on the bodies of the +children, thus establishing to what tribe or to what family they +belong. The coat-of-arms must be engraved on the breast, when it +cannot be painted on the panel of a carriage. + +Such are the native fashions in ornament. In regard to garments +properly so called, they are summed up very easily; for the men, +an apron of antelope leather, reaching to the knees, or perhaps a +petticoat of a straw material of brilliant colors; for the women, a +belt of pearls, supporting at the hips a green petticoat, embroidered +in silk, ornamented with glass beads or coury; sometimes they wear +garments made of "lambba," a straw material, blue, black, and yellow, +which is much prized by the natives of Zanzibar. + +These, of course, are the negroes of the best families. The others, +merchants, and slaves, are seldom clothed. The women generally act as +porters, and reach the market with enormous baskets on their back, +which they hold by means of a leathern strap passed over the forehead. +Then, their places being taken, and the merchandise unpacked, they +squat in their empty baskets. + +The astonishing fertility of the country causes the choice alimentary +produces to be brought to this "lakoni." There were quantities of the +rice which returns a hundred per cent., of the maize, which, in three +crops in eight months, produces two hundred per cent., the sesamum, +the pepper of Ouroua, stronger than the Cayenne, allspice, tapioca, +sorghum, nutmegs, salt, and palm-oil. + +Hundreds of goats were gathered there, hogs, sheep without wool, +evidently of Tartar origin, quantities of poultry and fish. Specimens +of pottery, very gracefully turned, attracted the eyes by their +violent colors. + +Various drinks, which the little natives cried about in a squeaking +voice, enticed the unwary, in the form of plantain wine, "pombe," a +liquor in great demand, "malofou," sweet beer, made from the fruit +of the banana-tree and mead, a limpid mixture of honey and water +fermented with malt. + +But what made the Kazounde market still more curious was the commerce +in stuffs and ivory. + +In the line of stuffs, one might count by thousands of "choukkas" +or armfuls, the "Mericani" unbleached calico, come from Salem, in +Massachusetts, the "kanaki," a blue gingham, thirty-four inches wide, +the "sohari," a stuff in blue and white squares, with a red border, +mixed with small blue stripes. It is cheaper than the "dioulis," a +silk from Surat, with a green, red or yellow ground, which is worth +from seventy to eighty dollars for a remnant of three yards when woven +with gold. + +As for ivory, it was brought from all parts of Central Africa, being +destined for Khartoum, Zanzibar, or Natal. A large number of merchants +are employed solely in this branch of African commerce. + +Imagine how many elephants are killed to furnish the five hundred +thousand kilograms of ivory, which are annually exported to European +markets, and principally to the English! The western coast of Africa +alone produces one hundred and forty tons of this precious substance. +The average weight is twenty-eight pounds for a pair of elephant's +tusks, which, in 1874, were valued as high as fifteen hundred francs; +but there are some that weigh one hundred and seventy-five pounds, and +at the Kazounde market, admirers would have found some admirable ones. +They were of an opaque ivory, translucid, soft under the tool, and +with a brown rind, preserving its whiteness and not growing yellow +with time like the ivories of other provinces. + +And, now, how are these various business affairs regulated between +buyers and sellers? What is the current coin? As we have said, for the +African traders this money is the slave. + +The native pays in glass beads of Venetian manufacture, called +"catchocolos," when they are of a lime white; "bouboulous," when +they are black; "sikounderetches," when they are red. These beads or +pearls, strung in ten rows or "khetes," going twice around the neck, +make the "foundo," which is of great value. The usual measure of the +beads is the "frasilah," which weighs seventy pounds. Livingstone, +Cameron, and Stanley were always careful to be abundantly provided +with this money. + +In default of glass beads, the "pice," a Zanzibar piece, worth four +centimes, and the "vroungouas," shells peculiar to the eastern coasts, +are current in the markets of the African continent. As for the +cannibal tribes, they attach a certain value to the teeth of the human +jaw, and at the "lakoni," these chaplets were to be seen on the necks +of natives, who had no doubt eaten their producers; but these teeth +were ceasing to be used as money. + +Such, then, was the appearance of the great market. Toward the middle +of the day the gaiety reached a climax; the noise became deafening. +The fury of the neglected venders, and the anger of the overcharged +customers, were beyond description. Thence frequent quarrels, and, as +we know, few guardians of the peace to quell the fray in this howling +crowd. + +Toward the middle of the day, Alvez gave orders to bring the slaves, +whom he wished to sell, to the square. The crowd was thus increased by +two thousand unfortunate beings of all ages, whom the trader had kept +in pens for several months. This "stock" was not in a bad condition. +Long rest and sufficient food had improved these slaves so as to look +to advantage at the "lakoni." As for the last arrivals, they could not +stand any comparison with them, and, after a month in the pens, Alvez +could certainly have sold them with more profit. The demands, however, +from the eastern coast, were so great that he decided to expose and +sell them as they were. + +This was a misfortune for Tom and his three companions. The drivers +pushed them into the crowd that invaded the "tchitoka." They were +strongly chained, and their glances told what horror, what fury and +shame overwhelmed them. + +"Mr. Dick is not there," Bat said, after some time, during which he +had searched the vast plain with his eyes. + +"No," replied Acteon, "they will not put him up for sale." + +"He will be killed, if he is not already," added the old black. "As +for us, we have but one hope left, which is, that the same trader will +buy us all. It would be a great consolation not to be separated." + +"Ah! to know that you are far away from me, working like a slave, my +poor, old father!" cried Bat, sobbing aloud. + +"No," said Tom. "No; they will not separate us, and perhaps we +might----" + +"If Hercules were here!" cried Austin. + +But the giant had not reappeared. Since the news sent to Dick Sand, +they had heard no one mention either Hercules or Dingo. Should they +envy him his fate? Why, yes; for if Hercules were dead, he was saved +from the chains of slavery! + +Meanwhile, the sale had commenced. Alvez's agents marched the various +lots of men, women and children through the crowd, without caring +if they separated mothers from their infants. May we not call these +beings "unfortunates," who were treated only as domestic animals? + +Tom and his companions were thus led from buyers to buyers. An agent +walked before them naming the price adjudged to their lot. Arab or +mongrel brokers, from the central provinces, came to examine them. +They did not discover in them the traits peculiar to the African race, +these traits being modified in America after the second generation. +But these vigorous and intelligent negroes, so very different from the +blacks brought from the banks of the Zambeze or the Loualaba, were all +the more valuable. They felt them, turned them, and looked at their +teeth. Horse-dealers thus examine the animals they wish to buy. Then +they threw a stick to a distance, made them run and pick it up, and +thus observed their gait. + +This was the method employed for all, and all were submitted to these +humiliating trials. Do not believe that these people are completely +indifferent to this treatment! No, excepting the children, who cannot +comprehend the state of degradation to which they are reduced, all, +men or women, were ashamed. + +Besides, they were not spared injuries and blows. Coimbra, half drunk, +and Alvez's agents, treated them with extreme brutality, and from +their new masters, who had just paid for them in ivory stuffs and +beads, they would receive no better treatment. Violently separated, +a mother from her child, a husband from his wife, a brother from a +sister, they were not allowed a last caress nor a last kiss, and on +the "lakoni" they saw each other for the last time. + +In fact, the demands of the trade exacted that the slaves should be +sent in different directions, according to their sex. The traders who +buy the men do not buy women. The latter, in virtue of polygamy, which +is legal among the Mussulmans, are sent to the Arabic countries, where +they are exchanged for ivory. The men, being destined to the hardest +labor, go to the factories of the two coasts, and are exported either +to the Spanish colonies or to the markets of Muscat and Madagascar. +This sorting leads to heart-breaking scenes between those whom the +agents separate, and who will die without ever seeing each other +again. + +The four companions in turn submitted to the common fate. But, to tell +the truth, they did not fear this event. It was better for them to +be exported into a slave colony. There, at least, they might have a +chance to protest. On the contrary, if sent to the interior, they +might renounce all hope of ever regaining their liberty. + +It happened as they wished. They even had the almost unhoped for +consolation of not being separated. They were in brisk demand, being +wanted by several traders. Alvez clapped his hands. The prices rose. +It was strange to see these slaves of unknown value in the Kazounde +market, and Alvez had taken good care to conceal where they came from. +Tom and his friends, not speaking the language of the country, could +not protest. + +Their master was a rich Arab trader, who in a few days would send them +to Lake Tanganyika, the great thoroughfare for slaves; then, from that +point, toward the factories of Zanzibar. + +Would they ever reach there, through the most unhealthy and the most +dangerous countries of Central Africa? Fifteen hundred miles to march +under these conditions, in the midst of frequent wars, raised and +carried on between chiefs, in a murderous climate. Was old Tom strong +enough to support such misery? Would he not fall on the road like old +Nan? But the poor men were not separated. The chain that held them all +was lighter to carry. The Arab trader would evidently take care of +merchandise which promised him a large profit in the Zanzibar market. + +Tom, Bat, Acteon, and Austin then left the place. They saw and heard +nothing of the scene which was to end the great "lakoni" of Kazounde. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE KING OF KAZOUNDE IS OFFERED A PUNCH. + + +It was four o'clock in the afternoon when a loud noise of drums, +cymbals, and other instruments of African origin resounded at the +end of the principal street. In all corners of the market-place the +animation was redoubled. Half a day of cries and wrestling had neither +weakened the voices nor broken the limbs of these abominable traders. +A large number of slaves still remained to be sold. The traders +disputed over the lots with an ardor of which the London Exchange +would give but an imperfect idea, even on a day when stocks were +rising. + +All business was stopped, and the criers took their breath as soon as +the discordant concert commenced. + +The King of Kazounde, Moini Loungga, had come to honor the great +"lakoni" with a visit. A numerous train of women, officers, soldiers +and slaves followed him. Alvez and some other traders went to meet +him, and naturally exaggerated the attention which this crowned brute +particularly enjoyed. + +Moini Loungga was carried in an old palanquin, and descended, not +without the aid of a dozen arms, in the center of the large square. + +This king was fifty years old, but he looked eighty. Imagine a +frightful monkey who had reached extreme old age; on his head a sort +of crown, ornamented with leopard's claws, dyed red, and enlarged +by tufts of whitish hair; this was the crown of the sovereigns +of Kazounde. From his waist hung two petticoats made of leather, +embroidered with pearls, and harder than a blacksmith's apron. He +had on his breast a quantity of tattooing which bore witness to the +ancient nobility of the king; and, to believe him, the genealogy of +Moini Loungga was lost in the night of time. On the ankles, wrists and +arms of his majesty, bracelets of leather were rolled, and he wore a +pair of domestic shoes with yellow tops, which Alvez had presented him +with about twenty years before. + +His majesty carried in his left hand a large stick with a plated knob, +and in his right a small broom to drive away flies, the handle of +which was enriched with pearls. + +Over his head was carried one of those old patched umbrellas, which +seemed to have been cut out of a harlequin's dress. + +On the monarch's neck and on his nose were the magnifying glass and +the spectacles which had caused Cousin Benedict so much trouble. They +had been hidden in Bat's pocket. + +Such is the portrait of his negro majesty, who made the country +tremble in a circumference of a hundred miles. + +Moini Loungga, from the fact of occupying a throne, pretended to be +of celestial origin, and had any of his subjects doubted the fact, he +would have sent them into another world to discover it. He said that, +being of a divine essence, he was not subject to terrestrial laws. If +he ate, it was because he wished to do so; if he drank, it was because +it gave him pleasure. It was impossible for him to drink any more. His +ministers and his officers, all incurable drunkards, would have passed +before him for sober men. + +The court was alcoholized to the last chief, and incessantly imbibed +strong beer, cider, and, above all, a certain drink which Alvez +furnished in profusion. + +Moini Loungga counted in his harem wives of all ages and of all kinds. +The larger part of them accompanied him in this visit to the "lakoni." + +Moini, the first, according to date, was a vixen of forty years, of +royal blood, like her colleagues. She wore a bright tartan, a straw +petticoat embroidered with pearls, and necklaces wherever she could +put them. Her hair was dressed so as to make an enormous framework on +her little head. She was, in fact, a monster. + +The other wives, who were either the cousins or the sisters of the +king, were less richly dressed, but much younger. They walked behind +her, ready to fulfil, at a sign from their master, their duties as +human furniture. These unfortunate beings were really nothing else. If +the king wished to sit down, two of these women bent toward the earth +and served him for a chair, while his feet rested on the bodies of +some others, as if on an ebony carpet. + +In Moini Loungga's suite came his officers, his captains, and his +magicians. + +A remarkable thing about these savages, who staggered like their +master, was that each lacked a part of his body--one an ear, another +an eye, this one the nose, that one the hand. Not one was whole. +That is because they apply only two kinds of punishment in +Kazounde--mutilation or death--all at the caprice of the king. For the +least fault, some amputation, and the most cruelly punished are those +whose ears are cut off, because they can no longer wear rings in their +ears. + +The captains of the _kilolos_, governors of districts, hereditary or +named for four years, wore hats of zebra skin and red vests for their +whole uniform. Their hands brandished long palm canes, steeped at one +end with charmed drugs. + +As to the soldiers, they had for offensive and defensive weapons, +bows, of which the wood, twined with the cord, was ornamented with +fringes; knives, whetted with a serpent's tongue; broad and long +lances; shields of palm wood, decorated in arabesque style. For what +there was of uniform, properly so called, it cost his majesty's +treasury absolutely nothing. + +Finally, the kind's cortege comprised, in the last place, the court +magicians and the instrumentalists. + +The sorcerers, the "mganngas," are the doctors of the country. +These savages attach an absolute faith to divinatory services, to +incantations, to the fetiches, clay figures stained with white and +red, representing fantastic animals or figures of men and women +cut out of whole wood. For the rest, those magicians were not less +mutilated than the other courtiers, and doubtless the monarch paid +them in this way for the cures that did not succeed. + +The instrumentalists, men or women, made sharp rattles whizz, noisy +drums sound or shudder under small sticks terminated by a caoutchouc +ball, "marimehas," kinds of dulcimers formed of two rows of gourds of +various dimensions--the whole very deafening for any one who does not +possess a pair of African ears. + +Above this crowd, which composed the royal cortege, waved some flags +and standards, then at the ends of spears the bleached skulls of the +rival chiefs whom Moini Loungga had vanquished. + +When the king had quitted his palanquin, acclamations burst forth from +all sides. The soldiers of the caravan discharged their old guns, the +low detonations of which were but little louder than the vociferations +of the crowd. The overseers, after rubbing their black noses with +cinnabar powder, which they carried in a sack, bowed to the ground. +Then Alvez, advancing in his turn, handed the king a supply of fresh +tobacco--"soothing herb," as they call it in the country. Moini +Loungga had great need of being soothed, for he was, they did not know +why, in a very bad humor. + +At the same time Alvez, Coimbra, Ibn Hamis, and the Arab traders, +or mongrels, came to pay their court to the powerful sovereign of +Kazounde. "Marhaba," said the Arabs, which is their word of welcome in +the language of Central Africa. Others clapped their hands and bowed +to the ground. Some daubed themselves with mud, and gave signs of the +greatest servility to this hideous majesty. + +Moini Loungga hardly looked at all these people, and walked, keeping +his limbs apart, as if the ground were rolling and pitching. He walked +in this manner, or rather he rolled in the midst of waves of slaves, +and if the traders feared that he might take a notion to apportion +some of the prisoners to himself, the latter would no less dread +falling into the power of such a brute. + +Negoro had not left Alvez for a moment, and in his company presented +his homage to the king. Both conversed in the native language, if, +however, that word "converse" can be used of a conversation in which +Moini Loungga only took part by monosyllables that hardly found a +passage through his drunken lips. And still, did he not ask his +friend, Alvez, to renew his supply of brandy just exhausted by large +libations? + +"King Loungga is welcome to the market of Kazounde," said the trader. + +"I am thirsty," replied the monarch. + +"He will take his part in the business of the great 'lakoni,'" added +Alvez. + +"Drink!" replied Moini Loungga. + +"My friend Negoro is happy to see the King of Kazounde again, after +such a long absence." + +"Drink!" repeated the drunkard, whose whole person gave forth a +disgusting odor of alcohol. + +"Well, some 'pombe'! some mead!" exclaimed Jose-Antonio Alvez, like a +man who well knew what Moini Loungga wanted. + +"No, no!" replied the king; "my friend Alvez's brandy, and for each +drop of his fire-water I shall give him----" + +"A drop of blood from a white man!" exclaimed Negoro, after making a +sign to Alvez, which the latter understood and approved. + +"A white man! Put a white man to death!" repeated Moini Loungga, whose +ferocious instincts were aroused by the Portuguese's proposition. + +"One of Alvez's agents has been killed by this white man," returned +Negoro. + +"Yes, my agent, Harris," replied the trader, "and his death must be +avenged!" + +"Send that white man to King Massongo, on the Upper Zaire, among the +Assonas. They will cut him in pieces. They will eat him alive. They +have not forgotten the taste of human flesh!" exclaimed Moini Loungga. + +He was, in fact, the king of a tribe of man-eaters, that Massongo. +It is only too true that in certain provinces of Central Africa +cannibalism is still openly practised. Livingstone states it in his +"Notes of Travel." On the borders of the Loualaba the Manyemas not +only eat the men killed in the wars, but they buy slaves to devour +them, saying that "human flesh is easily salted, and needs little +seasoning." Those cannibals Cameron has found again among the +Moene-Bongga, where they only feast on dead bodies after steeping them +for several days in a running stream. Stanley has also encountered +those customs of cannibalism among the inhabitants of the Oukonson. +Cannibalism is evidently well spread among the tribes of the center. + +But, cruel as was the kind of death proposed by the king for Dick +Sand, it did not suit Negoro, who did not care to give up his victim. + +"It was here," said he, "that the white man killed our comrade +Harris." + +"It is here that he ought to die!" added Alvez. + +"Where you please, Alvez," replied Moini Loungga; "but a drop of +fire-water for a drop of blood!" + +"Yes," replied the trader, "fire-water, and you will see that it well +merits that name! We shall make it blaze, this water! Jose-Antonio +Alvez will offer a punch to the King Moini Loungga." + +The drunkard shook his friend Alvez's hands. He could not contain his +joy. His wives, his courtiers shared his ecstasy. They had never seen +brandy blaze, and doubtless they counted on drinking it all blazing. +Then, after the thirst for alcohol, the thirst for blood, so imperious +among these savages, would be satisfied also. + +Poor Dick Sand! What a horrible punishment awaited him. When we think +of the terrible or grotesque effects of intoxication in civilized +countries, we understand how far it can urge barbarous beings. + +We will readily believe that the thought of torturing a white could +displease none of the natives, neither Jose-Antonio Alvez, a negro +like themselves, nor Coimbra, a mongrel of black blood, nor Negoro +either, animated with a ferocious hatred against the whites. + +The evening had come, an evening without twilight, that was going to +make day change tonight almost at once, a propitious hour for the +blazing of the brandy. + +It was truly a triumphant idea of Alvez's, to offer a punch to this +negro majesty, and to make him love brandy under a new form. Moini +Loungga began to find that fire-water did not sufficiently justify its +name. Perhaps, blazing and burning, it would tickle more agreeably the +blunted papillas of his tongue. + +The evening's program then comprised a punch first, a punishment +afterwards. + +Dick Sand, closely shut up in his dark prison, would only come out to +go to his death. The other slaves, sold or not, had been put back in +the barracks. There only remained at the "tchitoka," the traders, the +overseers and the soldiers ready to take their part of the punch, if +the king and his court allowed them. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, advised by Negoro, did the thing well. They +brought a vast copper basin, capable of containing at least two +hundred pints, which was placed in the middle of the great place. +Barrels holding alcohol of inferior quality, but well refined, were +emptied into the basin. They spared neither the cinnamon, nor the +allspice, nor any of the ingredients that might improve this punch for +savages. + +All had made a circle around the king. Moini Loungga advanced +staggering to the basin. One would say that this vat of brandy +fascinated him, and that he was going to throw himself into it. + +Alvez generously held him back and put a lighted match into his hand. + +"Fire!" cried he with a cunning grimace of satisfaction. + +"Fire!" replied Moini Loungga lashing the liquid with the end of the +match. + +What a flare and what an effect, when the bluish flames played on the +surface of the basin. Alvez, doubtless to render that alcohol +still sharper, had mingled with it a few handfuls of sea salt. The +assistants' faces were then given that spectral lividness that the +imagination ascribes to phantoms. + +Those negroes, drunk in advance, began to cry out, to gesticulate, +and, taking each other by the hand, formed an immense circle around +the King of Kazounde. + +Alvez, furnished with an enormous metal spoon, stirred the liquid, +which threw a great white glare over those delirious monkeys. + +Moini Loungga advanced. He seized the spoon from the trader's hands, +plunged it into the basin, then, drawing it out full of punch in +flames, he brought it to his lips. + +What a cry the King of Kazounde then gave! + +An act of spontaneous combustion had just taken place. The king had +taken fire like a petroleum bonbon. This fire developed little heat, +but it devoured none the less. + +At this spectacle the natives' dance was suddenly stopped. + +One of Moini Loungga's ministers threw himself on his sovereign to +extinguish him; but, not less alcoholized than his master, he took +fire in his turn. + +In this way, Moini Loungga's whole court was in peril of burning up. + +Alvez and Negoro did not know how to help his majesty. The women, +frightened, had taken flight. As to Coimbra, he took his departure +rapidly, well knowing his inflammable nature. + +The king and the minister, who had fallen on the ground, were burning +up, a prey to frightful sufferings. + +In bodies so thoroughly alcoholized, combustion only produces a light +and bluish flame, that water cannot extinguish. Even stifled outside, +it would still continue to burn inwardly. When liquor has penetrated +all the tissues, there exists no means of arresting the combustion. + +A few minutes after, Moini Loungga and his minister had succumbed, but +they still burned. Soon, in the place where they had fallen, there was +nothing left but a few light coals, one or two pieces of the vertebral +column, fingers, toes, that the fire does not consume, in cases of +spontaneous combustion, but which it covers with an infectious and +penetrating soot. + +It was all that was left of the King of Kazounde and of his +minister. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A ROYAL BURIAL. + + +The next day, May 29th, the city of Kazounde presented a strange +aspect. The natives, terrified, kept themselves shut up in their huts. +They had never seen a king, who said he was of divine essence, nor a +simple minister, die of this horrible death. They had already burned +some of their fellow-beings, and the oldest could not forget certain +culinary preparations relating to cannibalism. + +They knew then how the incineration of a human body takes place with +difficulty, and behold their king and his minister had burnt all +alone! That seemed to them, and indeed ought to seem to them, +inexplicable. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez kept still in his house. He might fear that he +would be held responsible for the accident. Negoro had informed him of +what had passed, warning him to take care of himself. To charge him +with Moini Loungga's death might be a bad affair, from which he might +not be able to extricate himself without damage. + +But Negoro had a good idea. By his means Alvez spread the report that +the death of Kazounde's sovereign was supernatural; that the great +Manitou only reserved it for his elect. The natives, so inclined to +superstition, accepted this lie. The fire that came out of the bodies +of the king and his minister became a sacred fire. They had nothing to +do but honor Moini Loungga by obsequies worthy of a man elevated to +the rank of the gods. + +These obsequies, with all the ceremonial connected with them among the +African tribes, was an occasion offered to Negoro to make Dick Sand +play a part. What this death of Moini Loungga was going to cost in +blood, would be believed with difficulty, if the Central Africa +travelers, Lieutenant Cameron among others, had not related facts that +cannot be doubted. + +The King of Kazounde's natural heir was the Queen Moini. In proceeding +without delay with the funeral ceremonies she acted with sovereign +authority, and could thus distance the competitors, among others +that King of the Oukonson, who tended to encroach upon the rights of +Kazounde's sovereigns. Besides, Moini, even by becoming queen, avoided +the cruel fate reserved for the other wives of the deceased; at the +same time she would get rid of the youngest ones, of whom she, first +in date, had necessarily to complain. This result would particularly +suit the ferocious temperament of that vixen. So she had it announced, +with deer's horns and other instruments, that the obsequies of the +defunct king would take place the next evening with all the usual +ceremony. + +No protestation was made, neither at court nor from the natives. Alvez +and the other traders had nothing to fear from the accession of this +Queen Moini. With a few presents, a few flattering remarks, they would +easily subject her to their influence. Thus the royal heritage was +transmitted without difficulty. There was terror only in the harem, +and not without reason. + +The preparatory labors for the funeral were commenced the same day. At +the end of the principal street of Kazounde flowed a deep and rapid +stream, an affluent of the Coango. The question was to turn this +stream aside, so as to leave its bed dry. It was in that bed that the +royal grave must be dug. After the burial the stream would be restored +to its natural channel. + +The natives were busily employed in constructing a dam, that forced +the stream to make a provisional bed across the plain of Kazounde. +At the last tableau of this funeral ceremony the barricade would be +broken, and the torrent would take its old bed again. + +Negoro intended Dick Sand to complete the number of victims sacrificed +on the king's tomb. He had been a witness of the young novice's +irresistible movement of anger, when Harris had acquainted him with +the death of Mrs. Weldon and little Jack. + +Negoro, cowardly rascal, had not exposed himself to the same fate as +his accomplice. But now, before a prisoner firmly fastened by the feet +and hands, he supposed he had nothing to fear, and resolved to pay +him a visit. Negoro was one of those miserable wretches who are not +satisfied with torturing their victims; they must also enjoy their +sufferings. + +Toward the middle of the day, then, he repaired to the barrack where +Dick Sand was guarded, in sight of an overseer. There, closely bound, +was lying the young novice, almost entirely deprived of food for +twenty-four hours, weakened by past misery, tortured by those bands +that entered into his flesh; hardly able to turn himself, he was +waiting for death, no matter how cruel it might be, as a limit to so +many evils. + +However, at the sight of Negoro he shuddered from head to foot. He +made an instinctive effort to break the bands that prevented him from +throwing himself on that miserable man and having revenge. + +But Hercules himself would not succeed in breaking them. He understood +that it was another kind of contest that was going to take place +between the two, and arming himself with calmness, Dick Sand compelled +himself to look Negoro right in the face, and decided not to honor him +with a reply, no matter what he might say. + +"I believed it to be my duty," Negoro said to him it first, "to come +to salute my young captain for the last time, and to let him know how +I regret, for his sake, that he does not command here any longer, as +he commanded on board the 'Pilgrim.'" + +And, seeing that Dick Sand did not reply: + +"What, captain, do you no longer recognize your old cook? He comes, +however, to take your orders, and to ask you what he ought to serve +for your breakfast." + +At the same time Negoro brutally kicked the young novice, who was +lying on the ground. + +"Besides," added he, "I should have another question to address to +you, my young captain. Could you yet explain to me, how, wishing to +land on the American coast, you have ended by arriving in Angola, +where you are?" + +Certainly, Dick Sand had no more need of the Portuguese's words to +understand what he had truly divined, when he knew at last that the +"Pilgrim's" compass must have been made false by this traitor. +But Negoro's question was an avowal. Still he only replied by a +contemptuous silence. + +"You will acknowledge, captain," continued Kegoro, "that it was +fortunate for you that there was a seaman on board--a real one, at +that. Great God, where would we be without him? Instead of perishing +on some breaker, where the tempest would have thrown you, you have +arrived, thanks to him, in a friendly port, and if it is to any one +that you owe being at last in a safe place, it is to that seaman whom +you have wronged in despising, my young master!" + +Speaking thus, Negoro, whose apparent calmness was only the result +of an immense effort, had brought his form near Dick Sand. His face, +suddenly become ferocious, touched him so closely that one would +believe that he was going to devour him. This rascal could no longer +contain his fury. + +"Every dog has his day!" he exclaimed, in the paroxysm of fury excited +in him by his victim's calmness. "To-day I am captain, I am master! +Your life is in my hands!" + +"Take it," Sand replied, without emotion. "But, know there is in +heaven a God, avenger of all crimes, and your punishment is not +distant!" + +"If God occupies himself with human beings, there is only time for Him +to take care of you!" + +"I am ready to appear before the Supreme Judge," replied Dick Sand, +coldly, "and death will not make me afraid." + +"We shall see about that!" howled Negoro. "You count on help of some +kind, perhaps--help at Kazounde, where Alvez and I are all-powerful! +You are a fool! You say to yourself, perhaps, that your companions are +still there, that old Tom and the others. Undeceive yourself. It is a +long time since they were sold and sent to Zanzibar--too fortunate if +they do not die of fatigue on the way!" + +"God has a thousand ways of doing justice," replied Dick Sand. "The +smallest instrument is sufficient for him. Hercules is free." + +"Hercules!" exclaimed Negoro, striking the ground with his foot; "he +perished long ago under the lions' and panthers' teeth. I regret +only one thing, that is, that those ferocious beasts should have +forestalled my vengeance!" + +"If Hercules is dead," replied Dick Sand, "Dingo is alive. A dog like +that, Negoro, is more than enough to take revenge on a man of your +kind. I know you well, Negoro; you are not brave. Dingo will seek for +you; it will know how to find you again. Some day you will die under +his teeth!" + +"Miserable boy!" exclaimed the Portuguese, exasperated. "Miserable +boy! Dingo died from a ball that I fired at it. It is dead, like Mrs. +Weldon and her son; dead, as all the survivors of the 'Pilgrim' shall +die!" + +"And as you yourself shall die before long," replied Dick Sand, whose +tranquil look made the Portuguese grow pale. + +Negoro, beside himself, was on the point of passing from words to +deeds, and strangling his unarmed prisoner with his hands. Already +he had sprung upon him, and was shaking him with fury, when a sudden +reflection stopped him. He remembered that he was going to kill his +victim, that all would be over, and that this would spare him the +twenty-four hours of torture he intended for him. He then stood up, +said a few words to the overseer, standing impassive, commanded him to +watch closely over the prisoner, and went out of the barrack. + +Instead of casting him down, this scene had restored all Dick Sand's +moral force. His physical energy underwent a happy reaction, and at +the same time regained the mastery. In bending over him in his rage, +had Negoro slightly loosened the bands that till then had rendered all +movement impossible? It was probable, for Dick Sand thought that his +members had more play than before the arrival of his executioner. The +young novice, feeling solaced, said to himself that perhaps it would +be possible to get his arms free without too much effort. Guarded +as he was, in a prison firmly shut, that would doubtless be only a +torture--only a suffering less; but it was such a moment in life when +the smallest good is invaluable. + +Certainly, Dick Sand hoped for nothing. No human succor could come to +him except from outside, and whence could it come to him? He was then +resigned. To tell the truth, he no longer cared to live. He thought of +all those who had met death before him, and he only aspired to join +them. Negoro had just repeated what Harris had told him: "Mrs. Weldon +and little Jack had succumbed." It was, indeed, only too probable that +Hercules, exposed to so many dangers, must have perished also, and +from a cruel death. Tom and his companions were at a distance, forever +lost to him--Dick Sand ought to believe it. To hope for anything but +the end of his troubles, by a death that could not be more terrible +than his life, would be signal folly. He then prepared to die, above +all throwing himself upon God, and asking courage from Him to go on +to the end without giving way. But thoughts of God are good and noble +thoughts! It is not in vain that one lifts his soul to Him who can do +all, and, when Dick Sand had offered his whole sacrifice, he found +that, if one could penetrate to the bottom of his heart, he might +perhaps discover there a last ray of hope--that glimmer which a breath +from on high can change, in spite of all probabilities, into dazzling +light. + +The hours passed away. Night came. The rays of light, that penetrated +through the thatch of the barrack, gradually disappeared. The last +noises of the "tchitoka," which, during that day had been very silent, +after the frightful uproar of the night before--those last noises +died out. Darkness became very profound in the interior of the narrow +prison. Soon all reposed in the city of Kazounde. + +Dick Sand fell into a restoring sleep, that lasted two hours. After +that he awoke, still stronger. He succeeded in freeing one of his +arms from their bands--it was already a little reduced--and it was a +delight for him to be able to extend it and draw it back at will. + +The night must be half over. The overseer slept with heavy sleep, due +to a bottle of brandy, the neck of which was still held in his shut +hand. The savage had emptied it to the last drop. Dick Sand's first +idea was to take possession of his jailer's weapons, which might be of +great use to him in case of escape; but at that moment he thought +he heard a slight scratching at the lower part of the door of the +barrack. Helping himself with his arms, he succeeded in crawling as +far as the door-sill without wakening the overseer. + +Dick Sand was not mistaken. The scratching continued, and in a more +distinct manner. It seemed that from the outside some one was digging +the earth under the door. Was it an animal? Was it a man? + +"Hercules! If it were Hercules!" the young novice said to himself. + +His eyes were fixed on his guard; he was motionless, and under the +influence of a leaden sleep. Dick Sand, bringing his lips to the +door-sill, thought he might risk murmuring Hercules's name. A moan, +like a low and plaintive bark, replied to him. + +"It is not Hercules," said Dick to himself, "but it is Dingo. He has +scented me as far as this barrack. Should he bring me another word +from Hercules? But if Dingo is not dead, Negoro has lied, and +perhaps--" + +At that moment a paw passed under the door. Dick Sand seized it, and +recognized Dingo's paw. But, if it had a letter, that letter could +only be attached to its neck. What to do? Was it possible to make that +hole large enough for Dingo to put in its head? At all events, he must +try it. + +But hardly had Dick Sand begun to dig the soil with his nails, than +barks that were not Dingo's sounded over the place. The faithful +animal had just been scented by the native dogs, and doubtless could +do nothing more than take to flight. Some detonations burst forth. The +overseer half awoke. Dick Sand, no longer able to think of escaping, +because the alarm was given, must then roll himself up again in his +corner, and, after a lovely hope, he saw appear that day which would +be without a to-morrow for him. + +During all that day the grave-diggers' labors were pushed on with +briskness. A large number of natives took part, under the direction +of Queen Moini's first minister. All must be ready at the hour named, +under penalty of mutilation, for the new sovereign promised to follow +the defunct king's ways, point by point. + +The waters of the brook having been turned aside, it was in the dry +bed that the vast ditch was dug, to a depth of ten feet, over an +extent of fifty feet long by ten wide. + +Toward the end of the day they began to carpet it, at the bottom and +along the walls, with living women, chosen among Moini Loungga's +slaves. Generally those unfortunates are buried alive. But, on account +of this strange and perhaps miraculous death of Moini Loungga, it +had been decided that they should be drowned near the body of their +master. + +One cannot imagine what those horrible hecatombs are, when a powerful +chief's memory must be fitly honored among these tribes of Central +Africa. Cameron says that more than a hundred victims were thus +sacrificed at the funeral ceremonies of the King of Kassongo's father. + +It is also the custom for the defunct king to be dressed in his most +costly clothes before being laid in his tomb. But this time, as there +was nothing left of the royal person except a few burnt bones, it was +necessary to proceed in another manner. A willow manikin was made, +representing Moini Loungga sufficiently well, perhaps advantageously, +and in it they shut up the remains the combustion had spared. The +manikin was then clothed with the royal vestments--we know that those +clothes are not worth much--and they did not forget to ornament it +with Cousin Benedict's famous spectacles. There was something terribly +comic in this masquerade. + +The ceremony would take place with torches and with great pomp. The +whole population of Kazounde, native or not, must assist at it. + +When the evening had come, a long cortège descended the principal +street, from the _tchitoka_ as far as the burial place. Cries, +funeral dances, magicians' incantations, noises from instruments and +detonations from old muskets from the arsenals--nothing was lacking in +it. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, Coimbra, Negoro, the Arab traders and their +overseers had increased the ranks of Kazounde's people. No one had yet +left the great _lakoni_. Queen Moini would not permit it, and it would +not be prudent to disobey the orders of one who was trying the trade +of sovereign. + +The body of the king, laid in a palanquin, was carried in the last +ranks of the cortège. It was surrounded by his wives of the second +order, some of whom were going to accompany him beyond this life. +Queen Moini, in great state, marched behind what might be called the +catafalque. It was positively night when all the people arrived on +the banks of the brook; but the resin torches, shaken by the porters, +threw great bursts of light over the crowd. + +The ditch was seen distinctly. It was carpeted with black, living +bodies, for they moved under the chains that bound them to the ground. +Fifty slaves were waiting there till the torrent should close over +them. The majority were young natives, some resigned and mute, others +giving a few groans. The wives all dressed as for a _fête_, and who +must perish, had been chosen by the queen. + +One of these victims, she who bore the title of second wife, was bent +on her hands and knees, to serve as a royal footstool, as she had done +in the king's lifetime. The third wife came to hold up the manikin, +while the fourth lay at its feet, in the guise of a cushion. + +Before the manikin, at the end of the ditch, a post, painted red, rose +from the earth. To this post was fastened a white man, who was going +to be counted also among the victims of these bloody obsequies. + +That white man was Dick Sand. His body, half naked, bore the marks of +the tortures he had already suffered by Negoro's orders. Tied to this +post, he waited for death like a man who has no hope except in another +life. + +However, the moment had not yet arrived when the barricade would be +broken. + +On a signal from the queen, the fourth wife, she who was placed at the +king's feet, was beheaded by Kazounde's executioner, and her blood +flowed into the ditch. It was the beginning of a frightful scene of +butchery. Fifty slaves fell under the executioner's knife. The bed of +the river ran waves of blood. + +During half an hour the victims' cries mingled with the assistants' +vociferations, and one would seek in vain in that crowd for a +sentiment of repugnance or of pity. + +At last Queen Moini made a gesture, and the barricade that held back +the upper waters gradually opened. By a refinement of cruelty, the +current was allowed to filter down the river, instead of being +precipitated by an instantaneous bursting open of the dam. Slow death +instead of quick death! + +The water first drowned the carpet of slaves which covered the bottom +of the ditch. Horrible leaps were made by those living creatures, +who struggled against asphyxia. They saw Dick Sand, submerged to the +knees, make a last effort to break his bonds. But the water mounted. +The last heads disappeared under the torrent, that took its course +again, and nothing indicated that at the bottom of this river was +dug a tomb, where one hundred victims had just perished in honor of +Kazounde's king. + +The pen would refuse to paint such pictures, if regard for the truth +did not impose the duty of describing them in their abominable +reality. Man is still there, in those sad countries. To be ignorant of +it is not allowable. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE INTERIOR OF A FACTORY. + + +Harris and Negoro had told a lie in saying that Mrs. Weldon and +little Jack were dead. She, her son, and Cousin Benedict were then in +Kazounde. + +After the assault on the ant-hill, they had been taken away beyond the +camp on the Coanza by Harris and Negoro, accompanied by a dozen native +soldiers. + +A palanquin, the "kitanda" of the country, received Mrs. Weldon and +little Jack. Why such care on the part of such a man as Negoro? Mrs. +Weldon was afraid to explain it to herself. + +The journey from the Counza to Kazounde was made rapidly and without +fatigue. Cousin Benedict, on whom trouble seemed to have no effect, +walked with a firm step. As he was allowed to search to the right and +to the left, he did not think of complaining. The little troop, then, +arrived at Kazounde eight days before Ibn Hamis's caravan. Mrs. +Weldon was shut up, with her child and Cousin Benedict, in Alvez's +establishment. + +Little Jack was much better. On leaving the marshy country, where he +had taken the fever, he gradually became better, and now he was +doing well. No doubt neither he nor his mother could have borne the +hardships of the caravan; but owing to the manner in which they had +made this journey, during which they had been given a certain amount +of care, they were in a satisfactory condition, physically at least. + +As to her companions, Mrs. Weldon had heard nothing of them. After +having seen Hercules flee into the forest, she did not know what had +become of him. As to Dick Sand, as Harris and Negoro were no longer +there to torture him, she hoped that his being a white man would +perhaps spare him some bad treatment. As to Nan, Tom, Bat, Austin, and +Acteon, they were blacks, and it was too certain that they would be +treated as such. Poor people! who should never have trodden that land +of Africa, and whom treachery had just cast there. + +When Ibn Hamis's caravan had arrived at Kazounde, Mrs. Weldon, having +no communication with the outer world, could not know of the fact: +neither did the noises from the _lakoni_ tell her anything. She did +not know that Tom and his friends had been sold to a trader from +Oujiji, and that they would soon set out. She neither knew of Harris's +punishment, nor of King Moini Loungga's death, nor of the royal +funeral ceremonies, that had added Dick Sand to so many other victims. +So the unfortunate woman found herself alone at Kazounde, at the +trader's mercy, in Negoro's power, and she could not even think of +dying in order to escape him, because her child was with her. + +Mrs. Weldon was absolutely ignorant of the fate that awaited her. +Harris and Negoro had not addressed a word to her during the whole +journey from the Coanza to Kazounde. Since her arrival, she had not +seen either of them again, and she could not leave the enclosure +around the rich trader's private establishment. Is it necessary to +say now that Mrs. Weldon had found no help in her large child, Cousin +Benedict? That is understood. + +When the worthy savant learned that he was not on the American +continent, as he believed, he was not at all anxious to know how that +could have happened. No! His first movement was a gesture of anger. +The insects that he imagined he had been the first to discover in +America, those _tsetses_ and others, were only mere African hexapodes, +found by many naturalists before him, in their native places. +Farewell, then, to the glory of attaching his name to those +discoveries! In fact, as he was in Africa, what could there be +astonishing in the circumstance that Cousin Benedict had collected +African insects. + +But the first anger over, Cousin Benedict said to himself that the +"Land of the Pharaohs"--so he still called it--possessed incomparable +entomological riches, and that so far as not being in the "Land of the +Incas" was concerned, he would not lose by the change. + +"Ah!" he repeated, to himself, and even repeated to Mrs. Weldon, who +hardly listened to him, "this is the country of the _manticores_, +those coleopteres with long hairy feet, with welded and sharp +wing-shells, with enormous mandibles, of which the most remarkable is +the tuberculous _manticore_. It is the country of the _calosomes_ with +golden ends; of the Goliaths of Guinea and of the Gabon, whose feet +are furnished with thorns; of the sacred Egyptian _ateuchus_, that +the Egyptians of Upper Egypt venerated as gods. It is here that those +sphinxes with heads of death, now spread over all Europe, belong, and +also those 'Idias Bigote,' whose sting is particularly dreaded by the +Senegalians of the coast. Yes; there are superb things to be found +here, and I shall find them, if these honest people will only let me." + +We know who those "honest people" were, of whom Cousin Benedict +did not dream of complaining. Besides, it has been stated, the +entomologist had enjoyed a half liberty in Negoro's and Harris's +company, a liberty of which Dick Sand had absolutely deprived him +during the voyage from the coast to the Coanza. The simple-hearted +savant had been very much touched by that condescension. + +Finally, Cousin Benedict would be the happiest of entomologists if he +had not suffered a loss to which he was extremely sensitive. He still +possessed his tin box, but his glasses no longer rested on his nose, +his magnifying glass no longer hung from his neck! Now, a naturalist +without his magnifying glass and his spectacles, no longer exists. +Cousin Benedict, however, was destined never to see those two optical +attendants again, because they had been buried with the royal manikin. +So, when he found some insect, he was reduced to thrusting it into his +eyes to distinguish its most prominent peculiarities. Ah! it was a +great loss to Cousin Benedict, and he would have paid a high price +for a pair of spectacles, but that article was not current on the +_lakonis_ of Kazounde. At all events, Cousin Benedict could go and +come in Jose-Antonio Alvez's establishment. They knew he was incapable +of seeking to flee. Besides, a high palisade separated the factory +from the other quarters of the city, and it would not be easy to get +over it. + +But, if it was well enclosed, this enclosure did not measure less than +a mile in circumference. Trees, bushes of a kind peculiar to Africa, +great herbs, a few rivulets, the thatch of the barracks and the huts, +were more than necessary to conceal the continent's rarest insects, +and to make Cousin Benedict's happiness, at least, if not his fortune. +In fact, he discovered some hexapodes, and nearly lost his eyesight in +trying to study them without spectacles. But, at least, he added to +his precious collection, and laid the foundation of a great work on +African entomology. If his lucky star would let him discover a new +insect, to which he would attach his name, he would have nothing more +to desire in this world! + +If Alvez's establishment was sufficiently large for Cousin Benedict's +scientific promenades, it seemed immense to little Jack, who could +walk about there without restraint. But the child took little interest +in the pleasures so natural to his age. He rarely quitted his +mother, who did not like to leave him alone, and always dreaded some +misfortune. + +Little Jack often spoke of his father, whom he had not seen for so +long. He asked to be taken back to him. He inquired after all, for old +Nan, for his friend Hercules, for Bat, for Austin, for Acteon, and for +Dingo, that appeared, indeed, to have deserted him. He wished to see +his comrade, Dick Sand, again. His young imagination was very much +affected, and only lived in those remembrances. To his questions Mrs. +Weldon could only reply by pressing him to her heart, while covering +him with kisses. All that she could do was not to cry before him. + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Weldon had not failed to observe that, if bad +treatment had been spared her during the journey from the Coanza, +nothing in Alvez's establishment indicated that there would be any +change of conduct in regard to her. There were in the factory only +the slaves in the trader's service. All the others, which formed +the object of his trade, had been penned up in the barracks of the +_tchitoka_, then sold to the brokers from the interior. + +Now, the storehouses of the establishment were overflowing with stuffs +and ivory. The stuffs were intended to be exchanged in the provinces +of the center, the ivory to be exported from the principal markets of +the continent. + +In fact, then, there were few people in the factory. Mrs. Weldon and +Jack occupied a hut apart; Cousin Benedict another. They did not +communicate with the trader's servants. They ate together. The food, +consisting of goat's flesh or mutton, vegetables, tapioca, _sorgho_, +and the fruits of the country, was sufficient. + +Halima, a young slave, was especially devoted to Mrs. Weldon's +service. In her way, and as she could, she even evinced for her a kind +of savage, but certainty sincere, affection. + +Mrs. Weldon hardly saw Jose-Antonio Alvez, who occupied the principal +house of the factory. She did not see Negoro at all, as he lodged +outside; but his absence was quite inexplicable. This absence +continued to astonish her, and make her feel anxious at the same time. + +"What does he want? What is he waiting for?" she asked herself. "Why +has he brought us to Kazounde?" + +So had passed the eight days that preceded and followed the arrival +of Ibn Hamis's caravan--that is, the two days before the funeral +ceremonies, and the six days that followed. + +In the midst of so many anxieties, Mrs. Weldon could not forget that +her husband must be a prey to the most frightful despair, on not +seeing either his wife or his son return to San Francisco. Mr. Weldon +could not know that his wife had adopted that fatal idea of taking +passage on board the "Pilgrim," and he would believe that she had +embarked on one of the steamers of the Trans-Pacific Company. Now, +these steamers arrived regularly, and neither Mrs. Weldon, nor Jack, +nor Cousin Benedict were on them. Besides, the "Pilgrim" itself was +already overdue at Sun Francisco. As she did not reappear, James W. +Weldon must now rank her in the category of ships supposed to be lost, +because not heard of. + +What a terrible blow for him, when news of the departure of the +"Pilgrim" and the embarkation of Mrs. Weldon should reach him from +his correspondents in Auckland! What had he done? Had he refused to +believe that his son and she had perished at sea? But then, where +would he search? Evidently on the isles of the Pacific, perhaps on the +American coast. But never, no never, would the thought occur to him +that she had been thrown on the coast of this fatal Africa! + +So thought Mrs. Weldon. But what could she attempt? Flee! How? She +was closely watched. And then to flee was to venture into those thick +forests, in the midst of a thousand dangers, to attempt a journey of +more than two hundred miles to reach the coast. And meanwhile Mrs. +Weldon was decided to do it, if no other means offered themselves for +her to recover her liberty. But, first, she wished to know exactly +what Negoro's designs were. + +At last she knew them. + +On the 6th of June, three days after the burial of Kazounde's king, +Negoro entered the factory, where he had not yet set foot since his +return. He went right to the hut occupied by his prisoner. + +Mrs. Weldon was alone. Cousin Benedict was taking one of his +scientific walks. Little Jack, watched by the slave Halima, was +walking in the enclosure of the establishment. + +Negoro pushed open the door of the hut without knocking. + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, "Tom and his companions have been sold for the +markets of Oujiji!" + +"May God protect them!" said Mrs. "Weldon, shedding tears. + +"Nan died on the way, Dick Sand has perished----" + +"Nan dead! and Dick!" cried Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, it is just for your captain of fifteen to pay for Harris's +murder with his life," continued Negoro. "You are alone in Kazounde, +mistress; alone, in the power of the 'Pilgrim's' old cook--absolutely +alone, do you understand?" + +What Negoro said was only too true, even concerning Tom and his +friends. The old black man, his son Bat, Acteon and Austin had +departed the day before with the trader of Oujiji's caravan, without +the consolation of seeing Mrs. Weldon again, without even knowing that +their companion in misery was in Kazounde, in Alvez's establishment. +They had departed for the lake country, a journey figured by hundreds +of miles, that very few accomplish, and from which very few return. + +"Well?" murmured Mrs. Weldon, looking at Negoro without answering. + +"Mrs. Weldon," returned the Portuguese, in an abrupt voice, "I could +revenge myself on you for the bad treatment I suffered on board the +'Pilgrim.' But Dick Sand's death will satisfy my vengeance. Now, +mistress, I become the merchant again, and behold my projects with +regard to you." + +Mrs. Weldon looked at him without saying a word. + +"You," continued the Portuguese, "your child, and that imbecile who +runs after the flies, you have a commercial value which I intend to +utilize. So I am going to sell you." + +"I am of a free race," replied Mrs. Weldon, in a firm tone. + +"You are a slave, if I wish it." + +"And who would buy a white woman?" + +"A man who will pay for her whatever I shall ask him." + +Mrs. Weldon bent her head for a moment, for she knew that anything was +possible in that frightful country. + +"You have heard?" continued Negoro. + +"Who is this man to whom you will pretend to sell me?" replied Mrs. +Weldon. + +"To sell you or to re-sell you. At least, I suppose so!" added the +Portuguese, sneering. + +"The name of this man?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"This man--he is James W. Weldon, your husband." + +"My husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Weldon, who could not believe what she +had just heard. + +"Himself, Mrs. Weldon--your husband, to whom I do not wish simply to +restore his wife, his child, and his cousin, but to sell them, and, at +a high price." + +Mrs. Weldon asked herself if Negoro was not setting a trap for her. +However, she believed he was speaking seriously. To a wretch to whom +money is everything, it seems that we can trust, when business is in +question. Now, this was business. + +"And when do you propose to make this business operation?" returned +Mrs. Weldon. + +"As soon as possible." + +"Where?" + +"Just here. Certainly James Weldon will not hesitate to come as far as +Kazounde for his wife and son." + +"No, he will not hesitate. But who will tell him?" + +"I! I shall go to San Francisco to find James Weldon. I have money +enough for this voyage." + +"The money stolen from on board the 'Pilgrim?'" + +"Yes, that, and more besides," replied Negoro, insolently. "But, if +I wish to sell you soon, I also wish to sell you at a high price. +I think that James Weldon will not regard a hundred thousand +dollars----" + +"He will not regard them, if he can give them," replied Mrs. Weldon, +coldly. "Only my husband, to whom you will say, doubtless, that I am +held a prisoner at Kazounde, in Central Africa----" + +"Precisely!" + +"My husband will not believe you without proofs, and he will not be so +imprudent as to come to Kazounde on your word alone." + +"He will come here," returned Negoro, "if I bring him a letter written +by you, which will tell him your situation, which will describe me as +a faithful servant, escaped from the hands of these savages." + +"My hand shall never write that letter!" Mrs. Weldon replied, in a +still colder manner. + +"You refuse?" exclaimed Negoro. + +"I refuse!" + +The thought of the dangers her husband would pass through in coming +as far as Kazounde, the little dependence that could be placed on the +Portuguese's promises, the facility with which the latter could retain +James Weldon, after taking the ransom agreed upon, all these reasons +taken together made Mrs. Weldon refuse Negoro's proposition flatly and +at once. Mrs. Weldon spoke, thinking only of herself, forgetting her +child for the moment. + +"You shall write that letter!" continued the Portuguese. + +"No!" replied Mrs. Weldon again. + +"Ah, take care!" exclaimed Negoro. "You are not alone here! Your child +is, like you, in my power, and I well know how----" + +Mrs. Weldon wished to reply that that would be impossible. Her heart +was beating as if it would break; she was voiceless. + +"Mrs. Weldon," said Negoro, "you will reflect on the offer I have made +you. In eight days you will have handed me a letter to James Weldon's +address, or you will repent of it." + +That said, the Portuguese retired, without giving vent to his anger; +but it was easy to see that nothing would stop him from constraining +Mrs. Weldon to obey him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SOME NEWS OF DR. LIVINGSTONE. + + +Left alone, Mrs. Weldon at first only fixed her mind on this thought, +that eight days would pass before Negoro would return for a definite +answer. There was time to reflect and decide on a course of action. +There could be no question of the Portuguese's probity except in his +own interest. The "market value" that he attributed to his prisoner +would evidently be a safeguard for her, and protect her for the time, +at least, against any temptation that might put her in danger. Perhaps +she would think of a compromise that would restore her to her husband +without obliging Mr. Weldon to come to Kazounde. On receipt of a +letter from his wife, she well knew that James Weldon would set out. +He would brave the perils of this journey into the most dangerous +countries of Africa. But, once at Kazounde, when Negoro should have +that fortune of a hundred thousand dollars in his hands, what guaranty +would James W. Weldon, his wife, his son and Cousin Benedict have, +that they would be allowed to depart? Could not Queen Moini's caprice +prevent them? Would not this "sale" of Mrs. Weldon and hers be better +accomplished if it took place at the coast, at some point agreed upon, +which would spare Mr. Weldon both the dangers of the journey to the +interior, and the difficulties, not to say the impossibilities, of a +return? + +So reflected Mrs. Weldon. That was why she had refused at once to +accede to Negoro's proposition and give him a letter for her husband. +She also thought that, if Negoro had put off his second visit for +eight days, it was because he needed that time to prepare for his +journey. If not, he would return sooner to force her consent. + +"Would he really separate me from my child?" murmured she. + +At that moment Jack entered the hut, and, by an instinctive movement, +his mother seized him, as if Negoro were there, ready to snatch him +from her. + +"You are in great grief, mother?" asked the little boy. + +"No, dear Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon; "I was thinking of your papa! +You would be very glad to see him again?" + +"Oh! yes, mother! Is he going to come?" + +"No! no! He must not come!" + +"Then we will go to see him again?" + +"Yes, darling Jack!" + +"With my friend Dick--and Hercules--and old Tom?" + +"Yes! yes!" replied Mrs. Weldon, putting her head down to hide her +tears. + +"Has papa written to you?" asked little Jack. + +"No, my love." + +"Then you are going to write to him, mother?" + +"Yes--yes--perhaps!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +And without knowing it, little Jack entered directly into his mother's +thoughts. To avoid answering him further, she covered him with kisses. + +It must be stated that another motive of some value was joined to +the different reasons that had urged Mrs. Weldon to resist Negoro's +injunctions. Perhaps Mrs. Weldon had a very unexpected chance of being +restored to liberty without her husband's intervention, and even +against Negoro's will. It was only a faint ray of hope, very vague as +yet, but it was one. + +In fact, a few words of conversation, overheard by her several days +before, made her foresee a possible succor near at hand--one might say +a providential succor. + +Alvez and a mongrel from Oujiji were talking a few steps from the hut +occupied by Mrs. Weldon. It is not astonishing that the slave-trade +was the subject of conversation between those worthy merchants. +The two _brokers_ in human flesh were talking business. They were +discussing the future of their commerce, and were worried about +the efforts the English were making to destroy it--not only on the +exterior, by cruisers, but in the interior, by their missionaries and +their travelers. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez found that the explorations of these hardy pioneers +could only injure commercial operations. His interlocutor shared his +views, and thought that all these visitors, civil or religious, should +be received with gun-shots. + +This had been done to some extent. But, to the great displeasure of +the traders, if they killed some of these curious ones, others escaped +them. Now, these latter, on returning to their country, recounted +"with exaggerations," Alvez said, the horrors of the slave-trade, and +that injured this commerce immensely--it being too much diminished +already. + +The mongrel agreed to that, and deplored it; above all, concerning the +markets of N'yangwe, of Oujiji, of Zanzibar, and of all the great +lake regions. There had come successively Speke, Grant, Livingstone, +Stanley, and others. It was an invasion! Soon all England and all +America would occupy the country! + +Alvez sincerely pitied his comrade, and he declared that the provinces +of Western Africa had been, till that time, less badly treated--that +is to say, less visited; but the epidemic of travelers was beginning +to spread. If Kazounde had been spared, it was not so with Cassange, +and with Bihe, where Alvez owned factories. It may be remembered, +also, that Harris had spoken to Negoro of a certain Lieutenant +Cameron, who might, indeed, have the presumption to cross Africa from +one side to the other, and after entering it by Zanzibar, leave it by +Angola. + +In fact, the trader had reason to fear, and we know that, some years +after, Cameron to the south and Stanley to the north, were going +to explore these little-known provinces of the west, describe the +permanent monstrosities of the trade, unveil the guilty complicities +of foreign agents, and make the responsibility fall on the right +parties. + +Neither Alvez nor the mongrel could know anything yet of this +exploration of Cameron's and of Stanley's; but what they did know, +what they said, what Mrs. Weldon heard, and what was of such great +interest to her--in a word, what had sustained her in her refusal to +subscribe at once to Negoro's demands, was this: + +Before long, very probably, Dr. David Livingstone would arrive at +Kazounde. + +Now, the arrival of Livingstone with his escort, the influence which +the great traveler enjoyed in Africa, the concourse of Portuguese +authorities from Angola that could not fail to meet him, all that +might bring about the deliverance of Mrs. Weldon and hers, in spite of +Negoro, in spite of Alvez. It was perhaps their restoration to their +country within a short time, and without James W. Weldon risking his +life in a journey, the result of which could only be deplorable. + +But was there any probability that Dr. Livingstone would soon visit +that part of the continent? Yes, for in following that missionary +tour, he was going to complete the exploration of Central Africa. + +We know the heroic life of this son of the tea merchant, who lived +in Blantyre, a village in the county of Lanark. Born on the 13th of +March, 1813, David Livingstone, the second of six children, became, +by force of study, both a theologian and doctor. After making his +novitiate in the "London Missionary Society," he embarked for the +Cape in 1840, with the intention of joining the missionary Moffat in +Southern Africa. + +From the Cape, the future traveler repaired to the country of the +Bechnanas, which he explored for the first time, returned to Kuruman +and married Moffat's daughter, that brave companion who would be +worthy of him. In 1843 he founded a mission in the valley of the +Mabotsa. + +Four years later, we find him established at Kolobeng, two hundred +and twenty-five miles to the north of Kuruman, in the country of the +Bechnanas. + +Two years after, in 1849, Livingstone left Kolobeng with his wife, his +three children and two friends, Messrs. Oswell and Murray. August 1st, +of the same year, he discovered Lake N'gami, and returned to Kolobeng, +by descending the Zouga. + +In this journey Livingstone, stopped by the bad will of the natives, +had not passed beyond the N'gami. A second attempt was not more +fortunate. A third must succeed. Then, taking a northern route, again +with his family and Mr. Oswell, after frightful sufferings (for lack +of food, for lack of water) that almost cost him the lives of his +children, he reached the country of the Makalolos beside the Chobe, a +branch of the Zambezi. The chief, Sebituane, joined him at Linyanti. +At the end of June, 1851, the Zambezi was discovered, and the doctor +returned to the Cape to bring his family to England. + +In fact, the intrepid Livingstone wished to be alone while risking his +life in the daring journey he was going to undertake. + +On leaving the Cape this time, the question was to cross Africa +obliquely from the south to the west, so as to reach Saint Paul de +Loanda. + +On the third of June, 1852, the doctor set out with a few natives. +He arrived at Kuruman and skirted the Desert of Kalahari. The 31st +December he entered Litoubarouba and found the country of the +Bechnanas ravaged by the Boers, old Dutch colonists, who were masters +of the Cape before the English took possession of it. + +Livingstone left Litoubarouba on the 15th of January, 1853, penetrated +to the center of the country of the Bamangouatos, and, on May 23d, +he arrived at Linyanti, where the young sovereign of the Makalolos, +Sckeletou, received him with great honor. + +There, the doctor held back by the intense fevers, devoted himself to +studying the manners of the country, and, for the first time, he could +ascertain the ravages made by the slave-trade in Africa. + +One month after he descended the Chobe, reached the Zambezi, entered +Naniele, visited Katonga and Libonta, arrived at the confluence of +the Zambezi and the Leeba, formed the project of ascending by that +watercourse as far as the Portuguese possessions of the west, and, +after nine weeks' absence, returned to Linyanti to make preparations. + +On the 11th of November, 1853, the doctor, accompanied by twenty-seven +Makalolos, left Linyanti, and on the 27th of December he reached +the mouth of the Leeba. This watercourse was ascended as far as the +territory of the Balondas, there where it receives the Makonda, which +comes from the east. It was the first time that a white man penetrated +into this region. + +January 14th, Livingstone entered Shinte's residence. He was the +most powerful sovereign of the Balondas. He gave Livingstone a good +reception, and, the 26th of the same month, after crossing the Leeba, +he arrived at King Katema's. There, again, a good reception, and +thence the departure of the little troop that on the 20th of February +encamped on the borders of Lake Dilolo. + +On setting out from this point, a difficult country, exigencies of the +natives, attacks from the tribes, revolt of his companions, threats of +death, everything conspired against Livingstone, and a less energetic +man would have abandoned the party. The doctor persevered, and on the +4th of April, he reached the banks of the Coango, a large watercourse +which forms the eastern boundary of the Portuguese possessions, and +flows northward into the Zaire. + +Six days after, Livingstone entered Cassange, where the trader Alvez +had seen him passing through, and on the 31st of May he arrived at +Saint Paul de Loanda. For the first time, and after a journey of two +years, Africa had just been crossed obliquely from the south to the +west. + +David Livingstone left Loanda, September 24th of the same year. He +skirted the right bank of that Coanza that had been so fatal to Dick +Sand and his party, arrived at the confluence of the Lombe, crossing +numerous caravans of slaves, passed by Cassange again, left it on +the 20th of February, crossed the Coango, and reached the Zambezi at +Kawawa. On the 8th of June he discovered Lake Dilolo again, saw Shinte +again, descended the Zambezi, and reentered Linyanti, which he left on +the 3d of November, 1855. + +This second part of the journey, which would lead the doctor toward +the eastern coast, would enable him to finish completely this crossing +of Africa from the west to the east. + +After having visited the famous Victoria Falls, the "thundering +foam," David Livingstone abandoned the Zambezi to take a northeastern +direction. The passage across the territory of the Batokas (natives +who were besotted by the inhalation of hemp), the visit to Semalembone +(the powerful chief of the region), the crossing of the Kafone, the +finding of the Zambezi again, the visit to King Mbourouma, the sight +of the ruins of Zambo (an ancient Portuguese city), the encounter with +the Chief Mpende on the 17th of January, 1856 (then at war with the +Portuguese), the final arrival at Tete, on the border of the Zambezi, +on the 2d of March--such were the principal halting-places of this +tour. + +The 22d of April Livingstone left that station, formerly a rich one, +descended as far as the delta of the river, and arrived at Quilimane, +at its mouth, on the 20th of May, four years after leaving the Cape. +On the 12th of July he embarked for Maurice, and on the 22d of +December he was returning to England, after sixteen years' absence. + +The prize of the Geographical Society of Paris, the grand medal of +the London Geographical Society, and brilliant receptions greeted the +illustrious traveler. Another would, perhaps, have thought that repose +was well earned. The doctor did not think so, and departed on the +1st of March, 1858, accompanied by his brother Charles, Captain +Bedinfield, the Drs. Kirk and Meller, and by Messrs. Thornton and +Baines. He arrived in May on the coast of Mozambique, having for an +object the exploration of the basin of the Zambezi. + +All would not return from this voyage. A little steamer, the "My +Robert," enabled the explorers to ascend the great river by +the Rongone. They arrived at Tete, September the 8th; thence +reconnoissance of the lower course of the Zambezi and of the Chire, +its left branch, in January, 1859; visit to Lake Chirona in April; +exploration of the Manganjas' territory; discovery of Lake Nyassa +on September 10th; return to the Victoria Falls, August 9th, 1860; +arrival of Bishop Mackensie and his missionaries at the mouth of the +Zambezi, January 31st, 1861; the exploration of the Rovouma, on the +"Pioneer," in March; the return to Lake Nyassa in September, 1861, and +residence there till the end of October; January 30th, 1862, arrival +of Mrs. Livingstone and a second steamer, the "Lady Nyassa:" such were +the events that marked the first years of this new expedition. At +this time, Bishop Mackensie and one of his missionaries had already +succumbed to the unhealthfulness of the climate, and on the 27th of +April, Mrs. Livingstone died in her husband's arms. + +In May, the doctor attempted a second reconnoissance of the Rovouma; +then, at the end of November, he entered the Zambezi again, and sailed +up the Chire again. In April, 1863, he lost his companion, Thornton, +sent back to Europe his brother Charles and Dr. Kirk, who were both +exhausted by sickness, and November 10th, for the third time, he saw +Nyassa, of which he completed the hydrography. Three months after he +was again at the mouth of the Zambezi, passed to Zanzibar, and July +20th, 1864, after five years' absence, he arrived in London, where +he published his work entitled: "Exploration of the Zambezi and its +Branches." + +January 28th, 1866, Livingstone landed again at Zanzibar. He was +beginning his fourth voyage. + +August 8th, after having witnessed the horrible scenes provoked by the +slave-trade in that country, the doctor, taking this time only a few +_cipayes_ and a few negroes, found himself again at Mokalaose, on the +banks of the Nyassa. Six weeks later, the majority of the men forming +the escort took flight, returned to Zanzibar, and there falsely spread +the report of Livingstone's death. + +He, however, did not draw back. He wished to visit the country +comprised between the Nyassa and Lake Tanganyika. December 10th, +guided by some natives, he traversed the Loangona River, and April 2d, +1867, he discovered Lake Liemmba. There he remained a month between +life and death. Hardly well again August 30th he reached Lake Moero, +of which he visited the northern shore, and November 21st he entered +the town of Cayembe, where he lived forty days, during which he twice +renewed his exploration of Lake Moero. + +From Cayembe Livingstone took a northern direction, with the design of +reaching the important town of Oujiji, on the Tanganyika. Surprised by +the rising of the waters, and abandoned by his guides, he was obliged +to return to Cayembe. He redescended to the south June 6th, and six +weeks after gained the great lake Bangoneolo. He remained there till +August 9th, and then sought to reascend toward Lake Tanganyika. + +What a journey! On setting out, January 7th, 1869, the heroic doctor's +feebleness was such that be had to be carried. In February he at last +reached the lake and arrived at Oujiji, where he found some articles +sent to his address by the Oriental Company of Calcutta. + +Livingstone then had but one idea, to gain the sources of the valley +of the Nile by ascending the Tanganyika. September 21st he was at +Bambarre, in the Manonyema, a cannibal country, and arrived at the +Loualaba--that Loualaba that Cameron was going to suspect, and Stanley +to discover, to be only the upper Zaire, or Congo. At Mamohela the +doctor was sick for eighty days. He had only three servants. July +21st, 1871, he departed again for the Tanganyika, and only reentered +Oujiji October 23d. He was then a mere skeleton. + +Meanwhile, before this period, people had been a long time without +news of the traveler. In Europe they believed him to be dead. He +himself had almost lost hope of being ever relieved. + +Eleven days after his entrance into Oujiji shots were heard a quarter +of a mile from the lake. The doctor arrives. A man, a white man, is +before him. "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" + +"Yes," replied the latter, raising his cap, with a friendly smile. + +Their hands were warmly clasped. + +"I thank God," continued the white man, "that He has permitted me to +meet you." + +"I am happy," said Livingstone, "to be here to receive you." + +The white man was the American Stanley, a reporter of the New York +_Herald_, whom Mr. Bennett, the proprietor of that journal, had just +sent to find David Livingstone. + +In the month of October, 1870, this American, without hesitation, +without a word, simply as a hero, had embarked at Bombay for +Zanzibar, and almost following Speke and Burton's route, after untold +sufferings, his life being menaced several times, he arrived at +Oujiji. + +The two travelers, now become fast friends, then made an expedition +to the north of Lake Tanganyika. They embarked, pushed as far as Cape +Malaya, and after a minute exploration, were of the opinion that the +great lake had for an outlet a branch of the Loualaba. + +It was what Cameron and Stanley himself were going to determine +positively some years after. December 12th, Livingstone and his +companion were returning to Oujiji. + +Stanley prepared to depart. December 27th, after a navigation of eight +days, the doctor and he arrived at Ousimba; then, February 23d, they +entered Kouihara. + +March 12th was the day of parting. + +"You have accomplished," said the doctor to his companion, "what +few men would have done, and done it much better than certain great +travelers. I am very grateful to you for it. May God lead you, my +friend, and may He bless you!" + +"May He," said Stanley, taking Livingstone's hand, "bring you back to +us safe and sound, dear doctor!" + +Stanley drew back quickly from this embrace, and turned so as to +conceal his tears. "Good-by, doctor, dear friend," he said in a +stifled voice. + +"Good-by," replied Livingstone, feebly. + +Stanley departed, and July 12th, 1872, he landed at Marseilles. + +Livingstone was going to return to his discoveries. August 25th, after +five months passed at Konihara, accompanied by his black servants, +Souzi, Chouma, and Amoda, by two other servants, by Jacob Wainwright, +and by fifty-six men sent by Stanley, he went toward the south of the +Tanganyika. + +A month after, the caravan arrived at M'oura, in the midst of storms, +caused by an extreme drought. Then came the rains, the bad will of the +natives, and the loss of the beasts of burden, from falling under the +stings of the tsetse. January 24th, 1873, the little troop was at +Tchitounkone. April 27th, after having left Lake Bangoneolo to the +east, the troop was going toward the village of Tchitambo. + +At that place some traders had left Livingstone. This is what Alvez +and his colleague had learned from them. They had good reason to +believe that the doctor, after exploring the south of the lake, would +venture across the Loanda, and come to seek unknown countries in the +west. Thence he was to ascend toward Angola, to visit those regions +infested by the slave-trade, to push as far as Kazounde; the tour +seemed to be all marked out, and it was very probable that Livingstone +would follow it. + +Mrs. Weldon then could count on the approaching arrival of the great +traveler, because, in the beginning of June, it was already more than +two months since he had reached the south of Lake Bangoneolo. + +Now, June 13th, the day before that on which Negoro would come to +claim from Mrs. Weldon the letter that would put one hundred thousand +dollars in his hands, sad news was spread, at which Alvez and the +traders only rejoiced. + +May 1st, 1873, at dawn, Dr. David Livingstone died. In fact, on April +29th, the little caravan had reached the village of Tchitambo, to the +south of the lake. The doctor was carried there on a litter. On the +30th, in the night, under the influence of excessive grief, he moaned +out this complaint, that was hardly heard: "Oh, dear! dear!" and he +fell back from drowsiness. + +At the end of an hour he called his servant, Souzi, asking for some +medicine, then murmuring in a feeble voice: "It is well. Now you can +go." + +Toward four o'clock in the morning, Souzi and five men of the escort +entered the doctor's hut. David Livingstone, kneeling near his bed, +his head resting on his hands, seemed to be engaged in prayer. Souzi +gently touched his cheek; it was cold. David Livingstone was no more. + +Nine months after, his body, carried by faithful servants at the price +of unheard-of fatigues, arrived at Zanzibar. On April 12th, 1874, it +was buried in Westminster Abbey, among those of her great men, whom +England honors equally with her kings. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +WHERE A MANTICORE MAY LEAD. + + +To what plank of safety will not an unfortunate being cling? Will not +the eyes of the condemned seek to seize any ray of hope, no matter how +vague? + +So it had been with Mrs. Weldon. One can understand what she must have +felt when she learned, from Alvez himself, that Dr. Livingstone had +just died in a little Bangoneolo village. + +It seemed to her that she was more isolated than ever; that a sort of +bond that attached her to the traveler, and with him to the civilized +world, had just been broken. + +The plank of safety sank under her hand, the ray of hope went out +before her eyes. Tom and his companions had left Kazounde for the lake +region. Not the least news of Hercules. Mrs. Weldon was not sure of +any one. She must then fall back on Negoro's proposition, while trying +to amend it and secure a definite result from it. + +June 14th, the day fixed by him, Negoro presented himself at Mrs. +Weldon's hut. + +The Portuguese was, as always, so he said, perfectly practical. +However, he abated nothing from the amount of the ransom, which his +prisoner did not even discuss. But Mrs. Weldon also showed herself +very practical in saying to him: + +"If you wish to make an agreement, do not render it impossible by +unacceptable conditions. The exchange of our liberty for the sum you +exact may take place, without my husband coming into a country where +you see what can be done with a white man! Now, I do not wish him to +come here at any price!" + +After some hesitation Negoro yielded, and Mrs. Weldon finished +with the concession that James Weldon should not venture as far as +Kazounde. A ship would land him at Mossamedes, a little port to the +south of Angola, ordinarily frequented by slave-ships, and well-known +by Negoro. It was there that the Portuguese would conduct James W. +Weldon; and at a certain time Alvez's agent would bring thither Mrs. +Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict. The ransom would be given to those +agents on the giving up of the prisoners, and Negoro, who would play +the part of a perfectly honest man with James Weldon, would disappear +on the ship's arrival. + +Mrs. Weldon had gained a very important point. She spared her husband +the dangers of a voyage to Kazounde, the risk of being kept there, +after paying the exacted ransom, and the perils of the return. As to +the six hundred miles that separated Kazounde from Mossamedes, by +going over them as she had traveled on leaving the Coanza, Mrs. Weldon +would only have a little fatigue to fear. Besides, it would be to +Alvez's interest--for he was in the affair--for the prisoners to +arrive safe and sound. + +The conditions being thus settled, Mrs. Weldon wrote to her husband, +leaving to Negoro the care of passing himself off as a devoted +servant, who had escaped from the natives. Negoro took the letter, +which did not allow James Weldon to hesitate about following him as +far as Mossamedes, and, the next day, escorted by twenty blacks, he +traveled toward the north. + +Why did he take that direction? Was it, then, Negoro's intention to +embark on one of the vessels which frequent the mouths of the Congo, +and thus avoid the Portuguese stations, as well as the penitentiaries +in which he had been an involuntary guest? It was probable. At least, +that was the reason he gave Alvez. + +After his departure, Mrs. Weldon must try to arrange her existence +in such a manner as to pass the time of her sojourn at Kazounde as +happily as possible. Under the most favorable circumstances, it would +last three or four months. Negoro's going and returning would require +at least that time. + +Mrs. Weldon's intention was, not to leave the factory. Her child, +Cousin Benedict, and she, were comparatively safe there. Halima's good +care softened the severity of this sequestration a little. Besides, +it was probable that the trader would not permit her to leave the +establishment. The great premium that the prisoner's ransom would +procure him, made it well worth while to guard her carefully. + +It was even fortunate that Alvez was not obliged to leave Kazounde to +visit his two other factories of Bihe and Cassange. Coimbra was going +to take his place in the expedition on new _razzias_ or raids. There +was no motive for regretting the presence of that drunkard. Above all, +Negoro, before setting out, had given Alvez the most urgent commands +in regard to Mrs. Weldon. It was necessary to watch her closely. They +did not know what had become of Hercules. If he had not perished in +that dreadful province of Kazounde, perhaps he would attempt to get +near the prisoner and snatch her from Alvez's hands. The trader +perfectly understood a situation which ciphered itself out by a good +number of dollars. He would answer for Mrs. Weldon as for his own +body. + +So the monotonous life of the prisoner during the first days after her +arrival at the factory, was continued. What passed in this enclosure +reproduced very exactly the various acts of native existence outside. +Alvez lived like the other natives of Kazounde. The women of the +establishment worked as they would have done in the town, for the +greater comfort of their husbands or their masters. Their occupations +included preparing rice with heavy blows of the pestle in wooden +mortars, to perfect decortication; cleansing and winnowing maize, and +all the manipulations necessary to draw from it a granulous substance +which serves to compose that potage called "mtyelle" in the country; +the harvesting of the _sorgho_, a kind of large millet, the ripening +of which had just been solemnly celebrated at this time; the +extraction of that fragrant oil from the "mpafon" drupes, kinds +of olives, the essence of which forms a perfume sought for by the +natives; spinning of the cotton, the fibers of which are twisted by +means of a spindle a foot and a half long, to which the spinners +impart a rapid rotation; the fabrication of bark stuffs with the +mallet; the extraction from the tapioca roots, and the preparation of +the earth for the different products of the country, cassava, flour +that they make from the manioc beans, of which the pods, fifteen +inches long, named "mositsanes," grow on trees twenty feet high; +arachides intended to make oil, perennial peas of a bright blue, +known under the name of "tchilobes," the flowers of which relieve the +slightly insipid taste of the milk of sorgho; native coffee, sugar +canes, the juice of which is reduced to a syrup; onions, Indian pears, +sesamum, cucumbers, the seeds of which are roasted like chestnuts; the +preparation of fermented drinks, the "malofori," made with bananas, +the "pombe" and other liquors; the care of the domestic animals, of +those cows that only allow themselves to be milked in the presence of +their little one or of a stuffed calf; of those heifers of small race, +with short horns, some of which have a hump; of those goats which, in +the country where their flesh serves for food, are an important object +of exchange, one might say current money like the slave; finally, the +feeding of the birds, swine, sheep, oxen, and so forth. + +This long enumeration shows what rude labors fall on the feeble sex in +those savage regions of the African continent. + +During this time the men smoke tobacco or hemp, chase the elephant or +the buffalo, and hire themselves to the traders for the raids. The +harvest of maize or of slaves is always a harvest that takes place in +fixed seasons. + +Of those various occupations, Mrs. Weldon only saw in Alvez's factory +the part laid on the women. Sometimes she stopped, looking at them, +while the slaves, it must be said, only replied to her by ugly +grimaces. A race instinct led these unfortunates to hate a white +woman, and they had no commiseration for her in their hearts. Halima +alone was an exception, and Mrs. Weldon, having learned certain words +of the native language, was soon able to exchange a few sentences with +the young slave. + +Little Jack often accompanied his mother when she walked in the +inclosure; but he wished very much to go outside. There was, however, +in an enormous baobab, marabout nests, formed of a few sticks, and +"souimangas" nests, birds with scarlet breasts and throats, which +resemble those of the tissirms; then "widows," that strip the thatch +for the benefit of their family; "calaos," whose song was agreeable, +bright gray parrots with red tails, which, in the Manyema, are +called "rouss," and give their name to the chiefs of the tribes; +insectivorous "drougos," similar to gray linnets, with large, red +beaks. Here and there also fluttered hundreds of butterflies of +different species, especially in the neighborhood of the brooks that +crossed the factory; but that was rather Cousin Benedict's affair than +little Jack's, and the latter regretted greatly not being taller, +so as to look over the walls. Alas! where was his poor friend, Dick +Sand--he who had brought him so high up in the "Pilgrim's" masts? How +he would have followed him on the branches of those trees, whose tops +rose to more than a hundred feet! What good times they would have had +together! + +Cousin Benedict always found himself very well where he was, +provided insects were not lacking. Happily, he had discovered in the +factory--and he studied as much as he could without magnifying glass +or spectacles--a small bee which forms its cells among the worm-holes +of the wood, and a "sphex" that lays its eggs in cells that are not +its own, as the cuckoo in the nests of other birds. Mosquitoes were +not lacking either, on the banks of the rivulets, and they tattooed +him with bites to the extent of making him unrecognizable. And when +Mrs. Weldon reproached him with letting himself be thus devoured by +those venomous insects: "It is their instinct, Cousin Weldon," he +replied to her, scratching himself till the blood came; "it is their +instinct, and we must not have a grudge against them!" + +At last, one day--it was the 17th of June--Cousin Benedict was on the +point of being the happiest of entomologists. But this adventure, +which had unexpected consequences, needs to be related with some +minuteness. + +It was about eleven o'clock in the morning. An overpowering heat had +obliged the inhabitants of the factory to keep in their huts, and one +would not even meet a single native in the streets of Kazounde. + +Mrs. Weldon was dozing near little Jack, who was sleeping soundly. +Cousin Benedict, himself, suffering from the influence of this +tropical temperature, had given up his favorite hunts, which was a +great sacrifice for him, for, in those rays of the midday sun, he +heard the rustle of a whole world of insects. He was sheltered, then, +at the end of his hut, and there, sleep began to take possession of +him in this involuntary siesta. + +Suddenly, as his eyes half closed, he heard a humming; this is one +of those insupportable buzzings of insects, some of which can give +fifteen or sixteen thousand beats of their wings in a second. + +"A hexapode!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, awakened at once, and passing +from the horizontal to the vertical position. + +There was no doubt that it was a hexapode that was buzzing in his hut. +But, if Cousin Benedict was very near-sighted, he had at least very +acute hearing, so acute even that he could recognize one insect from +another by the intensity of its buzz, and it seemed to him that this +one was unknown, though it could only be produced by a giant of the +species. + +"What is this hexapode?" Cousin Benedict asked himself. + +Behold him, seeking to perceive the insect, which was very difficult +to his eyes without glasses, but trying above all to recognize it by +the buzzing of its wings. + +His instinct as an entomologist warned him that he had something to +accomplish, and that the insect, so providentially entered into his +hut, ought not to be the first comer. + +Cousin Benedict no longer moved. He listened. A few rays of light +reached him. His eyes then discovered a large black point that flew +about, but did not pass near enough for him to recognize it. He held +his breath, and if he felt himself stung in some part of the face or +hands, he was determined not to make a single movement that might put +his hexapode to flight. At last the buzzing insect, after turning +around him for a long time, came to rest on his head. Cousin +Benedict's mouth widened for an instant, as if to give a smile--and +what a smile! He felt the light animal running on his hair. An +irresistible desire to put his hand there seized him for a moment; but +he resisted it, and did well. + +"No, no!" thought he, "I would miss it, or what would be worse, I +would injure it. Let it come more within my reach. See it walking! It +descends. I feel its dear little feet running on my skull! This must +be a hexapode of great height. My God! only grant that it may descend +on the end of my nose, and there, by squinting a little, I might +perhaps see it, and determine to what order, genus, species, or +variety it belongs." + +So thought Cousin Benedict. But it was a long distance from his skull, +which was rather pointed, to the end of his nose, which was very long. +How many other roads the capricious insect might take, beside his +ears, beside his forehead--roads that would take it to a distance from +the savant's eyes--without counting that at any moment it might retake +its flight, leave the hut, and lose itself in those solar rays where, +doubtless, its life was passed, and in the midst of the buzzing of its +congeners that would attract it outside! + +Cousin Benedict said all that to himself. Never, in all his life as +an entomologist, had he passed more touching minutes. An African +hexapode, of a new species, or, at least, of a new variety, or even of +a new sub-variety, was there on his head, and he could not recognize +it except it deigned to walk at least an inch from his eyes. + +However, Cousin Benedict's prayer must be heard. The insect, after +having traveled over the half-bald head, as on the summit of some wild +bush, began to descend Cousin Benedict's forehead, and the latter +might at last conceive the hope that it would venture to the top of +his nose. Once arrived at that top, why would it not descend to the +base? + +"In its place, I--I would descend," thought the worthy savant. + +What is truer than that, in Cousin Benedict's place, any other would +have struck his forehead violently, so as to crush the enticing +insect, or at least to put it to flight. To feel six feet moving on +his skin, without speaking of the fear of being bitten, and not make a +gesture, one will agree that it was the height of heroism. The Spartan +allowing his breast to be devoured by a fox; the Roman holding burning +coals between his fingers, were not more masters of themselves than +Cousin Benedict, who was undoubtedly descended from those two heroes. + +After twenty little circuits, the insect arrived at the top of the +nose. Then there was a moment's hesitation that made all Cousin +Benedict's blood rush to his heart. Would the hexapode ascend again +beyond the line of the eyes, or would it descend below? + +It descended. Cousin Benedict felt its caterpillar feet coming toward +the base of his nose. The insect turned neither to the right nor to +the left. It rested between its two buzzing wings, on the slightly +hooked edge of that learned nose, so well formed to carry spectacles. +It cleared the little furrow produced by the incessant use of that +optical instrument, so much missed by the poor cousin, and it stopped +just at the extremity of his nasal appendage. + +It was the best place this haxapode could choose. At that distance, +Cousin Benedict's two eyes, by making their visual rays converge, +could, like two lens, dart their double look on the insect. + +"Almighty God!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, who could not repress a +cry, "the tuberculous _manticore_." + +Now, he must not cry it out, he must only think it. But was it not too +much to ask from the most enthusiastic of entomologists? + +To have on the end of his nose a tuberculous _manticore_, with large +elytrums--an insect of the cicendeletes tribe--a very rare specimen +in collections--one that seems peculiar to those southern parts of +Africa, and yet not utter a cry of admiration; that is beyond human +strength. + +Unfortunately the _manticore_ heard this cry, which was almost +immediately followed by a sneeze, that shook the appendage on which it +rested. Cousin Benedict wished to take possession of it, extended his +hand, shut it violently, and only succeeded in seizing the end of his +own nose. + +"Malediction!" exclaimed he. But then he showed a remarkable coolness. + +He knew that the tuberculous _manticore_ only flutters about, so to +say, that it walks rather than flies. He then knelt, and succeeded in +perceiving, at less than ten inches from his eyes, the black point +that was gliding rapidly in a ray of light. + +Evidently it was better to study it in this independent attitude. Only +he must not lose sight of it. + +"To seize the _manticore_ would be to risk crushing it," Cousin +Benedict said to himself. "No; I shall follow it! I shall admire it! I +have time enough to take it!" + +Was Cousin Benedict wrong? However that may be, see him now on all +fours, his nose to the ground like a dog that smells a scent, and +following seven or eight inches behind the superb hexapode. One moment +after he was outside his hut, under the midday sun, and a few minutes +later at the foot of the palisade that shut in Alvez's establishment. + +At this place was the _manticore_ going to clear the enclosure with a +bound, and put a wall between its adorer and itself? No, that was not +in its nature, and Cousin Benedict knew it well. So he was always +there, crawling like a snake, too far off to recognize the insect +entomologically--besides, that was done--but near enough to perceive +that large, moving point traveling over the ground. + +The _manticore_, arrived near the palisade, had met the large entrance +of a mole-hill that opened at the foot of the enclosure. There, +without hesitating, it entered this subterranean gallery, for it is in +the habit of seeking those obscure passages. Cousin Benedict believed +that he was going to lose sight of it. But, to his great surprise, the +passage was at least two feet high, and the mole-hill formed a gallery +where his long, thin body could enter. Besides, he put the ardor of a +ferret into his pursuit, and did not even perceive that in "earthing" +himself thus, he was passing outside the palisade. + +In fact, the mole-hill established a natural communication between the +inside and the outside. In half a minute Cousin Benedict was outside +of the factory. That did not trouble him. He was absorbed in +admiration of the elegant insect that was leading him on. But the +latter, doubtless, had enough of this long walk. Its elytrums turned +aside, its wings spread out. Cousin Benedict felt the danger, and, +with his curved hand, he was going to make a provisional prison for +the _manticore_, when--f-r-r-r-r!--it flew away! + +What despair! But the _manticore_ could not go far. Cousin Benedict +rose; he looked, he darted forward, his two hands stretched out and +open. The insect flew above his head, and he only perceived a large +black point, without appreciable form to him. + +Would the _manticore_ come to the ground again to rest, after having +traced a few capricious circles around Cousin Benedict's bald head? +All the probabilities were in favor of its doing so. + +Unfortunately for the unhappy savant, this part of Alvez's +establishment, which was situated at the northern extremity of the +town, bordered on a vast forest, which covered the territory of +Kazounde for a space of several square miles. If the _manticore_ +gained the cover of the trees, and if there, it should flutter from +branch to branch, he must renounce all hope of making it figure in +that famous tin box, in which it would be the most precious jewel. + +Alas! that was what happened. The _manticore_ had rested again on +the ground. Cousin Benedict, having the unexpected hope of seeing it +again, threw himself on the ground at once. But the _manticore_ no +longer walked: it proceeded by little jumps. + +Cousin Benedict, exhausted, his knees and hands bleeding, jumped also. +His two arms, his hands open, were extended to the right, to the left, +according as the black point bounded here or there. It might be said +that he was drawing his body over that burning soil, as a swimmer does +on the surface of the water. + +Useless trouble! His two hands always closed on nothing. The insect +escaped him while playing with him, and soon, arrived under the fresh +branches, it arose, after throwing into Cousin Benedict's ear, which +it touched lightly, the most intense but also the most ironical +buzzing of its coleopter wings. + +"Malediction!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, a second time. "It escapes +me. Ungrateful hexapode! Thou to whom I reserved a place of honor in +my collection! Well, no, I shall not give thee up! I shall follow thee +till I reach thee!" + +He forgot, this discomfited cousin, that his nearsighted eyes would +not enable him to perceive the _manticore_ among the foliage. But he +was no longer master of himself. Vexation, anger, made him a fool. It +was himself, and only himself, that he must blame for his loss. If he +had taken possession of the insect at first, instead of following it +"in its independent ways," nothing of all that would have happened, +and he would possess that admirable specimen of African _manticores_, +the name of which is that of a fabulous animal, having a man's head +and a lion's body. + +Cousin Benedict had lost his head. He little thought that the most +unforeseen of circumstances had just restored him to liberty. He did +not dream that the ant-hill, into which he had just entered, had opened +to him an escape, and that he had just left Alvez's establishment. +The forest was there, and under the trees was his _manticore_, flying +away! At any price, he wanted to see it again. + +See him, then, running across the thick forest, no longer conscious +even of what he was doing, always imagining he saw the precious +insect, beating the air with his long arms like a gigantic +field-spider. Where he was going, how he would return, and if he +should return, he did not even ask himself, and for a good mile +he made his way thus, at the risk of being met by some native, or +attacked by some beast. + +Suddenly, as he passed near a thicket, a gigantic being sprang out and +threw himself on him. Then, as Cousin Benedict would have done with +the _manticore_, that being seized him with one hand by the nape of +the neck, with the other by the lower part of the back, and before he +had time to know what was happening, he was carried across the forest. + +Truly, Cousin Benedict had that day lost a fine occasion of being able +to proclaim himself the happiest entomologist of the five parts of the +world. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A MAGICIAN. + + +When Mrs. Weldon, on the 17th of the month, did not see Cousin +Benedict reappear at the accustomed hour, she was seized with the +greatest uneasiness. She could not imagine what had become of her +big baby. That he had succeeded in escaping from the factory, the +enclosure of which was absolutely impassable, was not admissible. +Besides, Mrs. Weldon knew her cousin. Had one proposed to this +original to flee, abandoning his tin box and his collection of African +insects, he would have refused without the shadow of hesitation. Now, +the box was there in the hut, intact, containing all that the savant +had been able to collect since his arrival on the continent. To +suppose that he was voluntarily separated from his entomological +treasures, was inadmissible. + +Nevertheless, Cousin Benedict was no longer in Jose-Antonio Alvez's +establishment. + +During all that day Mrs. Weldon looked for him persistently. Little +Jack and the slave Halima joined her. It was useless. + +Mrs. Weldon was then forced to adopt this sad hypothesis: the prisoner +had been carried away by the trader's orders, for motives that she +could not fathom. But then, what had Alvez done with him? Had he +incarcerated him in one of the barracks of the large square? Why this +carrying away, coming after the agreement made between Mrs. Weldon and +Negoro, an agreement which included Cousin Benedict in the number +of the prisoners whom the trader would conduct to Mossamedes, to be +placed in James W. Weldon's hands for a ransom? + +If Mrs. Weldon had been a witness of Alvez's anger, when the latter +learned of the prisoner's disappearance, she would have understood +that this disappearance was indeed made against his will. But then, if +Cousin Benedict had escaped voluntarily, why had he not let her into +the secret of his escape? + +However, the search of Alvez and his servants, which was made with the +greatest care, led to the discovery of that mole-hill, which put the +factory in direct communication with the neighboring forest. The +trader no longer doubted that the "fly-hunter" had fled by that narrow +opening. One may then judge of his fury, when he said to himself that +this flight would doubtless be put to account, and would diminish the +prize that the affair would bring him. + +"That imbecile is not worth much," thought he, "nevertheless, I shall +be compelled to pay dear for him. Ah! if I take him again!" + +But notwithstanding the searchings that were made inside, and though +the woods were beaten over a large radius, it was impossible to find +any trace of the fugitive. + +Mrs. Weldon must resign herself to the loss of her cousin, and Alvez +mourn over his prisoner. As it could not be admitted that the latter +had established communications with the outside, it appeared evident +that chance alone had made him discover the existence of the +mole-hill, and that he had taken flight without thinking any more of +those he left behind than if they had never existed. + +Mrs. Weldon was forced to allow that it must be so, but she did +not dream of blaming the poor man, so perfectly unconscious of his +actions. + +"The unfortunate! what will become of him?" she asked herself. + +It is needless to say that the mole-hill had been closed up the same +day, and with the greatest care, and that the watch was doubled inside +as well as outside the factory. + +The monotonous life of the prisoners then continued for Mrs. Weldon +and her child. + +Meanwhile, a climatic fact, very rare at that period of the year, was +produced in the province. Persistent rains began about the 19th of +June, though the _masika_ period, that finishes in April, was passed. +In fact, the sky was covered, and continual showers inundated the +territory of Kazounde. + +What was only a vexation for Mrs. Weldon, because she must renounce +her walks inside the factory, became a public misfortune for the +natives. The low lands, covered with harvests already ripe, were +entirely submerged. The inhabitants of the province, to whom the crop +suddenly failed, soon found themselves in distress. All the labors +of the season were compromised, and Queen Moini, any more than her +ministers, did not know how to face the catastrophe. + +They then had recourse to the magicians, but not to those whose +profession is to heal the sick by their incantations and sorceries, or +who predict success to the natives. There was a public misfortune on +hand, and the best "mganngas," who have the privilege of provoking or +stopping the rains, were prayed to, to conjure away the peril. + +Their labor was in vain. It was in vain that they intoned their +monotonous chant, rang their little bells and hand-bells, employed +their most precious amulets, and more particularly, a horn full of mud +and bark, the point of which was terminated by three little horns. +The spirits were exorcised by throwing little balls of dung, or in +spitting in the faces of the most august personages of the court; but +they did not succeed in chasing away the bad spirits that presided +over the formation of the clouds. + +Now, things were going from bad to worse, when Queen Moini thought of +inviting a celebrated magician, then in the north of Angola. He was +a magician of the first order, whose power was the more marvelous +because they had never tested it in this country where he had never +come. But there was no question of its success among the Masikas. + +It was on the 25th of June, in the morning, that the new magician +suddenly announced his arrival at Kazounde with great ringing of +bells. + +This sorcerer came straight to the "tchitoka," and immediately the +crowd of natives rushed toward him. The sky was a little less rainy, +the wind indicated a tendency to change, and those signs of calm, +coinciding with the arrival of the magician, predisposed the minds of +the natives in his favor. + +Besides, he was a superb man--a black of the finest water. He was at +least six feet high, and must be extraordinarily strong. This prestige +already influenced the crowd. + +Generally, the sorcerers were in bands of three, four, or five when +they went through the villages, and a certain number of acolytes, or +companions, made their cortege. This magician was alone. His whole +breast was zebraed with white marks, done with pipe clay. The lower +part of his body disappeared under an ample skirt of grass stuff, the +"train" of which would not have disgraced a modern elegant. A collar +of birds' skulls was round his neck; on his head was a sort of +leathern helmet, with plumes ornamented with pearls; around his loins +a copper belt, to which hung several hundred bells, noisier than the +sonorous harness of a Spanish mule: thus this magnificent specimen of +the corporation of native wizards was dressed. + +All the material of his art was comprised in a kind of basket, of +which a calebash formed the bottom, and which was filled with shells, +amulets, little wooden idols, and other fetiches, plus a notable +quantity of dung balls, important accessories to the incantations and +divinatory practises of the center of Africa. + +One peculiarity was soon discovered by the crowd. This magician was +dumb. But this infirmity could only increase the consideration with +which they were disposed to surround him. He only made a guttural +sound, low and languid, which had no signification. The more reason +for being well skilled in the mysteries of witchcraft. + +The magician first made the tour of the great place, executing a +kind of dance which put in motion all his chime of bells. The crowd +followed, imitating his movements--it might be said, as a troop of +monkeys following a gigantic, four-handed animal. Then, suddenly, the +sorcerer, treading the principal street of Kazounde, went toward the +royal residence. + +As soon as Queen Moini had been informed of the arrival of the new +wizard, she appeared, followed by her courtiers. + +The magician bowed to the ground, and lifted up his head again, +showing his superb height. His arms were then extended toward the sky, +which was rapidly furrowed by masses of clouds. The sorcerer pointed +to those clouds with his hand; he imitated their movements in an +animated pantomime. He showed them fleeing to the west, but returning +to the east by a rotary movement that no power could stop. + +Then, suddenly, to the great surprise of the town and the court, this +sorcerer took the redoubtable sovereign of Kazounde by the hand. A +few courtiers wished to oppose this act, which was contrary to all +etiquette; but the strong magician, seizing the nearest by the nape of +the neck, sent him staggering fifteen paces off. + +The queen did not appear to disapprove of this proud manner of acting. +A sort of grimace, which ought to be a smile, was addressed to the +wizard, who drew the queen on with rapid steps, while the crowd rushed +after him. + +This time it was toward Alvez's establishment that the sorcerer +directed his steps. He soon reached the door, which was shut. A +simple blow from his shoulder threw it to the ground, and he led the +conquered queen into the interior of the factory. + +The trader, his soldiers and his slaves, ran to punish the daring +being who took it upon himself to throw down doors without waiting for +them to be opened to him. Suddenly, seeing that their sovereign did +not protest, they stood still, in a respectful attitude. + +No doubt Alvez was about to ask the queen why he was honored by her +visit, but the magician did not give him time. Making the crowd recede +so as to leave a large space free around him, he recommenced his +pantomime with still greater animation. He pointed to the clouds, he +threatened them, he exorcised them; he made a sign as if he could +first stop them, and then scatter them. His enormous cheeks were +puffed out, and he blew on this mass of heavy vapors as if he had the +strength to disperse them. Then, standing upright, he seemed to intend +stopping them in their course, and one would have said that, owing to +his gigantic height, he could have seized them. + +The superstitious Moini, "overcome" by the acting of this tall +comedian, could no longer control herself. Cries escaped her. She +raved in her turn, and instinctively repeated the magician's gestures. +The courtiers and the crowd followed her example, and the mute's +guttural sounds were lost amid those songs; cries, and yells which the +native language furnishes with so much prodigality. + +Did the clouds cease to rise on the eastern horizon and veil the +tropical sun? Did they vanish before the exorcisms of this new wizard? +No. And just at this moment, when the queen and her people imagined +that they had appeased the evil spirits that had watered them with so +many showers, the sky, somewhat clear since daybreak, became darker +than ever. Large drops of rain fell pattering on the ground. + +Then a sudden change took place in the crowd. They then saw that this +sorcerer was worth no more than the others. The queen's brows were +frowning. They understood that he at least was in danger of losing +his ears. The natives had contracted the circle around him; fists +threatened him, and they were about to punish him, when an unforeseen +incident changed the object of their evil intentions. + +The magician, who overlooked the whole yelling crowd, stretched his +arms toward one spot in the enclosure. The gesture was so imperious +that all turned to look at it. + +Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, attracted by the noise and the clamor, +had just left their hut. The magician, with an angry gesture, had +pointed to them with his left hand, while his right was raised toward +the sky. + +They! it was they'! It was this white woman--it was her child--they +were causing all this evil. They had brought these clouds from their +rainy country, to inundate the territories of Kazounde. + +It was at once understood. Queen Moini, pointing to Mrs. Weldon, made +a threatening gesture. The natives, uttering still more terrible +cries, rushed toward her. + +Mrs. Weldon thought herself lost, and clasping her son in her arms, +she stood motionless as a statue before this over-excited crowd. + +The magician went toward her. The natives stood aside in the presence +of this wizard, who, with the cause of the evil, seemed to have found +the remedy. + +The trader, Alvez, knowing that the life of the prisoner was precious, +now approached, not being sure of what he ought to do. + +The magician had seized little Jack, and snatching him from his +mother's arms, he held him toward the sky. It seemed as if he were +about to dash the child to the earth, so as to appease the gods. + +With a terrible cry, Mrs. Weldon fell to the ground insensible. + +But the magician, after having made a sign to the queen, which no +doubt reassured her as to his intentions, raised the unhappy mother, +and while the crowd, completely subdued, parted to give him space, he +carried her away with her child. + +Alvez was furious, not expecting this result. After having lost one +of the three prisoners, to see the prize confided to his care thus +escape, and, with the prize, the large bribe promised him by Negoro! +Never! not if the whole territory of Kazounde were submerged by a new +deluge! He tried to oppose this abduction. + +The natives now began to mutter against him. The queen had him seized +by her guards, and, knowing what it might cost him, the trader was +forced to keep quiet, while cursing the stupid credulity of Queen +Moini's subjects. + +The savages, in fact, expected to see the clouds disappear with those +who had brought them, and they did not doubt that the magician would +destroy the scourge, from which they suffered so much, in the blood of +the strangers. + +Meanwhile, the magician carried off his victims as a lion would a +couple of kids which did not satisfy his powerful appetite. Little +Jack was terrified, his mother was unconscious. The crowd, roused to +the highest degree of fury, escorted the magician with yells; but +he left the enclosure, crossed Kazounde, and reentered the forest, +walking nearly three miles, without resting for a moment. Finally he +was alone, the natives having understood that he did not wish to be +followed. He arrived at the bank of a river, whose rapid current +flowed toward the north. + +There, at the end of a large opening, behind the long, drooping +branches of a thicket which hid the steep bank, was moored a canoe, +covered by a sort of thatch. + +The magician lowered his double burden into the boat, and following +himself, shoved out from the bank, and the current rapidly carried +them down the stream. The next minute he said, in a very distinct +voice: + +"Captain, here are Mrs. Weldon and little Jack; I present them to you. +Forward. And may all the clouds in heaven fall on those idiots of +Kazounde!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DRIFTING. + + +It was Hercules, not easily recognized in his magician's attire, who +was speaking thus, and it was Dick Sand whom he was addressing--Dick +Sand, still feeble enough, to lean on Cousin Benedict, near whom Dingo +was lying. + +Mrs. Weldon, who had regained consciousness, could only pronounce +these words: + +"You! Dick! You!" + +The young novice rose, but already Mrs. Weldon was pressing him in her +arms, and Jack was lavishing caresses on him. + +"My friend Dick! my friend Dick!" repeated the little boy. Then, +turning to Hercules: "And I," he added, "I did not know you!" + +"Hey! what a disguise!" replied Hercules, rubbing his breast to efface +the variety of colors that striped it. + +"You were too ugly!" said little Jack. + +"Bless me! I was the devil, and the devil is not handsome." + +"Hercules!" said Mrs. Weldon, holding out her hand to the brave black. + +"He has delivered you," added Dick Sand, "as he has saved me, though +he will not allow it." + +"Saved! saved! We are not saved yet!" replied Hercules. "And besides, +without Mr. Benedict, who came to tell us where you were, Mrs. Weldon, +we could not have done anything." + +In fact, it was Hercules who, five days before, had jumped upon the +savant at the moment when, having been led two miles from the factory, +the latter was running in pursuit of his precious manticore. Without +this incident, neither Dick Sand nor the black would have known Mrs. +Weldon's retreat, and Hercules would not have ventured to Kazounde in +a magician's dress. + +While the boat drifted with rapidity in this narrow part of the river, +Hercules related what had passed since his flight from the camp on +the Coanza; how, without being seen, he had followed the _kitanda_ in +which Mrs. Weldon and her son were; how he had found Dingo wounded; +how the two had arrived in the neighborhood of Kazounde; how a note +from Hercules, carried by the dog, told Dick Sand what had become of +Mrs. Weldon; how, after the unexpected arrival of Cousin Benedict, +he had vainly tried to make his way into the factory, more carefully +guarded than ever; how, at last, he had found this opportunity of +snatching the prisoner from that horrible Jose-Antonio Alvez. Now, +this opportunity had offered itself that same day. A _mgannga_, or +magician, on his witchcraft circuit, that celebrated magician so +impatiently expected, was passing through the forest in which Hercules +roamed every night, watching, waiting, ready for anything. + +To spring upon the magician, despoil him of his baggage, and of his +magician's vestments, to fasten him to the foot of a tree with liane +knots that the Davenports themselves could not have untied, to paint +his body, taking the sorcerer's for a model, and to act out his +character in charming and controlling the rains, had been the work +of several hours. Still, the incredible credulity of the natives was +necessary for his success. + +During this recital, given rapidly by Hercules, nothing concerning +Dick Sand had been mentioned. + +"And you, Dick!" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"I, Mrs. Weldon!" replied the young man. "I can tell you nothing. My +last thought was for you, for Jack! I tried in vain to break the cords +that fastened me to the stake. The water rose over my head. I lost +consciousness. When I came to myself, I was sheltered in a hole, +concealed by the papyrus of this bank, and Hercules was on his knees +beside me, lavishing his care upon me." + +"Well! that is because I am a physician," replied Hercules; "a +diviner, a sorcerer, a magician, a fortuneteller!" + +"Hercules," said Mrs. Weldon, "tell me, how did you save Dick Sand?" + +"Did I do it, Mrs. Weldon?" replied Hercules; "Might not the current +have broken the stake to which our captain was tied, and in the middle +of the night, carried him half-dead on this beam, to the place where +I received him? Besides, in the darkness, there was no difficulty in +gliding among the victims that carpeted the ditch, waiting for the +bursting of the dam, diving under water, and, with a little strength, +pulling up our captain and the stake to which these scoundrels had +bound him! There was nothing very extraordinary in all that! The +first-comer could have done as much. Mr. Benedict himself, or even +Dingo! In fact, might it not have been Dingo?" + +A yelping was heard; and Jack, taking hold of the dog's large head, +gave him several little friendly taps. + +"Dingo," he asked, "did you save our friend Dick?" + +At the same time he turned the dog's head from right to left. + +"He says, no, Hercules!" said Jack. "You see that it was not he. +Dingo, did Hercules save our captain?" + +The little boy forced Dingo's good head to move up and down, five or +six times. + +"He says, yes, Hercules! he says, yes!" cried little Jack. "You see +then that it was you!" + +"Friend Dingo," replied Hercules, caressing the dog, "that is wrong. +You promised me not to betray me." + +Yes, it was indeed Hercules, who had risked his life to save Dick +Sand. But he had done it, and his modesty would not allow him to +agree to the fact. Besides, he thought it a very simple thing, and he +repeated that any one of his companions would have done the same under +the circumstances. + +This led Mrs. Weldon to speak of old Tom, of his son, of Acteon and +Bat, his unfortunate companions. + +They had started for the lake region. Hercules had seen them pass with +the caravan of slaves. He had followed them, but no opportunity to +communicate with them had presented itself. They were gone! they were +lost! + +Hercules had been laughing heartily, but now he shed tears which he +did not try to restrain. + +"Do not cry, my friend," Mrs. Weldon said to him. "God may be +merciful, and allow us to meet them again." + +In a few words she informed Dick Sand of all that had happened during +her stay in Alvez's factory. + +"Perhaps," she added, "it would have been better to have remained at +Kazounde." + +"What a fool I was!" cried Hercules. + +"No, Hercules, no!" said Dick Sand. "These wretches would have found +means to draw Mr. Weldon into some new trap. Let us flee together, and +without delay. We shall reach the coast before Negoro can return to +Mossamedes. There, the Portuguese authorities will give us aid and +protection; and when Alvez comes to take his one hundred thousand +dollars--" + +"A hundred thousand blows on the old scoundrel's skull!" cried +Hercules; "and I will undertake to keep the count." + +However, here was a new complication, although it was very evident +that Mrs. Weldon would not dream of returning to Kazounde. The point +now was to anticipate Negoro. All Dick Sand's projects must tend +toward that end. + +Dick Sand was now putting in practise the plan which he had long +contemplated, of gaining the coast by utilizing the current of a +river or a stream. Now, the watercourse was there; its direction was +northward, and it was possible that it emptied into the Zaire. In that +case, instead of reaching St. Paul de Loanda, it would be at the mouth +of the great river that Mrs. Weldon and her companions would arrive. +This was not important, because help would not fail them in the +colonies of Lower Guinea. + +Having decided to descend the current of this river, Dick Sand's first +idea was to embark on one of the herbaceous rafts, a kind of floating +isle (of which Cameron has often spoken), which drifts in large +numbers on the surface of African rivers. + +But Hercules, while roaming at night on the bank, had been fortunate +enough to find a drifting boat. Dick Sand could not hope for anything +better, and chance had served him kindly. In fact, it was not one of +those narrow boats which the natives generally use. + +The perogue found by Hercules was one of those whose length exceeds +thirty feet, and the width four--and they are carried rapidly on the +waters of the great lakes by the aid of numerous paddles. Mrs. Weldon +and her companions could install themselves comfortably in it, and it +was sufficient to keep it in the stream by means of an oar to descend +the current of the river. + +At first, Dick Sand, wishing to pass unseen, had formed a project +to travel only at night. But to drift twelve hours out of the +twenty-four, was to double the length of a journey which might be +quite long. Happily, Dick Sand had taken a fancy to cover the perogue +with a roof of long grasses, sustained on a rod, which projected fore +and aft. This, when on the water, concealed even the long oar. One +would have said that it was a pile of herbs which drifted down stream, +in the midst of floating islets. Such was the ingenious arrangement +of the thatch, that the birds were deceived, and, seeing there some +grains to pilfer, red-beaked gulls, "arrhinisgas" of black plumage, +and gray and white halcyons frequently came to rest upon it. + +Besides, this green roof formed a shelter from the heat of the sun. A +voyage made under these conditions might then be accomplished almost +without fatigue, but not without danger. + +In fact, the journey would be a long one, and it would be necessary +to procure food each day. Hence the risk of hunting on the banks if +fishing would not suffice, and Dick Sand had no firearms but the gun +carried off by Hercules after the attack on the ant-hill; but he +counted on every shot. Perhaps even by passing his gun through the +thatch of the boat he might fire with surety, like a butter through +the holes in his hut. + +Meanwhile, the perogue drifted with the force of the current a +distance not less than two miles an hour, as near as Dick Sand could +estimate it. + +He hoped to make, thus, fifty miles a day. But, on account of this +very rapidity of the current, continual care was necessary to avoid +obstacles--rocks, trunks of trees, and the high bottoms of the river. +Besides, it was to be feared that this current would change to rapids, +or to cataracts, a frequent occurrence on the rivers of Africa. + +The joy of seeing Mrs. Weldon and her child had restored all Dick +Sand's strength, and he had posted himself in the fore-part of the +boat. Across the long grasses, his glance observed the downward +course, and, either by voice or gesture, he indicated to Hercules, +whose vigorous hands held the oar, what was necessary so as to keep in +the right direction. + +Mrs. Weldon reclined on a bed of dry leaves in the center of the boat, +and grew absorbed in her own thoughts. Cousin Benedict was taciturn, +frowning at the sight of Hercules, whom he had not forgiven for his +intervention in the affair of the manticore. He dreamed of his lost +collection, of his entomological notes, the value of which would +not be appreciated by the natives of Kazounde. So he sat, his limbs +stretched out, and his arms crossed on his breast, and at times he +instinctively made a gesture of raising to his forehead the glasses +which his nose did not support. As for little Jack, he understood +that he must not make a noise; but, as motion was not forbidden, he +imitated his friend Dingo, and ran on his hands and feet from one end +of the boat to the other. + +During the first two days Mrs. Weldon and her companions used the food +that Hercules had been able to obtain before they started. Dick Sand +only stopped for a few hours in the night, so as to gain rest. But he +did not leave the boat, not wishing to do it except when obliged by +the necessity of renewing their provisions. + +No incident marked the beginning of the voyage on this unknown river, +which measured, at least, more than a hundred and fifty feet in +width. Several islets drifted on the surface, and moved with the same +rapidity as the boat. So there was no danger of running upon them, +unless some obstacle stopped them. + +The banks, besides, seemed to be deserted. Evidently these portions of +the territory of Kazounde were little frequented by the natives. + +Numerous wild plants covered the banks, and relieved them with a +profusion of the most brilliant colors. Swallow-wort, iris, lilies, +clematis, balsams, umbrella-shaped flowers, aloes, tree-ferns, and +spicy shrubs formed a border of incomparable brilliancy. Several +forests came to bathe their borders in these rapid waters. +Copal-trees, acacias, "bauhinias" of iron-wood, the trunks covered +with a dross of lichens on the side exposed to the coldest winds, +fig-trees which rose above roots arranged in rows like mangroves, and +other trees of magnificent growth, overhung the river. Their high +tops, joining a hundred feet above, formed a bower which the solar +rays could not penetrate. Often, also, a bridge of lianes was thrown +from one bank to the other, and during the 27th little Jack, to his +intense admiration, saw a band of monkeys cross one of these vegetable +passes, holding each other's tail, lest the bridge should break under +their weight. + +These monkeys are a kind of small chimpanzee, which in Central Africa +has received the name of "sokos." They have low foreheads, clear +yellow faces, and high-set ears, and are very ugly examples of the +_simiesque_ race. They live in bands of a dozen, bark like dogs, and +are feared by the natives, whose children they often carry off to +scratch or bite. + +In passing the liane bridge they never suspected that, beneath that +mass of herbs which the current bore onward, there was a little +boy who would have exactly served to amuse them. The preparations, +designed by Dick Sand, were very well conceived, because these +clear-sighted beasts were deceived by them. + +Twenty miles farther on, that same day, the boat was suddenly stopped +in its progress. + +"What is the matter?" asked Hercules, always posted at his oar. + +"A barrier," replied Dick Sand; "but a natural barrier." + +"It must be broken, Mr. Dick." + +"Yes, Hercules, and with a hatchet. Several islets have drifted upon +it, and it is quite strong." + +"To work, captain! to work!" replied Hercules, who came and stood in +the fore-part of the perogue. + +This barricade was formed by the interlacing of a sticky plant with +glossy leaves, which twists as it is pressed together, and becomes +very resisting. They call it "tikatika," and it will allow people to +cross watercourses dry-shod, if they are not afraid to plunge twelve +inches into its green apron. Magnificent ramifications of the lotus +covered the surface of this barrier. + +It was already dark. Hercules could, without imprudence, quit the +boat, and he managed his hatchet so skilfully that two hours afterward +the barrier had given way, the current turned up the broken pieces on +the banks, and the boat again took the channel. + +Must it be confessed! That great child of a Cousin Benedict had hoped +for a moment that they would not be able to pass. Such a voyage seemed +to him unnecessary. He regretted Alvez's factory and the hut that +contained his precious entomologist's box. His chagrin was real, and +indeed it was pitiful to see the poor man. Not an insect; no, not one +to preserve! + +What, then, was his joy when Hercules, "his pupil" after all, brought +him a horrible little beast which he had found on a sprig of the +tikatika. Singularly enough the brave black seemed a little confused +in presenting it to him. + +But what exclamations Cousin Benedict uttered when he had brought this +insect, which he held between his index finger and his thumb, as near +as possible to his short-sighted eyes, which neither glasses nor +microscope could now assist. + +"Hercules!" he cried, "Hercules! Ah! see what will gain your pardon! +Cousin Weldon! Dick! a hexapode, unique in its species, and of African +origin! This, at least, they will not dispute with me, and it shall +quit me only with my life!" + +"It is, then, very precious?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Precious!" cried Cousin Benedict. "An insect which is neither a +coleopter, nor a neuropteran, nor a hymenopter; which does not belong +to any of the ten orders recognized by savants, and which they will be +rather tempted to rank in the second section of the arachnides. A +sort of spider, which would be a spider if it had eight legs, and is, +however, a hexapode, because it has but six. Ah! my friends, Heaven +owed me this joy; and at length I shall give my name to a scientific +discovery! That insect shall be the 'Hexapodes Benedictus.'" + +The enthusiastic savant was so happy--he forgot so many miseries past +and to come in riding his favorite hobby--that neither Mrs. Weldon nor +Dick Sand grudged him his felicitations. + +All this time the perogue moved on the dark waters of the river. The +silence of night was only disturbed by the clattering scales of the +crocodiles, or the snorting of the hippopotami that sported on the +banks. + +Then, through the sprigs of the thatch, the moon appeared behind the +tops of the trees, throwing its soft light to the interior of the +boat. + +Suddenly, on the right bank, was heard a distant hubbub, then a dull +noise as if giant pumps were working in the dark. + +It was several hundred elephants, that, satiated by the woody roots +which they had devoured during the day, came to quench their thirst +before the hour of repose. One would really have supposed that all +these trunks, lowered and raised by the same automatic movement, would +have drained the river dry. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VARIOUS INCIDENTS. + + +For eight days the boat drifted, carried by the current under the +conditions already described. No incident of any importance occurred. +For a space of many miles the river bathed the borders of superb +forests; then the country, shorn of these fine trees, spread in +jungles to the limits of the horizon. + +If there were no natives in this country--a fact which Dick Sand did +not dream of regretting--the animals at least abounded there. Zebras +sported on the banks, elks, and "caamas," a species of antelope which +were extremely graceful, and they disappeared at night to give place +to the leopards, whose growls could be heard, and even to the lions +which bounded in the tall grasses. Thus far the fugitives had not +suffered from these ferocious creatures, whether in the forests or in +the river. + +Meanwhile, each day, generally in the afternoon, Dick Sand neared one +bank or the other, moored the boat, disembarked, and explored the +shore for a short distance. + +In fact, it was necessary to renew their daily food. Now, in this +country, barren of all cultivation, they could not depend upon the +tapioca, the sorgho, the maize, and the fruits, which formed the +vegetable food of the native tribes. These plants only grew in a +wild state, and were not eatable. Dick Sand was thus forced to hunt, +although the firing of his gun might bring about an unpleasant +meeting. + +They made a fire by rubbing a little stick against a piece of the wild +fig-tree, native fashion, or even simiesque style, for it is affirmed +that certain of the gorillas procure a fire by this means. Then, for +several days, they cooked a little elk or antelope flesh. During the +4th of July Dick Sand succeeded in killing, with a single ball, a +"pokou," which gave them a good supply of venison. This animal, was +five feet long; it had long horns provided with rings, a yellowish red +skin, dotted with brilliant spots, and white on the stomach; and the +flesh was found to be excellent. + +It followed then, taking into account these almost daily landings and +the hours of repose that were necessary at night, that the distance on +the 8th of July could hot be estimated as more than one hundred miles. +This was considerable, however, and already Dick Sand asked himself +where this interminable river ended. Its course absorbed some +small tributaries and did not sensibly enlarge. As for the general +direction, after having been north for a long time, it took a bend +toward the northwest. + +However, this river furnished its share of food. Long lianes, armed +with thorns, which served as fishhooks, caught several of those +delicately-flavored "sandjikas", which, once smoked, are easily +carried in this region; black "usakas" were also caught, and some +"mormdes," with large heads, the genciva of which have teeth like the +hairs of a brush, and some little "dagalas," the friends of running +waters, belonging to the clupe species, and resembling the whitebait +of the Thames. + +During the 9th of July, Dick Sand had to give proof of extreme +coolness. He was alone on the shore, carrying off a "caama," the horns +of which showed above the thicket. He had just shot it, and now there +bounded, thirty feet off, a formidable hunter, that no doubt came to +claim its prey, and was not in a humor to give it up. It was a lion of +great height, one of those which the natives call "karamos," and not +one of the kind without a mane, named "lion of the Nyassi." This one +measured five feet in height--a formidable beast. With one bound the +lion had fallen on the "caama," which Dick Sand's ball had just thrown +to the ground, and, still full of life, it shook and cried under the +paw of the powerful animal. + +Dick Sand was disarmed, not having had time to slide a second +cartridge into his gun. + +Dick Sand, in front, lowering his voice, gave directions to avoid +striking against these rotten constructions. The night was clear. They +saw well to direct the boat, but they could also be seen. + +Then came a terrible moment. Two natives, who talked in loud tones, +were squatting close to the water on the piles, between which the +current carried the boat, and the direction could not be changed for +a narrower pass. Now, would they not see it, and at their cries might +not the whole village be alarmed? + +A space of a hundred feet at most remained to be passed, when Dick +Sand heard the two natives call more quickly to each other. One showed +the other the mass of drifting herbs, which threatened to break the +long liane ropes which they were occupied in stretching at that +moment. + +Rising hastily, they called out for help. Five or six other blacks ran +at once along the piles and posted themselves on the cross-beams which +supported them, uttering loud exclamations which the listeners could +not understand. + +In the boat, on the contrary, was absolute silence, except for the few +orders given by Dick Sand in a low voice, and complete repose, except +the movement of Hercules's right arm moving the oar; at times a low +growl from Dingo, whose jaws Jack held together with his little hands; +outside, the murmur of the water which broke against the piles, then +above, the cries of the ferocious cannibals. + +The natives, meanwhile, rapidly drew up their ropes. If they were +raised in time the boat would pass, otherwise it would be caught, and +all would be over with those who drifted in it! As for slackening or +stopping its progress, Dick Sand could do neither, for the current, +stronger under this narrow construction, carried it forward more +rapidly. + +In half a minute the boat was caught between the piles. By an +unheard-of piece of fortune, the last effort made by the natives had +raised the ropes. + +But in passing, as Dick Sand had feared, the boat was deprived of a +part of the grasses which now floated at its right. + +One of the natives uttered a cry. Had he had time to recognize what +the roof covered, and was he going to alarm his comrades? It was more +than probable. + +Dick Sand and his friends were already out of reach, and in a few +moments, under the impetus of this current, now changed into a kind of +rapid, they had lost sight of the lacustrine village. + +"To the left bank!" Dick Sand ordered, as being more prudent. "The +stream is again navigable." + +"To the left bank!" replied Hercules, giving the oar a vigorous +stroke. + +Dick Sand stood beside him and looked at the surface of the water, +which the moon lit up. He saw nothing suspicious. Not a boat had +started in pursuit. Perhaps these savages had none; and at daybreak +not a native appeared, either on the bank or on the water. After that, +increasing their precautions, the boat kept close to the left bank. + +During the four following days, from the 11th to the 14th of July, +Mrs. Weldon and her companions remarked that this portion of the +territory had decidedly changed. It was no longer a deserted country; +it was also a desert, and they might have compared it to that Kalahari +explored by Livingstone on his first voyage. + +The arid soil recalled nothing of the fertile fields of the upper +country. + +And always this interminable stream, to which might be given the name +of river, as it seemed that it could only end at the Atlantic Ocean. + +The question of food, in this desert country, became a problem. +Nothing remained of their former stock. Fishing gave little; hunting +was no longer of any use. Elks, antelopes, pokous, and other animals, +could find nothing to live on in this desert, and with them had also +disappeared the carnivorous animals. + +The nights no longer echoed the accustomed roarings. Nothing broke +the silence but the concert of frogs, which Cameron compares with the +noise of calkers calking a ship; with riveters who rivet, and the +drillers who drill, in a shipbuilder's yard. + +The country on the two banks was flat and destitute of trees as far +as the most distant hills that bounded it on the east and west. The +spurges grew alone and in profusion--not the euphosbium which produces +cassava or tapioca flour, but those from which they draw an oil which +does not serve as food. + +Meantime it is necessary to provide some nourishment. + +Dick Sand knew not what to do, and Hercules reminded him that the +natives often eat the young shoots of the ferns and the pith which the +papyrus leaf contains. He himself, while following the caravan of Ibn +Ilamis across the desert, had been more than once reduced to this +expedient to satisfy his hunger. Happily, the ferns and the papyrus +grew in profusion along the banks, and the marrow or pith, which has a +sweet flavor, was appreciated by all, particularly by little Jack. + +This was not a very cheering prospect; the food was not strengthening, +but the next day, thanks to Cousin Benedict, they were better served. +Since the discovery of the "Hexapodus Benedictus," which was to +immortalize his name, Cousin Benedict had recovered his usual manners. +The insect was put in a safe place, that is to say, stuck in the crown +of his hat, and the savant had recommenced his search whenever they +were on shore. During that day, while hunting in the high grass, he +started a bird whose warbling attracted him. + +Dick Sand was going to shoot it, when Cousin Benedict cried out: + +"Don't fire, Dick! Don't fire! A bird among five persons would not be +enough." + +"It will be enough for Jack," replied Dick Sand, taking aim at the +bird, which was in no hurry to fly away. + +"No, no!" said Cousin Benedict, "do not fire! It is an indicator, and +it will bring us honey in abundance." + +Dick Sand lowered his gun, realizing that a few pounds of honey were +worth more than one bird; and Cousin Benedict and he followed the +bird, which rose and flew away, inviting them to go with it. + +They had not far to go, and a few minutes after, some old trunks, +hidden in between the spurges, appeared in the midst of an intense +buzzing of bees. + +Cousin Benedict would have preferred not to have robbed these +industrious hymenopters of the "fruit of their labors," as he +expressed it. But Dick Sand did not understand it in that way. He +smoked out the bees with some dry herbs and obtained a considerable +quantity of honey. Then leaving to the indicator the cakes of wax, +which made its share of the profit, Cousin Benedict and he returned to +the boat. + +The honey was well received, but it was but little, and, in fact, all +would have suffered cruelly from hunger, if, during the day of the +12th, the boat had not stopped near a creek where some locusts +swarmed. They covered the ground and the shrubs in myriads, two or +three deep. Now, Cousin Benedict not failing to say that the natives +frequently eat these orthopters--which was perfectly true--they took +possession of this manna. There was enough to fill the boat ten times, +and broiled over a mild fire, these edible locusts would have seemed +excellent even to less famished people. Cousin Benedict, for his part, +eat a notable quantity of them, sighing, it is true--still, he eat +them. + +Nevertheless, it was time for this long series of moral and physical +trials to come to an end. Although drifting on this rapid river was +not so fatiguing as had been the walking through the first forests +near the coast, still, the excessive heat of the day, the damp mists +at night, and the incessant attacks of the mosquitoes, made this +descent of the watercourse very painful. It was time to arrive +somewhere, and yet Dick Sand could see no limit to the journey. Would +it last eight days or a month? Nothing indicated an answer. Had the +river flowed directly to the west, they would have already reached the +northern coast of Angola; but the general direction had been rather to +the north, and they could travel thus a long time before reaching the +coast. + +Dick Sand was, therefore, extremely anxious, when a sudden change of +direction took place on the morning of the 14th of July. + +Little Jack was in the front of the boat, and he was gazing through +the thatch, when a large expanse of water appeared on the horizon. + +"The sea!" he shouted. + +At this word Dick Sand trembled, and came close to little Jack. + +"The sea?" he replied. "No, not yet; but at least a river which flows +toward the west, and of which this stream is only a tributary. Perhaps +it is the Zaire itself." + +"May God grant that is!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +Yes; for if this were the Zaire or Congo, which Stanley was to +discover a few years later, they had only to descend its course so as +to reach the Portuguese settlements at its mouth. Dick Sand hoped that +it might be so, and he was inclined to believe it. + +During the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th of July, in the midst of a more +fertile country, the boat drifted on the silvery waters of the river. +They still took the same precautions, and it was always a mass of +herbs that the current seemed to carry on its surface. + +A few days more, and no doubt the survivors of the "Pilgrim" would see +the termination of their miseries. Self-sacrifice had been shared in +by all, and if the young novice would not claim the greater part of +it, Mrs. Weldon would demand its recognition for him. + +But on the 18th of July, during the night, an incident took place +which compromised the safety of the party. Toward three o'clock in the +morning a distant noise, still very low, was heard in the west. Dick +Sand, very anxious, wished to know what caused it. While Mrs. Weldon, +Jack, and Cousin Benedict slept in the bottom of the boat, he called +Hercules to the front, and told him to listen with the greatest +attention. The night was calm. Not a breeze stirred the atmosphere. + +"It is the noise of the sea," said Hercules, whose eyes shone with +joy. + +"No," replied Dick Sand, holding down his head. + +"What is it then?" asked Hercules. + +"Wait until day; but we must watch with the greatest care." + +At this answer, Hercules returned to his post. + +Dick Sand stood in front, listening all the time. The noise increased. +It was soon like distant roaring. + +Day broke almost without dawn. About half a mile down the river, just +above the water, a sort of cloud floated in the atmosphere. But it was +not a mass of vapor, and this became only too evident, when, under +the first solar rays, which broke in piercing it, a beautiful rainbow +spread from one bank to the other. + +"To the shore!" cried Dick Sand, whose voice awoke Mrs. Weldon. "It is +a cataract! Those clouds are spray! To the shore, Hercules!" + +Dick Sand was not mistaken. Before them, the bed of the river broke in +a descent of more than a hundred feet, and the waters rushed down with +superb but irresistible impetuosity. Another half mile, and the boat +would have been engulfed in the abyss. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +S. V. + + +With a vigorous plow of the oar, Hercules had pushed toward the left +bank. Besides, the current was not more rapid in that place, and the +bed of the river kept its normal declivity to the falls. As has been +said, it was the sudden sinking of the ground, and the attraction was +only felt three or four hundred feet above the cataract. + +On the left bank were large and very thick trees. No light penetrated +their impenetrable curtain. It was not without terror that Dick Sand +looked at this territory, inhabited by the cannibals of the Lower +Congo, which he must now cross, because the boat could no longer +follow the stream. He could not dream of carrying it below the falls. +It was a terrible blow for these poor people, on the eve perhaps of +reaching the Portuguese villages at its mouth. They were well aided, +however. Would not Heaven come to their assistance? + +The boat soon reached the left bank of the river. As it drew near, +Dingo gave strange marks of impatience and grief at the same time. + +Dick Sand, who was watching the animal--for all was danger--asked +himself if some beast or some native was not concealed in the high +papyrus of the bank. But he soon saw that the animal was not agitated +by a sentiment of anger. + +"One would say that Dingo was crying!" exclaimed little Jack, clasping +Dingo in his two arms. + +Dingo escaped from him, and, springing into the water, when the boat +was only twenty feet from the bank, reached the shore and disappeared +among the bushes. + +Neither Mrs. Weldon, nor Dick Sand, nor Hercules, knew what to think. + +They landed a few moments after in the middle of a foam green with +hairweed and other aquatic plants. Some kingfishers, giving a sharp +whistle, and some little herons, white as snow, immediately flew away. +Hercules fastened the boat firmly to a mangrove stump, and all climbed +up the steep bank overhung by large trees. + +There was no path in this forest. However, faint traces on the ground +indicated that this place had been recently visited by natives or +animals. + +Dick Sand, with loaded gun, and Hercules, with his hatchet in his +hand, had not gone ten steps before they found Dingo again. The dog, +nose to the ground, was following a scent, barking all the time. A +first inexplicable presentiment had drawn the animal to this part +of the shore, a second led it into the depths of the wood. That was +clearly visible to all. + +"Attention!" said Dick Sand. "Mrs. Weldon, Mr. Benedict, Jack, do not +leave us! Attention, Hercules!" + +At this moment Dingo raised its head, and, by little bounds, invited +them to follow. + +A moment after Mrs. Weldon and her companions rejoined it at the foot +of an old sycamore, lost in the thickest part of the wood. + +There was a dilapidated hut, with disjoined boards, before which Dingo +was barking lamentably. + +"Who can be there?" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +He entered the hut. + +Mrs. Weldon and the others followed him. + +The ground was scattered with bones, already bleached under the +discoloring action of the atmosphere. + +"A man died in that hut!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"And Dingo knew that man!" replied Dick Sand. "It was, it must have +been, his master! Ah, see!" + +Dick Sand pointed to the naked trunk of the sycamore at the end of the +hut. + +There appeared two large red letters, already almost effaced, but +which could be still distinguished. + +Dingo had rested its right paw on the tree, and it seemed to indicate +them. + +"S. V.!" exclaimed Dick Sand. "Those letters which Dingo knew among +all others! Those initials that it carries on its collar!" + +He did not finish, and stooping, he picked up a little copper box, all +oxydized, which lay in a corner of the hut. + +That box was opened, and a morsel of paper fell from it, on which Dick +Sand read these few words: + + "Assassinated--robbed by my guide, Negoro--3d December, + 1871--here--120 miles from the coast--Dingo!--with me! + + "S. VERNON." + +The note told everything. Samuel Vernon set out with his dog, Dingo, +to explore the center of Africa, guided by Negoro. The money which he +carried had excited the wretch's cupidity, and he resolved to take +possession of it. The French traveler, arrived at this point of the +Congo's banks, had established his camp in this hut. There he was +mortally wounded, robbed, abandoned. The murder accomplished, no doubt +Negoro took to flight, and it was then that he fell into the hands +of the Portuguese. Recognized as one of the trader Alvez's agents, +conducted to Saint Paul de Loanda, he was condemned to finish his days +in one of the penitentiaries of the colony. We know that he succeeded +in escaping, in reaching New Zealand, and how he embarked on the +"Pilgrim" to the misfortune of those who had taken passage on it. +But what happened after the crime? Nothing but what was easy to +understand! The unfortunate Vernon, before dying, had evidently had +time to write the note which, with the date and the motive of the +assassination, gave the name of the assassin. This note he had shut +up in that box where, doubtless, the stolen money was, and, in a last +effort, his bloody finger had traced like an epitaph the initials of +his name. Before those two red letters, Dingo must have remained for +many days! He had learned to know them! He could no longer forget +them! Then, returned to the coast, the dog had been picked up by the +captain of the "Waldeck," and finally, on board the "Pilgrim," found +itself again with Negoro. During this time, the bones of the traveler +were whitening in the depths of this lost forest of Central Africa, +and he no longer lived except in the remembrance of his dog. + +Yes, such must have been the way the events had happened. As Dick Sand +and Hercules prepared to give a Christian burial to the remains of +Samuel Yernon, Dingo, this time giving a howl of rage, dashed out of +the hut. + +Almost at once horrible cries were heard at a short distance. +Evidently a man was struggling with the powerful animal. + +Hercules did what Dingo had done. In his turn he sprang out of the +hut, and Dick Sand, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Benedict, following his steps, +saw him throw himself on a man, who fell to the ground, held at the +neck by the dog's formidable teeth. + +It was Negoro. + +In going to the mouth of the Zaire, so as to embark for America, this +rascal, leaving his escort behind, had come to the very place where he +had assassinated the traveler who had trusted himself to him. + +But there was a reason for it, and all understood it when they +perceived some handfuls of French gold which glittered in a +recently-dug hole at the foot of a tree. So it was evident that after +the murder, and before falling into the hands of the Portuguese, +Negoro had hidden the product of his crime, with the intention of +returning some day to get it. He was going to take possession of this +gold when Dingo scented him and sprang at his throat. The wretch, +surprised, had drawn his cutlass and struck the dog at the moment when +Hercules threw himself on him, crying: + +"Ah, villain! I am going to strangle you at last!" + +There was nothing more to do. The Portuguese gave no sign of life, +struck, it maybe said, by divine justice, and on the very spot where +the crime had been committed. But the faithful dog had received +a mortal blow, and dragging itself to the hut, it came to die +there--where Samuel Vernon had died. + +Hercules buried deep the traveler's remains, and Dingo, lamented by +all, was put in the same grave as its master. + +Negoro was no more, but the natives who accompanied him from Kazounde +could not be far away. On not seeing him return, they would certainly +seek him along the river. This was a very serious danger. + +Dick Sand and Mrs. Weldon took counsel as to what they should do, and +do without losing an instant. + +One fact acquired was that this stream was the Congo, which the +natives call Kwango, or Ikoutouya Kongo, and which is the Zaire under +one longitude, the Loualaba under another. It was indeed that great +artery of Central Africa, to which the heroic Stanley has given the +glorious name of "Livingstone," but which the geographers should +perhaps replace by his own. + +But, if there was no longer any doubt that this was the Congo, the +French traveler's note indicated that its mouth was still one hundred +and twenty miles from this point, and, unfortunately, at this place +it was no longer navigable. High falls--very likely the falls of +Ntamo--forbid the descent of any boat. Thus it was necessary to follow +one or the other bank, at least to a point below the cataracts, either +one or two miles, when they could make a raft, and trust themselves +again to the current. + +"It remains, then," said Dick Sand, in conclusion, "to decide if we +shall descend the left bank, where we are, or the right bank of the +river. Both, Mrs. Weldon, appear dangerous to me, and the natives are +formidable. However, it seems as if we risk more on this bank, because +we have the fear of meeting Negoro's escort." + +"Let us pass over to the other bank," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Is it practicable?" observed Dick Sand. "The road to the Congo's +mouths is rather on the left bank, as Negoro was following it. Never +mind. We must not hesitate. But before crossing the river with you, +Mrs. Weldon, I must know if we can descend it below the falls." + +That was prudent, and Dick Sand wished to put his project into +execution on the instant. + +The river at this place was not more than three or four hundred feet +wide, and to cross it was easy for the young novice, accustomed to +handling the oar. Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict would remain +under Hercules's care till his return. + +These arrangements made, Dick Sand was going to set out, when Mrs. +Weldon said to him: + +"You do not fear being carried away by the falls, Dick?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon. I shall cross four hundred feet above." + +"But on the other bank--" + +"I shall not land if I see the least danger." + +"Take your gun." + +"Yes, but do not be uneasy about me." + +"Perhaps it would be better for us not to separate, Dick," added Mrs. +Weldon, as if urged by some presentiment. + +"No--let me go alone," replied Dick Sand. "I must act for the security +of all. Before one hour I shall be back. Watch well, Hercules." + +On this reply the boat, unfastened, carried Dick Sand to the other +side of the Zaire. + +Mrs. Weldon and Hercules, lying in the papyrus thickets, followed him +with their eyes. + +Dick Sand soon reached the middle of the stream. The current, without +being very strong, was a little accentuated there by the attraction of +the falls. Four hundred feet below, the imposing roaring of the waters +filled the space, and some spray, carried by the western wind, reached +the young novice. He shuddered at the thought that the boat, if it had +been less carefully watched during the last night, would have been +lost over those cataracts, that would only have restored dead bodies. +But that was no longer to be feared, and, at that moment, the oar +skilfully handled sufficed to maintain it in a direction a little +oblique to the current. + +A quarter of an hour after, Dick Sand had reached the opposite shore, +and was preparing to spring on the bank. + +At that moment cries were heard, and ten natives rushed on the mass of +plants that still hid the boat. + +They were the cannibals from the lake village. For eight days they had +followed the right bank of the river. Under that thatch, which +was torn by the stakes of their village, they had discovered the +fugitives, that is to say, a sure prey for them, because the barrier +of the falls would sooner or later oblige those unfortunate ones to +land on one or the other side of the river. + +Dick Sand saw that he was lost, but he asked himself if the sacrifice +of his life might not save his companions. Master of himself, standing +in the front of the boat, his gun pointed, he held the cannibals in +check. + +Meanwhile, they snatched away the thatch, under which they expected +to find other victims. When they saw that the young novice alone +had fallen into their hands, they betrayed their disappointment by +frightful cries. A boy of fifteen among ten! + +But, then, one of those natives stood up, his arm stretched toward the +left bank, and pointed to Mrs. Weldon and her companions, who, having +seen all and not knowing what to do, had just climbed up the bank! + +Dick Sand, not even dreaming of himself, waited for an inspiration +from Heaven that might save them. + +The boat was going to be pushed out into the stream. The cannibals +were going to cross the river. They did not budge before the gun aimed +at them, knowing the effect of fire-arms. But one of them had seized +the oar; he managed it like a man who knew how to use it, and the boat +crossed the river obliquely. Soon it was not more than a hundred feet +from the left bank. + +"Flee!" cried Dick Sand to Mrs. Weldon. "Flee!" + +Neither Mrs. Weldon nor Hercules stirred. One would say that their +feet were fastened to the ground. + +Flee! Besides, what good would it do? In less than an hour they would +fall into the hands of the cannibals! + +Dick Sand understood it. But, then, that supreme inspiration which he +asked from Heaven was sent him. He saw the possibility of saving all +those whom he loved by making the sacrifice of his own life! He did +not hesitate to do it. + +"May God protect them!" murmured he, "and in His infinite goodness may +He have pity on me!" + +At the same instant Dick Sand pointed his gun at the native who was +steering the boat, and the oar, broken by a ball, flew into fragments. + +The cannibals gave a cry of terror. + +In fact, the boat, no longer directed by the oar, went with the +stream. The current bore it along with increasing swiftness, and, in a +few moments, it was only a hundred feet from the falls. + +Mrs. Weldon and Hercules understood all. Dick Sand attempted to save +them by precipitating the cannibals, with himself, into the abyss. +Little Jack and his mother, kneeling on the bank, sent him a last +farewell. Hercules's powerless hand was stretched out to him. + +At that moment the natives, wishing to gain the left bank by swimming, +threw themselves out of the boat, which they capsized. + +Dick Sand had lost none of his coolness in the presence of the death +which menaced him. A last thought then came to him. It was that this +boat, even because it was floating keel upward, might serve to save +him. + +In fact, two dangers were to be feared when Dick Sand should be going +over the cataract: asphyxia by the water, and asphyxia by the air. +Now, this overturned hull was like a box, in which he might, perhaps, +keep his head out of the water, at the same time that he would be +sheltered from the exterior air, which would certainly have stifled +him in the rapidity of his fall. In these conditions, it seems that a +man would have some chance of escaping the double asphyxia, even in +descending the cataracts of a Niagara. + +Dick Sand saw all that like lightning. By a last instinct he clung to +the seat which united the two sides of the boat, and, his head out of +the water, under the capsized hull, he felt the irresistible current +carrying him away, and the almost perpendicular fall taking place. + +The boat sank into the abyss hollowed out by the waters at the foot of +the cataract, and, after plunging deep, returned to the surface of the +river. + +Dick Sand, a good swimmer, understood that his safety now depended on +the vigor of his arms. + +A quarter of an hour after he reached the left bank, and there found +Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, and Cousin Benedict, whom Hercules had led +there in all haste. + +But already the cannibals had disappeared in the tumult of the waters. +They, whom the capsized boat had not protected, had ceased to live +even before reaching the last depths of the abyss, and their bodies +were going to be torn to pieces on those sharp rocks on which the +under-current of the stream dashed itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +CONCLUSION. + + +Two days after, the 20th of July, Mrs. Weldon and her companions met a +caravan going toward Emboma, at the mouth of the Congo. These were not +slave merchants, but honest Portuguese traders, who dealt in ivory. +They made the fugitives welcome, and the latter part of the journey +was accomplished under more agreeable conditions. + +The meeting with this caravan was really a blessing from Heaven. Dick +Sand would never have been able to descend the Zaire on a raft. From +the Falls of Ntamo, as far as Yellala, the stream was a succession of +rapids and cataracts. Stanley counted seventy-two, and no boat could +undertake to pass them. It was at the mouth of the Congo that the +intrepid traveler, four years later, fought the last of the thirty-two +combats which he waged with the natives. Lower down, in the cataracts +of Mbelo, he escaped death by a miracle. + +On the 11th of August, Mrs. Weldon, Dick Sand, Jack, Hercules, and +Cousin Benedict arrived at Emboma. Messrs. Motta Viega and Harrison +received them with generous hospitality. A steamer was about sailing +for the Isthmus of Panama. Mrs. Weldon and her companions took passage +in it, and happily reached the American coast. + +A despatch sent to San Francisco informed Mr. Weldon of the +unlooked-for return of his wife and his child. He had vainly searched +for tidings of them at every place where he thought the "Pilgrim" +might have been wrecked. + +Finally, on the 25th of August, the survivors of the shipwreck reached +the capital of California. Ah! if old Tom and his companions had only +been with them! + +What shall we say of Dick Sand and of Hercules? One became the son, +the other the friend, of the family. James Weldon knew how much he +owed to the young novice, how much to the brave black. He was happy; +and it was fortunate for him that Negoro had not reached him, for +he would have paid the ransom of his wife and child with his whole +fortune. He would have started for the African coast, and, once there, +who can tell to what dangers, to what treachery, he would have been +exposed? + +A single word about Cousin Benedict. The very day of his arrival the +worthy savant, after having shaken hands with Mr. Weldon, shut +himself up in his study and set to work, as if finishing a sentence +interrupted the day before. He meditated an enormous work on the +"Hexapodes Benedictus," one of the _desiderata_ of entomological +science. + +There, in his study, lined with insects, Cousin Benedict's first +action was to find a microscope and a pair of glasses. Great heaven! +What a cry of despair he uttered the first time he used them to study +the single specimen furnished by the African entomology! + +The "Hexapodes Benedictus" was not a hexapode! It was a common spider! +And if it had but six legs, instead of eight, it was simply because +the two front legs were missing! And if they were missing, these two +legs, it was because, in taking it, Hercules had, unfortunately, +broken them off! Now, this mutilation reduced the pretended "Hexapodes +Benedictus" to the condition of an invalid, and placed it in the +most ordinary class of spiders--a fact which Cousin Benedict's +near-sightedness had prevented him from discovering sooner. It gave +him a fit of sickness, from which, however, he happily recovered. + +Three years after, little Jack was eight years old, and Dick Sand made +him repeat his lessons, while working faithfully at his own studies. +In fact, hardly was he at home when, realizing how ignorant he was, +he had commenced to study with a kind of remorse--like a man who, for +want of knowledge, finds himself unequal to his task. + +"Yes," he often repeated; "if, on board of the 'Pilgrim,' I had +known all that a sailor should know, what misfortunes we would have +escaped!" + +Thus spoke Dick Sand. At the age of eighteen he finished with +distinction his hydrographical studies, and, honored with a brevet by +special favor, he took command of one of Mr. Weldon's vessels. + +See what the little orphan, rescued on the beach at Sandy Hook, had +obtained by his work and conduct. He was, in spite of his youth, +surrounded by the esteem, one might say the respect, of all who knew +him; but his simplicity and modesty were so natural to him, that he +was not aware of it. He did not even suspect--although no one could +attribute to him what are called brilliant exploits--that the +firmness, courage, and fidelity displayed in so many trials had made +of him a sort of hero. + +Meanwhile, one thought oppressed him. In his rare leisure hours he +always dreamed of old Tom, of Bat, of Austin, and of Acteon, and of +the misfortune for which he held himself responsible. It was also a +subject of real grief to Mrs. Weldon, the actual situation of her +former companions in misery. Mr. Weldon, Dick Sand, and Hercules +moved heaven and earth to find traces of them. Finally they +succeeded--thanks to the correspondents which the rich shipowner had +in different parts of the world. It was at Madagascar--where, however, +slavery was soon to be abolished--that Tom and his companions had been +sold. Dick Sand wished to consecrate his little savings to ransom +them, but Mr. Weldon would not hear of it. One of his correspondents +arranged the affair, and one day, the 15th of November, 1877, four +blacks rang the bell of his house. + +They were old Tom, Bat, Acteon, and Austin. The brave men, after +escaping so many dangers, came near being stifled, on that day, by +their delighted friends. + +Only poor Nan was missing from those whom the "Pilgrim" had thrown on +the fatal coast of Africa. But the old servant could not be recalled +to life, and neither could Dingo be restored to them. Certainly it was +miraculous that these two alone had succumbed amid such adventures. + +It is unnecessary to say that on that occasion they had a festival +at the house of the California merchant. The best toast, which all +applauded, was that given by Mrs. Weldon to Dick Sand, "To the Captain +at Fifteen!" + +THE END. + +End of the Voyage Extraordinaire + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dick Sand, by Jules Verne + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12051 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb1adb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12051 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12051) diff --git a/old/12051-8.txt b/old/12051-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93c5f2d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12051-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15368 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dick Sand, by Jules Verne + + +******************************************************************* +THIS EBOOK WAS ONE OF PROJECT GUTENBERG'S EARLY FILES. THERE +IS AN IMPROVED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY BE VIEWED AS EBOOK +(#9150) at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9150 +******************************************************************* + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dick Sand + A Captain at Fifteen + +Author: Jules Verne + +Release Date: April 15, 2004 [EBook #12051] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICK SAND *** + + + + +Produced by Norm Wolcott and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + Dick Sand; or, a Captain at Fifteen by Jules Verne + +[Redactor's Note: _Dick Sand; or, a Captain at Fifteen_, number V018 in +the T&M listing of the works of Jules Verne, is a translation of _Un +capitaine de quinze ans (1878)_. This translation was first published +by George Munro (N.Y.) in 1878 and reprinted many times in the U.S. +This is a different translation from that of Ellen E. Frewer who +translated the book for Sampson and Low in London entitled _Dick Sands, +the Boy Captain_. American translations were often free of the +religious and colonial bias inserted by the English translators of +Verne's works.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +DICK SAND; + +or, + +A CAPTAIN AT FIFTEEN. + +By JULES VERNE, + +_Author of "Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon," "Twenty +Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," "The Mysterious +Island," "Tour of the World in Eighty Days," +"Michael Strogoff," etc., etc._ + +A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS + +52-58 Duane STREET, NEW YORK. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +CONTENTS. + + _PART I._ + + + CHAPTER I. The Brig-Schooner "Pilgrim." + + CHAPTER II. Dick Sand. + + CHAPTER III. The Wreck. + + CHAPTER IV. The Survivors of the "Waldeck." + + CHAPTER V. "S. V." + + CHAPTER VI. A Whale in Sight. + + CHAPTER VII. Preparations. + + CHAPTER VIII. The Jubarte. + + CHAPTER IX. Captain Sand. + + CHAPTER X. The Four Days which Follow. + + CHAPTER XI. Tempest. + + CHAPTER XII. On the Horizon. + + CHAPTER XIII. Land! Land. + + CHAPTER XIV. The Best to Do. + + CHAPTER XV. Harris. + + CHAPTER XVI. On the Way. + + CHAPTER XVII. A Hundred Miles in Ten Days. + + CHAPTER XVIII. The Terrible Word. + + _PART II._ + + CHAPTER I. The Slave Trade. + + CHAPTER II. Harris and Negoro. + + CHAPTER III. On the March. + + CHAPTER IV. The Bad Roads of Angola. + + CHAPTER V. Ants and their Dwelling. + + CHAPTER VI. The Diving-Bell. + + CHAPTER VII. In Camp on the Banks of the Coanza. + + CHAPTER VIII. Some of Dick Sand's Notes. + + CHAPTER IX. Kazounde. + + CHAPTER X. The Great Market-day. + + CHAPTER XI. The King of Kazounde is Offered a Punch. + + CHAPTER XII. A Royal Burial. + + CHAPTER XIII. The Interior of a Factory. + + CHAPTER XIV. Some News of Dr. Livingston. + + CHAPTER XV. Where a Manticore may Lead. + + CHAPTER XVI. A Magician. + + CHAPTER XVII. Drifting. + + CHAPTER XVIII. Various Incidents. + + CHAPTER XIX. "S. V." + + CHAPTER XX. Conclusion. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +DICK SAND + +_PART I._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BRIG-SCHOONER "PILGRIM." + + +On February 2, 1876, the schooner "Pilgrim" was in latitude 43° 57' +south, and in longitude 165° 19' west of the meridian of Greenwich. + +This vessel, of four hundred tons, fitted out at San Francisco for +whale-fishing in the southern seas, belonged to James W. Weldon, a rich +Californian ship-owner, who had for several years intrusted the command +of it to Captain Hull. + +The "Pilgrim" was one of the smallest, but one of the best of that +flotilla, which James W. Weldon sent each season, not only beyond +Behring Strait, as far as the northern seas, but also in the quarters +of Tasmania or of Cape Horn, as far as the Antarctic Ocean. She sailed +in a superior manner. Her very easily managed rigging permitted her to +venture, with a few men, in sight of the impenetrable fields of ice of +the southern hemisphere. Captain Hull knew how to disentangle himself, +as the sailors say, from among those icebergs, which, during the +summer, drift by the way of New Zealand or the Cape of Good Hope, under +a much lower latitude than that which they reach in the northern seas +of the globe. It is true that only icebergs of small dimensions were +found there; they were already worn by collisions, eaten away by the +warm waters, and the greater number of them were going to melt in the +Pacific or the Atlantic. + +Under the command of Captain Hull, a good seaman, and also one of the +most skilful harpooners of the flotilla, was a crew composed of five +sailors and a novice. It was a small number for this whale-fishing, +which requires a good many persons. Men are necessary as well for the +management of the boats for the attack, as for the cutting up of the +captured animals. But, following the example of certain ship-owners, +James W. Weldon found it much more economical to embark at San +Francisco only the number of sailors necessary for the management of +the vessel. New Zealand did not lack harpooners, sailors of all +nationalities, deserters or others, who sought to be hired for the +season, and who followed skilfully the trade of fishermen. The busy +period once over, they were paid, they were put on shore, and they +waited till the whalers of the following year should come to claim +their services again. There was obtained by this method better work +from the disposable sailors, and a much larger profit derived by their +co-operation. + +They had worked in this way on board the "Pilgrim." + +The schooner had just finished her season on the limit of the Antarctic +Circle. But she had not her full number of barrels of oil, of coarse +whalebones nor of fine. Even at that period, fishing was becoming +difficult. The whales, pursued to excess, were becoming rare. The +"right" whale, which bears the name of "North Caper," in the Northern +Ocean, and that of "Sulphur Bottom," in the South Sea, was likely to +disappear. The whalers had been obliged to fall back on the finback or +jubarte, a gigantic mammifer, whose attacks are not without danger. + +This is what Captain Hull had done during this cruise; but on his next +voyage he calculated on reaching a higher latitude, and, if necessary, +going in sight of Clarie and Adelie Lands, whose discovery, contested +by the American Wilkes, certainly belongs to the illustrious commander +of the "Astrolabe" and the Zelee, to the Frenchman, Dumont d'Urville. + +In fact, the season had not been favorable for the "Pilgrim." In the +beginning of January, that is to say, toward the middle of the Southern +summer, and even when the time for the whalers to return had not yet +arrived Captain Hull had been obliged to abandon the fishing places. +His additional crew--a collection of pretty sad subjects--gave him an +excuse, as they say, and he determined to separate from them. + +The "Pilgrim" then steered to the northwest, for New Zealand, which she +sighted on the 15th of January. She arrived at Waitemata, port of +Auckland, situated at the lowest end of the Gulf of Chouraki, on the +east coast of the northern island, and landed the fishermen who had +been engaged for the season. + +The crew was not satisfied. The cargo of the "Pilgrim" was at least two +hundred barrels of oil short. There had never been worse fishing. +Captain Hull felt the disappointment of a hunter who, for the first +time, returns as he went away--or nearly so. His self-love, greatly +excited, was at stake, and he did not pardon those scoundrels whose +insubordination had compromised the results of his cruise. + +It was in vain that he endeavored to recruit a new fishing crew at +Auckland. All the disposable seamen were embarked on the other whaling +vessels. He was thus obliged to give up the hope of completing the +"Pilgrim's" cargo, and Captain Hull was preparing to leave Auckland +definitely, when a request for a passage was made which he could not +refuse. + +Mrs. Weldon, wife of the "Pilgrim's" owner, was then at Auckland with +her young son Jack, aged about five years, and one of her relatives, +her Cousin Benedict. James W. Weldon, whom his business operations +sometimes obliged to visit New Zealand, had brought the three there, +and intended to bring them back to San Francisco. + +But, just as the whole family was going to depart, little Jack became +seriously ill, and his father, imperatively recalled by his business, +was obliged to leave Auckland, leaving his wife, his son, and Cousin +Benedict there. + +Three months had passed away--three long months of separation, which +were extremely painful to Mrs. Weldon. Meanwhile her young child was +restored to health, and she was at liberty to depart, when she was +informed of the arrival of the "Pilgrim." + +Now, at that period, in order to return to San Francisco, Mrs. Weldon +found herself under the necessity of going to Australia by one of the +vessels of the Golden Age Trans-oceanic Company, which ply between +Melbourne and the Isthmus of Panama by Papeiti. Then, once arrived at +Panama, it would be necessary for her to await the departure of the +American steamer, which establishes a regular communication between the +Isthmus and California. Thence, delays, trans-shipments, always +disagreeable for a woman and a child. It was just at this time that the +"Pilgrim" came into port at Auckland. Mrs. Weldon did not hesitate, but +asked Captain Hull to take her on board to bring her back to San +Francisco--she, her son, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, an old negress who +had served her since her infancy. Three thousand marine leagues to +travel on a sailing vessel! But Captain Hull's ship was so well +managed, and the season still so fine on both sides of the Equator! +Captain Hull consented, and immediately put his own cabin at the +disposal of his passenger. He wished that, during a voyage which might +last forty or fifty days, Mrs. Weldon should be installed as well as +possible on board the whaler. + +There were then certain advantages for Mrs. Weldon in making the voyage +under these conditions. The only disadvantage was that this voyage +would be necessarily prolonged in consequence of this circumstance--the +"Pilgrim" would go to Valparaiso, in Chili, to effect her unloading. +That done, there would be nothing but to ascend the American coast, +with land breezes, which make these parts very agreeable. + +Besides, Mrs. Weldon was a courageous woman, whom the sea did not +frighten. Then thirty years of age, she was of robust health, being +accustomed to long voyages, for, having shared with her husband the +fatigues of several passages, she did not fear the chances more or less +contingent, of shipping on board a ship of moderate tonnage. She knew +Captain Hull to be an excellent seaman, in whom James W. Weldon had +every confidence. The "Pilgrim" was a strong vessel, capital sailer, +well quoted in the flotilla of American whalers. The opportunity +presented itself. It was necessary to profit by it. Mrs. Weldon did +profit by it. + +Cousin Benedict--it need not be said--would accompany her. + +This cousin was a worthy man, about fifty years of age. But, +notwithstanding his fifty years, it would not have been prudent to let +him go out alone. Long, rather than tall, narrow, rather than thin, his +figure bony, his skull enormous and very hairy, one recognized in his +whole interminable person one of those worthy savants, with gold +spectacles, good and inoffensive beings, destined to remain great +children all their lives, and to finish very old, like centenaries who +would die at nurse. + +"Cousin Benedict"--he was called so invariably, even outside of the +family, and, in truth, he was indeed one of those good men who seem to +be the born cousins of all the world--Cousin Benedict, always impeded +by his long arms and his long limbs, would be absolutely incapable of +attending to matters alone, even in the most ordinary circumstances of +life. He was not troublesome, oh! no, but rather embarrassing for +others, and embarrassed for himself. Easily satisfied, besides being +very accommodating, forgetting to eat or drink, if some one did not +bring him something to eat or drink, insensible to the cold as to the +heat, he seemed to belong less to the animal kingdom than to the +vegetable kingdom. One must conceive a very useless tree, without fruit +and almost without leaves, incapable of giving nourishment or shelter, +but with a good heart. + +Such was Cousin Benedict. He would very willingly render service to +people if, as Mr. Prudhomme would say, he were capable of rendering it. + +Finally, his friends loved him for his very feebleness. Mrs. Weldon +regarded him as her child--a large elder brother of her little Jack. + +It is proper to add here that Cousin Benedict was, meanwhile, neither +idle nor unoccupied. On the contrary, he was a worker. His only +passion--natural history--absorbed him entirely. + +To say "Natural History" is to say a great deal. + +We know that the different parts of which this science is composed are +zoology, botany, mineralogy, and geology. + +Now Cousin Benedict was, in no sense, a botanist, nor a mineralogist, +nor a geologist. + +Was he, then, a zoologist in the entire acceptation of the word, a kind +of Cuvier of the New World, decomposing an animal by analysis, or +putting it together again by synthesis, one of those profound +connoisseurs, versed in the study of the four types to which modern +science refers all animal existence, vertebrates, mollusks, +articulates, and radiates? Of these four divisions, had the artless but +studious savant observed the different classes, and sought the orders, +the families, the tribes, the genera, the species, and the varieties +which distinguish them? + +No. + +Had Cousin Benedict devoted himself to the study of the vertebrates, +mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes? + +No. + +Was it to the mollusks, from the cephalopodes to the bryozoans, that he +had given his preference, and had malacology no more secrets for him? + +Not at all. + +Then it was on the radiates, echinoderms, acalephes, polypes, +entozoons, sponges, and infusoria, that he had for such a long time +burned the midnight oil? + +It must, indeed, be confessed that it was not on the radiates. + +Now, in zoology there only remains to be mentioned the division of the +articulates, so it must be that it was on this division that Cousin +Benedict's only passion was expended. + +Yes, and still it is necessary to select. + +This branch of the articulates counts six classes: insects, myriapodes, +arachnides, crustaceans, cirrhopodes, and annelides. + +Now, Cousin Benedict, scientifically speaking, would not know how to +distinguish an earth-worm from a medicinal leech, a sand-fly from a +glans-marinus, a common spider from a false scorpion, a shrimp from a +frog, a gally-worm from a scolopendra. + +But, then, what was Cousin Benedict? Simply an entomologist--nothing +more. + +To that, doubtless, it may be said that in its etymological +acceptation, entomology is that part of the natural sciences which +includes all the articulates. That is true, in a general way; but it is +the custom to give this word a more restricted sense. It is then only +applied, properly speaking, to the study of insects, that is to say: +"All the articulate animals of which the body, composed of rings placed +end to end, forms three distinct segments, and which possesses three +pairs of legs, which have given them the name of hexapodes." + +Now, as Cousin Benedict had confined himself to the study of the +articulates of this class, he was only an entomologist. + +But, let us not be mistaken about it. In this class of the insects are +counted not less than ten orders: + + 1. Orthopterans as grasshoppers, crickets, etc. + 2. Neuropters as ant-eaters, dragon-flies or libellula. + 3. Hymenopters as bees, wasps, ants. + 4. Lepidopters as butterflies, etc. + 5. Hemipters as cicada, plant-lice, fleas, etc. + 6. Coleopters as cockchafers, fire-flies, etc. + 7. Dipters as gnats, musquitoes, flies. + 8. Rhipipters as stylops. + 9. Parasites as acara, etc. + 10. Thysanurans as lepidotus, flying-lice, etc. + +Now, in certain of these orders, the coleopters, for example, there are +recognized thirty thousand species, and sixty thousand in the dipters; +so subjects for study are not wanting, and it will be conceded that +there is sufficient in this class alone to occupy a man! + +Thus, Cousin Benedict's life was entirely and solely consecrated to +entomology. + +To this science he gave all his hours--all, without exception, even the +hours of sleep, because he invariably dreamt "hexapodes." That he +carried pins stuck in his sleeves and in the collar of his coat, in the +bottom of his hat, and in the facings of his vest, need not be +mentioned. + +When Cousin Benedict returned from some scientific promenade his +precious head-covering in particular was no more than a box of natural +history, being bristling inside and outside with pierced insects. + +And now all will be told about this original when it is stated, that it +was on account of his passion for entomology that he had accompanied +Mr. and Mrs. Weldon to New Zealand. There his collection was enriched +by some rare subjects, and it will be readily understood that he was in +haste to return to classify them in the cases of his cabinet in San +Francisco. + +So, as Mrs. Weldon and her child were returning to America by the +"Pilgrim," nothing more natural than for Cousin Benedict to accompany +them during that passage. + +But it was not on him that Mrs. Weldon could rely, if she should ever +find herself in any critical situation. Very fortunately, the prospect +was only that of a voyage easily made during the fine season, and on +board of a ship whose captain merited all her confidence. + +During the three days that the "Pilgrim" was in port at Waitemata, Mrs. +Weldon made her preparations in great haste, for she did not wish to +delay the departure of the schooner. The native servants whom she +employed in her dwelling in Auckland were dismissed, and, on the 22d +January, she embarked on board the "Pilgrim," bringing only her son +Jack, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, her old negress. + +Cousin Benedict carried all his curious collection of insects in a +special box. In this collection figured, among others, some specimens +of those new staphylins, species of carnivorous coleopters, whose eyes +are placed above the head, and which, till then, seemed to be peculiar +to New Caledonia. A certain venomous spider, the "katipo," of the +Maoris, whose bite is often fatal to the natives, had been very highly +recommended to him. But a spider does not belong to the order of +insects properly so called; it is placed in that of the arachnida, and, +consequently, was valueless in Cousin Benedict's eyes. Thus he scorned +it, and the most beautiful jewel of his collection was a remarkable +staphylin from New Zealand. + +It is needless to say that Cousin Benedict, by paying a heavy premium, +had insured his cargo, which to him seemed much more precious than all +the freight of oil and bones stowed away in the hold of the "Pilgrim." + +Just as the "Pilgrim" was getting under sail, when Mrs. Weldon and her +companion for the voyage found themselves on the deck of the schooner, +Captain Hull approached his passenger: + +"It is understood, Mrs. Weldon," he said to her, "that, if you take +passage on board the 'Pilgrim,' it is on your own responsibility." + +"Why do you make that observation to me, Mr. Hull?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Because I have not received an order from your husband in regard to +it, and, all things considered, a schooner cannot offer you the +guarantees of a good passage, like a packet-boat, specially intended to +carry travelers." + +"If my husband were here," replied Mrs. Weldon, "do you think, Mr. +Hull, that he would hesitate to embark on the 'Pilgrim,' in company +with his wife and child?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, he would not hesitate," said Captain Hull; "no, +indeed! no more than I should hesitate myself! The 'Pilgrim' is a good +ship after all, even though she has made but a sad cruise, and I am +sure of her, as much so as a seaman can be of the ship which he has +commanded for several years. The reason I speak, Mrs. Weldon, is to get +rid of personal responsibility, and to repeat that you will not find on +board the comfort to which you have been accustomed." + +"As it is only a question of comfort, Mr. Hull," replied Mrs. Weldon, +"that should not stop me. I am not one of those troublesome passengers +who complain incessantly of the narrowness of the cabins, and the +insufficiency of the table." + +Then, after looking for a few moments at her little Jack, whom she held +by the hand, Mrs. Weldon said: + +"Let us go, Mr. Hull!" + +The orders were given to get under way at once, the sails were set, and +the "Pilgrim," working to get out to sea in the shortest time possible, +steered for the American coast. + +But, three days after her departure, the schooner, thwarted by strong +breezes from the east, was obliged to tack to larboard to make headway +against the wind. So, at the date of February 2d, Captain Hull still +found himself in a higher latitude than he would have wished, and in +the situation of a sailor who wanted to double Cape Horn rather than +reach the New Continent by the shortest course. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DICK SAND. + + +Meanwhile the sea was favorable, and, except the delays, navigation +would be accomplished under very supportable conditions. + +Mrs. Weldon had been installed on board the "Pilgrim" as comfortably as +possible. + +Neither poop nor "roufle" was at the end of the deck. There was no +stern cabin, then, to receive the passengers. She was obliged to be +contented with Captain Hull's cabin, situated aft, which constituted +his modest sea lodging. And still it had been necessary for the captain +to insist, in order to make her accept it. There, in that narrow +lodging, was installed Mrs. Weldon, with her child and old Nan. She +took her meals there, in company with the captain and Cousin Benedict, +for whom they had fitted up a kind of cabin on board. + +As to the commander of the "Pilgrim," he had settled himself in a cabin +belonging to the ship's crew--a cabin which would be occupied by the +second officer, if there were a second one on board. But the +brig-schooner was navigated, we know, under conditions which enabled +her to dispense with the services of a second officer. + +The men of the "Pilgrim," good and strong seamen, were very much united +by common ideas and habits. This fishing season was the fourth which +they had passed together. All Americans of the West, they were +acquainted for a long period, and belonged to the same coast of the +State of California. + +These brave men showed themselves very thoughtful towards Mrs. Weldon, +the wife of the owner of their ship, for whom they professed boundless +devotion. It must be said that, largely interested in the profits of +the ship, they had navigated till then with great gain. If, by reason +of their small number, they did not spare themselves, it was because +every labor increased their earnings in the settling of accounts at the +end of each season. This time, it is true, the profit would be almost +nothing, and that gave them just cause to curse and swear against those +New Zealand scoundrels. + +One man on board, alone among all, was not of American origin. +Portuguese by birth, but speaking English fluently, he was called +Negoro, and filled the humble position of cook on the schooner. + +The "Pilgrim's" cook having deserted at Auckland, this Negoro, then out +of employment, offered himself for the place. He was a taciturn man, +not at all communicative, who kept to himself, but did his work +satisfactorily. In engaging him, Captain Hull seemed to be rather +fortunate, and since embarking, the master cook had merited no reproach. + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull regretted not having had the time to inform +himself sufficiently about Negoro's antecedents. His face, or rather +his look, was only half in his favor, and when it is necessary to bring +an unknown into the life on board, so confined, so intimate, his +antecedents should be carefully inquired into. + +Negoro might be forty years old. Thin, nervous, of medium height, with +very brown hair, skin somewhat swarthy, he ought to be strong. Had he +received any instruction? Yes; that appeared in certain observations +which escaped him sometimes. Besides, he never spoke of his past life, +he said not a word about his family. Whence he came, where he had +lived, no one could tell. What would his future be? No one knew any +more about that. He only announced his intention of going on shore at +Valparaiso. He was certainly a singular man. At all events, he did not +seem to be a sailor. He seemed to be even more strange to marine things +than is usual with a master cook, part of whose existence is passed at +sea. + +Meanwhile, as to being incommoded by the rolling and pitching of the +ship, like men who have never navigated, he was not in the least, and +that is something for a cook on board a vessel. + +Finally, he was little seen. During the day, he most generally remained +confined in his narrow kitchen, before the stove for melting, which +occupied the greater part of it. When night came and the fire in the +stove was out, Negoro went to the cabin which was assigned to him at +the end of the crew's quarters. Then he went to bed at once and went to +sleep. + +It has been already said that the "Pilgrim's" crew was composed of five +sailors and a novice. + +This young novice, aged fifteen, was the child of an unknown father and +mother. This poor being, abandoned from his birth, had been received +and brought up by public charity. + +Dick Sand--that was his name--must have been originally from the State +of New York, and doubtless from the capital of that State. + +If the name of Dick--an abbreviation of Richard--had been given to the +little orphan, it was because it was the name of the charitable +passer-by who had picked him up two or three hours after his birth. As +to the name of Sand, it was attributed to him in remembrance of the +place where he had been found; that is to say, on that point of land +called Sandy-Hook, which forms the entrance of the port of New York, at +the mouth of the Hudson. + +Dick Sand, when he should reach his full growth, would not exceed +middle height, but he was well built. One could not doubt that he was +of Anglo-Saxon origin. He was brown, however, with blue eyes, in which +the crystalline sparkled with ardent fire. His seaman's craft had +already prepared him well for the conflicts of life. His intelligent +physiognomy breathed forth energy. It was not that of an audacious +person, it was that of a darer. These three words from an unfinished +verse of Virgil are often cited: + + "Audaces fortuna juvat".... + +but they are quoted incorrectly. The poet said: + + "Audentes fortuna juvat".... + +It is on the darers, not on the audacious, that Fortune almost always +smiled. The audacious may be unguarded. The darer thinks first, acts +afterwards. There is the difference! + +Dick Sand was _audens_. + +At fifteen he already knew how to take a part, and to carry out to the +end whatever his resolute spirit had decided upon. His manner, at once +spirited and serious, attracted attention. He did not squander himself +in words and gestures, as boys of his age generally do. Early, at a +period of life when they seldom discuss the problems of existence, he +had looked his miserable condition in the face, and he had promised "to +make" himself. + +And he had made himself--being already almost a man at an age when +others are still only children. + +At the same time, very nimble, very skilful in all physical exercises, +Dick Sand was one of those privileged beings, of whom it may be said +that they were born with two left feet and two right hands. In that +way, they do everything with the right hand, and always set out with +the left foot. + +Public charity, it has been said, had brought up the little orphan. He +had been put first in one of those houses for children, where there is +always, in America, a place for the little waifs. Then at four, Dick +learned to read, write and count in one of those State of New York +schools, which charitable subscriptions maintain so generously. + +At eight, the taste for the sea, which Dick had from birth, caused him +to embark as cabin-boy on a packet ship of the South Sea. There he +learned the seaman's trade, and as one ought to learn it, from the +earliest age. Little by little he instructed himself under the +direction of officers who were interested in this little old man. So +the cabin-boy soon became the novice, expecting something better, of +course. The child who understands, from the beginning, that work is the +law of life, the one who knows, from an early age, that he will gain +his bread only by the sweat of his brow--a Bible precept which is the +rule of humanity--that one is probably intended for great things; for +some day he will have, with the will, the strength to accomplish them. + +It was, when he was a cabin-boy on board a merchant vessel, that Dick +Sand was remarked by Captain Hull. This honest seaman immediately +formed a friendship with this honest young boy, and later he made him +known to the ship-owner, James W. Weldon. The latter felt a lively +interest in this orphan, whose education he completed at San Francisco, +and he had him brought up in the Catholic religion, to which his family +adhered. + +During the course of his studies, Dick Sand showed a particular liking +for geography, for voyages, while waiting till he was old enough to +learn that branch of mathematics which relates to navigation. Then to +this theoretical portion of his instruction, he did not neglect to join +the practical. It was as novice that he was able to embark for the +first time on the "Pilgrim." A good seaman ought to understand fishing +as well as navigation. It is a good preparation for all the +contingencies which the maritime career admits of. Besides, Dick Sand +set out on a vessel of James W. Weldon's, his benefactor, commanded by +his protector, Captain Hull. Thus he found himself in the most +favorable circumstances. + +To speak of the extent of his devotion to the Weldon family, to whom he +owed everything, would be superfluous. Better let the facts speak for +themselves. But it will be understood how happy the young novice was +when he learned that Mrs. Weldon was going to take passage on board the +"Pilgrim." Mrs. Weldon for several years had been a mother to him, and +in Jack he saw a little brother, all the time keeping in remembrance +his position in respect to the son of the rich ship-owner. But--his +protectors knew it well--this good seed which they had sown had fallen +on good soil. The orphan's heart was filled with gratitude, and some +day, if it should be necessary to give his life for those who had +taught him to instruct himself and to love God, the young novice would +not hesitate to give it. Finally, to be only fifteen, but to act and +think as if he were thirty, that was Dick Sand. + +Mrs. Weldon knew what her _protégé_ was worth. She could trust little +Jack with him without any anxiety. Dick Sand cherished this child, who, +feeling himself loved by this "large brother," sought his company. +During those long leisure hours, which are frequent in a voyage, when +the sea is smooth, when the well set up sails require no management, +Dick and Jack were almost always together. The young novice showed the +little boy everything in his craft which seemed amusing. + +Without fear Mrs. Weldon saw Jack, in company with Dick Sand, spring +out on the shrouds, climb to the top of the mizzen-mast, or to the +booms of the mizzen-topmast, and come down again like an arrow the +whole length of the backstays. Dick Sand went before or followed him, +always ready to hold him up or keep him back, if his six-year-old arms +grew feeble during those exercises. All that benefited little Jack, +whom sickness had made somewhat pale; but his color soon came back on +board the "Pilgrim," thanks to this gymnastic, and to the bracing +sea-breezes. + +So passed the time. Under these conditions the passage was being +accomplished, and only the weather was not very favorable, neither the +passengers nor the crew of the "Pilgrim" would have had cause to +complain. + +Meanwhile this continuance of east winds made Captain Hull anxious. He +did not succeed in getting the vessel into the right course. Later, +near the Tropic of Capricorn, he feared finding calms which would delay +him again, without speaking of the equatorial current, which would +irresistibly throw him back to the west. He was troubled then, above +all, for Mrs. Weldon, by the delays for which, meanwhile, he was not +responsible. So, if he should meet, on his course, some transatlantic +steamer on the way toward America, he already thought of advising his +passenger to embark on it. Unfortunately, he was detained in latitudes +too high to cross a steamer running to Panama; and, besides, at that +period communication across the Pacific, between Australia and the New +World, was not as frequent as it has since become. + +It then was necessary to leave everything to the grace of God, and it +seemed as if nothing would trouble this monotonous passage, when the +first incident occurred precisely on that day, February 2d, in the +latitude and longitude indicated at the beginning of this history. + +Dick Sand and Jack, toward nine o'clock in the morning, in very clear +weather, were installed on the booms of the mizzen-topmast. Thence they +looked down on the whole ship and a portion of the ocean in a largo +circumference. Behind, the perimeter of the horizon was broken to their +eyes, only by the mainmast, carrying brigantine and fore-staff. That +beacon hid from them a part of the sea and the sky. In the front, they +saw the bowsprit stretching over the waves, with its three jibs, which +were hauled tightly, spread out like three great unequal wings. +Underneath rounded the foremast, and above, the little top-sail and +the little gallant-sail, whose bolt-rope quivered with the pranks of +the breeze. The schooner was then running on the larboard tack, and +hugging the wind as much as possible. + +Dick Sand explained to Jack how the "Pilgrim," ballasted properly, well +balanced in all her parts, could not capsize, even if she gave a pretty +strong heel to starboard, when the little boy interrupted him. + +"What do I see there?" said he. + +"You see something, Jack?" demanded Dick Sand, who stood up straight on +the booms. + +"Yes--there!" replied little Jack, showing a point of the sea, left +open by the interval between the stays of the standing-jib and the +flying-jib. + +Dick Sand looked at the point indicated attentively, and forthwith, +with a loud voice, he cried; + +"A wreck to windward, over against starboard!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE WRECK. + + +Dick Sand's cry brought all the crew to their feet. The men who were +not on watch came on deck. Captain Hull, leaving his cabin, went toward +the bow. + +Mrs. Weldon, Nan, even the indifferent Cousin Benedict himself, came to +lean over the starboard rail, so as to see the wreck signaled by the +young novice. + +Negoro, alone, did not leave the cabin, which served him for a kitchen; +and as usual, of all the crew, he was the only one whom the encounter +with a wreck did not appear to interest. + +Then all regarded attentively the floating object which the waves were +rocking, three miles from the "Pilgrim." + +"Ah! what can that be?" said a sailor. + +"Some abandoned raft," replied another. + +"Perhaps there are some unhappy shipwrecked ones on that raft," said +Mrs. Weldon. + +"We shall find out," replied Captain Hull. "But that wreck is not a +raft. It is a hull thrown over on the side." + +"Ah! is it not more likely to be some marine animal--some mammifer of +great size?" observed Cousin Benedict. + +"I do not think so," replied the novice. + +"Then what is your idea, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"An overturned hull, as the captain has said, Mrs. Weldon. It even +seems to me that I see its copper keel glistening in the sun." + +"Yes--indeed," replied Captain Hull. Then addressing the helmsman: +"Steer to the windward, Bolton. Let her go a quarter, so as to come +alongside the wreck." + +"Yes, sir," replied the helmsman. + +"But," continued Cousin Benedict, "I keep to what I have said. +Positively it is an animal." + +"Then this would be a whale in copper," replied Captain Hull, "for, +positively, also, I see it shine in the sun!" + +"At all events, Cousin Benedict," added Mrs. Weldon, "you will agree +with us that this whale must be dead, for it is certain that it does +not make the least movement." + +"Ah! Cousin Weldon," replied Cousin Benedict, who was obstinate, "this +would not be the first time that one has met a whale sleeping on the +surface of the waves." + +"That is a fact," replied Captain Hull; "but to-day, the thing is not a +whale, but a ship." + +"We shall soon see," replied Cousin Benedict, who, after all, would +give all the mammifers of the Arctic or Antarctic seas for an insect of +a rare species. + +"Steer, Bolton, steer!" cried Captain Hull again, "and do not board the +wreck. Keep a cable's length. If we cannot do much harm to this hull, +it might cause us some damage, and I do not care to hurt the sides of +the 'Pilgrim' with it. Tack a little, Bolton, tack!" + +The "Pilgrim's" prow, which had been directed toward the wreck, was +turned aside by a slight movement of the helm. + +The schooner was still a mile from the capsized hull. The sailors were +eagerly looking at it. Perhaps it held a valuable cargo, which it would +be possible to transfer to the "Pilgrim." We know that, in these +salvages, the third of the value belongs to the rescuers, and, in this +case, if the cargo was not damaged, the crew, as they say, would make +"a good haul." This would be a fish of consolation for their incomplete +fishing. + +A quarter of an hour later the wreck was less than a mile from the +"Pilgrim." + +It was indeed a ship, which presented itself on its side, to the +starboard. Capsized as far as the nettings, she heeled so much that it +would be almost impossible to stand upon her deck. Nothing could be +seen beyond her masts. From the port-shrouds were banging only some +ends of broken rope, and the chains broken by the cloaks of +white-crested waves. On the starboard side opened a large hole between +the timbers of the frame-work and the damaged planks. + +"This ship has been run into," cried Dick Sand. + +"There is no doubt of that," replied Captain Hull; "and it is a miracle +that she did not sink immediately." + +"If there has been a collision," observed Mrs. Weldon, "we must hope +that the crew of this ship has been picked up by those who struck her." + +"It is to be hoped so, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain, Hull, "unless +this crew sought refuge in their own boats after the collision, in case +the colliding vessel should sail right on--which, alas! sometimes +happens." + +"Is it possible? That would be a proof of very great inhumanity, Mr. +Hull." + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon. Yes! and instances are not wanting. As to the crew +of this ship, what makes me believe that it is more likely they have +left it, is that I do not see a single boat; and, unless the men on +board have been picked up, I should be more inclined to think that they +have tried to roach the land. But, at this distance from the American +continent, or from the islands of Oceanica, it is to be feared that +they have not succeeded." + +"Perhaps," said Mrs. Weldon, "we shall never know the secret of this +catastrophe. Meanwhile, it might be possible that some man of the crew +is still on board." + +"That is not probable, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. "Our +approach would be already known, and they would make some signals to +us. But we shall make sure of it.--Luff a little, Bolton, luff," cried +Captain Hull, while indicating with his hand what course to take. + +The "Pilgrim" was now only three cables' length from the wreck, and +they could no longer doubt that this hull had been completely abandoned +by all its crew. + +But, at that moment, Dick Sand made a gesture which imperiously +demanded silence. + +"Listen, listen!" said he. + +Each listened. + +"I hear something like a bark!" cried Dick Sand. In fact, a distant +barking resounded from the interior of the hull. Certainly there was a +living dog there, imprisoned perhaps, for it was possible that the +hatches were hermetically closed. But they could not see it, the deck +of the capsized vessel being still invisible. + +"If there be only a dog there, Mr. Hull," said Mrs. "Weldon," we shall +save it." + +"Yes, yes!" cried little Jack, "we shall save it. I shall give it +something to eat! It will love us well! Mama, I am going to bring it a +piece of sugar!" + +"Stay still, my child," replied Mrs. Weldon smiling. "I believe that +the poor animal is dying of hunger, and it will prefer a good mess to +your morsel of sugar." + +"Well, then, let it have my soup," cried little Jack. "I can do without +it very well." + +At that moment the barking was more distinctly heard. Three hundred +feet, at the most, separated the two ships. Almost immediately a dog of +great height appeared on the starboard netting, and clung there, +barking more despairingly than ever. + +"Howik," said Captain Hull, turning toward the master of the +"Pilgrim's" crew, "heave to, and lower the small boat." + +"Hold on, my dog, hold on!" cried little Jack to the animal, which +seemed to answer him with a half-stifled bark. + +The "Pilgrim's" sails were rapidly furled, so that the ship should +remain almost motionless, less than half a cable's length from the +wreck. + +The boat was brought alongside. Captain Hull, Dick Sand and two sailors +got into it at once. + +The dog barked all the time. It tried to hold on to the netting, but +every moment it fell back on the deck. One would say that its barks +were no longer addressed to those who were coming to him. Were they +then addressed to some sailors or passengers imprisoned in this ship? + +"Is there, then, on board some shipwrecked one who has survived?" Mrs. +Weldon asked herself. + +A few strokes of the oars and the "Pilgrim's" boat would reach the +capsized hull. + +But, suddenly, the dog's manner changed. Furious barks succeeded its +first barks inviting the rescuers to come. The most violent anger +excited the singular animal. + +"What can be the matter with that dog?" said Captain Hull, while the +boat was turning the stern of the vessel, so as to come alongside of +the part of the deck lying under the water. + +What Captain Hull could not then observe, what could not be noticed +even on board the "Pilgrim," was that the dog's fury manifested itself +just at the moment when Negoro, leaving his kitchen, had just come +toward the forecastle. + +Did the dog then know and recognize the master cook? It was very +improbable. + +However that may be, after looking at the dog, without showing any +surprise, Negoro, who, however, frowned for an instant, returned to the +crew's quarters. + +Meanwhile the boat had rounded the stern of the ship. Her aftboard +carried this single name: "Waldeck." + +"Waldeck," and no designation of the port attached. But, by the form of +the hull, by certain details which a sailor seizes at the first glance, +Captain Hull had, indeed, discovered that this ship was of American +construction. Besides, her name confirmed it. And now, this hull, it +was all that remained of a large brig of five hundred tons. + +At the "Waldeck's" prow a large opening indicated the place where the +collision had occurred. In consequence of the capsizing of the hull, +this opening was then five or six feet above the water--which explained +why the brig had not yet foundered. + +On the deck, which Captain Hull saw in its whole extent, there was +nobody. + +The dog, having left the netting, had just let itself slip as far as +the central hatch, which was open; and it barked partly toward the +interior, partly toward the exterior. + +"It is very certain that this animal is not alone on board!" observed +Dick Sand. + +"No, in truth!" replied Captain Hull. + +The boat then skirted the larboard netting, which was half under water. +A somewhat strong swell of the sea would certainly submerge the +"Waldeck" in a few moments. + +The brig's deck had been swept from one end to the other. There was +nothing left except the stumps of the mainmast and of the mizzen-mast, +both broken off two feet above the scuttles, and which had fallen in +the collision, carrying away shrouds, back-stays, and rigging. +Meanwhile, as far as the eye could see, no wreck was visible around the +"Waldeck"--which seemed to indicate that the catastrophe was already +several days old. + +"If some unhappy creatures have survived the collision," said Captain +Hull, "it is probable that either hunger or thirst has finished them, +for the water must have gained the store-room. There are only dead +bodies on board!" + +"No," cried Dick Sand, "no! The dog would not bark that way. There are +living beings on board!" + +At that moment the animal, responding to the call of the novice, slid +to the sea, and swam painfully toward the boat, for it seemed to be +exhausted. + +They took it in, and it rushed eagerly, not for a piece of bread that +Dick Sand offered it first, but to a half-tub which contained a little +fresh water. + +"This poor animal is dying of thirst!" cried Dick Sand. + +The boat then sought a favorable place to board the "Waldeck" more +easily, and for that purpose it drew away a few strokes. The dog +evidently thought that its rescuers did not wish to go on board, for he +seized Dick Sand by his jacket, and his lamentable barks commenced +again with new strength. + +They understood it. Its pantomime and its language were as clear as a +man's language could be. The boat was brought immediately as far as the +larboard cat-head. There the two sailors moored it firmly, while +Captain Hull and Dick Sand, setting foot on the deck at the same time +as the dog, raised themselves, not without difficulty, to the hatch +which opened between the stumps of the two masts. + +By this hatch the two made their way into the hold. + +The "Waldeck's" hold, half full of water, contained no goods. The brig +sailed with ballast--a ballast of sand which had slid to larboard and +which helped to keep the ship on her side. On that head, then, there +was no salvage to effect. + +"Nobody here," said Captain Hull. + +"Nobody," replied the novice, after having gone to the foremost part of +the hold. + +But the dog, which was on the deck, kept on barking and seemed to call +the captain's attention more imperatively. + +"Let us go up again," said Captain Hull to the novice. + +Both appeared again on the deck. + +The dog, running to them, sought to draw them to the poop. + +They followed it. + +There, in the square, five bodies--undoubtedly five corpses--were lying +on the floor. + +By the daylight which entered in waves by the opening, Captain Hull +discovered the bodies of five negroes. + +Dick Sand, going from one to the other, thought he felt that the +unfortunates were still breathing. + +"On board! on board!" cried Captain Hull. + +The two sailors who took care of the boat were called, and helped to +carry the shipwrecked men out of the poop. + +This was not without difficulty, but two minutes after, the five blacks +were laid in the boat, without being at all conscious that any one was +trying to save them. A few drops of cordial, then a little fresh water +prudently administered, might, perhaps, recall them to life. + +The "Pilgrim" remained a half cable's length from the wreck, and the +boat would soon reach her. + +A girt-line was let down from the main-yard, and each of the blacks +drawn up separately reposed at last on the "Pilgrim's" deck. + +The dog had accompanied them. + +"The unhappy creatures!" cried Mrs. Weldon, on perceiving those poor +men, who were only inert bodies. + +"They are alive, Mrs. Weldon. We shall save them. Yes, we shall save +them," cried Dick Sand. + +"What has happened to them?" demanded Cousin Benedict. + +"Wait till they can speak," replied Captain Hull, "and they will tell +us their history. But first of all, let us make them drink a little +water, in which we shall mix a few drops of rum." Then, turning round: +"Negoro!" he called. + +At that name the dog stood up as if it knew the sound, its hair +bristling, its mouth open. + +Meanwhile, the cook did not appear. + +"Negoro!" repeated Captain Hull. + +The dog again gave signs of extreme fury. + +Negoro left the kitchen. + +Hardly had he shown himself on the deck, than the dog sprang on him and +wanted to jump at his throat. + +With a blow from the poker with which he was armed, the cook drove away +the animal, which some of the sailors succeeded in holding. + +"Do you know this dog?" Captain Hull asked the master cook. + +"I?" replied Negoro. "I have never seen it." + +"That is singular," murmured Dick Sand. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SURVIVORS OF THE "WALDECK." + + +The slave trade was still carried on, on a large scale, in all +equinoctial Africa. Notwithstanding the English and French cruisers, +ships loaded with slaves leave the coasts of Angola and Mozambique +every year to transport negroes to various parts of the world, and, it +must be said, of the civilized world. + +Captain Hull was not ignorant of it. Though these parts were not +ordinarily frequented by slave-ships, he asked himself if these blacks, +whose salvage he had just effected, were not the survivors of a cargo +of slaves that the "Waldeck" was going to sell to some Pacific colony. +At all events, if that was so, the blacks became free again by the sole +act of setting foot on his deck, and he longed to tell it to them. + +Meanwhile the most earnest care had been lavished on the shipwrecked +men from the "Waldeck." Mrs. Weldon, aided by Nan and Dick Sand, had +administered to them a little of that good fresh water of which they +must have been deprived for several days, and that, with some +nourishment, sufficed to restore them to life. + +The eldest of these blacks--he might be about sixty years old--was soon +able to speak, and he could answer in English the questions which were +addressed to him. + +"The ship which carried you was run into?" asked Captain Hull, first of +all. + +"Yes," replied the old black. "Ten days ago our ship was struck, during +a very dark night. We were asleep----" + +"But the men of the 'Waldeck'--what has become of them?" + +"They were no longer there, sir, when my companions and I reached the +deck." + +"Then, was the crew able to jump on board the ship which struck the +'Waldeck'?" demanded Captain Hull. + +"Perhaps, and we must indeed hope so for their sakes." + +"And that ship, after the collision, did it not return to pick you up?" + +"No." + +"Did she then go down herself?" + +"She did not founder," replied the old black, shaking his head, "for we +could see her running away in the night." + +This fact, which was attested by all the survivors of the "Waldeck," +may appear incredible. It is only too true, however, that captains, +after some terrible collision, due to their imprudence, have often +taken flight without troubling themselves about the unfortunate ones +whom they had put in danger, and without endeavoring to carry +assistance to them. + +That drivers do as much and leave to others, on the public way, the +trouble of repairing the misfortune which they have caused, that is +indeed to be condemned. Still, their victims are assured of finding +immediate help. But, that men to men, abandon each other thus at sea, +it is not to be believed, it is a shame! + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull knew several examples of such inhumanity, and +he was obliged to tell Mrs. Weldon that such facts, monstrous as they +might be, were unhappily not rare. + +Then, continuing: + +"Whence came the 'Waldeck?'" he asked. + +"From Melbourne." + +"Then you are not slaves?" + +"No, sir!" the old black answered quickly, as he stood up straight. "We +are subjects of the State of Pennsylvania, and citizens of free +America!" + +"My friends," replied Captain Hull, "believe me that you have not +compromised your liberty in coming on board of the American brig, the +'Pilgrim.'" + +In fact, the five blacks which the "Waldeck" carried belonged to the +State of Pennsylvania. The oldest, sold in Africa as a slave at the age +of six years, then brought to the United States, had been freed already +many years ago by the Emancipation Proclamation. As to his companions, +much younger than he, sons of slaves liberated before their birth, they +were born free; no white had ever had the right of property over them. +They did not even speak that "negro" language, which does not use the +article, and only knows the infinitive of the verbs--a language which +has disappeared little by little, indeed, since the anti-slavery war. +These blacks had, then, freely left the United States, and they were +returning to it freely. + +As they told Captain Hull, they were engaged as laborers at an +Englishman's who owned a vast mine near Melbourne, in Southern +Australia. There they had passed three years, with great profit to +themselves; their engagement ended, they had wished to return to +America. + +They then had embarked on the "Waldeck," paying their passage like +ordinary passengers. On the 5th of December they left Melbourne, and +seventeen days after, during a very black night, the "Waldeck" had been +struck by a large steamer. + +The blacks were in bed. A few seconds after the collision, which was +terrible, they rushed on the deck. + +Already the ship's masts had fallen, and the "Waldeck" was lying on the +side; but she would not sink, the water not having invaded the hold +sufficiently to cause it. + +As to the captain and crew of the "Waldeck," all had disappeared, +whether some had been precipitated into the sea, whether others were +caught on the rigging of the colliding ship, which, after the +collision, had fled to return no more. + +The five blacks were left alone on board, on a half-capsized hull, +twelve hundred miles from any land. + +Then oldest of the negroes was named Tom. His age, as well as his +energetic character, and his experience, often put to the proof during +a long life of labor, made him the natural head of the companions who +were engaged with him. + +The other blacks were young men from twenty-five to thirty years old, +whose names were Bat (abbreviation of Bartholomew), son of old Tom, +Austin, Acteon, and Hercules, all four well made and vigorous, and who +would bring a high price in the markets of Central Africa. Even though +they had suffered terribly, one could easily recognize in them +magnificent specimens of that strong race, on which a liberal +education, drawn from the numerous schools of North America, had +already impressed its seal. + +Tom and his companions then found themselves alone on the "Waldeck" +after the collision, having no means of raising that inert hull, +without even power to leave it, because the two boats on board had been +shattered in the boarding. They were reduced to waiting for the passage +of a ship, while the wreck drifted little by little under the action of +the currents. This action explained why she had been encountered so far +out of her course, for the "Waldeck," having left Melbourne, ought to +be found in much lower latitude. + +During the ten days which elapsed between the collision and the moment +when the "Pilgrim" arrived in sight of the shipwrecked vessel the five +blacks were sustained by some food which they had found in the office +of the landing-place. But, not being able to penetrate into the +steward's room, which the water entirely covered, they had had no +spirits to quench their thirst, and they had suffered cruelly, the +water casks fastened to the deck having been stove in by the collision. +Since the night before, Tom and his companions, tortured by thirst, had +become unconscious. + +Such was the recital which Tom gave, in a few words, to Captain Hull. +There was no reason to doubt the veracity of the old black. His +companions confirmed all that he had said; besides, the facts pleaded +for the poor men. + +Another living being, saved on the wreck, would doubtless have spoken +with the same sincerity if it had been gifted with speech. + +It was that dog, that the sight of Negoro seemed to affect in such a +disagreeable manner. There was in that some truly inexplicable +antipathy. + +Dingo--that was the name of the dog--belonged to that race of mastiffs +which is peculiar to New Holland. It was not in Australia, however, +that the captain of the "Waldeck" had found it. Two years before Dingo, +wandering half dead of hunger, had been met on the western coast of +Africa, near the mouth of the Congo. The captain of the "Waldeck" had +picked up this fine animal, who, being not very sociable, seemed to be +always regretting some old master, from whom he had been violently +separated, and whom it would be impossible to find again in that desert +country. S. V.--those two letters engraved on his collar--were all that +linked this animal to a past, whose mystery one would seek in vain to +solve. + +Dingo, a magnificent and robust beast, larger than the dogs of the +Pyrenees, was then a superb specimen of the New Holland variety of +mastiffs. When it stood up, throwing its head back, it equaled the +height of a man. Its agility--its muscular strength, would be +sufficient for one of those animals which without hesitation attack +jaguars and panthers, and do not fear to face a bear. Its long tail of +thick hair, well stocked and stiff like a lion's tail, its general hue +dark fawn-color, was only varied at the nose by some whitish streaks. +This animal, under the influence of anger, might become formidable, and +it will be understood that Negoro was not satisfied with the reception +given him by this vigorous specimen of the canine race. + +Meanwhile, Dingo, if it was not sociable, was not bad. It seemed rather +to be sad. An observation which had been made by old Tom on board the +"Waldeck" was that this dog did not seem to like blacks. It did not +seek to harm them, but certainly it shunned them. May be, on that +African coast where it wandered, it had suffered some bad treatment +from the natives. So, though Tom and his companions were honest men, +Dingo was never drawn toward them. During the ten days that the +shipwrecked dog had passed on the "Waldeck," it had kept at a distance, +feeding itself, they knew not how, but having also suffered cruelly +from thirst. + +Such, then, were the survivors of this wreck, which the first surge of +the sea would submerge. No doubt it would have carried only dead bodies +into the depths of the ocean if the unexpected arrival of the +"Pilgrim," herself kept back by calms and contrary winds, had not +permitted Captain Hull to do a work of humanity. + +This work had only to be completed by bringing back to their country +the shipwrecked men from the "Waldeck," who, in this shipwreck, had +lost their savings of three years of labor. This is what was going to +be done. The "Pilgrim," after having effected her unloading at +Valparaiso, would ascend the American coast as far as California. There +Tom and his companions would be well received by James W. Weldon--his +generous wife assured them of it--and they would be provided with all +that would be necessary for them to return to the State of Pennsylvania. + +These honest men, reassured about the future, had only to thank Mrs. +Weldon and Captain Hull. Certainly they owed them a great deal, and +although they were only poor negroes, perhaps, they did not despair of +some day paying this debt of gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +S. V. + + +Meanwhile, the "Pilgrim" had continued her course, making for the east +as much as possible. This lamentable continuance of calms did not cease +to trouble Captain Hull--not that he was uneasy about two or three +weeks' delay in a passage from New Zealand to Valparaiso, but because +of the extra fatigue which this delay might bring to his lady passenger. + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Weldon did not complain, and philosophically took her +misfortune in patience. + +That same day, February 2d, toward evening, the wreck was lost sight of. + +Captain Hull was troubled, in the first place, to accommodate Tom and +his companions as conveniently as possible. The crew's quarters on the +"Pilgrim," built on the deck in the form of a "roufle," would be too +small to hold them. An arrangement was then made to lodge them under +the forecastle. Besides, these honest men, accustomed to rude labors, +could not be hard to please, and with fine weather, warm and +salubrious, this sleeping-place ought to suffice for the whole passage. + +The life on board, shaken for a moment from its monotony by this +incident, then went on as usual. + +Tom, Austin, Bat, Acteon, and Hercules would indeed wish to make +themselves useful. But with these constant winds, the sails once set, +there was nothing more to do. Meanwhile, when there was a veering +about, the old black and his companions hastened to give a hand to the +crew, and it must be confessed that when the colossal Hercules hauled +some rope, they were aware of it. This vigorous negro, six feet high, +brought in a tackle all by himself. + +It was joy for little Jack to look at this giant. He was not afraid of +him, and when Hercules hoisted him up in his arms, as if he were only a +cork baby, there were cries of joy to go on. + +"Lift me very high," said little Jack. + +"There, Master Jack!" replied Hercules. + +"Am I very heavy?" + +"I do not even feel you." + +"Well, higher still! To the end of your arm!" And Hercules, holding the +child's two little feet in his large hand, walked him about like a +gymnast in a circus. Jack saw himself, tall, taller, which amused him +very much. He even tried to make himself heavy--which the colossus did +not perceive at all. + +Dick Sand and Hercules, they were two friends for little Jack. He was +not slow in making himself a third--that was Dingo. + +It has been said that Dingo was not a sociable dog. Doubtless that held +good, because the society of the "Waldeck" did not suit it. On board +the "Pilgrim" it was quite another thing. Jack probably knew how to +touch the fine animal's heart. The latter soon took pleasure in playing +with the little boy, whom this play pleased. It was soon discovered +that Dingo was one of those dogs who have a particular taste for +children. Besides, Jack did it no harm. His greatest pleasure was to +transform Dingo into a swift steed, and it is safe to affirm that a +horse of this kind is much superior to a pasteboard quadruped, even +when it has wheels to its feet. So Jack galloped bare-back on the dog, +which let him do it willingly, and, in truth, Jack was no heavier to it +than the half of a jockey to a race-horse. + +But what a break each day in the stock of sugar in the store-room! + +Dingo soon became a favorite with the whole crew. Alone, Negoro +continued to avoid any encounter with the animal, whose antipathy was +always as strong as it was inexplicable. + +Meanwhile, little Jack had not neglected Dick Sand, his friend of old, +for Dingo. All the time that was unclaimed by his duties on board, the +novice passed with the little boy. + +Mrs. Weldon, it is needless to say, always regarded this intimacy with +the most complete satisfaction. + +One day, February 6th, she spoke of Dick to Captain Hull, and the +captain praised the young novice in the highest terms. + +"That boy," he said to Mrs. Weldon, "will be a good seaman some day, +I'll guarantee. He has truly a passion for the sea, and by this passion +he makes up for the theoretical parts of the calling which he has not +yet learned. What he already knows is astonishing, when we think of +the short time he has had to learn." + +"It must be added," replied Mrs. Weldon, "that he is also an excellent +person, a true boy, very superior to his age, and who has never merited +any blame since we have known him." + +"Yes, he is a good young man," continued the captain, "justly loved and +appreciated by all." + +"This cruise finished," said Mrs. Weldon, "I know that my husband's +intention is to have him follow a course of navigation, so that, he may +afterwards obtain a captain's commission." + +"And Mr. Weldon is right," replied Captain Hull. "Dick Sand will one +day do honor to the American marine." + +"This poor orphan commenced life sadly," observed Mrs. Weldon. "He has +been in a hard school!" + +"Doubtless, Mrs. Weldon; but the lessons have not been lost on him. He +has learned that he must make his own way in this world, and he is in a +fair way to do it." + +"Yes, the way of duty!" + +"Look at him now, Mrs. Weldon," continued Captain Hull. "He is at the +helm, his eye fixed on the point of the foresail. No distraction on the +part of this young novice, as well as no lurch to the ship. Dick Sand +has already the confidence of an old steersman. A good beginning for a +seaman. Our craft, Mrs. Weldon, is one of those in which it is +necessary to begin very young. He who has not been a cabin-boy will +never arrive at being a perfect seaman, at least in the merchant +marine. Everything must be learned, and, consequently, everything must +be at the same time instinctive and rational with the sailor--the +resolution to grasp, as well as the skill to execute." + +"Meanwhile, Captain Hull," replied Mrs. Weldon, "good officers are not +lacking in the navy." + +"No," replied Captain Hull; "but, in my opinion, the best have almost +all begun their career as children, and, without speaking of Nelson and +a few others, the worst are not those who began by being cabin-boys." + +At that moment they saw Cousin Benedict springing up from the rear +companion-way. As usual he was absorbed, and as little conscious of +this world as the Prophet Elias will be when he returns to the earth. + +Cousin Benedict began to walk about on the deck like an uneasy spirit, +examining closely the interstices of the netting, rummaging under the +hen-cages, putting his hand between the seams of the deck, there, where +the pitch had scaled off. + +"Ah! Cousin Benedict," asked Mrs. Weldon, "do you keep well?" + +"Yes--Cousin Weldon--I am well, certainly--but I am in a hurry to get +on land." + +"What are you looking for under that bench, Mr. Benedict?" asked +Captain Hull. + +"Insects, sir," returned Cousin Benedict. "What do you expect me to +look for, if not insects?" + +"Insects! Faith, I must agree with you; but it is not at sea that you +will enrich your collection." + +"And why not, sir? It is not impossible to find on board some specimen +of----" + +"Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "do you then slander Captain Hull? +His ship is so well kept, that you will return empty-handed from your +hunt." + +Captain Hull began to laugh. + +"Mrs. Weldon exaggerates," replied he. "However, Mr. Benedict, I +believe you will lose your time rummaging in our cabins." + +"Ah! I know it well," cried Cousin Benedict, shrugging his shoulders. +"I have had a good search----" + +"But, in the 'Pilgrim's' hold," continued Captain Hull, "perhaps you +will find some cockroaches--subjects of little interest, however." + +"Of little interest, those nocturnal orthopters which have incurred the +maledictions of Virgil and Horace!" retorted Cousin Benedict, standing +up straight. "Of little interest, those near relations of the +'periplaneta orientalis' and of the American kakerlac, which +inhabit----" + +"Which infest!" said Captain Hull. + +"Which reign on board!" retorted Cousin Benedict, fiercely. + +"Amiable sovereignty!" + +"Ah! you are not an entomologist, sir?" + +Never at my own expense." + +"Now, Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, smiling, "do not wish us to +be devoured for love of science." + +"I wish, nothing, Cousin Weldon," replied, the fiery entomologist, +"except to be able to add to my collection some rare subject which +might do it honor." + +"Are you not satisfied, then, with the conquests that you have made in +New Zealand?" + +"Yes, truly, Cousin Weldon. I have been rather fortunate in conquering +one of those new staphylins which till now had only been found some +hundreds of miles further, in New Caledonia." + +At that moment Dingo, who was playing with Jack, approached Cousin +Benedict, gamboling. + +"Go away! go away!" said the latter, pushing off the animal. + +"To love cockroaches and detest dogs!" cried Captain Hull. "Oh! Mr. +Benedict!" + +"A good dog, notwithstanding," said little Jack, taking Dingo's great +head in his small hands. + +"Yes. I do not say no," replied Cousin Benedict. "But what do you want? +This devil of an animal has not realized the hopes I conceived on +meeting it." + +"Ah! my goodness!" cried Mrs. Weldon, "did you, then, hope to be able +to classify it in the order of the dipters or the hymenopters?" + +"No," replied Cousin Benedict, seriously. "But is it not true that this +Dingo, though it be of the New Zealand race, was picked up on the +western coast of Africa?" + +"Nothing is more true," replied Mrs. Weldon, "and Tom had often heard +the captain of the 'Waldeck' say so." + +"Well, I had thought--I had hoped--that this dog would have brought +away some specimens of hemipteras peculiar to the African fauna." + +"Merciful heavens!" cried Mrs. Weldon. + +"And that perhaps," added Cousin Benedict, "some penetrating or +irritating flea--of a new species----" + +"Do you understand, Dingo?" said Captain Hull. "Do you understand, my +dog? You have failed in all your duties!" + +"But I have examined it well," added the entomologist, with an accent +of deep regret. "I have not been able to find a single insect." + +"Which you would have immediately and mercilessly put to death, I +hope!" cried Captain Hull. + +"Sir," replied Cousin Benedict, dryly, "learn that Sir John Franklin +made a scruple of killing the smallest insect, be it a mosquito, whose +attacks are otherwise formidable as those of a flea; and meanwhile you +will not hesitate to allow, that Sir John Franklin was a seaman who was +as good as the next." + +"Surely," said Captain Hull, bowing. + +"And one day, after being frightfully devoured by a dipter, he blew and +sent it away, saying to it, without even using _thou_ or _thee_: 'Go! +the world is large enough for you and for me!'" + +"Ah!" ejaculated Captain Hull. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, Mr. Benedict," retorted Captain Hull, "another had said that +long before Sir John Franklin." + +"Another?" + +"Yes; and that other was Uncle Toby." + +"An entomologist?" asked Cousin Benedict, quickly. + +"No! Sterne's Uncle Toby, and that worthy uncle pronounced precisely +the same words, while setting free a mosquito that annoyed him, but +which he thought himself at liberty to _thee_ and _thou_: 'Go, poor +devil,' he said to it, 'the world is large enough to contain us, thee +and me!'" + +"An honest man, that Uncle Toby!" replied Cousin Benedict. "Is he dead?" + +"I believe so, indeed," retorted Captain Hull, gravely, "as he has +never existed!" + +And each began to laugh, looking at Cousin Benedict. + +Thus, then, in these conversations, and many others, which invariably +bore on some point of entomological science, whenever Cousin Benedict +took part, passed away long hours of this navigation against contrary +winds. The sea always fine, but winds which obliged the schooner to +tack often. The "Pilgrim" made very little headway toward the east--the +breeze was so feeble; and they longed to reach those parts where the +prevailing winds would be more favorable. + +It must be stated here that Cousin Benedict had endeavored to initiate +the young novice into the mysteries of entomology. But Dick Sand had +shown himself rather refractory to these advances. For want of better +company the savant had fallen back on the negroes, who comprehended +nothing about it. Tom, Acteon, Bat, and Austin had even finished by +deserting the class, and the professor found himself reduced to +Hercules alone, who seemed to him to have some natural disposition to +distinguish a parasite from a thysanuran. + +So the gigantic black lived in the world of coleopteras, carnivorous +insects, hunters, gunners, ditchers, cicindelles, carabes, sylphides, +moles, cockchafers, horn-beetles, tenebrions, mites, lady-birds, +studying all Cousin Benedict's collection, not but the latter trembled +on seeing his frail specimens in Hercules' great hands, which were hard +and strong as a vise. But the colossal pupil listened so quietly to the +professor's lessons that it was worth risking something to give them. + +While Cousin Benedict worked in that manner, Mrs. Weldon did not leave +little Jack entirely unoccupied; She taught him to read and to write. +As to arithmetic, it was his friend Dick Sand who inculcated the first +elements. + +At the age of five, one is still only a little child, and is perhaps +better instructed by practical games than by theoretical lessons +necessarily a little arduous. + +Jack learned to read, not in a primer, but by means of movable letters, +printed in red on cubes of wood. He amused himself by arranging the +blocks so as to form words. Sometimes Mrs. Weldon took these cubes and +composed a word; then she disarranged them, and it was for Jack to +replace them in the order required. + +The little boy liked this manner of learning to read very much. Each +day he passed some hours, sometimes in the cabin, sometimes on the +deck, in arranging and disarranging the letters of his alphabet. + +Now, one day this led to an incident so extraordinary, so unexpected, +that it is necessary to relate with some detail. + +It was on the morning of February 9th, Jack, half-lying on the deck, +was amusing himself forming a word which old Tom was to put together +again, after the letters had been mixed. Tom, with his hand over his +eyes so as not to cheat, as he agreed, would see nothing, and did see +nothing of the work of the little boy. + +Of these different letters, about fifty in number, some were large, +others small. Besides, some of these cubes carried a figure, which +taught the child to form numbers as well as to form words. + +These cubes were arranged on the deck, and little Jack was taking +sometimes one, sometimes another, to make a word--a truly great labor. + +Now, for same moments, Dingo was moving round the young child, when +suddenly it stopped. Its eyes became fixed, its right paw was raised, +its tail wagged convulsively. Then, suddenly throwing itself on one of +the cubes, it seized it in its mouth and laid it on the deck a few +steps from Jack. + +This cube bore a large letter--the letter S. + +"Dingo, well Dingo!" cried the little boy, who at first was afraid that +his S was swallowed by the dog. + +But Dingo had returned, and, beginning the same performance again, it +seized another cube, and went to lay it near the first. + +This second cube was a large V. + +This time Jack gave a cry. + +At this cry, Mrs. Weldon, Captain Hull, and the young novice, who were +walking on the deck, assembled. Little Jack then told them what had +just passed. + +Dingo knew its letters; Dingo knew how to read! That was very certain, +that! Jack had seen it! + +Dick Sand wanted to go and take the two cubes, to restore them to his +friend Jack, but Dingo showed him its teeth. + +However, the novice succeeded in gaining possession of the two cubes, +and he replaced them in the set. + +Dingo advanced again, seized again the same two letters, and carried +them to a distance. This time its two paws lay on them; it seemed +decided to guard them at all hazards. As to the other letters of the +alphabet, it did not seem as if it had any knowledge of them. + +"That is a curious thing," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"It is, in fact, very singular," replied Captain Hull, who was looking +attentively at the two letters. + +"S. V.," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"S. V.," repeated Captain Hull. "But those are precisely the letters +which are on Dingo's collar!" + +Then, all at once, turning to the old black: "Tom," he asked, "have you +not told me that this dog only belonged to the captain of the 'Waldeck' +for a short time?" + +"In fact, sir," replied Tom, "Dingo was only on board two years at the +most." + +"And have you not added that the captain of the 'Waldeck' had picked up +this dog on the western coast of Africa?" + +"Yes, sir, in the neighborhood of the mouth of the Congo. I have often +heard the captain say so." + +"So," asked Captain Hull, "it has never been known to whom this dog had +belonged, nor whence it came?" + +"Never, sir. A dog found is worse than a child! That has no papers, +and, more, it cannot explain." + +Captain Hull was silent, and reflected. + +"Do those two letters, then, awake some remembrance?" Mrs. Weldon asked +Captain Hull, after leaving him to his reflections for some moments. + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon, a remembrance, or rather a coincidence at least +singular." + +What?" + +"Those two letters might well have a meaning, and fix for us the fate +of an intrepid traveler." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Mrs. Weldon. + +"Here is what I mean, Mrs. Weldon. In 1871--consequently two years +ago--a French traveler set out, under the auspices of the Paris +Geographical Society, with the intention of crossing Africa from the +west to the east. His point of departure was precisely the mouth of the +Congo. His point of arrival would be as near as possible to Cape +Deldago, at the mouths of the Rovuma, whose course he would descend. +Now, this French traveler was named Samuel Vernon." + +"Samuel Vernon!" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon; and those two names begin precisely by those two +letters which Dingo has chosen among all the others, and which are +engraved on its collar." + +"Exactly," replied Mrs. Weldon. "And that traveler----" + +"That traveler set out," replied Captain Hull, "and has not been heard +of since his departure." + +"Never?" said the novice. + +"Never," repeated Captain Hull. + +"What do you conclude from it?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"That, evidently, Samuel Vernon has not been able to reach the eastern +coast of Africa, whether he may have been made prisoner by the natives, +whether death may have struck him on the way." + +"And then this dog?" + +"This dog would have belonged to him; and, more fortunate than its +master, if my hypothesis is true, it would have been able to return to +the Congo coast, because it was there, at the time when these events +must have taken place, that it was picked up by the captain of the +'Waldeck.'" + +"But," observed Mrs. Weldon, "do you know if this French traveler was +accompanied on his departure by a dog? Is it not a mere supposition on +your part?" + +"It is only a supposition, indeed, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. +"But what is certain is, that Dingo knows these two letters S and V, +which are precisely the initials of the two names of the French +traveler. Now, under what circumstances this animal would learn to +distinguish them is what I cannot explain; but, I repeat it, it very +certainly knows them; and look, it pushes them with its paw, and seems +to invite us to read them with it." + +In fact, they could not misunderstand Dingo's intention. + +"Then was Samuel Vernon alone when he left the sea-coast of the Congo?" +ask Dick Sand. + +"That I know not," replied Captain Hull. "However, it is probable that +he would take a native escort." + +At that moment Negoro, leaving his post, showed himself on the deck. At +first no one remarked his presence, and could not observe the singular +look he cast on the dog when he perceived the two letters over which +the animal seem to mount guard. But Dingo, having perceived the +master-cook, began to show signs of the most extreme fury. + +Negoro returned immediately to the crew's quarters, not without a +menacing gesture at the dog's skill having escaped him. + +"There is some mystery there," murmured Captain Hull, who had lost none +of this little scene. + +"But, sir," said the novice, "is it not very astonishing that a dog +should know the letters of the alphabet?" + +"No!" cried little Jack. "Mama has often told me the story of a dog +which knew how to read and write, and even play dominoes, like a real +schoolmaster!" + +"My dear child," replied Mrs. Weldon, smiling, "that dog, whose name +was Munito, was not a savant, as you suppose. If I may believe what has +been told me about it, Munito would not have been able to distinguish +the letters which served to compose the words. But its master, a clever +American, having remarked what fine hearing Munito had, applied himself +to cultivating that sense, and to draw from it some very curious +effects." + +"How did he set to work, Mrs. Weldon?" asked Dick Sand, whom the +history interested almost as much as little Jack. + +"In this way, my friend." When Munito was 'to appear' before the +public, letters similar to these were displayed on a table. On that +table the poodle walked about, waiting till a word was proposed, +whether in a loud voice or in a low voice. Only, one essential +condition was that its master should know the word." + +"And, in the absence of its master--" said the novice. + +"The dog could have done nothing," replied Mrs. Weldon, "and here is +the reason. The letters spread out on the table, Munito walked about +through this alphabet. When it arrived before the letter which it +should choose to form the word required, it stopped; but if it stopped +it was because it heard the noise--imperceptible to all others--of a +toothpick that the American snapped in his pocket. That noise was the +signal for Munito to take the letter and arrange it in suitable order." + +"And that was all the secret?" cried Dick Sand. + +"That was the whole secret," replied Mrs. Weldon. "It is very simple, +like all that is done in the matter of prestidigitation. In case of the +American's absence, Munito would be no longer Munito. I am, then, +astonished, his master not being there--if, indeed, the traveler, +Samuel Vernon, has ever been its master--that Dingo could have +recognized those two letters." + +"In fact," replied Captain Hull, "it is very astonishing. But, take +notice, there are only two letters in question here, two particular +letters, and not a word chosen by chance. After all, that dog which +rang at the door of a convent to take possession of the plate intended +for the poor passers-by, that other which commissioned at the same time +with one of its kind, to turn the spit for two days each, and which +refused to fill that office when its turn had not come, those two dogs, +I say, advanced farther than Dingo into that domain of intelligence +reserved for man. Besides, we are in the presence of an inscrutable +fact. Of all the letters of that alphabet, Dingo has only chosen these +two: S and V. The others it does not even seem to know. Therefore we +must conclude that, for a reason which escapes us, its attention has +been especially drawn to those two letters." + +"Ah! Captain Hull," replied the young novice, "if Dingo could speak! +Perhaps he would tell us what those two letters signify, and why it has +kept a tooth ready for our head cook." + +"And what a tooth!" replied Captain Hull, as Dingo, opening its mouth, +showed its formidable fangs. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A WHALE IN SIGHT. + + +It will be remembered that this singular incident was made, more than +once, the subject of conversation held in the stern of the "Pilgrim" +between Mrs. Weldon, Captain Hull, and the young novice. The latter, +more particularly, experienced an instinctive mistrust with regard to +Negoro, whose conduct, meanwhile, merited no reproach. + +In the prow they talked of it also, but they did not draw from it the +same conclusions. There, among the ship's crew, Dingo passed merely for +a dog that knew how to read, and perhaps even write, better than more +than one sailor on board. As for talking, if he did not do it, it was +probably for good reasons that he kept silent. + +"But, one of these fine days," says the steersman, Bolton, "one fine +day that dog will come and ask us how we are heading; if the wind is to +the west-north-west-half-north, and we will have to answer him! There +are animals that speak! Well, why should not a dog do as much if he +took it into his head? It is more difficult to talk with a beak than +with a mouth!" + +"No doubt," replied the boatswain, Howik. "Only it has never been +known." + +It would have astonished these brave men to tell them that, on the +contrary, it had been known, and that a certain Danish servant +possessed a dog which pronounced distinctly twenty words. But whether +this animal comprehended what he said was a mystery. Very evidently +this dog, whose glottis was organized in a manner to enable him to emit +regular sounds, attached no more sense to his words than do the +paroquets, parrots, jackdaws, and magpies to theirs. A phrase with +animals is nothing more than a kind of song or spoken cry, borrowed +from a strange language of which they do not know the meaning. + +However that might be, Dingo had become the hero of the deck, of which +fact he took no proud advantage. Several times Captain Hull repeated +the experiment. The wooden cubes of the alphabet were placed before +Dingo, and invariably, without an error, without hesitation, the two +letters, S and V, were chosen from among all by the singular animal, +while the others never attracted his attention. + +As for Cousin Benedict, this experiment was often renewed before him, +without seeming to interest him. + +"Meanwhile," he condescended to say one day, "we must not believe that +the dogs alone have the privilege of being intelligent in this manner. +Other animals equal them, simply in following their instinct. Look at +the rats, who abandon the ship destined to founder at sea; the beavers, +who know how to foresee the rising of the waters, and build their dams +higher in consequence; those horses of Nicomedes, of Scanderberg, and +of Oppien, whose grief was such that they died when their masters did; +those asses, so remarkable for their memory, and many other beasts +which have done honor to the animal kingdom. Have we not seen birds, +marvelously erect, that correctly write words dictated by their +professors; cockatoos that count, as well as a reckoner in the +Longitude Office, the number of persons present in a parlor? Has there +not existed a parrot, worth a hundred gold crowns, that recited the +Apostle's Creed to the cardinal, his master, without missing a word? +Finally, the legitimate pride of an entomologist should be raised to +the highest point, when he sees simple insects give proofs of a +superior intelligence, and affirm eloquently the axiom: + + "'In minimis maximus Deus,' + +those ants which, represent the inspectors of public works in the +largest cities, those aquatic _argyronetes_ which manufacture +diving-bells, without having ever learned the mechanism; those fleas +which draw carriages like veritable coachmen, which go through the +exercise as well as riflemen, which fire off cannon better than the +commissioned artillerymen of West Point? No! this Dingo does not merit +so many eulogies, and if he is so strong on the alphabet, it is, +without doubt, because he belongs to a species of mastiff, not yet +classified in zoological science, the _canis alphabeticus_ of New +Zealand." + +In spite of these discourses and others of the envious entomologist, +Dingo lost nothing in the public estimation, and continued to be +treated as a phenomenon in the conversations of the forecastle. + +All this time, it is probable that Negoro did not share the enthusiasm +of the ship in regard to the animal. Perhaps he found it too +intelligent. However, the dog always showed the same animosity against +the head cook, and, doubtless, would have brought upon itself some +misfortune, if it had not been, for one thing, "a dog to defend +itself," and for another, protected by the sympathy of the whole crew. + +So Negoro avoided coming into Dingo's presence more than ever. But Dick +Sand had observed that since the incident of the two letters, the +reciprocal antipathy between the man and the dog was increased. That +was truly inexplicable. + +On February 10th, the wind from the northeast, which, till then, had +always succeeded those long and overwhelming calms, during which the +"Pilgrim" was stationary, began to abate perceptibly. Captain Hull then +could hope that a change in the direction of the atmospheric currents +was going to take place. Perhaps the schooner would finally sail with +the wind. It was still only nineteen days since her departure from the +port of Auckland. The delay was not yet of much account, and, with a +favorable wind, the "Pilgrim," well rigged, would easily make up for +lost time. But several days must still elapse before the breezes would +blow right from the west. + +This part of the Pacific was always deserted. No vessel showed itself +in these parts. It was a latitude truly forsaken by navigators. The +whalers of the southern seas were not yet prepared to go beyond the +tropic. On the "Pilgrim," which peculiar circumstances had obliged to +leave the fishing grounds before the end of the season, they must not +expect to cross any ship bound for the same destination. + +As to the trans-pacific packet-boats, it has been already said that +they did not follow so high a parallel in their passages between +Australia and the American continent. + +However, even if the sea is deserted, one must not give up observing it +to the extreme limits of the horizon. Monotonous as it may appear to +heedless minds, it is none the less infinitely varied for him who knows +how to comprehend it. Its slightest changes charm the imagination of +one who feels the poetry of the ocean. A marine herb which floats up +and down on the waves, a branch of sargasso whose light track zebras, +the surface of the waters, and end of a board, whose history he would +wish to guess, he would need nothing more. Facing this infinite, the +mind is no longer stopped by anything. Imagination runs riot. Each of +those molecules of water, that evaporation is continually changing from +the sea to the sky, contains perhaps the secret of some catastrophe. +So, those are to be envied, whose inner consciousness knows how to +interrogate the mysteries of the ocean, those spirits who rise from its +moving surface to the heights of heaven. + +Besides, life always manifests itself above as well as below the seas. +The "Pilgrim's" passengers could see flights of birds excited in the +pursuit of the smallest fishes, birds which, before winter, fly from +the cold climate of the poles. And more than once, Dick Sand, a scholar +of Mrs. Weldon's in that branch as in others, gave proofs of marvelous +skill with the gun and pistol, in bringing down some of those +rapid-winged creatures. + +There were white petrels here; there, other petrels, whose wings were +embroidered with brown. Sometimes, also, companies of _damiers_ passed, +or some of those penquins whose gait on land is so heavy and so +ridiculous. However, as Captain Hull remarked, these penquins, using +their stumps like true fins, can challenge the most rapid fishes in +swimming, to such an extent even, that sailors have often confounded +them with bonitoes. + +Higher, gigantic albatrosses beat the air with great strokes, +displaying an extent of ten feet between the extremities of their +wings, and then came to light on the surface of the waters, which they +searched with their beaks to get their food. + +All these scenes made a varied spectacle, that only souls closed to the +charms of nature would have found monotonous. + +That day Mrs. Weldon was walking aft on the "Pilgrim," when a rather +curious phenomenon attracted her attention. The waters of the sea had +become reddish quite suddenly. One might have believed that they had +just been stained with blood; and this inexplicable tinge extended as +far as the eye could reach. + +Dick Sand. was then with little Jack near Mrs. Weldon. + +"Dick," she said to the young novice, "Do you see that singular color +of the waters of the Pacific? Is it due to the presence of a marine +herb?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, "that tinge is produced by +myriads of little crustaceans, which generally serve to nourish the +great mammifers. Fishermen call that, not without reason, 'whales' +food.'" + +"Crustaceans!" said Mrs. Weldon. "But they are so small that we might +almost call them sea insects. Perhaps Cousin Benedict would be very +much enchanted to make a collection of them." Then calling: "Cousin +Benedict!" cried she. + +Cousin Benedict appeared out of the companion-way almost at the same +time as Captain Hull. + +"Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "see that immense reddish field +which extends as far as we can see." + +"Hold!" said Captain Hull. "That is whales' food. Mr. Benedict, a fine +occasion to study this curious species of crustacea." + +"Phew!" from the entomologist. + +"How--phew!" cried the captain. "But you have no right to profess such +indifference. These crustaceans form one of the six classes of the +articulates, if I am not mistaken, and as such----" + +"Phew!" said Cousin Benedict again, shaking his lead. + +"For instance----I find you passably disdainful for an entomologist!" + +"Entomologist, it may be," replied Cousin Benedict, "but more +particularly hexapodist, Captain Hull, please remember." + +"At all events," replied Captain Hull, "if these crustaceans do not +interest you, it can't be helped; but it would be otherwise if you +possessed a whale's stomach. Then what a regale! Do you see, Mrs. +Weldon, when we whalers, during the fishing season, arrive in sight of +a shoal of these crustaceans, we have only time to prepare our harpoons +and our lines. We are certain that the game is not distant." + +"Is it possible that such little beasts can feed such large ones?" +cried Jack. + +"Ah! my boy," replied Captain Hull, "little grains of vermicelli, of +flour, of fecula powder, do they not make very good porridge? Yes; and +nature has willed that it should be so. When a whale floats in the +midst of these red waters, its soup is served; it has only to open its +immense mouth. Myriads of crustaceans enter it. The numerous plates of +those whalebones with which the animal's palate is furnished serve to +strain like fishermen's nets; nothing can get out of them again, and +the mass of crustaceans is ingulfed in the whale's vast stomach, as the +soup of your dinner in yours." + +"You think right, Jack," observed Dick Sand, "that Madam Whale does not +lose time in picking these crustaceans one by one, as you pick shrimps." + +"I may add," said Captain Hull, "that it is just when the enormous +gourmand is occupied in this way, that it is easiest to approach it +without exciting its suspicion. That is the favorable moment to harpoon +it with some success." + +At that instant, and as if to corroborate Captain Hull, a sailor's +voice was heard from the front of the ship: + +"A whale to larboard!" + +Captain Hull strode up. + +"A whale!" cried he. + +And his fisherman's instinct urging him, he hastened to the "Pilgrim's" +forecastle. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Dick Sand, Cousin Benedict himself, followed him at +once. + +In fact, four miles to windward a certain bubbling indicated that a +huge marine mammifer was moving in the midst of the red waters. Whalers +could not be mistaken in it. But the distance was still too +considerable to make it possible to recognize the species to which this +mammifer belonged. These species, in fact, are quite distinct. + +Was it one of those "right" whales, which the fishermen of the Northern +Ocean seek most particularly? Those cetaceans, which lack the dorsal +fin, but whose skin covers a thick stratum of lard, may attain a length +of eighty feet, though the average does not exceed sixty, and then a +single one of those monsters furnishes as much as a hundred barrels of +oil. + +Was it, on the contrary, a "humpback," belonging to the species of +baloenopters, a designation whose termination should at least gain it +the entomologist's esteem? These possess dorsal fins, white in color, +and as long as half the body, which resemble a pair of wings--something +like a flying whale. + +Had they not in view, more likely, a "finback" mammifer, as well known +by the name "jubarte," which is provided with a dorsal fin, and whose +length may equal that of the "right" whale? + +Captain Hull and his crew could not yet decide, but they regarded the +animal with more desire than admiration. + +If it is true that a clockmaker cannot find himself in a room in the +presence of a clock without experiencing the irresistible wish to wind +it up, how much more must the whaler, before a whale, be seized with +the imperative desire to take possession of it? The hunters of large +game, they say, are more eager than the hunters of small game. Then, +the larger the animal, the more it excites covetousness. Then, how +should hunters of elephants and fishers of whalers feel? And then there +was that disappointment, felt by all the "Pilgrim's" crew, of returning +with an incomplete cargo. + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull tried to distinguish the animal which had been +signaled in the offing. It was not very visible from that distance. +Nevertheless, the trained eye of a whaler could not be deceived in +certain details easier to discern at a distance. + +In fact, the water-spout, that is, that column of vapor and water which +the whale throws back by its rents, would attract Captain Hull's +attention, and fix it on the species to which this cetacean belonged. + +"That is not a 'right' whale," cried he. "Its water-spout would be at +once higher and of a smaller volume. On the other hand, if the noise +made by that spout in escaping could be compared to the distant noise +of a cannon, I should be led to believe that that whale belongs to the +species of 'humpbacks;' but there is nothing of the kind, and, on +listening, we are assured that this noise is of quite a different +nature. What is your opinion on this subject, Dick?" asked Captain +Hull, turning toward the novice. + +"I am ready to believe, captain," replied Dick Sand, "that we have to +do with a jubarte. See how his rents throw that column of liquid +violently into the air. Does it not seem to you also--which would +confirm my idea--that that spout contains more water than condensed +vapor? And, if I am not mistaken, it is a special peculiarity of the +jubarte." + +"In fact, Dick," replied Captain Hull, "there is no longer any doubt +possible! It is a jubarte which floats on the surface of these red +waters." + +"That's fine," cried little Jack. + +"Yes, my boy! and when we think that the great beast is there, in +process of breakfasting, and little suspecting that the whalers are +watching it." + +"I would dare to affirm that it is a jubarte of great size," observed +Dick Sand. + +"Truly," replied Captain Hull, who was gradually becoming more excited. +"I think it is at least seventy feet long!" + +"Good!" added the boatswain. "Half a dozen whales of that size would +suffice to fill a ship as large as ours!" + +"Yes, that would be sufficient," replied Captain Hull, who mounted on +the bowsprit to see better. + +"And with this one," added the boatswain, "we should take on board in a +few hours the half of the two hundred barrels of oil which we lack." + +"Yes!--truly--yes!" murmured Captain Hull. + +"That is true," continued Dick Sand; "but it is sometimes a hard matter +to attack those enormous jubartes!" + +"Very hard, very hard!" returned Captain Hull. "Those baloenopters have +formidable tails, which must not be approached without distrust. The +strongest pirogue would not resist a well-given blow. But, then, the +profit is worth the trouble!" + +"Bah!" said one of the sailors, "a fine jubarte is all the same a fine +capture!" + +"And profitable!" replied another. + +"It would be a pity not to salute this one on the way!" + +It was evident that these brave sailors were growing excited in looking +at the whale. It was a whole cargo of barrels of oil that was floating +within reach of their hands. To hear them, without doubt there was +nothing more to be done, except to stow those barrels in the +"Pilgrim's" hold to complete her lading. Some of the sailors, mounted +on the ratlines of the fore-shrouds, uttered longing cries. Captain +Hull, who no longer spoke, was in a dilemma. There was something there, +like an irresistible magnet, which attracted the "Pilgrim" and all her +crew. + +"Mama, mama!" then cried little Jack, "I should like to have the whale, +to see how it is made." + +"Ah! you wish to have this whale, my boy? Ah! why not, my friends?" +replied Captain Hull, finally yielding to his secret desire. "Our +additional fishermen are lacking, it is true, but we alone----" + +"Yes! yes!" cried the sailors, with a single voice. + +"This will not be the first time that I have followed the trade of +harpooner," added Captain Hull, "and you will see if I still know how +to throw the harpoon!" + +"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" responded the crew. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PREPARATIONS. + + +It will be understood that the sight of this prodigious mammifer was +necessary to produce such excitement on board the "Pilgrim." + +The whale, which floated in the middle of the red waters, appeared +enormous. To capture it, and thus complete the cargo, that was very +tempting. Could fishermen let such an occasion escape them? + +However, Mrs. Weldon believed she ought to ask Captain Hull if it was +not dangerous for his men and for him to attack a whale under those +circumstances. + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. "More than once it has been my +lot to hunt the whale with a single boat, and I have always finished by +taking possession of it. I repeat it, there is no danger for us, nor, +consequently, for yourself." + +Mrs. Weldon, reassured, did not persist. + +Captain Hull at once made his preparations for capturing the jubarte. +He knew by experience that the pursuit of that baloenopter was not free +from difficulties, and he wished to parry all. + +What rendered this capture less easy was that the schooner's crew could +only work by means of a single boat, while the "Pilgrim" possessed a +long-boat, placed on its stocks between the mainmast and the +mizzen-mast, besides three whale-boats, of which two were suspended on +the larboard and starboard pegs, and the third aft, outside the +crown-work. + +Generally these three whale-boats were employed simultaneously in the +pursuit of cetaceans. But during the fishing season, we know, an +additional crew, hired at the stations of New Zealand, came to the +assistance of the "Pilgrim's" sailors. + +Now, in the present circumstances, the "Pilgrim" could only furnish the +five sailors on board--that is, enough to arm a single whale-boat. To +utilize the group of Tom and his friends, who had offered themselves at +once, was impossible. In fact, the working of a fishing pirogue +requires very well trained seamen. A false move of the helm, or a false +stroke of an oar, would be enough to compromise the safety of the +whale-boat during an attack. + +On the other hand, Captain Hull did not wish to leave his ship without +leaving on board at least one man from the crew, in whom he had +confidence. It was necessary to provide for all eventualities. + +Now Captain Hull, obliged to choose strong seamen to man the +whale-boat, was forced to put on Dick Sand the care of guarding the +"Pilgrim." + +"Dick," said he to him, "I shall charge you to remain on board during +my absence, which I hope will be short." + +"Well, sir," replied the young novice. + +Dick Sand would have wished to take part in this fishing, which had a +great attraction for him, but he understood that, for one reason, a +man's arms were worth more than his for service in a whale-boat, and +that for another, he alone could replace Captain Hull. So he was +satisfied. The whale-boat's crew must be composed of the five men, +including the master, Howik, which formed the whole crew of the +"Pilgrim." The four sailors were going to take their places at the +oars, and Howik would hold the stern oar, which serves to guide a boat +of this kind. A simple rudder, in fact, would not have a prompt enough +action, and in case the side oars should be disabled, the stern oar, +well handled, could put the whale-boat beyond the reach of the +monster's blows. + +There was only Captain Hull besides. He had reserved to himself the +post of harpooner, and, as he had said, this would not be his first +attempt. It was he who must first throw the harpoon, then watch the +unrolling of the long line fastened at its end; then, finally finish +the animal with spears, when it should return to the surface of the +ocean. + +Whalers sometimes employ firearms for this kind of fishing. By means of +a special instrument, a sort of small cannon, stationed either on board +the ship or at the front of the boat, they throw either a harpoon, +which draws with it the rope fastened to its end, or explosive balls, +which produce great ravages in the body of the animal. + +But the "Pilgrim" was not furnished with apparatus of this kind. This +was, besides, an instrument of high price, rather difficult to manage, +and fishermen, but little friendly to innovations, seem to prefer the +employment of primitive weapons, which they use skilfully--that is to +say,--the harpoon and spear. + +It was then by the usual method, attacking the whale with the sword, +that Captain Hull was going to attempt to capture the jubarte signaled +five miles from his ship. + +Besides, the weather would favor this expedition. The sea, being very +calm, was propitious for the working of a whale-boat. The wind was +going down, and the "Pilgrim" would only drift in an insensible manner +while her crew were occupied in the offing. + +So the starboard whale-boat was immediately lowered, and the four +sailors went into it. + +Howik passed them two of those long spears which serve as harpoons, +then two long lances with sharp points. To those offensive arms he +added five coils of those strong flexible ropes that the whalers call +"lines," and which measure six hundred feet in length. Less would not +do, for it sometimes happens that these cords, fastened end to end, are +not enough for the "demand," the whale plunges down so deep. + +Such were the different weapons which were carefully disposed in the +front of the boat. + +Howik and the four sailors only waited for the order to let go the rope. + +A single place was vacant in the prow of the whale-boat--that which +Captain Hull would occupy. + +It is needless to say that the "Pilgrim's" crew, before quitting her, +had brought the ship's sails aback. In other words, the yards were +braced in such a manner that the sails, counteracting their action, +kept the vessel almost stationary. + +Just as he was about to embark, Captain Hull gave a last glance at his +ship. He was sure that all was in order, the halliards well turned, the +sails suitably trimmed. As he was leaving the young novice on board +during an absence which might last several hours, he wished, with a +good reason, that unless for some urgent cause, Dick Sand would not +have to execute a single maneuver. + +At the moment of departing he gave the young man some last words of +advice. + +"Dick," said he, "I leave you alone. Watch over everything. If, as is +possible, it should become necessary to get the ship under way, in case +we should be led too far in pursuit of this jubarte, Tom and his +companions could come to your aid perfectly well. After telling them +clearly what they would have to do, I am assured that they would do it." + +"Yes, Captain Hull," replied old Tom, "and Mr. Dick can count on us." + +"Command! command!" cried Bat. "We have such a strong desire to make +ourselves useful." + +"On what must we pull?" asked Hercules, turning up the large sleeves of +his jacket. + +"On nothing just now," replied Dick Sand, smiling. + +"At your service," continued the colossus. + +"Dick," continued Captain Hull, "the weather is beautiful. The wind has +gone down. There is no indication that it will freshen again. Above +all, whatever may happen, do not put a boat to sea, and do not leave +the ship." + +"That is understood." + +"If it should become necessary for the 'Pilgrim' to come to us, I shall +make a signal to you, by hoisting a flag at the end of a boat-hook." + +"Rest assured, captain, I shall not lose sight of the whale-boat," +replied Dick Sand. + +"Good, my boy," replied Captain Hull. "Courage and coolness. Behold +yourself assistant captain. Do honor to your grade. No one has been +such at your age!" + +Dick Sand did not reply, but he blushed while smiling. Captain Hull +understood that blush and that smile. + +"The honest boy!" he said to himself; "modesty and good humor, in +truth, it is just like him!" + +Meanwhile, by these urgent recommendations, it was plain that, even +though there would be no danger in doing it, Captain Hull did not leave +his ship willingly, even for a few hours. But an irresistible +fisherman's instinct, above all, the strong desire to complete his +cargo of oil, and not fall short of the engagements made by James W. +Weldon in Valparaiso, all that told him to attempt the adventure. +Besides, that sea, so fine, was marvelously conducive to the pursuit of +a cetacean. Neither his crew nor he could resist such a temptation. The +fishing cruise would be finally complete, and this last consideration +touched Captain Hull's heart above everything. + +Captain Hull went toward the ladder. + +"I wish you success," said Mrs. Weldon to him. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Weldon." + +"I beg you, do not do too much harm to the poor whale," cried little +Jack. + +"No, my boy," replied Captain Hull. + +"Take it very gently, sir." + +"Yes--with gloves, little Jack." + +"Sometimes," observed Cousin Benedict, "we find rather curious insects +on the back of these large mammals." + +"Well, Mr. Benedict," replied Captain Hull, laughing, "you shall have +the right to 'entomologize' when our jubarte will be alongside of the +'Pilgrim.'" + +Then turning to Tom: + +"Tom, I count on your companions and you," said he, "to assist us in +cutting up the whale, when it is lashed to the ship's hull--which will +not be long." + +"At your disposal, sir," replied the old black. + +"Good!" replied Captain Hull. + +"Dick, these honest men will aid you in preparing the empty barrels. +During our absence they will bring them on deck, and by this means the +work will go fast on our return." + +"That shall be done, captain." + +For the benefit of those who do not know, it is necessary to say that +the jubarte, once dead, must be towed as far as the "Pilgrim," and +firmly lashed to her starboard side. Then the sailors, shod in boots, +with cramp-hooks would take their places on the back of the enormous +cetacean, and cut it up methodically in parallel bands marked off from +the head to the tail. These bands would be then cut across in slices of +a foot and a half, then divided into pieces, which, after being stowed +in the barrels, would be sent to the bottom of the hold. + +Generally the whaling ship, when the fishing is over, manages to land +as soon as possible, so as to finish her manipulations. The crew lands, +and then proceeds to melt the lard, which, under the action of the +heat, gives up all its useful part--that is, the oil. In this +operation, the whale's lard weighs about a third of its weight. + +But, under present circumstances, Captain Hull could not dream of +putting back to finish that operation. He only counted on melting this +quantity of lard at Valparaiso. Besides, with winds which could not +fail to hail from the west, he hoped to make the American coast before +twenty days, and that lapse of time could not compromise the results of +his fishing. + +The moment for setting out had come. Before the "Pilgrim's" sails had +been brought aback, she had drawn a little nearer to the place where +the jubarte continued to signal its presence by jets of vapor and water. + +The jubarte was all this time swimming in the middle of the vast red +field of crustaceans, opening its large mouth automatically, and +absorbing at each draught myriads of animalcules. + +According to the experienced ones on board, there was no fear that the +whale dreamt of escaping. It was, doubtless, what the whalers call a +"fighting" whale. + +Captain Hull strode over the netting, and, descending the rope ladder, +he reached the prow of the whale-boat. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Cousin Benedict, Tom, and his companions, for a last +time wished the captain success. + +Dingo itself, rising on its paws and passing its head above the +railing, seemed to wish to say good-by to the crew. + +Then all returned to the prow, so as to lose none of the very +attractive movements of such a fishing. + +The whale-boat put off, and, under the impetus of its four oars, +vigorously handled, it began to distance itself from the "Pilgrim." + +"Watch well, Dick, watch well!" cried Captain Hull to the young novice +for the last time. + +"Count on me, sir." + +"One eye for the ship, one eye for the whale-boat, my boy. Do not +forget it." + +"That shall be done, captain," replied Dick Sand, who went to take his +place near the helm. + +Already the light boat was several hundred feet from the ship. Captain +Hull, standing at the prow, no longer able to make himself heard, +renewed his injunctions by the most expressive gestures. + +It was then that Dingo, its paws still resting on the railing, gave a +sort of lamentable bark, which would have an unfavorable effect upon +men somewhat given to superstition. + +That bark even made Mrs. Weldon shudder. + +"Dingo," said she, "Dingo, is that the way you encourage your friends? +Come, now, a fine bark, very clear, very sonorous, very joyful." + +But the dog barked no more, and, letting itself fall back on its paws, +it came slowly to Mrs. Weldon, whose hand it licked affectionately. + +"It does not wag its tail," murmured Tom in a low tone. "Bad sign--bad +sign." + +But almost at once Dingo stood up, and a howl of anger escaped it. + +Mrs. Weldon turned round. + +Negoro had just left his quarters, and was going toward the forecastle, +with the intention, no doubt, of looking for himself at the movements +of the whale-boat. + +Dingo rushed at the head cook, a prey to the strongest as well as to +the most inexplicable fury. + +Negoro seized a hand-spike and took an attitude of defense. + +The dog was going to spring at his throat. + +"Here, Dingo, here!" cried Dick Sand, who, leaving his post of +observation for an instant, ran to the prow of the ship. + +Mrs. Weldon on her side, sought to calm the dog. + +Dingo obeyed, not without repugnance, and returned to the young novice, +growling secretly. + +Negoro had not pronounced a single word, but his face had grown pale +for a moment. Letting go of his hand-spike, he regained his cabin. + +"Hercules," then said Dick Sand, "I charge you especially to watch over +that man." + +"I shall watch," simply replied Hercules, clenching his two enormous +fists in sign of assent. + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand then turned their eyes again on the +whale-boat, which the four oarsmen bore rapidly away. + +It was nothing but a speck on the sea. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE JUBARTE. + + +Captain Hull, an experienced whaler, would leave nothing to chance. The +capture of a jubarte is a difficult thing. No precaution ought to be +neglected. None was in this case. + +And, first of all, Captain Hull sailed so as to come up to the whale on +the leeward, so that no noise might disclose the boat's approach. + +Howik then steered the whale-boat, following the rather elongated curve +of that reddish shoal, in the midst of which floated the jubarte. They +would thus turn the curve. + +The boatswain, set over this work, was a seaman of great coolness, who +inspired Captain Hull with every confidence. He had not to fear either +hesitation or distraction from Howik. + +"Attention to the steering, Howik," said Captain Hull. "We are going to +try to surprise the jubarte. We will only show ourselves when we are +near enough to harpoon it." + +"That is understood, sir," replied the boatswain. + +"I am going to follow the contour of these reddish waters, so as to +keep to the leeward." + +"Good!" said Captain Hull. "Boys, as little noise as possible in +rowing." + +The oars, carefully muffled with straw, worked silently. The boat, +skilfully steered by the boatswain, had reached the large shoal of +crustaceans. The starboard oars still sank in the green and limpid +water, while those to larboard, raising the reddish liquid, seemed to +rain drops of blood. + +"Wine and water!" said one of the sailors. + +"Yes," replied Captain Hull, "but water that we cannot drink, and wine +that we cannot swallow. Come, boys, let us not speak any more, and +heave closer!" + +The whale-boat, steered by the boatswain, glided noiselessly on the +surface of those half-greased waters, as if it were floating on a bed +of oil. + +The jubarte did not budge, and did not seem to have yet perceived the +boat, which described a circle around it. + +Captain Hull, in making the circuit, necessarily went farther than the +"Pilgrim," which gradually grew smaller in the distance. This rapidity +with which objects diminish at sea has always an odd effect. It seems +as if we look at them shortened through the large end of a telescope. +This optical illusion evidently takes place because there are no points +of comparison on these large spaces. It was thus with the "Pilgrim," +which decreased to the eye and seemed already much more distant than +she really was. + +Half an hour after leaving her, Captain Hull and his companions found +themselves exactly to the leeward of the whale, so that the latter +occupied an intermediate point between the ship and the boat. + +So the moment had come to approach, while making as little noise as +possible. It was not impossible for them to get beside the animal and +harpoon it at good range, before its attention would be attracted. + +"Row more slowly, boys," said Captain Hull, in a low voice. + +"It seems to me," replied Howik, "that the gudgeon suspects something. +It breathes less violently than it did just now!" + +"Silence! silence!" repeated Captain Hull. + +Five minutes later the whale-boat was at a cable's length from the +jubarte. A cable's length, a measure peculiar to the sea, comprises a +length of one hundred and twenty fathoms, that is to say, two hundred +meters. + +The boatswain, standing aft, steered in such a manner as to approach +the left side of the mammal, but avoiding, with the greatest care, +passing within reach of the formidable tail, a single blow of which +would be enough to crush the boat. + +At the prow Captain Hull, his legs a little apart to maintain his +equilibrium, held the weapon with which he was going to give the first +blow. They could count on his skill to fix that harpoon in the thick +mass which emerged from the waters. + +Near the captain, in a pail, was coiled the first of the five lines, +firmly fastened to the harpoon, and to which they would successively +join the other four if the whale plunged to great depths. + +"Are we ready, boys?" murmured Captain Hull. + +"Yes," replied Howik, grasping his oar firmly in his large hands. + +"Alongside! alongside!" + +The boatswain obeyed the order, and the whale-boat came within less +than ten feet of the animal. + +The latter no longer moved, and seemed asleep. + +Whales thus surprised while asleep offer an easier prize, and it often +happens that the first blow which is given wounds them mortally. + +"This immovableness is quite astonishing!" thought Captain Hull. "The +rascal ought not to be asleep, and nevertheless----there is something +there!" + +The boatswain thought the same, and he tried to see the opposite side +of the animal. + +But it was not the moment to reflect, but to attack. + +Captain Hull, holding his harpoon by the middle of the handle, balanced +it several times, to make sure of good aim, while he examined the +jubarte's side. Then he threw it with all the strength of his arm. + +"Back, back!" cried he at once. + +And the sailors, pulling together, made the boat recoil rapidly, with +the intention of prudently putting it in safety from the blows of the +cetacean's tail. + +But at that moment a cry from the boatswain made them understand why +the whale was so extraordinarily motionless for so long a time on the +surface of the sea. + +"A young whale!" said he. + +In fact, the jubarte, after having been struck by the harpoon, was +almost entirely overturned on the side, thus discovering a young whale, +which she was in process of suckling. + +This circumstance, as Captain Hull well knew, would render the capture +of the jubarte much more difficult. The mother was evidently going to +defend herself with greater fury, as much for herself as to protect her +"little one "--if, indeed, we can apply that epithet to an animal which +did not measure less than twenty feet. + +Meanwhile, the jubarte did not rush at the boat, as there was reason to +fear, and there was no necessity, before taking flight, to quickly cut +the line which connected the boat with the harpoon. On the contrary, +and as generally happens, the whale, followed by the young one, dived, +at first in a very oblique line; then rising again with an immense +bound, she commenced to cleave the waters with extreme rapidity. + +But before she had made her first plunge, Captain Hull and the +boatswain, both standing, had had time to see her, and consequently to +estimate her at her true value. + +This jubarte was, in reality, a whale of the largest size. From the +head to the tail, she measured at least eighty feet. Her skin, of a +yellowish brown, was much varied with numerous spots of a darker brown. + +It would indeed be a pity, after an attack so happily begun, to be +under the necessity of abandoning so rich a prey. + +The pursuit, or rather the towing, had commenced. The whale-boat, whose +oars had been raised, darted like an arrow while swinging on the tops +of the waves. + +Howik kept it steady, notwithstanding those rapid and frightful +oscillations. Captain Hull, his eye on his prey, did not cease making +his eternal refrain: + +"Be watchful, Howik, be watchful!" + +And they could be sure that the boatswain's vigilance would not be at +fault for an instant. + +Meanwhile, as the whale-boat did not fly nearly as fast as the whale, +the line of the harpoon spun out with such rapidity that it was to be +feared that it would take fire in rubbing against the edge of the +whale-boat. So Captain Hull took care to keep it damp, by filling with +water the pail at the bottom of which the line was coiled. + +All this time the jubarte did not seem inclined to stop her flight, nor +willing to moderate it. The second line was then lashed to the end of +the first, and it was not long before it was played out with the same +velocity. + +At the end of five minutes it was necessary to join on the third line, +which ran off under the water. + +The jubarte did not stop. The harpoon had evidently not penetrated into +any vital part of the body. They could even observe, by the increased +obliquity of the line, that the animal, instead of returning to the +surface, was sinking into lower depths. + +"The devil!" cried Captain Hull, "but that rascal will use up our five +lines!" + +"And lead us to a good distance from the 'Pilgrim,'" replied the +boatswain. + +"Nevertheless, she must return to the surface to breathe," replied +Captain Hull. "She is not a fish, and she must have the provision of +air like a common individual." + +"She has held her breath to run better," said one of the sailors, +laughing. + +In fact, the line was unrolling all the time with equal rapidity. + +To the third line, it was soon necessary to join the fourth, and that +was not done without making the sailors somewhat anxious touching their +future part of the prize. + +"The devil! the devil!" murmured Captain Hull. "I have never seen +anything like that! Devilish jubarte!" + +Finally the fifth line had to be let out, and it was already half +unrolled when it seemed to slacken. + +"Good! good!" cried Captain Hull. "The line is less stiff. The jubarte +is getting tired." + +At that moment, the "Pilgrim" was more than five miles to the leeward +of the whale-boat. Captain Hull, hoisting a flag at the end of a +boat-hook, gave the signal to come nearer. + +And almost at once, he could see that Dick Sand, aided by Tom and his +companions, commenced to brace the yards in such a manner as to trim +them close to the wind. + +But the breeze was feeble and irregular. It only came in short puffs. +Most certainly, the "Pilgrim" would have some trouble in joining the +whale-boat, if indeed she could reach it. Meanwhile, as they had +foreseen, the jubarte had returned to the surface of the water to +breathe, with the harpoon fixed in her side all the time. She then +remained almost motionless, seeming to wait for her young whale, which +this furious course must have left behind. + +Captain Hull made use of the oars so as to join her again, and soon he +was only a short distance from her. + +Two oars were laid down and two sailors armed themselves, as the +captain had done, with long lances, intended to strike the enemy. + +Howik worked skilfully then, and held himself ready to make the boat +turn rapidly, in case the whale should turn suddenly on it. + +"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "Do not lose a blow! Aim well, boys! +Are we ready, Howik?" + +"I am prepared, sir," replied the boatswain, "but one thing troubles +me. It is that the beast, after having fled so rapidly, is very quiet +now." + +"In fact, Howik, that seems to me suspicious. Let us be careful!" + +"Yes, but let us go forward." + +Captain Hull grew more and more animated. + +The boat drew still nearer. The jubarte only turned in her place. Her +young one was no longer near her; perhaps she was trying to find it +again. + +Suddenly she made a movement with her tail, which took her thirty feet +away. + +Was she then going to take flight again, and must they take up this +interminable pursuit again on the surface of the waters? + +"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "The beast is going to take a spring +and throw herself on us. Steer, Howik, steer!" + +The jubarte, in fact, had turned in such a manner as to present herself +in front of the whale-boat. Then, beating the sea violently with her +enormous fins, she rushed forward. + +The boatswain, who expected this direct blow, turned in such a fashion +that the jubarte passed by the boat, but without reaching it. + +Captain Hull and the two sailors gave her three vigorous thrusts on the +passage, seeking to strike some vital organ. + +The jubarte stopped, and, throwing to a great height two columns of +water mingled with blood, she turned anew on the boat, bounding, so to +say, in a manner frightful to witness. + +These seamen must have been expert fishermen, not to lose their +presence of mind on this occasion. + +Howik again skilfully avoided the jubarte's attack, by darting the boat +aside. + +Three new blows, well aimed, again gave the animal three new wounds. +But, in passing, she struck the water so roughly with her formidable +tail, that an enormous wave arose, as if the sea were suddenly opened. + +The whale-boat almost capsized, and, the water rushing in over the +side, it was half filled. + +"The bucket, the bucket!" cried Captain Hull. + +The two sailors, letting go their oars, began to bale out the boat +rapidly, while the captain cut the line, now become useless. + +No! the animal, rendered furious by grief, no longer dreamt of flight. +It was her turn to attack, and her agony threatened to be terrible. + +A third time she turned round, "head to head," a seaman would say, and +threw herself anew on the boat. + +But the whale-boat, half full of water, could no longer move with the +same facility. In this condition, how could it avoid the shock which +threatened it? If it could be no longer steered, there was still less +power to escape. + +And besides, no matter how quickly the boat might be propelled, the +swift jubarte would have always overtaken it with a few bounds. It was +no longer a question of attack, but of defense. + +Captain Hull understood it all. + +The third attack of the animal could not be entirely kept off. In +passing she grazed the whale-boat with her enormous dorsal fin, but +with so much force that Howik was thrown down from his bench. + +The three lances, unfortunately affected by the oscillation, this time +missed their aim. + +"Howik! Howik!" cried Captain Hull, who himself had been hardly able to +keep his place. + +"Present!" replied the boatswain, as he got up. But he then perceived +that in his fall his stern oar had broken in the middle. + +"Another oar!" said Captain Hull. + +"I have one," replied Howik. + +At that moment, a bubbling took place under the waters only a few +fathoms from the boat. + +The young whale had just reappeared. The jubarte saw it, and rushed +towards it. + +This circumstance could only give a more terrible character to the +contest. The whale was going to fight for two. + +Captain Hull looked toward the "Pilgrim." His hand shook the boat-hook, +which bore the flag, frantically. + +What could Dick Sand do that had not been already done at the first +signal from the captain? The "Pilgrim's" sails were trimmed, and the +wind commenced to fill them. Unhappily the schooner did not possess a +helix, by which the action could be increased to sail faster. + +To lower one of the boats, and, with the aid of the blacks, row to the +assistance of the captain, would be a considerable loss of time; +besides, the novice had orders not to quit the ship, no matter what +happened. However, he had the stern-boat lowered from its pegs, and +towed it along, so that the captain and his companions might take +refuge in it, in case of need. + +At that moment the jubarte, covering the young whale with her body, had +returned to the charge. This time she turned in such a manner as to +reach the boat exactly. + +"Attention, Howik!" cried Captain Hull, for the last time. + +But the boatswain was, so to speak, disarmed. Instead of a lever, whose +length gave force, he only held in his hand an oar relatively short. He +tried to put about; it was impossible. + +The sailors knew that they were lost. All rose, giving a terrible cry, +which was perhaps heard on the "Pilgrim." + +A terrible blow from the monster's tail had just struck the whale-boat +underneath. The boat, thrown into the air with irresistible violence, +fell back, broken in three pieces, in the midst of waves furiously +lashed by the whale's bounds. + +The unfortunate sailors, although grievously wounded, would have had, +perhaps, the strength to keep up still, either by swimming or by +hanging on to some of the floating wreck. That is what Captain Hull +did, for he was seen for a moment hoisting the boatswain on a wreck. + +But the jubarte, in the last degree of fury, turned round, sprang up, +perhaps in the last pangs of a terrible agony, and with her tail she +beat the troubled waters frightfully, where the unfortunate sailors +were still swimming. + +For some minutes one saw nothing but a liquid water-spout scattering +itself in sheafs on all sides. + +A quarter of an hour after, when Dick Sand, who, followed by the +blacks, had rushed into the boat, had reached the scene of the +catastrophe, every living creature had disappeared. There was nothing +left but some pieces of the whale-boat on the surface of the waters, +red with blood. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CAPTAIN SAND. + + +The first impression felt by the passengers of the "Pilgrim" in +presence of this terrible catastrophe was a combination of pity and +horror. They only thought of this frightful death of Captain Hull and +the five sailors. This fearful scene had just taken place almost under +their eyes, while they could do nothing to save the poor men. They had +not even been able to arrive in time to pick up the whale-boat's crew, +their unfortunate companions, wounded, but still living, and to oppose +the "Pilgrim's" hull to the jubarte's formidable blows. Captain Hull +and his men had forever disappeared. + +When the schooner arrived at the fatal place, Mrs. Weldon fell on her +knees, her hands raised toward Heaven. + +"Let us pray!" said the pious woman. + +She was joined by her little Jack, who threw himself on his knees, +weeping, near his mother. The poor child understood it all. Dick Sand, +Nan, Tom, and the other blacks remained standing, their heads bowed. +All repeated the prayer that Mrs. Weldon addressed to God, recommending +to His infinite goodness those who had just appeared before Him. + +Then Mrs. Weldon, turning to her companions, "And now, my friends," +said she, "let us ask Heaven for strength and courage for ourselves." + +Yes! They could not too earnestly implore the aid of Him who can do all +things, for their situation was one of the gravest! + +This ship which carried them had no longer a captain to command her, no +longer a crew to work her. She was in the middle of that immense +Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from any land, at the mercy of the +winds and waves. + +What fatality then had brought that whale in the "Pilgrim's" course? +What still greater fatality had urged the unfortunate Captain Hull, +generally so wise, to risk everything in order to complete his cargo? +And what a catastrophe to count among the rarest of the annals of +whale-fishing was this one, which did not allow of the saving of one of +the whale-boat's sailors! + +Yes, it was a terrible fatality! In fact, there was no longer a seaman +on board the "Pilgrim." Yes, one--Dick Sand--and he was only a +beginner, a young man of fifteen. Captain, boatswain, sailors, it may +be said that the whole crew was now concentrated in him. + +On board there was one lady passenger, a mother and her son, whose +presence would render the situation much more difficult. Then there +were also some blacks, honest men, courageous and zealous without a +doubt, ready to obey whoever should undertake to command them, but +ignorant of the simplest notions of the sailor's craft. + +Dick Sand stood motionless, his arms crossed, looking at the place +where Captain Hull had just been swallowed up--Captain Hull, his +protector, for whom he felt a filial affection. Then his eyes searched +the horizon, seeking to discover some ship, from which he would demand +aid and assistance, to which he might be able at least to confide Mrs. +Weldon. He would not abandon the "Pilgrim," no, indeed, without having +tried his best to bring her into port. But Mrs. Weldon and her little +boy would be in safety. He would have had nothing more to fear for +those two beings, to whom he was devoted body and soul. + +The ocean was deserted. Since the disappearance of the jubarte, not a +speck came to alter the surface. All was sky and water around the +"Pilgrim." The young novice knew only too well that he was beyond the +routes followed by the ships of commerce, and that the other whalers +were cruising still farther away at the fishing-grounds. + +However, the question was, to look the situation in the face, to see +things as they were. That is what Dick Sand did, asking God, from the +depths of his heart, for aid and succor. What resolution was he going +to take? + +At that moment Negoro appeared on the deck, which he had left after the +catastrophe. What had been felt in the presence of this irreparable +misfortune by a being so enigmatical, no one could tell. He had +contemplated the disaster without making a gesture, without departing +from his speechlessness. His eye had evidently seized all the details +of it. But if at such a moment one could think of observing him, he +would be astonished at least, because not a muscle of his impassible +face had moved. At any rate, and as if he had not heard it, he had not +responded to the pious appeal of Mrs. Weldon, praying for the engulfed +crew. Negoro walked aft, there even where Dick Sand was standing +motionless. He stopped three steps from the novice. + +"You wish to speak to me?" asked Dick Sand. + +"I wish to speak to Captain Hull," replied Negoro, coolly, "or, in his +absence, to boatswain Howik." + +"You know well that both have perished!" cried the novice. + +"Then who commands on board now?" asked Negoro, very insolently. + +"I," replied Dick Sand, without hesitation. + +"You!" said Negoro, shrugging his shoulders. "A captain of fifteen +years?" + +"A captain of fifteen years!" replied the novice, advancing toward the +cook. + +The latter drew back. + +"Do not forget it," then said Mrs. Weldon. "There is but one captain +here--Captain Sand, and it is well for all to remember that he will +know how to make himself obeyed." + +Negoro bowed, murmuring in an ironical tone a few words that they could +not understand, and he returned to his post. + +We see, Dick's resolution was taken. + +Meanwhile the schooner, under the action of the breeze, which commenced +to freshen, had already passed beyond the vast shoal of crustaceans. + +Dick Sand examined the condition of the sails; then his eyes were cast +on the deck. He had then this sentiment, that, if a frightful +responsibility fell upon him in the future, it was for him to have the +strength to accept it. He dared to look at the survivors of the +"Pilgrim," whose eyes were now fixed on him. And, reading in their +faces that he could count on them, he said to them in two words, that +they could in their turn count on him. + +Dick Sand had, in all sincerity, examined his conscience. + +If he was capable of taking in or setting the sails of the schooner, +according to circumstances, by employing the arms of Tom and his +companions, he evidently did not yet possess all the knowledge +necessary to determine his position by calculation. + +In four or five years more, Dick Sand would know thoroughly that +beautiful and difficult sailor's craft. He would know how to use the +sextant--that instrument which Captain Hull's hand had held every day, +and which gave him the height of the stars. He would read on the +chronometer the hour of the meridian of Greenwich, and from it would be +able to deduce the longitude by the hour angle. The sun would be made +his counselor each day. The moon--the planets would say to him, "There, +on that point of the ocean, is thy ship!" That firmament, on which the +stars move like the hands of a perfect clock, which nothing shakes nor +can derange, and whose accuracy is absolute--that firmament would tell +him the hours and the distances. By astronomical observations he would +know, as his captain had known every day, nearly to a mile, the place +occupied by the "Pilgrim," and the course followed as well as the +course to follow. + +And now, by reckoning, that is by the progress measured on the log, +pointed out by the compass, and corrected by the drift, he must alone +ask his way. + +However, he did not falter. + +Mrs. Weldon understood all that was passing in the young novice's +resolute heart. + +"Thank you, Dick," she said to him, in a voice which did not tremble. +"Captain Hull is no more. All his crew have perished with him. The fate +of the ship is in your hands! Dick, you will save the ship and those on +board!" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, "yes! I shall attempt it, with +the aid of God!" + +"Tom and his companions are honest men on whom you can depend entirely." + +"I know it, and I shall make sailors of them, and we shall work +together. With fine weather that will be easy. With bad weather--well, +with bad weather, we shall strive, and we shall save you yet, Mrs. +Weldon--you and your little Jack, both! Yes, I feel that I shall do it." + +And he repeated: + +"With the aid of God!" + +"Now, Dick, can you tell where the 'Pilgrim' is?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Easily," replied the novice. "I have only to consult the chart on +board, on which her position was marked yesterday by Captain Hull." + +"And will you be able to put the ship in the right direction?" + +"Yes, I shall be able to put her prow to the east, nearly at the point +of the American coast that we must reach." + +"But, Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "you well understand, do you not, +that this catastrophe may, and indeed must, modify our first projects? +It is no longer a question of taking the 'Pilgrim' to Valparaiso. The +nearest port of the American coast is now her port of destination." + +"Certainly, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "So fear nothing! We +cannot fail to reach that American coast which stretches so far to the +south." + +"Where is it situated?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"There, in that direction," replied Dick Sand, pointing to the east, +which he knew by means of the compass. + +"Well, Dick, we may reach Valparaiso, or any other part of the coast. +What matter? What we want is to land." + +"And we shall do it, Mrs. Weldon, and I shall land you on a good +place," replied the young man, in a firm voice. "Besides, in standing +in for the land, I do not renounce the hope of encountering some of +those vessels which do the coasting trade on that shore. Ah! Mrs. +Weldon, the wind begins to blow steadily from the northwest! God grant +that it may keep on; we shall make progress, and good progress. We +shall drive in the offing with all our sails set, from the brigantine +to the flying-jib!" + +Dick Sand had spoken with the confidence of the seaman, who feels that +he stands on a good ship, a ship of whose every movement he is master. +He was going to take the helm and call his companions to set the sails +properly, when Mrs. Weldon reminded him that he ought first to know the +"Pilgrim's" position. + +It was, indeed, the first thing to do. Dick Sand went into the +captain's cabin for the chart on which the position of the day before +was indicated. He could then show Mrs. Weldon that the schooner was in +latitude 43° 35', and in longitude 164° 13', for, in the last +twenty-four hours, she had not, so to say, made any progress. + +Mrs. Weldon leaned over this chart. She looked at the brown color which +represented the land on the right of the ocean. It was the coast of +South America, an immense barrier thrown between the Pacific and the +Atlantic from Cape Horn to the shores of Columbia. To consider it in +that way, that chart, which, was then spread out under her eyes, on +which was drawn a whole ocean, gave the impression that it would be +easy to restore the "Pilgrim's" passengers to their country. It is an +illusion which is invariably produced on one who is not familiar with +the scale on which marine charts are drawn. And, in fact, it seemed to +Mrs. Weldon that the land ought to be in sight, as it was on that piece +of paper! + +And, meanwhile, on that white page, the "Pilgrim" drawn on an exact +scale, would be smaller than the most microscopic of infusoria! That +mathematical point, without appreciable dimensions, would appear lost, +as it was in reality in the immensity of the Pacific! + +Dick Sand himself had not experienced the same impression as Mrs. +Weldon. He knew how far off the land was, and that many hundreds of +miles would not suffice to measure the distance from it. But he had +taken his part; he had become a man under the responsibility which had +fallen upon him. + +The moment to act had come. He must profit by this northwest breeze +which was blowing up. Contrary winds had given place to favorable +winds, and some clouds scattered in the zenith under the cirrous form, +indicated that they would blow steadily for at least a certain time. + +Dick called Tom and his companions. + +"My friends," he said to them, "our ship has no longer any crew but +you. I cannot work without your aid. You are not sailors, but you have +good arms. Place them, then, at the 'Pilgrim's' service and we can +steer her. Every one's salvation depends on the good work of every one +on board." + +"Mr. Dick," replied Tom, "my companions and I, we are your sailors. Our +good will shall not be wanting. All that men can do, commanded by you, +we shall do it." + +"Well spoken, old Tom," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, well spoken," continued Dick Sand; "but we must be prudent, and I +shall not carry too much canvas, so as not to run any risk. +Circumstances require a little less speed, but more security. I will +show you, my friends, what each will have to do in the work. As to me, +I shall remain at the helm, as long as fatigue does not oblige me to +leave it. From time to time a few hours' sleep will be sufficient to +restore me. But, during those few hours, it will be very necessary for +one of you to take my place. Tom, I shall show you how we steer by +means of the mariner's compass. It is not difficult, and, with a little +attention, you will soon learn to keep the ship's head in the right +direction." + +"Whenever you like, Mr. Dick," replied the old black. + +"Well," replied the novice, "stay near me at the helm till the end of +the day, and if fatigue overcomes me, you will then be able to replace +me for a few hours." + +"And I," said little Jack, "will I not be able to help my friend, Dick, +a little?" + +"Yes, dear child," replied Mrs. Weldon, clasping Jack in her arms, "you +shall learn to steer, and I am sure that while you are at the helm we +shall have good winds." + +"Very sure--very sure. Mother, I promise it to you," replied the little +boy, clapping his hands. + +"Yes," said the young novice, smiling, "good cabin-boys know how to +maintain good winds. That is well known by old sailors." Then, +addressing Tom, and the other blacks: "My friends," he said to them, +"we are going to put the 'Pilgrim' under full sail. You will only have +to do what I shall tell you." + +"At your orders," replied Tom, "at your orders, Captain Sand." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE FOUR DAYS WHICH FOLLOW. + + +Dick Sand was then captain of the "Pilgrim," and, without losing an +instant, he took the necessary measures for putting the ship under full +sail. + +It was well understood that the passengers could have only one +hope--that of reaching some part of the American coast, if not +Valparaiso. What Dick Sand counted on doing was to ascertain the +direction and speed of the "Pilgrim," so as to get an average. For +that, it was sufficient to make each day on the chart the way made, as +it has been said, by the log and the compass. There was then on board +one of those "patent logs," with an index and helix, which give the +speed very exactly for a fixed time. This useful instrument, very +easily handled, could render the most useful services, and the blacks +were perfectly adapted to work it. + +A single cause of error would interfere--the currents. To combat it, +reckoning would be insufficient; astronomical observations alone would +enable one to render an exact calculation from it. Now, those +observations the young novice was still unable to make. + +For an instant Dick Sand had thought of bringing the "Pilgrim" back to +New Zealand. The passage would be shorter, and he would certainly have +done it if the wind, which, till then, had been contrary, had not +become favorable. Better worth while then to steer for America. + +In fact, the wind had changed almost to the contrary direction, and now +it blew from the northwest with a tendency to freshen. It was then +necessary to profit by it and make all the headway possible. + +So Dick Sand prepared to put the "Pilgrim" under full sail. + +In a schooner brig-rigged, the foremast carries four square sails; the +foresail, on the lower mast; above, the top-sail, on the topmast; +then, on the top-gallant mast, a top-sail and a royal. + +The mainmast, on the contrary, has fewer sails. It only carries a +brigantine below, and a fore-staffsail above. Between these two masts, +on the stays which support them at the prow, a triple row of triangular +sails may be set. + +Finally, at the prow, on the bowsprit, and its extreme end, were hauled +the three jibs. + +The jibs, the brigantine, the fore-staff, and the stay-sails are easily +managed. They can be hoisted from the deck without the necessity of +climbing the masts, because they are not fastened on the yards by means +of rope-bands, which must be previously loosened. + +On the contrary, the working of the foremast sails demands much greater +proficiency in seamanship. In fact, when it is necessary to set them, +the sailors must climb by the rigging--it may be in the foretop, it +may be on the spars of the top-gallant mast, it may be to the top of +the said mast--and that, as well in letting them fly as in drawing them +in to diminish their surface in reefing them. Thence the necessity of +running out on foot-ropes--movable ropes stretched below the yards--of +working with one hand while holding on by the other--perilous work for +any one who is not used to it. The oscillation from the rolling and +pitching of the ship, very much increased by the length of the lever, +the flapping of the sails under a stiff breeze, have often sent a man +overboard. It was then a truly dangerous operation for Tom and his +companions. + +Very fortunately, the wind was moderate. The sea had not yet had time +to become rough. The rolling and pitching kept within bounds. + +When Dick Sand, at Captain Hull's signal, had steered toward the scene +of the catastrophe, the "Pilgrim" only carried her jibs, her +brigantine, her foresail, and her top-sail. To get the ship under way +as quickly as possible, the novice had only to make use of, that is, to +counter-brace, the foresail. The blacks had easily helped him in that +maneuver. + +The question now was to get under full sail, and, to complete the +sails, to hoist the top-sails, the royal, the fore-staff, and the +stay-sails. + +"My friends," said the novice to the five blacks, "do as I tell you, +and all will go right." + +Dick Sand was standing at the wheel of the helm. + +"Go!" cried he. "Tom, let go that rope quickly!" + +"Let go?" said Tom, who did not understand that expression. + +"Yes, loosen it! Now you, Bat--the same thing! Good! Heave--haul taut. +Let us see, pull it in!" + +"Like that?" said Bat. + +"Yes, like that. Very good. Come, Hercules--strong. A good pull there!" + +To say "strong" to Hercules was, perhaps, imprudent. The giant of +course gave a pull that brought down the rope. + +"Oh! not so strong, my honest fellow!" cried Dick Sand, smiling. "You +are going to bring down the masts!" + +"I have hardly pulled," replied Hercules. + +"Well, only make believe! You will see that that will be enough! Well, +slacken--cast off! Make fast--Make fast--like that! Good! All together! +Heave--pull on the braces." + +And the whole breadth of the foremast, whose larboard braces had been +loosened, turned slowly. The wind then swelling the sails imparted a +certain speed to the ship. + +Dick Sand then had the jib sheet-ropes loosened. Then he called the +blacks aft: + +"Behold what is done, my friends, and well done. Now let us attend to +the mainmast. But break nothing, Hercules." + +"I shall try," replied the colossus, without being willing to promise +more. + +This second operation was quite easy. The main-boom sheet-rope having +been let go gently, the brigantine took the wind more regularly, and +added its powerful action to that of the forward sails. + +The fore-staff was then set above the brigantine, and, as it is simply +brailed up, there was nothing to do but bear on the rope, to haul +aboard, then to secure it. But Hercules pulled so hard, along with his +friend Acteon, without counting little Jack, who had joined them, that +the rope broke off. + +All three fell backwards--happily, without hurting themselves. Jack was +enchanted. + +"That's nothing! that's nothing!" cried the novice. "Fasten the two +ends together for this time and hoist softly!" + +That was done under Dick Sand's eyes, while he had not yet left the +helm. The "Pilgrim" was already sailing rapidly, headed to the east, +and there was nothing more to be done but keep it in that direction. +Nothing easier, because the wind was favorable, and lurches were not to +be feared. + +"Good, my friends!" said the novice. "You will be good sailors before +the end of the voyage!" + +"We shall do our best, Captain Sand," replied Tom. + +Mrs. Weldon also complimented those honest men. + +Little Jack himself received his share of praise, for he had worked +bravely. + +"Indeed, I believe, Mr. Jack," said Hercules, smiling, "that it was you +who broke the rope. What a good little fist you have. Without you we +should have done nothing right." + +And little Jack, very proud of himself, shook his friend Hercules' hand +vigorously. + +The setting of the "Pilgrim's" sails was not yet complete. She still +lacked those top-sails whose action is not to be despised under this +full-sail movement. Top-sail, royal, stay-sails, would add sensibly to +the schooner's speed, and Dick Sand resolved to set them. + +This operation would be more difficult than the others, not for the +stay-sails, which could be hoisted, hauled aboard and fastened from +below, but for the cross-jacks of the foremast. It was necessary to +climb to the spars to let them out, and Dick Sand, not wishing to +expose any one of his improvised crew, undertook to do it himself. + +He then called Tom and put him at the wheel, showing him how he should +keep the ship. Then Hercules, Bat, Acteon and Austin being placed, some +at the royal halyards, others at those of the top-sails, he proceeded +up the mast. To climb the rattlings of the fore-shrouds, then the +rattlings of the topmast-shrouds, to gain the spars, that was only play +for the young novice. In a minute he was on the foot-rope of the +top-sail yard, and he let go the rope-bands which kept the sail bound. + +Then he stood on the spars again and climbed on the royal yard, where +he let out the sail rapidly. + +Dick Sand had finished his task, and seizing one of the starboard +backstays, he slid to the deck. + +There, under his directions, the two sails were vigorously hauled and +fastened, then the two yards hoisted to the block. The stay-sails being +set next between the mainmast and the foremast, the work was finished. +Hercules had broken nothing this time. + +The "Pilgrim" then carried all the sails that composed her rigging. +Doubtless Dick Sand could still add the foremast studding-sails to +larboard, but it was difficult work under the present circumstances, +and should it be necessary to take them in, in case of a squall, it +could not be done fast enough. So the novice stopped there. + +Tom was relieved from his post at the wheel, which Dick Sand took +charge of again. + +The breeze freshened. The "Pilgrim," making a slight turn to starboard, +glided rapidly over the surface of the sea, leaving behind her a very +flat track, which bore witness to the purity of her water-line. + +"We are well under way, Mrs. Weldon," then said Dick Sand, "and, now, +may God preserve this favorable wind!" + +Mrs. Weldon pressed the young man's hand. Then, fatigued with all the +emotions of that last hour, she sought her cabin, and fell into a sort +of painful drowsiness, which was not sleep. + +The new crew remained on the schooner's deck, watching on the +forecastle, and ready to obey Dick Sand's orders--that is to say, to +change the set of the sails according to the variations of the wind; +but so long as the breeze kept both that force and that direction, +there would be positively nothing to do. + +During all this time what had become of Cousin Benedict? + +Cousin Benedict was occupied in studying with a magnifying glass an +articulate which he had at last found on board--a simple orthopter, +whose head disappeared under the prothorax; an insect with flat +elytrums, with round abdomen, with rather long wings, which belonged to +the family of the roaches, and to the species of American cockroaches. + +It was exactly while ferreting in Negoro's kitchen, that he had made +that precious discovery, and at the moment when the cook was going to +crush the said insect pitilessly. Thence anger, which, indeed, Negoro +took no notice of. + +But this Cousin Benedict, did he know what change had taken place on +board since the moment when Captain Hull and his companions had +commenced that fatal whale-fishing? Yes, certainly. He was even on the +deck when the "Pilgrim" arrived in sight of the remains of the +whale-boat. The schooner's crew had then perished before his eyes. + +To pretend that this catastrophe had not affected him, would be to +accuse his heart. That pity for others that all people feel, he had +certainly experienced it. He was equally moved by his cousin's +situation. He had come to press Mrs. Weldon's hand, as if to say to +her: "Do not be afraid. I am here. I am left to you." + +Then Cousin Benedict had turned toward his cabin, doubtless so as to +reflect on the consequences of this disastrous event, and on the +energetic measures that he must take. But on his way he had met the +cockroach in question, and his desire was--held, however, against +certain entomologists--to prove the cockroaches of the phoraspe +species, remarkable for their colors, have very different habits from +cockroaches properly so called; he had given himself up to the study, +forgetting both that there had been a Captain Hull in command of the +"Pilgrim," and that that unfortunate had just perished with his crew. +The cockroach absorbed him entirely. He did not admire it less, and he +made as much time over it as if that horrible insect had been a golden +beetle. + +The life on board had then returned to its usual course, though every +one would remain for a long time yet under the effects of such a keen +and unforeseen catastrophe. + +During this day Dick Sand was everywhere, so that everything should be +in its place, and that he could be prepared for the smallest +contingency. The blacks obeyed him with zeal. The most perfect order +reigned on board the "Pilgrim." It might then be hoped that all would +go well. + +On his side, Negoro made no other attempt to resist Dick Sand's +authority. He appeared to have tacitly recognized him. Occupied as +usual in his narrow kitchen, he was not seen more than before. Besides, +at the least infraction--at the first symptom of insubordination, Dick +Sand was determined to send him to the hold for the rest of the +passage. At a sign from him, Hercules would take the head cook by the +skin of the neck; that would not have taken long. In that case, Nan, +who knew how to cook, would replace the cook in his functions. Negoro +then could say to himself that he was indispensable, and, as he was +closely watched, he seemed unwilling to give any cause of complaint. + +The wind, though growing stronger till evening, did not necessitate any +change in the "Pilgrim's" sails. Her solid masting, her iron rigging, +which was in good condition, would enable her to bear in this condition +even a stronger breeze. + +During the night it is often the custom to lessen the sails, and +particularly to take in the high sails, fore-staff, top-sail, royal, +etc. That is prudent, in case some squall of wind should come up +suddenly. But Dick Sand believed he could dispense with this +precaution. The state of the atmosphere indicated nothing of the kind, +and besides, the young novice determined to pass the first night on the +deck, intending to have an eye to everything. Then the progress was +more rapid, and he longed to be in less desolate parts. + +It has been said that the log and the compass were the only instruments +which Dick Sand could use, so as to estimate approximately the way made +by the "Pilgrim." + +During this day the novice threw the log every half-hour, and he noted +the indications furnished by the instrument. + +As to the instrument which bears the name of compass, there were two on +board. One was placed in the binnacle, under the eyes of the man at the +helm. Its dial, lighted by day by the diurnal light, by night by two +side-lamps, indicated at every moment which way the ship headed--that +is, the direction she followed. The other compass was an inverted one, +fixed to the bars of the cabin which Captain Hull formerly occupied. By +that means, without leaving his chamber, he could always know if the +route given was exactly followed, if the man at the helm, from +ignorance or negligence, allowed the ship to make too great lurches. + +Besides, there is no ship employed in long voyages which does not +possess at least two compasses, as she has two chronometers. It is +necessary to compare these instruments with each other, and, +consequently, control their indications. + +The "Pilgrim" was then sufficiently provided for in that respect, and +Dick Sand charged his men to take the greatest care of the two +compasses, which were so necessary to him. + +Now, unfortunately, during the night of the 12th to the 13th of +February, while the novice was on watch, and holding the wheel of the +helm, a sad accident took place. The inverted compass, which was +fastened by a copper ferule to the woodwork of the cabin, broke off and +fell on the floor. It was not seen till the next day. + +How had the ferule come to break. It was inexplicable enough. It was +possible, however, that it was oxydized, and that the pitching and +rolling had broken it from the woodwork. Now, indeed, the sea had been +rougher during the night. However it was, the compass was broken in +such a manner that it could not be repaired. + +Dick Sand was much thwarted. Henceforth he was reduced to trust solely +to the compass in the binnacle. Very evidently no one was responsible +for the breaking of the second compass, but it might have sad +consequences. The novice then took every precaution to keep the other +compass beyond the reach of every accident. + +Till then, with that exception, all went well on board the "Pilgrim." + +Mrs. Weldon, seeing Dick Sand's calmness, had regained confidence. It +was not that she had ever yielded to despair. Above all, she counted on +the goodness of God. Also, as a sincere and pious Catholic, she +comforted herself by prayer. + +Dick Sand had arranged so as to remain at the helm during the night. He +slept five or six hours in the day, and that seemed enough for him, as +he did not feel too much fatigued. During this time Tom or his son Bat +took his place at the wheel of the helm, and, thanks to his counsels, +they were gradually becoming passable steersmen. + +Often Mrs. Weldon and the novice talked to each other. Dick Sand +willingly took advice from this intelligent and courageous woman. Each +day he showed her on the ship's chart the course run, which he took by +reckoning, taking into account only the direction and the speed of the +ship. "See, Mrs. Weldon," he often repeated to her, "with these winds +blowing, we cannot fail to reach the coast of South America. I should +not like to affirm it, but I verily believe that when our vessel shall +arrive in sight of land, it will not be far from Valparaiso." + +Mrs. Weldon could not doubt the direction of the vessel was right, +favored above all by those winds from the northwest. But how far the +"Pilgrim" still seemed to be from the American coast! How many dangers +between her and the firm land, only counting those which might come +from a change in the state of the sea and the sky! + +Jack, indifferent like children of his age, had returned to his usual +games, running on the deck, amusing himself with Dingo. He found, of +course, that his friend Dick was less with him than formerly; but his +mother had made him understand that they must leave the young novice +entirely to his occupations. Little Jack had given up to these reasons, +and no longer disturbed "Captain Sand." + +So passed life on board. The blacks did their work intelligently, and +each day became more skilful in the sailor's craft. Tom was naturally +the boatswain, and it was he, indeed, whom his companions would have +chosen for that office. He commanded the watch while the novice rested, +and he had with him his son Bat and Austin. Acteon and Hercules formed +the other watch, under Dick Sand's direction. By this means, while one +steered, the others watched at the prow. + +Even though these parts were deserted, and no collision was really to +be feared, the novice exacted a rigorous watch during the night. He +never sailed without having his lights in position--a green light on +the starboard, a red light on the larboard--and in that he acted wisely. + +All the time, during those nights which Dick Sand passed entirely at +the helm, he occasionally felt an irresistible heaviness over him. His +hand then steered by pure instinct. It was the effect of a fatigue of +which he did not wish to take account. + +Now, it happened that during the night of the 13th to the 14th of +February, that Dick Sand was very tired, and was obliged to take a few +hours' rest. He was replaced at the helm by old Tom. + +The sky was covered with thick clouds, which had gathered with the +evening, under the influence of the cold air. It was then very dark, +and it was impossible to distinguish the high sails lost in the +darkness. Hercules and Acteon were on watch on the forecastle. + +Aft, the light from the binnacle only gave a faint gleam, which the +metallic apparatus of the wheel reflected softly. The ship's lanterns +throwing their lights laterally, left the deck of the vessel in +profound darkness. + +Toward three o'clock in the morning, a kind of hypnotic phenomenon took +place, of which old Tom was not even conscious. His eves, which were +fixed too long on a luminous point of the binnacle, suddenly lost the +power of vision, and he fell into a true anæsthetic sleep. + +Not only was he incapable of seeing, but if one had touched or pinched +him hard he would probably have felt nothing. + +So he did not see a shadow which glided over the deck. + +It was Negoro. + +Arrived aft, the head cook placed under the binnacle a pretty heavy +object which he held in hand. + +Then, after observing for an instant the luminous index of the compass, +he retired without having been seen. + +If, the next day, Dick Sand had perceived that object placed by Negoro +under the binnacle, he might have hastened to take it away. + +In fact, it was a piece of iron, whose influence had just altered the +indications of the compass. The magnetic needle had been deviated, and +instead of marking the magnetic north, which differs a little from the +north of the world, it marked the northeast. It was then, a deviation +of four points; in other words, of half a right angle. + +Tom soon recovered from his drowsiness. His eyes were fixed on the +compass. He believed, he had reason to believe, that the "Pilgrim" was +not in the right direction. He then moved the helm so as to head the +ship to the east--at least, he thought so. + +But, with the deviation of the needle, which he could not suspect, that +point, changed by four points, was the southeast. + +And thus, while under the action of a favorable wind, the "Pilgrim" was +supposed to follow the direction wished for, she sailed with an error +of forty-five degrees in her route! + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TEMPEST. + + +During the week which followed that event, from the 14th of February to +the 21st, no incident took place on board. The wind from the northwest +freshened gradually, and the "Pilgrim" sailed rapidly, making on an +average one hundred and sixty miles in twenty-four hours. It was nearly +all that could be asked of a vessel of that size. + +Dick Sand thought the schooner must be approaching those parts more +frequented by the merchant vessels which seek to pass from one +hemisphere to the other. The novice was always hoping to encounter one +of those ships, and he clearly intended either to transfer his +passengers, or to borrow some additional sailors, and perhaps an +officer. But, though he watched vigilantly, no ship could be signaled, +and the sea was always deserted. + +Dick Sand continued to be somewhat astonished at that. He had crossed +this part of the Pacific several times during his three fishing voyages +to the Southern Seas. Now, in the latitude and longitude where his +reckoning put him, it was seldom that some English or American ship did +not appear, ascending from Cape Horn toward the equator, or coming +toward the extreme point of South America. + +But what Dick Sand was ignorant of, what he could not even discover, +was that the "Pilgrim" was already in higher latitude--that is to say, +more to the south than he supposed. That was so for two reasons: + +The first was, that the currents of these parts, whose swiftness the +novice could only imperfectly estimate, had contributed--while he could +not possibly keep account of them--to throw the ship out of her route. + +The second was, that the compass, made inaccurate by Negoro's guilty +hand, henceforth only gave incorrect bearings--bearings that, since the +loss of the second compass, Dick Sand could not control. So that, +believing, and having reason to believe, that he was sailing eastward, +in reality, he was sailing southeast. The compass, it was always before +his eyes. The log, it was thrown regularly. His two instruments +permitted him, in a certain measure, to direct the "Pilgrim," and to +estimate the number of miles sailed. But, then, was that sufficient? + +However, the novice always did his best to reassure Mrs. Weldon, whom +the incidents of this voyage must at times render anxious. + +"We shall arrive, we shall arrive!" he repeated. "We shall reach the +American coast, here or there; it matters little, on the whole, but we +cannot fail to land there!" + +"I do not doubt it, Dick." + +"Of course, Mrs. Weldon, I should be more at ease if you were not on +board--if we had only ourselves to answer for; but----" + +"But if I were not on board," replied Mrs. Weldon; "if Cousin Benedict, +Jack, Nan and I, had not taken passage on the 'Pilgrim,' and if, on the +other hand, Tom and his companions had not been picked up at sea, Dick, +there would be only two men here, you and Negoro! What would have +become of you, alone with that wicked man, in whom you cannot have +confidence? Yes, my child, what would have become of you?" + +"I should have begun," replied Dick Sand, resolutely, "by putting +Negoro where he could not injure me." + +"And you would have worked alone?" + +"Yes--alone--with the aid of God!" + +The firmness of these words was well calculated to encourage Mrs. +Weldon. But, nevertheless, while thinking of her little Jack, she often +felt uneasy. If the woman would not show what she experienced as a +mother, she did not always succeed in preventing some secret anguish +for him to rend her heart. + +Meanwhile, if the young novice was not sufficiently advanced in his +hydrographic studies to make his point, he possessed a true sailor's +scent, when the question was "to tell the weather." The appearance of +the sky, for one thing; on the other hand, the indications of the +barometer, enabled him to be on his guard. Captain Hull, a good +meteorologist, had taught him to consult this instrument, whose +prognostications are remarkably sure. + +Here is, in a few words, what the notices relative to the observation +of the barometer contain: + +1. When, after a rather long continuance of fine weather, the barometer +begins to fall in a sudden and continuous manner, rain will certainly +fall; but, if the fine weather has had a long duration, the mercury may +fall two or three days in the tube of the barometer before any change +in the state of the atmosphere may be perceived. Then, the longer the +time between the falling of the mercury and the arrival of the rain, +the longer will be the duration of rainy weather. + +2. If, on the contrary, during a rainy period which has already had a +long duration, the barometer commences to rise slowly and regularly, +very certainly fine weather will come, and it will last much longer if +a long interval elapses between its arrival and the rising of the +barometer. + +3. In the two cases given, if the change of weather follows immediately +the movement of the barometrical column, that change will last only a +very short time. + +4. If the barometer rises with slowness and in a continuous manner for +two or three days, or even more, it announces fine weather, even when +the rain will not cease during those three days, and _vice versa;_ but +if the barometer rises two days or more during the rain, then, the fine +weather having come, if it commences to fall again, the fine weather +will last a very short time, and _vice versa_. + +5. In the spring and in the autumn, a sudden fall of the barometer +presages wind. In the summer, if the weather is very warm, it announces +a storm. In winter, after a frost of some duration, a rapid falling of +the barometrical column announces a change of wind, accompanied by a +thaw and rain; but a rising which happens during a frost which has +already lasted a certain time, prognosticates snow. + +6. Rapid oscillations of the barometer should never be interpreted as +presaging dry or rainy weather of any duration. Those indications are +given exclusively by the rising or the falling which takes place in a +slow and continuous manner. + +7. Toward the end of autumn, if after prolonged rainy and windy +weather, the barometer begins to rise, that rising announces the +passage of the wind to the north and the approach of the frost. + +Such are the general consequences to draw from the indications of this +precious instrument. + +Dick Sand knew all that perfectly well, as he had ascertained for +himself in different circumstances of his sailor's life, which made him +very skilful in putting himself on his guard against all contingencies. + +Now, just toward the 20th of February, the oscillations of the +barometrical column began to preoccupy the young novice, who noted them +several times a day with much care. In fact, the barometer began to +fall in a slow and continuous manner, which presages rain; but, this +rain being delayed, Dick Sand concluded from that, that the bad weather +would last. That is what must happen. + +But the rain was the wind, and in fact, at that date, the breeze +freshened so much that the air was displaced with a velocity of sixty +feet a second, say thirty-one miles an hour. + +Dick Sand was obliged to take some precautions so as not to risk the +"Pilgrim's" masting and sails. + +Already he had the royal, the fore-staff, and the flying-jib taken in, +and he resolved to do the same with the top-sail, then take in two +reefs in the top-sail. + +This last operation must present certain difficulties with a crew of +little experience. Hesitation would not do, however, and no one +hesitated. Dick Sand, accompanied by Bat and Austin, climbed into the +rigging of the foremast, and succeeded, not without trouble, in taking +in the top-sail. In less threatening weather he would have left the two +yards on the mast, but, foreseeing that he would probably be obliged to +level that mast, and perhaps even to lay it down upon the deck, he +unrigged the two yards and sent them to the deck. In fact, it is +understood that when the wind becomes too strong, not only must the +sails be diminished, but also the masting. That is a great relief to +the ship, which, carrying less weight above, is no longer so much +strained with the rolling and pitching. + +This first work accomplished--and it took two hours--Dick Sand and his +companions were busy reducing the surface of the top-sail, by taking in +two reefs. The "Pilgrim" did not carry, like the majority of modern +ships, a double top-sail, which facilitates the operation. It was +necessary, then, to work as formerly--that is to say, to run out on the +foot-ropes, pull toward you a sail beaten by the wind, and lash it +firmly with its reef-lines. It was difficult, long, perilous; but, +finally, the diminished top-sail gave less surface to the wind, and the +schooner was much relieved. + +Dick Sand came down again with Bat and Austin. The "Pilgrim" was then +in the sailing condition demanded by that state of the atmosphere which +has been qualified as "very stiff." + +During the three days which followed, 20th, 21st and 22d of February, +the force and direction of the wind were not perceptibly changed. All +the time the mercury continued to fall in the barometrical tube, and, +on this last day, the novice noted that it kept continually below +twenty-eight and seven-tenths inches. + +Besides, there was no appearance that the barometer would rise for some +time. The aspect of the sky was bad, and extremely windy. Besides, +thick fogs covered it constantly. Their stratum was even so deep that +the sun was no longer seen, and it would have been difficult to +indicate precisely the place of his setting and rising. + +Dick Sand began to be anxious. He no longer left the deck; he hardly +slept. However, his moral energy enabled him to drive back his fears to +the bottom of his heart. + +The next day, February 22d, the breeze appeared to decrease a little in +the morning, but Dick Sand did not trust in it. He was right, for in +the afternoon the wind freshened again, and the sea became rougher. + +Toward four o'clock, Negoro, who was rarely seen, left his post and +came up on the forecastle. Dingo, doubtless, was sleeping in some +corner, for it did not bark as usual. + +Negoro, always silent, remained for half an hour observing the horizon. + +Long surges succeeded each other without, as yet, being dashed +together. However, they were higher than the force of the wind +accounted for. One must conclude from that, that there was very bad +weather in the west, perhaps at a rather short distance, and that it +would not be long in reaching these parts. + +Negoro watched that vast extent of sea, which was greatly troubled, +around the "Pilgrim." Then his eyes, always cold and dry, turned toward +the sky. + +The aspect of the sky was disturbing. The vapors moved with very +different velocities. The clouds of the upper zone traveled more +rapidly than those of the low strata of the atmosphere. The case then +must be foreseen, in which those heavy masses would fall, and might +change into a tempest, perhaps a hurricane, what was yet only a very +stiff breeze--that is to say, a displacement of the air at the rate of +forty-three miles an hour. + +Whether Negoro was not a man to be frightened, or whether he understood +nothing of the threats of the weather, he did not appear to be +affected. However, an evil smile glided over his lips. One would say, +at the end of his observations, that this state of things was rather +calculated to please him than to displease him. One moment he mounted +on the bowsprit and crawled as far as the ropes, so as to extend his +range of vision, as if he were seeking some indication on the horizon. +Then he descended again, and tranquilly, without having pronounced a +single word, without having made a gesture, he regained the crew's +quarters. + +Meanwhile, in the midst of all these fearful conjunctions, there +remained one happy circumstance which each one on board ought to +remember; it was that this wind, violent as it was or might become, was +favorable, and that the "Pilgrim" seemed to be rapidly making the +American coast. If, indeed, the weather did not turn to tempest, this +navigation would continue to be accomplished without great danger, and +the veritable perils would only spring up when the question would be to +land on some badly ascertained point of the coast. + +That was indeed what Dick Sand was already asking himself. When he +should once make the land, how should he act, if he did not encounter +some pilot, some one who knew the coast? In case the bad weather should +oblige him to seek a port of refuge, what should he do, because that +coast was to him absolutely unknown? Indeed, he had not yet to trouble +himself with that contingency. However, when the hour should come, he +would be obliged to adopt some plan. Well, Dick Sand adopted one. + +During the thirteen days which elapsed, from the 24th of February to +the 9th of March, the state of the atmosphere did not change in any +perceptible manner. The sky was always loaded with heavy fogs. For a +few hours the wind went down, then it began to blow again with the same +force. Two or three times the barometer rose again, but its +oscillation, comprising a dozen lines, was too sudden to announce a +change of weather and a return of more manageable winds. Besides the +barometrical column fell again almost immediately, and nothing could +inspire any hope of the end of that bad weather within a short period. + +Terrible storms burst forth also, which very seriously disturbed Dick +Sand. Two or three times the lightning struck the waves only a few +cable-lengths from the ship. Then the rain fell in torrents, and made +those whirlpools of half condensed vapors, which surrounded the +"Pilgrim" with a thick mist. + +For entire hours the man at the lookout saw nothing, and the ship +sailed at random. + +Even though the ship, although resting firmly on the waves, was +horribly shaken, Mrs. Weldon, fortunately, supported this rolling and +pitching without being incommoded. But her little boy was very much +tried, and she was obliged to give him all her care. + +As to Cousin Benedict, he was no more sick than the American +cockroaches which he made his society, and he passed his time in +studying, as if he were quietly settled in his study in San Francisco. + +Very fortunately, also, Tom and his companions found themselves little +sensitive to sea-sickness, and they could continue to come to the young +novice's aid--well accustomed, himself, to all those excessive +movements of a ship which flies before the weather. + +The "Pilgrim" ran rapidly under this reduced sail, and already Dick +Sand foresaw that he would be obliged to reduce it again. But he wished +to hold out as long as it would be possible to do so without danger. +According to his reckoning, the coast ought to be no longer distant. So +they watched with care. All the time the novice could hardly trust his +companions' eyes to discover the first indications of land. In fact, no +matter what good sight he may have, he who is not accustomed to +interrogating the sea horizons is not skilful in distinguishing the +first contours of a coast, above all in the middle of fogs. So Dick +Sand must watch himself, and he often climbed as far as the spars to +see better. But no sign yet of the American coast. + +This astonished him, and Mrs. Weldon, by some words which escaped him, +understood that astonishment. + +It was the 9th of March. The novice kept at the prow, sometimes +observing the sea and the sky, sometimes looking at the "Pilgrim's" +masting, which began to strain under the force of the wind. + +"You see nothing yet, Dick?" she asked him, at a moment when he had +just left the long lookout. + +"Nothing, Mrs. Weldon, nothing," replied the novice; and meanwhile, the +horizon seems to clear a little under this violent wind, which is going +to blow still harder." + +"And, according to you, Dick, the American coast ought not to be +distant now." + +"It cannot be, Mrs. Weldon, and if anything astonishes me, it is not +having made it yet." + +"Meanwhile," continued Mrs. Weldon, "the ship has always followed the +right course." + +"Always, since the wind settled in the northwest," replied Dick Sand; +"that is to say, since the day when we lost our unfortunate captain and +his crew. That was the 10th of February. We are now on the 9th of +March. There have been then, twenty-seven since that." + +"But at that period what distance were we from the coast?" asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"About four thousand five hundred miles, Mrs. Weldon. If there are +things about which I have more than a doubt, I can at least guarantee +this figure within about twenty miles." + +"And what has been the ship's speed?" + +"On an average, a hundred and eighty miles a day since the wind +freshened," replied the novice. "So, I am surprised at not being in +sight of land. And, what is still more extraordinary, is that we do not +meet even a single one of those vessels which generally frequent these +parts!" + +"Could you not be deceived, Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "in estimating +the 'Pilgrim's' speed?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon. On that point I could not be mistaken. The log has +been thrown every half hour, and I have taken its indications very +accurately. Wait, I am going to have it thrown anew, and you will see +that we are sailing at this moment at the rate of ten miles an hour, +which would give us more than two hundred miles a day." + +Dick Sand called Tom, and gave him the order to throw the log, an +operation to which the old black was now quite accustomed. + +The log, firmly fastened to the end of the line, was brought and sent +out. + +Twenty-five fathoms were hardly unrolled, when the rope suddenly +slackened between Tom's hands. + +"Ah! Mr. Dick!" cried he. + +"Well, Tom?" + +"The rope has broken!" + +"Broken!" cried Dick Sand. "And the log is lost!" + +Old Tom showed the end of the rope which remained in his hand. + +It was only too true. It was not the fastening which had failed. The +rope had broken in the middle. And, nevertheless, that rope was of the +first quality. It must have been, then, that the strands of the rope at +the point of rupture were singularly worn! They were, in fact, and Dick +Sand could tell that when he had the end of the rope in his hands! But +had they become so by use? was what the novice, become suspicious, +asked himself. + +However that was, the log was now lost, and Dick Sand had no longer any +means of telling exactly the speed of his ship. In the way of +instruments, he only possessed one compass, and he did not know that +its indications were false. + +Mrs. Weldon saw him so saddened by this accident, that she did not wish +to insist, and, with a very heavy heart, she retired into her cabin. + +But if the "Pilgrim's" speed and consequently the way sailed over could +no longer be estimated, it was easy to tell that the ship's headway was +not diminishing. + +In fact, the next day, March 10th, the barometer fell to twenty-eight +and two-tenths inches. It was the announcement of one of those blasts +of wind which travel as much as sixty miles an hour. + +It became urgent to change once more the state of the sails, so as not +to risk the security of the vessel. + +Dick Sand resolved to bring down his top-gallant mast and his +fore-staff, and to furl his low sails, so as to sail under his +foretop-mast stay-sail and the low reef of his top-sail. + +He called Tom and his companions to help him in that difficult +operation, which, unfortunately, could not be executed with rapidity. + +And meanwhile time pressed, for the tempest already declared itself +with violence. + +Dick Sands, Austin, Acteon, and Bat climbed into the masting, while Tom +remained at the wheel, and Hercules on the deck, so as to slacken the +ropes, as soon as he was commanded. + +After numerous efforts, the fore-staff and the top-gallant mast were +gotten down upon the deck, not without these honest men having a +hundred times risked being precipitated into the sea, the rolling shook +the masting to such an extent. Then, the top-sail having been lessened +and the foresail furled, the schooner carried only her foretop-mast +stay-sail and the low reef of the top-sail. + +Even though her sails were then extremely reduced, the "Pilgrim" +continued, none the less, to sail with excessive velocity. + +The 12th the weather took a still worse appearance. On that day, at +dawn, Dick Sand saw, not without terror, the barometer fall to +twenty-seven and nine-tenths inches. It was a real tempest which was +raging, and such that the "Pilgrim" could not carry even the little +sail she had left. + +Dick Sand, seeing that his top-sail was going to be torn, gave the +order to furl. But it was in vain. A more violent gust struck the ship +at that moment, and tore off the sail. Austin, who was on the yard of +the foretop-sail, was struck by the larboard sheet-rope. Wounded, but +rather slightly, he could climb down again to the deck. + +Dick Sand, extremely anxious, had but one thought. It was that the +ship, urged with such fury, was going to be dashed to pieces every +moment; for, according to his calculation, the rocks of the coast could +not be distant. He then returned to the prow, but he saw nothing which +had the appearance of land, and then, came back to the wheel. + +A moment after Negoro came on deck. There, suddenly, as if in spite of +himself, his arm was extended toward a point of the horizon. One would +say that he recognized some high land in the fogs! + +Still, once more he smiled wickedly, and without saying anything of +what he had been able to see, he returned to his post. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ON THE HORIZON. + + +At that date the tempest took its most terrible form, that of the +hurricane. The wind had set in from the southwest. The air moved with a +velocity of ninety miles an hour. It was indeed a hurricane, in fact, +one of those terrible windstorms which wrecks all the ships of a +roadstead, and which, even on land, the most solid structures cannot +resist. Such was the one which, on the 25th of July, 1825, devastated +Guadaloupe. When heavy cannons, carrying balls of twenty-four pounds, +are raised from their carriages, one may imagine what would become of a +ship which has no other point of support than an unsteady sea? And +meanwhile, it is to its mobility alone that she may owe her salvation. +She yields to the wind, and, provided she is strongly built, she is in +a condition to brave the most violent surges. That was the case with +the "Pilgrim." + +A few minutes after the top-sail had been torn in pieces, the +foretop-mast stay-sail was in its turn torn off. Dick Sand must then +give up the idea of setting even a storm-jib--a small sail of strong +linen, which would make the ship easier to govern. + +The "Pilgrim" then ran without canvas, but the wind took effect on her +hull, her masts, her rigging, and nothing more was needed to impart to +her an excessive velocity. Sometimes even she seemed to emerge from the +waves, and it was to be believed that she hardly grazed them. Under +these circumstances, the rolling of the ship, tossed about on the +enormous billows raised by the tempest, was frightful. There was danger +of receiving some monstrous surge aft. Those mountains of water ran +faster than the schooner, threatening to strike her stern if she did +not rise pretty fast. That is extreme danger for every ship which scuds +before the tempest. But what could be done to ward off that +contingency? Greater speed could not be imparted to the "Pilgrim," +because she would not have kept the smallest piece of canvas. She must +then be managed as much as possible by means of the helm, whose action +was often powerless. + +Dick Sand no longer left the helm. He was lashed by the waist, so as +not to be carried away by some surge. Tom and Bat, fastened also, stood +near to help him. Hercules and Acteon, bound to the bitts, watched +forward. As to Mrs. Weldon, to Little Jack, to Cousin Benedict, to Nan, +they remained, by order of the novice, in the aft cabins. Mrs. Weldon +would have preferred to have remained on deck, but Dick Sand was +strongly opposed to it; it would be exposing herself uselessly. + +All the scuttles had been hermetically nailed up. It was hoped that +they would resist if some formidable billow should fall on the ship. +If, by any mischance, they should yield under the weight of these +avalanches, the ship might fill and sink. Very fortunately, also, the +stowage had been well attended to, so that, notwithstanding the +terrible tossing of the vessel, her cargo was not moved about. + +Dick Sand had again reduced the number of hours which he gave to sleep. +So Mrs. Weldon began to fear that he would take sick. She made him +consent to take some repose. + +Now, it was while he was still lying down, during the night of the 13th +to the 14th of March, that a new incident took place. + +Tom and Bat were aft, when Negoro, who rarely appeared on that part of +the deck, drew near, and even seemed to wish to enter into conversation +with them; but Tom and his son did not reply to him. + +Suddenly, in a violent rolling of the ship, Negoro fell, and he would, +doubtless, have been thrown into the sea if he had not held on to the +binnacle. + +Tom gave a cry, fearing the compass would be broken. + +Dick Sand, in a moment of wakefulness, heard that cry, and rushing out +of his quarters, he ran aft. + +Negoro had already risen, but he held in his hand the piece of iron +which he had just taken from under the binnacle, and he hid it before +Dick Sand could see it. + +Was it, then, Negoro's interest for the magnetic needle to return to +its true direction? Yes, for these southwest winds served him now! + +"What's the matter?" asked the novice. + +"It's that cook of misfortune, who has just fallen on the compass!" +replied Tom. + +At those words Dick Sand, in the greatest anxiety, leaned over the +binnacle. It was in good condition; the compass, lighted by two lamps, +rested as usual on its concentric circles. + +The young novice was greatly affected. The breaking of the only compass +on board would be an irreparable misfortune. + +But what Dick Sand could not observe was that, since the taking away of +the piece of iron, the needle had returned to its normal position, and +indicated exactly the magnetic north as it ought to be under that +meridian. + +Meanwhile, if Negoro could not be made responsible for a fall which +seemed to be involuntary, Dick Sand had reason to be astonished that he +was, at that hour, aft in the ship. + +"What are you doing there?" he asked him. + +"What I please," replied Negoro. + +"You say----" cried Dick Sand, who could not restrain his anger. + +"I say," replied the head cook, "that there is no rule which forbids +walking aft." + +"Well, I make that the rule," replied Dick Sand, "and I forbid you, +remember, to come aft." + +"Indeed!" replied Negoro. + +That man, so entirely under self-control, then made a menacing gesture. + +The novice drew a revolver from his pocket, and pointed it at the head +cook. + +"Negoro," said he, "recollect that I am never without this revolver, +and that on the first act of insubordination I shall blow out your +brains!" + +At that moment Negoro felt himself irresistibly bent to the deck. + +It was Hercules, who had just simply laid his heavy hand on Negoro's +shoulder. + +"Captain Sand," said the giant, "do you want me to throw this rascal +overboard? He will regale the fishes, who are not hard to please!" + +"Not yet," replied Dick Sand. + +Negoro rose as soon as the black's hand no longer weighed upon him. +But, in passing Hercules: + +"Accursed negro," murmured he, "I'll pay you back!" + +Meanwhile, the wind had just changed; at least, it seemed to have +veered round forty-five degrees. And, notwithstanding, a singular +thing, which struck the novice, nothing in the condition of the sea +indicated that change. The ship headed the same way all the time, but +the wind and the waves, instead of taking her directly aft, now struck +her by the larboard quarter--a very dangerous situation, which exposes +a ship to receive bad surges. So Dick Sand was obliged to veer round +four points to continue to scud before the tempest. + +But, on the other hand, his attention was awakened more than ever. He +asked himself if there was not some connection between Negoro's fall +and the breaking of the first compass. What did the head cook intend to +do there? Had he some interest in putting the second compass out of +service also? What could that interest be? There was no explanation of +that. Must not Negoro desire, as they all desired, to land on the +American coast as soon as possible? + +When Dick Sand spoke of this incident to Mrs. Weldon, the latter, +though she shared his distrust in a certain measure, could find no +plausible motive for what would be criminal premeditation on the part +of the head cook. + +However, as a matter of prudence, Negoro was well watched. Thereafter +he attended to the novice's orders and he did not risk coming aft in +the ship, where his duties never called him. Besides, Dingo having been +installed there permanently, the cook took earn to keep away. + +During all that week the tempest did not abate. The barometer fell +again. From the 14th to the 26th of March it was impossible to profit +by a single calm to set a few sails. The "Pilgrim" scudded to the +northeast with a speed which could not be less than two hundred miles +in twenty-four hours, and still the land did not appear!--that land, +America, which is thrown like an immense barrier between the Atlantic +and the Pacific, over an extent of more than a hundred and twenty +degrees! + +Dick Sand asked himself if he was not a fool, if he was still in his +right mind, if, for so many days, unknown to him, he was not sailing in +a false direction. No, he could not find fault with himself on that +point. The sun, even though he could not perceive it in the fogs, +always rose before him to set behind him. But, then, that land, had it +disappeared? That America, on which his vessel would go to pieces, +perhaps, where was it, if it was not there? Be it the Southern +Continent or the Northern Continent--for anything way possible in that +chaos--the "Pilgrim" could not miss either one or the other. What had +happened since the beginning of this frightful tempest? What was still +going on, as that coast, whether it should prove salvation or +destruction, did not appear? Must Dick Sand suppose, then, that he was +deceived by his compass, whose indications he could no longer control, +because the second compass was lacking to make that control? Truly, he +had that fear which the absence of all land might justify. + +So, when he was at the helm, Dick Sand did not cease to devour the +chart with his eyes. But he interrogated it in vain; it could not give +him the solution of an enigma which, in the situation in which Negoro +had placed him, was incomprehensible for him, as it would have been for +any one else. + +On this day, however, the 26th of March, towards eight o'clock in the +morning, an incident of the greatest importance took place. + +Hercules, on watch forward, gave this cry: + +"Land! land!" + +Dick Sand sprang to the forecastle. Hercules could not have eyes like a +seaman. Was he not mistaken? + +"Land?" cried Dick Sand. + +"There," replied Hercules, showing an almost imperceptible point on the +horizon in the northeast. + +They hardly heard each other speak in the midst of the roaring of the +sea and the sky. + +"You have seen the land?" said the novice. + +"Yes," replied Hercules. + +And his hand was still stretched out to larboard forward. + +The novice looked. He saw nothing. + +At that moment, Mrs. Weldon, who had heard the cry given by Hercules, +came up on deck, notwithstanding her promise not to come there. + +"Madam!" cried Dick Sand. + +Mrs. Weldon, unable to make herself heard, tried, for herself, to +perceive that land signaled by the black, and she seemed to have +concentrated all her life in her eyes. + +It must be believed that Hercules's hand indicated badly the point of +the horizon which he wished to show: neither Mrs. Weldon nor the novice +could see anything. + +But, suddenly, Dick Sand in turn stretched out his hand. + +"Yes! yes! land!" said he. + +A kind of summit had just appeared in an opening in the fog. His +sailor's eyes could not deceive him. + +"At last!" cried he; "at last!" + +He clang feverishly to the netting. Mrs. Weldon, sustained by Hercules, +continued to watch that land almost despaired of. + +The coast, formed by that high summit, rose at a distance of ten miles +to leeward. + +The opening being completely made in a breaking of the clouds, they saw +it again more distinctly. Doubtless it was some promontory of the +American continent. The "Pilgrim," without sails, was not in a +condition to head toward it, but it could not fail to make the land +there. + +That could be only a question of a few hours. Now, it was eight o'clock +in the morning. Then, very certainly, before noon the "Pilgrim" would +be near the land. + +At a sign from Dick Sand, Hercules led Mrs. Weldon aft again, for she +could not bear up against the violence of the pitching. + +The novice remained forward for another instant, then he returned to +the helm, near old Tom. + +At last, then, he saw that coast, so slowly made, so ardently desired! +but it was now with a feeling of terror. + +In fact, in the "Pilgrim's" present condition, that is to say, scudding +before the tempest, land to leeward, was shipwreck with all its +terrible contingencies. + +Two hours passed away. The promontory was then seen off from the ship. + +At that moment they saw Negoro come on deck. This time he regarded the +coast with extreme attention, shook his head like a man who would know +what to believe, and went down again, after pronouncing a name that +nobody could hear. + +Dick Sand himself sought to perceive the coast, which ought to round +off behind the promontory. + +Two hours rolled by. The promontory was standing on the larboard stern, +but the coast was not yet to be traced. + +Meanwhile the sky cleared at the horizon, and a high coast, like the +American land, bordered by the immense chain of the Andes, should be +visible for more than twenty miles. + +Dick Sand took his telescope and moved it slowly over the whole eastern +horizon. + +Nothing! He could see nothing! + +At two o'clock in the afternoon every trace of land had disappeared +behind the "Pilgrim." Forward, the telescope could not seize any +outline whatsoever of a coast, high or low. + +Then a cry escaped Dick Sand. Immediately leaving the deck, he rushed +into the cabin, where Mrs. Weldon was with little Jack, Nan, and Cousin +Benedict. + +"An island! That was only an island!" said he. + +"An island, Dick! but what?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"The chart will tell us," replied the novice. + +And running to his berth, he brought the ship's chart. + +"There, Mrs. Weldon, there!" said he. "That land which we have seen, it +can only be this point, lost in the middle of the Pacific! It can only +be the Isle of Paques; there is no other in these parts." + +"And we have already left it behind?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, well to the windward of us." + +Mrs. Weldon looked attentively at the Isle of Paques, which only formed +an imperceptible point on the chart. + +"And at what distance is it from the American coast?" + +"Thirty-five degrees." + +"Which makes----" + +"About two thousand miles." + +"But then the 'Pilgrim' has not sailed, if we are still so far from the +continent?" + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, who passed his hand over his forehead +for a moment, as if to concentrate his ideas, "I do not know--I cannot +explain this incredible delay! No! I cannot--unless the indications of +the compass have been false? But that island can only be the Isle of +Paques, because we have been obliged to scud before the wind to the +northeast, and we must thank Heaven, which has permitted me to mark our +position! Yes, it is still two thousand miles from the coast! I know, +at last, where the tempest has blown us, and, if it abates, we shall be +able to land on the American continent with some chance of safety. Now, +at least, our ship is no longer lost on the immensity of the Pacific!" + +This confidence, shown by the young novice, was shared by all those who +heard him speak. Mrs. Weldon, herself, gave way to it. It seemed, +indeed, that these poor people were at the end of their troubles, and +that the "Pilgrim," being to the windward of her port, had only to wait +for the open sea to enter it! The Isle of Paques--by its true name +Vai-Hon--discovered by David in 1686, visited by Cook and Laperouse, is +situated 27° south latitude and 112° east longitude. If the schooner +had been thus led more than fifteen degrees to the north, that was +evidently due to that tempest from the southwest, before which it had +been obliged to scud. + +Then the "Pilgrim" was still two thousand miles from the coast. +However, under the impetus of that wind which blew like thunder, it +must, in less than ten days, reach some point of the coast of South +America. + +But could they not hope, as the novice had said, that the weather would +become more manageable, and that it would be possible to set some sail, +when they should make the land? + +It was still Dick Sand's hope. He said to himself that this hurricane, +which had lasted so many days, would end perhaps by "killing itself." +And now that, thanks to the appearance of the Isle of Paques, he knew +exactly his position, he had reason to believe that, once master of his +vessel again, he would know how to lead her to a safe place. + +Yes! to have had knowledge of that isolated point in the middle of the +sea, as by a providential favor, that had restored confidence to Dick +Sand; if he was going all the time at the caprice of a hurricane, which +he could not subdue, at least, he was no longer going quite blindfold. + +Besides, the "Pilgrim," well-built and rigged, had suffered little +during those rude attacks of the tempest. Her damages reduced +themselves to the loss of the top-sail and the foretop-mast +stay-sail--a loss which it would be easy to repair. Not a drop of water +had penetrated through the well-stanched seams of the hull and the +deck. The pumps were perfectly free. In this respect there was nothing +to fear. + +There was, then, this interminable hurricane, whose fury nothing seemed +able to moderate. If, in a certain measure, Dick Sand could put his +ship in a condition to struggle against the violent storm, he could not +order that wind to moderate, those waves to be still, that sky to +become serene again. On board, if he was "master after God," outside +the ship, God alone commanded the winds and the waves. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +LAND! LAND! + + +Meanwhile, that confidence with which Dick Sand's heart filled +instinctively, was going to be partly justified. + +The next day, March 27th, the column of mercury rose in the +barometrical tube. The oscillation was neither sudden nor +considerable--a few lines only--but the progression seemed likely to +continue. The tempest was evidently going to enter its decreasing +period, and, if the sea did remain excessively rough, they could tell +that the wind was going down, veering slightly to the west. + +Dick Sand could not yet think of using any sail. The smallest sail +would be carried away. However, he hoped that twenty-four hours would +not elapse before it would be possible for him to rig a storm-jib. + +During the night, in fact, the wind went down quite noticeably, if they +compared it to what it had been till then, and the ship was less tossed +by those violent rollings which had threatened to break her in pieces. + +The passengers began to appear on deck again. They no longer ran the +risk of being carried away by some surge from the sea. + +Mrs. Weldon was the first to leave the hatchway where Dick Sand, from +prudent motives, had obliged them to shut themselves up during the +whole duration of that long tempest. She came to talk with the novice, +whom a truly superhuman will had rendered capable of resisting so much +fatigue. Thin, pale under his sunburnt complexion, he might well be +weakened by the loss of that sleep so necessary at his age. No, his +valiant nature resisted everything. Perhaps he would pay dearly some +day for that period of trial. But that was not the moment to allow +himself to be cast down. Dick Sand had said all that to himself. Mrs. +Weldon found him as energetic as he had ever been. + +And then he had confidence, that brave Sand, and if confidence does not +command itself, at least it commands. + +"Dick, my dear child, my captain," said Mrs. Weldon, holding out her +hand to the young novice. + +"Ah! Mrs. Weldon," exclaimed Dick Sand, smiling, "you disobey your +captain. You return on deck, you leave your cabin in spite of +his--prayers." + +"Yes, I disobey you," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I have, as it were, a +presentiment that the tempest is going down or is going to become calm." + +"It is becoming calm, in fact, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "You +are not mistaken. The barometer has not fallen since yesterday. The +wind has moderated, and I have reason to believe that our hardest +trials are over." + +"Heaven hears you, Dick. All! you have suffered much, my poor child! +You have done there----" + +"Only my duty, Mrs. Weldon." + +"But at last will you be able to take some rest?" + +"Rest!" replied the novice; "I have no need of rest, Mrs. Weldon. I am +well, thank God, and it is necessary for me to keep up to the end. You +have called me captain, and I shall remain captain till the moment when +all the 'Pilgrim's' passengers shall be in safety." + +"Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "my husband and I, we shall never forget +what you have just done." + +"God has done all," replied Dick Sand; "all!" + +"My child, I repeat it, that by your moral and physical energy, you +have shown yourself a man--a man fit to command, and before long, as +soon as your studies are finished--my husband will not contradict +me--you will command for the house of James W. Weldon!" + +"I--I----" exclaimed Dick Sand, whose eyes filled with tears. + +"Dick," replied Mrs. Weldon, "you are already our child by adoption, +and now, you are our son, the deliverer of your mother, and of your +little brother Jack. My dear Dick, I embrace you for my husband and for +myself!" + +The courageous woman did not wish to give way while clasping the young +novice in her arms, but her heart overflowed. As to Dick Sand's +feelings, what pen could do them justice? He asked himself if he could +not do more than give his life for his benefactors, and he accepted in +advance all the trials which might come upon him in the future. + +After this conversation Dick Sand felt stronger. If the wind should +become so moderate that he should be able to hoist some canvas, he did +not doubt being able to steer his ship to a port where all those which +it carried would at last be in safety. + +On the 29th, the wind having moderated a little, Dick Sand thought of +setting the foresail and the top-sail, consequently to increase the +speed of the "Pilgrim" while directing her course. + +"Come, Tom; come, my friends!" cried he, when he went on deck at +daybreak; "come, I need your arms!" + +"We are ready, Captain Sand," replied old Tom. + +"Ready for everything," added Hercules. "There was nothing to do during +that tempest, and I begin to grow rusty." + +"You should have blown with your big mouth," said little Jack; "I bet +you would have been as strong as the wind!" + +"That is an idea, Jack," replied Dick Sand, laughing. "When there is a +calm we shall make Hercules blow on the sails." + +"At your service, Mister Dick!" replied the brave black, inflating his +cheeks like a gigantic Boreas. + +"Now, my friends," continued the novice, we are to begin by binding a +spare sail to the yard, because our top-sail was carried away in the +hurricane. It will be difficult, perhaps, but it must be done." + +"It shall be done!" replied Acteon. + +"Can I help you?" asked little Jack, always ready to work. + +"Yes, my Jack," replied the novice. "You will take your place at the +wheel, with our friend Bat, and you will help him to steer." + +If little Jack was proud of being assistant helmsman on the "Pilgrim," +it is superfluous to say so. + +"Now to work," continued Dick Sand, "and we must expose ourselves as +little as possible." + +The blacks, guided by the novice, went to work at once. To fasten a +top-sail to its yard presented some difficulties for Tom and his +companions. First the rolled up sail must be hoisted, then fastened to +the yard. + +However, Dick Sand commanded so well, and was so well obeyed, that +after an hour's work the sail was fastened to its yard, the yard +hoisted, and the top-sail properly set with two reefs. + +As to the foresail and the second jib, which had been furled before the +tempest, those sails were set without a great deal of trouble, in spite +of the force of the wind. + +At last, on that day, at ten o'clock in the morning, the "Pilgrim" was +sailing under her foresail, her top-sail, and her jib. + +Dick Sand had not judged it prudent to set more sail. The canvas which +he carried ought to assure him, as long as the wind did not moderate, a +speed of at least two hundred miles in twenty-four hours, and he did +not need any greater to reach the American coast before ten days. + +The novice was indeed satisfied when, returning to the wheel, he again +took his post, after thanking Master Jack, assistant helmsman of the +"Pilgrim." He was no longer at the mercy of the waves. He was making +headway. His joy will be understood by all those who are somewhat +familiar with the things of the sea. + +The next day the clouds still ran with the same velocity, but they left +large openings between them, through which the rays of the sun made +their way to the surface of the waters. The "Pilgrim" was at times +overspread with them. A good thing is that vivifying light! Sometimes +it was extinguished behind a large mass of vapors which came up in the +east, then it reappeared, to disappear again, but the weather was +becoming fine again. + +The scuttles had been opened to ventilate the interior of the ship. A +salubrious air penetrated the hold, the rear hatchway, the crew's +quarters. They put the wet sails to dry, stretching them out in the +sun. The deck was also cleaned. Dick Sand did not wish his ship to +arrive in port without having made a bit of toilet. Without overworking +the crew, a few hours spent each day at that work would bring it to a +good end. + +Though the novice could no longer throw the log, he was so accustomed +to estimating the headway of a ship that he could take a close account +of her speed. He had then no doubt of reaching land before seven days, +and he gave that opinion to Mrs. Weldon, after showing her, on the +chart, the probable position of the ship. + +"Well, at what point of the coast shall we arrive, my dear Dick?" she +asked him. + +"Here, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice, indicating that long coast +line which extends from Peru to Chili. "I do not know how to be more +exact. Here is the Isle of Paques, that we have left behind in the +west, and, by the direction of the wind, which has been constant, I +conclude that we shall reach land in the east. Ports are quite numerous +on that coast, but to name the one we shall have in view when we make +the land is impossible at this moment." + +"Well, Dick, whichever it may be, that port will be welcome." + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon, and you will certainly find there the means to +return promptly to San Francisco. The Pacific Navigation Company has a +very well organized service on this coast. Its steamers touch at the +principal points of the coast; nothing will be easier than to take +passage for California." + +"Then you do not count on bringing the 'Pilgrim' to San Francisco?" +asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, after having put you on shore, Mrs. Weldon. If we can procure an +officer and a crew, we are going to discharge our cargo at Valparaiso, +as Captain Hull would have done. Then we shall return to our own port. +But that would delay you too much, and, though very sorry to be +separated from you----" + +"Well, Dick," replied Mrs. Weldon, "we shall see later what must be +done. Tell me, you seem to fear the dangers which the land presents." + +"In fact, they are to be feared," replied the novice, "but I am always +hoping to meet some ship in these parts, and I am even very much +surprised at not seeing any. If only one should pass, we would enter +into communication with her; she would give us our exact situation, +which would greatly facilitate our arrival in sight of land." + +"Are there not pilots who do service along this coast?" asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"There ought to be," replied Dick Sand, "but much nearer land. We must +then continue to approach it." + +"And if we do not meet a pilot?" asked Mrs. Weldon, who kept on +questioning him in order to know how the young novice would prepare for +all contingencies. + +"In that case, Mrs. Weldon, either the weather will be clear, the wind +moderate, and I shall endeavor to sail up the coast sufficiently near +to find a refuge, or the wind will be stronger, and then----" + +"Then what will you do, Dick?" + +"Then, in the present condition of the 'Pilgrim,'" replied Dick Sand, +"once near the land, it will be very difficult to set off again." + +"What will you do?" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"I shall be forced to run my ship aground," replied the novice, whose +brow darkened for a moment. "Ah! it is a hard extremity. God grant that +we may not be reduced to that. But, I repeat it, Mrs. Weldon, the +appearance of the sky is reassuring, and it is impossible for a vessel +or a pilot-boat not to meet us. Then, good hope. We are headed for the +land, we shall see it before long." + +Yes, to run a ship aground is a last extremity, to which the most +energetic sailor does not resort without fear! Thus, Dick Sand did not +wish to foresee it, while he had some chances of escaping it. + +For several days there were, in the state of the atmosphere, +alternatives which, anew, made the novice very uneasy. The wind kept in +the condition of a stiff breeze all the time, and certain oscillations +of the barometrical column indicated that it tended to freshen. Dick +Sand then asked himself, not without apprehension, if he would be again +forced to scud without sails. He had so much interest in keeping at +least his top-sail, that he resolved to do so so long as it was not +likely to be carried away. But, to secure the solidity of the masts, he +had the shrouds and backstays hauled taut. Above all, all unnecessary +risk must be avoided, as the situation would become one of the gravest, +if the "Pilgrim" should be disabled by losing her masts. + +Once or twice, also, the barometer rising gave reason to fear that the +wind might change point for point; that is to say, that it might pass +to the east. It would then be necessary to sail close to the wind! + +A new anxiety for Dick Sand. What should he do with a contrary wind? +Tack about? But if he was obliged to come to that, what new delays and +what risks of being thrown into the offing. + +Happily those fears were not realized. The wind, after shifting for +several days, blowing sometimes from the north, sometimes from the +south, settled definitely in the west. But it was always a strong +breeze, almost a gale, which strained the masting. + +It was the 5th of April. So, then, more than two months had already +elapsed since the "Pilgrim" had left New Zealand. For twenty days a +contrary wind and long calms had retarded her course. Then she was in a +favorable condition to reach land rapidly. Her speed must even have +been very considerable during the tempest. Dick Sand estimated its +average at not less than two hundred miles a day! How, then, had he not +yet made the coast? Did it flee before the "Pilgrim?" It was absolutely +inexplicable. + +And, nevertheless, no land was signaled, though one of the blacks kept +watch constantly in the crossbars. + +Dick Sand often ascended there himself. There, with a telescope to his +eyes, he sought to discover some appearance of mountains. The Andes +chain is very high. It was there in the zone of the clouds that he must +seek some peak, emerging from the vapors of the horizon. + +Several times Tom and his companions were deceived by false indications +of land. They were only vapors of an odd form, which rose in the +background. It happened sometimes that these honest men were obstinate +in their belief; but, after a certain time, they were forced to +acknowledge that they had been dupes of an optical illusion. The +pretended land, moved away, changed form and finished by disappearing +completely. + +On the 6th of April there was no longer any doubt possible. + +It was eight o'clock in the morning. Dick Sand had just ascended into +the bars. At that moment the fogs were condensed under the first rays +of the sun, and the horizon was pretty clearly defined. + +From Dick Sand's lips escaped at last the so long expected cry: + +"Land! land before us!" + +At that cry every one ran on deck, little Jack, curious as folks are at +that age, Mrs. Weldon, whose trials were going to cease with the +landing, Tom and his companions, who were at last going to set foot +again on the American continent, Cousin Benedict himself, who had great +hope of picking up quite a rich collection of new insects for himself. + +Negoro, alone, did not appear. + +Each then saw what Dick Sand had seen, some very distinctly, others +with the eyes of faith. But on the part of the novice, so accustomed to +observe sea horizons, there was no error possible, and an hour after, +it must be allowed he was not deceived. + +At a distance of about four miles to the east stretched a rather low +coast, or at least what appeared such. It must be commanded behind by +the high chain of the Andes, but the last zone of clouds did not allow +the summits to be perceived. + +The "Pilgrim" sailed directly and rapidly to this coast, which grew +larger to the eye. + +Two hours after it was only three miles away. + +This part of the coast ended in the northeast by a pretty high cape, +which covered a sort of roadstead protected from land winds. On the +contrary, in the southeast, it lengthened out like a thin peninsula. + +A few trees crowned a succession of low cliffs, which were then clearly +defined under the sky. But it was evident, the geographical character +of the country being given, that the high mountain chain of the Andes +formed their background. + +Moreover, no habitation in sight, no port, no river mouth, which might +serve as a harbor for a vessel. + +At that moment the "Pilgrim" was running right on the land. With the +reduced sail which she carried, the winds driving her to the coast, +Dick Sand would not be able to set off from it. + +In front lay a long band of reefs, on which the sea was foaming all +white. They saw the waves unfurl half way up the cliffs. There must be +a monstrous surf there. + +Dick Sand, after remaining on the forecastle to observe the coast, +returned aft, and, without saying a word, he took the helm. + +The wind was freshening all the time. The schooner was soon only a mile +from the shore. + +Dick Sand then perceived a sort of little cove, into which he resolved +to steer; but, before reaching it, he must cross a line of reefs, among +which it would be difficult to follow a channel. The surf indicated +that the water was shallow everywhere. + +At that moment Dingo, who was going backwards and forwards on the deck, +dashed forward, and, looking at the land, gave some lamentable barks. +One would say that the dog recognized the coast, and that its instinct +recalled some sad remembrance. + +Negoro must have heard it, for an irresistible sentiment led him out of +his cabin; and although he had reason to fear the dog, he came almost +immediately to lean on the netting. + +Very fortunately for him Dingo, whose sad barks were all the time being +addressed to that land, did not perceive him. + +Negoro looked at that furious surf, and that did not appear to frighten +him. Mrs. Weldon, who was looking at him, thought she saw his face +redden a little, and that for an instant his features were contracted. + +Then, did Negoro know this point of the continent where the winds were +driving the "Pilgrim?" + +At that moment Dick Sand left the wheel, which he gave back to old Tom. +For a last time he came to look at the cove, which gradually opened. +Then: + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, in a firm voice, "I have no longer any hope of +finding a harbor! Before half an hour, in spite of all my efforts, the +'Pilgrim' will be on the reefs! We must run aground! I shall not bring +the ship into port! I am forced to lose her to save you! But, between +your safety and hers, I do not hesitate!" + +"You have done all that depended on you, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"All," replied the young novice. + +And at once he made his preparations for stranding the ship. + +First of all, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Cousin Benedict and Nan, must put on +life-preservers. Dick Sand, Tom and the blacks, good swimmers, also +took measures to gain the coast, in case they should be precipitated +into the sea. + +Hercules would take charge of Mrs. Weldon. The novice took little Jack +under his care. + +Cousin Benedict, very tranquil, however, reappeared on the deck with +his entomologist box strapped to his shoulder. The novice commended him +to Bat and Austin. As to Negoro, his singular calmness said plainly +enough that he had no need of anybody's aid. + +Dick Sand, by a supreme precaution, had also brought on the forecastle +ten barrels of the cargo containing whale's oil. + +That oil, properly poured the moment the "Pilgrim" would be in the +surf, ought to calm the sea for an instant, in lubricating, so to say, +the molecules of water, and that operation would perhaps facilitate the +ship's passage between the reefs. Dick Sand did not wish to neglect +anything which might secure the common safety. + +All these precautions taken, the novice returned to take his place at +the wheel. + +The "Pilgrim" was only two cables' lengths from the coast, that is, +almost touching the reefs, her starboard side already bathed in the +white foam of the surf. Each moment the novice thought that the +vessel's keel was going to strike some rocky bottom. + +Suddenly, Dick Sand knew, by a change in the color of the water, that a +channel lengthened out among the reefs. He must enter it bravely +without hesitating, so as to make the coast as near as possible to the +shore. + +The novice did not hesitate. A movement of the helm thrust the ship +into the narrow and sinuous channel. In this place the sea was still +more furious, and the waves dashed on the deck. + +The blacks were posted forward, near the barrels, waiting for the +novice's orders. + +"Pour the oil--pour!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +Under this oil, which was poured on it in quantities, the sea grew +calm, as by enchantment, only to become more terrible again a moment +after. + +The "Pilgrim" glided rapidly over those lubricated waters and headed +straight for the shore. + +Suddenly a shock took place. The ship, lifted by a formidable wave, had +just stranded, and her masting had fallen without wounding anybody. + +The "Pilgrim's" hull, damaged by the collision, was invaded by the +water with extreme violence. But the shore was only half a cable's +length off, and a chain of small blackish rocks enabled it to be +reached quite easily. + +So, ten minutes after, all those carried by the "Pilgrim" had landed at +the foot of the cliff. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BEST TO DO. + + +So then, after a voyage long delayed by calms, then favored by winds +from the northwest and from the southwest--a voyage which had not +lasted less than seventy-four days--the "Pilgrim" had just run aground! + +However, Mrs. Weldon. and her companions thanked Providence, because +they were in safety. In fact, it was on a continent, and not on one of +the fatal isles of Polynesia, that the tempest had thrown them. Their +return to their country, from any point of South America on which they +should land, ought not, it seemed, to present serious difficulties. + +As to the "Pilgrim," she was lost. She was only a carcass without +value, of which the surf was going to disperse the _débris_ in a few +hours. It would be impossible to save anything. But if Dick Sand had +not that joy of bringing back a vessel intact to his ship-owner, at +least, thanks to him, those who sailed in her were safe and sound on +some hospitable coast, and among them, the wife and child of James W. +Weldon. + +As to the question of knowing on what part of the American coast the +schooner had been wrecked, they might dispute it for a long time. Was +it, as Dick Sand must suppose, on the shore of Peru? Perhaps, for he +knew, even by the bearings of the Isle of Paques, that the "Pilgrim" +had been thrown to the northeast under the action of the winds; and +also, without doubt, under the influence of the currents of the +equatorial zone. From the forty-third degree of latitude, it had, +indeed, been possible to drift to the fifteenth. + +It was then important to determine, as soon as possible, the precise +point of the coast where the schooner had just been lost. Granted that +this coast was that of Peru, ports, towns and villages were not +lacking, and consequently it would be easy to gain some inhabited +place. As to this part of the coast, it seemed deserted. + +It was a narrow beach, strewed with black rocks, shut off by a cliff of +medium height, very irregularly cut up by large funnels due to the +rupture of the rock. Here and there a few gentle declivities gave +access to its crest. + +In the north, at a quarter of a mile from the stranding place, was the +mouth of a little river, which could not have been perceived from the +offing. On its banks hung numerous _rhizomas_, sorts of mangroves, +essentially distinct from their congeners of India. + +The crest of the cliff--that was soon discovered--was overhung by a +thick forest, whose verdant masses undulated before the eyes, and +extended as far as the mountains in the background. There, if Cousin +Benedict had been a botanist, how many trees, new to him, would not +have failed to provoke his admiration. + +There were high baobabs--to which, however, an extraordinary longevity +has been falsely attributed--the bark of which resembles Egyptian +syenite, Bourbon palms, white pines, tamarind-trees, pepper-plants of a +peculiar species, and a hundred other plants that an American is not +accustomed to see in the northern region of the New Continent. + +But, a circumstance rather curious, among those forest productions one +would not meet a single specimen of that numerous family of palm-trees +which counts more than a thousand species, spread in profusion over +almost the whole surface of the globe. + +Above the sea-shore a great number of very noisy birds were flying, +which belonged for the greater part to different varieties of swallows, +of black plumage, with a steel-blue shade, but of a light chestnut +color on the upper part of the head. Here and there also rose some +partridges, with necks entirely white, and of a gray color. + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand observed that these different birds did not +appear to be at all wild. They approached without fearing anything. +Then, had they not yet learned to fear the presence of man, and was +this coast so deserted that the detonation of a firearm had never been +heard there? + +At the edge of the rocks were walking some pelicans of the species of +"pelican minor," occupied in filling with little fish the sack which +they carry between the branches of their lower jaw. Some gulls, coming +from the offing, commenced to fly about around the "Pilgrim." + +Those birds were the only living creatures that seemed to frequent this +part of the coast, without counting, indeed, numbers of interesting +insects that Cousin Benedict would well know how to discover. But, +however little Jack would have it, one could not ask them the name of +the country; in order to learn it, it would be necessary to address +some native. There were none there, or at least, there was not one to +be seen. No habitation, hut, or cabin, neither in the north, beyond the +little river, nor in the south, nor finally on the upper part of the +cliff, in the midst of the trees of the thick forest. No smoke ascended +into the air, no indication, mark, or imprint indicated that this +portion of the continent was visited by human beings. Dick Sand +continued to be very much surprised. + +"Where are we? Where can we be?" he asked himself. "What! nobody to +speak to?" + +Nobody, in truth, and surely, if any native had approached, Dingo would +have scented him, and announced him by a bark. The dog went backward +and forward on the strand, his nose to the ground, his tail down, +growling secretly--certainly very singular behavior--but neither +betraying the approach of man nor of any animal whatsoever. + +"Dick, look at Dingo!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, that is very strange," replied the novice. "It seems as if he +were trying to recover a scent." + +"Very strange, indeed," murmured Mrs. Weldon; then, continuing, "what +is Negoro doing?" she asked. + +"He is doing what Dingo is doing," replied Dick Sand. "He goes, he +comes! After all, he is free here. I have no longer the right to +control him. His service ended with the stranding of the Pilgrim.'" + +In fact, Negoro surveyed the strand, turned back, and looked at the +shore and the cliff like a man trying to recall recollections and to +fix them. Did he, then, know this country? He would probably have +refused to reply to that question if it had been asked. The best thing +was still to have nothing to do with that very unsociable personage. +Dick Sand soon saw him walk from the side of the little river, and when +Negoro had disappeared on the other side of the cliff, he ceased to +think of him. + +Dingo had indeed barked when the cook had arrived on the steep bank, +but became silent almost immediately. + +It was necessary, now, to consider the most pressing wants. Now, the +most pressing was to find a refuge, a shelter of some kind, where they +could install themselves for the time, and partake of some nourishment. +Then they would take counsel, and they would decide what it would be +convenient to do. + +As to food, they had not to trouble themselves. Without speaking of the +resources which the country must offer, the ship's store-room had +emptied itself for the benefit of the survivors of the shipwreck. The +surf had thrown here and there among the rocks, then uncovered by the +ebb-tide, a great quantity of objects. Tom and his companions had +already picked up some barrels of biscuit, boxes of alimentary +preserves, cases of dried meat. The water not having yet damaged them, +food for the little troop was secured for more time, doubtless, than +they would require to reach a town or a village. In that respect there +was nothing to fear. These different waifs, already put in a safe +place, could no longer be taken back by a rising sea. + +Neither was sweet water lacking. First of all Dick Sand had taken care +to send Hercules to the little river for a few pints. But it was a cask +which the vigorous negro brought back on his shoulder, after having +filled it with water fresh and pure, which the ebb of the tide left +perfectly drinkable. + +As to a fire, if it were necessary to light one, dead wood was not +lacking in the neighborhood, and the roots of the old mangroves ought +to furnish all the fuel of which they would have need. Old Tom, an +ardent smoker, was provided with a certain quantity of German tinder, +well preserved in a box hermetically closed, and when they wanted it, +he would only have to strike the tinder-box with the flint of the +strand. + +It remained, then, to discover the hole in which the little troop would +lie down, in case they must take one night's rest before setting out. + +And, indeed, it was little Jack who found the bedroom in question, +While trotting about at the foot of the cliff, he discovered, behind a +turn of the rock, one of those grottoes well polished, well hollowed +out, which the sea herself digs, when the waves, enlarged by the +tempest, beat the coast. + +The young child was delighted. He called his mother with cries of joy, +and triumphantly showed her his discovery. + +"Good, my Jack!" replied Mrs. Weldon. "If we were Robinson Crusoes, +destined to live a long time on this shore, we should not forget to +give your name to that grotto!" + +The grotto was only from ten to twelve feet long, and as many wide; +but, in little Jack's eyes, it was an enormous cavern. At all events, +it must suffice to contain the shipwrecked ones; and, as Mrs. Weldon +and Nan noted with satisfaction, it was very dry. The moon being then +in her first quarter, they need not fear that those neap-tides would +reach the foot of the cliff, and the grotto in consequence. Then, +nothing more was needed for a few hours' rest. + +Ten minutes after everybody was stretched out on a carpet of sea-weed. +Negoro himself thought he must rejoin the little troop and take his +part of the repast, which was going to be made in common. Doubtless he +had not judged it proper to venture alone under the thick forest, +through which the winding river made its way. + +It was one o'clock in the afternoon. The preserved meat, the biscuit, +the sweet water, with the addition of a few drops of rum, of which Bat +had saved a quarter cask, made the requisites for this repast. But if +Negoro took part in it, he did not at all mingle in the conversation, +in which were discussed the measures demanded by the situation of the +shipwrecked. All the time, without appearing to do so, he listened to +it, and doubtless profited by what he heard. + +During this time Dingo, who had not been forgotten, watched outside the +grotto. They could be at ease. No living being would show himself on +the strand without the faithful animal giving the alarm. + +Mrs. Weldon, holding her little Jack, half lying and almost asleep on +her lap, began to speak. + +"Dick, my friend," said she, "in the name of all, I thank you for the +devotion that you have shown us till now; but we do not consider you +free yet. You will be our guide on land, as you were our captain at +sea. We place every confidence in you. Speak, then! What must we do?" + +Mrs. Weldon, old Nan, Tom and his companions, all had their eyes fixed +on the young novice. Negoro himself looked at him with a singular +persistence. Evidently, what Dick Sand was going to reply interested +him very particularly. + +Dick Sand reflected for a few moments. Then: + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, "the important thing is to know, first, where +we are. I believe that our ship can only have made the land on that +portion of the American sea-coast which forms the Peruvian shore. The +winds and currents must have carried her as far as that latitude. But +are we here in some southern province of Peru, that is to say on the +least inhabited part which borders upon the pampas? Maybe so. I would +even willingly believe it, seeing this beach so desolate, and, it must +be, but little frequented. In that case, we might be very far from the +nearest town, which would be unfortunate." + +"Well, what is to be done?" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"My advice," replied Dick Sand, "would be not to leave this shelter +till we know our situation. To-morrow, after a night's rest, two of us +could go to discover it. They would endeavor, without going too far, to +meet some natives, to inform themselves from them, and return to the +grotto. It is not possible that, in a radius of ten or twelve miles, we +find nobody." + +"To separate!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"That seems necessary to me," replied the novice. "If no information +can be picked up, if, as is not impossible, the country is absolutely +desolate, well, we shall consider some other way of extricating +ourselves." + +"And which of us shall go to explore?" asked Mrs. Weldon, after a +moment's reflection. + +"That is yet to be decided," replied Dick Sand. "At all events, I think +that you, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Mr. Benedict, and Nan, ought not to quit +this grotto. Bat, Hercules, Acteon, and Austin should remain near you, +while Tom and I should go forward. Negoro, doubtless, will prefer to +remain here?" added Dick Sand, looking at the head-cook. + +"Probably," replied Negoro, who was not a man to commit himself any +more than that. + +"We should take Dingo with us," continued the novice. "He would be +useful to us during our exploration." + +Dingo, hearing his name pronounced, reappeared at the entrance of the +grotto, and seemed to approve of Dick Sand's projects by a little bark. + +Since the novice had made this proposition, Mrs. Weldon remained +pensive. Her repugnance to the idea of a separation, even short, was +very serious. Might it not happen that the shipwreck of the "Pilgrim" +would soon be known to the Indian tribes who frequented the sea-shore, +either to the north or to the south, and in case some plunderers of the +wrecks thrown on the shore should present themselves, was it not better +for all to be united to repulse them? + +That objection, made to the novice's proposition, truly merited a +discussion. + +It fell, however, before Dick Sand's arguments, who observed that the +Indians ought not to be confounded with the savages of Africa or +Polynesia, and any aggression on their part was probably not to be +feared. But to entangle themselves in this country without even knowing +to what province of South America it belonged, nor at what distance the +nearest town of that province was situated, was to expose themselves to +many fatigues. Doubtless separation might have its inconveniences, but +far less than marching blindly into the midst of a forest which +appeared to stretch as far as the base of the mountains. + +"Besides," repeated Dick Sand, persistently, "I cannot admit that this +separation will be of long duration, and I even affirm that it will not +be so. After two days, at the most, if Tom and I have come across +neither habitation nor inhabitant, we shall return to the grotto. But +that is too improbable, and we shall not have advanced twenty miles +into the interior of the country before we shall evidently be satisfied +about its geographical situation. I may be mistaken in my calculation, +after all, because the means of fixing it astronomically have failed +me, and it is not impossible for us to be in a higher or lower +latitude." + +"Yes--you are certainly right, my child," replied Mrs. Weldon, in great +anxiety. + +"And you, Mr. Benedict," asked Dick Sand, "what do you think of this +project?" + +"I?" replied Cousin Benedict. + +"Yes; what is your advice?" + +"I have no advice," replied Cousin Benedict. "I find everything +proposed, good, and I shall do everything that you wish. Do you wish to +remain here one day or two? that suits me, and I shall employ my time +in studying this shore from a purely entomological point of view." + +"Do, then, according to your wish," said Mrs. Weldon to Dick Sand. "We +shall remain here, and you shall depart with old Tom." + +"That is agreed upon," said Cousin Benedict, in the most tranquil +manner in the world. "As for me, I am going to pay a visit to the +insects of the country." + +"Do not go far away, Mr. Benedict," said the novice. "We urge you +strongly not to do it." + +"Do not be uneasy, my boy." + +"And above all, do not bring back too many musquitoes," added old Tom. + +A few moments after, the entomologist, his precious tin box strapped to +his shoulders, left the grotto. + +Almost at the same time Negoro abandoned it also. It appeared quite +natural to that man to, be always occupied with himself. But, while +Cousin Benedict clambered up the slopes of the cliff to go to explore +the border of the forest, he, turning round toward the river, went away +with slow steps and disappeared, a second time ascending the steep bank. + +Jack slept all the time. Mrs. Weldon, leaving him on Nan's knees, then +descended toward the strand. Dick Sand and his companions followed her. +The question was, to see if the state of the sea then would permit them +to go as far as the "Pilgrim's" hull, where there were still many +objects which might be useful to the little troop. + +The rocks on which the schooner had been wrecked were now dry. In the +midst of the _débris_ of all kinds stood the ship's carcass, which the +high sea had partly covered again. That astonished Dick Sand, for he +knew that the tides are only very moderate on the American sea-shore of +the Pacific. But, after all, this phenomenon might be explained by the +fury of the wind which beat the coast. + +On seeing their ship again, Mrs. Weldon and her companions experienced +a painful impression. It was there that they had lived for long days, +there that they had suffered. The aspect of that poor ship, half +broken, having neither mast nor sails, lying on her side like a being +deprived of life, sadly grieved their hearts. But they must visit this +hull, before the sea should come to finish demolishing it. + +Dick Sand and the blacks could easily make their way into the interior, +after having hoisted themselves on deck by means of the ropes which +hung over the "Pilgrim's" side. While Tom, Hercules, Bat, and Austin +employed themselves in taking from the storeroom all that might be +useful, as much eatables as liquids, the novice made his way into the +arsenal. Thanks to God, the water had not invaded this part of the +ship, whose rear had remained out of the water after the stranding. + +There Dick Sand found four guns in good condition, excellent Remingtons +from Purdy & Co.'s factory, as well as a hundred cartridges, carefully +shut up in their cartridge-boxes. There was material to arm his little +band, and put it in a state of defense, if, contrary to all +expectation, the Indians attacked him on the way. + +The novice did not neglect to take a pocket-lantern; but the ship's +charts, laid in a forward quarter and damaged by the water, were beyond +use. + +There were also in the "Pilgrim's" arsenal some of those solid +cutlasses which serve to cut up whales. Dick Sand chose six, destined +to complete the arming of his companions, and he did not forget to +bring an inoffensive child's gun, which belonged to little Jack. + +As to the other objects still held by the ship, they had either been +dispersed, or they could no longer be used. Besides, it was useless to +overburden themselves for the few days the journey would last. In food, +in arms, in munitions, they were more than provided for. Meanwhile, +Dick Sand, by Mrs. Weldon's advice, did not neglect to take all the +money which he found on board--about five hundred dollars. + +That was a small sum, indeed! Mrs. Weldon had carried a larger amount +herself and she did not find it again. + +Who, then, except Negoro, had been able to visit the ship before them +and to lay hands on Captain Hull's and Mrs. Weldon's reserve? No one +but he, surely, could be suspected. However, Dick Sand hesitated a +moment. All that he knew and all that he saw of him was that everything +was to be feared from that concentrated nature, from whom the +misfortunes of others could snatch a smile. Yes, Negoro was an evil +being, but must they conclude from that that he was a criminal? It was +painful to Dick Sand's character to go as far as that. And, meanwhile, +could suspicion rest on any other? No, those honest negroes had not +left the grotto for an instant, while Negoro had wandered over the +beach. He alone must be guilty. Dick Sand then resolved to question +Negoro, and, if necessary, have him searched when he returned. He +wished to know decidedly what to believe. + +The sun was then going down to the horizon. At that date he had not yet +crossed the equator to carry heat and light into the northern +hemisphere, but he was approaching it. He fell, then, almost +perpendicularly to that circular line where the sea and the sky meet. +Twilight was short, darkness fell promptly--which confirmed the novice +in the thought that he had landed on a point of the coast situated +between the tropic of Capricorn and the equator. + +Mrs. Weldon, Dick Sand, and the blacks then returned to the grotto, +where they must take some hours' rest. + +"The night will still be stormy," observed Tom, pointing to the horizon +laden with heavy clouds. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "there is a strong breeze blowing up. But +what matter, at present? Our poor ship is lost, and the tempest can no +longer reach us?" + +"God's will be done!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +It was agreed that during that night, which would be very dark, each of +the blacks would watch turn about at the entrance to the grotto. They +could, besides, count upon Dingo to keep a careful watch. + +They then perceived that Cousin Benedict had not returned. + +Hercules called him with all the strength of his powerful lungs, and +almost immediately they saw the entomologist coming down the slopes of +the cliff, at the risk of breaking his neck. + +Cousin Benedict was literally furious. He had not found a single new +insect in the forest--no, not one--which was fit to figure in his +collection. Scorpions, scolopendras, and other myriapodes, as many as +he could wish, and even more, were discovered. And we know that Cousin +Benedict did not interest himself in myriapodes. + +"It was not worth the trouble," added he, "to travel five or six +thousand miles, to have braved the tempest, to be wrecked on the coast, +and not meet one of those American hexapodes, which do honor to an +entomological museum! No; the game was not worth the candle!" + +As a conclusion, Cousin Benedict asked to go away. He did not wish to +remain another hour on that detested shore. + +Mrs. Weldon calmed her large child. They made him hope that he would be +more fortunate the next day, and all went to lie down in the grotto, to +sleep there till sunrise, when Tom observed that Negoro had not yet +returned, though night had arrived. + +"Where can he be?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"What matter!" said Bat. + +"On the contrary, it does matter," replied Mrs. Weldon. "I should +prefer having that man still near us." + +"Doubtless, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand; "but if he has forsaken +our company voluntarily, I do not see how we could oblige him to rejoin +us. Who knows but he has his reasons for avoiding us forever?" + +And taking Mrs. Weldon aside, Dick Sand confided to her his suspicions. +He was not astonished to find that she had them also. Only they +differed on one point. + +"If Negoro reappears," said Mrs. Weldon, "he will have put the product +of his theft in a safe place. Take my advice. What we had better do, +not being able to convict him, will be to hide our suspicions from him, +and let him believe that we are his dupes." + +Mrs. Weldon was right. Dick Sand took her advice. + +However, Negoro was called several times. + +He did not reply. Either he was still too far away to hear, or he did +not wish to return. + +The blacks did not regret being rid of his presence; but, as Mrs. +Weldon had just said, perhaps he was still more to be feared afar than +near. And, moreover, how explain that Negoro would venture alone into +that unknown country? Had he then lost his way, and on this dark night +was he vainly seeking the way to the grotto? + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand did not know what to think. However it was, +they could not, in order to wait for Negoro, deprive themselves of a +repose so necessary to all. + +At that moment the dog, which was running on the strand, barked aloud. + +"What is the matter with Dingo?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"We must, indeed, find out," replied the novice. "Perhaps it is Negoro +coming back." + +At once Hercules, Bat, Austin, and Dick Sand took their way to the +mouth of the river. + +But, arrived at the bank, they neither saw nor heard anything. Dingo +now was silent. + +Dick Sand and the blacks returned to the grotto. + +The going to sleep was organized as well as possible. Each of the +blacks prepared himself to watch in turn outside. But Mrs. Weldon, +uneasy, could not sleep. It seemed to her that this land so ardently +desired did not give her what she had been led to hope for, security +for hers, and rest for herself. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HARRIS. + + +The next day, April 7th, Austin, who was on guard at sunrise, saw Dingo +run barking to the little river. Almost immediately Mrs. Weldon, Dick +Sand and the blacks came out of the grotto. + +Decidedly there was something there. + +"Dingo has scented a living creature, man or beast," said the novice. + +"At all events it was not Negoro," observed Tom, "for Dingo would bark +with fury." + +"If it is not Negoro, where can he be?" asked Mrs. Weldon, giving Dick +Sand a look which was only understood by him; "and if it is not he, +who, then, is it?" + +"We are going to see, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. Then, +addressing Bat, Austin, and Hercules, "Arm yourselves, my friends, and +come!" + +Each of the blacks took a gun and a cutlass, as Dick Sand had done. A +cartridge was slipped into the breech of the Remingtons, and, thus +armed, all four went to the bank of the river. + +Mrs. Weldon, Tom, and Acteon remained at the entrance of the grotto, +where little Jack and Nan still rested by themselves. + +The sun was then rising. His rays, intercepted by the high mountains in +the east, did not reach the cliff directly; but as far as the western +horizon, the sea sparkled under the first fires of day. + +Dick Sand and his companions followed the strand of the shore, the +curve of which joined the mouth of the river. + +There Dingo, motionless, and as if on guard, was continually barking. + +It was evident that he saw or scented some native. + +And, in fact, it was no longer against Negoro, against its enemy on +board the ship, that the dog had a grudge this time. + +At that moment a man turned the last plane of the cliff. He advanced +prudently to the strand, and, by his familiar gestures, he sought to +calm Dingo. They saw that he did not care to face the anger of the +vigorous animal. + +"It is not Negoro!" said Hercules. + +"We cannot lose by the change," replied Bat. + +"No," said the novice. "It is probably some native, who will spare us +the _ennui_ of a separation. We are at last going to know exactly where +we are." + +And all four, putting their guns back on their shoulders, went rapidly +toward the unknown. + +The latter, on seeing them approach, at first gave signs of the +greatest surprise. Very certainly, he did not expect to meet strangers +on that part of the coast. Evidently, also, he had not yet perceived +the remains of the "Pilgrim," otherwise the presence of the shipwrecked +would very naturally be explained to him. Besides, during the night the +surf had finished demolishing the ship's hull; there was nothing left +but the wrecks that floated in the offing. + +At the first moment the unknown, seeing four armed men marching toward +him, made a movement as if he would retrace his steps. He carried a gun +in a shoulder-belt, which passed rapidly into his hand, and from his +hand to his shoulder. They felt that he was not reassured. + +Dick Sand made a gesture of salutation, which doubtless the unknown +understood, for, after some hesitation, he continued to advance. + +Dick Sand could then examine him with attention. + +He was a vigorous man, forty years old at the most, his eyes bright, +his hair and beard gray, his skin sunburnt like that of a nomad who has +always lived in the open air, in the forest, or on the plain. A kind of +blouse of tanned skin served him for a close coat, a large hat covered +his head, leather boots came up above his knees, and spurs with large +rowels sounded from their high heels. + +What Dick Sand noticed at first--and which was so, in fact--was that he +had before him, not one of those Indians, habitual rovers over the +pampas, but one of those adventurers of foreign blood, often not very +commendable, who are frequently met with in those distant countries. + +It also seemed, by his rather familiar attitude, by the reddish color +of a few hairs of his beard, that this unknown must be of Anglo-Saxon +origin. At all events, he was neither an Indian nor a Spaniard. + +And that appeared certain, when in answer to Dick Sand, who said to him +in English, "Welcome!" he replied in the same language and without any +accent. + +"Welcome yourself, my young friend," said the unknown, advancing toward +the novice, whose hand he pressed. + +As to the blacks, he contented himself with making a gesture to them +without speaking to them. + +"You are English?" he asked the novice. + +"Americans," replied Dick Sand. + +"From the South?" + +"From the North." + +This reply seemed to please the unknown, who shook the novice's hand +more vigorously and this time in very a American manner. + +"And may I know, my young friend," he asked, "how you find yourself on +this coast?" + +But, at that moment, without waiting till the novice had replied to his +question, the unknown took off his hat and bowed. + +Mrs. Weldon had advanced as far as the steep bank, and she then found +herself facing him. + +It was she who replied to this question. + +"Sir," said she, "we are shipwrecked ones whose ship was broken to +pieces yesterday on these reefs." + +An expression of pity spread over the unknown's face, whose eyes sought +the vessel which had been stranded. + +"There is nothing left of our ship," added the novice. "The surf has +finished the work of demolishing it during the night." + +"And our first question," continued Mrs. Weldon, "will be to ask you +where we are." + +"But you are on the sea-coast of South America," replied the unknown, +who appeared surprised at the question. "Can you have any doubt about +that?" + +"Yes, sir, for the tempest had been able to make us deviate from our +route," replied Dick Sand. "But I shall ask where we are more exactly. +On the coast of Peru, I think." + +"No, my young friend, no! A little more to the south! You are wrecked +on the Bolivian coast." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +"And you are even on that southern part of Bolivia which borders on +Chili." + +"Then what is that cape?" asked Dick Sand, pointing to the promontory +on the north. + +"I cannot tell you the name," replied the unknown, "for if I know the +country in the interior pretty well from having often traversed it, it +is my first visit to this shore." + +Dick Sand reflected on what he had just learned. That only half +astonished him, for his calculation might have, and indeed must have, +deceived him, concerning the currents; but the error was not +considerable. In fact, he believed himself somewhere between the +twenty-seventh and the thirtieth parallel, from the bearings he had +taken from the Isle of Paques, and it was on the twenty-fifth parallel +that he was wrecked. There was no impossibility in the "Pilgrim's" +having deviated by relatively small digression, in such a long passage. + +Besides, there was no reason to doubt the unknown's assertions, and, as +that coast was that of lower Bolivia there was nothing astonishing in +its being so deserted. + +"Sir," then said Dick Sand, "after your reply I must conclude that we +are at a rather great distance from Lima." + +"Oh! Lima is far away--over there--in the north!" + +Mrs. Weldon, made suspicious first of all by Negoro's disappearance, +observed the newly-arrived with extreme attention; but she could +discover nothing, either in his attitude or in his manner of expressing +himself which could lead her to suspect his good faith. + +"Sir," said she, "without doubt my question is not rash. You do not +seem to be of Peruvian origin?" + +"I am American as you are, madam," said the unknown, who waited for an +instant for the American lady to tell him her name. + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied the latter. + +"I? My name is Harris and I was born in South Carolina. But here it is +twenty years since I left my country for the pampas of Bolivia, and it +gives me pleasure to see compatriots." + +"You live in this part of the province, Mr. Harris?" again asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Harris, "I live in the South, on the Chilian +frontier; but at this present moment I am going to Atacama, in the +northeast." + +"Are we then on the borders of the desert of that name?" asked Dick +Sand. + +"Precisely, my young friend, and this desert extends far beyond the +mountains which shut off the horizon." + +"The desert of Atacama?" repeated Dick Sand. + +"Yes," replied Harris. "This desert is like a country by itself, in +this vast South America, from which it differs in many respects. It is, +at the same time, the most curious and the least known portion of this +continent." + +"And you travel alone?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Oh, it is not the first time that I have taken this journey!" replied +the American. "There is, two hundred miles from here, an important +farm, the Farm of San Felice, which belongs to one of my brothers, and +it is to his house that I am going for my trade. If you wish to follow +me you will be well received, and the means of transport to gain the +town of Atacama will not fail you. My brother will be happy to furnish, +them." + +These offers, made freely, could only prepossess in favor of the +American, who immediately continued, addressing Mrs. Weldon: + +"These blacks are your slaves?" + +And he pointed to Tom and his companions. + +"We have no longer any slaves in the United States," replied Mrs. +Weldon, quickly. "The North abolished slavery long ago, and the South +has been obliged to follow the example of the North!" + +"Ah! that is so," replied Harris. "I had forgotten that the war of 1862 +had decided that grave question. I ask those honest men's pardon for +it," added Harris, with that delicate irony which a Southerner must put +into his language when speaking to blacks. "But on seeing those +gentlemen in your service, I believed----" + +"They are not, and have never been, in my service, sir," replied Mrs. +Weldon, gravely. + +"We should be honored in serving you, Mrs. Weldon," then said old Tom. +"But, as Mr. Harris knows, we do not belong to anybody. I have been a +slave myself, it is true, and sold as such in Africa, when I was only +six years old; but my son Bat, here, was born of an enfranchised +father, and, as to our companions, they were born of free parents." + +"I can only congratulate you about it," replied Harris, in a tone which +Mrs. Weldon did not find sufficiently serious. "In this land of +Bolivia, also, we have no slaves. Then you have nothing to fear, and +you can go about as freely here as in the New England States." + +At that moment little Jack, followed by Nan, came out of the grotto +rubbing his eyes. Then, perceiving his mother, he ran to her. Mrs. +Weldon embraced him tenderly. + +"The charming little boy!" said the American, approaching Jack. + +"It is my son," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Oh, Mrs. Weldon, you must have been doubly tried, because your child +has been exposed to so many dangers." + +"God has brought him out of them safe and sound, as He has us, Mr. +Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Will you permit me to kiss him on his pretty cheeks?" asked Harris. + +"Willingly," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +But Mr. Harris's face, it appeared, did not please little Jack, for he +clung more closely to his mother. + +"Hold!" said Harris, "you do not want me to embrace you? You are afraid +of me, my good little man?" + +"Excuse him, sir," Mrs. Weldon hastened to say. "It is timidity on his +part." + +"Good! we shall become better acquainted," replied Harris. "Once at the +Farm, he will amuse himself mounting a gentle pony, which will tell him +good things of me." + +But the offer of the gentle pony did not succeed in cajoling Jack any +more than the proposition to embrace Mr. Harris. + +Mrs. Weldon, thus opposed, hastened to change the conversation. They +must not offend a man who had so obligingly offered his services. + +During this time Dick Sand was reflecting on the proposition which had +been made to them so opportunely, to gain the Farm of San Felice. It +was, as Harris had said, a journey of over two hundred miles, sometimes +through forests, sometimes through plains--a very fatiguing journey, +certainly, because there were absolutely no means of transport. + +The young novice then presented some observations to that effect, and +waited for the reply the American was going to make. + +"The journey is a little long, indeed," replied Harris, "but I have +there, a few hundred feet behind the steep bank, a horse which I count +on offering to Mrs. Weldon and her son. For us, there is nothing +difficult, nor even very fatiguing in making the journey on foot. +Besides, when I spoke of two hundred miles, it was by following, as I +have already done, the course of this river. But if we go through the +forest, our distance will be shortened by at least eighty miles. Now, +at the rate of ten miles a day, it seems to me that we shall arrive at +the Farm without too much distress." + +Mrs. Weldon thanked the American. + +"You cannot thank me better than by accepting," replied Harris. "Though +I have never crossed this forest, I do not believe I shall be +embarrassed in finding the way, being sufficiently accustomed to the +pampas. But there is a graver question--that of food. I have only what +is barely enough for myself while on the way to the Farm of San Felice." + +"Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon, "fortunately we have food in more +than sufficient quantity, and we shall be happy to share with you." + +"Well, Mrs. Weldon, it seems to me that all is arranged for the best, +and that we have only to set out." + +Harris went toward the steep bank, with the intention of going to take +his horse from the place where he had left it, when Dick Sand stopped +him again, by asking him a question. + +To abandon the sea-coast, to force his way into the interior of the +country, under that interminable forest, did not please the young +novice. The sailor reappeared in him, and either to ascend or descend +the coast would be more to his mind. + +"Mr. Harris," said he, "instead of traveling for one hundred and twenty +miles in the Desert of Atacama, why not follow the coast? Distance for +distance, would it not be better worth while to seek to reach the +nearest town, either north or south?" + +"But my young friend," replied Harris, frowning slightly, "it seems to +me that on this coast, which I know very imperfectly, there is no town +nearer than three or four hundred miles." + +"To the north, yes," replied Dick Sand; "but to the south----" + +"To the south," replied the American, "we must descend as far as Chili. +Now, the distance is almost as long, and, in your place, I should not +like to pass near the pampas of the Argentine Republic. As to me, to my +great regret, I could not accompany you there." + +"The ships which go from Chili to Peru, do they not pass, then, in +sight of this coast?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"No," replied Harris. "They keep much more out at sea, and you ought +not to meet any of them." + +"Truly," replied Mrs. Weldon. "Well, Dick, have you still some question +to ask Mr. Harris?" + +"A single one, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice, who experienced some +difficulty in giving up. "I shall ask Mr. Harris in what port he thinks +we shall be able to find a ship to bring us back to San Francisco?" + +"Faith, my young friend, I could not tell you," replied the American. +"All that I know is, that at the Farm of San Felice we will furnish you +with the means of gaining the town of Atacama, and from there----" + +"Mr. Harris," then said Mrs. Weldon, "do not believe that Dick Sand +hesitates to accept your offers." + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, no; surely I do not hesitate," replied the young +novice; "but I cannot help regretting not being stranded a few degrees +farther north or farther south. We should have been in proximity to a +port, and that circumstance, in facilitating our return to our country, +would prevent us from taxing Mr. Harris's good will." + +"Do not fear imposing upon me, Mrs. Weldon," returned Harris. "I repeat +to you that too rarely have I occasion to find myself again in the +presence of my compatriots. For me it is a real pleasure to oblige you." + +"We accept your offer, Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I should +not wish, however, to deprive you of your horse. I am a good walker----" + +"And I am a very good walker," replied Harris, bowing. "Accustomed to +long journeys across the pampas, it is not I who will keep back our +caravan. No, Mrs. Weldon, you and your little Jack will use this horse. +Besides, it is possible that we may meet some of the farm servants on +the way, and, as they will be mounted--well, they will yield their +horses to us." + +Dick Sand saw well that in making new objections he would oppose Mrs. +Weldon. + +"Mr. Harris," said he, "when do we set out?" + +"Even to-day, my young friend," replied Harris. "The bad season +commences with the month of April, and it is of the utmost importance +for you to reach the farm of San Felice first. Finally, the way across +the forest is the shortest, and perhaps the safest. It is less exposed +than the coast to the incursions of wandering Indians, who are +indefatigable robbers." + +"Tom, my friends," replied Dick Sand, turning to the blacks, "it only +remains for us to make preparations for departure. Let us select, then, +from among the provisions on hand, those which can be most easily +transported, and let us make packs, of which each will take his share." + +"Mr. Dick," said Hercules, "if you wish, I shall carry the whole load +very well." + +"No, my brave Hercules," replied the novice; "it will be better for us +all to share the burden." + +"You are a strong companion, Hercules," then said Harris, who looked at +the negro as if the latter were for sale. "In the markets of Africa you +would be worth a good price." + +"I am worth what I am worth," replied Hercules, laughing, "and the +buyers will only have to run well, if they wish to catch me." + +All was agreed upon, and to hasten the departure, each went to work. +However, they had only to think of feeding the little troop for the +journey from the sea-coast to the farm, that is to say, for a march of +ten days. + +"But, before setting out, Mr. Harris," said Mrs. Weldon, "before +accepting your hospitality, I beg you to accept ours. We offer it to +you with our best wishes." + +"I accept, Mrs. Weldon; I accept with eagerness," replied Harris, gayly. + +"In a few minutes our breakfast will be ready." + +"Good, Mrs. Weldon. I am going to profit by those ten minutes to go and +get my horse and bring it here. He will have breakfasted, he will." + +"Do you want me to go with you, sir?" asked Dick Sand. + +"As you please, my young friend," replied Harris. "Come; I shall make +you acquainted with the lower course of this river." + +Both set out. + +During this time, Hercules was sent in search of the entomologist. +Faith, Cousin Benedict was very uneasy indeed about what was passing +around him. + +He was then wandering on the summit of the cliff in quest of an +"unfindable" insect, which, however, he did not find. + +Hercules brought him back against his will. Mrs. Weldon informed him +that departure was decided upon, and that, for ten days, they must +travel to the interior of the country. + +Cousin Benedict replied that he was ready to set out, and that he would +not ask better than to cross America entirely, provided they would let +him "collect" on the way. + +Mrs. Weldon then occupied herself, with Nan's assistance, in preparing +a comfortable repast--a good precaution before setting out. + +During this time, Harris, accompanied by Dick Sand, had turned the +angle of the cliff. Both followed the high bank, over a space of three +hundred steps. There, a horse, tied to a tree, gave joyous neighing at +the approach of his master. + +It was a vigorous beast, of a species that Dick Sand could not +recognize. Neck and shoulders long, loins short, and hindquarters +stretched out, shoulders flat, forehead almost pointed. This horse +offered, however, distinctive signs of those races to which we +attribute an Arabian origin. + +"You see, my young friend," said Harris, "that it is a strong animal, +and you may count on it not failing you on the route." + +Harris detached his horse, took it by the bridle, and descended the +steep bank again, preceding Dick Sand. The latter had thrown a rapid +glance, as well over the river as toward the forest which shut up its +two banks. But he saw nothing of a nature to make him uneasy. + +However, when he had rejoined the American, he suddenly gave him the +following question, which the latter could little expect: + +"Mr. Harris," he asked, "you have not met a Portuguese, named Negoro, +in the night?" + +"Negoro?" replied Harris, in the tone of a man who does not understand +what is said. "Who is this Negoro?" + +"He was the cook on board," replied Dick Sand, "and he has disappeared." + +"Drowned, perhaps," said Harris. + +"No, no," replied Dick Sand. "Yesterday evening he was still with us, +but during the night he has left us, and he has probably ascended the +steep bank of this river. So I asked you, who have come from that side, +if you had not met him." + +"I have met nobody," replied the American; "and if your cook has +ventured alone into the forest, he runs a great risk of going astray. +Perhaps we shall overtake him on the way." + +"Yes; perhaps!" replied Dick Sand. + +When the two returned to the grotto, breakfast was ready. It was +composed, like the supper of the evening before, of alimentary +conserves, of corned beef and of biscuit. Harris did honor to it, like +a man whom nature had endowed with a great appetite. + +"Let us go," said he; "I see that we shall not die of hunger on the +way! I shall not say as much for that poor devil of a Portuguese, of +whom our young friend has spoken." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Weldon, "Dick Sand has told you that we have not seen +Negoro again?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "I desired to know if Mr. +Harris had not met him." + +"No," replied Harris; "so let us leave that deserter where he is, and +think of our departure--whenever you are ready, Mrs. Weldon." + +Each took the pack which was intended for him. Mrs. Weldon, assisted by +Hercules, placed herself on the horse, and the ungrateful little Jack, +with his gun strapped on his back, straddled the animal without even +thinking of thanking him who had put that excellent beast at his +disposal. Jack, placed before his mother, then said to her that he +would know how to lead the gentleman's horse very well. + +They then gave him the bridle to hold, and he did not doubt that he was +the veritable head of the caravan. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ON THE WAY. + + +It was not without a certain apprehension--nothing seemed to justify +it, however--that Dick Sand, three hundred steps from the steep bank of +the river, penetrated into the thick forest, the difficult paths of +which he and his companions were going to follow for ten days. On the +contrary, Mrs. Weldon herself, a woman and a mother, whom the perils +would make doubly anxious, had every confidence. Two very serious +motives had contributed to reassure her; first, because this region of +the pampas was neither very formidable on account of the natives, nor +on account of the animals which were found there; next, because, under +the direction of Harris, of a guide so sure of himself as the American +appeared to be, they could not be afraid of going astray. + +Here is the order of proceeding, which, as far as possible, would be +observed during the journey: + +Dick Sand and Harris, both armed, one with his long gun, the other with +a Remington, kept at the head of the little troop. + +Then came Bat and Austin, also armed, each with a gun and a cutlass. + +Behind them followed Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, on horseback; then +Nan and Tom. + +In the rear, Acteon, armed with the fourth Remington, and Hercules, +with a hatchet in his belt, closed the march. + +Dingo went backwards and forwards, and, as Dick Sand remarked, always +like an uneasy dog seeking a scent. The dog's ways had visibly changed +since the "Pilgrim's" shipwreck had cast it on this sea-coast. It +seemed agitated, and almost incessantly it kept up a dull grumbling, +rather lamentable than furious. That was remarked by all, though no one +could explain it. + +As to Cousin Benedict, it had been as impossible to assign him an order +of marching as Dingo. Unless he had been held by a string, he would not +have kept it. His tin box strapped to his shoulder, his net in his +hand, his large magnifying glass suspended to his neck, sometimes +behind, sometimes in front, he scampered away among the high herbs, +watching for orthopters or any other insect in "pter," at the risk of +being bit by some venomous serpent. + +During the first hour Mrs. Weldon, uneasy, called him back twenty +times. It was no use. + +"Cousin Benedict," she finished by saying to him, "I beg you very +seriously not to go far away, and I urge you for the last time to pay +attention to my entreaties." + +"Meanwhile, cousin," replied the intractable entomologist, "when I +perceive an insect?" + +"When you perceive an insect," replied Mrs. Weldon, "you would do well +to let it go in peace, or you will put me under the necessity of taking +your box away from you." + +"Take away my box!" cried Cousin Benedict, as if it were a question of +snatching away his heart. + +"Your box and your net," added Mrs. Weldon, pitilessly. + +"My net, cousin! And why not my glasses? You will not dare! No; you +will not dare!" + +"Even, your glasses, which I forgot. I thank you, Cousin Benedict, for +reminding me that I have that means of making you blind, and, in that +way, forcing you to be wise." + +This triple menace had the effect of making him keep quiet--this +unsubmissive cousin--for about an hour. Then he began to go away again, +and, as he would do the same, even without net, without box, and +without glasses, they were obliged to let him do as he pleased. But +Hercules undertook to watch him closely--which quite naturally became +one of his duties--and it was agreed that he would act with Cousin +Benedict as the latter would with an insect; that is, that he would +catch him, if necessary, and bring him back as delicately as the other +would with the rarest of the lepidopters. + +That rule made, they troubled themselves no more about Cousin Benedict. + +The little troop, it has been seen, was well armed, and guarded itself +carefully. But, as Harris repeated, there was no encounter to fear +except with wandering Indians, and they would probably see none. + +At all events, the precautions taken would suffice to keep them +respectful. + +The paths which wound across the thick forest did not merit that name. +They were rather the tracks of animals than the tracks of men. They +could only be followed with difficulty. So, in fixing the average +distance that the little troop would make in a march of twelve hours at +only five or six miles, Harris had calculated wisely. + +The weather, however, was very fine. The sun mounted toward the zenith, +spreading in waves his almost perpendicular rays. On the plain this +heat would be unbearable, Harris took care to remark; but, under those +impenetrable branches, they bore it easily and with impunity. + +The greater part of the trees of this forest were unknown, as well to +Mrs. Weldon as to her companions, black or white. + +However, an expert would remark that they were more remarkable for +their quality than for their height. Here, it was the "banhinia," or +iron wood; there, the "molompi," identical with the "pterocarpe," a +solid and light wood, fit for making the spoons used in sugar +manufactories or oars, from the trunk of which exuded an abundant +resin; further on, "fusticks," or yellow wood, well supplied with +coloring materials, and lignum-vitæs, measuring as much as twelve feet +in diameter, but inferior in quality to the ordinary lignum-vitæs. + +While walking, Dick Sand asked Harris the name of these different trees. + +"Then you have never been on the coast of South America?" Harris asked +him before replying to his question. + +"Never," replied the novice; "never, during my voyages, have I had +occasion to visit these coasts, and to say the truth, I do not believe +that anybody who knew about them has ever spoken to me of them." + +"But have you at least explored the coasts of Colombia, those of Chili, +or of Patagonia?" + +"No, never." + +"But perhaps Mrs. Weldon has visited this part of the new continent?" +asked Harris. "Americans do not fear voyages, and doubtless----" + +"No, Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon. "The commercial interests of my +husband have never called him except to New Zealand, and I have not had +to accompany him elsewhere. Not one of us, then, knows this portion of +lower Bolivia." + +"Well, Mrs. Weldon, you and your companions will see a singular +country, which contrasts strangely with the regions of Peru, of Brazil, +or of the Argentine Republic. Its flora and fauna would astonish a +naturalist. Ah! we may say that you have been shipwrecked at a good +place, and if we may ever thank chance----" + +"I wish to believe that it is not chance which has led us here, but +God, Mr. Harris." + +"God! Yes! God!" replied Harris, in the tone of a man who takes little +account of providential intervention in the things of this world. + +Then, since nobody in the little troop knew either the country or its +productions, Harris took a pleasure in naming pleasantly the most +curious trees of the forest. + +In truth, it was a pity that, in Cousin Benedict's case, the +entomologist was not supplemented by the botanist! If, up to this time, +he had hardly found insects either rare or new, he might have made fine +discoveries in botany. There was, in profusion, vegetation of all +heights, the existence of which in the tropical forests of the New +World had not been yet ascertained. Cousin Benedict would certainly +have attached his name to some discovery of this kind. But he did not +like botany--he knew nothing about it. He even, quite naturally, held +flowers in aversion, under the pretext that some of them permit +themselves to imprison the insects in their corollas, and poison them +with their venomous juices. + +At times, the forest became marshy. They felt under foot quite a +network of liquid threads, which would feed the affluents of the little +river. Some of the rills, somewhat large, could only be crossed by +choosing fordable places. + +On their banks grew tufts of reeds, to which Harris gave the name of +papyrus. He was not mistaken, and those herbaceous plants grew +abundantly below the damp banks. + +Then, the marsh passed, thickets of trees again covered the narrow +routes of the forest. + +Harris made Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand remark some very fine +ebony-trees, much larger than the common ebony-tree, which furnish a +wood much blacker and much stronger than that of commerce. Then there +were mango-trees, still numerous, though they were rather far from the +sea. A kind of fur of white moss climbed them as far as the branches. +Their thick shade and their delicious fruit made them precious trees, +and meanwhile, according to Harris, not a native would dare to +propagate the species. "Whoever plants a mango-tree dies!" Such is the +superstitious maxim of the country. + +During the second half of this first day of the journey, the little +troop, after the midday halt, began to ascend land slightly inclined. +They were not as yet the slopes of the chain of the first plane, but a +sort of undulating plateau which connected the plain with the mountain. + +There the trees, a little less compact, sometimes clustered in groups, +would have rendered the march easier, if the soil had not been invaded +by herbaceous plants. One might believe himself in the jungles of +Oriental India. Vegetation appeared to be less luxuriant than in the +lower valley of the little river, but it was still superior to that of +the temperate regions of the Old or of the New World. + +Indigo was growing there in profusion, and, according to Harris, this +leguminous plant passed with reason for the most usurping plant of the +country. If a field came to be abandoned, this parasite, as much +despised as the thistle or the nettle, took possession of it +immediately. + +One tree seemed lacking in this forest, which ought to be very common +in this part of the new continent; it was the caoutchouc-tree. In fact, +the "ficus primoides," the "castilloa elastica," the "cecropia +peltats," the "collophora utilis," the "cameraria letifolia," and above +all, the "syphonia elastica," which belong to different families, +abound in the provinces of South America. And meanwhile, a rather +singular thing, there was not a single one to be seen. + +Now, Dick Sand had particularly promised his friend Jack to show him +some caoutchouc trees. So a great deception for the little boy, who +figured to himself that gourds, speaking babies, articulate +punchinellos, and elastic balloons grew quite naturally on those trees. +He complained. + +"Patience, my good little man," replied Harris. "We shall find some of +those caoutchoucs, and by hundreds, in the neighborhood of the farm." + +"Handsome ones, very elastic?" asked little Jack. + +"The most elastic there are. Hold! while waiting, do you want a good +fruit to take away your thirst?" And, while speaking, Harris went to +gather from a tree some fruits, which seemed to be as pleasant to the +taste as those from the peach-tree. + +"Are you very sure, Mr. Harris," asked Mrs. Weldon, "that this fruit +can do no harm?" + +"Mrs. Weldon, I am going to convince you," replied the American, who +took a large mouthful of one of those fruits. "It is a mango." + +And little Jack, without any more pressing, followed Harris's example, +He declared that it was very good, "those pears," and the tree was at +once put under contribution. + +Those mangos belonged to a species whose fruit is ripe in March and +April, others being so only in September, and, consequently, their +mangos were just in time. + +"Yes, it is good, good, good!" said little Jack, with his mouth full. +"But my friend Dick has promised me caoutchoucs, if I was very good, +and I want caoutchoucs!" + +"You will have them, Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon, "because Mr. Harris +assures you of it." + +"But that is not all," went on Jack. "My friend Dick has promised me +some other thing!" + +"What then, has friend Dick promised?" asked Harris, smiling. + +"Some humming-birds, sir." + +"And you shall have some humming-birds, my good little man, but farther +on--farther on," replied Harris. + +The fact is that little Jack had a right to claim some of these +charming creatures, for he was now in a country where they should +abound. The Indians, who know how to weave their feathers artistically, +have lavished the most poetical names on those jewels of the flying +race. They call them either the "rays" or the "hairs of the sun." Here, +it is "the little king of the flowers;" there, "the celestial flower +that comes in its flight to caress the terrestrial flower." It is again +"the bouquet of jewels, which sparkles in the fire of the day." It can +be believed that their imagination would know how to furnish a new +poetical appellation for each of the one hundred and fifty species +which constitute this marvelous tribe of humming-birds. + +Meanwhile, however numerous these humming-birds might be in the forests +of Bolivia, little Jack was obliged to still content himself with +Harris's promise. According to the American, they were still too close +to the coast, and the humming-birds did not like these deserts so near +the ocean. The presence of man did not frighten them at the "hacienda;" +they heard nothing all day but their cry of "teretere" and the murmur +of their wings, similar to that of a spinning-wheel. + +"Ah! how I should like to be there!" cried little Jack. + +The surest method of getting there--to the "hacienda" of San +Felice--was not to stop on the road. Mrs. Weldon and her companions +only took the time absolutely necessary for repose. + +The aspect of the forest already changed. Between the less crowded +trees large clearings opened here and there. The sun, piercing the +green carpet, then showed its structure of red, syenite granite, +similar to slabs of lapis-lazuli. On some heights the sarsaparilla +abounded, a plant with fleshy tubercles, which formed an inextricable +tangle. The forest, with the narrow paths, was better for them. + +Before sunset the little troop were about eight miles from the point of +departure. This journey had been made without accident, and even +without great fatigue. It is true, it was the first journey on the +march, and no doubt the following halting places would be rougher. + +By a common consent they decided to make a halt at this place. The +question then was, not to establish a real camp, but to simply organize +a resting-place. One man on guard, relieved every two hours, would +suffice to watch during the night, neither the natives nor the deer +being truly formidable. + +They found nothing better for shelter than an enormous mango-tree, +whose large branches, very bushy, formed a kind of natural veranda. If +necessary, they could nestle in the branches. + +Only, on the arrival of the little troop, a deafening concert arose +from the top of the tree. + +The mango served as a perch for a colony of gray parrots, prattling, +quarrelsome, ferocious birds, which set upon living birds, and those +who would judge them from their congeners which Europe keeps in cages, +would be singularly mistaken. + +These parrots jabbered with such a noise that Dick Sand thought of +firing at them to oblige them to be silent, or to put them to flight. +But Harris dissuaded him, under the pretext that in these solitudes it +was better not to disclose his presence by the detonation of a fire-arm. + +"Let us pass along without noise," he said, "and we shall pass along +without danger." + +Supper was prepared at once, without any need of proceeding to cook +food. It was composed of conserves and biscuit. A little rill, which +wound under the plants, furnished drinkable water, which they did not +drink without improving it with a few drops of rum. As to _dessert_, +the mango was there with its juicy fruit, which the parrots did not +allow to be picked without protesting with their abominable cries. + +At the end of the supper it began to be dark. The shade rose slowly +from the ground to the tops of the trees, from which the foliage soon +stood out like a fine tracery on the more luminous background of the +sky. The first stars seemed to be shining flowers, which twinkled at +the end of the last branches. The wind went down with the night, and no +longer trembled in the branches of the trees. The parrots themselves +had become mute. Nature was going to rest, and inviting every living +being to follow her in this deep sleep. + +Preparations for retiring had to be of a very primitive character. + +"Shall we not light a large fire for the night?" Dick Sand asked the +American. + +"What's the good?" replied Harris. "Fortunately the nights are not +cold, and this enormous mango will preserve the soil from all +evaporation. We have neither cold nor dampness to fear. I repeat, my +young friend, what I told you just now. Let us move along incognito. No +more fire than gunshots, if possible." + +"I believe, indeed," then said Mrs. Weldon, "that we have nothing to +fear from the Indians--even from those wanderers of the woods, of whom +you have spoken, Mr. Harris. But, are there not other four-footed +wanderers, that the sight of a fire would help to keep at a distance?" + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied the American, "you do too much honor to the deer +of this country. Indeed, they fear man more than he fears them." + +"We are in a wood," said Jack, "and there is always beasts in the +woods." + +"There are woods and woods, my good little man, as there are beasts and +beasts," replied Harris, laughing. "Imagine that you are in the middle +of a large park. Truly, it is not without reason that the Indians say +of this country, 'Es como el pariso!' It is like an earthly paradise!" + +"Then there are serpents?" said Jack. + +"No, my Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon, "there are no serpents, and you may +sleep tranquilly." + +"And lions?" asked Jack. + +"Not the ghost of a lion, my good little man," replied Harris. + +"Tigers, then?" + +"Ask your mama if she has ever heard tell of tigers on this continent." + +"Never," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Good!" said Cousin Benedict, who, by chance, was listening to the +conversation: "if there are neither lions nor tigers in the New World, +which is perfectly true, we at least encounter cougars and jaguars." + +"Are they bad?" asked little Jack. + +"Phew!" replied Harris; "a native has little fear of attacking those +animals, and we are strong. Stay! Hercules would be strong enough to +crush two jaguars at once, one in each hand!" + +"You will watch well, Hercules," then said little Jack, "and if a beast +comes to bite us----" + +"It is I who will bite it, Mr. Jack!" replied Hercules, showing his +mouth, armed with superb teeth. + +"Yes, you will watch, Hercules," said the novice, "but your companions +and I will relieve you, turn about." + +"No, Mr. Dick," replied Acteon, "Hercules, Bat, Austin, and I, we four +will be enough for this labor. You must rest the whole night." + +"Thank you, Acteon," replied Dick Sand, "but I ought to----" + +"No! let those brave men do it, my dear Dick!" then said Mrs. Weldon. + +"I, also; I shall watch!" added little Jack, whose eyelids were already +closing. + +"Yes, my Jack, yes, you will watch!" replied his mother, who did not +wish to contradict him. + +"But," the little boy said again, "if there are no lions, if there are +no tigers in the forest, there are wolves!" + +"Oh! wolves in jest!" replied the American. "They are not even wolves, +but kinds of foxes, or rather of those dogs of the woods which they +call 'guaras.'" + +"And those _guaras_, they bite?" asked little Jack. + +"Bah! Dingo would make only one mouthful of those beasts!" + +"Never mind," replied Jack, with a last yawn; "guaras are wolves, +because they are called wolves!" + +And with that Jack fell asleep peaceably in Nan's arms, beside the +trunk of the mango. Mrs. Weldon, lying near her, gave a last kiss to +her little boy, and her tired eyes quickly closed for the night. + +A few moments later Hercules brought back to the camp Cousin Benedict, +who had just gone off to commence a chase for pyrophores. They are +"cocuyos," or luminous flies, which the stylish put in their hair, like +so many living gems. These insects which throw a bright and bluish +light from two spots situated at the base of their corselet, are very +numerous in South America. Cousin Benedict then counted on making a +large collection, but Hercules did not leave him time, and, in spite of +his recriminations, the negro brought him to the halting-place. That +was because, when Hercules had orders, he executed them with military +preciseness, which, no doubt, prevented the incarceration of a notable +quantity of luminous flies in the entomologist's tin box. + +A few moments after, with the exception of the giant, who was watching, +all were reposing in a profound sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A HUNDRED MILES IN TWO DAYS. + + +Generally, travelers or ramblers in the woods, who have slept in the +forests under the lovely stars, are awakened by howlings as fantastic +as disagreeable. There is everything in this morning concert: clucking, +grunting, croaking, sneering, barking, and almost "speaking," if one +may make use of this word, which completes the series of different +noises. + +There are the monkeys who thus salute the daybreak. There we meet the +little "marikina," the marmoset with a speckled mask; the "mono gris," +the skin of which the Indians use to recover the batteries of their +guns; the "sagous," recognizable from their long bunches of hair, and +many others, specimens of this numerous family. + +Of these various four-handed animals, the most remarkable are decidedly +the "gueribas," with curling tails and a face like Beelzebub. When the +sun rises, the oldest of the band, with an imposing and mysterious +voice, sings a monotonous psalm. It is the baritone of the troop. The +young tenors repeat after him the morning symphony. The Indians say +then that the "gueribas" recite their _pater-nosters_. + +But, on this day, it seemed that the monkeys did not offer their +prayer, for no one heard them; and, meanwhile, their voice is loud, for +it is produced by the rapid vibration of a kind of bony drum, formed by +a swelling of the hyoides bone in the neck. + +In short, for one reason or for another, neither the "gueribas," nor +the "sagous," nor any other four-handed animals of this immense forest, +sang, on this morning, their usual concert. + +This would not have satisfied the wandering Indians. Not that these +natives appreciate this kind of strange choral music, but they +willingly give chase to the monkeys, and if they do, it is because the +flesh of this animal is excellent, above all, when it is smoke-dried. + +Dick Sand, of course, could not be familiar with the habits of the +"gueribas," neither were his companions, or this not hearing them would +have undoubtedly been a subject of surprise. They awoke then, one after +the other, much refreshed by these few hours of repose, which no alarm +had come to disturb. + +Little Jack was not the last to stretch his arms. His first question +was, to ask if Hercules had eaten a wolf during the night. No wolf had +shown himself, and consequently Hercules had not yet breakfasted. + +All, besides, were fasting like him, and after the morning prayer, Nan +occupied herself preparing the repast. + +The bill of fare was that of the supper of the night before, but with +appetites sharpened by the morning air of the forest, no one dreamed of +being difficult to please. It was necessary, above all, to gather +strength for a good day's march, and they did it. For the first time, +perhaps, Cousin Benedict comprehended that to eat was not an action +indifferent or useless to life; only, he declared that he had not come +to "visit" this country to walk with his hands in his pockets, and +that, if Hercules prevented him from chasing the "cocuyos," and other +luminous flies, Hercules would have some trouble with him. + +This threat did not seem to frighten the giant to any great extent. +However, Mrs. Weldon took him aside and told him that, perhaps, he +might allow his big baby to run to the right and left, but on condition +that he did not lose sight of him. It would not do to completely sever +Cousin Benedict from the pleasures so natural to his age. + +At seven o'clock in the morning, the little troop took up their journey +toward the east, preserving the order of march that had been adopted +the previous day. It was always the forest. On this virgin soil, where +the heat and the moisture agreed to produce vegetation, it might well +be thought that the reign of growth appeared in all its power. The +parallel of this vast plateau was almost confounded with tropical +latitudes, and, during certain months in summer, the sun, in passing to +the zenith, darted its perpendicular rays there. There was, therefore, +an enormous quantity of imprisoned heat in this earth, of which the +subsoil preserved the damp. Also, nothing could be more magnificent +than this succession of forests, or rather this interminable forest. + +Meanwhile, Dick Sand had not failed to observe this--that, according to +Harris, they were in the region of the pampas. Now, pampas is a word +from the "quichna" language, which signifies a plain. Now, if his +recollections did not deceive him, he believed that these plains +presented the following characteristics: Lack of water, absence of +trees, a failure of stones, an almost luxuriant abundance of thistles +during the rainy season, thistles which became almost shrubby with the +warm season, and then formed impenetrable thickets; then, also, dwarf +trees, thorny shrubs, the whole giving to these plains a rather arid +and desolate aspect. + +Now, it had not been thus, since the little troop, guided by the +American, had left the coast. The forest had not ceased to spread to +the limits of the horizon. No, this was not the pampas, such as the +young novice had imagined them. Had nature, as Harris had told him, +been able to make a region apart from the plateau of Atacama, of which +he knew nothing, if it did not form one of the most vast deserts of +South America, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean? + +On that day Dick Sand propounded some questions on this subject, and +expressed to the American the surprise he felt at this singular +appearance of the pampas. + +But he was quickly undeceived by Harris, who gave him the most exact +details about this part of Bolivia, thus witnessing to his great +knowledge of the country. + +"You are right, my young friend," he said to the novice. "The true +pampa is indeed such as the books of travels have depicted it to you, +that is, a plain rather arid, and the crossing of which is often +difficult. It recalls our savannahs of North America--except that these +are a little marshy. Yes, such is indeed the pampa of the Rio Colorado, +such are the "llanos" of the Orinoco and of Venezuela. But here, we are +in a country, the appearance of which even astonishes me. It is true, +it is the first time I have followed this route across the plateau, a +route which has the advantage of shortening our journey. But, if I have +not yet seen it, I know that it presents an extraordinary contrast to +the veritable pampa. As to this one, you would find it again, not +between the Cordilleras of the west and the high chain of the Andes, +but beyond the mountains, over all that eastern part of the continent +which extends as far as the Atlantic." + +"Must we then clear the Andes range?" Dick Sand asked, quickly. + +"No, my young friend, no," replied the American, smiling. "So I said: +You _would_ find it again, and not: You _will_ find it again. Be +reassured, we shall not leave this plateau, the greatest elevations of +which do not exceed fifteen hundred feet. Ah! if it had been necessary +to cross the Cordilleras with only the means of transport at our +disposal, I should never have drawn you into such an undertaking." + +"In fact," replied Dick Sand, "it would be better to ascend or descend +the coast." + +"Oh! a hundred times!" replied Harris. "But the Farm of San Felice is +situated on this side of the Cordilleras. So, then, our journey, +neither in its first nor in its second part, will offer any real +difficulty." + +"And you do not fear going astray in these forests, which you cross for +the first time?" asked Dick Sand. + +"No, my young friend, no," replied Harris. "I know indeed that this +forest is like an immense sea, or rather like the bottom of a sea, +where a sailor himself could not take the latitude nor recognize his +position. But accustomed to traveling in the woods, I know how to find +my route only by the inclination of certain trees, by the direction of +their leaves, by the movement or the composition of the soil, by a +thousand details which escape you! Be sure of it, I will lead you, you +and yours, where you ought to go!" + +All these things were said very clearly by Harris. Dick Sand and he, at +the head of the troop, often talked without any one mingling in their +conversation. If the novice felt some doubts that the American did not +always succeed in scattering, he preferred to keep them to himself. + +The 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of April passed in this manner, +without any incident to mark the journey. They did not make more than +eight to nine miles in twelve hours. The times consecrated to eating or +repose came at regular intervals, and though a little fatigue was felt +already, the sanitary condition was still very satisfactory. + +Little Jack began to suffer a little from this life in the woods, to +which he was not accustomed, and which was becoming very monotonous for +him. And then all the promises which had been made him had not been +kept. The caoutchouc jumping-jacks, the humming-birds, all those seemed +constantly to recede. There had also been a question of showing him the +most beautiful parrots in the world, and they ought not to be wanting +in these rich forests. Where, then, were the popinjays with green +plumage, almost all originally from these countries, the _aras_, with +naked cheeks, with long pointed tails, with glittering colors, whose +paws never rest on the earth, and the "camindes," which are more +peculiar to tropical countries, and the many-colored she-parrots, with +feathered faces, and finally all those prattling birds which, according +to the Indians, still speak the language of extinct tribes? + +Of parrots, little Jack only saw ash-gray jakos, with red tails, which +abounded under the trees. But these jakos were not new to him. They +have transported them into all parts of the world. On the two +continents they fill the houses with their insupportable chattering, +and, of all the family of the "psittacius," they are the ones which +learn to speak most easily. + +It must be said, besides, that if Jack was not contented, Cousin +Benedict was no more so. He had been allowed to wander a little to the +right or to the left during the march. However, he had not found any +insect which was fit to enrich his collection. Even the "pyrophores" +obstinately refused to show themselves to him, and attract him by the +phosphorescences of their corselet. Nature seemed truly to mock the +unhappy entomologist, whose temper was becoming cross. + +For four days more the march toward the northeast was continued in the +same way. On the 16th of April the distance traversed from the coast +could not be estimated at less than one hundred miles. If Harris had +not gone astray--and he affirmed it without hesitation--the Farm of San +Felice was no more than twenty miles from the halting place of that +day. Before forty-eight hours the little troop then would have a +comfortable shelter where its members could at last repose from their +fatigues. + +Meanwhile, though the plateau had been almost entirely crossed in its +middle part, not a native, not a wanderer had been encountered under +the immense forest. + +More than once, without saying anything about it, Dick Sand regretted +being unable to go ashore on some other point of the coast. More to the +south, or more to the north, villages, hamlets, or plantations would +not have been lacking, and long before this Mrs. Weldon and her +companions would have found an asylum. + +But, if the country seemed to be abandoned by man, animals showed +themselves more frequently during these last days. At times was heard a +kind of long, plaintive cry, that Harris attributed to some of those +large tardi-grades, habitual denizens of those vast wooded regions, +named "ais." + +On that day, also, during the midday halt, a hissing passed through the +air, which made Mrs. Weldon very uneasy, because it was so strange. + +"What is that?"' she asked, rising hastily. + +"A serpent!" cried Dick Sand, who gun, in hand, threw himself before +Mrs. Weldon. + +They might fear, in fact, that some reptile would glide among the +plants to the halting place. It would be nothing astonishing if it were +one of those enormous "sucurus," kinds of boas, which sometimes measure +forty feet in length. + +But Harris reminded Dick Sand that the blacks were already following, +and he reassured Mrs. Weldon. + +According to him, that hissing could not be produced by a "sucuru," +because that serpent does not hiss; but he indicated the presence of +several inoffensive quadrupeds, rather numerous in that country. + +"Be reassured, then," said he, "and make no movement which may frighten +those animals." + +"But what are they?" asked Dick Sand, who made it like a law of +conscience to interrogate and make the American speak--who, however, +never required pressing before replying. + +"They are antelopes, my young friend," replied Harris. + +"Oh! how I should like to see them!" cried Jack. + +"That is very difficult, my good little man," replied the American, +"very difficult." + +"Perhaps we may try to approach than--those hissing antelopes?" +returned Dick Sand. + +"Oh! you will not take three steps," replied the American, shaking his +head, "before the whole band will take flight. I beg of you, then, not +to trouble yourself." + +But Dick Sand had his reasons for being curious. He wished to see, and, +gun in hand, he glided among the herbs. Immediately a dozen graceful +gazelles, with small, sharp horns, passed with the rapidity of a +water-spout. Their hair, bright red, looked like a cloud of fire under +the tall underwood of the forest. + +"I had warned you," said Harris, when the novice returned to take his +place. + +Those antelopes were so light of foot, that it had been truly +impossible to distinguish them; but it was not so with another troop of +animals which was signaled the same day. Those could be +seen--imperfectly, it is true--but their apparition led to a rather +singular discussion between Harris and some of his companions. + +The little troop, about four o'clock in the afternoon, had stopped for +a moment near an opening in the woods, when three or four animals of +great height went out of a thicket a hundred steps off, and scampered +away at once with remarkable speed. + +In spite of the American's recommendations, this time the novice, +having quickly shouldered his gun, fired at one of these animals. But +at the moment when the charge was going off, the weapon had been +rapidly turned aside by Harris, and Dick Sand, skilful as he was, had +missed his aim. + +"No firing; no firing!" said the American. + +"Ah, now, but those are giraffes!" cried Dick Sand, without otherwise +replying to Harris's observation. + +"Giraffes!" repeated Jack, standing up on the horse's saddle. "Where +are they, the large beasts?" + +"Giraffes!" replied Mrs. Weldon. "You are mistaken, my dear Dick. There +are no giraffes in America." + +"Indeed," said Harris, who appeared rather surprised, "there cannot be +any giraffes in this country." + +"What, then?" said Dick Sand. + +"I really do not know what to think," replied Harris. "Have not your +eyes deceived you, my young friend, and are not those animals more +likely to be ostriches?" + +"Ostriches!" repeated Dick Sand and Mrs. Weldon, looking at each other +in great surprise. + +"Yes, only ostriches," repeated Harris. + +"But ostriches are birds," returned Dick Sand, "and consequently they +have only two feet." + +"Well," replied Harris, "I indeed thought I saw that those animals, +which have just made off so rapidly, were bipeds." + +"Bipeds!" replied the novice. + +"Indeed it seemed to me that I saw animals with four legs," then said +Mrs. Weldon. + +"I also," added old Tom; then Bat, Acteon, and Austin confirmed those +words. + +"Ostriches with four legs!" cried Harris, with a burst of laughter. +"That would be ridiculous!" + +"So," returned Dick Sand, "we have believed they were giraffes, and not +ostriches." + +"No, my young friend, no," said Harris. "You have certainly seen badly. +That is explained by the rapidity with which those animals have flown +away. Besides, it has happened more than once that hunters have been +deceived like you, and in the best faith in the world." + +What the American said was very plausible. Between an ostrich of great +height and a giraffe of medium height, seen at a certain distance, it +is easy to make a mistake. If it were a question of a beak or a nose, +both are none the less joined to the end of a long neck turned +backward, and, strictly speaking, it may be said that an ostrich is +only a half giraffe. It only needs the hind legs. Then, this biped and +this quadruped, passing rapidly, on a sudden may, very properly, be +taken one for the other. + +Besides, the best proof that Mrs. Weldon and the others were mistaken +was that there are no giraffes in America. + +Dick Sand then made this reflection: + +"But I believed that ostriches were not met with in the New World any +more than giraffes." + +"Yes, my young friend," replied Harris; "and, indeed, South America +possesses a peculiar species. To this species belongs the 'nandon,' +which you have just seen." + +Harris spoke the truth. The "nandon" is a long-legged bird, rather +common in the plains of South America, and its flesh, when it is young, +is good to eat. + +This strong animal, whose height sometimes exceeds two meters, has a +straight beak; wings long, and formed of tufted feathers of a bluish +shade; feet formed of three claws, furnished with nails--which +essentially distinguishes it from the ostriches of Africa. + +These very exact details were given by Harris, who appeared to be very +strongly posted on the manners of the "nandons." + +Mrs. Weldon and her companions were obliged to acknowledge that they +had been deceived. + +"Besides," added Harris, "possibly we may encounter another band of +these ostriches. Well, next time look better, and no longer allow +yourselves to takes birds for quadrupeds! But above all, my young +friend, do not forget my recommendations, and do not fire on any animal +whatsoever. We have no need of hunting to procure food, and no +detonation of a fire-arm must announce our presence in this forest." + +Meanwhile Dick Sand remained pensive. Once more a doubt had just arisen +on his mind. + +The next day, April 17th, the march was continued, and the American +affirmed that twenty-four hours would not pass before the little troop +should be installed at the Farm of San Felice. + +"There, Mrs. Weldon," added he, "you will receive all the care +necessary to your position, and a few days' rest will quite restore +you. Perhaps you will not find at this farm the luxury to which you are +accustomed in your residence in San Francisco, but you will see that +our improved lands in the interior do not lack what is comfortable. We +are not absolutely savages." + +"Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon, "if we have only thanks to offer you +for your generous resort, at least we shall offer them to you with all +our hearts. Yes! It is time for us to arrive there!" + +"You are very much fatigued, Mrs. Weldon?" + +"I, no matter!" replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I perceive that my little +Jack is gradually becoming exhausted! The fever begins to affect him at +certain hours!" + +"Yes," replied Harris, "and although the climate of this plateau is +very healthful, it must be acknowledged that in March and April +intermittent fevers reign." + +"Doubtless," then said Dick Sand, "but also Nature, who is always and +everywhere provident, has put the remedy near the evil!" + +"And how is that, my young friend?" asked Harris, who did not seem to +understand. + +"Are we not, then, in the region of the quinquinas?" replied Dick Sand. + +"In fact," said Harris, "you are perfectly right. The trees which +furnish, the precious febrifuge bark are native here." + +"I am even astonished," added Dick Sand, "that we have not yet seen a +single one." + +"Ah! my young friend," replied Harris, "those trees are not easy to +distinguish. Though they are often of great height, though their leaves +are large, their flowers rosy and odoriferous, we do not discover them +easily. It is rarely that they grow in groups. They are rather +scattered through the forests, and the Indians who collect the +quinquina can only recognize them by their foliage, always green." + +"Mr. Harris," said Mrs. Weldon, "if you see one of those trees you will +show it to me." + +"Certainly, Mrs. Weldon, but at the farm you will find some sulphate of +quinine. That is worth still more to break the fever than the simple +bark of the tree." + +Formerly, this bark was only reduced to powder, which bore the name of +"Jesuits' Powder," because, in 1649, the Jesuits of Rome received a +considerable quantity from their mission in America. + +This last day of the journey passed without other incident. Evening +came and the halt was organized for the whole night as usual. Till then +it had not rained, but the weather was preparing to change, for a warm +mist rose from the soil and soon found a thick fog. + +They were touching, in fact, on the rainy season. Fortunately, the next +day, a comfortable shelter would be hospitably offered to the little +troop. There were only a few hours to elapse. + +Though, according to Harris, who could only establish his calculation +by the time which the journey had lasted, they could not be more than +six miles from the farm, the ordinary precautions were taken for the +night. Tom and his companions would watch one after the other. Dick +Sand insisted that nothing should be neglected in that respect. Less +than ever, would he depart from his habitual prudence, for a terrible +suspicion was incrusted in his mind; but he did not wish to say +anything yet. + +The retiring to rest had been made at the feet of a group of large +trees. Fatigue aiding, Mrs. Weldon and hers were already asleep, when +they were awakened by a great cry. + +"Eh! what's the matter?" asked Dick Sand, quickly, who was on his feet +first of all. + +"It is I! it is I who have cried!" replied Cousin Benedict. + +"And what is the matter with you?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"I have just been bit!" + +"By a serpent?" asked Mrs. Weldon, with alarm. + +"No, no! It was not a serpent, but an insect," replied Cousin Benedict. +"Ah! I have it! I have it!" + +"Well, crush your insect," said Harris, "and let us sleep, Mr. +Benedict!" + +"Crush an insect!" cried Cousin Benedict. "Not so! I must see what it +is!" + +"Some mosquito!" said Harris, shrugging his shoulders. + +"No! It is a fly," replied Cousin Benedict, "and a fly which ought to +be very curious!" + +Dick Sand had lit a little portable lantern, and he approached Cousin +Benedict. + +"Divine goodness!" cried the latter. "Behold what consoles me for all +my deceptions! I have, then, at last made a discovery!" + +The honest man was raving. He looked at his fly in triumph. He would +willingly kiss it. + +"But what is it, then?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"A dipter, cousin, a famous dipter!" And Cousin Benedict showed a fly +smaller than a bee, of a dull color, streaked with yellow on the lower +part of its body. + +"And this fly is not venomous?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"No, cousin, no; at least not for man. But for animals, for antelopes, +for buffaloes, even for elephants, it is another thing. Ah! adorable +insect!" + +"At last," asked Dick Sand, "will you tell us, Mr. Benedict, what is +this fly?" + +"This fly," replied the entomologist, "this fly that I hold between my +fingers, this fly--it is a _tsetse_! It is that famous dipter that is +the honor of a country, and, till now, no one has ever found a _tsetse_ +in America!" + +Dick Sand did not dare to ask Cousin Benedict in what part of the world +this redoubtable _tsetse_ was only to be met. And when his companions, +after this incident, had returned to their interrupted sleep, Dick +Sand, in spite of the fatigue which overwhelmed him, did not close his +eyes the whole night. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE TERRIBLE WORD. + + +It was time to arrive. Extreme lassitude made it impossible for Mrs. +Weldon to continue any longer a journey made under such painful +conditions. Her little boy, crimson during the fits of fever, very pale +during the intermissions, was pitiable to see. His mother extremely +anxious, had not been willing to leave Jack even in the care of the +good Nan. She held him, half-lying, in her arms. + +Yes, it was time to arrive. But, to trust to the American, on the very +evening of this day which was breaking--the evening of the 18th of +April, the little troop should finally reach the shelter of the +"hacienda" of San Felice. + +Twelve days' journey for a woman, twelve nights passed in the open air; +it was enough to overwhelm Mrs. Weldon, energetic as she was. But, for +a child, it was worse, and the sight of little Jack sick, and without +the most ordinary cares, had sufficed to crush her. + +Dick Sand, Nan, Tom, and his companions had supported the fatigues of +the journey better. + +Their provisions, although they were commencing to get exhausted, had +not become injured, and their condition was satisfactory. + +As for Harris, he seemed made for the difficulties of these long +journeys across the forests, and it did not appear that fatigue could +affect him. Only, in proportion as he neared the farm, Dick Sand +observed that he was more preoccupied and less frank in behavior than +before. The contrary would have been more natural. This was, at least, +the opinion of the young novice, who had now become more than +suspicious of the American. And meanwhile, what interest could Harris +have in deceiving them? Dick Sand could not have explained it, but he +watched their guide more closely. + +The American probably felt himself suspected by Dick Sand, and, no +doubt, it was this mistrust which made him still more taciturn with +"his young friend." + +The march had been resumed. + +In the forest, less thick, the trees were scattered in groups, and no +longer formed impenetrable masses. Was it, then, the true pampas of +which Harris had spoken? + +During the first hours of the day, no accident happened to aggravate +the anxieties that Dick Sand felt. Only two facts were observed by him. +Perhaps they were not very important, but in these actual junctures, no +detail could be neglected. + +It was the behavior of Dingo which, above all, attracted more +especially the young man's attention. + +In fact the dog, which, during all this journey, had seemed to be +following a scent, became quite different, and that almost suddenly. +Until then, his nose to the ground, generally smelling the herbs or the +shrubs, he either kept quiet, or he made a sort of sad, barking noise, +like an expression of grief or of regret. + +Now, on this day, the barking of the singular animal became like +bursts, sometimes furious, such as they formerly were when Negoro +appeared on the deck of the "Pilgrim." A suspicion crossed suddenly +Dick Sand's mind, and it was confirmed by Tom, who said to him: + +"How very singular, Mr. Dick! Dingo no longer smells the ground as he +did yesterday! His nose is in the air, he is agitated, his hair stands +up! One would think he scented in the distance----" + +"Negoro, is it not so?" replied Dick Sand, who seized the old black's +arm, and signed to him to speak in a low voice. + +"Negoro, Mr. Dick! May it not be that he has followed our steps?" + +"Yes, Tom; and that at this moment even he may not be very far from us." + +"But why?" said Tom. + +"Either Negoro does not know this country," went on Dick Sand, "and +then he would have every interest in not losing sight of us----" + +"Or?" said Tom, who anxiously regarded the novice. + +"Or," replied Dick Sand, "he does know it, and then he----" + +"But how should Negoro know this country? He has never come here!" + +"Has he never been here?" murmured Dick Sand. + +"It is an incontestable fact that Dingo acts as if this man whom he +detests were near us!" + +Then, interrupting himself to call the dog, which, after some +hesitation, came to him: + +"Eh!" said he; "Negoro! Negoro!" + +A furious barking was Dingo's reply. This name had its usual effect +upon him, and he darted forward, as if Negoro had been hidden behind +some thicket. + +Harris had witnessed all this scene. With his lips a little drawn, he +approached the novice. + +"What did you ask Dingo then?" said he. + +"Oh, not much, Mr. Harris," replied old Tom, jokingly. "We asked him +for news of the ship-companion whom we have lost!" + +"Ah!" said the American, "the Portuguese, the ship's cook of whom you +have already spoken to me?" + +"Yes." replied Tom. "One would say, to hear Dingo, that Negoro is in +the vicinity." + +"How could he get as far as this?" replied Harris. + +"He never was in this country that I know of; at least, he concealed it +from us," replied Tom. + +"It would be astonishing," said Harris. "But, if you wish, we will beat +these thickets. It is possible that this poor devil has need of help; +that he is in distress." + +"It is useless, Mr. Harris," replied Dick Sand. "If Negoro has known +how to come as far as this, he will know how to go farther. He is a man +to keep out of trouble." + +"As you please," replied Harris. + +"Let us go. Dingo, be quiet," added Dick Sand, briefly, so as to end +the conversation. + +The second observation made by the novice was in connection with the +American horse. He did not appear to "feel the stable," as do animals +of his species. He did not suck in the air; he did not hasten his +speed; he did not dilate his nostrils; he uttered none of the neighings +that indicate the end of a journey. To observe him well, he appeared to +be as indifferent as if the farm, to which he had gone several times, +however, and which he ought to know, had been several hundreds of miles +away. + +"That is not a horse near home," thought the young novice. + +And, meanwhile, according to what Harris had said the evening before, +there only remained six miles to go, and, of these last six miles, at +five o'clock in the evening four had been certainly cleared. + +Now, if the horse felt nothing of the stable, of which he should have +great need, nothing besides announced the approaches to a great +clearing, such as the Farm of San Felice must be. + +Mrs. Weldon, indifferent as she then was to what did not concern her +child, was struck at seeing the country still so desolate. What! not a +native, not a farm-servant, at such a short distance! Harris must be +wild! No! she repulsed this idea. A new delay would have been the death +of her little Jack! + +Meanwhile, Harris always kept in advance, but he seemed to observe the +depths of the wood, and looked to the right and left, like a man who +was not sure of himself--nor of his road. + +Mrs. Weldon shut her eyes so as not to see him. + +After a plain a mile in extent, the forest, without being as dense as +in the west, had reappeared, and the little troop was again lost under +the great trees. + +At six o'clock in the evening they had reached a thicket, which +appeared to have recently given passage to a band of powerful animals. +Dick Sand looked around him very attentively. At a distance winch far +surpassed the human height, the branches were torn off or broken. At +the same time the herbs, roughly scattered, exhibited on the soil, a +little marshy, prints of steps which could not be those of jaguars, or +cougars. + +Were these, then, the "ais," or some other tardi-graves, whose feet had +thus marked the soil? But how, then, explain the break in the branches +at such a height? + +Elephants might have, without doubt, left such imprints, stamped these +large traces, made a similar hole in the impenetrable underwood. But +elephants are not found in America. These enormous thick-skinned +quadrupeds are not natives of the New World. As yet, they have never +been acclimated there. + +The hypothesis that elephants had passed there was absolutely +inadmissible. + +However that might be, Dick Sand hardly knew how much this inexplicable +fact gave him to think about. He did not even question the American on +this point. What could he expect from a man who had tried to make him +take giraffes for ostriches? Harris would have given him some +explanation, more or less imaginative, which would not have changed the +situation. + +At all events, Dick had formed his opinion of Harris. He felt in him a +traitor! He only awaited an occasion to unmask his disloyalty, to have +the right to do it, and everything told him that this opportunity was +near. + +But what could be Harris's secret end? What future, then, awaited the +survivors of the "Pilgrim?" Dick Sand repeated to himself that his +responsibility had not ceased with the shipwreck. It was more than ever +necessary for him to provide for the safety of those whom the waves had +thrown on this coast! This woman, this young child, these blacks--all +his companions in misfortune--it was he alone who must save them! But, +if he could attempt anything on board ship, if he could act on the sea, +here, in the midst of the terrible trials which he foresaw, what part +could he take? + +Dick Sand would not shut his eyes before the frightful reality that +each instant made more indisputable. In this juncture he again became +the captain of fifteen years, as he had been on the "Pilgrim." But he +would not say anything which could alarm the poor mother before the +moment for action had arrived. + +And he said nothing, not even when, arrived on the bank of a rather +large stream, preceding the little troop about one hundred feet, he +perceived enormous animals, which threw themselves under the large +plants on the brink. + +"Hippopotami! hippopotami!" he was going to exclaim. + +And they were, indeed, these thick-skinned animals, with a big head, a +large, swollen snout, a mouth armed with teeth which extend a foot +beyond it--animals which are squat on their short limbs, the skin of +which, unprovided with hair, is of a tawny red. Hippopotami in America! + +They continued to march during the whole day, but painfully. Fatigue +commenced to retard even the most robust. It was truly time to arrive, +or they would be forced to stop. + +Mrs. Weldon, wholly occupied with her little Jack, did not perhaps feel +the fatigue, but her strength was exhausted. All, more or less, were +tired. Dick Sand, resisted by a supreme moral energy, caused by the +sentiment of duty. + +Toward four o'clock in the evening, old Tom found, in the grass, an +object which attracted his attention. It was an arm, a kind of knife, +of a particular shape, formed of a large, curved blade, set in a +square, ivory handle, rather roughly ornamented. Tom carried this knife +to Dick Sand, who took it, examined it, and, finally, showed it to the +American, saying: + +"No doubt the natives are not very far off." + +"That is so," replied Harris, "and meanwhile----" + +"Meanwhile?" repeated Dick Sand, who now steadily looked Harris in the +face. + +"We should be very near the farm," replied Harris, hesitating, "and I +do not recognize----" + +"You are then astray?" quickly asked Dick Sand. + +"Astray! no. The farm cannot be more than three miles away, now. But, I +wished to take the shortest road through the forest, and perhaps I have +made a little mistake!" + +"Perhaps," replied Dick Sand. + +"I would do well, I think, to go in advance," said Harris. + +"No, Mr. Harris, we will not separate," replied Dick Sand, in a decided +tone. + +"As you will," replied the American. "But, during the night, it will be +difficult for me to guide you." + +"Never mind that!" replied Dick Sand. "We are going to halt. Mrs. +Weldon will consent to pass a last night under the trees, and +to-morrow, when it is broad daylight, we will proceed on our journey! +Two or three miles still, that will be an hour's walk!" + +"Be it so," replied Harris. + +At that moment Dingo commenced to bark furiously. + +"Here, Dingo, here!" cried Dick Sand. "You know well that no one is +there, and that we are in the desert!" + +This last halt was then decided upon. + +Mrs. Weldon let her companions work without saying a word. Her little +Jack was sleeping in her arms, made drowsy by the fever. + +They sought the best place to pass the night. This was under a large +bunch of trees, where Dick Sand thought of disposing all for their +rest. But old Tom, who was helping him in these preparations, stopped +suddenly, crying out: + +"Mr. Dick! look! look!" + +"What is it, old Tom?" asked Dick Sand, in the calm tone of a man who +attends to everything. + +"There--there!" cried Tom; "on those trees--blood stains!--and--on the +ground--mutilated limbs!" + +Dick Sand rushed toward the spot indicated by old Tom. Then, returning +to him: "Silence, Tom, silence!" said he. + +In fact, there on the ground were hands cut off, and above these human +remains were several broken forks, and a chain in pieces! + +Happily, Mrs. Weldon had seen nothing of this horrible spectacle. + +As for Harris, he kept at a distance, and any one observing him at this +moment would have been struck at the change made in him. His face had +something ferocious in it. + +Dingo had rejoined Dick Sand, and before these bloody remains, he +barked with rage. + +The novice had hard work to drive him away. + +Meanwhile, old Tom, at the sight of these forks, of this broken chain, +had remained motionless, as if his feet were rooted in the soil. His +eyes were wide open, his hands clenched; he stared, murmuring these +incoherent words: + +"I have seen--already seen--these forks--when little--I have seen!" + +And no doubt the memories of his early infancy returned to him vaguely. +He tried to recall them. He was going to speak. + +"Be silent, Tom!" repeated Dick Sand. "For Mrs. Weldon's sake, for all +our sakes, be silent!" + +And the novice led the old black away. + +Another halting place was chosen, at some distance, and all was +arranged for the night. + +The repast was prepared, but they hardly touched it. Fatigue took away +their hunger. All were under an indefinable impression of anxiety which +bordered on terror. + +Darkness came gradually: soon it was profound. The sky was covered with +great stormy clouds. Between the trees in the western horizon they saw +some flashes of heat lightning. The wind had fallen; not a leaf moved +on the trees. An absolute silence succeeded the noises of the day, and +it might be believed that the heavy atmosphere, saturated with +electricity, was becoming unfit for the transmission of sounds. + +Dick Sand, Austin, and Bat watched together. They tried to see, to +hear, during this very dark night, if any light whatsoever, or any +suspicious noise should strike their eyes or their ears. Nothing +troubled either the calm or the obscurity of the forest. + +Torn, not sleepy, but absorbed in his remembrances, his head bent, +remained quiet, as if he had been struck by some sudden blow. + +Mrs. Weldon rocked her child in her arms, and only thought of him. + +Only Cousin Benedict slept, perhaps, for he alone did not suffer from +the common impression. His faculty for looking forward did not go so +far. + +Suddenly, about eleven o'clock, a prolonged and grave roaring was +heard, with which was mingled a sort of sharper shuddering. Tom stood +up and stretched out his hand toward a dense thicket, a mile or more +distant. + +Dick Sand seized his arm, but he could not prevent Tom from crying in a +loud voice: "The lion! the lion!" + +This roaring, which he had so often heard in his infancy, the old black +had just recognized it. + +"The lion!" he repeated. + +Dick Sand, incapable of controlling himself longer, rushed, cutlass in +hand, to the place occupied by Harris. + +Harris was no longer there, and his horse had disappeared with him. + +A sort of revelation took place in Dick Sand's mind. He was not where +he had believed he was! + +So it was not on the American coast that the "Pilgrim" had gone ashore! +It was not the Isle of Paques, whose bearing the novice had taken at +sea, but some other island situated exactly to the west of this +continent, as the Isle of Paques is situated to the west of America. + +The compass had deceived him during a part of the voyage, we know why! +Led away by the tempest over a false route, he must have doubled Cape +Horn, and from the Pacific Ocean he had passed into the Atlantic! The +speed of his ship, which he could only imperfectly estimate, had been +doubled, unknown to him, by the force of the hurricane! + +Behold why the caoutchouc trees, the quinquinas, the products of South +America were missing in this country, which was neither the plateau of +Atacama nor the Bolivian pampa! + +Yes, they were giraffes, not ostriches, which had fled away in the +opening! They were elephants that had crossed the thick underwood! They +were hippopotami whose repose Dick Sand had troubled under the large +plants! It was the _tsetse_, that dipter picked up by Benedict, the +formidable _tsetse_ under whose stings the animals of the caravans +perish! + +Finally, it was, indeed, the roaring of the lion that had just sounded +through the forest! And those forks, those chains, that knife of +singular form, they were the tools of the slave-trader! Those mutilated +hands, they were the hands of captives! + +The Portuguese Negoro, and the American Harris, must be in collusion! +And those terrible words guessed by Dick Sand, finally escaped his lips: + +"Africa! Equatorial Africa! Africa of the slave-trade and the slaves!" + +End of Part I + + + + +_PART II_ + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SLAVE TRADE. + + +The slave trade! Nobody is ignorant of the significance of this +word, which should never have found a place in human language. This +abominable traffic, for a long time practised to the profit of the +European nations which possessed colonies beyond the sea, has been +already forbidden for many years. Meanwhile it is always going on +a large scale, and principally in Central Africa. Even in this +nineteenth century the signature of a few States, calling themselves +Christians, are still missing from the Act for the Abolition of +Slavery. + +We might believe that the trade is no longer carried on; that this +buying and this selling of human creatures has ceased: it is not so, +and that is what the reader must know if he wishes to become more +deeply interested in the second part of this history. He must learn +what these men-hunts actually are still, these hunts which threaten +to depopulate a whole continent for the maintenance of a few slave +colonies; where and how these barbarous captures are executed; how +much blood they cost; how they provoke incendiarism and pillage; +finally, for whose profit they are made. + +It is in the fifteenth century only that we see the trade in blacks +carried on for the first time. Behold under what circumstances it was +established: + +The Mussulmans, after being expelled from Spain, took refuge beyond +the Strait on the coast of Africa. The Portuguese, who then occupied +that part of the coast, pursued them with fury. A certain number of +those fugitives were made prisoners and brought back to Portugal. +Reduced to slavery, they constituted the first nucleus of African +slaves which has been formed in Western Europe since the Christian +Era. + +But those Mussulmans belonged, for the most part, to rich families, +who wished to buy them back for gold. The Portuguese refused to accept +a ransom, however large it might be. They had only to make foreign +gold. What they lacked were the arms so indispensable then for the +work of the growing colonies, and, to say it all, the arms of the +slave. + +The Mussulman families, being unable to buy back their captive +relatives, then offered to exchange them for a much larger number of +black Africans, whom it was only too easy to carry off. The offer +was accepted by the Portuguese, who found that exchange to their +advantage, and thus the slave trade was founded in Europe. + +Toward the end of the sixteenth century this odious traffic was +generally admitted, and it was not repugnant to the still barbarous +manners. All the States protected it so as to colonize more rapidly +and more surely the isles of the New World. In fact, the slaves of +black origin could resist the climate, where the badly acclimated +whites, still unfit to support the heat of intertropical climates, +would have perished by thousands. The transport of negroes to the +American colonies was then carried on regularly by special vessels, +and this branch of transatlantic commerce led to the creation of +important stations on different points of the African coast. The +"merchandise" cost little in the country of production, and the +returns were considerable. + +But, necessary as was the foundation of the colonies beyond the sea +from all points of view, it could not justify those markets for human +flesh. Generous voices soon made themselves heard, which protested +against the trade in blacks, and demanded from the European +governments a decree of abolition in the name of the principles of +humanity. + +In 1751, the Quakers put themselves at the head of the abolition +movement, even in the heart of that North America where, a hundred +years later, the War of Secession was to burst forth, to which this +question of slavery was not a foreign one. Different States in the +North--Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania--decreed the +abolition of the slave trade, and freed the slaves brought to their +territories at great expense. + +But the campaign commenced by the Quakers did not limit itself to the +northern provinces of the New World. Slaveholders were warmly attacked +beyond the Atlantic. France and England, more particularly, recruited +partisans for this just cause. "Let the colonies perish rather than a +principle!" Such was the generous command which resounded through all +the Old World, and, in spite of the great political and commercial +interests engaged in the question, it was effectively transmitted +through Europe. + +The impetus was given. In 1807, England abolished the slave-trade +in her colonies, and France followed her example in 1814. The two +powerful nations exchanged a treaty on this subject--a treaty +confirmed by Napoleon during the Hundred Days. + +However, that was as yet only a purely theoretical declaration. The +slave-ships did not cease to cross the seas, and to dispose of their +"ebony cargoes" in colonial ports. + +More practical measures must be taken in order to put an end to this +commerce. The United States, in 1820, and England, in 1824, declared +the slave trade an act of piracy, and those who practised it pirates. +As such, they drew on themselves the penalty of death, and they were +pursued to the end. France soon adhered to the new treaty; but the +States of South America, and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, +did not join in the Act of Abolition. The exportation of blacks +then continued to their profit, notwithstanding the right of search +generally recognized, which was limited to the verification of the +flag of suspicious vessels. + +Meanwhile, the new Law of Abolition had not a retroactive effect. No +more new slaves were made, but the old ones had not yet recovered +their liberty. + +It was under those circumstances that England set an example. In May, +1833, a general declaration emancipated all the blacks in the colonies +of Great Britain, and in August, 1838, six hundred and seventy +thousand slaves were declared free. + +Ten years later, in 1848, the Republic emancipated the slaves of the +French colonies, say about two hundred and sixty thousand blacks. In +1861, the war which broke out between the Federals and Confederates, +of the United States, finishing the work of emancipation, extended it +to all North America. + +The three great powers had then accomplished this work of humanity. At +the present hour, the trade is no longer carried on, except for the +benefit of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and to satisfy the +wants of the populations of the Orient, Turks, or Arabs. Brazil, if +she has not yet restored her old slaves to liberty, at least no longer +receives new ones, and the children of the blacks are born free there. + +It is in the interior of Africa, in the prosecution of those bloody +wars, waged by the African chiefs among themselves for this man-hunt, +that entire tribes are reduced to slavery. Two opposite directions are +then given to the caravans: one to the west, toward the Portuguese +colony of Angola; the other to the east, on the Mozambique. Of these +unfortunate beings, of whom only a small portion arrive at their +destination, some are exported, it may be to Cuba, it may be to +Madagascar; others to the Arab or Turkish provinces of Asia, to Mecca, +or to Muscat. The English and French cruisers can only prevent +this traffic to a small extent, as it is so difficult to obtain an +effective surveillance over such far-extended coasts. + +But the figures of these odious exportations, are they still +considerable? + +Yes! The number of slaves who arrive at the coast is estimated at +not less than eighty thousand; and this number, it appears, only +represents the tenth of natives massacred. + +After these dreadful butcheries the devastated fields are deserted, +the burnt villages are without inhabitants, the rivers carry down dead +bodies, deer occupy the country. Livingstone, the day after one of +these men-hunts, no longer recognized the provinces he had visited +a few months before. All the other travelers--Grant, Speke, Burton, +Cameron, and Stanley--do not speak otherwise of this wooded plateau of +Central Africa, the principal theater of the wars between the chiefs. +In the region of the great lakes, over all that vast country which +feeds the market of Zanzibar, in Bornou and Fezzan, farther south, +on the banks of the Nyassa and the Zambesi, farther west, in the +districts of the upper Zaire, which the daring Stanley has just +crossed, is seen the same spectacle--ruins, massacres, depopulation. +Then will slavery in Africa only end with the disappearance of the +black race; and will it be with this race as it is with the Australian +race, or the race in New Holland? + +But the market of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies will close some +day. That outlet will be wanting. Civilized nations can no longer +tolerate the slave trade! + +Yes, without doubt; and this year even, 1878, ought to see the +enfranchisement of all the slaves still possessed by Christian States. +However, for long years to come the Mussulman nations will maintain +this traffic, which depopulates the African continent. It is for them, +in fact, that the most important emigration of the blacks is made, as +the number of natives snatched from their provinces and brought to +the eastern coast annually exceeds forty thousand. Long before the +expedition to Egypt the negroes of the Seunaar were sold by thousands +to the negroes of the Darfour, and reciprocally. General Bonaparte was +able to buy a pretty large number of these blacks, of whom he made +organized soldiers, like the Mamelukes. Since then, during this +century, of which four-fifths have now passed away, commerce in slaves +has not diminished in Africa. On the contrary. + +And, in fact, Islamism is favorable to the slave trade. The black +slave must replace the white slave of former times, in Turkish +provinces. So contractors of every origin pursue this execrable +traffic on a large scale. They thus carry a supplement of population +to those races, which are dying out and will disappear some day, +because they do not regenerate themselves by labor. These slaves, as +in the time of Bonaparte, often become soldiers. With certain nations +of the upper Niger, they compose the half of the armies of the African +chiefs. Under these circumstances, their fate is not sensibly inferior +to that of free men. Besides, when the slave is not a soldier, he is +money which has circulation; even in Egypt and at Bornou, officers and +functionaries are paid in that money. William Lejean has seen it and +has told of it. + +Such is, then, the actual state of the trade. + +Must it be added that a number of agents of the great European powers +are not ashamed to show a deplorable indulgence for this commerce. +Nevertheless, nothing is truer; while the cruisers watch the coasts of +the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, the traffic goes on regularly +in the interior, the caravans walk on under the eyes of certain +functionaries, and massacres, where ten blacks perish to furnish one +slave, take place at stated periods! + +So it will now be understood how terrible were those words just +pronounced by Dick Sand. + +"Africa! Equatorial Africa! Africa of slave-traders and slaves!" + +And he was not deceived; it was Africa with all its dangers, for his +companions and for himself. + +But on what part of the African continent had an inexplicable fatality +landed him? Evidently on the western coast, and as an aggravating +circumstance, the young novice was forced to think that the "Pilgrim" +was thrown on precisely that part of the coast of Angola where the +caravans, which clear all that part of Africa, arrive. + +In fact it was there. It was that country which Cameron on the south +and Stanley on the north were going to cross a few years later, and at +the price of what efforts! Of this vast territory, which is composed +of three provinces, Benguela, Congo, and Angola, there was but little +known then except the coast. It extends from the Nourse, in the south, +as far as the Zaire in the north, and the two principal towns form two +ports, Benguela and St. Paul' de Loanda, the capital of the colony +which set off from the kingdom of Portugal. + +In the interior this country was then almost unknown. Few travelers +had dared to venture there. A pernicious climate, warm and damp lands, +which engender fevers, barbarous natives, some of whom are still +cannibals, a permanent state of war between tribes, the slave-traders' +suspicion of every stranger who seeks to discover the secrets of their +infamous commerce; such are the difficulties to surmount, the dangers +to overcome in this province of Angola, one of the most dangerous of +equatorial Africa. + +Tuckey, in 1816, had ascended the Congo beyond the Yellala Falls; +but over an extent of two hundred miles at the most. This simple +halting-place could not give a definite knowledge of the country, +and nevertheless, it had caused the death of the greater part of the +savants and officers who composed the expedition. Thirty-seven years +later, Dr. Livingstone had advanced from the Cape of Good Hope as +far as the upper Zambesi. Thence, in the month of November, with a +hardihood which has never been surpassed, he traversed Africa from the +south to the northwest, cleared the Coango, one of the branches of the +Congo, and on the 31st of May, 1854, arrived at St. Paul de Loanda. It +was the first view in the unknown of the great Portuguese Colony. + +Eighteen years after, two daring discoverers crossed Africa from the +east to the west, and arrived, one south, the other north, of Angola, +after unheard-of difficulties. + +The first, according to the date, was a lieutenant in the English +navy, Verney-Howet Cameron. In 1872, there was reason to fear that the +expedition of the American, Stanley, was in great danger. It had been +sent to the great lake region in search of Livingstone. Lieutenant +Cameron offered to go over the same road. + +The offer was accepted. Cameron, accompanied by Dr. Dillon, Lieutenant +Cecil Murphy and Robert Moffat, a nephew of Livingstone, started from +Zanzibar. After having crossed Ougogo, he met Livingstone's faithful +servants carrying their master's body to the eastern coast. He +continued his route to the west, with the unconquerable desire to pass +from one coast to the other. + +He crossed Ounyanyembe, Ougounda, and Kahouele, where he collected +the great traveler's papers. Having passed over Tanganyika, and the +Bambarre mountains, he reached Loualaba, but could not descend its +course. After having visited all the provinces devastated by war and +depopulated by the slave trade, Kilemmba, Ouroua, the sources of the +Lomane, Oulouda, Lovale, and having crossed the Coanza and the +immense forests in which Harris has just entrapped Dick Sand and his +companions, the energetic Cameron finally perceived the Atlantic Ocean +and arrived at Saint Philip of Benguela. This journey of three years +and four months had cost the lives of his two companions, Dr. Dillon +and Robert Moffat. + +Henry Moreland Stanley, the American, almost immediately succeeded the +Englishman, Cameron, on the road of discoveries. We know that this +intrepid correspondent of the New York _Herald_, sent in search of +Livingstone, had found him on October 30th, 1871, at Oujiji, on Lake +Tanganyika. Having so happily accomplished his object for the sake of +humanity, Stanley determined to pursue his journey in the interest of +geographical science. His object then was to gain a complete knowledge +of Loualaba, of which he had only had a glimpse. + +Cameron was then lost in the provinces of Central Africa, when, in +November, 1874, Stanley quitted Bagamoga, on the eastern coast. +Twenty-one months after, August 24th, 1876, he abandoned Oujiji, which +was decimated by an epidemic of smallpox. In seventy-four days he +effected the passage of the lake at N'yangwe, a great slave market, +which had been already visited by Livingstone and Cameron. Here he +witnessed the most horrible scenes, practised in the Maroungou and +Manyouema countries by the officers of the Sultan of Zanzibar. + +Stanley then took measures to explore the course of the Loualaba and +to descend it as far as its mouth. One hundred and forty bearers, +engaged at N'yangwe, and nineteen boats, formed the material and the +force of his expedition. + +From the very start he had to fight the cannibals of Ougouson. From +the start, also, he had to attend to the carrying of boats, so as to +pass insuperable cataracts. + +Under the equator, at the point where the Loualaba makes a bend to +the northeast, fifty-four boats, manned by several hundred natives, +attacked Stanley's little fleet, which succeeded in putting them to +flight. Then the courageous American, reascending as far as the second +degree of northern latitude, ascertained that the Loualaba was the +upper Zaire, or Congo, and that by following its course he could +descend directly to the sea. + +This he did, fighting nearly every day against the tribes that lived +near the river. On June 3d, 1877, at the passage of the cataracts of +Massassa, he lost one of his companions, Francis Pocock. July 18th he +was drawn with his boat into the falls of M'belo, and only escaped +death by a miracle. + +Finally, August 6th, Henry Stanley arrived at the village of Ni-Sanda, +four days' journey from the coast. + +Two days after, at Banza-M'bouko, he found the provisions sent by two +merchants from Emboma. + +He finally rested at this little coast town, aged, at thirty-five +years, by over-fatigue and privations, after an entire passage of the +African continent, which had taken two years and nine months of his +life. + +However, the course of the Loualaba was explored as far as the +Atlantic; and if the Nile is the great artery of the North, if the +Zambesi is the great artery of the East, we now know that Africa still +possesses in the West the third of the largest rivers in the world--a +river which, in a course of two thousand, nine hundred miles, under +the names of Loualaba, Zaire, and Congo, unites the lake region with +the Atlantic Ocean. + +However, between these two books of travel--Stanley's and +Cameron's--the province of Angola is somewhat better known in this +year than in 1873, at that period when the "Pilgrim" was lost on the +African coast. It was well known that it was the seat of the western +slave-trade, thanks to its important markets of Bihe, Cassange, and +Kazounde. + +It was into this country that Dick Sand had been drawn, more than one +hundred miles from the coast, with a woman exhausted by fatigue and +grief, a dying child, and some companions of African descent, the +prey, as everything indicated, to the rapacity of slave merchants. + +Yes, it was Africa, and not that America where neither the natives, +nor the deer, nor the climate are very formidable. It was not that +favorable region, situated between the Cordilleras and the coast, +where straggling villages abound, and where missions are hospitably +opened to all travelers. + +They were far away, those provinces of Peru and Bolivia, where the +tempest would have surely carried the "Pilgrim," if a criminal hand +had not changed its course, where the shipwrecked ones would have +found so many facilities for returning to their country. + +It was the terrible Angola, not even that part of the coast inspected +by the Portuguese authorities, but the interior of the colony, which +is crossed by caravans of slaves under the whip of the driver. + +What did Dick Sand know of this country where treason had thrown him? +Very little; what the missionaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries had said of it; what the Portuguese merchants, who +frequented the road from St. Paul de Loanda to the Zaïre, by way of +San Salvador, knew of it; what Dr. Livingstone had written about it, +after his journey of 1853, and that would have been sufficient to +overwhelm a soul less strong than his. + +Truly, the situation was terrible. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HARRIS AND NEGORO. + + +The day after that on which Dick Sand and his companions had +established their last halt in the forest, two men met together about +three miles from there, as it had been previously arranged between +them. + +These two men were Harris and Negoro; and we are going to see now what +chance had brought together, on the coast of Angola, the Portuguese +come from New Zealand, and the American, whom the business of trader +obliged to often traverse this province of Western Africa. + +Harris and Negoro were seated at the foot of an enormous banyan, on +the steep bank of an impetuous stream, which ran between a double +hedge of papyrus. + +The conversation commenced, for the Portuguese and the American +had just met, and at first they dwelt on the deeds which had been +accomplished during these last hours. + +"And so, Harris," said Negoro, "you have not been able to draw this +little troop of Captain Sand, as they call this novice of fifteen +years, any farther into Angola?" + +"No, comrade," replied Harris; "and it is even astonishing that I have +succeeded in leading him a hundred miles at least from the coast. +Several days ago my young friend, Dick Sand, looked at me with an +anxious air, his suspicions gradually changed into certainties--and +faith--" + +"Another hundred miles, Harris, and those people would be still more +surely in our hands! However, they must not escape us!" + +"Ah! How could they?" replied Harris, shrugging his shoulders. "I +repeat it, Negoro, there was only time to part company with them. Ten +times have I read in my young friend's eyes that he was tempted to +send a ball into my breast, and I have too bad a stomach to digest +those prunes which weigh a dozen to the pound." + +"Good!" returned Negoro; "I also have an account to settle with this +novice." + +"And you shall settle it at your ease, with interest, comrade. As to +me, during the first three days of the journey I succeeded very well +in making him take this province for the Desert of Atacama, which +I visited formerly. But the child claimed his caoutchoucs and his +humming-birds. The mother demanded her quinquinas. The cousin was +crazy to find cocuyos. Faith, I was at the end of my imagination, +and after with great difficulty making them swallow ostriches for +giraffes--a god-send, indeed, Negoro!--I no longer knew what to +invent. Besides, I well saw that my young friend no longer accepted my +explanations. Then we fell on elephants' prints. The hippopotami were +added to the party. And you know, Negoro, hippopotami and elephants +in America are like honest men in the penitentiaries of Benguela. +Finally, to finish me, there was the old black, who must find forks +and chains at the foot of a tree. Slaves had freed themselves from +them to flee. At the same moment the lion roared, starting the +company, and it is not easy to pass off that roaring for the mewing +of an inoffensive cat. I then had only time to spring on my horse and +make my way here." + +"I understand," replied Negoro. "Nevertheless, I would wish to hold +them a hundred miles further in the province."' + +"One does what he can, comrade," replied Harris. "As to you, who +followed our caravan from the coast, you have done well to keep your +distance. They felt you were there. There is a certain Dingo that does +not seem to love you. What have you done to that animal?" + +"Nothing," replied Negoro; "but before long it will receive a ball in +the head." + +"As you would have received one from Dick Sand, if you had shown ever +so little of your person within two hundred feet of his gun. Ah! how +well he fires, my young friend; and, between you and me, I am obliged +to admit that he is, in his way, a fine boy." + +"No matter how fine he is, Harris, he will pay dear for his +insolence," replied Negoro, whose countenance expressed implacable +cruelty. + +"Good," murmured Harris, "my comrade remains just the same as I have +always known him! Voyages have not injured him!" + +Then, after a moment's silence: "Ah, there, Negoro," continued he, +"when I met you so fortunately there below, at the scene of the +shipwreck, at the mouth of the Longa, you only had time to recommend +those honest people to me, while begging me to lead them as far as +possible across this pretended Bolivia. You have not told me what you +have been doing these two years! Two years, comrade, in our chance +existence, is a long time. One fine day, after having taken charge of +a caravan of slaves on old Alvez's account--whose very humble agents +we are--you left Cassange, and have not been heard of since! I have +thought that you had some disagreement with the English cruiser, and +that you were hung!" + +"I came very near it, Harris." + +"That will come, Negoro." + +"Thank you!" + +"What would you have?" replied Harris, with an indifference quite +philosophical; "it is one of the chances of the trade! We do not carry +on the slave-trade on the coast of Africa without running the risk of +dying elsewhere than in our beds! So, you have been taken?" + +"Yes!" + +"By the English?" + +"No! By the Portuguese." + +"Before or after having delivered your cargo?" asked Harris. + +"After--," replied Negoro, who had hesitated a little about replying. +"These Portuguese now make difficulties. They want no more slavery, +though they have used it so long to their profit. I was denounced +--watched. They took me--" + +"And condemned--" + +"Me to finish my days in the penitentiary of St. Paul de Loanda." + +"A thousand devils!" exclaimed Harris. "That is an unhealthy place for +men accustomed, like us, to live in the open air. As to me, perhaps I +should prefer being hung." + +"One does not escape from the gallows," replied Negoro; "but from +prison--" + +"You were able to make your escape?" + +"Yes, Harris. Only fifteen days after being put in prison. I was +able to hide myself at the bottom of the hold of an English steamer, +sailing for Auckland, of New Zealand. A barrel of water and a case of +conserves, between which I had intruded, furnished me with food and +drink during the whole passage. Oh! I suffered terribly, from not +being willing to show myself when we were at sea. But, if I had been +imprudent enough to do it, I would have been confined again at the +bottom of the hold, and, voluntarily or not, the torture would be the +same. Besides, on my arrival at Auckland, they would have returned me +again to the English authorities, and finally brought me back to the +penitentiary of Loanda, or, perhaps, hung me, as you said. That was +why I preferred to travel incognito." + +"And without paying your passage!" exclaimed Harris, laughing. "Ah! +that is not considerate, comrade, to be fed and carried gratis!" + +"Yes," returned Negoro, "but thirty days' passage at the bottom of the +hold--" + +"At last that was over, Negoro. You set out for New Zealand, in the +land of the Maoris. But you have returned. Was the return made under +the same circumstances?" + +"Not so, Harris. You may well believe that, over there, I had only one +idea--to return to Angola and take up my trade of slave-trader again." + +"Yes," replied Harris, "one loves his trade--from habit." + +"For eighteen months--" + +Having pronounced those last words, Negoro stopped suddenly. He seized +his companion's arm, and listened. + +"Harris," said he, lowering his voice, "was there not a trembling in +that papyrus bush?" + +"Yes, indeed," replied Harris, seizing his gun, always ready to fire. + +Negoro and he stood up, looked around them, and listened with the +greatest attention. + +"There is nothing there," said Harris. "It is this brook, swelled by +the storm, which runs more noisily. For two years, comrade, you have +been unaccustomed to the noises of the forest, but you will get used +to them again. Continue, then, the narration of your adventures. When +I understand the past, we shall talk of the future." + +Negoro and Harris sat down again at the foot of the banyan. The +Portuguese continued, in these terms: + +"For eighteen months I vegetated in Auckland. When the steamer arrived +there I was able to leave it without being seen; but not a piastre, +not a dollar in my pocket! In order to live I had to follow all +trades--" + +"Even the trade of an honest man, Negoro?" + +"As you say, Harris." + +"Poor boy!" + +"Now, I was always waiting for an opportunity, which was long coming, +when the 'Pilgrim,' a whaler, arrived at the port of Auckland." + +"That vessel which went ashore on the coast of Angola?" + +"Even the same, Harris, and on which Mrs. Weldon, her child, and her +cousin were going to take passage. Now, as an old sailor, having even +been second on board a slave ship, I was not out of my element in +taking service on a ship. I then presented myself to the 'Pilgrim's' +captain, but the crew was made up. Very fortunately for me, the +schooner's cook had deserted. Now, he is no sailor who does not know +how to cook. I offered myself as head cook. For want of a better, I +was accepted. A few days after, the 'Pilgrim' had lost sight of the +land of New Zealand." + +"But," asked Harris, "according to what my young friend has told me, +the 'Pilgrim' did not set sail at all for the coast of Africa. How +then has she arrived here?" + +"Dick Sand ought not to be able to understand it yet, and perhaps he +will never understand it," replied Negoro; "but I am going to explain +to you what has passed, Harris, and you will be able to tell it again +to your young friend, if it pleases you to do so." + +"How, then?" replied Harris. "Speak, comrade, speak!" + +"The 'Pilgrim,'" continued Negoro, "as on the way to Valparaiso. When +I went on board, I only intended to go to Chili. It was always a good +half of the way between New Zealand and Angola, and I was drawing +nearer Africa's coast by several thousand miles. But it so happened +that only three weeks after leaving Auckland, Captain Hull, who +commanded the 'Pilgrim,' disappeared with all his crew, while chasing +a whale. On that day, then, only two sailors remained on board--the +novice and the cook, Negoro." + +"And you took command of the ship?" asked Harris. + +"I had that idea at first, but I saw that they distrusted me. There +were live strong blacks on board, free men. I would not have been +the master, and, on reflection, I remained what I was at the +departure--the 'Pilgrim's' cook." + +"Then it was chance that led this ship to the coast of Africa?" + +"No, Harris," replied Negoro; "there has been no chance in all this +adventure except meeting you, in one of your journeys, just on that +part of the coast where the 'Pilgrim' was wrecked. But as to coming +in sight of Angola, it was by my will, my secret will, that that was +done. Your young friend, still much of a novice in navigation, could +only tell his position by means of the log and the compass. Well, one +day, the log went to the bottom. One night the compass was made false, +and the 'Pilgrim,' driven by a violent tempest, took the wrong route. +The length of the voyage, inexplicable to Dick Sand, would be the same +to the most experienced seaman. Without the novice knowing or even +suspecting it, Cape Horn was doubled, but I, Harris, I recognized +it in the midst of the fogs. Then, thanks to me, the needle in the +compass took its true direction again, and the ship, blown to the +northeast by that frightful hurricane, has just been cast on the coast +of Africa, just on this land of Angola which I wished to reach." + +"And even at that moment, Negoro," replied Harris, "chance had led me +there to receive you, and guide those honest people to the interior. +They believed themselves--they could only believe themselves in +America. It was easy for me to make them take this province for lower +Bolivia, to which it has really some resemblance." + +"Yes, they believed it, as your young friend believed they had made +the Isle of Paques, when they passed in sight of Tristan d'Acunha." + +"Anybody would be deceived by it, Negoro." + +"I know it, Harris, and I even counted on profiting by that error. +Finally, behold Mrs. Weldon and her companions one hundred miles in +the interior of this Africa, where I wanted to bring them!" + + +"But," replied Harris, "they know now where they are." + +"Ah! what matter at present!" cried Negoro. + +"And what will you do with them?" asked Harris. + +"What will I do with them?" replied Negoro. "Before telling you, +Harris, give me news of our master, the slave-trader, Alvez, whom I +have not seen for two years." + +"Oh, the old rascal is remarkably well," replied Harris, "and he will +be enchanted to see you again." + +"Is he at the Bihe market?" asked Negoro. + +"No, comrade, he has been at his establishment at Kazounde for a +year." + +"And business is lively?" + +"Yes, a thousand devils!" exclaimed Harris, "although the slave +trade becomes more and more difficult, at least on this coast. The +Portuguese authorities on one side, and the English cruisers on +the other, limit exportations. There are few places, except in the +environs of Mossamedes, to the south of Angola, that the shipping of +blacks can now be made with any chance of success. So, at this time, +the pens are filled with slaves, waiting for the ships which ought to +carry them to Spanish colonies. As to passing them by Benguela, or +St. Paul de Loanda, that is not possible. The governors no longer +understand reason, no more do the chiefs (title given to the +Portuguese governors of secondary establishments). We must, then, +return to the factories of the interior. This is what old Alvez +intends to do. He will go from the Nyangwe and Tanganyika side to +change his stuffs for ivory and slaves. Business is always profitable +with upper Egypt and the Mozambique coast, which furnishes all +Madagascar. But I fear the time will come when the trade can be no +longer carried on. The English are making great progress in the +interior of Africa. The missionaries advance and work against us. That +Livingstone, curse him, after exploring the lake region, is going, +they say, to travel toward Angola. Then they speak of a Lieutenant +Cameron, who proposes to cross the continent from east to west. They +also fear that the American, Stanley, wishes to do as much. All these +visits will end by damaging our operations, Negoro, and if we care for +our own interests, not one of those visitors will return to relate in +Europe what he has had the indiscretion to come to see in Africa." + +Would not one say, to hear them, the rascals, that they were speaking +like honest merchants whose affairs were momentarily cramped by a +commercial crisis? Who would believe that, instead of sacks of coffee +or casks of sugar, they were talking of human beings to export like +merchandise? These traders have no other idea of right or wrong. The +moral sense is entirely lacking in them, and if they had any, how +quickly they would lose it among the frightful atrocities of the +African slave trade. + +But where Harris was right, was when he said that civilization was +gradually penetrating those savage countries in the wake of those +hardy travelers, whose names are indissoluble linked to the +discoveries of Equatorial Africa. At the head, David Livingstone, +after him, Grant, Speke, Burton, Cameron, Stanley, those heroes will +leave imperishable names as benefactors of humanity. + +When their conversation reached that point, Harris knew what the last +two years of Negoro's life had been. The trader Alvez's old agent, the +escaped prisoner from the Loanda penitentiary, reappeared the same as +Harris had always known him, that is, ready to do anything. But what +plan Negoro intended to take in regard to the shipwrecked from the +"Pilgrim," Harris did not yet know. He asked his accomplice about it. + +"And now," said he, "what are you going to do with those people?" + +"I shall make two parties of them," replied Negoro, like a man whose +plan had been long formed, "those whom I shall sell as slaves, and +those whom----" + +The Portuguese did not finish, but his ferocious physiognomy spoke +plainly enough. + +"Which will you sell?" asked Harris. + +"Those blacks who accompany Mrs. Weldon," replied Negoro. "Old Tom is +not perhaps of much value, but the others are four strong fellows, who +will bring a high price in the Kazounde market." + +"I well believe it, Negoro," replied Harris. "Four negroes, well made, +accustomed to work, have very little resemblance to those brutes which +come to us from the interior. Certainly, you will sell them at a high +price. Slaves, born in America, and exported to the markets of Angola; +that is rare merchandise! But," added the American, "you have not told +me if there was any money on board the 'Pilgrim.'" + +"Oh! a few hundred dollars only, which I have succeeded in saving. +Fortunately, I count on certain returns." + +"Which, then, comrade?" asked Harris, with curiosity. + +"Nothing!" replied Negoro, who appeared to regret having spoken more +than he intended. + +"It now remains to take possession of all that high-priced +merchandise," said Harris. + +"Is it, then, so difficult?" asked Negoro. + +"No, comrade. Ten miles from here, on the Coanza, a caravan of slaves +is encamped, conducted by the Arab, Ibn Hamis. He only awaits my +return to take the road for Kazounde. There are more native soldiers +there than are needed to capture Dick Sand and his companions. It will +be sufficient for my young friend to conceive the idea of going to the +Coanza." + +"But will he get that idea?" asked Negoro. + +"Surely," replied Harris, "because he is intelligent, and cannot +suspect the danger that awaits him. Dick Sand would not think of +returning to the coast by the way we have followed together. He would +be lost among these immense forests. He will seek, then, I am sure, to +reach one of the rivers that flow toward the coast, so as to descend +it on a raft. He has no other plan to take, and I know he will take +it." + +"Yes, perhaps so," replied Negoro, who was reflecting. + +"It is not 'perhaps so,' it is 'assuredly so,' that must be said," +continued Harris. "Do you see, Negoro? It is as if I had appointed a +rendezvous with my young friend on the banks of the Coanza." + +"Well, then," replied Negoro, "let us go. I know Dick Sand. He will +not delay an hour, and we must get before him." + +"Let us start, comrade." + +Harris and Negoro both stood up, when the noise that had before +attracted the Portuguese's attention was renewed. It was a trembling +of the stems between the high papyrus. + +Negoro stopped, and seized Harris's hand. + +Suddenly a low barking was heard. A dog appeared at the foot of the +bank, with its mouth open, ready to spring. + +"Dingo!" cried Harris. + +"Ah! this time it shall not escape me!" replied Negoro. + +Dingo was going to jump upon him, when Negoro, seizing Harris's gun, +quickly put it to his shoulder and fired. + +A long howl of pain replied to the detonation, and Dingo disappeared +between the double row of bushes that bordered the brook. + +Negoro descended at once to the bottom of the bank. + +Drops of blood stained some of the papyrus stems, and a long red track +was left on the pebbles of the brook. + +"At last that cursed animal is paid off!" exclaimed Negoro. + +Harris had been present at this whole scene without saying a word. + +"Ah now, Negoro," said he, "that dog had a particular grudge against +you." + +"It seemed so, Harris, but it will have a grudge against me no +longer!" + +"And why did it detest you so much, comrade?" + +"Oh! an old affair to settle between it and me." + +"An old affair?" replied Harris. + +Negoro said no more about it, and Harris concluded that the Portuguese +had been silent on some past adventure, but he did not insist on +knowing it. + +A few moments later, both, descending the course of the brook, went +toward the Coanza, across the forest. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ON THE MARCH. + + +Africa! That name so terrible under the present circumstances, that +name which he must now substitute for that of America, was not for an +instant out of Dick Sand's thoughts. When the young novice traced back +the last weeks, it was to ask himself how the "Pilgrim" had ended +by reaching this dangerous shore, how it had doubled Cape Horn, and +passed from one ocean to the other! He could now explain to himself +why, in spite of the rapid motion of his vessel, land was so long +coming in sight, because the length of the distance which he should +have made to reach the American coast had been doubled without his +knowledge. + +"Africa! Africa!" Dick Sand repeated. + +Then, suddenly, while he called up with tenacious mind all the +incidents of this inexplicable voyage, he felt that his compass must +have been injured. He remembered, too, that the first compass had been +broken, and that the log-line had snapped--a fact which had made it +impossible for him to establish the speed of the "Pilgrim." + +"Yes," thought he, "there remained but one compass on board, one only, +the indications of which I could not control! And one night I was +awakened by a cry from old Tom. Negoro was there, aft. He had just +fallen on the binnacle. May he not have put it out of order?" + +Dick Sand was growing enlightened. He had his finger on the truth. He +now understood all that was ambiguous in Negoro's conduct. He saw +his hand in this chain of incidents which had led to the loss of the +"Pilgrim," and had so fearfully endangered those on board of her. + +But what, then, was this miserable man? Had he been a sailor and known +so well how to hide the fact? Was he capable of contriving this odious +plot which had thrown the ship on the coast of Africa? + +At any rate, if obscure points still existed in the past, the present +could offer no more of them. The young novice knew only too well that +he was in Africa, and very probably in the fatal province of Angola, +more than a hundred miles from the coast. He also knew that Harris's +treason could no longer be doubted. From this fact, the most simple +logic led him to conclude that the American and the Portuguese had +long known each other, that a fatal chance had united them on this +coast, and that a plan had been concerted between them, the result of +which would be dreadful for the survivors of the "Pilgrim." + +And now, why these odious actions? That Negoro wished, at all hazards, +to seize Tom and his companions, and sell them for slaves in this +slave-trading country, might be admitted. That the Portuguese, moved +by a sentiment of hatred, would seek to be revenged on him, Dick Sand, +who had treated him as he deserved, might also be conceived. But Mrs. +Weldon, this mother, and this young child--what would the wretch +do with them? If Dick Sand could have overheard a little of the +conversation between Harris and Negoro, he would have known what to +expect, and what dangers menaced Mrs. Weldon, the blacks, and himself. + +The situation was frightful, but the young novice did not yield under +it. Captain on board, he remained captain on land. He must save Mrs. +Weldon, little Jack, all those whose fate Heaven had placed in his +hands. His task was only commencing. He would accomplish it to the +end. + +After two or three hours, during which the present and the future were +summed up in his mind, with their good and their evil chances--the +last, alas! the most numerous--Dick Sand rose, firm and resolved. + +The first glimmer of light then touched the summits of the forest. +With the exception of the novice and Tom, all slept. Dick Sand +approached the old black. + +"Tom," he said to him, in a low tone, "you have recognized the roaring +of the lion, you have remembered the instruments of the slave-traders. +You know that we are in Africa!" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick, I know it." + +"Well, Tom, not a word of all that, neither to Mrs. Weldon nor to your +companions. We must be the only ones to know, the only ones to have +any fears." + +"Alone--in fact. It is necessary," replied Tom. + +"Tom," continued the novice, "we have to watch more carefully than +ever. We are in an enemy's country--and what enemies! what a country! +To keep our companions on their guard, it will be enough to tell them +that we have been betrayed by Harris. They will think that we fear an +attack from wandering Indians, and that will suffice." + +"You can count absolutely on their courage and devotion, Mr. Dick." + +"I know it, as I count on your good sense and your experience. You +will come to my help, old Tom?" + +"Always, and everywhere, Mr. Dick." + +Dick Sand's plan was accepted and approved by the old black. If Harris +were detected in open treason before the hour for action, at least +the young novice and his companions were not in fear of any immediate +danger. In fact, it was the discovery of the irons abandoned by some +slaves, and the roaring of the lion, that had caused the American's +sudden disappearance. + +He knew that he was discovered, and he had fled probably before the +little party which he guided had reached the place where an attack +had been arranged. As for Negoro, whose presence Dingo had certainly +recognized during these last days of the march, he must have rejoined +Harris, so as to consult with him. At any rate, several hours would +pass before Dick Sand and his friends would be assailed, and it was +necessary to profit by them. + +The only plan was to regain the coast as quickly as possible. This +coast, as the young novice had every reason to believe, was that of +Angola. After having reached it, Dick Sand would try to gain, either +to the north or to the south, the Portuguese settlements, where his +companions could await in safety some opportunity to return to their +country. + +But, to effect this return to the coast, should they take the road +already passed over? Dick Sand did not think so, and in that he +was going to agree with Harris, who had clearly foreseen that +circumstances would oblige the young novice to shorten the road. + +In fact, it would have been difficult, not to say imprudent, to +recommence this difficult journey through the forest, which, besides, +could only tend to bring them out at the place they had started from. +This would also allow Negoro's accomplices to follow an assured track. +The only thing they could do was to cross a river, without leaving any +traces, and, later on, to descend its course. At the same time, there +was less to fear from an attack by animals, which by a happy chance +had so far kept at a good distance. Even the animosity of the natives, +under these circumstances, seemed less important. Once embarked on a +solid raft, Dick Sand and his companions, being well armed, would be +in the best condition to defend themselves. The whole thing was to +find the river. + +It must be added that, given the actual state of Mrs. Weldon and her +little Jack, this mode of traveling would be the most suitable. Arms +would not fail to carry the sick child. Lacking Harris's horse, they +could even make a litter of branches, on which Mrs. Weldon could be +borne. But this would require two men out of five, and Dick Sand +wished, with good reason, that all his companions might be free in +their movements in case of a sudden attack. + +And then, in descending the current of a river, the young novice would +find himself in his element! + +The question now was, whether a navigable stream of water existed in +the neighborhood. Dick Sand thought it probable, and for this reason: +The river which emptied into the Atlantic at the place where the +"Pilgrim" had stranded could not ascend much to the north, nor much to +the east, of the province, because a chain of mountains quite close to +them--those which they had mistaken for the Cordilleras--shut in the +horizon on these two sides. Then, either the river descended from +these heights, or it made a bend toward the south, and, in these two +cases, Dick Sand could not take long to find the course. Perhaps, even +before reaching the river--for it had a right to this qualification, +being a direct tributary of the ocean--one of its affluents would be +met with which would suffice for the transport of the little party. + +At any rate, a stream of some sort could not be far away. + +In fact, during the last miles of the journey the nature of the earth +had been modified. The declivities diminished and became damp. Here +and there ran narrow streams, which indicated that the sub-soil +enclosed everywhere a watery network. During the last day's march the +caravan had kept along one of these rivulets, whose waters, reddened +with oxyde of iron, eat away its steep, worn banks. To find it again +could not take long, or be very difficult. Evidently they could not +descend its impetuous course, but it would be easy to follow it to its +junction with a more considerable, possibly a navigable, affluent. + +Such was the very simple plan which Dick Sand determined upon, after +having conferred with old Tom. + +Day came, all their companions gradually awoke. Mrs. Weldon placed +little Jack in Nan's arms. The child was drowsy and faded-looking +during the intermittent periods, and was sad to see. + +Mrs. Weldon approached Dick Sand. "Dick," she asked, after a steady +glance, "where is Harris? I do not perceive him." + +The young novice thought that, while letting his companions believe +that they were treading on the soil of Bolivia, it would not do to +hide from them the American's treason. So he said, without hesitation: +"Harris is no longer here." + +"Has he, then, gone ahead?" asked Mrs. Weldon. "He has fled, Mrs. +Weldon," replied Dick Sand. "This Harris is a traitor, and it is +according to Negoro's plan that he led us this far." "For what +motive?" quickly asked Mrs. Weldon. "I do not know," replied Dick +Sand; "but what I do know is, that we must return, without delay, to +the coast." + +"That man--a traitor!" repeated Mrs. Weldon. "I had a presentiment of +it! And you think, Dick, that he is in league with Negoro?" + +"That may be, Mrs. Weldon. The wretch is on our track. Chance has +brought these two scoundrels together, and--" + +"And I hope that they will not be separated when I find them again!" +said Hercules. "I will break the head of one against the other's +head!" added the giant, holding out his formidable fists. + +"But my child!" cried Mrs. Weldon. "The care that I hoped to find for +him at the farm of San Felice--" + +"Jack will get well," said old Tom, "when he approaches the more +healthy part of the coast." + +"Dick," remarked Mrs. Weldon, "you are sure that this Harris has +betrayed us?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied the young novice, who would have liked to +avoid any explanation on this subject. + +He also hastened to add, while looking at the old black: + +"This very night Tom and I discovered his treason, and if he had not +jumped on his horse and fled, I would have killed him." + +"So this farm--" + +"There is neither farm, nor village, nor settlement in the +neighborhood," replied Dick Sand. "Mrs. Weldon, I repeat to you, we +must return to the coast." + +"By the same road, Dick?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, but by descending a river which will take us to the +sea without fatigue and without danger. A few more miles on foot, and +I do not doubt--" + +"Oh, I am strong, Dick!" replied Mrs. Weldon, who struggled against +her own weakness. "I will walk! I will carry my child!" + +"We are here, Mrs. Weldon," said Bat, "and we will carry you!" + +"Yes. yes," added Austin. "Two branches of a tree, foliage laid +across." + +"Thanks, my friends," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I want to march. I +will march. Forward!" + +"Forward!" exclaimed the young novice. + +"Give me Jack," said Hercules, who took the child from Nan's arms. +"When I am not carrying something, I am tired." + +The brave negro gently took in his strong arms the little sleeping +boy, who did not even wake. + +Their arms were carefully examined. What remained of the provisions +was placed in one package, so as to be carried by one man. Austin +threw it on his back, and his companions thus became free in their +movements. + +Cousin Benedict, whose long limbs were like steel and defied all +fatigue, was ready to set out. Had he remarked Harris's disappearance? +It would be imprudent to affirm it. Little disturbed him. Besides, he +was under the effects of one of the most terrible catastrophes that +could befall him. + +In fact, a grave complication, Cousin Benedict had lost his +magnifying-glass and his spectacles. Very happily, also, but without +his suspecting it, Bat had found the two precious articles in the tall +grass where they had slept, but, by Dick Sand's advice, he kept them +safely. By this means they would be sure that the big child would keep +quiet during the march, because he could see no farther, as they say, +than the end of his nose. + +Thus, placed between Acteon and Austin, with the formal injunction not +to leave them, the woful Benedict uttered no complaint, but followed +in his place, like a blind man led by a string. + +The little party had not gone fifty steps when old Tom suddenly +stopped it with one word. + +"Dingo?" said he. + +"In fact, Dingo is not here!" replied Hercules. + +The black called the dog several times with his powerful voice. + +No barking replied to him. + +Dick Sand remained silent. The absence of the dog, was to be +regretted, for he had preserved the little party from all surprise. + +"Could Dingo have followed Harris?" asked Tom. + +"Harris? No," replied Dick Sand; "but he may have put himself on +Negoro's scent. He felt him in our steps." + +"This cook of misfortune would quickly end him with a ball!" cried +Hercules. + +"Provided Dingo did not first strangle him," replied Bat. + +"Perhaps so," replied the young novice. "But we cannot wait for +Dingo's return. Besides, if he is living, the intelligent animal will +know how to find us. Forward!" + +The weather was very warm. Since daybreak large clouds obscured the +horizon. Already a storm was threatened in the air. Probably the day +would not end without some thunder-claps. Happily the forest, more or +less dense, retained a little freshness of the surface of the soil. +Here and there great forest trees inclosed prairies covered with +a tall, thick grass. In certain spots enormous trunks, already +petrified, lay on the ground, indicating the presence of coal mines, +which are frequently met with on the African continent. Then, in the +clearings, where the green carpet was mingled with some sprigs of +roses, the flowers were various in color, yellow and blue ginger +plants, pale lobelias, red orchids, incessantly visited by the insects +which fertilized them. + +The trees no longer formed impenetrable masses, but their nature was +more varied. There were a kind of palm-tree, which gives an oil found +only in Africa; cotton-trees forming thickets from eight to ten feet +high, whose wood-stalks produce a cotton with long hairs, almost +analogous to that of Fernambouc. From the copals there oozes, by the +holes which certain insects make, an odorous gum, which runs along +the ground and collects for the wants of the natives. Here spread the +lemon-trees, the grenadiers of a savage condition of a country, and +twenty other odorous plants, which prove the prodigious fertility of +this plateau of Central Africa. In several places, also, the perfume +was agreeably mingled with the tine odor of vanilla, although they +could not discover what tree exhaled it. + +This whole collection of trees and plants was perfectly green, +although it was in the middle of the dry season, and only rare storms +could water these luxuriant forests. It was then the time for fevers; +but, as Livingstone has observed, they can be cured by leaving the +place where they have been contracted. Dick Sand knew this remark of +the great traveler, and he hoped that little Jack would not contradict +it. He told it to Mrs. Weldon, after having observed that the +periodical access had not returned as they feared, and that the child +slept quietly in Hercules' arms. + +Thus they went forward carefully and rapidly. Sometimes they +discovered traces where men or animals had recently passed. The +twisted and broken branches of the brushwood and the thickets afforded +an opportunity to walk with a more equal step. But the greater part of +the time numerous obstacles, which they had to overcome, retarded the +little party, to Dick Sand's great disappointment. + +There were twisted lianes that might justly be compared with the +disordered rigging of a ship, certain vines similar to bent swords, +whose blades were ornamented with long thorns, vegetable serpents, +fifty or sixty feet long, which had the faculty of turning to prick +the passer-by with their sharp spikes. The blacks, hatchet in +hand, cut them down with vigorous blows, but the lianes reappeared +constantly, reaching from the earth to the top of the highest trees +which they encircled. + +The animal kingdom was not less curious than the vegetable kingdom +in this part of the province. Birds flew in vast numbers under these +powerful branches; but it will be understood that they had no gunshot +to fear from the men, who wished to pass as secretly as rapidly. There +were Guinea fowls in large flocks, heath-cocks of various kinds, very +difficult to approach, and some of those birds which the Americans +of the North have, by onomatopoeia, called "whip-poor-wills," three +syllables which exactly reproduce their cries. Dick Sand and Tom might +truly have believed themselves in some province of the new continent. +But, alas! they knew what to expect. + +Until then the deer, so dangerous in Africa, had not approached the +little troop. They again saw, in this first halt, some giraffes, which +Harris had undoubtedly called ostriches. These swift animals +passed rapidly, frightened by the apparition of a caravan in these +little-frequented forests. In the distance, on the edge of the +prairie, there arose at times a thick cloud of dust. It was a herd of +buffaloes, which galloped with the noise of wagons heavily laden. + +For two miles Dick Sand thus followed the course of the rivulet which +must end in a more important river. He was in haste to confide his +companions to the rapid current of one of the coast rivers. He felt +sure that the dangers and the fatigue would be much less than on the +shore. + +Towards noon three miles had been cleared without any bad incident or +meeting. There was no trace of either Harris or Negoro. Dingo had not +reappeared. It was necessary to halt to take rest and nourishment. + +The encampment was established in a bamboo thicket, which completely +sheltered the little party. + +They talked very little during this repast. Mrs. Weldon had taken her +little boy in her arms; she could not take her eyes off of him; she +could not eat. + +"You must take some nourishment, Mrs. Weldon," Dick Sand repeated +several times. "What will become of you if your strength gives out? +Eat, eat! We will soon start again, and a good current will carry us +without fatigue to the coast." + +Mrs. Weldon looked in Dick Sand's face while he thus talked. The young +novice's burning eyes spoke of the courage by which he felt animated. +In seeing him thus, in observing these brave, devoted blacks, wife +and mother, she could not yet despair; and, besides, why was she +abandoned? Did she not think herself on hospitable ground? Harris's +treason could not, in her eyes, have any very serious consequences. +Dick Sand read her thought, and he kept his eyes on the ground. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BAD ROADS OF ANGOLA. + + +At this moment little Jack awoke, and put his arms around his mother's +neck. His eyes looked better. The fever had not returned. + +"You are better, my darling," said Mrs. Weldon, pressing the sick +child to her heart. + +"Yes, mama," replied Jack, "but I am a little thirsty." + +They could only give the child some fresh water, of which he drank +with pleasure. + +"And my friend Dick?" he said. + +"Here I am, Jack," replied Dick Sand, coming to take the young child's +hand. + +"And my friend Hercules?" + +"Hercules is here, Mr. Jack," replied the giant, bringing nearer his +good face. + +"And the horse?" demanded little Jack. + +"The horse? Gone, Mr. Jack," replied Hercules. "I will carry you. Will +you find that I trot too hard?" + +"No," replied little Jack; "but then I shall no longer have any bridle +to hold." + +"Oh! you will put a bit in _my_ mouth, if you wish," said Hercules, +opening his large mouth, "and you may pull back so long as that will +give you pleasure." + +"You know very well that I shall not pull back." + +"Good! You would be wrong! I have a hard mouth." + +"But Mr. Harris's farm?" the little boy asked again. + +"We shall soon arrive there, my Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon. "Yes, +soon!" + +"Will we set out again?" then said Dick Sand, in order to cut short +this conversation. + +"Yes, Dick, let us go," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +The camp was broken up, and the march continued again in the same +order. It was necessary to pass through the underwood, so as not to +leave the course of the rivulet. There had been some paths there, +formerly, but those paths were dead, according to the native +expression--that is, brambles and brushwood had usurped them. In these +painful conditions they might spend three hours in making one mile. +The blacks worked without relaxation. Hercules, after putting little +Jack back in Nan's arms, took his part of the work; and what a part! +He gave stout "heaves," making his ax turn round, and a hole was made +before them, as if he had been a devouring fire. + +Fortunately, this fatiguing work would not last. This first mile +cleared, they saw a large hole, opened through the underwood, which +ended obliquely at the rivulet and followed its bank. It was a passage +made by elephants, and those animals, doubtless by hundreds, were in +the habit of traversing this part of the forest. Great holes, made by +the feet of the enormous pachyderms, riddled a soil softened during +the rainy season. Its spongy nature also prepared it for those large +imprints. + +It soon appeared that this passage did not serve for those gigantic +animals alone. Human beings had more than once taken this route, but +as flocks, brutally led to the slaughter-house, would have followed +it. Here and there bones of dead bodies strewed the ground; remains +of skeletons, half gnawed by animals, some of which still bore the +slave's fetters. + +There are, in Central Africa, long roads thus marked out by human +débris. Hundreds of miles are traversed by caravans, and how many +unhappy wretches fall by the way, under the agents' whips, killed by +fatigue or privations, decimated by sickness! How many more massacred +by the traders themselves, when food fails! Yes, when they can no +longer feed them, they kill them with the gun, with the sword, with +the knife! These massacres are not rare. + +So, then, caravans of slaves had followed this road. For a mile Dick +Sand and his companions struck against these scattered bones at each +step, putting to flight enormous fern-owls. Those owls rose at their +approach, with a heavy flight, and turned round in the air. + +Mrs. Weldon looked without seeing. Dick Sand trembled lest she should +question him, for he hoped to lead her back to the coast without +telling her that Harris's treachery had led them astray in an African +province. Fortunately, Mrs. Weldon did not explain to herself what +she had under her eyes. She had desired to take her child again, and +little Jack, asleep, absorbed all her care. Nan walked near her, and +neither of them asked the young novice the terrible questions he +dreaded. + +Old Tom went along with his eyes down. He understood only too well why +this opening was strewn with human bones. + +His companions looked to the right, to the left, with an air of +surprise, as if they were crossing an interminable cemetery, the +tombs of which had been overthrown by a cataclysm; but they passed in +silence. + +Meanwhile, the bed of the rivulet became deeper and wider at the same +time. Its current was less impetuous. Dick Sand hoped that it would +soon become navigable, or that it would before long reach a more +important river, tributary to the Atlantic. + +Cost what it might, the young novice was determined to follow this +stream of water. Neither did he hesitate to abandon this opening; +because, as ending by an oblique line, it led away from the rivulet. + +The little party a second time ventured through the dense underwood. +They marched, ax in hand, through leaves and bushes inextricably +interlaced. + +But if this vegetation obstructed the ground, they were no longer in +the thick forest that bordered the coast. Trees became rare. Large +sheaves of bamboo alone rose above the grass, and so high that even +Hercules was not a head over them. The passage of the little party was +only revealed by the movement of these stalks. + +Toward three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, the nature of the +ground totally changed. Here were long plains, which must have been +entirely inundated in the rainy season. The earth, now more swampy, +was carpeted by thick mosses, beneath charming ferns. Should it be +diversified by any steep ascents, they would see brown hematites +appear, the last deposits of some rich vein of mineral. + +Dick Sand then recalled--and very fortunately--what he had read in +"Livingstone's Travels." More than once the daring doctor had nearly +rested in these marshes, so treacherous under foot. + +"Listen to me, my friends," said he, going ahead. "Try the ground +before stepping on it." + +"In fact," replied Tom, "they say that these grounds have been +softened by the rain; but, however, it has not rained during these +last days." + +"No," replied Bat; "but the storm is not far off." + +"The greater reason," replied Dick Sand, "why we should hurry and get +clear of this swamp before it commences. Hercules, take little Jack +in your arms. Bat, Austin, keep near Mrs. Weldon, so as to be able to +help her if necessary. You, Mr. Benedict--Why, what are you doing, +Mr. Benedict?" + +"I am falling!" innocently replied Cousin Benedict, who had just +disappeared as if a trap had been suddenly opened beneath his feet. + +In fact, the poor man had ventured on a sort of quagmire, and had +disappeared half-way in the sticky mud. They stretched out their +hands, and he rose, covered with slime, but quite satisfied at not +having injured his precious entomologist's box. Acteon went beside +him, and made it his duty to preserve the unlucky, near-sighted man +from any new disasters. + +Besides, Cousin Benedict had made rather a bad choice of the quagmire +for his plunge. When they drew him out of the sticky earth a large +quantity of bubbles rose to the surface, and, in bursting, they +emitted some gases of a suffocating odor. Livingstone, who had been +sunk up to his chest in this slime, compared these grounds to a +collection of enormous sponges, made of black, porous earth, from +which numerous streams of water spouted when they were stepped upon. +These places were always very dangerous. + +For the space of half a mile Dick Sand and his companions must march +over this spongy soil. It even became so bad that Mrs. Weldon was +obliged to stop, for she sank deep in the mire. Hercules, Bat, and +Austin, wishing to spare her the unpleasantness more than the fatigue +of a passage across this marshy plain, made a litter of bamboos, on +which she consented to sit. Her little Jack was placed in her arms, +and they endeavored to cross that pestilential marsh in the quickest +manner. + +The difficulties were great. Acteon held Cousin Benedict firmly. Tom +aided Nan, who, without him, would have disappeared several times in +some crevice. The three other blacks carried the litter. At the head, +Dick Sand sounded the earth. The choice of the place to step on was +not made without trouble. They marched from preference on the edges, +which were covered by a thick and tough grass. Often the support +failed, and they sank to the knees in the slime. + +At last, about five o'clock in the evening, the marsh being cleared, +the soil regained sufficient firmness, thanks to its clayey nature; +but they felt it damp underneath. Very evidently these lands lay below +the neighboring rivers, and the water ran through their pores. + +At that time the heat had become overwhelming. It would even have +been unbearable, if thick storm clouds had not interposed between the +burning rays and the ground. Distant lightnings began to rend the sky +and low rollings of thunder grumbled in the depths of the heavens. A +formidable storm was going to burst forth. + +Now, these cataclysms are terrible in Africa: rain in torrents, +squalls of wind which the strongest trees cannot resist, clap after +clap of thunder, such is the contest of the elements in that latitude. + +Dick Sand knew it well, and he became very uneasy. They could not pass +the night without shelter. The plain was likely to be inundated, and +it did not present a single elevation on which it was possible to seek +refuge. + +But refuge, where would they seek it in this low desert, without a +tree, without a bush? The bowels of the earth even would not give it. +Two feet below the surface they would find water. + +However, toward the north a series of low hills seemed to limit the +marshy plain. It was as the border of this depression of land. A few +trees were profiled there on a more distant, clearer belt, left by the +clouds on the line of the horizon. + +There, if shelter were still lacking, the little band would at least +no longer risk being caught in a possible inundation. There perhaps +was salvation for all. + +"Forward, my friends, forward!" repeated Dick Sand. "Three miles more +and we shall be safer than in these bottom-lands." + +"Hurry! hurry!" cried Hercules. + +The brave black would have wished to take that whole world in big arms +and carry it alone. + +Those words inspired those courageous men, and in spite of the fatigue +of a day's march, they advanced more quickly than they had done at the +commencement from the halting-place. + +When the storm burst forth the end to be attained was still more than +two miles off. Now--a fact which was the more to be feared--the rain +did not accompany the first lightnings exchanged between the ground +and the electrical clouds. Darkness then became almost complete, +though the sun had not disappeared below the horizon. But the dome of +vapors gradually lowered, as if it threatened to fall in--a falling in +which must result in a torrent of rain. Lightnings, red or blue, split +it in a thousand places, and enveloped the plain in an inextricable +network of fire. + +Twenty times Dick and his companions ran the risk of being struck by +lightning. On this plateau, deprived of trees, they formed the only +projecting points which could attract the electrical discharges. Jack, +awakened by the noise of the thunder, hid himself in Hercules' arms. +He was very much afraid, poor little boy, but he did not wish to let +his mother see it, for fear of afflicting her more. Hercules, while +taking great steps, consoled him as well as he could. + +"Do not be afraid, little Jack," he repeated. "If the thunder comes +near us, I will break it in two with a single hand. I am stronger than +it!" + +And, truly, the giant's strength reassured Jack a little. + +Meanwhile the rain must soon fall, and then it would in torrents, +poured out by those clouds in condensing. What would become of Mrs. +Weldon and her companions, if they did not find a shelter? + +Dick Sand stopped a moment near old Tom. + +"What must be done?" said he. + +"Continue our march, Mr. Dick," replied Tom. "We cannot remain on this +plain, that the rain is going to transform into a marsh!" + +"No, Tom, no! But a shelter! Where? What? If it were only a hut--" + +Dick Sand had suddenly broken off his sentence. A more vivid flash of +lightning had just illuminated the whole plain. + +"What have I seen there, a quarter of a mile off?" exclaimed Dick +Sand. + +"Yes, I also, I have seen--" replied old Tom, shaking his head. + +"A camp, is it not?" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick, it must be a camp, but a camp of natives!" + +A new flash enabled them to observe this camp more closely. It +occupied a part of the immense plain. + +There, in fact, rose a hundred conical tents, symmetrically arranged, +and measuring from twelve to fifteen feet in height. Not a soldier +showed himself, however. Were they then shut up under their tents, so +as to let the storm pass, or was the camp abandoned? + +In the first case, whatever Heaven should threaten, Dick Sand must +flee in the quickest manner. In the second, there was, perhaps, the +shelter he asked. + +"I shall find out," he said to himself; then, addressing old Tom: +"Stay here. Let no one follow me. I shall go to reconnoiter that +camp." + +"Let one of us accompany you, Mr. Dick." + +"No, Tom, I shall go alone. I can approach without being seen. Stay +here." + +The little troop, that followed Tom and Dick Sand, halted. The young +novice left at once and disappeared in the darkness, which was +profound when the lightning did not tear the sky. + +Some large drops of rain already began to fall. + +"What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Weldon, approaching the old black. + +"We have perceived a camp, Mrs. Weldon," replied Tom; "a camp--or, +perhaps, a village, and our captain wished to reconnoiter it before +leading us to it." + +Mrs. Weldon was satisfied with this reply. Three minutes after, Dick +Sand was returning. + +"Come! come!" he cried, in a voice which expressed his entire +satisfaction. + +"The camp is abandoned?" asked Tom. + +"It is not a camp," replied the young novice; "it is not a village. +They are ant-hills!" + +"Ant-hills!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, whom that word aroused. + +"Yes, Mr. Benedict, but ant-hills twelve feet high, at least, and in +which we shall endeavor to hide ourselves." + +"But then," replied Cousin Benedict, "those would be ant-hills of the +warlike termite or of the devouring termite. Only those ingenious +insects raise such monuments, which the greatest architects would not +disown." + +"Whether they be termites or not, Mr. Benedict," replied Dick Sand, +"we must dislodge them and take their place." + +"They will devour us. They will be defending their rights." + +"Forward! Forward!" + +"But, wait now!" said Cousin Benedict again. "I thought those +ant-hills only existed in Africa." + +"Forward!" exclaimed Dick Sand, for the last time, with a sort of +violence. He was so much afraid that Mrs. Weldon might hear the last +word pronounced by the entomologist. + +They followed Dick Sand with all haste. A furious wind had sprung up. +Large drops crackled on the ground. In a few moments the squalls of +wind would become unbearable. Soon one of those cones which stood on +the plain was reached. No matter how threatening the termites might +be, the human beings must not hesitate. If they could not drive the +insects away, they must share their abode. + +At the bottom of this cone, made with a kind of reddish clay, there +was a very narrow hole. Hercules enlarged it with his cutlass in a few +moments, so as to give a passage even to a man like himself. + +To Cousin Benedict's extreme surprise, not one of the thousands of +termites that ought to occupy the ant-hill showed itself. Was, then, +the cone abandoned? + +The hole enlarged, Dick and his companions glided into it. Hercules +disappeared the last, just as the rain fell with such rage that it +seemed to extinguish the lightnings. + +But those wind squalls were no longer to be feared. A happy chance had +furnished this little troop with a solid shelter, better than a tent, +better than a native's hut. + +It was one of those termite cones that, according to Lieutenant +Cameron's comparison, are more astonishing than the pyramids of Egypt, +raised by the hands of men, because they have been built by such small +insects. + +"It is," said he, "as if a nation had built Mount Everest, the highest +mountain of the Himalaya chain." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANTS AND THEIR DWELLING. + + +At this moment the storm burst with a violence unknown in temperate +latitudes. + +It was providential that Dick Sand and his companions had found this +refuge! + +In fact, the rain did not fall in distinct drops, but in streams of +various thickness. Sometimes it was a compact mass forming a sheet of +water, like a cataract, a Niagara. Imagine an aerial basin, containing +a whole sea, being upset. Under such showers the ground was hollowed +out, the plains were changed to lakes, the streams to torrents, the +rivers, overflowing, inundated vast territories. In temperate zones +the violence of the storms decreases according to their duration; but +in Africa, however heavy they are, they continue for several entire +days. How can so much electricity be collected in the clouds? How +can such quantities of vapor be accumulated? It is very difficult to +comprehend this. However, such are the facts, and one might suppose +himself transported to the extraordinary epochs of the diluvian +period. + +Fortunately, the ant-cone, with its thick walls, was perfectly +impervious. A beaver's hut, of well-beaten earth, could not have been +more water-tight. A torrent could have passed over it without a single +drop of water filtering through its pores. + +As soon as Dick Sand and his companions had taken possession of the +cone they occupied themselves in examining its interior arrangement. +The lantern was lighted, and the ant-hill was sufficiently +illuminated. This cone, which measured twelve feet in height inside, +was eleven feet wide, except in its upper part, which rounded in the +form of a sugar loaf. Everywhere the walls were about one foot in +thickness, and there was a distance between the stories of cells which +adorned them. + +We may be astonished at the construction of such monuments, due to +these industrious swarms of insects, but it is true that they are +frequently found in the interior of Africa. Smeathman, a Dutch +traveler of the last century, with four of his companions, occupied +the top of one of these cones. In the Lounde, Livingstone observed +several of these ant-hills, built of reddish clay, and attaining a +height of fifteen and twenty feet. Lieutenant Cameron has many a time +mistaken for a camp these collections of cones which dotted the plain +in N'yangwe. He has even stopped at the foot of great edifices, not +more than twenty feet high, but composed of forty or fifty enormous +rounded cones, flanked with bell-towers like the dome of a cathedral, +such as Southern Africa possesses. + +To what species of ant was due, then, the prodigious style of +architecture of these cones? + +"To the warlike termite," Cousin Benedict had replied, without +hesitating, as soon as he had recognized the nature of the materials +employed in their construction. + +And, in fact, the walls, as has been said, were made of reddish clay. +Had they been formed of a gray or black alluvian earth, they must have +been attributed to the "termes mordax" or the "termes atrox." As we +see, these insects have not very cheering names--a fact which cannot +but please a strong entomologist, such as Cousin Benedict. + +The central part of the cone, in which the little troop had first +found shelter, and which formed the empty interior, would not have +contained them; but large cavities, in close contact, made a number +of divisions, in which a person of medium height could find refuge. +Imagine a succession of open drawers, and at the bottom of those +drawers millions of cells which the termites had occupied, and the +interior disposition of the ant-hill is easily understood. To sum up, +these drawers are in tiers, like the berths in a ship's cabin. In the +upper ones Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, Nan, and Cousin Benedict took +refuge. In the lower row Austin, Bat, and Acteon hid themselves. As +for Dick Sand, Tom, and Hercules, they remained in the lower part of +the cone. + +"My friends," then said the young novice to the two blacks, "the +ground is becoming damp. We must fill it up by crumbling the red clay +from the base; but take care not to obstruct the hole by which the air +enters. We cannot risk being smothered in this ant-hill." + +"We have only one night to spend here," replied old Tom. + +"Well, let us try and make it recover us from our fatigue. This is the +first time in ten days that we have not to sleep in the open air." + +"Ten days!" repeated Tom. + +"Besides," added Dick Sand, "as this cone forms a solid shelter, +perhaps we had better stay here twenty-four hours. During that time, I +will go in search of the stream that we are in need of; it cannot be +very distant. I think that until we have constructed our raft, it will +be better not to quit this shelter. The storm cannot reach us here. +Let us make the floor stronger and dryer." + +Dick Sand's orders were executed at once. Hercules, with his ax, +crumbled the first story of cells, which was composed of crisp red +clay. He thus raised, more than a foot, the interior part of the +swampy earth on which the ant-hill rested, and Dick Sand made sure +that the air could freely penetrate to the interior of the cone +through the orifice pierced at its base. + +It was, certainly, a fortunate circumstance that the ant-hill had been +abandoned by the termites. With a few thousands of these ants, it +would have been uninhabitable. But, had it been evacuated for some +time, or had the voracious newroptera but just quitted it? It was not +superfluous to ponder this question. + +Cousin Benedict was so much surprised at the abandonment, that he at +once considered the reason for it, and he was soon convinced that the +emigration had been recent. + +In fact, he did not wait, but, descending to the lower part of the +cone, and taking the lantern, he commenced to examine the most secret +corners of the ant-hill. He thus discovered what is called the +"general store-house" of the termites, that is to say, the place where +these industrious insects lay up the provisions of the colony. + +It was a cavity hollowed in the wall, not far from the royal cell, +which Hercules's labor had destroyed, along with the cells destined +for the young larvae. + +In this store-room Cousin Benedict collected a certain quantity of +particles of gum and the juices of plants, scarcely solidified, which +proved that the termites had lately brought them from without. + +"Well, no!" cried he. "No!" as if he were replying to some +contradiction, "No, this ant-hill has not been long abandoned." + +"Who says to the contrary, Mr. Benedict?" said Dick Sand. "Recently +or not, the important thing for us is that the termites have left it, +because we have to take their place." + +"The important thing," replied Cousin Benedict, "will be to know why +they have left it. Yesterday--this morning, perhaps--these sagacious +newroptera were still here, because, see these liquid juices; and this +evening----" + +"Well, what do you conclude, Mr. Benedict?" asked Dick Sand. + +"That a secret presentiment has caused them to abandon the cone. Not +only have all the termites left their cells, but they have taken care +to carry away the young larvae, of which I cannot find one. Well, I +repeat that all this was not done without a motive, and that these +sagacious insects foresaw some near danger." + +"They foresaw that we were going to invade their dwelling," replied +Hercules, laughing. + +"Indeed!" replied Cousin Benedict, whom this answer sensibly shocked. +"You think yourself so strong that you would be dangerous to these +courageous insects? A few thousand of these newroptera would quickly +reduce you to a skeleton if they found you dead on the road." + +"Dead, certainly," replied Hercules, who would not give up; "but, +living, I could crush masses of them." + +"You might crush a hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, a +million," replied Cousin Benedict, with animation, "but not a thousand +millions; and a thousand millions would devour you, living or dead, to +the last morsel." + +During this discussion, which was less trifling than might be +supposed, Dick Sand reflected on the observations made by Cousin +Benedict. There was no doubt that the savant knew too much about the +habits of the termites to be mistaken. If he declared that a secret +instinct warned them to leave the ant-hill recently, it was because +there was truly peril in remaining in it. + +Meanwhile, as it was impossible to abandon this shelter at a moment +when the storm was raging with unparalleled intensity, Dick +Sand looked no farther for an explanation of what seemed to be +inexplicable, and he contented himself with saying: + +"Well, Mr. Benedict, if the termites have left their provisions in +this ant-hill, we must not forget that we have brought ours, and +let us have supper. To-morrow, when the storm will be over, we will +consult together on our future plans." + +They then occupied themselves in preparing the evening meal, for, +great as their fatigue was, it had not affected the appetite of these +vigorous walkers. On the contrary, the food, which had to last for two +more days, was very welcome. The damp had not reached the biscuits, +and for several minutes it could be heard cracking under the solid +teeth of Dick Sand and his companions. Between Hercules's jaws it +was like grain under the miller's grindstone. It did not crackle, it +powdered. + +Mrs. Weldon alone scarcely eat, and even Dick Sand's entreaties were +vain. It seemed to him that this brave woman was more preoccupied, +more sad than she had been hitherto. Meanwhile her little Jack +suffered less; the fever had not returned, and at this time he was +sleeping, under his mother's eyes, in a cell well lined with garments. +Dick Sand knew not what to think. + +It is useless to say that Cousin Benedict did honor to the repast, not +that he paid any attention either to the quality or to the quantity of +the food that he devoured, but because he had found an opportunity to +deliver a lecture in entomology on the termites. Ah! if he had been +able to find a termite, a single one, in the deserted ant hill! But +nothing. + +"These admirable insects," said he, without taking the trouble to find +out if any one were listening--"these admirable insects belong to the +marvelous order of newroptera, whose horns are longer than the head, +the jaws very distinct, and whose lower wings are generally equal to +the upper ones. Five tribes constitute this order: the Panorpates +(scorpion flies), the Myrmileoniens, the Hemerobins, the Termitines +and the Perlides. It is useless to add that the insects which now +interest us, and whose dwelling we occupy, perhaps unduly, are the +Termitines." + +At this moment Dick Sand listened very attentively to Cousin Benedict. +Had the meeting with these termites excited in him the thought that he +was perhaps on the African continent, without knowing by what chance +he had arrived there? The young novice was very anxious to find out. + +The savant, mounted on his favorite hobby, continued to ride it +beautifully. + +"Now these termitines," said he, "are characterized by four joints +on the instep, horned jaws, and remarkable strength. We have the +_mantispe_ species, the _raphidie_, and the termite species. The last +is often known under the term of white ants, in which we count the +deadly termite, the yellow corslet termite, the termite that shuns the +light, the biter, the destroyer--" + +"And those that constructed this ant-hill?" asked Dick Sand. + +"They are the martial ants," replied Cousin Benedict, who pronounced +this word as if it had been the Macedonians, or some other ancient +people brave in war. "Yes, the warlike ants, and of all sizes. +Between Hercules and a dwarf the difference would be less than +between the largest of these insects and the smallest. Among them are +'workers' of five millimeters in length 'soldiers' of ten, and males +and females of twenty. We find also a kind otherwise very curious: the +_sirafous_ half an inch in length, which have pincers for jaws, and a +head larger than the body, like the sharks. They are the sharks among +insects, and in a fight between some _sirafous_ and a shark, I would +bet on the _sirafous_." + +"And where are these _sirafous_ commonly observed?" then asked Dick +Sand. + +"In Africa," replied Cousin Benedict; "in the central and southern +provinces. Africa is, in fact, the country of ants. You should read +what Livingstone says of them in the last notes reported by Stanley. +More fortunate than myself, the doctor has witnessed a Homeric battle, +joined between an army of black ants and an army of red ants. The +latter, which are called 'drivers,' and which the natives name +_sirafous_, were victorious. + +"The others, the '_tchoungous_,' took flight, carrying their eggs and +their young, not without having bravely defended themselves. Never, +according to Livingstone, never was the spirit of battle carried +farther, either among men or beasts! With their tenacious jaws, which +tear out the piece, these _sirafous_ make the bravest man recoil. The +largest animals--even lions and elephants--flee before them. + +"Nothing stops them; neither trees, which they climb to the summit, +nor streams, which they cross by making a suspension bridge of +their own bodies, hooked together. And numerous! Another African +traveler--Du Chaillu--has seen a column of these ants defile past him +for twelve hours without stopping on the road. But why be astonished +at the sight of such myriads? The fecundity of these insects is +surprising; and, to return to our fighting termites, it has been +proved that a female deposits as much as sixty thousand eggs in a +day! Besides, these newroptera furnish the natives with a juicy food. +Broiled ants, my friends; I know of nothing better in the world!" + +"Have you then eaten them, Mr. Benedict?" asked Hercules. + +"Never," replied the wise professor; "but I shall eat some." + +"Where?" + +"Here." + +"Here; we are not in Africa!" said Tom, very quickly. + +"No, no!" replied Cousin Benedict; "and, thus far, these warlike +termites, and their villages of ant-hills, have only been observed on +the African Continent. Ah! such travelers. They do not know how to +see! Well! all the better, after all. I have discovered a _tsetse_ in +America. To the glory of this, I shall join that of having found the +warlike termites on the same continent! What matter for an article +that will make a sensation in educated Europe, and, perhaps, appear in +folio form, with prints and engravings, besides the text!" + +It was evident that the truth had not entered Cousin Benedict's brain. +The poor man and all his companions, Dick Sand and Tom excepted, +believed themselves, and must believe themselves, where they were +not! It needed other incidents, facts still more grave than certain +scientific curiosities, to undeceive them! + +It was then nine o'clock in the morning. Cousin Benedict had talked +for a long time. Did he perceive that his auditors, propped up in +their cells, had gradually fallen asleep during his entomological +lecture? No; certainly not. He lectured for himself. Dick Sand no +longer questioned him, and remained motionless, although he did not +sleep. As for Hercules, he had resisted longer than the others; but +fatigue soon finished by shutting his eyes, and, with his eyes, his +ears. + +For some time longer Cousin Benedict continued to lecture. However, +sleep finally got the best of him, and he mounted to the upper cavity +of the cone, in which he had chosen his domicile. + +Deep silence fell on the interior of the cone, while the storm filled +space with noise and fire. Nothing seemed to indicate that the tempest +was nearly over. + +The lantern had been extinguished. The interior of the ant-hill was +plunged in complete darkness. + +No doubt all slept. However, Dick Sand, alone, did not seek in sleep +the repose which was so necessary to him. Thought absorbed him. He +dreamed of his companions, whom he would save at all hazards. The +wrecking of the "Pilgrim" had not been the end of their cruel trials, +and others, still more terrible, threatened them should they fall into +the hands of these natives. + +And how to avoid this danger, the worst of all, during their return to +the coast. Harris and Negoro had not led them a hundred miles into the +interior of Angola without a secret design to gain possession of them. + +But what did this miserable Portuguese intend? Who had merited his +hatred? The young novice repeated to himself, that he alone had +incurred it. Then he passed in review all the incidents that had taken +place during the "Pilgrim's" voyage; the meeting with the wreck and +the blacks; the pursuit of the whale; the disappearance of Captain +Hull and his crew. + +Dick Sand had found himself, at the age of fifteen, intrusted with the +command of a vessel, the compass and log of which were soon injured by +Negoro's criminal actions. He again saw himself using his authority in +the presence of this insolent cook, threatening to put him in irons, +or to blow out his brains with a pistol shot. Ah, why had he hesitated +to do it? Negoro's corpse would have been thrown overboard, and none +of these catastrophes would have happened. + +Such were the young man's various thoughts. Then they dwelt a moment +on the shipwreck which had ended the "Pilgrim's" voyage. The traitor +Harris appeared then, and this province of South America gradually +became transformed. Bolivia changed to the terrible Angola, with its +feverish climate, its savage deer, its natives still more cruel. Could +the little party escape during its return to the coast? This river +which he was seeking, which he hoped to find, would it conduct them to +the shore with more safety, and with less fatigue? He would not doubt +it, for he knew well that a march of a hundred miles through this +inhospitable country, in the midst of incessant dangers, was no longer +possible. + +"Happily," he said to himself, "Mrs. Weldon and all are ignorant of +the danger of the situation. Old Tom and I, we alone are to know that +Negoro has thrown us on the coast of Africa; and that Harris has led +me into the wilds of Angola." + +Dick Sand was thus sunk in overpowering thoughts, when he felt a +breath on his forehead. A hand rested on his shoulder, and a trembling +voice murmured these words in his ear: + +"I know all, my poor Dick, but God can yet save us! His will be done!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE DIVING-BELL. + + +To this unexpected revelation Dick Sand could not reply. Besides, Mrs. +Weldon had gone back at once to her place beside little Jack. She +evidently did not wish to say any more about it, and the young novice +had not the courage to detain her. + +Thus Mrs. Weldon knew what to believe. The various incidents, of the +way had enlightened her also, and perhaps, too, that word, "Africa!" +so unluckily pronounced the night before by Cousin Benedict. + +"Mrs. Weldon knows everything," repeated Dick Sand to himself. "Well, +perhaps it is better so. The brave woman does not despair. I shall not +despair either." + +Dick Sand now longed for day to return, that he might explore the +surroundings of this termite village. He must find a tributary of the +Atlantic with a rapid course to transport all his little troop. He had +a presentiment that this watercourse could not be far distant. Above +all, they must avoid an encounter with the natives, perhaps already +sent in pursuit of them under Harris's and Negoro's direction. + +But it was not day yet. No light made its way into the cone through +the lower orifice. Rumblings, rendered low by the thickness of the +walls, indicated that the storm still raged. Listening, Dick Sand also +heard the rain falling with violence at the base of the ant-hill. As +the large drops no longer struck a hard soil, he must conclude that +the whole plain was inundated. + +It must have been about eleven o'clock. Dick Sand then felt that a +kind of torpor, if not a true sleep, was going to overcome him. It +would, however, be rest. But, just as he was yielding to it, the +thought came to him that, by the settling of the clay, washed in, the +lower orifice was likely to be obstructed. All passage for the outer +air would be closed. Within, the respiration of ten persons would soon +vitiate the air by loading it with carbonic acid. + +Dick Sand then slipped to the ground, which had been raised by the +clay from the first floor of cells. + +That cushion was still perfectly dry, and the orifice entirely free. +The air penetrated freely to the interior of the cone, and with it +some flashes of lightning, and the loud noises of that storm, that a +diluvian rain could not extinguish. + +Dick Sand saw that all was well. No immediate danger seemed to menace +these human termites, substituted for the colony of newroptera. The +young novice then thought of refreshing himself by a few hours' sleep, +as he already felt its influence. Only with supreme precaution Dick +Sand lay on that bed of clay, at the bottom of the cone, near the +narrow edifice. + +By this means, if any accident happened outside, he would be the first +to remark it. The rising day would also awaken him, and he would be +ready to begin the exploration of the plain. + +Dick Sand lay down then, his head against the wall, his gun under his +hand, and almost immediately he was asleep. + +How long this drowsiness lasted he could not tell, when he was +awakened by a lively sensation of coolness. + +He rose and recognized, not without great anxiety, that the water was +invading the ant hill, and even so rapidly, that in a few seconds it +would reach the story of cells occupied by Tom and Hercules. + +The latter, awakened by Dick Sand, were told about this new +complication. + +The lighted lantern soon showed the interior of the cone. + +The water had stopped at a height of about five feet, and remained +stationary. + +"What is the matter, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"It is nothing," replied the young novice. "The lower part of the +cone has been inundated. It is probably that during this storm a +neighboring river has overflowed on this plain." + +"Good!" said Hercules; "that proves the river is there!" + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and it will carry us to the coast. Be +reassured, then, Mrs. Weldon; the water cannot reach you, nor little +Jack, nor Nan, nor Mr. Benedict." + +Mrs. Weldon did not reply. As to the cousin, he slept like a veritable +termite. + +Meanwhile the blacks, leaning over this sheet of water, which +reflected the lantern's light, waited for Dick Sand to indicate +to them what should be done. He was measuring the height of the +inundation. + +After having the provisions and arms put out of the reach of the +inundation, Dick Sand was silent. + +"The water has penetrated by the orifice," said Tom. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and now it prevents the interior air from +being renewed." + +"Could we not make a hole in the wall above the level of the water?" +asked the old black. + +"Doubtless, Tom; but if we have five feet of water within, there are +perhaps six or seven, even more, without." + +"You think, Mr. Dick--?" + +"I think, Tom, that the water, rising inside the ant-hill, has +compressed the air in the upper part, and that this air now makes an +obstacle to prevent the water from rising higher. But if we pierce a +hole in the wall by which the air would escape, either the water would +still rise till it reached the outside level, or if it passed the +hole, it would rise to that point where the compressed air would again +keep it back. We must be here like workmen in a diving-bell." + +"What must be done?" asked Tom. + +"Reflect well before acting," replied Dick Sand. "An imprudence might +cost us our lives!" + +The young novice's observation was very true. + +In comparing the cone to a submerged bell, he was right. Only in that +apparatus the air is constantly renewed by means of pumps. The divers +breathe comfortably, and they suffer no other inconveniences than +those resulting from a prolonged sojourn in a compressed atmosphere, +no longer at a normal pressure. + +But here, beside those inconveniences, space was already reduced a +third by the invasion of the water. As to the air, it would only be +renewed if they put it in communication with the outer atmosphere by +means of a hole. + +Could they, without running the danger spoken of by Dick Sand, pierce +that hole? Would not the situation be aggravated by it? + +What was certain was, that the water now rested at a level which only +two causes could make it exceed, namely: if they pierced a hole, and +the level of the rising waters was higher outside, or if the height +of this rising water should still increase. In either of these cases, +only a narrow space would remain inside the cone, where the air, not +renewed, would be still more compressed. + +But might not the ant-hill be torn from the ground and overthrown by +the inundation, to the extreme danger of those within it? No, no more +than a beaver's hut, so firmly did it adhere by its base. + +Then, the event most to be feared was the persistence of the storm, +and, consequently, the increase of the inundation. Thirty feet of +water on the plain would cover the cone with eighteen feet of water, +and bear on the air within with the pressure of an atmosphere. + +Now, after reflecting well upon it, Dick Sand was led to fear that +this inundation might increase considerably. + +In fact, it could not be due solely to that deluge poured out by +the clouds. It seemed more probable that a neighboring watercourse, +swelled by the storm, had burst its banks, and was spreading over this +plain lying below it. What proof had they that the ant-hill was not +then entirely submerged, and that it was full time to leave it by the +top part, which would not be difficult to demolish? + +Dick Sand, now extremely anxious, asked himself what he ought to +do. Must he wait or suddenly announce the probable result of the +situation, after ascertaining the condition of things? + +It was then three o'clock in the morning. All, motionless, silent, +listened. The noise from outside came very feebly through the +obstructed orifice. All the time a dull sound, strong and continued, +well indicated that the contest of the elements had not ceased. + +At that moment old Tom observed that the water level was gradually +rising. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and if it rises, as the air cannot escape +from within, it is because the rising of the waters increases and +presses it more and more." + +"It is but slight so far," said Tom. + +"Without doubt," replied Dick Sand; "but where will this level stop?" + +"Mr. Dick," asked Bat, "would you like me to go out of the ant-hill? +By diving, I should try to slip out by the hole." + +"It will be better for me to try it," replied Dick Sand. + +"No, Mr. Dick, no," replied old Tom, quickly; "let my son do it, and +trust to his skill. In case he could not return, your presence is +necessary here." + +Then, lower: + +"Do not forget Mrs. Weldon and little Jack." + +"Be it so," replied Dick Sand. "Go, then, Bat. If the ant-hill is +submerged, do not seek to enter it again. We shall try to come out as +you will have done. But if the cone still emerges, strike on its top +with the ax that you will take with you. We will hear you, and it +will be the signal for us to demolish the top from our side. You +understand?" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick," replied Bat. + +"Go, then, boy," added old Tom, pressing his son's hand. + +Bat, after laying in a good provision of air by a long aspiration, +plunged under the liquid mass, whose depth then exceeded five feet. It +was a rather difficult task, because he would have to seek the lower +orifice, slip through it, and then rise to the outside surface of the +waters. + +That must be done quickly. + +Nearly half a minute passed away. Dick Sand then thought that Bat had +succeeded in passing outside when the black emerged. + +"Well!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +"The hole is stopped up by rubbish!" replied Bat, as soon as he could +take breath. + +"Stopped up!" repeated Tom. + +"Yes," replied Bat. "The water has probably diluted the clay. I have +felt around the walls with my hand. There is no longer any hole." + +Dick Sand shook his head. His companions and he were hermetically +sequestered in this cone, perhaps submerged by the water. + +"If there is no longer any hole," then said Hercules, "we must make +one." + +"Wait," replied the young novice, stopping Hercules, who, hatchet in +hand, was preparing to dive. + +Dick Sand reflected for a few moments, and then he said: + +"We are going to proceed in another manner. The whole question is to +know whether the water covers the ant-hill or not. If we make a small +opening at the summit of the cone, we shall find out which it is. But +in case the ant-hill should be submerged now, the water would fill it +entirely, and we would be lost. Let us feel our way." + +"But quickly," replied Tom. + +In fact, the level continued to rise gradually. There were then six +feet of water inside the cone. With the exception of Mrs. Weldon, +her son, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, who had taken refuge in the upper +cavities, all were immersed to the waist. + +Then there was a necessity for quick action, as Dick Sand proposed. + +It was one foot above the interior level, consequently seven feet from +the ground, that Dick Sand resolved to pierce a hole in the clay wall. + +If, by this hole, they were in communication with the outer air, the +cone emerges. If, on the contrary, this hole was pierced below the +water level outside, the air would be driven inward, and in that case +they must stop it up at once, or the water would rise to its orifice. +Then they would commence again a foot higher, and so on. If, at last, +at the top, they did not yet find the outer air, it was because there +was a depth of more than fifteen feet of water in the plain, and that +the whole termite village had disappeared under the inundation. Then +what chance had the prisoners in the ant-hill to escape the most +terrible of deaths, death by slow asphyxia? + +Dick Sand knew all that, but he did not lose his presence of mind for +a moment. He had closely calculated the consequences of the experiment +he wished to try. Besides, to wait longer was not possible. Asphyxia +was threatening in this narrow space, reduced every moment, in a +medium already saturated with carbonic acid. + +The best tool Dick Sand could employ to pierce a hole through the wall +was a ramrod furnished with a screw, intended to draw the wadding from +a gun. By making it turn rapidly, this screw scooped out the clay like +an auger, and the hole was made little by little. Then it would not +have a larger diameter than that of the ramrod, but that would be +sufficient. The air could come through very well. + +Hercules holding up the lantern lighted Dick Sand. They had some wax +candles to take its place, and they had not to fear lack of light from +that source. + +A minute after the beginning of the operation, the ramrod went freely +through the wall. At once a rather dull noise was produced, resembling +that made by globules of air escaping through a column of water. The +air escaped, and, at the same moment, the level of the water rose in +the cone, and stopped at the height of the hole. This proved that they +had pierced too low--that is to say, below the liquid mass. + +"Begin again," the young novice said, coolly, after rapidly stopping +the hole with a handful of clay. + +The water was again stationary in the cone, but the reserved space had +diminished more than eight inches. Respiration became difficult, for +the oxygen was beginning to fail. They saw it also by the lantern's +light, which reddened and lost a part of its brightness. + +One foot above the first hole, Dick Sand began at once to pierce a +second by the same process. If the experiment failed, the water would +rise still higher inside the cone--but that risk must be run. + +While Dick Sand was working his auger, they heard Cousin Benedict cry +out, suddenly: + +"Mercy! look--look--look why!" + +Hercules raised his lantern and threw its light on Cousin Benedict, +whose face expressed the most perfect satisfaction. + +"Yes," repeated he, "look why those intelligent termites have +abandoned the ant-hill! They had felt the inundation beforehand. Ah! +instinct, my friends, instinct. The termites are wiser than we are, +much wiser." + +And that was all the moral Cousin Benedict drew from the situation. + +At that moment Dick Sand drew out the ramrod, which had penetrated the +wall. A hissing was produced. The water rose another foot inside the +cone--the hole had not reached the open air outside. + +The situation was dreadful. Mrs. Weldon, then almost reached by the +water, had raised little Jack in her arms. All were stifling in this +narrow space. Their ears buzzed. + +The lantern only threw a faint light. + +"Is the cone, then, entirely under water?" murmured Dick Sand. + +He must know; and, in order to know, he must pierce a third hole, at +the very top. + +But it was asphyxia, it was immediate death, if the result of this +last attempt should prove fruitless. The air remaining inside would +escape through the upper sheet of water, and the water would fill the +whole cone. + +"Mrs. Weldon," then said Dick Sand, "you know the situation. If we +delay, respirable air will fail us. If the third attempt fails, water +will fill all this space. Our only chance is that the summit of the +cone is above the level of the inundation. We must try this last +experiment. Are you willing?" + +"Do it, Dick!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +At that moment the lantern went out in that medium already unfit for +combustion. Mrs. Weldon and her companions were plunged in the most +complete darkness. + +Dick Sand was perched on Hercules's shoulders. The latter was hanging +on to one of the lateral cavities. Only his head was above the bed of +water. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict were in the last story of +cells. + +Dick Sand scratched the wall, and his ramrod pierced the clay rapidly. +In this place the wall, being thicker and harder also, was more +difficult to penetrate. Dick Sand hastened, not without terrible +anxiety, for by this narrow opening either life was going to penetrate +with the air, or with the water it was death. + +Suddenly a sharp hissing was heard. The compressed air escaped--but a +ray of daylight filtered through the wall. The water only rose eight +inches, and stopped, without Dick Sand being obliged to close the +hole. The equilibrium was established between the level within and +that outside. The summit of the cone emerged. Mrs. Weldon and her +companions were saved. + +At once, after a frantic hurra, in which Hercules's thundering voice +prevailed, the cutlasses were put to work. The summit, quickly +attacked, gradually crumbled. The hole was enlarged, the pure air +entered in waves, and with it the first rays of the rising sun. The +top once taken off the cone, it would be easy to hoist themselves on +to its wall, and they would devise means of reaching some neighboring +height, above all inundations. + +Dick Sand first mounted to the summit of the cone. + +A cry escaped him. + +That particular noise, too well known by African travelers, the +whizzing of arrows, passed through the air. + +Dick Sand had had time to perceive a camp a hundred feet from the +ant-hill, and ten feet from the cone, on the inundated plain, long +boats, filled with natives. + +It was from one of those boats that the flight of arrows had come the +moment the young novice's head appeared out of the hole. + +Dick Sand, in a word, had told all to his companions. Seizing his gun, +followed by Hercules, Acteon, and Bat, he reappeared at the summit of +the cone, and all fired on one of the boats. + +Several natives fell, and yells, accompanied by shots, replied to the +detonation of the fire-arms. + +But what could Dick Sand and his companions do against a hundred +Africans, who surrounded them on all sides? + +The ant-hill was assailed. Mrs. Weldon, her child, and Cousin +Benedict, all were brutally snatched from it, and without having had +time to speak to each other or to shake hands for the last time, they +saw themselves separated from each other, doubtless in virtue of +orders previously given. + +A last boat took away Mrs. Weldon, little Jack and Cousin Benedict. +Dick Sand saw them disappear in the middle of the camp. + +As to him, accompanied by Nan, Old Tom, Hercules, Bat, Acteon and +Austin, he was thrown into a second boat, which went toward another +point of the hill. + +Twenty natives entered this boat. + +It was followed by five others. + +Resistance was not possible, and nevertheless, Dick Sand and his +companions attempted it. Some soldiers of the caravan were wounded +by them, and certainly they would have paid for this resistance with +their lives, if there had not been a formal order to spare them. + +In a few minutes, the passage was made. But just as the boat landed, +Hercules, with an irresistible bound, sprang on the ground. Two +natives having sprung on him, the giant turned his gun like a club, +and the natives fell, with their skulls broken. + +A moment after, Hercules disappeared under the cover of the trees, +in the midst of a shower of balls, as Dick Sand and his companions, +having been put on land, were chained like slaves. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN CAMP ON THE BANKS OF THE COANZA. + + +The aspect of the country was entirely changed since the inundation. +It had made a lake of the plain where the termite village stood. The +cones of twenty ant-hills emerged, and formed the only projecting +points on this large basin. + +The Coanza had overflowed during the night, with the waters of its +tributaries swelled by the storm. + +This Coanza, one of the rivers of Angola, flows into the Atlantic, a +hundred miles from the cape where the "Pilgrim" was wrecked. It was +this river that Lieutenant Cameron had to cross some years later, +before reaching Benguela. The Coanza is intended to become the vehicle +for the interior transit of this portion of the Portuguese colony. +Already steamers ascend its lower course, and before ten years elapse, +they will ply over its upper bed. Dick Sand had then acted wisely in +seeking some navigable river toward the north. The rivulet he had +followed had just been emptied into the Coanza. Only for this sudden +attack, of which he had had no intimation to put him on his guard, he +would have found the Coanza a mile farther on. His companions and he +would have embarked on a raft, easily constructed, and they would have +had a good chance to descend the stream to the Portuguese villages, +where the steamers come into port. There, their safety would be +secured. + +It would not be so. + +The camp, perceived by Dick Sand, was established on an elevation near +the ant-hill, into which fate had thrown him, as in a trap. At the +summit of that elevation rose an enormous sycamore fig-tree, which +would easily shelter five hundred men under its immense branches. +Those who have not seen those giant trees of Central Africa, can form +no idea of them. Their branches form a forest, and one could be lost +in it. Farther on, great banyans, of the kind whose seeds do not +change into fruits, completed the outline of this vast landscape. + +It was under the sycamore's shelter, hidden, as in a mysterious +asylum, that a whole caravan--the one whose arrival Harris had +announced to Negoro--had just halted. This numerous procession of +natives, snatched from their villages by the trader Alvez's agents, +were going to the Kazounde market. Thence the slaves, as needed, would +be sent either to the barracks of the west coast, or to N'yangwe, +toward the great lake region, to be distributed either in upper Egypt, +or in the factories of Zanzibar. + +As soon as they arrived at the camp, Dick Sand and his companions had +been treated as slaves. Old Tom, his son Austin, Acteon, poor Nan, +negroes by birth, though they did not belong to the African race, were +treated like captive natives. After they were disarmed, in spite of +the strongest resistance, they were held by the throat, two by two, by +means of a pole six or seven feet long, forked at each end, and closed +by an iron rod. By this means they were forced to march in line, one +behind the other, unable to get away either to the right or to the +left. As an over precaution, a heavy chain was attached to their +waists. They had their arms free, to carry burdens, their feet free to +march, but they could not use them to flee. Thus they were going to +travel hundreds of miles under an overseer's lash. Placed apart, +overcome by the reaction which followed the first moments of their +struggle against the negroes, they no longer made a movement. Why had +they not been able to follow Hercules in his flight? And, meanwhile, +what could they hope for the fugitive? Strong as he was, what would +become of him in that inhospitable country, where hunger, solitude, +savage beasts, natives, all were against him? Would he not soon regret +his companion's fate? They, however, had no pity to expect from the +chiefs of the caravan, Arabs or Portuguese, speaking a language they +could not understand. These chiefs only entered into communication +with their prisoners by menacing looks and gestures. + +Dick Sand himself was not coupled with any other slave. He was a white +man, and probably they had not dared to inflict the common treatment +on him. Unarmed, he had his feet and hands free, but a driver watched +him especially. He observed the camp, expecting each moment to see +Negoro or Harris appear. His expectation was in vain. He had no doubt, +however, that those two miserable men had directed the attack against +the ant-hill. + +Thus the thought came to him that Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, and Cousin +Benedict had been led away separately by orders from the American or +from the Portuguese. Seeing neither one nor the other, he said to +himself that perhaps the two accomplices even accompanied their +victims. Where were they leading them? What would they do with them? +It was his most cruel care. Dick Sand forgot his own situation to +think only of Mrs. Weldon and hers. + +The caravan, camped under the gigantic sycamore, did not count less +than eight hundred persons, say five hundred slaves of both sexes, +two hundred soldiers, porters, marauders, guards, drivers, agents, or +chiefs. + +These chiefs were of Arab and Portugese origin. It would be difficult +to imagine the cruelties that these inhuman beings inflicted on their +captives. They struck them without relaxation, and those who fell +exhausted, not fit to be sold, were finished with gunshots or the +knife. Thus they hold them by terror. But the result of this system +is, that on the arrival of the caravan, fifty out of a hundred slaves +are missing from the trader's list. A few may have escaped, but the +bones of those who died from torture mark out the long routes from the +interior to the coast. + +It is supposed that the agents of European origin, Portuguese for the +most part, are only rascals whom their country has rejected, convicts, +escaped prisoners, old slave-drivers whom the authorities have been +unable to hang--in a word, the refuse of humanity. Such was Negoro, +such was Harris, now in the service of one of the greatest contractors +of Central Africa, Jose-Antonio Alvez, well known by the traders of +the province, about whom Lieutenant Cameron has given some curious +information. + +The soldiers who escort the captives are generally natives in the pay +of the traders. But the latter have not the monopoly of those raids +which procure the slaves for them. The negro kings also make atrocious +wars with each other, and with the same object. Then the vanquished +adults, the women and children, reduced to slavery, are sold by the +vanquishers for a few yards of calico, some powder, a few firearms, +pink or red pearls, and often even, as Livingstone says, in periods of +famine, for a few grains of maize. + +The soldiers who escorted old Alvez's caravan might give a true idea +of what African armies are. + +It was an assemblage of negro bandits, hardly clothed, who brandished +long flint-lock guns, the gun-barrels garnished with a great number of +copper rings. With such an escort, to which are joined marauders who +are no better, the agents often have all they can do. They dispute +orders, they insist on their own halting places and hours, they +threaten to desert, and it is not rare for the agents to be forced to +yield to the exactions of this soldiery. + +Though the slaves, men or women, are generally subjected to carry +burdens while the caravan is on the march, yet a certain number of +porters accompany it. They are called more particularly "Pagazis," and +they carry bundles of precious objects, principally ivory. Such is the +size of these elephants' teeth sometimes, of which some weigh as much +as one hundred and sixty pounds, that it takes two of these "Pagazis" +to carry them to the factories. Thence this precious merchandise is +exported to the markets of Khartoum, of Zanzibar and Natal. + +On arriving, these "Pagazis" are paid the price agreed upon. It +consists in twenty yards of cotton cloth, or of that stuff which bears +the name of "Merikani," a little powder, a handful of cowry (shells +very common in that country, which serve as money), a few pearls, or +even those of the slaves who would be difficult to sell. The slaves +are paid, when the trader has no other money. + +Among the five hundred slaves that the caravan counted, there were +few grown men. That is because, the "Razzia" being finished and +the village set on fire, every native above forty is unmercifully +massacred and hung to a neighboring tree. Only the young adults of +both sexes and the children are intended to furnish the markets. +After these men-hunts, hardly a tenth of the vanquished survive. This +explains the frightful depopulation which changes vast territories of +equatorial Africa into deserts. + +Here, the children and the adults were hardly clothed with a rag of +that bark stuff, produced by certain trees, and called "mbouzon" in +the country. Thus the state of this troop of human beings, women +covered with wounds from the "havildars'" whips, children ghastly +and meager, with bleeding feet, whom their mothers tried to carry in +addition to their burdens, young men closely riveted to the fork, more +torturing than the convict's chain, is the most lamentable that can be +imagined. + +Yes, the sight of the miserable people, hardly living, whose voices +have no sound, ebony skeletons according to Livingstone's expression, +would touch the hearts of wild beasts. But so much misery did not +touch those hardened Arabs nor those Portuguese, who, according to +Lieutenant Cameron, are still more cruel. This is what Cameron says: +"To obtain these fifty women, of whom Alvez called himself proprietor, +ten villages had been destroyed, ten villages having each from one +hundred to two hundred souls: a total of fifteen hundred inhabitants. +Some had been able to escape, but the greater part--almost all--had +perished in the flames, had been killed in defending their families, +or had died of hunger in the jungle, unless the beasts of prey had +terminated their sufferings more promptly. + +"Those crimes, perpetrated in the center of Africa by men who boast of +the name of Christians, and consider themselves Portuguese, would seem +incredible to the inhabitants of civilized countries. It is impossible +that the government of Lisbon knows the atrocities committed by people +who boast of being her subjects." _--Tour of the World_. + +In Portugal there have been very warm protestations against these +assertions of Cameron's. + +It need not be said that, during the marches, as during the halts, the +prisoners were very carefully guarded. Thus, Dick Sand soon understood +that he must not even attempt to get away. But then, how find Mrs. +Weldon again? That she and her child had been carried away by Negoro +was only too certain. The Portuguese had separated her from her +companions for reasons unknown as yet to the young novice. But he +could not doubt Negoro's intervention, and his heart was breaking at +the thought of the dangers of all kinds which threatened Mrs. Weldon. + +"Ah!" he said to himself, "when I think that I have held those two +miserable men, both of them, at the end of my gun, and that I have not +killed them!" + +This thought was one of those which returned most persistently to Dick +Sand's mind. What misfortunes the death, the just death of Harris and +Negoro might have prevented! What misery, at least, for those whom +these brokers in human flesh were now treating as slaves! + +All the horror of Mrs. Weldon's and little Jack's situation now +represented itself to Dick Sand. Neither the mother nor the child +could count on Cousin Benedict. The poor man could hardly take care of +himself. + +Doubtless they were taking all three to some district remote from the +province of Angola. But who was carrying the still sick child? + +"His mother; yes, his mother," Dick Sand repeated to himself. "She +will have recovered strength for him; she will have done what these +unhappy female slaves do, and she will fall like them. Ah! may God put +me again in front of her executioners, and I--" + +But he was a prisoner! He counted one head in this live-stock that the +overseers were driving to the interior of Africa. He did not even know +whether Negoro and Harris themselves were directing the convoy of +which their victims made a part. Dingo was no longer there to scent +the Portuguese, to announce his approach. Hercules alone might come to +the assistance of the unfortunate Mrs. Weldon. But was that miracle to +be hoped for? + +However, Dick Sand fell back again on that idea. He said to himself +that the strong black man was free. Of his devotion there was no +doubt. All that a human being could do, Hercules would do in Mrs. +Weldon's interest. Yes, either Hercules would try to find them and put +himself in communication with them; or if that failed him, he would +endeavor to concert with him, Dick Sand, and perhaps carry him off, +deliver him by force. During the night halts, mingling with these +prisoners, black like them, could he not deceive the soldier's +vigilance, reach him, break his bonds, and lead him away into the +forest? And both of them, then free, what would they not do for Mrs. +Weldon's safety. A water course would enable them to descend to the +coast. Dick Sand would again take up that plan so unfortunately +prevented by the natives' attack, with new chances of success and a +greater knowledge of the difficulties. + +The young novice thus alternated between fear and hope. In fact, he +resisted despair, thanks to his energetic nature, and held himself in +readiness to profit by the least chance that might offer itself to +him. + +What he most desired to know was to what market the agents were taking +the convoy of slaves. Was it to one of the factories of Angola, and +would it be an affair of a few halting-places only, or would this +convoy travel for hundreds of miles still, across Central Africa? The +principal market of the contractors is that of N'yangwe, in Manyema, +on that meridian which divides the African continent into two almost +equal parts, there where extends the country of the great lakes, that +Livingstone was then traversing. But it was far from the camp on the +Coanza to that village. Months of travel would not suffice to reach +it. + +That was one of Dick Sand's most serious thoughts; for, once at +N'yangwe, in case even Mrs. Weldon, Hercules, the other blacks and +he should succeed in escaping, how difficult it would be, not to say +impossible, to return to the seacoast, in the midst of the dangers of +such a long route. + +But Dick Sand soon had reason to think that the convoy would soon +reach its destination. Though he did not understand the language +employed by the chiefs of the caravan, sometimes Arab, sometimes the +African idiom, he remarked that the name of an important market of +that region was often pronounced. It was the name Kazounde, and he +knew that a very great trade in slaves was carried on there. He was +then naturally led to believe that there the fate of the prisoners +would be decided, whether for the profit of the king of that district +or for the benefit of some rich trader of the country. We know that he +was not mistaken. + +Now, Dick Sand, being posted in the facts of modern geography, knew +very exactly what is known of Kazounde. The distance from Saint +Paul de Loanda to this city does not exceed four hundred miles, and +consequently two hundred and fifty miles, at the most, separates +it from the camp established on the Coanza. Dick Sand made his +calculation approximately, taking the distance traveled by the +little troop under Harris's lead as the base. Now, under ordinary +circumstances, this journey would only require from ten to twelve +days. Doubling that time for the needs of a caravan already exhausted +by a long route, Dick Sand might estimate the length of the journey +from the Coanza to Kazounde at three weeks. + +Dick Sand wished very much to impart what he believed he knew to Tom +and his companions. It would be a kind of consolation for them to be +assured that they were not being led to the center of Africa, into +those fatal countries which they could not hope to leave. Now, a few +words uttered in passing would be sufficient to enlighten them. Would +he succeed in saying those words? + +Tom and Bat--chance had reunited the father and son--Acteon and +Austin, forked two by two, were at the right extremity of the camp. An +overseer and a dozen soldiers watched them. + +Dick Sand, free in his movements, resolved to gradually diminish the +distance that separated him from his companions to fifty steps. He +then commenced to maneuver to that end. + +Very likely old Tom divined Dick Sand's thought. A word, pronounced in +a low voice, warned his companions to be attentive. They did not stir, +but they kept themselves ready to see, as well as to hear. + +Soon, with an indifferent air, Dick Sand had gained fifty steps more. +From the place where he then was, he could have called out, in such +a manner as to be heard, that name Kazounde, and tell them what +the probable length of the journey would be. But to complete his +instructions, and confer with them on their conduct during the +journey, would be still better. He then continued to draw nearer to +them. Already his heart was beating with hope; he was only a few +steps from the desired end, when the overseer, as if he had suddenly +penetrated his intention, rushed on him. At the cries of that enraged +person, ten soldiers ran to the spot, and Dick Sand was brutally led +back to the rear, while Tom and his companions were taken to the other +extremity of the camp. + +Exasperated, Dick Sand had thrown himself upon the overseer. He had +ended by breaking his gun in his hands. He had almost succeeded in +snatching it from him. But seven or eight soldiers assailed him at +once, and force was used to secure him. Furious, they would have +massacred him, if one of the chiefs of the caravan, an Arab of great +height and ferocious physiognomy, had not intervened. This Arab was +the chief Ibn Hamis, of whom Harris had spoken. He pronounced a few +words which Dick Sand could not understand, and the soldiers, obliged +to release their prey, went away. + +It was, then, very evident, for one thing, that there had been a +formal order not to allow the young novice to communicate with his +companions; and for another, that his life should not be taken. + +Who could have given such orders, if not Harris or Negoro? + +At that moment--it was nine o'clock in the morning, April 19th--the +harsh sounds from a "condou's" horn (a kind of ruminating animal among +the African deer) burst forth, and the drum was heard. The halt was +going to end. + +All, chiefs, porters, soldiers, slaves, were immediately on foot. +Laden with their packs, several groups of captives were formed under +the leadership of an overseer, who unfurled a banner of bright colors. + +The signal for departure was given. Songs then rose on the air; but +they were the vanquished, not the vanquishers, who sang thus. + +This is what they said in these songs--a threatening expression of a +simple faith from the slaves against their oppressors--against their +executioners: + +"You have sent me to the coast, but I shall be dead; I shall have a +yoke no longer, and I shall return to kill you." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SOME OF DICK SAND'S NOTES. + + +Though the storm of the day before had ceased, the weather was still +very unsettled. It was, besides, the period of the "masika," the +second period of the rainy season, under this zone of the African +heaven. The nights in particular would be rainy during one, two, or +three weeks, which could only increase the misery of the caravan. + +It set out that day in cloudy weather, and, after quitting the banks +of the Coanza, made its way almost directly to the east. Fifty +soldiers marched at the head, a hundred on each of the two sides of +the convoy, the rest as a rear-guard. It would be difficult for the +prisoners to flee, even if they had not been chained. Women, children, +and men were going pell-mell, and the overseers urged them on with the +whip. There were unfortunate mothers who, nursing one child, held a +second by the hand that was free. Others dragged these little beings +along, without clothing, without shoes, on the sharp grasses of the +soil. + +The chief of the caravan, that ferocious Ibn Hamis, who had interfered +in the struggle between Dick Sand and his overseer, watched this whole +troop, going backwards and forwards from the head to the foot of the +long column. If his agents and he troubled themselves but little about +the sufferings of their captives, they must reckon more seriously +either with the soldiers who claimed some additional rations, or with +the "pagazis" who wanted to halt. Thence discussions; often even an +exchange of brutality. The slaves suffered more from the overseers' +constant irritation. Nothing was heard but threats from one side, and +cries of grief from the other. Those who marched in the last ranks +treaded a soil that the first had stained with their blood. + +Dick Sand's companions, always carefully kept in front of the convoy, +could have no communication with him. They advanced in file, the neck +held in the heavy fork, which did not permit a single head-movement. +The whips did not spare them any more than their sad companions in +misfortune. + +Bat, coupled with his father, marched before him, taxing his ingenuity +not to shake the fork, choosing the best places to step on, because +old Tom must pass after him. From time to time, when the overseer was +a little behind, he uttered various words of encouragement, some of +which reached Tom. He even tried to retard his march, if he felt that +Tom was getting tired. It was suffering, for this good son to be +unable to turn his head towards his good father, whom he loved. +Doubtless, Tom had the satisfaction of seeing his son; however, he +paid dear for it. How many times great tears flowed from his eyes when +the overseer's whip fell upon Bat! It was a worse punishment than if +it had fallen on his own flesh. + +Austin and Acteon marched a few steps behind, tied to each other, and +brutally treated every moment. Ah, how they envied Hercules's fate! +Whatever were the dangers that threatened the latter in that savage +country, he could at least use his strength and defend his life. + +During the first moments of their captivity, old Tom had finally made +known the whole truth to his companions. They had learned from him, to +their profound astonishment, that they were in Africa; that Negoro's +and Harris's double treachery had first thrown them there, and then +led them away, and that no pity was to be expected from their masters. + +Nan was not better treated. She made part of a group of women who +occupied the middle of the convoy. They had chained her with a young +mother of two children, one at the breast, the other aged three years, +who walked with difficulty. Nan, moved with pity, had burdened herself +with the little creature, and the poor slave had thanked her by a +tear. Nan then carried the infant, at the same time, sparing her the +fatigue, to which she would have yielded, and the blows the overseer +would have given her. But it was a heavy burden for old Nan. She felt +that her strength would soon fail her, and then she thought of little +Jack. She pictured him to herself in his mother's arms. Sickness had +wasted him very much, but he must be still heavy for Mrs. Weldon's +weakened arms. Where was she? What would become of her? Would her old +servant ever see her again? + +Dick Sand had been placed almost in the rear of the convoy. He could +neither perceive Tom, nor his companions, nor Nan. The head of the +long caravan was only visible to him when it was crossing some plain. +He walked, a prey, to the saddest thoughts, from which the agents' +cries hardly drew his attention. He neither thought of himself, nor +the fatigues he must still support, nor of the tortures probably +reserved for him by Negoro. He only thought of Mrs. Weldon. In rain +he sought on the ground, on the brambles by the paths, on the lower +branches of the trees, to find some trace of her passage. She could +not have taken another road, if, as everything indicated, they +were leading her to Kazounde. What would he not give to find some +indication of her march to the destination where they themselves were +being led! + +Such was the situation of the young novice and his companions in body +and mind. But whatever they might have to fear for themselves, great +as was their own sufferings, pity took possession of them on seeing +the frightful misery of that sad troop of captives, and the revolting +brutality of their masters. Alas! they could do nothing to succor the +afflicted, nothing to resist the others. + +All the country situated east of the Coanza was only a forest for over +an extent of twenty miles. The trees, however, whether they perish +under the biting of the numerous insects of these countries, or +whether troops of elephants beat them down while they are still young, +are less crowded here than in the country next to the seacoast. The +march, then, under the trees, would not present obstacles. The shrubs +might be more troublesome than the trees. There was, in fact, an +abundance of those cotton-trees, seven to eight feet high, the cotton +of which serves to manufacture the black and white striped stuffs used +in the interior of the province. + +In certain places, the soil transformed itself into thick jungles, in +which the convoy disappeared. Of all the animals of the country, +the elephants and giraffes alone were taller than those reeds which +resemble bamboos, those herbs, the stalks of which measure an inch in +diameter. The agents must know the country marvelously well, not to be +lost in these jungles. + +Each day the caravan set out at daybreak, and only halted at midday +for an hour. Some packs containing tapioca were then opened, and this +food was parsimoniously distributed to the slaves. To this potatoes +were added, or goat's meat and veal, when the soldiers had pillaged +some village in passing. But the fatigue had been such, the repose so +insufficient, so impossible even during these rainy nights, that when +the hour for the distribution of food arrived the prisoners could +hardly eat. So, eight days after the departure from the Coanza, twenty +had fallen by the way, at the mercy of the beasts that prowled behind +the convoy. Lions, panthers and leopards waited for the victims which +could not fail them, and each evening after sunset their roaring +sounded at such a short distance that one might fear a direct attack. + +On hearing those roars, rendered more formidable by the darkness, +Dick Sand thought with terror of the obstacles such encounters would +present against Hercules's enterprise, of the perils that menaced each +of his steps. And meanwhile if he himself should find an opportunity +to flee, he would not hesitate. + +Here are some notes taken by Dick Sand during this journey from the +Coanza to Kazounde. Twenty-five "marches" were employed to make this +distance of two hundred and fifty miles, the "march" in the traders' +language being ten miles, halting by day and night. + +_From 25th to 27th April._--Saw a village surrounded by walls of +reeds, eight or nine feet high. Fields cultivated with maize, beans, +"sorghas" and various arachides. Two blacks seized and made prisoners. +Fifteen killed. Population fled. + +The next day crossed an impetuous river, one hundred and fifty yards +wide. Floating bridge, formed of trunks of trees, fastened with +lianes. Piles half broken. Two women, tied to the same fork, +precipitated into the water. One was carrying her little child. The +waters are disturbed and become stained with blood. Crocodiles glide +between the parts of the bridge. There is danger of stepping into +their open mouths. + +_April 28th_.--Crossed a forest of bauhiniers. Trees of straight +timber--those which furnish the iron wood for the Portuguese. + +Heavy rain. Earth wet. March extremely painful. + +Perceived, toward the center of the convoy, poor Nan, carrying +a little negro child in her arms. She drags herself along with +difficulty. The slave chained with her limps, and the blood flows from +her shoulder, torn by lashes from the whip. + +In the evening camped under an enormous baobab with white flowers and +a light green foliage. + +During the night roars of lions and leopards. Shots fired by one of +the natives at a panther. What has become of Hercules? + +_April 29th and 30th_.--First colds of what they call the African +winter. Dew very abundant. End of the rainy season with the month of +April; it commences with the month of November. Plains still largely +inundated. East winds which check perspiration and renders one more +liable to take the marsh fevers. + +No trace of Mrs. Weldon, nor of Mr. Benedict. Where would they take +them, if not to Kazounde? They must have followed the road of the +caravan and preceded us. I am eaten up with anxiety. Little Jack must +be seized again with the fever in this unhealthy region. But does he +still live? + +_From May 1st to May 6th_.--Crossed, with several halting-places, +long plains, which evaporation has not been able to dry up. Water +everywhere up to the waist. Myriads of leeches adhering to the skin. +We must march for all that. On some elevations that emerge are lotus +and papyrus. At the bottom, under the water, other plants, with large +cabbage leaves, on which the feet slip, which occasions numerous +falls. + +In these waters, considerable quantities of little fish of the silurus +species. The natives catch them by billions in wickers and sell them +to the caravans. + +Impossible to find a place to camp for the night. We see no limit to +the inundated plain. We must march in the dark. To-morrow many slaves +will be missing from the convoy. What misery! When one falls, why get +up again? A few moments more under these waters, and all would be +finished. The overseer's stick would not reach you in the darkness. + +Yes, but Mrs. Weldon and her son! I have not the right to abandon +them. I shall resist to the end. It is my duty. + +Dreadful cries are heard in the night. Twenty soldiers have torn some +branches from resinous trees whose branches were above water. Livid +lights in the darkness. + +This is the cause of the cries I heard. An attack of crocodiles; +twelve or fifteen of those monsters have thrown themselves in the +darkness on the flank of the caravan. + +Women and children have been seized and carried away by the crocodiles +to their "pasture lands"--so Livingstone calls those deep holes where +this amphibious animal deposits its prey, after having drowned it, for +it only eats it when it has reached a certain degree of decomposition. + +I have been rudely grazed by the scales of one of these crocodiles. An +adult slave has been seized near me and torn from the fork that held +him by the neck. The fork was broken. What a cry of despair! What a +howl of grief! I hear it still! + +_May 7th and 8th_.--The next day they count the victims. Twenty slaves +have disappeared. + +At daybreak I look for Tom and his companions. God be praised! they +are living. Alas! ought I to praise God? Is one not happier to be done +with all this misery! + +Tom is at the head of the convoy. At a moment when his son Bat made a +turn, the fork was presented obliquely, and Tom was able to see me. + +I search in vain for old Nan. Is she in the central group? or has she +perished during that frightful night? + +The next day, passed the limit of the inundated plain, after +twenty-four hours in the water. We halt on a hill. The sun dries us +a little. We eat, but what miserable food! A little tapioca, a few +handfuls of maize. Nothing but the troubled water to drink. Prisoners +extended on the ground--how many will not get up! + +No! it is not possible that Mrs. Weldon and her son have passed +through so much misery! God would be so gracious to them as to have +them led to Kazounde by another road. The unhappy mother could not +resist. + +New case of small-pox in the caravan; the "ndoue," as they say. The +sick could not be able to go far. Will they abandon them? + +_May 9th_.--They have begun the march again at sunrise. No laggards. +The overseer's whip has quickly raised those overcome by fatigue or +sickness. Those slaves have a value; they are money. The agents will +not leave them behind while they have strength enough to march. + +I am surrounded by living skeletons. They have no longer voice enough +to complain. I have seen old Nan at last. She is a sad sight. The +child she was carrying is no longer in her arms. She is alone, too. +That will be less painful for her; but the chain is still around her +waist, and she has been obliged to throw the end over her shoulder. + +By hastening, I have been able to draw near her. One would say that +she did not recognize me. Am I, then, changed to that extent? + +"Nan," I said. + +The old servant looked at me a long time, and then she exclaimed: + +"You, Mr. Dick! I--I--before long I shall be dead!" + +"No, no! Courage!" I replied, while my eyes fell so as not to see what +was only the unfortunate woman's bloodless specter. + +"Dead!" she continued; "and I shall not see my dear mistress again, +nor my little Jack. My God! my God! have pity on me!" + +I wished to support old Nan, whose whole body trembled under her torn +clothing. It would have been a mercy to see myself tied to her, and +to carry my part of that chain, whose whole weight she bore since her +companion's death. + +A strong arm pushes me back, and the unhappy Nan is thrown back into +the crowd of slaves, lashed by the whips. I wished to throw myself on +that brutal----The Arab chief appears, seizes my arm, and holds me +till I find myself again in the caravan's last rank. + +Then, in his turn, he pronounces the name, "Negoro!" + +Negoro! It is then by the Portuguese's orders that he acts and treats +me differently from my companions in misfortune? + +For what fate am I reserved? + +_May 10th_.--To-day passed near two villages in flames. The stubble +burns on all sides. Dead bodies are hung from the trees the fire has +spared. Population fled. + +Fields devastated. The _razzie_ is exercised there. Two hundred +murders, perhaps, to obtain a dozen slaves. + +Evening has arrived. Halt for the night. Camp made under great trees. +High shrubs forming a thicket on the border of the forest. + +Some prisoners fled the night before, after breaking their forks. +They have been retaken, and treated with unprecedented cruelty. The +soldiers' and overseers' watchfulness is redoubled. + +Night has come. Roaring of lions and hyenas, distant snorting of +hippopotami. Doubtless some lake or watercourse near. + +In spite of my fatigue, I cannot sleep. I think of so many things. + +Then, it seems to me that I hear prowling in the high grass. Some +animal, perhaps. Would it dare force an entrance into the camp? + +I listen. Nothing! Yes! An animal is passing through the reeds. I am +unarmed! I shall defend myself, nevertheless. My life may be useful to +Mrs. Weldon, to my companions. + +I look through the profound darkness. There is no moon. The night is +extremely dark. + +Two eyes shine in the darkness, among the papyrus--two eyes of a hyena +or a leopard. They disappear--reappear. + +At last there is a rustling of the bushes. An animal springs upon me! + +I am going to cry out, to give the alarm. Fortunately, I was able to +restrain myself. I cannot believe my eyes! It is Dingo! Dingo, who is +near me! Brave Dingo! How is it restored to me? How has it been able +to find me again? Ah! instinct! Would instinct be sufficient to +explain such miracles of fidelity? It licks my hands. Ah! good dog, +now my only friend, they have not killed you, then! + +It understands me. + +I return its caresses. + +It wants to bark. + +I calm it. It must not be heard. + +Let it follow the caravan in this way, without being seen, and +perhaps----But what! It rubs its neck obstinately against my hands. It +seems to say to me: "Look for something." I look, and I feel something +there, fastened to its neck. A piece of reed is slipped under the +collar, on which are graven those two letters, S.V., the mystery of +which is still inexplicable to us. + +Yes. I have unfastened the reed. I have broken it! There is a +letter inside. But this letter--I cannot read it. I must wait for +daylight!--daylight! I should like to keep Dingo; but the good +animal, even while licking my hands, seems in a hurry to leave me. It +understands that its mission is finished. With one bound aside, it +disappears among the bushes without noise. May God spare it from the +lions' and hyenas' teeth! + +Dingo has certainly returned to him who sent it to me. + +This letter, that I cannot yet read, burns my hands! Who has written +it? Would it come from Mrs. Weldon? Does it come from Hercules? How +has the faithful animal, that we believed dead, met either the one +or the other? What is this letter going to tell me? Is it a plan of +escape that it brings me? Or does it only give me news of those dear +to me? Whatever it may be, this incident has greatly moved me, and has +relaxed my misery. + +Ah! the day comes so slowly. I watch for the least light on the +horizon. I cannot close my eyes. I still hear the roaring of the +animals. My poor Dingo, can you escape them? At last day is going to +appear, and almost without dawn, under these tropical latitudes. + +I settle myself so as not to be seen. I try to read--I cannot yet. At +last I have read. The letter is from Hercules's hand. It is written on +a bit of paper, in pencil. Here is what it says: + + "Mrs. Weldon was taken away with little Jack in a _kitanda_. + Harris and Negoro accompany it. They precede the caravan by three + or four marches, with Cousin Benedict. I have not been able to + communicate with her. I have found Dingo, who must have been + wounded by a shot, but cured. Good hope, Mr. Dick. I only think of + you all, and I fled to be more useful to you. HERCULES." + +Ah! Mrs. Weldon and her son are living. God be praised! They have not +to suffer the fatigues of these rude halting-places. A _kitanda_--it +is a kind of litter of dry grass, suspended to a long bamboo, that two +men carry on the shoulder. A stuff curtain covers it over. Mrs. Weldon +and her little Jack are in that _kitanda_. What does Harris and Negoro +want to do with them? Those wretches are evidently going to Kazounde. +Yes, yes, I shall find them again. Ah! in all this misery it is good +news, it is joy that Dingo has brought me! + +_From May 11th to 15th_.--The caravan continues its march. The +prisoners drag themselves along more and more painfully. The majority +have marks of blood under their feet. I calculate that it will take +ten days more to reach Kazounde. How many will have ceased to suffer +before then? But I--I must arrive there, I shall arrive there. + +It is atrocious! There are, in the convoy, unfortunate ones whose +bodies are only wounds. The cords that bind them enter into the flesh. + +Since yesterday a mother carries in her arms her little infant, dead +from hunger. She will not separate from it. + +Our route is strewn with dead bodies. The smallpox rages with new +violence. + +We have just passed near a tree. To this tree slaves were attached by +the neck. They were left there to die of hunger. + +_From May 16th to 24th_.--I am almost exhausted, but I have no right +to give up. The rains have entirely ceased. We have days of "hard +marching." That is what the traders call the "tirikesa," or afternoon +march. We must go faster, and the ground rises in rather steep +ascents. + +We pass through high shrubs of a very tough kind. They are the +"nyassi," the branches of which tear the skin off my face, whose sharp +seeds penetrate to my skin, under my dilapidated clothes. My strong +boots have fortunately kept good. + +The agents have commenced to abandon the slaves too sick to keep up. +Besides, food threatens to fail; soldiers and _pagazis_ would revolt +if their rations were diminished. They dare not retrench from them, +and then so much worse for the captives. + +"Let them eat one another!" said the chief. + +Then it follows that young slaves, still strong, die without the +appearance of sickness. I remember what Dr. Livingstone has said on +that subject: "Those unfortunates complain of the heart; they put +their hands there, and they fall. It is positively the heart +that breaks! That is peculiar to free men, reduced to slavery +unexpectedly!" + +To-day, twenty captives who could no longer drag themselves along, +have been massacred with axes, by the _havildars_! The Arab chief is +not opposed to massacre. The scene has been frightful! + +Poor old Nan has fallen under the knife, in this horrible butchery! +I strike against her corpse in passing! I cannot even give her a +Christian burial! She is first of the "Pilgrim's" survivors whom God +has called back to him. Poor good creature! Poor Nan! + +I watch for Dingo every night. It returns no more! Has misfortune +overtaken it or Hercules? No! no! I do not want to believe it! This +silence, which appears so long to me, only proves one thing--it is +that Hercules has nothing new to tell me yet. Besides, he must be +prudent, and on his guard. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +KAZOUNDE. + + +ON May 26th, the caravan of slaves arrived at Kazounde. Fifty per +cent. of the prisoners taken in the last raid had fallen on the road. +Meanwhile, the business was still good for the traders; demands were +coming in, and the price of slaves was about to rise in the African +markets. + +Angola at this period did an immense trade in blacks. The Portuguese +authorities of St. Paul de Loanda, or of Benguela, could not stop it +without difficulty, for the convoys traveled towards the interior +of the African continent. The pens near the coast overflowed with +prisoners, the few slavers that succeeded in eluding the cruisers +along the shore not being sufficient to carry all of them to the +Spanish colonies of America. + +Kazounde, situated three hundred miles from the mouth of the Coanza, +is one of the principal "lakonis," one of the most important markets +of the province. On its grand square the "tchitoka" business is +transacted; there, the slaves are exposed and sold. It is from this +point that the caravans radiate toward the region of the great lakes. + +Kazounde, like all the large towns of Central Africa, is divided into +two distinct parts. One is the quarter of the Arab, Portuguese or +native traders, and it contains their pens; the other is the residence +of the negro king, some ferocious crowned drunkard, who reigns through +terror, and lives from supplies furnished by the contractors. + +At Kazounde, the commercial quarter then belonged to that Jose-Antonio +Alvez, of whom Harris and Negoro had spoken, they being simply agents +in his pay. This contractor's principal establishment was there, he +had a second at Bihe, and a third at Cassange, in Benguela, which +Lieutenant Cameron visited some years later. + +Imagine a large central street, on each side groups of houses, +"tembes," with flat roofs, walls of baked earth, and a square court +which served as an enclosure for cattle. At the end of the street was +the vast "tchitoka" surrounded by slave-pens. Above this collection +of buildings rose some enormous banyans, whose branches swayed with +graceful movements. Here and there great palms, with their heads in +the air, drove the dust on the streets like brooms. Twenty birds of +prey watched over the public health. Such is the business quarter of +Kazounde. + +Near by ran the Louhi, a river whose course, still undetermined, is an +affluent, or at least a sub-affluent, of the Coango, a tributary of +the Zoire. + +The residence of the King of Kazounde, which borders on the business +quarter, is a confused collection of ill-built hovels, which spread +over the space of a mile square. Of these hovels, some are open, +others are inclosed by a palisade of reeds, or bordered with a hedge +of fig-trees. In one particular enclosure, surrounded by a fence of +papyrus, thirty of these huts served us dwellings for the chief's +slaves, in another group lived his wives, and a "tembe," still larger +and higher, was half hidden in a plantation of cassada. Such was +the residence of the King of Kazounde, a man of fifty--named Moini +Loungga; and already almost deprived of the power of his predecessors. +He had not four thousand of soldiers there, where the principal +Portuguese traders could count twenty thousand, and he could no +longer, as in former times, decree the sacrifice of twenty-five or +thirty slaves a day. + +This king was, besides, a prematurely-aged man, exhausted by debauch, +crazed by strong drink, a ferocious maniac, mutilating his subjects, +his officers or his ministers, as the whim seized him, cutting the +nose and ears off some, and the foot or the hand from others. His own +death, not unlooked for, would be received without regret. + +A single man in all Kazounde might, perhaps, lose by the death of +Moini Loungga. This was the contractor, Jose-Antonio Alvez, who agreed +very well with the drunkard, whose authority was recognized by the +whole province. If the accession of his first wife, Queen Moini, +should be contested, the States of Moini Loungga might be invaded by +a neighboring competitor, one of the kings of Oukonson. The latter, +being younger and more active, had already seized some villages +belonging to the Kazounde government. He had in his services another +trader, a rival of Alvez Tipo-Tipo, a black Arab of a pure race, whom +Cameron met at N'yangwe. + +What was this Alvez, the real sovereign under the reign of an imbruted +negro, whose vices he had developed and served? + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, already advanced in years, was not, as one might +suppose, a "msoungou," that is to say, a man of the white race. There +was nothing Portuguese about him but his name, borrowed, no doubt, for +the needs of commerce. He was a real negro, well known among traders, +and called Kenndele. He was born, in fact, at Donndo, or the borders +of the Coanza. He had commenced by being simply the agent of the +slave-brokers, and would have finished as a famous trader, that is to +say, in the skin of an old knave, who called himself the most honest +man in the world. + +Cameron met this Alvez in the latter part of 1874, at Kilemmba, the +capital of Kassonngo, chief of Ouroua. He guided Cameron with his +caravan to his own establishment at Bihe, over a route of seven +hundred miles. The convoy of slaves, on arriving at Kazounde, had been +conducted to the large square. + +It was the 26th of May. Dick Sand's calculations were then verified. +The journey had lasted thirty-eight days from the departure of the +army encamped on the banks of the Coanza. Five weeks of the most +fearful miseries that human beings could support. + +It was noon when the train entered Kazounde. The drums were beaten, +horns were blown in the midst of the detonations of fire-arms. The +soldiers guarding the caravan discharged their guns in the air, and +the men employed by Jose-Antonio Alvez replied with interest. All +these bandits were happy at meeting again, after an absence which had +lasted for four months. They were now going to rest and make up for +lost time in excesses and idleness. + +The prisoners then formed a total of two hundred and fifty, the +majority being completely exhausted. After having been driven like +cattle, they were to be shut up in pens, which American farmers would +not have used for pigs. Twelve or fifteen hundred other captives +awaited them, all of whom would be exposed in the market at Kazounde +on the next day but one. These pens were filled up with the slaves +from the caravan. The heavy forks had been taken off them, but they +were still in chains. + +The "pagazis" had stopped on the square after having disposed of their +loads of ivory, which the Kazounde dealers would deliver. Then, being +paid with a few yards of calico or other stuff at the highest price, +they would return and join some other caravan. + +Old Tom and his companions had been freed from the iron collar which +they had carried for five weeks. Bat and his father embraced each +other, and all shook hands; but no one ventured to speak. What could +they say that would not be an expression of despair. Bat, Acteon and +Austin, all three vigorous, accustomed to hard work, had been able +to resist fatigue; but old Tom, weakened by privations, was nearly +exhausted. A few more days and his corpse would have been left, like +poor Nan's, as food for the beasts of the province. + +As soon as they arrived, the four men had been placed in a narrow pen, +and the door had been at once shut upon them. There they had found +some food, and they awaited the trader's visit, with whom, although +quite in vain, they intended to urge the fact that they were +Americans. + +Dick Sand had remained alone on the square, under the special care of +a keeper. + +At length he was at Kazounde, where he did not doubt that Mrs. Weldon, +little Jack, and Cousin Benedict had preceded him. He had looked for +them in crossing the various quarters of the town, even in the depths +of the "tembes" that lined the streets, on this "tchitoka" now almost +deserted. + +Mrs. Weldon was not there. + +"Have they not brought her here?" he asked himself. "But where could +she be? No; Hercules cannot be mistaken. Then, again, he must have +learned the secret designs of Negoro and Harris; yet they, too--I do +not see them." + +Dick Sand felt the most painful anxiety. He could understand that Mrs. +Weldon, retained a prisoner, would be concealed from him. But Harris +and Negoro, particularly the latter, should hasten to see him, now in +their power, if only to enjoy their triumph--to insult him, torture +him, perhaps avenge themselves. From the fact that they were not +there, must he conclude that they had taken another direction, and +that Mrs. Weldon was to be conducted to some other point of Central +Africa? Should the presence of the American and the Portuguese be the +signal for his punishment, Dick Sand impatiently desired it. Harris +and Negoro at Kazounde, was for him the certainty that Mrs. Weldon and +her child were also there. + +Dick Sand then told himself that, since the night when Dingo had +brought him Hercules's note, the dog had not been seen. The young man +had prepared an answer at great risks. In it he told Hercules to +think only of Mrs. Weldon, not to lose sight of her, and to keep her +informed as well as possible of what happened; but he had not been +able to send it to its destination. If Dingo had been able to +penetrate the ranks of the caravan once, why did not Hercules let +him try it a second time? Had the faithful animal perished in some +fruitless attempt? Perhaps Hercules was following Mrs. Weldon, as Dick +Sand would have done in his place. Followed by Dingo, he might have +plunged into the depths of the woody plateau of Africa, in the hope of +reaching one of the interior establishments. + +What could Dick Sand imagine if, in fact, neither Mrs. Weldon nor her +enemies were there? He had been so sure, perhaps foolishly, of finding +them at Kazounde, that not to see them there at once gave him a +terrible shock. He felt a sensation of despair that he could not +subdue. His life, if it were no longer useful to those whom he loved, +was good for nothing, and he had only to die. But, in thinking in that +manner, Dick Sand mistook his own character. Under the pressure of +these trials, the child became a man, and with him discouragement +could only be an accidental tribute paid to human nature. + +A loud concert of trumpet-calls and cries suddenly commenced. Dick +Sand, who had just sunk down in the dust of the "tchitoka," stood up. +Every new incident might put him on the track of those whom he sought. + +In despair a moment before, he now no longer despaired. + +"Alvez! Alvez!" This name was repeated by a crowd of natives and +soldiers who now invaded the grand square. The man on whom the fate +of so many unfortunate people depended was about to appear. It was +possible that his agents, Harris and Negoro, were with him. Dick Sand +stood upright, his eyes open, his nostrils dilated. The two traitors +would find this lad of fifteen years before them, upright, firm, +looking them in the face. It would not be the captain of the "Pilgrim" +who would tremble before the old ship's cook. + +A hammock, a kind of "kitanda" covered by an old patched curtain, +discolored, fringed with rags, appeared at the end of the principal +street. An old negro descended. It was the trader, Jose-Antonio Alvez. +Several attendants accompanied him, making strong demonstrations. + +Along with Alvez appeared his friend Coimbra, the son of Major Coimbra +of Bihe, and, according to Lieutenant Cameron, the greatest scamp in +the province. He was a dirty creature, his breast was uncovered, his +eyes were bloodshot, his hair was rough and curly, his face yellow; +he was dressed in a ragged shirt and a straw petticoat. He would have +been called a horrible old man in his tattered straw hat. This Coimbra +was the confidant, the tool of Alvez, an organizer of raids, worthy of +commanding the trader's bandits. + +As for the trader, he might have looked a little less sordid than his +attendant. He wore the dress of an old Turk the day after a carnival. +He did not furnish a very high specimen of the factory chiefs who +carry on the trade on a large scale. + +To Dick Sand's great disappointment, neither Harris nor Negoro +appeared in the crowd that followed Alvez. Must he, then, renounce all +hope of finding them at Kazounde? + +Meanwhile, the chief of the caravan, the Arab, Ibn Hamis, shook hands +with Alvez and Coimbra. He received numerous congratulations. Alvez +made a grimace at the fifty per cent. of slaves failing in the general +count, but, on the whole, the affair was very satisfactory. With +what the trader possessed of human merchandise in his pens, he could +satisfy the demands from the interior, and barter slaves for ivory +teeth and those "hannas" of copper, a kind of St. Andrew's cross, in +which form this metal is carried into the center of Africa. + +The overseers were also complimented. As for the porters, the trader +gave orders that their salary should be immediately paid them. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez and Coimbra spoke a kind of Portuguese mingled +with a native idiom, which a native of Lisbon would scarcely have +understood. Dick Sand could not hear what these merchants were saying. +Were they talking of him and his companions, so treacherously joined +to the persons in the convoy? The young man could not doubt it, when, +at a gesture from the Arab, Ibn Hamis, an overseer, went toward the +pen where Tom, Austin, Bat and Acteon had been shut up. + +Almost immediately the four Americans were led before Alvez. + +Dick Sand slowly approached. He wished to lose nothing of this scene. + +Alvez's face lit up at the sight of these few well-made blacks, to +whom rest and more abundant food had promptly restored their natural +vigor. He looked with contempt at old Tom, whose age would affect his +value, but the other three would sell high at the next Kazounde sale. + +Alvez remembered a few English words which some agents, like the +American, Harris, had taught him, and the old monkey thought he would +ironically welcome his new slaves. + +Tom understood the trader's words; he at once advanced, and, showing +his companions, said: + +"We are free men--citizens of the United States." + +Alvez certainly understood him; he replied with a good-humored +grimace, wagging his head: + +"Yes, yes, Americans! Welcome, welcome!" + +"Welcome," added Coimbra. + +He advanced toward Austin, and like a merchant who examines a sample, +after having felt his chest and his shoulders, he wanted to make him +open his mouth, so as to see his teeth. + +But at this moment Signor Coimbra received in his face the worst blow +that a major's son had ever caught. + +Alvez's confidant staggered under it. + +Several soldiers threw themselves on Austin, who would perhaps pay +dearly for this angry action. + +Alvez stopped them by a look. He laughed, indeed, at the misfortune +of his friend, Coimbra, who had lost two of the five or six teeth +remaining to him. + +Alvez did not intend to have his merchandise injured. Then, he was of +a gay disposition, and it was a long time since he had laughed so +much. + +Meanwhile, he consoled the much discomfited Coimbra, and the latter, +helped to his feet, again took his place near the trader, while +throwing a menacing look at the audacious Austin. + +At this moment Dick Sand, driven forward by an overseer, was led +before Alvez. + +The latter evidently knew all about the young man, whence he came, and +how he had been taken to the camp on the Coanza. + +So he said, after having given him an evil glance: + +"The little Yankee!" + +"Yes, Yankee!" replied Dick Sand. "What do they wish to do with my +companions and me?" + +"Yankee! Yankee! Yankee!" repeated Alvez. + +Did he not or would he not understand the question put to him? + +A second time Dick Sand asked the question regarding his companions +and himself. He then turned to Coimbra, whose features, degraded as +they were by the abuse of alcoholic liquors, he saw were not of native +origin. + +Coimbra repeated the menacing gesture already made at Austin, and did +not answer. + +During this time Alvez talked rapidly with the Arab, Ibn Hamis, and +evidently of things that concerned Dick Sand and his friends. + +No doubt they were to be again separated, and who could tell if +another chance to exchange a few words would ever again be offered +them. + +"My friends," said Dick, in a low voice, and as if he were only +speaking to himself, "just a few words! I have received, by Dingo, a +letter from Hercules. He has followed the caravan. Harris and Negoro +took away Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Mr. Benedict. Where? I know not, if +they are not here at Kazounde. Patience! courage! Be ready at any +moment. God may yet have pity on us!" + +"And Nan?" quickly asked old Tom. + +"Nan is dead!" + +"The first!" + +"And the last!" replied Dick Sand, "for we know well----" + +At this moment a hand was laid on his shoulder, and he heard these +words, spoken in the amiable voice which he knew only too well: + +"Ah, my young friend, if I am not mistaken! Enchanted to see you +again!" + +Dick Sand turned. + +Harris was before him. + +"Where is Mrs. Weldon?" cried Dick Sand, walking toward the American. + +"Alas!" replied Harris, pretending a pity that he did not feel, "the +poor mother! How could she survive!" + +"Dead!" cried Dick Sand. "And her child?" + +"The poor baby!" replied Harris, in the same tone, "how could he +outlive such fatigue!" + +So, all whom Dick Sand loved were dead! + +What passed within him? An irresistible movement of anger, a desire +for vengeance, which he must satisfy at any price! + +Dick Sand jumped upon Harris, seized a dagger from the American's +belt, and plunged it into his heart. + +"Curse you!" cried Harris, falling. + +Harris was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE GREAT MARKET DAY. + + +Dick Sand's action had been so rapid that no one could stop him. A few +natives threw themselves upon him, and he would have been murdered had +not Negoro appeared. + +At a sign from the Portuguese, the natives drew back, raised Harris's +corpse and carried it away. Alvez and Coimbra demanded Dick Sand's +immediate death, but Negoro said to them in a low voice that they +would lose nothing by waiting. The order was given to take away the +young novice, with a caution not to lose sight of him for a moment. + +Dick Sand had seen Negoro for the first time since their departure +from the coast. He knew that this wretch was alone responsible for +the loss of the "Pilgrim." He ought to hate him still more than his +accomplices. And yet, after having struck the American, he scorned to +address a word to Negoro. Harris had said that Mrs. Weldon and her +child had succumbed. Nothing interested him now, not even what they +would do with him. They would send him away. Where? It did not matter. + +Dick Sand, heavily chained, was left on the floor of a pen without a +window, a kind of dungeon where the trader, Alvez, shut up the slaves +condemned to death for rebellion or unlawful acts. There he could no +longer have any communication with the exterior; he no longer dreamed +of regretting it. He had avenged those whom he loved, who no longer +lived. Whatever fate awaited him, he was ready for it. + +It will be understood that if Negoro had stopped the natives who were +about to punish Harris's murderer, it was only because he wished to +reserve Dick Sand for one of those terrible torments of which the +natives hold the secret. The ship's cook held in his power the captain +of fifteen years. He only wanted Hercules to make his vengeance +complete. + +Two days afterward, May 28th, the sale began, the great "lakoni," +during which the traders of the principal factories of the interior +would meet the natives of the neighboring provinces. This market was +not specially for the sale of slaves, but all the products of this +fertile Africa would be gathered there with the producers. + +From early morning all was intense animation on the vast "tchitoka" of +Kazounde, and it is difficult to give a proper idea of the scene. It +was a concourse of four or five thousand persons, including Alvez's +slaves, among whom were Tom and his companions. These four men, for +the reason that they belonged to a different race, are all the more +valuable to the brokers in human flesh. Alvez was there, the first +among all. Attended by Coimbra, he offered the slaves in lots. These +the traders from the interior would form into caravans. Among these +traders were certain half-breeds from Oujiji, the principal market +of Lake Tanganyika, and some Arabs, who are far superior to the +half-breeds in this kind of trade. + +The natives flocked there in great numbers. There were children, men, +and women, the latter being animated traders, who, as regards a genius +for bargaining, could only be compared to their white sisters. + +In the markets of large cities, even on a great day of sale, there is +never much noise or confusion. Among the civilized the need of selling +exceeds the desire to buy. Among these African savages offers are made +with as much eagerness as demands. + +The "lakoni" is a festival day for the natives of both sexes, and if +for good reasons they do not put on their best clothes, they at least +wear their handsomest ornaments. + +Some wear the hair divided in four parts, covered with cushions, and +in plaits tied like a chignon or arranged in pan-handles on the front +of the head with bunches of red feathers. Others have the hair in bent +horns sticky with red earth and oil, like the red lead used to close +the joints of machines. In these masses of real or false hair is worn +a bristling assemblage of skewers, iron and ivory pins, often even, +among elegant people, a tattooing-knife is stuck in the crisp mass, +each hair of which is put through a "sofi" or glass bead, thus forming +a tapestry of different-colored grains. Such are the edifices most +generally seen on the heads of the men. + +The women prefer to divide their hair in little tufts of the size of +a cherry, in wreaths, in twists the ends of which form designs in +relief, and in corkscrews, worn the length of the face. A few, more +simple and perhaps prettier, let their long hair hang down the back, +in the English style, and others wear it cut over the forehead in a +fringe, like the French. Generally they wear on these wigs a greasy +putty, made of red clay or of glossy "ukola," a red substance +extracted from sandal-wood, so that these elegant persons look as if +their heads were dressed with tiles. + +It must not be supposed that this luxury of ornamentation is confined +to the hair of the natives. What are ears for if not to pass pins of +precious wood through, also copper rings, charms of plaited maize, +which draw them forward, or little gourds which do for snuff-boxes, +and to such an extent that the distended lobes of these appendages +fall sometimes to the shoulders of their owners? + +After all, the African savages have no pockets, and how could they +have any? This gives rise to the necessity of placing where they can +their knives, pipes, and other customary objects. As for the neck, +arms, wrists, legs, and ankles, these various parts of the body are +undoubtedly destined to carry the copper and brass bracelets, the +horns cut off and decorated with bright buttons, the rows of red +pearls, called _same-sames_ or "talakas," and which were very +fashionable. Besides, with these jewels, worn in profusion, the +wealthy people of the place looked like traveling shrines. + +Again, if nature gave the natives teeth, was it not that they could +pull out the upper and lower incisors, file them in points, and curve +them in sharp fangs like the fangs of a rattlesnake? If she has placed +nails at the end of the fingers, is it not that they may grow so +immoderately that the use of the hand is rendered almost impossible? +If the skin, black or brown, covers the human frame, is it not so as +to zebra it by "temmbos" or tattooings representing trees, birds, +crescents, full moons, or waving lines, in which Livingstone thought +he could trace the designs of ancient Egypt? This tattooing, done by +fathers, is practised by means of a blue matter introduced into the +incisions, and is "stereotyped" point by point on the bodies of the +children, thus establishing to what tribe or to what family they +belong. The coat-of-arms must be engraved on the breast, when it +cannot be painted on the panel of a carriage. + +Such are the native fashions in ornament. In regard to garments +properly so called, they are summed up very easily; for the men, +an apron of antelope leather, reaching to the knees, or perhaps a +petticoat of a straw material of brilliant colors; for the women, a +belt of pearls, supporting at the hips a green petticoat, embroidered +in silk, ornamented with glass beads or coury; sometimes they wear +garments made of "lambba," a straw material, blue, black, and yellow, +which is much prized by the natives of Zanzibar. + +These, of course, are the negroes of the best families. The others, +merchants, and slaves, are seldom clothed. The women generally act as +porters, and reach the market with enormous baskets on their back, +which they hold by means of a leathern strap passed over the forehead. +Then, their places being taken, and the merchandise unpacked, they +squat in their empty baskets. + +The astonishing fertility of the country causes the choice alimentary +produces to be brought to this "lakoni." There were quantities of the +rice which returns a hundred per cent., of the maize, which, in three +crops in eight months, produces two hundred per cent., the sesamum, +the pepper of Ouroua, stronger than the Cayenne, allspice, tapioca, +sorghum, nutmegs, salt, and palm-oil. + +Hundreds of goats were gathered there, hogs, sheep without wool, +evidently of Tartar origin, quantities of poultry and fish. Specimens +of pottery, very gracefully turned, attracted the eyes by their +violent colors. + +Various drinks, which the little natives cried about in a squeaking +voice, enticed the unwary, in the form of plantain wine, "pombe," a +liquor in great demand, "malofou," sweet beer, made from the fruit +of the banana-tree and mead, a limpid mixture of honey and water +fermented with malt. + +But what made the Kazounde market still more curious was the commerce +in stuffs and ivory. + +In the line of stuffs, one might count by thousands of "choukkas" +or armfuls, the "Mericani" unbleached calico, come from Salem, in +Massachusetts, the "kanaki," a blue gingham, thirty-four inches wide, +the "sohari," a stuff in blue and white squares, with a red border, +mixed with small blue stripes. It is cheaper than the "dioulis," a +silk from Surat, with a green, red or yellow ground, which is worth +from seventy to eighty dollars for a remnant of three yards when woven +with gold. + +As for ivory, it was brought from all parts of Central Africa, being +destined for Khartoum, Zanzibar, or Natal. A large number of merchants +are employed solely in this branch of African commerce. + +Imagine how many elephants are killed to furnish the five hundred +thousand kilograms of ivory, which are annually exported to European +markets, and principally to the English! The western coast of Africa +alone produces one hundred and forty tons of this precious substance. +The average weight is twenty-eight pounds for a pair of elephant's +tusks, which, in 1874, were valued as high as fifteen hundred francs; +but there are some that weigh one hundred and seventy-five pounds, and +at the Kazounde market, admirers would have found some admirable ones. +They were of an opaque ivory, translucid, soft under the tool, and +with a brown rind, preserving its whiteness and not growing yellow +with time like the ivories of other provinces. + +And, now, how are these various business affairs regulated between +buyers and sellers? What is the current coin? As we have said, for the +African traders this money is the slave. + +The native pays in glass beads of Venetian manufacture, called +"catchocolos," when they are of a lime white; "bouboulous," when +they are black; "sikounderetches," when they are red. These beads or +pearls, strung in ten rows or "khetes," going twice around the neck, +make the "foundo," which is of great value. The usual measure of the +beads is the "frasilah," which weighs seventy pounds. Livingstone, +Cameron, and Stanley were always careful to be abundantly provided +with this money. + +In default of glass beads, the "pice," a Zanzibar piece, worth four +centimes, and the "vroungouas," shells peculiar to the eastern coasts, +are current in the markets of the African continent. As for the +cannibal tribes, they attach a certain value to the teeth of the human +jaw, and at the "lakoni," these chaplets were to be seen on the necks +of natives, who had no doubt eaten their producers; but these teeth +were ceasing to be used as money. + +Such, then, was the appearance of the great market. Toward the middle +of the day the gaiety reached a climax; the noise became deafening. +The fury of the neglected venders, and the anger of the overcharged +customers, were beyond description. Thence frequent quarrels, and, as +we know, few guardians of the peace to quell the fray in this howling +crowd. + +Toward the middle of the day, Alvez gave orders to bring the slaves, +whom he wished to sell, to the square. The crowd was thus increased by +two thousand unfortunate beings of all ages, whom the trader had kept +in pens for several months. This "stock" was not in a bad condition. +Long rest and sufficient food had improved these slaves so as to look +to advantage at the "lakoni." As for the last arrivals, they could not +stand any comparison with them, and, after a month in the pens, Alvez +could certainly have sold them with more profit. The demands, however, +from the eastern coast, were so great that he decided to expose and +sell them as they were. + +This was a misfortune for Tom and his three companions. The drivers +pushed them into the crowd that invaded the "tchitoka." They were +strongly chained, and their glances told what horror, what fury and +shame overwhelmed them. + +"Mr. Dick is not there," Bat said, after some time, during which he +had searched the vast plain with his eyes. + +"No," replied Acteon, "they will not put him up for sale." + +"He will be killed, if he is not already," added the old black. "As +for us, we have but one hope left, which is, that the same trader will +buy us all. It would be a great consolation not to be separated." + +"Ah! to know that you are far away from me, working like a slave, my +poor, old father!" cried Bat, sobbing aloud. + +"No," said Tom. "No; they will not separate us, and perhaps we +might----" + +"If Hercules were here!" cried Austin. + +But the giant had not reappeared. Since the news sent to Dick Sand, +they had heard no one mention either Hercules or Dingo. Should they +envy him his fate? Why, yes; for if Hercules were dead, he was saved +from the chains of slavery! + +Meanwhile, the sale had commenced. Alvez's agents marched the various +lots of men, women and children through the crowd, without caring +if they separated mothers from their infants. May we not call these +beings "unfortunates," who were treated only as domestic animals? + +Tom and his companions were thus led from buyers to buyers. An agent +walked before them naming the price adjudged to their lot. Arab or +mongrel brokers, from the central provinces, came to examine them. +They did not discover in them the traits peculiar to the African race, +these traits being modified in America after the second generation. +But these vigorous and intelligent negroes, so very different from the +blacks brought from the banks of the Zambeze or the Loualaba, were all +the more valuable. They felt them, turned them, and looked at their +teeth. Horse-dealers thus examine the animals they wish to buy. Then +they threw a stick to a distance, made them run and pick it up, and +thus observed their gait. + +This was the method employed for all, and all were submitted to these +humiliating trials. Do not believe that these people are completely +indifferent to this treatment! No, excepting the children, who cannot +comprehend the state of degradation to which they are reduced, all, +men or women, were ashamed. + +Besides, they were not spared injuries and blows. Coimbra, half drunk, +and Alvez's agents, treated them with extreme brutality, and from +their new masters, who had just paid for them in ivory stuffs and +beads, they would receive no better treatment. Violently separated, +a mother from her child, a husband from his wife, a brother from a +sister, they were not allowed a last caress nor a last kiss, and on +the "lakoni" they saw each other for the last time. + +In fact, the demands of the trade exacted that the slaves should be +sent in different directions, according to their sex. The traders who +buy the men do not buy women. The latter, in virtue of polygamy, which +is legal among the Mussulmans, are sent to the Arabic countries, where +they are exchanged for ivory. The men, being destined to the hardest +labor, go to the factories of the two coasts, and are exported either +to the Spanish colonies or to the markets of Muscat and Madagascar. +This sorting leads to heart-breaking scenes between those whom the +agents separate, and who will die without ever seeing each other +again. + +The four companions in turn submitted to the common fate. But, to tell +the truth, they did not fear this event. It was better for them to +be exported into a slave colony. There, at least, they might have a +chance to protest. On the contrary, if sent to the interior, they +might renounce all hope of ever regaining their liberty. + +It happened as they wished. They even had the almost unhoped for +consolation of not being separated. They were in brisk demand, being +wanted by several traders. Alvez clapped his hands. The prices rose. +It was strange to see these slaves of unknown value in the Kazounde +market, and Alvez had taken good care to conceal where they came from. +Tom and his friends, not speaking the language of the country, could +not protest. + +Their master was a rich Arab trader, who in a few days would send them +to Lake Tanganyika, the great thoroughfare for slaves; then, from that +point, toward the factories of Zanzibar. + +Would they ever reach there, through the most unhealthy and the most +dangerous countries of Central Africa? Fifteen hundred miles to march +under these conditions, in the midst of frequent wars, raised and +carried on between chiefs, in a murderous climate. Was old Tom strong +enough to support such misery? Would he not fall on the road like old +Nan? But the poor men were not separated. The chain that held them all +was lighter to carry. The Arab trader would evidently take care of +merchandise which promised him a large profit in the Zanzibar market. + +Tom, Bat, Acteon, and Austin then left the place. They saw and heard +nothing of the scene which was to end the great "lakoni" of Kazounde. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE KING OF KAZOUNDE IS OFFERED A PUNCH. + + +It was four o'clock in the afternoon when a loud noise of drums, +cymbals, and other instruments of African origin resounded at the +end of the principal street. In all corners of the market-place the +animation was redoubled. Half a day of cries and wrestling had neither +weakened the voices nor broken the limbs of these abominable traders. +A large number of slaves still remained to be sold. The traders +disputed over the lots with an ardor of which the London Exchange +would give but an imperfect idea, even on a day when stocks were +rising. + +All business was stopped, and the criers took their breath as soon as +the discordant concert commenced. + +The King of Kazounde, Moini Loungga, had come to honor the great +"lakoni" with a visit. A numerous train of women, officers, soldiers +and slaves followed him. Alvez and some other traders went to meet +him, and naturally exaggerated the attention which this crowned brute +particularly enjoyed. + +Moini Loungga was carried in an old palanquin, and descended, not +without the aid of a dozen arms, in the center of the large square. + +This king was fifty years old, but he looked eighty. Imagine a +frightful monkey who had reached extreme old age; on his head a sort +of crown, ornamented with leopard's claws, dyed red, and enlarged +by tufts of whitish hair; this was the crown of the sovereigns +of Kazounde. From his waist hung two petticoats made of leather, +embroidered with pearls, and harder than a blacksmith's apron. He +had on his breast a quantity of tattooing which bore witness to the +ancient nobility of the king; and, to believe him, the genealogy of +Moini Loungga was lost in the night of time. On the ankles, wrists and +arms of his majesty, bracelets of leather were rolled, and he wore a +pair of domestic shoes with yellow tops, which Alvez had presented him +with about twenty years before. + +His majesty carried in his left hand a large stick with a plated knob, +and in his right a small broom to drive away flies, the handle of +which was enriched with pearls. + +Over his head was carried one of those old patched umbrellas, which +seemed to have been cut out of a harlequin's dress. + +On the monarch's neck and on his nose were the magnifying glass and +the spectacles which had caused Cousin Benedict so much trouble. They +had been hidden in Bat's pocket. + +Such is the portrait of his negro majesty, who made the country +tremble in a circumference of a hundred miles. + +Moini Loungga, from the fact of occupying a throne, pretended to be +of celestial origin, and had any of his subjects doubted the fact, he +would have sent them into another world to discover it. He said that, +being of a divine essence, he was not subject to terrestrial laws. If +he ate, it was because he wished to do so; if he drank, it was because +it gave him pleasure. It was impossible for him to drink any more. His +ministers and his officers, all incurable drunkards, would have passed +before him for sober men. + +The court was alcoholized to the last chief, and incessantly imbibed +strong beer, cider, and, above all, a certain drink which Alvez +furnished in profusion. + +Moini Loungga counted in his harem wives of all ages and of all kinds. +The larger part of them accompanied him in this visit to the "lakoni." + +Moini, the first, according to date, was a vixen of forty years, of +royal blood, like her colleagues. She wore a bright tartan, a straw +petticoat embroidered with pearls, and necklaces wherever she could +put them. Her hair was dressed so as to make an enormous framework on +her little head. She was, in fact, a monster. + +The other wives, who were either the cousins or the sisters of the +king, were less richly dressed, but much younger. They walked behind +her, ready to fulfil, at a sign from their master, their duties as +human furniture. These unfortunate beings were really nothing else. If +the king wished to sit down, two of these women bent toward the earth +and served him for a chair, while his feet rested on the bodies of +some others, as if on an ebony carpet. + +In Moini Loungga's suite came his officers, his captains, and his +magicians. + +A remarkable thing about these savages, who staggered like their +master, was that each lacked a part of his body--one an ear, another +an eye, this one the nose, that one the hand. Not one was whole. +That is because they apply only two kinds of punishment in +Kazounde--mutilation or death--all at the caprice of the king. For the +least fault, some amputation, and the most cruelly punished are those +whose ears are cut off, because they can no longer wear rings in their +ears. + +The captains of the _kilolos_, governors of districts, hereditary or +named for four years, wore hats of zebra skin and red vests for their +whole uniform. Their hands brandished long palm canes, steeped at one +end with charmed drugs. + +As to the soldiers, they had for offensive and defensive weapons, +bows, of which the wood, twined with the cord, was ornamented with +fringes; knives, whetted with a serpent's tongue; broad and long +lances; shields of palm wood, decorated in arabesque style. For what +there was of uniform, properly so called, it cost his majesty's +treasury absolutely nothing. + +Finally, the kind's cortege comprised, in the last place, the court +magicians and the instrumentalists. + +The sorcerers, the "mganngas," are the doctors of the country. +These savages attach an absolute faith to divinatory services, to +incantations, to the fetiches, clay figures stained with white and +red, representing fantastic animals or figures of men and women +cut out of whole wood. For the rest, those magicians were not less +mutilated than the other courtiers, and doubtless the monarch paid +them in this way for the cures that did not succeed. + +The instrumentalists, men or women, made sharp rattles whizz, noisy +drums sound or shudder under small sticks terminated by a caoutchouc +ball, "marimehas," kinds of dulcimers formed of two rows of gourds of +various dimensions--the whole very deafening for any one who does not +possess a pair of African ears. + +Above this crowd, which composed the royal cortege, waved some flags +and standards, then at the ends of spears the bleached skulls of the +rival chiefs whom Moini Loungga had vanquished. + +When the king had quitted his palanquin, acclamations burst forth from +all sides. The soldiers of the caravan discharged their old guns, the +low detonations of which were but little louder than the vociferations +of the crowd. The overseers, after rubbing their black noses with +cinnabar powder, which they carried in a sack, bowed to the ground. +Then Alvez, advancing in his turn, handed the king a supply of fresh +tobacco--"soothing herb," as they call it in the country. Moini +Loungga had great need of being soothed, for he was, they did not know +why, in a very bad humor. + +At the same time Alvez, Coimbra, Ibn Hamis, and the Arab traders, +or mongrels, came to pay their court to the powerful sovereign of +Kazounde. "Marhaba," said the Arabs, which is their word of welcome in +the language of Central Africa. Others clapped their hands and bowed +to the ground. Some daubed themselves with mud, and gave signs of the +greatest servility to this hideous majesty. + +Moini Loungga hardly looked at all these people, and walked, keeping +his limbs apart, as if the ground were rolling and pitching. He walked +in this manner, or rather he rolled in the midst of waves of slaves, +and if the traders feared that he might take a notion to apportion +some of the prisoners to himself, the latter would no less dread +falling into the power of such a brute. + +Negoro had not left Alvez for a moment, and in his company presented +his homage to the king. Both conversed in the native language, if, +however, that word "converse" can be used of a conversation in which +Moini Loungga only took part by monosyllables that hardly found a +passage through his drunken lips. And still, did he not ask his +friend, Alvez, to renew his supply of brandy just exhausted by large +libations? + +"King Loungga is welcome to the market of Kazounde," said the trader. + +"I am thirsty," replied the monarch. + +"He will take his part in the business of the great 'lakoni,'" added +Alvez. + +"Drink!" replied Moini Loungga. + +"My friend Negoro is happy to see the King of Kazounde again, after +such a long absence." + +"Drink!" repeated the drunkard, whose whole person gave forth a +disgusting odor of alcohol. + +"Well, some 'pombe'! some mead!" exclaimed Jose-Antonio Alvez, like a +man who well knew what Moini Loungga wanted. + +"No, no!" replied the king; "my friend Alvez's brandy, and for each +drop of his fire-water I shall give him----" + +"A drop of blood from a white man!" exclaimed Negoro, after making a +sign to Alvez, which the latter understood and approved. + +"A white man! Put a white man to death!" repeated Moini Loungga, whose +ferocious instincts were aroused by the Portuguese's proposition. + +"One of Alvez's agents has been killed by this white man," returned +Negoro. + +"Yes, my agent, Harris," replied the trader, "and his death must be +avenged!" + +"Send that white man to King Massongo, on the Upper Zaire, among the +Assonas. They will cut him in pieces. They will eat him alive. They +have not forgotten the taste of human flesh!" exclaimed Moini Loungga. + +He was, in fact, the king of a tribe of man-eaters, that Massongo. +It is only too true that in certain provinces of Central Africa +cannibalism is still openly practised. Livingstone states it in his +"Notes of Travel." On the borders of the Loualaba the Manyemas not +only eat the men killed in the wars, but they buy slaves to devour +them, saying that "human flesh is easily salted, and needs little +seasoning." Those cannibals Cameron has found again among the +Moene-Bongga, where they only feast on dead bodies after steeping them +for several days in a running stream. Stanley has also encountered +those customs of cannibalism among the inhabitants of the Oukonson. +Cannibalism is evidently well spread among the tribes of the center. + +But, cruel as was the kind of death proposed by the king for Dick +Sand, it did not suit Negoro, who did not care to give up his victim. + +"It was here," said he, "that the white man killed our comrade +Harris." + +"It is here that he ought to die!" added Alvez. + +"Where you please, Alvez," replied Moini Loungga; "but a drop of +fire-water for a drop of blood!" + +"Yes," replied the trader, "fire-water, and you will see that it well +merits that name! We shall make it blaze, this water! Jose-Antonio +Alvez will offer a punch to the King Moini Loungga." + +The drunkard shook his friend Alvez's hands. He could not contain his +joy. His wives, his courtiers shared his ecstasy. They had never seen +brandy blaze, and doubtless they counted on drinking it all blazing. +Then, after the thirst for alcohol, the thirst for blood, so imperious +among these savages, would be satisfied also. + +Poor Dick Sand! What a horrible punishment awaited him. When we think +of the terrible or grotesque effects of intoxication in civilized +countries, we understand how far it can urge barbarous beings. + +We will readily believe that the thought of torturing a white could +displease none of the natives, neither Jose-Antonio Alvez, a negro +like themselves, nor Coimbra, a mongrel of black blood, nor Negoro +either, animated with a ferocious hatred against the whites. + +The evening had come, an evening without twilight, that was going to +make day change tonight almost at once, a propitious hour for the +blazing of the brandy. + +It was truly a triumphant idea of Alvez's, to offer a punch to this +negro majesty, and to make him love brandy under a new form. Moini +Loungga began to find that fire-water did not sufficiently justify its +name. Perhaps, blazing and burning, it would tickle more agreeably the +blunted papillas of his tongue. + +The evening's program then comprised a punch first, a punishment +afterwards. + +Dick Sand, closely shut up in his dark prison, would only come out to +go to his death. The other slaves, sold or not, had been put back in +the barracks. There only remained at the "tchitoka," the traders, the +overseers and the soldiers ready to take their part of the punch, if +the king and his court allowed them. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, advised by Negoro, did the thing well. They +brought a vast copper basin, capable of containing at least two +hundred pints, which was placed in the middle of the great place. +Barrels holding alcohol of inferior quality, but well refined, were +emptied into the basin. They spared neither the cinnamon, nor the +allspice, nor any of the ingredients that might improve this punch for +savages. + +All had made a circle around the king. Moini Loungga advanced +staggering to the basin. One would say that this vat of brandy +fascinated him, and that he was going to throw himself into it. + +Alvez generously held him back and put a lighted match into his hand. + +"Fire!" cried he with a cunning grimace of satisfaction. + +"Fire!" replied Moini Loungga lashing the liquid with the end of the +match. + +What a flare and what an effect, when the bluish flames played on the +surface of the basin. Alvez, doubtless to render that alcohol +still sharper, had mingled with it a few handfuls of sea salt. The +assistants' faces were then given that spectral lividness that the +imagination ascribes to phantoms. + +Those negroes, drunk in advance, began to cry out, to gesticulate, +and, taking each other by the hand, formed an immense circle around +the King of Kazounde. + +Alvez, furnished with an enormous metal spoon, stirred the liquid, +which threw a great white glare over those delirious monkeys. + +Moini Loungga advanced. He seized the spoon from the trader's hands, +plunged it into the basin, then, drawing it out full of punch in +flames, he brought it to his lips. + +What a cry the King of Kazounde then gave! + +An act of spontaneous combustion had just taken place. The king had +taken fire like a petroleum bonbon. This fire developed little heat, +but it devoured none the less. + +At this spectacle the natives' dance was suddenly stopped. + +One of Moini Loungga's ministers threw himself on his sovereign to +extinguish him; but, not less alcoholized than his master, he took +fire in his turn. + +In this way, Moini Loungga's whole court was in peril of burning up. + +Alvez and Negoro did not know how to help his majesty. The women, +frightened, had taken flight. As to Coimbra, he took his departure +rapidly, well knowing his inflammable nature. + +The king and the minister, who had fallen on the ground, were burning +up, a prey to frightful sufferings. + +In bodies so thoroughly alcoholized, combustion only produces a light +and bluish flame, that water cannot extinguish. Even stifled outside, +it would still continue to burn inwardly. When liquor has penetrated +all the tissues, there exists no means of arresting the combustion. + +A few minutes after, Moini Loungga and his minister had succumbed, but +they still burned. Soon, in the place where they had fallen, there was +nothing left but a few light coals, one or two pieces of the vertebral +column, fingers, toes, that the fire does not consume, in cases of +spontaneous combustion, but which it covers with an infectious and +penetrating soot. + +It was all that was left of the King of Kazounde and of his +minister. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A ROYAL BURIAL. + + +The next day, May 29th, the city of Kazounde presented a strange +aspect. The natives, terrified, kept themselves shut up in their huts. +They had never seen a king, who said he was of divine essence, nor a +simple minister, die of this horrible death. They had already burned +some of their fellow-beings, and the oldest could not forget certain +culinary preparations relating to cannibalism. + +They knew then how the incineration of a human body takes place with +difficulty, and behold their king and his minister had burnt all +alone! That seemed to them, and indeed ought to seem to them, +inexplicable. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez kept still in his house. He might fear that he +would be held responsible for the accident. Negoro had informed him of +what had passed, warning him to take care of himself. To charge him +with Moini Loungga's death might be a bad affair, from which he might +not be able to extricate himself without damage. + +But Negoro had a good idea. By his means Alvez spread the report that +the death of Kazounde's sovereign was supernatural; that the great +Manitou only reserved it for his elect. The natives, so inclined to +superstition, accepted this lie. The fire that came out of the bodies +of the king and his minister became a sacred fire. They had nothing to +do but honor Moini Loungga by obsequies worthy of a man elevated to +the rank of the gods. + +These obsequies, with all the ceremonial connected with them among the +African tribes, was an occasion offered to Negoro to make Dick Sand +play a part. What this death of Moini Loungga was going to cost in +blood, would be believed with difficulty, if the Central Africa +travelers, Lieutenant Cameron among others, had not related facts that +cannot be doubted. + +The King of Kazounde's natural heir was the Queen Moini. In proceeding +without delay with the funeral ceremonies she acted with sovereign +authority, and could thus distance the competitors, among others +that King of the Oukonson, who tended to encroach upon the rights of +Kazounde's sovereigns. Besides, Moini, even by becoming queen, avoided +the cruel fate reserved for the other wives of the deceased; at the +same time she would get rid of the youngest ones, of whom she, first +in date, had necessarily to complain. This result would particularly +suit the ferocious temperament of that vixen. So she had it announced, +with deer's horns and other instruments, that the obsequies of the +defunct king would take place the next evening with all the usual +ceremony. + +No protestation was made, neither at court nor from the natives. Alvez +and the other traders had nothing to fear from the accession of this +Queen Moini. With a few presents, a few flattering remarks, they would +easily subject her to their influence. Thus the royal heritage was +transmitted without difficulty. There was terror only in the harem, +and not without reason. + +The preparatory labors for the funeral were commenced the same day. At +the end of the principal street of Kazounde flowed a deep and rapid +stream, an affluent of the Coango. The question was to turn this +stream aside, so as to leave its bed dry. It was in that bed that the +royal grave must be dug. After the burial the stream would be restored +to its natural channel. + +The natives were busily employed in constructing a dam, that forced +the stream to make a provisional bed across the plain of Kazounde. +At the last tableau of this funeral ceremony the barricade would be +broken, and the torrent would take its old bed again. + +Negoro intended Dick Sand to complete the number of victims sacrificed +on the king's tomb. He had been a witness of the young novice's +irresistible movement of anger, when Harris had acquainted him with +the death of Mrs. Weldon and little Jack. + +Negoro, cowardly rascal, had not exposed himself to the same fate as +his accomplice. But now, before a prisoner firmly fastened by the feet +and hands, he supposed he had nothing to fear, and resolved to pay +him a visit. Negoro was one of those miserable wretches who are not +satisfied with torturing their victims; they must also enjoy their +sufferings. + +Toward the middle of the day, then, he repaired to the barrack where +Dick Sand was guarded, in sight of an overseer. There, closely bound, +was lying the young novice, almost entirely deprived of food for +twenty-four hours, weakened by past misery, tortured by those bands +that entered into his flesh; hardly able to turn himself, he was +waiting for death, no matter how cruel it might be, as a limit to so +many evils. + +However, at the sight of Negoro he shuddered from head to foot. He +made an instinctive effort to break the bands that prevented him from +throwing himself on that miserable man and having revenge. + +But Hercules himself would not succeed in breaking them. He understood +that it was another kind of contest that was going to take place +between the two, and arming himself with calmness, Dick Sand compelled +himself to look Negoro right in the face, and decided not to honor him +with a reply, no matter what he might say. + +"I believed it to be my duty," Negoro said to him it first, "to come +to salute my young captain for the last time, and to let him know how +I regret, for his sake, that he does not command here any longer, as +he commanded on board the 'Pilgrim.'" + +And, seeing that Dick Sand did not reply: + +"What, captain, do you no longer recognize your old cook? He comes, +however, to take your orders, and to ask you what he ought to serve +for your breakfast." + +At the same time Negoro brutally kicked the young novice, who was +lying on the ground. + +"Besides," added he, "I should have another question to address to +you, my young captain. Could you yet explain to me, how, wishing to +land on the American coast, you have ended by arriving in Angola, +where you are?" + +Certainly, Dick Sand had no more need of the Portuguese's words to +understand what he had truly divined, when he knew at last that the +"Pilgrim's" compass must have been made false by this traitor. +But Negoro's question was an avowal. Still he only replied by a +contemptuous silence. + +"You will acknowledge, captain," continued Kegoro, "that it was +fortunate for you that there was a seaman on board--a real one, at +that. Great God, where would we be without him? Instead of perishing +on some breaker, where the tempest would have thrown you, you have +arrived, thanks to him, in a friendly port, and if it is to any one +that you owe being at last in a safe place, it is to that seaman whom +you have wronged in despising, my young master!" + +Speaking thus, Negoro, whose apparent calmness was only the result +of an immense effort, had brought his form near Dick Sand. His face, +suddenly become ferocious, touched him so closely that one would +believe that he was going to devour him. This rascal could no longer +contain his fury. + +"Every dog has his day!" he exclaimed, in the paroxysm of fury excited +in him by his victim's calmness. "To-day I am captain, I am master! +Your life is in my hands!" + +"Take it," Sand replied, without emotion. "But, know there is in +heaven a God, avenger of all crimes, and your punishment is not +distant!" + +"If God occupies himself with human beings, there is only time for Him +to take care of you!" + +"I am ready to appear before the Supreme Judge," replied Dick Sand, +coldly, "and death will not make me afraid." + +"We shall see about that!" howled Negoro. "You count on help of some +kind, perhaps--help at Kazounde, where Alvez and I are all-powerful! +You are a fool! You say to yourself, perhaps, that your companions are +still there, that old Tom and the others. Undeceive yourself. It is a +long time since they were sold and sent to Zanzibar--too fortunate if +they do not die of fatigue on the way!" + +"God has a thousand ways of doing justice," replied Dick Sand. "The +smallest instrument is sufficient for him. Hercules is free." + +"Hercules!" exclaimed Negoro, striking the ground with his foot; "he +perished long ago under the lions' and panthers' teeth. I regret +only one thing, that is, that those ferocious beasts should have +forestalled my vengeance!" + +"If Hercules is dead," replied Dick Sand, "Dingo is alive. A dog like +that, Negoro, is more than enough to take revenge on a man of your +kind. I know you well, Negoro; you are not brave. Dingo will seek for +you; it will know how to find you again. Some day you will die under +his teeth!" + +"Miserable boy!" exclaimed the Portuguese, exasperated. "Miserable +boy! Dingo died from a ball that I fired at it. It is dead, like Mrs. +Weldon and her son; dead, as all the survivors of the 'Pilgrim' shall +die!" + +"And as you yourself shall die before long," replied Dick Sand, whose +tranquil look made the Portuguese grow pale. + +Negoro, beside himself, was on the point of passing from words to +deeds, and strangling his unarmed prisoner with his hands. Already +he had sprung upon him, and was shaking him with fury, when a sudden +reflection stopped him. He remembered that he was going to kill his +victim, that all would be over, and that this would spare him the +twenty-four hours of torture he intended for him. He then stood up, +said a few words to the overseer, standing impassive, commanded him to +watch closely over the prisoner, and went out of the barrack. + +Instead of casting him down, this scene had restored all Dick Sand's +moral force. His physical energy underwent a happy reaction, and at +the same time regained the mastery. In bending over him in his rage, +had Negoro slightly loosened the bands that till then had rendered all +movement impossible? It was probable, for Dick Sand thought that his +members had more play than before the arrival of his executioner. The +young novice, feeling solaced, said to himself that perhaps it would +be possible to get his arms free without too much effort. Guarded +as he was, in a prison firmly shut, that would doubtless be only a +torture--only a suffering less; but it was such a moment in life when +the smallest good is invaluable. + +Certainly, Dick Sand hoped for nothing. No human succor could come to +him except from outside, and whence could it come to him? He was then +resigned. To tell the truth, he no longer cared to live. He thought of +all those who had met death before him, and he only aspired to join +them. Negoro had just repeated what Harris had told him: "Mrs. Weldon +and little Jack had succumbed." It was, indeed, only too probable that +Hercules, exposed to so many dangers, must have perished also, and +from a cruel death. Tom and his companions were at a distance, forever +lost to him--Dick Sand ought to believe it. To hope for anything but +the end of his troubles, by a death that could not be more terrible +than his life, would be signal folly. He then prepared to die, above +all throwing himself upon God, and asking courage from Him to go on +to the end without giving way. But thoughts of God are good and noble +thoughts! It is not in vain that one lifts his soul to Him who can do +all, and, when Dick Sand had offered his whole sacrifice, he found +that, if one could penetrate to the bottom of his heart, he might +perhaps discover there a last ray of hope--that glimmer which a breath +from on high can change, in spite of all probabilities, into dazzling +light. + +The hours passed away. Night came. The rays of light, that penetrated +through the thatch of the barrack, gradually disappeared. The last +noises of the "tchitoka," which, during that day had been very silent, +after the frightful uproar of the night before--those last noises +died out. Darkness became very profound in the interior of the narrow +prison. Soon all reposed in the city of Kazounde. + +Dick Sand fell into a restoring sleep, that lasted two hours. After +that he awoke, still stronger. He succeeded in freeing one of his +arms from their bands--it was already a little reduced--and it was a +delight for him to be able to extend it and draw it back at will. + +The night must be half over. The overseer slept with heavy sleep, due +to a bottle of brandy, the neck of which was still held in his shut +hand. The savage had emptied it to the last drop. Dick Sand's first +idea was to take possession of his jailer's weapons, which might be of +great use to him in case of escape; but at that moment he thought +he heard a slight scratching at the lower part of the door of the +barrack. Helping himself with his arms, he succeeded in crawling as +far as the door-sill without wakening the overseer. + +Dick Sand was not mistaken. The scratching continued, and in a more +distinct manner. It seemed that from the outside some one was digging +the earth under the door. Was it an animal? Was it a man? + +"Hercules! If it were Hercules!" the young novice said to himself. + +His eyes were fixed on his guard; he was motionless, and under the +influence of a leaden sleep. Dick Sand, bringing his lips to the +door-sill, thought he might risk murmuring Hercules's name. A moan, +like a low and plaintive bark, replied to him. + +"It is not Hercules," said Dick to himself, "but it is Dingo. He has +scented me as far as this barrack. Should he bring me another word +from Hercules? But if Dingo is not dead, Negoro has lied, and +perhaps--" + +At that moment a paw passed under the door. Dick Sand seized it, and +recognized Dingo's paw. But, if it had a letter, that letter could +only be attached to its neck. What to do? Was it possible to make that +hole large enough for Dingo to put in its head? At all events, he must +try it. + +But hardly had Dick Sand begun to dig the soil with his nails, than +barks that were not Dingo's sounded over the place. The faithful +animal had just been scented by the native dogs, and doubtless could +do nothing more than take to flight. Some detonations burst forth. The +overseer half awoke. Dick Sand, no longer able to think of escaping, +because the alarm was given, must then roll himself up again in his +corner, and, after a lovely hope, he saw appear that day which would +be without a to-morrow for him. + +During all that day the grave-diggers' labors were pushed on with +briskness. A large number of natives took part, under the direction +of Queen Moini's first minister. All must be ready at the hour named, +under penalty of mutilation, for the new sovereign promised to follow +the defunct king's ways, point by point. + +The waters of the brook having been turned aside, it was in the dry +bed that the vast ditch was dug, to a depth of ten feet, over an +extent of fifty feet long by ten wide. + +Toward the end of the day they began to carpet it, at the bottom and +along the walls, with living women, chosen among Moini Loungga's +slaves. Generally those unfortunates are buried alive. But, on account +of this strange and perhaps miraculous death of Moini Loungga, it +had been decided that they should be drowned near the body of their +master. + +One cannot imagine what those horrible hecatombs are, when a powerful +chief's memory must be fitly honored among these tribes of Central +Africa. Cameron says that more than a hundred victims were thus +sacrificed at the funeral ceremonies of the King of Kassongo's father. + +It is also the custom for the defunct king to be dressed in his most +costly clothes before being laid in his tomb. But this time, as there +was nothing left of the royal person except a few burnt bones, it was +necessary to proceed in another manner. A willow manikin was made, +representing Moini Loungga sufficiently well, perhaps advantageously, +and in it they shut up the remains the combustion had spared. The +manikin was then clothed with the royal vestments--we know that those +clothes are not worth much--and they did not forget to ornament it +with Cousin Benedict's famous spectacles. There was something terribly +comic in this masquerade. + +The ceremony would take place with torches and with great pomp. The +whole population of Kazounde, native or not, must assist at it. + +When the evening had come, a long cortège descended the principal +street, from the _tchitoka_ as far as the burial place. Cries, +funeral dances, magicians' incantations, noises from instruments and +detonations from old muskets from the arsenals--nothing was lacking in +it. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, Coimbra, Negoro, the Arab traders and their +overseers had increased the ranks of Kazounde's people. No one had yet +left the great _lakoni_. Queen Moini would not permit it, and it would +not be prudent to disobey the orders of one who was trying the trade +of sovereign. + +The body of the king, laid in a palanquin, was carried in the last +ranks of the cortège. It was surrounded by his wives of the second +order, some of whom were going to accompany him beyond this life. +Queen Moini, in great state, marched behind what might be called the +catafalque. It was positively night when all the people arrived on +the banks of the brook; but the resin torches, shaken by the porters, +threw great bursts of light over the crowd. + +The ditch was seen distinctly. It was carpeted with black, living +bodies, for they moved under the chains that bound them to the ground. +Fifty slaves were waiting there till the torrent should close over +them. The majority were young natives, some resigned and mute, others +giving a few groans. The wives all dressed as for a _fête_, and who +must perish, had been chosen by the queen. + +One of these victims, she who bore the title of second wife, was bent +on her hands and knees, to serve as a royal footstool, as she had done +in the king's lifetime. The third wife came to hold up the manikin, +while the fourth lay at its feet, in the guise of a cushion. + +Before the manikin, at the end of the ditch, a post, painted red, rose +from the earth. To this post was fastened a white man, who was going +to be counted also among the victims of these bloody obsequies. + +That white man was Dick Sand. His body, half naked, bore the marks of +the tortures he had already suffered by Negoro's orders. Tied to this +post, he waited for death like a man who has no hope except in another +life. + +However, the moment had not yet arrived when the barricade would be +broken. + +On a signal from the queen, the fourth wife, she who was placed at the +king's feet, was beheaded by Kazounde's executioner, and her blood +flowed into the ditch. It was the beginning of a frightful scene of +butchery. Fifty slaves fell under the executioner's knife. The bed of +the river ran waves of blood. + +During half an hour the victims' cries mingled with the assistants' +vociferations, and one would seek in vain in that crowd for a +sentiment of repugnance or of pity. + +At last Queen Moini made a gesture, and the barricade that held back +the upper waters gradually opened. By a refinement of cruelty, the +current was allowed to filter down the river, instead of being +precipitated by an instantaneous bursting open of the dam. Slow death +instead of quick death! + +The water first drowned the carpet of slaves which covered the bottom +of the ditch. Horrible leaps were made by those living creatures, +who struggled against asphyxia. They saw Dick Sand, submerged to the +knees, make a last effort to break his bonds. But the water mounted. +The last heads disappeared under the torrent, that took its course +again, and nothing indicated that at the bottom of this river was +dug a tomb, where one hundred victims had just perished in honor of +Kazounde's king. + +The pen would refuse to paint such pictures, if regard for the truth +did not impose the duty of describing them in their abominable +reality. Man is still there, in those sad countries. To be ignorant of +it is not allowable. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE INTERIOR OF A FACTORY. + + +Harris and Negoro had told a lie in saying that Mrs. Weldon and +little Jack were dead. She, her son, and Cousin Benedict were then in +Kazounde. + +After the assault on the ant-hill, they had been taken away beyond the +camp on the Coanza by Harris and Negoro, accompanied by a dozen native +soldiers. + +A palanquin, the "kitanda" of the country, received Mrs. Weldon and +little Jack. Why such care on the part of such a man as Negoro? Mrs. +Weldon was afraid to explain it to herself. + +The journey from the Counza to Kazounde was made rapidly and without +fatigue. Cousin Benedict, on whom trouble seemed to have no effect, +walked with a firm step. As he was allowed to search to the right and +to the left, he did not think of complaining. The little troop, then, +arrived at Kazounde eight days before Ibn Hamis's caravan. Mrs. +Weldon was shut up, with her child and Cousin Benedict, in Alvez's +establishment. + +Little Jack was much better. On leaving the marshy country, where he +had taken the fever, he gradually became better, and now he was +doing well. No doubt neither he nor his mother could have borne the +hardships of the caravan; but owing to the manner in which they had +made this journey, during which they had been given a certain amount +of care, they were in a satisfactory condition, physically at least. + +As to her companions, Mrs. Weldon had heard nothing of them. After +having seen Hercules flee into the forest, she did not know what had +become of him. As to Dick Sand, as Harris and Negoro were no longer +there to torture him, she hoped that his being a white man would +perhaps spare him some bad treatment. As to Nan, Tom, Bat, Austin, and +Acteon, they were blacks, and it was too certain that they would be +treated as such. Poor people! who should never have trodden that land +of Africa, and whom treachery had just cast there. + +When Ibn Hamis's caravan had arrived at Kazounde, Mrs. Weldon, having +no communication with the outer world, could not know of the fact: +neither did the noises from the _lakoni_ tell her anything. She did +not know that Tom and his friends had been sold to a trader from +Oujiji, and that they would soon set out. She neither knew of Harris's +punishment, nor of King Moini Loungga's death, nor of the royal +funeral ceremonies, that had added Dick Sand to so many other victims. +So the unfortunate woman found herself alone at Kazounde, at the +trader's mercy, in Negoro's power, and she could not even think of +dying in order to escape him, because her child was with her. + +Mrs. Weldon was absolutely ignorant of the fate that awaited her. +Harris and Negoro had not addressed a word to her during the whole +journey from the Coanza to Kazounde. Since her arrival, she had not +seen either of them again, and she could not leave the enclosure +around the rich trader's private establishment. Is it necessary to +say now that Mrs. Weldon had found no help in her large child, Cousin +Benedict? That is understood. + +When the worthy savant learned that he was not on the American +continent, as he believed, he was not at all anxious to know how that +could have happened. No! His first movement was a gesture of anger. +The insects that he imagined he had been the first to discover in +America, those _tsetses_ and others, were only mere African hexapodes, +found by many naturalists before him, in their native places. +Farewell, then, to the glory of attaching his name to those +discoveries! In fact, as he was in Africa, what could there be +astonishing in the circumstance that Cousin Benedict had collected +African insects. + +But the first anger over, Cousin Benedict said to himself that the +"Land of the Pharaohs"--so he still called it--possessed incomparable +entomological riches, and that so far as not being in the "Land of the +Incas" was concerned, he would not lose by the change. + +"Ah!" he repeated, to himself, and even repeated to Mrs. Weldon, who +hardly listened to him, "this is the country of the _manticores_, +those coleopteres with long hairy feet, with welded and sharp +wing-shells, with enormous mandibles, of which the most remarkable is +the tuberculous _manticore_. It is the country of the _calosomes_ with +golden ends; of the Goliaths of Guinea and of the Gabon, whose feet +are furnished with thorns; of the sacred Egyptian _ateuchus_, that +the Egyptians of Upper Egypt venerated as gods. It is here that those +sphinxes with heads of death, now spread over all Europe, belong, and +also those 'Idias Bigote,' whose sting is particularly dreaded by the +Senegalians of the coast. Yes; there are superb things to be found +here, and I shall find them, if these honest people will only let me." + +We know who those "honest people" were, of whom Cousin Benedict +did not dream of complaining. Besides, it has been stated, the +entomologist had enjoyed a half liberty in Negoro's and Harris's +company, a liberty of which Dick Sand had absolutely deprived him +during the voyage from the coast to the Coanza. The simple-hearted +savant had been very much touched by that condescension. + +Finally, Cousin Benedict would be the happiest of entomologists if he +had not suffered a loss to which he was extremely sensitive. He still +possessed his tin box, but his glasses no longer rested on his nose, +his magnifying glass no longer hung from his neck! Now, a naturalist +without his magnifying glass and his spectacles, no longer exists. +Cousin Benedict, however, was destined never to see those two optical +attendants again, because they had been buried with the royal manikin. +So, when he found some insect, he was reduced to thrusting it into his +eyes to distinguish its most prominent peculiarities. Ah! it was a +great loss to Cousin Benedict, and he would have paid a high price +for a pair of spectacles, but that article was not current on the +_lakonis_ of Kazounde. At all events, Cousin Benedict could go and +come in Jose-Antonio Alvez's establishment. They knew he was incapable +of seeking to flee. Besides, a high palisade separated the factory +from the other quarters of the city, and it would not be easy to get +over it. + +But, if it was well enclosed, this enclosure did not measure less than +a mile in circumference. Trees, bushes of a kind peculiar to Africa, +great herbs, a few rivulets, the thatch of the barracks and the huts, +were more than necessary to conceal the continent's rarest insects, +and to make Cousin Benedict's happiness, at least, if not his fortune. +In fact, he discovered some hexapodes, and nearly lost his eyesight in +trying to study them without spectacles. But, at least, he added to +his precious collection, and laid the foundation of a great work on +African entomology. If his lucky star would let him discover a new +insect, to which he would attach his name, he would have nothing more +to desire in this world! + +If Alvez's establishment was sufficiently large for Cousin Benedict's +scientific promenades, it seemed immense to little Jack, who could +walk about there without restraint. But the child took little interest +in the pleasures so natural to his age. He rarely quitted his +mother, who did not like to leave him alone, and always dreaded some +misfortune. + +Little Jack often spoke of his father, whom he had not seen for so +long. He asked to be taken back to him. He inquired after all, for old +Nan, for his friend Hercules, for Bat, for Austin, for Acteon, and for +Dingo, that appeared, indeed, to have deserted him. He wished to see +his comrade, Dick Sand, again. His young imagination was very much +affected, and only lived in those remembrances. To his questions Mrs. +Weldon could only reply by pressing him to her heart, while covering +him with kisses. All that she could do was not to cry before him. + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Weldon had not failed to observe that, if bad +treatment had been spared her during the journey from the Coanza, +nothing in Alvez's establishment indicated that there would be any +change of conduct in regard to her. There were in the factory only +the slaves in the trader's service. All the others, which formed +the object of his trade, had been penned up in the barracks of the +_tchitoka_, then sold to the brokers from the interior. + +Now, the storehouses of the establishment were overflowing with stuffs +and ivory. The stuffs were intended to be exchanged in the provinces +of the center, the ivory to be exported from the principal markets of +the continent. + +In fact, then, there were few people in the factory. Mrs. Weldon and +Jack occupied a hut apart; Cousin Benedict another. They did not +communicate with the trader's servants. They ate together. The food, +consisting of goat's flesh or mutton, vegetables, tapioca, _sorgho_, +and the fruits of the country, was sufficient. + +Halima, a young slave, was especially devoted to Mrs. Weldon's +service. In her way, and as she could, she even evinced for her a kind +of savage, but certainty sincere, affection. + +Mrs. Weldon hardly saw Jose-Antonio Alvez, who occupied the principal +house of the factory. She did not see Negoro at all, as he lodged +outside; but his absence was quite inexplicable. This absence +continued to astonish her, and make her feel anxious at the same time. + +"What does he want? What is he waiting for?" she asked herself. "Why +has he brought us to Kazounde?" + +So had passed the eight days that preceded and followed the arrival +of Ibn Hamis's caravan--that is, the two days before the funeral +ceremonies, and the six days that followed. + +In the midst of so many anxieties, Mrs. Weldon could not forget that +her husband must be a prey to the most frightful despair, on not +seeing either his wife or his son return to San Francisco. Mr. Weldon +could not know that his wife had adopted that fatal idea of taking +passage on board the "Pilgrim," and he would believe that she had +embarked on one of the steamers of the Trans-Pacific Company. Now, +these steamers arrived regularly, and neither Mrs. Weldon, nor Jack, +nor Cousin Benedict were on them. Besides, the "Pilgrim" itself was +already overdue at Sun Francisco. As she did not reappear, James W. +Weldon must now rank her in the category of ships supposed to be lost, +because not heard of. + +What a terrible blow for him, when news of the departure of the +"Pilgrim" and the embarkation of Mrs. Weldon should reach him from +his correspondents in Auckland! What had he done? Had he refused to +believe that his son and she had perished at sea? But then, where +would he search? Evidently on the isles of the Pacific, perhaps on the +American coast. But never, no never, would the thought occur to him +that she had been thrown on the coast of this fatal Africa! + +So thought Mrs. Weldon. But what could she attempt? Flee! How? She +was closely watched. And then to flee was to venture into those thick +forests, in the midst of a thousand dangers, to attempt a journey of +more than two hundred miles to reach the coast. And meanwhile Mrs. +Weldon was decided to do it, if no other means offered themselves for +her to recover her liberty. But, first, she wished to know exactly +what Negoro's designs were. + +At last she knew them. + +On the 6th of June, three days after the burial of Kazounde's king, +Negoro entered the factory, where he had not yet set foot since his +return. He went right to the hut occupied by his prisoner. + +Mrs. Weldon was alone. Cousin Benedict was taking one of his +scientific walks. Little Jack, watched by the slave Halima, was +walking in the enclosure of the establishment. + +Negoro pushed open the door of the hut without knocking. + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, "Tom and his companions have been sold for the +markets of Oujiji!" + +"May God protect them!" said Mrs. "Weldon, shedding tears. + +"Nan died on the way, Dick Sand has perished----" + +"Nan dead! and Dick!" cried Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, it is just for your captain of fifteen to pay for Harris's +murder with his life," continued Negoro. "You are alone in Kazounde, +mistress; alone, in the power of the 'Pilgrim's' old cook--absolutely +alone, do you understand?" + +What Negoro said was only too true, even concerning Tom and his +friends. The old black man, his son Bat, Acteon and Austin had +departed the day before with the trader of Oujiji's caravan, without +the consolation of seeing Mrs. Weldon again, without even knowing that +their companion in misery was in Kazounde, in Alvez's establishment. +They had departed for the lake country, a journey figured by hundreds +of miles, that very few accomplish, and from which very few return. + +"Well?" murmured Mrs. Weldon, looking at Negoro without answering. + +"Mrs. Weldon," returned the Portuguese, in an abrupt voice, "I could +revenge myself on you for the bad treatment I suffered on board the +'Pilgrim.' But Dick Sand's death will satisfy my vengeance. Now, +mistress, I become the merchant again, and behold my projects with +regard to you." + +Mrs. Weldon looked at him without saying a word. + +"You," continued the Portuguese, "your child, and that imbecile who +runs after the flies, you have a commercial value which I intend to +utilize. So I am going to sell you." + +"I am of a free race," replied Mrs. Weldon, in a firm tone. + +"You are a slave, if I wish it." + +"And who would buy a white woman?" + +"A man who will pay for her whatever I shall ask him." + +Mrs. Weldon bent her head for a moment, for she knew that anything was +possible in that frightful country. + +"You have heard?" continued Negoro. + +"Who is this man to whom you will pretend to sell me?" replied Mrs. +Weldon. + +"To sell you or to re-sell you. At least, I suppose so!" added the +Portuguese, sneering. + +"The name of this man?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"This man--he is James W. Weldon, your husband." + +"My husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Weldon, who could not believe what she +had just heard. + +"Himself, Mrs. Weldon--your husband, to whom I do not wish simply to +restore his wife, his child, and his cousin, but to sell them, and, at +a high price." + +Mrs. Weldon asked herself if Negoro was not setting a trap for her. +However, she believed he was speaking seriously. To a wretch to whom +money is everything, it seems that we can trust, when business is in +question. Now, this was business. + +"And when do you propose to make this business operation?" returned +Mrs. Weldon. + +"As soon as possible." + +"Where?" + +"Just here. Certainly James Weldon will not hesitate to come as far as +Kazounde for his wife and son." + +"No, he will not hesitate. But who will tell him?" + +"I! I shall go to San Francisco to find James Weldon. I have money +enough for this voyage." + +"The money stolen from on board the 'Pilgrim?'" + +"Yes, that, and more besides," replied Negoro, insolently. "But, if +I wish to sell you soon, I also wish to sell you at a high price. +I think that James Weldon will not regard a hundred thousand +dollars----" + +"He will not regard them, if he can give them," replied Mrs. Weldon, +coldly. "Only my husband, to whom you will say, doubtless, that I am +held a prisoner at Kazounde, in Central Africa----" + +"Precisely!" + +"My husband will not believe you without proofs, and he will not be so +imprudent as to come to Kazounde on your word alone." + +"He will come here," returned Negoro, "if I bring him a letter written +by you, which will tell him your situation, which will describe me as +a faithful servant, escaped from the hands of these savages." + +"My hand shall never write that letter!" Mrs. Weldon replied, in a +still colder manner. + +"You refuse?" exclaimed Negoro. + +"I refuse!" + +The thought of the dangers her husband would pass through in coming +as far as Kazounde, the little dependence that could be placed on the +Portuguese's promises, the facility with which the latter could retain +James Weldon, after taking the ransom agreed upon, all these reasons +taken together made Mrs. Weldon refuse Negoro's proposition flatly and +at once. Mrs. Weldon spoke, thinking only of herself, forgetting her +child for the moment. + +"You shall write that letter!" continued the Portuguese. + +"No!" replied Mrs. Weldon again. + +"Ah, take care!" exclaimed Negoro. "You are not alone here! Your child +is, like you, in my power, and I well know how----" + +Mrs. Weldon wished to reply that that would be impossible. Her heart +was beating as if it would break; she was voiceless. + +"Mrs. Weldon," said Negoro, "you will reflect on the offer I have made +you. In eight days you will have handed me a letter to James Weldon's +address, or you will repent of it." + +That said, the Portuguese retired, without giving vent to his anger; +but it was easy to see that nothing would stop him from constraining +Mrs. Weldon to obey him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SOME NEWS OF DR. LIVINGSTONE. + + +Left alone, Mrs. Weldon at first only fixed her mind on this thought, +that eight days would pass before Negoro would return for a definite +answer. There was time to reflect and decide on a course of action. +There could be no question of the Portuguese's probity except in his +own interest. The "market value" that he attributed to his prisoner +would evidently be a safeguard for her, and protect her for the time, +at least, against any temptation that might put her in danger. Perhaps +she would think of a compromise that would restore her to her husband +without obliging Mr. Weldon to come to Kazounde. On receipt of a +letter from his wife, she well knew that James Weldon would set out. +He would brave the perils of this journey into the most dangerous +countries of Africa. But, once at Kazounde, when Negoro should have +that fortune of a hundred thousand dollars in his hands, what guaranty +would James W. Weldon, his wife, his son and Cousin Benedict have, +that they would be allowed to depart? Could not Queen Moini's caprice +prevent them? Would not this "sale" of Mrs. Weldon and hers be better +accomplished if it took place at the coast, at some point agreed upon, +which would spare Mr. Weldon both the dangers of the journey to the +interior, and the difficulties, not to say the impossibilities, of a +return? + +So reflected Mrs. Weldon. That was why she had refused at once to +accede to Negoro's proposition and give him a letter for her husband. +She also thought that, if Negoro had put off his second visit for +eight days, it was because he needed that time to prepare for his +journey. If not, he would return sooner to force her consent. + +"Would he really separate me from my child?" murmured she. + +At that moment Jack entered the hut, and, by an instinctive movement, +his mother seized him, as if Negoro were there, ready to snatch him +from her. + +"You are in great grief, mother?" asked the little boy. + +"No, dear Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon; "I was thinking of your papa! +You would be very glad to see him again?" + +"Oh! yes, mother! Is he going to come?" + +"No! no! He must not come!" + +"Then we will go to see him again?" + +"Yes, darling Jack!" + +"With my friend Dick--and Hercules--and old Tom?" + +"Yes! yes!" replied Mrs. Weldon, putting her head down to hide her +tears. + +"Has papa written to you?" asked little Jack. + +"No, my love." + +"Then you are going to write to him, mother?" + +"Yes--yes--perhaps!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +And without knowing it, little Jack entered directly into his mother's +thoughts. To avoid answering him further, she covered him with kisses. + +It must be stated that another motive of some value was joined to +the different reasons that had urged Mrs. Weldon to resist Negoro's +injunctions. Perhaps Mrs. Weldon had a very unexpected chance of being +restored to liberty without her husband's intervention, and even +against Negoro's will. It was only a faint ray of hope, very vague as +yet, but it was one. + +In fact, a few words of conversation, overheard by her several days +before, made her foresee a possible succor near at hand--one might say +a providential succor. + +Alvez and a mongrel from Oujiji were talking a few steps from the hut +occupied by Mrs. Weldon. It is not astonishing that the slave-trade +was the subject of conversation between those worthy merchants. +The two _brokers_ in human flesh were talking business. They were +discussing the future of their commerce, and were worried about +the efforts the English were making to destroy it--not only on the +exterior, by cruisers, but in the interior, by their missionaries and +their travelers. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez found that the explorations of these hardy pioneers +could only injure commercial operations. His interlocutor shared his +views, and thought that all these visitors, civil or religious, should +be received with gun-shots. + +This had been done to some extent. But, to the great displeasure of +the traders, if they killed some of these curious ones, others escaped +them. Now, these latter, on returning to their country, recounted +"with exaggerations," Alvez said, the horrors of the slave-trade, and +that injured this commerce immensely--it being too much diminished +already. + +The mongrel agreed to that, and deplored it; above all, concerning the +markets of N'yangwe, of Oujiji, of Zanzibar, and of all the great +lake regions. There had come successively Speke, Grant, Livingstone, +Stanley, and others. It was an invasion! Soon all England and all +America would occupy the country! + +Alvez sincerely pitied his comrade, and he declared that the provinces +of Western Africa had been, till that time, less badly treated--that +is to say, less visited; but the epidemic of travelers was beginning +to spread. If Kazounde had been spared, it was not so with Cassange, +and with Bihe, where Alvez owned factories. It may be remembered, +also, that Harris had spoken to Negoro of a certain Lieutenant +Cameron, who might, indeed, have the presumption to cross Africa from +one side to the other, and after entering it by Zanzibar, leave it by +Angola. + +In fact, the trader had reason to fear, and we know that, some years +after, Cameron to the south and Stanley to the north, were going +to explore these little-known provinces of the west, describe the +permanent monstrosities of the trade, unveil the guilty complicities +of foreign agents, and make the responsibility fall on the right +parties. + +Neither Alvez nor the mongrel could know anything yet of this +exploration of Cameron's and of Stanley's; but what they did know, +what they said, what Mrs. Weldon heard, and what was of such great +interest to her--in a word, what had sustained her in her refusal to +subscribe at once to Negoro's demands, was this: + +Before long, very probably, Dr. David Livingstone would arrive at +Kazounde. + +Now, the arrival of Livingstone with his escort, the influence which +the great traveler enjoyed in Africa, the concourse of Portuguese +authorities from Angola that could not fail to meet him, all that +might bring about the deliverance of Mrs. Weldon and hers, in spite of +Negoro, in spite of Alvez. It was perhaps their restoration to their +country within a short time, and without James W. Weldon risking his +life in a journey, the result of which could only be deplorable. + +But was there any probability that Dr. Livingstone would soon visit +that part of the continent? Yes, for in following that missionary +tour, he was going to complete the exploration of Central Africa. + +We know the heroic life of this son of the tea merchant, who lived +in Blantyre, a village in the county of Lanark. Born on the 13th of +March, 1813, David Livingstone, the second of six children, became, +by force of study, both a theologian and doctor. After making his +novitiate in the "London Missionary Society," he embarked for the +Cape in 1840, with the intention of joining the missionary Moffat in +Southern Africa. + +From the Cape, the future traveler repaired to the country of the +Bechnanas, which he explored for the first time, returned to Kuruman +and married Moffat's daughter, that brave companion who would be +worthy of him. In 1843 he founded a mission in the valley of the +Mabotsa. + +Four years later, we find him established at Kolobeng, two hundred +and twenty-five miles to the north of Kuruman, in the country of the +Bechnanas. + +Two years after, in 1849, Livingstone left Kolobeng with his wife, his +three children and two friends, Messrs. Oswell and Murray. August 1st, +of the same year, he discovered Lake N'gami, and returned to Kolobeng, +by descending the Zouga. + +In this journey Livingstone, stopped by the bad will of the natives, +had not passed beyond the N'gami. A second attempt was not more +fortunate. A third must succeed. Then, taking a northern route, again +with his family and Mr. Oswell, after frightful sufferings (for lack +of food, for lack of water) that almost cost him the lives of his +children, he reached the country of the Makalolos beside the Chobe, a +branch of the Zambezi. The chief, Sebituane, joined him at Linyanti. +At the end of June, 1851, the Zambezi was discovered, and the doctor +returned to the Cape to bring his family to England. + +In fact, the intrepid Livingstone wished to be alone while risking his +life in the daring journey he was going to undertake. + +On leaving the Cape this time, the question was to cross Africa +obliquely from the south to the west, so as to reach Saint Paul de +Loanda. + +On the third of June, 1852, the doctor set out with a few natives. +He arrived at Kuruman and skirted the Desert of Kalahari. The 31st +December he entered Litoubarouba and found the country of the +Bechnanas ravaged by the Boers, old Dutch colonists, who were masters +of the Cape before the English took possession of it. + +Livingstone left Litoubarouba on the 15th of January, 1853, penetrated +to the center of the country of the Bamangouatos, and, on May 23d, +he arrived at Linyanti, where the young sovereign of the Makalolos, +Sckeletou, received him with great honor. + +There, the doctor held back by the intense fevers, devoted himself to +studying the manners of the country, and, for the first time, he could +ascertain the ravages made by the slave-trade in Africa. + +One month after he descended the Chobe, reached the Zambezi, entered +Naniele, visited Katonga and Libonta, arrived at the confluence of +the Zambezi and the Leeba, formed the project of ascending by that +watercourse as far as the Portuguese possessions of the west, and, +after nine weeks' absence, returned to Linyanti to make preparations. + +On the 11th of November, 1853, the doctor, accompanied by twenty-seven +Makalolos, left Linyanti, and on the 27th of December he reached +the mouth of the Leeba. This watercourse was ascended as far as the +territory of the Balondas, there where it receives the Makonda, which +comes from the east. It was the first time that a white man penetrated +into this region. + +January 14th, Livingstone entered Shinte's residence. He was the +most powerful sovereign of the Balondas. He gave Livingstone a good +reception, and, the 26th of the same month, after crossing the Leeba, +he arrived at King Katema's. There, again, a good reception, and +thence the departure of the little troop that on the 20th of February +encamped on the borders of Lake Dilolo. + +On setting out from this point, a difficult country, exigencies of the +natives, attacks from the tribes, revolt of his companions, threats of +death, everything conspired against Livingstone, and a less energetic +man would have abandoned the party. The doctor persevered, and on the +4th of April, he reached the banks of the Coango, a large watercourse +which forms the eastern boundary of the Portuguese possessions, and +flows northward into the Zaire. + +Six days after, Livingstone entered Cassange, where the trader Alvez +had seen him passing through, and on the 31st of May he arrived at +Saint Paul de Loanda. For the first time, and after a journey of two +years, Africa had just been crossed obliquely from the south to the +west. + +David Livingstone left Loanda, September 24th of the same year. He +skirted the right bank of that Coanza that had been so fatal to Dick +Sand and his party, arrived at the confluence of the Lombe, crossing +numerous caravans of slaves, passed by Cassange again, left it on +the 20th of February, crossed the Coango, and reached the Zambezi at +Kawawa. On the 8th of June he discovered Lake Dilolo again, saw Shinte +again, descended the Zambezi, and reentered Linyanti, which he left on +the 3d of November, 1855. + +This second part of the journey, which would lead the doctor toward +the eastern coast, would enable him to finish completely this crossing +of Africa from the west to the east. + +After having visited the famous Victoria Falls, the "thundering +foam," David Livingstone abandoned the Zambezi to take a northeastern +direction. The passage across the territory of the Batokas (natives +who were besotted by the inhalation of hemp), the visit to Semalembone +(the powerful chief of the region), the crossing of the Kafone, the +finding of the Zambezi again, the visit to King Mbourouma, the sight +of the ruins of Zambo (an ancient Portuguese city), the encounter with +the Chief Mpende on the 17th of January, 1856 (then at war with the +Portuguese), the final arrival at Tete, on the border of the Zambezi, +on the 2d of March--such were the principal halting-places of this +tour. + +The 22d of April Livingstone left that station, formerly a rich one, +descended as far as the delta of the river, and arrived at Quilimane, +at its mouth, on the 20th of May, four years after leaving the Cape. +On the 12th of July he embarked for Maurice, and on the 22d of +December he was returning to England, after sixteen years' absence. + +The prize of the Geographical Society of Paris, the grand medal of +the London Geographical Society, and brilliant receptions greeted the +illustrious traveler. Another would, perhaps, have thought that repose +was well earned. The doctor did not think so, and departed on the +1st of March, 1858, accompanied by his brother Charles, Captain +Bedinfield, the Drs. Kirk and Meller, and by Messrs. Thornton and +Baines. He arrived in May on the coast of Mozambique, having for an +object the exploration of the basin of the Zambezi. + +All would not return from this voyage. A little steamer, the "My +Robert," enabled the explorers to ascend the great river by +the Rongone. They arrived at Tete, September the 8th; thence +reconnoissance of the lower course of the Zambezi and of the Chire, +its left branch, in January, 1859; visit to Lake Chirona in April; +exploration of the Manganjas' territory; discovery of Lake Nyassa +on September 10th; return to the Victoria Falls, August 9th, 1860; +arrival of Bishop Mackensie and his missionaries at the mouth of the +Zambezi, January 31st, 1861; the exploration of the Rovouma, on the +"Pioneer," in March; the return to Lake Nyassa in September, 1861, and +residence there till the end of October; January 30th, 1862, arrival +of Mrs. Livingstone and a second steamer, the "Lady Nyassa:" such were +the events that marked the first years of this new expedition. At +this time, Bishop Mackensie and one of his missionaries had already +succumbed to the unhealthfulness of the climate, and on the 27th of +April, Mrs. Livingstone died in her husband's arms. + +In May, the doctor attempted a second reconnoissance of the Rovouma; +then, at the end of November, he entered the Zambezi again, and sailed +up the Chire again. In April, 1863, he lost his companion, Thornton, +sent back to Europe his brother Charles and Dr. Kirk, who were both +exhausted by sickness, and November 10th, for the third time, he saw +Nyassa, of which he completed the hydrography. Three months after he +was again at the mouth of the Zambezi, passed to Zanzibar, and July +20th, 1864, after five years' absence, he arrived in London, where +he published his work entitled: "Exploration of the Zambezi and its +Branches." + +January 28th, 1866, Livingstone landed again at Zanzibar. He was +beginning his fourth voyage. + +August 8th, after having witnessed the horrible scenes provoked by the +slave-trade in that country, the doctor, taking this time only a few +_cipayes_ and a few negroes, found himself again at Mokalaose, on the +banks of the Nyassa. Six weeks later, the majority of the men forming +the escort took flight, returned to Zanzibar, and there falsely spread +the report of Livingstone's death. + +He, however, did not draw back. He wished to visit the country +comprised between the Nyassa and Lake Tanganyika. December 10th, +guided by some natives, he traversed the Loangona River, and April 2d, +1867, he discovered Lake Liemmba. There he remained a month between +life and death. Hardly well again August 30th he reached Lake Moero, +of which he visited the northern shore, and November 21st he entered +the town of Cayembe, where he lived forty days, during which he twice +renewed his exploration of Lake Moero. + +From Cayembe Livingstone took a northern direction, with the design of +reaching the important town of Oujiji, on the Tanganyika. Surprised by +the rising of the waters, and abandoned by his guides, he was obliged +to return to Cayembe. He redescended to the south June 6th, and six +weeks after gained the great lake Bangoneolo. He remained there till +August 9th, and then sought to reascend toward Lake Tanganyika. + +What a journey! On setting out, January 7th, 1869, the heroic doctor's +feebleness was such that be had to be carried. In February he at last +reached the lake and arrived at Oujiji, where he found some articles +sent to his address by the Oriental Company of Calcutta. + +Livingstone then had but one idea, to gain the sources of the valley +of the Nile by ascending the Tanganyika. September 21st he was at +Bambarre, in the Manonyema, a cannibal country, and arrived at the +Loualaba--that Loualaba that Cameron was going to suspect, and Stanley +to discover, to be only the upper Zaire, or Congo. At Mamohela the +doctor was sick for eighty days. He had only three servants. July +21st, 1871, he departed again for the Tanganyika, and only reentered +Oujiji October 23d. He was then a mere skeleton. + +Meanwhile, before this period, people had been a long time without +news of the traveler. In Europe they believed him to be dead. He +himself had almost lost hope of being ever relieved. + +Eleven days after his entrance into Oujiji shots were heard a quarter +of a mile from the lake. The doctor arrives. A man, a white man, is +before him. "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" + +"Yes," replied the latter, raising his cap, with a friendly smile. + +Their hands were warmly clasped. + +"I thank God," continued the white man, "that He has permitted me to +meet you." + +"I am happy," said Livingstone, "to be here to receive you." + +The white man was the American Stanley, a reporter of the New York +_Herald_, whom Mr. Bennett, the proprietor of that journal, had just +sent to find David Livingstone. + +In the month of October, 1870, this American, without hesitation, +without a word, simply as a hero, had embarked at Bombay for +Zanzibar, and almost following Speke and Burton's route, after untold +sufferings, his life being menaced several times, he arrived at +Oujiji. + +The two travelers, now become fast friends, then made an expedition +to the north of Lake Tanganyika. They embarked, pushed as far as Cape +Malaya, and after a minute exploration, were of the opinion that the +great lake had for an outlet a branch of the Loualaba. + +It was what Cameron and Stanley himself were going to determine +positively some years after. December 12th, Livingstone and his +companion were returning to Oujiji. + +Stanley prepared to depart. December 27th, after a navigation of eight +days, the doctor and he arrived at Ousimba; then, February 23d, they +entered Kouihara. + +March 12th was the day of parting. + +"You have accomplished," said the doctor to his companion, "what +few men would have done, and done it much better than certain great +travelers. I am very grateful to you for it. May God lead you, my +friend, and may He bless you!" + +"May He," said Stanley, taking Livingstone's hand, "bring you back to +us safe and sound, dear doctor!" + +Stanley drew back quickly from this embrace, and turned so as to +conceal his tears. "Good-by, doctor, dear friend," he said in a +stifled voice. + +"Good-by," replied Livingstone, feebly. + +Stanley departed, and July 12th, 1872, he landed at Marseilles. + +Livingstone was going to return to his discoveries. August 25th, after +five months passed at Konihara, accompanied by his black servants, +Souzi, Chouma, and Amoda, by two other servants, by Jacob Wainwright, +and by fifty-six men sent by Stanley, he went toward the south of the +Tanganyika. + +A month after, the caravan arrived at M'oura, in the midst of storms, +caused by an extreme drought. Then came the rains, the bad will of the +natives, and the loss of the beasts of burden, from falling under the +stings of the tsetse. January 24th, 1873, the little troop was at +Tchitounkone. April 27th, after having left Lake Bangoneolo to the +east, the troop was going toward the village of Tchitambo. + +At that place some traders had left Livingstone. This is what Alvez +and his colleague had learned from them. They had good reason to +believe that the doctor, after exploring the south of the lake, would +venture across the Loanda, and come to seek unknown countries in the +west. Thence he was to ascend toward Angola, to visit those regions +infested by the slave-trade, to push as far as Kazounde; the tour +seemed to be all marked out, and it was very probable that Livingstone +would follow it. + +Mrs. Weldon then could count on the approaching arrival of the great +traveler, because, in the beginning of June, it was already more than +two months since he had reached the south of Lake Bangoneolo. + +Now, June 13th, the day before that on which Negoro would come to +claim from Mrs. Weldon the letter that would put one hundred thousand +dollars in his hands, sad news was spread, at which Alvez and the +traders only rejoiced. + +May 1st, 1873, at dawn, Dr. David Livingstone died. In fact, on April +29th, the little caravan had reached the village of Tchitambo, to the +south of the lake. The doctor was carried there on a litter. On the +30th, in the night, under the influence of excessive grief, he moaned +out this complaint, that was hardly heard: "Oh, dear! dear!" and he +fell back from drowsiness. + +At the end of an hour he called his servant, Souzi, asking for some +medicine, then murmuring in a feeble voice: "It is well. Now you can +go." + +Toward four o'clock in the morning, Souzi and five men of the escort +entered the doctor's hut. David Livingstone, kneeling near his bed, +his head resting on his hands, seemed to be engaged in prayer. Souzi +gently touched his cheek; it was cold. David Livingstone was no more. + +Nine months after, his body, carried by faithful servants at the price +of unheard-of fatigues, arrived at Zanzibar. On April 12th, 1874, it +was buried in Westminster Abbey, among those of her great men, whom +England honors equally with her kings. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +WHERE A MANTICORE MAY LEAD. + + +To what plank of safety will not an unfortunate being cling? Will not +the eyes of the condemned seek to seize any ray of hope, no matter how +vague? + +So it had been with Mrs. Weldon. One can understand what she must have +felt when she learned, from Alvez himself, that Dr. Livingstone had +just died in a little Bangoneolo village. + +It seemed to her that she was more isolated than ever; that a sort of +bond that attached her to the traveler, and with him to the civilized +world, had just been broken. + +The plank of safety sank under her hand, the ray of hope went out +before her eyes. Tom and his companions had left Kazounde for the lake +region. Not the least news of Hercules. Mrs. Weldon was not sure of +any one. She must then fall back on Negoro's proposition, while trying +to amend it and secure a definite result from it. + +June 14th, the day fixed by him, Negoro presented himself at Mrs. +Weldon's hut. + +The Portuguese was, as always, so he said, perfectly practical. +However, he abated nothing from the amount of the ransom, which his +prisoner did not even discuss. But Mrs. Weldon also showed herself +very practical in saying to him: + +"If you wish to make an agreement, do not render it impossible by +unacceptable conditions. The exchange of our liberty for the sum you +exact may take place, without my husband coming into a country where +you see what can be done with a white man! Now, I do not wish him to +come here at any price!" + +After some hesitation Negoro yielded, and Mrs. Weldon finished +with the concession that James Weldon should not venture as far as +Kazounde. A ship would land him at Mossamedes, a little port to the +south of Angola, ordinarily frequented by slave-ships, and well-known +by Negoro. It was there that the Portuguese would conduct James W. +Weldon; and at a certain time Alvez's agent would bring thither Mrs. +Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict. The ransom would be given to those +agents on the giving up of the prisoners, and Negoro, who would play +the part of a perfectly honest man with James Weldon, would disappear +on the ship's arrival. + +Mrs. Weldon had gained a very important point. She spared her husband +the dangers of a voyage to Kazounde, the risk of being kept there, +after paying the exacted ransom, and the perils of the return. As to +the six hundred miles that separated Kazounde from Mossamedes, by +going over them as she had traveled on leaving the Coanza, Mrs. Weldon +would only have a little fatigue to fear. Besides, it would be to +Alvez's interest--for he was in the affair--for the prisoners to +arrive safe and sound. + +The conditions being thus settled, Mrs. Weldon wrote to her husband, +leaving to Negoro the care of passing himself off as a devoted +servant, who had escaped from the natives. Negoro took the letter, +which did not allow James Weldon to hesitate about following him as +far as Mossamedes, and, the next day, escorted by twenty blacks, he +traveled toward the north. + +Why did he take that direction? Was it, then, Negoro's intention to +embark on one of the vessels which frequent the mouths of the Congo, +and thus avoid the Portuguese stations, as well as the penitentiaries +in which he had been an involuntary guest? It was probable. At least, +that was the reason he gave Alvez. + +After his departure, Mrs. Weldon must try to arrange her existence +in such a manner as to pass the time of her sojourn at Kazounde as +happily as possible. Under the most favorable circumstances, it would +last three or four months. Negoro's going and returning would require +at least that time. + +Mrs. Weldon's intention was, not to leave the factory. Her child, +Cousin Benedict, and she, were comparatively safe there. Halima's good +care softened the severity of this sequestration a little. Besides, +it was probable that the trader would not permit her to leave the +establishment. The great premium that the prisoner's ransom would +procure him, made it well worth while to guard her carefully. + +It was even fortunate that Alvez was not obliged to leave Kazounde to +visit his two other factories of Bihe and Cassange. Coimbra was going +to take his place in the expedition on new _razzias_ or raids. There +was no motive for regretting the presence of that drunkard. Above all, +Negoro, before setting out, had given Alvez the most urgent commands +in regard to Mrs. Weldon. It was necessary to watch her closely. They +did not know what had become of Hercules. If he had not perished in +that dreadful province of Kazounde, perhaps he would attempt to get +near the prisoner and snatch her from Alvez's hands. The trader +perfectly understood a situation which ciphered itself out by a good +number of dollars. He would answer for Mrs. Weldon as for his own +body. + +So the monotonous life of the prisoner during the first days after her +arrival at the factory, was continued. What passed in this enclosure +reproduced very exactly the various acts of native existence outside. +Alvez lived like the other natives of Kazounde. The women of the +establishment worked as they would have done in the town, for the +greater comfort of their husbands or their masters. Their occupations +included preparing rice with heavy blows of the pestle in wooden +mortars, to perfect decortication; cleansing and winnowing maize, and +all the manipulations necessary to draw from it a granulous substance +which serves to compose that potage called "mtyelle" in the country; +the harvesting of the _sorgho_, a kind of large millet, the ripening +of which had just been solemnly celebrated at this time; the +extraction of that fragrant oil from the "mpafon" drupes, kinds +of olives, the essence of which forms a perfume sought for by the +natives; spinning of the cotton, the fibers of which are twisted by +means of a spindle a foot and a half long, to which the spinners +impart a rapid rotation; the fabrication of bark stuffs with the +mallet; the extraction from the tapioca roots, and the preparation of +the earth for the different products of the country, cassava, flour +that they make from the manioc beans, of which the pods, fifteen +inches long, named "mositsanes," grow on trees twenty feet high; +arachides intended to make oil, perennial peas of a bright blue, +known under the name of "tchilobes," the flowers of which relieve the +slightly insipid taste of the milk of sorgho; native coffee, sugar +canes, the juice of which is reduced to a syrup; onions, Indian pears, +sesamum, cucumbers, the seeds of which are roasted like chestnuts; the +preparation of fermented drinks, the "malofori," made with bananas, +the "pombe" and other liquors; the care of the domestic animals, of +those cows that only allow themselves to be milked in the presence of +their little one or of a stuffed calf; of those heifers of small race, +with short horns, some of which have a hump; of those goats which, in +the country where their flesh serves for food, are an important object +of exchange, one might say current money like the slave; finally, the +feeding of the birds, swine, sheep, oxen, and so forth. + +This long enumeration shows what rude labors fall on the feeble sex in +those savage regions of the African continent. + +During this time the men smoke tobacco or hemp, chase the elephant or +the buffalo, and hire themselves to the traders for the raids. The +harvest of maize or of slaves is always a harvest that takes place in +fixed seasons. + +Of those various occupations, Mrs. Weldon only saw in Alvez's factory +the part laid on the women. Sometimes she stopped, looking at them, +while the slaves, it must be said, only replied to her by ugly +grimaces. A race instinct led these unfortunates to hate a white +woman, and they had no commiseration for her in their hearts. Halima +alone was an exception, and Mrs. Weldon, having learned certain words +of the native language, was soon able to exchange a few sentences with +the young slave. + +Little Jack often accompanied his mother when she walked in the +inclosure; but he wished very much to go outside. There was, however, +in an enormous baobab, marabout nests, formed of a few sticks, and +"souimangas" nests, birds with scarlet breasts and throats, which +resemble those of the tissirms; then "widows," that strip the thatch +for the benefit of their family; "calaos," whose song was agreeable, +bright gray parrots with red tails, which, in the Manyema, are +called "rouss," and give their name to the chiefs of the tribes; +insectivorous "drougos," similar to gray linnets, with large, red +beaks. Here and there also fluttered hundreds of butterflies of +different species, especially in the neighborhood of the brooks that +crossed the factory; but that was rather Cousin Benedict's affair than +little Jack's, and the latter regretted greatly not being taller, +so as to look over the walls. Alas! where was his poor friend, Dick +Sand--he who had brought him so high up in the "Pilgrim's" masts? How +he would have followed him on the branches of those trees, whose tops +rose to more than a hundred feet! What good times they would have had +together! + +Cousin Benedict always found himself very well where he was, +provided insects were not lacking. Happily, he had discovered in the +factory--and he studied as much as he could without magnifying glass +or spectacles--a small bee which forms its cells among the worm-holes +of the wood, and a "sphex" that lays its eggs in cells that are not +its own, as the cuckoo in the nests of other birds. Mosquitoes were +not lacking either, on the banks of the rivulets, and they tattooed +him with bites to the extent of making him unrecognizable. And when +Mrs. Weldon reproached him with letting himself be thus devoured by +those venomous insects: "It is their instinct, Cousin Weldon," he +replied to her, scratching himself till the blood came; "it is their +instinct, and we must not have a grudge against them!" + +At last, one day--it was the 17th of June--Cousin Benedict was on the +point of being the happiest of entomologists. But this adventure, +which had unexpected consequences, needs to be related with some +minuteness. + +It was about eleven o'clock in the morning. An overpowering heat had +obliged the inhabitants of the factory to keep in their huts, and one +would not even meet a single native in the streets of Kazounde. + +Mrs. Weldon was dozing near little Jack, who was sleeping soundly. +Cousin Benedict, himself, suffering from the influence of this +tropical temperature, had given up his favorite hunts, which was a +great sacrifice for him, for, in those rays of the midday sun, he +heard the rustle of a whole world of insects. He was sheltered, then, +at the end of his hut, and there, sleep began to take possession of +him in this involuntary siesta. + +Suddenly, as his eyes half closed, he heard a humming; this is one +of those insupportable buzzings of insects, some of which can give +fifteen or sixteen thousand beats of their wings in a second. + +"A hexapode!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, awakened at once, and passing +from the horizontal to the vertical position. + +There was no doubt that it was a hexapode that was buzzing in his hut. +But, if Cousin Benedict was very near-sighted, he had at least very +acute hearing, so acute even that he could recognize one insect from +another by the intensity of its buzz, and it seemed to him that this +one was unknown, though it could only be produced by a giant of the +species. + +"What is this hexapode?" Cousin Benedict asked himself. + +Behold him, seeking to perceive the insect, which was very difficult +to his eyes without glasses, but trying above all to recognize it by +the buzzing of its wings. + +His instinct as an entomologist warned him that he had something to +accomplish, and that the insect, so providentially entered into his +hut, ought not to be the first comer. + +Cousin Benedict no longer moved. He listened. A few rays of light +reached him. His eyes then discovered a large black point that flew +about, but did not pass near enough for him to recognize it. He held +his breath, and if he felt himself stung in some part of the face or +hands, he was determined not to make a single movement that might put +his hexapode to flight. At last the buzzing insect, after turning +around him for a long time, came to rest on his head. Cousin +Benedict's mouth widened for an instant, as if to give a smile--and +what a smile! He felt the light animal running on his hair. An +irresistible desire to put his hand there seized him for a moment; but +he resisted it, and did well. + +"No, no!" thought he, "I would miss it, or what would be worse, I +would injure it. Let it come more within my reach. See it walking! It +descends. I feel its dear little feet running on my skull! This must +be a hexapode of great height. My God! only grant that it may descend +on the end of my nose, and there, by squinting a little, I might +perhaps see it, and determine to what order, genus, species, or +variety it belongs." + +So thought Cousin Benedict. But it was a long distance from his skull, +which was rather pointed, to the end of his nose, which was very long. +How many other roads the capricious insect might take, beside his +ears, beside his forehead--roads that would take it to a distance from +the savant's eyes--without counting that at any moment it might retake +its flight, leave the hut, and lose itself in those solar rays where, +doubtless, its life was passed, and in the midst of the buzzing of its +congeners that would attract it outside! + +Cousin Benedict said all that to himself. Never, in all his life as +an entomologist, had he passed more touching minutes. An African +hexapode, of a new species, or, at least, of a new variety, or even of +a new sub-variety, was there on his head, and he could not recognize +it except it deigned to walk at least an inch from his eyes. + +However, Cousin Benedict's prayer must be heard. The insect, after +having traveled over the half-bald head, as on the summit of some wild +bush, began to descend Cousin Benedict's forehead, and the latter +might at last conceive the hope that it would venture to the top of +his nose. Once arrived at that top, why would it not descend to the +base? + +"In its place, I--I would descend," thought the worthy savant. + +What is truer than that, in Cousin Benedict's place, any other would +have struck his forehead violently, so as to crush the enticing +insect, or at least to put it to flight. To feel six feet moving on +his skin, without speaking of the fear of being bitten, and not make a +gesture, one will agree that it was the height of heroism. The Spartan +allowing his breast to be devoured by a fox; the Roman holding burning +coals between his fingers, were not more masters of themselves than +Cousin Benedict, who was undoubtedly descended from those two heroes. + +After twenty little circuits, the insect arrived at the top of the +nose. Then there was a moment's hesitation that made all Cousin +Benedict's blood rush to his heart. Would the hexapode ascend again +beyond the line of the eyes, or would it descend below? + +It descended. Cousin Benedict felt its caterpillar feet coming toward +the base of his nose. The insect turned neither to the right nor to +the left. It rested between its two buzzing wings, on the slightly +hooked edge of that learned nose, so well formed to carry spectacles. +It cleared the little furrow produced by the incessant use of that +optical instrument, so much missed by the poor cousin, and it stopped +just at the extremity of his nasal appendage. + +It was the best place this haxapode could choose. At that distance, +Cousin Benedict's two eyes, by making their visual rays converge, +could, like two lens, dart their double look on the insect. + +"Almighty God!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, who could not repress a +cry, "the tuberculous _manticore_." + +Now, he must not cry it out, he must only think it. But was it not too +much to ask from the most enthusiastic of entomologists? + +To have on the end of his nose a tuberculous _manticore_, with large +elytrums--an insect of the cicendeletes tribe--a very rare specimen +in collections--one that seems peculiar to those southern parts of +Africa, and yet not utter a cry of admiration; that is beyond human +strength. + +Unfortunately the _manticore_ heard this cry, which was almost +immediately followed by a sneeze, that shook the appendage on which it +rested. Cousin Benedict wished to take possession of it, extended his +hand, shut it violently, and only succeeded in seizing the end of his +own nose. + +"Malediction!" exclaimed he. But then he showed a remarkable coolness. + +He knew that the tuberculous _manticore_ only flutters about, so to +say, that it walks rather than flies. He then knelt, and succeeded in +perceiving, at less than ten inches from his eyes, the black point +that was gliding rapidly in a ray of light. + +Evidently it was better to study it in this independent attitude. Only +he must not lose sight of it. + +"To seize the _manticore_ would be to risk crushing it," Cousin +Benedict said to himself. "No; I shall follow it! I shall admire it! I +have time enough to take it!" + +Was Cousin Benedict wrong? However that may be, see him now on all +fours, his nose to the ground like a dog that smells a scent, and +following seven or eight inches behind the superb hexapode. One moment +after he was outside his hut, under the midday sun, and a few minutes +later at the foot of the palisade that shut in Alvez's establishment. + +At this place was the _manticore_ going to clear the enclosure with a +bound, and put a wall between its adorer and itself? No, that was not +in its nature, and Cousin Benedict knew it well. So he was always +there, crawling like a snake, too far off to recognize the insect +entomologically--besides, that was done--but near enough to perceive +that large, moving point traveling over the ground. + +The _manticore_, arrived near the palisade, had met the large entrance +of a mole-hill that opened at the foot of the enclosure. There, +without hesitating, it entered this subterranean gallery, for it is in +the habit of seeking those obscure passages. Cousin Benedict believed +that he was going to lose sight of it. But, to his great surprise, the +passage was at least two feet high, and the mole-hill formed a gallery +where his long, thin body could enter. Besides, he put the ardor of a +ferret into his pursuit, and did not even perceive that in "earthing" +himself thus, he was passing outside the palisade. + +In fact, the mole-hill established a natural communication between the +inside and the outside. In half a minute Cousin Benedict was outside +of the factory. That did not trouble him. He was absorbed in +admiration of the elegant insect that was leading him on. But the +latter, doubtless, had enough of this long walk. Its elytrums turned +aside, its wings spread out. Cousin Benedict felt the danger, and, +with his curved hand, he was going to make a provisional prison for +the _manticore_, when--f-r-r-r-r!--it flew away! + +What despair! But the _manticore_ could not go far. Cousin Benedict +rose; he looked, he darted forward, his two hands stretched out and +open. The insect flew above his head, and he only perceived a large +black point, without appreciable form to him. + +Would the _manticore_ come to the ground again to rest, after having +traced a few capricious circles around Cousin Benedict's bald head? +All the probabilities were in favor of its doing so. + +Unfortunately for the unhappy savant, this part of Alvez's +establishment, which was situated at the northern extremity of the +town, bordered on a vast forest, which covered the territory of +Kazounde for a space of several square miles. If the _manticore_ +gained the cover of the trees, and if there, it should flutter from +branch to branch, he must renounce all hope of making it figure in +that famous tin box, in which it would be the most precious jewel. + +Alas! that was what happened. The _manticore_ had rested again on +the ground. Cousin Benedict, having the unexpected hope of seeing it +again, threw himself on the ground at once. But the _manticore_ no +longer walked: it proceeded by little jumps. + +Cousin Benedict, exhausted, his knees and hands bleeding, jumped also. +His two arms, his hands open, were extended to the right, to the left, +according as the black point bounded here or there. It might be said +that he was drawing his body over that burning soil, as a swimmer does +on the surface of the water. + +Useless trouble! His two hands always closed on nothing. The insect +escaped him while playing with him, and soon, arrived under the fresh +branches, it arose, after throwing into Cousin Benedict's ear, which +it touched lightly, the most intense but also the most ironical +buzzing of its coleopter wings. + +"Malediction!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, a second time. "It escapes +me. Ungrateful hexapode! Thou to whom I reserved a place of honor in +my collection! Well, no, I shall not give thee up! I shall follow thee +till I reach thee!" + +He forgot, this discomfited cousin, that his nearsighted eyes would +not enable him to perceive the _manticore_ among the foliage. But he +was no longer master of himself. Vexation, anger, made him a fool. It +was himself, and only himself, that he must blame for his loss. If he +had taken possession of the insect at first, instead of following it +"in its independent ways," nothing of all that would have happened, +and he would possess that admirable specimen of African _manticores_, +the name of which is that of a fabulous animal, having a man's head +and a lion's body. + +Cousin Benedict had lost his head. He little thought that the most +unforeseen of circumstances had just restored him to liberty. He did +not dream that the ant-hill, into which he had just entered, had opened +to him an escape, and that he had just left Alvez's establishment. +The forest was there, and under the trees was his _manticore_, flying +away! At any price, he wanted to see it again. + +See him, then, running across the thick forest, no longer conscious +even of what he was doing, always imagining he saw the precious +insect, beating the air with his long arms like a gigantic +field-spider. Where he was going, how he would return, and if he +should return, he did not even ask himself, and for a good mile +he made his way thus, at the risk of being met by some native, or +attacked by some beast. + +Suddenly, as he passed near a thicket, a gigantic being sprang out and +threw himself on him. Then, as Cousin Benedict would have done with +the _manticore_, that being seized him with one hand by the nape of +the neck, with the other by the lower part of the back, and before he +had time to know what was happening, he was carried across the forest. + +Truly, Cousin Benedict had that day lost a fine occasion of being able +to proclaim himself the happiest entomologist of the five parts of the +world. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A MAGICIAN. + + +When Mrs. Weldon, on the 17th of the month, did not see Cousin +Benedict reappear at the accustomed hour, she was seized with the +greatest uneasiness. She could not imagine what had become of her +big baby. That he had succeeded in escaping from the factory, the +enclosure of which was absolutely impassable, was not admissible. +Besides, Mrs. Weldon knew her cousin. Had one proposed to this +original to flee, abandoning his tin box and his collection of African +insects, he would have refused without the shadow of hesitation. Now, +the box was there in the hut, intact, containing all that the savant +had been able to collect since his arrival on the continent. To +suppose that he was voluntarily separated from his entomological +treasures, was inadmissible. + +Nevertheless, Cousin Benedict was no longer in Jose-Antonio Alvez's +establishment. + +During all that day Mrs. Weldon looked for him persistently. Little +Jack and the slave Halima joined her. It was useless. + +Mrs. Weldon was then forced to adopt this sad hypothesis: the prisoner +had been carried away by the trader's orders, for motives that she +could not fathom. But then, what had Alvez done with him? Had he +incarcerated him in one of the barracks of the large square? Why this +carrying away, coming after the agreement made between Mrs. Weldon and +Negoro, an agreement which included Cousin Benedict in the number +of the prisoners whom the trader would conduct to Mossamedes, to be +placed in James W. Weldon's hands for a ransom? + +If Mrs. Weldon had been a witness of Alvez's anger, when the latter +learned of the prisoner's disappearance, she would have understood +that this disappearance was indeed made against his will. But then, if +Cousin Benedict had escaped voluntarily, why had he not let her into +the secret of his escape? + +However, the search of Alvez and his servants, which was made with the +greatest care, led to the discovery of that mole-hill, which put the +factory in direct communication with the neighboring forest. The +trader no longer doubted that the "fly-hunter" had fled by that narrow +opening. One may then judge of his fury, when he said to himself that +this flight would doubtless be put to account, and would diminish the +prize that the affair would bring him. + +"That imbecile is not worth much," thought he, "nevertheless, I shall +be compelled to pay dear for him. Ah! if I take him again!" + +But notwithstanding the searchings that were made inside, and though +the woods were beaten over a large radius, it was impossible to find +any trace of the fugitive. + +Mrs. Weldon must resign herself to the loss of her cousin, and Alvez +mourn over his prisoner. As it could not be admitted that the latter +had established communications with the outside, it appeared evident +that chance alone had made him discover the existence of the +mole-hill, and that he had taken flight without thinking any more of +those he left behind than if they had never existed. + +Mrs. Weldon was forced to allow that it must be so, but she did +not dream of blaming the poor man, so perfectly unconscious of his +actions. + +"The unfortunate! what will become of him?" she asked herself. + +It is needless to say that the mole-hill had been closed up the same +day, and with the greatest care, and that the watch was doubled inside +as well as outside the factory. + +The monotonous life of the prisoners then continued for Mrs. Weldon +and her child. + +Meanwhile, a climatic fact, very rare at that period of the year, was +produced in the province. Persistent rains began about the 19th of +June, though the _masika_ period, that finishes in April, was passed. +In fact, the sky was covered, and continual showers inundated the +territory of Kazounde. + +What was only a vexation for Mrs. Weldon, because she must renounce +her walks inside the factory, became a public misfortune for the +natives. The low lands, covered with harvests already ripe, were +entirely submerged. The inhabitants of the province, to whom the crop +suddenly failed, soon found themselves in distress. All the labors +of the season were compromised, and Queen Moini, any more than her +ministers, did not know how to face the catastrophe. + +They then had recourse to the magicians, but not to those whose +profession is to heal the sick by their incantations and sorceries, or +who predict success to the natives. There was a public misfortune on +hand, and the best "mganngas," who have the privilege of provoking or +stopping the rains, were prayed to, to conjure away the peril. + +Their labor was in vain. It was in vain that they intoned their +monotonous chant, rang their little bells and hand-bells, employed +their most precious amulets, and more particularly, a horn full of mud +and bark, the point of which was terminated by three little horns. +The spirits were exorcised by throwing little balls of dung, or in +spitting in the faces of the most august personages of the court; but +they did not succeed in chasing away the bad spirits that presided +over the formation of the clouds. + +Now, things were going from bad to worse, when Queen Moini thought of +inviting a celebrated magician, then in the north of Angola. He was +a magician of the first order, whose power was the more marvelous +because they had never tested it in this country where he had never +come. But there was no question of its success among the Masikas. + +It was on the 25th of June, in the morning, that the new magician +suddenly announced his arrival at Kazounde with great ringing of +bells. + +This sorcerer came straight to the "tchitoka," and immediately the +crowd of natives rushed toward him. The sky was a little less rainy, +the wind indicated a tendency to change, and those signs of calm, +coinciding with the arrival of the magician, predisposed the minds of +the natives in his favor. + +Besides, he was a superb man--a black of the finest water. He was at +least six feet high, and must be extraordinarily strong. This prestige +already influenced the crowd. + +Generally, the sorcerers were in bands of three, four, or five when +they went through the villages, and a certain number of acolytes, or +companions, made their cortege. This magician was alone. His whole +breast was zebraed with white marks, done with pipe clay. The lower +part of his body disappeared under an ample skirt of grass stuff, the +"train" of which would not have disgraced a modern elegant. A collar +of birds' skulls was round his neck; on his head was a sort of +leathern helmet, with plumes ornamented with pearls; around his loins +a copper belt, to which hung several hundred bells, noisier than the +sonorous harness of a Spanish mule: thus this magnificent specimen of +the corporation of native wizards was dressed. + +All the material of his art was comprised in a kind of basket, of +which a calebash formed the bottom, and which was filled with shells, +amulets, little wooden idols, and other fetiches, plus a notable +quantity of dung balls, important accessories to the incantations and +divinatory practises of the center of Africa. + +One peculiarity was soon discovered by the crowd. This magician was +dumb. But this infirmity could only increase the consideration with +which they were disposed to surround him. He only made a guttural +sound, low and languid, which had no signification. The more reason +for being well skilled in the mysteries of witchcraft. + +The magician first made the tour of the great place, executing a +kind of dance which put in motion all his chime of bells. The crowd +followed, imitating his movements--it might be said, as a troop of +monkeys following a gigantic, four-handed animal. Then, suddenly, the +sorcerer, treading the principal street of Kazounde, went toward the +royal residence. + +As soon as Queen Moini had been informed of the arrival of the new +wizard, she appeared, followed by her courtiers. + +The magician bowed to the ground, and lifted up his head again, +showing his superb height. His arms were then extended toward the sky, +which was rapidly furrowed by masses of clouds. The sorcerer pointed +to those clouds with his hand; he imitated their movements in an +animated pantomime. He showed them fleeing to the west, but returning +to the east by a rotary movement that no power could stop. + +Then, suddenly, to the great surprise of the town and the court, this +sorcerer took the redoubtable sovereign of Kazounde by the hand. A +few courtiers wished to oppose this act, which was contrary to all +etiquette; but the strong magician, seizing the nearest by the nape of +the neck, sent him staggering fifteen paces off. + +The queen did not appear to disapprove of this proud manner of acting. +A sort of grimace, which ought to be a smile, was addressed to the +wizard, who drew the queen on with rapid steps, while the crowd rushed +after him. + +This time it was toward Alvez's establishment that the sorcerer +directed his steps. He soon reached the door, which was shut. A +simple blow from his shoulder threw it to the ground, and he led the +conquered queen into the interior of the factory. + +The trader, his soldiers and his slaves, ran to punish the daring +being who took it upon himself to throw down doors without waiting for +them to be opened to him. Suddenly, seeing that their sovereign did +not protest, they stood still, in a respectful attitude. + +No doubt Alvez was about to ask the queen why he was honored by her +visit, but the magician did not give him time. Making the crowd recede +so as to leave a large space free around him, he recommenced his +pantomime with still greater animation. He pointed to the clouds, he +threatened them, he exorcised them; he made a sign as if he could +first stop them, and then scatter them. His enormous cheeks were +puffed out, and he blew on this mass of heavy vapors as if he had the +strength to disperse them. Then, standing upright, he seemed to intend +stopping them in their course, and one would have said that, owing to +his gigantic height, he could have seized them. + +The superstitious Moini, "overcome" by the acting of this tall +comedian, could no longer control herself. Cries escaped her. She +raved in her turn, and instinctively repeated the magician's gestures. +The courtiers and the crowd followed her example, and the mute's +guttural sounds were lost amid those songs; cries, and yells which the +native language furnishes with so much prodigality. + +Did the clouds cease to rise on the eastern horizon and veil the +tropical sun? Did they vanish before the exorcisms of this new wizard? +No. And just at this moment, when the queen and her people imagined +that they had appeased the evil spirits that had watered them with so +many showers, the sky, somewhat clear since daybreak, became darker +than ever. Large drops of rain fell pattering on the ground. + +Then a sudden change took place in the crowd. They then saw that this +sorcerer was worth no more than the others. The queen's brows were +frowning. They understood that he at least was in danger of losing +his ears. The natives had contracted the circle around him; fists +threatened him, and they were about to punish him, when an unforeseen +incident changed the object of their evil intentions. + +The magician, who overlooked the whole yelling crowd, stretched his +arms toward one spot in the enclosure. The gesture was so imperious +that all turned to look at it. + +Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, attracted by the noise and the clamor, +had just left their hut. The magician, with an angry gesture, had +pointed to them with his left hand, while his right was raised toward +the sky. + +They! it was they'! It was this white woman--it was her child--they +were causing all this evil. They had brought these clouds from their +rainy country, to inundate the territories of Kazounde. + +It was at once understood. Queen Moini, pointing to Mrs. Weldon, made +a threatening gesture. The natives, uttering still more terrible +cries, rushed toward her. + +Mrs. Weldon thought herself lost, and clasping her son in her arms, +she stood motionless as a statue before this over-excited crowd. + +The magician went toward her. The natives stood aside in the presence +of this wizard, who, with the cause of the evil, seemed to have found +the remedy. + +The trader, Alvez, knowing that the life of the prisoner was precious, +now approached, not being sure of what he ought to do. + +The magician had seized little Jack, and snatching him from his +mother's arms, he held him toward the sky. It seemed as if he were +about to dash the child to the earth, so as to appease the gods. + +With a terrible cry, Mrs. Weldon fell to the ground insensible. + +But the magician, after having made a sign to the queen, which no +doubt reassured her as to his intentions, raised the unhappy mother, +and while the crowd, completely subdued, parted to give him space, he +carried her away with her child. + +Alvez was furious, not expecting this result. After having lost one +of the three prisoners, to see the prize confided to his care thus +escape, and, with the prize, the large bribe promised him by Negoro! +Never! not if the whole territory of Kazounde were submerged by a new +deluge! He tried to oppose this abduction. + +The natives now began to mutter against him. The queen had him seized +by her guards, and, knowing what it might cost him, the trader was +forced to keep quiet, while cursing the stupid credulity of Queen +Moini's subjects. + +The savages, in fact, expected to see the clouds disappear with those +who had brought them, and they did not doubt that the magician would +destroy the scourge, from which they suffered so much, in the blood of +the strangers. + +Meanwhile, the magician carried off his victims as a lion would a +couple of kids which did not satisfy his powerful appetite. Little +Jack was terrified, his mother was unconscious. The crowd, roused to +the highest degree of fury, escorted the magician with yells; but +he left the enclosure, crossed Kazounde, and reentered the forest, +walking nearly three miles, without resting for a moment. Finally he +was alone, the natives having understood that he did not wish to be +followed. He arrived at the bank of a river, whose rapid current +flowed toward the north. + +There, at the end of a large opening, behind the long, drooping +branches of a thicket which hid the steep bank, was moored a canoe, +covered by a sort of thatch. + +The magician lowered his double burden into the boat, and following +himself, shoved out from the bank, and the current rapidly carried +them down the stream. The next minute he said, in a very distinct +voice: + +"Captain, here are Mrs. Weldon and little Jack; I present them to you. +Forward. And may all the clouds in heaven fall on those idiots of +Kazounde!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DRIFTING. + + +It was Hercules, not easily recognized in his magician's attire, who +was speaking thus, and it was Dick Sand whom he was addressing--Dick +Sand, still feeble enough, to lean on Cousin Benedict, near whom Dingo +was lying. + +Mrs. Weldon, who had regained consciousness, could only pronounce +these words: + +"You! Dick! You!" + +The young novice rose, but already Mrs. Weldon was pressing him in her +arms, and Jack was lavishing caresses on him. + +"My friend Dick! my friend Dick!" repeated the little boy. Then, +turning to Hercules: "And I," he added, "I did not know you!" + +"Hey! what a disguise!" replied Hercules, rubbing his breast to efface +the variety of colors that striped it. + +"You were too ugly!" said little Jack. + +"Bless me! I was the devil, and the devil is not handsome." + +"Hercules!" said Mrs. Weldon, holding out her hand to the brave black. + +"He has delivered you," added Dick Sand, "as he has saved me, though +he will not allow it." + +"Saved! saved! We are not saved yet!" replied Hercules. "And besides, +without Mr. Benedict, who came to tell us where you were, Mrs. Weldon, +we could not have done anything." + +In fact, it was Hercules who, five days before, had jumped upon the +savant at the moment when, having been led two miles from the factory, +the latter was running in pursuit of his precious manticore. Without +this incident, neither Dick Sand nor the black would have known Mrs. +Weldon's retreat, and Hercules would not have ventured to Kazounde in +a magician's dress. + +While the boat drifted with rapidity in this narrow part of the river, +Hercules related what had passed since his flight from the camp on +the Coanza; how, without being seen, he had followed the _kitanda_ in +which Mrs. Weldon and her son were; how he had found Dingo wounded; +how the two had arrived in the neighborhood of Kazounde; how a note +from Hercules, carried by the dog, told Dick Sand what had become of +Mrs. Weldon; how, after the unexpected arrival of Cousin Benedict, +he had vainly tried to make his way into the factory, more carefully +guarded than ever; how, at last, he had found this opportunity of +snatching the prisoner from that horrible Jose-Antonio Alvez. Now, +this opportunity had offered itself that same day. A _mgannga_, or +magician, on his witchcraft circuit, that celebrated magician so +impatiently expected, was passing through the forest in which Hercules +roamed every night, watching, waiting, ready for anything. + +To spring upon the magician, despoil him of his baggage, and of his +magician's vestments, to fasten him to the foot of a tree with liane +knots that the Davenports themselves could not have untied, to paint +his body, taking the sorcerer's for a model, and to act out his +character in charming and controlling the rains, had been the work +of several hours. Still, the incredible credulity of the natives was +necessary for his success. + +During this recital, given rapidly by Hercules, nothing concerning +Dick Sand had been mentioned. + +"And you, Dick!" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"I, Mrs. Weldon!" replied the young man. "I can tell you nothing. My +last thought was for you, for Jack! I tried in vain to break the cords +that fastened me to the stake. The water rose over my head. I lost +consciousness. When I came to myself, I was sheltered in a hole, +concealed by the papyrus of this bank, and Hercules was on his knees +beside me, lavishing his care upon me." + +"Well! that is because I am a physician," replied Hercules; "a +diviner, a sorcerer, a magician, a fortuneteller!" + +"Hercules," said Mrs. Weldon, "tell me, how did you save Dick Sand?" + +"Did I do it, Mrs. Weldon?" replied Hercules; "Might not the current +have broken the stake to which our captain was tied, and in the middle +of the night, carried him half-dead on this beam, to the place where +I received him? Besides, in the darkness, there was no difficulty in +gliding among the victims that carpeted the ditch, waiting for the +bursting of the dam, diving under water, and, with a little strength, +pulling up our captain and the stake to which these scoundrels had +bound him! There was nothing very extraordinary in all that! The +first-comer could have done as much. Mr. Benedict himself, or even +Dingo! In fact, might it not have been Dingo?" + +A yelping was heard; and Jack, taking hold of the dog's large head, +gave him several little friendly taps. + +"Dingo," he asked, "did you save our friend Dick?" + +At the same time he turned the dog's head from right to left. + +"He says, no, Hercules!" said Jack. "You see that it was not he. +Dingo, did Hercules save our captain?" + +The little boy forced Dingo's good head to move up and down, five or +six times. + +"He says, yes, Hercules! he says, yes!" cried little Jack. "You see +then that it was you!" + +"Friend Dingo," replied Hercules, caressing the dog, "that is wrong. +You promised me not to betray me." + +Yes, it was indeed Hercules, who had risked his life to save Dick +Sand. But he had done it, and his modesty would not allow him to +agree to the fact. Besides, he thought it a very simple thing, and he +repeated that any one of his companions would have done the same under +the circumstances. + +This led Mrs. Weldon to speak of old Tom, of his son, of Acteon and +Bat, his unfortunate companions. + +They had started for the lake region. Hercules had seen them pass with +the caravan of slaves. He had followed them, but no opportunity to +communicate with them had presented itself. They were gone! they were +lost! + +Hercules had been laughing heartily, but now he shed tears which he +did not try to restrain. + +"Do not cry, my friend," Mrs. Weldon said to him. "God may be +merciful, and allow us to meet them again." + +In a few words she informed Dick Sand of all that had happened during +her stay in Alvez's factory. + +"Perhaps," she added, "it would have been better to have remained at +Kazounde." + +"What a fool I was!" cried Hercules. + +"No, Hercules, no!" said Dick Sand. "These wretches would have found +means to draw Mr. Weldon into some new trap. Let us flee together, and +without delay. We shall reach the coast before Negoro can return to +Mossamedes. There, the Portuguese authorities will give us aid and +protection; and when Alvez comes to take his one hundred thousand +dollars--" + +"A hundred thousand blows on the old scoundrel's skull!" cried +Hercules; "and I will undertake to keep the count." + +However, here was a new complication, although it was very evident +that Mrs. Weldon would not dream of returning to Kazounde. The point +now was to anticipate Negoro. All Dick Sand's projects must tend +toward that end. + +Dick Sand was now putting in practise the plan which he had long +contemplated, of gaining the coast by utilizing the current of a +river or a stream. Now, the watercourse was there; its direction was +northward, and it was possible that it emptied into the Zaire. In that +case, instead of reaching St. Paul de Loanda, it would be at the mouth +of the great river that Mrs. Weldon and her companions would arrive. +This was not important, because help would not fail them in the +colonies of Lower Guinea. + +Having decided to descend the current of this river, Dick Sand's first +idea was to embark on one of the herbaceous rafts, a kind of floating +isle (of which Cameron has often spoken), which drifts in large +numbers on the surface of African rivers. + +But Hercules, while roaming at night on the bank, had been fortunate +enough to find a drifting boat. Dick Sand could not hope for anything +better, and chance had served him kindly. In fact, it was not one of +those narrow boats which the natives generally use. + +The perogue found by Hercules was one of those whose length exceeds +thirty feet, and the width four--and they are carried rapidly on the +waters of the great lakes by the aid of numerous paddles. Mrs. Weldon +and her companions could install themselves comfortably in it, and it +was sufficient to keep it in the stream by means of an oar to descend +the current of the river. + +At first, Dick Sand, wishing to pass unseen, had formed a project +to travel only at night. But to drift twelve hours out of the +twenty-four, was to double the length of a journey which might be +quite long. Happily, Dick Sand had taken a fancy to cover the perogue +with a roof of long grasses, sustained on a rod, which projected fore +and aft. This, when on the water, concealed even the long oar. One +would have said that it was a pile of herbs which drifted down stream, +in the midst of floating islets. Such was the ingenious arrangement +of the thatch, that the birds were deceived, and, seeing there some +grains to pilfer, red-beaked gulls, "arrhinisgas" of black plumage, +and gray and white halcyons frequently came to rest upon it. + +Besides, this green roof formed a shelter from the heat of the sun. A +voyage made under these conditions might then be accomplished almost +without fatigue, but not without danger. + +In fact, the journey would be a long one, and it would be necessary +to procure food each day. Hence the risk of hunting on the banks if +fishing would not suffice, and Dick Sand had no firearms but the gun +carried off by Hercules after the attack on the ant-hill; but he +counted on every shot. Perhaps even by passing his gun through the +thatch of the boat he might fire with surety, like a butter through +the holes in his hut. + +Meanwhile, the perogue drifted with the force of the current a +distance not less than two miles an hour, as near as Dick Sand could +estimate it. + +He hoped to make, thus, fifty miles a day. But, on account of this +very rapidity of the current, continual care was necessary to avoid +obstacles--rocks, trunks of trees, and the high bottoms of the river. +Besides, it was to be feared that this current would change to rapids, +or to cataracts, a frequent occurrence on the rivers of Africa. + +The joy of seeing Mrs. Weldon and her child had restored all Dick +Sand's strength, and he had posted himself in the fore-part of the +boat. Across the long grasses, his glance observed the downward +course, and, either by voice or gesture, he indicated to Hercules, +whose vigorous hands held the oar, what was necessary so as to keep in +the right direction. + +Mrs. Weldon reclined on a bed of dry leaves in the center of the boat, +and grew absorbed in her own thoughts. Cousin Benedict was taciturn, +frowning at the sight of Hercules, whom he had not forgiven for his +intervention in the affair of the manticore. He dreamed of his lost +collection, of his entomological notes, the value of which would +not be appreciated by the natives of Kazounde. So he sat, his limbs +stretched out, and his arms crossed on his breast, and at times he +instinctively made a gesture of raising to his forehead the glasses +which his nose did not support. As for little Jack, he understood +that he must not make a noise; but, as motion was not forbidden, he +imitated his friend Dingo, and ran on his hands and feet from one end +of the boat to the other. + +During the first two days Mrs. Weldon and her companions used the food +that Hercules had been able to obtain before they started. Dick Sand +only stopped for a few hours in the night, so as to gain rest. But he +did not leave the boat, not wishing to do it except when obliged by +the necessity of renewing their provisions. + +No incident marked the beginning of the voyage on this unknown river, +which measured, at least, more than a hundred and fifty feet in +width. Several islets drifted on the surface, and moved with the same +rapidity as the boat. So there was no danger of running upon them, +unless some obstacle stopped them. + +The banks, besides, seemed to be deserted. Evidently these portions of +the territory of Kazounde were little frequented by the natives. + +Numerous wild plants covered the banks, and relieved them with a +profusion of the most brilliant colors. Swallow-wort, iris, lilies, +clematis, balsams, umbrella-shaped flowers, aloes, tree-ferns, and +spicy shrubs formed a border of incomparable brilliancy. Several +forests came to bathe their borders in these rapid waters. +Copal-trees, acacias, "bauhinias" of iron-wood, the trunks covered +with a dross of lichens on the side exposed to the coldest winds, +fig-trees which rose above roots arranged in rows like mangroves, and +other trees of magnificent growth, overhung the river. Their high +tops, joining a hundred feet above, formed a bower which the solar +rays could not penetrate. Often, also, a bridge of lianes was thrown +from one bank to the other, and during the 27th little Jack, to his +intense admiration, saw a band of monkeys cross one of these vegetable +passes, holding each other's tail, lest the bridge should break under +their weight. + +These monkeys are a kind of small chimpanzee, which in Central Africa +has received the name of "sokos." They have low foreheads, clear +yellow faces, and high-set ears, and are very ugly examples of the +_simiesque_ race. They live in bands of a dozen, bark like dogs, and +are feared by the natives, whose children they often carry off to +scratch or bite. + +In passing the liane bridge they never suspected that, beneath that +mass of herbs which the current bore onward, there was a little +boy who would have exactly served to amuse them. The preparations, +designed by Dick Sand, were very well conceived, because these +clear-sighted beasts were deceived by them. + +Twenty miles farther on, that same day, the boat was suddenly stopped +in its progress. + +"What is the matter?" asked Hercules, always posted at his oar. + +"A barrier," replied Dick Sand; "but a natural barrier." + +"It must be broken, Mr. Dick." + +"Yes, Hercules, and with a hatchet. Several islets have drifted upon +it, and it is quite strong." + +"To work, captain! to work!" replied Hercules, who came and stood in +the fore-part of the perogue. + +This barricade was formed by the interlacing of a sticky plant with +glossy leaves, which twists as it is pressed together, and becomes +very resisting. They call it "tikatika," and it will allow people to +cross watercourses dry-shod, if they are not afraid to plunge twelve +inches into its green apron. Magnificent ramifications of the lotus +covered the surface of this barrier. + +It was already dark. Hercules could, without imprudence, quit the +boat, and he managed his hatchet so skilfully that two hours afterward +the barrier had given way, the current turned up the broken pieces on +the banks, and the boat again took the channel. + +Must it be confessed! That great child of a Cousin Benedict had hoped +for a moment that they would not be able to pass. Such a voyage seemed +to him unnecessary. He regretted Alvez's factory and the hut that +contained his precious entomologist's box. His chagrin was real, and +indeed it was pitiful to see the poor man. Not an insect; no, not one +to preserve! + +What, then, was his joy when Hercules, "his pupil" after all, brought +him a horrible little beast which he had found on a sprig of the +tikatika. Singularly enough the brave black seemed a little confused +in presenting it to him. + +But what exclamations Cousin Benedict uttered when he had brought this +insect, which he held between his index finger and his thumb, as near +as possible to his short-sighted eyes, which neither glasses nor +microscope could now assist. + +"Hercules!" he cried, "Hercules! Ah! see what will gain your pardon! +Cousin Weldon! Dick! a hexapode, unique in its species, and of African +origin! This, at least, they will not dispute with me, and it shall +quit me only with my life!" + +"It is, then, very precious?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Precious!" cried Cousin Benedict. "An insect which is neither a +coleopter, nor a neuropteran, nor a hymenopter; which does not belong +to any of the ten orders recognized by savants, and which they will be +rather tempted to rank in the second section of the arachnides. A +sort of spider, which would be a spider if it had eight legs, and is, +however, a hexapode, because it has but six. Ah! my friends, Heaven +owed me this joy; and at length I shall give my name to a scientific +discovery! That insect shall be the 'Hexapodes Benedictus.'" + +The enthusiastic savant was so happy--he forgot so many miseries past +and to come in riding his favorite hobby--that neither Mrs. Weldon nor +Dick Sand grudged him his felicitations. + +All this time the perogue moved on the dark waters of the river. The +silence of night was only disturbed by the clattering scales of the +crocodiles, or the snorting of the hippopotami that sported on the +banks. + +Then, through the sprigs of the thatch, the moon appeared behind the +tops of the trees, throwing its soft light to the interior of the +boat. + +Suddenly, on the right bank, was heard a distant hubbub, then a dull +noise as if giant pumps were working in the dark. + +It was several hundred elephants, that, satiated by the woody roots +which they had devoured during the day, came to quench their thirst +before the hour of repose. One would really have supposed that all +these trunks, lowered and raised by the same automatic movement, would +have drained the river dry. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VARIOUS INCIDENTS. + + +For eight days the boat drifted, carried by the current under the +conditions already described. No incident of any importance occurred. +For a space of many miles the river bathed the borders of superb +forests; then the country, shorn of these fine trees, spread in +jungles to the limits of the horizon. + +If there were no natives in this country--a fact which Dick Sand did +not dream of regretting--the animals at least abounded there. Zebras +sported on the banks, elks, and "caamas," a species of antelope which +were extremely graceful, and they disappeared at night to give place +to the leopards, whose growls could be heard, and even to the lions +which bounded in the tall grasses. Thus far the fugitives had not +suffered from these ferocious creatures, whether in the forests or in +the river. + +Meanwhile, each day, generally in the afternoon, Dick Sand neared one +bank or the other, moored the boat, disembarked, and explored the +shore for a short distance. + +In fact, it was necessary to renew their daily food. Now, in this +country, barren of all cultivation, they could not depend upon the +tapioca, the sorgho, the maize, and the fruits, which formed the +vegetable food of the native tribes. These plants only grew in a +wild state, and were not eatable. Dick Sand was thus forced to hunt, +although the firing of his gun might bring about an unpleasant +meeting. + +They made a fire by rubbing a little stick against a piece of the wild +fig-tree, native fashion, or even simiesque style, for it is affirmed +that certain of the gorillas procure a fire by this means. Then, for +several days, they cooked a little elk or antelope flesh. During the +4th of July Dick Sand succeeded in killing, with a single ball, a +"pokou," which gave them a good supply of venison. This animal, was +five feet long; it had long horns provided with rings, a yellowish red +skin, dotted with brilliant spots, and white on the stomach; and the +flesh was found to be excellent. + +It followed then, taking into account these almost daily landings and +the hours of repose that were necessary at night, that the distance on +the 8th of July could hot be estimated as more than one hundred miles. +This was considerable, however, and already Dick Sand asked himself +where this interminable river ended. Its course absorbed some +small tributaries and did not sensibly enlarge. As for the general +direction, after having been north for a long time, it took a bend +toward the northwest. + +However, this river furnished its share of food. Long lianes, armed +with thorns, which served as fishhooks, caught several of those +delicately-flavored "sandjikas", which, once smoked, are easily +carried in this region; black "usakas" were also caught, and some +"mormdes," with large heads, the genciva of which have teeth like the +hairs of a brush, and some little "dagalas," the friends of running +waters, belonging to the clupe species, and resembling the whitebait +of the Thames. + +During the 9th of July, Dick Sand had to give proof of extreme +coolness. He was alone on the shore, carrying off a "caama," the horns +of which showed above the thicket. He had just shot it, and now there +bounded, thirty feet off, a formidable hunter, that no doubt came to +claim its prey, and was not in a humor to give it up. It was a lion of +great height, one of those which the natives call "karamos," and not +one of the kind without a mane, named "lion of the Nyassi." This one +measured five feet in height--a formidable beast. With one bound the +lion had fallen on the "caama," which Dick Sand's ball had just thrown +to the ground, and, still full of life, it shook and cried under the +paw of the powerful animal. + +Dick Sand was disarmed, not having had time to slide a second +cartridge into his gun. + +Dick Sand, in front, lowering his voice, gave directions to avoid +striking against these rotten constructions. The night was clear. They +saw well to direct the boat, but they could also be seen. + +Then came a terrible moment. Two natives, who talked in loud tones, +were squatting close to the water on the piles, between which the +current carried the boat, and the direction could not be changed for +a narrower pass. Now, would they not see it, and at their cries might +not the whole village be alarmed? + +A space of a hundred feet at most remained to be passed, when Dick +Sand heard the two natives call more quickly to each other. One showed +the other the mass of drifting herbs, which threatened to break the +long liane ropes which they were occupied in stretching at that +moment. + +Rising hastily, they called out for help. Five or six other blacks ran +at once along the piles and posted themselves on the cross-beams which +supported them, uttering loud exclamations which the listeners could +not understand. + +In the boat, on the contrary, was absolute silence, except for the few +orders given by Dick Sand in a low voice, and complete repose, except +the movement of Hercules's right arm moving the oar; at times a low +growl from Dingo, whose jaws Jack held together with his little hands; +outside, the murmur of the water which broke against the piles, then +above, the cries of the ferocious cannibals. + +The natives, meanwhile, rapidly drew up their ropes. If they were +raised in time the boat would pass, otherwise it would be caught, and +all would be over with those who drifted in it! As for slackening or +stopping its progress, Dick Sand could do neither, for the current, +stronger under this narrow construction, carried it forward more +rapidly. + +In half a minute the boat was caught between the piles. By an +unheard-of piece of fortune, the last effort made by the natives had +raised the ropes. + +But in passing, as Dick Sand had feared, the boat was deprived of a +part of the grasses which now floated at its right. + +One of the natives uttered a cry. Had he had time to recognize what +the roof covered, and was he going to alarm his comrades? It was more +than probable. + +Dick Sand and his friends were already out of reach, and in a few +moments, under the impetus of this current, now changed into a kind of +rapid, they had lost sight of the lacustrine village. + +"To the left bank!" Dick Sand ordered, as being more prudent. "The +stream is again navigable." + +"To the left bank!" replied Hercules, giving the oar a vigorous +stroke. + +Dick Sand stood beside him and looked at the surface of the water, +which the moon lit up. He saw nothing suspicious. Not a boat had +started in pursuit. Perhaps these savages had none; and at daybreak +not a native appeared, either on the bank or on the water. After that, +increasing their precautions, the boat kept close to the left bank. + +During the four following days, from the 11th to the 14th of July, +Mrs. Weldon and her companions remarked that this portion of the +territory had decidedly changed. It was no longer a deserted country; +it was also a desert, and they might have compared it to that Kalahari +explored by Livingstone on his first voyage. + +The arid soil recalled nothing of the fertile fields of the upper +country. + +And always this interminable stream, to which might be given the name +of river, as it seemed that it could only end at the Atlantic Ocean. + +The question of food, in this desert country, became a problem. +Nothing remained of their former stock. Fishing gave little; hunting +was no longer of any use. Elks, antelopes, pokous, and other animals, +could find nothing to live on in this desert, and with them had also +disappeared the carnivorous animals. + +The nights no longer echoed the accustomed roarings. Nothing broke +the silence but the concert of frogs, which Cameron compares with the +noise of calkers calking a ship; with riveters who rivet, and the +drillers who drill, in a shipbuilder's yard. + +The country on the two banks was flat and destitute of trees as far +as the most distant hills that bounded it on the east and west. The +spurges grew alone and in profusion--not the euphosbium which produces +cassava or tapioca flour, but those from which they draw an oil which +does not serve as food. + +Meantime it is necessary to provide some nourishment. + +Dick Sand knew not what to do, and Hercules reminded him that the +natives often eat the young shoots of the ferns and the pith which the +papyrus leaf contains. He himself, while following the caravan of Ibn +Ilamis across the desert, had been more than once reduced to this +expedient to satisfy his hunger. Happily, the ferns and the papyrus +grew in profusion along the banks, and the marrow or pith, which has a +sweet flavor, was appreciated by all, particularly by little Jack. + +This was not a very cheering prospect; the food was not strengthening, +but the next day, thanks to Cousin Benedict, they were better served. +Since the discovery of the "Hexapodus Benedictus," which was to +immortalize his name, Cousin Benedict had recovered his usual manners. +The insect was put in a safe place, that is to say, stuck in the crown +of his hat, and the savant had recommenced his search whenever they +were on shore. During that day, while hunting in the high grass, he +started a bird whose warbling attracted him. + +Dick Sand was going to shoot it, when Cousin Benedict cried out: + +"Don't fire, Dick! Don't fire! A bird among five persons would not be +enough." + +"It will be enough for Jack," replied Dick Sand, taking aim at the +bird, which was in no hurry to fly away. + +"No, no!" said Cousin Benedict, "do not fire! It is an indicator, and +it will bring us honey in abundance." + +Dick Sand lowered his gun, realizing that a few pounds of honey were +worth more than one bird; and Cousin Benedict and he followed the +bird, which rose and flew away, inviting them to go with it. + +They had not far to go, and a few minutes after, some old trunks, +hidden in between the spurges, appeared in the midst of an intense +buzzing of bees. + +Cousin Benedict would have preferred not to have robbed these +industrious hymenopters of the "fruit of their labors," as he +expressed it. But Dick Sand did not understand it in that way. He +smoked out the bees with some dry herbs and obtained a considerable +quantity of honey. Then leaving to the indicator the cakes of wax, +which made its share of the profit, Cousin Benedict and he returned to +the boat. + +The honey was well received, but it was but little, and, in fact, all +would have suffered cruelly from hunger, if, during the day of the +12th, the boat had not stopped near a creek where some locusts +swarmed. They covered the ground and the shrubs in myriads, two or +three deep. Now, Cousin Benedict not failing to say that the natives +frequently eat these orthopters--which was perfectly true--they took +possession of this manna. There was enough to fill the boat ten times, +and broiled over a mild fire, these edible locusts would have seemed +excellent even to less famished people. Cousin Benedict, for his part, +eat a notable quantity of them, sighing, it is true--still, he eat +them. + +Nevertheless, it was time for this long series of moral and physical +trials to come to an end. Although drifting on this rapid river was +not so fatiguing as had been the walking through the first forests +near the coast, still, the excessive heat of the day, the damp mists +at night, and the incessant attacks of the mosquitoes, made this +descent of the watercourse very painful. It was time to arrive +somewhere, and yet Dick Sand could see no limit to the journey. Would +it last eight days or a month? Nothing indicated an answer. Had the +river flowed directly to the west, they would have already reached the +northern coast of Angola; but the general direction had been rather to +the north, and they could travel thus a long time before reaching the +coast. + +Dick Sand was, therefore, extremely anxious, when a sudden change of +direction took place on the morning of the 14th of July. + +Little Jack was in the front of the boat, and he was gazing through +the thatch, when a large expanse of water appeared on the horizon. + +"The sea!" he shouted. + +At this word Dick Sand trembled, and came close to little Jack. + +"The sea?" he replied. "No, not yet; but at least a river which flows +toward the west, and of which this stream is only a tributary. Perhaps +it is the Zaire itself." + +"May God grant that is!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +Yes; for if this were the Zaire or Congo, which Stanley was to +discover a few years later, they had only to descend its course so as +to reach the Portuguese settlements at its mouth. Dick Sand hoped that +it might be so, and he was inclined to believe it. + +During the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th of July, in the midst of a more +fertile country, the boat drifted on the silvery waters of the river. +They still took the same precautions, and it was always a mass of +herbs that the current seemed to carry on its surface. + +A few days more, and no doubt the survivors of the "Pilgrim" would see +the termination of their miseries. Self-sacrifice had been shared in +by all, and if the young novice would not claim the greater part of +it, Mrs. Weldon would demand its recognition for him. + +But on the 18th of July, during the night, an incident took place +which compromised the safety of the party. Toward three o'clock in the +morning a distant noise, still very low, was heard in the west. Dick +Sand, very anxious, wished to know what caused it. While Mrs. Weldon, +Jack, and Cousin Benedict slept in the bottom of the boat, he called +Hercules to the front, and told him to listen with the greatest +attention. The night was calm. Not a breeze stirred the atmosphere. + +"It is the noise of the sea," said Hercules, whose eyes shone with +joy. + +"No," replied Dick Sand, holding down his head. + +"What is it then?" asked Hercules. + +"Wait until day; but we must watch with the greatest care." + +At this answer, Hercules returned to his post. + +Dick Sand stood in front, listening all the time. The noise increased. +It was soon like distant roaring. + +Day broke almost without dawn. About half a mile down the river, just +above the water, a sort of cloud floated in the atmosphere. But it was +not a mass of vapor, and this became only too evident, when, under +the first solar rays, which broke in piercing it, a beautiful rainbow +spread from one bank to the other. + +"To the shore!" cried Dick Sand, whose voice awoke Mrs. Weldon. "It is +a cataract! Those clouds are spray! To the shore, Hercules!" + +Dick Sand was not mistaken. Before them, the bed of the river broke in +a descent of more than a hundred feet, and the waters rushed down with +superb but irresistible impetuosity. Another half mile, and the boat +would have been engulfed in the abyss. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +S. V. + + +With a vigorous plow of the oar, Hercules had pushed toward the left +bank. Besides, the current was not more rapid in that place, and the +bed of the river kept its normal declivity to the falls. As has been +said, it was the sudden sinking of the ground, and the attraction was +only felt three or four hundred feet above the cataract. + +On the left bank were large and very thick trees. No light penetrated +their impenetrable curtain. It was not without terror that Dick Sand +looked at this territory, inhabited by the cannibals of the Lower +Congo, which he must now cross, because the boat could no longer +follow the stream. He could not dream of carrying it below the falls. +It was a terrible blow for these poor people, on the eve perhaps of +reaching the Portuguese villages at its mouth. They were well aided, +however. Would not Heaven come to their assistance? + +The boat soon reached the left bank of the river. As it drew near, +Dingo gave strange marks of impatience and grief at the same time. + +Dick Sand, who was watching the animal--for all was danger--asked +himself if some beast or some native was not concealed in the high +papyrus of the bank. But he soon saw that the animal was not agitated +by a sentiment of anger. + +"One would say that Dingo was crying!" exclaimed little Jack, clasping +Dingo in his two arms. + +Dingo escaped from him, and, springing into the water, when the boat +was only twenty feet from the bank, reached the shore and disappeared +among the bushes. + +Neither Mrs. Weldon, nor Dick Sand, nor Hercules, knew what to think. + +They landed a few moments after in the middle of a foam green with +hairweed and other aquatic plants. Some kingfishers, giving a sharp +whistle, and some little herons, white as snow, immediately flew away. +Hercules fastened the boat firmly to a mangrove stump, and all climbed +up the steep bank overhung by large trees. + +There was no path in this forest. However, faint traces on the ground +indicated that this place had been recently visited by natives or +animals. + +Dick Sand, with loaded gun, and Hercules, with his hatchet in his +hand, had not gone ten steps before they found Dingo again. The dog, +nose to the ground, was following a scent, barking all the time. A +first inexplicable presentiment had drawn the animal to this part +of the shore, a second led it into the depths of the wood. That was +clearly visible to all. + +"Attention!" said Dick Sand. "Mrs. Weldon, Mr. Benedict, Jack, do not +leave us! Attention, Hercules!" + +At this moment Dingo raised its head, and, by little bounds, invited +them to follow. + +A moment after Mrs. Weldon and her companions rejoined it at the foot +of an old sycamore, lost in the thickest part of the wood. + +There was a dilapidated hut, with disjoined boards, before which Dingo +was barking lamentably. + +"Who can be there?" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +He entered the hut. + +Mrs. Weldon and the others followed him. + +The ground was scattered with bones, already bleached under the +discoloring action of the atmosphere. + +"A man died in that hut!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"And Dingo knew that man!" replied Dick Sand. "It was, it must have +been, his master! Ah, see!" + +Dick Sand pointed to the naked trunk of the sycamore at the end of the +hut. + +There appeared two large red letters, already almost effaced, but +which could be still distinguished. + +Dingo had rested its right paw on the tree, and it seemed to indicate +them. + +"S. V.!" exclaimed Dick Sand. "Those letters which Dingo knew among +all others! Those initials that it carries on its collar!" + +He did not finish, and stooping, he picked up a little copper box, all +oxydized, which lay in a corner of the hut. + +That box was opened, and a morsel of paper fell from it, on which Dick +Sand read these few words: + + "Assassinated--robbed by my guide, Negoro--3d December, + 1871--here--120 miles from the coast--Dingo!--with me! + + "S. VERNON." + +The note told everything. Samuel Vernon set out with his dog, Dingo, +to explore the center of Africa, guided by Negoro. The money which he +carried had excited the wretch's cupidity, and he resolved to take +possession of it. The French traveler, arrived at this point of the +Congo's banks, had established his camp in this hut. There he was +mortally wounded, robbed, abandoned. The murder accomplished, no doubt +Negoro took to flight, and it was then that he fell into the hands +of the Portuguese. Recognized as one of the trader Alvez's agents, +conducted to Saint Paul de Loanda, he was condemned to finish his days +in one of the penitentiaries of the colony. We know that he succeeded +in escaping, in reaching New Zealand, and how he embarked on the +"Pilgrim" to the misfortune of those who had taken passage on it. +But what happened after the crime? Nothing but what was easy to +understand! The unfortunate Vernon, before dying, had evidently had +time to write the note which, with the date and the motive of the +assassination, gave the name of the assassin. This note he had shut +up in that box where, doubtless, the stolen money was, and, in a last +effort, his bloody finger had traced like an epitaph the initials of +his name. Before those two red letters, Dingo must have remained for +many days! He had learned to know them! He could no longer forget +them! Then, returned to the coast, the dog had been picked up by the +captain of the "Waldeck," and finally, on board the "Pilgrim," found +itself again with Negoro. During this time, the bones of the traveler +were whitening in the depths of this lost forest of Central Africa, +and he no longer lived except in the remembrance of his dog. + +Yes, such must have been the way the events had happened. As Dick Sand +and Hercules prepared to give a Christian burial to the remains of +Samuel Yernon, Dingo, this time giving a howl of rage, dashed out of +the hut. + +Almost at once horrible cries were heard at a short distance. +Evidently a man was struggling with the powerful animal. + +Hercules did what Dingo had done. In his turn he sprang out of the +hut, and Dick Sand, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Benedict, following his steps, +saw him throw himself on a man, who fell to the ground, held at the +neck by the dog's formidable teeth. + +It was Negoro. + +In going to the mouth of the Zaire, so as to embark for America, this +rascal, leaving his escort behind, had come to the very place where he +had assassinated the traveler who had trusted himself to him. + +But there was a reason for it, and all understood it when they +perceived some handfuls of French gold which glittered in a +recently-dug hole at the foot of a tree. So it was evident that after +the murder, and before falling into the hands of the Portuguese, +Negoro had hidden the product of his crime, with the intention of +returning some day to get it. He was going to take possession of this +gold when Dingo scented him and sprang at his throat. The wretch, +surprised, had drawn his cutlass and struck the dog at the moment when +Hercules threw himself on him, crying: + +"Ah, villain! I am going to strangle you at last!" + +There was nothing more to do. The Portuguese gave no sign of life, +struck, it maybe said, by divine justice, and on the very spot where +the crime had been committed. But the faithful dog had received +a mortal blow, and dragging itself to the hut, it came to die +there--where Samuel Vernon had died. + +Hercules buried deep the traveler's remains, and Dingo, lamented by +all, was put in the same grave as its master. + +Negoro was no more, but the natives who accompanied him from Kazounde +could not be far away. On not seeing him return, they would certainly +seek him along the river. This was a very serious danger. + +Dick Sand and Mrs. Weldon took counsel as to what they should do, and +do without losing an instant. + +One fact acquired was that this stream was the Congo, which the +natives call Kwango, or Ikoutouya Kongo, and which is the Zaire under +one longitude, the Loualaba under another. It was indeed that great +artery of Central Africa, to which the heroic Stanley has given the +glorious name of "Livingstone," but which the geographers should +perhaps replace by his own. + +But, if there was no longer any doubt that this was the Congo, the +French traveler's note indicated that its mouth was still one hundred +and twenty miles from this point, and, unfortunately, at this place +it was no longer navigable. High falls--very likely the falls of +Ntamo--forbid the descent of any boat. Thus it was necessary to follow +one or the other bank, at least to a point below the cataracts, either +one or two miles, when they could make a raft, and trust themselves +again to the current. + +"It remains, then," said Dick Sand, in conclusion, "to decide if we +shall descend the left bank, where we are, or the right bank of the +river. Both, Mrs. Weldon, appear dangerous to me, and the natives are +formidable. However, it seems as if we risk more on this bank, because +we have the fear of meeting Negoro's escort." + +"Let us pass over to the other bank," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Is it practicable?" observed Dick Sand. "The road to the Congo's +mouths is rather on the left bank, as Negoro was following it. Never +mind. We must not hesitate. But before crossing the river with you, +Mrs. Weldon, I must know if we can descend it below the falls." + +That was prudent, and Dick Sand wished to put his project into +execution on the instant. + +The river at this place was not more than three or four hundred feet +wide, and to cross it was easy for the young novice, accustomed to +handling the oar. Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict would remain +under Hercules's care till his return. + +These arrangements made, Dick Sand was going to set out, when Mrs. +Weldon said to him: + +"You do not fear being carried away by the falls, Dick?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon. I shall cross four hundred feet above." + +"But on the other bank--" + +"I shall not land if I see the least danger." + +"Take your gun." + +"Yes, but do not be uneasy about me." + +"Perhaps it would be better for us not to separate, Dick," added Mrs. +Weldon, as if urged by some presentiment. + +"No--let me go alone," replied Dick Sand. "I must act for the security +of all. Before one hour I shall be back. Watch well, Hercules." + +On this reply the boat, unfastened, carried Dick Sand to the other +side of the Zaire. + +Mrs. Weldon and Hercules, lying in the papyrus thickets, followed him +with their eyes. + +Dick Sand soon reached the middle of the stream. The current, without +being very strong, was a little accentuated there by the attraction of +the falls. Four hundred feet below, the imposing roaring of the waters +filled the space, and some spray, carried by the western wind, reached +the young novice. He shuddered at the thought that the boat, if it had +been less carefully watched during the last night, would have been +lost over those cataracts, that would only have restored dead bodies. +But that was no longer to be feared, and, at that moment, the oar +skilfully handled sufficed to maintain it in a direction a little +oblique to the current. + +A quarter of an hour after, Dick Sand had reached the opposite shore, +and was preparing to spring on the bank. + +At that moment cries were heard, and ten natives rushed on the mass of +plants that still hid the boat. + +They were the cannibals from the lake village. For eight days they had +followed the right bank of the river. Under that thatch, which +was torn by the stakes of their village, they had discovered the +fugitives, that is to say, a sure prey for them, because the barrier +of the falls would sooner or later oblige those unfortunate ones to +land on one or the other side of the river. + +Dick Sand saw that he was lost, but he asked himself if the sacrifice +of his life might not save his companions. Master of himself, standing +in the front of the boat, his gun pointed, he held the cannibals in +check. + +Meanwhile, they snatched away the thatch, under which they expected +to find other victims. When they saw that the young novice alone +had fallen into their hands, they betrayed their disappointment by +frightful cries. A boy of fifteen among ten! + +But, then, one of those natives stood up, his arm stretched toward the +left bank, and pointed to Mrs. Weldon and her companions, who, having +seen all and not knowing what to do, had just climbed up the bank! + +Dick Sand, not even dreaming of himself, waited for an inspiration +from Heaven that might save them. + +The boat was going to be pushed out into the stream. The cannibals +were going to cross the river. They did not budge before the gun aimed +at them, knowing the effect of fire-arms. But one of them had seized +the oar; he managed it like a man who knew how to use it, and the boat +crossed the river obliquely. Soon it was not more than a hundred feet +from the left bank. + +"Flee!" cried Dick Sand to Mrs. Weldon. "Flee!" + +Neither Mrs. Weldon nor Hercules stirred. One would say that their +feet were fastened to the ground. + +Flee! Besides, what good would it do? In less than an hour they would +fall into the hands of the cannibals! + +Dick Sand understood it. But, then, that supreme inspiration which he +asked from Heaven was sent him. He saw the possibility of saving all +those whom he loved by making the sacrifice of his own life! He did +not hesitate to do it. + +"May God protect them!" murmured he, "and in His infinite goodness may +He have pity on me!" + +At the same instant Dick Sand pointed his gun at the native who was +steering the boat, and the oar, broken by a ball, flew into fragments. + +The cannibals gave a cry of terror. + +In fact, the boat, no longer directed by the oar, went with the +stream. The current bore it along with increasing swiftness, and, in a +few moments, it was only a hundred feet from the falls. + +Mrs. Weldon and Hercules understood all. Dick Sand attempted to save +them by precipitating the cannibals, with himself, into the abyss. +Little Jack and his mother, kneeling on the bank, sent him a last +farewell. Hercules's powerless hand was stretched out to him. + +At that moment the natives, wishing to gain the left bank by swimming, +threw themselves out of the boat, which they capsized. + +Dick Sand had lost none of his coolness in the presence of the death +which menaced him. A last thought then came to him. It was that this +boat, even because it was floating keel upward, might serve to save +him. + +In fact, two dangers were to be feared when Dick Sand should be going +over the cataract: asphyxia by the water, and asphyxia by the air. +Now, this overturned hull was like a box, in which he might, perhaps, +keep his head out of the water, at the same time that he would be +sheltered from the exterior air, which would certainly have stifled +him in the rapidity of his fall. In these conditions, it seems that a +man would have some chance of escaping the double asphyxia, even in +descending the cataracts of a Niagara. + +Dick Sand saw all that like lightning. By a last instinct he clung to +the seat which united the two sides of the boat, and, his head out of +the water, under the capsized hull, he felt the irresistible current +carrying him away, and the almost perpendicular fall taking place. + +The boat sank into the abyss hollowed out by the waters at the foot of +the cataract, and, after plunging deep, returned to the surface of the +river. + +Dick Sand, a good swimmer, understood that his safety now depended on +the vigor of his arms. + +A quarter of an hour after he reached the left bank, and there found +Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, and Cousin Benedict, whom Hercules had led +there in all haste. + +But already the cannibals had disappeared in the tumult of the waters. +They, whom the capsized boat had not protected, had ceased to live +even before reaching the last depths of the abyss, and their bodies +were going to be torn to pieces on those sharp rocks on which the +under-current of the stream dashed itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +CONCLUSION. + + +Two days after, the 20th of July, Mrs. Weldon and her companions met a +caravan going toward Emboma, at the mouth of the Congo. These were not +slave merchants, but honest Portuguese traders, who dealt in ivory. +They made the fugitives welcome, and the latter part of the journey +was accomplished under more agreeable conditions. + +The meeting with this caravan was really a blessing from Heaven. Dick +Sand would never have been able to descend the Zaire on a raft. From +the Falls of Ntamo, as far as Yellala, the stream was a succession of +rapids and cataracts. Stanley counted seventy-two, and no boat could +undertake to pass them. It was at the mouth of the Congo that the +intrepid traveler, four years later, fought the last of the thirty-two +combats which he waged with the natives. Lower down, in the cataracts +of Mbelo, he escaped death by a miracle. + +On the 11th of August, Mrs. Weldon, Dick Sand, Jack, Hercules, and +Cousin Benedict arrived at Emboma. Messrs. Motta Viega and Harrison +received them with generous hospitality. A steamer was about sailing +for the Isthmus of Panama. Mrs. Weldon and her companions took passage +in it, and happily reached the American coast. + +A despatch sent to San Francisco informed Mr. Weldon of the +unlooked-for return of his wife and his child. He had vainly searched +for tidings of them at every place where he thought the "Pilgrim" +might have been wrecked. + +Finally, on the 25th of August, the survivors of the shipwreck reached +the capital of California. Ah! if old Tom and his companions had only +been with them! + +What shall we say of Dick Sand and of Hercules? One became the son, +the other the friend, of the family. James Weldon knew how much he +owed to the young novice, how much to the brave black. He was happy; +and it was fortunate for him that Negoro had not reached him, for +he would have paid the ransom of his wife and child with his whole +fortune. He would have started for the African coast, and, once there, +who can tell to what dangers, to what treachery, he would have been +exposed? + +A single word about Cousin Benedict. The very day of his arrival the +worthy savant, after having shaken hands with Mr. Weldon, shut +himself up in his study and set to work, as if finishing a sentence +interrupted the day before. He meditated an enormous work on the +"Hexapodes Benedictus," one of the _desiderata_ of entomological +science. + +There, in his study, lined with insects, Cousin Benedict's first +action was to find a microscope and a pair of glasses. Great heaven! +What a cry of despair he uttered the first time he used them to study +the single specimen furnished by the African entomology! + +The "Hexapodes Benedictus" was not a hexapode! It was a common spider! +And if it had but six legs, instead of eight, it was simply because +the two front legs were missing! And if they were missing, these two +legs, it was because, in taking it, Hercules had, unfortunately, +broken them off! Now, this mutilation reduced the pretended "Hexapodes +Benedictus" to the condition of an invalid, and placed it in the +most ordinary class of spiders--a fact which Cousin Benedict's +near-sightedness had prevented him from discovering sooner. It gave +him a fit of sickness, from which, however, he happily recovered. + +Three years after, little Jack was eight years old, and Dick Sand made +him repeat his lessons, while working faithfully at his own studies. +In fact, hardly was he at home when, realizing how ignorant he was, +he had commenced to study with a kind of remorse--like a man who, for +want of knowledge, finds himself unequal to his task. + +"Yes," he often repeated; "if, on board of the 'Pilgrim,' I had +known all that a sailor should know, what misfortunes we would have +escaped!" + +Thus spoke Dick Sand. At the age of eighteen he finished with +distinction his hydrographical studies, and, honored with a brevet by +special favor, he took command of one of Mr. Weldon's vessels. + +See what the little orphan, rescued on the beach at Sandy Hook, had +obtained by his work and conduct. He was, in spite of his youth, +surrounded by the esteem, one might say the respect, of all who knew +him; but his simplicity and modesty were so natural to him, that he +was not aware of it. He did not even suspect--although no one could +attribute to him what are called brilliant exploits--that the +firmness, courage, and fidelity displayed in so many trials had made +of him a sort of hero. + +Meanwhile, one thought oppressed him. In his rare leisure hours he +always dreamed of old Tom, of Bat, of Austin, and of Acteon, and of +the misfortune for which he held himself responsible. It was also a +subject of real grief to Mrs. Weldon, the actual situation of her +former companions in misery. Mr. Weldon, Dick Sand, and Hercules +moved heaven and earth to find traces of them. Finally they +succeeded--thanks to the correspondents which the rich shipowner had +in different parts of the world. It was at Madagascar--where, however, +slavery was soon to be abolished--that Tom and his companions had been +sold. Dick Sand wished to consecrate his little savings to ransom +them, but Mr. Weldon would not hear of it. One of his correspondents +arranged the affair, and one day, the 15th of November, 1877, four +blacks rang the bell of his house. + +They were old Tom, Bat, Acteon, and Austin. The brave men, after +escaping so many dangers, came near being stifled, on that day, by +their delighted friends. + +Only poor Nan was missing from those whom the "Pilgrim" had thrown on +the fatal coast of Africa. But the old servant could not be recalled +to life, and neither could Dingo be restored to them. Certainly it was +miraculous that these two alone had succumbed amid such adventures. + +It is unnecessary to say that on that occasion they had a festival +at the house of the California merchant. The best toast, which all +applauded, was that given by Mrs. Weldon to Dick Sand, "To the Captain +at Fifteen!" + +THE END. + +End of the Voyage Extraordinaire + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dick Sand, by Jules Verne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICK SAND *** + +***** This file should be named 12051-8.txt or 12051-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/5/12051/ + +Produced by Norm Wolcott and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dick Sand + A Captain at Fifteen + +Author: Jules Verne + +Release Date: April 15, 2004 [EBook #12051] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICK SAND *** + + + + +Produced by Norm Wolcott and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + Dick Sand; or, a Captain at Fifteen by Jules Verne + +[Redactor's Note: _Dick Sand; or, a Captain at Fifteen_, number V018 in +the T&M listing of the works of Jules Verne, is a translation of _Un +capitaine de quinze ans (1878)_. This translation was first published +by George Munro (N.Y.) in 1878 and reprinted many times in the U.S. +This is a different translation from that of Ellen E. Frewer who +translated the book for Sampson and Low in London entitled _Dick Sands, +the Boy Captain_. American translations were often free of the +religious and colonial bias inserted by the English translators of +Verne's works.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +DICK SAND; + +or, + +A CAPTAIN AT FIFTEEN. + +By JULES VERNE, + +_Author of "Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon," "Twenty +Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," "The Mysterious +Island," "Tour of the World in Eighty Days," +"Michael Strogoff," etc., etc._ + +A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS + +52-58 Duane STREET, NEW YORK. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +CONTENTS. + + _PART I._ + + + CHAPTER I. The Brig-Schooner "Pilgrim." + + CHAPTER II. Dick Sand. + + CHAPTER III. The Wreck. + + CHAPTER IV. The Survivors of the "Waldeck." + + CHAPTER V. "S. V." + + CHAPTER VI. A Whale in Sight. + + CHAPTER VII. Preparations. + + CHAPTER VIII. The Jubarte. + + CHAPTER IX. Captain Sand. + + CHAPTER X. The Four Days which Follow. + + CHAPTER XI. Tempest. + + CHAPTER XII. On the Horizon. + + CHAPTER XIII. Land! Land. + + CHAPTER XIV. The Best to Do. + + CHAPTER XV. Harris. + + CHAPTER XVI. On the Way. + + CHAPTER XVII. A Hundred Miles in Ten Days. + + CHAPTER XVIII. The Terrible Word. + + _PART II._ + + CHAPTER I. The Slave Trade. + + CHAPTER II. Harris and Negoro. + + CHAPTER III. On the March. + + CHAPTER IV. The Bad Roads of Angola. + + CHAPTER V. Ants and their Dwelling. + + CHAPTER VI. The Diving-Bell. + + CHAPTER VII. In Camp on the Banks of the Coanza. + + CHAPTER VIII. Some of Dick Sand's Notes. + + CHAPTER IX. Kazounde. + + CHAPTER X. The Great Market-day. + + CHAPTER XI. The King of Kazounde is Offered a Punch. + + CHAPTER XII. A Royal Burial. + + CHAPTER XIII. The Interior of a Factory. + + CHAPTER XIV. Some News of Dr. Livingston. + + CHAPTER XV. Where a Manticore may Lead. + + CHAPTER XVI. A Magician. + + CHAPTER XVII. Drifting. + + CHAPTER XVIII. Various Incidents. + + CHAPTER XIX. "S. V." + + CHAPTER XX. Conclusion. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +DICK SAND + +_PART I._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BRIG-SCHOONER "PILGRIM." + + +On February 2, 1876, the schooner "Pilgrim" was in latitude 43 deg. 57' +south, and in longitude 165 deg. 19' west of the meridian of Greenwich. + +This vessel, of four hundred tons, fitted out at San Francisco for +whale-fishing in the southern seas, belonged to James W. Weldon, a rich +Californian ship-owner, who had for several years intrusted the command +of it to Captain Hull. + +The "Pilgrim" was one of the smallest, but one of the best of that +flotilla, which James W. Weldon sent each season, not only beyond +Behring Strait, as far as the northern seas, but also in the quarters +of Tasmania or of Cape Horn, as far as the Antarctic Ocean. She sailed +in a superior manner. Her very easily managed rigging permitted her to +venture, with a few men, in sight of the impenetrable fields of ice of +the southern hemisphere. Captain Hull knew how to disentangle himself, +as the sailors say, from among those icebergs, which, during the +summer, drift by the way of New Zealand or the Cape of Good Hope, under +a much lower latitude than that which they reach in the northern seas +of the globe. It is true that only icebergs of small dimensions were +found there; they were already worn by collisions, eaten away by the +warm waters, and the greater number of them were going to melt in the +Pacific or the Atlantic. + +Under the command of Captain Hull, a good seaman, and also one of the +most skilful harpooners of the flotilla, was a crew composed of five +sailors and a novice. It was a small number for this whale-fishing, +which requires a good many persons. Men are necessary as well for the +management of the boats for the attack, as for the cutting up of the +captured animals. But, following the example of certain ship-owners, +James W. Weldon found it much more economical to embark at San +Francisco only the number of sailors necessary for the management of +the vessel. New Zealand did not lack harpooners, sailors of all +nationalities, deserters or others, who sought to be hired for the +season, and who followed skilfully the trade of fishermen. The busy +period once over, they were paid, they were put on shore, and they +waited till the whalers of the following year should come to claim +their services again. There was obtained by this method better work +from the disposable sailors, and a much larger profit derived by their +co-operation. + +They had worked in this way on board the "Pilgrim." + +The schooner had just finished her season on the limit of the Antarctic +Circle. But she had not her full number of barrels of oil, of coarse +whalebones nor of fine. Even at that period, fishing was becoming +difficult. The whales, pursued to excess, were becoming rare. The +"right" whale, which bears the name of "North Caper," in the Northern +Ocean, and that of "Sulphur Bottom," in the South Sea, was likely to +disappear. The whalers had been obliged to fall back on the finback or +jubarte, a gigantic mammifer, whose attacks are not without danger. + +This is what Captain Hull had done during this cruise; but on his next +voyage he calculated on reaching a higher latitude, and, if necessary, +going in sight of Clarie and Adelie Lands, whose discovery, contested +by the American Wilkes, certainly belongs to the illustrious commander +of the "Astrolabe" and the Zelee, to the Frenchman, Dumont d'Urville. + +In fact, the season had not been favorable for the "Pilgrim." In the +beginning of January, that is to say, toward the middle of the Southern +summer, and even when the time for the whalers to return had not yet +arrived Captain Hull had been obliged to abandon the fishing places. +His additional crew--a collection of pretty sad subjects--gave him an +excuse, as they say, and he determined to separate from them. + +The "Pilgrim" then steered to the northwest, for New Zealand, which she +sighted on the 15th of January. She arrived at Waitemata, port of +Auckland, situated at the lowest end of the Gulf of Chouraki, on the +east coast of the northern island, and landed the fishermen who had +been engaged for the season. + +The crew was not satisfied. The cargo of the "Pilgrim" was at least two +hundred barrels of oil short. There had never been worse fishing. +Captain Hull felt the disappointment of a hunter who, for the first +time, returns as he went away--or nearly so. His self-love, greatly +excited, was at stake, and he did not pardon those scoundrels whose +insubordination had compromised the results of his cruise. + +It was in vain that he endeavored to recruit a new fishing crew at +Auckland. All the disposable seamen were embarked on the other whaling +vessels. He was thus obliged to give up the hope of completing the +"Pilgrim's" cargo, and Captain Hull was preparing to leave Auckland +definitely, when a request for a passage was made which he could not +refuse. + +Mrs. Weldon, wife of the "Pilgrim's" owner, was then at Auckland with +her young son Jack, aged about five years, and one of her relatives, +her Cousin Benedict. James W. Weldon, whom his business operations +sometimes obliged to visit New Zealand, had brought the three there, +and intended to bring them back to San Francisco. + +But, just as the whole family was going to depart, little Jack became +seriously ill, and his father, imperatively recalled by his business, +was obliged to leave Auckland, leaving his wife, his son, and Cousin +Benedict there. + +Three months had passed away--three long months of separation, which +were extremely painful to Mrs. Weldon. Meanwhile her young child was +restored to health, and she was at liberty to depart, when she was +informed of the arrival of the "Pilgrim." + +Now, at that period, in order to return to San Francisco, Mrs. Weldon +found herself under the necessity of going to Australia by one of the +vessels of the Golden Age Trans-oceanic Company, which ply between +Melbourne and the Isthmus of Panama by Papeiti. Then, once arrived at +Panama, it would be necessary for her to await the departure of the +American steamer, which establishes a regular communication between the +Isthmus and California. Thence, delays, trans-shipments, always +disagreeable for a woman and a child. It was just at this time that the +"Pilgrim" came into port at Auckland. Mrs. Weldon did not hesitate, but +asked Captain Hull to take her on board to bring her back to San +Francisco--she, her son, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, an old negress who +had served her since her infancy. Three thousand marine leagues to +travel on a sailing vessel! But Captain Hull's ship was so well +managed, and the season still so fine on both sides of the Equator! +Captain Hull consented, and immediately put his own cabin at the +disposal of his passenger. He wished that, during a voyage which might +last forty or fifty days, Mrs. Weldon should be installed as well as +possible on board the whaler. + +There were then certain advantages for Mrs. Weldon in making the voyage +under these conditions. The only disadvantage was that this voyage +would be necessarily prolonged in consequence of this circumstance--the +"Pilgrim" would go to Valparaiso, in Chili, to effect her unloading. +That done, there would be nothing but to ascend the American coast, +with land breezes, which make these parts very agreeable. + +Besides, Mrs. Weldon was a courageous woman, whom the sea did not +frighten. Then thirty years of age, she was of robust health, being +accustomed to long voyages, for, having shared with her husband the +fatigues of several passages, she did not fear the chances more or less +contingent, of shipping on board a ship of moderate tonnage. She knew +Captain Hull to be an excellent seaman, in whom James W. Weldon had +every confidence. The "Pilgrim" was a strong vessel, capital sailer, +well quoted in the flotilla of American whalers. The opportunity +presented itself. It was necessary to profit by it. Mrs. Weldon did +profit by it. + +Cousin Benedict--it need not be said--would accompany her. + +This cousin was a worthy man, about fifty years of age. But, +notwithstanding his fifty years, it would not have been prudent to let +him go out alone. Long, rather than tall, narrow, rather than thin, his +figure bony, his skull enormous and very hairy, one recognized in his +whole interminable person one of those worthy savants, with gold +spectacles, good and inoffensive beings, destined to remain great +children all their lives, and to finish very old, like centenaries who +would die at nurse. + +"Cousin Benedict"--he was called so invariably, even outside of the +family, and, in truth, he was indeed one of those good men who seem to +be the born cousins of all the world--Cousin Benedict, always impeded +by his long arms and his long limbs, would be absolutely incapable of +attending to matters alone, even in the most ordinary circumstances of +life. He was not troublesome, oh! no, but rather embarrassing for +others, and embarrassed for himself. Easily satisfied, besides being +very accommodating, forgetting to eat or drink, if some one did not +bring him something to eat or drink, insensible to the cold as to the +heat, he seemed to belong less to the animal kingdom than to the +vegetable kingdom. One must conceive a very useless tree, without fruit +and almost without leaves, incapable of giving nourishment or shelter, +but with a good heart. + +Such was Cousin Benedict. He would very willingly render service to +people if, as Mr. Prudhomme would say, he were capable of rendering it. + +Finally, his friends loved him for his very feebleness. Mrs. Weldon +regarded him as her child--a large elder brother of her little Jack. + +It is proper to add here that Cousin Benedict was, meanwhile, neither +idle nor unoccupied. On the contrary, he was a worker. His only +passion--natural history--absorbed him entirely. + +To say "Natural History" is to say a great deal. + +We know that the different parts of which this science is composed are +zoology, botany, mineralogy, and geology. + +Now Cousin Benedict was, in no sense, a botanist, nor a mineralogist, +nor a geologist. + +Was he, then, a zoologist in the entire acceptation of the word, a kind +of Cuvier of the New World, decomposing an animal by analysis, or +putting it together again by synthesis, one of those profound +connoisseurs, versed in the study of the four types to which modern +science refers all animal existence, vertebrates, mollusks, +articulates, and radiates? Of these four divisions, had the artless but +studious savant observed the different classes, and sought the orders, +the families, the tribes, the genera, the species, and the varieties +which distinguish them? + +No. + +Had Cousin Benedict devoted himself to the study of the vertebrates, +mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes? + +No. + +Was it to the mollusks, from the cephalopodes to the bryozoans, that he +had given his preference, and had malacology no more secrets for him? + +Not at all. + +Then it was on the radiates, echinoderms, acalephes, polypes, +entozoons, sponges, and infusoria, that he had for such a long time +burned the midnight oil? + +It must, indeed, be confessed that it was not on the radiates. + +Now, in zoology there only remains to be mentioned the division of the +articulates, so it must be that it was on this division that Cousin +Benedict's only passion was expended. + +Yes, and still it is necessary to select. + +This branch of the articulates counts six classes: insects, myriapodes, +arachnides, crustaceans, cirrhopodes, and annelides. + +Now, Cousin Benedict, scientifically speaking, would not know how to +distinguish an earth-worm from a medicinal leech, a sand-fly from a +glans-marinus, a common spider from a false scorpion, a shrimp from a +frog, a gally-worm from a scolopendra. + +But, then, what was Cousin Benedict? Simply an entomologist--nothing +more. + +To that, doubtless, it may be said that in its etymological +acceptation, entomology is that part of the natural sciences which +includes all the articulates. That is true, in a general way; but it is +the custom to give this word a more restricted sense. It is then only +applied, properly speaking, to the study of insects, that is to say: +"All the articulate animals of which the body, composed of rings placed +end to end, forms three distinct segments, and which possesses three +pairs of legs, which have given them the name of hexapodes." + +Now, as Cousin Benedict had confined himself to the study of the +articulates of this class, he was only an entomologist. + +But, let us not be mistaken about it. In this class of the insects are +counted not less than ten orders: + + 1. Orthopterans as grasshoppers, crickets, etc. + 2. Neuropters as ant-eaters, dragon-flies or libellula. + 3. Hymenopters as bees, wasps, ants. + 4. Lepidopters as butterflies, etc. + 5. Hemipters as cicada, plant-lice, fleas, etc. + 6. Coleopters as cockchafers, fire-flies, etc. + 7. Dipters as gnats, musquitoes, flies. + 8. Rhipipters as stylops. + 9. Parasites as acara, etc. + 10. Thysanurans as lepidotus, flying-lice, etc. + +Now, in certain of these orders, the coleopters, for example, there are +recognized thirty thousand species, and sixty thousand in the dipters; +so subjects for study are not wanting, and it will be conceded that +there is sufficient in this class alone to occupy a man! + +Thus, Cousin Benedict's life was entirely and solely consecrated to +entomology. + +To this science he gave all his hours--all, without exception, even the +hours of sleep, because he invariably dreamt "hexapodes." That he +carried pins stuck in his sleeves and in the collar of his coat, in the +bottom of his hat, and in the facings of his vest, need not be +mentioned. + +When Cousin Benedict returned from some scientific promenade his +precious head-covering in particular was no more than a box of natural +history, being bristling inside and outside with pierced insects. + +And now all will be told about this original when it is stated, that it +was on account of his passion for entomology that he had accompanied +Mr. and Mrs. Weldon to New Zealand. There his collection was enriched +by some rare subjects, and it will be readily understood that he was in +haste to return to classify them in the cases of his cabinet in San +Francisco. + +So, as Mrs. Weldon and her child were returning to America by the +"Pilgrim," nothing more natural than for Cousin Benedict to accompany +them during that passage. + +But it was not on him that Mrs. Weldon could rely, if she should ever +find herself in any critical situation. Very fortunately, the prospect +was only that of a voyage easily made during the fine season, and on +board of a ship whose captain merited all her confidence. + +During the three days that the "Pilgrim" was in port at Waitemata, Mrs. +Weldon made her preparations in great haste, for she did not wish to +delay the departure of the schooner. The native servants whom she +employed in her dwelling in Auckland were dismissed, and, on the 22d +January, she embarked on board the "Pilgrim," bringing only her son +Jack, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, her old negress. + +Cousin Benedict carried all his curious collection of insects in a +special box. In this collection figured, among others, some specimens +of those new staphylins, species of carnivorous coleopters, whose eyes +are placed above the head, and which, till then, seemed to be peculiar +to New Caledonia. A certain venomous spider, the "katipo," of the +Maoris, whose bite is often fatal to the natives, had been very highly +recommended to him. But a spider does not belong to the order of +insects properly so called; it is placed in that of the arachnida, and, +consequently, was valueless in Cousin Benedict's eyes. Thus he scorned +it, and the most beautiful jewel of his collection was a remarkable +staphylin from New Zealand. + +It is needless to say that Cousin Benedict, by paying a heavy premium, +had insured his cargo, which to him seemed much more precious than all +the freight of oil and bones stowed away in the hold of the "Pilgrim." + +Just as the "Pilgrim" was getting under sail, when Mrs. Weldon and her +companion for the voyage found themselves on the deck of the schooner, +Captain Hull approached his passenger: + +"It is understood, Mrs. Weldon," he said to her, "that, if you take +passage on board the 'Pilgrim,' it is on your own responsibility." + +"Why do you make that observation to me, Mr. Hull?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Because I have not received an order from your husband in regard to +it, and, all things considered, a schooner cannot offer you the +guarantees of a good passage, like a packet-boat, specially intended to +carry travelers." + +"If my husband were here," replied Mrs. Weldon, "do you think, Mr. +Hull, that he would hesitate to embark on the 'Pilgrim,' in company +with his wife and child?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, he would not hesitate," said Captain Hull; "no, +indeed! no more than I should hesitate myself! The 'Pilgrim' is a good +ship after all, even though she has made but a sad cruise, and I am +sure of her, as much so as a seaman can be of the ship which he has +commanded for several years. The reason I speak, Mrs. Weldon, is to get +rid of personal responsibility, and to repeat that you will not find on +board the comfort to which you have been accustomed." + +"As it is only a question of comfort, Mr. Hull," replied Mrs. Weldon, +"that should not stop me. I am not one of those troublesome passengers +who complain incessantly of the narrowness of the cabins, and the +insufficiency of the table." + +Then, after looking for a few moments at her little Jack, whom she held +by the hand, Mrs. Weldon said: + +"Let us go, Mr. Hull!" + +The orders were given to get under way at once, the sails were set, and +the "Pilgrim," working to get out to sea in the shortest time possible, +steered for the American coast. + +But, three days after her departure, the schooner, thwarted by strong +breezes from the east, was obliged to tack to larboard to make headway +against the wind. So, at the date of February 2d, Captain Hull still +found himself in a higher latitude than he would have wished, and in +the situation of a sailor who wanted to double Cape Horn rather than +reach the New Continent by the shortest course. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DICK SAND. + + +Meanwhile the sea was favorable, and, except the delays, navigation +would be accomplished under very supportable conditions. + +Mrs. Weldon had been installed on board the "Pilgrim" as comfortably as +possible. + +Neither poop nor "roufle" was at the end of the deck. There was no +stern cabin, then, to receive the passengers. She was obliged to be +contented with Captain Hull's cabin, situated aft, which constituted +his modest sea lodging. And still it had been necessary for the captain +to insist, in order to make her accept it. There, in that narrow +lodging, was installed Mrs. Weldon, with her child and old Nan. She +took her meals there, in company with the captain and Cousin Benedict, +for whom they had fitted up a kind of cabin on board. + +As to the commander of the "Pilgrim," he had settled himself in a cabin +belonging to the ship's crew--a cabin which would be occupied by the +second officer, if there were a second one on board. But the +brig-schooner was navigated, we know, under conditions which enabled +her to dispense with the services of a second officer. + +The men of the "Pilgrim," good and strong seamen, were very much united +by common ideas and habits. This fishing season was the fourth which +they had passed together. All Americans of the West, they were +acquainted for a long period, and belonged to the same coast of the +State of California. + +These brave men showed themselves very thoughtful towards Mrs. Weldon, +the wife of the owner of their ship, for whom they professed boundless +devotion. It must be said that, largely interested in the profits of +the ship, they had navigated till then with great gain. If, by reason +of their small number, they did not spare themselves, it was because +every labor increased their earnings in the settling of accounts at the +end of each season. This time, it is true, the profit would be almost +nothing, and that gave them just cause to curse and swear against those +New Zealand scoundrels. + +One man on board, alone among all, was not of American origin. +Portuguese by birth, but speaking English fluently, he was called +Negoro, and filled the humble position of cook on the schooner. + +The "Pilgrim's" cook having deserted at Auckland, this Negoro, then out +of employment, offered himself for the place. He was a taciturn man, +not at all communicative, who kept to himself, but did his work +satisfactorily. In engaging him, Captain Hull seemed to be rather +fortunate, and since embarking, the master cook had merited no reproach. + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull regretted not having had the time to inform +himself sufficiently about Negoro's antecedents. His face, or rather +his look, was only half in his favor, and when it is necessary to bring +an unknown into the life on board, so confined, so intimate, his +antecedents should be carefully inquired into. + +Negoro might be forty years old. Thin, nervous, of medium height, with +very brown hair, skin somewhat swarthy, he ought to be strong. Had he +received any instruction? Yes; that appeared in certain observations +which escaped him sometimes. Besides, he never spoke of his past life, +he said not a word about his family. Whence he came, where he had +lived, no one could tell. What would his future be? No one knew any +more about that. He only announced his intention of going on shore at +Valparaiso. He was certainly a singular man. At all events, he did not +seem to be a sailor. He seemed to be even more strange to marine things +than is usual with a master cook, part of whose existence is passed at +sea. + +Meanwhile, as to being incommoded by the rolling and pitching of the +ship, like men who have never navigated, he was not in the least, and +that is something for a cook on board a vessel. + +Finally, he was little seen. During the day, he most generally remained +confined in his narrow kitchen, before the stove for melting, which +occupied the greater part of it. When night came and the fire in the +stove was out, Negoro went to the cabin which was assigned to him at +the end of the crew's quarters. Then he went to bed at once and went to +sleep. + +It has been already said that the "Pilgrim's" crew was composed of five +sailors and a novice. + +This young novice, aged fifteen, was the child of an unknown father and +mother. This poor being, abandoned from his birth, had been received +and brought up by public charity. + +Dick Sand--that was his name--must have been originally from the State +of New York, and doubtless from the capital of that State. + +If the name of Dick--an abbreviation of Richard--had been given to the +little orphan, it was because it was the name of the charitable +passer-by who had picked him up two or three hours after his birth. As +to the name of Sand, it was attributed to him in remembrance of the +place where he had been found; that is to say, on that point of land +called Sandy-Hook, which forms the entrance of the port of New York, at +the mouth of the Hudson. + +Dick Sand, when he should reach his full growth, would not exceed +middle height, but he was well built. One could not doubt that he was +of Anglo-Saxon origin. He was brown, however, with blue eyes, in which +the crystalline sparkled with ardent fire. His seaman's craft had +already prepared him well for the conflicts of life. His intelligent +physiognomy breathed forth energy. It was not that of an audacious +person, it was that of a darer. These three words from an unfinished +verse of Virgil are often cited: + + "Audaces fortuna juvat".... + +but they are quoted incorrectly. The poet said: + + "Audentes fortuna juvat".... + +It is on the darers, not on the audacious, that Fortune almost always +smiled. The audacious may be unguarded. The darer thinks first, acts +afterwards. There is the difference! + +Dick Sand was _audens_. + +At fifteen he already knew how to take a part, and to carry out to the +end whatever his resolute spirit had decided upon. His manner, at once +spirited and serious, attracted attention. He did not squander himself +in words and gestures, as boys of his age generally do. Early, at a +period of life when they seldom discuss the problems of existence, he +had looked his miserable condition in the face, and he had promised "to +make" himself. + +And he had made himself--being already almost a man at an age when +others are still only children. + +At the same time, very nimble, very skilful in all physical exercises, +Dick Sand was one of those privileged beings, of whom it may be said +that they were born with two left feet and two right hands. In that +way, they do everything with the right hand, and always set out with +the left foot. + +Public charity, it has been said, had brought up the little orphan. He +had been put first in one of those houses for children, where there is +always, in America, a place for the little waifs. Then at four, Dick +learned to read, write and count in one of those State of New York +schools, which charitable subscriptions maintain so generously. + +At eight, the taste for the sea, which Dick had from birth, caused him +to embark as cabin-boy on a packet ship of the South Sea. There he +learned the seaman's trade, and as one ought to learn it, from the +earliest age. Little by little he instructed himself under the +direction of officers who were interested in this little old man. So +the cabin-boy soon became the novice, expecting something better, of +course. The child who understands, from the beginning, that work is the +law of life, the one who knows, from an early age, that he will gain +his bread only by the sweat of his brow--a Bible precept which is the +rule of humanity--that one is probably intended for great things; for +some day he will have, with the will, the strength to accomplish them. + +It was, when he was a cabin-boy on board a merchant vessel, that Dick +Sand was remarked by Captain Hull. This honest seaman immediately +formed a friendship with this honest young boy, and later he made him +known to the ship-owner, James W. Weldon. The latter felt a lively +interest in this orphan, whose education he completed at San Francisco, +and he had him brought up in the Catholic religion, to which his family +adhered. + +During the course of his studies, Dick Sand showed a particular liking +for geography, for voyages, while waiting till he was old enough to +learn that branch of mathematics which relates to navigation. Then to +this theoretical portion of his instruction, he did not neglect to join +the practical. It was as novice that he was able to embark for the +first time on the "Pilgrim." A good seaman ought to understand fishing +as well as navigation. It is a good preparation for all the +contingencies which the maritime career admits of. Besides, Dick Sand +set out on a vessel of James W. Weldon's, his benefactor, commanded by +his protector, Captain Hull. Thus he found himself in the most +favorable circumstances. + +To speak of the extent of his devotion to the Weldon family, to whom he +owed everything, would be superfluous. Better let the facts speak for +themselves. But it will be understood how happy the young novice was +when he learned that Mrs. Weldon was going to take passage on board the +"Pilgrim." Mrs. Weldon for several years had been a mother to him, and +in Jack he saw a little brother, all the time keeping in remembrance +his position in respect to the son of the rich ship-owner. But--his +protectors knew it well--this good seed which they had sown had fallen +on good soil. The orphan's heart was filled with gratitude, and some +day, if it should be necessary to give his life for those who had +taught him to instruct himself and to love God, the young novice would +not hesitate to give it. Finally, to be only fifteen, but to act and +think as if he were thirty, that was Dick Sand. + +Mrs. Weldon knew what her _protege_ was worth. She could trust little +Jack with him without any anxiety. Dick Sand cherished this child, who, +feeling himself loved by this "large brother," sought his company. +During those long leisure hours, which are frequent in a voyage, when +the sea is smooth, when the well set up sails require no management, +Dick and Jack were almost always together. The young novice showed the +little boy everything in his craft which seemed amusing. + +Without fear Mrs. Weldon saw Jack, in company with Dick Sand, spring +out on the shrouds, climb to the top of the mizzen-mast, or to the +booms of the mizzen-topmast, and come down again like an arrow the +whole length of the backstays. Dick Sand went before or followed him, +always ready to hold him up or keep him back, if his six-year-old arms +grew feeble during those exercises. All that benefited little Jack, +whom sickness had made somewhat pale; but his color soon came back on +board the "Pilgrim," thanks to this gymnastic, and to the bracing +sea-breezes. + +So passed the time. Under these conditions the passage was being +accomplished, and only the weather was not very favorable, neither the +passengers nor the crew of the "Pilgrim" would have had cause to +complain. + +Meanwhile this continuance of east winds made Captain Hull anxious. He +did not succeed in getting the vessel into the right course. Later, +near the Tropic of Capricorn, he feared finding calms which would delay +him again, without speaking of the equatorial current, which would +irresistibly throw him back to the west. He was troubled then, above +all, for Mrs. Weldon, by the delays for which, meanwhile, he was not +responsible. So, if he should meet, on his course, some transatlantic +steamer on the way toward America, he already thought of advising his +passenger to embark on it. Unfortunately, he was detained in latitudes +too high to cross a steamer running to Panama; and, besides, at that +period communication across the Pacific, between Australia and the New +World, was not as frequent as it has since become. + +It then was necessary to leave everything to the grace of God, and it +seemed as if nothing would trouble this monotonous passage, when the +first incident occurred precisely on that day, February 2d, in the +latitude and longitude indicated at the beginning of this history. + +Dick Sand and Jack, toward nine o'clock in the morning, in very clear +weather, were installed on the booms of the mizzen-topmast. Thence they +looked down on the whole ship and a portion of the ocean in a largo +circumference. Behind, the perimeter of the horizon was broken to their +eyes, only by the mainmast, carrying brigantine and fore-staff. That +beacon hid from them a part of the sea and the sky. In the front, they +saw the bowsprit stretching over the waves, with its three jibs, which +were hauled tightly, spread out like three great unequal wings. +Underneath rounded the foremast, and above, the little top-sail and +the little gallant-sail, whose bolt-rope quivered with the pranks of +the breeze. The schooner was then running on the larboard tack, and +hugging the wind as much as possible. + +Dick Sand explained to Jack how the "Pilgrim," ballasted properly, well +balanced in all her parts, could not capsize, even if she gave a pretty +strong heel to starboard, when the little boy interrupted him. + +"What do I see there?" said he. + +"You see something, Jack?" demanded Dick Sand, who stood up straight on +the booms. + +"Yes--there!" replied little Jack, showing a point of the sea, left +open by the interval between the stays of the standing-jib and the +flying-jib. + +Dick Sand looked at the point indicated attentively, and forthwith, +with a loud voice, he cried; + +"A wreck to windward, over against starboard!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE WRECK. + + +Dick Sand's cry brought all the crew to their feet. The men who were +not on watch came on deck. Captain Hull, leaving his cabin, went toward +the bow. + +Mrs. Weldon, Nan, even the indifferent Cousin Benedict himself, came to +lean over the starboard rail, so as to see the wreck signaled by the +young novice. + +Negoro, alone, did not leave the cabin, which served him for a kitchen; +and as usual, of all the crew, he was the only one whom the encounter +with a wreck did not appear to interest. + +Then all regarded attentively the floating object which the waves were +rocking, three miles from the "Pilgrim." + +"Ah! what can that be?" said a sailor. + +"Some abandoned raft," replied another. + +"Perhaps there are some unhappy shipwrecked ones on that raft," said +Mrs. Weldon. + +"We shall find out," replied Captain Hull. "But that wreck is not a +raft. It is a hull thrown over on the side." + +"Ah! is it not more likely to be some marine animal--some mammifer of +great size?" observed Cousin Benedict. + +"I do not think so," replied the novice. + +"Then what is your idea, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"An overturned hull, as the captain has said, Mrs. Weldon. It even +seems to me that I see its copper keel glistening in the sun." + +"Yes--indeed," replied Captain Hull. Then addressing the helmsman: +"Steer to the windward, Bolton. Let her go a quarter, so as to come +alongside the wreck." + +"Yes, sir," replied the helmsman. + +"But," continued Cousin Benedict, "I keep to what I have said. +Positively it is an animal." + +"Then this would be a whale in copper," replied Captain Hull, "for, +positively, also, I see it shine in the sun!" + +"At all events, Cousin Benedict," added Mrs. Weldon, "you will agree +with us that this whale must be dead, for it is certain that it does +not make the least movement." + +"Ah! Cousin Weldon," replied Cousin Benedict, who was obstinate, "this +would not be the first time that one has met a whale sleeping on the +surface of the waves." + +"That is a fact," replied Captain Hull; "but to-day, the thing is not a +whale, but a ship." + +"We shall soon see," replied Cousin Benedict, who, after all, would +give all the mammifers of the Arctic or Antarctic seas for an insect of +a rare species. + +"Steer, Bolton, steer!" cried Captain Hull again, "and do not board the +wreck. Keep a cable's length. If we cannot do much harm to this hull, +it might cause us some damage, and I do not care to hurt the sides of +the 'Pilgrim' with it. Tack a little, Bolton, tack!" + +The "Pilgrim's" prow, which had been directed toward the wreck, was +turned aside by a slight movement of the helm. + +The schooner was still a mile from the capsized hull. The sailors were +eagerly looking at it. Perhaps it held a valuable cargo, which it would +be possible to transfer to the "Pilgrim." We know that, in these +salvages, the third of the value belongs to the rescuers, and, in this +case, if the cargo was not damaged, the crew, as they say, would make +"a good haul." This would be a fish of consolation for their incomplete +fishing. + +A quarter of an hour later the wreck was less than a mile from the +"Pilgrim." + +It was indeed a ship, which presented itself on its side, to the +starboard. Capsized as far as the nettings, she heeled so much that it +would be almost impossible to stand upon her deck. Nothing could be +seen beyond her masts. From the port-shrouds were banging only some +ends of broken rope, and the chains broken by the cloaks of +white-crested waves. On the starboard side opened a large hole between +the timbers of the frame-work and the damaged planks. + +"This ship has been run into," cried Dick Sand. + +"There is no doubt of that," replied Captain Hull; "and it is a miracle +that she did not sink immediately." + +"If there has been a collision," observed Mrs. Weldon, "we must hope +that the crew of this ship has been picked up by those who struck her." + +"It is to be hoped so, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain, Hull, "unless +this crew sought refuge in their own boats after the collision, in case +the colliding vessel should sail right on--which, alas! sometimes +happens." + +"Is it possible? That would be a proof of very great inhumanity, Mr. +Hull." + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon. Yes! and instances are not wanting. As to the crew +of this ship, what makes me believe that it is more likely they have +left it, is that I do not see a single boat; and, unless the men on +board have been picked up, I should be more inclined to think that they +have tried to roach the land. But, at this distance from the American +continent, or from the islands of Oceanica, it is to be feared that +they have not succeeded." + +"Perhaps," said Mrs. Weldon, "we shall never know the secret of this +catastrophe. Meanwhile, it might be possible that some man of the crew +is still on board." + +"That is not probable, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. "Our +approach would be already known, and they would make some signals to +us. But we shall make sure of it.--Luff a little, Bolton, luff," cried +Captain Hull, while indicating with his hand what course to take. + +The "Pilgrim" was now only three cables' length from the wreck, and +they could no longer doubt that this hull had been completely abandoned +by all its crew. + +But, at that moment, Dick Sand made a gesture which imperiously +demanded silence. + +"Listen, listen!" said he. + +Each listened. + +"I hear something like a bark!" cried Dick Sand. In fact, a distant +barking resounded from the interior of the hull. Certainly there was a +living dog there, imprisoned perhaps, for it was possible that the +hatches were hermetically closed. But they could not see it, the deck +of the capsized vessel being still invisible. + +"If there be only a dog there, Mr. Hull," said Mrs. "Weldon," we shall +save it." + +"Yes, yes!" cried little Jack, "we shall save it. I shall give it +something to eat! It will love us well! Mama, I am going to bring it a +piece of sugar!" + +"Stay still, my child," replied Mrs. Weldon smiling. "I believe that +the poor animal is dying of hunger, and it will prefer a good mess to +your morsel of sugar." + +"Well, then, let it have my soup," cried little Jack. "I can do without +it very well." + +At that moment the barking was more distinctly heard. Three hundred +feet, at the most, separated the two ships. Almost immediately a dog of +great height appeared on the starboard netting, and clung there, +barking more despairingly than ever. + +"Howik," said Captain Hull, turning toward the master of the +"Pilgrim's" crew, "heave to, and lower the small boat." + +"Hold on, my dog, hold on!" cried little Jack to the animal, which +seemed to answer him with a half-stifled bark. + +The "Pilgrim's" sails were rapidly furled, so that the ship should +remain almost motionless, less than half a cable's length from the +wreck. + +The boat was brought alongside. Captain Hull, Dick Sand and two sailors +got into it at once. + +The dog barked all the time. It tried to hold on to the netting, but +every moment it fell back on the deck. One would say that its barks +were no longer addressed to those who were coming to him. Were they +then addressed to some sailors or passengers imprisoned in this ship? + +"Is there, then, on board some shipwrecked one who has survived?" Mrs. +Weldon asked herself. + +A few strokes of the oars and the "Pilgrim's" boat would reach the +capsized hull. + +But, suddenly, the dog's manner changed. Furious barks succeeded its +first barks inviting the rescuers to come. The most violent anger +excited the singular animal. + +"What can be the matter with that dog?" said Captain Hull, while the +boat was turning the stern of the vessel, so as to come alongside of +the part of the deck lying under the water. + +What Captain Hull could not then observe, what could not be noticed +even on board the "Pilgrim," was that the dog's fury manifested itself +just at the moment when Negoro, leaving his kitchen, had just come +toward the forecastle. + +Did the dog then know and recognize the master cook? It was very +improbable. + +However that may be, after looking at the dog, without showing any +surprise, Negoro, who, however, frowned for an instant, returned to the +crew's quarters. + +Meanwhile the boat had rounded the stern of the ship. Her aftboard +carried this single name: "Waldeck." + +"Waldeck," and no designation of the port attached. But, by the form of +the hull, by certain details which a sailor seizes at the first glance, +Captain Hull had, indeed, discovered that this ship was of American +construction. Besides, her name confirmed it. And now, this hull, it +was all that remained of a large brig of five hundred tons. + +At the "Waldeck's" prow a large opening indicated the place where the +collision had occurred. In consequence of the capsizing of the hull, +this opening was then five or six feet above the water--which explained +why the brig had not yet foundered. + +On the deck, which Captain Hull saw in its whole extent, there was +nobody. + +The dog, having left the netting, had just let itself slip as far as +the central hatch, which was open; and it barked partly toward the +interior, partly toward the exterior. + +"It is very certain that this animal is not alone on board!" observed +Dick Sand. + +"No, in truth!" replied Captain Hull. + +The boat then skirted the larboard netting, which was half under water. +A somewhat strong swell of the sea would certainly submerge the +"Waldeck" in a few moments. + +The brig's deck had been swept from one end to the other. There was +nothing left except the stumps of the mainmast and of the mizzen-mast, +both broken off two feet above the scuttles, and which had fallen in +the collision, carrying away shrouds, back-stays, and rigging. +Meanwhile, as far as the eye could see, no wreck was visible around the +"Waldeck"--which seemed to indicate that the catastrophe was already +several days old. + +"If some unhappy creatures have survived the collision," said Captain +Hull, "it is probable that either hunger or thirst has finished them, +for the water must have gained the store-room. There are only dead +bodies on board!" + +"No," cried Dick Sand, "no! The dog would not bark that way. There are +living beings on board!" + +At that moment the animal, responding to the call of the novice, slid +to the sea, and swam painfully toward the boat, for it seemed to be +exhausted. + +They took it in, and it rushed eagerly, not for a piece of bread that +Dick Sand offered it first, but to a half-tub which contained a little +fresh water. + +"This poor animal is dying of thirst!" cried Dick Sand. + +The boat then sought a favorable place to board the "Waldeck" more +easily, and for that purpose it drew away a few strokes. The dog +evidently thought that its rescuers did not wish to go on board, for he +seized Dick Sand by his jacket, and his lamentable barks commenced +again with new strength. + +They understood it. Its pantomime and its language were as clear as a +man's language could be. The boat was brought immediately as far as the +larboard cat-head. There the two sailors moored it firmly, while +Captain Hull and Dick Sand, setting foot on the deck at the same time +as the dog, raised themselves, not without difficulty, to the hatch +which opened between the stumps of the two masts. + +By this hatch the two made their way into the hold. + +The "Waldeck's" hold, half full of water, contained no goods. The brig +sailed with ballast--a ballast of sand which had slid to larboard and +which helped to keep the ship on her side. On that head, then, there +was no salvage to effect. + +"Nobody here," said Captain Hull. + +"Nobody," replied the novice, after having gone to the foremost part of +the hold. + +But the dog, which was on the deck, kept on barking and seemed to call +the captain's attention more imperatively. + +"Let us go up again," said Captain Hull to the novice. + +Both appeared again on the deck. + +The dog, running to them, sought to draw them to the poop. + +They followed it. + +There, in the square, five bodies--undoubtedly five corpses--were lying +on the floor. + +By the daylight which entered in waves by the opening, Captain Hull +discovered the bodies of five negroes. + +Dick Sand, going from one to the other, thought he felt that the +unfortunates were still breathing. + +"On board! on board!" cried Captain Hull. + +The two sailors who took care of the boat were called, and helped to +carry the shipwrecked men out of the poop. + +This was not without difficulty, but two minutes after, the five blacks +were laid in the boat, without being at all conscious that any one was +trying to save them. A few drops of cordial, then a little fresh water +prudently administered, might, perhaps, recall them to life. + +The "Pilgrim" remained a half cable's length from the wreck, and the +boat would soon reach her. + +A girt-line was let down from the main-yard, and each of the blacks +drawn up separately reposed at last on the "Pilgrim's" deck. + +The dog had accompanied them. + +"The unhappy creatures!" cried Mrs. Weldon, on perceiving those poor +men, who were only inert bodies. + +"They are alive, Mrs. Weldon. We shall save them. Yes, we shall save +them," cried Dick Sand. + +"What has happened to them?" demanded Cousin Benedict. + +"Wait till they can speak," replied Captain Hull, "and they will tell +us their history. But first of all, let us make them drink a little +water, in which we shall mix a few drops of rum." Then, turning round: +"Negoro!" he called. + +At that name the dog stood up as if it knew the sound, its hair +bristling, its mouth open. + +Meanwhile, the cook did not appear. + +"Negoro!" repeated Captain Hull. + +The dog again gave signs of extreme fury. + +Negoro left the kitchen. + +Hardly had he shown himself on the deck, than the dog sprang on him and +wanted to jump at his throat. + +With a blow from the poker with which he was armed, the cook drove away +the animal, which some of the sailors succeeded in holding. + +"Do you know this dog?" Captain Hull asked the master cook. + +"I?" replied Negoro. "I have never seen it." + +"That is singular," murmured Dick Sand. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SURVIVORS OF THE "WALDECK." + + +The slave trade was still carried on, on a large scale, in all +equinoctial Africa. Notwithstanding the English and French cruisers, +ships loaded with slaves leave the coasts of Angola and Mozambique +every year to transport negroes to various parts of the world, and, it +must be said, of the civilized world. + +Captain Hull was not ignorant of it. Though these parts were not +ordinarily frequented by slave-ships, he asked himself if these blacks, +whose salvage he had just effected, were not the survivors of a cargo +of slaves that the "Waldeck" was going to sell to some Pacific colony. +At all events, if that was so, the blacks became free again by the sole +act of setting foot on his deck, and he longed to tell it to them. + +Meanwhile the most earnest care had been lavished on the shipwrecked +men from the "Waldeck." Mrs. Weldon, aided by Nan and Dick Sand, had +administered to them a little of that good fresh water of which they +must have been deprived for several days, and that, with some +nourishment, sufficed to restore them to life. + +The eldest of these blacks--he might be about sixty years old--was soon +able to speak, and he could answer in English the questions which were +addressed to him. + +"The ship which carried you was run into?" asked Captain Hull, first of +all. + +"Yes," replied the old black. "Ten days ago our ship was struck, during +a very dark night. We were asleep----" + +"But the men of the 'Waldeck'--what has become of them?" + +"They were no longer there, sir, when my companions and I reached the +deck." + +"Then, was the crew able to jump on board the ship which struck the +'Waldeck'?" demanded Captain Hull. + +"Perhaps, and we must indeed hope so for their sakes." + +"And that ship, after the collision, did it not return to pick you up?" + +"No." + +"Did she then go down herself?" + +"She did not founder," replied the old black, shaking his head, "for we +could see her running away in the night." + +This fact, which was attested by all the survivors of the "Waldeck," +may appear incredible. It is only too true, however, that captains, +after some terrible collision, due to their imprudence, have often +taken flight without troubling themselves about the unfortunate ones +whom they had put in danger, and without endeavoring to carry +assistance to them. + +That drivers do as much and leave to others, on the public way, the +trouble of repairing the misfortune which they have caused, that is +indeed to be condemned. Still, their victims are assured of finding +immediate help. But, that men to men, abandon each other thus at sea, +it is not to be believed, it is a shame! + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull knew several examples of such inhumanity, and +he was obliged to tell Mrs. Weldon that such facts, monstrous as they +might be, were unhappily not rare. + +Then, continuing: + +"Whence came the 'Waldeck?'" he asked. + +"From Melbourne." + +"Then you are not slaves?" + +"No, sir!" the old black answered quickly, as he stood up straight. "We +are subjects of the State of Pennsylvania, and citizens of free +America!" + +"My friends," replied Captain Hull, "believe me that you have not +compromised your liberty in coming on board of the American brig, the +'Pilgrim.'" + +In fact, the five blacks which the "Waldeck" carried belonged to the +State of Pennsylvania. The oldest, sold in Africa as a slave at the age +of six years, then brought to the United States, had been freed already +many years ago by the Emancipation Proclamation. As to his companions, +much younger than he, sons of slaves liberated before their birth, they +were born free; no white had ever had the right of property over them. +They did not even speak that "negro" language, which does not use the +article, and only knows the infinitive of the verbs--a language which +has disappeared little by little, indeed, since the anti-slavery war. +These blacks had, then, freely left the United States, and they were +returning to it freely. + +As they told Captain Hull, they were engaged as laborers at an +Englishman's who owned a vast mine near Melbourne, in Southern +Australia. There they had passed three years, with great profit to +themselves; their engagement ended, they had wished to return to +America. + +They then had embarked on the "Waldeck," paying their passage like +ordinary passengers. On the 5th of December they left Melbourne, and +seventeen days after, during a very black night, the "Waldeck" had been +struck by a large steamer. + +The blacks were in bed. A few seconds after the collision, which was +terrible, they rushed on the deck. + +Already the ship's masts had fallen, and the "Waldeck" was lying on the +side; but she would not sink, the water not having invaded the hold +sufficiently to cause it. + +As to the captain and crew of the "Waldeck," all had disappeared, +whether some had been precipitated into the sea, whether others were +caught on the rigging of the colliding ship, which, after the +collision, had fled to return no more. + +The five blacks were left alone on board, on a half-capsized hull, +twelve hundred miles from any land. + +Then oldest of the negroes was named Tom. His age, as well as his +energetic character, and his experience, often put to the proof during +a long life of labor, made him the natural head of the companions who +were engaged with him. + +The other blacks were young men from twenty-five to thirty years old, +whose names were Bat (abbreviation of Bartholomew), son of old Tom, +Austin, Acteon, and Hercules, all four well made and vigorous, and who +would bring a high price in the markets of Central Africa. Even though +they had suffered terribly, one could easily recognize in them +magnificent specimens of that strong race, on which a liberal +education, drawn from the numerous schools of North America, had +already impressed its seal. + +Tom and his companions then found themselves alone on the "Waldeck" +after the collision, having no means of raising that inert hull, +without even power to leave it, because the two boats on board had been +shattered in the boarding. They were reduced to waiting for the passage +of a ship, while the wreck drifted little by little under the action of +the currents. This action explained why she had been encountered so far +out of her course, for the "Waldeck," having left Melbourne, ought to +be found in much lower latitude. + +During the ten days which elapsed between the collision and the moment +when the "Pilgrim" arrived in sight of the shipwrecked vessel the five +blacks were sustained by some food which they had found in the office +of the landing-place. But, not being able to penetrate into the +steward's room, which the water entirely covered, they had had no +spirits to quench their thirst, and they had suffered cruelly, the +water casks fastened to the deck having been stove in by the collision. +Since the night before, Tom and his companions, tortured by thirst, had +become unconscious. + +Such was the recital which Tom gave, in a few words, to Captain Hull. +There was no reason to doubt the veracity of the old black. His +companions confirmed all that he had said; besides, the facts pleaded +for the poor men. + +Another living being, saved on the wreck, would doubtless have spoken +with the same sincerity if it had been gifted with speech. + +It was that dog, that the sight of Negoro seemed to affect in such a +disagreeable manner. There was in that some truly inexplicable +antipathy. + +Dingo--that was the name of the dog--belonged to that race of mastiffs +which is peculiar to New Holland. It was not in Australia, however, +that the captain of the "Waldeck" had found it. Two years before Dingo, +wandering half dead of hunger, had been met on the western coast of +Africa, near the mouth of the Congo. The captain of the "Waldeck" had +picked up this fine animal, who, being not very sociable, seemed to be +always regretting some old master, from whom he had been violently +separated, and whom it would be impossible to find again in that desert +country. S. V.--those two letters engraved on his collar--were all that +linked this animal to a past, whose mystery one would seek in vain to +solve. + +Dingo, a magnificent and robust beast, larger than the dogs of the +Pyrenees, was then a superb specimen of the New Holland variety of +mastiffs. When it stood up, throwing its head back, it equaled the +height of a man. Its agility--its muscular strength, would be +sufficient for one of those animals which without hesitation attack +jaguars and panthers, and do not fear to face a bear. Its long tail of +thick hair, well stocked and stiff like a lion's tail, its general hue +dark fawn-color, was only varied at the nose by some whitish streaks. +This animal, under the influence of anger, might become formidable, and +it will be understood that Negoro was not satisfied with the reception +given him by this vigorous specimen of the canine race. + +Meanwhile, Dingo, if it was not sociable, was not bad. It seemed rather +to be sad. An observation which had been made by old Tom on board the +"Waldeck" was that this dog did not seem to like blacks. It did not +seek to harm them, but certainly it shunned them. May be, on that +African coast where it wandered, it had suffered some bad treatment +from the natives. So, though Tom and his companions were honest men, +Dingo was never drawn toward them. During the ten days that the +shipwrecked dog had passed on the "Waldeck," it had kept at a distance, +feeding itself, they knew not how, but having also suffered cruelly +from thirst. + +Such, then, were the survivors of this wreck, which the first surge of +the sea would submerge. No doubt it would have carried only dead bodies +into the depths of the ocean if the unexpected arrival of the +"Pilgrim," herself kept back by calms and contrary winds, had not +permitted Captain Hull to do a work of humanity. + +This work had only to be completed by bringing back to their country +the shipwrecked men from the "Waldeck," who, in this shipwreck, had +lost their savings of three years of labor. This is what was going to +be done. The "Pilgrim," after having effected her unloading at +Valparaiso, would ascend the American coast as far as California. There +Tom and his companions would be well received by James W. Weldon--his +generous wife assured them of it--and they would be provided with all +that would be necessary for them to return to the State of Pennsylvania. + +These honest men, reassured about the future, had only to thank Mrs. +Weldon and Captain Hull. Certainly they owed them a great deal, and +although they were only poor negroes, perhaps, they did not despair of +some day paying this debt of gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +S. V. + + +Meanwhile, the "Pilgrim" had continued her course, making for the east +as much as possible. This lamentable continuance of calms did not cease +to trouble Captain Hull--not that he was uneasy about two or three +weeks' delay in a passage from New Zealand to Valparaiso, but because +of the extra fatigue which this delay might bring to his lady passenger. + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Weldon did not complain, and philosophically took her +misfortune in patience. + +That same day, February 2d, toward evening, the wreck was lost sight of. + +Captain Hull was troubled, in the first place, to accommodate Tom and +his companions as conveniently as possible. The crew's quarters on the +"Pilgrim," built on the deck in the form of a "roufle," would be too +small to hold them. An arrangement was then made to lodge them under +the forecastle. Besides, these honest men, accustomed to rude labors, +could not be hard to please, and with fine weather, warm and +salubrious, this sleeping-place ought to suffice for the whole passage. + +The life on board, shaken for a moment from its monotony by this +incident, then went on as usual. + +Tom, Austin, Bat, Acteon, and Hercules would indeed wish to make +themselves useful. But with these constant winds, the sails once set, +there was nothing more to do. Meanwhile, when there was a veering +about, the old black and his companions hastened to give a hand to the +crew, and it must be confessed that when the colossal Hercules hauled +some rope, they were aware of it. This vigorous negro, six feet high, +brought in a tackle all by himself. + +It was joy for little Jack to look at this giant. He was not afraid of +him, and when Hercules hoisted him up in his arms, as if he were only a +cork baby, there were cries of joy to go on. + +"Lift me very high," said little Jack. + +"There, Master Jack!" replied Hercules. + +"Am I very heavy?" + +"I do not even feel you." + +"Well, higher still! To the end of your arm!" And Hercules, holding the +child's two little feet in his large hand, walked him about like a +gymnast in a circus. Jack saw himself, tall, taller, which amused him +very much. He even tried to make himself heavy--which the colossus did +not perceive at all. + +Dick Sand and Hercules, they were two friends for little Jack. He was +not slow in making himself a third--that was Dingo. + +It has been said that Dingo was not a sociable dog. Doubtless that held +good, because the society of the "Waldeck" did not suit it. On board +the "Pilgrim" it was quite another thing. Jack probably knew how to +touch the fine animal's heart. The latter soon took pleasure in playing +with the little boy, whom this play pleased. It was soon discovered +that Dingo was one of those dogs who have a particular taste for +children. Besides, Jack did it no harm. His greatest pleasure was to +transform Dingo into a swift steed, and it is safe to affirm that a +horse of this kind is much superior to a pasteboard quadruped, even +when it has wheels to its feet. So Jack galloped bare-back on the dog, +which let him do it willingly, and, in truth, Jack was no heavier to it +than the half of a jockey to a race-horse. + +But what a break each day in the stock of sugar in the store-room! + +Dingo soon became a favorite with the whole crew. Alone, Negoro +continued to avoid any encounter with the animal, whose antipathy was +always as strong as it was inexplicable. + +Meanwhile, little Jack had not neglected Dick Sand, his friend of old, +for Dingo. All the time that was unclaimed by his duties on board, the +novice passed with the little boy. + +Mrs. Weldon, it is needless to say, always regarded this intimacy with +the most complete satisfaction. + +One day, February 6th, she spoke of Dick to Captain Hull, and the +captain praised the young novice in the highest terms. + +"That boy," he said to Mrs. Weldon, "will be a good seaman some day, +I'll guarantee. He has truly a passion for the sea, and by this passion +he makes up for the theoretical parts of the calling which he has not +yet learned. What he already knows is astonishing, when we think of +the short time he has had to learn." + +"It must be added," replied Mrs. Weldon, "that he is also an excellent +person, a true boy, very superior to his age, and who has never merited +any blame since we have known him." + +"Yes, he is a good young man," continued the captain, "justly loved and +appreciated by all." + +"This cruise finished," said Mrs. Weldon, "I know that my husband's +intention is to have him follow a course of navigation, so that, he may +afterwards obtain a captain's commission." + +"And Mr. Weldon is right," replied Captain Hull. "Dick Sand will one +day do honor to the American marine." + +"This poor orphan commenced life sadly," observed Mrs. Weldon. "He has +been in a hard school!" + +"Doubtless, Mrs. Weldon; but the lessons have not been lost on him. He +has learned that he must make his own way in this world, and he is in a +fair way to do it." + +"Yes, the way of duty!" + +"Look at him now, Mrs. Weldon," continued Captain Hull. "He is at the +helm, his eye fixed on the point of the foresail. No distraction on the +part of this young novice, as well as no lurch to the ship. Dick Sand +has already the confidence of an old steersman. A good beginning for a +seaman. Our craft, Mrs. Weldon, is one of those in which it is +necessary to begin very young. He who has not been a cabin-boy will +never arrive at being a perfect seaman, at least in the merchant +marine. Everything must be learned, and, consequently, everything must +be at the same time instinctive and rational with the sailor--the +resolution to grasp, as well as the skill to execute." + +"Meanwhile, Captain Hull," replied Mrs. Weldon, "good officers are not +lacking in the navy." + +"No," replied Captain Hull; "but, in my opinion, the best have almost +all begun their career as children, and, without speaking of Nelson and +a few others, the worst are not those who began by being cabin-boys." + +At that moment they saw Cousin Benedict springing up from the rear +companion-way. As usual he was absorbed, and as little conscious of +this world as the Prophet Elias will be when he returns to the earth. + +Cousin Benedict began to walk about on the deck like an uneasy spirit, +examining closely the interstices of the netting, rummaging under the +hen-cages, putting his hand between the seams of the deck, there, where +the pitch had scaled off. + +"Ah! Cousin Benedict," asked Mrs. Weldon, "do you keep well?" + +"Yes--Cousin Weldon--I am well, certainly--but I am in a hurry to get +on land." + +"What are you looking for under that bench, Mr. Benedict?" asked +Captain Hull. + +"Insects, sir," returned Cousin Benedict. "What do you expect me to +look for, if not insects?" + +"Insects! Faith, I must agree with you; but it is not at sea that you +will enrich your collection." + +"And why not, sir? It is not impossible to find on board some specimen +of----" + +"Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "do you then slander Captain Hull? +His ship is so well kept, that you will return empty-handed from your +hunt." + +Captain Hull began to laugh. + +"Mrs. Weldon exaggerates," replied he. "However, Mr. Benedict, I +believe you will lose your time rummaging in our cabins." + +"Ah! I know it well," cried Cousin Benedict, shrugging his shoulders. +"I have had a good search----" + +"But, in the 'Pilgrim's' hold," continued Captain Hull, "perhaps you +will find some cockroaches--subjects of little interest, however." + +"Of little interest, those nocturnal orthopters which have incurred the +maledictions of Virgil and Horace!" retorted Cousin Benedict, standing +up straight. "Of little interest, those near relations of the +'periplaneta orientalis' and of the American kakerlac, which +inhabit----" + +"Which infest!" said Captain Hull. + +"Which reign on board!" retorted Cousin Benedict, fiercely. + +"Amiable sovereignty!" + +"Ah! you are not an entomologist, sir?" + +Never at my own expense." + +"Now, Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, smiling, "do not wish us to +be devoured for love of science." + +"I wish, nothing, Cousin Weldon," replied, the fiery entomologist, +"except to be able to add to my collection some rare subject which +might do it honor." + +"Are you not satisfied, then, with the conquests that you have made in +New Zealand?" + +"Yes, truly, Cousin Weldon. I have been rather fortunate in conquering +one of those new staphylins which till now had only been found some +hundreds of miles further, in New Caledonia." + +At that moment Dingo, who was playing with Jack, approached Cousin +Benedict, gamboling. + +"Go away! go away!" said the latter, pushing off the animal. + +"To love cockroaches and detest dogs!" cried Captain Hull. "Oh! Mr. +Benedict!" + +"A good dog, notwithstanding," said little Jack, taking Dingo's great +head in his small hands. + +"Yes. I do not say no," replied Cousin Benedict. "But what do you want? +This devil of an animal has not realized the hopes I conceived on +meeting it." + +"Ah! my goodness!" cried Mrs. Weldon, "did you, then, hope to be able +to classify it in the order of the dipters or the hymenopters?" + +"No," replied Cousin Benedict, seriously. "But is it not true that this +Dingo, though it be of the New Zealand race, was picked up on the +western coast of Africa?" + +"Nothing is more true," replied Mrs. Weldon, "and Tom had often heard +the captain of the 'Waldeck' say so." + +"Well, I had thought--I had hoped--that this dog would have brought +away some specimens of hemipteras peculiar to the African fauna." + +"Merciful heavens!" cried Mrs. Weldon. + +"And that perhaps," added Cousin Benedict, "some penetrating or +irritating flea--of a new species----" + +"Do you understand, Dingo?" said Captain Hull. "Do you understand, my +dog? You have failed in all your duties!" + +"But I have examined it well," added the entomologist, with an accent +of deep regret. "I have not been able to find a single insect." + +"Which you would have immediately and mercilessly put to death, I +hope!" cried Captain Hull. + +"Sir," replied Cousin Benedict, dryly, "learn that Sir John Franklin +made a scruple of killing the smallest insect, be it a mosquito, whose +attacks are otherwise formidable as those of a flea; and meanwhile you +will not hesitate to allow, that Sir John Franklin was a seaman who was +as good as the next." + +"Surely," said Captain Hull, bowing. + +"And one day, after being frightfully devoured by a dipter, he blew and +sent it away, saying to it, without even using _thou_ or _thee_: 'Go! +the world is large enough for you and for me!'" + +"Ah!" ejaculated Captain Hull. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, Mr. Benedict," retorted Captain Hull, "another had said that +long before Sir John Franklin." + +"Another?" + +"Yes; and that other was Uncle Toby." + +"An entomologist?" asked Cousin Benedict, quickly. + +"No! Sterne's Uncle Toby, and that worthy uncle pronounced precisely +the same words, while setting free a mosquito that annoyed him, but +which he thought himself at liberty to _thee_ and _thou_: 'Go, poor +devil,' he said to it, 'the world is large enough to contain us, thee +and me!'" + +"An honest man, that Uncle Toby!" replied Cousin Benedict. "Is he dead?" + +"I believe so, indeed," retorted Captain Hull, gravely, "as he has +never existed!" + +And each began to laugh, looking at Cousin Benedict. + +Thus, then, in these conversations, and many others, which invariably +bore on some point of entomological science, whenever Cousin Benedict +took part, passed away long hours of this navigation against contrary +winds. The sea always fine, but winds which obliged the schooner to +tack often. The "Pilgrim" made very little headway toward the east--the +breeze was so feeble; and they longed to reach those parts where the +prevailing winds would be more favorable. + +It must be stated here that Cousin Benedict had endeavored to initiate +the young novice into the mysteries of entomology. But Dick Sand had +shown himself rather refractory to these advances. For want of better +company the savant had fallen back on the negroes, who comprehended +nothing about it. Tom, Acteon, Bat, and Austin had even finished by +deserting the class, and the professor found himself reduced to +Hercules alone, who seemed to him to have some natural disposition to +distinguish a parasite from a thysanuran. + +So the gigantic black lived in the world of coleopteras, carnivorous +insects, hunters, gunners, ditchers, cicindelles, carabes, sylphides, +moles, cockchafers, horn-beetles, tenebrions, mites, lady-birds, +studying all Cousin Benedict's collection, not but the latter trembled +on seeing his frail specimens in Hercules' great hands, which were hard +and strong as a vise. But the colossal pupil listened so quietly to the +professor's lessons that it was worth risking something to give them. + +While Cousin Benedict worked in that manner, Mrs. Weldon did not leave +little Jack entirely unoccupied; She taught him to read and to write. +As to arithmetic, it was his friend Dick Sand who inculcated the first +elements. + +At the age of five, one is still only a little child, and is perhaps +better instructed by practical games than by theoretical lessons +necessarily a little arduous. + +Jack learned to read, not in a primer, but by means of movable letters, +printed in red on cubes of wood. He amused himself by arranging the +blocks so as to form words. Sometimes Mrs. Weldon took these cubes and +composed a word; then she disarranged them, and it was for Jack to +replace them in the order required. + +The little boy liked this manner of learning to read very much. Each +day he passed some hours, sometimes in the cabin, sometimes on the +deck, in arranging and disarranging the letters of his alphabet. + +Now, one day this led to an incident so extraordinary, so unexpected, +that it is necessary to relate with some detail. + +It was on the morning of February 9th, Jack, half-lying on the deck, +was amusing himself forming a word which old Tom was to put together +again, after the letters had been mixed. Tom, with his hand over his +eyes so as not to cheat, as he agreed, would see nothing, and did see +nothing of the work of the little boy. + +Of these different letters, about fifty in number, some were large, +others small. Besides, some of these cubes carried a figure, which +taught the child to form numbers as well as to form words. + +These cubes were arranged on the deck, and little Jack was taking +sometimes one, sometimes another, to make a word--a truly great labor. + +Now, for same moments, Dingo was moving round the young child, when +suddenly it stopped. Its eyes became fixed, its right paw was raised, +its tail wagged convulsively. Then, suddenly throwing itself on one of +the cubes, it seized it in its mouth and laid it on the deck a few +steps from Jack. + +This cube bore a large letter--the letter S. + +"Dingo, well Dingo!" cried the little boy, who at first was afraid that +his S was swallowed by the dog. + +But Dingo had returned, and, beginning the same performance again, it +seized another cube, and went to lay it near the first. + +This second cube was a large V. + +This time Jack gave a cry. + +At this cry, Mrs. Weldon, Captain Hull, and the young novice, who were +walking on the deck, assembled. Little Jack then told them what had +just passed. + +Dingo knew its letters; Dingo knew how to read! That was very certain, +that! Jack had seen it! + +Dick Sand wanted to go and take the two cubes, to restore them to his +friend Jack, but Dingo showed him its teeth. + +However, the novice succeeded in gaining possession of the two cubes, +and he replaced them in the set. + +Dingo advanced again, seized again the same two letters, and carried +them to a distance. This time its two paws lay on them; it seemed +decided to guard them at all hazards. As to the other letters of the +alphabet, it did not seem as if it had any knowledge of them. + +"That is a curious thing," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"It is, in fact, very singular," replied Captain Hull, who was looking +attentively at the two letters. + +"S. V.," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"S. V.," repeated Captain Hull. "But those are precisely the letters +which are on Dingo's collar!" + +Then, all at once, turning to the old black: "Tom," he asked, "have you +not told me that this dog only belonged to the captain of the 'Waldeck' +for a short time?" + +"In fact, sir," replied Tom, "Dingo was only on board two years at the +most." + +"And have you not added that the captain of the 'Waldeck' had picked up +this dog on the western coast of Africa?" + +"Yes, sir, in the neighborhood of the mouth of the Congo. I have often +heard the captain say so." + +"So," asked Captain Hull, "it has never been known to whom this dog had +belonged, nor whence it came?" + +"Never, sir. A dog found is worse than a child! That has no papers, +and, more, it cannot explain." + +Captain Hull was silent, and reflected. + +"Do those two letters, then, awake some remembrance?" Mrs. Weldon asked +Captain Hull, after leaving him to his reflections for some moments. + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon, a remembrance, or rather a coincidence at least +singular." + +What?" + +"Those two letters might well have a meaning, and fix for us the fate +of an intrepid traveler." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Mrs. Weldon. + +"Here is what I mean, Mrs. Weldon. In 1871--consequently two years +ago--a French traveler set out, under the auspices of the Paris +Geographical Society, with the intention of crossing Africa from the +west to the east. His point of departure was precisely the mouth of the +Congo. His point of arrival would be as near as possible to Cape +Deldago, at the mouths of the Rovuma, whose course he would descend. +Now, this French traveler was named Samuel Vernon." + +"Samuel Vernon!" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon; and those two names begin precisely by those two +letters which Dingo has chosen among all the others, and which are +engraved on its collar." + +"Exactly," replied Mrs. Weldon. "And that traveler----" + +"That traveler set out," replied Captain Hull, "and has not been heard +of since his departure." + +"Never?" said the novice. + +"Never," repeated Captain Hull. + +"What do you conclude from it?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"That, evidently, Samuel Vernon has not been able to reach the eastern +coast of Africa, whether he may have been made prisoner by the natives, +whether death may have struck him on the way." + +"And then this dog?" + +"This dog would have belonged to him; and, more fortunate than its +master, if my hypothesis is true, it would have been able to return to +the Congo coast, because it was there, at the time when these events +must have taken place, that it was picked up by the captain of the +'Waldeck.'" + +"But," observed Mrs. Weldon, "do you know if this French traveler was +accompanied on his departure by a dog? Is it not a mere supposition on +your part?" + +"It is only a supposition, indeed, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. +"But what is certain is, that Dingo knows these two letters S and V, +which are precisely the initials of the two names of the French +traveler. Now, under what circumstances this animal would learn to +distinguish them is what I cannot explain; but, I repeat it, it very +certainly knows them; and look, it pushes them with its paw, and seems +to invite us to read them with it." + +In fact, they could not misunderstand Dingo's intention. + +"Then was Samuel Vernon alone when he left the sea-coast of the Congo?" +ask Dick Sand. + +"That I know not," replied Captain Hull. "However, it is probable that +he would take a native escort." + +At that moment Negoro, leaving his post, showed himself on the deck. At +first no one remarked his presence, and could not observe the singular +look he cast on the dog when he perceived the two letters over which +the animal seem to mount guard. But Dingo, having perceived the +master-cook, began to show signs of the most extreme fury. + +Negoro returned immediately to the crew's quarters, not without a +menacing gesture at the dog's skill having escaped him. + +"There is some mystery there," murmured Captain Hull, who had lost none +of this little scene. + +"But, sir," said the novice, "is it not very astonishing that a dog +should know the letters of the alphabet?" + +"No!" cried little Jack. "Mama has often told me the story of a dog +which knew how to read and write, and even play dominoes, like a real +schoolmaster!" + +"My dear child," replied Mrs. Weldon, smiling, "that dog, whose name +was Munito, was not a savant, as you suppose. If I may believe what has +been told me about it, Munito would not have been able to distinguish +the letters which served to compose the words. But its master, a clever +American, having remarked what fine hearing Munito had, applied himself +to cultivating that sense, and to draw from it some very curious +effects." + +"How did he set to work, Mrs. Weldon?" asked Dick Sand, whom the +history interested almost as much as little Jack. + +"In this way, my friend." When Munito was 'to appear' before the +public, letters similar to these were displayed on a table. On that +table the poodle walked about, waiting till a word was proposed, +whether in a loud voice or in a low voice. Only, one essential +condition was that its master should know the word." + +"And, in the absence of its master--" said the novice. + +"The dog could have done nothing," replied Mrs. Weldon, "and here is +the reason. The letters spread out on the table, Munito walked about +through this alphabet. When it arrived before the letter which it +should choose to form the word required, it stopped; but if it stopped +it was because it heard the noise--imperceptible to all others--of a +toothpick that the American snapped in his pocket. That noise was the +signal for Munito to take the letter and arrange it in suitable order." + +"And that was all the secret?" cried Dick Sand. + +"That was the whole secret," replied Mrs. Weldon. "It is very simple, +like all that is done in the matter of prestidigitation. In case of the +American's absence, Munito would be no longer Munito. I am, then, +astonished, his master not being there--if, indeed, the traveler, +Samuel Vernon, has ever been its master--that Dingo could have +recognized those two letters." + +"In fact," replied Captain Hull, "it is very astonishing. But, take +notice, there are only two letters in question here, two particular +letters, and not a word chosen by chance. After all, that dog which +rang at the door of a convent to take possession of the plate intended +for the poor passers-by, that other which commissioned at the same time +with one of its kind, to turn the spit for two days each, and which +refused to fill that office when its turn had not come, those two dogs, +I say, advanced farther than Dingo into that domain of intelligence +reserved for man. Besides, we are in the presence of an inscrutable +fact. Of all the letters of that alphabet, Dingo has only chosen these +two: S and V. The others it does not even seem to know. Therefore we +must conclude that, for a reason which escapes us, its attention has +been especially drawn to those two letters." + +"Ah! Captain Hull," replied the young novice, "if Dingo could speak! +Perhaps he would tell us what those two letters signify, and why it has +kept a tooth ready for our head cook." + +"And what a tooth!" replied Captain Hull, as Dingo, opening its mouth, +showed its formidable fangs. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A WHALE IN SIGHT. + + +It will be remembered that this singular incident was made, more than +once, the subject of conversation held in the stern of the "Pilgrim" +between Mrs. Weldon, Captain Hull, and the young novice. The latter, +more particularly, experienced an instinctive mistrust with regard to +Negoro, whose conduct, meanwhile, merited no reproach. + +In the prow they talked of it also, but they did not draw from it the +same conclusions. There, among the ship's crew, Dingo passed merely for +a dog that knew how to read, and perhaps even write, better than more +than one sailor on board. As for talking, if he did not do it, it was +probably for good reasons that he kept silent. + +"But, one of these fine days," says the steersman, Bolton, "one fine +day that dog will come and ask us how we are heading; if the wind is to +the west-north-west-half-north, and we will have to answer him! There +are animals that speak! Well, why should not a dog do as much if he +took it into his head? It is more difficult to talk with a beak than +with a mouth!" + +"No doubt," replied the boatswain, Howik. "Only it has never been +known." + +It would have astonished these brave men to tell them that, on the +contrary, it had been known, and that a certain Danish servant +possessed a dog which pronounced distinctly twenty words. But whether +this animal comprehended what he said was a mystery. Very evidently +this dog, whose glottis was organized in a manner to enable him to emit +regular sounds, attached no more sense to his words than do the +paroquets, parrots, jackdaws, and magpies to theirs. A phrase with +animals is nothing more than a kind of song or spoken cry, borrowed +from a strange language of which they do not know the meaning. + +However that might be, Dingo had become the hero of the deck, of which +fact he took no proud advantage. Several times Captain Hull repeated +the experiment. The wooden cubes of the alphabet were placed before +Dingo, and invariably, without an error, without hesitation, the two +letters, S and V, were chosen from among all by the singular animal, +while the others never attracted his attention. + +As for Cousin Benedict, this experiment was often renewed before him, +without seeming to interest him. + +"Meanwhile," he condescended to say one day, "we must not believe that +the dogs alone have the privilege of being intelligent in this manner. +Other animals equal them, simply in following their instinct. Look at +the rats, who abandon the ship destined to founder at sea; the beavers, +who know how to foresee the rising of the waters, and build their dams +higher in consequence; those horses of Nicomedes, of Scanderberg, and +of Oppien, whose grief was such that they died when their masters did; +those asses, so remarkable for their memory, and many other beasts +which have done honor to the animal kingdom. Have we not seen birds, +marvelously erect, that correctly write words dictated by their +professors; cockatoos that count, as well as a reckoner in the +Longitude Office, the number of persons present in a parlor? Has there +not existed a parrot, worth a hundred gold crowns, that recited the +Apostle's Creed to the cardinal, his master, without missing a word? +Finally, the legitimate pride of an entomologist should be raised to +the highest point, when he sees simple insects give proofs of a +superior intelligence, and affirm eloquently the axiom: + + "'In minimis maximus Deus,' + +those ants which, represent the inspectors of public works in the +largest cities, those aquatic _argyronetes_ which manufacture +diving-bells, without having ever learned the mechanism; those fleas +which draw carriages like veritable coachmen, which go through the +exercise as well as riflemen, which fire off cannon better than the +commissioned artillerymen of West Point? No! this Dingo does not merit +so many eulogies, and if he is so strong on the alphabet, it is, +without doubt, because he belongs to a species of mastiff, not yet +classified in zoological science, the _canis alphabeticus_ of New +Zealand." + +In spite of these discourses and others of the envious entomologist, +Dingo lost nothing in the public estimation, and continued to be +treated as a phenomenon in the conversations of the forecastle. + +All this time, it is probable that Negoro did not share the enthusiasm +of the ship in regard to the animal. Perhaps he found it too +intelligent. However, the dog always showed the same animosity against +the head cook, and, doubtless, would have brought upon itself some +misfortune, if it had not been, for one thing, "a dog to defend +itself," and for another, protected by the sympathy of the whole crew. + +So Negoro avoided coming into Dingo's presence more than ever. But Dick +Sand had observed that since the incident of the two letters, the +reciprocal antipathy between the man and the dog was increased. That +was truly inexplicable. + +On February 10th, the wind from the northeast, which, till then, had +always succeeded those long and overwhelming calms, during which the +"Pilgrim" was stationary, began to abate perceptibly. Captain Hull then +could hope that a change in the direction of the atmospheric currents +was going to take place. Perhaps the schooner would finally sail with +the wind. It was still only nineteen days since her departure from the +port of Auckland. The delay was not yet of much account, and, with a +favorable wind, the "Pilgrim," well rigged, would easily make up for +lost time. But several days must still elapse before the breezes would +blow right from the west. + +This part of the Pacific was always deserted. No vessel showed itself +in these parts. It was a latitude truly forsaken by navigators. The +whalers of the southern seas were not yet prepared to go beyond the +tropic. On the "Pilgrim," which peculiar circumstances had obliged to +leave the fishing grounds before the end of the season, they must not +expect to cross any ship bound for the same destination. + +As to the trans-pacific packet-boats, it has been already said that +they did not follow so high a parallel in their passages between +Australia and the American continent. + +However, even if the sea is deserted, one must not give up observing it +to the extreme limits of the horizon. Monotonous as it may appear to +heedless minds, it is none the less infinitely varied for him who knows +how to comprehend it. Its slightest changes charm the imagination of +one who feels the poetry of the ocean. A marine herb which floats up +and down on the waves, a branch of sargasso whose light track zebras, +the surface of the waters, and end of a board, whose history he would +wish to guess, he would need nothing more. Facing this infinite, the +mind is no longer stopped by anything. Imagination runs riot. Each of +those molecules of water, that evaporation is continually changing from +the sea to the sky, contains perhaps the secret of some catastrophe. +So, those are to be envied, whose inner consciousness knows how to +interrogate the mysteries of the ocean, those spirits who rise from its +moving surface to the heights of heaven. + +Besides, life always manifests itself above as well as below the seas. +The "Pilgrim's" passengers could see flights of birds excited in the +pursuit of the smallest fishes, birds which, before winter, fly from +the cold climate of the poles. And more than once, Dick Sand, a scholar +of Mrs. Weldon's in that branch as in others, gave proofs of marvelous +skill with the gun and pistol, in bringing down some of those +rapid-winged creatures. + +There were white petrels here; there, other petrels, whose wings were +embroidered with brown. Sometimes, also, companies of _damiers_ passed, +or some of those penquins whose gait on land is so heavy and so +ridiculous. However, as Captain Hull remarked, these penquins, using +their stumps like true fins, can challenge the most rapid fishes in +swimming, to such an extent even, that sailors have often confounded +them with bonitoes. + +Higher, gigantic albatrosses beat the air with great strokes, +displaying an extent of ten feet between the extremities of their +wings, and then came to light on the surface of the waters, which they +searched with their beaks to get their food. + +All these scenes made a varied spectacle, that only souls closed to the +charms of nature would have found monotonous. + +That day Mrs. Weldon was walking aft on the "Pilgrim," when a rather +curious phenomenon attracted her attention. The waters of the sea had +become reddish quite suddenly. One might have believed that they had +just been stained with blood; and this inexplicable tinge extended as +far as the eye could reach. + +Dick Sand. was then with little Jack near Mrs. Weldon. + +"Dick," she said to the young novice, "Do you see that singular color +of the waters of the Pacific? Is it due to the presence of a marine +herb?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, "that tinge is produced by +myriads of little crustaceans, which generally serve to nourish the +great mammifers. Fishermen call that, not without reason, 'whales' +food.'" + +"Crustaceans!" said Mrs. Weldon. "But they are so small that we might +almost call them sea insects. Perhaps Cousin Benedict would be very +much enchanted to make a collection of them." Then calling: "Cousin +Benedict!" cried she. + +Cousin Benedict appeared out of the companion-way almost at the same +time as Captain Hull. + +"Cousin Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "see that immense reddish field +which extends as far as we can see." + +"Hold!" said Captain Hull. "That is whales' food. Mr. Benedict, a fine +occasion to study this curious species of crustacea." + +"Phew!" from the entomologist. + +"How--phew!" cried the captain. "But you have no right to profess such +indifference. These crustaceans form one of the six classes of the +articulates, if I am not mistaken, and as such----" + +"Phew!" said Cousin Benedict again, shaking his lead. + +"For instance----I find you passably disdainful for an entomologist!" + +"Entomologist, it may be," replied Cousin Benedict, "but more +particularly hexapodist, Captain Hull, please remember." + +"At all events," replied Captain Hull, "if these crustaceans do not +interest you, it can't be helped; but it would be otherwise if you +possessed a whale's stomach. Then what a regale! Do you see, Mrs. +Weldon, when we whalers, during the fishing season, arrive in sight of +a shoal of these crustaceans, we have only time to prepare our harpoons +and our lines. We are certain that the game is not distant." + +"Is it possible that such little beasts can feed such large ones?" +cried Jack. + +"Ah! my boy," replied Captain Hull, "little grains of vermicelli, of +flour, of fecula powder, do they not make very good porridge? Yes; and +nature has willed that it should be so. When a whale floats in the +midst of these red waters, its soup is served; it has only to open its +immense mouth. Myriads of crustaceans enter it. The numerous plates of +those whalebones with which the animal's palate is furnished serve to +strain like fishermen's nets; nothing can get out of them again, and +the mass of crustaceans is ingulfed in the whale's vast stomach, as the +soup of your dinner in yours." + +"You think right, Jack," observed Dick Sand, "that Madam Whale does not +lose time in picking these crustaceans one by one, as you pick shrimps." + +"I may add," said Captain Hull, "that it is just when the enormous +gourmand is occupied in this way, that it is easiest to approach it +without exciting its suspicion. That is the favorable moment to harpoon +it with some success." + +At that instant, and as if to corroborate Captain Hull, a sailor's +voice was heard from the front of the ship: + +"A whale to larboard!" + +Captain Hull strode up. + +"A whale!" cried he. + +And his fisherman's instinct urging him, he hastened to the "Pilgrim's" +forecastle. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Dick Sand, Cousin Benedict himself, followed him at +once. + +In fact, four miles to windward a certain bubbling indicated that a +huge marine mammifer was moving in the midst of the red waters. Whalers +could not be mistaken in it. But the distance was still too +considerable to make it possible to recognize the species to which this +mammifer belonged. These species, in fact, are quite distinct. + +Was it one of those "right" whales, which the fishermen of the Northern +Ocean seek most particularly? Those cetaceans, which lack the dorsal +fin, but whose skin covers a thick stratum of lard, may attain a length +of eighty feet, though the average does not exceed sixty, and then a +single one of those monsters furnishes as much as a hundred barrels of +oil. + +Was it, on the contrary, a "humpback," belonging to the species of +baloenopters, a designation whose termination should at least gain it +the entomologist's esteem? These possess dorsal fins, white in color, +and as long as half the body, which resemble a pair of wings--something +like a flying whale. + +Had they not in view, more likely, a "finback" mammifer, as well known +by the name "jubarte," which is provided with a dorsal fin, and whose +length may equal that of the "right" whale? + +Captain Hull and his crew could not yet decide, but they regarded the +animal with more desire than admiration. + +If it is true that a clockmaker cannot find himself in a room in the +presence of a clock without experiencing the irresistible wish to wind +it up, how much more must the whaler, before a whale, be seized with +the imperative desire to take possession of it? The hunters of large +game, they say, are more eager than the hunters of small game. Then, +the larger the animal, the more it excites covetousness. Then, how +should hunters of elephants and fishers of whalers feel? And then there +was that disappointment, felt by all the "Pilgrim's" crew, of returning +with an incomplete cargo. + +Meanwhile, Captain Hull tried to distinguish the animal which had been +signaled in the offing. It was not very visible from that distance. +Nevertheless, the trained eye of a whaler could not be deceived in +certain details easier to discern at a distance. + +In fact, the water-spout, that is, that column of vapor and water which +the whale throws back by its rents, would attract Captain Hull's +attention, and fix it on the species to which this cetacean belonged. + +"That is not a 'right' whale," cried he. "Its water-spout would be at +once higher and of a smaller volume. On the other hand, if the noise +made by that spout in escaping could be compared to the distant noise +of a cannon, I should be led to believe that that whale belongs to the +species of 'humpbacks;' but there is nothing of the kind, and, on +listening, we are assured that this noise is of quite a different +nature. What is your opinion on this subject, Dick?" asked Captain +Hull, turning toward the novice. + +"I am ready to believe, captain," replied Dick Sand, "that we have to +do with a jubarte. See how his rents throw that column of liquid +violently into the air. Does it not seem to you also--which would +confirm my idea--that that spout contains more water than condensed +vapor? And, if I am not mistaken, it is a special peculiarity of the +jubarte." + +"In fact, Dick," replied Captain Hull, "there is no longer any doubt +possible! It is a jubarte which floats on the surface of these red +waters." + +"That's fine," cried little Jack. + +"Yes, my boy! and when we think that the great beast is there, in +process of breakfasting, and little suspecting that the whalers are +watching it." + +"I would dare to affirm that it is a jubarte of great size," observed +Dick Sand. + +"Truly," replied Captain Hull, who was gradually becoming more excited. +"I think it is at least seventy feet long!" + +"Good!" added the boatswain. "Half a dozen whales of that size would +suffice to fill a ship as large as ours!" + +"Yes, that would be sufficient," replied Captain Hull, who mounted on +the bowsprit to see better. + +"And with this one," added the boatswain, "we should take on board in a +few hours the half of the two hundred barrels of oil which we lack." + +"Yes!--truly--yes!" murmured Captain Hull. + +"That is true," continued Dick Sand; "but it is sometimes a hard matter +to attack those enormous jubartes!" + +"Very hard, very hard!" returned Captain Hull. "Those baloenopters have +formidable tails, which must not be approached without distrust. The +strongest pirogue would not resist a well-given blow. But, then, the +profit is worth the trouble!" + +"Bah!" said one of the sailors, "a fine jubarte is all the same a fine +capture!" + +"And profitable!" replied another. + +"It would be a pity not to salute this one on the way!" + +It was evident that these brave sailors were growing excited in looking +at the whale. It was a whole cargo of barrels of oil that was floating +within reach of their hands. To hear them, without doubt there was +nothing more to be done, except to stow those barrels in the +"Pilgrim's" hold to complete her lading. Some of the sailors, mounted +on the ratlines of the fore-shrouds, uttered longing cries. Captain +Hull, who no longer spoke, was in a dilemma. There was something there, +like an irresistible magnet, which attracted the "Pilgrim" and all her +crew. + +"Mama, mama!" then cried little Jack, "I should like to have the whale, +to see how it is made." + +"Ah! you wish to have this whale, my boy? Ah! why not, my friends?" +replied Captain Hull, finally yielding to his secret desire. "Our +additional fishermen are lacking, it is true, but we alone----" + +"Yes! yes!" cried the sailors, with a single voice. + +"This will not be the first time that I have followed the trade of +harpooner," added Captain Hull, "and you will see if I still know how +to throw the harpoon!" + +"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" responded the crew. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PREPARATIONS. + + +It will be understood that the sight of this prodigious mammifer was +necessary to produce such excitement on board the "Pilgrim." + +The whale, which floated in the middle of the red waters, appeared +enormous. To capture it, and thus complete the cargo, that was very +tempting. Could fishermen let such an occasion escape them? + +However, Mrs. Weldon believed she ought to ask Captain Hull if it was +not dangerous for his men and for him to attack a whale under those +circumstances. + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. "More than once it has been my +lot to hunt the whale with a single boat, and I have always finished by +taking possession of it. I repeat it, there is no danger for us, nor, +consequently, for yourself." + +Mrs. Weldon, reassured, did not persist. + +Captain Hull at once made his preparations for capturing the jubarte. +He knew by experience that the pursuit of that baloenopter was not free +from difficulties, and he wished to parry all. + +What rendered this capture less easy was that the schooner's crew could +only work by means of a single boat, while the "Pilgrim" possessed a +long-boat, placed on its stocks between the mainmast and the +mizzen-mast, besides three whale-boats, of which two were suspended on +the larboard and starboard pegs, and the third aft, outside the +crown-work. + +Generally these three whale-boats were employed simultaneously in the +pursuit of cetaceans. But during the fishing season, we know, an +additional crew, hired at the stations of New Zealand, came to the +assistance of the "Pilgrim's" sailors. + +Now, in the present circumstances, the "Pilgrim" could only furnish the +five sailors on board--that is, enough to arm a single whale-boat. To +utilize the group of Tom and his friends, who had offered themselves at +once, was impossible. In fact, the working of a fishing pirogue +requires very well trained seamen. A false move of the helm, or a false +stroke of an oar, would be enough to compromise the safety of the +whale-boat during an attack. + +On the other hand, Captain Hull did not wish to leave his ship without +leaving on board at least one man from the crew, in whom he had +confidence. It was necessary to provide for all eventualities. + +Now Captain Hull, obliged to choose strong seamen to man the +whale-boat, was forced to put on Dick Sand the care of guarding the +"Pilgrim." + +"Dick," said he to him, "I shall charge you to remain on board during +my absence, which I hope will be short." + +"Well, sir," replied the young novice. + +Dick Sand would have wished to take part in this fishing, which had a +great attraction for him, but he understood that, for one reason, a +man's arms were worth more than his for service in a whale-boat, and +that for another, he alone could replace Captain Hull. So he was +satisfied. The whale-boat's crew must be composed of the five men, +including the master, Howik, which formed the whole crew of the +"Pilgrim." The four sailors were going to take their places at the +oars, and Howik would hold the stern oar, which serves to guide a boat +of this kind. A simple rudder, in fact, would not have a prompt enough +action, and in case the side oars should be disabled, the stern oar, +well handled, could put the whale-boat beyond the reach of the +monster's blows. + +There was only Captain Hull besides. He had reserved to himself the +post of harpooner, and, as he had said, this would not be his first +attempt. It was he who must first throw the harpoon, then watch the +unrolling of the long line fastened at its end; then, finally finish +the animal with spears, when it should return to the surface of the +ocean. + +Whalers sometimes employ firearms for this kind of fishing. By means of +a special instrument, a sort of small cannon, stationed either on board +the ship or at the front of the boat, they throw either a harpoon, +which draws with it the rope fastened to its end, or explosive balls, +which produce great ravages in the body of the animal. + +But the "Pilgrim" was not furnished with apparatus of this kind. This +was, besides, an instrument of high price, rather difficult to manage, +and fishermen, but little friendly to innovations, seem to prefer the +employment of primitive weapons, which they use skilfully--that is to +say,--the harpoon and spear. + +It was then by the usual method, attacking the whale with the sword, +that Captain Hull was going to attempt to capture the jubarte signaled +five miles from his ship. + +Besides, the weather would favor this expedition. The sea, being very +calm, was propitious for the working of a whale-boat. The wind was +going down, and the "Pilgrim" would only drift in an insensible manner +while her crew were occupied in the offing. + +So the starboard whale-boat was immediately lowered, and the four +sailors went into it. + +Howik passed them two of those long spears which serve as harpoons, +then two long lances with sharp points. To those offensive arms he +added five coils of those strong flexible ropes that the whalers call +"lines," and which measure six hundred feet in length. Less would not +do, for it sometimes happens that these cords, fastened end to end, are +not enough for the "demand," the whale plunges down so deep. + +Such were the different weapons which were carefully disposed in the +front of the boat. + +Howik and the four sailors only waited for the order to let go the rope. + +A single place was vacant in the prow of the whale-boat--that which +Captain Hull would occupy. + +It is needless to say that the "Pilgrim's" crew, before quitting her, +had brought the ship's sails aback. In other words, the yards were +braced in such a manner that the sails, counteracting their action, +kept the vessel almost stationary. + +Just as he was about to embark, Captain Hull gave a last glance at his +ship. He was sure that all was in order, the halliards well turned, the +sails suitably trimmed. As he was leaving the young novice on board +during an absence which might last several hours, he wished, with a +good reason, that unless for some urgent cause, Dick Sand would not +have to execute a single maneuver. + +At the moment of departing he gave the young man some last words of +advice. + +"Dick," said he, "I leave you alone. Watch over everything. If, as is +possible, it should become necessary to get the ship under way, in case +we should be led too far in pursuit of this jubarte, Tom and his +companions could come to your aid perfectly well. After telling them +clearly what they would have to do, I am assured that they would do it." + +"Yes, Captain Hull," replied old Tom, "and Mr. Dick can count on us." + +"Command! command!" cried Bat. "We have such a strong desire to make +ourselves useful." + +"On what must we pull?" asked Hercules, turning up the large sleeves of +his jacket. + +"On nothing just now," replied Dick Sand, smiling. + +"At your service," continued the colossus. + +"Dick," continued Captain Hull, "the weather is beautiful. The wind has +gone down. There is no indication that it will freshen again. Above +all, whatever may happen, do not put a boat to sea, and do not leave +the ship." + +"That is understood." + +"If it should become necessary for the 'Pilgrim' to come to us, I shall +make a signal to you, by hoisting a flag at the end of a boat-hook." + +"Rest assured, captain, I shall not lose sight of the whale-boat," +replied Dick Sand. + +"Good, my boy," replied Captain Hull. "Courage and coolness. Behold +yourself assistant captain. Do honor to your grade. No one has been +such at your age!" + +Dick Sand did not reply, but he blushed while smiling. Captain Hull +understood that blush and that smile. + +"The honest boy!" he said to himself; "modesty and good humor, in +truth, it is just like him!" + +Meanwhile, by these urgent recommendations, it was plain that, even +though there would be no danger in doing it, Captain Hull did not leave +his ship willingly, even for a few hours. But an irresistible +fisherman's instinct, above all, the strong desire to complete his +cargo of oil, and not fall short of the engagements made by James W. +Weldon in Valparaiso, all that told him to attempt the adventure. +Besides, that sea, so fine, was marvelously conducive to the pursuit of +a cetacean. Neither his crew nor he could resist such a temptation. The +fishing cruise would be finally complete, and this last consideration +touched Captain Hull's heart above everything. + +Captain Hull went toward the ladder. + +"I wish you success," said Mrs. Weldon to him. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Weldon." + +"I beg you, do not do too much harm to the poor whale," cried little +Jack. + +"No, my boy," replied Captain Hull. + +"Take it very gently, sir." + +"Yes--with gloves, little Jack." + +"Sometimes," observed Cousin Benedict, "we find rather curious insects +on the back of these large mammals." + +"Well, Mr. Benedict," replied Captain Hull, laughing, "you shall have +the right to 'entomologize' when our jubarte will be alongside of the +'Pilgrim.'" + +Then turning to Tom: + +"Tom, I count on your companions and you," said he, "to assist us in +cutting up the whale, when it is lashed to the ship's hull--which will +not be long." + +"At your disposal, sir," replied the old black. + +"Good!" replied Captain Hull. + +"Dick, these honest men will aid you in preparing the empty barrels. +During our absence they will bring them on deck, and by this means the +work will go fast on our return." + +"That shall be done, captain." + +For the benefit of those who do not know, it is necessary to say that +the jubarte, once dead, must be towed as far as the "Pilgrim," and +firmly lashed to her starboard side. Then the sailors, shod in boots, +with cramp-hooks would take their places on the back of the enormous +cetacean, and cut it up methodically in parallel bands marked off from +the head to the tail. These bands would be then cut across in slices of +a foot and a half, then divided into pieces, which, after being stowed +in the barrels, would be sent to the bottom of the hold. + +Generally the whaling ship, when the fishing is over, manages to land +as soon as possible, so as to finish her manipulations. The crew lands, +and then proceeds to melt the lard, which, under the action of the +heat, gives up all its useful part--that is, the oil. In this +operation, the whale's lard weighs about a third of its weight. + +But, under present circumstances, Captain Hull could not dream of +putting back to finish that operation. He only counted on melting this +quantity of lard at Valparaiso. Besides, with winds which could not +fail to hail from the west, he hoped to make the American coast before +twenty days, and that lapse of time could not compromise the results of +his fishing. + +The moment for setting out had come. Before the "Pilgrim's" sails had +been brought aback, she had drawn a little nearer to the place where +the jubarte continued to signal its presence by jets of vapor and water. + +The jubarte was all this time swimming in the middle of the vast red +field of crustaceans, opening its large mouth automatically, and +absorbing at each draught myriads of animalcules. + +According to the experienced ones on board, there was no fear that the +whale dreamt of escaping. It was, doubtless, what the whalers call a +"fighting" whale. + +Captain Hull strode over the netting, and, descending the rope ladder, +he reached the prow of the whale-boat. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Cousin Benedict, Tom, and his companions, for a last +time wished the captain success. + +Dingo itself, rising on its paws and passing its head above the +railing, seemed to wish to say good-by to the crew. + +Then all returned to the prow, so as to lose none of the very +attractive movements of such a fishing. + +The whale-boat put off, and, under the impetus of its four oars, +vigorously handled, it began to distance itself from the "Pilgrim." + +"Watch well, Dick, watch well!" cried Captain Hull to the young novice +for the last time. + +"Count on me, sir." + +"One eye for the ship, one eye for the whale-boat, my boy. Do not +forget it." + +"That shall be done, captain," replied Dick Sand, who went to take his +place near the helm. + +Already the light boat was several hundred feet from the ship. Captain +Hull, standing at the prow, no longer able to make himself heard, +renewed his injunctions by the most expressive gestures. + +It was then that Dingo, its paws still resting on the railing, gave a +sort of lamentable bark, which would have an unfavorable effect upon +men somewhat given to superstition. + +That bark even made Mrs. Weldon shudder. + +"Dingo," said she, "Dingo, is that the way you encourage your friends? +Come, now, a fine bark, very clear, very sonorous, very joyful." + +But the dog barked no more, and, letting itself fall back on its paws, +it came slowly to Mrs. Weldon, whose hand it licked affectionately. + +"It does not wag its tail," murmured Tom in a low tone. "Bad sign--bad +sign." + +But almost at once Dingo stood up, and a howl of anger escaped it. + +Mrs. Weldon turned round. + +Negoro had just left his quarters, and was going toward the forecastle, +with the intention, no doubt, of looking for himself at the movements +of the whale-boat. + +Dingo rushed at the head cook, a prey to the strongest as well as to +the most inexplicable fury. + +Negoro seized a hand-spike and took an attitude of defense. + +The dog was going to spring at his throat. + +"Here, Dingo, here!" cried Dick Sand, who, leaving his post of +observation for an instant, ran to the prow of the ship. + +Mrs. Weldon on her side, sought to calm the dog. + +Dingo obeyed, not without repugnance, and returned to the young novice, +growling secretly. + +Negoro had not pronounced a single word, but his face had grown pale +for a moment. Letting go of his hand-spike, he regained his cabin. + +"Hercules," then said Dick Sand, "I charge you especially to watch over +that man." + +"I shall watch," simply replied Hercules, clenching his two enormous +fists in sign of assent. + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand then turned their eyes again on the +whale-boat, which the four oarsmen bore rapidly away. + +It was nothing but a speck on the sea. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE JUBARTE. + + +Captain Hull, an experienced whaler, would leave nothing to chance. The +capture of a jubarte is a difficult thing. No precaution ought to be +neglected. None was in this case. + +And, first of all, Captain Hull sailed so as to come up to the whale on +the leeward, so that no noise might disclose the boat's approach. + +Howik then steered the whale-boat, following the rather elongated curve +of that reddish shoal, in the midst of which floated the jubarte. They +would thus turn the curve. + +The boatswain, set over this work, was a seaman of great coolness, who +inspired Captain Hull with every confidence. He had not to fear either +hesitation or distraction from Howik. + +"Attention to the steering, Howik," said Captain Hull. "We are going to +try to surprise the jubarte. We will only show ourselves when we are +near enough to harpoon it." + +"That is understood, sir," replied the boatswain. + +"I am going to follow the contour of these reddish waters, so as to +keep to the leeward." + +"Good!" said Captain Hull. "Boys, as little noise as possible in +rowing." + +The oars, carefully muffled with straw, worked silently. The boat, +skilfully steered by the boatswain, had reached the large shoal of +crustaceans. The starboard oars still sank in the green and limpid +water, while those to larboard, raising the reddish liquid, seemed to +rain drops of blood. + +"Wine and water!" said one of the sailors. + +"Yes," replied Captain Hull, "but water that we cannot drink, and wine +that we cannot swallow. Come, boys, let us not speak any more, and +heave closer!" + +The whale-boat, steered by the boatswain, glided noiselessly on the +surface of those half-greased waters, as if it were floating on a bed +of oil. + +The jubarte did not budge, and did not seem to have yet perceived the +boat, which described a circle around it. + +Captain Hull, in making the circuit, necessarily went farther than the +"Pilgrim," which gradually grew smaller in the distance. This rapidity +with which objects diminish at sea has always an odd effect. It seems +as if we look at them shortened through the large end of a telescope. +This optical illusion evidently takes place because there are no points +of comparison on these large spaces. It was thus with the "Pilgrim," +which decreased to the eye and seemed already much more distant than +she really was. + +Half an hour after leaving her, Captain Hull and his companions found +themselves exactly to the leeward of the whale, so that the latter +occupied an intermediate point between the ship and the boat. + +So the moment had come to approach, while making as little noise as +possible. It was not impossible for them to get beside the animal and +harpoon it at good range, before its attention would be attracted. + +"Row more slowly, boys," said Captain Hull, in a low voice. + +"It seems to me," replied Howik, "that the gudgeon suspects something. +It breathes less violently than it did just now!" + +"Silence! silence!" repeated Captain Hull. + +Five minutes later the whale-boat was at a cable's length from the +jubarte. A cable's length, a measure peculiar to the sea, comprises a +length of one hundred and twenty fathoms, that is to say, two hundred +meters. + +The boatswain, standing aft, steered in such a manner as to approach +the left side of the mammal, but avoiding, with the greatest care, +passing within reach of the formidable tail, a single blow of which +would be enough to crush the boat. + +At the prow Captain Hull, his legs a little apart to maintain his +equilibrium, held the weapon with which he was going to give the first +blow. They could count on his skill to fix that harpoon in the thick +mass which emerged from the waters. + +Near the captain, in a pail, was coiled the first of the five lines, +firmly fastened to the harpoon, and to which they would successively +join the other four if the whale plunged to great depths. + +"Are we ready, boys?" murmured Captain Hull. + +"Yes," replied Howik, grasping his oar firmly in his large hands. + +"Alongside! alongside!" + +The boatswain obeyed the order, and the whale-boat came within less +than ten feet of the animal. + +The latter no longer moved, and seemed asleep. + +Whales thus surprised while asleep offer an easier prize, and it often +happens that the first blow which is given wounds them mortally. + +"This immovableness is quite astonishing!" thought Captain Hull. "The +rascal ought not to be asleep, and nevertheless----there is something +there!" + +The boatswain thought the same, and he tried to see the opposite side +of the animal. + +But it was not the moment to reflect, but to attack. + +Captain Hull, holding his harpoon by the middle of the handle, balanced +it several times, to make sure of good aim, while he examined the +jubarte's side. Then he threw it with all the strength of his arm. + +"Back, back!" cried he at once. + +And the sailors, pulling together, made the boat recoil rapidly, with +the intention of prudently putting it in safety from the blows of the +cetacean's tail. + +But at that moment a cry from the boatswain made them understand why +the whale was so extraordinarily motionless for so long a time on the +surface of the sea. + +"A young whale!" said he. + +In fact, the jubarte, after having been struck by the harpoon, was +almost entirely overturned on the side, thus discovering a young whale, +which she was in process of suckling. + +This circumstance, as Captain Hull well knew, would render the capture +of the jubarte much more difficult. The mother was evidently going to +defend herself with greater fury, as much for herself as to protect her +"little one "--if, indeed, we can apply that epithet to an animal which +did not measure less than twenty feet. + +Meanwhile, the jubarte did not rush at the boat, as there was reason to +fear, and there was no necessity, before taking flight, to quickly cut +the line which connected the boat with the harpoon. On the contrary, +and as generally happens, the whale, followed by the young one, dived, +at first in a very oblique line; then rising again with an immense +bound, she commenced to cleave the waters with extreme rapidity. + +But before she had made her first plunge, Captain Hull and the +boatswain, both standing, had had time to see her, and consequently to +estimate her at her true value. + +This jubarte was, in reality, a whale of the largest size. From the +head to the tail, she measured at least eighty feet. Her skin, of a +yellowish brown, was much varied with numerous spots of a darker brown. + +It would indeed be a pity, after an attack so happily begun, to be +under the necessity of abandoning so rich a prey. + +The pursuit, or rather the towing, had commenced. The whale-boat, whose +oars had been raised, darted like an arrow while swinging on the tops +of the waves. + +Howik kept it steady, notwithstanding those rapid and frightful +oscillations. Captain Hull, his eye on his prey, did not cease making +his eternal refrain: + +"Be watchful, Howik, be watchful!" + +And they could be sure that the boatswain's vigilance would not be at +fault for an instant. + +Meanwhile, as the whale-boat did not fly nearly as fast as the whale, +the line of the harpoon spun out with such rapidity that it was to be +feared that it would take fire in rubbing against the edge of the +whale-boat. So Captain Hull took care to keep it damp, by filling with +water the pail at the bottom of which the line was coiled. + +All this time the jubarte did not seem inclined to stop her flight, nor +willing to moderate it. The second line was then lashed to the end of +the first, and it was not long before it was played out with the same +velocity. + +At the end of five minutes it was necessary to join on the third line, +which ran off under the water. + +The jubarte did not stop. The harpoon had evidently not penetrated into +any vital part of the body. They could even observe, by the increased +obliquity of the line, that the animal, instead of returning to the +surface, was sinking into lower depths. + +"The devil!" cried Captain Hull, "but that rascal will use up our five +lines!" + +"And lead us to a good distance from the 'Pilgrim,'" replied the +boatswain. + +"Nevertheless, she must return to the surface to breathe," replied +Captain Hull. "She is not a fish, and she must have the provision of +air like a common individual." + +"She has held her breath to run better," said one of the sailors, +laughing. + +In fact, the line was unrolling all the time with equal rapidity. + +To the third line, it was soon necessary to join the fourth, and that +was not done without making the sailors somewhat anxious touching their +future part of the prize. + +"The devil! the devil!" murmured Captain Hull. "I have never seen +anything like that! Devilish jubarte!" + +Finally the fifth line had to be let out, and it was already half +unrolled when it seemed to slacken. + +"Good! good!" cried Captain Hull. "The line is less stiff. The jubarte +is getting tired." + +At that moment, the "Pilgrim" was more than five miles to the leeward +of the whale-boat. Captain Hull, hoisting a flag at the end of a +boat-hook, gave the signal to come nearer. + +And almost at once, he could see that Dick Sand, aided by Tom and his +companions, commenced to brace the yards in such a manner as to trim +them close to the wind. + +But the breeze was feeble and irregular. It only came in short puffs. +Most certainly, the "Pilgrim" would have some trouble in joining the +whale-boat, if indeed she could reach it. Meanwhile, as they had +foreseen, the jubarte had returned to the surface of the water to +breathe, with the harpoon fixed in her side all the time. She then +remained almost motionless, seeming to wait for her young whale, which +this furious course must have left behind. + +Captain Hull made use of the oars so as to join her again, and soon he +was only a short distance from her. + +Two oars were laid down and two sailors armed themselves, as the +captain had done, with long lances, intended to strike the enemy. + +Howik worked skilfully then, and held himself ready to make the boat +turn rapidly, in case the whale should turn suddenly on it. + +"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "Do not lose a blow! Aim well, boys! +Are we ready, Howik?" + +"I am prepared, sir," replied the boatswain, "but one thing troubles +me. It is that the beast, after having fled so rapidly, is very quiet +now." + +"In fact, Howik, that seems to me suspicious. Let us be careful!" + +"Yes, but let us go forward." + +Captain Hull grew more and more animated. + +The boat drew still nearer. The jubarte only turned in her place. Her +young one was no longer near her; perhaps she was trying to find it +again. + +Suddenly she made a movement with her tail, which took her thirty feet +away. + +Was she then going to take flight again, and must they take up this +interminable pursuit again on the surface of the waters? + +"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "The beast is going to take a spring +and throw herself on us. Steer, Howik, steer!" + +The jubarte, in fact, had turned in such a manner as to present herself +in front of the whale-boat. Then, beating the sea violently with her +enormous fins, she rushed forward. + +The boatswain, who expected this direct blow, turned in such a fashion +that the jubarte passed by the boat, but without reaching it. + +Captain Hull and the two sailors gave her three vigorous thrusts on the +passage, seeking to strike some vital organ. + +The jubarte stopped, and, throwing to a great height two columns of +water mingled with blood, she turned anew on the boat, bounding, so to +say, in a manner frightful to witness. + +These seamen must have been expert fishermen, not to lose their +presence of mind on this occasion. + +Howik again skilfully avoided the jubarte's attack, by darting the boat +aside. + +Three new blows, well aimed, again gave the animal three new wounds. +But, in passing, she struck the water so roughly with her formidable +tail, that an enormous wave arose, as if the sea were suddenly opened. + +The whale-boat almost capsized, and, the water rushing in over the +side, it was half filled. + +"The bucket, the bucket!" cried Captain Hull. + +The two sailors, letting go their oars, began to bale out the boat +rapidly, while the captain cut the line, now become useless. + +No! the animal, rendered furious by grief, no longer dreamt of flight. +It was her turn to attack, and her agony threatened to be terrible. + +A third time she turned round, "head to head," a seaman would say, and +threw herself anew on the boat. + +But the whale-boat, half full of water, could no longer move with the +same facility. In this condition, how could it avoid the shock which +threatened it? If it could be no longer steered, there was still less +power to escape. + +And besides, no matter how quickly the boat might be propelled, the +swift jubarte would have always overtaken it with a few bounds. It was +no longer a question of attack, but of defense. + +Captain Hull understood it all. + +The third attack of the animal could not be entirely kept off. In +passing she grazed the whale-boat with her enormous dorsal fin, but +with so much force that Howik was thrown down from his bench. + +The three lances, unfortunately affected by the oscillation, this time +missed their aim. + +"Howik! Howik!" cried Captain Hull, who himself had been hardly able to +keep his place. + +"Present!" replied the boatswain, as he got up. But he then perceived +that in his fall his stern oar had broken in the middle. + +"Another oar!" said Captain Hull. + +"I have one," replied Howik. + +At that moment, a bubbling took place under the waters only a few +fathoms from the boat. + +The young whale had just reappeared. The jubarte saw it, and rushed +towards it. + +This circumstance could only give a more terrible character to the +contest. The whale was going to fight for two. + +Captain Hull looked toward the "Pilgrim." His hand shook the boat-hook, +which bore the flag, frantically. + +What could Dick Sand do that had not been already done at the first +signal from the captain? The "Pilgrim's" sails were trimmed, and the +wind commenced to fill them. Unhappily the schooner did not possess a +helix, by which the action could be increased to sail faster. + +To lower one of the boats, and, with the aid of the blacks, row to the +assistance of the captain, would be a considerable loss of time; +besides, the novice had orders not to quit the ship, no matter what +happened. However, he had the stern-boat lowered from its pegs, and +towed it along, so that the captain and his companions might take +refuge in it, in case of need. + +At that moment the jubarte, covering the young whale with her body, had +returned to the charge. This time she turned in such a manner as to +reach the boat exactly. + +"Attention, Howik!" cried Captain Hull, for the last time. + +But the boatswain was, so to speak, disarmed. Instead of a lever, whose +length gave force, he only held in his hand an oar relatively short. He +tried to put about; it was impossible. + +The sailors knew that they were lost. All rose, giving a terrible cry, +which was perhaps heard on the "Pilgrim." + +A terrible blow from the monster's tail had just struck the whale-boat +underneath. The boat, thrown into the air with irresistible violence, +fell back, broken in three pieces, in the midst of waves furiously +lashed by the whale's bounds. + +The unfortunate sailors, although grievously wounded, would have had, +perhaps, the strength to keep up still, either by swimming or by +hanging on to some of the floating wreck. That is what Captain Hull +did, for he was seen for a moment hoisting the boatswain on a wreck. + +But the jubarte, in the last degree of fury, turned round, sprang up, +perhaps in the last pangs of a terrible agony, and with her tail she +beat the troubled waters frightfully, where the unfortunate sailors +were still swimming. + +For some minutes one saw nothing but a liquid water-spout scattering +itself in sheafs on all sides. + +A quarter of an hour after, when Dick Sand, who, followed by the +blacks, had rushed into the boat, had reached the scene of the +catastrophe, every living creature had disappeared. There was nothing +left but some pieces of the whale-boat on the surface of the waters, +red with blood. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CAPTAIN SAND. + + +The first impression felt by the passengers of the "Pilgrim" in +presence of this terrible catastrophe was a combination of pity and +horror. They only thought of this frightful death of Captain Hull and +the five sailors. This fearful scene had just taken place almost under +their eyes, while they could do nothing to save the poor men. They had +not even been able to arrive in time to pick up the whale-boat's crew, +their unfortunate companions, wounded, but still living, and to oppose +the "Pilgrim's" hull to the jubarte's formidable blows. Captain Hull +and his men had forever disappeared. + +When the schooner arrived at the fatal place, Mrs. Weldon fell on her +knees, her hands raised toward Heaven. + +"Let us pray!" said the pious woman. + +She was joined by her little Jack, who threw himself on his knees, +weeping, near his mother. The poor child understood it all. Dick Sand, +Nan, Tom, and the other blacks remained standing, their heads bowed. +All repeated the prayer that Mrs. Weldon addressed to God, recommending +to His infinite goodness those who had just appeared before Him. + +Then Mrs. Weldon, turning to her companions, "And now, my friends," +said she, "let us ask Heaven for strength and courage for ourselves." + +Yes! They could not too earnestly implore the aid of Him who can do all +things, for their situation was one of the gravest! + +This ship which carried them had no longer a captain to command her, no +longer a crew to work her. She was in the middle of that immense +Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from any land, at the mercy of the +winds and waves. + +What fatality then had brought that whale in the "Pilgrim's" course? +What still greater fatality had urged the unfortunate Captain Hull, +generally so wise, to risk everything in order to complete his cargo? +And what a catastrophe to count among the rarest of the annals of +whale-fishing was this one, which did not allow of the saving of one of +the whale-boat's sailors! + +Yes, it was a terrible fatality! In fact, there was no longer a seaman +on board the "Pilgrim." Yes, one--Dick Sand--and he was only a +beginner, a young man of fifteen. Captain, boatswain, sailors, it may +be said that the whole crew was now concentrated in him. + +On board there was one lady passenger, a mother and her son, whose +presence would render the situation much more difficult. Then there +were also some blacks, honest men, courageous and zealous without a +doubt, ready to obey whoever should undertake to command them, but +ignorant of the simplest notions of the sailor's craft. + +Dick Sand stood motionless, his arms crossed, looking at the place +where Captain Hull had just been swallowed up--Captain Hull, his +protector, for whom he felt a filial affection. Then his eyes searched +the horizon, seeking to discover some ship, from which he would demand +aid and assistance, to which he might be able at least to confide Mrs. +Weldon. He would not abandon the "Pilgrim," no, indeed, without having +tried his best to bring her into port. But Mrs. Weldon and her little +boy would be in safety. He would have had nothing more to fear for +those two beings, to whom he was devoted body and soul. + +The ocean was deserted. Since the disappearance of the jubarte, not a +speck came to alter the surface. All was sky and water around the +"Pilgrim." The young novice knew only too well that he was beyond the +routes followed by the ships of commerce, and that the other whalers +were cruising still farther away at the fishing-grounds. + +However, the question was, to look the situation in the face, to see +things as they were. That is what Dick Sand did, asking God, from the +depths of his heart, for aid and succor. What resolution was he going +to take? + +At that moment Negoro appeared on the deck, which he had left after the +catastrophe. What had been felt in the presence of this irreparable +misfortune by a being so enigmatical, no one could tell. He had +contemplated the disaster without making a gesture, without departing +from his speechlessness. His eye had evidently seized all the details +of it. But if at such a moment one could think of observing him, he +would be astonished at least, because not a muscle of his impassible +face had moved. At any rate, and as if he had not heard it, he had not +responded to the pious appeal of Mrs. Weldon, praying for the engulfed +crew. Negoro walked aft, there even where Dick Sand was standing +motionless. He stopped three steps from the novice. + +"You wish to speak to me?" asked Dick Sand. + +"I wish to speak to Captain Hull," replied Negoro, coolly, "or, in his +absence, to boatswain Howik." + +"You know well that both have perished!" cried the novice. + +"Then who commands on board now?" asked Negoro, very insolently. + +"I," replied Dick Sand, without hesitation. + +"You!" said Negoro, shrugging his shoulders. "A captain of fifteen +years?" + +"A captain of fifteen years!" replied the novice, advancing toward the +cook. + +The latter drew back. + +"Do not forget it," then said Mrs. Weldon. "There is but one captain +here--Captain Sand, and it is well for all to remember that he will +know how to make himself obeyed." + +Negoro bowed, murmuring in an ironical tone a few words that they could +not understand, and he returned to his post. + +We see, Dick's resolution was taken. + +Meanwhile the schooner, under the action of the breeze, which commenced +to freshen, had already passed beyond the vast shoal of crustaceans. + +Dick Sand examined the condition of the sails; then his eyes were cast +on the deck. He had then this sentiment, that, if a frightful +responsibility fell upon him in the future, it was for him to have the +strength to accept it. He dared to look at the survivors of the +"Pilgrim," whose eyes were now fixed on him. And, reading in their +faces that he could count on them, he said to them in two words, that +they could in their turn count on him. + +Dick Sand had, in all sincerity, examined his conscience. + +If he was capable of taking in or setting the sails of the schooner, +according to circumstances, by employing the arms of Tom and his +companions, he evidently did not yet possess all the knowledge +necessary to determine his position by calculation. + +In four or five years more, Dick Sand would know thoroughly that +beautiful and difficult sailor's craft. He would know how to use the +sextant--that instrument which Captain Hull's hand had held every day, +and which gave him the height of the stars. He would read on the +chronometer the hour of the meridian of Greenwich, and from it would be +able to deduce the longitude by the hour angle. The sun would be made +his counselor each day. The moon--the planets would say to him, "There, +on that point of the ocean, is thy ship!" That firmament, on which the +stars move like the hands of a perfect clock, which nothing shakes nor +can derange, and whose accuracy is absolute--that firmament would tell +him the hours and the distances. By astronomical observations he would +know, as his captain had known every day, nearly to a mile, the place +occupied by the "Pilgrim," and the course followed as well as the +course to follow. + +And now, by reckoning, that is by the progress measured on the log, +pointed out by the compass, and corrected by the drift, he must alone +ask his way. + +However, he did not falter. + +Mrs. Weldon understood all that was passing in the young novice's +resolute heart. + +"Thank you, Dick," she said to him, in a voice which did not tremble. +"Captain Hull is no more. All his crew have perished with him. The fate +of the ship is in your hands! Dick, you will save the ship and those on +board!" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, "yes! I shall attempt it, with +the aid of God!" + +"Tom and his companions are honest men on whom you can depend entirely." + +"I know it, and I shall make sailors of them, and we shall work +together. With fine weather that will be easy. With bad weather--well, +with bad weather, we shall strive, and we shall save you yet, Mrs. +Weldon--you and your little Jack, both! Yes, I feel that I shall do it." + +And he repeated: + +"With the aid of God!" + +"Now, Dick, can you tell where the 'Pilgrim' is?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Easily," replied the novice. "I have only to consult the chart on +board, on which her position was marked yesterday by Captain Hull." + +"And will you be able to put the ship in the right direction?" + +"Yes, I shall be able to put her prow to the east, nearly at the point +of the American coast that we must reach." + +"But, Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "you well understand, do you not, +that this catastrophe may, and indeed must, modify our first projects? +It is no longer a question of taking the 'Pilgrim' to Valparaiso. The +nearest port of the American coast is now her port of destination." + +"Certainly, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "So fear nothing! We +cannot fail to reach that American coast which stretches so far to the +south." + +"Where is it situated?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"There, in that direction," replied Dick Sand, pointing to the east, +which he knew by means of the compass. + +"Well, Dick, we may reach Valparaiso, or any other part of the coast. +What matter? What we want is to land." + +"And we shall do it, Mrs. Weldon, and I shall land you on a good +place," replied the young man, in a firm voice. "Besides, in standing +in for the land, I do not renounce the hope of encountering some of +those vessels which do the coasting trade on that shore. Ah! Mrs. +Weldon, the wind begins to blow steadily from the northwest! God grant +that it may keep on; we shall make progress, and good progress. We +shall drive in the offing with all our sails set, from the brigantine +to the flying-jib!" + +Dick Sand had spoken with the confidence of the seaman, who feels that +he stands on a good ship, a ship of whose every movement he is master. +He was going to take the helm and call his companions to set the sails +properly, when Mrs. Weldon reminded him that he ought first to know the +"Pilgrim's" position. + +It was, indeed, the first thing to do. Dick Sand went into the +captain's cabin for the chart on which the position of the day before +was indicated. He could then show Mrs. Weldon that the schooner was in +latitude 43 deg. 35', and in longitude 164 deg. 13', for, in the last +twenty-four hours, she had not, so to say, made any progress. + +Mrs. Weldon leaned over this chart. She looked at the brown color which +represented the land on the right of the ocean. It was the coast of +South America, an immense barrier thrown between the Pacific and the +Atlantic from Cape Horn to the shores of Columbia. To consider it in +that way, that chart, which, was then spread out under her eyes, on +which was drawn a whole ocean, gave the impression that it would be +easy to restore the "Pilgrim's" passengers to their country. It is an +illusion which is invariably produced on one who is not familiar with +the scale on which marine charts are drawn. And, in fact, it seemed to +Mrs. Weldon that the land ought to be in sight, as it was on that piece +of paper! + +And, meanwhile, on that white page, the "Pilgrim" drawn on an exact +scale, would be smaller than the most microscopic of infusoria! That +mathematical point, without appreciable dimensions, would appear lost, +as it was in reality in the immensity of the Pacific! + +Dick Sand himself had not experienced the same impression as Mrs. +Weldon. He knew how far off the land was, and that many hundreds of +miles would not suffice to measure the distance from it. But he had +taken his part; he had become a man under the responsibility which had +fallen upon him. + +The moment to act had come. He must profit by this northwest breeze +which was blowing up. Contrary winds had given place to favorable +winds, and some clouds scattered in the zenith under the cirrous form, +indicated that they would blow steadily for at least a certain time. + +Dick called Tom and his companions. + +"My friends," he said to them, "our ship has no longer any crew but +you. I cannot work without your aid. You are not sailors, but you have +good arms. Place them, then, at the 'Pilgrim's' service and we can +steer her. Every one's salvation depends on the good work of every one +on board." + +"Mr. Dick," replied Tom, "my companions and I, we are your sailors. Our +good will shall not be wanting. All that men can do, commanded by you, +we shall do it." + +"Well spoken, old Tom," said Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, well spoken," continued Dick Sand; "but we must be prudent, and I +shall not carry too much canvas, so as not to run any risk. +Circumstances require a little less speed, but more security. I will +show you, my friends, what each will have to do in the work. As to me, +I shall remain at the helm, as long as fatigue does not oblige me to +leave it. From time to time a few hours' sleep will be sufficient to +restore me. But, during those few hours, it will be very necessary for +one of you to take my place. Tom, I shall show you how we steer by +means of the mariner's compass. It is not difficult, and, with a little +attention, you will soon learn to keep the ship's head in the right +direction." + +"Whenever you like, Mr. Dick," replied the old black. + +"Well," replied the novice, "stay near me at the helm till the end of +the day, and if fatigue overcomes me, you will then be able to replace +me for a few hours." + +"And I," said little Jack, "will I not be able to help my friend, Dick, +a little?" + +"Yes, dear child," replied Mrs. Weldon, clasping Jack in her arms, "you +shall learn to steer, and I am sure that while you are at the helm we +shall have good winds." + +"Very sure--very sure. Mother, I promise it to you," replied the little +boy, clapping his hands. + +"Yes," said the young novice, smiling, "good cabin-boys know how to +maintain good winds. That is well known by old sailors." Then, +addressing Tom, and the other blacks: "My friends," he said to them, +"we are going to put the 'Pilgrim' under full sail. You will only have +to do what I shall tell you." + +"At your orders," replied Tom, "at your orders, Captain Sand." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE FOUR DAYS WHICH FOLLOW. + + +Dick Sand was then captain of the "Pilgrim," and, without losing an +instant, he took the necessary measures for putting the ship under full +sail. + +It was well understood that the passengers could have only one +hope--that of reaching some part of the American coast, if not +Valparaiso. What Dick Sand counted on doing was to ascertain the +direction and speed of the "Pilgrim," so as to get an average. For +that, it was sufficient to make each day on the chart the way made, as +it has been said, by the log and the compass. There was then on board +one of those "patent logs," with an index and helix, which give the +speed very exactly for a fixed time. This useful instrument, very +easily handled, could render the most useful services, and the blacks +were perfectly adapted to work it. + +A single cause of error would interfere--the currents. To combat it, +reckoning would be insufficient; astronomical observations alone would +enable one to render an exact calculation from it. Now, those +observations the young novice was still unable to make. + +For an instant Dick Sand had thought of bringing the "Pilgrim" back to +New Zealand. The passage would be shorter, and he would certainly have +done it if the wind, which, till then, had been contrary, had not +become favorable. Better worth while then to steer for America. + +In fact, the wind had changed almost to the contrary direction, and now +it blew from the northwest with a tendency to freshen. It was then +necessary to profit by it and make all the headway possible. + +So Dick Sand prepared to put the "Pilgrim" under full sail. + +In a schooner brig-rigged, the foremast carries four square sails; the +foresail, on the lower mast; above, the top-sail, on the topmast; +then, on the top-gallant mast, a top-sail and a royal. + +The mainmast, on the contrary, has fewer sails. It only carries a +brigantine below, and a fore-staffsail above. Between these two masts, +on the stays which support them at the prow, a triple row of triangular +sails may be set. + +Finally, at the prow, on the bowsprit, and its extreme end, were hauled +the three jibs. + +The jibs, the brigantine, the fore-staff, and the stay-sails are easily +managed. They can be hoisted from the deck without the necessity of +climbing the masts, because they are not fastened on the yards by means +of rope-bands, which must be previously loosened. + +On the contrary, the working of the foremast sails demands much greater +proficiency in seamanship. In fact, when it is necessary to set them, +the sailors must climb by the rigging--it may be in the foretop, it +may be on the spars of the top-gallant mast, it may be to the top of +the said mast--and that, as well in letting them fly as in drawing them +in to diminish their surface in reefing them. Thence the necessity of +running out on foot-ropes--movable ropes stretched below the yards--of +working with one hand while holding on by the other--perilous work for +any one who is not used to it. The oscillation from the rolling and +pitching of the ship, very much increased by the length of the lever, +the flapping of the sails under a stiff breeze, have often sent a man +overboard. It was then a truly dangerous operation for Tom and his +companions. + +Very fortunately, the wind was moderate. The sea had not yet had time +to become rough. The rolling and pitching kept within bounds. + +When Dick Sand, at Captain Hull's signal, had steered toward the scene +of the catastrophe, the "Pilgrim" only carried her jibs, her +brigantine, her foresail, and her top-sail. To get the ship under way +as quickly as possible, the novice had only to make use of, that is, to +counter-brace, the foresail. The blacks had easily helped him in that +maneuver. + +The question now was to get under full sail, and, to complete the +sails, to hoist the top-sails, the royal, the fore-staff, and the +stay-sails. + +"My friends," said the novice to the five blacks, "do as I tell you, +and all will go right." + +Dick Sand was standing at the wheel of the helm. + +"Go!" cried he. "Tom, let go that rope quickly!" + +"Let go?" said Tom, who did not understand that expression. + +"Yes, loosen it! Now you, Bat--the same thing! Good! Heave--haul taut. +Let us see, pull it in!" + +"Like that?" said Bat. + +"Yes, like that. Very good. Come, Hercules--strong. A good pull there!" + +To say "strong" to Hercules was, perhaps, imprudent. The giant of +course gave a pull that brought down the rope. + +"Oh! not so strong, my honest fellow!" cried Dick Sand, smiling. "You +are going to bring down the masts!" + +"I have hardly pulled," replied Hercules. + +"Well, only make believe! You will see that that will be enough! Well, +slacken--cast off! Make fast--Make fast--like that! Good! All together! +Heave--pull on the braces." + +And the whole breadth of the foremast, whose larboard braces had been +loosened, turned slowly. The wind then swelling the sails imparted a +certain speed to the ship. + +Dick Sand then had the jib sheet-ropes loosened. Then he called the +blacks aft: + +"Behold what is done, my friends, and well done. Now let us attend to +the mainmast. But break nothing, Hercules." + +"I shall try," replied the colossus, without being willing to promise +more. + +This second operation was quite easy. The main-boom sheet-rope having +been let go gently, the brigantine took the wind more regularly, and +added its powerful action to that of the forward sails. + +The fore-staff was then set above the brigantine, and, as it is simply +brailed up, there was nothing to do but bear on the rope, to haul +aboard, then to secure it. But Hercules pulled so hard, along with his +friend Acteon, without counting little Jack, who had joined them, that +the rope broke off. + +All three fell backwards--happily, without hurting themselves. Jack was +enchanted. + +"That's nothing! that's nothing!" cried the novice. "Fasten the two +ends together for this time and hoist softly!" + +That was done under Dick Sand's eyes, while he had not yet left the +helm. The "Pilgrim" was already sailing rapidly, headed to the east, +and there was nothing more to be done but keep it in that direction. +Nothing easier, because the wind was favorable, and lurches were not to +be feared. + +"Good, my friends!" said the novice. "You will be good sailors before +the end of the voyage!" + +"We shall do our best, Captain Sand," replied Tom. + +Mrs. Weldon also complimented those honest men. + +Little Jack himself received his share of praise, for he had worked +bravely. + +"Indeed, I believe, Mr. Jack," said Hercules, smiling, "that it was you +who broke the rope. What a good little fist you have. Without you we +should have done nothing right." + +And little Jack, very proud of himself, shook his friend Hercules' hand +vigorously. + +The setting of the "Pilgrim's" sails was not yet complete. She still +lacked those top-sails whose action is not to be despised under this +full-sail movement. Top-sail, royal, stay-sails, would add sensibly to +the schooner's speed, and Dick Sand resolved to set them. + +This operation would be more difficult than the others, not for the +stay-sails, which could be hoisted, hauled aboard and fastened from +below, but for the cross-jacks of the foremast. It was necessary to +climb to the spars to let them out, and Dick Sand, not wishing to +expose any one of his improvised crew, undertook to do it himself. + +He then called Tom and put him at the wheel, showing him how he should +keep the ship. Then Hercules, Bat, Acteon and Austin being placed, some +at the royal halyards, others at those of the top-sails, he proceeded +up the mast. To climb the rattlings of the fore-shrouds, then the +rattlings of the topmast-shrouds, to gain the spars, that was only play +for the young novice. In a minute he was on the foot-rope of the +top-sail yard, and he let go the rope-bands which kept the sail bound. + +Then he stood on the spars again and climbed on the royal yard, where +he let out the sail rapidly. + +Dick Sand had finished his task, and seizing one of the starboard +backstays, he slid to the deck. + +There, under his directions, the two sails were vigorously hauled and +fastened, then the two yards hoisted to the block. The stay-sails being +set next between the mainmast and the foremast, the work was finished. +Hercules had broken nothing this time. + +The "Pilgrim" then carried all the sails that composed her rigging. +Doubtless Dick Sand could still add the foremast studding-sails to +larboard, but it was difficult work under the present circumstances, +and should it be necessary to take them in, in case of a squall, it +could not be done fast enough. So the novice stopped there. + +Tom was relieved from his post at the wheel, which Dick Sand took +charge of again. + +The breeze freshened. The "Pilgrim," making a slight turn to starboard, +glided rapidly over the surface of the sea, leaving behind her a very +flat track, which bore witness to the purity of her water-line. + +"We are well under way, Mrs. Weldon," then said Dick Sand, "and, now, +may God preserve this favorable wind!" + +Mrs. Weldon pressed the young man's hand. Then, fatigued with all the +emotions of that last hour, she sought her cabin, and fell into a sort +of painful drowsiness, which was not sleep. + +The new crew remained on the schooner's deck, watching on the +forecastle, and ready to obey Dick Sand's orders--that is to say, to +change the set of the sails according to the variations of the wind; +but so long as the breeze kept both that force and that direction, +there would be positively nothing to do. + +During all this time what had become of Cousin Benedict? + +Cousin Benedict was occupied in studying with a magnifying glass an +articulate which he had at last found on board--a simple orthopter, +whose head disappeared under the prothorax; an insect with flat +elytrums, with round abdomen, with rather long wings, which belonged to +the family of the roaches, and to the species of American cockroaches. + +It was exactly while ferreting in Negoro's kitchen, that he had made +that precious discovery, and at the moment when the cook was going to +crush the said insect pitilessly. Thence anger, which, indeed, Negoro +took no notice of. + +But this Cousin Benedict, did he know what change had taken place on +board since the moment when Captain Hull and his companions had +commenced that fatal whale-fishing? Yes, certainly. He was even on the +deck when the "Pilgrim" arrived in sight of the remains of the +whale-boat. The schooner's crew had then perished before his eyes. + +To pretend that this catastrophe had not affected him, would be to +accuse his heart. That pity for others that all people feel, he had +certainly experienced it. He was equally moved by his cousin's +situation. He had come to press Mrs. Weldon's hand, as if to say to +her: "Do not be afraid. I am here. I am left to you." + +Then Cousin Benedict had turned toward his cabin, doubtless so as to +reflect on the consequences of this disastrous event, and on the +energetic measures that he must take. But on his way he had met the +cockroach in question, and his desire was--held, however, against +certain entomologists--to prove the cockroaches of the phoraspe +species, remarkable for their colors, have very different habits from +cockroaches properly so called; he had given himself up to the study, +forgetting both that there had been a Captain Hull in command of the +"Pilgrim," and that that unfortunate had just perished with his crew. +The cockroach absorbed him entirely. He did not admire it less, and he +made as much time over it as if that horrible insect had been a golden +beetle. + +The life on board had then returned to its usual course, though every +one would remain for a long time yet under the effects of such a keen +and unforeseen catastrophe. + +During this day Dick Sand was everywhere, so that everything should be +in its place, and that he could be prepared for the smallest +contingency. The blacks obeyed him with zeal. The most perfect order +reigned on board the "Pilgrim." It might then be hoped that all would +go well. + +On his side, Negoro made no other attempt to resist Dick Sand's +authority. He appeared to have tacitly recognized him. Occupied as +usual in his narrow kitchen, he was not seen more than before. Besides, +at the least infraction--at the first symptom of insubordination, Dick +Sand was determined to send him to the hold for the rest of the +passage. At a sign from him, Hercules would take the head cook by the +skin of the neck; that would not have taken long. In that case, Nan, +who knew how to cook, would replace the cook in his functions. Negoro +then could say to himself that he was indispensable, and, as he was +closely watched, he seemed unwilling to give any cause of complaint. + +The wind, though growing stronger till evening, did not necessitate any +change in the "Pilgrim's" sails. Her solid masting, her iron rigging, +which was in good condition, would enable her to bear in this condition +even a stronger breeze. + +During the night it is often the custom to lessen the sails, and +particularly to take in the high sails, fore-staff, top-sail, royal, +etc. That is prudent, in case some squall of wind should come up +suddenly. But Dick Sand believed he could dispense with this +precaution. The state of the atmosphere indicated nothing of the kind, +and besides, the young novice determined to pass the first night on the +deck, intending to have an eye to everything. Then the progress was +more rapid, and he longed to be in less desolate parts. + +It has been said that the log and the compass were the only instruments +which Dick Sand could use, so as to estimate approximately the way made +by the "Pilgrim." + +During this day the novice threw the log every half-hour, and he noted +the indications furnished by the instrument. + +As to the instrument which bears the name of compass, there were two on +board. One was placed in the binnacle, under the eyes of the man at the +helm. Its dial, lighted by day by the diurnal light, by night by two +side-lamps, indicated at every moment which way the ship headed--that +is, the direction she followed. The other compass was an inverted one, +fixed to the bars of the cabin which Captain Hull formerly occupied. By +that means, without leaving his chamber, he could always know if the +route given was exactly followed, if the man at the helm, from +ignorance or negligence, allowed the ship to make too great lurches. + +Besides, there is no ship employed in long voyages which does not +possess at least two compasses, as she has two chronometers. It is +necessary to compare these instruments with each other, and, +consequently, control their indications. + +The "Pilgrim" was then sufficiently provided for in that respect, and +Dick Sand charged his men to take the greatest care of the two +compasses, which were so necessary to him. + +Now, unfortunately, during the night of the 12th to the 13th of +February, while the novice was on watch, and holding the wheel of the +helm, a sad accident took place. The inverted compass, which was +fastened by a copper ferule to the woodwork of the cabin, broke off and +fell on the floor. It was not seen till the next day. + +How had the ferule come to break. It was inexplicable enough. It was +possible, however, that it was oxydized, and that the pitching and +rolling had broken it from the woodwork. Now, indeed, the sea had been +rougher during the night. However it was, the compass was broken in +such a manner that it could not be repaired. + +Dick Sand was much thwarted. Henceforth he was reduced to trust solely +to the compass in the binnacle. Very evidently no one was responsible +for the breaking of the second compass, but it might have sad +consequences. The novice then took every precaution to keep the other +compass beyond the reach of every accident. + +Till then, with that exception, all went well on board the "Pilgrim." + +Mrs. Weldon, seeing Dick Sand's calmness, had regained confidence. It +was not that she had ever yielded to despair. Above all, she counted on +the goodness of God. Also, as a sincere and pious Catholic, she +comforted herself by prayer. + +Dick Sand had arranged so as to remain at the helm during the night. He +slept five or six hours in the day, and that seemed enough for him, as +he did not feel too much fatigued. During this time Tom or his son Bat +took his place at the wheel of the helm, and, thanks to his counsels, +they were gradually becoming passable steersmen. + +Often Mrs. Weldon and the novice talked to each other. Dick Sand +willingly took advice from this intelligent and courageous woman. Each +day he showed her on the ship's chart the course run, which he took by +reckoning, taking into account only the direction and the speed of the +ship. "See, Mrs. Weldon," he often repeated to her, "with these winds +blowing, we cannot fail to reach the coast of South America. I should +not like to affirm it, but I verily believe that when our vessel shall +arrive in sight of land, it will not be far from Valparaiso." + +Mrs. Weldon could not doubt the direction of the vessel was right, +favored above all by those winds from the northwest. But how far the +"Pilgrim" still seemed to be from the American coast! How many dangers +between her and the firm land, only counting those which might come +from a change in the state of the sea and the sky! + +Jack, indifferent like children of his age, had returned to his usual +games, running on the deck, amusing himself with Dingo. He found, of +course, that his friend Dick was less with him than formerly; but his +mother had made him understand that they must leave the young novice +entirely to his occupations. Little Jack had given up to these reasons, +and no longer disturbed "Captain Sand." + +So passed life on board. The blacks did their work intelligently, and +each day became more skilful in the sailor's craft. Tom was naturally +the boatswain, and it was he, indeed, whom his companions would have +chosen for that office. He commanded the watch while the novice rested, +and he had with him his son Bat and Austin. Acteon and Hercules formed +the other watch, under Dick Sand's direction. By this means, while one +steered, the others watched at the prow. + +Even though these parts were deserted, and no collision was really to +be feared, the novice exacted a rigorous watch during the night. He +never sailed without having his lights in position--a green light on +the starboard, a red light on the larboard--and in that he acted wisely. + +All the time, during those nights which Dick Sand passed entirely at +the helm, he occasionally felt an irresistible heaviness over him. His +hand then steered by pure instinct. It was the effect of a fatigue of +which he did not wish to take account. + +Now, it happened that during the night of the 13th to the 14th of +February, that Dick Sand was very tired, and was obliged to take a few +hours' rest. He was replaced at the helm by old Tom. + +The sky was covered with thick clouds, which had gathered with the +evening, under the influence of the cold air. It was then very dark, +and it was impossible to distinguish the high sails lost in the +darkness. Hercules and Acteon were on watch on the forecastle. + +Aft, the light from the binnacle only gave a faint gleam, which the +metallic apparatus of the wheel reflected softly. The ship's lanterns +throwing their lights laterally, left the deck of the vessel in +profound darkness. + +Toward three o'clock in the morning, a kind of hypnotic phenomenon took +place, of which old Tom was not even conscious. His eves, which were +fixed too long on a luminous point of the binnacle, suddenly lost the +power of vision, and he fell into a true anaesthetic sleep. + +Not only was he incapable of seeing, but if one had touched or pinched +him hard he would probably have felt nothing. + +So he did not see a shadow which glided over the deck. + +It was Negoro. + +Arrived aft, the head cook placed under the binnacle a pretty heavy +object which he held in hand. + +Then, after observing for an instant the luminous index of the compass, +he retired without having been seen. + +If, the next day, Dick Sand had perceived that object placed by Negoro +under the binnacle, he might have hastened to take it away. + +In fact, it was a piece of iron, whose influence had just altered the +indications of the compass. The magnetic needle had been deviated, and +instead of marking the magnetic north, which differs a little from the +north of the world, it marked the northeast. It was then, a deviation +of four points; in other words, of half a right angle. + +Tom soon recovered from his drowsiness. His eyes were fixed on the +compass. He believed, he had reason to believe, that the "Pilgrim" was +not in the right direction. He then moved the helm so as to head the +ship to the east--at least, he thought so. + +But, with the deviation of the needle, which he could not suspect, that +point, changed by four points, was the southeast. + +And thus, while under the action of a favorable wind, the "Pilgrim" was +supposed to follow the direction wished for, she sailed with an error +of forty-five degrees in her route! + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TEMPEST. + + +During the week which followed that event, from the 14th of February to +the 21st, no incident took place on board. The wind from the northwest +freshened gradually, and the "Pilgrim" sailed rapidly, making on an +average one hundred and sixty miles in twenty-four hours. It was nearly +all that could be asked of a vessel of that size. + +Dick Sand thought the schooner must be approaching those parts more +frequented by the merchant vessels which seek to pass from one +hemisphere to the other. The novice was always hoping to encounter one +of those ships, and he clearly intended either to transfer his +passengers, or to borrow some additional sailors, and perhaps an +officer. But, though he watched vigilantly, no ship could be signaled, +and the sea was always deserted. + +Dick Sand continued to be somewhat astonished at that. He had crossed +this part of the Pacific several times during his three fishing voyages +to the Southern Seas. Now, in the latitude and longitude where his +reckoning put him, it was seldom that some English or American ship did +not appear, ascending from Cape Horn toward the equator, or coming +toward the extreme point of South America. + +But what Dick Sand was ignorant of, what he could not even discover, +was that the "Pilgrim" was already in higher latitude--that is to say, +more to the south than he supposed. That was so for two reasons: + +The first was, that the currents of these parts, whose swiftness the +novice could only imperfectly estimate, had contributed--while he could +not possibly keep account of them--to throw the ship out of her route. + +The second was, that the compass, made inaccurate by Negoro's guilty +hand, henceforth only gave incorrect bearings--bearings that, since the +loss of the second compass, Dick Sand could not control. So that, +believing, and having reason to believe, that he was sailing eastward, +in reality, he was sailing southeast. The compass, it was always before +his eyes. The log, it was thrown regularly. His two instruments +permitted him, in a certain measure, to direct the "Pilgrim," and to +estimate the number of miles sailed. But, then, was that sufficient? + +However, the novice always did his best to reassure Mrs. Weldon, whom +the incidents of this voyage must at times render anxious. + +"We shall arrive, we shall arrive!" he repeated. "We shall reach the +American coast, here or there; it matters little, on the whole, but we +cannot fail to land there!" + +"I do not doubt it, Dick." + +"Of course, Mrs. Weldon, I should be more at ease if you were not on +board--if we had only ourselves to answer for; but----" + +"But if I were not on board," replied Mrs. Weldon; "if Cousin Benedict, +Jack, Nan and I, had not taken passage on the 'Pilgrim,' and if, on the +other hand, Tom and his companions had not been picked up at sea, Dick, +there would be only two men here, you and Negoro! What would have +become of you, alone with that wicked man, in whom you cannot have +confidence? Yes, my child, what would have become of you?" + +"I should have begun," replied Dick Sand, resolutely, "by putting +Negoro where he could not injure me." + +"And you would have worked alone?" + +"Yes--alone--with the aid of God!" + +The firmness of these words was well calculated to encourage Mrs. +Weldon. But, nevertheless, while thinking of her little Jack, she often +felt uneasy. If the woman would not show what she experienced as a +mother, she did not always succeed in preventing some secret anguish +for him to rend her heart. + +Meanwhile, if the young novice was not sufficiently advanced in his +hydrographic studies to make his point, he possessed a true sailor's +scent, when the question was "to tell the weather." The appearance of +the sky, for one thing; on the other hand, the indications of the +barometer, enabled him to be on his guard. Captain Hull, a good +meteorologist, had taught him to consult this instrument, whose +prognostications are remarkably sure. + +Here is, in a few words, what the notices relative to the observation +of the barometer contain: + +1. When, after a rather long continuance of fine weather, the barometer +begins to fall in a sudden and continuous manner, rain will certainly +fall; but, if the fine weather has had a long duration, the mercury may +fall two or three days in the tube of the barometer before any change +in the state of the atmosphere may be perceived. Then, the longer the +time between the falling of the mercury and the arrival of the rain, +the longer will be the duration of rainy weather. + +2. If, on the contrary, during a rainy period which has already had a +long duration, the barometer commences to rise slowly and regularly, +very certainly fine weather will come, and it will last much longer if +a long interval elapses between its arrival and the rising of the +barometer. + +3. In the two cases given, if the change of weather follows immediately +the movement of the barometrical column, that change will last only a +very short time. + +4. If the barometer rises with slowness and in a continuous manner for +two or three days, or even more, it announces fine weather, even when +the rain will not cease during those three days, and _vice versa;_ but +if the barometer rises two days or more during the rain, then, the fine +weather having come, if it commences to fall again, the fine weather +will last a very short time, and _vice versa_. + +5. In the spring and in the autumn, a sudden fall of the barometer +presages wind. In the summer, if the weather is very warm, it announces +a storm. In winter, after a frost of some duration, a rapid falling of +the barometrical column announces a change of wind, accompanied by a +thaw and rain; but a rising which happens during a frost which has +already lasted a certain time, prognosticates snow. + +6. Rapid oscillations of the barometer should never be interpreted as +presaging dry or rainy weather of any duration. Those indications are +given exclusively by the rising or the falling which takes place in a +slow and continuous manner. + +7. Toward the end of autumn, if after prolonged rainy and windy +weather, the barometer begins to rise, that rising announces the +passage of the wind to the north and the approach of the frost. + +Such are the general consequences to draw from the indications of this +precious instrument. + +Dick Sand knew all that perfectly well, as he had ascertained for +himself in different circumstances of his sailor's life, which made him +very skilful in putting himself on his guard against all contingencies. + +Now, just toward the 20th of February, the oscillations of the +barometrical column began to preoccupy the young novice, who noted them +several times a day with much care. In fact, the barometer began to +fall in a slow and continuous manner, which presages rain; but, this +rain being delayed, Dick Sand concluded from that, that the bad weather +would last. That is what must happen. + +But the rain was the wind, and in fact, at that date, the breeze +freshened so much that the air was displaced with a velocity of sixty +feet a second, say thirty-one miles an hour. + +Dick Sand was obliged to take some precautions so as not to risk the +"Pilgrim's" masting and sails. + +Already he had the royal, the fore-staff, and the flying-jib taken in, +and he resolved to do the same with the top-sail, then take in two +reefs in the top-sail. + +This last operation must present certain difficulties with a crew of +little experience. Hesitation would not do, however, and no one +hesitated. Dick Sand, accompanied by Bat and Austin, climbed into the +rigging of the foremast, and succeeded, not without trouble, in taking +in the top-sail. In less threatening weather he would have left the two +yards on the mast, but, foreseeing that he would probably be obliged to +level that mast, and perhaps even to lay it down upon the deck, he +unrigged the two yards and sent them to the deck. In fact, it is +understood that when the wind becomes too strong, not only must the +sails be diminished, but also the masting. That is a great relief to +the ship, which, carrying less weight above, is no longer so much +strained with the rolling and pitching. + +This first work accomplished--and it took two hours--Dick Sand and his +companions were busy reducing the surface of the top-sail, by taking in +two reefs. The "Pilgrim" did not carry, like the majority of modern +ships, a double top-sail, which facilitates the operation. It was +necessary, then, to work as formerly--that is to say, to run out on the +foot-ropes, pull toward you a sail beaten by the wind, and lash it +firmly with its reef-lines. It was difficult, long, perilous; but, +finally, the diminished top-sail gave less surface to the wind, and the +schooner was much relieved. + +Dick Sand came down again with Bat and Austin. The "Pilgrim" was then +in the sailing condition demanded by that state of the atmosphere which +has been qualified as "very stiff." + +During the three days which followed, 20th, 21st and 22d of February, +the force and direction of the wind were not perceptibly changed. All +the time the mercury continued to fall in the barometrical tube, and, +on this last day, the novice noted that it kept continually below +twenty-eight and seven-tenths inches. + +Besides, there was no appearance that the barometer would rise for some +time. The aspect of the sky was bad, and extremely windy. Besides, +thick fogs covered it constantly. Their stratum was even so deep that +the sun was no longer seen, and it would have been difficult to +indicate precisely the place of his setting and rising. + +Dick Sand began to be anxious. He no longer left the deck; he hardly +slept. However, his moral energy enabled him to drive back his fears to +the bottom of his heart. + +The next day, February 22d, the breeze appeared to decrease a little in +the morning, but Dick Sand did not trust in it. He was right, for in +the afternoon the wind freshened again, and the sea became rougher. + +Toward four o'clock, Negoro, who was rarely seen, left his post and +came up on the forecastle. Dingo, doubtless, was sleeping in some +corner, for it did not bark as usual. + +Negoro, always silent, remained for half an hour observing the horizon. + +Long surges succeeded each other without, as yet, being dashed +together. However, they were higher than the force of the wind +accounted for. One must conclude from that, that there was very bad +weather in the west, perhaps at a rather short distance, and that it +would not be long in reaching these parts. + +Negoro watched that vast extent of sea, which was greatly troubled, +around the "Pilgrim." Then his eyes, always cold and dry, turned toward +the sky. + +The aspect of the sky was disturbing. The vapors moved with very +different velocities. The clouds of the upper zone traveled more +rapidly than those of the low strata of the atmosphere. The case then +must be foreseen, in which those heavy masses would fall, and might +change into a tempest, perhaps a hurricane, what was yet only a very +stiff breeze--that is to say, a displacement of the air at the rate of +forty-three miles an hour. + +Whether Negoro was not a man to be frightened, or whether he understood +nothing of the threats of the weather, he did not appear to be +affected. However, an evil smile glided over his lips. One would say, +at the end of his observations, that this state of things was rather +calculated to please him than to displease him. One moment he mounted +on the bowsprit and crawled as far as the ropes, so as to extend his +range of vision, as if he were seeking some indication on the horizon. +Then he descended again, and tranquilly, without having pronounced a +single word, without having made a gesture, he regained the crew's +quarters. + +Meanwhile, in the midst of all these fearful conjunctions, there +remained one happy circumstance which each one on board ought to +remember; it was that this wind, violent as it was or might become, was +favorable, and that the "Pilgrim" seemed to be rapidly making the +American coast. If, indeed, the weather did not turn to tempest, this +navigation would continue to be accomplished without great danger, and +the veritable perils would only spring up when the question would be to +land on some badly ascertained point of the coast. + +That was indeed what Dick Sand was already asking himself. When he +should once make the land, how should he act, if he did not encounter +some pilot, some one who knew the coast? In case the bad weather should +oblige him to seek a port of refuge, what should he do, because that +coast was to him absolutely unknown? Indeed, he had not yet to trouble +himself with that contingency. However, when the hour should come, he +would be obliged to adopt some plan. Well, Dick Sand adopted one. + +During the thirteen days which elapsed, from the 24th of February to +the 9th of March, the state of the atmosphere did not change in any +perceptible manner. The sky was always loaded with heavy fogs. For a +few hours the wind went down, then it began to blow again with the same +force. Two or three times the barometer rose again, but its +oscillation, comprising a dozen lines, was too sudden to announce a +change of weather and a return of more manageable winds. Besides the +barometrical column fell again almost immediately, and nothing could +inspire any hope of the end of that bad weather within a short period. + +Terrible storms burst forth also, which very seriously disturbed Dick +Sand. Two or three times the lightning struck the waves only a few +cable-lengths from the ship. Then the rain fell in torrents, and made +those whirlpools of half condensed vapors, which surrounded the +"Pilgrim" with a thick mist. + +For entire hours the man at the lookout saw nothing, and the ship +sailed at random. + +Even though the ship, although resting firmly on the waves, was +horribly shaken, Mrs. Weldon, fortunately, supported this rolling and +pitching without being incommoded. But her little boy was very much +tried, and she was obliged to give him all her care. + +As to Cousin Benedict, he was no more sick than the American +cockroaches which he made his society, and he passed his time in +studying, as if he were quietly settled in his study in San Francisco. + +Very fortunately, also, Tom and his companions found themselves little +sensitive to sea-sickness, and they could continue to come to the young +novice's aid--well accustomed, himself, to all those excessive +movements of a ship which flies before the weather. + +The "Pilgrim" ran rapidly under this reduced sail, and already Dick +Sand foresaw that he would be obliged to reduce it again. But he wished +to hold out as long as it would be possible to do so without danger. +According to his reckoning, the coast ought to be no longer distant. So +they watched with care. All the time the novice could hardly trust his +companions' eyes to discover the first indications of land. In fact, no +matter what good sight he may have, he who is not accustomed to +interrogating the sea horizons is not skilful in distinguishing the +first contours of a coast, above all in the middle of fogs. So Dick +Sand must watch himself, and he often climbed as far as the spars to +see better. But no sign yet of the American coast. + +This astonished him, and Mrs. Weldon, by some words which escaped him, +understood that astonishment. + +It was the 9th of March. The novice kept at the prow, sometimes +observing the sea and the sky, sometimes looking at the "Pilgrim's" +masting, which began to strain under the force of the wind. + +"You see nothing yet, Dick?" she asked him, at a moment when he had +just left the long lookout. + +"Nothing, Mrs. Weldon, nothing," replied the novice; and meanwhile, the +horizon seems to clear a little under this violent wind, which is going +to blow still harder." + +"And, according to you, Dick, the American coast ought not to be +distant now." + +"It cannot be, Mrs. Weldon, and if anything astonishes me, it is not +having made it yet." + +"Meanwhile," continued Mrs. Weldon, "the ship has always followed the +right course." + +"Always, since the wind settled in the northwest," replied Dick Sand; +"that is to say, since the day when we lost our unfortunate captain and +his crew. That was the 10th of February. We are now on the 9th of +March. There have been then, twenty-seven since that." + +"But at that period what distance were we from the coast?" asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"About four thousand five hundred miles, Mrs. Weldon. If there are +things about which I have more than a doubt, I can at least guarantee +this figure within about twenty miles." + +"And what has been the ship's speed?" + +"On an average, a hundred and eighty miles a day since the wind +freshened," replied the novice. "So, I am surprised at not being in +sight of land. And, what is still more extraordinary, is that we do not +meet even a single one of those vessels which generally frequent these +parts!" + +"Could you not be deceived, Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "in estimating +the 'Pilgrim's' speed?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon. On that point I could not be mistaken. The log has +been thrown every half hour, and I have taken its indications very +accurately. Wait, I am going to have it thrown anew, and you will see +that we are sailing at this moment at the rate of ten miles an hour, +which would give us more than two hundred miles a day." + +Dick Sand called Tom, and gave him the order to throw the log, an +operation to which the old black was now quite accustomed. + +The log, firmly fastened to the end of the line, was brought and sent +out. + +Twenty-five fathoms were hardly unrolled, when the rope suddenly +slackened between Tom's hands. + +"Ah! Mr. Dick!" cried he. + +"Well, Tom?" + +"The rope has broken!" + +"Broken!" cried Dick Sand. "And the log is lost!" + +Old Tom showed the end of the rope which remained in his hand. + +It was only too true. It was not the fastening which had failed. The +rope had broken in the middle. And, nevertheless, that rope was of the +first quality. It must have been, then, that the strands of the rope at +the point of rupture were singularly worn! They were, in fact, and Dick +Sand could tell that when he had the end of the rope in his hands! But +had they become so by use? was what the novice, become suspicious, +asked himself. + +However that was, the log was now lost, and Dick Sand had no longer any +means of telling exactly the speed of his ship. In the way of +instruments, he only possessed one compass, and he did not know that +its indications were false. + +Mrs. Weldon saw him so saddened by this accident, that she did not wish +to insist, and, with a very heavy heart, she retired into her cabin. + +But if the "Pilgrim's" speed and consequently the way sailed over could +no longer be estimated, it was easy to tell that the ship's headway was +not diminishing. + +In fact, the next day, March 10th, the barometer fell to twenty-eight +and two-tenths inches. It was the announcement of one of those blasts +of wind which travel as much as sixty miles an hour. + +It became urgent to change once more the state of the sails, so as not +to risk the security of the vessel. + +Dick Sand resolved to bring down his top-gallant mast and his +fore-staff, and to furl his low sails, so as to sail under his +foretop-mast stay-sail and the low reef of his top-sail. + +He called Tom and his companions to help him in that difficult +operation, which, unfortunately, could not be executed with rapidity. + +And meanwhile time pressed, for the tempest already declared itself +with violence. + +Dick Sands, Austin, Acteon, and Bat climbed into the masting, while Tom +remained at the wheel, and Hercules on the deck, so as to slacken the +ropes, as soon as he was commanded. + +After numerous efforts, the fore-staff and the top-gallant mast were +gotten down upon the deck, not without these honest men having a +hundred times risked being precipitated into the sea, the rolling shook +the masting to such an extent. Then, the top-sail having been lessened +and the foresail furled, the schooner carried only her foretop-mast +stay-sail and the low reef of the top-sail. + +Even though her sails were then extremely reduced, the "Pilgrim" +continued, none the less, to sail with excessive velocity. + +The 12th the weather took a still worse appearance. On that day, at +dawn, Dick Sand saw, not without terror, the barometer fall to +twenty-seven and nine-tenths inches. It was a real tempest which was +raging, and such that the "Pilgrim" could not carry even the little +sail she had left. + +Dick Sand, seeing that his top-sail was going to be torn, gave the +order to furl. But it was in vain. A more violent gust struck the ship +at that moment, and tore off the sail. Austin, who was on the yard of +the foretop-sail, was struck by the larboard sheet-rope. Wounded, but +rather slightly, he could climb down again to the deck. + +Dick Sand, extremely anxious, had but one thought. It was that the +ship, urged with such fury, was going to be dashed to pieces every +moment; for, according to his calculation, the rocks of the coast could +not be distant. He then returned to the prow, but he saw nothing which +had the appearance of land, and then, came back to the wheel. + +A moment after Negoro came on deck. There, suddenly, as if in spite of +himself, his arm was extended toward a point of the horizon. One would +say that he recognized some high land in the fogs! + +Still, once more he smiled wickedly, and without saying anything of +what he had been able to see, he returned to his post. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ON THE HORIZON. + + +At that date the tempest took its most terrible form, that of the +hurricane. The wind had set in from the southwest. The air moved with a +velocity of ninety miles an hour. It was indeed a hurricane, in fact, +one of those terrible windstorms which wrecks all the ships of a +roadstead, and which, even on land, the most solid structures cannot +resist. Such was the one which, on the 25th of July, 1825, devastated +Guadaloupe. When heavy cannons, carrying balls of twenty-four pounds, +are raised from their carriages, one may imagine what would become of a +ship which has no other point of support than an unsteady sea? And +meanwhile, it is to its mobility alone that she may owe her salvation. +She yields to the wind, and, provided she is strongly built, she is in +a condition to brave the most violent surges. That was the case with +the "Pilgrim." + +A few minutes after the top-sail had been torn in pieces, the +foretop-mast stay-sail was in its turn torn off. Dick Sand must then +give up the idea of setting even a storm-jib--a small sail of strong +linen, which would make the ship easier to govern. + +The "Pilgrim" then ran without canvas, but the wind took effect on her +hull, her masts, her rigging, and nothing more was needed to impart to +her an excessive velocity. Sometimes even she seemed to emerge from the +waves, and it was to be believed that she hardly grazed them. Under +these circumstances, the rolling of the ship, tossed about on the +enormous billows raised by the tempest, was frightful. There was danger +of receiving some monstrous surge aft. Those mountains of water ran +faster than the schooner, threatening to strike her stern if she did +not rise pretty fast. That is extreme danger for every ship which scuds +before the tempest. But what could be done to ward off that +contingency? Greater speed could not be imparted to the "Pilgrim," +because she would not have kept the smallest piece of canvas. She must +then be managed as much as possible by means of the helm, whose action +was often powerless. + +Dick Sand no longer left the helm. He was lashed by the waist, so as +not to be carried away by some surge. Tom and Bat, fastened also, stood +near to help him. Hercules and Acteon, bound to the bitts, watched +forward. As to Mrs. Weldon, to Little Jack, to Cousin Benedict, to Nan, +they remained, by order of the novice, in the aft cabins. Mrs. Weldon +would have preferred to have remained on deck, but Dick Sand was +strongly opposed to it; it would be exposing herself uselessly. + +All the scuttles had been hermetically nailed up. It was hoped that +they would resist if some formidable billow should fall on the ship. +If, by any mischance, they should yield under the weight of these +avalanches, the ship might fill and sink. Very fortunately, also, the +stowage had been well attended to, so that, notwithstanding the +terrible tossing of the vessel, her cargo was not moved about. + +Dick Sand had again reduced the number of hours which he gave to sleep. +So Mrs. Weldon began to fear that he would take sick. She made him +consent to take some repose. + +Now, it was while he was still lying down, during the night of the 13th +to the 14th of March, that a new incident took place. + +Tom and Bat were aft, when Negoro, who rarely appeared on that part of +the deck, drew near, and even seemed to wish to enter into conversation +with them; but Tom and his son did not reply to him. + +Suddenly, in a violent rolling of the ship, Negoro fell, and he would, +doubtless, have been thrown into the sea if he had not held on to the +binnacle. + +Tom gave a cry, fearing the compass would be broken. + +Dick Sand, in a moment of wakefulness, heard that cry, and rushing out +of his quarters, he ran aft. + +Negoro had already risen, but he held in his hand the piece of iron +which he had just taken from under the binnacle, and he hid it before +Dick Sand could see it. + +Was it, then, Negoro's interest for the magnetic needle to return to +its true direction? Yes, for these southwest winds served him now! + +"What's the matter?" asked the novice. + +"It's that cook of misfortune, who has just fallen on the compass!" +replied Tom. + +At those words Dick Sand, in the greatest anxiety, leaned over the +binnacle. It was in good condition; the compass, lighted by two lamps, +rested as usual on its concentric circles. + +The young novice was greatly affected. The breaking of the only compass +on board would be an irreparable misfortune. + +But what Dick Sand could not observe was that, since the taking away of +the piece of iron, the needle had returned to its normal position, and +indicated exactly the magnetic north as it ought to be under that +meridian. + +Meanwhile, if Negoro could not be made responsible for a fall which +seemed to be involuntary, Dick Sand had reason to be astonished that he +was, at that hour, aft in the ship. + +"What are you doing there?" he asked him. + +"What I please," replied Negoro. + +"You say----" cried Dick Sand, who could not restrain his anger. + +"I say," replied the head cook, "that there is no rule which forbids +walking aft." + +"Well, I make that the rule," replied Dick Sand, "and I forbid you, +remember, to come aft." + +"Indeed!" replied Negoro. + +That man, so entirely under self-control, then made a menacing gesture. + +The novice drew a revolver from his pocket, and pointed it at the head +cook. + +"Negoro," said he, "recollect that I am never without this revolver, +and that on the first act of insubordination I shall blow out your +brains!" + +At that moment Negoro felt himself irresistibly bent to the deck. + +It was Hercules, who had just simply laid his heavy hand on Negoro's +shoulder. + +"Captain Sand," said the giant, "do you want me to throw this rascal +overboard? He will regale the fishes, who are not hard to please!" + +"Not yet," replied Dick Sand. + +Negoro rose as soon as the black's hand no longer weighed upon him. +But, in passing Hercules: + +"Accursed negro," murmured he, "I'll pay you back!" + +Meanwhile, the wind had just changed; at least, it seemed to have +veered round forty-five degrees. And, notwithstanding, a singular +thing, which struck the novice, nothing in the condition of the sea +indicated that change. The ship headed the same way all the time, but +the wind and the waves, instead of taking her directly aft, now struck +her by the larboard quarter--a very dangerous situation, which exposes +a ship to receive bad surges. So Dick Sand was obliged to veer round +four points to continue to scud before the tempest. + +But, on the other hand, his attention was awakened more than ever. He +asked himself if there was not some connection between Negoro's fall +and the breaking of the first compass. What did the head cook intend to +do there? Had he some interest in putting the second compass out of +service also? What could that interest be? There was no explanation of +that. Must not Negoro desire, as they all desired, to land on the +American coast as soon as possible? + +When Dick Sand spoke of this incident to Mrs. Weldon, the latter, +though she shared his distrust in a certain measure, could find no +plausible motive for what would be criminal premeditation on the part +of the head cook. + +However, as a matter of prudence, Negoro was well watched. Thereafter +he attended to the novice's orders and he did not risk coming aft in +the ship, where his duties never called him. Besides, Dingo having been +installed there permanently, the cook took earn to keep away. + +During all that week the tempest did not abate. The barometer fell +again. From the 14th to the 26th of March it was impossible to profit +by a single calm to set a few sails. The "Pilgrim" scudded to the +northeast with a speed which could not be less than two hundred miles +in twenty-four hours, and still the land did not appear!--that land, +America, which is thrown like an immense barrier between the Atlantic +and the Pacific, over an extent of more than a hundred and twenty +degrees! + +Dick Sand asked himself if he was not a fool, if he was still in his +right mind, if, for so many days, unknown to him, he was not sailing in +a false direction. No, he could not find fault with himself on that +point. The sun, even though he could not perceive it in the fogs, +always rose before him to set behind him. But, then, that land, had it +disappeared? That America, on which his vessel would go to pieces, +perhaps, where was it, if it was not there? Be it the Southern +Continent or the Northern Continent--for anything way possible in that +chaos--the "Pilgrim" could not miss either one or the other. What had +happened since the beginning of this frightful tempest? What was still +going on, as that coast, whether it should prove salvation or +destruction, did not appear? Must Dick Sand suppose, then, that he was +deceived by his compass, whose indications he could no longer control, +because the second compass was lacking to make that control? Truly, he +had that fear which the absence of all land might justify. + +So, when he was at the helm, Dick Sand did not cease to devour the +chart with his eyes. But he interrogated it in vain; it could not give +him the solution of an enigma which, in the situation in which Negoro +had placed him, was incomprehensible for him, as it would have been for +any one else. + +On this day, however, the 26th of March, towards eight o'clock in the +morning, an incident of the greatest importance took place. + +Hercules, on watch forward, gave this cry: + +"Land! land!" + +Dick Sand sprang to the forecastle. Hercules could not have eyes like a +seaman. Was he not mistaken? + +"Land?" cried Dick Sand. + +"There," replied Hercules, showing an almost imperceptible point on the +horizon in the northeast. + +They hardly heard each other speak in the midst of the roaring of the +sea and the sky. + +"You have seen the land?" said the novice. + +"Yes," replied Hercules. + +And his hand was still stretched out to larboard forward. + +The novice looked. He saw nothing. + +At that moment, Mrs. Weldon, who had heard the cry given by Hercules, +came up on deck, notwithstanding her promise not to come there. + +"Madam!" cried Dick Sand. + +Mrs. Weldon, unable to make herself heard, tried, for herself, to +perceive that land signaled by the black, and she seemed to have +concentrated all her life in her eyes. + +It must be believed that Hercules's hand indicated badly the point of +the horizon which he wished to show: neither Mrs. Weldon nor the novice +could see anything. + +But, suddenly, Dick Sand in turn stretched out his hand. + +"Yes! yes! land!" said he. + +A kind of summit had just appeared in an opening in the fog. His +sailor's eyes could not deceive him. + +"At last!" cried he; "at last!" + +He clang feverishly to the netting. Mrs. Weldon, sustained by Hercules, +continued to watch that land almost despaired of. + +The coast, formed by that high summit, rose at a distance of ten miles +to leeward. + +The opening being completely made in a breaking of the clouds, they saw +it again more distinctly. Doubtless it was some promontory of the +American continent. The "Pilgrim," without sails, was not in a +condition to head toward it, but it could not fail to make the land +there. + +That could be only a question of a few hours. Now, it was eight o'clock +in the morning. Then, very certainly, before noon the "Pilgrim" would +be near the land. + +At a sign from Dick Sand, Hercules led Mrs. Weldon aft again, for she +could not bear up against the violence of the pitching. + +The novice remained forward for another instant, then he returned to +the helm, near old Tom. + +At last, then, he saw that coast, so slowly made, so ardently desired! +but it was now with a feeling of terror. + +In fact, in the "Pilgrim's" present condition, that is to say, scudding +before the tempest, land to leeward, was shipwreck with all its +terrible contingencies. + +Two hours passed away. The promontory was then seen off from the ship. + +At that moment they saw Negoro come on deck. This time he regarded the +coast with extreme attention, shook his head like a man who would know +what to believe, and went down again, after pronouncing a name that +nobody could hear. + +Dick Sand himself sought to perceive the coast, which ought to round +off behind the promontory. + +Two hours rolled by. The promontory was standing on the larboard stern, +but the coast was not yet to be traced. + +Meanwhile the sky cleared at the horizon, and a high coast, like the +American land, bordered by the immense chain of the Andes, should be +visible for more than twenty miles. + +Dick Sand took his telescope and moved it slowly over the whole eastern +horizon. + +Nothing! He could see nothing! + +At two o'clock in the afternoon every trace of land had disappeared +behind the "Pilgrim." Forward, the telescope could not seize any +outline whatsoever of a coast, high or low. + +Then a cry escaped Dick Sand. Immediately leaving the deck, he rushed +into the cabin, where Mrs. Weldon was with little Jack, Nan, and Cousin +Benedict. + +"An island! That was only an island!" said he. + +"An island, Dick! but what?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"The chart will tell us," replied the novice. + +And running to his berth, he brought the ship's chart. + +"There, Mrs. Weldon, there!" said he. "That land which we have seen, it +can only be this point, lost in the middle of the Pacific! It can only +be the Isle of Paques; there is no other in these parts." + +"And we have already left it behind?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, well to the windward of us." + +Mrs. Weldon looked attentively at the Isle of Paques, which only formed +an imperceptible point on the chart. + +"And at what distance is it from the American coast?" + +"Thirty-five degrees." + +"Which makes----" + +"About two thousand miles." + +"But then the 'Pilgrim' has not sailed, if we are still so far from the +continent?" + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand, who passed his hand over his forehead +for a moment, as if to concentrate his ideas, "I do not know--I cannot +explain this incredible delay! No! I cannot--unless the indications of +the compass have been false? But that island can only be the Isle of +Paques, because we have been obliged to scud before the wind to the +northeast, and we must thank Heaven, which has permitted me to mark our +position! Yes, it is still two thousand miles from the coast! I know, +at last, where the tempest has blown us, and, if it abates, we shall be +able to land on the American continent with some chance of safety. Now, +at least, our ship is no longer lost on the immensity of the Pacific!" + +This confidence, shown by the young novice, was shared by all those who +heard him speak. Mrs. Weldon, herself, gave way to it. It seemed, +indeed, that these poor people were at the end of their troubles, and +that the "Pilgrim," being to the windward of her port, had only to wait +for the open sea to enter it! The Isle of Paques--by its true name +Vai-Hon--discovered by David in 1686, visited by Cook and Laperouse, is +situated 27 deg. south latitude and 112 deg. east longitude. If the schooner +had been thus led more than fifteen degrees to the north, that was +evidently due to that tempest from the southwest, before which it had +been obliged to scud. + +Then the "Pilgrim" was still two thousand miles from the coast. +However, under the impetus of that wind which blew like thunder, it +must, in less than ten days, reach some point of the coast of South +America. + +But could they not hope, as the novice had said, that the weather would +become more manageable, and that it would be possible to set some sail, +when they should make the land? + +It was still Dick Sand's hope. He said to himself that this hurricane, +which had lasted so many days, would end perhaps by "killing itself." +And now that, thanks to the appearance of the Isle of Paques, he knew +exactly his position, he had reason to believe that, once master of his +vessel again, he would know how to lead her to a safe place. + +Yes! to have had knowledge of that isolated point in the middle of the +sea, as by a providential favor, that had restored confidence to Dick +Sand; if he was going all the time at the caprice of a hurricane, which +he could not subdue, at least, he was no longer going quite blindfold. + +Besides, the "Pilgrim," well-built and rigged, had suffered little +during those rude attacks of the tempest. Her damages reduced +themselves to the loss of the top-sail and the foretop-mast +stay-sail--a loss which it would be easy to repair. Not a drop of water +had penetrated through the well-stanched seams of the hull and the +deck. The pumps were perfectly free. In this respect there was nothing +to fear. + +There was, then, this interminable hurricane, whose fury nothing seemed +able to moderate. If, in a certain measure, Dick Sand could put his +ship in a condition to struggle against the violent storm, he could not +order that wind to moderate, those waves to be still, that sky to +become serene again. On board, if he was "master after God," outside +the ship, God alone commanded the winds and the waves. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +LAND! LAND! + + +Meanwhile, that confidence with which Dick Sand's heart filled +instinctively, was going to be partly justified. + +The next day, March 27th, the column of mercury rose in the +barometrical tube. The oscillation was neither sudden nor +considerable--a few lines only--but the progression seemed likely to +continue. The tempest was evidently going to enter its decreasing +period, and, if the sea did remain excessively rough, they could tell +that the wind was going down, veering slightly to the west. + +Dick Sand could not yet think of using any sail. The smallest sail +would be carried away. However, he hoped that twenty-four hours would +not elapse before it would be possible for him to rig a storm-jib. + +During the night, in fact, the wind went down quite noticeably, if they +compared it to what it had been till then, and the ship was less tossed +by those violent rollings which had threatened to break her in pieces. + +The passengers began to appear on deck again. They no longer ran the +risk of being carried away by some surge from the sea. + +Mrs. Weldon was the first to leave the hatchway where Dick Sand, from +prudent motives, had obliged them to shut themselves up during the +whole duration of that long tempest. She came to talk with the novice, +whom a truly superhuman will had rendered capable of resisting so much +fatigue. Thin, pale under his sunburnt complexion, he might well be +weakened by the loss of that sleep so necessary at his age. No, his +valiant nature resisted everything. Perhaps he would pay dearly some +day for that period of trial. But that was not the moment to allow +himself to be cast down. Dick Sand had said all that to himself. Mrs. +Weldon found him as energetic as he had ever been. + +And then he had confidence, that brave Sand, and if confidence does not +command itself, at least it commands. + +"Dick, my dear child, my captain," said Mrs. Weldon, holding out her +hand to the young novice. + +"Ah! Mrs. Weldon," exclaimed Dick Sand, smiling, "you disobey your +captain. You return on deck, you leave your cabin in spite of +his--prayers." + +"Yes, I disobey you," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I have, as it were, a +presentiment that the tempest is going down or is going to become calm." + +"It is becoming calm, in fact, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "You +are not mistaken. The barometer has not fallen since yesterday. The +wind has moderated, and I have reason to believe that our hardest +trials are over." + +"Heaven hears you, Dick. All! you have suffered much, my poor child! +You have done there----" + +"Only my duty, Mrs. Weldon." + +"But at last will you be able to take some rest?" + +"Rest!" replied the novice; "I have no need of rest, Mrs. Weldon. I am +well, thank God, and it is necessary for me to keep up to the end. You +have called me captain, and I shall remain captain till the moment when +all the 'Pilgrim's' passengers shall be in safety." + +"Dick," returned Mrs. Weldon, "my husband and I, we shall never forget +what you have just done." + +"God has done all," replied Dick Sand; "all!" + +"My child, I repeat it, that by your moral and physical energy, you +have shown yourself a man--a man fit to command, and before long, as +soon as your studies are finished--my husband will not contradict +me--you will command for the house of James W. Weldon!" + +"I--I----" exclaimed Dick Sand, whose eyes filled with tears. + +"Dick," replied Mrs. Weldon, "you are already our child by adoption, +and now, you are our son, the deliverer of your mother, and of your +little brother Jack. My dear Dick, I embrace you for my husband and for +myself!" + +The courageous woman did not wish to give way while clasping the young +novice in her arms, but her heart overflowed. As to Dick Sand's +feelings, what pen could do them justice? He asked himself if he could +not do more than give his life for his benefactors, and he accepted in +advance all the trials which might come upon him in the future. + +After this conversation Dick Sand felt stronger. If the wind should +become so moderate that he should be able to hoist some canvas, he did +not doubt being able to steer his ship to a port where all those which +it carried would at last be in safety. + +On the 29th, the wind having moderated a little, Dick Sand thought of +setting the foresail and the top-sail, consequently to increase the +speed of the "Pilgrim" while directing her course. + +"Come, Tom; come, my friends!" cried he, when he went on deck at +daybreak; "come, I need your arms!" + +"We are ready, Captain Sand," replied old Tom. + +"Ready for everything," added Hercules. "There was nothing to do during +that tempest, and I begin to grow rusty." + +"You should have blown with your big mouth," said little Jack; "I bet +you would have been as strong as the wind!" + +"That is an idea, Jack," replied Dick Sand, laughing. "When there is a +calm we shall make Hercules blow on the sails." + +"At your service, Mister Dick!" replied the brave black, inflating his +cheeks like a gigantic Boreas. + +"Now, my friends," continued the novice, we are to begin by binding a +spare sail to the yard, because our top-sail was carried away in the +hurricane. It will be difficult, perhaps, but it must be done." + +"It shall be done!" replied Acteon. + +"Can I help you?" asked little Jack, always ready to work. + +"Yes, my Jack," replied the novice. "You will take your place at the +wheel, with our friend Bat, and you will help him to steer." + +If little Jack was proud of being assistant helmsman on the "Pilgrim," +it is superfluous to say so. + +"Now to work," continued Dick Sand, "and we must expose ourselves as +little as possible." + +The blacks, guided by the novice, went to work at once. To fasten a +top-sail to its yard presented some difficulties for Tom and his +companions. First the rolled up sail must be hoisted, then fastened to +the yard. + +However, Dick Sand commanded so well, and was so well obeyed, that +after an hour's work the sail was fastened to its yard, the yard +hoisted, and the top-sail properly set with two reefs. + +As to the foresail and the second jib, which had been furled before the +tempest, those sails were set without a great deal of trouble, in spite +of the force of the wind. + +At last, on that day, at ten o'clock in the morning, the "Pilgrim" was +sailing under her foresail, her top-sail, and her jib. + +Dick Sand had not judged it prudent to set more sail. The canvas which +he carried ought to assure him, as long as the wind did not moderate, a +speed of at least two hundred miles in twenty-four hours, and he did +not need any greater to reach the American coast before ten days. + +The novice was indeed satisfied when, returning to the wheel, he again +took his post, after thanking Master Jack, assistant helmsman of the +"Pilgrim." He was no longer at the mercy of the waves. He was making +headway. His joy will be understood by all those who are somewhat +familiar with the things of the sea. + +The next day the clouds still ran with the same velocity, but they left +large openings between them, through which the rays of the sun made +their way to the surface of the waters. The "Pilgrim" was at times +overspread with them. A good thing is that vivifying light! Sometimes +it was extinguished behind a large mass of vapors which came up in the +east, then it reappeared, to disappear again, but the weather was +becoming fine again. + +The scuttles had been opened to ventilate the interior of the ship. A +salubrious air penetrated the hold, the rear hatchway, the crew's +quarters. They put the wet sails to dry, stretching them out in the +sun. The deck was also cleaned. Dick Sand did not wish his ship to +arrive in port without having made a bit of toilet. Without overworking +the crew, a few hours spent each day at that work would bring it to a +good end. + +Though the novice could no longer throw the log, he was so accustomed +to estimating the headway of a ship that he could take a close account +of her speed. He had then no doubt of reaching land before seven days, +and he gave that opinion to Mrs. Weldon, after showing her, on the +chart, the probable position of the ship. + +"Well, at what point of the coast shall we arrive, my dear Dick?" she +asked him. + +"Here, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice, indicating that long coast +line which extends from Peru to Chili. "I do not know how to be more +exact. Here is the Isle of Paques, that we have left behind in the +west, and, by the direction of the wind, which has been constant, I +conclude that we shall reach land in the east. Ports are quite numerous +on that coast, but to name the one we shall have in view when we make +the land is impossible at this moment." + +"Well, Dick, whichever it may be, that port will be welcome." + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon, and you will certainly find there the means to +return promptly to San Francisco. The Pacific Navigation Company has a +very well organized service on this coast. Its steamers touch at the +principal points of the coast; nothing will be easier than to take +passage for California." + +"Then you do not count on bringing the 'Pilgrim' to San Francisco?" +asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, after having put you on shore, Mrs. Weldon. If we can procure an +officer and a crew, we are going to discharge our cargo at Valparaiso, +as Captain Hull would have done. Then we shall return to our own port. +But that would delay you too much, and, though very sorry to be +separated from you----" + +"Well, Dick," replied Mrs. Weldon, "we shall see later what must be +done. Tell me, you seem to fear the dangers which the land presents." + +"In fact, they are to be feared," replied the novice, "but I am always +hoping to meet some ship in these parts, and I am even very much +surprised at not seeing any. If only one should pass, we would enter +into communication with her; she would give us our exact situation, +which would greatly facilitate our arrival in sight of land." + +"Are there not pilots who do service along this coast?" asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"There ought to be," replied Dick Sand, "but much nearer land. We must +then continue to approach it." + +"And if we do not meet a pilot?" asked Mrs. Weldon, who kept on +questioning him in order to know how the young novice would prepare for +all contingencies. + +"In that case, Mrs. Weldon, either the weather will be clear, the wind +moderate, and I shall endeavor to sail up the coast sufficiently near +to find a refuge, or the wind will be stronger, and then----" + +"Then what will you do, Dick?" + +"Then, in the present condition of the 'Pilgrim,'" replied Dick Sand, +"once near the land, it will be very difficult to set off again." + +"What will you do?" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"I shall be forced to run my ship aground," replied the novice, whose +brow darkened for a moment. "Ah! it is a hard extremity. God grant that +we may not be reduced to that. But, I repeat it, Mrs. Weldon, the +appearance of the sky is reassuring, and it is impossible for a vessel +or a pilot-boat not to meet us. Then, good hope. We are headed for the +land, we shall see it before long." + +Yes, to run a ship aground is a last extremity, to which the most +energetic sailor does not resort without fear! Thus, Dick Sand did not +wish to foresee it, while he had some chances of escaping it. + +For several days there were, in the state of the atmosphere, +alternatives which, anew, made the novice very uneasy. The wind kept in +the condition of a stiff breeze all the time, and certain oscillations +of the barometrical column indicated that it tended to freshen. Dick +Sand then asked himself, not without apprehension, if he would be again +forced to scud without sails. He had so much interest in keeping at +least his top-sail, that he resolved to do so so long as it was not +likely to be carried away. But, to secure the solidity of the masts, he +had the shrouds and backstays hauled taut. Above all, all unnecessary +risk must be avoided, as the situation would become one of the gravest, +if the "Pilgrim" should be disabled by losing her masts. + +Once or twice, also, the barometer rising gave reason to fear that the +wind might change point for point; that is to say, that it might pass +to the east. It would then be necessary to sail close to the wind! + +A new anxiety for Dick Sand. What should he do with a contrary wind? +Tack about? But if he was obliged to come to that, what new delays and +what risks of being thrown into the offing. + +Happily those fears were not realized. The wind, after shifting for +several days, blowing sometimes from the north, sometimes from the +south, settled definitely in the west. But it was always a strong +breeze, almost a gale, which strained the masting. + +It was the 5th of April. So, then, more than two months had already +elapsed since the "Pilgrim" had left New Zealand. For twenty days a +contrary wind and long calms had retarded her course. Then she was in a +favorable condition to reach land rapidly. Her speed must even have +been very considerable during the tempest. Dick Sand estimated its +average at not less than two hundred miles a day! How, then, had he not +yet made the coast? Did it flee before the "Pilgrim?" It was absolutely +inexplicable. + +And, nevertheless, no land was signaled, though one of the blacks kept +watch constantly in the crossbars. + +Dick Sand often ascended there himself. There, with a telescope to his +eyes, he sought to discover some appearance of mountains. The Andes +chain is very high. It was there in the zone of the clouds that he must +seek some peak, emerging from the vapors of the horizon. + +Several times Tom and his companions were deceived by false indications +of land. They were only vapors of an odd form, which rose in the +background. It happened sometimes that these honest men were obstinate +in their belief; but, after a certain time, they were forced to +acknowledge that they had been dupes of an optical illusion. The +pretended land, moved away, changed form and finished by disappearing +completely. + +On the 6th of April there was no longer any doubt possible. + +It was eight o'clock in the morning. Dick Sand had just ascended into +the bars. At that moment the fogs were condensed under the first rays +of the sun, and the horizon was pretty clearly defined. + +From Dick Sand's lips escaped at last the so long expected cry: + +"Land! land before us!" + +At that cry every one ran on deck, little Jack, curious as folks are at +that age, Mrs. Weldon, whose trials were going to cease with the +landing, Tom and his companions, who were at last going to set foot +again on the American continent, Cousin Benedict himself, who had great +hope of picking up quite a rich collection of new insects for himself. + +Negoro, alone, did not appear. + +Each then saw what Dick Sand had seen, some very distinctly, others +with the eyes of faith. But on the part of the novice, so accustomed to +observe sea horizons, there was no error possible, and an hour after, +it must be allowed he was not deceived. + +At a distance of about four miles to the east stretched a rather low +coast, or at least what appeared such. It must be commanded behind by +the high chain of the Andes, but the last zone of clouds did not allow +the summits to be perceived. + +The "Pilgrim" sailed directly and rapidly to this coast, which grew +larger to the eye. + +Two hours after it was only three miles away. + +This part of the coast ended in the northeast by a pretty high cape, +which covered a sort of roadstead protected from land winds. On the +contrary, in the southeast, it lengthened out like a thin peninsula. + +A few trees crowned a succession of low cliffs, which were then clearly +defined under the sky. But it was evident, the geographical character +of the country being given, that the high mountain chain of the Andes +formed their background. + +Moreover, no habitation in sight, no port, no river mouth, which might +serve as a harbor for a vessel. + +At that moment the "Pilgrim" was running right on the land. With the +reduced sail which she carried, the winds driving her to the coast, +Dick Sand would not be able to set off from it. + +In front lay a long band of reefs, on which the sea was foaming all +white. They saw the waves unfurl half way up the cliffs. There must be +a monstrous surf there. + +Dick Sand, after remaining on the forecastle to observe the coast, +returned aft, and, without saying a word, he took the helm. + +The wind was freshening all the time. The schooner was soon only a mile +from the shore. + +Dick Sand then perceived a sort of little cove, into which he resolved +to steer; but, before reaching it, he must cross a line of reefs, among +which it would be difficult to follow a channel. The surf indicated +that the water was shallow everywhere. + +At that moment Dingo, who was going backwards and forwards on the deck, +dashed forward, and, looking at the land, gave some lamentable barks. +One would say that the dog recognized the coast, and that its instinct +recalled some sad remembrance. + +Negoro must have heard it, for an irresistible sentiment led him out of +his cabin; and although he had reason to fear the dog, he came almost +immediately to lean on the netting. + +Very fortunately for him Dingo, whose sad barks were all the time being +addressed to that land, did not perceive him. + +Negoro looked at that furious surf, and that did not appear to frighten +him. Mrs. Weldon, who was looking at him, thought she saw his face +redden a little, and that for an instant his features were contracted. + +Then, did Negoro know this point of the continent where the winds were +driving the "Pilgrim?" + +At that moment Dick Sand left the wheel, which he gave back to old Tom. +For a last time he came to look at the cove, which gradually opened. +Then: + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, in a firm voice, "I have no longer any hope of +finding a harbor! Before half an hour, in spite of all my efforts, the +'Pilgrim' will be on the reefs! We must run aground! I shall not bring +the ship into port! I am forced to lose her to save you! But, between +your safety and hers, I do not hesitate!" + +"You have done all that depended on you, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"All," replied the young novice. + +And at once he made his preparations for stranding the ship. + +First of all, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Cousin Benedict and Nan, must put on +life-preservers. Dick Sand, Tom and the blacks, good swimmers, also +took measures to gain the coast, in case they should be precipitated +into the sea. + +Hercules would take charge of Mrs. Weldon. The novice took little Jack +under his care. + +Cousin Benedict, very tranquil, however, reappeared on the deck with +his entomologist box strapped to his shoulder. The novice commended him +to Bat and Austin. As to Negoro, his singular calmness said plainly +enough that he had no need of anybody's aid. + +Dick Sand, by a supreme precaution, had also brought on the forecastle +ten barrels of the cargo containing whale's oil. + +That oil, properly poured the moment the "Pilgrim" would be in the +surf, ought to calm the sea for an instant, in lubricating, so to say, +the molecules of water, and that operation would perhaps facilitate the +ship's passage between the reefs. Dick Sand did not wish to neglect +anything which might secure the common safety. + +All these precautions taken, the novice returned to take his place at +the wheel. + +The "Pilgrim" was only two cables' lengths from the coast, that is, +almost touching the reefs, her starboard side already bathed in the +white foam of the surf. Each moment the novice thought that the +vessel's keel was going to strike some rocky bottom. + +Suddenly, Dick Sand knew, by a change in the color of the water, that a +channel lengthened out among the reefs. He must enter it bravely +without hesitating, so as to make the coast as near as possible to the +shore. + +The novice did not hesitate. A movement of the helm thrust the ship +into the narrow and sinuous channel. In this place the sea was still +more furious, and the waves dashed on the deck. + +The blacks were posted forward, near the barrels, waiting for the +novice's orders. + +"Pour the oil--pour!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +Under this oil, which was poured on it in quantities, the sea grew +calm, as by enchantment, only to become more terrible again a moment +after. + +The "Pilgrim" glided rapidly over those lubricated waters and headed +straight for the shore. + +Suddenly a shock took place. The ship, lifted by a formidable wave, had +just stranded, and her masting had fallen without wounding anybody. + +The "Pilgrim's" hull, damaged by the collision, was invaded by the +water with extreme violence. But the shore was only half a cable's +length off, and a chain of small blackish rocks enabled it to be +reached quite easily. + +So, ten minutes after, all those carried by the "Pilgrim" had landed at +the foot of the cliff. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BEST TO DO. + + +So then, after a voyage long delayed by calms, then favored by winds +from the northwest and from the southwest--a voyage which had not +lasted less than seventy-four days--the "Pilgrim" had just run aground! + +However, Mrs. Weldon. and her companions thanked Providence, because +they were in safety. In fact, it was on a continent, and not on one of +the fatal isles of Polynesia, that the tempest had thrown them. Their +return to their country, from any point of South America on which they +should land, ought not, it seemed, to present serious difficulties. + +As to the "Pilgrim," she was lost. She was only a carcass without +value, of which the surf was going to disperse the _debris_ in a few +hours. It would be impossible to save anything. But if Dick Sand had +not that joy of bringing back a vessel intact to his ship-owner, at +least, thanks to him, those who sailed in her were safe and sound on +some hospitable coast, and among them, the wife and child of James W. +Weldon. + +As to the question of knowing on what part of the American coast the +schooner had been wrecked, they might dispute it for a long time. Was +it, as Dick Sand must suppose, on the shore of Peru? Perhaps, for he +knew, even by the bearings of the Isle of Paques, that the "Pilgrim" +had been thrown to the northeast under the action of the winds; and +also, without doubt, under the influence of the currents of the +equatorial zone. From the forty-third degree of latitude, it had, +indeed, been possible to drift to the fifteenth. + +It was then important to determine, as soon as possible, the precise +point of the coast where the schooner had just been lost. Granted that +this coast was that of Peru, ports, towns and villages were not +lacking, and consequently it would be easy to gain some inhabited +place. As to this part of the coast, it seemed deserted. + +It was a narrow beach, strewed with black rocks, shut off by a cliff of +medium height, very irregularly cut up by large funnels due to the +rupture of the rock. Here and there a few gentle declivities gave +access to its crest. + +In the north, at a quarter of a mile from the stranding place, was the +mouth of a little river, which could not have been perceived from the +offing. On its banks hung numerous _rhizomas_, sorts of mangroves, +essentially distinct from their congeners of India. + +The crest of the cliff--that was soon discovered--was overhung by a +thick forest, whose verdant masses undulated before the eyes, and +extended as far as the mountains in the background. There, if Cousin +Benedict had been a botanist, how many trees, new to him, would not +have failed to provoke his admiration. + +There were high baobabs--to which, however, an extraordinary longevity +has been falsely attributed--the bark of which resembles Egyptian +syenite, Bourbon palms, white pines, tamarind-trees, pepper-plants of a +peculiar species, and a hundred other plants that an American is not +accustomed to see in the northern region of the New Continent. + +But, a circumstance rather curious, among those forest productions one +would not meet a single specimen of that numerous family of palm-trees +which counts more than a thousand species, spread in profusion over +almost the whole surface of the globe. + +Above the sea-shore a great number of very noisy birds were flying, +which belonged for the greater part to different varieties of swallows, +of black plumage, with a steel-blue shade, but of a light chestnut +color on the upper part of the head. Here and there also rose some +partridges, with necks entirely white, and of a gray color. + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand observed that these different birds did not +appear to be at all wild. They approached without fearing anything. +Then, had they not yet learned to fear the presence of man, and was +this coast so deserted that the detonation of a firearm had never been +heard there? + +At the edge of the rocks were walking some pelicans of the species of +"pelican minor," occupied in filling with little fish the sack which +they carry between the branches of their lower jaw. Some gulls, coming +from the offing, commenced to fly about around the "Pilgrim." + +Those birds were the only living creatures that seemed to frequent this +part of the coast, without counting, indeed, numbers of interesting +insects that Cousin Benedict would well know how to discover. But, +however little Jack would have it, one could not ask them the name of +the country; in order to learn it, it would be necessary to address +some native. There were none there, or at least, there was not one to +be seen. No habitation, hut, or cabin, neither in the north, beyond the +little river, nor in the south, nor finally on the upper part of the +cliff, in the midst of the trees of the thick forest. No smoke ascended +into the air, no indication, mark, or imprint indicated that this +portion of the continent was visited by human beings. Dick Sand +continued to be very much surprised. + +"Where are we? Where can we be?" he asked himself. "What! nobody to +speak to?" + +Nobody, in truth, and surely, if any native had approached, Dingo would +have scented him, and announced him by a bark. The dog went backward +and forward on the strand, his nose to the ground, his tail down, +growling secretly--certainly very singular behavior--but neither +betraying the approach of man nor of any animal whatsoever. + +"Dick, look at Dingo!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, that is very strange," replied the novice. "It seems as if he +were trying to recover a scent." + +"Very strange, indeed," murmured Mrs. Weldon; then, continuing, "what +is Negoro doing?" she asked. + +"He is doing what Dingo is doing," replied Dick Sand. "He goes, he +comes! After all, he is free here. I have no longer the right to +control him. His service ended with the stranding of the Pilgrim.'" + +In fact, Negoro surveyed the strand, turned back, and looked at the +shore and the cliff like a man trying to recall recollections and to +fix them. Did he, then, know this country? He would probably have +refused to reply to that question if it had been asked. The best thing +was still to have nothing to do with that very unsociable personage. +Dick Sand soon saw him walk from the side of the little river, and when +Negoro had disappeared on the other side of the cliff, he ceased to +think of him. + +Dingo had indeed barked when the cook had arrived on the steep bank, +but became silent almost immediately. + +It was necessary, now, to consider the most pressing wants. Now, the +most pressing was to find a refuge, a shelter of some kind, where they +could install themselves for the time, and partake of some nourishment. +Then they would take counsel, and they would decide what it would be +convenient to do. + +As to food, they had not to trouble themselves. Without speaking of the +resources which the country must offer, the ship's store-room had +emptied itself for the benefit of the survivors of the shipwreck. The +surf had thrown here and there among the rocks, then uncovered by the +ebb-tide, a great quantity of objects. Tom and his companions had +already picked up some barrels of biscuit, boxes of alimentary +preserves, cases of dried meat. The water not having yet damaged them, +food for the little troop was secured for more time, doubtless, than +they would require to reach a town or a village. In that respect there +was nothing to fear. These different waifs, already put in a safe +place, could no longer be taken back by a rising sea. + +Neither was sweet water lacking. First of all Dick Sand had taken care +to send Hercules to the little river for a few pints. But it was a cask +which the vigorous negro brought back on his shoulder, after having +filled it with water fresh and pure, which the ebb of the tide left +perfectly drinkable. + +As to a fire, if it were necessary to light one, dead wood was not +lacking in the neighborhood, and the roots of the old mangroves ought +to furnish all the fuel of which they would have need. Old Tom, an +ardent smoker, was provided with a certain quantity of German tinder, +well preserved in a box hermetically closed, and when they wanted it, +he would only have to strike the tinder-box with the flint of the +strand. + +It remained, then, to discover the hole in which the little troop would +lie down, in case they must take one night's rest before setting out. + +And, indeed, it was little Jack who found the bedroom in question, +While trotting about at the foot of the cliff, he discovered, behind a +turn of the rock, one of those grottoes well polished, well hollowed +out, which the sea herself digs, when the waves, enlarged by the +tempest, beat the coast. + +The young child was delighted. He called his mother with cries of joy, +and triumphantly showed her his discovery. + +"Good, my Jack!" replied Mrs. Weldon. "If we were Robinson Crusoes, +destined to live a long time on this shore, we should not forget to +give your name to that grotto!" + +The grotto was only from ten to twelve feet long, and as many wide; +but, in little Jack's eyes, it was an enormous cavern. At all events, +it must suffice to contain the shipwrecked ones; and, as Mrs. Weldon +and Nan noted with satisfaction, it was very dry. The moon being then +in her first quarter, they need not fear that those neap-tides would +reach the foot of the cliff, and the grotto in consequence. Then, +nothing more was needed for a few hours' rest. + +Ten minutes after everybody was stretched out on a carpet of sea-weed. +Negoro himself thought he must rejoin the little troop and take his +part of the repast, which was going to be made in common. Doubtless he +had not judged it proper to venture alone under the thick forest, +through which the winding river made its way. + +It was one o'clock in the afternoon. The preserved meat, the biscuit, +the sweet water, with the addition of a few drops of rum, of which Bat +had saved a quarter cask, made the requisites for this repast. But if +Negoro took part in it, he did not at all mingle in the conversation, +in which were discussed the measures demanded by the situation of the +shipwrecked. All the time, without appearing to do so, he listened to +it, and doubtless profited by what he heard. + +During this time Dingo, who had not been forgotten, watched outside the +grotto. They could be at ease. No living being would show himself on +the strand without the faithful animal giving the alarm. + +Mrs. Weldon, holding her little Jack, half lying and almost asleep on +her lap, began to speak. + +"Dick, my friend," said she, "in the name of all, I thank you for the +devotion that you have shown us till now; but we do not consider you +free yet. You will be our guide on land, as you were our captain at +sea. We place every confidence in you. Speak, then! What must we do?" + +Mrs. Weldon, old Nan, Tom and his companions, all had their eyes fixed +on the young novice. Negoro himself looked at him with a singular +persistence. Evidently, what Dick Sand was going to reply interested +him very particularly. + +Dick Sand reflected for a few moments. Then: + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, "the important thing is to know, first, where +we are. I believe that our ship can only have made the land on that +portion of the American sea-coast which forms the Peruvian shore. The +winds and currents must have carried her as far as that latitude. But +are we here in some southern province of Peru, that is to say on the +least inhabited part which borders upon the pampas? Maybe so. I would +even willingly believe it, seeing this beach so desolate, and, it must +be, but little frequented. In that case, we might be very far from the +nearest town, which would be unfortunate." + +"Well, what is to be done?" repeated Mrs. Weldon. + +"My advice," replied Dick Sand, "would be not to leave this shelter +till we know our situation. To-morrow, after a night's rest, two of us +could go to discover it. They would endeavor, without going too far, to +meet some natives, to inform themselves from them, and return to the +grotto. It is not possible that, in a radius of ten or twelve miles, we +find nobody." + +"To separate!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"That seems necessary to me," replied the novice. "If no information +can be picked up, if, as is not impossible, the country is absolutely +desolate, well, we shall consider some other way of extricating +ourselves." + +"And which of us shall go to explore?" asked Mrs. Weldon, after a +moment's reflection. + +"That is yet to be decided," replied Dick Sand. "At all events, I think +that you, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Mr. Benedict, and Nan, ought not to quit +this grotto. Bat, Hercules, Acteon, and Austin should remain near you, +while Tom and I should go forward. Negoro, doubtless, will prefer to +remain here?" added Dick Sand, looking at the head-cook. + +"Probably," replied Negoro, who was not a man to commit himself any +more than that. + +"We should take Dingo with us," continued the novice. "He would be +useful to us during our exploration." + +Dingo, hearing his name pronounced, reappeared at the entrance of the +grotto, and seemed to approve of Dick Sand's projects by a little bark. + +Since the novice had made this proposition, Mrs. Weldon remained +pensive. Her repugnance to the idea of a separation, even short, was +very serious. Might it not happen that the shipwreck of the "Pilgrim" +would soon be known to the Indian tribes who frequented the sea-shore, +either to the north or to the south, and in case some plunderers of the +wrecks thrown on the shore should present themselves, was it not better +for all to be united to repulse them? + +That objection, made to the novice's proposition, truly merited a +discussion. + +It fell, however, before Dick Sand's arguments, who observed that the +Indians ought not to be confounded with the savages of Africa or +Polynesia, and any aggression on their part was probably not to be +feared. But to entangle themselves in this country without even knowing +to what province of South America it belonged, nor at what distance the +nearest town of that province was situated, was to expose themselves to +many fatigues. Doubtless separation might have its inconveniences, but +far less than marching blindly into the midst of a forest which +appeared to stretch as far as the base of the mountains. + +"Besides," repeated Dick Sand, persistently, "I cannot admit that this +separation will be of long duration, and I even affirm that it will not +be so. After two days, at the most, if Tom and I have come across +neither habitation nor inhabitant, we shall return to the grotto. But +that is too improbable, and we shall not have advanced twenty miles +into the interior of the country before we shall evidently be satisfied +about its geographical situation. I may be mistaken in my calculation, +after all, because the means of fixing it astronomically have failed +me, and it is not impossible for us to be in a higher or lower +latitude." + +"Yes--you are certainly right, my child," replied Mrs. Weldon, in great +anxiety. + +"And you, Mr. Benedict," asked Dick Sand, "what do you think of this +project?" + +"I?" replied Cousin Benedict. + +"Yes; what is your advice?" + +"I have no advice," replied Cousin Benedict. "I find everything +proposed, good, and I shall do everything that you wish. Do you wish to +remain here one day or two? that suits me, and I shall employ my time +in studying this shore from a purely entomological point of view." + +"Do, then, according to your wish," said Mrs. Weldon to Dick Sand. "We +shall remain here, and you shall depart with old Tom." + +"That is agreed upon," said Cousin Benedict, in the most tranquil +manner in the world. "As for me, I am going to pay a visit to the +insects of the country." + +"Do not go far away, Mr. Benedict," said the novice. "We urge you +strongly not to do it." + +"Do not be uneasy, my boy." + +"And above all, do not bring back too many musquitoes," added old Tom. + +A few moments after, the entomologist, his precious tin box strapped to +his shoulders, left the grotto. + +Almost at the same time Negoro abandoned it also. It appeared quite +natural to that man to, be always occupied with himself. But, while +Cousin Benedict clambered up the slopes of the cliff to go to explore +the border of the forest, he, turning round toward the river, went away +with slow steps and disappeared, a second time ascending the steep bank. + +Jack slept all the time. Mrs. Weldon, leaving him on Nan's knees, then +descended toward the strand. Dick Sand and his companions followed her. +The question was, to see if the state of the sea then would permit them +to go as far as the "Pilgrim's" hull, where there were still many +objects which might be useful to the little troop. + +The rocks on which the schooner had been wrecked were now dry. In the +midst of the _debris_ of all kinds stood the ship's carcass, which the +high sea had partly covered again. That astonished Dick Sand, for he +knew that the tides are only very moderate on the American sea-shore of +the Pacific. But, after all, this phenomenon might be explained by the +fury of the wind which beat the coast. + +On seeing their ship again, Mrs. Weldon and her companions experienced +a painful impression. It was there that they had lived for long days, +there that they had suffered. The aspect of that poor ship, half +broken, having neither mast nor sails, lying on her side like a being +deprived of life, sadly grieved their hearts. But they must visit this +hull, before the sea should come to finish demolishing it. + +Dick Sand and the blacks could easily make their way into the interior, +after having hoisted themselves on deck by means of the ropes which +hung over the "Pilgrim's" side. While Tom, Hercules, Bat, and Austin +employed themselves in taking from the storeroom all that might be +useful, as much eatables as liquids, the novice made his way into the +arsenal. Thanks to God, the water had not invaded this part of the +ship, whose rear had remained out of the water after the stranding. + +There Dick Sand found four guns in good condition, excellent Remingtons +from Purdy & Co.'s factory, as well as a hundred cartridges, carefully +shut up in their cartridge-boxes. There was material to arm his little +band, and put it in a state of defense, if, contrary to all +expectation, the Indians attacked him on the way. + +The novice did not neglect to take a pocket-lantern; but the ship's +charts, laid in a forward quarter and damaged by the water, were beyond +use. + +There were also in the "Pilgrim's" arsenal some of those solid +cutlasses which serve to cut up whales. Dick Sand chose six, destined +to complete the arming of his companions, and he did not forget to +bring an inoffensive child's gun, which belonged to little Jack. + +As to the other objects still held by the ship, they had either been +dispersed, or they could no longer be used. Besides, it was useless to +overburden themselves for the few days the journey would last. In food, +in arms, in munitions, they were more than provided for. Meanwhile, +Dick Sand, by Mrs. Weldon's advice, did not neglect to take all the +money which he found on board--about five hundred dollars. + +That was a small sum, indeed! Mrs. Weldon had carried a larger amount +herself and she did not find it again. + +Who, then, except Negoro, had been able to visit the ship before them +and to lay hands on Captain Hull's and Mrs. Weldon's reserve? No one +but he, surely, could be suspected. However, Dick Sand hesitated a +moment. All that he knew and all that he saw of him was that everything +was to be feared from that concentrated nature, from whom the +misfortunes of others could snatch a smile. Yes, Negoro was an evil +being, but must they conclude from that that he was a criminal? It was +painful to Dick Sand's character to go as far as that. And, meanwhile, +could suspicion rest on any other? No, those honest negroes had not +left the grotto for an instant, while Negoro had wandered over the +beach. He alone must be guilty. Dick Sand then resolved to question +Negoro, and, if necessary, have him searched when he returned. He +wished to know decidedly what to believe. + +The sun was then going down to the horizon. At that date he had not yet +crossed the equator to carry heat and light into the northern +hemisphere, but he was approaching it. He fell, then, almost +perpendicularly to that circular line where the sea and the sky meet. +Twilight was short, darkness fell promptly--which confirmed the novice +in the thought that he had landed on a point of the coast situated +between the tropic of Capricorn and the equator. + +Mrs. Weldon, Dick Sand, and the blacks then returned to the grotto, +where they must take some hours' rest. + +"The night will still be stormy," observed Tom, pointing to the horizon +laden with heavy clouds. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "there is a strong breeze blowing up. But +what matter, at present? Our poor ship is lost, and the tempest can no +longer reach us?" + +"God's will be done!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +It was agreed that during that night, which would be very dark, each of +the blacks would watch turn about at the entrance to the grotto. They +could, besides, count upon Dingo to keep a careful watch. + +They then perceived that Cousin Benedict had not returned. + +Hercules called him with all the strength of his powerful lungs, and +almost immediately they saw the entomologist coming down the slopes of +the cliff, at the risk of breaking his neck. + +Cousin Benedict was literally furious. He had not found a single new +insect in the forest--no, not one--which was fit to figure in his +collection. Scorpions, scolopendras, and other myriapodes, as many as +he could wish, and even more, were discovered. And we know that Cousin +Benedict did not interest himself in myriapodes. + +"It was not worth the trouble," added he, "to travel five or six +thousand miles, to have braved the tempest, to be wrecked on the coast, +and not meet one of those American hexapodes, which do honor to an +entomological museum! No; the game was not worth the candle!" + +As a conclusion, Cousin Benedict asked to go away. He did not wish to +remain another hour on that detested shore. + +Mrs. Weldon calmed her large child. They made him hope that he would be +more fortunate the next day, and all went to lie down in the grotto, to +sleep there till sunrise, when Tom observed that Negoro had not yet +returned, though night had arrived. + +"Where can he be?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"What matter!" said Bat. + +"On the contrary, it does matter," replied Mrs. Weldon. "I should +prefer having that man still near us." + +"Doubtless, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand; "but if he has forsaken +our company voluntarily, I do not see how we could oblige him to rejoin +us. Who knows but he has his reasons for avoiding us forever?" + +And taking Mrs. Weldon aside, Dick Sand confided to her his suspicions. +He was not astonished to find that she had them also. Only they +differed on one point. + +"If Negoro reappears," said Mrs. Weldon, "he will have put the product +of his theft in a safe place. Take my advice. What we had better do, +not being able to convict him, will be to hide our suspicions from him, +and let him believe that we are his dupes." + +Mrs. Weldon was right. Dick Sand took her advice. + +However, Negoro was called several times. + +He did not reply. Either he was still too far away to hear, or he did +not wish to return. + +The blacks did not regret being rid of his presence; but, as Mrs. +Weldon had just said, perhaps he was still more to be feared afar than +near. And, moreover, how explain that Negoro would venture alone into +that unknown country? Had he then lost his way, and on this dark night +was he vainly seeking the way to the grotto? + +Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand did not know what to think. However it was, +they could not, in order to wait for Negoro, deprive themselves of a +repose so necessary to all. + +At that moment the dog, which was running on the strand, barked aloud. + +"What is the matter with Dingo?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"We must, indeed, find out," replied the novice. "Perhaps it is Negoro +coming back." + +At once Hercules, Bat, Austin, and Dick Sand took their way to the +mouth of the river. + +But, arrived at the bank, they neither saw nor heard anything. Dingo +now was silent. + +Dick Sand and the blacks returned to the grotto. + +The going to sleep was organized as well as possible. Each of the +blacks prepared himself to watch in turn outside. But Mrs. Weldon, +uneasy, could not sleep. It seemed to her that this land so ardently +desired did not give her what she had been led to hope for, security +for hers, and rest for herself. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HARRIS. + + +The next day, April 7th, Austin, who was on guard at sunrise, saw Dingo +run barking to the little river. Almost immediately Mrs. Weldon, Dick +Sand and the blacks came out of the grotto. + +Decidedly there was something there. + +"Dingo has scented a living creature, man or beast," said the novice. + +"At all events it was not Negoro," observed Tom, "for Dingo would bark +with fury." + +"If it is not Negoro, where can he be?" asked Mrs. Weldon, giving Dick +Sand a look which was only understood by him; "and if it is not he, +who, then, is it?" + +"We are going to see, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. Then, +addressing Bat, Austin, and Hercules, "Arm yourselves, my friends, and +come!" + +Each of the blacks took a gun and a cutlass, as Dick Sand had done. A +cartridge was slipped into the breech of the Remingtons, and, thus +armed, all four went to the bank of the river. + +Mrs. Weldon, Tom, and Acteon remained at the entrance of the grotto, +where little Jack and Nan still rested by themselves. + +The sun was then rising. His rays, intercepted by the high mountains in +the east, did not reach the cliff directly; but as far as the western +horizon, the sea sparkled under the first fires of day. + +Dick Sand and his companions followed the strand of the shore, the +curve of which joined the mouth of the river. + +There Dingo, motionless, and as if on guard, was continually barking. + +It was evident that he saw or scented some native. + +And, in fact, it was no longer against Negoro, against its enemy on +board the ship, that the dog had a grudge this time. + +At that moment a man turned the last plane of the cliff. He advanced +prudently to the strand, and, by his familiar gestures, he sought to +calm Dingo. They saw that he did not care to face the anger of the +vigorous animal. + +"It is not Negoro!" said Hercules. + +"We cannot lose by the change," replied Bat. + +"No," said the novice. "It is probably some native, who will spare us +the _ennui_ of a separation. We are at last going to know exactly where +we are." + +And all four, putting their guns back on their shoulders, went rapidly +toward the unknown. + +The latter, on seeing them approach, at first gave signs of the +greatest surprise. Very certainly, he did not expect to meet strangers +on that part of the coast. Evidently, also, he had not yet perceived +the remains of the "Pilgrim," otherwise the presence of the shipwrecked +would very naturally be explained to him. Besides, during the night the +surf had finished demolishing the ship's hull; there was nothing left +but the wrecks that floated in the offing. + +At the first moment the unknown, seeing four armed men marching toward +him, made a movement as if he would retrace his steps. He carried a gun +in a shoulder-belt, which passed rapidly into his hand, and from his +hand to his shoulder. They felt that he was not reassured. + +Dick Sand made a gesture of salutation, which doubtless the unknown +understood, for, after some hesitation, he continued to advance. + +Dick Sand could then examine him with attention. + +He was a vigorous man, forty years old at the most, his eyes bright, +his hair and beard gray, his skin sunburnt like that of a nomad who has +always lived in the open air, in the forest, or on the plain. A kind of +blouse of tanned skin served him for a close coat, a large hat covered +his head, leather boots came up above his knees, and spurs with large +rowels sounded from their high heels. + +What Dick Sand noticed at first--and which was so, in fact--was that he +had before him, not one of those Indians, habitual rovers over the +pampas, but one of those adventurers of foreign blood, often not very +commendable, who are frequently met with in those distant countries. + +It also seemed, by his rather familiar attitude, by the reddish color +of a few hairs of his beard, that this unknown must be of Anglo-Saxon +origin. At all events, he was neither an Indian nor a Spaniard. + +And that appeared certain, when in answer to Dick Sand, who said to him +in English, "Welcome!" he replied in the same language and without any +accent. + +"Welcome yourself, my young friend," said the unknown, advancing toward +the novice, whose hand he pressed. + +As to the blacks, he contented himself with making a gesture to them +without speaking to them. + +"You are English?" he asked the novice. + +"Americans," replied Dick Sand. + +"From the South?" + +"From the North." + +This reply seemed to please the unknown, who shook the novice's hand +more vigorously and this time in very a American manner. + +"And may I know, my young friend," he asked, "how you find yourself on +this coast?" + +But, at that moment, without waiting till the novice had replied to his +question, the unknown took off his hat and bowed. + +Mrs. Weldon had advanced as far as the steep bank, and she then found +herself facing him. + +It was she who replied to this question. + +"Sir," said she, "we are shipwrecked ones whose ship was broken to +pieces yesterday on these reefs." + +An expression of pity spread over the unknown's face, whose eyes sought +the vessel which had been stranded. + +"There is nothing left of our ship," added the novice. "The surf has +finished the work of demolishing it during the night." + +"And our first question," continued Mrs. Weldon, "will be to ask you +where we are." + +"But you are on the sea-coast of South America," replied the unknown, +who appeared surprised at the question. "Can you have any doubt about +that?" + +"Yes, sir, for the tempest had been able to make us deviate from our +route," replied Dick Sand. "But I shall ask where we are more exactly. +On the coast of Peru, I think." + +"No, my young friend, no! A little more to the south! You are wrecked +on the Bolivian coast." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +"And you are even on that southern part of Bolivia which borders on +Chili." + +"Then what is that cape?" asked Dick Sand, pointing to the promontory +on the north. + +"I cannot tell you the name," replied the unknown, "for if I know the +country in the interior pretty well from having often traversed it, it +is my first visit to this shore." + +Dick Sand reflected on what he had just learned. That only half +astonished him, for his calculation might have, and indeed must have, +deceived him, concerning the currents; but the error was not +considerable. In fact, he believed himself somewhere between the +twenty-seventh and the thirtieth parallel, from the bearings he had +taken from the Isle of Paques, and it was on the twenty-fifth parallel +that he was wrecked. There was no impossibility in the "Pilgrim's" +having deviated by relatively small digression, in such a long passage. + +Besides, there was no reason to doubt the unknown's assertions, and, as +that coast was that of lower Bolivia there was nothing astonishing in +its being so deserted. + +"Sir," then said Dick Sand, "after your reply I must conclude that we +are at a rather great distance from Lima." + +"Oh! Lima is far away--over there--in the north!" + +Mrs. Weldon, made suspicious first of all by Negoro's disappearance, +observed the newly-arrived with extreme attention; but she could +discover nothing, either in his attitude or in his manner of expressing +himself which could lead her to suspect his good faith. + +"Sir," said she, "without doubt my question is not rash. You do not +seem to be of Peruvian origin?" + +"I am American as you are, madam," said the unknown, who waited for an +instant for the American lady to tell him her name. + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied the latter. + +"I? My name is Harris and I was born in South Carolina. But here it is +twenty years since I left my country for the pampas of Bolivia, and it +gives me pleasure to see compatriots." + +"You live in this part of the province, Mr. Harris?" again asked Mrs. +Weldon. + +"No, Mrs. Weldon," replied Harris, "I live in the South, on the Chilian +frontier; but at this present moment I am going to Atacama, in the +northeast." + +"Are we then on the borders of the desert of that name?" asked Dick +Sand. + +"Precisely, my young friend, and this desert extends far beyond the +mountains which shut off the horizon." + +"The desert of Atacama?" repeated Dick Sand. + +"Yes," replied Harris. "This desert is like a country by itself, in +this vast South America, from which it differs in many respects. It is, +at the same time, the most curious and the least known portion of this +continent." + +"And you travel alone?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Oh, it is not the first time that I have taken this journey!" replied +the American. "There is, two hundred miles from here, an important +farm, the Farm of San Felice, which belongs to one of my brothers, and +it is to his house that I am going for my trade. If you wish to follow +me you will be well received, and the means of transport to gain the +town of Atacama will not fail you. My brother will be happy to furnish, +them." + +These offers, made freely, could only prepossess in favor of the +American, who immediately continued, addressing Mrs. Weldon: + +"These blacks are your slaves?" + +And he pointed to Tom and his companions. + +"We have no longer any slaves in the United States," replied Mrs. +Weldon, quickly. "The North abolished slavery long ago, and the South +has been obliged to follow the example of the North!" + +"Ah! that is so," replied Harris. "I had forgotten that the war of 1862 +had decided that grave question. I ask those honest men's pardon for +it," added Harris, with that delicate irony which a Southerner must put +into his language when speaking to blacks. "But on seeing those +gentlemen in your service, I believed----" + +"They are not, and have never been, in my service, sir," replied Mrs. +Weldon, gravely. + +"We should be honored in serving you, Mrs. Weldon," then said old Tom. +"But, as Mr. Harris knows, we do not belong to anybody. I have been a +slave myself, it is true, and sold as such in Africa, when I was only +six years old; but my son Bat, here, was born of an enfranchised +father, and, as to our companions, they were born of free parents." + +"I can only congratulate you about it," replied Harris, in a tone which +Mrs. Weldon did not find sufficiently serious. "In this land of +Bolivia, also, we have no slaves. Then you have nothing to fear, and +you can go about as freely here as in the New England States." + +At that moment little Jack, followed by Nan, came out of the grotto +rubbing his eyes. Then, perceiving his mother, he ran to her. Mrs. +Weldon embraced him tenderly. + +"The charming little boy!" said the American, approaching Jack. + +"It is my son," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Oh, Mrs. Weldon, you must have been doubly tried, because your child +has been exposed to so many dangers." + +"God has brought him out of them safe and sound, as He has us, Mr. +Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Will you permit me to kiss him on his pretty cheeks?" asked Harris. + +"Willingly," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +But Mr. Harris's face, it appeared, did not please little Jack, for he +clung more closely to his mother. + +"Hold!" said Harris, "you do not want me to embrace you? You are afraid +of me, my good little man?" + +"Excuse him, sir," Mrs. Weldon hastened to say. "It is timidity on his +part." + +"Good! we shall become better acquainted," replied Harris. "Once at the +Farm, he will amuse himself mounting a gentle pony, which will tell him +good things of me." + +But the offer of the gentle pony did not succeed in cajoling Jack any +more than the proposition to embrace Mr. Harris. + +Mrs. Weldon, thus opposed, hastened to change the conversation. They +must not offend a man who had so obligingly offered his services. + +During this time Dick Sand was reflecting on the proposition which had +been made to them so opportunely, to gain the Farm of San Felice. It +was, as Harris had said, a journey of over two hundred miles, sometimes +through forests, sometimes through plains--a very fatiguing journey, +certainly, because there were absolutely no means of transport. + +The young novice then presented some observations to that effect, and +waited for the reply the American was going to make. + +"The journey is a little long, indeed," replied Harris, "but I have +there, a few hundred feet behind the steep bank, a horse which I count +on offering to Mrs. Weldon and her son. For us, there is nothing +difficult, nor even very fatiguing in making the journey on foot. +Besides, when I spoke of two hundred miles, it was by following, as I +have already done, the course of this river. But if we go through the +forest, our distance will be shortened by at least eighty miles. Now, +at the rate of ten miles a day, it seems to me that we shall arrive at +the Farm without too much distress." + +Mrs. Weldon thanked the American. + +"You cannot thank me better than by accepting," replied Harris. "Though +I have never crossed this forest, I do not believe I shall be +embarrassed in finding the way, being sufficiently accustomed to the +pampas. But there is a graver question--that of food. I have only what +is barely enough for myself while on the way to the Farm of San Felice." + +"Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon, "fortunately we have food in more +than sufficient quantity, and we shall be happy to share with you." + +"Well, Mrs. Weldon, it seems to me that all is arranged for the best, +and that we have only to set out." + +Harris went toward the steep bank, with the intention of going to take +his horse from the place where he had left it, when Dick Sand stopped +him again, by asking him a question. + +To abandon the sea-coast, to force his way into the interior of the +country, under that interminable forest, did not please the young +novice. The sailor reappeared in him, and either to ascend or descend +the coast would be more to his mind. + +"Mr. Harris," said he, "instead of traveling for one hundred and twenty +miles in the Desert of Atacama, why not follow the coast? Distance for +distance, would it not be better worth while to seek to reach the +nearest town, either north or south?" + +"But my young friend," replied Harris, frowning slightly, "it seems to +me that on this coast, which I know very imperfectly, there is no town +nearer than three or four hundred miles." + +"To the north, yes," replied Dick Sand; "but to the south----" + +"To the south," replied the American, "we must descend as far as Chili. +Now, the distance is almost as long, and, in your place, I should not +like to pass near the pampas of the Argentine Republic. As to me, to my +great regret, I could not accompany you there." + +"The ships which go from Chili to Peru, do they not pass, then, in +sight of this coast?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"No," replied Harris. "They keep much more out at sea, and you ought +not to meet any of them." + +"Truly," replied Mrs. Weldon. "Well, Dick, have you still some question +to ask Mr. Harris?" + +"A single one, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice, who experienced some +difficulty in giving up. "I shall ask Mr. Harris in what port he thinks +we shall be able to find a ship to bring us back to San Francisco?" + +"Faith, my young friend, I could not tell you," replied the American. +"All that I know is, that at the Farm of San Felice we will furnish you +with the means of gaining the town of Atacama, and from there----" + +"Mr. Harris," then said Mrs. Weldon, "do not believe that Dick Sand +hesitates to accept your offers." + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, no; surely I do not hesitate," replied the young +novice; "but I cannot help regretting not being stranded a few degrees +farther north or farther south. We should have been in proximity to a +port, and that circumstance, in facilitating our return to our country, +would prevent us from taxing Mr. Harris's good will." + +"Do not fear imposing upon me, Mrs. Weldon," returned Harris. "I repeat +to you that too rarely have I occasion to find myself again in the +presence of my compatriots. For me it is a real pleasure to oblige you." + +"We accept your offer, Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I should +not wish, however, to deprive you of your horse. I am a good walker----" + +"And I am a very good walker," replied Harris, bowing. "Accustomed to +long journeys across the pampas, it is not I who will keep back our +caravan. No, Mrs. Weldon, you and your little Jack will use this horse. +Besides, it is possible that we may meet some of the farm servants on +the way, and, as they will be mounted--well, they will yield their +horses to us." + +Dick Sand saw well that in making new objections he would oppose Mrs. +Weldon. + +"Mr. Harris," said he, "when do we set out?" + +"Even to-day, my young friend," replied Harris. "The bad season +commences with the month of April, and it is of the utmost importance +for you to reach the farm of San Felice first. Finally, the way across +the forest is the shortest, and perhaps the safest. It is less exposed +than the coast to the incursions of wandering Indians, who are +indefatigable robbers." + +"Tom, my friends," replied Dick Sand, turning to the blacks, "it only +remains for us to make preparations for departure. Let us select, then, +from among the provisions on hand, those which can be most easily +transported, and let us make packs, of which each will take his share." + +"Mr. Dick," said Hercules, "if you wish, I shall carry the whole load +very well." + +"No, my brave Hercules," replied the novice; "it will be better for us +all to share the burden." + +"You are a strong companion, Hercules," then said Harris, who looked at +the negro as if the latter were for sale. "In the markets of Africa you +would be worth a good price." + +"I am worth what I am worth," replied Hercules, laughing, "and the +buyers will only have to run well, if they wish to catch me." + +All was agreed upon, and to hasten the departure, each went to work. +However, they had only to think of feeding the little troop for the +journey from the sea-coast to the farm, that is to say, for a march of +ten days. + +"But, before setting out, Mr. Harris," said Mrs. Weldon, "before +accepting your hospitality, I beg you to accept ours. We offer it to +you with our best wishes." + +"I accept, Mrs. Weldon; I accept with eagerness," replied Harris, gayly. + +"In a few minutes our breakfast will be ready." + +"Good, Mrs. Weldon. I am going to profit by those ten minutes to go and +get my horse and bring it here. He will have breakfasted, he will." + +"Do you want me to go with you, sir?" asked Dick Sand. + +"As you please, my young friend," replied Harris. "Come; I shall make +you acquainted with the lower course of this river." + +Both set out. + +During this time, Hercules was sent in search of the entomologist. +Faith, Cousin Benedict was very uneasy indeed about what was passing +around him. + +He was then wandering on the summit of the cliff in quest of an +"unfindable" insect, which, however, he did not find. + +Hercules brought him back against his will. Mrs. Weldon informed him +that departure was decided upon, and that, for ten days, they must +travel to the interior of the country. + +Cousin Benedict replied that he was ready to set out, and that he would +not ask better than to cross America entirely, provided they would let +him "collect" on the way. + +Mrs. Weldon then occupied herself, with Nan's assistance, in preparing +a comfortable repast--a good precaution before setting out. + +During this time, Harris, accompanied by Dick Sand, had turned the +angle of the cliff. Both followed the high bank, over a space of three +hundred steps. There, a horse, tied to a tree, gave joyous neighing at +the approach of his master. + +It was a vigorous beast, of a species that Dick Sand could not +recognize. Neck and shoulders long, loins short, and hindquarters +stretched out, shoulders flat, forehead almost pointed. This horse +offered, however, distinctive signs of those races to which we +attribute an Arabian origin. + +"You see, my young friend," said Harris, "that it is a strong animal, +and you may count on it not failing you on the route." + +Harris detached his horse, took it by the bridle, and descended the +steep bank again, preceding Dick Sand. The latter had thrown a rapid +glance, as well over the river as toward the forest which shut up its +two banks. But he saw nothing of a nature to make him uneasy. + +However, when he had rejoined the American, he suddenly gave him the +following question, which the latter could little expect: + +"Mr. Harris," he asked, "you have not met a Portuguese, named Negoro, +in the night?" + +"Negoro?" replied Harris, in the tone of a man who does not understand +what is said. "Who is this Negoro?" + +"He was the cook on board," replied Dick Sand, "and he has disappeared." + +"Drowned, perhaps," said Harris. + +"No, no," replied Dick Sand. "Yesterday evening he was still with us, +but during the night he has left us, and he has probably ascended the +steep bank of this river. So I asked you, who have come from that side, +if you had not met him." + +"I have met nobody," replied the American; "and if your cook has +ventured alone into the forest, he runs a great risk of going astray. +Perhaps we shall overtake him on the way." + +"Yes; perhaps!" replied Dick Sand. + +When the two returned to the grotto, breakfast was ready. It was +composed, like the supper of the evening before, of alimentary +conserves, of corned beef and of biscuit. Harris did honor to it, like +a man whom nature had endowed with a great appetite. + +"Let us go," said he; "I see that we shall not die of hunger on the +way! I shall not say as much for that poor devil of a Portuguese, of +whom our young friend has spoken." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Weldon, "Dick Sand has told you that we have not seen +Negoro again?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied the novice. "I desired to know if Mr. +Harris had not met him." + +"No," replied Harris; "so let us leave that deserter where he is, and +think of our departure--whenever you are ready, Mrs. Weldon." + +Each took the pack which was intended for him. Mrs. Weldon, assisted by +Hercules, placed herself on the horse, and the ungrateful little Jack, +with his gun strapped on his back, straddled the animal without even +thinking of thanking him who had put that excellent beast at his +disposal. Jack, placed before his mother, then said to her that he +would know how to lead the gentleman's horse very well. + +They then gave him the bridle to hold, and he did not doubt that he was +the veritable head of the caravan. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ON THE WAY. + + +It was not without a certain apprehension--nothing seemed to justify +it, however--that Dick Sand, three hundred steps from the steep bank of +the river, penetrated into the thick forest, the difficult paths of +which he and his companions were going to follow for ten days. On the +contrary, Mrs. Weldon herself, a woman and a mother, whom the perils +would make doubly anxious, had every confidence. Two very serious +motives had contributed to reassure her; first, because this region of +the pampas was neither very formidable on account of the natives, nor +on account of the animals which were found there; next, because, under +the direction of Harris, of a guide so sure of himself as the American +appeared to be, they could not be afraid of going astray. + +Here is the order of proceeding, which, as far as possible, would be +observed during the journey: + +Dick Sand and Harris, both armed, one with his long gun, the other with +a Remington, kept at the head of the little troop. + +Then came Bat and Austin, also armed, each with a gun and a cutlass. + +Behind them followed Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, on horseback; then +Nan and Tom. + +In the rear, Acteon, armed with the fourth Remington, and Hercules, +with a hatchet in his belt, closed the march. + +Dingo went backwards and forwards, and, as Dick Sand remarked, always +like an uneasy dog seeking a scent. The dog's ways had visibly changed +since the "Pilgrim's" shipwreck had cast it on this sea-coast. It +seemed agitated, and almost incessantly it kept up a dull grumbling, +rather lamentable than furious. That was remarked by all, though no one +could explain it. + +As to Cousin Benedict, it had been as impossible to assign him an order +of marching as Dingo. Unless he had been held by a string, he would not +have kept it. His tin box strapped to his shoulder, his net in his +hand, his large magnifying glass suspended to his neck, sometimes +behind, sometimes in front, he scampered away among the high herbs, +watching for orthopters or any other insect in "pter," at the risk of +being bit by some venomous serpent. + +During the first hour Mrs. Weldon, uneasy, called him back twenty +times. It was no use. + +"Cousin Benedict," she finished by saying to him, "I beg you very +seriously not to go far away, and I urge you for the last time to pay +attention to my entreaties." + +"Meanwhile, cousin," replied the intractable entomologist, "when I +perceive an insect?" + +"When you perceive an insect," replied Mrs. Weldon, "you would do well +to let it go in peace, or you will put me under the necessity of taking +your box away from you." + +"Take away my box!" cried Cousin Benedict, as if it were a question of +snatching away his heart. + +"Your box and your net," added Mrs. Weldon, pitilessly. + +"My net, cousin! And why not my glasses? You will not dare! No; you +will not dare!" + +"Even, your glasses, which I forgot. I thank you, Cousin Benedict, for +reminding me that I have that means of making you blind, and, in that +way, forcing you to be wise." + +This triple menace had the effect of making him keep quiet--this +unsubmissive cousin--for about an hour. Then he began to go away again, +and, as he would do the same, even without net, without box, and +without glasses, they were obliged to let him do as he pleased. But +Hercules undertook to watch him closely--which quite naturally became +one of his duties--and it was agreed that he would act with Cousin +Benedict as the latter would with an insect; that is, that he would +catch him, if necessary, and bring him back as delicately as the other +would with the rarest of the lepidopters. + +That rule made, they troubled themselves no more about Cousin Benedict. + +The little troop, it has been seen, was well armed, and guarded itself +carefully. But, as Harris repeated, there was no encounter to fear +except with wandering Indians, and they would probably see none. + +At all events, the precautions taken would suffice to keep them +respectful. + +The paths which wound across the thick forest did not merit that name. +They were rather the tracks of animals than the tracks of men. They +could only be followed with difficulty. So, in fixing the average +distance that the little troop would make in a march of twelve hours at +only five or six miles, Harris had calculated wisely. + +The weather, however, was very fine. The sun mounted toward the zenith, +spreading in waves his almost perpendicular rays. On the plain this +heat would be unbearable, Harris took care to remark; but, under those +impenetrable branches, they bore it easily and with impunity. + +The greater part of the trees of this forest were unknown, as well to +Mrs. Weldon as to her companions, black or white. + +However, an expert would remark that they were more remarkable for +their quality than for their height. Here, it was the "banhinia," or +iron wood; there, the "molompi," identical with the "pterocarpe," a +solid and light wood, fit for making the spoons used in sugar +manufactories or oars, from the trunk of which exuded an abundant +resin; further on, "fusticks," or yellow wood, well supplied with +coloring materials, and lignum-vitaes, measuring as much as twelve feet +in diameter, but inferior in quality to the ordinary lignum-vitaes. + +While walking, Dick Sand asked Harris the name of these different trees. + +"Then you have never been on the coast of South America?" Harris asked +him before replying to his question. + +"Never," replied the novice; "never, during my voyages, have I had +occasion to visit these coasts, and to say the truth, I do not believe +that anybody who knew about them has ever spoken to me of them." + +"But have you at least explored the coasts of Colombia, those of Chili, +or of Patagonia?" + +"No, never." + +"But perhaps Mrs. Weldon has visited this part of the new continent?" +asked Harris. "Americans do not fear voyages, and doubtless----" + +"No, Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon. "The commercial interests of my +husband have never called him except to New Zealand, and I have not had +to accompany him elsewhere. Not one of us, then, knows this portion of +lower Bolivia." + +"Well, Mrs. Weldon, you and your companions will see a singular +country, which contrasts strangely with the regions of Peru, of Brazil, +or of the Argentine Republic. Its flora and fauna would astonish a +naturalist. Ah! we may say that you have been shipwrecked at a good +place, and if we may ever thank chance----" + +"I wish to believe that it is not chance which has led us here, but +God, Mr. Harris." + +"God! Yes! God!" replied Harris, in the tone of a man who takes little +account of providential intervention in the things of this world. + +Then, since nobody in the little troop knew either the country or its +productions, Harris took a pleasure in naming pleasantly the most +curious trees of the forest. + +In truth, it was a pity that, in Cousin Benedict's case, the +entomologist was not supplemented by the botanist! If, up to this time, +he had hardly found insects either rare or new, he might have made fine +discoveries in botany. There was, in profusion, vegetation of all +heights, the existence of which in the tropical forests of the New +World had not been yet ascertained. Cousin Benedict would certainly +have attached his name to some discovery of this kind. But he did not +like botany--he knew nothing about it. He even, quite naturally, held +flowers in aversion, under the pretext that some of them permit +themselves to imprison the insects in their corollas, and poison them +with their venomous juices. + +At times, the forest became marshy. They felt under foot quite a +network of liquid threads, which would feed the affluents of the little +river. Some of the rills, somewhat large, could only be crossed by +choosing fordable places. + +On their banks grew tufts of reeds, to which Harris gave the name of +papyrus. He was not mistaken, and those herbaceous plants grew +abundantly below the damp banks. + +Then, the marsh passed, thickets of trees again covered the narrow +routes of the forest. + +Harris made Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand remark some very fine +ebony-trees, much larger than the common ebony-tree, which furnish a +wood much blacker and much stronger than that of commerce. Then there +were mango-trees, still numerous, though they were rather far from the +sea. A kind of fur of white moss climbed them as far as the branches. +Their thick shade and their delicious fruit made them precious trees, +and meanwhile, according to Harris, not a native would dare to +propagate the species. "Whoever plants a mango-tree dies!" Such is the +superstitious maxim of the country. + +During the second half of this first day of the journey, the little +troop, after the midday halt, began to ascend land slightly inclined. +They were not as yet the slopes of the chain of the first plane, but a +sort of undulating plateau which connected the plain with the mountain. + +There the trees, a little less compact, sometimes clustered in groups, +would have rendered the march easier, if the soil had not been invaded +by herbaceous plants. One might believe himself in the jungles of +Oriental India. Vegetation appeared to be less luxuriant than in the +lower valley of the little river, but it was still superior to that of +the temperate regions of the Old or of the New World. + +Indigo was growing there in profusion, and, according to Harris, this +leguminous plant passed with reason for the most usurping plant of the +country. If a field came to be abandoned, this parasite, as much +despised as the thistle or the nettle, took possession of it +immediately. + +One tree seemed lacking in this forest, which ought to be very common +in this part of the new continent; it was the caoutchouc-tree. In fact, +the "ficus primoides," the "castilloa elastica," the "cecropia +peltats," the "collophora utilis," the "cameraria letifolia," and above +all, the "syphonia elastica," which belong to different families, +abound in the provinces of South America. And meanwhile, a rather +singular thing, there was not a single one to be seen. + +Now, Dick Sand had particularly promised his friend Jack to show him +some caoutchouc trees. So a great deception for the little boy, who +figured to himself that gourds, speaking babies, articulate +punchinellos, and elastic balloons grew quite naturally on those trees. +He complained. + +"Patience, my good little man," replied Harris. "We shall find some of +those caoutchoucs, and by hundreds, in the neighborhood of the farm." + +"Handsome ones, very elastic?" asked little Jack. + +"The most elastic there are. Hold! while waiting, do you want a good +fruit to take away your thirst?" And, while speaking, Harris went to +gather from a tree some fruits, which seemed to be as pleasant to the +taste as those from the peach-tree. + +"Are you very sure, Mr. Harris," asked Mrs. Weldon, "that this fruit +can do no harm?" + +"Mrs. Weldon, I am going to convince you," replied the American, who +took a large mouthful of one of those fruits. "It is a mango." + +And little Jack, without any more pressing, followed Harris's example, +He declared that it was very good, "those pears," and the tree was at +once put under contribution. + +Those mangos belonged to a species whose fruit is ripe in March and +April, others being so only in September, and, consequently, their +mangos were just in time. + +"Yes, it is good, good, good!" said little Jack, with his mouth full. +"But my friend Dick has promised me caoutchoucs, if I was very good, +and I want caoutchoucs!" + +"You will have them, Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon, "because Mr. Harris +assures you of it." + +"But that is not all," went on Jack. "My friend Dick has promised me +some other thing!" + +"What then, has friend Dick promised?" asked Harris, smiling. + +"Some humming-birds, sir." + +"And you shall have some humming-birds, my good little man, but farther +on--farther on," replied Harris. + +The fact is that little Jack had a right to claim some of these +charming creatures, for he was now in a country where they should +abound. The Indians, who know how to weave their feathers artistically, +have lavished the most poetical names on those jewels of the flying +race. They call them either the "rays" or the "hairs of the sun." Here, +it is "the little king of the flowers;" there, "the celestial flower +that comes in its flight to caress the terrestrial flower." It is again +"the bouquet of jewels, which sparkles in the fire of the day." It can +be believed that their imagination would know how to furnish a new +poetical appellation for each of the one hundred and fifty species +which constitute this marvelous tribe of humming-birds. + +Meanwhile, however numerous these humming-birds might be in the forests +of Bolivia, little Jack was obliged to still content himself with +Harris's promise. According to the American, they were still too close +to the coast, and the humming-birds did not like these deserts so near +the ocean. The presence of man did not frighten them at the "hacienda;" +they heard nothing all day but their cry of "teretere" and the murmur +of their wings, similar to that of a spinning-wheel. + +"Ah! how I should like to be there!" cried little Jack. + +The surest method of getting there--to the "hacienda" of San +Felice--was not to stop on the road. Mrs. Weldon and her companions +only took the time absolutely necessary for repose. + +The aspect of the forest already changed. Between the less crowded +trees large clearings opened here and there. The sun, piercing the +green carpet, then showed its structure of red, syenite granite, +similar to slabs of lapis-lazuli. On some heights the sarsaparilla +abounded, a plant with fleshy tubercles, which formed an inextricable +tangle. The forest, with the narrow paths, was better for them. + +Before sunset the little troop were about eight miles from the point of +departure. This journey had been made without accident, and even +without great fatigue. It is true, it was the first journey on the +march, and no doubt the following halting places would be rougher. + +By a common consent they decided to make a halt at this place. The +question then was, not to establish a real camp, but to simply organize +a resting-place. One man on guard, relieved every two hours, would +suffice to watch during the night, neither the natives nor the deer +being truly formidable. + +They found nothing better for shelter than an enormous mango-tree, +whose large branches, very bushy, formed a kind of natural veranda. If +necessary, they could nestle in the branches. + +Only, on the arrival of the little troop, a deafening concert arose +from the top of the tree. + +The mango served as a perch for a colony of gray parrots, prattling, +quarrelsome, ferocious birds, which set upon living birds, and those +who would judge them from their congeners which Europe keeps in cages, +would be singularly mistaken. + +These parrots jabbered with such a noise that Dick Sand thought of +firing at them to oblige them to be silent, or to put them to flight. +But Harris dissuaded him, under the pretext that in these solitudes it +was better not to disclose his presence by the detonation of a fire-arm. + +"Let us pass along without noise," he said, "and we shall pass along +without danger." + +Supper was prepared at once, without any need of proceeding to cook +food. It was composed of conserves and biscuit. A little rill, which +wound under the plants, furnished drinkable water, which they did not +drink without improving it with a few drops of rum. As to _dessert_, +the mango was there with its juicy fruit, which the parrots did not +allow to be picked without protesting with their abominable cries. + +At the end of the supper it began to be dark. The shade rose slowly +from the ground to the tops of the trees, from which the foliage soon +stood out like a fine tracery on the more luminous background of the +sky. The first stars seemed to be shining flowers, which twinkled at +the end of the last branches. The wind went down with the night, and no +longer trembled in the branches of the trees. The parrots themselves +had become mute. Nature was going to rest, and inviting every living +being to follow her in this deep sleep. + +Preparations for retiring had to be of a very primitive character. + +"Shall we not light a large fire for the night?" Dick Sand asked the +American. + +"What's the good?" replied Harris. "Fortunately the nights are not +cold, and this enormous mango will preserve the soil from all +evaporation. We have neither cold nor dampness to fear. I repeat, my +young friend, what I told you just now. Let us move along incognito. No +more fire than gunshots, if possible." + +"I believe, indeed," then said Mrs. Weldon, "that we have nothing to +fear from the Indians--even from those wanderers of the woods, of whom +you have spoken, Mr. Harris. But, are there not other four-footed +wanderers, that the sight of a fire would help to keep at a distance?" + +"Mrs. Weldon," replied the American, "you do too much honor to the deer +of this country. Indeed, they fear man more than he fears them." + +"We are in a wood," said Jack, "and there is always beasts in the +woods." + +"There are woods and woods, my good little man, as there are beasts and +beasts," replied Harris, laughing. "Imagine that you are in the middle +of a large park. Truly, it is not without reason that the Indians say +of this country, 'Es como el pariso!' It is like an earthly paradise!" + +"Then there are serpents?" said Jack. + +"No, my Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon, "there are no serpents, and you may +sleep tranquilly." + +"And lions?" asked Jack. + +"Not the ghost of a lion, my good little man," replied Harris. + +"Tigers, then?" + +"Ask your mama if she has ever heard tell of tigers on this continent." + +"Never," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Good!" said Cousin Benedict, who, by chance, was listening to the +conversation: "if there are neither lions nor tigers in the New World, +which is perfectly true, we at least encounter cougars and jaguars." + +"Are they bad?" asked little Jack. + +"Phew!" replied Harris; "a native has little fear of attacking those +animals, and we are strong. Stay! Hercules would be strong enough to +crush two jaguars at once, one in each hand!" + +"You will watch well, Hercules," then said little Jack, "and if a beast +comes to bite us----" + +"It is I who will bite it, Mr. Jack!" replied Hercules, showing his +mouth, armed with superb teeth. + +"Yes, you will watch, Hercules," said the novice, "but your companions +and I will relieve you, turn about." + +"No, Mr. Dick," replied Acteon, "Hercules, Bat, Austin, and I, we four +will be enough for this labor. You must rest the whole night." + +"Thank you, Acteon," replied Dick Sand, "but I ought to----" + +"No! let those brave men do it, my dear Dick!" then said Mrs. Weldon. + +"I, also; I shall watch!" added little Jack, whose eyelids were already +closing. + +"Yes, my Jack, yes, you will watch!" replied his mother, who did not +wish to contradict him. + +"But," the little boy said again, "if there are no lions, if there are +no tigers in the forest, there are wolves!" + +"Oh! wolves in jest!" replied the American. "They are not even wolves, +but kinds of foxes, or rather of those dogs of the woods which they +call 'guaras.'" + +"And those _guaras_, they bite?" asked little Jack. + +"Bah! Dingo would make only one mouthful of those beasts!" + +"Never mind," replied Jack, with a last yawn; "guaras are wolves, +because they are called wolves!" + +And with that Jack fell asleep peaceably in Nan's arms, beside the +trunk of the mango. Mrs. Weldon, lying near her, gave a last kiss to +her little boy, and her tired eyes quickly closed for the night. + +A few moments later Hercules brought back to the camp Cousin Benedict, +who had just gone off to commence a chase for pyrophores. They are +"cocuyos," or luminous flies, which the stylish put in their hair, like +so many living gems. These insects which throw a bright and bluish +light from two spots situated at the base of their corselet, are very +numerous in South America. Cousin Benedict then counted on making a +large collection, but Hercules did not leave him time, and, in spite of +his recriminations, the negro brought him to the halting-place. That +was because, when Hercules had orders, he executed them with military +preciseness, which, no doubt, prevented the incarceration of a notable +quantity of luminous flies in the entomologist's tin box. + +A few moments after, with the exception of the giant, who was watching, +all were reposing in a profound sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A HUNDRED MILES IN TWO DAYS. + + +Generally, travelers or ramblers in the woods, who have slept in the +forests under the lovely stars, are awakened by howlings as fantastic +as disagreeable. There is everything in this morning concert: clucking, +grunting, croaking, sneering, barking, and almost "speaking," if one +may make use of this word, which completes the series of different +noises. + +There are the monkeys who thus salute the daybreak. There we meet the +little "marikina," the marmoset with a speckled mask; the "mono gris," +the skin of which the Indians use to recover the batteries of their +guns; the "sagous," recognizable from their long bunches of hair, and +many others, specimens of this numerous family. + +Of these various four-handed animals, the most remarkable are decidedly +the "gueribas," with curling tails and a face like Beelzebub. When the +sun rises, the oldest of the band, with an imposing and mysterious +voice, sings a monotonous psalm. It is the baritone of the troop. The +young tenors repeat after him the morning symphony. The Indians say +then that the "gueribas" recite their _pater-nosters_. + +But, on this day, it seemed that the monkeys did not offer their +prayer, for no one heard them; and, meanwhile, their voice is loud, for +it is produced by the rapid vibration of a kind of bony drum, formed by +a swelling of the hyoides bone in the neck. + +In short, for one reason or for another, neither the "gueribas," nor +the "sagous," nor any other four-handed animals of this immense forest, +sang, on this morning, their usual concert. + +This would not have satisfied the wandering Indians. Not that these +natives appreciate this kind of strange choral music, but they +willingly give chase to the monkeys, and if they do, it is because the +flesh of this animal is excellent, above all, when it is smoke-dried. + +Dick Sand, of course, could not be familiar with the habits of the +"gueribas," neither were his companions, or this not hearing them would +have undoubtedly been a subject of surprise. They awoke then, one after +the other, much refreshed by these few hours of repose, which no alarm +had come to disturb. + +Little Jack was not the last to stretch his arms. His first question +was, to ask if Hercules had eaten a wolf during the night. No wolf had +shown himself, and consequently Hercules had not yet breakfasted. + +All, besides, were fasting like him, and after the morning prayer, Nan +occupied herself preparing the repast. + +The bill of fare was that of the supper of the night before, but with +appetites sharpened by the morning air of the forest, no one dreamed of +being difficult to please. It was necessary, above all, to gather +strength for a good day's march, and they did it. For the first time, +perhaps, Cousin Benedict comprehended that to eat was not an action +indifferent or useless to life; only, he declared that he had not come +to "visit" this country to walk with his hands in his pockets, and +that, if Hercules prevented him from chasing the "cocuyos," and other +luminous flies, Hercules would have some trouble with him. + +This threat did not seem to frighten the giant to any great extent. +However, Mrs. Weldon took him aside and told him that, perhaps, he +might allow his big baby to run to the right and left, but on condition +that he did not lose sight of him. It would not do to completely sever +Cousin Benedict from the pleasures so natural to his age. + +At seven o'clock in the morning, the little troop took up their journey +toward the east, preserving the order of march that had been adopted +the previous day. It was always the forest. On this virgin soil, where +the heat and the moisture agreed to produce vegetation, it might well +be thought that the reign of growth appeared in all its power. The +parallel of this vast plateau was almost confounded with tropical +latitudes, and, during certain months in summer, the sun, in passing to +the zenith, darted its perpendicular rays there. There was, therefore, +an enormous quantity of imprisoned heat in this earth, of which the +subsoil preserved the damp. Also, nothing could be more magnificent +than this succession of forests, or rather this interminable forest. + +Meanwhile, Dick Sand had not failed to observe this--that, according to +Harris, they were in the region of the pampas. Now, pampas is a word +from the "quichna" language, which signifies a plain. Now, if his +recollections did not deceive him, he believed that these plains +presented the following characteristics: Lack of water, absence of +trees, a failure of stones, an almost luxuriant abundance of thistles +during the rainy season, thistles which became almost shrubby with the +warm season, and then formed impenetrable thickets; then, also, dwarf +trees, thorny shrubs, the whole giving to these plains a rather arid +and desolate aspect. + +Now, it had not been thus, since the little troop, guided by the +American, had left the coast. The forest had not ceased to spread to +the limits of the horizon. No, this was not the pampas, such as the +young novice had imagined them. Had nature, as Harris had told him, +been able to make a region apart from the plateau of Atacama, of which +he knew nothing, if it did not form one of the most vast deserts of +South America, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean? + +On that day Dick Sand propounded some questions on this subject, and +expressed to the American the surprise he felt at this singular +appearance of the pampas. + +But he was quickly undeceived by Harris, who gave him the most exact +details about this part of Bolivia, thus witnessing to his great +knowledge of the country. + +"You are right, my young friend," he said to the novice. "The true +pampa is indeed such as the books of travels have depicted it to you, +that is, a plain rather arid, and the crossing of which is often +difficult. It recalls our savannahs of North America--except that these +are a little marshy. Yes, such is indeed the pampa of the Rio Colorado, +such are the "llanos" of the Orinoco and of Venezuela. But here, we are +in a country, the appearance of which even astonishes me. It is true, +it is the first time I have followed this route across the plateau, a +route which has the advantage of shortening our journey. But, if I have +not yet seen it, I know that it presents an extraordinary contrast to +the veritable pampa. As to this one, you would find it again, not +between the Cordilleras of the west and the high chain of the Andes, +but beyond the mountains, over all that eastern part of the continent +which extends as far as the Atlantic." + +"Must we then clear the Andes range?" Dick Sand asked, quickly. + +"No, my young friend, no," replied the American, smiling. "So I said: +You _would_ find it again, and not: You _will_ find it again. Be +reassured, we shall not leave this plateau, the greatest elevations of +which do not exceed fifteen hundred feet. Ah! if it had been necessary +to cross the Cordilleras with only the means of transport at our +disposal, I should never have drawn you into such an undertaking." + +"In fact," replied Dick Sand, "it would be better to ascend or descend +the coast." + +"Oh! a hundred times!" replied Harris. "But the Farm of San Felice is +situated on this side of the Cordilleras. So, then, our journey, +neither in its first nor in its second part, will offer any real +difficulty." + +"And you do not fear going astray in these forests, which you cross for +the first time?" asked Dick Sand. + +"No, my young friend, no," replied Harris. "I know indeed that this +forest is like an immense sea, or rather like the bottom of a sea, +where a sailor himself could not take the latitude nor recognize his +position. But accustomed to traveling in the woods, I know how to find +my route only by the inclination of certain trees, by the direction of +their leaves, by the movement or the composition of the soil, by a +thousand details which escape you! Be sure of it, I will lead you, you +and yours, where you ought to go!" + +All these things were said very clearly by Harris. Dick Sand and he, at +the head of the troop, often talked without any one mingling in their +conversation. If the novice felt some doubts that the American did not +always succeed in scattering, he preferred to keep them to himself. + +The 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of April passed in this manner, +without any incident to mark the journey. They did not make more than +eight to nine miles in twelve hours. The times consecrated to eating or +repose came at regular intervals, and though a little fatigue was felt +already, the sanitary condition was still very satisfactory. + +Little Jack began to suffer a little from this life in the woods, to +which he was not accustomed, and which was becoming very monotonous for +him. And then all the promises which had been made him had not been +kept. The caoutchouc jumping-jacks, the humming-birds, all those seemed +constantly to recede. There had also been a question of showing him the +most beautiful parrots in the world, and they ought not to be wanting +in these rich forests. Where, then, were the popinjays with green +plumage, almost all originally from these countries, the _aras_, with +naked cheeks, with long pointed tails, with glittering colors, whose +paws never rest on the earth, and the "camindes," which are more +peculiar to tropical countries, and the many-colored she-parrots, with +feathered faces, and finally all those prattling birds which, according +to the Indians, still speak the language of extinct tribes? + +Of parrots, little Jack only saw ash-gray jakos, with red tails, which +abounded under the trees. But these jakos were not new to him. They +have transported them into all parts of the world. On the two +continents they fill the houses with their insupportable chattering, +and, of all the family of the "psittacius," they are the ones which +learn to speak most easily. + +It must be said, besides, that if Jack was not contented, Cousin +Benedict was no more so. He had been allowed to wander a little to the +right or to the left during the march. However, he had not found any +insect which was fit to enrich his collection. Even the "pyrophores" +obstinately refused to show themselves to him, and attract him by the +phosphorescences of their corselet. Nature seemed truly to mock the +unhappy entomologist, whose temper was becoming cross. + +For four days more the march toward the northeast was continued in the +same way. On the 16th of April the distance traversed from the coast +could not be estimated at less than one hundred miles. If Harris had +not gone astray--and he affirmed it without hesitation--the Farm of San +Felice was no more than twenty miles from the halting place of that +day. Before forty-eight hours the little troop then would have a +comfortable shelter where its members could at last repose from their +fatigues. + +Meanwhile, though the plateau had been almost entirely crossed in its +middle part, not a native, not a wanderer had been encountered under +the immense forest. + +More than once, without saying anything about it, Dick Sand regretted +being unable to go ashore on some other point of the coast. More to the +south, or more to the north, villages, hamlets, or plantations would +not have been lacking, and long before this Mrs. Weldon and her +companions would have found an asylum. + +But, if the country seemed to be abandoned by man, animals showed +themselves more frequently during these last days. At times was heard a +kind of long, plaintive cry, that Harris attributed to some of those +large tardi-grades, habitual denizens of those vast wooded regions, +named "ais." + +On that day, also, during the midday halt, a hissing passed through the +air, which made Mrs. Weldon very uneasy, because it was so strange. + +"What is that?"' she asked, rising hastily. + +"A serpent!" cried Dick Sand, who gun, in hand, threw himself before +Mrs. Weldon. + +They might fear, in fact, that some reptile would glide among the +plants to the halting place. It would be nothing astonishing if it were +one of those enormous "sucurus," kinds of boas, which sometimes measure +forty feet in length. + +But Harris reminded Dick Sand that the blacks were already following, +and he reassured Mrs. Weldon. + +According to him, that hissing could not be produced by a "sucuru," +because that serpent does not hiss; but he indicated the presence of +several inoffensive quadrupeds, rather numerous in that country. + +"Be reassured, then," said he, "and make no movement which may frighten +those animals." + +"But what are they?" asked Dick Sand, who made it like a law of +conscience to interrogate and make the American speak--who, however, +never required pressing before replying. + +"They are antelopes, my young friend," replied Harris. + +"Oh! how I should like to see them!" cried Jack. + +"That is very difficult, my good little man," replied the American, +"very difficult." + +"Perhaps we may try to approach than--those hissing antelopes?" +returned Dick Sand. + +"Oh! you will not take three steps," replied the American, shaking his +head, "before the whole band will take flight. I beg of you, then, not +to trouble yourself." + +But Dick Sand had his reasons for being curious. He wished to see, and, +gun in hand, he glided among the herbs. Immediately a dozen graceful +gazelles, with small, sharp horns, passed with the rapidity of a +water-spout. Their hair, bright red, looked like a cloud of fire under +the tall underwood of the forest. + +"I had warned you," said Harris, when the novice returned to take his +place. + +Those antelopes were so light of foot, that it had been truly +impossible to distinguish them; but it was not so with another troop of +animals which was signaled the same day. Those could be +seen--imperfectly, it is true--but their apparition led to a rather +singular discussion between Harris and some of his companions. + +The little troop, about four o'clock in the afternoon, had stopped for +a moment near an opening in the woods, when three or four animals of +great height went out of a thicket a hundred steps off, and scampered +away at once with remarkable speed. + +In spite of the American's recommendations, this time the novice, +having quickly shouldered his gun, fired at one of these animals. But +at the moment when the charge was going off, the weapon had been +rapidly turned aside by Harris, and Dick Sand, skilful as he was, had +missed his aim. + +"No firing; no firing!" said the American. + +"Ah, now, but those are giraffes!" cried Dick Sand, without otherwise +replying to Harris's observation. + +"Giraffes!" repeated Jack, standing up on the horse's saddle. "Where +are they, the large beasts?" + +"Giraffes!" replied Mrs. Weldon. "You are mistaken, my dear Dick. There +are no giraffes in America." + +"Indeed," said Harris, who appeared rather surprised, "there cannot be +any giraffes in this country." + +"What, then?" said Dick Sand. + +"I really do not know what to think," replied Harris. "Have not your +eyes deceived you, my young friend, and are not those animals more +likely to be ostriches?" + +"Ostriches!" repeated Dick Sand and Mrs. Weldon, looking at each other +in great surprise. + +"Yes, only ostriches," repeated Harris. + +"But ostriches are birds," returned Dick Sand, "and consequently they +have only two feet." + +"Well," replied Harris, "I indeed thought I saw that those animals, +which have just made off so rapidly, were bipeds." + +"Bipeds!" replied the novice. + +"Indeed it seemed to me that I saw animals with four legs," then said +Mrs. Weldon. + +"I also," added old Tom; then Bat, Acteon, and Austin confirmed those +words. + +"Ostriches with four legs!" cried Harris, with a burst of laughter. +"That would be ridiculous!" + +"So," returned Dick Sand, "we have believed they were giraffes, and not +ostriches." + +"No, my young friend, no," said Harris. "You have certainly seen badly. +That is explained by the rapidity with which those animals have flown +away. Besides, it has happened more than once that hunters have been +deceived like you, and in the best faith in the world." + +What the American said was very plausible. Between an ostrich of great +height and a giraffe of medium height, seen at a certain distance, it +is easy to make a mistake. If it were a question of a beak or a nose, +both are none the less joined to the end of a long neck turned +backward, and, strictly speaking, it may be said that an ostrich is +only a half giraffe. It only needs the hind legs. Then, this biped and +this quadruped, passing rapidly, on a sudden may, very properly, be +taken one for the other. + +Besides, the best proof that Mrs. Weldon and the others were mistaken +was that there are no giraffes in America. + +Dick Sand then made this reflection: + +"But I believed that ostriches were not met with in the New World any +more than giraffes." + +"Yes, my young friend," replied Harris; "and, indeed, South America +possesses a peculiar species. To this species belongs the 'nandon,' +which you have just seen." + +Harris spoke the truth. The "nandon" is a long-legged bird, rather +common in the plains of South America, and its flesh, when it is young, +is good to eat. + +This strong animal, whose height sometimes exceeds two meters, has a +straight beak; wings long, and formed of tufted feathers of a bluish +shade; feet formed of three claws, furnished with nails--which +essentially distinguishes it from the ostriches of Africa. + +These very exact details were given by Harris, who appeared to be very +strongly posted on the manners of the "nandons." + +Mrs. Weldon and her companions were obliged to acknowledge that they +had been deceived. + +"Besides," added Harris, "possibly we may encounter another band of +these ostriches. Well, next time look better, and no longer allow +yourselves to takes birds for quadrupeds! But above all, my young +friend, do not forget my recommendations, and do not fire on any animal +whatsoever. We have no need of hunting to procure food, and no +detonation of a fire-arm must announce our presence in this forest." + +Meanwhile Dick Sand remained pensive. Once more a doubt had just arisen +on his mind. + +The next day, April 17th, the march was continued, and the American +affirmed that twenty-four hours would not pass before the little troop +should be installed at the Farm of San Felice. + +"There, Mrs. Weldon," added he, "you will receive all the care +necessary to your position, and a few days' rest will quite restore +you. Perhaps you will not find at this farm the luxury to which you are +accustomed in your residence in San Francisco, but you will see that +our improved lands in the interior do not lack what is comfortable. We +are not absolutely savages." + +"Mr. Harris," replied Mrs. Weldon, "if we have only thanks to offer you +for your generous resort, at least we shall offer them to you with all +our hearts. Yes! It is time for us to arrive there!" + +"You are very much fatigued, Mrs. Weldon?" + +"I, no matter!" replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I perceive that my little +Jack is gradually becoming exhausted! The fever begins to affect him at +certain hours!" + +"Yes," replied Harris, "and although the climate of this plateau is +very healthful, it must be acknowledged that in March and April +intermittent fevers reign." + +"Doubtless," then said Dick Sand, "but also Nature, who is always and +everywhere provident, has put the remedy near the evil!" + +"And how is that, my young friend?" asked Harris, who did not seem to +understand. + +"Are we not, then, in the region of the quinquinas?" replied Dick Sand. + +"In fact," said Harris, "you are perfectly right. The trees which +furnish, the precious febrifuge bark are native here." + +"I am even astonished," added Dick Sand, "that we have not yet seen a +single one." + +"Ah! my young friend," replied Harris, "those trees are not easy to +distinguish. Though they are often of great height, though their leaves +are large, their flowers rosy and odoriferous, we do not discover them +easily. It is rarely that they grow in groups. They are rather +scattered through the forests, and the Indians who collect the +quinquina can only recognize them by their foliage, always green." + +"Mr. Harris," said Mrs. Weldon, "if you see one of those trees you will +show it to me." + +"Certainly, Mrs. Weldon, but at the farm you will find some sulphate of +quinine. That is worth still more to break the fever than the simple +bark of the tree." + +Formerly, this bark was only reduced to powder, which bore the name of +"Jesuits' Powder," because, in 1649, the Jesuits of Rome received a +considerable quantity from their mission in America. + +This last day of the journey passed without other incident. Evening +came and the halt was organized for the whole night as usual. Till then +it had not rained, but the weather was preparing to change, for a warm +mist rose from the soil and soon found a thick fog. + +They were touching, in fact, on the rainy season. Fortunately, the next +day, a comfortable shelter would be hospitably offered to the little +troop. There were only a few hours to elapse. + +Though, according to Harris, who could only establish his calculation +by the time which the journey had lasted, they could not be more than +six miles from the farm, the ordinary precautions were taken for the +night. Tom and his companions would watch one after the other. Dick +Sand insisted that nothing should be neglected in that respect. Less +than ever, would he depart from his habitual prudence, for a terrible +suspicion was incrusted in his mind; but he did not wish to say +anything yet. + +The retiring to rest had been made at the feet of a group of large +trees. Fatigue aiding, Mrs. Weldon and hers were already asleep, when +they were awakened by a great cry. + +"Eh! what's the matter?" asked Dick Sand, quickly, who was on his feet +first of all. + +"It is I! it is I who have cried!" replied Cousin Benedict. + +"And what is the matter with you?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"I have just been bit!" + +"By a serpent?" asked Mrs. Weldon, with alarm. + +"No, no! It was not a serpent, but an insect," replied Cousin Benedict. +"Ah! I have it! I have it!" + +"Well, crush your insect," said Harris, "and let us sleep, Mr. +Benedict!" + +"Crush an insect!" cried Cousin Benedict. "Not so! I must see what it +is!" + +"Some mosquito!" said Harris, shrugging his shoulders. + +"No! It is a fly," replied Cousin Benedict, "and a fly which ought to +be very curious!" + +Dick Sand had lit a little portable lantern, and he approached Cousin +Benedict. + +"Divine goodness!" cried the latter. "Behold what consoles me for all +my deceptions! I have, then, at last made a discovery!" + +The honest man was raving. He looked at his fly in triumph. He would +willingly kiss it. + +"But what is it, then?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"A dipter, cousin, a famous dipter!" And Cousin Benedict showed a fly +smaller than a bee, of a dull color, streaked with yellow on the lower +part of its body. + +"And this fly is not venomous?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"No, cousin, no; at least not for man. But for animals, for antelopes, +for buffaloes, even for elephants, it is another thing. Ah! adorable +insect!" + +"At last," asked Dick Sand, "will you tell us, Mr. Benedict, what is +this fly?" + +"This fly," replied the entomologist, "this fly that I hold between my +fingers, this fly--it is a _tsetse_! It is that famous dipter that is +the honor of a country, and, till now, no one has ever found a _tsetse_ +in America!" + +Dick Sand did not dare to ask Cousin Benedict in what part of the world +this redoubtable _tsetse_ was only to be met. And when his companions, +after this incident, had returned to their interrupted sleep, Dick +Sand, in spite of the fatigue which overwhelmed him, did not close his +eyes the whole night. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE TERRIBLE WORD. + + +It was time to arrive. Extreme lassitude made it impossible for Mrs. +Weldon to continue any longer a journey made under such painful +conditions. Her little boy, crimson during the fits of fever, very pale +during the intermissions, was pitiable to see. His mother extremely +anxious, had not been willing to leave Jack even in the care of the +good Nan. She held him, half-lying, in her arms. + +Yes, it was time to arrive. But, to trust to the American, on the very +evening of this day which was breaking--the evening of the 18th of +April, the little troop should finally reach the shelter of the +"hacienda" of San Felice. + +Twelve days' journey for a woman, twelve nights passed in the open air; +it was enough to overwhelm Mrs. Weldon, energetic as she was. But, for +a child, it was worse, and the sight of little Jack sick, and without +the most ordinary cares, had sufficed to crush her. + +Dick Sand, Nan, Tom, and his companions had supported the fatigues of +the journey better. + +Their provisions, although they were commencing to get exhausted, had +not become injured, and their condition was satisfactory. + +As for Harris, he seemed made for the difficulties of these long +journeys across the forests, and it did not appear that fatigue could +affect him. Only, in proportion as he neared the farm, Dick Sand +observed that he was more preoccupied and less frank in behavior than +before. The contrary would have been more natural. This was, at least, +the opinion of the young novice, who had now become more than +suspicious of the American. And meanwhile, what interest could Harris +have in deceiving them? Dick Sand could not have explained it, but he +watched their guide more closely. + +The American probably felt himself suspected by Dick Sand, and, no +doubt, it was this mistrust which made him still more taciturn with +"his young friend." + +The march had been resumed. + +In the forest, less thick, the trees were scattered in groups, and no +longer formed impenetrable masses. Was it, then, the true pampas of +which Harris had spoken? + +During the first hours of the day, no accident happened to aggravate +the anxieties that Dick Sand felt. Only two facts were observed by him. +Perhaps they were not very important, but in these actual junctures, no +detail could be neglected. + +It was the behavior of Dingo which, above all, attracted more +especially the young man's attention. + +In fact the dog, which, during all this journey, had seemed to be +following a scent, became quite different, and that almost suddenly. +Until then, his nose to the ground, generally smelling the herbs or the +shrubs, he either kept quiet, or he made a sort of sad, barking noise, +like an expression of grief or of regret. + +Now, on this day, the barking of the singular animal became like +bursts, sometimes furious, such as they formerly were when Negoro +appeared on the deck of the "Pilgrim." A suspicion crossed suddenly +Dick Sand's mind, and it was confirmed by Tom, who said to him: + +"How very singular, Mr. Dick! Dingo no longer smells the ground as he +did yesterday! His nose is in the air, he is agitated, his hair stands +up! One would think he scented in the distance----" + +"Negoro, is it not so?" replied Dick Sand, who seized the old black's +arm, and signed to him to speak in a low voice. + +"Negoro, Mr. Dick! May it not be that he has followed our steps?" + +"Yes, Tom; and that at this moment even he may not be very far from us." + +"But why?" said Tom. + +"Either Negoro does not know this country," went on Dick Sand, "and +then he would have every interest in not losing sight of us----" + +"Or?" said Tom, who anxiously regarded the novice. + +"Or," replied Dick Sand, "he does know it, and then he----" + +"But how should Negoro know this country? He has never come here!" + +"Has he never been here?" murmured Dick Sand. + +"It is an incontestable fact that Dingo acts as if this man whom he +detests were near us!" + +Then, interrupting himself to call the dog, which, after some +hesitation, came to him: + +"Eh!" said he; "Negoro! Negoro!" + +A furious barking was Dingo's reply. This name had its usual effect +upon him, and he darted forward, as if Negoro had been hidden behind +some thicket. + +Harris had witnessed all this scene. With his lips a little drawn, he +approached the novice. + +"What did you ask Dingo then?" said he. + +"Oh, not much, Mr. Harris," replied old Tom, jokingly. "We asked him +for news of the ship-companion whom we have lost!" + +"Ah!" said the American, "the Portuguese, the ship's cook of whom you +have already spoken to me?" + +"Yes." replied Tom. "One would say, to hear Dingo, that Negoro is in +the vicinity." + +"How could he get as far as this?" replied Harris. + +"He never was in this country that I know of; at least, he concealed it +from us," replied Tom. + +"It would be astonishing," said Harris. "But, if you wish, we will beat +these thickets. It is possible that this poor devil has need of help; +that he is in distress." + +"It is useless, Mr. Harris," replied Dick Sand. "If Negoro has known +how to come as far as this, he will know how to go farther. He is a man +to keep out of trouble." + +"As you please," replied Harris. + +"Let us go. Dingo, be quiet," added Dick Sand, briefly, so as to end +the conversation. + +The second observation made by the novice was in connection with the +American horse. He did not appear to "feel the stable," as do animals +of his species. He did not suck in the air; he did not hasten his +speed; he did not dilate his nostrils; he uttered none of the neighings +that indicate the end of a journey. To observe him well, he appeared to +be as indifferent as if the farm, to which he had gone several times, +however, and which he ought to know, had been several hundreds of miles +away. + +"That is not a horse near home," thought the young novice. + +And, meanwhile, according to what Harris had said the evening before, +there only remained six miles to go, and, of these last six miles, at +five o'clock in the evening four had been certainly cleared. + +Now, if the horse felt nothing of the stable, of which he should have +great need, nothing besides announced the approaches to a great +clearing, such as the Farm of San Felice must be. + +Mrs. Weldon, indifferent as she then was to what did not concern her +child, was struck at seeing the country still so desolate. What! not a +native, not a farm-servant, at such a short distance! Harris must be +wild! No! she repulsed this idea. A new delay would have been the death +of her little Jack! + +Meanwhile, Harris always kept in advance, but he seemed to observe the +depths of the wood, and looked to the right and left, like a man who +was not sure of himself--nor of his road. + +Mrs. Weldon shut her eyes so as not to see him. + +After a plain a mile in extent, the forest, without being as dense as +in the west, had reappeared, and the little troop was again lost under +the great trees. + +At six o'clock in the evening they had reached a thicket, which +appeared to have recently given passage to a band of powerful animals. +Dick Sand looked around him very attentively. At a distance winch far +surpassed the human height, the branches were torn off or broken. At +the same time the herbs, roughly scattered, exhibited on the soil, a +little marshy, prints of steps which could not be those of jaguars, or +cougars. + +Were these, then, the "ais," or some other tardi-graves, whose feet had +thus marked the soil? But how, then, explain the break in the branches +at such a height? + +Elephants might have, without doubt, left such imprints, stamped these +large traces, made a similar hole in the impenetrable underwood. But +elephants are not found in America. These enormous thick-skinned +quadrupeds are not natives of the New World. As yet, they have never +been acclimated there. + +The hypothesis that elephants had passed there was absolutely +inadmissible. + +However that might be, Dick Sand hardly knew how much this inexplicable +fact gave him to think about. He did not even question the American on +this point. What could he expect from a man who had tried to make him +take giraffes for ostriches? Harris would have given him some +explanation, more or less imaginative, which would not have changed the +situation. + +At all events, Dick had formed his opinion of Harris. He felt in him a +traitor! He only awaited an occasion to unmask his disloyalty, to have +the right to do it, and everything told him that this opportunity was +near. + +But what could be Harris's secret end? What future, then, awaited the +survivors of the "Pilgrim?" Dick Sand repeated to himself that his +responsibility had not ceased with the shipwreck. It was more than ever +necessary for him to provide for the safety of those whom the waves had +thrown on this coast! This woman, this young child, these blacks--all +his companions in misfortune--it was he alone who must save them! But, +if he could attempt anything on board ship, if he could act on the sea, +here, in the midst of the terrible trials which he foresaw, what part +could he take? + +Dick Sand would not shut his eyes before the frightful reality that +each instant made more indisputable. In this juncture he again became +the captain of fifteen years, as he had been on the "Pilgrim." But he +would not say anything which could alarm the poor mother before the +moment for action had arrived. + +And he said nothing, not even when, arrived on the bank of a rather +large stream, preceding the little troop about one hundred feet, he +perceived enormous animals, which threw themselves under the large +plants on the brink. + +"Hippopotami! hippopotami!" he was going to exclaim. + +And they were, indeed, these thick-skinned animals, with a big head, a +large, swollen snout, a mouth armed with teeth which extend a foot +beyond it--animals which are squat on their short limbs, the skin of +which, unprovided with hair, is of a tawny red. Hippopotami in America! + +They continued to march during the whole day, but painfully. Fatigue +commenced to retard even the most robust. It was truly time to arrive, +or they would be forced to stop. + +Mrs. Weldon, wholly occupied with her little Jack, did not perhaps feel +the fatigue, but her strength was exhausted. All, more or less, were +tired. Dick Sand, resisted by a supreme moral energy, caused by the +sentiment of duty. + +Toward four o'clock in the evening, old Tom found, in the grass, an +object which attracted his attention. It was an arm, a kind of knife, +of a particular shape, formed of a large, curved blade, set in a +square, ivory handle, rather roughly ornamented. Tom carried this knife +to Dick Sand, who took it, examined it, and, finally, showed it to the +American, saying: + +"No doubt the natives are not very far off." + +"That is so," replied Harris, "and meanwhile----" + +"Meanwhile?" repeated Dick Sand, who now steadily looked Harris in the +face. + +"We should be very near the farm," replied Harris, hesitating, "and I +do not recognize----" + +"You are then astray?" quickly asked Dick Sand. + +"Astray! no. The farm cannot be more than three miles away, now. But, I +wished to take the shortest road through the forest, and perhaps I have +made a little mistake!" + +"Perhaps," replied Dick Sand. + +"I would do well, I think, to go in advance," said Harris. + +"No, Mr. Harris, we will not separate," replied Dick Sand, in a decided +tone. + +"As you will," replied the American. "But, during the night, it will be +difficult for me to guide you." + +"Never mind that!" replied Dick Sand. "We are going to halt. Mrs. +Weldon will consent to pass a last night under the trees, and +to-morrow, when it is broad daylight, we will proceed on our journey! +Two or three miles still, that will be an hour's walk!" + +"Be it so," replied Harris. + +At that moment Dingo commenced to bark furiously. + +"Here, Dingo, here!" cried Dick Sand. "You know well that no one is +there, and that we are in the desert!" + +This last halt was then decided upon. + +Mrs. Weldon let her companions work without saying a word. Her little +Jack was sleeping in her arms, made drowsy by the fever. + +They sought the best place to pass the night. This was under a large +bunch of trees, where Dick Sand thought of disposing all for their +rest. But old Tom, who was helping him in these preparations, stopped +suddenly, crying out: + +"Mr. Dick! look! look!" + +"What is it, old Tom?" asked Dick Sand, in the calm tone of a man who +attends to everything. + +"There--there!" cried Tom; "on those trees--blood stains!--and--on the +ground--mutilated limbs!" + +Dick Sand rushed toward the spot indicated by old Tom. Then, returning +to him: "Silence, Tom, silence!" said he. + +In fact, there on the ground were hands cut off, and above these human +remains were several broken forks, and a chain in pieces! + +Happily, Mrs. Weldon had seen nothing of this horrible spectacle. + +As for Harris, he kept at a distance, and any one observing him at this +moment would have been struck at the change made in him. His face had +something ferocious in it. + +Dingo had rejoined Dick Sand, and before these bloody remains, he +barked with rage. + +The novice had hard work to drive him away. + +Meanwhile, old Tom, at the sight of these forks, of this broken chain, +had remained motionless, as if his feet were rooted in the soil. His +eyes were wide open, his hands clenched; he stared, murmuring these +incoherent words: + +"I have seen--already seen--these forks--when little--I have seen!" + +And no doubt the memories of his early infancy returned to him vaguely. +He tried to recall them. He was going to speak. + +"Be silent, Tom!" repeated Dick Sand. "For Mrs. Weldon's sake, for all +our sakes, be silent!" + +And the novice led the old black away. + +Another halting place was chosen, at some distance, and all was +arranged for the night. + +The repast was prepared, but they hardly touched it. Fatigue took away +their hunger. All were under an indefinable impression of anxiety which +bordered on terror. + +Darkness came gradually: soon it was profound. The sky was covered with +great stormy clouds. Between the trees in the western horizon they saw +some flashes of heat lightning. The wind had fallen; not a leaf moved +on the trees. An absolute silence succeeded the noises of the day, and +it might be believed that the heavy atmosphere, saturated with +electricity, was becoming unfit for the transmission of sounds. + +Dick Sand, Austin, and Bat watched together. They tried to see, to +hear, during this very dark night, if any light whatsoever, or any +suspicious noise should strike their eyes or their ears. Nothing +troubled either the calm or the obscurity of the forest. + +Torn, not sleepy, but absorbed in his remembrances, his head bent, +remained quiet, as if he had been struck by some sudden blow. + +Mrs. Weldon rocked her child in her arms, and only thought of him. + +Only Cousin Benedict slept, perhaps, for he alone did not suffer from +the common impression. His faculty for looking forward did not go so +far. + +Suddenly, about eleven o'clock, a prolonged and grave roaring was +heard, with which was mingled a sort of sharper shuddering. Tom stood +up and stretched out his hand toward a dense thicket, a mile or more +distant. + +Dick Sand seized his arm, but he could not prevent Tom from crying in a +loud voice: "The lion! the lion!" + +This roaring, which he had so often heard in his infancy, the old black +had just recognized it. + +"The lion!" he repeated. + +Dick Sand, incapable of controlling himself longer, rushed, cutlass in +hand, to the place occupied by Harris. + +Harris was no longer there, and his horse had disappeared with him. + +A sort of revelation took place in Dick Sand's mind. He was not where +he had believed he was! + +So it was not on the American coast that the "Pilgrim" had gone ashore! +It was not the Isle of Paques, whose bearing the novice had taken at +sea, but some other island situated exactly to the west of this +continent, as the Isle of Paques is situated to the west of America. + +The compass had deceived him during a part of the voyage, we know why! +Led away by the tempest over a false route, he must have doubled Cape +Horn, and from the Pacific Ocean he had passed into the Atlantic! The +speed of his ship, which he could only imperfectly estimate, had been +doubled, unknown to him, by the force of the hurricane! + +Behold why the caoutchouc trees, the quinquinas, the products of South +America were missing in this country, which was neither the plateau of +Atacama nor the Bolivian pampa! + +Yes, they were giraffes, not ostriches, which had fled away in the +opening! They were elephants that had crossed the thick underwood! They +were hippopotami whose repose Dick Sand had troubled under the large +plants! It was the _tsetse_, that dipter picked up by Benedict, the +formidable _tsetse_ under whose stings the animals of the caravans +perish! + +Finally, it was, indeed, the roaring of the lion that had just sounded +through the forest! And those forks, those chains, that knife of +singular form, they were the tools of the slave-trader! Those mutilated +hands, they were the hands of captives! + +The Portuguese Negoro, and the American Harris, must be in collusion! +And those terrible words guessed by Dick Sand, finally escaped his lips: + +"Africa! Equatorial Africa! Africa of the slave-trade and the slaves!" + +End of Part I + + + + +_PART II_ + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SLAVE TRADE. + + +The slave trade! Nobody is ignorant of the significance of this +word, which should never have found a place in human language. This +abominable traffic, for a long time practised to the profit of the +European nations which possessed colonies beyond the sea, has been +already forbidden for many years. Meanwhile it is always going on +a large scale, and principally in Central Africa. Even in this +nineteenth century the signature of a few States, calling themselves +Christians, are still missing from the Act for the Abolition of +Slavery. + +We might believe that the trade is no longer carried on; that this +buying and this selling of human creatures has ceased: it is not so, +and that is what the reader must know if he wishes to become more +deeply interested in the second part of this history. He must learn +what these men-hunts actually are still, these hunts which threaten +to depopulate a whole continent for the maintenance of a few slave +colonies; where and how these barbarous captures are executed; how +much blood they cost; how they provoke incendiarism and pillage; +finally, for whose profit they are made. + +It is in the fifteenth century only that we see the trade in blacks +carried on for the first time. Behold under what circumstances it was +established: + +The Mussulmans, after being expelled from Spain, took refuge beyond +the Strait on the coast of Africa. The Portuguese, who then occupied +that part of the coast, pursued them with fury. A certain number of +those fugitives were made prisoners and brought back to Portugal. +Reduced to slavery, they constituted the first nucleus of African +slaves which has been formed in Western Europe since the Christian +Era. + +But those Mussulmans belonged, for the most part, to rich families, +who wished to buy them back for gold. The Portuguese refused to accept +a ransom, however large it might be. They had only to make foreign +gold. What they lacked were the arms so indispensable then for the +work of the growing colonies, and, to say it all, the arms of the +slave. + +The Mussulman families, being unable to buy back their captive +relatives, then offered to exchange them for a much larger number of +black Africans, whom it was only too easy to carry off. The offer +was accepted by the Portuguese, who found that exchange to their +advantage, and thus the slave trade was founded in Europe. + +Toward the end of the sixteenth century this odious traffic was +generally admitted, and it was not repugnant to the still barbarous +manners. All the States protected it so as to colonize more rapidly +and more surely the isles of the New World. In fact, the slaves of +black origin could resist the climate, where the badly acclimated +whites, still unfit to support the heat of intertropical climates, +would have perished by thousands. The transport of negroes to the +American colonies was then carried on regularly by special vessels, +and this branch of transatlantic commerce led to the creation of +important stations on different points of the African coast. The +"merchandise" cost little in the country of production, and the +returns were considerable. + +But, necessary as was the foundation of the colonies beyond the sea +from all points of view, it could not justify those markets for human +flesh. Generous voices soon made themselves heard, which protested +against the trade in blacks, and demanded from the European +governments a decree of abolition in the name of the principles of +humanity. + +In 1751, the Quakers put themselves at the head of the abolition +movement, even in the heart of that North America where, a hundred +years later, the War of Secession was to burst forth, to which this +question of slavery was not a foreign one. Different States in the +North--Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania--decreed the +abolition of the slave trade, and freed the slaves brought to their +territories at great expense. + +But the campaign commenced by the Quakers did not limit itself to the +northern provinces of the New World. Slaveholders were warmly attacked +beyond the Atlantic. France and England, more particularly, recruited +partisans for this just cause. "Let the colonies perish rather than a +principle!" Such was the generous command which resounded through all +the Old World, and, in spite of the great political and commercial +interests engaged in the question, it was effectively transmitted +through Europe. + +The impetus was given. In 1807, England abolished the slave-trade +in her colonies, and France followed her example in 1814. The two +powerful nations exchanged a treaty on this subject--a treaty +confirmed by Napoleon during the Hundred Days. + +However, that was as yet only a purely theoretical declaration. The +slave-ships did not cease to cross the seas, and to dispose of their +"ebony cargoes" in colonial ports. + +More practical measures must be taken in order to put an end to this +commerce. The United States, in 1820, and England, in 1824, declared +the slave trade an act of piracy, and those who practised it pirates. +As such, they drew on themselves the penalty of death, and they were +pursued to the end. France soon adhered to the new treaty; but the +States of South America, and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, +did not join in the Act of Abolition. The exportation of blacks +then continued to their profit, notwithstanding the right of search +generally recognized, which was limited to the verification of the +flag of suspicious vessels. + +Meanwhile, the new Law of Abolition had not a retroactive effect. No +more new slaves were made, but the old ones had not yet recovered +their liberty. + +It was under those circumstances that England set an example. In May, +1833, a general declaration emancipated all the blacks in the colonies +of Great Britain, and in August, 1838, six hundred and seventy +thousand slaves were declared free. + +Ten years later, in 1848, the Republic emancipated the slaves of the +French colonies, say about two hundred and sixty thousand blacks. In +1861, the war which broke out between the Federals and Confederates, +of the United States, finishing the work of emancipation, extended it +to all North America. + +The three great powers had then accomplished this work of humanity. At +the present hour, the trade is no longer carried on, except for the +benefit of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and to satisfy the +wants of the populations of the Orient, Turks, or Arabs. Brazil, if +she has not yet restored her old slaves to liberty, at least no longer +receives new ones, and the children of the blacks are born free there. + +It is in the interior of Africa, in the prosecution of those bloody +wars, waged by the African chiefs among themselves for this man-hunt, +that entire tribes are reduced to slavery. Two opposite directions are +then given to the caravans: one to the west, toward the Portuguese +colony of Angola; the other to the east, on the Mozambique. Of these +unfortunate beings, of whom only a small portion arrive at their +destination, some are exported, it may be to Cuba, it may be to +Madagascar; others to the Arab or Turkish provinces of Asia, to Mecca, +or to Muscat. The English and French cruisers can only prevent +this traffic to a small extent, as it is so difficult to obtain an +effective surveillance over such far-extended coasts. + +But the figures of these odious exportations, are they still +considerable? + +Yes! The number of slaves who arrive at the coast is estimated at +not less than eighty thousand; and this number, it appears, only +represents the tenth of natives massacred. + +After these dreadful butcheries the devastated fields are deserted, +the burnt villages are without inhabitants, the rivers carry down dead +bodies, deer occupy the country. Livingstone, the day after one of +these men-hunts, no longer recognized the provinces he had visited +a few months before. All the other travelers--Grant, Speke, Burton, +Cameron, and Stanley--do not speak otherwise of this wooded plateau of +Central Africa, the principal theater of the wars between the chiefs. +In the region of the great lakes, over all that vast country which +feeds the market of Zanzibar, in Bornou and Fezzan, farther south, +on the banks of the Nyassa and the Zambesi, farther west, in the +districts of the upper Zaire, which the daring Stanley has just +crossed, is seen the same spectacle--ruins, massacres, depopulation. +Then will slavery in Africa only end with the disappearance of the +black race; and will it be with this race as it is with the Australian +race, or the race in New Holland? + +But the market of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies will close some +day. That outlet will be wanting. Civilized nations can no longer +tolerate the slave trade! + +Yes, without doubt; and this year even, 1878, ought to see the +enfranchisement of all the slaves still possessed by Christian States. +However, for long years to come the Mussulman nations will maintain +this traffic, which depopulates the African continent. It is for them, +in fact, that the most important emigration of the blacks is made, as +the number of natives snatched from their provinces and brought to +the eastern coast annually exceeds forty thousand. Long before the +expedition to Egypt the negroes of the Seunaar were sold by thousands +to the negroes of the Darfour, and reciprocally. General Bonaparte was +able to buy a pretty large number of these blacks, of whom he made +organized soldiers, like the Mamelukes. Since then, during this +century, of which four-fifths have now passed away, commerce in slaves +has not diminished in Africa. On the contrary. + +And, in fact, Islamism is favorable to the slave trade. The black +slave must replace the white slave of former times, in Turkish +provinces. So contractors of every origin pursue this execrable +traffic on a large scale. They thus carry a supplement of population +to those races, which are dying out and will disappear some day, +because they do not regenerate themselves by labor. These slaves, as +in the time of Bonaparte, often become soldiers. With certain nations +of the upper Niger, they compose the half of the armies of the African +chiefs. Under these circumstances, their fate is not sensibly inferior +to that of free men. Besides, when the slave is not a soldier, he is +money which has circulation; even in Egypt and at Bornou, officers and +functionaries are paid in that money. William Lejean has seen it and +has told of it. + +Such is, then, the actual state of the trade. + +Must it be added that a number of agents of the great European powers +are not ashamed to show a deplorable indulgence for this commerce. +Nevertheless, nothing is truer; while the cruisers watch the coasts of +the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, the traffic goes on regularly +in the interior, the caravans walk on under the eyes of certain +functionaries, and massacres, where ten blacks perish to furnish one +slave, take place at stated periods! + +So it will now be understood how terrible were those words just +pronounced by Dick Sand. + +"Africa! Equatorial Africa! Africa of slave-traders and slaves!" + +And he was not deceived; it was Africa with all its dangers, for his +companions and for himself. + +But on what part of the African continent had an inexplicable fatality +landed him? Evidently on the western coast, and as an aggravating +circumstance, the young novice was forced to think that the "Pilgrim" +was thrown on precisely that part of the coast of Angola where the +caravans, which clear all that part of Africa, arrive. + +In fact it was there. It was that country which Cameron on the south +and Stanley on the north were going to cross a few years later, and at +the price of what efforts! Of this vast territory, which is composed +of three provinces, Benguela, Congo, and Angola, there was but little +known then except the coast. It extends from the Nourse, in the south, +as far as the Zaire in the north, and the two principal towns form two +ports, Benguela and St. Paul' de Loanda, the capital of the colony +which set off from the kingdom of Portugal. + +In the interior this country was then almost unknown. Few travelers +had dared to venture there. A pernicious climate, warm and damp lands, +which engender fevers, barbarous natives, some of whom are still +cannibals, a permanent state of war between tribes, the slave-traders' +suspicion of every stranger who seeks to discover the secrets of their +infamous commerce; such are the difficulties to surmount, the dangers +to overcome in this province of Angola, one of the most dangerous of +equatorial Africa. + +Tuckey, in 1816, had ascended the Congo beyond the Yellala Falls; +but over an extent of two hundred miles at the most. This simple +halting-place could not give a definite knowledge of the country, +and nevertheless, it had caused the death of the greater part of the +savants and officers who composed the expedition. Thirty-seven years +later, Dr. Livingstone had advanced from the Cape of Good Hope as +far as the upper Zambesi. Thence, in the month of November, with a +hardihood which has never been surpassed, he traversed Africa from the +south to the northwest, cleared the Coango, one of the branches of the +Congo, and on the 31st of May, 1854, arrived at St. Paul de Loanda. It +was the first view in the unknown of the great Portuguese Colony. + +Eighteen years after, two daring discoverers crossed Africa from the +east to the west, and arrived, one south, the other north, of Angola, +after unheard-of difficulties. + +The first, according to the date, was a lieutenant in the English +navy, Verney-Howet Cameron. In 1872, there was reason to fear that the +expedition of the American, Stanley, was in great danger. It had been +sent to the great lake region in search of Livingstone. Lieutenant +Cameron offered to go over the same road. + +The offer was accepted. Cameron, accompanied by Dr. Dillon, Lieutenant +Cecil Murphy and Robert Moffat, a nephew of Livingstone, started from +Zanzibar. After having crossed Ougogo, he met Livingstone's faithful +servants carrying their master's body to the eastern coast. He +continued his route to the west, with the unconquerable desire to pass +from one coast to the other. + +He crossed Ounyanyembe, Ougounda, and Kahouele, where he collected +the great traveler's papers. Having passed over Tanganyika, and the +Bambarre mountains, he reached Loualaba, but could not descend its +course. After having visited all the provinces devastated by war and +depopulated by the slave trade, Kilemmba, Ouroua, the sources of the +Lomane, Oulouda, Lovale, and having crossed the Coanza and the +immense forests in which Harris has just entrapped Dick Sand and his +companions, the energetic Cameron finally perceived the Atlantic Ocean +and arrived at Saint Philip of Benguela. This journey of three years +and four months had cost the lives of his two companions, Dr. Dillon +and Robert Moffat. + +Henry Moreland Stanley, the American, almost immediately succeeded the +Englishman, Cameron, on the road of discoveries. We know that this +intrepid correspondent of the New York _Herald_, sent in search of +Livingstone, had found him on October 30th, 1871, at Oujiji, on Lake +Tanganyika. Having so happily accomplished his object for the sake of +humanity, Stanley determined to pursue his journey in the interest of +geographical science. His object then was to gain a complete knowledge +of Loualaba, of which he had only had a glimpse. + +Cameron was then lost in the provinces of Central Africa, when, in +November, 1874, Stanley quitted Bagamoga, on the eastern coast. +Twenty-one months after, August 24th, 1876, he abandoned Oujiji, which +was decimated by an epidemic of smallpox. In seventy-four days he +effected the passage of the lake at N'yangwe, a great slave market, +which had been already visited by Livingstone and Cameron. Here he +witnessed the most horrible scenes, practised in the Maroungou and +Manyouema countries by the officers of the Sultan of Zanzibar. + +Stanley then took measures to explore the course of the Loualaba and +to descend it as far as its mouth. One hundred and forty bearers, +engaged at N'yangwe, and nineteen boats, formed the material and the +force of his expedition. + +From the very start he had to fight the cannibals of Ougouson. From +the start, also, he had to attend to the carrying of boats, so as to +pass insuperable cataracts. + +Under the equator, at the point where the Loualaba makes a bend to +the northeast, fifty-four boats, manned by several hundred natives, +attacked Stanley's little fleet, which succeeded in putting them to +flight. Then the courageous American, reascending as far as the second +degree of northern latitude, ascertained that the Loualaba was the +upper Zaire, or Congo, and that by following its course he could +descend directly to the sea. + +This he did, fighting nearly every day against the tribes that lived +near the river. On June 3d, 1877, at the passage of the cataracts of +Massassa, he lost one of his companions, Francis Pocock. July 18th he +was drawn with his boat into the falls of M'belo, and only escaped +death by a miracle. + +Finally, August 6th, Henry Stanley arrived at the village of Ni-Sanda, +four days' journey from the coast. + +Two days after, at Banza-M'bouko, he found the provisions sent by two +merchants from Emboma. + +He finally rested at this little coast town, aged, at thirty-five +years, by over-fatigue and privations, after an entire passage of the +African continent, which had taken two years and nine months of his +life. + +However, the course of the Loualaba was explored as far as the +Atlantic; and if the Nile is the great artery of the North, if the +Zambesi is the great artery of the East, we now know that Africa still +possesses in the West the third of the largest rivers in the world--a +river which, in a course of two thousand, nine hundred miles, under +the names of Loualaba, Zaire, and Congo, unites the lake region with +the Atlantic Ocean. + +However, between these two books of travel--Stanley's and +Cameron's--the province of Angola is somewhat better known in this +year than in 1873, at that period when the "Pilgrim" was lost on the +African coast. It was well known that it was the seat of the western +slave-trade, thanks to its important markets of Bihe, Cassange, and +Kazounde. + +It was into this country that Dick Sand had been drawn, more than one +hundred miles from the coast, with a woman exhausted by fatigue and +grief, a dying child, and some companions of African descent, the +prey, as everything indicated, to the rapacity of slave merchants. + +Yes, it was Africa, and not that America where neither the natives, +nor the deer, nor the climate are very formidable. It was not that +favorable region, situated between the Cordilleras and the coast, +where straggling villages abound, and where missions are hospitably +opened to all travelers. + +They were far away, those provinces of Peru and Bolivia, where the +tempest would have surely carried the "Pilgrim," if a criminal hand +had not changed its course, where the shipwrecked ones would have +found so many facilities for returning to their country. + +It was the terrible Angola, not even that part of the coast inspected +by the Portuguese authorities, but the interior of the colony, which +is crossed by caravans of slaves under the whip of the driver. + +What did Dick Sand know of this country where treason had thrown him? +Very little; what the missionaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries had said of it; what the Portuguese merchants, who +frequented the road from St. Paul de Loanda to the Zaire, by way of +San Salvador, knew of it; what Dr. Livingstone had written about it, +after his journey of 1853, and that would have been sufficient to +overwhelm a soul less strong than his. + +Truly, the situation was terrible. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HARRIS AND NEGORO. + + +The day after that on which Dick Sand and his companions had +established their last halt in the forest, two men met together about +three miles from there, as it had been previously arranged between +them. + +These two men were Harris and Negoro; and we are going to see now what +chance had brought together, on the coast of Angola, the Portuguese +come from New Zealand, and the American, whom the business of trader +obliged to often traverse this province of Western Africa. + +Harris and Negoro were seated at the foot of an enormous banyan, on +the steep bank of an impetuous stream, which ran between a double +hedge of papyrus. + +The conversation commenced, for the Portuguese and the American +had just met, and at first they dwelt on the deeds which had been +accomplished during these last hours. + +"And so, Harris," said Negoro, "you have not been able to draw this +little troop of Captain Sand, as they call this novice of fifteen +years, any farther into Angola?" + +"No, comrade," replied Harris; "and it is even astonishing that I have +succeeded in leading him a hundred miles at least from the coast. +Several days ago my young friend, Dick Sand, looked at me with an +anxious air, his suspicions gradually changed into certainties--and +faith--" + +"Another hundred miles, Harris, and those people would be still more +surely in our hands! However, they must not escape us!" + +"Ah! How could they?" replied Harris, shrugging his shoulders. "I +repeat it, Negoro, there was only time to part company with them. Ten +times have I read in my young friend's eyes that he was tempted to +send a ball into my breast, and I have too bad a stomach to digest +those prunes which weigh a dozen to the pound." + +"Good!" returned Negoro; "I also have an account to settle with this +novice." + +"And you shall settle it at your ease, with interest, comrade. As to +me, during the first three days of the journey I succeeded very well +in making him take this province for the Desert of Atacama, which +I visited formerly. But the child claimed his caoutchoucs and his +humming-birds. The mother demanded her quinquinas. The cousin was +crazy to find cocuyos. Faith, I was at the end of my imagination, +and after with great difficulty making them swallow ostriches for +giraffes--a god-send, indeed, Negoro!--I no longer knew what to +invent. Besides, I well saw that my young friend no longer accepted my +explanations. Then we fell on elephants' prints. The hippopotami were +added to the party. And you know, Negoro, hippopotami and elephants +in America are like honest men in the penitentiaries of Benguela. +Finally, to finish me, there was the old black, who must find forks +and chains at the foot of a tree. Slaves had freed themselves from +them to flee. At the same moment the lion roared, starting the +company, and it is not easy to pass off that roaring for the mewing +of an inoffensive cat. I then had only time to spring on my horse and +make my way here." + +"I understand," replied Negoro. "Nevertheless, I would wish to hold +them a hundred miles further in the province."' + +"One does what he can, comrade," replied Harris. "As to you, who +followed our caravan from the coast, you have done well to keep your +distance. They felt you were there. There is a certain Dingo that does +not seem to love you. What have you done to that animal?" + +"Nothing," replied Negoro; "but before long it will receive a ball in +the head." + +"As you would have received one from Dick Sand, if you had shown ever +so little of your person within two hundred feet of his gun. Ah! how +well he fires, my young friend; and, between you and me, I am obliged +to admit that he is, in his way, a fine boy." + +"No matter how fine he is, Harris, he will pay dear for his +insolence," replied Negoro, whose countenance expressed implacable +cruelty. + +"Good," murmured Harris, "my comrade remains just the same as I have +always known him! Voyages have not injured him!" + +Then, after a moment's silence: "Ah, there, Negoro," continued he, +"when I met you so fortunately there below, at the scene of the +shipwreck, at the mouth of the Longa, you only had time to recommend +those honest people to me, while begging me to lead them as far as +possible across this pretended Bolivia. You have not told me what you +have been doing these two years! Two years, comrade, in our chance +existence, is a long time. One fine day, after having taken charge of +a caravan of slaves on old Alvez's account--whose very humble agents +we are--you left Cassange, and have not been heard of since! I have +thought that you had some disagreement with the English cruiser, and +that you were hung!" + +"I came very near it, Harris." + +"That will come, Negoro." + +"Thank you!" + +"What would you have?" replied Harris, with an indifference quite +philosophical; "it is one of the chances of the trade! We do not carry +on the slave-trade on the coast of Africa without running the risk of +dying elsewhere than in our beds! So, you have been taken?" + +"Yes!" + +"By the English?" + +"No! By the Portuguese." + +"Before or after having delivered your cargo?" asked Harris. + +"After--," replied Negoro, who had hesitated a little about replying. +"These Portuguese now make difficulties. They want no more slavery, +though they have used it so long to their profit. I was denounced +--watched. They took me--" + +"And condemned--" + +"Me to finish my days in the penitentiary of St. Paul de Loanda." + +"A thousand devils!" exclaimed Harris. "That is an unhealthy place for +men accustomed, like us, to live in the open air. As to me, perhaps I +should prefer being hung." + +"One does not escape from the gallows," replied Negoro; "but from +prison--" + +"You were able to make your escape?" + +"Yes, Harris. Only fifteen days after being put in prison. I was +able to hide myself at the bottom of the hold of an English steamer, +sailing for Auckland, of New Zealand. A barrel of water and a case of +conserves, between which I had intruded, furnished me with food and +drink during the whole passage. Oh! I suffered terribly, from not +being willing to show myself when we were at sea. But, if I had been +imprudent enough to do it, I would have been confined again at the +bottom of the hold, and, voluntarily or not, the torture would be the +same. Besides, on my arrival at Auckland, they would have returned me +again to the English authorities, and finally brought me back to the +penitentiary of Loanda, or, perhaps, hung me, as you said. That was +why I preferred to travel incognito." + +"And without paying your passage!" exclaimed Harris, laughing. "Ah! +that is not considerate, comrade, to be fed and carried gratis!" + +"Yes," returned Negoro, "but thirty days' passage at the bottom of the +hold--" + +"At last that was over, Negoro. You set out for New Zealand, in the +land of the Maoris. But you have returned. Was the return made under +the same circumstances?" + +"Not so, Harris. You may well believe that, over there, I had only one +idea--to return to Angola and take up my trade of slave-trader again." + +"Yes," replied Harris, "one loves his trade--from habit." + +"For eighteen months--" + +Having pronounced those last words, Negoro stopped suddenly. He seized +his companion's arm, and listened. + +"Harris," said he, lowering his voice, "was there not a trembling in +that papyrus bush?" + +"Yes, indeed," replied Harris, seizing his gun, always ready to fire. + +Negoro and he stood up, looked around them, and listened with the +greatest attention. + +"There is nothing there," said Harris. "It is this brook, swelled by +the storm, which runs more noisily. For two years, comrade, you have +been unaccustomed to the noises of the forest, but you will get used +to them again. Continue, then, the narration of your adventures. When +I understand the past, we shall talk of the future." + +Negoro and Harris sat down again at the foot of the banyan. The +Portuguese continued, in these terms: + +"For eighteen months I vegetated in Auckland. When the steamer arrived +there I was able to leave it without being seen; but not a piastre, +not a dollar in my pocket! In order to live I had to follow all +trades--" + +"Even the trade of an honest man, Negoro?" + +"As you say, Harris." + +"Poor boy!" + +"Now, I was always waiting for an opportunity, which was long coming, +when the 'Pilgrim,' a whaler, arrived at the port of Auckland." + +"That vessel which went ashore on the coast of Angola?" + +"Even the same, Harris, and on which Mrs. Weldon, her child, and her +cousin were going to take passage. Now, as an old sailor, having even +been second on board a slave ship, I was not out of my element in +taking service on a ship. I then presented myself to the 'Pilgrim's' +captain, but the crew was made up. Very fortunately for me, the +schooner's cook had deserted. Now, he is no sailor who does not know +how to cook. I offered myself as head cook. For want of a better, I +was accepted. A few days after, the 'Pilgrim' had lost sight of the +land of New Zealand." + +"But," asked Harris, "according to what my young friend has told me, +the 'Pilgrim' did not set sail at all for the coast of Africa. How +then has she arrived here?" + +"Dick Sand ought not to be able to understand it yet, and perhaps he +will never understand it," replied Negoro; "but I am going to explain +to you what has passed, Harris, and you will be able to tell it again +to your young friend, if it pleases you to do so." + +"How, then?" replied Harris. "Speak, comrade, speak!" + +"The 'Pilgrim,'" continued Negoro, "as on the way to Valparaiso. When +I went on board, I only intended to go to Chili. It was always a good +half of the way between New Zealand and Angola, and I was drawing +nearer Africa's coast by several thousand miles. But it so happened +that only three weeks after leaving Auckland, Captain Hull, who +commanded the 'Pilgrim,' disappeared with all his crew, while chasing +a whale. On that day, then, only two sailors remained on board--the +novice and the cook, Negoro." + +"And you took command of the ship?" asked Harris. + +"I had that idea at first, but I saw that they distrusted me. There +were live strong blacks on board, free men. I would not have been +the master, and, on reflection, I remained what I was at the +departure--the 'Pilgrim's' cook." + +"Then it was chance that led this ship to the coast of Africa?" + +"No, Harris," replied Negoro; "there has been no chance in all this +adventure except meeting you, in one of your journeys, just on that +part of the coast where the 'Pilgrim' was wrecked. But as to coming +in sight of Angola, it was by my will, my secret will, that that was +done. Your young friend, still much of a novice in navigation, could +only tell his position by means of the log and the compass. Well, one +day, the log went to the bottom. One night the compass was made false, +and the 'Pilgrim,' driven by a violent tempest, took the wrong route. +The length of the voyage, inexplicable to Dick Sand, would be the same +to the most experienced seaman. Without the novice knowing or even +suspecting it, Cape Horn was doubled, but I, Harris, I recognized +it in the midst of the fogs. Then, thanks to me, the needle in the +compass took its true direction again, and the ship, blown to the +northeast by that frightful hurricane, has just been cast on the coast +of Africa, just on this land of Angola which I wished to reach." + +"And even at that moment, Negoro," replied Harris, "chance had led me +there to receive you, and guide those honest people to the interior. +They believed themselves--they could only believe themselves in +America. It was easy for me to make them take this province for lower +Bolivia, to which it has really some resemblance." + +"Yes, they believed it, as your young friend believed they had made +the Isle of Paques, when they passed in sight of Tristan d'Acunha." + +"Anybody would be deceived by it, Negoro." + +"I know it, Harris, and I even counted on profiting by that error. +Finally, behold Mrs. Weldon and her companions one hundred miles in +the interior of this Africa, where I wanted to bring them!" + + +"But," replied Harris, "they know now where they are." + +"Ah! what matter at present!" cried Negoro. + +"And what will you do with them?" asked Harris. + +"What will I do with them?" replied Negoro. "Before telling you, +Harris, give me news of our master, the slave-trader, Alvez, whom I +have not seen for two years." + +"Oh, the old rascal is remarkably well," replied Harris, "and he will +be enchanted to see you again." + +"Is he at the Bihe market?" asked Negoro. + +"No, comrade, he has been at his establishment at Kazounde for a +year." + +"And business is lively?" + +"Yes, a thousand devils!" exclaimed Harris, "although the slave +trade becomes more and more difficult, at least on this coast. The +Portuguese authorities on one side, and the English cruisers on +the other, limit exportations. There are few places, except in the +environs of Mossamedes, to the south of Angola, that the shipping of +blacks can now be made with any chance of success. So, at this time, +the pens are filled with slaves, waiting for the ships which ought to +carry them to Spanish colonies. As to passing them by Benguela, or +St. Paul de Loanda, that is not possible. The governors no longer +understand reason, no more do the chiefs (title given to the +Portuguese governors of secondary establishments). We must, then, +return to the factories of the interior. This is what old Alvez +intends to do. He will go from the Nyangwe and Tanganyika side to +change his stuffs for ivory and slaves. Business is always profitable +with upper Egypt and the Mozambique coast, which furnishes all +Madagascar. But I fear the time will come when the trade can be no +longer carried on. The English are making great progress in the +interior of Africa. The missionaries advance and work against us. That +Livingstone, curse him, after exploring the lake region, is going, +they say, to travel toward Angola. Then they speak of a Lieutenant +Cameron, who proposes to cross the continent from east to west. They +also fear that the American, Stanley, wishes to do as much. All these +visits will end by damaging our operations, Negoro, and if we care for +our own interests, not one of those visitors will return to relate in +Europe what he has had the indiscretion to come to see in Africa." + +Would not one say, to hear them, the rascals, that they were speaking +like honest merchants whose affairs were momentarily cramped by a +commercial crisis? Who would believe that, instead of sacks of coffee +or casks of sugar, they were talking of human beings to export like +merchandise? These traders have no other idea of right or wrong. The +moral sense is entirely lacking in them, and if they had any, how +quickly they would lose it among the frightful atrocities of the +African slave trade. + +But where Harris was right, was when he said that civilization was +gradually penetrating those savage countries in the wake of those +hardy travelers, whose names are indissoluble linked to the +discoveries of Equatorial Africa. At the head, David Livingstone, +after him, Grant, Speke, Burton, Cameron, Stanley, those heroes will +leave imperishable names as benefactors of humanity. + +When their conversation reached that point, Harris knew what the last +two years of Negoro's life had been. The trader Alvez's old agent, the +escaped prisoner from the Loanda penitentiary, reappeared the same as +Harris had always known him, that is, ready to do anything. But what +plan Negoro intended to take in regard to the shipwrecked from the +"Pilgrim," Harris did not yet know. He asked his accomplice about it. + +"And now," said he, "what are you going to do with those people?" + +"I shall make two parties of them," replied Negoro, like a man whose +plan had been long formed, "those whom I shall sell as slaves, and +those whom----" + +The Portuguese did not finish, but his ferocious physiognomy spoke +plainly enough. + +"Which will you sell?" asked Harris. + +"Those blacks who accompany Mrs. Weldon," replied Negoro. "Old Tom is +not perhaps of much value, but the others are four strong fellows, who +will bring a high price in the Kazounde market." + +"I well believe it, Negoro," replied Harris. "Four negroes, well made, +accustomed to work, have very little resemblance to those brutes which +come to us from the interior. Certainly, you will sell them at a high +price. Slaves, born in America, and exported to the markets of Angola; +that is rare merchandise! But," added the American, "you have not told +me if there was any money on board the 'Pilgrim.'" + +"Oh! a few hundred dollars only, which I have succeeded in saving. +Fortunately, I count on certain returns." + +"Which, then, comrade?" asked Harris, with curiosity. + +"Nothing!" replied Negoro, who appeared to regret having spoken more +than he intended. + +"It now remains to take possession of all that high-priced +merchandise," said Harris. + +"Is it, then, so difficult?" asked Negoro. + +"No, comrade. Ten miles from here, on the Coanza, a caravan of slaves +is encamped, conducted by the Arab, Ibn Hamis. He only awaits my +return to take the road for Kazounde. There are more native soldiers +there than are needed to capture Dick Sand and his companions. It will +be sufficient for my young friend to conceive the idea of going to the +Coanza." + +"But will he get that idea?" asked Negoro. + +"Surely," replied Harris, "because he is intelligent, and cannot +suspect the danger that awaits him. Dick Sand would not think of +returning to the coast by the way we have followed together. He would +be lost among these immense forests. He will seek, then, I am sure, to +reach one of the rivers that flow toward the coast, so as to descend +it on a raft. He has no other plan to take, and I know he will take +it." + +"Yes, perhaps so," replied Negoro, who was reflecting. + +"It is not 'perhaps so,' it is 'assuredly so,' that must be said," +continued Harris. "Do you see, Negoro? It is as if I had appointed a +rendezvous with my young friend on the banks of the Coanza." + +"Well, then," replied Negoro, "let us go. I know Dick Sand. He will +not delay an hour, and we must get before him." + +"Let us start, comrade." + +Harris and Negoro both stood up, when the noise that had before +attracted the Portuguese's attention was renewed. It was a trembling +of the stems between the high papyrus. + +Negoro stopped, and seized Harris's hand. + +Suddenly a low barking was heard. A dog appeared at the foot of the +bank, with its mouth open, ready to spring. + +"Dingo!" cried Harris. + +"Ah! this time it shall not escape me!" replied Negoro. + +Dingo was going to jump upon him, when Negoro, seizing Harris's gun, +quickly put it to his shoulder and fired. + +A long howl of pain replied to the detonation, and Dingo disappeared +between the double row of bushes that bordered the brook. + +Negoro descended at once to the bottom of the bank. + +Drops of blood stained some of the papyrus stems, and a long red track +was left on the pebbles of the brook. + +"At last that cursed animal is paid off!" exclaimed Negoro. + +Harris had been present at this whole scene without saying a word. + +"Ah now, Negoro," said he, "that dog had a particular grudge against +you." + +"It seemed so, Harris, but it will have a grudge against me no +longer!" + +"And why did it detest you so much, comrade?" + +"Oh! an old affair to settle between it and me." + +"An old affair?" replied Harris. + +Negoro said no more about it, and Harris concluded that the Portuguese +had been silent on some past adventure, but he did not insist on +knowing it. + +A few moments later, both, descending the course of the brook, went +toward the Coanza, across the forest. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ON THE MARCH. + + +Africa! That name so terrible under the present circumstances, that +name which he must now substitute for that of America, was not for an +instant out of Dick Sand's thoughts. When the young novice traced back +the last weeks, it was to ask himself how the "Pilgrim" had ended +by reaching this dangerous shore, how it had doubled Cape Horn, and +passed from one ocean to the other! He could now explain to himself +why, in spite of the rapid motion of his vessel, land was so long +coming in sight, because the length of the distance which he should +have made to reach the American coast had been doubled without his +knowledge. + +"Africa! Africa!" Dick Sand repeated. + +Then, suddenly, while he called up with tenacious mind all the +incidents of this inexplicable voyage, he felt that his compass must +have been injured. He remembered, too, that the first compass had been +broken, and that the log-line had snapped--a fact which had made it +impossible for him to establish the speed of the "Pilgrim." + +"Yes," thought he, "there remained but one compass on board, one only, +the indications of which I could not control! And one night I was +awakened by a cry from old Tom. Negoro was there, aft. He had just +fallen on the binnacle. May he not have put it out of order?" + +Dick Sand was growing enlightened. He had his finger on the truth. He +now understood all that was ambiguous in Negoro's conduct. He saw +his hand in this chain of incidents which had led to the loss of the +"Pilgrim," and had so fearfully endangered those on board of her. + +But what, then, was this miserable man? Had he been a sailor and known +so well how to hide the fact? Was he capable of contriving this odious +plot which had thrown the ship on the coast of Africa? + +At any rate, if obscure points still existed in the past, the present +could offer no more of them. The young novice knew only too well that +he was in Africa, and very probably in the fatal province of Angola, +more than a hundred miles from the coast. He also knew that Harris's +treason could no longer be doubted. From this fact, the most simple +logic led him to conclude that the American and the Portuguese had +long known each other, that a fatal chance had united them on this +coast, and that a plan had been concerted between them, the result of +which would be dreadful for the survivors of the "Pilgrim." + +And now, why these odious actions? That Negoro wished, at all hazards, +to seize Tom and his companions, and sell them for slaves in this +slave-trading country, might be admitted. That the Portuguese, moved +by a sentiment of hatred, would seek to be revenged on him, Dick Sand, +who had treated him as he deserved, might also be conceived. But Mrs. +Weldon, this mother, and this young child--what would the wretch +do with them? If Dick Sand could have overheard a little of the +conversation between Harris and Negoro, he would have known what to +expect, and what dangers menaced Mrs. Weldon, the blacks, and himself. + +The situation was frightful, but the young novice did not yield under +it. Captain on board, he remained captain on land. He must save Mrs. +Weldon, little Jack, all those whose fate Heaven had placed in his +hands. His task was only commencing. He would accomplish it to the +end. + +After two or three hours, during which the present and the future were +summed up in his mind, with their good and their evil chances--the +last, alas! the most numerous--Dick Sand rose, firm and resolved. + +The first glimmer of light then touched the summits of the forest. +With the exception of the novice and Tom, all slept. Dick Sand +approached the old black. + +"Tom," he said to him, in a low tone, "you have recognized the roaring +of the lion, you have remembered the instruments of the slave-traders. +You know that we are in Africa!" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick, I know it." + +"Well, Tom, not a word of all that, neither to Mrs. Weldon nor to your +companions. We must be the only ones to know, the only ones to have +any fears." + +"Alone--in fact. It is necessary," replied Tom. + +"Tom," continued the novice, "we have to watch more carefully than +ever. We are in an enemy's country--and what enemies! what a country! +To keep our companions on their guard, it will be enough to tell them +that we have been betrayed by Harris. They will think that we fear an +attack from wandering Indians, and that will suffice." + +"You can count absolutely on their courage and devotion, Mr. Dick." + +"I know it, as I count on your good sense and your experience. You +will come to my help, old Tom?" + +"Always, and everywhere, Mr. Dick." + +Dick Sand's plan was accepted and approved by the old black. If Harris +were detected in open treason before the hour for action, at least +the young novice and his companions were not in fear of any immediate +danger. In fact, it was the discovery of the irons abandoned by some +slaves, and the roaring of the lion, that had caused the American's +sudden disappearance. + +He knew that he was discovered, and he had fled probably before the +little party which he guided had reached the place where an attack +had been arranged. As for Negoro, whose presence Dingo had certainly +recognized during these last days of the march, he must have rejoined +Harris, so as to consult with him. At any rate, several hours would +pass before Dick Sand and his friends would be assailed, and it was +necessary to profit by them. + +The only plan was to regain the coast as quickly as possible. This +coast, as the young novice had every reason to believe, was that of +Angola. After having reached it, Dick Sand would try to gain, either +to the north or to the south, the Portuguese settlements, where his +companions could await in safety some opportunity to return to their +country. + +But, to effect this return to the coast, should they take the road +already passed over? Dick Sand did not think so, and in that he +was going to agree with Harris, who had clearly foreseen that +circumstances would oblige the young novice to shorten the road. + +In fact, it would have been difficult, not to say imprudent, to +recommence this difficult journey through the forest, which, besides, +could only tend to bring them out at the place they had started from. +This would also allow Negoro's accomplices to follow an assured track. +The only thing they could do was to cross a river, without leaving any +traces, and, later on, to descend its course. At the same time, there +was less to fear from an attack by animals, which by a happy chance +had so far kept at a good distance. Even the animosity of the natives, +under these circumstances, seemed less important. Once embarked on a +solid raft, Dick Sand and his companions, being well armed, would be +in the best condition to defend themselves. The whole thing was to +find the river. + +It must be added that, given the actual state of Mrs. Weldon and her +little Jack, this mode of traveling would be the most suitable. Arms +would not fail to carry the sick child. Lacking Harris's horse, they +could even make a litter of branches, on which Mrs. Weldon could be +borne. But this would require two men out of five, and Dick Sand +wished, with good reason, that all his companions might be free in +their movements in case of a sudden attack. + +And then, in descending the current of a river, the young novice would +find himself in his element! + +The question now was, whether a navigable stream of water existed in +the neighborhood. Dick Sand thought it probable, and for this reason: +The river which emptied into the Atlantic at the place where the +"Pilgrim" had stranded could not ascend much to the north, nor much to +the east, of the province, because a chain of mountains quite close to +them--those which they had mistaken for the Cordilleras--shut in the +horizon on these two sides. Then, either the river descended from +these heights, or it made a bend toward the south, and, in these two +cases, Dick Sand could not take long to find the course. Perhaps, even +before reaching the river--for it had a right to this qualification, +being a direct tributary of the ocean--one of its affluents would be +met with which would suffice for the transport of the little party. + +At any rate, a stream of some sort could not be far away. + +In fact, during the last miles of the journey the nature of the earth +had been modified. The declivities diminished and became damp. Here +and there ran narrow streams, which indicated that the sub-soil +enclosed everywhere a watery network. During the last day's march the +caravan had kept along one of these rivulets, whose waters, reddened +with oxyde of iron, eat away its steep, worn banks. To find it again +could not take long, or be very difficult. Evidently they could not +descend its impetuous course, but it would be easy to follow it to its +junction with a more considerable, possibly a navigable, affluent. + +Such was the very simple plan which Dick Sand determined upon, after +having conferred with old Tom. + +Day came, all their companions gradually awoke. Mrs. Weldon placed +little Jack in Nan's arms. The child was drowsy and faded-looking +during the intermittent periods, and was sad to see. + +Mrs. Weldon approached Dick Sand. "Dick," she asked, after a steady +glance, "where is Harris? I do not perceive him." + +The young novice thought that, while letting his companions believe +that they were treading on the soil of Bolivia, it would not do to +hide from them the American's treason. So he said, without hesitation: +"Harris is no longer here." + +"Has he, then, gone ahead?" asked Mrs. Weldon. "He has fled, Mrs. +Weldon," replied Dick Sand. "This Harris is a traitor, and it is +according to Negoro's plan that he led us this far." "For what +motive?" quickly asked Mrs. Weldon. "I do not know," replied Dick +Sand; "but what I do know is, that we must return, without delay, to +the coast." + +"That man--a traitor!" repeated Mrs. Weldon. "I had a presentiment of +it! And you think, Dick, that he is in league with Negoro?" + +"That may be, Mrs. Weldon. The wretch is on our track. Chance has +brought these two scoundrels together, and--" + +"And I hope that they will not be separated when I find them again!" +said Hercules. "I will break the head of one against the other's +head!" added the giant, holding out his formidable fists. + +"But my child!" cried Mrs. Weldon. "The care that I hoped to find for +him at the farm of San Felice--" + +"Jack will get well," said old Tom, "when he approaches the more +healthy part of the coast." + +"Dick," remarked Mrs. Weldon, "you are sure that this Harris has +betrayed us?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied the young novice, who would have liked to +avoid any explanation on this subject. + +He also hastened to add, while looking at the old black: + +"This very night Tom and I discovered his treason, and if he had not +jumped on his horse and fled, I would have killed him." + +"So this farm--" + +"There is neither farm, nor village, nor settlement in the +neighborhood," replied Dick Sand. "Mrs. Weldon, I repeat to you, we +must return to the coast." + +"By the same road, Dick?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon, but by descending a river which will take us to the +sea without fatigue and without danger. A few more miles on foot, and +I do not doubt--" + +"Oh, I am strong, Dick!" replied Mrs. Weldon, who struggled against +her own weakness. "I will walk! I will carry my child!" + +"We are here, Mrs. Weldon," said Bat, "and we will carry you!" + +"Yes. yes," added Austin. "Two branches of a tree, foliage laid +across." + +"Thanks, my friends," replied Mrs. Weldon; "but I want to march. I +will march. Forward!" + +"Forward!" exclaimed the young novice. + +"Give me Jack," said Hercules, who took the child from Nan's arms. +"When I am not carrying something, I am tired." + +The brave negro gently took in his strong arms the little sleeping +boy, who did not even wake. + +Their arms were carefully examined. What remained of the provisions +was placed in one package, so as to be carried by one man. Austin +threw it on his back, and his companions thus became free in their +movements. + +Cousin Benedict, whose long limbs were like steel and defied all +fatigue, was ready to set out. Had he remarked Harris's disappearance? +It would be imprudent to affirm it. Little disturbed him. Besides, he +was under the effects of one of the most terrible catastrophes that +could befall him. + +In fact, a grave complication, Cousin Benedict had lost his +magnifying-glass and his spectacles. Very happily, also, but without +his suspecting it, Bat had found the two precious articles in the tall +grass where they had slept, but, by Dick Sand's advice, he kept them +safely. By this means they would be sure that the big child would keep +quiet during the march, because he could see no farther, as they say, +than the end of his nose. + +Thus, placed between Acteon and Austin, with the formal injunction not +to leave them, the woful Benedict uttered no complaint, but followed +in his place, like a blind man led by a string. + +The little party had not gone fifty steps when old Tom suddenly +stopped it with one word. + +"Dingo?" said he. + +"In fact, Dingo is not here!" replied Hercules. + +The black called the dog several times with his powerful voice. + +No barking replied to him. + +Dick Sand remained silent. The absence of the dog, was to be +regretted, for he had preserved the little party from all surprise. + +"Could Dingo have followed Harris?" asked Tom. + +"Harris? No," replied Dick Sand; "but he may have put himself on +Negoro's scent. He felt him in our steps." + +"This cook of misfortune would quickly end him with a ball!" cried +Hercules. + +"Provided Dingo did not first strangle him," replied Bat. + +"Perhaps so," replied the young novice. "But we cannot wait for +Dingo's return. Besides, if he is living, the intelligent animal will +know how to find us. Forward!" + +The weather was very warm. Since daybreak large clouds obscured the +horizon. Already a storm was threatened in the air. Probably the day +would not end without some thunder-claps. Happily the forest, more or +less dense, retained a little freshness of the surface of the soil. +Here and there great forest trees inclosed prairies covered with +a tall, thick grass. In certain spots enormous trunks, already +petrified, lay on the ground, indicating the presence of coal mines, +which are frequently met with on the African continent. Then, in the +clearings, where the green carpet was mingled with some sprigs of +roses, the flowers were various in color, yellow and blue ginger +plants, pale lobelias, red orchids, incessantly visited by the insects +which fertilized them. + +The trees no longer formed impenetrable masses, but their nature was +more varied. There were a kind of palm-tree, which gives an oil found +only in Africa; cotton-trees forming thickets from eight to ten feet +high, whose wood-stalks produce a cotton with long hairs, almost +analogous to that of Fernambouc. From the copals there oozes, by the +holes which certain insects make, an odorous gum, which runs along +the ground and collects for the wants of the natives. Here spread the +lemon-trees, the grenadiers of a savage condition of a country, and +twenty other odorous plants, which prove the prodigious fertility of +this plateau of Central Africa. In several places, also, the perfume +was agreeably mingled with the tine odor of vanilla, although they +could not discover what tree exhaled it. + +This whole collection of trees and plants was perfectly green, +although it was in the middle of the dry season, and only rare storms +could water these luxuriant forests. It was then the time for fevers; +but, as Livingstone has observed, they can be cured by leaving the +place where they have been contracted. Dick Sand knew this remark of +the great traveler, and he hoped that little Jack would not contradict +it. He told it to Mrs. Weldon, after having observed that the +periodical access had not returned as they feared, and that the child +slept quietly in Hercules' arms. + +Thus they went forward carefully and rapidly. Sometimes they +discovered traces where men or animals had recently passed. The +twisted and broken branches of the brushwood and the thickets afforded +an opportunity to walk with a more equal step. But the greater part of +the time numerous obstacles, which they had to overcome, retarded the +little party, to Dick Sand's great disappointment. + +There were twisted lianes that might justly be compared with the +disordered rigging of a ship, certain vines similar to bent swords, +whose blades were ornamented with long thorns, vegetable serpents, +fifty or sixty feet long, which had the faculty of turning to prick +the passer-by with their sharp spikes. The blacks, hatchet in +hand, cut them down with vigorous blows, but the lianes reappeared +constantly, reaching from the earth to the top of the highest trees +which they encircled. + +The animal kingdom was not less curious than the vegetable kingdom +in this part of the province. Birds flew in vast numbers under these +powerful branches; but it will be understood that they had no gunshot +to fear from the men, who wished to pass as secretly as rapidly. There +were Guinea fowls in large flocks, heath-cocks of various kinds, very +difficult to approach, and some of those birds which the Americans +of the North have, by onomatopoeia, called "whip-poor-wills," three +syllables which exactly reproduce their cries. Dick Sand and Tom might +truly have believed themselves in some province of the new continent. +But, alas! they knew what to expect. + +Until then the deer, so dangerous in Africa, had not approached the +little troop. They again saw, in this first halt, some giraffes, which +Harris had undoubtedly called ostriches. These swift animals +passed rapidly, frightened by the apparition of a caravan in these +little-frequented forests. In the distance, on the edge of the +prairie, there arose at times a thick cloud of dust. It was a herd of +buffaloes, which galloped with the noise of wagons heavily laden. + +For two miles Dick Sand thus followed the course of the rivulet which +must end in a more important river. He was in haste to confide his +companions to the rapid current of one of the coast rivers. He felt +sure that the dangers and the fatigue would be much less than on the +shore. + +Towards noon three miles had been cleared without any bad incident or +meeting. There was no trace of either Harris or Negoro. Dingo had not +reappeared. It was necessary to halt to take rest and nourishment. + +The encampment was established in a bamboo thicket, which completely +sheltered the little party. + +They talked very little during this repast. Mrs. Weldon had taken her +little boy in her arms; she could not take her eyes off of him; she +could not eat. + +"You must take some nourishment, Mrs. Weldon," Dick Sand repeated +several times. "What will become of you if your strength gives out? +Eat, eat! We will soon start again, and a good current will carry us +without fatigue to the coast." + +Mrs. Weldon looked in Dick Sand's face while he thus talked. The young +novice's burning eyes spoke of the courage by which he felt animated. +In seeing him thus, in observing these brave, devoted blacks, wife +and mother, she could not yet despair; and, besides, why was she +abandoned? Did she not think herself on hospitable ground? Harris's +treason could not, in her eyes, have any very serious consequences. +Dick Sand read her thought, and he kept his eyes on the ground. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BAD ROADS OF ANGOLA. + + +At this moment little Jack awoke, and put his arms around his mother's +neck. His eyes looked better. The fever had not returned. + +"You are better, my darling," said Mrs. Weldon, pressing the sick +child to her heart. + +"Yes, mama," replied Jack, "but I am a little thirsty." + +They could only give the child some fresh water, of which he drank +with pleasure. + +"And my friend Dick?" he said. + +"Here I am, Jack," replied Dick Sand, coming to take the young child's +hand. + +"And my friend Hercules?" + +"Hercules is here, Mr. Jack," replied the giant, bringing nearer his +good face. + +"And the horse?" demanded little Jack. + +"The horse? Gone, Mr. Jack," replied Hercules. "I will carry you. Will +you find that I trot too hard?" + +"No," replied little Jack; "but then I shall no longer have any bridle +to hold." + +"Oh! you will put a bit in _my_ mouth, if you wish," said Hercules, +opening his large mouth, "and you may pull back so long as that will +give you pleasure." + +"You know very well that I shall not pull back." + +"Good! You would be wrong! I have a hard mouth." + +"But Mr. Harris's farm?" the little boy asked again. + +"We shall soon arrive there, my Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon. "Yes, +soon!" + +"Will we set out again?" then said Dick Sand, in order to cut short +this conversation. + +"Yes, Dick, let us go," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +The camp was broken up, and the march continued again in the same +order. It was necessary to pass through the underwood, so as not to +leave the course of the rivulet. There had been some paths there, +formerly, but those paths were dead, according to the native +expression--that is, brambles and brushwood had usurped them. In these +painful conditions they might spend three hours in making one mile. +The blacks worked without relaxation. Hercules, after putting little +Jack back in Nan's arms, took his part of the work; and what a part! +He gave stout "heaves," making his ax turn round, and a hole was made +before them, as if he had been a devouring fire. + +Fortunately, this fatiguing work would not last. This first mile +cleared, they saw a large hole, opened through the underwood, which +ended obliquely at the rivulet and followed its bank. It was a passage +made by elephants, and those animals, doubtless by hundreds, were in +the habit of traversing this part of the forest. Great holes, made by +the feet of the enormous pachyderms, riddled a soil softened during +the rainy season. Its spongy nature also prepared it for those large +imprints. + +It soon appeared that this passage did not serve for those gigantic +animals alone. Human beings had more than once taken this route, but +as flocks, brutally led to the slaughter-house, would have followed +it. Here and there bones of dead bodies strewed the ground; remains +of skeletons, half gnawed by animals, some of which still bore the +slave's fetters. + +There are, in Central Africa, long roads thus marked out by human +debris. Hundreds of miles are traversed by caravans, and how many +unhappy wretches fall by the way, under the agents' whips, killed by +fatigue or privations, decimated by sickness! How many more massacred +by the traders themselves, when food fails! Yes, when they can no +longer feed them, they kill them with the gun, with the sword, with +the knife! These massacres are not rare. + +So, then, caravans of slaves had followed this road. For a mile Dick +Sand and his companions struck against these scattered bones at each +step, putting to flight enormous fern-owls. Those owls rose at their +approach, with a heavy flight, and turned round in the air. + +Mrs. Weldon looked without seeing. Dick Sand trembled lest she should +question him, for he hoped to lead her back to the coast without +telling her that Harris's treachery had led them astray in an African +province. Fortunately, Mrs. Weldon did not explain to herself what +she had under her eyes. She had desired to take her child again, and +little Jack, asleep, absorbed all her care. Nan walked near her, and +neither of them asked the young novice the terrible questions he +dreaded. + +Old Tom went along with his eyes down. He understood only too well why +this opening was strewn with human bones. + +His companions looked to the right, to the left, with an air of +surprise, as if they were crossing an interminable cemetery, the +tombs of which had been overthrown by a cataclysm; but they passed in +silence. + +Meanwhile, the bed of the rivulet became deeper and wider at the same +time. Its current was less impetuous. Dick Sand hoped that it would +soon become navigable, or that it would before long reach a more +important river, tributary to the Atlantic. + +Cost what it might, the young novice was determined to follow this +stream of water. Neither did he hesitate to abandon this opening; +because, as ending by an oblique line, it led away from the rivulet. + +The little party a second time ventured through the dense underwood. +They marched, ax in hand, through leaves and bushes inextricably +interlaced. + +But if this vegetation obstructed the ground, they were no longer in +the thick forest that bordered the coast. Trees became rare. Large +sheaves of bamboo alone rose above the grass, and so high that even +Hercules was not a head over them. The passage of the little party was +only revealed by the movement of these stalks. + +Toward three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, the nature of the +ground totally changed. Here were long plains, which must have been +entirely inundated in the rainy season. The earth, now more swampy, +was carpeted by thick mosses, beneath charming ferns. Should it be +diversified by any steep ascents, they would see brown hematites +appear, the last deposits of some rich vein of mineral. + +Dick Sand then recalled--and very fortunately--what he had read in +"Livingstone's Travels." More than once the daring doctor had nearly +rested in these marshes, so treacherous under foot. + +"Listen to me, my friends," said he, going ahead. "Try the ground +before stepping on it." + +"In fact," replied Tom, "they say that these grounds have been +softened by the rain; but, however, it has not rained during these +last days." + +"No," replied Bat; "but the storm is not far off." + +"The greater reason," replied Dick Sand, "why we should hurry and get +clear of this swamp before it commences. Hercules, take little Jack +in your arms. Bat, Austin, keep near Mrs. Weldon, so as to be able to +help her if necessary. You, Mr. Benedict--Why, what are you doing, +Mr. Benedict?" + +"I am falling!" innocently replied Cousin Benedict, who had just +disappeared as if a trap had been suddenly opened beneath his feet. + +In fact, the poor man had ventured on a sort of quagmire, and had +disappeared half-way in the sticky mud. They stretched out their +hands, and he rose, covered with slime, but quite satisfied at not +having injured his precious entomologist's box. Acteon went beside +him, and made it his duty to preserve the unlucky, near-sighted man +from any new disasters. + +Besides, Cousin Benedict had made rather a bad choice of the quagmire +for his plunge. When they drew him out of the sticky earth a large +quantity of bubbles rose to the surface, and, in bursting, they +emitted some gases of a suffocating odor. Livingstone, who had been +sunk up to his chest in this slime, compared these grounds to a +collection of enormous sponges, made of black, porous earth, from +which numerous streams of water spouted when they were stepped upon. +These places were always very dangerous. + +For the space of half a mile Dick Sand and his companions must march +over this spongy soil. It even became so bad that Mrs. Weldon was +obliged to stop, for she sank deep in the mire. Hercules, Bat, and +Austin, wishing to spare her the unpleasantness more than the fatigue +of a passage across this marshy plain, made a litter of bamboos, on +which she consented to sit. Her little Jack was placed in her arms, +and they endeavored to cross that pestilential marsh in the quickest +manner. + +The difficulties were great. Acteon held Cousin Benedict firmly. Tom +aided Nan, who, without him, would have disappeared several times in +some crevice. The three other blacks carried the litter. At the head, +Dick Sand sounded the earth. The choice of the place to step on was +not made without trouble. They marched from preference on the edges, +which were covered by a thick and tough grass. Often the support +failed, and they sank to the knees in the slime. + +At last, about five o'clock in the evening, the marsh being cleared, +the soil regained sufficient firmness, thanks to its clayey nature; +but they felt it damp underneath. Very evidently these lands lay below +the neighboring rivers, and the water ran through their pores. + +At that time the heat had become overwhelming. It would even have +been unbearable, if thick storm clouds had not interposed between the +burning rays and the ground. Distant lightnings began to rend the sky +and low rollings of thunder grumbled in the depths of the heavens. A +formidable storm was going to burst forth. + +Now, these cataclysms are terrible in Africa: rain in torrents, +squalls of wind which the strongest trees cannot resist, clap after +clap of thunder, such is the contest of the elements in that latitude. + +Dick Sand knew it well, and he became very uneasy. They could not pass +the night without shelter. The plain was likely to be inundated, and +it did not present a single elevation on which it was possible to seek +refuge. + +But refuge, where would they seek it in this low desert, without a +tree, without a bush? The bowels of the earth even would not give it. +Two feet below the surface they would find water. + +However, toward the north a series of low hills seemed to limit the +marshy plain. It was as the border of this depression of land. A few +trees were profiled there on a more distant, clearer belt, left by the +clouds on the line of the horizon. + +There, if shelter were still lacking, the little band would at least +no longer risk being caught in a possible inundation. There perhaps +was salvation for all. + +"Forward, my friends, forward!" repeated Dick Sand. "Three miles more +and we shall be safer than in these bottom-lands." + +"Hurry! hurry!" cried Hercules. + +The brave black would have wished to take that whole world in big arms +and carry it alone. + +Those words inspired those courageous men, and in spite of the fatigue +of a day's march, they advanced more quickly than they had done at the +commencement from the halting-place. + +When the storm burst forth the end to be attained was still more than +two miles off. Now--a fact which was the more to be feared--the rain +did not accompany the first lightnings exchanged between the ground +and the electrical clouds. Darkness then became almost complete, +though the sun had not disappeared below the horizon. But the dome of +vapors gradually lowered, as if it threatened to fall in--a falling in +which must result in a torrent of rain. Lightnings, red or blue, split +it in a thousand places, and enveloped the plain in an inextricable +network of fire. + +Twenty times Dick and his companions ran the risk of being struck by +lightning. On this plateau, deprived of trees, they formed the only +projecting points which could attract the electrical discharges. Jack, +awakened by the noise of the thunder, hid himself in Hercules' arms. +He was very much afraid, poor little boy, but he did not wish to let +his mother see it, for fear of afflicting her more. Hercules, while +taking great steps, consoled him as well as he could. + +"Do not be afraid, little Jack," he repeated. "If the thunder comes +near us, I will break it in two with a single hand. I am stronger than +it!" + +And, truly, the giant's strength reassured Jack a little. + +Meanwhile the rain must soon fall, and then it would in torrents, +poured out by those clouds in condensing. What would become of Mrs. +Weldon and her companions, if they did not find a shelter? + +Dick Sand stopped a moment near old Tom. + +"What must be done?" said he. + +"Continue our march, Mr. Dick," replied Tom. "We cannot remain on this +plain, that the rain is going to transform into a marsh!" + +"No, Tom, no! But a shelter! Where? What? If it were only a hut--" + +Dick Sand had suddenly broken off his sentence. A more vivid flash of +lightning had just illuminated the whole plain. + +"What have I seen there, a quarter of a mile off?" exclaimed Dick +Sand. + +"Yes, I also, I have seen--" replied old Tom, shaking his head. + +"A camp, is it not?" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick, it must be a camp, but a camp of natives!" + +A new flash enabled them to observe this camp more closely. It +occupied a part of the immense plain. + +There, in fact, rose a hundred conical tents, symmetrically arranged, +and measuring from twelve to fifteen feet in height. Not a soldier +showed himself, however. Were they then shut up under their tents, so +as to let the storm pass, or was the camp abandoned? + +In the first case, whatever Heaven should threaten, Dick Sand must +flee in the quickest manner. In the second, there was, perhaps, the +shelter he asked. + +"I shall find out," he said to himself; then, addressing old Tom: +"Stay here. Let no one follow me. I shall go to reconnoiter that +camp." + +"Let one of us accompany you, Mr. Dick." + +"No, Tom, I shall go alone. I can approach without being seen. Stay +here." + +The little troop, that followed Tom and Dick Sand, halted. The young +novice left at once and disappeared in the darkness, which was +profound when the lightning did not tear the sky. + +Some large drops of rain already began to fall. + +"What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Weldon, approaching the old black. + +"We have perceived a camp, Mrs. Weldon," replied Tom; "a camp--or, +perhaps, a village, and our captain wished to reconnoiter it before +leading us to it." + +Mrs. Weldon was satisfied with this reply. Three minutes after, Dick +Sand was returning. + +"Come! come!" he cried, in a voice which expressed his entire +satisfaction. + +"The camp is abandoned?" asked Tom. + +"It is not a camp," replied the young novice; "it is not a village. +They are ant-hills!" + +"Ant-hills!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, whom that word aroused. + +"Yes, Mr. Benedict, but ant-hills twelve feet high, at least, and in +which we shall endeavor to hide ourselves." + +"But then," replied Cousin Benedict, "those would be ant-hills of the +warlike termite or of the devouring termite. Only those ingenious +insects raise such monuments, which the greatest architects would not +disown." + +"Whether they be termites or not, Mr. Benedict," replied Dick Sand, +"we must dislodge them and take their place." + +"They will devour us. They will be defending their rights." + +"Forward! Forward!" + +"But, wait now!" said Cousin Benedict again. "I thought those +ant-hills only existed in Africa." + +"Forward!" exclaimed Dick Sand, for the last time, with a sort of +violence. He was so much afraid that Mrs. Weldon might hear the last +word pronounced by the entomologist. + +They followed Dick Sand with all haste. A furious wind had sprung up. +Large drops crackled on the ground. In a few moments the squalls of +wind would become unbearable. Soon one of those cones which stood on +the plain was reached. No matter how threatening the termites might +be, the human beings must not hesitate. If they could not drive the +insects away, they must share their abode. + +At the bottom of this cone, made with a kind of reddish clay, there +was a very narrow hole. Hercules enlarged it with his cutlass in a few +moments, so as to give a passage even to a man like himself. + +To Cousin Benedict's extreme surprise, not one of the thousands of +termites that ought to occupy the ant-hill showed itself. Was, then, +the cone abandoned? + +The hole enlarged, Dick and his companions glided into it. Hercules +disappeared the last, just as the rain fell with such rage that it +seemed to extinguish the lightnings. + +But those wind squalls were no longer to be feared. A happy chance had +furnished this little troop with a solid shelter, better than a tent, +better than a native's hut. + +It was one of those termite cones that, according to Lieutenant +Cameron's comparison, are more astonishing than the pyramids of Egypt, +raised by the hands of men, because they have been built by such small +insects. + +"It is," said he, "as if a nation had built Mount Everest, the highest +mountain of the Himalaya chain." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANTS AND THEIR DWELLING. + + +At this moment the storm burst with a violence unknown in temperate +latitudes. + +It was providential that Dick Sand and his companions had found this +refuge! + +In fact, the rain did not fall in distinct drops, but in streams of +various thickness. Sometimes it was a compact mass forming a sheet of +water, like a cataract, a Niagara. Imagine an aerial basin, containing +a whole sea, being upset. Under such showers the ground was hollowed +out, the plains were changed to lakes, the streams to torrents, the +rivers, overflowing, inundated vast territories. In temperate zones +the violence of the storms decreases according to their duration; but +in Africa, however heavy they are, they continue for several entire +days. How can so much electricity be collected in the clouds? How +can such quantities of vapor be accumulated? It is very difficult to +comprehend this. However, such are the facts, and one might suppose +himself transported to the extraordinary epochs of the diluvian +period. + +Fortunately, the ant-cone, with its thick walls, was perfectly +impervious. A beaver's hut, of well-beaten earth, could not have been +more water-tight. A torrent could have passed over it without a single +drop of water filtering through its pores. + +As soon as Dick Sand and his companions had taken possession of the +cone they occupied themselves in examining its interior arrangement. +The lantern was lighted, and the ant-hill was sufficiently +illuminated. This cone, which measured twelve feet in height inside, +was eleven feet wide, except in its upper part, which rounded in the +form of a sugar loaf. Everywhere the walls were about one foot in +thickness, and there was a distance between the stories of cells which +adorned them. + +We may be astonished at the construction of such monuments, due to +these industrious swarms of insects, but it is true that they are +frequently found in the interior of Africa. Smeathman, a Dutch +traveler of the last century, with four of his companions, occupied +the top of one of these cones. In the Lounde, Livingstone observed +several of these ant-hills, built of reddish clay, and attaining a +height of fifteen and twenty feet. Lieutenant Cameron has many a time +mistaken for a camp these collections of cones which dotted the plain +in N'yangwe. He has even stopped at the foot of great edifices, not +more than twenty feet high, but composed of forty or fifty enormous +rounded cones, flanked with bell-towers like the dome of a cathedral, +such as Southern Africa possesses. + +To what species of ant was due, then, the prodigious style of +architecture of these cones? + +"To the warlike termite," Cousin Benedict had replied, without +hesitating, as soon as he had recognized the nature of the materials +employed in their construction. + +And, in fact, the walls, as has been said, were made of reddish clay. +Had they been formed of a gray or black alluvian earth, they must have +been attributed to the "termes mordax" or the "termes atrox." As we +see, these insects have not very cheering names--a fact which cannot +but please a strong entomologist, such as Cousin Benedict. + +The central part of the cone, in which the little troop had first +found shelter, and which formed the empty interior, would not have +contained them; but large cavities, in close contact, made a number +of divisions, in which a person of medium height could find refuge. +Imagine a succession of open drawers, and at the bottom of those +drawers millions of cells which the termites had occupied, and the +interior disposition of the ant-hill is easily understood. To sum up, +these drawers are in tiers, like the berths in a ship's cabin. In the +upper ones Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, Nan, and Cousin Benedict took +refuge. In the lower row Austin, Bat, and Acteon hid themselves. As +for Dick Sand, Tom, and Hercules, they remained in the lower part of +the cone. + +"My friends," then said the young novice to the two blacks, "the +ground is becoming damp. We must fill it up by crumbling the red clay +from the base; but take care not to obstruct the hole by which the air +enters. We cannot risk being smothered in this ant-hill." + +"We have only one night to spend here," replied old Tom. + +"Well, let us try and make it recover us from our fatigue. This is the +first time in ten days that we have not to sleep in the open air." + +"Ten days!" repeated Tom. + +"Besides," added Dick Sand, "as this cone forms a solid shelter, +perhaps we had better stay here twenty-four hours. During that time, I +will go in search of the stream that we are in need of; it cannot be +very distant. I think that until we have constructed our raft, it will +be better not to quit this shelter. The storm cannot reach us here. +Let us make the floor stronger and dryer." + +Dick Sand's orders were executed at once. Hercules, with his ax, +crumbled the first story of cells, which was composed of crisp red +clay. He thus raised, more than a foot, the interior part of the +swampy earth on which the ant-hill rested, and Dick Sand made sure +that the air could freely penetrate to the interior of the cone +through the orifice pierced at its base. + +It was, certainly, a fortunate circumstance that the ant-hill had been +abandoned by the termites. With a few thousands of these ants, it +would have been uninhabitable. But, had it been evacuated for some +time, or had the voracious newroptera but just quitted it? It was not +superfluous to ponder this question. + +Cousin Benedict was so much surprised at the abandonment, that he at +once considered the reason for it, and he was soon convinced that the +emigration had been recent. + +In fact, he did not wait, but, descending to the lower part of the +cone, and taking the lantern, he commenced to examine the most secret +corners of the ant-hill. He thus discovered what is called the +"general store-house" of the termites, that is to say, the place where +these industrious insects lay up the provisions of the colony. + +It was a cavity hollowed in the wall, not far from the royal cell, +which Hercules's labor had destroyed, along with the cells destined +for the young larvae. + +In this store-room Cousin Benedict collected a certain quantity of +particles of gum and the juices of plants, scarcely solidified, which +proved that the termites had lately brought them from without. + +"Well, no!" cried he. "No!" as if he were replying to some +contradiction, "No, this ant-hill has not been long abandoned." + +"Who says to the contrary, Mr. Benedict?" said Dick Sand. "Recently +or not, the important thing for us is that the termites have left it, +because we have to take their place." + +"The important thing," replied Cousin Benedict, "will be to know why +they have left it. Yesterday--this morning, perhaps--these sagacious +newroptera were still here, because, see these liquid juices; and this +evening----" + +"Well, what do you conclude, Mr. Benedict?" asked Dick Sand. + +"That a secret presentiment has caused them to abandon the cone. Not +only have all the termites left their cells, but they have taken care +to carry away the young larvae, of which I cannot find one. Well, I +repeat that all this was not done without a motive, and that these +sagacious insects foresaw some near danger." + +"They foresaw that we were going to invade their dwelling," replied +Hercules, laughing. + +"Indeed!" replied Cousin Benedict, whom this answer sensibly shocked. +"You think yourself so strong that you would be dangerous to these +courageous insects? A few thousand of these newroptera would quickly +reduce you to a skeleton if they found you dead on the road." + +"Dead, certainly," replied Hercules, who would not give up; "but, +living, I could crush masses of them." + +"You might crush a hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, a +million," replied Cousin Benedict, with animation, "but not a thousand +millions; and a thousand millions would devour you, living or dead, to +the last morsel." + +During this discussion, which was less trifling than might be +supposed, Dick Sand reflected on the observations made by Cousin +Benedict. There was no doubt that the savant knew too much about the +habits of the termites to be mistaken. If he declared that a secret +instinct warned them to leave the ant-hill recently, it was because +there was truly peril in remaining in it. + +Meanwhile, as it was impossible to abandon this shelter at a moment +when the storm was raging with unparalleled intensity, Dick +Sand looked no farther for an explanation of what seemed to be +inexplicable, and he contented himself with saying: + +"Well, Mr. Benedict, if the termites have left their provisions in +this ant-hill, we must not forget that we have brought ours, and +let us have supper. To-morrow, when the storm will be over, we will +consult together on our future plans." + +They then occupied themselves in preparing the evening meal, for, +great as their fatigue was, it had not affected the appetite of these +vigorous walkers. On the contrary, the food, which had to last for two +more days, was very welcome. The damp had not reached the biscuits, +and for several minutes it could be heard cracking under the solid +teeth of Dick Sand and his companions. Between Hercules's jaws it +was like grain under the miller's grindstone. It did not crackle, it +powdered. + +Mrs. Weldon alone scarcely eat, and even Dick Sand's entreaties were +vain. It seemed to him that this brave woman was more preoccupied, +more sad than she had been hitherto. Meanwhile her little Jack +suffered less; the fever had not returned, and at this time he was +sleeping, under his mother's eyes, in a cell well lined with garments. +Dick Sand knew not what to think. + +It is useless to say that Cousin Benedict did honor to the repast, not +that he paid any attention either to the quality or to the quantity of +the food that he devoured, but because he had found an opportunity to +deliver a lecture in entomology on the termites. Ah! if he had been +able to find a termite, a single one, in the deserted ant hill! But +nothing. + +"These admirable insects," said he, without taking the trouble to find +out if any one were listening--"these admirable insects belong to the +marvelous order of newroptera, whose horns are longer than the head, +the jaws very distinct, and whose lower wings are generally equal to +the upper ones. Five tribes constitute this order: the Panorpates +(scorpion flies), the Myrmileoniens, the Hemerobins, the Termitines +and the Perlides. It is useless to add that the insects which now +interest us, and whose dwelling we occupy, perhaps unduly, are the +Termitines." + +At this moment Dick Sand listened very attentively to Cousin Benedict. +Had the meeting with these termites excited in him the thought that he +was perhaps on the African continent, without knowing by what chance +he had arrived there? The young novice was very anxious to find out. + +The savant, mounted on his favorite hobby, continued to ride it +beautifully. + +"Now these termitines," said he, "are characterized by four joints +on the instep, horned jaws, and remarkable strength. We have the +_mantispe_ species, the _raphidie_, and the termite species. The last +is often known under the term of white ants, in which we count the +deadly termite, the yellow corslet termite, the termite that shuns the +light, the biter, the destroyer--" + +"And those that constructed this ant-hill?" asked Dick Sand. + +"They are the martial ants," replied Cousin Benedict, who pronounced +this word as if it had been the Macedonians, or some other ancient +people brave in war. "Yes, the warlike ants, and of all sizes. +Between Hercules and a dwarf the difference would be less than +between the largest of these insects and the smallest. Among them are +'workers' of five millimeters in length 'soldiers' of ten, and males +and females of twenty. We find also a kind otherwise very curious: the +_sirafous_ half an inch in length, which have pincers for jaws, and a +head larger than the body, like the sharks. They are the sharks among +insects, and in a fight between some _sirafous_ and a shark, I would +bet on the _sirafous_." + +"And where are these _sirafous_ commonly observed?" then asked Dick +Sand. + +"In Africa," replied Cousin Benedict; "in the central and southern +provinces. Africa is, in fact, the country of ants. You should read +what Livingstone says of them in the last notes reported by Stanley. +More fortunate than myself, the doctor has witnessed a Homeric battle, +joined between an army of black ants and an army of red ants. The +latter, which are called 'drivers,' and which the natives name +_sirafous_, were victorious. + +"The others, the '_tchoungous_,' took flight, carrying their eggs and +their young, not without having bravely defended themselves. Never, +according to Livingstone, never was the spirit of battle carried +farther, either among men or beasts! With their tenacious jaws, which +tear out the piece, these _sirafous_ make the bravest man recoil. The +largest animals--even lions and elephants--flee before them. + +"Nothing stops them; neither trees, which they climb to the summit, +nor streams, which they cross by making a suspension bridge of +their own bodies, hooked together. And numerous! Another African +traveler--Du Chaillu--has seen a column of these ants defile past him +for twelve hours without stopping on the road. But why be astonished +at the sight of such myriads? The fecundity of these insects is +surprising; and, to return to our fighting termites, it has been +proved that a female deposits as much as sixty thousand eggs in a +day! Besides, these newroptera furnish the natives with a juicy food. +Broiled ants, my friends; I know of nothing better in the world!" + +"Have you then eaten them, Mr. Benedict?" asked Hercules. + +"Never," replied the wise professor; "but I shall eat some." + +"Where?" + +"Here." + +"Here; we are not in Africa!" said Tom, very quickly. + +"No, no!" replied Cousin Benedict; "and, thus far, these warlike +termites, and their villages of ant-hills, have only been observed on +the African Continent. Ah! such travelers. They do not know how to +see! Well! all the better, after all. I have discovered a _tsetse_ in +America. To the glory of this, I shall join that of having found the +warlike termites on the same continent! What matter for an article +that will make a sensation in educated Europe, and, perhaps, appear in +folio form, with prints and engravings, besides the text!" + +It was evident that the truth had not entered Cousin Benedict's brain. +The poor man and all his companions, Dick Sand and Tom excepted, +believed themselves, and must believe themselves, where they were +not! It needed other incidents, facts still more grave than certain +scientific curiosities, to undeceive them! + +It was then nine o'clock in the morning. Cousin Benedict had talked +for a long time. Did he perceive that his auditors, propped up in +their cells, had gradually fallen asleep during his entomological +lecture? No; certainly not. He lectured for himself. Dick Sand no +longer questioned him, and remained motionless, although he did not +sleep. As for Hercules, he had resisted longer than the others; but +fatigue soon finished by shutting his eyes, and, with his eyes, his +ears. + +For some time longer Cousin Benedict continued to lecture. However, +sleep finally got the best of him, and he mounted to the upper cavity +of the cone, in which he had chosen his domicile. + +Deep silence fell on the interior of the cone, while the storm filled +space with noise and fire. Nothing seemed to indicate that the tempest +was nearly over. + +The lantern had been extinguished. The interior of the ant-hill was +plunged in complete darkness. + +No doubt all slept. However, Dick Sand, alone, did not seek in sleep +the repose which was so necessary to him. Thought absorbed him. He +dreamed of his companions, whom he would save at all hazards. The +wrecking of the "Pilgrim" had not been the end of their cruel trials, +and others, still more terrible, threatened them should they fall into +the hands of these natives. + +And how to avoid this danger, the worst of all, during their return to +the coast. Harris and Negoro had not led them a hundred miles into the +interior of Angola without a secret design to gain possession of them. + +But what did this miserable Portuguese intend? Who had merited his +hatred? The young novice repeated to himself, that he alone had +incurred it. Then he passed in review all the incidents that had taken +place during the "Pilgrim's" voyage; the meeting with the wreck and +the blacks; the pursuit of the whale; the disappearance of Captain +Hull and his crew. + +Dick Sand had found himself, at the age of fifteen, intrusted with the +command of a vessel, the compass and log of which were soon injured by +Negoro's criminal actions. He again saw himself using his authority in +the presence of this insolent cook, threatening to put him in irons, +or to blow out his brains with a pistol shot. Ah, why had he hesitated +to do it? Negoro's corpse would have been thrown overboard, and none +of these catastrophes would have happened. + +Such were the young man's various thoughts. Then they dwelt a moment +on the shipwreck which had ended the "Pilgrim's" voyage. The traitor +Harris appeared then, and this province of South America gradually +became transformed. Bolivia changed to the terrible Angola, with its +feverish climate, its savage deer, its natives still more cruel. Could +the little party escape during its return to the coast? This river +which he was seeking, which he hoped to find, would it conduct them to +the shore with more safety, and with less fatigue? He would not doubt +it, for he knew well that a march of a hundred miles through this +inhospitable country, in the midst of incessant dangers, was no longer +possible. + +"Happily," he said to himself, "Mrs. Weldon and all are ignorant of +the danger of the situation. Old Tom and I, we alone are to know that +Negoro has thrown us on the coast of Africa; and that Harris has led +me into the wilds of Angola." + +Dick Sand was thus sunk in overpowering thoughts, when he felt a +breath on his forehead. A hand rested on his shoulder, and a trembling +voice murmured these words in his ear: + +"I know all, my poor Dick, but God can yet save us! His will be done!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE DIVING-BELL. + + +To this unexpected revelation Dick Sand could not reply. Besides, Mrs. +Weldon had gone back at once to her place beside little Jack. She +evidently did not wish to say any more about it, and the young novice +had not the courage to detain her. + +Thus Mrs. Weldon knew what to believe. The various incidents, of the +way had enlightened her also, and perhaps, too, that word, "Africa!" +so unluckily pronounced the night before by Cousin Benedict. + +"Mrs. Weldon knows everything," repeated Dick Sand to himself. "Well, +perhaps it is better so. The brave woman does not despair. I shall not +despair either." + +Dick Sand now longed for day to return, that he might explore the +surroundings of this termite village. He must find a tributary of the +Atlantic with a rapid course to transport all his little troop. He had +a presentiment that this watercourse could not be far distant. Above +all, they must avoid an encounter with the natives, perhaps already +sent in pursuit of them under Harris's and Negoro's direction. + +But it was not day yet. No light made its way into the cone through +the lower orifice. Rumblings, rendered low by the thickness of the +walls, indicated that the storm still raged. Listening, Dick Sand also +heard the rain falling with violence at the base of the ant-hill. As +the large drops no longer struck a hard soil, he must conclude that +the whole plain was inundated. + +It must have been about eleven o'clock. Dick Sand then felt that a +kind of torpor, if not a true sleep, was going to overcome him. It +would, however, be rest. But, just as he was yielding to it, the +thought came to him that, by the settling of the clay, washed in, the +lower orifice was likely to be obstructed. All passage for the outer +air would be closed. Within, the respiration of ten persons would soon +vitiate the air by loading it with carbonic acid. + +Dick Sand then slipped to the ground, which had been raised by the +clay from the first floor of cells. + +That cushion was still perfectly dry, and the orifice entirely free. +The air penetrated freely to the interior of the cone, and with it +some flashes of lightning, and the loud noises of that storm, that a +diluvian rain could not extinguish. + +Dick Sand saw that all was well. No immediate danger seemed to menace +these human termites, substituted for the colony of newroptera. The +young novice then thought of refreshing himself by a few hours' sleep, +as he already felt its influence. Only with supreme precaution Dick +Sand lay on that bed of clay, at the bottom of the cone, near the +narrow edifice. + +By this means, if any accident happened outside, he would be the first +to remark it. The rising day would also awaken him, and he would be +ready to begin the exploration of the plain. + +Dick Sand lay down then, his head against the wall, his gun under his +hand, and almost immediately he was asleep. + +How long this drowsiness lasted he could not tell, when he was +awakened by a lively sensation of coolness. + +He rose and recognized, not without great anxiety, that the water was +invading the ant hill, and even so rapidly, that in a few seconds it +would reach the story of cells occupied by Tom and Hercules. + +The latter, awakened by Dick Sand, were told about this new +complication. + +The lighted lantern soon showed the interior of the cone. + +The water had stopped at a height of about five feet, and remained +stationary. + +"What is the matter, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"It is nothing," replied the young novice. "The lower part of the +cone has been inundated. It is probably that during this storm a +neighboring river has overflowed on this plain." + +"Good!" said Hercules; "that proves the river is there!" + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and it will carry us to the coast. Be +reassured, then, Mrs. Weldon; the water cannot reach you, nor little +Jack, nor Nan, nor Mr. Benedict." + +Mrs. Weldon did not reply. As to the cousin, he slept like a veritable +termite. + +Meanwhile the blacks, leaning over this sheet of water, which +reflected the lantern's light, waited for Dick Sand to indicate +to them what should be done. He was measuring the height of the +inundation. + +After having the provisions and arms put out of the reach of the +inundation, Dick Sand was silent. + +"The water has penetrated by the orifice," said Tom. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and now it prevents the interior air from +being renewed." + +"Could we not make a hole in the wall above the level of the water?" +asked the old black. + +"Doubtless, Tom; but if we have five feet of water within, there are +perhaps six or seven, even more, without." + +"You think, Mr. Dick--?" + +"I think, Tom, that the water, rising inside the ant-hill, has +compressed the air in the upper part, and that this air now makes an +obstacle to prevent the water from rising higher. But if we pierce a +hole in the wall by which the air would escape, either the water would +still rise till it reached the outside level, or if it passed the +hole, it would rise to that point where the compressed air would again +keep it back. We must be here like workmen in a diving-bell." + +"What must be done?" asked Tom. + +"Reflect well before acting," replied Dick Sand. "An imprudence might +cost us our lives!" + +The young novice's observation was very true. + +In comparing the cone to a submerged bell, he was right. Only in that +apparatus the air is constantly renewed by means of pumps. The divers +breathe comfortably, and they suffer no other inconveniences than +those resulting from a prolonged sojourn in a compressed atmosphere, +no longer at a normal pressure. + +But here, beside those inconveniences, space was already reduced a +third by the invasion of the water. As to the air, it would only be +renewed if they put it in communication with the outer atmosphere by +means of a hole. + +Could they, without running the danger spoken of by Dick Sand, pierce +that hole? Would not the situation be aggravated by it? + +What was certain was, that the water now rested at a level which only +two causes could make it exceed, namely: if they pierced a hole, and +the level of the rising waters was higher outside, or if the height +of this rising water should still increase. In either of these cases, +only a narrow space would remain inside the cone, where the air, not +renewed, would be still more compressed. + +But might not the ant-hill be torn from the ground and overthrown by +the inundation, to the extreme danger of those within it? No, no more +than a beaver's hut, so firmly did it adhere by its base. + +Then, the event most to be feared was the persistence of the storm, +and, consequently, the increase of the inundation. Thirty feet of +water on the plain would cover the cone with eighteen feet of water, +and bear on the air within with the pressure of an atmosphere. + +Now, after reflecting well upon it, Dick Sand was led to fear that +this inundation might increase considerably. + +In fact, it could not be due solely to that deluge poured out by +the clouds. It seemed more probable that a neighboring watercourse, +swelled by the storm, had burst its banks, and was spreading over this +plain lying below it. What proof had they that the ant-hill was not +then entirely submerged, and that it was full time to leave it by the +top part, which would not be difficult to demolish? + +Dick Sand, now extremely anxious, asked himself what he ought to +do. Must he wait or suddenly announce the probable result of the +situation, after ascertaining the condition of things? + +It was then three o'clock in the morning. All, motionless, silent, +listened. The noise from outside came very feebly through the +obstructed orifice. All the time a dull sound, strong and continued, +well indicated that the contest of the elements had not ceased. + +At that moment old Tom observed that the water level was gradually +rising. + +"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "and if it rises, as the air cannot escape +from within, it is because the rising of the waters increases and +presses it more and more." + +"It is but slight so far," said Tom. + +"Without doubt," replied Dick Sand; "but where will this level stop?" + +"Mr. Dick," asked Bat, "would you like me to go out of the ant-hill? +By diving, I should try to slip out by the hole." + +"It will be better for me to try it," replied Dick Sand. + +"No, Mr. Dick, no," replied old Tom, quickly; "let my son do it, and +trust to his skill. In case he could not return, your presence is +necessary here." + +Then, lower: + +"Do not forget Mrs. Weldon and little Jack." + +"Be it so," replied Dick Sand. "Go, then, Bat. If the ant-hill is +submerged, do not seek to enter it again. We shall try to come out as +you will have done. But if the cone still emerges, strike on its top +with the ax that you will take with you. We will hear you, and it +will be the signal for us to demolish the top from our side. You +understand?" + +"Yes, Mr. Dick," replied Bat. + +"Go, then, boy," added old Tom, pressing his son's hand. + +Bat, after laying in a good provision of air by a long aspiration, +plunged under the liquid mass, whose depth then exceeded five feet. It +was a rather difficult task, because he would have to seek the lower +orifice, slip through it, and then rise to the outside surface of the +waters. + +That must be done quickly. + +Nearly half a minute passed away. Dick Sand then thought that Bat had +succeeded in passing outside when the black emerged. + +"Well!" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +"The hole is stopped up by rubbish!" replied Bat, as soon as he could +take breath. + +"Stopped up!" repeated Tom. + +"Yes," replied Bat. "The water has probably diluted the clay. I have +felt around the walls with my hand. There is no longer any hole." + +Dick Sand shook his head. His companions and he were hermetically +sequestered in this cone, perhaps submerged by the water. + +"If there is no longer any hole," then said Hercules, "we must make +one." + +"Wait," replied the young novice, stopping Hercules, who, hatchet in +hand, was preparing to dive. + +Dick Sand reflected for a few moments, and then he said: + +"We are going to proceed in another manner. The whole question is to +know whether the water covers the ant-hill or not. If we make a small +opening at the summit of the cone, we shall find out which it is. But +in case the ant-hill should be submerged now, the water would fill it +entirely, and we would be lost. Let us feel our way." + +"But quickly," replied Tom. + +In fact, the level continued to rise gradually. There were then six +feet of water inside the cone. With the exception of Mrs. Weldon, +her son, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, who had taken refuge in the upper +cavities, all were immersed to the waist. + +Then there was a necessity for quick action, as Dick Sand proposed. + +It was one foot above the interior level, consequently seven feet from +the ground, that Dick Sand resolved to pierce a hole in the clay wall. + +If, by this hole, they were in communication with the outer air, the +cone emerges. If, on the contrary, this hole was pierced below the +water level outside, the air would be driven inward, and in that case +they must stop it up at once, or the water would rise to its orifice. +Then they would commence again a foot higher, and so on. If, at last, +at the top, they did not yet find the outer air, it was because there +was a depth of more than fifteen feet of water in the plain, and that +the whole termite village had disappeared under the inundation. Then +what chance had the prisoners in the ant-hill to escape the most +terrible of deaths, death by slow asphyxia? + +Dick Sand knew all that, but he did not lose his presence of mind for +a moment. He had closely calculated the consequences of the experiment +he wished to try. Besides, to wait longer was not possible. Asphyxia +was threatening in this narrow space, reduced every moment, in a +medium already saturated with carbonic acid. + +The best tool Dick Sand could employ to pierce a hole through the wall +was a ramrod furnished with a screw, intended to draw the wadding from +a gun. By making it turn rapidly, this screw scooped out the clay like +an auger, and the hole was made little by little. Then it would not +have a larger diameter than that of the ramrod, but that would be +sufficient. The air could come through very well. + +Hercules holding up the lantern lighted Dick Sand. They had some wax +candles to take its place, and they had not to fear lack of light from +that source. + +A minute after the beginning of the operation, the ramrod went freely +through the wall. At once a rather dull noise was produced, resembling +that made by globules of air escaping through a column of water. The +air escaped, and, at the same moment, the level of the water rose in +the cone, and stopped at the height of the hole. This proved that they +had pierced too low--that is to say, below the liquid mass. + +"Begin again," the young novice said, coolly, after rapidly stopping +the hole with a handful of clay. + +The water was again stationary in the cone, but the reserved space had +diminished more than eight inches. Respiration became difficult, for +the oxygen was beginning to fail. They saw it also by the lantern's +light, which reddened and lost a part of its brightness. + +One foot above the first hole, Dick Sand began at once to pierce a +second by the same process. If the experiment failed, the water would +rise still higher inside the cone--but that risk must be run. + +While Dick Sand was working his auger, they heard Cousin Benedict cry +out, suddenly: + +"Mercy! look--look--look why!" + +Hercules raised his lantern and threw its light on Cousin Benedict, +whose face expressed the most perfect satisfaction. + +"Yes," repeated he, "look why those intelligent termites have +abandoned the ant-hill! They had felt the inundation beforehand. Ah! +instinct, my friends, instinct. The termites are wiser than we are, +much wiser." + +And that was all the moral Cousin Benedict drew from the situation. + +At that moment Dick Sand drew out the ramrod, which had penetrated the +wall. A hissing was produced. The water rose another foot inside the +cone--the hole had not reached the open air outside. + +The situation was dreadful. Mrs. Weldon, then almost reached by the +water, had raised little Jack in her arms. All were stifling in this +narrow space. Their ears buzzed. + +The lantern only threw a faint light. + +"Is the cone, then, entirely under water?" murmured Dick Sand. + +He must know; and, in order to know, he must pierce a third hole, at +the very top. + +But it was asphyxia, it was immediate death, if the result of this +last attempt should prove fruitless. The air remaining inside would +escape through the upper sheet of water, and the water would fill the +whole cone. + +"Mrs. Weldon," then said Dick Sand, "you know the situation. If we +delay, respirable air will fail us. If the third attempt fails, water +will fill all this space. Our only chance is that the summit of the +cone is above the level of the inundation. We must try this last +experiment. Are you willing?" + +"Do it, Dick!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +At that moment the lantern went out in that medium already unfit for +combustion. Mrs. Weldon and her companions were plunged in the most +complete darkness. + +Dick Sand was perched on Hercules's shoulders. The latter was hanging +on to one of the lateral cavities. Only his head was above the bed of +water. + +Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict were in the last story of +cells. + +Dick Sand scratched the wall, and his ramrod pierced the clay rapidly. +In this place the wall, being thicker and harder also, was more +difficult to penetrate. Dick Sand hastened, not without terrible +anxiety, for by this narrow opening either life was going to penetrate +with the air, or with the water it was death. + +Suddenly a sharp hissing was heard. The compressed air escaped--but a +ray of daylight filtered through the wall. The water only rose eight +inches, and stopped, without Dick Sand being obliged to close the +hole. The equilibrium was established between the level within and +that outside. The summit of the cone emerged. Mrs. Weldon and her +companions were saved. + +At once, after a frantic hurra, in which Hercules's thundering voice +prevailed, the cutlasses were put to work. The summit, quickly +attacked, gradually crumbled. The hole was enlarged, the pure air +entered in waves, and with it the first rays of the rising sun. The +top once taken off the cone, it would be easy to hoist themselves on +to its wall, and they would devise means of reaching some neighboring +height, above all inundations. + +Dick Sand first mounted to the summit of the cone. + +A cry escaped him. + +That particular noise, too well known by African travelers, the +whizzing of arrows, passed through the air. + +Dick Sand had had time to perceive a camp a hundred feet from the +ant-hill, and ten feet from the cone, on the inundated plain, long +boats, filled with natives. + +It was from one of those boats that the flight of arrows had come the +moment the young novice's head appeared out of the hole. + +Dick Sand, in a word, had told all to his companions. Seizing his gun, +followed by Hercules, Acteon, and Bat, he reappeared at the summit of +the cone, and all fired on one of the boats. + +Several natives fell, and yells, accompanied by shots, replied to the +detonation of the fire-arms. + +But what could Dick Sand and his companions do against a hundred +Africans, who surrounded them on all sides? + +The ant-hill was assailed. Mrs. Weldon, her child, and Cousin +Benedict, all were brutally snatched from it, and without having had +time to speak to each other or to shake hands for the last time, they +saw themselves separated from each other, doubtless in virtue of +orders previously given. + +A last boat took away Mrs. Weldon, little Jack and Cousin Benedict. +Dick Sand saw them disappear in the middle of the camp. + +As to him, accompanied by Nan, Old Tom, Hercules, Bat, Acteon and +Austin, he was thrown into a second boat, which went toward another +point of the hill. + +Twenty natives entered this boat. + +It was followed by five others. + +Resistance was not possible, and nevertheless, Dick Sand and his +companions attempted it. Some soldiers of the caravan were wounded +by them, and certainly they would have paid for this resistance with +their lives, if there had not been a formal order to spare them. + +In a few minutes, the passage was made. But just as the boat landed, +Hercules, with an irresistible bound, sprang on the ground. Two +natives having sprung on him, the giant turned his gun like a club, +and the natives fell, with their skulls broken. + +A moment after, Hercules disappeared under the cover of the trees, +in the midst of a shower of balls, as Dick Sand and his companions, +having been put on land, were chained like slaves. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN CAMP ON THE BANKS OF THE COANZA. + + +The aspect of the country was entirely changed since the inundation. +It had made a lake of the plain where the termite village stood. The +cones of twenty ant-hills emerged, and formed the only projecting +points on this large basin. + +The Coanza had overflowed during the night, with the waters of its +tributaries swelled by the storm. + +This Coanza, one of the rivers of Angola, flows into the Atlantic, a +hundred miles from the cape where the "Pilgrim" was wrecked. It was +this river that Lieutenant Cameron had to cross some years later, +before reaching Benguela. The Coanza is intended to become the vehicle +for the interior transit of this portion of the Portuguese colony. +Already steamers ascend its lower course, and before ten years elapse, +they will ply over its upper bed. Dick Sand had then acted wisely in +seeking some navigable river toward the north. The rivulet he had +followed had just been emptied into the Coanza. Only for this sudden +attack, of which he had had no intimation to put him on his guard, he +would have found the Coanza a mile farther on. His companions and he +would have embarked on a raft, easily constructed, and they would have +had a good chance to descend the stream to the Portuguese villages, +where the steamers come into port. There, their safety would be +secured. + +It would not be so. + +The camp, perceived by Dick Sand, was established on an elevation near +the ant-hill, into which fate had thrown him, as in a trap. At the +summit of that elevation rose an enormous sycamore fig-tree, which +would easily shelter five hundred men under its immense branches. +Those who have not seen those giant trees of Central Africa, can form +no idea of them. Their branches form a forest, and one could be lost +in it. Farther on, great banyans, of the kind whose seeds do not +change into fruits, completed the outline of this vast landscape. + +It was under the sycamore's shelter, hidden, as in a mysterious +asylum, that a whole caravan--the one whose arrival Harris had +announced to Negoro--had just halted. This numerous procession of +natives, snatched from their villages by the trader Alvez's agents, +were going to the Kazounde market. Thence the slaves, as needed, would +be sent either to the barracks of the west coast, or to N'yangwe, +toward the great lake region, to be distributed either in upper Egypt, +or in the factories of Zanzibar. + +As soon as they arrived at the camp, Dick Sand and his companions had +been treated as slaves. Old Tom, his son Austin, Acteon, poor Nan, +negroes by birth, though they did not belong to the African race, were +treated like captive natives. After they were disarmed, in spite of +the strongest resistance, they were held by the throat, two by two, by +means of a pole six or seven feet long, forked at each end, and closed +by an iron rod. By this means they were forced to march in line, one +behind the other, unable to get away either to the right or to the +left. As an over precaution, a heavy chain was attached to their +waists. They had their arms free, to carry burdens, their feet free to +march, but they could not use them to flee. Thus they were going to +travel hundreds of miles under an overseer's lash. Placed apart, +overcome by the reaction which followed the first moments of their +struggle against the negroes, they no longer made a movement. Why had +they not been able to follow Hercules in his flight? And, meanwhile, +what could they hope for the fugitive? Strong as he was, what would +become of him in that inhospitable country, where hunger, solitude, +savage beasts, natives, all were against him? Would he not soon regret +his companion's fate? They, however, had no pity to expect from the +chiefs of the caravan, Arabs or Portuguese, speaking a language they +could not understand. These chiefs only entered into communication +with their prisoners by menacing looks and gestures. + +Dick Sand himself was not coupled with any other slave. He was a white +man, and probably they had not dared to inflict the common treatment +on him. Unarmed, he had his feet and hands free, but a driver watched +him especially. He observed the camp, expecting each moment to see +Negoro or Harris appear. His expectation was in vain. He had no doubt, +however, that those two miserable men had directed the attack against +the ant-hill. + +Thus the thought came to him that Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, and Cousin +Benedict had been led away separately by orders from the American or +from the Portuguese. Seeing neither one nor the other, he said to +himself that perhaps the two accomplices even accompanied their +victims. Where were they leading them? What would they do with them? +It was his most cruel care. Dick Sand forgot his own situation to +think only of Mrs. Weldon and hers. + +The caravan, camped under the gigantic sycamore, did not count less +than eight hundred persons, say five hundred slaves of both sexes, +two hundred soldiers, porters, marauders, guards, drivers, agents, or +chiefs. + +These chiefs were of Arab and Portugese origin. It would be difficult +to imagine the cruelties that these inhuman beings inflicted on their +captives. They struck them without relaxation, and those who fell +exhausted, not fit to be sold, were finished with gunshots or the +knife. Thus they hold them by terror. But the result of this system +is, that on the arrival of the caravan, fifty out of a hundred slaves +are missing from the trader's list. A few may have escaped, but the +bones of those who died from torture mark out the long routes from the +interior to the coast. + +It is supposed that the agents of European origin, Portuguese for the +most part, are only rascals whom their country has rejected, convicts, +escaped prisoners, old slave-drivers whom the authorities have been +unable to hang--in a word, the refuse of humanity. Such was Negoro, +such was Harris, now in the service of one of the greatest contractors +of Central Africa, Jose-Antonio Alvez, well known by the traders of +the province, about whom Lieutenant Cameron has given some curious +information. + +The soldiers who escort the captives are generally natives in the pay +of the traders. But the latter have not the monopoly of those raids +which procure the slaves for them. The negro kings also make atrocious +wars with each other, and with the same object. Then the vanquished +adults, the women and children, reduced to slavery, are sold by the +vanquishers for a few yards of calico, some powder, a few firearms, +pink or red pearls, and often even, as Livingstone says, in periods of +famine, for a few grains of maize. + +The soldiers who escorted old Alvez's caravan might give a true idea +of what African armies are. + +It was an assemblage of negro bandits, hardly clothed, who brandished +long flint-lock guns, the gun-barrels garnished with a great number of +copper rings. With such an escort, to which are joined marauders who +are no better, the agents often have all they can do. They dispute +orders, they insist on their own halting places and hours, they +threaten to desert, and it is not rare for the agents to be forced to +yield to the exactions of this soldiery. + +Though the slaves, men or women, are generally subjected to carry +burdens while the caravan is on the march, yet a certain number of +porters accompany it. They are called more particularly "Pagazis," and +they carry bundles of precious objects, principally ivory. Such is the +size of these elephants' teeth sometimes, of which some weigh as much +as one hundred and sixty pounds, that it takes two of these "Pagazis" +to carry them to the factories. Thence this precious merchandise is +exported to the markets of Khartoum, of Zanzibar and Natal. + +On arriving, these "Pagazis" are paid the price agreed upon. It +consists in twenty yards of cotton cloth, or of that stuff which bears +the name of "Merikani," a little powder, a handful of cowry (shells +very common in that country, which serve as money), a few pearls, or +even those of the slaves who would be difficult to sell. The slaves +are paid, when the trader has no other money. + +Among the five hundred slaves that the caravan counted, there were +few grown men. That is because, the "Razzia" being finished and +the village set on fire, every native above forty is unmercifully +massacred and hung to a neighboring tree. Only the young adults of +both sexes and the children are intended to furnish the markets. +After these men-hunts, hardly a tenth of the vanquished survive. This +explains the frightful depopulation which changes vast territories of +equatorial Africa into deserts. + +Here, the children and the adults were hardly clothed with a rag of +that bark stuff, produced by certain trees, and called "mbouzon" in +the country. Thus the state of this troop of human beings, women +covered with wounds from the "havildars'" whips, children ghastly +and meager, with bleeding feet, whom their mothers tried to carry in +addition to their burdens, young men closely riveted to the fork, more +torturing than the convict's chain, is the most lamentable that can be +imagined. + +Yes, the sight of the miserable people, hardly living, whose voices +have no sound, ebony skeletons according to Livingstone's expression, +would touch the hearts of wild beasts. But so much misery did not +touch those hardened Arabs nor those Portuguese, who, according to +Lieutenant Cameron, are still more cruel. This is what Cameron says: +"To obtain these fifty women, of whom Alvez called himself proprietor, +ten villages had been destroyed, ten villages having each from one +hundred to two hundred souls: a total of fifteen hundred inhabitants. +Some had been able to escape, but the greater part--almost all--had +perished in the flames, had been killed in defending their families, +or had died of hunger in the jungle, unless the beasts of prey had +terminated their sufferings more promptly. + +"Those crimes, perpetrated in the center of Africa by men who boast of +the name of Christians, and consider themselves Portuguese, would seem +incredible to the inhabitants of civilized countries. It is impossible +that the government of Lisbon knows the atrocities committed by people +who boast of being her subjects." _--Tour of the World_. + +In Portugal there have been very warm protestations against these +assertions of Cameron's. + +It need not be said that, during the marches, as during the halts, the +prisoners were very carefully guarded. Thus, Dick Sand soon understood +that he must not even attempt to get away. But then, how find Mrs. +Weldon again? That she and her child had been carried away by Negoro +was only too certain. The Portuguese had separated her from her +companions for reasons unknown as yet to the young novice. But he +could not doubt Negoro's intervention, and his heart was breaking at +the thought of the dangers of all kinds which threatened Mrs. Weldon. + +"Ah!" he said to himself, "when I think that I have held those two +miserable men, both of them, at the end of my gun, and that I have not +killed them!" + +This thought was one of those which returned most persistently to Dick +Sand's mind. What misfortunes the death, the just death of Harris and +Negoro might have prevented! What misery, at least, for those whom +these brokers in human flesh were now treating as slaves! + +All the horror of Mrs. Weldon's and little Jack's situation now +represented itself to Dick Sand. Neither the mother nor the child +could count on Cousin Benedict. The poor man could hardly take care of +himself. + +Doubtless they were taking all three to some district remote from the +province of Angola. But who was carrying the still sick child? + +"His mother; yes, his mother," Dick Sand repeated to himself. "She +will have recovered strength for him; she will have done what these +unhappy female slaves do, and she will fall like them. Ah! may God put +me again in front of her executioners, and I--" + +But he was a prisoner! He counted one head in this live-stock that the +overseers were driving to the interior of Africa. He did not even know +whether Negoro and Harris themselves were directing the convoy of +which their victims made a part. Dingo was no longer there to scent +the Portuguese, to announce his approach. Hercules alone might come to +the assistance of the unfortunate Mrs. Weldon. But was that miracle to +be hoped for? + +However, Dick Sand fell back again on that idea. He said to himself +that the strong black man was free. Of his devotion there was no +doubt. All that a human being could do, Hercules would do in Mrs. +Weldon's interest. Yes, either Hercules would try to find them and put +himself in communication with them; or if that failed him, he would +endeavor to concert with him, Dick Sand, and perhaps carry him off, +deliver him by force. During the night halts, mingling with these +prisoners, black like them, could he not deceive the soldier's +vigilance, reach him, break his bonds, and lead him away into the +forest? And both of them, then free, what would they not do for Mrs. +Weldon's safety. A water course would enable them to descend to the +coast. Dick Sand would again take up that plan so unfortunately +prevented by the natives' attack, with new chances of success and a +greater knowledge of the difficulties. + +The young novice thus alternated between fear and hope. In fact, he +resisted despair, thanks to his energetic nature, and held himself in +readiness to profit by the least chance that might offer itself to +him. + +What he most desired to know was to what market the agents were taking +the convoy of slaves. Was it to one of the factories of Angola, and +would it be an affair of a few halting-places only, or would this +convoy travel for hundreds of miles still, across Central Africa? The +principal market of the contractors is that of N'yangwe, in Manyema, +on that meridian which divides the African continent into two almost +equal parts, there where extends the country of the great lakes, that +Livingstone was then traversing. But it was far from the camp on the +Coanza to that village. Months of travel would not suffice to reach +it. + +That was one of Dick Sand's most serious thoughts; for, once at +N'yangwe, in case even Mrs. Weldon, Hercules, the other blacks and +he should succeed in escaping, how difficult it would be, not to say +impossible, to return to the seacoast, in the midst of the dangers of +such a long route. + +But Dick Sand soon had reason to think that the convoy would soon +reach its destination. Though he did not understand the language +employed by the chiefs of the caravan, sometimes Arab, sometimes the +African idiom, he remarked that the name of an important market of +that region was often pronounced. It was the name Kazounde, and he +knew that a very great trade in slaves was carried on there. He was +then naturally led to believe that there the fate of the prisoners +would be decided, whether for the profit of the king of that district +or for the benefit of some rich trader of the country. We know that he +was not mistaken. + +Now, Dick Sand, being posted in the facts of modern geography, knew +very exactly what is known of Kazounde. The distance from Saint +Paul de Loanda to this city does not exceed four hundred miles, and +consequently two hundred and fifty miles, at the most, separates +it from the camp established on the Coanza. Dick Sand made his +calculation approximately, taking the distance traveled by the +little troop under Harris's lead as the base. Now, under ordinary +circumstances, this journey would only require from ten to twelve +days. Doubling that time for the needs of a caravan already exhausted +by a long route, Dick Sand might estimate the length of the journey +from the Coanza to Kazounde at three weeks. + +Dick Sand wished very much to impart what he believed he knew to Tom +and his companions. It would be a kind of consolation for them to be +assured that they were not being led to the center of Africa, into +those fatal countries which they could not hope to leave. Now, a few +words uttered in passing would be sufficient to enlighten them. Would +he succeed in saying those words? + +Tom and Bat--chance had reunited the father and son--Acteon and +Austin, forked two by two, were at the right extremity of the camp. An +overseer and a dozen soldiers watched them. + +Dick Sand, free in his movements, resolved to gradually diminish the +distance that separated him from his companions to fifty steps. He +then commenced to maneuver to that end. + +Very likely old Tom divined Dick Sand's thought. A word, pronounced in +a low voice, warned his companions to be attentive. They did not stir, +but they kept themselves ready to see, as well as to hear. + +Soon, with an indifferent air, Dick Sand had gained fifty steps more. +From the place where he then was, he could have called out, in such +a manner as to be heard, that name Kazounde, and tell them what +the probable length of the journey would be. But to complete his +instructions, and confer with them on their conduct during the +journey, would be still better. He then continued to draw nearer to +them. Already his heart was beating with hope; he was only a few +steps from the desired end, when the overseer, as if he had suddenly +penetrated his intention, rushed on him. At the cries of that enraged +person, ten soldiers ran to the spot, and Dick Sand was brutally led +back to the rear, while Tom and his companions were taken to the other +extremity of the camp. + +Exasperated, Dick Sand had thrown himself upon the overseer. He had +ended by breaking his gun in his hands. He had almost succeeded in +snatching it from him. But seven or eight soldiers assailed him at +once, and force was used to secure him. Furious, they would have +massacred him, if one of the chiefs of the caravan, an Arab of great +height and ferocious physiognomy, had not intervened. This Arab was +the chief Ibn Hamis, of whom Harris had spoken. He pronounced a few +words which Dick Sand could not understand, and the soldiers, obliged +to release their prey, went away. + +It was, then, very evident, for one thing, that there had been a +formal order not to allow the young novice to communicate with his +companions; and for another, that his life should not be taken. + +Who could have given such orders, if not Harris or Negoro? + +At that moment--it was nine o'clock in the morning, April 19th--the +harsh sounds from a "condou's" horn (a kind of ruminating animal among +the African deer) burst forth, and the drum was heard. The halt was +going to end. + +All, chiefs, porters, soldiers, slaves, were immediately on foot. +Laden with their packs, several groups of captives were formed under +the leadership of an overseer, who unfurled a banner of bright colors. + +The signal for departure was given. Songs then rose on the air; but +they were the vanquished, not the vanquishers, who sang thus. + +This is what they said in these songs--a threatening expression of a +simple faith from the slaves against their oppressors--against their +executioners: + +"You have sent me to the coast, but I shall be dead; I shall have a +yoke no longer, and I shall return to kill you." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SOME OF DICK SAND'S NOTES. + + +Though the storm of the day before had ceased, the weather was still +very unsettled. It was, besides, the period of the "masika," the +second period of the rainy season, under this zone of the African +heaven. The nights in particular would be rainy during one, two, or +three weeks, which could only increase the misery of the caravan. + +It set out that day in cloudy weather, and, after quitting the banks +of the Coanza, made its way almost directly to the east. Fifty +soldiers marched at the head, a hundred on each of the two sides of +the convoy, the rest as a rear-guard. It would be difficult for the +prisoners to flee, even if they had not been chained. Women, children, +and men were going pell-mell, and the overseers urged them on with the +whip. There were unfortunate mothers who, nursing one child, held a +second by the hand that was free. Others dragged these little beings +along, without clothing, without shoes, on the sharp grasses of the +soil. + +The chief of the caravan, that ferocious Ibn Hamis, who had interfered +in the struggle between Dick Sand and his overseer, watched this whole +troop, going backwards and forwards from the head to the foot of the +long column. If his agents and he troubled themselves but little about +the sufferings of their captives, they must reckon more seriously +either with the soldiers who claimed some additional rations, or with +the "pagazis" who wanted to halt. Thence discussions; often even an +exchange of brutality. The slaves suffered more from the overseers' +constant irritation. Nothing was heard but threats from one side, and +cries of grief from the other. Those who marched in the last ranks +treaded a soil that the first had stained with their blood. + +Dick Sand's companions, always carefully kept in front of the convoy, +could have no communication with him. They advanced in file, the neck +held in the heavy fork, which did not permit a single head-movement. +The whips did not spare them any more than their sad companions in +misfortune. + +Bat, coupled with his father, marched before him, taxing his ingenuity +not to shake the fork, choosing the best places to step on, because +old Tom must pass after him. From time to time, when the overseer was +a little behind, he uttered various words of encouragement, some of +which reached Tom. He even tried to retard his march, if he felt that +Tom was getting tired. It was suffering, for this good son to be +unable to turn his head towards his good father, whom he loved. +Doubtless, Tom had the satisfaction of seeing his son; however, he +paid dear for it. How many times great tears flowed from his eyes when +the overseer's whip fell upon Bat! It was a worse punishment than if +it had fallen on his own flesh. + +Austin and Acteon marched a few steps behind, tied to each other, and +brutally treated every moment. Ah, how they envied Hercules's fate! +Whatever were the dangers that threatened the latter in that savage +country, he could at least use his strength and defend his life. + +During the first moments of their captivity, old Tom had finally made +known the whole truth to his companions. They had learned from him, to +their profound astonishment, that they were in Africa; that Negoro's +and Harris's double treachery had first thrown them there, and then +led them away, and that no pity was to be expected from their masters. + +Nan was not better treated. She made part of a group of women who +occupied the middle of the convoy. They had chained her with a young +mother of two children, one at the breast, the other aged three years, +who walked with difficulty. Nan, moved with pity, had burdened herself +with the little creature, and the poor slave had thanked her by a +tear. Nan then carried the infant, at the same time, sparing her the +fatigue, to which she would have yielded, and the blows the overseer +would have given her. But it was a heavy burden for old Nan. She felt +that her strength would soon fail her, and then she thought of little +Jack. She pictured him to herself in his mother's arms. Sickness had +wasted him very much, but he must be still heavy for Mrs. Weldon's +weakened arms. Where was she? What would become of her? Would her old +servant ever see her again? + +Dick Sand had been placed almost in the rear of the convoy. He could +neither perceive Tom, nor his companions, nor Nan. The head of the +long caravan was only visible to him when it was crossing some plain. +He walked, a prey, to the saddest thoughts, from which the agents' +cries hardly drew his attention. He neither thought of himself, nor +the fatigues he must still support, nor of the tortures probably +reserved for him by Negoro. He only thought of Mrs. Weldon. In rain +he sought on the ground, on the brambles by the paths, on the lower +branches of the trees, to find some trace of her passage. She could +not have taken another road, if, as everything indicated, they +were leading her to Kazounde. What would he not give to find some +indication of her march to the destination where they themselves were +being led! + +Such was the situation of the young novice and his companions in body +and mind. But whatever they might have to fear for themselves, great +as was their own sufferings, pity took possession of them on seeing +the frightful misery of that sad troop of captives, and the revolting +brutality of their masters. Alas! they could do nothing to succor the +afflicted, nothing to resist the others. + +All the country situated east of the Coanza was only a forest for over +an extent of twenty miles. The trees, however, whether they perish +under the biting of the numerous insects of these countries, or +whether troops of elephants beat them down while they are still young, +are less crowded here than in the country next to the seacoast. The +march, then, under the trees, would not present obstacles. The shrubs +might be more troublesome than the trees. There was, in fact, an +abundance of those cotton-trees, seven to eight feet high, the cotton +of which serves to manufacture the black and white striped stuffs used +in the interior of the province. + +In certain places, the soil transformed itself into thick jungles, in +which the convoy disappeared. Of all the animals of the country, +the elephants and giraffes alone were taller than those reeds which +resemble bamboos, those herbs, the stalks of which measure an inch in +diameter. The agents must know the country marvelously well, not to be +lost in these jungles. + +Each day the caravan set out at daybreak, and only halted at midday +for an hour. Some packs containing tapioca were then opened, and this +food was parsimoniously distributed to the slaves. To this potatoes +were added, or goat's meat and veal, when the soldiers had pillaged +some village in passing. But the fatigue had been such, the repose so +insufficient, so impossible even during these rainy nights, that when +the hour for the distribution of food arrived the prisoners could +hardly eat. So, eight days after the departure from the Coanza, twenty +had fallen by the way, at the mercy of the beasts that prowled behind +the convoy. Lions, panthers and leopards waited for the victims which +could not fail them, and each evening after sunset their roaring +sounded at such a short distance that one might fear a direct attack. + +On hearing those roars, rendered more formidable by the darkness, +Dick Sand thought with terror of the obstacles such encounters would +present against Hercules's enterprise, of the perils that menaced each +of his steps. And meanwhile if he himself should find an opportunity +to flee, he would not hesitate. + +Here are some notes taken by Dick Sand during this journey from the +Coanza to Kazounde. Twenty-five "marches" were employed to make this +distance of two hundred and fifty miles, the "march" in the traders' +language being ten miles, halting by day and night. + +_From 25th to 27th April._--Saw a village surrounded by walls of +reeds, eight or nine feet high. Fields cultivated with maize, beans, +"sorghas" and various arachides. Two blacks seized and made prisoners. +Fifteen killed. Population fled. + +The next day crossed an impetuous river, one hundred and fifty yards +wide. Floating bridge, formed of trunks of trees, fastened with +lianes. Piles half broken. Two women, tied to the same fork, +precipitated into the water. One was carrying her little child. The +waters are disturbed and become stained with blood. Crocodiles glide +between the parts of the bridge. There is danger of stepping into +their open mouths. + +_April 28th_.--Crossed a forest of bauhiniers. Trees of straight +timber--those which furnish the iron wood for the Portuguese. + +Heavy rain. Earth wet. March extremely painful. + +Perceived, toward the center of the convoy, poor Nan, carrying +a little negro child in her arms. She drags herself along with +difficulty. The slave chained with her limps, and the blood flows from +her shoulder, torn by lashes from the whip. + +In the evening camped under an enormous baobab with white flowers and +a light green foliage. + +During the night roars of lions and leopards. Shots fired by one of +the natives at a panther. What has become of Hercules? + +_April 29th and 30th_.--First colds of what they call the African +winter. Dew very abundant. End of the rainy season with the month of +April; it commences with the month of November. Plains still largely +inundated. East winds which check perspiration and renders one more +liable to take the marsh fevers. + +No trace of Mrs. Weldon, nor of Mr. Benedict. Where would they take +them, if not to Kazounde? They must have followed the road of the +caravan and preceded us. I am eaten up with anxiety. Little Jack must +be seized again with the fever in this unhealthy region. But does he +still live? + +_From May 1st to May 6th_.--Crossed, with several halting-places, +long plains, which evaporation has not been able to dry up. Water +everywhere up to the waist. Myriads of leeches adhering to the skin. +We must march for all that. On some elevations that emerge are lotus +and papyrus. At the bottom, under the water, other plants, with large +cabbage leaves, on which the feet slip, which occasions numerous +falls. + +In these waters, considerable quantities of little fish of the silurus +species. The natives catch them by billions in wickers and sell them +to the caravans. + +Impossible to find a place to camp for the night. We see no limit to +the inundated plain. We must march in the dark. To-morrow many slaves +will be missing from the convoy. What misery! When one falls, why get +up again? A few moments more under these waters, and all would be +finished. The overseer's stick would not reach you in the darkness. + +Yes, but Mrs. Weldon and her son! I have not the right to abandon +them. I shall resist to the end. It is my duty. + +Dreadful cries are heard in the night. Twenty soldiers have torn some +branches from resinous trees whose branches were above water. Livid +lights in the darkness. + +This is the cause of the cries I heard. An attack of crocodiles; +twelve or fifteen of those monsters have thrown themselves in the +darkness on the flank of the caravan. + +Women and children have been seized and carried away by the crocodiles +to their "pasture lands"--so Livingstone calls those deep holes where +this amphibious animal deposits its prey, after having drowned it, for +it only eats it when it has reached a certain degree of decomposition. + +I have been rudely grazed by the scales of one of these crocodiles. An +adult slave has been seized near me and torn from the fork that held +him by the neck. The fork was broken. What a cry of despair! What a +howl of grief! I hear it still! + +_May 7th and 8th_.--The next day they count the victims. Twenty slaves +have disappeared. + +At daybreak I look for Tom and his companions. God be praised! they +are living. Alas! ought I to praise God? Is one not happier to be done +with all this misery! + +Tom is at the head of the convoy. At a moment when his son Bat made a +turn, the fork was presented obliquely, and Tom was able to see me. + +I search in vain for old Nan. Is she in the central group? or has she +perished during that frightful night? + +The next day, passed the limit of the inundated plain, after +twenty-four hours in the water. We halt on a hill. The sun dries us +a little. We eat, but what miserable food! A little tapioca, a few +handfuls of maize. Nothing but the troubled water to drink. Prisoners +extended on the ground--how many will not get up! + +No! it is not possible that Mrs. Weldon and her son have passed +through so much misery! God would be so gracious to them as to have +them led to Kazounde by another road. The unhappy mother could not +resist. + +New case of small-pox in the caravan; the "ndoue," as they say. The +sick could not be able to go far. Will they abandon them? + +_May 9th_.--They have begun the march again at sunrise. No laggards. +The overseer's whip has quickly raised those overcome by fatigue or +sickness. Those slaves have a value; they are money. The agents will +not leave them behind while they have strength enough to march. + +I am surrounded by living skeletons. They have no longer voice enough +to complain. I have seen old Nan at last. She is a sad sight. The +child she was carrying is no longer in her arms. She is alone, too. +That will be less painful for her; but the chain is still around her +waist, and she has been obliged to throw the end over her shoulder. + +By hastening, I have been able to draw near her. One would say that +she did not recognize me. Am I, then, changed to that extent? + +"Nan," I said. + +The old servant looked at me a long time, and then she exclaimed: + +"You, Mr. Dick! I--I--before long I shall be dead!" + +"No, no! Courage!" I replied, while my eyes fell so as not to see what +was only the unfortunate woman's bloodless specter. + +"Dead!" she continued; "and I shall not see my dear mistress again, +nor my little Jack. My God! my God! have pity on me!" + +I wished to support old Nan, whose whole body trembled under her torn +clothing. It would have been a mercy to see myself tied to her, and +to carry my part of that chain, whose whole weight she bore since her +companion's death. + +A strong arm pushes me back, and the unhappy Nan is thrown back into +the crowd of slaves, lashed by the whips. I wished to throw myself on +that brutal----The Arab chief appears, seizes my arm, and holds me +till I find myself again in the caravan's last rank. + +Then, in his turn, he pronounces the name, "Negoro!" + +Negoro! It is then by the Portuguese's orders that he acts and treats +me differently from my companions in misfortune? + +For what fate am I reserved? + +_May 10th_.--To-day passed near two villages in flames. The stubble +burns on all sides. Dead bodies are hung from the trees the fire has +spared. Population fled. + +Fields devastated. The _razzie_ is exercised there. Two hundred +murders, perhaps, to obtain a dozen slaves. + +Evening has arrived. Halt for the night. Camp made under great trees. +High shrubs forming a thicket on the border of the forest. + +Some prisoners fled the night before, after breaking their forks. +They have been retaken, and treated with unprecedented cruelty. The +soldiers' and overseers' watchfulness is redoubled. + +Night has come. Roaring of lions and hyenas, distant snorting of +hippopotami. Doubtless some lake or watercourse near. + +In spite of my fatigue, I cannot sleep. I think of so many things. + +Then, it seems to me that I hear prowling in the high grass. Some +animal, perhaps. Would it dare force an entrance into the camp? + +I listen. Nothing! Yes! An animal is passing through the reeds. I am +unarmed! I shall defend myself, nevertheless. My life may be useful to +Mrs. Weldon, to my companions. + +I look through the profound darkness. There is no moon. The night is +extremely dark. + +Two eyes shine in the darkness, among the papyrus--two eyes of a hyena +or a leopard. They disappear--reappear. + +At last there is a rustling of the bushes. An animal springs upon me! + +I am going to cry out, to give the alarm. Fortunately, I was able to +restrain myself. I cannot believe my eyes! It is Dingo! Dingo, who is +near me! Brave Dingo! How is it restored to me? How has it been able +to find me again? Ah! instinct! Would instinct be sufficient to +explain such miracles of fidelity? It licks my hands. Ah! good dog, +now my only friend, they have not killed you, then! + +It understands me. + +I return its caresses. + +It wants to bark. + +I calm it. It must not be heard. + +Let it follow the caravan in this way, without being seen, and +perhaps----But what! It rubs its neck obstinately against my hands. It +seems to say to me: "Look for something." I look, and I feel something +there, fastened to its neck. A piece of reed is slipped under the +collar, on which are graven those two letters, S.V., the mystery of +which is still inexplicable to us. + +Yes. I have unfastened the reed. I have broken it! There is a +letter inside. But this letter--I cannot read it. I must wait for +daylight!--daylight! I should like to keep Dingo; but the good +animal, even while licking my hands, seems in a hurry to leave me. It +understands that its mission is finished. With one bound aside, it +disappears among the bushes without noise. May God spare it from the +lions' and hyenas' teeth! + +Dingo has certainly returned to him who sent it to me. + +This letter, that I cannot yet read, burns my hands! Who has written +it? Would it come from Mrs. Weldon? Does it come from Hercules? How +has the faithful animal, that we believed dead, met either the one +or the other? What is this letter going to tell me? Is it a plan of +escape that it brings me? Or does it only give me news of those dear +to me? Whatever it may be, this incident has greatly moved me, and has +relaxed my misery. + +Ah! the day comes so slowly. I watch for the least light on the +horizon. I cannot close my eyes. I still hear the roaring of the +animals. My poor Dingo, can you escape them? At last day is going to +appear, and almost without dawn, under these tropical latitudes. + +I settle myself so as not to be seen. I try to read--I cannot yet. At +last I have read. The letter is from Hercules's hand. It is written on +a bit of paper, in pencil. Here is what it says: + + "Mrs. Weldon was taken away with little Jack in a _kitanda_. + Harris and Negoro accompany it. They precede the caravan by three + or four marches, with Cousin Benedict. I have not been able to + communicate with her. I have found Dingo, who must have been + wounded by a shot, but cured. Good hope, Mr. Dick. I only think of + you all, and I fled to be more useful to you. HERCULES." + +Ah! Mrs. Weldon and her son are living. God be praised! They have not +to suffer the fatigues of these rude halting-places. A _kitanda_--it +is a kind of litter of dry grass, suspended to a long bamboo, that two +men carry on the shoulder. A stuff curtain covers it over. Mrs. Weldon +and her little Jack are in that _kitanda_. What does Harris and Negoro +want to do with them? Those wretches are evidently going to Kazounde. +Yes, yes, I shall find them again. Ah! in all this misery it is good +news, it is joy that Dingo has brought me! + +_From May 11th to 15th_.--The caravan continues its march. The +prisoners drag themselves along more and more painfully. The majority +have marks of blood under their feet. I calculate that it will take +ten days more to reach Kazounde. How many will have ceased to suffer +before then? But I--I must arrive there, I shall arrive there. + +It is atrocious! There are, in the convoy, unfortunate ones whose +bodies are only wounds. The cords that bind them enter into the flesh. + +Since yesterday a mother carries in her arms her little infant, dead +from hunger. She will not separate from it. + +Our route is strewn with dead bodies. The smallpox rages with new +violence. + +We have just passed near a tree. To this tree slaves were attached by +the neck. They were left there to die of hunger. + +_From May 16th to 24th_.--I am almost exhausted, but I have no right +to give up. The rains have entirely ceased. We have days of "hard +marching." That is what the traders call the "tirikesa," or afternoon +march. We must go faster, and the ground rises in rather steep +ascents. + +We pass through high shrubs of a very tough kind. They are the +"nyassi," the branches of which tear the skin off my face, whose sharp +seeds penetrate to my skin, under my dilapidated clothes. My strong +boots have fortunately kept good. + +The agents have commenced to abandon the slaves too sick to keep up. +Besides, food threatens to fail; soldiers and _pagazis_ would revolt +if their rations were diminished. They dare not retrench from them, +and then so much worse for the captives. + +"Let them eat one another!" said the chief. + +Then it follows that young slaves, still strong, die without the +appearance of sickness. I remember what Dr. Livingstone has said on +that subject: "Those unfortunates complain of the heart; they put +their hands there, and they fall. It is positively the heart +that breaks! That is peculiar to free men, reduced to slavery +unexpectedly!" + +To-day, twenty captives who could no longer drag themselves along, +have been massacred with axes, by the _havildars_! The Arab chief is +not opposed to massacre. The scene has been frightful! + +Poor old Nan has fallen under the knife, in this horrible butchery! +I strike against her corpse in passing! I cannot even give her a +Christian burial! She is first of the "Pilgrim's" survivors whom God +has called back to him. Poor good creature! Poor Nan! + +I watch for Dingo every night. It returns no more! Has misfortune +overtaken it or Hercules? No! no! I do not want to believe it! This +silence, which appears so long to me, only proves one thing--it is +that Hercules has nothing new to tell me yet. Besides, he must be +prudent, and on his guard. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +KAZOUNDE. + + +ON May 26th, the caravan of slaves arrived at Kazounde. Fifty per +cent. of the prisoners taken in the last raid had fallen on the road. +Meanwhile, the business was still good for the traders; demands were +coming in, and the price of slaves was about to rise in the African +markets. + +Angola at this period did an immense trade in blacks. The Portuguese +authorities of St. Paul de Loanda, or of Benguela, could not stop it +without difficulty, for the convoys traveled towards the interior +of the African continent. The pens near the coast overflowed with +prisoners, the few slavers that succeeded in eluding the cruisers +along the shore not being sufficient to carry all of them to the +Spanish colonies of America. + +Kazounde, situated three hundred miles from the mouth of the Coanza, +is one of the principal "lakonis," one of the most important markets +of the province. On its grand square the "tchitoka" business is +transacted; there, the slaves are exposed and sold. It is from this +point that the caravans radiate toward the region of the great lakes. + +Kazounde, like all the large towns of Central Africa, is divided into +two distinct parts. One is the quarter of the Arab, Portuguese or +native traders, and it contains their pens; the other is the residence +of the negro king, some ferocious crowned drunkard, who reigns through +terror, and lives from supplies furnished by the contractors. + +At Kazounde, the commercial quarter then belonged to that Jose-Antonio +Alvez, of whom Harris and Negoro had spoken, they being simply agents +in his pay. This contractor's principal establishment was there, he +had a second at Bihe, and a third at Cassange, in Benguela, which +Lieutenant Cameron visited some years later. + +Imagine a large central street, on each side groups of houses, +"tembes," with flat roofs, walls of baked earth, and a square court +which served as an enclosure for cattle. At the end of the street was +the vast "tchitoka" surrounded by slave-pens. Above this collection +of buildings rose some enormous banyans, whose branches swayed with +graceful movements. Here and there great palms, with their heads in +the air, drove the dust on the streets like brooms. Twenty birds of +prey watched over the public health. Such is the business quarter of +Kazounde. + +Near by ran the Louhi, a river whose course, still undetermined, is an +affluent, or at least a sub-affluent, of the Coango, a tributary of +the Zoire. + +The residence of the King of Kazounde, which borders on the business +quarter, is a confused collection of ill-built hovels, which spread +over the space of a mile square. Of these hovels, some are open, +others are inclosed by a palisade of reeds, or bordered with a hedge +of fig-trees. In one particular enclosure, surrounded by a fence of +papyrus, thirty of these huts served us dwellings for the chief's +slaves, in another group lived his wives, and a "tembe," still larger +and higher, was half hidden in a plantation of cassada. Such was +the residence of the King of Kazounde, a man of fifty--named Moini +Loungga; and already almost deprived of the power of his predecessors. +He had not four thousand of soldiers there, where the principal +Portuguese traders could count twenty thousand, and he could no +longer, as in former times, decree the sacrifice of twenty-five or +thirty slaves a day. + +This king was, besides, a prematurely-aged man, exhausted by debauch, +crazed by strong drink, a ferocious maniac, mutilating his subjects, +his officers or his ministers, as the whim seized him, cutting the +nose and ears off some, and the foot or the hand from others. His own +death, not unlooked for, would be received without regret. + +A single man in all Kazounde might, perhaps, lose by the death of +Moini Loungga. This was the contractor, Jose-Antonio Alvez, who agreed +very well with the drunkard, whose authority was recognized by the +whole province. If the accession of his first wife, Queen Moini, +should be contested, the States of Moini Loungga might be invaded by +a neighboring competitor, one of the kings of Oukonson. The latter, +being younger and more active, had already seized some villages +belonging to the Kazounde government. He had in his services another +trader, a rival of Alvez Tipo-Tipo, a black Arab of a pure race, whom +Cameron met at N'yangwe. + +What was this Alvez, the real sovereign under the reign of an imbruted +negro, whose vices he had developed and served? + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, already advanced in years, was not, as one might +suppose, a "msoungou," that is to say, a man of the white race. There +was nothing Portuguese about him but his name, borrowed, no doubt, for +the needs of commerce. He was a real negro, well known among traders, +and called Kenndele. He was born, in fact, at Donndo, or the borders +of the Coanza. He had commenced by being simply the agent of the +slave-brokers, and would have finished as a famous trader, that is to +say, in the skin of an old knave, who called himself the most honest +man in the world. + +Cameron met this Alvez in the latter part of 1874, at Kilemmba, the +capital of Kassonngo, chief of Ouroua. He guided Cameron with his +caravan to his own establishment at Bihe, over a route of seven +hundred miles. The convoy of slaves, on arriving at Kazounde, had been +conducted to the large square. + +It was the 26th of May. Dick Sand's calculations were then verified. +The journey had lasted thirty-eight days from the departure of the +army encamped on the banks of the Coanza. Five weeks of the most +fearful miseries that human beings could support. + +It was noon when the train entered Kazounde. The drums were beaten, +horns were blown in the midst of the detonations of fire-arms. The +soldiers guarding the caravan discharged their guns in the air, and +the men employed by Jose-Antonio Alvez replied with interest. All +these bandits were happy at meeting again, after an absence which had +lasted for four months. They were now going to rest and make up for +lost time in excesses and idleness. + +The prisoners then formed a total of two hundred and fifty, the +majority being completely exhausted. After having been driven like +cattle, they were to be shut up in pens, which American farmers would +not have used for pigs. Twelve or fifteen hundred other captives +awaited them, all of whom would be exposed in the market at Kazounde +on the next day but one. These pens were filled up with the slaves +from the caravan. The heavy forks had been taken off them, but they +were still in chains. + +The "pagazis" had stopped on the square after having disposed of their +loads of ivory, which the Kazounde dealers would deliver. Then, being +paid with a few yards of calico or other stuff at the highest price, +they would return and join some other caravan. + +Old Tom and his companions had been freed from the iron collar which +they had carried for five weeks. Bat and his father embraced each +other, and all shook hands; but no one ventured to speak. What could +they say that would not be an expression of despair. Bat, Acteon and +Austin, all three vigorous, accustomed to hard work, had been able +to resist fatigue; but old Tom, weakened by privations, was nearly +exhausted. A few more days and his corpse would have been left, like +poor Nan's, as food for the beasts of the province. + +As soon as they arrived, the four men had been placed in a narrow pen, +and the door had been at once shut upon them. There they had found +some food, and they awaited the trader's visit, with whom, although +quite in vain, they intended to urge the fact that they were +Americans. + +Dick Sand had remained alone on the square, under the special care of +a keeper. + +At length he was at Kazounde, where he did not doubt that Mrs. Weldon, +little Jack, and Cousin Benedict had preceded him. He had looked for +them in crossing the various quarters of the town, even in the depths +of the "tembes" that lined the streets, on this "tchitoka" now almost +deserted. + +Mrs. Weldon was not there. + +"Have they not brought her here?" he asked himself. "But where could +she be? No; Hercules cannot be mistaken. Then, again, he must have +learned the secret designs of Negoro and Harris; yet they, too--I do +not see them." + +Dick Sand felt the most painful anxiety. He could understand that Mrs. +Weldon, retained a prisoner, would be concealed from him. But Harris +and Negoro, particularly the latter, should hasten to see him, now in +their power, if only to enjoy their triumph--to insult him, torture +him, perhaps avenge themselves. From the fact that they were not +there, must he conclude that they had taken another direction, and +that Mrs. Weldon was to be conducted to some other point of Central +Africa? Should the presence of the American and the Portuguese be the +signal for his punishment, Dick Sand impatiently desired it. Harris +and Negoro at Kazounde, was for him the certainty that Mrs. Weldon and +her child were also there. + +Dick Sand then told himself that, since the night when Dingo had +brought him Hercules's note, the dog had not been seen. The young man +had prepared an answer at great risks. In it he told Hercules to +think only of Mrs. Weldon, not to lose sight of her, and to keep her +informed as well as possible of what happened; but he had not been +able to send it to its destination. If Dingo had been able to +penetrate the ranks of the caravan once, why did not Hercules let +him try it a second time? Had the faithful animal perished in some +fruitless attempt? Perhaps Hercules was following Mrs. Weldon, as Dick +Sand would have done in his place. Followed by Dingo, he might have +plunged into the depths of the woody plateau of Africa, in the hope of +reaching one of the interior establishments. + +What could Dick Sand imagine if, in fact, neither Mrs. Weldon nor her +enemies were there? He had been so sure, perhaps foolishly, of finding +them at Kazounde, that not to see them there at once gave him a +terrible shock. He felt a sensation of despair that he could not +subdue. His life, if it were no longer useful to those whom he loved, +was good for nothing, and he had only to die. But, in thinking in that +manner, Dick Sand mistook his own character. Under the pressure of +these trials, the child became a man, and with him discouragement +could only be an accidental tribute paid to human nature. + +A loud concert of trumpet-calls and cries suddenly commenced. Dick +Sand, who had just sunk down in the dust of the "tchitoka," stood up. +Every new incident might put him on the track of those whom he sought. + +In despair a moment before, he now no longer despaired. + +"Alvez! Alvez!" This name was repeated by a crowd of natives and +soldiers who now invaded the grand square. The man on whom the fate +of so many unfortunate people depended was about to appear. It was +possible that his agents, Harris and Negoro, were with him. Dick Sand +stood upright, his eyes open, his nostrils dilated. The two traitors +would find this lad of fifteen years before them, upright, firm, +looking them in the face. It would not be the captain of the "Pilgrim" +who would tremble before the old ship's cook. + +A hammock, a kind of "kitanda" covered by an old patched curtain, +discolored, fringed with rags, appeared at the end of the principal +street. An old negro descended. It was the trader, Jose-Antonio Alvez. +Several attendants accompanied him, making strong demonstrations. + +Along with Alvez appeared his friend Coimbra, the son of Major Coimbra +of Bihe, and, according to Lieutenant Cameron, the greatest scamp in +the province. He was a dirty creature, his breast was uncovered, his +eyes were bloodshot, his hair was rough and curly, his face yellow; +he was dressed in a ragged shirt and a straw petticoat. He would have +been called a horrible old man in his tattered straw hat. This Coimbra +was the confidant, the tool of Alvez, an organizer of raids, worthy of +commanding the trader's bandits. + +As for the trader, he might have looked a little less sordid than his +attendant. He wore the dress of an old Turk the day after a carnival. +He did not furnish a very high specimen of the factory chiefs who +carry on the trade on a large scale. + +To Dick Sand's great disappointment, neither Harris nor Negoro +appeared in the crowd that followed Alvez. Must he, then, renounce all +hope of finding them at Kazounde? + +Meanwhile, the chief of the caravan, the Arab, Ibn Hamis, shook hands +with Alvez and Coimbra. He received numerous congratulations. Alvez +made a grimace at the fifty per cent. of slaves failing in the general +count, but, on the whole, the affair was very satisfactory. With +what the trader possessed of human merchandise in his pens, he could +satisfy the demands from the interior, and barter slaves for ivory +teeth and those "hannas" of copper, a kind of St. Andrew's cross, in +which form this metal is carried into the center of Africa. + +The overseers were also complimented. As for the porters, the trader +gave orders that their salary should be immediately paid them. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez and Coimbra spoke a kind of Portuguese mingled +with a native idiom, which a native of Lisbon would scarcely have +understood. Dick Sand could not hear what these merchants were saying. +Were they talking of him and his companions, so treacherously joined +to the persons in the convoy? The young man could not doubt it, when, +at a gesture from the Arab, Ibn Hamis, an overseer, went toward the +pen where Tom, Austin, Bat and Acteon had been shut up. + +Almost immediately the four Americans were led before Alvez. + +Dick Sand slowly approached. He wished to lose nothing of this scene. + +Alvez's face lit up at the sight of these few well-made blacks, to +whom rest and more abundant food had promptly restored their natural +vigor. He looked with contempt at old Tom, whose age would affect his +value, but the other three would sell high at the next Kazounde sale. + +Alvez remembered a few English words which some agents, like the +American, Harris, had taught him, and the old monkey thought he would +ironically welcome his new slaves. + +Tom understood the trader's words; he at once advanced, and, showing +his companions, said: + +"We are free men--citizens of the United States." + +Alvez certainly understood him; he replied with a good-humored +grimace, wagging his head: + +"Yes, yes, Americans! Welcome, welcome!" + +"Welcome," added Coimbra. + +He advanced toward Austin, and like a merchant who examines a sample, +after having felt his chest and his shoulders, he wanted to make him +open his mouth, so as to see his teeth. + +But at this moment Signor Coimbra received in his face the worst blow +that a major's son had ever caught. + +Alvez's confidant staggered under it. + +Several soldiers threw themselves on Austin, who would perhaps pay +dearly for this angry action. + +Alvez stopped them by a look. He laughed, indeed, at the misfortune +of his friend, Coimbra, who had lost two of the five or six teeth +remaining to him. + +Alvez did not intend to have his merchandise injured. Then, he was of +a gay disposition, and it was a long time since he had laughed so +much. + +Meanwhile, he consoled the much discomfited Coimbra, and the latter, +helped to his feet, again took his place near the trader, while +throwing a menacing look at the audacious Austin. + +At this moment Dick Sand, driven forward by an overseer, was led +before Alvez. + +The latter evidently knew all about the young man, whence he came, and +how he had been taken to the camp on the Coanza. + +So he said, after having given him an evil glance: + +"The little Yankee!" + +"Yes, Yankee!" replied Dick Sand. "What do they wish to do with my +companions and me?" + +"Yankee! Yankee! Yankee!" repeated Alvez. + +Did he not or would he not understand the question put to him? + +A second time Dick Sand asked the question regarding his companions +and himself. He then turned to Coimbra, whose features, degraded as +they were by the abuse of alcoholic liquors, he saw were not of native +origin. + +Coimbra repeated the menacing gesture already made at Austin, and did +not answer. + +During this time Alvez talked rapidly with the Arab, Ibn Hamis, and +evidently of things that concerned Dick Sand and his friends. + +No doubt they were to be again separated, and who could tell if +another chance to exchange a few words would ever again be offered +them. + +"My friends," said Dick, in a low voice, and as if he were only +speaking to himself, "just a few words! I have received, by Dingo, a +letter from Hercules. He has followed the caravan. Harris and Negoro +took away Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Mr. Benedict. Where? I know not, if +they are not here at Kazounde. Patience! courage! Be ready at any +moment. God may yet have pity on us!" + +"And Nan?" quickly asked old Tom. + +"Nan is dead!" + +"The first!" + +"And the last!" replied Dick Sand, "for we know well----" + +At this moment a hand was laid on his shoulder, and he heard these +words, spoken in the amiable voice which he knew only too well: + +"Ah, my young friend, if I am not mistaken! Enchanted to see you +again!" + +Dick Sand turned. + +Harris was before him. + +"Where is Mrs. Weldon?" cried Dick Sand, walking toward the American. + +"Alas!" replied Harris, pretending a pity that he did not feel, "the +poor mother! How could she survive!" + +"Dead!" cried Dick Sand. "And her child?" + +"The poor baby!" replied Harris, in the same tone, "how could he +outlive such fatigue!" + +So, all whom Dick Sand loved were dead! + +What passed within him? An irresistible movement of anger, a desire +for vengeance, which he must satisfy at any price! + +Dick Sand jumped upon Harris, seized a dagger from the American's +belt, and plunged it into his heart. + +"Curse you!" cried Harris, falling. + +Harris was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE GREAT MARKET DAY. + + +Dick Sand's action had been so rapid that no one could stop him. A few +natives threw themselves upon him, and he would have been murdered had +not Negoro appeared. + +At a sign from the Portuguese, the natives drew back, raised Harris's +corpse and carried it away. Alvez and Coimbra demanded Dick Sand's +immediate death, but Negoro said to them in a low voice that they +would lose nothing by waiting. The order was given to take away the +young novice, with a caution not to lose sight of him for a moment. + +Dick Sand had seen Negoro for the first time since their departure +from the coast. He knew that this wretch was alone responsible for +the loss of the "Pilgrim." He ought to hate him still more than his +accomplices. And yet, after having struck the American, he scorned to +address a word to Negoro. Harris had said that Mrs. Weldon and her +child had succumbed. Nothing interested him now, not even what they +would do with him. They would send him away. Where? It did not matter. + +Dick Sand, heavily chained, was left on the floor of a pen without a +window, a kind of dungeon where the trader, Alvez, shut up the slaves +condemned to death for rebellion or unlawful acts. There he could no +longer have any communication with the exterior; he no longer dreamed +of regretting it. He had avenged those whom he loved, who no longer +lived. Whatever fate awaited him, he was ready for it. + +It will be understood that if Negoro had stopped the natives who were +about to punish Harris's murderer, it was only because he wished to +reserve Dick Sand for one of those terrible torments of which the +natives hold the secret. The ship's cook held in his power the captain +of fifteen years. He only wanted Hercules to make his vengeance +complete. + +Two days afterward, May 28th, the sale began, the great "lakoni," +during which the traders of the principal factories of the interior +would meet the natives of the neighboring provinces. This market was +not specially for the sale of slaves, but all the products of this +fertile Africa would be gathered there with the producers. + +From early morning all was intense animation on the vast "tchitoka" of +Kazounde, and it is difficult to give a proper idea of the scene. It +was a concourse of four or five thousand persons, including Alvez's +slaves, among whom were Tom and his companions. These four men, for +the reason that they belonged to a different race, are all the more +valuable to the brokers in human flesh. Alvez was there, the first +among all. Attended by Coimbra, he offered the slaves in lots. These +the traders from the interior would form into caravans. Among these +traders were certain half-breeds from Oujiji, the principal market +of Lake Tanganyika, and some Arabs, who are far superior to the +half-breeds in this kind of trade. + +The natives flocked there in great numbers. There were children, men, +and women, the latter being animated traders, who, as regards a genius +for bargaining, could only be compared to their white sisters. + +In the markets of large cities, even on a great day of sale, there is +never much noise or confusion. Among the civilized the need of selling +exceeds the desire to buy. Among these African savages offers are made +with as much eagerness as demands. + +The "lakoni" is a festival day for the natives of both sexes, and if +for good reasons they do not put on their best clothes, they at least +wear their handsomest ornaments. + +Some wear the hair divided in four parts, covered with cushions, and +in plaits tied like a chignon or arranged in pan-handles on the front +of the head with bunches of red feathers. Others have the hair in bent +horns sticky with red earth and oil, like the red lead used to close +the joints of machines. In these masses of real or false hair is worn +a bristling assemblage of skewers, iron and ivory pins, often even, +among elegant people, a tattooing-knife is stuck in the crisp mass, +each hair of which is put through a "sofi" or glass bead, thus forming +a tapestry of different-colored grains. Such are the edifices most +generally seen on the heads of the men. + +The women prefer to divide their hair in little tufts of the size of +a cherry, in wreaths, in twists the ends of which form designs in +relief, and in corkscrews, worn the length of the face. A few, more +simple and perhaps prettier, let their long hair hang down the back, +in the English style, and others wear it cut over the forehead in a +fringe, like the French. Generally they wear on these wigs a greasy +putty, made of red clay or of glossy "ukola," a red substance +extracted from sandal-wood, so that these elegant persons look as if +their heads were dressed with tiles. + +It must not be supposed that this luxury of ornamentation is confined +to the hair of the natives. What are ears for if not to pass pins of +precious wood through, also copper rings, charms of plaited maize, +which draw them forward, or little gourds which do for snuff-boxes, +and to such an extent that the distended lobes of these appendages +fall sometimes to the shoulders of their owners? + +After all, the African savages have no pockets, and how could they +have any? This gives rise to the necessity of placing where they can +their knives, pipes, and other customary objects. As for the neck, +arms, wrists, legs, and ankles, these various parts of the body are +undoubtedly destined to carry the copper and brass bracelets, the +horns cut off and decorated with bright buttons, the rows of red +pearls, called _same-sames_ or "talakas," and which were very +fashionable. Besides, with these jewels, worn in profusion, the +wealthy people of the place looked like traveling shrines. + +Again, if nature gave the natives teeth, was it not that they could +pull out the upper and lower incisors, file them in points, and curve +them in sharp fangs like the fangs of a rattlesnake? If she has placed +nails at the end of the fingers, is it not that they may grow so +immoderately that the use of the hand is rendered almost impossible? +If the skin, black or brown, covers the human frame, is it not so as +to zebra it by "temmbos" or tattooings representing trees, birds, +crescents, full moons, or waving lines, in which Livingstone thought +he could trace the designs of ancient Egypt? This tattooing, done by +fathers, is practised by means of a blue matter introduced into the +incisions, and is "stereotyped" point by point on the bodies of the +children, thus establishing to what tribe or to what family they +belong. The coat-of-arms must be engraved on the breast, when it +cannot be painted on the panel of a carriage. + +Such are the native fashions in ornament. In regard to garments +properly so called, they are summed up very easily; for the men, +an apron of antelope leather, reaching to the knees, or perhaps a +petticoat of a straw material of brilliant colors; for the women, a +belt of pearls, supporting at the hips a green petticoat, embroidered +in silk, ornamented with glass beads or coury; sometimes they wear +garments made of "lambba," a straw material, blue, black, and yellow, +which is much prized by the natives of Zanzibar. + +These, of course, are the negroes of the best families. The others, +merchants, and slaves, are seldom clothed. The women generally act as +porters, and reach the market with enormous baskets on their back, +which they hold by means of a leathern strap passed over the forehead. +Then, their places being taken, and the merchandise unpacked, they +squat in their empty baskets. + +The astonishing fertility of the country causes the choice alimentary +produces to be brought to this "lakoni." There were quantities of the +rice which returns a hundred per cent., of the maize, which, in three +crops in eight months, produces two hundred per cent., the sesamum, +the pepper of Ouroua, stronger than the Cayenne, allspice, tapioca, +sorghum, nutmegs, salt, and palm-oil. + +Hundreds of goats were gathered there, hogs, sheep without wool, +evidently of Tartar origin, quantities of poultry and fish. Specimens +of pottery, very gracefully turned, attracted the eyes by their +violent colors. + +Various drinks, which the little natives cried about in a squeaking +voice, enticed the unwary, in the form of plantain wine, "pombe," a +liquor in great demand, "malofou," sweet beer, made from the fruit +of the banana-tree and mead, a limpid mixture of honey and water +fermented with malt. + +But what made the Kazounde market still more curious was the commerce +in stuffs and ivory. + +In the line of stuffs, one might count by thousands of "choukkas" +or armfuls, the "Mericani" unbleached calico, come from Salem, in +Massachusetts, the "kanaki," a blue gingham, thirty-four inches wide, +the "sohari," a stuff in blue and white squares, with a red border, +mixed with small blue stripes. It is cheaper than the "dioulis," a +silk from Surat, with a green, red or yellow ground, which is worth +from seventy to eighty dollars for a remnant of three yards when woven +with gold. + +As for ivory, it was brought from all parts of Central Africa, being +destined for Khartoum, Zanzibar, or Natal. A large number of merchants +are employed solely in this branch of African commerce. + +Imagine how many elephants are killed to furnish the five hundred +thousand kilograms of ivory, which are annually exported to European +markets, and principally to the English! The western coast of Africa +alone produces one hundred and forty tons of this precious substance. +The average weight is twenty-eight pounds for a pair of elephant's +tusks, which, in 1874, were valued as high as fifteen hundred francs; +but there are some that weigh one hundred and seventy-five pounds, and +at the Kazounde market, admirers would have found some admirable ones. +They were of an opaque ivory, translucid, soft under the tool, and +with a brown rind, preserving its whiteness and not growing yellow +with time like the ivories of other provinces. + +And, now, how are these various business affairs regulated between +buyers and sellers? What is the current coin? As we have said, for the +African traders this money is the slave. + +The native pays in glass beads of Venetian manufacture, called +"catchocolos," when they are of a lime white; "bouboulous," when +they are black; "sikounderetches," when they are red. These beads or +pearls, strung in ten rows or "khetes," going twice around the neck, +make the "foundo," which is of great value. The usual measure of the +beads is the "frasilah," which weighs seventy pounds. Livingstone, +Cameron, and Stanley were always careful to be abundantly provided +with this money. + +In default of glass beads, the "pice," a Zanzibar piece, worth four +centimes, and the "vroungouas," shells peculiar to the eastern coasts, +are current in the markets of the African continent. As for the +cannibal tribes, they attach a certain value to the teeth of the human +jaw, and at the "lakoni," these chaplets were to be seen on the necks +of natives, who had no doubt eaten their producers; but these teeth +were ceasing to be used as money. + +Such, then, was the appearance of the great market. Toward the middle +of the day the gaiety reached a climax; the noise became deafening. +The fury of the neglected venders, and the anger of the overcharged +customers, were beyond description. Thence frequent quarrels, and, as +we know, few guardians of the peace to quell the fray in this howling +crowd. + +Toward the middle of the day, Alvez gave orders to bring the slaves, +whom he wished to sell, to the square. The crowd was thus increased by +two thousand unfortunate beings of all ages, whom the trader had kept +in pens for several months. This "stock" was not in a bad condition. +Long rest and sufficient food had improved these slaves so as to look +to advantage at the "lakoni." As for the last arrivals, they could not +stand any comparison with them, and, after a month in the pens, Alvez +could certainly have sold them with more profit. The demands, however, +from the eastern coast, were so great that he decided to expose and +sell them as they were. + +This was a misfortune for Tom and his three companions. The drivers +pushed them into the crowd that invaded the "tchitoka." They were +strongly chained, and their glances told what horror, what fury and +shame overwhelmed them. + +"Mr. Dick is not there," Bat said, after some time, during which he +had searched the vast plain with his eyes. + +"No," replied Acteon, "they will not put him up for sale." + +"He will be killed, if he is not already," added the old black. "As +for us, we have but one hope left, which is, that the same trader will +buy us all. It would be a great consolation not to be separated." + +"Ah! to know that you are far away from me, working like a slave, my +poor, old father!" cried Bat, sobbing aloud. + +"No," said Tom. "No; they will not separate us, and perhaps we +might----" + +"If Hercules were here!" cried Austin. + +But the giant had not reappeared. Since the news sent to Dick Sand, +they had heard no one mention either Hercules or Dingo. Should they +envy him his fate? Why, yes; for if Hercules were dead, he was saved +from the chains of slavery! + +Meanwhile, the sale had commenced. Alvez's agents marched the various +lots of men, women and children through the crowd, without caring +if they separated mothers from their infants. May we not call these +beings "unfortunates," who were treated only as domestic animals? + +Tom and his companions were thus led from buyers to buyers. An agent +walked before them naming the price adjudged to their lot. Arab or +mongrel brokers, from the central provinces, came to examine them. +They did not discover in them the traits peculiar to the African race, +these traits being modified in America after the second generation. +But these vigorous and intelligent negroes, so very different from the +blacks brought from the banks of the Zambeze or the Loualaba, were all +the more valuable. They felt them, turned them, and looked at their +teeth. Horse-dealers thus examine the animals they wish to buy. Then +they threw a stick to a distance, made them run and pick it up, and +thus observed their gait. + +This was the method employed for all, and all were submitted to these +humiliating trials. Do not believe that these people are completely +indifferent to this treatment! No, excepting the children, who cannot +comprehend the state of degradation to which they are reduced, all, +men or women, were ashamed. + +Besides, they were not spared injuries and blows. Coimbra, half drunk, +and Alvez's agents, treated them with extreme brutality, and from +their new masters, who had just paid for them in ivory stuffs and +beads, they would receive no better treatment. Violently separated, +a mother from her child, a husband from his wife, a brother from a +sister, they were not allowed a last caress nor a last kiss, and on +the "lakoni" they saw each other for the last time. + +In fact, the demands of the trade exacted that the slaves should be +sent in different directions, according to their sex. The traders who +buy the men do not buy women. The latter, in virtue of polygamy, which +is legal among the Mussulmans, are sent to the Arabic countries, where +they are exchanged for ivory. The men, being destined to the hardest +labor, go to the factories of the two coasts, and are exported either +to the Spanish colonies or to the markets of Muscat and Madagascar. +This sorting leads to heart-breaking scenes between those whom the +agents separate, and who will die without ever seeing each other +again. + +The four companions in turn submitted to the common fate. But, to tell +the truth, they did not fear this event. It was better for them to +be exported into a slave colony. There, at least, they might have a +chance to protest. On the contrary, if sent to the interior, they +might renounce all hope of ever regaining their liberty. + +It happened as they wished. They even had the almost unhoped for +consolation of not being separated. They were in brisk demand, being +wanted by several traders. Alvez clapped his hands. The prices rose. +It was strange to see these slaves of unknown value in the Kazounde +market, and Alvez had taken good care to conceal where they came from. +Tom and his friends, not speaking the language of the country, could +not protest. + +Their master was a rich Arab trader, who in a few days would send them +to Lake Tanganyika, the great thoroughfare for slaves; then, from that +point, toward the factories of Zanzibar. + +Would they ever reach there, through the most unhealthy and the most +dangerous countries of Central Africa? Fifteen hundred miles to march +under these conditions, in the midst of frequent wars, raised and +carried on between chiefs, in a murderous climate. Was old Tom strong +enough to support such misery? Would he not fall on the road like old +Nan? But the poor men were not separated. The chain that held them all +was lighter to carry. The Arab trader would evidently take care of +merchandise which promised him a large profit in the Zanzibar market. + +Tom, Bat, Acteon, and Austin then left the place. They saw and heard +nothing of the scene which was to end the great "lakoni" of Kazounde. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE KING OF KAZOUNDE IS OFFERED A PUNCH. + + +It was four o'clock in the afternoon when a loud noise of drums, +cymbals, and other instruments of African origin resounded at the +end of the principal street. In all corners of the market-place the +animation was redoubled. Half a day of cries and wrestling had neither +weakened the voices nor broken the limbs of these abominable traders. +A large number of slaves still remained to be sold. The traders +disputed over the lots with an ardor of which the London Exchange +would give but an imperfect idea, even on a day when stocks were +rising. + +All business was stopped, and the criers took their breath as soon as +the discordant concert commenced. + +The King of Kazounde, Moini Loungga, had come to honor the great +"lakoni" with a visit. A numerous train of women, officers, soldiers +and slaves followed him. Alvez and some other traders went to meet +him, and naturally exaggerated the attention which this crowned brute +particularly enjoyed. + +Moini Loungga was carried in an old palanquin, and descended, not +without the aid of a dozen arms, in the center of the large square. + +This king was fifty years old, but he looked eighty. Imagine a +frightful monkey who had reached extreme old age; on his head a sort +of crown, ornamented with leopard's claws, dyed red, and enlarged +by tufts of whitish hair; this was the crown of the sovereigns +of Kazounde. From his waist hung two petticoats made of leather, +embroidered with pearls, and harder than a blacksmith's apron. He +had on his breast a quantity of tattooing which bore witness to the +ancient nobility of the king; and, to believe him, the genealogy of +Moini Loungga was lost in the night of time. On the ankles, wrists and +arms of his majesty, bracelets of leather were rolled, and he wore a +pair of domestic shoes with yellow tops, which Alvez had presented him +with about twenty years before. + +His majesty carried in his left hand a large stick with a plated knob, +and in his right a small broom to drive away flies, the handle of +which was enriched with pearls. + +Over his head was carried one of those old patched umbrellas, which +seemed to have been cut out of a harlequin's dress. + +On the monarch's neck and on his nose were the magnifying glass and +the spectacles which had caused Cousin Benedict so much trouble. They +had been hidden in Bat's pocket. + +Such is the portrait of his negro majesty, who made the country +tremble in a circumference of a hundred miles. + +Moini Loungga, from the fact of occupying a throne, pretended to be +of celestial origin, and had any of his subjects doubted the fact, he +would have sent them into another world to discover it. He said that, +being of a divine essence, he was not subject to terrestrial laws. If +he ate, it was because he wished to do so; if he drank, it was because +it gave him pleasure. It was impossible for him to drink any more. His +ministers and his officers, all incurable drunkards, would have passed +before him for sober men. + +The court was alcoholized to the last chief, and incessantly imbibed +strong beer, cider, and, above all, a certain drink which Alvez +furnished in profusion. + +Moini Loungga counted in his harem wives of all ages and of all kinds. +The larger part of them accompanied him in this visit to the "lakoni." + +Moini, the first, according to date, was a vixen of forty years, of +royal blood, like her colleagues. She wore a bright tartan, a straw +petticoat embroidered with pearls, and necklaces wherever she could +put them. Her hair was dressed so as to make an enormous framework on +her little head. She was, in fact, a monster. + +The other wives, who were either the cousins or the sisters of the +king, were less richly dressed, but much younger. They walked behind +her, ready to fulfil, at a sign from their master, their duties as +human furniture. These unfortunate beings were really nothing else. If +the king wished to sit down, two of these women bent toward the earth +and served him for a chair, while his feet rested on the bodies of +some others, as if on an ebony carpet. + +In Moini Loungga's suite came his officers, his captains, and his +magicians. + +A remarkable thing about these savages, who staggered like their +master, was that each lacked a part of his body--one an ear, another +an eye, this one the nose, that one the hand. Not one was whole. +That is because they apply only two kinds of punishment in +Kazounde--mutilation or death--all at the caprice of the king. For the +least fault, some amputation, and the most cruelly punished are those +whose ears are cut off, because they can no longer wear rings in their +ears. + +The captains of the _kilolos_, governors of districts, hereditary or +named for four years, wore hats of zebra skin and red vests for their +whole uniform. Their hands brandished long palm canes, steeped at one +end with charmed drugs. + +As to the soldiers, they had for offensive and defensive weapons, +bows, of which the wood, twined with the cord, was ornamented with +fringes; knives, whetted with a serpent's tongue; broad and long +lances; shields of palm wood, decorated in arabesque style. For what +there was of uniform, properly so called, it cost his majesty's +treasury absolutely nothing. + +Finally, the kind's cortege comprised, in the last place, the court +magicians and the instrumentalists. + +The sorcerers, the "mganngas," are the doctors of the country. +These savages attach an absolute faith to divinatory services, to +incantations, to the fetiches, clay figures stained with white and +red, representing fantastic animals or figures of men and women +cut out of whole wood. For the rest, those magicians were not less +mutilated than the other courtiers, and doubtless the monarch paid +them in this way for the cures that did not succeed. + +The instrumentalists, men or women, made sharp rattles whizz, noisy +drums sound or shudder under small sticks terminated by a caoutchouc +ball, "marimehas," kinds of dulcimers formed of two rows of gourds of +various dimensions--the whole very deafening for any one who does not +possess a pair of African ears. + +Above this crowd, which composed the royal cortege, waved some flags +and standards, then at the ends of spears the bleached skulls of the +rival chiefs whom Moini Loungga had vanquished. + +When the king had quitted his palanquin, acclamations burst forth from +all sides. The soldiers of the caravan discharged their old guns, the +low detonations of which were but little louder than the vociferations +of the crowd. The overseers, after rubbing their black noses with +cinnabar powder, which they carried in a sack, bowed to the ground. +Then Alvez, advancing in his turn, handed the king a supply of fresh +tobacco--"soothing herb," as they call it in the country. Moini +Loungga had great need of being soothed, for he was, they did not know +why, in a very bad humor. + +At the same time Alvez, Coimbra, Ibn Hamis, and the Arab traders, +or mongrels, came to pay their court to the powerful sovereign of +Kazounde. "Marhaba," said the Arabs, which is their word of welcome in +the language of Central Africa. Others clapped their hands and bowed +to the ground. Some daubed themselves with mud, and gave signs of the +greatest servility to this hideous majesty. + +Moini Loungga hardly looked at all these people, and walked, keeping +his limbs apart, as if the ground were rolling and pitching. He walked +in this manner, or rather he rolled in the midst of waves of slaves, +and if the traders feared that he might take a notion to apportion +some of the prisoners to himself, the latter would no less dread +falling into the power of such a brute. + +Negoro had not left Alvez for a moment, and in his company presented +his homage to the king. Both conversed in the native language, if, +however, that word "converse" can be used of a conversation in which +Moini Loungga only took part by monosyllables that hardly found a +passage through his drunken lips. And still, did he not ask his +friend, Alvez, to renew his supply of brandy just exhausted by large +libations? + +"King Loungga is welcome to the market of Kazounde," said the trader. + +"I am thirsty," replied the monarch. + +"He will take his part in the business of the great 'lakoni,'" added +Alvez. + +"Drink!" replied Moini Loungga. + +"My friend Negoro is happy to see the King of Kazounde again, after +such a long absence." + +"Drink!" repeated the drunkard, whose whole person gave forth a +disgusting odor of alcohol. + +"Well, some 'pombe'! some mead!" exclaimed Jose-Antonio Alvez, like a +man who well knew what Moini Loungga wanted. + +"No, no!" replied the king; "my friend Alvez's brandy, and for each +drop of his fire-water I shall give him----" + +"A drop of blood from a white man!" exclaimed Negoro, after making a +sign to Alvez, which the latter understood and approved. + +"A white man! Put a white man to death!" repeated Moini Loungga, whose +ferocious instincts were aroused by the Portuguese's proposition. + +"One of Alvez's agents has been killed by this white man," returned +Negoro. + +"Yes, my agent, Harris," replied the trader, "and his death must be +avenged!" + +"Send that white man to King Massongo, on the Upper Zaire, among the +Assonas. They will cut him in pieces. They will eat him alive. They +have not forgotten the taste of human flesh!" exclaimed Moini Loungga. + +He was, in fact, the king of a tribe of man-eaters, that Massongo. +It is only too true that in certain provinces of Central Africa +cannibalism is still openly practised. Livingstone states it in his +"Notes of Travel." On the borders of the Loualaba the Manyemas not +only eat the men killed in the wars, but they buy slaves to devour +them, saying that "human flesh is easily salted, and needs little +seasoning." Those cannibals Cameron has found again among the +Moene-Bongga, where they only feast on dead bodies after steeping them +for several days in a running stream. Stanley has also encountered +those customs of cannibalism among the inhabitants of the Oukonson. +Cannibalism is evidently well spread among the tribes of the center. + +But, cruel as was the kind of death proposed by the king for Dick +Sand, it did not suit Negoro, who did not care to give up his victim. + +"It was here," said he, "that the white man killed our comrade +Harris." + +"It is here that he ought to die!" added Alvez. + +"Where you please, Alvez," replied Moini Loungga; "but a drop of +fire-water for a drop of blood!" + +"Yes," replied the trader, "fire-water, and you will see that it well +merits that name! We shall make it blaze, this water! Jose-Antonio +Alvez will offer a punch to the King Moini Loungga." + +The drunkard shook his friend Alvez's hands. He could not contain his +joy. His wives, his courtiers shared his ecstasy. They had never seen +brandy blaze, and doubtless they counted on drinking it all blazing. +Then, after the thirst for alcohol, the thirst for blood, so imperious +among these savages, would be satisfied also. + +Poor Dick Sand! What a horrible punishment awaited him. When we think +of the terrible or grotesque effects of intoxication in civilized +countries, we understand how far it can urge barbarous beings. + +We will readily believe that the thought of torturing a white could +displease none of the natives, neither Jose-Antonio Alvez, a negro +like themselves, nor Coimbra, a mongrel of black blood, nor Negoro +either, animated with a ferocious hatred against the whites. + +The evening had come, an evening without twilight, that was going to +make day change tonight almost at once, a propitious hour for the +blazing of the brandy. + +It was truly a triumphant idea of Alvez's, to offer a punch to this +negro majesty, and to make him love brandy under a new form. Moini +Loungga began to find that fire-water did not sufficiently justify its +name. Perhaps, blazing and burning, it would tickle more agreeably the +blunted papillas of his tongue. + +The evening's program then comprised a punch first, a punishment +afterwards. + +Dick Sand, closely shut up in his dark prison, would only come out to +go to his death. The other slaves, sold or not, had been put back in +the barracks. There only remained at the "tchitoka," the traders, the +overseers and the soldiers ready to take their part of the punch, if +the king and his court allowed them. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, advised by Negoro, did the thing well. They +brought a vast copper basin, capable of containing at least two +hundred pints, which was placed in the middle of the great place. +Barrels holding alcohol of inferior quality, but well refined, were +emptied into the basin. They spared neither the cinnamon, nor the +allspice, nor any of the ingredients that might improve this punch for +savages. + +All had made a circle around the king. Moini Loungga advanced +staggering to the basin. One would say that this vat of brandy +fascinated him, and that he was going to throw himself into it. + +Alvez generously held him back and put a lighted match into his hand. + +"Fire!" cried he with a cunning grimace of satisfaction. + +"Fire!" replied Moini Loungga lashing the liquid with the end of the +match. + +What a flare and what an effect, when the bluish flames played on the +surface of the basin. Alvez, doubtless to render that alcohol +still sharper, had mingled with it a few handfuls of sea salt. The +assistants' faces were then given that spectral lividness that the +imagination ascribes to phantoms. + +Those negroes, drunk in advance, began to cry out, to gesticulate, +and, taking each other by the hand, formed an immense circle around +the King of Kazounde. + +Alvez, furnished with an enormous metal spoon, stirred the liquid, +which threw a great white glare over those delirious monkeys. + +Moini Loungga advanced. He seized the spoon from the trader's hands, +plunged it into the basin, then, drawing it out full of punch in +flames, he brought it to his lips. + +What a cry the King of Kazounde then gave! + +An act of spontaneous combustion had just taken place. The king had +taken fire like a petroleum bonbon. This fire developed little heat, +but it devoured none the less. + +At this spectacle the natives' dance was suddenly stopped. + +One of Moini Loungga's ministers threw himself on his sovereign to +extinguish him; but, not less alcoholized than his master, he took +fire in his turn. + +In this way, Moini Loungga's whole court was in peril of burning up. + +Alvez and Negoro did not know how to help his majesty. The women, +frightened, had taken flight. As to Coimbra, he took his departure +rapidly, well knowing his inflammable nature. + +The king and the minister, who had fallen on the ground, were burning +up, a prey to frightful sufferings. + +In bodies so thoroughly alcoholized, combustion only produces a light +and bluish flame, that water cannot extinguish. Even stifled outside, +it would still continue to burn inwardly. When liquor has penetrated +all the tissues, there exists no means of arresting the combustion. + +A few minutes after, Moini Loungga and his minister had succumbed, but +they still burned. Soon, in the place where they had fallen, there was +nothing left but a few light coals, one or two pieces of the vertebral +column, fingers, toes, that the fire does not consume, in cases of +spontaneous combustion, but which it covers with an infectious and +penetrating soot. + +It was all that was left of the King of Kazounde and of his +minister. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A ROYAL BURIAL. + + +The next day, May 29th, the city of Kazounde presented a strange +aspect. The natives, terrified, kept themselves shut up in their huts. +They had never seen a king, who said he was of divine essence, nor a +simple minister, die of this horrible death. They had already burned +some of their fellow-beings, and the oldest could not forget certain +culinary preparations relating to cannibalism. + +They knew then how the incineration of a human body takes place with +difficulty, and behold their king and his minister had burnt all +alone! That seemed to them, and indeed ought to seem to them, +inexplicable. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez kept still in his house. He might fear that he +would be held responsible for the accident. Negoro had informed him of +what had passed, warning him to take care of himself. To charge him +with Moini Loungga's death might be a bad affair, from which he might +not be able to extricate himself without damage. + +But Negoro had a good idea. By his means Alvez spread the report that +the death of Kazounde's sovereign was supernatural; that the great +Manitou only reserved it for his elect. The natives, so inclined to +superstition, accepted this lie. The fire that came out of the bodies +of the king and his minister became a sacred fire. They had nothing to +do but honor Moini Loungga by obsequies worthy of a man elevated to +the rank of the gods. + +These obsequies, with all the ceremonial connected with them among the +African tribes, was an occasion offered to Negoro to make Dick Sand +play a part. What this death of Moini Loungga was going to cost in +blood, would be believed with difficulty, if the Central Africa +travelers, Lieutenant Cameron among others, had not related facts that +cannot be doubted. + +The King of Kazounde's natural heir was the Queen Moini. In proceeding +without delay with the funeral ceremonies she acted with sovereign +authority, and could thus distance the competitors, among others +that King of the Oukonson, who tended to encroach upon the rights of +Kazounde's sovereigns. Besides, Moini, even by becoming queen, avoided +the cruel fate reserved for the other wives of the deceased; at the +same time she would get rid of the youngest ones, of whom she, first +in date, had necessarily to complain. This result would particularly +suit the ferocious temperament of that vixen. So she had it announced, +with deer's horns and other instruments, that the obsequies of the +defunct king would take place the next evening with all the usual +ceremony. + +No protestation was made, neither at court nor from the natives. Alvez +and the other traders had nothing to fear from the accession of this +Queen Moini. With a few presents, a few flattering remarks, they would +easily subject her to their influence. Thus the royal heritage was +transmitted without difficulty. There was terror only in the harem, +and not without reason. + +The preparatory labors for the funeral were commenced the same day. At +the end of the principal street of Kazounde flowed a deep and rapid +stream, an affluent of the Coango. The question was to turn this +stream aside, so as to leave its bed dry. It was in that bed that the +royal grave must be dug. After the burial the stream would be restored +to its natural channel. + +The natives were busily employed in constructing a dam, that forced +the stream to make a provisional bed across the plain of Kazounde. +At the last tableau of this funeral ceremony the barricade would be +broken, and the torrent would take its old bed again. + +Negoro intended Dick Sand to complete the number of victims sacrificed +on the king's tomb. He had been a witness of the young novice's +irresistible movement of anger, when Harris had acquainted him with +the death of Mrs. Weldon and little Jack. + +Negoro, cowardly rascal, had not exposed himself to the same fate as +his accomplice. But now, before a prisoner firmly fastened by the feet +and hands, he supposed he had nothing to fear, and resolved to pay +him a visit. Negoro was one of those miserable wretches who are not +satisfied with torturing their victims; they must also enjoy their +sufferings. + +Toward the middle of the day, then, he repaired to the barrack where +Dick Sand was guarded, in sight of an overseer. There, closely bound, +was lying the young novice, almost entirely deprived of food for +twenty-four hours, weakened by past misery, tortured by those bands +that entered into his flesh; hardly able to turn himself, he was +waiting for death, no matter how cruel it might be, as a limit to so +many evils. + +However, at the sight of Negoro he shuddered from head to foot. He +made an instinctive effort to break the bands that prevented him from +throwing himself on that miserable man and having revenge. + +But Hercules himself would not succeed in breaking them. He understood +that it was another kind of contest that was going to take place +between the two, and arming himself with calmness, Dick Sand compelled +himself to look Negoro right in the face, and decided not to honor him +with a reply, no matter what he might say. + +"I believed it to be my duty," Negoro said to him it first, "to come +to salute my young captain for the last time, and to let him know how +I regret, for his sake, that he does not command here any longer, as +he commanded on board the 'Pilgrim.'" + +And, seeing that Dick Sand did not reply: + +"What, captain, do you no longer recognize your old cook? He comes, +however, to take your orders, and to ask you what he ought to serve +for your breakfast." + +At the same time Negoro brutally kicked the young novice, who was +lying on the ground. + +"Besides," added he, "I should have another question to address to +you, my young captain. Could you yet explain to me, how, wishing to +land on the American coast, you have ended by arriving in Angola, +where you are?" + +Certainly, Dick Sand had no more need of the Portuguese's words to +understand what he had truly divined, when he knew at last that the +"Pilgrim's" compass must have been made false by this traitor. +But Negoro's question was an avowal. Still he only replied by a +contemptuous silence. + +"You will acknowledge, captain," continued Kegoro, "that it was +fortunate for you that there was a seaman on board--a real one, at +that. Great God, where would we be without him? Instead of perishing +on some breaker, where the tempest would have thrown you, you have +arrived, thanks to him, in a friendly port, and if it is to any one +that you owe being at last in a safe place, it is to that seaman whom +you have wronged in despising, my young master!" + +Speaking thus, Negoro, whose apparent calmness was only the result +of an immense effort, had brought his form near Dick Sand. His face, +suddenly become ferocious, touched him so closely that one would +believe that he was going to devour him. This rascal could no longer +contain his fury. + +"Every dog has his day!" he exclaimed, in the paroxysm of fury excited +in him by his victim's calmness. "To-day I am captain, I am master! +Your life is in my hands!" + +"Take it," Sand replied, without emotion. "But, know there is in +heaven a God, avenger of all crimes, and your punishment is not +distant!" + +"If God occupies himself with human beings, there is only time for Him +to take care of you!" + +"I am ready to appear before the Supreme Judge," replied Dick Sand, +coldly, "and death will not make me afraid." + +"We shall see about that!" howled Negoro. "You count on help of some +kind, perhaps--help at Kazounde, where Alvez and I are all-powerful! +You are a fool! You say to yourself, perhaps, that your companions are +still there, that old Tom and the others. Undeceive yourself. It is a +long time since they were sold and sent to Zanzibar--too fortunate if +they do not die of fatigue on the way!" + +"God has a thousand ways of doing justice," replied Dick Sand. "The +smallest instrument is sufficient for him. Hercules is free." + +"Hercules!" exclaimed Negoro, striking the ground with his foot; "he +perished long ago under the lions' and panthers' teeth. I regret +only one thing, that is, that those ferocious beasts should have +forestalled my vengeance!" + +"If Hercules is dead," replied Dick Sand, "Dingo is alive. A dog like +that, Negoro, is more than enough to take revenge on a man of your +kind. I know you well, Negoro; you are not brave. Dingo will seek for +you; it will know how to find you again. Some day you will die under +his teeth!" + +"Miserable boy!" exclaimed the Portuguese, exasperated. "Miserable +boy! Dingo died from a ball that I fired at it. It is dead, like Mrs. +Weldon and her son; dead, as all the survivors of the 'Pilgrim' shall +die!" + +"And as you yourself shall die before long," replied Dick Sand, whose +tranquil look made the Portuguese grow pale. + +Negoro, beside himself, was on the point of passing from words to +deeds, and strangling his unarmed prisoner with his hands. Already +he had sprung upon him, and was shaking him with fury, when a sudden +reflection stopped him. He remembered that he was going to kill his +victim, that all would be over, and that this would spare him the +twenty-four hours of torture he intended for him. He then stood up, +said a few words to the overseer, standing impassive, commanded him to +watch closely over the prisoner, and went out of the barrack. + +Instead of casting him down, this scene had restored all Dick Sand's +moral force. His physical energy underwent a happy reaction, and at +the same time regained the mastery. In bending over him in his rage, +had Negoro slightly loosened the bands that till then had rendered all +movement impossible? It was probable, for Dick Sand thought that his +members had more play than before the arrival of his executioner. The +young novice, feeling solaced, said to himself that perhaps it would +be possible to get his arms free without too much effort. Guarded +as he was, in a prison firmly shut, that would doubtless be only a +torture--only a suffering less; but it was such a moment in life when +the smallest good is invaluable. + +Certainly, Dick Sand hoped for nothing. No human succor could come to +him except from outside, and whence could it come to him? He was then +resigned. To tell the truth, he no longer cared to live. He thought of +all those who had met death before him, and he only aspired to join +them. Negoro had just repeated what Harris had told him: "Mrs. Weldon +and little Jack had succumbed." It was, indeed, only too probable that +Hercules, exposed to so many dangers, must have perished also, and +from a cruel death. Tom and his companions were at a distance, forever +lost to him--Dick Sand ought to believe it. To hope for anything but +the end of his troubles, by a death that could not be more terrible +than his life, would be signal folly. He then prepared to die, above +all throwing himself upon God, and asking courage from Him to go on +to the end without giving way. But thoughts of God are good and noble +thoughts! It is not in vain that one lifts his soul to Him who can do +all, and, when Dick Sand had offered his whole sacrifice, he found +that, if one could penetrate to the bottom of his heart, he might +perhaps discover there a last ray of hope--that glimmer which a breath +from on high can change, in spite of all probabilities, into dazzling +light. + +The hours passed away. Night came. The rays of light, that penetrated +through the thatch of the barrack, gradually disappeared. The last +noises of the "tchitoka," which, during that day had been very silent, +after the frightful uproar of the night before--those last noises +died out. Darkness became very profound in the interior of the narrow +prison. Soon all reposed in the city of Kazounde. + +Dick Sand fell into a restoring sleep, that lasted two hours. After +that he awoke, still stronger. He succeeded in freeing one of his +arms from their bands--it was already a little reduced--and it was a +delight for him to be able to extend it and draw it back at will. + +The night must be half over. The overseer slept with heavy sleep, due +to a bottle of brandy, the neck of which was still held in his shut +hand. The savage had emptied it to the last drop. Dick Sand's first +idea was to take possession of his jailer's weapons, which might be of +great use to him in case of escape; but at that moment he thought +he heard a slight scratching at the lower part of the door of the +barrack. Helping himself with his arms, he succeeded in crawling as +far as the door-sill without wakening the overseer. + +Dick Sand was not mistaken. The scratching continued, and in a more +distinct manner. It seemed that from the outside some one was digging +the earth under the door. Was it an animal? Was it a man? + +"Hercules! If it were Hercules!" the young novice said to himself. + +His eyes were fixed on his guard; he was motionless, and under the +influence of a leaden sleep. Dick Sand, bringing his lips to the +door-sill, thought he might risk murmuring Hercules's name. A moan, +like a low and plaintive bark, replied to him. + +"It is not Hercules," said Dick to himself, "but it is Dingo. He has +scented me as far as this barrack. Should he bring me another word +from Hercules? But if Dingo is not dead, Negoro has lied, and +perhaps--" + +At that moment a paw passed under the door. Dick Sand seized it, and +recognized Dingo's paw. But, if it had a letter, that letter could +only be attached to its neck. What to do? Was it possible to make that +hole large enough for Dingo to put in its head? At all events, he must +try it. + +But hardly had Dick Sand begun to dig the soil with his nails, than +barks that were not Dingo's sounded over the place. The faithful +animal had just been scented by the native dogs, and doubtless could +do nothing more than take to flight. Some detonations burst forth. The +overseer half awoke. Dick Sand, no longer able to think of escaping, +because the alarm was given, must then roll himself up again in his +corner, and, after a lovely hope, he saw appear that day which would +be without a to-morrow for him. + +During all that day the grave-diggers' labors were pushed on with +briskness. A large number of natives took part, under the direction +of Queen Moini's first minister. All must be ready at the hour named, +under penalty of mutilation, for the new sovereign promised to follow +the defunct king's ways, point by point. + +The waters of the brook having been turned aside, it was in the dry +bed that the vast ditch was dug, to a depth of ten feet, over an +extent of fifty feet long by ten wide. + +Toward the end of the day they began to carpet it, at the bottom and +along the walls, with living women, chosen among Moini Loungga's +slaves. Generally those unfortunates are buried alive. But, on account +of this strange and perhaps miraculous death of Moini Loungga, it +had been decided that they should be drowned near the body of their +master. + +One cannot imagine what those horrible hecatombs are, when a powerful +chief's memory must be fitly honored among these tribes of Central +Africa. Cameron says that more than a hundred victims were thus +sacrificed at the funeral ceremonies of the King of Kassongo's father. + +It is also the custom for the defunct king to be dressed in his most +costly clothes before being laid in his tomb. But this time, as there +was nothing left of the royal person except a few burnt bones, it was +necessary to proceed in another manner. A willow manikin was made, +representing Moini Loungga sufficiently well, perhaps advantageously, +and in it they shut up the remains the combustion had spared. The +manikin was then clothed with the royal vestments--we know that those +clothes are not worth much--and they did not forget to ornament it +with Cousin Benedict's famous spectacles. There was something terribly +comic in this masquerade. + +The ceremony would take place with torches and with great pomp. The +whole population of Kazounde, native or not, must assist at it. + +When the evening had come, a long cortege descended the principal +street, from the _tchitoka_ as far as the burial place. Cries, +funeral dances, magicians' incantations, noises from instruments and +detonations from old muskets from the arsenals--nothing was lacking in +it. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez, Coimbra, Negoro, the Arab traders and their +overseers had increased the ranks of Kazounde's people. No one had yet +left the great _lakoni_. Queen Moini would not permit it, and it would +not be prudent to disobey the orders of one who was trying the trade +of sovereign. + +The body of the king, laid in a palanquin, was carried in the last +ranks of the cortege. It was surrounded by his wives of the second +order, some of whom were going to accompany him beyond this life. +Queen Moini, in great state, marched behind what might be called the +catafalque. It was positively night when all the people arrived on +the banks of the brook; but the resin torches, shaken by the porters, +threw great bursts of light over the crowd. + +The ditch was seen distinctly. It was carpeted with black, living +bodies, for they moved under the chains that bound them to the ground. +Fifty slaves were waiting there till the torrent should close over +them. The majority were young natives, some resigned and mute, others +giving a few groans. The wives all dressed as for a _fete_, and who +must perish, had been chosen by the queen. + +One of these victims, she who bore the title of second wife, was bent +on her hands and knees, to serve as a royal footstool, as she had done +in the king's lifetime. The third wife came to hold up the manikin, +while the fourth lay at its feet, in the guise of a cushion. + +Before the manikin, at the end of the ditch, a post, painted red, rose +from the earth. To this post was fastened a white man, who was going +to be counted also among the victims of these bloody obsequies. + +That white man was Dick Sand. His body, half naked, bore the marks of +the tortures he had already suffered by Negoro's orders. Tied to this +post, he waited for death like a man who has no hope except in another +life. + +However, the moment had not yet arrived when the barricade would be +broken. + +On a signal from the queen, the fourth wife, she who was placed at the +king's feet, was beheaded by Kazounde's executioner, and her blood +flowed into the ditch. It was the beginning of a frightful scene of +butchery. Fifty slaves fell under the executioner's knife. The bed of +the river ran waves of blood. + +During half an hour the victims' cries mingled with the assistants' +vociferations, and one would seek in vain in that crowd for a +sentiment of repugnance or of pity. + +At last Queen Moini made a gesture, and the barricade that held back +the upper waters gradually opened. By a refinement of cruelty, the +current was allowed to filter down the river, instead of being +precipitated by an instantaneous bursting open of the dam. Slow death +instead of quick death! + +The water first drowned the carpet of slaves which covered the bottom +of the ditch. Horrible leaps were made by those living creatures, +who struggled against asphyxia. They saw Dick Sand, submerged to the +knees, make a last effort to break his bonds. But the water mounted. +The last heads disappeared under the torrent, that took its course +again, and nothing indicated that at the bottom of this river was +dug a tomb, where one hundred victims had just perished in honor of +Kazounde's king. + +The pen would refuse to paint such pictures, if regard for the truth +did not impose the duty of describing them in their abominable +reality. Man is still there, in those sad countries. To be ignorant of +it is not allowable. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE INTERIOR OF A FACTORY. + + +Harris and Negoro had told a lie in saying that Mrs. Weldon and +little Jack were dead. She, her son, and Cousin Benedict were then in +Kazounde. + +After the assault on the ant-hill, they had been taken away beyond the +camp on the Coanza by Harris and Negoro, accompanied by a dozen native +soldiers. + +A palanquin, the "kitanda" of the country, received Mrs. Weldon and +little Jack. Why such care on the part of such a man as Negoro? Mrs. +Weldon was afraid to explain it to herself. + +The journey from the Counza to Kazounde was made rapidly and without +fatigue. Cousin Benedict, on whom trouble seemed to have no effect, +walked with a firm step. As he was allowed to search to the right and +to the left, he did not think of complaining. The little troop, then, +arrived at Kazounde eight days before Ibn Hamis's caravan. Mrs. +Weldon was shut up, with her child and Cousin Benedict, in Alvez's +establishment. + +Little Jack was much better. On leaving the marshy country, where he +had taken the fever, he gradually became better, and now he was +doing well. No doubt neither he nor his mother could have borne the +hardships of the caravan; but owing to the manner in which they had +made this journey, during which they had been given a certain amount +of care, they were in a satisfactory condition, physically at least. + +As to her companions, Mrs. Weldon had heard nothing of them. After +having seen Hercules flee into the forest, she did not know what had +become of him. As to Dick Sand, as Harris and Negoro were no longer +there to torture him, she hoped that his being a white man would +perhaps spare him some bad treatment. As to Nan, Tom, Bat, Austin, and +Acteon, they were blacks, and it was too certain that they would be +treated as such. Poor people! who should never have trodden that land +of Africa, and whom treachery had just cast there. + +When Ibn Hamis's caravan had arrived at Kazounde, Mrs. Weldon, having +no communication with the outer world, could not know of the fact: +neither did the noises from the _lakoni_ tell her anything. She did +not know that Tom and his friends had been sold to a trader from +Oujiji, and that they would soon set out. She neither knew of Harris's +punishment, nor of King Moini Loungga's death, nor of the royal +funeral ceremonies, that had added Dick Sand to so many other victims. +So the unfortunate woman found herself alone at Kazounde, at the +trader's mercy, in Negoro's power, and she could not even think of +dying in order to escape him, because her child was with her. + +Mrs. Weldon was absolutely ignorant of the fate that awaited her. +Harris and Negoro had not addressed a word to her during the whole +journey from the Coanza to Kazounde. Since her arrival, she had not +seen either of them again, and she could not leave the enclosure +around the rich trader's private establishment. Is it necessary to +say now that Mrs. Weldon had found no help in her large child, Cousin +Benedict? That is understood. + +When the worthy savant learned that he was not on the American +continent, as he believed, he was not at all anxious to know how that +could have happened. No! His first movement was a gesture of anger. +The insects that he imagined he had been the first to discover in +America, those _tsetses_ and others, were only mere African hexapodes, +found by many naturalists before him, in their native places. +Farewell, then, to the glory of attaching his name to those +discoveries! In fact, as he was in Africa, what could there be +astonishing in the circumstance that Cousin Benedict had collected +African insects. + +But the first anger over, Cousin Benedict said to himself that the +"Land of the Pharaohs"--so he still called it--possessed incomparable +entomological riches, and that so far as not being in the "Land of the +Incas" was concerned, he would not lose by the change. + +"Ah!" he repeated, to himself, and even repeated to Mrs. Weldon, who +hardly listened to him, "this is the country of the _manticores_, +those coleopteres with long hairy feet, with welded and sharp +wing-shells, with enormous mandibles, of which the most remarkable is +the tuberculous _manticore_. It is the country of the _calosomes_ with +golden ends; of the Goliaths of Guinea and of the Gabon, whose feet +are furnished with thorns; of the sacred Egyptian _ateuchus_, that +the Egyptians of Upper Egypt venerated as gods. It is here that those +sphinxes with heads of death, now spread over all Europe, belong, and +also those 'Idias Bigote,' whose sting is particularly dreaded by the +Senegalians of the coast. Yes; there are superb things to be found +here, and I shall find them, if these honest people will only let me." + +We know who those "honest people" were, of whom Cousin Benedict +did not dream of complaining. Besides, it has been stated, the +entomologist had enjoyed a half liberty in Negoro's and Harris's +company, a liberty of which Dick Sand had absolutely deprived him +during the voyage from the coast to the Coanza. The simple-hearted +savant had been very much touched by that condescension. + +Finally, Cousin Benedict would be the happiest of entomologists if he +had not suffered a loss to which he was extremely sensitive. He still +possessed his tin box, but his glasses no longer rested on his nose, +his magnifying glass no longer hung from his neck! Now, a naturalist +without his magnifying glass and his spectacles, no longer exists. +Cousin Benedict, however, was destined never to see those two optical +attendants again, because they had been buried with the royal manikin. +So, when he found some insect, he was reduced to thrusting it into his +eyes to distinguish its most prominent peculiarities. Ah! it was a +great loss to Cousin Benedict, and he would have paid a high price +for a pair of spectacles, but that article was not current on the +_lakonis_ of Kazounde. At all events, Cousin Benedict could go and +come in Jose-Antonio Alvez's establishment. They knew he was incapable +of seeking to flee. Besides, a high palisade separated the factory +from the other quarters of the city, and it would not be easy to get +over it. + +But, if it was well enclosed, this enclosure did not measure less than +a mile in circumference. Trees, bushes of a kind peculiar to Africa, +great herbs, a few rivulets, the thatch of the barracks and the huts, +were more than necessary to conceal the continent's rarest insects, +and to make Cousin Benedict's happiness, at least, if not his fortune. +In fact, he discovered some hexapodes, and nearly lost his eyesight in +trying to study them without spectacles. But, at least, he added to +his precious collection, and laid the foundation of a great work on +African entomology. If his lucky star would let him discover a new +insect, to which he would attach his name, he would have nothing more +to desire in this world! + +If Alvez's establishment was sufficiently large for Cousin Benedict's +scientific promenades, it seemed immense to little Jack, who could +walk about there without restraint. But the child took little interest +in the pleasures so natural to his age. He rarely quitted his +mother, who did not like to leave him alone, and always dreaded some +misfortune. + +Little Jack often spoke of his father, whom he had not seen for so +long. He asked to be taken back to him. He inquired after all, for old +Nan, for his friend Hercules, for Bat, for Austin, for Acteon, and for +Dingo, that appeared, indeed, to have deserted him. He wished to see +his comrade, Dick Sand, again. His young imagination was very much +affected, and only lived in those remembrances. To his questions Mrs. +Weldon could only reply by pressing him to her heart, while covering +him with kisses. All that she could do was not to cry before him. + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Weldon had not failed to observe that, if bad +treatment had been spared her during the journey from the Coanza, +nothing in Alvez's establishment indicated that there would be any +change of conduct in regard to her. There were in the factory only +the slaves in the trader's service. All the others, which formed +the object of his trade, had been penned up in the barracks of the +_tchitoka_, then sold to the brokers from the interior. + +Now, the storehouses of the establishment were overflowing with stuffs +and ivory. The stuffs were intended to be exchanged in the provinces +of the center, the ivory to be exported from the principal markets of +the continent. + +In fact, then, there were few people in the factory. Mrs. Weldon and +Jack occupied a hut apart; Cousin Benedict another. They did not +communicate with the trader's servants. They ate together. The food, +consisting of goat's flesh or mutton, vegetables, tapioca, _sorgho_, +and the fruits of the country, was sufficient. + +Halima, a young slave, was especially devoted to Mrs. Weldon's +service. In her way, and as she could, she even evinced for her a kind +of savage, but certainty sincere, affection. + +Mrs. Weldon hardly saw Jose-Antonio Alvez, who occupied the principal +house of the factory. She did not see Negoro at all, as he lodged +outside; but his absence was quite inexplicable. This absence +continued to astonish her, and make her feel anxious at the same time. + +"What does he want? What is he waiting for?" she asked herself. "Why +has he brought us to Kazounde?" + +So had passed the eight days that preceded and followed the arrival +of Ibn Hamis's caravan--that is, the two days before the funeral +ceremonies, and the six days that followed. + +In the midst of so many anxieties, Mrs. Weldon could not forget that +her husband must be a prey to the most frightful despair, on not +seeing either his wife or his son return to San Francisco. Mr. Weldon +could not know that his wife had adopted that fatal idea of taking +passage on board the "Pilgrim," and he would believe that she had +embarked on one of the steamers of the Trans-Pacific Company. Now, +these steamers arrived regularly, and neither Mrs. Weldon, nor Jack, +nor Cousin Benedict were on them. Besides, the "Pilgrim" itself was +already overdue at Sun Francisco. As she did not reappear, James W. +Weldon must now rank her in the category of ships supposed to be lost, +because not heard of. + +What a terrible blow for him, when news of the departure of the +"Pilgrim" and the embarkation of Mrs. Weldon should reach him from +his correspondents in Auckland! What had he done? Had he refused to +believe that his son and she had perished at sea? But then, where +would he search? Evidently on the isles of the Pacific, perhaps on the +American coast. But never, no never, would the thought occur to him +that she had been thrown on the coast of this fatal Africa! + +So thought Mrs. Weldon. But what could she attempt? Flee! How? She +was closely watched. And then to flee was to venture into those thick +forests, in the midst of a thousand dangers, to attempt a journey of +more than two hundred miles to reach the coast. And meanwhile Mrs. +Weldon was decided to do it, if no other means offered themselves for +her to recover her liberty. But, first, she wished to know exactly +what Negoro's designs were. + +At last she knew them. + +On the 6th of June, three days after the burial of Kazounde's king, +Negoro entered the factory, where he had not yet set foot since his +return. He went right to the hut occupied by his prisoner. + +Mrs. Weldon was alone. Cousin Benedict was taking one of his +scientific walks. Little Jack, watched by the slave Halima, was +walking in the enclosure of the establishment. + +Negoro pushed open the door of the hut without knocking. + +"Mrs. Weldon," said he, "Tom and his companions have been sold for the +markets of Oujiji!" + +"May God protect them!" said Mrs. "Weldon, shedding tears. + +"Nan died on the way, Dick Sand has perished----" + +"Nan dead! and Dick!" cried Mrs. Weldon. + +"Yes, it is just for your captain of fifteen to pay for Harris's +murder with his life," continued Negoro. "You are alone in Kazounde, +mistress; alone, in the power of the 'Pilgrim's' old cook--absolutely +alone, do you understand?" + +What Negoro said was only too true, even concerning Tom and his +friends. The old black man, his son Bat, Acteon and Austin had +departed the day before with the trader of Oujiji's caravan, without +the consolation of seeing Mrs. Weldon again, without even knowing that +their companion in misery was in Kazounde, in Alvez's establishment. +They had departed for the lake country, a journey figured by hundreds +of miles, that very few accomplish, and from which very few return. + +"Well?" murmured Mrs. Weldon, looking at Negoro without answering. + +"Mrs. Weldon," returned the Portuguese, in an abrupt voice, "I could +revenge myself on you for the bad treatment I suffered on board the +'Pilgrim.' But Dick Sand's death will satisfy my vengeance. Now, +mistress, I become the merchant again, and behold my projects with +regard to you." + +Mrs. Weldon looked at him without saying a word. + +"You," continued the Portuguese, "your child, and that imbecile who +runs after the flies, you have a commercial value which I intend to +utilize. So I am going to sell you." + +"I am of a free race," replied Mrs. Weldon, in a firm tone. + +"You are a slave, if I wish it." + +"And who would buy a white woman?" + +"A man who will pay for her whatever I shall ask him." + +Mrs. Weldon bent her head for a moment, for she knew that anything was +possible in that frightful country. + +"You have heard?" continued Negoro. + +"Who is this man to whom you will pretend to sell me?" replied Mrs. +Weldon. + +"To sell you or to re-sell you. At least, I suppose so!" added the +Portuguese, sneering. + +"The name of this man?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"This man--he is James W. Weldon, your husband." + +"My husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Weldon, who could not believe what she +had just heard. + +"Himself, Mrs. Weldon--your husband, to whom I do not wish simply to +restore his wife, his child, and his cousin, but to sell them, and, at +a high price." + +Mrs. Weldon asked herself if Negoro was not setting a trap for her. +However, she believed he was speaking seriously. To a wretch to whom +money is everything, it seems that we can trust, when business is in +question. Now, this was business. + +"And when do you propose to make this business operation?" returned +Mrs. Weldon. + +"As soon as possible." + +"Where?" + +"Just here. Certainly James Weldon will not hesitate to come as far as +Kazounde for his wife and son." + +"No, he will not hesitate. But who will tell him?" + +"I! I shall go to San Francisco to find James Weldon. I have money +enough for this voyage." + +"The money stolen from on board the 'Pilgrim?'" + +"Yes, that, and more besides," replied Negoro, insolently. "But, if +I wish to sell you soon, I also wish to sell you at a high price. +I think that James Weldon will not regard a hundred thousand +dollars----" + +"He will not regard them, if he can give them," replied Mrs. Weldon, +coldly. "Only my husband, to whom you will say, doubtless, that I am +held a prisoner at Kazounde, in Central Africa----" + +"Precisely!" + +"My husband will not believe you without proofs, and he will not be so +imprudent as to come to Kazounde on your word alone." + +"He will come here," returned Negoro, "if I bring him a letter written +by you, which will tell him your situation, which will describe me as +a faithful servant, escaped from the hands of these savages." + +"My hand shall never write that letter!" Mrs. Weldon replied, in a +still colder manner. + +"You refuse?" exclaimed Negoro. + +"I refuse!" + +The thought of the dangers her husband would pass through in coming +as far as Kazounde, the little dependence that could be placed on the +Portuguese's promises, the facility with which the latter could retain +James Weldon, after taking the ransom agreed upon, all these reasons +taken together made Mrs. Weldon refuse Negoro's proposition flatly and +at once. Mrs. Weldon spoke, thinking only of herself, forgetting her +child for the moment. + +"You shall write that letter!" continued the Portuguese. + +"No!" replied Mrs. Weldon again. + +"Ah, take care!" exclaimed Negoro. "You are not alone here! Your child +is, like you, in my power, and I well know how----" + +Mrs. Weldon wished to reply that that would be impossible. Her heart +was beating as if it would break; she was voiceless. + +"Mrs. Weldon," said Negoro, "you will reflect on the offer I have made +you. In eight days you will have handed me a letter to James Weldon's +address, or you will repent of it." + +That said, the Portuguese retired, without giving vent to his anger; +but it was easy to see that nothing would stop him from constraining +Mrs. Weldon to obey him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SOME NEWS OF DR. LIVINGSTONE. + + +Left alone, Mrs. Weldon at first only fixed her mind on this thought, +that eight days would pass before Negoro would return for a definite +answer. There was time to reflect and decide on a course of action. +There could be no question of the Portuguese's probity except in his +own interest. The "market value" that he attributed to his prisoner +would evidently be a safeguard for her, and protect her for the time, +at least, against any temptation that might put her in danger. Perhaps +she would think of a compromise that would restore her to her husband +without obliging Mr. Weldon to come to Kazounde. On receipt of a +letter from his wife, she well knew that James Weldon would set out. +He would brave the perils of this journey into the most dangerous +countries of Africa. But, once at Kazounde, when Negoro should have +that fortune of a hundred thousand dollars in his hands, what guaranty +would James W. Weldon, his wife, his son and Cousin Benedict have, +that they would be allowed to depart? Could not Queen Moini's caprice +prevent them? Would not this "sale" of Mrs. Weldon and hers be better +accomplished if it took place at the coast, at some point agreed upon, +which would spare Mr. Weldon both the dangers of the journey to the +interior, and the difficulties, not to say the impossibilities, of a +return? + +So reflected Mrs. Weldon. That was why she had refused at once to +accede to Negoro's proposition and give him a letter for her husband. +She also thought that, if Negoro had put off his second visit for +eight days, it was because he needed that time to prepare for his +journey. If not, he would return sooner to force her consent. + +"Would he really separate me from my child?" murmured she. + +At that moment Jack entered the hut, and, by an instinctive movement, +his mother seized him, as if Negoro were there, ready to snatch him +from her. + +"You are in great grief, mother?" asked the little boy. + +"No, dear Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon; "I was thinking of your papa! +You would be very glad to see him again?" + +"Oh! yes, mother! Is he going to come?" + +"No! no! He must not come!" + +"Then we will go to see him again?" + +"Yes, darling Jack!" + +"With my friend Dick--and Hercules--and old Tom?" + +"Yes! yes!" replied Mrs. Weldon, putting her head down to hide her +tears. + +"Has papa written to you?" asked little Jack. + +"No, my love." + +"Then you are going to write to him, mother?" + +"Yes--yes--perhaps!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +And without knowing it, little Jack entered directly into his mother's +thoughts. To avoid answering him further, she covered him with kisses. + +It must be stated that another motive of some value was joined to +the different reasons that had urged Mrs. Weldon to resist Negoro's +injunctions. Perhaps Mrs. Weldon had a very unexpected chance of being +restored to liberty without her husband's intervention, and even +against Negoro's will. It was only a faint ray of hope, very vague as +yet, but it was one. + +In fact, a few words of conversation, overheard by her several days +before, made her foresee a possible succor near at hand--one might say +a providential succor. + +Alvez and a mongrel from Oujiji were talking a few steps from the hut +occupied by Mrs. Weldon. It is not astonishing that the slave-trade +was the subject of conversation between those worthy merchants. +The two _brokers_ in human flesh were talking business. They were +discussing the future of their commerce, and were worried about +the efforts the English were making to destroy it--not only on the +exterior, by cruisers, but in the interior, by their missionaries and +their travelers. + +Jose-Antonio Alvez found that the explorations of these hardy pioneers +could only injure commercial operations. His interlocutor shared his +views, and thought that all these visitors, civil or religious, should +be received with gun-shots. + +This had been done to some extent. But, to the great displeasure of +the traders, if they killed some of these curious ones, others escaped +them. Now, these latter, on returning to their country, recounted +"with exaggerations," Alvez said, the horrors of the slave-trade, and +that injured this commerce immensely--it being too much diminished +already. + +The mongrel agreed to that, and deplored it; above all, concerning the +markets of N'yangwe, of Oujiji, of Zanzibar, and of all the great +lake regions. There had come successively Speke, Grant, Livingstone, +Stanley, and others. It was an invasion! Soon all England and all +America would occupy the country! + +Alvez sincerely pitied his comrade, and he declared that the provinces +of Western Africa had been, till that time, less badly treated--that +is to say, less visited; but the epidemic of travelers was beginning +to spread. If Kazounde had been spared, it was not so with Cassange, +and with Bihe, where Alvez owned factories. It may be remembered, +also, that Harris had spoken to Negoro of a certain Lieutenant +Cameron, who might, indeed, have the presumption to cross Africa from +one side to the other, and after entering it by Zanzibar, leave it by +Angola. + +In fact, the trader had reason to fear, and we know that, some years +after, Cameron to the south and Stanley to the north, were going +to explore these little-known provinces of the west, describe the +permanent monstrosities of the trade, unveil the guilty complicities +of foreign agents, and make the responsibility fall on the right +parties. + +Neither Alvez nor the mongrel could know anything yet of this +exploration of Cameron's and of Stanley's; but what they did know, +what they said, what Mrs. Weldon heard, and what was of such great +interest to her--in a word, what had sustained her in her refusal to +subscribe at once to Negoro's demands, was this: + +Before long, very probably, Dr. David Livingstone would arrive at +Kazounde. + +Now, the arrival of Livingstone with his escort, the influence which +the great traveler enjoyed in Africa, the concourse of Portuguese +authorities from Angola that could not fail to meet him, all that +might bring about the deliverance of Mrs. Weldon and hers, in spite of +Negoro, in spite of Alvez. It was perhaps their restoration to their +country within a short time, and without James W. Weldon risking his +life in a journey, the result of which could only be deplorable. + +But was there any probability that Dr. Livingstone would soon visit +that part of the continent? Yes, for in following that missionary +tour, he was going to complete the exploration of Central Africa. + +We know the heroic life of this son of the tea merchant, who lived +in Blantyre, a village in the county of Lanark. Born on the 13th of +March, 1813, David Livingstone, the second of six children, became, +by force of study, both a theologian and doctor. After making his +novitiate in the "London Missionary Society," he embarked for the +Cape in 1840, with the intention of joining the missionary Moffat in +Southern Africa. + +From the Cape, the future traveler repaired to the country of the +Bechnanas, which he explored for the first time, returned to Kuruman +and married Moffat's daughter, that brave companion who would be +worthy of him. In 1843 he founded a mission in the valley of the +Mabotsa. + +Four years later, we find him established at Kolobeng, two hundred +and twenty-five miles to the north of Kuruman, in the country of the +Bechnanas. + +Two years after, in 1849, Livingstone left Kolobeng with his wife, his +three children and two friends, Messrs. Oswell and Murray. August 1st, +of the same year, he discovered Lake N'gami, and returned to Kolobeng, +by descending the Zouga. + +In this journey Livingstone, stopped by the bad will of the natives, +had not passed beyond the N'gami. A second attempt was not more +fortunate. A third must succeed. Then, taking a northern route, again +with his family and Mr. Oswell, after frightful sufferings (for lack +of food, for lack of water) that almost cost him the lives of his +children, he reached the country of the Makalolos beside the Chobe, a +branch of the Zambezi. The chief, Sebituane, joined him at Linyanti. +At the end of June, 1851, the Zambezi was discovered, and the doctor +returned to the Cape to bring his family to England. + +In fact, the intrepid Livingstone wished to be alone while risking his +life in the daring journey he was going to undertake. + +On leaving the Cape this time, the question was to cross Africa +obliquely from the south to the west, so as to reach Saint Paul de +Loanda. + +On the third of June, 1852, the doctor set out with a few natives. +He arrived at Kuruman and skirted the Desert of Kalahari. The 31st +December he entered Litoubarouba and found the country of the +Bechnanas ravaged by the Boers, old Dutch colonists, who were masters +of the Cape before the English took possession of it. + +Livingstone left Litoubarouba on the 15th of January, 1853, penetrated +to the center of the country of the Bamangouatos, and, on May 23d, +he arrived at Linyanti, where the young sovereign of the Makalolos, +Sckeletou, received him with great honor. + +There, the doctor held back by the intense fevers, devoted himself to +studying the manners of the country, and, for the first time, he could +ascertain the ravages made by the slave-trade in Africa. + +One month after he descended the Chobe, reached the Zambezi, entered +Naniele, visited Katonga and Libonta, arrived at the confluence of +the Zambezi and the Leeba, formed the project of ascending by that +watercourse as far as the Portuguese possessions of the west, and, +after nine weeks' absence, returned to Linyanti to make preparations. + +On the 11th of November, 1853, the doctor, accompanied by twenty-seven +Makalolos, left Linyanti, and on the 27th of December he reached +the mouth of the Leeba. This watercourse was ascended as far as the +territory of the Balondas, there where it receives the Makonda, which +comes from the east. It was the first time that a white man penetrated +into this region. + +January 14th, Livingstone entered Shinte's residence. He was the +most powerful sovereign of the Balondas. He gave Livingstone a good +reception, and, the 26th of the same month, after crossing the Leeba, +he arrived at King Katema's. There, again, a good reception, and +thence the departure of the little troop that on the 20th of February +encamped on the borders of Lake Dilolo. + +On setting out from this point, a difficult country, exigencies of the +natives, attacks from the tribes, revolt of his companions, threats of +death, everything conspired against Livingstone, and a less energetic +man would have abandoned the party. The doctor persevered, and on the +4th of April, he reached the banks of the Coango, a large watercourse +which forms the eastern boundary of the Portuguese possessions, and +flows northward into the Zaire. + +Six days after, Livingstone entered Cassange, where the trader Alvez +had seen him passing through, and on the 31st of May he arrived at +Saint Paul de Loanda. For the first time, and after a journey of two +years, Africa had just been crossed obliquely from the south to the +west. + +David Livingstone left Loanda, September 24th of the same year. He +skirted the right bank of that Coanza that had been so fatal to Dick +Sand and his party, arrived at the confluence of the Lombe, crossing +numerous caravans of slaves, passed by Cassange again, left it on +the 20th of February, crossed the Coango, and reached the Zambezi at +Kawawa. On the 8th of June he discovered Lake Dilolo again, saw Shinte +again, descended the Zambezi, and reentered Linyanti, which he left on +the 3d of November, 1855. + +This second part of the journey, which would lead the doctor toward +the eastern coast, would enable him to finish completely this crossing +of Africa from the west to the east. + +After having visited the famous Victoria Falls, the "thundering +foam," David Livingstone abandoned the Zambezi to take a northeastern +direction. The passage across the territory of the Batokas (natives +who were besotted by the inhalation of hemp), the visit to Semalembone +(the powerful chief of the region), the crossing of the Kafone, the +finding of the Zambezi again, the visit to King Mbourouma, the sight +of the ruins of Zambo (an ancient Portuguese city), the encounter with +the Chief Mpende on the 17th of January, 1856 (then at war with the +Portuguese), the final arrival at Tete, on the border of the Zambezi, +on the 2d of March--such were the principal halting-places of this +tour. + +The 22d of April Livingstone left that station, formerly a rich one, +descended as far as the delta of the river, and arrived at Quilimane, +at its mouth, on the 20th of May, four years after leaving the Cape. +On the 12th of July he embarked for Maurice, and on the 22d of +December he was returning to England, after sixteen years' absence. + +The prize of the Geographical Society of Paris, the grand medal of +the London Geographical Society, and brilliant receptions greeted the +illustrious traveler. Another would, perhaps, have thought that repose +was well earned. The doctor did not think so, and departed on the +1st of March, 1858, accompanied by his brother Charles, Captain +Bedinfield, the Drs. Kirk and Meller, and by Messrs. Thornton and +Baines. He arrived in May on the coast of Mozambique, having for an +object the exploration of the basin of the Zambezi. + +All would not return from this voyage. A little steamer, the "My +Robert," enabled the explorers to ascend the great river by +the Rongone. They arrived at Tete, September the 8th; thence +reconnoissance of the lower course of the Zambezi and of the Chire, +its left branch, in January, 1859; visit to Lake Chirona in April; +exploration of the Manganjas' territory; discovery of Lake Nyassa +on September 10th; return to the Victoria Falls, August 9th, 1860; +arrival of Bishop Mackensie and his missionaries at the mouth of the +Zambezi, January 31st, 1861; the exploration of the Rovouma, on the +"Pioneer," in March; the return to Lake Nyassa in September, 1861, and +residence there till the end of October; January 30th, 1862, arrival +of Mrs. Livingstone and a second steamer, the "Lady Nyassa:" such were +the events that marked the first years of this new expedition. At +this time, Bishop Mackensie and one of his missionaries had already +succumbed to the unhealthfulness of the climate, and on the 27th of +April, Mrs. Livingstone died in her husband's arms. + +In May, the doctor attempted a second reconnoissance of the Rovouma; +then, at the end of November, he entered the Zambezi again, and sailed +up the Chire again. In April, 1863, he lost his companion, Thornton, +sent back to Europe his brother Charles and Dr. Kirk, who were both +exhausted by sickness, and November 10th, for the third time, he saw +Nyassa, of which he completed the hydrography. Three months after he +was again at the mouth of the Zambezi, passed to Zanzibar, and July +20th, 1864, after five years' absence, he arrived in London, where +he published his work entitled: "Exploration of the Zambezi and its +Branches." + +January 28th, 1866, Livingstone landed again at Zanzibar. He was +beginning his fourth voyage. + +August 8th, after having witnessed the horrible scenes provoked by the +slave-trade in that country, the doctor, taking this time only a few +_cipayes_ and a few negroes, found himself again at Mokalaose, on the +banks of the Nyassa. Six weeks later, the majority of the men forming +the escort took flight, returned to Zanzibar, and there falsely spread +the report of Livingstone's death. + +He, however, did not draw back. He wished to visit the country +comprised between the Nyassa and Lake Tanganyika. December 10th, +guided by some natives, he traversed the Loangona River, and April 2d, +1867, he discovered Lake Liemmba. There he remained a month between +life and death. Hardly well again August 30th he reached Lake Moero, +of which he visited the northern shore, and November 21st he entered +the town of Cayembe, where he lived forty days, during which he twice +renewed his exploration of Lake Moero. + +From Cayembe Livingstone took a northern direction, with the design of +reaching the important town of Oujiji, on the Tanganyika. Surprised by +the rising of the waters, and abandoned by his guides, he was obliged +to return to Cayembe. He redescended to the south June 6th, and six +weeks after gained the great lake Bangoneolo. He remained there till +August 9th, and then sought to reascend toward Lake Tanganyika. + +What a journey! On setting out, January 7th, 1869, the heroic doctor's +feebleness was such that be had to be carried. In February he at last +reached the lake and arrived at Oujiji, where he found some articles +sent to his address by the Oriental Company of Calcutta. + +Livingstone then had but one idea, to gain the sources of the valley +of the Nile by ascending the Tanganyika. September 21st he was at +Bambarre, in the Manonyema, a cannibal country, and arrived at the +Loualaba--that Loualaba that Cameron was going to suspect, and Stanley +to discover, to be only the upper Zaire, or Congo. At Mamohela the +doctor was sick for eighty days. He had only three servants. July +21st, 1871, he departed again for the Tanganyika, and only reentered +Oujiji October 23d. He was then a mere skeleton. + +Meanwhile, before this period, people had been a long time without +news of the traveler. In Europe they believed him to be dead. He +himself had almost lost hope of being ever relieved. + +Eleven days after his entrance into Oujiji shots were heard a quarter +of a mile from the lake. The doctor arrives. A man, a white man, is +before him. "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" + +"Yes," replied the latter, raising his cap, with a friendly smile. + +Their hands were warmly clasped. + +"I thank God," continued the white man, "that He has permitted me to +meet you." + +"I am happy," said Livingstone, "to be here to receive you." + +The white man was the American Stanley, a reporter of the New York +_Herald_, whom Mr. Bennett, the proprietor of that journal, had just +sent to find David Livingstone. + +In the month of October, 1870, this American, without hesitation, +without a word, simply as a hero, had embarked at Bombay for +Zanzibar, and almost following Speke and Burton's route, after untold +sufferings, his life being menaced several times, he arrived at +Oujiji. + +The two travelers, now become fast friends, then made an expedition +to the north of Lake Tanganyika. They embarked, pushed as far as Cape +Malaya, and after a minute exploration, were of the opinion that the +great lake had for an outlet a branch of the Loualaba. + +It was what Cameron and Stanley himself were going to determine +positively some years after. December 12th, Livingstone and his +companion were returning to Oujiji. + +Stanley prepared to depart. December 27th, after a navigation of eight +days, the doctor and he arrived at Ousimba; then, February 23d, they +entered Kouihara. + +March 12th was the day of parting. + +"You have accomplished," said the doctor to his companion, "what +few men would have done, and done it much better than certain great +travelers. I am very grateful to you for it. May God lead you, my +friend, and may He bless you!" + +"May He," said Stanley, taking Livingstone's hand, "bring you back to +us safe and sound, dear doctor!" + +Stanley drew back quickly from this embrace, and turned so as to +conceal his tears. "Good-by, doctor, dear friend," he said in a +stifled voice. + +"Good-by," replied Livingstone, feebly. + +Stanley departed, and July 12th, 1872, he landed at Marseilles. + +Livingstone was going to return to his discoveries. August 25th, after +five months passed at Konihara, accompanied by his black servants, +Souzi, Chouma, and Amoda, by two other servants, by Jacob Wainwright, +and by fifty-six men sent by Stanley, he went toward the south of the +Tanganyika. + +A month after, the caravan arrived at M'oura, in the midst of storms, +caused by an extreme drought. Then came the rains, the bad will of the +natives, and the loss of the beasts of burden, from falling under the +stings of the tsetse. January 24th, 1873, the little troop was at +Tchitounkone. April 27th, after having left Lake Bangoneolo to the +east, the troop was going toward the village of Tchitambo. + +At that place some traders had left Livingstone. This is what Alvez +and his colleague had learned from them. They had good reason to +believe that the doctor, after exploring the south of the lake, would +venture across the Loanda, and come to seek unknown countries in the +west. Thence he was to ascend toward Angola, to visit those regions +infested by the slave-trade, to push as far as Kazounde; the tour +seemed to be all marked out, and it was very probable that Livingstone +would follow it. + +Mrs. Weldon then could count on the approaching arrival of the great +traveler, because, in the beginning of June, it was already more than +two months since he had reached the south of Lake Bangoneolo. + +Now, June 13th, the day before that on which Negoro would come to +claim from Mrs. Weldon the letter that would put one hundred thousand +dollars in his hands, sad news was spread, at which Alvez and the +traders only rejoiced. + +May 1st, 1873, at dawn, Dr. David Livingstone died. In fact, on April +29th, the little caravan had reached the village of Tchitambo, to the +south of the lake. The doctor was carried there on a litter. On the +30th, in the night, under the influence of excessive grief, he moaned +out this complaint, that was hardly heard: "Oh, dear! dear!" and he +fell back from drowsiness. + +At the end of an hour he called his servant, Souzi, asking for some +medicine, then murmuring in a feeble voice: "It is well. Now you can +go." + +Toward four o'clock in the morning, Souzi and five men of the escort +entered the doctor's hut. David Livingstone, kneeling near his bed, +his head resting on his hands, seemed to be engaged in prayer. Souzi +gently touched his cheek; it was cold. David Livingstone was no more. + +Nine months after, his body, carried by faithful servants at the price +of unheard-of fatigues, arrived at Zanzibar. On April 12th, 1874, it +was buried in Westminster Abbey, among those of her great men, whom +England honors equally with her kings. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +WHERE A MANTICORE MAY LEAD. + + +To what plank of safety will not an unfortunate being cling? Will not +the eyes of the condemned seek to seize any ray of hope, no matter how +vague? + +So it had been with Mrs. Weldon. One can understand what she must have +felt when she learned, from Alvez himself, that Dr. Livingstone had +just died in a little Bangoneolo village. + +It seemed to her that she was more isolated than ever; that a sort of +bond that attached her to the traveler, and with him to the civilized +world, had just been broken. + +The plank of safety sank under her hand, the ray of hope went out +before her eyes. Tom and his companions had left Kazounde for the lake +region. Not the least news of Hercules. Mrs. Weldon was not sure of +any one. She must then fall back on Negoro's proposition, while trying +to amend it and secure a definite result from it. + +June 14th, the day fixed by him, Negoro presented himself at Mrs. +Weldon's hut. + +The Portuguese was, as always, so he said, perfectly practical. +However, he abated nothing from the amount of the ransom, which his +prisoner did not even discuss. But Mrs. Weldon also showed herself +very practical in saying to him: + +"If you wish to make an agreement, do not render it impossible by +unacceptable conditions. The exchange of our liberty for the sum you +exact may take place, without my husband coming into a country where +you see what can be done with a white man! Now, I do not wish him to +come here at any price!" + +After some hesitation Negoro yielded, and Mrs. Weldon finished +with the concession that James Weldon should not venture as far as +Kazounde. A ship would land him at Mossamedes, a little port to the +south of Angola, ordinarily frequented by slave-ships, and well-known +by Negoro. It was there that the Portuguese would conduct James W. +Weldon; and at a certain time Alvez's agent would bring thither Mrs. +Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict. The ransom would be given to those +agents on the giving up of the prisoners, and Negoro, who would play +the part of a perfectly honest man with James Weldon, would disappear +on the ship's arrival. + +Mrs. Weldon had gained a very important point. She spared her husband +the dangers of a voyage to Kazounde, the risk of being kept there, +after paying the exacted ransom, and the perils of the return. As to +the six hundred miles that separated Kazounde from Mossamedes, by +going over them as she had traveled on leaving the Coanza, Mrs. Weldon +would only have a little fatigue to fear. Besides, it would be to +Alvez's interest--for he was in the affair--for the prisoners to +arrive safe and sound. + +The conditions being thus settled, Mrs. Weldon wrote to her husband, +leaving to Negoro the care of passing himself off as a devoted +servant, who had escaped from the natives. Negoro took the letter, +which did not allow James Weldon to hesitate about following him as +far as Mossamedes, and, the next day, escorted by twenty blacks, he +traveled toward the north. + +Why did he take that direction? Was it, then, Negoro's intention to +embark on one of the vessels which frequent the mouths of the Congo, +and thus avoid the Portuguese stations, as well as the penitentiaries +in which he had been an involuntary guest? It was probable. At least, +that was the reason he gave Alvez. + +After his departure, Mrs. Weldon must try to arrange her existence +in such a manner as to pass the time of her sojourn at Kazounde as +happily as possible. Under the most favorable circumstances, it would +last three or four months. Negoro's going and returning would require +at least that time. + +Mrs. Weldon's intention was, not to leave the factory. Her child, +Cousin Benedict, and she, were comparatively safe there. Halima's good +care softened the severity of this sequestration a little. Besides, +it was probable that the trader would not permit her to leave the +establishment. The great premium that the prisoner's ransom would +procure him, made it well worth while to guard her carefully. + +It was even fortunate that Alvez was not obliged to leave Kazounde to +visit his two other factories of Bihe and Cassange. Coimbra was going +to take his place in the expedition on new _razzias_ or raids. There +was no motive for regretting the presence of that drunkard. Above all, +Negoro, before setting out, had given Alvez the most urgent commands +in regard to Mrs. Weldon. It was necessary to watch her closely. They +did not know what had become of Hercules. If he had not perished in +that dreadful province of Kazounde, perhaps he would attempt to get +near the prisoner and snatch her from Alvez's hands. The trader +perfectly understood a situation which ciphered itself out by a good +number of dollars. He would answer for Mrs. Weldon as for his own +body. + +So the monotonous life of the prisoner during the first days after her +arrival at the factory, was continued. What passed in this enclosure +reproduced very exactly the various acts of native existence outside. +Alvez lived like the other natives of Kazounde. The women of the +establishment worked as they would have done in the town, for the +greater comfort of their husbands or their masters. Their occupations +included preparing rice with heavy blows of the pestle in wooden +mortars, to perfect decortication; cleansing and winnowing maize, and +all the manipulations necessary to draw from it a granulous substance +which serves to compose that potage called "mtyelle" in the country; +the harvesting of the _sorgho_, a kind of large millet, the ripening +of which had just been solemnly celebrated at this time; the +extraction of that fragrant oil from the "mpafon" drupes, kinds +of olives, the essence of which forms a perfume sought for by the +natives; spinning of the cotton, the fibers of which are twisted by +means of a spindle a foot and a half long, to which the spinners +impart a rapid rotation; the fabrication of bark stuffs with the +mallet; the extraction from the tapioca roots, and the preparation of +the earth for the different products of the country, cassava, flour +that they make from the manioc beans, of which the pods, fifteen +inches long, named "mositsanes," grow on trees twenty feet high; +arachides intended to make oil, perennial peas of a bright blue, +known under the name of "tchilobes," the flowers of which relieve the +slightly insipid taste of the milk of sorgho; native coffee, sugar +canes, the juice of which is reduced to a syrup; onions, Indian pears, +sesamum, cucumbers, the seeds of which are roasted like chestnuts; the +preparation of fermented drinks, the "malofori," made with bananas, +the "pombe" and other liquors; the care of the domestic animals, of +those cows that only allow themselves to be milked in the presence of +their little one or of a stuffed calf; of those heifers of small race, +with short horns, some of which have a hump; of those goats which, in +the country where their flesh serves for food, are an important object +of exchange, one might say current money like the slave; finally, the +feeding of the birds, swine, sheep, oxen, and so forth. + +This long enumeration shows what rude labors fall on the feeble sex in +those savage regions of the African continent. + +During this time the men smoke tobacco or hemp, chase the elephant or +the buffalo, and hire themselves to the traders for the raids. The +harvest of maize or of slaves is always a harvest that takes place in +fixed seasons. + +Of those various occupations, Mrs. Weldon only saw in Alvez's factory +the part laid on the women. Sometimes she stopped, looking at them, +while the slaves, it must be said, only replied to her by ugly +grimaces. A race instinct led these unfortunates to hate a white +woman, and they had no commiseration for her in their hearts. Halima +alone was an exception, and Mrs. Weldon, having learned certain words +of the native language, was soon able to exchange a few sentences with +the young slave. + +Little Jack often accompanied his mother when she walked in the +inclosure; but he wished very much to go outside. There was, however, +in an enormous baobab, marabout nests, formed of a few sticks, and +"souimangas" nests, birds with scarlet breasts and throats, which +resemble those of the tissirms; then "widows," that strip the thatch +for the benefit of their family; "calaos," whose song was agreeable, +bright gray parrots with red tails, which, in the Manyema, are +called "rouss," and give their name to the chiefs of the tribes; +insectivorous "drougos," similar to gray linnets, with large, red +beaks. Here and there also fluttered hundreds of butterflies of +different species, especially in the neighborhood of the brooks that +crossed the factory; but that was rather Cousin Benedict's affair than +little Jack's, and the latter regretted greatly not being taller, +so as to look over the walls. Alas! where was his poor friend, Dick +Sand--he who had brought him so high up in the "Pilgrim's" masts? How +he would have followed him on the branches of those trees, whose tops +rose to more than a hundred feet! What good times they would have had +together! + +Cousin Benedict always found himself very well where he was, +provided insects were not lacking. Happily, he had discovered in the +factory--and he studied as much as he could without magnifying glass +or spectacles--a small bee which forms its cells among the worm-holes +of the wood, and a "sphex" that lays its eggs in cells that are not +its own, as the cuckoo in the nests of other birds. Mosquitoes were +not lacking either, on the banks of the rivulets, and they tattooed +him with bites to the extent of making him unrecognizable. And when +Mrs. Weldon reproached him with letting himself be thus devoured by +those venomous insects: "It is their instinct, Cousin Weldon," he +replied to her, scratching himself till the blood came; "it is their +instinct, and we must not have a grudge against them!" + +At last, one day--it was the 17th of June--Cousin Benedict was on the +point of being the happiest of entomologists. But this adventure, +which had unexpected consequences, needs to be related with some +minuteness. + +It was about eleven o'clock in the morning. An overpowering heat had +obliged the inhabitants of the factory to keep in their huts, and one +would not even meet a single native in the streets of Kazounde. + +Mrs. Weldon was dozing near little Jack, who was sleeping soundly. +Cousin Benedict, himself, suffering from the influence of this +tropical temperature, had given up his favorite hunts, which was a +great sacrifice for him, for, in those rays of the midday sun, he +heard the rustle of a whole world of insects. He was sheltered, then, +at the end of his hut, and there, sleep began to take possession of +him in this involuntary siesta. + +Suddenly, as his eyes half closed, he heard a humming; this is one +of those insupportable buzzings of insects, some of which can give +fifteen or sixteen thousand beats of their wings in a second. + +"A hexapode!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, awakened at once, and passing +from the horizontal to the vertical position. + +There was no doubt that it was a hexapode that was buzzing in his hut. +But, if Cousin Benedict was very near-sighted, he had at least very +acute hearing, so acute even that he could recognize one insect from +another by the intensity of its buzz, and it seemed to him that this +one was unknown, though it could only be produced by a giant of the +species. + +"What is this hexapode?" Cousin Benedict asked himself. + +Behold him, seeking to perceive the insect, which was very difficult +to his eyes without glasses, but trying above all to recognize it by +the buzzing of its wings. + +His instinct as an entomologist warned him that he had something to +accomplish, and that the insect, so providentially entered into his +hut, ought not to be the first comer. + +Cousin Benedict no longer moved. He listened. A few rays of light +reached him. His eyes then discovered a large black point that flew +about, but did not pass near enough for him to recognize it. He held +his breath, and if he felt himself stung in some part of the face or +hands, he was determined not to make a single movement that might put +his hexapode to flight. At last the buzzing insect, after turning +around him for a long time, came to rest on his head. Cousin +Benedict's mouth widened for an instant, as if to give a smile--and +what a smile! He felt the light animal running on his hair. An +irresistible desire to put his hand there seized him for a moment; but +he resisted it, and did well. + +"No, no!" thought he, "I would miss it, or what would be worse, I +would injure it. Let it come more within my reach. See it walking! It +descends. I feel its dear little feet running on my skull! This must +be a hexapode of great height. My God! only grant that it may descend +on the end of my nose, and there, by squinting a little, I might +perhaps see it, and determine to what order, genus, species, or +variety it belongs." + +So thought Cousin Benedict. But it was a long distance from his skull, +which was rather pointed, to the end of his nose, which was very long. +How many other roads the capricious insect might take, beside his +ears, beside his forehead--roads that would take it to a distance from +the savant's eyes--without counting that at any moment it might retake +its flight, leave the hut, and lose itself in those solar rays where, +doubtless, its life was passed, and in the midst of the buzzing of its +congeners that would attract it outside! + +Cousin Benedict said all that to himself. Never, in all his life as +an entomologist, had he passed more touching minutes. An African +hexapode, of a new species, or, at least, of a new variety, or even of +a new sub-variety, was there on his head, and he could not recognize +it except it deigned to walk at least an inch from his eyes. + +However, Cousin Benedict's prayer must be heard. The insect, after +having traveled over the half-bald head, as on the summit of some wild +bush, began to descend Cousin Benedict's forehead, and the latter +might at last conceive the hope that it would venture to the top of +his nose. Once arrived at that top, why would it not descend to the +base? + +"In its place, I--I would descend," thought the worthy savant. + +What is truer than that, in Cousin Benedict's place, any other would +have struck his forehead violently, so as to crush the enticing +insect, or at least to put it to flight. To feel six feet moving on +his skin, without speaking of the fear of being bitten, and not make a +gesture, one will agree that it was the height of heroism. The Spartan +allowing his breast to be devoured by a fox; the Roman holding burning +coals between his fingers, were not more masters of themselves than +Cousin Benedict, who was undoubtedly descended from those two heroes. + +After twenty little circuits, the insect arrived at the top of the +nose. Then there was a moment's hesitation that made all Cousin +Benedict's blood rush to his heart. Would the hexapode ascend again +beyond the line of the eyes, or would it descend below? + +It descended. Cousin Benedict felt its caterpillar feet coming toward +the base of his nose. The insect turned neither to the right nor to +the left. It rested between its two buzzing wings, on the slightly +hooked edge of that learned nose, so well formed to carry spectacles. +It cleared the little furrow produced by the incessant use of that +optical instrument, so much missed by the poor cousin, and it stopped +just at the extremity of his nasal appendage. + +It was the best place this haxapode could choose. At that distance, +Cousin Benedict's two eyes, by making their visual rays converge, +could, like two lens, dart their double look on the insect. + +"Almighty God!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, who could not repress a +cry, "the tuberculous _manticore_." + +Now, he must not cry it out, he must only think it. But was it not too +much to ask from the most enthusiastic of entomologists? + +To have on the end of his nose a tuberculous _manticore_, with large +elytrums--an insect of the cicendeletes tribe--a very rare specimen +in collections--one that seems peculiar to those southern parts of +Africa, and yet not utter a cry of admiration; that is beyond human +strength. + +Unfortunately the _manticore_ heard this cry, which was almost +immediately followed by a sneeze, that shook the appendage on which it +rested. Cousin Benedict wished to take possession of it, extended his +hand, shut it violently, and only succeeded in seizing the end of his +own nose. + +"Malediction!" exclaimed he. But then he showed a remarkable coolness. + +He knew that the tuberculous _manticore_ only flutters about, so to +say, that it walks rather than flies. He then knelt, and succeeded in +perceiving, at less than ten inches from his eyes, the black point +that was gliding rapidly in a ray of light. + +Evidently it was better to study it in this independent attitude. Only +he must not lose sight of it. + +"To seize the _manticore_ would be to risk crushing it," Cousin +Benedict said to himself. "No; I shall follow it! I shall admire it! I +have time enough to take it!" + +Was Cousin Benedict wrong? However that may be, see him now on all +fours, his nose to the ground like a dog that smells a scent, and +following seven or eight inches behind the superb hexapode. One moment +after he was outside his hut, under the midday sun, and a few minutes +later at the foot of the palisade that shut in Alvez's establishment. + +At this place was the _manticore_ going to clear the enclosure with a +bound, and put a wall between its adorer and itself? No, that was not +in its nature, and Cousin Benedict knew it well. So he was always +there, crawling like a snake, too far off to recognize the insect +entomologically--besides, that was done--but near enough to perceive +that large, moving point traveling over the ground. + +The _manticore_, arrived near the palisade, had met the large entrance +of a mole-hill that opened at the foot of the enclosure. There, +without hesitating, it entered this subterranean gallery, for it is in +the habit of seeking those obscure passages. Cousin Benedict believed +that he was going to lose sight of it. But, to his great surprise, the +passage was at least two feet high, and the mole-hill formed a gallery +where his long, thin body could enter. Besides, he put the ardor of a +ferret into his pursuit, and did not even perceive that in "earthing" +himself thus, he was passing outside the palisade. + +In fact, the mole-hill established a natural communication between the +inside and the outside. In half a minute Cousin Benedict was outside +of the factory. That did not trouble him. He was absorbed in +admiration of the elegant insect that was leading him on. But the +latter, doubtless, had enough of this long walk. Its elytrums turned +aside, its wings spread out. Cousin Benedict felt the danger, and, +with his curved hand, he was going to make a provisional prison for +the _manticore_, when--f-r-r-r-r!--it flew away! + +What despair! But the _manticore_ could not go far. Cousin Benedict +rose; he looked, he darted forward, his two hands stretched out and +open. The insect flew above his head, and he only perceived a large +black point, without appreciable form to him. + +Would the _manticore_ come to the ground again to rest, after having +traced a few capricious circles around Cousin Benedict's bald head? +All the probabilities were in favor of its doing so. + +Unfortunately for the unhappy savant, this part of Alvez's +establishment, which was situated at the northern extremity of the +town, bordered on a vast forest, which covered the territory of +Kazounde for a space of several square miles. If the _manticore_ +gained the cover of the trees, and if there, it should flutter from +branch to branch, he must renounce all hope of making it figure in +that famous tin box, in which it would be the most precious jewel. + +Alas! that was what happened. The _manticore_ had rested again on +the ground. Cousin Benedict, having the unexpected hope of seeing it +again, threw himself on the ground at once. But the _manticore_ no +longer walked: it proceeded by little jumps. + +Cousin Benedict, exhausted, his knees and hands bleeding, jumped also. +His two arms, his hands open, were extended to the right, to the left, +according as the black point bounded here or there. It might be said +that he was drawing his body over that burning soil, as a swimmer does +on the surface of the water. + +Useless trouble! His two hands always closed on nothing. The insect +escaped him while playing with him, and soon, arrived under the fresh +branches, it arose, after throwing into Cousin Benedict's ear, which +it touched lightly, the most intense but also the most ironical +buzzing of its coleopter wings. + +"Malediction!" exclaimed Cousin Benedict, a second time. "It escapes +me. Ungrateful hexapode! Thou to whom I reserved a place of honor in +my collection! Well, no, I shall not give thee up! I shall follow thee +till I reach thee!" + +He forgot, this discomfited cousin, that his nearsighted eyes would +not enable him to perceive the _manticore_ among the foliage. But he +was no longer master of himself. Vexation, anger, made him a fool. It +was himself, and only himself, that he must blame for his loss. If he +had taken possession of the insect at first, instead of following it +"in its independent ways," nothing of all that would have happened, +and he would possess that admirable specimen of African _manticores_, +the name of which is that of a fabulous animal, having a man's head +and a lion's body. + +Cousin Benedict had lost his head. He little thought that the most +unforeseen of circumstances had just restored him to liberty. He did +not dream that the ant-hill, into which he had just entered, had opened +to him an escape, and that he had just left Alvez's establishment. +The forest was there, and under the trees was his _manticore_, flying +away! At any price, he wanted to see it again. + +See him, then, running across the thick forest, no longer conscious +even of what he was doing, always imagining he saw the precious +insect, beating the air with his long arms like a gigantic +field-spider. Where he was going, how he would return, and if he +should return, he did not even ask himself, and for a good mile +he made his way thus, at the risk of being met by some native, or +attacked by some beast. + +Suddenly, as he passed near a thicket, a gigantic being sprang out and +threw himself on him. Then, as Cousin Benedict would have done with +the _manticore_, that being seized him with one hand by the nape of +the neck, with the other by the lower part of the back, and before he +had time to know what was happening, he was carried across the forest. + +Truly, Cousin Benedict had that day lost a fine occasion of being able +to proclaim himself the happiest entomologist of the five parts of the +world. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A MAGICIAN. + + +When Mrs. Weldon, on the 17th of the month, did not see Cousin +Benedict reappear at the accustomed hour, she was seized with the +greatest uneasiness. She could not imagine what had become of her +big baby. That he had succeeded in escaping from the factory, the +enclosure of which was absolutely impassable, was not admissible. +Besides, Mrs. Weldon knew her cousin. Had one proposed to this +original to flee, abandoning his tin box and his collection of African +insects, he would have refused without the shadow of hesitation. Now, +the box was there in the hut, intact, containing all that the savant +had been able to collect since his arrival on the continent. To +suppose that he was voluntarily separated from his entomological +treasures, was inadmissible. + +Nevertheless, Cousin Benedict was no longer in Jose-Antonio Alvez's +establishment. + +During all that day Mrs. Weldon looked for him persistently. Little +Jack and the slave Halima joined her. It was useless. + +Mrs. Weldon was then forced to adopt this sad hypothesis: the prisoner +had been carried away by the trader's orders, for motives that she +could not fathom. But then, what had Alvez done with him? Had he +incarcerated him in one of the barracks of the large square? Why this +carrying away, coming after the agreement made between Mrs. Weldon and +Negoro, an agreement which included Cousin Benedict in the number +of the prisoners whom the trader would conduct to Mossamedes, to be +placed in James W. Weldon's hands for a ransom? + +If Mrs. Weldon had been a witness of Alvez's anger, when the latter +learned of the prisoner's disappearance, she would have understood +that this disappearance was indeed made against his will. But then, if +Cousin Benedict had escaped voluntarily, why had he not let her into +the secret of his escape? + +However, the search of Alvez and his servants, which was made with the +greatest care, led to the discovery of that mole-hill, which put the +factory in direct communication with the neighboring forest. The +trader no longer doubted that the "fly-hunter" had fled by that narrow +opening. One may then judge of his fury, when he said to himself that +this flight would doubtless be put to account, and would diminish the +prize that the affair would bring him. + +"That imbecile is not worth much," thought he, "nevertheless, I shall +be compelled to pay dear for him. Ah! if I take him again!" + +But notwithstanding the searchings that were made inside, and though +the woods were beaten over a large radius, it was impossible to find +any trace of the fugitive. + +Mrs. Weldon must resign herself to the loss of her cousin, and Alvez +mourn over his prisoner. As it could not be admitted that the latter +had established communications with the outside, it appeared evident +that chance alone had made him discover the existence of the +mole-hill, and that he had taken flight without thinking any more of +those he left behind than if they had never existed. + +Mrs. Weldon was forced to allow that it must be so, but she did +not dream of blaming the poor man, so perfectly unconscious of his +actions. + +"The unfortunate! what will become of him?" she asked herself. + +It is needless to say that the mole-hill had been closed up the same +day, and with the greatest care, and that the watch was doubled inside +as well as outside the factory. + +The monotonous life of the prisoners then continued for Mrs. Weldon +and her child. + +Meanwhile, a climatic fact, very rare at that period of the year, was +produced in the province. Persistent rains began about the 19th of +June, though the _masika_ period, that finishes in April, was passed. +In fact, the sky was covered, and continual showers inundated the +territory of Kazounde. + +What was only a vexation for Mrs. Weldon, because she must renounce +her walks inside the factory, became a public misfortune for the +natives. The low lands, covered with harvests already ripe, were +entirely submerged. The inhabitants of the province, to whom the crop +suddenly failed, soon found themselves in distress. All the labors +of the season were compromised, and Queen Moini, any more than her +ministers, did not know how to face the catastrophe. + +They then had recourse to the magicians, but not to those whose +profession is to heal the sick by their incantations and sorceries, or +who predict success to the natives. There was a public misfortune on +hand, and the best "mganngas," who have the privilege of provoking or +stopping the rains, were prayed to, to conjure away the peril. + +Their labor was in vain. It was in vain that they intoned their +monotonous chant, rang their little bells and hand-bells, employed +their most precious amulets, and more particularly, a horn full of mud +and bark, the point of which was terminated by three little horns. +The spirits were exorcised by throwing little balls of dung, or in +spitting in the faces of the most august personages of the court; but +they did not succeed in chasing away the bad spirits that presided +over the formation of the clouds. + +Now, things were going from bad to worse, when Queen Moini thought of +inviting a celebrated magician, then in the north of Angola. He was +a magician of the first order, whose power was the more marvelous +because they had never tested it in this country where he had never +come. But there was no question of its success among the Masikas. + +It was on the 25th of June, in the morning, that the new magician +suddenly announced his arrival at Kazounde with great ringing of +bells. + +This sorcerer came straight to the "tchitoka," and immediately the +crowd of natives rushed toward him. The sky was a little less rainy, +the wind indicated a tendency to change, and those signs of calm, +coinciding with the arrival of the magician, predisposed the minds of +the natives in his favor. + +Besides, he was a superb man--a black of the finest water. He was at +least six feet high, and must be extraordinarily strong. This prestige +already influenced the crowd. + +Generally, the sorcerers were in bands of three, four, or five when +they went through the villages, and a certain number of acolytes, or +companions, made their cortege. This magician was alone. His whole +breast was zebraed with white marks, done with pipe clay. The lower +part of his body disappeared under an ample skirt of grass stuff, the +"train" of which would not have disgraced a modern elegant. A collar +of birds' skulls was round his neck; on his head was a sort of +leathern helmet, with plumes ornamented with pearls; around his loins +a copper belt, to which hung several hundred bells, noisier than the +sonorous harness of a Spanish mule: thus this magnificent specimen of +the corporation of native wizards was dressed. + +All the material of his art was comprised in a kind of basket, of +which a calebash formed the bottom, and which was filled with shells, +amulets, little wooden idols, and other fetiches, plus a notable +quantity of dung balls, important accessories to the incantations and +divinatory practises of the center of Africa. + +One peculiarity was soon discovered by the crowd. This magician was +dumb. But this infirmity could only increase the consideration with +which they were disposed to surround him. He only made a guttural +sound, low and languid, which had no signification. The more reason +for being well skilled in the mysteries of witchcraft. + +The magician first made the tour of the great place, executing a +kind of dance which put in motion all his chime of bells. The crowd +followed, imitating his movements--it might be said, as a troop of +monkeys following a gigantic, four-handed animal. Then, suddenly, the +sorcerer, treading the principal street of Kazounde, went toward the +royal residence. + +As soon as Queen Moini had been informed of the arrival of the new +wizard, she appeared, followed by her courtiers. + +The magician bowed to the ground, and lifted up his head again, +showing his superb height. His arms were then extended toward the sky, +which was rapidly furrowed by masses of clouds. The sorcerer pointed +to those clouds with his hand; he imitated their movements in an +animated pantomime. He showed them fleeing to the west, but returning +to the east by a rotary movement that no power could stop. + +Then, suddenly, to the great surprise of the town and the court, this +sorcerer took the redoubtable sovereign of Kazounde by the hand. A +few courtiers wished to oppose this act, which was contrary to all +etiquette; but the strong magician, seizing the nearest by the nape of +the neck, sent him staggering fifteen paces off. + +The queen did not appear to disapprove of this proud manner of acting. +A sort of grimace, which ought to be a smile, was addressed to the +wizard, who drew the queen on with rapid steps, while the crowd rushed +after him. + +This time it was toward Alvez's establishment that the sorcerer +directed his steps. He soon reached the door, which was shut. A +simple blow from his shoulder threw it to the ground, and he led the +conquered queen into the interior of the factory. + +The trader, his soldiers and his slaves, ran to punish the daring +being who took it upon himself to throw down doors without waiting for +them to be opened to him. Suddenly, seeing that their sovereign did +not protest, they stood still, in a respectful attitude. + +No doubt Alvez was about to ask the queen why he was honored by her +visit, but the magician did not give him time. Making the crowd recede +so as to leave a large space free around him, he recommenced his +pantomime with still greater animation. He pointed to the clouds, he +threatened them, he exorcised them; he made a sign as if he could +first stop them, and then scatter them. His enormous cheeks were +puffed out, and he blew on this mass of heavy vapors as if he had the +strength to disperse them. Then, standing upright, he seemed to intend +stopping them in their course, and one would have said that, owing to +his gigantic height, he could have seized them. + +The superstitious Moini, "overcome" by the acting of this tall +comedian, could no longer control herself. Cries escaped her. She +raved in her turn, and instinctively repeated the magician's gestures. +The courtiers and the crowd followed her example, and the mute's +guttural sounds were lost amid those songs; cries, and yells which the +native language furnishes with so much prodigality. + +Did the clouds cease to rise on the eastern horizon and veil the +tropical sun? Did they vanish before the exorcisms of this new wizard? +No. And just at this moment, when the queen and her people imagined +that they had appeased the evil spirits that had watered them with so +many showers, the sky, somewhat clear since daybreak, became darker +than ever. Large drops of rain fell pattering on the ground. + +Then a sudden change took place in the crowd. They then saw that this +sorcerer was worth no more than the others. The queen's brows were +frowning. They understood that he at least was in danger of losing +his ears. The natives had contracted the circle around him; fists +threatened him, and they were about to punish him, when an unforeseen +incident changed the object of their evil intentions. + +The magician, who overlooked the whole yelling crowd, stretched his +arms toward one spot in the enclosure. The gesture was so imperious +that all turned to look at it. + +Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, attracted by the noise and the clamor, +had just left their hut. The magician, with an angry gesture, had +pointed to them with his left hand, while his right was raised toward +the sky. + +They! it was they'! It was this white woman--it was her child--they +were causing all this evil. They had brought these clouds from their +rainy country, to inundate the territories of Kazounde. + +It was at once understood. Queen Moini, pointing to Mrs. Weldon, made +a threatening gesture. The natives, uttering still more terrible +cries, rushed toward her. + +Mrs. Weldon thought herself lost, and clasping her son in her arms, +she stood motionless as a statue before this over-excited crowd. + +The magician went toward her. The natives stood aside in the presence +of this wizard, who, with the cause of the evil, seemed to have found +the remedy. + +The trader, Alvez, knowing that the life of the prisoner was precious, +now approached, not being sure of what he ought to do. + +The magician had seized little Jack, and snatching him from his +mother's arms, he held him toward the sky. It seemed as if he were +about to dash the child to the earth, so as to appease the gods. + +With a terrible cry, Mrs. Weldon fell to the ground insensible. + +But the magician, after having made a sign to the queen, which no +doubt reassured her as to his intentions, raised the unhappy mother, +and while the crowd, completely subdued, parted to give him space, he +carried her away with her child. + +Alvez was furious, not expecting this result. After having lost one +of the three prisoners, to see the prize confided to his care thus +escape, and, with the prize, the large bribe promised him by Negoro! +Never! not if the whole territory of Kazounde were submerged by a new +deluge! He tried to oppose this abduction. + +The natives now began to mutter against him. The queen had him seized +by her guards, and, knowing what it might cost him, the trader was +forced to keep quiet, while cursing the stupid credulity of Queen +Moini's subjects. + +The savages, in fact, expected to see the clouds disappear with those +who had brought them, and they did not doubt that the magician would +destroy the scourge, from which they suffered so much, in the blood of +the strangers. + +Meanwhile, the magician carried off his victims as a lion would a +couple of kids which did not satisfy his powerful appetite. Little +Jack was terrified, his mother was unconscious. The crowd, roused to +the highest degree of fury, escorted the magician with yells; but +he left the enclosure, crossed Kazounde, and reentered the forest, +walking nearly three miles, without resting for a moment. Finally he +was alone, the natives having understood that he did not wish to be +followed. He arrived at the bank of a river, whose rapid current +flowed toward the north. + +There, at the end of a large opening, behind the long, drooping +branches of a thicket which hid the steep bank, was moored a canoe, +covered by a sort of thatch. + +The magician lowered his double burden into the boat, and following +himself, shoved out from the bank, and the current rapidly carried +them down the stream. The next minute he said, in a very distinct +voice: + +"Captain, here are Mrs. Weldon and little Jack; I present them to you. +Forward. And may all the clouds in heaven fall on those idiots of +Kazounde!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DRIFTING. + + +It was Hercules, not easily recognized in his magician's attire, who +was speaking thus, and it was Dick Sand whom he was addressing--Dick +Sand, still feeble enough, to lean on Cousin Benedict, near whom Dingo +was lying. + +Mrs. Weldon, who had regained consciousness, could only pronounce +these words: + +"You! Dick! You!" + +The young novice rose, but already Mrs. Weldon was pressing him in her +arms, and Jack was lavishing caresses on him. + +"My friend Dick! my friend Dick!" repeated the little boy. Then, +turning to Hercules: "And I," he added, "I did not know you!" + +"Hey! what a disguise!" replied Hercules, rubbing his breast to efface +the variety of colors that striped it. + +"You were too ugly!" said little Jack. + +"Bless me! I was the devil, and the devil is not handsome." + +"Hercules!" said Mrs. Weldon, holding out her hand to the brave black. + +"He has delivered you," added Dick Sand, "as he has saved me, though +he will not allow it." + +"Saved! saved! We are not saved yet!" replied Hercules. "And besides, +without Mr. Benedict, who came to tell us where you were, Mrs. Weldon, +we could not have done anything." + +In fact, it was Hercules who, five days before, had jumped upon the +savant at the moment when, having been led two miles from the factory, +the latter was running in pursuit of his precious manticore. Without +this incident, neither Dick Sand nor the black would have known Mrs. +Weldon's retreat, and Hercules would not have ventured to Kazounde in +a magician's dress. + +While the boat drifted with rapidity in this narrow part of the river, +Hercules related what had passed since his flight from the camp on +the Coanza; how, without being seen, he had followed the _kitanda_ in +which Mrs. Weldon and her son were; how he had found Dingo wounded; +how the two had arrived in the neighborhood of Kazounde; how a note +from Hercules, carried by the dog, told Dick Sand what had become of +Mrs. Weldon; how, after the unexpected arrival of Cousin Benedict, +he had vainly tried to make his way into the factory, more carefully +guarded than ever; how, at last, he had found this opportunity of +snatching the prisoner from that horrible Jose-Antonio Alvez. Now, +this opportunity had offered itself that same day. A _mgannga_, or +magician, on his witchcraft circuit, that celebrated magician so +impatiently expected, was passing through the forest in which Hercules +roamed every night, watching, waiting, ready for anything. + +To spring upon the magician, despoil him of his baggage, and of his +magician's vestments, to fasten him to the foot of a tree with liane +knots that the Davenports themselves could not have untied, to paint +his body, taking the sorcerer's for a model, and to act out his +character in charming and controlling the rains, had been the work +of several hours. Still, the incredible credulity of the natives was +necessary for his success. + +During this recital, given rapidly by Hercules, nothing concerning +Dick Sand had been mentioned. + +"And you, Dick!" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"I, Mrs. Weldon!" replied the young man. "I can tell you nothing. My +last thought was for you, for Jack! I tried in vain to break the cords +that fastened me to the stake. The water rose over my head. I lost +consciousness. When I came to myself, I was sheltered in a hole, +concealed by the papyrus of this bank, and Hercules was on his knees +beside me, lavishing his care upon me." + +"Well! that is because I am a physician," replied Hercules; "a +diviner, a sorcerer, a magician, a fortuneteller!" + +"Hercules," said Mrs. Weldon, "tell me, how did you save Dick Sand?" + +"Did I do it, Mrs. Weldon?" replied Hercules; "Might not the current +have broken the stake to which our captain was tied, and in the middle +of the night, carried him half-dead on this beam, to the place where +I received him? Besides, in the darkness, there was no difficulty in +gliding among the victims that carpeted the ditch, waiting for the +bursting of the dam, diving under water, and, with a little strength, +pulling up our captain and the stake to which these scoundrels had +bound him! There was nothing very extraordinary in all that! The +first-comer could have done as much. Mr. Benedict himself, or even +Dingo! In fact, might it not have been Dingo?" + +A yelping was heard; and Jack, taking hold of the dog's large head, +gave him several little friendly taps. + +"Dingo," he asked, "did you save our friend Dick?" + +At the same time he turned the dog's head from right to left. + +"He says, no, Hercules!" said Jack. "You see that it was not he. +Dingo, did Hercules save our captain?" + +The little boy forced Dingo's good head to move up and down, five or +six times. + +"He says, yes, Hercules! he says, yes!" cried little Jack. "You see +then that it was you!" + +"Friend Dingo," replied Hercules, caressing the dog, "that is wrong. +You promised me not to betray me." + +Yes, it was indeed Hercules, who had risked his life to save Dick +Sand. But he had done it, and his modesty would not allow him to +agree to the fact. Besides, he thought it a very simple thing, and he +repeated that any one of his companions would have done the same under +the circumstances. + +This led Mrs. Weldon to speak of old Tom, of his son, of Acteon and +Bat, his unfortunate companions. + +They had started for the lake region. Hercules had seen them pass with +the caravan of slaves. He had followed them, but no opportunity to +communicate with them had presented itself. They were gone! they were +lost! + +Hercules had been laughing heartily, but now he shed tears which he +did not try to restrain. + +"Do not cry, my friend," Mrs. Weldon said to him. "God may be +merciful, and allow us to meet them again." + +In a few words she informed Dick Sand of all that had happened during +her stay in Alvez's factory. + +"Perhaps," she added, "it would have been better to have remained at +Kazounde." + +"What a fool I was!" cried Hercules. + +"No, Hercules, no!" said Dick Sand. "These wretches would have found +means to draw Mr. Weldon into some new trap. Let us flee together, and +without delay. We shall reach the coast before Negoro can return to +Mossamedes. There, the Portuguese authorities will give us aid and +protection; and when Alvez comes to take his one hundred thousand +dollars--" + +"A hundred thousand blows on the old scoundrel's skull!" cried +Hercules; "and I will undertake to keep the count." + +However, here was a new complication, although it was very evident +that Mrs. Weldon would not dream of returning to Kazounde. The point +now was to anticipate Negoro. All Dick Sand's projects must tend +toward that end. + +Dick Sand was now putting in practise the plan which he had long +contemplated, of gaining the coast by utilizing the current of a +river or a stream. Now, the watercourse was there; its direction was +northward, and it was possible that it emptied into the Zaire. In that +case, instead of reaching St. Paul de Loanda, it would be at the mouth +of the great river that Mrs. Weldon and her companions would arrive. +This was not important, because help would not fail them in the +colonies of Lower Guinea. + +Having decided to descend the current of this river, Dick Sand's first +idea was to embark on one of the herbaceous rafts, a kind of floating +isle (of which Cameron has often spoken), which drifts in large +numbers on the surface of African rivers. + +But Hercules, while roaming at night on the bank, had been fortunate +enough to find a drifting boat. Dick Sand could not hope for anything +better, and chance had served him kindly. In fact, it was not one of +those narrow boats which the natives generally use. + +The perogue found by Hercules was one of those whose length exceeds +thirty feet, and the width four--and they are carried rapidly on the +waters of the great lakes by the aid of numerous paddles. Mrs. Weldon +and her companions could install themselves comfortably in it, and it +was sufficient to keep it in the stream by means of an oar to descend +the current of the river. + +At first, Dick Sand, wishing to pass unseen, had formed a project +to travel only at night. But to drift twelve hours out of the +twenty-four, was to double the length of a journey which might be +quite long. Happily, Dick Sand had taken a fancy to cover the perogue +with a roof of long grasses, sustained on a rod, which projected fore +and aft. This, when on the water, concealed even the long oar. One +would have said that it was a pile of herbs which drifted down stream, +in the midst of floating islets. Such was the ingenious arrangement +of the thatch, that the birds were deceived, and, seeing there some +grains to pilfer, red-beaked gulls, "arrhinisgas" of black plumage, +and gray and white halcyons frequently came to rest upon it. + +Besides, this green roof formed a shelter from the heat of the sun. A +voyage made under these conditions might then be accomplished almost +without fatigue, but not without danger. + +In fact, the journey would be a long one, and it would be necessary +to procure food each day. Hence the risk of hunting on the banks if +fishing would not suffice, and Dick Sand had no firearms but the gun +carried off by Hercules after the attack on the ant-hill; but he +counted on every shot. Perhaps even by passing his gun through the +thatch of the boat he might fire with surety, like a butter through +the holes in his hut. + +Meanwhile, the perogue drifted with the force of the current a +distance not less than two miles an hour, as near as Dick Sand could +estimate it. + +He hoped to make, thus, fifty miles a day. But, on account of this +very rapidity of the current, continual care was necessary to avoid +obstacles--rocks, trunks of trees, and the high bottoms of the river. +Besides, it was to be feared that this current would change to rapids, +or to cataracts, a frequent occurrence on the rivers of Africa. + +The joy of seeing Mrs. Weldon and her child had restored all Dick +Sand's strength, and he had posted himself in the fore-part of the +boat. Across the long grasses, his glance observed the downward +course, and, either by voice or gesture, he indicated to Hercules, +whose vigorous hands held the oar, what was necessary so as to keep in +the right direction. + +Mrs. Weldon reclined on a bed of dry leaves in the center of the boat, +and grew absorbed in her own thoughts. Cousin Benedict was taciturn, +frowning at the sight of Hercules, whom he had not forgiven for his +intervention in the affair of the manticore. He dreamed of his lost +collection, of his entomological notes, the value of which would +not be appreciated by the natives of Kazounde. So he sat, his limbs +stretched out, and his arms crossed on his breast, and at times he +instinctively made a gesture of raising to his forehead the glasses +which his nose did not support. As for little Jack, he understood +that he must not make a noise; but, as motion was not forbidden, he +imitated his friend Dingo, and ran on his hands and feet from one end +of the boat to the other. + +During the first two days Mrs. Weldon and her companions used the food +that Hercules had been able to obtain before they started. Dick Sand +only stopped for a few hours in the night, so as to gain rest. But he +did not leave the boat, not wishing to do it except when obliged by +the necessity of renewing their provisions. + +No incident marked the beginning of the voyage on this unknown river, +which measured, at least, more than a hundred and fifty feet in +width. Several islets drifted on the surface, and moved with the same +rapidity as the boat. So there was no danger of running upon them, +unless some obstacle stopped them. + +The banks, besides, seemed to be deserted. Evidently these portions of +the territory of Kazounde were little frequented by the natives. + +Numerous wild plants covered the banks, and relieved them with a +profusion of the most brilliant colors. Swallow-wort, iris, lilies, +clematis, balsams, umbrella-shaped flowers, aloes, tree-ferns, and +spicy shrubs formed a border of incomparable brilliancy. Several +forests came to bathe their borders in these rapid waters. +Copal-trees, acacias, "bauhinias" of iron-wood, the trunks covered +with a dross of lichens on the side exposed to the coldest winds, +fig-trees which rose above roots arranged in rows like mangroves, and +other trees of magnificent growth, overhung the river. Their high +tops, joining a hundred feet above, formed a bower which the solar +rays could not penetrate. Often, also, a bridge of lianes was thrown +from one bank to the other, and during the 27th little Jack, to his +intense admiration, saw a band of monkeys cross one of these vegetable +passes, holding each other's tail, lest the bridge should break under +their weight. + +These monkeys are a kind of small chimpanzee, which in Central Africa +has received the name of "sokos." They have low foreheads, clear +yellow faces, and high-set ears, and are very ugly examples of the +_simiesque_ race. They live in bands of a dozen, bark like dogs, and +are feared by the natives, whose children they often carry off to +scratch or bite. + +In passing the liane bridge they never suspected that, beneath that +mass of herbs which the current bore onward, there was a little +boy who would have exactly served to amuse them. The preparations, +designed by Dick Sand, were very well conceived, because these +clear-sighted beasts were deceived by them. + +Twenty miles farther on, that same day, the boat was suddenly stopped +in its progress. + +"What is the matter?" asked Hercules, always posted at his oar. + +"A barrier," replied Dick Sand; "but a natural barrier." + +"It must be broken, Mr. Dick." + +"Yes, Hercules, and with a hatchet. Several islets have drifted upon +it, and it is quite strong." + +"To work, captain! to work!" replied Hercules, who came and stood in +the fore-part of the perogue. + +This barricade was formed by the interlacing of a sticky plant with +glossy leaves, which twists as it is pressed together, and becomes +very resisting. They call it "tikatika," and it will allow people to +cross watercourses dry-shod, if they are not afraid to plunge twelve +inches into its green apron. Magnificent ramifications of the lotus +covered the surface of this barrier. + +It was already dark. Hercules could, without imprudence, quit the +boat, and he managed his hatchet so skilfully that two hours afterward +the barrier had given way, the current turned up the broken pieces on +the banks, and the boat again took the channel. + +Must it be confessed! That great child of a Cousin Benedict had hoped +for a moment that they would not be able to pass. Such a voyage seemed +to him unnecessary. He regretted Alvez's factory and the hut that +contained his precious entomologist's box. His chagrin was real, and +indeed it was pitiful to see the poor man. Not an insect; no, not one +to preserve! + +What, then, was his joy when Hercules, "his pupil" after all, brought +him a horrible little beast which he had found on a sprig of the +tikatika. Singularly enough the brave black seemed a little confused +in presenting it to him. + +But what exclamations Cousin Benedict uttered when he had brought this +insect, which he held between his index finger and his thumb, as near +as possible to his short-sighted eyes, which neither glasses nor +microscope could now assist. + +"Hercules!" he cried, "Hercules! Ah! see what will gain your pardon! +Cousin Weldon! Dick! a hexapode, unique in its species, and of African +origin! This, at least, they will not dispute with me, and it shall +quit me only with my life!" + +"It is, then, very precious?" asked Mrs. Weldon. + +"Precious!" cried Cousin Benedict. "An insect which is neither a +coleopter, nor a neuropteran, nor a hymenopter; which does not belong +to any of the ten orders recognized by savants, and which they will be +rather tempted to rank in the second section of the arachnides. A +sort of spider, which would be a spider if it had eight legs, and is, +however, a hexapode, because it has but six. Ah! my friends, Heaven +owed me this joy; and at length I shall give my name to a scientific +discovery! That insect shall be the 'Hexapodes Benedictus.'" + +The enthusiastic savant was so happy--he forgot so many miseries past +and to come in riding his favorite hobby--that neither Mrs. Weldon nor +Dick Sand grudged him his felicitations. + +All this time the perogue moved on the dark waters of the river. The +silence of night was only disturbed by the clattering scales of the +crocodiles, or the snorting of the hippopotami that sported on the +banks. + +Then, through the sprigs of the thatch, the moon appeared behind the +tops of the trees, throwing its soft light to the interior of the +boat. + +Suddenly, on the right bank, was heard a distant hubbub, then a dull +noise as if giant pumps were working in the dark. + +It was several hundred elephants, that, satiated by the woody roots +which they had devoured during the day, came to quench their thirst +before the hour of repose. One would really have supposed that all +these trunks, lowered and raised by the same automatic movement, would +have drained the river dry. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VARIOUS INCIDENTS. + + +For eight days the boat drifted, carried by the current under the +conditions already described. No incident of any importance occurred. +For a space of many miles the river bathed the borders of superb +forests; then the country, shorn of these fine trees, spread in +jungles to the limits of the horizon. + +If there were no natives in this country--a fact which Dick Sand did +not dream of regretting--the animals at least abounded there. Zebras +sported on the banks, elks, and "caamas," a species of antelope which +were extremely graceful, and they disappeared at night to give place +to the leopards, whose growls could be heard, and even to the lions +which bounded in the tall grasses. Thus far the fugitives had not +suffered from these ferocious creatures, whether in the forests or in +the river. + +Meanwhile, each day, generally in the afternoon, Dick Sand neared one +bank or the other, moored the boat, disembarked, and explored the +shore for a short distance. + +In fact, it was necessary to renew their daily food. Now, in this +country, barren of all cultivation, they could not depend upon the +tapioca, the sorgho, the maize, and the fruits, which formed the +vegetable food of the native tribes. These plants only grew in a +wild state, and were not eatable. Dick Sand was thus forced to hunt, +although the firing of his gun might bring about an unpleasant +meeting. + +They made a fire by rubbing a little stick against a piece of the wild +fig-tree, native fashion, or even simiesque style, for it is affirmed +that certain of the gorillas procure a fire by this means. Then, for +several days, they cooked a little elk or antelope flesh. During the +4th of July Dick Sand succeeded in killing, with a single ball, a +"pokou," which gave them a good supply of venison. This animal, was +five feet long; it had long horns provided with rings, a yellowish red +skin, dotted with brilliant spots, and white on the stomach; and the +flesh was found to be excellent. + +It followed then, taking into account these almost daily landings and +the hours of repose that were necessary at night, that the distance on +the 8th of July could hot be estimated as more than one hundred miles. +This was considerable, however, and already Dick Sand asked himself +where this interminable river ended. Its course absorbed some +small tributaries and did not sensibly enlarge. As for the general +direction, after having been north for a long time, it took a bend +toward the northwest. + +However, this river furnished its share of food. Long lianes, armed +with thorns, which served as fishhooks, caught several of those +delicately-flavored "sandjikas", which, once smoked, are easily +carried in this region; black "usakas" were also caught, and some +"mormdes," with large heads, the genciva of which have teeth like the +hairs of a brush, and some little "dagalas," the friends of running +waters, belonging to the clupe species, and resembling the whitebait +of the Thames. + +During the 9th of July, Dick Sand had to give proof of extreme +coolness. He was alone on the shore, carrying off a "caama," the horns +of which showed above the thicket. He had just shot it, and now there +bounded, thirty feet off, a formidable hunter, that no doubt came to +claim its prey, and was not in a humor to give it up. It was a lion of +great height, one of those which the natives call "karamos," and not +one of the kind without a mane, named "lion of the Nyassi." This one +measured five feet in height--a formidable beast. With one bound the +lion had fallen on the "caama," which Dick Sand's ball had just thrown +to the ground, and, still full of life, it shook and cried under the +paw of the powerful animal. + +Dick Sand was disarmed, not having had time to slide a second +cartridge into his gun. + +Dick Sand, in front, lowering his voice, gave directions to avoid +striking against these rotten constructions. The night was clear. They +saw well to direct the boat, but they could also be seen. + +Then came a terrible moment. Two natives, who talked in loud tones, +were squatting close to the water on the piles, between which the +current carried the boat, and the direction could not be changed for +a narrower pass. Now, would they not see it, and at their cries might +not the whole village be alarmed? + +A space of a hundred feet at most remained to be passed, when Dick +Sand heard the two natives call more quickly to each other. One showed +the other the mass of drifting herbs, which threatened to break the +long liane ropes which they were occupied in stretching at that +moment. + +Rising hastily, they called out for help. Five or six other blacks ran +at once along the piles and posted themselves on the cross-beams which +supported them, uttering loud exclamations which the listeners could +not understand. + +In the boat, on the contrary, was absolute silence, except for the few +orders given by Dick Sand in a low voice, and complete repose, except +the movement of Hercules's right arm moving the oar; at times a low +growl from Dingo, whose jaws Jack held together with his little hands; +outside, the murmur of the water which broke against the piles, then +above, the cries of the ferocious cannibals. + +The natives, meanwhile, rapidly drew up their ropes. If they were +raised in time the boat would pass, otherwise it would be caught, and +all would be over with those who drifted in it! As for slackening or +stopping its progress, Dick Sand could do neither, for the current, +stronger under this narrow construction, carried it forward more +rapidly. + +In half a minute the boat was caught between the piles. By an +unheard-of piece of fortune, the last effort made by the natives had +raised the ropes. + +But in passing, as Dick Sand had feared, the boat was deprived of a +part of the grasses which now floated at its right. + +One of the natives uttered a cry. Had he had time to recognize what +the roof covered, and was he going to alarm his comrades? It was more +than probable. + +Dick Sand and his friends were already out of reach, and in a few +moments, under the impetus of this current, now changed into a kind of +rapid, they had lost sight of the lacustrine village. + +"To the left bank!" Dick Sand ordered, as being more prudent. "The +stream is again navigable." + +"To the left bank!" replied Hercules, giving the oar a vigorous +stroke. + +Dick Sand stood beside him and looked at the surface of the water, +which the moon lit up. He saw nothing suspicious. Not a boat had +started in pursuit. Perhaps these savages had none; and at daybreak +not a native appeared, either on the bank or on the water. After that, +increasing their precautions, the boat kept close to the left bank. + +During the four following days, from the 11th to the 14th of July, +Mrs. Weldon and her companions remarked that this portion of the +territory had decidedly changed. It was no longer a deserted country; +it was also a desert, and they might have compared it to that Kalahari +explored by Livingstone on his first voyage. + +The arid soil recalled nothing of the fertile fields of the upper +country. + +And always this interminable stream, to which might be given the name +of river, as it seemed that it could only end at the Atlantic Ocean. + +The question of food, in this desert country, became a problem. +Nothing remained of their former stock. Fishing gave little; hunting +was no longer of any use. Elks, antelopes, pokous, and other animals, +could find nothing to live on in this desert, and with them had also +disappeared the carnivorous animals. + +The nights no longer echoed the accustomed roarings. Nothing broke +the silence but the concert of frogs, which Cameron compares with the +noise of calkers calking a ship; with riveters who rivet, and the +drillers who drill, in a shipbuilder's yard. + +The country on the two banks was flat and destitute of trees as far +as the most distant hills that bounded it on the east and west. The +spurges grew alone and in profusion--not the euphosbium which produces +cassava or tapioca flour, but those from which they draw an oil which +does not serve as food. + +Meantime it is necessary to provide some nourishment. + +Dick Sand knew not what to do, and Hercules reminded him that the +natives often eat the young shoots of the ferns and the pith which the +papyrus leaf contains. He himself, while following the caravan of Ibn +Ilamis across the desert, had been more than once reduced to this +expedient to satisfy his hunger. Happily, the ferns and the papyrus +grew in profusion along the banks, and the marrow or pith, which has a +sweet flavor, was appreciated by all, particularly by little Jack. + +This was not a very cheering prospect; the food was not strengthening, +but the next day, thanks to Cousin Benedict, they were better served. +Since the discovery of the "Hexapodus Benedictus," which was to +immortalize his name, Cousin Benedict had recovered his usual manners. +The insect was put in a safe place, that is to say, stuck in the crown +of his hat, and the savant had recommenced his search whenever they +were on shore. During that day, while hunting in the high grass, he +started a bird whose warbling attracted him. + +Dick Sand was going to shoot it, when Cousin Benedict cried out: + +"Don't fire, Dick! Don't fire! A bird among five persons would not be +enough." + +"It will be enough for Jack," replied Dick Sand, taking aim at the +bird, which was in no hurry to fly away. + +"No, no!" said Cousin Benedict, "do not fire! It is an indicator, and +it will bring us honey in abundance." + +Dick Sand lowered his gun, realizing that a few pounds of honey were +worth more than one bird; and Cousin Benedict and he followed the +bird, which rose and flew away, inviting them to go with it. + +They had not far to go, and a few minutes after, some old trunks, +hidden in between the spurges, appeared in the midst of an intense +buzzing of bees. + +Cousin Benedict would have preferred not to have robbed these +industrious hymenopters of the "fruit of their labors," as he +expressed it. But Dick Sand did not understand it in that way. He +smoked out the bees with some dry herbs and obtained a considerable +quantity of honey. Then leaving to the indicator the cakes of wax, +which made its share of the profit, Cousin Benedict and he returned to +the boat. + +The honey was well received, but it was but little, and, in fact, all +would have suffered cruelly from hunger, if, during the day of the +12th, the boat had not stopped near a creek where some locusts +swarmed. They covered the ground and the shrubs in myriads, two or +three deep. Now, Cousin Benedict not failing to say that the natives +frequently eat these orthopters--which was perfectly true--they took +possession of this manna. There was enough to fill the boat ten times, +and broiled over a mild fire, these edible locusts would have seemed +excellent even to less famished people. Cousin Benedict, for his part, +eat a notable quantity of them, sighing, it is true--still, he eat +them. + +Nevertheless, it was time for this long series of moral and physical +trials to come to an end. Although drifting on this rapid river was +not so fatiguing as had been the walking through the first forests +near the coast, still, the excessive heat of the day, the damp mists +at night, and the incessant attacks of the mosquitoes, made this +descent of the watercourse very painful. It was time to arrive +somewhere, and yet Dick Sand could see no limit to the journey. Would +it last eight days or a month? Nothing indicated an answer. Had the +river flowed directly to the west, they would have already reached the +northern coast of Angola; but the general direction had been rather to +the north, and they could travel thus a long time before reaching the +coast. + +Dick Sand was, therefore, extremely anxious, when a sudden change of +direction took place on the morning of the 14th of July. + +Little Jack was in the front of the boat, and he was gazing through +the thatch, when a large expanse of water appeared on the horizon. + +"The sea!" he shouted. + +At this word Dick Sand trembled, and came close to little Jack. + +"The sea?" he replied. "No, not yet; but at least a river which flows +toward the west, and of which this stream is only a tributary. Perhaps +it is the Zaire itself." + +"May God grant that is!" replied Mrs. Weldon. + +Yes; for if this were the Zaire or Congo, which Stanley was to +discover a few years later, they had only to descend its course so as +to reach the Portuguese settlements at its mouth. Dick Sand hoped that +it might be so, and he was inclined to believe it. + +During the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th of July, in the midst of a more +fertile country, the boat drifted on the silvery waters of the river. +They still took the same precautions, and it was always a mass of +herbs that the current seemed to carry on its surface. + +A few days more, and no doubt the survivors of the "Pilgrim" would see +the termination of their miseries. Self-sacrifice had been shared in +by all, and if the young novice would not claim the greater part of +it, Mrs. Weldon would demand its recognition for him. + +But on the 18th of July, during the night, an incident took place +which compromised the safety of the party. Toward three o'clock in the +morning a distant noise, still very low, was heard in the west. Dick +Sand, very anxious, wished to know what caused it. While Mrs. Weldon, +Jack, and Cousin Benedict slept in the bottom of the boat, he called +Hercules to the front, and told him to listen with the greatest +attention. The night was calm. Not a breeze stirred the atmosphere. + +"It is the noise of the sea," said Hercules, whose eyes shone with +joy. + +"No," replied Dick Sand, holding down his head. + +"What is it then?" asked Hercules. + +"Wait until day; but we must watch with the greatest care." + +At this answer, Hercules returned to his post. + +Dick Sand stood in front, listening all the time. The noise increased. +It was soon like distant roaring. + +Day broke almost without dawn. About half a mile down the river, just +above the water, a sort of cloud floated in the atmosphere. But it was +not a mass of vapor, and this became only too evident, when, under +the first solar rays, which broke in piercing it, a beautiful rainbow +spread from one bank to the other. + +"To the shore!" cried Dick Sand, whose voice awoke Mrs. Weldon. "It is +a cataract! Those clouds are spray! To the shore, Hercules!" + +Dick Sand was not mistaken. Before them, the bed of the river broke in +a descent of more than a hundred feet, and the waters rushed down with +superb but irresistible impetuosity. Another half mile, and the boat +would have been engulfed in the abyss. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +S. V. + + +With a vigorous plow of the oar, Hercules had pushed toward the left +bank. Besides, the current was not more rapid in that place, and the +bed of the river kept its normal declivity to the falls. As has been +said, it was the sudden sinking of the ground, and the attraction was +only felt three or four hundred feet above the cataract. + +On the left bank were large and very thick trees. No light penetrated +their impenetrable curtain. It was not without terror that Dick Sand +looked at this territory, inhabited by the cannibals of the Lower +Congo, which he must now cross, because the boat could no longer +follow the stream. He could not dream of carrying it below the falls. +It was a terrible blow for these poor people, on the eve perhaps of +reaching the Portuguese villages at its mouth. They were well aided, +however. Would not Heaven come to their assistance? + +The boat soon reached the left bank of the river. As it drew near, +Dingo gave strange marks of impatience and grief at the same time. + +Dick Sand, who was watching the animal--for all was danger--asked +himself if some beast or some native was not concealed in the high +papyrus of the bank. But he soon saw that the animal was not agitated +by a sentiment of anger. + +"One would say that Dingo was crying!" exclaimed little Jack, clasping +Dingo in his two arms. + +Dingo escaped from him, and, springing into the water, when the boat +was only twenty feet from the bank, reached the shore and disappeared +among the bushes. + +Neither Mrs. Weldon, nor Dick Sand, nor Hercules, knew what to think. + +They landed a few moments after in the middle of a foam green with +hairweed and other aquatic plants. Some kingfishers, giving a sharp +whistle, and some little herons, white as snow, immediately flew away. +Hercules fastened the boat firmly to a mangrove stump, and all climbed +up the steep bank overhung by large trees. + +There was no path in this forest. However, faint traces on the ground +indicated that this place had been recently visited by natives or +animals. + +Dick Sand, with loaded gun, and Hercules, with his hatchet in his +hand, had not gone ten steps before they found Dingo again. The dog, +nose to the ground, was following a scent, barking all the time. A +first inexplicable presentiment had drawn the animal to this part +of the shore, a second led it into the depths of the wood. That was +clearly visible to all. + +"Attention!" said Dick Sand. "Mrs. Weldon, Mr. Benedict, Jack, do not +leave us! Attention, Hercules!" + +At this moment Dingo raised its head, and, by little bounds, invited +them to follow. + +A moment after Mrs. Weldon and her companions rejoined it at the foot +of an old sycamore, lost in the thickest part of the wood. + +There was a dilapidated hut, with disjoined boards, before which Dingo +was barking lamentably. + +"Who can be there?" exclaimed Dick Sand. + +He entered the hut. + +Mrs. Weldon and the others followed him. + +The ground was scattered with bones, already bleached under the +discoloring action of the atmosphere. + +"A man died in that hut!" said Mrs. Weldon. + +"And Dingo knew that man!" replied Dick Sand. "It was, it must have +been, his master! Ah, see!" + +Dick Sand pointed to the naked trunk of the sycamore at the end of the +hut. + +There appeared two large red letters, already almost effaced, but +which could be still distinguished. + +Dingo had rested its right paw on the tree, and it seemed to indicate +them. + +"S. V.!" exclaimed Dick Sand. "Those letters which Dingo knew among +all others! Those initials that it carries on its collar!" + +He did not finish, and stooping, he picked up a little copper box, all +oxydized, which lay in a corner of the hut. + +That box was opened, and a morsel of paper fell from it, on which Dick +Sand read these few words: + + "Assassinated--robbed by my guide, Negoro--3d December, + 1871--here--120 miles from the coast--Dingo!--with me! + + "S. VERNON." + +The note told everything. Samuel Vernon set out with his dog, Dingo, +to explore the center of Africa, guided by Negoro. The money which he +carried had excited the wretch's cupidity, and he resolved to take +possession of it. The French traveler, arrived at this point of the +Congo's banks, had established his camp in this hut. There he was +mortally wounded, robbed, abandoned. The murder accomplished, no doubt +Negoro took to flight, and it was then that he fell into the hands +of the Portuguese. Recognized as one of the trader Alvez's agents, +conducted to Saint Paul de Loanda, he was condemned to finish his days +in one of the penitentiaries of the colony. We know that he succeeded +in escaping, in reaching New Zealand, and how he embarked on the +"Pilgrim" to the misfortune of those who had taken passage on it. +But what happened after the crime? Nothing but what was easy to +understand! The unfortunate Vernon, before dying, had evidently had +time to write the note which, with the date and the motive of the +assassination, gave the name of the assassin. This note he had shut +up in that box where, doubtless, the stolen money was, and, in a last +effort, his bloody finger had traced like an epitaph the initials of +his name. Before those two red letters, Dingo must have remained for +many days! He had learned to know them! He could no longer forget +them! Then, returned to the coast, the dog had been picked up by the +captain of the "Waldeck," and finally, on board the "Pilgrim," found +itself again with Negoro. During this time, the bones of the traveler +were whitening in the depths of this lost forest of Central Africa, +and he no longer lived except in the remembrance of his dog. + +Yes, such must have been the way the events had happened. As Dick Sand +and Hercules prepared to give a Christian burial to the remains of +Samuel Yernon, Dingo, this time giving a howl of rage, dashed out of +the hut. + +Almost at once horrible cries were heard at a short distance. +Evidently a man was struggling with the powerful animal. + +Hercules did what Dingo had done. In his turn he sprang out of the +hut, and Dick Sand, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Benedict, following his steps, +saw him throw himself on a man, who fell to the ground, held at the +neck by the dog's formidable teeth. + +It was Negoro. + +In going to the mouth of the Zaire, so as to embark for America, this +rascal, leaving his escort behind, had come to the very place where he +had assassinated the traveler who had trusted himself to him. + +But there was a reason for it, and all understood it when they +perceived some handfuls of French gold which glittered in a +recently-dug hole at the foot of a tree. So it was evident that after +the murder, and before falling into the hands of the Portuguese, +Negoro had hidden the product of his crime, with the intention of +returning some day to get it. He was going to take possession of this +gold when Dingo scented him and sprang at his throat. The wretch, +surprised, had drawn his cutlass and struck the dog at the moment when +Hercules threw himself on him, crying: + +"Ah, villain! I am going to strangle you at last!" + +There was nothing more to do. The Portuguese gave no sign of life, +struck, it maybe said, by divine justice, and on the very spot where +the crime had been committed. But the faithful dog had received +a mortal blow, and dragging itself to the hut, it came to die +there--where Samuel Vernon had died. + +Hercules buried deep the traveler's remains, and Dingo, lamented by +all, was put in the same grave as its master. + +Negoro was no more, but the natives who accompanied him from Kazounde +could not be far away. On not seeing him return, they would certainly +seek him along the river. This was a very serious danger. + +Dick Sand and Mrs. Weldon took counsel as to what they should do, and +do without losing an instant. + +One fact acquired was that this stream was the Congo, which the +natives call Kwango, or Ikoutouya Kongo, and which is the Zaire under +one longitude, the Loualaba under another. It was indeed that great +artery of Central Africa, to which the heroic Stanley has given the +glorious name of "Livingstone," but which the geographers should +perhaps replace by his own. + +But, if there was no longer any doubt that this was the Congo, the +French traveler's note indicated that its mouth was still one hundred +and twenty miles from this point, and, unfortunately, at this place +it was no longer navigable. High falls--very likely the falls of +Ntamo--forbid the descent of any boat. Thus it was necessary to follow +one or the other bank, at least to a point below the cataracts, either +one or two miles, when they could make a raft, and trust themselves +again to the current. + +"It remains, then," said Dick Sand, in conclusion, "to decide if we +shall descend the left bank, where we are, or the right bank of the +river. Both, Mrs. Weldon, appear dangerous to me, and the natives are +formidable. However, it seems as if we risk more on this bank, because +we have the fear of meeting Negoro's escort." + +"Let us pass over to the other bank," replied Mrs. Weldon. + +"Is it practicable?" observed Dick Sand. "The road to the Congo's +mouths is rather on the left bank, as Negoro was following it. Never +mind. We must not hesitate. But before crossing the river with you, +Mrs. Weldon, I must know if we can descend it below the falls." + +That was prudent, and Dick Sand wished to put his project into +execution on the instant. + +The river at this place was not more than three or four hundred feet +wide, and to cross it was easy for the young novice, accustomed to +handling the oar. Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Cousin Benedict would remain +under Hercules's care till his return. + +These arrangements made, Dick Sand was going to set out, when Mrs. +Weldon said to him: + +"You do not fear being carried away by the falls, Dick?" + +"No, Mrs. Weldon. I shall cross four hundred feet above." + +"But on the other bank--" + +"I shall not land if I see the least danger." + +"Take your gun." + +"Yes, but do not be uneasy about me." + +"Perhaps it would be better for us not to separate, Dick," added Mrs. +Weldon, as if urged by some presentiment. + +"No--let me go alone," replied Dick Sand. "I must act for the security +of all. Before one hour I shall be back. Watch well, Hercules." + +On this reply the boat, unfastened, carried Dick Sand to the other +side of the Zaire. + +Mrs. Weldon and Hercules, lying in the papyrus thickets, followed him +with their eyes. + +Dick Sand soon reached the middle of the stream. The current, without +being very strong, was a little accentuated there by the attraction of +the falls. Four hundred feet below, the imposing roaring of the waters +filled the space, and some spray, carried by the western wind, reached +the young novice. He shuddered at the thought that the boat, if it had +been less carefully watched during the last night, would have been +lost over those cataracts, that would only have restored dead bodies. +But that was no longer to be feared, and, at that moment, the oar +skilfully handled sufficed to maintain it in a direction a little +oblique to the current. + +A quarter of an hour after, Dick Sand had reached the opposite shore, +and was preparing to spring on the bank. + +At that moment cries were heard, and ten natives rushed on the mass of +plants that still hid the boat. + +They were the cannibals from the lake village. For eight days they had +followed the right bank of the river. Under that thatch, which +was torn by the stakes of their village, they had discovered the +fugitives, that is to say, a sure prey for them, because the barrier +of the falls would sooner or later oblige those unfortunate ones to +land on one or the other side of the river. + +Dick Sand saw that he was lost, but he asked himself if the sacrifice +of his life might not save his companions. Master of himself, standing +in the front of the boat, his gun pointed, he held the cannibals in +check. + +Meanwhile, they snatched away the thatch, under which they expected +to find other victims. When they saw that the young novice alone +had fallen into their hands, they betrayed their disappointment by +frightful cries. A boy of fifteen among ten! + +But, then, one of those natives stood up, his arm stretched toward the +left bank, and pointed to Mrs. Weldon and her companions, who, having +seen all and not knowing what to do, had just climbed up the bank! + +Dick Sand, not even dreaming of himself, waited for an inspiration +from Heaven that might save them. + +The boat was going to be pushed out into the stream. The cannibals +were going to cross the river. They did not budge before the gun aimed +at them, knowing the effect of fire-arms. But one of them had seized +the oar; he managed it like a man who knew how to use it, and the boat +crossed the river obliquely. Soon it was not more than a hundred feet +from the left bank. + +"Flee!" cried Dick Sand to Mrs. Weldon. "Flee!" + +Neither Mrs. Weldon nor Hercules stirred. One would say that their +feet were fastened to the ground. + +Flee! Besides, what good would it do? In less than an hour they would +fall into the hands of the cannibals! + +Dick Sand understood it. But, then, that supreme inspiration which he +asked from Heaven was sent him. He saw the possibility of saving all +those whom he loved by making the sacrifice of his own life! He did +not hesitate to do it. + +"May God protect them!" murmured he, "and in His infinite goodness may +He have pity on me!" + +At the same instant Dick Sand pointed his gun at the native who was +steering the boat, and the oar, broken by a ball, flew into fragments. + +The cannibals gave a cry of terror. + +In fact, the boat, no longer directed by the oar, went with the +stream. The current bore it along with increasing swiftness, and, in a +few moments, it was only a hundred feet from the falls. + +Mrs. Weldon and Hercules understood all. Dick Sand attempted to save +them by precipitating the cannibals, with himself, into the abyss. +Little Jack and his mother, kneeling on the bank, sent him a last +farewell. Hercules's powerless hand was stretched out to him. + +At that moment the natives, wishing to gain the left bank by swimming, +threw themselves out of the boat, which they capsized. + +Dick Sand had lost none of his coolness in the presence of the death +which menaced him. A last thought then came to him. It was that this +boat, even because it was floating keel upward, might serve to save +him. + +In fact, two dangers were to be feared when Dick Sand should be going +over the cataract: asphyxia by the water, and asphyxia by the air. +Now, this overturned hull was like a box, in which he might, perhaps, +keep his head out of the water, at the same time that he would be +sheltered from the exterior air, which would certainly have stifled +him in the rapidity of his fall. In these conditions, it seems that a +man would have some chance of escaping the double asphyxia, even in +descending the cataracts of a Niagara. + +Dick Sand saw all that like lightning. By a last instinct he clung to +the seat which united the two sides of the boat, and, his head out of +the water, under the capsized hull, he felt the irresistible current +carrying him away, and the almost perpendicular fall taking place. + +The boat sank into the abyss hollowed out by the waters at the foot of +the cataract, and, after plunging deep, returned to the surface of the +river. + +Dick Sand, a good swimmer, understood that his safety now depended on +the vigor of his arms. + +A quarter of an hour after he reached the left bank, and there found +Mrs. Weldon, little Jack, and Cousin Benedict, whom Hercules had led +there in all haste. + +But already the cannibals had disappeared in the tumult of the waters. +They, whom the capsized boat had not protected, had ceased to live +even before reaching the last depths of the abyss, and their bodies +were going to be torn to pieces on those sharp rocks on which the +under-current of the stream dashed itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +CONCLUSION. + + +Two days after, the 20th of July, Mrs. Weldon and her companions met a +caravan going toward Emboma, at the mouth of the Congo. These were not +slave merchants, but honest Portuguese traders, who dealt in ivory. +They made the fugitives welcome, and the latter part of the journey +was accomplished under more agreeable conditions. + +The meeting with this caravan was really a blessing from Heaven. Dick +Sand would never have been able to descend the Zaire on a raft. From +the Falls of Ntamo, as far as Yellala, the stream was a succession of +rapids and cataracts. Stanley counted seventy-two, and no boat could +undertake to pass them. It was at the mouth of the Congo that the +intrepid traveler, four years later, fought the last of the thirty-two +combats which he waged with the natives. Lower down, in the cataracts +of Mbelo, he escaped death by a miracle. + +On the 11th of August, Mrs. Weldon, Dick Sand, Jack, Hercules, and +Cousin Benedict arrived at Emboma. Messrs. Motta Viega and Harrison +received them with generous hospitality. A steamer was about sailing +for the Isthmus of Panama. Mrs. Weldon and her companions took passage +in it, and happily reached the American coast. + +A despatch sent to San Francisco informed Mr. Weldon of the +unlooked-for return of his wife and his child. He had vainly searched +for tidings of them at every place where he thought the "Pilgrim" +might have been wrecked. + +Finally, on the 25th of August, the survivors of the shipwreck reached +the capital of California. Ah! if old Tom and his companions had only +been with them! + +What shall we say of Dick Sand and of Hercules? One became the son, +the other the friend, of the family. James Weldon knew how much he +owed to the young novice, how much to the brave black. He was happy; +and it was fortunate for him that Negoro had not reached him, for +he would have paid the ransom of his wife and child with his whole +fortune. He would have started for the African coast, and, once there, +who can tell to what dangers, to what treachery, he would have been +exposed? + +A single word about Cousin Benedict. The very day of his arrival the +worthy savant, after having shaken hands with Mr. Weldon, shut +himself up in his study and set to work, as if finishing a sentence +interrupted the day before. He meditated an enormous work on the +"Hexapodes Benedictus," one of the _desiderata_ of entomological +science. + +There, in his study, lined with insects, Cousin Benedict's first +action was to find a microscope and a pair of glasses. Great heaven! +What a cry of despair he uttered the first time he used them to study +the single specimen furnished by the African entomology! + +The "Hexapodes Benedictus" was not a hexapode! It was a common spider! +And if it had but six legs, instead of eight, it was simply because +the two front legs were missing! And if they were missing, these two +legs, it was because, in taking it, Hercules had, unfortunately, +broken them off! Now, this mutilation reduced the pretended "Hexapodes +Benedictus" to the condition of an invalid, and placed it in the +most ordinary class of spiders--a fact which Cousin Benedict's +near-sightedness had prevented him from discovering sooner. It gave +him a fit of sickness, from which, however, he happily recovered. + +Three years after, little Jack was eight years old, and Dick Sand made +him repeat his lessons, while working faithfully at his own studies. +In fact, hardly was he at home when, realizing how ignorant he was, +he had commenced to study with a kind of remorse--like a man who, for +want of knowledge, finds himself unequal to his task. + +"Yes," he often repeated; "if, on board of the 'Pilgrim,' I had +known all that a sailor should know, what misfortunes we would have +escaped!" + +Thus spoke Dick Sand. At the age of eighteen he finished with +distinction his hydrographical studies, and, honored with a brevet by +special favor, he took command of one of Mr. Weldon's vessels. + +See what the little orphan, rescued on the beach at Sandy Hook, had +obtained by his work and conduct. He was, in spite of his youth, +surrounded by the esteem, one might say the respect, of all who knew +him; but his simplicity and modesty were so natural to him, that he +was not aware of it. He did not even suspect--although no one could +attribute to him what are called brilliant exploits--that the +firmness, courage, and fidelity displayed in so many trials had made +of him a sort of hero. + +Meanwhile, one thought oppressed him. In his rare leisure hours he +always dreamed of old Tom, of Bat, of Austin, and of Acteon, and of +the misfortune for which he held himself responsible. It was also a +subject of real grief to Mrs. Weldon, the actual situation of her +former companions in misery. Mr. Weldon, Dick Sand, and Hercules +moved heaven and earth to find traces of them. Finally they +succeeded--thanks to the correspondents which the rich shipowner had +in different parts of the world. It was at Madagascar--where, however, +slavery was soon to be abolished--that Tom and his companions had been +sold. Dick Sand wished to consecrate his little savings to ransom +them, but Mr. Weldon would not hear of it. One of his correspondents +arranged the affair, and one day, the 15th of November, 1877, four +blacks rang the bell of his house. + +They were old Tom, Bat, Acteon, and Austin. The brave men, after +escaping so many dangers, came near being stifled, on that day, by +their delighted friends. + +Only poor Nan was missing from those whom the "Pilgrim" had thrown on +the fatal coast of Africa. But the old servant could not be recalled +to life, and neither could Dingo be restored to them. Certainly it was +miraculous that these two alone had succumbed amid such adventures. + +It is unnecessary to say that on that occasion they had a festival +at the house of the California merchant. The best toast, which all +applauded, was that given by Mrs. Weldon to Dick Sand, "To the Captain +at Fifteen!" + +THE END. + +End of the Voyage Extraordinaire + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dick Sand, by Jules Verne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICK SAND *** + +***** This file should be named 12051.txt or 12051.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/5/12051/ + +Produced by Norm Wolcott and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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