Settlers and Scouts: A Tale of the African Highlands

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH--Ferrier takes the Lead

  The river varied in breadth at this part of its course from sixty toeighty yards. The steersmen, Coja in the first, Said Mohammed in thesecond, kept the rafts in midstream, and they glided on the full currentwith a steadiness that augured well for the voyage. In less thanhalf-an-hour they were level with the village. Then a shot rang outfrom the right bank. Clearly Juma had been on the watch. The shot fellshort, and the sound of it caused great consternation among thevillagers, who had taken up a position a few hundred yards down-streamon a stretch of treeless land on the left bank, raised a few feet abovethe level of the river. They had evidently been as yet unaware of theproximity of their allies. But their apprehension was immediatelychanged to wild excitement as they saw Juma, accompanied by his band,appear on a similar eminence on the opposite bank. They shouted withdelight, leaping, brandishing spears, little suspecting the trick whichthe Swahilis had played on them.

  As the rafts approached, they were assailed with showers of arrows fromboth sides, mingled with rifle shots from the right bank. Ferrier andJohn ordered their men to lie flat on their faces, for those on thestarboard side were exposed to the fire from the right bank, those onthe port side to that from the left. The two white men themselves, andtheir two steersmen, could not find shelter in the same way, being boundto stand erect in order to keep the rafts in midstream. As the missilesflew around him, John felt that this was a vastly unpleasant way ofrunning the gauntlet. He instinctively pressed his body close to theframework; and whether it was due to the growing darkness, or to theinability of the enemy to hit a moving target, he escaped unhurt. Theimmediate danger was past when the banks of the river fell away to thelevel of the stream. Both parties of the enemy still fired, runningalong in time with the rafts; but their missiles now flew over the topof the breastwork. Ferrier thought it worth risking a volley from hisown men. He ordered them to kneel, rest their rifles on the palisade,and take good aim at the Swahilis. Their skill or luck was superior,for when the volley flashed forth, a yell told that one at least of thebullets had got home. Immediately afterwards John ordered his askaristo fire among the negroes on the left bank; but these were somewhatremoter from the river, and he could not learn that any of the shotstook effect.

  "John ordered his askaris to fire among the negroes onthe left bank."]

  Night had now sunk upon the land. The moon would rise late, and forseveral hours the voyage must be continued in darkness. John called toFerrier to ask whether he had not better run into the bank and waituntil there was a little light upon the course.

  "I can see well enough at present," was the reply. "Besides, thosebeggars are keeping it up."

  His expectation that the pursuit would be abandoned as soon as it becamedark was not borne out. It was obvious from the shouts that were heardon either side from time to time that the enemy had screwed theirresolution to an uncommon pitch. Their dread of the darkness was noless, but their savage resentment and vindictive desire for revenge wasmore. John was able to account for their pertinacity when he rememberedwhat lay before him. The rapids! If he, on his light raft, had barelyescaped with his life, how much less was the chance that two heavy-ladenrafts would survive the battering they must receive! If they were notwrecked and broken up before they reached the pool, they would thenbecome exposed to a terrific attack. He dared not think of what thefate of the safari would be if they were cast into the river and thrownupon the mercy of the enemy. Did they come safe through the firstseries of rapids and cross the pool, there was the second series beyond,sweeping through the gorge, from the heights of which the enemy couldpour down upon them not merely a hail of bullets and arrows, but anavalanche of rocks which could not fail to send the rafts to the bottom.Great as were the perils which had beset him since he quitted the farm,he recognized with a momentary sinking of heart that they were triflescompared with those that were to come. He felt that his confidencewould be greater if he could be beside Ferrier on the first raft. Theircomradeship during the past few months had brought them very closetogether. He wished that they could talk things over quietly; whereasnow they were separated by forty feet of rope, and anything either hadto say must be uttered in a bawl.

  As the darkness thickened the navigation became increasingly difficult.Sometimes, when long stretches of the river were banked by woods, it waspitch dark, and whatever obstacles might have occurred in the course, itwould have been impossible to avoid them. Ferrier did his best to keephis raft in midstream, for he knew that crocodiles lurked on the banks;hippos might be sleeping in the shallows; and heavy as the raft was, hehad little doubt that a heave of a hippo's huge body, a swish from acrocodile's terrible tail, would cause it to capsize, or at least breaka gap in the breastwork.

  At one such gloomy patch the raft ran ashore upon a mud-bank projectinginto the stream. Before Ferrier could pole it off, the second raft,borne on by the current, collided with it; there was a shock, John'sraft spun round, and rocked so violently that the men yelled withfright. The attaching rope, however, pulled it up with a jerk, whichhad the effect of hauling the first raft off the bank. Their positionswere now reversed; Said Mohammed was foremost down-stream, Ferrier last.It was obviously impossible that the voyage could be continued thus.John and Ferrier ran each to the forward end of his own raft.

  "Run her ashore again," shouted Ferrier, "and let me swing clear."

  John obeyed. He would not have shirked the task of leading, butFerrier's experience might make all the difference between success andfailure, and it was certainly not a time to run any avoidable risks.Some minutes passed before he managed to strike the bank, and then theraft crashed against the projecting stem of a tree with a violence thatthrew John on to his back. Up in an instant, he clutched a branch justin time to prevent the raft from drifting away, and held on untilFerrier had passed in mid-stream, and the vessels had regained theirformer order. During this interlude nothing was heard of the enemy. Thebanks of the river were fortunately too steep and too densely wooded toallow their access.

  For a little while all went well. Where the banks were low and freefrom tall trees the level rays of the rising moon threw a faint lightupon the water, enabling Ferrier to use his pole with more confidence.But on entering a narrower reach where the trees came down to thewater's edge, the sudden passage from comparative light to absolutedarkness prevented him from seeing a rocky ledge jutting out from theright bank. The raft scraped it for a few feet, then stuck fast. Thesecond raft, coming directly in its wake, did not this time sweep by,but bumped the first, and both were now end to end on the rock. Themost energetic work with the poles failing to dislodge them, John said--

  "Let's have a rest. There's no sign of the enemy, and I'm desperatelyhungry."

  "That's all very well," replied Ferrier, "but the longer we delay theworse off we shall be presently. It gives the enemy time to get aheadof us, and they'll be waiting for us at the pool. I rather fancythey've already outstripped us by cutting across country; the riverwinds a good deal."

  "All the same, we shan't be any the better off for being famished whenwe meet them. Besides, I want to talk to you; we haven't settled whatwe're going to do."

  "Very well; we'll have a tuck-in. What's the time? My match-box isempty."

  John struck a match. His watch had stopped.

  "The spring must have broken when I toppled over," he said. "Isn'tyours going?"

  "It hasn't been going for a couple of days. We can't tell how far we'vecome. How is our direction?"

  "We're pointing north-west," replied John, after a glance at hiscompass. "There must be a big curve here. I fancy we must have justabout got to the place where Bill and I launched our raft. If so, itwill be getting light by the time we reach the pool. What do you thinkof doing then?"

  "That depends on the look of things when we get there. How long are therapids?"

  "About half-a-mile, I should think."

  "Any roc
ks?"

  "Upon my word I don't know. I was too anxious about holding on tonotice. But judging from the battering we got I should say plenty."

  "Then the safest course would be to unload the rafts when we get to thehead of the rapids and make a portage--carry the things along the bankuntil we come to the pool. We can't do that if the enemy are in force.We shall simply have to shoot the rapids and take our chance."

  "I'm sorry for us. If my little raft was nearly smashed, what conditionwill these clumsy things be in when we get through!"

  "Well, I can only do my best. Left to themselves they'd be smashed upin no time, but if I can manage to steer clear of the rocks we may getthrough. It won't be safe to go roped together, though. You had bettermoor yours while I take down the first; then I'll go ashore and comeback for you."

  "Rather dangerous, that, if the enemy are about."

  "Perhaps. But I'm inclined to think they'll wait for us lower down. Inthat case I should be back before they could catch me. But really it'snot much good settling on anything until we see how the land lies. Themost important thing will be to take care we are not caught in therapids before we know it. If we are, we can only let ourselves go andtrust to luck."

  After a delay of nearly an hour, during which the whole party made ameal of the fruits they had brought with them, they strove again to polethe rafts off the rock. The task was an impossible one while thevessels were so heavily laden. Accordingly the breastwork was removedfrom the shoreward side of each, and a portion of the goods was conveyedto the bank. Thus lightened, the rafts were got off by vigorous poling,and allowed to drift a few yards down-stream until they came once moreinto the moonlight. Then they were run into the bank and moored whilethe stores were fetched and the breastwork replaced. This took up aconsiderable time, and it could no longer be doubted that the enemy,unless they had halted, must arrive at the pool long before the rafts.

  As the moon rose higher in the sky the voyage became easier, and it wascontinued without incident until there were signs that day was breaking.Feeling sure that the rapids could not be far ahead, Ferrier steeredinto the right bank, followed by John.

  "I must take a look round before we go any farther," said Ferrier. "Idon't hear anything of the enemy; perhaps they are behind us after all."

  He set off alone, making his way cautiously among the trees. It seemedhours before he returned, in almost broad daylight.

  "We're in for it," he said as he came up. "We're within six hundredyards of the rapids. I went on round the curve until I got a view ofthe pool. The fort is manned. Juma must have got well ahead of us andcrossed the river somewhere. But I don't think the others have arrivedon the scene yet."

  "Have they left nobody on the right bank?"

  "Nobody at all. They're very poor tacticians. I suppose they rely onour being smashed up in the rapids, and think they'll have us at theirmercy. They ought to have held both banks. It gives us a chance. Wemay have time for a portage, but only to the pool. We can't hope to getpast the second rapids on land; but as we shall be hidden from the enemyuntil we actually come to the pool, there ought to be time to load upagain there before they can get round to us."

  "What then?"

  "We shall have to shoot the second rapids in the rafts just as we are.Can't stop for another portage. From my recollection as we came up pastthe gorge, they're much longer and swifter than the first, besides beingstraighter and less rocky. I had a good look at the first as I wentdown the bank. There's a nasty bit about half-way through: a narrowchannel between two irregular lines of sunken rocks. But it's no worsethan the Long Saut on the St. Lawrence; not so bad, indeed; and I'mgoing to run through all right. The only doubt I have is whether we canget to the second rapids before the enemy occupy the bluff above thegorge."

  "If we can't----!"

  "We shall have the pleasure of being targets for at least ten minutesfor bullets and arrows and stones. But we must just go through with itnow; there's no retreat for us. Now we'll unload my raft and send themen along with the ivory. When we've given them time to get half-way tothe pool, I'll go down with the raft."

  "Alone?"

  "Yes. It won't do for you to come, and leave the men, in case they'reattacked; and I don't think any of them would be much help to me. Cojaand two or three of the askaris can escort the convoy. We must make 'emunderstand they are to wait for me when they get to the pool; unless,indeed, I'm there first: the current is pretty swift."

  "There's bush enough to hide them, but you're bound to be spotted fromthe fort as soon as you get to the end of the rapids."

  "It will take Juma a long time to get round with his men."

  "But they can swim it!"

  "They won't! They can't attack us when swimming, and they'll be afraidof getting their heads broken against the raft."

  During this conversation the men had already begun the work of unloadingthe first raft. The breastwork on the right-hand side was removed, andthe ivory conveyed tusk by tusk to the bank. Enough was left at therear to balance Ferrier's weight at the forward end. When all wasready, the men set off with their loads, Coja and two askaris withrifles going ahead.

  "Get your raft unloaded while I'm gone, old chap," said Ferrier. "Infact, the men had better start with it straight away; if Juma has thesense to come round at once to meet us it'll be a very near thing to getloaded up again."

  "All right. I'll go with them myself and leave a couple of men to guardthe raft."

  "On second thoughts I think you had better go after the first lot atonce. Everything depends on their keeping under cover until I arrivewith the raft, and you know how rash they are. Go and keep an eye onthem. I'll see to the unloading here and send the men after you."

  Accordingly John hurried in the track of the ivory-carriers, whom heovertook by the time they reached the head of the rapids. Leading themcarefully through the wood, where they would be invisible to any of theenemy who might be moving along on the other side of the river, he cameopposite to the point where the rapids entered the pool. There heordered them to set down their loads, and sent Bill back to guide thesecond party over the same course.

  Ferrier had resolved not to begin his adventurous voyage until all themen were gathered under John at the head of the pool. The actualpassage of the rapids would take but a minute or two, and the timenecessary for reloading the first raft would be halved if the wholeparty were employed in the work. The second convoy having arrived, Johnleft them safely under cover while he retraced his steps for a shortdistance to a spot where he could witness his friend's performance. Heheld his breath and felt his skin creep as the raft came into view,shooting down at a furious rate to what appeared certain destruction.Ferrier had removed the upper part of the framework, and stood with polein hand, bending low, his whole attention fixed on his task. Now heprodded to the right, now to the left: at one moment the raft swerved,having evidently scraped a rock, and he almost lost his balance; butrecovering himself instantly, he dexterously slipped his pole over inthe direction to which the raft had been driven, and came again intomid-current. John feared lest he should be carried far into the pool,beyond the spot where the loads were laid; but when the raft came intosmooth water, and its momentum was checked, Ferrier flung a rope to theshore, and the craft, uninjured except for some chips at the edges, washauled in.

  "Splendid!" said John. "It would be a stunning sport if----"

  But before he could complete the sentence Ferrier was running hardup-stream. There was a shout from the fort; the raft had beendiscovered; the second raft was still to be brought down. Johninstantly set the men to load up the first raft. Every movement wasvisible to the men in the fort. There were loud shouts; a few shotswere fired; but the range was too long for inefficient marksmen. ToJohn's consternation and alarm there came an echo to these shouts fromup-stream. The warriors from the village were evidently within strikingdistance. Had they discovered Ferrier? Urging the men to hasten withthe work of loadi
ng, he ran along the bank to see whether the secondraft was on the way. Yes; it was sweeping down like the first, and onthe opposite bank a crowd of yelling negroes rushed along, dodging thetrees, and trying to keep pace. Ferrier paid no attention to them, hiswhole energy absorbed in his task. John sent a warning shot among theenemy, and they darted out of sight. The raft leapt and dashed andjolted down, and in little more than a minute after it passed John itlay moored beside the other at the shore of the pool.

  The men having not yet finished the loading of the first raft, Ferrierhad leisure to observe what the enemy were about. The warriors from thevillage, who had marched along the left bank of the river, were rushinground the northern shore of the pool towards the causeway. It wasimpossible to see what they would do when they reached it, and, to judgeby the uproar in the fort, there was more excitement than coolcalculation among Juma's party. But by the time the rafts were loaded,the breastworks replaced, and the ropes attached, the enemy's intentionbecame clear. Before the rafts were loosed from their moorings andpoled into the gentle current of the pool, a large number of negroes,with one or two Swahilis, emerged into view from behind the interveningisland, and were seen hastening along the path which led from thecauseway up the bluff.

  "They've got a good start of us," Ferrier called from the leading raft."We must run the gauntlet."

  But now that the critical moment had arrived, John was setting his witsto work. In all the encounters with the enemy hitherto, success hadbeen gained by the exercise of superior intelligence rather thansuperior force. Was there not a chance of outwitting them even now atthe eleventh hour? Could they not be withdrawn from their threateningposition above the gorge? An idea suggested itself: to let the raftsdrift on until they came opposite the fort, and then to change theirdirection and pole them across the pool as if with the intention oflanding on the western shore of the island and storming the fort. Ifthe ruse succeeded, the enemy would rush back and swarm within the wallsagain.

  John imparted his scheme to Ferrier in a few hurried sentences.

  "It's worth trying," said Ferrier, "but can we get back into the currentin time?"

  "Yes; it begins to flow swifter, as you know, opposite the island. Ifonly the men are drawn back into the fort, we shall have time to comeback into the current and make straight for the rapids, and then theymay run their hardest but won't overtake us."

  "Well, you pole back first, so as not to change our order. They surelywon't be such idiots!"

  The rafts passed slowly along, hailed with derisive yells from the fewmen left in the fort, and by a shower of arrows, which flew harmlesslyover the breastworks, the men having all lain down as before. Thensuddenly they ceased to move; but in a few moments started ponderouslyin the reverse direction. John and Ferrier had exchanged places withtheir two steersmen, and while they poled on the bottom in the manner ofpunters, Coja and Said Mohammed thrust their poles into the water at anangle which would bring the rafts round to the western end of theisland. It was exceedingly hard work to force the heavy vessels againstthe current, slight though that was; but they did move slowly, away fromthe gorge, and that was enough for the defenders of the fort. Alarmed atthe prospect of having to repel an assault from the wasungu, theyshouted vociferously to their fellows on the shore to return and helpthem.

  "It's working!" cried John in delight. "I only wish we could see roundthe island. We shall have to guess when it's time to be off."

  But there was little chance of their being left in ignorance of theenemy's movements. The din was tremendous, far and near. Soon theuproar within the fort increased, and men were seen swarming on to theedges of the western wall, some scrambling over and running down theslope to meet the expected attack. The situation of the rafts was tooclose to be pleasant to their occupants. Arrows flew over and betweenthem, some sticking in the meshes of the breastwork. The men flat onthe decks of the rafts were out of harm's way; but the two white men andtheir assistants were partly exposed to the flying missiles, since theycould not manage the clumsy rafts unless they stood nearly upright. Forsome minutes they cruised along the shore, as if seeking a convenientlanding-place, until they were screened from the enemy by the fringe oftrees. At last, having allowed sufficient time for the greater part ofthe enemy's force to regain the fort, or at least the causeway, John andFerrier again changed places with Said Mohammed and Coja, and began topole vigorously in the opposite direction. Being hidden by the trees,the rafts, helped by the current, had gained some speed before thechange of direction was perceived. Even then the meaning of it did notat once strike the enemy. Those who had come down to the shore ran backto the fort; those within manned the southern and eastern parts of thewall, anticipating an assault at the spot where it had been partiallydemolished. But the rafts were increasing their distance from theisland; they were also increasing their speed; and as they were nowheading straight for the mouth of the gorge Juma at last recognized howhe had been duped.

  The voyagers were now in full view of the causeway. It was covered withmen returning at a run to the fort. But Juma, the moment he saw hismistake, hastened to the gate and shouted to the men to right-about andmake for the gorge. The causeway was too long for his words to be hearddistinctly at the shore end, and there was a minute's confusion amongthe negroes before they grasped what was intended--a precious minute tothe voyagers, for at the end of it the rafts were swept into the fullcurrent. When the men on the causeway, yelling with rage, at last setoff to run back to the shore, John saw with a leaping heart that theywere too late. A few of the enemy who had not yet reached the causewaywhen the retirement was countermanded, rushed along the shore and camelevel with the rafts as these began the descent of the rapids. But theyhad to run uphill: the speed of the current was at least fifteen milesan hour; before they could gain the summit of the bluff the rafts wouldbe a mile or more downstream.

  As John's raft was swept along in the wake of Ferrier's, he wonderedwhether the rafts, when they reached the end of the rapids, would be insplinters, and the men battered corpses. When he had shot the upperrapids with Bill, the darkness had concealed the full extent of hisperil; but now in broad daylight it was brought alarmingly home to him.Ferrier's raft was swinging before him, and John heard his shouts as heinstructed Coja how to move his pole for steering. John stuck to hispost, almost at his wit's end, but trying desperately to follow inFerrier's wake, and shouting instructions to Said Mohammed, who steeredaccordingly.

  All at once he saw with terror a large rock almost in midstream, overwhich the water swirled and dashed with clouds of spray. He felt thatnothing could avert disaster. Ferrier was safely past; John, graspinghis pole, cried to the Bengali to steer to the right. The rock seemedto approach him with terrible speed; in a moment the raft would surelybe dashed against it and shivered to splinters. But the force of thecurrent, and a timely thrust of the pole--how he made it in time Johncould never understand--carried the raft clear of the barrier. John'sshove was indeed more vigorous than was necessary, for it swung thestern of the raft partly across the current, and caused it to scrape theedge of the rock, with a jar that sent John and the Indian headlongamong the men who lay on the deck. There was a howl of dismay, and Johnsprang up, expecting to find himself whirling to destruction. But tohis unspeakable relief he saw that the perilous voyage was over. Theraft had shot clear of the gorge, and was floating with almost oilysmoothness on the river below the escarpment.