John: "Allah be praised!"
And then they got to business. The chief apologised for the delay in opening the gate. His watchmen had to be careful, because it was reported that Tubus were in the neighbourhood. A few days before a fugitive had come in from the westward, and told how his village had been raided and destroyed. From the chief's description, Royce gathered that this was the village which he had himself seen, and near which Challis was encamped.
Royce then explained the object of his visit, instructing John to translate exactly what he said, without adding or subtracting anything. The chief at once agreed to sell a quantity of millet and manioc for the men, and to present Royce with a few dozen eggs—an offer which Royce gracefully accepted, though he knew that most of the eggs would turn out to be bad. The African native can never understand the white man's squeamishness in the matter of addled eggs.
The next question was about the transportation of the food to the camp, nearly twenty miles distant. At first the chief, for fear of the Tubus, was reluctant to supply carriers. But when Royce explained that there had been no sign of Tubus on the way, and that the area of their depredations appeared to be considerably to the west, he yielded, and gave orders for the food to be loaded into calabashes, and for a dozen slaves to be ready to start with them in the morning.
It was clearly too late for a start to be made that evening, though Royce was very anxious to get back to his friend. He accepted the chief's hospitality for the night, and, though very tired, kept up a tedious conversation with him through John. In the course of this he related the incident of the early morning.
The chief seemed amused at the thought of a wrestling match between an Englishman and a negro, and laughed heartily at the negro running away on hearing John's cry, "Yoi-aloo!" which he made the Hausa repeat again and again. But his amusement soon gave place to alarm, his smiles to a look of thoughtfulness. He had asked Royce to describe the negro. He seemed little impressed by details of the man's height and size, but when Royce mentioned that he had noticed two straight cuts down the middle of each cheek he uttered a sudden, sharp exclamation.
"Goruba!"
"What does he mean by Goruba?" asked Royce of John, after a brief silence.
The chief seemed to deliberate whether he should speak or not. At last he said:
"I will tell the white man—my friend. Years ago I was chief of only a small village, and lord of little wealth. And I sought to increase my wealth by prudent trading, to which end I hunted the elephant, and sold his tusks to merchants from the East. And one time, having got together some few tusks in readiness for the barter, I was beset in my village by a horde of strange warriors, armed with guns, a terror to all my people. And these evil-doers came to me and made me captive, and demanded that I should deliver up to them those few tusks which were the spoil of my hunting. And, when I refused, they treated me shamefully and cruelly, so that I bear the marks on my body to this day. And there was no help for me, no hope of deliverance; and then, for the safety of my life, I was fain to yield, and saw myself robbed of the treasure that had fallen to my spear.