veryyoung.
There were terrible doings next day in camp, and, I'm sorry to say, morethan one human sacrifice. I, as medicine man and chief sorcerer, wentthrough a great many mummeries, which I managed to make last all theforenoon. I was endeavouring to find out the wretch who had dared tospill the great king's rum; that is, I was pretending to. There wasmore than one chief on whose shoulders I permitted my magician's wand torest for a while, just by way of a mild revenge, but the lot finallyfell once again on an aged billy-goat. I had saved the king, and savedmany of his subjects, for when the king was intoxicated, humansacrifices were of everyday occurrence. At ordinary times they were nomore numerous than Bank Holidays in our own country.
When it was all over I stole away to the shady banks of a stream tobathe, and lie and watch the kingfishers. It was a favourite resort ofmine, whenever I dared be alone.
The warriors of this tribe spent most of their time either on thehunting grounds--forest and plain--or in making raids on theirneighbours. I was allowed to join the hunting expeditions, but not theforays. I became an expert horseman. I could ride bare-backed as wellas any circus-man I have ever seen since. The king was too fat to ridemuch, but he used to follow to the chase of the koodoo.
This is a kind of beautiful antelope, and excellent eating, itsprincipal recommendation in the eyes of Otakooma. We often caught theyoung, and they became as tame as our goats.
Now once having taken it into my head that escape from this country ofsavages was impossible, strange to say I began to settle down, ineverything else except human bloodthirstiness, and soon became a veryexpert savage, taking a wild kind of pride in my exploits.
Mine was now a life of peril and hardship; adventures to me were ofeveryday occurrence; I carried my life in my hand; I grew as wily as ajackal, and I hope as bold as a lion. I take no credit to myself forbeing bold; I had to be so.
The king and I continued friends. At the end of the sixth year of mycaptivity, Jooma died. He died from wounds received at the horns of awild buffalo in the forest.
This buffalo-hunting had for me a very great charm, and it certainly wasnot unattended with danger, for there were times when, headed by an oldbull or two, a whole herd of these animals would charge down upon us.This was nothing to me. I could climb trees as well as most monkeys, soI got out of harm's way, but it was hard upon the savages, who were notalways so nimble.
Jooma was terribly tossed and wounded by a bull, and he died at the treefoot. He called me to him before his eyes were for ever closed, andasked me to forgive him for all the ill he had done me, and tried to dome.
"I have been to you one ver bad fellow," said poor Jooma; "I have wantto kill you plenty time. Now I die. You forgive Jooma?"
"I do, Jooma," I said, and pressed his cold hard hand.
"Ver well," said the lad, faintly and slowly. "Now I die. Now, I gohome--go home--home."
We buried him just where he lay, between the gnarled roots of a greatforest tree, and piled wood over the grave to keep the sneaking jackalsat bay.
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One morning about two years after this, I was awakened early--indeed itwas hardly dawn--by hearing a tremendous uproar and commotion in thecamp, with much warlike shouting and beating of those everlastingtom-toms [Note 1].
The king was running about wildly--too wildly, indeed, for his weight--and was summoning his warriors to arms.
White men were coming to attack the camp!
This was glorious news for me.
But who, or what could they be, or what could they want?
All that day, from far and near, the warriors of Otakooma came troopinginto camp. To do them justice they were fond of fighting, and eager forthe fray; they loved fighting for its own sake, but a battle with whitemen was a thing that did not happen every day.
The old men, the women and children, and the cattle were separated fromthe main or soldier portion of the tribe, and taken westwards towardsthe distant hills. So it was evident that Otakooma and his people meantbusiness.
What part should I take in the coming fray? I might have fled, andremained away until the victory was secured by the white men, but thiswould have been both unkind and cowardly. On the other hand, I wouldnot lift a spear or poise a lance against my own people.
That same evening, after all was hushed in the camp, I sought out theking. He looked at me very suspiciously before I spoke.
I sat quietly in front of him on the ground, and explained to him mysituation.
He was wise enough to see exactly how I stood, but he told me there wasan easy way out of the difficulty. Early in the morning he would chopoff my head. He bore me no grudge, he explained, _it was a mere matterof policy_.
"Quite right," I replied, "and, if he chose, he might take my head offthen and there. I didn't at all mind; and would just as soon be withouta head as with one."
The king smiled, and seemed pleased.
"But," I continued, "you may look at the possession of a head in adifferent light, so far as your own particular head is concerned. Ifyour people are beaten, you will assuredly lose that head, unless awhite man is near to take your part. I will be your friend," I said,"in this matter, and during the battle I will stand by your person andnever leave you."
Otakooma was delighted at the proposal, and so we arranged matters toour mutual satisfaction, and I felt glad I had come; I had certainlylost nothing by my candour. No one ever does.
Firing began early in the morning. The battle raged till nearly noon,with dreadful slaughter on the side of the savages, who were finallyborne backwards a disorganised mob.
I stuck by the king. He did not fly. He felt safe and said so, but hewept to see his children, as he called them, slain before his very eyes.
Oh! the glad sight it was to me, after all these years, to behold thebold bluejackets, and brave marines, dashing after the foe, gun andbayonet in hand!
But a more joyful surprise awaited me when the battle was over; for thevery first man to rush up to me and shake me by the two hands was mydear friend Ben Roberts.
"Nie, old boy!" he cried, "I wouldn't have known you. You've grown aman, and what a savage you do look! And do you know, Nie, what all thisfighting has been about?"
"No," I said innocently.
"Why, about _you_!" He almost shouted the last word, and I could see inhis honest eyes the tears which he could hardly keep from failing.
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Note 1. A tom-tom is a kind of kettle-drum. It is simply a log of woodhollowed out at one end, and a dried skin stretched over it.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
"The sea! the sea! the open sea! The blue, the fresh, the ever free!"
Proctor.
"England, thy beauties are tame and domestic, To one who has roamed o'er the mountains afar."
Byron.
Yes, all the fighting had been about me.
Our fellows had not lost the battle that day at Zareppa's fort; on thecontrary, they had given the Arabs a grievous defeat. I had at firstbeen reported killed, but as I was not found among the dead and wounded,search was made for me more inland, and it was soon elicited that I hadbeen carried away prisoner, and no doubts were left in the minds of myshipmates, that I had died by the torture, in order to avenge the deathof the pirate chief.
The old _Niobe_ had been wrecked since my incarceration in the land ofthe savages. Roberts had been made lieutenant, and it was not until hereturned to the shores of Africa, several years after, that he heardfrom friendly Arabs that there was an English prisoner in the hands of awarlike tribe of savages, who lived almost in the centre of the darkcontinent. After this my dear friend never rested in his hammock, as hehimself expressed it, until he had organised the expedition that came tomy relief.
What a delightful sensation it was to me to feel myself once more atsea!
"The glorious mirr
or, where the Almighty's form Glasses itself in tempest."
We were homeward bound. I was a passenger, and we had splendid weather,so everything seemed to combine to make me feel joyful and happy.Joyful, did I say? why, there were times when I wanted to run about andshout for joy like a schoolboy, or like the savage that I fear I hadalmost become.
But I could not run about and shout on board a trim and well-disciplinedman-o'-war. The very appearance of the
"White and glassy deck, without a stain Where, on the watch, the staid lieutenant walked,"
forbade, so at such moments I used to long to be away in the woodsagain, in order to give proper vent to my exultation.
Besides, I had good cause to be staid and sedate. Roberts had heardnews that changed the whole course of my life. I was no longer afriendless sailor-boy. My grandfather was dead, and I was the heir tohis estate. It was not a very large patrimony, I admit. It was simplya competence, but to me, when I heard
O'er Many Lands, on Many Seas Page 10