CHAPTER FORTY.
THE RAVENOUS REPTILE.
All eyes were fixed upon the beautiful animal as it approached theriver. With light majestic step it advanced to the bank, and withoutpausing walked down the slope. It had no fear of the water, and steppedinto it without hesitation.
The boys were in hopes that it intended to cross the river. On theopposite bank it was too distant for the a carry of their guns--even theelephant roer could not have sent a bullet to that side with any chanceof hitting. Should the antelope cross, however, the case would bedifferent. It might then come within range of their pieces; and, tomake sure, Hendrik and Groot Willem had stolen under the cover of thereeds, and advanced nearer the crossing-place.
They were doomed to disappointment, however. The waterbuck had nointention of crossing. It had come to drink; and having waded inknee-deep, it stopped, and dipped its muzzle into the water for thatpurpose.
With disappointed looks the boys remained gazing upon it as it drank.
Now it chanced that close to the spot where the buck had entered thewater there was a black log. It lay along the water in a directionparallel to the bank, and seemed to be floating--though only a smallportion of it appeared above the surface. Saturated with the water, asit must have been, its weight perhaps had thus partially immersed it.The boys had given no heed to this log. It was the half-decayed trunkof some tree--perhaps the black-barked acacia--that had been carrieddownstream during flood-time, and had made a lodgment in the little bay,where the path entered the water. Of course to such an ordinarycircumstance the boys gave no heed. Neither did the waterbuck. Ah!false security! Better for the antelope had it heeded that log! Betterfor it had it "looked before leaping," and carefully scrutinised thatblack-barked thing--for black though it was, it was not the log of anyacacia. _That log was alive_!
To the astonishment of all the boys, and no doubt to the far greaterastonishment of the waterbuck, the dark object suddenly became endowedwith motive power, and was seen to dart forward with the velocity of anarrow towards the spot where the animal was drinking. It was no longera log, but a hideous reptile--a crocodile of gigantic dimensions!
The boys expected to see the waterbuck rear back, and attempt to escape.No doubt so it would have done, had the crocodile missed its aim, butthe latter had not missed. On the contrary, it had seized the muzzle ofthe antelope in its long gaunt jaws, and was proceeding to drag itsvictim under the water.
There was a struggle not of long duration, but it was terrible while itlasted. The buck pranced, and plunged and spread his legs, andendeavoured to shake off his reptile assailant. Several times he wasbrought to his knees; but being a powerful animal he recovered his legsagain, and once nearly succeeded in drawing the crocodile out upon thebank. All the while, too, he kept striking forward with his sharpfore-hoofs; but desperate as were the hits he made, they produced noimpression upon the harsh scaly coat of his amphibious antagonist. Hadthe latter held him by any other part, he might have had some chance ofescape; but seized as he had been by the very tip of his snout, his headwas all the time kept close down to the water, and the awkward positionrendered it impossible for him to make use of his horns--his principalweapons of defence.
The crocodile was by no means one of the largest of his kind--else thestruggle would have ended sooner. A very large one--that is, one ofsixteen to twenty feet in length--can drag a buffalo bull under water,and a buffalo bull possesses four times the strength of a waterbuck.The one now seen was not over ten feet long; and the strong waterbuckmight have been a full match for it, had it not been for the unfair holdwhich it had taken. In that, however, lay the advantage of the reptile,and it seemed to be aware of it, for from the first moment it neverrelaxed the "clutch" it had taken, but held on with its terrible teethand strong jaws, closed like a clamp on the snout of its victim!
Now the crocodile was raised some feet out of the river, and the boyscould see its ugly breast, and spread hand-like claws; now using itspowerful tail as a fulcrum it would strike against the water, and thenthe head of the buck would be plunged below the surface, and held downfor minutes at a time. Of course during all this while the water waskept in commotion; and, what with the struggles of the quadruped and thelashing of the reptile's tail, a constant spray of froth and bubblesmarked the scene of the strife.
The conflict at length came to an end. The water-tyrant triumphed. Thebuck was dragged into the river beyond his depth; and although fewquadrupeds could swim as well as he, once off his legs he was no longera match for the amphibious saurian. His head and horns both disappearedbeneath the surface--now and then the tail of the crocodile flappedupward, as it exerted itself to keep its victim under--and then bothreptile and quadruped sank to the bottom of the river, and were seen nomore!
For some time the hunters remained watching the surface of the water.They saw the frothy bubbles floating over the spot--some of them reddishwith the blood of the waterbuck--but the current soon carried them away,and the river glided past smooth and silent as if no such commotion hadoccurred in its waters.
The hunters all returned to the wagons, and a conversation now occurredabout crocodiles, in which Congo took part.
The Kaffir had hunted upon the great river Limpopo, which lay to thenortheast of their present camp. He alleged that there crocodiles werevery numerous, and some were seen of enormous dimensions, attaining tothirty feet in length, with bodies as thick as a rhinoceros; that suchscenes, as that they had just witnessed, were of no uncommon occurrencethere. He said that the larger crocodiles frequently attackedbuffaloes, precisely as this one had done the waterbuck--that they liein wait by the watering-places of these animals, and seizing them by themuzzle when they are drinking, drag them under water, and thus suffocatethem.
But Congo related a still more curious habit of the crocodiles. Heasserted that they never devour their prey until it becomes quitedecomposed--that is, until it attains the condition of carrion. Hestated that when a crocodile has killed a buffalo or any large animal,it always drags the carcass back to the shore, and, leaving it exposedto the action of the sun's rays, watches near it until the flesh hasbecome _tainted to its taste_! The young yagers had heard of thisbefore; but were not inclined to believe it, though Congo now assuredthem of its truth--alleging that this habit of the crocodile was wellknown among the native hunters of the Limpopo.
Notwithstanding the sneers of many naturalists, the simple savage wasright, as the young yagers themselves were soon enabled to prove.
I have said that when the crocodile and his victim disappeared below thesurface, they were seen no more. That, however, was not strictly true.Both of them were seen again, and in a very short while after--more thanseen, indeed; for the crocodile was killed by a bullet from GrootWillem's roer; and upon venison steaks, cut from the buttocks of thewaterbuck, both Congo and Swartboy--as well as the buck-dogs--made thema hearty supper.
It was thus the thing came about. Hans had entered into a dissertationabout crocodiles in general. He was informing his companions of thenumber of new species of these creatures that had been latelydiscovered, and pointing out the great progress of natural scienceduring the present half century; how the crocodiles were divided bymodern naturalists into many genera, and that, including the caimans andalligators of America, and the gavials of Asia, the whole crocodilefamily could not number less than two dozen living species, although buta few years ago it was supposed there were but three kinds in existence;how America possessed true crocodiles as well as alligators; how thenumber of species in America was greater than that of Africa and Asiataken together; how there were none of these great reptiles found eitherin Europe or Australasia; and, among other things, Hans was pointing outthe difficulty which existed in determining both the genera and speciesof all the _Crocodilidae_.
While the yagers were listening to these details, the Kaffir, who hadbeen squatted with his eyes bent upon the river, suddenly started fromhis crouching attitude, and pointed down
to the bank, toward a smallbrake of reeds that grew out of the water.
All eyes were turned in that direction, and it was perceived that someof the reeds were shaking about, as if a large creature was moving amongthem. The reeds were nodding about and bending downward in bunches, andbreaking as if under some heavy pressure, and crackling as they broke.What could be causing such a commotion amongst them? It did not appearlike the natural motion of any wild animal, for these glide about, evenin their undisturbed haunts, in a stealthy and easy manner. There wassomething unusual going on among the reeds. What could it be?
The young yagers were determined to find out; and for this purpose theydrew near the margin of the reeds. They did not approach them openly,but crawled forward under cover of the grass and bushes, observingperfect silence, so as not to fright away whatever creature was causingthe movement.
Fortunately the reed-culms did not grow so thickly as to obscure theview; and when near, it was possible to see a large object moving intheir midst. And a large object _was_ seen--a large dark creature whichwas at once recognised as a crocodile.
It might have been another crocodile, and not that which had justdrowned the waterbuck; but the hunters were not left to conjecture onthis point, for, while watching its movements, they now perceived thecarcass of the waterbuck itself, which the huge reptile was dragging upamong the reeds, evidently with the intention of raising it out of thewater! For this purpose it was using its powerful jaws, as well as itssnout, and strong forearms--now pulling the body along a bit, thenpushing and rolling it over towards the bank.
The boys watched these strange manoeuvres for some moments in silence;but Groot Willem had brought his gun with him, and choosing a momentwhen the huge saurian was resting a little, he aimed for the socket ofits eyeball, and sent the big bullet of his roer crashing through itsskull.
The reptile plunged back into the river, and went to the bottom leavingthe wave tinged with blood. Presently it rose to the surface,struggling violently, and evidently in great agony. Now it raised thefore-part of its hideous body quite out of the water; then its head wentunder, and its long tail was flouted into the air; then up came its headagain, and so on, till at length its struggles ceased, and it sank tothe bottom like a stone. No doubt it sank to rise no more.
Congo and Swartboy rushed in among the reeds, and drawing out thewaterbuck--somewhat lacerated by the teeth of its destroyer--dragged itin triumph to the camp.