CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
HUNTING THE KLIPSPRINGER.
The eagle dropped not far from the summit; and the boys, running down tothe spot, found it lying quite dead, with the little klipspringer--alsodead of course--still fast in its claws. The talons sunk deeply intothe flesh, embraced the spine, and even in death the fierce bird had notrelaxed its hold!
Some would have considered the death of the eagle a just punishment;but, then, what was its crime? It is true, it had killed, and wouldhave carried away, the little fawn of an innocent antelope--one of themost harmless of creatures. But what else could it have done? Naturehad taught it to sustain itself in this way. Perhaps it had a nest onthe brow of some beetling precipice--for this vulture-eagle of SouthAfrica is a dweller upon rocks, and not a _tree-eagle_--perhaps in thisnest it had a pair of downy little eaglets, each with an appetite likethat of an ostrich--perhaps they were expecting that very kid, or somesimilar dish, for dinner; and would have been very hungry without it--might have died of hunger? What, then, could the parent bird do butprovide them, though at the expense of other parents just as muchattached to their offspring as an eagle could be? How can it beregarded as a crime? The eagle did not wantonly destroy the antelope,but to satisfy the cravings of hunger. It only obeyed one of the lawsof Nature.
Cruel laws they _do_ seem; yet, if they be crimes, Nature herself isanswerable. Alas! we cannot comprehend, and, I fear, in this life neverwill comprehend, why we, the creatures of the earth, are born to preyupon one another. A puzzle to the humane heart is that "chain ofdestruction."
Wanton killing of animals _is_ a crime; and our hunters, at first sight,might be thought chargeable with this in having _wantonly_ shot down theeagle. Such was not the case, however. They did not do so out of anyfeeling of wantonness. They had a proper object in shooting the bird.It was the representative of a rare and little-known species, and thepossession of its skin for _scientific purposes_ had something to dowith the fatal aim that brought it down--for it was from thedouble-barrel of the naturalist the shot was sent that destroyed it.
By the act the klipspringers had been avenged, though there was littleidea of giving them vengeance in the minds of the young hunters. Quitethe contrary; for in five minutes after, the whole six--buck-dogs andall--were in full chase after these creatures, as ready to rob them oftheir lives as they had been to take away that of their winged enemy.
Nor was it out of wantonness either, or the mere love of hunting, thoughthat might have been the principal motive with one or two of the party.But there was a curiosity about these little antelopes, and a desire toexamine them more closely, that urged the young yagers to attempt theirdestruction. They desired to possess their trophies.
You may wonder why they should care about the horns of a klipspringer,since it is not one of the rare antelopes within the boundaries of thesettlements! True, the animal itself is not rare; but it is a rareoccurrence, when one falls before the bullet of the hunter--as theklipspringer is as shy and wary as the chamois itself--and, dwelling inthe most inaccessible places, it is difficult game to capture. Hence,the killing of a klipspringer is regarded in the light of a feat, andits little horns are by no means an ordinary trophy.
The young yagers, therefore, wanted the pair belonging to the buck thatwas now leaping over the rocks below.
Some minutes were spent in deliberating as to what would be the bestmode of getting possession of them.
At the report of the guns both the klipspringers had gone farther downthe mountains, and were now standing upon a large boulder near its base.
Hendrik proposed that the party should dash right down after them--dogsand all--and force them out into the plain, where, it was well known,they could make but a poor run, and would be easily overtaken by thebuck-dogs.
This plan seemed feasible. The antelopes were very near the base of themountain. The hunters coming on them from above could easily drive theminto the plain; and then there would be a run between them and the dogs,of which a fine view would be obtained.
Off started the whole party, directing their course straight down themountain to the point where the klipspringers were seen. The dogs wereset free, and sprang forward in advance.
The hunters moved on as fast as the nature of the ground would permitthem; and in ten minutes would have been near enough to theklipspringers to have fired, had the latter favoured them by remainingin their place. But they did not do so. Of course, they had a fullview of their enemies as they advanced; and before the hunters had gothalf-way down, the nimble game set off round the bottom of the hill,flitting from rock to rock like a brace of birds.
What seemed odd in their mode of progressing was, that instead ofrunning along the open spaces between the fragments of rock, they chosethe rocks themselves for their path, and of these also the mostprominent ones; so that their flight was a succession of bounds, some ofthem of enormous length! Many of the boulders, on which they rested amoment, and from which they sprang again, were so narrow at the top,that the little creatures hardly obtained room for their feet; and, withtheir four hoofs touching each other, they would spring off as thoughmoved, not by muscular power, but under the influence of some elasticforce!
At first the hunters believed their task to be an easy one. Themountain surface was of so limited an extent, they would soon surroundthe game, or force it out upon the plain. The first attempt to do so,however, had ended in a failure. The klipspringers had escaped withoutdifficulty to the other side, and were now farther off than ever!
The hunters called up the dogs, recrossed the summit, and once more settheir eyes upon the game, perched as before upon prominent points.
A second time the party advanced, spreading as they went down, andholding their guns in readiness; but long before they were within range,the klipspringers took to flight again; and, just as they had donebefore, passed around the base to the other side of the mountain. Ofcourse, the dogs, scrambling clumsily among the rocks, were, no matchfor such game as they; and even had the klipspringers been near enoughfor the guns, the most accomplished riflemen could not have "sighted"them, so quick were their motions. The only chance of the yagers lay intheir shot-guns, and to have hit them, even with these, would have beena feat equal to the bringing down a snipe or woodcock.
Once more the boys attempted to drive them into the open plain; but withthe same result as before. Although the hunters had spread themselvesacross the mountain, the nimble game dashed past them, and escaped tothe other side.
Groot Willem now proposed a new plan. That was for all to descend themountain to its base, and there make a complete surround of it. Theneach to march straight up, and, by hemming the game on all sides, _forcethem to the summit_.
"In this way," added Groot Willem, "we'll at least have a crack at them;for if they try to get back through our line, they must pass near someof us."
Groot Willem's suggestion was adopted. The yagers now descended to thebase of the mountain; and, separating, spread around it at equaldistances from one another. The buck-dogs were also distributed; onegoing with each hunter, except Klaas, who had no dog to accompany him.Since the affair with the blauw-bok, there had been only five in thepack.
Thus placed, the boys recommenced the ascent. They proceeded withproper caution, keeping each other in view, and shouting from time totime words of instruction as to the position of the game. These wereseen bounding before them, from rock to rock--now crossing the mountainto the opposite side, with the intention of escaping in that way--nowzigzagging along the sides, or bounding upward toward the summit.
When the hunters had advanced about half-way up, the klipspringersbecame frightened in earnest. They saw that they were encompassed onevery side; and sprang to and fro like a pair of grasshoppers.
At length they seemed determined to run the gauntlet through the circleof hunters, and made a bold dash in the direction of Hans. Thenaturalist, although not professing to be much of a hunter, was acapital shot; an
d, raising his double-barrel, he fired.
The doe fell to the crack; and the buck, suddenly turning as on a pivot,once more bounded up the slope. The dogs had already gained a distanceahead of their masters, and now advanced upon the buck from all sides.There seemed no chance left him of avoiding their onset.
He had mounted a boulder near the base of the tower-rock; and the fivewere rushing upon him with open jaws, and shining teeth, when, all atonce, as if impelled by a spring, he shot upward to a narrow ledge ofthe vertical rock, far beyond their reach. The ledge was scarcely wideenough to have given footing to a weasel, and yet the klipspringerseemed to feel quite secure upon it. But he did not rest there. Theshouts of the hunters, as they hurried up the mountain, impelled himfarther; and springing to a still higher ledge, and to another stillhigher, he stood at length upon the pinnacle of the rock!
A shout of surprise broke from the hunters as they witnessed thiswonderful feat. And a singular spectacle it was. As already stated,the tower-rock ended in a point scarce four inches in diameter; and uponthis stood the klipspringer, his hoofs pressed closely together, hisneck drawn in, his body gathered into a ball, with the stiff wiry hairradiating on all sides outward, like the spines of a hedgehog--a curiousobject to look upon!
Although the hunters were now within shot, so odd did the creatureappear thus placed that not one of them thought of drawing trigger uponit. They knew that they had the buck in their power--the dogs were allaround him--and at such a height, full thirty feet from the ground, itcould not escape. All therefore held their fire, and ran forward to thebottom of the tower.
They had made a sad mistake about the powers of that klipspringer. Asthey were congratulating themselves on having trapped the buck in so odda manner, he was seen to shoot out into the air, and, with a whizzingnoise like that made by some great bird, he passed close to their ears,and lit upon the boulder from which he had bounded up! Scarce aninstant did he rest there, but sprang to another, and another, and in afew seconds was far down the side of the mountain!
So sudden had been this movement on the part of the game, and sounexpected, that both dogs and hunters were taken by surprise, and not ashot was fired until the klipspringer was beyond reach! Just at thatmoment, as they stood watching his retreat, a puff of smoke was noticedfar down the mountain--a gun cracked at the same instant--and the buckwas seen to tumble headlong from a rock!
With fresh surprise the hunters turned to one another. "Who?" exclaimedall simultaneously. Ha! there were only five of them. One was missing!
"It's Klaas!"
It was Klaas beyond a doubt--Klaas who had killed the klipspringer.
Klaas had given an illustration that the "race is not always to theswift." He was rather a heavy boy, was Klaas; and feeling fatigued atso much climbing, had seated himself on a stone, and was taking a bit ofa rest, when he observed the klipspringer, standing upon a rock rightbefore his face. Having his light fowling-piece loaded with buckshot,he had taken aim, and dropped the buck from his perch.
Jan was not a little jealous, and insinuated that it was a bit of "luck"not very well deserved; but whether it was luck or not, Klaas hadcertainly killed the klipspringer, and was not a little elated at hisperformance.
Having collected the game, the young yagers proceeded to where they hadleft their horses; and, mounting, galloped off after the wagons thatwere moving slowly across the distant plain.