Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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reason did the boy notattempt to fly with his little companion to Abyssinia? Why did thedervishes send them east of the Nile into an unknown region? In whatmanner did they succeed in escaping from the hands of the guards? Wheredid they hide? By what miracle through long months of journey did theynot die from starvation, or become the prey of wild animals? Why werethey not killed by savages? To all these questions there was no reply.
"I do not understand it, I do not understand it," repeated DoctorClary; "this is perhaps a miracle of God."
"Undoubtedly," the captain answered.
After which he added:
"But that boy! For that, of course, was his work."
"And he did not abandon the little one. May the blessings of God flowupon his head!"
"Stanley--even Stanley would not have survived three days under thesecircumstances."
"And nevertheless they live."
"But appeal for help. The stop is ended. We start at once."
And so it happened. On the road both friends scrutinized the documentcontinually in the conviction that they might obtain from it an inklingof the direction in which it was necessary for them to go with help.But directions were lacking. The captain led the caravan in a zigzagway, hoping that he might chance upon some trace, some extinct fire, ora tree with a sign carved on the bark. In this manner they advanced fora few days. Unfortunately they entered afterwards upon a plain,entirely treeless, covered with high heather and tufts of dried grass.Uneasiness began to possess both friends. How easy it was to miss eachother in that immeasurable expanse, even with a whole caravan; and howmuch more so two children, who, as they imagined, crept like two littleworms somewhere amid heather higher than themselves! Another daypassed. Neither fires at night nor tin boxes, with notes in them,fastened on the tufts helped them any. The captain and the doctor attimes began to lose hope of ever succeeding in finding the childrenand, particularly, of finding them alive.
They sought for them zealously, however, during the following days. Thepatrols, which Glenn sent right and left, finally reported to him thatfarther on began a desert entirely waterless; so when they accidentallydiscovered cool water in a cleft it was necessary to halt in order toreplenish their supplies for the further journey.
The cleft was rather a fissure, a score of yards deep and comparativelynarrow. At its bottom flowed a warm spring, seething like boilingwater, for it was saturated with carbonic acid. Nevertheless, itappeared that the water, after cooling, was good and wholesome. Thespring was so abundant that the three hundred men of the caravan couldnot exhaust it. On the contrary the more water they drew from it themore it flowed, and filled the fissure higher.
"Perhaps sometime," Doctor Clary said, "this place will be a resort forthe health-seeker, but at present this water is inaccessible foranimals because the walls of the fissure are too steep."
"Could the children chance upon a similar spring?"
"I do not know. It may be that more of them can be found in thislocality. But if not, then without water they must perish."
Night fell. Fires were lit. Nevertheless, a boma was not erected, forthere was nothing to build one with. After the evening refreshments,the doctor and the captain sat upon folding chairs, and lighting theirpipes, began to converse of that which lay most upon their hearts.
"Not a trace," declared Clary.
"It had occurred to me," Glenn replied, "to send ten of our men to theocean coast with a despatch that there is news of the children. But Iam glad that I did not do that, as the men would perish on the way,and, even if they reached the coast, why should we awaken vain hopes?"
"And revive the pain--"
The doctor removed the white helmet from his head and wiped hisperspiring forehead.
"Listen," he said; "if we should return to that lake and order the mento hew down trees and at night light a gigantic bonfire, perhaps thechildren might descry it."
"If they were near we would find them anyway, and if they are far offthe rolling ground would hide the fire. Here the plain is seeminglylevel, but in reality is in knobs, wavy as the ocean. Besides, byretreating we would definitely lose the possibility of finding eventraces of them."
"Speak candidly. You have no hope?"
"My dear sir, we are grown-up, strong, and resourceful men, and thinkof what would become of us if we two were here alone, even withweapons--but without supplies and men--"
"Yes! alas--yes! I picture to myself the two children going in such anight across the desert."
"Hunger, thirst, and wild animals."
"And nevertheless the boy writes that under such conditions theyproceeded for long months."
"There is also something in that which passes my comprehension."
For a long time could be heard amid the stillness only the sizzling ofthe tobacco in the pipes. The doctor gazed into the depth of the night,after which he said in a subdued voice:
"It is already late, but sleep has deserted me. And to think that they,if alive, are straying somewhere in the moonlight amid these dryheathers--alone--such children! Do you remember, Glenn, the littleone's angelic countenance?"
"I remember it, and cannot forget."
"Ah, I would allow my hand to be cut off, if--"
And he did not finish, for Glenn started up suddenly as if scalded.
"A sky-rocket in the distance!" he shouted.
"A sky-rocket!" repeated the doctor.
"Some kind of caravan is ahead of us."
"Which might have found the children."
"Perhaps. Let us hurry to them."
"Forward!"
The captain's orders resounded in one moment throughout the camp. TheZanzibarians sprang up suddenly on their feet. Soon torches were lit.Glenn in reply to the distant signal directed that a few rockets, oneafter the other, be sent up; and afterwards that the salvo of rifleshots be continued. Before a quarter of an hour elapsed the whole campwas on the way.
From the distance shots replied. There was no doubt that this was somekind of European caravan, appealing, from unknown reasons, for help.
The captain and the doctor raced forward, swept alternately by fear andhope. Would they find the children or would they not? The doctor saidin his soul that, if not, they in the further journey could seek onlyfor their remains amid those terrible heather-bushes.
After a half-hour one of those knobs, of which they had spoken before,obstructed the further view of the friends. But they were already sonear that they heard distinctly the clatter of a horse's hoofs. In afew minutes, and on the top of the elevation, appeared a rider, holdingbefore him a white object.
"Torches up," commanded Glenn.
In the same moment the rider brought his horse into the circle of light.
"Water! Water!"
"The children!" Doctor Clary cried.
"Water!" Stas repeated.
And he almost hurled Nell into the captain's arms and leaped out of thesaddle.
But immediately he staggered, and fell like a corpse upon the ground.
CONCLUSION
Joy in the camp of Captain Glenn and Doctor Clary was boundless, butthe curiosity of both Englishmen was subjected to a severe test. For ifpreviously they could not comprehend how the children by themselvescould cross those vast wilds and deserts separating that region fromthe Nile and Fashoda, then at present they could not at all understandin what manner "the little Pole," as they called Stas, not onlyaccomplished that but appeared before them as the leader of a caravan,armed with European weapons--with an elephant bearing a palanquin, withhorses, tents, and a considerable supply of provisions. At the sight ofthis, the captain spread out his arms and said every little while:"Clary, I have seen a great deal but I have not seen such a boy,"--andthe honest doctor repeated with no less astonishment: "And he rescuedthe little one from slavery and saved her!" After which he hastened tothe tents to see how the children were and whether they slept well.
And the children, having appeased their thirst and hunger and changedtheir clothes, slept as though slain, du
ring the whole of the followingday; the people in their caravan did the same. Captain Glenn tried toquestion Kali about Stas' deeds and adventures during the journey, butthe young negro, opening one eye, only answered: "The great master cando everything,"--and again fell asleep. It positively became necessaryto postpone questions and explanations for a few days.
In the meantime the two friends conferred over the return journey toMombasa. They had, as it was, penetrated farther and explored moreterritory than they were commissioned to; they decided, therefore, toreturn without delay. The captain indeed was lured very much by thatlake unknown to geography, but a regard for the health of the childrenand a desire to return them as quickly as possible to their afflictedfathers prevailed. The doctor insisted, however, that it would benecessary to