A full week was spent by the travellers among those friendly villagers,
during which Dick Maitland assiduously tended the wounded man, who by
the end of that time, thanks in part to his own healthy flesh and blood,
the result of simple, frugal living, and, more largely, to the young
doctor's skilful treatment, had advanced so far toward recovery that
nature might safely be left to complete the cure. The week had been not
altogether unprofitably spent in other respects, the two white men
assiduously devoting themselves, with Mafuta's assistance, to the study
of the native language, varied occasionally, on Dick's part, by a little
botanising--during which he discovered some half a dozen plants that
seemed to possess valuable properties--and the taming of the lion cub,
which, after the first two or three days of captivity, responded with
ever-growing alacrity to his young master's advances, until by the end
of six weeks he had learned to answer to the name of Leo, to come at
Dick's call or whistle, and, in short, had become as tame as a dog.
This result, and the gentleness of disposition which Leo manifested,
Dick attributed largely to the fact that the animal was never allowed to
taste blood, or raw flesh of any kind, his food--after a milk diet for
the first three weeks of his captivity--consisting entirely of well-
roasted flesh.
The natives witnessed the preparations for the departure of their white
friends with every manifestation of sincere regret, assisting to drive
up and inspan the oxen, presenting a fine milch cow for Leo's especial
benefit, as well as quantities of mealies, bananas, and other garden
produce, warning the travellers of various difficulties and dangers that
lurked on the next hundred miles or so of their route, and carefully
instructing them how they might best be avoided, and in many other ways
making plain the sorrow with which they bade them farewell. Finally,
when the oxen were inspanned and the wagon was on the very point of
moving off, Mafuta, who had hitherto been missing, presented himself in
full marching order, armed with shield, assagais, and knobkerrie, with
plumed head-dress, and cows' tails bound about his legs below the knees,
and curtly informed Dick that it was his fixed intention to join the
party! Although both Dick and Grosvenor did their utmost to dissuade
him, by representing to him the great length and exceeding danger of the
journey upon which they were bound, and the possibility that they might
never return, it was all of no avail, he alternately insisted and
entreated, declaring that he wanted no wages or reward of any kind.
Dick had pulled his brother back out of the grave, and he felt it to be
his duty, as well as his pleasure, to devote himself henceforward to the
service of the white man who had done this wonderful thing; and finally,
when Dick, loath to take the man away from his kith and kin, definitely
refused to take him, the Kafir countered by saying, in effect: "Very
well; the veldt is free to all, and if you will not permit me to join
your party, I can at least follow you at a distance, and be at hand
whenever you require my services." After which, of course, there was no
more to be said, and Mafuta was allowed to have his own way, to the
great joy of his brethren of the village.
Nor was it very long before the travellers had abundant reason to
congratulate themselves upon their decision in this respect, for Mafuta
not only proved to be a most intelligent and devoted servant, but also a
splendid guide, knowing the exact localities of the various streams and
waterholes on their route, as far as the Zambezi, also the most
favourable crossing places, where the best grass and the most game were
to be found, and, most important of all, perhaps, the exact boundaries
of the fly country. Indeed but for this last knowledge it is almost
certain that in their anxiety to take the shortest possible cuts they
would probably have lost practically all their cattle, and thus have
been obliged to bring their adventure to a premature end.
On their ninth day out from Mafuta's village they struck the Hanyani
River, without meeting with any adventure worthy of record, and
following its right bank for a couple of days, bore away in an easterly
direction, skirting the northern slope of Mount Inyota, where they
struck another small stream flowing to the northward and eastward; and
as this was, broadly speaking, the direction in which they wished to
travel, and as Mafuta assured them that it discharged into the Zambezi,
they decided to follow it, and did so, finding eventually that it united
its flow with another stream, which they followed, still without any
particular adventure save such as daily occurred while hunting; and
three weeks from the day on which Mafuta joined them the travellers
found themselves gazing with delight upon the broad bosom of the
Zambezi, its waters sparkling in the golden light of the westering sun.
Here again Mafuta's knowledge proved to be of the utmost value, for he
was able to guide the party to a spot where the river was fordable, and
where they succeeded in effecting a crossing that same evening before
sunset. Once safely arrived on the left bank of the river, Grosvenor
and Dick decided to camp for a few days, in order to give the oxen a
rest, the grass being good. Also there was a small native village a few
miles higher upstream, where canoes and their crews might be hired, and
within easy paddling distance of which there was a spot where
hippopotami still abounded, affording a prospect of good sport, of which
Grosvenor was particularly anxious to avail himself. Accordingly, while
the Hottentot Jantje, and 'Nkuku, the Kafir voorlouper, remained in
charge of the wagon and oxen, Ramoo Samee, the groom, accompanied his
masters to the native village, to look after the horses and attend to
the cooking while his employers shot hippopotami and crocodiles from the
two canoes which they chartered; Mafuta, meanwhile, taking four days'
rations, and going off upon a prospecting expedition in search of
elephant and buffalo. Three days at this village sufficed to provide
the hunters with more trophies than they cared to encumber themselves
with, while the natives enjoyed a record feast of hippopotamus flesh;
and on the fourth morning Dick and Grosvenor returned on horseback to
the wagon, while Ramoo Samee, in charge of the spoils, was conveyed down
the river to the same spot in a canoe manned by the grateful natives.
They found the cattle all right, and visibly improved by their three
days' rest, while Leo, the lion cub, welcomed Dick's return with almost
embarrassing demonstrations of affection. Late that same evening Mafuta
also returned, with the intelligence that although he had not actually
seen either elephants or buffaloes, he had obtained, from natives whom
he had encountered, intelligence of a large herd of the former at a
distance of four days' trek from the river. He also reported the
natives to be quite friendly disposed and willing to allow the white men
to traverse their particular section of country. Everything thus
appearing favourable, on the following morning the oxen were once more
inspanned, and the journey resumed.
Then ensued a long trek extending over a period of more than two months,
including a day's halt here and there to rest the oxen, or to indulge in
a little hunting, during which they enjoyed excellent sport among
elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards, giraffe, veldebeeste, zebra,
ostriches, and the various species of buck to be found in the southern
portion of the great African Continent; so rapidly, indeed, did their
spoils accumulate that at length they could no longer find room for them
in the wagon, and were glad to avail themselves of the opportunity
afforded by their arrival at a particularly friendly village to leave
everything of the kind, including some eighteen hundred pounds of ivory,
in charge of the villagers.
Of the last three weeks of this long trek, nine days were consumed in
forced marches through sterile country, bordering a wide and--according
to Mafuta--utterly impassable desert, during which both water and grass
were so exceedingly scarce that the entire party suffered terrible
privation, no game of any kind being seen, where more than half the oxen
died, while the remainder were reduced to such a miserable condition
that they were scarcely able to drag the now more than half-empty wagon.
Presently the character of the country gradually changed, a water-hole
or two were found, with small patches of fairly nutritious grass growing
round them, and as soon as a favourable spot was reached the wagon was
outspanned and the oxen allowed a couple of days' holiday in which to
rest and recuperate. Then Grosvenor and Dick, mounting their horses,
which had been spared as much as possible during the preceding ten days,
set off with their rifles in search of game, and eventually succeeded in
finding and shooting a pair of bush buck wherewith to replenish their
larder.
At the end of the second day's rest Mafuta--who had by this time
completely won the confidence of the two leaders of the expedition, and
had attained rather to the position of a humble comrade than a mere
follower--gave it as his opinion that the oxen had now sufficiently
recovered to justify the party in resuming their journey; and
accordingly on the following morning the animals were once more
inspanned. Dick and Grosvenor had already seen enough of the
surrounding country during their two days' foraging expedition to have
come to the conclusion that conditions would now improve with every mile
of progress, and this conclusion was fully borne out by their first
day's experiences, the country gradually becoming more hilly and broken,
with small watercourses occurring at steadily decreasing intervals, with
more and richer grass at every mile of their progress, until by the end
of the day they once more found themselves in a district that might
fairly be termed fertile, while a few head of game--bucks and a brace of
paow (a kind of bustard)--had been seen. All this was exceedingly
encouraging to the two explorers, for their experiences thus far--with
one very important exception--had been in strict accordance with
Menzies' story, as repeated to them by their friend Mitchell, and
confirmed them in the conviction that at length they had arrived within
measurable distance of the spot where, according to the account given by
the former, the ruins of ancient Ophir still existed in recognisable
form. The exception referred to consisted in the fact that whereas,
according to Menzies, the Makolo nation, upon whose territory they had
now entered, were exceedingly jealous of all intrusion--Menzies himself
having escaped a frightful death at their hands by the very skin of his
teeth--they had thus far met with no molestation whatever; which,
however, might possibly be accounted for by the fact that thus far they
had seen no natives.
But this state of affairs was not to last much longer; for on the third
day of their resumed trek, by which time they had reached a somewhat
rugged, well-wooded stretch of country, watered by numerous streams,
upon surmounting a ridge they sighted a native village, some three miles
ahead, surrounded by well-cultivated fields which, upon their nearer
approach, the travellers found to consist chiefly of maize and tobacco,
with here and there a patch of sugar cane, or a small fruit orchard.
Soon afterwards they encountered a large herd of cattle in charge of
about a dozen native lads, one of whom, upon sighting the strangers,
took to his heels and ran, as though for his life, to an eminence at no
great distance, where, placing his hands funnelwise to his mouth, he
began to shout, in a peculiar, high-pitched tone of voice, a brief
communication of some sort to some unseen person or persons. At the
same time one of the other lads, after intently scrutinising the
newcomers for several minutes, advanced cautiously toward them and
finally halted--evidently holding himself ready to bolt at the slightest
suspicious sign--and, raising his sheaf of assagais in his right hand by
way of salute, shouted the single word:
"_Bietu_!"
The word was evidently a variant of the Zulu _Biete_, the form of
salutation addressed to a great chief, and, so construing it, Mafuta at
once placed his shield and weapons in the wagon and, advancing rapidly,
proceeded to address the lad in good Zulu. The stranger, however,
although it was evident that he caught the meaning of a word here and
there, seemed unable to grasp the sense of Mafuta's communication in its
entirety, whereupon the latter made a second attempt, this time using a
sort of dialect or corruption of the true Zulu tongue; and was now more
successful, quite a long interchange of conversation ensuing, at the
termination of which the stranger turned and ran to the before-mentioned
eminence, from the summit of which he shouted, in the same high-pitched
voice as his predecessor, a communication of very considerable length,
while Mafuta returned to the wagon.
"Well, Mafuta, what is the news?" demanded Dick, as the Kaffir
approached.
"The news, Chief, is good," answered Mafuta, saluting. "We have arrived
within the borders of the Makolo country; and the word of the _'mfana_
who spoke with me is that it will be wise of my fathers to outspan at
the first suitable halting place until the will of the king regarding
them be made known. The Makolo do not approve of strangers entering
their country, it would appear; but their objection no longer applies to
white men, to whom the Spirits of the Winds have commanded that all
kindness be shown, should such ever visit the Makolo country. News of
our arrival has already been sent forward to Lobelalatutu, the king; and
his will concerning us will be made known as soon as it comes; but,
meanwhile, Matemba, the _'mfana_ who spoke with me, advises that we
outspan until that will be made known."
"Um!" remarked Dick; "that does not sound altogether promising, eh,
Phil? Seems to indicate that there may possibly be difficulties put in
the way of our penetrating the country, doesn't it? What did you say to
the _'mfana_ Mafuta?"
"I said," answered Mafuta, "that the two white men, my chiefs, had come
from afar across the Great Water to visit Lobelalatutu, the King of the
great Makolo nation, to offer presents, and to request his permission to
examine the ruins of the great city of which they had heard."
"Yes, of course; I suppose that was the correct diplomatic way in which
to put the matter," remarked Dick. "And what said Matemba in reply?"
"He said," answered Mafuta, "that doubtless the king, remembering the
commands laid upon him by the Spirits of the Winds, upon the occasion of
their last visit to the country in their great glittering ship which
flies through the air, would gladly permit my chiefs to visit the ruins,
even as the Spirits themselves had done."
"Ah!" exclaimed Dick; "that sounds better. But,"--turning to
Grosvenor--"I wonder what the fellow means by the `glittering ship which
flies through the air'--and the `Spirits of the Winds'? Can it be
possible that an airship has ever penetrated so far as this? Stop a
minute--let me think. `Spirits of the Winds--glittering ship which
flies'--by Jove! can it be possible? I thought, when I heard the
expression `Spirits of the Winds' that it sounded not altogether
unfamiliar, that I had met with it before, in fact; and now that I come
to overhaul my memory I very distinctly remember reading a yarn
describing the adventures of some people who possessed a wonderful
airship in which they made the most extraordinary voyages and met with
some astounding experiences--"
"Yes," interrupted Grosvenor; "I know the book you mean. I, too, read
it. But I took it to be fiction, pure and simple; a somewhat daring
flight of a novelist's imagination. And now that you have reminded me
of the yarn I distinctly remember that the four fellows in the story
were described as having visited these same ruins of Ophir that we are
hunting for--"
"Yes," cut in Dick, "that is so. And, if I remember aright, they met
with some rather exciting adventures among these Makolo, didn't they?"
"Rather!" assented Grosvenor. "Were taken prisoners, or something of
that sort, and only escaped by the skin of their teeth."
"That's it," agreed Dick. "Yes; the man who was then king wanted to
steal their airship, didn't he?"
"He did--and got banished for his pains," answered Grosvenor. "But that
was not the end of the story. He--the king, I mean--returned from his
banishment, killed the king who was reigning in his stead, and--yes, was
found practising his old dodges of cruelty and murder when the `Spirits'
paid a second visit to his country."
"Precisely," agreed Dick. "But that part of the story was given in a
second book recounting the further voyagings of the wonderful _Flying-
Fish_--that was the name of the airship, you will remember. By Jove!
How vividly those yarns recur to one's memory when anything special--
like this adventure of ours--occurs to recall them. Do you know, Phil,
it now seems to me that, quite unconsciously to ourselves, those two
books have had a distinct influence upon us in undertaking and carrying
through this journey?"
"Possibly," agreed Grosvenor; "though I am obliged to admit that I have
been, and am still, quite unconscious of it. The point that is of real
importance to us is this. Had the narratives in those two books the
slightest foundation of fact? Because, if so, our recollection of them
might stand us in good stead should difficulties arise between us and
these people. Take, for example, the matter of the four Spirits of the
Winds. If we were to judiciously exhibit some knowledge of them and
their doings, this king might be inclined to be a great deal more
complaisant than he otherwise would be. Don't you think so?"
"Perhaps," conceded Dick; "it is impossible to say. But what knowledge
do we possess, or can we exhibit? Absolutely none, except what we can
remember through the perusal of those two books. And, for my own part,
I am inclined to believe that the alleged adventures of the four persons
therein referred to were purely fictitious, or at least had no more than
the slenderest connection with actual fact."
"Yet," contended Grosvenor, "it is remarkable, to say the least of it,
that in our very first communication with these Makolo--which, now I
come to think of it, was the actual name of the nation given in those
books--the four Spirits of the Winds should be mentioned. Isn't it?"
"Yes, it certainly is," agreed Dick, somewhat reluctantly. "And of
course," he continued, "if it should happen that those two yarns are a
record of actual occurrences presented in the guise of fiction, it will
not be by any means the first time that such a thing has occurred.
Anyhow," he concluded, "I do not see that we can possibly do any harm by
acting, as you suggest, upon the assumption that the yarns, however
extravagant they may have appeared to us when we read them, are records
of actual fact, and using our recollection of them in any manner that
may seem advantageous to us. Is that agreed?"
"Yes, certainly," assented Grosvenor. "We can but try it, and see how
it works. And now, to change the subject, what say you about
outspanning? This seems to be a good spot, eh?"
During the foregoing conversation the two speakers had been walking on
ahead of the wagon, with their rifles in the hollow of their arms, the
dogs and Leo, the lion cub, trotting amicably at their heels. They had
arrived at a spot about a mile from the village, and were now traversing
an open "flat" with plenty of grass, close to the margin of a small
stream. As Grosvenor had suggested, it was an excellent spot upon which
to outspan, for there were grass and water for the cattle, and it was
sufficiently far away from the village to prevent any of those
annoyances that a nearer approach might have subjected them to; they
therefore halted, and when the wagon came up the order to outspan was
given. A few minutes later, while Jantje and 'Nkuku were superintending
the watering of the oxen, some half-dozen women, carrying baskets poised
upon their heads, were seen approaching from the village. When,
somewhat later, these women arrived at the wagon, the leader of them
announced that the contents of the baskets, consisting of green mealie
cobs, sugar cane, eggs, sweet potatoes, half a dozen shockingly skinny
chickens, milk, and _joala_ (a kind of native beer) were a present from
the headman of the village to the strangers. (Six months earlier the
travellers would have laughed incredulously at the idea of liquids being
conveyed in baskets; but now they took it quite as a matter of course,
for they had by this time grown quite familiar with the native basket,
so exquisitely woven out of grass as to be quite impervious to leakage).
They accepted the gift with a few words--but not too many--of thanks,
and then, desirous of creating a good impression upon the Makolo as
early as might be, they directed the women to wait, and, going to the
wagon, took from their store of "notions" a few yards of gaudily printed
cotton stuff, two or three yards of brass wire, half a dozen empty two-
ounce tobacco tins decorated with gilt and coloured lettering, in the
style familiar to all devotees of the weed, a small wooden box
containing about a pint of mixed beads, and to each of the smiling and
expectant basket-bearers a special present for herself, consisting of a
necklet of large particoloured beads, the remaining gifts being of
course for the headman in return for his present. The necklets Dick and
Grosvenor personally clasped round the shapely, bronze-tinted throats of
the recipients, to the intense delight of the latter, and then the
damsels took their departure, smiling to such an extent as to display
every tooth in their heads. Presently, when they were a few yards from
the wagon, they burst into song, the burden of their lay being the
magnificent generosity, enormous wealth, and splendid personality of the
visitors.
About an hour before sunset that same day another party made its
appearance, approaching from the village. On this occasion it consisted
of men only, some twenty in number, which, upon their arrival at the
wagon, proved to be the headman of the village and his retinue, all
unarmed.
The party halted at a distance of some ten paces from the spot where
Dick and Grosvenor sat before their open tent, and as they did so, with
the precision of trained soldiers, every man's right hand was flung
aloft, and in deep, sonorous tones the salute was given:
"_Bietu_!"
Then the headman stepped forward and said, Mafuta standing by to act as
interpreter:
"I, Insimbi, headman of the village of M'gama, in the country of the
Makolo, bear the greetings of the great King Lobelalatutu to the unknown
white men who have crossed the Great Water to visit him, to offer him
gifts, and to request his permission to visit the ruins of the great
city that are situate near the king's village. He bids you welcome to
the country of the Makolo, and his word is that you are to be conducted
forthwith in all honour to his presence. You are his guests, to be
treated by all men as such, and by them to be supplied with all things
necessary to your comfort and wellbeing. Your oxen are poor in
condition and few in number, therefore shall they be cared for here
until they are again fit for work; meanwhile a fresh team shall be
supplied from the herd belonging to this village for the conveyance of
your wagon to the ruins you desire to visit. And if there be any other
thing that you desire, my orders are to furnish it to you. I have said.
Is it well, O white men?"
"It is very well, O Insimbi," answered Grosvenor. "It is well for the
Makolo and for your king that he keeps fresh in his memory the commands
laid upon him by the four Spirits of the Winds, and we are satisfied.
When can we be supplied with the fresh team of oxen?"
"At sunrise to-morrow shall the herd be driven hither, when my lords
shall choose for themselves as many as they will," answered the headman.
"Let it be so," answered Grosvenor; "for to-morrow at sunrise will we
resume our journey to the king's village and the ruins. By the way, ask
him, Mafuta, how far the ruins are from here."
"With a full team of fourteen fresh oxen it may be done in seven days,"
Mafuta translated Insimbi's answer to the question.
"Seven days!" ejaculated Grosvenor, glancing in astonishment at Dick.
"Then how the dickens has this fellow Insimbi contrived in the course of
a single day to communicate with the king and get a reply from him?"
"Why, easily enough," answered Dick. "Don't you remember the wonderful
system of voice-telegraphy mentioned in those two books that we were
discussing to-day? That, of course, is how it has been accomplished.
And, now that I come to think of it, we had an illustration of that
system this morning when those two boys ran to the top of yonder hill
and started shouting in that queer, high-pitched tone of voice. They
were telegraphing to the king the news of our arrival without a doubt."
"Yes," assented Grosvenor, a little doubtfully, "I suppose that was it.
But seven days' trek with fresh oxen! That means a hundred and forty
miles, or thereabout--it is wonderful!"
"You are right; it is," agreed Dick; "but not more wonderful, to my
mind, than that we, destined, as one may say, to make this trip
together, should have both been fortunate enough to stumble across and
read those two books, which I am now beginning to understand were
records of sober fact instead of extravagant fiction, as we both thought
them to be. We must certainly polish up our recollection of what we
read, for it is not at all difficult to imagine circumstances in which
the knowledge may be of vital import to us. By the way, Mafuta, tell
those fellows that they are dismissed, and that all we shall require of
them to-morrow, in addition to the oxen, will be a guide."
Oxen and guide were both duly forthcoming on the morrow: the journey
toward what may be called the capital was resumed, and continued day
after day without adventure, the guide supplied on the first day
continuing with the party for the whole of that day, and then turning
them over to another, who in like manner piloted them a day's trek, in
turn to pass them on to another, and so on, day after day; each guide
returning to his starting-point on the following day.