CHAPTER TEN.
THE CAMEL-BIRDS.
On leaving the "drift" where they had crossed the Orange River, ourhunters "treked" in a north-easterly direction. Had they gone due norththey would soon have reached the rim of the Great Kalihari Desert--theSaara of Southern Africa. Of course they could not have penetratedthis, and would necessarily have been compelled to head in a newdirection, either to the east or west. But they had long sincedetermined on an easterly course, as the region lying to the eastward ofthe desert had the reputation of being a grand country for the largeanimals--the buffalo, the elephant, and the camelopard; and the riversin that part were filled with huge sea-cows (hippopotami) and giganticcrocodiles. That was the very country the young yagers wanted to be in.
They were not travelling without a guide. Congo was their guide. Heknew every inch of the route. He had promised to bring them into acountry abounding in elephants and giraffes; and no doubt wasentertained that the Kaffir would keep his promise.
Next day they were on the move at an early hour. They made a long day'smarch, and, halting a little before sunset, outspanned in a grove ofmokhala-trees, standing upon the very edge of a bleak desert, thatstretched before them as far as they could see,--and indeed muchfurther. This desert had a very arid and parched appearance, the onlyvegetation upon it being solitary plants of the arborescent aloe, withits large coral-red flower-spike, palm-like zamias, some species ofcactus-like euphorbias, and here and there small clumps of _Acaciahorrida_, or "wait-a-bit" thorns, as these bushes are jocosely termed,from the disposition of their curved spines to hook upon the clothes ofany one passing them.
Both plants and bushes grew far apart, and wide tracts of the plainappeared without even any of these to vary its brown monotony. It was asort of outlying spur of the Kalihari Desert, and they would have tocross it before they should reach the country promised by their guide.There would be _fifty_ miles without vley, spring, or stream--_fifty_miles from water to water.
They had outspanned by the last spring, which gurgled out among theroots of the mokhala-trees upon the very edge of the desert. There theyintended remaining for a couple of days to dry the flesh of thegemsboks, and also to recruit their animals and prepare them for thelong waterless journey of the desert,--a perilous passage.
It was near sunset when they had finished "outspanning," having formedtheir camp in the centre of the mokhala grove, and not far from thespring.
Hans, in a contemplative mood, had wandered to the edge of the grove;and, seating himself under one of the trees, whose full umbrella-liketop cast a fine shade, was gazing out upon the wide treeless waste.
He had not been long in this situation, when his attention was attractedto three upright forms that appeared upon the plain at the distance ofsome hundred yards from the grove. They were bipeds, for he saw themfrom head to heel. Not human bipeds, however, but birds. They were_ostriches_.
The merest child could have told that much--anybody--for who does notrecognise the great African ostrich at the first glance? The size andform of the _Struthio camelus_ are too peculiar to admit of its beingtaken for any other bird. The American "rhea," or the Australian"emeu," might pass for its half-grown young, but a full-sized Africanostrich is not to be mistaken for any of its pigmy relatives, either inAustralia, New Zealand, the Indian archipelago, or America. It is thegreat bird of birds--the biggest that carries feathers.
Of course Hans knew the three to be ostriches the moment his eye restedupon them--a cock and two hens. This was easily told, for there is asmuch difference between the male and female of these birds, as betweenthe brilliant peacock and his dingy spouse. The greater size of theformer; the deep black colour of his body contrasting strongly with thesnow-white plumes of his wings and tail,--and in the desert these _are_snow-white--distinguish him at once from his female companions. Theircolour is a nearly uniform greyish brown, and they want those splendidjet and snowy plumes that adorn the back of their lord and master, andwhich have been from all time so highly prized as ornaments by bothsavage and civilised people.
A cock and two hens they were, that presented themselves before the eyesof the young naturalist.
They were marching slowly along. They were not affrighted. Theyevidently had seen nothing of the camp. How could they, as it wasbehind the trees in the centre of the grove? They occasionally benttheir long necks to one side or the other, and cropped a leaf, or pickedup a seed, but then continued their course. From their following astraight line Hans concluded they were not feeding in the regular way,but bent towards some point, perhaps to their night resting-place.
When first observed, they were coming in a side direction, that is,transversely to the direction in which Hans himself was facing. In ashort time they had passed before him, and were now widening thedistance, and getting farther off into the desert.
Hans at first thought of calling to the others, who were all busy aboutthe wagons, and had not seen the ostriches. He was thinking also ofsome plan by which the birds might be captured or killed.
After a moment's consideration, he gave up the idea of either one thingor the other. The sight of an ostrich was nothing new to any of theparty. Jan and Klaas might have cared for it, but both were tired aftertheir long hot ride, and had already fallen asleep on the grass. Betternot disturb them, thought Hans.
As to the killing or capturing the ostriches, after a moment'sreflection, Hans also gave up that design. The birds were alreadypassing--to have stalked within shot upon the naked plain would havebeen impossible, for Hans well knew the wary nature of the ostrich; andto have attempted a chase with their tired horses would have beenequally idle.
Hans, therefore, held his peace, and sat still; following with his eyesthe retreating forms of the three great camel-birds.
Their long strides soon carried them far off, but before they hadreceded half-a-mile, the eyes of the naturalist were removed from them,and turned on a different object.