The People Of The Mist: Chapter 8

Chapter 8

THE START

Food was their first consideration, and to provide it Leonard bade Otter
cut the lump of raw meat into strips and set them upon the rocks to dry
in the broiling sun. Then they sorted their goods and selected such of
them as they could carry.

Alas! they were but few. A blanket apiece--a spare pair of boots
apiece--some calomel and sundries from the medicine-chest--a shot gun
and the two best rifles and ammunition--a compass, a water bottle,
three knives, a comb, and a small iron cooking-pot made up the total--a
considerable weight for two men and a woman to drag across mountains,
untravelled plains, and swamps. This baggage was divided into three
loads, of which Soa's was the lightest, and that of Otter weighed as
much as the other two put together.

"It was nothing," he said, "he could carry the three if need were;" and
so great was the dwarf's strength that Leonard knew this to be no idle
boast.

At length all was prepared, and the articles that remained were buried
in the cave together with the mining tools. It was not likely that they
would ever return to seek them; more probably they will lie there till,
thousands of years hence, they are dug up and become priceless relics
of the Anglo-African age. Still they hid them on the chance. Leonard had
melted the fruits of their mining into little ingots. In all there were
about a hundred ounces of almost pure gold--the price of three men's
lives! Half of these ingots he placed with the ruby in the belt about
his middle, and half he gave to Otter, who hid them in his bundle.
Leonard's first idea was to leave the bullion, because it entailed the
carrying of extra weight; but he remembered in time that gold is
always useful, and nowhere more so than among Portuguese and Arab
slave-drivers.

By evening everything was ready, and when the edge of the moon showed
above the horizon, Leonard rose, and lifting his load, fastened it upon
his shoulders with the loops of hide which had been prepared, Otter and
Soa following his example. It was their plan to travel by night so long
as the state of the moon served them, for thus they would escape the
terrible heat and lessen the danger of being observed.

"Follow me in a few minutes," said Leonard to Otter; "you will find me
by the donga."

The dwarf nodded. A quarter of an hour later he started also with Soa
and found his master standing bareheaded by his brother's grave, taking
a mute farewell of that which lay beneath before he left it for ever to
its long sleep in the untrodden wilderness. It was a melancholy parting,
but there have been many such in the African fever belt.

With one last look Leonard turned and joined his companions. Then,
having taken counsel with them and with the compass, he set his face to
the mountain and his heart to the new adventures, hopes, and fears that
were beyond it. The past was done with, it lay buried in yonder grave,
but by the mercy of God he was still a man, living beneath the sunlight,
and the future stretched away before him. What would it bring? He cared
little; experience had taught him the futility of anxieties as to
the future. Perchance a grave like those which he had left, perchance
wealth, love, and honour. Whatever the event he would strive to meet
it with patience, dignity, and resignation. It was not his part to ask
questions or to reason why; it was his part to struggle on and take such
guerdon as it pleased Providence to send him.

Thus thought Leonard, and this is the right spirit for an adventurer to
cultivate. It is the right spirit in which to meet the good and ill of
life--that greatest of adventures which every one of us must dare. He
who meets them thus and holds his heart pure and his hands clean will
lay himself down to sleep without a sigh or a regret when mountain,
swamp, river, and forest all are travelled, and the unknown innumerable
treasure, buried from the olden time far out of reach of man's sight and
knowledge, at last is opened to his gaze.

So Leonard started, and his hopes were high notwithstanding the
desperate nature of their undertaking. For here it must be confessed
that the undesirable element of superstition still held fast upon his
mind, and now with some slight cause. Had not his brother spoken of
wealth that he should win by the aid of a woman? And had not a woman
come to him, bearing in her hand a jewel which, if real, was in itself
worth a moderate fortune; promising also, with the help of another
woman, to lead him to a land where many such might be found? Yes, these
things were so, and it may be pardoned to Leonard if, setting aside the
theory of coincidence, he began to believe that the end would be as the
beginning had been, that the great adventure would be achieved and the
wealth be won.

We shall not need to follow the footsteps of Leonard Outram and his
companions day by day. For a week they travelled on, journeying mostly
by night as they had proposed. They climbed mountains, they struggled
through swamps and forests, they swam rivers. Indeed one of these was in
flood, and they never could have crossed it had it not been for Otter's
powers of natation. Six times did the dwarf face the torrent, bearing
their goods and guns held above the water with one hand. On the seventh
journey he was still more heavily weighted, for, with some assistance
from Leonard, he must carry the woman Soa, who could swim but little.
But he did it, and without any great fatigue. It was not until Otter was
seen stemming a heavy current that his vast strength could be measured.
Here, indeed, his stunted stature was a positive advantage, for it
offered the less surface for the water to act upon.

So they travelled forward, sometimes hungry, sometimes full of meat,
and even of what were better, of milk and corn. For the country was not
entirely deserted; occasionally they came to scattered kraals, and were
able to obtain provisions from their peaceful inhabitants in return for
some such trifle as an empty cartridge of brass. At first Leonard was
afraid lest Soa should tire, but notwithstanding her years and the
hardships and sufferings which she had undergone, she showed wonderful
endurance--endurance so wonderful that he came to the conclusion that
it was her spirit which supported the frailty of her body, and the
ever-present desire to rescue one whom she loved as a surly dog
sometimes loves its master. However this might be, she pushed forward
with the rest, rarely speaking except to urge them onwards.

On the eighth night of their journey they halted upon the crest of a
high mountain. The moon had set, and it was impossible to go further;
moreover, they were weary with long marching. Wrapping themselves up
in their blankets--for here the air was piercingly cold--they lay down
beneath the shelter of some bushes to sleep till dawn. It was Otter who
woke them. "Look, Baas," he said to Leonard, "we have marched straight.
There below us is the big river, and there far to the right is the sea."

They looked. Some miles from them, across the great plain of bush that
merged gradually into swamp, lay that branch of the Zambesi which they
would reach. They could not see it, indeed, for its face was hid by a
dense cloak of soft white mist that covered it like a cloud. But there
it was, won at last, and there away to the eastward shone the wide
glitter of the sea, flecked with faint lines of broken billows whence
the sun rose in glory.

"See, Baas," said Otter, when they had satisfied themselves with
the beautiful sight, "yonder, some five hours' march from here, the
mountains curve down to the edge of the river. Thither we must go, for
it is on the further side of those hills that the great swamp lies where
the Yellow Devil has his place. I know the spot well; I have passed it
twice."

They rested till noonday; but that night, before the moon rose, they
stood on the curve of the mountain, close down to the water's edge. At
length she came up, and showed them a wonderful scene of desolation.
Beyond the curve of hills the mountains trended out again to the south,
gradually growing lower till at last they melted into the skyline.
In the vast semicircle thus formed ran the river, spotted with green
islands, while between it and the high ground, over a space which varied
from one mile at the narrowest to twenty miles in width at the broadest
of the curve, was spread a huge and dismal swamp, marked by patches of
stagnant water, clothed with reeds which grew to the height of small
trees, and exhaling a stench as of the rottenness of ages.

The loneliness of the place was dreadful, its waste and desolation were
appalling. And yet it lived with a life of its own. Wild fowl flew in
wedges from the sea to feed in its recesses, alligators and hippopotami
splashed in the waters, bitterns boomed among the rushes, and from every
pool and quagmire came the croaking of a thousand frogs.

"Yonder runs the slave road, or yonder it once ran," said Otter,
pointing to the foot of a hill.

"Let us go and see," answered Leonard; "we can follow it for a while and
camp."

They climbed down the hill. At its foot Otter cast backwards and
forwards among the bushes like a hound. Then he held up his hand and
whistled.

"I thought so," he said, as the others drew near; "the path is still the
same. Look, Baas."

As he spoke he broke down the branches of a creeping bush with his
strong foot. Among them lay the mouldering skeleton of a woman, and by
her side that of a child.

"Not long dead," said Otter phlegmatically, "perhaps two weeks. Ah! the
Yellow Devil leaves a spoor that all may follow."

Soa bent over the bones and examined them. "One of Mavoom's people," she
said; "I know the fashion of the anklets."

Then they marched on for two hours or more, till at length they came to
a spot where the trail ran to the edge of the water and stopped.

"What now, Otter?" said Leonard.

"Here the slaves are put on boats, Baas," the dwarf answered. "The boats
should be hidden yonder," and he pointed to some thick reeds. "There too
they 'weed the corn,' killing out the weakly ones, that they may not be
burdened with them. Let us go and look."

They went, Otter leading the way. Presently he halted. "The boats are
gone," he said, "all except one canoe; but the 'weeds' lie in a heap as
of old."

He was right. Piled in a little open space lay the bodies of some thirty
men, women, and children recently dead. In other spaces close by were
similar heaps, but these were of bleached bones on which the moonlight
shone brightly--mementoes of former sacrifices. Quite close to the first
pile of dead was a mooring-place where at least a dozen flat-bottomed
boats had been secured, for their impress could yet be seen in the
sand. Now they were gone with the exception of the canoe, which was kept
there, evidently to facilitate the loading and launching of the large
boats.

Nobody made any comment. The sight was beyond comment, but a fierce
desire rose in Leonard's heart to come face to face with this "Yellow
Devil" who fattened on the blood and agony of helpless human beings, and
to avenge them if he might.

"The light is going, we must camp here till the morning," he said after
a while.

And there they camped in this Golgotha, this place of bones, every one
of which cried to heaven for vengeance.

The night wind swept over them whispering in the giant reeds, fashioning
the mists into fantastic shapes that threw strange shadows on the inky
surface of the water as it crept slowly to the sea. From time to time
the frogs broke into a sudden chorus of croaking, then grew silent
again; the heron cried from afar as some alligator or river-horse
disturbed its rest, and from high in air came the sound of the wings of
wild-fowl that travelled to the ocean. But to Leonard's fancy all these
various voices of nature were as one voice that spoke from the piles of
skeletons gleaming faintly in the uncertain starlight and cried, "Oh!
God, how long shall iniquity have power on the earth? Oh! God, how long
shall thy Hand be stayed?"

The darkness passed, the sun shone out merrily, and the travellers
arose, brushed the night-dew from their hair, and ate a scanty meal, for
they must husband such food as they had with them. Then, as though by
common consent, they went to the canoe, bailed her out, and started,
Leonard and Otter using the paddles.

Now it was that the dwarf's marvellous memory for locality came into
play. Without him they could not have gone a mile, for their course ran
through numberless lagoons and canals, cut by nature and the current
in the dense banks of reeds. There was nothing to enable them to
distinguish one of these canals from another; in truth they all formed
a portion of this mouth of the river. There were no landmarks to guide
them; everywhere spread a sea of swamp diversified by rush-clothed
islands, which to the inexperienced eye presented few points of
difference. This was the road that Otter led them on unfalteringly; ten
years had passed since he had travelled it, but he never even hesitated.
Time upon time they came to new openings in the reeds leading this way
and that. Then for a moment the dwarf would consider, and, lifting his
hand, point out which water-way they should choose, and they followed
it.

Thus they went on for the most part of that day, till towards evening
they reached a place where the particular canal that they were following
suddenly divided itself into two, one branch running north and one in a
southerly direction.

"Which way, Otter?" asked Leonard.

"Nay, Baas, I know not. The water has changed; there was no land here,
the cut went straight on."

This was a serious matter, for one false step in such a labyrinth meant
that they would be lost utterly. For long they debated which stream
to take, and at last decided to try that on the left hand, which Otter
thought ran more nearly in the true direction. They had already started
in pursuance of his advice when Soa, who had remained silent hitherto,
suggested that they should first go a little way down the right-hand
stream on the chance of finding a clue. Leonard demurred, but as the
woman seemed bent upon it, he yielded, and turning the boat they paddled
her some three hundred yards in this new direction. As there was nothing
to be seen, however, Otter began to put her about again.

"Stay, White Man," said Soa, who had been searching the surface of the
water with her quick eyes, "what is that thing yonder?" and she pointed
to a clump of reeds about forty yards away, among which some small white
object was just discernible.

"Feathers, I think," Leonard answered, "but we will go and see." In
another moment they were there.

"It is paper, Baas," said Otter in a low voice, "paper stuck on a reed."

"Lift it carefully," answered Leonard in the same tone, for his anxiety
was keen. How came it that they found paper fixed to a reed in such a
place as this?

Otter obeyed, laying the sodden sheet on the thwart of the canoe before
Leonard, who with Soa examined it closely.

"This is a leaf from that holy book in which my mistress reads," said
the woman with conviction; "I know the shape of it well. She has torn
the paper out and affixed it on the reed as a sign to any who might come
after her."

"It looks like it," said Leonard; "that was a good thought of yours to
turn up here, old lady." Then he bent down and read such verses as were
still legible on the page; they ran thus:

"For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven
did the Lord behold the earth;"

"To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed
to death;"

"The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be
established before thee."

"Hum!" said Leonard to himself, "the quotation seems very appropriate.
If one had faith in omens now, a man might say that this was a good
one." And in his heart he believed it to be so.

Another hour's journey brought them to the point of the island along
which they had been travelling.

"Ah," said Otter, "now I know the path again. This is the right stream,
that to the left must be a new one. Had we taken it we should have lost
our way, and perhaps have found it no more for days, or not at all."

"Say, Otter," said Leonard, "you escaped from this slave-camp. How did
you do it--in a boat?"

"No, Baas. The Baas knows that I am strong, my Spirit who gave me
ugliness gave me strength also to make up for it, and it is well, for
had I been beautiful as you are, Baas, and not very strong, I should
have been a slave now, or dead. With my chained hands I choked him who
was set to watch me, and took his knife. Then by my strength I broke the
irons--see, Baas, here are the scars of them to this day. When I broke
them they cut into my flesh, but they were old irons that had been on
many slaves, so I mastered them. Then as others came to kill me I threw
myself into the water and dived, and they never saw me more. Afterwards
I swam all the way, resting from time to time on the islands and from
time to time running along the shore where the reeds were not too thick,
till at length I escaped into the open country. I travelled four days to
reach it, and most of that time I was in the water."

"And what did you feed on?"

"Roots and the eggs of birds."

"And did not the alligators try to eat you?"

"Yes, one, Baas, but I am quick in the water. I got upon the
water-snake's back--ah! my Spirit was with me then--and I drove the
knife through his eye into his brain. Then I smeared myself over with
his blood, and after that they did not touch me, for they knew the smell
and thought that I was their brother."

"Say, Otter, are you not afraid of going back to this place?"

"Somewhat, Baas, for there is that hell of which you white people talk.
But where the Baas goes there I can go also; Otter will not linger while
you run. Also, Baas, I am not brave, no, no, yet I would look upon that
Yellow Devil again, yes, if I myself must die to do it, and kill him
with these hands."

And the dwarf dropped the paddle screaming "Kill him! kill him! kill
him!" so loudly that the birds rose in affright from the marshes.

"Be quiet," said Leonard angrily; "do you want to bring the Arabs on
us?"

But to himself he thought that he should be sorry for Pereira, alias the
"Yellow Devil," if once Otter found a chance to fly at his throat.

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