KAZONNDÉ.
By the 26th of May, when the caravan reached Kazonndé the number of the
slaves had diminished by more than half, so numerous had been the
casualties along the road. But the dealers were quite prepared to make
a market of their loss; the demand for slaves was very great, and the
price must be raised accordingly.
Angola at that time was the scene of a large negro-traffic, and as the
caravans principally wended their way towards the interior, the
Portuguese authorities at Loanda and Benguela had practically no power
to prevent it. The barracks on the shore were crowded to overflowing
with prisoners, the few slave-ships that managed to elude the cruisers
being quite inadequate to embark the whole number for the Spanish
colonies to America.
Kazonndé, the point whence the caravans diverge to the various parts of
the lake district, is situated three miles from the mouth of the
Coanza, and is one of the most important _lakonis_, or markets of the
province. The open marketplace where the slaves are exposed for sale is
called the _chitoka_.
All the larger towns of Central Africa are divided into two distinct
parts; one occupied by the Arab, Portuguese, or native merchants, and
containing their slave-barracks; the other being the residence of the
negro king, often a fierce drunken potentate, whose rule is a reign of
terror, and who lives by subsidies allowed him by the traders.
The commercial quarter of Kazonndé now belonged to José Antonio Alvez.
It was his largest dépôt, although he had another at Bihé, and a third
at Cassangé, where Cameron subsequently met him. It consisted of one
long street, on each side of which were groups of flat-roofed houses
called _tembés_, built of rough earth, and provided with square yards
for cattle. The end of it opened into the _chitoka_, which was
surrounded by the barracks. Above the houses some fine banyan-trees
waved their branches, surmounted here and there by the crests of
graceful palms. There was at least a score of birds of prey that
hovered about the streets, and came down to perform the office of
public scavengers. At no great distance flowed the Loohi, a river not
yet explored, but which is supposed to be an affluent or sub-affluent
of the Congo.
[Illustration: Adjoining the commercial quarter was the royal
residence.]
Adjoining the commercial quarter was the royal residence, nothing more
nor less than a collection of dirty huts, extending over an area of
nearly a square mile.
Some of these huts were unenclosed; others were surrounded by a
palisade of reeds, or by a hedge of bushy figs.
In an enclosure within a papyrus fence were about thirty huts
appropriated to the king's slaves, another group for his wives, and in
the middle, almost hidden by a plantation of manioc, a _tembé_ larger
and loftier than the rest, the abode of the monarch himself.
He had sorely declined from the dignity and importance of his
predecessors, and his army, which by the early Portuguese traders had
been estimated at 20,000, now numbered less than 4000 men; no longer
could he afford, as in the good old time, to order a sacrifice of
twenty-five or thirty slaves at one offering.
His name was Moené Loonga. Little over fifty, he was prematurely aged
by drink and debauchery, and scarcely better than a maniac. His
subjects, officers, and ministers, were all liable to be mutilated at
his pleasure, and noses and ears, feet and hands, were cut off
unsparingly whenever his caprice so willed it. His death would have
been a cause of regret to no one, with the exception, perhaps, of
Alvez, who was on very good terms with him. Alvez, moreover, feared
that in the event of the present king's death, the succession of his
chief wife, Queen Moena, might be disputed, and that his dominions
would be invaded by a younger and more active neighbour, one of the
kings of Ukusu, who had already seized upon some villages dependent on
the government of Kazonndé, and who was in alliance with a rival trader
named Tipo-Tipo, a man of pure Arab extraction, from whom Cameron
afterwards received a visit at Nyangwé.
To all intents and purposes Alvez was the real sovereign of the
district, having fostered the vices of the brutalized king till he had
him completely in his power. He was a man considerably advanced in
years; he was not (as his name might imply) a white man, but had merely
assumed his Portuguese title for purposes of business; his true name
was Kendélé, and he was a pure negro by birth, being a native of Dondo
on the Coanza. He had commenced life as a slave-dealer's agent, and was
now on his way towards becoming a first-class trader; that is to say,
he was a consummate rascal under the guise of an honest man. He it was
whom Cameron met at the end of 1874 at Kilemba, the capital of Urua, of
which Kasongo is chief, and with whose caravan he travelled to Bihé, a
distance of seven hundred miles.
It was midday when the caravan entered Kazonndé. The journey from the
Coanza had lasted thirty-eight days, more than five weeks of misery as
great as was within human power to endure. Amidst the noise of drums
and coodoo-horns the slaves were conducted to the marketplace. The
soldiers of the caravan discharged their guns into the air, and old
Alvez' resident retinue responded with a similar salute. The bandits,
than which the soldiers were nothing better, were delighted to meet
again, and would celebrate their return by a season of riot and excess.
The slaves, reduced to a total of about two hundred and fifty, were
many of them almost dead from exhaustion; the forks were removed from
their necks, though the chains were still retained, and the whole of
them were driven into barracks that were unfit even for cattle, to
await (in company with 1200 to 1500 other captives already there) the
great market which would be held two days hence.
The _pagazis_, after delivering their loads of ivory, would only stay
to receive their payment of a few yards of calico or other stuff, and
would then depart at once to join some other caravan.
On being relieved from the forks which they had carried for so many
weary days, Tom and his companions heartily wrung each other's hands,
but they could not venture to utter one word of mutual encouragement.
The three younger men, more full of life and vigour, had resisted the
effects of the fatigue, but poor old Tom was nearly exhausted, and had
the march been protracted for a few more days he must have shared Nan's
fate and been left behind, a prey to the wild beasts.
Upon their arrival all four were packed into a narrow cell, where some
food was provided, and the door was immediately locked upon them.
The _chitoka_ was now almost deserted, and Dick Sands was left there
under the special charge of a havildar: he lost no opportunity of
peering into every hut in the hope of catching a glimpse of Mrs.
Weldon, who, if Hercules had not misinformed him, had come on hither
just in front.
But he was very much perplexed. He could well understand that Mrs.
Weldon, if still a prisoner, would be kept out of sight, but why Negoro
and Harris did not appear to triumph over him in his humiliation was
quite a mystery to him. It was likely enough that the presence of
either one or the other of them would be the signal for himself to be
exposed to fresh indignity, or even to torture, but Dick would have
welcomed the sight of them at Kazonndé, were it only as an indication
that Mrs. Weldon and Jack were there also.
It disappointed him, too, that Dingo did not come back. Ever since the
dog had brought him the first note, he had kept an answer written ready
to send to Hercules, imploring him to look after Mrs. Weldon, and to
keep him informed of everything. He began to fear that the faithful
creature must be dead, perhaps perished in some attempt to reach
himself; it was, however, quite possible that Hercules had taken the
dog in some other direction, hoping to gain somedépôt in the interior.
But so thoroughly had Dick persuaded himself that Mrs. Weldon had
preceded him to Kazonndé that his disappointment became more and more
keen when he failed to discover her. For a while he seemed to yield to
despair, and sat down sorrowful and sick at heart.
Suddenly a chorus of voices and trumpets broke upon his ear; he was
startled into taking a new interest in what was going on.
"Alvez! Alvez!" was the cry again and again repeated by the crowd.
Here, then, was the great man himself about to appear. Was it not
likely that Harris or Negoro might be with him?
Dick stood erect and resolute, his eye vivid with expectation; he felt
all eagerness to stand face to face with his betrayers; boy as he was,
he was equal to cope with them both.
The _kitanda_, which came in sight at the end of the street, was
nothing more than a kind of hammock covered by a faded and ragged
curtain. An old negro stepped out of it. His attendants greeted him
with noisy acclamations.
This, then, was the great trader, José Antonio Alvez.
Immediately following him was his friend Coïmbra, son of the chief
Coïmbra of Bihé, and, according to Cameron, the greatest blackguard in
the province. This sworn ally of Alvez, this organizer of his
slave-raids, this commander, worthy of his own horde of bandits, was
utterly loathsome in his appearance, his flesh was filthily dirty, his
eyes were bloodshot, his skin yellow, and his long hair all
dishevelled. He had no other attire than a tattered shirt, a tunic made
of grass, and a battered straw hat, under which his countenance
appeared like that of some old hag.
Alvez himself, whose clothes were like those of an old Turk the day
after a carnival, was one degree more respectable in appearance than
his satellite, not that his looks spoke much for the very highest class
of African slave-dealers. To Dick's great disappointment, neither
Harris nor Negoro was among his retinue.
Both Alvez and Coïmbra shook hands with Ibn Hamish, the leader of the
caravan, and congratulated him on the success of the expedition. Alvez
made a grimace on being told that half the slaves had died on the way,
but on the whole he seemed satisfied; he could meet the demand that at
present existed, and would lose no time in bartering the new arrival
for ivory or _hannas_, copper in the shape of a St. Andrew's cross, the
form in which the metal is exported in Central Africa.
After complimenting the havildars upon the way in which they had done
their work, the trader gave orders that the porters should be paid and
dismissed. The conversations were carried on in a mixture of Portuguese
and native idioms, in which the African element abounded so largely
that a native of Lisbon would have been at a loss to understand them.
Dick, of course, could not comprehend what was said, and it was only
when he saw a havildar go towards the cell in which Tom and the others
were confined, that he realized that the talk was about himself and his
party.
When the negroes were brought out, Dick came close up, being anxious to
learn as much as he could of what was in contemplation. The old
trader's eyes seemed to brighten as he glanced upon the three strapping
young men who, he knew, would soon be restored to their full strength
by rest and proper food. They at least would get a good price; as for
poor old Tom, he was manifestly so broken down by infirmity and age,
that he would have no value in the market.
In a few words of broken English, which Alvez had picked up from some
of his agents, he ironically gave them all a welcome.
"Glad to see you!" he said, with a diabolical grin.
Tom knew what he meant, and drew himself up proudly.
"We are free men!" he protested, "free citizens of the United States!"
"Yes, yes!" replied Alvez, grinning, "you are Americans; very glad to
see you!"
"Very glad to see you!" echoed Coïmbra, and walking up to Austin he
felt his chest and shoulders, and then proceeded to open his mouth in
order to examine his teeth.
A blow from Austin's powerful fist sent the satellite staggering
backwards.
Some soldiers made a dash and seized the young negro, evidently ready
to make him pay dearly for his temerity; but Alvez was by no means
willing to have any injury done to his newly-acquired property, and
called them off. He hardly attempted to conceal his amusement at
Coïmbra's discomfiture, although the blow had cost him one of his front
teeth.
After he had recovered somewhat from the shock, Coïmbra stood scowling
at Austin, as if mentally vowing vengeance on some future occasion.
Dick Sands was now himself brought forward in the custody of a
havildar. It was clear that Alvez had been told all about him, for
after scanning him for a moment, he stammered out in his broken
English,--
"Ah! ah! the little Yankee!"
"Yes," replied Dick; "I see you know who I am. What are you going to do
with me and my friends?"
"Yankee! little Yankee!" repeated the trader, who either did not or
would not comprehend the meaning of Dick's question.
Dick turned to Coïmbra and made the same inquiry of him; in spite of
his degraded features, now still farther disfigured by being swollen
from the blow, it was easy to recognize that he was not of native
origin. He refused to answer a word, and only stared again with the
vicious glare of malevolence.
Meanwhile, Alvez had begun to talk to Ibn Hamish. Dick felt sure that
they intended to separate him from the negroes, and accordingly took
the opportunity of whispering a few words to them.
"My friends, I have heard from Hercules. Dingo brought me a note from
him, tied round his neck. He says Harris and Negoro have carried off
Mrs. Weldon, Jack, and Mr. Benedict. He did not know where. Have
patience, and we will find them yet."
[Illustration: With a yell and a curse, the American fell dead at his
feet.]
"And where's Nan?" muttered Tom, in a low voice.
"Dead," replied Dick, and was about to add more, when a hand was laid
upon his shoulder, and a voice that he knew too well exclaimed,--
"Well, my young friend, how are you? I am glad to see you again."
He turned round quickly. Harris stood before him.
"Where is Mrs. Weldon?" asked Dick impetuously.
"Ah, poor thing!" answered Harris, with an air of deep commiseration.
"What! is she dead?" Dick almost shrieked; "where is her child?"
"Poor little fellow!" said Harris, in the same mournful tone.
These insinuations, that those in whose welfare he was so deeply
interested had succumbed to the hardships of the journey, awoke in
Dick's mind a sudden and irresistible desire for vengeance. Darting
forwards he seized the cutlass that Harris wore in his belt, and
plunged it into his heart.
With a yell and a curse, the American fell dead at his feet.