"We shall go on with you this afternoon."
They were ready and waiting when the train came in sight. Lolo was out of the wagon and sprang to his mother, just like any other boy would do, and he told her in two minutes what had happened in fifteen days. An American boy could not have done better than that.
Was Stut's family going, too? Certainly! The boys laughed merrily. One wagon was given over to the families, containing seven women and fourteen children. But the wagons were lightened of their heavy loads of provisions and easily accommodated to emigrants.
This was a happy party. The natives never knew of such an outing. It was quite a cavalcade. Just imagine four hundred warriors, the two wagons, the women and the children, the men chanting a peculiar song as they marched, occasionally interspersed with laughter, and a constant flow of talk about the new and wonderful place they were going to, of the great white chiefs, and above all the real and unaffected pleasure that grew out of the knowledge that there would be no more war.
On the second day after leaving the Saboro village, Unity came in sight. George crawled to the top of the wagon, and, raising his hat and waving it, began to cheer. Every warrior did likewise when he saw the signal. It was a bedlam for a few moments. The Illyas chief saw it and smiled.
Unity heard the cheers. There was no more work that day. The men in the fields came in. Those in the workshops deserted their posts, and[p. 223] lined up along the newly made sidewalks that had been carefully arranged several days before.
The women were out in force, and the children in evidence everywhere. The two wagons were in advance, Harry being in the lead. Not a man left the town to rush out and greet them. The Professor suggested that a more fitting welcome could be given by forming lines to receive the warriors as they filed by.
The wagon was now within five hundred feet of the end of the receiving line of the villagers. Angel, the orang-outan, was in the line also. The sight of the wagons was too much for him. He scampered along the street in that peculiar shuffling gait that all the villagers knew, and started for the wagon.
He was the only one in the town who disobeyed the orders of the Professor. He knew that George was in the wagon. He passed the first one, driven by Harry, but he was up in the top of the second in an instant, and he made his way to George's side, and looked up in his face. George put his arm around him, as he was accustomed to do, and this was sufficient for him.