After a breakfast from the remnants of yesterday’s food Cavius proposed to start out. The Asians had come to an agreement amongst themselves during the night and objected. They shouted that in a country where there were so many beasts of prey they must inevitably perish; they must hurry to escape from this diabolical plain and the desert was safer and better known to them. No matter how much Cavius and the Negroes tried to persuade them they remained resolute.
“Very well, do as you please,” said the Etruscan with determination. “I’m going south with Kidogo. Let those who want to go with us come here, those who want to go east, over there to the left.”
A group of black and bronze-coloured bodies immediately formed around the Etruscan — the Negroes, Libyans and Nubians were with him, altogether thirty-seven men, not counting Pandion and the Negro with the broken leg who had raised himself on one elbow and was listening intently to what was going on.
Thirty-two men went to the left and stood with their heads stubbornly bowed.
The weapons and vessels for water were divided equally between the two groups so that the Asians would not be able to blame their comrades for a possible failure.
As soon as the things had been shared out, the long-bearded leader of the Asians led his people away to the east, towards the river, as though their affection for their comrades might shake their determination. Those who remained stood for a long time looking after those who had parted from them on the threshold of liberty, then with sighs of sadness set about their own affairs.
Cavius and Kidogo examined Pandion and the wounded Negro and carried them over to another thin-branched tree. When they tried to lift Akhmi, a howl escaped the Libyan’s throat and the last breath of life left the body of that bold fighter for freedom.
Cavius advised the Libyans to lift the dead man on to a tree and tie him securely with ropes. This was immediately done although they knew that the body would be torn to pieces by carrion birds; nevertheless it seemed less repulsive than leaving him as food for the foul hyenas.
In silence, without a single word, Cavius and Kidogo cut a number of branches.
“What are you doing?” asked one of the tall Negroes, approaching the Etruscan.
“Litters. Kidogo and I will carry him.” Cavius pointed to Pandion. “And you will carry him,” he pointed to the Negro with his leg in splints. “The Libyan will be able to walk without help with his arm in a sling.”
“We’ll all carry the man who was the first to jump on to the rhinoceros,” answered the Negro, turning to his companions. “That brave man saved us all. How can we forget it? Wait a bit, we can make better litters.”
Four Negroes set to work with great skill making litters. They were soon ready — the many ropes left lying on the scene of the battle with the rhinoceros were plaited between long poles which were kept rigid by double struts’ between them. In the centre of the struts they placed little cushions made of hard bark and covered with a piece of lion’s skin. The Negro with the broken leg watched them at work, smiling joyously, his dark eyes filled with an expression of loyalty.
The wounded men were placed on the litters and everything was ready for the departure. The Negroes stood in pairs by the litters, lifted them high to the full length of their arms, and fixed the little cushions firmly on their heads. The litter-bearers started out first, marching easily and in step.
Thus it was that Pandion set out on his journey without having recovered consciousness. Two Nubians and a Negro, armed with spears and a bow, undertook to act as guides; they went ahead and the other thirty men followed in single file behind the litters. The end of the procession was brought up by another three armed men, two with spears and one with a bow. The travellers passed round the edge of the open glade westwards, trying not to look at the remains of their comrades and carrying with them a bitter memory of guilt at not having been able to shield them from the nocturnal depredations of the carrion eaters.
Shortly after their midday halt they reached a wide dry watercourse that even from a distance was visible on account of the lines of bushes that edged it and stood out clearly against the yellow grass of the plain.
The watercourse took them due south and they continued without further halts until sundown. That day they did not have to dig for water — a small spring sent its waters to the surface through a crack between two blocks of coarse-grained, friable stone; but they had to work hard preparing their camp and encircling it with a wall of thorn-bushes. That night they all slept soundly, not in the least troubled by the distant roars of lions and hyenas prowling in the darkness.
The second and third days passed quietly. Only once did they see the black mass of a rhinoceros plodding through the grass with lowered head. In their confusion the men stood still — their recent experience was still fresh in their memories. The travellers lay down in the grass. The rhinoceros raised its head and again, as at that terrible moment, they saw its curved ears set wide apart, with the tip of the horn rising between them. The folds of its thick skin encircled its shoulders and hung down in rolls to its heavy legs that were hidden by the grass. The massive animal stood still and then turned and continued on its way in the former direction.
They frequently came across small herds of yellowish-grey antelopes which the hunters brought down with their arrows; they made excellent and tasty food. On the fourth day the watercourse widened out and then disappeared; the yellow clay earth gave way to strange, bright red soil* that covered the crushed granite in a thin layer. Rounded granite hills formed dark patches on that tiresome red plain. The grass had gone, its place was taken by hard leaves that stuck out of the ground like bunches of sharp narrow sword-blades.** The guides made a wide detour of patches of this strange plant with leaves whose edges were as sharp as razors.
(* Laterite — a red, ferrous soil, found in southern countries, the product of the erosion of igneous rocks. ** Sansevieria — a strange plant found in dry laterite deposits)
The red plain spread out in front of them, clouds of dust, all the same size, rose into pillars and shut out the glare of the sun. The heat was overwhelming but the travellers kept going, fearing that this waterless plain might prove very extensive. The watercourse with its subterranean stream of water was far behind them. Who knew when they would find the water that is so essential to man in this country!
From the summit of one of the granite hills they noticed that ahead of them lay a line of something golden — apparently the red soil came to an end there and the grassy plain began again. This proved to be true and shadows had only lengthened by a half after the midday halt when the travellers were already marching over rustling grass, shorter than before, but much thicker. To one side of their road they saw a huge green cloud, that seemed to be floating in the air over the blue-green patch of its own shadow — the mighty “guest tree” was inviting them to rest in the shade of its branches. The guides turned towards the tree. The tired travellers hastened their steps and soon the litters were standing in the shade beside a tree-trunk, that was divided by longitudinal depressions into separate rounded ribs.
A number of the Negroes formed a living ladder up which others climbed to reach the huge branches of the tree. Shouts of triumph from above told the others that they had not been mistaken in their assumptions: the tree-trunk, some fifteen cubits in diameter, was hollow and contained water from the recent rains. The jars were filled with cool dark-coloured water. The Negroes threw down some of the fruits of the tree, long fruits, as big as a man’s head and tapering to a point at each end. Under its thin, hard skin, the fruit contained a floury yellow substance, sour-sweet in taste, that was very refreshing to the dry mouths of the travellers. Kidogo broke open two of the fruits, took out a number of small seeds, crushed and mixed them with a small quantity of water and started feeding Pandion with them.