Zero the Slaver: A Romance of Equatorial Africa

by Lawrence Fletcher

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  ZERO.

  Though quietly settled down for the night, our friends had yet, however,to learn that they hod not altogether done with the Mormon-cum-Slaverfraternity, who evidently could not rest satisfied, or allow the day toclose, without making a particularly abominable attempt to get even withthe fugitives and their new-found friends.

  In the very dead of night, as Leigh and Amaxosa stood on guard at themouth of the cave, conversing in an undertone, they were treated to anew and extremely objectionable sample of the qualities of theirdetested foes. The fire behind them inside the cavern had completelyburnt itself out, and close to its ashes lay Grenville, sleepingheavily, whilst the other members of the party were scattered about thecave on beds of moss or dried grass. Not a sound of any kind betokeningthe presence of a foe had the anxious watchers heard, when all of asudden both were startled into action by an angry hiss just behind them,followed by the well-known and universally dreaded "skirr" of arattlesnake, and quickly lighting a torch of twisted grass, the pair sawthe horrid reptile gliding down the cave towards them, evidently makingfor the entrance. Seizing a native sword, Amaxosa rushed at the snakewith a wild shout. Instantly the reptile stopped in its tortuouscourse, and reared itself to strike, but the active Zulu was altogethertoo quick for it, and, with one fell sweep of his keen weapon, drove itshead clean from its body, when something was heard to roll with ahollow, bell-like sound upon the rocky floor.

  As Amaxosa's voice went ringing up the arches of the cavern, eachoccupant had sprung to his feet in an instant, with arms in his hands,and Grenville was himself the first to step forward and pick up thearticle, the fall of which had caused the ringing noise referred to. Hegave but a single glance at this hollow, silver ring, for such it was,and then handed it to the Zulu chief, with the one word, "Apollyon!"

  "Ay! Inkoos," was the answer, "I saw the shining circlet ere I struck,and the sight lent strength to my arm, for well I knew that if the blowdid not go home I should not live to strike again. Glad am I, myfather, that yon evil beast is dead, for I ever feared it more than Ifeared the evil ones themselves."

  Grenville then explained to Kenyon and the wonder-stricken Leigh thatthis horrible reptile was a pet snake, kept by the white woman they hadthat day seen in the enclosure, and who, going by the name of Zero'swife, was at this time the dominating female spirit of the MormonCommunity in Equatoria, as the adjacent slave-town was called. Thisinfernal nineteenth-century harpy had made the snake, "Apollyon," herpeculiar care, and _by continual practice upon ailing or dying slaves_had trained it to follow a trail, and to fix itself upon any person ofwhom she gave it the scent, quite as surely, and infinitely more quietlyand fatally, than even Zero's own particular bloodhounds. It wasself-evident that the reptile had been commissioned to destroyGrenville, and would most certainly have succeeded in doing so had notan all-merciful Providence willed otherwise. Unfortunately for thesnake, it had drawn its loathsome coils right across the spot where thefire had recently been blazing, and, although the wood had quite burntitself out, the floor of the cave was still absolutely red-hot, and thewhole stomach of the snake was in consequence terribly scorched andblistered, and the sudden agony had no doubt caused it to emit thewarning hiss which had put Amaxosa on his guard, whilst the severenature of its injuries had probably contributed, in no small degree, tothe success of his attack, by rendering the motions of the reptileunusually slow and extremely painful. Anyhow, it was a miraculous andprovidential escape, for which all felt uncommonly thankful, and Leighheard with unconcealed satisfaction that the snake in question waspositively the only one so trained which the vindictive Madame Zero hadin her possession.

  This unpleasant adventure had fairly killed all chance of sleep for thatnight, so after our trio of friends had lighted their pipes, Kenyon drewLeigh and Grenville on one side out of earshot of the rest of the party."And now," said he, "let us seriously consider our position, for it isone of very great danger; but first, give me your attention, Leigh,whilst I fulfil my promise and relate to you the history of Zero so faras it is known to me, after which your cousin will doubtless cap myinformation with a few interesting and instructive details regarding thelife and opinions of the greatest scoundrel on the face of the earth.

  "Zero, whose real name by the way is Monckton Bassett, is, I am ashamedto admit, an American by birth, and hails from New York, where hisfather originally figured as a respectable and a fairly successfulforeign merchant. Master Bassett was an only and a precocious child,and having at the early age of twenty-three succeeded in breaking hispoor mother's heart by the wild wickedness of his ways, and ruining hisfoolishly indulgent father by wheedling him into bearing from time totime the expense of a systematic and unsuccessful gambling career, nextthrew in his lot with a villainous card-sharper named Weston Harper,through whose instrumentality he first came under the notice of thepolice, being, as I proved at the time, very nearly concerned in aburglary committed upon the house of a wealthy New Yorker, to whosedaughter he had formerly been engaged. This gentleman, however, MrHarmsworth by name, had abruptly put a stop to the embryo love affairwhen he accidentally learned the life that his would-be son-in-law wasleading. The burglary was not the worst of it; for Mr Harmsworth wasdeliberately and unnecessarily shot dead in his bed, and there was everyreason to believe that young Bassett's hand had fired the fatal shot,though I could never absolutely bring the murder home to him. However,we fixed the burglary on this precious pair, and both got a ten-years'sentence, but escaped by bribing the gaolers, and successfully madetheir way to Salt Lake City, after which, like a fool, I ceased tobother my head about them. This was six years ago you see," addedKenyon, "and I wasn't quite so well posted in the ways of criminals as Iam now supposed to be. Well, gentlemen, about a couple of years afterthis I myself became affianced to a sweet young girl named RoxanaKenyon, my own cousin on the father's side; and, as I was rapidly risingin my new profession, we had every prospect of being united at nodistant date; but, to save time, I had better carry my story forwardanother two years--that is, bringing it to the year 1879, when ourwedding-day was fixed for the 15th of April. Our house was taken andfurnished throughout, and everything was duly arranged; but, on thenight before the wedding, my bride disappeared as completely as if thevery earth had opened and swallowed her." For a moment the sterndetective faltered, and, overcome by his conflicting emotions, buriedhis face in his bands, quickly, however, recovering himself andcontinuing his story. "There," he said impatiently, "it was all over,and the rest is soon told. On Roxana's bed, which had not been sleptin, I discovered a scrap of white paper with a dead black circleskilfully drawn upon it--exactly similar, let me remark, to thathieroglyphic found upon the body of the late Lady Drelincourt, only thatin my case, upon the reverse side of the paper, there appeared thewords: `_Zero gets even with Stanforth Kenyon over the Harmsworthburglary_.' I knew the writing well, and the hand that wrote it was thehand of Monckton Bassett. Without loss of time, I beat up his careersubsequent to the burglary and prior to the abduction, and discoveredthrough trusted agents that he had been absent from the New World fornearly three years, and after having returned to Utah, possessed ofconsiderable property and accompanied by the woman he calls his wife,had again gone abroad, and was then believed to be somewhere in SouthAfrica engaged upon business connected with the community of the LatterDay Saints.

  "I at once sent in my resignation to the Chief of Police, who, however,refused to accept it, giving me instead a three years' holiday toprosecute my search, as well as many kindly offers of assistance bothmonetary and official. Declining the former, I sailed for Cape Town assoon as ever I could possibly get away, and finally worked round toDurban, where, in a lucky moment for all of us, I tumbled up againstLeigh's advertisement, and, recognising in Driffield an old friend ofmine, professional instinct prompted me to call and pump him with regardto Grenville the missing; but it was only after the lawyer had made me amost generous offer with the object of induci
ng me to lead a searchparty into the Interior, and had given me the history of the adventuresof you two in East Utah, that a sudden inspiration gave me the clue toMonckton Bassett's whereabouts.

  "Zero, I said to myself, means just nothing at all: why then has thisman--who, by the way, thinks no small beer of himself--adopted such anextraordinary name?

  "Next, is there any place or district in Africa bearing the name ofZero. No! Stop! then like a living ray of light upon my mentaldarkness was flashed the answer--the Line--the Equatorial Line--NumberNought--_that is Zero_. I wired New York at once, obtained the latestparticulars of his known movements, and then, with complete faith in mygood angel, I shut up my notebook, went right off to Driffield andengaged myself in the search both body and soul. And now, my friends, Iam here, and you, Grenville, are free, and all I ask is that you willboth wait long enough for me to settle my little account with thisinfernal scoundrel, and then Westward Ho! for all of us."

  "One moment, Kenyon," interjected Leigh; "I claim this fiend from hellas my personal property. Think, man, you have but lost one who, it istrue, was almost your wife; but I, ah! God, he owes me everything--wife, child, my love, my life--my very trust in Heaven, and for this Ihold my right to prove upon his vile body to be before the right of anyliving man;" and, strung to the highest pitch, by the very worst andstrongest passions of human nature, these two firm friends fairly glaredat one another in the thoughtless anger of this intense moment.

  "Peace! gentlemen," said the attentive Grenville, "peace! Remember Itoo have a right to act in this matter, if aught of wrong received uponthis earth can give the right of revenge upon a fellow-man. Nay, Alf, Iam not seeking to enforce my claim. God's hand rests upon this curse ofCentral Africa, as I told him to his face, and when his time comes hemust go even as we; yet do I fervently pray that one of ourselves may bethe fleshly instrument selected to cause his going.

  "And now, Kenyon, how called you your affianced wife?--Roxana, was itnot?--Roxana--ay, an Asiatic name signifying, if I mistake not, the`Goddess of the Morning.' It must be the same--hear me out, oldfellow," as Kenyon rose, fairly trembling with excitement. "A youngwhite woman, known amongst the natives by a name signifying `The Star ofthe Morning,' and reputed to be very fair to look upon, was brought overfrom Madagascar to Zanzibar by Zero and his so-called wife, and was aprisoner in their hands until just before the time that I and my menwere taken captives by his band. He was then working his way up herefrom the coast--but during his absence from camp one day, his zareebawas stormed by a horde of Arabs, who swept out the best half of hisproperty, including the white girl and upwards of one hundredrepeating-rifles, the latter having been purchased and carefullysmuggled in for the use of his men.

  "When Zero returned, he behaved, I heard, like a creature bereft of hissenses; he had, of course, expected to make `big money' out of the saleof the girl, and to reduce the Arabs themselves with the Winchesters,whereas the boot was now very much on the other leg. I also heard thathe cautiously followed the tracks of the spoilers, but found that thegirl had persuaded them to take her to Zanzibar, where she was quicklyliberated through the kind agency of the British Consul, and wassupposed to have left for America. Zero then made tracks for home, andcame upon our hunting party in an evil hour, and the rest you know."

  Kenyon gripped Grenville's hand in silence, and the tears chased oneanother rapidly down his cheeks. "God bless you, old fellow," heblurted out at last: "it was well worth saving your life, if only forthis--I was fast becoming a brute, and you've given me back love andhope, and with them my faith in Heaven." Grenville and his cousin rosequietly and left him alone with the cruel memories of the darksome pastand the bright hopes of the near future, and nothing in all their livesbecame them better; but as they walked away Leigh put his hand on hiscousin's shoulder: "Good old Dick," he said, in a tone of anguish, "youhave no hope nor help for _me_." Then his voice changing to a positivehiss--"You may talk till you're black in the face, my boy, but I'llnever leave this spot until I've sent back yonder cursed scoundrel tothe hell from whence he came."

  Before Grenville could answer, however, Kenyon called to the twain toreturn, and, sitting down again, Grenville gave his companions a prettyfull account of the abominable cruelties of Zero and his "wife," and ofthe way they were devastating the country in almost every direction; andKenyon now learnt, to his surprise, that an enormous slave-trade wasdone in the very heart of Africa, and that so far from trafficking in"Black Ivory" direct with the Coast, either east or west, the slavers'market for human flesh and blood was found principally amongst tribeswhich lay to the west of Equatoria, and as the purchase money--when notprovided in ivory--usually consisted of pure rock-gold or gold-dustpacked in quills, the slaves were in all probability passed on toDahomey or Asyanti, whence they no doubt gravitated northwards andultimately found their way to Morocco, travelling incredible distancesand constantly changing hands.

  Towards the rising sun Master Zero's operations were of a restricted,and, to him, an extremely unsatisfactory nature, as his position waseverywhere hemmed in by hostile Arabs, who kept with a strong hand thecountry they had originally secured by artifice, and to whom, asfollowers of "the one True Prophet," Zero was doubly hateful, on accountof his Mormon connections.

  The man was himself absent at the present time, personally conducting animportant "slave-drive," but might be expected back in the course of twoor three days, when the whole of his captives would be passed on to thenative King, whom the slavers were now busily entertaining, and who was,in fact, simply waiting for Zero's return to "make his trade" and marchwestward with his purchases; and until this matter was satisfactorilydisposed of, Grenville was inclined to believe that no serious attemptwould be made to interfere with themselves, but once let this fiend inhuman form get clear of the pressing business in hand, and he wouldpromptly turn his attention to their own little account and would givethem no rest until the affair was settled, one way or the other.