Leonard Lindsay ;

by Angus B. Reach

‘I was born in a wood near a river. The trees grew in the water, and the slime of the water was oily at their roots. At night a hot mist came—very damp. Sometimes no moon, no stars, shine through that mist. It is the breath of the spirit of that land, and it kills strangers who come from afar. In the woods it was very dark, the branches kept the sun out; but near the river were huts, and round them corn grew and maize, for there the trees were burnt with fire, and the sun came hot—hot. My father was a warrior, and could slay his foes. He was strong, and had a great fetish. His war-club was heavy, and his bow was long, and his arrows hit the mark. My mother toiled, she reaped and baked, she thatched the hut, she paddled the canoe, she was strong. If she grew tired, my father lifted his war-club and then she worked on. In the hut was a broad bed of leaves, also calabashes to drink from, spears and clubs, and tools of iron. Also knives and an axe, which white men made. Also a god of palm-wood, with a necklace of wild beasts’ teeth. One hour from the hut, the brown river met the sea: there was a bay there, and many huts. Where the river met the sea were rocks: canoes could go from the salt-water to the fresh, but not ships, because of the rocks, on which were white waves, very fierce and high. In a big hut near the sea, the king lived, with all his wives and slaves. He was a great king, and made war upon other kings. My father went to these wars, but I stayed in the hut at home. When I was yet little, I learned to dive and to swim, and to paddle a canoe. I loved the water better than the woods. I loved the brown river, and the sea which tossed, and heaved. If the waves filled the canoe, it was nothing to me; I laughed and swam. If a great root of a tree in the brown slimy river upset the canoe, it was nothing to me; I laughed and swam. I did not fear the shark out in the blue water; I could dive under him when he turned upon his back to swallow me, and his teeth glistened in white rows. I did not fear the muddy crocodile in the river, and in the silent creeks, black and deep, which he loves: his back is hard, but his belly is soft, and I could drive a knife into him, so that he would lash his scaly tail and die. I tell you I could swim on the water like birds which live there, and I could dive like the fishes which are beneath. My father could swim and he could dive, but I could swim further and dive deeper. My father called me the “Long-breathed,” and when ships came to where the river joins the sea, I dived down from them, and the mariners gave me cloth and nails. Then I was happy; I had enough to eat, and oil to anoint me and make my limbs supple and strong, and a fetish which was very good.

‘Soon came a great ship to where the river met the sea, and the men of our nation and the king went on board to trade. We had oil to give them, and the teeth of great beasts, and the dust of gold all glittering, which merchants brought from where the sun rises. But the captain said to the king, I not want palm-oil, nor teeth, nor gold. I want men, I want slaves, and I will buy them; not palm-oil, nor teeth, nor gold. When the king heard this, he went to war, and the warriors of my nation went with him. There was a battle, likewise many huts burnt, but the captain gave the king guns, and he returned with many slaves, men and women—for bows and arrows are not so good to fight with as guns, which shoot thunder. Then the slaves were sent on board the great ship, and the captain gave us strong drink, and we were drunk and happy, and we said we would go to war and bring more slaves.

‘So afterwards this was our trade. I likewise went to war—I likewise made slaves. We went many days from the sea, to where there were other nations. We had guns, and they had but bows and arrows, likewise lances, and clubs of wood which fire had hardened. Therefore, many were killed, and many were slaves, and we kept them until ships came, and then sold them, and they were taken away over the sea; but we were rich and powerful, and had plenty of strong drink, which we loved; though many died of it.’

‘As you will, Wooroo,’ says Captain Garbo, interrupting him, ‘if you only get enough of it.’

‘Give some now,’ answered the negro. He drank off a small mugful, and went on, with more and more animation, as follows:—

‘Once a ship came, and she waited for slaves outside the rocks, where the sea burst white. Then I had a hut and a wife, and slaves of my own, and lived near where the king lived, and he knew that I was a warrior, and exceeding skilful in the water. One night the sky was black—black—and the sea moaned like a slave that moans for his country and his wife, and there were sounds amid the branches of the big trees; also birds sang strangely, and the frogs croaked very loud from the marsh where they lived. Therefore, I knew that a great wind was coming to the land, from far off in the sea; and when I lay in my hut upon blankets, and listened, the storm blew loud, and I heard the great noise of the waves. In the morning, the sun was red in the sky, and I looked and saw the ship that was waiting for slaves, and she was tossed upon the waves, and the white men were waving their arms to us, who stood upon the shore. Not far from the ship were great rocks, and we knew that if she struck upon such rocks, she would break, and the white men would be drowned. But for a long time she was safe, because heavy anchors and strong ropes held her in her place: but the wind was great, and the ropes broke: then the white men cried with a loud shout, and the ship struck upon the rocks and was broken, and the white men drowned. In the night, the wind went to sleep and the stars shone, and on the morrow the sun was hot and bright upon the sea. So, soon we went to the broken ship; there were great treasures there of iron and cloth, and powder, which we dried, and casks of strong drink. There was more iron and cloth, and strong drink, than we could get for many slaves, won at many battles. Therefore we were glad that the rope broke, and the white men were drowned, because we had all. After this, many ships came, but great winds did not come, and we went to war, and my father was killed; but for all the slaves we brought, we did not get so much cloth, and iron, and powder, and strong drink, as we got when the ship was broken, and the white men drowned. At this the king was angry—I was angry: all the warriors of my nation were angry—and when a great ship came again, the king went into the wood to an Obi man that lived there, and asked him that he would make a fetish, so that a wind would arise out of the sea, and break the ship, that we might have all. The Obi man was good. He answered in these words—“I will make a fetish and give it to Wooroo. Great ropes hold the ship, but sharp knives can cut great ropes. Then a small wind will break the ship upon the rock. The white men fire at canoe, if canoe go near the ropes; but Wooroo a great diver—Wooroo a great swimmer—Wooroo has a sharp knife—Wooroo can dive deep down below the sea, and cut the ropes.”

‘Then the king told me what the Obi man said, and I was glad, and sharpened my knife, and waited for a wind. The men of my nation knew it too, and we were glad, and said that the Obi man was wise. At last a wind came strong over the sea, and rattled the boughs of the forest, and the waves were white on the rocks. Then I went into the sea to swim and dive and cut the ropes. The surf was wild, but I am a great swimmer, and the surf could not drown me; and so I swam away out from the coast. I swam long. When I sank down into the valley between the waves, I could only see water—not land, nor the ship. Thus I passed to windward of the ship. If they saw my head, they thought it was a piece of wood, or a bird, or the head of some creature that lives in the sea. At length I was near the ship, and I saw the great rope from her bows going down into the water. I looked what way the rope went—it was under me. I drew my knife—I took a long breath—I dived. Down many fathoms I saw the rope; it stretched dimly out in the green sea. I clutched it; it shook—it trembled. Sometimes it slackened—sometimes it jerked out like an iron bar. I clung to it. The sea heaved and twisted me round and round it; but the knife was very sharp—my arm was very strong. The knife was half through the rope, when there came a jerk through all its strands, and it was torn asunder. One part was wrested out of my grasp, the other sank slowly into the sea. I rose up to the surface. I was almost spent; I swam faintly; I rested on the rolling sea. Then from the top of a wave I looked at the ship; she was already near the rock, and her side was to the waves. Men were in the rigging and among the ropes; they strived to loose the sails, but they had no time. The ship struck—the waves went over her—the masts fell—the crew were drowned! As I swam to land, I heard the people of my nation—how they shouted and were glad! That ship fared like the others—she broke, and we had the spoil. The powder, the cloth, the iron, and all things which we valued. Only three white men were saved, and we made them slaves. We sent them up the dark river, and into the dark woods far from the sea. They cried, and were in despair. They were sold to another nation, and we had the riches and rejoiced.’

‘You infernal villain!’ cried Garbo. ‘The fellow talks of wrecking ships and drowning men by his devilish treachery, as if the tale were of building churches and saying masses.’

‘I say truth,’ replied the negro. ‘Give me more strong drink.’ The captain shrugged his shoulders, and refilled the savage’s cup. The barbarian, whose eyes now began to gleam like a wild cat’s, broke out into a hoarse, guttural laugh, so savage and strange, that the watch on the forecastle called out to know what the noise was.

‘It is only Wooroo singing,’ answered the captain. ‘Go on, Wooroo.’ The negro, who was now getting excited by his story and the drink, needed no spurring.