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CHAPTER VI - THE SLAVE ROAD
The twenty bearers having arrived, in charge of five or six Arabs
armed with guns, we went to inspect them, taking Hassan with us, also
the hunters. They were a likely lot of men, though rather thin and
scared-looking, and evidently, as I could see from their physical
appearance and varying methods of dressing the hair, members of
different tribes. Having delivered them, the Arabs, or rather one of
them, entered into excited conversation with Hassan. As Sammy was not
at hand I do not know what was said, although I gathered that they
were contemplating his rescue. If so, they gave up the idea and began
to run away as their companions had done. One of them, however, a
bolder fellow than the rest, turned and fired at me. He missed by some
yards, as I could tell from the sing of the bullet, for these Arabs
are execrable shots. Still his attempt at murder irritated me so much
that I determined he should not go scot-free. I was carrying the
little rifle called "Intombi," that with which, as Hans had reminded
me, I shot the vultures at Dingaan's kraal many years before. Of
course, I could have killed the man, but this I did not wish to do. Or
I could have shot him through the leg, but then we should have had to
nurse him or leave him to die! So I selected his right arm, which was
outstretched as he fled, and at about fifty paces put a bullet through
it just above the elbow.
"There," I said to the Zulus as I saw it double up, "that low fellow
will never shoot at anyone again."
"Pretty, Macumazana, very pretty!" said Mavovo, "but as you can aim so
well, why not have chosen his head? That bullet is half-wasted."
Next I set to work to get into communication with the bearers, who
thought, poor devils, that they had been but sold to a new master.
Here I may explain that they were slaves not meant for exportation,
but men kept to cultivate Hassan's gardens. Fortunately I found that
two of them belonged to the Mazitu people, who it may be remembered
are of the same blood as the Zulus, although they separated from the
parent stock generations ago. These men talked a dialect that I could
understand, though at first not very easily. The foundation of it was
Zulu, but it had become much mixed with the languages of other tribes
whose women the Mazitu had taken to wife.
Also there was a man who could speak some bastard Arabic, sufficiently
well for Sammy to converse with him.
I asked the Mazitus if they knew the way back to their country. They
answered yes, but it was far off, a full month's journey. I told them
that if they would guide us thither, they should receive their freedom
and good pay, adding that if the other men served us well, they also
should be set free when we had done with them. On receiving this
information the poor wretches smiled in a sickly fashion and looked at
Hassan-ben-Mohammed, who glowered at them and us from the box on which
he was seated in charge of Mavovo.
How can we be free while that man lives, their look seemed to say. As
though to confirm their doubts Hassan, who understood or guessed what
was passing, asked by what right we were promising freedom to his
slaves.
"By right of that," I answered, pointing to the Union Jack which
Stephen still had in his hand. "Also we will pay you for them when we
return, according as they have served us."
"Yes," he muttered, "you will pay me for them when you return, or
perhaps before that, Englishman."
It was three o'clock in the afternoon before we were able to make a
start. There was so much to be arranged that it might have been wiser
to wait till the morrow, had we not determined that if we could help
it nothing would induce us to spend another night in that place.
Blankets were served out to each of the bearers who, poor naked
creatures, seemed quite touched at the gift of them; the loads were
apportioned, having already been packed at Durban in cases such as one
man could carry. The pack saddles were put upon the four donkeys which
proved to be none the worse for their journey, and burdens to a weight
of about 100 lbs. each fixed on them in waterproof hide bags, besides
cooking calabashes and sleeping mats which Hans produced from
somewhere. Probably he stole them out of the deserted village, but as
they were necessary to us I confess I asked no questions. Lastly, six
or eight goats which were wandering about were captured to take with
us for food till we could find game. For these I offered to pay
Hassan, but when I handed him the money he threw it down in a rage, so
I picked it up and put it in my pocket again with a clear conscience.
At length everything was more or less ready, and the question arose as
to what was to be done with Hassan. The Zulus, like Hans, wished to
kill him, as Sammy explained to him in his best Arabic. Then this
murderous fellow showed what a coward he was at heart. He flung
himself upon his knees, he wept, he invoked us in the name of the
Compassionate Allah who, he explained, was after all the same God that
we worshipped, till Mavovo, growing impatient of the noise, threatened
him with his kerry, whereon he became silent. The easy-natured Stephen
was for letting him go, a plan that seemed to have advantages, for
then at least we should be rid of his abominable company. After
reflection, however, I decided that we had better take him along with
us, at any rate for a day or so, to hold as a hostage in case the
Arabs should follow and attack us. At first he refused to stir, but
the assegai of one of the Zulu hunters pressed gently against what
remained of his robe, furnished an argument that he could not resist.
At length we were off. I with the two guides went ahead. Then came the
bearers, then half of the hunters, then the four donkeys in charge of
Hans and Sammy, then Hassan and the rest of the hunters, except
Mavovo, who brought up the rear with Stephen. Needless to say, all our
rifles were loaded, and generally we were prepared for any emergency.
The only path, that which the guides said we must follow, ran by the
seashore for a few hundred yards and then turned inland through
Hassan's village where he lived, for it seemed that the old mission
house was not used by him. As we marched along a little rocky cliff--
it was not more than ten feet high--where a deep-water channel perhaps
fifty yards in breadth separated the mainland from the island whence
the slaves had been loaded on to the /Maria/, some difficulty arose
about the donkeys. One of these slipped its load and another began to
buck and evinced an inclination to leap into the sea with its precious
burden. The rearguard of hunters ran to get hold of it, when suddenly
there was a splash.
The brute's in! I thought to myself, till a shout told me that not the
ass, but Hassan had departed over the cliff's edge. Watching his
opportunity and being, it was clear, a first-rate swimmer, he had
flung himself backwards in the midst of the confusion and falling into
deep water, promptly dived. About twenty yards from the shore he came
up for a moment, then dived again heading for the island. I dare say I
could have potted him through the head with a snap shot, but somehow I
did not like to kill a man swimming for his life as though he were a
hippopotamus or a crocodile. Moreover, the boldness of the manœuvre
appealed to me. So I refrained from firing and called to the others to
do likewise.
As our late host approached the shore of the island I saw Arabs
running down the rocks to help him out of the water. Either they had
not left the place, or had re-occupied it as soon as H.M.S.
/Crocodile/ had vanished with her prize. As it was clear that to
recapture Hassan would involve an attack upon the garrison of the
island which we were in no position to carry out, I gave orders for
the march to be resumed. These, the difficulty with the donkey having
been overcome, were obeyed at once.
It was fortunate that we did not delay, for scarcely had the caravan
got into motion when the Arabs on the island began to fire at us.
Luckily no one was hit, and we were soon round a point and under
cover; also their shooting was as bad as usual. One missile, however,
it was a pot-leg, struck a donkey-load and smashed a bottle of good
brandy and a tin of preserved butter. This made me angry, so motioning
to the others to proceed I took shelter behind a tree and waited till
a torn and dirty turban, which I recognised as that of Hassan, poked
up above a rock. Well, I put a bullet through that turban, for I saw
the thing fly, but unfortunately, not through the head beneath it.
Having left this P.P.C. card on our host, I bolted from the rock and
caught up the others.
Presently we passed round the village; through it I would not go for
fear of an ambuscade. It was quite a big place, enclosed with a strong
fence, but hidden from the sea by a rise in the intervening land. In
the centre was a large eastern-looking house, where doubtless Hassan
dwelt with his harem. After we had gone a little way further, to my
astonishment I saw flames breaking out from the palm-leaf roof of this
house. At the time I could not imagine how this happened, but when, a
day or two later, I observed Hans wearing a pair of large and very
handsome gold pendants in his ears and a gold bracelet on his wrist,
and found that he and one of the hunters were extremely well set up in
the matter of British sovereigns--well, I had my doubts. In due course
the truth came out. He and the hunter, an adventurous spirit, slipped
through a gate in the fence without being observed, ran across the
deserted village to the house, stole the ornaments and money from the
women's apartments and as they departed, fired the place "in exchange
for the bottle of good brandy," as Hans explained.
I was inclined to be angry, but after all, as we had been fired on,
Hans's exploit became an act of war rather than a theft. So I made him
and his companion divide the gold equally with the rest of the
hunters, who no doubt had kept their eyes conveniently shut, not
forgetting Sammy, and said no more. They netted £8 apiece, which
pleased them very much. In addition to this I gave £1 each, or rather
goods to that value, to the bearers as their share of the loot.
Hassan, I remarked, was evidently a great agriculturist, for the
gardens which he worked by slave labour were beautiful, and must have
brought him in a large revenue.
Passing through these gardens we came to sloping land covered with
bush. Here the track was not too good, for the creepers hampered our
progress. Indeed, I was very glad when towards sunset we reached the
crest of a hill and emerged upon a tableland which was almost clear of
trees and rose gradually till it met the horizon. In that bush we
might easily have been attacked, but in this open country I was not so
much afraid, since the loss to the Arabs would have been great before
we were overpowered. As a matter of fact, although spies dogged us for
days no assault was ever attempted.
Finding a convenient place by a stream we camped for the night, but as
it was so fine, did not pitch the tents. Afterwards I was sorry that
we had not gone further from the water, since the mosquitoes bred by
millions in the marshes bordering the stream gave us a dreadful time.
On poor Stephen, fresh from England, they fell with peculiar ferocity,
with the result that in the morning what between the bruises left by
Hassan and their bites, he was a spectacle for men and angels. Another
thing that broke our rest was the necessity of keeping a strict watch
in case the slave-traders should elect to attack us in the hours of
darkness; also to guard against the possibility of our bearers running
away and perhaps stealing the goods. It is true that before they went
to sleep I explained to them very clearly that any of them who
attempted to give us the slip would certainly be seen and shot,
whereas if they remained with us they would be treated with every
kindness. They answered through the two Mazitu that they had nowhere
to go, and did not wish to fall again into the power of Hassan, of
whom they spoke literally with shudders, pointing the while to their
scarred backs and the marks of the slave yokes upon their necks. Their
protestations seemed and indeed proved to be sincere, but of this of
course we could not then be sure.
As I was engaged at sunrise in making certain that the donkeys had not
strayed and generally that all was well, I noted through the thin mist
a little white object, which at first I thought was a small bird
sitting on an upright stick about fifty yards from the camp. I went
towards it and discovered that it was not a bird but a folded piece of
paper stuck in a cleft wand, such as natives often use for the
carrying of letters. I opened the paper and with great difficulty, for
the writing within was bad Portuguese, read as follows:
"English Devils.--Do not think that you have escaped me. I know
where you are going, and if you live through the journey it will
be but to die at my hands after all. I tell you that I have at my
command three hundred brave men armed with guns who worship Allah
and thirst for the blood of Christian dogs. With these I will
follow, and if you fall into my hands alive, you shall learn what
it is to die by fire or pinned over ant-heaps in the sun. Let us
see if your English man-of-war will help you then, or your false
God either. Misfortune go with you, white-skinned robbers of
honest men!"
This pleasing epistle was unsigned, but its anonymous author was not
hard to identify. I showed it to Stephen who was so infuriated at its
contents that he managed to dab some ammonia with which he was
treating his mosquito bites into his eye. When at length the pain was
soothed by bathing, we concocted this answer:
"Murderer, known among men as Hassan-ben-Mohammed--Truly we sinned
in not hanging you when you were in our power. Oh! wolf who grows
fat upon the blood of the innocent, this is a fault that we shall
not commit again. Your death is near to you and we believe at our
hands. Come with all your villains whenever you will. The more
there are of them the better we shall be pleased, who would rather
rid the world of many fiends than of a few,
"Till we meet again, Allan Quatermain,
Stephen Somers."
"Neat, if not Christian," I said when I had read the letter over.
"Yes," replied Stephen, "but perhaps just a little bombastic in tone.
If that gentleman did arrive with three hundred armed men--eh?"
"Then, my boy," I answered, "in this way or in that we shall thrash
him. I don't often have an inspiration, but I've got one now, and it
is to the effect that Mr. Hassan has not very long to live and that we
shall be intimately connected with his end. Wait till you have seen a
slave caravan and you will understand my feelings. Also I know these
gentry. That little prophecy of ours will get upon his nerves and give
him a foretaste of things. Hans, go and set this letter in that cleft
stick. The postman will call for it before long."
As it happened, within a few days we did see a slave caravan, some of
the merchandise of the estimable Hassan.
We had been making good progress through a beautiful and healthy
country, steering almost due west, or rather a little to the north of
west. The land was undulating and rich, well-watered and only bush-
clad in the neighbourhood of the streams, the higher ground being
open, of a park-like character, and dotted here and there with trees.
It was evident that once, and not very long ago, the population had
been dense, for we came to the remains of many villages, or rather
towns with large market-places. Now, however, these were burned with
fire, or deserted, or occupied only by a few old bodies who got a
living from the overgrown gardens. These poor people, who sat desolate
and crooning in the sun, or perhaps worked feebly at the once fertile
fields, would fly screaming at our approach, for to them men armed
with guns must of necessity be slave-traders.
Still from time to time we contrived to catch some of them, and
through one member of our party or the other to get at their stories.
Really it was all one story. The slaving Arabs, on this pretext or on
that, had set tribe against tribe. Then they sided with the stronger
and conquered the weaker by aid of their terrible guns, killing out
the old folk and taking the young men, women and children (except the
infants whom they butchered) to be sold as slaves. It seemed that the
business had begun about twenty years before, when Hassan-ben-Mohammed
and his companions arrived at Kilwa and drove away the missionary who
had built a station there.
At first this trade was extremely easy and profitable, since the raw
material lay near at hand in plenty. By degrees, however, the
neighbouring communities had been worked out. Countless numbers of
them were killed, while the pick of the population passed under the
slave yoke, and those of them who survived, vanished in ships to
unknown lands. Thus it came about that the slavers were obliged to go
further afield and even to conduct their raids upon the borders of the
territory of the great Mazitu people, the inland race of Zulu origin
of whom I have spoken. According to our informants, it was even
rumoured that they proposed shortly to attack these Mazitus in force,
relying on their guns to give them the victory and open to them a new
and almost inexhaustible store of splendid human merchandise.
Meanwhile they were cleaning out certain small tribes which hitherto
had escaped them, owing to the fact that they had their residence in
bush or among difficult hills.
The track we followed was the recognised slave road. Of this we soon
became aware by the numbers of skeletons which we found lying in the
tall grass at its side, some of them with heavy slave-sticks still
upon their wrists. These, I suppose, had died from exhaustion, but
others, as their split skulls showed had been disposed of by their
captors.
On the eighth day of our march we struck the track of a slave caravan.
It had been travelling towards the coast, but for some reason or other
had turned back. This may have been because its leaders had been
warned of the approach of our party. Or perhaps they had heard that
another caravan, which was at work in a different district, was
drawing near, bringing its slaves with it, and wished to wait for its
arrival in order that they might join forces.
The spoor of these people was easy to follow. First we found the body
of a boy of about ten. Then vultures revealed to us the remains of two
young men, one of whom had been shot and the other killed by a blow
from an axe. Their corpses were roughly hidden beneath some grass, I
know not why. A mile or two further on we heard a child wailing and
found it by following its cries. It was a little girl of about four
who had been pretty, though now she was but a living skeleton. When
she saw us she scrambled away on all fours like a monkey. Stephen
followed her, while I, sick at heart, went to get a tin of preserved
milk from our stores. Presently I heard him call to me in a horrified
voice. Rather reluctantly, for I knew that he must have found
something dreadful, I pushed my way through the bush to where he was.
There, bound to the trunk of a tree, sat a young woman, evidently the
mother of the child, for it clung to her leg.
Thank God she was still living, though she must have died before
another day dawned. We cut her loose, and the Zulu hunters, who are
kind folk enough when they are not at war, carried her to camp. In the
end with much trouble we saved the lives of that mother and child. I
sent for the two Mazitus, with whom I could by now talk fairly well,
and asked them why the slavers did these things.
They shrugged their shoulders and one of them answered with a rather
dreadful laugh:
"Because, Chief, these Arabs, being black-hearted, kill those who can
walk no more, or tie them up to die. If they let them go they might
recover and escape, and it makes the Arabs sad that those who have
been their slaves should live to be free and happy."
"Does it? Does it indeed?" exclaimed Stephen with a snort of rage that
reminded me of his father. "Well, if ever I get a chance I'll make
them sad with a vengeance."
Stephen was a tender-hearted young man, and for all his soft and
indolent ways, an awkward customer when roused.
Within forty-eight hours he got his chance, thus: That day we camped
early for two reasons. The first was that the woman and child we had
rescued wee so weak they could not walk without rest, and we had no
men to spare to carry them; the second that we came to an ideal spot
to pass the night. It was, as usual, a deserted village through which
ran a beautiful stream of water. Here we took possession of some
outlying huts with a fence round them, and as Mavovo had managed to
shoot a fat eland cow and her half-grown calf, we prepared to have a
regular feast. Whilst Sammy was making some broth for the rescued
woman, and Stephen and I smoked our pipes and watched him, Hans
slipped through the broken gate of the thorn fence, or /boma/, and
announced that Arabs were coming, two lots of them with many slaves.
We ran out to look and saw that, as he had said, two caravans were
approaching, or rather had reached the village, but at some distance
from us, and were now camping on what had once been the market-place.
One of these was that whose track we had followed, although during the
last few hours of our march we had struck away from it, chiefly
because we could not bear such sights as I have described. It seemed
to comprise about two hundred and fifty slaves and over forty guards,
all black men carrying guns, and most of them by their dress Arabs, or
bastard Arabs. In the second caravan, which approached from another
direction, were not more than one hundred slaves and about twenty or
thirty captors.
"Now," I said, "let us eat our dinner and then, if you like, we will
go to call upon those gentlemen, just to show that we are not afraid
of them. Hans, get the flag and tie it to the top of that tree; it
will show them to what country we belong."
Up went the Union Jack duly, and presently through our glasses we saw
the slavers running about in a state of excitement; also we saw the
poor slaves turn and stare at the bit of flapping bunting and then
begin to talk to each other. It struck me as possible that someone
among their number had seen a Union Jack in the hands of an English
traveller, or had heard of it as flying upon ships or at points on the
coast, and what it meant to slaves. Or they may have understood some
of the remarks of the Arabs, which no doubt were pointed and
explanatory. At any rate, they turned and stared till the Arabs ran
among them with sjambocks, that is, whips of hippopotamus hide, and
suppressed their animated conversation with many blows.
At first I thought that they would break camp and march away; indeed,
they began to make preparations to do this, then abandoned the idea,
probably because the slaves were exhausted and there was no other
water they could reach before nightfall. In the end they settled down
and lit cooking fires. Also, as I observed, they took precautions
against attack by stationing sentries and forcing the slaves to
construct a /boma/ of thorns about their camp.
"Well," said Stephen, when we had finished our dinner, "are you ready
for that call?"
"No!" I answered, "I do not think that I am. I have been considering
things, and concluded that we had better leave well alone. By this
time those Arabs will know all the story of our dealings with their
worthy master, Hassan, for no doubt he has sent messengers to them.
Therefore, if we go to their camp, they may shoot us at sight. Or, if
they receive us well, they may offer hospitality and poison us, or cut
our throats suddenly. Our position might be better, still it is one
that I believe they would find difficult to take. So, in my opinion,
we had better stop still and await developments."
Stephen grumbled something about my being over-cautious, but I took no
heed of him. One thing I did do, however. Sending for Hans, I told him
to take one of the Mazitu--I dared not risk them both for they were
our guides--and another of the natives whom we had borrowed from
Hassan, a bold fellow who knew all the local languages, and creep down
to the slavers' camp as soon as it was quite dark. There I ordered him
to find out what he could, and if possible to mix with the slaves and
explain that we were their friends. Hans nodded, for this was exactly
the kind of task that appealed to him, and went off to make his
preparations.
Stephen and I also made some preparations in the way of strengthening
our defences, building large watch-fires and setting sentries.
The night fell, and Hans with his companions departed stealthily as
snakes. The silence was intense, save for the occasional wailings of
the slaves, which now and again broke out in bursts of melancholy
sound, "/La-lu-La-lua!/" and then died away, to be followed by horrid
screams as the Arabs laid their lashes upon some poor wretch. Once
too, a shot was fired.
"They have seen Hans," said Stephen.
"I think not," I answered, "for if so there would have been more than
one shot. Either it was an accident or they were murdering a slave."
After this nothing more happened for a long while, till at length Hans
seemed to rise out of the ground in front of me, and behind him I saw
the figures of the Mazitu and the other man.
"Tell your story," I said.
"Baas, it is this. Between us we have learned everything. The Arabs
know all about you and what men you have. Hassan has sent them orders
to kill you. It is well that you did not go to visit them, for
certainly you would have been murdered. We crept near and overheard
their talk. They purpose to attack us at dawn to-morrow morning unless
we leave this place before, which they will know of as we are being
watched."
"And if so, what then?" I asked.
"Then, Baas, they will attack as we are making up the caravan, or
immediately afterwards as we begin to march."
"Indeed. Anything more, Hans?"
"Yes, Baas. These two men crept among the slaves and spoke with them.
They are very sad, those slaves, and many of them have died of heart-
pain because they have been taken from their homes and do not know
where they are going. I saw one die just now; a young woman. She was
talking to another woman and seemed quite well, only tired, till
suddenly she said in a loud voice, 'I am going to die, that I may come
back as a spirit and bewitch these devils till they are spirits too.'
Then she called upon the fetish of her tribe, put her hands to her
breast and fell down dead. At least," added Hans, spitting
reflectively, "she did not fall quite down because the slave-stick
held her head off the ground. The Arabs were very angry, both because
she had cursed them and was dead. One of them came and kicked her body
and afterwards shot her little boy who was sick, because the mother
had cursed them. But fortunately he did not see us, because we were in
the dark far from the fire."
"Anything more, Hans?"
"One thing, Baas. These two men lent the knives you gave them to two
of the boldest among the slaves that they might cut the cords of the
slave-sticks and the other cords with which they were tied, and then
pass them down the lines, that their brothers might do the same. But
perhaps the Arabs will find it out, and then the Mazitu and the other
must lose their knives. That is all. Has the Baas a little tobacco?"
"Now, Stephen," I said when Hans had gone and I had explained
everything, "there are two courses open to us. Either we can try to
give these gentlemen the slip at once, in which case we must leave the
woman and child to their fate, or we can stop where we are and wait to
be attacked."
"I won't run," said Stephen sullenly; "it would be cowardly to desert
that poor creature. Also we should have a worse chance marching.
Remember Hans said that they are watching us."
"Then you would wait to be attacked?"
"Isn't there a third alternative, Quatermain? To attack them?"
"That's the idea," I said. "Let us send for Mavovo."
Presently he came and sat down in front of us, while I set out the
case to him.
"It is the fashion of my people to attack rather than to be attacked,
and yet, my father, in this case my heart is against it. Hans" (he
called him /Inblatu/, a Zulu word which means Spotted Snake, that was
the Hottentot's Kaffir name) "says that there are quite sixty of the
yellow dogs, all armed with guns, whereas we have not more than
fifteen, for we cannot trust the slave men. Also he says that they are
within a strong fence and awake, with spies out, so that it will be
difficult to surprise them. But here, father, we are in a strong fence
and cannot be surprised. Also men who torture and kill women and
children, except in war must, I think, be cowards, and will come on
faintly against good shooting, if indeed they come at all. Therefore,
I say, 'Wait till the buffalo shall either charge or run.' But the
word is with you, Macumazana, wise Watcher-by-Night, not with me, your
hunter. Speak, you who are old in war, and I will obey."
"You argue well," I answered; "also another reason comes to my mind.
Those Arab brutes may get behind the slaves, of whom we should butcher
a lot without hurting them. Stephen, I think we had better see the
thing through here."
"All right, Quatermain. Only I hope that Mavovo is wrong in thinking
that those blackguards may change their minds and run away."
"Really, young man, you are becoming very blood-thirsty--for an orchid
grower," I remarked, looking at him. "Now, for my part, I devoutly
hope that Mavovo is right, for let me tell you, if he isn't it may be
a nasty job."
"I've always been peaceful enough up to the present," replied Stephen.
"But the sight of those unhappy wretches of slaves with their heads
cut open, and of the woman tied to a tree to starve----"
"Make you wish to usurp the functions of God Almighty," I said. "Well,
it is a natural impulse and perhaps, in the circumstances, one that
will not displease Him. And now, as we have made up our minds what we
are going to do, let's get to business so that these Arab gentlemen
may find their breakfast ready when they come to call."
Content of CHAPTER VI - THE SLAVE ROAD [H. Rider Haggard's novel: Allan and the Holy Flower]
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