CHAPTER XXII
ON TO THE COAST
Nature, untrammeled by human inventions, takes her own way swiftly inthe fever land, and the sun had hardly cleared the cottonwoods when Danefound himself mechanically following a tattered hammock borne high onthe heads of dusky men. Though there was somber cloud above, dazzlingbrightness beat into their set faces, and flashed on glistening bladeand long gun-barrel borne by those who marched behind. There was no wordspoken. Only the patter of naked feet and the jingle of steel brokethrough the impressive hush, for that morning every leaf hung limp andstill. It was with all solemnity that Carsluith Maxwell set out on hislast journey.
Dane halted by the eastern gate of the stockade, watching the black menswing past him file by file; they were as strange a company as everfollowed a British gentleman to his grave--Moslem bandit, woolly hairedbush thief, stalwart, heathen Kroo, brown desperadoes who had fought theFrench under the banner of the great Sultan, and two-legged beasts ofburden from the steaming swamps. Still, unstable and unreasoning, withthe light-heartedness of a child and the cruelty of a devil, as manywere, it gave the watcher a mournful pleasure to see that one and allhad come to pay respect to their dead leader; and he showed his wonderwhen Amadu cried aloud, and the glinting flintlocks swung together, withmuzzles to the rear. Dane guessed that the dusky adventurer had notlearned to reverse arms in the service of any hinterland Emir.
He followed, seeing as one walking in a dream, the sinuous line of sablelimbs and white and blue draperies wind on through deepening shadow.When Amadu cried again, the moving figures fell apart on either hand,and Dane was left with their leader and the bearers beside a shallowtrench, on which one shaft of sunlight fell. He cast his ragged hat downon the sand, and in a voice which seemed to belong to some other personrecited such fragmentary portions of the last office as he couldremember. No one moved among all the silent company, but there was aninarticulate murmur when at last the solemn words broke off.
Dane remembered nothing further beyond the dull thud of shovels; hiseyesight seemed to fail him, until presently he found himself movingdejectedly back to camp behind the straggling company. He must haveslept when he reached his tent, for the sun was low when Monday andAmadu stood outside the entrance, calling him. When he rose wearily,Amadu pointed to the groups of men waiting without.
"Them boy lib for savvy what you do now, sah," he said in the coastpalaver.
"I can't tell them just yet," Dane answered. "What do they wishthemselves?"
It was a few moments before his meaning dawned upon Amadu, for the whiteman felt too dazed to frame his thoughts in other than everyday English.
"Them carrier bushmen lib for beach and go back to his own country onetime," said Amadu. "Say this country belong to the Ju-ju."
No man could have blamed the carriers. They had in their own fashiondone their utmost, and Dane almost shared their opinion about thelocality; but he pointed to other men of lighter color and soldierlyaspect.
"Do these want to lib for their own country one time, too?" he asked.
Amadu laughed mirthlessly, and fingering the hilt of the straight bladeglanced at Monday, whose face was very grim, and the little negro, BadDollar, crouching close by with a polished matchet in his hand.
"They say they follow you if you be fit to hunt them Leopard or go chopthem dam Rideau."
"They shall have an answer to-morrow," said Dane. "Monday, see there isorder in the camp. Tell them no man is fit to reach the coast himself,and must wait until I go with him. There is something I want to ask you,Amadu. What you did was well done, but who taught you how, when a whitesoldier is buried, men carry the gun. Your master has gone, and I amCappy now."
As it were mechanically, the big dusky alien closed his heels together,while his hand went up to his ragged turban and fell again with a rigidprecision.
"I had suspected it already," said Dane, half-aloud. "Sit down and tellme about it. Monday, see no boy leaves the camp."
The others disappeared, and Dane was glad when the man obeyed him. Hewas respectful and intelligent, and Dane felt the need of company. Itseemed that the same feeling troubled Amadu.
"The white man has guessed," he said, in a strangely mixed idiom. "Icarried an Emir's standard in the North, in the dry country where menfear Allah, and there is corn and tobacco. My master mocked at theSultan, refusing his tribute, and the Sultan's horsemen came upon uswhile we slept. They wore fine iron chain and carried the guns whichcome south through the desert from where no man knows, but for an hour ahandful of us held the gate with the sword. Then when other gates wentdown and the huts burned behind us, some one brought my master's horse,and he rode out upon them. There were less than a score of us livingthen, but we carried the standard almost through their midst, and whenmy master went down, I and three others stood over him. The Sultan hadfewer men and horses when at last a gun-butt struck me down."
Amadu flung his head up as he halted, and his eyes glittered when theyfastened on the listener's face.
"The Sultan was served by men, and not by such as the heathen who followthe little white man," he said.
Dane could draw the intended inference, and when he nodded Amaduappeared satisfied.
"When I lay in the grass next morning only the wall remained of thetown," continued the dusky soldier of fortune. "There were sufficientheads hung about it already, so I fled south to serve the White Queen,as others of my people had done. We would follow the strongest, and knewhow the great Emir of the West had mocked the white men who do not speakyour tongue. So I came south and learned the drill, and wondered if theEnglish were mad when they sent a lad with the face of a woman to leadus. There were twenty of us, all broken men who had lived by the sword,and some laughed when for the first time our officer spoke to us. Othersanswered him openly, and, perhaps not understanding all, he said no wordto them; but when one night four men returned carrying plunder they hadstolen from the heathen, and, mocking at his orders, threatened him, heshot their leader. He stood alone before us, very slight and slender,with the smoke of the pistol curling about him, and any one of those whostood by could have crushed him with their hand; but we went back to ourhuts when he told us, and henceforward obeyed him.
"It happened that when time had passed, and we knew our officer, as heknew us, we went up with him to chastise certain thieves, and came upona stockade across the path, with many men who carried guns behind it.The sun hung low over the forest, and we feared treachery when one heldout a palm branch; but refusing to heed us, our officer went forwardalone to speak with the heathen. He stood as he used to stand, with onehand on his side, so, holding in the other only a little cane, thestockade ten paces from him, and we waiting, as he had bidden us, it maybe a hundred, behind him. A wise man would not have done so, but the onewho led us feared nothing. He spoke, and his voice came clear throughthe shadow as he stood twisting his cane a little, one lonely white mandemanding submission from the heathen. Then a gun flashed, and he fellforward on his face, and with a cry for vengeance we swept the stockade.The heathen did not wait for the steel, and most of them escaped, fordarkness fell suddenly upon the forest.
"We knew they would fly to the stronghold of a thief in the country ofthe white men who speak a different tongue, where, when certain thieveshad done so, our leader might not follow; but when we had buried him wemade a plan, and swore to send many of the bushmen after him. The nightwas far spent when we crept softly about the stockade of that heathenvillage, but men drunk with palm wine made merry within, doubtlessboasting how they had slain our leader. It was one who had served theSultan, climbing the stockade, drove his bayonet through the watcher atthe gate, and no man saw us slip from hut to hut until we gatheredsoftly about the headman's house, where in honor of the strangers whohad killed a white man there was feasting.
"Three we could count on held the door, the rest went in, and thereremained no one living when they came out again. Then we burned thevillage, and I went back to the outpost of the next white Captain
andtold him what we had done. He had eyes like the Captain Maxwell, andlistened very quietly, tapping with his fingers on the table--so--butanother white man whom I did not know, smote it, calling upon Allah inthe speech of the English.
"Then the Captain looked hard at me, asking, 'You had no order?'
"'No. He was our master, and those bush thieves killed himtreacherously,' I said boldly, and one white man nodded to the other.
"'You were wise to speak the truth in this,' said the Captain. 'Yourmaster would never have given that order; but there are men who will notbelieve the rest of your tale.'
"'By salt and by fire,' I was answering, when he lifted his hand.
"'I said there are men who will doubt you, and say you shot your leader.Even if that is not so, you have killed many of our good friends'people.' When he said this the listening white man laughed a little.'Their nation will demand restitution, and it is possible theCommissioner will hang you for what you did--which would not please me,for you are a good soldier, Amadu. Now you must wait in prison until wehear from him.'
"Again the white man smiled, and I could not read all that was in theCaptain's face as he looked at me, but his friend spoke, in the speechof the English, saying that if he did something he would be condemned.So I was laid in prison, and stayed there several days, fearing greatlythat I, who had carried the Emir's standard, should hang like a commonbushman, until one night the comrade who brought me rations set down atreble quantity.
"'Am I to hang, a fat man, to please the white men who speakdifferently?' I asked him, but he answered nothing.
"It was near midnight when I heard the silver whistle, and a sound ofrunning feet, after some one called the guard. Now I did not wish tohang, and Allah gave me understanding. The roof was of whitened iron,but the door was not strong, and they had left me my rifle, which wasnot usual. The door went down at the second blow, and no man saw me as Ifled for the bush, taking the rifle and three days' food with me. Still,I knew it would not be well for me to remain in the country of theEnglish, and when no man would hire me, I took service with my lastmaster. Two I had were killed before him, but neither was his equal,and I shall not find such another in all Africa--though my service isnot completed yet."
Again there was a mutual understanding between the pair, and when Danenodded Amadu went out softly. The story had interested and alsoencouraged him, for he knew he would not be left without a helper inwhat he had still to do. Now that the numbness which followed the blowhad begun to pass, there was sufficient to occupy his attention, andDane never closed his eyes that night. The gold won would suffice tocover the cost of the two expeditions, and leave a balance which wouldenable him to launch his invention. Dane feared that, situated where themine was, no company could be induced to handle it. It appeared certainthat the climate, the sicknesses, and the hostility of the natives wouldbetween them prevent any private adventurers from working itsuccessfully. Nothing could be done for some months at least, until therains had ceased; and before morning the one white man who knew theriver's secret had decided to keep it and send no more of his countrymento their deaths in the Leopards' country. At the best, the mine lay inno-man's-land, and he had not even a black ruler's doubtful concessionfor reckless speculators to operate upon.
What Dane had seen and suffered had humbled his pride. Maxwell's lastnews still thrilled him, and he determined he would do what might betterhave been done earlier--ask the woman for whose sake he had pressed oninto that forest to wait until he had made further progress in hislegitimate profession. So far, the way was clear, but even before hiscomrade left him a desire for vengeance had been growing strongerwithin the survivor, and now a sullen fury filled the lonely man, whohad pledged himself to demand a full account for any breach of trust,and had not hitherto failed his promise.
At sunrise, leaving his tent unrefreshed, he called the men together andaddressed them first collectively.
"I will take you all back to the coast, and you will receive more thanyou bargained for when you get there," he said, rendering it, however,into the seaboard tongue. "Still, as the bushmen may try to stop us onthe way, you will not start until you are rested, and I think you ready.We may not go quite the shortest way, but no boy shall suffer for it whoserves me well."
There was an approving shout when the listeners grasped his meaning, butDane called Amadu and Monday aside.
"Before or after I take these boys to the coast, I have an account tosettle with Rideau. You will help me?" he said; and when he had made hispurpose plainer, a dozen of his special bodyguard came forward,protesting their willingness to follow.
They set to work at once, and there was much to be done. Arms requiredto be stripped and oiled, loads packed for transport, and Dane drilledhis men an hour or two each day. A number of days passed before all wasready, and then the combined forces looked fit for whatever they mighthave to do; their leader recognized that the work might be arduous.
It was early in the morning, and all waited for the word to march, whenDane stood bareheaded beside a little cross on the bluff beyond thecamp. For a few moments his eyes grew misty as he glanced down at thedate and name he had painfully hacked upon it. He felt that he wouldnever meet the equal of the man who slept beneath.
"Good-by, comrade. You will be long remembered," he murmured thickly;then he solemnly recorded a vow that while Rideau went free andunpunished his own affairs would wait. Dane owed the dead man a duty,and he had taken upon himself a pledge which he meant to dischargethoroughly.
It was with as little parade of weapons as possible that the expeditionheaded for the coast, for the men had their orders and Amadu saw theywere carried out. Those who carried matchets wore them hidden undertheir cotton robes, while at times the rank and file were allowed tostraggle unchecked, with small semblance of discipline, in a drawn-outline. The discipline, however, was there, and disaster would haveovertaken any bushmen who attempted to profit by the apparent lack ofit. Dane did not order defenses of any kind to be raised at night, andgenerally had his tent pitched apart from the main camp; so that whenthey had made wide detours through dense forest and reeking swamp, someof the black men commenced to murmur as well as wonder at hisrecklessness. Amadu, Monday, and the negro, Bad Dollar, with whom heheld long conferences, realized, however, that their leader was by nomeans inconsistent, even if they did not know that he was to all intentsand purposes the victim of a monomania.
When it was too late forever to tell him so, he realized what his fallencomrade had been to him; and remembering how Maxwell reached the rivercamp, it was with difficulty that he refrained from breaking out intofits of baresark rage at the thought of their third partner'streachery. The knowledge that it was necessary to pit an intelligenceunhampered by senseless fury against the enemy's cunning alonerestrained him; for he felt that Rideau, who had probably heard by thistime of his relief, even if he did not know it earlier, would strikeagain to ensure his own personal safety. He had no lack of opportunity,but, either by accident or by judgment, for long refused to fall intothe trap, however temptingly Dane baited it.
The League of the Leopard Page 22
