Home! To me the word had no other meaning except the wide ocean, and yet when I saw others reading their letters with such joy depicted on every countenance, well—it was very foolish of me, no doubt—but I used to steal away into some quiet corner, and weep.
“Now, my lad,” cried Roberts to me one day. “Get that twopenny-ha’penny cutlass of yours out, and prepare to go on shore. We’re going up country to fight those rascally Arabs. We are going to storm Zareppa’s own stronghold.”
“Hurrah!” I shouted; “And you will really take me with you, Mr Roberts?”
“That I will, lad; and you’re not your father’s son unless you know how to behave yourself in presence of a foe.”
I said nothing; but at that moment I almost thought that Roberts instigated an act on my part, which followed some days after this. Had he not mentioned Zareppa and my father in two consecutive sentences—my father and my father’s slayer?
“Oh!” I said inwardly, “could I but meet the man face to face!” What a childish thought, you will say, for a mere stripling, with a twopenny-ha’penny cutlass! The cutlass, by the way, was a middy’s dirk, of which I felt very proud indeed.
The boats were called away. The expedition against the Arab stronghold was going to be “a big thing,” as Roberts said, so every man that could be spared from the ship joined it.
Our guide was poor Sweeba. This negro had but one thought in life; namely, to avenge the murder of his family. I’m afraid that revenge is a very human though an improper feeling; and it is easy enough to understand, without attempting to justify, Sweeba’s thirst for vengeance. I hope that I myself shall never forget that Bible text which says—
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.”
The utmost caution was necessary in passing up through the forest and jungle, for we were surrounded by enemies on all sides. However, we made forced marches in silence and all by night, and in three days’ time, being favoured by fortune, we arrived in front of Zareppa’s stronghold, and within two miles of the place. We lay closely hidden till daybreak, a good two hours, sending Sweeba forward to scout. He returned shortly with the intelligence that the Arabs were in great force, and had both camels and cavalry, and that they had also thrown up a strong earthwork on the hill around their position.