There was rejoicing that night in Kambia among my people, for it is
not necessary that a despised slaver should always be a cruel master.
I had many a friend among the villagers, both there and at Bangalang,
and when the "barker" came from the Isles _de Loss_ with the news of
my capture and misery, the settlement had been keenly astir until it
was known that Mongo Teodore was safe and sound among his protectors.
I had a deep, refreshing sleep after a glorious bath. Poor Esther
stole over the palisades of Bangalang to hear the story from my own
lips; and, in recompense for the narrative, gave me an account of the
river gossip during my adventure. Next morning, bright and early, I
was again in my boat, sweeping along towards the "FELIZ" from
Matanzas, which was anchored within a bowshot of Bangalang. As I
rounded a point in sight of her, the Spanish flag was run up, and as I
touched the deck, a dozen cheers and a gun gave token of a gallant
reception in consequence of my battle with the British, which had been
magnified into a perfect Trafalgar.
The Feliz was originally consigned to me from Cuba, but in my absence
from the river her commander thought it best not to intrust so
important a charge to my clerk, and addressed her to Ormond. When my
arrival at the Isles _de Loss_ was announced on the river, his
engagement with the Mongo had neither been entirely completed, nor
had any cargo been delivered. Accordingly, the skipper at once taxed
his wit for a contrivance by which he could escape the bargain. In
Africa such things are sometimes done with ease on small pretexts, so
that when I reached Kambia my one-hundred-and-forty-ton brig was ready
for her original consignee.
I found that remittances in money and merchandise covered the value of
three hundred and fifty slaves, whom I quickly ordered from different
traders;--but when I applied to the Mongo to furnish his share, the
gentleman indignantly refused under the affront of his recalled
assignment. I tried to pacify and persuade him; yet all my efforts
were unavailing. Still, the results of this denial did not affect the
Mongo personally and alone. When a factor either declines or is unable
to procure trade at an African station, the multitude of hangers-on,
ragamuffins, servants and villagers around him suffer, at least, for a
time. They cannot understand and are always disgusted when "trade is
refused." In this case the people of Bangalang seemed peculiarly
dissatisfied with their Mongo's obstinacy. They accused him of
indolent disregard of their interests. They charged him with culpable
neglect. Several free families departed forthwith to Kambia. His
brothers, who were always material sufferers in such cases, upbraided
him with arrogant conceit. His women, headed by Fatimah,--who supplied
herself and her companions with abundant presents out of every fresh
cargo,--rose in open mutiny, and declared they would run off unless he
accepted a share of the contract. Fatimah was the orator of the harem
on this as well as on all other occasions of display or grievance, and
of course she did not spare poor Ormond. Age and drunkenness had made
sad inroads on his constitution and looks during the last half year.
His fretful irritability sometimes amounted almost to madness, when
thirty female tongues joined in the chorus of their leader's assault.
They boldly charged him, singly and in pairs, with every vice and
fault that injured matrimony habitually denounces; and as each item of
this abusive litany was screamed in his ears, the chorus responded
with a deep "amen!" They boasted of their infidelities, lauded their
lovers, and producing their children, with laughs of derision, bade
him note the astounding resemblance!
The poor Mongo was sorely beset by these African witches, and
summoned his villagers to subdue the revolt; but many of the
town-folks were pets of the girls, so that no one came forth to obey
his bidding.
I visited Ormond at his request on the evening of this rebellion, and
found him not only smarting with the morning's insult, but so drunk as
to be incapable of business. His revengeful eye and nervous movements
denoted a troubled mind. When our hands met, I found the Mongo's cold
and clammy. I refused wine under a plea of illness; and when, with
incoherent phrases and distracted gestures, he declared his
willingness to retract his refusal and accept a share of the Felix's
cargo, I thought it best to adjourn the discussion until the following
day. Whilst on the point of embarking, I was joined by the faithless
servant, whom I bribed to aid me in my affair with the Dane, and was
told that Ormond _had drugged the wine in anticipation of my arrival_!
He bade me be wary of the Mongo, who in his presence had threatened my
life. That morning, he said, while the women were upbraiding him, my
name had been mentioned by one with peculiar favor,--when Ormond burst
forth with a torrent of passion, and accusing me as the cause of all
his troubles, felled the girl to the earth with his fist.
That night I was roused by my watchman to see a stranger, and found
Esther at my gate with three of her companions. Their tale was brief.
Soon after dark, Ormond entered the harem with loaded pistol, in
search of Fatimah and Esther; but the wretch was so stupefied by
liquor and rage, that the women had little trouble to elude his grasp
and escape from Bangalang. Hardly had I bestowed them for the night,
when another alarm brought the watchman once more to my chamber, with
the news of Ormond's death. He had shot himself through the heart!
I was in no mood for sleep after this, and the first streak of dawn
found me at Bangalang. There lay the Mongo as he fell. No one
disturbed his limbs or approached him till I arrived. He never stirred
after the death-wound.
It seems he must have forgotten that the bottle had been specially
medicated for me, as it was found nearly drained; but the last thing
distinctly known of him by the people, was his murderous entrance into
the harem to despatch Esther and Fatimah. Soon after this the crack of
a pistol was heard in the garden; and there, stretched among the
cassava plants, with a loaded pistol grasped in his left, and a
discharged one at a short distance from his right hand, laid Jack
Ormond, the mulatto! His left breast was pierced by a ball, the wad of
which still clung to the bloody orifice.
Bad as this man was, I could not avoid a sigh for his death. He had
been my first friend in Africa, and I had forfeited his regard through
no fault of mine. Besides this, there are so few on the coast of
Africa in these lonely settlements among the mangrove swamps, who have
tasted European civilization, and can converse like human beings, that
the loss even of the worst is a dire calamity. Ormond and myself had
held each other for a long time at a wary distance; yet business
forced us together now and then, and during the truce, we had many a
pleasant chat and joyous hour that would henceforth be lost for ever.
It is customary in this part of Africa to make the burial of a _Mongo_
the occasion of a _colungee_, or festival, when all the neighboring
chiefs and relations send gifts of food and beverage for the orgies of
death. Messengers had been despatched for Ormond's brothers and
kinsfolk, so that the native ceremony of interment was postponed till
the third day; and, in the interval, I was desired to make all the
preparations in a style befitting the suicide's station. Accordingly,
I issued the needful orders; directed a deep grave to be dug under a
noble cotton-wood tree, aloof from the village; gave the body in
charge to women, who were to watch it until burial, with cries of
sorrow,--and then retired to Kambia.
On the day of obsequies I came back. At noon a salute was fired by the
guns of the village, which was answered by minute guns from the Feliz
and my factory. Seldom have I heard a sadder sound than the boom of
those cannons through the silent forest and over the waveless water.
Presently, all the neighboring chiefs, princes and kings came in with
their retainers, when the body was brought out into the shade of a
grove, so that all might behold it. Then the procession took up its
line of march, while the thirty wives of the Mongo followed the
coffin, clad in rags, their heads shaven, their bodies lacerated with
burning iron, and filling the air with yells and shrieks until the
senseless clay was laid in the grave.
I could find no English prayer-book or Bible in the village, from
which I might read the service of his church over Ormond's remains,
but I had never forgotten the _Ave Maria_ and _Pater Noster_ I learned
when an infant, and, while I recited them devoutly over the self
murderer, I could not help thinking they were even more than
sufficient for the savage surroundings.
The brief prayer was uttered; but it could not be too brief for the
impatient crowd. Its _amen_ was a signal for _pandemonium_. In a
twinkling, every foot rushed back to the dwelling in Bangalang. The
grove was alive with revelry. Stakes and rocks reeked with roasting
bullocks. Here and there, kettles steamed with boiling rice. Demijohn
after demijohn of _rum_, was served out. Very soon a sham battle was
proposed, and parties were formed. The divisions took their grounds;
and, presently, the scouts appeared, crawling like reptiles on the
earth till they ascertained each other's position, when the armies
rallied forth with guns, bows, arrows, or lances, and, after firing,
shrieking and shouting till they were deaf, retired with captives, and
the war was done. Then came a reinforcement of rum, and then a dance,
so that the bewildering revel continued in all its delirium till rum
and humanity gave out together, and reeled to the earth in drunken
sleep! Such was the requiem of
THE MONGO OF BANGALANG!