Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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Above all heunderstood that a lack of water would disperse the caravan at once, andfor that reason he inquired so eagerly about the river. Going along itscourse, they really might avoid those horrors to which travelers inwaterless regions are exposed.
But the Samburus could not tell him anything definite; he himself couldnot make any longer explorations of the eastern shore of the lake, forother employment kept him at Boko. He reckoned that in all probabilitynone of the kites that he flew from Mount Linde and from the negrovillages had crossed the chain of mountains surrounding Bassa-Narok.For this reason it was necessary to make and fly new ones, for thesethe wind could now carry across the flat desert far away--perhaps asfar as the ocean. Now this work he had to supervise personally. Forthough Nell could glue them perfectly, and Kali had learned how to flythem, neither of them were able to inscribe on them all that it wasnecessary to write. Stas regarded this as a matter of great importancewhich it was not allowable to neglect.
So this labor occupied so much of his time that the caravan was notready for the journey until three weeks had elapsed. But on the eve ofthe day on which they were to start at daybreak the young King of theWahimas appeared before Stas and, bowing profoundly, said:
"Kali goes with the master and the 'bibi' as far as the water on whichgreat pirogues of the white people float."
Stas was touched by this proof of attachment; nevertheless, he thoughtthat he had no right to take the boy with him upon such an immensejourney, a return from which might be uncertain.
"Why do you want to go with us?" he asked.
"Kali loves the great master and the 'bibi'."
Stas placed the palm of his hand on Kali's woolly head.
"I know, Kali, that you are an honest and good boy. But what willbecome of your kingdom and who will govern the Wahimas in your place?"
"M'Tana, brother of Kali's mother."
Stas knew that strife for rulership raged among the negroes and powerlured them the same as the white people; so he pondered for a while andsaid:
"No, Kali. I cannot take you with me. You must remain with the Wahimasin order to make good people of them."
"Kali will return to them."
"M'Tana has many sons-- Well, what will happen if he himself shoulddesire to become king and leave the kingdom to his sons, and shouldinduce the Wahimas to expel you?"
"M'tana is good. He would not do that."
"But if he should do it?"
"Then Kali will again go to the great water--to the great master andthe 'bibi.'"
"We shall not be there then."
"Then Kali will sit beside the water and weep from grief."
Speaking thus he crossed his hands above his head; after a while hewhispered:
"Kali loves the great master and the 'bibi' very much--very much!"
And two big tears glistened in his eyes.
Stas hesitated how to act. He was sorry for Kali, nevertheless, he didnot assent to his entreaty. He understood--not to speak of the dangersof return--that if M'Tana or the fetish-men stirred up the negroes,then the boy was threatened not only with expulsion from the countrybut with death.
"It is better for you to remain," he said, "better without question."
But while he was saying this, Nell entered. Through the thin mat whichseparated the rooms she had heard perfectly the whole conversation, andnow seeing tears in Kali's eyes she began to wipe his eyelids with herlittle fingers, and afterward turned to Stas:
"Kali is going with us," she said with great firmness.
"Oho!" answered Stas, somewhat ruffled, "that does not depend upon you."
"Kali is going with us," she repeated.
"No, he will not go."
Suddenly she stamped her little foot.
"I want it."
And she burst into a genuine flood of tears.
Stas stared at her with the greatest amazement, as though he did notunderstand what had happened to the little maid who was always so goodand gentle, but seeing that she stuck both of her little fists in hereyes and, like a little bird, caught the air with her opened mouth, hebegan to exclaim with great haste:
"Kali is going with us! He is going! He is going! Why are you crying?How unbearable you are! He is going! My, how pale you are! He is going!Do you hear?"
And thus it happened. Stas was ashamed until the evening of hisweakness for the "Good Mzimu," and the "Good Mzimu" having carried herpoint, was as quiet, gentle, and obedient as ever.
XXII
The caravan started at daybreak on the following day. The young negrowas happy, the little female despot was now gentle and obedient, andStas was full of energy and hope. They were accompanied by one hundredSamburus and one hundred Wahimas--forty of the latter were armed withRemingtons from which they could shoot passably well. The whitecommander who drilled them during three weeks knew, indeed, that in agiven case they would create more noise than harm, but thought that inmeeting savages noise plays no less a part than bullets, and he waspleased with his guards. They took with them a great supply of manioc,cakes baked of big, fat white ants and ground into flour, as well as agreat quantity of smoked meats. Between ten and twenty women went withthe caravan. They carried various good things for Nell and water-bagsmade of antelope skin. Stas, from the King's back, kept order, issuedcommands--perhaps not so much because they were necessary, but becausehe was intoxicated by the role of a commander--and with pride viewedhis little army.
"If I wanted to," he said to himself, "I could remain the king of allthe people of Doko, like Beniowsky in Madagascar."
And a thought flitted through his head whether it would not be well toreturn here sometime, conquer a great tract of country, civilize thenegroes, found in that locality a new Poland, or even start at the headof a drilled black host for the old. As he felt, however, that therewas something ludicrous in the idea and as he doubted whether hisfather would permit him to play the role of the Macedonian Alexander inAfrica, he did not confide his plans to Nell, who certainly would bethe only person in the world ready to applaud them.
And besides, before subjugating that region of Africa, it was necessaryabove all things to get out of it, so he occupied himself with nearermatters. The caravan stretched out in a long string. Stas, sitting onthe King's neck, decided to ride at the end in order to have everythingand everybody in sight.
Now when the people passed by him, one after another, he observed, notwithout surprise, that the two fetishmen, M'Kunje and M'Pua--the samewho had received a drubbing at Kali's hands--belonged to the caravanand that they set out with packs on their heads together with theothers on the road.
So he stopped them and asked:
"Who ordered you to go?"
"The king," they answered, bowing humbly.
But under the mask of humility their eyes glittered savagely and theirfaces reflected such malice that Stas at once wanted to drive themaway, and if he did not do it, it was only because he did not want toundermine Kali's authority.
Nevertheless, he summoned him at once.
"Did you order the fetish-men to go with us?" he asked.
"Kali ordered it, for Kali is wise."
"Then I shall ask you why your wisdom did not leave them at home?"
"Because if M'Kunje and M'Pua remain they would instigate the Wahimasto kill Kali upon his return, but if we take them with us Kali will beable to watch them."
Stas meditated for a while and said:
"Perhaps you are right; nevertheless, do not lose sight of them, day ornight, for they have a wicked look."
"Kali will have bamboo sticks," the young negro replied.
The caravan proceeded. Stas at the last moment ordered the guard, armedwith Remingtons, to close the procession, as they were men chosen byhim, and most reliable. During the drills, which lasted quite long,they had become attached in a certain degree to this young commander,and at the same time, as the nearest to his august person, theyregarded themselves as something better than the others. At presentthey were to watch over the whole caravan
and seize those who shouldtake a fancy to desert. It was to be foreseen that when the hardshipsand dangers began deserters would not be lacking.
But the first day everything proceeded in the best possible manner. Thenegroes with the burdens on their heads, each one armed with a bow anda few smaller javelins or so-called assagais, extended in a longserpentine column amidst the jungle. For some time they skirted alongthe southern shore of the lake over the level ground, but as the lakewas surrounded on all sides by high peaks they had to climb mountainswhen they turned to the east. The old Samburus, who knew that locality,claimed that the caravan would have to cross high passes between themountains which they called Kullal and Inro, after which they wouldenter into the Ebene country, lying south of Borani. Stas understoodthat they