CHAPTER TWO.
SPORT BEGINS IN EARNEST.
Time, which is ever on the wing, working mighty changes in the affairsof man, soon transported our hero from Mrs Pry's dingy little backparlour in London to the luxuriant wilds of Africa.
There, on the evening of a splendid day, he sat down to rest under thegrateful shade of an umbrageous tree, in company with Major Garret andLieutenant Wilkins, both of whom had turned out to be men after TomBrown's own heart. They were both bronzed strapping warriors, and hadentered those regions not only with a view to hunting lions, but alsofor the purpose of making collections of the plants and insects of thecountry, the major being a persevering entomologist, while thelieutenant was enthusiastically botanical. To the delight of thesegentlemen they found that Tom, although not deeply learned on thesesubjects, was nevertheless extremely intelligent and appreciative.
The major was very tall, thin; strong, wiry, and black-bearded. Thelieutenant was very short, thickset, deep-chested, and powerful. Tomhimself was burly, ruddy, broad, and rather above middle size.
"Now this is what I call real felicity," observed the major, pulling outa pipe which he proceeded to fill. Tom Brown followed his example, andBob Wilkins, who was not a smoker, and had a somewhat facetiousdisposition, amused himself by quizzing his comrades and carving a pieceof wood with his penknife.
"Does the real felicity, major, result from the tobacco or thesurrounding circumstances?" asked Wilkins.
"From both, Bob," replied the other with a smile, "and you need notspoil my felicity by repeating your well-known set of phrases about theevils of smoking, for I know them all by heart, and I dare say so doesTom."
"Impossible," said Wilkins; "I have not yet been two weeks in hiscompany; he cannot, therefore, have heard a tithe of the irresistiblearguments which I bring to bear on that pernicious practice, and which Ihope some day to throw into shape and give to the public in the form ofa bulky volume."
"Which will end in smoke," interrupted the major.
"In a literal sense, too," added Tom Brown, "for it will be sold aswaste-paper and be made up into matches."
"We shall see," retorted Wilkins, cutting carefully round the rightnostril of a baboon's head which he had carved on the end of awalking-stick; "meanwhile, major, as you are better acquainted than weare with this outlandish country, and have taken on yourself theleadership of the party, will you condescend to give Tom Brown and mesome idea of your intended movements--that is, if smoke and felicitywill permit you to do so?"
"With pleasure, my dear fellow," said the major puffing vigorously for afew moments to get his pipe well alight. "It was my intention to makefor Big Buffalo's Village, or kraal as they call it here, and, gettingthe assistance of some of his sable Majesty's subjects, hunt the countryin his neighbourhood, but I heard from Hicks this morning, before weleft the camp, that a band of traders, at a kraal not far from us, areabout to start for the Zulu country, and it struck me that we might aswell join forces and advance together, for I prefer a large party to asmall one--there is generally more fun to be got out of it."
"Would it be well to tie ourselves to any one?" asked Tom Brown. "Ihave always found that a small party is more manageable than a large onehowever, I do but throw out the suggestion in all humility."
"He shall not necessarily be tied to them," replied the major,re-lighting his pipe, which had a bad habit of going out when he talked;"we may keep company as long as we find it agreeable to do so, and partwhen we please. But what say you to the change of plan? I think itwill bring us into a better hunting country."
"Whatever you think best, major, will please me," said Tom, "for I'mignorant of everything here and place myself entirely under yourdirections."
"And I am agreeable," added Bob Wilkins.
"You are neither agreeable nor grammatical," said the major.
"Well, if you insist on it, I'm agreed. But do put your pipe out, Tom,and let us resume our march, for we have a long way to go, and much workto do before reaching the camp to-night."
Thus admonished, Tom Brown made an extinguisher of the end of hisforefinger, put his short clay pipe in his waistcoat pocket, and,shouldering his rifle, followed his companions into the forest, on theedge of which they had been resting.
The country through which they passed was extremely beautiful,particularly in the eyes of our hero, for whom the magnificence oftropical vegetation never lost its charms. The three sportsmen had thatmorning left their baggage, in a wagon drawn by oxen, in charge of Hicksthe trader, who had agreed to allow them to accompany him on a tradingexpedition, and to serve them in the capacity of guide and generalservant. They had made a detour through the forest with a party of sixnatives, under the guidance of a Caffre servant named Mafuta, and werewell repaid for the time thus spent, by the immense variety of insectsand plants which the naturalists found everywhere. But that whichdelighted them most was the animal life with which the whole regionteemed. They saw immense herds of wolves, deer of various kinds,hyenas, elands, buffalo, and many other wild beasts, besides innumerableflocks of water-fowl of all kinds. But they passed these unmolested,having set their hearts that day on securing higher game. As Wilkinssaid, "nothing short of a lion, an elephant, a rhinoceros, orhippopotamus" would satisfy them and that they had some chance ofsecuring one or more of these formidable brutes was clear, because theirvoices had been several times heard, and their footprints had been seeneverywhere.
About an hour after resuming their walk, the major went off in hotpursuit of an enormous bee, which he saw humming round a bush. Aboutthe same time, Wilkins fell behind to examine one of the numerous plantsthat were constantly distracting his attention, so that our hero wasleft for a time to hunt alone with the natives. He was walking aconsiderable distance in advance of them when he came to a dense thicketwhich was black as midnight, and so still that the falling of a leafmight have been heard. Tom Brown surveyed the thicket quietly for a fewseconds, and observing the marks of some large animal on the ground, hebeckoned to the Caffre who carried his spare double-barrelled gun. Upto this date our hero had not shot any of the large denizens of theAfrican wilderness, and now that he was suddenly called upon to facewhat he believed to be one of them, he acquitted himself in a way thatmight have been expected of a member of the Brown family! He put offhis shoes, cocked his piece, and entered the thicket alone--the nativesdeclining to enter along with him. Coolly and very quietly he advancedinto the gloomy twilight of the thicket, and as he went he felt asthough all the vivid dreams and fervid imaginings about lions that hadever passed through his mind from earliest infancy were rushing upon himin a concentrated essence! Yet there was no outward indication of theburning thoughts within, save in the sparkle of his dark brown eye, andthe flush of his brown cheek. As he wore a brown shooting-coat, he maybe said to have been at that time Brown all over!
He had proceeded about fifty yards or so when, just as he turned awinding in the path, he found himself face to face with an oldbuffalo-bull, fast asleep, and lying down not ten yards off. To drop onone knee and level his piece was the work of an instant, butunfortunately he snapped a dry twig in doing so. The eyes of the hugebrute opened instantly, and he had half risen before the loud report ofthe gun rang through the thicket. Leaping up, Tom Brown took advantageof the smoke to run back a few yards and spring behind a bush, where hewaited to observe the result of his shot. It was more tremendous thenhe had expected. A crash on his right told him that another, andunsuspected, denizen of the thicket had been scared from his lair, whilethe one he had fired at was on his legs snuffing the air for his enemy.Evidently the wind had been favourable, for immediately he made adead-set and charged right through the bush behind which our hero wasconcealed. Tom leaped on one side; the buffalo-bull turned short roundand made another dash at him. There was only the remnant of theshattered bush between the two; the buffalo stood for a few secondseyeing him furiously, the blood streaming down its face from abullet-hole between the two eyes, a
nd its head garnished with a tornmass of the bush. Again it charged, and again Tom, unable to get afavourable chance for his second barrel, leaped aside and evaded it withdifficulty. The bush was now trampled down, and scarcely formed ashadow of a screen between them; nevertheless Tom stood his ground,hoping to get a shot at the bull's side, and never for a single instanttaking his eye off him. Once more he charged, and again our heroescaped. He did not venture, however, to stand another, but turned andfled, closely followed by the infuriated animal.
A few yards in front the path turned at almost right angles. Tomthought he felt the hot breath of his pursuer on his neck as he doubledactively round the corner. His enemy could neither diverge from norcheck his onward career; right through a fearfully tangled thicket hewent, and broke into the open beyond, carrying an immense pile ofrubbish on his horns. Tom instantly threw himself on his back in thethicket to avoid being seen, and hoped that his native followers wouldnow attract the bull's attention, but not one of them made hisappearance, so he started up, and just as the disappointed animal hadbroken away over the plain, going straight from him, he gave him thesecond barrel, and hit him high up on the last rib on the off side, infront of the hip. He threw up his tail, made a tremendous bound in theair, dashed through bush-thorns so dense and close that it seemedperfectly marvellous how he managed it, and fell dead within two hundredyards.
Note. If the reader should desire fuller accounts of such battles, werecommend to him _African Hunting_, a very interesting work, by W.C.Baldwin, Esquire, to whom, with Dr Livingstone, Du Chaillu, and others,I am indebted for most of the information contained in this volume,--R.M.B.
The moment it fell the natives descended from the different trees inwhich they had taken refuge at the commencement of the fray, and werelavish in their compliments; but Tom, who felt that he had been desertedin the hour of need, did not receive these very graciously, and there isno saying how far he might have proceeded in rebuking his followers (forthe Brown family is pugnacious under provocation) had not the major'svoice been heard in the distance, shouting, "Hallo! look out! a buffalo!where are you, Tom Brown, Wilkins?"
"Hallo!" he added, bursting suddenly into the open where they werestanding, "what's this--a--buffalo? dead! Have 'ee killed him? why, Isaw him alive not two minutes--"
His speech was cut short by a loud roar, as the buffalo he had been inchase of, scared by the approach of Wilkins, burst through the underwoodand charged down on the whole party. They fled right and left, but asthe brute passed, Wilkins, from the other side of the open, fired at itand put a ball in just behind the shoulder-blade. It did not fall,however, and the three hunters ran after it at full speed, Wilkinsleading, Tom Brown next, and the major last. The natives kept well outof harm's way on either side; not that they were unusually timidfellows, but they probably felt that where such able hands were at workit was unnecessary for them to interfere!
As the major went racing clumsily along--for he was what may be calledan ill-jointed man, nevertheless as bold as a lion and a capital shot--he heard a clatter of hoofs behind him, and, looking over his shoulder,observed another buffalo in full career behind. He stopped instantly,took quick aim at the animal's breast, and fired, but apparently withouteffect. There chanced to be a forked tree close at hand, to which themajor rushed and scrambled up with amazing rapidity. He was knocked outof it again quite as quickly by the shock of the tremendous charge madeby the buffalo, which almost split its skull, and rolled over dead atthe tree-root, shot right through the heart.
Meanwhile Tom Brown and the lieutenant had overtaken and killed theother animal, so that they returned to camp well laden with the bestpart of the meat of three buffaloes.
Here, while resting after the toils of the day, beside the roaringcamp-fires, and eating their well-earned supper, Hicks the trader toldthem that a native had brought news of a desperate attack by lions on akraal not more than a day's journey from where they lay.
"It's not far out o' the road," said Hicks, who was a white man--of whatcountry no one knew--with a skin so weather-beaten by constant exposurethat it was more like leather than flesh; "if you want some sport inthat way, I'd advise 'ee to go there to-morrow."
"Want some sport in that way!" echoed Wilkins in an excited tone; "why,what do you suppose we came here for? _Of course_ we'll go there atonce; that is, if my comrades have no objection."
"With all my heart," said the major with a smile as he carefully filledhis beloved pipe.
Tom Brown said nothing; but he smoked his pipe quietly, and nodded hishead gently, and felt a slight but decided swelling of the heart, as hemurmured inwardly to himself, "Yes, I'll have a slap at the lionsto-morrow."