PART THREE
CHAPTER XIII
THE POOLS OF SILENCE
Next morning Berselius ordered Félix to have the tents taken from the go-down and enough stores for two days. Tents and stores would be carried by the “soldiers” of the fort, who were to accompany them on the expedition.
Adams noticed with surprise the childlike interest Meeus took in the belongings of Berselius; the green rot-proof tents, the latest invention of Europe, seemed to appeal to him especially; the Roorkee chairs, the folding baths, the mosquito nets of the latest pattern, the cooking utensils of pure aluminum, filled his simple mind with astonishment. His mind during his sojourn at Fort M’Bassa had, in fact, grown childlike in this particular; nothing but little things appealed to him.
Whilst the expedition was getting ready Adams strolled about outside the fort walls. The black “soldiers,” who were to accompany them, were seated in the sun near their hovels, some of them cleaning their rifles, others smoking; but for their rifles and fez caps they might, with a view of Carthage in the distance, have been taken for the black legionaries of Hamilcar, ferocious mercenaries without country or God, fierce as the music of the leopard-skin drums that led them to battle.
Turning, he walked round the west wall till he came to the wall on the north, which was higher than the others. Here, against the north wall, was a sheltered cover like an immense sty, indescribably filthy and evil-smelling; about thirty rings were fastened to the wall, and from each ring depended a big rusty chain ending in a collar.