No sooner was the bargain concluded than I was untied from the post and turned over to my new master. He put me in his canoe and took me to his village, which was about four miles below the place where my late owners had camped, and there he gave me in charge of his mother, an old and wrinkled woman of at least seventy, who ruled over his numerous wives and slaves with an iron hand.
I soon found that this old dame had not much superstitious reverence for me as a white man. I had to go and work on her plantations and collect firewood like any ordinary slave—the only difference between me and others being that I was more jealously guarded, though, as being more valuable, having slightly better food and shelter.
My old masters left for their own country soon after I had passed from their hands. Before long I found there seemed to be little chance of my getting away from the Bateke and making my way to the sea-coast. Nevertheless, after some time the guard over me became less severe. The old hag who had charge of me becoming more blind and feeble, and not being able to keep so strict a watch over her son’s belongings as she had hitherto done, I found opportunities of conversing with some of my fellow-slaves, and struck up a kind of friendship with one called Duma, a fellow a year or two older than myself.
Duma told me he belonged to a tribe that lived some distance down the river, below some vast and fearful cataracts; and if it were not that he was afraid of passing these he would long ago have stolen a canoe and made his way by the river to his own people and his own home.
I asked why he had not tried to make his way past the cataracts on foot. He replied the way was very long and difficult. So many and great were the dangers to be encountered from wild beasts and wilder men that he had been loath to make the attempt by himself. Among all our fellow-slaves there was not one whom he could trust to go with him. Indeed, he was afraid even to speak to them about escaping, for fear of being betrayed to our master. But if I would share the hazard of the undertaking with him he would make an attempt to steal a canoe and to escape about the time of the next new moon, when the nights would be long and dark.
About a fortnight had to elapse before the proper time for our start would arrive. Duma and I employed it in secreting a store of provisions to serve us on our journey, and in getting together a few spears, a bow and arrows, a small fishing-net, and other little things, such as a stick for making fire, an earthen pot, and a small hatchet. All these things we hid in a hole in the bank of the river not far from where the canoes of the village were usually kept. To prevent suspicion from attaching to us for being much in the neighbourhood of the canoes, we employed ourselves in fishing, and were most careful to bring all our prey to our old mistress, who was exceedingly fond of fish for food, and who was thus kept in good humour.
About three days before that fixed upon for starting, Duma came to me in a state of great excitement. He told me that one of the women slaves, who was a countrywoman of his, had found out our intention of absconding, and insisted on joining us in our flight. If we did not consent, she threatened to inform the chief that we were going to run away.
I was nothing loath to have a third person to join us in our attempt. I own I had rather it had been a man. Still the spirit she showed was evidence she would not stick at anything, and of this she soon gave us further proof.
At Duma’s request I went with him to see his countrywoman, who proved to be a tall powerful lass of eighteen or nineteen years of age. She asserted she was as good a hand at paddling a canoe as any man, and that she could carry heavy loads and march far and fast. As soon as she saw me she asked me if I could use one of the white man’s iron sticks out of which fire came.
I, of course, knew she meant a gun, and said that I could certainly use it. She then told me that the chief had one in his hut, and she would try to steal it for me. I told her the gun would be of no use without the black powder which it ate and the firestones belonging to it, and that if she got the gun she would have to find ammunition also. This she said would not be quite so easy a matter; but if I would give her the shell and beads my old friend Teta had hung round my neck on parting from me, she would try to bribe one of the chief’s wives under whose charge the pouches and belts of the gun were, and bring them to us at the canoe.