CHAPTER XII.
Towards seven o'clock they reached a village where shelter was offered them, and after a meal, of which the elephants killed during the day formed the standing dish, they were glad to seek repose in a tolerably roomy hut, placed at their disposal by the chief of the district.
Joseph was the only one who did not pursue this course of inaction. He could not console himself for not being able to take back with him to France, at all events as a trophy or souvenir of the hunt in which he had taken so active a part, the tusks of the elephant which had been handed over to the blacks. So, as soon as his masters had retired within their dwelling, made of wood and branches of trees, he set out in search of the interpreter Omar, and asked him to act as his agent in coming to some agreement with the natives. He offered them, in exchange for the longed-for tusks, five copper bracelets and some necklets of red pearls, with which he had taken care to provide himself.
The natives, after consulting together, declined both pearls and bracelets, but said that they would swop their tusks for guns. They had, during the day, arrived at a just appreciation of the power of fire-arms, and they hoped, with their aid, to become masters of the forest, to destroy the elephants wholesale, and thus to attain to speedy wealth. Joseph clinched the bargain, and it was agreed that if they brought the coveted tusks to the Meshera at Rek, he would hand over the guns they asked for. He had bought in Paris, for about ten francs a piece, a dozen old muskets, and he did a capital stroke of business, seeing that each tusk represented to him an average value of five hundred francs. Elated with the success of his first commercial speculation, he betook himself to rest, after having been rubbed all over with palm oil as a cure for the bites which the ants had inflicted on him.
On the following day the little band re-entered Port Bek, where Nassar had taken advantage of their absence to complete the caravan by engaging about a hundred and fifty bearers belonging to various tribes. These men were, for the most part, fine, stalwart fellows, between twenty and thirty years of age. Round the waist they wore a strip of calico, and the rest of their bodies was covered with ornaments of all sorts, brass, copper, ivory, and iron, the Nubians also wearing on their breasts amulets in the shape of small leathern bags, in which were placed some of the precepts of the Koran. In addition to these appendages each man carried a knife, a small scimitar, a bag containing his allowance of grain, and the wooden stool used for a seat, for the natives of the greater portion of the black continent never condescend to sit on the ground. As a rule these caravans are encumbered with a crowd of women, slaves or free, brought by the soldiers and bearers; but Nassar had, by a display of great firmness, curtailed this following to the narrowest limits, a few Soudan women alone having obtained permission to join their companions from Khartoum.
The caravan left Port Rek on the 14th February, 1873, and formed an imposing line of about three hundred and fifty persons, distributed in the following manner:—At the head marched Nassar, the guide, clothed, according to his own particular fancy, in a sort of scarlet tunic, and wearing a pair of huge leather boots, which were a source of great pride to him, although, from his not being accustomed to their use, they were productive of considerable inconvenience. These boots were the admiration of all the negroes, and contributed, in no slight degree, to inspire them with profound respect for the guide. With his head in the air, surmounted by a plume, and a set expression on his face, he looked as if he were about to pose as a cavalier seul in a quadrille at a masked ball. In one hand he carried a carbine, and in the other the banner of the caravan, ornamented with a crescent and certain precepts of the Koran inscribed thereon in red letters. It would be vain for any European to attempt, in certain regions of Africa, to unfurl his national flag; the Nubians would refuse to follow him. They have no objection to serve a Christian, but on the express condition that they shall be protected by the standard of Islam.
Musicians marched on either side of the guide, beating their drums, clanging their cymbals, or clumsily blowing their cracked trumpets. This music, barbarous enough to European ears, is full of sweetness to the negroes. Baker says, in one of his works, that any traveller who would play persistently on the cornet, could traverse in perfect safety the whole of Central Africa. If he could go to the extravagance of a barrel organ, furnished with the entire repertoire of the Bouffes or the Renaissance, he would assuredly be followed by an enthusiastic crowd, and, protected by this dancing, ever-changing escort, he would be able to pass through the most hostile districts.
Behind the band came the soldiers, about forty in number, the remaining ten forming the rear-guard. Although they were innocent of boots, they marched as proudly as Nassar, gun on shoulder and lance in hand. They did not keep any sort of order, but constantly left the ranks, at the same time affecting to hold no communication whatever with the black bearers, whom they look upon as inferior beings.
Between the soldiers and the bearers a space was reserved for the Europeans, all of whom were on horseback, except Miss Beatrice Poles, whose prodigious feet resumed their wonted office, and Joseph, who was mounted on a donkey. A species of palanquin on two poles, and carried by four men, was set apart for Madame de Guéran, but it was very rarely that she made use of it. She was too energetic and active to ensconce herself under the mosquito curtains of this travelling bed. On horseback or on foot, she went from one point to another, hastening the onward march, giving advice to one and encouragement to another, asking after the health of some woman who appeared to walk with difficulty, interposing when any quarrelling was going on, and rendering herself of use to all. Thanks to this activity of mind and body, she did not notice that the caravan, as is usual, advanced at a rate not exceeding from two miles and a half to three miles an hour, and that in a mild atmosphere and with easy loads.
The servants followed their masters. First of all came the two interpreters, Omar and Ali, on horseback like their employers, because their assistance might be needed at any moment. To these succeeded the attendants of both sexes, Arabs, Nubians, and others hailing from Khartoum and the Soudan, laden with clothes, guns, ammunition, boxes of medicines, and eatables for their masters and mistresses. The Soudan girls, young and pretty, and dressed in red and white tunics, presented to them by Madame de Guéran, formed a picturesque and charming battalion by themselves. They did not appear to feel the weight of their burdens, for from time to time they turned a side-long glance on MM. Périères and de Morin, handsome men both, and to them the very incarnation of manly beauty. But these cavaliers, when not riding on in front, were ever close to Madame de Guéran, and they had no eyes for anybody else. So the fair damsels of the Soudan contented themselves with ogling M. Delange, who, braving the sighs and nudges of Miss Poles, returned their laughing glances with interest.