Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XIV

  Lokolobolo's First Fight

  "I am afraid we are in for it now," said Jack, as he sat with Barney,when the camp had become quiet, discussing the situation. "Elbel willknow well enough who played the bogie, and he has now another grievanceagainst me. I wonder what he will do."

  "I would not disthress meself about it at all, sorr," said Barney. "Hehad a peep at a Pepper's ghost widout paying for a ticket, and 'tishimself that ought to be plased."

  "Don't you ever have a fit of the dumps, Barney? You seem to livealways in the top of spirits."

  "What would be the good uv doing anything else, sorr? I've too littleflesh on me bones now; what would I be if I grizzled?"

  "I'm glad enough, I assure you. I don't know what I should have donewithout you. Uncle little imagined what he was leaving me to. Do youthink anything has happened to him? It is three months since he wentaway, and five weeks since I had any news of him. I am gettinganxious."

  "'Tis true he is behind, like the cow's tail, sorr. An 'tis meself canexplain it. Ye see, sorr, I've noticed wan thing about these niggers.Time is not much to an Irishman, to be sure, but 'tis less than nothingto a nigger. They don't keep count uv the days; an almanac would beclean beyond them; and 'tis my belief Nando has just put the masterback a month, sorr, unbeknown."

  "That's an original explanation, at any rate. But by Jove! here'sSamba again. What does he want now?"

  "Him say mudder lib for plenty sick, sah," said Lepoko, called in tointerpret. "Mudder plenty tired fust; muss stand all de night in hut;no gib no food; her no can go no more; tumble down in forest. Sambasay please massa, let fader and mudder come; please, please, massa,please, massa, him say please massa plenty too much all time."

  "We must have them in, I suppose," said Jack, unable to resist theappeal in Samba's eyes and gestures. "I didn't want them here, theyonly add to our dangers and difficulties. Let him fetch them, Lepoko;he must be careful; if they are captured again they are sure to beshot."

  Samba's face shone with delight. He scampered away. An hour passedbefore he returned. Mboyo was carrying his wife in his arms; she wasin the last stage of exhaustion. They were given shelter in Lepoko'shut; and that night, when Samba curled himself up to sleep with Pat,for the first time for many weeks he was a happy boy.

  Jack had but just finished his breakfast next morning when a note wasbrought him from Elbel.

  MONSIEUR,--

  On m'a fait informer que les deux individus echappes de ce village sonta present refugies dans votre camp. J'ai l'honneur de vous sommer derendre ces individus immediatement, en outre le petit garcon dont j'aideja demande la reddition. Au cas que lesdits sujets de PEtat du Congone soient pas ramenes dans ce village avant midi cejourd'hui, je seraioblige de faire a leur egard des demarches qui me sembleront bonnes.

  Agreez, monsieur, l'assurance de ma consideration distinguee, ELBEL, _Agent de la Societe cosmopolite du Commerce du Congo_.

  "What do you think of this, Barney? He says he's been told that thetwo persons who escaped from Ilola are now in my camp. He has thehonour to request that I will give them up at once. Listen: 'In casethe said subjects of the Congo State are not brought back to thisvillage by noon to-day, I shall be compelled to take such steps inregard to them as may seem to me good.' Very precise and formal. Myanswer shall be a little shorter."

  He lost no time in penning his reply. He wrote:

  SIR,--

  The three people you mention are with me. I shall be glad to learn theoffence with which they are charged, and by what authority you take itupon yourself to try them and punish them.

  Yours truly, JOHN CHALLONER.

  "We shall get no answer to that, Barney."

  But he was mistaken. A second note was brought him in which Elbelrefused to explain or justify his actions to Monsieur Challoner. Hewas responsible to his Societe and to the administration of the FreeState. He repeated his threat that at twelve o'clock, failingcompliance with his demand, he would take steps to recover thefugitives, and concluded by saying that Monsieur Challoner must beanswerable for the consequences.

  "The fat's in the fire now, sorr," said Barney, when Jack hadtranslated this letter to him. "I suppose you'll just say 'Go and behanged' in answer to that?"

  "No. I shan't answer it on paper. The crisis has come at last,Barney. I couldn't attack Elbel yesterday and be responsible for thefirst blow. But things are changed now. His action in regard to thesepoor people is sheer persecution; they've sought my protection, and noEnglishman that I ever heard of has given up a wretch fleeing frompersecution. We'll have to stand firm now, Barney. Elbel shan't gethold of them if I can prevent it."

  "I'm wid ye, sorr, heart and soul. Sure an Irishman is not the man tostand by and see poor people ill-treated. What'll we do to get readyfor him, sorr?"

  "You can go and get some of the men to rig up platforms at severalpoints inside the stockade. What a lucky thing it was we taught 'emhow to board and floor the huts! Those planks will come in handy now.And stay: set two or three men to bore loopholes in the stockade--notour riflemen; the men who've lost their right hands can manage that,perhaps, with their left if they try. Meanwhile, parade the riflemen.I'll come out to them in a few minutes."

  When the men were paraded, Jack felt very proud of his little company.They were all alert, eager, ready. Jack explained to them throughLepoko what the difficulty was.

  "I don't want you to fight against your will," he said. "If any man isunwilling to fight he may leave the camp if he chooses, or remain anddo any other work required. But if he elects to fight he must obeyorders, do his best, and never give in. You understand that: nevergive in!"

  The men responded with loud cries of approval. Not a man of them fellout of the ranks. The exercise and drill they had undergone had filledthem with military ardour; they were proud of their newaccomplishments, and evidently eager to test them in earnest. And thewhite officials were so well hated that the opportunity of setting oneat defiance was in itself a sufficient motive. Jack paid them acompliment on their readiness to serve--the negro dearly lovespraise--and after inspecting each man's rifle and ammunition, dismissedthem to various duties in the camp until the moment for action arrived.

  The day's water supply had scarcely been got in, and there were novessels at hand for storing a large quantity. The stock of food in thecamp was sufficient to keep the whole population for three days on fullrations, and might be eked out for a week or more if each man'sallowance was reduced. It was inevitable that the idea of a siegeshould cross Jack's mind, and he foresaw that the difficulty aboutwater would prove serious. Meanwhile, he could at least send out a fewmen to obtain supplies of food from the chief's other villages. Hechose for this errand the men least likely to be useful as fighters,and impressed on them the necessity of avoiding Elbel's men. It wouldnot be long before Elbel had the surrounding country closely patrolled,and then no man would be able to approach without taking his life inhis hand. What supplies they should succeed in collecting were to beheld concealed in the forest until there was an opportunity ofconveying them into the camp without danger.

  There were now within his stockade, besides himself and Barney,twenty-two men armed with rifles; the chief Mboyo, with his wife andSamba; fifteen men, ten women, and twenty-five children who had soughtasylum with him; and the livestock of the natives--a few goats andfowls. Pat was one by himself. There were rifles for twenty menbesides the twenty-two, but the fugitives were too much maimed, or toomuch reduced in strength by their sufferings, to make it seem worthwhile to arm them. Four or five, however, had recovered very rapidly,and seemed likely to prove useful recruits. They had at any rateenough reason for fighting well; not only on behalf of their chief, butin memory of their own sufferings. Pending an opportunity of teachingthem the use of the rifle, Jack armed them with spears and employedthem as sentries. A careful watch was kept to guard against surprise,which was little likely t
o occur in broad daylight across the wide openspace between the two settlements.

  Jack awaited with no little anxiety the approach of noon, trying toforecast Elbel's course of action. The Belgian had, so far as he hadbeen able to gather, about sixty men armed with Albini rifles, withprobably as many hangers-on; but the natives' conceptions of arithmeticare so vague that this information could not be relied on; the actualnumber might be larger or smaller. It was not likely that thefollowers of the forest guards could be utilized as fighting men; butthe guards themselves were well armed and full of confidence, for theyhad become accustomed to lording it over the virtually unarmed andhelpless populace from whose forced labour the Congo Free State derivesits profits. Jack was quite prepared to find that Elbel, knowing thathis opponent's men had but recently been armed, and were not, like hisown men, to all intents professional soldiers, would think himselfstrong enough to rush the camp, especially as, since the day of hisarrival, the Belgian had appeared to show no further interest in theforce at Jack's disposal.

  "Perhaps he thinks we've drilled them merely for parade," he remarkedwith a smile to Barney. "But I think he'll find we can hold our own.I'm not afraid of a direct attack. But if he tries to starve us outit'll be a different matter. I'm bothered about the water."

  "Be aisy, sorr. Whin I was a bhoy me mother often did not know atbreakfast time where the supper was coming from; but I only went to bedwance widout it, and that was whin I'd eaten it before the time, andwas put to bed early as a punishment."

  Soon after twelve o'clock the sentries reported that the white man wasapproaching from the direction of the village. Jack hastened to theplatform near the gate, which he had had barricaded, and saw Elbel atthe head of about forty men, at his side a negro bearing a white flag.About fifty yards from the stockade he halted, and formally demandedthe surrender of the fugitives. In phrases as formal as his own Jackreplied that they would not be given up.

  While this brief exchange of courtesies was going on, the sentriesstationed on similar platforms within the stockade had turned roundwith natural curiosity to see what was passing, and withdrew theirattention from the ground they were supposed to be watching. All atonce Jack felt a tug at his arm, and looking round, saw Samba excitedlypointing to the rear of the camp. A score of Elbel's riflemen werescurrying across the open ground. To Jack's surprise they were headedby a white man in military uniform. Was this the Captain Van Vorst, hewondered, who, Elbel had told him, was coming up the river? Had he tocontend with a regular officer of the State as well as an official ofthe Concession? One thing was clear, that while his attention wasbeing held by the parade of the men in front, an attempt was being madeto rush the camp from the rear.

  Jack gave no sign of his discovery, but quietly ordered Barney to taketen men with rifles and five with spears and deal with the attackerswhen their heads or hands appeared above the stockade.

  "Keep out of sight until they're upon you," he added in a low tone."Fifteen men on the platform will be equal to more than double theirnumber trying to scramble over."

  He had kept his face turned towards Elbel as he spoke, apparentlyintent upon a serious consideration of what the Belgian was saying.

  "I varn you. Dis is not child's play. Vunce more I say gif up depeople; den I interfere no more. I am satisfied. But if you refuse,den I repeat: I will haf de people, and you shall see vat it is to defyde officers of de Free State."

  Jack was spared the necessity of replying. A series of yells and criesof pain told that the rear attack had begun. Next moment a couple ofshots rang out from the trees behind Elbel, and Jack, whose head justappeared over the stockade, felt one bullet whistle close above histopee, while a second embedded itself beside him in one of the saplingsof which the stockade was constructed. Taken in conjunction with theattempted surprise, this was as close an approximation to the methodsof an assassin as could well be imagined; and Jack, as he dodged downout of harm's way, felt, not for the first time, that he had to dealwith a man who was not only astute but quite unscrupulous.

  In less than a minute the attack on the stockade had become general.The assailants showed no want of dash. Perhaps they were encouraged bythe impunity with which they had hitherto made their assaults on nativevillages similarly protected. But the conditions were different now.The defenders were armed with weapons as precise and deadly as those ofthe attackers themselves. Elbel's men came forward at a rush, in amore or less compact body, and Jack was amply satisfied with the resultof his training as his men, at a sign from him, poured a volley throughthe loopholes bored in the stockade, while the enemy were still a dozenyards distant. Several of them dropped; Jack's men were completelyscreened from any effectual reply.

  The moral effect of white leadership became apparent when the forestguards, scarcely realizing their losses in the excitement of their dashtowards the stockade, helped one another to swarm up, many effecting alodgment on the top. It was at this point that in ninety-nine casesout of a hundred the defenders of an African village would have flungaway their arms and run. But the discipline of the past two monthstold. At Jack's command, before the enemy on the stockade had madetheir footing sufficiently sure to enable them to use their weapons,the men within, clubbing their rifles, sprang at them and hurled themto the ground.

  Meanwhile Barney, who thanks to Samba's watchfulness had been enabledto forestall the surprise in the rear, had beaten off the attack andsent the enemy scurrying for cover. Leaving only three or four menunder Lepoko to watch the position there, Jack was able to bring almostthe whole of his force to bear on repelling the main attack. Elbel hadgreatly reduced his chances of success by detaching a third of hisbody; and he entirely lost their co-operation, for when they wererepulsed by Barney they made no attempt to rally, but simplydisappeared from the fight.

  Elbel and his men were crouching at the foot of the stockade intemporary security, for in that position the defenders could not bringtheir rifles to bear upon them. Jack heard him give his men an order;in a few seconds a crowd of black heads again appeared above thestockade, but now some thirty yards from the point where the firstassault had been made. With Barney at his right hand Jack led his mento the spot. From his platform he might have shot the attackers downwith comparative ease; but he was determined from the first to do hisbest to avoid bloodshed, never forgetting his uncle's injunction to userifles only in the last resort. The enemy themselves had no chance offiring, for they no sooner showed their heads above the palisade thanthey were beset by the defenders. There was a brisk five minutes inwhich Jack and Barney found plenty to do leading their men wherever theshow of heads, hands, and shoulders over the stockade was thickest.Barney was in his element. His rifle fell like a flail, and for everyblow that got home he shouted a wild "Hurroo!" which evoked responsiveyells from the negroes beside him, catching his enthusiasm. Jack'sheart glowed as he saw how stoutly they fought.

  It was not until the enemy had made two attempts to mount the stockadethat they realized how very different their present task was from themassacre of unresisting men, women, and children that had hithertorepresented their idea of fighting. The first repulse merely surprisedand enraged them: they could not understand it; they were notaccustomed to such a reception; and they yelled forth threats ofexacting a terrible vengeance. But when for the second time they foundthemselves hurled back, they had no heart for further effort. SuddenlyElbel discovered that he was alone, except for one man lying starkbeside him; the unwounded had scampered across the open to the shelterof the nearest trees. Some half dozen who had been hit with riflebullets or clubbed at the palisade, were dragging themselves painfullytowards the same shelter.

  Jack, watching from his platform, perceived that Elbel was not amongthe retreating crowd. Was he hurt, he wondered? The next moment,however, he saw the Belgian sprint after his men, bending his headbetween his shoulders as a boy does to avoid a snowball. Several ofJack's men who had joined him on the platform brought their rifles tothe shoulder, an
d only a curt stern order from Jack to drop theirweapons saved Elbel from almost certain death.

  "Bedad, thin, 'tis a pity not to let them have their way, sorr,"expostulated Barney.

  "That may be," replied Jack, "but I'm only on the defensive, remember.We're in no danger for the present; they've had enough of it; it's notfor me to continue the fight. I hope Elbel has learnt a lesson andwill leave us alone."

  "Sure I do not agree wid you at all at all, sorr," said Barney, shakinghis head. "To judge by the phiz uv him, Elbel is a disp'rate badcharacter. And isn't it all his deeds that prove it, with his whipsand his forest guards--blagyards I call 'em--and all? Why, sorr, whinye knocked him down the other day, why didn't he stand up fair andsquare and have it out wid ye? 'Twas an illigant chance which nogentleman, no Irishman, bedad! would have missed for worlds.Gentleman! 'Tis not the fortieth part uv a gentleman he has anywhereabout him. 'Twas not the trick uv a gentleman to try to take ye by theback stairs while he blarneyed ye at the front door. And did he nottry to murder ye before the fight began? A dirty trick, sorr; I wouldhave let my men shoot him widout the hundredth part uv a scruple."

  Jack was compelled to smile at Barney's honest indignation.

  "All you say is very true," he said, "but we couldn't take a leaf outof his book, you know, Barney. Besides, look at it in another way.Suppose we shot Elbel? What would happen to uncle's mining venture?There's another Belgian here--I wonder where he came from. Apparentlyhe has skedaddled. He'd certainly go and report to the authoritieswhat had happened. You may be sure he wouldn't put our side of thecase; and even if he did, there's no knowing how the Free State peoplewould twist the evidence. They say the Free State judges arecompletely under the thumb of the executive. No doubt Elbelhimself--who I suppose has to account for the cartridges his menuse--will report this fight as a little affair with natives revoltingagainst the rubber collection. He hasn't come well enough out of it tobe anxious to call general attention to the matter. We've got off witha few bruises, I'm thankful to say; and we may very well be satisfiedto let the quarrel rest there if Elbel takes no further steps."

  Barney shook his head.

  "Ye're a powerful hand at argyment, sorr," he said, "and ye'd beelected at the top uv the poll if ye stood as mimber uv Parlimint forKilkenny. But an Irishman niver goes by argyment: he goes by hisfeelings, and my feeling is that there's no good at all in a man whorefuses such an illigant chance uv a stand-up fight."

  "Well, he's not altogether a ruffian. Look! there are three of hisnegroes coming with a flag of truce, to fetch the poor fellow who waskilled, I expect. The State officials as a rule look on the negro asso much dirt; but Elbel seems to have some of the instincts of a humanbeing."

  "Bedad thin, I wouldn't be surprised if they're cannibals come fortheir dinner."

  "Shut up, Barney. It's too terrible to think of. You'll take away myappetite; here's Samba, coming to tell us, I hope, that dinner's ready."

  Jack scanned the neighbourhood. Save for the negroes carrying theirdead comrade there was no sign of the enemy. He left two sentries onguard and returned to his hut, hot and famished. The sultry heat ofthe tropical afternoon settled down over the camp. Outside thestockade all was still; inside, the natives squatted in front of theirhuts, volubly discussing the incidents of the morning, and watching theantics of Pat, who, having been tied up, much to his disgust, duringthe fight, was profiting by his liberty to romp with the children.

  The victory did not pass unchronicled. Before the negroes retired torest, one of them had composed a song which will be handed down fromfather to son and become a tradition of his tribe:--

  To the house of the dog To fight Lokolobolo. Inglesa was he, Brave Lokolobolo, Lion and leopard, Friend of Imbono, Chief of Ilola.

  Came Elobela, (_Chorus_) Yah! Bad Elobela, (_Chorus_) Yo! To the house of the dog Came Lokolobolo, (_Chorus_) Yah! Yo! Short was the fight. Where is he now, Sad Elobela? Gone to the forest, Beating his head, Hiding his eyes From Lokolobolo, Friend of Imbono, Lion and leopard, Brave Lokolobolo.