Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo

by Herbert Strang

It appeared to Jack that nothing could save the blockhouse. Burning resin could only be extinguished by a deluge of water, and he had no means of bringing water from the tank in sufficient quantities. The logs were dry, and, when once fairly alight, would burn furiously. Barney suggested dropping a heavy boulder on the barrel most dangerously near, but Jack saw that the effect of this would be merely to spread the flames without necessarily extinguishing them. The fire would continue beneath the stone; it would lick the lowest logs, and in a few minutes the whole base of the blockhouse would be ablaze. The imminence of the danger acted as a spur to Jack's resourcefulness. It flashed upon him that there was one chance of saving the fort. Calling to Samba to follow him, he rushed from the roof of the blockhouse down the ladders connecting it with the second floor and this with the ground, and ran at full speed to his hut, where he seized an empty tobacco-tin and searched for a piece of wire. For a few moments he could not lay hands on any, but he then bethought himself of the wired cork of a Stephens' ink-bottle. Wrenching this out, he hastened to the underground magazine where the ammunition was, stored. Samba had preceded him thither with a lighted candle in a little lantern of bamboo.

Among the ammunition was a keg of loose powder sent up by Mr. Martindale for refilling cartridge cases. While Samba very cautiously held the lantern out of harm's way, Jack, with the brad of a penknife, bored two thin holes in the tin and two corresponding holes in the lid. Then he inserted the wire and filled the tin with powder. Clapping on the lid and firmly securing it by twisting up the wire, he rushed back to the blockhouse, up to the roof, and cleared out all the men helter-skelter, bidding them go with Samba and bring baskets full of earth to the base of the wall.

The place was now reeking with acrid smoke from the burning resin, great black eddies of it whirling over the roof, stinging Jack's eyes and making him cough and choke. When none but himself was left—for there was some danger in what he purposed—he went to the edge of the roof, and bending over, almost blinded by the fumes, he marked the spot where the flame seemed the fiercest, and dropped the tin into the midst of it. Though he sprang back at once, he had not reached the inmost edge of the roof when there was a loud explosion. The blockhouse rocked; clouds of sparks flew up; and feeling the tremor beneath him, Jack feared he had destroyed rather than saved. But the trembling ceased. He rushed back to the fore edge of the roof and peered over. As the smoke cleared away he saw no longer a blazing mass below him; nothing of the barrel was left; but all the ground for many yards around was dotted with little tongues of flame. The force of the explosion had broken up the huge devouring fire into a thousand harmless ones.

But the woodwork near which the barrel had rested was smouldering. There was still a danger that the blockhouse would burn. While that danger remained Jack felt that his task was not yet done, and he instantly prepared to meet it. Flames from the other barrels that had struck the wall were lighting up the scene. To carry out his purpose involved a great risk, but it was a risk that must be run. Calling to Samba, who had remained nearest at hand, he bade him bring a rope and send Barney and Makoko to him. When they arrived he got them to knot the rope about him, and let him down over the wall on the gully side, which was in deep shadow. Creeping round the blockhouse on the narrow ledge between it and the gully, he called to the men above to lower some of the baskets of earth which had been placed in readiness. As they reached him he emptied them upon the smouldering logs. It was impossible now to keep in the shadow; his every movement was betrayed by the still flaming barrels; and his work was not completed when bullets began to patter about him. His only protection was the rough rampart of boulders which had been thrown over from the roof. But he bent low; it is difficult even for expert marksmen to aim without the guidance of the riflesights, and Elbel's men were far from being experts; Jack finished his job as rapidly as might be, and escaped without a scratch. Then creeping round once more to the gully, he laid hold of the rope and was drawn up into safety.

The other blockhouses meanwhile had been in no danger. That at the north-east corner was defended by the nature of the ground, which sloped so rapidly that a barrel rolled from above could never hit the mark. That at the southeast corner, being at the edge of the precipice, could only be fired by the hand of man, and no man could approach it safely. By averting the danger at the north-west Jack had saved the camp.

But the attempt had been so nearly successful that he resolved to lose no time in completing the work of protection already begun. The moment was come, too, for showing Elbel that he could only maintain a thorough investment of the fort with the acquiescence of the besieged. At any time a sally must break the chain of pickets, for Elbel's force was not large enough to support them adequately all round. Averse as Jack was from shedding blood, he felt that it was necessary to teach the enemy a wholesome lesson.

Before he could do anything, however, he must know how the force was distributed, and how the pickets were placed. He remembered his half promise that Samba should be allowed to go scouting that night. No other could be trusted to move so warily or act so intelligently. Samba was accordingly let down into the gully. While he was gone Jack explained to Barney the plan he proposed to try should the boy's information favour it.

"I shall lead some of the men out, I don't know yet in what direction. At least it will surprise Elbel. I hope it will alarm his men and throw them into confusion. You must take advantage of it to go on with our defences. Let down more boulders from the roof, and build them up as fast as you can to form a facing three or four feet high to the two northern blockhouses. You'll only have about half an hour for the job, for Elbel will have got his whole force together by then, and I shan't be able to fight them all. But we've plenty of men to turn on to it, and when I give the signal they must tumble over the wall and get to work."

Within an hour Samba returned. He reported that the enemy had all retired to their camp except the pickets. About forty men were posted about a camp fire up stream near the place where the barrels had been rolled down. Another picket of the same strength was lying at the edge of the copse about a quarter of a mile to the east, and a third picket lay across the gully to the west. Samba had had great difficulty in eluding this western picket, and would have returned sooner but for the detour he had been obliged to make.

All favoured Jack's enterprise. The pickets were so far from the camp below the southern face of the fort that some time must elapse before help could reach them. They could only support one another, and the idea of a ruse to prevent that had already flashed through Jack's mind.