The Ivory Child

  We mounted the camel after I had paused a minute to take a pull froma flask of brandy which remained in the saddlebags. Although he lovedstrong drink so well Hans had saved it untouched on the mere chancethat it might some time be of service to me, his master. The monkey-likeHottentot sat in front and directed the camel, while I accommodatedmyself as best I could on the sheepskins behind. Luckily they were thickand soft, for Jana's pinch was not exactly that of a lover.

  Off we went, picking our way carefully till we reached the elephanttrack beyond the mound where Jana had appeared, which, in the light offaith, we hoped would lead us to the River Tava. Here we made betterprogress, but still could not go very fast because of the holes made bythe feet of Jana and his company. Soon we had left the cemetery behindus, and lost sight of the lake which I devoutly trusted I might neversee again.

  Now the track ran upwards from the hollow to a ridge two or three milesaway. We reached the crest of this ridge without accident, except thaton our road we met another aged elephant, a cow with very poor tusks,travelling to its last resting place, or so I suppose. I don't knowwhich was the more frightened, the sick cow or the camel, for camelshate elephants as horses hate camels until they get used to them. Thecow bolted to the right as quickly as it could, which was not very fast,and the camel bolted to the left with such convulsive bounds that wewere nearly thrown off its back. However, being an equable brute, itsoon recovered its balance, and we got back to the track beyond the cow.

  From the top of the rise we saw that before us lay a sandy plain lightlyclothed in grass, and, to our joy, about ten miles away at the foot ofa very gentle slope, the moonlight gleamed upon the waters of a broadriver. It was not easy to make out, but it was there, we were both sureit was there; we could not mistake the wavering, silver flash. On wewent for another quarter of a mile, when something caused me to turnround on the sheepskin and look back.

  Oh Heavens! At the very top of the rise, clearly outlined againstthe sky, stood Jana himself with his trunk lifted. Next instant hetrumpeted, a furious, rattling challenge of rage and defiance.

  "Allemagte! Baas," said Hans, "the old devil is coming to look forhis lost eye, and has seen us with that which remains. He has beentravelling on our spoor."

  "Forward!" I answered, bringing my heels into the camel's ribs.

  Then the race began. The camel was a very good camel, one of the realrunning breed; also, as Hans said, it was comparatively fresh, and may,moreover, have been aware that it was near to the plains where it hadbeen bred. Lastly, the going was now excellent, soft to its spongy feetbut not too deep in sand, nor were there any rocks over which it couldfall. It went off like the wind, making nothing of our united weightswhich did not come to more than two hundred pounds, or a half of whatit could carry with ease, being perhaps urged to its top speed by theknowledge that the elephant was behind. For mile after mile we rusheddown the plain. But we did not go alone, for Jana came after us like acruiser after a gunboat. Moreover, swiftly as we travelled, he travelledjust a little swifter, gaining say a few yards in every hundred. For thelast mile before we came to the river bank, half an hour later perhaps,though it seemed to be a week, he was not more than fifty paces to ourrear. I glanced back at him, and in the light of the moon, which wasgrowing low, he bore a strange resemblance to a mud cottage with brokenchimneys (which were his ears flapping on each side of him), and theyard pump projecting from the upper window.

  "We shall beat him now, Hans," I said looking at the broad river whichwas now close at hand.

  "Yes, Baas," answered Hans doubtfully and in jerks. "This is very goodcamel, Baas. He runs so fast that I have no inside left, I supposebecause he smells his wife over that river, to say nothing of deathbehind him. But, Baas, I am not sure; that devil Jana is still fasterthan the camel, and he wants to settle for his lost eye, which makes himlively. Also I see stones ahead, which are bad for camels. Then thereis the river, and I don't know if camels can swim, but Jana can as Marutlearned. Do you think, Baas, that you could manage to sting him upwith a bullet in his knee or that great trunk of his, just to give himsomething to think about besides ourselves?"

  Thus he prattled on, I believe to occupy my mind and his own, till atlength, growing impatient, I replied:

  "Be silent, donkey. Can I shoot an elephant backwards over my shoulderwith a rifle meant for springbuck? Hit the camel! Hit it hard!"

  Alas! Hans was right! There _were_ stones at the verge of the river,which doubtless it had washed out in periods of past flood, andpresently we were among them. Now a camel, so good on sand that is itsnative heath, is a worthless brute among stones, over which it slips andflounders. But to Jana these appeared to offer little or no obstacle. Atany rate he came over them almost if not quite as fast as before. Bythe time that we reached the brink of the water he was not more than tenyards behind. I could even see the blood running down from the socket ofhis ruined eye.

  Moreover, at the sight of the foaming but shallow torrent, the camel,a creature unaccustomed to water, pulled up in a mulish kind of way andfor a moment refused to stir. Luckily at this instant Jana let off oneof his archangel kind of trumpetings which started our beast again,since it was more afraid of elephants than it was of water.

  In we went and were presently floundering among the loose stones at thebottom of the river, which was nowhere over four feet deep, with Janasplashing after us not more than five yards behind. I twisted myselfround and fired at him with the rifle. Whether I hit him or no I couldnot say, but he stopped for a few seconds, perhaps because he rememberedthe effect of a similar explosion upon his eye, which gave us a triflingstart. Then he came on again in his steam-engine fashion.

  When we were about in the middle of the river the inevitable happened.The camel fell, pitching us over its head into the stream. Stillclinging to the rifle I picked myself up and began half to swim half towade towards the farther shore, catching hold of Hans with my free hand.In a moment Jana was on to that camel. He gored it with his tusks, hetrampled it with his feet, he got it round the neck with his trunk,dragging nearly the whole bulk of it out of the water. Then he set towork to pound it down into the mud and stones at the bottom of the riverwith such a persistent thoroughness, that he gave us time to reachthe other bank and climb up a stout tree which grew there, a sloping,flat-topped kind of tree that was fortunately easy to ascend, at leastfor a man. Here we sat gasping, perhaps about thirty feet above theground level, and waited.

  Presently Jana, having finished with the camel, followed us, andwithout any difficulty located us in that tree. He walked all round itconsidering the situation. Then he wound his huge trunk about the boleof the tree and, putting out his strength, tried to pull it over. It wasan anxious moment, but this particular child of the forest had not grownthere for some hundreds of years, withstanding all the shocks of wind,weather and water, in order to be laid low by an elephant, howeverenormous. It shook a little--no more. Abandoning this attempt as futile,Jana next began to try to dig it up by driving his tusk under its roots.Here, too, he failed because they grew among stones which evidentlyjarred him.

  Ceasing from these agricultural efforts with a deep rumble of rage, headopted yet a third expedient. Rearing his huge bulk into the air hebrought down his forefeet with all the tremendous weight of his greatbody behind them on to the sloping trunk of the tree just below wherethe branches sprang, perhaps twelve or thirteen feet above the ground.The shock was so heavy that for a moment I thought the tree would beuprooted or snapped in two. Thank Heaven! it held, but the vibration wassuch that Hans and I were nearly shaken out of the upper branches, likeautumn apples from a bough. Indeed, I think I should have gone had notthe monkey-like Hans, who had toes to cling with as well as fingers,gripped me by the collar.

  Thrice did Jana repeat this manoeuvre, and at the third onslaught I sawto my horror that the roots were loosening. I heard some of them snap,and a crack appeared in the ground not far from the bole. FortunatelyJana never noted these symptoms, for abandoning a plan whi
ch heconsidered unavailing, he stood for a while swaying his trunk and lostin gentle thought.

  "Hans," I whispered, "load the rifle quick! I can get him in the spineor the other eye."

  "Wet powder won't go off, Baas," groaned Hans. "The water got to it inthe river."

  "No," I answered, "and it is all your fault for making me shoot at himwhen I could take no aim."

  "It would have been just the same, Baas, for the rifle went under wateralso when we fell from the camel, and the cap would have been damp, andperhaps the powder too. Also the shot made Jana stop for a moment."

  This was true, but it was maddening to be obliged to sit there with anempty gun, when if I had but one charge, or even my pistol, I was surethat I could have blinded or crippled this satanic pachyderm.

  A few minutes later Jana played his last card. Coming quite close tothe trunk of the tree he reared himself up as before, but this timestretched out his forelegs so that these and his body were supported onthe broad bole. Then he elongated his trunk and with it began to breakoff boughs which grew between us and him.

  "I don't think he can reach us," I said doubtfully to Hans, "that is,unless he brings a stone to stand on."

  "Oh! Baas, pray be silent," answered Hans, "or he will understand andfetch one."

  Although the idea seemed absurd, on the whole I thought it well to takethe hint, for who knew how much this experienced beast did or did notunderstand? Then, as we could go no higher, we wriggled as far as wedared along our boughs and waited.

  Presently Jana, having finished his clearing operations, began tolengthen his trunk to its full measure. Literally, it seemed to expandlike a telescope or an indiarubber ring. Out it came, foot after foot,till its snapping tip was waving within a few inches of us, just shortof my foot and Han's head, or rather felt hat. One final stretch and hereached the hat, which he removed with a flourish and thrust into thered cavern of his mouth. As it appeared no more I suppose he ate it.This loss of his hat moved Hans to fury. Hurling horrible curses at Janahe drew his butcher's knife and made ready.

  Once more the sinuous brown trunk elongated itself. Evidently Jana hadgot a better hold with his hind legs this time, or perhaps had actuallywriggled himself a few inches up the tree. At any rate I saw to mydismay that there was every prospect of my making a second acquaintancewith that snapping tip. The end of the trunk was lying along my boughlike a huge brown snake and creeping up, up, up.

  "He'll get us," I muttered.

  Hans said nothing but leaned forward a little, holding on with his lefthand. Next instant in the light of the rising sun I saw a knife flash,saw also that the point of it had been driven through the lower lip ofJana's trunk, pinning it to the bough like a butterfly to a board.

  My word! what a commotion ensued! Up the trunk came a scream whichnearly blew me away. Then Jana, with a wriggling motion, tried to unnailhimself as gently as possible, for it was clear that the knife pointhurt him, but could not do so because Hans still held the handle and haddriven the blade deep into the wood. Lastly he dragged himself downwardswith such energy that something had to go, that something being the skinand muscle of the lower lip, which was cut clean through, leaving theknife erect in the bough.

  Over he went backwards, a most imperial cropper. Then he picked himselfup, thrust the tip of his trunk into his mouth, sucked it as one does acut finger, and finally, roaring in defeated rage, fled into the river,which he waded, and back upon his tracks towards his own home. Yes, offhe went, Hans screaming curses and demands that he should restore hishat to him, and very seldom in all my life have I seen a sight that Ithought more beautiful than that of his whisking tail.

  "Now, Baas," chuckled Hans, "the old devil has got a sore nose as wellas a sore eye by which to remember us. And, Baas, I think we had betterbe going before he has time to think and comes back with a long stick toknock us out of this tree."

  So we went, in double-quick time I can assure you, or at any rate asfast as my stiff limbs and general condition would allow. Fortunatelywe had now no doubt as to our direction, since standing up through themists of dawn with the sunbeams resting on its forest-clad crest, wecould clearly see the strange, tumulus-shaped hill which the WhiteKendah called the Holy Mount, the Home of the Child. It appeared to beabout twenty miles away, but in reality was a good deal farther, forwhen we had walked for several hours it seemed almost as distant asever.

  In truth that was a dreadful trudge. Not only was I exhausted with allthe terrors I had passed and our long midnight flight, but the woundwhere Jana had pinched out a portion of my frame, inflamed by theriding, had now grown stiff and intolerably sore, so that every stepgave me pain which sometimes culminated in agony. Moreover, it wasno use giving in, foodless as we were, for Marut had carried theprovisions, and with the chance of Jana returning to look us up. So Istuck to it and said nothing.

  For the first ten miles the country seemed uninhabited; doubtless itwas too near the borders of the Black Kendah to be popular as a placeof residence. After this we saw herds of cattle and a few camels,apparently untended; perhaps their guards were hidden away in the longgrass. Then we came to some fields of mealies that were, I noticed,quite untouched by the hailstorm, which, it would seem, had confined itsattentions to the land of the Black Kendah. Of these we ate thankfullyenough. A little farther on we perceived huts perched on an inaccessibleplace in a kloof. Also their inhabitants perceived us, for they ran awayas though in a great fright.

  Still we did not try to approach the huts, not knowing how we shouldbe received. After my sojourn in Simba Town I had become possessed of alove of life in the open.

  For another two hours I limped forward with pain and grief--by now I wasleaning on Hans' shoulder--up an endless, uncultivated rise clothed witheuphorbias and fern-like cycads. At length we reached its top and foundourselves within a rifle shot of a fenced native village. I suppose thatits inhabitants had been warned of our coming by runners from the hutsI have mentioned. At any rate the moment we appeared the men, to thenumber of thirty or more, poured out of the south gate armed with spearsand other weapons and proceeded to ring us round and behave in a verythreatening manner. I noticed at once that, although most of them werecomparatively light in colour, some of these men partook of the negrocharacteristics of the Black Kendah from whom we had escaped, to such anextent indeed that this blood was clearly predominant in them. Still,it was also clear that they were deadly foes of this people, for whenI shouted out to them that we were the friends of Harut and those whoworshipped the Child, they yelled back that we were liars. No friendsof the Child, they said, came from the country of the Black Kendah, whoworshipped the devil Jana. I tried to explain that least of all men inthe world did we worship Jana, who had been hunting us for hours, butthey would not listen.

  "You are spies of Simba's, the smell of Jana is upon you" (this may havebeen true enough), they yelled, adding: "We will kill you, white-facedgoat. We will kill you, little yellow monkey, for none who are notenemies come here from the land of the Black Kendah."

  "Kill us then," I answered, "and bring the curse of the Child upon you.Bring famine, bring hail, bring war!"

  These words were, I think, well chosen; at any rate they induced a pausein their murderous intentions. For a while they hesitated, all talkingtogether at once. At last the advocates of violence appeared to get theupper hand, and once more a number of the men began to dance about us,waving their spears and crying out that we must die who came from theBlack Kendah.

  I sat down upon the ground, for I was so exhausted that at the time Idid not greatly care whether I died or lived, while Hans drew hisknife and stood over me, cursing them as he had cursed at Jana. By slowdegrees they drew nearer and nearer. I watched them with a kind ofidle curiosity, believing that the moment when they came within actualspear-thrust would be our last, but, as I have said, not greatly caringbecause of my mental and physical exhaustion.

  I had already closed my eyes that I might not see the flash of thefalling steel, when an excla
mation from Hans caused me to open themagain. Following the line of the knife with which he pointed, Iperceived a troop of men on camels emerging from the gates of thevillage at full speed. In front of these, his white garments flutteringon the wind, rode a bearded and dignified person in whom I recognizedHarut, Harut himself, waving a spear and shouting as he came. Ourassailants heard and saw him also, then flung down their weapons asthough in dismay either at his appearance or his words, which I couldnot catch. Harut guided his rushing camel straight at the man who Ipresume was their leader, and struck at him with his spear, as thoughin fury, wounding him in the shoulder and causing him to fall to theground. As he struck he called out:

  "Dog! Would you harm the guests of the Child?"

  Then I heard no more because I fainted away.