Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XV

  A Revolt at Ilola

  Every day since the advent of Elbel, Jack had been conscious of thegrowing danger of his position. A negro village, in the grip of rubbercollectors; adjacent to it, a little settlement occupied mainly bynegroes, many of whom were fugitives from a tyranny illegal indeed, butregularized by custom; in both settlements, natives who looked to himfor help against their oppressors. It was a situation difficult enoughto daunt the pluckiest lad not yet eighteen. But it is lads like JackChalloner who make one of the prime glories of our Anglo-Saxon race.Is not page after page of our national annals filled with the deeds ofyouths--drummers, buglers, ensigns, midshipmen--who have steppedforward in moments of crisis, and shown a noble courage, a devotion toduty, and a capacity beyond their years?

  Jack did not quail before the responsibility his uncle had allunwittingly thrown upon him, even though he knew that his victory overthe Belgian might enormously increase his difficulties. Already he hadwondered why Elbel had not put his settlement in a state of siege. Theonly conclusion he could come to was that the man was little more thana blusterer, without enough imagination to conceive the right means toadopt, or destitute of sufficient organizing power to put them inforce. It would have been a comparatively simple matter, seeing hisoverwhelming strength in point of numbers, to prevent Jack fromsecuring his needful supply of water from the stream; but day by dayElbel had allowed the women with their calabashes to go and comeunmolested. Surely, Jack thought, he would now at any rate take thatmost obvious step towards the reduction of his enemy. And as he sat inhis hut that evening, his head racked with pain from long thinking, hefelt sick at heart as he realized how the fate of these poor people whohad sought his aid seemed to depend on him alone.

  Just as darkness had fallen, the chief Imbono came into the camp.Elbel had forbidden any one to leave the village, but the chief hadbribed the sentry and been allowed to pass. He came to report that hisyoung men had just returned from their rubber hunt after a week'sabsence in the forest, and learning of what had taken place, were benton exacting vengeance for the insults and injuries inflicted on theirpeople by the forest guards and by Elbel himself. With his defeat theBelgian's prestige had utterly gone, and to the ignorant negroes theopportunity seemed favourable for revenge. But Imbono, more far-seeingthan they, had come to ask advice. He had great difficulty in holdinghis men in. Should he let them loose, to work their will upon theiroppressors?

  Jack earnestly advised the chief to do his utmost to restrain them.

  "Believe me, my brother," he said, "if they do as you say they wish todo, it will almost certainly bring ruin upon you. Elobela will be onlytoo glad to have an excuse for visiting upon you the rancour caused byhis reverse. True, he failed to force my camp; but he is stillstronger in arms and men than I. I could do nothing to help you; forif I once move out of the shelter of my stockade, I shall be atElobela's mercy. In the open it is only rifles that count."

  "I will do as you say, O Lokolobolo. But it is hard for me, for sincethe coming of Elobela my people do not obey me as they used to do. IfI say, do this, Elobela forbids it; if I say, refrain from this,Elobela bids them do it. It is hard for them to serve two masters.But I will tell them what my brother says; I can do no more."

  "You have another white man with you now, besides Elobela?"

  "It is true, and he was struck by one of the balls from your guns, andis now lying sick in my hut: they have turned me out, and Elobela hassaid that I am no more to provide food for you, my brother, either fromIlola or from my other villages. But one of my young men told me thatthe party you sent out have obtained a supply, and wait in the forestuntil you bid them bring it in."

  Jack thanked the chief, who returned to his village.

  The news he brought was not of a kind to lessen Jack's anxiety. Whathe had expected had at last happened. He had little doubt that thecommandeering of food would soon be followed by the stoppage of hiswater supply. Without access to water the camp was doomed. It waspossible that if he made common cause with Imbono their united forcesmight overcome Elbel's forest guards; but the attempt could be madeonly at a terrible risk, and if it failed the whole population of thetwo settlements must be annihilated. Jack saw now that the presence ofhis camp so near Ilola was a source of danger to it. This could nothave been foreseen; but how much better it would have been, he thought,if he had chosen a different site. At another spot, remote from thevillage, with a more defensible position, and near a good water supply,the present weaknesses would not have existed, and at all events Imbonomight not have been involved in the consequences of the quarrel withElbel.

  But it was too late to think of that. Certainly no move could be madewhile Elbel was close by with a considerable force. If Elbel tookadvantage of his superiority to hold the camp closely invested, therewould never be any possibility of moving at all. Deprived of water,Jack must soon choose between the alternatives--to surrender, or tomake a sally at the head of his men and put all to the hazard of anopen fight.

  Two days passed. Jack kept a close watch on Ilola through hisfield-glass; all seemed quiet there, and of Elbel himself he sawnothing. What was his amazement, when at daybreak he took his stand onthe platform overlooking Ilola, to see Elbel marching out at the headof the greater part of his force, and making for the river bank. Hewaited an hour, and when they did not return, and the patrols had notappeared, he sent out a couple of men by a roundabout way to follow themovements of the force, and allowed the usual water carriers to go outwith their calabashes. These, returning soon with water, reported astrange thing. From the women of Ilola whom they had met on a likeerrand at the river, they had learnt that Elobela had set off with hismen in their smoke-boat, and that Boloko had been left in charge of thevillage with about as many men as he had brought at first. Severalhours later Jack's scouts came back, and said that they had followedalong the bank the course of Elobela's launch; he was going rapidlydown the river. They could only suppose that he was making for theheadquarters of his company some hundreds of miles away.

  "What did I say at all at all?" remarked Barney when Jack told him thegreat news. "He's no gentleman, that's as plain as the nose on hisface, sorr. A man who will take two lickings and thin run away is notfit to wipe your shoes on."

  "You seem disappointed, Barney, but frankly I'm very glad. I couldfling up my hat and cheer if I hadn't to keep up my dignity beforethese natives. Though I fear we haven't seen the last of Mr. Elbel byany means. We shall have him upon us sooner or later with anoverwhelming force. But sufficient unto the day; my uncle should beback long before that, if Elbel doesn't meet and stop him on the road.Well, we now have a chance to move our camp, for if Elbel is on his wayto headquarters he can't get back for weeks. And first of all, Barney,take a dozen men and bring in that food that's waiting in the forest.We shan't be able to move for a day or two, at any rate; we must chooseour site more carefully this time."

  Thinking over the matter, Jack was not long in coming to the decisionthat the best place to establish his new camp would be near thecataract. From his recollection of the ground above it he thought itwas admirably situated from a strategical point of view. It would havethe incidental advantage of protecting Mr. Martindale's claim.

  The one disadvantage was its distance from the sources of food supply.But this caused Jack to give serious consideration to a matter whichhad once or twice dimly suggested itself to him. He had been more andmore impressed with the necessity of his party being self-supporting,so far as the staple articles of food were concerned, if they were tomake a long stay in this country. He remembered how Stanley during hissearch for Emin Pasha had been able to sow, grow, and reap crops atFort Bodo in a remarkably short time. Why should not he do the same?When he was joined by Mr. Martindale's contingent a large quantity offood would be needed. No doubt they would bring stores with them; butthese could not last very long, especially in view of the unexpecteddrain upon the resources of the expedition
caused by the arrival of thefugitives from Banonga and elsewhere.

  "I wonder what Uncle will say when he sees them," Jack remarked toBarney, when he opened up to him this question of food supply. "Youremember at Banonga he said he wasn't going to start a boys' home; thisis still more serious--a sort of convalescent home for non-payingpatients."

  "'Tis meself that isn't wan little bit afraid uv what the master willsay. Sure don't I know to a letther what 'twill be! 'My graciousme!'--don't ye hear him, sorr?--'what in the world will I want wid allthese disgraceful lookin' objects? This ain't business. I'm not aphilanthrophy, an' I don't exactly see my way to run a croosade.' An'thin he'll say, 'Poor fellow!' an' 'Poor wumman!' an' 'Poor littlechap!' an' he'll dive his hands into his pockets an' suddenly remimberhimself that money is no manner uv good in this counthry, an' he'llsay: 'We must kind uv fix up some sort uv something for 'em, Barney.'Didn't I know 'm by heart the first day I drove him in London, and hewent up to the horse and opened his jaw an' looked in his eyes an' says'He'll do.' Sure I'd niver have named me little darlint uv a Pat to 'mif I hadn't known the kind uv gintleman he was at all."

  Jack smiled at Barney's way of putting it, but admitted the truth ofthe portrait. Mr. Martindale was indeed a capable man of affairs--anexample of the best type of the American man of business, theembodiment of the qualities by which the extraordinary commercialprosperity of the United States has been built up. But Jack knew thathe was more than a man of business. His was a big heart, and it wasone of the minor vexations of his life that he had to take some troubleto conceal it.

  Jack's final conclusion was that there was not only every prospect ofan extended stay if this mining scheme was to be followed up, but thatthe number of persons to be provided for would be more considerablethan it was possible at present to calculate. Obviously, then, itbehoved him to employ the time before Mr. Martindale's arrival inpreparing for contingencies.

  Elbel's departure had immediate consequences in Ilola. His presencehad in some measure curbed the worse propensities of his blackfollowers: they could only be brutal in obedience to orders; but themoment he was gone they began to show themselves once more in theirtrue light. Before a day had passed Imbono came into the camp tocomplain of the insolence and rapacity of Boloko and his men. Jackadvised him to do nothing to give Boloko any excuse for violence, buthe had still to plumb the depths of savagery and brutality in the menwhom the Free State Government callously allowed the trading companiesto employ in the exploitation of rubber. He had still to learn thatwhere violence was intended, not even the shadow of an excuse was anylonger considered necessary.

  One morning Imbono came to him in a frenzy of rage and indignation.His third wife had been tending her cooking pot when Boloko came up andasked what food she was preparing. "A fowl," she replied civilly."Give it me," he demanded. "It is not yet cooked, O Boloko," the poorwoman answered. "You refuse me, Ngondisi?" cried the ruffian. "Liftyour hands and open your eyes wide that I may see the white of them, orI will shoot you." Ngondisi in terror obeyed. "You do not open themwide enough," said the wretch with a laugh, and he lifted the gun andfired; and the woman fell upon her face; she would never open her eyesagain.

  But Boloko had in this case reckoned without the spirit of confidenceengendered in the natives by the discomfiture of Elbel. He had onlyten men in the village when the incident occurred; the rest wereabsent, levying toll on Imbono's other villages a few miles distant.Even while Imbono, with tears of anguish, was telling Jack what hadbeen done, the spark had been applied to the tinder. An extraordinarycommotion was heard in the direction of Ilola: shots, yells, the warcry of infuriate men. Rushing out with Imbono, Jack arrived in thevillage to find that retaliation had at last been wreaked for months ofwrong. It was difficult at first to make out what had happened. Itappeared that in Imbono's absence the men of the village had suddenlyseized their arms, and flung themselves in one desperate rush uponBoloko and his men. What cared they if several of their number fellbefore the tyrants' rifles? Heedless of wounds they closed about theforest guards; there was a brief hand-to-hand fight, eight of Boloko'smen had fallen to weapons wielded with the energy of despair, and ofthe party only Boloko himself and two men had made their escape intothe forest.

  Elate with their victory, the men of Ilola had hastened off to theother villages, to surprise the guards there. It was too late now torecall them, but Jack had arrived on the spot just in time to rescueone man, whom the villagers were on the point of massacring. The whitesous-officier who had been wounded in the fight before Jack's camp hadbeen placed in Imbono's hut. Roused by the sound of firing, he haddragged himself from his mattress and, rifle in hand, came to theentrance of the hut just as Jack entered the gate with the chief. Thevillagers had forgotten him; but when they saw in their power a whiteman, one of those to whom all their afflictions were due, a band ofthem sprang towards him with uplifted spears. He fired: one of the menfell. The rest paused for an instant, and were on the point of dashingforward to make an end of their enemy when Jack rushed between them andtheir prey, and cried to them in Imbono's name to stay their hands.Reluctantly, with lowering countenances, they obeyed the command oftheir chief's white brother. No mercy had been shown to them: whyshould they show mercy? But when Imbono reminded them that the slayingof a white man would bring upon them the hordes of Bula Matadi, andthat Elobela had already gone down the river, probably to bring manysoldiers back with him, they sullenly drew off, and allowed Jack toremove the man to the safety of his own camp.

  The Belgian knew no English, but Jack had a fair working knowledge ofFrench which he found was equal to the occasion. The man explainedthat he was an ex-noncommissioned officer of the State forces, whoseservices had been enlisted by Elbel in dealing with the refractorynatives. He seemed quite unable to understand Jack's point of view.To him the natives were so many parasites, the goods and chattels ofthe State, with no property and no rights.

  "Why, monsieur," he said, "we pay them for the work they do; we have aright to demand labour of them for nothing. See what we have done fortheir country! Look at the rubber stations on the river, the finebuildings, the telegraphs, the cataract railway; where would all theseblessings of civilization have been but for the noble self-sacrifice ofKing Leopold?"

  Jack gave up the attempt to argue with him that the country belongedprimarily to its natural inhabitants, forbore to point out that KingLeopold had expressly declared that he had the advancement of thenatives at heart. He contented himself with insisting that the actionsof which Elbel and his minions had been guilty in Ilola were contraryto the law of the Free State itself. He was much struck by theBelgian's answer.

  "Ah, monsieur, we have no book of rules, no code of laws. What can wedo? We are the only law. Yes, monsieur, we are the only God in theMaranga."

  Next day Jack went with Imbono and Lepoko to the waterfall, to surveythe place as a possible site for a camp, or, to speak more strictly, asettlement. The chief was troubled and displeased at the prospect ofthe removal of his blood brother's camp, but made no urgentremonstrance. On arriving at the spot, Jack at once detected signsthat some one had recently been making investigations there. He had nodoubt that this was Elbel. The secret of the gold had probably beendisclosed in an incautious moment to one of his escort by the men whohad accompanied Mr. Martindale on his second visit. Elbel already knewenough of the American's business to make him keenly interested, andalert to follow up the slightest clue. Knowing what he now knew of themethods of the State officials, Jack was ready to believe that Elbelwould strain every nerve to get Mr. Martindale hounded out of thecountry, in order to have an opportunity of turning the discovery ofgold to his own profit. Could his sudden departure from the village,Jack wondered, have been his first move in this direction?

  Carefully examining the ground above the waterfall, Jack saw that agood deal would have to be done to make it suitable for a settlement.He heard from Imbono that during several months of the year the streamw
as much broader than at present, and at the point where it debouchedfrom the hill, three or four miles below, it and other streamsoverflowed their banks, forming a wide swamp, almost a lake, some tenmiles from east to west and more than half a mile broad. This, duringthe rainy season, practically cut off all communication from thedirection of the village. On the far side of the hill the bluffs wereso precipitous as to make access very difficult. This isolated hillformed therefore a kind of huge castle, of which the swamp for half theyear was the natural moat.

  It seemed to Jack that the most convenient site for his new camp wasthe slope of the hill immediately above the cataract. The incline herewas very slight; the hill face only became steep again about a quarterof a mile from the fall; there it rose abruptly for fully fifty orsixty yards, sloping gently for the next half mile. Jack saw that ifhe built his entrenched camp in the neighbourhood of the waterfall, itwould be to a slight extent commanded by an enemy posted on the steepascent above. But by raising his defences somewhat higher on that sidehe hoped to overcome this disadvantage.

  With a little labour, he thought, the soil around the cataract could bemade suitable for planting food-stuffs. It was virgin soil, and owingto the slight fall of the ground at this spot, and to the fact that itwas partially protected by the contour of the hill against floods fromabove, the leaves that for ages past had fallen from the thick copsesfringing the banks, and from the luxuriant undergrowth on the smallplateau itself, had not been washed down. These deposits had greatlyenriched the alluvium, and Imbono said that large crops of manioc,maize, groundnuts, and sweet potatoes could easily be grown, as well asplantains and bananas and sugar cane.

  On returning to his camp by Ilola, Jack told Barney the results of hisinvestigation, and announced that he had definitely made up his mind tosettle on the new site.

  "Very good, sorr," said Barney; "but what'll become uv Ilola? Beggin'your pardon, sorr, 'twas a very solemn affair, that ceremony uvbrotherhood, an' though sure it had niver a blessing from a priest--an'like enough Father Mahone would think it a poor haythen sort uvbusiness--still, to the poor niggers, sorr, it may be just as great athing as if the priest had blessed it in the name uv Almighty God."

  "Well, what are you driving at, Barney?"

  "Why this, sorr. The chief and you made a bargain to help wan another;an' sure ye've kept it, both uv you. Well, if we go away, there's nomore help for either uv you, an' 'tis Imbono will be most in need uvit."

  "You mean that I'm deserting my ally, eh?"

  "Bedad, sorr, isn't it me that knows ye'd niver do it? But I justspeak for the look uv the thing, sorr. Sure niver a man knows bettherthan Barney O'Dowd that things are not always what they seem."

  "To tell you the truth, Barney, I've been thinking it over on the wayback. I could see that Imbono doesn't like the idea of our moving,though he was too polite to mention it----"

  "'Tis a rale Irish gintleman he is, sorr," interrupted Barney.

  "There's no doubt that Elbel, or Boloko, or both, will come back sooneror later. Leaving me out of the question, the slaughter of Boloko'sparty won't go unpunished. To overlook that would ruin the authorityof the forest guards for hundreds of miles round. Well, what does itmean when they return? They'll make a terrible example of Ilola.Imbono and his people will be wiped out. And you're quite right inbelieving that I couldn't stand by and see that done. But you see whatit involves. We must plan our camp so as to be able to take in thewhole of Imbono's people from the three villages--I suppose about fourhundred in all, children included. That's a large order, Barney."

  "True it is, sorr. But you wouldn't keep out the childher, poor littlesouls; an' mighty proud uv Pat they are, too. Besides, sorr, they'llall help, ivery soul, to build the camp; many hands make light work;an' ye couldn't expect 'em to set up a lot uv huts for us barring theysaw a chance uv bein' invited now and again, at least as payin' guests,sorr."

  "Well, Barney, I'd made up my mind to it all along, but I thought I'dlike to sound you first. So all we've got to do now is to relieveImbono's suspense and set to work. We'll start with clearing the soilfor crops. It will take some time to plan the new camp, and we'vealways this one to retreat to. Take Lepoko over to Ilola and make theannouncement yourself, Barney."

  "I will, sorr, wid the greatest pleasure in life. 'Deed, 'twas meselfthat took the news to Biddy O'Flaherty whin her pig had won the prizeat Ballymahone Show, and was just coming away wid a penny in me pocketwhen I met Mike Henchie. 'An' what would ye be afther, Mike?' says I.'Carryin' the news to Biddy O'Flaherty, to be sure,' says he. 'Arrahthin, 'tis too late ye are,' says I. 'Isn't it meself that's just gota penny for that same news?' 'Bedad,' says he, 'what will have come toBiddy at all?' 'What is it ye'd be maning?' says I; 'sure she didn'tgive me a penny,' says Mike, 'last year whin I brought her the news.She gave me a screech and went black in the face, an' sure 'twas forthe same fun I'm here this blessed minute?' 'Husht!' says I. 'Biddydidn't win the prize last year at all. 'Twas Patsy M'Manus.' 'An' whois it this time but that same Patsy?' says Mike. 'But I heard thejudge wid me very own ears give it to Biddy!' says I. 'Deed so,' sayshe; 'but some wan renumbered him that Patsy had won it two years onend. "Me old friend Patsy!" says he. "Sure I couldn't break her heartby spoilin' the third time. I'll give it to Patsy," says he.' An'Patsy hadn't shown a pig at all that year, sorr."