The Adventures of Dick Maitland: A Tale of Unknown Africa

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  THE MAKOLO COUNTRY.

  A full week was spent by the travellers among those friendly villagers,during which Dick Maitland assiduously tended the wounded man, who bythe end of that time, thanks in part to his own healthy flesh and blood,the result of simple, frugal living, and, more largely, to the youngdoctor's skilful treatment, had advanced so far toward recovery thatnature might safely be left to complete the cure. The week had been notaltogether unprofitably spent in other respects, the two white menassiduously devoting themselves, with Mafuta's assistance, to the studyof the native language, varied occasionally, on Dick's part, by a littlebotanising--during which he discovered some half a dozen plants thatseemed to possess valuable properties--and the taming of the lion cub,which, after the first two or three days of captivity, responded withever-growing alacrity to his young master's advances, until by the endof six weeks he had learned to answer to the name of Leo, to come atDick's call or whistle, and, in short, had become as tame as a dog.This result, and the gentleness of disposition which Leo manifested,Dick attributed largely to the fact that the animal was never allowed totaste blood, or raw flesh of any kind, his food--after a milk diet forthe first three weeks of his captivity--consisting entirely of well-roasted flesh.

  The natives witnessed the preparations for the departure of their whitefriends with every manifestation of sincere regret, assisting to driveup and inspan the oxen, presenting a fine milch cow for Leo's especialbenefit, as well as quantities of mealies, bananas, and other gardenproduce, warning the travellers of various difficulties and dangers thatlurked on the next hundred miles or so of their route, and carefullyinstructing them how they might best be avoided, and in many other waysmaking plain the sorrow with which they bade them farewell. Finally,when the oxen were inspanned and the wagon was on the very point ofmoving off, Mafuta, who had hitherto been missing, presented himself infull marching order, armed with shield, assagais, and knobkerrie, withplumed head-dress, and cows' tails bound about his legs below the knees,and curtly informed Dick that it was his fixed intention to join theparty! Although both Dick and Grosvenor did their utmost to dissuadehim, by representing to him the great length and exceeding danger of thejourney upon which they were bound, and the possibility that they mightnever return, it was all of no avail, he alternately insisted andentreated, declaring that he wanted no wages or reward of any kind.Dick had pulled his brother back out of the grave, and he felt it to behis duty, as well as his pleasure, to devote himself henceforward to theservice of the white man who had done this wonderful thing; and finally,when Dick, loath to take the man away from his kith and kin, definitelyrefused to take him, the Kafir countered by saying, in effect: "Verywell; the veldt is free to all, and if you will not permit me to joinyour party, I can at least follow you at a distance, and be at handwhenever you require my services." After which, of course, there was nomore to be said, and Mafuta was allowed to have his own way, to thegreat joy of his brethren of the village.

  Nor was it very long before the travellers had abundant reason tocongratulate themselves upon their decision in this respect, for Mafutanot only proved to be a most intelligent and devoted servant, but also asplendid guide, knowing the exact localities of the various streams andwaterholes on their route, as far as the Zambezi, also the mostfavourable crossing places, where the best grass and the most game wereto be found, and, most important of all, perhaps, the exact boundariesof the fly country. Indeed but for this last knowledge it is almostcertain that in their anxiety to take the shortest possible cuts theywould probably have lost practically all their cattle, and thus havebeen obliged to bring their adventure to a premature end.

  On their ninth day out from Mafuta's village they struck the HanyaniRiver, without meeting with any adventure worthy of record, andfollowing its right bank for a couple of days, bore away in an easterlydirection, skirting the northern slope of Mount Inyota, where theystruck another small stream flowing to the northward and eastward; andas this was, broadly speaking, the direction in which they wished totravel, and as Mafuta assured them that it discharged into the Zambezi,they decided to follow it, and did so, finding eventually that it unitedits flow with another stream, which they followed, still without anyparticular adventure save such as daily occurred while hunting; andthree weeks from the day on which Mafuta joined them the travellersfound themselves gazing with delight upon the broad bosom of theZambezi, its waters sparkling in the golden light of the westering sun.

  Here again Mafuta's knowledge proved to be of the utmost value, for hewas able to guide the party to a spot where the river was fordable, andwhere they succeeded in effecting a crossing that same evening beforesunset. Once safely arrived on the left bank of the river, Grosvenorand Dick decided to camp for a few days, in order to give the oxen arest, the grass being good. Also there was a small native village a fewmiles higher upstream, where canoes and their crews might be hired, andwithin easy paddling distance of which there was a spot wherehippopotami still abounded, affording a prospect of good sport, of whichGrosvenor was particularly anxious to avail himself. Accordingly, whilethe Hottentot Jantje, and 'Nkuku, the Kafir voorlouper, remained incharge of the wagon and oxen, Ramoo Samee, the groom, accompanied hismasters to the native village, to look after the horses and attend tothe cooking while his employers shot hippopotami and crocodiles from thetwo canoes which they chartered; Mafuta, meanwhile, taking four days'rations, and going off upon a prospecting expedition in search ofelephant and buffalo. Three days at this village sufficed to providethe hunters with more trophies than they cared to encumber themselveswith, while the natives enjoyed a record feast of hippopotamus flesh;and on the fourth morning Dick and Grosvenor returned on horseback tothe wagon, while Ramoo Samee, in charge of the spoils, was conveyed downthe river to the same spot in a canoe manned by the grateful natives.They found the cattle all right, and visibly improved by their threedays' rest, while Leo, the lion cub, welcomed Dick's return with almostembarrassing demonstrations of affection. Late that same evening Mafutaalso returned, with the intelligence that although he had not actuallyseen either elephants or buffaloes, he had obtained, from natives whomhe had encountered, intelligence of a large herd of the former at adistance of four days' trek from the river. He also reported thenatives to be quite friendly disposed and willing to allow the white mento traverse their particular section of country. Everything thusappearing favourable, on the following morning the oxen were once moreinspanned, and the journey resumed.

  Then ensued a long trek extending over a period of more than two months,including a day's halt here and there to rest the oxen, or to indulge ina little hunting, during which they enjoyed excellent sport amongelephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards, giraffe, veldebeeste, zebra,ostriches, and the various species of buck to be found in the southernportion of the great African Continent; so rapidly, indeed, did theirspoils accumulate that at length they could no longer find room for themin the wagon, and were glad to avail themselves of the opportunityafforded by their arrival at a particularly friendly village to leaveeverything of the kind, including some eighteen hundred pounds of ivory,in charge of the villagers.

  Of the last three weeks of this long trek, nine days were consumed inforced marches through sterile country, bordering a wide and--accordingto Mafuta--utterly impassable desert, during which both water and grasswere so exceedingly scarce that the entire party suffered terribleprivation, no game of any kind being seen, where more than half the oxendied, while the remainder were reduced to such a miserable conditionthat they were scarcely able to drag the now more than half-empty wagon.Presently the character of the country gradually changed, a water-holeor two were found, with small patches of fairly nutritious grass growinground them, and as soon as a favourable spot was reached the wagon wasoutspanned and the oxen allowed a couple of days' holiday in which torest and recuperate. Then Grosvenor and Dick, mounting their horses,which had been spared as much as possible during the preceding ten days,set off with their rif
les in search of game, and eventually succeeded infinding and shooting a pair of bush buck wherewith to replenish theirlarder.

  At the end of the second day's rest Mafuta--who had by this timecompletely won the confidence of the two leaders of the expedition, andhad attained rather to the position of a humble comrade than a merefollower--gave it as his opinion that the oxen had now sufficientlyrecovered to justify the party in resuming their journey; andaccordingly on the following morning the animals were once moreinspanned. Dick and Grosvenor had already seen enough of thesurrounding country during their two days' foraging expedition to havecome to the conclusion that conditions would now improve with every mileof progress, and this conclusion was fully borne out by their firstday's experiences, the country gradually becoming more hilly and broken,with small watercourses occurring at steadily decreasing intervals, withmore and richer grass at every mile of their progress, until by the endof the day they once more found themselves in a district that mightfairly be termed fertile, while a few head of game--bucks and a brace ofpaow (a kind of bustard)--had been seen. All this was exceedinglyencouraging to the two explorers, for their experiences thus far--withone very important exception--had been in strict accordance withMenzies' story, as repeated to them by their friend Mitchell, andconfirmed them in the conviction that at length they had arrived withinmeasurable distance of the spot where, according to the account given bythe former, the ruins of ancient Ophir still existed in recognisableform. The exception referred to consisted in the fact that whereas,according to Menzies, the Makolo nation, upon whose territory they hadnow entered, were exceedingly jealous of all intrusion--Menzies himselfhaving escaped a frightful death at their hands by the very skin of histeeth--they had thus far met with no molestation whatever; which,however, might possibly be accounted for by the fact that thus far theyhad seen no natives.

  But this state of affairs was not to last much longer; for on the thirdday of their resumed trek, by which time they had reached a somewhatrugged, well-wooded stretch of country, watered by numerous streams,upon surmounting a ridge they sighted a native village, some three milesahead, surrounded by well-cultivated fields which, upon their nearerapproach, the travellers found to consist chiefly of maize and tobacco,with here and there a patch of sugar cane, or a small fruit orchard.Soon afterwards they encountered a large herd of cattle in charge ofabout a dozen native lads, one of whom, upon sighting the strangers,took to his heels and ran, as though for his life, to an eminence at nogreat distance, where, placing his hands funnelwise to his mouth, hebegan to shout, in a peculiar, high-pitched tone of voice, a briefcommunication of some sort to some unseen person or persons. At thesame time one of the other lads, after intently scrutinising thenewcomers for several minutes, advanced cautiously toward them andfinally halted--evidently holding himself ready to bolt at the slightestsuspicious sign--and, raising his sheaf of assagais in his right hand byway of salute, shouted the single word:

  "_Bietu_!"

  The word was evidently a variant of the Zulu _Biete_, the form ofsalutation addressed to a great chief, and, so construing it, Mafuta atonce placed his shield and weapons in the wagon and, advancing rapidly,proceeded to address the lad in good Zulu. The stranger, however,although it was evident that he caught the meaning of a word here andthere, seemed unable to grasp the sense of Mafuta's communication in itsentirety, whereupon the latter made a second attempt, this time using asort of dialect or corruption of the true Zulu tongue; and was now moresuccessful, quite a long interchange of conversation ensuing, at thetermination of which the stranger turned and ran to the before-mentionedeminence, from the summit of which he shouted, in the same high-pitchedvoice as his predecessor, a communication of very considerable length,while Mafuta returned to the wagon.

  "Well, Mafuta, what is the news?" demanded Dick, as the Kaffirapproached.

  "The news, Chief, is good," answered Mafuta, saluting. "We have arrivedwithin the borders of the Makolo country; and the word of the _'mfana_who spoke with me is that it will be wise of my fathers to outspan atthe first suitable halting place until the will of the king regardingthem be made known. The Makolo do not approve of strangers enteringtheir country, it would appear; but their objection no longer applies towhite men, to whom the Spirits of the Winds have commanded that allkindness be shown, should such ever visit the Makolo country. News ofour arrival has already been sent forward to Lobelalatutu, the king; andhis will concerning us will be made known as soon as it comes; but,meanwhile, Matemba, the _'mfana_ who spoke with me, advises that weoutspan until that will be made known."

  "Um!" remarked Dick; "that does not sound altogether promising, eh,Phil? Seems to indicate that there may possibly be difficulties put inthe way of our penetrating the country, doesn't it? What did you say tothe _'mfana_ Mafuta?"

  "I said," answered Mafuta, "that the two white men, my chiefs, had comefrom afar across the Great Water to visit Lobelalatutu, the King of thegreat Makolo nation, to offer presents, and to request his permission toexamine the ruins of the great city of which they had heard."

  "Yes, of course; I suppose that was the correct diplomatic way in whichto put the matter," remarked Dick. "And what said Matemba in reply?"

  "He said," answered Mafuta, "that doubtless the king, remembering thecommands laid upon him by the Spirits of the Winds, upon the occasion oftheir last visit to the country in their great glittering ship whichflies through the air, would gladly permit my chiefs to visit the ruins,even as the Spirits themselves had done."

  "Ah!" exclaimed Dick; "that sounds better. But,"--turning toGrosvenor--"I wonder what the fellow means by the `glittering ship whichflies through the air'--and the `Spirits of the Winds'? Can it bepossible that an airship has ever penetrated so far as this? Stop aminute--let me think. `Spirits of the Winds--glittering ship whichflies'--by Jove! can it be possible? I thought, when I heard theexpression `Spirits of the Winds' that it sounded not altogetherunfamiliar, that I had met with it before, in fact; and now that I cometo overhaul my memory I very distinctly remember reading a yarndescribing the adventures of some people who possessed a wonderfulairship in which they made the most extraordinary voyages and met withsome astounding experiences--"

  "Yes," interrupted Grosvenor; "I know the book you mean. I, too, readit. But I took it to be fiction, pure and simple; a somewhat daringflight of a novelist's imagination. And now that you have reminded meof the yarn I distinctly remember that the four fellows in the storywere described as having visited these same ruins of Ophir that we arehunting for--"

  "Yes," cut in Dick, "that is so. And, if I remember aright, they metwith some rather exciting adventures among these Makolo, didn't they?"

  "Rather!" assented Grosvenor. "Were taken prisoners, or something ofthat sort, and only escaped by the skin of their teeth."

  "That's it," agreed Dick. "Yes; the man who was then king wanted tosteal their airship, didn't he?"

  "He did--and got banished for his pains," answered Grosvenor. "But thatwas not the end of the story. He--the king, I mean--returned from hisbanishment, killed the king who was reigning in his stead, and--yes, wasfound practising his old dodges of cruelty and murder when the `Spirits'paid a second visit to his country."

  "Precisely," agreed Dick. "But that part of the story was given in asecond book recounting the further voyagings of the wonderful _Flying-Fish_--that was the name of the airship, you will remember. By Jove!How vividly those yarns recur to one's memory when anything special--like this adventure of ours--occurs to recall them. Do you know, Phil,it now seems to me that, quite unconsciously to ourselves, those twobooks have had a distinct influence upon us in undertaking and carryingthrough this journey?"

  "Possibly," agreed Grosvenor; "though I am obliged to admit that I havebeen, and am still, quite unconscious of it. The point that is of realimportance to us is this. Had the narratives in those two books theslightest foundation of fact? Because, if so, our recollection of themmight stand us in good stead should difficulties aris
e between us andthese people. Take, for example, the matter of the four Spirits of theWinds. If we were to judiciously exhibit some knowledge of them andtheir doings, this king might be inclined to be a great deal morecomplaisant than he otherwise would be. Don't you think so?"

  "Perhaps," conceded Dick; "it is impossible to say. But what knowledgedo we possess, or can we exhibit? Absolutely none, except what we canremember through the perusal of those two books. And, for my own part,I am inclined to believe that the alleged adventures of the four personstherein referred to were purely fictitious, or at least had no more thanthe slenderest connection with actual fact."

  "Yet," contended Grosvenor, "it is remarkable, to say the least of it,that in our very first communication with these Makolo--which, now Icome to think of it, was the actual name of the nation given in thosebooks--the four Spirits of the Winds should be mentioned. Isn't it?"

  "Yes, it certainly is," agreed Dick, somewhat reluctantly. "And ofcourse," he continued, "if it should happen that those two yarns are arecord of actual occurrences presented in the guise of fiction, it willnot be by any means the first time that such a thing has occurred.Anyhow," he concluded, "I do not see that we can possibly do any harm byacting, as you suggest, upon the assumption that the yarns, howeverextravagant they may have appeared to us when we read them, are recordsof actual fact, and using our recollection of them in any manner thatmay seem advantageous to us. Is that agreed?"

  "Yes, certainly," assented Grosvenor. "We can but try it, and see howit works. And now, to change the subject, what say you aboutoutspanning? This seems to be a good spot, eh?"

  During the foregoing conversation the two speakers had been walking onahead of the wagon, with their rifles in the hollow of their arms, thedogs and Leo, the lion cub, trotting amicably at their heels. They hadarrived at a spot about a mile from the village, and were now traversingan open "flat" with plenty of grass, close to the margin of a smallstream. As Grosvenor had suggested, it was an excellent spot upon whichto outspan, for there were grass and water for the cattle, and it wassufficiently far away from the village to prevent any of thoseannoyances that a nearer approach might have subjected them to; theytherefore halted, and when the wagon came up the order to outspan wasgiven. A few minutes later, while Jantje and 'Nkuku were superintendingthe watering of the oxen, some half-dozen women, carrying baskets poisedupon their heads, were seen approaching from the village. When,somewhat later, these women arrived at the wagon, the leader of themannounced that the contents of the baskets, consisting of green mealiecobs, sugar cane, eggs, sweet potatoes, half a dozen shockingly skinnychickens, milk, and _joala_ (a kind of native beer) were a present fromthe headman of the village to the strangers. (Six months earlier thetravellers would have laughed incredulously at the idea of liquids beingconveyed in baskets; but now they took it quite as a matter of course,for they had by this time grown quite familiar with the native basket,so exquisitely woven out of grass as to be quite impervious to leakage).They accepted the gift with a few words--but not too many--of thanks,and then, desirous of creating a good impression upon the Makolo asearly as might be, they directed the women to wait, and, going to thewagon, took from their store of "notions" a few yards of gaudily printedcotton stuff, two or three yards of brass wire, half a dozen empty two-ounce tobacco tins decorated with gilt and coloured lettering, in thestyle familiar to all devotees of the weed, a small wooden boxcontaining about a pint of mixed beads, and to each of the smiling andexpectant basket-bearers a special present for herself, consisting of anecklet of large particoloured beads, the remaining gifts being ofcourse for the headman in return for his present. The necklets Dick andGrosvenor personally clasped round the shapely, bronze-tinted throats ofthe recipients, to the intense delight of the latter, and then thedamsels took their departure, smiling to such an extent as to displayevery tooth in their heads. Presently, when they were a few yards fromthe wagon, they burst into song, the burden of their lay being themagnificent generosity, enormous wealth, and splendid personality of thevisitors.

  About an hour before sunset that same day another party made itsappearance, approaching from the village. On this occasion it consistedof men only, some twenty in number, which, upon their arrival at thewagon, proved to be the headman of the village and his retinue, allunarmed.

  The party halted at a distance of some ten paces from the spot whereDick and Grosvenor sat before their open tent, and as they did so, withthe precision of trained soldiers, every man's right hand was flungaloft, and in deep, sonorous tones the salute was given:

  "_Bietu_!"

  Then the headman stepped forward and said, Mafuta standing by to act asinterpreter:

  "I, Insimbi, headman of the village of M'gama, in the country of theMakolo, bear the greetings of the great King Lobelalatutu to the unknownwhite men who have crossed the Great Water to visit him, to offer himgifts, and to request his permission to visit the ruins of the greatcity that are situate near the king's village. He bids you welcome tothe country of the Makolo, and his word is that you are to be conductedforthwith in all honour to his presence. You are his guests, to betreated by all men as such, and by them to be supplied with all thingsnecessary to your comfort and wellbeing. Your oxen are poor incondition and few in number, therefore shall they be cared for hereuntil they are again fit for work; meanwhile a fresh team shall besupplied from the herd belonging to this village for the conveyance ofyour wagon to the ruins you desire to visit. And if there be any otherthing that you desire, my orders are to furnish it to you. I have said.Is it well, O white men?"

  "It is very well, O Insimbi," answered Grosvenor. "It is well for theMakolo and for your king that he keeps fresh in his memory the commandslaid upon him by the four Spirits of the Winds, and we are satisfied.When can we be supplied with the fresh team of oxen?"

  "At sunrise to-morrow shall the herd be driven hither, when my lordsshall choose for themselves as many as they will," answered the headman.

  "Let it be so," answered Grosvenor; "for to-morrow at sunrise will weresume our journey to the king's village and the ruins. By the way, askhim, Mafuta, how far the ruins are from here."

  "With a full team of fourteen fresh oxen it may be done in seven days,"Mafuta translated Insimbi's answer to the question.

  "Seven days!" ejaculated Grosvenor, glancing in astonishment at Dick."Then how the dickens has this fellow Insimbi contrived in the course ofa single day to communicate with the king and get a reply from him?"

  "Why, easily enough," answered Dick. "Don't you remember the wonderfulsystem of voice-telegraphy mentioned in those two books that we werediscussing to-day? That, of course, is how it has been accomplished.And, now that I come to think of it, we had an illustration of thatsystem this morning when those two boys ran to the top of yonder hilland started shouting in that queer, high-pitched tone of voice. Theywere telegraphing to the king the news of our arrival without a doubt."

  "Yes," assented Grosvenor, a little doubtfully, "I suppose that was it.But seven days' trek with fresh oxen! That means a hundred and fortymiles, or thereabout--it is wonderful!"

  "You are right; it is," agreed Dick; "but not more wonderful, to mymind, than that we, destined, as one may say, to make this triptogether, should have both been fortunate enough to stumble across andread those two books, which I am now beginning to understand wererecords of sober fact instead of extravagant fiction, as we both thoughtthem to be. We must certainly polish up our recollection of what weread, for it is not at all difficult to imagine circumstances in whichthe knowledge may be of vital import to us. By the way, Mafuta, tellthose fellows that they are dismissed, and that all we shall require ofthem to-morrow, in addition to the oxen, will be a guide."

  Oxen and guide were both duly forthcoming on the morrow: the journeytoward what may be called the capital was resumed, and continued dayafter day without adventure, the guide supplied on the first daycontinuing with the party for the whole of that day, and then turningthem over to another, w
ho in like manner piloted them a day's trek, inturn to pass them on to another, and so on, day after day; each guidereturning to his starting-point on the following day.