Chapter XIV:
Desertion by Carriers
PASSING along the main road they found a place to camp. During the night the carriers stole most of the provisions from the camp, while Oliver was asleep, and ran away.
The next morning Oliver found, besides the three boys brought from Sierra Leone, only five carriers. While Oliver was puzzled over his dilemma, Varnee held counsel with the remaining carriers and approached Oliver and said, "If the antelope escapes the leopard, the leopard goes after other meat."
Before Oliver could understand what he meant they began gathering up ropes and dividing themselves up into couples, hid along the road behind clumps of bushes, awaiting the appearance of single pedestrians, upon whom they pounced unawares. Having bound their victims, using the slave system strategy, they returned to the camp.
Continuing this method for several days, they had secured twenty carriers to replace those who had run away. They abandoned some of their luggage and resumed their journey.
Traveling in the direction E.E.N.E., they crossed the Vakkah hills and came to Ballallatah at noon. They were halted before the gates of the barricaded town and waited until they were inspected by the town people outside.
The people wore many pieces of gold jewelry and offered to barter nuggets and rings for trade goods.
Oliver then became encouraged and questioned as to where the mineral was found. He was told of a river called the Maaqua where gold abounds.
Taking a N.N.E. direction as instructed, they passed through long grass and cane brake, until they reached a large plain dotted with hillocks and covered with grazing cattle.
They entered Musada, a barricaded town of Western Soudan, containing a large market of earthen pots, soap, tobacco, corn, iron, kola, etc.
Oliver was very much surprised to see the progress of this Mandingo town. The town contained a number of soldiers on horse back. They were preparing for a Mohammedan service.
The King in a long gaudy shirt of fine native manufacture, rode on horseback, holding an elephant tail in his hand.
The service was held outside of a cone shaped and polished mud mosque on the eastern side. The Imam, dressed in a scarlet cloak, carried a stool covered with a white cloth, while six attendants held a large white covering over his head, during the time he was reading the service, after which he blessed the head warriors and soldiers.
The congregation knelt in rows upon their knees. After the religious ceremony they brought out the most fiery and vicious horses, having a knack of kicking and biting, and offered prizes for the successful mounts. Oliver watched the tricks and finally volunteered to try. After a few attempts he successfully mounts, to the admiration of the villagers.
He, Eva and Lucretia were presented suitable mounts by the king.
Mulley, an old priest, wearing a white gown and squatting upon a mat in the court, sent for the party.
He offered to read their fate for them, and after reading from the sand spread out before them, he seized Oliver's hands and said: "Go back to the gold across the big waters which awaits you. Leave Africa's wealth and secret undisturbed. The price you will pay is too great. Take heed and return whence you came."
Eva became nervous and would not have him read for her, but for Lucretia he said as he shook his head and sighed: "It is your fate, oh, little one, whom the elephant would not harm, to finally bring happiness to this poor family, through the leopard's claw, in the Valley of Allah."
The party remained quite a while in Musadu when they supplemented the carriers and started with fresh guides for the Maqua River.
"We are near the end of our journey, dear," Oliver said as he assisted Eva in the saddle upon her horse.
He did not allow the gloomy forebodings of Mulley to influence his feelings, for with the gold nuggets, rings and guides he felt sure that they would soon reach the Maqua River, if not the mountain they first started out to find.
Passing through a dark forest Fahn called out to Oliver; "Lookee, Master, dem bigee flagya" (flying serpent), as he pushed the party back. Oliver saw the red eyes of a large green snake upon a tree just about to spring.
Shouting very quickly, he saw the snake leap far into the air, twisting its tail as it flew away. The natives called it the flying snake and say that they are very poisonous.
Wandering through the forest, they sighted the wild serval, the hartze beasts and numerous other scampering jungle inhabitants. Finally, the rainy season set in and Oliver had not succeeded in locating either the mountain or river of his quest. So he decided to build a permanent camp and prepare for the heavy rains.
Oliver selected a high hill near a river. The site was very picturesque as well as strategic, in the event of an attack from either man or beast. It was then that both Oliver and Eva showed a surprising adaptability to circumstances.
Oliver donned his overalls and tackled the saw and axe with the native laborers, and in a short space of time he moved his family into a comfortable log cabin. Several bamboo huts were also erected for the accommodation of the servants and the carriers, while the largest of the tents was stationed in the rear of the cabin and served as the storehouse. The camp was enclosed with a double barricade of stout poles.
Oliver discovered a large tree which had been previously cut and left to season by the natives. He immediately set to work upon it and in a little while, they had burned and modeled it into a very serviceable canoe.
Varnee and Tobey discovered a deserted farm nearby. Eva learned the first lessons in the West African culinary art. She assisted Tobey in peeling the sweet cassava (manihot palmento), in the preparation of the fufu and dumb-boy. The fufu was soon an indispensable dish upon the menu. So Eva learned to soak the peeled cassavas until they fermented, and took advantage of physical culture training at the same time, while she pounded the soft cassavas in a large wooden mortar before straining and cooking them into the famous fufu. But the sauce! Oliver said it was "delicious!"
But cooking was not the only accomplishment that Eva acquired; while Oliver was supplying the table with venison, wild and river pork, fish and other game, Eva was learning to make soft and beautiful mats from the heart of the bamboo, which she dyed in lovely colors from the vegetable dyes, she made under Yanga's instruction.
Lucretia, in the meanwhile, took advantage of the fresh air and hardy country life to blossom into a beautiful young tom-boy, who looked to be at least ten years old.