Settlers and Scouts: A Tale of the African Highlands

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH--Juma is Reinforced

  Flushed with his bloodless victory, John ordered his men to make up thefire, and set two to watch at the gate; then, carrying a roughly-formedtorch, he proceeded to an examination of the stronghold which was soimposing to the native imagination. It was a poor enough placeestimated from a European point of view. It consisted simply of acircular space on a low mound about thirty yards in diameter, enclosedby a rude stone wall rather less than the height of a man. The islanditself was an irregular oval. At the eastern end the wall came towithin a foot or two of its shore; north and south the interval waslittle greater, the ground sloping steeply down to the edge of the pool.Westward it fell away less rapidly, though even here the angle wasconsiderable. The island was no more than sixty yards at its greatestlength, and from forty to fifty in breadth. The bridge sloped up fromthe end of the causeway to the gate, which was itself some feet lowerthan the ground within the fort. Just within it, on each side, a canoewas laid against the wall. Within the enclosure were a number of grasshuts, set at intervals of a few yards apart.

  The Pool]

  Having surveyed the place as well as he could by the uncertain light ofhis torch, John searched the huts. He found in the largest of them,which he guessed to be Juma's, two of his rifles, a number of oldmuskets, a miscellaneous collection of cartridges, most of which wouldnot fit the rifles, shot of all shapes and sizes, one or two old swords,and a curious assortment of articles, mostly useless, which Juma and hismen had no doubt purloined when on safari. Among them were brokenboots, a fancy waistcoat in tatters, several condensed milk tins, somepewter spoons, a field-glass case, and an empty whisky bottle. Thesethings, valueless to a European, would be treasure untold to thenatives, and John was glad that his promise of loot would not benullified. There was also a fair quantity of grain food, but no meat.

  "I think I'm a bit of a fool," said John to himself, when he had seenall there was to be seen. "What have I come for after all? I've gotback our property, to be sure; but what then? I can't demolish the fortbefore Juma arrives. I can't go back at once, because the men couldn'tstand it. It looks as if I shall have to hold the place, for a day atleast; and if those beggars come up in any numbers and manage to crossthe pool I shall be pretty hard put to it to defend a hundred yards ofwall. Ah well! I'm in for it now. The best thing I can do is to getout as soon as possible."

  He arranged for a watch to be kept up during the remainder of the night,and then threw himself down on the ground near the fire, not to sleep,for the negro is an untrustworthy sentry, but to turn things over in hismind. He remembered the store of ivory which Bill wished to recover,and would have been willing to help the old man; but when he consideredthe matter he concluded that it would be sheer lunacy to venture withhis handful of men into the country of a tribe that had been strongenough to annihilate a large and well-armed Arab safari. There was noreason to suppose that the "bad men" were any less powerful now thanthey had been then.

  "And suppose I got the ivory," he thought, "how the dickens could Icarry it? The men have got quite enough to carry, what with the loothere and the things left with Charley. Judging by the weight ofbilliard balls a single tusk of ivory would be a pretty heavy load fortwo or three men, and we might be two or three weeks getting back. Billwill be upset, without a doubt, but I can't help that. A good rest, andthen start for home: that's my ticket."

  Pondering further, he came to the conclusion that there might after allnot be the need for haste that he had at first imagined. Juma's menwere thoroughly disheartened, no doubt; the garrison at the fort hadbeen turned adrift; they had lost the greater part of their firearms andammunition and all their stores of food, and it was probable that forthe present they would have enough to do to find subsistence withoutwasting their energies in attacking either him or Ferrier. His own menhad been marching or fighting, with only a few hours' sleep, for twodays; a long rest was necessary for them; so he decided, before he fellinto a half-doze from which the least sound would have roused him, thathe might look forward to spending a day or two in the fort before heneed set off to rejoin Ferrier.

  At dawn he was up, and went to the gate to look round. None of theenemy were in sight, except his wounded prisoner, whom he saw hobblingacross the causeway. In the excitement of the attack he had cleanforgotten the man, who, he remembered with compunction, must have beenall night in the wood, hungry, a prey to terror and pain. He let downthe bridge and admitted him at once.

  "Let me look at your leg," he said.

  Removing the bandages, he saw that it was a case for desperate remedies.

  "You must let me cut the bullet out," he said.

  The man made no objection. John opened his knife and carefully washedthe sharpest blade; then ordered two of the men to hold the patient, andbegan to probe the wound as gently as he could. The bullet was imbeddedin the flesh where there was no danger of his severing an artery. Hesoon found the bullet, and setting his teeth, started the first surgicaloperation of his life. He had a steady hand: the man lay inert as alog, without wincing or even groaning; and in a few minutes he hadextracted the bullet, feeling a vast admiration for the big fellow'sfortitude. Having bathed and bound up the leg, he gave the man somefood, and saw him in a few minutes fall asleep. John drew a good auguryfrom this little incident. The man had sought him, and not his ownmaster; John took it, perhaps superstitiously, as an indication that he,and not Juma, would, as he put it, "come out on top."

  He sent out Bill, with one of the men, to look for the enemy. Theyreturned early in the afternoon, reporting that they had failed to seeeither the men who had been ejected from the fort, or the larger partyunder Juma's command. Bill judged from the tracks that the former hadscattered, some to the south to meet their friends, others to the east.

  In the daylight John confirmed his overnight examination of the fort. Hesaw now that there were rapids at both ends of the pool, and sighed forleisure to do a little fishing, guessing that such a river would providegood sport. But he had something more serious to think about. Aftertheir night's rest the men were less fatigued than he had expected, sohe saw no reason to defer the destruction of the fort. His purpose wasto rase the wall, and hurl into the pool the stones of which it wasbuilt. They were piled loosely one upon another without cement ormortar, and he thought that it would be a light job to remove them; butit turned out to be a much more troublesome business than he hadsupposed, and when, after two hours' work, he saw how little had beenaccomplished he felt rather troubled. At the same rate it would taketwo or three days to complete the work. He had no gunpowder to sparefor blowing up the wall; and he wished neither to remain so long absentfrom Ferrier, nor to be found on the spot when Juma returned, as heassuredly would do.

  A little while after Bill had returned from his reconnoitring expeditionhe suddenly cocked his ear towards the south-east and in a momentdeclared that he heard the sound of fire-sticks. The men werechattering, and John fancied that the Wanderobbo must be mistaken. Hecalled for silence, and all listened intently, but could hear nothingexcept the slow gurgle of the water in the pool and the far-awayrumbling of the rapids below.

  "Do you hear it now?" he asked.

  "No," Bill replied; "but I did hear it."

  John had by this time so much respect for the Wanderobbo's acuteness ofhearing that he felt it unwise to neglect this statement. Bidding themen to sort out all the provisions the fort contained, with the idea ofcarrying a portion with him when he left, and burning the rest, he leftthe place with Bill, after giving strict orders that the bridge shouldbe taken up behind him, and not replaced over the gap until his return,unless he should send back a message by Bill. The two crossed the pooland set off at a rapid pace towards the bluff. They were half-way tothe summit when Bill declared that he again heard shots. They quickenedtheir pace, and on reaching the top, where a wide expanse of the plainwas outstretched before them, they looked carefully all round thesouthern horizon, keeping
under cover. They could see the river windingalong between its verdurous banks, and when they lost sight of theshining water they could still trace its course by the fresher green ofthe vegetation. The plain was covered for the most part with grass,with patches of scrub and clumps of woodland here and there. In the fardistance they descried a herd of antelope feeding, but for some time sawno other living creature, beast or man.

  All at once both started. In the still air, above the sound of theswirling water beneath them, they heard distinctly six shots. One ofthem, Bill declared, was that of the msungu's rifle, though John wasutterly unable to understand how he could distinguish it from theothers. Some seconds afterwards Bill lifted his hand and pointed in asouth-easterly direction, saying that he saw smoke among the trees. Johnlooked eagerly in the same direction, but could see nothing. Unluckilyhe had left his field-glass with Ferrier. Presently he heard moreshots, in rapid succession. Clearly there was fighting going on; thenatural inference was that Ferrier's party was engaged, and since onlyhe, Coja, and Said Mohammed could use rifles, the number of the shotsshowed that his opponents must possess firearms. It was equally clearthat Ferrier, if it was indeed he, had left the spot where it had beenarranged that he should await John's return, and he must be eitherpursuing or pursued. The conclusion was irresistible that for someunforeseen reason he had found himself compelled to advance towardsJohn.

  Anxious on his friend's behalf, John decided instantly that he must setout at once to join hands with him. He sent Bill back to call the menfrom the fort, telling him that they must bring the ammunition andrifles for those who could use them. He himself would start towards thefiring, pointing out to Bill the general direction in which he would go.He knew that the men, being rapid marchers when not carrying loads,would not be long in overtaking him. The fort must be left unguarded,but there was no help for it; the matter of immediate urgency was toreinforce Ferrier.

  While Bill sped back to the fort, John scrambled down the bluff andhurried over the plain. As he proceeded the sounds of firing becameever clearer, and when he had covered about two miles at a swinging pacehe could also hear shouts.

  He had come almost to a thin belt of forest when he saw figuresapproaching among the trees. Dropping down behind a bush, he eagerlywatched them. At the edge of the forest they came clearly into view,and he saw that they were black men, marching in single file, rapidly,in spite of heavy loads. From behind them came at short intervals thestill louder crack of rifles, and the more voluminous shouts of men. Ina few moments he recognized them as men of his safari, and rose to meetthem. His figure suddenly appearing above the bush startled them, andthey instantly dropped their loads with yells, and began to run away.But a shout from him dispelled their fright; they turned, and hastenedtowards him, leaving their loads, however, where they had thrown them.

  When they met him they told him in accents of terror that the msungu wasfighting with a great host of bad men. Two or three showed wounds theyhad received. John ordered them to return to their loads and take themup, and then to look out for the party following him. He hurriedforward into the wood, and half-a-mile further on came upon Ferrier withthe rest of the safari, slowly retiring before a horde of savages. Hehad supposed that the "great host" of which the porters had spoken wasan exaggeration born of their panic, but he saw that Ferrier and his menwere, in fact, holding at bay a crowd of natives, among whom heperceived the white garments of Swahilis. Ferrier had Coja on his rightand Said Mohammed on his left, each at a few yards' interval, theremainder of the party, armed only with bows and arrows, being spreadout on each side over a considerable space to avoid the risk of beingoutflanked. They were retiring slowly, taking cover behind trees,picking off any of the enemy who showed themselves. Ferrier himself wasa dead shot now that he had recovered the full use of his arm. Severalmen had fallen to his unerring aim. What execution Coja and SaidMohammed did John never knew; but their shots had been effective indaunting the enemy, who had not dared to come too near, or to make arush. With a little more courage and generalship the savages, vastlyoutnumbering the safari, could have swept round them and had them attheir mercy; but the young Canadian had hitherto managed to hold off thebolder spirits who pressed him in front, and the others followed onwithout as yet attempting a flanking movement.

  "Good man!" cried John, as he hastened to Ferrier's side. "My lot arecoming up. We had better get out of this wood, or they'll be all roundus."

  They retired more quickly. It was time, for when they reached theplain, they saw that parties of the enemy, who had at last realized thatthey were losing opportunities, had crept round to right and left. Johninstantly sent a shot among the nearer crowd, causing them to scatter.Then, perceiving that another party had slipped by and was hastening inpursuit of the porters, he called some of the bowmen, who were mightilyencouraged by his arrival, and set off in chase. Another shot sent thisparty flying. John saw that the river would form an excellent defenceto the left flank of his little force, and running back to Ferrier, heasked him to edge nearer to it.

  "If we can only manage to keep them off until our men have had time toclimb the bluff, we can make a bolt for it," he said. "Up there amongthe boulders we can hold our own against any number."

  They retired slowly towards the belt of trees fringing the river. Bythe time they reached it Bill came up with the party from the fort. Thisreinforcement, together with the more advantageous position of theretiring force, served to check the pursuit. The enemy were notcourageous enough to dash past them within range, though their numberswere so great that they could easily have afforded the loss of a fewmen. The only means they had of slipping past safely and overtaking thesafari was either to make a wide detour across the plain, which wouldhave given John's party time to reach the bluff before them, or to crossthe river and make their way through the trees on the other bank; butthe current here was swift enough to make fording dangerous. So theyadopted neither course, but followed sullenly in the track of the party,firing at times, but never diminishing the distance between them.

  Every now and then John crept out from cover to watch the progress ofthe porters. To his impatience they seemed to move extraordinarilyslowly, and indeed their speed was much less than when he had first seenthem, for they had reached the beginning of the ascent, and were tiredwith carrying their heavy loads. He could see them toiling up thebluff, not in a close line, but far apart, the rearmost being nearlyhalf-a-mile behind the leader. At length he saw with relief that thelast man was within a few yards of the summit.

  "Now we'll give them a volley," said he, "and slip away."

  All who had rifles accompanied him to the edge of the belt of trees, andat his word fired together at the enemy, who had halted as if undecidedwhat to do. Another volley flashed from the second barrels; then,withdrawing among the trees, the party ran along in the direction of thebluff, reloading as they went. Within a few hundred yards they camewithout warning upon a band of twenty or thirty natives with twoSwahilis among them. They must have found a means of crossing theriver, hastened along the opposite bank, and then recrossed ahead ofJohn's party. There was no time for hesitation.

  "All together!" shouted Ferrier.

  They poured in a volley, emptying both barrels; then, with John andFerrier at the head, charged straight at the enemy. The savages,themselves taken aback by this sudden and vigorous onslaught, were toomuch flurried to discharge their weapons. While they still hesitated,the two white men were upon them, smiting right and left with the stocksof their rifles, their native followers close at their heels, making theair ring with their shouts. The savages immediately in the path of Johnand Ferrier went over like ninepins; a way was cleft through the group;several fell to the spears of the natives; the rest turned and fledright and left with wild yells, some plunging into the river, the othersdashing towards their comrades in the plain.

  "Now for a sprint," cried John. "We're not far from the bluff."

  They ran as fast as they could t
hrough the clinging undergrowth, emergedfrom cover when the rising ground told them that the end of their marchwas near at hand, and began to climb the steep ascent. The enemy, whosemain body had hurried forward at the sound of firing in the expectationof finding their quarry engaged with the ambush, were driven frantic atthe sight of their prey escaping them. Plucking up courage at last,they rushed forward in a yelling swarm, hoping to overcome the littleparty which had baffled them while it was still on the lower slope ofthe bluff, the path being so narrow that the climbers must go in singlefile. In a few brief sentences John ordered the bowmen to climb asquickly as possible, while with the rest he remained at the foot tocheck the rush. The enemy had come within two hundred yards before Johnand his companions had time to reload their rifles, which they had beenunable to do during their dash through the undergrowth. But they cameno nearer. A volley brought down several men in the front line of themass, if the van of such a wild horde could be called a line. The restwavered; while they hesitated the terrible bullets were again singingamong them. It was enough: they broke and fled in disorder, sped by aflight of arrows from the men who had climbed the bluff and were able toshoot without the risk of injuring their friends below.

  "I think that's the end," said John, panting as much with excitement aswith his exertions. "Up you go, Coja!"

  They hastened up the path, Ferrier and John the last two of the line.When they reached the top, where their men were awaiting them, theyhalted to look back over the plain.

  "My word! you've done jolly well," cried John, as he saw the duskythrong halted below. "I had no idea there were so many of them. Whathappened, Charley?"

  "Yesterday afternoon, just after I had brought in those fellows we leftat our little camp, the beggars made a sudden rush on us, springing upfrom nowhere, as it appeared. It was the same lot that we stampeded,but largely reinforced, and from what my men said, there's no doubt thenewcomers belong to the same tribe I had trouble with when you rescuedme. It was lucky we weren't completely taken by surprise. I had a sortof notion they might try on something of the sort. I don't believe theyknew at first that you had gone, and their idea was to have theirrevenge for the slap we gave them. Juma was among them, Coja told me."

  "The blackguard!"

  "I had got the boma repaired where we burnt it, so that they couldn'tget in, but they came all round us, keeping under cover, and thinking, Isuppose, that they would starve us out. I felt I was in a bit of a fix.We might hold our own in the camp for three or four days; but I wasafraid they'd stay there until you came back, and there was such a crowdof them, as you see, that I didn't see how you could possibly getthrough them. It struck me that the best thing I could do was to comeafter you and join forces while there was time; so I left the firesburning and slipped away in the middle of the night, making a detourround their camp, which they had pitched about a quarter of a mileup-stream. We couldn't march very fast with our loads, but the men werevery plucky, and it wasn't till this afternoon that the beggars caughtus. We had been fighting for about an hour when you came up, and I wasjolly glad to see you, I can tell you, for they were beginning to pressus very closely, and we couldn't have kept it up much longer. What luckhave you had?"

  "I've got the fort: I'll tell you all about it when we get there. ByJove! there is a lot of them. What are they up to?"

  The enemy, numbering, as nearly as John could estimate, more than fourhundred, had given up direct pursuit, evidently recognizing that toscale the bluff under the rifles of its defenders would be a hopelesstask. They were marching rapidly to the right. In addition to thefighting men, there was also a large number of men and women carryingloads, no doubt provisions: these had only just come up with the mainbody.

  "Is there any other way up the escarpment?" asked Ferrier, anxiously.

  "Not that I know of. It looks as if they're going to make a round tothe fort. We had better hurry on."

  They turned about and marched rapidly after the men, who were alreadysome distance away.

  "I had begun to demolish the fort," said John, "which is a pity ifthey're going to besiege us. Perhaps they've had enough of it, though."

  "Can't we repair it?"

  "Unluckily we've pitched the stones of the wall into the poolsurrounding it, and I'm afraid we can't fish them up again. It's a goodjob we hadn't done much. We were in the middle of the work when Billheard your shots. He spotted your rifle; his hearing is amazinglyacute."

  "Well, it seems to me that we are in for a nice little campaign. It isto be hoped your friend Gillespie has started for the farm. I don'tlike to think of it being left."

  "Let's see. He must just about have got my letter, I should think. Idon't feel very anxious. We had no troubles except from lions and Juma,and the chief will lend a hand if any wandering tribe turns up, whichisn't likely. No, Charley; the difficulty's here: and upon my word itlooks as if we've got a campaign on our hands, as you say. However, herewe are! There's the fort, and we've got to hold it, my boy."

  "Right ho! I only hope it won't be another Ladysmith."

  "Can't possibly. Our food won't last a week."

  "Oh!" said Ferrier.