Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo Read online

  CHAPTER XVI

  The House by the Water

  With characteristic energy, Jack next day set about the work inearnest. He posted sentinels several miles down the river and on theonly forest paths by which a force was likely to approach, to give himtimely notice if the enemy appeared. Then, with as many men as hecould muster, and a great number of women, he hastened to thewaterfall, and began the work of clearing the ground. He had decidedto start from the site of the proposed settlement and work outwards, sothat the crops would be as much as possible under the protection of thecamp: it would never do to raise a harvest for the enemy to reap.

  He placed Mboyo, Samba's father, in command of all his own people whohad turned up, and of such people from other tribes as now camedropping in daily, the news of the white men who helped the negroes andfeared not Bula Matadi having by this time spread abroad in the land.Every new contingent of fugitives brought a fresh tale of outrage,causing Jack to persevere under the discouragements with which he met,and to vow that he would do all in his power to protect the poor peoplewho looked to him for succour. What the ultimate result of his actionwould be he did not stay to consider. It was enough for him that awork of urgent need lay ready to his hand.

  He did not blink the fact that he and his followers were now in realityin revolt against the constituted authorities of the Free State.Elbel, it was true, was only a servant of a concessionnaire company,vested with certain trading and taxing privileges; but government asunderstood in the Free State was conducted by the delegation of powersfrom the central authority to private or corporate trading concerns.How far the powers of such a man as Elbel really extended in point oflaw Jack did not know. But he had been driven into his presentposition by a series of events in the face of which he could not findthat any other course of action than the one he had adopted was open tohim. And while he recognized fully the essential weakness of hisposition, however well fortified he might regard himself on grounds ofhumanity, he faced boldly what seemed the likeliest immediateconsequence of his actions--the return of Elbel in force.

  Meanwhile he was beginning to be a little concerned at not hearing fromMr. Martindale. It was many weeks since his last note had arrived.Jack was not yet seriously anxious about his uncle's non-appearance inperson, for he could easily conceive that delays might occur in theprosecution of his business in strange places and among strange people,and when he reflected he came to the conclusion that Mr. Martindalemight naturally hesitate to send many messengers. They were veryexpensive, having to come so many hundreds of miles, and moreover therewas always a chance that a letter might miscarry. The Congo was nottoo safe a highway; the Free State methods had not been such as toinstil a respect for "law" among the victims of its rule. Jack knewfull well that if a messenger from his uncle fell into Elbel's hands,he would not be allowed to proceed. It was possible that Mr.Martindale's purchase of rifles, and their destination, had beendiscovered; and the idea that he might be involved in some trouble withthe courts made Jack feel uneasy at times.

  But he was so extremely busy that he had little leisure for speculationof any kind. The work of clearing the ground proceeded with wonderfulrapidity.

  "They talk about the negro being lazy," he remarked one day to Barney;"he doesn't look like it now."

  "Ah, sorr, they say the same about my counthrymen. Perhaps the truthis the same in Ireland as 'tis here. For why are the niggers here notlazy, sorr? Just because you'd explained to them what the work's for,and they know they'll get the good uv it. There may be scuts uvspalpeens that won't work at any time for anything or anybody at all.'Tis they I'd use that chicotte on, sorr; but I don't see any here, tobe sure."

  When enough ground had been cleared and sowed to furnish a considerablecrop, Jack turned the whole of his available force on to the work ofbuilding the entrenched camp. Imbona had welcomed with gratitude andenthusiasm the suggestion that the new settlement should be made largeenough to contain the whole population of his villages in case of need;and his men having discontinued their unprofitable search for rubberwhen the forest guards disappeared, he could employ them almost all inthe work. For Jack did not recognize the prescriptive right of the mento leave all the field work, when the clearing had been done, to thewomen, as is the invariable negro custom. Whether in the fields or onthe new defences, he insisted on all taking a share.

  The greatest difficulty he encountered in the construction of his newcamp was the want of materials. The country in the immediate vicinityof the waterfall was only sparsely wooded, and too much time and labourwould be consumed in hauling logs from the forest below. But he founda large copse bordering the stream, higher up, and here he felled thetrees, floating the logs down to the side of his settlement, notwithout difficulty, owing to the narrow tortuous bed. These, however,proved quite insufficient for the construction of a thick andimpenetrable stockade round the whole circuit of the chosen site. Jacktherefore determined to use the boulders that lay in the course of thestream, thus unawares making his camp a cross between an Afghan stonesangar and a log fort, such as were built by the pioneers andfur-traders of the American west. The labour of transporting the heavyboulders to the site of the settlement was very great; but the heart ofthe labourers being, as Barney had said, in their work, they toiledungrudgingly, and, with the ingenuity that the negro often unexpectedlydisplays, they proved very fertile in simple labour-saving devices.

  The fort was built on the left bank of the stream just above thecataract, so that the steep cliffs formed an effective defence to itssouthern side. Before falling over the precipice, the stream ranthrough a gully some twelve feet deep. The western side of the fortrested on the gully, and was thus with difficulty accessible in thisquarter. Only on the north and east was it necessary to provide strongdefensive works. These faces were each about a hundred yards long. Atthe western extremity of the northern face, where it rested on thestream, Jack placed a solid blockhouse of logs. He constructed asimilar blockhouse at the eastern extremity of this face, and a thirdat the south-east corner where the stone wall abutted on the precipice.All three blockhouses were constructed as bastions, so as to enfiladethe northern and eastern faces.

  When the outer defences were thus completed, the negroes were set towork to build the necessary habitations within. Hundreds of tallstems, thousands of climbers, vines, and creepers, piles of palm andphrynia leaves, were collected, and in an amazingly short time thespace so lately bare was covered with neat huts built in native fashionfor the negroes, with three more substantial dwellings, somewhat apartfrom the rest, for Mr. Martindale, Jack, and Barney. A wide open spacewas left in the middle. At one point a great heap of boulders wascollected for repairing the wall if necessary; and Jack placed hisammunition securely in an underground magazine.

  In two months from the departure of Elbel Jack was able to transfer hisstores to the new settlement. The crops in the cultivated area werealready far advanced. Jack was amazed to see how quickly in thisteeming soil the bare brown face of the earth became covered with thetender shoots of green, and how rapid was the progress to fullmaturity. Clearly the new village, to which the natives had given thename Ilombekabasi, "the house by the water," would be in no straits forits food supply.

  It was Barney who suggested a doubt about the water. Jack found him asa rule a good commentator, but a poor originator; he could veryprettily embroider an idea, but very rarely had an idea of his own.But on this occasion he had a flash of insight.

  "By the powers, sorr," he said one morning, as Jack and he were walkingalong the stream, "I do remimber just this very minute two lines uvpoethry, out uv a poethry book I was made to learn whin I was a bhoyan' they talked uv sendin' me in for 'zamination by the IntermaydiateBoard. It never come to anything, to be sure, because by the time Iwas old enough to sit for the 'zamination I was too old, sorr."

  "Well, what are the lines?"

  '"Water, water iverywhere, An' not a dhrop to dhrink.'"

  'Twas about som
e poor sailor man that shot a bird at sea, an 'twas aholy bird, an' whin 'twas dead the wind did not blow, an' the sailorsdropped down dead, an' ghosts came aboard, an' the sky was like a hotcopper, an' this poor divil uv a fellow was alone, all, all alone, asthe book said, wid the dead bird slung round his neck, an' his lipsparched, an' water all about, but as salt as a herring, so that hecouldn't drink it; bedad, sorr, I remimber how mighty bad I felt meselfwhin my ould tacher--rest his sowl!--read out those lines in a sort uvwhisper, an' me lips went as dhry as an old boot, sorr."

  The idea, you perceive, was by this time pretty well smothered underits embroidery.

  "You mean that the enemy might try to divert the stream if theyattacked our camp?"

  "'Tis the very marrow uv it, sorr, an' mighty aisy it would be. Surethere are plenty uv boulders left, an' they could make a dam that wouldturn this stream at the narrow part above, an' niver a blessed dhrop uvdhrink should we get."

  "You're right, Barney. We must be prepared for anything. Let us goand look round."

  Strolling up stream, they came, within a short distance of the spotwhere inspiration had flashed upon Barney, to a small spring bubblingup near the river bank.

  "Here's water, Barney," said Jack. "It rather suggests that we'd findwater inside the camp if we sank a well."

  "True, sorr; but I'm thinking that would need a terrible deal uvdiggin'."

  "Still it may have to be done. We can't use this spring; it's ahundred yards at least away from the stockade--too far to come, underfire from Albini rifles."

  "And we couldn't make it run into the camp, sorr, more's the pity."

  "Stop a bit. I don't know that we couldn't. We might make a conduit."

  "What might that be, sorr?"

  "A pipe. It would have to be underground."

  "And if we got a pipe, an' could lay it, the marks uv the diggin' wouldbethray us. Don't the streets uv London prove it whin the CountyCouncil has been taking up the drains?"

  "Unless we could cover them in some way. That might be managed. Agreater difficulty is the natives. They've worked very well, but wedon't know yet how far they can be trusted; and if they knew of thiswater-pipe we propose, they might blab the secret and undo all ourwork."

  "And where's the pipe, sorr? There are no gas pipes or drain pipes inthis haythen counthry."

  "No, but there are plenty of bamboos. We could make an excellent pipeof them. The digging is the difficulty. We can't get the natives todo it without giving our plan away, and we can't do it ourselves forthe same reason. I shall have to think this out, Barney."

  "Sleep on it, sorr. Begorra, I remimber two more lines from that samepoetry book--

  'Sleep, sleep, it is a blessed thing Beloved from pole to pole';

  an' no wonder at all, for many a time I've gone to me bed botheredabout wan thing or another, and bedad, the morn's morn 'twas all asclear as the blessed daylight, sorr."

  "Well, I'll sleep on it, Barney, and let you know to-morrow what theresult is."

  It was close thought, however, before he fell asleep that gave Jack thesolution of the problem. All the natives now knew that the object ofthe white man's presence here was to search for gold; they knew alsothat to obtain the gold the soil had to be excavated. Why not turntheir knowledge to good account? Instead of laying his conduit in adirect line from the spring to the nearest point of the stockade, hewould lay it along, or rather in, the side of the gully; it would thusbe more likely to escape observation, and the disturbed ground could beplanted with quick-growing creepers or covered up with boulders. As ablind to the natives, he would have a number of excavations made at theedge of the gully, both above and below the waterfall, and one of thesecould be used for the bamboo pipe without anybody being the wiser savethe few who must necessarily be in the secret.

  Next morning, accordingly, Jack, under pretence of continuing thesearch for gold, set the men to make a series of shallow excavations.Most of these were cut below the cataract, and, using the prospector'span, Jack obtained what he hoped his uncle would consider good resultsfrom the soil. He carefully noted the places along the exposed bed ofthe stream in which the best returns were found. But the excavationswere abandoned one by one, and attention was not unduly directed to anyof them.

  One of the excavations above the waterfall was the channel for theconduit. Jack carried it from within a few yards of the spring to aspot near the north-west blockhouse, overlooking the gully. At onetime it seemed that his plan would be wrecked, literally upon a rock,for a huge mass of stone of almost granite hardness was met with alittle less than half-way from the spring. But Jack was relieved tofind soft earth beneath it, and the obstacle was turned by sinking theconduit at this place some feet below the usual level.

  At a short distance from the blockhouse, within the stockade, Jack setthe men to excavate a large tank, with a surface outlet over thecataract; and from the bottom of the tank he drove a tunnel, just largeenough to accommodate a bamboo pipe, to the nearest point of the gully.

  The tank was an object of great curiosity to the natives, both thosewho had dug it and those who looked on. The children amused themselvesby jumping in and out until the bottom became so deep as to make thatsport dangerous; their elders congregated at the edge, chattering amongthemselves, some suggesting that it was intended as a storehouse forgrain, others, as a grave in which to bury Elobela and his men whenthey were killed in the fight that all expected.

  Meanwhile Jack had taken two of the natives into his confidence. Theywere Mboyo and Samba. The former was silent by nature and habit.Samba would have torn out his tongue rather than divulge any secret ofhis master's. Jack entrusted to them the construction of the conduit.He knew enough of their language by this time to be able to explainwhat he wanted without Lepoko's assistance, and they quickly seized hisidea. Working by themselves in a bamboo plantation at Ilola, theyselected stalks of slightly different thickness which would fit intoone another; and Jack found that by carefully packing the joints withearth from the peaty swamp, he could make a pipe of the required lengthpractically free from leakage.

  It remained to lay the conduit in position. This task he reserved forhimself and Barney, with the assistance of Mboyo and Samba. To avoidobservation by the people, it was necessary to do the work at night.Accordingly one day Jack gave orders that no one was to leave the campwithout permission after the evening meal was eaten. Immediately aftersunset the four quickly issued from the gate in the northern wall ofthe fort, one at a time so as not to attract attention. Mboyo andSamba brought the sections of the pipe from the place where they hadconcealed them, and under Jack's direction they laid them along thegully, covering up each length of bamboo as it was placed. The trenchhaving been already prepared, the actual labour involved was not great,the only difficulty being to remove as far as possible the traces oftheir operations. But it took time, and was impeded by the darkness,so that on the first night, after several hours of work, only the pipehad been laid, no connexion having yet been made with the tank or thespring.

  The work was continued under similar conditions on the following night.A connexion having been made with the tank, it only remained to tap thespring. A hole, some three feet deep, was dug where the water bubbledup, and formed into a fairly water-tight chamber by lining it withstone chipped from the boulders. Into this one end of the conduit wascarried. Then the hole was filled in, and covered with two heavypieces of rock, placed in as natural and unstudied a position aspossible. While this was being done by Mboyo and Samba, Jack andBarney dibbled the roots of sweet potato creepers into the soil alongthe whole length of the conduit, knowing that they would grow sorapidly that in a few weeks every trace of their work would be hiddenby the foliage; moreover the plant would serve a double purpose.

  The spring was a small one; nevertheless, by the time the night's taskwas completed, and the party returned to the camp, there were alreadytwo or three inches of water in the tank, and it was steadily rising.Barney was even more
delighted than Jack.

  "'Tis wonderful what a power uv good poethry can do in the world,sorr," he said. "An' sure the commissionaires uv education in the ouldcounthry would be proud men the day did they know that Barney O'Dowd,though he didn't pass his 'zamination, has made a mighty fine use uvthe little poethry book."

  Great was the surprise of the natives when they awoke next morning tosee the mysterious tank full of water, and a tiny overflow tricklingfrom it over the cataract. They discussed it for the whole of the day,inventing every explanation but the right one. The original spring hadbeen so near the river and so inconspicuous that its disappearance wasnot noticed.

  Jack felt a glow of satisfaction as he looked round on his work. Herewas an orderly settlement, on an excellent natural site, defended by astockade and wall impregnable save to artillery, with fresh clean huts,well-cultivated fields, and an inexhaustible water supply. It hadinvolved much thought and care and toil; how amply they had beenrewarded!

  His men were now all transferred from their old settlement to the newone. Imbono's people still remained in their villages, not withoutreluctance. They knew that the gate of Ilombekabasi would always beopen to them if danger threatened; but they felt the attractions of theplace, and wished to migrate at once. And they were particularlyjealous of the refugees. These people were strangers; why should theyhave better habitations and stronger defences than they themselves?Why were they permitted to remain in Imbono's country at all? Jack hadmuch ado to keep the peace between the two parties. Quarrels werefrequent, and that they did not develop into open strife was a tributeto Jack's diplomacy, and to the strange influence which Samba hadacquired. The winning qualities which had captivated Mr. Martindaleseemed to have a magical effect upon the people. The boy had alwaysbeen a special pet among his own folks; his merry nature won theaffection of Imbono's subjects also. Jack kept an observant eye uponhim, and more than once saw him quietly approach a group wherebickering and recrimination were going on, and by some grace ofaddress, or some droll antic played with his inseparable companion Pat,turn frowns to smiles, and suspicion to good fellowship.

  Among the inhabitants of Ilombekabasi was the Belgian sergeant rescuedfrom the villagers in Ilola. He gave his parole not to attempt toescape, and indeed endured captivity patiently, for he knew not how faraway his friends might be, and to wander alone in this forest countrymeant death. Jack sometimes talked with him, taking the opportunity ofairing his French, and finding some little interest in sounding theman's views. At first the Belgian would not admit that the natives hadany rights, or that there was anything particularly obnoxious in thesystem of administration. But he changed his mind one day when Jackput to him a personal question.

  "How would you, a Belgian, like it if some strange sovereign--theGerman emperor, say--came down upon you and compelled you to go intoyour woods and collect beech-nuts for him, paying you at the rate of asou a day, or not at all, and thrashing or maiming or killing you ifyou did not collect enough?"

  The question was unanswerable, and from that time the Belgian became ameditative man.

  The refugees were gradually increasing in number. By the time the campwas finished Mboyo's command had grown to sixty men, with nearly asmany women and twice as many children. All brought stories of thebarbarous deeds of the rubber collectors; many bore in maimed limbs orscarred backs the personal evidences of the oppressors' cruelty. Jackwas moved almost to tears one day. A fine-looking negro came into thecamp carrying something wrapped in palm leaves, and asked to be takento Lokolobolo. When brought before Jack he removed the wrappings, and,unutterable woe depicted on his face, displayed a tiny black hand andfoot. His village had been raided, he said, and with his wife andchildren and a few others he had fled to the forest, where they livedon roots and leaves and nuts. The forest guards tracked them out. Oneday, when he was absent fishing, a brutal sentry came upon his wife asshe was collecting leaves for the evening meal. He learnt from one ofhis friends what happened. Before the woman could escape the sentryshot her, and as she was only wounded, his "boys" chopped her withtheir knives till she died. Others of his hangers-on took thechildren; and when the father returned to the place where he had leftthem, he found the dead body of his wife, and one hand and foot, allthat remained of his little ones from the cannibal feast.

  It was incidents like these that stiffened Jack's back. He had crossedhis Rubicon: the gate of Ilombekabasi stood open to all who chose tocome. And they came steadily. For a time many of them were too weakto be useful members of the little society. But as with good food andfreedom from care their strength increased, they began to beself-supporting, Mboyo employed them in attending to the crops andbringing new ground under cultivation. Several were artificers, andwere useful in doing smith's or carpenter's work.

  In addition to keeping the villagers employed, Jack set apart a portionof every day for military exercises. Every able-bodied man was armed;those for whom there were no rifles carried the native spears. WhenBoloko fled from Ilola he left a number of Albini rifles and a stock ofammunition behind. These Jack appropriated, so that his corps ofriflemen now numbered sixty. He used his cartridges very sparingly,for his stock was not large, and he saw no possibility of replenishingit.

  Now and again he arranged for a sham fight. One party of men was toldoff to storm the stockade, an equal party to defend it. No firearmswere used on these occasions; the weapons employed were wooden poleswith wadded ends. Such fights afforded excellent practice against areal attack, and not a little amusement and enjoyment to the natives,who entered into the spirit of them enthusiastically, and took the hardknocks and bruises with as much cheerfulness as schoolboys on afootball field. These little operations were useful to Jack also. Bytheir means he discovered the weak spots in his defences, and was ableto strengthen them accordingly.

  But he was now becoming seriously alarmed at Mr. Martindale's continuedabsence. Eight weeks had passed since his last letter came to hand,nearly five months since his departure. What could have happened?Jack could not think that his uncle had willingly left him so long tobear his heavy responsibility, and now that he had more leisure hecould not prevent himself from imagining all kinds of mishaps anddisasters. At last, when he was on the point of sending a specialmessenger down the river to make inquiries, a negro arrived at thesettlement with a letter. He had come within a hundred and fifty milesof Ilombekabasi as a paddler on a white man's canoe; the remainder ofthe distance he had covered on foot. Jack opened the letter eagerly.It read:--

  MY DEAR JACK,--

  Sorry to leave you so long. Have been on my back with an attack ofmalaria; three weeks unconscious, they told me. No need to be anxious:I'm on the mend; soon be as fit as a riddle. Pretty weak, of course;malaria isn't exactly slathers of fun. It will be a fortnight or threeweeks before I can start; then must travel slowly. Expect me somewhatover a month after you get this. I've been in a stew about you. Hopeyou've had no trouble. Can you stomach native food? Didn't forgetyour birthday. Got a present for you--quite a daisy.

  Your affectionate uncle, JOHN MARTINDALE.

  P.S.--Got some hydraulic plant at Boma: a bargain.