CHAPTER XXIX.. How We Deceived the King--Solving a Matrimonial

HOW WE DECEIVED THE KING--SOLVING A MATRIMONIAL PUZZLE--INSPAN AND MOVE SOUTH--OVERTAKEN.

The king shook his head, and I gathered from his remarks that he preferred we should leave our magical appliances at home when we paid him a visit.

After this I led the conversation around to the object of his visit to the ladies' camp. He hesitated somewhat, and did not admit that he came for the purpose of marrying our fair friends, until I plumply asked if what we had heard was true. He then said that he did wish to marry them, and he would make them the greatest ladies of the land.

"But you should give them time to consider it," I said. "You must manage this matter just as it is managed in the country the ladies come from. Is it not so, my friend!"

He reluctantly assented to my proposition, and said that he would give them time to consider.

"Very well," I answered; "go away for a short time, say three or five days, and tell them that you will come back at the end of that period to receive their answer. You can, if you like, leave a few of your men here to watch the camp and see that they do not move away. This will make everything safe for you, and the ladies will have an opportunity to think the matter over; when they have carefully considered it there is no doubt that they will do as you wish."

He hesitated a moment, and then said:

"The white man's words are wisdom; I will leave four of my soldiers here, and will come back in five days."

I called Mrs. Roberts and Miss Boland from their tent, not desiring to have the old blackguard go back there again, and heard him make his statement as just given, through the medium of the interpreter. I nodded to them, and they accepted the proposal at once.

Thereupon the interview ended; the king gathered his followers, detailing four of them to remain at the camp, and told them their duty would be to give him notice of any attempt of the party to move. He was then treated to a good-sized drink of weak brandy and water, and after smacking his lips over it for some ten minutes or so, he departed.

We watched his retiring column as it wound over the plain and off among the hills, and I am sure we all breathed sighs of satisfaction over the fact that we had secured his departure without bloodshed.

As Macatese and his train disappeared Mrs. Roberts invited us into the tent, and the five of us were quickly seated there.

"What shall we do now?" said Mrs. Roberts; and Miss Boland echoed, "What shall we do?"

"Are there any Kafirs among your people whom you can trust implicitly?"

"Yes, I think there are," replied Mrs. Roberts; "but we had better consult our manager on that point."

The manager was called and made one of the conference. In response to my inquiry he said there were several men in their expedition in whom he had as much faith as he could possibly have in a negro.

"Well, what you want to do," I said, "is to get ready to move out of here immediately. But before you make the least preparation for doing so you must intoxicate those four men whom Macatese left; it must be no ordinary intoxication, either--something that will make them thoroughly and completely insensible. As soon as that is accomplished, get up your oxen, inspan, and start for the south. Macatese's dominions end at the Luranga; get across that river just as quick as you can, and then you'll be safe. Tie those men hand and foot, so that if one happens to sober up he can't get away; and don't let one of them leave you till you're safe on the opposite side of the stream."

Mrs. Roberts suggested that they had in their medicine-chest some tincture of opium, which might assist the intoxicating process.

"The very thing!" said Jack. "I was just going to propose to send you some from our camp, and I'm very glad you have it."

The opium was quickly brought, and also a bottle of brandy. Jack had studied medicine a little, and knew more of the use of drugs than either Harry or myself. He prepared what he averred would be a "knock-out" dose for the four men, and then gave it to the manager, with instructions to tell the Kafirs who were to administer it that they must not touch it themselves.

"I'm afraid they might be tempted to take a sip of it," he replied, "and I think I can manage it with my own hands."

He went outside the tent, got into an amiable conversation with the soldiers, and then invited them to take a drink. He poured out a glass for each of them in turn, and then pretended to take one himself. His pretense was one of the prettiest feats of legerdemain on record. In less than fifteen minutes the fellows were very sleepy and concluded they would take a nap. They were accommodated with a comfortable place, and then the work of inspanning and pulling out was pushed with great vigor.

There was no further need of our presence at the ladies' camp. While the process of subduing Macatese's men had been going on we told our friends that we should inspan at once and meet them on the south side of the river. To this end we hastened away to our own kraal as soon as the manager reported that the redoubtable four no longer possessed any powers of observation.

We rode home at full speed, and gave orders to the manager to inspan at once. We packed our rifles and ammunition so as to have them handy in case of trouble, and told the manager to get ready for fighting at a moment's notice. This alarmed him a good deal, and we quieted his fears by saying we did not expect any trouble, but had heard that the natives were quarrelsome and might come about us with hostile intentions.

There was a good moon in the early part of the night, and we told our friends before leaving them that we should trek until midnight at least. We advised them to do the same thing, and also spoke to their manager on the subject. He said he would trek until morning if necessary, but thought if they kept on the road till midnight it would be quite late enough.

We made the best speed we could through the country to the north of the Luranga, deeming it all-important that we should get that river between us and Macatese as soon as we could. We were fearful that some of his people might have lingered behind and witnessed the start of the ladies' expedition. Of course we had to take our chances on that point, but gathered courage from the fact that the four soldiers were left behind to give notice of any movement, and therefore there would be no necessity of any other watch upon the party.

The reader will remember about the hilly country through which we passed to the north of the Luranga, and the troubles we had in traversing it. Some natives who came into our camp offered to show us a much better route through that region than the one by which we came--a route, they said, which was not generally known. We stipulated to give each of them a string of beads and a cotton shirt, provided their statement proved true and the route was as represented, payment to be made on our arrival on the other bank of the river.

We kept up a constant communication with our friends, and as we proceeded our routes converged to bring us to the same point on the river. When we had completed our negotiation with these natives, I sent two of them with a note to Mrs. Roberts, telling her what the men had promised, and advising them to join us the next day. They joined us, and the whole party proceeded in company.

For once we found that the stories of the natives were not exaggerated; they guided us to a valley reaching from the level country to the bottom-land of the river--a valley through which water flowed in the rainy season, or in times of great floods. It was narrow and crooked, but a vast improvement over the hilly route we traveled during our upward journey.

It was near sunset when we reached the Luranga, and our manager said that we had better outspan where we were and wait till morning for the crossing. I vehemently opposed the proposition, and told him we must cross that evening if it took all night to do it. We did not know what would happen, and wanted to be on the safe side of the stream.

With considerable reluctance the manager proceeded to carry out our orders, and the manager of the other party followed his example. The teams were doubled, as at the previous crossing, and one after the other the wagons were taken safely over. We had some personal mishaps, Jack and I getting a good soaking in the river, and Mrs. Roberts faring likewise, in consequence of her horse deciding to lie down and roll when in the middle of the stream. The forward axle of one of our wagons was badly cracked and strained during the crossing, so that a new axle was needed before we could proceed on our journey.

It was long after midnight before we three fellows were able to get to bed. We fell into a sound sleep, and were roused at daybreak by the manager, who said there were a large number of natives on the other side of the stream, shouting and gesticulating violently! Of course we rose at once and dressed in a hurry.

Sure enough, we could see on the other side of the Luranga a party of African warriors to the number of a hundred and more. We went down to the southern bank to parley with them, and you may be sure we took our Winchesters and plenty of ammunition. We also took our fore-looper along to act as interpreter, and after a good deal of parleying and promises of safety we induced two of their number to cross the river, so that we could talk to them. The king was not with the party, and we were not at all sorry that he stayed at home.

The two men who came over the river belonged to his personal staff or ministry, and were rather more intelligent than the average of the tribe. They told us we had been gone two days before the king discovered our departure, and he was greatly puzzled to know why the faithful soldiers whom he had left with us had not informed him; he had not heard from them at all; was very angry at their conduct, and very angry with the ladies and ourselves for leaving his dominions so abruptly.

I explained, through the fore-looper, that the soldiers whom the king left to watch over the ladies' kraal were not in any wise to blame; they had done their duty as far as they could, but we had enchanted them by our magic powers and made it impossible for them to know that the camp had been changed, or anything else. I asserted that we had kept them under that spell of enchantment during our journey to the Luranga, but now that we were safe on the southern bank we should exercise our powers of witchcraft and remove the spell. I promised that the men should join them during the day, but only on condition that the party of warriors then on the north bank should remain where they were.

"If one of you men," said I, "attempts to cross the river we shall exercise the power of our magic guns, and he will be a dead man before he knows it. Our guns are ready, and should we desire to do so we can shoot away the ground on which your people are standing, and leave beneath them a bottomless pit, into which they will fall!"

The fore-looper delivered my words very solemnly, and the envoys were duly impressed with the truth of all I said. They promised that their men should remain exactly where they were until the soldiers who had acted as our escort should be returned to them; then they would go back to their king with any message we desired to send.

I answered that they might as well take the message on the spot, which was, that the ladies could not possibly decide in so short a time as the king allowed them the question as to whether they would be his brides or not. Consequently they had thought it well to leave Macatese's dominions and come to a region where they could deliberate freely and with plenty of time at their command. If they concluded to accept his proposition they would send him a message to that effect as soon as their determination was reached; unless he heard from them he might consider that his proposals were declined.

The envoys repeated the message several times to make sure that they had it correctly; then they recrossed the river, and we saw them no more, except at a distance.

During the course of the day the soldiers whom Macatese had left as a guard were sufficiently sobered up to be sent to their comrades. They had been treated kindly, and also treated often, the manager of the ladies' expedition keeping them well filled with brandy containing a proper proportion of opium, Mrs. Roberts taking great care that the quantity administered to them should not be sufficient to endanger their lives. From the time they were first put to sleep they remained in a stupefied condition, and were carried in the top of the wagon, their hands and feet securely tied, and a guard standing over them, so that escape was impossible.