Distant about a mile from our hiding-place, there was, according to the
captain's rough sketch map, a small peninsula enclosing a little bay, or
creek, at the inner extremity of which was situated King Olomba's town;
and it was here that we were led to believe we should find the slavers
busily engaged in shipping their human cargoes. And truly, as seen from
the boats, the ingenuity of man could scarcely have devised a more
perfect spot whereat to conduct the infamous traffic; for the
configuration of the land was such that boats, entering the river merely
on an exploring expedition, without having first obtained, like
ourselves, special information, would never have suspected the existence
of the creek, or of the town which lay concealed within it. Nor would
it have been possible to detect the presence of slave craft in the
creek; for the peninsula which masked it was thickly overgrown with
lofty trees which would effectually conceal all but the upper spars of a
ship, and these would doubtless be struck or housed while she was lying
in the creek.
The skipper having explained to the officers in command of the other
boats what he intended to do, and given them instructions how to act in
the event of certain contingencies arising, the gig's crew manned their
oars, and we pulled away in the direction of the peninsula, which we
reached in the course of a few minutes. Now our real troubles began,
for our object was not only to reach the peninsula but also to land upon
and walk across it until a spot could be found from which, unseen
ourselves, we could obtain a clear view of the creek and everything in
it, and upon approaching the shore of the peninsula we discovered that,
in common with as much of the river bank as we had yet seen, it
consisted, first of all, of a wide belt of soft, fathomless mud
overgrown with mangrove trees; the mud being of such a consistency that
to attempt to walk upon it would mean being swallowed up and suffocated
in it, for a sixteen-foot oar could be thrust perpendicularly into it
with scarcely any effort, although when one of the men incautiously
tried the experiment, it was only with the utmost difficulty that he was
able to withdraw the oar, so tenaciously did the mud cling to it. Yet
it was not sufficiently liquid to allow of the gig being forced through
it, even if the thickly clustering mangrove roots would have permitted
of such a proceeding. The only alternative left to us, therefore, was
to endeavour to reach solid ground by clambering over the slippery
mangrove roots, with the possibility that at any moment one or another
of us might lose our footing, fall into the mud, and be swallowed up by
it. However, "needs must" under certain circumstances, the skipper and
I therefore scrambled out of the boat--taking Cupid with us to search
out the way and carry a small coil of light line in case it should be
wanted--and proceeded cautiously to claw our way like so many parrots,
over and among the gnarled and twisted roots of the mangrove trees, the
Krooboy leading the way, leaping and swinging himself with marvellous
agility from tree to tree, while we followed slowly in his wake, as
often as not being obliged to make a slip-rope of the line to enable us
to cross some exceptionally wide or awkward gap. In this manner, after
about half an hour's arduous toil, with the perspiration pouring out of
us until our clothes were saturated with it, while we were driven nearly
frantic by the attacks of the mosquitoes and stinging flies that beset
us by thousands, and could by no means be driven away, we contrived at
length to reach soil firm enough to support our weight, and, some five
minutes later, the solid ground itself.
But, even now, our troubles were only half over; for after we had
crossed the peninsula we still found it impossible to discover a spot
from which the interior of the creek could be seen without laying out
upon the roots of the mangrove trees that bordered the inner as well as
the outer shore of the peninsula, the wearisome business of crawling and
climbing had therefore all to be gone over again, with the result that
the sun was close upon setting before we had reached a spot from which a
clear view of the entire creek could be obtained. And then we had the
unspeakable mortification of discovering that the expedition must result
in failure; for, save a few canoes, the creek was innocent of craft of
every description--_there were no slavers in it_! Moreover, the so-
called town of King Olomba consisted only of about fifty miserable
native huts in the very last stage of sordidness and dilapidation; and
there was no sign that a slave barracoon had ever existed near the
place.
The captain stared across the water as though he found it quite
impossible to believe his eyes. Then he drew the sketch map from his
pocket and once more studied it attentively, muttering to himself the
while. Finally he sat himself down upon a knot of twisted roots, with
his back against the trunk of the tree, and, spreading the sketch wide
open on his knee, beckoned me to place myself beside him.
"Just come here and look at this map, Mr Fortescue," he said, and he
spoke with the air and in the tones of a man who is so utterly dazed
with disappointment that he begins to doubt the evidence of his own
senses. "Just give me your opinion, will ye. I cannot understand this
business at all. This map, although only a free-hand sketch, seems to
me to be perfectly accurate. There, you see, is the mouth of the river,
just as we found it; there are the little islets that we passed
immediately after getting inside; there are the dry mud-banks; and
there, you see, the river widens out, in precise accordance with our
experience; here it narrows again at the bend; there is where the boats
are lying concealed; and this," laying his finger upon a particular part
of the sketch, "is the creek that we are now looking at; and there is
the town of Olomba. It all seems to me to be absolutely correct. Does
it not appear so to you?"
"Certainly, sir," I answered. "The sketch answers in every particular
to what we have seen since entering the river--answers to it so
perfectly, indeed, that it might have been copied from a carefully
plotted survey."
"Exactly," assented the skipper. "Yet it is nothing of the kind; for
with my own eyes I saw it drawn from memory by a man whom I happened to
meet in one of the third-rate hotels in Freetown, which are frequented
by the masters and mates of palm-oil traders and the like. I happened
to hear him mention that he had been in and out of the Fernan Vaz at
least a dozen times, in his search for cargo along the coast, so I
waited until the people with whom he was talking had left him, and then
I entered into conversation with him, finally inducing him to furnish me
with this sketch."
"And was it from him, sir, that you also obtained the information upon
the strength of which you determined upon this expedition?" I asked.
"Oh, no," answered the skipper. "I had that from quite a different
source, in a very different kind of house. The people who told me about
King Olomba's raid, and the plans laid by the slavers for carrying off
the prisoners, were slavers themselves; and they told me of the scheme
because they believed me to be the master of a slaver waiting for
information from the Senegal river. The cream of the joke was that
these fellows should have told me--_me_, the captain of the _Psyche_--
that the scheme had been carefully planned with the express object of
putting the _Psyche_ upon a false scent and so getting her out of the
way while the negroes were being shipped."
"Yet there seems to have been something wrong somewhere, sir," I
ventured to suggest. "But it is not with your map; that appears to be
marvellously accurate for a mere free-hand sketch; there is no attempt
at deception apparent there. This creek that we are looking at is
undoubtedly the one shown on your map, and there is King Olomba's town,
precisely in the position indicated on the sketch; the assumption
therefore is that the man who drew the map for you was dealing quite
honestly with you. The misleading information, consequently must, it
appears to me, have come from the others; as indeed is the case, seeing
that they led you to believe that you would find at least three or four
large ships in the creek, whereas there are none."
"That is perfectly true," concurred the skipper. "Yet I quite
understood my informants to say that they were the persons who had
formulated the scheme."
"I suppose, sir," said I, giving voice to an idea that had been
gradually shaping itself in my brain, "it is not possible that the
people who were so singularly frank with you happened to recognise you
as Captain Harrison of H.M.S. _Psyche_, and gave you that bit of
information with the deliberate purpose of misleading you and putting
you upon a false scent, in order that while you are searching for them
here they may have the opportunity to carry out their scheme elsewhere?
Their story may in the main be perfectly true, but if by any chance they
should have happened to recognise you it would not be very difficult for
them to substitute the name of the Fernan Vaz for that of some other
river, and to mention King Olomba instead of some other king."
"N-o-o," said the skipper dubiously; "it would not. Yet I cannot see
why, if they had recognised me, they should have gone to the trouble of
spinning an elaborate yarn merely to deceive me. It would have been
just as easy for them to have knifed me, for there were seven of them,
while I was quite alone. No, I don't quite see--"
"Do you not, sir?" I interrupted with a smile.
"I do. I see quite clearly two very excellent reasons why they did not
resort to the rough and ready method of the knife. In the first place,
these fellows attach a ridiculously high value to their own skins, and
never seem to imperil them when an alternative will serve their purpose
equally well; and although they were seven to one, if they really
recognised you they would know perfectly well that, while the ultimate
result of a fight would probably be in their favour, you would certainly
not perish alone; and I suppose none of them were particularly anxious
to accompany you into the Great Beyond. And, apart from that, they
would know quite well that were the captain of a British man-o'-war to
go a-missing there would be such a stir among their rookeries that soon
there would be no rookeries left. Oh, no, sir! glad as they might be to
put you quietly out of the way if they had the chance, depend upon it
the last thing that they would dream of would be to attempt anything of
the sort in Sierra Leone."
"Well, well, well, perhaps you are right, young gentleman, perhaps you
are right. You seem to have quite a gift for reasoning things out,"
replied the skipper, as he pocketed his map and hove himself up into a
standing position. "But it is high time that we should get under way,
for the sun is setting, and we shall have all our work cut out to find
our road back to the boat. Do you think you will be able to find the
gig, Cupid?"
"Yes, I fit, sar," answered the Krooboy. "But we mus' make plenty
haste; for dem darkness he come too much plenty soon, an' if we slip and
fall into dem mud we lib for die one time."
"Ay, ay," answered the skipper, with an involuntary shudder at the
hideous fate thus tersely sketched by Cupid; "I know that, my lad,
without any telling; so heave ahead as smartly as you like."
And therewith we started upon our return journey with all speed;
striding, leaping, slipping, and scrambling from root to root, Cupid
leading the way, I following, and the skipper bringing up the rear,
until at length we stood upon solid ground once more. But by this time
not only had the sun set but the dusk was gathering about us like a
curtain, while star after star came twinkling out from the rapidly
darkening blue overhead, and the foliage of the trees that hemmed us in
on every side was changing, even as we stood and watched while
recovering our breath, from olive to deepest black. Now, too, we were
beset, even more pertinaciously than before, by the myriads of
mosquitoes, sand flies, gnats, and other winged biting creatures with
which the islet swarmed; to say nothing of ants; indeed it almost seemed
as though every individual insect upon that particular patch of soil and
vegetation had scented us out and, having found us, was quite determined
that we should never escape them alive. When presently we again began
to move, it seemed impossible to take a single step without tripping
over a land-crab's hole, or treading upon one of the creatures and
hearing and feeling it crackle and writhe underfoot. Ugh! it was
horrible.
All these unpleasantnesses were sharply accentuated by the darkness,
which fell upon us like a pall; for now the stars began to be obscured
by great black clouds that came sweeping in from seaward, while the
increasing roar and swish in the boughs overhead seemed to indicate that
the wind was freshening. Progress was difficult enough, under such
conditions, while we were traversing solid ground and had no special
need to pick our footsteps; how would it be, I wondered, when it came to
our re-crossing the belt of mangroves and mud that lay between us and
the gig? Then, to add still further to our difficulties, the dank,
heavy, pestilential fog that rises from the tropical African rivers at
nightfall began to gather about us, and in a few minutes, from being
bathed in perspiration from our exertions, we were chilled to the bone,
with our teeth chattering to such an extent that we could scarcely
articulate an intelligible word.
"Plenty too much fever here come," remarked Cupid, while his teeth
clattered together like castanets. "Sar, you lib for carry dem quinine
powder dat dem doctor sarve out dis morning?"
"Certainly, Cupid," jibbered the skipper. "M-m-many thanks for the
hint. M-m-m-mister Fortes--ugh! t-t-take a p-p-pow-ow-der at once."
I did so, and handed one to the Krooboy, who simply put it, paper and
all, into his mouth, and swallowed the whole. Having done this, Cupid
announced, as well as his chattering teeth would permit, that in view of
the fog and the intense darkness it would be simply suicidal for us to
attempt the passage of the mangroves without a light, and that therefore
he proposed to make his way alone to the gig, not only to reassure her
crew as to our safety, but also to procure a lantern. And he enjoined
the skipper and me to remain exactly where we were until he should
return. After an absence which seemed to be an age in duration, but
which was really not quite three-quarters of an hour, he reappeared,
accompanied by the coxswain of the boat and two other seamen, who
brought along with them a couple of lighted lanterns. Thus reinforced
and assisted, we got under way again, and eventually, after a most
fatiguing and dangerous journey, reached the boat and shoved off into
the stream. The gig was of course provided with a boat compass, and we
knew the exact bearing of the spot where the other boats lay hidden; but
we already knew also how complicated and confusing was the set of the
currents in the river, and how hopeless would consequently be any
attempt to find our friends in that thick fog. We therefore did not
make the attempt, but, pushing off into the stream until we were clear
of the mosquitoes and other winged plagues that had been tormenting all
hands for so many hours, let go our anchor in one and a half fathoms of
water, and proceeded to take a meal prior to turning-in for the night.
Never in my life before, I think, had I spent so absolutely
uncomfortable a night. What with the rats, cockroaches, fleas, and
other vermin with which the ship was overrun, to say nothing of the
complication of stenches which poisoned the atmosphere, the midshipmen's
berth aboard the _Psyche_ was by no means an ideal place to sleep in,
but it was luxury compared with the state of affairs in the gig. For
aboard the _Psyche_ we at least slept dry, while in the boat we were
fully exposed to the encroachments of that vile, malodorous, disease-
laden fog which hemmed us in and pressed down upon us like a saturated
blanket, penetrating everywhere, soaking our clothing until we were wet
to the skin, chilling us to the very marrow, despite our greatcoats, so
that we were too miserable to sleep; while it so completely enveloped us
that, even with the help of half a dozen lanterns, we could not see a
boat's length in any direction. As the foul water went swirling away
past us great bubbles came rising up from the mud below, from time to
time, bursting as they reached the surface, and giving off little puffs
of noxious, vile-smelling gas that were heavy with disease-germs. Yet,
singularly enough, when at length the morning dawned and the fog
dispersed, not one of us aboard the gig betrayed the slightest trace of
fever, although, among them, the other boats mustered nearly a dozen
cases.
Our first business, after once more joining forces, was to pull into the
creek and call upon his Majesty, King Olomba; but, upon interviewing
that potentate, through the medium of Cupid, who acted as interpreter,
it at once became evident that our worthy skipper had been made the
victim of an elaborate hoax--even more elaborate, indeed, than we at the
moment expected; for the king not only vigorously disclaimed any
propensity toward slave-hunting or slave-dealing, but went the length of
strenuously denying that the river was ever used at all by slavers; also
he several times endeavoured to divert the conversation into another
channel by pointedly hinting at his readiness to accept a cask of rum as
a present, to which hint the skipper of course turned a deaf ear. Then,
having got out of the old boy all the information that we could
extract--which, when we came to analyse it, amounted to just nothing--we
carefully searched the bush in the neighbourhood of the town, to see if
we could discover anything in the nature of a barracoon, but found no
trace whatever of any such thing.
Having drawn the creek blank, the skipper next determined to search a
spot known as the Camma Lagoon, some twelve miles farther up the river;
and, the sea-breeze having by this time set in, we stepped the masts and
made sail upon the boats, creeping up the river close to its northern
bank in order to dodge the current as much as possible.
Upon reaching the lagoon we found it to be in reality a sort of bay in
the north bank of the river, some five and a half miles long by about
three and three-quarter miles wide, with an island in the centre of it
occupying so large an extent of its area that at one spot the creek
behind was barely wide enough to allow the passage of a vessel of
moderate tonnage. The eastern extremity of this creek, however, widened
out until it presented a sheet of water some two miles long by about a
mile and a half in width, with a depth of water ranging from two to
three fathoms. Furthermore, the island itself and the adjacent banks of
the river were thickly wooded, affording perfect concealment, behind
which half a dozen slavers might lurk undetected; and altogether it
wore, as seen from the river, the aspect of an exceedingly promising
spot. We therefore lowered the boats' sails, unshipped their masts,
and, keeping a bright look-out all round us, pulled warily into the
lagoon at its eastern extremity.
For the first mile of our passage we detected nothing whatever of a
suspicious character; but upon rounding the eastern extremity of the
island and entering the widest part of the lagoon we sighted two large
canoes paddling furiously up the creek, about a mile ahead of us. The
captain at once brought his telescope to bear upon these craft, and with
its aid discovered that each canoe was manned by about forty black
paddlers, while the after end of each craft was occupied by some ten or
a dozen men in European dress, most of whom appeared to be armed with
muskets. These men had the appearance of being either Portuguese or
Spaniards, and their presence in such a spot could mean but one thing,
namely, that there was a barracoon somewhere near at hand. The skipper
accordingly gave the order to chase the two canoes, to which the boats'
crews responded with a cheer, and laid themselves down to their oars
with such a will that they almost lifted the boats out of the water.
But we had scarcely traversed a distance of half a dozen boats' lengths
when, upon opening up a little indentation in the shore of the mainland,
we saw before us a substantial wharf, long enough to accommodate two
fair-sized craft at once, with a wide open space at the back of it upon
which stood some eight or ten buildings, one of which was unmistakably a
barracoon of enormous size.
With another cheer the course of the boats was at once diverted toward
the wharf; and we had arrived within less than a hundred yards of it
when the deathlike silence which had hitherto prevailed ashore was
pierced by a shrill whistle, in response to which the whole face of the
bush bordering the open space at once began to spit flame, while the air
around us hummed and whined to the passage of a perfect storm of bullets
and slugs, among which could be detected the hum of round shot,
apparently nine-pounders, the gig weathered the storm unscathed; but
upon glancing back I saw that the other boats had been less fortunate,
there being a gap or two here and there where a moment before a man had
sat, while certain of the oars were at that moment slipping through the
rowlocks to trail in the water by their lanyards a second later. Here
and there, too, could be seen a man hastily binding up a wounded limb or
head, either his own or that of a shipmate.
The skipper sprang to his feet in the stern-sheets of the gig, and drew
his sword.
"Hurrah, lads!" he shouted. "Give way, and get alongside that wharf as
quickly as you can. Then let every man run his hardest for the shelter
of the buildings, carrying his musket and ammunition with him. One hand
remain in each boat as boat-keeper, who must crouch down under the
shelter of the wharf face. Mr Fortescue, stick close alongside me,
please; I shall probably want you to carry messages for me."
"Ay, ay, sir," I answered; and the next moment the voice of the coxswain
pealed out: "Oars! rowed of all!" followed by the clatter of the long
ash staves as they were laid in on the thwarts, and the gig, still
leading the other boats, swept up alongside the low wharf and hooked on.
With a yell of fierce delight, and eyes blazing with excitement, Cupid,
the Krooboy, bounded up on the wharf, and extended one great black paw
to assist the skipper, while in the other he grasped his favourite
weapon, an axe, the edge of which he had carefully ground and honed
until one could have shaved with it; in addition to which he wore a
ship's cutlass girded about his waist. Moreover he had "cleared for
action," by stripping off the jacket and shirt which he usually wore,
and stowing them carefully away in the stern-sheets of the boat; so that
his garb consisted simply of a pair of dungaree trousers rolled up above
his knees and braced tight to his waist by the broad belt from which
hung his cutlass.
In a second the gig was empty save for her boat-keeper, and her crew
were racing for the shelter afforded by the barracoon, where, as I
understood it, the captain intended to announce his arrangements for
clearing the enemy out of the bush. But when we had accomplished about
half the distance between the edge of the wharf and the barracoon there
came a sudden splutter of fire from the windows of the other buildings--
which were so arranged as to enfilade the whole of the open space--and
in a moment we once more found ourselves in the midst of a storm of
flying bullets. The skipper, who was a pace ahead of me, stumbled,
staggered a pace or two, and fell headlong upon his face, where he lay
still, while his sword flew from his grasp with a ringing clatter. At
the same moment the two cutters dashed up alongside the wharf, and their
crews came swarming up out of them, to be met by another murderous
discharge from the enemy lurking in the bush.
I came to a halt beside the skipper, and looked round me. A couple of
yards away stood Cupid, who, it seemed, had just caught sight of the
captain as he fell, and had pulled himself up short.
"You, Cupid," I shouted, "come back here, sir, and lend me a hand to get
the captain back into the gig."
The fellow came, and stooping over the skipper's body raised it tenderly
in his arms.
"All right, Mistah Fortescue, sar," he said; "you no trouble. I take
dem captain back to de gig by myself, and find Mistah Hutchinson," (the
surgeon). "But it no good, sar; he gone dead. Look dere." And he
pointed to a ghastly great hole in the side of the skipper's head, just
above the left ear, where a piece of langrage of some description had
crashed its way through the poor fellow's skull into his brain. It was
a horrid sight, and it turned me quite sick for the moment, accustomed
though I was by this time to see men suffering from all sorts of
injuries.
"Very well," I said; "take it--the captain, I mean--back to the gig,
anyway, and do not leave him until you have turned him over to Mr
Hutchinson; who, by the way, is in the launch, which I see is just
coming alongside. I will find Mr Hutchinson and send him to you." And
away I hurried toward the spot where I saw the launch approaching, for
the double purpose of reporting to Mr Perry the news of the captain's
fall, and dispatching the surgeon to see if life still remained in the
body.
The first luff was terribly shocked at the news which I had to tell him;
from a distance he had seen the skipper fall, but had hoped that it was
a wound, at most. But this was not the moment for unavailing regrets;
the fall of the captain at once placed Perry in command and made him
responsible for the fate of the expedition. He therefore gave orders
for the guns which were mounted in the bows of the launch, pinnace, and
first and second cutters to be cast loose and landed, the men not
engaged in this work being placed under the command of the third
lieutenant, with instructions to load their muskets and keep up a
constant fire upon the windows of the various buildings. Then, as soon
as the guns were landed, two of them were loaded with double charges of
grape, for the purpose of clearing the bush of the hidden foe, while the
remaining two were double shotted and then run close up to the
barricaded doors of the buildings, which were thus blown in, one after
the other. As each door was blown in the building to which it belonged
was stormed; the enemy, however, contriving to effect an exit by the
rear as our lads poured in at the front. In ten minutes the whole of
the buildings were ours, without further casualties on our side; after
which we set them on fire and, waiting until they were well alight,
retired in good order to the boats, in which we hauled off far enough to
enable us to effectively cover the burning buildings with our musketry
fire and thus defeat any attempt to extinguish the flames. An hour
later the entire settlement was reduced to a heap of smouldering ashes;
whereupon we pulled away round to the main stream once more by way of
the back of the island, in search of further possible barracoons, but
found none.
Our loss in this affair, considering its importance, was comparatively
slight, amounting as it did to two killed--of whom one was the skipper--
and seven wounded. But we were a sorrowful party as we left the lagoon
behind us and found ourselves once more in the main stream and on our
way back to the ship; for Captain Harrison was beloved by everybody,
fore and aft, and we all felt that we could better have spared any one
else than him.