CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
A VAST HERD OF ANTELOPES.
Next day the young yagers were witnesses to a most extraordinaryspectacle; and that was, a vast herd of blesboks,--so vast, that theplains appeared literally covered with their purple masses!
This herd was not browsing, nor at rest, but scouring up against thewind--as those hunted the day before had done--and evidently running asif some dreaded enemy in their rear had given them an alarm.
The mass of bodies was nearly half a mile in width; but it would havebeen difficult to estimate its length, as it continued to pass beforethe eyes of the yagers for more than an hour! On the animals poured,sometimes running in line, and sometimes the hindmost leaping over thosethat preceded them, moving like an impetuous torrent. All of them ranwith necks extended forward, their noses close to the ground, likehounds running upon the scent!
Here and there they were closely packed in dense masses, while in theintervals between, the bucks were thinly interspersed; and now and thenwere wide breaks, like an army marching in column.
The cause of these openings was simply that the immense drove consistedof a great many separate herds, all running by one impulse; for it is acurious habit of the blesboks and bonteboks, that when one herd becomesalarmed, all the other herds that chance to be in the same plains withthis one, both to windward and leeward of it, start off in succession;and as all, from their habit of running up the wind, must follow thesame direction, a constant drove, or rather a continuous succession ofdroves is formed, and passes in open column before the spectator who maybe on either flank. The wonderful spectacle of so many livingcreatures, running together in such countless numbers, brought to mindthe accounts, which the young yagers had read, of the migrations of thebuffalo on the prairies of America, and also those of thepassenger-pigeon. Of course, the resemblance to the "trek-boken" oftheir own springboks, which all of them had witnessed, was alsoremembered.
On this day our hunters were more successful than upon the preceding.They had learnt by their experience of yesterday how to "jag" theblesbok.
Instead of attempting either to "stalk" or "head" them, they found thatthe best plan was to ride along the flanks of the running herd, and nowand again dash near enough to fire into the thick of them. Theblesboks, while moving to windward, will permit the hunter to get withinthree or four hundred yards of their flank; and the mounted hunter,keeping his horse fresh, can now and then gallop within shootingdistance before the moving mass can turn out of its course. Firingamong a flock in this aimless way, the bullet is not always sure of avictim, but now and then a buck fells to the shot.
Practising this plan, the young yagers played upon the flanks of thegreat herd during the whole time of its flight to windward; butnotwithstanding the continuous cracking of rifles, with now and then thelouder detonation of Groot Willem's great elephant-gun, the slaughterwas not very great. Six only "bit the dust." But as in the six therechanced to be an equal number of bucks and does, the hunters were quitecontent. They were not "jaging" for the meat, but merely to getspecimens of the horns and prettily-painted skins; and three of eachwere as many as they wanted.
The hunt was soon over; and as their horses were pretty well "blown,"the yagers returned at an early hour to camp, taking with them only theheads, horns, and skins of their game, with just enough of the venisonto give them fresh steaks for a day or two.
One peculiarity they remarked in skinning the blesboks--that the skinsof these beautiful creatures exhaled a pleasant perfume--arising, nodoubt, from the fragrant plants and herbage upon which the animals feed.
The afternoon was spent in dressing the skins--by removing the fattyflesh that adheres to them--and they were then spread out to dry. Undersuch a hot sun, a few hours was sufficient to render them dry enough tobe carried on to the next camp, where they would be spread out for alonger period, and thoroughly prepared for packing in the wagons.
Hendrik and Groot Willem performed this service; but the preparing ofthe heads--a more scientific operation--was the work of Hans assisted byArend. Hans had his box of chemicals, consisting of arsenical soap andseveral other noted "preservers," which he had brought along for thisspecial purpose; and by night, two pairs of heads, with the skin andhorns attached, were thoroughly cleaned and mounted, and ready fornailing up to the wall.
There was a buck and doe in each pair; one, of course, for the VonBlooms, and another for the mansion of the Van Wyks.
The only difference between the horns of the _blaze-buck_ and the_blaze-doe_ is, that those of the latter are shorter, and more slender;while the skin of the doe is less vivid in its colouring, and smaller,as is also the body of the animal. The same remark applies to thekindred species--the bonteboks--of which brilliantly coloured creaturesfull sets of horns and skins were obtained the day after.
On this occasion, the "stand and drive" recommended by Groot Willem hadbeen tried again, and with great success; each of the four--Hans,Hendrik, Arend, and Groot himself--having shot his buck as the flockdashed up to their stands. Indeed, Hans, upon this occasion, hadcarried off the palm. His double-barrel, loaded with ball, had enabledhim to knock over a couple of the "painted goats"--as bonteboks aresometimes styled--right and left.
The explanation of their success in this hunt, and their failure whentrying the same plan with the blesboks, is not found in any essentialdifference between the two species. Their habits are almost the same.
No. Their success lay simply in the fact, that on the day when theyjaged the bontebok, there was no wind--not a breath of air stirring. Onthis account the game were not only unable to run against the wind, but,keen as is their scent, they were not able to tell behind which ant-hilllay their concealed enemies.
The consequence was, that Klaas and Jan were able to drive them right upto the ambushed hunters, who slew them without difficulty.
The "stalk" would not have succeeded on such a day, for these antelopestrust far more to their nose than their eyes; moreover, a correctrifle-shot is very difficult to be obtained in the plains of the"zuur-veldt,"--as the _mirage_ is almost always upon them, andinterferes with the aim. So strong is this mirage, that objects at adistance become quite distorted to the eye, and out of all proportion.A secretary bird stalking along looks as big as a man, and an ostrichattains the altitude of a church-steeple. Even the colour of objectsbecomes changed; and travellers have mistaken a pair of tawny lions forthe white tilts of their own wagons and have gone towards them, thinkingthey were riding into their camp! An awkward mistake, I should fancy.
After having secured their specimens of the pied antelopes, the youngyagers again broke up camp, and treked away across the plains of the"zuur-veldt."