Tom Willoughby's Scouts: A Story of the War in German East Africa

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XVII--A GERMAN OFFER

  For the rest of the night Tom got no sleep. Listening to the rush of thetorrent through the nullah he waited anxiously for the dawn. As soon asthere was light enough, he went out to see what havoc the storm hadwrought. The worst anticipations were not realised, but the damage wasserious enough. Some of the huts were broken down; one or two of thosenearest to the stream had been washed away; the defences at the bendalmost obliterated; and the barricade of trees at the entrance of thenullah showed many gaps. But the slope of the ground and the depth ofthe channel had been sufficient to carry off almost all the overflowfrom the lake, and there seemed to be no danger of the village on thehigher ground at the north end being flooded out. The prisoners' hut onthe island had suffered nothing except from leaks in the roof, and theseReinecke had at once set his subordinates to repair.

  The rain had ceased, and as soon as it was possible to dig, Tom orderedhis men to reconstruct the damaged defences. More trees were packedinto the barricades, the ditch outside it was widened and deepened; thetrenches on the slopes were recut and strengthened, and a communicationtrench was dug from each to the bed of the nullah, so that theirgarrisons could be reinforced at need, under cover from the enemy'sfire. The trench and parapet at the bend were also restored, and ateach end, some twenty-five feet above the bed of the nullah, a smallblockhouse of rocks was erected, in which half a dozen men, throughapertures left for rifle fire, could enfilade any attacking party thatadvanced on either bank of the stream.

  Tom had hitherto made no attempt to communicate with the Britishauthorities beyond the border. He reflected that their hands were full,and while he was in no immediate danger he hesitated to embarrass them.Now, however, when it was clear that the Germans would make a seriouseffort to deal with him, and major operations were interrupted by therains, he resolved to try to get a message through to Abercorn,explaining his position. He wrote on leaves from his pocket-book abrief account of what he had been doing, made a copy, gave theduplicated messages to two of the best scouts from M'setu's contingent,and sent them off on successive days. The papers, which they carriedfolded in their loin-cloths, were addressed "The Commanding Officer,Abercorn." A single man should be able to cross the hills and the NeuLangenburg road without much risk of being caught. The journey mighttake three or four days, so that it would be at least a week before ananswer could be received, even in the most favourable circumstances.

  Several days passed, on most of which rain fell. Feeling pretty surethat the enemy would not attack in such weather, Tom took every possibleadvantage of the breathing space, improving the defences, drilling hismen, and shooting game in the neighbourhood, in order to eke out hisfast diminishing stores of food. He also practised his scouts in thesystem of shouting messages, and was not much surprised to find thatsome of his posts had been deserted: it was hardly to be expected thatM'setu's men, undisciplined negroes, would show fortitude enough toremain at their stations in pelting rain-storms. But since it was ofvital importance that the scouting should be efficient, he consideredhow best to surmount the very real difficulty that had manifesteditself. After a good deal of thought, he decided to reduce the numberof posts, retaining only those that commanded the main routes, and tohave these frequently inspected by Mirambo or some other trustworthynative. With Mirambo he himself made a round of the posts--a task thatoccupied him for two days--and as the result of this personal visitfound himself able to devise a simplified scheme that promised to besuccessful.

  The outermost line of posts was established on the hills north of theNeu Langenburg road, in such spots that any movement on about twentymiles of its course must be seen by at least one of his men. Takingthis line as the base of a triangle, and the mouth of the nullah as theapex, he arranged for posts to be held along the sides, and also onperpendicular lines to the sides from the base. While he thus somewhatnarrowed the area that was watched, he concentrated observation on thequarters from which danger was most to be expected, and, needing fewermen, was able to give them shorter spells.

  On returning one day from a shooting expedition, he learnt that messageshad been received not long before from a scouting post near the NeuLangenburg road. The first message was that an armed party had beenseen marching from the direction of Bismarckburg; the second, that theparty consisted of two white officers with a number of askaris, and hadstruck into a track which would lead past Reinecke's plantation to thenullah. One of the askaris carried a white flag.

  "Parlementaires," thought Tom. "They want to negotiate? Well, I musthear what they have to say."

  For a moment he thought of going out at the head of a party of his mento meet the enemy; but reflecting that he had no precise information oftheir number, and that their object might be to lure him from hisdefences, he decided to remain behind the barricade.

  Presently another message came through his chain of scouts, announcingthat the strangers had just passed a post about ten miles from thenullah. After some two hours and a half he learnt that they were nowwithin five miles. Thereupon he ordered his men to take up theirallotted positions behind the barricade and in the trenches, and sentMwesa to the nearest scouting post, about two miles distant, to watchfor the enemy's coming, and to run back and tell him how many they were.Mwesa was the only negro whom he could trust to form even an approximateestimate of their number.

  In due time the lad came back with the report that the askaris were nomore than twenty. Reassured that no attack was intended by so small aforce, Tom awaited their arrival with composure.

  "But they mustn't come too close," he thought, "or they'll see toomuch."

  He scribbled in German a note on a leaf from his pocket-book--

  "Mr. Willoughby presents his compliments," he wrote, "and has the honourto say that he, with ten men, will meet the recipient of this note, alsowith ten men, at the edge of the forest, three hundred yards from hisposition. Any attempt to advance across the clearing will be resisted."

  "Run and give that to the commanding officer," he said to Mwesa, "andcome back with his answer."

  "Him say no come back," said Mwesa, looking uncomfortable.

  "Not at all. He won't prevent you. Be quick."

  The boy ran off, disappeared in the forest, and in twenty minutes wasseen speeding back again.

  "You have an answer?" asked Tom.

  "Him look at paper, den laugh and talk to other man; me no savvy whatsay. Den he tell me all right."

  "In English?"

  "Yes, sah, he talk English same as me."

  It was not long before a party of men emerged from the forest beyond theclearing, and halted. There were ten askaris, one of whom carried awhite flag; and in the tall German accompanying them Tom recognised theofficer who had been his fellow-passenger on the _Hedwig von Wissmann_months before.

  Collecting the ten men whom he had already chosen, Tom passed outthrough the barricade and advanced to meet the German.

  "Good day, Mr. Willoughby," said Major von Rudenheim, saluting. "Youwill remember me, no doubt. We were on board the _Hedwig von Wissmann_together."

  "I remember you, Major," replied Tom, a little puzzled by this tone offriendliness; "but I was not aware that I had come within your line ofvision."

  "Oh yes, I saw you," returned the major with a slight smile, "and I haveheard a good deal about you since. But you have got yourself into avery awkward position, young man."

  He spoke in the tone a benevolent uncle might have used towards a smallboy.

  "Yes, your people have found it awkward," said Tom, smoothly.

  "You take me too literally, Mr. Willoughby. But youth is oftenadventurous, and thoughtless; you do not quite realise the consequencesof your rash actions. It is a pity that a private quarrel should haveled you to take steps which bring you into conflict with the militarypower. The outbreak of war, of course, made you a public enemy; but ifyou had not been in such haste to pay off old scores it would have beeneasy to arrange for your departure into
British territory."

  "I assure you, Major, what you call a private quarrel had nothingwhatever to do with my action. We will leave my private affairs out ofthe question. As you say, I became a public enemy. Well?"

  "You do not understand, perhaps, that we should be justified in treatingyou as a spy." The major's tone was not quite so friendly now.

  "I don't understand what you are driving at," said Tom, bluntly."Hadn't you better come to the point?"

  A flicker of annoyance passed over the German's face. It vanishedinstantly, and when he spoke again it was in the suave tones he hademployed at the beginning of the interview.

  "I come to make a reasonable--a friendly arrangement. There are certainGermans, I believe, in your hands. I am not sure whether----"

  "To save time--I have a sergeant, two privates, and Mr. Reinecke."

  "Ah! And also certain askaris----"

  "Africans, not Germans."

  "But in our service, therefore Germans. Also a number of natives whowere being recruited for our army--potential Germans. Now, since it isobvious that you cannot maintain your position indefinitely, you will nodoubt see the reasonableness of the proposal I put to you, namely, thatyou surrender the German subjects you hold as prisoners, in exchange fora safe-conduct for yourself and any twelve men you may select, to theBritish lines."

  "And the rest? Besides the men, I have many women and children. Whatwill you do with them?"

  "That will be in the discretion of my superiors. The non-combatants willno doubt return to their employment, from which they were enticed away.As for the able-bodied men, technically they are mutineers and liable tobe shot. But in consideration of their ignorance they may possibly bepardoned and allowed to re-enlist."

  "It is hardly a _quid pro quo_, is it?" said Tom. "You must be awarethat I could at any time during the past two or three months have mademy way to the British lines with all my able-bodied men without asafe-conduct. You propose that I should save my skin at the expense ofhanding back those poor creatures to the slavery they have been glad toescape from?"

  "What are the niggers to you, Mr. Willoughby? The war, _ipso facto_, hasdissolved your partnership with Mr. Reinecke. Your interest in theplantation and its workers has lapsed."

  "Far from it: my interest in the workers is greater than ever. Ienticed them away, you say; and believing that, you invite me to betraythem! Upon my word, Major von Rudenheim, those who sent you with aninvitation like that must have so low a standard of honour that I shouldprefer not to trust to any assurances on their part."

  "You impeach my honour, sir?" cried the German, with an angry glare.

  "I take it that you are obeying orders, Major," replied Tom, quietly."Those niggers, as you call them, are under my protection: I say thatany one who proposes that I should abandon them on the terms you offerholds _my_ honour very lightly. I don't think there is anything more tobe said."

  "Only this, sir. You reject a reasonable offer: I have not stated thealternative. The niggers are under your protection! It will not servethem. They will be exterminated, and you----"

  "Yes?"

  The major laughed.

  "You will fall--on the field of honour!" he said with a sneer, "or becaptured and shot."

  And with that he turned on his heel and strode off at the head of hismen.