S r rS!í ; 0nWlth 0bani° one of th“ > carefully sank
a s canoe, he other jnst turned his adrift and they joined
crew w L h T Y Í ? Were Fans' as ind“ d ” « r iy all the
tender S ’ „ " * I ,Wnk n’ “ ch of th<! W * - Our
b S hlar? f " ° ' > “ be' n sent out “ “ s" al «4th the
i „ f man/ " d an° ther A ' a t0 fch 1 it W n g one of our
ndustnes to fish hard all the time with that big net The
caug t, sometimes a bushel or two at a time, almost all
deaned W T?® S ? alonSside> sP]it °pen, and
cleaned. We then had all round as many of them for supper
as we wanted, the rest we hung on strings over our fire, more
or less insufficiently smoking them to prevent decomposition,
in i ' f f r i ! S T í t0 Sdl them when he made bis next
the 7 Ke S m0; J ktter being ^ss rich in fish than
he Rembwé they would command a good price there. We
always had our eye on things like this, being, I proudly
remark, none of your gilded floating hotel of a ferry-boat like
thatwas riot °h Wh\tG Star lmers are’ but Just a good trader
at was not ashamed to pay, and not afraid of work.
the ri JUSt afr r had leisurelF entered a new reach of
the river, round the corner after us, propelled at a phebehind
toPhCe’l Camen ° Ur Can° behind to haul in the net and then ree’ jowinh icuhs . weT hhea do clceuf-t
.o his feet “ The Fan! ,he S 3
s they shot towards us like agitated chickens making for
eir hen. In another moment they were alongside and
tumbling over our gunwale into the bottom of the vessel still
cry,ng - The Fan! The Fan! The Fan ! - Obanjo t a b"
means of energetic questioning externally applied, and accompanied
by florid language that cast a rose pink glow, smelling of
sulphur, round us, elicited the information that about 40000
Fans armed with knives and guns, were coming down’ the
Rembwé with intent to kill and slay us, and might be expected
to arrive within the next half wink. On hearing this, the whole
f g oar £ allant crew took up masterly recumbent positions in
the bottom of our vessel and turned gray round the lips
° banJ° rose tpthe situation like ten lions “ Take the
rudder,” he shouted to me, I take her into the middle of the
stream’ and keep the sail full.” It occurred to me that perhaps
a position underneath the bamboo staging might be
more healthy than one on the top of it, exposed to every
microbe of a bit of old iron and what not and a half that
according to native testimony would shortly be frisking through
the atmosphere from those Fan guns ; and moreover I had not
forgotten having been previously shot in a somewhat similar
situation, though in better company. However I did not say
anything ; neither, between ourselves, did I somehow believe
in those Fans. So regardless of danger, I grasped the helm,
and sent our gallant craft flying before the breeze down the
bosom of the great wild river (that’s the proper way to put it,
but in the interests of science it may be translated into crawling
towards the middle). Meanwhile Obanjo performed prodigies
of valour all over the place. He triced up the mainsail,
stirred up his faint-hearted crew, and got out the sweeps, i.e.
one old oar and four paddles, and with this assistance we
solemnly trudged away from danger at a pace that nothing
slower than a Thames dumb barge, going against stream,
could possibly overhaul. Still we did not feel safe, and I
suggested to Ngouta he should rise up and help , but he
declined, stating he was a married man. Obanjo cheering the
paddlers with inspiriting words sprang with the agility of a
leopard on to the bamboo staging aft, standing there with
his gun ready loaded and cocked to face the coming foe, looking
like a statue put up to himself at the public expense.
The worst of this was, however, that while Obanjo’s face was
to the coming foe, his back was to the crew, and they forthwith
commenced to re-subside into the bottom of the boat, paddles
and all. I, as second in command, on seeing this, said a few
blood-stirring words to them, and Obanjo sent a few more of
great power at them over his shoulder, and so we kept the
paddles going.
Presently from round the corner shot a Fan canoe. It contained
a lady in the bows, weeping and wringing her hands,
while another lady sympathetically howling, paddled it.
Obanjo in lurid language requested to be informed why they
were following us. The lady in the bows said, “ My son ! my