CHAPTER VII--OOLANGA
Mr. Salton had an appointment for six o'clock at Liverpool. When he haddriven off, Sir Nathaniel took Adam by the arm.
"May I come with you for a while to your study? I want to speak to youprivately without your uncle knowing about it, or even what the subjectis. You don't mind, do you? It is not idle curiosity. No, no. It ison the subject to which we are all committed."
"Is it necessary to keep my uncle in the dark about it? He might beoffended."
"It is not necessary; but it is advisable. It is for his sake that Iasked. My friend is an old man, and it might concern him unduly--evenalarm him. I promise you there shall be nothing that could cause himanxiety in our silence, or at which he could take umbrage."
"Go on, sir!" said Adam simply.
"You see, your uncle is now an old man. I know it, for we were boystogether. He has led an uneventful and somewhat self-contained life, sothat any such condition of things as has now arisen is apt to perplex himfrom its very strangeness. In fact, any new matter is trying to oldpeople. It has its own disturbances and its own anxieties, and neitherof these things are good for lives that should be restful. Your uncle isa strong man, with a very happy and placid nature. Given health andordinary conditions of life, there is no reason why he should not live tobe a hundred. You and I, therefore, who both love him, though indifferent ways, should make it our business to protect him from alldisturbing influences. I am sure you will agree with me that any labourto this end would be well spent. All right, my boy! I see your answerin your eyes; so we need say no more of that. And now," here his voicechanged, "tell me all that took place at that interview. There arestrange things in front of us--how strange we cannot at present evenguess. Doubtless some of the difficult things to understand which liebehind the veil will in time be shown to us to see and to understand. Inthe meantime, all we can do is to work patiently, fearlessly, andunselfishly, to an end that we think is right. You had got so far aswhere Lilla opened the door to Mr. Caswall and the negro. You alsoobserved that Mimi was disturbed in her mind at the way Mr. Caswalllooked at her cousin."
"Certainly--though 'disturbed' is a poor way of expressing herobjection."
"Can you remember well enough to describe Caswall's eyes, and how Lillalooked, and what Mimi said and did? Also Oolanga, Caswall's West Africanservant."
"I'll do what I can, sir. All the time Mr. Caswall was staring, he kepthis eyes fixed and motionless--but not as if he was in a trance. Hisforehead was wrinkled up, as it is when one is trying to see through orinto something. At the best of times his face has not a gentleexpression; but when it was screwed up like that it was almostdiabolical. It frightened poor Lilla so that she trembled, and after abit got so pale that I thought she had fainted. However, she held up andtried to stare back, but in a feeble kind of way. Then Mimi came closeand held her hand. That braced her up, and--still, never ceasing herreturn stare--she got colour again and seemed more like herself."
"Did he stare too?"
"More than ever. The weaker Lilla seemed, the stronger he became, justas if he were feeding on her strength. All at once she turned round,threw up her hands, and fell down in a faint. I could not see what elsehappened just then, for Mimi had thrown herself on her knees beside herand hid her from me. Then there was something like a black shadowbetween us, and there was the nigger, looking more like a malignant devilthan ever. I am not usually a patient man, and the sight of that uglydevil is enough to make one's blood boil. When he saw my face, he seemedto realise danger--immediate danger--and slunk out of the room asnoiselessly as if he had been blown out. I learned one thing, however--heis an enemy, if ever a man had one."
"That still leaves us three to two!" put in Sir Nathaniel.
"Then Caswall slunk out, much as the nigger had done. When he had gone,Lilla recovered at once."
"Now," said Sir Nathaniel, anxious to restore peace, "have you found outanything yet regarding the negro? I am anxious to be posted regardinghim. I fear there will be, or may be, grave trouble with him."
"Yes, sir, I've heard a good deal about him--of course it is notofficial; but hearsay must guide us at first. You know my manDavenport--private secretary, confidential man of business, and generalfactotum. He is devoted to me, and has my full confidence. I asked himto stay on board the _West African_ and have a good look round, and findout what he could about Mr. Caswall. Naturally, he was struck with theaboriginal savage. He found one of the ship's stewards, who had been onthe regular voyages to South Africa. He knew Oolanga and had made astudy of him. He is a man who gets on well with niggers, and they opentheir hearts to him. It seems that this Oolanga is quite a great personin the nigger world of the African West Coast. He has the two thingswhich men of his own colour respect: he can make them afraid, and he islavish with money. I don't know whose money--but that does not matter.They are always ready to trumpet his greatness. Evil greatness it is--butneither does that matter. Briefly, this is his history. He wasoriginally a witch-finder--about as low an occupation as exists amongstaboriginal savages. Then he got up in the world and became an Obi-man,which gives an opportunity to wealth _via_ blackmail. Finally, hereached the highest honour in hellish service. He became a user ofVoodoo, which seems to be a service of the utmost baseness and cruelty. Iwas told some of his deeds of cruelty, which are simply sickening. Theymade me long for an opportunity of helping to drive him back to hell. Youmight think to look at him that you could measure in some way the extentof his vileness; but it would be a vain hope. Monsters such as he isbelong to an earlier and more rudimentary stage of barbarism. He is inhis way a clever fellow--for a nigger; but is none the less dangerous orthe less hateful for that. The men in the ship told me that he was acollector: some of them had seen his collections. Such collections! Allthat was potent for evil in bird or beast, or even in fish. Beaks thatcould break and rend and tear--all the birds represented were of apredatory kind. Even the fishes are those which are born to destroy, towound, to torture. The collection, I assure you, was an object lesson inhuman malignity. This being has enough evil in his face to frighten evena strong man. It is little wonder that the sight of it put that poorgirl into a dead faint!"
Nothing more could be done at the moment, so they separated.
Adam was up in the early morning and took a smart walk round the Brow. Ashe was passing Diana's Grove, he looked in on the short avenue of trees,and noticed the snakes killed on the previous morning by the mongoose.They all lay in a row, straight and rigid, as if they had been placed byhands. Their skins seemed damp and sticky, and they were covered allover with ants and other insects. They looked loathsome, so after aglance, he passed on.
A little later, when his steps took him, naturally enough, past theentrance to Mercy Farm, he was passed by the negro, moving quickly underthe trees wherever there was shadow. Laid across one extended arm,looking like dirty towels across a rail, he had the horrid-lookingsnakes. He did not seem to see Adam. No one was to be seen at Mercyexcept a few workmen in the farmyard, so, after waiting on the chance ofseeing Mimi, Adam began to go slowly home.
Once more he was passed on the way. This time it was by Lady Arabella,walking hurriedly and so furiously angry that she did not recognise him,even to the extent of acknowledging his bow.
When Adam got back to Lesser Hill, he went to the coach-house where thebox with the mongoose was kept, and took it with him, intending to finishat the Mound of Stone what he had begun the previous morning with regardto the extermination. He found that the snakes were even more easilyattacked than on the previous day; no less than six were killed in thefirst half-hour. As no more appeared, he took it for granted that themorning's work was over, and went towards home. The mongoose had by thistime become accustomed to him, and was willing to let himself be handledfreely. Adam lifted him up and put him on his shoulder and walked on.Presently he saw a lady advancing towards him, and recognised LadyArabella.
Hitherto the mongoose had been quiet, like a playful affectionate kitten;but when the two got close, Adam was horrified to see the mongoose, in astate of the wildest fury, with every hair standing on end, jump from hisshoulder and run towards Lady Arabella. It looked so furious and sointent on attack that he called a warning.
"Look out--look out! The animal is furious and means to attack."
Lady Arabella looked more than ever disdainful and was passing on; themongoose jumped at her in a furious attack. Adam rushed forward with hisstick, the only weapon he had. But just as he got within strikingdistance, the lady drew out a revolver and shot the animal, breaking hisbackbone. Not satisfied with this, she poured shot after shot into himtill the magazine was exhausted. There was no coolness or hauteur abouther now; she seemed more furious even than the animal, her facetransformed with hate, and as determined to kill as he had appeared tobe. Adam, not knowing exactly what to do, lifted his hat in apology andhurried on to Lesser Hill.