“With some hesitation I crept upon the transverse limb”
Time seemed so long I thought the night would never come to an end. At last I heard the cackling of the guinea fowl, the forerunner of morning, and dawn came at last! I came down the same way I had ascended. After reaching the ground I stretched my legs, for they were very stiff, then ate some koola nuts. I did not like them any more; I had “gouamba,” or hunger for meat. I shouted with all my might, “Oshoria, Ngola, Ogoola, Quabi.” No answer. Then I fired “Bulldog,” and lo! in less than two minutes I heard what I thought to be the detonation of a gun, far, far off. It was certainly not the echo of “Bulldog.” A thrill of joy ran through me. It was an answer from one of my hunters. But I did not dare to trust my ears. Perhaps I was mistaken. To make sure, I loaded two cartridges with twice the usual amount of powder, and then fired. The charge was so heavy that it almost threw me over. Soon after I heard two guns. There was no mistake this time. These were answers to mine.
I followed the path in the direction where I thought the sound came from. After a while I fired another shot; then I heard another in answer. This time it was much nearer. Forward I went, and after a little while I fired again. The firing of another gun responded to mine, and this time the detonation was quite near. I shouted, “Oshoria, Ogoola, Ngola, Quabi,” and heard the shouts of “Oguizi, Oguizi,” in answer. A short time after I saw in the path Oshoria, Ogoola, Quabi, and Ngola. They were all there. In the twinkling of an eye we were in each other’s embrace, after which the men shouted: “We are men! we are men!” Then Oshoria seated himself on the ground, took his idol from his bag, muttered words I could not understand, and said, “Oguizi, the idol told me this morning that we should meet you to-day.”
Soon after a big blazing fire was burning, and a great quantity of wood was piled upon it, and when it was reduced to charcoal, three men put some large pieces of boar upon the embers. They had killed the animal while searching for me. The smell of the roasted boar was delicious to me, for I had “gouamba” badly.
Oshoria was the salt carrier. Salt was very precious to us, and it made the boar’s meat taste so good. After our meal I recounted to them how I had lost Oshoria, and what had happened to me.
Then came the turn of Oshoria, who said: “The elephants are the cause of the Oguizi and me becoming separated. I followed that day the track which I thought the Oguizi had taken, but it was the wrong one. The second day I saw in one place the marks of the Oguizi’s shoes, but when the ground became hard I lost them. The second day in the morning I came to the place where we had agreed to meet. There I found Ngola, Ogoola, and Quabi waiting for us. They asked me: ‘Where is the Oguizi?’ I replied: ‘He is gone, he has disappeared.’ We followed the path, and saw the marks you had left to guide us. How glad we were this morning when we heard ‘Bulldog’ talk. Then our guns talked to ‘Bulldog.’ Our hearts were filled with joy, for we thought we should never see the Oguizi any more.”
Then they all cried: “Here we are once more with the good Oguizi!”
Oshoria said: “Oguizi, we thought you had changed shape, and left us. Then we said: ‘The good Oguizi would not leave us without saying good-by, for he told us that he loved us.’”
“You are right, my hunters,” I replied, “the Oguizi would not go away without saying good-by to you, for you are his friends, and he loves you.”
At my words they came forward closer to me and all looked in my face, with great wonder. I wished I could know what their thoughts were.