Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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and twenty paces they again stood still, staring at thisobject unknown to them, until, having gratified their curiosity, theybegan to graze calmly. From time to time a rhinoceros started upsuddenly before the caravan with a crash and in a rage, but in spite ofits impetuous nature and its readiness to attack everything which comeswithin range of its vision, it ran away shamefully at the sight of theKing, whom only the commands of Stas restrained from pursuit.
An African elephant detests a rhinoceros, and if he finds its freshtracks, trusting to superior strength, he follows until he finds hisadversary and commences a combat in which the rhinoceros is almostalways the victim. It was not easy for the King, who undoubtedly wasalready responsible for the death of many, to renounce this habit, butnow he was so tame and was so accustomed to regard Stas as his master,that hearing his voice and observing the threatening look in his eyes,he dropped his uplifted trunk and walked ahead quietly. Stas did notlack a desire to witness a fight between giants, but he feared forNell. If the elephant started on a full run, the palanquin might bewrecked, and what is worse, the huge beast might bump it against abough, and then Nell's life would be in terrible danger. Stas knew fromdescriptions of hunts which he had read in Port Said that thetiger-hunters in India fear, more than the tigers, that the elephant ina panic or in pursuit may dash the howdah against a tree. Finally, thefull run of the giant is so heavy that no one without impairment of hishealth could long endure such rides.
On the other hand, the presence of the King removed a multitude ofdangers. The malignant and bold buffaloes, which they met that daybound for the little lake at which all the animals of the vicinitygathered at evening, also scampered away at sight of him and, making acircuit of the whole lake, drank on the other side. At night the King,with one hind leg tied to a tree, guarded the tent in which Nell slept.This was a watch so secure that though Stas ordered a fire to be built,he regarded the erection of a zareba as a superfluous precaution,though he knew that the lions would not be missing in a regionabounding with such numerous herds of antelopes. In fact, it happenedthat very night that some lions began to roar among the giganticjunipers* [*Junipers in the Karamojo Mountains in Abyssinia attain theheight of one hundred and sixty feet. See Elisee Reclus.] growing onthe hillsides. Notwithstanding the blazing fire the lions, allured bythe odor of horses, drew nearer to the camp; but, when the King becametired of hearing their voices and suddenly, amid the stillness, histhreatening, thunder-like clarion tones resounded, they hushed asthough abashed, apparently understanding that with such an individualit was best not to have any direct dealings. The children sleptexcellently the balance of the night, and only at daybreak did theyproceed upon their further journey.
But for Stas anxiety and worry again began. In the first place, heperceived that they were traveling slowly and that they could not makemore than six miles a day. Proceeding in this manner they would be ableindeed to reach the Abyssinian frontier after a month, but as Stas wasdetermined to follow Linde's advice in every respect, and Linde hadpositively claimed that they would not be able to go through toAbyssinia, there remained only the road to the ocean. But according tothe calculation of the Swiss they were over six hundred and twentymiles from the ocean, and that in a direct line; then Mombasa beingsituated farther south, the goal was still further; therefore, theentire journey would require over three months. With alarm Stas thoughtthat it would be three months of excessive heat, toil, and dangers fromnegro tribes which they might encounter. They were still in a desolatecountry from which the population had been driven by the smallpox andnews of the dervish raids; but Africa, on the whole, is quite populous,so sooner or later they must reach localities inhabited by unknownraces, ruled usually by savage and cruel petty kings. It was anuncommon task to extricate one's self with life and liberty from suchdifficulties.
Stas relied simply upon this: that if he chanced upon the Wahimapeople, he would drill a few tens of warriors in shooting, andafterwards induce them by great promises to accompany him to the ocean.But Kali had no idea where the Wahimas lived; neither could Linde, whohad heard something of the tribe, indicate the way to them, nor couldhe designate specifically the locality occupied by them. Linde hadmentioned some great lake, of which he knew only from narratives, andKali contended with positiveness that one side of that lake, which hecalled Basso-Narok, was occupied by the Wahimas, and the other by theSamburus. Now Stas was troubled by this: that in the geography ofAfrica, which in the school in Port Said was taught very thoroughly,there was no mention made of such a lake. If Kali only had spoken ofit, he would have assumed that it was Victoria Nyanza, but Linde couldnot err for he had just come from Victoria, northward, along theKaramojo Mountains, and, from reports of natives of those mountains, hehad come to the conclusion that this mysterious lake was situatedfurther east and north. Stas did not know what to think of it all; hefeared, however, that he might not chance upon the Wahimas at the lake;he feared also the savage tribes, the waterless jungle, theinsurmountable mountains, the tsetse flies which destroy animals; hefeared the sleeping sickness, the fever for Nell, the heat, and thatimmeasurable expanse which still separated them from the ocean.
But after leaving Mount Linde, naught else remained to do than to goahead continually eastward. Linde indeed had said that this journey wasbeyond the strength of an experienced and energetic traveler, but Stashad already acquired a great deal of experience, and as to energy, why,as Nell was concerned, he determined to use as much of it as might benecessary. In the meantime it was essential to spare the strength ofthe little girl; so he decided to travel only from six until teno'clock in the forenoon, and to make the second march from three to sixin the afternoon only in case that at the first stopping place therewas no water.
But in the meantime, as the rain fell during the massica quitecopiously, they found water everywhere. The little lakes, formed by thedownpours in the valleys, were still well filled, and from themountains flowed here and there streams, pouring crystalline, coolwater in which bathing was excellent and at the same time absolutelysafe, for crocodiles live only in the greater waters in which fish,which form their usual food, are to be found.
Stas, however, did not permit the little girl to drink crude water ashe had inherited from Linde a filter whose action always filled Kaliand Mea with amazement. Both seeing how the filter, immerged in aturbid, whitish liquid, admitted to the reservoir only pure andtranslucent water, lay down with laughter and slapped their knees withthe palms of their hands in sign of surprise and joy.
On the whole, the journey at the beginning progressed easily. They hadfrom Linde considerable supplies of coffee, tea, sugar, bouillon,various preserves, and all kinds of medicine. Stas did not have to savehis packs for there were more of them than they could take along; theydid not lack also various implements, weapons of all calibers, andsky-rockets, which on encountering negroes might prove very useful. Thecountry was fertile; game, therefore fresh meat, was everywhere inabundance, likewise fruit. Here and there in the low lands they chancedupon marshes, but still covered with water, therefore not infecting theair with their noxious exhalations. On the table-land there were noneof the mosquitoes which inoculate the blood with fever. The heat fromten o'clock in the morning became unbearable but the little travelersstopped during the so-called "white hours" in the deep shade of greattrees, through the dense foliage of which not a ray of the sun couldpenetrate. Perfect health also favored Nell, Stas, and the negroes.
XVII
On the fifth day Stas rode with Nell on the King, for they had chancedupon a wide belt of acacias, growing so densely that the horses couldmove only on a path beaten down by the elephant. The hour was early,the morning radiant and dewy. The children conversed about the journeyand the fact that each day brought them nearer to the ocean and totheir fathers, for whom both continually longed. This, from the momentof their abduction from Fayum, was the inexhaustible subject of alltheir conversations, which always moved them to tears. And theyincessantly repeated in a circle that their papas thought that theyalre
ady were dead and both were grieving and in spite of hope weredespatching Arabs to Khartum for news while they were now far away, notonly from Khartum but from Fashoda, and after five days would be stillfarther until finally they would reach the ocean, or perhaps beforethat time, some kind of place from which they could send despatches.The only person in the whole caravan who knew what still awaited themwas Stas;--Nell, on the other hand, was most profoundly convinced thatthere was nothing in the world which "Stes" could not accomplish andshe was quite certain that he would conduct her to the coast. So manytimes, anticipating events, she pictured to herself in her little headwhat would happen when the first news of them arrived and, chirpinglike a little bird, related it to Stas. "Our papas are sitting," shesaid, "in Port Said and weeping, when in comes a boy with a despatch.What is it? My papa or your papa opens it and looks at the signaturesand reads 'Stas and Nell.' Then