Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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corpses.And thus took place this baptism of the sleepers--in the morningstillness, in the luster of the sun, in the desert gloom. The sky thatday was cloudless, a grayish blue, and as though sad.
Linde was still conscious, but grew weaker and weaker. After the woundswere dressed, he handed to Stas papers enclosed in a tin case,entrusted them to his care, and said nothing more. He could not eat,but thirst tormented him terribly. Before sunset he became delirious.He shouted at some imaginary children not to sail too far away on someunknown lake, and afterwards fell into chills, and clasped his headwith both hands.
On the following day he did not recognize Stas at all, and at noon,three days later, he died without recovering consciousness. Stasmourned for him sincerely, and afterwards with Kali carried him to aneighboring narrow cave, the opening of which they closed with thornsand stones.
Stas took little Nasibu to "Cracow," while Kali was ordered to watchthe supplies at the camp and keep a big fire burning near the sleepers.Stas bustled continually between the two ravines, conveying luggage andparticularly the rifle cartridges, from which he extracted powder andmade a mine for the purpose of blasting the rock which imprisoned theKing. Happily Nell's health improved considerably after daily doses ofquinine, and the greater variety of food increased her strength. Stasleft her reluctantly and with fear, and on riding away would not permither to leave the tree and closed the opening with thorny acacia boughs.Owing to the pressure of work which devolved upon him, he had to leaveher, however, to the care of Mea, Nasibu, and Saba, upon whom after allhe depended the most. Rather than to leave her alone for any length oftime, he preferred to ride a score of times each day to Linde's campfor the luggage. He also overworked himself terribly, but his ironconstitution endured all toil. Nevertheless, not until the tenth daywere all the packs distributed; those of less value were hidden incaves, and those of more importance were brought to "Cracow"; thehorses, too, were led onto the promontory and a considerable number ofRemington rifles were carried by them, which rifles were to be bornelater by the King.
During that time in Linde's camp, from time to time, some of thesleeping negroes would start up in an ante-mortem paroxysm of thedisease, fly into the jungle, and return no more; there were some whodied on the spot, and others, rushing blindly, crushed their heads onthe rocks in the camp itself or in the neighborhood. These Kali had tobury. After two weeks only one remained, but that one soon died in hissleep from exhaustion.
Finally the time arrived for blasting the rock and the liberation ofthe King. He was so tame now that at Stas' order he seized him with histrunk and placed him on his neck. He also had become accustomed tobearing things which Kali pulled on his back over a bamboo ladder. Nellinsisted that he was too heavily burdened, but in truth to him it waslike a fly, and only the luggage inherited from Linde could form arespectable load for him. With Saba, at the sight of whom in thebeginning he displayed uneasiness, he became quite friendly, and playedwith him in this manner: he would overturn him on the ground with histrunk, and Saba would pretend that he was biting. At times, however, hewould unexpectedly souse the dog with water, which act was regarded bythe latter as a joke of the poorest taste.
The children were principally pleased because the beast, being quick ofcomprehension and seriously minded, understood everything that waswanted of him and seemed to comprehend, not only every order, but evenevery nod. In this respect elephants surpass immeasurably all otherdomesticated animals, and the King, beyond comparison, surpassed Saba,who wagged his tail to all of Nell's admonitions and afterwards didwhatever he pleased. The King discerned perfectly, for instance, thatthe person whom it was most necessary to obey was Stas, and that theperson about whom all cared the most was Nell. So he most carefullycomplied with Stas' orders, and loved Nell the most. To Kali he paidless heed and Mea he slighted entirely.
Stas, after making the mine, inserted it in the deepest fissure, afterwhich he plastered it wholly with clay, leaving only a small openingthrough which hung a fuse twisted of dry palm fiber and rubbed withfine powder. The decisive moment finally arrived. Stas personally litthe powdered rope, after which he ran as far as his legs could carryhim to the tree in which previously he had fastened all the others.Nell was afraid that the King might be frightened too much, but the boycalmed her first with the statement that he had selected a day on whichthe morning was accompanied by a thunderstorm, and then with theassurance that wild elephants often hear the peal of thunder when theheavenly elements are unfettered over the jungle.
They sat, however, with palpitating hearts, counting minute afterminute. A terrific roar so agitated the atmosphere that the sturdybaobab tree shook from top to bottom and remnants of the unscrapeddecayed wood poured upon their heads. Stas, at that moment, jumped outof the tree and, avoiding the bends of the ravine, ran to thepassageway.
The results of the explosion appeared extraordinary. One half of thelime rock was reduced to minute fragments; the other half had burstinto about a score of greater or smaller pieces, which the force of theexplosion scattered to quite a distance.
The elephant was free.
The overjoyed boy now rushed to the edge of the ravine, where he foundNell with Mea and Kali. The King was startled a little and, retreatingto the very brink of the ravine, stood with uplifted trunk, gazing inthe direction from which came the sound of such unusual thunder. Butwhen Nell began to call to him, when she came to him through thepassageway, already opened, he became entirely quiet. More startledthan the King were the horses, of which two dashed into the jungle, andit was not until sunset that Kali caught them.
That very same day Nell led the King "out into the world." The colossusfollowed her obediently, like a little puppy, and afterwards bathed inthe river, and alone secured his supper in this singular manner:bracing his head against a big sycamore tree, he broke it like a feeblereed and afterwards carefully nibbled the fruit and the leaves.
Towards evening he returned, however, to the tree, and shoving, everylittle while, his enormous nose through an opening, sought for Nell sozealously and persistently that Stas finally was compelled to give histrunk a sound smack.
Kali, however, was the most overjoyed with the result of that day, forupon his shoulders had fallen the work of gathering provisions for thegiant, which was by no means an easy task. So then Stas and Nell heardhim, while lighting the fire for supper, sing a new hymn of joy,composed of the following words:
"The great master kills men and lions. Yah! Yah! The great mastercrushes rocks. Yah! Yah! The elephant, himself, breaks trees and Kalican be idle and eat. Yah! Yah!"
The rainy season, or the so-called "massica," was drawing to an end.There were yet cloudy and rainy days, but there were also days entirelyclear. Stas decided to remove to the mountain indicated to him byLinde, and this purpose he carried out soon after the King'sliberation. Nell's health did not present any obstacles now, as shefelt decidedly better.
Selecting, therefore, a clear day, they started at noon. They were notafraid now that they would stray, as the boy had inherited from Linde,among various articles, a compass and an excellent field-glass, throughwhich it was easy to descry distant localities. Besides Saba and thedonkey they were accompanied by five pack-horses and the elephant. Thelatter, besides the luggage on his back, on his neck bore Nell, whobetween his two enormous ears looked as though she were sitting in abig arm-chair. Stas without regret abandoned the promontory and thebaobab tree, for it was associated with the recollection of Nell'sillness. On the other hand, the little girl gazed with sad eyes at therocks, at the trees, at the waterfall, and announced that she wouldreturn there when she should be "big."
Sadder still was little Nasibu, who had loved sincerely his formermaster, and, at present riding on the donkey in the rear, he turnedaround every little while and looked with tears in his eyes towards theplace where poor Linde would remain until the day of the great judgment.
The wind blew from the north and the day was unusually cool. Thanks tothis they did not have to stop and wait from ten t
o three, until thegreatest heat was over, and they could travel a longer distance than iscustomary with caravans. The road was not long, and a few hours beforesunset Stas espied the mountain towards which they were bound. In thedistance on the background of the sky was outlined a long chain ofother peaks, and this mountain rose nearer and lonely, like an islandin a jungle sea. When they rode closer it appeared that its steep sideswere washed by a loop of the river near which they previously hadsettled. The top was perfectly flat, and seen from below appeared to becovered by one dense forest. Stas computed that since the promontory,on which their baobab tree grew, was about twenty-three hundred feethigh and the mountain about twenty-six hundred feet, they would dwellat an elevation of about forty-nine hundred feet and in a climate notmuch warmer, therefore, than that of Egypt. This thought encouraged himand urged him to take possession of this natural fortress as quickly aspossible.
They easily found the only rocky ridge which led to it and began theascent. After the lapse of half an hour they stood on the summit. Thatforest seen from below was really a forest--but of bananas. The sightof them delighted all exceedingly, not excepting the King, and Stas wasparticularly pleased, for he knew that there is not in Africa a morenourishing and healthy food nor a better preventative of all ailmentsthan the flour of dried banana fruit. There were so many of them thatthey would suffice even for a year.
Amidst the immense leaves of these plants was hidden the negro village;most of the huts had been burned or ruined at the time of the attack,but some were still whole. In the center stood the largest, belongingat one time to the king of the village; it was prettily made of clay,with a wide roof forming around the walls a sort of veranda. Before thehuts lay here and there human bones and skeletons, white as chalk, forthey had been cleaned by the ants of whose invasion Linde spoke. Fromthe time of the invasion many weeks had already elapsed; nevertheless,in the huts could be smelt the leaven of ants, and one could find inthem neither the big black cock-roaches, which usually swarm in allnegro hovels, nor spiders nor scorpions nor the smallest of insects.
Everything had been cleaned out by the terrible "siafu." It was also acertainty that there was not on the whole mountain-top a single snake,as even boas fall prey to these invincible little warriors.
After conducting Nell and Mea into the chief's hut, Stas ordered Kaliand Nasibu to remove the human bones. The black boys carried out thisorder by flinging them into the river, which carried them farther.While thus employed, however, they found that Linde was mistaken indeclaring that they would not find a living creature on the mountain.The silence which reigned after the seizure of the people by thedervishes and the sight of the bananas had allured a great number ofchimpanzees which built for themselves, on the loftier trees, somethinglike umbrellas or roofs, for protection against rain. Stas did not wantto kill them, but decided to drive them away, and with this object inview he fired a shot into the air. This produced a general panic, whichincreased still more when after the shot Saba's furious bass barkingresounded, and the King, incited by the noise, trumpeted threateningly.But the apes, to make a retreat, did not need to seek the rocky ridge;they dashed over the broken rocks towards the river and the treesgrowing near it with such rapidity that Saba's fangs could not reachany of them.
The sun had set. Kali and Nasibu built a fire to prepare for supper.Stas, after unpacking the necessary articles for the night, repaired tothe king's hut, which was occupied by Nell. It was light and cheerfulin the hut, for Mea had lit, not the fire-pot which had illuminated theinterior of the baobab tree, but a large traveling lamp inherited fromLinde. Nell did not at all feel fatigued from the journey in a day socool, and fell into perfect good humor, especially when Stas announcedthat the human bones, which she feared, had been taken away.
"How nice it is here!" she exclaimed. "Look, even the floor is coveredwith resin. It will be fine here."
"To-morrow I shall fully examine our possessions," he answered;"judging, however, by what I have seen to-day, one could dwell here allhis life."
"If our papas were here, then we could. But how will you name thispossession?"
"The mountain ought to be called Mount Linde in geographies; and letthis village be named after you, Nell."
"Then I shall be in the geographies?" asked she with great glee.
"You will, you will," Stas replied in all seriousness.
XIV
The next day it rained a little, but there were hours when the weatherwas clear, so Stas early in the morning started to visit hispossessions and at noon had viewed thoroughly all the nooks. Theinspection on the whole created a favorable impression. First, inrespect to safety, Mount Linde was as though the chosen spot of allAfrica. Its sides were accessible only to chimpanzees. Neither lionsnor panthers could climb over its precipitous sides. As to the rockyridge, it was sufficient to place the King at its entrances to be ableto sleep safely on both ears. Stas came to the conclusion that there hecould repulse even a small division of dervishes, as the road leadingto the mountain was so narrow that the King could barely pass on it anda man armed with a good weapon need not permit a living soul to reachthe top. In the middle of the "island" gushed a spring, cool and pureas crystal, which changed into a stream and, running sinuously amid thebanana groves, finally fell over the steep hanging rocks to the river,forming a narrow waterfall resembling a white tape. On the southernside of the "island" lay a field, covered abundantly with manioc, theroots of which supply the negroes with their favorite food, and beyondthe fields towered immeasurably high cocoa palms with crowns in theshape of magnificent plumes of feathers.
The "island" was surrounded by a sea of jungle and the view from itextended over an immense expanse. From the east loomed lividly theKaramojo Mountain chain. On the south could also be seen considerableelevations, which, to judge from their dark hue, were covered withforests. On the other hand, on the western side the view ran as far asthe horizon's boundary, at which the jungle met the sky. Stas descried,however, with the help of the field-glass, numerous hollows and,scattered sparsely, mighty trees rising above the grass like churches.In places, where the grasses had not yet shot up too high, could beperceived even with the naked eye whole herds of antelopes and zebrasor groups of elephants and buffaloes. Here and there giraffes cutthrough the dark green surface of the sea of grass. Close by the rivera dozen or more water-bucks disported and others every little whilethrust their horny heads out of the depths. In one place where thewater was calm, fishes like those which Kali had caught leaped everylittle while out of the water, and, twinkling in the air like silverystars, fell again into the river. Stas promised to himself to bringNell there when the weather had settled and show her this wholemenagerie.
On the "island," on the other hand, there were none of the largeranimals; instead there were a great number of butterflies and birds.Big parrots, white as snow, with black beaks and yellow crests flewabove the bushes of the grove; tiny, wonderfully plumaged widow-birdsswung on the thin manioc stalks, changing color and glittering likejewels, and from the high cocoa trees came the sounds of the Africancuckoos and the gentle cooing of the turtle-dove.
Stas returned from his inspection trip with joy in his soul. "Theclimate," he said, "is healthy; the security is perfect, the provisionsare abundant, and the place is as beautiful as Paradise." Returning toNell's hut he learned to his surprise that there were larger animals onthe "island"; two, in fact, for little Nasibu had discovered in abanana thicket while Stas was absent a goat with a kid, which thedervishes had overlooked. The goat was a little wild, but the kid atonce became friendly with Nasibu, who was immeasurably proud of hisdiscovery and of the fact that through his instrumentality "bibi" wouldnow have excellent fresh milk daily.
"What shall we do now, Stas?" Nell asked one day, when she had settleddown for good to her housekeeping on the "island."
"There is plenty of work to do," the boy answered, after which,spreading out the fingers of one hand, he began to count on them allthe work awaiting them.
"In the first place Kali and Mea are pagans, and Nasibu, as a native ofZanzibar, is a Mohammedan. It is necessary to enlighten them, teachthem the faith, and baptize them. Then, it is necessary to smoke meatfor our future journey and therefore I must go hunting; thirdly, havinga good supply of rifles and cartridges, I want to teach Kali to shootin order that there shall be two of us to defend you; and fourthly--youprobably forgot about the kites?"
"About the kites?"
"Yes, those which you will glue, or better still, you will sew. Thatshall be your work."
"I don't want to play only."
"That won't be all play, but work most useful for all. Don't think thatit will end with one kite for you must be ready for fifty or more."
"But why so many?" asked the girl, whose curiosity was aroused.
So Stas began to explain his plans and hopes. He would write on eachkite their names, how they had escaped from the hands of the dervishes,where they were, and whither they were bound. He would also inscribe arequest for help and that a message be despatched to Port Said. Afterthat he would fly these kites every time the wind was blowing from thewest to the east.
"Many of them," he said, "will fall not far off; many will be stoppedby the mountains, but let only one of them fly to the coast and fallinto European hands--then we are saved."
Nell was enchanted with the idea and announced that in comparison withthe wisdom of Stas not even that of the King could be mentioned. Shealso was quite certain that a multitude of the kites would fly even totheir papas, and she promised to glue them from morning until night.Her joy was so great that Stas, from fear that she might get a fever,was