CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
HENDRIK CHASED BY THE KEITLOA.
Hendrik's feelings at that moment were not to be envied. Hisreflections were sharply bitter. He felt mortified and humiliated. Hewished he had never set eyes upon a blesbok. A sorry figure would hecut on his return to camp. He had laughed heartily at Hans and Arend.They would reciprocate that laugh, and add interest. He had ridiculedthe idea of Groot Willem. Groot would not fail to pay back his scorn.
Besides, he had done his horse no good; perhaps had injured the animal.There stood he, with steaming nostrils and heaving flanks, quite usedup. They were nearly twelve miles from camp. He would scarce be ableto carry his rider back, and Hendrik even began to entertain doubtsabout his way.
The thought that he might have lost himself was just entering his mind,when his reflections were interrupted by a sound that caused him tostart up from that rock, as nimbly as he had ever risen from a seat inhis life.
The same sound seemed to produce a very similar effect upon his horse;for the latter, on hearing it, suddenly jerked up his drooping head,pricked his ears, snorted loudly, and, after dancing about a moment ontwo, shot off down the pass at full gallop!
Hendrik's eyes did not follow him, nor his thought neither. Both weretoo busy with an animal that came from the opposite side, and which haduttered the sound that caused such a sudden alarm. The deep bass snortand the bellows-like blowing that followed, were no strangers to the earof the young hunter. He knew that, on looking round, he would beholdthe black rhinoceros;--and he did so. That fierce creature was comingdown the pass!
At first sight Hendrik was not so terribly alarmed. He had hunted therhinoceros more than once, and did not deem it such dangerous sport. Hehad always been able to avoid the charges of the clumsy quadruped, andto escape out of its way when he desired.
But Hendrik for the moment had forgotten that on such occasions he wasseated, not on a boulder of rock, but in the saddle, and it was to hishorse that he owed his immunity from danger.
Now that his horse had run off, and he found himself afoot upon theplain, with nothing between him and the rhinoceros but twenty yards ofsmooth level turf, he became truly alarmed. And no wonder at it--hislife was in danger.
His first thought was to run up the rocks, thinking by so doing to getout of the animal's reach. But, on looking towards these, he perceivedthat they formed a precipice on both sides of the pass, with a wall-likeface, that could only have been scaled by a cat! Hendrik could notclimb up on either side!
In the pass itself there was no shelter for him. Its bottom was asmooth sward, sloping but slightly. It was but the continuation of theouter plains, that were nearly on the same level. Here and there stooda tree, but they were small ones--mere "brush," and a rhinoceros couldhave levelled any of them to the ground with his powerful horn. Theyoffered no hope, either for concealment or retreat.
There appeared no chance of escape in any way. To attempt it by runningoff would be perfectly useless; for Hendrik knew that a rhinoceros couldovertake the swiftest runner, as every South African hunter couldtestify. Hendrik did not think of it. To add to his ill-fortune, hehad left his gun strapped to the saddle, and that was now gone off withthe horse; so that his chance of saving himself by the destruction ofthe rhinoceros was gone also. The only weapon left him was hishunting-knife; but what was a knife against the hide of a rhinoceros?It might as well have been a needle.
There was but one hope of safety; and that was, that the animal mightnot _see_ him. The rhinoceros possesses the sense of sight only in amoderate degree. His eyes are small; and though sharp enough when anobject is directly in front of him, they are so placed in his head,that, on account of his stiff neck and huge form, he can see nothingeither behind or even at either side of him.
Hendrik had hopes the fierce brute would pass without observing him.From his movements it was evident he had not noticed him as yet, else hewould already have charged upon him. The black rhinoceros does not waitto be provoked. His own fierce nature furnishes him with sufficientstimulus, and his fury is habitually directed against creatures the mostinnocent and unoffending.
To get as far out of his way as possible, Hendrik glided silently up tothe cliff, and stood close against the rock.
But if the rhinoceros is not a sharp-sighted animal he is one of thesharpest-scented that lives. With the wind in his favour, he can smelleven a "rat" at an almost incredible distance. He is also gifted with amost acute sense of hearing; and the slightest sound, such as therustling of a leaf or the falling of a footstep, will enable him toguide himself directly to his enemy or his victim. Were the rhinocerosendowed with the power of vision to the same degree as he is with thatof smell and hearing, he would be the most dangerous animal in theworld. As it is, he is any thing but a safe neighbour, and many of thepoor natives of the country he inhabits, fall victims to hisungovernable temper and brutal strength. Fortunately his eyes are nobigger than they are.
They were big enough, however, to see Hendrik as he stood, his dark formoutlined against the cliff, and sharp enough to distinguish him from therock. The breeze, indeed, blowing in his spread nostrils, had warnedhim of the hunter's presence, and that had directed his eyes.
As these rested upon the form of the boy, he stopped short in his track,uttered a snorting noise, vibrated his ears, and flirted his saucylittle tail over his huge hips. Then placing himself in a menacingattitude, and giving utterance to an angry blowing, he dashed forwardupon Hendrik as if the latter had been his enemy for life!
Hendrik's presence of mind was called for at this moment; and it came tohis aid. Had he kept his ground five seconds longer, he would have beencrushed against the rock, or impaled upon the strong horn of therhinoceros. But the moment the latter charged, the boy sprang out fromthe cliff.
He did not attempt to run--that would not have saved him; andfortunately he knew it. He merely stepped out to the more open groundin the middle of the pass, and there stood fronting his assailant. Thelatter having seen the movement, swerved in his course, so as again tohead direct for his intended victim; and without stopping, rushedforward as before.
Hendrik stood still, until the sharp black horn almost touched him.Then bounding to one side, he glided past the rhinoceros, and ran in anopposite direction.
He looked back as he ran; and seeing that the fierce brute had turnedsuddenly on the failure of his charge, and was close at his heels, heagain made stand, confronting the animal as before. Again he waiteduntil the rhinoceros was close up, and repeated the manoeuvre ofspringing to one side and running behind. This Hendrik had heard wasthe only way to escape the rhinoceros in open ground. Had he sprungaside a moment too soon, that is, before the sudden bound enabled him toclear the field of the animal's vision, he would certainly have beenfollowed and overtaken; for, unwieldy as the rhinoceros appears, it isnevertheless far more active than it looks, and the horse can barely getout of the way of its sudden and impetuous rush.
Hendrik had got two hundred yards down the pass before it turned again,but the distance was not enough. He was compelled to make stand for thethird time, and await the terrible onset of his huge enemy.
As before, he succeeded in getting to his rear, but the rhinocerosseemed to grow wiser, and now wheeled his body at shorter intervals, sothat Hendrik's chances of escape were growing less and less after eachsuccessive charge. In fact, he was kept dodging and leapingcontinuously from side to side. To have lost his footings or relaxedhis vigilance for a moment, would have been certain and immediatedestruction.
Hendrik began to despair. He was already panting for breath, with theperspiration flowing from every pore. His body ached with fatigue. Hislimbs began to fail him. He could not hold out much longer. There wasno reason to believe the powerful brute would desist. It was child'splay to him; and he had worked himself into a fearful rage at not beingable to strike his victim after so many charges.
Hendrik began to think he was lost for ever.
The thoughts of home, offather, of sister, and brothers, of Wilhelmina--rushed across his mind;he would never see them more; he would be killed in that pass, and bythe fierce dark monster that was pursuing him. They would never knowwhat had become--Ha! An ejaculation escaped from Hendrik's lips asthese sad thoughts coursed through his brain. It was an exclamation ofjoy.
The struggle between him and the fierce animal had continued for morethan a quarter of an hour, and had changed from place to place untilthey were now about the middle of the pass. Hendrik's suddenexclamation had been caused, by his observing upon the cliffs a sort ofledge or platform about six feet from the ground. It was scarce thatwidth, but it ran along the front of the cliff for a distance of severalyards; and, as Hendrik thought, at one end there was a sort of cave orcleft in the rocks. He scarce glanced at this, however; the platformitself was what interested him, and without another thought or look hegrasped the edge of the rock and dragged himself up.
The next moment he stood upon the shelf, and looked safely down upon theferocious brute that was snorting in vain fury below!