"We are coming into the outer world again!" cried Dick, and ran forward. "Well, I never!" he ejaculated.
For beyond the opening was a small plain, covered with short grass and surrounded on every side by jagged rocks which arose to the height of fifty or sixty feet. In the center of the plain were a number of native huts, of logs thatched with palm.
CHAPTER XXX
FINDING THE LONG-LOST
"A village!" said Randolph Rover. "And not a soul in sight."
"There are several women and children," returned Tom, pointing to one of the huts. "I guess the men went away to fight us."
"Probably you are right, Tom. Let us investigate, but with caution."
As they advanced, the women and children set up a cry of alarm, which was quickly taken up in several of the other huts.
"Go away, white men; don't touch us!" cried one old woman.
"Have the white men come at last?" cried a voice in the purest English. "Thank God! Help me! Help!"
"It is my brother's voice!" gasped Randolph Rover. "Anderson! Anderson! We have come to save you!"
"Father!" came from the three Rover boys, and they rushed off in all haste toward the nut from which the welcome cry had proceeded.
Anderson Rover was found in the center of the hut, bound fast by a heavy iron chain to a post set deeply into the ground. His face was haggard and thin and his beard was all of a foot and a half long, while his hair fell thickly over his shoulders. He was dressed in the merest rags, and had evidently suffered much from starvation and from other cruel treatment.
"My sons!" he gasped, as the boys appeared. "Do I see aright, or is it only another of those wild dreams that have entered my brain lately?"
"Father; poor father!" burst out Dick, and hugged his parent around the neck.
"It's no dream, father; we are really here," put in Tom, as he caught one of the slender hands, while Sam caught the other.
"How thin you are!" said Sam. And then he added tenderly: "But we'll take good care of you, now we have found you."
"And Randolph!" murmured Anderson Rover, as the brother came up. "Oh, thank God! Thank God, for this!" and the tears began to flow down his cheeks. "How long I have waited! Many a time I thought to give up in despair!"
"We came as soon as we got that message you sent," answered Dick. "But that was long after you had sent it."
"And is the sailor, Converse, safe?"
"No; the sailor is dead."
"Too bad — he was the one friend I had here."
"And King Susko has kept you a prisoner all this while?" asked Randolph Rover.
"Yes; and he has treated me shamefully in the bargain. He imagined I knew all of the secrets of this mountain, of a gold mine of great riches, and he would not let me go; but, instead, tried to wring the supposed secret from me by torture."
"We will settle accounts with him some day," muttered Dick. "It's a pity Tom didn't kill him."
The native women and children were looking in at the doorway curiously, not knowing what to say or do. Turning swiftly, Dick caught one by the arm.
"The key to the lock," he demanded, pointing to the lock on the iron chain which bound Anderson Rover. "Give it to me."
But the woman shook her head, and pointed off in the distance.
"King Susko has the key," explained Anderson Rover. "You will have to break the chain," And this was at last done, although not without great difficulty.
In the meantime the natives were ordered to prepare a meal for Anderson Rover and all of the others, and Cujo was called that he might question the Africans in their own language.
The meal was soon forthcoming, the Bumwo women fearing that they would be slaughtered if they did not comply with the demands of the whites. To make sure that the food had not been poisoned, Dick made several of the natives eat portions of each dish. This made Cujo grin. "Um know a good deal," he remarked.
"Cujo was goin' to tell Dick to do dat."
"I am glad the women and children are here," said Randolph Rover. "We can take them with us when we leave and warn King Susko that if he attacks us we will kill them. I think he will rather let us go than see all of the women and children slaughtered."
While they ate, Anderson Rover told his story, which is far too long to insert here. He had found a gold mine further up the country and also this mountain of gold, but had been unable to do anything since King Susko had made him and the sailor prisoners. During his captivity he had suffered untold cruelties, but all this was now forgotten in the joy of the reunion with his brother and his three sons.
It was decided that the party should leave the mountain without delay, and Cujo told the female natives to get ready to move. At this they set up a loud protest, but it availed them nothing, and they soon quieted down when assured that no harm would befall them if they behaved.
CHAPTER XXXI
HOME AGAIN — CONCLUSION
Nightfall found the entire expedition, including the women and children, on the mountain side below the caves. As the party went down the mountain a strict watch was kept for the Bumwo warriors, and just as the sun was setting, they were discovered in camp on the trail to the northwest.
"We will send out a flag of truce," said Randolph Rover. "Cujo can talk to them."
This was done, and presently a tall Bumwo under chief came out in a plain to hold a mujobo, or "law talk."
In a few words Cujo explained the situation, stating that they now held in bondage eighteen women and children, including King Susko's favorite wife Afgona. If the whites were allowed to pass through the country unharmed until they, reached the village of Kwa, where the Kassai River joins the Congo, they would release all of the women and children at that point and they could go back to rejoin their husbands and fathers. If, on the other hand, the expedition was attacked the whites would put all of those in bondage to instant death.
It is not likely that this horrible threat would have been put into execution. As Dick said when relating the particulars of the affair afterward. "We couldn't have done such a terrible thing, for it would not have been human." But the threat had the desired effect, and in the morning King Susko, who was now on a sick bed, sent word that they should go through unmolested.
And go through they did, through jungles and over plains, across rivers and lakes and treacherous swamps, watching continually for their enemies, and bringing down many a savage beast that showed itself. On the return they fell in with Mortimer Blaze, and he, being a crack shot, added much to the strength of their command.
At last Kwa was reached, and here they found themselves under the protection of several European military organizations. The native women and children were released, much to their joy, and my readers can rest assured that these Africans lost no time in getting back to that portion of the Dark Continent which they called home.
From Kwa to Boma the journey was comparatively easy. At Stanley Pool they rested for a week, and all in the party felt the better for it.
"Some day I will go back and open up the mines I have discovered," said Anderson Rover. "But not now. I want to see my own dear native land first."
At Boma news awaited them.