Ned Garth | Page 7

we found that it was as fair as
any European. How the man had managed to preserve it during the
heavy sea which had been running for some hours seemed a miracle.
We carried them both into my cabin. The little girl, you may be sure,
had plenty of nurses. She looked frightened enough at seeing us, but
appeared wonderfully little the worse for the exposure to which she had
been subjected; indeed, although the shawl which had wrapped her was
wet, the water was warm and the black must have contrived to keep her
head well out of the sea, as her face and hair were only moistened by
the spray.
"Though she seemed almost too young to speak, she uttered several
words in a lingo none of us understood. In a very short time after we
had given her some food, and she had had a quiet sleep, she seemed
more happy and smiled, and lifted up her face to kiss me when I bent
over her. I thanked Heaven that I had been the means of saving the little
darling.

"It was not until evening that the black, who was pretty well exhausted
by his exertions, awoke. I was disappointed, I can tell you, when on
speaking to him, he answered in a language of which I could not
comprehend a word. We tried him in all sorts of ways, and he made a
variety of signs, but we could not comprehend the meaning he intended
to convey. In appearance he greatly resembled the slaves I had seen at
Zanzibar, on board the Arab dhows, though better-looking. Like most
of them, he had but a clout round his waist, and his woolly hair was
cropped close. Still he evidently did not lack intelligence. It was very
tantalising to find that we could get no information out of him. The
little girl was equally unable to give an account of herself, though I
fancied that she understood us when we spoke English, but she could
not reply intelligibly.
"I treated the black as he deserved, for the brave way in which he had
saved the child, and he showed that he was grateful for such kindness
as I bestowed upon him.
"As to the little girl, though I made inquiries at every place I touched at,
I could get no information by which I could even guess where she had
come from or who she was. From her ways and tone of voice I felt sure,
however, that she was of gentle birth. The black seemed mortally afraid
of the Arabs, and kept below when any came on board or any dhows
hove in sight; indeed it was some time before we could make him
understand that he was safe with us, and that no one would venture to
take him away by force. He soon became a great favourite with the men,
who gave him the name of Tom, in addition to the one by which he
called himself, which sounded like Baraka, and Tom Baraka he has
been ever since. In a short time he picked up a few words of English,
with which he managed to make himself understood; but it was not
until we were on the voyage home that he was able to give me an idea
how he and the little girl came to be on the piece of wreck from which
we rescued him. I would call him in, and let him give his own history;
but I think I can make you understand the account better if I give it in
ordinary English, for I took no little trouble during several months to
get the truth out of him, anxious as he was to give the information I
required. His vocabulary being somewhat limited, he accompanied his

words by signs, often of so curious a description that it was with
difficulty my officers and I could restrain ourselves from bursting into
fits of laughter, and yet his account was sad enough.
"I placed before him the best map I possessed of the part of Africa from
which I calculated he came, and explained to him the rivers and lakes
marked upon it. He shook his head, as if he could make nothing of it,
but at last fixed on a spot some way in the interior.
"`There!' he said, making a wide circle with his finger, `There abouts
was my home. By the banks of a river which fell into a lake my people
and I were happy in our way, we cultivated our fields and tended our
cattle, and had abundance of food without thinking of the future. We
heard, it is true, that the cruel men who come across from the big sea
had carried off not a few of