CHAPTER VIII
THE START
Food was their first consideration, and to provide it Leonard bade Ottercut the lump of raw meat into strips and set them upon the rocks to dryin the broiling sun. Then they sorted their goods and selected such ofthem as they could carry.
Alas! they were but few. A blanket apiece--a spare pair of bootsapiece--some calomel and sundries from the medicine-chest--a shot gunand the two best rifles and ammunition--a compass, a water bottle,three knives, a comb, and a small iron cooking-pot made up the total--aconsiderable weight for two men and a woman to drag across mountains,untravelled plains, and swamps. This baggage was divided into threeloads, of which Soa's was the lightest, and that of Otter weighed asmuch as the other two put together.
"It was nothing," he said, "he could carry the three if need were;" andso great was the dwarf's strength that Leonard knew this to be no idleboast.
At length all was prepared, and the articles that remained were buriedin the cave together with the mining tools. It was not likely that theywould ever return to seek them; more probably they will lie there till,thousands of years hence, they are dug up and become priceless relicsof the Anglo-African age. Still they hid them on the chance. Leonard hadmelted the fruits of their mining into little ingots. In all there wereabout a hundred ounces of almost pure gold--the price of three men'slives! Half of these ingots he placed with the ruby in the belt abouthis middle, and half he gave to Otter, who hid them in his bundle.Leonard's first idea was to leave the bullion, because it entailed thecarrying of extra weight; but he remembered in time that gold isalways useful, and nowhere more so than among Portuguese and Arabslave-drivers.
By evening everything was ready, and when the edge of the moon showedabove the horizon, Leonard rose, and lifting his load, fastened it uponhis shoulders with the loops of hide which had been prepared, Otter andSoa following his example. It was their plan to travel by night so longas the state of the moon served them, for thus they would escape theterrible heat and lessen the danger of being observed.
"Follow me in a few minutes," said Leonard to Otter; "you will find meby the donga."
The dwarf nodded. A quarter of an hour later he started also with Soaand found his master standing bareheaded by his brother's grave, takinga mute farewell of that which lay beneath before he left it for ever toits long sleep in the untrodden wilderness. It was a melancholy parting,but there have been many such in the African fever belt.
With one last look Leonard turned and joined his companions. Then,having taken counsel with them and with the compass, he set his face tothe mountain and his heart to the new adventures, hopes, and fears thatwere beyond it. The past was done with, it lay buried in yonder grave,but by the mercy of God he was still a man, living beneath the sunlight,and the future stretched away before him. What would it bring? He caredlittle; experience had taught him the futility of anxieties as tothe future. Perchance a grave like those which he had left, perchancewealth, love, and honour. Whatever the event he would strive to meetit with patience, dignity, and resignation. It was not his part to askquestions or to reason why; it was his part to struggle on and take suchguerdon as it pleased Providence to send him.
Thus thought Leonard, and this is the right spirit for an adventurer tocultivate. It is the right spirit in which to meet the good and ill oflife--that greatest of adventures which every one of us must dare. Hewho meets them thus and holds his heart pure and his hands clean willlay himself down to sleep without a sigh or a regret when mountain,swamp, river, and forest all are travelled, and the unknown innumerabletreasure, buried from the olden time far out of reach of man's sight andknowledge, at last is opened to his gaze.
So Leonard started, and his hopes were high notwithstanding thedesperate nature of their undertaking. For here it must be confessedthat the undesirable element of superstition still held fast upon hismind, and now with some slight cause. Had not his brother spoken ofwealth that he should win by the aid of a woman? And had not a womancome to him, bearing in her hand a jewel which, if real, was in itselfworth a moderate fortune; promising also, with the help of anotherwoman, to lead him to a land where many such might be found? Yes, thesethings were so, and it may be pardoned to Leonard if, setting aside thetheory of coincidence, he began to believe that the end would be as thebeginning had been, that the great adventure would be achieved and thewealth be won.
We shall not need to follow the footsteps of Leonard Outram and hiscompanions day by day. For a week they travelled on, journeying mostlyby night as they had proposed. They climbed mountains, they struggledthrough swamps and forests, they swam rivers. Indeed one of these was inflood, and they never could have crossed it had it not been for Otter'spowers of natation. Six times did the dwarf face the torrent, bearingtheir goods and guns held above the water with one hand. On the seventhjourney he was still more heavily weighted, for, with some assistancefrom Leonard, he must carry the woman Soa, who could swim but little.But he did it, and without any great fatigue. It was not until Otter wasseen stemming a heavy current that his vast strength could be measured.Here, indeed, his stunted stature was a positive advantage, for itoffered the less surface for the water to act upon.
So they travelled forward, sometimes hungry, sometimes full of meat,and even of what were better, of milk and corn. For the country was notentirely deserted; occasionally they came to scattered kraals, and wereable to obtain provisions from their peaceful inhabitants in return forsome such trifle as an empty cartridge of brass. At first Leonard wasafraid lest Soa should tire, but notwithstanding her years and thehardships and sufferings which she had undergone, she showed wonderfulendurance--endurance so wonderful that he came to the conclusion thatit was her spirit which supported the frailty of her body, and theever-present desire to rescue one whom she loved as a surly dogsometimes loves its master. However this might be, she pushed forwardwith the rest, rarely speaking except to urge them onwards.
On the eighth night of their journey they halted upon the crest of ahigh mountain. The moon had set, and it was impossible to go further;moreover, they were weary with long marching. Wrapping themselves upin their blankets--for here the air was piercingly cold--they lay downbeneath the shelter of some bushes to sleep till dawn. It was Otter whowoke them. "Look, Baas," he said to Leonard, "we have marched straight.There below us is the big river, and there far to the right is the sea."
They looked. Some miles from them, across the great plain of bush thatmerged gradually into swamp, lay that branch of the Zambesi which theywould reach. They could not see it, indeed, for its face was hid by adense cloak of soft white mist that covered it like a cloud. But thereit was, won at last, and there away to the eastward shone the wideglitter of the sea, flecked with faint lines of broken billows whencethe sun rose in glory.
"See, Baas," said Otter, when they had satisfied themselves withthe beautiful sight, "yonder, some five hours' march from here, themountains curve down to the edge of the river. Thither we must go, forit is on the further side of those hills that the great swamp lies wherethe Yellow Devil has his place. I know the spot well; I have passed ittwice."
They rested till noonday; but that night, before the moon rose, theystood on the curve of the mountain, close down to the water's edge. Atlength she came up, and showed them a wonderful scene of desolation.Beyond the curve of hills the mountains trended out again to the south,gradually growing lower till at last they melted into the skyline.In the vast semicircle thus formed ran the river, spotted with greenislands, while between it and the high ground, over a space which variedfrom one mile at the narrowest to twenty miles in width at the broadestof the curve, was spread a huge and dismal swamp, marked by patches ofstagnant water, clothed with reeds which grew to the height of smalltrees, and exhaling a stench as of the rottenness of ages.
The loneliness of the place was dreadful, its waste and desolation wereappalling. And yet it lived with a life of its own. Wild fowl flew inwedges from the sea to feed in its recesses, alligators and hippop
otamisplashed in the waters, bitterns boomed among the rushes, and from everypool and quagmire came the croaking of a thousand frogs.
"Yonder runs the slave road, or yonder it once ran," said Otter,pointing to the foot of a hill.
"Let us go and see," answered Leonard; "we can follow it for a while andcamp."
They climbed down the hill. At its foot Otter cast backwards andforwards among the bushes like a hound. Then he held up his hand andwhistled.
"I thought so," he said, as the others drew near; "the path is still thesame. Look, Baas."
As he spoke he broke down the branches of a creeping bush with hisstrong foot. Among them lay the mouldering skeleton of a woman, and byher side that of a child.
"Not long dead," said Otter phlegmatically, "perhaps two weeks. Ah! theYellow Devil leaves a spoor that all may follow."
Soa bent over the bones and examined them. "One of Mavoom's people," shesaid; "I know the fashion of the anklets."
Then they marched on for two hours or more, till at length they came toa spot where the trail ran to the edge of the water and stopped.
"What now, Otter?" said Leonard.
"Here the slaves are put on boats, Baas," the dwarf answered. "The boatsshould be hidden yonder," and he pointed to some thick reeds. "There toothey 'weed the corn,' killing out the weakly ones, that they may not beburdened with them. Let us go and look."
They went, Otter leading the way. Presently he halted. "The boats aregone," he said, "all except one canoe; but the 'weeds' lie in a heap asof old."
He was right. Piled in a little open space lay the bodies of some thirtymen, women, and children recently dead. In other spaces close by weresimilar heaps, but these were of bleached bones on which the moonlightshone brightly--mementoes of former sacrifices. Quite close to the firstpile of dead was a mooring-place where at least a dozen flat-bottomedboats had been secured, for their impress could yet be seen in thesand. Now they were gone with the exception of the canoe, which was keptthere, evidently to facilitate the loading and launching of the largeboats.
Nobody made any comment. The sight was beyond comment, but a fiercedesire rose in Leonard's heart to come face to face with this "YellowDevil" who fattened on the blood and agony of helpless human beings, andto avenge them if he might.
"The light is going, we must camp here till the morning," he said aftera while.
And there they camped in this Golgotha, this place of bones, every oneof which cried to heaven for vengeance.
The night wind swept over them whispering in the giant reeds, fashioningthe mists into fantastic shapes that threw strange shadows on the inkysurface of the water as it crept slowly to the sea. From time to timethe frogs broke into a sudden chorus of croaking, then grew silentagain; the heron cried from afar as some alligator or river-horsedisturbed its rest, and from high in air came the sound of the wings ofwild-fowl that travelled to the ocean. But to Leonard's fancy all thesevarious voices of nature were as one voice that spoke from the piles ofskeletons gleaming faintly in the uncertain starlight and cried, "Oh!God, how long shall iniquity have power on the earth? Oh! God, how longshall thy Hand be stayed?"
The darkness passed, the sun shone out merrily, and the travellersarose, brushed the night-dew from their hair, and ate a scanty meal, forthey must husband such food as they had with them. Then, as though bycommon consent, they went to the canoe, bailed her out, and started,Leonard and Otter using the paddles.
Now it was that the dwarf's marvellous memory for locality came intoplay. Without him they could not have gone a mile, for their course ranthrough numberless lagoons and canals, cut by nature and the currentin the dense banks of reeds. There was nothing to enable them todistinguish one of these canals from another; in truth they all formeda portion of this mouth of the river. There were no landmarks to guidethem; everywhere spread a sea of swamp diversified by rush-clothedislands, which to the inexperienced eye presented few points ofdifference. This was the road that Otter led them on unfalteringly; tenyears had passed since he had travelled it, but he never even hesitated.Time upon time they came to new openings in the reeds leading this wayand that. Then for a moment the dwarf would consider, and, lifting hishand, point out which water-way they should choose, and they followedit.
Thus they went on for the most part of that day, till towards eveningthey reached a place where the particular canal that they were followingsuddenly divided itself into two, one branch running north and one in asoutherly direction.
"Which way, Otter?" asked Leonard.
"Nay, Baas, I know not. The water has changed; there was no land here,the cut went straight on."
This was a serious matter, for one false step in such a labyrinth meantthat they would be lost utterly. For long they debated which streamto take, and at last decided to try that on the left hand, which Otterthought ran more nearly in the true direction. They had already startedin pursuance of his advice when Soa, who had remained silent hitherto,suggested that they should first go a little way down the right-handstream on the chance of finding a clue. Leonard demurred, but as thewoman seemed bent upon it, he yielded, and turning the boat they paddledher some three hundred yards in this new direction. As there was nothingto be seen, however, Otter began to put her about again.
"Stay, White Man," said Soa, who had been searching the surface of thewater with her quick eyes, "what is that thing yonder?" and she pointedto a clump of reeds about forty yards away, among which some small whiteobject was just discernible.
"Feathers, I think," Leonard answered, "but we will go and see." Inanother moment they were there.
"It is paper, Baas," said Otter in a low voice, "paper stuck on a reed."
"Lift it carefully," answered Leonard in the same tone, for his anxietywas keen. How came it that they found paper fixed to a reed in such aplace as this?
Otter obeyed, laying the sodden sheet on the thwart of the canoe beforeLeonard, who with Soa examined it closely.
"This is a leaf from that holy book in which my mistress reads," saidthe woman with conviction; "I know the shape of it well. She has tornthe paper out and affixed it on the reed as a sign to any who might comeafter her."
"It looks like it," said Leonard; "that was a good thought of yours toturn up here, old lady." Then he bent down and read such verses as werestill legible on the page; they ran thus:
"For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heavendid the Lord behold the earth;"
"To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointedto death;"
"The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall beestablished before thee."
"Hum!" said Leonard to himself, "the quotation seems very appropriate.If one had faith in omens now, a man might say that this was a goodone." And in his heart he believed it to be so.
Another hour's journey brought them to the point of the island alongwhich they had been travelling.
"Ah," said Otter, "now I know the path again. This is the right stream,that to the left must be a new one. Had we taken it we should have lostour way, and perhaps have found it no more for days, or not at all."
"Say, Otter," said Leonard, "you escaped from this slave-camp. How didyou do it--in a boat?"
"No, Baas. The Baas knows that I am strong, my Spirit who gave meugliness gave me strength also to make up for it, and it is well, forhad I been beautiful as you are, Baas, and not very strong, I shouldhave been a slave now, or dead. With my chained hands I choked him whowas set to watch me, and took his knife. Then by my strength I broke theirons--see, Baas, here are the scars of them to this day. When I brokethem they cut into my flesh, but they were old irons that had been onmany slaves, so I mastered them. Then as others came to kill me I threwmyself into the water and dived, and they never saw me more. AfterwardsI swam all the way, resting from time to time on the islands and fromtime to time running along the shore where the reeds were not too thick,till at length I escaped into the open country. I travelled four days toreach it, and m
ost of that time I was in the water."
"And what did you feed on?"
"Roots and the eggs of birds."
"And did not the alligators try to eat you?"
"Yes, one, Baas, but I am quick in the water. I got upon thewater-snake's back--ah! my Spirit was with me then--and I drove theknife through his eye into his brain. Then I smeared myself over withhis blood, and after that they did not touch me, for they knew the smelland thought that I was their brother."
"Say, Otter, are you not afraid of going back to this place?"
"Somewhat, Baas, for there is that hell of which you white people talk.But where the Baas goes there I can go also; Otter will not linger whileyou run. Also, Baas, I am not brave, no, no, yet I would look upon thatYellow Devil again, yes, if I myself must die to do it, and kill himwith these hands."
And the dwarf dropped the paddle screaming "Kill him! kill him! killhim!" so loudly that the birds rose in affright from the marshes.
"Be quiet," said Leonard angrily; "do you want to bring the Arabs onus?"
But to himself he thought that he should be sorry for Pereira, alias the"Yellow Devil," if once Otter found a chance to fly at his throat.