The Penguin Book of English Short Stories

by Christopher Dolley

  Five months passed in that way.

  Then, one morning, as Kayerts and Carlier, lounging in their chairs under the verandah, talked about the approaching visit of the steamer, a knot of armed men came out of the forest and advanced towards the station. They were strangers to that part of the country. They were tall, slight, draped classically from neck to heel in blue fringed cloths, and carried percussion muskets over their bare right shoulders. Makola showed signs of excitement, and ran out of the storehouse (where be spent all his days) to meet these visitors. They came into the courtyard and looked about them with steady, scornful glances. Their leader, a powerful and determined-looking Negro with bloodshot eyes, stood in front of the verandah and made a long speech. He gesticulated much, and ceased very suddenly.

  There was something in his intonation, in the sounds of the long sentences he used, that startled the two whites. It was like a reminiscence of something not exactly familiar, and yet resembling the speech of civilized men. It sounded like one of those impossible languages which sometimes we hear in our dreams.

  ‘What lingo is that?’ said the amazed Carlier. ‘In the first moment I fancied the fellow was going to speak French. Anyway, it is a different kind of gibberish to what we ever heard.’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Kayerts. ‘Hey, Makola, what does he say? Where do they come from? Who are they?’

  But Makola, who seemed to be standing on hot bricks, answered hurriedly, ‘I don’t know. They come from very far. Perhaps Mrs Price will understand. They are perhaps bad men.’

  The leader, after waiting for a while, said something sharply to Makola, who shook his head. Then the man, after looking round, noticed Makola’s hut and walked over there. The next moment Mrs Makola was heard speaking with great volubility. The other strangers – they were six in all – strolled about with an air of ease, put their heads through the door of the storeroom, congregated round the grave, pointed understandingly at the cross, and generally made themselves at home.

  ‘I don’t like those chaps – and, I say, Kayerts, they must be from the coast; they’ve got firearms,’ observed the sagacious Carlier.

  Kayerts also did not like those chaps. They both, for the first time, became aware that they lived in conditions where the unusual may be dangerous, and that there was no power on earth outside of themselves to stand between them and the unusual. They became uneasy, went in and loaded their revolvers. Kayerts said, ‘We must order Makola to tell them to go away before dark.’

  The strangers left in the afternoon, after eating a meal prepared for them by Mrs Makola. The immense woman was excited, and talked much with the visitors. She rattled away shrilly, pointing here and there at the forests and at the river. Makola sat apart and watched. At times he got up and whispered to his wife. He accompanied the strangers across the ravine at the back of the station-ground, and returned slowly looking very thoughtful. When questioned by the white men he was very strange, seemed not to understand, seemed to have forgotten French – seemed to have forgotten how to speak altogether. Kayerts and Carlier agreed that the nigger had had too much palm wine.

  There was some talk about keeping a watch in turn, but in the evening everything seemed so quiet and peaceful that they retired as usual. All night they were disturbed by a lot of drumming in the villages. A deep, rapid roll near by would be followed by another far off – then all ceased. Soon short appeals would rattle out here and there, then all mingle together, increase, become vigorous and sustained, would spread out over the forest, roll through the night, unbroken and ceaseless, near and far, as if the whole land had been one immense drum booming out steadily an appeal to heaven. And through the deep and tremendous noise sudden yells that resembled snatches of songs from a madhouse darted shrill and high in discordant jets of sound which seemed to rush far above the earth and drive all peace from under the stars.

  Carlier and Kayerts slept badly. They both thought they had heard shots fired during the night – but they could not agree as to the direction. In the morning Makola was gone somewhere. He returned about noon with one of yesterday’s strangers, and eluded all Kayerts’s attempts to close with him: had become deaf apparently. Kayerts wondered. Carlier, who had been fishing off the bank, came back and remarked while he showed his catch, ‘The niggers seem to be in a deuce of a stir; I wonder what’s up. I saw about fifteen canoes cross the river during the two hours I was there fishing.’ Kayerts, worried, said, ‘Isn’t this Makola very queer today?’ Carlier advised, ‘Keep all our men together in case of some trouble.’

  2

  There were ten station men who had been left by the Director. Those fellows, having engaged themselves to the Company for six months (without having any idea of a month in particular and only a very faint notion of time in general), had been serving the cause of progress for upwards of two years. Belonging to a tribe from a very distant part of the land of darkness and sorrow, they did not run away, naturally supposing that as wandering strangers they would be killed by the inhabitants of the country; in which they were right. They lived in straw huts on the slope of a ravine overgrown with reedy grass, just behind the station buildings. They were not happy, regretting the festive incantations, the sorceries, the human sacrifices of their own land; where they also had parents, brothers, sisters, admired chiefs, respected magicians, loved friends, and other ties supposed generally to be human. Besides, the rice rations served out by the Company did not agree with them, being a food unknown to their land, and to which they could not get used. Consequently they were unhealthy and miserable. Had they been of any other tribe they would have made up their minds to die – for nothing is easier to certain savages than suicide – and so have escaped from the puzzling difficulties of existence. But belonging, as they did, to a warlike tribe with filed teeth, they had more grit, and went on stupidly living through disease and sorrow. They did very little work, and had lost their splendid physique. Carlier and Kayerts doctored them assiduously without being able to bring them back into condition again. They were mustered every morning and told off to different tasks – grass-cutting, fence-building, tree-felling, etc., etc., which no power on earth could induce them to execute efficiently. The two whites had practically very little control over them.

  In the afternoon Makola came over to the big house and found Kayerts watching three heavy columns of smoke rising above the forests. ‘What is that?’ asked Kayerts. ‘Some villages burn,’ answered Makola, who seemed to have regained his wits. Then he said abruptly: ‘We have got very little ivory; bad six months’ trading. Do you like get a little more ivory?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Kayerts, eagerly. He thought of percentages which were low.

  ‘Those men who came yesterday are traders from Loanda who have got more ivory than they can carry home. Shall I buy? I know their camp.’

  ‘Certainly,’ said Kayerts. ‘What are those traders?’

  ‘Bad fellows,’ said Makola, indifferently. ‘They fight with people, and catch women and children. They are bad men, and got guns. There is a great disturbance in the country. Do you want ivory?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Kayerts. Makola said nothing for a while. Then: ‘Those workmen of ours are no good at all,’ he muttered, looking round. ‘Station in very bad order, sir. Director will growl. Better get a fine lot of ivory, then he say nothing.’

  ‘I can’t help it; the men won’t work,’ said Kayerts. ‘When will you get that ivory?’

  ‘Very soon,’ said Makola. ‘Perhaps tonight. You leave it to me, and keep indoors, sir. I think you had better give some palm wine to our men to make a dance this evening. Enjoy themselves. Work better tomorrow. There’s plenty palm wine-gone a little sour.’

  Kayerts said yes, and Makola, with his own hands, carried big calabashes to the door of his hut. They stood there till the evening, and Mrs Makola looked into every one. The men got them at sunset. When Kayerts and Carlier retired, a big bonfire was flaring before the men’s huts. They could hear their shouts and drumming. Some men fro
m Gobila’s village had joined the station hands, and the entertainment was a great success.

  In the middle of the night, Carlier waking suddenly, heard a man shout loudly; then a shot was fired. Only one. Carlier ran out and met Kayerts on the verandah. They were both startled. As they went across the yard to call Makola, they saw shadows moving in the night. One of them cried, ‘Don’t shoot! It’s me, Price.’ Then Makola appeared close to them. ‘Go back, go back, please,’ he urged, ‘you spoil all.’ ‘There are strange men about,’ said Carlier. ‘Never mind; I know,’ said Makola. Then he whispered, ‘All right. Bring ivory. Say nothing! I know my business.’ The two white men reluctantly went back to the house, but did not sleep. They heard footsteps, whispers, some groans. It seemed as if a lot of men came in, dumped heavy things on the ground, squabbled a long time, then went away. They lay on their hard beds and thought: ‘This Makola is invaluable.’ In the morning Carlier came out, very sleepy, and pulled at the cord of the big bell. The station hands mustered every morning to the sound of the bell. That morning nobody came. Kayerts turned out also, yawning. Across the yard they saw Makola come out of his hut, a tin basin of soapy water in his hand. Makola, a civilized nigger, was very neat in his person. He threw the soapsuds skilfully over a wretched little yellow cur he had, then turning his face to the agent’s house, he shouted from the distance, ‘All the men gone last night!’

  They heard him plainly, but in their surprise they both yelled out together: ‘What!’ Then they stared at one another. ‘We are in a proper fix now,’ growled Carlier. ‘It’s incredible!’ muttered Kayerts. ‘I will go to the huts and see,’ said Carlier, striding off. Makola coming up found Kayerts standing alone.

  ‘I can hardly believe it,’ said Kayerts, tearfully. ‘We took care of them as if they had been our children.’

  ‘They went with the coast people,’ said Makola after a moment of hesitation.

  ‘What do I care with whom they went – the ungrateful brutes!’ exclaimed the other. Then with sudden suspicion, and looking hard at Makola, he added: ‘What do you know about it?’

  Makola moved his shoulders, looking down on the ground. ‘What do I know? I think only. Will you come and look at the ivory I’ve got there? It is a fine lot. You never saw such.’

  He moved towards the store. Kayerts followed him mechanically, thinking about the incredible desertion of the men. On the ground before the door of the fetish lay six splendid tusks.

  ‘What did you give for it?’ asked Kayerts, after surveying the lot with satisfaction.

  ‘No regular trade,’ said Makola. ‘They brought the ivory and gave it to me. I told them to take what they most wanted in the station. It is a beautiful lot. No station can show such tusks. Those traders wanted carriers badly, and our men were no good here. No trade, no entry in books; all correct.’

  Kayerts nearly burst with indignation. ‘Why!’ he shouted, ‘I believe you have sold our men for these tusks!’ Makola stood impassive and silent. ‘I – I – will – I,’ stuttered Kayerts. ‘You fiend!’ he yelled out.

  ‘I did the best for you and the Company,’ said Makola, imperturbably. ‘Why you shout so much? Look at this tusk.’

  ‘I dismiss you! I will report you – I won’t look at the tusk. I forbid you to touch them. I order you to throw them into the river. You – you!’

  ‘You very red, Mr Kayerts. If you are so irritable in the sun, you will get fever and die – like the first chief!’ pronounced Makola impressively.

  They stood still, contemplating one another with intense eyes, as if they had been looking with effort across immense distances. Kayerts shivered. Makola had meant no more than he said, but his words seemed to Kayerts full of ominous menace! He turned sharply and went away to the house. Makola retired into the bosom of his family; and the tusks, left lying before the store, looked very large and valuable in the sunshine.

  Carlier came back on the verandah. ‘They’re all gone, hey?’ asked Kayerts from the far end of the common room in a muffled voice. ‘You did not find anybody?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Carlier, ‘I found one of Gobila’s people lying dead before the huts – shot through the body. We heard that shot last night.’

  Kayerts came out quickly. He found his companion staring grimly over the yard at the tusks, away by the store. They both sat in silence for a while. Then Kayerts related his conversation with Makola. Carlier said nothing. At the midday meal they ate very little. They hardly exchanged a word that day. A great silence seemed to lie heavily over the station and press on their lips. Makola did not open the store; he spent the day playing with his children. He lay full-length on a mat outside his door, and the youngsters sat on his chest and clambered all over him. It was a touching picture. Mrs Makola was busy cooking all day as usual. The white men made a somewhat better meal in the evening. Afterwards, Carlier smoking his pipe strolled over to the store; he stood for a long time over the tusks, touched one or two with his foot, even tried to lift the largest one by its small end. He came back to his chief, who had not stirred from the verandah, threw himself in the chair and said –

  ‘I can see it! They were pounced upon while they slept heavily after drinking all that palm wine you’ve allowed Makola to give them. A put-up job I see? The worst is, some of Gobila’s people were there, and got carried off too, no doubt. The least drunk woke up, and got shot for his sobriety. This is a funny country. What will you do now?’

  ‘We can’t touch it, of course,’ said Kayerts.

  ‘Of course not,’ assented Carlier.

  ‘Slavery is an awful thing,’ stammered out Kayerts in an unsteady voice.

  ‘Frightful – the sufferings,’ grunted Carlier with conviction.

  They believed their words. Everybody shows a respectful deference to certain sounds that he and his fellows can make. But about feelings people really know nothing. We talk with indignation or enthusiasm; we talk about oppression, cruelty, crime, devotion, self-sacrifice, virtue, and we know nothing real beyond the words. Nobody knows what suffering or sacrifice mean – except, perhaps the victims of the mysterious purpose of these illusions.

  Next morning they saw Makola very busy setting up in the yard the big scales used for weighing ivory. By and by Carlier said: ‘What’s that filthy scoundrel up to?’ and lounged out into the yard. Kayerts followed. They stood watching. Makola took no notice. When the balance was swung true, he tried to lift a tusk into the scale. It was too heavy. He looked up helplessly without a word, and for a minute they stood round that balance as mute and still as three statues. Suddenly Carlier said: ‘Catch hold of the other end, Makola – you beast!’ and together they swung the tusk up. Kayerts trembled in every limb. He muttered, ‘I say! O! I say!’ and putting his hand in his pocket found there a dirty bit of paper and the stump of a pencil. He turned his back on the others, as if about to do something tricky, and noted stealthily the weights which Carlier shouted out to him with unnecessary loudness. When all was over Makola whispered to himself: ‘The sun’s very strong here for the tusks.’ Carlier said to Kayerts in a careless tone: ‘I say, chief, I might just as well give him a lift with this lot into the store.’

  As they were going back to the house Kayerts observed with a sigh: ‘It had to be done.’ And Carlier said: ‘It’s deplorable, but, the men being Company’s men, the ivory is Company’s ivory. We must look after it.’ ‘I will report to the Director, of course,’ said Kayerts. ‘Of course; let him decide,’ approved Carlier.

  At midday they made a hearty meal. Kayerts sighed from time to time. Whenever they mentioned Makola’s name they always added to it an opprobrious epithet. It eased their conscience. Makola gave himself a half-holiday, and bathed his children in the river. No one from Gobila’s villages came near the station that day. No one came the next day, and the next, nor for a whole week. Gobila’s people might have been dead and buried for any sign of life they gave. But they were only mourning for those they had lost by the witchcraft of white men, who had
brought wicked people into their country. The wicked people were gone, but fear remained. Fear always remains. A man may destroy everything within himself, love and hate and belief, and even doubt; but as long as he clings to life he cannot destroy fear; the fear, subtle, indestructible, and terrible, that pervades his being; that tinges his thoughts; that lurks in his heart; that watches on his lips the struggle of his last breath. In his fear, the mild old Gobila offered extra human sacrifices to all the Evil Spirits that had taken possession of his white friends. His heart was heavy. Some warriors spoke about burning and killing, but the cautious old savage dissuaded them. Who could foresee the woe those mysterious creatures, if irritated, might bring? They should be left alone. Perhaps in time they would disappear into the earth as the first one had disappeared. His people must keep away from them, and hope for the best.

  Kayerts and Carlier did not disappear, but remained above on this earth, that, somehow, they fancied had become bigger and very empty. It was not the absolute and dumb solitude of the post that impressed them so much as an inarticulate feeling that something from within them was gone, something that worked for their safety, and had kept the wilderness from interfering with their hearts. The images of home; the memory of people like them, of men that thought and felt as they used to think and feel, receded into distances made indistinct by the glare of unclouded sunshine. And out of the great silence of the surrounding wilderness, its very hopelessness and savagery seemed to approach them nearer, to draw them gently, to look upon them, to envelop them with a solicitude irresistible, familiar, and disgusting.

  Days lengthened into weeks, then into months. Gobila’s people drummed and yelled to every new moon, as of yore, but kept away from the station. Makola and Carlier tried once in a canoe to open communications, but were received with a shower of arrows, and had to fly back to the station for dear life. That attempt set the country up and down the river into an uproar that could be very distinctly heard for days. The steamer was late. At first they spoke of delay jauntily, then anxiously, then gloomily. The matter was becoming serious. Stores were running short. Carlier cast his lines off the bank, but the river was low, and the fish kept out in the stream. They dared not stroll far away from the station to shoot. Moreover, there was no game in the impenetrable forest. Once Carlier shot a hippo in the river. They had no boat to secure it, and it sank. When it floated up it drifted away, and Gobila’s people secured the carcase. It was the occasion for a national holiday, but Carlier had a fit of rage over it and talked about the necessity of exterminating all the niggers before the country could be made habitable. Kayerts mooned about silently; spent hours looking at the portrait of his Melie. It represented a little girl with long bleached tresses and a rather sour face. His legs were much swollen, and he could hardly walk. Carlier, undermined by fever, could not swagger any more, but kept tottering about, still with a devil-may-care air, as became a man who remembered his crack regiment. He had become hoarse, sarcastic, and inclined to say unpleasant things. He called it ‘being frank with you’. They had long ago reckoned their percentages on trade, including in them that last deal of ‘this infamous Makola’. They had also concluded not to say anything about it. Kayerts hesitated at first – was afraid of the Director.