CHAPTER XX
MAXWELL'S LAST MARCH
Maxwell was never addicted to losing time, and, thanks to Miss Castro'sefforts, he had a clear start of Rideau, when he left Little Mahu.Redmond, being warned by a message posted on from the cable stationfarther along the coast, had a number of picked men ready; and Amadudeclared that they were sturdy cattle. Both traders had done theirutmost, and by dint of working night and day, Maxwell was able to leavetheir factory two days after he reached it.
They followed him to the compound gate, where Gilby gazed longingly atthe forest and then sighed as he surveyed the line of brawny men, eachof whom stood waiting beside his burden. Their clothing was simple.Broad folds of white cotton hung over one shoulder, and, drooping to theknee, were belted at the waist by a band from which a matchet hung. Anumber of the men also carried long flintlock guns.
"They're warranted free from civilization, and fit for almost anything,if you drive them with a tight rein," Gilby said.
"The niggers are fit enough," agreed Redmond. "If I were you, Maxwell, Iwouldn't spare them. Nobody has heard anything of Rideau since hereported you as hopelessly hemmed in, but there's not much happens inthis region he does not get news of, and it's my humble opinion he'llturn up somewhere along your trail just when you least desire to seehim. As you probably know, news travels very fast in this country. Thatfellow must have some influence with the nigger headmen or the chiefs ofthe Leopards, or somebody would have cut his throat long ago. You'llhave to push on your fastest to keep ahead of him."
"I quite appreciate the necessity," Maxwell replied quietly. "But if itwere not for my comrade's sake I think I'd wait for him. It strikes methat I am wasting precious time now, and I'll leave you with my bestthanks for your assistance."
One trader thumped him on the back, the other grasped his hand.
"Good luck!" cried Redmond. "We'll put a spoke in Rideau's wheel if wecan."
"You're the sort of man I take to!" Gilby added. "We'll use up a wholequarter's allowance, and turn this place inside out when you come backagain."
Maxwell beckoned to Amadu, and waved his hand to the traders, as hiscarriers picked up their loads; and the two stood gazing after him untilthe steamy forest swallowed the long line of plodding men. They neversaw him again, and it was some time before any news of his movementsreached them, but meanwhile Gilby nearly brought about the death ofRideau's principal assistant, and ever afterward regretted he did notwholly do so.
That evening Gilby was returning with a gun in his hand from a prowlbeside a lagoon soon after darkness fell, when his boot became unlacednear the factory boys' quarters, which stood at some distance from thewhite men's dwelling. Gilby seated himself on a fallen log, and remaineda few minutes glancing meditatively, but unseen himself, toward a groupof dusky figures crouching around a cooking-fire just outside theedifice. They sat with their backs toward the long, low shed, and,because the fire had sunk, the light was dim and fitful. Accordingly,Gilby saw, though the negroes did not, a shadowy form crawl without asound down the slope of thatch. With suspicions aroused, Gilby reachedout for his gun. It was a heavy big-bore, and there was a large-shotcartridge in either chamber.
Still, he was distinctly puzzled until the crawling object resolveditself into a man, who dropped noiselessly from the overhanging eaves,and the next moment appeared before the astonished negroes, as though hehad fallen from the clouds. It was cleverly done, and Gilby could see bythe negroes' attitude that they were impressed. The stranger wasevidently one of the wandering magicians who are a power in thatcountry, and wanted something from the Krooboys. Gilby, having sufferedby the visits of similar gentlemen, determined to demonstrate to hisservants the hollowness of such trickery, and furnish the intruder withcause to regret having frightened them. He could see the dusky figuresshrink backward until the stranger checked them with an imperiousgesture, and asked questions in some native tongue. As Gilby creptcarefully nearer, the man's appearance seemed to be familiar. He wore abroad palm-leaf hat low down on his forehead, but as the firelightleaped up the trader felt almost certain that he had before him Rideau'sheadman.
"If you lib for move a foot, I'll shoot you!" he shouted, pitching upthe gun.
There was a murmur, apparently of relief, from the Kroos, and, thoughGilby afterward said he did not run, the stranger's figure grew lessdistinct. It had almost vanished when he called again, and, receiving noanswer, pressed the trigger. A wisp of smoke blew into his eyes, heheard the lead smash through the frail boarding of the shed; but thoughhe was a tolerable shot there was no other sound beyond the concussionflung back from the palms above. Gilby, dashing forward, searched allthe surrounding bush before he returned to the Krooboys, having foundnothing.
"What did them Ju-ju man lib for want?" he asked.
"He done ask us how many boy them white man take, and when he lib forbush, sah," answered a trembling negro.
"I'll stop half your rations if the next time he comes one of youdoesn't lib for get out soffly, soffly, and tell me," said the trader."I'll also flog any boy who tells him what he wants to know!"
"Were you trying to shoot yourself, Gilby?" asked Redmond, meeting himat the foot of the stairway. "I'd try to hang out here on top as long aspossible, if I were you."
"I was trying to shoot one of those confounded Ju-ju men, more fool me.The beggar got away, and, though of course it was trickery, he did itcleverly. I believe it was that brute of Rideau's."
"Then it would have saved somebody a lot of trouble if you had heldstraighter. Rideau doesn't usually make his movements plain, but it willbe unlucky for Maxwell if those two rascals are on his trail."
Maxwell in the meantime was pushing north with feverish haste. He didnot know what had happened at the factory, but he feared many things,and guessed that his rival would miss no opportunity to prevent hisjoining hands with his comrade. Still, he could not forecast what hisplan would be, and could only redouble his precautions and make Amadusolemnly promise to carry relief to the threatened camp if disasterovertook him personally. Also he traveled very fast, for Maxwellpossessed the gift of getting the utmost out of his men, and becausenews flies swiftly through the African bush, that perhaps accounted forhis being able to cover the distance he did before misfortune overtookhim.
The rains had set in, when, with Amadu some paces behind him, he ploddedone day through thick jungle before his men. The deluge had ceasedduring the last hour, but the narrow path ran water, while the cane,which grew higher than a tall man's head on either side, shook downdrenching showers alike on soaked white man and naked negro. Belts ofthick steam drifted across it in places. There was no sound but thesplash of moisture and the fall of weary feet, but Maxwell, with hispistol loose in its waterproof holster, marched the more cautiously. Hehad faced numerous perils in his time, and had learned never to run anunnecessary risk; and the jungle he traversed was particularly suitablefor an ambush.
Amadu, who recognized this, also was vigilant, and swept the cane oneither side with searching eyes. He endeavored to persuade his master totravel in his hammock; but unavailingly. Therefore he carried the longSnider rifle with its breech well covered by his arm, and felt at timeswith wet fingers for the hilt of the short, straight blade, which hungat his side. He was a tolerable shot, but like most of the Moslemtribesmen deadly with the steel.
"These men march well," said Maxwell. "We should reach the camp within aweek if nothing hinders us. Tell them to spread out a little and keeptheir matchets ready. The cane is getting thicker."
Amadu moved backward along the plodding line, and when he turned torejoin his master, Maxwell was some distance in front of him. The pathtwisted sharply round a thicker clump of cane, and suddenly Amadu caughta glimpse of a tiny black patch among the dripping stems. Nevertheless,he evinced no sign of notice until he was certain that the black stripformed part of a human arm; and then he was called upon to make aneventful decision. The dusky soldier of fortune knew that if an ambushhad been planted among the cane the
lurking foe would, should both passapparently unobservant, hold their fire until, by a volley poured intothe main body, they could spread panic and cut the column in two. Thatmight mean the loss of many black men; but Amadu counted these as beastsof burden in comparison with his master. He guessed that almost beforehe could pitch up his rifle a poisoned arrow or a charge of raggedpotleg would strike down the white man. So he held on stolidly, withdusky lips set tight, hoping that Maxwell might not see what he haduntil the corner was passed. Then there might still be time to crawl inupon the enemy from behind.
Maxwell walked straight on until he turned and glanced over hisshoulder; then he shook the moisture from his jacket, and in doing so,let his hand slip from its lower corner to his revolver holster. Heturned again, with death, as it were, suspended above his head; andAmadu gasped as he approached the thicker clump of cane. There was nowno sign of an enemy's presence in all the jungle; only the splashingand panting of the carriers behind.
Suddenly the white man's hand swept out level with his shoulder, andalmost at the same instant a bright flash blazed from the cane. Then thequick ringing of a rifle broke through the dull thud of the flintlockand the pistol's second crack, and Maxwell, reeling a little, hurledhimself into the thicket.
With a roar to those who followed, Amadu plunged in too, a score ofclamorous black men with naked blades hard behind, and was just in timeto spring upon a naked man who strove to clear an entangled foot fromthe creeper withes. The short blade twice passed through him; andwrenching it free with an exultant laugh, Amadu floundered on. For aspace he and his followers smashed through that strip of jungle, butfound only a smoking rifle and one flintlock gun; then calling off therest, he led them back to the path. Maxwell was sitting there in a poolof water.
"Send those boys back," he said thickly. "One of those brutes missed me,the other did not. One can't always guess aright, Amadu, and I thoughtthere were at least a score of them."
Amadu groaned. He could see that his master was hard stricken, for helooked faint and cold, and did not usually converse with hissubordinates in that kind of English. Still, he understood the firstsentence, and drove the curious black men back beyond the corner beforehe stooped over the speaker. Maxwell's face was distorted and clammy.There was a stain on the side of his jacket, and it plainly cost him aneffort to speak.
"Did you lib for chop them bush boy, Amadu?"
"One of him, sah," was the grim answer. "He done leave them rifle."
"Let me see," said Maxwell. "That is an old chassepot. Rideau had anumber of them. You don't quite follow? Well, you got the wrong man,Amadu. Don't stand there, but slit up this jacket. Chop them doff pieceup the side of him."
Amadu did it with the still wet blade, and groaned again when Maxwell,turning his head a little, looked down at the slow, red trickle from hisright side, then passed his hand across his lips and nodded when he sawwhat there was upon it.
"Take them lil' silver bottle out of my pocket and pull the top offhim," he said very slowly; and when Amadu had done so he gulped down adraught of lukewarm brandy before he spoke again.
"I don't suppose it's much use, but you may as well take the knifethat's in the pocket, and feel if there's any potleg near the top. Well,why don't you do it? You need not be frightened. It won't bleedmuch--that way."
Amadu shivered as he probed the wound. Maxwell's face grew grayer, andafter a downward glance out of half-closed eyes he shook his head andstretched out one hand for more of the brandy. Then there was a heavysilence for several minutes.
"If I could lie still with ice to suck until somebody brought a surgeonthere might be a chance; but that's out of the question here," he saidin a rambling fashion, and then roused himself. "You don't understand.Well, I'll try in the little I know of your own idiom. We have made twogreat journeys together, but now it is written that I shall shortly setout on a longer one alone, Amadu."
Maxwell spoke thickly, but there was a wry smile on his lips as hewatched the big dark-skinned alien, who, rending his cotton robe, bounda pad of wet leaves upon the injured side.
"It is useless, Amadu." Maxwell coughed once or twice. "Listen. Becauseof something you may remember you dare not fail me, and this is my wordto you. I made a promise which must be kept, and you will carry me tothe white man's camp before six days are over, alive or dead."
Amadu looked eastward across the jungle, spread his palms outward, andthen bent his head.
"By fire and salt, and the beard of the Prophet it shall be so," he saidin his own tongue. "And I would it may also be written that I shallstill follow my master should these dogs of bushmen meddle again."
"Your master is one of the infidel," replied Maxwell. "Now see that noneof these others know what has overtaken me, and call up the hammockmen."
Maxwell was leaning on Amadu's shoulder when the hammock appeared roundthe bend, and none of the black men who lifted him into it guessed howhard he had been hit; and the monotonous carrying chanty drowned thegroans he could not quite suppress. The heavens were opened as the marchbegan again, and the rain rushed down. It lashed the negroes' oily skinsuntil they tingled, the trail became a streamlet, and the mire in placesfouled them to the knee; but Amadu, having given his promise, saw to thekeeping of it with a terrible persistence, and they trudged on doggedly,the dripping hammock always before them. As one worn-out bearerstumbled another replaced him, and the march progressed until long afterdarkness fell, and after a few hours' halt in drifting mist it beganagain.
So the long days and black nights passed. There were odd flashes ofsunlight, and once or twice the moon looked down; but between thesetimes the air was filled with the steam of the saturated earth or with arush of lukewarm water.
Late one night, when the weary carriers lay camped for a brief rest inthick forest, Maxwell beckoned Amadu. He lay in the slung hammock, alantern burning behind his head.
"You will start in two hours. I must reach the camp before another nightcomes. My time is short," he said.
Amadu, looking down at him gravely, saw that the words were true; but hestrove to deny them in his own tongue.
Maxwell smiled wearily, answering him in English beyond his completecomprehension.
"I have known many men of lighter tint I could part from more easily,Amadu. If we reach the camp before another night comes you shall have mybig elephant gun."
The dusky man stood upright.
"I carried an Emir's standard. Will you bribe me with a gun to keep theoath I swore?"
Maxwell must have been in a state of torment about that time, but he wasin his own way a man of extravagant pride, and it was perhaps to denyhis weakness that he spoke again.
"Yet it is a good gun," he said, with a trace of his old dryness."Once you will remember at over a hundred paces it drove a smoothball through a rash bushman's head. You could keep it inremembrance--couldn't you?"
The alien stooped and laid one of the thin hands on his own bent head,then dropped it suddenly, for from somewhere far off a faint soundscarcely more than audible trembled across the forest. Maxwell strove toraise himself to listen, but before he could speak his lieutenant sprangbolt upright, and his voice rang out. It was the sound of firing, andeven at that distance something warned the listeners that the quick beatof it betokened modern rifles.
The hammock-bearers, who feared their new master rather more than theold, came up at the double; bundles were thrown hurriedly on to woollycrowns; the tired men swung into line; and the little camp grew empty.
Amadu, limping behind the hammock, laughed.
"If it be the will of Allah, I shall see that big gun make even a biggerhole in more than one heathen's head!"