African Trader; Or, The Adventures of Harry Bayford

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER THREE.

  WE ENTER A RIVER.--ITS SCENERY DESCRIBED.--RECEIVE A VISIT FROM THEKING, AND TRADE WITH THE NATIVES.--THE PRODUCTS OF AFRICA, FOR WHICH WETRADE, MENTIONED, AND THE CURIOUS MODE IN WHICH TRADE IS CONDUCTED.--FEVER BREAKS OUT ON BOARD, AND SEVERAL OF THE CREW DIE.--SAD END OF POORBOB.--THE BOATSWAIN AND MATES ATTACKED WITH FEVER.--MORE DEATHS.--THECAPTAIN'S UNWILLINGNESS, NOTWITHSTANDING THIS, TO LEAVE THE RIVER TILLHIS CARGO IS COMPLETED.

  Standing in towards the coast with the sea breeze we saw before us anopening between two low mangrove covered points, which formed the mouthof the river we were about to ascend. The scarcely ever ceasingrollers, coming across the wide Atlantic, broke on the bar which ranacross its entrance with somewhat less violence than on the coastitself. Still there was an ugly looking line of white foam which had tobe crossed before we could gain the smooth water within. We hove-to,making the signal for a pilot. A canoe in a short time came off, havingon board a burly negro, dressed in a broad brimmed hat, nankeentrousers, and white jacket, with a sash round his waist. He producedseveral documents to show that he was capable of taking a vessel overthe bar.

  "Wait bit captain," he said, "high water soon, and den ship go insmooth--batten down hatches though, case sea break aboard."

  Captain Willis followed this advice; it was well that he did so. "Uphelm now captain--bar berry good--plenty breeze." We stood on with allcanvas set; the hands at their stations ready to shorten sail whennecessary. Soon we found ourselves mounting to the top of a highroller, then on we glided, till in another instant down we came amid thehissing roaring breakers, their foam-topped summits dancing up on eitherside, and deluging our decks. I saw our black pilot holding on prettytightly by the main shrouds--I followed his example, for I expectedevery moment to feel the vessel's keel touching the bar, when I knewthat if she were to hang there even for the shortest possible time, thefollowing sea might break over her stem, and make a clean sweep of herdeck. On she sped though, lifted by another huge roller; downwards wethen glided amid the eddying creamy waters on to the calm surface of theriver, up which the next minute we were gliding rapidly.

  The appearance of the banks on either side was not attractive. As faras the eye could reach was one dense jungle of mangrove bushes, andthough we ran on for several miles it in no way improved. The wind diedaway as we advanced, and the atmosphere became hot and oppressive. Ihad expected to see pleasant openings, with neat cottages, plantationsof maize, rice, and other grain, pepper, palms and palmetos; butinstead, a uniform line of the sombre tinted mangrove alone presenteditself, the trees just too high to prevent our having a view over themof any more attractive scenery which might have existed beyond.

  I asked our black pilot when we should come to the town. "By by den yousee," he answered with a look which denoted that we should in timewitness something worth beholding.

  The water was as smooth as glass. Here and there coveys of birds mightbe seen skimming along the surface, while overhead a flight of scarletwinged flamingos swept in wide circles, their plumage flashing in thesun as they prepared to descend on one of the many sandbanks in thestream, to carry on their fishing operations. As we advanced, now andthen a canoe would shoot out from among the jungle; the black skinnedpaddlers coming quickly alongside, to ascertain our character and theobjects for which we wished to trade. Sometimes too we could see troopsof monkeys making their way among the branches, their small grinningfaces peering out at us as we glided by through some channel near theshore. Hour after hour thus passed by, but at length, towards evening,the belt of mangrove bushes diminished in thickness, and other trees ofmore attractive appearance began to take their place, and openingsappeared with a few huts scattered about on the slopes of gently risingground.

  As evening was closing in we caught sight, in the far distance, of acongregation of huts, and the pilot gave the captain the welcomeinformation, that he might shorten sail, and prepare to come to ananchor. By the time we had made everything snug darkness closed downupon us. We could just see a few lights twinkling ahead, while oneither side, across the stream, appeared the dark outline of the talltrees which clothed the river's banks. Silence reigned around us, withthe exception of the ripple of the water against the vessel's bows; butfrom afar off came a confused mixture of sounds, which appeared like thecroaking of frogs, the chirruping of crickets, and other creeping andflying things, the screeching and chattering of monkeys, mingled withthe voices of human beings making merry round their huts. The air wasdamp and heavy and hot; at the same time I felt that I should like to beseated by a roaring drying fire.

  We kept a watch on deck as if we were at sea, with arms ready for use,for though our pilot had assured us "that all good people here," CaptainWillis was too well acquainted, both with the character of the natives,and the sort of gentry who might possibly be in the river waiting for acargo of slaves, to put himself in their power.

  I tumbled and tossed about during the night in my berth, unable tosleep, both on account of the heat, and, strange to say, of the perfectquiet which prevailed. Next morning a large canoe was seen coming offfrom the shore, in which was seated a white headed old negro in a glazedcocked hat, a red hunting coat on his shoulders, a flannel petticoatround his waist, and a pair of worsted slippers on his feet. The pilot,who had remained on board, notified to the captain, with greatformality, that he was King Dingo, coming to receive his dash or paymentfor allowing us to trade with his people. His majesty was received withdue ceremony, and conducted into the cabin, when, as soon as he wasseated, notwithstanding the early hour of the day, he signified that itwas his royal pleasure to be presented with a bottle of rum. Havingtaken two or three glasses, which seemed to have no other effect on himthan sharpening his wits, he handed it to one of his attendants, andthen applied himself to the breakfast, which had just been placed on thetable, and I dare not say how many cups of coffee, sweetened to the brimwith sugar, he swallowed in rapid succession. Having received half adozen muskets, as many kegs of powder, brass pans, wash basins, plates,gunflints, and various cotton articles, as his accustomed dash, andrequested a dozen bottles of rum in addition, he took his departure,promising to come again and do a little trade on his own account.

  The subjects of the sable potentate were now allowed to come on board,and several canoes were seen approaching us from different parts of theshore. One brought a tusk of ivory, others jars of palm oil, severalhad baskets of India-rubber, or gum-elastic, as it is called. Besidesthese articles, they had ebony, bees'-wax, tortoise-shell, gold-dust,copper-ore, ground nuts, and others to dispose of.

  We soon found that the business of trading with these black merchantswas not carried on at the rate we should have desired.

  The trader, having hoisted his goods out of his canoe, would place themon deck, and seat himself before them, looking as unconcerned as if hehad not the slightest wish to part with them. Some would wait till thecaptain came forward and made an offer; others would ask a price tentimes the known value of the article, extolling its excellence, hintingthat very little more was likely to be brought down the river for a longtime to come, and that several other traders were soon expected. Thecaptain would then walk away, advising the owner to keep it till hecould obtain the price he asked. The trader would sit still till thecaptain again came near him, then ask a somewhat lower price. On thisbeing refused he would perhaps make a movement as if about to return tohis canoe, without having the slightest intention of so doing; and sothe game would go on till the captain would offer the former price forthe article, when, perhaps, the trader would sit on, time being of noconsequence to him, in the hopes that he might still receive a largeramount of goods. On other occasions the captain had to commencebargaining, when he invariably offered considerably below the true mark,when the trader as invariably asked something greatly above it. Thecaptain would then walk aft, and, perhaps, come back and talk about theother ports he intended to visit, where the natives were more reasonablein their demands. Captain Wi
llis was too cool a hand to show anyimpatience, and he thus generally made very fair bargains, always beingready to give a just value for the articles he wished to purchase. Aseach jar of oil, each tooth or box of gold-dust, or basket ofIndia-rubber, could alone be procured by this process, some idea may beformed of the time occupied every day in trading.

  Palm oil was, however, the chief article we were in search of; but twoweeks passed by, and still a considerable number of our casks remainedunfilled. Fever too had broken out on board. Three of our men weredown with it, and day after day others were added to the number. Thetwo first seized died, and we took them on shore to be buried. This hada depressing effect on the rest.

  When we returned on board we found that a third was nearly at his lastgasp. Poor fellow, the look of despair and horror on his countenance Ican never forget. "Harry," he exclaimed, seizing my hand as I went tohim with a cup of cooling drink, "I am not fit to die, can no one do anything for me? I dare not die, can't some of those black fellows onshore try to bring me through--they ought to know how to man handle thisfever."

  "I am afraid that they are but bad doctors, Bob," I answered, "however,take this cooling stuff it may perhaps do you good."

  "A river of it won't cool the burning within me," he gasped out. "OhHarry, and if I die now, that burning will last for ever and ever. Iwould give all my wages, and ten times as much, for a few days of life.Harry, I once was taught to say my prayers, but I have not said them forlong years, and curses, oaths, and foul language have come out of mylips instead. I want to have time to pray, and to recollect what I wastaught as a boy." I tried to cheer him up, as I called it, but alas, Itoo had forgotten to say my prayers, and had been living without God inthe world, and though I did not curse and swear, my heart was capable ofdoing that and many other things that were bad, and so I could offer thepoor fellow no real consolation. I persuaded him to drink the contentsof the cup; but I saw as I put it to his lips that he could withdifficulty get the liquid down his throat.

  "You have had a hard life of it, Bob, and perhaps God will take thatinto consideration," I said, making use of one of the false notionsSatan suggests to the mind of seamen as well as to others. Bob knew itto be false.

  "That won't undo all the bad things I have been guilty of; it won'tunsay all the blasphemies and obscene words which have flowed from mylips," he gasped out.

  "Then try to pray as you used to do," I said, "I will try and pray withyou, but I am a bad hand at that I am afraid."

  "Oh, I can't pray now, it's too late! too late!" he exclaimed in a lowdespairing voice, as he sank back on his pillow, turning his fastglazing eye away from me. He had been delirious for some time beforethen, but his senses had lately been restored. He seemed instinctivelyto feel that I could offer him none of the consolation he needed.

  While I was still standing by the side of his bunk, one of the matescame forward to see how the sick were getting on. He spoke a few wordsto try and comfort the dying man. They had no more effect than mine, heonly groaned out, "It's too late! too late! too late!" His voicerapidly grew weaker--there was a slight convulsive struggle; the matelifted his hand, it fell down by his side.

  "Poor Bob has gone," he said, "there will be more following before long,I fear. If I was the captain I would get out of this river withoutwaiting for a full cargo, or we shall not have hands enough left to takethe vessel home."

  This scene made a deep impression on me; too late! too late! continuedsounding in my ears. What if I were to be brought to utter the sameexpression? Where was poor Bob now? I tried not to think of thematter, but still those fearful words "too late" would come back to me;then I tried to persuade myself that I was young and strong, and as Ihad led a very different sort of life to most of the men, I was morelikely than any one to escape the gripe of the fever.

  We had another trip on shore to bury poor Bob. The captain seemed sorryfor him. "He was a man of better education than his messmates, though,to be sure, he had been a wild chap," he observed to me. Bob'sconscience had been awakened; that of the others remained hardened orfast asleep, and they died as they had lived, foul, unwashed, unfit toenter a pure and holy heaven.

  I am drawing a sad and painful picture, but it is a true one. I did notthen understand how full of horror it was, though I thought it very sadto lose so many of our crew.

  We continued to carry on trade as before, and the captain sentmessengers urging the natives to hasten in bringing palm oil on board,but they showed no inclination to hurry themselves; and as to quittingthe river till he had a full cargo on board, he had no intention ofdoing that.

  Hitherto the officers had escaped; but one morning the second matereported that the first mate was unable to leave his berth, though hebelieved that it was nothing particular; but Dick Radforth, who wasconsidered to be the strongest man on board, when he had tried to get upthat morning, had been unable to rise. The captain sent me forward tosee him.

  Some hours must have passed since he was attacked. He was fearfullychanged, but still conscious.

  "Black Jack has got hold of me at last, Harry, but I'll grapple with himpretty tightly before I let him get the victory, do you see," heobserved, when I told him that the captain had sent me to see him. "I'mobliged to him, but if he wishes to give me a longer spell of life, andto save the others on board, he will put to sea without loss of time,while the land breeze lasts. A few mouthfuls of sea air would set me upin a trice. If we don't get that there will be more of us down withfever before night."

  The boatswain had scarcely said this when he began to rave and tumbleand toss about in his berth, and I had to call two of the men to assistme in keeping him quiet. When I got back to the cabin, I told thecaptain what Radforth had said. "Oh, that's only the poor fellow'sraving. It will never do to leave the river without our cargo, for ifwe do some other trader will sure to be in directly afterwards and takeadvantage of what has been collected for us. However, I have had noticethat lots of oil will be brought on board in a few days, and when we getthat, we will put to sea even though we are not quite full."

  The captain shortly afterwards paid Radforth a visit; but the boatswainwas raving at the time, and never again spoke while in his senses. Thefollowing day we carried him to his grave on shore. The death of onewho was looked upon as the most seasoned and strongest man, had, as maybe supposed, a most depressing effect among the crew. It was soon alsoevident that the first mate was ill with the fever, and indeed more thanhalf our number were now down with it.

  Still the captain could not bring himself to quit the river. "In a fewdays very possibly we shall have a full cargo Harry," he said to me."In the meantime, I daresay, the rest will hold out. Radforthoverworked himself, or he would not have caught the fever. Take careHarry you don't expose yourself to the sun, and you will keep all torights my boy,--I am very careful about that--though I am so wellseasoned that nothing is likely to hurt me."

  "I wish we were out of the river, Captain Willis," I could not helpreplying. "The mates and the men are always talking about it, and theysay the season is unusually sickly or this would not have happened."

  "They must mind their own business, and stay by the ship, wherever Ichoose to take her," he exclaimed, in an angry tone, and I saw that Ishould have acted more wisely in not making the observation I had justlet fall. Still, to do him justice, Captain Willis was as kind andattentive as he possibly could be to the sick men; he constantly visitedthe first mate, and treated him as if he had been a brother.

  All this time not a word about religion was spoken on board; I had, itis true, a Bible in my chest, put there by my sisters, but I hadforgotten all about it, and there was not another in the ship.

  Except in the instance I have mentioned, and in one or two others, noteven the sick men seemed concerned about their souls. The onlyconsolation which those in health could offer to them, was the hope thatthey might recover. "Cheer up Dick," or, "cheer up Tom, you'll strugglethrough it, never say die--you will be r
ight again before long old boy,"and such like expressions were uttered over and over again, often tothose at their last gasp, and so the poor fellows went out of the worldbelieving that they were going to recover and enjoy once more the basepursuits and unholy pleasures in which their souls' delighted. Alas, Ihave often though what a fearful waking up there must have been of thoseI had thus seen taking their departure from this world, yet the rest ofus remained as hardened, and in most cases as fearless, of consequencesas before.

  The death of the first mate, which very soon occurred, made the secondmate, I perceived, somewhat more anxious than before about himself. Thefirst mate had been a strong healthy man, and had often before been outon the coast, while the second mate was always rather sickly, and thiswas his first visit to the shores of Africa. Whether or not his fearshad an effect upon him, I cannot say, but he began to look very ill, andbecame every day more anxious about himself. The captain tried toarouse him, telling him that we should be at sea enjoying the freshbreeze in a few days, and that he must hold out till then. "Still it isof no use, Harry," he said to me, as I was walking the deck with him oneevening, trying to get a few mouthfuls of air. "I know I shall neverleave this horrible place alive unless the captain would give the orderat once to trip the anchor, then perhaps the thought of being free of itwould set me up again."

  I told the captain when I went into the cabin what the poor mate hadsaid, for I really thought our going away might be the means of savinghis life, as well as that of others aboard. He took what I said in verygood part, but was as obstinately bent in remaining as before. "Thoseare all fancies, Harry," he answered. "He has taken it into his headthat he is to die, and that is as likely to kill him as the feveritself."

  "But then he fancies that he would get well if we were at sea," Ireplied. "Perhaps that really would set him up again."

  "Well, well, just tell him that you heard me ay I hoped to get away intwo or three days, perhaps that will put him to rights," answered thecaptain, laughing. "Now, Harry, don't let me hear any more of this sortof thing; I have bother enough with these black traders without havingto listen to the fancies of my own people."

  I told the mate what the captain had said. "If the vessel does get awayat the time he mentioned, I hope that I may be able to help in takingher to sea, if not, mark my words Harry, there will be a good many moreof us down with the fever." He spoke too truly. The traders continuedto arrive but slowly, as before, with their oil. The captain waited andwaited like an angler anxious to catch more fish. Before the week wasover the second mate was dead, and we had only two men fit for duty onboard.