THE STORY OF MUATA
They went from the wide estuary into the true river, with a width
that opened out at times to twenty miles; and while the white men
sweltered on the sticky decks, the rescued man grew in strength.
When they reached Stanley Pool his skin was like satin again, with a
polish on it from the palm-oil he rubbed in continually.
And when he found his strength he found use for his tongue, and in
the speech he made to his rescuers. Mr. Hume caught the meaning of a
few words of Bantu, Compton detected a phrase or two in Arabic, and
Venning, who had been schooling himself since they passed Banana
Point at the river mouth, picked out other words in the tongue of
the river tribes.
The meaning of his speech, when they had made a mosaic of the
different understood facts, was this--that he was a great man in his
own land, but only a child now, being without arms or men, but that
if the white men ever came to his place, he would be a father and a
mother to them. He would throw his shield before them, and protect
them with bow and spear.
After this they sat together learning a polyglot speech that would
serve roughly as a medium of exchange.
And this was the story of the chief, slowly put together out of
these talks--
"I am Muata the chief. The kraal of my house is toward the setting
sun, but the fire no longer burns on the hearth. The men-robbers
fell upon the place in the early morning. The people were scattered
like goats before the lion. Many were taken by the men-robbers, and
many were slain; and among them my father.
"The chief's wife, my mother, fled with me into the Great Forest.
Many days she lived on roots, and the 'little people' found her in
her wanderings. They took her by crooked paths far from the land of
her people. Ohe!
"Through the dark woods--through the dark and terrible woods,
through the mist and the rain, with much pain, she followed them as
they went before her like shadows. And in the folds of her blanket
she bore me on her back. It is true.
"She was straight as the palm when she fled from the kraal, and when
after long journeying she set me down at the hiding-place, she was
thin and bent. Thin and bent was the chief's wife, she who had
maidens to wait on her.
"At the hiding-place in the forest there were people whose kraals
had been burnt by the men-robbers. Outcasts they were, of many
tribes, living together without a chief; but the place was fat, and
they grew fat, being without spirit.
"And Muata the child played with other children and grew. He grew on
the fatness of the land, and when he could walk, his playmates were
the young of the jackal; his playthings were the bow and the spear.
"Ohe! Muata grew to strength like the lion's cub in the knowledge of
the hunt. She, even his mother, taught him to follow the trail,
showed him the leaf bruised by the foot of a man traveling, showed
him the tracks of the beasts, taught him the cries of the animals.
"She rubbed the oil into his skin, set him to hurl the spear, to
shaft the arrow, to hit the mark; set him to run and swim, to creep
like a snake, to bound like the buck.
"So Muata grew in the ways of a hunter; and when the men of the
place went on the hunt, Muata went with them--went as a hunter, and
the hut of his mother had meat to spare.
"Then the chief's wife took the boy to the headmen, and the witch-
doctors. They drew on his body the sign of the otter--he who is
cunning and brave, who is at home on land or in the water. They made
him a warrior, he who was a boy, because there was always meat in
the hut of his mother.
"But his mother spoke. 'O Muata, hunter of the wild pig, take your
spear and your bow, and the quiver of arrows with the iron heads.
You will hunt men.' Thus it came that Muata went alone on the war-
trail. With him went his mother, who carried the pots and the
sleeping-mat, she who carried nothing at her kraal.
"The trail led into the Great Forest toward the rising sun, and
there were dangers between the sunrise and its setting--dangers
between the setting of the sun and its rising.
"A man-ape of great stature, hairy and fierce, stood before us in
the path. He lifted his brows at us, and bared his teeth. Muata was
afraid, but his mother called to him softly--called to him not to
run, called to him to drive this thing from her path.
"Muata notched an arrow and smote the man-ape in the neck. Yoh! He
stood like a man upright, and roared. His roar was like the roar of
a lion in pain. Foam came from his lips, and his eyes were fierce.
"The knees of Muata shook; his blood was like water. He was afraid,
but his mother laughed and cracked her fingers. The man-ape drew
near, but she stood--she the chief's wife. So Muata the boy notched
an arrow, and would have loosened it, but she spoke--'Let him come
still nearer, O warrior.'
"Muata grew stronger at the word. The man-ape came nearer. Three
paces away he stood--and his head was above the head of Muata, his
arms were like a young tree, and the chest was like the chest of two
men. He opened his mouth and the arrow flew into his throat, bit
deep till the point stood out behind. He clutched the shaft with his
hands, rocked, and fell, and Muata, taking his spear, thrust it
between the great ribs.
"Yoh! the man-ape was dead, and the chief's wife broke the great
teeth from the jaw, and cut off the hairs above the eyes. She burnt
them, and mixed them with his blood, for Muata to drink. Muata
drank and was strong.
"So those two passed through the forest, through the silent dark of
the woods, in pain and hunger. Passed out into the plains where
there were kraals and yellow men in white coverings.
"And the chiefs wife spoke: 'Behold, it is for this I have suffered
much for thee, Muata. What I have sown in sorrow and pain I will
reap in your strength. Look and look again! Those are of the race
who destroyed the kraals of your people. They are men-hunters,
kraal-burners, slayers of children. Steal upon them where they walk
idly, and for each arrow slay a man.'
"Muata waited on these men a day and a night, and when he sought his
mother on the edge of the forest his quiver was empty, and the
chief's wife spoke: 'Where did the arrow strike, O warrior?' And
Muata answered, 'In the throat, O my mother.' And the chief's wife
said again, 'It is well; but the warrior sees to it that he can
recover his arrow. And your quiver is empty.' So Muata returned
and recovered his arrows, for the men lay where they fell, the
living having gone into the kraals in fear.
"So Muata and the chiefs wife went slowly back to the place of
hiding. And because Muata had slain the man-ape and the robbers--
they who slay children--the chief's wife sought out the headmen, and
spoke: 'Oh, listen! This is Muata, the son of a chief. He has slain
the man-ape, and for each arrow that was in his quiver a man-robber.
It is fit that he be your chief.' But they laughed, and the chiefs
wife held her peace.
"And again, after the crops were gathered, Muata went again on the
war-trail alone--went to the river, followed it down the bank, and
the little people led him to a kraal in the wood by the river bank--
a kraal with a high fence, the kraal of the yellow men-robbers.
Muata dived beneath the fence with a short spear in his hand. With
his spear he slew the man who watched by the gate, opened the gate,
and put fire to the huts. The yellow men ran, some into the forest,
and there the little people found them; others fled into a canoe to
cross; Muata swam after, and with his spear ripped open the bottom,
so that it filled and sank.
"And again, when the place of hiding was reached, the chief's wife
sought out the headmen and spoke, saying that Muata was a chief's
son. They put her aside with words, saying there was no proof of
this last thing he had done. But Muata whistled, and the little
people came forward, saying the chiefs son had destroyed the kraal
of the evil-doers. Then the headmen took counsel, and again put the
chief's wife off.
"The chief's wife bowed her head, but, seeing that she was weak, and
that her mind was fixed on the thing she asked for, Muata took the
matter into his own hand. He bade the women prepare a big hut for
his mother--he put a stick to their shoulders; and when a man sought
to slay him there in the presence of them all, Muata smote the man
under the arm with his spear. So they built the great hut, and women
waited on the chief's wife, his mother, carried water for her, cut
the wood, and built the fire.
"So Muata was chief, and year by year he led the men of the place
against the yellow robbers, till the name of Muata was feared.
"The would Muata take to himself wives, and would drink beer, and
grow fat; but his mother counseled with him, saying he was a boy--
saying he was only at the beginning of the path. And Muata listened,
for she was wiser than all, and he set his heart on the plan she put
before him to win back the land of his people.
"Thus Muata the chief was still a warrior and a hunter. He followed
the spoor into the fastnesses of the woods, and trained the young of
the jackal to drive the buck towards him.
"Ohe! it was ended. The evil-doers, the child-slayers, the robbers
of men, sent spies into the forest, and when Muata returned from his
hunting there was wailing at the kraal, and the fire was dead on the
hearth. And the women cried, 'O chief, they have taken the lioness;
they lured her out with tales of ill that had befallen Muata, even
the young lion. So she went forth between the gates, and they, the
robbers, carried her away.'
"Muata turned on his heel straightway. He sought the trail of the
man-thieves. It was plain and level. It led through the forest, and
by night his jackal led him on the scent. By day he followed; by
night and day Muata went on the track to the river. At the river he
heard news. They had gone on the river towards the setting sun.
"Muata took a canoe from the river people, and with his jackal he
followed, while the sun rose and set many times, and he came to the
father of rivers.
"The waters were wide, and his canoe was like a leaf carried here
and there. His heart was sad, but the spirit of his mother
prevailed. He followed, and a man came to him saying that the yellow
men were near at hand, and sick of the sickness that shakes. Muata
gathered together his strength and pushed on. Ohe! and he fell into
the hands of his enemies like a child. He went among them sleeping,
and when he awoke his hands and limbs were bound.
"And the enemy mocked him, saying, 'Is this Muata?' saying, 'even
the ant will make him cry aloud;' and they smeared fat on him. They
shook the ants over him, and they bit deep. They reviled him, they
spat on him, as day by day he followed in the canoe tied to their
greater canoe. They made plans about him to kill him, but the chief
man said even a dog had his price. So they forebore to slay Muata,
but they carried him down the father of waters to where there was a
still greater canoe with wings. They put a gag into his mouth to
still his voice, but in the night the jackal bit through the rope,
and Muata was alone on the waters.
"Then the jackal cried suddenly, and Muata was borne out of the
water, and he was fed.
"That is the story of Muata, and his heart goes out to the white men
who brought him out of the darkness."