Harry Milvaine; Or, The Wanderings of a Wayward Boy

by Gordon Stables

was hardly heard. All this, accompanied by the beating oftom-toms and the occasional unearthly yells of the amazons, made up aconcert that it is far beyond my powers of description to give thereader any correct notion of.

  The animals were slain. The amazons danced around the hole into whichthe creatures' blood had been poured, frequently dipping their fingerstherein and besmearing their faces, which certainly did not improvetheir grim beauty.

  Then the procession returned to the king's enclosure, and more wilddancing was carried on, much to the delectation of his majesty.

  Suddenly he wheeled round to the mat where Harry and Raggy weresquatted.

  "Can you dance?" said the king. "Yes, you must dance."

  When Raggy translated his majesty's words Harry could not keep fromlaughing aloud.

  The idea, he thought, of his leading one of those bloody-faced amazonsthrough a mazy dance, or of his dancing in her majesty's uniform toplease a savage king!

  "No," he said, "he could not dance; but Raggy would."

  Raggy whispered something to his master, and the reply was--

  "So you have, Raggy; I had quite forgotten. Go and fetch it."

  Raggy was back in less than a minute with a German concertina, which hehad looted from Mahmoud, and which had been intended for King 'Ngaloo.

  The effect of Harry's playing on this instrument was magical. There wasa half-frightened silence at first, succeeded by murmurs of delight.

  "Lobo! Lobo!! Lobo!!!" cried the king, emphatically, and when Harryfinished he smoothed the back of his hand with one finger, as if he hadbeen a pet rat, and Harry could have sworn he saw tears in the poorman's eyes.

  "Now, Raggy," cried Harry, striking into a hornpipe, "now for yourbreakdown."

  Raggy required no second bidding, and I am sure no stage nigger evercould have gone through one half the capers Raggy did, in that wonderfulbreakdown of his.

  During the dance the king's face was something to behold and wonder at,his excitement was intense, and when Raggy finished he had simply tobegin again. So it was "encore" and "encore" till the poor boy fairlysank on the ground panting from exertion, and the king shouted "Lobo!Lobo! Lobo! Lobo!"

  To change the programme, Harry commenced to sing "Rule Britannia," andsomewhat to his surprise, while the king beat time with his hand on hisknee, several of the amazons joined the chorus and actually followed thetune.

  The amazons after this took chains of flowers and threw over Harry'shead till he was nearly choked.

  The concert ended at last and feasting began, and after this the kingwas led away and deposited on a couch of leaves and flowers, and at oncewent off to sleep.

  "And no wonder," said Harry to himself, "for he has picked the bones ofa couple of fowls, and eaten nearly half a goat."

  Next morning his majesty was up betimes, and as bright as a lark.

  He was full of business. There was Harry's boat to get ready, and alsohis own, for he meant to send his guest away in state.

  "Ask or me anything," he said to Harry, "and I will give it if youpromise to return."

  "I will assuredly return," replied Harry, "if the Great Father sparesme."

  "And now, when I think of it, I shall be for ever grateful to you foryour hospitality. Will you add to it by lending me two of your peopleto help me as carriers on my march?"

  The answer was made in the following way. The king ran rapidly alongthe ranks of his amazons, and dragged out two of the sturdiest, whom healmost flung into Harry's arms.

  Harry stepped back laughing.

  "Oh, no, your majesty," he said, "not the ladies, please."

  "Lobo! Lobo!" said his majesty.

  The boat in which Harry and his companions embarked for the distanteastern shore, was bedded with beautiful flowers, and when he bade theking goodbye on the shore he took away with him three sturdy islandersto act as guides, and to help to carry his guns and packages.

  These last contained a supply of rice sufficient to last the littleexpedition for many months.

  When he reached the hill-top and looked back, lo! there on the beachstill stood the honest king. Once more adieus were waved; then Harryand his people went down over the mountain side, and bore away to theWest.

  It was when in bivouac that night, halfway up a hill, with the moon andstars shining in a clear blue sky and brilliantly reflected in a littlelake down beneath, that Harry remembered that all the time he had been aguest of the island king, he had never spoken to either him or hispeople of the good tidings of the Gospel.

  He felt his face burn red as he thought of his neglect. But he vowed tohimself that if spared to return he would try to make amends for suchthoughtlessness.

  "You should sow good seed when you can," something seemed to whisper toHarry; "the ground may be rough, the soil may be hard, but _good seedoften makes good soil for itself_."

  Book 4--CHAPTER ONE.

  ON THE WAR PATH.

  ADVENTURE WITH A PYTHON--THE UNWHOLESOME FEN--THE VILLAGE OF THE DISMALSWAMP--THE MAN-EATER.

  Not only as guides and carriers, but in a variety of other ways didHarry find his new men useful. They were undoubtedly honest, they werejust as undoubtedly brave, and last, but not least, they were willing.

  Well, they were servants and subjects of the island king, and dependupon it a good master always makes a good servant.

  It was but two men that Harry desired to have lent to him, but hismajesty insisted on sending three, wisely observing that while the twocould carry the packages, the other could act as guide and scout.

  At the time, then, that the last "act" in this tale of ours opens, Harryhad already been three months on the road.

  Three months only? Why it seemed like three years, so filled had thedays been with toil and adventure. No wonder that Harry felt a man whenhe looked back to all he had come through. He had seen many strangesights, and been among many strange tribes and peoples, and yet he couldhave told you truthfully that he had not as yet made an enemy. To do soneeds that wonderful skill and judgment, tact and calmness of mind,which only men like Stanley and Cameron possess.

  My own impression is that one is more safe among the reallyunsophisticated tribes of the far interior, than among those that liemore near the coast, and who have been leavened with a modicum ofcivilisation--and mayhap a modicum of rum. I would rather trust myselfamong savages who had never seen a white man before, than among theSomali Indians to the north of the line--whose tricks and manners, bythe way, I have good cause to remember.

  Harry inquired the names of his islanders, but found they were sodifficult to pronounce, unless he tried to swallow his tongue, andscrewed his mouth out of all shape, that he determined to give themEnglish ones, so he called them Walter--the scout--and Bob and Bill--thecarriers. But in the mouths of these Indians Walter became "Walda," Bobbecame "Popa," and Bill became "Peela;" so let them stand: Walda, Popa,and Peela.

  They were so much alike that it was quite a long time before Harry couldtell the one from the other--tell Popa from Peela, I mean.

  As for Walda, though he was quite as tall, quite as straight, and everybit as jetty black as his companions, his teeth had been filed intotriangles, and stained crimson by some mysterious means or other, and ashe was always on the grin there was no mistaking him.

  Walda had a wondrous way of his own of making his peace with nativetribes. He seemed to know the whole country well, and used to run onmiles in front of the company, and by the time Harry got up it was nouncommon thing to find everything prepared and ready, and even a rudetent made for the white man's reception.

  So that life became now a deal easier for our hero.

  Poor Walda, though, had one day a narrow escape from a most terribledeath.

  It was well for him that Harry and the rest of his people were near tosave him.

  I cannot tell you whether or not the python or marsh boa of CentralAfrica is a spiteful reptile, for I have never seen but one, and he madeno attempt to attack me, although I stood not t
wenty yards away. Icannot believe all the fearful tales I have read and been told about thecreature, of its enormous length--sometimes sixty feet--of its power toswallow a small bullock, and of its chasing travellers till they heardits panting behind them, and felt its fulsome breath beating warmbetween their shoulders. This would surely be more fearsome than anynightmare. It puts one in mind of the words of the immortal Coleridge--

  "Like one that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread."

  Walda was only a little way ahead of the rest on the day he was attackedby the python. Nor was it of very large size, else would I not haveWalda's adventures to write.

  The guide was near a tree when suddenly, with a loud hiss, the monstersprang upon him. It seized