The Return of Lokolobolo
"Lokolobolo! Lokolobolo! Lokolobol'olotsi! Lokolobolo is here!
Lokolobolo has come back to us! Bolotsi O! Why do we laugh? Why do
we sing? Samba has found Lokolobolo! Samba has brought him back to
us!"
Ilombekabasi was delirious with joy. Men and women were shouting,
laughing, singing; the children were dancing and blowing strident notes
upon their little trumpets; Imbono's drummer was banging with all his
might, filling the air with shattering thunder. Jack quivered with
feeling; his lips trembled as he sat once more in his hut, listening to
the jubilant cries his arrival had evoked. It was something, it was
much, that he had been able so to win the devoted affection of these
poor negroes of the Congo.
Outside, the two chiefs Imbono and Mboyo were talking of the joyful
event.
"Yes! wonderful! Lokolobolo is here! and with him two strange white
chiefs. Wonderful! Did you ever see such a big man? I am big," said
Imbono, "but I am not so big as Makole the chief of Limpoko, and one of
the strange white men is bigger than he."
"It needed two ropes to draw him up from the gully," said Mboyo. "I am
strong, but though I had four men to help me it was hard work. He must
be a very great chief."
"And the other must be a great chief too. Did not Samba say that
Lokolobolo gave him his last bottle of devil water?"
"But the big man is hurt. It is the leg. It is not so bad as Ikola's;
but Ikola was shot. They have put him in Barnio's hut; the other chief
is with Lokolobolo. It is good that the white chiefs have come. Now
Lokolobolo will sweep Elobela down the hillside, even as a straw in the
storm."
"But what of the smoke-boat that Samba says is coming with the white
men in white, and the black men in cloth the colour of straw, and
things on their heads the colour of fire? Will Lokolobolo be able to
beat them too?"
"Lokolobolo is able to beat all Bula Matadi; and he has the other white
men to help. Never fear! Lokolobolo will beat them all. We shall
see. There he is, coming out of his hut with the white chief.
Lokolobolo wanda!"[1]
"You must be a proud man to-day, Mr. Challoner," said the stranger.
"I am too anxious to be proud," said Jack with a smile. "I haven't the
heart to stop them shouting and making a noise, but it's a pity to
disturb our enemy in the camp down yonder. I shall have to go and make
a speech to them, I suppose; it is more in your line than mine, Mr.
Arlington. Luckily I'm not sufficiently fluent in their language to be
long-winded."
They went together into the midst of the throng.
When within three marches of Ilombekabasi Jack's party had stumbled
upon a wretched encampment in the forest which proved to contain two
white men and three negroes. Samba came upon them first, and, startled
to find white men at this spot, he was cocking his rifle, supposing
them to be State officers, when one of them called to him in a Congo
dialect not to shoot; he was an Inglesa. When Jack came up he found
that the taller of the two men, the one who had spoken, a huge fellow
with a great black beard, was a missionary named Dathan, the other
being the Honourable George Arlington, with whose name Jack was
familiar. Mr. Arlington was a man of mark. After a brilliant career
at Cambridge he had entered Parliament, and became an Under-Secretary
of State at a younger age than almost any one before him. When his
party was out of office he took the opportunity of travelling in many
quarters of the globe, to study at first hand the great problems which
more and more demand the attention of British statesmen. Now, in his
fortieth year, he was recognized as an authority on the subjects which
he had so specially made his own. He had come out to make a personal
study of the Congo question, and in order to secure freedom of
observation had decided to enter Congo territory, not from Boma, whence
he would be shadowed throughout by officials, but from British
territory through Uganda. In Unyoro he had met his old college chum
Frank Dathan, now a missionary engaged on a tour of inspection of his
Society's work in Central Africa. Dathan, having completed his task in
Uganda, was to make his way into the Congo State and visit several
mission stations there. The two friends thereupon arranged to travel
together.
Mr. Arlington being anxious to see a little of what was an almost
unexplored part of Africa, they chose as their route the northern
fringe of the great forest. But they got into difficulties when they
entered country which, though not yet "administered," or "exploited,"
was nominally Free State territory. At the sight of white men the
natives they met with one accord took to the woods. The result was
that the travellers were once or twice nearly starved; many of their
carriers deserted with their loads; and they both suffered a good deal
from exposure and privation. To crown their misfortunes, Dathan fell
with a loose rock one day when he was climbing down a steep bank to get
water, and broke his leg. Arlington tried without success to set the
bone, and was hurrying on in the hope of finding a Free State outpost
and a doctor when Jack came upon them.
Jack at once frankly explained his position. He did not give details
of his work at Ilombekabasi, but he saw no reason for concealing the
circumstances which had driven him into antagonism with the officials
of the Concession. He related what had happened to his uncle, and how
he had escaped from the net woven about him by Elbel; he told the
strangers also what he had actually seen of the Congo Government's
method of dealing with the natives. Then he asked them whether they
would like to place themselves under the care of Elbel, who could, if
he were disposed, send them under escort to Stanleyville, where the
missionary might receive competent treatment. Both were disinclined to
do this; they would prefer to keep themselves free from the Congo State
or its Trusts. The alternative seemed to be to accompany Jack. This
might certainly give rise to complications; Mr. Dathan especially was
loth to appear to identify himself with an armed revolt against the
State. Missionaries, as he told Jack, were already in bad odour with
the authorities; they had told too much of what was going on. In many
parts they had come to be looked upon as the natives' only defenders,
and had done a little, a very little, towards mitigating the worst
features of their lot. But he was still more loth even to seem to
countenance Elbel's proceedings by seeking his camp; and Mr. Arlington
thought that his presence in Ilombekabasi, when it became known to
Elbel, might have a salutary effect on him. Ultimately, then, they
decided to run the blockade with Jack into the fort.
The augmented party had had no difficulty in reaching their
destination. The same general course was followed as had been arranged
for the reception of Mr. Martindale's party. They halted in a copse on
an eminence about six miles from the fort and above it. To reach this
spot they had to make a longer circuit than either Mr. Martindale or
Elbel in his first attempt to surprise Ilola. But before going farther
it was necessary to discover how the land lay. Samba was obviously the
best of the party for this scouting work, but he could hardly be spared
if the fort happened to be too closely invested for the entrance of the
whole party to be made. Jack therefore chose Makoko, a sturdy fellow
and an excellent scout, scribbled a brief note to Barney, hid it in the
negro's thick woolly hair, and sent him on alone. If he came safely to
Ilombekabasi and it seemed to Barney possible to run the blockade, a
flag was to be hoisted on one of the blockhouses. The signal would be
acted on as soon as possible in the darkness.
Makoko left at nightfall. Before dawn Samba went on some two miles
ahead to a place whence he could see the fort. He returned with the
welcome news that a piece of red cloth was flying on the northern
blockhouse. Jack waited impatiently throughout the day; as soon as it
was dark Samba led the party forward. They moved slowly, partly to
allow time for careful scouting, partly because Mr. Dathan had to be
carried, and proved a heavy burden even for six strong Askari. No
difficulties were met with; Elbel had ceased to patrol the surroundings
of the fort at night, and in the early hours of the morning in pitch
darkness the party marched quietly in at the gate on the north side of
the fort. Jack put his own hut at Mr. Arlington's disposal. Mr.
Dathan was carried to Barney's; and before hearing what had happened
during his absence Jack insisted on the missionary's having his
injuries attended to. Barney managed to set the broken limb, though
not without causing a good deal of pain for which he whimsically
apologized. Then Jack listened eagerly to his account of what had
happened.
Elbel had made two serious attacks. The first was an attempt to carry
the fort by assault, from the place whence he had sent his fire barrels
rolling. But after the capture of Elbel's rifles and ammunition a
considerable number of Jack's men who had hitherto been spearmen had
been trained in the use of the Albini; so that Barney had a force of
nearly ninety riflemen with which to meet the attack, half of them at
least being good shots. One charge was enough for the enemy; the fire
from the wall and blockhouses mowed down the advancing negroes by the
score; they never reached the defences, but turned and fled to cover in
the gully and behind the rocks above.
[Illustration: Ilombekabasi and Surrounding Country, showing the
Diverted Stream and Elbel's Third Camp]
Then Elbel demolished the dam he had built on the slope, and allowed
the river to flow again in the channel it had cut for itself down the
long incline to the eastward.
"What would he be doing that for, sorr? Seems to me he has wasted a
terrible deal uv good time in putting up and pulling down. Two men I
sent out as scouts niver came back, and I wondered to meself whether
they'd been bagged, sorr, and had let out something that made Elbel
want to play more tricks wid nature. Often did I see Elbel himself
dodging round the fort wid his spyglass in his hand, and 'tis the
truth's truth I let some uv the men have a little rifle practice at
him. Sure he must have a cat's nine lives, sorr, for ten uv the
niggers said they were sartin sure they'd hit him."
"Trying to solve our water puzzle, Barney! Go on."
There was an interval of some days; then, at daybreak one morning,
while a strong demonstration, apparently the preliminary of an attack,
was observed on the north and east, a body of men crept up the gully
and made a sudden rush with ladders for the hole in the wall by which
the scouts had been accustomed to go in and out. It was clear that
Elbel's best men were engaged in this job, for Barney heard loud cries
for help from the small body he had thought sufficient to leave on the
western face of the fort. Rushing to the place with a handful of men,
he was just in time to prevent the enemy from effecting an entrance.
There was a brisk fight for two or three minutes; then the ladders
placed against the wall were hurled into the gully, and with them the
forlorn hope of the storming party.
"That was three days ago, sorr. And two or three uv our men declared
they saw Mbota among the enemy, pointing out the very spot where the
hole is--whin it is a hole. You remember Mbota, sorr--the man who
brought in his wife on his back, her wid the hands cut off. 'Twas he I
sent out scouting. Sure the chicotte had been at work wid him; for
niver a wan uv our men, I would swear before the Lord Chancellor uv
Ireland, would turn traitor widout they were in mortal terror for their
lives, or even worse."
"And you have not been attacked since?"
"No, sorr. But I've had me throubles all the same. Samba ought to be
made, beggin' your pardon, sorr, high constable uv this fort."
"Indeed!"
"Yes, sorr, 'cos it seems 'tis only he that can keep the peace. Would
you believe it, sorr, the very next day after you were gone, Imbono's
men and Mboyo's men began to quarrel; 'twas Orange and Green, sorr, and
a fine shindy. Whin Samba was here, he'd make 'em laugh, and 'twas all
calm as the Liffey; but widout Samba--bedad! sorr, I didn't know what
in the world to do wid 'em. Sure I wished Elbel would fight all the
time, so that there'd be no time left for the spalpeens here to fight
wan another. But at last, sorr, a happy thought struck me; quite an
intimation, as one might say. I remimbered the day when the
master--rest his soul!--and you made yourselves blood-brothers uv
Imbono. That was a mighty fine piece uv work, thinks I. So wan
morning I had a big palaver--likambo the niggers call it, your honour."
(Barney's air as he gave this information to Mr. Arlington was
irresistibly laughable.) "I made a spache, and Lepoko turned it into
their talk as well as he could, poor fellow; and sure they cheered it
so powerful hard that I thought 'twas a mimber uv Parlimint I ought to
be. Well, sorr, the end was I made Imbono and Mboyo blood-brothers,
and niver a word uv difference have they had since."
"A plan that might be tried with leaders of parties at home," said Mr.
Arlington with a smile.
"There's wan other thing that throubles me," added Barney. "Our food
is getting low, sorr. We had such a powerful lot that wan would have
thought 'twould last for iver. But in a fortnight we shall be on very
short commons; we've been on half rations this week or more."
"That's bad news indeed. But we shall know our fate in a fortnight.
The State troops are coming at last, Barney."
Barney pulled a long face when Jack told him about the flotilla he had
seen coming up the river. But the next moment he smiled broadly.
"Sure 'twill be our salvation, sorr. There'll be a power uv food on
those canoes, and 'twill come in the nick uv time to save us from
famine."
"But we've got to capture it first!"
"And won't it be aisy, sorr? It won't drop into our mouths, to be
sure, but there's niver a doubt we'll get it by this or that."
Jack smiled at Barney's confidence, which he could hardly share. He
estimated that he had about a week's grace before the State troops
could arrive, unless they made a forced march ahead of their stores,
which was not very likely. He could not look forward without
misgiving. Elbel's troops, strongly reinforced and commanded by an
experienced military officer, would prove a very different enemy. He
doubted whether it would be wise to wait the issue of a fight. Apart
from the risk of being utterly crushed, there was a strong political
reason against it, as Mr. Arlington did not fail to point out.
Hitherto Jack had been dealing with an officer of the Societe
Cosmopolite, and he could argue reasonably that he was only opposing
unwarranted interference. But if he resisted an armed force of the
State, it became at once open rebellion.
"You render yourself liable to the punishment of a rebel, Mr.
Challoner," said Mr. Arlington, "and your British nationality will not
help you. You might be shot or hanged. What I suggest to you is this.
When the State forces appear, let me open negotiations with them. They
will probably know my name; I have a certain influence in high
quarters; I could probably make terms for you."
"But the people, Mr. Arlington! You could not make terms for them.
What would happen to them? They would fall into the power of their
oppressors, and the old tale would be continued--illegal demands and
exactions, floggings, maimings, murders. It was a solemn charge from
my uncle to stand by the defenceless negroes; it is no less the dictate
of humanity: we, they and I, are in the same boat, sir, and we must
sink or swim together."
As it was of supreme importance to Jack to know at what rate the
hostile column was moving, he sent out that night Samba, Makoko, and
Lingombela with orders to report the progress of the expedition from
day to day. By taking the road through the forest they should get into
touch with the enemy by the time they reached the place where Mr.
Martindale had left his canoes. If the scouts should find themselves
unable to return to the fort they were to light a large fire on the
spot whence Samba had seen Barney's flag flying, as a signal that the
expedition had passed the place in question. If a small column should
be coming on in advance they were to light two fires a little apart
from one another. Samba was even more light-hearted than usual when he
left the fort with his comrades. He seemed to feel that this was a
mission of special importance, the prelude to a final victory for
Lokolobolo; for the possibility of defeat for Lokolobolo never
suggested itself to any man in Ilombekabasi. Mboyo and Lukela were at
the wall to bid their son goodbye. He laughed as he slipped down into
the darkness.
"Ekeke e'afeka!"[2] he whispered gleefully, and hastened to overtake
Makoko and Lingombela, who were already some distance up the gully.
Shortly after dawn next day the sentries reported a sound as of a large
body of men moving up the hill. Jack instantly called the garrison to
arms. There was a good deal of noise in the darkness above the fort.
Here and there a dim light showed for a few moments, and was promptly
fired at. When day broke Jack saw that the enemy had built a rough
wall of stones loosely piled up, some fifty yards long and about four
feet high, parallel with the north wall of the fort, one end resting on
the edge of the gully. From a convenient spot in the gully, about two
hundred yards above the fort, the enemy could creep to the extremity of
the wall without coming under the fire of the garrison. It had
evidently been erected to screen some operations going on behind it.
To guard against a sortie from the fort a covering force had been
placed on the hill a quarter of a mile farther up; and between the
ill-fitting stones there were small gaps which would serve as loopholes
for the riflemen.
During the day the enemy were hard at work digging a trench under cover
of the wall. Jack wondered at first whether Elbel was going to make
approaches to the fort by sap and mine, in the manner he had read of in
histories of the great sieges. But another and still more disturbing
thought occurred to him. Would the trench cut across the line of his
conduit? Had Elbel at last fathomed the secret of his water supply?
He anxiously examined the landmarks, which had been disturbed somewhat
by the construction of the wall. As nearly as he could judge, the
spring was a few yards south of the wall, and neither it nor the
conduit would be discovered by the men digging the trench. Yet he
could not but feel that Elbel's latest move was not so much an attempt
to undermine the defences of the fort as to discover the source of its
water supply. If he should have hit upon the fact that the water was
derived, not from a well inside the walls, but from a spring outside,
he would not be long in coming to the conclusion that it must be from a
spot opposite the northern face; and by cutting a trench or a series of
trenches across the ground in that direction he must sooner or later
come upon the conduit.
The work proceeded without intermission during the whole of the day,
and apparently without success, for the level of the water in the fort
tank did not fall. But Elbel's activity was not stopped by the
darkness. When morning dawned Jack saw that during the night an
opening about five feet wide had been made in the wall, giving access
to a passage-way of about the same height leading towards the fort and
roughly covered with logs, no doubt as a protection against rifle fire.
Only about twenty yards of this passage-way had been completed. The
end towards the fort was closed by a light screen of timber resting on
rollers, and sufficiently thick to be impervious to rifle fire, as Jack
soon found by experiment. Evidently another trench was to be dug near
the fort. To avoid the labour of building a second covering wall,
Elbel had hit on the idea of a passage-way through which his men might
reach the spot where he desired the new trench to be begun. Protected
by the screen, they could dig a hole several feet deep, and then, too
low to be hit by shots from the fort, could proceed with the trench in
safety.
Jack wondered whether Elbel had not yet heard of the approach of the
State forces. Such feverish activity was surely unnecessary when
reinforcements were only a few days' march distant. It was Barney who
suggested that Elbel had made such a mess of things hitherto that he
was eager to do something, to gain a success of some kind, before the
regular forces should arrive.
Under cover of the wooden screen the enemy, as Jack had expected,
started to dig another trench parallel with the wall. They had no lack
of labourers; as soon as one gang was tired another was ready to take
its place; and the work was carried on very rapidly. With growing
anxiety Jack watched the progress of the trench towards the gully. His
conduit was only three feet from the surface of the ground. Judging by
the fact that his marksmen never got an opportunity of taking aim at
the diggers, the trench must be at least five feet deep; and if an
opening were made into the gully the conduit was sure to be exposed.
There was just one hope that they would fail. Jack remembered the
outcrop of rock which had necessitated the laying of the pipes, for a
length of some yards, several feet lower than the general level. If
the enemy should happen to have struck this point there was a fair
chance of the conduit escaping their search; for, coming upon the layer
of rock, they would probably not guess that pipes were carried beneath
it. To reassure himself, Jack called up Imbono and Mboyo and asked
them if they could locate the spot where the rock occurred. Their
impression agreed with his, that it must at any rate be very near the
place where the enemy's trench would issue into the gully.
But Jack's anxiety was not relieved at the close of the day, for again
the work was carried on all night. He thought of a sortie, but
reflected that this would be taken by Elbel as an indication that he
was hot on the scent. And while a sortie might inflict loss on the
enemy, it would not prevent Elbel from resuming his excavations as soon
as the garrison had retired again within their defences.
With great relief Jack at last heard the sound of pick-axes striking on
rock. It seemed too good to be true that the enemy had come upon the
exact dozen yards of rock where alone the conduit was in little danger
of being laid bare. Yet this proved to be the case. In the morning
Elbel drew off his workmen, apparently satisfied, before the trench had
been actually completed to the gully, that he was on the wrong track.
A great load was lifted from Jack's mind. If the secret of the water
supply had been discovered, he knew that the end could only be a matter
of a few days.
As soon as the enemy drew off, Jack's men issued forth, demolished the
wall, and filled up the trench.
Three days passed in comparative inactivity. During these days Jack
had much of his time taken up by Mr. Arlington, who required of him a
history of all that had happened since the first meeting with Elbel.
The traveller made copious jottings in his note-book. He asked the
most minute questions about the rubber traffic and the methods of the
State and the Concessions; he had long interviews with Imbono and
Mboyo, and endured very patiently Lepoko's expanded versions of
statements already garrulous; he took many photographs with his kodak
of the people who had been maimed by the forest guards, and asked Jack
to present him with a chicotte--one of those captured along with the
Askari. He said very little, probably thinking the more. Certainly he
let nothing escape his observation.
Meanwhile Mr. Dathan was making friends of all the children. Unable to
endure the stuffiness of the hut, he had himself carried on a sheltered
litter into the open, where, propped up on pillows, his burly form
might be seen in the midst of a large circle of little black figures,
who looked at him earnestly with their bright intelligent eyes and
drank in the wonderful stories he told them. Many of their elders
hovered on the fringe of the crowd; and when the lesson was finished,
they went away and talked among themselves of Nzakomba[3] the great
Spirit Father who, as the bont' ok'ota-a-a-li[4] said, had put it into
the heart of Lokolobolo to defend and help them.
Before the dawn one morning Lingombela came into the fort. He reported
that the new enemy had only just finished the portage of their canoes
and stores. The steamer had been left below the rapids, and the white
men were embarking on canoes. There were not enough to convey the
whole expedition at one time, although some had been sent down the
river to meet them. Two or three had been lost through attempting to
save time by dragging them up the rapids. Lingombela had himself seen
this, with Samba. Samba had no doubt already told what he had seen,
but he did not know about the big gun which could fire as many shots as
a hundred men, for the white men had not begun to practise at a mark in
their camp above the rapids until Samba had left.
"But we have seen nothing of Samba; where is he?"
"He started to return to Ilombekabasi a day before I did."
"And Makoko?"
"Makoko is still watching."
Lingombela's statement about Samba alarmed Jack. What had become of
the boy? Had he fallen into the enemy's hands? It was too much to be
feared. What else could have delayed him? In threading the forest
none of the scouts could travel so fast as he. If he had started a day
before Lingombela he should have gained at least five or six hours.
The news soon flew through the settlement that Samba was missing.
Mboyo and his wife came to Jack to ask whether Lingombela had told the
truth. Their troubled looks touched Jack, and he tried to cheer them.
"Samba has not arrived yet, certainly," he said, "but he may not have
come direct. Something may have taken him out of his course; he would
go a long way round if he thought it would be of use to us. Don't be
worried. He has gone in and out safely so often that surely he will
come by and by."
The negroes went away somewhat comforted. But Jack felt very anxious,
and his feeling was fully shared by Barney.
"'Tis meself that fears Elbel has got him," he said. "Pat has been
most uncommon restless for two days. He looks up in the face uv me and
barks, whin he's not wanting anything at all. 'Tis only Samba can
rightly understand all Pat says, and seems to me Pat has got an idea
that something has happened to Samba."
An hour later Pat also had disappeared. He had broken his strap and
run away.
[1] The highest salutation, given to a person of great dignity.
[2] The last time.
[3] God.
[4] Very tall man.