camp presented a scene of strange activity the next day when mr. hampton forced his sodden bearers to the task of preparing for departure. during their lengthy stay many articles of equipment had been unpacked, 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 laggards by the dozen steadier men who had refused to leave camp the night before and go to chief ungaba’s beer party.
nothing untoward 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, jack devoted 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 deductions 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 perfectly 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 scouts to lay mabele by the heels before he could reach the conspirators 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 apprised 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 pretense 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 eludes 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 trophies of our expedition. all that we have taken to date, of course, both film records of primitive and wild game life and trophies of the hunt, are either already at nairobi or will be despatched thither 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 thwart further communication between us? and why is he striking straight for the disturbed area?”
