CHAPTER XXIII ON TO ENTEBBE

 Camp presented a scene of strange activity the next day when Mr. Hampton forced his sodden¹ bearers to the task of preparing for departure. During their lengthy² stay many articles of equipment had been unpacked³, and there was much to do beside striking the tents and packing up the articles they contained.

 

The task was made easier for Mr. Hampton, however, by reason of the efforts of Samba, who took his new honors as “straw boss” seriously, and who moreover was ably supported in spurring on the laggards⁴ by the dozen steadier men who had refused to leave camp the night before and go to Chief Ungaba’s beer party.

 

Nothing untoward⁵ had occurred during the night as in little groups supporting each other the guilty bearers had stolen back from the village where revelry continued until dawn.

 

“Mabele him no got any fella-boys with him,” Samba had reported in the morning. “All fella-boys him come back.”

 

That had been one comfort to Mr. Hampton in the situation, as without all his bearers he would have been forced to abandon much of his impedimenta. And as the load had not decreased through the using up of supplies, but had been maintained at a steady level by reason of the addition of animal skins, every bearer was needed.

 

While all this was going on, Bob, Frank and Niellsen doing everything possible to be of aid, Jack⁶ devoted⁷ himself to the task of opening communication with Entebbe. The previous night in his conversations with Mr. Hampton, Ransome speaking from Entebbe had been extremely careful to speak only in the most guarded terms regarding the trouble amongst the natives west of Lake Victoria. Much that he had told the boys afterwards, concerning Ransome’s probable connection with the British secret service, constituted Mr. Hampton’s deductions⁸ rather than anything which had been said openly over the radio. From this, the Hampton party drew the conclusion that Ransome suspected there might be one or more secret radio stations maintained in the region about them, and was taking no chances on being overheard. Therefore, when finally he did raise Entebbe, and got Mr. Ransome summoned to the phone, Jack exercised extreme care not to let slip anything which might be seized upon to advantage by hostile ears, yet at the same time to make his meaning perfectly⁹ clear.

 

“I understand,” Ransome responded finally. “I shall keep an eye out for your messenger Mabele.”

 

And from the tone employed, Jack felt assured that Ransome would, indeed, keep an eye out for Mabele. In fact, if he did not go further and send out scouts¹⁰ to lay Mabele by the heels before he could reach the conspirators¹¹ employing him, Jack thought he would be very much mistaken.

 

In this, however, he was mistaken, as later events proved. For when after an uneventful journey of five days, during which no trace of Mabele had been discovered, the Hampton party did reach Entebbe, on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, they found that Ransome had not caused Mabele’s arrest, although having obtained traces of him. On the contrary, he had permitted him to continue at large.

 

“And the reason was,” he explained in a conversation with Mr. Hampton, to which the boys and Niellsen were admitted, “that I thought it better to let him keep his freedom, in order that he might lead us, perhaps, to his employers. I have him under constant surveillance. And the last word I had from a spy put on his tracks and sent back to me by native runner was that he was working his way around the shores of the lake.”

 

He paused, smiling with satisfaction. “Perhaps,” he resumed, “we’ll be able to cut him off at Masaka, on the western shore of the lake, to which we’ll cross from here, in order to save time in striking for the Mountains of the Moon. He travelled faster than you and slipped into Entebbe two days ago. My men apprised¹² me of his coming, and when he departed secretly, I sent a couple of keen fellows, smart blacks and born trackers with a considerable knowledge of the dialects of tribes about the northern and western shores of the lake, in pursuit.”

 

From this it can be gathered that Ransome no longer kept up in the presence of the boys his pretense¹³ of being a trader. And such, indeed, was the case. Informed bluntly by Mr. Hampton that the boys were too smart to be kept in darkness but would have pierced his secret of their own intuitions, and that consequently he had considered it wise to put them in possession of some of the facts, Ransome had called the boys and Niellsen to him and had laid all his cards on the table, so to speak.

 

“I am an Englishman,” he had concluded, “working in the interests of my government. I may be mistaken, therefore, in believing that those interests are best for the progress of civilization in these wilds. That is for others to decide. But, at least, I want you boys to believe that we honestly are endeavoring to do our best for the natives. And I can’t say as much for the former officials of German East Africa whom I suspect of being behind this trouble in the Congo. If the trouble becomes serious, we shall have to go to the aid of Belgium, and that is the reason I want to go in and see how matters stand for myself. You people will be able to protect me from detection, unless Mabele eludes¹⁴ my trackers and escapes us to carry word to the conspirators that I am not what I seem. In that case, of course, the danger to you all will become real. Otherwise, you will be merely explorers, picturing wild game and scenery in the real heart of Africa.”

 

“I want to be of aid,” Mr. Hampton had said, “yet I do not want to bring the boys into danger, nor imperil the trophies¹⁵ of our expedition. All that we have taken to date, of course, both film records of primitive¹⁶ and wild game life and trophies of the hunt, are either already at Nairobi or will be despatched thither¹⁷ from here. So they will be safe enough. But further records might be destroyed should we be attacked in the Mountains of the Moon. As I say, I do not want to imperil either the results of the expedition or the lives of the boys. If at Masaka we find that Mabele has escaped us and has the chance to carry word to his conspirators of your real identity, Ransome, I shall probably deem it wise to turn back.”

 

“If you do so, under those circumstances, I shan’t blame you,” Ransome had said. “But,” he had added confidently, “I am quite certain Mabele cannot escape us. I have him, so to speak, in my clutch all the time, and am permitting him at large merely that he may lead us to his employers, the men higher up.”

 

“It is, of course, quite possible,” Mr. Hampton had added, after a thoughtful pause, “that Mabele did not gain sufficient knowledge of your identity from my remarks to the boys which I feel assured he overheard, that night in the tent, to make him dangerous to you and us.”

 

“Possible, but not probable,” Mr. Ransome had said. “Otherwise, why did he steal your radio immediately afterwards, except to thwart¹⁸ further communication between us? And why is he striking straight for the disturbed area?”

1 sodden   

adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑

参考例句：

• We stripped off our sodden clothes.我们扒下了湿透的衣服。
• The cardboard was sodden and fell apart in his hands.纸板潮得都发酥了，手一捏就碎。

2 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

3 unpacked   

v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等）

参考例句：

• I unpacked my bags as soon as I arrived. 我一到达就打开行李，整理衣物。
• Our guide unpacked a picnic of ham sandwiches and offered us tea. 我们的导游打开装着火腿三明治的野餐盒，并给我们倒了些茶水。 来自辞典例句

4 laggards   

n.落后者( laggard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I would say the best students at Chengdu are no laggards. 依我看成都最优秀的学生绝不逊色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The laggards include utilities and telecommunications, up about % and 12% respectively, to MSCI. 据摩根士丹利资本国际的数据，涨幅居后的包括公用事业和电信类股，分别涨了约%和12%。 来自互联网

5 untoward   

adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的

参考例句：

• Untoward circumstances prevent me from being with you on this festive occasion.有些不幸的事件使我不能在这欢庆的时刻和你在一起。
• I'll come if nothing untoward happens.我要是没有特殊情况一定来。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

8 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

9 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

10 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

11 conspirators   

n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conspirators took no part in the fighting which ensued. 密谋者没有参加随后发生的战斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The French conspirators were forced to escape very hurriedly. 法国同谋者被迫匆促逃亡。 来自辞典例句

12 apprised   

v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价

参考例句：

• We were fully apprised of the situation. 我们完全获悉当时的情况。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I have apprised him of your arrival. 我已经告诉他你要来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 pretense   

n.矫饰，做作，借口

参考例句：

• You can't keep up the pretense any longer.你无法继续伪装下去了。
• Pretense invariably impresses only the pretender.弄虚作假欺骗不了真正的行家。

14 eludes   

v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的第三人称单数 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到

参考例句：

• His name eludes me for the moment. 他的名字我一时想不起来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But philosophers seek a special sort of knowledge that eludes exact definition. 但是，哲学家所追求的是一种难以精确定义的特殊知识。 来自哲学部分

15 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

17 thither   

adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的

参考例句：

• He wandered hither and thither looking for a playmate.他逛来逛去找玩伴。
• He tramped hither and thither.他到处流浪。

18 thwart   

v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的)

参考例句：

• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。
• I don't think that will thwart our purposes.我认为那不会使我们的目的受到挫折。