THE TRIBE FRIGHTENED
The spot with the pile of rocks, where my cannon had been planted, bore
ample testimony to the high explosive quality of my powder, for nothing
was left in place and everything which had been in contact with the
piece was beautifully blackened.
My frightened Links seemed to be anything but confident that I was not
likely to burst myself, with a loud report, and scatter devastation
everywhere. They stood off a distance that was more than merely
respectful and were not to be induced to return to my side by any
persuasion or assurances for more than an hour. I had no doubt they
thought me a bit of a devil, for even Fatty and the children were afraid
to return to my side. The single exception to this unanimity of feeling
was furnished by my little favourite chap who seemed so human.
This tot of a Link had been much neglected of late, so busy had I been
with work. Now when he came and clung to my leg, as I stood in the camp
eating a mango and thinking busily, I looked down in his tiny face and
felt happy to see him so near. Sitting down against my rock, in the
sun-light, I let him cuddle down in his usual place, and together we
enjoyed a time of peace. It became one of those natural spells of rest.
I felt like easing off on the pressure of work for a time, having
accomplished really all that seemed to be needful by way of making ready
to receive any invaders of our village who might choose to come.
The attitude of Tike—as I called my little friend—did much to
re-convince the Links of my normal, pacific intentions. Fatty was the
first to return, doubtless actuated by a trifling touch of jealousy.
After him the others came edging back, one by one, every individual
inordinately curious to see if I were in any manner altered by the
extraordinary disturbance which I had so recently created. All that day
they evinced alarm and a readiness to run whenever I stirred about. For
the powder, carefully stored away, they possessed a profound distrust
and respect.
During the next few days I sat around for much of the time, always with
wistful little Tike nestled up under my arm. The tiny chap seemed more
quiet than before, if possible, and somewhat thinner. All the other
little Links were as fat, rolly, bright-eyed and lively as so many Pah
Ute Indian papooses, and equally red and naked, but Tike was almost a
sad little fellow. He leaned his head against me by the hour, sighing
now and again, and patting my big, brown hand with his wee, red one, as
if there could be no greater content and happiness in the world.
The attack I had daily expected and against the advent of which I had
laboured with such unremitting zeal, had failed to materialise. Day
after day went by, with such a stillness and peace over all the world,
that I began to forget the malignant Grin, who had kept the troubles
simmering constantly, and to forget my fears of the savage Blacks.
Without the slightest stir or bother, I kept my fellows in training with
the bows, accompanied the parties on the hunt, kept the baskets and
other essential properties of the camp in good condition and still found
time leisurely to work at making my deadly bombs.
This labour I made simple and easy by selecting sections of bamboo
which, when cut off to form cylinders open at one end only, telescoped
together. That is the smaller cylinder, containing a large charge of
powder, slipped inside the larger, and each being provided with a stone
reinforcement, where naturally plugged, I bound the two shells together
firmly. Five of these bombs were enormous, containing probably
twenty-five pounds of powder. Some of the others were only about a foot
in length and three inches or less in diameter. These smaller ones I
intended to take with me in my boat, if ever I started on my voyage of
escape. I thought I could throw them at any foe which might approach too
near. Each was provided with a tube-like fuse, stopped with clay, to
prevent the powder from running out, and which could be broken off at a
moment’s notice to form a connection with the powder in a longer fuse,
which could then be bound upon it. I also provided several coils of the
match, made of creepers, each coil at least thirty feet in length. This
became dry so that I determined that if occasion should ever arise I
would make a fresh supply, keeping this other ready for emergencies.
The days of peace became weeks. So free from trouble had we become in
the camp, since the disappearance of Grin, that my feverish desire to
flee had somewhat abated. Moreover the albino female had partaken of
such a thorough fright, on the day when my ordnance exploded, that she
left me severely alone. Yet I did think constantly of the boat and
should have busied myself more with my half-formed project of getting
away, had I not been bound more closely than I realised to the Links by
little Tike, who seemed to me to be fading away.
He came every morning to my shelter, often before I was awake, and when
at last I stirred and turned over, there he would be, sitting quietly by
the side of my couch, looking yearningly into my face with his steady,
thoughtful eyes, and holding his tiny hands together in his “lap.”
Always he greeted my look with a strange, quiet smile, which made his
wee, homely face the very next thing to divine. I got to carrying the
little chap about, as I went from place to place. I found that I missed
him, when resting out in the jungle, after a hunt with my fellows. It
also gave me a most unreasonable pleasure to talk to the tiny mite, who
would answer with a faint, half-crooning sound of pleasure. I called him
frequently my “Little Man.” At intervals, sometimes of days, he would
repeat the word “Man” in a way that caused me to feel a peculiar thrill
whenever it came from his lips.
As before, my attitude of comparative passivity begot more or less of
the symptoms of familiarity on the part of several Links. This did no
little in the way of deciding me anew to quit the place, if possible. I
was doubtful in my mind as to which method would be preferable, that of
attempting to find and utilise the outlet of the lake in my boat, or to
endeavour to induce about fifty of the fighters to escort me across the
country to the sea. But one day which we spent in the jungle decided me
without further mental debate.
We were stalking a pair of hogs, which were unusually clever at evading
the flanking Links and at penetrating far into the jungle, when suddenly
the great, dark form of a genuine elephant loomed up, as he smashed his
way through a thicket. Instantly every Link in the party screamed out an
imitation “trumpet” of alarm and fled incontinently, as they had on the
former occasion. This time I had no intention of being left behind, nor
of giving battle to the brute with my fists and knife. I joined the
running fellows, endeavouring to make them halt and retire in at least
decent order, but this effort was utterly futile; their panic was
complete and not to be overcome.
Thankful thus to be reminded of the former incident, which I had been
too near to forgetting, I decided, even as we hastened away from the
monarch of the jungle, that the attempt to perform any long and
hazardous march with such a cowardly “army” as this at my heels would be
madness. I must launch the boat and proceed alone.