CHAPTER VI
THE MARK OF PONGO
The folding tubs they all used were more like little canvas rooms, openat the top. The crew of their launch consisted of two Bantus. One ofthese helped John fill the tub by the simple method of standing on achair and pouring water on the head of the occupant of the tiny chamberafter his clothes had been thrown out.
The boys were watching the proceedings and intended to follow thecaptain's example. As he finished he told the Bantu boy to hand him hisclothes and stretched out an arm through the slit in the canvas walls.As it happened, this opening faced the boys.
The Bantu held up the bundle of clothes. As Captain Montenay took themthe boys saw the black recoil suddenly and sink to his knees with a lowgroan, his face gray. Burt immediately leaped to his feet and caught theBantu but the latter thrust him away and staggered back to the engine.Here he sank on a locker and buried his face in his knees.
"Well I'll be jiggered!" exclaimed Burt half angrily. "What's the matterwith him?" He was about to call his uncle who was up under the forwardawning when Critch caught his arm.
"Shut up!" the red-haired boy whispered excitedly. "Come over here."When they reached the rail he turned on Burt. "Didn't you see it, youchump? What's the matter with you, anyway?"
"Me?" gasped Burt, bewildered by this sudden attack. "Say--"
"Thought you saw it sure," interrupted his chum hurriedly. "Didn't yousee Cap'n Mac's arm?"
"No," returned Burt shortly. "Like any other arm, ain't it? I waslookin' at the sick nigger."
"Sick nothin'," retorted Critch. "Cap'n Mac's got a shoulder on himenough to scare a cat! When he shoved the canvas back I could see it alltwisted up an' dead white, with a big red scar on the corner o' theshoulder. That nigger wasn't sick--he was scared!"
"Scared!" Burt stared at Critch and then turned to look at the Bantu boycrouched on the locker. "Golly! Mebbe he is! Say, what was the scarlike?"
"Looked to me like a cross but I didn't see it well. Come on, we'll askthe coon. He talks French some."
They stopped beside the Bantu. The second black was sitting in the bowat the wheel and had noticed nothing. Critch took the black by theshoulder and gave him a shake, while Burt addressed him in French.
"Wake up, boy! What scared you?"
The Bantu gave one terrified shudder and his eyes were rolling wildly ashis head came up "Pongo! L'embleme de Pon--" he began with a frightenedgasp and then stopped. His face resumed its normally blank expressionand he glanced around quickly.
"What's Pongo?" questioned Burt. "What do you mean by the sign ofPongo?"
"No savvy, m'sieu, no savvy." The Bantu shook his head and absolutelyrefused to say another word in spite of threats and commands.
"Come on," said Critch disgustedly. "He's wise to something but hewon't let on. There's Cap'n Mac. Shut up."
They rejoined the captain and Mr. Wallace in the bow. Evidently theScotchman had neither seen nor heard anything unusual, for he at onceplunged into discussing plans with Mr. Wallace.
"Look here," he said finally. "I can't give up that cook o' yours,Wallace! Ye've got a good Scots name too. S'pose we make one party?"
"One party!" exclaimed Mr. Wallace. "I thought you were going more tothe east?"
"Aye, but I ain't over parteec'lar. Mind, I'm no sayin' I'll go clear tothe Makua wi' ye, but I may."
"Here's John with the dinner," said Mr. Wallace. "We'll talk it overwhile we eat. Looks mighty good to me, Montenay! I'd like you to go withus if you will."
"Hello, what's this stuff?" cried Burt as he leaned over his bowl andsniffed suspiciously. John stood by with a triumphant grin.
"Smells good," commented Critch. Captain Mac, as they had come to callhim, winked at Mr. Wallace.
"It's vera good for fever," he said solemnly. "They make it out o'chopped snakes an' nigger bones."
The boys looked up in dismay but were reassured by Mr. Wallace's smileand John's ever present grin. Burt put the question to the latter.
"Palm-oil chop, sar! Chicken chop-chop, palm-oil, peppers, hother t'ingshalso, sar. Hit be good."
The boys cautiously sampled the concoction and found it to be new butnot unpleasant. Before they had been in the country another week theywere vociferously demanding palm-oil chop from John every day. Thelaunch tied up at a plantation dock for the night and at daylightproceeded on her way.
"Hello!" exclaimed Critch as he emerged from the tiny cabin forbreakfast. "That's funny! Thought it was in my outside pocket."
"What's bitin' you?" asked Burt with a rather sickly smile. He also wasfishing in his pockets.
"My compass--it's gone!"
"Same here," confessed Burt after a moment. "I'll be jiggered! My coin'sall right!"
"What's the matter?" inquired Mr. Wallace. He was just coming out andbehind him was Captain Mac. The boys explained their strange loss andMontenay frowned.
"That's queer," he said thoughtfully. "Mine's safe. How's yours,Wallace?"
"Here." Mr. Wallace produced his own silver-set compass from an innerpocket. "You've probably dropped 'em around the cabin, boys."
The two turned and vanished hastily but reappeared shaking their heads.The missing instruments were not to be found on board, although athorough search was made of the launch and men.
"Na doot they were stolen," said Captain Mac as they sat at breakfast."These blacks will steal anythin' that ain't nailed down, an' they wereprowlin' all about last night. Well, we'll get new ones at Makupa fromthe trader when we get there to-night."
"It's decidedly queer, Montenay!" Mr. Wallace looked out over the riverwith a perplexed frown. "Why should these two compasses vanish, whennothing else in the cabin was touched? I don't like it."
"Ye know what ju-ju is, o' course?" Captain Mac leaned back easily inhis chair as the American explorer nodded. "The Bantus think compassesare ju-ju."
"What's that?" asked Critch.
"Anything they don't understand and that savors of witchcraft or mysteryis ju-ju," explained Mr. Wallace. "In that case, Montenay, our compasseswill be looked upon as the gods of a Bantu village, eh?"
"Aye. Let's get our business done with, Wallace." Montenay deftly rolledhimself a quinine capsule and swallowed it. "What d'ye say? Shall wecombine or no?"
"I don't see why we shouldn't," returned Mr. Wallace thoughtfully."We're both after ivory. One caravan will cut down expenses for each ofus. You're not sure about making the Makua with us?"
"Well," replied the other slowly with a sharp glance at Mr. Wallace,"I'm no sure yet. There's some mighty queer country north o' here thatI'd like to have a look at. Mind, I'm no promisin' anythin' whatever.I'll be free to come an' go."
"Of course," answered Mr. Wallace. "Then it's agreed, Captain! We'llleave Makupa together in the morning."
"Vera good. Now I'll be lookin' after a letter or so under the awnin'aft where the shakin' ain't so strong." Montenay rose and strolled aftand was immediately absorbed in his traveling writing-case. Mr. Wallacegazed after him reflectively.
"There's a curious man, boys! We're in luck to have him along. Thereprobably aren't a dozen men in Africa who haven't heard of him and thereprobably aren't a dozen who know him outside of officials. He alwaystravels alone. If he strikes in at Zanzibar or Nairobi he's likely tocome out at Cairo or the Cape."
"Strikes me as a good sport," agreed Burt heartily. "He don't say muchbut I'd hate to monkey with him when he gets mad. Say! Ever hear o'Pongo, Uncle George?"
"Pongo?" repeated the explorer as he stared hard at Burt. "Pongo? No,don't think I have. What is it?"
The boys explained what had taken place the previous afternoon but totheir surprise Mr. Wallace frowned disapproval. "Whatever it is, boys,it's his business. If you'll look at his arm you'll see a dozen scars. Ihave a few myself. That's where a native chief cuts a gash in his armand ours, the cuts are rubbed together and we are then termed'blood-brothers.' It may have been some such mark that scared the blackboy."
"No it wasn't,"
asserted Critch positively. "It looked like a cross.Wasn't cut either. Looked like a burn more than anything else."
"Then forget it," commanded Mr. Wallace decisively. "It's none of ourbusiness. I must say that Montenay's mighty indefinite though. He sayshe's after ivory and wants to have a look at the country. But if I knowanything he's not worrying about ivory this trip."
"Why not?" asked Burt. "D'you mean he's lying?"
"Lying is a strong term, Burt!" smiled his uncle. "It's not a nice wordto use either. No, I think he's keeping us in the dark about his ownprojects. Probably he has some new animal or some new tribe he wants tobe sure of getting all the credit for discovering. Naturally he wouldn'twant to run any risk of our cutting in on him."
Just then the subject of their discussion rejoined them and the topicwas changed. On up the river they went all that day while the bigcanoes followed closely with the paddling-chants of the men rising fromtime to time. The breeze created by their motion relieved them of theclouds of mosquitoes and other insects but the heat was so great that iteven affected John to some extent.
Just before sunset they reached the Makupa station. This consisted of alarge native village dominated by the State trading post, a corrugatediron building whose whitewashed walls contrasted strongly with the palmthatched huts of the blacks all around. The trader met them at thelanding and proved to be a Belgian, pleasant and courteous in every way.
They spent the night here. In the morning they were up before daybreakand Mr. Wallace mentioned the compasses as they were dressing. At thatmoment Burt was speaking to Captain Montenay, and he saw a peculiarlight flash into the little explorer's face when his uncle spoke. Thatlook puzzled Burt somewhat. He was still more puzzled when Montenayrushed through his dressing and hurried from the room. The sudden changein the man had evidently been caused by his uncle's words, but Burtcould not see any connection whatever.
When they entered the lamp-lit dining room for breakfast they found theagent and Captain Mac together. The former sprang up and greeted themeffusively, hastily stuffing something into his pocket that looked toBurt like banknotes. Still, the boy remembered his uncle's words of theday before and made up his mind not to bother about other people'saffairs.
"Oh, the compasses!" ejaculated Mr. Wallace as the black boys brought infruit and coffee. "Lieutenant, we lost two compasses coming up theriver. It would be a great assistance if you would sell us a couple fromyour stores."
"Alas!" An expression of dismay rose to the Belgian's face and he spreadout his hands helplessly. "My friend, I am grieved deeply to have toinform you that we have none! A trading party came down the river lastweek and completely cleaned me out, even to my own instrument. I amdesolated, my heart is torn, but it is impossible!"
A sudden suspicion flashed across Burt's mind but as he glanced sharplyat Captain Mac he dismissed it. Montenay was the picture of dismay, butto all their suggestions and queries the Belgian only returned a"desolated" shrug.
"Well, never mind." Mr. Wallace smiled at Montenay in resignation. "Westill have ours. Two should be enough. Now make a good breakfast, boys!We eat from chop-boxes after this."
With sunrise the caravan started north from the station. The riverbottom was low but Captain Mac asserted that after a day's journey theywould find themselves on the higher plains, and this proved quite true.On the second day they entered the great forests and left behind thehalf-civilized tribes. As they drew up to the top of a hill-crest thatrose among the trees Critch caught Burt's arm and pointed ahead to wherethe jungle thinned out.
"There we are, ol' sport! Look at 'em, just look at 'em!"
And Burt saw through his glasses a number of black groups of animals,grazing and moving slowly about.
"What are they, Uncle George?" he cried in high excitement to Mr.Wallace who was also looking through his glasses.
"Hartebeest, bushbuck and antelope," replied the explorer calmly. "IfI'm not mistaken there's a rhino in that patch of bush about two milesto the right--see it? John, O John! Get those gun-boys on deck, willyou?"