The Congo Rovers Part 7

Giving the gig's crew strict injunctions not to leave their boat for a moment upon any consideration, but to hold themselves in readiness to shove off on the instant of our rejoining them--should a precipitate retreat prove necessary--Captain Vernon and Mr Smellie stepped ash.o.r.e with a request that I would accompany them.

The channel or ca.n.a.l in which the gig was now lying was about fifty feet wide, with a depth of water of about eight feet at the point to which we had reached. Its banks were composed of soft black foetid mud in a semi-liquid state, _so_ that in order to land it was necessary for us to make our way as best we could for a distance of some two hundred feet over the roots of the mangrove trees which thickly bordered the stream, before we were enabled to place our feet on solid ground.

Beyond the belt of mangroves the soil was densely covered with that heterogeneous jumble of parasitic creepers of all descriptions spoken of in Africa by the generic denomination of "bush," thickly interspersed with trees, many of which were of large size. Path there was none, not even the faintest traces of a footprint in the dry sandy soil to show that humanity had ever pa.s.sed over the ground before us. It may be that ours _were_ the first human footsteps which had ever pressed the soil in that particular spot; at all events it looked very much like it, and we had not travelled one hundred feet before we became fully impressed with the necessity for carefully marking our route if we had the slightest desire to find our way back again. This task was intrusted to me, and I accomplished it by cutting a twig half through, and then bending it downwards until a long light strip of the inner wood was exposed. This I did at distances of about a yard apart all along our route, whilst the skipper and Smellie went ahead and forced a pa.s.sage for the party through the thick undergrowth.

The general direction of our route was about south-south-west, as nearly as the skipper could hit it off with the aid of a pocket-compa.s.s, and it took us more than two hours to accomplish a journey of as many miles through the thick tangled undergrowth. This brought us out close to the water's edge again, and we saw before us a ca.n.a.l about a cable's length across, which the skipper said he was certain was a continuation of the one we had entered in the gig. About a mile distant, on the opposite side of the ca.n.a.l, could be seen the tops of the hills which we had noticed on the occasion of our first exploration of the river.

Here, as at the point of our landing, the banks of the ca.n.a.l consisted of black slimy foetid mud, out of which grew a belt of mangroves, their curious twisted roots straggling in a thick complicated ma.s.s of net-work over the slime beneath.

The sun was shining brilliantly down through the richly variegated foliage on the opposite bank of the stream, and lighting up the surface of the thick turbid water as it rolled sluggishly past; but where we stood--just on the inner edge of the mangrove-swamp--everything was enshrouded in a sombre green twilight, and an absolute silence prevailed all round us, which was positively oppressive in its intensity.

Breathless, perspiring, and exhausted with our unwonted exertions, we flung ourselves upon the ground for a moment's rest, during which the skipper and Smellie sought solace and refreshment in a cigar. As for me, not having at that time contracted the habit of smoking, I was contented to sit still and gaze with admiring eyes upon the weird beauty of my surroundings.

For perhaps a quarter of an hour my companions gave themselves up to the silent enjoyment of their cigars, but at the end of that time the skipper, turning to Smellie, said:

"I think this must be the creek to which we have been directed; but there are so many of these inlets, creeks, and ca.n.a.ls on this side of the river--and on the other side also for that matter--that one cannot be at all certain about it. I would have explored the place thoroughly in the gig, and so have saved the labour of all this scrambling through the bush, but for the fact that if we are right, and any slave-craft happen to be lurking here--as our Yankee friend's suspicious conduct leads me to believe may be the case--there would be a great risk of our stumbling upon them unawares, and so giving them the alarm. And even if we escaped that mischance I have no doubt but that they keep sentinels posted here and there on the look-out, and we could hardly hope that the boat would escape being sighted by one or other of them. If there _are_ any craft hereabout, we may rest a.s.sured that they are fully aware of the presence of the _Daphne_ in the river; but I am in hopes that our _ruse_ of openly starting as upon a sporting expedition has thrown dust in their eyes for once, and that we may be able to steal near enough to get a sight of them without exciting their suspicions."

"It would be worth all our trouble if we _amid_ do so," responded Smellie. "But I don't half like this blind groping about in the bush; to say nothing of the tremendously hard work which it involves there is a very good chance, it seems to me, of our losing ourselves when we attempt to make our way back. And then, again, we are quite uncertain how much further we may have to go in order to complete our search satisfactorily. Do you not think it would be a good plan for one of us to shin up a tree and take a look round before we go any further? There are some fine tall trees here close at hand, from the higher branches of which one ought to be able to get a pretty extensive view."

"A very capital idea!" a.s.sented the skipper. "We will act upon it at once. There, now," pointing to a perfect forest giant only a few yards distant, "is a tree admirably suited to our purpose. Come, Mr Hawkesley, you are the youngest, and ought therefore to be the most active of the trio; give us a specimen of your tree-climbing powers.

Just shin up aloft as high as you can go, take a good look round, and let us know if you can see anything worth looking at."

"Ay ay, sir," I responded; "but--" with a somewhat blank look at the tall, straight, smooth stem to which he pointed, "where are the ratlines?"

"Ratlines, you impudent young monkey!" responded the skipper with a laugh; "why, an active young fellow like you ought to make nothing of going up a spar like that."

But when we reached the tree it became evident that the task of climbing it was not likely to prove so easy as the skipper had imagined; for the bole was fully fifteen feet in circ.u.mference, with not a branch or protuberance of any description for the first sixty feet.

The second lieutenant, however, was equal to the occasion, and soon showed me how the thing might be done. Whipping out his knife, he quickly cut a long length of "monkey-rope" or creeper, and twisting the tough pliant stem into a grummet round the trunk of the tree, he bade me pa.s.s the bight over my shoulders, and then showed me how, with its aid, I might work myself gradually upward.

Accordingly, acting under his directions I placed myself within the bight, and tucking it well up under my arm-pits, slid the grummet up the trunk as high as it would go. Then bearing back upon it, so that it supported my whole weight, I worked my body upwards by pressing against the tree-trunk with my knees. By this means I rose about two feet from the ground. Then pressing against the tree firmly with my feet I gave the grummet a quick jerk upward and again worked myself up the trunk with my knees as before. In this way I got along very well, and after an awkward slip or two, in which my knees suffered somewhat and my breeches still more, soon acquired the knack of the thing, and speedily reached the lowermost branch, after which the rest of my ascent was of course easy.

On reaching the topmost branches I found that the tree I had climbed was indeed, as the skipper had aptly described it, a forest giant; it was by far the most lofty tree in the neighbourhood, and from my commanding position I had a fine uninterrupted prospect of many miles extent all round me, except to the southward, where the chain of hills before- mentioned shut in the view.

Away to the northward and eastward, in which direction I happened to be facing when I at length paused to look around me, I could catch glimpses of the river, over and between the intervening tree-tops, for a distance of quite twenty miles, and from what I saw I came to the conclusion that in that direction the river must widen out considerably and be thickly studded with islands, among which I thought it probable might be found many a snug lurking-place for slave-craft. On the extreme verge of the horizon I also distinctly made out a small group of hills, which I conjectured to be situate on the northern or right bank of the river.

From these hills all the way round northerly, to about north-north-west, the country was flat and pretty well covered with bush; although at a distance of from two to four miles inland I could detect here and there large open patches of gra.s.s-land. Bearing about north-north-west from my point of observation was another chain of hills which stretched along the sea-coast outside the river's mouth, and extended beyond the horizon. To the left of them again, or about north-west from me, lay Banana Creek, its entrance about eleven miles distant, and over the intervening tree-tops on Boolambemba Island I could, so clear was the atmosphere just then, distinctly make out the royal-mast-heads of the _Daphne_ and the American barque; I could even occasionally detect the gleam of the sloop's pennant as it waved idly in the sluggish breeze.

Still further to the left there lay the river's mouth, with the ripple which marked the junction between the fresh and the salt water clearly visible. Next came Shark Point, with the open sea stretching mile after mile away beyond it, until its gleaming surface became lost in the ruddy afternoon haze, and on the inner side of the point I could trace, without much difficulty, the course of the various creeks which we had explored in the boat on the occasion of our first visit. Looking below me, I allowed my eye to travel along the course of the stream or ca.n.a.l which flowed past almost under my feet, and following it along I saw that it forked at a point about three miles to the westward, and turned suddenly northward at a point about three miles further on, the branch and the stream itself eventually joining the river, and forming with it two islands of about five and three miles in length respectively, the larger of the two being that which we had so laboriously crossed that same afternoon.

The view which lay spread out below and around me was beautiful as a dream; it would have formed a fascinating study for a painter; but whatever art-instincts may have been awakened within me upon my first glance round were quickly put to flight by a scene which presented itself at a point only some three miles away. At that distance the channel or stream below me forked, as I have already said, and at the point of divergence of the two branches the water way broadened out until it became quite a mile wide, forming as snug a little harbour as one need wish to see. And in this harbour, perfectly concealed from all prying eyes which might happen to pa.s.s up or down the river, lay a brig, a brigantine, and a schooner, three as rakish-looking craft as could well be met with. Their appearance alone was almost sufficient to condemn them; but a huge barrac.o.o.n standing in a cleared s.p.a.ce close at hand, and a crowd of blacks huddled together on the adjacent bank, apparently in course of shipment on board one or other of the craft in sight, put their character quite beyond question.

A hail from below reminded me that there were others who would feel an interest in my discovery.

"Well, Mr Hawkesley, is there anything in sight, from your perch aloft there, worth looking at?" came floating up to me in the skipper's voice.

"Yes, sir, indeed there is. There are three craft in the creek away yonder, in the very act of shipping negroes at this moment," I replied.

"The deuce there are!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the skipper. "Which do you think will be the easier plan of the two: to climb the tree, or to make our way through the bush to the spot?"

"You will find it much easier to climb the tree, I think, sir. You can be alongside me in five minutes, whilst it will take us nearly two hours, I should say, to make our way to them through the bush," I replied.

"Very well; hold on where you are then. We will tackle the tree,"

returned the skipper.

And, looking down, I saw him and the second lieutenant forthwith whip out their knives and begin hacking away at a creeper, wherewith to make grummets to a.s.sist them in their attempt at tree-climbing.

In a few minutes the twain were alongside me, and--in happy forgetfulness of the ruin wrought upon their unmentionables in the process of "shinning" aloft--eagerly noting through their telescopes the operations in progress on board the slavers.

"They seem very busy there," observed the skipper with his eye still peering through the tube of his telescope. "You may depend on it, Mr Smellie, the rascals have got wind of our presence in the river, and intend trying to slip out past us to-night as soon as the fog settles down. I'll be bound they know every inch of the river, and could find their way out blindfold?"

"No doubt of it, sir," answered the second luff. "But it is not high- water until two o'clock to-morrow morning, so that I suspect they will not endeavour to make a move until about an hour after midnight. That will enable them to go out on the top of the flood, and with a strong land-breeze in their favour."

"So much the better," returned Captain Vernon, with sparkling eyes.

"But we will take care to have the boats in the creek in good time. You never know where to have these fellows; they are as cunning as foxes.

Please note their position as accurately as you can, Mr Smellie, for I intend you to lead the attack to-night."

"Thank you, sir," answered Smellie delightedly; and planting himself comfortably astride a branch, he drew out a pencil and paper and proceeded to make a very careful sketch-chart of the river-mouth, Banana Creek, and the creek in which the slavers were lying; noting the bearings carefully with the aid of a pocket-compa.s.s.

"There, sir," said he, when he had finished, showing the sketch to the skipper; "that will enable me to find them, I think, let the night be as dark or as thick as it may. How do you think it looks for accuracy?"

"Capital!" answered Captain Vernon approvingly; "you really have a splendid eye for proportion and distance, Mr Smellie. That little chart might almost have been drawn to scale, so correct does it look.

How in the world do you manage it?"

"It is all custom," was the reply. "I make it an invariable rule to devote time and care enough to such sketches as this to ensure their being as nearly accurate as possible. I have devised a few rules upon which I always work; and the result is generally a very near approximation to absolute accuracy. But the sun is getting low; had we not better be moving, sir?"

"By all means, if you are sure you have all the information you need,"

was the reply. "I would not miss my way in that confounded jungle to- night for anything. It would completely upset all our arrangements."

"To say nothing of the possibility of our affording a meal to some of the hungry carnivora which probably lurk in the depths of the said jungle," thought I. But I held my peace, and dutifully a.s.sisted my superior officers to effect their descent.

It was decidedly easier to go up than to go down; but we accomplished our descent without accident, and after a long and wearisome tramp back through the bush found ourselves once more on board the gig just as the last rays of the sun were gilding the tree-tops. The tide had now turned, and was therefore again in our favour; and in an hour from the time of our emerging upon the main stream we reached the sloop, just as the first faint mist-wreaths began to gather upon the bosom of the river.

I was exceedingly anxious to be allowed to take part in the forthcoming expedition and had been eagerly watching, all the way across the river, for an opportunity to ask the necessary permission; but Captain Vernon had been so earnestly engaged in discussing with Smellie the details and arrangements for the projected attack that I had been unable to do so.

On reaching the ship, however, the opportunity came. As we went up over the side the skipper turned and said:

"By the way, Mr Smellie, I hope you--and you also, Mr Hawkesley--will give me the pleasure of your company to dinner this evening?"

Smellie duly bowed his acceptance of the invitation and I was about to follow suit when an idea struck me and I said:

"I shall be most happy, sir, if my acceptance of your kind invitation will not interfere with my taking part in to-night's boat expedition. I have been watching for an opportunity to ask your permission, and I hope you will not refuse me."

"Oh! that's it, is it?" laughed the skipper. "I thought you seemed confoundedly fidgety in the boat. Well--I scarcely know what to say about it; it will be anything but child's play, I can a.s.sure you.

Still, you are tall and strong, and--there, I suppose I must say 'yes.'

And now run away and shift your damaged rigging as quickly as possible; dinner will be on the table in ten minutes."

I murmured my thanks and forthwith dived below to bend a fresh pair of pantaloons, those I had on being in so dilapidated a condition--what with the tree-climbing and our battle with the thorns and briars of the bush--as to be in fact scarcely decent.

The conversation at the dinner-table that night was of a very animated character, but as it referred entirely to the projected attack upon the slavers I will not inflict any portion of it upon the reader. Mr Austin, the first lieutenant, was at first very much disappointed when he found he was not to lead the boat expedition; but he brightened up a bit when the skipper pointed out to him that in all probability the slavers would slip their cables and endeavour to make their escape from the river on finding themselves attacked by the boats; in which case the cream of the fun would fall to the share of those left on board the sloop.