The Coming Of Mafumu
Pilescu and Ranni tinkered about with the White Swallow, which stood not very far off, and with their own plane most of the day. The children, of course, had thoroughly examined the White Swallow, feeling very sad to think that Captain and Mrs. Arnold had had to leave it so mysteriously.
Mike had thought that there might have been a note left to tell what had happened, but the children had found nothing at all.
“That’s not to be wondered at,” said Pilescu. “If they had had time to write a note, they would have had time also to fly off in the plane! As far as I can see there is nothing wrong with the White Swallow at all — though I can see where some small thing has been cleverly mended. It seems to me that Captain and Mrs. Arnold were taken by surprise and had not time to do anything at all.”
“Both planes are fit to fly off at a moment’s notice,” said Ranni, appearing beside Pilescu, very oily and black, his red hair hanging wet and lank over his forehead.
“Ought we to leave anyone on guard?” asked Mike. “Suppose we come back and find that the planes have been damaged?”
Ranni frowned. “We will lock them of course, but I don’t think anyone would damage them. I just hope a herd of elephants doesn’t come and trample through them! We must just leave the planes and hope for the best.”
Pilescu had got ready big packages of food and a few warm clothes and rugs. Paul laughed when he saw the woollen jerseys.
“Good gracious, Pilescu, what are we taking those things for? I’d like to go about in a little pair of shorts and nothing else, like that small boy wears!”
“If we go into the mountains it will be much cooler,” said Pilescu. “You may be glad of jerseys then.”
The day passed slowly by. The children thought it would never end.
“Why is it that time always goes so slowly when you are looking forward to something lovely in the future?” grumbled Mike. “Honestly, this day seems like a week.”
But it passed at last, and the sudden night-time came. Monkeys chattered somewhere around, and big frogs in the washing-pool set up their usual tremendous croaking.
Next day, at dawn, their guide arrived, and behind him, as usual, came the little boy, his nephew, wearing his scanty shorts. The boy wore no hat at all, and the five children wondered why in the world he didn’t get sunstroke.
“I suppose he’s coming too,” said Jack, pleased. “I wonder what his name is. Ask him, Ranni.”
The boy grinned and showed all his white teeth when Ranni shouted to him. He answered in a shrill voice:
“Mafumu, Mafumu!”
“His name is Mafumu,” said Ranni. “All right, Mafumu, don’t shout your name at us any more!”
Mafumu was so overjoyed at being spoken to by the big Ranni that he kept shouting and wouldn’t stop.
“Mafumu, Mafumu, Mafumu!”
He was stopped in the usual way by his uncle, who slapped him hard on the head. Mafumu fell over, made a face at his uncle’s back, and got up again. The children were very glad he was coming with them. They really couldn’t help liking the cheeky little boy, with his twinkling black eyes and his flashing smile.
Ranni closed and locked the entrance door of the cockpit. Then, with a few backward glances at the two gleaming planes, the little company set off on their new adventure. They were silent as they left the camp, for all of them were wondering what might happen in the near future.
Then Mafumu broke the silence by lifting up his shrill voice and singing a strange slow song.
“Sounds a bit like one of the hymns we have in church,” said Mike. “Oh no — his uncle is going for him again. Golly, how I wish he’d stop — he is always hitting poor Mafumu.”
Mafumu was slapped into silence. He came behind the whole company, sulking, carrying a simply enormous load. His uncle also carried a great many packages, balanced most marvellously on his head. Ranni explained that the natives were used to carrying goods this way and thought nothing of taking heavy loads for many, many miles.
Soon the open space where the planes had landed was left behind. The little company came towards what looked like a wood, but which was really a small forest that reached almost to the foot of the nearest mountain.
It was very dark in the forest after the glare of the sunlight. The trees were so thick, and heavy rope-like creepers hung down from them everywhere. The children could see no path at all to follow, but the tribesman led them steadily on, never once upsetting any of the many packages piled up on his head.
The chattering of monkeys was everywhere. The children saw the little brown creatures peering down at them, and laughed with delight to see a mother monkey holding a tiny baby in her arms. Other wild creatures scuttled away, and once their guide gave a loud shout and flung his spear at a large snake that slid silently away.
“Oooh,” said Nora, startled. “I forgot there might be snakes here. I hope I don’t tread on one. I say, isn’t this an exciting forest? It’s like one in a fairy-tale. I feel as if witches and fairies might come out at any moment.”
“Well, just make sure you don’t wander off looking for fairy castles,” said Pilescu. There are probably lots of snakes and insects in the undergrowth, and you can be sure our guide is taking us by the safest path.”
Mafumu was enjoying himself. He was a long way behind his uncle, for the guide led the way, and Mafumu came at the tail of the company. Next to him was Jack, and Mafumu was doing his best to make friends with him.
He picked a brilliant scarlet blossom from one of the trees and tried to stick it behind Jack’s ear. Jack was most annoyed, and the others laughed till they cried at the sight of Jack with a red flower behind his ear. Mafumu thought that Jack didn’t like the colour of the flower, so he picked a bright blue one and tried that.
Jack found himself decorated with this flower, and he took it from his ear crossly, whilst the others giggled again.
“Shut up, Mafumu,” he said.
Mafumu was very quick at picking up what he heard the children say, even though he did not understand the words. “Shutup, shutup, shutup,” he repeated in delight. He called to Ranni. “Shutup, shutup, shutup!”
Nobody could help laughing at Mafumu. He was so silly, so cheerful, so quick, and even when his uncle was unkind to him he was smiling a moment later.
He still badly wanted to make friends with Jack, and the next present he made to the boy was a large and juicy-looking fruit of some sort. He pressed it into Jack’s hand, flashing his white teeth, and saying some thing that sounded like “Ammakeepa-lotti-loo.”
Jack looked at the fruit. He smelt it. It had a most delicious scent, and smelt as sweet as honey. “Is it safe to eat this, Ranni?” he called.
Ranni looked round and nodded. “Yes — that is a rare fruit, only found in forests like these. Did Mafumu find it for you?”
“Yes,” said Jack. “He keeps on giving me things. I wish he wouldn’t.”
“Well, tell him to give them to me instead,” cried Peggy. “I’d love to have those beautiful flowers and that delicious-looking yellow fruit. It looks like a mixture of an extra-large pear and a giant grape!”
Jack tasted it. It was the loveliest fruit he had ever had, so sweet that it seemed to be made of honey. The boy gave a taste to the two girls. They made faces of delight, and Nora called to Mafumu.
“Find some more please, Mafumu; find some more!”
“Shutup, shutup, shutup,” replied Mafumu cheerfully, quite understanding what Nora meant, and thinking that his answer was correct. He disappeared into the forest and was gone such a long time that the children began to be alarmed.
“Ranni! Do you think Mafumu is all right?” shouted Jack from the back of the line. “He’s been gone for ages. He won’t get lost, will he?”
Ranni spoke to the guide in front. The man laughed and made some sort of quick answer.
“He says that Mafumu knows his forest as an ant knows its own anthill,” translated Ranni. “He says, too, that he would not care at all if Mafumu were eaten by a crocodile or caught by a leopard. He doesn’t seem at all fond of his small nephew, does he?”
“I think he’s a horrid man,” said Peggy. “My goodness — are there leopards about?”
“Well, you needn’t worry even if there are,” said Ranni. “Pilescu and I have guns, and our leader has plenty of spears ready.”
It was cool and dark in the forest and the little company were able to go for a long way without resting, twisting and turning through the trees. Frogs croaked somewhere, and birds called harshly. Jack spotted some brightly coloured parrots, and there were some rather queer squirrel-like creatures that hopped from branch to branch. The monkeys were most interested in the children, and a little crowd of them swung through the trees, following the company for quite a long way.
At last the forest came to an end. The trees became fewer, and the sun shone between, making golden freckles on the ground that danced and moved as the trees waved their branches.
“Well, that couldn’t have been a very big forest if it only took us such a short time to go through,” said Mike.
“It is really a very big one,” said Pilescu. “But we have only gone through a corner of it. If we went deeper into it we should not be able to get along. We should have to take axes and knives to cut our way through.”
The children were still worried about Mafumu, but he suddenly appeared again, bent nearly double under his old load and carrying a new load of the juicy-looking yellow fruit. He gave some to each child, grinning cheerfully.
“Oh, thanks awfully,” said Mike. “Golly, this is just what I wanted — I was thirsty! This fruit melts in my mouth. Thanks awfully, Mafumu.”
“Thanksawfully, shutup,” said the little boy in delight.
“I think we’ll all have a rest here,” said Pilescu. “The sun is still high in the sky and we can’t walk any further for it will be too hot once we are out of the forest. We will go on again when the sun is lower.”
Nobody felt very hungry, for they were all so hot. Mafumu found some other kind of fruit for everybody, not nearly so nice, but still, very juicy and sweet. His uncle ate no fruit, but took something from a pouch and chewed that.
All the children fell asleep in the noonday sun except Mafumu. He squatted down beside Jack and watched the boy closely. Jack grinned at him and even when he slept Mafumu stayed by his side.
The grown-ups sat talking quietly together. Ranni looked round at the sleeping company. “The children have done well today,” he said to Pilescu. “They must have a good night’s rest tonight as well, for tomorrow we must climb high.”
“I wish that this adventure was over, and not just beginning,” said Pilescu uneasily, fanning Paul’s hot face with a spray of leaves. The boy was so sound asleep that he felt nothing.
But not one of the children wished that the adventure was over. No — to be in the middle of one was the most exciting thing in the world!
A Very Long March
For two whole days the company marched valiantly onwards. The children were all good walkers except Paul, and as Ranni carried him on his shoulders when he was very tired, that helped a good deal.
They had now come to the mountains and the guide was leading them steadily upwards. It was tiring to climb always, but the children soon got used to it. Mafumu did not seem to mind anything. He skipped along, and went just as fast uphill as down. He had picked up some more words now, and used them often, much to the children’s amusement.
“Goodgracious, shutup, hallo, thanksawfully,” he would chant as he skipped along, his load of packages balanced marvellously and never falling. “Hurryup, hurryup, hallo!”
“Isn’t he an idiot?“ said Jack. But although the children laughed at his antics, they all liked the cheerful boy enormously. He brought them curious things to eat — toadstools that were marvellous when cooked — strange leaves that tasted of peppermint and were good to chew — fruit of all kinds, some sweet, some bitter, some too queer-tasting to eat, though Mafumu ate everything, and smacked his lips and rubbed his round tummy in delight.
On the second day, when the children were all climbing steadily, Mafumu saw a clump of bushes high up some way in front of them. They were hung with brilliant blue berries, which Mafumu knew were sweet and juicy. He took a short cut away from the path, and climbed to the bushes.
He stripped them of the blue berries and began to jump back to join the company. But on the way his foot caught against a loose stone that rattled down the hillside and fell against his uncle’s leg.
In a fury the guide sprang at his nephew and caught hold of him. He beat him hard with his spear, and the little boy cried out in pain, trying his best to wriggle away.
“Oh, stop him, stop him!” yelled Jack, who hated unkindness of any sort. “Mafumu was only getting berries for us. Stop, stop!”
But the guide did not stop, and Jack ran up to him. He wrenched the spear out of the man’s hand and threw it down the hillside in anger, his face red with rage.
The spear went clattering down and was lost. The guide turned on Jack, but Ranni was beside him, talking sternly. The man listened, his eyes flashing. He said nothing, but turned to lead the way up the mountain-side once more.
“What did you say to him, Ranni?” asked Mike.
“I told him he would not get paid if he hit anyone again,” said Ranni shortly. “He was just about to strike Jack. Don’t interfere again, Jack. I’ll do the interfering.”
“Sorry,” said Jack, though he was still boiling with rage. Mafumu had got up from the ground, his face and arms covered with bruises. He ran to Jack and hugged him, speaking excitedly in his own language.
“Stop it, for goodness sake, Mafumu,” said Jack uncomfortably. “Oh golly, I wish you wouldn’t. Do let go, Mafumu!”
“He says he will be your friend for ever,” said Ranni with a grin. “He says he will leave his uncle and his tribe and come and be with the wonderful boy all his life. He says you are a king of boys!”
“King Jack, the king of boys!” shouted Mike, clapping Jack on the shoulder.
“Shut up,” growled Jack.
“Shutup, shutup, shutup,” echoed Mafumu happily, letting go of Jack and walking as close to his hero as he possibly could.
After that, of course, Mafumu adored Jack even more than before, and Jack got used to seeing the little boy always at his heels, like a shadow. He could not get rid of him, so he put up with it, secretly rather proud that Mafumu should have picked him out to be his friend.
It got steadily cooler as they all climbed higher. The mountains seemed never-ending.
“We shall never, never get to the top,” said poor Peggy, who had started a blister on one heel.
“We’re not going to the top,” said Mike. “All we are doing is climbing to a place where we can pass between two mountains. Ranni says we shall strike off to the east there, by that enormous rock, and make our way to a place where this mountain and the next one meet. There is a pass between them — and from there we can see the Secret Mountain!”
”Golly!” said Paul. “Are we as near as all that?”
“Well — not awfully near,” said Mike. “But we’ll get there sooner or later. Have you rubbed that stuff that Ranni gave you, all over your heel, Peggy?”
“Yes,” said Peggy. “And I’ve put a wad of cotton-wool over the blister too. I shall be all right.”
“Good girl,” said Mike. “I don’t think things like blisters ought to creep into adventures like ours!”
Everyone laughed. They had put on woollen jerseys now and were glad of them, especially when clouds rolled down the mountain-side and covered them in mist. They were glad of hot drinks, too, heated over a fire of sticks.