"MADE OF INDIA-RUBBER."
The "something else" the cousins looked across was one of the pigmies--
evidently a chief of higher rank than the little leader they had last
seen, though he seemed to be less in size.
He was rich in bangles, for he had four upon each arm and wrist and a
wider ribbon of gold about his forehead, in which band were stuck two
ostrich feathers, a black and a white. But, as Mark afterwards said
laughingly, that was almost all he wore, except a bow and arrows and a
spear.
"Well, who are you?" began Mark. "And what--why, Dean, it's our little
chap!"
"It can't be," said Dean, whose back was towards the increasing light.
"But it is," cried Mark. "Look here;" and he laid his hand tenderly
about the pigmy's shoulder, where the black skin was somewhat puckered
up, showing that a great scar was forming. "Why, little one, you can't
say we didn't make a good job of mending you up."
"But it can't be," said Dean, staring doubtingly at their little
visitor. "But I don't know--he is very thin."
The little fellow raised himself up slightly as he knelt upon the great
chest, and looked first at one and then at the other with a calm air of
satisfaction as if he found it pleasant to be scanned and praised, but
making very little sign besides as he turned from one to the other in
obedience to a touch, and ended by changing his bow from his right to
his left hand, where it lay in company with his spear, and then placing
three fingers upon Mark's wrist.
"Oh, come, I say," cried the latter, "I am all right; I don't want my
pulse felt. How's yours?" and the boy played the part of a doctor for a
few moments, but blunderingly felt for the pulse in the wrong wrist.
"Well, you seem uncommonly fit, little chap. Are you growing quite
strong again? Tell us how you got here."
The visitor could not respond to the question, nor comprehend it in the
least, but he looked gravely at Mark again and once more laid three
fingers upon his arm.--"Oh, I wish he would talk," cried Mark.
"You don't even grunt," said Dean.
"Pigs do grunt in our country," said Mark. "But I say, Pig--Pigmy, what
a little dandy you have grown! Ostrich feathers--gold," continued the
boy, touching the bangles, "where do you get them?"
The little fellow took his spear in his right hand again and used it to
point out of the waggon in the direction where the lads had seen the
towering masses of stone on the previous night.
"Oh, come," said Dean, "he understands that."
"Yes; so do we, and I want to get off to see what sort of a place this
is. But we mustn't be rude to the visitor who brought us so much
venison. I wonder where father is."
"And the doctor," added Dean, peering out of the waggon. "Oh, there
they are, going up to the top of the kopje. Hi, Mak! Come here!"
The black was standing half way between the waggon and the top of the
kopje, shading his eyes from the newly risen sun, as he stood scanning
the veldt in different directions, but began to descend directly with
his customary deliberation as if he had nothing whatever to do with the
preparations for the morning start.
"I say, Dean, we must have breakfast before we go, this morning. We
can't send company away--and such a grandee as this--without a feed."
A few minutes later, as the boys sat silently gazing at their little
visitor, noting that in spite of being thin and rather hollow of cheek
his eyes were bright and there was no sign of weakness in his movements,
while his skin, in spite of its swarthiness, looked healthy and clean,
Mak strode up to the open end of the waggon and looked in; and his eyes
opened wider as he displayed his beautifully white teeth in a pleasant
smile.
"What do you think of this?" cried Mark, as he checked himself in laying
his hand upon the scar of the pigmy's wounded shoulder and placed it
upon his right.
And now for the first time the little fellow displayed animation, for he
snatched the hand away quickly and placed it upon the scar.
"Oh, very well," said Mark. "I was afraid of hurting you. Well, Mak,
aren't you surprised?"
The black shook his head, and then quietly nodded it.
"Come," he said. "Pig come."
"Thank you," said Mark, laughing; "but we knew that. Well, we will
chance whether the boss likes it or not; tell Dan we shall want some
breakfast before we start."
"Yes, mps," said the black, nodding his head. "Coff. Plenty eat;" and
he went away.
"Well, jump down, little one," said Mark. "Come on, Dean; there's a
splendid chance here for a dip, so let's go and have one. Pig here
won't mind."
He leaped down, and the little fellow followed him at once, Dean coming
last.
"I say," said Mark merrily, "that's better, young fellow. You can get
along now without being carried in a basket. But I can't understand how
you managed to get right so soon."
"'Tis his nature to," said Dean drily; and as the boys chatted from one
to another across him, throwing, so to speak, verbal balls from one to
the other, their little visitor seemed to be listening intently and with
a grave look of satisfaction upon his countenance, as he walked with
them down to the stream which Mark had selected overnight for his bathe.
"Now I wonder whether he will do as we do," said Mark, as he quickly
made ready and plunged in.
"No," said Dean, sending the water flying as he plunged in after his
cousin. "Look at him!" For the pigmy gravely seated himself upon a
little block of granite, laid his bow and spear across his knees, and
sat watching the wet gambols of the lads, till, quite refreshed, they
both sprang out, had a run over the sand in the hot sunshine, and then
returned to dress.
"Don't you ever bathe?" said Mark, rather breathlessly, as he hurried on
his flannels.
"Not he," said Dean. "If he could speak to us he would say, I never
wash; there's no need."
"Why, boys," cried the doctor, who had descended from the kopje and
approached with Sir James, unobserved, "is this another of the pigmies?"
"Look again, sir," said Dean. "He's got your stamp upon him."
"What!" cried the doctor, bending down over the seated visitor.
"Impossible! Look here, Sir James; it is; and his wound has closed up
again as if he were made of india-rubber. Splendid! Why, he has
followed us right across this veldt."
"I shouldn't wonder," said Mark, "if he has followed us all the way.
Oh, no, he could not have done that. He must have come across from this
side of the forest. We are going to give him some breakfast, father,
before he goes back. Is that right?"
"Of course, my boy," said Sir James, walking up and gently patting the
pigmy on the shoulder. "Well, I like this, doctor. It shows the little
fellow's grateful; but I should like to see him smile."
"He did just now, father."
"No, not quite, uncle," said Dean; "only very nearly."
Dan was not long getting the morning meal ready, and Mark took upon
himself to supply the visitor's wants. But the pigmy now showed that he
had notions of his own, for he walked straight away and dropped down by
the side of Mak, whose breakfast he shared along with the men.
"I like that, Mr Mark, sir," said Dan. "The little chap looks quite a
gentleman in his way; and he acted as such too, didn't he, Buck?"
"Ay," growled the big driver. "There arn't much of him, but he makes
the most of it; don't he, Bob?"
"Yes," said Bob, laughing. "Peter Dance and me have been talking him
over. We should like to take him home with us. They would give
anything we liked to ask for him in London, to put in a circus or a
show."
"Indeed!" said Mark, with a snort. "Thank you! But you had better not
let your master hear you talk like that, Bob. He'd begin making your
ears warm by telling you what the slave trade was. This little fellow's
a visitor, and my cousin and I want you men to treat him well. No
nonsense, sir. He has only come to stay till we start, and then he is
going back to the forest."
But nothing seemed farther from the pigmy's thoughts, for when a fresh
start was made, with the distant kopjes and piles of stone now hidden by
the heated haze, the little chief shouldered his spear, crossed to the
Illaka's side, and marching beside him, two steps to his one, kept
abreast.
"I do like that, Mr Mark, sir," said Dan. "Look at old Brown going
along yonder with his foreloping. Why, it would take three of that
little chap to make one of he, and I don't know how many of him to weigh
down Buck Denham in a pair of scales. But is the little one coming
along with us?"
"I suppose so," said Mark: "eh, Dean?" he continued, and signing to him
to follow he dropped back a few paces and continued to his cousin, "I
have only just thought of it; he is coming with us to show where they
find the gold."
"Why, of course!" cried Dean. "I might have thought of that."
"Yes, but you didn't. Here, let's go and tell father and the doctor.
Come on! And then I'll give you your chance. You tell them just as if
it had occurred to you."
"No, thank you," said Dean quietly. "I don't like borrowed plumes."