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diff --git a/21748.txt b/21748.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1a604e --- /dev/null +++ b/21748.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10546 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Black Ivory, by R.M. Ballantyne + +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: Black Ivory + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Illustrator: Pearson + +Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21748] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK IVORY *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Black Ivory, by R.M. Ballantyne. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +Although the book's title Black Ivory denotes dealing in the slave trade +it is not our heroes who are doing it. At the very first chapter there +is a shipwreck, which leaves the son of the charterer of the sinking +ship, and a seaman friend of his, alone on the east coast of Africa, +where Arab and Portuguese slave traders were still carrying out their +evil trade, despite the great efforts of patrolling British warships to +limit it and free the unfortunates whom they found being carried away in +the Arab dhows. + +Our heroes encountered a slave trader almost at the very spot where they +come ashore, and thereby managed to get to Zanzibar in a British warship +that had captured the trader's dhow in which our friends had hitched a +lift. + +At Zanzibar they pick up some funds, and set forth on a journey into the +interior. Here again they encounter the vile trade, but most of the +story deals with other encounters of a more acceptable nature. + +This book will open your eyes to what really went on. At the time of +writing slave-dealing on the west coast of Africa was, due to the +efforts of the British, almost extinct, but this was not the case on the +east coast. Your reviewer found it very moving. + +Makes a good audiobook, of about ten and a half hours duration. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +BLACK IVORY, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + +In writing this book, my aim has been to give a true picture in outline +of the Slave Trade as it exists at the present time on the east coast of +Africa. + +In order to do this I have selected from the most trustworthy sources +what I believe to be the most telling points of "the trade," and have +woven these together into a tale, the warp of which is composed of thick +cords of fact; the woof of slight lines of fiction, just sufficient to +hold the fabric together. Exaggeration has easily been +avoided, because--as Dr Livingstone says in regard to the +slave-trade--"exaggeration is impossible." + +If the reader's taste should be offended by finding the tragic and comic +elements in too close proximity I trust that he will bear in remembrance +that "such is life," and that the writer who would be true to life must +follow, not lead, nature. + +I have to acknowledge myself indebted to Dr Ryan, late Bishop of +Mauritius; to the Rev. Charles New, interpreter to the Livingstone +Search Expedition; to Edward Hutchinson, Esquire, Lay Secretary to the +Church Missionary Society, and others, for kindly furnishing me with +information in connexion with the slave trade. + +Besides examining the Parliamentary Blue-books which treat of this +subject, I have read or consulted, among others, the various +authoritative works to which reference is made in the foot-notes +sprinkled throughout this book,--all of which works bear the strongest +possible testimony to the fact that the horrible traffic in human beings +is in all respects as bad at the present time on the east coast of +Africa as it ever was on the west coast in the days of Wilberforce. + +I began my tale in the hope that I might produce something to interest +the young (perchance, also, the old) in a most momentous cause,--the +total abolition of the African slave-trade. I close it with the prayer +that God may make it a tooth in the file which shall eventually cut the +chains of slavery, and set the black man free. + +R.M. Ballantyne. + +1873 + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +SHOWS THAT A GOOD BEGINNING MAY SOMETIMES BE FOLLOWED BY A BAD ENDING. + +"Six feet water in the hold, sir!" + +That would not have been a pleasant announcement to the captain of the +`Aurora' at any time, but its unpleasantness was vastly increased by the +fact that it greeted him near the termination of what had been, up to +that point of time, an exceedingly prosperous voyage. + +"Are you sure, Davis?" asked the captain; "try again." + +He gave the order under the influence of that feeling which is styled +"hoping against hope," and himself accompanied the ship's carpenter to +see it obeyed. + +"Six feet two inches," was the result of this investigation. + +The vessel, a large English brig, had sprung a leak, and was rolling +heavily in a somewhat rough sea off the east coast of Africa. It was no +consolation to her captain that the shores of the great continent were +visible on his lee, because a tremendous surf roared along the whole +line of coast, threatening destruction to any vessel that should venture +to approach, and there was no harbour of refuge nigh. + +"She's sinking fast, Mr Seadrift," said the captain to a stout +frank-looking youth of about twenty summers, who leant against the +bulwarks and gazed wistfully at the land; "the carpenter cannot find the +leak, and the rate at which the water is rising shows that she cannot +float long." + +"What then do you propose to do?" inquired young Seadrift, with a +troubled expression of countenance. + +"Abandon her," replied the captain. + +"Well, _you_ may do so, captain, but I shall not forsake my father's +ship as long as she can float. Why not beach her somewhere on the +coast? By so doing we might save part of the cargo, and, at all events, +shall have done the utmost that lay in our power." + +"Look at the coast," returned the captain; "where would you beach her? +No doubt there is smooth water inside the reef, but the channels through +it, if there be any here, are so narrow that it would be almost certain +death to make the attempt." + +The youth turned away without replying. He was sorely perplexed. Just +before leaving England his father had said to him, "Harold, my boy, +here's your chance for paying a visit to the land you've read and talked +so much about, and wished so often to travel through. I have chartered +a brig, and shall send her out to Zanzibar with a cargo of beads, cotton +cloth, brass wire, and such like: what say you to go as supercargo? Of +course you won't be able to follow in the steps of Livingstone or Mungo +Park, but while the brig is at Zanzibar you will have an opportunity of +running across the channel, the island being only a few miles from the +main, and having a short run up-country to see the niggers, and +perchance have a slap at a hippopotamus. I'll line your pockets, so +that you won't lack the sinews of war, without which travel either at +home or abroad is but sorry work, and I shall only expect you to give a +good account of ship and cargo on your return.--Come, is it fixed?" + +Need we say that Harold leaped joyfully at the proposal? And now, here +he was, called on to abandon the `Aurora' to her fate, as we have said, +near the end of a prosperous voyage. No wonder that he was perplexed. + +The crew were fully aware of the state of matters. By the captain's +orders they stood ready to lower the two largest boats, into which they +had put much of their worldly goods and provisions as they could hold +with safety. + +"Port, port your helm," said the captain to the man at the wheel. + +"Port it is, sir," replied the man at the wheel, who was one of those +broad-shouldered, big-chested, loose-garmented, wide-trousered, +bare-necked, free-and-easy, off-hand jovial tars who have done so much, +in years gone by, to increase the wealth and prosperity of the British +Empire, and who, although confessedly scarce, are considerately allowed +to perish in hundreds annually on our shores for want of a little +reasonable legislation. But cheer up, ye jolly tars! There is a +glimmer of sunrise on your political horizon. It really does seem as +if, in regard to you, there were at last "a good time coming." + +"Port, port," repeated the captain, with a glance at the compass and the +sky. + +"Port it is, sir," again replied the jovial one. + +"Steady! Lower away the boat, lads.--Now, Mr Seadrift," said the +captain, turning with an air of decision to the young supercargo, "the +time has come for you to make up your mind. The water is rising in the +hold, and the ship is, as you see, settling fast down. I need not say +to you that it is with the utmost regret I find it necessary to abandon +her; but self-preservation and the duty I owe to my men render the step +absolutely necessary. Do you intend to go with us?" + +"No, captain, I don't," replied Harold Seadrift firmly. "I do not blame +you for consulting your own safety, and doing what you believe to be +your duty, but I have already said that I shall stick by the ship as +long as she can float." + +"Well, sir, I regret it but you must do as you think best," replied the +captain, turning away--"Now, lads, jump in." + +The men obeyed, but several of those who were last to quit the ship +looked back and called to the free-and-easy man who still stood at the +wheel--"Come along, Disco; we'll have to shove off directly." + +"Shove off w'en you please," replied the man at the wheel, in a deep +rich voice, whose tones were indicative of a sort of good-humoured +contempt; "wot I means for to do is to stop where I am. It'll never be +said of Disco Lillihammer that he forsook the owner's son in distress." + +"But you'll go to the bottom, man, if you don't come." + +"Well, wot if I do? I'd raither go to the bottom with a brave man, than +remain at the top with a set o' fine fellers like _you_!" + +Some of the men received this reply with a laugh, others frowned, and a +few swore, while some of them looked regretfully at their self-willed +shipmate; for it must not be supposed that _all_ the tars who float upon +the sea are of the bold, candid, open-handed type, though we really +believe that a large proportion of them are so. + +Be this as it may, the boats left the brig, and were soon far astern. + +"Thank you, Lillihammer," said Harold, going up and grasping the horny +hand of the self-sacrificing sea-dog. "This is very kind of you, though +I fear it may cost you your life. But it is too late to talk of that; +we must fix on some plan, and act at once." + +"The werry thing, sir," said Disco quietly, "that wos runnin' in my own +mind, 'cos it's werry clear that we hain't got too many minits to spare +in confabilation." + +"Well, what do you suggest?" + +"Arter you, sir," said Disco, pulling his forelock; "you are capting +now, an' ought to give orders." + +"Then I think the best thing we can do," rejoined Harold, "is to make +straight for the shore, search for an opening in the reef, run through, +and beach the vessel on the sand. What say you?" + +"As there's nothin' else left for us to do," replied Disco, "that's +'zactly wot I think too, an' the sooner we does it the better." + +"Down with the helm, then," cried Harold, springing forward, "and I'll +ease off the sheets." + +In a few minutes the `Aurora' was surging before a stiff breeze towards +the line of foam which indicated the outlying reef, and inside of which +all was comparatively calm. + +"If we only manage to get inside," said Harold, "we shall do well." + +Disco made no reply. His whole attention was given to steering the +brig, and running his eyes anxiously along the breakers, the sound of +which increased to a thunderous roar as they drew near. + +"There seems something like a channel yonder," said Harold, pointing +anxiously to a particular spot in the reef. + +"I see it, sir," was the curt reply. + +A few minutes more of suspense, and the brig drove into the supposed +channel, and struck with such violence that the foremast snapped off +near the deck, and went over the side. + +"God help us, we're lost!" exclaimed Harold, as a towering wave lifted +the vessel up and hurled her like a plaything on the rocks. + +"Stand by to jump, sir," cried Disco. Another breaker came roaring in +at the moment, overwhelmed the brig, rolled her over on her beam-ends, +and swept the two men out of her. They struggled gallantly to free +themselves from the wreck, and, succeeding with difficulty, swam across +the sheltered water to the shore, on which they finally landed. + +Harold's first exclamation was one of thankfulness for their +deliverance, to which Disco replied with a hearty "Amen!" and then +turning round and surveying the coast, while he slowly thrust his hands +into his wet trouser-pockets, wondered whereabouts in the world they had +got to. + +"To the east coast of Africa, to be sure," observed the young +supercargo, with a slight smile, as he wrung the water out of the foot +of his trousers, "the place we were bound for, you know." + +"Werry good; so here we are--come to an anchor! Well, I only wish," he +added, sitting down on a piece of driftwood, and rummaging in the +pockets before referred to, as if in search of something--"I only wish +I'd kep' on my weskit, 'cause all my 'baccy's there, and it would be a +rael comfort to have a quid in the circumstances." + +It was fortunate for the wrecked voyagers that the set of the current +had carried portions of their vessel to the shore, at a considerable +distance from the spot where they had landed, because a band of natives, +armed with spears and bows and arrows, had watched the wreck from the +neighbouring heights, and had hastened to that part of the coast on +which they knew from experience the cargo would be likely to drift. The +heads of the swimmers being but small specks in the distance, had +escaped observation. Thus they had landed unseen. The spot was near +the entrance to a small river or creek, which was partially concealed by +the formation of the land and by mangrove trees. + +Harold was the first to observe that they had not been cast on an +uninhabited shore. While gazing round him, and casting about in his +mind what was best to be done, he heard shouts, and hastening to a rocky +point that hid part of the coast from his view looked cautiously over it +and saw the natives. He beckoned to Disco, who joined him. + +"They haven't a friendly look about 'em," observed the seaman, "and +they're summat scant in the matter of clothin'." + +"Appearances are often deceptive," returned his companion, "but I so far +agree with you that I think our wisest course will be to retire into the +woods, and there consult as to our future proceedings, for it is quite +certain that as we cannot live on sand and salt water, neither can we +safely sleep in wet clothes or on the bare ground in a climate like +this." + +Hastening towards the entrance to the creek, the unfortunate pair +entered the bushes, through which they pushed with some difficulty, +until they gained a spot sufficiently secluded for their purpose, when +they observed that they had passed through a belt of underwood, beyond +which there appeared to be an open space. A few steps further and they +came out on a sort of natural basin formed by the creek, in which +floated a large boat of a peculiar construction, with very +piratical-looking lateen sails. Their astonishment at this unexpected +sight was increased by the fact that on the opposite bank of the creek +there stood several men armed with muskets, which latter were +immediately pointed at their breasts. + +The first impulse of the shipwrecked friends was to spring back into the +bushes--the second to advance and hold up their empty hands to show that +they were unarmed. + +"Hold on," exclaimed Disco, in a free and easy confidential tone; "we're +friends, we are; shipwrecked mariners we is, so ground arms, my lads, +an' make your minds easy." + +One of the men made some remark to another, who, from his Oriental +dress, was easily recognised by Harold as one of the Arab traders of the +coast. His men appeared to be half-castes. + +The Arab nodded gravely, and said something which induced his men to +lower their muskets. Then with a wave of his hand he invited the +strangers to come over the creek to him. + +This was rendered possible by the breadth of the boat already mentioned +being so great that, while one side touched the right bank of the creek, +the other was within four or five feet of the left. + +Without hesitation Harold Seadrift bounded lightly from the bank to the +half-deck of the boat, and, stepping ashore, walked up to the Arab, +closely followed by his companion. + +"Do you speak English?" asked Harold. + +The Arab shook his head and said, "Arabic, Portuguese." + +Harold therefore shook _his_ head;--then, with a hopeful look, said +"French?" interrogatively. + +The Arab repeated the shake of his head, but after a moments' thought +said, "I know littil Engleesh; speak, where comes you?" + +"We have been wrecked," began Harold (the Arab glanced gravely at his +dripping clothes, as if to say, I had guessed as much), "and this man +and I are the only survivors of the crew of our ship--at least the only +two who swam on shore, the others went off in a boat." + +"Come you from man-of-war?" asked the Arab, with a keen glance at the +candid countenance of the youth. + +"No, our vessel was a trader bound for Zanzibar. She now lies in +fragments on the shore, and we have escaped with nothing but the clothes +on our backs. Can you tell us whether there is a town or a village in +the neighbourhood? for, as you see, we stand sadly in need of clothing, +food, and shelter. We have no money, but we have good muscles and stout +hearts, and could work our way well enough, I doubt not." + +Young Seadrift said this modestly, but the remark was unnecessary, for +it would have been quite obvious to a man of much less intelligence than +the Arab that a youth who, although just entering on the age of manhood, +was six feet high, deep-chested, broad-shouldered, and as lithe as a +kitten, could not find any difficulty in working his way, while his +companion, though a little older, was evidently quite as capable. + +"There be no town, no village, for fifty miles from where you stand," +replied the Arab. + +"Indeed!" exclaimed Harold in surprise, for he had always supposed the +East African coast to be rather populous. + +"That's a blue look-out anyhow," observed Disco, "for it necessitates +starvation, unless this good gentleman will hire us to work his craft. +It ain't very ship-shape to be sure, but anything of a seagoin' craft +comes more or less handy to an old salt." + +The trader listened with the politeness and profound gravity that seems +to be characteristic of Orientals, but by no sign or expression showed +whether he understood what was said. + +"_I_ go to Zanzibar," said he, turning to Harold, "and will take you,-- +so you wish." + +There was something sinister in the man's manner which Harold did not +like, but as he was destitute, besides being in the Arab's power, and +utterly ignorant of the country, he thought it best to put a good face +on matters, and therefore thanked him for his kind offer, and assured +him that on reaching Zanzibar he would be in a position to pay for his +passage as well as that of his friend. + +"May I ask," continued Harold, "what your occupation is?" + +"I am trader." + +Harold thought he would venture another question:-- + +"In what sort of goods do you trade?" + +"Ivory. Some be white, an' some be what your contrymans do call black." + +"Black!" exclaimed Harold, in surprise. + +"Yees, black," replied the trader. "White ivory do come from the +elephant--hims tusk; Black Ivory do come,"--he smiled slightly at this +point--"from the land everywheres. It bees our chef artikil of trade." + +"Indeed! I never heard of it before." + +"No?" replied the trader; "you shall see it much here. But I go talk +with my mans. Wait." + +Saying this, in a tone which savoured somewhat unpleasantly of command, +the Arab went towards a small hut near to which his men were standing, +and entered into conversation with them. + +It was evident that they were ill pleased with what he said at first for +there was a good deal of remonstrance in their tones, while they pointed +frequently in a certain direction which seemed to indicate the +coast-line; but by degrees their tones changed, and they laughed and +chuckled a good deal, as if greatly tickled by the speech of the Arab, +who, however, maintained a look of dignified gravity all the time. + +"I don't like the looks o' them fellers," remarked Disco, after +observing them in silence for some time. "They're a cut-throat set, I'm +quite sure, an' if you'll take my advice, Mister Seadrift, we'll give +'em the slip, an' try to hunt up one o' the native villages. I +shouldn't wonder, now, if that chap was a slave-trader." + +"The same idea has occurred to myself, Disco," replied Harold, "and I +would willingly leave him if I thought there was a town or village +within twenty miles of us; but we are ignorant on that point and I have +heard enough of the African climate to believe that it might cost us our +lives if we were obliged to spend a night in the jungle without fire, +food, or covering, and with nothing on but a wet flannel shirt and pair +of canvas breeches. No, no, lad, we must not risk it. Besides, +although some Arabs are slave-traders, it does not follow that all are. +This fellow may turn out better than he looks." + +Disco Lillihammer experienced some sensations of surprise on hearing his +young friend's remarks on the climate, for he knew nothing whatever +about that of Africa, having sailed chiefly in the Arctic Seas as a +whaler,--and laboured under the delusion that no climate under the sun +could in any degree affect his hardy and well-seasoned frame. He was +too respectful, however, to let his thoughts be known. + +Meanwhile the Arab returned. + +"I sail this night," he said, "when moon go down. That not far before +midnight. You mus keep by boat here--close. If you go this way or that +the niggers kill you. They not come _here_; they know I is here. I go +look after my goods and chattels--my Black Ivory." + +"Mayn't we go with 'ee, mister--what's your name?" + +"My name?--Yoosoof," replied the Arab, in a tone and with a look which +were meant to command respect. + +"Well, Mister Yoosoof," continued Disco, "if we may make bold to ax +leave for to go with 'ee, we could lend 'ee a helpin' hand, d'ye see, to +carry yer goods an' chattels down to the boat." + +"There is no need," said Yoosoof, waving his hand, and pointing to the +hut before mentioned. "Go; you can rest till we sail. Sleep; you will +need it. There is littil rice in hut--eat that, and make fire, dry +youselfs." + +So saying, the Arab left them by a path leading into the woods, along +which his men, who were Portuguese half-castes, had preceded him. + +"Make fire indeed!" exclaimed Disco, as he walked with his companion to +the hut; "one would think, from the free-and-easy way in which he tells +us to make it, that he's in the habit himself of striking it out o' the +point o' his own nose, or some such convenient fashion." + +"More likely to flash it out of his eyes, I should think," said Harold; +"but, see here, the fellow knew what he was talking about. There is +fire among these embers on the hearth." + +"That's true," replied Disco, going down on his knees, and blowing them +carefully. + +In a few minutes a spark leaped into a flame, wood was heaped on, and +the flame speedily became a rousing fire, before which they dried their +garments, while a pot of rice was put on to boil. + +Scarcely had they proceeded thus far in their preparations, when two +men, armed with muskets, were seen to approach, leading a negro girl +between them. As they drew nearer, it was observable that the girl had +a brass ring round her neck, to which a rope was attached. + +"A slave!" exclaimed Disco vehemently, while the blood rushed to his +face; "let's set her free!" + +The indignant seaman had half sprung to his legs before Harold seized +and pulled him forcibly back. + +"Be quiet man," said Harold quickly. "If we _could_ free her by +fighting, I would help you, but we can't. Evidently we have got into a +nest of slavers. Rashness will only bring about our own death. Be +wise; bide your time, and we may live to do some good yet." + +He stopped abruptly, for the new comers had reached the top of the +winding path that led to the hut. + +A look of intense surprise overspread the faces of the two men when they +entered and saw the Englishmen sitting comfortably by the fire, and +both, as if by instinct threw forward the muzzles of their muskets. + +"Oh! come in, come in, make your minds easy," cried Disco, in a +half-savage tone, despite the warning he had received; "we're all +_friends_ here--leastwise we can't help ourselves." + +Fortunately for our mariner the men did not understand him, and before +they could make up their minds what to think of it, or how to act Harold +rose, and, with a polite bow, invited them to enter. + +"Do you understand English?" he asked. + +A frown, and a decided shake of the head from both men, was the reply. +The poor negro girl cowered behind her keepers, as if she feared that +violence were about to ensue. + +Having tried French with a like result, Harold uttered the name, +"Yoosoof," and pointed in the direction in which the trader had entered +the woods. + +The men looked intelligently at each other, and nodded. + +Then Harold said "Zanzibar," and pointed in the direction in which he +supposed that island lay. + +Again the men glanced at each other, and nodded. Harold next said +"Boat--dhow," and pointed towards the creek, which remark and sign were +received as before. + +"Good," he continued, slapping himself on the chest, and pointing to his +companion, "_I_ go to Zanzibar, _he_ goes, _she_ goes," (pointing to the +girl), "_you_ go, and Yoosoof goes--all in the dhow together to +Zanzibar--to-night--when moon goes down. D'ee understand? Now then, +come along and have some rice." + +He finished up by slapping one of the men on the shoulder, and lifting +the kettle off the fire, for the rice had already been cooked and only +wanted warming. + +The men looked once again at each other, nodded, laughed, and sat down +on a log beside the fire, opposite to the Englishmen. + +They were evidently much perplexed by the situation, and, not knowing +what to make of it, were disposed in the meantime to be friendly. + +While they were busy with the rice, Disco gazed in silent wonder, and +with intense pity, at the slave-girl, who sat a little to one side of +her guardians on a mat, her small hands folded together resting on one +knee, her head drooping, and her eyes cast down. The enthusiastic tar +found it very difficult to restrain his feelings. He had heard, of +course, more or less about African slavery from shipmates, but he had +never read about it, and had never seriously given his thoughts to it, +although his native sense of freedom, justice, and fair-play had roused +a feeling of indignation in his breast whenever the subject chanced to +be discussed by him and his mates. But now, for the first time in his +life, suddenly and unexpectedly, he was brought face to face with +slavery. No wonder that he was deeply moved. + +"Why, Mister Seadrift," he said, in the confidential tone of one who +imparts a new discovery, "I do honestly confess to 'ee that I think +that's a _pretty_ girl!" + +"I quite agree with you," replied Harold, smiling. + +"Ay, but I mean _really_ pretty, you know. I've always thought that all +niggers had ugly flat noses an' thick blubber lips. But look at that +one: her lips are scarce a bit thicker than those of many a good-looking +lass in England, and they don't stick out at all, and her nose ain't +flat a bit. It's quite as good as my Nancy's nose, an' that's sayin' a +good deal, _I_ tell 'ee. Moreover, she ain't black--she's brown." + +It is but justice to Disco to say that he was right in his observations, +and to explain that the various negro tribes in Africa differ very +materially from each other; some of them, as we are told by Dr +Livingstone, possessing little of what, in our eyes, seems the +characteristic ugliness of the negro--such as thick lips, flat noses, +protruding heels, etcetera,--but being in every sense handsome races of +humanity. + +The slave-girl whom Disco admired and pitied so much belonged to one of +these tribes, and, as was afterwards ascertained, had been brought from +the far interior. She appeared to be very young, nevertheless there was +a settled expression of meek sorrow and suffering on her face; and +though handsomely formed, she was extremely thin, no doubt from +prolonged hardships on the journey down to the coast. + +"Here, have somethin' to eat," exclaimed Disco, suddenly filling a tin +plate with rice, and carrying it to the girl, who, however, shook her +head without raising her eyes. + +"You're not hungry, poor thing," said the seaman, in a disappointed +tone; "you look as if you should be. Come, try it," he added, stooping, +and patting her head. + +The poor child looked up as if frightened, and shrank from the seaman's +touch, but on glancing a second time in his honest face, she appeared to +feel confidence in him. Nevertheless, she would not touch the rice +until her guardians said something to her sternly, when she began to eat +with an appetite that was eloquent. + +"Come, now, tell us what your name is, lass," said Disco, when she had +finished the rice. + +Of course the girl shook her head, but appeared to wish to understand +the question, while the Portuguese laughed and seemed amused with the +Englishman's eccentricities. + +"Look here, now," resumed the tar, slapping his own chest vigorously, +"Disco, Disco, Disco, that's me--Disco. And this man," (patting his +companion on the breast) "is Harold, Harold, that's him--Harold. Now, +then," he added, pointing straight at the girl, "you--what's you name, +eh?" + +A gleam of intelligence shot from the girl's expressive eyes, and she +displayed a double row of beautiful teeth as in a low soft voice she +said--"Azinte." + +"Azinte? come, that's not a bad name; why, it's a capital one. Just +suited to 'ee. Well, Azinte, my poor girl," said Disco, with a fresh +outburst of feeling, as he clenched his horny right hand and dashed it +into the palm of his left, "if I only knew how to set you free just now, +my dear, I'd do it--ay, if I was to be roasted alive for so doin'. I +would!" + +"You'll never set anybody free in this world," said Harold Seadrift, +with some severity, "if you go on talking and acting as you have done +to-day. If these men had not, by good fortune, been ignorant of our +language, it's my opinion that they would have blown our brains out +before this time. You should restrain yourself, man," he continued, +gradually dropping into a remonstrative and then into an earnestly +confidential tone; "we are utterly helpless just now. If you did +succeed in freeing that girl at this moment, it would only be to let her +fall into the hands of some other slave-owner. Besides, that would not +set free all the other slaves, male and female, who are being dragged +from the interior of Africa. You and I _may_ perhaps do some small +matter in the way of helping to free slaves, if we keep quiet and watch +our opportunity, but we shall accomplish nothing if you give way to +useless bursts of anger." + +Poor Lillihammer was subdued. + +"You're right Mister Seadrift, you're right, sir, and I'm a ass. I +never _could_ keep my feelings down. It's all along of my havin' bin +made too much of by my mother, dear old woman, w'en I was a boy. But +I'll make a effort, sir; I'll clap a stopper on 'em--bottle 'em up and +screw 'em down tight, werry tight indeed." + +Disco again sent his right fist into the palm of his left hand, with +something like the sound of a pistol-shot to the no small surprise and +alarm of the Portuguese, and, rising, went out to cool his heated brow +in the open air. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +YOOSOOF'S "BLACK IVORY." + +When Yoosoof entered the woods, as before stated, for the purpose of +looking after his property, he followed a narrow footpath for about half +a mile, which led him to another part of the same creek, at the entrance +of which we introduced him to the reader. Here, under the deep shadow +of umbrageous trees, floated five large Arab boats, or dhows, similar to +the one which has been already referred to. They were quite empty, and +apparently unguarded, for when Yoosoof went down the bank and stood on a +projecting rock which overlooked them, no one replied to his low-toned +hail. Repeating it once, and still receiving no answer, he sat quietly +down on the rocks, lighted a small pipe, and waited patiently. + +The boats, as we have said, were empty, but there were some curious +appliances in them, having the appearance of chains, and wristlets, and +bars of iron running along and fixed to their decks, or rather to the +flooring of their holds. Their long yards and sails were cleared and +ready for hoisting. + +After the lapse of ten or fifteen minutes, Yoosoof raised his head--for +he had been meditating deeply, if one might judge from his attitude--and +glanced in the direction of an opening in the bushes whence issued a +silent and singular train of human beings. They were negroes, secured +by the necks or wrists--men, women, and children,--and guarded by armed +half-caste Portuguese. When a certain number of them, about a hundred +or so, had issued from the wood, and crowded the banks of the creek, +they were ordered to stand still, and the leader of the band advanced +towards his master. + +These were some of Yoosoof's "goods and chattels," his "cattle," his +"black ivory." + +"You have been long in coming, Moosa," said the Arab trader, as the man +approached. + +"I have," replied Moosa, somewhat gruffly, "but the road was rough and +long, and the cattle were ill-conditioned, as you see." + +The two men spoke in the Portuguese tongue, but as the natives and +settlers on that coast speak a variety of languages and dialects, we +have no alternative, good reader, but to render all into English. + +"Make the more haste now," said Yoosoof; "get them shipped at once, for +we sail when the moon goes down. Pick out the weakest among the lot, +those most likely to die, and put them by themselves in the small dhow. +If we _must_ sacrifice some of our wares to these meddling dogs the +English, we may as well give them the refuse." + +Without remark, Moosa turned on his heel and proceeded to obey orders. + +Truly, to one unaccustomed to such scenes, it would have appeared that +all the negroes on the spot were "most likely to die," for a more +wretched, starved set of human beings could scarcely be imagined. They +had just terminated a journey on foot of several hundreds of miles, with +insufficient food and under severe hardships. Nearly all of them were +lean to a degree,--many so reduced that they resembled nothing but +skeletons with a covering of black leather. Some of the children were +very young, many of them mere infants, clinging to the backs of the poor +mothers, who had carried them over mountain and plain, through swamp and +jungle, in blistering sunshine and pelting rain for many weary days. +But prolonged suffering had changed the nature of these little ones. +They were as silent and almost as intelligently anxious as their +seniors. There were no old pieces of merchandise there. Most were +youthful or in the prime of life; a few were middle-aged. + +Difficult though the task appeared to be, Moosa soon selected about +fifty men and women and a few children, who were so fearfully emaciated +that their chance of surviving appeared but small. These were cast +loose and placed in a sitting posture in the hold of the smallest dhow, +as close together as they could be packed. + +Their removal from the bank made room for more to issue from the wood, +which they did in a continuous stream. Batch after batch was cast loose +and stowed away in the manner already described, until the holds of two +of the large boats were filled, each being capable of containing about +two hundred souls. This was so far satisfactory to Yoosoof, who had +expended a good deal of money on the venture--satisfactory, even +although he had lost a large proportion of the goods--four-fifths at +least if not more, by death and otherwise, on the way down to the coast; +but that was a matter of little consequence. The price of black ivory +was up in the market just at that time, and the worthy merchant could +stand a good deal of loss. + +The embarkation was effected with wonderful celerity, and in comparative +silence. Only the stern voices of the half-caste Portuguese were heard +as they ordered the slaves to move, mingled with the occasional clank of +a chain, but no sounds proceeded from the thoroughly subdued and +worn-out slaves louder than a sigh or a half-suppressed wail, with now +and then a shriek of pain when some of the weaker among them were +quickened into activity by the lash. + +When all had been embarked, two of the five boats still remained empty, +but Yoosoof had a pretty good idea of the particular points along the +coast where more "cattle" of a similar kind could be purchased. +Therefore, after stationing some of his men, armed with muskets, to +guard the boats, he returned with the remainder of them to the hut in +which the Englishmen had been left. + +There he found Azinte and her guardians. He seemed angry with the +latter at first, but after a few minutes' thought appeared to recover +his equanimity, and ordered the men to remove the ropes with which the +girl was tethered; then bidding her follow him he left the hut without +taking any notice of the Englishmen further than to say he would be back +shortly before the time of sailing. + +Yoosoof's motions were usually slow and his mien somewhat dignified, +but, when occasion required, he could throw off his Oriental dignity and +step out with the activity of a monkey. It was so on this occasion, +insomuch that Azinte was obliged occasionally to run in order to keep up +with him. Proceeding about two miles in the woods along the shore +without halt, he came out at length on the margin of a bay, at the head +of which lay a small town. It was a sorry-looking place, composed of +wretchedly built houses, most of which were thatched with the leaves of +the cocoa-nut palm. + +Nevertheless, such as it was, it possessed a mud fort, an army of about +thirty soldiers, composed of Portuguese convicts who had been sent there +as a punishment for many crimes, a Governor, who was understood to be +honourable, having been placed there by his Excellency the +Governor-General at Mozambique, who had been himself appointed by His +Most Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal. + +It was in quest of this Governor that Yoosoof bent his rapid steps. +Besides all the advantages above enumerated, the town drove a small +trade in ivory, ebony, indigo, orchella weed, gum copal, cocoa-nut oil, +and other articles of native produce, and a very large (though secret) +trade in human bodies and--we had almost written--souls, but the worthy +people who dwelt there could not fetter souls, although they could, and +very often did, set them free. + +Senhor Francisco Alfonso Toledo Bignoso Letotti, the Governor, was +seated at the open window of his parlour, just before Yoosoof made his +appearance, conversing lightly with his only daughter, the Senhorina +Maraquita, a beautiful brunette of about eighteen summers, who had been +brought up and educated in Portugal. + +The Governor's wife had died a year before this time in Madrid, and the +Senhorina had gone to live with her father on the east coast of Africa, +at which place she had arrived just six weeks previous to the date of +the opening of our tale. + +Among the various boats and vessels at anchor in the bay, were seen the +tapering masts of a British war-steamer. The Senhorina and her sire +were engaged in a gossiping criticism of the officers of this vessel +when Yoosoof was announced. Audience was immediately granted. + +Entering the room, with Azinte close behind him, the Arab stopped +abruptly on beholding Maraquita, and bowed gravely. + +"Leave us, my child," said the Governor, in Portuguese; "I have business +to transact with this man." + +"And why may not I stay to assist you, father, in this wonderful +man-mystery of transacting business?" asked Maraquita, with an arch +smile. + +"Whenever you men want to get rid of women you frighten them away with +_business_! If you wish not to explain something to us, you shake your +wise heads, and call it _business_! Is it not so?--Come, Arab," she +added, turning with a sprightly air to Yoosoof, "you are a trader, I +suppose; all Arabs are, I am told. Well, what sort of wares have you +got to sell?" + +Yoosoof smiled slightly as he stepped aside and pointed to Azinte. + +The speaking countenance of the Portuguese girl changed as if by magic. +She had seen little and thought little about slavery during the brief +period of her residence on the coast, and had scarcely realised the fact +that Sambo, with the thick lips--her father's gardener--or the black +cook and house-maids, were slaves. It was the first entrance of a new +idea with something like power into her mind when she saw a delicate, +mild-looking, and pretty negro girl actually offered for sale. + +Before she could bethink herself of any remark the door opened, and in +walked, unannounced, a man on whose somewhat handsome countenance +villainy was clearly stamped. + +"Ha! Marizano," exclaimed Senhor Letotti, rising, "you have thought +better of it, I presume?" + +"I have, and I agree to your arrangement," replied Marizano, in an +off-hand, surly tone. + +"There is nothing like necessity," returned the Governor, with a laugh. +"'Twere better to enjoy a roving life for a short time with a lightish +purse in one's pocket, than to attempt to keep a heavy purse with the +addition of several ounces of lead in one's breast! How say you?" + +Marizano smiled and shrugged his broad shoulders, but made no reply, for +just then his attention had been attracted to the slave-girl. + +"For sale?" he inquired of the Arab carelessly. + +Yoosoof bowed his head slightly. + +"How much?" + +"Come, come, gentlemen," interposed the Governor, with a laugh and a +glance at his daughter, "you can settle this matter elsewhere. Yoosoof +has come here to talk with me on other matters.--Now, Maraquita dear, +you had better retire for a short time." + +When the Senhorina had somewhat unwillingly obeyed, the Governor turned +to Yoosoof: "I presume you have no objection to Marizano's presence +during our interview, seeing that he is almost as well acquainted with +your affairs as yourself?" + +As Yoosoof expressed no objection, the three drew their chairs together +and sat down to a prolonged private and very interesting palaver. + +We do not mean to try the reader's patience by dragging him through the +whole of it; nevertheless, a small portion of what was said is essential +to the development of our tale. + +"Well, then, be it as you wish, Yoosoof," said the Governor, folding up +a fresh cigarette; "you are one of the most active traders on the coast, +and never fail to keep correct accounts with your Governor. You deserve +encouragement but I fear that you run considerable risk." + +"I know that; but those who make much must risk much." + +"Bravo!" exclaimed Marizano, with hearty approval; "nevertheless those +who risk most do not always make most. Contrast yourself with me, now. +You risk your boats and cattle, and become rich. I risk my life, and +behold! I am fleeced. I have little or nothing left, barely enough to +buy yonder girl from you--though I _think_ I have enough for that." + +He pointed as he spoke to Azinte, who still stood on the spot where she +had been left near the door. + +"Tell me," resumed Senhor Letotti, "how do you propose to elude the +English cruiser? for I know that her captain has got wind of your +whereabouts, and is determined to watch the coast closely--and let me +tell you, he is a vigorous, intelligent man." + +"You tell me he has a number of captured slaves already in his ship?" +said Yoosoof. + +"Yes, some hundreds, I believe." + +"He must go somewhere to land these, I presume?" rejoined the Arab. + +Yoosoof referred here to the fact that when a British cruiser engaged in +the suppression of the slave-trade on the east coast of Africa has +captured a number of slaves, she is under the necessity of running to +the Seychelles Islands, Aden, or some other British port of discharge, +to land them there as free men, because, were she to set them free on +any part of the coast of Africa, belonging either to Portugal or the +Sultan of Zanzibar, they would certainly be recaptured and again +enslaved. When therefore the cruisers are absent--it may be two or +three weeks on this duty, the traders in human flesh of course make the +most of their opportunity to run cargoes of slaves to those ports in +Arabia and Persia where they always find a ready market. + +On the present occasion Yoosoof conceived that the captain of the +`Firefly' might be obliged to take this course to get rid of the negroes +already on board, who were of course consuming his provisions, besides +being an extremely disagreeable cargo, many of them being diseased and +covered with sores, owing to their cruel treatment on board the +slave-dhows. + +"He won't go, however, till he has hunted the coast north and south for +you, so he assures me," said the Governor, with a laugh. + +"Well, I must start to-night, therefore I shall give him a small pill to +swallow which will take him out of the way," said Yoosoof, rising to +leave the room. + +"I wish you both success," said the Governor, as Marizano also rose to +depart, "but I fear that you will find the Englishman very +troublesome.--Adieu." + +The Arab and the half-caste went out talking earnestly together, and +followed by Azinte, and immediately afterwards the Senhorina Maraquita +entered hurriedly. + +"Father, you must buy that slave-girl for me. I want a pretty slave all +to myself," she said, with unwonted vehemence. + +"Impossible, my child," replied the Governor kindly, for he was very +fond as well as proud of his daughter. + +"Why impossible? Have you not enough of money?" + +"Oh yes, plenty of that, but I fear she is already bespoken, and I +should not like to interfere--" + +"Bespoken! do you mean sold?" cried Maraquita, seizing her father's +hands, "not sold to that man Marizano?" + +"I think she must be by this time, for he's a prompt man of business, +and not easily thwarted when he sets his mind to a thing." + +The Senhorina clasped her hands before her eyes, and stood for a moment +motionless, then rushing wildly from the room she passed into another +apartment the windows of which commanded a view of a considerable part +of the road which led from the house along the shore. There she saw the +Arab and his friend walking leisurely along as if in earnest converse, +while Azinte followed meekly behind. + +The Senhorina stood gazing at them with clenched hands, in an agony of +uncertainty as to what course she ought to pursue, and so wrapt up in +her thoughts that she failed to observe a strapping young lieutenant of +H.M.S. steamer `Firefly,' who had entered the room and stood close to +her side. + +Now this same lieutenant happened to be wildly in love with Senhorina +Maraquita. He had met her frequently at her father's table, where, in +company with his captain, he was entertained with great hospitality, and +on which occasions the captain was assisted by the Governor in his +investigations into the slave-trade. + +Lieutenant Lindsay had taken the romantic plunge with all the charming +enthusiasm of inexperienced youth, and entertained the firm conviction +that, if Senhorina Maraquita did not become "his," life would +thenceforth be altogether unworthy of consideration; happiness would be +a thing of the past, with which he should have nothing more to do, and +death at the cannon's mouth, or otherwise, would be the only remaining +gleam of comfort in his dingy future. + +"Something distresses you, I fear," began the lieutenant, not a little +perplexed to find the young lady in such a peculiar mood. + +Maraquita started, glanced at him a moment, and then, with flashing eyes +and heightened colour, pointed at the three figures on the road. + +"Yes, Senhor," she said; "I am distressed--deeply so. Look! do you see +yonder two men, and the girl walking behind them?" + +"I do." + +"Quick! fly after them and bring them hither--the Arab and the girl I +mean--not the other man. Oh, be quick, else they will be out of sight +and then she will be lost; quick, if you--if--if you really mean what +you have so often told me." + +Poor Lindsay! It was rather a sudden and severe test of fidelity to be +sent forth to lay violent hands on a man and woman and bring them +forcibly to the Governor's house, without any better reason than that a +self-willed girl ordered him so to do; at the same time, he perceived +that, if he did not act promptly, the retreating figures would soon turn +into the town, and be hopelessly beyond his power of recognition. + +"But--but--" he stammered, "if they won't come--?" + +"They _must_ come. Threaten my father's high displeasure.--Quick, +Senhor," cried the young lady in a commanding tone. + +Lindsay flung open the casement and leapt through it as being the +shortest way out of the house, rushed with undignified speed along the +road, and overtook the Arab and his friend as they were about to turn +into one of the narrow lanes of the town. + +"Pardon me," said the lieutenant laying his hand on Yoosoof's shoulder +in his anxiety to make sure of him, "will you be so good as to return +with me to the Governor's residence?" + +"By whose orders?" demanded Yoosoof with a look of surprise. + +"The orders of the Senhorina Maraquita." + +The Arab hesitated, looked somewhat perplexed, and said something in +Portuguese to Marizano, who pointed to the slave-girl, and spoke with +considerable vehemence. + +Lindsay did not understand what was said, but, conjecturing that the +half-caste was proposing that Azinte should remain with him, he +said:--"The girl must return with you--if you would not incur the +Governor's displeasure." + +Marizano, on having this explained to him, looked with much ferocity at +the lieutenant and spoke to Yoosoof in wrathful tones, but the latter +shook his head, and the former, who disliked Marizano's appearance +excessively, took not the least notice of him. + +"I do go," said Yoosoof, turning back. Motioning to Azinte to follow, +he retraced his steps with the lieutenant and the slave--while Marizano +strode into the town in a towering rage. + +We need scarcely say that Maraquita, having got possession of Azinte, +did not find it impossible to persuade her father to purchase her, and +that Yoosoof, although sorry to disappoint Marizano, who was an +important ally and assistant in the slave-trade, did not see his way to +thwart the wishes of the Governor, whose power to interfere with his +trade was very great indeed, and to whom he was under the necessity of +paying head-money for every slave that was exported by him from that +part of the coast. + +Soon after Azinte had been thus happily rescued from the clutches of two +of the greatest villains on the East African coast--where villains of +the deepest dye are by no means uncommon--Lindsay met Captain Romer of +the `Firefly' on the beach, with his first lieutenant Mr Small, who, by +the way, happened to be one of the largest men in his ship. The three +officers had been invited to dine that day with the Governor, and as +there seemed no particular occasion for their putting to sea that night, +and a fresh supply of water had to be taken on board, the invitation had +been accepted, all the more readily, too, that Captain Romer thought it +afforded an opportunity for obtaining further information as to the +movements of certain notorious slavers who were said to be thereabouts +at that time. Lieutenant Lindsay had been sent ashore at an earlier +part of the day, accompanied by one of the sailors who understood +Portuguese, and who, being a remarkably intelligent man, might, it was +thought, acquire some useful information from some of the people of the +town. + +"Well, Mr Lindsay, has Jackson been of any use to you?" inquired the +captain. + +"Not yet," replied the lieutenant; "at least I know not what he may have +done, not having met him since we parted on landing; but I have myself +been so fortunate as to rescue a slave-girl under somewhat peculiar +circumstances." + +"Truly, a most romantic and gallant affair," said the captain, laughing, +when Lindsay had related the incident, "and worthy of being mentioned in +despatches; but I suspect, considering the part that the Senhorina +Maraquita played in it and the fact that you only rescued the girl from +one slaveholder in order to hand her over to another, the less that is +said about the subject the better!--But here comes Jackson. Perhaps he +may have learned something about the scoundrels we are in search of." + +The seaman referred to approached and touched his cap. + +"What news?" demanded the captain, who knew by the twinkle in Jack's eye +that he had something interesting to report. + +"I've diskivered all about it sir," replied the man, with an +ill-suppressed chuckle. + +"Indeed! come this way. Now, let's hear what you have to tell," said +the captain, when at a sufficient distance from his boat to render the +conversation quite private. + +"Well, sir," began Jackson, "w'en I got up into the town, arter leavin' +Mr Lindsay, who should I meet but a man as had bin a messmate o' mine +aboard of that there Portuguese ship w'ere I picked up a smatterin' o' +the lingo? Of course we hailed each other and hove-to for a spell, and +then we made sail for a grog-shop, where we spliced the main-brace. +After a deal o' tackin' and beatin' about, which enabled me to find out +that he'd left the sea an' taken to business on his own account, which +in them parts seems to mean loafin' about doin' little or nothin', I +went slap into the subject that was uppermost in my mind, and says I to +him, says I, they does a deal o' slavin' on this here coast, it +appears--Black Ivory is a profitable trade, ain't it? W'y, sir, you +should have seen the way he grinned and winked, and opened out on +'em.--`Black Ivory!' says he, `w'y, Jackson, there's more slaves +exported from these here parts annooally than would fill a good-sized +city. I could tell you--but,' says he, pullin' up sudden, `you won't +split on me, messmate?' `Honour bright,' says I, `if ye don't call +tellin' my captain splittin'.' `Oh no,' says he, with a laugh, `it's +little I care what _he_ knows, or does to the pirates--for that's their +true name, and murderers to boot--but don't let it come to the +Governor's ears, else I'm a ruined man.' I says I wouldn't and then he +goes on to tell me all sorts of hanecdots about their doin's--that they +does it with the full consent of the Governor, who gets head-money for +every slave exported; that nearly all the Governors on the coast are +birds of the same feather, and that the Governor-General himself, [See +Consul McLeod's _Travels in Eastern Africa_, volume one page 306.] at +Mozambique, winks at it and makes the subordinate Governors pay him +tribute. Then he goes on to tell me more about the Governor of this +here town, an' says that, though a kind-hearted man in the main, and +very good to his domestic slaves, he encourages the export trade, +because it brings him in a splendid revenue, which he has much need of, +poor man, for like most, if not all, of the Governors on the coast, he +do receive nothin' like a respectible salary from the Portuguese +Government at home, and has to make it up by slave-tradin'." [See +McLeod's _Travels_, volume one page 293.] + +It must be explained here that British cruisers were, and still are, +kept on the east coast of Africa, for the purpose of crushing only the +_export_ slave-trade. They claim no right to interfere with "domestic +slavery," an institution which is still legal in the dominions of the +Sultan of Zanzibar and in the so-called colonies of Portugal on that +coast. + +"But that is not the best of it, sir," continued Jackson, with a +respectful smile, "after we'd had our jaw out I goes off along the road +by the beach to think a bit what I'd best do, an' have a smoke--for +that's wot usually sets my brain to work full-swing. Bein' hot I lay +down in the lee of a bush to excogitate. You see, sir, my old messmate +told me that there are two men here, the worst characters he ever +know'd--ashore or afloat. One they calls Yoosoof--an Arab he is; the +other Marizano--he's a slave-catcher, and an outlaw just now, havin' +taken up arms and rebelled against the Portuguese authorities. +Nevertheless these two men are secretly hand and glove with the Governor +here, and at this moment there are said to be a lot o' slaves ready for +shipment and only waitin' till the `Firefly' is out of the way. More +than this my friend could not tell, so that's w'y I went to +excogitate.--I beg parding, sir, for being so long wi' my yarn, but I +ain't got the knack o' cuttin' it short, sir, that's w'ere it is." + +"Never mind, lad; go on to the end of it," replied the captain. "Did +you excogitate anything more?" + +"I can't say as I did, sir, but it was cooriously enough excogitated +_for_ me. W'en I was lying there looking through the bush at the bay, I +sees two men comin' along, arm in arm. One of 'em was an Arab. W'en +they was near I saw the Arab start; I thought he'd seen me, and didn't +like me. No more did I like him or his comrade. However, I was wrong, +for after whisperin' somethin' very earnest-like to his friend, who +laughed very much; but said nothin', they came and sat down not far from +the bush where I lay. Now, thinks I, it ain't pleasant to be an +eavesdropper, but as I'm here to find out the secrets of villains, and +as these two look uncommon like villains, I'll wait a bit; if they +broach business as don't consarn me or her Majesty the Queen, I'll +sneeze an' let 'em know I'm here, before they're properly under weigh; +but if they speaks of wot I wants to know, I'll keep quiet. Well, sir, +to my surprise, the Arab--he speaks in bad English, whereby I came to +suppose the other was an Englishman, but, if he is, the climate must +have spoiled him badly, for I never did see such a ruffian to look at. +But he only laughed, and didn't speak, so I couldn't be sure. Well, to +come to the pint, sir, the Arab said he'd got hold of two shipwrecked +Englishmen, whom he meant to put on board of his dhow, at that time +lyin' up a river not three miles off, and full of slaves, take 'em off +the coast, seize 'em when asleep, and heave 'em overboard; the reason +bein' that he was afraid, if they was left ashore here, they'd discover +the town, which they are ignorant of at present, and give the alarm to +our ship, sir, an' so prevent him gettin' clear off, which he means to +attempt about midnight just after the moon goes down." + +This unexpected information was very gratifying to Captain Romer, who +immediately gave orders to get steam up and have everything in readiness +to start the moment he should make his appearance on board, at the same +time enjoining absolute silence on his lieutenants and Jackson, who all +returned to the `Firefly,' chuckling inwardly. + +If they had known that the Arab's information, though partly true, was a +_ruse_; that Jackson had indeed been observed by the keen-eyed Oriental, +who had thereupon sat down purposely within earshot, and after a +whispered hint to his companion, gave forth such information as would be +likely to lead the British cruiser into his snares--speaking in bad +English, under the natural impression that the sailor did not understand +Portuguese, to the immense amusement of Marizano, who understood the +_ruse_, though he did not understand a single word of what his companion +said--had they known all this, we say, it is probable that they would +have chuckled less, and--but why indulge in probabilities when facts are +before us? The sequel will show that the best-laid plans may fail. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +RELATES THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAROLD AND DISCO, AND LIFTS THE +CURTAIN A LITTLE HIGHER IN REGARD TO THE SLAVE-TRADE. + +So Captain Romer and his lieutenants went to dine with the worthy +Governor Senhor Francisco Alfonso Toledo Bignoso Letotti, while Yoosoof +returned to the creek to carry out his deep-laid plans. + +In regard to the dinner, let it suffice to observe that it was good, and +that the Governor was urbane, hospitable, communicative, and every way +agreeable. It is probable that if he had been trained in another sphere +and in different circumstances he might have been a better man. As +things stood, he was unquestionably a pleasant one, and Captain Romer +found it hard to believe that he was an underhand schemer. + +Nothing could exceed the open way in which Senhor Letotti condemned the +slave-trade, praised the English for their zeal in attempting to +suppress it, explained that the King of Portugal and the Sultan of +Zanzibar were equally anxious for its total extinction, and assured his +guests that he would do everything that lay in his power to further +their efforts to capture the guilty kidnappers, and to free the poor +slaves! + +"But, my dear sir," said he, at the conclusion of an emphatic +declaration of sympathy, "the thing is exceedingly difficult. You are +aware that Arab traders swarm upon the coast, that they are reckless +men, who possess boats and money in abundance, that the trade is very +profitable, and that, being to some extent real traders in ivory, +palm-oil, indigo, and other kinds of native produce, these men have many +_ruses_ and methods--what you English call dodges--whereby they can +deceive even the most sharp-sighted and energetic. The Arabs are smart +smugglers of negroes--very much as your people who live in the Scottish +land are smart smugglers of the dew of the mountain--what your great +poet Burns speaks much of--I forget its name--it is not easy to put them +down." + +After dinner, Senhor Letotti led the officers into his garden, and +showed them his fruit-trees and offices, also his domestic slaves, who +looked healthy, well cared for, and really in some degree happy. + +He did not, however, tell his guests that being naturally a humane man, +his slaves were better treated than any other slaves in the town. He +did not remind them that, being slaves, they were his property, his +goods and chattels, and that he possessed the right and the power to +flay them alive if so disposed. He did not explain that many in the +town _were_ so disposed; that cruelty grows and feeds upon itself; that +there were ladies and gentlemen there who flogged their slaves--men, +women, and children--nearly to the death; that one gentleman of an +irascible disposition, when irritated by some slight oversight on the +part of the unfortunate boy who acted as his valet, could find no relief +to his feelings until he had welted him first into a condition of +unutterable terror, and then into a state of insensibility. Neither did +he inform them that a certain lady in the town, who seemed at most times +to be possessed of a reasonably quiet spirit, was roused once to such a +degree by a female slave that she caused her to be forcibly held, thrust +a boiling hot egg into her mouth, skewered her lips together with a +sail-needle, and then striking her cheeks, burst the egg, and let the +scalding contents run down her throat. [See Consul McLeod's _Travels_, +volume two page 32.] + +No, nothing of all this did the amiable Governor Letotti so much as hint +at. He would not for the world have shocked the sensibilities of his +guests by the recital of such cruelties. To say truth, the worthy man +himself did not like to speak or think of them. In this respect he +resembled a certain class among ourselves, who, rather than submit to a +little probing of their feelings for a few minutes, would prefer to miss +the chance of making an intelligently indignant protest against slavery, +and would allow the bodies and souls of their fellow-men to continue +writhing in agony through all time. + +It was much more gratifying to the feelings of Senhor Letotti to convey +his guests to the drawing-room, and there gratify their palates with +excellent coffee, while the graceful, and now clothed, Azinte brought a +Spanish guitar to the Senhorina Maraquita, whose sweet voice soon +charmed away all thoughts of the cruel side of slavery. But duty ere +long stepped in to call the guests to other scenes. + +"What a sweet girl the Senhorina is!" remarked Captain Romer, while on +his way to the beach. + +"Ay, and what a pretty girl Azinte is, black though she be," observed +Lieutenant Small. + +"Call her not black; she is brown--a brunette," said the captain. + +"I wonder how _we_ should feel," said Lindsay, "if the tables were +turned, and _our_ women and children, with our stoutest young men, were +forcibly taken from us by thousands every year, and imported into Africa +to grind the corn and hoe the fields of the black man. Poor Azinte!" + +"Do you know anything of her history?" inquired Mr Small. + +"A little. I had some conversation in French with the Senhorina just +before we left--" + +"Yes, I observed that," interrupted the captain, with a quiet smile. + +"And," continued Lindsay, "she told me that she had discovered, through +an interpreter, that the poor girl is married, and that her home is far +away in the interior. She was caught, with many others, while out +working in the fields one day several months ago, by a party of +slave-traders, under an Arab named Yoosoof and carried off. Her husband +was absent at the time; her infant boy was with its grandmother in their +village, and she thinks may have escaped into the woods, but she has not +seen any of them again since the day of her capture." + +"It is a sad case," said the captain, "and yet bad though it be, it +might be far worse, for Azinte's master and mistress are very kind, +which is more than can be said of most slave-owners in this region." + +In a few minutes the captain's gig was alongside the "Firefly," and soon +afterwards that vessel quietly put to sea. Of course it was impossible +that she should depart unobserved, but her commander took the precaution +to run due south at first, exactly opposite to the direction of his true +course, intending to make a wide sweep out to sea, and thus get +unobserved to the northward of the place where the slaver's dhow was +supposed to be lying, in time to intercept it. + +Yoosoof, from a neighbouring height watched the manoeuvre, and +thoroughly understood it. When the vessel had disappeared into the +shades of night that brooded over the sea, he smiled calmly, and in a +placid frame of mind betook himself to his lair in the creek beside the +mangrove trees. + +He found Harold Seadrift and Disco Lillihammer in the hut, somewhat +impatient of his prolonged absence, and a dozen of his men looking +rather suspiciously at the strangers. + +"Is all ready, Moosa?" he inquired of a powerful man, half-Portuguese, +half-negro in appearance, who met him outside the door of the hut. + +"All ready," replied the half-caste, in a gruff tone of voice, "but what +are you going to do with these English brutes?" + +"Take them with us, of course," replied Yoosoof. + +"For what end?" + +"For our own safety. Why, don't you see, Moosa, that if we had set them +free, they might have discovered the town and given information to the +cruiser about us, which would have been awkward? We might now, indeed, +set them free, for the cruiser is gone, but I still have good reason for +wishing to take them with me. They think that we have but _one_ boat in +this creek, and I should like to make use of them for the purpose of +propagating that false idea. I have had the good luck while in the town +to find an opportunity of giving one of the sailors of the cruiser a +little information as to my movements--some of it true, some of it +false--which will perhaps do us a service." + +The Arab smiled slightly as he said this. + +"Do these men know our trade?" asked Moosa. + +"I think they suspect it," answered Yoosoof. + +"And what if they be not willing to go with us?" demanded Moosa. + +"Can twelve men not manage two?" asked the Arab. Dark though the night +had become by that time, there was sufficient light to gleam on the +teeth that Moosa exposed on receiving this reply. + +"Now, Moosa, we must be prompt," continued Yoosoof; "let some of you get +round behind the Englishmen, and have the slave-chains handy. Keep your +eye on me while I talk with them; if they are refractory, a nod shall be +the signal." + +Entering the hut Yoosoof informed Harold that it was now time to set +sail. + +"Good, we are ready," said Harold, rising, "but tell me one thing before +my comrade and I agree to go with you,--tell us honestly if you are +engaged in the slave-trade." + +A slight smile curled the Arab's thin lip as he replied--"If I be a +slave-trader, I cannot speak honestly, so you Engleesh think. But I do +tell you--yes, I am." + +"Then, I tell _you_ honestly," said Harold, "that I won't go with you. +I'll have nothing to do with slavers." + +"Them's my sentiments to a tee," said Disco, with emphasis, thumping his +left palm as usual with his right fist, by way of sheating his remark +home--to use his own words. + +"But you will both perish on this uninhabited coast," said Yoosoof. + +"So be it," replied Harold; "I had rather run the risk of starving than +travel in company with slave-traders. Besides, I doubt the truth of +what you say. There must be several villages not very far off, if my +information in regard to the coast be not altogether wrong." + +Yoosoof waited for no more. He nodded to Moosa, who instantly threw a +noose round Harold's arms, and drew it tight. The same operation was +performed for Disco, by a stout fellow who stood behind him, and almost +before they realised what had occurred, they were seized by a number of +men. + +It must not be supposed that two able-bodied Englishmen quietly +submitted at once to this sort of treatment. On the contrary, a +struggle ensued that shook the walls of the little hut so violently as +almost to bring it down upon the heads of the combatants. The instant +that Harold felt the rough clasp of Moosa's arms, he bent himself +forward with such force as to fling that worthy completely over his +head, and lay him flat on the floor, but two of the other slavers seized +Harold's arms, a third grasped him round the waist, and a fourth rapidly +secured the ropes that had been thrown around him. Disco's mode of +action, although somewhat different was quite as vigorous. On being +grasped he uttered a deep roar of surprise and rage, and, raising his +foot, struck out therewith at a man who advanced to seize him in front. +The kick not only tumbled the man over a low bench and drove his head +against the wall, but it caused the kicker himself to recoil on his foes +behind with such force that they all fell on the floor together, when by +their united weight the slavers managed to crush the unfortunate Disco, +not, indeed, into submission, but into inaction. + +His tongue, however, not being tied, continued to pour forth somewhat +powerful epithets, until Harold very strongly advised him to cease. + +"If you want to retain a whole skin," he said, "you had better keep a +quiet tongue." + +"P'raps you're right sir," said Disco, after a moment's consideration, +"but it ain't easy to shut up in the succumstances." + +After they had thoroughly secured the Englishmen, the traders led them +down the bank of the creek to the spot where the dhow was moored. In +the dark it appeared to Harold and his companion to be the same dhow, +but this was not so. The boat by which they had crossed the creek had +been removed up the water, and its place was now occupied by the dhow +into which had been put the maimed and worn-out slaves of the band whose +arrival we have described. The hold of the little vessel was very dark, +nevertheless there was light enough to enable the Englishmen to guess +that the rows of black objects just perceptible within it were slaves. +If they had entertained any uncertainty on this point, the odour that +saluted them as they passed to the stern would have quickly dispelled +their doubts. + +It was evident from the manner of the slavers that they did not now fear +discovery, because they talked loudly as they pushed off and rowed away. +Soon they were out of the creek, and the roar of breakers was heard. +Much caution was displayed in guiding the dhow through these, for the +channel was narrow, and darkness rendered its position almost +indiscernible. At last the sail was hoisted, the boat bent over to a +smart breeze, and held away in a north-easterly direction. As the night +wore on this breeze became lighter, and, most of the crew being asleep, +deep silence prevailed on board the slave-dhow, save that, ever and +anon, a pitiful wail, as of a sick child, or a convulsive sob, issued +from the hold. + +Harold and Disco sat beside each other in the stern, with an armed +half-caste on each side, and Yoosoof in front. Their thoughts were busy +enough at first, but neither spoke to the other. As the night advanced +both fell into an uneasy slumber. + +When Harold awoke, the grey dawn was beginning to break in the east and +there was sufficient light to render objects dimly visible. At first he +scarcely recollected where he was, but the pain caused by the ropes that +bound him soon refreshed his memory. Casting his eyes quickly towards +the hold, his heart sank within him at the sight he there beheld. +Yoosoof's Black Ivory was not of the best quality, but there was a good +deal of it, which rendered judicious packing necessary. So many of his +gang had become worthless as an article of trade, through suffering on +the way down to the coast, that the boat could scarce contain them all. +They were packed sitting on their haunches in rows each with his knees +close to his chin, and all jammed so tightly together that none could +rise up or lie down. Men, women, and little children sat in this +position with an expression of indescribable hopelessness and apathy on +their faces. The infants, of which there were several, lay motionless +on their mothers' shrunken breasts. God help them! they were indeed +utterly worthless as pieces of merchandise. The long journey and hard +treatment had worn all of them to mere skin and bone, and many were +suffering from bad sores caused by the slave-irons and the unmerciful +application of the lash. No one knew better than Yoosoof that this was +his "damaged stock"--hopelessly damaged, and he meant to make the best +use he could of it. + +The sun arose in all its splendour, and revealed more clearly to the +horrified Englishmen all the wretchedness of the hold, but for a +considerable time they did not speak. The circumstances in which they +found themselves seemed to have bereft them of the faculty of speech. +The morning advanced, and Yoosoof with his men, took a frugal breakfast, +but they did not offer any to Harold or Disco. As these unfortunates +had, however, supped heartily, they did not mind that. So much could +not have been said for the slaves. They had received their last meal of +uncooked rice and water, a very insufficient one, about thirty-six hours +before, and as they watched the traders at breakfast, their glaring eyes +told eloquently of their sufferings. + +Had these been Yoosoof's valuable stock, his undamaged goods, he would +have given them a sufficiency of food to have kept them up to condition +as long as he possessed them; but being what they were, a very little +drop of water and a few grains of raw rice at noon was deemed sufficient +to prevent absolute starvation. + +"How can you have the heart," said Harold at last turning to Yoosoof, +"to treat these poor creatures so cruelly?" + +Yoosoof shrugged his shoulders. + +"My fader treat them so; I follow my fader's footsteps." + +"But have you no pity for them? Don't you think they have hearts and +feelings like ourselves?" returned Harold earnestly. + +"No," replied the Arab coldly. "They have no feelings. Hard as the +stone. They care not for mother, or child, or husband. Only brutes-- +cattle." + +Harold was so disgusted with this reply that he relapsed into silence. + +Towards the afternoon, while the dhow was running close in-shore, a +vessel hove in sight on the horizon. A few minutes sufficed to show +that it was a steamer. It was of course observed and closely watched by +the slave-dealers as well as by Harold Seadrift and Disco Lillihammer, +who became sanguinely hopeful that it might turn out to be a British +man-of-war. Had they known that Yoosoof was equally anxious and hopeful +on that point they would have been much surprised; but the wily Arab +pretended to be greatly alarmed, and when the Union Jack became clearly +visible his excitement increased. He gave some hurried orders to his +men, who laughed sarcastically as they obeyed them. + +"Yoosoof," said Harold, with a slight feeling of exultation, "your plans +seem about to miscarry!" + +"No, they not miscarry yet," replied the Arab, with a grim smile. + +"Tell me, Yoosoof," resumed Harold, prompted by strong curiosity, "why +have you carried us off bound in this fashion?" + +Another smile, more grim than the former, crossed the Arab's visage as +he replied--"Me carry you off 'cause that sheep," pointing to the +steamer, "lie not two mile off, near to town of Governor Letotti, when I +first met you. We not want you to let thems know 'bout us, so I carry +you off, and I bind you 'cause you strong." + +"Ha! that's plain and reasonable," returned Harold, scarce able to +restrain a laugh at the man's cool impudence. "But it would appear that +some one else has carried the news; so, you see, you have been outwitted +after all." + +"Perhaps. We shall see," replied the Arab, with something approaching +to a chuckle. + +Altering the course of the boat, Yoosoof now ran her somewhat off the +shore, as if with a view to get round a headland that lay to the +northward. This evidently drew the attention of the steamer--which was +none other than the "Firefly"--for she at once altered her course and +ran in-shore, so as to intercept the dhow. Seeing this, Yoosoof turned +back and made for the land at a place where there was a long line of +breakers close to the shore. To run amongst these seemed to be +equivalent to running on certain destruction, nevertheless the Arab held +on, with compressed lips and a frowning brow. Yoosoof looked quite like +a man who would rather throw away his life than gratify his enemy, and +the Englishmen, who were fully alive to their danger, began to feel +rather uneasy--which was a very pardonable sensation, when it is +remembered that their arms being fast bound, rendered them utterly +unable to help themselves in case of the boat capsizing. + +The "Firefly" was by this time near enough to hold converse with the +dhow through the medium of artillery. Soon a puff of white smoke burst +from her bow, and a round-shot dropped a few yards astern of the boat. + +"That's a broad hint, my lad, so you'd better give in," said +Lillihammer, scarce able to suppress a look of triumph. + +Yoosoof paid not the slightest attention to the remark, but held on his +course. + +"Surely you don't intend to risk the lives of these poor creatures in +such a surf?" said Harold anxiously; "weak and worn as they are, their +doom is sealed if we capsize." + +Still the Arab paid no attention, but continued to gaze steadily at the +breakers. + +Harold, turning his eyes in the same direction, observed something like +a narrow channel running through them. He was enough of a seaman to +understand that only one who was skilled in such navigation could pass +in safety. + +"They're lowering a boat," said Disco, whose attention was engrossed by +the manoeuvres of the "Firefly." + +Soon the boat left the side of the vessel, which was compelled to check +her speed for fear of running on the reef. Another gun was fired as she +came round, and the shot dropped right in front of the dhow, sending a +column of water high into the air. Still Yoosoof held on until close to +the breakers, when, to the surprise of the Englishmen, he suddenly threw +the boat's head into the wind. + +"You can steer," he said sternly to Disco. "Come, take the helm an' go +to your ship; or, if you choose, go on the breakers." + +He laughed fiercely as he said this, and next moment plunged into the +sea, followed by his crew. + +Disco, speechless with amazement, rose up and sprang to the helm. Of +course he could not use his bound hands, but one of his legs answered +almost as well. He allowed the boat to come round until the sail filled +on the other tack, and then looking back, saw the heads of the Arabs as +they swam through the channel and made for the shore. In a few minutes +they gained it, and, after uttering a shout of defiance, ran up into the +bushes and disappeared. + +Meanwhile the "Firefly's" boat made straight for the dhow, and was soon +near enough to hail. + +"Heave-to," cried an interpreter in Arabic. + +"Speak your own mother tongue and I'll answer ye," replied Disco. + +"Heave-to, or I'll sink you," shouted Mr Small, who was in charge. + +"I'm just agoin' to do it, sir," replied Disco, running the dhow into +the wind until the sail shook. + +Another moment and the boat was alongside. "Jump aboard and handle the +sail, lads; I can't help 'ee no further," said Disco. + +The invitation was unnecessary. The moment the two boats touched, the +blue-jackets swarmed on board, cutlass in hand, and took possession. + +"Why, what!--where did _you_ come from?" asked the lieutenant, looking +in profound astonishment at Harold and his companion. + +"We are Englishmen, as you see," replied Harold, unable to restrain a +smile; "we have been wrecked and caught by the villains who have just +escaped you." + +"I see--well, no time for talking just now; cut them loose, Jackson. +Make fast the sheet--now then." + +In a few minutes the dhow ranged up alongside the "Firefly," and our +heroes, with the poor slaves, were quickly transferred to the +man-of-war's deck, where Harold told his tale to Captain Romer. + +As we have already stated, there were a number of slaves on board the +"Firefly," which had been rescued from various Arab dhows. The gang now +received on board made their numbers so great that it became absolutely +necessary to run to the nearest port to discharge them. + +We have already remarked on the necessity that lies on our cruisers, +when overladen with rescued slaves, to run to a distant port of +discharge to land them; and on the readiness of the slave-traders to +take advantage of their opportunity, and run north with full cargoes +with impunity when some of the cruisers are absent; for it is not +possible for a small fleet to guard upwards of a thousand miles of coast +effectually, or even, in any degree, usefully. If we possessed a port +of discharge--a British station and settlement--on the mainland of the +east coast of Africa, this difficulty would not exist. As it is, +although we place several men-of-war on a station, the evil will not be +cured, for just in proportion as these are successful in making +captures, will arise the necessity of their leaving the station for +weeks at a time unguarded. + +Thus it fell out on the occasion of which we write. The presence of the +large slave-freight on board the man-of-war was intolerable. Captain +Romer was compelled to hurry off to the Seychelles Islands. He sailed +with the monsoon, but had to steam back against it. During this period +another vessel, similarly freighted, had to run to discharge at Aden. +The seas were thus comparatively clear of cruisers. The Arabs seized +their opportunity, and a stream of dhows and larger vessels swept out +from the various creeks and ports all along the East African coast, +filled to overflowing with slaves. + +Among these were the four large dhows of our friend Yoosoof. Having, as +we have seen, made a slight sacrifice of damaged and unsaleable goods +and chattels, in order to clear the way, he proceeded north, touching at +various ports where he filled up his living cargo, and finally got clear +off, not with goods damaged beyond repair, but with thousands of the +sons and daughters of Africa in their youthful prime. + +In the interior each man cost him about four yards of cotton cloth, +worth a few pence; each woman three yards, and each child two yards, and +of course in cases where he stole them, they cost him nothing. On the +coast these would sell at from 8 pounds to 12 pounds each, and in Arabia +at from 20 pounds to 40 pounds. + +We mention this to show what strong inducement there was for Yoosoof to +run a good deal of risk in carrying on this profitable and accursed +traffic. + +But you must not fancy, good reader, that what we have described is +given as a specimen of the _extent_ to which the slave-trade on that +coast is carried. It is but as a specimen of the _manner_ thereof. It +is certainly within the mark to say that at least thirty thousand +natives are annually carried away as slaves from the east coast of +Africa. + +Sir Bartle Frere, in addressing a meeting of the chief native +inhabitants of Bombay in April 1873, said,--"Let me assure you, in +conclusion, that what you have heard of the horrors of the slave-trade +is in no way exaggerated. We have seen so much of the horrors which +were going on that we can have no doubt that what you read in books, +which are so often spoken of as containing exaggerations, is exaggerated +in no respect. The evil is much greater than anything you can conceive. +Among the poorer class of Africans there is nothing like security from +fathers and mothers being put to death in order that their children may +be captured;"--and, referring to the _east coast alone_, he says +that--"thirty thousand, or more, human beings, are exported every year +from Africa." + +Dr Livingstone tells us that, on the average, about one out of every +five captured human beings reaches the coast alive. The other four +perish or are murdered on the way, so that the thirty thousand annually +exported, as stated by Sir Bartle Frere, represents a loss of 150,000 +human beings _annually_ from the east coast alone, altogether +irrespective of the enormous and constant flow of slaves to the north by +way of the White Nile and Egypt. + +Yoosoof's venture was therefore but a drop in the vast river of blood +which is drained annually from poor Africa's veins--blood which flows at +the present time as copiously and constantly as it ever did in the days +of old--blood which cries aloud to God for vengeance, and for the flow +of which _we_, as a nation, are far from blameless. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +IN WHICH OUR HEROES SEE STRANGE SIGHTS AT ZANZIBAR, AND RESOLVE UPON +TAKING A BOLD STEP. + +Before proceeding to the Seychelles, the `Firefly' touched at the island +of Zanzibar, and there landed our hero Harold Seadrift and his comrade +in misfortune, Disco Lillihammer. + +Here, one brilliant afternoon, the two friends sat down under a +palm-tree to hold what Disco called a palaver. The spot commanded a +fine view of the town and harbour of Zanzibar. + +We repeat that the afternoon was brilliant, but it is right to add that +it required an African body and mind fully to appreciate the pleasures +of it. The sun's rays were blistering, the heat was intense, and the +air was stifling. Harold lay down and gasped, Disco followed his +example, and sighed. After a few minutes spent in a species of imbecile +contemplation of things in general, the latter raised himself to a +sitting posture, and proceeded slowly to fill and light his pipe. +Harold was no smoker, but he derived a certain dreamy enjoyment from +gazing at Disco, and wondering how he could smoke in such hot weather. + +"We'll get used to it I s'pose, like the eels," observed Disco, when the +pipe was in full blast. + +"Of course we shall," replied Harold; "and now that we have come to an +anchor, let me explain the project which has been for some days maturing +in my mind." + +"All right; fire away, sir," said the sailor, blowing a long thin cloud +from his lips. + +"You are aware," said Harold, "that I came out here as supercargo of my +father's vessel," (Disco nodded), "but you are not aware that my chief +object in coming was to see a little of the world in general, and of the +African part of it in particular. Since my arrival you and I have seen +a few things, which have opened up my mind in regard to slavery; we have +now been a fortnight in this town, and my father's agent has enlightened +me still further on the subject, insomuch that I now feel within me an +intense desire to make an excursion into the interior of Africa; indeed, +I have resolved to do so, for the purpose of seeing its capabilities in +a commercial point of view, of observing how the slave-trade is +conducted at its fountain-head, and of enjoying a little of the scenery +and the sport peculiar to this land of Ham." + +"W'y, you speaks like a book, sir," said Disco, emitting a prolonged +puff, "an' it ain't for the likes me to give an opinion on that there; +but if I may make bold to ax, sir, how do you mean to travel--on the +back of a elephant or a ry-noceris?--for it seems to me that there ain't +much in the shape o' locomotives or 'busses hereabouts--not even cabs." + +"I shall go in a canoe," replied Harold; "but my reason for broaching +the subject just now is, that I may ask if you are willing to go with +me." + +"There's no occasion to ax that sir; I'm your man--north or south, east +or west, it's all the same to me. I've bin born to roll about the +world, and it matters little whether I rolls ashore or afloat--though I +prefers the latter." + +"Well, then, that's settled," said Harold, with a look of satisfaction; +"I have already arranged with our agent here to advance me what I +require in the way of funds, and shall hire men and canoes when we get +down to the Zambesi--" + +"The Zam-wot, sir?" + +"The Zambesi; did you never hear of it before?" + +"Never, nor don't know wot it is, sir." + +"It is a river; one of the largest on the east coast, which has been +well described by Dr Livingstone, that greatest of travellers, whose +chief object in travelling is, as he himself says, to raise the negroes +out of their present degraded condition, and free them from the curse of +slavery." + +"That's the man to _my_ mind," said Disco emphatically; "good luck to +him.--But w'en d'you mean to start for the Zambizzy, sir?" + +"In a few days. It will take that time to get everything ready, and our +money packed." + +"Our money packed!" echoed the sailor, with a look of surprise, "w'y, +wot d'ye mean!" + +"Just what I say. The money current in the interior of Africa is rather +cumbrous, being neither more nor less than goods. You'll never guess +what sort--try." + +"Rum," said Disco. + +"No." + +"Pipes and 'baccy." + +Harold shook his head. + +"Never could guess nothin'," said Disco, replacing the pipe, which he +had removed for a few moments from his lips; "I gives it up." + +"What would you say to cotton cloth, and thick brass wire, and glass +beads, being the chief currency in Central Africa?" said Harold. + +"You don't mean it, sir?" + +"Indeed I do, and as these articles must be carried in large quantities, +if we mean to travel far into the land, there will be more bales and +coils than you and I could well carry in our waistcoat pockets." + +"That's true, sir," replied Disco, looking earnestly at a couple of +negro slaves who chanced to pass along the neighbouring footpath at that +moment, singing carelessly. "Them poor critters don't seem to be so +miserable after all." + +"That is because the nigger is naturally a jolly, light-hearted fellow," +said Harold, "and when his immediate and more pressing troubles are +removed he accommodates himself to circumstances, and sings, as you +hear. If these fellows were to annoy their masters and get a thrashing, +you'd hear them sing in another key. The evils of most things don't +show on the surface. You must get behind the scenes to understand them. +You and I have already had one or two peeps behind the scenes." + +"We have indeed, sir," replied Disco, frowning, and closing his fists +involuntarily, as he thought of Yoosoof and the dhow. + +"Now, then," said Harold, rising, as Disco shook the ashes out of his +little black pipe, and placed that beloved implement in the pocket of +his coat, "let us return to the harbour, and see what chance there is of +getting a passage to the Zambesi, in an honest trading dhow--if there is +such a thing in Zanzibar." + +On their way to the harbour they had to pass through the slave-market. +This was not the first time they had visited the scene of this +iniquitous traffic, but neither Harold nor Disco could accustom +themselves to it. Every time they entered the market their feelings of +indignation became so intense that it was with the utmost difficulty +they could control them. When Disco saw handsome negro men and +good-looking girls put up for public sale,--their mouths rudely opened, +and their teeth examined by cool, calculating Arabs, just as if they had +been domestic cattle--his spirit boiled within him, his fingers tingled, +and he felt a terrible inclination to make a wild attack, single-handed, +on the entire population of Zanzibar, though he might perish in the +execution of vengeance and the relief of his feelings! We need scarcely +add that his discretion saved him. They soon reached the small square +in which the market was held. Here they saw a fine-looking young woman +sold to a grave elderly Arab for a sum equal to about eight pounds +sterling. Passing hastily on, they observed another "lot," a tall +stalwart man, having his various "points" examined, and stopped to see +the result. His owner, thinking, perhaps, that he seemed a little +sluggish in his movements, raised his whip and caused it to fall upon +his flank with such vigour that the poor fellow, taken by surprise, +leaped high into the air, and uttered a yell of pain. The strength and +activity of the man were unquestionable, and he soon found a purchaser. + +But all the slaves were not fine-looking or stalwart like the two just +referred to. Many of them were most miserable objects. Some stood, +others were seated as if incapable of standing, so emaciated were they. +Not a few were mere skeletons, with life and skin. Near the middle of +the square, groups of children were arranged--some standing up to be +inspected, others sitting down. These ranged from five years and +upwards, but there was not one that betrayed the slightest tendency to +mirth, and Disco came to the conclusion that negro children do not play, +but afterwards discovered his mistake, finding that their exuberant +jollity "at home" was not less than that of the children of other lands. +These little slaves had long ago been terrified, and beaten, and +starved into listless, apathetic and silent creatures. + +Further on, a row of young women attracted their attention. They were +ranged in a semicircle, all nearly in a state of nudity, waiting to be +sold. A group of Arabs stood in front of them, conversing. One of +these women looked such a picture of woe that Disco felt irresistibly +impelled to stop. There were no tears in her eyes; the fountain +appeared to have been dried up, but, apparently, without abating the +grief which was stamped in deep lines on her young countenance, and +which burst frequently from her breast in convulsive sobs. Our +Englishmen were not only shocked but surprised at this woman's aspect, +for their experience had hitherto gone to show that the slaves usually +became callous under their sufferings. Whatever of humanity might have +originally belonged to them seemed to have been entirely driven out of +them by the cruelties and indignities they had so long suffered at the +hands of their captors. [See Captain Sulivan's _Dhow-chasing in +Zanzibar Waters_, page 252.] + +"Wot's the matter with her, poor thing?" asked Disco of a half-caste +Portuguese, dressed in something like the garb of a sailor. + +"Oh, notting," answered the man in broken English, with a look of +indifference, "she have lose her chile, dat all." + +"Lost her child? how--wot d'ee mean?" + +"Dey hab sole de chile," replied the man; "was good fat boy, 'bout +two-yer ole. S'pose she hab carry him for months troo de woods, an' +over de hills down to coast, an' tink she keep him altogether. But she +mistake. One trader come here 'bout one hour past. He want boy--not +want modder; so he buy de chile. Modder fight a littil at first, but de +owner soon make her quiet. Oh, it notting at all. She cry a littil-- +soon forget her chile, an' get all right." + +"Come, I can't stand this," exclaimed Harold, hastening away. + +Disco said nothing, but to the amazement of the half-caste, he grasped +him by the collar, and hurled him aside with a degree of force that +caused him to stagger and fall with stunning violence to the ground. +Disco then strode away after his friend, his face and eyes blazing with +various emotions, among which towering indignation predominated. + +In a few minutes they reached the harbour, and, while making inquiries +as to the starting of trading dhows for the south, they succeeded in +calming their feelings down to something like their ordinary condition. + +The harbour was crowded with dhows of all shapes and sizes, most of them +laden with slaves, some discharging cargoes for the Zanzibar market, +others preparing to sail, under protection of a pass from the Sultan, +for Lamoo, which is the northern limit of the Zanzibar dominions, and, +therefore, of the so-called "domestic" slave-trade. + +There would be something particularly humorous in the barefacedness of +this august Sultan of Zanzibar, if it were connected with anything less +horrible than slavery. For instance, there is something almost amusing +in the fact that dhows were sailing every day for Lamoo with hundreds of +slaves, although that small town was known to be very much overstocked +at the time. It was also quite entertaining to know that the commanders +of the French and English war-vessels lying in the harbour at the time +were aware of this, and that the Sultan knew it, and that, in short, +everybody knew it, but that nobody appeared to have the power to prevent +it! Even the Sultan who granted the permits or passes to the owners of +the dhows, although he _professed_ to wish to check the slave-trade, +could not prevent it. Wasn't that strange--wasn't it curious? The +Sultan derived by far the largest portion of his revenue from the tax +levied on the export of slaves--amounting to somewhere about 10,000 +pounds a year--but _that_ had nothing to do with it of course not, oh +dear no! Then there was another very ludicrous phase of this oriental, +not to say transcendental, potentate's barefacedness. He knew, and +probably admitted, that about 2000, some say 4000, slaves a year were +sufficient to meet the home-consumption of that commodity, and he also +knew, but probably did not admit, that not fewer than 30,000 slaves were +annually exported from Zanzibar to meet this requirement of 4000! These +are very curious specimens of miscalculation which this barefaced Sultan +seems to have fallen into. Perhaps he was a bad arithmetician. [See +Captain Sulivan's _Dhow-chasing in Zanzibar Water_; page 111.] We have +said that this state of things _was_ so at the time of our story, but we +may now add that it still _is_ so in this year of grace 1873. Whether +it shall continue to be so remains to be seen! + +Having spent some time in fruitless inquiry, Harold and Disco at last to +their satisfaction, discovered an Arab dhow of known good character, +which was on the point of starting for the Zambesi in the course of a +few days, for the purpose of legitimate traffic. It therefore became +necessary that our hero should make his purchases and preparations with +all possible speed. In this he was entirely guided by his father's +agent, a merchant of the town, who understood thoroughly what was +necessary for the intended journey. + +It is not needful here to enter into full details, suffice it to say +that among the things purchased by Harold, and packed up in portable +form, were a number of bales of common unbleached cotton, which is +esteemed above everything by the natives of Africa as an article of +dress--if we may dignify by the name of dress the little piece, about +the size of a moderate petticoat, which is the only clothing of some, or +the small scrap round the loins which is the sole covering of other, +natives of the interior! There were also several coils of thick brass +wire, which is much esteemed by them for making bracelets and anklets; +and a large quantity of beads of various colours, shapes, and sizes. Of +beads, we are told, between five and six hundred tons are annually +manufactured in Great Britain for export to Africa. + +Thus supplied, our two friends embarked in the dhow and set sail. Wind +and weather were propitious. In few days they reached the mouths of the +great river Zambesi, and landed at the port of Quillimane. + +Only once on the voyage did they fall in with a British cruiser, which +ordered them to lay-to and overhauled them, but on the papers and +everything being found correct, they were permitted to pursue their +voyage. + +The mouths of the river Zambesi are numerous; extending over more than +ninety miles of the coast. On the banks of the northern mouth stands-- +it would be more appropriate to say festers--the dirty little Portuguese +town of Quillimane. Its site is low, muddy, fever-haunted, and swarming +with mosquitoes. No man in his senses would have built a village +thereon were it not for the facilities afforded for slaving. At spring +or flood tides the bar may be safely crossed by sailing vessels, but, +being far from land, it is always dangerous for boats. + +Here, then, Harold and Disco landed, and remained for some time for the +purpose of engaging men. Appearing in the character of independent +travellers, they were received with some degree of hospitality by the +principal inhabitants. Had they gone there as simple and legitimate +traders, every possible difficulty would have been thrown in their way, +because the worthy people, from the Governor downwards, flourished,--or +festered,--by means of the slave-trade, and legitimate commerce is +everywhere found to be destructive to the slave-trade. + +Dr Livingstone and others tell us that thousands upon thousands of +negroes have, of late years, gone out from Quillimane into slavery under +the convenient title of "free emigrants," their freedom being not quite +equal to that of a carter's horse, for while that animal, although +enslaved, is usually well fed, the human animal is kept on rather low +diet lest his spirit should rouse him to deeds of desperate violence +against his masters. All agricultural enterprise is also effectually +discouraged here. When a man wants to visit his country farm he has to +purchase a permit from the Governor. If he wishes to go up the river to +the Portuguese towns of Senna or Tette, a pass must be purchased from +the Governor. In fact it would weary the reader were we to enumerate +the various modes in which every effort of man to act naturally, +legitimately, or progressively, is hampered, unless his business be the +buying and selling of human beings. + +At first Harold experienced great difficulty in procuring men. The +master of the trading dhow in which he sailed from Zanzibar intended to +remain as short a time as possible at Quillimane, purposing to visit +ports further south, and as Harold had made up his mind not to enter the +Zambesi by the Quillimane mouth, but to proceed in the dhow to one of +the southern mouths, he felt tempted to give up the idea of procuring +men until he had gone further south. + +"You see, Disco," said he, in a somewhat disconsolate tone, "it won't do +to let this dhow start without us, because I want to get down to the +East Luavo mouth of this river, that being the mouth which was lately +discovered and entered by Dr Livingstone; but I'm not sure that we can +procure men or canoes there, and our Arab skipper either can't or won't +enlighten me." + +"Ah!" observed Disco, with a knowing look, "he won't--that's where it +is, sir. I've not a spark o' belief in that man, or in any Arab on the +coast. He's a slaver in disguise, he is, an' so's every mother's son of +'em." + +"Well," continued Harold, "if we must start without them and take our +chance, we must; there is no escaping from the inevitable; nevertheless +we must exert ourselves _to-day_, because the dhow does not sail till +to-morrow evening, and there is no saying what luck may attend our +efforts before that time. Perseverance, you know, is the only sure +method of conquering difficulties." + +"That's so," said Disco; "them's my sentiments 'xactly. Never say die-- +Stick at nothing--Nail yer colours to the mast: them's the mottoes that +I goes in for--always s'posin' that you're in the right." + +"But what if you're in the wrong, and the colours are nailed?" asked +Harold, with a smile. + +"W'y then, sir, of course I'd have to tear 'em down." + +"So that perhaps, it would be better not to nail them at all, unless +you're very sure--eh?" + +"Oh, of _course_, sir," replied Disco, with solemn emphasis. "You don't +suppose, sir, that I would nail 'em to the mast except I was sure, wery +sure, that I wos right? But, as you wos a sayin', sir, about the +gittin' of them 'ere men." + +Disco had an easy way of changing a subject when he felt that he was +getting out of his depth. + +"Well, to return to that. The fact is, I would not mind the men, for +it's likely that men of some sort will turn up somewhere, but I am very +anxious about an interpreter. Without an interpreter we shall get on +badly, I fear, for I can only speak French, besides a very little Latin +and Greek, none of which languages will avail much among niggers." + +Disco assumed a severely thoughtful expression of countenance. + +"That's true," he said, placing his right fist argumentatively in his +left palm, "and I'm afeard I can't help you there, sir. If it wos to +steer a ship or pull a oar or man the fore-tops'l yard in a gale o' +wind, or anything else in the seafarin' line, Disco Lillihammer's your +man, but I couldn't come a furrin' lingo at no price. I knows nothin' +but my mother tongue,--nevertheless, though I says it that shouldn't, I +does profess to be somewhat of a dab at that. Once upon a time I spent +six weeks in Dublin, an' havin' a quick ear for moosic, I soon managed +to get up a strong dash o' the brogue; but p'raps that wouldn't go far +with the niggers." + +About two hours after the above conversation, while Harold Seadrift was +walking on the beach, he observed his faithful ally in the distance +grasping a short thickset man by the arm, and endeavouring to induce him +to accompany him, with a degree of energy that fell little short of main +force. The man was evidently unwilling. + +As the pair drew nearer, Harold overheard Disco's persuasive +voice:--"Come now, Antonio, don't be a fool; it's the best service you +could enter. Good pay and hard work, and all the grub that's goin'-- +what could a man want more? It's true there's no grog, but we don't +need that in a climate where you've only got to go out in the sun +without yer hat an' you'll be as good as drunk in ten minutes, any day." + +"No, no, not possibil," remonstrated the man, whose swarthy visage +betrayed a mixture of cunning, fun, and annoyance. He was obviously a +half-caste of the lowest type, but with more pretensions to wealth than +many of his fellows, inasmuch as he wore, besides his loin-cloth, a +white cotton shooting-coat, very much soiled, beneath the tails of which +his thin black legs protruded ridiculously. + +"Here you are, sir," cried Disco, as he came up; "here's the man for +lingo: knows the native talkee, as well as Portuguese, English, Arabic, +and anything else you like, as far as I know. Antonio's his name. +Come, sir, try him with Greek, or somethin' o' that sort!" + +Harold had much ado to restrain a smile, but, assuming a grave aspect, +he addressed the man in French, while Disco listened with a look of +profound respect and admiration. + +"W'y, wot's wrong with 'ee, man," exclaimed Disco, on observing the +blank look of Antonio's countenance; "don't 'ee savay that?" + +"I thought you understood Portuguese?" said Harold in English. + +"So me do," replied Antonio quickly; "but dat no Portigeese--dat +Spanaish, me 'spose." + +"What _can_ you speak, then?" demanded Harold sternly. + +"Portigeese, Arbik, Fengleesh, an' two, tree, four, nigger lungwiches." + +It was very obvious that, whatever Antonio spoke, he spoke nothing +correctly, but that was of no importance so long as the man could make +himself understood. Harold therefore asked if he would join his party +as interpreter, but Antonio shook his head. + +"Why not man--why not?" asked Harold impatiently, for he became anxious +to secure him, just in proportion as he evinced disinclination to +engage. + +"Speak up, Antonio, don't be ashamed; you've no need to," said Disco. +"The fact is, sir, Antonio tells me that he has just bin married, an' he +don't want to leave his wife." + +"Very natural," observed Harold. "How long is it since you were +married?" + +"Von veek since I did bought her." + +"Bought her!" exclaimed Disco, with a broad grin; "may I ax wot ye paid +for her?" + +"Paid!" exclaimed the man, starting and opening his eyes very wide, as +if the contemplation of the vast sum were too much for him; "lat me +zee--me pay me vife's pairyints sixteen yard ob cottin clothe, an' for +me's hut four yard morer." + +"Ye don't say that?" exclaimed Disco, with an extended grin. "Is she +young an' good-lookin'?" + +"Yonge!" replied Antonio; "yis, ver' yonge; not mush more dan baby, an' +exiquitely bootiful." + +"Then, my good feller," said Disco, with a laugh, "the sooner you leave +her the better. A week is a long time, an' absence, you know, as the +old song says, makes the heart grow fonder; besides, Mr Seadrift will +give you enough to buy a dozen wives, if 'ee want 'em." + +"Yes, I'll pay you well," said Harold; "that is, if you prove to be a +good interpreter." + +Antonio pricked up his ears at this. + +"How mush vill 'oo gif?" he asked. + +"Well, let me think; I shall probably be away three or four months. +What would you say, Antonio, to twenty yards of cotton cloth a month, +and a gun into the bargain at the end, if you do your work well?" + +The pleased expression of Antonio's face could not have been greater had +he been offered twenty pounds sterling a month. The reader may estimate +the value of this magnificent offer when we say that a yard of cotton +cloth was at that time sevenpence-halfpenny, so that Antonio's valuable +services were obtained for about 12 shillings, 6 pence a month, and a +gun which cost Harold less than twenty shillings in Zanzibar. + +We may remark here that Antonio afterwards proved to be a stout, able, +willing man, and a faithful servant, although a most arrant coward. + +From this time Harold's difficulties in regard to men vanished. With +Antonio's able assistance nine were procured, stout, young, able-bodied +fellows they were, and all more or less naked. Two of these were +half-caste brothers, named respectively Jose and Oliveira; two were +half-wild negroes of the Somali tribe named Nakoda and Conda; three were +negroes of the Makololo tribe, who had accompanied Dr Livingstone on +his journey from the far interior of Africa to the East Coast, and were +named respectively Jumbo, Zombo, and Masiko; and finally two, named +Songolo and Mabruki, were free negroes of Quillimane. Thus the whole +band, including Disco and the leader, formed a goodly company of twelve +stout men. + +Of course Harold armed them all with guns and knives. Himself and Disco +carried Enfield rifles; besides which, Harold took with him a spare +rifle of heavy calibre, carrying large balls, mingled with tin to harden +them. This latter was intended for large game. Landing near the East +Luavo mouth of the Zambesi, our hero was fortunate enough to procure two +serviceable canoes, into which he transferred himself, his men, and his +goods, and, bidding adieu to the Arab skipper of the dhow, commenced his +journey into the interior of Africa. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +IN WHICH THE TRAVELLERS ENJOY THEMSELVES EXTREMELY, AND DISCO +LILLIHAMMER SEES SEVERAL ASTONISHING SIGHTS. + +Behold our travellers, then, fairly embarked on the waters of the great +African river Zambesi, in two canoes, one of which is commanded by +Harold Seadrift, the other by Disco Lillihammer. + +Of course these enterprising chiefs were modest enough at first to allow +two of the Makololo men, Jumbo and Zombo, to wield the steering-oars, +but after a few days' practice they became sufficiently expert, as Disco +said, to take the helm, except when strong currents rendered the +navigation difficult, or when the weather became so "piping hot" that +none but men clad in black skins could work. + +We must however guard the reader here from supposing that it is always +piping hot in Africa. There are occasional days when the air may be +styled lukewarm, when the sky is serene, and when all nature seems +joyful and enjoyable,--days in which a man opens his mouth wide and +swallows down the atmosphere; when he _feels_ his health and strength, +and rejoices in them, and when, if he be not an infidel, he also feels a +sensation of gratitude to the Giver of all good. + +On such a day, soon after entering the East Luavo mouth of the Zambesi, +the explorers, for such we may almost venture to style them, ascended +the smooth stream close to the left bank, Harold leading, Disco +following closely in his wake. + +The men rowed gently, as if they enjoyed the sweet calm of early +morning, and were unwilling to disturb the innumerable flocks of +wild-fowl that chuckled among the reeds and sedges everywhere. Harold +sat in the stern, leaning back, and only dipping the steering-oar lazily +now and then to keep the canoe from running on the bank, or plunging +into a forest of gigantic rushes. Disco, having resolved to solace +himself with a whiff of his darling pipe, had resigned "the helm" to +Jumbo, and laid himself in a position of comfort which admitted of his +resting his head on the gunwale in such a manner that, out of the +corners of his eyes, he could gaze down into the water. + +The part of the river they had reached was so perfectly still that every +cloud in the sky, every mangrove, root and spray, and every bending +bulrush, was perfectly reproduced in the reflected world below. +Plaintive cries of wild-fowl formed appropriate melody, to which +chattering groups of monkeys and croaking bull-frogs contributed a fine +tenor and bass. + +"Hallo, Disco!" exclaimed Harold in a subdued key, looking over his +shoulder. + +"Ay, ay, sir?" sighed the seaman, without moving his position. + +"Range up alongside; I want to speak to you." + +"Ay, ay, sir.--Jumbo, you black-faced villain, d'ee hear that? give way +and go 'longside." + +Good-humoured Jumbo _spoke_ very little English, but had come to +understand a good deal during his travels with Dr Livingstone. He +wrinkled his visage and showed his brilliant teeth on receiving the +order. Muttering a word to the men, and giving a vigorous stroke, he +shot up alongside of the leader's canoe. + +"You seem comfortable," said Harold, with a laugh, as Disco's vast +visage appeared at his elbow. + +"I is." + +"Isn't this jolly?" continued Harold. + +"No, sir, 'taint." + +"Why, what d'you mean?" + +"I means that jolly ain't the word, by a long way, for to express the +natur' o' my feelin's. There ain't no word as I knows on as 'ud come up +to it. If I wor a fylosipher, now, I'd coin a word for the occasion. +P'raps," continued Disco, drawing an unusually long whiff from his pipe, +"p'raps, not bein' a fylosipher, I might nevertheless try to coin one. +Wot's the Latin, now, for heaven?" + +"Caelum," replied Harold. + +"Sailum, eh? An' wot's the 'arth?" + +"Terra." + +"Terra? well now, wot rediklous names to give to 'em," said Disco, +shaking his head gravely, "I can't see why the ancients couldn't ha' bin +satisfied with the names that _we'd_ given 'em. Hows'ever, that's +neither here nor there. My notion o' the state o' things that we've got +into here, as they now stand, is, that they are sailumterracious, which +means heaven-upon-earth, d'ee see?" + +As Disco pronounced the word with a powerful emphasis on the _u-m_ part +of it the sound was rather effective, and seemed to please him. + +"Right; you're right, or nearly so," replied Harold; "but don't you +think the word savours too much of perfection, seeing that breakfast +would add to the pleasure of the present delightful state of things, and +make them even more sailumterracious than they are?" + +"No, sir, no; the word ain't too parfect," replied Disco, with a look of +critical severity; "part of it is 'arth, and 'arth is imparfect, bein' +susceptible of a many improvements, among which undoubtedly is +breakfast, likewise dinner an' supper, to say nothin' of lunch an' tea, +which is suitable only for babbies an' wimen; so I agrees with you, sir, +that the state o' things will be sailumterraciouser if we goes ashore +an' has breakfast." + +He tapped the head of his very black little pipe on the edge of the +canoe, and heaved a sigh of contentment as he watched the ash-ball that +floated away on the stream; then, rousing himself, he seized the +steering-oar and followed Harold into a small creek, which was +pleasantly overshadowed by the rich tropical foliage of that region. + +While breakfast was being prepared by Antonio, whose talents as +_chef-de-cuisine_ were of the highest order, Harold took his rifle and +rambled into the bush in search of game--any kind of game, for at that +time he had had no experience whatever of the sport afforded by the +woods of tropical Africa, and, having gathered only a few vague ideas +from books, he went forth with all the pleasurable excitement and +expectation that we may suppose peculiar to discoverers. + +Disco Lillihammer having only consumed his first pipe of tobacco, and +holding it to be a duty which he owed to himself to consume two before +breakfast, remained at the camp-fire to smoke and chaff Antonio, whose +good-nature was only equalled by his activity. + +"Wot have 'ee got there?" inquired Disco, as Antonio poured a quantity +of seed into a large pot. + +"Dis? vy, hims be mapira," replied the interpreter, with a benignant +smile. "Hims de cheef food ob dis konterie." + +It must be remarked here that Antonio's English, having been acquired +from all sorts of persons, in nearly every tropical part of the globe, +was somewhat of a jumble, being a compound of the broken English spoken +by individuals among the Germans, French, Portuguese, Arabs, and +Negroes, with whom he had at various times associated, modified by his +own ignorance, and seasoned with a dash of his own inventive fancy. + +"Is it good?" asked Disco. + +"Goot!" exclaimed Antonio. Being unable to find words to express +himself, the enthusiastic cook placed his hand on the region which was +destined ere long to become a receptacle for the mapira, and rolled his +eyes upwards in rapture. "Hah! oo sall see behind long." + +"Before long, you mean," observed the seaman. + +"Dat all same ting, s'long's you onerstand him," replied Antonio +complacently.--"Bring vatter now, Jumbo. Put him in careful. Not spill +on de fire--zo--goot." + +Jumbo filled up the kettle carefully, and a broad grin overspread his +black visage, partly because he was easily tickled into a condition of +risibility by the cool off-hand remarks of Disco Lillihammer, and partly +because, having acquired his own small smattering of English from Dr +Livingstone, he was intelligent enough to perceive that in regard to +Antonio's language there was something peculiar. + +"Now, go fitch noder kittle--queek." + +"_Yis_, sar--zo--goot," replied Jumbo, mimicking the interpreter, and +going off with a vociferous laugh at his little joke, in which he was +joined by his sable clansmen, Masiko and Zombo. + +"Hims got 'nuff of impoodidence," said the interpreter, as he bustled +about his avocations. + +"He's not the only one that's got more than enough impoodidence," said +Disco, pushing a fine straw down the stem of his "cutty," to make it +draw better. "I say, Tony," (our regardless seaman had already thus +mutilated his name), "you seem to have plenty live stock in them parts." + +"Plenty vat?" inquired the interpreter, with a perplexed expression. + +"Why, plenty birds and beasts,--live stock we calls it, meanin' thereby +livin' creeturs." He pointed towards an opening in the mangroves, +through which were visible the neighbouring mud and sand flats, swarming +with wild-fowl, and conspicuous among which were large flocks of +pelicans, who seemed to be gorging themselves comfortably from an +apparently inexhaustible supply of fish in the pools left by the +receding tide. + +"Ho, yis, me perceive; yis, plenty bird and beast--fishes too, and +crawbs--look dare." + +He pointed to a part of the sands nearest to their encampment which +appeared to be alive with some small creatures. + +"That's coorious," said Disco, removing his pipe, and regarding the +phenomenon with some interest. + +"No, 'taint koorous, it's crawbs," replied Antonio. + +"Crabs, is it?" said Disco, rising and sauntering down to the sands; for +he possessed an inquiring mind, with a special tendency to investigate +the habits (pranks, as he called them) of the lower animals, which, in +other circumstances, might have made him a naturalist. + +Muttering to himself--he was fond of muttering to himself, it felt +companionable,--"coorious, very coorious, quite 'stroanary," he crept +stealthily to the edge of the mangroves, and there discovered that the +sands were literally alive with myriads of minute crabs, which were +actively engaged--it was supposed by those who ought to know best--in +gathering their food. The moment the tide ebbed from any part of the +sands, out came these crablets in swarms, and set to work, busy as bees, +ploughing up the sand, and sifting it, apparently for food, until the +whole flat was rendered rough by their incessant labours. Approaching +cautiously, Disco observed that each crab, as he went along sidewise, +gathered a round bit of moist sand at his mouth, which was quickly +brushed away by one of his claws, and replaced by another, and another, +as fast as they could be brushed aside. + +"Eatin' sand they are!" muttered Disco in surprise; but presently the +improbability of sand being very nutritious food, even for crabs, forced +itself on him, and he muttered his conviction that they "was scrapin' +for wittles." + +Having watched the crabs a considerable time, and observed that they +frequently interrupted their labours to dart suddenly into their holes +and out again--for the purpose, he conjectured, of "havin' a drop o' +summat to wet their whistles,"--Disco thrust the cutty into his vest +pocket, and walked a little further out on the flat in the hope of +discovering some new objects of interest. Nor was he disappointed. +Besides finding that the pools left by the tide swarmed with varieties +of little fish--many of them being "coorious,"--he was fortunate enough +to witness a most surprising combat. + +It happened thus:--Perceiving, a little to his right, some small +creature hopping about on the sand near to a little pool, he turned +aside to observe it more closely. On his drawing near, the creature +jumped into the pool. Disco advanced to the edge, gazed intently into +the water, and saw nothing except his own reflected image at the bottom. +Presently the creature reappeared. It was a small fish--a familiar +fish, too--which he had known in the pools of his native land by the +name of blenny. As the blenny appeared to wish to approach the edge of +the pool, Disco retired, and, placing a hand on each knee, stooped, in +order to make himself as small as possible. He failed, the diminution +in his height being fully counterbalanced by the latitudinal extension +of his elbows! + +Presently the blenny put its head out of the water, and looked about. +We speak advisedly. The blenny is altogether a singular, an exceptional +fish. It can, and does, look sidewise, upwards and downwards, with its +protruding eyes, as knowingly, and with as much vivacity, as if it were +a human being. This power in a fish has something of the same awesome +effect on an observer that might possibly result were a horse to raise +its head and smile at him. + +Seeing that the coast was clear, for Disco stood as motionless as a +mangrove tree, blenny hopped upon the dry land. The African blenny is a +sort of amphibious animal, living nearly as much out of the water as in +it. Indeed its busiest time, we are told, [_See Dr Livingstone's +Zambesi and its Tributaries_, page 843.] is at low water, when, by means +of its pectoral fins it crawls out on the sand and raises itself into +something of a standing attitude, with its bright eyes keeping a sharp +look-out for the light-coloured flies on which it feeds. + +For several seconds Disco gazed at the fish, and the fish gazed around, +even turning its head a little, as well as its eyes, on this side and on +that. Presently a small fly, with that giddy heedlessness which +characterises the race, alighted about two inches in front of blenny's +nose. Instantly the fish leaped that vast space, alighted with its +underset mouth just over the fly, which immediately rose into it and was +entombed. + +"Brayvo!" passed through Disco's brain, but no sound issued from his +lips. + +Presently another of the giddy ones alighted in front of blenny about a +foot distant. This appeared to be much beyond his leaping powers, for, +with a slow, stealthy motion, like a cat, he began deliberately to stalk +his victim. The victim appeared to be blind, for it took no notice of +the approaching monster. Blenny displayed marvellous powers of +self-control, for he moved on steadily without accelerating his speed +until within about two inches of his prey--then he leapt as before, and +another fly was entombed. + +"Well done!" exclaimed Disco, mentally, but still his lips and body were +motionless as before. + +At this point an enemy, in the shape of another blenny, appeared on the +scene. It came up out of a small pool close at hand, and seemed to +covet the first blenny's pool, and to set about taking possession of it +as naturally as if it had been a human being; for, observing, no doubt, +that its neighbour was busily engaged, it moved quietly in the direction +of the coveted pool. Being a very little fish, it was not observed by +Disco, but it was instantly noticed by the first blenny, which, being +rather the smaller of the two, we shall style the Little one. + +Suddenly Big Blenny threw off all disguise, bounded towards the pool, +which was about a foot square, and plunged in. No mortal blenny could +witness this unwarrantable invasion of its hearth and home without being +stirred to indignant wrath. With eyes that seemed to flash fire, and +dorsal fin bristling up with rage, Little Blenny made five tremendous +leaps of full three inches each, and disappeared. Another moment and a +miniature storm ruffled the pool: for a few seconds the heavings of the +deep were awful; then, out jumped Big Blenny and tried to flee, but out +jumped Little Blenny and caught him by the tail; round turned the big +one and caught the other by the jaw. + +"Hallo, Disco! breakfast's ready--where are you?" shouted Harold from +the woods. + +Disco replied not. It is a question whether he heard the hail at all, +so engrossed was he in this remarkable fight. + +"Brayvo!" he exclaimed aloud, when Little Blenny shook his big enemy off +and rolled over him. + +"Cleverly done!" he shouted, when Big Blenny with a dart took refuge in +the pool. + +"I knowed it," he cried approvingly, when Little Blenny forced him a +second time to evacuate the premises, "Go in an' win, little 'un," +thought Disco. + +Thus the battle raged furiously, now in the water, now on the sand, +while the excited seaman danced round the combatants--both of whom +appeared to have become deaf and blind with rage--and gave them strong +encouragement, mingled with appropriate advice and applause. In fact +Disco's delight would have been perfect, had the size of the +belligerents admitted of his patting the little blenny on the back; but +this of course was out of the question! + +At last having struck, worried, bitten, and chased each other by land +and sea for several minutes, these pugnacious creatures seized each +other by their respective throats, like two bull-dogs, and fell +exhausted on the sand. + +"It's a draw!" exclaimed Disco, rather disappointed. + +"No, 'tain't," he said, as Little Blenny, reviving, rose up and renewed +the combat more furiously than ever; but it was soon ended, for Big +Blenny suddenly turned and fled to his own pool. Little Blenny did not +crow; he did not even appear to be elated. He evidently felt that he +had been called on to perform a disagreeable but unavoidable duty, and +deemed it quite unnecessary to wave banners, fire guns, or ring bells in +celebration of his victory, as he dived back into his pool amid the +ringing cheers of Disco Lillihammer. + +"Upon my word, if you have not gone stark mad, you must have had a +sunstroke," said Harold, coming forward, "what's the matter?" + +"Too late! too late!" cried Disco, in a mingled tone of amusement and +regret. + +"D'ye think it is? Are you incurable already?" asked his friend. + +"Too late to see the most a-stonishin' scrimmage I ever did behold in +_my_ life," said Disco. + +The description of this scrimmage gave the worthy seaman a subject for +conversation and food for meditation during the greater part of the time +spent over the morning meal, and there is no saying how long he would +have kept referring to and chuckling over it--to the great admiration +and sympathy of the black fellows, who are, as a race, excessively fond +of jocularity and fun--had not another of the denizens of the mangrove +jungle diverted his attention and thoughts rather suddenly. + +This was a small monkey, which, seated on a branch overhead, peered at +the breakfast-party from among the leaves, with an expression of inquiry +and of boundless astonishment that it is quite impossible to describe. +Surprise of the most sprightly nature, if we may say so, sat enthroned +on that small monkey's countenance, an expression which was enhanced by +the creature's motions, for, not satisfied with taking a steady look at +the intruders from the right side of a leaf, it thrust forward its +little black head on the left side of it, and then under it, by way of +variety; but no additional light seemed to result from these changes in +the point of observation, for the surprise did not diminish. + +In one of its intent stares it caught the eye of Disco. The seaman's +jaws stopped, as if suddenly locked, and his eyes opened to their +widest. + +The monkey seemed to feel uneasily that it had attracted attention, for +it showed the smallest possible glimpse of its teeth. The action, +coupled with the leafy shadows which fell on its countenance, had the +effect of a smile, which caused Disco to burst into a loud laugh and +point upwards. To bound from its position to a safer retreat, and +thence stare at Disco with deep indignation, and a threatening display +of all its teeth and gums, in addition to its looks of surprise, was the +work of a moment on the part of the small monkey, whereat Disco burst +into a renewed roar of laughter, in which he was joined by the whole +party. + +"Are there many o' them fellows hereabouts?" inquired the seaman of +Antonio. + +"Ho, yis, lots ob 'em. T'ousands ebery whars; see, dare am morer." + +He pointed to another part of the umbrageous canopy overhead, where the +face of a still smaller monkey was visible, engaged, like the previous +one, in an earnest scrutiny of the party, but with a melancholy, rather +than a surprised, expression of visage. + +"Wot a miserable, broken-hearted thing!" said Disco, grinning, in which +act he was immediately copied by the melancholy monkey, though from +different motives. + +Disco was very fond of monkeys. All his life he had felt a desire to +pat and fondle those shivering creatures which he had been accustomed to +see on barrel-organs in his native land, and the same strong impulse +came over him now. + +"Wot a pity the creeturs smell so bad, and ain't cleanly," he remarked, +gazing affectionately up among the leaves, "they'd make such capital +pets; why, there's another." + +This remark had reference to a third monkey, of large dimensions and +fierce countenance, which at that moment rudely thrust the melancholy +monkey aside, and took its place. The latter, with a humble air and +action, took up a new position, somewhat nearer to the fire, where its +sad countenance was more distinctly seen. + +"Well, it does seem a particularly sorrowful monkey, that," said Harold, +laughing, as he helped himself to another canful of tea. + +"The most miserable objic' I ever did see," observed Disco. + +The negroes looked at each other and laughed. They were accustomed to +monkeys, and took little notice of them, but they were mightily tickled +by Disco's amusement, for he had laid down his knife and fork, and shook +a good deal with internal chuckling, as he gazed upwards. + +"One would suppose, now," he said softly, "that it had recently seen its +father and mother, and all its brothers and sisters, removed by a +violent death, or sold into slavery." + +"Ha! they never see that," said Harold; "the brutes may fight and kill, +but they never _enslave_ each other. It is the proud prerogative of man +to do that." + +"That's true, sir, worse luck, as Paddy says," rejoined Disco. "But +look there: wot's them coorious things round the creetur's waist--a pair +o' the werry smallest hands--and, hallo! a face no bigger than a button! +I do believe that it's--" + +Disco did not finish the sentence, but he was right. The small +melancholy monkey was a mother! + +Probably that was the cause of its sorrow. It is a touching thought +that anxiety for its tiny offspring perhaps had furrowed that monkey's +visage with the wrinkles of premature old age. That danger threatened +it on every side was obvious, for no sooner had it taken up its new +position, after its unceremonious ejection by the fierce monkey, than +the sprightly monkey, before referred to, conceived a plot which it +immediately proceeded to carry into execution. Observing that the tail +of the sad one hung down in a clear space below the branch on which it +sat, the sprightly fellow quickly, but with intense caution and silence, +crept towards it, and when within a yard or so sprang into the air and +caught the tail! + +A wild shriek, and what Disco styled a "scrimmage," ensued, during which +the mother monkey gave chase to him of the lively visage, using her +arms, legs, and tail promiscuously to grasp and hold on to branches, and +leaving her extremely little one to look out for itself. This it seemed +quite capable of doing, for no limpet ever stuck to a solid rock with +greater tenacity than did that infant to the maternal waist throughout +the chase. The hubbub appeared to startle the whole monkey race, +revealing the fact that troops of other monkeys had, unobserved, been +gazing at the strangers in silent wonder, since the time of their +landing. + +Pleasant however, though this state of things undeniably was, it could +not be expected to last. Breakfast being concluded, it became necessary +that Disco should tear himself from the spot which, having first solaced +himself with a pipe, he did with a good grace, remarking, as he +re-embarked and "took the helm" of his canoe, that he had got more +powerful surprises that morning than he had ever before experienced in +any previous twelvemonth of his life. + +Before long he received many more surprises, especially one of a very +different and much less pleasant nature, an account of which will be +found in the next chapter. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +DESCRIBES SEVERAL NEW AND SURPRISING INCIDENTS, WHICH MUST BE READ TO BE +FULLY APPRECIATED. + +To travel with one's mouth and eyes opened to nearly their utmost width +in a state of surprised stupefaction, may be unavoidable, but it cannot +be said to be either becoming or convenient. Attention in such a case +is apt to be diverted from the business in hand, and flies have a +tendency to immolate themselves in the throat. + +Nevertheless, inconvenient though the condition was, our friend Disco +Lillihammer was so afflicted with astonishment at what he heard and saw +in this new land, that he was constantly engaged in swallowing flies and +running his canoe among shallows and rushes, insomuch that he at last +resigned the steering-oar until familiarity with present circumstances +should tone him down to a safe condition of equanimity. + +And no wonder that Disco was surprised; no wonder that his friend Harold +Seadrift shared in his astonishment and delight, for they were at once, +and for the first time in their lives, plunged into the very heart of +jungle life in equatorial Africa! Those who have never wandered far +from the comparatively tame regions of our temperate zone, can form but +a faint conception of what it is to ramble in the tropics, and therefore +can scarcely be expected to sympathise fully with the mental condition +of our heroes as they ascended the Zambesi. Everything was so +thoroughly strange; sights and sounds so vastly different from what they +had been accustomed to see and hear, that it seemed as though they had +landed on another planet. Trees, shrubs, flowers, birds, beasts, +insects, and reptiles, all were unfamiliar, except indeed, one or two of +the more conspicuous trees and animals, which had been so imprinted on +their minds by means of nursery picture-books that, on first beholding +them, Disco unconsciously paid these books the compliment of saying that +the animals "wos uncommon like the picturs." + +Disco's mental condition may be said, for the first two or three days, +to have been one of gentle ever-flowing surprise, studded thickly with +little bursts of keen astonishment. + +The first part of the river ran between mangrove jungle, in regard to +which he remarked that "them there trees had legs like crabs," in which +observation he was not far wrong, for, when the tide was out, the roots +of the mangroves rose high out of the mud, forming supports, as it were, +for the trees to stand on. + +But it was the luxuriance of the vegetation that made the most powerful +impression on the travellers. It seemed as if the various groups and +families of the vegetable kingdom had been warmed by the sun into a +state of unwonted affection, for everything appeared to entertain the +desire to twine round and embrace everything else. One magnificent +screw-palm in particular was so overwhelmed by affectionate parasites +that his natural shape was almost entirely concealed. Others of the +trees were decked with orchilla weed. There were ferns so gigantic as +to be almost worthy of being styled trees, and palm-bushes so sprawling +as to suggest the idea of huge vegetable spiders. Bright yellow fruit +gleamed among the graceful green leaves of the mangroves; wild +date-palms gave variety to the scene, if that had been needed, which it +was not, and masses of umbrageous plants with large yellow flowers grew +along the banks, while, down among the underwood, giant roots rose in +fantastic convolutions above ground, as if the earth were already too +full, and there wasn't room for the whole of them. There was an +antediluvian magnificence, a prehistoric snakiness, a sort of primeval +running-to-seedness, which filled Harold and Disco with feelings of awe, +and induced a strange, almost unnatural tendency to regard Adam and Eve +as their contemporaries. + +Animal life was not wanting in this paradise. Frequently did our seaman +give vent to "Hallo!" "There they go!" "Look out for the little 'un +wi' the long tail!" and similar expressions, referring of course to his +favourite monkeys, which ever and anon peered out upon the strangers +with looks of intensity, for whatever their expression might be-- +sadness, grief, interrogation, wrath, surprise--it was always in the +superlative degree. There were birds also, innumerable. One, styled +the "king-hunter," sang wild exultant airs, as if it found king-hunting +to be an extremely exhilarating occupation, though what sort of kings it +hunted we cannot tell. Perhaps it was the king of beasts, perhaps the +kingfisher, a bright specimen of which was frequently seen to dart out +from the banks, but we profess ignorance on this point. There were +fish-hawks also, magnificent fellows, which sat in regal dignity on the +tops of the mangrove trees, and the glossy ibis, with others of the +feathered tribe too numerous to mention. + +Large animals also were there in abundance, though not so frequently +seen as those which have been already mentioned. Disco occasionally +made known the fact that such, or something unusual, had transpired, by +the sudden and violent exclamation of "What's that?" in a voice so loud +that "that," whatever it might be, sometimes bolted or took to flight +before any one else caught sight of it. + +"Hallo!" he exclaimed, on one such occasion, as the canoes turned a bend +of the river. + +"What now?" demanded Harold, looking at his companion to observe the +direction of his eyes. + +"I'm a Dutchman," exclaimed Disco in a hoarse whisper that might have +been heard half a mile off, "if it's not a zebra!" + +"So it is; my rifle--look sharp!" said Harold eagerly. + +The weapon was handed to him, but before it could be brought to bear, +the beautiful striped creature had tossed its head, snorted, whisked its +tail, kicked up its heels, and dashed into the jungle. + +"Give way, lads; let's after him," shouted Disco, turning the canoe's +bow to shore. + +"Hold on," cried Harold; "you might as well go after a needle in a +haystack, or a locomotive." + +"So I might," admitted Disco, with a mortified air, resuming his course; +"but it ain't in reason to expect a feller to keep quiet w'en he sees +one o' the very picturs of his child'ood, so to speak, come alive an' +kick up its heels like that." + +Buffaloes were also seen in the grassy glades, but it proved difficult +to come within range of them; also wart-hogs, and three different kinds +of antelope. + +Of these last Harold shot several, and they were found to be excellent +food. + +Human beings were also observed, but those first encountered fled at the +sight of the white men, as if they had met with their worst foes; and +such was in very truth the case,--if we may regard the Portuguese +half-castes of that coast as white men,--for these negroes were runaway +slaves, who stood the chance of being shot, or drowned, or whipped to +death, if recaptured. + +Other animals they saw--some queer, some terrible, nearly all strange-- +and last, though not least, the hippopotamus. + +When Disco first saw this ungainly monster he was bereft of speech for +some minutes. The usual "Hallo!" stuck in his throat and well-nigh +choked him. He could only gasp, and point. + +"Ay, there goes a hippopotamus," said Harold, with the easy nonchalance +of a man who had been to the Zoological Gardens, and knew all about it. +Nevertheless it was quite plain that Harold was much excited, for he +almost dropped his oar overboard in making a hasty grasp at his rifle. +Before he could fire, the creature gaped wide, as if in laughter, and +dived. + +"Unfortunate!" said Harold, in a philosophically careless tone; "never +mind, we shall see lots more of them." + +"Ugliness embodied!" said Disco, heaving a deep sigh. + +"But him's goot for eat," said Antonio, smacking his lips. + +"Is he?" demanded Disco of Jumbo, whose enjoyment of the sailor's +expressive looks was so great, that, whenever the latter opened his +lips, the former looked back over his shoulder with a broad grin of +expectation. + +"Ho yis; de hiputmus am fust-rate grub for dis yer boy," replied the +negro, rolling his red tongue inside his mouth suggestively. + +"He never eats man, does he?" inquired Disco. + +"Nevair," replied Antonio. + +"He looks as if he might," returned the seaman; "anyhow, he's got a +mouth big enough to do it. You're quite sure he don't, I 'spose?" + +"Kite sure an' sartin; but me hab seen him tak mans," said Antonio. + +"Tak mans, wot d'ee mean by that?" + +"Tak him," repeated Antonio. "Go at him's canoe or boat--bump with +him's head--dash in de timbers--capsize, so's man hab to swim shore--all +as got clear ob de crokidils." + +While Disco was meditating on this unpleasant trait of character in the +hippopotamus, the specimen which they had just seen, or some other +member of his family, having compassion, no doubt, on the seaman's +ignorance, proceeded to illustrate its method of attack then and there +by rising suddenly under the canoe with such force, that its head and +shoulders shot high out of the water, into which it fell with a heavy +splash. Harold's rifle being ready, he fired just as it was +disappearing. + +Whether he hit or not is uncertain, but next moment the enraged animal +rose again under Disco's canoe, which it nearly lifted out of the water +in its efforts to seize it in its mouth. Fortunately the canoe was too +flat for its jaws to grip; the monster's blunt teeth were felt, as well +as heard, to grind across the planks; and Disco being in the stern, +which was raised highest, was almost thrown overboard by the jerk. + +Rising about two yards off, the hippopotamus looked savagely at the +canoe, and was about to dive again when Harold gave it a second shot. +The large gun being fortunately ready, had been handed to him by one of +the Makololo men. The heavy ball took effect behind the eye, and killed +the animal almost instantaneously. The hippopotamus usually sinks when +shot dead, but in this case they were so near that, before it had time +to sink, Zombo, assisted by his friend Jumbo, made a line fast to it, +and it was finally dragged to the shore. The landing, however, was much +retarded by the crocodiles, which now showed themselves for the first +time, and kept tugging and worrying the carcase much as a puppy tugs and +worries a ladies' muff; affording Disco and his friend strong reason to +congratulate themselves that the canoe had not been overturned. + +The afternoon was pretty well advanced when the landing was accomplished +on a small sandy island, and as the spot was suitable for encamping, +they determined to remain there for the night, and feast. + +There are many points of resemblance between savage and civilised +festivities. Whether the performers be the black sons of Africa, or the +white fathers of Europe, there is the same powerful tendency to eat too +much, and the same display of good-fellowship; for it is an indisputable +fact that feeding man is amiable, unless, indeed, he be dyspeptic. +There are also, however, various points of difference. The savage, +owing to the amount of fresh air and exercise which he is compelled to +take, usually eats with greater appetite, and knows nothing of equine +dreams or sleepless nights. On the whole, we incline to the belief +that, despite his lack of refinement and ceremony, the savage has the +best of it in this matter. + +Disco Lillihammer's visage, during the progress of that feast, formed a +study worthy of a physiognomist. Every new achievement, whether +trifling or important, performed by the Makololo triad, Jumbo, Zombo, +and Masiko--every fresh hippopotamus steak skewered and set up to roast +by the half-caste brothers Jose and Oliveira--every lick bestowed on +their greasy fingers by the Somali negroes Nakoda and Conda, and every +sigh of intense satisfaction heaved by the so-called "freemen" of +Quillimane, Songolo and Mabruki, was watched, commented on, and, if we +may say so, reflected in the animated countenance of the stout seaman, +with such variety of expression, and such an interesting compound of +grin and wrinkle, that poor Jumbo, who gazed at him over hippopotamus +ribs and steaks, and tried hard not to laugh, was at last compelled to +turn away his eyes, in order that his mouth might have fair-play. + +But wonderful, sumptuous, and every way satisfactory though that feast +was, it bore no comparison whatever to another feast carried on at the +same time by another party, about fifty yards off, where the carcase of +the hippopotamus had been left half in and half out of the water--for, +of course, being fully more than a ton in weight, only a small portion +of the creature was appropriated by the canoe-men. The negroes paid no +attention whatever to this other festive party; but in a short time +Disco turned his head to one side, and said--"Wy, wot's that splashin' I +hears goin' on over there?" + +"I suspect it must be some beast or other that has got hold of the +carcase," replied Harold, who was himself busy with a portion of the +same. + +"Yis, dat am krokidils got 'im," said Antonio, with his mouth full--very +full. + +"You don't say so?" said Disco, washing down the steak with a brimming +cup of tea. + +No one appeared to think it worth while to asseverate the fact, for it +was self-evident. Several crocodiles were supping, and in doing so they +tore away at the carcase with such violence, and lashed the water so +frequently with their powerful tails, as to render it clear that their +feast necessitated laborious effort, and seemed less a recreation than a +duty. Moreover, they sat at their meat like insatiable gourmands, so +long into the night that supper became transmuted into breakfast, and +Harold's rest was greatly disturbed thereby. He was too sleepy and +lazy, however, to rise and drive them away. + +Next morning the travellers started early, being anxious to pass, as +quietly as possible, a small Portuguese town, near to which it was said +a party of runaway slaves and rebels against the Government were engaged +in making depredations. + +When grey dawn was beginning to rise above the tree-tops, they left +their encampment in profound silence, and rowed up stream as swiftly as +possible. They had not advanced far, when, on turning a point covered +with tall reeds, Zombo, who was bowman in the leading canoe, suddenly +made a sign to the men to cease rowing. + +"What's the matter?" whispered Harold. + +The negro pointed through the reeds, and whispered the single word +"Canoe." + +By this time the other canoe had ranged up alongside, and after a brief +consultation between Harold and Disco, it was decided that they should +push gently into the reeds, and wait till the strange canoe should pass; +but a few seconds sufficed to show that the two men who paddled it did +not intend to pass down the river, for they pushed straight out towards +the deepest part of the stream. They were, however, carried down so +swiftly by the current that they were brought quite near to the point of +rushes where our travellers lay concealed--so near that their voices +could be distinctly heard. They talked in Portuguese. + +Antonio muttered a few words, and Harold observed that there was a good +deal of excitement in the looks of his men. + +"What's the matter?" he asked anxiously. + +Antonio shook his head. "Dat nigger goin' to be drownded," he said; +"bad nigger--obstropolous nigger, suppose." + +"Wot!" exclaimed Disco in a whisper, "goin' to be drownded! wot d'ee +mean?" + +Antonio proceeded to explain that it was a custom amongst the Portuguese +slave-owners there, when they found any of their slaves intractable or +refractory, to hire some individuals who, for a small sum, would bind +and carry off the incorrigible for the purpose of making away with him. +One method of effecting this was to tie him in a sack and throw him into +the river, the crocodiles making quite sure that the unfortunate being +should never again be seen, either alive or dead. But before Antonio +had finished his brief explanation he was interrupted by an exclamation +from the horrified Englishmen, as they beheld the two men in the canoe +raise something between them which for a moment appeared to struggle +violently. + +"Shove off! give way!" shouted Harold and Disco in the same breath, each +thrusting with his paddle so vigorously that the two canoes shot out +like arrows into the stream. + +At the same instant there was a heavy plunge in the water beside the +strange canoe, and the victim sank. Next moment one end of the sack +rose to the surface. Both Harold and Disco made straight towards it, +but it sank again, and the two murderers paddled to the shore, on which +they drew up their canoe, intending to take to the bush, if necessary, +for safety. + +Once again the sack rose not more than three yards from Disco's canoe. +The bold seaman knew that if it disappeared a third time there would be +little chance of its rising again. He was prompt in action, and daring +to recklessness. In one moment he had leaped overboard, dived, caught +the sack in his powerful grasp, and bore it to the surface. The canoe +had been steered for him. The instant he appeared, strong and ready +hands laid hold of him and his burden, and dragged them both inboard. + +"Cut the lashin's and give him air," cried Disco, endeavouring to find +his clasp-knife; but one of the men quickly obeyed the order, and opened +the sack. + +A groan of horror and pity burst from the seaman when he beheld the +almost insensible form of a powerful negro, whose back was lacerated +with innumerable ragged cuts, and covered with clotted blood. + +"Where are the--" + +He stopped short on looking round, and, observing that the two men were +standing on the shore, seized a double-barrelled gun. The stream had +carried the canoe a considerable distance below the spot where the +murder had been attempted, but they were still within range. Without a +moment's hesitation Disco took deliberate aim at them and fired. + +Fortunately for him and his party Disco was a bad shot--nevertheless the +bullet struck so close to the feet of the two men that it drove the sand +and pebbles into their faces. They turned at once and fled, but before +they reached the cover of the bushes the second barrel was fired, and +the bullet whistled close enough over their heads greatly to accelerate +their flight. + +The negroes opened their great round eyes, and appeared awe-struck at +this prompt display of a thirst for vengeance on the part of one who had +hitherto shown no other disposition than hilarity, fun, and good-humour. + +Harold was greatly relieved to observe Disco's failure, for, if he had +hit either of the fugitives, the consequences might have been very +disastrous to their expedition. + +On being partially revived and questioned, it turned out that the poor +fellow had been whipped almost to death for refusing to be the +executioner in whipping his own mother. This was a refinement in +cruelty on the part of these professedly Christian Portuguese, which our +travellers afterwards learned was by no means uncommon. + +We are told by those who know that region well, and whose veracity is +unquestionable, that the Portuguese on the east coast of Africa live in +constant dread of their slaves rising against them. No wonder, +considering the fiendish cruelties to which they subject them! In order +to keep them in subjection they underfeed them, and if any of them +venture to steal cocoa-nuts from the trees the owners thereof are at +liberty to shoot them and throw them into the sea. Slaves being cheap +there, and plentiful, are easily replaced, hence a cruel owner never +hesitates. If a slave is refractory, and flogging only makes him worse, +his master bids the overseer flog him until "he will require no more." +Still further to keep them in subjection, the Portuguese then endeavour +to eradicate from them all sympathy with each other, and all natural +affection, by the following means. If a woman requires to be flogged, +her brother or son is selected to do it. Fathers are made to flog their +daughters, husbands their wives, and, if two young negroes of different +sexes are observed to show any symptoms of growing attachment for each +other, these two are chosen for each other's executioners. [See +_Travels in Eastern Africa_, by Lyons McLeod, Esquire, FRGS, and late +Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Mozambique, volume one pages 274 to +277, and volume two page 27.] + +The poor wretch whom we have just described as having been saved from +death, to which he had been doomed for refusing to become the +executioner of his own mother, was placed as tenderly and comfortably as +circumstances would admit of in the bottom of the canoe, and then our +travellers pushed on with all haste--anxious to pass the town before the +two fugitives could give the alarm. + +They were successful in this, probably because the two men may have hid +themselves for some time in the jungle, under the impression that the +exasperated Englishmen might be searching for them on shore. + +Giving themselves time only to take a hurried meal in the middle of the +day, our travellers rowed continuously till sunset when, deeming it +probable that pursuit, if undertaken at all, must have been abandoned, +they put ashore on the right bank of the river and encamped. + +When the sufferer had been made as comfortable as circumstances would +allow--for he was much weakened by loss of blood as well as agonised +with pain--and after he had been refreshed with food and some warm tea, +Harold questioned him, through the interpreter, as to his previous +history. + +At first the man was brusque in his manner, and inclined to be sulky, +for a long course of cruelty had filled him with an intense hatred of +white men. Indeed, an embittered and desperate spirit had begun to +induce callous indifference to all men, whether white or black. But +kind treatment, to which he was evidently unaccustomed, and generous +diet, which was obviously new to him, had a softening influence, and +when Harold poured a small glass of rum into his tea, and Antonio added +a lump of sugar, and Disco pressed him tenderly to drink it off--which +he did--the effect was very decided; the settled scowl on his face +became unsettled, and gradually melting away, was replaced by a milder +and more manly look. By degrees he became communicative, and, bit by +bit, his story was drawn from him. It was brief, but very sorrowful. + +His name, he said, was Chimbolo. He belonged to a tribe which lived far +inland, beyond the Manganja country, which latter was a country of +hills. He was not a Manganja man, but he had married a Manganja woman. +One night he, with his wife and mother, was paying a visit to the +village of his wife's relations, when a band of slave-hunters suddenly +attacked the village. They were armed with guns, and at once began to +murder the old people and capture the young. Resistance was useless. +His relatives were armed only with bows and spears. Being taken by +surprise, they all fled in terror, but were pursued and few escaped. +His wife, he said--and a scowl of terrible ferocity crossed Chimbolo's +face as he said it--was about to become a mother at the time. He seized +her in his arms on the first alarm, and fled with her into the bush, +where he concealed her, and then hurried back to aid his relations, but +met them--old and young, strong and feeble--flying for their lives. It +was not possible to rally them; he therefore joined in the flight. +While running, a bullet grazed his head and stunned him. Presently he +recovered and rose, but in a few minutes was overtaken and captured. A +slave-stick was put on his neck, and, along with a number of Manganja +men, women, and children, he was driven down to the coast, and sold, +with a number of other men and women, among whom was his own mother, to +a Portuguese merchant on the coast, near the East Luavo mouth of the +Zambesi. There he was found to be of a rebellious spirit, and at last +on positively refusing to lash his mother, his master ordered him to be +whipped to death, but, changing his mind before the order had been quite +carried out he ordered him to be bound hand and foot and taken away in a +sack. As to his wife, he had never heard of her since that night which +was about two years past. He knew that she had not been found, because +he had not seen her amongst the other captives. If they had found her +they would have been sure to carry her off, because--here Chimbolo's +visage again grew diabolical--she was young, he said, and beautiful. + +When all this had been translated into bad English by Antonio, Harold +asked if Chimbolo thought it probable that his wife was still alive in +the Manganja highlands. To this the former said that he thought it +likely. + +"W'y, then," said Disco, giving his right thigh a powerful slap, which +was his favourite method of emphasising a remark, "wot d'ye say, sir, to +lay our course for these same highlands, and try for to find out this +poor critter?" + +"Just what was running in my own mind, Disco," said Harold, musing over +his supper. "It does not make much difference what part of this country +we go to, being all new to us; and as Antonio tells me the Manganja +highlands are up the Shire river, which was explored by Dr Livingstone +not long ago, and is not distant many days' journey from this, I think +we can't do better than go there. We shall have a good as well as a +definite object in view." + +"Wery good, sir; I'm agreeable," returned Disco, reaching forth his +pewter plate; "another hunk o' that pottimus, Jumbo; it's better than +salt-junk any day; and I say, Jumbo, don't grin so much, else ye'll +enlarge yer pretty little mouth, which 'ud be a pity." + +"Yis, saar," replied Jumbo, becoming very grave all of a sudden, but on +receiving a nod and an expressive wink from the seaman, he exploded +again, and rolled backward on the grass, in the performance of which act +he capsized Zombo's can of tea, whereupon Zombo leaped upon him in +wrath, and Masiko, as in duty bound, came to the rescue. + +"Clap a stopper on yer noise, will 'ee?" cried Disco sternly, "else +you'll be bringin' all the wild beasts in these parts down on us to see +wot it's all about." + +"That reminds me," said Harold, when quiet was restored, "that we must +now organise ourselves into something of a fighting band--a company, as +it were, of soldiers,--and take our regular spell of watching by night, +for, from all that I hear of the disturbed state of the country just +now, with these runaway slaves and rebels, it will be necessary to be on +our guard. Of course," he added, smiling, "I suppose I must be captain +of the company, and you, Disco, shall be lieutenant." + +"Not at all," replied the seaman, shaking his head, and frowning at +Jumbo, whose brilliant teeth at once responded to the glance, "not at +all, none of your sodgerin' for me. I never could abide the lobsters. +Fust-mate, sir, that's wot _I_ am, if I'm to be expected to do my +dooty." + +"Well then, first-mate be it," rejoined Harold, "and Antonio shall be +serjeant-major--" + +"Bo's'n--bo's'n," suggested Disco; "keep up appearances wotiver ye do, +an' don't let the memory of salt water go down." + +"Very good," said Harold, laughing; "then you shall be boatswain, +Antonio, as well as cook, and I will instruct you in the first part of +your duty, which will be to keep watch for an hour while the rest of us +sleep. My first-mate will teach you the whistling part of a boatswain's +duty, if that should be required--" + +"Ah, and the roar," interrupted Disco, "a bo's'n would be nothin' +without his roar--" + +At that moment the woods around them were filled with a tremendous and +very unexpected roar, which caused the whole party to spring up, and +induced the new bo's'n to utter a yell of terror that would have done +credit to the whistle of the most violent bo's'n on the sea. Next +moment the travellers were surrounded by a large and excited band of +armed negroes. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +ENEMIES ARE CHANGED INTO FRIENDS--OUR TRAVELLERS PENETRATE INTO THE +INTERIOR OF THE LAND. + +To possess the power of looking perfectly calm and unconcerned when you +are in reality considerably agitated and rather anxious, is extremely +useful in any circumstances, but especially so when one happens to be in +the midst of grinning, gesticulating, naked savages. + +Our hero, Harold Seadrift possessed that power in an eminent degree, and +his first-mate, Disco Lillihammer, was not a whit behind him. Although +both had started abruptly to their legs at the first alarm, and drawn +their respective revolvers, they no sooner found themselves surrounded +by overwhelming numbers than they lowered their weapons, and, turning +back to back, faced the intruders with calm countenances. + +"Sit down, men, every one of you except Antonio," said Harold, in a +quiet, but clear and decided voice. + +His men, who, having left their guns in the canoe, were utterly +helpless, quietly obeyed. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" demanded Antonio, by Harold's +order. + +To this a tall negro, who was obviously the leader of the band, replied +in the native tongue,--"It matters little who we are; you are in our +power." + +"Not quite," said Harold, slightly moving his revolver. "Tell him that +he _may_ overcome us, but before he does so my friend and I carry the +lives of twelve of his men in our pistols." + +The negro chief, who quite understood the powers of a revolver, +replied--"Tell your master, that before he could fire two shots, he and +his friend would have each twelve bullets in his body. But I have not +time to palaver here. Who are you, and where are you going?" + +"We are Englishmen, travelling to see the country," replied Harold. + +The chief looked doubtfully at him, and seemed to waver, then suddenly +making up his mind, he frowned and said sternly--"No; that is a lie. +You are Portuguese scoundrels. You shall all die. You have robbed us +of our liberty, our wives, our children, our homes; you have chained, +and tortured, and flogged us!"--he gnashed his teeth at this point, and +his followers grew excited. "Now we have got free, and you are caught. +We will let you know what it is to be slaves." + +As the negro chief stirred up his wrath by thus recounting his wrongs, +and advanced a step, Harold begged Disco, in a low, urgent voice, not to +raise his pistol. Then looking the savage full in the face, without +showing a trace of anxiety, he said--"You are wrong. We are indeed +Englishmen, and you know that the English detest slavery, and would, if +they could, put a stop to it altogether." + +"Yes, I know that," said the chief. "We have seen one Englishman here, +and he has made us to know that not all men with white faces are +devils--like the Portuguese and Arabs. But how am I to know you are +English?" + +Again the chief wavered a little, as if half-inclined to believe +Harold's statement. + +"Here is proof for you," said Harold, pointing to Chimbolo, who, being +scarcely able to move, had remained all this time beside the fire +leaning on his elbow and listening intently to the conversation. "See," +he continued, "that is a slave. Look at him." + +As he said this, Harold stepped quickly forward and removed the blanket, +with which he had covered his lacerated back after dressing it. + +A howl of execration burst from the band of negroes, who pointed their +spears and guns at the travellers' breasts, and would have made a speedy +end of the whole party if Antonio had not exclaimed "Speak, Chimbolo, +speak!" + +The slave looked up with animation, and told the rebels how his +Portuguese owner had ordered him to be flogged to death, but changed his +mind and doomed him to be drowned,--how that in the nick of time, these +white men had rescued him, and had afterwards treated him with the +greatest kindness. + +Chimbolo did not say much, but what he did say was uttered with emphasis +and feeling. This was enough. Those who would have been enemies were +suddenly converted into warm friends, and the desperadoes, who would +have torn their former masters, or any of their race, limb from limb, if +they could have got hold of them, left our adventurers undisturbed in +their bivouac, after wishing them a prosperous journey. + +It was nevertheless deemed advisable to keep watch during the night. +This was done faithfully and conscientiously as far as it went. Harold +took the first hour by way of example. He sat over the fire, +alternately gazing into its embers while he meditated of home, and round +upon the dark forest while he thought of Africa. True to time, he +called Disco, who, equally true to his sense of duty, turned out at once +with a deep "Ay, ay, sir." The self-styled first-mate placed his back +against a tree, and, endeavouring to believe it to be a capstan, or +binnacle, or any other object appertaining to the sea, stared at the +ghostly stems of the forest-trees until they began to dance hornpipes +for his special gratification, or glowered at the shadows until they +became instinct with life, and all but induced him to rouse the camp +twenty times in the course of his hour's vigil. True to time also, like +his predecessor, Disco roused Antonio and immediately turned in. + +The vivacious _chef de cuisine_ started up at once, took up his position +at the foot of the tree which Disco had just left, leaned his back +against it, and straightway went to sleep, in which condition he +remained till morning, leaving the camp in unprotected felicity and +blissful ignorance. + +Fortunately for all parties, Disco awoke in time to catch him napping, +and resolved to punish him. He crept stealthily round to the back of +the tree against which the faithless man leaned, and reached gently +round until his mouth was close to Antonio's cheek, then, collecting all +the air that his vast lungs were capable of containing, he poured into +Antonio's ear a cumulative roar that threw the camp and the denizens of +the wilderness far and near into confusion, and almost drove the whole +marrow in Antonio's body out at his heels. The stricken man sprang up +as if earth had shot him forth, uttered a yell of terror such as seldom +greets the ear, and rushed blindly forward. Repeating the roar, Disco +plunged after him. Antonio tumbled over the fire, recovered himself, +dashed on, and would certainly have plunged into the river, if not into +the jaws of a crocodile, had not Jumbo caught him in his arms, in the +midst of a chorus of laughter from the other men. + +"How dare 'ee go to sleep on dooty?" demanded Disco, seizing the culprit +by the collar, "eh! we might have bin all murdered by rebels or eaten by +lions, or had our eyes picked out by gorillas, for all that _you_ would +have done to prevent it--eh?" giving him a shake. + +"Oh, pardon, forgif. Nevair doot more again," exclaimed the breathless +and trembling Antonio. + +"You'd _better_ not!" said Disco, giving him another shake and releasing +him. + +Having done so, he turned on his heel and bestowed a quiet look, in +passing, on Jumbo, which of course threw that unfortunate man into +convulsions. + +After this little incident a hasty breakfast was taken, the canoes were +launched, and the voyage was continued. + +It is not necessary to trace the course of our explorers day by day as +they ascended the Zambesi, or to recount all the adventures or +misadventures that befell them on their journey into the interior. It +is sufficient for the continuity of our tale to say that many days after +leaving the coast they turned into the Shire river, which flows into the +Zambesi about 150 miles from the coast. + +There are many fountain-heads of slavery in Africa. The region of the +interior, which gives birth to the head-waters of the Shire river, is +one of the chief of these. Here lies the great lake Nyassa, which was +discovered and partly explored by Dr Livingstone, and hence flows a +perennial stream of traffic to Kilwa, on the coast--which traffic, at +the present time, consists almost exclusively of the two kinds of ivory, +white and black, the former (elephants' tusks) being carried by the +latter (slaves), by which means the slave-trade is rendered more +profitable. + +Towards this populous and fertile region, then, our adventurers directed +their course, when they turned out of the great river Zambesi and began +to ascend the Shire. + +And here, at the very outset of this part of the journey, they met with +a Portuguese settler, who did more to open their eyes to the blighting +and withering influence of slavery on the land and on its people than +anything they had yet seen. + +Towards the afternoon of the first day on the Shire, they landed near +the encampment of the settler referred to, who turned out to be a +gentleman of a Portuguese town on the Zambesi. + +Harold found, to his delight, that he could speak English fluently, and +was, moreover, an exceedingly agreeable and well-informed man. He was +out at the time on a hunting expedition, attended by a party of slaves. + +Harold spent the evening in very pleasant intercourse with Senhor Gamba, +and at a later hour than usual returned to his camp, where he +entertained Disco with an account of his new acquaintance. + +While thus engaged, he was startled by the most appalling shrieks, which +proceeded from the neighbouring encampment. Under the impression that +something was wrong, both he and Disco leaped up and ran towards it. +There, to his amazement and horror, Harold beheld his agreeable friend +Senhor Gamba thrashing a young slave unmercifully with a whip of the +most formidable character. Only a few lashes from it had been given +when Harold ran up, but these were so powerful that the unhappy victim +dropped down in a state of insensibility just as he reached the spot. + +The Portuguese "gentleman" turned away from the prostrate slave with a +scowl, but betrayed a slight touch of confusion on meeting the gaze of +Harold Seadrift. + +"Senhor!" exclaimed the latter sternly, with mingled remonstrance and +rebuke in his tone, "how _can_ you be so cruel? What has the boy done +to merit such inhuman chastisement?" + +"He has neglected my orders," answered the Portuguese, as though he +resented the tone in which Harold spoke. + +"But surely, surely," said Harold, "the punishment is far beyond the +offence. I can scarcely believe the evidence of my own eyes and ears +when they tell me that _you_ have been guilty of this." + +"Come," returned Senhor Gamba, softening into a smile, "you English +cannot understand our case in this land. Because you do not keep +slaves, you take the philanthropic, the religious view of the question. +We who do keep slaves have a totally different experience. You cannot +understand, you cannot sympathise with us." + +"No, truly, we can _not_ understand you," said Harold earnestly, "and +God forbid that we should ever sympathise with you in this matter. We +detest the gross injustice of slavery, and we abhor the fearful +cruelties connected with it." + +"That is because, as I said, you are not in our position," rejoined the +Senhor, with a shrug of his shoulders. "It is easy for you to take the +philanthropic view, which, however, I admit to be the best, for in the +eyes of God all men are equal, and though the African be a degraded man, +I know enough of him to be sure that he can be raised by kindness and +religion into a position not very inferior to our own; but we who keep +slaves cannot help ourselves we _must_ act as we do." + +"Why so?--is cruelty a necessity?" asked Harold. + +"Yes, it is," replied the Senhor decidedly. + +"Then the abolition of slavery is a needcessity too," growled Disco, who +had hitherto looked on and listened in silent wonder, debating with +himself as to the propriety of giving Senhor Gamba, then and there, a +sound thrashing with his own whip! + +"You see," continued the Portuguese, paying no attention to Disco's +growl,--"You see, in order to live out here I must have slaves, and in +order to keep slaves I must have a whip. My whip is no worse than any +other whip that I know of. I don't justify it as right, I simply defend +it as necessary. _Wherever slavery exists, discipline must of necessity +be brutal_. If you keep slaves, and mean that they shall give you the +labour of their bodies, and of their minds also, in so far as you permit +them to have minds, you must degrade them by the whip and by all other +means at your disposal until, like dogs, they become the unhesitating +servants of your will, no matter what that will may be, and live for +your pleasure only. It will never pay me to adopt your philanthropic, +your religious views. I am here. I _must_ be here. What am I to do? +Starve? No, not if I can help it. I do as others do--keep slaves and +act as the master of slaves. I must use the whip. Perhaps you won't +believe me," continued Senhor Gamba, with a sad smile, "but I speak +truth when I say that I was tender-hearted when I first came to this +country, for I had been well nurtured in Lisbon; but that soon passed +away--it could not last. I was the laughing-stock of my companions. +Just to explain my position, I will tell you a circumstance which +happened soon after I came here. The Governor invited me to a party of +pleasure. The party consisted of himself, his daughters, some officers, +and others. We were to go in boats to a favourite island resort, +several miles off. I took one of my slaves with me, a lad that I kept +about my person. As we were going along, this lad fell into the river. +He could not swim, and the tide was carrying him fast away to death. +Dressed as I was, in full uniform, I plunged in after him and saved him. +The wish alone to save the boy's life prompted me to risk my own. And +for this I became the jest of the party; even the ladies tittered at my +folly. Next evening the Governor had a large dinner-party. I was +there. Having caught cold, I coughed slightly; this drew attention to +me. Remarks were made, and the Governor alluded in scoffing terms to my +exploit, which created much mirth. `Were you drunk?' said one. `Had +you lost your senses, to risk your life for a brute of a negro?' said +another. `Rather than spoil my uniform, I would have knocked him on the +head with a pole,' said a third; and it was a long time before what they +termed my folly was forgotten or forgiven. You think I am worse than +others. I am not; but I do not condescend to their hypocrisy. What I +am now, I have been made by this country and its associates." [These +words are not fictitious. The remarks of Senhor Gamba were actually +spoken by a Portuguese slave-owner, and will be found in _The Story of +the Universities' Mission to Central Africa_, pages 64-5-6.] + +Senhor Gamba said this with the air of one who thinks that he has +nearly, if not quite, justified himself. "I am no worse than others," +is an excuse for evil conduct, not altogether unknown in more highly +favoured lands, and is often followed by the illogical conclusion, +"therefore I am not to blame," but although Harold felt pity for his +agreeable chance acquaintance, he could not admit that this explanation +excused him, nor could he get over the shock which his feelings had +sustained; it was, therefore, with comparatively little regret that he +bade him adieu on the following morning, and pursued his onward way. + +Everywhere along the Shire they met with a more or less hospitable +reception from the natives, who regarded them with great favour, in +consequence of their belonging to the same nation which had sent forth +men to explore their country, defend them from the slave-dealer, and +teach them about the true God. These men, of whom mention is made in +another chapter, had, some time before this, been sent by the Church of +England to the Manganja highlands, at the suggestion of Dr Livingstone, +and laid, we believe, the foundation-stone of Christian civilisation in +the interior of Africa, though God saw fit to arrest them in the raising +of the superstructure. + +Among other pieces of useful knowledge conveyed by them to the negroes +of the Shire, was the fact that Englishmen are not cannibals, and that +they have no special longings after black man steaks! + +It may perchance surprise some readers to learn that black men ever +entertain such a preposterous notion. Nevertheless, it is literally +true. The slavers--Arabs and Portuguese--find it in their interest to +instil this falsehood into the minds of the ignorant tribes of the +interior, from whom the slaves are gathered, in order that their +captives may entertain a salutary horror of Englishmen, so that if their +dhows should be chased by our cruisers while creeping northward along +the coast and run the risk of being taken, the slaves may willingly aid +their captors in trying to escape. That the lesson has been well learnt +and thoroughly believed is proved by the fact that when a dhow is +obliged to run ashore to avoid capture, the slaves invariably take to +the woods on the wings of terror, preferring, no doubt to be re-enslaved +rather than to be roasted and eaten by white fiends. Indeed, so +thoroughly has this been engrained into the native mind, that mothers +frequently endeavour to overawe their refractory offspring by +threatening to hand them over to the dreadful white monster who will eat +them up if they don't behave! + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +RELATES ADVENTURES IN THE SHIRE VALLEY, AND TOUCHES ON ONE OR TWO PHASES +OF SLAVERY. + +Everything depends upon taste, as the monkey remarked when it took to +nibbling the end of its own tail! If you like a thing, you take one +view of it; if you don't like it, you take another view. Either view, +if detailed, would be totally irreconcilable with the other. + +The lower part of the river Shire, into which our travellers had now +entered, is a vast swamp. There are at least two opinions in regard to +that region. To do justice to those with whom we don't sympathise, we +give our opponent's view first. Our opponent, observe, is an honest and +competent man; he speaks truly; he only looks at it in another light +from Harold Seadrift and Disco Lillihammer. + +He says of the river Shire, "It drains a low and exceedingly fertile +valley of from fifteen to twenty miles in breadth. Ranges of wooded +hills bound this valley on both sides. After the first twenty miles you +come to Mount Morambala, which rises with steep sides to 4000 feet in +height. It is wooded to the top, and very beautiful. A small village +peeps out about half-way up the mountain. It has a pure, bracing +atmosphere, and is perched above mosquito range. The people on the +summit have a very different climate and vegetation from those on the +plains, and they live amidst luxuriant vegetation. There are many +species of ferns, some so large as to deserve the name of trees. There +are also lemon and orange trees growing wild, and birds and animals of +all kinds." Thus far we agree with our opponent but listen to him as he +goes on:-- + +"The view from Morambala is extensive, but cheerless past description. +Swamp, swamp-reeking, festering, rotting, malaria-pregnant swamp, where +poisonous vapours for several months in the year are ever bulging up and +out into the air,--lies before you as far as the eye can reach, and +farther. If you enter the river at the worst seasons of the year, the +chances are you will take the worst type of fever. If, on the other +hand, you enter it during the best season, when the swamps are fairly +dried up, you have everything in your favour." + +Now, our opponent gives a true statement of facts undoubtedly, but his +view of them is not cheering. + +Contrast them with the view of Disco Lillihammer. That sagacious seaman +had entered the Shire neither in the "best" nor the "worst" of the +season. He had chanced upon it somewhere between the two. + +"Git up your steam an' go 'longside," he said to Jumbo one afternoon, as +the two canoes were proceeding quietly among magnificent giant-reeds, +sedges, and bulrushes, which towered high above them--in some places +overhung them. + +"I say, Mister Harold, ain't it splendid?" + +"Magnificent!" replied Harold with a look of quiet enthusiasm. + +"I _does_ enjoy a swamp," continued the seaman, allowing a thin cloud to +trickle from his lips. + +"So do I, Disco." + +"There's such a many outs and ins an' roundabouts in it. And such +powerful reflections o' them reeds in the quiet water. W'y, sir, I do +declare w'en I looks through 'em in a dreamy sort of way for a long time +I get to fancy they're palm-trees, an' that we're sailin' through a +forest without no end to it; an' when I looks over the side an' sees +every reed standin' on its other self, so to speak, an' follers the +under one down till my eyes git lost in the blue sky an' clouds _below_ +us, I do sometimes feel as if we'd got into the middle of fairy-land,-- +was fairly afloat on the air, an' off on a voyage through the univarse! +But it's them reflections as I like most. Every leaf, an' stalk, an' +flag is just as good an' real _in_ the water as out of it. An' just +look at that there frog, sir, that one on the big leaf which has swelled +hisself up as if he wanted to bust, with his head looking up hopefully +to the--ah! he's down with a plop like lead, but he wos sittin' on his +own image which wos as clear as his own self. Then there's so much +variety, sir--that's where it is. You never know wot you're comin' to +in them swamps. It may be a openin' like a pretty lake, with islands of +reeds everywhere; or it may be a narrow bit like a canal, or a river; or +a bit so close that you go scrapin' the gun'les on both sides. An' the +life, too, is most amazin'. Never saw nothin' like it nowhere. All +kinds, big an' little, plain an' pritty, queer an' 'orrible, swarms here +to sitch an extent that I've got it into my head that this Shire valley +must be the great original nursery of animated nature." + +"It looks like it, Disco." + +The last idea appeared to furnish food for reflection, as the two +friends here relapsed into silence. + +Although Disco's description was quaint, it could scarcely be styled +exaggerated, for the swamp was absolutely alive with animal life. The +principal occupant of these marshes is the elephant, and hundreds of +these monster animals may be seen in one herd, feeding like cattle in a +meadow. Owing to the almost impenetrable nature of the reedy jungle, +however, it is impossible to follow them, and anxious though Disco was +to kill one, he failed to obtain a single shot. Buffaloes and other +large game were also numerous in this region, and in the water +crocodiles and hippopotami sported about everywhere, while aquatic birds +of every shape and size rendered the air vocal with their cries. +Sometimes these feathered denizens of the swamp arose, when startled, in +a dense cloud so vast that the mighty rush of their wings was almost +thunderous in character. + +The crocodiles were not only numerous but dangerous because of their +audacity. They used to watch at the places where native women were in +the habit of going down to the river for water, and not unfrequently +succeeded in seizing a victim. This, however, only happened at those +periods when the Shire was in flood, when fish were driven from their +wonted haunts, and the crocodiles were reduced to a state of starvation +and consequent ferocity. + +One evening, while our travellers were proceeding slowly up stream, they +observed the corpse of a negro boy floating past the canoe; just then a +monstrous crocodile rushed at it with the speed of a greyhound, caught +it and shook it as a terrier does a rat. Others dashed at the prey, +each with his powerful tail causing the water to churn and froth as he +tore off a piece. In a few seconds all was gone. [Livingstone's +_Zambesi and its Tributaries_, page 452.] That same evening Zombo had a +narrow escape. After dusk he ran down to the river to drink. He +chanced to go to a spot where a crocodile was watching. It lay settled +down in the mud with its head on a level with the water, so that in the +feeble light it could not be seen. While Zombo was busy laving the +water into his mouth it suddenly rushed at him and caught him by the +hand. The limb of a bush was fortunately within reach, and he laid hold +of it. There was a brief struggle. The crocodile tugged hard, but the +man tugged harder; at the same time he uttered a yell which brought +Jumbo to his side with an oar, a blow from which drove the hideous +reptile away. Poor Zombo was too glad to have escaped with his life to +care much about the torn hand, which rendered him _hors de combat_ for +some time after that. + +Although Disco failed to get a shot at an elephant, his hopeful spirit +was gratified by the catching of a baby elephant alive. It happened +thus:-- + +One morning, not very long after Zombo's tussle with the crocodile, +Disco's canoe, which chanced to be in advance, suddenly ran almost into +the midst of a herd of elephants which were busy feeding on palm-nuts, +of which they are very fond. Instantly the whole troop scattered and +fled. Disco, taken completely by surprise, omitted his wonted "Hallo!" +as he made an awkward plunge at his rifle, but before he could bring it +to bear, the animals were over the bank of the river and lost in the +dense jungle. But a fine little elephant, at that period of life which, +in human beings, might be styled the toddling age, was observed to +stumble while attempting to follow its mother up the bank. It fell and +rolled backwards. + +"Give way for your lives!" roared Disco. + +The boat shot its bow on the bank, and the seaman flew rather than +leaped upon the baby elephant! + +The instant it was laid hold of it began to scream with incessant and +piercing energy after the fashion of a pig. + +"Queek! come in canoe! Modder come back for 'im," cried Jumbo in some +anxiety. + +Disco at once appreciated the danger of the enraged mother returning to +the rescue, but, resolved not to resign his advantage, he seized the +vicious little creature by the proboscis and dragged it by main force to +the canoe, into which he tumbled, hauled the proboscis inboard, as +though it had been the bite of a cable, and held on. + +"Shove off! shove off! and give way, lads! Look alive!" + +The order was promptly obeyed, and in a few minutes the baby was dragged +into the boat and secured. + +This prize, however, was found to be more of a nuisance than an +amusement and it was soon decided that it must be disposed of. +Accordingly, that very night, much to the regret of the men who wanted +to make a meal of it, Disco led his baby squealing into the jungle and +set it free with a hearty slap on the flank, and an earnest +recommendation to make all sail after its venerable mother, which it did +forthwith, cocking its ears and tail, and shrieking as it went. + +Two days after this event they made a brief halt at a poor village where +they were hospitably received by the chief, who was much gratified by +the liberal quantity of calico with which the travellers paid for their +entertainment. Here they met with a Portuguese half-caste who was +reputed one of the greatest monsters of cruelty in that part of the +country. He was, however, not much more villainous in aspect than many +other half-castes whom they saw. He was on his way to the coast in a +canoe manned by slaves. If Harold and Disco had known that this was his +last journey to the coast they would have regarded him with greater +interest. As it was, having learned his history from the chief through +their interpreter, they turned from him with loathing. + +As this half-caste's career illustrates the depths to which humanity may +fall in the hot-bed of slavery, as well as, to some extent, the state of +things existing under Portuguese rule on the east coast of Africa, we +give the particulars briefly. + +Instead of the whip, this man used the gun, which he facetiously styled +his "minister of justice," and, in mere wantonness, he was known to have +committed murder again and again, yet no steps were taken by the +authorities to restrain, much less to punish him. Men heard of his +murders, but they shrugged their shoulders and did nothing. It was only +a wild beast of a negro that was killed, they said, and what was that! +They seemed to think less of it than if he had shot a hippopotamus. One +of his murders was painfully notorious, even to its minutest +particulars. Over the female slaves employed in a house and adjacent +lands there is usually placed a head-woman, a slave also, chosen for +such an office for her blind fidelity to her master. This man had one +such woman, one who had ever been faithful to him and his interests, who +had never provoked him by disobedience or ill-conduct, and against whom, +therefore, he could have no cause of complaint. One day when half drunk +he was lying on a couch in his house; his forewoman entered and made +herself busy with some domestic work. As her master lay watching her, +his savage disposition found vent in a characteristic joke: "Woman," +said he, "I think I will shoot you." The woman turned round and said, +"Master, I am your slave; you can do what you will with me. You can +kill me if you like; I can do nothing. But don't kill me, master, for +if you do, who is there to look after your other women? they will all +run away from you." + +She did not mean to irritate her master, but instantly the man's brutal +egotism was aroused. The savage jest became a fearful reality, and he +shouted with rage:-- + +"Say you that! say you that! fetch me my gun. I will see if my women +will run away after I have killed you." + +Trained to implicit obedience, the poor woman did as she was bid. She +brought the gun and handed him powder and ball. At his command she +knelt down before him, and the wretch fired at her breast. In his +drunken rage he missed his mark--the ball went through her shoulder. +She besought him to spare her. Deaf to her entreaties, he ordered her +to fetch more powder and ball. Though wounded and in agony, she obeyed +him. Again the gun was loaded, again levelled and fired, and the woman +fell dead at his feet. [The above narrative is quoted almost _verbatim_ +from _The Story of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa_, pages +78 and 79, the author of which vouches for its accuracy.] + +The facts of this case were known far and wide. The Portuguese Governor +was acquainted with them, as well as the ministers of justice, but no +one put forth a hand to punish the monster, or to protect his slaves. + +But vengeance overtook him at last. On his way down the Zambesi he shot +one of his men. The others, roused to irresistible fury, sprang upon +him and strangled him. + +_Then_, indeed, the Governor and Magistrates were roused to administer +"justice!" They had allowed this fiend to murder slaves at his will, +but no sooner had the slaves turned on and killed their master than +ceaseless energy and resolution were displayed in punishing those who +slew him. Soldiers were sent out in all directions; some of the +canoe-men were shot down like wild beasts, the rest were recaptured and +publicly whipped to death! + +Reader, this is "domestic slavery." This is what Portugal and Zanzibar +claim the right to practise. This is what Great Britain has for many +years declined to interfere with. This is the curse with which Africa +is blighted at the present day in some of her fairest lands, and this is +what Portugal has decreed shall not terminate in what she calls her +African dominions for some years to come. In other words, it has been +coolly decreed by that weakest of all the European nations, that +slavery, murder, injustice, and every other conceivable and +unmentionable vice and villainy shall still, for some considerable time, +continue to be practised on the men, women, and children of Africa! + +Higher up the Shire river, the travellers saw symptoms of recent +distress among the people, which caused them much concern. Chimbolo, in +particular, was rendered very anxious by the account given of the famine +which prevailed still farther up the river, and the numerous deaths that +had taken place in consequence. + +The cause of the distress was a common one, and easily explained. +Slave-dealers had induced the Ajawa, a warlike tribe, to declare war +against the people of the Manganja highlands. The Ajawa had done this +before, and were but too ready to do it again. They invaded the land, +captured many of the young people, and slew the aged. Those who escaped +to the jungle found on their return that their crops were destroyed. +Little seed remained in their possession, and before that was planted +and grown, famine began to reduce the ranks, already thinned by war. + +Indications of this sad state of things became more numerous as the +travellers advanced. Few natives appeared to greet them on the banks of +the river as they went along, and these few resembled living skeletons. +In many places they found dead bodies lying on the ground in various +stages of decomposition, and everywhere they beheld an aspect of settled +unutterable despair on the faces of the scattered remnant of the +bereaved and starving people. + +It was impossible, in the circumstances, for Harold Seadrift to give +these wretched people more than very slight relief. He gave them as +much of his stock of provisions as he could spare, and was glad when the +necessity of continuing the journey on foot relieved him from such +mournful scenes by taking him away from the river's bank. + +Hiring a party of the strongest men that he could find among them, he at +length left his canoes, made up his goods, food, and camp-equipage into +bundles of a shape and size suitable to being carried on the heads of +men, and started on foot for the Manganja highlands. + +"Seems to me, sir," observed Disco, as they plodded along together on +the first morning of the land journey--"seems to me, sir, that Chimbolo +don't stand much chance of findin' his wife alive." + +"Poor fellow," replied Harold, glancing back at the object of their +remarks, "I fear not." + +Chimbolo had by that time recovered much of his natural vigour, and +although not yet able to carry a man's load, was nevertheless quite +capable of following the party. He walked in silence, with his eyes on +the ground, a few paces behind Antonio, who was a step or two in rear of +his leader, and who, in virtue of his position as "bo's'n" to the party, +was privileged to walk hampered by no greater burden than his gun. + +"We must keep up his sperrits, tho', poor chap," said Disco, in the +hoarse whisper with which he was wont to convey secret remarks, and +which was much more fitted to attract attention than his ordinary voice. +"It 'ud never do to let his sperrits down; 'cause w'y? he's weak, an' +if he know'd that his wife was dead, or took off as a slave, he'd never +be able to go along with us, and we couldn't leave him to starve here, +you know." + +"Certainly not, Disco," returned Harold. "Besides, his wife _may_ be +alive, for all we know to the contrary.--How far did he say the village +was from where we landed, Antonio?" + +"'Bout two, t'ree days," answered the bo's'n. + +That night the party encamped beside the ruins of a small hamlet where +charred sticks and fragments of an African household's goods and +chattels lay scattered on the ground. + +Chimbolo sat down here on the ground, and, resting his chin on his +knees, gazed in silence at the ruin around him. + +"Come, cheer up, old fellow," cried Disco, with rather an awkward effort +at heartiness, as he slapped the negro gently on the shoulder; "tell +him, Antonio, not to let his heart go down. Didn't he say that +what-dee-call-the-place--his village--was a strong place, and could be +easily held by a few brave men?" + +"True," replied Chimbolo, through the interpreter, "but the Manganja men +are not very brave." + +"Well, well, never mind," rejoined the sympathetic tar, repeating his +pat on the back, "there's no sayin'. P'raps they got courage w'en it +came to the scratch. P'raps it never came to the scratch at all up +there. Mayhap you'll find 'em all right after all. Come, never say die +s'long as there's a shot in the locker. That's a good motto for 'ee, +Chimbolo, and ought to keep up your heart even tho' ye _are_ a nigger, +'cause it wos inwented by the great Nelson, and shouted by him, or his +bo's'n, just before he got knocked over at the glorious battle of +Trafalgar. Tell him that, Antonio." + +Whether Antonio told him all that, is extremely doubtful, although he +complied at once with the order, for Antonio never by any chance +declined at least to attempt the duties of his station, but the only +effect of his speech was that Chimbolo shook his head and continued to +stare at the ruins. + +Next morning they started early, and towards evening drew near to Zomba. + +The country through which, during the previous two days, they had +travelled, was very beautiful, and as wild as even Disco could desire-- +and, by the way, it was no small degree of wildness that could slake the +thirst for the marvellous which had been awakened in the breast of our +tar, by his recent experiences in Africa. It was, he said--and said +truly--a real out-and-out wilderness. There were villages everywhere, +no doubt but these were so thickly concealed by trees and jungle that +they were not easily seen, and most of them were at that time almost +depopulated. The grass was higher than the heads of the travellers, and +the vegetation everywhere was rankly luxuriant. Here and there open +glades allowed the eye to penetrate into otherwise impenetrable bush. +Elsewhere, large trees abounded in the midst of overwhelmingly +affectionate parasites, whose gnarled lower limbs and twining tendrils +and pendant foliage gave a softness to the landscape, which contrasted +well with the wild passes and rugged rocks of the middle distance, and +the towering mountains which rose, range beyond range, in the far +distance. + +But as the party approached the neighbourhood of Zomba mountains, few of +them were disposed to give much heed to the beauties of nature. All +being interested in Chimbolo, they became more or less anxious as to +news that awaited him. + +On turning a spur of one of the mountains which had hitherto barred +their vision, they found themselves suddenly face to face with a small +band of Manganja men, whose woe-begone countenances told too eloquently +that the hand of the destroyer had been heavy upon them. + +Of course they were questioned by Chimbolo, and the replies they gave +him were such as to confirm the fears he had previously entertained. + +The Ajawa, they said, had, just the day before, burnt their villages, +stolen or destroyed their property, killed many of their kinsmen, and +carried off their wives and children for slaves. They themselves had +escaped, and were now on their way to visit their chief, who was at that +time on the banks of the Zambesi, to beg of him to return, in order that +he might bewitch the guns of the Ajawa, and so render them harmless! + +"Has a woman of your tribe, named Marunga, been slain or captured?" +asked Chimbolo eagerly. + +To this the men replied that they could not tell. Marunga, they said, +was known well to them by name and sight. They did not think she was +among the captives, but could not tell what had become of her, as the +village where she and her little boy lived had been burnt, and all who +had not been killed or captured had taken to the bush. Marunga's +husband, they added, was a man named Chimbolo--not a Manganja man, but a +friend of the tribe--who had been taken by the slavers, under command of +a Portuguese half-caste named Marizano, about two years before that +time. + +Chimbolo winced as though he had been stung when Marizano's name was +mentioned, and a dark frown contracted his brows when he told the +Manganja men that _he_ was Chimbolo, and that he was even then in search +of Marunga and her little boy. + +When all this had been explained to Harold Seadrift he told the men that +it was a pity to waste time in travelling such a long way to see their +chief, who could not, even if he wished, bewitch the guns of the Ajawa, +and advised them to turn back and guide him and his men to the place +where the attack had been made on the Manganja, so that a search might +be made in the bush for those of the people who had escaped. + +This was agreed to, and the whole party proceeded on their way with +increased speed, Chimbolo and Harold hoping they might yet find that +Marunga had escaped, and Disco earnestly desiring that they might only +fall in with the Ajawa and have a brush with them, in which case he +assured the negroes he would show them a way of bewitching their guns +that would beat their chief's bewitchment all to sticks and stivers! + +The village in which Marunga had dwelt was soon reached. It was, as +they had been told by their new friends, a heap of still smouldering +ashes; but it was not altogether destitute of signs of life. A dog was +observed to slink away into the bush as they approached. + +The moment Chimbolo observed it he darted into the bush after it. + +"Hallo!" exclaimed Disco in surprise; "that nigger seems to have took a +sudden fancy to the cur?--Eh, Antonio, wot's the reason of that, think +'ee?" + +"Dunno; s'pose where dog be mans be?" + +"Ah! or womans," suggested Disco. + +"Or womans," assented Antonio. + +Just then they heard Chimbolo's shout, which was instantly followed by a +succession of female shrieks. These latter were repeated several times, +and sounded as though the fugitives were scattering. + +"Hims find a nest of womins!" exclaimed Jumbo, throwing down his load +and dashing away into the bush. + +Every individual of the party followed his example, not excepting Harold +and Disco, the latter of whom was caught by the leg, the moment he left +the track, by a wait-a-bit thorn--most appropriately so-called, because +its powerful spikes are always ready to seize and detain the unwary +passer-by. In the present instance it checked the seaman's career for a +few seconds, and rent his nether garments sadly; while Harold, profiting +by his friend's misfortune, leaped over the bush, and passed on. Disco +quickly extricated himself, and followed. + +They were not left far behind, and overtook their comrades just as they +emerged on an open space, or glade, at the extremity of which a sight +met their eyes that filled them with astonishment, for there a troop of +women and one or two boys were seen walking towards them, with Chimbolo +in front, having a child on his left shoulder, and performing a sort of +insane war-dance round one of the women. + +"He's catched her!" exclaimed Disco, with excited looks, just as if +Chimbolo had been angling unsuccessfully for a considerable time, and +had hooked a stupendous fish at last. + +And Disco was right. A few of the poor creatures who were so recently +burnt out of their homes, and had lost most of those dearest to them, +had ventured, as if drawn by an irresistible spell, to return with timid +steps to the scene of their former happiness, but only to have their +worst fears confirmed. Their homes, their protectors, their children, +their hopes, all were gone at one fell swoop. Only one among them--one +who, having managed to save her only child, had none to mourn over, and +no one to hope to meet with--only one returned to a joyful meeting. We +need scarcely say that this was Marunga. + +The fact was instantly made plain to the travellers by the wild manner +in which Chimbolo shouted her name, pointed to her, and danced round +her, while he showed all his glistening teeth and as much of the whites +of his eyes as was consistent with these members remaining in their +orbits. + +Really it was quite touching, in spite of its being ludicrous, the way +in which the poor fellow poured forth his joy like a very child,--which +he was in everything except years; and Harold could not help +remembering, and recalling to Disco's memory, Yoosoof's observations +touching the hardness of negroes' hearts, and their want of natural +affection, on the morning when his dhow was captured by the boat of the +"Firefly." + +The way in which, ever and anon, Chimbolo kissed his poor but now happy +wife, was wondrously similar to the mode in which white men perform that +little operation, except that there was more of an unrefined smack in +it. The tears which _would_ hop over his sable cheeks now and then +sparkled to the full as brightly as European tears, and were perhaps +somewhat bigger; and the pride with which he regarded his little son, +holding him in both hands out at arms'-length, was only excelled by the +joy and the tremendous laugh with which he received a kick on the nose +from that undutiful son's black little toes. + +But Yoosoof never chanced to be present when such exhibitions of negro +feeling and susceptibility took place. How could he, seeing that men +and women and children--if black--fled from him, and such as he, in +abject terror? Neither did Yoosoof ever chance to be present when women +sat down beside their blackened hearths, as they did that night, and +quietly wept as though their hearts would burst at the memory of little +voices and manly tones--not silent in death, but worse than that--gone, +gone _for ever_! Doubtless they felt though they never heard of, and +could not in words express, the sentiment-- + + "Oh for the touch of a vanished hand, + And the sound of a voice that is still." + +Yoosoof knew not of, and cared nothing for, such feelings as these. We +ask again, how could he? His only experience of the negro was when +cowering before him as a slave, or when yelling in agony under his +terrible lash, or when brutalised and rendered utterly apathetic by +inhuman cruelty. + +Harold learned, that night on further conversation with the Manganja +men, that a raid had recently been made into those regions by more than +one band of slavers, sent out to capture men and women by the Portuguese +half-castes of the towns of Senna and Tette, on the Zambesi, and that +they had been carrying the inhabitants out of the country at the rate of +about two hundred a week. + +This however was but a small speck, so to speak, of the mighty work of +kidnapping human beings that was going on--that is _still_ going on in +those regions. Yoosoof would have smiled--he never laughed--if you had +mentioned such a number as being large. + +But in truth he cared nothing about such facts, except in so far as they +represented a large amount of profit accrueing to himself. + +The result of Harold Seadrift's cogitations on these matters was that he +resolved to pass through as much of the land as he could within a +reasonable time, and agreed to accompany Chimbolo on a visit to his +tribe, which dwelt at some distance to the north of the Manganja +highlands. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +IN WHICH A SAVAGE CHIEF ASTONISHES A SAVAGE ANIMAL. + +There is something exceedingly pleasant in the act of watching-- +ourselves unseen--the proceedings of some one whose aims and ends appear +to be very mysterious. There is such a wide field of speculation opened +up in which to expatiate, such a vast amount of curious, we had almost +said romantic, expectation created; all the more if the individual whom +we observe be a savage, clothed in an unfamiliar and very scanty garb, +and surrounded by scenery and circumstances which, albeit strange to us, +are evidently by no means new to him. + +Let us--you and me, reader,--quitting for a time the sad subject of +slavery, and leaping, as we are privileged to do, far ahead of our +explorers Harold Seadrift and his company, into the region of Central +Africa; let you and me take up a position in a clump of trees by the +banks of yonder stream, and watch the proceedings of that negro--negro +chief let me say, for he looks like one,--who is engaged in some +mysterious enterprise under the shade of a huge baobab tree. + +The chief is a fine, stately, well-developed specimen of African +manhood. He is clothed in black tights manufactured in nature's loom, +in addition to which he wears round his loins a small scrap of +artificial cotton cloth. If an enthusiastic member of the Royal Academy +were in search of a model which should combine the strength of Hercules +with the grace of Apollo, he could not find a better than the man before +us, for, you will observe, the more objectionable points about _our_ +ideal of the negro are not very prominent in him. His lips are not +thicker than the lips of many a roast-beef-loving John Bull. His nose +is not flat, and his heels do not protrude unnecessarily. True, his +hair is woolly, but that is scarcely a blemish. It might almost be +regarded as the crisp and curly hair that surrounds a manly skull. His +skin is black--no doubt about that, but then it is _intensely_ black and +glossy, suggestive of black satin, and having no savour of that +dirtiness which is inseparably connected with whitey-brown. Tribes in +Africa differ materially in many respects, physically and mentally, just +as do the various tribes of Europe. + +This chief, as we have hinted, is a "savage;" that is to say, he differs +in many habits and points from "civilised" people. Among other +peculiarities, he clothes himself and his family in the fashion that is +best suited to the warm climate in which he dwells. This display of +wisdom is, as you know, somewhat rare among civilised people, as any one +may perceive who observes how these over-clothe the upper parts of their +children, and leave their tender little lower limbs exposed to the +rigours of northern latitudes, while, as if to make up for this +inconsistency by an inconsistent counterpoise, they swathe their own +tough and mature limbs in thick flannel from head to foot. + +It is however simple justice to civilised people to add here that a few +of them, such as a portion of the Scottish Highlanders, are consistent +inasmuch as the men clothe themselves similarly to the children. + +Moreover, our chief, being a savage, takes daily a sufficient amount of +fresh air and exercise, which nine-tenths of civilised men refrain from +doing, on the economic and wise principle, apparently, that engrossing +and unnatural devotion to the acquisition of wealth, fame, or knowledge, +will enable them at last to spend a few paralytic years in the enjoyment +of their gains. No doubt civilised people have the trifling little +drawback of innumerable ills, to which they say (erroneously, we think) +that flesh is heir, and for the cure of which much of their wealth is +spent in supporting an army of doctors. Savages know nothing of +indigestion, and in Central Africa they have no medical men. + +There is yet another difference which we may point out: savages have no +literature. They cannot read or write therefore, and have no permanent +records of the deeds of their forefathers. Neither have they any +religion worthy of the name. This is indeed a serious evil, one which +civilised people of course deplore, yet, strange to say, one which +consistency prevents some civilised people from remedying in the case of +African savages, for it would be absurdly inconsistent in Arab +Mohammedans to teach the negroes letters and the doctrines of their +faith with one hand, while with the other they lashed them to death or +dragged them into perpetual slavery; and it would be equally +inconsistent in Portuguese Christians to teach the negroes to read +"Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to +them," while "domestic slavery" is, in their so-called African +territories, claimed as a right and the traffic connected with it +sanctioned. + +Yes, there are many points of difference between civilised people and +savages, and we think it right to point this out very clearly, good +reader, because the man at whom you and I are looking just now is a +savage. + +Of course, being capable of reading this book, you are too old to +require to be told that there is nothing of our _nursery_ savage about +him. That peculiar abortion was born and bred in the nursery, and +dwells only there, and was never heard of beyond civilised lands-- +although something not unlike him, alas! may be seen here and there +among the lanes and purlieus where our drunkards and profligates resort. +No; our savage chief does not roar, or glare, or chatter, or devour his +food in its blood like the giant of the famous Jack. He carries himself +like a man, and a remarkably handsome man too, with his body firm and +upright, and his head bent a little forward, with his eyes fixed on the +ground, as if in meditation, while he walks along. + +But a truce to digressive explanation. Let us follow him. + +Reaching the banks of the river, he stops, and, standing in an attitude +worthy of Apollo, though he is not aware that we are looking at him, +gazes first up the stream and then down. This done, he looks across, +after which he tries to penetrate the depths of the water with his eye. + +As no visible result follows, he wisely gives up staring and wishing, +and apparently resolves to attain his ends by action. Felling a small +tree, about as thick as his thigh, with an iron hatchet he cuts off it a +length of about six feet. Into one end of this he drives a +sharp-pointed hard-wood spike, several inches long, and to the other end +attaches a stout rope made of the fibrous husk of the cocoa-nut. The +point of the spike he appears to anoint--probably a charm of some +kind,--and then suspends the curious instrument over a forked stick at a +considerable height from the ground, to which he fastens the other end +of the rope. This done, he walks quietly away with an air of as much +self-satisfaction as if he had just performed a generous deed. + +Well, is that all? Nay, if that were all we should owe you a humble +apology. Our chief, "savage" though he be, is not insane. He _has_ an +object in view--which is more than can be said of everybody. + +He has not been long gone, an hour or two, when the smooth surface of +the river is broken in several places, and out burst two or three heads +of hippopotami. Although, according to Disco Lillihammer, the +personification of ugliness, these creatures do not the less enjoy their +existence. They roll about in the stream like puncheons, dive under one +another playfully, sending huge waves to the banks on either side. They +gape hideously with their tremendous jaws, which look as though they had +been split much too far back in the head by a rude hatchet--the tops of +all the teeth having apparently been lopped off by the same clumsy blow. +They laugh too, with a demoniacal "Ha! ha! ha!" as if they rejoiced in +their excessive plainness, and knew that we--you and I, reader--are +regarding them with disgust, not unmingled with awe. + +Presently one of the herd betakes himself to the land. He is tired of +play, and means to feed. Grass appears to be his only food, and to +procure this he must needs go back from the river a short way, his +enormous lips, like an animated mowing-machine, cutting a track of short +cropped grass as he waddles along. + +The form of that part of the bank is such that he is at least inclined, +if not constrained, to pass directly under the suspended beam. Ha! we +understand the matter now. Most people do understand, when a thing +becomes obviously plain. The hippopotamus wants grass for supper; the +"savage" chief wants hippopotamus. Both set about arranging their plans +for their respective ends. The hippopotamus passes close to the forked +stick, and touches the cord which sustains it in air like the sword of +Damocles. Down comes the beam, driving the spike deep into his back. A +cry follows, something between a grunt, a squeak, and a yell, and the +wounded animal falls, rolls over, jumps up, with unexpected agility for +such a sluggish, unwieldy creature, and rumbles, rushes, rolls, and +stumbles back into the river, where his relatives take to flight in +mortal terror. The unfortunate beast might perhaps recover from the +wound, were it not that the spike has been tipped with poison. The +result is that he dies in about an hour. Not long afterwards the chief +returns with a band of his followers, who, being experts in the use of +the knife and hatchet, soon make mince-meat of their game--laden with +which they return in triumph to their homes. + +Let us follow them thither. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +DESCRIBES AFRICAN DOMESTICITY, AND MANY OTHER THINGS RELATIVE THERETO, +BESIDES SHOWING THAT ALARMS AND FLIGHTS, SURPRISES AND FEASTS, ARE NOT +CONFINED TO PARTICULAR PLACES. + +When our negro chief--whose name, by the way, was Kambira--left the +banks of the river, followed by his men bearing the hippopotamus-flesh, +he set off at a swinging pace, like to a man who has a considerable walk +before him. + +The country through which they passed was not only well wooded, but well +watered by numerous rivulets. Their path for some distance tended +upwards towards the hills, now crossing over mounds, anon skirting the +base of precipitous rocks, and elsewhere dipping down into hollows; but +although thus serpentine in its course, its upward tendency never varied +until it led them to the highest parts of a ridge from which a +magnificent prospect was had of hill and dale, lake, rivulet and river, +extending so far that the distant scenery at the horizon appeared of a +thin pearly-grey colour, and of the same consistency as the clouds with +which it mingled. + +Passing over this ridge, and descending into a wide valley which was +fertilised and beautified by a moderately-sized rivulet, Kambira led his +followers towards a hamlet which lay close to the stream, nestled in a +woody hollow, and, like all other Manganja villages, was surrounded by +an impenetrable hedge of poisonous euphorbia--a tree which casts a deep +shade, and renders it difficult for bowmen to aim at the people inside. + +In the immediate vicinity of the village the land was laid out in little +gardens and fields, and in these the people--men, women, and children,-- +were busily engaged in hoeing the ground, weeding, planting, or +gathering the fruits of their labour. + +These same fruits were plentiful, and the people sang with joy as they +worked. There were large crops of maize, millet beans, and ground-nuts; +also patches of yams, rice, pumpkins, cucumbers, cassava, sweet +potatoes, tobacco, cotton, and hemp, which last is also called "bang," +and is smoked by the natives as a species of tobacco. + +It was a pleasant sight for Kambira and his men to look upon, as they +rested for a few minutes on the brow of a knoll near a thicket of +bramble bushes, and gazed down upon their home. Doubtless they thought +so, for their eyes glistened, so also did their teeth when they +smilingly commented on the scene before them. They did not, indeed, +become enthusiastic about scenery, nor did they refer to the picturesque +grouping of huts and trees, or make any allusion whatever to light and +shade; no, their thoughts were centred on far higher objects than these. +They talked of wives and children, and hippopotamus-flesh; and their +countenances glowed--although they were not white--and their strong +hearts beat hard against their ribs--although they were not clothed, and +their souls (for we repudiate Yoosoof's opinion that they had none), +their souls appeared to take quiet but powerful interest in their +belongings. + +It was pleasant also, for Kambira and his men to listen to the sounds +that floated up from the valley,--sweeter far than the sweetest strains +of Mozart or Mendelssohn,--the singing of the workers in the fields and +gardens, mellowed by distance into a soft humming tone; and the hearty +laughter that burst occasionally from men seated at work on bows, +arrows, fishing-nets, and such-like gear, on a flat green spot under the +shade of a huge banyan-tree, which, besides being the village workshop, +was the village reception-hall, where strangers were entertained on +arriving,--also the village green, where the people assembled to dance, +and sing, and smoke "bang," to which last they were much addicted, and +to drink beer made by themselves, of which they were remarkably fond, +and by means of which they sometimes got drunk;--in all which matters +the intelligent reader will not fail to observe that they bore a marked +resemblance to many of the civilised European nations, except, perhaps, +in their greater freedom of action, lightness of costume, and colour of +skin. + +The merry voices of children, too, were heard, and their active little +black bodies were seen, while they engaged in the play of savages-- +though not necessarily in savage play. Some romped, ran after each +other, caught each other, tickled each other, occasionally whacked each +other--just as our own little ones do. Others played at games, of which +the skipping-rope was a decided favourite among the girls, but the play +of most of the older children consisted in imitating the serious work of +their parents. The girls built little huts, hoed little gardens, made +small pots of clay, pounded imaginary corn in miniature mortars, cooked +it over ideal fires, and crammed it down the throats of imitation +babies; while the boys performed deeds of chivalric daring with reed +spears, small shields, and tiny bows and arrows, or amused themselves in +making cattle-pens, and in sculpturing cows and crocodiles. Human +nature, in short, was powerfully developed, without anything particular +to suggest the idea of "savage" life, or to justify the opinion of Arabs +and half-caste Portuguese that black men are all "cattle." + +The scene wanted only the spire of a village church and the tinkle of a +Sabbath bell to make it perfect. + +But there _was_ a tinkle among the other sounds, not unlike a bell which +would have sounded marvellously familiar to English ears had they been +listening. This was the ringing of the anvil of the village blacksmith. +Yes, savage though they were, these natives had a blacksmith who +wrought in iron, almost as deftly, and to the full as vigorously, as any +British son of Vulcan. The Manganja people are an industrious race. +Besides cultivating the soil extensively, they dig iron-ore out of the +hills, and each village has its smelting-house, its charcoal-burners, +its forge with a pair of goatskin bellows, and its blacksmith--we might +appropriately say, its _very_ blacksmith! Whether the latter would of +necessity, and as a matter of course, sing bass in church if the land +were civilised enough to possess a church, remains to be seen! At the +time we write of he merely hummed to the sound of the hammer, and forged +hoes, axes, spears, needles, arrow-heads, bracelets, armlets, necklets, +and anklets, with surprising dexterity. + +Pity that he could not forge a chain which would for ever restrain the +murderous hands of the Arabs and half-caste Portuguese, who, for ages, +have blighted his land with their pestilential presence! + +After contemplating the picture for a time, Kambira descended the +winding path that led to the village. He had not proceeded far when one +of the smallest of the children--a creature so rotund that his body and +limbs were a series of circles and ovals, and so black that it seemed an +absurdity even to think of casting a shadow on him--espied the advancing +party, uttered a shrill cry of delight, and ran towards them. + +His example was followed by a dozen others, who, being larger, outran +him, and, performing a war-dance round the men, possessed themselves, by +amicable theft, of pieces of raw meat with which they hastened back to +the village. The original discoverer of the party, however, had other +ends in view. He toddled straight up to Kambira with the outstretched +arms of a child who knows he will be welcomed. + +Kambira was not demonstrative, but he was hearty. Taking the little +ball of black butter by the arms, he whirled him over his head, and +placed him on his broad shoulders, with a fat leg on each side of his +neck, and left him there to look after himself. This the youngster did +by locking his feet together under the man's chin, and fastening his fat +fingers in his woolly hair, in which position he bore some resemblance +to an enormous chignon. + +Thus was he borne crowing to the chief's hut, from the door of which a +very stout elderly woman came out to receive them. + +There was no one else in the hut to welcome them, but Yohama, as the +chief styled her, was sufficient; she was what some people call "good +company." She bustled about making preparations for a feast, with a +degree of activity that was quite surprising in one so fat--so very +fat--asking questions the while with much volubility, making remarks to +the child, criticising the hippopotamus-meat, or commenting on things in +general. + +Meanwhile Kambira seated himself in a corner and prepared to refresh +himself with a pipe of bang in the most natural and civilised fashion +imaginable; and young Obo--for so Yohama called him--entered upon a +series of gymnastic exercises with his father--for such Kambira was-- +which partook of the playfulness of the kitten, mingled with the +eccentricity and mischief of the monkey. + +It would have done you good, reader, if you possess a spark of sympathy, +to have watched these two as they played together. The way in which Obo +assaulted his father, on whose visage mild benignity was enthroned, +would have surprised you. Kambira was a remarkably grave, quiet and +reserved man, but that was a matter of no moment to Obo, who threatened +him in front, skirmished in his rear, charged him on the right flank +with a reed spear, shelled him on the left with sweet potatoes, and +otherwise harassed him with amazing perseverance and ingenuity. + +To this the enemy paid no further attention than lay in thrusting out an +elbow and raising a knee, to check an unusually fierce attack, or in +giving Obo a pat on the back when he came within reach, or sending a +puff of smoke in his face, as if to taunt and encourage him to attempt +further deeds of daring. + +While this was going on in the chief's hut, active culinary preparations +were progressing all over the village--the women forsook their hoes and +grinding-mortars, and the looms on which they had been weaving cotton +cloth, the men laid down various implements of industry, and, long ere +the sun began to descend in the west, the entire tribe was feasting with +all the gusto, and twenty times the appetite, of aldermen. + +During the progress of the feast a remarkably small, wiry old negro, +entertained the chief and his party with a song, accompanying himself +the while on a violin--not a European fiddle, by any means, but a native +production--with something like a small keg, covered with goatskin, for +a body, a longish handle, and one string which was played with a bow by +the "Spider." Never having heard his name, we give him one in +accordance with his aspect. + +Talk of European fiddlers! No Paganini, or any other _nini_ that ever +astonished the Goths and Vandals of the north, could hold a candle--we +had almost said a fiddle--to this sable descendant of Ham, who, squatted +on his hams in the midst of an admiring circle, drew forth sounds from +his solitary string that were more than exquisite,--they were +excruciating. + +The song appeared to be improvised, for it referred to objects around, +as well as to things past, present, and to come; among others, to the +fact that slave parties attacked villages and carried off the +inhabitants. + +At such points the minstrel's voice became low and thrilling, while his +audience grew suddenly earnest, opened their eyes, frowned, and showed +their teeth; but as soon as the subject was changed the feeling seemed +to die away. It was only old memories that had been awakened, for no +slavers had passed through their country for some time past, though +rumours of an attack on a not very distant tribe had recently reached +and greatly alarmed them. + +Thus they passed the afternoon, and when the cool of the evening drew on +a dance was proposed, seconded, and carried unanimously. + +They were about to begin when a man was seen running down the path +leading to the village at a speed which proved him to be the bearer of +tidings. In a few minutes he burst into the midst of them with glaring +eyeballs and labouring chest--for he had run fast, though not far, and +told his news in rapid short sentences--to the effect that a band of +slavers, led by Portuguese, were on their way to the valley, within a +mile or so of it, even while he spoke; that he thought the leader was +Marizano; and that they were _armed with the loud-sounding guns_! + +The consternation consequent on this news was universal, and there was +good ground for it, because Marizano was a well-known monster of +cruelty, and his guns had rendered him invincible hitherto, wherever he +went, the native spear and bow being utterly useless in the hands of men +who, however courageous, were shot down before they could come within +arrow-range of their enemies. + +It is the custom of the slave-dealers, on going into the interior for +the purpose of procuring slaves, to offer to buy them from such tribes +as are disposed to sell. This most of the tribes are willing to do. +Fathers do not indeed, sell their own children, or husbands their wives, +from preference, but chiefs and head-men are by no means loath to get +rid of their criminals in this way--their bad stock, as it were, of +black ivory. They also sell orphans and other defenceless ones of their +tribes, the usual rate of charge being about two or three yards of +calico for a man, woman, or child. + +But the Arab slave-dealer sometimes finds it difficult to procure enough +of "cattle" in this way to make up a band sufficiently large to start +with for the coast because he is certain to lose four out of every five, +at the _lowest estimate_, on his journey down. The drove, therefore, +must be large. In order to provide it he sends out parties to buy where +they can, and to steal when they have the chance. Meanwhile he takes up +his quarters near some tribe, and sets about deliberately to produce +war. He rubs up old sores, foments existing quarrels, lends guns and +ammunition, suggests causes of dispute, and finally gets two tribes to +fight. Of course many are slaughtered, fearful barbarities and excesses +are committed, fields are laid waste and villages are burnt, but this is +a matter of no consequence to our Arab. Prisoners are sure to be taken, +and he buys the prisoners; for the rest,--there are plenty of natives in +Africa! + +When all else fails, not being very particular, he sends off a party +under some thorough-going scoundrel, well-armed, and with instructions +to attack and capture wherever they go. + +No wonder, then, that the rumoured approach of Marizano and his men +caused the utmost alarm in Kambira's village, and that the women and +children were ordered to fly to the bush without delay. This they +required no second bidding to do, but, oh! it was a sad sight to see +them do it. The younger women ran actively, carrying the infants and +leading the smaller children by the hands, and soon disappeared; but it +was otherwise with the old people. These, men and women, bowed with +age, and tottering as much from terror as decrepitude, hobbled along, +panting as they went, and stumbling over every trifling obstruction in +their path, being sometimes obliged to stop and rest, though death might +be the consequence; and among these there were a few stray little +creatures barely able to toddle, who had probably been forgotten or +forsaken by their mothers in the panic, yet were of sufficient age to be +aware, in their own feeble way, that danger of some sort was behind +them, and that safety lay before. By degrees all--young and old, strong +and feeble--gained the shelter of the bush, and Kambira was left with a +handful of resolute warriors to check the invaders and defend his home. + +Well was it at that time for Kambira and his men that the approaching +band was _not_ Marizano and his robbers. + +When the head of the supposed enemy's column appeared on the brow of the +adjacent hill, the Manganja chief fitted an arrow to his bow, and, +retiring behind a hut, as also did his followers, resolved that Marizano +should forfeit his life even though his own should be the penalty. Very +bitter were his thoughts, for his tribe had suffered from that villain +at a former period, and he longed to rid the land of him. + +As he thought thus he looked at his followers with an expression of +doubt for he knew too well that the Manganja were not a warlike tribe, +and feared that the few who remained with him might forsake him in the +hour of need. Indeed, much of his own well-known courage was to be +attributed to the fact, that his mother had belonged to a family more or +less nearly connected with the Ajawa, who are very warlike--too much so, +in truth, for it is they who, to a large extent are made use of by the +slave-dealers to carry on war with the neighbouring tribes. Kambira's +men, however, looked resolute, though very grave. + +While he was thus meditating vengeance, he observed that one of the +approaching band advanced alone without arms, and making signs of peace. +This surprised him a little, but dreading treachery, he kept under the +shelter of a hut until the stranger was close to the village; then, +observing that the party on the hill had laid down their arms and seated +themselves on the grass, he advanced, still, however, retaining his +weapons. + +The stranger was a little man, and appeared timid, but seeing that the +chief evidently meant no mischief, and knowing that the guns of his +friends had him within range, he drew near. + +"Where come you from?" demanded Kambira. + +To this Antonio--for it was he--replied that his party came from the +coast; that they wanted to pass through the land to see it, and to find +out what it produced and what its people had to sell; that it was led by +two Englishmen, who belonged to a nation that detested slavery--the same +nation that sent out Dr Livingstone, who, as everybody knew, had passed +through that land some years before. They were also, he said, +countrymen of the men of God who had come out to teach the Manganja the +Truth, who had helped them in their troubles, delivered them from the +slave-traders, and some of whom had died in their land. He added that +there were Manganja men and women in their company. + +The "men of God" to whom Antonio referred, and to whom he had been +expressly told by Harold Seadrift to refer, were those devoted +missionaries mentioned in a previous chapter, who, under the leadership +of the amiable and true-hearted Bishop Mackenzie, established a mission +among these very Manganja hills in the year 1861. By a rare combination +of Christian love and manly courage under very peculiar circumstances, +they acquired extraordinary power and influence over the natives in the +space of a few months, and laid the foundation of what might have been-- +perhaps may yet be--true Christianity in Central Africa. But the +country was unhappily involved at the time in one of the wars created by +the Portuguese and Arab slave-traders. The region was almost +depopulated by man-stealers, and by the famine that resulted from the +culture of the land having been neglected during the panic. The good +bishop and several of his devoted band sank under the combined effects +of climate and anxiety, and died there, while the enfeebled remnant were +compelled, sorrowfully, to quit the field, to the deep regret of the +surviving Manganja. [_The Story of the Universities' Mission to Central +Africa_, by the Reverend Henry Rowley.--We can heartily recommend this +to the young--ay, and to the old--as being, next to the Adventures of +Williams in the South Seas, one of the most interesting records of +missionary enterprise that we ever read.] + +When, therefore, Antonio mentioned Bishop Mackenzie and Dr Livingstone, +a gleam of intelligent interest lit up Kambira's swarthy countenance, +and he was about to speak, but suddenly checked himself, and a stern +frown chased the gleam away. + +"The Manganja," he said, after a few moments' silence, during which poor +Antonio eyed him with some distrust, "know well that these men of God +were not of the same country as the Arab and the Portuguese; that they +hated slavery and loved the Manganja, and that the graves of some of +them are with us now; but we know also that some white men are great +liars. How am I to make sure that your leaders are English? Why did +you not bring down the Manganja men and women you say are with you?" + +"The women were footsore, and fell behind with their men," answered +Antonio, "and we thought it best not to wait for them." + +"Go," rejoined Kambira, waving his hand; "if you be true men let the +Englishmen come to me, and also the Manganja, _without guns_, then I +will believe you.--Go." + +The peremptory manner in which this was said left no room for reply. +Antonio therefore returned to his friends, and the chief to his cover. + +On consultation and consideration it was agreed that Kambira's advice +should be acted on, "For," said Disco, removing the pipe with which he +had been solacing himself during Antonio's absence, "we can plant our +fellers on the knoll here with a blunderbuss each, and arrange a signal +so that, if there should be anything like foul play, we'd have nothin' +to do but hold aloft a kercher or suthin o' that sort, an' they'd pour a +broadside into 'em afore they could wink--d'ee see?" + +"Not quite clearly," replied Harold, smiling, "because some of our +fellows can't take an aim at all, much less a good one, so they'd be as +likely to shoot us as them." + +Disco pondered this a little, and shook his head, then shook the ashes +out of his pipe, and said that on the whole he was willing to risk it-- +that they "could not expect to travel through Afriky without risking +summat." + +As Chimbolo with his wife and the rest of the party came up at that +moment the case was put before him. He at once advised compliance with +Kambira's request saying that the presence of himself and his friends +would be quite sufficient to put the chief's mind at rest. + +In a few minutes the plan was carried out and Kambira satisfied of the +good faith of his visitors. Nevertheless he did not at once throw open +his arms to them. He stood upon his dignity; asked them a good many +questions, and answered a good many more, addressing himself always to +Antonio as the spokesman, it being a point of etiquette not to address +the principal of the party. Then, presents were exchanged, in the +management of which a considerable time was spent. One of the warriors +having in the meantime been despatched to recall the fugitives, these +began to pour out of the woods, the frail old people and forsaken +toddlers being the last to return, as they had been the last to fly. + +After this, fires were kindled, fowls were chased, caught, slain, +plucked, roasted, and boiled; hippopotamus-flesh was produced, the +strangers were invited to make themselves at home, which they very soon +did. Beer and bang were introduced; the celebrated fiddler was +reinstated, the dance, which had been so long delayed, was at last +fairly begun, and, as if to make the picture perfect and felicity +complete, the moon came out from behind a thick cloud, and clothed the +valley with a flood of silver light. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +REVEALS DISCO'S OPINIONS ABOUT SAVAGES, AND THE SAVAGES' OPINIONS OF +DISCO, AND OTHER WEIGHTY MATTERS. + +As two or three of Harold's people were not very well just at that time, +he resolved to remain at Kambira's village for a few days to give them +rest, and afterwards to push on to the country of his friend Chimbolo. + +This arrangement he came to the more readily that he was short of +provisions, and Kambira told him that a particular part of the country +near the shores of a lake not far distant abounded with game of all +sorts. + +To Disco Lillihammer he explained his plans next day, while that worthy, +seated under the shade of a banyan-tree, was busily engaged with what he +styled his "mornin' dooties"--namely, the filling and smoking of his +cutty-pipe. + +"You see, Disco," he said, "it won't do to knock up the men with +continuous travel, therefore I shall give them a spell of rest here. +Kambira tells me that there is plenty of game, large and small, to be +had not far off, so that we shall be able to replenish our stock of meat +and perchance give the niggers a feast such as they have not been +accustomed to of late, for it is not too much to expect that our rifles +will do more execution, at all events among lions and elephants, than +native spears. Besides, I wish to see something of the people, who, +being what we may call pure out-and-out savages--" + +"Savages!" interrupted Disco, removing his pipe, and pointing with the +stem of it to the village on an eminence at the outskirts of which they +were seated; "d'ee call them folk savages?" + +Harold looked at the scene before him, and paused for a few moments; and +well he might, for not fifty yards off the blacksmith was plying his +work energetically, while a lad sat literally _between_ a pair of native +bellows, one of which he blew with his left hand, the other with his +right and, beyond these, groups of men and women wrought at their +primitive looms or tilled their vegetable gardens and patches of land. + +"Savages!" repeated Disco, still pointing to the village with the stem +of his pipe, and gazing earnestly at his companion, "humph!" + +It is probable that Disco might have said more, but he was an accurate +judge of the precise moment when a pipe is about to go out, and delay +will prove fatal. He therefore applied himself diligently to suck and +cherish the dying spark. Having revived its powers to such an extent +that clouds enveloped his visage, and his nose, being red, loomed +luridly through them, he removed the pipe, and again said, "Humph! They +ain't a bit more savages, sir, than you or me is." + +"Perhaps not," replied Harold. "To say truth, it would be difficult to +point out any peculiarity that justifies the name, except the fact that +they wear very little clothing, and neither go to school nor church." + +"They wears no clothin'," rejoined Disco, "'cause they don't need for to +do so; an' they don't go to church or school, 'cause they hain't got +none to go to--that same bein' not the fault o' the niggers, but o' them +as knows better." + +"There's truth in what you say, Disco," returned Harold, with a smile, +"but come, you must admit that there is something savage in the custom +they have of wearing these hideous lip-rings." + +The custom to which he referred is one which prevails among several of +the tribes of Africa, and is indeed so utterly hideous and outrageous +that we should be justified in refusing to believe it, were we not +assured of the fact by Dr Livingstone and other missionaries and +travellers of unquestionable integrity. The ring is worn in the upper +lip, not hanging from it but fitted into a hole in it in such a manner +as to thrust the lip straight and far out from the face. As the ring is +about the size of an ordinary napkin-ring, it may be easily believed, +that time is required for the formation of the deformity. At an early +age the middle of the upper lip of a girl is pierced close to the nose, +and a small pin introduced to prevent the hole closing up. After it is +healed the pin is taken out and a larger one forced into its place, and +so for weeks, months, and years the process of increasing the size of +the lip goes on, until a ring of two inches in diameter can be +introduced. Nearly all the women in these parts use this ring, or, as +it is called, pelele. Some make them of bamboo, others of ivory or tin. +When a wearer of the pelele smiles, the action of the cheek muscles +draws the lip tight which has the effect of raising the ring towards the +eyebrows, so that the nose is seen in the middle of it, and the teeth +are exposed, a revelation which shows that the latter have been chipped +to sharp points so as to resemble the teeth of a cat or crocodile. + +"No doubt," said Disco, in reply to Harold's remark, "the lip-rings are +uncommon ugly, but the principle o' the thing, sir, that's w'ere it is, +the principle ain't no wuss than ear-rings. The savages, as we calls +'em, bores holes in their lips an' sticks rings into 'em. The civilised +folk, as we calls ourselves, bores holes in their ears an' sticks rings +into 'em. W'ere's the difference? that's wot _I_ want to know." + +"There's not much difference in principle," said Harold, laughing, "but +there is a great difference in appearance. Ear-rings hang gracefully; +lip-rings stick out horribly." + +"H'm! it appears to me that that's a matter o' taste, now. Howsoever, I +do admit that lip-rings is wuss than ear-rings; moreover it must make +kissin' somewhat difficult, not to say onpleasant, but, as I said +before, so I says again, It's all in the principle w'ere it lies. W'y, +look here, sir,--savages, as we call 'em, wear brass rings round their +necks, our women wear gold and brass chains. The savages wear anklets, +we wear bracelets. They have no end o' rings on their toes, we have 'em +on our fingers. Some savages shave their heads, some of us shaves our +faces. Their women are raither given to clothin' which is too short and +too narrer, ours come out in toggery far too wide, and so long +sometimes, that a feller daren't come within a fathom of 'em astarn +without runnin' the risk o' trampin' on, an' carrying away some o' the +canvas. The savage women frizzes out their hair into most fantastical +shapes, till the very monkeys has to hold their sides sittin' in the +trees larfin' at 'em--and wot do _we_ do in regard to that? W'y, some +of _our_ women puts on a mixture o' hairy pads, an' combs, an' pins, an' +ribbons, an' flowers, in a bundle about twice the size o' their heads, +all jumbled together in such a way as to defy description; an' if the +monkeys was to see _them_, they'd go off into such fits that they'd +bu'st altogether an' the race would become extinct in Afriky. No, sir; +it's my opinion that there ain't no such thing as savages--or, if you +choose to put it the tother way, we're all savages together." + +Disco uttered the last part of his speech with intense energy, winding +it up with the usual slap on the thigh, delivered with unusual fervour, +and then, becoming aware that the vital spark of the cutty had all but +fled, he applied himself to its resuscitation, in which occupation he +found relief to his feelings, and himself formed a brilliant +illustration of his remarks on savage customs. + +Harold admitted that there was much truth in what he said, but rather +inclined to the opinion that of the two sets of savages the uncivilised +were, if anything, the wildest. Disco however, contrary to his usual +habits, had nailed his colours to the mast on that point and could not +haul them down. Meanwhile Harold's opinion was to some extent justified +by the appearance of a young man, who, issuing from the jungle close at +hand, advanced towards them. + +Most of the men at the village displayed a good deal of pride, if not +taste, in the arrangement of their hair. Some wore it long and twisted +into a coil which hung down their backs; others trained and stiffened it +in such a way that it took the form of buffalo horns, while some allowed +it to hang over the shoulders in large masses, and many shaved it either +entirely, or partially in definite patterns. But the young dandy who +now approached outdid all others, for he had twisted his hair into +innumerable little tails, which, being stiffened by fillets of the inner +bark of a tree, stuck straight out and radiated from the head in all +directions. His costume otherwise was simple enough, consisting merely +of a small kilt of white calico. He was accompanied by Antonio. + +"We've be come from Kambira," said the interpreter, "to tell you for +come to feast." + +"All right," said Disco, rising; "always ready for wittles if you only +gives us an hour or two between times.--I say, Tony," (he had by that +time reduced the interpreter's name to this extent), "ask this feller +what he means by makin' sitch a guy of hisself." + +"Hims say it look well," said Antonio, with a broad grin. + +"Looks well--eh? and ask him why the women wear that abominable pelele." + +When this question was put to the black dandy, he looked at Disco +evidently in surprise at his stupidity. "Because it is the fashion," he +said. + +"They wear it for beauty, to be sure! Men have beards and whiskers; +women have none, and what kind of creature would woman be without +whiskers, and without a pelele? She would have a mouth like a man, and +no beard!" + +The bare idea of such a state of things tickled the dandy so much that +he went into roars of laughter, insomuch that all the radiating tails of +his head quivered again. The effect of laughter and tails together was +irresistible. Harold, Disco, and Antonio laughed in sympathy, till the +tears ran down their cheeks, and then returned to the village where +Kambira and his chief men awaited them. + +While enjoying the feast prepared for them, Harold communicated his +intentions and desires to the chief, who was delighted at the prospect +of having such powerful allies on a hunting expedition. + +The playful Obo meanwhile was clambering over his father's person like a +black monkey. He appeared to be particularly fond of his father, and as +love begets love, it is not surprising that Kambira was excessively fond +of Obo. But Obo, becoming obstreperous, received an amicable punch from +his father, which sent him headlong into a basket of boiled +hippopotamus. He gave a wild howl of alarm as Disco snatched him out of +the dish, dripping with fat, and set him on his knee. + +"There, there, don't blubber," said the seaman, tenderly wiping off the +fat while the natives, including Kambira, exploded with laughter. "You +ain't burnt, are you?" + +As Obo could not reply, Disco put his finger into the gravy from which +the urchin had been rescued, and satisfied himself that it was not hot +enough to have done the child injury. This was also rendered apparent +by his suddenly ceasing to cry, struggling off Disco's knee, and +renewing his assaults on his easy-going father. + +Accepting an egg which was offered him by Yohama, Harold broke it, and +entered into conversation with Kambira through the medium of Antonio. + +"Is your boy's mother a--Hollo! there's a chick in this egg," he +exclaimed, throwing the offensive morsel into the fire. + +Jumbo, who sat near the place where it fell, snatched it up, grinned, +and putting it into his cavernous mouth, swallowed it. + +"Dem's betterer wid chickies," he said, resuming his gravity and his +knife and fingers,--forks being held by him in light esteem. + +"Ask him, Antonio, if Obo's mother is alive," said Harold, trying +another egg, which proved to be in better condition. + +The interpreter, instead of putting the question without comment, as was +his wont, shook his head, looked mysterious, and whispered--"No better +ask dat. Hims lost him's wife. The slave-hunters cotch her some time +ago, and carry her off when hims away hunting. Hims awful mad, worser +dan mad elerphint when hims speak to 'bout her." + +Harold of course dropped the subject at once, after remarking that he +supposed Yohama was the child's grandmother. + +"Yis," said Antonio; "she be Kambira's moder, an' Obo's gran'moder--bof +at once." + +This fact was, we may almost say, self-evident for Obo's attentions and +favours were distributed exclusively between Yohama and Kambira, though +the latter had unquestionably the larger share. + +During the course of the feast, beer was served round by the little man +who had performed so deftly on the violin the previous evening. + +"Drink," said Kambira hospitably; "I am glad to see my white brothers +here; drink, it will warm your hearts." + +"Ay, an' it won't make us drunk," said Disco, destroying Jumbo's peace +of mind by winking and making a face at him as he raised the calabash to +his lips. "Here's long life to you, Kambira, an' death to slavery." + +There can be no doubt that the chief and his retainers would have +heartily applauded that sentiment if they had understood it, but at the +moment Antonio was too deeply engaged with another calabash to take the +trouble to translate it. + +The beer, which was pink, and as thick as gruel, was indeed too weak to +produce intoxication unless taken in very large quantities; nevertheless +many of the men were so fond of it that they sometimes succeeded in +taking enough to bring them to the condition which we style "fuddled." +But at that time the particular brew was nearly exhausted, so that +temperance was happily the order of the day. + +Having no hops in those regions, they are unable to prevent +fermentation, and are therefore obliged to drink up a whole brewing as +quickly as possible after it is made. + +"Man, why don't ye wash yer face?" said Disco to the little fiddler as +he replenished his calabash; "it's awful dirty." + +Jumbo laughed, of course, and the small musician, not understanding what +was said, followed suit out of sympathy. + +"Wash him's face!" cried Antonio, laughing, "him would as soon cut off +him's head. Manganja nevair wash. Ah me! You laugh if you hear de +womans ask me yesterday--`Why you wash?' dey say, `our men nevair do.' +Ho! ho! dey looks like it too." + +"I'm sure that cannot be said of Kambira or any of his chief men," said +Harold. + +"Perhaps not," retorted Antonio, "but some of 'um nevair wash. Once +'pon a time one man of dis tribe foller a party me was with. Not go way +for all we tell 'um. We said we shoot 'um. No matter, hims foller +still. At last we say, `You scoun'rel, we _wash_ you!' Ho! how hims +run! Jist like zebra wid lion at 'um's tail. Nevair see 'um after +dat--nevair more!" + +"Wot a most monstrous ugly feller that is sittin' opposite Kambira, on +the other side o' the fire--the feller with the half-shaved head," said +Disco in an undertone to Harold during a temporary pause in eating. + +"A well-made man, however," replied Harold.--"I say, Disco," he added, +with a peculiar smile, "you think yourself rather a good-looking fellow, +don't you, now?" + +The worthy seaman, who was indeed an exceptionally good-looking tar, +modestly replied--"Well now, as you have put it so plump I don't mind if +I do confess that I've had some wild suspicions o' that sort now and +then." + +"Then you may dismiss your suspicions now, for I can assure you that you +are regarded in this land as a very monster of ugliness," said Harold, +laughing. + +"In the estimation of niggers your garments are hideous; your legs they +think elephantine, your red beard frightful, and your blue eyes +savage--_savage_! think of that." + +"Well, well," retorted Disco, "your own eyes are as blue as mine, an' I +don't suppose the niggers think more of a yaller beard than a red one." + +"Too true, Disco; we are both ill-favoured fellows here, whatever we may +be elsewhere; however, as we don't intend to take Manganja wives it +won't matter much. But what think you of our plan, now that Kambira is +ready to fall in with it?" + +"It seems a good one. When do we start?" + +"To-morrow," said Harold. + +"Wery good," replied Disco, "I'm agreeable." + +The morrow came, and with the early light all the people turned out to +witness the departure of the hunters. Scouts had been previously sent +out in all directions to make sure that no enemies or slave-traders were +at that time in their immediate neighbourhood, and a strong force of the +best warriors was left to guard the village. + +Of Harold's band, two half-castes, Jose and Oliveira, volunteered to +stay in camp with the guard, and two, Songolo and Mabruki, the freemen +of Quillimane, remained in the village to recruit their health, which +had failed. Chimbolo likewise remained, the wounds on his back not +having healed sufficiently to admit of the hard labour of hunting. All +the rest accompanied the hunters, and of these the three Makololo men, +Jumbo, Zombo, and Masiko, were incomparably the best and bravest. Of +course the volatile Antonio also went, being indispensable. + +On setting out--each man with his sleeping-mat on his back and his +little wooden pillow hung at his neck,--there was a great deal of +shouting and ho-ho-ing and well-wishing on the part of those who +remained behind, but above all the noise there arose a shrill cry of +intense and agonising despair. This proceeded from the small windpipe +of little Obo, who had not until the last moment made the appalling +discovery that Kambira was going away without him! + +There was something very touching in the cry of the urchin, and +something which brought vividly to the minds of the Englishmen the +infantine community of their own land. There was the same sudden gaze +of horror on realising the true position of affairs,--the same sharp +shriek and frantic struggle to escape from the grasp of those who held +him back from following his father,--the same loud cry of agony on +finding that his efforts were vain, and then, the wide-open mouth, the +close-shut eyes, and the awful, prolonged silence--suggestive of fits-- +that betokens the concentration of mind, heart, and lungs into that +tremendous roar of unutterable significance which appears to be the +safety-valve of the human family, black and white, at that tender period +of life. + +Poor Obo! his sobs continued to burst out with steam-engine power, and +his eyes to pour cataracts of tears into Yohama's sympathetic bosom, +long after the hunting party had left the hills behind them, and +advanced into the almost impenetrable jungles of the low grounds. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +DESCRIBES A HUNTING EXPEDITION WHICH WAS BOTH EXCITING AND SUCCESSFUL. + +Down by the reedy margin of a pretty large lake--where wild-fowl +innumerable made the air vocal with their cries by day, and frogs, in +numbers inconceivable, chirped and croaked a lullaby to men who slept, +and a symphony to beasts that howled and growled and prowled at night in +bush and brake--Kambira pitched his camp. + +He did not indeed, select the moist level of the fever-breeding marshes, +but he chose for his temporary habitation the dry summit of a wooded +hill which overlooked the lake. + +Here the natives of the neighbourhood said that elephants had been +lately seen, and buffaloes, zebras, etcetera, were at all times +numerous. + +After two long days' march they had reached the spot, and encamped late +in the evening. Next morning early the business of the expedition +began. Various parties of natives, armed with bows and arrows and +spears, were sent out in different directions, but the principal band +was composed of Kambira and his chief men, with Harold and his party. + +They did not go far before game was found. Guinea-fowl were numerous, +and those who were aimed with bows soon procured a goodly supply of +these, but our travellers did not waste their energies or powder on such +small game. Besides these, monkeys peeped inquisitively at the hunters +from among the trees, and myriads of turtle-doves were seen in the +covers. As they advanced, wild pigs, elands, waterbucks, koodoos, and +other creatures, were seen in herds, and the natives dropped off, or +turned aside in pursuit of these, so that ere long the band remaining +with Kambira was reduced to about forty men. + +Coming to a small river in which were a number of deep pools and +shallows, they saw several hippopotami lying asleep, their bodies nearly +all out of the water, appearing like masses of black rock in the stream. +But at the same place they discovered fresh traces of elephants and +buffaloes, therefore the hippopotami were left unmolested, save that +Harold sent a bullet amongst them, partly to let the natives hear the +report of his gun, and partly to see how the animals would take it. + +They all started to their feet at once, and stared around them with +looks of stolid surprise that were almost equal to the looks of the +natives, to whom fire-arms were little known, except by report. Another +shot sent the whole herd with a heavy plunge into deep water. + +"It's a queer country," observed Disco when they had resumed their +march. "Just look at them there lizards with red and blue tails running +about among the rocks an' eatin' up the white ants like one o'clock." + +Disco might have said like twelve o'clock, if numbers would have added +to the force of his remark, for the little creatures referred to were +miraculously active in pursuit of their food. + +"But I s'pose," continued Disco, "the niggers would think our country a +queerer place than this." + +"Undoubtedly they would," replied Harold; "just fancy what would be the +feelings of Kambira if he were suddenly transported into the heart of +London." + +"Hallo!" exclaimed Disco, stopping suddenly and pointing to one of the +men in advance, who had crouched and made signals to his friends to +halt, "breakers ahead--eh?" + +"More likely buffaloes," whispered Harold, as he cocked his rifle and +advanced quickly with Kambira, who carried a short spear or javelin. + +On reaching an opening in the bushes, a small herd of zebras was +observed not much more than a hundred yards in advance. + +"Will the white man's gun kill so far?" asked the chief, turning to +Antonio. + +The interpreter made no reply, but pointed to Harold, who was in the act +of taking aim. The loud report was followed by the fall of the nearest +zebra. Disco also fired and wounded another, which bounded away in wild +alarm with its fellows. + +The natives yelled with delight, and Disco cheered in sympathy. + +"You've hit him," said Harold, as he reloaded. + +"Ay, but I han't disabled him. Better luck next time. I think I took +him somewhere on the port bow." + +"If by that you mean the left shoulder," returned Harold, with a laugh, +"it's likely he won't run far. What does Kambira think of the white +man's gun?" he added, turning round. + +The tall chief nodded approvingly, and said, with a grave +countenance--"Good, good; it is good--better than this," shaking his +short spear. + +At that moment a small antelope, which had been startled and put to +flight by some of the other bands of hunters, came crashing wildly +towards them, ignorant of the enemy in its front until within about +thirty yards. It turned at a sharp angle and plunged into the jungle, +but the spear which Kambira had shaken whizzed though the air and +pierced its heart before it had time to disappear. + +"A splendid heave!" cried Disco, with enthusiasm; "why, man alive, you'd +make yer fortin' as a harpooner if ye was to go to the whale-fishin'.-- +Hallo! there's somethin' else; w'y, the place is swarmin'. It's for all +the world like a zoological ga'rdings let loose." + +As he spoke, the hoofs of a herd of ponderous animals were heard, but +the rank grass and underwood concealed them entirely from view. The +whole party rushed to the nearest opening, and were just in time to see +the tail of an irate buffalo make a magnificent flourish in the air as +its owner plunged into cover. + +There was no further attempt at conversation after this. The near +presence of large game was too exciting, so that merely a word of +advice, direction, or inquiry, passed as the party advanced rapidly--one +or two of the most active going before as pioneers. + +While Disco was striding along with flashing eyes, rifle ready, and head +turning from side to side in momentary expectation of something bounding +suddenly out of somewhere, he chanced to cast his eyes upwards, and, to +his horror, beheld two huge serpents coiled together among the branches +of a tree close to his head. + +Uttering a yell of alarm--for he entertained an almost superstitious +dread of serpents--he fired blindly upwards, and dashed to one side so +violently that he tumbled himself and Harold into a bush of wait-a-bit +thorns, out of which the laughing natives found it difficult to extract +them. + +"What _is_ the matter, man?" said Harold somewhat testily. + +"Have a care! look! Avast! A bite'll be death, an' no mistake!" cried +Disco, pointing to the reptiles. + +Harold fired at once and brought them both down, and the natives, +attacking them with sticks, soon killed them. + +"No fear," said Antonio, with a chuckle. "Dem not harm nobody, though +ums ugly an' big enough." + +This was true. They were a couple of pythons, and the larger of the +two, a female, was ten feet long; but the python is a harmless creature. + +While they were talking, smoke was observed to rise from an isolated +clump of long grass and bushes not far from the banks of the river, much +to the annoyance of Kambira, who feared that the fire might spread and +scare away the game. It was confined, however, to the place where it +began, but it had the effect of driving out a solitary buffalo that had +taken refuge in the cover. Jumbo chanced to be most directly in front +of the infuriated animal when it burst out, and to him exclusively it +directed its attentions. + +Never since Jumbo was the size of Obo had that laughter-loving savage +used his lithe legs with greater energy than on this occasion. An +ostrich might have envied him as he rushed towards the river, into which +he sprang headlong when the buffalo was barely six feet behind him. + +Of course Harold fired, as well as Disco, and both shots told, as also a +spear from Kambira, nevertheless the animal turned abruptly on seeing +Jumbo disappear, and charged furiously up the bank, scattering its +enemies right and left. Harold fired again at little more than fifty +yards off, and heard the bullet thud as it went in just behind the +shoulder, yet strange to say, it seemed to have no other effect than to +rouse the brute to greater wrath, and two more bullets failed to bring +him down. + +This toughness of the buffalo is by no means uncommon, but different +animals vary much in their tenacity of life. Some fall at once to the +first well-directed shot; others die hard. The animal the hunters were +now in pursuit of, or rather which was in pursuit of the hunters, seemed +to be of the latter class. Harold fired another shot from behind a +tree, having loaded with a shell-bullet, which exploded on hitting the +creature's ribs. It fell, much to the satisfaction of Disco, of whom it +happened to be in pursuit at the time. The seaman at once stopped and +began to reload, and the natives came running forward, when Antonio, who +had climbed a tree to be out of harm's way, slipped down and ran with +great bravery up to the prostrate animal. + +Just as he reached it the buffalo sprang up with the activity of a cat, +and charged him. Antonio turned and ran with such rapidity that his +little legs became almost invisible, like those of a sparrow in a hurry. +He gained a tree, and had just time to climb into it when the buffalo +struck it like a battering-ram, hard enough almost to have split both +head and tree. It paused a few seconds, drew back several paces, glared +savagely at Antonio, and then charged again and again, as if resolved +either to shake him out of the tree, or give itself a splitting +headache, but another shell from Harold, who could hardly take aim for +laughing, stretched the huge animal dead upon the ground. Altogether, +it took two shells and five large solid rifle-balls to finish him. + +"That wos a pretty good spurt," said Disco, panting, as he joined Harold +beside the fallen beast. "It's well-known that a starn chase is a long +'un, but this would have been an exception to the rule if you hadn't +shot him, sir. He pretty nigh made short work o' _me_. He was a'most +aboard of me w'en you fired." + +"True," said Harold; "and had that tree not grown where it stands, and +grown tough, too, I suspect he would have made short work of Antonio +too." + +"Bah!" said the interpreter, with affected carelessness, "him was but a +slow brute, after all." + +Disco looked at Jumbo, who was none the worse of his ducking, and shut +his right eye smartly. Jumbo opened his cavernous mouth, and exploded +so violently that his double row of brilliant teeth must have been blown +out and scattered on the ground, had they not been miraculously strong. + +"Come, now," said Kambira, who had just given orders to some of his +followers to remain behind and look after the carcase, "we go to find +elephants." + +"Have we much chance of findin' them?" inquired Disco. + +Kambira thought they had, because fresh traces had been recently seen in +the neighbourhood, whereupon Disco said that he would prefer to go after +lions, but Kambira assured him that these animals were not so easy to +find, and much more dangerous when attacked. Admitting the force of +this, though still asserting his preference of lions to elephants, the +bloodthirsty son of Neptune shouldered his rifle and followed his +leader. + +While the main party of hunters were thus successfully pushing along, +the other bands were not idle, though, possessing no fire-arms, they +were less noisy. In fact their proceedings were altogether of the +cat-catty. One fellow, as black as a coal, as lithe as an eel, and as +long--according to Disco's standard--as a fathom of pump-water, having +come upon a herd of buffalo unseen by them, and being armed with a small +bow and quiver of arrows, suddenly dropped on all-fours and began to +glide through the long grass. + +Now there is a particular little bird in those regions which calls for +special notice here. It is a very singular bird, inasmuch as it has +constituted itself the guardian of the buffalo. It frequently sits upon +that animal's back, and, whenever it sees the approach of man, or any +other danger, it flaps its wings and screams to such an extent, that the +buffalo rushes off without waiting to inquire or see what is the matter; +and the small guardian seems to think itself sufficiently rewarded with +the pickings it finds on the back of its fat friend. So vigilant is +this little creature, that it actually renders the approach of the +hunter a matter of great difficulty in circumstances when, but for it, +he might approach with ease. [See Livingstone's _Zambesi and its +Tributaries_, page 200.] + +Our wary native was, however, aware of this little fellow's +propensities, and took precautions to outwit the bird rather than the +beast. It may perhaps cause some surprise to be told that a small bow +and arrows were a sufficiently powerful species of artillery to bring to +bear against such noble game, but the surprise will vanish when we state +that the arrows were poisoned. + +Having crawled to within range, the fathom of black pump-water suddenly +arose and let fly an arrow. The missile went deep into the side of a +majestic bull. The little bird fluttered and screamed too late. The +bull at once dashed away at full speed, starting off the whole herd in +alarm. The black fathom followed at the top of his speed, and was +joined by a number of other black fathoms, who were quite aware of what +had been done. The buffaloes were soon out of sight, but the fathoms +followed the trail with the unerring pertinacity of fate. After a long +run they came up with the stricken bull, which had fallen behind its +fellows, and waited patiently until the poison took full effect. In a +short time the animal fell, and the successful hunters fell to work upon +his carcase with their knives. + +Leaving them thus employed, we will return to Kambira and his friends. + +They had not gone far when a fine water-buck was observed feeding beside +a creek. + +Kambira laid his hand on Harold's shoulder and pointed to it with a +smile, which might have been interpreted, "Now, then, there's a chance +for you!" + +Harold fired, and the water-buck dropped. + +"Good," said Kambira. + +"Hallo!" exclaimed Disco. + +And well he might, for at that moment an enormous crocodile, which had +evidently been watching the water-buck, seized and dragged it into the +water. It was not deep, however, and the wounded animal made a +desperate plunge, hauled the crocodile several yards, and tore itself +out of its hideous jaws. It then jumped into the stream and was +swimming across when another crocodile made a dash at it, but Harold +sent a ball into its ugly head, which appeared to make it change its +mind. It disappeared, and the water-buck turning, made for the bank +from which it had started. Just as it reached it the vital spark fled-- +the fine head dropped and the body turned over. + +It will be seen from what has been told, that on this occasion the +rifles did most of the work. The natives who followed Harold had +nothing to do but look on exultingly, glare, dance, show their teeth and +gums, and secure the game. We cannot perhaps, expect the good-natured +reader to follow us through all the details of that day's work; but it +would be unpardonable were we to close the chapter without referring to +the principal event of the day, which occurred a couple of hours after +the shooting of the water-buck. + +It happened thus:--When the hunters began to grow tired, and the +prospect of falling in with large game became less hopeful, the chief +determined to return to camp; but Disco felt so disappointed at not +having seen an elephant or a lion, that he expressed a wish to continue +the chase with a small select party. Harold laughed at the idea of the +seaman leading such a party, but offered no objection, although he did +not care to accompany his friend, having, as he said, had enough of it, +and being desirous of having a long chat with the chief in camp. + +"You see, sir," said Disco, patting the stock of his rifle with his +right hand, "we chance to have got, so to speak, into the heart of a +shoal o' big fish, an' there's no sayin' how soon they may take it into +their heads to up anchor, and make sail for other grounds. Therefore, +says I, blaze away at 'em while you've got the chance." + +"But you may have as good a chance to-morrow, or next day," suggested +Harold. + +"We ain't sure o' that sir. To-morrow, they say, never comes," returned +Disco. "It's my ambition to let fly a broadside at a lion or a elephant +so I means for to go on; an' wot I says is, Who wolunteers to sail in +company?" + +When the party were given to understand what "wolunteers" meant, the +three Makololo joined the tar with alacrity, also the Somali negroes +Nakoda and Conda, and about a dozen of the natives, armed with spears. +Disco's own men were armed with their guns. Antonio, being necessary to +Harold, returned to camp; but this was a matter of little importance, as +Jumbo and his fellow-countrymen knew enough of English to act as +interpreters. + +Every one who has had a few years' experience of life knows the truth of +the proverb which asserts that "fortune favours the brave." Its truth +was exemplified on the present occasion not more than an hour after the +little band of heroes had set out. + +Disco led the way, as a matter of course, holding, as he said, that no +nigger could possibly be equal to a white sailor in the matter of +steering, whether ashore or afloat. He steered by the sun, and directed +his course to nowhere in particular, being influenced chiefly by the +form of the ground and the appearance of the jungle. + +Jumbo grinned a good deal at the sententious gravity with which the +leader delivered his orders, and the self-important strides with which +he passed over the land. He would have grinned still more, perhaps have +laughed outright if he had understood that the occasional off-hand kicks +which Disco bestowed on a thick bush here and there, were given in the +hope that a lion might thereby be set up, as one dislodges a rabbit or a +hare! + +At last on reaching the crest of a mound which was comparatively free of +underwood, Disco beheld a sight which caused him to drop on his hands +and knees as though he had been shot. + +Not more than fifty yards off a herd of cow elephants and their calves +were seen feeding quietly on tall heavy-seeded grass in the plain below. + +"Avast!" said Disco, in a hoarse whisper, at the same time crouching +behind a bush, and making frantic signals to the rest of the party to +advance with extreme caution. + +"Wat 'um see?" inquired Jumbo in a low whisper, creeping up to his +excited leader. + +There was no need for a reply. A glance over the top of the bush +sufficed. + +"Be quiet as mice now, lads," said Disco, when all the members of his +party had crept around him, and become aware of the presence of +elephants. "Get your guns laid, and if any one of you dares to pull a +trigger till I give the word, I'll keel-haul him." + +This, or something distantly resembling it, having been explained to the +men who carried guns, they lay down and took aim. + +The noise made by the hunters attracted the attention of the nearest +elephant, and, with true motherly instinct she placed her young one +between her fore-legs for protection. + +"We fire right in de middel ob de lot?" inquired Zombo hastily. + +"Not at all," whispered Disco; "let every man point at the nearest one-- +the one that lays broadside on to us, wi' the little un under her bows. +Now--ready--present--fire!" + +Bang went the seven guns with a degree of precision that might have put +to shame any corps of volunteer riflemen in England; up went the trunks +and tails of the elephants, little and big, and away rushed the whole +herd in dire alarm. But the wounded animal suddenly stumbled and fell +on its knees, then leaped up and ran on heavily. + +Meanwhile Disco, who had discharged only one barrel of his heavy gun, +leaped over the bushes, and rushed forward at a pace which for a few +seconds enabled him to keep ahead even of the fleet natives. The +elephants, however, easily left them all behind, and it appeared as if +the affair were about to end in disappointment, when the wounded beast +again stumbled. + +"Hold on! halt!" cried Disco in a voice of thunder. + +He kneeled at the same time, took aim, and fired. + +Whether it was this last shot or the effects of previous loss of blood, +we cannot tell; but after receiving it, the ponderous animal rolled over +on its side, and died. + +To say that the natives became temporarily insane would give but a +feeble idea of what now took place, because few readers are likely to be +aware of the amazing power of the negro to give expression to the +vagaries of insanity. We shall therefore content ourselves by saying +that they cheered, laughed, howled, shouted, danced, and yelled--and +leave the rest to imagination. + +"Now, then, boys, avast howlin'. Clap a stopper on your bellows, will +'ee?" said Disco, in a boatswain's roar, that effectually quelled the +tumult. "Cut off to camp, every mother's son of you, an bring up +Kambira an' all the boys, with as many knives and dishes as ye can +muster, for this mountain of flesh ain't to be cut up in a hurry, an' +the sun won't be long o' goin' to bed. Away with 'ee! Let's see how +you can wag yer black legs, an' I'll keep watch over the carcase. If +anything comes to have a look at it--a lion, for instance,--so much the +worse for the lion!" + +It was in vain that Jumbo explained there was no necessity for sending +more than one of the party to the camp. Disco was a strict +disciplinarian, and, having given the order, enforced it in a manner +which admitted of no disobedience. They therefore departed, leaving the +seaman seated on the elephant, smoking his pipe with his gun beside him. + +But Jumbo did not go far. He soon turned aside from his companions, and +returned to the scene of the hunt, resolved if possible to give his +leader a fright. Gaining the skirts of the jungle which surrounded the +open space where Disco kept watch, he crept cautiously as near to him as +possible. + +Disco still sat smoking and eyeing the elephant with a smile of +satisfaction. Presently he rose,--retreated a few yards from the +carcase, and stood admiring it with his head on one side, as if it were +a picture and he a connoisseur. He had in this act approached somewhat +nearer to Jumbo, who saluted him with a most awful growl. + +No monkey in Africa could have dropped its pipe, had it been a smoker, +or sprung to seize its gun, had it been a sportsman, with greater +agility than did Disco Lillihammer on that trying occasion! Getting on +the other side of the dead elephant he faced round, cocked both barrels, +and prepared to receive whatever might come. + +Jumbo, lying very low behind a bank of earth for safety, gave another +low growl. Disco started and half raised his piece. Jumbo then threw a +large stone towards a neighbouring bush, which it struck and caused to +rustle. + +This was enough for Disco, who took a quick aim, and let fly the +contents of both barrels into the bush. + +Jumbo noiselessly but swiftly crept back into the woods, chuckling as he +went, leaving Disco to reload in wild haste. But his haste was uncalled +for. There was no more growling; no more rustling in the bushes. + +"I've done for him," muttered Disco, after waiting patiently at the +"ready" for some time. "But it won't do for me to ventur' up to it all +by myself. Pr'aps it's a lion, an' they do say that it's chancy work to +go near a wounded lion. To be sure the growl wasn't so loud as I'd have +expected o' the king o' the forest, but then they don't always growl +loud. Anyhow I'll keep a bright look-out an' wait till the niggers +return." + +Philosophising thus, the bold seaman mounted guard over the elephant. + +Meanwhile Jumbo, having got out of earshot of his friend, indulged in a +loud laugh and made after his friends, but, observing the visage of a +small yellow-coloured monkey among the leaves overhead, a thought +flashed into his mind and induced him to change his plans. + +Throwing his spear dexterously he transfixed the monkey and brought it +down. Returning with great caution to the bush into which Disco had +fired, and gliding with the noiseless motion of a snake the latter part +of the way, he placed the dead monkey on the ground and left it there. + +It was by that time too late to overtake his comrades. He therefore +waited until they returned, and then joined the party in rear, as though +he had followed them from the camp. + +The same wild exhibition of delight was about to be enacted when the +party came trooping up, but Disco quickly checked it by the astounding +announcement that he thought he had shot a lion, or somethin' o' that +sort! + +"You don't mean it!" said Harold, rather excited. + +"All I know is," said Disco, "that I heerd somethin' uncommon like a +lion growl twice in yonder bush, an' saw the bush move too, so I fired a +broadside that seemed to finish him at once, for there was no more +rustlin' after that." + +"An' no more growlin'?" asked Jumbo, with much simplicity of +countenance. + +"Not a growl, nor nothin' else," answered Disco. + +"Well, get your guns ready, lads," said Harold, "and stand by to fire +while we go and search the bush." + +So saying, Harold and Disco advanced together with their rifles ready, +while the natives, who were more or less alarmed, according to their +respective degrees of courage, scattered in a semicircle well in rear. +Kambira, armed with a spear, kept close to Harold, and Jumbo, with +unwonted bravery, walked alongside of Disco. Antonio, quietly retiring, +took refuge in a tree. + +"Yoo's _sure_ you hit um?" inquired Jumbo in a whisper. + +"Can't say I'm _sure_," replied Disco, "but we'll soon see." + +"Was um's growl very bad?" asked Jumbo. + +"Hold yer long tongue!" said Disco testily, for he was becoming excited. + +"Look! see dere!" exclaimed Jumbo in an energetic whisper. + +"What? where?" + +"Look! right troo de bush. Dis way. Dar, don' you zee um's skin,-- +t'other side? Fire!" + +"Why, eh!" exclaimed Disco, peering keenly through the leaves, "yellow +hair! yes--its--" + +Stopping abruptly he pointed his gun at the bush and poured the contents +of both barrels into it. Then, clubbing his weapon and brandishing it +in the air, he uttered a wild cry--went crashing through the bush, and +next moment stood aghast before the yellow monkey, whose little carcase +he had almost blown to atoms. + +We won't chronicle the roars of laughter, the yells of delight that +followed,--the immense amount of chaffing, the innumerable witticisms +and criticisms that ensued--no, no! regard for the gallant seaman +constrains us to draw a veil over the scene and leave it, as we have +left many things before, and shall leave many things yet to come, to the +reader's vivid imagination. + +Fortunately for Disco, the superior attractions of the dead elephant +soon drew off attention from this exploit. The natives proceeded to cut +up the huge mass of meat, and this was indeed an amazing spectacle. At +first the men stood round the carcase in dead silence, while Kambira +delivered a species of oration, in which he pointed out minutely the +particular parts of the animal which were to be apportioned to the +head-men of the different fires of which the camp was composed,--the +left hind-leg and the parts around the eyes being allotted to his +English visitors. These points settled, the order was given to "cut +up," and immediately the excitement which had been restrained burst +forth again with tenfold violence. The natives seemed to be quite +unable to restrain their feelings of delight, as they cut away at the +carcase with spears and knives. They screamed as well as danced with +glee. Some attacked the head, others the flanks, jumping over the +animal or standing on it the better to expedite their operations; some +ever and anon ran off screaming with masses of bloody meat, threw it on +the grass and went back for more, while others, after cutting the +carcase open, jumped inside and wallowed about in their eagerness to +reach and cut out the precious fat--all talking and shouting at the +utmost pitch of their voices. + +"Well, now," said Disco to Harold, with a grin of amusement, "the likes +o' that I never did see nowheres. Cuttin' up a Greenland whale is +nothin' to it." + +"Come, come," said Harold, checking his laughter and seizing an excited +negro by the shoulder, "no fighting allowed." + +This had reference to two who chanced to have taken a fancy for the same +mass of meat, and were quarrelling so violently over it that blows +seemed on the point of following, but having let off part of their +superabundant energy in words, they rushed back to expend the remainder +on their dead friend. + +Suddenly a sharp agonised yell was heard inside the carcase. Next +moment Zombo jumped out all bloody and furious, holding up his right +hand. While groping about inside, one of his too eager comrades outside +had laid about rather incautiously with his knife, drove it through the +meat and sliced Zombo's left hand. He was easily soothed, however; +Harold bound up the cut with a piece of rag, and Zombo went to work as +recklessly as ever. + +In a marvellously short time tons of meat were cut up and divided +amongst the band, and, before daylight had quite disappeared, the +hunters were on their way back to camp, while a troop of hyenas and +other carnivora were gorging themselves with the elephant's remains. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +THE ENCAMPMENT AND THE SUPPER--DISCUSSIONS, POLITICAL AND OTHERWISE-- +KAMBIRA RECEIVES A SHOCK, AND OUR WANDERERS ARE THROWN INTO PERPLEXITY. + +Turn we now to a more peaceful scene. The camp is almost quiet, the +stars are twinkling brightly overhead, the fires are glimmering fitfully +below. The natives, having taken the edge off their appetites, have +stretched their dusky forms on their sleeping-mats, and laid their +woolly heads on their little wooden pillows. The only persons moving +are Harold Seadrift and Disco Lillihammer--the first being busy making +notes in a small book, the second being equally busy in manufacturing +cloudlets from his unfailing pipe, gazing the while with much interest +at his note-making companion. + +"They was pretty vigorous w'en they wos at it, sir," said Disco, in +reference to supper, observing that his companion looked up from his +book, "but they wos sooner done than I had expected." + +"Yes, they weren't long about it," replied Harold, with an abstracted +air, as he resumed his writing. + +Lest the reader should erroneously imagine that supper is over, it is +necessary here to explain what taking the edge off a free African's +appetite means. + +On reaching camp after the cutting up of the elephant, as detailed in +the last chapter, the negroes had set to work to roast and boil with a +degree of vigour that would have surprised even the _chefs de cuisine_ +of the world's first-class hotels. Having gorged themselves to an +extent that civilised people might perhaps have thought dangerous, they +had then commenced an uproarious dance, accompanied by stentorian songs, +which soon reduced them to the condition of beings who needed repose. +Proceeding upon the principle of overcoming temptation by giving way to +it, they at once lay down and went to sleep. + +It was during this stage of the night's proceedings that Disco foolishly +imagined that supper had come to a close. Not many minutes after the +observation was made, and before the black cutty-pipe was smoked out, +first one and then another of the sleepers awoke, and, after a yawn or +two, got up to rouse the fires and put on the cooking-pots. In less +than a quarter of an hour the whole camp was astir, conversation was +rife, and the bubbling of pots that had not got time to cool, and the +hissing of roasts whose fat had not yet hardened, mingled with songs +whose echoes were still floating in the brains of the wild inhabitants +of the surrounding jungle. Roasting, boiling, and eating were +recommenced with as much energy as if the feast had only just begun. + +Kambira, having roused himself, gave orders to one of his men, who +brought one of the elephant's feet and set about the cooking of it at +Harold's fire. Kambira and Disco, with Antonio and Jumbo, sat round the +same fire. + +There was a hole in the ground close beside them which contained a small +fire; the embers of this were stirred up and replenished with fuel. +When the inside was thoroughly heated, the elephant's foot was placed in +it, and covered over with hot ashes and soil, and another fire kindled +above the whole. + +Harold, who regarded this proceeding with some surprise, said to +Kambira--through Antonio--"Who are you cooking that for?" + +"For my white guests," replied the chief. + +"But we have supped already," said Harold; "we have already eaten as +much as we can hold of the elephant's trunk and tongue, both of which +were excellent--why prepare more?" + +"This is not for to-night, but for to-morrow," returned Kambira, with a +smile. "The foot takes all night to cook." + +This was a sufficient explanation, and in truth the nature of the dish +required that it should be well done. When, on the morrow, they were +called to partake of it they found that it was, according to Disco's +estimation, "fust-rate!" It was a whitish mass, slightly gelatinous and +sweet, like marrow, and very palatable. Nevertheless, they learned from +experience that if the effect of bile were to be avoided, a long march +was necessary after a meal of elephant's foot! + +Meanwhile the proceedings of the natives were food enough for our +travellers for the time being. Like human creatures elsewhere, they +displayed great variety of taste. Some preferred boiled meat, others +roast; a few indulged in porridge made of mapira meal. The meal was +very good, but the porridge _was_ doubtful, owing to the cookery. It +would appear that in Africa, as in England, woman excels in the culinary +art. At all events, the mapira meal was better managed by them, than by +the men. On the present occasion the hunters tumbled in the meal by +handfuls in rapid succession as soon as the water was hot, until it +became too thick to be stirred about, then it was lifted off the fire, +and one man held the pot while another plied the porridge-stick with all +his might to prevent the solid mass from being burnt. Thus it was +prepared, and thus eaten, in enormous quantities. No wonder that +dancing and profuse perspiration were esteemed a necessary adjunct to +feeding! + +At the close of the second edition of supper, which went into four or +five editions before morning, some of the men at the fire next to that +of Kambira engaged in a debate so furious, that the curiosity of Disco +and Harold was excited, and they caused Antonio to translate much of +what was said. It is not possible to give a connected account of this +debate as translated by Antonio. To overcome the difficulty we shall +give the substance of it in what Disco styled Antonio's "lingo." + +There were about a dozen natives round the fire, but two of them +sustained the chief part in the debate. One of these was a large man +with a flat nose; the other was a small man with a large frizzy head. + +"Hold 'oos tongue," said Flatnose (so Antonio named him); "tongue too +long--far!" + +"Boh! 'oos brains too short," retorted Frizzyhead contemptuously. + +An immense amount of chattering by the others followed these pithy +remarks of the principals. + +The question in debate was, Whether the two toes of the ostrich +represented the thumb and forefinger in man, or the little and ring +fingers? But in a few minutes the subject changed gradually, and +somehow unaccountably, to questions of a political nature,--for, strange +to say, in savage Africa, as in civilised England, politics are keenly +discussed, doubtless at times with equal wisdom in the one land as in +the other. + +"What dat 'oo say?" inquired Flatnose, on hearing some muttered remarks +of Frizzyhead in reference to the misgovernment of chiefs. Of course +there, as here, present company was understood to be excepted. + +"Chiefs ob no use--no use at all!" said Frizzyhead so vehemently that +the men at several of the nearest fires ceased to talk, and began to +listen. + +"Ob no use?" cried Flatnose, with vehemence so superior that the +attention of the whole camp was arrested. + +"No!" replied Frizzyhead, still more energetically, "ob no use at all. +We could govern ourselves betterer, so what de use of 'um? The chief +'ums fat an' hab plenty wife, but we, who do all de hard work, hab +hunger, an' only one wife, prehaps none at all. Dis is bad, unjust, +wrong." + +There was a general shout of "eehee!" from all quarters, which was +equivalent to our "hear, hear." + +"'Oo know noting at all," retorted Flatnose, who was a loyal subject. +"Is not de chief de fader of de peepil? Can dere be peepil widout a +fader--eh? God made de chief--who says dat chief is not wise? He _is_ +wise, but um's child'n am big fools!" + +Kambira nodded his head and smiled at this, and there was a general +inclination on the part of most of the audience to applaud, for there, +as elsewhere, men have a tendency to be blown about by every wind of +doctrine. + +It was amusing to observe the earnestness and freedom with which men of +the lowest grade assaulted the opinions of their betters on this +occasion. Unable at other times, or in any other way, to bring +themselves into importance, they were glad of the opportunity to do so +with their tongues, and, like their civilised types, they assumed an air +of mock modesty. + +"Oh!" cried one of these, in reply to Flatnose, "we is littil infants; +we is still holdin' on to de boosums ob our moders; we not able to walk +alone; we knows notin' at all; but on _dis_ point, we knows that you old +men speak like de ignorint peepil. We nebber hear such nonsense-- +nebber!" + +No notice was taken of this, but Frizzyhead, whose passion was rising to +white heat in consequence of the glibness of his opponent's tongue, +cried out--"'Oo cannot prove wat 'ou says?" + +"Oh yes, can prove it well 'nuff," replied Flatnose, "but 'oos no' got +brain for onerstand." + +This last was too much for poor Frizzyhead, who leaped up, stuttered, +and cried--"Can 'oo outrun me, then?" + +"Ye--ye--yes!" gasped Flatnose, springing up. + +Away they went like two hunted springboks, and ran for a mile, then +turned and came back into camp streaming with perspiration, little +Frizzyhead far ahead of the big man, and rejoicing in the fact that he +could beat his opponent in a race, if not in an argument. Thus was +peace restored. Pity that civilised arguments cannot be terminated in +the same way! + +While these discussions were going on, Disco observed that hyenas were +occasionally to be seen prowling near the verge of the bushes around +them, as if anxious to join in the feast, which no doubt was the case. + +"Don't they do mischief sometimes?" he inquired of Antonio. + +"No; him a cowardly beast. Him come at mans when sleepin' or dyin', but +not at oder time. 'Oo like see me catch um?" + +"Why, yes, if 'ee can do it," answered Disco, with a slight look of +contempt at his friend, who bore too much resemblance in some points to +the hyena. + +"Come here, den." + +They went together into the jungle a little distance, and halted under +the branch of a large tree. To this Antonio suspended a lump of raw +flesh, at such a height from the ground that a hyena could only reach it +by leaping. Directly underneath it he planted a short spear in the +earth with its point upward. + +"Now, come back to fire," he said to Disco; "'ou soon hear sometin'." + +Antonio was right. In a short time afterwards a sharp yell was heard, +and, on running to the trap, they found a hyena in its death-agonies. +It had leaped at the meat, missed it, and had come down on the spear and +impaled itself. + +"Well, of all the fellers I ever know'd for dodges," said Disco, on +reseating himself at the fire, "the men in these latitudes are the +cleverest." + +By this time dancing was going on furiously; therefore, as it would have +been impossible to sleep, Disco refilled his pipe and amused himself by +contemplating the intelligent countenance of Kambira, who sat smoking +bang out of a huge native meerschaum on the other side of the fire. + +"I wonder," said Harold, who lay stretched on a sleeping-mat, leaning on +his right arm and gazing contemplatively at the glowing heart of the +fire; "I wonder what has become of Yoosoof?" + +"Was 'ee thinkin' that he deserved to be shoved in there?" asked Disco, +pointing to the fire. + +"Not exactly," replied Harold, laughing; "but I have frequently thought +of the scoundrel, and wondered where he is and what doing now. I have +sometimes thought too, about that girl Azinte, poor thing. She--" + +He paused abruptly and gazed at Kambira with great surprise, not unmixed +with alarm, for the chief had suddenly dropped his pipe and glared at +him in a manner that cannot be described. Disco observed the change +also, and was about to speak, when Kambira sprang over the fire and +seized Harold by the arm. + +There was something in the movement, however, which forbade the idea of +an attack, therefore he lay still. + +"What now, Kambira?" he said. + +"Antonio," cried the chief, in a voice that brought the interpreter to +his side in a twinkling; "what name did the white man speak just now?" + +"Azinte," said Harold, rising to a sitting posture. + +Kambira sat down, drew up his knees to his chin, and clasped his hands +round them. + +"Tell me all you know about Azinte," he said in a low, firm voice. + +It was evident that the chief was endeavouring to restrain some powerful +feeling, for his face, black though it was, indicated a distinct degree +of pallor, and his lips were firmly compressed together. Harold +therefore, much surprised as well as interested, related the little he +knew about the poor girl,--his meeting with her in Yoosoof's hut; +Disco's kindness to her, and her subsequent departure with the Arab. + +Kambira sat motionless until he had finished. + +"Do you know where she is gone?" he inquired. + +"No. I know not; but she was not in the boat with the other slaves when +we sailed, from which I think it likely that she remained upon the +coast.--But why do you ask, Kambira, why are you so anxious about her?" + +"She is my wife," muttered the chief between his teeth; and, as he said +so, a frown that was absolutely diabolical settled down on his features. + +For some minutes there was a dead silence, for both Harold and Disco +felt intuitively that to offer consolation or hope were out of the +question. + +Presently Kambira raised his head, and a smile chased the frown away as +he said--"You have been kind to Azinte, will you be kind to her +husband?" + +"We should be indeed unworthy the name of Englishmen if we said no to +that," replied Harold, glancing at Disco, who nodded approval. + +"Good. Will you take me with you to the shores of the great salt lake?" +said Kambira, in a low, pathetic tone, "will you make me your servant, +your slave?" + +"Most gladly will I take you with me as _a friend_," returned Harold. +"I need not ask why you wish to go," he added,--"you go to seek Azinte?" + +"Yes," cried the chief, springing up wildly and drawing himself up to +his full height, "I go to seek Azinte. Ho! up men! up! Ye have feasted +enough and slept enough for one night. Who knows but the slavers may be +at our huts while we lie idly here? Up! Let us go!" + +The ringing tones acted like a magic spell. Savage camps are soon +pitched and sooner raised. In a few minutes the obedient hunters had +bundled up all their possessions, and in less than a quarter of an hour +the whole band was tracking its way by moonlight through the pathless +jungle. + +The pace at which they travelled home was much more rapid than that at +which they had set out on their expedition. Somehow, the vigorous tones +in which Kambira had given command to break up the camp, coupled with +his words, roused the idea that he must have received information of +danger threatening the village, and some of the more anxious husbands +and fathers, unable to restrain themselves, left the party altogether +and ran back the whole way. To their great relief, however, they found +on arriving that all was quiet. The women were singing and at work in +the fields, the children shouting at play, and the men at their wonted +occupation of weaving cotton cloth, or making nets and bows, under the +banyan-trees. + +Perplexity is not a pleasant condition of existence, nevertheless, to +perplexity mankind is more or less doomed in every period of life and in +every mundane scene--particularly in the jungles of central Africa, as +Harold and his friends found out many a time to their cost. + +On arriving at the native village, the chief point that perplexed our +hero there was as to whether he should return to the coast at once, or +push on further into the interior. On the one hand he wished very much +to see more of the land and its inhabitants; on the other hand, Kambira +was painfully anxious to proceed at once to the coast in search, of his +lost wife, and pressed him to set off without delay. + +The chief was rather an exception in regard to his feelings on this +point. Most other African potentates had several wives, and in the +event of losing one of them might have found consolation in the others. +But Kambira had never apparently thought of taking another wife after +the loss of Azinte, and the only comfort he had was in his little boy, +who bore a strong resemblance, in some points, to the mother. + +But although Harold felt strong sympathy with the man, and would have +gone a long way out of his course to aid him, he could not avoid +perceiving that the case was almost, if not altogether, a hopeless one. +He had no idea to what part of the coast Azinte had been taken. For all +he knew to the contrary, she might have been long ago shipped off to the +northern markets, and probably was, even while he talked of her, the +inmate of an Arab harem, or at all events a piece of goods--a +"chattel"--in the absolute possession of an irresponsible master. +Besides the improbability of Kambira ever hearing what had become of his +wife, or to what part of the earth she had been transported, there was +also the difficulty of devising any definite course of action for the +chief himself, because the instant he should venture to leave the +protection of the Englishmen he would be certain to fall into the hands +of Arabs or Portuguese, and become enslaved. + +Much of this Harold had not the heart to explain to him. He dwelt, +however, pretty strongly on the latter contingency, though without +producing much effect. Death, the chief replied, he did not fear, and +slavery could easily be exchanged for death. + +"Alas! not so easily as you think," said Harold, pointing to Chimbolo, +whose sad story he had heard; "they will try _every_ kind of torture +before they kill you." + +Chimbolo nodded his head, assenting, and ground his teeth together +fiercely when this was said. + +Still Kambira was unmoved; he did not care what they did to him. Azinte +was as life to him, and to search for her he would go in spite of every +consideration. + +Harold prevailed on him, however, to agree to wait until he should have +spent another month in visiting Chimbolo's tribe, after which he +promised faithfully to return and take him along with his party to the +coast. + +Neither Harold nor Disco was quite at ease in his mind after making this +arrangement, but they both agreed that no other course could be pursued, +the former saying with a sigh that there was no help for it, and the +latter asserting with a grunt that the thing "wos unawoidable." + +On the following day the journey of exploration was resumed. Kambira +accompanied his friends a few miles on the road, and then bade them +farewell. On the summit of an elevated ridge the party halted and +looked back. Kambira's manly form could be seen leaning on his spear. +Behind him the little village lay embosomed in luxuriant verdure, and +glowing in the bright sunshine, while songs and sounds of industry +floated towards them like a sweet melody. It was with a feeling of keen +regret that the travellers turned away, after waving their hands in +reply to a parting salute from the stalwart chief, and, descending to +the plain, pushed forward into the unknown wilderness beyond. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +CAMPING, TRAVELLING, SHOOTING, DREAMING, POETISING, PHILOSOPHISING, AND +SURPRISING, IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA. + +At sunset the travellers halted in a peculiarly wild spot and encamped +under the shelter of a gigantic baobab tree. + +Two rousing fires were quickly kindled, round which the natives busied +themselves in preparing supper, while their leaders sat down, the one to +write up his journal, the other to smoke his pipe. + +"Well, sir," said Disco, after a few puffs delivered with extreme +satisfaction, "you do seem for to enjoy writin'. You go at that log of +yours every night, as if it wos yer last will and testament that ye +couldn't die happy without exikootin' an' signin' it with yer blood." + +"A better occupation, isn't it," replied Harold, with a sly glance, +"than to make a chimney-pot of my mouth?" + +"Come, sir," returned Disco, with a deprecatory smile, "don't be too +hard on a poor feller's pipe. If you can't enjoy it, that's no argiment +against it." + +"How d'you know I can't enjoy it?" + +"Why? cos I s'pose you'd take to it if you did." + +"Did _you_ enjoy it when you first began?" asked Harold. + +"Well, I can't 'zactly say as I did." + +"Well, then, if you didn't, that proves that it is not _natural_ to +smoke, and why should I acquire an unnatural and useless habit?" + +"Useless! why, sir, on'y think of wot you loses by not smokin'--wot a +deal of enjoyment!" + +"Well, I _am_ thinking," replied Harold, affecting a look of profound +thoughtfulness, "but I can't quite make it out--enjoyment? let me see. +Do I not enjoy as good health as you do?" + +"O, cer'nly, sir, cer'nly. You're quite up to the mark in that +respect." + +"Well then, I enjoy my food as well, and can eat as much, can't I?" + +"No doubt of it," replied Disco, with a grin; "I was used to be +considered raither a dab at wittles, but I must say I knocks under to +_you_, sir." + +"Very good," rejoined Harold, laughing; "then as to sleep, I enjoy sleep +quite as soundly as yourself; don't I?" + +"I can't say as to that," replied Disco. "You see, sir, as I never +opens my eyes arter shuttin' of 'em till the bo's'n pipes all hands +ahoy, I've no means of knowin' wot you accomplish in that way." + +"On the whole, then, it seems that I enjoy everything as much as you do, +and--" + +"No, not everything; you don't enjoy baccy, you know.--But please, sir, +don't go for to moralise; I can't stand it. You'll spile my pipe if ye +do!" + +"Well, I shall spare you," said Harold, "all the more that I perceive +supper is about--" + +At that moment Antonio, who had gone down to a streamlet which trickled +close at hand, gave utterance to a hideous yell, and came rushing into +camp with a face that was pea-green from terror. + +"Ach!" he gasped, "a lion! queek! your guns!" Every one leaped up and +seized his weapon with marvellous alacrity on receiving an alarm so +violent and unlooked-for. + +"Where away?" inquired Disco, blazing with excitement, and ready at a +moment's notice to rush into the jungle and fire both barrels at +whatever should present itself. + +"No, no, don' go," cried Antonio in alarm; "be cautionous." + +The interpreter's caution was enforced by Chimbolo, who laid his hand on +Disco's arm, and looked at him with such solemnity that he felt it +necessary to restrain his ardour. + +Meanwhile Antonio with trembling steps led Harold to a point in the +thicket whence he beheld two bright phosphoric-looking objects which his +companion said were the lion's eyes, adding that lion's eyes always +shone in that way. + +Harold threw forward his rifle with the intention of taking aim, but +lowered it quickly, for he felt convinced that no lion could possibly +have eyes so wide apart unless its head were as large as that of an +elephant. + +"Nonsense, Antonio!" he said, laughing; "that cannot be a lion." + +"Ho, yis, him's a lion, for sure," Antonio returned, positively. + +"We shall see." + +Harold raised his rifle and fired, while Antonio turned and fled, fully +expecting the wounded beast to spring. Harold himself half looked for +some such act, and shrank behind a bush by way of precaution, but when +the smoke cleared away, he saw that the two glowing eyes were gazing at +him as fixedly as ever. + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Disco, brushing past; "I knows wot it is. Many a time +I've seed 'em in the West Injies." + +Saying which, he went straight up to the supposed lion, picked up a +couple of glow-worms, and brought them to the camp-fires, much to the +amusement of the men, especially of Jumbo, and greatly to the confusion +of the valorous interpreter, who, according to his invariable custom +when danger threatened, was found to have sought refuge in a tree. + +This incident furnished ground for much discussion and merriment during +supper, in which Antonio, being in no wise ashamed of himself, joined +noisily; and Chimbolo took occasion to reprove Disco for his rashness, +telling him that it was impossible to kill lions in the jungle during +the darkness of night, and that, if they did pay them a visit, it would +be wise to let them be, and trust to the camp-fires keeping them at a +respectful distance. To which Disco retorted that he didn't believe +there was any lions in Afriky, for he'd heard a deal about 'em an' +travelled far, but had not yet heard the sound of their woices, an', wot +was more, didn't expect to. + +Before that night was far advanced, Disco was constrained to acknowledge +himself in error, for a veritable lion did actually prowl down to the +camp, and salute them with a roar which had a wonderfully awe-inspiring +effect on every member of the party, especially on those who heard it +for the first time in their lives. + +Just before the arrival of this nocturnal visitor, one of the men had +been engaged in some poetic effusions, which claim preliminary notice +here, because they were rudely terminated by the lion. + +This man was one of Kambira's people, and had joined the party by +permission. He was one of those beings who, gifted with something like +genius, or with superior powers of some sort, have sprung up in Africa, +as elsewhere, no doubt from time immemorial, to dazzle their fellows for +a little, and then pass away, leaving a trail of tradition behind them. +The existence there, in time past, of men of mind far in advance of +their fellows, as well as of heroes whose physical powers were +marvellous, may be assumed from the fact that some such exist at the +present time, as well as from tradition. Some of these heroes have +excited the admiration of large districts by their wisdom, others by +their courage or their superior dexterity with the spear and bow, like +William Tell and Robin Hood, but the memory of these must soon have been +obliterated for want of literature. The man who had joined Harold was a +poet and a musician. He was an _improvvisatore_, composed verses on the +incidents that occurred as they travelled along, and sang them with an +accompaniment on an instrument called the _sansa_, which had nine iron +keys and a calabash for a sounding-board. + +The poet's name was Mokompa. With the free and easy disposition of his +race, he allowed his fancy to play round the facts of which he sang, and +was never at a loss, for, if the right word did not come readily, he +spun out the measure with musical sounds which meant nothing at all. + +After supper was over, or rather when the first interval of repose +occurred, Mokompa, who was an obliging and hearty little fellow, was +called on for a song. Nothing loath, he seized his sansa and began a +ditty, of which the following, given by Antonio, may be regarded as a +remarkably free, not to say easy, translation:-- + + MOKOMPA'S SONG. + + Kambira goes to hunt, + Yo ho! + Him's spear am nebber blunt, + Yo ho! + Him kill de buff'lo quick, + An' lub de porridge thick; + Him chase de lion too, + An' stick um troo an' troo. + De 'potimus as well, + An' more dan me can tell, + Hab down before um fell, + Yo ho! + De English come to see, + Yo ho! + Dat werry good for we, + Yo ho! + No' take us 'way for slaves, + Nor put us in our graves, + But set de black mans free, + W'en cotch um on de sea. + Dem splendid shooters, too, + We knows what dey can do + Wid boil an' roast an' stew, + Yo ho! + One makes um's gun go crack, + Yo ho! + An elephant on um's back, + Yo ho! + De drefful lion roar, + De gun goes crack once more, + De bullet fly an' splits + One monkey into bits, + Yo ho! + De glow-worm next arise, + De Englishman likewise + Wid werry much surprise, + An' hit um 'tween de eyes, + "Hooray! hooray!" um cries, + An' run to fetch um's prize-- + Yo ho! + +The last "Yo ho!" was given with tremendous energy, and followed by +peals of laughter. + +It was at this point that the veritable lion thought proper to join in, +which he did, as we have said, with a roar so tremendous that it not +only put a sudden stop to the music, but filled the party with so much +alarm that they sprang to their arms with surprising agility. + +Mindful of Chimbolo's previous warning, neither Harold nor Disco sought +to advance, but both looked at their savage friend for advice. + +Now, in some parts of Africa there exists a popular belief that the +souls of departed chiefs enter into lions and render them sacred, and +several members of Harold Seadrift's party entertained this notion. +Chimbolo was one of these. From the sounds of growling and rending +which issued from the thicket, he knew that the lion in question was +devouring part of their buffalo-meat which had been hung on the branch +of a neighbouring tree, not, however, near enough to the fires to be +visible. Believing that the beast was a chief in disguise, Chimbolo +advanced a little towards the place where he was, and, much to our +traveller's amusement, gave him a good scolding. + +"_You_ call yourself a chief, do you--eh?" he said sternly. "What kind +of a chief can _you_ be, to come sneaking about in the dark like this, +trying to steal our buffalo-meat! Are you not ashamed of yourself? A +pretty chief, truly; you are like the scavenger-beetle, and think of +yourself only; you have not the heart of a chief. Why don't you kill +your own beef? You must have a stone in your chest, and no heart at +all." + +"That's werry flowery lingo, but it don't seem to convince him," said +Disco, with a quiet smile, as the lion, which had been growling +continuously over its meal all the time, wound up Chimbolo's speech with +another terrific roar. + +At this point another believer in transmigration of souls, a quiet man +who seldom volunteered remarks on any subject, stepped forward and began +seriously to expostulate with the lion. + +"It is very wrong of you," he said, "to treat strangers in this fashion. +You might have more respect for Englishmen who have come to see your +land, and never did you any harm. We are travelling peaceably through +the country; we never kill anybody, and never steal anything; the +buffalo-meat is ours, not yours, and it ill becomes a great chief like +you to be prowling about in the dark, like a hyena, trying to steal the +meat of strangers. Surely you can hunt for yourself--there is plenty of +meat in the forest." [See Livingstone's _Zambesi and its Tributaries_, +page 160.] + +As the lion was equally deaf to this man's reasoning, Harold thought it +right to try a more persuasive plan. He drew up in a line all the men +who had guns, and at a word of command they fired a volley of balls into +the jungle, in the direction whence the sounds issued. A dead silence +followed, but it was deemed advisable not to venture in to see the +effect, as men had frequently lost their lives by so doing. A watch, +however, was kept during the night, and the fires were well replenished, +for they knew that the king of the forest usually shrinks from doing his +evil deeds in the light of a strong camp-fire. We say usually--because +they are not always thus shy. Authentic instances are on record of +lions having leaped into the centre of a bivouac, and carried off one of +the men in spite of being smitten in the face with flaming firebrands. +Fortunately the lion of which we write thought "discretion the better +part of valour." He retired peaceably, nevertheless Disco and his +friend continued to dream of him all night so vividly that they started +up several times, and seized their rifles, under the impression that he +had roared his loudest into their very ears, and after each of these +occasions they crept back into their sleeping bags to re-dream of the +lion! + +The "bag" which formed each man's couch was made simply of two mats +sewed together, and left open, not at one of the ends but at one of the +sides, so that a man could roll out of or into it more easily than he +could have slid, feet first, into a sack. It was large enough also for +two to sleep inside together, always supposing that the two were of +accommodating dispositions! + +That they had now reached a land which swarmed with wild animals was +intimated to some extent by the running past, within fifty yards of +their bivouac, of a troop of elephants. It was daybreak at the time, so +that, having been thus rudely aroused, they did not deem it necessary to +return to rest but after taking a hasty mouthful of food, set forth on +their journey. + +The usual mode of proceeding on the march was as follows:--They rose +about five o'clock, or soon after the appearance of dawn, and swallowed +a cup of tea, with a bit of biscuit, then some of the men folded up the +blankets and stowed them away in the bags, others tied up the cooking +utensils, etcetera, in bundles, and hung them at the ends of +carrying-sticks, which they bore upon their shoulders. The process did +not take long. They were soon on the march, either in single file, if +the path were narrow, or in groups, according to fancy, where the ground +admitted of their spreading out. About nine, a convenient spot was +chosen for a halt to breakfast, which meat, although not "_eaten_ the +night before in order to save time in the morning," was at all events +_cooked_ on the previous evening for the same end, so that it only +needed warming up. Then the march was resumed; a short rest was allowed +in the heat of the day, when, of course, Disco had a pipe and much +sagacious intercourse with his fellows, and they finally encamped for +the remainder of the day and night early in the afternoon. Thus they +travelled five or six hours at a stretch, and averaged from twelve to +fifteen miles a day, which is about as much as Europeans can stand in a +hot climate without being oppressed. This Disco called "taking it +easy," and so it was when compared with the custom of some travellers, +whose chief end would appear to be the getting over as much ground as +possible in a given time, in order that they may afterwards boast of the +same, and for the accomplishment of which they are obliged to abuse and +look ferocious at the blacks, cock their pistols, and flourish their +whips, in a manner which is only worthy of being styled contemptible and +cowardly. We need not say that our friends Harold and Disco had no such +propensities. They had kindly consideration for the feelings of their +"niggers," coupled with great firmness; became very sociable with them, +and thus got hearty, willing work out of them. But to return from this +digression. + +During the day, the number of animals of all sorts that were seen was so +great as to induce Disco to protest, with a slap of his thigh, that the +whole land, from stem to stern, seemed to him to be one prodigious +zoological garden--it did, an' no mistake about it. + +Disco was not far wrong. He and Harold having started ahead of the +party, with Chimbolo as their guide, came on a wonderful variety of +creatures in rapid succession. First, they fell in with some large +flocks of guinea-fowl, and shot a few for dinner. As they advanced, +various birds ran across their path, and clouds of turtle-doves filled +the air with the blatter of their wings as they rose above the trees. +Ducks, geese, and francolins helped to swell the chorus of sounds. + +When the sun rose and sent a flood of light over a wide and richly +wooded vale, into which they were about to descend, a herd of pallahs +stood gazing at the travellers in stupid surprise, and allowed them to +approach within sixty yards before trotting leisurely away. These and +all other animals were passed unmolested, as the party had sufficient +meat at the time, and Harold made it a point not to permit his followers +to shoot animals for the mere sake of sport, though several of them were +uncommonly anxious to do so. Soon afterwards a herd of waterbucks +were passed, and then a herd of koodoos, with two or three +magnificently-horned bucks amongst them, which hurried off to the +hillsides on seeing the travellers. Antelopes also were seen, and +buffaloes, grazing beside their path. + +Ere long they came upon a small pond with a couple of elephants standing +on its brink, cooling their huge sides by drawing water into their +trunks and throwing it all over themselves. Behind these were several +herds of zebras and waterbucks, all of which took to flight on "getting +the wind" of man. They seemed intuitively to know that he was an enemy. +Wild pigs, also, were common, and troops of monkeys, large and small, +barked, chattered, grinned, and made faces among the trees. + +After pitching the camp each afternoon, and having had a mouthful of +biscuit, the two Englishmen were in the habit of going off to hunt for +the daily supply of fresh meat accompanied by Chimbolo as their guide +and game-carrier, Antonio as their interpreter, and Mokompa as their +poet and jester. They did not indeed, appoint Mokompa to that post of +honour, but the little worthy took it upon himself, for the express +purpose of noting the deeds of the white men, in order to throw his +black comrades into convulsions over supper by a poetic recital of the +same. + +"It pleases them, an' it don't hurt us," was Disco's observation on this +head. + +On the afternoon, then, of which we write, the party of four went out to +hunt, while the encampment was being prepared under the superintendence +of Jumbo, who had already proved himself to be an able manager and cook, +as also had his countrymen Masiko and Zombo. + +"What a rich country!" exclaimed Harold, looking round in admiration +from the top of a small hillock on as fine a scene as one could wish to +behold, "and what a splendid cotton country it might be if properly +cultivated!" + +"So it is," said Disco, "an' I shouldn't wonder if there wos lots of +gold too, if we only knew where to look for it." + +"Gold!" exclaimed Antonio, who sat winking placidly on the stump of a +fallen tree; "dere be lots ob gold near Zambesi--an' oder ting too." + +"Let's hear wot are some of the other things," said Disco. + +"What are dere?--oh, let me see: der be coal, lots ob coal on Zambesi, +any amount ob it, an' it burn fuss-rate, too. Dere be iron-ore, very +much, an' indigo, an' sugar-cane, an ivory; you hab hear an' see yooself +about de elephants an' de cottin, an' tobacco. [See Livingstone's +_Zambesi and its Tributaries_, page 52.] Oh! great plenty ob eberyting +eberywhere in dis yere country, but," said Antonio, with a shrug of his +shoulders, "no can make noting out ob it on account ob de slave-trade." + +"Then I 'spose 'ee don't approve of the slave-trade?" said Disco. + +"No, dat am true," replied Antonio; "de country very good for +slave-trader, but no good for man like me what want to trade proper." + +"H'm! I've more respect for 'ee than I had," said Disco. "I 'spose +you've bin up in these parts before now, have 'ee?" + +"No, nevah, but I hab sister what marry one nigger, one slave, what sold +himself, an' him tell me much 'bout it. Hims bin up here many time." + +"Sold himself!" repeated Harold in surprise. "What do you mean?" + +"Mean dat," returned Antonio. "Him was a black free-man--call him +Chibanti; him was all alone in de world, lose fader, moder, broder, +sister, wife, eberyting by slave-trader, who steal dem all away or +murder dem. So Chibanti him say, `What de use of be free?' So him go +to one master, who berry good to hims niggers--gib dem plenty to eat an' +little to do--an' sole hisself to him." + +"An' wot did he get for himself?" asked Disco. + +"Got ninety yard ob cottin cloth." + +"Did he consider himself cheap or dear at that?" inquired Disco. + +"Oh, dear--awful dear!" + +"What has come of him now?" asked Harold. + +"Dunno," answered Antonio. "After him got de cloth, hims master send +him to Quillimane wid cargo ob ivory, an' gib him leave to do leetil +trade on hims own account; so him bought a man, a woman, an' a boy, for +sixty yard ob cottin, an' wid de rest hired slaves for de voyage down, +an' drove a mos' won'erful trade. But long time since me hear ob him. +P'raps hims good master be dead, an' him go wid de rest of de goods an' +chattels to a bad master, who berry soon make him sorry him sole +hisself." + +Pushing forward for several days in the manner which we have attempted +to describe, our travellers passed through many varied scenes, which, +however, all bore one mark in common, namely, teeming animal and +vegetable life. Human beings were also found to be exceedingly +numerous, but not so universally distributed as the others, for, +although many villages and hamlets were passed, the inhabitants of which +were all peacefully inclined and busy in their fields, or with their +native cotton, iron, and pottery manufactures, vast expanses of rich +ground were also traversed, which, as far as man was concerned, appeared +to be absolute solitudes. + +Entering upon one of these about noon of a remarkably fine day, Harold +could not help remarking on the strange stillness which pervaded the +air. No sound was heard from beast, bird, or insect; no village was +near, no rippling stream murmured, or zephyr stirred the leaves; in +short, it was a scene which, from its solitude and profound silence, +became oppressive. + +"W'y, sir," said Disco, whose face was bathed in perspiration, "it do +seem to me as if we'd got to the fag-end of the world altogether. There +ain't nothin' nowhere." + +Harold laughed, and said it looked like it. But Disco was wrong. It +was only the hour when animals seem to find a _siesta_ indispensable, +and vegetables as well as air had followed their example. A few minutes +sufficed to prove their mistake, for, on entering a piece of woodland, a +herd of pallahs, and another of water-bucks, appeared, standing as quiet +and still as if they were part of a painted landscape. Then, in passing +a thick clump of thorns, they could see, through openings in the bushes, +the dim phantom-like forms of buffaloes, with heads lowered and eyes +glaring at them, ready to charge, if need be, though too lazy from heat, +apparently, to begin the 'fray, and willing to act on the principle of +"let be for let be." Still farther on, a native was observed keeping at +a respectful distance. He had seen the travellers from afar, and come +with noiseless tread to get a nearer view. + +Halting to rest the party for a few minutes in a shady hollow, Harold +threw himself at full length on the grass, but Disco, who, strange to +say, did not feel inclined to smoke at the moment--probably because he +had only just finished his fifth pipe a few minutes previously-- +sauntered on alone to the top of the next ridge. + +He had barely reached the summit when Harold, who chanced to be looking +after him, observed that he crouched suddenly behind a bush, and, after +gazing steadfastly for a few seconds over the hill, turned and ran back, +making excessively wild demonstrations with head and arms, but uttering +no sound. + +Of course the whole party sprang up and ran towards the excited mariner, +and soon were near enough to understand that his violent actions were +meant to caution them to make no noise. + +"Hush!" he said eagerly, on coming near enough to be heard; "keep quiet +as mice. There's a slave-gang, or somethin' uncommon like it, goin' +along on right athwart us." + +Without a word of reply, the whole party hurried forward and gained a +point of observation behind the low bushes which crowned the ridge. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +SHOWS SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF THE SLAVE-TRADE AT THE FOUNTAIN-HEAD. + +Down in a gorge, just below the spot where Harold Seadrift and his men +lay concealed, a strange sight met the eyes of the two Englishmen, in +regard to which, despite all that they had heard and seen, and were +prepared to see, they were as much shocked as if it had never been +presented even to their imaginations up to that moment. + +It was a gang of slaves winding its way slowly but steadily through the +gorge. + +The head of the dusky procession was just emerging on the open ground +beyond the gorge when the travellers first came upon it. The slaves +advanced towards the spot where they lay, passing under it so closely +that they could see the very expressions on the faces of the men, women, +and children who composed the gang. These expressions were varied and +very terrible. Our travellers had now reached the fountain-head whence +the perennial stream of "Black Ivory" flows out of Africa. The process +of manufacture, although considerably advanced, had not yet reached that +perfection of callous subjection and settled despair which had struck +our Englishmen so forcibly in the slave-market of Zanzibar. There was +anxiety not unmingled with faint hope in the faces of some of the women; +and a few of the more stalwart and courageous among the men wore a +fierce, determined aspect which told of manhood not yet absolutely +prostrated in the dust of abject servility, while, in regard to some of +the children, surprise at the peculiar circumstances of their +surroundings had not yet been swallowed up in a condition of chronic +terror. + +They marched in a long line, fastened to each other by chains and ropes +and heavy "gorees" or slave-sticks. The latter implements were poles +from six to seven feet long, with a fork at the end of each, in which +the necks of the men were fitted and secured by means of an iron bolt, +passing across the throat and riveted at both ends. To render marching +possible with such encumbrances, the men went in couples, one behind the +other, so that the slave-stick of the leading man could be tied to the +stick of his fellow behind, which was slewed round to the front for the +purpose. Their wrists were also tied, some in front, others behind +their backs. Secured thus, Hercules himself might have been reduced to +obedience, especially if he had felt the frequent sting of the cruel +lash that was laid on these captives, a lash whose power was made +manifest by the numerous seams and scars which crossed and recrossed +their backs and limbs. The women and children were deemed sufficiently +secure by being fastened to each other with ropes and iron rings round +their necks. All were naked, with the exception of a little piece of +cloth round the loins, and some of the women had infants of a few weeks +old strapped to their backs by means of this shred of cloth, while +others carried baskets on their heads containing meal for the sustenance +of the party during their journey. + +In advance of the line marched a tall, powerfully-built half-caste, +armed with a musket and small axe, and clad in a loose coat, short +drawers reaching the knees, and straw hat. He was obviously the +commander of the band. Behind him came several negroes, also armed with +muskets, and with thick wands for the purpose of flagellation. These +wore loin-cloths and turbans or red caps, but nothing more. They +laughed, talked and strutted as they went along, forming a marked +contrast to the silent and depressed slaves. + +At intervals along the line, and in rear, there were stationed one or +two of these drivers, who urged on their "cattle" with more or less +cruelty, according to their individual impulses or natures. + +We need scarcely say that this sight filled Harold and Disco not only +with feelings of horror and pity, but with sensations of towering +indignation that almost suffocated them. Those who only read of such +things at home can form but a faint conception of what it is actually to +behold them. + +"We must fight!" muttered Harold between his teeth. + +Disco could not speak, but he looked at his companion, and gave a nod +that plainly indicated the state of his feelings. + +"'Sh!" hissed Chimbolo, creeping up at that moment and laying his hand, +which trembled violently, on Harold's shoulder, "Marizano!" + +"What! the scoundrel in advance?" + +Chimbolo pointed to the leader of the slave-gang, and almost foamed at +the mouth with suppressed rage. + +At that moment their attention was attracted to a woman who walked +immediately behind the slavers. She was a young and, according to +African ideas, a comely girl, but was apparently very weak--so weak that +she panted and stumbled as she went along, a circumstance which was +accounted for by the little infant tied to her back, which could not +have been more than a couple of weeks old. Stumbling against the fallen +branch of a tree, she fell at last with a low wail to the ground, and +made no effort, as on previous occasions, to recover herself. + +The whole gang stopped, and Marizano, turning back, pushed the woman +with his foot. + +A fine-looking young man, who was the leader in a couple secured by a +slave-stick, seemed to regard this woman with a degree of interest that +argued near relationship. He started forward half involuntarily when +the Portuguese half-caste kicked her. He had forgotten for an instant +his fellow in rear, as well as the bar of the goree across his throat, +which checked him violently; at the same time one of the drivers, who +had observed the movement, laid a supple wand across his bare back so +sharply as to draw forth a terrific yell of agony. + +This was too much for Disco Lillihammer. Unable to restrain himself, he +leaped up, seized his rifle by the muzzle with both hands, and, swinging +it round his head, rushed upon Marizano with a bursting shout of rage +and defiance. + +It is probable that the half-caste leader, who was by no means destitute +of courage, would have stood his ground had his assailant been a man of +colour, but this unexpected apparition of a white man with a fiery +countenance and blue eyes that absolutely flashed as he rushed forward +with irresistible fury, was too much for him. Firing hastily, and with +bad aim, Marizano turned and fled into the woods, followed by all his +men. There was however a large band of Ajawa savages in rear, armed +with bows and poisoned arrows. When he encountered these the Portuguese +chief halted, and, rallying his men, took shelter behind trees and began +to fire at the advancing enemy. + +Seeing this, Harold drew his men together and made them fire a united +volley, which had the effect of utterly routing the slavers. Disco +meanwhile, finding that he could not overtake Marizano, at last did what +he ought to have done at first--kneeled down, took deliberate aim at +him, and fired. His agitation prevented accuracy of aim; nevertheless +he succeeded in sending a bullet through the fleshy part of the man's +arm, above the elbow, which effectually put him to flight. + +Returning to the slaves, who had been left standing where they were +first stopped, in a state of great surprise and perplexity, he assisted +his companions in freeing them. This was easy enough in regard to the +women and children, but the gorees on the men were very difficult to +remove. Being riveted, as we have said, it became necessary to split +the forks with hatchets, an operation which endangered the heads of the +poor captives and hurt their galled necks considerably. It was +accomplished however in the midst of a deal of excitement and hurried +conversation, while Jumbo and his comrades kindled fires, and Harold +bade the women cook the meal--which they had hitherto carried--for +themselves and their children. They seemed to consider this too good +news to be true, but on being encouraged, began with alacrity. + +"Don't be afeared, lass," cried Disco, patting a young woman on the +head, "eat as much as 'ee like. You need it, poor thing, an' stuff the +childer till they can't hold no more. Bu'st 'em if 'ee can. The +slavers won't come back here in a hurry. Ha! I only wish they would, +an' let us have a brush with 'em. But there's no such luck. Cowards +never fight 'xcept w'en they're sure to win.--Now, piccaninny, here you +are," he said, stuffing some raw mapira meal into the open mouth of a +thin little girl of about six or seven, who was gazing at him in +open-eyed surprise; "don't put off time, you're half-starved already!" + +The little black skeleton began to chew the dry meal with evident +satisfaction, but without taking her eyes off her deliverer. + +"Who are _you_?" asked a somewhat older girl of Harold, whom she +regarded with looks of reverence and wonder. + +Of course Harold did not understand her, but he immediately called +Antonio, who translated. + +"Who are you?" she said; "the other people tied and starved us, but you +cut the ropes and tell us to eat; what sort of people are you? Where +did you come from?" + +To this Harold replied briefly that he was an Englishman, who hated +slavers and slavery, but he said nothing more at that time, as he +intended to have a palaver and explanation with the freed captives after +their meal was over. + +There was a great clapping of hands among the slaves, expressive of +gratitude, on hearing that they were free. + +About a hundred sat down to that meal, most of whom were women and +children, and the manner in which they devoured the food set before +them, told eloquently of their previous sufferings. At first they +timidly held back, scarce venturing to believe that their new captors, +as they thought them, were in earnest. But when their doubts and fears +were removed, they attacked the mapira porridge like ravening wolves. +Gradually the human element began to reappear, in the shape of a comment +or a smile, and before long the women were chatting together, and a few +of the stronger among the young children were making feeble attempts to +play. + +When the oldest man of the party, who appeared to be between twenty and +thirty, was brought forward and questioned, he gave some interesting and +startling information. + +"Tell him," said Harold to Antonio, "that we are Englishmen; that we +belong to the same nation as the great white man Dr Livingstone, who +travelled through this land some years ago--the nation which hates +slavery because the Great God hates it, and would have all men to be +free, to serve each other in love, and to do to other people as they +would have other people do to them. Ask him, also, where he comes from, +and who captured him and his companions." + +To this the negro replied--"What the white man says may be true, but the +white men seem to tell lies too much. The men who killed our warriors, +burned our villages, and took our women and children away, came to us +saying that they were friends; that they were the servants of the same +people as the white man Livingstone, and wanted to trade with us. When +we believed and trusted them, and were off our guard, they fired on us +with their guns. We know not what to think or to believe." + +Harold was much perplexed by this reply, for he knew not what evidence +to cite in proof that he, at least was not a deceiver. + +"Tell him," he said at length, "that there are false white men as well +as true, and that the best proof I can give him that I am one of the +true is, to set him and his friends at liberty. They are now as free to +go where they please as we are." + +On receiving this assurance the negro retired to consult with his +friends. Meanwhile Antonio, who seemed to have been touched by the +unvarying kindness with which he had been treated by his employers, +opened his mind to them, and gave them a good deal of information, of +which the substance is as follows:-- + +At that time the merchants of the Portuguese inland town of Tette, on +the Zambesi, were carrying on the slave-trade with unusual vigour, for +this reason, that they found it difficult to obtain ivory except in +exchange for slaves. In former years they had carried on a trade in +ivory with a tribe called the Banyai, these Banyai being great +elephant-hunters, but it happened that they went to war with another +tribe named the Matabele, who had managed to steal from them all their +women and children. Consequently, the forlorn Banyai said to the Tette +merchants, when they went to trade with them as they had been accustomed +to do, "We do not want your merchandise. Bring us women and children, +and you shall have as much ivory as you wish." + +These good people of Tette--being chiefly half-caste Portuguese, and +under Portuguese government, and claiming, as they do, to be the +possessors of that region of Africa--are so utterly incapable of holding +their own, that they are under the necessity of paying tribute to a +tribe of savages who come down annually to Tette to receive it, and who, +but for that tribute, would, as they easily could, expel them from the +land. These merchants of Tette, moreover, in common with all the +Portuguese in Africa, are by the laws of Portugal prohibited from +engaging in the _export_ slave-trade. They are not, however, forbidden +to engage temporarily in the "domestic slave-trade," hence they had sent +out slaving parties--in other words, robbers, kidnappers, murderers--who +hired the warlike Ajawa tribe to aid them in killing the Manganja men, +and robbing them of their wives and little ones, by which means they +were enabled to supply the demand for such "cattle" among the Banyai, +and thus obtained the desired supply of ivory! So vigorously had this +slave traffic been carried on, at the time of which we write, that no +fewer than two hundred people--mostly women and children--were carried +out of the hill-country every week. [See _The Universities' Mission to +Central Africa_, page 112.] + +In a short time the negro returned to the place where Harold and Disco +were seated, and said that he believed his white deliverers were true +men, but added that he and his people had no home to go to; their +village having been burnt, and all the old people and warriors killed or +dispersed by Marizano, who was a terribly cruel man. In proof of this +assertion he said that only the day before, Marizano had shot two of the +women for attempting to untie their thongs; a man had been killed with +an axe because he had broken-down with fatigue; and a woman had her +infant's brains dashed out because she was unable to carry it, as well +as the load assigned to her. + +"It is difficult to decide what one should do in these circumstances," +said Harold to Disco. "You know it would never do to leave these +helpless people here to starve; but if we take them on with us our +progress will be uncommonly slow." + +"We'd better take 'em back," said Disco. + +"Back! Where to?" + +"W'y, to the last village wot we passed through. It ain't more than a +day's march, an' I'm sure the old feller as is capting of it would take +care o' the lot." + +"There is good advice in that, yet I grudge to go back," said Harold; +"if there were a village the same distance in advance, I would rather +take them on." + +"But there ain't," returned Disco. "Hallo! I say, wot's wrong with +Tony?" + +The interpreter came forward with a look of much excitement as he spoke. + +"What now, Antonio?" + +"Oh! it's drefful," replied the interpreter. "Dey tells me have hear +Marizano speak ob anoder slaving party what go straight to Kambira's +village for attack it." + +"Who told you that? Are they sure?" asked Harold hastily. + +"Two, t'ree mans tole me," replied Antonio. "All say same ting. Too +late to help him now, me's 'fraid." + +"Never say too late," cried Disco, starting up; "never say die while +there's a shot in the locker. It may be time enough yet if we only look +sharp. I votes that we leave nearly all the provisions we have with +these poor critters here; up anchor, 'bout ship, clap on all sail, and +away this werry minit." + +Harold agreed with this advice heartily, and at once acted on it. The +arrangements were quickly made, the provisions distributed, an +explanation made, and in less than an hour the travellers were retracing +their steps in hot haste. + +By taking a straight line and making forced marches, they arrived in +sight of the ridge where they had last seen Kambira, on the evening of +the third day. As they drew near Harold pushed impatiently forward, +and, outrunning his companions, was first to reach the summit. Disco's +heart sank within him, for he observed that his companion stood still, +bowed his head, and covered his face with both hands. He soon joined +him, and a groan burst from the seaman's breast when he saw dense +volumes of smoke rising above the spot where the village had so recently +lain a picture of peaceful beauty. + +Even their followers, accustomed though they were, to scenes and deeds +of violence and cruelty, could not witness the grief of the Englishmen +unmoved. + +"P'raps," said Disco, in a husky voice, "there's some of 'em left alive, +hidin' in the bushes." + +"It may be so," replied Harold, as he descended the slope with rapid +strides. "God help them!" + +A few minutes sufficed to bring them to the scene of ruin, but the +devastation caused by the fire was so great that they had difficulty in +recognising the different spots where the huts had stood. Kambira's hut +was, however, easily found, as it stood on a rising ground. There the +fight with the slavers had evidently been fiercest, for around it lay +the charred and mutilated remains of many human bodies. Some of these +were so far distinguishable that it could be told whether they belonged +to man, woman, or child. + +"Look here!" said Disco, in a deep, stern voice, as he pointed to an +object on the ground not far from the hut. + +It was the form of a woman who had been savagely mangled by her +murderers. The upturned and distorted face proved it to be Yohama, the +grandmother of little Obo. Near to her lay the body of a grey-haired +negro, who might to judge from his position, have fallen in attempting +to defend her. + +"Oh! if the people of England only saw this sight!" said Harold, in a +low tone; "if they only believed in and _realised_ this fact, there +would be one universal and indignant shout of `No toleration of slavery +anywhere throughout the world!'" + +"Look closely for Kambira or his son," he added, turning to his men. + +A careful search among the sickening remains was accordingly made, but +without any discovery worth noting being made, after which they searched +the surrounding thickets. Here sad evidence of the poor fugitives +having been closely pursued was found in the dead bodies of many of the +old men and women, and of the very young children and infants; also the +bodies of a few of the warriors. All these had been speared, chiefly +through the back. Still they were unsuccessful in finding the bodies of +the chief or his little boy. + +"It's plain," said Disco, "that they have either escaped or been took +prisoners." + +"Here is some one not quite dead," said Harold,--"Ah! poor fellow!" + +He raised the unfortunate man's head on his knee, and recognised the +features of the little man who had entertained them with his tunes on +the native violin. + +It was in vain that Antonio tried to gain his attention while Disco +moistened his lips with water. He had been pierced in the chest with an +arrow. Once only he opened his eyes, and a faint smile played on his +lips, as if he recognised friends, but it faded quickly and left the +poor musician a corpse. + +Leaving, with heavy hearts, the spot where they had spent such pleasant +days and nights, enjoying the hospitality of Kambira and his tribe, our +travellers began to retrace their steps to the place where they had left +the rescued slaves, but that night the strong frame of Disco Lillihammer +succumbed to the influence of climate. He was suddenly stricken with +African fever, and in a few hours became as helpless as a little child. + +In this extremity Harold found it necessary to encamp. He selected the +highest and healthiest spot in the neighbourhood, caused his followers +to build a rude, but comparatively comfortable, hut and set himself +diligently to hunt for, and to tend, his sick friend. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +TREATS OF LOVE, HATRED, AND SORROW, AND PROVES THAT SLAVERY AND ITS +CONSEQUENCES ARE NOT CONFINED TO BLACK MEN AND WOMEN. + +We must now change the scene to the garden of that excellent Governor, +Senhor Francisco Alfonso Toledo Bignoso Letotti, and the date to three +months in advance of the period in which occurred the events related in +the last chapter. + +"Maraquita, I am sorry to find that you still persist in encouraging +that morbid regret for the loss of one who cannot now be recovered." + +Thus spoke the Governor in tones that were unusually petulant for one +who idolised his child. + +"Father, why did you sell her without saying a word to me about your +intention? It was very, very, _very_ unkind--indeed it was." + +Poor Maraquita's eyes were already red and swollen with much weeping, +nevertheless she proceeded to increase the redness and the swelling by a +renewed burst of passionate distress. + +The worthy Governor found it difficult to frame a reply or to administer +suitable consolation, for in his heart he knew that he had sold Azinte, +as it were surreptitiously, to Marizano for an unusually large sum of +money, at a time when his daughter was absent on a visit to a friend. +The noted Portuguese kidnapper, murderer, rebel and trader in black +ivory, having recovered from his wound, had returned to the town, and, +being well aware of Azinte's market value, as a rare and remarkably +beautiful piece of ivory of extra-superfine quality, had threatened, as +well as tempted, Governor Letotti beyond his powers of resistance. +Marizano did not want the girl as his own slave. He wanted dollars, +and, therefore, destined her for the markets of Arabia or Persia, where +the smooth-tongued and yellow-skinned inhabitants hold that robbery, +violence, and cruelty, such as would make the flesh of civilised people +creep, although horrible vices in themselves, are nevertheless, quite +justifiable when covered by the sanction of that miraculous talisman +called a "domestic institution." The British Government had, by treaty, +agreed to respect slavery in the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar, as +a domestic institution with which it would not interfere! + +Governor Letotti's heart had smitten him at first for he really was an +amiable man, and felt kindly disposed to humanity at large, slaves +included. Unfortunately the same kindliness was concentrated with +tenfold power on himself, so that when self-interest came into play the +amiable man became capable of deeds that Marizano himself might have +been proud of. The only difference, in fact, between the two was that +the Governor, like the drunkard, often felt ashamed of himself, and +sometimes wished that he were a better man, while the man-stealer +gloried in his deeds, and had neither wish nor intention to improve. + +"Maraquita," said Senhor Letotti, still somewhat petulantly, though with +more of remonstrance in his tone, "how can you speak so foolishly? It +was out of my power you know, to speak to you when you were absent about +what I intended to do. Besides, I was, at the time, very much in need +of some ready money, for, although I am rich enough, there are times +when most of my capital is what business men called `locked up,' and +therefore not immediately available. In these circumstances, Marizano +came to me with a very tempting offer. But there are plenty of +good-looking, amiable, affectionate girls in Africa. I can easily buy +you another slave quite as good as Azinte." + +"As good as Azinte!" echoed Maraquita wildly, starting up and gazing at +her father with eyes that flashed through her tears, "Azinte, who has +opened her heart to me--her bursting, bleeding heart--and told me all +her former joys and all her present woes, and who loves me as she +loves--ay, better than she loves--her own soul, merely because I dropped +a few tears of sympathy on her little hand! Another as good as Azinte!" +she cried with increasing vehemence; "would _you_ listen with patience +to any one who should talk to you of another as good as Maraquita?" + +"Nay, but," remonstrated the Governor, "you are now raving; your +feelings towards Azinte cannot be compared with my love for _you_." + +"If you loved me as I thought you did, you would not--you could not-- +have thus taken from me my darling little maid. Oh! shame, shame on +you, father--" + +She could say no more, but rushed from the room to fling herself down +and sob out her feelings in the privacy of her own chamber, where she +was sought out by the black cook, who had overheard some of the +conversation, and was a sympathetic soul. But that amiable domestic +happened to be inopportunely officious; she instantly fled from the +chamber, followed by the neatest pair of little slippers imaginable, +which hit her on the back of her woolly head,--for Maraquita, like other +spoilt children, had made up her mind _not_ to be comforted. + +Meanwhile the Governor paced the floor of his drawing-room with uneasy +feelings, which, however, were suddenly put to flight by the report of a +gun. Hastening to the window, he saw that the shot had been fired by a +war-steamer which was entering the bay. + +"Ha! the `Firefly;' good!" exclaimed the Governor, with a gratified +look; "this will put it all right." + +He said nothing more, but left the room hastily. It may however be as +well to explain that his remark had reference to the mutual affection +which he was well aware existed between his daughter and the gallant +Lieutenant Lindsay. He had not, indeed, the most remote intention of +permitting Maraquita to wed the penniless officer, but he had no +objection whatever to their flirting as much as they pleased; and he +readily perceived that nothing would be more likely to take the +Senhorina's thoughts off her lost maid than the presence of her lover. + +There was a bower in a secluded corner of the Governor Letotti's garden, +a very charming bower indeed, in which Lieutenant Lindsay had been wont +at times when duty to the Queen of England permitted, to hold sweet +converse with the "queen of his soul." What that converse was it +neither becomes us to say nor the reader to inquire. Perhaps it had +reference to astronomy, perchance to domestic economy. At all events it +was always eminently satisfactory to both parties engaged, save when the +Senhorina indulged in a little touch of waywardness, and sent the poor +officer back to his ship with a heavy heart, for the express purpose of +teaching him the extent of her power and the value of her favour. She +overclouded him now and then, just to make him the more ardently long +for sunshine, and to convince him that in the highest sense of the word +he was a slave! + +To this bower, then, the Senhorina returned with a sad heart and swollen +eyes, to indulge in vain regrets. Her sorrows had overwhelmed her to +such an extent that she failed to observe the `Firefly's' salute. It +was therefore with a look of genuine surprise and agitation that she +suddenly beheld Lieutenant Lindsay, who had availed himself of the first +free moment, striding up the little path that led to the bower. + +"Maraquita!" he exclaimed, looking in amazement at the countenance of +his lady-love, which was what Norsemen style "begrutten." + +But Maraquita was in no mood to be driven out of her humour, even by her +lover. + +"I am miserable," she said with vehemence, clenching one of her little +fists as though she meditated an assault on the lieutenant--"utterly, +absolutely, inconsolably miserable." + +If Lindsay had entertained any doubt regarding the truth of her +assertion, it would have been dispelled by her subsequent conduct, for +she buried her face in a handkerchief and burst into tears. + +"Beloved, adorable, tender, delicious Maraquita," were words which leapt +into the lieutenant's mind, but he dare not utter them with his lips. +Neither did he venture to clasp Maraquita's waist with his left arm, lay +her pretty little head on his breast and smooth her luxuriant hair with +his right hand, though he felt almost irresistibly tempted so to do-- +entirely from feelings of pity, of course,--for the Senhorina had +hitherto permitted no familiarities beyond a gentle pressure of the hand +on meeting and at parting. + +It is unnecessary to repeat all that the bashful, though ardent, man of +war said to Maraquita, or all that Maraquita said to the man of war; +how, ignoring the celestial orbs and domestic economy, she launched out +into a rhapsodical panegyric of Azinte; told how the poor slave had +unburdened her heart to her about her handsome young husband and her +darling little boy in the far off interior, from whom she had been +rudely torn, and whom she never expected to see again; and how she, +Maraquita, had tried to console Azinte by telling her that there was a +heaven where good people might hope to meet again, even though they +never met on earth, and a great deal more besides, to all of which the +earnest lieutenant sought to find words wherewith to express his pity +and sympathy, but found them not, though he was at no loss to find words +to tell the queen of his soul that, in the peculiar circumstances of the +case, and all things considered, his love for her (Maraquita) was +tenfold more intense than it had ever been before! + +"Foolish boy," said the Senhorina, smiling through her tears, "what is +the use of telling me that? Can it do any good to Azinte?" + +"Not much, I'm afraid," replied the lieutenant. "Well, then, don't talk +nonsense, but tell me what I am to do to recover my little maid." + +"It is impossible for me to advise," said the lieutenant with a +perplexed look. + +"But you _must_ advise," said Maraquita, with great decision. + +"Well, I will try. How long is it since Azinte was taken away from +you?" + +"About two weeks." + +"You say that Marizano was the purchaser. Do you know to what part of +the coast he intended to convey her?" + +"How should I know? I have only just heard of the matter from my +father." + +"Well then, you must try to find out from your father all that he knows +about Marizano and his movements. That is the first step. After that I +will consider what can be done." + +"Yes, Senhor," said Maraquita, rising suddenly, "you must consider +quickly, and you must act at once, for you must not come here again +until you bring me news of Azinte." + +Poor Lindsay, who knew enough of the girl's character to believe her to +be thoroughly in earnest, protested solemnly that he would do his +utmost. + +All that Maraquita could ascertain from her father was, that Marizano +meant to proceed to Kilwa, the great slave-depot of the coast, there to +collect a large cargo of slaves and proceed with them to Arabia, +whenever he had reason to believe that the British cruisers were out of +the way. This was not much to go upon, but the Senhorina was as +unreasonable as were the Egyptians of old, when they insisted on the +Israelites making bricks without straw. + +He was unexpectedly helped out of his dilemma by Captain Romer, who +called him into his cabin that same evening, told him that he had +obtained information of the movements of slavers, which induced him to +think it might be worth while to watch the coast to the northward of +Cape Dalgado, and bade him prepare for a cruise in charge of the cutter, +adding that the steamer would soon follow and keep them in view. + +With a lightened heart Lindsay went off to prepare, and late that night +the cutter quietly pulled away from the `Firefly's' side, with a +well-armed crew, and provisioned for a short cruise. + +Their object was to proceed as stealthily as possible along the coast, +therefore they kept inside of islands as much as possible, and cruised +about a good deal at nights, always sleeping on board the boat, as the +low-lying coast was very unhealthy, but landing occasionally to obtain +water and to take a survey of the sea from convenient heights. + +Early one morning as they were sailing with a very light breeze, between +two small islands, a vessel was seen looming through the haze, not far +from shore. + +Jackson, one of the men, who has been introduced to the reader at an +earlier part of this narrative, was the first to observe the strangers. + +"It's a brig," he said; "I can make out her royals." + +"No, it's a barque," said the coxswain. + +A little midshipman, named Midgley, differed from both, and said it was +a large dhow, for he could make out the top of its lateen sail. + +"Whatever it is, we'll give chase," said Lindsay, ordering the men to +put out the oars and give way, the sail being of little use. + +In a few minutes the haze cleared sufficiently to prove that Midgley was +right. At the same time it revealed to those on board the dhow that +they were being chased by the boat of a man-of-war. The little wind +that blew at the time was insufficient to enable the dhow to weather a +point just ahead of her, and the cutter rowed down on her so fast that +it was evidently impossible for her to escape. + +Seeing this, the commander of the dhow at once ran straight for the +shore. Before the boat could reach her she was among the breakers on +the bar, which were so terrible at that part of the coast as to render +landing in a small boat quite out of the question. In a few minutes the +dhow was hurled on the beach and began to break up, while her crew and +cargo of slaves swarmed into the sea and tried to gain the shore. It +seemed to those in the boat that some hundreds of negroes were +struggling at one time in the seething foam. + +"We must risk it, and try to save some of the poor wretches," cried +Lindsay; "give way, lads, give way!" + +The boat shot in amongst the breakers, and was struck by several seas in +succession, and nearly swamped ere it reached the shore. But they were +too late to save many of the drowning. Most of the strongest of the +slaves had gained the shore and taken to the hills in wild terror, under +the impression so carefully instilled into them by the Arabs, that the +only object the Englishmen had in view was to catch, cook, and eat them! +The rest were drowned, with the exception of two men and seven little +children, varying from five to eight years of age, who were found +crawling on the beach, in such a state of emaciation that they could not +follow their companions into the bush. They tried, however, in their +own feeble, helpless way, to avoid capture and the terrible fate which +they thought awaited them. + +These were soon lifted tenderly into the boat. + +"Here, Jackson," cried Lindsay, lifting one of the children in his +strong arms, and handing it to the sailor, "carry that one very +carefully, she seems to be almost gone. God help her, poor, poor +child!" + +There was good cause for Lindsay's pity, for the little girl was so thin +that every bone in her body was sticking out--her elbow and knee-joints +being the largest parts of her shrunken limbs, and it was found that she +could not rise or even stretch herself out, in consequence, as was +afterwards ascertained, of her having been kept for many days in the +dhow in a sitting posture, with her knees doubled up against her face. +Indeed, most of the poor little things captured were found to be more or +less stiffened from the same cause. + +An Arab interpreter had been sent with Lindsay, but he turned out to be +so incapable that it was scarcely possible to gain any information from +him. He was either stupid in reality, or pretended to be so. The +latter supposition is not improbable, for many of the interpreters +furnished to the men-of-war on that coast were found to be favourable to +the slavers, insomuch that they have been known to mislead those whom +they were paid to serve. + +With great difficulty the cutter was pulled through the surf. That +afternoon the `Firefly' hove in sight, and took the rescued slaves on +board. + +Next day two boats from the steamer chased another dhow on shore, but +with even less result than before, for the whole of the slaves escaped +to the hills. On the day following, however, a large dhow was captured, +with about a hundred and fifty slaves on board, all of whom were +rescued, and the dhow destroyed. + +The dhows which were thus chased or captured were all regular and +undisguised slavers. Their owners were openly engaged in what they knew +was held to be piracy alike by the Portuguese, the Sultan of Zanzibar, +and the English. They were exporting slaves from Africa to Arabia and +Persia, which is an illegal species of traffic. In dealing with these, +no difficulty was experienced except the difficulty of catching them. +When caught, the dhows were invariably destroyed and the slaves set +free--that is to say, carried to those ports where they might be set +free with safety. + +But there were two other sorts of traffickers in the bodies and souls of +human beings, who were much more difficult to deal with. + +There were, first the legal slave-traders, namely, the men who convey +slaves by sea from one part of the Sultan of Zanzibar's dominions to +another. This kind of slavery was prosecuted under the shelter of what +we have already referred to as a domestic institution! It involved, as +we have said before, brutality, injustice, cruelty, theft, murder, and +extermination, but, being a domestic institution of Zanzibar, it was +held to be _legal_, and the British Government have recognised and +tolerated it by treaty for a considerable portion of this century! + +It is, however, but justice to ourselves to say, that our Government +entered into the treaty with the view of checking, limiting, and +mitigating the evils of the slave-trade. We have erred in recognising +any form of slavery, no matter how humane our object was--one proof of +which is that we have, by our interference, unintentionally increased +the evils of slavery instead of abating them. + +It is worth while remarking here, that slavery is also a domestic +institution in Arabia and Persia. If it be right that we should not +interfere with the Zanzibar institution, why should we interfere with +that of Arabia or Persia? Our treaty appears to have been founded on +the principle that we ought to respect domestic institutions. We +maintain a squadron on the east coast of Africa to stop the flow of +Africans to the latter countries, while we permit the flow by _treaty_, +as well as by practice, to the former. Is this consistent? The only +difference between the two cases is one of distance, not of principle. + +But to return to our point--the legal traders. In consequence of the +Sultan's dominions lying partly on an island and partly on the mainland, +his domestic institution necessitates boats, and in order to distinguish +between his boats and the pirates, there is a particular season fixed in +which he may carry his slaves by sea from one part of his dominions to +another; and each boat is furnished with papers which prove it to be a +"legal trader." This is the point on which the grand fallacy of _our_ +interference hinges. The "domestic institution" would be amply supplied +by about 4000 slaves a year. The so-called legal traders are simply +legalised deceivers, who transport not fewer than 30,000 slaves a year! +It must be borne in mind that these 30,000 represent only a portion--the +Zanzibar portion--of the great African slave-trade. From the Portuguese +settlements to the south, and from the north by way of Egypt, the export +of negroes as slaves is larger. It is estimated that the total number +of human beings enslaved on the east and north-east coast of Africa is +about 70,000 a year. As all authorities agree in the statement that, at +the _lowest_ estimate, only _one_ out of every five captured survives to +go into slavery, this number represents a loss to Africa of 350,000 +human beings a year. They leave Zanzibar with full cargoes continually, +with far more than is required for what we may term home-consumption. +Nevertheless, correct papers are furnished to them by the Sultan, which +protects them from British cruisers within the prescribed limits, +namely, between Cape Dalgado and Lamoo, a line of coast about 1500 miles +in extent. But it is easy for them to evade the cruisers in these wide +seas and extensive coasts, and the value of Black Ivory is so great that +the loss of a few is but a small matter. On reaching the northern +limits the legal traders become pirates. They run to the northward, and +take their chance of being captured by cruisers. + +The reason of all this is very obvious. The Sultan receives nearly half +a sovereign a head for each slave imported into Zanzibar, and our +Governments, in time past, have allowed themselves to entertain the +belief, that, by treaty, the Sultan could be induced to destroy this the +chief source of his revenue! + +Surely it is not too much to say, that _Great Britain ought to enter +into no treaty whatever in regard to slavery, excepting such as shall +provide for the absolute, total, and immediate extirpation thereof by +whatsoever name called_. + +Besides these two classes of slavers,--the open, professional pirates, +and the sneaking, deceiving "domestic" slavers,--there are the +slave-smugglers. They are men who profess to be, and actually are, +legal traders in ivory, gum, copal, and other produce of Africa. These +fellows manage to smuggle two or three slaves each voyage to the Black +Ivory markets, under pretence that they form part of the crew of their +dhows. It is exceedingly difficult, almost impossible, for the officers +of our cruisers to convict these smugglers--to distinguish between +slaves and crews, consequently immense numbers of slaves are carried off +to the northern ports in this manner. Sometimes these dhows carry Arab +or other passengers, and when there are so many slaves on board that it +would be obviously absurd to pretend that they formed part of the crew, +the owner dresses the poor wretches up in the habiliments that come most +readily to hand, and passes them off as the wives or servants of these +passengers. Any one might see at a glance that the stupid, silent, +timid-looking creatures, who have had almost every human element beaten +out of them, are nothing of the sort, but there is no means of _proving_ +them other than they are represented to be. If an interpreter were to +ask them they would be ready to swear anything that their owner had +commanded; hence the cruisers are deceived in every way--in many ways +besides those now mentioned--and our philanthropic intentions are +utterly thwarted; for the rescuing and setting free of 1000 or 2000 +negroes a year out of the 30,000 annually exported, is not an adequate +result for our great expense in keeping a squadron on the coast, +especially when we consider that hundreds, probably thousands, of slaves +perish amid horrible sufferings caused by the efforts of the +man-stealers to avoid our cruisers. These would probably not lose their +lives, and the entire body of slaves would suffer less, if we did not +interfere at all. + +From this we do not argue that non-interference would be best, but that +as our present system of repression does not effectively accomplish what +is aimed at, it ought to be changed. What the change should be, many +wise and able men have stated. Their opinion we cannot quote here, but +one thing taught to us by past experience is clear, we cannot cure the +slave-trade by merely limiting it. Our motto in regard to slavery ought +to be--_Total and immediate extinction everywhere_. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +STRONG MEASURES LEAD TO UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES. + +"I'm terribly worried and perplexed," said Lieutenant Lindsay one +afternoon to Midshipman Midgley, as they were creeping along the coast +in the neighbourhood of Cape Dalgado. + +"Why so?" inquired the middy. + +"Because I can learn nothing whatever about the movements of Marizano," +replied the Lieutenant. "I have not spoken to you about this man +hitherto, because--because--that is to say--the fact is, it wasn't worth +while, seeing that you know no more about him than I do, perhaps not so +much. But I can't help thinking that we might have learned something +about him by this time, only our interpreter is such an unmitigated ass, +he seems to understand nothing--to pick up nothing." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed the midshipman; "I'm surprised to hear you say so, +because I heard Suliman whispering last night with that half-caste +fellow whom we captured along with the other niggers, and I am confident +that he mentioned the name of Marizano several times." + +"Did he? Well now, the rascal invariably looks quite blank when I +mention Marizano's name, and shakes his head, as if he had never heard +of it before." + +"Couldn't you intimidate him into disgorging a little of his knowledge?" +suggested Midgley, with an arch look. + +"I have thought of that," replied Lindsay, with a frown. "Come, it's +not a bad idea; I'll try! Hallo! Suliman, come aft, I want you." + +Lieutenant Lindsay was one of those men who are apt to surprise people +by the precipitancy of their actions. He was not, indeed, hasty; but +when his mind was made up he was not slow in proceeding to action. It +was so on the present occasion, to the consternation of Suliman, who had +hitherto conceived him to be rather a soft easy-going man. + +"Suliman," he said, in a low but remarkably firm tone of voice, "you +know more about Marizano than you choose to tell me. Now," he +continued, gazing into the Arab's cold grey eyes, while he pulled a +revolver from his coat-pocket and cocked it, "I intend to make you tell +me all you know about him, or to blow your brains out." + +He moved the pistol gently as he spoke, and placed his forefinger on the +trigger. + +"I not know," began Suliman, who evidently did not believe him to be +quite in earnest; but before the words had well left his lips the drum +of his left ear was almost split by the report of the pistol, and a part +of his turban was blown away. + +"You don't know? very well," said Lindsay, recocking the pistol, and +placing the cold muzzle of it against the Arab's yellow nose. + +This was too much for Suliman. He grew pale, and suddenly fell on his +knees. + +"Oh! stop! no--no! not fire! me tell you 'bout 'im." + +"Good, get up and do so," said the Lieutenant, uncocking the revolver, +and returning it to his pocket; "and be sure that you tell me all, else +your life won't be worth the value of the damaged turban on your head." + +With a good deal of trepidation the alarmed interpreter thereupon gave +Lindsay all the information he possessed in regard to the slaver, which +amounted to this, that he had gone to Kilwa, where he had collected a +band of slaves sufficient to fill a large dhow, with which he intended, +in two days more, to sail, in company with a fleet of slavers, for the +north. + +"Does he intend to touch at Zanzibar?" inquired Lindsay. + +"Me tink no," replied the interpreter; "got many pritty garls--go +straight for Persia." + +On hearing this the Lieutenant put the cutter about, and sailed out to +sea in search of the `Firefly,' which he knew could not at that time be +at any great distance from the shore. + +He found her sooner than he had expected; and, to his immense +astonishment as well as joy, one of the first persons he beheld on +stepping over the side of his ship was Azinte. + +"You have captured Marizano, sir, I see," he said to Captain Romer. + +"Not the scoundrel himself, but one of his dhows," replied the Captain. +"He had started for the northern ports with two heavily-laden vessels. +We discovered him five days ago, and, fortunately, just beyond the +protected water, so that he was a fair and lawful prize. The first of +his dhows, being farthest out from shore, we captured, but the other, +commanded by himself, succeeded in running ashore, and he escaped; with +nearly all his slaves--only a few of the women and children being +drowned in the surf. And now, as our cargo of poor wretches is pretty +large, I shall run for the Seychelles. After landing them I shall +return as fast as possible, to intercept a few more of these pirates." + +"To the Seychelles!" muttered the Lieutenant to himself as he went +below, with an expression on his countenance something between surprise +and despair. + +Poor Lindsay! His mind was so taken up with, and confused by, the +constant and obtrusive presence of the Senhorina Maraquita that the +particular turn which affairs had taken had not occurred to him, +although that turn was quite natural, and by no means improbable. +Marizano, with Azinte on board of one of his piratical dhows, was +proceeding to the north. Captain Romer, with his war-steamer, was on +the look-out for piratical dhows. What more natural than that the +Captain should fall in with the pirate? But Lieutenant Lindsay's mind +had been so filled with Maraquita that it seemed to be, for the time, +incapable of holding more than one other idea--that idea was the +fulfilment of Maraquita's commands to obtain information as to her lost +Azinte. To this he had of late devoted all his powers, happy in the +thought that it fell in with and formed part of his duty, to his Queen +and country, as well as to the "Queen of his soul." To rescue Azinte +from Marizano seemed to the bold Lieutenant an easy enough matter; but +to rescue her from his own Captain, and send her back into slavery! +"Ass! that I am," he exclaimed, "not to have thought of this before. Of +course she can _never_ be returned to Maraquita, and small comfort it +will be to the Senhorina to be told that her favourite is free in the +Seychelles Islands, and utterly beyond her reach, unless she chooses to +go there and stay with her." + +Overwhelmed with disgust at his own stupidity, and at the utter +impossibility of doing anything to mend matters, the unfortunate +Lieutenant sat down to think, and the result of his thinking was that he +resolved at all events to look well after Azinte, and see that she +should be cared for on her arrival at the Seychelles. + +Among the poor creatures who had been rescued from Marizano's dhow were +nearly a hundred children, in such a deplorable condition that small +hopes were entertained of their reaching the island alive. Their young +lives, however, proved to be tenacious. Experienced though their hardy +rescuers were in rough and tumble work, they had no conception what +these poor creatures had already gone through, and, therefore, formed a +mistaken estimate of their powers of endurance. Eighty-three of them +reached the Seychelles alive. They were placed under the care of a +warm-hearted missionary, who spared no pains for their restoration to +health; but despite his utmost efforts, forty of these eventually died-- +their little frames had been whipped, and starved, and tried to such an +extent, that recovery was impossible. + +To the care of this missionary Lieutenant Lindsay committed Azinte, +telling him as much of her sad story as he was acquainted with. The +missionary willingly took charge of her, and placed her as a nurse in +the temporary hospital which he had instituted for the little ones above +referred to. Here Azinte proved herself to be a most tender, +affectionate, and intelligent nurse to the poor children, for whom she +appeared to entertain particular regard, and here, on the departure of +the `Firefly' shortly afterwards, Lindsay left her in a state of +comfort, usefulness, and comparative felicity. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +DESCRIBES SOME OF THE DOINGS OF YOOSOOF AND HIS MEN IN PROCURING BLACK +IVORY FROM THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA. + +A dirty shop, in a filthy street in the unhealthy town of Zanzibar, is +the point to which we now beg leave to conduct our reader--whom we also +request to leap, in a free and easy way, over a few months of time! + +It is not for the sake of the shop that we make this leap, but for the +purpose of introducing the two men who, at the time we write of, sat +over their grog in a small back-room connected with that shop. Still +the shop itself is not altogether unworthy of notice. It is what the +Americans call a store--a place where you can purchase almost every +article that the wants of man have called into being. The prevailing +smells are of oil, sugar, tea, molasses, paint, and tar, a compound +which confuses the discriminating powers of the nose, and, on the +principle that extremes meet, removes the feeling of surprise that ought +to be aroused by discovering that these odours are in close connexion +with haberdashery and hardware. There are enormous casks, puncheons, +and kegs on the floor; bales on the shelves; indescribable confusion in +the corners; preserved meat tins piled to the ceiling; with dust and +dirt encrusting everything. The walls, beams, and rafters, appear to be +held together by means of innumerable cobwebs. Hosts of flies fatten +on, without diminishing, the stock, and squadrons of cockroaches career +over the earthen floor. + +In the little back-room of this shop sat the slave-dealer Yoosoof, in +company with the captain of an English ship which lay in the harbour. + +Smoke from the captain's pipe filled the little den to such an extent +that Yoosoof and his friend were not so clearly distinguishable as might +have been desired. + +"You're all a set of false-hearted, wrong-headed, low-minded, +scoundrels," said the plain-spoken captain, accompanying each +asseveration with a puff so violent as to suggest the idea that his +remarks were round-shot and his mouth a cannon. + +The Briton was evidently not in a complimentary mood. It was equally +evident that Yoosoof was not in a touchy vein, for he smiled the +slightest possible smile and shrugged his shoulders. He had business to +transact with the captain which was likely to result very much to his +advantage, and Yoosoof was not the man to let feelings stand in the way +of business. + +"Moreover," pursued the captain, in a gruff voice, "the trade in slaves +is illegally conducted in one sense, namely, that it is largely carried +on by British subjects." + +"How you make that out?" asked Yoosoof. + +"How? why, easy enough. Aren't the richest men in Zanzibar the Banyans, +and don't these Banyans, who number about 17,000 of your population, +supply you Arabs with money to carry on the accursed slave-trade? And +ain't these Banyans Indian merchants--subjects of Great Britain?" + +Yoosoof shrugged his shoulders again and smiled. + +"And don't these opulent rascals," continued the Briton, "love their +ease as well as their money, and when they want to increase the latter +without destroying the former, don't they make advances to the like of +you and get 100 per cent out of you for every dollar advanced?" + +Yoosoof nodded his head decidedly at this, and smiled again. + +"Well, then, ain't the whole lot of you a set of mean scoundrels?" said +the captain fiercely. + +Yoosoof did not smile at this; he even looked for a moment as if he were +going to resent it, but it was only for a moment. Self-interest came +opportunely to his aid, and made him submissive. + +"What can we do?" he asked after a short silence. "You knows what the +Sultan say, other day, to one British officer, `If you stop slave-trade +you will ruin Zanzibar.' We mus' not do that. Zanzibar mus' not be +ruin." + +"Why not?" demanded the captain, with a look of supreme contempt, "what +if Zanzibar _was_ ruined? Look here, now, Yoosoof, your dirty little +island--the whole island observe--is not quite the size of my own Scotch +county of Lanark. Its population is short of 250,000 all told--scarce +equal to the half of the population of Lanark--composed of +semi-barbarians and savages. That's one side of the question. Here's +the other side: Africa is one of the four quarters of the earth, with +millions of vigorous niggers and millions of acres of splendid land, and +no end of undeveloped resources, and you have the impudence to tell me +that an enormous lump of this land must be converted into a desert, and +something like 150,000 of its best natives be drawn off _annually_--for +what?--for what?" repeated the sailor, bringing his fist down on the +table before him with such force that the glasses danced on it and the +dust flew up; "for what? I say; for a paltry, pitiful island, ruled by +a sham sultan, without army or navy, and with little money, save what he +gets by slave-dealing; an island which has no influence for good on the +world, morally, religiously, or socially, and with little commercially, +though it has much influence for evil; an island which has helped the +Portuguese to lock up the east coast of Africa for centuries; an island +which would not be missed--save as a removed curse--if it were sunk this +night to the bottom of the sea, and all its selfish, sensual, +slave-dealing population swept entirely off the face of the earth." + +The captain had risen and dashed his pipe to atoms on the floor in his +indignation as he made these observations. He now made an effort to +control himself, and then, sitting down, he continued--"Just think, +Yoosoof; you're a sharp man of business, as I know to my cost. You can +understand a thing in a commercial point of view. Just try to look at +it thus: On the one side of the world's account you have Zanzibar sunk +with all its Banyan and Arab population; we won't sink the niggers, poor +wretches. We'll suppose them saved, along with the consuls, +missionaries, and such-like. Well, that's a loss of somewhere about +83,000 scoundrels,--a gain we might call it, but for the sake of +argument we'll call it a loss. On the other side of the account you +have 30,000 niggers--fair average specimens of humanity--saved from +slavery, besides something like 150,000 more saved from death by war and +starvation, the results of the slave-trade; 83,000 from 150,000 leaves +67,000! The loss, you see, would be more than wiped off, and a handsome +balance left at the world's credit the very first year! To say nothing +of the opening up of legitimate commerce to one of the richest countries +on earth, and the consequent introduction of Christianity." + +The captain paused to take breath. Yoosoof shrugged his shoulders, and +a brief silence ensued, which was happily broken, not by a recurrence to +the question of slavery, but by the entrance of a slave. He came in +search of Yoosoof for the purpose of telling him that his master wished +to speak with him. As the slave's master was one of the wealthy Banyans +just referred to, Yoosoof rose at once, and, apologising to the captain +for quitting him so hurriedly, left that worthy son of Neptune to cool +his indignation in solitude. + +Passing through several dirty streets the slave led the slaver to a +better sort of house in a more salubrious or, rather, less pestilential, +part of the town. He was ushered into the presence of an elderly man of +quiet, unobtrusive aspect. + +"Yoosoof," said the Banyan in Arabic, "I have been considering the +matter about which we had some conversation yesterday, and I find that +it will be convenient for me to make a small venture. I can let you +have three thousand dollars." + +"On the old terms?" asked Yoosoof. + +"On the old terms," replied the merchant. "Will you be ready to start +soon?" + +Yoosoof said that he would, that he had already completed the greater +part of his preparations, and that he hoped to start for the interior in +a week or two. + +"That is well; I hope you may succeed in doing a good deal of business," +said the merchant with an amiable nod and smile, which might have led an +ignorant onlooker to imagine that Yoosoof's business in the interior was +work of a purely philanthropic nature! + +"There is another affair, which, it has struck me, may lie in your way," +continued the merchant. "The British consul is, I am told, anxious to +find some one who will undertake to make inquiries in the interior about +some Englishmen, who are said to have been captured by the black fellows +and made slaves of." + +"Does the consul know what tribe has captured them?" asked Yoosoof. + +"I think not; but as he offers five hundred dollars for every lost white +man who shall be recovered and brought to the coast alive, I thought +that you might wish to aid him!" + +"True," said Yoosoof, musing, "true, I will go and see him." + +Accordingly, the slave-dealer had an interview with the consul, during +which he learned that there was no absolute certainty of any Englishmen +having been captured. It was only a vague rumour; nevertheless it was +sufficiently probable to warrant the offer of five hundred dollars to +any one who should effect a rescue; therefore Yoosoof, having occasion +to travel into the interior at any rate, undertook to make inquiries. + +He was also told that two Englishmen had, not long before, purchased an +outfit, and started off with the intention of proceeding to the interior +by way of the Zambesi river, and they, the consul said, might possibly +be heard of by him near the regions to which he was bound; but these, he +suggested, could not be the men who were reported as missing. + +Of course Yoosoof had not the most remote idea that these were the very +Englishmen whom he himself had captured on the coast, for, after parting +from them abruptly, as described in a former chapter, he had ceased to +care or think about them, and besides, was ignorant of the fact that +they had been to Zanzibar. + +Yoosoof's own particular business required a rather imposing outfit. +First of all, he purchased and packed about 600 pounds worth of beads of +many colours, cloth of different kinds, thick brass wire, and a variety +of cheap trinkets, such as black men and women are fond of, for Yoosoof +was an "honest" trader, and paid his way when he found it suitable to do +so. He likewise hired a hundred men, whom he armed with guns, powder, +and ball, for Yoosoof was also a dishonest trader, and fought his way +when that course seemed most desirable. + +With this imposing caravan he embarked in a large dhow, sailed for the +coast landed at Kilwa, and proceeded into the interior of Africa. + +It was a long and toilsome journey over several hundred miles of +exceedingly fertile and beautiful country, eminently suited for the +happy abode of natives. But Yoosoof and his class who traded in black +ivory had depopulated it to such an extent that scarce a human being was +to be seen all the way. There were plenty of villages, but they were in +ruins, and acres of cultivated ground with the weeds growing rank where +the grain had once flourished. Further on in the journey, near the end +of it, there was a change; the weeds and grain grew together and did +battle, but in most places the weeds gained the victory. It was quite +evident that the whole land had once been a rich garden teeming with +human life--savage life, no doubt still, not so savage but that it could +manage to exist in comparative enjoyment and multiply. Yoosoof--passed +through a hundred and fifty miles of this land; it was a huge grave, +which, appropriately enough, was profusely garnished with human bones. +[See Livingstone's _Tributaries of the Zambesi_, page 391.] + +At last the slave-trader reached lands which were not utterly forsaken. + +Entering a village one afternoon he sent a present of cloth and beads to +the chief, and, after a few preliminary ceremonies, announced that he +wished to purchase slaves. + +The chief, who was a fine-looking young warrior, said that he had no +men, women or children to sell, except a few criminals to whom he was +welcome at a very low price,--about two or three yards of calico each. +There were also one or two orphan children whose parents had died +suddenly, and to whom no one in the village could lay claim. It was +true that these poor orphans had been adopted by various families who +might not wish to part with them; but no matter, the chief's command was +law. Yoosoof might have the orphans also for a very small sum,--a yard +of calico perhaps. But nothing would induce the chief to compel any of +his people to part with their children, and none of the people seemed +desirous of doing so. + +The slave-trader therefore adopted another plan. He soon managed to +ascertain that the chief had an old grudge against a neighbouring chief. +In the course of conversation he artfully stirred up the slumbering +ill-will, and carefully fanned it into a flame without appearing to have +any such end in view. When the iron was sufficiently hot he struck it-- +supplied the chief with guns and ammunition, and even, as a great +favour, offered to lend him a few of his own men in order that he might +make a vigorous attack on his old enemy. + +The device succeeded to perfection. War was begun without any previous +declaration; prisoners were soon brought in--not only men, but women and +children. The first were coupled together with heavy slave-sticks, +which were riveted to their necks; the latter were attached to each +other with ropes; and thus Yoosoof, in a few days, was enabled to +proceed on his journey with a goodly drove of "black cattle" behind him. + +This occurred not far from Lake Nyassa, which he intended should be his +headquarters for a time, while his men, under a new leader whom he +expected to meet there, should push their victorious arms farther into +the interior. + +On reaching the shores of the noble lake, he found several birds of the +same feather with himself--Arabs engaged in the same trade. He also +found his old friend and trusty ally, Marizano. This gratified him +much, for he was at once enabled to hand over the charge of the +expedition to his lieutenant, and send him forth on his mission. + +That same evening--a lovely and comparatively cool one--Yoosoof and the +half-caste sauntered on the margin of the lake, listening to the sweet +melody of the free and happy birds, and watching the debarkation, from a +large boat, of a band of miserable slaves who had been captured or +purchased on the other side. + +"Now, Marizano," said Yoosoof, addressing the half-caste in his native +tongue, "I do not intend to cumber you with cloth or beads on this +expedition. I have already spent a good deal in the purchase of slaves, +who are now in my barracoon, and I think it will be both cheaper and +easier to make up the rest of the gang by means of powder and lead." + +"It is lighter to carry, and more effectual," remarked Marizano, with a +nod of approval. + +"True," returned Yoosoof, "and quicker. Will a hundred men and guns +suffice?" + +"Eighty are enough to conquer any of the bow and spear tribes of this +region," replied the half-caste carelessly. + +"Good!" continued Yoosoof. "Then you shall start to-morrow. The tribes +beyond this lake are not yet afraid of us--thanks to the mad Englishman, +Livingstone, who has opened up the country and spread the information +that white men are the friends of the black, and hate slavery." +[Livingstone tells us that he found, on ascending the Shire river, that +the Portuguese slave-traders had followed closely in the footsteps of +his previous discoveries, and passed themselves off as his friends, by +which means they were successful in gaining the confidence of the +natives whom they afterwards treacherously murdered or enslaved.] + +"You may try to pass yourself off as a white man, though your face is +not so white as might be desired; however, you can comfort yourself with +the knowledge that it is whiter than your heart!" + +The Arab smiled and glanced at his lieutenant. Marizano smiled, bowed +in acknowledgment of the compliment, and replied that he believed +himself to be second to no one except his employer in that respect. + +"Well, then," continued Yoosoof, "you must follow up the discoveries of +this Englishman; give out that you are his friend, and have come there +for the same purposes; and, when you have put them quite at their ease, +commence a brisk trade with them--for which purpose you may take with +you just enough of cloth and beads to enable you to carry out the +deception. For the rest I need not instruct; you know what to do as +well as I." + +Marizano approved heartily of this plan, and assured his chief that his +views should be carried out to his entire satisfaction. + +"But there is still another point," said Yoosoof, "on which I have to +talk. It appears that there are some white men who have been taken +prisoners by one of the interior tribes--I know not which--for the +finding of whom the British consul at Zanzibar has offered me five +hundred dollars. If you can obtain information about these men it will +be well. If you can find and rescue them it will be still better, and +you shall have a liberal share of the reward." + +While the Arab was speaking, the half-caste's visage betrayed a slight +degree of surprise. + +"White men!" he said, pulling up his sleeve and showing a gun-shot wound +in his arm which appeared to be not very old. "A white man inflicted +that not long ago, and not very far from the spot on which we stand. I +had vowed to take the life of that white man if we should ever chance to +meet, but if it is worth five hundred dollars I may be tempted to spare +it!" + +He laughed lightly as he spoke, and then added, with a thoughtful +look,--"But I don't see how these men--there were two of them, if not +more--can be prisoners, because, when I came across them, they were +well-armed, well supplied, and well attended, else, you may be sure, +they had not given me this wound and freed my slaves. But the +scoundrels who were with me at the time were cowards." + +"You are right," said Yoosoof. "The white men you met I heard of at +Zanzibar. They cannot be the prisoners we are asked to search for. +They have not yet been long enough away, I should think, to have come by +any mischance, and the white men who are said to be lost have been +talked about in Zanzibar for a long time. However, make diligent +inquiries, because the promise is, that the five hundred dollars shall +be ours if we rescue _any_ white man, no matter who he may chance to be. +And now I shall show you the cattle I have obtained on the way up." + +The barracoon, to which the Arab led his lieutenant, was a space +enclosed by a strong and high stockade, in which slaves were kept under +guard until a sufficient number should be secured to form a gang, +wherewith to start for the coast. At the entrance stood a +savage-looking Portuguese half-caste armed with a gun. Inside there was +an assortment of Yoosoof's Black Ivory. It was in comparatively good +condition at that time, not having travelled far, and, as it was +necessary to keep it up to a point of strength sufficient to enable it +to reach the coast, it was pretty well fed except in the case of a few +rebellious articles. There were, however, specimens of damaged goods +even there. Several of the orphans, who had become Yoosoof's property, +although sprightly enough when first purchased, had not stood even the +short journey to the lake so well as might have been expected. They had +fallen off in flesh to such an extent that Yoosoof was induced to remark +to Marizano, as they stood surveying them, that he feared they would +never reach the coast alive. + +"That one, now," he said, pointing to a little boy who was tightly +wedged in the midst of the group of slaves, and sat on the ground with +his face resting on his knees, "is the most troublesome piece of goods I +have had to do with since I began business; and it seems to me that I am +going to lose him after all." + +"What's the matter with him?" asked the half-caste. + +"Nothing particular, only he is a delicate boy. At first I refused him, +but he is so well-made, though delicate, and such a good-looking child, +and so spirited, that I decided to take him; but he turns out to be +_too_ spirited. Nothing that I can do will tame him,--oh, _that_ won't +do it," said Yoosoof, observing that Marizano raised the switch he +carried in his hand with a significant action; "I have beaten him till +there is scarcely a sound inch of skin on his whole body, but it's of no +use. Ho! stand up," called Yoosoof, letting the lash of his whip fall +lightly on the boy's shoulders. + +There was, however, no response; the Arab therefore repeated the order, +and laid the lash across the child's bare back with a degree of force +that would have caused the stoutest man to wince; still the boy did not +move. Somewhat surprised, Yoosoof pushed his way towards him, seized +him by the hair and threw back his head. + +The Arab left him immediately and remarked in a quiet tone that he +should have no more trouble with him--he was dead! + +"What's the matter with that fellow?" asked Marizano, pointing to a man +who was employed in constantly rolling up a bit of wet clay and applying +it to his left eye. + +"Ah, he's another of these unmanageable fellows," replied Yoosoof. "I +have been trying to tame _him_ by starvation. The other morning he fell +on his knees before the man who guards the barracoon and entreated him +to give him food. The guard is a rough fellow, and had been put out of +temper lately by a good many of the slaves. Instead of giving him food +he gave him a blow in the eye which burst the ball of it, and of course +has rendered him worthless; but _he_ won't trouble us long." + +In another place a woman crouched on the ground, having something +wrapped in leaves which she pressed to her dried breast. It was the +body of a child to which she had recently given birth in that place of +woe. + +Leaving his cringing and terrified goods to the guardian of the +barracoon, the Arab returned to his tent beside the beautiful lake, and +there, while enjoying the aroma of flowers and the cool breeze, and the +genial sunshine, and the pleasant influences which God has scattered +with bountiful hand over that luxuriant portion of the earth, calmly +concerted with Marizano the best method by which he could bring +inconceivable misery on thousands of its wretched inhabitants. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +TELLS OF MISFORTUNES THAT BEFELL OUR WANDERERS; OF FAMILIAR TOYS UNDER +NEW ASPECTS, ETCETERA. + +When Harold Seadrift and Disco Lillihammer were stopped in their +journey, as related in a former chapter, by the sudden illness of the +bold seaman, an event was impending over them which effectually +overturned their plans. This was the sudden descent of a band of armed +natives who had been recently driven from their homes by a slaving +party. The slavers had taken them by surprise during the night, set +their huts on fire, captured their women and children, and slaughtered +all the men, excepting those who sought and found safety in flight. It +was those who had thus escaped that chanced to come upon the camp of our +travellers one evening about sunset. + +Disco was recovering from his attack of fever at the time, though still +weak. Harold was sitting by his couch of leaves in the hut which had +been erected for him on the first day of the illness. Jumbo was cutting +up a piece of flesh for supper, and Antonio was putting the kettle on +the fire. The rest of the party were away in the woods hunting. + +No guard was kept; consequently the savages came down on them like a +thunderbolt, and found them quite unprepared to resist even if +resistance had been of any use. + +At first their captors, bitterly infuriated by their recent losses, +proposed to kill their prisoners, without delay, by means of the most +excruciating tortures that they could invent, but from some unknown +cause, changed their minds; coupled Harold and Disco together by means +of two slave-sticks; tied Antonio and Jumbo with ropes, and drove them +away. + +So suddenly was the thing done, and so effectually, that Disco was far +from the camp before he could realise that what had occurred was a fact, +and not one of the wild feverish dreams that had beset him during his +illness. + +The natives would not listen to the earnest explanation of Antonio that +Harold and Disco were Englishmen, and haters of slavery. They scowled +as they replied that the same had been said by the slavers who had +attacked their village; from which remark it would seem that Yoosoof was +not quite the originator of that device to throw the natives off their +guard. The Portuguese of Tette on the Zambesi had also thought of and +acted on it! + +Fortunately it was, as we have said, near sunset when the capture was +made, and before it became quite dark the band encamped, else must poor +Disco have succumbed to weakness and fatigue. The very desperation of +his circumstances, however, seemed to revive his strength, for next +morning he resumed his journey with some hope of being able to hold out. +The continued protestations and assurances of Antonio, also, had the +effect of inducing their captors to remove the heavy slave-sticks from +the necks of Harold and Disco, though they did not unbind their wrists. +Thus were they led further into the country, they knew not whither, for +several days and nights, and at last reached a large village where they +were all thrust into a hut, and left to their meditations, while their +captors went to palaver with the chief man of the place. + +This chief proved to be a further-sighted man than the men of the tribe +who had captured the Englishmen. His name was Yambo. He had heard of +Dr Livingstone, and had met with men of other tribes who had seen and +conversed with the great traveller. Thus, being of a thoughtful and +inquiring disposition, he had come to understand enough of the good +white man's sentiments to guard him from being imposed on by pretended +Christians. + +Yambo's name signified "how are you?" and was probably bestowed on him +because of a strongly benevolent tendency to greet friend and stranger +alike with a hearty "how d'ee do?" sort of expression of face and tone +of voice. + +He was a tall grave man, with a commanding firm look, and, withal, a +dash of child-like humour and simplicity. On hearing his visitors' +remarks about their captives, he at once paid them a visit and a few +leading questions put to Harold through Antonio convinced him that the +prisoners were true men. He therefore returned to his black visitors, +told them that he had perfect confidence in the good faith of the white +men, and said that he meant to take charge of them. He then entertained +his black brothers hospitably, gave them a few presents, and sent them +on their way. This done he returned to his guests and told them that +they were free, that their captors were gone, and that they might go +where they pleased, but that it would gratify him much if they would +consent to spend some time hunting with him in the neighbourhood of his +village. + +"Now," said Disco, after Yambo left them, "this is wot I call the most +uncommon fix that ever wos got into by man since Adam an' Eve began +housekeepin' in the garden of Eden." + +"I'm not quite sure," replied Harold, with a rueful look, "that it is +absolutely the _worst_ fix, but it is bad enough. The worst of it is +that this Yambo has let these rascals off with all our fire-arms and +camp-equipage, so that we are absolutely helpless--might as well be +prisoners, for we can't quit this village in such circumstances." + +"Wot's wuss than that to my mind, sir, is, that here we are at sea, in +the heart of Afriky, without chart, quadrant, compass, or rudder, an' no +more idea of our whereabouts than one o' them spider monkeys that grins +among the trees. Hows'ever, we're in luck to fall into the hands of a +friendly chief, so, like these same monkeys, we must grin an' bear it; +only I can't help feelin' a bit cast down at the loss of our messmates. +I fear there's no chance of their findin' us." + +"Not the least chance in the world, I should say," returned Harold. +"They could not guess in which direction we had gone, and unless they +had hit on the right road at first, every step they took afterwards +would only widen the distance between us." + +"It's lucky I was beginnin' to mend before we was catched," said Disco, +feeling the muscles of his legs; "true, I ain't much to boast of yet but +I'm improvin'." + +"That is more than I can say for myself," returned Harold, with a sigh, +as he passed his hand across his forehead; "I feel as if this last push +through the woods in the hot sun, and the weight of that terrible +slave-stick had been almost too much for me." + +Disco looked earnestly and anxiously into the face of his friend. + +"Wot," asked he, "does you feel?" + +"I can scarcely tell," replied Harold, with a faint smile. "Oh, I +suppose I'm a little knocked up, that's all. A night's rest will put me +all right." + +"So I thought myself, but I wos wrong," said Disco. "Let's hear wot +your feelin's is, sir; I'm as good as any doctor now, I am, in regard to +symptoms." + +"Well, I feel a sort of all-overishness, a kind of lassitude and +sleepiness, with a slight headache, and a dull pain which appears to be +creeping up my spine." + +"You're in for it sir," said Disco. "It's lucky you have always carried +the physic in your pockets, 'cause you'll need it, an' it's lucky, too, +that I am here and well enough to return tit for tat and nurse you, +'cause you'll have that 'ere pain in your spine creep up your back and +round your ribs till it lays hold of yer shoulders, where it'll stick as +if it had made up its mind to stay there for ever an' a day. Arter that +you'll get cold an' shivering like ice--oh! doesn't I know it well--an' +then hot as fire, with heavy head, an' swimming eyes, an' twisted sight, +an' confusion of--" + +"Hold! hold!" cried Harold, laughing, "if you go on in that way I shall +have more than my fair share of it! Pray stop, and leave me a little to +find out for myself." + +"Well, sir, take a purge, and turn in at once, that's my advice. I'll +dose you with quinine to-morrow mornin', first thing," said Disco, +rising and proceeding forthwith to arrange a couch in a corner of the +hut, which Yambo had assigned them. + +Harold knew well enough that his follower was right. He took his advice +without delay, and next morning found himself little better than a +child, both physically and mentally, for the disease not only prostrated +his great strength--as it had that of his equally robust companion--but, +at a certain stage, induced delirium, during which he talked the most +ineffable nonsense that his tongue could pronounce, or his brain +conceive. + +Poor Disco, who, of course, had been unable to appreciate the extent of +his own delirious condition, began to fear that his leader's mind was +gone for ever, and Jumbo was so depressed by the unutterably solemn +expression of the mariner's once jovial countenance, that he did not +once show his teeth for a whole week, save when engaged with meals. + +As for Antonio, his nature not being very sympathetic, and his health +being good, he rather enjoyed the quiet life and good living which +characterised the native village, and secretly hoped that Harold might +remain on the sick-list for a considerable time to come. + +How long this state of affairs lasted we cannot tell, for both Harold +and Disco lost the correct record of time during their respective +illnesses. + +Up to that period they had remembered the days of the week, in +consequence of their habit of refraining from going out to hunt on +Sundays, except when a dearth of meat in the larder rendered hunting a +necessity. Upon these Sundays Harold's conscience sometimes reproached +him for having set out on his journey into Africa without a Bible. He +whispered, to himself at first, and afterwards suggested to Disco, the +excuse that his Bible had been lost in the wreck of his father's vessel, +and that, perhaps, there were no Bibles to be purchased in Zanzibar, but +his conscience was a troublesome one, and refused to tolerate such bad +reasoning, reminding him, reproachfully, that he had made no effort +whatever to obtain a Bible at Zanzibar. + +As time had passed, and some of the horrors of the slave-trade had been +brought under his notice, many of the words of Scripture leaped to his +remembrance, and the regret that he had not carried a copy with him +increased. That touch of thoughtlessness, so natural to the young and +healthy--to whom life has so far been only a garden of roses--was +utterly routed by the stern and dreadful realities which had been +recently enacted around him, and just in proportion as he was impressed +with the lies, tyranny, cruelty, and falsehood of man, so did his +thoughtful regard for the truth and the love of God increase, especially +those truths that were most directly opposed to the traffic in human +flesh, such as--"love your enemies," "seek peace with all men," "be +kindly affectioned one to another," "whatsoever ye would that men should +do unto you, do ye even so to them." An absolute infidel, he thought, +could not fail to perceive that a most blessed change would come over +the face of Africa if such principles prevailed among its inhabitants, +even in an extremely moderate degree. + +But to return, the unfortunate travellers were now "at sea" altogether +in regard to the Sabbath as well as the day of the month. Indeed their +minds were not very clear as to the month itself! + +"Hows'ever," said Disco, when this subject afterwards came to be +discussed, "it don't matter much. Wot is it that the Scriptur' +says,--`Six days shalt thou labour an' do all that thou hast to do, but +the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do +no work.' I wos used always to stick at that pint w'en my poor mother +was a-teachin' of me. Never got past it. But it's enough for present +use anyhow, for the orders is, work six days an' don't work the seventh. +Werry good, we'll begin to-day an' call it Monday; we'll work for six +days, an' w'en the seventh day comes we'll call it Sunday. If it ain't +the right day, _we_ can't help it; moreover, wot's the odds? It's the +_seventh_ day, so that to us it'll be the Sabbath." + +But we anticipate. Harold was still--at the beginning of this +digression--in the delirium of fever, though there were symptoms of +improvement about him. + +One afternoon one of these symptoms was strongly manifested in a long, +profound slumber. While he slept Disco sat on a low stool beside him, +busily engaged with a clasp-knife on some species of manufacture, the +nature of which was not apparent at a glance. + +His admirer, Jumbo, was seated on a stool opposite, gazing at him +open-mouthed, with a countenance that reflected every passing feeling of +his dusky bosom. + +Both men were so deeply absorbed in their occupation--Disco in his +manufacture, and Jumbo in staring at Disco--that they failed for a +considerable time to observe that Harold had wakened suddenly, though +quietly, and was gazing at them with a look of lazy, easy-going +surprise. + +The mariner kept up a running commentary on his work, addressed to Jumbo +indeed, but in a quiet interjectional manner that seemed to imply that +he was merely soliloquising, and did not want or expect a reply. + +"It's the most 'stror'nary notion, Jumbo, between you and me and the +post, that I ever did see. Now, then, this here bullet-head wants a +pair o' eyes an' a nose on it; the mouth'll do, but it's the mouth as is +most troublesome, for you niggers have got such wappin' muzzles--it's +quite a caution, as the Yankees say,"--(a pause)--"on the whole, +however, the nose is very difficult to manage on a flat surface, 'cause +w'y?--if I leaves it quite flat, it don't look like a nose, an' if I +carves it out ever so little, it's too prominent for a nigger nose. +There, ain't that a good head, Jumbo?" + +Thus directly appealed to, Jumbo nodded his own head violently, and +showed his magnificent teeth from ear to ear, gums included. + +Disco laid down the flat piece of board which he had carved into the +form of a human head, and took up another piece, which was rudely +blocked out into the form of a human leg--both leg and head being as +large as life. + +"Now this limb, Jumbo," continued Disco, slowly, as he whittled away +with the clasp-knife vigorously, "is much more troublesome than I would +have expected; for you niggers have got such abominably ill-shaped legs +below the knee. There's such an unnat'ral bend for'ard o' the +shin-bone, an' such a rediklous sticking out o' the heel astarn, d'ee +see, that a feller with white man notions has to make a study of it, if +he sets up for a artist; in course, if he _don't_ set up for a artist +any sort o' shape'll do, for it don't affect the jumpin'. Ha! there +they go," he exclaimed, with a humorous smile at a hearty shout of +laughter which was heard just outside the hut, "enjoyin' the old 'un; +but it's nothin' to wot the noo 'un'll be w'en it's finished." + +At this exhibition of amusement on the countenance of his friend, Jumbo +threw back his head and again showed not only his teeth and gums but the +entire inside of his mouth, and chuckled softly from the region of his +breast-bone. + +"I'm dreaming, of course," thought Harold, and shut his eyes. + +Poor fellow! he was very weak, and the mere act of shutting his eyes +induced a half-slumber. He awoke again in a few minutes, and re-opening +his eyes, beheld the two men still sitting, and occupied as before. + +"It is a wonderfully pertinacious dream," thought Harold. "I'll try to +dissipate it." + +Thinking thus, he called out aloud,--"I say, Disco!" + +"Hallo! that's uncommon like the old tones," exclaimed the seaman, +dropping his knife and the leg of wood as he looked anxiously at his +friend. + +"What old tones?" asked Harold. + +"The tones of your voice," said Disco. + +"Have they changed so much of late?" inquired Harold in surprise. + +"Have they? I should think they have, just. W'y, you haven't spoke +like that, sir, for--but, surely--are you better, or is this on'y +another dodge o' yer madness?" asked Disco with a troubled look. + +"Ah! I suppose I've been delirious, have I?" said Harold with a faint +smile. + +To this Disco replied that he had not only been delirious, but stark +staring mad, and expressed a very earnest hope that, now he had got his +senses hauled taut again, he'd belay them an' make all fast for, if he +didn't, it was his, Disco's opinion, that another breeze o' the same +kind would blow 'em all to ribbons. + +"Moreover," continued Disco, firmly, "you're not to talk. I once nursed +a messmate through a fever, an' I remember that the doctor wos werry +partikler w'en he began to come round, in orderin' him to hold his +tongue an' keep quiet." + +"You are right Disco. I will keep quiet, but you must first tell me +what you are about, for it has roused my curiosity, and I can't rest +till I know." + +"Well, sir, I'll tell you, but don't go for to make no obsarvations on +it. Just keep your mouth shut an' yer ears open, an' I'll do all the +jawin'. Well, you must know, soon after you wos took bad, I felt as if +I'd like some sort o' okipation w'en sittin' here watchin' of you--Jumbo +an' me's bin takin' the watch time about, for Antony isn't able to hold +a boy, much less _you_ w'en you gits obstropolous--Well, sir, I had took +a sort o' fancy for Yambo's youngest boy, for he's a fine, brave little +shaver, he is, an' I thought I'd make him some sort o' toy, an' it +struck me that the thing as 'ud please him most 'ud be a jumpin'-jack, +so I set to an' made him one about a futt high. + +"You never see such a face o' joy as that youngster put on, sir, w'en I +took it to him an' pulled the string. He give a little squeak of +delight he did, tuk it in his hands, an' ran home to show it to his +mother. Well, sir, wot d'ee think, the poor boy come back soon after, +blubberin' an' sobbin', as nat'ral as if he'd bin an English boy, an' +says he to Tony, says he, `Father's bin an' took it away from me!' I +wos surprised at this, an' went right off to see about it, an' w'en I +come to Yambo's hut wot does I see but the chief pullin' the string o' +the jumpin'-jack, an' grinnin' an' sniggerin' like a blue-faced baboon +in a passion--his wife likewise standin' by holdin' her sides wi' +laughin'. Well, sir, the moment I goes in, up gits the chief an' shouts +for Tony, an' tells him to tell me that I must make him a jumpin'-jack! +In course I says I'd do it with all the pleasure in life; and he says +that I must make it full size, as big as hisself! I opened my eyes at +this, but he said he must have a thing that was fit for a man--a chief-- +so there was nothin' for it but to set to work. An' it worn't difficult +to manage neither, for they supplied me with slabs o' timber an inch +thick an' I soon blocked out the body an' limbs with a hatchet an' +polished 'em off with my knife, and then put 'em together. W'en the big +jack wos all right Yambo took it away, for he'd watched me all the time +I wos at it, an' fixed it up to the branch of a tree an' set to work. + +"I never, no I never, did," continued Disco, slapping his right thigh, +while Jumbo grinned in sympathy, "see sitch a big baby as Yambo became +w'en he got that monstrous jumpin'-jack into action--with his courtiers +all round him, their faces blazin' with surprise, or conwulsed wi' +laughter. The chief hisself was too hard at work to laugh much. He +could only glare an' grin, for, big an' strong though he is, the jack +wos so awful heavy that it took all his weight an' muscle haulin' on the +rope which okipied the place o' the string that we're used to. + +"`Haul away, my hearty,' thought I, w'en I seed him heavin', blowin', +an' swettin' at the jack's halyards, `you'll not break that rope in a +hurry.' + +"But I was wrong, sir, for, although the halyards held on all right, I +had not calkilated on such wiolent action at the joints. All of a +sudden off comes a leg at the knee. It was goin' the up'ard kick at the +time, an' went up like a rocket, slap through a troop o' monkeys that +was lookin' on aloft, which it scattered like foam in a gale. Yambo +didn't seem to care a pinch o' snuff. His blood was up. The sweat was +runnin' off him like rain. `Hi!' cries he, givin' another most awful +tug. But it wasn't high that time, for the other leg came off at the +hip-jint on the down kick, an' went straight into the buzzum of a black +warrior an' floored him wuss than he ever wos floored since he took to +fightin'. Yambo didn't care for that either. He gave another haul with +all his might, which proved too much for jack without his legs, for it +threw his arms out with such force that they jammed hard an' fast, as if +the poor critter was howlin' for mercy! + +"Yambo looked awful blank at this. Then he turned sharp round and +looked at me for all the world as if he meant to say `wot d'ee mean by +that? eh!' + +"`He shouldn't ought to lick into him like that,' says I to Tony, `the +figure ain't made to be druv by a six-horse power steam-engine! But +tell him I'll fix it up with jints that'll stand pullin' by an elephant, +and I'll make him another jack to the full as big as that one an' twice +as strong.' + +"This," added Disco in conclusion, taking up the head on which he had +been engaged, "is the noo jack. The old un's outside working away at +this moment like a win'-mill. Listen; don't 'ee hear 'em?" + +Harold listened and found no difficulty in hearing them, for peals of +laughter and shrieks of delight burst forth every few minutes, +apparently from a vast crowd outside the hut. + +"I do believe," said Disco, rising and going towards the door of the hut +"that you can see 'em from where you lay." + +He drew aside the skin doorway as he spoke, and there, sure enough, was +the gigantic jumping-jack hanging from the limb of a tree, clearly +defined against the sky, and galvanically kicking about its vast limbs, +with Yambo pulling fiercely at the tail, and the entire tribe looking on +steeped in ecstasy and admiration. + +It may easily be believed that the sight of this, coupled with Disco's +narrative, was almost too much for Harold's nerves, and for some time he +exhibited, to Disco's horror, a tendency to repeat some antics which +would have been much more appropriate to the jumping-jack, but, after a +warm drink administered by his faithful though rough nurse, he became +composed, and finally dropped into a pleasant sleep, which was not +broken till late the following morning. + +Refreshed in body, happy in mind, and thankful in spirit he rose to feel +that the illness against which he had fought for many days was +conquered, and that, although still very weak, he had fairly turned the +corner, and had begun to regain some of his wonted health and vigour. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +HAROLD APPEARS IN A NEW CHARACTER, AND TWO OLD CHARACTERS REAPPEAR TO +HAROLD. + +The mind of Yambo was a strange compound--a curious mixture of gravity +and rollicking joviality; at one time displaying a phase of intense +solemnity; at another exhibiting quiet pleasantry and humour, but +earnestness was the prevailing trait of his character. Whether +indulging his passionate fondness for the jumping-jack, or engaged in +guiding the deliberations of his counsellors, the earnest chief was +equally devoted to the work in hand. Being a savage--and, consequently, +led entirely by feeling, which is perhaps the chief characteristic of +savage, as distinguished from civilised, man,--he hated his enemies with +exceeding bitterness, and loved his friends with all his heart. + +Yambo was very tender to Harold during his illness, and the latter felt +corresponding gratitude, so that there sprang up between the two a +closer friendship than one could have supposed to be possible, +considering that they were so different from each other, mentally, +physically, and socially, and that their only mode of exchanging ideas +was through the medium of a very incompetent interpreter. + +Among other things Harold discovered that his friend the chief was +extremely fond of anecdotes and stories. He, therefore, while in a +convalescent state and unable for much physical exercise, amused +himself, and spent much of his time, in narrating to him the adventures +of Robinson Crusoe. Yambo's appetite for mental food increased, and +when Crusoe's tale was finished he eagerly demanded more. Some of his +warriors also came to hear, and at last the hut was unable to contain +the audiences that wished to enter. Harold, therefore, removed to an +open space under a banyan-tree, and there daily, for several hours, +related all the tales and narratives with which he was acquainted, to +the hundreds of open-eyed and open-mouthed negroes who squatted around +him. + +At first he selected such tales as he thought would be likely to amuse, +but these being soon exhausted, he told them about anything that chanced +to recur to his memory. Then, finding that their power to swallow the +marvellous was somewhat crocodilish, he gave them Jack the Giant-killer, +and Jack of Beanstalk notoriety, and Tom Thumb, Cinderella, etcetera, +until his entire nursery stock was exhausted, after which he fell back +on his inventive powers; but the labour of this last effort proving very +considerable, and the results not being adequately great, he took to +history, and told them stories about William Tell, and Wallace, and +Bruce, and the Puritans of England, and the Scottish Covenanters, and +the discoveries of Columbus, until the eyes and mouths of his black +auditors were held so constantly and widely on the stretch, that Disco +began to fear they would become gradually incapable of being shut, and +he entertained a fear that poor Antonio's tongue would, ere long, be +dried up at the roots. + +At last a thought occurred to our hero, which he promulgated to Disco +one morning as they were seated at breakfast on the floor of their hut. + +"It seems to me, Disco," he said, after a prolonged silence, during +which they had been busily engaged with their knives and wooden spoons, +"that illness must be sent sometimes, to teach men that they give too +little of their thoughts to the future world." + +"Werry true, sir," replied Disco, in that quiet matter-of-course tone +with which men generally receive axiomatic verities; "we _is_ raither +given to be swallered up with this world, which ain't surprisin' +neither, seein' that we've bin putt into it, and are surrounded by it, +mixed up with it, steeped in it, so to speak, an' can't werry well help +ourselves." + +"That last is just the point I'm not quite so sure about," rejoined +Harold. "Since I've been lying ill here, I have thought a good deal +about forgetting to bring a Bible with me, and about the meaning of the +term Christian, which name I bear; and yet I can't, when I look honestly +at it, see that I do much to deserve the name." + +"Well, I don't quite see that, sir," said Disco, with an argumentative +curl of his right eyebrow; "you doesn't swear, or drink, or steal, or +commit murder, an' a many other things o' that sort. Ain't that the +result o' your being a Christian." + +"It may be so, Disco, but that is only what may be styled the _don't_ +side of the question. What troubles me is, that I don't see much on the +_do_ side of it." + +"You says your prayers, sir, don't you?" asked Disco, with the air of a +man who had put a telling question. + +"Well, yes," replied Harold; "but what troubles me is that, while in my +creed I profess to think the salvation of souls is of such vital +importance, in my practice I seem to say that it is of no importance at +all, for here have I been, for many weeks, amongst these black fellows, +and have never so much as mentioned the name of our Saviour to them, +although I have been telling them no end of stories of all kinds, both +true and fanciful." + +"There's something in that sir," admitted Disco. Harold also thought +there was so much in it that he gave the subject a great deal of earnest +consideration, and finally resolved to begin to tell the negroes Bible +stories. He was thus gradually led to tell them that "old, old story" +of God the Saviour's life and death, and love for man, which he found +interested, affected, and influenced the savages far more powerfully +than any of the tales, whether true or fanciful, with which he had +previously entertained them. While doing this a new spirit seemed to +actuate himself, and to influence his whole being. + +While Harold was thus led, almost unconsciously, to become a sower of +the blessed seed of God's Word, Marizano was working his way through the +country, setting forth, in the most extreme manner, the ultimate results +of man's sinful nature, and the devil's lies. + +One of his first deeds was to visit a village which was beautifully +situated on the banks of a small but deep river. In order to avoid +alarming the inhabitants, he approached it with only about thirty of his +men, twenty of whom were armed. Arrived at the outskirts, he halted his +armed men, and advanced with the other ten, calling out cheerfully, "We +have things for sale! have you anything to sell?" The chief and his +warriors, armed with their bows and arrows and shields, met him, and +forbade him to pass within the hedge that encircled the village, but +told him to sit down under a tree outside. A mat of split reeds was +placed for Marizano to sit on; and when he had explained to the chief +that the object of his visit was to trade with him for ivory--in proof +of which he pointed to the bales which his men carried,--he was well +received, and a great clapping of hands ensued. Presents were then +exchanged, and more clapping of hands took place, for this was +considered the appropriate ceremony. The chief and his warriors, on +sitting down before Marizano and his men, clapped their hands together, +and continued slapping on their thighs while handing their presents, or +when receiving those of their visitors. It was the African "thank you." +To have omitted it would have been considered very bad manners. + +Soon a brisk trade was commenced, in which the entire community became +ere long deeply and eagerly absorbed. + +Meanwhile Marizano's armed men were allowed to come forward. The women +prepared food for the strangers; and after they had eaten and drunk of +the native beer heartily, Marizano asked the chief if he had ever seen +fire-arms used. + +"Yes," replied the chief, "but only once at a great distance off. It is +told to me that your guns kill very far off--much further than our bows. +Is that so?" + +"It is true," replied Marizano, who was very merry by this time under +the influence of the beer, as, indeed, were also his men and their +entertainers. "Would you like to see what our guns can do?" asked the +half-caste. "If you will permit me, I shall let you hear and see them +in use." + +The unsuspecting chief at once gave his consent. His visitors rose; +Marizano gave the word; a volley was poured forth which instantly killed +the chief and twenty of his men. The survivors fled in horror. The +young women and children were seized; the village was sacked--which +means that the old and useless members of the community were murdered in +cold blood, and the place was set on fire--and Marizano marched away +with his band of captives considerably augmented, leaving a scene of +death and horrible desolation behind him. [See Livingstone's _Zambesi +and its Tributaries_, pages 201, 202.] + +Thus did that villain walk through the land with fire and sword +procuring slaves for the supply of the "domestic institution" of the +Sultan of Zanzibar. + +By degrees the murderer's drove of black "cattle" increased to such an +extent that when he approached the neighbourhood of the village in which +Harold and Disco sojourned, he began to think that he had obtained about +as many as he could conveniently manage, and meditated turning his face +eastward, little dreaming how near he was to a thousand dollars' worth +of property, in the shape of ransom for two white men! + +He was on the point of turning back and missing this when he chanced to +fall in with a villager who was out hunting, and who, after a hot chase, +was captured. This man was made much of, and presented with some yards +of cloth as well as a few beads, at the same time being assured that he +had nothing to fear; that the party was merely a slave-trading one; that +the number of slaves required had been made up, but that a few more +would be purchased if the chief of his village had any to dispose of. + +On learning from the man that his village was a large one, fully two +days' march from the spot where he stood, and filled with armed men, +Marizano came to the conclusion that it would not be worth his while to +proceed thither, and was about to order his informant to be added to his +gang with a slave-stick round his neck, when he suddenly bethought him +of inquiring as to whether any white men had been seen in these parts. +As he had often made the same inquiry before without obtaining any +satisfactory answer, it was with great surprise that he now heard from +his captive of two white men being in the very village about which he +had been conversing. + +At once he changed his plan, resumed his march, and, a couple of days +afterwards, presented himself before the astonished eyes of Harold +Seadrift and Disco Lillihammer, while they were taking a walk about a +mile from the village. + +Disco recognised the slave-trader at once, and, from the troubled as +well as surprised look of Marizano, it was pretty evident that he +remembered the countenance of Disco. + +When the recollection of Marizano's cruelty at the time of their first +meeting flashed upon him, Disco felt an almost irresistible desire to +rush upon and strangle the Portuguese, but the calm deportment of that +wily man, and the peaceful manner in which he had approached, partly +disarmed his wrath. He could not however, quite restrain his tongue. + +"Ha!" said he, "you are the blackguard that we met and pretty nigh shot +when we first came to these parts, eh? Pity we missed you, you +black-hearted villain!" + +As Marizano did not understand English, these complimentary remarks were +lost on him. He seemed, however, to comprehend the drift of them, for +he returned Disco's frown with a stare of defiance. + +"Whatever he was, or whatever he is," interposed Harold, "we must +restrain ourselves just now, Disco, because we cannot punish him as he +deserves, however much we may wish to, and he seems to have armed men +enough to put us and our entertainers completely in his power. Keep +quiet while I speak to him." + +Jumbo and Antonio, armed with bows and arrows,--for they were in search +of small game wherewith to supply the pot--came up, looking very much +surprised, and the latter a good deal frightened. + +"Ask him, Antonio," said Harold, "what is his object in visiting this +part of the country." + +"To procure slaves," said Marizano, curtly. + +"I thought so," returned Harold; "but he will find that the men of this +tribe are not easily overcome." + +"I do not wish to overcome them," said the half-caste. "I have procured +enough of slaves, as you see," (pointing to the gang which was halted +some hundred yards or so in rear of his armed men), "but I heard that +you were prisoners here, and I have come to prove to you that even a +slave-trader can return good for evil. _You_ did this," he said, +looking at Disco, and pointing to his old wound in the arm; "I now come +to deliver you from slavery." + +Having suppressed part of the truth, and supplemented the rest of it +with this magnificent lie, Marizano endeavoured to look magnanimous. + +"I don't believe a word of it," said Disco, decidedly. + +"I incline to doubt it too," said Harold; "but he may have some good +reason of his own for his friendly professions towards us. In any case +we have no resource left but to assume that he speaks the truth." + +Turning to Marizano, he said:-- + +"We are not prisoners here. We are guests of the chief of this +village." + +"In that case," replied the half-caste, "I can return to the coast +without you." + +As he said this a large band of the villagers, having discovered that +strangers had arrived, drew near. Marizano at once advanced, making +peaceful demonstrations, and, after the requisite amount of clapping of +hands on both sides, stated the object for which he had come. He made +no attempt to conceal the fact that he was a slave-trader, but said +that, having purchased enough of slaves, he had visited their village +because of certain rumours to the effect that some white men had been +lost in these regions, and could not find their way back to the coast. +He was anxious, he said, to help these white men to do so, but, finding +that the white men then at the village were _not_ the men he was in +search of, and did not want to go to the coast, he would just stay long +enough with the chief to exchange compliments, and then depart. + +All this was translated to the white men in question by their faithful +ally Antonio, and when they retired to consult as to what should be +done, they looked at each other with half amused and half perplexed +expressions of countenance. + +"Werry odd," said Disco, "how contrairy things turns up at times!" + +"Very odd indeed," assented Harold, laughing. "It is quite true that we +are, in one sense, lost and utterly unable to undertake a journey +through this country without men, means, or arms; and nothing could be +more fortunate than that we should have the chance, thus suddenly thrown +in our way, of travelling under the escort of a band of armed men; +nevertheless, I cannot bear the idea of travelling with or being +indebted to a slave-trader and a scoundrel like Marizano." + +"That's w'ere it is, sir," said Disco with emphasis, "I could stand +anything a'most but that." + +"And yet," pursued Harold, "it is our only chance. I see quite well +that we may remain for years here without again having such an +opportunity or such an escort thrown in our way." + +"There's no help for it, I fear," said Disco. "We must take it like a +dose o' nasty physic--hold our nobs, shut our daylights, an' down with +it. The only thing I ain't sure of is your ability to travel. You +ain't strong yet." + +"Oh, I'm strong enough now, or very nearly so, and getting stronger +every day. Well, then, I suppose it's settled that we go?" + +"Humph! I'm agreeable, an' the whole business werry disagreeable," said +Disco, making a wry face. + +Marizano was much pleased when the decision of the white men was made +known to him, and the native chief was naturally much distressed, for, +not only was he about to lose two men of whom he had become very fond, +but he was on the point of being bereft of his story-teller, the opener +up of his mind, the man who, above all others, had taught him to think +about his Maker and a future state. + +He had sense enough, however, to perceive that his guests could not +choose but avail themselves of so good an opportunity, and, after the +first feeling of regret was over, made up his mind to the separation. + +Next day Harold and Disco, with feelings of strong revulsion, almost of +shame, fell into the ranks of the slave-gang, and for many days +thereafter marched through the land in company with Marizano and his +band of lawless villains. + +Marizano usually walked some distance ahead of the main body with a few +trusty comrades. Our adventurers, with their two followers, came next +in order of march, the gang of slaves in single file followed, and the +armed men brought up the rear. It was necessarily a very long line, and +at a distance resembled some hideous reptile crawling slowly and +tortuously through the fair fields and plains of Africa. + +At first there were no stragglers, for the slaves were as yet, with few +exceptions, strong and vigorous. These exceptions, and the lazy, were +easily kept in the line by means of rope and chain, as well as the rod +and lash. + +Harold and Disco studiously avoided their leader during the march. +Marizano fell in with their humour and left them to themselves. At +nights they made their own fire and cooked their own supper, as far +removed from the slave camp as was consistent with safety, for they +could not bear to witness the sufferings of the slaves, or to look upon +their captors. Even the food that they were constrained to eat appeared +to have a tendency to choke them, and altogether their situation became +so terrible that they several times almost formed the desperate +resolution of leaving the party and trying to reach the coast by +themselves as they best might, but the utter madness and hopelessness of +such a project soon forced itself on their minds, and insured its being +finally abandoned. + +One morning Marizano threw off his usual reserve, and, approaching the +white men, told them that in two hours they would reach the lake where +his employer was encamped. + +"And who is your master?" asked Harold. + +"A black-faced or yellow-faced blackguard like himself, I doubt not," +growled Disco. + +Antonio put Harold's question without Disco's comment, and Marizano +replied that his master was an Arab trader, and added that he would push +on in advance of the party and inform him of their approach. + +Soon afterwards the lake was reached. A large dhow was in readiness, +the gang was embarked and ferried across to a place where several rude +buildings and barracoons, with a few tents, indicated that it was one of +the inland headquarters of the trade in Black Ivory. + +The moment our travellers landed Marizano led them to one of the nearest +buildings, and introduced them to his master. + +"Yoosoof!" exclaimed Disco in a shout of astonishment. + +It would have been a difficult question to have decided which of the +three faces displayed the most extreme surprise. Perhaps Disco's would +have been awarded the palm, but Yoosoof was undoubtedly the first to +regain his self-possession. + +"You be surprised," he said, in his _very_ broken English, while his +pale-yellow visage resumed its placid gravity of expression. + +"Undoubtedly we are," said Harold. + +"Bu'stin'!" exclaimed Disco. + +"You would be not so mush surprised,--did you know dat I comes to here +every year, an' dat Engleesh consul ask me for 'quire about you." + +"If that be so, how comes it that _you_ were surprised to see us?" asked +Harold. + +"'Cause why, I only knows dat some white mans be loss theirselfs--not +knows _what_ mans--not knows it was _you_." + +"Well now," cried Disco, unable to restrain himself as he turned to +Harold, "did ever two unfortnits meet wi' sitch luck? Here have we bin' +obliged for days to keep company with the greatest Portugee villian in +the country, an' now we're needcessitated to be under a obligation to +the greatest Arab scoundrel in Afriky." + +The scoundrel in question smiled and shrugged his shoulders. + +"Yoosoof," cried Disco, clenching his fist and looking full in the +trader's eyes, "when I last saw yer ugly face, I vowed that if ever I +seed it again I'd leave my mark on it pretty deep, I did; and now I does +see it again, but I haven't the moral courage to touch sitch a poor, +pitiful, shrivelled-up package o' bones an' half-tanned leather. +Moreover, I'm goin' to be indebted to 'ee! Ha! ha!" (he laughed +bitterly, and with a dash of wild humour in the tone), "to travel under +yer care, an' eat yer accursed bread, and--and--oh! there ain't no sitch +thing as shame left in my corpus. I'm a low mean-spirited boastful +idiot, that's wot _I_ am, an' I don't care the fag-end of a hunk o' +gingerbread who knows it." + +After this explosion the sorely tried mariner brought his right hand +down on his thigh with a tremendous crack, turned about and walked away +to cool himself. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +PROGRESS OF THE SLAVE-RUN--THE DEADLY SWAMP, AND THE UNEXPECTED RESCUE. + +We will now leap over a short period of time--about two or three weeks-- +during which the sable procession had been winding its weary way over +hill and dale, plain and swamp. + +During that comparatively brief period, Harold and Disco had seen so +much cruelty and suffering that they both felt a strange tendency to +believe that the whole must be the wild imaginings of a horrible dream. +Perhaps weakness, resulting from illness, might have had something to do +with this peculiar feeling of unbelief, for both had been subject to a +second, though slight, attack of fever. Nevertheless, coupled with +their scepticism was a contradictory and dreadful certainty that they +were not dreaming, but that what they witnessed was absolute verity. + +It is probable that if they had been in their ordinary health and vigour +they would have made a violent attempt to rescue the slaves, even at the +cost of their own lives. But severe and prolonged illness often +unhinges the mind as well as the body, and renders the spirit all but +impotent. + +One sultry evening the sad procession came to a long stretch of swamp, +and prepared to cross it. Although already thinned by death, the +slave-gang was large. It numbered several hundreds, and was led by +Marizano; Yoosoof having started some days in advance in charge of a +similar gang. + +Harold and Disco were by that time in the habit of walking together in +front of the gang, chiefly for the purpose of avoiding the sight of +cruelties and woes which they were powerless to prevent or assuage. On +reaching the edge of the swamp, however, they felt so utterly wearied +and dis-spirited that they sat down on a bank to rest, intending to let +the slave-gang go into the swamp before them and then follow in rear. +Antonio and Jumbo also remained with them. + +"You should go on in front," said Marizano significantly, on observing +their intention. + +"Tell him we'll remain where we are," said Disco sternly to Antonio. + +Marizano shrugged his shoulders and left them. + +The leading men of the slave-gang were ordered to advance, as soon as +the armed guard had commenced the toilsome march over ground into which +they sank knee-deep at every step. + +The first man of the gang hesitated and heaved a deep sigh as though his +heart failed him at the prospect--and well it might, for, although +young, he was not robust, and over-driving, coupled with the weight and +the chafing of the goree, had worn him to a skeleton. + +It was not the policy of the slave-traders to take much care of their +Black Ivory. They procured it so cheaply that it was easier and more +profitable to lose or cast away some of it, than to put off time in +resting and recruiting the weak. + +The moment it was observed, therefore, that the leading man hesitated, +one of the drivers gave him a slash across his naked back with a heavy +whip which at once drew blood. Poor wretch; he could ill bear further +loss of the precious stream of life, for it had already been deeply +drained from him by the slave-stick. The chafing of that instrument of +torture had not only worn the skin off his shoulders, but had cut into +the quivering flesh, so that blood constantly dropped in small +quantities from it. + +No cry burst from the man's lips on receiving the cruel blow, but he +turned his eyes on his captors with a look that seemed to implore for +mercy. As well might he have looked for mercy at the hands of Satan. +The lash again fell on him with stinging force. He made a feeble effort +to advance, staggered, and fell to the ground, dragging down the man to +whom he was coupled with such violence as almost to break his neck. The +lash was again about to be applied to make him rise, but Disco and +Harold rose simultaneously and rushed at the driver, with what intent +they scarcely knew; but four armed half-castes stepped between them and +the slave. + +"You had better not interfere," said Marizano, who stood close by. + +"Out of the way!" cried Harold fiercely, in the strength of his passion +hurling aside the man who opposed him. + +"You shan't give him another cut," said Disco between his teeth, as he +seized the driver by the throat. + +"We don't intend to do so," said Marizano coolly, while the driver +released himself from poor Disco's weakened grasp, "he won't need any +more." + +The Englishmen required no explanation of these words. A glance told +them that the man was dying. + +"Cut him out," said Marizano. + +One of his men immediately brought a saw and cut the fork of the stick +which still held the living to the dying man, and which, being riveted +on them, could not otherwise be removed. + +Harold and Disco lifted him up as soon as he was free, and carrying him +a short distance aside to a soft part of the bank, laid him gently down. + +The dying slave looked as if he were surprised at such unwonted +tenderness. There was even a slight smile on his lips for a few +moments, but it quickly passed away with the fast ebbing tide of life. + +"Go fetch some water," said Harold. "His lips are dry." + +Disco rose and ran to fill a small cocoa-nut-shell which he carried at +his girdle as a drinking-cup. Returning with it he moistened the man's +lips and poured a little of the cool water on the raw sores on each side +of his neck. + +They were so much engrossed with their occupation that neither of them +observed that the slave-gang had commenced to pass through the swamp, +until the sharp cry of a child drew their attention to it for a moment; +but, knowing that they could do no good, they endeavoured to shut their +eyes and ears to everything save the duty they had in hand. + +By degrees the greater part of the long line had got into the swamp and +were slowly toiling through it under the stimulus of the lash. Some, +like the poor fellow who first fell, had sunk under their accumulated +trials, and after a fruitless effort on the part of the slavers to drive +them forward, had been kicked aside into the jungle, there to die, or to +be torn in pieces by that ever-watchful scavenger of the wilderness, the +hyena. These were chiefly women, who having become mothers not long +before were unable to carry their infants and keep up with the gang. +Others, under the intense dread of flagellation, made the attempt, and +staggered on a short distance, only to fall and be left behind in the +pestilential swamp, where rank reeds and grass closed over them and +formed a ready grave. + +The difficulties of the swamp were, however, felt most severely by the +children, who, from little creatures of not much more than five years of +age to well-grown boys and girls, were mingled with and chained to the +adults along the line. Their comparatively short legs were not well +adapted for such ground, and not a few of them perished there; but +although the losses here were terribly numerous in one sense, they after +all bore but a small proportion to those whose native vigour carried +them through in safety. + +Among the men there were some whose strength of frame and fierce +expression indicated untameable spirits--men who might have been, +probably were, heroes among their fellows. It was for men of this stamp +that the _goree_, or slave-stick, had been invented, and most +effectually did that instrument serve its purpose. Samson himself would +have been a mere child in it. + +There were men in the gang quite as bold, if not as strong, as Samson. +One of these, a very tall and powerful negro, on drawing near to the +place where Marizano stood superintending the passage, turned suddenly +aside, and, although coupled by the neck to a fellow-slave, and securely +bound at the wrists with a cord, which was evidently cutting into his +swelled flesh, made a desperate kick at the half-caste leader. + +Although the slave failed to reach him, Marizano was so enraged that he +drew a hatchet from his belt and instantly dashed out the man's brains. +He fell dead without even a groan. Terrified by this, the rest passed +on more rapidly, and there was no further check till a woman in the +line, with an infant on her back, stumbled, and, falling down, appeared +unable to rise. + +"Get up!" shouted Marizano, whose rage had rather been increased than +abated by the murder he had just committed. + +The woman rose and attempted to advance, but seemed ready to fall again. +Seeing this, Marizano plucked the infant from her back, dashed it +against a tree, and flung its quivering body into the jungle, while a +terrible application of the lash sent the mother shrieking into the +swamp. [See Livingstone's _Zambesi and its Tributaries_, page 857; and +for a record of cruelties too horrible to be set down in a book like +this, we refer the reader to McLeod's _Travels in Eastern Africa_, +volume two page 26. Also to the Appendix of Captain Sulivan's +_Dhow-Chasing in Zanzibar Waters_, which contains copious and +interesting extracts from evidence taken before the Select Committee of +the House of Commons.] + +Harold and Disco did not witness this, though they heard the shriek of +despair, for at the moment the negro they were tending was breathing his +last. When his eyes had closed and the spirit had been set free, they +rose, and, purposely refraining from looking back, hurried away from the +dreadful scene, intending to plunge into the swamp at some distance from +the place, and push on until they should regain the head of the column. + +"Better if we'd never fallen behind, sir," said Disco, in a deep, +tremulous voice. + +"True," replied Harold. "We should have been spared these sights, and +the pain of knowing that we cannot prevent this appalling misery and +cruelty." + +"But surely it is to be prevented _somehow_," cried Disco, almost +fiercely. "Many a war that has cost mints o' money has been carried on +for causes that ain't worth mentionin' in the same breath with _this_!" + +As Harold knew not what to say, and was toiling knee-deep in the swamp +at the moment he made no reply. + +After marching about half an hour he stopped abruptly and said, with a +heavy sigh,--"I hope we haven't missed our way?" + +"Hope not sir, but it looks like as if we had." + +"I've bin so took up thinkin' o' that accursed traffic in human bein's +that I've lost my reckonin'. Howsever, we can't be far out, an', with +the sun to guide us, we'll--" + +He was stopped by a loud halloo in the woods, on the belt of the swamp. + +It was repeated in a few seconds, and Antonio, who, with Jumbo, had +followed his master, cried in an excited tone-- + +"Me knows dat sound!" + +"Wot may it be, Tony?" asked Disco. + +There was neither time nor need for an answer, for at that moment a +ringing cry, something like a bad imitation of a British cheer, was +heard, and a band of men sprang out of the woods and ran at full speed +towards our Englishmen. + +"Why, Zombo!" exclaimed Disco, wildly. + +"Oliveira!" cried Harold. + +"Masiko! Songolo!" shouted Antonio and Jumbo. + +"An' Jose, Nakoda, Chimbolo, Mabruki!--the whole bun' of 'em," cried +Disco, as one after another these worthies emerged from the wood and +rushed in a state of frantic excitement towards their friends--"Hooray!" + +"Hooroo-hay!" replied the runners. + +In another minute our adventurous party of travellers was re-united, and +for some time nothing but wild excitement, congratulations, queries that +got no replies, and replies that ran tilt at irrelevant queries, with +confusion worse confounded by explosions of unbounded and irrepressible +laughter not unmingled with tears, was the order of the hour. + +"But wat! yoos ill?" cried Zombo suddenly, looking into Disco's face +with an anxious expression. + +"Well, I ain't 'xac'ly ill, nor I ain't 'xac'ly well neither, but I'm +hearty all the same, and werry glad to see your black face, Zombo." + +"Ho! hooroo-hay! so's me for see you," cried the excitable Zombo; "but +come, not good for talkee in de knees to watter. Fall in boy, ho! +sholler 'ums--queek mash!" + +That Zombo had assumed command of his party was made evident by the pat +way in which he trolled off the words of command formerly taught to him +by Harold, as well as by the prompt obedience that was accorded to his +orders. He led the party out of the swamp, and, on reaching a dry spot, +halted, in order to make further inquiries and answer questions. + +"How did you find us, Zombo?" asked Harold, throwing himself wearily on +the ground. + +"_Yoos_ ill," said Zombo, holding up a finger by way of rebuke. + +"So I am, though not so ill as I look. But come, answer me. How came +you to discover us? You could not have found us by mere chance in this +wilderness?" + +"Chanz; wat am chanz?" asked the Makololo. + +There was some difficulty in getting Antonio to explain the word, from +the circumstance of himself being ignorant of it, therefore Harold put +the question in a more direct form. + +"Oh! ve comes here look for yoo, 'cause peepils d'reck 'ums--show de +way. Ve's been veeks, monts, oh! _days_ look for yoo. Travil far-- +g'rong road--turin bak--try agin--fin' yoo now--hooroo-hay!" + +"You may say that, indeed. I'd have it in my heart," said Disco, "to +give three good rousin' British cheers if it warn't for the thoughts o' +that black-hearted villain, Marizano, an' his poor, miserable slaves." + +"Marizano!" shouted Chimbolo, glaring at Harold. + +"Marizano!" echoed Zombo, glaring at Disco. + +Harold now explained to his friends that the slave-hunter was close at +hand--a piece of news which visibly excited them,--and described the +cruelties of which he had recently been a witness. Zombo showed his +teeth like a savage mastiff, and grasped his musket as though he longed +to use it, but he uttered no word until the narrative reached that point +in which the death of the poor captive was described. Then he suddenly +started forward and said something to his followers in the native +tongue, which caused each to fling down the small bundle that was +strapped to his shoulders. + +"Yoo stop here," he cried, earnestly, as he turned to Harold and Disco. +"Ve's com bak soon. Ho! boys, sholler 'ums! queek mash!" + +No trained band of Britons ever obeyed with more ready alacrity. No +attention was paid to Harold's questions. The "queek mash" carried them +out of sight in a few minutes, and when the Englishmen, who had run +after them a few paces, halted, under the conviction that in their weak +condition they might as well endeavour to keep up with race-horses as +with their old friends, they found that Antonio alone remained to keep +them company. + +"Where's Jumbo?" inquired Harold. + +"Gon' 'way wid oders," replied the interpreter. + +Examining the bundles of their friends, they found that their contents +were powder, ball, and food. It was therefore resolved that a fire +should be kindled, and food prepared, to be ready for their friends on +their return. + +"I'm not so sure about their return," said Harold gravely. "They will +have to fight against fearful odds if they find the slavers. Foolish +fellows; I wish they had not rushed away so madly without consulting +us." + +The day passed; night came and passed also, and another day dawned, but +there was no appearance of Zombo and his men, until the sun had been up +for some hours. Then they came back, wending their way slowly--very +slowly--through the woods, with the whole of the slave-gang, men, women, +and children, at their heels! + +"Where is Marizano?" inquired Harold, almost breathless with surprise. + +"Dead!" said Zombo. + +"Dead?" + +"Ay, dead, couldn't be deader." + +"And his armed followers?" + +"Dead, too--some ob ums. Ve got at um in de night. Shotted Marizano +all to hatoms. Shotted mos' ob um follerers too. De res' all scatter +like leaves in de wind. Me giv' up now," added Zombo, handing his +musket to Harold. "Boys! orrer ums! mees Capitin not no more. Now, +Capitin Harol', yoos once more look afer us, an' take care ob all ums +peepil." + +Having thus demitted his charge, the faithful Zombo stepped back and +left our hero in the unenviable position of a half broken-down man with +the responsibility of conducting an expedition, and disposing of a large +gang of slaves in some unknown part of equatorial Africa! + +Leaving him there, we will proceed at once to the coast and follow, for +a time, the fortunes of that archvillain, Yoosoof. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +DESCRIBES "BLACK IVORY" AT SEA. + +Having started for the coast with a large gang of slaves a short time +before Marizano, as we have already said, and having left the Englishmen +to the care of the half-caste, chiefly because he did not desire their +company, although he had no objection to the ransom, Yoosoof proceeded +over the same track which we have already described in part, leaving a +bloody trail behind him. + +It is a fearful track, of about 500 miles in length, that which lies +between the head of Lake Nyassa and the sea-coast at Kilwa. We have no +intention of dragging the reader over it to witness the cruelties and +murders that were perpetrated by the slavers, or the agonies endured by +the slaves. Livingstone speaks of it as a land of death, of desolation, +and dead men's bones. And no wonder, for it is one of the main arteries +through which the blood of Africa flows, like the water of natural +rivers, to the sea. The slave-gangs are perpetually passing eastward +through it--perpetually dropping four-fifths of their numbers on it as +they go. Dr Livingstone estimates that, in some cases, not more than +_one-tenth_ of the slaves captured reach the sea-coast alive. It is +therefore rather under than over-stating the case to say that out of +every hundred starting from the interior, _eighty_ perish on the road. + +Yoosoof left with several thousands of strong and healthy men, women, +and children--most of them being children--he arrived at Kilwa with only +eight hundred. The rest had sunk by the way, either from exhaustion or +cruel treatment, or both. The loss was great; but as regards the trader +it could not be called severe, because the whole gang of slaves cost him +little--some of them even nothing!--and the remaining eight hundred +would fetch a good price. They were miserably thin, indeed, and +exhibited on their poor, worn, and travel-stained bodies the evidence of +many a cruel castigation; but Yoosoof knew that a little rest and good +feeding at Kilwa would restore them to some degree of marketable value, +and at Zanzibar he was pretty sure of obtaining, in round numbers, about +10 pounds a head for them, while in the Arabian and Persian ports he +could obtain much more, if he chose to pass beyond the treaty-protected +water at Lamoo, and run the risk of being captured by British cruisers. +It is "piracy" to carry slaves north of Lamoo. South of that point for +hundreds of miles, robbery, rapine, murder, cruelty, such as devils +could not excel if they were to try, is a "domestic institution" with +which Britons are pledged not to interfere! + +Since the above was written Sir Bartle Frere has returned from his +mission, and we are told that a treaty has been signed by the Sultan of +Zanzibar putting an end to this domestic slavery. We have not yet seen +the terms of this treaty, and must go to press before it appears. We +have reason to rejoice and be thankful, however, that such an advantage +has been gained. But let not the reader imagine that this settles the +question of East African slavery. Portugal still holds to the "domestic +institution" in her colonies, and has decreed that it shall not expire +till the year 1878. Decreed, in fact, that the horrors which we have +attempted to depict shall continue for five years longer! And let it be +noted, that the export slave-trade cannot be stopped as long as domestic +slavery is permitted. Besides this, there is a continual drain of human +beings from Africa through Egypt. Sir Samuel Baker's mission is a blow +aimed at that; but nothing, that we know of, is being done in regard to +Portuguese wickedness. If the people of this country could only realise +the frightful state of things that exists in the African Portuguese +territory, and knew how many thousand bodies shall be racked with +torture, and souls be launched into eternity during these five years, +they would indignantly insist that Portugal should be _compelled_ to +stop it _at once_. If it is righteous to constrain the Sultan of +Zanzibar, is it not equally so to compel the King of Portugal? + +The arch robber and murderer, Yoosoof--smooth and oily of face, tongue, +and manner though he was--possessed a bold spirit and a grasping heart. +The domestic institution did not suit him. Rather than sneak along his +villainous course under its protecting "pass," he resolved to bid +defiance to laws, treaties, and men-of-war to boot--as many hundreds of +his compeers have done and do--and make a bold dash to the north with +his eight hundred specimens of Black Ivory. + +Accordingly, full of his purpose, one afternoon he sauntered up to the +barracoons in which his "cattle" were being rested and fed-up. + +Moosa, his chief driver, was busy among them with the lash, for, like +other cattle, they had a tendency to rebel, at least a few of them had; +the most of them were by that time reduced to the callous condition +which had struck Harold and Disco so much on the occasion of their +visits to the slave-market of Zanzibar. + +Moosa was engaged, when Yoosoof entered, in whipping most unmercifully a +small boy whose piercing shrieks had no influence whatever on his +tormentor. Close beside them a large strong-boned man lay stretched on +the ground. He had just been felled with a heavy stick by Moosa for +interfering. He had raised himself on one elbow, while with his right +hand he wiped away the blood that oozed from the wound in his head, and +appeared to struggle to recover himself from the stunning blow. + +"What has he been doing?" asked Yoosoof carelessly, in Portuguese. + +"Oh, the old story, rebelling," said Moosa, savagely hurling the boy +into the midst of a group of cowering children, amongst whom he +instantly shrank as much as possible out of sight. "That brute," +pointing to the prostrate man, "was a chief, it appears, in his own +country, and has not yet got all the spirit lashed out of him. But it +can't last much longer; either the spirit or the life must go. He has +carried that little whelp the last part of the way on his back, and now +objects to part with him,--got fond of him, I fancy. If you had taken +my advice you would have cast them both to the hyenas long ago." + +"You are a bad judge of human flesh, Moosa," said Yoosoof, quietly; +"more than once you have allowed your passion to rob me of a valuable +piece of goods. This man will fetch a good price in Persia, and so will +his son. I know that the child is his son, though the fool thinks no +one knows that but himself, and rather prides himself on the clever way +in which he has continued to keep his whelp beside him on the journey +down. Bah! what can one expect from such cattle? Don't separate them, +Moosa. They will thrive better together. If we only get them to market +in good condition, then we can sell them in separate lots without +risking loss of value from pining." + +In a somewhat sulky tone, for he was not pleased to be found fault with +by his chief, the slave-driver ordered out the boy, who was little more +than five years old, though the careworn expression of his thin face +seemed to indicate a much more advanced age. + +Trembling with alarm, for he expected a repetition of the punishment, +yet not daring to disobey, the child came slowly out from the midst of +his hapless companions, and advanced. The man who had partly recovered +rose to a sitting position, and regarded Moosa and the Arab with a look +of hatred so intense that it is quite certain he would have sprung at +them, if the heavy slave-stick had not rendered such an act impossible. + +"Go, you little whelp," said Moosa, pointing to the fallen chief, and at +the same time giving the child a cut with the whip. + +With a cry of mingled pain and delight poor Obo, for it was he, rushed +into his father's open arms, and laid his sobbing head on his breast. +He could not nestle into his neck as, in the days of old, he had been +wont to do,--the rough goree effectually prevented that. + +Kambira bent his head over the child and remained perfectly still. He +did not dare to move, lest any action, however inoffensive, might induce +Moosa to change his mind and separate them again. + +Poor Kambira! How different from the hearty, bold, kindly chief to whom +we introduced the reader in his own wilderness home! His colossal frame +was now gaunt in the extreme, and so thin that every rib stood out as +though it would burst the skin, and every joint seemed hideously large, +while from head to foot his skin was crossed and recrossed with terrible +weals, and scarred with open sores, telling of the horrible cruelties to +which he had been subjected in the vain attempt to tame his untameable +spirit. There can be no question that, if he had been left to the +tender mercies of such Portuguese half-caste scoundrels as Moosa or +Marizano, he would have been brained with an axe or whipped to death +long ago. But Yoosoof was more cool and calculating in his cruelty; he +had more respect for his pocket than for the gratification of his angry +feelings. Therefore Kambira had reached the coast alive. + +Little had the simple chief imagined what awaited him on that coast, and +on his way to it, when, in the fulness of his heart, he had stated to +Harold Seadrift his determination to proceed thither in search of +Azinte. Experience had now crushed hope, and taught him to despair. +There was but one gleam of light in his otherwise black sky, and that +was the presence of his boy. Life had still one charm in it as long as +he could lay hold of Obo's little hand and hoist him, not quite so +easily as of yore, on his broad shoulders. Yoosoof was sufficiently a +judge of human character to be aware that if he separated these two, +Kambira would become more dangerous to approach than the fiercest +monster in the African wilderness. + +"We must sail to-night and take our chance," said Yoosoof, turning away +from his captives; "the time allowed for our trade is past and I shall +run straight north without delay." + +The Arab here referred to the fact that the period of the year allowed +by treaty for the "lawful slave-trade" of the Zanzibar dominions had +come to an end. That period extended over several months, and during +its course passes from the Sultan secured "domestic slavers" against the +British cruisers. After its expiration no export of slaves was +permitted anywhere; nevertheless a very large export was carried on, +despite non-permission and cruisers. Yoosoof meant to run the blockade +and take his chance. + +"How many dhows have you got?" asked Yoosoof. + +"Three," replied Moosa. + +"That will do," returned the Arab after a few minutes' thought; "it will +be a tight fit at first, perhaps, but a few days at sea will rectify +that. Even in the most healthy season and favourable conditions we must +unfortunately count on a good many losses. We shall sail to-morrow." + +The morrow came, and three dhows left the harbour of Kilwa, hoisted +their lateen sails, and steered northwards. + +They were densely crowded with slaves. Even to the eye of a superficial +observer this would have been patent, for the upper deck of each was so +closely packed with black men, women, and children, that a square inch +of it could not anywhere be seen. + +They were packed very systematically, in order to secure economical +stowage. Each human being sat on his haunches with his thighs against +his breast, and his knees touching his chin. They were all ranged thus +in rows, shoulder to shoulder, and back to shin, so that the deck was +covered with a solid phalanx of human flesh. Change of posture was not +provided for: _it was not possible_. There was no awning over the upper +deck. The tropical sun poured its rays on the heads of the slaves all +day. The dews fell on them all night. The voyage might last for days +or weeks, but there was no relief to the wretched multitude. For no +purpose whatever could they move from their terrible position, save for +the one purpose of being thrown overboard when dead. + +But we have only spoken of the upper deck of these dhows. Beneath this +there was a temporary bamboo deck, with just space sufficient to admit +of men being seated in the position above referred to. This was also +crowded, but it was not the "Black Hole" of the vessel. That was lower +still. Seated on the stone ballast beneath the bamboo deck there was +yet another layer of humanity, whose condition can neither be described +nor conceived. Without air, without light, without room to move, +without hope; with insufferable stench, with hunger and thirst, with +heat unbearable, with agony of body and soul, with dread anticipations +of the future, and despairing memories of the past, they sat for days +and nights together--fed with just enough of uncooked rice and water to +keep soul and body together. + +Not enough in all cases, however, for many succumbed, especially among +the women and children. + +Down in the lowest, filthiest, and darkest corner of this foul hold sat +Kambira, with little Obo crushed against his shins. It may be supposed +that there was a touch of mercy in this arrangement. Let not the reader +suppose so. Yoosoof knew that if Kambira was to be got to market alive, +Obo must go along with him. Moosa also knew that if the strong-minded +chief was to be subdued at all, it would only be by the most terrible +means. Hence his position in the dhow. + +There was a man seated alongside of Kambira who for some time had +appeared to be ill. He could not be seen, for the place was quite dark, +save when a man came down with a lantern daily to serve out rice and +water; but Kambira knew that he was very ill from his groans and the +quiverings of his body. One night these groans ceased, and the man +leaned heavily on the chief--not very heavily, however, he was too +closely wedged in all round to admit of that. Soon afterwards he became +very cold, and Kambira knew that he was dead. All that night and the +greater part of next day the dead man sat propped up by his living +comrades. When the daily visitor came down, attention was drawn to the +body and it was removed. + +Moosa, who was in charge of this dhow (Yoosoof having command of +another), gave orders to have the slaves in the hold examined, and it +was discovered that three others were dead and two dying. The dead were +thrown overboard; the dying were left till they died, and then followed +their released comrades. + +But now a worse evil befell that dhow. Smallpox broke out among the +slaves. + +It was a terrible emergency, but Moosa was quite equal to it. Ordering +the infected, and suspected, slaves to be brought on deck, he examined +them. In this operation he was assisted and accompanied by two powerful +armed men. There were passengers on board the dhow, chiefly Arabs, and +a crew, as well as slaves. The passengers and crew together numbered +about thirty-four, all of whom were armed to the teeth. To these this +inspection was of great importance, for it was their interest to get rid +of the deadly disease as fast as possible. + +The first slave inspected, a youth of about fifteen, was in an advanced +stage of the disease, in fact, dying. A glance was sufficient and at a +nod from Moosa, the two powerful men seized him and hurled him into the +sea. The poor creature was too far gone even to struggle for life. He +sank like a stone. Several children followed. They were unquestionably +smitten with the disease, and were at once thrown overboard. Whether +the passengers felt pity or no we cannot say. They expressed none, but +looked on in silence. + +So far the work was easy, but when men and women were brought up on whom +the disease had not certainly taken effect, Moosa was divided between +the desire to check the progress of the evil, and the desire to save +valuable property. + +The property itself also caused some trouble in a few instances, for +when it became obvious to one or two of the stronger slave-girls and men +what was going to be done with them, they made a hard struggle for their +lives, and the two strong men were under the necessity of using a knife, +now and then, to facilitate the accomplishment of their purpose. But +such cases were rare. Most of the victims were callously submissive; it +might not be beyond the truth, in some cases, to say willingly +submissive. + +Each day this scene was enacted, for Moosa was a very determined man, +and full forty human beings were thus murdered, but the disease was not +stayed. The effort to check it was therefore given up, and the slaves +were left to recover or die where they sat. See account of capture of +dhow by Captain Robert B. Cay, of H.M.S. "Vulture," in the _Times of +India_, 1872. + +While this was going on in the vessel commanded by Moosa, the other two +dhows under Yoosoof and a man named Suliman had been lost sight of. But +this was a matter of little moment, as they were all bound for the same +Persian port, and were pretty sure, British cruisers permitting, to meet +there at last. Meanwhile the dhow ran short of water, and Moosa did not +like to venture at that time to make the land, lest he should be caught +by one of the hated cruisers or their boats. He preferred to let the +wretched slaves take their chance of dying of thirst--hoping, however, +to lose only a few of the weakest, as water could be procured a little +farther north with greater security. + +Thus the horrible work of disease, death, and murder went on, until an +event occurred which entirely changed the aspect of affairs on board the +dhow. + +Early one morning, Moosa directed the head of his vessel towards the +land with the intention of procuring the much needed water. At the same +hour and place two cutters belonging to H.M.S. `Firefly,' armed with gun +and rocket, twenty men, and an interpreter, crept out under sail with +the fishing boats from a neighbouring village. They were under the +command of Lieutenants Small and Lindsay respectively. For some days +they had been there keeping vigilant watch, but had seen no dhows, and +that morning were proceeding out rather depressed by the influence of +"hope deferred," when a sail was observed in the offing--or, rather, a +mast, for the sail of the dhow had been lowered--the owners intending to +wait until the tide should enable them to cross the bar. + +"Out oars and give way, lads," was the immediate order; for it was +necessary to get up all speed on the boats if the dhow was to be reached +before she had time to hoist her huge sail. + +"I hope the haze will last," earnestly muttered Lieutenant Small in the +first cutter. + +"Oh that they may keep on sleeping for five minutes more," excitedly +whispered Lieutenant Lindsay in the second cutter. + +These hopes were coupled with orders to have the gun and rocket in +readiness. + +But the haze would not last to oblige Mr Small, neither would the Arabs +keep on sleeping to please Mr Lindsay. On the contrary, the haze +dissipated, and the Arabs observed and recognised their enemies when +within about half a mile. With wonderful celerity they hoisted sail and +stood out to sea in the full-swing of the monsoon. + +There was no little probability that the boats would fail to overhaul a +vessel with so large a sail, therefore other means were instantly +resorted to. + +"Fire!" said Mr Small. + +"Fire!" cried Mr Lindsay. + +Bang went the gun, whiz went the rocket, almost at the same moment. A +rapid rifle-fire was also opened on the slaver--shot, rocket, and ball +bespattered the sea and scattered foam in the air, but did no harm to +the dhow, a heavy sea and a strong wind preventing accuracy of aim. + +"Give it them as fast as you can," was now the order; and well was the +order obeyed, for blue-jackets are notoriously smart men in action, and +the gun, the rocket, and the rifles kept up a smart iron storm for +upwards of two hours, during which time the exciting chase lasted. + +At last Jackson, the linguist who was in the stern of Lindsay's boat, +mortally wounded the steersman of the dhow with a rifle-ball at a +distance of about six hundred yards. Not long afterwards the +rocket-cutter, being less heavily weighted than her consort, crept +ahead, and when within about a hundred and fifty yards of the slaver, +let fly a well-directed rocket. It carried away the parrell which +secured the yard of the dhow to the mast and brought the sail down +instantly on the deck. + +"Hurra!" burst irresistibly from the blue-jackets. + +The Arabs were doubly overwhelmed, for besides getting the sail down on +their heads, they were astonished and stunned by the shriek, smoke, and +flame of the war-rocket. The gun-cutter coming up at the moment the two +boats ranged alongside of the slaver, and boarded together. + +As we have said, the crew and passengers, numbering thirty-four, were +armed to the teeth, and they had stood by the halyards during the chase +with drawn _creases_, swearing to kill any one who should attempt to +shorten sail. These now appeared for a moment as though they meditated +resistance, but the irresistible dash of the sailors seemed to change +their minds, for they submitted without striking a blow, though many of +them were very reluctant to give up their swords and knives. + +Fortunately the `Firefly' arrived in search of her boats that evening, +and the slaves were transferred to her deck. But who shall describe the +harrowing scene! The dhow seemed a very nest of black ants, it was so +crowded, and the sailors, who had to perform the duty of removing the +slaves, were nearly suffocated by the horrible stench. Few of the +slaves could straighten themselves after their long confinement. Indeed +some of them were unable to stand for days afterwards, and many died on +board the `Firefly' before they reached a harbour of refuge and freedom. +Those taken from the hold were in the worst condition, especially the +children, many of whom were in the most loathsome stages of smallpox, +and scrofula of every description. They were so emaciated and weak that +many had to be carried on board, and lifted for every movement. + +Kambira, although able to stand, was doubled up like an old man, and +poor little Obo trembled and staggered when he attempted to follow his +father, to whom he still clung as to his last and only refuge. + +To convey these poor wretches to a place where they could be cared for +was now Captain Romer's chief anxiety. First however, he landed the +crew and passengers, with the exception of Moosa and three of his men. +The filthy dhow was then scuttled and sunk, after which the `Firefly' +steamed away for Aden, that being the nearest port where the rescued +slaves could be landed and set free. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +THE REMEDY. + +Reader, we will turn aside at this point to preach you a lay sermon, if +you will lend an attentive ear. It shall be brief, and straight to the +point. Our text is,--Prevention and Cure. + +There are at least three great channels by which the life-blood of +Africa is drained. One trends to the east through the Zanzibar +dominions, another to the south-east through the Portuguese +dependencies, and a third to the north through Egypt. If the +slave-trade is to be effectually checked, the flow through these three +channels must be stopped. It is vain to rest content with the stoppage +of one leak in our ship if two other leaks are left open. + +Happily, in regard to the first of these channels, Sir Bartle Frere has +been successful in making a grand stride in the way of prevention. If +the Sultan of Zanzibar holds to his treaty engagements, "domestic +slavery" in his dominions is at an end. Nevertheless, our fleet will be +required just as much as ever to prevent the unauthorised, piratical, +slave-trade, and this, after all, is but one-third of the preventive +work we have to do. Domestic slavery remains untouched in the +Portuguese dependencies, and Portugal has decreed that it shall remain +untouched until the year 1878! It is well that we should be thoroughly +impressed with the fact that so long as slavery in any form is +tolerated, the internal--we may say infernal--miseries and horrors which +we have attempted to depict will continue to blight the land and +brutalise its people. Besides this, justice demands that the same +constraint which we lay on the Sultan of Zanzibar should be applied to +the King of Portugal. We ought to insist that _his_ "domestic slavery" +shall cease at _once_. Still further, as Sir Bartle Frere himself has +recommended, we should urge upon our Government the appointment of +efficient consular establishments in the Portuguese dependencies, as +well as vigilance in securing the observance of the treaties signed by +the Sultans of Zanzibar and Muscat. + +A recent telegram from Sir Samuel Baker assures us that a great step has +been made in the way of checking the tide of slavery in the third--the +Egyptian--channel, and Sir Bartle Frere bears testimony to the desire of +the Khedive that slavery should be put down in his dominions. For this +we have reason to be thankful; and the appearance of affairs in that +quarter is hopeful, but our hope is mingled with anxiety, because +mankind is terribly prone to go to sleep on hopeful appearances. Our +nature is such, that our only chance of success lies, under God, in +resolving ceaselessly to energise until our ends be accomplished. We +must see to it that the Khedive of Egypt acts in accordance with his +professions, and for this end efficient consular agency is as needful in +the north-east as in the south-east. + +So much for prevention, but prevention is not cure. In order to +accomplish this two things are necessary. There must be points or +centres of refuge for the oppressed on the _mainland_ of Africa, and +there must be the introduction of the Bible. The first is essential to +the second. Where anarchy, murder, injustice, and tyranny are rampant +and triumphant, the advance of the missionary is either terribly slow or +altogether impossible. The life-giving, soul-softening Word of God, is +the only remedy for the woes of mankind, and, therefore, the only cure +for Africa. To introduce it effectually, and along with it civilisation +and all the blessings that flow therefrom, it is indispensable that +Great Britain should obtain, by treaty or by purchase, one or more small +pieces of land, there to establish free Christian negro settlements, and +there, with force sufficient to defend them from the savages, and worse +than savages,--the Arab and Portuguese half-caste barbarians and lawless +men who infest the land--hold out the hand of friendship to all natives +who choose to claim her protection from the man-stealer, and offer to +teach them the blessed truths of Christianity and the arts of +civilisation. Many of the men who are best fitted to give an opinion on +the point agree in holding that some such centre, or centres, on the +mainland are essential to the permanent cure of slavery, although they +differ a little as to the best localities for them. Take, for instance, +Darra Salaam on the coast, the Manganja highlands near the river Shire, +and Kartoum on the Nile. Three such centres would, if established, +begin at once to dry up the slave-trade at its three fountain-heads, +while our cruisers would check it on the coast. In these centres of +light and freedom the negroes might see exemplified the blessings of +Christianity and civilisation, and, thence, trained native missionaries +might radiate into all parts of the vast continent armed only with the +Word of God, the shield of Faith, and the sword of the Spirit in order +to preach the glad tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. + +In brief, the great points on which we ought as a nation, to insist, are +the _immediate_ abolition of the slave-trade in Portuguese dependencies; +the scrupulous fulfilment of treaty obligations by the Sultans of +Zanzibar and Muscat, the Shah of Persia, and the Khedive of Egypt; the +establishment by our Government of efficient consular agencies where +such are required; the acquisition of territory on the mainland for the +purposes already mentioned, and the united action of all Christians in +our land to raise funds and send men to preach the Gospel to the negro. +So doing we shall, with God's blessing, put an end to the Eastern +slave-trade, save equatorial Africa, and materially increase the +commerce, the riches, and the happiness of the world. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +TELLS OF SAD SIGHTS, AND SUDDEN EVENTS, AND UNEXPECTED MEETINGS. + +In the course of time, our hero, Harold Seadrift, and his faithful ally, +Disco Lillihammer, after innumerable adventures which we are unwillingly +obliged to pass over in silence, returned to the coast and, in the +course of their wanderings in search of a vessel which should convey +them to Zanzibar, found themselves at last in the town of Governor +Letotti. Being English travellers, they were received as guests by the +Governor, and Harold was introduced to Senhorina Maraquita. + +Passing through the market-place one day, they observed a crowd round +the flag-staff in the centre of the square, and, following the +irresistible tendency of human nature in such circumstances, ran to see +what was going on. + +They found that a slave was about to be publicly whipped by soldiers. +The unhappy man was suspended by the wrists from the flag-staff, and a +single cord of coir round his waist afforded him additional support. + +"Come away, we can do no good here," said Harold, in a low, sorrowful +tone, which was drowned in the shriek of the victim, as the first lash +fell on his naked shoulders. + +"Pra'ps he's a criminal," suggested Disco, as he hurried away, +endeavouring to comfort himself with the thought that the man probably +deserved punishment. "It's not the whippin' I think so much of," he +added; "that is the only thing as will do for some characters, but it's +the awful cruelties that goes along with it." + +Returning through the same square about an hour later, having almost +forgotten about the slave by that time, they were horrified to observe +that the wretched man was still hanging there. + +Hastening towards him, they found that he was gasping for breath. His +veins were bursting, and his flesh was deeply lacerated by the cords +with which he was suspended. He turned his head as the Englishmen +approached, and spoke a few words which they did not understand; but the +appealing look of his bloodshot eyes spoke a language that required no +interpreter. + +At an earlier period in their career in Africa, both Harold and Disco +would have acted on their first impulse, and cut the man down; but +experience had taught them that this style of interference, while it put +their own lives in jeopardy, had sometimes the effect of increasing the +punishment and sufferings of those whom they sought to befriend. + +Acting on a wiser plan, they resolved to appeal to Governor Letotti in +his behalf. They therefore ran to his residence, where Maraquita, who +conversed with Harold in French, informed them that her father was in +the "Geresa," or public palaver house. To that building they hastened, +and found that it was in the very square they had left. But Senhor +Letotti was not there. He had observed the Englishmen coming, and, +having a shrewd guess what their errand was, had disappeared and hid +himself. His chief-officer informed them that he had left the town +early in the morning, and would not return till the afternoon. + +Harold felt quite sure that this was a falsehood, but of course was +obliged to accept it as truth. + +"Is there no one to act for the Governor in his absence?" he asked, +anxiously. + +No, there was no one; but after a few minutes the chief-officer appeared +to be overcome by Harold's earnest entreaties, and said that he could +take upon himself to act, that he would suspend the punishment till the +Governor's return, when Harold might prefer his petition to him in +person. + +Accordingly, the slave was taken down. In the afternoon Harold saw the +Governor, and explained that he did not wish to interfere with his +province as a magistrate, but that what he had witnessed was so shocking +that he availed himself of his privilege as a guest to pray that the +man's punishment might be mitigated. + +Governor Letotti's health had failed him of late, and he had suffered +some severe disappointments in money matters, so that his wonted +amiability had been considerably reduced. He objected, at first, to +interfere with the course of justice; but finally gave a reluctant +consent, and the man was pardoned. Afterwards, however, when our +travellers were absent from the town for a day, the wretched slave was +again tied up, and the full amount of his punishment inflicted; in other +words, he was flogged to death. [For the incident on which this is +founded we are indebted to the Reverend Doctor Ryan, late Bishop of the +Mauritius.] + +This incident had such an effect on the mind of Harold, that he resolved +no longer to accept the hospitality of Governor Letotti. He had some +difficulty, however, in persuading himself to carry his resolve into +effect, for the Governor, although harsh in his dealing with the slave, +had been exceedingly kind and amiable to himself; but an unexpected +event occurred which put an end to his difficulties. This was the +illness and sudden death of his host. + +Poor, disconsolate Maraquita, in the first passion of her grief, fled to +the residence of the only female friend she had in the town, and refused +firmly to return home. Thus it came to pass that Harold's intercourse +with the Senhorina was cut short at its commencement, and thus he missed +the opportunity of learning something of the fortunes of Azinte; for it +is certain that, if they had conversed much together, as would probably +have been the case had her father lived, some mention of the +slave-girl's name could not fail to have been made, and their mutual +knowledge of her to have been elicited and interchanged. + +In those days there was no regular communication between one point and +another of the east coast of Africa and the neighbouring islands. +Travellers had frequently to wait long for a chance; and when they got +one were often glad to take advantage of it without being fastidious as +to its character. Soon after the events above narrated, a small trading +schooner touched at the port. It was bound for the Seychelles, +intending to return by Zanzibar and Madagascar, and proceed to the Cape. +Harold would rather have gone direct to Zanzibar, but, having plenty of +time on his hands, as well as means, he was content to avail himself of +the opportunity, and took passage in the schooner for himself, Disco, +and Jumbo. That sable and faithful friend was the only one of his +companions who was willing to follow him anywhere on the face of the +earth. The others received their pay and their discharge with smiling +faces, and scattered to their several homes--Antonio departing to +complete his interrupted honeymoon. + +Just before leaving, Harold sought and obtained permission to visit +Maraquita, to bid her good-bye. The poor child was terribly overwhelmed +by the death of her father, and could not speak of him without giving +way to passionate grief. She told Harold that she meant to leave the +coast by the first opportunity that should offer, and proceed to the +Cape of Good Hope, where, in some part of the interior, lived an old +aunt, the only relative she now had on earth, who, she knew, would be +glad to receive her. Our hero did his best to comfort the poor girl, +and expressed deep sympathy with her, but felt that his power to console +was very small indeed. After a brief interview he bade her farewell. + +The voyage which our travellers now commenced was likely to be of +considerable duration, for the Seychelles Islands lie a long way to the +eastward of Africa, but as we have said, time was of no importance to +Harold, and he was not sorry to have an opportunity of visiting a group +of islands which are of some celebrity in connexion with the East +African slave-trade. Thus, all unknown to himself or Disco, as well as +to Maraquita, who would have been intensely interested had she known the +fact, he was led towards the new abode of our sable heroine Azinte. + +But alas! for Kambira and Obo,--they were being conveyed, also, of +course, unknown to themselves or to any one else, further and further +away from one whom they would have given their heart's blood to meet +with and embrace, and it seemed as if there were not a chance of any +gleam of light bridging over the ever widening gulf that lay between +them, for although Lieutenant Lindsay knew that Azinte had been left at +the Seychelles, he had not the remotest idea that Kambira was Azinte's +husband, and among several hundreds of freed slaves the second +lieutenant of the `Firefly' was not likely to single out, and hold +converse with a chief whose language he did not understand, and who, as +far as appearances went, was almost as miserable, sickly, and degraded +as were the rest of the unhappy beings by whom he was surrounded. + +Providence, however, turned the tide of affairs in favour of Kambira and +his son. On reaching Zanzibar Captain Romer had learned from the +commander of another cruiser that Aden was at that time somewhat +overwhelmed with freed slaves, a considerable number of captures having +been recently made about the neighbourhood of that great rendezvous of +slavers, the island of Socotra. + +The captain therefore changed his mind, and once more very unwillingly +directed his course towards the distant Seychelles. + +On the way thither many of the poor negroes died, but many began to +recover strength under the influence of kind treatment and generous +diet. Among these latter was Kambira. His erect gait and manly look +soon began to return, and his ribs, so to speak, to disappear. It was +otherwise with poor Obo. The severity of the treatment to which he had +been exposed was almost too much for so young a frame. He lost appetite +and slowly declined, notwithstanding the doctor's utmost care. + +This state of things continuing until the `Firefly' arrived at the +Seychelles, Obo was at once conveyed to the hospital which we have +referred to as having been established there. + +Azinte chanced to be absent in the neighbouring town on some errand +connected with her duties as nurse, when her boy was laid on his bed +beside a number of similar sufferers. It was a sad sight to behold +these little ones. Out of the original eighty-three children who had +been placed there forty-seven had died in three weeks, and the remnant +were still in a pitiable condition. While on their beds of pain, +tossing about in their delirium, the minds of these little ones +frequently ran back to their forest homes, and while some, in spirit, +laughed and romped once more around their huts, thousands of miles away +on the banks of some African river, others called aloud in their +sufferings for the dearest of all earthly beings to them--their mothers. +Some of them also whispered the name of Jesus, for the missionary had +been careful to tell them the story of our loving Lord, while tending +their poor bodies. + +Obo had fevered slightly, and in the restless half-slumber into which he +fell on being put to bed, he, too, called earnestly for his mother. In +_his_ case, poor child, the call was not in vain. + +Lieutenant Lindsay and the doctor of the ship, with Kambira, had +accompanied Obo to the hospital. + +"Now, Lindsay," said the doctor, when the child had been made as +comfortable as circumstances would admit of, "this man must not be left +here, for he will be useless, and it is of the utmost consequence that +the child should have some days of absolute repose. What shall we do +with him?" + +"Take him on board again," said Lindsay. "I daresay we shall find him +employment for a short time." + +"If you will allow me to take charge of him," interposed the missionary, +who was standing by them at the time, "I can easily find him employment +in the neighbourhood, so that he can come occasionally to see his child +when we think it safe to allow him." + +"That will be the better plan," said the doctor, "for as long as--" + +A short sharp cry near the door of the room cut the sentence short. + +All eyes were turned in that direction and they beheld Azinte gazing +wildly at them, and standing as if transformed to stone. + +The instant Kambira saw his wife he leaped up as if he had received an +electric shock, bounded forward like a panther, uttered a shout that did +full credit to the chief of a warlike African tribe, and seized Azinte +in his arms. + +No wonder that thirty-six little black heads leaped from thirty-six +little white pillows, and displayed all the whites of seventy-two eyes +that were anything but little, when this astonishing scene took place! + +But Kambira quickly recovered himself, and, grasping Azinte by the arm, +led her gently towards the bed which had just been occupied, and pointed +to the little one that slumbered uneasily there. Strangely enough, just +at the moment little Obo again whispered the word "mother." + +Poor Azinte's eyes seemed ready to start from their sockets. She +stretched out her arms and tried to rush towards her child, but Kambira +held her back. + +"Obo is very sick," he said, "you must touch him tenderly." + +The chief looked into his wife's eyes, saw that she understood him, and +let her go. + +Azinte crept softly to the bed, knelt down beside it and put her arms so +softly round Obo that she scarcely moved him, yet she gradually drew him +towards her until his head rested on her swelling bosom, and she pressed +her lips tenderly upon his brow. It was an old familiar attitude which +seemed to pierce the slumbers of the child with a pleasant reminiscence, +and dissipate his malady, for he heaved a deep sigh of contentment and +sank into profound repose. + +"Good!" said the doctor, in a low tone, with a significant nod to +Lindsay, when an interpreter had explained what had been already guessed +by all present, that Kambira and Azinte were man and wife; "Obo has a +better chance now of recovery than I had anticipated; for joy goes a +long way towards effecting a cure. Come, we will leave them together." + +Kambira was naturally anxious to remain, but like all commanding +spirits, he had long ago learned that cardinal virtue, "obedience to +whom obedience is due." When it was explained to him that it would be +for Obo's advantage to be left alone with his mother for a time, he +arose, bowed his head, and meekly followed his friends out of the room. + +Exactly one week from that date little Obo had recovered so much of his +former health that he was permitted to go out into the air, and, a few +days later, Lieutenant Lindsay resolved to take him, and his father and +mother, on board the `Firefly,' by way of a little ploy. In pursuance +of this plan he set off from the hospital in company with Kambira, +followed at a short distance by Azinte and Obo. + +Poor Lindsay! his heart was heavy, while he did his best to convey in +dumb show his congratulations to Kambira, for he saw in this unexpected +re-union an insurmountable difficulty in the way of taking Azinte back +to her former mistress--not that he had ever seen the remotest chance of +his being able to achieve that desirable end before this difficulty +arose, but love is at times insanely hopeful, just as at other times-- +and with equally little reason--it is madly despairing. + +He had just made some complicated signs with hands, mouth, and eyebrows, +and had succeeded in rendering himself altogether incomprehensible to +his sable companion, when, on rounding a turn of the path that led to +the harbour, he found himself suddenly face to face with Harold +Seadrift, Disco Lillihammer, and their follower, Jumbo, all of whom had +landed from a schooner, which, about an hour before, had cast anchor in +the bay. + +"Mr Lindsay!" "Mr Seadrift!" exclaimed each to the other +simultaneously, for the reader will remember that they had met once +before when our heroes were rescued from Yoosoof by the "Firefly." + +"Kambira!" shouted Disco. + +"Azinte!" cried Harold, as our sable heroine came into view. + +"Obo!" roared the stricken mariner. + +Jumbo could only vent his feelings in an appalling yell and an impromptu +war-dance round the party, in which he was joined by Disco, who +performed a hornpipe with Obo in his arms, to the intense delight of +that convalescent youngster. + +Thus laughing, questioning, shouting, and dancing, they all effervesced +towards the shore like a band of lunatics just escaped from Bedlam! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +THE LAST. + +"How comes it," said Lieutenant Lindsay to Harold, on the first +favourable opportunity that occurred after the meeting described in the +last chapter; "how comes it that you and Kambira know each other so +well?" + +"I might reply by asking," said Harold, with a smile, "how comes it that +you are so well acquainted with Azinte? but, before putting that +question, I will give a satisfactory answer to your own." + +Hereupon he gave a brief outline of those events, already narrated in +full to the reader, which bore on his first meeting with the slave-girl, +and his subsequent sojourn with her husband. + +"After leaving the interior," continued our hero, "and returning to the +coast, I visited various towns in order to observe the state of the +slaves in the Portuguese settlements, and, truly, what I saw was most +deplorable--demoralisation and cruelty, and the obstruction of lawful +trade, prevailed everywhere. The settlements are to my mind a very +pandemonium on earth. Every one seemed to me more or less affected by +the accursed atmosphere that prevails. Of course there must be some +exceptions. I met with one, at the last town I visited, in the person +of Governor Letotti." + +"Letotti!" exclaimed Lindsay, stopping abruptly. + +"Yes!" said Harold, in some surprise at the lieutenant's manner, "and a +most amiable man he was--" + +"Was!--was! What do you mean? Is--is he dead?" exclaimed Lindsay, +turning pale. + +"He died suddenly just before I left," said Harold. + +"And Maraquita--I mean his daughter--what of her?" asked the lieutenant, +turning as red as he had previously turned pale. + +Harold noted the change, and a gleam of light seemed to break upon him +as he replied:-- + +"Poor girl, she was overwhelmed at first by the heavy blow. I had to +quit the place almost immediately after the event." + +"Did you know her well?" asked Lindsay, with an uneasy glance at his +companion's handsome face. + +"No; I had just been introduced to her shortly before her father's +death, and have scarcely exchanged a dozen sentences with her. It is +said that her father died in debt, but of course in regard to that I +know nothing certainly. At parting, she told me that she meant to leave +the coast and go to stay with a relative at the Cape." + +The poor lieutenant's look on hearing this was so peculiar, not to say +alarming, that Harold could not help referring to it, and Lindsay was so +much overwhelmed by such unexpected news, and, withal, so strongly +attracted by Harold's sympathetic manner, that he straightway made a +confidant of him, told him of his love for Maraquita, of Maraquita's +love for Azinte, of the utter impossibility of his being able to take +Azinte back to her old mistress, now that she had found her husband and +child, even if it had been admissible for a lieutenant in the British +navy to return freed negroes again into slavery, and wound up with +bitter lamentations as to his unhappy fate, and expressions of poignant +regret that fighting and other desperate means, congenial and easy to +his disposition, were not available in the circumstances. After which +explosion he subsided, felt ashamed of having thus committed himself, +and looked rather foolish. + +But Harold quickly put him at his ease. He entered on the subject with +earnest gravity. + +"It strikes me, Lindsay," he said thoughtfully, after the lieutenant had +finished, "that I can aid you in this affair; but you must not ask me +how at present. Give me a few hours to think over it, and then I shall +have matured my plans." + +Of course the lieutenant hailed with heartfelt gratitude the gleam of +hope held out to him, and thus the friends parted for a time. + +That same afternoon Harold sat under a palm-tree in company with Disco, +Jumbo, Kambira, Azinte, and Obo. + +"How would you like to go with me to the Cape of Good Hope, Kambira?" +asked Harold abruptly. + +"Whar dat?" asked the chief through Jumbo. + +"Far away to the south of Africa," answered Harold. "You know that you +can never go back to your own land now, unless you want to be again +enslaved." + +"Him say him no' want to go back," interpreted Jumbo; "got all him care +for now--Azinte and Obo." + +"Then do you agree to go with me?" said Harold. + +To this Kambira replied heartily that he did. + +"W'y, wot do 'ee mean for to do with 'em?" asked Disco, in some +surprise. + +"I will get them comfortably settled there," replied Harold. "My father +has a business friend in Cape Town who will easily manage to put me in +the way of doing it. Besides, I have a particular reason for wishing to +take Azinte there.--Ask her, Jumbo, if she remembers a young lady named +Senhorina Maraquita Letotti." + +To this Azinte replied that she did, and the way in which her eyes +sparkled proved that she remembered her with intense pleasure. + +"Well, tell her," rejoined Harold, "that Maraquita has grieved very much +at losing her, and is _very_ anxious to get her back again--not as a +slave, but as a friend, for no slavery is allowed in English settlements +anywhere, and I am sure that Maraquita hates slavery as much as I do, +though she is not English, so I intend to take her and Kambira and Obo +to the Cape, where Maraquita is living--or will be living soon." + +"Ye don't stick at trifles, sir," said Disco, whose eyes, on hearing +this, assumed a thoughtful, almost a troubled look. + +"My plan does not seem to please you," said Harold. + +"Please me, sir, w'y shouldn't it please me? In course you knows best; +I was only a little puzzled, that's all." + +Disco said no more, but he thought a good deal, for he had noted the +beauty and sprightliness of Maraquita, and the admiration with which +Harold had first beheld her; and it seemed to him that this rather +powerful method of attempting to gratify the Portuguese girl was proof +positive that Harold had lost his heart to her. + +Harold guessed what was running in Disco's mind, but did not care to +undeceive him, as, in so doing, he might run some risk of betraying the +trust reposed in him by Lindsay. + +The captain of the schooner, being bound for the Cape after visiting +Zanzibar, was willing to take these additional passengers, and the +anxious lieutenant was induced to postpone total and irrevocable +despair, although, Maraquita being poor, and he being poor, and +promotion in the service being very slow, he had little reason to +believe his prospects much brighter than they were before,--poor fellow! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Time passed on rapid wing--as time is notoriously prone to do--and the +fortunes of our _dramatis personae_ varied somewhat. + +Captain Romer continued to roam the Eastern seas, along with brother +captains, and spent his labour and strength in rescuing a few hundreds +of captives from among the hundreds of thousands that were continually +flowing out of unhappy Africa. Yoosoof and Moosa continued to throw a +boat-load or two of damaged "cattle" in the way of the British cruisers, +as a decoy, and succeeded on the whole pretty well in running full +cargoes of valuable Black Ivory to the northern markets. The Sultan of +Zanzibar continued to assure the British Consul that he heartily +sympathised with England in her desire to abolish slavery, and to allow +his officials, for a "consideration," to prosecute the slave-trade to +any extent they pleased! Portugal continued to assure England of her +sympathy and co-operation in the good work of repression, and her +subjects on the east coast of Africa continued to export thousands of +slaves under the protection of the Portuguese and French flags, styling +them _free engages_. British-Indian subjects--the Banyans of +Zanzibar,--continued to furnish the sinews of war which kept the +gigantic trade in human flesh going on merrily. Murders, etcetera, +continued to be perpetrated, tribes to be plundered, and hearts to be +broken--of course "legally" and "domestically," as well as piratically-- +during this rapid flight of time. + +But nearly everything in this life has its bright lights and half-tints, +as well as its deep shadows. During the same flight of time, humane +individuals have continued to urge on the good cause of the total +abolition of slavery, and Christian missionaries have continued, despite +the difficulties of slave-trade, climate, and human apathy, to sow here +and there on the coasts the precious seed of Gospel truth, which we +trust shall yet be sown broad-cast by native hands, throughout the +length and breadth of that mighty land. + +To come more closely to the subjects of our tale: + +Chimbolo, with his recovered wife and child, sought safety from the +slavers in the far interior, and continued to think with pleasure and +gratitude of the two Englishmen who hated slavery, and who had gone to +Africa just in the nick of time to rescue that unhappy slave who had +been almost flogged to death, and was on the point of being drowned in +the Zambesi in a sack. Mokompa, also, continued to poetise, as in days +gone by, having made a safe retreat with Chimbolo, and, among other +things, enshrined all the deeds of the two white men in native verse. +Yambo continued to extol play, admire, and propagate the life-sized +jumping-jack to such an extent that, unless his career has been cut +short by the slavers, we fully expect to find that creature a "domestic +institution" when the slave-trade has been crushed, and Africa opened +up--as in the end it is certain to be. + +During the progress and continuance of all these things, you may be sure +our hero was not idle. He sailed, as proposed, with Kambira, Azinte, +Obo, Disco, and Jumbo for Zanzibar, touched at the town over which poor +Senhor Francisco Alfonso Toledo Bignoso Letotti had ruled, found that +the Senhorina had taken her departure; followed, as Disco said, in her +wake; reached the Cape, hunted her up, found her out and presented to +her, with Lieutenant Lindsay's compliments, the African chief Kambira, +his wife Azinte, and his son Obo! + +Poor Maraquita, being of a passionately affectionate and romantic +disposition, went nearly mad with joy, and bestowed so many grateful +glances and smiles on Harold that Disco's suspicions were confirmed, and +that bold mariner wished her, Maraquita, "at the bottom of the sea!" for +Disco disliked foreigners, and could not bear the thought of his friend +being caught by one of them. + +Maraquita introduced Harold to her aunt, a middle-aged, leather-skinned, +excessively dark-eyed daughter of Portugal. She also introduced him to +a bosom friend, at that time on a visit to her aunt. The bosom friend +was an auburn-haired, fair-skinned, cheerful-spirited English girl. +Before her, Harold Seadrift at once, without an instant's warning, fell +flat down, figuratively speaking of course, and remained so--stricken +through the heart! + +The exigencies of our tale require, at this point, that we should draw +our outline with a bold and rapid pencil. + +Disco Lillihammer was stunned, and so was Jumbo, when Harold, some weeks +after their arrival at the Cape, informed them that he was engaged to be +married to Alice Gray, only daughter of the late Sir Eustace Gray, who +had been M.P. for some county in England, which he had forgotten the +name of, Alice not having been able to recall it, as her father had died +when she was four years old, leaving her a fortune of next-to-nothing a +year, and a sweet temper. + +Being incapable of further stunning, Disco was rather revived than +otherwise, and his dark shadow was resuscitated, when Harold added that +Kambira had become Maraquita's head-gardener, Azinte cook to the +establishment, and Obo page-in-waiting--more probably page-in-mischief-- +to the young Senhorina. But both Disco and Jumbo had a relapse from +which they were long of recovering, when Harold went on to say that he +meant to sail for England by the next mail, take Jumbo with him as +valet, make proposals to his father to establish a branch of their house +at the Cape, come back to manage the branch, marry Alice, and reside in +the neighbourhood of the Senhorina Maraquita Letotti's dwelling. + +"You means wot you say, I s'pose?" asked Disco. + +"Of course I do," said Harold. + +"An' yer goin' to take Jumbo as yer walley?" + +"Yes." + +"H'm; I'll go too as yer keeper." + +"My what?" + +"Yer keeper--yer strait-veskit buckler, for if you ain't a loonatic ye +ought to be." + +But Disco did not go to England in that capacity. He remained at the +Cape to assist Kambira, at the express command of Maraquita; and +continued there until Harold returned, bringing Lieutenant Lindsay with +him as a partner in the business; until Harold was married and required +a gardener for his own domain; until the Senhorina became Mrs Lindsay; +until a large and thriving band of little Cape colonists found it +necessary to have a general story-teller and adventure-recounter with a +nautical turn of mind; until, in short, he found it convenient to go to +England himself for the gal of his heart who had been photographed there +years before, and could be rubbed off neither by sickness, sunstroke, +nor adversity. + +When Disco had returned to the colony with the original of the said +photograph, and had fairly settled down on his own farm, then it was +that he was wont at eventide to assemble the little colonists round him, +light his pipe, and, through its hazy influence, recount his +experiences, and deliver his opinions on the slave-trade of East Africa. +Sometimes he was pathetic, sometimes humorous, but, however jocular he +might be on other subjects, he invariably became very grave and very +earnest when he touched on the latter theme. + +"There's only one way to cure it," he was wont to say, "and that is, to +bring the Portuguese and Arabs to their marrow-bones; put the fleet on +the east coast in better workin' order; have consuls everywhere, with +orders to keep their weather-eyes open to the slave-dealers; start two +or three British settlements--ports o' refuge--on the mainland; hoist +the Union Jack, and, last but not least, send 'em the Bible." + +We earnestly commend the substance of Disco's opinions to the reader, +for there is urgent need for action. There is death where life should +be; ashes instead of beauty; desolation in place of fertility, and, even +while we write, terrible activity in the horrible traffic in--"Black +Ivory." + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Black Ivory, by R.M. Ballantyne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK IVORY *** + +***** This file should be named 21748.txt or 21748.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/4/21748/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +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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