CH A P T ER X
LEMBARENE
In which is given some account of the episode of the Hippopotame, and
of the voyager’s attempts at controlling an Ogowé canoe ; and also
of the Igalwa tribe.
On my return to Talagouga, I find both my good friends sick
with fever— M. Forget very ill indeed. Providentially the
Éclaireur came up river, with thè Doctor Administrator on
board, and he came ashore and prescribed, and in a few days
M. Forget was better. I say good-bye to Talagouga with much
regret, and go on board the Éclaireur, when she returns from
Njole, with all my bottles and belongings. On board I find no
other passenger ; the captain’s English has widened out considerably
; and he is as pleasant, cheery, and spoiling for a fight
as ever ; but he has a preoccupied manner, and a most peculiar
set of new habits, which I find are shared by the engineer.
Both of them make rapid dashes to the rail, and nervously
scan the river for a. minute and then return to some occupa-
tion, only to dash from it to the rail again. During breakfast
their conduct is nerve-shaking. Hastily taking a few mouthfuls,
the captain drops his knife and fork and simply hurls his
seamanlike form through the nearest door out on to the deck.
In another minute he is back again, and with just a shake of
his head to the engineer, continues his meal. The engineer
shortly afterwards flies from his seat, and being far thinner
than the captain, goes through his nearest door with even
greater rapidity ; returns, and shakes his head at the captain,
and continues his meal. Excitement of this kind is infectious,
and I also wonder whether I ought not to show
a sympathetic friendliness by flying from my seat and hurling
myself on to the deck through my nearest door, too.
But although there are plenty of doors, as four enter the
saloon from the deck, I do not see my way to doing this ^performance
aimlessly, and what in this world they are both alter 1
cannot think. So I confine myself to woman’s true sphere, and
assist in a humble way by catching the wine and Vichy water
bottles, glasses, and plates of food, which at every performance
are jeopardised by the members of the nobler sex starting
off with a considerable quantity of the ample table-cloth
wrapped round their legs. At last T can stand it no longer,
so ask the captain point-blank what is the matter. o-
thing,” says he, bounding out of his chair and flying out of his
doorway ; but on his return he tells me he has got a bet on
of two bottles of champagne with Woermanns agent for
Njole, as to who shall teach Lembarene first, and the German
agent has started off some time before the Éclaireur in his
little steam launch.
During the afternoon we run smoothly along ; the free
pulsations of the engines telling what a very different thing
coming down the Ogowé is to'going up against its terrific current.
Every now and again we stop to pick up cargo, or discharge
over-carried cargo, and the captain’s mind becomes lulled by
getting no news of the Woermânn’s launch having passed
down. He communicates this to the engineer ; it is impossible
she could have passed the Éclaireur since they started, therefore
she must be somewhere behind at a subfactory, “ N'est-ce
pas?" “ Oui, oui, certainement,” says the engineer. The
engineer is, by these considerations, also lulled, and
feels he may do something else but scan the river
à la sister Ann. What that something is puzzles me ;
it evidently requires secrecy, and he shrinks from detection.
First he looks down one side of the deck, no one there ,
then he looks down the other, no one there ; good so far. I
then see he has put his head through one of the saloon portholes
! no one there ; he hesitates a few seconds until I begin
to wonder whether his head will suddenly appear through my
port ; but he regards this as an unnecessary precaution, and I
hear him enter his cabin which abuts on mine and there is
silence for some minutes. Writing home to his mother, think
I, as I go on putting a new braid round the bottom of a worn