Settlers and Scouts: A Tale of the African Highlands

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD--The Ivory

  John reckoned that his escape from the fort would probably have beendiscovered about the same time as he was entering the village. Theenemy would almost certainly suppose that his flight had been southward,towards the farm. Several hours might be wasted in pursuing in thatdirection; even if they hit upon his trail at once, it would be four orfive hours before they could reach him. His course, then, must be totake advantage of this respite to prepare the safari for the strugglethat could scarcely be avoided when they came to close quarters.

  Issuing from the village with Ferrier, he made his way to the cultivatedfields, which, lying on the sheltered slopes of the hill, were morefertile than might have been expected at such a height above sea-level.Much of the harvesting had been done: he had already noticed that theshambas were filled to overflowing with muhindi and pumpkins. But thebanana-trees were weighed down with huge clusters of ripening fruit, andacres of the soil were covered with beans and sweet potatoes. He couldprovision the safari for the whole of the homeward journey, and yet makea scarcely sensible inroad upon the resources of the people. He had noscruples in taking as much as he needed, or rather as much as the mencould carry; by all the rules of war it would be letting the village offlightly. Accordingly he lost no time in setting the men to get as muchof the native produce together as would furnish full loads for the menwho were not already burdened. This would inevitably diminish theirmarching power; but on the other hand they must carry plenty of foodwith them if they meant to reach home.

  While the men were engaged in this task, an idea occurred to Ferrier.

  "I say, John, why not go down the river on rafts?" he said. "We shouldget along much faster, and be less likely to meet Juma, who is sure toknow a short cut, and won't stick to the river as we did."

  "A jolly good notion! Wait a bit, though. What about the rapids? Theynearly did for me, and loaded rafts would stand a worse chance than Idid, wouldn't they?"

  "That's where I come in, old chap. I've shot the rapids on the St.Lawrence; these rapids aren't a patch on the Roches Fendues. I didn'tdo it by myself, of course; an old fellow named Baptiste Le Sueurmanaged the pole; but I saw it all, and I bet I could navigate thoselittle affairs by the fort."

  "I'll be hanged if we don't try it, then. We can make a better job ofit than Bill and I did. By the way, where is the old fellow? I haven'tseen him since we came into the village."

  "Nor have I. He won't be far off. Let us set about it at once. Twolarge rafts, I think: it'll take some time to cut enough timber."

  "We needn't wait for that. We'll dismantle some of the huts. Thenatives can easily build new ones when we are gone, and I'd like to givethem a little trouble after all they have given us."

  "Capital! Come on then. The sooner we get them done the better."

  Returning to the village, they set all the men to work who were notengaged in the fields. In a short time a large number of poles from thehuts lay on the ground ready to be lashed together, and a quantity ofbast being found, there was no lack of material for the lashings. Thoseof the men who had been porters and were expert in manipulating ropeswere entrusted with this work, the two white men superintending them andmaking sure that the knots were firm.

  The first raft, capable of supporting half the party in addition to halfthe stores, had just been completed when Bill ran into the village in astate of great excitement. In such a condition he seemed to lose almostall power of expression, and it was some time before John, even withCoja's assistance, could make out what was the matter with him.Presently, however, he gathered that Bill had gone alone to the spot, afew miles away, where the ivory had been buried by the Arabs whenfleeing from the "bad men." It was situated on a wooded knoll washed bythe river. Scarcely had he reached the place when his extraordinarilykeen sense of hearing apprised him that a number of men were fording theriver, though he was not able at first to see them, owing to the trees.Immediately on hearing their approach, he swarmed up a tree--the same inwhich he had taken shelter years before--and from this coign of vantagehe spied a large body of negroes gathered on the further bank. In alittle while he saw, moving up the knoll, the party who had previouslycrossed: they were Swahilis, and their leader was the man whom he hadalready recognized as a member of the Arab safari. All carried spadesor other implements.

  And then, helpless in the tree, the old man had had the agony to see theSwahilis dig up the ivory which had lain so long concealed: his ivory,the recovery of which had been his dream for years, a dream for whoserealization he had counted on the assistance of the white men. The tuskshad been laid only a foot or two below the surface, so that it was nogreat labour to unearth them. When they were all dug up, the men beganto carry them down to the river, each tusk requiring four men. Theintention was, Bill supposed, to transport them to the evacuated fort.He seized the opportunity when their backs were turned to slip down fromhis perch and run to the village: would not the wasungu even now strikea blow for him?

  This was a staggering piece of news. The knoll was up-stream; there wasnot much doubt that downstream the warriors whose village had beencaptured were marching up in pursuit of the safari. Probably they hadalready been met by fugitives from the village and informed of what hadhappened. It struck John that Juma and the chief might have fallen out,and that the Swahili had made a rapid dash northward to possess himselfof the treasure while the "bad men" were absent from the neighbourhood.However that might be, there was no question but that both the Swahilisand the villagers were dangerous enemies, and would join forces to crushthe little band who had defied and routed them.

  "We're in the tightest place we have ever been in yet," said John."They've got us between them. What on earth are we to do?"

  "Slip away, west or east?" suggested Ferrier.

  "Hopeless! Loaded as we should be, we couldn't escape them. It's toolate to get on to the river now. This one raft won't hold us all. Weare done at last!"

  They looked at each other in speechless anxiety. The men had ceasedwork on the second raft; they all knew what had occurred, and gazed attheir white leaders with troubled countenances.

  "There's one desperate chance," said Ferrier at length. "Juma isnearest. Deal with him before the others come up."

  John stared at him for a moment with brightening eyes. Then he sprangup.

  "Right!" he cried. "It's the one chance. But we can't risk it withoutknowing a little of the ground. I'll go out with Bill and have a lookat it, if you'll stay and keep a look-out for the down-stream lot."

  The two set off at once. Bill led the way rapidly round the village andfurther up the hill until they reached the summit. From this point theground fell away to the plain, and rather less than a mile away Johndescried the knoll of which Bill had spoken, the peninsula from which itrose jutting out into the river. It was densely covered withvegetation, and on the other side of the stream there was a similarscreen. Only a short reach of the river was visible, but here he sawnegroes wading waist-deep. They were crossing, however, not to the farside, but from it. Juma had thought it better to bring his porters tothe ivory than the reverse. Apparently none of it had yet beentransported from bank to bank; but it was all laid in readiness.

  Bill gazed at the scene with an expression of mingled grief and rage.Suddenly he stretched forth his hand, pointing towards the trees on thenear side of the river. At first John could not see anything but thedense mass of foliage; but presently he discerned two negroes standingmotionless at the foot of the knoll. Clearly Juma had posted them asscouts to give warning of any movement from the village. So many yearshad passed since the defeat of his safari that the likelihood of thepeople suspecting his search for the treasure was small, especiallysince they were obviously unaware of its location. But with theremembrance of their hostility in his mind he was evidently uneasy.

  John's guess at the course of events was very near the mark. Ever sincethe defeat of the Arabs, Juma, the sole survivo
r of their haplesssafari, had lived for nothing else than the recovery of the ivory, whichwould make him a millionaire according to the native standard of wealth.But the store lay in the enemy's country; he had the best of reasons forknowing how formidable they were, and what his fate would be if he wasdiscovered by them when removing the ivory. He had recognized thatthere was little chance of obtaining possession of it unless he camewith sufficient force to repel attack. Its transport would demand alarge number of porters, and a still larger number of armed men toprotect them. It had therefore been the work of his life to organizesuch a party. For this he had become a porter himself, to avail himselfof opportunities of stealthy pilfering. For this he had establishedhimself in the island fort, hoping to seize an occasion when thevillagers were absent on a raid or a hunting expedition to make a dashup the river and achieve the aim of his ambition.

  The unexpected series of events that culminated in the capture of thefort had interposed a check at the very moment when he saw successwithin his grasp. But his cunning mind conceived the scheme which hehad carried out: to form an alliance with the very tribe with whom hehad expected to come into conflict. He seized upon the presence of thewhite men as a rational basis for their alliance, intending, when thewhite men and their safari had been annihilated, to turn his armsagainst his allies, and having overthrown them, to secure the prize hehad so long coveted.

  Again he was baulked by the prolonged resistance of the white men. Butit happened that the combined force of natives which he had gatheredabout him ran short of food. In this circumstance he saw hisopportunity. On the morning after John had left the fort, Juma set offwith his own contingent before the escape had been discovered,ostensibly to go hunting for game. He took with him almost all the menwho had rifles, and a large party to carry the game he promised toshoot. Striking at first to the west, he turned sharply northward, andpushed on with all speed towards the knoll where the hoard of ivory layconcealed. Had he secured it, his whilom enemies, his present allies,would have seen him no more. He would have taken the shortest route tothe coast, to dispose of the ivory at one of the ports. His approachwas hidden from the people in the village by the hill rising behind it,and being quite unaware that the village was now held by the white men,he felt that he had nothing to fear except chance discovery by some onewho might happen to stray up the hill. To provide against this he hadposted the two scouts whom John saw at the base of the knoll.

  John perceived in a moment that the work of transporting the ivoryacross the river gave him an opportunity of taking the enemy at adisadvantage. Running back to the top of the hill, careful not to comewithin sight of the scouts, he reached a point whence he could overlookthe village and where he was himself in full view from it. The momenthe arrived there he knew that he had been seen, for Ferrier waved hishand above his head. John immediately semaphored with his arms, askingFerrier to bring out all the men except a few left to guard the village,and to join him on the hill-top. In ten minutes they were with him.Then, descending the western slope of the hill, invisible to the enemy,they worked their way through the belt of trees on the river-bank untilthey arrived within a furlong of the ford. Juma's porters werestaggering down the knoll under their loads--great tusks from six tonine feet long. To advance further without being discovered wasimpossible: the two scouts were full in the path.

  John gathered his party just within the belt of trees, and in a whispertold them what to do. Then, at his word, they dashed after him fromcover, yelling at the top of their voices, the askaris firing theirrifles as they ran, and reloading. There was little chance of the shotstaking effect, but John reckoned on them to demoralize the enemy. Theresult surpassed his anticipations. The scouts stood for a moment as ifrooted to the ground with amazement; then they flung down their riflesand fled like hares to the spot where Juma was indicating the ford. Atthe same instant the porters dropped their loads with a yell of fright,and made for the river, into which they cast themselves, careless of itsdepth, and of the crocodiles that might be lurking expectant of avictim. Juma had his arm in a sling: the other Swahilis raised theirrifles, and fired, each one wild ineffectual shot, at the advancingcompany. Then, utterly confounded by this amazing attack from an enemywhom they supposed to be far away, they rushed in a body to the river,sped by a volley of bullets and arrows. Half wading, half swimming,they gained the further bank, and by the time John and his men came tothe ford, they had disappeared with all their men into the undergrowth.

  Bill ran from one tusk to another, frantic with joy. But John was toomuch concerned with the serious work that lay before him to troublehimself for the present with the ivory, however valuable it might be. Hesaw at once that he must remove all his men from the village to theknoll if the plan of floating down the river was to be successfullyinitiated. After their fright, Juma and his men might for a time bedisregarded; but the war-party of villagers could not now be far away,and the interval before their arrival might be all too short. The knollnot only formed a good defensible position, but it was the mostconvenient spot for the launching of the rafts, and the timber upon itoffered material for the second raft yet to be constructed. Keepingpart of his men to hack branches from the trees with their knives, heasked Ferrier to return with the rest to the village and bring over thehill the first raft and all the stores.

  "Get the women to help," he said. "Promise that we'll do no more harmto the village if they'll work for us. They'll be glad enough to getrid of us, no doubt. I'd go myself, Charley, only my back is botheringme again, confound it."

  Ferrier hurried off. In little more than half-an-hour he reappeared onthe shoulder of the hill, followed by a long line of the men of thesafari and the women of the village, carrying the loads of provisions,the impedimenta of the camp, and the raft, a cumbersome object whichrequired twenty men to carry it. As they descended the slope, shotswere fired at them from the trees bordering the river, but manifestly atso long a range that they were little likely to do any harm. Theyreached the knoll in safety; the baggage was piled up a short distancefrom the bank to form a sort of rampart: and then the whole party,including a crowd of women who were impressed to fetch and carry, workedrapidly at the construction of the raft.

  "There'll be mighty little protection if they fire at us on the waydown," said John gloomily.

  "Yes," replied Ferrier, "we haven't got enough baggage to screen us. Butlook here! Why not make a sort of fence to go all round?"

  "The very thing! The men are so used to making bomas that it won't givethem any trouble."

  While the second raft was being finished, the men who were not engagedupon it were set to weave a light framework of canes, rushes, andslender branches, about three feet high, and strong enough to beimpenetrable by spears or arrows. As portions of this were completed,they were lashed to the edges of the first raft. Fore and aft theframework was raised to the height of six feet, and a hole was cut in itthrough which a pole might be thrust, to ward off rocks or otherobstructions as the raft floated downstream, and to steer the unwieldycraft.

  At midday a good deal of the work still remained to be done. The sunbeat down mercilessly upon the workers, and John, eager as he was tofinish, ordered a rest and a meal. The negroes threw themselves on thegrass, and appeared to feel no discomfort from the heat; but the whitemen were glad to seek the shade of the trees crowning the knoll, whereSaid Mohammed served their dinner.

  The order had just been given to resume work when they saw a vast crowdof dusky warriors pouring over the brow of the hill.

  "Here they come!" said John, starting up; "and by the look of them, andtheir yells, we're in for a tight little scrimmage."

  Ferrier laughed.

  "Not unless they're prepared to attack us over the bodies of theirwives," he said. "They can't shoot at us without hitting them."

  "Of course not. I hadn't thought of that. But they're so mad that theymay be ready to sacrifice their nearest and dearest. We must preventthe women from running away
. It's shameful coercion, but we can't helpit."

  The furious villagers halted within a short distance of the knoll, andone or two let fly arrows at the busy workers behind their rampart ofbaggage. A wild shriek arose from the terrified women, though none hadbeen hit; and John, running among them, told them sternly that theironly safety lay in remaining at their work. To give point to hiswarning, and at the same time to daunt the warriors, he lifted his rifleand fired towards the dense mob, taking care to aim above their heads.The result was a general stampede. The men had already learnt the powerof the wasungu's weapons, and being exposed on the bare hillside theyrecognized their disadvantage. They retreated up the hill to a positionof security, and stood there in impotent wrath, watching their womenkindtoiling for the hated enemy.

  The work went on without pause until the rafts were finished. The nextthing was to launch them. The river swept round the knoll in ahalf-circle, and John decided to have the rafts carried to the water onthe side remote from the village and out of sight of the warriors, anyinterference being guarded against by leaving his askaris with loadedrifles at the baggage. When the rafts were launched and moored toprevent their being carried down by the current, the ivory was conveyedto them. One side of each had been left undefended by the frameworkuntil the loading was finished. The tusks having been stowed on oneraft, half-a-dozen men were set to lash on the framework while thestores and the rest of the baggage were carried to the second raft. Itwas clear that Bill had by no means exaggerated the value of the ivory.There were twenty-three tusks, varying in weight and size, but scalingin all at least half a ton. John did not know the market value ofivory, but so large a quantity would probably fetch several hundreds ofpounds.

  By the time the loads were stacked round the rafts, close against theframework, it was drawing towards evening.

  "I'm afraid we shall have to wait until morning before we start," saidJohn. "It will be very risky to navigate these clumsy things in thedarkness. They lie very heavy in the water, and I shouldn't besurprised if they founder before we've gone far."

  "We must chance that," said Ferrier. "I think we had better start atonce. There are no rapids in this part of the river; our real troublewill begin when we come above the pool. If we stay here till themorning, we may be set upon before we are well away, whereas by startingnow we shall be past the village by the time it is dark, and when theysee us fairly off they may chuck up the sponge."

  "All right. Is there anything else to be done?"

  "We'll rope the rafts together, but we must be ready to cut the hawserif there's any need. I'll go in the first raft, of course. PerhapsCoja had better come with me to try his hand at steering, if you don'tmind taking Said Mohammed. Your raft ought to come along in the wake ofmine without any difficulty; but have your pole ready to push off if westrike a shoal."

  "What's the rate of the current, do you think?"

  "Three to four miles an hour, at a guess. Better let the women go now."

  John withdrew the askaris who had been keeping guard, and the women, onbeing told that they might go, fled away up the hill like a flock ofsheep. All the men of the safari then took their places on the rafts;these were roped together; the framework was lashed on the unprotectedsides; the mooring ropes were released, and the strange overladen craft,sinking so low that the logs were covered with water, took the currentand began to float down. Luckily the bales of provisions had beenplaced above the ammunition boxes and other baggage, which would notsuffer from a wetting.

  The actual start was hidden from the enemy by the projecting knoll; butas the rafts swept round the curve their appearance was hailed with loudshouts from the hill-top, where the women had now joined the warriors.The left bank was here too precipitous and too densely wooded to permitthe enemy to approach near enough to do any damage; and as the voyagerscame into the straight reach that ran by the foot of the hill on whichthe village was perched, they saw the yelling horde rush over the brow.

  "Going to meet us on the level," shouted Ferrier from his place behindthe breastwork of the foremost raft. "Keep the men crouching behind thepalisade."