They had seen him enter a lake village one night, where he found shelter in a native hut. And believing him safe for the night, they themselves had done likewise, for they had spent several strenuous3 days sticking to his trail through broken country of hill and marsh4 and were exhausted5.
Arising early the next day, however, they had discovered on investigation6 that Mabele had slipped away. And cautious inquiry7 developed that a native canoe also was missing. Putting two and two together, they had come to the conclusion that Mabele had taken to the lake. Although they believed they had kept out of his sight all the way and had given him no suspicion of their presence, yet it was likely he suspected he was being trailed and had taken to the lake to shake off pursuit.
Their one consolation8 was that an hour or two after their discovery of Mabele’s flight one of the sudden storms for which Lake Victoria is noted9 had arisen, accompanied by rolling thunder, lightning and a swishing downpour of rain. Later in the day, after the storm had departed and the waters of the lake had subsided10, a native fisherman had brought in the stolen canoe which had been found overturned and floating a mile out from shore. It was their belief, therefore, that Mabele had been drowned. And as on their journey from that point to Masaka they had inquired of every native encountered if a man had been picked up in the lake or had been observed coming to shore, without result, they were confirmed in this belief.
“I don’t know about that,” said Mr. Hampton thoughtfully, in talking the matter over in a general conference later. “He may have managed to reach shore without being observed. And in that case he is on his way to his confederates with word of our coming to the disturbed regions with you, Ransome, as a spy and not merely a member of our exploring and picture-taking party. However, the boys feel so strongly that they want to proceed that I shall chance it. We must all be very much on our guard, however.”
“Bully for you, Dad,” said Jack11, enthusiastically. “We can take care of ourselves, never fear. We’ve been in tight fixes before, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” sighed Mr. Hampton, half-humorously, as he regarded his strapping12 son and the two other boys with a twinkle blending affection and respect. “But every time you get there you add to my bowed shoulders and gray hairs.”
As Mr. Hampton was as straight and lithe13 as any of the boys, while his thick hair showed little signs of the advance of age, everybody laughed. A laugh in which he, too, joined.
“But what I’d like to know,” said Bob, after the laughter had subsided, “is what Mabele did with our radio set. He couldn’t have carried it far alone, and so far as we have been able to discover he had nobody with him.”
“It’s a puzzle,” said Frank. “But he must have hidden it, intending to return for it later, somewhere near Chief Ungaba’s village. At any rate, the report of his trackers that he was never observed to have that cumbersome14 piece of baggage with him is satisfactory in one respect. For it means that he was unable in all likelihood to communicate by radio with the enemy, supposing them to have a secret radio station as Mr. Ransome suspects.”
Several days the party spent at Masaka, completing the purchase of supplies to add to their baggage which had been shipped from Entebbe, and in recruiting a new corps15 of bearers, one hundred in number. A guard of a dozen trusty fellows in the pay of Mr. Ransome, every one of whom knew how to handle a rifle or revolver, appeared mysteriously from somewhere. And into this number Samba was recruited to his great delight.
“A mighty16 satisfactory man to have around,” was Mr. Hampton’s dictum, and accordingly Mr. Ransome took him into the force.
“We’ll need the guards, perhaps,” he said. “And I have obtained a permit from the Belgian authorities for them to carry arms. Our own permits as hunters also have been obtained, so now everything is settled.”
Then the party set out for the Mountains of the Moon, lying around Lake Kivu to the west and south. This gem-like lake is in the real heart of Africa, and to get there it was necessary to travel more than three hundred miles west by south. Kivu lies about one hundred and fifty miles west of the southern extremity17 of Lake Victoria, and between Lakes Edward and Tanganyika.
Day after day the miles were put behind them without any incidents of especial note. Pictures were taken at times, when the occasion warranted. But for several reasons both Mr. Ransome and his hosts were eager to reach the mysterious Mountains of the Moon which stand sentinel over the unexplored heart of the Dark Continent, and so little time was spent in picture-taking, any secured being obtained on the march, so to speak.
For one thing, Mr. Ransome was eager to gain the region about Lake Kivu and the Mountains of the Moon in order to learn as quickly as possible what was afoot amongst the natives, as disquieting18 rumors19 every now and again reached them of The Prophet’s activities. Evasive though these rumors were, it became increasingly apparent that The Prophet was someone of powerful personality who had obtained a great hold on the superstitious20 minds of the natives and who, if given sufficient time, might be able to unite the warlike and remote tribes under one head and cause serious trouble for the whites by swooping21 down on their scattered22 settlements and destroying even the railroad and steamship23 lines and other slim evidences of civilization in the Lake Victoria region which had been built up laboriously24 through the years.
For another, Mr. Hampton was anxious to reach the volcanic25 region while the craters26, of which native report was more definite than regarding the activities of The Prophet, were still in eruption28. A pictorial29 record of them would be something never before obtained and valuable in proportion. Besides, the great mountain region was reputed to be the home not only of elephants, buffalo30, bush buck31, cheetahs32, leopards33 and lions, but also of the ferocious34 man-apes or gorillas35.
To bag specimens36 of these animals both by gun and by camera would be the crowning achievement of the expedition.
Therefore, the party did not delay on the way but made each day’s march as long as possible. The more so were they content to do this as, after passing Kabale, a tiny frontier post in the mountains of Uganda, two weeks from Masaka, they entered a desolate37 volcanic region which had been laid waste by eruptions38 of lava39 in 1912 where little game was encountered.
By day, in fact, this region was plunged40 into a silence so uncanny as to affect the nerves of even the boys. For they were accustomed in their travel through central Africa to hear the jungle alive about them. Here long distances were covered where not even the hum of an insect or the call of a bird was to be heard. It was, in fact, as if they were passing through a dead region where even the ground beneath them was devoid41 of life.
Neither man nor animals were encountered, and glad, indeed, was every member of the party when at length they came to the edge of the mighty African Rift42 Valley and beheld43 below them the vast Mfumbiro Plain with craters breaking up the contour in every direction.
This was the region of the volcanoes, and after glimpsing smoking peaks in the distance all day as they approached, the boys now beheld from the edge of a precipice44, below which was spread the great plain, three towering cones45 with smoke-wreathed summits. Whereas only occasional glimpses had been obtained heretofore, they now could observe the mountains from base to summit.
Never had any of them beheld a more awe46-inspiring sight. And standing47 on the edge of a precipice which fell steeply away a matter of two thousand feet to the plain below, with those three smoking cones against the red sunset sky in the distance, they were speechless.
Presently, however, the necessity for making camp for the night appealed to Mr. Hampton, who called the boys away. Some distance back from the precipice, amidst the hard-wood trees of a small grove48, where a spring of fresh sweet water burst from the ground to go tumbling down the rocks, the tents were set up and the bearers were disposed below, along the edge of the little stream.
“Tomorrow,” announced Mr. Hampton, as they sat about the camp fire that night, “we shall descend49 into the plain. There are numerous villages down there, and on the very slopes of the great volcanoes, inhabited by warlike natives, so we must go prepared to cope with trouble, should the natives prove hostile.
“Mr. Ransome,” he added, looking to the other for confirmation50, “believes we shall find some trace of The Prophet amongst those natives, as it is in this region he is reputed to be stirring up trouble. I may as well tell you fellows now as later that our friend intends, if possible, to capture The Prophet and spirit him out of the country. With his twelve trusted men that may not be impossible of accomplishment51. And as innocent takers of pictures and hunters of big game, we shall be able, perhaps, to turn aside suspicion and cover his tracks.
“Of course,” he added, “in setting out on this expedition, we had no intention of being drawn52 into a political situation. But finding that we can be of vital service, the only decent thing we can do is to proffer53 our aid. And I’m glad to see from the way you fellows nod your heads that you agree with me.
“Mr. Ransome,” he continued, “already has despatched two of his most trustworthy men, with orders to make their way down the mountainside and into the plain and to the nearest village. Their object is to find out if possible where The Prophet has his headquarters at present. And Mr. Ransome tells me that from conversations between his men and the inhabitants of the last village through which we passed earlier today, there is reason to believe this disturber of the peace is not far away, perhaps in the very village to which he has sent his spies. If the men report early tomorrow that such is the case, Mr. Ransome intends to have a try at his capture. Have I stated matters correctly?” he concluded, glancing toward the tall, thoughtful-faced Englishman whose fortitude54 and constant good spirits had endeared him to the boys.
“Righto,” responded the latter, knocking out his straight-stemmed briar pipe, from which seemingly he was inseparable, and gazing thoughtfully into the bowl. “But you haven’t yet told the lads what part they will be asked to play, if they will.”
“I was coming to that,” said Mr. Hampton. Then turning toward the interested trio, he resumed: “Two things will be vitally necessary to the successful execution of our plans, once The Prophet is located. Both involve you fellows. What they are you will gather as I go along.
“In the first place The Prophet undoubtedly55 has secured whatever hold he has on the superstitious natives of these regions by playing upon those very superstitions56. That he is a white man and a scientist, or at least possessed57 of scientific information, is deductable from the way in which he has set about winning the awed58 regard of the natives, according to the reports obtained at our last stop today.
“By that I mean that he knows the way of volcanoes and has drawn upon that knowledge to predict events which have come to pass.
“His first appearance was just prior to the beginning of the recent volcanic eruptions, overflows59 of lava which have since continued at intervals61. And the way in which he appeared to the natives, as we got the story today, was descending62 the slope of Mount Muhavura afoot at dusk and surrounded by a nimbus of flame. That is easily accounted for in our eyes. Undoubtedly, he had rubbed himself with phosphorus.
“But as he came seemingly from the cloud-wreathed summit of Muhavura, where the natives believe heaven to lie, his statement that he was an immortal63 from the company of the gods won wide belief. He prophesied64 that Muhavura, long silent except for occasional faint rumblings, would overflow60 in three days. And, behold65, it came to pass. Now we know that a man of science, if he had managed to obtain observations of the rise and fall of lava in the crater27 over a period of days, could predict accurately66 when the overflow would come. Doubtless, this fellow had taken such observations, and then had utilized67 his knowledge to further his own ends. For he predicted this would come to pass as a punishment upon the natives for permitting the whites to encroach upon their domain68.
“Since that time, it seems, he has gone up and down the Mfumbiro Plain, received everywhere amongst the natives with the profoundest of awe. Sometimes he will ascend69 the slopes of one of the great cones, Sabinio, Namlagira beneath which the natives believe hell to lie; Muhavura or Mgahinga. Always he forbids the natives to follow him on pain of being seized by the spirits. And when he returns, wrapped in his nimbus of fire, he generally predicts an eruption of lava which quite generally is fulfilled. As I say, that is easy enough for a man of science, but the impression it makes on the native minds may easily be comprehended.
“In fact,” said Mr. Hampton, “at that last village, although it is not in the Mfumbiro Plain and no member has yet seen The Prophet, yet his influence has made itself felt. Doubtless you boys noted the veiled hostility70 of the natives and their reluctance71 to furnish us vegetables and fruit even in return for ample consideration. That is because the continued statement of The Prophet that the gods are angry with the natives for tolerating white men in their land is taking effect. What must those natives be who live beneath the shadow of the volcanoes and are in contact with The Prophet?
“Now here is what I am coming to. So hostile probably are the natives of the plains that it would be impossible for us to enter and photograph the volcanoes, the lava overflows, or wild game, unless we do something to overcome that hostility. And Mr. Ransome and I have decided72 that something can be done. If it succeeds, we shall have struck a blow for ourselves and the success of our expedition and he will have eliminated the menace of The Prophet.
“The plan is this. Two of you boys shall put up the radio station around camp here somewhere, and stick by it while the rest of us descend into the plain tomorrow and hunt out The Prophet’s headquarters, providing Mr. Ransome’s spies return with word that he has been located. With us we shall take a portable radio and loudspeaker attachment73.
“When we find The Prophet, Niellsen with his motion picture camera will probably be able to create a diversion by drawing the natives about him. And while that is going on, whichever one of you fellows is selected to accompany us will have to seize his opportunity to put up the radio in a good hiding place near The Prophet’s hut.
“Then we will fight The Prophet with his own tactics, only going him one better. For we shall announce to the natives that we are emissaries from the outside world who have heard of The Prophet’s misrepresentations. Instead of coming from heaven on Muhavura, we shall say, he comes from hell in Namlagira. And we shall add that we have been sent to expose him and to warn all natives against listening to his words lest they suffer a more dreadful calamity74 than any so far experienced.
“That’s where the radio comes in. For after our bold declaration we shall send up signal rockets. And from that precipice out yonder, overlooking the vast plain and the crater region for a hundred miles or more in three directions, a man with spyglasses will easily be able to see them. That will be the signal to you fellows left behind to speak over the radio in the guise75 of spirits denouncing The Prophet and announcing that he was about to be whisked away.
“When that message comes like a thunderclap from the concealed76 radio instrument which we shall have set up, its effect undoubtedly will be dismaying. In the ensuing confusion, Mr. Ransome’s trusties will seize The Prophet and whisk him away.
“Well,” he concluded, “what do you think of it?”
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1
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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2
elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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4
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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6
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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8
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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9
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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11
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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12
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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13
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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14
cumbersome
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| adj.笨重的，不便携带的 | |
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15
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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16
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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18
disquieting
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| adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 ) | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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swooping
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 ) | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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craters
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| n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等 | |
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crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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pictorial
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| adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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cheetahs
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| n.（奔跑极快的）非洲猎豹( cheetah的名词复数 ) | |
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leopards
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| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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gorillas
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| n.大猩猩( gorilla的名词复数 )；暴徒，打手 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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eruptions
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| n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 ) | |
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lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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42
rift
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| n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入 | |
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43
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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44
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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45
cones
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| n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒 | |
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46
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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48
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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49
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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50
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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51
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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52
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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53
proffer
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| v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议 | |
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54
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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55
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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56
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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57
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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58
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
overflows
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| v.溢出，淹没( overflow的第三人称单数 )；充满；挤满了人；扩展出界，过度延伸 | |
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60
overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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61
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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62
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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63
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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64
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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67
utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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69
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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70
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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71
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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72
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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73
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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74
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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75
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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76
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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