Harry Milvaine; Or, The Wanderings of a Wayward Boy
Page 29
and wake all our poor blue-jackets. `Come quiet,' deysay; `suppose you make bobbery, den we kill you quick.' Dey tak us allaway behind de sandhills, and I tink first and fohmost dey am goin' toobfuscate us."
"Suffocate us you mean, Raggy."
"All de same meaning, massa. But dey tie our arms till de blood tingleall down de fingers, and dey tie us roun' de neck till we all feelchickey-chokey, and our eyes want to bust and relieve demselves. Denaway we all go. I look back, and see dat poor massa not follow, and myheart am bery sad. Ober de hills and de plains we walk. Poor whiteman's feet soon get tire and blister all, and in two tree day dey walkall de same's one chicken on de stove-top. Dey Somalis and de bigArab--he one bad, _bad_ man--dey talk. Dey not tink I understand whatdey say. Dey speak ob where dey am going to de country ob KingKara-Kara, to sell all de men for slabes and get a tousand niggers foh'em. Den dey speak ob you. You, dey say, am wo'th de lot Raggy heahall, and listen, and tink, and I want to set you free. One day one manhe fall sick--one ohdinary seaman, massa, name is Davis--he fall bery,bery sick. Den de Arab soldier look at him and look at him. You nebahget well, he say. Den he take him by de two leg and pull him along degrass to a bush; and oh! it was drefful, massa, to heah poor Daviscrying for mussy 'cause he hab a wife and piccaninnies at home, he tole'em. No mussy in dat Arab's eye. No mussy in his heart, he take deugly spear and stab--stab--stab--Poor Davis jes say `Oh!' once or twice,den he die. Plenty oder men sick after dis, but dey not lie down. Deyjes walk on weary, weary. Byemby we come to wells. Den de men getbetter. But Raggy hab eno' ob dis. He steal away at night. How delion roah in de jungle, and how de tiger [the leopard is frequently socalled in Africa] jump about, and de wild hyaenas come out in demoonlight and laugh at poor Raggy. Raggy's heart bery full ob feah.But he no say much. Suppose dey only laugh, dat not hurt much. Supposedey bite, den Raggy die. I walk and walk foh days. I not hab muchfood. But I catch de mole and de mouse, I eatee he plenty quick. Denbyemby I come to Mahmoud's trail, and I follow on and up till one day Isee de caravan on de hill, den I lie and sleep till night Massa knowsall de rest."
"Yes, Raggy, I know all the rest, and very grateful I am for your pluck,and all that, and if ever we get back again, I'll report your good andbrave conduct, and you'll be well rewarded. Perhaps they'll make you acaptain, Raggy."
"Massa is joking."
"You go home now at once?" the boy asked, after a pause.
"Oh! no, Raggy. That would not be doing my duty. I'm going inland, andI'm going to try to find and redeem, or rescue our poor fellows. Itwould not be plucky nor brave to go back without them--at all eventswithout trying to find them. Now, Raggy, as we are sure, if spared, tobe some considerable time together, I wish you to do me the favour toteach Nanungamanoo to speak English."
"De yeller nigger wi' de long name, massa?"
"That is he, Raggy--Nanungamanoo."
"Oh! lah! massa, I teachee he plenty propah, and suppose he no speakgood, I give him five, six, ten stick all same as de schoolmastah ob de_Bunting_ switchee me."
"You better not try," said Harry, laughing, "or you may find yourself inthe wrong box. But here," he cried aloud, "Nanungamanoo, where areyou?"
Next moment Nanungamanoo stood silently before him awaiting hiscommands.
"You've got too long a name, Nanungamanoo."
"Yes, sahib."
"Well, we'll shorten it. We'll call you Jack. It's free and easy."
Jack expressed his pleasure to have an English name, so Jack he became.
"On all `occasions of ceremony or state,' as the Navy List says, Jack,we will resort to your original designation, and you will beNanungamanoo again."
For three days and nights Harry and his merry men occupied the cave onthe hillside.
At the end of this time they had the satisfaction one evening of seeinga red light gleaming on the western horizon. It was the reflection ofthe camp-fire of the returning caravan.
Early next morning, almost as soon as sunrise, Mahmoud and his followerspassed through the forest at the foot of the hill. Harry could evenhear them talking, so close were they.
He had the rifles loaded and everything ready to give them a warmreception should they dare to ascend. But they did not. They wentthrough the forest and on their way across a broad sandy plain.
When they had quite disappeared beyond the horizon, Harry gave a sigh ofrelief. The danger was, comparatively speaking, over for a time. Hewould now give them a few days' start, then go on behind, for Jackassured him this caravan route was the only practical way into theinterior.
Every night the lions could be heard growling and roaring with thatawe-inspiring cough, which they emit, in the woods around the hill. Itwas well they had a cave to sleep in, for to have lit fires on thehill-top would have ensured the return of Mahmoud and his savageSomalis, and they would have been captured. But a sentinel was set--andHarry took the post time about with Raggy and Somali Jack.
Was Jack really to be trusted? The answer to this is, that thefaithfulness of a Somali Indian will be sold to the highest bidder, justlike a picture at an auction mart, but it may in time be cemented to thepurchaser if he is worthy of it. I have always found that there is agreat deal of similarity betwixt the human nature as displayed byIndians and white men, which only proves that the world is much the sameall over.
I must add, however, that white men as a rule treat savages with lessceremony and far less justice than they would mete out to one of theirown dogs at home. Take an example. Some scoundrelly white trader hasbeen murdered (it is called "murdered," but I should say "killed") bysome islanders of the Pacific. This trading fellow had been on shore--probably not sober--abusing the hospitality held out to him, bullyingand swaggering, and doing deeds that, if committed in this country,would secure for him a lengthened period of penal servitude. The wormturns at last and resents. The trader calls his men and a fight ensues;the savages are victorious, the white men slain. By and by in comes aBritish man-o'-war and demands the surrender of the murderers by thechief or king. Perhaps he does not even know them, refuses to give themup, and therein ensues a wholesale butchery of men, women, and children,and the burning of towns and villages.
I have known this happen over and over again, and I have asked myself,Who is to blame? Certainly not the so-called savages.
Well, boy-readers, if ever any of you happen to be away abroad, inAfrica or the Pacific, and have a native as a servant, take my advice:treat him as a human being and a fellow-creature, and you will have nocause to complain, but quite the reverse.
Harry had a good long talk with Jack; he told him he should let him goaway any time he wished, but that if he did stay he would have no causeto repent it.
Once more Jack took Harry's hand in both his and bent himself down untilhis brow touched it, and our hero was satisfied.
On leaving the hill--which, by the way, Harry took possession of in theQueen's name, and called it Mount Andrew, to show he had not forgottenhis old friend in the Highlands--they journeyed on through the forestand followed in the very footsteps of Mahmoud's caravan, across plains,through woods, through rivers and mountain glens, camping every nightwhere Mahmoud had camped, and lighting a fire in the very same spot.The fire was very necessary now, and it had to be kept up all night, forthey were in a country inhabited by and given up to, one might say, wildbeasts.
Here were lions in scores, hyaenas and jungle-cats.
So all night long these animals made the bush resound with their cries.
Sometimes Harry found it almost impossible to sleep, so terrible was thequarrelling and din. He fell upon a plan at last that in some measureremedied the infliction--that of leaving the bullock or two, or the deeror hartebeest slain for food, a good two or three miles behind. Wherethe carrion is, there cometh the kite; and so it was in this case--tosome extent at all events.
The store of rice that Jack had looted from Mahmoud's camp very soon wasdone, but they did not want for provisions for all that.
There were fruits of so many kinds, and roots that they dug up, orrather that Jack dug up and roasted in the camp-fire. Then there wereplantains, which are excellent cooked in the same primitive style. Someof the forest trees were laden with fruit; the danger lay in eating toomuch of it. Many of these fruits were quite unknown to Harry, but hewas guided by his best man, Jack. With so much fruit, salt was hardlymissed, though at first Harry thought it strange to eat meat without it.
Slices from the most tender portions of the animals killed were cut andcarried along with them, and towards evening, when the bivouac groundwas chosen, and the fire of wood gathered and kindled by Jack and Raggy,the former set to work to prepare the supper.
The roots, yams principally, were simply buried among the fiery