“The siafu would eat you at once.”
“What is a siafu? Is it worse than a lion?”
“Worse and not worse. They are ants which bite terribly. There are a great many of them on the branches from which they fall on people’s backs like a rain of fire. But they also walk on the ground. Dismount from the horse and try merely to walk a little in the forest and at once you will begin to jump and whine like a monkey. It is easier to defend one’s self against a lion. At times they move in immense ranks and then everything gives way to them.”
“And would you be able to cope with them?”
“I? Of course. With the help of fire or boiling water.”
“You always know how to take care of yourself,” she said with deep conviction.
These words flattered Stas greatly; so he replied conceitedly and at the same time merrily:
“If you were only well, then as to the rest depend upon me.”
“My head does not even ache now.”
“Thank God! Thank God!”
Speaking thus they passed the forest, but one flank of which reached the hollow way. The sun was still high in the heaven and broiled intensely, as the weather cleared and in the sky not a cloud could be seen. The horses were covered with sweat and Nell began to complain of the heat. For this reason Stas, having selected a suitable place, turned to the ravine in which the western wall cast a deep shadow. It was cool there, and the water remaining in the depressions after the downpour was also comparatively cool. Over the little travelers’ heads continually flew from one brink of the ravine to the other toucans with purple heads, blue breasts and yellow wings; so the boy began to tell Nell what he knew from books about their habits.
“Do you know,” he said, “there are certain toucans which during the breeding season seek hollows in trees; there the female lays eggs and sits upon them, while the male pastes the opening with clay so that only her head is visible, and not until the young are hatched does the male begin to peck with his long beak and free the mother.”
“And what does she eat during that time?”
“The male feeds her. He continually flies about and brings her all kind of berries.”
“And does he permit her to sleep?” she asked in a sleepy voice. Stas smiled.
“If Mrs. Toucan has the same desire that you have at this moment, then he permits her.”
In fact, in the cold ravine an unconquerable drowsiness oppressed the little girl, as from morning until early in the afternoon she had rested but little. Stas had a sincere desire to follow her example, but could not as he had to hold her, fearing that she might fall; besides, it was immensely uncomfortable for him to sit man-fashion on the flat and wide saddle which Hatim and Seki Tamala had provided for the little one in Fashoda. He did not dare to move and rode the horse as slowly as possible in order not to awaken her.
She, in the meantime, leaning backwards, supported her little head upon his shoulder and slept soundly.
But she breathed so regularly and calmly that Stas ceased to regret the last quinine powder. He felt that danger of fever was removed and commenced to reason thus:
“The ravine continually leads upwards and even now is quite steep. We are higher and the country is drier and drier. It is necessary only to find some sort of elevation, well shaded, near some swift stream, and there establish quarters and give the little one a few weeks’ rest, and perhaps wait through the whole massica (the spring rainy season). Not every girl could endure even one tenth of these hardships, but it is necessary that she should rest! After such a night another girl would have been stricken with fever and she — how soundly she sleeps! — Thank God!”
And these thoughts brought him into a good humor; so looking down at Nell’s little head resting on his bosom, he said to himself merrily and at the same time with certain surprise:
“It is odd, however, how fond I am of this little fly! To tell the truth, I always liked her, but now more and more.”
And not knowing how to explain such a strange symptom he came to the following conclusion:
“It is because we have passed together through so much and because she is under my protection.”
In the meantime he held that “fly” very carefully with his right hand around her waist in order that she should not slip from the saddle and bruise her little nose. They advanced slowly in silence; only Kali hummed under his nose — a song in praise of Stas.
“Great master kills Gebhr, kills a lion and a buffalo! Yah! Yah! Much meat! Much meat! Yah! Yah!”
“Kali,” Stas asked in a low tone, “do the Wahimas hunt lions?”
“The Wahimas fear lions but the Wahimas dig pits and if in the night time the lion falls in, then the Wahimas laugh.”
“What do you then do?”
“The Wahimas hurl lot of spears until lion is like a hedgehog. Then they pull him out of the pit and eat him. Lion is good.” And according to his habit, he stroked his stomach.
Stas did not like this method of hunting; so he began to ask what other game there was in the Wahima country and they conversed further about antelopes, ostriches, giraffes, and rhinoceroses until the roar of a waterfall reached them.
“What is that?” Stas exclaimed. “Are there a river and waterfall ahead of us?”
Kali nodded his head in sign that obviously such was the fact.
And for some time they rode more quickly, listening to the roar which each moment became more and more distinct.
“A waterfall!” repeated Stas, whose curiosity was aroused.
But they had barely passed one or two bends when their way was barred by an impassable obstruction.
Nell, whom the motion of the horse had lulled to sleep, awoke at once.
“Are we already stopping for the night?” she asked.
“No, but look! A rock closes the ravine.”
“Then what shall we do?”
“It is impossible to slip beside it for it is too close there; so it will be necessary that we turn back a little, get on top, and ride around the obstruction; but it is yet two hours to night; therefore we have plenty of time. Let us rest the horses a little. Do you hear the waterfall?”
“I do.”
“We will stop near it for the night.”
After which he turned to Kali, ordered him to climb to the brink of the ridge and see whether, beyond, the ravine was not filled with similar obstructions; he himself began to examine the rock carefully, and after a while he exclaimed:
“It broke off and tumbled down not long ago. Nell, do you see that fragment? Look how fresh it is. There is no moss on it, nor vegetation. I already understand, I understand!”
And with his hand he pointed at a baobab tree growing on the brink of the ravine whose huge roots hung over the wall and were parallel with the fragment.
“That root grew in a crevice between the wall and the rock, and growing stronger, it finally split the rock. That is a singular matter for stone is harder than wood; I know, however, that in mountains this often happens. After that anything can shake such a stone which barely keeps its place, and the stone falls off.”
“But what could shake it?”
“It is hard to say. Maybe some former storm, perhaps yesterday’s.”
At this moment Saba, who previously had remained behind the caravan, came running up; he suddenly stood still as if pulled from behind by the tail, scented; afterwards squeezed into the narrow passage between the wall and the detached rock, but immediately began to retreat with bristling hair.
Stas dismounted from the horse to see what could have scared the dog.
“Stas, don’t go there,” Nell begged; “a lion might be there.”
The boy, who was something of a swashbuckler and who from the previous day had taken extraordinary offense at lions, replied:
“A great thing. A lion in daylight!”
However, before he approached the passageway, Kali’s voice resounded from above:
“Bwana kubwa! Bwana kubwa!”
The negro slid down the stalk of the climbing plant in the twinkling of an eye. From his face it was easy to perceive that he brought some important news.
“An elephant!” he shouted.
“An elephant?”
“Yes,” answered the young negro, waving his hands; “there thundering water, here a rock. The elephant cannot get out. Great master kill the elephant and Kali will eat him. Oh, eat, eat!”
And at this thought he was possessed by such joy that he began to leap, slapping his knees with his palms and laughing as if insane, in addition rolling his eyes and displaying his white teeth.
Stas at first did not understand why Kali said that the elephant could not get out of the ravine. So, desiring to see what had happened, he mounted his horse and entrusting Nell to Mea in order to have his hands free in an emergency, he ordered Kali to sit behind him; after which they all turned back and began to seek a place by which they could reach the top. On the way Stas questioned him how the elephant got into such a place and from Kali’s replies he ascertained more or less what had happened.
The elephant evidently ran before the fire by way of the ravine during the burning of the jungle; on the way he forcibly bumped against a loosened rock, which tumbled down and cut off his retreat. After that, having reached the end of the hollow, he found himself on the edge of a precipice below which a river ran, and in this manner was imprisoned.
After a while they discovered an outlet but so steep that it was necessary to dismount from the horses and lead them after. As the negro assured them that the river was very near they proceeded on foot. They finally reached a promontory, bounded on one side by a river, on the other by the hollow, and glancing downward they beheld on the bottom of a dell an elephant.
The huge beast was lying on its stomach and to Stas’ great surprise did not start up at the sight of them. Only when Saba came running to the brink of the dell and began to bark furiously did he for a moment move his enormous ears and raise his trunk, but he dropped it at once.
The children, holding hands, gazed long at him in silence, which finally was broken by Kali.
“He is dying of hunger,” he exclaimed.
The elephant was really so emaciated that his spine protruded, his sides were shrunken, his ribs were distinctly outlined notwithstanding the thickness of his hide, and it was easy to conjecture that he did not rise because he did not now have sufficient strength.
The ravine, which was quite wide at its opening, changed into a dell, locked in on two sides by perpendicular rocks, and on its bottom a few trees grew. These trees were broken; their bark was peeled and on the branches there was not a leaf. The climbing plants hanging from the rocks were torn to pieces and gnawed, and the grass in the dell was cropped to the last blade.
Stas, examining the situation thoroughly, began to share his observations with Nell, but being impressed with the inevitable death of the huge beast he spoke in a low tone as if he feared to disturb the last moments of its life.
“Yes, he really is dying of starvation. He certainly has been confined here at least two weeks, that is, from the time when the old jungle was burnt. He ate everything that there was to eat and now is enduring torments; particularly as, here above, bread-fruit trees and acacias with great pods are growing, and he sees them but cannot reach them.”
And for a while they again gazed in silence. The elephant from time to time turned towards them his small, languid eyes and something in the nature of a gurgle escaped from his throat.
“Indeed,” the boy declared, “it is best to cut short his pangs.”
Saying this, he raised the rifle to his face, but Nell clutched his jacket and, braced upon both of her little feet, began to pull him with all her strength away from the brink of the hollow.
“Stas! Don’t do that! Stas, let us give him something to eat! He is so wretched! I don’t want you to kill him! I don’t want it! I don’t!”
And stamping with her little feet, she did not cease pulling him, and he looked at her with great astonishment and, seeing her eyes filled with tears, said:
“But, Nell!—”
“I don’t want it. I won’t let him be killed! I shall get the fever if you kill him.”
For Stas this threat was sufficient to make him forego his murderous design in regard to the elephant before them and in regard to anything else in the world. For a time he was silent, not knowing what reply to make to the little one, after which he said:
“Very well! very well! I tell you it is all right! Nell, let go of me!”
And Nell at once hugged him and through her tear-dimmed eyes a smile gleamed. Now she was concerned only about giving the elephant something to eat as quickly as possible. Kali and Mea were greatly astonished when they learned that the Bwana kubwa not only would not kill the elephant, but that they were to pluck at once as many melons from the bread-fruit trees, as many acacia pods, and as much of all kinds of weeds as they were able. Gebhr’s two-edged Sudânese sword was of great use to Kali at this labor, and were it not for that the work would not have proceeded so easily. Nell, however, did not want to wait for its completion and when the first melon fell from the tree she seized it with both her hands and, carrying it to the ravine, she repeated rapidly as if from fear that some one else might want to supplant her:
“I! I! I!”
But Stas did not in the least think of depriving her of this pleasure, but from fear that through too much zeal she might fall over with the melon, he seized her by the belt and shouted:
“Throw!”
The huge fruit rolled over the steep declivity and fell close to the elephant’s feet, while the latter in the twinkling of an eye stretched out his trunk and seized it; afterwards he bent his trunk as if he wanted to place the melon under his throat and this much the children saw of him.
“He ate it!” exclaimed the happy girl.
“I suppose so,” answered Stas, laughing.
And the elephant stretched out his trunk towards them as if he wanted to beg for more and emitted in a powerful tone:
“Hruumf!”
“He wants more!”
“I suppose so!” repeated Stas.
The second melon followed in the track of the first and in the same manner afterwards disappeared in a moment a third, fourth, tenth; later acacia pods and whole bundles of grass and great leaves began to fly down. Nell did not allow any one to take her place, and when her little hands grew tired from the work, she shoved new supplies with her little feet; while the elephant ate and, raising his trunk, from time to time trumpeted his thunderous “hruumf” as a sign that he wanted to eat still more, but Nell claimed that it was a sign of gratitude.
But Kali and Mea finally were fatigued with the work which they performed with great alacrity under the impression that Bwana kubwa wanted first to fatten the elephant and afterwards to kill him. At last, however, Bwana kubwa ordered them to stop, as the sun was setting and it was time to start the construction of the zareba. Fortunately this was not a difficult matter, for two sides of the triangular promontory were utterly inaccessible, so that it was necessary only to fence in the third. Acacias with big thorns also were not lacking.
Nell did not retire a step from the ravine and, squatting upon its brink, announced from a distance to Stas what the elephant was doing. At frequent intervals her thin little voice resounded:
“He is searching about with his trunk!”
Or: “He is moving his ears. What big ears he has!”
“Stas! Stas! He is getting up! Oh!”
Stas approached hurriedly and seized Nell’s hand.
The elephant actually rose, and now the children could observe his immense size. They had previously seen huge elephants which were carried on vessels through the Suez Canal bound from India to Europe, but not one of them could compare with this colossus, who actually looked like a huge slate-colored rock walking on four feet. He differed from the others in the size of his tusks wh
ich reached five or more feet and, as Nell already observed, his ears, which were of fabulous proportions. His fore legs were high but comparatively thin, which was undoubtedly due to the fast of many days.
“Oh, that is a Lilliputian!” laughed Stas. “If he should rear himself and stretch out his trunk, he might catch you by the feet.”
But the colossus did not think of rearing or catching any one by the feet. With an unsteady gait he approached the egress of the ravine, gazed for a while over the precipice, at the bottom of which water was seething; afterwards he turned to the wall close to the waterfall, directed his trunk towards it, and, having immersed it as best he could, began to drink.
“It is his good fortune,” Stas said, “that he can reach the water with his trunk. Otherwise he would have died.”
The elephant drank so long that finally the little girl became alarmed.
“Stas, won’t he harm himself?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied, laughing, “but since you have taken him under your care, warn him now.”
So Nell leaned over the edge and cried:
“Enough, dear elephant, enough!”
And the dear elephant, as if he understood what was the matter, stopped drinking at once, and instead, began to splash water over himself. First he splashed water on his feet, then on his back, and afterwards on both sides.
But in the meantime it grew dark; so Stas conducted the little girl to the zareba where supper already awaited them.
Both were in excellent humor — Nell because she had saved the elephant’s life and Stas because he saw her eyes sparkling like two stars and her gladdened face which was ruddier and healthier than it had been at any time since their departure from Khartûm. A promise of a quiet and perfect night also conduced to the boy’s contentment. The two inaccessible sides of the promontory absolutely secured them from attacks from those directions, and on the third side Kali and Mea reared so high a wall of thorny branches of acacias and of passion flowers that there could be no thought of any predacious beasts being able to surmount such a barrier. In addition the weather was fine and the heavens immediately after sunset were studded with countless stars. The air, which was cool, owing to the proximity of the waterfall, and which was saturated with the odor of the jungle and newly broken branches, was agreeable to breathe.
Complete Works of Henryk Sienkiewicz Page 636