A NOVEL CRAFT
A month was devoted to preparation--a month that was full of
pleasure to the two friends, for they came into close touch with
Dave Hume the hunter, and learnt to regard him almost as a brother.
Ordinarily, he was curt in his speech and cold in manner, especially
with strangers; but at night, when he had shed his boots and coat,
he would talk to them freely of his hunting experiences, and listen
with interest to their opinions. He never laughed at their mistakes,
nor damped their enthusiasm, but he got the best out of them by a
fine courtesy that seemed part of his nature.
Thus it was that when, early in the first week, Venning said he had
an idea for a boat that could be easily carried round the cataracts
and worked without much labour, he was at once encouraged to give
plans and specifications.
"I read once about a 'sneak-box'--a flat-bottomed shooting canoe--
that could carry a sail and serve at the same time as a cabin."
"I have used one myself duck-shooting. Go on."
"Well, sir, I built a boat on the plan given, and spent a holiday
one year on the Broads. It drew very little water, and was easily
managed. However, you know all that. But what I was thinking about
was a design for a larger boat of the kind, with a propeller
attached to it which could be worked by lever."
"By a lever?"
"Perhaps you have seen a lame man working a bicycle by a lever--
well, after that principle. There would be a steel rod with cog-
wheels, and one man could work the lever as the lame cyclist does
without the labour of rowing." Venning waited nervously for the
criticism.
"At any rate the lever would be a relief after the paddles," said
Mr. Hume, gravely.
"But that is not all," continued the inventor, hastily. "I would rig
up a light American windmill amidships, which could work the screw
and get more speed with a following wind in conjunction with a sail
rigged up forward."
"Bravo, my boy!" said Mr. Hume, laughing. "How many revolutions of
the screw to the minute do you expect to get out of your windmill?"
"That depends on the power of the wind, sir. Do you think it is a
mad scheme?"
"It would impress the natives," said Compton, "and at any rate we
could start wheat-milling, you know, in case we came to the end of
our resources."
"There's no wheat in Central Africa, you duffer! Besides, sir, it's
mainly a question of gear. With a lever, cog-wheels, and a running
chain after the pattern of the cycle chain, one could----"
"And ball bearings," suggested Compton, slyly.
"Yes; and ball bearings--the friction would be reduced, and we could
get more power out of a screw and propeller than we could from four
paddles."
"You may be right," said Mr. Hume, thoughtfully.
"We don't want to take a large party, and I confess the water
transport has bothered me very much. The wind-mill, I am afraid, we
must leave to some other time, but the other part of your scheme is
worth placing before practical men, and I will give you a letter to
a friend of mine who had a boat built on the Thames."
Venning saw the friend the very next day; the friend gave him an
introduction to a member of a great firm of torpedo-boat builders on
the Thames, and this gentleman very kindly gave the matter five
minutes' attention.
"Your idea, eh?" said the great designer. "Explain what advantage
you expect to gain."
"Less labour in working than with paddles, and greater speed."
"Humph! Well, my lad, you leave the matter with me, and I will
report. You can look over the yards if you like."
Venning spent the rest of the morning among the wicked-looking
sharks of the Navy, and he went back depressed with the thought that
his "sneak-box" was merely a plaything. However, he picked up
confidence when the next day brought an offer from the builders to
turn out an aluminium sneak-box in three divisions, with capacity
for a crew of six, to be worked on occasion by two men pulling at
levers, driving the propeller by means of endless chains and cog-
wheels, the gear to be made of best oil-tempered nickel-steel, with
hardened ball bearings. Each division, when detached, of such weight
that it could be easily carried by three men, but no guarantee given
that the propeller would give the speed desired.
"That is good enough for us, I think," said Mr. Hume.
"They give no guarantee," remarked Compton, cautiously.
"No; but they would not undertake the work unless they had some
belief in the idea, and if the propeller proves useless, we can at
the worst unship it. In any case we must have the boat, and we could
not improve on the makers."
The order was given, and by the fourth week the little boat was
launched on the Thames for its first trial. It looked workmanlike in
spite of its wide beam and shallow draught, for the great designer
who had fashioned the lines of the fastest destroyer afloat had
himself drawn up the plans after giving a day's careful thought to
the job. The shaft, which rested on nickel-steel sockets, with ball
bearings supported by nickel-steel ribs for lightness, was protected
by a water-tight casing, and all the other parts made of the very
best metal, so as to secure both lightness and strength, with a
complicated set of cog-wheels to take off the strain. The steering
was by a neat wheel right forward, where the look-out man could have
an uninterrupted view. Forward, too, was the socket for the metal
mast. The boat was fifteen feet in length, with a beam of four feet
amidships, tapering fore and aft, with a well in the centre, and the
remaining space covered in with a light aluminium deck, strengthened
by oak bends. There was sleeping-room for two, so that with a crew
of four there would have to be four watches of three hours each. The
peculiar features of the long, low craft were the two levers rising
above the after-deck through slots, which gave each a thrust of
about one and a half feet, and two saddle-like seats borne on stout
supports, one near the stem facing the bows, and the other further
forward facing the stem. Venning perched himself on one seat,
Compton on the other, one of the hands took the wheel, and Mr. Hume
and the designer sat in the well.
Compton's clear-cut face, with well-formed jaws, showed no other
sign of interest than a rather amused smile, but Venning's fair
features were flushed with excitement and nervous expectation, A man
pushed the boat out. It moved at first sluggishly.
"Full speed ahead!" cried out Mr. Hume.
Venning pulled his lever over, and as he shot it back Compton pulled
his, the two moving to and fro easily as if they had been rowing a
steady stroke.
"She moves, she moves!" cried Mr. Hume, with a shout.
"Take her over the mile," said the designer to the steersman; and he
pulled out his watch with exactly the same look of calm interest he
showed when presiding over the trial of the fastest craft afloat.
The shining aluminium boat answered to her helm, slipped through the
muddy waters in a graceful curve, and then steadied for the straight
course.
"Let her go, boys."
The levers worked to and fro with an easy swing; there rose the hum
of the chains moving easily below, and the quickened churning of the
propeller blades.
The designer glanced from his watch to the bank, which was fast
slipping away, and nodded his head at Mr. Hume.
"Easy all. I think she will do;" and he nodded at Venning. "Ten
minutes."
"Ten minutes!"
"A mile in ten minutes--six miles an hour!"
"And it was as easy as nothing," said Venning--"wasn't it, Dick?"
"Like cutting bread," said Compton.
"Very good, I think; but you must remember that she carries no
cargo. Now we'll try her with the sail alone, and then with the sail
and screw combined, and then with the screw and oars, for you will
see that I have fitted row-locks."
Under a fair breeze the boat skimmed along at a merry pace, with no
wave worth speaking of; and with the sail and screw she put on an
additional four miles, and with the oars an extra three, making from
nine to ten miles an hour.
"I congratulate you, Mr. Venning," said the designer, as they
stepped out, thoroughly pleased.
"I am sure, sir, we thank you," said the boy, warmly.
"Eight," said Mr. Hume; "and we are thoroughly pleased with the
craft, every one of us."
"She is a beauty," put in Compton--"a real beauty; and I think she
would be perfect if a light awning could be fixed up over the after-
deck."
"That could be done easily.
"It would be an improvement, certainly," said Mr. Hume.
"I will rig up brackets to hold the rods for the awning."
"And we could fix up mosquito curtains round the sides. That is A 1.
Now, what is her name to be?" And Mr. Hume looked at Venning.
He had thought of a name, and was prompt with it--the Okapi.
"And what does that mean?" asked the builder, with a smile.
Venning explained, and the name was adopted.
"Now," said the builder, "if Mr. Venning will come down to-morrow
afternoon, my workmen will take the Okapi to pieces in his presence
before packing it for delivery in the docks, and explain thoroughly
how it is to be put together. I will give orders for several extra
plates with fittings to be placed in one of the divisions, so that
if you have an accident you will have the material for repairing the
mischief. You understand, aluminium cannot be soldered, but you
could cover a hole by means of nuts and screws."
Venning was in time next day to receive his instructions, and made
in his note-book an outline sketch of each part. While he was so
engaged, Mr. Hume, with Compton, were seeing the outfit packed for
the steamer, every purchase having been made with great judgment, so
that nothing superfluous figured in the list. Their armament
consisted of one double express for Mr. Hume, two sporting carbines
for the boys, three Mauser revolvers, and one fowling-piece, strong
hunting-knives, as well as four Ghoorka knives for cutting a path
through the forest. As far as possible all their food-stuff was
concentrated in tabloids and essences; each had his own special tin-
lined medicine-case, in addition to the common drug-chest; each
his own water-bottle of double canvas, a material which, permitting
evaporation, keeps the water cool; and each his regulation "billy,"
or cooking-tin. As for clothing, it was a mixture of luxury and
rough wear, of the best silk underwear, cellular shirts of a light
blue, and yellow chamois-skin breeches, warranted to grow tougher
with use. Putties were discarded, as likely to give harbourage to
"jiggers," which bore into the toes, in favour of soft leather high
boots, tightly fastened at the knee; and the outfit included needles
for the making of moccasins, or veld schoen, from the hides of the
larger antelope.
"Why do you select all blue shirts, Mr. Hume?" asked Venning.
"On account of the mosquitoes."
"Consider the feeling of the gorillas," said Compton, dryly.
"Perhaps they would prefer green."
"They may find us green enough for their taste, Compton; but I am
not joking. Mosquitoes have a preference for some colours and an
aversion for others. They dislike blue most of all, so you see I
have a purpose in selecting blue--not only for the shirts, but for
the mosquito curtains."
"All these precautions for a wretched fly."
"Exactly. A mosquito's gimlet carries more terrors for the explorer
than the elephant's trunk, and his hum is more dreaded than the roar
of the lion. The mosquito is fever-winged, alert, and bloodthirsty.
He carries the germs of malaria with him; and malaria kills off more
men than all the reptiles and wild animals combined."
"Is there no way of fighting?" asked Compton, impressed.
"Oh ay; they are fighting him on the West Coast by draining the
swamps, where he breeds about the villages. But who can drain the
swamps of the Congo, or let light into the Great Forest?"
"Then we stand a fair chance to catch malaria?"
"A better chance," said Mr. Hume, grimly, "than we have of catching
the okapi. Fear the mosquito, but at the same time take every
precaution against its attack. I have an idea myself that nature has
provided a safeguard."
"Quinine?" said Venning.
"Quinine is an antidote. I mean a preventive--but that is your
department, Venning. It will be one of your duties to study the
little brute, and you may make a great discovery, for instance, it
has been discovered that the mosquito dislikes certain colours. Why?
It may be that he would show more distinctly on one colour than on
another, and so fall an easy victim to an insect-eating bird. But it
may be that the leaves of some plant of a particular hue, or the
juices of the plant, are distasteful to the insect. Flies don't like
the leaves of the blue-gum, and I guess mosquitoes have their likes
and dislikes. Find the plant they dislike, and we may defy them."
They had no accommodation for such a luxury as a tent, but instead
they purchased canvas hammocks, each with a waterproof covering, and
a roll of green canvas with strong eyelet-holes, to serve the
purpose of a tent, in addition to a canvas awning with bamboo rods,
to cover the whole boat in case they were not able to land for any
length of time.
It was a pleasant time for the boys, and when at last they were
pitching down the Channel into the Bay of Biscay, having meanwhile
passed through a miserable twenty-four hours, they inhaled the
strong salt air and clapped each other on the back.
It was grand!
They stood in the bows, one hand on the rail, the other on the brim
of a hat, and tasted the salt with a smack of the lips. The wind
blew its life into their eyes, brightened them, toughened their
skins, reddened them, and the spray, drying on the red, softened the
colour to a fine healthy brown. Then the good ship heeled over and
rolled back with a swing of the yards, and the first roller from the
Atlantic went majestically by. They were on the old, old track of
the adventurers, of the sea-rovers, of the great captains, of the
empire builders, and before them, far off in the fastness of the
Dark Continent, was the Great Forest with all its secrets fast held.