"We are much obliged to you for bringing these," said Harry. "And who may I ask, sent them."
"A friend," answered one of the girls. "But we were forbidden to tell you who she is. Eat and be satisfied." On this, the girls evidently acting as they had been directed, left the hut, and the door was immediately closed.
"I thought, when I saw the baskets, some young woman must have sent the food," observed Tom. "They"re alike all the world over, to my mind, the same sort of heart beats inside a black skin as a white one. Things don"t look so bad after all."
We had provisions enough to last us--if they would keep good--for several days. We agreed to husband them, not knowing when more might be brought us. To prevent any creatures getting into them, we hung them up to the rafters of the roof. Next day we were left entirely alone. We were, as may be supposed, getting impatient, and had good reason to dread what might next happen. Observing the light coming through under the roof, we concluded that we might get a look through the opening, to see what was going forward outside. Towards the back, and one of the sides, the walls of other houses prevented us obtaining any view, but on the other we found that we could look right down the street.
I must pa.s.s over several days, during which we were kept in confinement.
Only once in three days was any food brought us, our benefactor, or benefactress, who sent it, probably not having opportunities for doing so oftener. We could gain no information from the slaves who brought the baskets, nor could we learn anything from the people who were, occasionally sent in to clean out our hut. We were now growing very anxious--moreover, our health was suffering. All sort of dreadful ideas occurred to us, and we fancied that the king was reserving us for some great festival, when he might, as Tom had suggested--sacrifice us to his fetish G.o.ds. At last we agreed that, to save ourselves from a worse fate, we would run the risk of breaking out, and fighting our way down to the river.
We had been imprisoned for nearly a month, and had settled one evening, that the very next night we would make the attempt. The following day we expected to receive our usual supply of provisions, which we intended to carry with us. Early next morning, as the first gleam of light stole into the room, I climbed up as usual to have a look out, and ascertain whether anything was occurring in the village, when, what was my surprise to see a white man with a gun on his shoulder, and holding by a chain in his left hand a bull dog. Another glance at the dog, and I recognised him as Growler, while the man bore a strong resemblance to Captain Roderick. He had then escaped with his life. I could scarcely suppose that, bad as he was, he would refuse to a.s.sist in setting us free. He was evidently at liberty himself, or he would not have walked along in the independent manner he was doing. Guessing that Growler would recognise me, I whistled. The dog immediately p.r.i.c.ked up his ears, and began to look about him. Captain Roderick started.
"What is it, Growler," I heard him ask.
I again whistled, and called to my companions. They started to their feet.
"Captain Roderick," I shouted out, "will you a.s.sist some of your countrymen in getting away from these black fellows who have imprisoned them?"
"Who is that who calls me by my name?" asked the captain in a tone of astonishment, looking up to the place from which my voice proceeded, although he could not distinguish my features under the eaves of the house. Coming to the door, he without further ceremony withdrew the bars which secured it.
"Who are you?" he exclaimed, with a look of astonishment, as he saw us ready to rush out. "Don"t you remember us, Captain Roderick?" I asked.
"I don"t wish to claim it as a merit, but we set you at liberty when your ship was wrecked, and enabled you to save your life."
"I wish that I had lost it," answered the captain with a gloomy look.
"Perhaps you may live to be thankful it was preserved. At all events, we acted desiring to do you a good service, and all we beg is, that if you have the power you will a.s.sist us in making our escape from this village, in which for some reason the king seems inclined to keep us prisoners. Why he does so I cannot ascertain."
"I can solve the mystery then," he answered; "I confess that I have been the cause of your detention. I have been living with the chief almost ever since I got on sh.o.r.e, having made my way up here immediately, and I am in high favour with him. Two rascals, former followers of mine, while I was out hunting came to the village--intending to remain here, I conclude--but finding by some chance that I had made it my headquarters, they bolted. As I had no wish to have them prying into my proceedings, I charged the king to keep them until my return, as I was on the point of starting up the country on a trading expedition."
"That of course accounts for our being kept here," exclaimed Charley.
From the description of the men given by Captain Roderick we had no doubt that they were the two pirates who had escaped when we were recaptured.
"Now, Captain Roderick," said Charley, "if you will facilitate our return to the coast, we will report favourably of the service you have rendered us, and it may be of some use to you should you ever wish to go back to England and any accusation be brought against you."
"As to that, sir, I have no intention of ever returning to my native land," answered the captain in a gloomy tone, "but as I have no grudge against you, I will help you to make your escape, although the rascal who calls himself king here is an eccentric character, and it may not be so easy as you suppose. He gets drunk for six days in the week whenever palm-wine is to be procured, and the seventh amuses himself by cutting off the heads of his faithful subjects and playing other vagaries.
Still I have taught him to respect me, and as I have been the means of supplying his treasury, I do not doubt but that he will be ready to do what I ask him in the hopes of retaining my services. I now intend, if he is not too drunk, to rouse him up and tell him to supply you with a better house, and ample food, and a supply of water that you may wash yourselves, for you look remarkably dirty."
This I have no doubt we did. Charley thanked the captain in the name of us all. Captain Roderick then told us to remain in the prison while he went on to the king and obtained our release in a formal manner; it would be better, he said, than running the risk of offending the king, who would probably be displeased should we walk out without his permission.
We accordingly returned and sat ourselves down to wait the arrival of the pirate captain and the king"s officers. Strange to say, all this time Captain Roderick had not recognised Harry, nor had he me as the clerk who had overheard the accusation brought against him by Captain Magor. Perhaps had he done so his conduct might have been different.
We were all getting very hungry, having eaten nothing since noon the previous day; we were also becoming more and more impatient, when we heard footsteps approaching, and Captain Roderick, accompanied by the king himself and several of his attendants, opened the door. The king made a speech, intending, as we supposed, to apologise to us. He then led the way to another house, far superior to the hut we had occupied.
It was clean and airy, with a veranda in front and a garden full of fruit trees and vegetables behind. Shortly afterwards an ample supply of all sorts of provisions was brought to us, and what we valued in no less degree, some huge bowls of water. I shall not forget in a hurry the satisfaction of washing, though we each of us had only a pocket handkerchief with which to dry ourselves, and that none of the cleanest.
After breakfast, we summoned the slaves who had brought us the water to procure a further supply, in which we washed our under garments, hanging them up afterwards to dry in the garden. This they did in a very few minutes, for the sun in that lat.i.tude does its work with marvellous rapidity.
In consequence of meeting with Captain Roderick we abandoned our idea of attempting to get off by stealth, thinking that it would be wiser to take our departure openly with the leave of the king. We had not been long in the house when Captain Roderick, accompanied as he always was by Growler, came to see us and advised that we should remain indoors. "I have a rival here in that ugly rascal Mundungo. He is jealous of the favour shown to me by the king, to whom I have recounted the true history of your capture, and I told his majesty that, instead of being taken after a tremendous fight, you were surprised and surrounded before you had time to defend yourselves. Mundungo has found that I have told the king the truth, and he is exceedingly indignant, although he is too much afraid of me to say anything. He will not, however, scruple to injure you if he has the opportunity."
While he was speaking, Mundungo himself appeared, his countenance exhibiting the hatred which raged in his bosom.
"Beware what you are about," he exclaimed. "You have attempted to malign me to the king. Remember I possess the most powerful fetish in the world."
"A fig for your fetish!" exclaimed the captain, drawing his huge dagger.
"I possess a more potent fetish than you do. Look at that, and then look at this animal. What do you think of him? In two minutes, if I were to tell him, he would tear you limb from limb, and your wretched fetish could not help you. Now go and talk to your silly countrymen about your fetish, but don"t come and attempt to impose such nonsense on me," and the captain turned aside with a haughty air.
Mundungo was defeated. Muttering and growling he walked away along the street towards his own residence. The captain set up a loud laugh in which we could not help joining, while Growler uttered one of his terrific barks, which made the brave general take to his heels and scamper away as hard as he could go.
Captain Roderick again burst into a loud laugh. "I have settled the fellow for the present, but depend upon it, if he can he will do you and me harm, we must guard against that I have hitherto, since I came among these people, kept the upper hand, partly by my independent bearing, and partly owing to the fears they entertain of Growler; who, on several occasions, has given me timely warning when Mundungo and his supporters have attempted to murder me, which they have still a strong desire to do. Although I have obtained your liberty, I cannot answer for your safety. If they fail to shoot you with their arrows, or to spear you, they may try the effects of poison, and against that you must be specially on your guard. Fortunately, they are no great adepts in the art, but it will be safer to take only such food as it cannot be mixed with, such as eggs, birds, and plantains, and fruit, and joints of meat."
We thanked Captain Roderick for his advice, which we promised to follow as long as we remained in the place.
"But," continued Charley, "as you may suppose, we are very anxious to get away as soon as possible. We believe that if we could obtain a good-sized canoe, we could easily navigate her down the river."
"You may depend upon it, gentlemen, that I will do what I can to persuade the king to allow you to go, and I have no wish to have any one interfering with my proceedings here, which you probably might be tempted to do were you to remain."
"But we have no wish to interfere with you, Captain Roderick," said Charley; "we are grateful for the service you have already rendered us, and should be very glad if you would accompany us down the river, for I am very sure you will soon get tired of living among these savages."
"I shall never return to civilised life, at all events in my own land,"
answered Captain Roderick gloomily. "Do not mention the subject to me again. I will help you more on my own account than on yours, for I would rather be alone with these black fellows than herding with white men. Let me advise you to remain in your house at present, until I have time to talk with the king, who is at present too drunk to understand me. I cannot promise that you will immediately obtain leave to go, or be furnished with a canoe for the purpose, but it will not be my fault if, in the meantime, you are not well treated."
As we agreed that it would be wise to follow the pirate"s advice, we re-entered our house, intending to remain there until summoned by him to pay our respects to the king, when his majesty had recovered sufficiently to give us an audience. Behind the house was a garden of sufficient size to enable us to enjoy some fresh air under the trees without the risk of being molested by the natives.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
THE KING PROPOSES TO SEND US OUT ON A HUNTING EXPEDITION--CAPTAIN RODERICK RECOGNISES HARRY AND ME IN OUR TRUE CHARACTERS--THE START FOR THE CHASE--A PLEASANT SURPRISE--WE MEET PRINCE KENDO WHO HAS COMMAND OF THE PARTY--A SUCCESSFUL DAY--CHARLEY AS A HUNTER--THE RETURN--CAPTAIN RODERICK"S MYSTERIOUS WARNING--HIS SORROW AT HIS OWN WASTED LIFE--THE LOSS OF GROWLER--ILLNESS OF THE QUEEN--THE WITCH-DOCTOR SENT FOR--WE ARE AGAIN FORCED TO GO HUNTING--STRANGE ARRIVAL IN CAMP OF THE TWO PIRATES-- A DANGEROUS MAN--MURDER OF CAPTAIN RODERICK--EFFECT OF HIS DEATH ON THE BLACKS--THE SOLITARY GRAVE--CONTINUATION OF THE HUNT--ENCOUNTER WITH A WILD MAN OF THE WOODS--RETURN TO THE VILLAGE WITH A QUANt.i.tY OF GAME.
We had now been six months in Africa, and, wonderful to relate, none of us had been ill or even hurt, with the exception of Tom. We, however, often felt sad, not on our own account, but on that of the loved ones at home, who, we knew, would be suffering intense anxiety about us, even if they did not suppose that we had lost our lives. As Tom remarked, we knew very well where we were and what we hoped to be able to do, but those at home knew nothing, but that ship after ship arrived and no tidings of us reached them.
A thick, black wall, as it were, intervened between them and us, through which their loving eyes could not penetrate. How we longed for some bird of rapid wing to carry home a message for us.
Captain Roderick did not come near us for the remainder of the day. The following morning, however, he appeared, saying that the king would not hear of our going away, as he wanted to employ us for elephant hunting, under the belief that with our rifles we should obtain a far greater number of tusks than could his own people.
"You will be well-fed, and as the sport is highly exciting, I don"t think you have any cause to complain," said the Captain.
"That may depend upon circ.u.mstances," observed Charley. "When are we to set out?"
"To-morrow, or perhaps the next day; as soon as the hunters are ready.
They only returned from an expedition a few days ago and require time to rest."
While the Captain was speaking, I saw him eyeing Harry and me in a far more searching manner than he had done before. Suddenly he asked me my name. I told him without hesitation,--indeed, I supposed all along that he must have known it. He then turned to Harry, and I saw his countenance change as Harry replied, "My name is Bracewell."
The Captain started as Harry spoke, and as he looked at him a frown gathered on his brow.
"I might have known you before, but your dress and sunburnt countenances deceived me. When I first saw you on board the "Arrow"--"
"Captain Roderick, let bygones be bygones!" exclaimed Charley, who had heard from me all that had happened in England between Captain Roderick and my friend--"Do not let us refer to the past. Here we are, five Englishmen together among savages. If we quarrel our destruction is certain. We can help you and you can help us."