When I came to review my situation as I raked together the almost extinct embers of last night's fire, and coaxed them into life with dry twigs and charred fragments, I could not but be dismayed at the difficulties and perils with which I was surrounded.
Here I was, alone in the wilderness, without a morsel of provisions, totally ignorant of the locality, quite unacquainted with the speech of the forest peoples, and with but a hazy idea of the direction in which I should turn my steps. True, I knew that far away to the south lay the Gulf of Guinea and the European settlements; but between me and the coast lay the whole width of the forest and the kingdom of Ashanti.
I might perhaps succeed in making intelligible to the forest villagers an inquiry as to the way to Cape Coast, but my judgment urged me to give all villages a wide berth in my solitary and unprotected condition. Then I might—taking the sun and stars as my guide—strike due south, when sooner or later I must reach the sea—if I were allowed to pass unmolested; but my experience of the treatment of solitary strangers was far from reassuring, while the stories I had heard of the sacrificial customs of Ashanti—stories that I had largely verified—made a journey through that country seem a forlorn hope indeed.
On the other hand I might, of course, retrace my steps, and endeavour to overtake Musa and his people; but this would be to renew and extend my wanderings into the interior of the continent, of which I was by this time heartily sick. Besides, my mission was accomplished; I had found the treasure and tested the truth of the narrative in Captain Hogg's journal, and now I yearned for the sight of a white face, longed to hear the voices of my friends, and to be among people of my own race.
No! However great the dangers, and however many the obstacles, the passage of the forest must be made. The sea was my goal, and I must keep my face resolutely towards the south. But how to reach the sea was a problem that I found myself utterly unable to solve. In the deepest perplexity I turned over the various alternatives that presented themselves without hitting upon any feasible plan of action. The obvious thing, however, being that I must obtain food without delay, and the river furnishing the only means of my doing so, I took my way thither, pursuing my reflections as I went.
Having found a comparatively deep pool some distance below the rapid, I baited my hooks, and flinging them into the water, sat down on the bank to wait for a bite.
Angling has been described by its immortal exponent as "the contemplative man's recreation." Its contemplative character is perhaps apt to be interfered with if the possible catch stands between the angler and starvation; nevertheless, as I sat and watched my hooks, I found myself again picturing in detail the various possibilities of the immediate future. I saw myself, without fire or shelter, slowly starving to death in the wilderness; or, once more bound and captive, borne off to grace some funeral sacrifice at Kumasi or some infernal fetish rites in a forest village. Perhaps I might encounter another slave caravan, or be murdered by wandering natives, or devoured, whilst sleeping, by wild beasts. These things were all possible, and not so very improbable.
I was pursuing my meditations in this cheerful fashion when my attention was arrested by a small object that was floating slowly past. It was an empty Achatina shell, buoyed up by a bubble of air in the spire; and as it drifted along on the surface of the quiet, clear water, turning round and round or bobbing up suddenly when some inquisitive fish smelled at it, I found myself watching it with a strange wistfulness, and speculating upon its destination and the incidents of its voyage.
Down the river, ever downwards, it would pursue its noiseless journey; through the lonely forest, past noisy waterside towns and villages; hurrying through blustering rapids, lingering in silent pools, turning in many an eddy and backwater; on, till the river grew broad and the crocodiles basked on the bank; on, till it met the mangrove, and heard the roaring of the bar; and so out into the dancing waters of the ocean where the dolphins were at play, and the great ships spread their sails in the sunshine.
The shell drifted out of sight, and I sighed disconsolately. Where should I be when it reached its destination on the surf-beaten shore?
Suddenly there came into my mind a new thought. Why should not I also make the river my highway? It led to the sea, I knew. Why should I not make myself some raft or coracle and drift down the stream, too, like the infant Moses or the Lady of Shalott? I grinned sardonically at the whimsical idea—and yet it was less impracticable than any other plan that I could think of. Indeed, the more I thought about it the more did it commend itself to me, and my imagination soon began to fill in details of the scheme. The river would not only be my guide to the sea; it would carry me without fatigue on my part, and furnish me with food—for I could fish as I went. Then the approaching rains, which would flood the forest lands and make the roads impassable, would fill the river and make it safer by covering rapids and shallows. Finally, I could build a little shelter on my coracle, and thus take my house with me, and so could even travel in the heavy rain, when walking would be impossible.
So strongly did the idea begin to take hold of me, that my excitement made me restless, and as I had now caught two fish, and was secure from immediate starvation, I arose, and winding up my lines, began to wade through the shallows, searching the banks for a suitable place to take up my abode in while the coracle was being made.
The river was, as I have said, but a small stream, formed by the confluence of a number of tiny brooks; but its banks rose pretty steeply for fully seven feet above its present level, showing that in the rains it carried a large body of water. I had wandered down nearly half a mile when I found the banks receding on either side as the river grew rapidly wider, and then the stream appeared to divide into two. At first I supposed that a tributary had entered it, but on going to the fork and observing that the water flowed down each side, I perceived that the river had really divided, and I had no doubt that the central portion of land was an island. In order to ascertain if this was the case I took the left-hand division, scanning the banks closely as I went, and as I proceeded the stream continued to widen out, forming a lake-like expanse, the appearance of which impressed me with a strange sense of familiarity. Presently I set my foot upon a hard, smooth body, the feel of which I knew at once. It was an affaní, and as I picked the mollusc up and dropped it into my wicker bag, the chain of association was complete. I felt certain that this was the very place where Bukári Moshi and I had crossed with the bags of gold upon our heads.
With my heart thumping with excitement and anxiety, I splashed across the stream to the bank of what I believed to be the island, and wading along the shore, looked for the landing place. Presently I came to a spot where the bank shelved down more gradually, and running up the incline, found at the top a wide stretch of level ground covered with soft moss. Surely this was the place; there could be no doubt about it; but yet so intense was my excitement and my fear of a disappointment that I hardly had the courage to look for the crucial proof. At length I summoned up my nerve, and casting my eyes across the river, at once made out a tall oil palm rising out of the undergrowth, and near to it a lofty silk-cotton. Between the two stems was an opening in the foliage, through which I could see some high ground in the distance. I drew off a few paces to the left, but the two stems approached and came into one line. Then I stepped away to my right, and as the stems separated, the hill became more visible, until suddenly there appeared through the opening a patch of red cliff on the hillside. It was the cliff on to which the tunnel opened.
Inch by inch I shifted my position until the red patch appeared midway between the palm and the silk-cotton. Then I stooped, and began frantically driving my knife into the soft moss; and I had scarcely made a dozen stabs when I felt the point arrested by something hard. With a hasty glance around to make sure that my solitude was undisturbed, I cut out a square slab of the moss, and thrusting my hand into the hole, dragged out a bunch of the gold manillas.
Very absurd was the triumph with which I gloated over the precious trash and dusted the black mould from their shining surfaces. Indeed, I could not but be struck by the irony of the situation. Here I was, sitting upon a fortune of some seventy thousand pounds, of which the whole was mine—or, at least, I considered it to be—with death from starvation or exposure staring me in the face! It was a fine commentary upon the worthlessness of riches, to which my gnawing hunger gave a special point; and as my momentary exultation flickered out, I sadly poked the manillas back into the hole, and replaced the moss, carefully pinching the cut edges together.
The treasure was mine indeed, but should I ever possess it? Through what perils and miseries must I pass before I could finally lay hands upon it? I had yet to creep like some belated ancient Briton in a wretched coracle of wicker and skin down an unknown river, through a land swarming with savage beasts and peopled by savage men. Should I ever reach the coast? and if I did, would even this great fortune tempt me again into this loathsome wilderness? Or even if I did come with trusty companions, if the natives permitted us to pass, could I make sure of finding the treasure again? To none of these questions could I give a confident and satisfactory answer, and my short-lived triumph was succeeded by black despair.
Suddenly a new idea flashed into my mind, and although I put it away at once as preposterous, it returned again and again with such insistence that I presently began to seriously entertain it.
It was this.
I had resolved that the river should not only be my guide to the sea, but should actually carry me to my destination. Why should it not carry the treasure, too? If I were lost, then it would matter nothing that the treasure should be lost with me; while if I could succeed in navigating the river, the presence of the treasure need not materially add to the danger. Of course, it would be no wicker-built coracle that would carry half a ton of metal. A really stout canoe would be required, and the construction of this was the main, and almost the only, difficulty. Now, given the materials and appliances, there was no doubt of my ability to build a canoe or boat, since I had both built and rigged the canoe-yawl in which, as I have mentioned, I used to sail around the Thanet coast; but my sole appliances at present were my knives, my spear, and a few needles, and as to materials, they would have to be gathered in the forest.
The question was, therefore, whether it would be possible, with the means at my disposal, to build a canoe of the necessary strength. At the first glance the thing appeared impossible, but I determined to give it careful consideration, for if it could be done, and I could successfully navigate the river, then I could say good-bye, once for all, to the inhospitable forest.
Meanwhile I resolved to shift my residence to the island at once, for whether I built a large canoe or merely a small coracle, this would be a most suitable place in which to carry out the work, not only because of its being actually on the river, but also on account of the improbability of any person visiting it.
The country round, indeed, appeared to be almost uninhabited, for I had not seen a human being since we left Tain-su; but on the mainland there was always the possibility that a chance stranger might appear, whereas the island was almost completely secure from intrusion.
Before returning to the camp I looked round for an "eligible building site." The island was about a hundred and fifty yards long by fifty broad. It was mostly above the level of the banks of the river (and therefore above the flood level), but at the end near which the treasure was buried there was a central hollow or miniature valley, and this I pitched upon as the site for my hut, as the higher ground on each side would conceal it from anyone walking by the river. As a first instalment of furniture, I carried a number of stones to the spot, and laid them down as a hearth in readiness for the fire. Then, having collected a dozen or so of affaní, I made my way back to the camp, which I found to be little over a mile distant.
While the fish and affaní were roasting, I occupied myself in taking down the hut that the musicians had built, for it would be quicker to carry the materials to the island than to cut and collect fresh ones. Then I ate my all too frugal meal, and, having devoured the last morsel, even to the fishes' heads, I made preparations for the removal.
My first care was the fire—for although I had once kindled a fire by means of the drill, I might not succeed a second time, and I meant to take no risks. I therefore scooped up all the red embers and charcoal into Aminé's brass pan, piling up as much as it would hold, and gathered up the faggots into a bundle with their glowing ends together. Then, setting the pan upon my head, which I protected with a pad of grass, and taking the bundle of faggots in my hands like a huge torch, I ran off towards the island like some African Solomon Eagle.
The faggots were still alight, and the embers in the pan still glowing when I reached my new abode, and I at once proceeded to build up my fire after the fashion that I had learned from the Hausas. The art of making and maintaining a fire with green wood is a very simple one, but requires to be practised with method. The important thing is to place the faggots like the spokes of a wheel with the burning ends at the centre. Thus each faggot becomes dried by the heat, and the fire slowly spreads outwards, becoming more and more dull as the burning ends become more widely separated; but built in this way it will burn without attention for an incredible time, and when almost extinct, it can be revived in a moment by simply pushing the faggots forward until their ends meet in the central heap of embers and hot ashes.
I tipped out my pan of charcoal on to the hearth, and arranged the faggots in the way I have described, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing a well established fire in my new camp. It took me two more journeys to transport the poles and thatch of the hut, and as I came away with the last load, I looked round sadly at the little grassy oasis in the forest. It was now to be left desolate and deserted. A large white patch of ashes and poor Aminé's primitive mausoleum alone remained as memorials of the dreadful tragedy that it had witnessed.
The remainder of the day was spent in fishing, collecting firewood, and re-erecting the hut, which I did not build in its original beehive form, but in a conical shape like that of a bell tent. I constructed it without a centre post because, as my stay on the island might be a prolonged one, I intended to build a larger house for permanent use, and this conical hut would then serve to make the fire in, so that it might not be extinguished by a night's heavy rain.
Through the long evening as I sat by the fire I considered and re-considered my wild scheme of carrying away the treasure, and as I turned it over, its difficulties—so insuperable at first sight—began to melt away, while its attractions grew upon me, and, when I at last banked up the fire and turned in, I had made up my mind not to abandon the plan until I had tried it and found it impossible to carry out.
Daybreak saw me hard at work on my new residence, a building of much more ambitious and extensive design; for in a tropical country with nearly twelve hours of darkness out of the twenty-four, life would be intolerable with no better shelter than the tiny conical hut afforded, and I could not at present judge how long my labours might detain me on the island. A reasonable amount of comfort and convenience was indispensable, and with this view I decided to build the new house in the square Ashanti style—a much more commodious form than the conical or beehive shape. As to the dimensions, the floor space was to be, roughly, ten feet by eight, the height to the ridge of the roof six feet six inches, and the height to the eaves three feet. This was a very different affair from the little temporary huts that I had hitherto made. The mere cutting of the poles and the creepers for lashings was a work of some hours, and I had not completely finished setting up the framework when the light failed, and the long evening's idleness commenced.
While I had been at work I had left my baited lines pegged down near a spot which I had ground-baited with the offal from my meals, visiting them from time to time, and so had a fair supply of fish for my supper; but this diet was both scanty and monotonous, and I felt that some better arrangements would have to be made in regard to board as well as lodging.
When I came to survey the result of my day's work on the following morning, before recommencing my labours, I was not a little pleased to see how much was done. The frame was nearly complete, and looked like a huge wicker bird-cage, but it stood firm, and was stiff and strong, and the interior seemed very large and roomy. Half an hour's work sufficed to finish the framework, and then came the tedious task of clothing the skeleton. I did not propose to use thatch, for grass was scarce in the forest; but leaves were abundant enough, and it seemed to me would answer the purpose better. I had noticed, in particular, a creeper that shrouded almost every tree trunk, and bore stout, glossy leaves nearly a foot long. These—of which I could gather as many as I wanted—would be almost as good as shingles for the roof, while the flexible stems could be split to furnish lashings. I accordingly collected a quantity of this creeper, and fastened the broad leaves in overlapping rows on to the roof and gables; but although I worked steadily from daybreak to sunset, with but short intervals of fishing and firewood cutting, when the darkness closed in I had only the roof and gables finished. However, as the night looked threatening, and I was uneasy about the fire, I moved into the unfinished house, and transferred the blazing faggots to the interior of the conical hut; and it was well that I did so, for that night the rain fell for a short time in such torrents that, had the fire been exposed, it must have inevitably been put out.
Another hard day's work saw my house completed, and not only completed, but furnished; for in addition to a door—three feet high by two broad—which could be firmly secured by a lashing, it boasted a bedstead—a structure of sticks much resembling a wooden gridiron on eight small posts, on which I could spread my mats, and sleep clear of the damp ground.
In this palatial residence I took up my abode in state as soon as it was dark, and by way of making it more cheerful, kindled a fire in the middle of the floor, by which I got not only light—and a great deal of smoke—but a warmth that was most grateful, for the nights were now damp and very chilly.
Here, upon my new bed, I sat through the long evening, with the door shut and fastened, and the flickering flames lighting up the little interior, uncommonly elated at finding myself so comfortably housed, and full of enthusiasm for the work that the morrow was to see begun. For now that I had a comfortable home, the building of the canoe must be pushed forward with all speed, so that I could make my dash for the coast as soon as the river was full.
Long that night I sat cogitating upon my scheme, and as it took more definite shape and details suggested themselves, I covered my dirty white riga with figures and diagrams scrawled on it with a stump of charcoal from the fire. The problem to be worked out was simple enough. The weight of the gold I estimated at half a ton; it could hardly be more, for Bukári and I had carried it from the mine to the river in five journeys, each carrying, of course, a tenth part of the whole treasure. My own weight was eleven stone—probably less now—or a hundred and fifty-four pounds, making, with the gold, a total of twelve hundred and seventy-four pounds. This weight added to the weight of the canoe itself, represented the displacement of the vessel when fully loaded, that is to say, the loaded canoe would displace, in floating, this weight of water. Now a cubic foot of water weighs sixty-two and a half pounds, or a little less in the Tropics. Calling it sixty-two, to be on the safe side, the gold would displace eighteen cubic feet of water, and my body would displace two and a half, a total of twenty and a half cubic feet without reckoning the weight of the canoe.
This was not in itself an alarming amount. A canoe twelve feet long by three wide, and drawing one foot of water, will displace about twenty-four cubic feet, and these dimensions were considerably less than those of the canoe-yawl that I had built at Ramsgate. But there was the weight of the vessel itself—which must be strong to carry this weight, and withstand the rough usage that it would certainly meet with—and this I could hardly estimate until I had decided on the materials of which it was to be made. Reckoning it, however, provisionally at three hundred-weight (which was probably excessive), a canoe twelve feet long by three and a half wide, and drawing one foot, would answer the purpose, for a vessel of these dimensions would displace twenty-nine cubic feet of water, or three cubic feet more than was necessary.
The question of materials had next to be considered. Of what was the canoe to be made? A "dug-out" or hollowed log I at once rejected, for not only is such a vessel clumsy and very heavy, but the making of one involves the felling of a tree, the shaping of the log, and the digging out of its interior—a task quite beyond my powers, seeing that my entire outfit of tools consisted of two knives, a spear, and the packet of large needles that I had bought at Taari.
Evidently the canoe would have to be made on the principle of a coracle—a framework of wicker or lashed sticks with a covering of some sort, and this covering was the real crux of the situation. As to the frame, I felt confident of being able to build that without difficulty, but the covering gave me pause.
The Britons covered their coracles with hide, but it was tanned hide, which I could not procure. The Eskimo cover their canoes with untanned skin; but they navigate frozen seas, whereas the tepid waters of the Tropics would reduce such skin to putrefying pulp in forty-eight hours. Suddenly I bethought me of the birch-bark canoes of the Redskins, and with a thrill of exultation I felt that the difficulty was solved. For the forest abounded in the Hon-ton tree, to the tough, canvas-like bark of which Isaaku had introduced me; and this material, easy to obtain and to work, would form an ideal covering or skin for my canoe. It was true that the bark was rather porous, and so not very watertight, but it would be hard if I could not devise some means for filling the pores. At any rate, the main difficulty was disposed of, and with a sigh of satisfaction I lay down upon the mat that covered my bed, and drawing Aminé's mat over me by way of bedclothes, settled myself for the night.
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