them that only the King could carry them all. But to liberatethe King it was necessary to sacrifice at least two-thirds of thecartridges.
Ever-increasing troubles gathered over Stas' head like the clouds whichdid not cease to water the jungle with rain. Finally came the greatestcalamity, in the presence of which all the others dwindled--fever!
IX
One night at supper Nell, having raised a piece of smoked meat to herlips, suddenly pushed it away, as if with loathing, and said:
"I cannot eat to-day."
Stas, who had learned from Kali where the bees were and had smoked themout daily in order to get their honey, was certain that the little onehad eaten during the day too much honey, and for that reason he did notpay any attention to her lack of appetite. But she after a while roseand began to walk hurriedly about the camp-fire describing an everlarger circle.
"Do not get away too far, for something might seize you," the boyshouted at her.
He really, however, did not fear anything, for the elephant's presence,which the wild animals scented, and his trumpeting, which reached theirvigilant ears, held them at a respectable distance. It assured safetyalike to the people and to the horses, for the most ferocious beasts ofprey in the jungle, the lion, the panther, and the leopard, prefer tohave nothing to do with an elephant and not to approach too near histusks and trunk.
Nevertheless, when the little maid continued to run around, more andmore hurriedly, Stas followed her and asked:
"Say, little moth! Why are you flying like that about the fire?"
He asked still jestingly, but really was uneasy and his uneasinessincreased when Nell answered:
"I don't know. I can't sit down in any place."
"What is the matter with you?"
"I feel so strangely--"
And then suddenly she rested her head on his bosom and as thoughconfessing a fault, exclaimed in a meek voice, broken by sobs:
"Stas, perhaps I am sick--"
"Nell!"
Then he placed his palm upon her forehead which was dry and icy. So hetook her in his arms and carried her to the camp-fire.
"Are you cold?" he asked on the way.
"Cold and hot, but more cold--"
In fact her little teeth chattered and chills continually shook herbody. Stas now did not have the slightest doubt that she had a fever.
He at once ordered Mea to conduct her to the tree, undress her andplace her on the ground, and afterwards to cover her with whatever shecould find, for he had seen in Khartum and Fashoda that fever-strickenpeople were covered with sheeps' hide in order to perspire freely. Hedetermined to sit at Nell's side the whole night and give her hot waterwith honey to drink. But she in the beginning did not want to drink. Bythe light of the little lamp hung in the interior of the tree heobserved her glittering eyes. After a while she began to complain ofthe heat and at the same time shook under the saddle-cloth and plaids.Her hands and forehead continued cold, but had Stas known anythingabout febrile disorders, he would have seen by her extraordinaryrestlessness that she must have a terrible fever. With fear he observedthat when Mea entered with hot water the little girl gazed at her asthough with a certain amazement and even fear and did not seem torecognize her. With him she spoke consciously. She said to him that shecould not lie down and begged him to permit her to rise and run about;then again she asked whether he was not angry at her because she wassick, and when he assured her that he was not, her eyelashes weresuffused with the tears which surged to her eyes, and she assured himthat on the morrow she would be entirely well.
That evening, or that night, the elephant was somehow strangelydisturbed and continually trumpeted so as to awake Saba and cause himto bark. Stas observed that this irritated the patient; so he left thetree to quiet them. He silenced Saba easily, but as it was a hardermatter to bid the elephant to be silent, he took with him a few melonsto throw to him, and stuff his trunk at least for a time. Returning, heobserved, by the light of the camp-fire, Kali who, with a piece ofsmoked meat on his shoulders, was going in the direction of the river.
"What are you doing there, and where are you going?" he asked the negro.
And the black boy stopped, and when Stas drew near to him said with amysterious countenance:
"Kali is going to another tree to place meat for the wicked Mzimu."
"Why?"
"That the wicked Mzimu should not kill the 'Good Mzimu.'"
Stas wanted to say something in reply, but suddenly grief seized hisbosom; so he only set his teeth and walked away in silence.
When he returned to the tree Nell's eyes were closed, her hands, lyingon the saddle-cloth, quivered indeed strongly, but it seemed that shewas slumbering. Stas sat down near her, and from fear of waking her hesat motionless. Mea, sitting on the other side, readjusted every littlewhile pieces of ivory protruding out of her ears, in order to defendherself in this manner from drowsiness. It became still; only from theriver below, from the direction of the overflow, came the croaking offrogs and the melancholy piping of toads.
Suddenly Nell sat up on the bedding.
"Stas!"
"I am here, Nell."
And she, shaking like a leaf in the breeze, began to seek his hands andrepeat hurriedly:
"I am afraid! I am afraid! Give me your hand!"
"Don't fear. I am with you."
And he grasped her palm which this time was heated as if on fire; notknowing what to do he began to cover that poor, emaciated hand withkisses.
"Don't be afraid, Nell! don't be afraid!"
After which he gave her water with honey to drink, which by that timehad cooled. This time Nell drank eagerly and clung to the hand with theutensil when he tried to take it away from her lips. The cool drinkseemed to soothe her.
Silence ensued. But after the lapse of half an hour Nell again sat upon the bedding and in her wide-open eyes could be seen terrible fright.
"Stas!"
"What is it, dear?"
"Why," she asked in a broken voice, "do Gebhr and Chamis walk aroundthe tree and peer at me?"
To Stas in an instant it seemed as if thousands of ants were crawlingover him.
"What are you saying, Nell?" he said. "There is nobody here. That isKali walking around the tree."
But she, staring at the dark opening, cried with chattering teeth:
"And the Bedouins too! Why did you kill them?"
Stas clasped her with his arms and pressed her to his bosom.
"You know why! Don't look there! Don't think of that! That happenedlong ago!"
"To-day! to-day!"
"No, Nell, long ago."
In fact it was long ago, but it had returned like a wave beaten backfrom the shore and again filled with terror the thoughts of the sickchild.
All words of reassurance appeared in vain. Nell's eyes widened more andmore. Her heart palpitated so violently that it seemed that it wouldburst at any moment. She began to throw herself about like a fish takenout of the water, and this continued almost until morning. Only towardsthe morning was her strength exhausted and her head dropped upon thebedding.
"I am weak, weak," she repeated. "Stas, I am flying somewhere downbelow."
After which she closed her eyes.
Stas at first became terribly alarmed for he thought that she had died.But this was only the end of the first paroxysm of the dreadful Africanfever, termed deadly, two attacks of which strong and healthy peoplecan resist, but the third no one thus far had been able to withstand.Travelers had often related this in Port Said in Mr. Rawlinson's home,and yet more frequently Catholic missionaries returning to Europe, whomPan Tarkowski received hospitably. The second attack comes after a fewdays or a fortnight, while if the third does not come within two weeksit is not fatal as it is reckoned as the first in the recurrence of thesickness. Stas knew that the only medicine which could break or keepoff the attack was quinine in big doses, but now he did not have anatom of it.
For the time being, however, seeing that Nell was breathing, he becamesome
what calm and began to pray for her. But in the meantime the sunleaped from beyond the rocks of the ravine and it was day. The elephantalready demanded his breakfast and from the direction of the overflowwhich the river made resounded the cries of aquatic birds. Desiring tokill a brace of guinea-fowl for broth for Nell, the boy took his gunand strolled along the river towards a clump of shrubs on which thesebirds usually perched for the night. But he felt the effect of lack ofsleep so much and his thoughts were so occupied with the little girl'sillness that a whole flock of guinea-fowl passed close by him in atrot, one after another, bound for the watering place, and he did notobserve them at all. This happened also because he was continuallypraying. He thought of the slaying of Gebhr, Chamis, and the Bedouins,and lifting his eyes upwards he said with a voice choking with tears:
"I did this for Nell, oh Lord,