Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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Stas, mimicking the negro.
And he began to laugh.
The negro became calm after a time and when he sat down to partake ofthe food prepared by Mea, it appeared that the temporary fright had notat all deprived him of his appetite, for besides a portion of smokedmeat he consumed the raw liver of the zebra colt, not counting the wildfigs, which a sycamore growing in the neighborhood furnished in greatabundance. Afterwards with Stas they returned to the tree, about whichthere was yet a good deal of work to do. The removal of the decayedwood and the ashes, with hundreds of broiled scarabees and centipedes,together with a score of baked bats occupied over two hours' time. Staswas also surprised that the bats could live in the immediateneighborhood of the snake. He surmised, however, that the giganticpython either despised such trifling game or, not being able to windhimself around anything in the interior of the trunk, could not reachthem. The glowing coals, having caused the fall of layers of decayedwood, cleaned out the interior splendidly, and its appearance delightedStas, for it was as wide as a large room and could have given shelternot merely to four persons, but to ten men. The lower opening formed adoorway and the upper a window, thanks to which in the huge trunk itwas neither dark nor stifling. Stas thought of dividing the whole, bymeans of the tent canvas, into two rooms, of which one was to beassigned to Nell and Mea and the other to himself, Kali, and Saba. Thetree was not decayed to the top of the trunk; the rain, therefore,could not leak to the center, but in order to be protected completely,it was sufficient to raise and prop bark above both openings in suchmanner that it should form two eaves. The bottom of the interior hedetermined to strew with sand from the river bank which had beengrilled by the sun, and to carpet its surface with dry moss.
The work was really hard, especially for Kali, for he had, in addition,to cure the meat, water the horses, and think of fodder for theelephant who was incessantly trumpeting for it. But the young negroproceeded to work about the new abode with great willingness and evenardor; the reason for this he explained the same day to Stas in thefollowing manner:
"When the great master and the 'bibi,'" he said, holding his armsakimbo, "live in the tree, Kali will not have to build big zarebas forthe night and he can be idle every night."
"Then you like to be idle?" Stas asked.
"Kali is a man, so Kali loves to be idle, as only women ought to work."
"But you see, however, that I work for the 'bibi.'"
"But because when the 'bibi' grows up she will have to work for thegreat master, and, if she does not want to, the great master will whipher."
But Stas, at the very thought of whipping the "bibi," jumped as ifscalded and shouted in anger:
"Fool, do you know who the 'bibi' is?"
"I do not," replied the black boy with fear.
"Bibi--is--is--a good Mzimu."
And Kali cowered.
After finishing his work he approached Nell bashfully; then he fell onhis face and began to repeat, not indeed in a terror-stricken, but inan entreating voice:
"Aka! Aka! Aka!"
And the "Good Mzimu" stared at him, with her beautiful, sea-green eyeswide open, not understanding what had happened nor what was the matterwith Kali.
VII
The new abode, which Stas named "Cracow," was completed in the courseof three days. But before that time the principal luggage was depositedin the "men's quarters" and during great downpours the young quartettestaid in the gigantic trunk, perfectly sheltered. The rainy seasonbegan in earnest but it was not one of our long autumn rains duringwhich the heavens are heavy with dark clouds and the tedious, vexatiousbad weather lasts for weeks. There, about a dozen times during the day,the wind drives over the sky the swollen clouds, which water the earthcopiously, after which the sun shines brightly, as if freshly bathed,and floods with a golden luster the rocks, the river, the trees, andthe entire jungle. The grass grew almost before their eyes. The treeswere clad with more abundant leaves, and, before the old fruit fell,buds of the new germinated. The air, owing to the tiny drops of watersuspended in it, grew so transparent that even distant objects becameentirely distinct and the view extended into the immeasurably farexpanse. On the sky hung charming, seven-colored rainbows and thewaterfall was almost continually attired with them. The brief dawn andtwilight played with thousands of lights of such brilliance that thechildren had not seen anything like it, even on the Libyan Desert. Thelower clouds, those nearest the earth, were dyed cherry-colored, theupper, better illuminated, overflowed in the shape of a lake of purpleand gold, and the tiny woolly cloudlets changed colors like rubies,amethysts, and opals. During the night time, between one downpour ofrain and another, the moon transformed into diamonds the drops of dewwhich clung on the mimosa and acacia leaves, and the zodiacal lightshone in the refreshed transparent air more brightly than at any otherseason of the year.
From the overflow which the river formed below the waterfall came theuneasy croaking of frogs and the doleful piping of toads, andfireflies, resembling shooting stars, flew from bank to bank amid theclumps of bamboo and arum.
But when clouds covered the starry heaven and the rain began to fall itbecame very dusky and the interior of the baobab tree was as dark as ina cellar. Desiring to avoid this, Stas ordered Mea to melt the fat ofthe killed game and make a lamp of a small plate, which he placedbeneath the upper opening, which was called a window by the children.The light from this window, visible from a distance in the darkness,drove away the wild animals, but on the other hand attracted bats andeven birds so much that Kali finally was compelled to construct in theopening something in the nature of a screen of thorns similar to theone with which he closed the lower opening for the night.
However, in daytime, during fair weather, the children left "Cracow"and strolled over the promontory. Stas started after antelope-arielsand ostriches, of which numerous flocks appeared near the river below,while Nell went to her elephant, who in the beginning trumpeted onlyfor food and later trumpeted when he felt lonesome without his littlefriend. He always greeted her with sheer delight and pricked hisenormous ears as soon as he heard from the distance her voice or herfootsteps.
Once, when Stas went hunting and Kali angled for fish beyond thewaterfall, Nell decided to go to the rock which closed the ravine, tosee whether Stas had done anything about its removal. Mea, occupiedwith preparations for dinner, did not observe her departure; while onthe way, the little maid, gathering flowers, particularly begonia whichgrew abundantly in the rocky clefts, approached the declivity by whichthey at one time left the ravine and descending found herself near therock. The great stone, detached from its native walls, obstructed theravine as it had previously done. Nell, however, noticed that betweenthe rock and the wall there was a passage so wide that even a grown-upperson could pass through it with ease. For a while she hesitated, thenshe went in and found herself on the other side. But there was a bendthere, which it was necessary to pass in order to reach the wide egressof the locked-in waterfall. Nell began to meditate. "I will go yet alittle farther. I will peer from behind the rocks; I will take just onelook at the elephant who will not see me at all, and I will return."Thus meditating, she advanced step by step farther and farther, untilfinally she reached a place where the ravine widened suddenly into asmall dell and she saw the elephant. He stood with his back turnedtowards her, with trunk immersed in the waterfall, and drank. Thisemboldened her, so pressing closely to the wall, she advanced a fewsteps, and a few more yet, and then the huge beast, desiring to splashhis sides, turned his head, saw the little maid, and, beholding her,moved at once towards her.
Nell became very much frightened, but as there was no time now forretreat, pressing knee to knee, she curtsied to the elephant as bestshe could; after which she stretched out her little hand with thebegonias and spoke in a slightly quivering voice.
"Good day, dear elephant. I know you won't harm me; so I came to saygood day--and I have only these flowers--"
And the colossus approached, stretched out his trunk, and picked thebunch of beg
onias out of Nell's little fingers, and putting them intohis mouth he dropped them at once as evidently neither the rough leavesnor the flowers were to his taste. Nell now saw above her the trunklike a huge black snake which stretched and bent; it touched one of herlittle hands and then the other; afterwards both shoulders and finallydescending it began to swing gently to and fro.
"I knew that you would not harm me," the little girl repeated, thoughfear did not leave her.
Meanwhile the elephant drew back his fabulous ears, winding andunwinding alternately his trunk and gurgling joyfully as he alwaysgurgled when the little girl approached the brink of the ravine.
And as at one time Stas and the lion, so now these two stood oppositeeach other--he, an enormity, resembling a house or a rock, and she amite whom he could crush with one motion, not indeed in rage