the boys were now due to receive another surprise. when their taxi drew up they jumped out, fully expecting to see a wonderful store like those of new york. instead they found themselves before a dingy little shop whose aspect gave them distinct disappointment.
"no," laughed mr. wallace as he dismissed the taxi, "it's all right! doesn't look up to much but it sends out good stuff."
this was the gunshop and they found it very different inside. mr. wallace had no time to waste in having special guns made, so the clerks measured the boys' shoulders and arms and that was all there was to it, for the guns would be slightly altered and sent on board.
now the party went to the boma trading company's store. here they found that the chop-boxes had all gone on board their ship. mr. wallace ordered three borroughs and wellcome medicine cases, specially made up for the west coast. he also procured two hypodermic syringes and a[pg 59] small quantity of pasteur serums.
"we'll probably never need them," he explained, as they left the store, "but in case our men strike a snake a quick hypodermic is the only thing to save them. then we have poisoned arrows to consider also. if we happened to get into the pigmy country—which i hope we won't—it'll take a powerful anti-tetanic serum to kill their poisons."
after a lunch they returned to the boma company. the lists which mr. wallace had given the clerks had been filled and now each of them was measured for the clothes and personal equipment. this consumed an hour, after which they took another taxi and went to a camera supply house.
the boys went into extravagant delight over the small and compact moving-picture outfit. burt promptly took charge of this, or rather promised to take charge, for when the whole outfit had been sealed up it would be sent down to the steamer like the other supplies.
"tell you what," he cried, "we'll get some great little old pictures! you let an elephant chase you, uncle george, while i get a good view and[pg 60] critch shoots him!"
"don't want much, do you?" laughed his uncle. "nothing like that for mine. i'd sooner have an elephant after me, at that, than a big buffalo. that's the most dangerous animal we'll find in africa."
"how 'bout rhinoceros?" challenged critch.
"all poppycock," snorted the explorer. "a rhino can't see ten feet away. he goes by smell. he'll usually run away unless he's wounded. but a buffalo doesn't wait to be wounded. you rouse him up out of a comfortable feeding place and he'll go for you. takes more than one bullet to kill him unless you're lucky."
the boys now stocked up with fresh linen for the voyage while mr. wallace looked up his own guns, which he usually stored in london. they stopped at the carleton over sunday and monday. as burt's father had[pg 61] sales offices in london they secured a large touring car without cost and spent the two days riding about the historic city. there were various minor details of their outfits to be attended to on monday and on tuesday noon they went aboard the benguela, when she arrived from liverpool.
she proved to be a large cargo and passenger boat and was very comfortably fitted up. they had seen nothing of john quincy adams washington but mr. wallace smilingly assured them that he would show up in time. sure enough, when they went up the gangplank the big negro was waiting with his all-embracing grin.
"good mornin', sar, good mornin'!" he cried, taking charge of their hand baggage and assuming a lordly attitude over the stewards. "very hauspicious day, sar! john t'ink we 'ave very fine trip, sar!"
and a fine trip they had. there were a dozen other passengers on board. most of these were clerks or traders going out to positions at sierra leone or the gold coast, with one or two frenchmen and officials of the congo state. when they crossed the equator there were the usual ceremonies and horseplay among the sailors, and the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves. by the time they left the gold coast behind and headed for banana point burt felt better than he had ever been in his[pg 62] life and his uncle assured him that he need not worry about the fever.
finally the long reddish cliffs and grassy up-lands of the congo coast drew into sight late on the fifteenth afternoon. the benguela took a black pilot aboard and proceeded straight up to the port of banana. mr. wallace and the boys at once disembarked and interviewed the customs officials and took a launch up to the capital, boma. the steamer would follow them after discharging some cargo.
the next morning mr. wallace put on his ribbon of commander of the legion of honor. the boys were amazed at the respect which this gained for all of them when they sought an audience with the governor general. after explaining to him the object of their trip and the length of time they would be gone, mr. wallace arranged to have all the necessary papers made out and to charter one of the state steamers to take their outfit up the river.
"i can give you only a small one," said the governor general. "unfortunately, there are few at my disposal just now. stay! you might[pg 63] arrange with captain montenay. he chartered la belgique two days since for a similar trip, but surely he'll have plenty of room to spare."
"montenay?" repeated mr. wallace. "isn't he the scotch explorer?"
"yes!" smiled the governor. "come to think of it i believe he is at the palace now." clapping his hands, he dispatched a gendarme. "if you can arrange matters with him i will see that your baggage is passed directly to la belgique through the customs. you have no liquor, i presume?"
"half a dozen pint flasks of brandy," replied the explorer and the governor nodded. it is one of the strictest laws of the congo that no liquors shall be brought into the country, save in small personal amounts. a moment later the gendarme returned with a small, khaki-clad man. he was very sallow of complexion, had dark hair and eyes, and carried his left arm awkwardly. when the governor introduced him to the three americans his thin face lit up with a quick smile and he gripped mr. wallace's hand impulsively.
"so you're wallace!" he cried, looking deep into the other's eyes. "man, i've been wantin' to meet ye for ten years! i ran across your trail in[pg 64] china and got within fifty miles o' ye when the cape to cairo was surveyin'. man, i'm pleased to meet ye!"
"i'm mighty glad to meet you, too," smiled mr. wallace. "i've heard a lot about you, montenay!"
mr. wallace then introduced the boys and suggested that they have a talk in another room of the palace. thanking the governor for his assistance and kindness they followed the gendarme to another room.
"now, captain," said mr. wallace, "we're going up the aruwimi after ivory. we can't get a large boat here and the governor suggested that you could take us up on the belgique."
"o' course i can!" exclaimed the small but famous scotchman. "an' that's precisely where i'm bound for too. how'd ye guess it?"
"good!" cried mr. wallace. "when do you start up?"
"i was meanin' to go in the mornin'," answered the other, rubbing his stubbly chin reflectively. "we'll get your stuff out o' the benguela to-morrow or ma name ain't mcallister montenay!"
"we'll split expenses on the belgique, of course," declared the[pg 65] american. "it's mighty good of—"
"none o' that now, none o' that," interrupted captain montenay hastily. "why, man, i'd give a hundred pound for the benefeet o' your company up the stream! ivory, you say?"
"partly." mr. wallace answered the keen questioning look with a nod. "i'm going up past the avatiko country to the makua and down the river under the french flag. i've chartered a tramp to be waiting at loanga by november. get the idea?"
"aye!" montenay threw back his head in a noiseless laugh. "man, ye're no fool! i brought down ten tusks two year gone. when i got down to stanley pool the afrique concessions jumped me an' laid claim to the lot. the rank thieves! they had witnesses to swear that i got the ivory in their land an' before i knew where i was they fined me twenty pound—an' the ivory! by cripes, they won't monkey twice with mcallister montenay though! well, let's be movin'. it'll be vera tiresome gettin' these blacks to work."
as they passed a water cooler on their way out the captain paused. the boys saw him take a bottle from his pocket and pour out a palmful of[pg 66] white powder into a cigarette paper. this he rolled up and threw into his mouth, tossing a glass of water after it.
"quinine," he explained, although he called it "queeneen."
"pretty big dose, wasn't it?" asked mr. wallace.
"'bout fifty grain," replied the other calmly, to the intense astonishment of the boys. "fever gets me bad down here on the coast. by cripes, ye're a lucky beggar!" he continued as they came in sight of john standing guard over their valises. "that's your man washington? i've heard o' him. they say he's a magneeficent cook."
"better than that," laughed mr. wallace. "he'll take charge of your blacks and get real work out of 'em. do you mean what you said about going up the aruwimi?"
"aye." montenay nodded. "we'll talk that over later. ye'll be wantin' yer mosquito nets, so better bring the stuff down to the belgique. we'll sleep on board her to-night."
as they had stayed at the hotel the night before, the boys had not been troubled much by the insects. they were much more worried by the[pg 67] quantities of quinine that mr. wallace insisted on their taking. when burt had protested at taking ten grains all at once his uncle had laughed.
"nonsense! i'm running this trip! why, it's nothing unusual for men to take seventy and eighty grains out here. so put it down and shut up or i'll send you back home!"
they found the belgique to be a small but comfortable little steamer manned by a crew of a dozen blacks and a swiss pilot. the benguela came up the river that afternoon and the smaller steamer was placed alongside her. by special arrangement with the customs people the boxes belonging to mr. wallace were slung right out to the deck of la belgique. here john was in charge of the blacks and under his heavy-handed rule the cases were rapidly stowed away.
mr. wallace and the boys got out all their personal equipment at once. the heat was intense and the boys naturally suffered from it greatly at first, although the two older men did not seem to mind it in the least.[pg 68] by the next afternoon their loading was completed and the belgique headed upstream without further delay.
their five days' trip got the boys inured to the heat somewhat. they never tired of watching the tropical forest on either bank of the river and the strange craft that plied around them. although there were many other steamers and state launches as well as trading companies' boats, there was no lack of dugouts and big thirty-foot canoes laden with merchandise from the trading posts. the two explorers lay back in their canvas chairs and recounted their experiences in strange lands, while the boys listened eagerly as they watched their new surroundings.
the water-maker, as john called it, was installed the first day out. the boys found their cook to be all that mr. wallace had stated and more, while captain montenay was so delighted that he laughingly offered john exorbitant wages to desert the american, but in vain. the belgique made stops for wood only and after four days they arrived at the mile-wide mouth of the aruwimi river.
on the fifth day they arrived at yambuya, just below the great cataracts which stopped further navigation. here the two experienced explorers[pg 69] unloaded the chop-boxes, tents and other supplies and proceeded to make arrangements for hiring bearers. this was accomplished through the local chief with the aid of the government representative, who was an italian. indeed, the boys found that not only were belgians and french employed all through the country, but men of every nationality, from "remittance men" of england to swiss and cubans.
after a two days' delay at yambuya the caravan was formed. it consisted of one hundred bantu porters under the directions of a head-chief who spoke french fairly well, as do many of the natives. besides the porters there were tent boys, skinners, gun-bearers and cooks to the number of thirty. captain montenay spoke bantu to some extent and all the orders were given by him direct while the river trip was continued.
the expedition started from the other side of the cataracts in five immense dugout canoes paddled by the porters. for the white men had been provided a small antiquated launch with which the canoes were easily able to keep up.
"well," said mr. wallace as they puffed away from the shore, "the real[pg 70] trip's begun, boys! we'll arrive at makupa to-morrow and then up to the makua!"
"makupa?" exclaimed captain montenay. "why, that's only a hundred and fifty miles up! well, we can talk it over later. john, fill a canvas tub. i feel the need o' havin' a bath."
and captain mcallister montenay's bath was the first indication that the boys received of the blind lion.
