Chapter VIII. I Fall in Again with the Reverend John Laputa

Prester John

by John Buchan

Once, as a boy, I had earnestly desired to go into the army, and
had hopes of rising to be a great general. Now that I know myself
better, I do not think I would have been much good at a general's
work. I would have shirked the loneliness of it, the isolation of
responsibility. But I think I would have done well in a subaltern
command, for I had a great notion of carrying out orders, and a
certain zest in the mere act of obedience. Three days before I had
been as nervous as a kitten because I was alone and it was 'up to
me,' as Americans say, to decide on the next step. But now that I
was only one wheel in a great machine of defence my nervousness
seemed to have fled. I was well aware that the mission I was bound
on was full of risk; but, to my surprise, I felt no fear. Indeed, I
had much the same feeling as a boy on a Saturday's holiday who has
planned a big expedition. One thing only I regretted - that Tam Dyke
was not with me to see the fun. The thought of that faithful soul,
now beating somewhere on the seas, made me long for his comradeship.
As I shaved, I remember wondering if I would ever shave again, and
the thought gave me no tremors. For once in my sober life I was
strung up to the gambler's pitch of adventure.

My job was to go to Umvelos' as if on my ordinary business, and
if possible find out something of the evening's plan of march. The
question was how to send back a message to Arcoll, assuming I had any
difficulty in getting away. At first this puzzled us both, and then
I thought of Colin. I had trained the dog to go home at my bidding,
for often when I used to go hunting I would have occasion to visit a
kraal where he would have been a nuisance. Accordingly, I resolved
to take Colin with me, and, if I got into trouble, to send word by
him.

I asked about Laputa's knowledge of our preparations. Arcoll was
inclined to think that he suspected little. The police and the
commandos had been kept very secret, and, besides, they were moving
on the high veld and out of the ken of the tribes. Natives, he told
me, were not good scouts so far as white man's work was concerned,
for they did not understand the meaning of what we did. On the other
hand, his own native scouts brought him pretty accurate tidings of
any Kaffir movements. He thought that all the bush country of the
plain would be closely watched, and that no one would get through
without some kind of pass. But he thought also that the storekeeper
might be an exception, for his presence would give rise to no
suspicions. Almost his last words to me were to come back
hell-for-leather if I saw the game was hopeless, and in any case to
leave as soon as I got any news. 'If you're there when the march
begins,' he said, 'they'll cut your throat for a certainty.' I had
all the various police posts on the Berg clear in my mind, so that I
would know where to make for if the road to Blaauwildebeestefontein
should be closed.

I said good-bye to Arcoll and Wardlaw with a light heart, though
the schoolmaster broke down and implored me to think better of it.
As I turned down into the gorge I heard the sound of horses' feet far
behind, and, turning back, saw white riders dismounting at the dorp.
At any rate I was leaving the country well guarded in my rear.

It was a fine morning in mid-winter, and I was in very good
spirits as I jogged on my pony down the steep hill-road, with Colin
running beside me. A month before I had taken the same journey, with
no suspicion in my head of what the future was to bring. I thought
about my Dutch companions, now with their cattle far out on the
plains. Did they know of the great danger, I wondered. All the way
down the glen I saw no sign of human presence. The game-birds mocked
me from the thicket; a brace of white berghaan circled far up in the
blue; and I had for pleasant comrade the brawling river. I
dismounted once to drink, and in that green haven of flowers and
ferns I was struck sharply with a sense of folly. Here were we
wretched creatures of men making for each other's throats, and
outraging the good earth which God had made so fair a habitation.

I had resolved on a short cut to Umvelos', avoiding the
neighbourhood of Sikitola's kraal, so when the river emerged from the
glen I crossed it and struck into the bush. I had not gone far
before I realized that something strange was going on. It was like
the woods on the Berg a week before. I had the impression of many
people moving in the bush, and now and then I caught a glimpse of
them. My first thought was that I should be stopped, but soon it
appeared that these folk had business of their own which did not
concern me. I was conscious of being watched, yet it was clear that
the bush folk were not there for the purpose of watching me.

For a little I kept my spirits, but as the hours passed with the
same uncanny hurrying to and fro all about me my nerves began to
suffer. Weeks of espionage at Blaauwildebeestefontein had made me
jumpy. These people apparently meant me no ill, and had no time to
spare on me, But the sensation of moving through them was like
walking on a black-dark night with precipices all around. I felt odd
quiverings between my shoulder blades where a spear might be expected
to lodge. Overhead was a great blue sky and a blazing sun, and I
could see the path running clear before me between the walls of
scrub. But it was like midnight to me, a midnight of suspicion and
unknown perils. I began to wish heartily I had never come.

I stopped for my midday meal at a place called Taqui, a grassy
glade in the bush where a tiny spring of water crept out from below a
big stone, only to disappear in the sand. Here I sat and smoked for
half an hour, wondering what was going to become of me. The air was
very still, but I could hear the rustle of movement somewhere within
a hundred yards. The hidden folk were busy about their own ends, and
I regretted that I had not taken the road by Sikitola's and seen how
the kraals looked. They must be empty now, for the young men were
already out on some mission. So nervous I got that I took my
pocket-book and wrote down certain messages to my mother, which I
implored whoever should find my body to transmit. Then, a little
ashamed of my childishness, I pulled myself together, and
remounted.

About three in the afternoon I came over a low ridge of bush and
saw the corrugated iron roof of the store and the gleam of water from
the Labongo. The sight encouraged me, for at any rate it meant the
end of this disquieting ride. Here the bush changed to trees of some
size, and after leaving the ridge the road plunged for a little into
a thick shade. I had forgotten for a moment the folk in the bush,
and when a man stepped out of the thicket I pulled up my horse with a
start.

It was a tall native, who carried himself proudly, and after a
glance at me, stalked along at my side. He wore curious clothes, for
he had a kind of linen tunic, and around his waist hung a kilt of
leopard-skin. In such a man one would have looked for a ting-kop,*
but instead he had a mass of hair, not like a Kaffir's wool, but long
and curled like some popular musician's. I should have been prepared
for the face, but the sight of it sent a sudden chill of fright
through my veins. For there was the curved nose, the deep flashing
eyes, and the cruel lips of my enemy of the Kirkcaple shore.

*The circlet into which, with the aid of gum, Zulu
warriors weave their hair.

Colin was deeply suspicious and followed his heels growling, but
he never turned his head.

'The day is warm, father,' I said in Kaffir. 'Do you go
far?'

He slackened his pace till he was at my elbow. 'But a short
way, Baas,' he replied in English; 'I go to the store yonder.'

'Well met, then,' said I, 'for I am the storekeeper. You will
find little in it, for it is newly built and not yet stocked. I have
ridden over to see to it.'

He turned his face to me. 'That is bad news. I had hoped for
food and drink yonder. I have travelled far, and in the chill nights
I desire a cover for my head. Will the Baas allow me to sleep the
night in an outhouse?'

By this time I had recovered my nerve, and was ready to play the
part I had determined on. 'Willingly,' I said. 'You may sleep in
the storeroom if you care. You will find sacks for bedding, and the
place is snug enough on a cold night.'

He thanked me with a grave dignity which I had never seen in any
Kaffir. As my eye fell on his splendid proportions I forgot all else
in my admiration of the man. In his minister's clothes he had looked
only a heavily built native, but now in his savage dress I saw how
noble a figure he made. He must have been at least six feet and a
half, but his chest was so deep and his shoulders so massive that one
did not remark his height. He put a hand on my saddle, and I
remember noting how slim and fine it was, more like a high-bred
woman's than a man's. Curiously enough he filled me with a certain
confidence. 'I do not think you will cut my throat,' I said to
myself. 'Your game is too big for common murder.'

The store at Umvelos' stood as I had left it. There was the
sjambok I had forgotten still lying on the window sill. I unlocked
the door, and a stifling smell of new paint came out to meet me.
Inside there was nothing but the chairs and benches, and in a corner
the pots and pans I had left against my next visit. I unlocked the
cupboard and got out a few stores, opened the windows of the bedroom
next door, and flung my kaross on the cartel which did duty as bed.
Then I went out to find Laputa standing patiently in the sunshine.

I showed him the outhouse where I had said he might sleep. It
was the largest room in the store, but wholly unfurnished. A pile of
barrels and packing-cases stood in the corner, and there was enough
sacking to make a sort of bed.

'I am going to make tea,' I said. 'If you have come far you
would maybe like a cup?' He thanked me, and I made a fire in the
grate and put on the kettle to boil. Then I set on the table
biscuits, and sardines, and a pot of jam. It was my business now to
play the fool, and I believe I succeeded to admiration in the part.
I blush to-day to think of the stuff I talked. First I made him sit
on a chair opposite me, a thing no white man in the country would
have done. Then I told him affectionately that I liked natives, that
they were fine fellows and better men than the dirty whites round
about. I explained that I was fresh from England, and believed in
equal rights for all men, white or coloured. God forgive me, but I
think I said I hoped to see the day when Africa would belong once
more to its rightful masters.

He heard me with an impassive face, his grave eyes studying
every line of me. I am bound to add that he made a hearty meal, and
drank three cups of strong tea of my brewing. I gave him a cigar,
one of a lot I had got from a Dutch farmer who was experimenting with
their manufacture - and all the while I babbled of myself and my
opinions. He must have thought me half-witted, and indeed before
long I began to be of the same opinion myself. I told him that I
meant to sleep the night here, and go back in the morning to
Blaauwildebeestefontein, and then to Pietersdorp for stores.
By-and-by I could see that he had ceased to pay any attention to what
I said. I was clearly set down in his mind as a fool. Instead he
kept looking at Colin, who was lying blinking in the doorway, one
wary eye cocked on the stranger.

'You have a fine dog,' he observed.

'Yes,' I agreed, with one final effort of mendacity, 'he's fine
to look at, but he has no grit in him. Any mongrel from a kraal can
make him turn tail. Besides, he is a born fool and can't find his
way home. I'm thinking of getting rid of him.'

Laputa rose and his eye fell on the dog's back. I could see
that he saw the lie of his coat, and that he did not agree with
me.

'The food was welcome, Baas,' he said. 'If you will listen to
me I can repay hospitality with advice. You are a stranger here.
Trouble comes, and if you are wise you will go back to the Berg.'

'I don't know what you mean,' I said, with an air of cheerful
idiocy. 'But back to the Berg I go the first thing in the morning.
I hate these stinking plains.'

'It were wise to go to-night,' he said, with a touch of menace
in his tone.

'I can't,' I said, and began to sing the chorus of a ridiculous
music-hall song-

'There's no place like home - but I'm afraid to go
home in the dark.' Laputa shrugged his shoulders, stepped over the
bristling Colin, and went out. When I looked after him two minutes
later he had disappeared.