The Adventures of Dick Maitland: A Tale of Unknown Africa

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER FIVE.

  THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE.

  The second breakfast over, farewells were spoken--with, in some cases,the promise to meet again speedily--and the voyagers separated, some tomake their way home to their sugar or coffee estates in theneighbourhood, others to take train to more distant localities, somethree or four being bound as far afield as Johannesburg or Pretoria--andDick, with his friend Grosvenor, set out to wander about the town ofDurban, inspect the shops, pass through the aristocratic quarter of theBerea, per tram, and finally, on a couple of horses hired from the hotelstable, to ride out to the River Umgeni, and thence to Sea Cow Lake, inthe vain hope of getting a sight of a few of the hippopotami that weresaid to still haunt that piece of water; finally returning to the hotelin time for dinner, hot, tired, but supremely happy, and delighted witheverything that they had seen.

  During the progress of the meal they made the acquaintance of a MrGerald Muspratt, a coffee planter, whose estate was situate some twelvemiles distant, in the adjoining county of Victoria; and, theacquaintance ripening over the after-dinner coffee, with that breathlesscelerity which is one of the most charming characteristics of theColonies, before retiring for the night the two friends had acceptedMuspratt's very pressing invitation to ride out with him to his placenext morning, and spend a couple of days there with him to look roundthe estate and be introduced to Muspratt's two or three neighbours.This they did in due course, the two days' visit lengthening itself intofour, and ending by the acceptance of another invitation, this time froma sugar planter whose estate, Mount Pleasant, was situate some fourteenmiles farther up the coast, on the other side of the Umhloti River.This invitation Dick would fain have declined, for he was impatient tobegin the real business that lay before them; but Grosvenor was socharmed with the country and everything that he saw in it, andespecially with the spontaneous kindness, friendliness, and hospitalityof its people, that he seemed in no hurry to rush away from it all andbury himself in the wilderness. As it happened, neither of the youngmen had any reason to regret the time thus spent, for their host, anold-time transport rider, named Mitchell, had penetrated far beyond theZambezi in his younger days, was an experienced hunter, knew theinterior, its inhabitants, and their peculiarities as well as, if notbetter than, any other man living, and was brimful of information andhints absolutely invaluable to the new arrivals, which he freelyimparted. When told of the nature and scope of the young men'sprojected adventure, however, he shook his head dubiously, and stronglyurged them to abandon the idea of attempting more than just a fewmonths' big-game shooting.

  "Mind you," he said, "I strongly sympathise with you in your veryambitious aims, ridiculous as many men would pronounce them, for I wasanimated by precisely the same desire myself when I was a youngster ofabout your age," turning to Grosvenor.

  "By Jove! you don't say so?" ejaculated Grosvenor, surprised anddelighted to meet a man of such wide experience as Mitchell who did notpronounce his plans chimerical; for it must be stated that thus far theenunciation of those plans had been almost invariably received witheither covert or open ridicule. "Then," he continued, "do I understandthat you believe in the possibility of finding the site of ancientOphir?"

  "Well--yes--you may understand me to mean that--in a general way," wasMitchell's somewhat guarded admission. "But," he continued, "if you askwhether I think it probable that you will discover either Ophir or themysterious white race which rumour has asserted to exist somewhere inthe far interior, I answer: Certainly not."

  "The dickens!" exclaimed Grosvenor. "But why, my dear sir, why?"

  "Well--if you will not be offended by my exceeding candour--chieflybecause I think you both much too young and too inexperienced to haveany chance of succeeding in so very formidable an undertaking," was thesomewhat discouraging reply.

  "Yes, of course," admitted Grosvenor, "it is true that we are both quiteinexperienced; but our youth is surely in our favour rather than againstus, for we are strong and healthy, and no doubt will soon become inuredto fatigue, hardship, and even privation. We both have splendidconstitutions; and, moreover, my friend Maitland here is a doctor andsurgeon of quite remarkable ability, which fact I regard as of theutmost importance. Then, as to the matter of experience, I imagine thatwe are bound to acquire that as we go on; we are not going to betransported into the heart of the wilds in a few hours by express train,you know."

  "No," answered Mitchell, with a somewhat grim smile, "that is quitetrue, as is also your contention that you will acquire some experienceas you go on. Then, of course, the fact that Mr Maitland is a doctorand surgeon--of which I was unaware--is a great point in your favour.But, when all is said, I still think that you will find the undertakingtoo much for you. Why-- By the way, did you ever hear of a certainCharles Menzies?"

  "The explorer, you mean? Yes, I have heard of him; in fact I believe itwas an account of his travels that first put this idea into my head,"answered Grosvenor.

  "Ah!" remarked Mitchell cryptically; "I wonder just how much you haveheard respecting his travels?"

  "Well, not very much, I must confess," acknowledged Grosvenor. "So faras I can remember, it amounted simply to the statement that after one ofhis long absences from civilisation he returned with the story that hehad actually discovered the site of ancient Ophir; and that he hadgathered reliable information concerning the existence of the mysteriouswhite race, which is to be one of the objects of my quest."

  "Just so," commented Mitchell, relapsing into a pregnant silence. Itwas evident that he was intently considering some difficult question.Presently he looked up and said:

  "I knew Menzies very well in my younger days. As a matter of fact Isaved his life; for had I not happened to have fallen in with him andpicked him up he must have inevitably perished; and in that case thepublic would never have heard any of the extraordinary rumoursrespecting his discoveries that afterwards leaked out. I was away up-country elephant hunting at the time, and I found him, some seventymiles this side of the Zambezi, in the last stages of exhaustion fromstarvation. He was then returning from the journey that made himfamous, and had lost everything he possessed, even to his rifle; it istherefore nothing short of marvellous that he had contrived to make hisway as far back as he did when I found him. He was too ill to talk muchwhen I first picked him up, but afterwards, when he grew stronger, hetold me the whole astounding story of his journey and his adventures.He talked of publishing the narrative, but I very strongly dissuaded himfrom doing so; for, as I pointed out to him, there were portions of thatnarrative which were of so absolutely incredible a character that nobodywould believe them, and the story would lose all value from the factthat it would be regarded as merely a fantastic fabrication, and hewould gain the reputation of an unblushing romancer. To tell you thetruth, I was firmly persuaded at the time that what he had gone throughhad affected his brain, and that he was the victim of a series of themost weird and horrible illusions. But I had reason to modify myopinion in that respect a few years afterward, although I am stillunable to make up my mind definitely as to just how much of his storywas true and how much was due to an imagination that had become warpedand distorted by peril and suffering."

  "By Jove!" exclaimed Grosvenor, with a sort of thrill in his voice. "Isay, you know, all this is intensely interesting. Eh, what? I wonderif you would mind repeating to us a few of those statements that youfound it so difficult to believe at the time, and with regard to whichyou were afterwards inclined to modify your opinion?"

  "Well," answered Mitchell, "I am afraid I must ask you to excuse me fromdoing that. You see, Menzies was my friend, and one of the finestfellows that ever lived. He is dead now, poor chap, and I would notwillingly say a single word that might cause you or anyone else to thinklightly of him, or picture him in your mind as other than the very soulof truth and honour. Yet if I were to repeat to you some of thestatements that I have in my mind, I know that you two hard-headed,matter-of-fact Englishmen would at once set them do
wn as the veriestfairy tales, their author a second Munchausen, and myself a credulousold fool for attaching the slightest weight to them. And yet, let metell you, Africa is a very queer country--as you will discover if youpersist in attempting to carry out your plan--and queer things happen init, things that strain a man's credulity to the breaking-point, until hehas had personal experience of them. That remark of Shakespeare's, that`there are more things in heaven and earth than are reckoned in ourphilosophy' is nowhere more forcefully confirmed than in this continentof Africa, and especially in those parts of it which are practicallyunknown to the white man. Why, even here, close at hand, among ourneighbours the Zulus, there have been happenings--well authenticated,mind you--that are absolutely unexplainable by any knowledge that wewhites possess. But I think I have prosed enough for one sitting, andit is growing late--one o'clock, as I am a living sinner!--and you mustbe growing tired. Do you wonder why I have told you all these things?Well, it is because I should like to dissuade you from this mad schemeof yours, which my experience tells me can only end in disaster, andinduce you to content yourselves with a two-months' hunting trip in thecompany of some good man who knows the country, and can be trusted tosee that you come to no harm. Now, good night, both of you! think overwhat I have said; sleep well, and don't dream of fantastic horrors suchas my talk may have suggested."

  If Mr Joseph Mitchell, sugar planter, and thoroughly honest, well-meaning man, flattered himself that the foregoing conversation wouldhave any other effect than to stimulate the curiosity of his guests andconfirm them in their determination to carry out their plans in theirentirety, he very greatly over-estimated his persuasive powers, andcompletely misread the characters of those to whom he had been talking.For both Grosvenor and Maitland were of a highly adventurousdisposition, and what Mitchell had told them had simply whetted theircuriosity to a keen edge, and had strongly suggested to them that theadventure promised to be of an even more alluring and thrillingcharacter than they had ever ventured to hope, even in their mostsanguine moments. So much, indeed, they made clear to their host whenthey met him the next morning at the breakfast table; and, when he wouldhave made a further attempt at dissuasion, laughingly assured him thattheir minds were finally made up, and that the kindest thing he couldnow do for them would be to give them as much information and as manyhints and wrinkles as he could think of to help them to a satisfactoryconclusion of the adventure. This Mitchell proceeded to do, when atlength the conviction had been borne in upon him that all his efforts atdissuasion were worse than useless; and when, two days later, they tookleave of the genial planter, Dick carried away with him a notebookcrowded from cover to cover with information that was destined to proveof incalculable value to him and his companion, as well as a sketch mapshowing the best route to follow, and certain localities that were to bemost carefully avoided if they desired to return sane and sound tocivilisation.

  Arrived in Durban once more, after a most delightful jaunt, they at onceset about making their preparations in earnest, one of the first thingswhich Grosvenor insisted upon doing being the payment to Dick of sixmonths' salary in advance, from the date of their landing upon SouthAfrican soil. Practically the whole of this Dick was able to remit hometo his mother, since Grosvenor would not hear of his contributing somuch as a single penny toward the expenses of the expedition, thereforethe junior member of the partnership had no need to spend anything,except for a few curios which he thought his mother might like todisplay to her friends; but he laid in a few additional drugs, and alsoadded a spare instrument or two to his surgical case, to cover thepossibility of loss or accident.

  Three days later they started for Johannesburg, by way of Delagoa Bayand Pretoria, Grosvenor being very anxious to get a glimpse of life onthe Rand and to gain some knowledge of diamonds and diamond miningbefore he finally bade farewell to civilisation. Since Johannesburg layon the direct line of their route, and the knowledge sought mightpossibly prove useful in the future, Dick raised no objection to theproposal, especially as they went armed with letters of introductionfrom Mitchell to some of the most influential of the Rand magnates andothers whose advice and assistance would be exceedingly helpful. A busythree weeks spent in the city and at Witwatersrand enriched them withmuch very valuable information, both particular and general, and alsoenabled them to acquire four excellent horses and an Indian coolie groomnamed Ramoo Samee, who not only bore a most admirable character, butalso raised no objection when informed of the nature and scope of theadventure upon which his employers were bound. Here, too, and also atPretoria, the partners endeavoured to secure the services of a hunter asguide and general superintendent, but were unable to meet with one whoconformed in all respects to their requirements; they thereforeultimately decided to defer their further quest until their arrival inBulawayo, which was to be the point from which they would finally bidfarewell to civilisation.

  But upon their arrival at Bulawayo, although they met with no difficultyin providing themselves with a brand-new wagon and a team of twenty"salted" oxen, together with a Hottentot driver named Jantje, and aKafir boy named 'Nkuku as voorlouper, no suitable candidate for the postof guide offered himself or could be found; and finally, after devotinga full week to fruitless search and enquiry, Dick and Grosvenor agreedto start without one, and trust to luck and their own good sense.Everybody, with one solitary exception, declared that it was a mostrisky thing to do; but the solitary exception, in the shape of an oldBoer farmer named Van Zyl, applauded their pluck, and declared that theywere far more likely to succeed by learning the lesson of the wild forthemselves, and depending upon their own courage and adaptiveness, thanif they set out under the guidance of another, and remained more or lessin leading strings throughout the journey.

  "What I would advise," he said, "is that you should look out for a good`nigger'; he will be far more helpful to you than any white man, andwill be content to be a good servant to you--if you are careful to keephim in his proper place--instead of trying to be your master."

  This sounded like good, sensible advice, coming as it did from a man whohad been born, brought up, and had spent a long life on the borderlineseparating civilisation from savagedom, and it finally confirmed them inthe determination, to which they had already practically come, to dowithout a white guide.

  According to Mitchell, their route from Bulawayo lay generally in anorth-easterly direction, and accordingly, after transacting all theirbusiness, making every possible preparation for the long journey beforethem, and writing their final letters home, announcing the fact thatthey were about to plunge into the wilderness, and that, therefore, nofurther news must be expected of them for an indefinite period, they setout about ten o'clock on a certain glorious morning, boldly strikingstraight out across the veldt, and directing their course by compass.Their wagon was already fully loaded, the load consisting of severalair-tight cases of ammunition, six barrels of flour, a cask of sugar, abag of coffee, a chest of tea, a small keg of brandy--to be used only incases of the utmost emergency--a case containing pickles, condiments,preserves, salt, and other articles of a similar character, to beregarded as luxuries and used accordingly; their own personal belongingsincluding clothes and firearms, a small tent made of waterproof materialfor sleeping in, two net hammocks with portable supports, a full set ofcooking utensils, four sacks of mealie meal, and, finally, two largeboxes of beads of various kinds, a quantity of brass wire, and a case ofcheap mechanical and other toys, small mirrors, etcetera which Grosvenorhad had the foresight to bring out from England with him, the last threeitems being destined to be employed in bartering with the natives. Allthis constituted quite as heavy a load as it was at all desirable to putupon the wagon, although the full team of twenty oxen made light of it,especially as it was now the dry season, and the ground was firm andhard for travelling. As for Dick and Grosvenor, they travelled onhorseback, changing their steeds at every outspan, in order to accustomthe animals to them, and gradually to get them into good, hard conditionby working
them to a certain extent every day. They rode armed eachwith a good, serviceable sporting rifle, capable of dealing withpractically any game except elephant, a formidable hunting knife, and arevolver; and, in addition, each of them carried a pair of the finestand most powerful binocular glasses that Grosvenor had been able toprocure in London. He had had the foresight to provide two pairs incase of accident, which was fortunate, for now each rider wasindependent of the other. Acting upon the advice of their friend VanZyl, they confined themselves strictly to short treks, averaging aboutfive miles each, and three treks per day, for the first four days, inorder to keep the oxen in good condition as long as possible.

  Those first four days of their march were quite uneventful, the goingwas good, the grass still rich and abundant, water plentiful, and therewas just enough game to keep the party well supplied with meat, whilethe animals worked well and improved in condition rather than otherwise,especially the horses, which proved to be even more promising than theirowners had hoped for when they purchased them.

  It was on the morning of the fifth day that the party encountered whatmight be spoken of as their first exciting incident, and it occurred, orrather began, as they were nearing the end of their first trek, aboutnine o'clock in the morning. Dick and Grosvenor, mounted as usual, withthe half-dozen dogs that constituted their pack quartering the groundahead of them, were nearly a mile ahead of the wagon, looking out for asuitable spot for the first outspan, when a sudden clamour on the partof the dogs, who had just disappeared over a low rise in the ground,caused the two riders to put spurs to their horses, in order to see whatwas the cause of the outcry. A short gallop sufficed to carry them tothe crest of the ridge, when they beheld the dogs baying and snarlinground a fine, well-set-up native "boy", who, armed with assagais andknobkerrie, constituted one of a party of some thirty in number whoappeared to be guarding a herd of about three hundred grazing cattle,while about half a mile farther on was a native village of some fiftyKafir huts of the usual beehived shape, built in the midst of a numberof mealie fields occupying an area of, roughly, about half a squaremile, situated near the banks of a small stream.

  Dick Maitland, who had early developed a rather remarkable aptitude forpicking up the language of the natives, at once cantered forward, and,calling off the dogs, demanded to know the name of the village, andwhere would be the best place at which to outspan. But the native whomhe addressed, and who seemed to be labouring under considerableexcitement, replied with such a rapid flow of words that his speech wasutterly unintelligible, save that his communication had something to dowith lions, the boy pointing first to a big clump of bush about a miledistant, and then to the village itself. Dick made several attempts toarrive at a better understanding of the nature of the communication, butwithout any very marked success, and at length suggested that Grosvenorshould ride back to the wagon and hurry it forward, in order thatJantje, the Hottentot driver, might act as interpreter. This was done,and about twenty minutes later the wagon arrived, and the situation wasexplained to Jantje, who forthwith poured out a flood of eloquence uponthe little band of natives, who by this time had gathered round Dick andwere earnestly endeavouring to make him understand something that theyevidently regarded as of very great importance. A brief but animatedconversation at once ensued, at the end of which Jantje turned to hisemployers and explained:

  "Dhese people say, sars, dat dhere is four, five lion in de bush yanderand dhey won' go 'way, and dhey wan' to know if white gent'men be sokind as to kill dhem lion; because if dhey not be killed dhey kill depoor Kafirs' cattle. Two day ago dhem lion kill two oxen and mos'horrible maul de boy dat was herding dhem."

  "Phew! lions, eh?" exclaimed Grosvenor. "I say, Maitland, this is goodnews, eh, what? I am longing for the chance to have a pot at a lion.All right, Jantje; you tell them that we will kill the lions for themwith the greatest of pleasure. We'll outspan at once and set about thebusiness forthwith. That will be the right thing to do, I suppose,Dick, won't it?"

  "Yes, certainly," answered Dick, "by all means. But before we think oftackling those lions I must see that poor beggar who was mauled. Twodays ago! By Jove, I dread to think of what the state of his woundsmust be in this hot weather, that is, if he is still alive. Just askthem, Jantje, whether the boy who was mauled is still living, or whetherthe lions killed him?"

  The question was put, and Jantje duly interpreted the reply.

  "Yes, sar, de boy he still alive, but most drefful sick, dhese peoplesay."

  "Good!" exclaimed Dick, dismounting from his horse. "Then say to themthat I am a great doctor, and that I intend to save the poor fellow'slife if I can. I want one of them to carry my medicine chest for me,and to take me to the injured man's hut. Then you had better take thewagon down and outspan near the river, where the grass is good, butwhere our oxen are not likely to get among the mealies, and then come tome, for I shall probably need you to interpret for me."

  The first part of this speech being interpreted to the little crowd ofnatives, one of them at once stepped forward, expressing himself aswilling to carry the medicine chest and act as guide, while anothervolunteered to point out a suitable and convenient spot upon which tooutspan, the others forthwith breaking into a song of thanksgiving inwhich they announced to all and sundry that this was their lucky day,inasmuch as that the white _'mlungus_ were not only going to make wellagain their brother who was nigh unto death, but were also going toutterly root out and destroy those cunning beasts who refused to comeout into the open and face their assagais. Grosvenor announced hisintention of accompanying Dick, and five minutes later the pair, withtheir sable guide leading the way and carrying the medicine chest, were_en route_ for the village, Dick carrying his case of surgicalinstruments under his arm. Their rifles they left with the wagon,deeming it unnecessary to cumber themselves with superfluous weapons inface of the fact that the villagers were obviously quite friendlydisposed to white men, indeed they were still too close to civilisationto anticipate anything else.

  As they neared the village the "boy" who preceded them began to shoutthe great news that the white men were coming to make whole the injuredman, and the occupants of the huts, to the number of about two hundredmen, women, and children, swarmed out to gaze upon the strangers. Theguide, who was inclined to put on airs, upon the strength of being thebearer of the white men's _muti_, would fain have made the most of theoccasion by pausing in the centre of the village and haranguing hisfellows, but Dick nipped the intention ruthlessly in the bud byrepeating several times, in an imperative tone of voice, the word_hamba_ (go), and presently the procession--for every occupant of thevillage formed up and followed the trio--came to a halt in front of oneof the huts.

  As the bearer of the medicine chest pushed his burden in through thelow, narrow entrance of the hut, and dropped on hands and knees in orderto follow it, Dick turned and, perceiving a disposition on the part ofthe crowd to gather close about the entrance, and so exclude what littlelight and air might otherwise make its way in, took an assagai from thehand of an astonished native, and, holding it by the blade, waved thepress back with the butt end of the weapon. Then, still waving the buttend, he described on the ground the arc of a circle of some twelve feetradius from the hut entrance, and, returning the weapon to its owner,pointed to the mark on the ground, and, addressing the curiosity-riddenmob, said impressively in English:

  "Now, good people, please have the goodness to keep carefully outsidethat line, and oblige yours truly!"

  There was not one of those odoriferous, dark-skinned Kafirs whocomprehended a word of English, but Dick's actions and the tones of hisvoice were so expressive that his meaning was almost as distinctlyunderstood as though he had spoken in the language of the tribe. He sawat once that this was so, and that his wishes would be obeyed, andsigning to Grosvenor to precede him, forthwith passed into the hut.

  Entering the windowless structure straight from the dazzling sunshinethat flooded the outside world, the two Englishmen found themselve
splunged for the moment in a darkness so profound that they could seenothing, and were fain to stand just where they rose to their feet aftercreeping through the low doorway, lest, moving, they should stumble oversomething--possibly the patient. But in addition to the hot, closeodour of the interior of the hut there was another taint that assailedtheir nostrils, the taint of festering wounds, with which Dick wasalready familiar, and he shook his head doubtfully as he turned to thefigure of Grosvenor, just beginning to reveal itself in the midst of theenveloping obscurity, and said:

  "I don't like this at all. I can't see my patient as yet, but there isa certain something in the atmosphere of this hut which tells me that ifthe poor beggar's life is to be saved we have no time to waste. Whereis he, I wonder? Oh, I think I see him, there on the ground at the farside from the doorway! Yes, there he is. Another minute and I shall beable to see him clearly. Meanwhile, perhaps his pulse will tell ussomething."

  And, crossing to the far side of the hut, he knelt down by the side ofthe indistinctly seen man, felt for his hand, and, having found it, laidhis fingers upon the wrist.