“We must look back,” said Kidogo in a dismal voice; he suddenly straightened up and walked along a branch that stretched horizontally high above the bamboo.
With difficulty Pandion restrained a cry of fear, but the Negro walked on swaying slightly, as though it were nothing at all, until he reached the end of the branch, making the leaves tremble and the bough bend downwards under his weight. Pandion sat dead still with fright as-Kidogo sat down with his legs astride the branch, held himself firmly by grasping thinner branches and began to study the country beyond the right-hand corner of the glade. Pandion did not dare follow ‘his friend. Holding their breath he and Mpafu awaited Kidogo’s report. The other sixteen men of the party, almost invisible to those on the tree, were eagerly following all their movements.
For a long time Kidogo sat swaying on the springy branch and then, without a word, returned to the tree-trunk.
“It’s a bad thing not to know the way,” he said sorrowfully. “We could have got here much more easily. Over there,” the Negro waved his hand to the north-west, “the grassy plain isn’t far from us. We should have gone farther to the right instead of entering the forest… We must go back to the grasslands. Perhaps there are people there; there are usually more people near the forest edge than there are in the forest itself or out in the plains.”
The descent from the tree proved much more difficult and dangerous than the ascent. If it had not been for the help of his companions, Pandion would never have been able to descend so quickly, or, far more likely, he would have fallen and been killed. He had no sooner put his feet on solid ground than his knees gave way under him and he lay spread-eagled on the ground amidst the shouts and laughter of his companions. Kidogo told the others what he had seen from the treetop and proposed setting off at right angles to the path they had mapped out. To Pandion’s great surprise not a single word of protest was raised, although everybody realized that they had suffered defeat in their battle with the forest and that they would probably be detained a long time. Even the stubborn Etruscan, Cavius, was silent, apparently because he realized how the men had suffered in that hard but futile struggle.
Pandion remembered that at the beginning of their journey Kidogo had said that the way round the forest was a long and dangerous one. Strong savage tribes, for whom the nineteen travellers did not constitute a serious force, lived along the rivers and on the verge of the forest…
Grassland, with low trees growing at regular intervals like a planted orchard, sloped down to a fast river, with black rocks huddled together on its far bank. The river had piled up a long barrier of drift-wood against the rocks — tree-trunks, branches and reeds, dried and whitened in the sun.
The party of former slaves skirted a palm grove that had been smashed by elephants and made camp under a low tree. The aroma of the resin that seeped out of its trunk and monotonous rustling of the rags of silky bark, brought drowsiness to the weary travellers.
Kidogo suddenly rose to his knees; his companions, too, were immediately on the alert. A huge elephant was approaching the river. Its appearance might bode no good for them. They watched the loose, sweeping gait of the animal that seemed to be waddling unhurriedly along inside its own thick skin. The elephant drew nearer, carelessly waving its trunk, and there was something in its behaviour that differed greatly from the usual caution of those sensitive beasts. Suddenly human voices rang out, but the elephant did not even raise its huge ears that lay back on its head. The bewildered travellers looked at each other and stood up only to fall down to the ground immediately, as though they had been ordered to do so; alongside the elephant they noticed a number of human figures. Only then did Pandion’s companions notice a man lying on the elephant’s broad neck, his head rested on his crossed arms on top of the animal’s head. The elephant went straight to the river and entered the water, stirring up the mud with its huge tree-trunks of legs. It suddenly spread out its ears which made its head seem three times the normal size. Its tiny brown eyes stared into the depths of the river. The man lying on the elephant’s back sat up and slapped the animal sharply on its sloping skull. A loud shout “Heya!” resounded up and down the river. The elephant waved its trunk, seized with it a big log from amongst the drift-wood, lifted it high over its head and hurled it into the water. The heavy log made a big splash and disappeared under the water to reappear farther downstream a few moments later. The elephant threw a few more logs into the water and then, stepping cautiously, walked out to the middle of the river, turned round with its head against the current and stood still.
The people who had come with the elephant — there were eight of them, brown-skinned youths and girls — with loud shouts and roars of laughter plunged into the cold river. They played in the water ducking each other, and their laughter and loud slaps delivered on wet bodies resounded clearly on all sides.
The man on the elephant shouted merrily but watched the river unceasingly, from time to time making the elephant throw heavy logs into the water.
The travellers watched what was happening in the greatest astonishment. The friendship between people and the enormous elephant was something unbelievable, an unheard of miracle; still, at a distance of no more than three hundred cubits from them, stood the huge, grey monster, submitting to the will of man. How could it have happened that an animal without equal in size and strength, the undisputed ruler of field and forest, had become subservient to weak and fragile man, an insignificant creature compared with the mass of the elephant, six cubits high at the shoulders? Who were these people who had tamed the lord of the African plains?
Cavius’ eyes were gleaming as he nudged Kidogo. The latter turned from watching the merry play of the young people and whispered in Cavius’ ear:
“I heard about this when I was a boy. I was told that somewhere along the line where the forest meets the plain there are people known as the Elephant People. Now I see for myself that the story was a true one. That elephant is standing there to protect the bathers from crocodiles… I have also heard that these people are related to my tribe and speak a language similar to ours…
“Do you want to go to them?” asked Cavius thoughtfully, never for a moment taking his eyes off the man on the elephant.
“I’d like to, but I don’t know…” stammered Kidogo. “If their tongue’s mine, they’ll understand us and we’ll have a chance to find the road we need. If they speak another tongue, things will go badly with us — they’ll destroy us like mice!”
“Do they eat human flesh?” asked Cavius after a pause.
“I have heard that they don’t. They’re a rich and powerful people,” answered the Negro, chewing a blade of grass to hide his indecision.