The Country of the Dwarfs 5

The Country of the Dwarfs 5

CHAPTER III.

 

LANDING GOODS.--AMONG THE BREAKERS.--KING RANPANO.--LOSS OF

INSTRUMENTS.--KING QUENGUEZA.--A PALAVER.--CHANGING NAMES.

 

 

THE next morning, at daybreak, three canoes came alongside to take off

the cargo. The men brought the news that King Ranpano had arrived, and

was on the beach.

 

My most precious things were lowered into the canoes, and when every

thing was ready, the captain concluded to go ashore with me.

 

The captain and I got into the canoe containing all my scientific

instruments, medicines, some of my best guns, my watch chronometers,

five Geneva musical boxes, etc., etc. Before we left the captain

ordered the mate to keep a sharp lookout, and fasten to the anchors

seventy fathoms of chain, for the sea was heavy. The crew came to say

good-by to me, and as our canoes left the side of the Mentor they gave

three cheers for me. Then, as fast as our paddles could propel us, we

made for the beach.

 

As we approached the breakers, the faces of the canoe-men looked

anxious, for the swells were heavy, and I could hear the roar of the

surf. Nearer and nearer we came. The two other canoes were ahead of us.

 

The men were watching the swells, resting on their paddles. At last we

hear their cheers; they plunge their paddles into the water, and onward

they go toward the shore, rolling on the top of a heavy, long swell.

 

My men thought we were too late, as we were behind, and had better

wait for the next lull. In the mean time we watched the two canoes;

they seemed for a while to be buried in the foaming billows. "Surely,"

I said to Captain Vardon, "those canoes will never reach the shore

safely."

 

"I don't believe they will," was his answer.

 

"We had reached a point just outside the breakers, where we watch; the

two canoes appear again; they have not capsized; the men are covered

with spray; they are paddling as hard as they can; they are over the

breakers; they land safely; the people on the shore seize the canoes,

and bring them up the beach.

 

Now our time has come, and the men are watching anxiously. I have the

finest canoe-men of the Commi tribe in my canoe. Oshimbo holds the

steering-paddle. Kombé, Ratenou, Ondonga, Gonwe, Sholomba, and the

others, are not only splendid paddlers, but they all swim like fish--a

very important thing for me if we capsize. My sixteen men are resting

on their paddles; they are all looking outside, and watching the heavy

rollers as they come in. Generally six of these come, and then there

is a kind of a lull. "Get ready! paddle hard!" shouted Oshimbo. The

men gave a terrific Commi hurra, and down went their paddles, and with

heavy strokes we got on what we thought a gentle swell. We had hardly

got on it when the swell became higher and higher, carrying us almost

with lightning speed; then it began to crest itself; we were caught,

and finally were dashed upon a white foaming wave with fearful force.

"Be careful!" shouted Oshimbo. "Have your eyes upon our white man!"

 

Though we did not upset, our canoe was partly filled with water, and

the rush of the wave had prevented Oshimbo's paddle from acting as a

rudder, and the canoe was now lying broadside at the mercy of the next

wave that should come.

 

"Hurry!" shouted Oshimbo to the men; "let us bring back the canoe's

head on to the waves!" and the men put forth all their might to rescue

us from our perilous position. Just as we had succeeded in bringing

the canoe round, a second immense roller, coming from far out at

sea, and mounting higher and higher as it approached, threatened our

destruction. We were in fearful suspense. Perhaps we will be able to

ride upon it; perhaps it will break ahead of us. It was a terrific one.

My men cried again with one voice, "Let us look out for our white man!"

 

These words were hardly uttered when the huge wave broke over the stern

of our canoe with appalling force, instantly upsetting it and hurling

us into the sea, where we were deeply submerged in the spray.

 

I do not know how I ever got back on the surface of the water, but

when I did I was some forty feet from the canoe, and all the men were

scattered far and wide.

 

I was almost stunned. Breaker upon breaker succeeded each other with

awful rapidity, sending us rolling about under them, and giving us

hardly time to breathe. The sea all round became a mass of foaming

billows. By this time all my faithful negroes were around me, shouting

to each other, "To our ntangani--our ntangani (white man)!" It was

indeed high time, for I felt myself sinking. A minute more, and I would

have sank helpless to the bottom of the sea, never to rise again. The

Commi swam round me and held me up, till another wave would scatter us

again, and then they came back to my succor.

 

In spite of all their efforts, I became weaker and weaker. They had

succeeded in ridding me of the greater part of my clothing, but,

notwithstanding this relief, my strength was fast failing me, and I had

drank large quantities of salt water.

 

I cried, "Where is the captain? Go for him!" My cry was just in time,

for he was in his last struggle for life. Once we had got hold of the

canoe, but the waves had made us loose our grip. Loud shouts came

from the shore; the people were almost frantic. Canoe after canoe was

launched, but only to be swamped in the breakers the next instant.

 

At length the tumult of the waves subsided; there came a lull, and the

rising tide had driven us toward the beach. We were not far from it,

indeed, and now we rested a little, holding fast to our capsized canoe.

 

At last a canoe succeeded in leaving the shore, and came to our rescue.

As it reached us the crew jumped into the sea to give us their places,

and, in order not to load it too heavily, they swam alongside, holding

fast to it to keep it steady.

 

As we neared the shore, the natives did not wait for me to land, but

ran into the water, and, seizing me, carried me off in their arms, in

the midst of deafening cries and cheers, the women wringing their hands

and shouting, "The sea wanted _to eat_ our white man; the sea wanted

_to eat_ our white man."

 

The people led me into a thicket of trees, where a bright fire was

lighted, and whom should I see but King Ranpano seated on the ground,

his little idol before him, his eyes shining with excitement, and his

body trembling all over. I drew myself up, trying to look haughty and

displeased.

 

"Ranpano," I said, "if any one had told me that you did not care for

me, I would not have believed them. What!" said I, "every one was on

the shore to see what they could do to save us from drowning; even your

wife, the queen, was there, and went into the sea to catch me as we

landed, and I might have died and been drowned for all that you cared.

You were cold, and you sat by the fire."

 

"Oh," said Ranpano, "my white man die in the water? Never, while I am

alive! How could it be? how could it be? Oh no, Chally, you could not

be drowned--you could not, my white man; my Chally will never die in

our country. I have a fetich, and as long as I wear it you can not be

drowned. I was talking to my idol; I was invoking before her the spirit

of my father to protect you in the sea. When the waves were around you,

I begged the idol to send the sharks away from you. Oh, Chally, I would

not leave the idol for fear you might perish. Oh!" exclaimed Ranpano,

with a stentorian voice, "there are people already jealous of me and of

my village. Some village has sent an aniemba to upset the canoe."

 

The wildest excitement prevailed around me. I was partly stunned, and

I had drunk a great deal of salt water. Poor Captain Vardon had a

narrow escape, and, as he said, he was sinking when my boys--my good

boys--clinched him. And once more I thanked silently the great God that

had watched so mercifully over me.

 

After a while I realized the severe blow I had received when the

great loss I had sustained presented itself to my mind. Scientific

instruments, watch chronometers, medicines, guns, musical instruments,

etc., etc., had gone to the bottom of the sea.

 

"Oh dear," said I to myself, "I must remain here on this barren and

lonely coast, and wait for a vessel to come back and bring me new

scientific instruments, for without them I can not go across the

continent toward the Nile. I wish to make a good map of the country,

to take accurate astronomical observations, to determine the height of

the mountains, and to be able to ascertain at any time the day and the

month if I should forget their regular succession in the calendar, and,

without my instruments, all this will be impossible."

 

I can not tell you how sorry I felt. That evening I felt utterly

heart-broken, and I could have cried. "But," said I to myself, "to bear

my misfortune with fortitude is true manhood;" and, though it was hard

to believe it, I knew that all that had happened was for the best.

 

Captain Vardon felt a sincere sympathy with me. The poor man was

himself an object of commiseration, for he was so exhausted and had

drank so much water that he was quite ill.

 

My mind was made up, however, that very day as to what I should do.

I must manage to have a letter reach the island of Fernando Po, and

then that letter would be forwarded to London. That letter will be for

Messrs. Baring Brothers, and I will ask them to send me a vessel with

all I need.

 

The next night, as I lay on my hard bed pondering my wondrous escape

from the deep sea, I could not help thinking bitterly of the heavy loss

I had sustained. It was not so much for the large sum of money that had

been sacrificed, but for the great waste of time this catastrophe had

entailed upon me.

 

I could not sleep; these thoughts kept me awake. I turned from side to

side in the hope that an easier position would put me to sleep, but it

was of no avail, when suddenly I heard the sound of the natives' bugles

on the river. The people were blowing their bugles made of antelopes'

horns, and then I heard the songs of a multitude of paddlers. The sound

became more and more distinct as the canoes neared my cabin. Then I

could hear distinctly, "Quengueza, our king, comes to see his great friend Chally--Chally, who has returned from the white man's country."Soon after the singing stopped, and I knew that they had landed.