Zero the Slaver: A Romance of Equatorial Africa
Page 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
"THE PEOPLE OF THE STICK."
First thing in the morning the slaves were unshackled, and, after allhad breakfasted, they were interviewed through the medium of one of thenative "guides," and our friends found to their horror that Zero and hisband of fiends had fallen upon this people, in the night, and afterpicking out 300 of the finest among the men, had effectually stamped outthe remainder of the tribe, both root and branch, by _fastening themall, young men and maidens, old men and children, in their huts, andthen setting fire to the village_, lining the palisades with theirrifles meantime, lest any should break out and escape, to bring downupon the murderers swift and unsparing vengeance at the hands of a greatand warlike native people, who lived near at hand, and who were closelyrelated to the stricken tribe.
They seemed an intelligent and brave people, and would no doubt havegiven a good account of themselves if Zero had not taken them utterlyunawares in their huts by night; and the men, who were as a rule fine,athletic-looking fellows, declared that they would follow the white mento the death, if they would but lead their party on and entirely eat upthese slavers, whom they denounced as monsters of cruelty--one manstating that the great bloodhounds had been deliberately fed by Zerohimself _with the flesh of several baby boys, who had been roastedalive_, and he added that, if the white men would not go with them, hisown people would carry on the war, even if they had to fight with emptyhands.
This was so far good, but our friends were utterly at their wits' endregarding arms for their new allies, who clearly did not understand theuse of guns, whilst the few spears and axes saved from the slaversdeceased in the fight of the previous day, would not equip one-fourth oftheir number.
On being asked, however, what weapons they would prefer to use, the menreplied proudly that they were called "Atagbondo" or "the People of theStick," in consequence of their habit of fighting only with long-handledclubs, which they could cut for themselves as soon as forest land,similar to their own, was reached by the party.
These clubs, it appeared, formed their sole weapon of offence, but theyalso used--as our friends found at a later date--an instrument of a mostpeculiar nature, and of which their white leaders could not at firstcomprehend the utility.
The instrument referred to, was a neatly-fashioned piece of extremelyhard wood, from a yard to a yard and a half in length, thick in thecentre, where it contained a cavity to protect the hand, and tapering toboth of its slender-looking extremities. At its widest part it was butsome few inches broad, was fitted with a thong in which to slip thehand, and generally gave one the idea of a modified quarter-staff withan elongated bulb in the middle. The instrument was called a "quayre;"and when this people went into battle the warriors tapped the quayreagainst the shaft of the club and produced a rattling volume of sound,which could be heard a mile away, and was supposed to strike terror intothe heart of the foe; whilst the quayre itself, which they handled in amost expert fashion, was used not only to ward off blows struck at thepersons of the men with native axes, clubs, or similar weapons, but evenin parrying spear-thrusts--a difficult operation, which they performed,however, with no little dexterity, whilst the quayre was at the sametime less than one-third of the weight of a very ordinary fightingshield.
On being informed that the white men were about to hold a council ofwar, and would like them to be represented, the chief of the Atagbondostepped forward. Probably forty years of age, this man was amagnificent specimen of his race, who are all very much above theaverage height of Englishmen. He stood, probably, six feet two inches,but whilst he was not quite so tall as Amaxosa he possessed a moreheavily built frame, being broader and deeper in the chest, and moremassive in his appearance generally. Taken all through, he was,perhaps, the more powerful of the two men, but what the Zulu lacked inpoint of muscle was more than compensated for by the symmetry of hisbuild, and his consequently superior activity; besides, this wasrelatively speaking, a man of peace, whilst the fierce Zulu was a man ofwar from his youth up, trained in every art and artifice, and inured tohardships and dangers by the experiences of many a well-fought field.
The Chieftain of the Stick had an intensely "Negro" face, but withoutits ordinary stolidity, and, in common with his warriors, had his headshaved with the exception of a sort of central tuft, which somewhatresembled the "scalp lock" of the North American Indians, and throughthis tuft was thrust, in the case of every man, a miniature quayre,beautifully carved in ivory, standing, in point of fact, for the "totem"of his tribe, and proudly indicating the race from which he sprang.
The chief--whose name, by the way, was "Barad," or "The Hailstorm"--in afew well-chosen words, thanked the white men for releasing himself andhis people, and then declared his intention of putting his partyentirely into the hands of our friends, until vengeance had been takenupon the wicked men "who dwelt on the frontier of the far north, andamongst the mountains of Muzi Zimba the Ancient." Our friends were morethan surprised to find that their new allies both knew and reverencedthe friendly hermit who overlooked Zero's location, but found thatbeyond sending the old man a yearly "hongo," or tribute, they knewnothing of him, but regarded him as a "very big fetish."
Amaxosa and Leigh now returning empty-handed and disgusted from theirsearch after Zero, a council was called to receive their report. Thiswas as short as it was unsatisfactory. The slaver had beenunquestionably wounded by Grenville's bullet, but it was, unfortunately,one of those wounds which act upon a flying foe as they do upon arunning deer, and simply make him leap the faster.
The pair had followed the track of the fugitive for close upon tenmiles, beyond which it was useless to go, as they now knew positivelyfrom the "sign" that Zero had unearthed a canoe from its hiding-placeamongst some rocks near the river, and had gone off down stream, andwas, therefore, completely out of reach for the time being.
Smarting with fury at the crushing defeat he had sustained, and maddenedby the loss of both friends and plunder, the party might safely reckonupon the slaver delivering a crushing attack upon their position at nodistant date, and it only now became a question as to whether they weresufficiently strong to go out and meet him in the open, or had betterchoose out a likely place on the mountain side, and make it good, untilthe loss on the side of the foe provided them with a chance of wipinghim out "one time," as the natives say, with a well-delivered sortie.
True, the little band had now the not-to-be-despised support of threehundred able-bodied men, all thirsting for vengeance upon the commonfoe; but then, these men were entirely unarmed, whilst Zero, besidesmustering close upon a thousand of his own rogues, well supplied withguns, would in all probability be supported by the native King alreadyreferred to, backed by several thousands of his followers, all armedwith bow and spear, in the use of which they were said to be both boldand skilful.
Ultimately, therefore, our friends decided to stay where they were, or,rather, to select a strong position on the mountain capable of asustained defence, and in the interval which they might calculate uponprior to an attack, they determined to employ themselves in an endeavourto arm, after their own peculiar fashion, the warlike People of theStick, and to induct the most intelligent amongst them into themysteries of the rifle. This last would necessitate some littleexpenditure in the way of ammunition; but, as the party had abundance ofpowder taken from the vanquished slavers, they were fortunately in aposition to afford this outlay.
Towards evening, the indefatigable Amaxosa, who had gone out on a tourof inspection, returned with an exceptionally favourable report, and thefirst thing on the morrow the whole band removed to the rocky fastnessselected for their occupation by the keen-eyed Zulu chief, and all handswere at once set to work to excavate, to build earthworks, and in manyother ways to amplify the already considerable natural defences of theplace, whilst the Atagbondo flayed every bush and tree within a scoro ofmiles, to furnish themselves with offensive clubs and defensive quayres.