In Search of the Okapi Page 3

  CHAPTER III

  THE CANOE ADRIFT

  They passed in time the rocks that guard Madeira, the green bay ofFunchal, the peak of Teneriffe, and then the ship turned on its heelto the West Coast, and, while yet a thousand miles away, waswelcomed by two messengers--a shrike and a hawk-moth, who had sailedalong some upper current of air with red sand from the Sahara tofilter down at last on to a firm resting-place.

  They went away down into the Gulf of Guinea, and with many a call bythe way to discharge cargo, approached the mouth of the Congo,whose flood gave a tawny colour to the sea. So far they had seennothing but the squalid fringe of the Continent, and the damp heathad steamed them and tried them, but the young explorers had notlost the fine edge of their imagination. They knew that hundreds ofmiles back in the unexplored heart of the land there were secrets tobe unraveled, and though they shed their warmer clothing, theyretained their ardour. The river somewhere in its far reaches heldfor them, and them alone, new forms of life--the grandfather of allthe crocodiles, a mammoth hippo; and somewhere in the forest wassome huge gorilla waiting to offer them battle. Moreover, were thesenot the gates of the Place of Rest?

  "Surely," said Compton, as they steamed slowly into the night offthe mouth of the great river, "thy slave is not cast down becausethe black children of the mud-house at our last calling-place didmock us with their mouths, and the man, their father, wore the silkhat and frock-coat of civilization?"

  "Perish the thought," said Venning, throwing a banana peel at abrilliant flash of phosphorescent light in the oily waters. "Yet theman-who-was-tired, he of the parchment face, who sat on a verandahwith his feet on the rail, prophesied that within seven days weshould be sighing for English bacon in the country where a white mancould breathe."

  "There is no snap in the air; but I can breathe freely. See;" andCompton took a deep breath.

  "That is the teaching of the hunter," said Venning, wisely. "Deepbreathing gives a man deep lungs. That is his teaching. Also this,that a man should keep his skin clean and his muscles supple by hardrubbing after the bath. Therefore, I did ask the bo'sun to turn thehose on us in the morning when they clean down the decks. It is goodfriction."

  "And he has another saying--that it is good for the skin to applyoil with the palm of the hand till the skin reddens. I have a smellabout me like a blue gum-tree, for the ointment he gave containseucalyptus oil."

  "And the fat of a goat. There is much virtue in goats' fat, and theeucalyptus is not to the taste of the trumpeter."

  "The mosquito?"

  "Even so."

  "Then why don't you say so in good English?" and Compton droppedaway from his high-flown speech. "I bet that's a shark kicking upall that phosphorescence."

  "He swims in fire, like the--like the----"

  "Sprat!"

  "Like Apollo, you lean-minded insect. With every sweep of his tailhe sends out diadems of liquid gems, and his broad nose shovels firebefore him like a----"

  "Stoker. Exactly; and if we had a lump of fat pork and a hook wecould drag him up and collect a basketful of jewels. I dare say heis leering up at us with a green and longing eye."

  "Did you hear that cry?" asked Venning, suddenly.

  "No." "Was it the shark whispering, do you think?"

  "Shut up and listen."

  They leant over the rail and peered into the night. The drowsy airthrobbed to the measured beat of the engines, but they scarcelynoticed that accustomed sound.

  "There it is again."

  "Yes. I heard something like a sheep bleating."

  "Would a sheep be swimming out here, you ass?"

  "The shark's off--look!" and they saw a streak of fire shootforward.

  "And there goes another. By Jove, they must have heard the cry!"

  "I'm sorry for the sheep then," muttered Compton.

  They bent far forward, listening intently, and following the coursetaken by the sharks as defined by the gleaming wake. The leadsmanswung out the sounder as the vessel slackened down with a yell fromthe escape-valve that drowned all other sounds with its deafeningclamour.

  "By the deep nine!" cried a bass voice.

  The bell in the engine-room signaled the skipper's order, and theship felt her way once more. Again there was silence, save for thethrob of the engines and the grating of the steering-chain atintervals.

  "I have not heard the cry again," said Compton.

  "Can you see anything over there--follow the line of my finger--there, just by that gleam?"

  "Yes; I think there is something."

  "Then I think the captain ought to know;" and Venning ran off firstto Mr. Hume.

  "Something afloat, eh?" and Mr. Home rose from his deck-chair.

  "Some one in distress, I think," They went on to the bridge, andVenning began his story; but the captain cut him short by wheelinground to the rail.

  "Ahoy, there--ahoy!"

  A startling response came in a long, quivering wail out of the darksea.

  "By the lord," muttered the captain, "what's that?"

  "Jackal," said Mr. Hume.

  "Impossible! We are miles from the shore."

  "Jackal, sure enough. Maybe sent adrift by a flood, and taken to atree."

  The captain laughed. "I thought it was a hoodoo at least. Well,lad"--turning to Venning--"you don't want me to pick up a creaturelike that?"

  "I don't think it is far away, sir. I think I see a tree or boat,and if you would lower me over the bows and ease the vessel----"

  "Well?"

  "Perhaps I could pick it up."

  "You are not afraid of being bitten?"

  "I think it would know I meant it good."

  The skipper laughed good-humouredly. "Well, you're a plucky lad,and, at any rate, I'd not be losing time." He touched the bell, andmotioned to the steersman. The ship slowed down and came round. "Mr.Bobbins, just sling this young gentleman over the port-bows, andhave a light lowered. Do you still stick to your bargain?"

  Venning answered by sliding off the bridge and climbing up into thebows, where a knot of sailors had gathered at the gangway. A ropewas looped round his thigh, so as to give his arms play, and two menstood to pay him over and down.

  "Here she is!" sang out the mate.

  The bell rang out, "Stop her," and Venning went over, catching therope above his head with his left hand, and taking a turn round withhis right foot. There was a scraping sound against the side of thevessel.

  "I've got hold," he shouted. "It's a tree--no, a boat." Then, "ByJove!"

  "What is it?" cried several together, excited by the startledexclamation.

  "Lower the light!" The lantern sank over the side, but those abovecould not see well because of the bulge of the hull.

  "Now lower me. I shall get in and make fast."

  "Take care!" cried Mr. Hume.

  "Look out for the sharks, sir," sang out a sailor. "There's onecoming up."

  "Lower away, please--quick!"

  The men lowered. "That's right. I'm in the boat, or whatever it is.Now let down the lantern."

  Those leaning over the side saw Venning reach up for the lantern,and then they heard a snarling and snapping.

  "Stand ready to haul in!" cried the captain. "That brute will attackthe boy. One of you men go down."

  The snarling continued, mingled with soothing cries from Venning;and then the weird howl burst forth anew, daunting the sailor whowas carrying out the captain's order.

  The mate stepped forward. "Stand aside!" he cried, and swung himselfover and down. He reached Venning's side, and they saw him peeringabout him.

  "By thunder!" he muttered.

  "What is it?" demanded the captain, irritably. "D'ye expect me tospend the whole night here?"

  "A minute, sir. Let over a running tackle, and we'll have the wholething aboard."

  "Lively there! Lower the tackle, and don't stand staring with yourmouths open. Swing out those davits."

  The davits swung out, the tackle ran through the pulleys into thew
ater with a splash, and the mate shifted the unknown craft, withits mysterious freight, amidships. A few moments he occupied ingetting the tackle into position.

  "Haul in!" he shouted.

  "Heave!" roared the captain, in a state of high excitement; and thesailors, wrought up to a pitch, heaved with a will.

  The captain, Mr. Hume, and Compton, peering over the side, saw along, narrow canoe rising up, with the forms of the mate and Venningstanding amidships, and some huddled object aft.

  The canoe swung clear of the rails, the tackle was made fast, thedavits swung in, and then the canoe was slowly lowered to the maindeck.

  "Why, it's a man," shouted Compton.

  "And a dog," muttered the sailors, falling back. "With a mouthful ofteeth."

  The mate and Venning stepped out as the canoe reached the deck, andthe mate turned the lantern full on the huddled group, showing ajackal, with raised mane and bared teeth, crouching over theprostrate form of a man, whose teeth also were bared, and whose eyesseemed to glare with the same fury that showed in the flaming greeneyes of the animal.

  "What a pair of demons!"

  "The man is gagged and bound, captain," said Venning. "If the cookwill bring a piece of meat for the jackal, I think I can get to theman without trouble."

  "You've done very well, Venning," said Mr. Hume, quietly. "Leavethis matter to me; it is more in my line."

  With his eyes on the jackal, he placed his hand on the side of thecanoe and moved forward gently while he spoke in Kaffir. "Peace,little friend," were his words, as he afterwards explained to theamazed captain. "We are hunters both, eh? We know each other, eh?There is no harm in me towards you. You know it, little hunter; youknow it well."

  It was strange to hear the deep accents of an unknown tongue,strange to see a man using speech in complete gravity to a wildanimal, but stranger than all to note the effect on the animalitself.

  At first the red mouth opened wide and the green eyes flamed up, butas the strong hand crept nearer, the glare went out under the steadygaze of the man's tawny eyes, and next, with a whimper, the jackalcrept forward on its stomach, till the sharp black nose smelt theman's hand.

  "We are friends, little hunter, we three;" and the great fingerspassed over the yellow body up towards the face of the bound man."Friends--together--for we are hunters all--you, myself, and thispoor one here with his speech cut off." "We will see to that, eh?"The fingers were on the man's face, and with a twist the gag wasout, and the man drew in his breath with a great sob.

  "Ow--ay, that is better; now a little water."

  Still keeping his eyes fixed on the man and his beast, Mr. Hume heldout a hand for a cup, and with a moistened handkerchief bathed thecracked and swollen lips. The eyes of both the man and his beastcontinued fixed on the hunter, following his every movement, andnever straying to the ring of faces round, showing white in theglare of the light. The strong fingers moved swiftly here and there,loosening the hide ropes that bound the legs and arms, and thenrubbing ointment with a strong smell of eucalyptus into the bruisedskin.

  "So--now a little broth for the man, cook, and a scrap of meat forthe jackal. Gently, gently, cook; don't scare them, and don't crowdin, you others."

  "Ay, ay," burst out the captain, in a sudden fury. "What's the wholeship's company doing here? Is this a garden-party, Mr. Robbins?"

  "Get forward!" roared the mate, in a voice that sent the jackalalmost crazy with renewed fright; and at the creature's wild cry thesailors hurried off, muttering that they had taken a whole cargo ofmisfortune aboard.

  The hunter looked reproachfully at the mate, who was mounting to thebridge, and then began once more to soothe the frightened animal,which in time took a bit of raw meat he proffered. The man drankhis broth, and then sat up to stare about him with quick glances.When lying down he had seemed black, but, now that he was in thelight, it was seen that he was more mahogany than black, with a moreprominent nose and thinner lips than are usually found with thenegroid stock. His hair, however, was in little tufts, and the whiteof his eyes had the smoky hue of the negro. As he sat, Mr. Humerubbed the back of his neck, and fed him with broth, a mouthful at atime, and as this went on the fierce black eyes again and againreturned from their swift, suspicious range to the hunter's face.

  "He seems to grow stronger," said Venning.

  "Fetch a rug from my cabin; we will make him a bed in his own canoe.He will rest easier there till the morning."

  The rug was brought, and the man nodded his head as it was arrangedcomfortably; then, with another long intent look at the hunter, hesettled himself down with a sigh, spoke a word to his strangecompanion, which at once curled itself at his feet, and was asleep.

  "Now, boys," said Mr. Hume, "you go to bed. I will watch here, andin the morning, maybe, we will find out the mystery."

  In the morning the steamer was on the yellow waters of the Congo,and the boys forgot even about the strange couple in their firstview of the mighty river; but the sight of a native-manned canoe,shooting out from the mist which hung in wisp over the waters,recalled the incident. They found Mr. Hume in an easy-chair,drinking his early morning cup of coffee, and at his feet,stretching along the scuppers, was the canoe, still with its crewaboard and asleep, though the jackal slept apparently with one eyeopen. The canoe was, they saw, made out of a single tree-trunk, andwas thickly coated with the slime of the river, a heavy, sodden,roughly shaped craft, most unlike the light boat that skimmed intoview from out the mist.

  "What do you make of it?" said Mr. Hume, after the two boys had madea long inspection.

  "It seems to me," said Venning, "that the jackal has a very darkcoat."

  "That is so; it is unusually dark. What does that suggest to you?"

  "Well, as the colour is adapted to the nature of the country inwhich the animal hunts, I should say that the jackal came from awooded district."

  "Good. And what is your opinion, Compton?"

  Compton bent down to examine the bows. "Look here, sir," he said;"there is a prayer to Allah carved in Arabic on a leaden medallion,and fixed into the wood."

  "Is that so?" and the hunter looked at the signs with interest. "Ihad not seen that. And it means----"

  "That Arabs had something to do with the making of the canoe."

  "Umph! I doubt very much if it is Arab-built. That talisman may havebeen found by a native and fixed on--though that is impossible;" andMr. Hume pondered. "The Arabs may have taken the canoe from thenative owner and fixed in the medallion."

  "He's awake," said Venning; and the three of them saw that the man,without so much as a movement of surprise at his awakening undersuch altered circumstances, was keenly observing them.

  After he had gravely inspected each in turn, he sat up and raisedhis hand in salutation. The rug slipped off his shoulders, showinghis bare breast, with every rib exposed, and clearly outlined inblue was the form of an animal.

  "A totem!" exclaimed the hunter.

  "Otter," said Venning.

  "Ask the steward if he has the porridge ready that I ordered."

  Venning ran off, and returned with a basin of thick oatmealporridge. The man took it gravely, made another salutation, and atethe whole.

  "There's nothing wrong with him," said Mr. Hume, with a smile. "Nowwe'll get him out of that and fix him up comfortably. I like hislooks, and have hopes that he will be useful."

  They removed him to a deck-chair, whither he was followed by thejackal, who was in such a state of suspicion that he declined food.

  "What I think," said Mr. Hume, in answer to the boys, who wanted hisexplanation, "is this--that the man and the jackal have come fromthe interior."

  "From the Great Forest?"

  "Probably from the Great Forest; for these reasons--that the men whoshaped the canoe had no knowledge of the coast-built craft withtheir high bows; that the man is of a different race from the coasttribes; and because the jackal, from his dark markings, is evidentlyfrom a thickly wooded region. That is merely a theory, which
doesnot help us much, and certainly does not explain how he came to bebound and gagged in a canoe at sea hundreds of miles from theforest. However, the main point is that we have got him, and havinggot him, will keep him."

  "Against his will, sir?"

  "Oh, I reckon he will be only too thankful for our protection."

  "I should think, sir," said Venning, "the fact of his totem being anotter proves that his tribe derives its living mainly from fish."

  "That is plausible; but it may, again, be a sign of chieftainship,and a chief I have no doubt he is. Maybe he was sent adrift by somerival faction; but that can scarcely be, for he would not havesurvived a long journey; and, again, the canoe would have goneaground."

  "There is another explanation," said Compton, with a grin. "He maynot have come down the river at all. He may have been set adriftfrom one of those ships we passed for insubordination."

  "Ships do not carry canoes or jackals," said Venning, who had madeup his mind that the castaway was from the forest, and from nowhereelse.

  They went down to breakfast, and the morning was occupied in gettingtheir kit and packages together. At noon the steamer was berthed ata pier, and their packages were transferred to a paddle-wheeler,which was to take them over three hundred miles up the wide estuaryto a Belgian station. Thence, perhaps, they would proceed hundredsof miles further by another river steamer before they took to theirown boat.

  "Why, we may be days before we really get to work," said Venning,when the vastness of the Congo was forced on his attention by acasual reference to "hundreds of miles."

  "Days--weeks, my boy, before we come to the fringe of our field. Theriver is more than half the length of the Continent; its length ishalf the distance by sea from Southampton to the Cape, and, next tothe Amazon, it pours a greater body of water into the sea than anyriver in the world."

  "Africa," said Compton, "seems to be the driest and the wettest, inparts, of any country; and all its great rivers, except the Nile,run to waste."

  "They'll keep," said Mr. Hume. "When the old world gets tired, wornout, and over-populated, it will find use for these big, silent,deserted rivers, that would carry the ships of the world on theiryellow waters."