The river varied in breadth at this part of its course from sixty to
eighty yards. The steersmen, Coja in the first, Said Mohammed in the
second, kept the rafts in midstream, and they glided on the full current
with a steadiness that augured well for the voyage. In less than
half-an-hour they were level with the village. Then a shot rang out
from the right bank. Clearly Juma had been on the watch. The shot fell
short, and the sound of it caused great consternation among the
villagers, who had taken up a position a few hundred yards down-stream
on a stretch of treeless land on the left bank, raised a few feet above
the level of the river. They had evidently been as yet unaware of the
proximity of their allies. But their apprehension was immediately
changed to wild excitement as they saw Juma, accompanied by his band,
appear on a similar eminence on the opposite bank. They shouted with
delight, leaping, brandishing spears, little suspecting the trick which
the Swahilis had played on them.
As the rafts approached, they were assailed with showers of arrows from
both sides, mingled with rifle shots from the right bank. Ferrier and
John ordered their men to lie flat on their faces, for those on the
starboard side were exposed to the fire from the right bank, those on
the port side to that from the left. The two white men themselves, and
their two steersmen, could not find shelter in the same way, being bound
to stand erect in order to keep the rafts in midstream. As the missiles
flew around him, John felt that this was a vastly unpleasant way of
running the gauntlet. He instinctively pressed his body close to the
framework; and whether it was due to the growing darkness, or to the
inability of the enemy to hit a moving target, he escaped unhurt. The
immediate danger was past when the banks of the river fell away to the
level of the stream. Both parties of the enemy still fired, running
along in time with the rafts; but their missiles now flew over the top
of the breastwork. Ferrier thought it worth risking a volley from his
own men. He ordered them to kneel, rest their rifles on the palisade,
and take good aim at the Swahilis. Their skill or luck was superior,
for when the volley flashed forth, a yell told that one at least of the
bullets had got home. Immediately afterwards John ordered his askaris
to fire among the negroes on the left bank; but these were somewhat
remoter from the river, and he could not learn that any of the shots
took effect.
[Illustration: "John ordered his askaris to fire among the negroes on
the left bank."]
Night had now sunk upon the land. The moon would rise late, and for
several hours the voyage must be continued in darkness. John called to
Ferrier to ask whether he had not better run into the bank and wait
until there was a little light upon the course.
"I can see well enough at present," was the reply. "Besides, those
beggars are keeping it up."
His expectation that the pursuit would be abandoned as soon as it became
dark was not borne out. It was obvious from the shouts that were heard
on either side from time to time that the enemy had screwed their
resolution to an uncommon pitch. Their dread of the darkness was no
less, but their savage resentment and vindictive desire for revenge was
more. John was able to account for their pertinacity when he remembered
what lay before him. The rapids! If he, on his light raft, had barely
escaped with his life, how much less was the chance that two heavy-laden
rafts would survive the battering they must receive! If they were not
wrecked and broken up before they reached the pool, they would then
become exposed to a terrific attack. He dared not think of what the
fate of the safari would be if they were cast into the river and thrown
upon the mercy of the enemy. Did they come safe through the first
series of rapids and cross the pool, there was the second series beyond,
sweeping through the gorge, from the heights of which the enemy could
pour down upon them not merely a hail of bullets and arrows, but an
avalanche of rocks which could not fail to send the rafts to the bottom.
Great as were the perils which had beset him since he quitted the farm,
he recognized with a momentary sinking of heart that they were trifles
compared with those that were to come. He felt that his confidence
would be greater if he could be beside Ferrier on the first raft. Their
comradeship during the past few months had brought them very close
together. He wished that they could talk things over quietly; whereas
now they were separated by forty feet of rope, and anything either had
to say must be uttered in a bawl.
As the darkness thickened the navigation became increasingly difficult.
Sometimes, when long stretches of the river were banked by woods, it was
pitch dark, and whatever obstacles might have occurred in the course, it
would have been impossible to avoid them. Ferrier did his best to keep
his raft in midstream, for he knew that crocodiles lurked on the banks;
hippos might be sleeping in the shallows; and heavy as the raft was, he
had little doubt that a heave of a hippo's huge body, a swish from a
crocodile's terrible tail, would cause it to capsize, or at least break
a gap in the breastwork.
At one such gloomy patch the raft ran ashore upon a mud-bank projecting
into the stream. Before Ferrier could pole it off, the second raft,
borne on by the current, collided with it; there was a shock, John's
raft spun round, and rocked so violently that the men yelled with
fright. The attaching rope, however, pulled it up with a jerk, which
had the effect of hauling the first raft off the bank. Their positions
were now reversed; Said Mohammed was foremost down-stream, Ferrier last.
It was obviously impossible that the voyage could be continued thus.
John and Ferrier ran each to the forward end of his own raft.
"Run her ashore again," shouted Ferrier, "and let me swing clear."
John obeyed. He would not have shirked the task of leading, but
Ferrier's experience might make all the difference between success and
failure, and it was certainly not a time to run any avoidable risks.
Some minutes passed before he managed to strike the bank, and then the
raft crashed against the projecting stem of a tree with a violence that
threw John on to his back. Up in an instant, he clutched a branch just
in time to prevent the raft from drifting away, and held on until
Ferrier had passed in mid-stream, and the vessels had regained their
former order. During this interlude nothing was heard of the enemy. The
banks of the river were fortunately too steep and too densely wooded to
allow their access.
For a little while all went well. Where the banks were low and free
from tall trees the level rays of the rising moon threw a faint light
upon the water, enabling Ferrier to use his pole with more confidence.
But on entering a narrower reach where the trees came down to the
water's edge, the sudden passage from comparative light to absolute
darkness prevented him from seeing a rocky ledge jutting out from the
right bank. The raft scraped it for a few feet, then stuck fast. The
second raft, coming directly in its wake, did not this time sweep by,
but bumped the first, and both were now end to end on the rock. The
most energetic work with the poles failing to dislodge them, John said--
"Let's have a rest. There's no sign of the enemy, and I'm desperately
hungry."
"That's all very well," replied Ferrier, "but the longer we delay the
worse off we shall be presently. It gives the enemy time to get ahead
of us, and they'll be waiting for us at the pool. I rather fancy
they've already outstripped us by cutting across country; the river
winds a good deal."
"All the same, we shan't be any the better off for being famished when
we meet them. Besides, I want to talk to you; we haven't settled what
we're going to do."
"Very well; we'll have a tuck-in. What's the time? My match-box is
empty."
John struck a match. His watch had stopped.
"The spring must have broken when I toppled over," he said. "Isn't
yours going?"
"It hasn't been going for a couple of days. We can't tell how far we've
come. How is our direction?"
"We're pointing north-west," replied John, after a glance at his
compass. "There must be a big curve here. I fancy we must have just
about got to the place where Bill and I launched our raft. If so, it
will be getting light by the time we reach the pool. What do you think
of doing then?"
"That depends on the look of things when we get there. How long are the
rapids?"
"About half-a-mile, I should think."
"Any rocks?"
"Upon my word I don't know. I was too anxious about holding on to
notice. But judging from the battering we got I should say plenty."
"Then the safest course would be to unload the rafts when we get to the
head of the rapids and make a portage--carry the things along the bank
until we come to the pool. We can't do that if the enemy are in force.
We shall simply have to shoot the rapids and take our chance."
"I'm sorry for us. If my little raft was nearly smashed, what condition
will these clumsy things be in when we get through!"
"Well, I can only do my best. Left to themselves they'd be smashed up
in no time, but if I can manage to steer clear of the rocks we may get
through. It won't be safe to go roped together, though. You had better
moor yours while I take down the first; then I'll go ashore and come
back for you."
"Rather dangerous, that, if the enemy are about."
"Perhaps. But I'm inclined to think they'll wait for us lower down. In
that case I should be back before they could catch me. But really it's
not much good settling on anything until we see how the land lies. The
most important thing will be to take care we are not caught in the
rapids before we know it. If we are, we can only let ourselves go and
trust to luck."
After a delay of nearly an hour, during which the whole party made a
meal of the fruits they had brought with them, they strove again to pole
the rafts off the rock. The task was an impossible one while the
vessels were so heavily laden. Accordingly the breastwork was removed
from the shoreward side of each, and a portion of the goods was conveyed
to the bank. Thus lightened, the rafts were got off by vigorous poling,
and allowed to drift a few yards down-stream until they came once more
into the moonlight. Then they were run into the bank and moored while
the stores were fetched and the breastwork replaced. This took up a
considerable time, and it could no longer be doubted that the enemy,
unless they had halted, must arrive at the pool long before the rafts.
As the moon rose higher in the sky the voyage became easier, and it was
continued without incident until there were signs that day was breaking.
Feeling sure that the rapids could not be far ahead, Ferrier steered
into the right bank, followed by John.
"I must take a look round before we go any farther," said Ferrier. "I
don't hear anything of the enemy; perhaps they are behind us after all."
He set off alone, making his way cautiously among the trees. It seemed
hours before he returned, in almost broad daylight.
"We're in for it," he said as he came up. "We're within six hundred
yards of the rapids. I went on round the curve until I got a view of
the pool. The fort is manned. Juma must have got well ahead of us and
crossed the river somewhere. But I don't think the others have arrived
on the scene yet."
"Have they left nobody on the right bank?"
"Nobody at all. They're very poor tacticians. I suppose they rely on
our being smashed up in the rapids, and think they'll have us at their
mercy. They ought to have held both banks. It gives us a chance. We
may have time for a portage, but only to the pool. We can't hope to get
past the second rapids on land; but as we shall be hidden from the enemy
until we actually come to the pool, there ought to be time to load up
again there before they can get round to us."
"What then?"
"We shall have to shoot the second rapids in the rafts just as we are.
Can't stop for another portage. From my recollection as we came up past
the gorge, they're much longer and swifter than the first, besides being
straighter and less rocky. I had a good look at the first as I went
down the bank. There's a nasty bit about half-way through: a narrow
channel between two irregular lines of sunken rocks. But it's no worse
than the Long Saut on the St. Lawrence; not so bad, indeed; and I'm
going to run through all right. The only doubt I have is whether we can
get to the second rapids before the enemy occupy the bluff above the
gorge."
"If we can't----!"
"We shall have the pleasure of being targets for at least ten minutes
for bullets and arrows and stones. But we must just go through with it
now; there's no retreat for us. Now we'll unload my raft and send the
men along with the ivory. When we've given them time to get half-way to
the pool, I'll go down with the raft."
"Alone?"
"Yes. It won't do for you to come, and leave the men, in case they're
attacked; and I don't think any of them would be much help to me. Coja
and two or three of the askaris can escort the convoy. We must make 'em
understand they are to wait for me when they get to the pool; unless,
indeed, I'm there first: the current is pretty swift."
"There's bush enough to hide them, but you're bound to be spotted from
the fort as soon as you get to the end of the rapids."
"It will take Juma a long time to get round with his men."
"But they can swim it!"
"They won't! They can't attack us when swimming, and they'll be afraid
of getting their heads broken against the raft."
During this conversation the men had already begun the work of unloading
the first raft. The breastwork on the right-hand side was removed, and
the ivory conveyed tusk by tusk to the bank. Enough was left at the
rear to balance Ferrier's weight at the forward end. When all was
ready, the men set off with their loads, Coja and two askaris with
rifles going ahead.
"Get your raft unloaded while I'm gone, old chap," said Ferrier. "In
fact, the men had better start with it straight away; if Juma has the
sense to come round at once to meet us it'll be a very near thing to get
loaded up again."
"All right. I'll go with them myself and leave a couple of men to guard
the raft."
"On second thoughts I think you had better go after the first lot at
once. Everything depends on their keeping under cover until I arrive
with the raft, and you know how rash they are. Go and keep an eye on
them. I'll see to the unloading here and send the men after you."
Accordingly John hurried in the track of the ivory-carriers, whom he
overtook by the time they reached the head of the rapids. Leading them
carefully through the wood, where they would be invisible to any of the
enemy who might be moving along on the other side of the river, he came
opposite to the point where the rapids entered the pool. There he
ordered them to set down their loads, and sent Bill back to guide the
second party over the same course.
Ferrier had resolved not to begin his adventurous voyage until all the
men were gathered under John at the head of the pool. The actual
passage of the rapids would take but a minute or two, and the time
necessary for reloading the first raft would be halved if the whole
party were employed in the work. The second convoy having arrived, John
left them safely under cover while he retraced his steps for a short
distance to a spot where he could witness his friend's performance. He
held his breath and felt his skin creep as the raft came into view,
shooting down at a furious rate to what appeared certain destruction.
Ferrier had removed the upper part of the framework, and stood with pole
in hand, bending low, his whole attention fixed on his task. Now he
prodded to the right, now to the left: at one moment the raft swerved,
having evidently scraped a rock, and he almost lost his balance; but
recovering himself instantly, he dexterously slipped his pole over in
the direction to which the raft had been driven, and came again into
mid-current. John feared lest he should be carried far into the pool,
beyond the spot where the loads were laid; but when the raft came into
smooth water, and its momentum was checked, Ferrier flung a rope to the
shore, and the craft, uninjured except for some chips at the edges, was
hauled in.
"Splendid!" said John. "It would be a stunning sport if----"
But before he could complete the sentence Ferrier was running hard
up-stream. There was a shout from the fort; the raft had been
discovered; the second raft was still to be brought down. John
instantly set the men to load up the first raft. Every movement was
visible to the men in the fort. There were loud shouts; a few shots
were fired; but the range was too long for inefficient marksmen. To
John's consternation and alarm there came an echo to these shouts from
up-stream. The warriors from the village were evidently within striking
distance. Had they discovered Ferrier? Urging the men to hasten with
the work of loading, he ran along the bank to see whether the second
raft was on the way. Yes; it was sweeping down like the first, and on
the opposite bank a crowd of yelling negroes rushed along, dodging the
trees, and trying to keep pace. Ferrier paid no attention to them, his
whole energy absorbed in his task. John sent a warning shot among the
enemy, and they darted out of sight. The raft leapt and dashed and
jolted down, and in little more than a minute after it passed John it
lay moored beside the other at the shore of the pool.
The men having not yet finished the loading of the first raft, Ferrier
had leisure to observe what the enemy were about. The warriors from the
village, who had marched along the left bank of the river, were rushing
round the northern shore of the pool towards the causeway. It was
impossible to see what they would do when they reached it, and, to judge
by the uproar in the fort, there was more excitement than cool
calculation among Juma's party. But by the time the rafts were loaded,
the breastworks replaced, and the ropes attached, the enemy's intention
became clear. Before the rafts were loosed from their moorings and
poled into the gentle current of the pool, a large number of negroes,
with one or two Swahilis, emerged into view from behind the intervening
island, and were seen hastening along the path which led from the
causeway up the bluff.
"They've got a good start of us," Ferrier called from the leading raft.
"We must run the gauntlet."
But now that the critical moment had arrived, John was setting his wits
to work. In all the encounters with the enemy hitherto, success had
been gained by the exercise of superior intelligence rather than
superior force. Was there not a chance of outwitting them even now at
the eleventh hour? Could they not be withdrawn from their threatening
position above the gorge? An idea suggested itself: to let the rafts
drift on until they came opposite the fort, and then to change their
direction and pole them across the pool as if with the intention of
landing on the western shore of the island and storming the fort. If
the ruse succeeded, the enemy would rush back and swarm within the walls
again.
John imparted his scheme to Ferrier in a few hurried sentences.
"It's worth trying," said Ferrier, "but can we get back into the current
in time?"
"Yes; it begins to flow swifter, as you know, opposite the island. If
only the men are drawn back into the fort, we shall have time to come
back into the current and make straight for the rapids, and then they
may run their hardest but won't overtake us."
"Well, you pole back first, so as not to change our order. They surely
won't be such idiots!"
The rafts passed slowly along, hailed with derisive yells from the few
men left in the fort, and by a shower of arrows, which flew harmlessly
over the breastworks, the men having all lain down as before. Then
suddenly they ceased to move; but in a few moments started ponderously
in the reverse direction. John and Ferrier had exchanged places with
their two steersmen, and while they poled on the bottom in the manner of
punters, Coja and Said Mohammed thrust their poles into the water at an
angle which would bring the rafts round to the western end of the
island. It was exceedingly hard work to force the heavy vessels against
the current, slight though that was; but they did move slowly, away from
the gorge, and that was enough for the defenders of the fort. Alarmed at
the prospect of having to repel an assault from the wasungu, they
shouted vociferously to their fellows on the shore to return and help
them.
"It's working!" cried John in delight. "I only wish we could see round
the island. We shall have to guess when it's time to be off."
But there was little chance of their being left in ignorance of the
enemy's movements. The din was tremendous, far and near. Soon the
uproar within the fort increased, and men were seen swarming on to the
edges of the western wall, some scrambling over and running down the
slope to meet the expected attack. The situation of the rafts was too
close to be pleasant to their occupants. Arrows flew over and between
them, some sticking in the meshes of the breastwork. The men flat on
the decks of the rafts were out of harm's way; but the two white men and
their assistants were partly exposed to the flying missiles, since they
could not manage the clumsy rafts unless they stood nearly upright. For
some minutes they cruised along the shore, as if seeking a convenient
landing-place, until they were screened from the enemy by the fringe of
trees. At last, having allowed sufficient time for the greater part of
the enemy's force to regain the fort, or at least the causeway, John and
Ferrier again changed places with Said Mohammed and Coja, and began to
pole vigorously in the opposite direction. Being hidden by the trees,
the rafts, helped by the current, had gained some speed before the
change of direction was perceived. Even then the meaning of it did not
at once strike the enemy. Those who had come down to the shore ran back
to the fort; those within manned the southern and eastern parts of the
wall, anticipating an assault at the spot where it had been partially
demolished. But the rafts were increasing their distance from the
island; they were also increasing their speed; and as they were now
heading straight for the mouth of the gorge Juma at last recognized how
he had been duped.
The voyagers were now in full view of the causeway. It was covered with
men returning at a run to the fort. But Juma, the moment he saw his
mistake, hastened to the gate and shouted to the men to right-about and
make for the gorge. The causeway was too long for his words to be heard
distinctly at the shore end, and there was a minute's confusion among
the negroes before they grasped what was intended--a precious minute to
the voyagers, for at the end of it the rafts were swept into the full
current. When the men on the causeway, yelling with rage, at last set
off to run back to the shore, John saw with a leaping heart that they
were too late. A few of the enemy who had not yet reached the causeway
when the retirement was countermanded, rushed along the shore and came
level with the rafts as these began the descent of the rapids. But they
had to run uphill: the speed of the current was at least fifteen miles
an hour; before they could gain the summit of the bluff the rafts would
be a mile or more downstream.
As John's raft was swept along in the wake of Ferrier's, he wondered
whether the rafts, when they reached the end of the rapids, would be in
splinters, and the men battered corpses. When he had shot the upper
rapids with Bill, the darkness had concealed the full extent of his
peril; but now in broad daylight it was brought alarmingly home to him.
Ferrier's raft was swinging before him, and John heard his shouts as he
instructed Coja how to move his pole for steering. John stuck to his
post, almost at his wit's end, but trying desperately to follow in
Ferrier's wake, and shouting instructions to Said Mohammed, who steered
accordingly.
All at once he saw with terror a large rock almost in midstream, over
which the water swirled and dashed with clouds of spray. He felt that
nothing could avert disaster. Ferrier was safely past; John, grasping
his pole, cried to the Bengali to steer to the right. The rock seemed
to approach him with terrible speed; in a moment the raft would surely
be dashed against it and shivered to splinters. But the force of the
current, and a timely thrust of the pole--how he made it in time John
could never understand--carried the raft clear of the barrier. John's
shove was indeed more vigorous than was necessary, for it swung the
stern of the raft partly across the current, and caused it to scrape the
edge of the rock, with a jar that sent John and the Indian headlong
among the men who lay on the deck. There was a howl of dismay, and John
sprang up, expecting to find himself whirling to destruction. But to
his unspeakable relief he saw that the perilous voyage was over. The
raft had shot clear of the gorge, and was floating with almost oily
smoothness on the river below the escarpment.