“No, thank you,” was the dry answer. “I have seen enough of these Ashantis to last me for a long time. A more fierce and cruel lot of beggars I never saw before, and you don’t catch me waiting to fight with an army. We might burst a steam-pipe or break a connecting-rod and then where should we be? Look at that beggar lying over the boiler, and think whether you would like to become a prisoner.”
“No, tanks, massa,” grinned Johnnie, casting his eye at the native. “But s’pose we move ’um. Him berry fine feller, but though him dead him not like de heat. Golly! Make ’um hop to put de finger dere, on de biler. Him cook nicely if we leab um.”
Things had occurred so rapidly that neither had given a thought to this matter before, but now that they had killed the most dangerous of their enemies, and the battle with the army of Ashanti had developed into a chase between a steam launch, with ample power, and a fleet of unwieldy boats, they had time to look about them, and to observe their own condition. As the stoker had said, the native who had fallen to Dick’s revolver-shot lay across the boiler, and it was more than hot there, for out in this tropical country there was no great need for lagging (a covering of asbestos and wood, often held in position by sheet iron, and commonly applied to boilers in this country to help to retain their heat, and so make steaming easier), and this launch boiler was exposed to the air and weather. In consequence, the unhappy wretch who had fallen was literally cooking, and Dick was thankful when his dusky companion caught the body by one arm, and dragging it to the side hove it overboard. Johnnie had little sentiment. An enemy was an enemy, whether dead or alive, and he made no secret of his delight that here was another native who had fallen to their weapons.
“Good-bye yo,” he shouted, as the body splashed into the river and sank from sight. “Yo foolish man come aboard dis vessel. Not hab invite to do so, and not wanted, not’t all. So jest yo go’ ’way ’gain. Yo hab self to tank for all dis trouble.”
He turned to Dick with a laugh, which was not lessened when he saw the serious expression on his master’s face. For Dick had his own ideas as to how an enemy should be treated, whether dead or alive, and had the task been his he would have endeavoured to do the work decorously. But he had to admit to himself that one of these Ashantis, when dead, was a repulsive-looking object, and that Johnnie was probably justified.
“What does he care?” he asked himself. “He has, no doubt, still a large share of his savage nature left, and he knows that these men would cut him to pieces when alive if they could capture him. So he treats them, dead or alive, with the same ferocity. Well, we’ve cleared decks, and I’m not sorry. As for those beggars behind, they might just as well stop and save their powder; they cannot hurt us more.”
There was little doubt on this point, for since the native with the big elephant gun had toppled overboard, hardly a shot had reached the launch, though showers of slugs cut up the water in the rear. It was the turn of those aboard the launch to smile and enjoy the situation. As they ran down the stream, with the throttle now half closed, for steam might be wanted for another emergency, they could look back at the fast-receding fleet of boats and take full stock of them. Also they could watch the dusky figures bounding through the bush, some still abreast of the launch or even farther down the stream. They could jeer at the frantic shouts, could wave back jubilantly to the angry signals of the enemy, and they could afford to mock at the men who tore through the jungle, firing aimlessly into the water.
“Good as firework!” laughed the light-hearted Johnnie. “Moon not so bright now, me tink, and de gun go pop! pop! wid a splosh of fire. Fine sight, massa! Make de heart young and gay.”
“Because we have something to be thankful for. But don’t you make any mistake about the action, my lad; it was a close thing, a precious close piece of business, and if it hadn’t been for that gap, why, where should we be? That reminds me. How are we for’ard? What’s the damage?”
The native leaped from his well and went scrambling along the deck, the movement giving cause for an increased outburst of shouting and beating of the drums; for the enemy still watched the retreating launch like cats, hoping against hope that she would stop, that their fetish, to which they sacrificed victims innumerable during the year, would step in in time to arrest the flight and hand over the white man. Presently Johnnie came back with a piece of wood in his hand.