In Desert and Wilderness

Stas in turn climbed up and, leaning his head carefully over the edge, began to look ahead. Nothing obstructed his view of the expanse, as the old, high jungle was burnt away and the new, which had already sprouted from the blackened ground, was barely a few inches high. As far as the eye could reach could be seen sparsely growing great trees, with trunks singed by the fire. Under the shade of one of them grazed a flock of antelopes which from the shape of their bodies resembled horses, and from their heads buffaloes. The sun penetrating through the baobab leaves cast quivering bright spots upon their brown backs. There were ten of them. The distance was not more than one hundred paces, but the wind blew from the animals towards the ravine, so they grazed quietly, not suspecting any danger. Stas, desiring to replenish his supplies with meat, shot at the nearest one, which tumbled on the ground as if struck by lightning. The rest of the flock ran away, and with them a great buffalo, which he did not perceive before, as he lay hidden behind a stone. The boy, not from necessity, but from a sporting vein, choosing the moment when the animal turned his side somewhat, sent a bullet after him. The buffalo staggered greatly after the shot, drew in his haunches, but rushed away, and before Stas was able to reload disappeared in the unevenness of the ground.

Before the smoke blew away, Kali sat upon the antelope and cut open its abdomen with Gebhr's knife. Stas walked towards him, desiring to inspect more closely the animal, and great was his surprise when after a while the young negro with blood-stained hands handed to him the reeking liver of the antelope.

"Why are you giving me that?" he asked.

"Msuri, msuri! Bwana kubwa eat at once."

"Eat it yourself," replied Stas, indignant at the proposition.

Kali did not allow this command to be repeated, but immediately began to tear the liver with his teeth, and greedily gulp down the raw pieces; seeing that Stas gazed at him with loathing he did not cease between one gulp and another to repeat: "Msuri! msuri!"

In this manner he ate over half of the liver; after which he started to dress the antelope. He did this with uncommon quickness and skill, so that soon the hide was flayed and the haunches were separated from the backbone. Then Stas, somewhat surprised that Saba was not present at this work, whistled for him to come to a bounteous feast of the fore parts of the animal.

But Saba did not appear at all. Instead, Kali, who was bending over the antelope, raised his head and said:

"The big dog ran after the buffalo."

"Did you see him?" Stas asked.

"Kali saw."

Saying this, he placed the loin of the antelope on his head and the two haunches on his shoulders and started for the ravine. Stas whistled a few times more and waited, but seeing that he was doing this in vain, followed Kali. In the ravine Mea was already engaged in cutting the thorns for a zareba, while Nell, picking with her little fingers the last guinea-fowl, asked:

"Did you whistle for Saba? He ran after you."

"He ran after a buffalo which I wounded with a shot, and I am worried," Stas answered. "Those animals are terribly ferocious and so powerful that even a lion fears to attack them. Saba may fare badly if he begins a fight with such an adversary."

Hearing this Nell became alarmed and declared that she would not go to sleep until Saba returned. Stas, seeing her grief, was angry at himself because he had not concealed the danger from her and began to comfort her:

"I would go after them with the rifle," he said, "but they must now be very far away, and soon the night will fall and the tracks will be invisible. The buffalo is badly wounded, and I have a hope that he will fall. In any case he will weaken through loss of blood, and if he should rush at Saba, Saba will be able to run away. Yes! he may return during the night, but he surely will return."

Although he said this, he did not greatly believe his own words, for he remembered what he had read of the extraordinarily revengeful nature of the African buffalo, which, though heavily wounded, will run about in a circuit and lie in ambush near a path over which the hunter goes and afterwards attack him unexpectedly, pin him on its horns, and toss him into the air. Something similar might happen to Saba; not to speak of other dangers which threatened him on the return to the camp during the night.

In fact night soon fell. Kali and Mea put up a zareba, built a fire, and prepared supper. Saba did not return.

Nell became more and more worried and finally began to cry.

Stas with difficulty persuaded her to lie down, promising her that he would wait for Saba, and as soon as the day should break, he himself would search for the dog and bring him back. Nell indeed entered the tent, but at intervals she put out her little head from under its folds, asking whether the dog had not returned. Sleep overcame her only after midnight, when Mea came out to relieve Kali, who watched the fire.

"Why does the daughter of the moon weep?" the young negro asked Stas, when both lay down on the saddle-cloths. "Kali does not want that."

"She is sorry for Saba, whom the buffalo has surely killed."

"But perhaps he did not kill him," replied the black boy.

After this they became silent and Stas fell into a deep sleep. It was still dark, however, when he awoke, for the chill began to incommode him. The fire was partly extinct. Mea, who was to watch the fire, dozed and after a time had ceased throwing fuel upon the flames.

The saddle-cloth on which Kali slept was unoccupied.

Stas himself threw brushwood onto the fire, after which he shook the negress and asked:

"Where is Kali?"

For a time she stared at him unconsciously; afterwards coming to her senses, she said:

"Kali took Gebhr's sword and went beyond the zareba. I thought he wanted to cut more brushwood, but he did not return at all."

"Did he go long ago?"

"Long."

Stas waited for some time, but as the negro did not return, he involuntarily propounded to himself the question:

"Did he run away?"

And his heart was oppressed by the disagreeable feeling which human ingratitude always arouses. Why! he had interceded for this Kali and defended him when Gebhr vented his rage upon him for whole days, and afterwards he had saved the slave's life. Nell was always kind to him and had wept over his unhappy lot, and both treated him in the best possible manner. Now he ran away! He himself had said that he did not know in which direction the Wahima settlements were situated, and though he would be unable to find them, he nevertheless ran away. Stas again recollected those "African Travels" in Port Said, and the narratives of travelers about the stupidity of negroes, who, throwing away packages, run away although in their escape they are threatened by inevitable death. In fact, Kali, having as his only weapon Gebhr's Sudânese sword, must die of starvation, or if he did not fall again into the captivity of the dervishes would become the prey of wild animals.

Ah! Ingrate and fool!

Stas then began to meditate over this; – how far more difficult and vexatious the journey without Kali would be for them, and how much heavier the work. To water the horses and fetter them for the night, to pitch the tent, build zarebas, watch during the journey that none of the supplies and packets with things were lost, to flay and dress the slain animals, all this for want of the young negro was to fall upon him and he admitted in his soul that as to some of these employments, flaying the hides of animals, for instance, he did not have the slightest knowledge.

"Ha! it will be hard," he said, "but necessary."

In the meantime the sun emerged from beyond the horizon and, as usually happens in the tropics, in a moment it was day. Somewhat later the water for bathing, which Mea had prepared during the night for the little lady, began to splash, which meant that Nell had risen and was dressing herself. In fact, she soon appeared, already dressed, with a comb in her hand and her hair still unkempt.

"And Saba?" she asked.

"He has not come yet."

The lips of the little girl at once began to quiver.

"He may yet return," said Stas. "You remember that on the desert sometimes he was not seen for two days, and afterwards he always overtook us."

"You said that you would go and search for him."

"I cannot."

"Why, Stas?"

"I cannot leave you in the ravine alone with Mea."

"And Kali?"

"Kali is not here."

Stas was silent, not knowing whether to tell her the whole truth; but as the matter could not be concealed he thought it best to divulge it at once.

"Kali took Gebhr's sword," he said, "and in the night went away; I do not know where. Who knows whether he has not run away? The negroes often do that, even to their own destruction. I am sorry for him – But he may understand that he has acted like a fool and – "

Further words were interrupted by Saba's joyful barking which filled the whole ravine. Nell threw the comb on the ground and wanted to rush out to meet him. She was prevented, however, by the thorns of the zareba.

Stas, with the greatest haste, began to scatter them about, but before he had opened a passage Saba appeared and after him Kali, as shiny and wet from the dew as if after the greatest rain.

Immense joy possessed both children, and when Kali, out of breath from fatigue, came inside the enclosure, Nell flung her white hands around his black neck and hugged him with all her strength.

And he said:

"Kali did not want to see the 'bibi' cry, so Kali found the dog."

"Good boy, Kali!" answered Stas, slapping him on the shoulders. "Did you not fear in the night that you would meet a lion or a panther?"

"Kali feared, but Kali went," answered the boy.

These words gained still more the hearts of the children. Stas, at Nell's request, took out from one of the small pieces of luggage a string of glass beads with which they had been provided by the Greek, Kaliopuli, on their departure from Omdurmân; with it he decorated Kali's splendid throat; while the latter, overjoyed with the gift, glanced at once with pride at Mea and said:

"Mea has no beads and Kali has, for Kali is 'the great world.'"

In this manner was the devotion of the black boy rewarded. On the other hand Saba received a sharp rebuke, from which, for the second time in Nell's service, he learned that he was perfectly horrid, and that if he once more did anything like that he would be led by a string like a puppy. He heard this, wagging his tail in quite an equivocal manner. Nell, however, claimed that it could be seen from his eyes that he was ashamed and that he certainly blushed; only this could not be seen because his mouth was covered with hair.

After this followed breakfast, consisting of excellent wild figs and a rump of venison. During the breakfast Kali related his adventures, while Stas interpreted them in English for Nell who did not understand the Kiswahili language. The buffalo, as it appeared, fled far. It was difficult for Kali to find the tracks as it was a moonless night. Fortunately, rain had fallen two days before and the ground was not too hard; in consequence of this the heavy animal's hoofs left deep imprints upon it. Kali sought them with the aid of his toes and walked a long distance. The buffalo finally fell and must have dropped dead as there was no sign of a fight between him and Saba. When Kali found them Saba already had devoured the greater part of the fore quarter of the buffalo, and although he was fully sated he would not permit the approach of two hyenas and about a dozen of jackals, which stood waiting until the more powerful rapacious creature finished his feast and left. The boy complained that the dog also growled at him, but he then threatened him with the anger of the "great master" and the "bibi," after which he grabbed him by the collar and dragged him from the buffalo, and did not let go of him until they reached the ravine.

With this ended the narrative of Kali's nocturnal adventures, after which all in good humor mounted their horses and proceeded on their journey.

One alone, long-limbed Mea, though quiet and meek, gazed with envy at the young negro's necklace and Saba's collar, and with sorrow in her heart thought:

"Both of them are 'the great world,' and I have only a brass ring on one leg."