THE END APPROACHES.
The following extract from Stanley's journal, written up that night
after his hunting tour, shows that this strong, determined, fearless man
was not merely a courageous lion, but that he possessed also the eye of
an artist and the soul of a poet. With a few strokes of his pen, he
sketches a picture on the banks of the forest-lined river, full of life
and beauty:
"The adventures of the day were over; the azure of the sky had changed
to a deep gray; the moon was appearing just over the trees; the water of
the Gombe was like a silver belt; hoarse frogs bellowed their notes
loudly by the margin of the creek; the fish-eagles uttered their
dirge-like cries as they were perched high on the tallest trees; elands
snorted their warning to the herd in the forest; stealthy forms of the
carnivora stole through the dark woods outside of our camp. Within the
high inclosure of bush and thorn which we had raised about our camp, all
was jollity, laughter and radiant, genial comfort. Around every
camp-fire, dark forms of men were seen squatted: one man gnawed at a
luscious bone; another sucked the rich marrow in a zebra's leg bone;
another turned the stick, garnished with huge cabobs, to the bright
blaze; another held a large rib over a flame; there were others busy
stirring, industriously, great black potfuls of ugali, and watching
anxiously the meat simmering, and the soup bubbling, while the firelight
flickered and danced bravely, and cast a bright glow over the naked
forms of the men, and gave a crimson tinge to the tall tent that rose in
the centre of the camp, like a temple sacred to some mysterious god; the
fires cast their reflections upon the massive arms of the trees, as they
branched over our camp; and, in the dark gloom of their foliage, the
most fantastic shadows were visible. Altogether, it was a wild, romantic
and impressive scene."
They halted here for two days, the men hunting and gormandizing. Like
all animals, after gorging themselves they did not want to move, and
when on the 7th of October Stanley ordered the caravan to be put in
motion, the men refused to stir. Stanley at once walked swiftly toward
them with his double-barreled gun, loaded with buck-shot, in his hand.
As he did so he saw the men seize their guns. He, however, kept
resolutely on till within thirty yards of two men, whose heads were
peering above an ant-hill, their guns pointed across the road,--then
suddenly halting, he took deliberate aim at them, determined come what
would to blow out their brains. One of them, a giant, named Azmani,
instantly brought up his gun with his finger on the trigger. "Drop that
gun or you are a dead man," shouted Stanley. They obeyed and came
forward, but he saw that murder was in Azmani's eyes. The other man, at
the second order, laid down his gun and, with a blow from Stanley that
sent him reeling away, sneaked off. But the giant, Azmani, refused to
obey, and Stanley aiming his piece at his head and touching the trigger
was about to fire. The former quickly lifted his gun up to his shoulder
to shoot. In another second he would have fallen dead at Stanley's feet.
At this moment an Arab, who had approached from behind, struck up the
wretch's gun and exclaimed, "Man, how dare you point your gun at the
master?" This saved his life, and perhaps Stanley's also. It required
nerves of iron in a man thus to stand up all alone in the heart of an
African forest surrounded by savages and defy them all, and cow them
all. But the trouble was over, peace was concluded, and the men with one
accord agreed to go on. The two instigators of this mutiny were Bombay
and a savage, named Ambari. Snatching up a spear Stanley immediately
gave the former a terrible pounding with the handle. Then turning on the
latter, who stood looking on with a mocking face, he administered the
same punishment to him, after which he put them both in chains.
For the next fourteen days, nothing remarkable occurred in the march,
which had been in a southwesterly direction. Near a place called Mrera,
Stanley, for the first time saw a herd of wild elephants, and was deeply
impressed with their lordly appearance. Here Selim was taken sick and
the caravan halted for three days, Stanley spending the interval in
mending his shoes.
He now had four districts to traverse, which would occupy him
twenty-five days. Taking a northwesterly route having, as he thought,
got around the country of Mirambo, he pushed forward with all speed.
Buffaloes, leopards and lions were encountered; the country was
diversified, and many of the petty chiefs grasping and unfriendly, so
that it was a constant, long, wearisome fight with obstacles from the
beginning to the end of each week. But, on November 3d, a caravan of
eighty came into Stanley's camp from the westward. The latter asked the
news. They replied that a white man had just arrived at Ujiji. This was
startling news indeed.
"A white man!" exclaimed Stanley.
"Yes, a white man."
"How is he dressed?"
"Like the master," pointing to him.
"Is he young or old?"
"He is old, with white hair on his face; and he is sick."
"Where has he come from?" was the next anxious inquiry.
"From a very far country, away beyond Uguh-ha."
"And is he now stopping at Ujiji?"
"Yes, we left him there eight days ago."
"How long is he going to stay there?"
"Don't know."
"Was he ever there before?"
"Yes; he went away a long time ago."
Stanley gave a shout of exultation, exclaiming: "It is Livingstone!"
Then came the thought, it may be some other man. Perhaps it is Baker,
who has worked his way in there before me. It was a crushing thought,
that after all his sufferings, and sickness, and toils, he should have
been anticipated, and that there was now nothing left for him but to
march back again. "No!" he exclaimed to himself: "Baker has no white
hair on his face." But he could now wait no longer, and turning to his
men, he asked them if they were willing to march to Ujiji without a
single halt. If they were, he would, on their arrival, present each two
doti of cloth. They all shouted, "Yes!" Stanley jots down: "I was madly
rejoiced, intensely eager to resolve the burning question, 'Is it Dr.
Livingstone?' God grant me patience; but I do wish there was a railroad,
or at least, horses, in this country. With a horse I could reach him in
twelve hours."
But new dangers confronted him. The chiefs became more exhorbitant in
their demands and more hostile in their demonstrations, and but for
Stanley's eagerness to get on, he would more than once have fought his
way through some of those pertinacious tribes. But his patience, at
last, gave out, for he was told after he had settled the last tribute
that there were five more chiefs ahead who would exact tribute. This
would beggar him, and he asked two natives if there was no way of
evading the next chief, named Wahha.
"This rather astonished them at first, and they declared it to be
impossible; but finally, after being pressed, they replied that one of
their number should guide us at midnight, or a little after, into the
jungle which grew on the frontiers of Uhha and Uvinza. By keeping a
direct west course through this jungle until we came to Ukavanga, we
might be enabled--we were told--to travel through Uhha without further
trouble. If I were willing to pay the guide twelve doti, and if I were
able to impose silence on my people while passing through the sleeping
village, the guide was positive I could reach Ujiji without paying
another doti. It is needless to add that I accepted the proffered
assistance at such a price with joy.
"But there was much to be done. Provisions were to be purchased,
sufficient to last four days, for the tramp through the jungle and men
were at once sent with cloth to purchase grain at any price. Fortune
favored us, and before 8 P. M. we had enough for six days.
"November 7th.--I did not go to sleep at all last night, but a little
after midnight, as the moon was beginning to show itself, by gangs of
four the men stole quietly out of the village; and by 3 A. M. the entire
expedition was outside the bonna and not the slightest alarm had been
made. After whistling to the new guide, the expedition began to move in
a southern direction along the right bank of the Kanenzi River. After an
hour's march in this direction, we struck west across the grassy plain,
and maintained it, despite the obstacles we encountered which were sore
enough to naked men. The bright moon lighted our path; dark clouds now
and then cast immense long shadows over the deserted and silent plain,
and the moonbeams were almost obscured, and at such times our position
seemed awful--
"'Till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.'
"Bravely toiled the men, without murmur, though their legs were bleeding
from the cruel grass. 'Ambrosial morn' at last appeared, with all its
beautiful and lovely features. Heaven was born anew to us, with
comforting omens and cheery promise. The men, though fatigued at the
unusual travel, sped forward with quicker pace as daylight broke, until
at 8 A. M. we sighted the swift Rusugi River, where a halt was ordered
in a clump of jungle for breakfast and rest. Both banks of the river
were alive with buffalo, eland and antelope, but though the sight was
very tempting, we did not fire, because we dared not. The report of a
gun would have alarmed the whole country. I preferred my coffee, and the
contentment which my mind experienced at our success.
"An hour after we had rested, some natives carrying salt from the
Malagarazi were seen coming up the right bank of the river. When abreast
of our hiding-place they detected us, and dropping their salt-bags, they
took to their heels at once, shouting out as they ran, to alarm some
villages that appeared some four miles north of us. The men were
immediately ordered to take up their loads, and in a few minutes we had
crossed the Rusugi, and were making direct for a bamboo jungle that
appeared in our front. Almost as soon as we entered, a weak-brained
woman raised a series of piercing yells. The men were appalled at this
noisy demonstration, which would call down upon our heads the vengeance
of the Wahha for evading the tribute, to which they thought themselves
entitled. In half an hour we should have hundreds of howling savages
about us in the jungle, and probably a general massacre would ensue. The
woman screamed fearfully again and again, for no cause whatever. Some of
the men, with the instinct of self-preservation, at once dropped their
bales and loads and vanished into the jungle. The guide came rushing
back to me, imploring me to stop her noise. The woman's husband, livid
with rage and fear, drew his sword and asked permission to cut her head
off at once. Had I given the least signal, the woman had paid with her
life for her folly. I attempted to hush her cries by putting my hand
over her mouth, but she violently wrestled with me, and continued her
cries worse than ever. There remained nothing else for me to do but to
try the virtue of my whip over her shoulders. I asked her to desist
after the first blow. 'No!' She continued her insane cries with
increased force and volume. Again my whip descended on her shoulders.
'No, no, no.' Another blow. 'Will you hush?' 'No, no, no,' louder and
louder she cried, and faster and faster I showered the blows for the
taming of this shrew. However, seeing I was as determined to flog as she
was to cry, she desisted before the tenth blow and became silent. A
cloth was folded over her mouth, and her arms were tied behind her; and
in a few moments, the runaways having returned to their duty, the
expedition moved forward again with redoubled pace."
That night they encamped at Lake Musunya, which swarmed with
hippopotami. No tent nor hut was raised, nor fire kindled, and Stanley
lay down with his rifle slung over his shoulders, ready to act on a
moment's notice. Before daylight they were off again, and at early dawn
emerged from the jungle and stretched rapidly across a naked plain.
Reaching the Rugufa River, they halted in a deep shade, when suddenly
Stanley heard a sound like distant thunder. Asking one of his men if it
were thunder, the latter replied no, that it was the noise made by the
waves of Tanganika breaking into the caverns on its shore. Was he,
indeed, so near this great inland sea, of which Ujiji was the chief
harbor?
Pressing on three hours longer they encamped in the forest. Two hours
before daylight they again set out, the guide promising that by next
morning they should be clear of the hostile district. On this Stanley
exclaims, "Patience, my soul! A few hours more and then the end of all
this will be known. I shall be face to face with that white man with the
white beard on his face, whoever he may be." Before daylight they
started again, and emerging from the forest on to the high road, the
guides, thinking they had passed the last village of the hostile tribe,
set up a shout, but soon, to their horror, came plump upon its
outskirts. Fate seemed about to desert him at the last moment, for if
the village was roused he was a doomed man. Keeping concealed amid the
trees, Stanley ordered the goats to be killed lest their bleating should
lead to discovery, the chickens to be killed also, and then they plunged
into the jungle, Stanley being the last man to follow. It was a narrow
escape. After an half-hour's march, finding they were not pursued, they
again took to the road. One more night in the encampment and then the
end would come. Next morning they pushed on with redoubled speed, and in
two hours, from the top of a mountain Stanley, with bounding heart,
beheld Lake Tanganika, a vast expanse of burnished silver, with dark
mountains around it and the blue sky above it. "Hurrah," shouted
Stanley, and the natives took up the shout, till the hills and forest
rang with their exultant cries. The long struggle was near over; the
goal toward which he had been so long straining was almost won.