The Adventures of Dick Maitland Part 6

"Um!" remarked d.i.c.k; "that does not sound altogether promising, eh, Phil? Seems to indicate that there may possibly be difficulties put in the way of our penetrating the country, doesn't it? What did you say to the _'mfana_ Mafuta?"

"I said," answered Mafuta, "that the two white men, my chiefs, had come from afar across the Great Water to visit Lobelalatutu, the King of the great Makolo nation, to offer presents, and to request his permission to examine the ruins of the great city of which they had heard."

"Yes, of course; I suppose that was the correct diplomatic way in which to put the matter," remarked d.i.c.k. "And what said Matemba in reply?"

"He said," answered Mafuta, "that doubtless the king, remembering the commands laid upon him by the Spirits of the Winds, upon the occasion of their last visit to the country in their great glittering ship which flies through the air, would gladly permit my chiefs to visit the ruins, even as the Spirits themselves had done."

"Ah!" exclaimed d.i.c.k; "that sounds better. But,"--turning to Grosvenor--"I wonder what the fellow means by the 'glittering ship which flies through the air'--and the 'Spirits of the Winds'? Can it be possible that an airship has ever penetrated so far as this? Stop a minute--let me think. 'Spirits of the Winds--glittering ship which flies'--by Jove! can it be possible? I thought, when I heard the expression 'Spirits of the Winds' that it sounded not altogether unfamiliar, that I had met with it before, in fact; and now that I come to overhaul my memory I very distinctly remember reading a yarn describing the adventures of some people who possessed a wonderful airship in which they made the most extraordinary voyages and met with some astounding experiences--"

"Yes," interrupted Grosvenor; "I know the book you mean. I, too, read it. But I took it to be fiction, pure and simple; a somewhat daring flight of a novelist's imagination. And now that you have reminded me of the yarn I distinctly remember that the four fellows in the story were described as having visited these same ruins of Ophir that we are hunting for--"

"Yes," cut in d.i.c.k, "that is so. And, if I remember aright, they met with some rather exciting adventures among these Makolo, didn't they?"

"Rather!" a.s.sented Grosvenor. "Were taken prisoners, or something of that sort, and only escaped by the skin of their teeth."

"That's it," agreed d.i.c.k. "Yes; the man who was then king wanted to steal their airship, didn't he?"

"He did--and got banished for his pains," answered Grosvenor. "But that was not the end of the story. He--the king, I mean--returned from his banishment, killed the king who was reigning in his stead, and--yes, was found practising his old dodges of cruelty and murder when the 'Spirits'

paid a second visit to his country."

"Precisely," agreed d.i.c.k. "But that part of the story was given in a second book recounting the further voyagings of the wonderful _Flying- Fish_--that was the name of the airship, you will remember. By Jove!

How vividly those yarns recur to one's memory when anything special-- like this adventure of ours--occurs to recall them. Do you know, Phil, it now seems to me that, quite unconsciously to ourselves, those two books have had a distinct influence upon us in undertaking and carrying through this journey?"

"Possibly," agreed Grosvenor; "though I am obliged to admit that I have been, and am still, quite unconscious of it. The point that is of real importance to us is this. Had the narratives in those two books the slightest foundation of fact? Because, if so, our recollection of them might stand us in good stead should difficulties arise between us and these people. Take, for example, the matter of the four Spirits of the Winds. If we were to judiciously exhibit some knowledge of them and their doings, this king might be inclined to be a great deal more complaisant than he otherwise would be. Don't you think so?"

"Perhaps," conceded d.i.c.k; "it is impossible to say. But what knowledge do we possess, or can we exhibit? Absolutely none, except what we can remember through the perusal of those two books. And, for my own part, I am inclined to believe that the alleged adventures of the four persons therein referred to were purely fict.i.tious, or at least had no more than the slenderest connection with actual fact."

"Yet," contended Grosvenor, "it is remarkable, to say the least of it, that in our very first communication with these Makolo--which, now I come to think of it, was the actual name of the nation given in those books--the four Spirits of the Winds should be mentioned. Isn't it?"

"Yes, it certainly is," agreed d.i.c.k, somewhat reluctantly. "And of course," he continued, "if it should happen that those two yarns are a record of actual occurrences presented in the guise of fiction, it will not be by any means the first time that such a thing has occurred.

Anyhow," he concluded, "I do not see that we can possibly do any harm by acting, as you suggest, upon the a.s.sumption that the yarns, however extravagant they may have appeared to us when we read them, are records of actual fact, and using our recollection of them in any manner that may seem advantageous to us. Is that agreed?"

"Yes, certainly," a.s.sented Grosvenor. "We can but try it, and see how it works. And now, to change the subject, what say you about outspanning? This seems to be a good spot, eh?"

During the foregoing conversation the two speakers had been walking on ahead of the wagon, with their rifles in the hollow of their arms, the dogs and Leo, the lion cub, trotting amicably at their heels. They had arrived at a spot about a mile from the village, and were now traversing an open "flat" with plenty of gra.s.s, close to the margin of a small stream. As Grosvenor had suggested, it was an excellent spot upon which to outspan, for there were gra.s.s and water for the cattle, and it was sufficiently far away from the village to prevent any of those annoyances that a nearer approach might have subjected them to; they therefore halted, and when the wagon came up the order to outspan was given. A few minutes later, while Jantje and 'Nkuku were superintending the watering of the oxen, some half-dozen women, carrying baskets poised upon their heads, were seen approaching from the village. When, somewhat later, these women arrived at the wagon, the leader of them announced that the contents of the baskets, consisting of green mealie cobs, sugar cane, eggs, sweet potatoes, half a dozen shockingly skinny chickens, milk, and _joala_ (a kind of native beer) were a present from the headman of the village to the strangers. (Six months earlier the travellers would have laughed incredulously at the idea of liquids being conveyed in baskets; but now they took it quite as a matter of course, for they had by this time grown quite familiar with the native basket, so exquisitely woven out of gra.s.s as to be quite impervious to leakage).

They accepted the gift with a few words--but not too many--of thanks, and then, desirous of creating a good impression upon the Makolo as early as might be, they directed the women to wait, and, going to the wagon, took from their store of "notions" a few yards of gaudily printed cotton stuff, two or three yards of bra.s.s wire, half a dozen empty two- ounce tobacco tins decorated with gilt and coloured lettering, in the style familiar to all devotees of the weed, a small wooden box containing about a pint of mixed beads, and to each of the smiling and expectant basket-bearers a special present for herself, consisting of a necklet of large particoloured beads, the remaining gifts being of course for the headman in return for his present. The necklets d.i.c.k and Grosvenor personally clasped round the shapely, bronze-tinted throats of the recipients, to the intense delight of the latter, and then the damsels took their departure, smiling to such an extent as to display every tooth in their heads. Presently, when they were a few yards from the wagon, they burst into song, the burden of their lay being the magnificent generosity, enormous wealth, and splendid personality of the visitors.

About an hour before sunset that same day another party made its appearance, approaching from the village. On this occasion it consisted of men only, some twenty in number, which, upon their arrival at the wagon, proved to be the headman of the village and his retinue, all unarmed.

The party halted at a distance of some ten paces from the spot where d.i.c.k and Grosvenor sat before their open tent, and as they did so, with the precision of trained soldiers, every man's right hand was flung aloft, and in deep, sonorous tones the salute was given:

"_Bietu_!"

Then the headman stepped forward and said, Mafuta standing by to act as interpreter:

"I, Insimbi, headman of the village of M'gama, in the country of the Makolo, bear the greetings of the great King Lobelalatutu to the unknown white men who have crossed the Great Water to visit him, to offer him gifts, and to request his permission to visit the ruins of the great city that are situate near the king's village. He bids you welcome to the country of the Makolo, and his word is that you are to be conducted forthwith in all honour to his presence. You are his guests, to be treated by all men as such, and by them to be supplied with all things necessary to your comfort and wellbeing. Your oxen are poor in condition and few in number, therefore shall they be cared for here until they are again fit for work; meanwhile a fresh team shall be supplied from the herd belonging to this village for the conveyance of your wagon to the ruins you desire to visit. And if there be any other thing that you desire, my orders are to furnish it to you. I have said.

Is it well, O white men?"

"It is very well, O Insimbi," answered Grosvenor. "It is well for the Makolo and for your king that he keeps fresh in his memory the commands laid upon him by the four Spirits of the Winds, and we are satisfied.

When can we be supplied with the fresh team of oxen?"

"At sunrise to-morrow shall the herd be driven hither, when my lords shall choose for themselves as many as they will," answered the headman.

"Let it be so," answered Grosvenor; "for to-morrow at sunrise will we resume our journey to the king's village and the ruins. By the way, ask him, Mafuta, how far the ruins are from here."

"With a full team of fourteen fresh oxen it may be done in seven days,"

Mafuta translated Insimbi's answer to the question.

"Seven days!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Grosvenor, glancing in astonishment at d.i.c.k.

"Then how the d.i.c.kens has this fellow Insimbi contrived in the course of a single day to communicate with the king and get a reply from him?"

"Why, easily enough," answered d.i.c.k. "Don't you remember the wonderful system of voice-telegraphy mentioned in those two books that we were discussing to-day? That, of course, is how it has been accomplished.

And, now that I come to think of it, we had an ill.u.s.tration of that system this morning when those two boys ran to the top of yonder hill and started shouting in that queer, high-pitched tone of voice. They were telegraphing to the king the news of our arrival without a doubt."

"Yes," a.s.sented Grosvenor, a little doubtfully, "I suppose that was it.

But seven days' trek with fresh oxen! That means a hundred and forty miles, or thereabout--it is wonderful!"

"You are right; it is," agreed d.i.c.k; "but not more wonderful, to my mind, than that we, destined, as one may say, to make this trip together, should have both been fortunate enough to stumble across and read those two books, which I am now beginning to understand were records of sober fact instead of extravagant fiction, as we both thought them to be. We must certainly polish up our recollection of what we read, for it is not at all difficult to imagine circ.u.mstances in which the knowledge may be of vital import to us. By the way, Mafuta, tell those fellows that they are dismissed, and that all we shall require of them to-morrow, in addition to the oxen, will be a guide."

Oxen and guide were both duly forthcoming on the morrow: the journey toward what may be called the capital was resumed, and continued day after day without adventure, the guide supplied on the first day continuing with the party for the whole of that day, and then turning them over to another, who in like manner piloted them a day's trek, in turn to pa.s.s them on to another, and so on, day after day; each guide returning to his starting-point on the following day.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

KING LOBELALATUTU.

The one thing that, after the spreading, well-tilled fields surrounding every village, the great herds of cattle, and the general aspect of prosperity everywhere met with, most impressed the two travellers during their progress through the Makolo country, was the extraordinary courtesy and deference uniformly extended to them by the natives. These people were savages, pure and unadulterated, a fierce and warlike race, who had been obliged to fight for their very existence throughout countless ages, ignorant and superst.i.tious to a degree, with all the virtues and most of the vices of the primeval savage, unspeakably cruel and relentless as enemies, absolutely fearless in battle, and, above all, intensely suspicious of strangers; yet, although white men were practically unknown to them as a people, they never annoyed the travellers by any display of undue curiosity, every man deferentially saluted them, and all were willing, even eager, to do them service.

The character of the country, although it could not by any stretch of the imagination be described as mountainous, maintained its rugged character almost to the end of the journey, consisting of a constant succession of low hills, or ridges, mostly of granite formation, divided from each other by broad, fertile, well-watered valleys, dotted here and there with villages which, as the travellers advanced, gradually drew closer together and increased in importance.

It was as the travellers surmounted a certain ridge, about an hour and a half before the time of their midday halt, that they caught their first glimpse of the sea since losing sight of it on their departure from Lourenco Marques. It stretched away to right and left and in front of them, a narrow, faint, grey streak, softly shimmering under the beams of the noontide sun; and between it and the observers lay a wide- stretching, level, gra.s.sy plain, in the midst of which appeared numberless irregularities that, viewed through their powerful gla.s.ses, a.s.sumed the aspect of architectural ruins of enormous ma.s.siveness and strength. But they were some ten miles distant, and through the highly rarefied atmosphere that intervened it was impossible to obtain any very clear conception of their character, except that they were undoubtedly of human origin and of quite unexpected extent. One thing, however, was certain, in the light of Menzies' story, as recounted to them by his and their friend Mitch.e.l.l, those enormous ruins could be none other than the remains of the ancient Ophir mentioned in Holy Writ; and the two friends sent up a shout of irrepressible exultation at the thought that they had advanced thus far upon their difficult journey without mishap of any kind. They were now all eagerness and impatience to reach those wonderful ruins; but the oxen were tired and hungry, having already been trekking for more than two hours; moreover, they took no interest in archaeology, and preferred an acre of rich gra.s.s to the finest ruins in the world, therefore it became imperative to outspan as soon as the wagon had plunged down into the plain far enough to reach the first watercourse. But Grosvenor and Maitland were not long in arriving at the decision to saddle up and ride forward as soon as they had partaken of a hasty tiffin.

This resolution they duly carried into effect, observing the precaution to slip their loaded revolvers into their belts and to sling their loaded rifles and fully charged bandoliers over their shoulders, to guard against the possibility of accident, although they had thus far seen nothing to justify the slightest suspicion that either the king or his people meditated treachery. As they rode they had ample opportunity to observe--as indeed had been the case ever since they entered the Makolo country--the operation of the curious voice-telegraph system practised by the natives in their communications with each other, the high-pitched messages--doubtless reporting their progress-breaching their ears at frequent intervals.

They advanced at an easy canter, heading straight for the ruins, for there was no semblance of a road, or even of a footpath, and scarcely any people were to be seen, except in and about the villages which they occasionally pa.s.sed. But when they had arrived within about three miles of the ruins they observed, approaching them round the spur of a low hill, a troop of about fifty hors.e.m.e.n, which their field gla.s.ses enabled them to perceive were splendidly mounted, and garbed in the full panoply of war, consisting of shield, war axe, sheaf of broad-bladed spears, plumed head-dress, and--in the case of the leader--leopard-skin mantle, and necklace of leopards' claws. It was a distinctly formidable cavalcade for two men only to meet, even although the latter were armed with weapons of such deadly precision as the rifle and revolver; and for a minute or two the travellers were just a little uncertain as to how to meet the situation. Finally they reined in and came to a halt, whereupon the leader of the troop threw up his right hand, as though giving an order, upon which his followers, who had been advancing at a gallop, reined their horses back upon their haunches, coming to an abrupt halt, while he, reducing his pace to a hand-gallop, continued his advance alone.

"All right, old chap, come along," exclaimed Grosvenor; "those fellows mean us no harm, I am sure. I expect it is a detachment sent out by the king to bid us welcome on our approach to his village."

"Very possibly," a.s.sented d.i.c.k. "But, having halted, we must now remain where we are until that fellow approaches and delivers his message. To resume our journey at this moment would be tantamount to an admission of distrust on our part, which would never do. No, no; let the man come to us, not we go to him. Among savages, you know, first impressions count for a good deal, and it would never do to let those fellow think that we halted because we were nervous."

"No, of course; you are quite right, it would not," agreed Grosvenor; and sitting straight up in their saddles, and a.s.suming an air of absolute confidence which somewhat belied their inward feelings, they patiently awaited the arrival of the solitary horseman.

In less than a minute he had arrived--a fine, stalwart man, of about middle age, clean-limbed, broad chested, upright as a dart, of dauntless aspect; his limbs and body showing many scars of battle. As he reached a point some ten feet from where the two white travellers awaited him he abruptly reined his horse to a standstill, and threw up his right hand in salute.

"_'Nkosi_," he cried, in a full, deep, resonant tone of voice, "Lobelalatutu, the King of the Makolo, salutes you by the mouth of me, 'Mpandula, and bids you welcome to his royal village. Behold a squadron of his royal guard, which he has dispatched, under my command, to conduct you in all honour to his presence. He awaits you now in his palace. Does it please my lords that the squadron, approach to give them the salute?"

Now, this speech was only very imperfectly understood by those to whom it was addressed; a word or two here and there they comprehended because of their similarity to those in the language spoken by Mafuta; the name of the king also they recognised; and 'Mpandula's gestures and the tones of his voice also told them a little. Thus in one way and another they contrived to gain a sort of hazy general notion of the gist of the chiefs speech. But how were they to reply to it, and what were they to say? So early a summons to the king's presence was rather unexpected, and, in the absence of Mafuta, who was behind, with the wagon, would be rather embarra.s.sing; for how were they to converse with the king without the a.s.sistance of an interpreter? There was but one thing to be done, and that was to reply to the best of their ability, which d.i.c.k undertook to do in the only native tongue with which he was familiar, explaining as well as he could the difficulty in which the pair found themselves.