Chapter XXXIII:
The Meeting of Mother and Daughter
WHEN Lucretia landed at Axim with her large cargo, she called at the Government House and asked for assistance and protection of the Colonial officials. She was given an order to the District Commission of the frontier, enabling her to secure a sufficient number of carriers under military escort as she left the railway terminus. Arriving safely at the mission at early dusk she surprised them all as she fairly flew into the arms of her astonished mother. Eva did not recognize at first the fashionably dressed young woman.
"Whose baby is that?" she asked, as soon as she had recovered from the first surprise.
Lucretia then fell upon her neck and sobbed out the sad story. Mrs. Jones held the baby as she listened to the revelation.
"My poor little girl," Eva cried as she joined in the weeping. "You needed your mother's care and advice. Oh, you poor unfortunate child! Oliver, oh Oliver—!"
Mrs. Jones handed the baby to Yanga and crossed over to the two sobbing women.
"This won't do, Eva. Shame, oh shame on you! You are worse than Lucretia and do you forget that you have not seen your grand-child? There now, that is better. Yanga, give him to her." After she succeeded in quieting Eva and interesting her in the baby, Mrs. Jones took Lucretia upon her lap as she would a child and stroked her hair as she obtained an accurate account of the situation.
"Too bad indeed, but I think you should inform your uncle of the whole circumstance, although it is a hard thing to do since your husband has married his daughter, but you have your son to consider now and you must secure his rights. Since they have gone to Japan, you will have time to think it over calmly and decide what is best to do," Mrs. Jones advised.
Reverend Jones approved of Lucretia's plan to live at the Mission and advised them to leave the matter in the hands of Providence, who would settle and straighten the tangle because he understood what an embarrassing position Lord Winslow and the Earl of Dubley would be placed in if conditions were as Lucretia had represented. He built a corrugated bungalow upon the hill overlooking the Valley of Allah for the family, and assisted Lucretia in beautifying the grounds and comfortable surroundings.
Lord Winslow was in Magdeburg when he met an old schoolmate of his, Baron Steinhauser, in a hotel one day. "I am preparing to join a hunting party of Americans who are taking moving picture machines and photographers along for big game hunting in East Africa. Why don't you join us, my lord?" the Baron remarked.
"I should be glad to do so providing you promise to cross the continent and return by the way of the west coast. I was planning to visit the district of the Kong Mountains the coming winter so as to travel in the dry season, but I have been thinking that an airship of the Zeppelin type would be just the thing to take along so as to facilitate travel. What do you think of that idea, Baron?"
"As to your transcontinental suggestion, that meets our plans. We will start from Eastern Sudan and travel south and then north-westerly. But we had never thought of the airship and I am afraid that, while it would enable us to do a great deal of exploring and assist us to avoid the difficulties of the jungle travel, the cost would be too great considering our present outlay," the Baron replied.
"The cost is of minor consideration, my dear Baron, but the difficulty lies in securing such a one as I desire, since your Government is so strict about these machines, they might suspect that I was securing it for military purposes. I had decided to take a Reed-Curtis flying-boat with me, but it would not be able to answer the purpose of a large party. If we could secure one of the Zeppelin airships and hydroaeroplanes with about two small turbine motor engines of 50 horse power and a compartment capable of accommodating your party and a large supply of gasoline secured in safety iron vessels, we could easily overcome the danger of the African interior travels and explore about the Kilima Njora Mountains and unknown parts of Central Africa. The Zeppelin airship of the latest type, I am informed, is able to sustain several tons with ease at a high altitude," Lord Winslow replied as he watched the Baron's expression.
Baron Steinhausen was a man about 28 years, medium height, wearing a full military mustache and goatee and very slow and precise in his manner. He sat passing his hand over his goatee as he listened, and seemed to be in a thoughtful mood.
"What you said about the airship is correct. But I think I can manage to secure such a machine as you described. I am a friend of Count Zeppelin and can say for him that he is very interested in and devoted to science. This is a scientific as well as a hunting expedition. Herr Baer's and my collection will be contributed to our National Museum. Herr Baer, a member of the expedition party, is a botanist and also an authority on natural history, so that his trip is purely scientific. The six Americans are three moving picture men, one doctor, and two scientists, who are also keen sportsmen. We may class ourselves as explorers. There you have it. We will call it a scientific expedition. The Count will appreciate the advantages to be obtained from an accurate plan of the country taken from the air. I will manage to secure it for you. You will need an expert from the works to manage the machine. We will be ready to start next month. That will land us in Dongala, the Egyptian Sudan on the Red Sea, in July, and we will cross the Nubian Desert in a southwesterly direction by rail to Khartum. From there we can travel southward on the Nile by steamboat or the airship to British East Africa.
"The Americans have secured a permit for our party to hunt big game in that territory and we plan to hunt in the region of the Victoria Nyanza and the Kilima-Njara Mountains. We also plan to spend at least four months in East Africa and take a westerly course through Belgian and French Congo, then travel N.N.W. through Kamerun, Nigeria and Dahomey to Togoland, where we have an invitation from the Governor to hunt elephants and leopards in the northern regions. That should suit your plans excellently, because Togoland is near Ashanti and the Kong Mountains are in the neighborhood of Ashanti," the Baron explained as he traced the course upon a map, of the proposed expedition.
The party, consisting of Baron Steinhausen, Herr Baer, Lord Winslow, Messrs. Wolfe and MacCormick, the two American middle-aged scientists and sportsmen, Dr. Rosman, Messrs. Williams, Hausen and Billings, the three young moving picture men, and Herrn. Wagner and Reisnitz, the two machinists from the Zeppelin works, with five valets of the five first mentioned gentlemen, embarked upon the Lucretia, Lord Winslow's yacht, at Hamburg and sailed for East Africa the middle of July, 1913.
The yacht sailed through Suez Canal, down the Red Sea, and landed at Dongola near the middle of August.
They spent the months of October, November, December, January and February hunting lions, giraffes, elephants, rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses, of which they succeeded in killing large and select specimens after exciting hunting experiences.
The moving picture men were fortunate in obtaining not only the hunting scenes, but arranged their machines at night so as to obtain radiograph views of the smaller animals in their natural haunts by means of Rolton rays, while the botanists and natural history scientists kept busy overseeing the African huntsmen in preserving the specimens for shipment.
When the time expired in the East African territory, the party carried the natural history collection to Uganda and shipped them on to Europe.
Leaving Uganda, they flew westward into Belgian Congo and followed their original plans until they reached Togoland the latter part of June, 1914. There they received their mail and the information that the "Lucretia" was in the Axim harbor awaiting them. But they did not intend to sail before the beginning of winter as the heavy rains handicapped their successful hunting. So they camped for a long season in North Togoland.