At that moment a double report sounded from the hills, and the Portuguese gave a kind of gulp and then fell forward on his face, his rifle still in his hand.
[CHAPTER XVIII--FREEDOM]
There are some men who are born to command, who imbue their followers with confidence, who are masters of the art of managing men.
Cæsar was one of these. He had entered the heart of Africa at the time when the first great explorers were opening up the unknown continent, and some small knowledge connected with the source of the Nile and the presence of the Great Lakes was reaching the ears of Europe.
For the most part these daring pioneers penetrated Africa either to shoot big game or propagate the Christian Gospel, or in the cause of science. Grant, Speke, Mason and Stanley were geographers, explorers before all else. Livingstone was a missionary; and Cotton Oswell, Gordon-Cumming and Sir Samuel Baker were hunters of big game. Unlike these famous men, the Portuguese, who afterwards adopted the name of "Cæsar," was prompted by purely selfish motives--the acquisition of wealth.
Like every one else, he found the interior overrun by the Arabs, who, since time immemorial, had exploited the equatorial regions for slaves for the Greek satraps and the Roman consuls. The abolition of the slave trade did not affect the regions of the Upper Nile, the Great Lakes and the Congo. Laws which men chose to make in Europe could in no way modify or hinder what went on in the equatorial forests. Not only in Zanzibar, but even in Cairo, there was an open slave market where the trade continued to flourish.
Nothing can speak so eloquently for the virility, the craft and cunning, of the Arab as the fact that for centuries millions of savage warriors were held in fear and trembling by a few hundreds of these ruthless sons of the desert. In quite recent years, when Stanley made his passage of the Congo and the Aruwimi in search of Emin Pasha, he found Arab slave stations scattered at intervals throughout the unknown forest, and his whole expedition must have perished had it not been for the assistance he received from the Arab ivory hunters in the valleys of the Upper Congo.
In his early days the tall Portuguese had also taken care to be on friendly terms with the Arabs. He was one who was quick to learn, and experience taught him two things: firstly, that the Arab will do anything for profit; and secondly, that once his word has been given he is one of the most faithful friends in the world.
The Arabs employed at Makanda were men whom Cæsar knew that he could trust. Each was to have his share of the plunder when the slave camp was broken up and the Portuguese returned to Europe. Until then he knew they would stand by him, faithful to their promise that he could rely upon their courage in case of emergency.
In the panic that now took place Cæsar must have been captured had it not been for the heroism of the Arabs. He had been taken by surprise in open country. There was no escape by way of the quarry, and upon the hills on the other side of the river was Edward Harden, who, in spite of the fact that he had said that Crouch was a better shot than himself--had the clearest eye and the steadiest hand of any man throughout the length and breadth of Africa.