John reckoned that his escape from the fort would probably have been
discovered about the same time as he was entering the village. The
enemy would almost certainly suppose that his flight had been southward,
towards the farm. Several hours might be wasted in pursuing in that
direction; even if they hit upon his trail at once, it would be four or
five hours before they could reach him. His course, then, must be to
take advantage of this respite to prepare the safari for the struggle
that could scarcely be avoided when they came to close quarters.
Issuing from the village with Ferrier, he made his way to the cultivated
fields, which, lying on the sheltered slopes of the hill, were more
fertile than might have been expected at such a height above sea-level.
Much of the harvesting had been done: he had already noticed that the
shambas were filled to overflowing with muhindi and pumpkins. But the
banana-trees were weighed down with huge clusters of ripening fruit, and
acres of the soil were covered with beans and sweet potatoes. He could
provision the safari for the whole of the homeward journey, and yet make
a scarcely sensible inroad upon the resources of the people. He had no
scruples in taking as much as he needed, or rather as much as the men
could carry; by all the rules of war it would be letting the village off
lightly. Accordingly he lost no time in setting the men to get as much
of the native produce together as would furnish full loads for the men
who were not already burdened. This would inevitably diminish their
marching power; but on the other hand they must carry plenty of food
with them if they meant to reach home.
While the men were engaged in this task, an idea occurred to Ferrier.
"I say, John, why not go down the river on rafts?" he said. "We should
get along much faster, and be less likely to meet Juma, who is sure to
know a short cut, and won't stick to the river as we did."
"A jolly good notion! Wait a bit, though. What about the rapids? They
nearly did for me, and loaded rafts would stand a worse chance than I
did, wouldn't they?"
"That's where I come in, old chap. I've shot the rapids on the St.
Lawrence; these rapids aren't a patch on the Roches Fendues. I didn't
do it by myself, of course; an old fellow named Baptiste Le Sueur
managed the pole; but I saw it all, and I bet I could navigate those
little affairs by the fort."
"I'll be hanged if we don't try it, then. We can make a better job of
it than Bill and I did. By the way, where is the old fellow? I haven't
seen him since we came into the village."
"Nor have I. He won't be far off. Let us set about it at once. Two
large rafts, I think: it'll take some time to cut enough timber."
"We needn't wait for that. We'll dismantle some of the huts. The
natives can easily build new ones when we are gone, and I'd like to give
them a little trouble after all they have given us."
"Capital! Come on then. The sooner we get them done the better."
Returning to the village, they set all the men to work who were not
engaged in the fields. In a short time a large number of poles from the
huts lay on the ground ready to be lashed together, and a quantity of
bast being found, there was no lack of material for the lashings. Those
of the men who had been porters and were expert in manipulating ropes
were entrusted with this work, the two white men superintending them and
making sure that the knots were firm.
The first raft, capable of supporting half the party in addition to half
the stores, had just been completed when Bill ran into the village in a
state of great excitement. In such a condition he seemed to lose almost
all power of expression, and it was some time before John, even with
Coja's assistance, could make out what was the matter with him.
Presently, however, he gathered that Bill had gone alone to the spot, a
few miles away, where the ivory had been buried by the Arabs when
fleeing from the "bad men." It was situated on a wooded knoll washed by
the river. Scarcely had he reached the place when his extraordinarily
keen sense of hearing apprised him that a number of men were fording the
river, though he was not able at first to see them, owing to the trees.
Immediately on hearing their approach, he swarmed up a tree--the same in
which he had taken shelter years before--and from this coign of vantage
he spied a large body of negroes gathered on the further bank. In a
little while he saw, moving up the knoll, the party who had previously
crossed: they were Swahilis, and their leader was the man whom he had
already recognized as a member of the Arab safari. All carried spades
or other implements.
And then, helpless in the tree, the old man had had the agony to see the
Swahilis dig up the ivory which had lain so long concealed: his ivory,
the recovery of which had been his dream for years, a dream for whose
realization he had counted on the assistance of the white men. The tusks
had been laid only a foot or two below the surface, so that it was no
great labour to unearth them. When they were all dug up, the men began
to carry them down to the river, each tusk requiring four men. The
intention was, Bill supposed, to transport them to the evacuated fort.
He seized the opportunity when their backs were turned to slip down from
his perch and run to the village: would not the wasungu even now strike
a blow for him?
This was a staggering piece of news. The knoll was up-stream; there was
not much doubt that downstream the warriors whose village had been
captured were marching up in pursuit of the safari. Probably they had
already been met by fugitives from the village and informed of what had
happened. It struck John that Juma and the chief might have fallen out,
and that the Swahili had made a rapid dash northward to possess himself
of the treasure while the "bad men" were absent from the neighbourhood.
However that might be, there was no question but that both the Swahilis
and the villagers were dangerous enemies, and would join forces to crush
the little band who had defied and routed them.
"We're in the tightest place we have ever been in yet," said John.
"They've got us between them. What on earth are we to do?"
"Slip away, west or east?" suggested Ferrier.
"Hopeless! Loaded as we should be, we couldn't escape them. It's too
late to get on to the river now. This one raft won't hold us all. We
are done at last!"
They looked at each other in speechless anxiety. The men had ceased
work on the second raft; they all knew what had occurred, and gazed at
their white leaders with troubled countenances.
"There's one desperate chance," said Ferrier at length. "Juma is
nearest. Deal with him before the others come up."
John stared at him for a moment with brightening eyes. Then he sprang
up.
"Right!" he cried. "It's the one chance. But we can't risk it without
knowing a little of the ground. I'll go out with Bill and have a look
at it, if you'll stay and keep a look-out for the down-stream lot."
The two set off at once. Bill led the way rapidly round the village and
further up the hill until they reached the summit. From this point the
ground fell away to the plain, and rather less than a mile away John
descried the knoll of which Bill had spoken, the peninsula from which it
rose jutting out into the river. It was densely covered with
vegetation, and on the other side of the stream there was a similar
screen. Only a short reach of the river was visible, but here he saw
negroes wading waist-deep. They were crossing, however, not to the far
side, but from it. Juma had thought it better to bring his porters to
the ivory than the reverse. Apparently none of it had yet been
transported from bank to bank; but it was all laid in readiness.
Bill gazed at the scene with an expression of mingled grief and rage.
Suddenly he stretched forth his hand, pointing towards the trees on the
near side of the river. At first John could not see anything but the
dense mass of foliage; but presently he discerned two negroes standing
motionless at the foot of the knoll. Clearly Juma had posted them as
scouts to give warning of any movement from the village. So many years
had passed since the defeat of his safari that the likelihood of the
people suspecting his search for the treasure was small, especially
since they were obviously unaware of its location. But with the
remembrance of their hostility in his mind he was evidently uneasy.
John's guess at the course of events was very near the mark. Ever since
the defeat of the Arabs, Juma, the sole survivor of their hapless
safari, had lived for nothing else than the recovery of the ivory, which
would make him a millionaire according to the native standard of wealth.
But the store lay in the enemy's country; he had the best of reasons for
knowing how formidable they were, and what his fate would be if he was
discovered by them when removing the ivory. He had recognized that
there was little chance of obtaining possession of it unless he came
with sufficient force to repel attack. Its transport would demand a
large number of porters, and a still larger number of armed men to
protect them. It had therefore been the work of his life to organize
such a party. For this he had become a porter himself, to avail himself
of opportunities of stealthy pilfering. For this he had established
himself in the island fort, hoping to seize an occasion when the
villagers were absent on a raid or a hunting expedition to make a dash
up the river and achieve the aim of his ambition.
The unexpected series of events that culminated in the capture of the
fort had interposed a check at the very moment when he saw success
within his grasp. But his cunning mind conceived the scheme which he
had carried out: to form an alliance with the very tribe with whom he
had expected to come into conflict. He seized upon the presence of the
white men as a rational basis for their alliance, intending, when the
white men and their safari had been annihilated, to turn his arms
against his allies, and having overthrown them, to secure the prize he
had so long coveted.
Again he was baulked by the prolonged resistance of the white men. But
it happened that the combined force of natives which he had gathered
about him ran short of food. In this circumstance he saw his
opportunity. On the morning after John had left the fort, Juma set off
with his own contingent before the escape had been discovered,
ostensibly to go hunting for game. He took with him almost all the men
who had rifles, and a large party to carry the game he promised to
shoot. Striking at first to the west, he turned sharply northward, and
pushed on with all speed towards the knoll where the hoard of ivory lay
concealed. Had he secured it, his whilom enemies, his present allies,
would have seen him no more. He would have taken the shortest route to
the coast, to dispose of the ivory at one of the ports. His approach
was hidden from the people in the village by the hill rising behind it,
and being quite unaware that the village was now held by the white men,
he felt that he had nothing to fear except chance discovery by some one
who might happen to stray up the hill. To provide against this he had
posted the two scouts whom John saw at the base of the knoll.
John perceived in a moment that the work of transporting the ivory
across the river gave him an opportunity of taking the enemy at a
disadvantage. Running back to the top of the hill, careful not to come
within sight of the scouts, he reached a point whence he could overlook
the village and where he was himself in full view from it. The moment
he arrived there he knew that he had been seen, for Ferrier waved his
hand above his head. John immediately semaphored with his arms, asking
Ferrier to bring out all the men except a few left to guard the village,
and to join him on the hill-top. In ten minutes they were with him.
Then, descending the western slope of the hill, invisible to the enemy,
they worked their way through the belt of trees on the river-bank until
they arrived within a furlong of the ford. Juma's porters were
staggering down the knoll under their loads--great tusks from six to
nine feet long. To advance further without being discovered was
impossible: the two scouts were full in the path.
John gathered his party just within the belt of trees, and in a whisper
told them what to do. Then, at his word, they dashed after him from
cover, yelling at the top of their voices, the askaris firing their
rifles as they ran, and reloading. There was little chance of the shots
taking effect, but John reckoned on them to demoralize the enemy. The
result surpassed his anticipations. The scouts stood for a moment as if
rooted to the ground with amazement; then they flung down their rifles
and fled like hares to the spot where Juma was indicating the ford. At
the same instant the porters dropped their loads with a yell of fright,
and made for the river, into which they cast themselves, careless of its
depth, and of the crocodiles that might be lurking expectant of a
victim. Juma had his arm in a sling: the other Swahilis raised their
rifles, and fired, each one wild ineffectual shot, at the advancing
company. Then, utterly confounded by this amazing attack from an enemy
whom they supposed to be far away, they rushed in a body to the river,
sped by a volley of bullets and arrows. Half wading, half swimming,
they gained the further bank, and by the time John and his men came to
the ford, they had disappeared with all their men into the undergrowth.
Bill ran from one tusk to another, frantic with joy. But John was too
much concerned with the serious work that lay before him to trouble
himself for the present with the ivory, however valuable it might be. He
saw at once that he must remove all his men from the village to the
knoll if the plan of floating down the river was to be successfully
initiated. After their fright, Juma and his men might for a time be
disregarded; but the war-party of villagers could not now be far away,
and the interval before their arrival might be all too short. The knoll
not only formed a good defensible position, but it was the most
convenient spot for the launching of the rafts, and the timber upon it
offered material for the second raft yet to be constructed. Keeping
part of his men to hack branches from the trees with their knives, he
asked Ferrier to return with the rest to the village and bring over the
hill the first raft and all the stores.
"Get the women to help," he said. "Promise that we'll do no more harm
to the village if they'll work for us. They'll be glad enough to get
rid of us, no doubt. I'd go myself, Charley, only my back is bothering
me again, confound it."
Ferrier hurried off. In little more than half-an-hour he reappeared on
the shoulder of the hill, followed by a long line of the men of the
safari and the women of the village, carrying the loads of provisions,
the impedimenta of the camp, and the raft, a cumbersome object which
required twenty men to carry it. As they descended the slope, shots
were fired at them from the trees bordering the river, but manifestly at
so long a range that they were little likely to do any harm. They
reached the knoll in safety; the baggage was piled up a short distance
from the bank to form a sort of rampart: and then the whole party,
including a crowd of women who were impressed to fetch and carry, worked
rapidly at the construction of the raft.
"There'll be mighty little protection if they fire at us on the way
down," said John gloomily.
"Yes," replied Ferrier, "we haven't got enough baggage to screen us. But
look here! Why not make a sort of fence to go all round?"
"The very thing! The men are so used to making bomas that it won't give
them any trouble."
While the second raft was being finished, the men who were not engaged
upon it were set to weave a light framework of canes, rushes, and
slender branches, about three feet high, and strong enough to be
impenetrable by spears or arrows. As portions of this were completed,
they were lashed to the edges of the first raft. Fore and aft the
framework was raised to the height of six feet, and a hole was cut in it
through which a pole might be thrust, to ward off rocks or other
obstructions as the raft floated downstream, and to steer the unwieldy
craft.
At midday a good deal of the work still remained to be done. The sun
beat down mercilessly upon the workers, and John, eager as he was to
finish, ordered a rest and a meal. The negroes threw themselves on the
grass, and appeared to feel no discomfort from the heat; but the white
men were glad to seek the shade of the trees crowning the knoll, where
Said Mohammed served their dinner.
The order had just been given to resume work when they saw a vast crowd
of dusky warriors pouring over the brow of the hill.
"Here they come!" said John, starting up; "and by the look of them, and
their yells, we're in for a tight little scrimmage."
Ferrier laughed.
"Not unless they're prepared to attack us over the bodies of their
wives," he said. "They can't shoot at us without hitting them."
"Of course not. I hadn't thought of that. But they're so mad that they
may be ready to sacrifice their nearest and dearest. We must prevent
the women from running away. It's shameful coercion, but we can't help
it."
The furious villagers halted within a short distance of the knoll, and
one or two let fly arrows at the busy workers behind their rampart of
baggage. A wild shriek arose from the terrified women, though none had
been hit; and John, running among them, told them sternly that their
only safety lay in remaining at their work. To give point to his
warning, and at the same time to daunt the warriors, he lifted his rifle
and fired towards the dense mob, taking care to aim above their heads.
The result was a general stampede. The men had already learnt the power
of the wasungu's weapons, and being exposed on the bare hillside they
recognized their disadvantage. They retreated up the hill to a position
of security, and stood there in impotent wrath, watching their womenkind
toiling for the hated enemy.
The work went on without pause until the rafts were finished. The next
thing was to launch them. The river swept round the knoll in a
half-circle, and John decided to have the rafts carried to the water on
the side remote from the village and out of sight of the warriors, any
interference being guarded against by leaving his askaris with loaded
rifles at the baggage. When the rafts were launched and moored to
prevent their being carried down by the current, the ivory was conveyed
to them. One side of each had been left undefended by the framework
until the loading was finished. The tusks having been stowed on one
raft, half-a-dozen men were set to lash on the framework while the
stores and the rest of the baggage were carried to the second raft. It
was clear that Bill had by no means exaggerated the value of the ivory.
There were twenty-three tusks, varying in weight and size, but scaling
in all at least half a ton. John did not know the market value of
ivory, but so large a quantity would probably fetch several hundreds of
pounds.
By the time the loads were stacked round the rafts, close against the
framework, it was drawing towards evening.
"I'm afraid we shall have to wait until morning before we start," said
John. "It will be very risky to navigate these clumsy things in the
darkness. They lie very heavy in the water, and I shouldn't be
surprised if they founder before we've gone far."
"We must chance that," said Ferrier. "I think we had better start at
once. There are no rapids in this part of the river; our real trouble
will begin when we come above the pool. If we stay here till the
morning, we may be set upon before we are well away, whereas by starting
now we shall be past the village by the time it is dark, and when they
see us fairly off they may chuck up the sponge."
"All right. Is there anything else to be done?"
"We'll rope the rafts together, but we must be ready to cut the hawser
if there's any need. I'll go in the first raft, of course. Perhaps
Coja had better come with me to try his hand at steering, if you don't
mind taking Said Mohammed. Your raft ought to come along in the wake of
mine without any difficulty; but have your pole ready to push off if we
strike a shoal."
"What's the rate of the current, do you think?"
"Three to four miles an hour, at a guess. Better let the women go now."
John withdrew the askaris who had been keeping guard, and the women, on
being told that they might go, fled away up the hill like a flock of
sheep. All the men of the safari then took their places on the rafts;
these were roped together; the framework was lashed on the unprotected
sides; the mooring ropes were released, and the strange overladen craft,
sinking so low that the logs were covered with water, took the current
and began to float down. Luckily the bales of provisions had been
placed above the ammunition boxes and other baggage, which would not
suffer from a wetting.
The actual start was hidden from the enemy by the projecting knoll; but
as the rafts swept round the curve their appearance was hailed with loud
shouts from the hill-top, where the women had now joined the warriors.
The left bank was here too precipitous and too densely wooded to permit
the enemy to approach near enough to do any damage; and as the voyagers
came into the straight reach that ran by the foot of the hill on which
the village was perched, they saw the yelling horde rush over the brow.
"Going to meet us on the level," shouted Ferrier from his place behind
the breastwork of the foremost raft. "Keep the men crouching behind the
palisade."