at masaka, a small trading center on the western shore of lake victoria, they met with disappointment. for the two native trackers put on the trail of mabele by mr. ransome appeared the first night after their arrival with the news that their quarry had managed to elude them.
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 strenuous days sticking to his trail through broken country of hill and marsh and were exhausted.
arising early the next day, however, they had discovered on investigation that mabele had slipped away. and cautious inquiry 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 consolation was that an hour or two after their discovery of mabele’s flight one of the sudden storms for which lake victoria is noted 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 subsided, 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 jack, 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 strapping 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 lithe 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 cumbersome 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 corps 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 mighty 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 extremity 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 disquieting rumors 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 superstitious 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 swooping down on their scattered settlements and destroying even the railroad and steamship lines and other slim evidences of civilization in the lake victoria region which had been built up laboriously through the years.
for another, mr. hampton was anxious to reach the volcanic region while the craters, of which native report was more definite than regarding the activities of the prophet, were still in eruption. a pictorial 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, buffalo, bush buck, cheetahs, leopards and lions, but also of the ferocious man-apes or gorillas.
to bag specimens 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 desolate volcanic region which had been laid waste by eruptions of lava in 1912 where little game was encountered.
by day, in fact, this region was plunged 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 devoid 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 rift valley and beheld 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 precipice, below which was spread the great plain, three towering cones 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 awe-inspiring sight. and standing 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 grove, 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 descend 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 confirmation, “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 accomplishment. 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 drawn into a political situation. but finding that we can be of vital service, the only decent thing we can do is to proffer 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 fortitude 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 undoubtedly has secured whatever hold he has on the superstitious natives of these regions by playing upon those very superstitions. that he is a white man and a scientist, or at least possessed of scientific information, is deductable from the way in which he has set about winning the awed 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, overflows of lava which have since continued at intervals. and the way in which he appeared to the natives, as we got the story today, was descending 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 immortal from the company of the gods won wide belief. he prophesied that muhavura, long silent except for occasional faint rumblings, would overflow in three days. and, behold, 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 crater over a period of days, could predict accurately when the overflow would come. doubtless, this fellow had taken such observations, and then had utilized 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 domain.
“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 ascend 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 hostility of the natives and their reluctance 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 decided 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 attachment.
“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 calamity 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 guise of spirits denouncing the prophet and announcing that he was about to be whisked away.
“when that message comes like a thunderclap from the concealed 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?”
