Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo Page 23
CHAPTER XX
David and Goliath
Next morning Jack's men found resting against the stone wall of thefort several barrels of resin which had not burned. The bumping theyhad received in rolling down the slope had shaken out the fuses. Thiswas a lucky discovery. The inflammable contents of the barrels wouldcome in useful--for making fireballs, if for no other purpose. Jackhad them carried into the fort and stored in the magazine.
Very soon after daybreak Jack saw what seemed to be the greater portionof Elbel's force moving up the hill. He counted at least five hundredmen, and noticed that only about a hundred of these were riflemen, theremainder carrying spears, or tools of some kind.
"You see what they are at, Barney?" he said.
"Shifting their camp, by what it appears, sorr."
"No, I don't think that's it. Elbel has failed with fire; he's nowgoing to try water. He's going to cut off our water supply."
"Sure he's entitled to, as we don't pay rates, which is rubber. But wecan do widout his water supply, sorr, having a private distillery uvour own."
"I'm pretty sure I'm right, for you see the men are going a great dealfarther up the hill than they need if they're merely looking foranother base of attack."
"Bedad, why shouldn't we have a little rifle practice at 'em, sorr?'Tis long range firing, indeed, but mighty good practice."
"No. Our ammunition is too precious to be wasted; and even if we hit afew of them, that wouldn't stop Elbel's scheme, whatever it is. We'llkeep our eye on the river and see if there's any shrinkage."
It was not until late in the afternoon that he got positive proof thatElbel was in fact diverting the stream. He had fancied for some timethat the height of the water was less, but only about four o'clock didthe fall become decided. After that, however, the stream dwindled veryrapidly, until, towards nightfall, there was only a thin trickle ofwater in the river bed below the fort, where in the morning the streamhad been twenty feet broad and nearly six feet deep. At the same timea remarkable change in the appearance of the country east of the forthad attracted the attention of the natives, who swarmed upon theplatform on that side and gazed in amazement. Lokolobolo had broughtwater into their camp; but who had made water run in a swift riverwhere no river had ever been before?
Nearly a mile away to the east, a broad shallow stream was rushing downthe slope that extended from the precipice on which the fort stood tothe foothills two miles beneath. The river, dammed no doubt byboulders far up the hill, had now been forced into the course which,but for a rocky barrier, it would long since have discovered for itself.
"A very pretty scheme, bedad!" said Barney. "And I just wish we couldset a fountain going, like those in Trafalgar Square, just to show Mr.Elbel that he may have his river all to himself if he pleases."
"That wouldn't do at all, Barney. We don't want to flaunt our goodfortune. In fact, our best course is to keep Elbel in the dark.Indeed I think we had better stop that overflow from our tank. Nowthat the cataract has dried up, the overflow would easily be seen."
"But what'll we do wid the overflow, sorr? Sure, we don't want a floodin the camp!"
"Certainly not. We'll break it up into a number of tiny trickles, andlet them find their way through the wall at different points. They'llbe sucked up or disappear before they reach the ground below."
"Bedad, now, I would niver have thought of that! Mr. Elbel will thinkwe get our water from heaven, sorr, if he's iver heard uv it."
The work of damming the river having been accomplished, the main bodyof the enemy marched down just before dark and regained their camp. Asthey passed within earshot of the fort, Elbel's negroes could notrefrain from flinging taunts at the men of their colour within thewalls, telling them that they could no longer cook their food, muchless wash their babies. This made the men very angry; they prepared toblaze away with their rifles at the gibing enemy, and Jack's command todrop their weapons might, perhaps, for once have been disregarded hadnot Samba suddenly struck up the song which one of the men hadcomposed, chronicling Lokolobolo's great deeds with water and fire:
Lokolobolo In Ilombekabasi Dug a great hole, Filled it with waters Great is his magic! How can we praise him-- Lokolobolo? Lo! Elobela Came with the fire tubs To Ilombekabasi. But the Inglesa Lokolobolo Filled a pot with the fire-stuff. What a noise! What a smoke! Fire tubs are broken. Ha! Elobela! Where is your fire now? What is the good of you? Inglesa's magic No one can master. Is it fire? Is it water? Lokolobolo In Ilombekabasi Quenches the fire, Keeps water for black men. Ha! Elobela, Go home to your cook-pot. No good in this land, In Ilombekabasi.
The song was taken up one by one by the people, and in the delight ofsinging Lokolobolo's praise and Elobela's shame, the jeers of thenegroes outside were forgotten.
That night Elbel posted no regular pickets round the fort. He hadclearly given up the idea of a strict blockade, which was indeedimpossible with the force at his command; but except for the desire tomask his own movements, he lost nothing by the withdrawal of hispickets, for even if the garrison took advantage of it to issue fromthe fort, they could make little use of their freedom in a country bareof supplies. Jack did not doubt that Elbel had many scouts abroad, andwould be on the watch for an attempt to obtain water. He would imaginethat none was procurable save from a distance of at least half a milefrom the fort, and was doubtless already congratulating himself on thesuccess of his strategy.
Several days passed, and life went on in the camp as peacefully asthough no enemy was near. The women performed their daily tasks ofcleaning and cooking; the men drilled and exercised; the childrenamused themselves as children always can. Jack took it into his headto teach them some of the round games popular with English children,knowing that the elders were sure to copy them; and every littlenovelty tended to amuse them and keep them cheerful. Indeed, he foundthe men so like children in their capacity for finding easy amusement,that one day he started a game of leap-frog for them, and soon thewhole camp was hilarious, the men springing over one another's backsall round the enclosure with great shouts of laughter.
As Jack expected, Elbel kept a sharp watch by means of scouts all roundthe fort, to ensure that no water reached the besieged. Jack smiled ashe pictured the Belgian's amazement, when day after day went by withoutany sign of distress. Now that the regular night pickets were removed,some of Jack's men found it easy to get out for little scoutingexpeditions; and except for an occasional brush between men of the twoforces employed in this duty, there was nothing to show that fourhundred men on the one side, and seven hundred on the other, wereengaged in deadly warfare. In these duels the men of Ilombekabasiinvariably came off best. They were at home equally in the forest andthe plain; the enemy were for the most drawn from the Lower Congo--aninferior type of negro and less used to fighting in wooded districts.And a long immunity had rendered them careless. They were accustomedto see whole villages panic-stricken at the sight of an Albini rifle.They had had no need to cultivate the art of scouting, except intracking runaways; nor even the higher kind of marksmanship; for it wastheir practice to tie their victim to a tree before shooting: in thisway the State or the Concessionary Company was saved ammunition.Indeed, one cartridge was frequently sufficient to account for two ormore men, women, or children, if they were tied up with due regard forthe convenience of the marksman. It was a new and very disconcertingexperience to meet men of their own colour who were not afraid of them,and they did not easily adapt themselves to the new condition of things.
For this work of scouting Jack had found no man yet to match Samba.The boy seemed to be endowed with a sixth sense, for he went safely inthe most dangerous places, returned more quickly than the rest, andbrought more information. And though he soon made himself expert withthe rifle presented him by Jack after the buffalo hunt, he never tookit with him on these scouting trips, preferring to go unencumbered. Herelied on his knife.
One morning, when Jack was awakened
as usual by Barney, he noticed avery comical look on the Irishman's face.
"Anything happened?" he said.
"Bedad, sorr, I didn't mean to tell ye till ye were dressed. What d'yethink that little varmint has done now?"
"Samba? No mischief, I hope."
"Mischief, begorra! Just after daybreak, whin you were sound asleep,sorr, and I was going the rounds as usual, Mboyo calls to me from thewall, and whin I comes up to 'm, there he is hauling like the divil onthe rope. 'Samba must be getting fat like me,' says I to meself,lending a hand, 'for sure the boy will not need such a mighty bighaul.' Mboyo jabbered away, but I couldn't understand him. And then,sorr, up comes a villainous ugly head, followed by a body ten times thesize of Samba's, and a big nigger comes over, almost choked with a newkind uv necklace he was wearing, and shaking with the most terriblefright mortal man was iver in. Mboyo lets down the rope again, and upcomes Samba, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"'Me hab catch,' says he. 'Catch what?' says I. 'Begorra!' says he,'bont'one!'[1] Which was Dutch to me, sorr, only he pointed to thenigger. 'Catch him?' says I. He nodded his head till I thought'twould break off. 'Ku?'[2] says I. 'Nyango!'[3] says he; and thin Ilaughed, sorr, 'cos the idea uv a boy taking prisoner a man ten timeshis size----"
"Draw it mild, Barney."
"True, sorr, he doesn't look quite so big as he did. I wished to wakeye at once, but Samba said no, he'd keep the prisoner safe till yourusual time, and here he is, sorr, and the prisoner too."
Jack had been putting on his clothes while Barney spoke. Leaving thehut he saw Samba holding one end of the tendril of a creeper, the otherend being looped about the neck of a tall strong negro. Jack listenedpatiently, and with the aid of many questions, was able to piece outhis story.
Creeping in the darkness up the dry river bed some distance from thefort, Samba had seen for a moment the form of a man dimly silhouettedagainst the starlit sky. Then the man disappeared; but it was child'splay to find him again, for he made his way into the channel and movedslowly down towards the fort. He had a rifle, and was head andshoulders taller than Samba; but neither his strength nor his weaponwas to avail him against the ingenuity and cat-like agility of hisyoung enemy.
It would have been easy for Samba to stalk him and make an end of himwith the knife; but a brilliant idea occurred to the boy: how muchbetter to capture him and take a living prisoner to the fort! For twohours Samba kept in touch with him, never more than a few yards away,yet never by the slightest sound betraying his presence. At last theman found a position above the fort which satisfied him, for heestablished himself there, apparently intending to wait for the dawn.
Samba felt sure that when he moved to regain his own camp he wouldretrace his steps up stream. To go down would bring him within view ofthe fort. His course would be to ascend the channel and fetch a widecircuit back to his own people.
Samba acted quickly on this assumption. As silently as a shadow heglided past the man until, some distance up the channel, groping on thebank, he came across a tough creeper. From this he cut off three orfour yards of a pliant tendril, and with deft fingers made a slip-knotat one end. Then he went again down stream, and made his way to a rockoverhanging the left bank, whence he had many a time speared fish whilethe fort was being built. On this rock he lay at full length, ready tomove at the slightest sign of the negro stirring.
When dawn broke Samba saw that the man was staring intently at thefort. After a prolonged examination he turned, and, as Samba expected,moved up the gully, keeping under the left bank to avoid observationfrom the walls. Slowly and cautiously he picked his way upward, littlerecking of the lithe form stretched like a panther on the rock above.He was passing the rock, the rifle in his left hand, the right handassisting his wary steps over the rugged channel, when the lasso curledgently over his head; a short vigorous tug, and the man, dropping hisrifle and clutching at the strangling cord around his throat, waspulled backward on to the rocky side of the gully. Samba had markedwhere the rifle fell, and leapt nimbly down. Before the negro,wriggling to his feet, had succeeded in loosing the terrible noose,Samba was at his side, the Albini in his hand.
The suddenness of the onset and the shock of his fall had robbed theman of all power of action. When Samba said that he must eitheraccompany him to Ilombekabasi or be shot, he saw no third course andaccepted the first. Perhaps he was tired of his service with Elobela;perhaps he was curious to see the village of the wonderful Lokolobolo;certainly he was very much afraid of being shot. So he made noresistance, but went quickly down the gully, a step or two in advanceof Samba, who carried the rifle, as he did not fail to remind hiscaptive from time to time.
Through Lepoko Jack questioned the man. He showed no reluctance toanswer; no wish to conceal his employer's purposes. _Esprit de corps_,Jack surmised, was a sentiment not cultivated on the Congo. Theprisoner confessed that Elobela exulted in the belief that within a fewdays the fort would be compelled to surrender by lack of water. And hehad promised his men an orgy when the surrender should take place. Nota soul should be spared. There were man-eaters among his force, andthey were looking forward to a choice banquet; many young and tenderchildren frolicked in Ilombekabasi.
Jack felt himself turn pale as he heard this. The facts were cominghome to him. The thought that little Bakota, the chubby boy whomBarney employed to wash dishes, or little Ilangala, the girl whom thesame indefatigable factotum had taught to darn his socks, might fallinto the hands of these ruthless cannibals, to be torn limb from limb,and sacrificed to their brutal appetites, kindled emotion within himmuch more poignant than the mere report that such things had happenedin the collection of rubber on the Congo, somewhere, at some time.
He dismissed the man under guard, and went to his hut, wishing to bealone. An hour or two later Lepoko came to him; the prisoner had givenmore information.
"Him say, sah, big massa lib for come back up ribber. Him say Elobelano let massa come to Ilombekabasi; catch him, sah."
Here was a new source of uneasiness and anxiety. Jack had longed forhis uncle's return; now he almost wished that something had happened toprevent his departure. Already he had had such proofs of Elbel'svindictive and unscrupulous temper that he dreaded what might happenshould Mr. Martindale fall into his hands. But for the moment he sawno means of warning his uncle, and he tried to crush his fears andforebodings.
During the next few days several of Elbel's scouts were killed orwounded by Jack's men, who had so far been wonderfully successful inescaping injury. One man of the enemy who was brought in woundedconfirmed the first prisoner's statement that the Inglesa was said tobe on his way. The river was being watched at various points of itscourse, and Jack recognized the hopelessness of attempting to evadethese sentinels and give his uncle timely warning.
Ten days had passed since the stream had been diverted, and the lastcaptured scout said that Elobela was growing very impatient. He couldnot understand how the fort had been able to hold out so long. Everyday he expected to see a flag of truce hoisted, and to receive amessage asking for the terms of surrender. One evening another scoutwas captured, and from him Jack learnt that his secret had at last beenpartially discovered. Angry at being so long baulked, Elbel haddetermined to find out the source whence the defenders obtained thewater he knew they must have. He sent out scouts for this expresspurpose. One of them, creeping up the bed of the stream below thesouthern face of the fort, had discovered that the precipice, whichfrom a distance looked dry, was running with water, and that a thinstream was trickling into the gully. The ground had gradually becomesaturated, and the overflow, which had at first disappeared into theearth, was now making itself only too visible. When the discovery wasreported to Elbel, he concluded that there must be a spring within thefort. Great was his fury at having wasted so much time and labourfruitlessly. In his anger he declared that the defenders should haveplenty of water in future.
"What did he mean by that?" asked Jack.
The very next morning it was observed that a large body of men wasagain on the move up the hill. Jack hurried to the top of thenorth-west blockhouse and followed the movements through hisfield-glass. This time an even larger force was engaged than had beenpreviously employed to dam the stream. Two parties, riflemen andspearmen, numbering in all, as he estimated, nearly six hundred, weremarching up the heights. Clearly some new work was to be undertaken,and it must be of no little magnitude. There were no signs ofpreparation for an immediate attack. The troops continued their upwardmarch for at least a mile. Then Jack was surprised to see them set towork rolling boulders down the hill towards the slope at the north-eastof the fort and the new course of the river. Whatever the scheme was,it involved a great deal of labour, for the whole day was spent uponit, and still the parties of workers had made but small progress downthe hillside. It became clear to Jack that the supply of boulderslower down had been used up in constructing the dam. More boulderswere evidently required, and to procure these Elbel had had to take hismen a considerable distance up the hill.
Late in the afternoon the negroes were marched back to camp. As soonas it appeared safe, Jack sent Samba out to ascertain what had beendone. When he came back he reported that a large quantity of stoneshad been collected near the dam, and that though the main body hadreturned to their camp, there were still several large parties engagedin hauling boulders nearly a mile away from this point.
Jack could form no idea of what Elbel's plan was; but it seemed to himthat in any case the time had come to meet it with a counterstroke.For hours that night he sat with Barney discussing every means ofstriking a blow that occurred to him; but he came to no decision. Astand-up fight in the open was impossible; there could only be one endto that, outnumbered as Jack was in riflemen by nearly five to one, andat present the enemy's movements did not suggest to him any opportunityfor stratagem.
Next morning he stood with Barney at the wall, watching the enemy asonce more they marched up to the scene of the previous day's work. Asusual, he did his best to count them--no easy matter, for the men didnot march in orderly ranks like a disciplined regiment, but either insmall groups or in several long files.
"Elbel is getting impatient," remarked Jack at last. "He wants tohurry up that work of his, for I make out that he is taking over fiftymore men up to-day."
"Sure there can't be more than fifty left in camp, sorr."
"I suppose not. That's rather risky," he added thoughtfully--"in anenemy's country, Barney."
"Would you be meaning to go for them, sorr?" returned Barney, his eyeslighting up. "Bedad, I'd rejoice in that same. I haven't told ye,sorr, but many's the time I've felt I should just go raging mad if Ihad to stay in this camp much longer. 'Tis all very safe andcomfortable, sorr, but 'tis a prison all the same, and there's no manon earth likes to be caged up less than an Irishman."
"D'you think we could do it, Barney? The camp is only about half amile below us; Elbel's men are a mile above, some at least a mile and ahalf. Could we rush the camp before the main body could be brought toits relief?"
"Say 'tis two miles between 'em as the crow flies; they could run thatin twelve minutes widout distressing themselves."
"But they couldn't take the shortest road, because that would bringthem under fire from our walls. The distance would be a good deal morethan two miles. And we should have to cover half that distance to thecamp and back, the return journey up hill. It doesn't leave muchmargin, Barney."
"Five minutes at the very most, sorr. But a man can do a power uvfighting in five minutes."
"Let us think it out carefully. We mustn't throw away all our successby a mad enterprise now. We oughtn't to weaken the defensive strengthhere much, for Elbel has such numbers that he could afford to lose afew in storming."
"And we needn't, sorr. 'Tis not numbers that will count in rushing thecamp; 'tis dash, sorr, and ivery man together."
"That's quite true. And I think our men will work together better thanElbel's. But there's a very serious difficulty--that outpost of hishalf-way between us and his camp. It's the only post he has kept uppermanently, and now it's a nuisance to us."
He referred to a couple of men stationed at the edge of a copse to thewest of the stream. They were screened by rocks, and from theirposition they could see the blockhouses and the tops of the huts, andkeep the west and south quarters of the fort under fairly strictobservation.
"You see, they would instantly detect any movement of ours down thehill; and by the time we got to the camp the enemy would be on the _quivive_."
"There's only wan thing to be done, sorr."
"Well?"
"Shut the eyes and the ears and the mouths uv the niggers at theoutpost."
"All very well; but they're too well screened to be shot at, andkilling them is the only way to destroy all their senses. Besides, itwould be madness to fire. The sound would alarm the enemy and spoilour plans."
"'Twas not meself that thought uv firing at all at all, sorr. I wasthinking uv Samba."
"Samba! What can he do?"
"Sure and I don't know no more than the dead, or I'd tell it youmeself, sorr. But Samba's the ould wan himself at schaming; will Ifetch him?"
"Certainly. We'll see if he can do anything. Hurry up!"
[1] This man.
[2] Are you speaking the truth?
[3] Mother!--the strongest affirmative.