CHAPTER V
The Order of Merit
"Bad cess to you, you young varmint!" exclaimed Barney, waking with a start. "What do you say at all?"
"Ba-lofúndú bao ya! Boloko!"
"Be jabers if I know what you'd be meaning. Off! Run! Nando! And it's pitch dark it is."
The boy scampered, Pat still at his heels. The dog had evidently been impressed by Samba's warnings, for he ran silently, without growl or bark. They came to the spot where Nando lay, beneath a spreading acacia. Samba shook him without ceremony.
"Ba-lofúndú bao ya!" he cried. "Betsua! Betsua!"[[1]]
Nando growled and bade him be off; but when the boy poured his story with eager excitement into the big negro's sleepy ears, Nando at last bestirred himself, and hurried to Mr. Martindale's tent, bidding Samba remain at hand.
"Samba him uncle, berrah bad man, come to fight," said Nando breathlessly when Jack came to the door of the tent. "Bad man go round round, hide in trees, come like leopard. Massa gone 'sleep: massa him men all lib for big sleep; Boloko shoot; one, two, massa dead all same."
"What, what!" said Mr. Martindale, flinging off his rug. "Another alarm, eh?" He pressed the button of an electric torch and threw a bright light on the scene.
"An attack in force this time, uncle," said Jack. "Some black fellows are coming to surprise us in the rear."
"How many are the villains?" said Mr. Martindale, pulling on his trousers.
"Two, free, hundred, fousand."
"A dozen all told, I suppose! Well, we'll fight 'em."
"Rather risky that, uncle," said Jack. "There may be more than a dozen, after all, and our men are not armed: we two couldn't do much against a hundred, say."
"True. Why was I such a fool? That Britisher at Matadi said I'd better arm my men, and I wish I'd taken his tip. We're in a tight corner, Jack, if the nigger is correct. Here, Nando, are you sure of this?"
"Sartin sure, sah. Me see fousand fifty black men creep, creep 'long ribber, sah: big lot guns, 'Bini guns, massa, go crack, crack. Come all round, sah; run like antelope: no time for massa run away."
Nando's face expressed mortal terror; there was no doubt he believed in the reality of the danger.
"How did they come?" asked Mr. Martindale.
"In boat, sah."
"Where are they?"
"Small small up ribber, sah."
"And I suppose you've alarmed the camp?"
"No, sah, no. Me no tell one boy at all."
"Well, it looks as if we're going to be wiped out, Jack. We can't fight a hundred armed men. If our fellows were armed, we might lay a trap for 'em; but we aren't strong enough for that. But perhaps if we show we're ready for 'em, and they're not going to surprise us, they may sheer off."
"Then why not take the offensive, uncle?"
"What d'you mean?"
"Attack the canoes while the most of them are marching round. They'd hear our shots and bolt back, as sure as a gun."
"That's slim. We'll try it. Go and wake Barney, Jack."
Barney, however, was already on his way to the tent, Jack explained the situation to him.
"Here's a revolver, Barney," said Mr. Martindale, as the Irishman came up. "You must do the best you can if there's a rush. Jack and I are going right away to the river: you're in charge."
Barney handled the revolver gingerly.
"Sure I'd feel more at home wid me shillelagh!" he muttered as he went away. Mr. Martindale turned to the negro.
"Now you, Nando, lead the way."
The man's eyes opened wide with fear.
"Me plenty sick in eyes, sah," he stammered. "Me only see small small. Boy Samba him eyes berrah fine and good, see plenty quick, massa; he show way."
"I don't care who shows the way," said Mr. Martindale, too much preoccupied with his hunting rifle and ammunition to notice the inconsistency between Nando's statement and the story he had already told. Nando called to Samba and told him what was required, and the party set off, the boy going ahead with Pat, Mr. Martindale and Jack following with their rifles, and Nando in great trepidation bringing up the rear.
Mr. Martindale puffed and panted as he scaled the bluff, and breathed very hard as he followed Samba down the rough descent to the brink of the river. When they came to comparatively level ground they halted.
"How far now?" asked Mr. Martindale, in a whisper.
"Small small, massa," replied Nando.
"Well, Jack, when we come near these precious canoes we'll fire both barrels one slick after the other, then reload."
"And go at them with a rush, uncle?"
"Rush! How can I rush? I'm pretty well blown already. But I could fetch wind enough to shout. We'll shout, Jack. Nando, you'll bawl your loudest, and the boy too. If I know these niggers they'll bolt. And look here, Jack, fire in the air: we don't want to hit 'em. If they stand their ground and resist, we can fire in good earnest; but they won't."
They took a few cautious steps forward, then Samba ran back, clutched Nando by the arm and whispered—
"Boat dah, sah," said the negro, under his breath. "Oh! me feel plenty sick inside!"
"Hush! Howl, then, when we fire. Now, Jack, ready? I'll let off my two barrels first."
Next moment there was a flash and a crack, followed immediately by a second. Nando and Samba had begun to yell at the top of their voices. Mr. Martindale bellowed in one continuous roll, and Pat added to the din by a furious barking. The noise, even to those who made it, was sufficiently startling in the deep silence of the night. Jack fired his two shots, but before his uncle had reloaded there was a yell from the direction of the canoes, then the sound of men leaping on shore and crashing through the bushes. Immediately afterwards faint shouts came from the forest at the rear of the bluff.
"We've done the trick," said Mr. Martindale with a chuckle. "Now we'll get back. They've had a scare. Let's hope we shall have no more trouble to-night."
He flashed his electric torch on the river bank below, and revealed five large canoes drawn up side by side.
"There must be more than a hundred of them," he added. "Each of those canoes can carry thirty men."
On the way back to the camp, they heard renewed shouts as the men who had marched into the forest broke out again in a wild dash for the threatened canoes. The camp was in commotion. Barney was volubly adjuring the startled natives to be aisy; but they were yelling, running this way and that, tumbling over one another in the darkness. The sight of Mr. Martindale's round red face behind his electric torch reassured them; and when Nando, who had now quite recovered his spirits, told them that he, with the white men's assistance, had put to flight twenty thousand bad men and Boloko, they laughed and slapped their thighs, and settled down in groups to discuss the event and make much of Nando during the rest of the night.
There was no more sleep for any of the party except Samba. He, satisfied that his new friends were safe, curled himself up on his mat with the inseparable terrier, and slept until the dawn. But Mr. Martindale sat smoking in his tent, discussing the events of the night with his nephew.
"I don't like it, Jack. We're on top this time, thanks to a little bluff. But there must have been a large number of them to judge by the canoes and the yells; and but for that fellow Nando we might easily have been wiped out. And from what Nando says they are those villainous forest guards of the Concession. What's the meaning of it? It may be that the Concession have repented of their bargain and want to keep me out, or perhaps Elbel is terrified lest I shall expose him when I get back to Boma. Either way, it seems as if we're going to have a bad time of it."
"I don't think it can be Elbel's doing, uncle. It's such a risky game to play, your expedition being authorized by his own people."
"I don't imagine Elbel is such a fool as to attack us officially. He can always disavow the actions of those natives. At any rate, I shall make a point of getting rifles for the men as soon as I can."
"They can't use them."
"Of course they can't; but you'll have to turn yourself into a musketry instructor. Meanwhile I must give that fellow Nando some sort of reward. It will encourage him and the others too."
When daylight broke Mr. Martindale went down to the river while Barney was preparing breakfast. There was no trace of the enemy. Presumably they had set their canoes afloat and drifted down stream in the darkness. They had no doubt reckoned on surprising the camp, and their calculations had been upset by the certainty of meeting with resistance, the fact that the travellers were poorly armed being forgotten in the panic bred of the sudden uproar in the night.
After breakfast Mr. Martindale had the men paraded in a semicircle around the tent, and, sitting on a stool in front of it, with Jack on one side and Barney on the other, he called Nando forward.
"We are very much pleased with your watchfulness, Nando."
The negro grinned, and with a ludicrous air of importance translated the sentence to his comrades.
"It is due to you that we were not surprised in the dark: you did very well, and set an excellent example to the men."
"Me plenty clebber, sah, oh yes!"
"I shall take care in future to have our camp more closely guarded, and punish any carelessness. But now, to show how pleased I am with you, I am going to give you a little present."
Nando's mouth spread from ear to ear. He translated the announcement to the negroes, looking round upon them with an expression of triumphant satisfaction that tickled Jack's sense of humour. Barney had shut one eye; his lips were twitching.
"But before I do that," went on Mr. Martindale, "I want you to tell us how you came to discover the enemy in the darkness."
Nando for a moment looked a little nonplussed, scratching his head and shifting from foot to foot. Then inspiration seized him; he elaborately cleared his throat, snapped his fingers, crossed his arms on his brawny chest, and began—
"Me no get sleep, me get up and go round about, fink see if massa's fings all right. Me stop, go sick inside; one, two eyes like twinkle twinkle look down out of tree." He waved his arm towards the acacia under which he had been sleeping. "Me fink dis plenty bad; what for man lib for hide in tree and look at Nando? Me no 'fraid, no, no; me walk all same, like me no see nuffin. Yah! me see all same, wait long time, man no fit for see Nando. Bimeby man come down like snake, creep, creep, 'long, 'long; me go too, what for? 'cos man plenty bad man, him go 'Bini gun, him go into wood. What for? Muss see; s'pose he go fetch bad man and shoot massa? He no come dis way 'less he lib for do bad fings. Him got 'Bini gun, me got spear; no good! Me no 'fraid. Plenty debbils in forest! Me no 'fraid. Massa say Nando look after fings; all same: Nando look after, no 'fraid, 'Bini gun, debbils and all. What for? Massa him Nando him fader and mudder. S'pose bad men shoot; s'pose debbil come; all same: muss do what massa say, look after fings, look after massa. Me no 'fraid!"
Again Nando paused and scratched his head, looking troubled. Then his face cleared; he took a deep breath and continued—
"Me go 'long 'long after bad man. He come to place no trees, grass all same: one, two, twenty, fousand bad men dah. Bad man say 'Kwa te! Kwa te!'[[2]] Dey talk, oh yes! whish! whish! same as trees when wind make talk. Me get behind tree; me hab got two, four, twenty ears. Me listen! Dey say come, creep, creep, bring 'Bini gun; white man all 'sleep; black man come, no nise, shoot: oh my gracious! White man all lib for dead! Me no 'fraid!"
"Who was the chief of these bad men?" interrupted Mr. Martindale.
"Boloko, sah!—Samba him uncle."
"But how could you tell that in the dark?"
"Dey hab got light: one, two, twenty tiny small fire on stick."
"Torches, he means, I suppose," said Mr. Martindale. "How did you find your way back in the dark?"
"Yah! Me know all 'bout dat. Me lib long time in forest, oh yes! Me fight little tiny men; dey plenty small, plenty good fighter all same; shoot one, two, free arrow; one, two, free fings gone dead. Me fight dem; so me find way like leopard."
"Well, you're a clever fellow, and you did very well. Here is a present for you."
He took from his pocket a huge bone-handled penknife, and displayed its various parts one by one: four blades, a corkscrew, a file, a hook, and an awl. Nando's eyes opened wide with delight; he chuckled gloatingly as one after another these treasures came to view. Mr. Martindale was shutting them up before handing over the knife when Barney stepped quietly forward, touched his cap and said—
"If you plase, sorr, before you part wid this handsome presentation, will I have yer leave to ax Mr. Nando wan question?"
"Why, you can if you like," said Mr. Martindale in surprise.
"Thank you, your honour. Now Mr. Nando, would you plase tell us if you ate a big supper uv maniac last night?"
"Manioc, Barney," corrected Jack with a smile.
"Sure that's what I said, sorr! Would you plase tell his honour, Mr. Nando?"
The man looked in amazement from one to another. He seemed to suspect a pitfall, but was puzzled to make out the bearing of the question.
"Sure I speak plain. Did ye, or did ye not, eat a big supper uv anything at all last night?"
"Me eat plenty little manioc," said Nando, thinking he was expected to defend himself against a charge of gluttony. "Me no pig like common black man."
"And you did not get a pain?"—here Barney helped out his meaning with pantomime—"nor dream all that terrible wild stuff you have just been telling us?"
"Me no can dream!" cried Nando, indignantly. "Me say true fings all same."
"Sure, thin, if your supper didn't give ye the nightmare, mine did. Begorra! 'twas a mighty terrible dream I dreamt, indeed, Mr. Nando. I dreamt you was snoring like a pig—like a common black pig, to be sure; and there came a little spalpeen uv a black bhoy, a common black bhoy, and shook ye by the shoulder, and called 'Baa! Baa! Bloko!' and some more I disremimber now; and thin——"
Nando, who had been looking more and more uneasy, here interrupted, hurriedly addressing Mr. Martindale—
"Me plenty sick inside, sah," he said, pressing his hands to the pit of his stomach. "Me eat plenty too much manioc all same."
Crestfallen and abashed the big fellow slunk away, Jack roaring with laughter, Mr. Martindale looking on in speechless amazement.
"Begorra, sorr," said Barney, "'tis a born liar he is. He was fast in the arms uv murphies, or maniac, speaking by the card, till the bhoy Samba woke him up. 'Twas Samba, sorr, that spied the enemy, and 'twas me little darlint uv a dog that gave the first alarm. Give a dog his due, sorr, and if you plase, give Samba the knife."
Mr. Martindale first looked annoyed, then broke into hearty laughter. He called for Samba, who came up smiling, with Pat at his heels.
"Where's that villain Nando?" cried Mr. Martindale. "He shall come and interpret."
In response to a summons Nando came from behind the crowd of natives. He had recovered his composure, and translated with glib and smiling unconcern the story which Samba told. Only when Mr. Martindale handed Samba the knife did the negro look sorry.
"Me no lib for eat too big lot manioc nudder time," he said glumly, as he went away.
[[1]] Wake up!
[[2]] Hush!