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"I have been awaiting you, O great one; but you came so softly that I should not have known except for these wise ones here." "Welcome, Muata!" The boat was run in now without further pause, and Mr. Hume leapt ashore with the line. "And who are the wise ones, chief, that could smell us out in the dark?" "Who but the jackal and the wise woman?" "You found your mother, then! I'm very glad very glad.
"Muata waited on these men a day and a night, and when he sought his mother on the edge of the forest his quiver was empty, and the chief's wife spoke: 'Where did the arrow strike, O warrior? And Muata answered, 'In the throat, O my mother. And the chief's wife said again, 'It is well; but the warrior sees to it that he can recover his arrow.
After this they sat together learning a polyglot speech that would serve roughly as a medium of exchange. And this was the story of the chief, slowly put together out of these talks "I am Muata the chief. The kraal of my house is toward the setting sun, but the fire no longer burns on the hearth. The men-robbers fell upon the place in the early morning.
And what about Hassan? He has passed this way, and made his sign at the village where we left the old Arab." "The Arab thief comes up the little river with many canoes and the whole pack of man-eaters. So we three will get into the shining canoe, if the great one wills, and make good the time before sunrise." "The boat is ready." Muata called.
Muata went off on his self-appointed task, and the white men felt, as they saw him disappear, how impossible it was for them to cope with the mystery of the forest.
Hume vice-chief, with full power, in his absence, over life and property in the valley; for, said he, "I go upon the trail myself, and who should have authority when I am gone but you, my friend?" The headmen expressed themselves delighted. "But," said the Hunter, troubled by this upset of his theory that Muata would think only of himself, "our boat has been taken."
Inside the cry was answered by the howl of a jackal. "It's our jackal," shouted Venning. "Where what?" "Here;" and Venning laughed hysterically. "Poor old chap!" then, "Good old jacky!" "Nonsense!" said Compton; but his band groped out in the dark, and when he felt the rough tongue, he joined in the laugh. They were as pleased as if Mr. Hums or Muata had returned. "Did the brute really hook you?"
Muata pointed to notches cut in a lateral branch, and walked to the end of it, steadying himself by holding to a guiding branch above; then passed over the slight intervening distance between the last notch and the next tree by swinging on a vine tendril, otherwise a "monkey-rope."
"If the beast followed me, he would be food for the crocodiles. Place him on land when you reach the bank, for the sake of good hunting." "I will do so." The chief took another long glance around, then drew himself up for the dive. "Stop," said Mr. Hume. Muata looked round. "Your shield is our shield. So be it. We will not ask you to lead us to your hiding-place. Is that so, Compton?"
Mr. Hume, however, kept him off with a "not so fast" and a hand against his breast. "Talk to him, Muata. Ask him what he wants, who he is, and all the rest." Muata stepped into the canoe, caught up the paddle, and sat down to palaver. A line was made fast to the canoe, and it drifted astern of the Okapi, which kept on her course.
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