AGAIN BESIEGED
The sun was ready to disappear by the time I reached the boat. Embarking
as soon as I had cut a large quantity of leaves, I rowed until I was
some distance out on the lake before completing my day’s work. This
labour consisted of skinning the head of my bear and then of wetting the
whole hide thoroughly. With a generous hand I spread the saltpetre upon
the fleshy side, after which I rolled the skin up in a bundle and stowed
it away in the stern, where I covered it over thickly with the leaves,
in order that my fellows might not see the beloved black fur.
Knowing the beach would be deserted as soon as darkness began to
descend, I pulled homeward leisurely, reaching the landing after the
stars had begun to twinkle. There I got a lot of clay and placed it on
top of the leaves which covered the pelt. This I knew would serve the
double purpose of hiding my treasure from sharp, inquisitive eyes, and
of keeping the moisture in the skin till the saltpetre could permeate
the whole mass and convert the perishable and evil-smelling hide into
leather. In order further to insure the skin against anything which
might be tempted to meddle, I tied a big rock to my painter and dropping
it overboard anchored the boat about forty feet from the shore. After
this I swam and waded to the bank.
As I had left in the morning before any of the Links were awake, I
thoroughly expected a flattering demonstration on my return to the top
of the hill. I was totally unprepared, however, to hear the wildest
imaginable beating of our drum, the moment I shouted to let them know I
had come. And when I came through the gate and loomed up in the glow of
the fire, there was more than enthusiasm—there was madness rife in the
tribe.
The fellows were nervous, wild-eyed, starting at every sound, chattering
crazily in their few poor monosyllables, and they showed a readiness to
bury me in a heap of their prostrate bodies, so eager was their
supplication for something which they much desired. Males, females and
children had evidently been huddled together in a trembling mass, at my
arrival, but now the whole population was about me, mad to tell me news
of some calamity, I thought, but rendered wholly unintelligible by their
haste and fear. I pushed them away vigorously, convinced that something
more than merely my unaccountable absence and safe return had wrought
this excitement.
“Fatty,” I demanded of my half-blubbering slave, “what’s the matter?
Stand still and tell me like a man. What’s eating all these idiots? What
has happened?”
He made an effort that was truly heroic.
“Peegs,” he said. “Gee wizz!”
The rascal knew I never exclaimed “Gee whizz!” till something
extraordinary occurred. So poignant did the silly words become in this
connection that I jumped at what he meant to convey at a single mental
bound.
He meant that we were again invaded. The black Links had marched upon
the village in force. I was almost carried to the further side of our
wall, from which place I could see the campfires of the enemy, fitfully
gleaming through the trees, below. The creatures were intrenched at the
edge of the jungle, just at the base of our hill. But they had not yet
attacked our position, that was evident. I was amazed at this and also
at the fact that they dared to remain all night so near the haunts of
the savage prowlers.
I worked for an hour endeavouring to calm my fellows sufficiently to get
some sort of a “statement” of what had really occurred. The words I knew
of their language and the little they tried to comprehend of mine served
only to aggravate our confusion. By means of signs and various
pantomimes I was able to make some guesses. The most important of these
was that the foe had come there late in the afternoon, whereupon my
friends had retreated inside the walls and waited, armed with their
clubs, while Fatty made a hideous noise on the drum.
Attributing little virtue to the power of our musical instrument, and
groping about for the reason why the invaders had not attacked the camp,
I concluded that something in the way of a deeply laid “plot” was being
formulated by the Blacks, who were perhaps intent upon our total
destruction, in payment for all the defeats inflicted upon them by us in
the past. Whether only a portion of their force had come up, or whether
they reckoned on our disinclination to leave our stronghold and charge
upon them and so intended to surround and starve us out, was a matter
which time alone could determine. I thought of Grin, however, and
wondered if the wretch were with them. Also I mentally nodded my
recognition of the fact that my “visit” to their camp had been largely
instrumental in bringing about this war-like advance. I thought it
likely that the creatures concluded I had been spying upon them, with a
possible attack for my object, and that then they had determined to be
the first to strike. Doubtless, I meditated, they had long contemplated
this war of retaliation, and my presence in their river had precipitated
matters, which had been delayed for various reasons of state.
Inasmuch as their reasons and plans could never be known by any man, I
gave up pondering about them and devoted my thoughts to planning my own
campaign. On the whole I was not exceedingly sorry to have a chance to
try my bamboo bombs. I entertained no doubt of the dire effect which
these would produce on our foe. For that night, at least, we were safe
from attack; no Link would dare proceed a score of yards from his fire
in the darkness. If they crept up the hill and surprised us in the
morning, while we were still in bed—then so much the worse for us, for
being so extremely luxurious and confident in the noise of our drum.
I signified my desire for something to eat and then devoured a hearty
meal, a proceeding which surprised and calmed the Links no little. They
had been too much alarmed before to do anything but huddle together,
like so many animals in a corner, ready to fight if pressed another
inch, but more likely to be furious and savage through fear than through
any sort of courage. They were not wholly cowardly, but they were
mortally afraid of the Blacks (who came back so persistently for more
punishment), especially while here on our isolated hill, with neither
cave nor near-by jungle into which to run. They were awed by this
implacable foe, and having depended on me to defeat the Black army, had
become less confident of their own powers than they were when I first
came into the tribe. However, they had always evinced the greatest
readiness to attack a force smaller than their own, which fact, coupled
with their present behaviour, was now as good as an accurate report to
convince me that the fellows were sure the number of Blacks below was
much in excess of our own.
Gratified to find that our supply of arrows had not been wasted again in
my absence—an indication of sense in my fellows which I attribute to the
wholesome dread they had of the powder magazine, in which the weapons
were stored—I laid out the shafts, with the bows, and otherwise
exhibited an assuring alertness and desire to be prepared. The Links did
me the honour of picking up a bit of courage, under my influence, making
me feel a half-affectionate regard and sympathy for the poor child-like
creatures, for it was plain that they strove hard and constantly against
their mental limitations. They wished to understand, to enlarge the
scope of their brains, to be like men.
I felt a certain pride in knowing that my sentries, when I set the watch
and bade the others go to bed, would remain awake and alive to their own
responsible position; I felt like something of a general, to see my
agitated fellows calmed down and proceeding to rest in an ordinary
manner. If I could only hold them together, organised as warriors,
shooting steadily in the face of a charge, I knew we could repel those
Blacks much more easily than ever before and inflict upon them such a
loss that they might be completely quelled for years to come.
Every personal plan had been driven out of my head by this unexpected
advent of “war.” I thought of nothing but what might occur in the
morning and what would be our most effective means of conducting the
hill-top part of the coming engagement. I was undecided, particularly
about the use to which I had best put the bombs, for I realised that if
I attempted to throw them, I might inflict half the injury on ourselves,
not to mention the panic sure to be produced within our walls. Under the
influence of such a feeling, my fellows might commit the gravest
indiscretions.
Dismissing the whole affair from my weary brain at last, I retired,
surrounded by my weapons, and was deep in dreamless sleep in a moment.