THE DRIFT OF THE LETABA
The dusk was gathering fast as we neared the stream. From the stagnant
reaches above and below a fine white mist was rising, but the long
shallows of the ford were clear. My heart was beginning to flutter
wildly, but I kept a tight grip on myself and prayed for patience. As I
stared into the evening my hopes sank. I had expected, foolishly
enough, to see on the far bank some sign of my friends, but the tall
bush was dead and silent.
The drift slants across the river at an acute angle, roughly S.S.W. I
did not know this at the time, and was amazed to see the van of the
march turn apparently up stream. Laputa’s great voice rang out in some
order which was repeated down the column, and the wide flanks of the
force converged on the narrow cart-track which entered the water. We
had come to a standstill while the front ranks began the passage.
I sat shaking with excitement, my eyes straining into the gloom. Water
holds the evening light for long, and I could make out pretty clearly
what was happening. The leading horsemen rode into the stream with
Laputa in front. The ford is not the best going, so they had to pick
their way, but in five or ten minutes they were over. Then came some of
the infantry of the flanks, who crossed with the water to their waists,
and their guns held high above their heads. They made a portentous
splashing, but not a sound came from their throats. I shall never know
how Laputa imposed silence on the most noisy race on earth. Several
thousand footmen must have followed the riders, and disappeared into
the far bush. But not a shot came from the bluffs in front.
I watched with a sinking heart. Arcoll had failed, and there was to be
no check at the drift. There remained for me only the horrors at
Inanda’s Kraal. I resolved to make a dash for freedom, at all costs,
and was in the act of telling Arcoll’s man to cut my bonds, when a
thought occurred to me.
Henriques was after the rubies, and it was his interest to get Laputa
across the river before the attack began. It was Arcoll’s business to
split the force, and above all to hold up the leader. Henriques would
tell him, and for that matter he must have assumed himself, that Laputa
would ride in the centre of the force. Therefore there would be no
check till the time came for the priest’s litter to cross.
It was well that I had not had my bonds cut. Henriques came riding
towards me, his face sharp and bright as a ferret’s. He pulled up and
asked if I were safe. My Kaffir showed my strapped elbows and feet, and
tugged at the cords to prove their tightness.
“Keep him well,” said Henriques, “or you will answer to Inkulu. Forward
with him now and get him through the water.” Then he turned and rode
back.
My warder, apparently obeying orders, led me out of the column and into
the bush on the right hand. Soon we were abreast of the litter and some
twenty yards to the west of it. The water gleamed through the trees a
few paces in front. I could see the masses of infantry converging on
the drift, and the churning like a cascade which they made in the
passage.
Suddenly from the far bank came an order. It was Laputa’s voice, thin
and high-pitched, as the Kaffir cries when he wishes his words to carry
a great distance. Henriques repeated it, and the infantry halted. The
riders of the column in front of the litter began to move into the
stream.
We should have gone with them, but instead we pulled our horses back
into the darkness of the bush. It seemed to me that odd things were
happening around the priest’s litter. Henriques had left it, and dashed
past me so close that I could have touched him. From somewhere among
the trees a pistol-shot cracked into the air.
As if in answer to a signal the high bluff across the stream burst into
a sheet of fire. “A sheet of fire” sounds odd enough for scientific
warfare. I saw that my friends were using shot-guns and firing with
black powder into the mob in the water. It was humane and it was good
tactics, for the flame in the grey dusk had the appearance of a heavy
battery of ordnance. Once again I heard Henriques’ voice. He was
turning the column to the right. He shouted to them to get into cover,
and take the water higher up. I thought, too, that from far away I
heard Laputa.
These were maddening seconds. We had left the business of cutting my
bonds almost too late. In the darkness of the bush the strips of hide
could only be felt for, and my Kaffir had a woefully blunt knife. Reims
are always tough to sever, and mine had to be sawn through. Soon my
arms were free, and I was plucking at my other bonds. The worst were
those on my ankles below the horse’s belly. The Kaffir fumbled away in
the dark, and pricked my beast so that he reared and struck out. And
all the while I was choking with impatience, and gabbling prayers to
myself.
The men on the other side had begun to use ball-cartridge. I could see
through a gap the centre of the river, and it was filled with a mass of
struggling men and horses. I remember that it amazed me that no shot
was fired in return. Then I remembered the vow, and was still more
amazed at the power of a ritual on that savage horde.
The column was moving past me to the right. It was a disorderly rabble
which obeyed Henriques’ orders. Bullets began to sing through the
trees, and one rider was hit in the shoulder and came down with a
crash. This increased the confusion, for most of them dismounted and
tried to lead their horses in the cover. The infantry coming in from
the wings collided with them, and there was a struggle of excited
beasts and men in the thickets of thorn and mopani. And still my Kaffir
was trying to get my ankles loose as fast as a plunging horse would let
him. At last I was free, and dropped stiffly to the ground. I fell
prone on my face with cramp, and when I got up I rolled like a drunk
man. Here I made a great blunder. I should have left my horse with my
Kaffir, and bidden him follow me. But I was too eager to be cautious,
so I let it go, and crying to the Kaffir to await me, I ran towards the
litter.
Henriques had laid his plans well. The column had abandoned the priest,
and by the litter were only the two bearers. As I caught sight of them
one fell with a bullet in his chest. The other, wild with fright, kept
turning his head to every quarter of the compass. Another bullet passed
close to his head. This was too much for him, and with a yell he ran
away.
As I broke through the thicket I looked to the quarter whence the
bullets had come. These, I could have taken my oath, were not fired by
my friends on the farther bank. It was close-quarter shooting, and I
knew who had done it. But I saw nobody. The last few yards of the road
were clear, and only out in the water was the struggling shouting mass
of humanity. I saw a tall man on a big horse plunge into the river on
his way back. It must be Laputa returning to command the panic.
My business was not with Laputa but with Henriques. The old priest in
the litter, who had been sleeping, had roused himself, and was looking
vacantly round him. He did not look long. A third bullet, fired from a
dozen yards away, drilled a hole in his forehead. He fell back dead,
and the ivory box, which lay on his lap, tilted forward on the ground.
I had no weapon of any kind, and I did not want the fourth bullet for
myself. Henriques was too pretty a shot to trifle with. I waited
quietly on the edge of the shade till the Portugoose came out of the
thicket. I saw him running forward with a rifle in his hand. A whinny
from a horse told me that somewhere near his beast was tied up. It was
all but dark, but it seemed to me that I could see the lust of greed in
his eyes as he rushed to the litter.
Very softly I stole behind him. He tore off the lid of the box, and
pulled out the great necklace. For a second it hung in his hands, but
only for a second. So absorbed was he that he did not notice me
standing full before him. Nay, he lifted his head, and gave me the
finest chance of my life. I was something of a boxer, and all my
accumulated fury went into the blow. It caught him on the point of the
chin, and his neck cricked like the bolt of a rifle. He fell limply on
the ground and the jewels dropped from his hand.
I picked them up and stuffed them into my breeches pocket.
Then I pulled the pistol out of his belt. It was six-chambered, and I
knew that only three had been emptied. I remembered feeling
extraordinarily cool and composed, and yet my wits must have been
wandering or I would have never taken the course I did.
The right thing to do—on Arcoll’s instructions—was to make for the
river and swim across to my friends. But Laputa was coming back, and I
dreaded meeting him. Laputa seemed to my heated fancy omnipresent. I
thought of him as covering the whole bank of the river, whereas I might
easily have crossed a little farther down, and made my way up the other
bank to my friends. It was plain that Laputa intended to evade the
patrol, not to capture it, and there, consequently, I should be safe.
The next best thing was to find Arcoll’s Kaffir, who was not twenty
yards away, get some sort of horse, and break for the bush. Long before
morning we should have been over the Berg and in safety. Nay, if I
wanted a mount, there was Henriques’ whinnying a few paces off.
Instead I did the craziest thing of all. With the jewels in one pocket,
and the Portugoose’s pistol in the other, I started running back the
road we had come.