All this Raggy duly translated, and Harry strongly suspected that he added a little bit of his own to it. But this is a liberty that interpreters very often take.
The king was laughing. The king was pleased. He pointed to the boat and led the way towards it and without a moment"s hesitation Harry stepped on board, and in another minute they were all away out in the open lake.
Book 3--CHAPTER SEVEN.
AMAZONS--THE LAKE OF THE HUNDRED ISLES--THE FEAST OF FLOWERS.
When the king"s barge left the sh.o.r.e, shoved slowly along by the head of the big hulking negro, Harry, of course, had not the faintest notion whence he was being taken.
Perhaps he was just a trifle reckless. He was so at most times, but in this case I imagine he was in the right. For the worst thing one can do on meeting strange savages is to show mistrust or fear of them. If you mistrust them, they at once suspect you, and the consequences may sometimes be anything but pleasant.
It was not long before our hero found out that it was indeed a lake, and not a broad river, on which he was embarked, and that it was studded with about a hundred islands, over all of which this black host of theirs was evidently the potentate.
He landed on one of the largest of them, and on a kind of rude pier where nearly a hundred armed amazons were drawn up to receive their lord and his guests.
Harry afterwards found out that he kept ten amazons for every island, but they all lived near the royal residence, and were his especial body-guard. Fierce-looking, stalwart hussies they were, with knives in their girdles, spears in their hands, and leather-covered shields, that were nearly as big and wide as barn doors.
Over these shields they grinned and glared in a way that was really hideous. They rolled their eyes round and round incessantly, as if they had been moved like clock-work. Perhaps, thought Harry, they go in for eye-drill in this queer country. The reason of this optical movement, he was afterwards told, was to prove to the king that danger could come to him from no direction without their seeing it.
These amazons were dressed in sacks of cocoa-cloth, and wore tippets of skins not unlike those of your dandy coachmen in Hyde Park. From their legs and arms, behind and below, feathers stuck out, and as head-dresses their own hair was done up into an immense dome, which stood straight up and was adorned with the feathers of the red ibis.
All this Harry took in at a glance as he walked on behind the king, through an avenue of most splendid trees, towards his palace.
I must dismiss the palace with a single sentence. It was not unlike a hayc.o.c.k of immense size, with a door in the side, or like the half of a cocoanut turned upside down. It was in an enclosure, in the very middle of the island, and near it were the huts of the king"s amazons, the whole being defended by a strong palisade of roughly hewn wood.
The huts of his other warriors--and every one appeared to be a warrior in this island--were outside the fort and different in shape and appearance. They were, if anything, more elaborately built, and had verandahs supporting their roofs, which only proved that his majesty was a man of simple tastes, and preferred looking after the well-being of his subjects rather than his own.
One of the largest tents in the enclosure was set aside for Harry and his companions. It contained a dais-bed, covered with gra.s.s matting, an immense gra.s.s-stuffed pillow, and mats on the floor besides.
He had not been long in this tent ere an unarmed amazon entered, bearing a huge leafen basket, laden with the most delicious fruit, the perfume of which filled the whole room. She also brought and placed near it a huge pitcher of water.
This was all very gratifying, and Harry began to wonder where this strange king learned all his civility and hospitality, and he really felt a little sorry now that he had taken the liberty of smacking his majesty on the fingers when he was attempting to cut off a b.u.t.ton.
"How, on the other hand," he asked himself, "have this curious people escaped the raids and ravages of the plundering slaver Arabs?"
Perhaps the Arabs had not yet found them out, or, having found them out, deemed it impossible to attack them, so well protected were they by water.
Nothing was done to-day by Harry except to wander about all over this lovely island.
Indeed, the adjective "lovely" but poorly expresses the wealth and beauty of flower and foliage that met his gaze at every turn.
It seemed a veritable garden of Eden. It must have been miles in extent, yet the king a.s.sured him he might wander everywhere, and he would find neither wild beast nor loathsome dangerous reptile.
His majesty went to his tent and did not appear again that day, nor was he visible until late into the next.
Harry was walking about making friends with the c.o.c.ks and hens, the goats and the pigs, and with several charmingly plumaged birds of the guinea-hen species, when he was summoned into the king"s presence.
The dusky monarch was seated in the middle of his tent on a mat. So black was he, and so dark was the hut, that, coming right in from the glare of the noonday sun, it was some time before Harry could see him or anything else. He heard the king"s hearty laugh, however, and went towards it.
He was beckoned to a mat on the floor, and fruit was handed to him.
Then the royal host began to show all the inquisitiveness of a child, and evinced so much curiosity that Harry could not answer his questions fast enough. But he delighted him greatly by saying that at home he too lived on an island.
The king was exceedingly tickled, though, when told through Raggy that we were subjects to a queen.
He laughed so immoderately that he was obliged to lie back and roll on his mat, and for quite three minutes could say nothing but "Lobo! Lobo!
Lobo!"
In the midst of all this pleasant discourse two amazons entered, and helped the king to rise.
He said something which Raggy translated, "Come on for true."
They went on "for true," and soon found themselves in a grove and under a canopy of gra.s.s-cloth. On the green-sward they all squatted down to a banquet, the like of which Harry had not seen for many days.
It was not served on china, you may be sure, and there were no forks, only knives. The plates were of yellow-brown clay, and as soft as a brick. In the centre was a huge dish of curried rice; before each of his guests was placed a curried fowl. Then there were floury and well-cooked yams, sweet potatoes and plantains, and a large chattee of water.
Raggy ate up his fowl every bit, so did Somali Jack. Harry failed on his last drumstick, and the king laughed again, and cried, "Lobo!
Lobo!"
Then there was more wandering about the island, and another banquet or fried fish and fruit on their return.
All the time Harry and Jack stuck to their rifles. One never knows what savages may turn out to be, and had anything occurred they were determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible.
Next day, and next, and next, were simply repet.i.tions of the first, with this difference--that the king took his guests round his islands in his barge, rowed now by five dark-skinned boatmen on each side, and this will give you some idea of the size of it.
Every evening after supper, sitting out under the stars, the king being only dimly visible as a kind of shape, Harry had to tell stories of all the kings and potentates and countries in the world.
He got a little tired at last, and found it better and easier to invent tales of imagination, based upon the stories he had read, such as the novels of Cooper and Walter Scott, than to stick to plain geography and pure history. This pleased this strange king even better, and he was constantly saying, "Lobo!" during Harry"s recitals.
I dare say, however, that Raggy, through whom, as a medium, the stories had to pa.s.s, embellished them somewhat on his own account.
Among the gifts from Somali Jack"s packet that Harry presented to his majesty was a shirt and a pair of pyjamas. These he wore until they were black, albeit Harry had several times suggested that they should be washed.
A whole month flew by. Very quickly indeed the days went too, for the air made Harry lazy, and he felt as if he had eaten the lotus leaf. He roused himself at last, and, fearful that he might be outstaying his welcome, he told the king he must go.
"Go! did you not come here to stay and talk to me for ever and ever?
Go! No, no! Lobo! Lobo!"
It began gradually to dawn upon Harry that he really and virtually was a prisoner in these friendly islands. He certainly could not leave them without his majesty"s permission. To steal a boat and try to escape was out of the question, the amazons with the rolling eyes would effectually prevent this.
So he stayed on quietly another month. Then, firm in the belief that a constant drop will wear away a stone, he began persistently to tease the king into letting him go on his journey.
The king would promise one day, and retract the next.
Three months pa.s.sed away, then four. Harry was getting desperate. At the risk of giving mortal offence he refused to tell any more stories.
And his majesty got so sad and morose that he felt grieved to see him.
"I will let you go," he said at length, "if you will promise to return and bring me more gifts."