CHAPTER FIFTY ONE.
THE HONEY-GUIDE AND HONEY-EATER.
Groot Willem's adventure was acknowledged by all to be the mostwonderful that had occurred to any of them--even surpassing that ofHendrik with the rhinoceros--and for a good while it continued to be thesubject of camp conversation.
During the expedition, every one of the party had either performed somegrand feat or fallen in with a remarkable adventure, except Arend. Itwas not that Arend had less courage or less capacity than the rest; but,partly, because he felt no inclination to put himself in the way ofhunting adventures, and partly that the chances had not favoured him.One adventure he had fallen in with--literally _fallen in_ with. He hadtumbled, horse and all, into a pit-trap set by some savages forcapturing the rhinoceros! Fortunately, the sharp spike, usually placedat the bottom of these holes, had been removed--else either Arend or thehorse would have fared worse than they did. Many a laugh had the sixyoung yagers at Arend's solitary adventure. I say six, for Arend alwaysgood-naturedly joined in it himself. Arend was not the man foradventures in the great wilderness. Had it been in the great cityinstead, no doubt his fine face and handsome figure would have helpedhim to many a one in the flirtation line--had he been inclined that way.But neither did Arend care about that. He had but one ruling thought--so Groot Willem alleged--and that was to get home to the Graaf Reinet;and Groot usually added the reason, by giving a wink, and a word or twoabout "cherry cheeks and blue eyes."
Arend, however, was not destined to see home without one otheradventure, in which all the rest had share, and which proved not onlythe last they met with during that expedition, but was near being thelast of their lives!
They had changed their camp from the flowery plain to another equallyflowery, though the plants that blossomed around were of a verydifferent character. There were geraniums and marigolds in this plain,as there had been in the other; but here euphorbias of different speciespredominated, with cacti and other succulent plants.
Above their heads towered the tree Euphorbia, (_E. grandidens_), whileat their feet the melon-shaped variety peeped forth from the ground.There too, were several poisonous species; among others the _Euphorbiaantiquorum_ growing side by side with the deadly belladonna lily,(_Amaryllis belladonna_). The young yagers seemed to have arrived upona spot of earth that was almost wholly occupied with poison-yieldingplants!
And yet it was a lovely scene. The flowers looked as fresh and as fairas elsewhere, and their fragrance scented the air around. Birdsdisported themselves among the branches of the trees; and bees hummedand whirred over the blossoms, imparting cheerfulness to the wild scene,and calling up ideas of home that were, at the moment, agreeable to thetired travellers. They had just formed camp, and were sitting quietlydown, when their attention was drawn to a bird that had perched itselfupon a low bush at no great distance from the wagons. It was not thebeauty of this bird that attracted them, for its plumage was notbeautiful, being of an ashy-brown colour upon the back, and grey below.It was not its size, which was that of an ordinary finch; nor its song,which was no better than a monotonous chatter of the syllables"Kwi-kwi-kwi-kit." It was none of these things that caused the youngyagers to give their attention to the bird, but its peculiar character--already well known to all of them. The little bird which sat upon thebush, starting from branch to branch, jerking about its tail, anduttering the "kwi-kwi-kit," was no other than the celebrated"honey-guide."
They all knew it; for they had met with it several times during theexpedition, and Hans had told them its history. They all knew of itscurious habits; how it will guide a man to the nest of the wild bee, byfluttering before him from bush to bush and rock to rock until itreaches the spot; how it will wait until the hive has been robbed of itshoney-treasure; and then alight by the despoiled nest to feed upon thelarvae of the bees, or the fragments of honeycomb that may have beenleft! They all knew this of the honey-guide, because they had followedone before now, and proved the truth of this wonderful _instinct_, whichhas been doubted by many travellers as well as naturalists.
Those points of its natural history they did not know of Hans had toldthem of long before. He had told them how the bird had been classedamong the cuckoos, under the title _Cuculus indicator_--because itshares with the true cuckoos the singular habit of depositing its eggsin the nest of another bird; how other naturalists have formed a genusfor itself--the genus _indicator_, of which several species are known;how the bird feeds mostly upon honey and the larvae of bees; and hownature has given it a protection against the stings of the old ones inthe thickness of its skin: but Swartboy declared, in relation to thismatter, that the thick skin did not always save it; as he had oftenfound the honey-guide lying dead by the nests of the bees, and evidentlykilled by their stings!
All these points in the natural history of the honey-bird were known tothe young yagers; therefore the little chatterer, that had lit upon theadjacent bush, was no stranger to them.
And they were all right glad to see it, for a certain reason--becausethey wanted some honey, and particularly at that very time, as theirsugar had run out, and they had nothing to sweeten their coffee with--aprivation to several of the party.
All leaped to their feet, therefore, with the determination to followthe "honey-guide," go where it would.
They laid hold of their arms; and, what was still stranger, saddled andmounted their horses, intending to follow the guide on horseback!
You will wonder at this. But when you hear that the honey-guide oftentakes the hunter six or seven miles through the woods--and that notunfrequently it guides him to the lair of a lion, or the haunt of ablack rhinoceros, instead of to the nest of a bee--you will understandwhy the young yagers took these precautions.
Just as they were about starting out, a very odd-looking animal "hove insight." It had something of the appearance of a badger--being low seton its legs, plantigrade in its hind-feet, and with a snout and tailvery like those of that animal. Its colour, too, and pelage, was notunlike that of the common badger--a sombre grey above and black below,divided by a light stripe running down each side from the ears to theroot of the tail. In size it was superior to the badger, and nearlyequalling in this respect the American glutton, or "wolverene," which italso resembled. It had the general appearance of all the animals of thebadger family--which, though few in genera and species, is representedby one or two in nearly every part of the globe. The animal which ouryagers saw, or its species, to speak more properly, was therepresentative of that family in South Africa. It was the "ratel," or"honey-eater," (_Mellivora capensis_).
Now this quadruped was almost as well known to our party as the bird.They knew that its habits were equally singular; that, like the"indicator," it possessed a "sweet tooth;" and spent most, if not all ofits time, in searching for the nests of bees and robbing them of theirhoney--provided the said nests were in the ground, where it could tearthem up with its strong terrier-claws. On the other hand, when the nestchanced to be in a tree, they knew the ratel could not reach it--thisanimal not being a tree-climber. On such occasions he usually leavesthe mark of his claws upon the lower bark, and this often guides theHottentot hunter to a nest stored with honey. All these things theyagers had learnt from Swartboy and Congo; and from Hans a few otherfacts--such as that the ratel is found throughout all Africa--that it isformed by naturalists into a genus of itself, like so many otheranomalous creatures of that continent--that its skin is so thick thebees cannot pierce it with their stings, so that it devours theirhoneycombs without fear of the buzzing insects--that on account of itsdisagreeable odour it is sometimes known as the "stinking badger."
Other facts with which all were acquainted were, that the ratel isaccustomed to follow the "honey-guide;" and that the bird frequentlyconducts the quadruped to the hive--very much in the same way as it actswhen followed by a man. _It is said_, however, on such occasions to flylower, and to take shorter flights, lest the badger might lose sight ofit! So says Monsieur Verreaux!
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Now it was plain to the party that the ratel was at that moment inpursuit of his profession, and in full pursuit of the indicator. Theinterference, however, of the mounted yagers caused him to turn round,and make off in another direction; and the impatient "guide," having nowgone ahead, was followed by a-much larger "tail."
On went the little creature from tree to tree, uttering its"kwi-kwi-kit," and evidently pleased at its new "following." On rodethe young yagers directly in the wake of their guide.
Fortunately they had not far to go. The more frequently repeatedtwittering of the bird, and the increased excitement which the littlecreature exhibited, told the hunters they were near the nest of thebees; and in a few minutes after the bird perched upon a particulartree, and would fly no farther. In this tree was the hive!
They could have told that from the fact that near its roots the bark wasscratched and torn off by the claws of some animal--the claws of aratel, of course--and the amount of scratching showed, that more thanone of these honey-eating quadrupeds had been guided to this place of_sweets_ to meet with bitter disappointment!
A pair of axes, with Swartboy and Congo to handle them, were now broughtfrom the camp; the tree soon fell under their strokes: the bees weresmoked out; and the honeycombs--a fragment or two being left as a rewardfor the services of the "guide"--were carried off to camp.
The store proved one of the largest? and the six yagers, as well astheir dark-skinned attendants, that evening enjoyed a "surfeit ofsweets."
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.
CONCLUSION.
And a surfeit of sweets it proved. Better for them had they never foundthat bees' nest, or had left its contents to the bird and the badger.
In less than an hour from the time they had eaten the honey, the wholecamp was in a state of the greatest alarm. Every one of the party wassuffering from a parched throat, a burning breast, and a loathing at thestomach. The bees had been busy among the blossoms of the belladonnaand the flowers of the euphorbia, and _their honey was poison_!
It would be difficult to depict the consternation that was felt in thecamp. They had all eaten of the poisoned honey--yagers, drivers, andall. They had all eaten plentifully of it--for there chanced to beplenty--and the absence of a vegetable diet for some days past hadsharpened their appetite for the honey. Not one of them that was notill--too ill either to give help or consolation to the others.
Every one believed he was _poisoned_, and acted accordingly. Hans ofall preserved most presence of mind. He used all his skill inadministering such antidotes as he could think of. Purgatives andemetics--such as they had in their chests--were freely administered; andno doubt to these might be attributed the saving of their lives.
Their lives _were_ saved--the crisis passed without proving fatal to anyof them--but for days their illness continued; for days the young yagersmight be seen wandering about the camp, or sitting listlessly around thecamp-fire reduced to the thinness of skeletons, and looking like theghosts of their former selves!
So great a shock had their health received, that they thought no more ofcontinuing their expedition; they only waited for strength enough toenable them to set out on their return homeward. Arend's desire wouldnow be fulfilled--he would soon look upon the lovely Truey, and listento the cheerful music of her voice. Hendrik--ardent hunter though hewas--was equally desirous to get back, and lay his spoils at the feet ofthe blushing Wilhelmina. Klaas and Jan longed for puddings andsugar-plums; and Hans, who had now made a very extensive collection ofthe flora of the country, was also willing to return.
Only one--the great tireless loose-boned giant, Groot Willem--wouldstill have persevered, and climbed over the mountains that separatedthem from the land of elephants, buffaloes, and camelopards. GrootWillem would still have gone on, had it been possible for the others tohave accompanied him. But it was not possible, and the big hunter-boywas obliged to turn back with his companions. It was with a heavy heartthat he did so--for he had for many years entertained an ardent longingto try his roer upon the huge thick-skinned quadrupeds that now roamedfar beyond the frontier of the settlements. Perhaps he faced homewardwith the less regret, that he had hopes of making, at no distant day,_another expedition to the haunts of the mighty elephant upon the banksof the lovely Limpopo_.
This hope consoled Groot Willem, as he mounted his huge horse, and rodeafter the wagons that were already inspanned and treking down thevalley.
Day by day, as the young yagers travelled homewards, they grew strongerand stronger; and when they had reached the Graaf Reinet, the effects ofthe poisoned honey had entirely disappeared--so that all six arrivedhome "safe and sound."
I need not tell you that a warm welcome awaited them in the paternalmansions of Van Wyk and Von Bloom. I need not tell how lovely lookedTruey, and how sweetly blushed Wilhelmina; nor need I describe thesplendid "vrolykeid" that was given--at which all the rich boors of thecountry were present to celebrate the return of:
"The Young Yagers."
The End.
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