A Mystery of Sixty Centuries; or, a Modern St. George and the Dragon [A romance.] Written, printed, illustrated and published by S. P. Widnall

Front matter

THE DRAGON'S HEAr A MYg¥E_RY OF SIXTY CENTURIES. OR -»-3JC4-yi yVlODER)S[ J3t. pEORGE AND THE PHAG0H.-3*<r WRITTEN, PRINTED, ILLUSTRATED AND PUBLISHED, BV S. P. W1DNALL. H GRANTCHESTER, CAMBRIDGE. 1889. CONTENTS. I. INTRODUCTORY .... I II. PREPARATIONS .... IO III. ON OUR WAY . . . . 17 IV. WE ASTONISH THE NATIVES . . 25 V. A TREATY OF PEACE ... 39 VI. THE END OF OUR JOURNEY BY WATER 48 VII. WE FIND THE WHITE MAN . . 57 VIII. THE MISSING LINK .«,'.. 70 IX. THE DRAGONS . . . . 77 X. A DRAGONADE .... 90 XI. THE MYSTERIOUS GORGE . . IOI XII. THE NEPHILIM . . . . 107 XIII THE NEPHILIM AT HOME . . 1 15 XIV. CHARLEY DAY'S MISHAP . . 1 23 XV. MIT 130 XVI. A NEPHILIM TEA PARTY . . 142 XVII. AN ERUPTION .... 151 XVIII. AN INUNDATION .... 160 XIX. SHUT IN 168 XX. JACK'S ENGINEERING . . . 1 77 XXI SUBTERRANEAN FIRE . . . 184 XXII CONCLUSION

Chapter I. Introductory

fffiffliiB was sitting alone in my den, as we called Pi |§ lt' m my Cher's house in Yorkshire, think- ___~>*2H_gl jng ]low j could redeem a promise I had given, that I would endeavour to write some account of the extraordinary and eventful journey lately taken by Jack Engledown and myself, in that 'dark continent' of Africa, where so many mysteries are hidden from our view by impenetrable forests, barren deserts, and savage natives ; these difficulties and dangers which deter many would-be explorers, in others only provoke the desire to overcome them ; thus it was with Jack and myself, he is a good fellow and an old acquaintance of mine, we having been companions at Brawlingford Grammar School ; true we were not there very long together, as he is a year or two older than I, and lest after I had been there a few terms, but we were congenial spirits, and when he left I took his place as leader in all the sports, and any school-boy mischief that went on.

He left a reputation I longed to emulate; I had not been there a week before I learned how he had on one occasion persuaded four or five boys to run away from their homes during one of the vacations, and they all went and lived in a large vaulted cham ber he had discovered under an old ruined castle.* Thus he early showed his love for adventure. He has now made me promise to write an account of our marvellous discoveries, but I am puzzled how to begin, and do not think I should have got thus far had he not written to say he is coming down to see how I am getting on, and he may arrive at any moment. I suspect however there is another attrac tion, for we have just now a certain young lady staying with us, who may have had something to do with his coming. I had got thus far when Jack burst in upon me with "That's right old fellow, hard at work I see on the book, how far have you got, to the happy valley ?" $ See "How Li-,id Englodown Kept Christmas in his Castle."

By the same Author. OR, A MODERN S. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 3 "Nonsense" I said "I have scarcely got beyond the first page." •'Well, let's see what you have done." and he at once caught up the sheet I had written. "Come, come, Max this will never do, you only hint at a journey, and then proceed to lay bare my juvenile delinquencies ; and poor Mabel too, I see you have dragged her in as well. This must be confiscated and you must begin again." "You had much better undertake, the task your self, I am sure you would do it far better than I can." "No, no, Max I have many other things to see to, you must keep to your promise and do it." "Then you must let me do it in my own way, don't you see I must let thc reader know who we are, and I have given you the first place, I shall next proceed to tell who and what I am ; you can't expect two people to leap suddenly into the interior of Africa, and begin to describe what they did, and saw, without saying who they are, and under what circumstances they went there."

"Well, well, have your own way then, get on, and I will go and look up Mabel." Being thus left to myself I will resume the thread of my discourse, but I hope my readers will have a little more patience than Jack, while I give some short account of myself, my surroundings, and the inducements I had to take the extraordinary journey I am to describe in these pages. My name is George ; I do not mean that my Godfathers and Godmothers gave me that name at my baptism, no, it is our family name, though it sounds like a Christian name ; and my Christian name is like a surname, being Maxwell, after my Godfather and maternal uncle. My father boasts of long and honourable descent; and always maintains that we are descendants of St. George the Champion of England. Indeed my father, who is great at genealogies and spends a con siderable amount of time in studying our pedigree, says he can prove that originally our family name was St. George, but that in Puritan times, when Saints were at a discount, the prefix was dropped and we became plain Georges for ever after.

I well remember being told of our great progeni tor frcm my earliest infancy, and ere 1 emerged from the nursery I used to engage in mimic warfare with a toy spear, and after a terrific combat with a huge Dragon (the part of Dragon being kindly taken by Nero, our black Newfoundland dog,) and having OR, A MODERN S.GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 5 slain the monster, I would rush to release from con finement a young lady, who had viewed the combat from between the bars of her dungeon window, formed by the backs of two chairs, set on the seat of the old nursery sofa, behind which she was im prisoned. This young lady, Polly Ansell by name, was the daughter of our nearest neighbour, and my frequent play-mate, for I had no brothers or sisters, being an only child. Of course Polly was to be my little wife, and we were to live in a dear little house on chocolate creams and oranges.

All this was quite settled and definitely arranged between us ; but alas for this, as well as for many later plans, which seemed to be far more probable, they were never realized. After a time I was sent to school, and on my re turn I found Polly was gone, her parents having left the neighbourhood. I never saw her again, but heard long after, she was married to a rich cotton spinner. Then I went to Brawlingford and I had not been long at school before the boys all knew that I claim ed descent from St. George, and many of my school books were emblazoned with my shield and red cross. When any mischief was afoot I was generally the ringleader ; and oh what glorious battles we had with a neighbouring school in snow-balling times, and although not the biggest bey, I was generally looked on as Commander-in-Chief, and when almost over whelmed in the van of the sight, the boys would rush up to the rescue with thc cry, of "St. George for merry England."

I always kept besore me the idea of doing great and valiant deeds, and I used to lie awake at night telling the oft-told talc of how St. George slew the Dragon, usually finishing up with "dont I just wish there were Dragons now, would'nt I pitch into them, that's all ? When I left school I went to college, and had my degree depended upon my proficiency in Foot-ball, Cricket, and such like, I have no doubt I should have come out in honours, however such not being the case, I did not appear among the wranglers, but not being called upon to state my exact place in the list, I will content myself, and I trust my reader also, by saying I took a degree that I thought was well enough, though my father did not agree with me. He was disappointed that I did not distinguish myself, as he wished me to obtain some diplomatic appointment.

At this time I had an Uncle in Egypt who held OR, A MODERN ST.GEORGE AND TIIE DRAGON. 7 a Government appointment, it was decided that I should go to him, see something of foreign life, and pick up some eastern languages wliich might be useful to me hereafter. This suited me exactly, anything for a wild, free life and plenty of adventure. My Uncle had been in Egypt for a long time and had many friends, not only among the European residents, but also among some of the leading natives ; I had not been in the country long before I began to pick up some Arabic, and made friends with some Bedouin Sheiks, and donning their costume, went off on expeditions with them ; learning to ride in their fashion, and joining in their wild gallops and sham sights ; 1 was naturally robust and had an excellent constitution, so these violent exercises did me no harm, but rather increased my vigour and strength, so that few men could excel me in athletic feats.

On my return from Egypt, where I had had some thing ofa military training, in addition to what I had al ready gained from my experience as a volunteer in the University rifles, I determined to join the regulars, and to this end my father bought me a commission in thc army. While quartered at Aldershott I renewed my acquaintance with Jack Engledown; some of his recently made friends would call him John, but he always corrected them, saying he was christened Jack and nothing else, so begged them not to call him nick names. Jack and I became great friends, and still remain so, we were kindred spirits, always up to something, in fact anything for excitement, Polo and Tent-pegging suited us, and in these sports I excell ed, my Arab experiences standing me in good stead. Jack and I afterwards spent some time together in London.

Here we were somewhat restrained in our more violent amusements, so we went in for conjuring, spirit-rapping, and such things, not that we believed in Spiritualism ; no we only pretended to do so to mystify our friends. Jack is a mechanical genius and we contrived all sorts of apparatus for that purpose. We also tried electrical and chemical experiments. On one occasion we went up in a balloon belong ing to thc government, and kept for military service, when we very nearly finished all our experiments with our lives, for we came down in the sea, being at last picked up by some fishermen when nearly exhausted. After a time the military life became irksome to us both, Jack was the first to put it into words He told me one day he thought he should leave the army, and go and join a cousin at the Cape who was sheep farming there.

"I don't feel at all sure I shall like it," he candidly told me "unless I can get some sport among big game, Elephants, and such like with an occasional lion or tiger." I told him if he went away I should be very likely to follow his example, unless the regiment were or dered out on active service, Suffice it here to say, Jack went, and I soon after heard of an expedition that was about to start from Egypt up the Nile, and and through my Uncle, who was in some authority there, I got an appointment to accompany it. 1 do not propose to give any account of this jour ney, my purpose in this book is to describe another expedition on a much smaller scale, and in which I had a more personal interest, indeed what I have now said is only to let the reader know something of who I am, what my proclivities are, and the kind of training I had for the extraordinary journey I after wards took, and which I shall endeavour to describe in the following pages.

Chapter II. Preparations

Kj^SlNE day soon after my return from the Nile IgSnl expedition, I was walking along Pall Mall, B»rr~^,| wjien j unexpectedly met Jack Englcdown. "Why Jack," I exclaimed "I thought you were in Africa." "And I was told on my return to town only last week, that my Royal George was in Egypt, or some where in that neighbourhood, slaying the family Dra gon. Have you met with him yet old boy ?" "Not yet Jack, but when I do may you be there to see." "Well we can't talk here, come along and have some dinner, I expect it is ready for me, and I can assure you I am ready for it." Having no other engagement, (and had I had one unless of very urgent importance I should have broken it) I went with him to his lodgings, and after a hearty meal we both drew our chairs to the fire. and sat down for a long chat over our pipes and toddy.

First he would make me tell him where I had been, and what I had been doing, drawing me on by a series of questions. At length I said "Come old boy, you have heard quite enough of my proceedings, it's about time you told me where you have been since we parted." "Well, you know I went to the Cape, where after seeing a little of Cape town I was joined by my cousin, who came down country to meet me, he came in his cart, and after resting some days, and when he had purchased some things he wanted, and ordering others to be sent on by a bullock waggon that was going into his neighbourhood, we started on our journey to his place some two hundred miles off. " He then gave me a long and interesting account of his cousin's farm and thc sport they had had there, and how he, having met with some Elephant hunters under the leadership of a Dutchman called Von Blumen, went with them into the far interior, and eventually returned by a river not marked on any map, which formed a convenient access to the parts where large game is to be found.

When he came to this I said : — "Do you think we — " "Hold !" Jack shouted, and held up his hand, "Now I know what you are going to say, it has been in my thoughts for months, and now you arc going to forestall me, you were going to say, cannot you and I go up that river and do a little Elephant shooting on our own account, now tell me, was net that what you were going to say ? " "It was" I said "it was, can you find the mouth of that river? for you say it would be useless to look for it on any map." "I can, although the old man made a secret ofit, but you and I will go there and try our luck." We discussed the matter until the small hours of the morning, and then being so late I took a shake down with Jack, and so at breakfast, and long after we continued the discussion. Ways and means were a knotty point.

Jack had a moderate income, and I had recently come into a legacy from an Uncle, moreover I determined to sell my commission and leave the army ; in fact we both resolved to invest largely in ivory. We were both of us half wild with enthusiasm as to our Elephant hunt, many of our friends tried hard to persuade us to give it up — But no, I believe nothing would have induced us to do so. We had hit upon a plan of procedure in which we had great confidence. It was a plan of dealing with the natives with whom we should come in con tact. I had had some experience in my journey up the Nile, and Jack had also learned a good deal of the very people we were going to see, and he felt confident of the success of our plan. What the plan was, I will not state now, but it will appear as we proceed. I will however give a list of some of the things we decided to take with us, and I think the reader will say many of them are things not usually considered necessary on such expeditions.

Of course we had tents, rifles, revolvers and am munition, but we also provided ourselves with — Rockets, of several kinds. Roman candles. Bengal lights. Red sire. Magnesian ribbon. Dynamite cartridges. A Galvanic battery. An Induction coil. Fire balloons in the shape of men and animals. Luminous paint. Some steel flasks containing Carbonic-acid gas under great pressure. Telephones and covered wire. A Magic lanthorn, made like a bellows camera. Two good Field-glasses. A small steam cooking apparatus. An India-rubber boat to be inflated with air. We also decided upon having a boat made in sec tions, so that we could take it in pieces for transport. Some months elapsed before these arrangements were made, and the articles mentioned purchased. Part of our plan was to secure the assistance of a man who accompanied Jack in his first journey with Von Blumcn.

This man, who was called Timbo, and was the only name Jack knew him by, lived at the mouth of the unknown river. He had confided to Jack that he did not intend to go on another journey with Von Blumen, but meant to take a spell of rest at home. Jack had an idea that I might. return with him, so asked Timbo if he meant to give up altogether, and learned that such was not his in tention but that he wanted a holiday. Jack was not at all sure that there was any post to the place where Timbo lived, but at a seaport at no great distance, and to which Jack had travelled in a native dhow, he had made the acquaintance of an English resident, to him therefore we wrote ask ing him to forward an enclosed letter by the first available boat to 'Timbo'. This plan proved successful, for in less time than we expected, that is to say in rather more than four months, an answer was received ; Timbo was quite willing to join us, provided we were properly equipped, and made satisfactory arrangements with him as to his services.

This was all we expected and of course these arrangements could only be made on the spot, so we decided to prepare in earnest for our departure. I had already left the army, and now took a run down into the country to see my father ; I had pre viously talked the matter over with him, and he, like many others, had tried to dissuade me from my pro ject, but when he found I had fully made up my mind to go he did all in his power to help me. During my stay at home, word was brought me that Charles Day wanted to see me ; I did not at the mement remember who he was, but on seeing him, I at once recognized a man I had known all my life, the son of a gamekeeper, a fine looking man and said to be of great strength ; he had heard of our projected journey, and being, like myself, on the look-out for some change, and adventure, had come to ask if I could take him with me.

Nothing could have suited me better, Jack and I had often discussed the propriety of taking some Englishman with us, on whom we could depend, and Day seemed just the man for the purpose. I had a long talk with him, and finally arranged that he should come to town and see Jack Engledown. And now all preliminaries being settled, we secured berths in the P. & O. steamer which left England on the roth of September 1 8 . . , with our boat in sections and all the odd mixture of stores we had got together. As to the voyage out, suffice it to say nothing particular happened, of course we were almost baked on the Red Sea, but that we only looked on as a sort of foretaste of what we were to expect where we were going. At Aden we left the P. & O. steamer and proceeded thence by the British India Navigation Co. to Zan zibar, this being the best place from which we could get a passage by native dhow to thc obscure port where Timbo resided.

Chapter III. On Our Way

P«FE5!-E been advised by a friend before start- S U w ing, who was well up in such matters, that we had better purchase such things as we wanted for barter, or presents to the natives, at Zan zibar. So on our arrival at that place on the 15 th of October we set about making our purchases of unbleached and coloured cotton cloths, beads of all colours and shapes, red caps, small looking-glasses, brass wire &c. &c. Zanzibar was a great novelty, especially to Charley Day who had never left Old England before ; I had had considerable experience in Egypt, and Jack at the Cape, still we were all pleased with the busy life at Zanzibar, and the picturesque figures of men, black, yellow, and tawny, in long cotton shirts. As evening came on, we were getting very tired of all the bustle and excitement, so after refreshing ourselves with a meal we got some horses and took a ride into the interior.

We passed through narrow crooked lanes, by massive white-washed houses, some of these were the residences of the European mer chants, and at the doorway of each sat a porter. Presently we passed the fort, guarded by a few lazy Baluchis and Arabs ; near this was the lofty palace and harem of the Sultan of Zanzibar : having gene as far as Mnazi-Moya, the One Cocoanut tree, behind Shangani Point, and made a little round, we returned in the twilight to our lodging. We need not have been hurried in making our purchases for we were detained here for more than a week, before we could get a passage in a dhow, to the place we wished to go to, even then we had to pay an extra sum to induce the owner to start when he did : so we had time for several excursions on the island. Crossing the bridge from Melindi we are in Ngambu, or 't'other side', in this quarter live the Wangwana, Mswahile, Persians, and Arabs.

Pass ing on by detached houses we rode on for three or four miles, amid gardens of Banana, Orange, Clove, Palm, and Jack fruit, the latter I recommended to my OR, A MODERN ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 19 friend Engledown as a name-sake. Arriving at length upon the crest of Wirezu hill we enjoyed a beautiful view of the town and roadstead, the ground slopes gradually away towards the town, the mass of tropical trees through which we had passed looking almost like a forest. In the roadstead lay several British ships of war, and closer in shore, a great number of Arab dhows, lighters and boats. Looking towards the west we could just distinguish the dark low-lying main-land of the African continent. This led us to wonder how long it would be before we should be able to set foot upon it, for although we have to make a voyage along the coast for some considerable distance, it was the same country we were soon to traverse.

Many were the wrangles we had with Msemna the captain of the dhow, and day after day we held shauris, or consultations with him as to the convey ance of our stores, and the boat we had brought out in sections, we wanted him to stow the parts on board, but this he declared to be impossible, and said she must be towed behind. To this we at last agreed, and remarked that we thought now all was settled, but the old man would cry "Poli, Poli," (gently, gently) and then he would start some other difficulty. At length aster making him a present of some cloth, and a ring with a magnificent blue stone set in it, it was decided we were to start the next morning, the 25th of October. Accordingly we got up at six o'clock, as Msemna had promised to sail at eight, and after hurriedly partaking of breakfast and making some final arrangements, we hastened to the place of embarcation where we found everything in confusion, and it was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that the lat teen sail was hoisted and we got away from the shore, towing our boat, which we had named ''The Lucky Star," hoping it would prove so.

We had packed a good many of our heavy goods in her and covered them with a tarpaulin. We were fortunate in the weather, thc sea was tolerably calm, but we did not get far from land till towards nightfall when we lost sight of it, as we were crossing a rather large bay, however the next day about twelve o'clock we saw it again. There was not much variety in the coast scenery, dry and barren hills in the background, with here and there a patch of green where some little rill trickled down to the sea, and as day after day went by, we got heartily sick of the voyage, the accommodation being wretched. OR, A MODERN ST. GEORGE AND THE DRACON. 21 At length on the fifth day, the 30th of October, we were glad to hear we were nearing our destination. We noticed what appeared to be a projecting head land, but which was in reality a small island masking the mouth of the mysterious river of which we were in search.

As we neared the shore, we saw an open ing in the mangrove trees which covered the sur rounding swamps, and passing through a rather nar row channel, sighted at some distance, the little town, or village, completely hemmed in by tropical trees ; by about three o'clock we were safely moored at the primitive wharf, where Jack soon espied Timbo com iag to look for us, he had seen the English boat in tow, and thought we might be there. He secured for us the use of two huts, into which we now set about removing our goods, Jack and I decided to sleep in one, and Day in the other in charge of the heavy goods. This settled we went to Timbo's hut where he had some food prepared for us, and which was most welcome. Of course we had some talk as to our plans, but being very weary from our journey we put off entering into particulars until next morning.

After the miserable accommodation on board the dhow, we found the bags silled with soft dry grass provided for us to lie on, very delightful, and slept soundly till the morning. Timbo came to us about eight o'clock, with some delicious fruits and some coffee for our breakfasts, which was soon dispatched, and then began a long talk. Of course we explained to him our ideas and plans for the expedition, some of which he approved and some could not at all understand, so we entered on other topics of discussion, such as the amount of remuneration he was to receive, and as to some men to go with us to assist us in rowing, and other matters. He said he knew some who had been on similar journeys with Von Blumen, and had turned out trustworthy ; he sent for two of these, Hatib and Kadu, by name, they were both of the Sagara tribe, or, Wa-Sagara, as they called themselves, that is people of Sagara, they were both strong, likely looking fellows, so we engaged them on Thabo's recommen dation.

As to the nationality of Timbo I could never make it out clearly, I fancy he was the son of a Dutch boer by a native connected with one of the tribes of the interior. In order to make Timbo understand more of our tactics, we prepared to give a rehearsal of some of them that same evening, we also invited Hatib and Kadu to be present, so that they might not be OR, A MODERN ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 23 startled when we came to practise them on the natives we should meet with on our way. It would not be worth while to describe this re hearsal ; what our plans were will fully appear as they are one by one put in use. I will only say that Timbo and the others were almost afraid to approach us after the exhibition of our (what they considered magical) powers. To Timbo of course we explained everything, but I do not think the others ever really understood much about it.

Timbo was in ecstacies, and roared with laughter till he sat down on the ground from exhaustion. Having somewhat recovered he exclaimed "People will say you are the most wonderful medicine men they ever saw, but see you give not too large dose, or they will all run away and no come back. " "Then you think we shall, as we say in our coun try, 'Astonish the natives.' " "Astonish ? 1 not quite understand, but no black man will dare to touch such medicine men." We were very pleased to hear such a decided and favourable opinion from one who knew the natives so well. We told him we should be glad to start as soon as things could be got ready, but at the last moment there are always a good many hindrances, Hatib and Kadu had to see their friends and make their preparations, so that we were nearly a week from our arrival before we could make a start up the river.