Allan Quatermain
CHAPTER II
THE BLACK HAND
In due course we left Lamu, and ten days afterwards we
found ourselves at a spot called Charra, on the Tana River, having gone
through many adventures which need not be recorded here. Amongst other
things we visited a ruined city, of which there are many on this coast, and
which must once, to judge from their extent and the numerous remains of
mosques and stone houses, have been very populous places. These ruined
cities are immeasurably ancient, having, I believe, been places of wealth
and importance as far back as the Old Testament times, when they were
centres of trade with India and elsewhere. But their glory has departed
now -- the slave trade has finished them -- and where wealthy merchants
from all parts of the then civilized world stood and bargained in the
crowded market-places, the lion holds his court at night, and instead of
the chattering of slaves and the eager voices of the bidders, his awful
note goes echoing down the ruined corridors. At this particular place we
discovered on a mound, covered up with rank growth and rubbish, two of the
most beautiful stone doorways that it is possible to conceive. The carving
on them was simply exquisite, and I only regret that we had no means of
getting them away. No doubt they had once been the entrances to a palace,
of which, however, no traces were now to be seen, though probably its ruins
lay under the rising mound.
Gone! quite gone! the way that everything must go. Like
the nobles and the ladies who lived within their gates, these cities have
had their day, and now they are as Babylon and Nineveh, and as London and
Paris will one day be. Nothing may endure. That is the inexorable law.
Men and women, empires and cities, thrones, principalities, and powers,
mountains, rivers, and unfathomed seas, worlds, spaces, and universes, all
have their day, and all must go. In this ruined and forgotten place the
moralist may behold a symbol of the universal destiny. For this system of
ours allows no room for standing still -- nothing can loiter on the road
and check the progress of things upwards towards Life, or the rush of
things downwards towards Death. The stern policeman Fate moves us and them
on, on, uphill and downhill and across the level; there is no resting-place
for the weary feet, till at last the abyss swallows us, and from the shores
of the Transitory we are hurled into the sea of the Eternal.
At Charra we had a violent quarrel with the headman of
the bearers we had hired to go as far as this, and who now wished to extort
large extra payment from us. In the result he threatened to set the Masai
-- about whom more anon -- on to us. That night he, with all our hired
bearers, ran away, stealing most of the goods which had been entrusted to
them to carry. Luckily, however, they had not happened to steal our
rifles, ammunition, and personal effects; not because of any delicacy of
feeling on their part, but owing to the fact that they chanced to be in the
charge of the five Wakwafis. After that, it was clear to us that we had
had enough of caravans and of bearers. Indeed, we had not much left for a
caravan to carry. And yet, how were we to get on?
It was Good who solved the question. 'Here is water,'
he said, pointing to the Tana River; 'and yesterday I saw a party of
natives hunting hippopotami in canoes. I understand that Mr Mackenzie's
mission station is on the Tana River. Why not get into canoes and paddle
up to it?'
This brilliant suggestion was, needless to say, received
with acclamation; and I instantly set to work to buy suitable canoes from
the surrounding natives. I succeeded after a delay of three days in
obtaining two large ones, each hollowed out of a single log of some light
wood, and capable of holding six people and baggage. For these two canoes
we had to pay nearly all our remaining cloth, and also many other
articles.
On the day following our purchase of the two canoes we
effected a start. In the first canoe were Good, Sir Henry, and three of
our Wakwafi followers; in the second myself, Umslopogaas, and the other two
Wakwafis. As our course lay upstream, we had to keep four paddles at work
in each canoe, which meant that the whole lot of us, except Good, had to
row away like galley-slaves; and very exhausting work it was. I say,
except Good, for, of course, the moment that Good got into a boat his foot
was on his native heath, and he took command of the party. And certainly
he worked us. On shore Good is a gentle, mild-mannered man, and given to
jocosity; but, as we found to our cost, Good in a boat was a perfect demon.
To begin with, he knew all about it, and we didn't. On all nautical
subjects, from the torpedo fittings of a man-of-war down to the best way of
handling the paddle of an African canoe, he was a perfect mine of
information, which, to say the least of it, we were not. Also his ideas of
discipline were of the sternest, and, in short, he came the royal naval
officer over us pretty considerably, and paid us out amply for all the
chaff we were wont to treat him to on land; but, on the other hand, I am
bound to say that he managed the boats admirably.
After the first day Good succeeded, with the help of
some cloth and a couple of poles, in rigging up a sail in each canoe, which
lightened our labours not a little. But the current ran very strong
against us, and at the best we were not able to make more than twenty miles
a day. Our plan was to start at dawn, and paddle along till about
half-past ten, by which time the sun got too hot to allow of further
exertion. Then we moored our canoes to the bank, and ate our frugal meal;
after which we ate or otherwise amused ourselves till about three o'clock,
when we again started, and rowed till within an hour of sundown, when we
called a halt for the night. On landing in the evening, Good would at once
set to work, with the help of the Askari, to build a little 'scherm', or
small enclosure, fenced with thorn bushes, and to light a fire. I, with
Sir Henry and Umslopogaas, would go out to shoot something for the pot.
Generally this was an easy task, for all sorts of game abounded on the
banks of the Tana. One night Sir Henry shot a young cow-giraffe, of which
the marrow-bones were excellent; on another I got a couple of waterbuck
right and left; and once, to his own intense satisfaction, Umslopogaas
(who, like most Zulus, was a vile shot with a rifle) managed to kill a fine
fat eland with a Martini I had lent him. Sometimes we varied our food by
shooting some guinea-fowl, or bush-bustard (paau) -- both of which were
numerous -- with a shot-gun, or by catching a supply of beautiful yellow
fish, with which the waters of the Tana swarmed, and which form, I believe,
one of the chief food-supplies of the crocodiles.
Three days after our start an ominous incident occurred.
We were just drawing in to the bank to make our camp as usual for the
night, when we caught sight of a figure standing on a little knoll not
forty yards away, and intensely watching our approach. One glance was
sufficient -- although I was personally unacquainted with the tribe -- to
tell me that he was a Masai Elmoran, or young warrior. Indeed, had I had
any doubts, they would have quickly been dispelled by the terrified
ejaculation of 'Masai!' that burst simultaneously from the lips of
our Wakwafi followers, who are, as I think I have said, themselves bastard
Masai.
And what a figure he presented as he stood there in his
savage war-gear! Accustomed as I have been to savages all my life, I do
not think that I have ever before seen anything quite so ferocious or
awe-inspiring. To begin with, the man was enormously tall, quite as tall
as Umslopogaas, I should say, and beautifully, though somewhat slightly,
shaped; but with the face of a devil. In his right hand he held a spear
about five and a half feet long, the blade being two and a half feet in
length, by nearly three inches in width, and having an iron spike at the
end of the handle that measured more than a foot. On his left arm was a
large and well-made elliptical shield of buffalo hide, on which were
painted strange heraldic-looking devices. On his shoulders was a huge cape
of hawk's feathers, and round his neck was a 'naibere', or strip of cotton,
about seventeen feet long, by one and a half broad, with a stripe of colour
running down the middle of it. The tanned goatskin robe, which formed his
ordinary attire in times of peace, was tied lightly round his waist, so as
to serve the purposes of a belt, and through it were stuck, on the right
and left sides respectively, his short pear-shaped sime, or sword, which is
made of a single piece of steel, and carried in a wooden sheath, and an
enormous knobkerrie. But perhaps the most remarkable feature of his attire
consisted of a headdress of ostrich-feathers, which was fixed on the chin,
and passed in front of the ears to the forehead, and, being shaped like an
ellipse, completely framed the face, so that the diabolical countenance
appeared to project from a sort of feather fire-screen. Round the ankles he
wore black fringes of hair, and, projecting from the upper portion of the
calves, to which they were attached, were long spurs like spikes, from
which flowed down tufts of the beautiful black and waving hair of the
Colobus monkey. Such was the elaborate array of the Masai Elmoran who
stood watching the approach of our two canoes, but it is one which, to be
appreciated, must be seen; only those who see it do not often live to
describe it. Of course I could not make out all these details of his full
dress on the occasion of this my first introduction, being, indeed, amply
taken up with the consideration of the general effect, but I had plenty of
subsequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the items that went to
make it up.
Whilst we were hesitating what to do, the Masai warrior
drew himself up in a dignified fashion, shook his huge spear at us, and,
turning, vanished on the further side of the slope.
'Hulloa!' holloaed Sir Henry from the other boat; 'our
friend the caravan leader has been as good as his word, and set the Masai
after us. Do you think it will be safe to go ashore?'
I did not think it would be at all safe; but, on the
other hand, we had no means of cooking in the canoes, and nothing that we
could eat raw, so it was difficult to know what to do. At last Umslopogaas
simplified matters by volunteering to go and reconnoitre, which he did,
creeping off into the bush like a snake, while we hung off in the stream
waiting for him. In half an hour he returned, and told us that there was
not a Masai to be seen anywhere about, but that he had discovered a spot
where they had recently been encamped, and that from various indications he
judged that they must have moved on an hour or so before; the man we saw
having, no doubt, been left to report upon our movements.
Thereupon we landed; and, having posted a sentry,
proceeded to cook and eat our evening meal. This done, we took the
situation into our serious consideration. Of course, it was possible that
the apparition of the Masai warrior had nothing to do with us, that he was
merely one of a band bent upon some marauding and murdering expedition
against another tribe. But when we recalled the threat of the caravan
leader, and reflected on the ominous way in which the warrior had shaken
his spear at us, this did not appear very probable. On the contrary, what
did seem probable was that the party was after us and awaiting a favourable
opportunity to attack us. This being so, there were two things that we
could do -- one of which was to go on, and the other to go back. The
latter idea was, however, rejected at once, it being obvious that we should
encounter as many dangers in retreat as in advance; and, besides, we had
made up our minds to journey onwards at any price. Under these
circumstances, however, we did not consider it safe to sleep ashore, so we
got into our canoes, and, paddling out into the middle of the stream, which
was not very wide here, managed to anchor them by means of big stones
fastened to ropes made of coconut-fibre, of which there were several
fathoms in each canoe.
Here the mosquitoes nearly ate us up alive, and this,
combined with anxiety as to our position, effectually prevented me from
sleeping as the others were doing, notwithstanding the attacks of the
aforesaid Tana mosquitoes. And so I lay awake, smoking and reflecting on
many things, but, being of a practical turn of mind, chiefly on how we were
to give those Masai villains the slip. It was a beautiful moonlight night,
and, notwithstanding the mosquitoes, and the great risk we were running
from fever from sleeping in such a spot, and forgetting that I had the
cramp very badly in my right leg from squatting in a constrained position
in the canoe, and that the Wakwafi who was sleeping beside me smelt
horribly, I really began to enjoy myself. The moonbeams played upon the
surface of the running water that speeded unceasingly past us towards the
sea, like men's lives towards the grave, till it glittered like a wide
sheet of silver, that is in the open where the trees threw no shadows.
Near the banks, however, it was very dark, and the night wind sighed sadly
in the reeds. To our left, on the further side of the river, was a little
sandy bay which was clear of trees, and here I could make out the forms of
numerous antelopes advancing to the water, till suddenly there came an
ominous roar, whereupon they all made off hurriedly. Then after a pause I
caught sight of the massive form of His Majesty the Lion, coming down to
drink his fill after meat. Presently he moved on, then came a crashing of
the reeds about fifty yards above us, and a few minutes later a huge black
mass rose out of the water, about twenty yards from me, and snorted. It was
the head of a hippopotamus. Down it went without a sound, only to rise
again within five yards of where I sat. This was decidedly too near to be
comfortable, more especially as the hippopotamus was evidently animated by
intense curiosity to know what on earth our canoes were. He opened his
great mouth, to yawn, I suppose, and gave me an excellent view of his
ivories; and I could not help reflecting how easily he could crunch up our
frail canoe with a single bite. Indeed, I had half a mind to give him a
ball from my eight-bore, but on reflection determined to let him alone
unless he actually charged the boat. Presently he sank again as
noiselessly as before, and I saw no more of him. Just then, on looking
towards the bank on our right, I fancied that I caught sight of a dark
figure flitting between the tree trunks. I have very keen sight, and I was
almost sure that I saw something, but whether it was bird, beast, or man I
could not say. At the moment, however, a dark cloud passed over the moon,
and I saw no more of it. Just then, too, although all the other sounds of
the forest had ceased, a species of horned owl with which I was well
acquainted began to hoot with great persistency. After that, save for the
rustling of trees and reeds when the wind caught them, there was complete
silence.
But somehow, in the most unaccountable way, I had
suddenly become nervous. There was no particular reason why I should be,
beyond the ordinary reasons which surround the Central African traveller,
and yet I undoubtedly was. If there is one thing more than another of
which I have the most complete and entire scorn and disbelief, it is of
presentiments, and yet here I was all of a sudden filled with and possessed
by a most undoubted presentiment of approaching evil. I would not give way
to it, however, although I felt the cold perspiration stand out upon my
forehead. I would not arouse the others. Worse and worse I grew, my pulse
fluttered like a dying man's, my nerves thrilled with the horrible sense of
impotent terror which anybody who is subject to nightmare will be familiar
with, but still my will triumphed over my fears, and I lay quiet (for I was
half sitting, half lying, in the bow of the canoe), only turning my face so
as to command a view of Umslopogaas and the two Wakwafi who were sleeping
alongside of and beyond me.
In the distance I heard a hippopotamus splash faintly,
then the owl hooted again in a kind of unnatural screaming note 4, and the wind began to moan plaintively through
the trees, making a heart-chilling music. Above was the black bosom of the
cloud, and beneath me swept the black flood of the water, and I felt as
though I and Death were utterly alone between them. It was very
desolate.
Suddenly my blood seemed to freeze in my veins, and my
heart to stand still. Was it fancy, or were we moving? I turned my eyes
to look for the other canoe which should be alongside of us. I could not
see it, but instead I saw a lean and clutching black hand lifting itself
above the gunwale of the little boat. Surely it was a nightmare! At the
same instant a dim but devilish-looking face appeared to rise out of the
water, and then came a lurch of the canoe, the quick flash of a knife, and
an awful yell from the Wakwafi who was sleeping by my side (the same poor
fellow whose odour had been annoying me), and something warm spurted into
my face. In an instant the spell was broken; I knew that it was no
nightmare, but that we were attacked by swimming Masai. Snatching at the
first weapon that came to hand, which happened to be Umslopogaas'
battleaxe, I struck with all my force in the direction in which I had seen
the flash of the knife. The blow fell upon a man's arm, and, catching it
against the thick wooden gunwale of the canoe, completely severed it from
the body just above the wrist. As for its owner, he uttered no sound or
cry. Like a ghost he came, and like a ghost he went, leaving behind him a
bloody hand still gripping a great knife, or rather a short sword, that was
buried in the heart of our poor servant.
Instantly there arose a hubbub and confusion, and I
fancied, rightly or wrongly, that I made out several dark heads gliding
away towards the right-hand bank, whither we were rapidly drifting, for the
rope by which we were moored had been severed with a knife. As soon as I
had realized this fact, I also realized that the scheme had been to cut the
boat loose so that it should drift on to the right bank (as it would have
done with the natural swing of the current), where no doubt a party of
Masai were waiting to dig their shovel-headed spears into us. Seizing one
paddle myself, I told Umslopogaas to take another (for the remaining Askari
was too frightened and bewildered to be of any use), and together we rowed
vigorously out towards the middle of the stream; and not an instant too
soon, for in another minute we should have been aground, and then there
would have been an end of us.
As soon as we were well out, we set to work to paddle
the canoe upstream again to where the other was moored; and very hard and
dangerous work it was in the dark, and with nothing but the notes of Good's
stentorian shouts, which he kept firing off at intervals like a fog-horn,
to guide us. But at last we fetched up, and were thankful to find that
they had not been molested at all. No doubt the owner of the same hand that
severed our rope should have severed theirs also, but was led away from his
purpose by an irresistible inclination to murder when he got the chance,
which, while it cost us a man and him his hand, undoubtedly saved all the
rest of us from massacre. Had it not been for that ghastly apparition over
the side of the boat -- an apparition that I shall never forget till my
dying hour -- the canoe would undoubtedly have drifted ashore before I
realized what had happened, and this history would never have been written
by me.