CHAPTER TWELVE.
DESCRIBES A HUNTING EXPEDITION WHICH WAS BOTH EXCITING AND SUCCESSFUL.
Down by the reedy margin of a pretty large lake--where wild-fowlinnumerable made the air vocal with their cries by day, and frogs, innumbers inconceivable, chirped and croaked a lullaby to men who slept,and a symphony to beasts that howled and growled and prowled at night inbush and brake--Kambira pitched his camp.
He did not indeed, select the moist level of the fever-breeding marshes,but he chose for his temporary habitation the dry summit of a woodedhill which overlooked the lake.
Here the natives of the neighbourhood said that elephants had beenlately seen, and buffaloes, zebras, etcetera, were at all timesnumerous.
After two long days' march they had reached the spot, and encamped latein the evening. Next morning early the business of the expeditionbegan. Various parties of natives, armed with bows and arrows andspears, were sent out in different directions, but the principal bandwas composed of Kambira and his chief men, with Harold and his party.
They did not go far before game was found. Guinea-fowl were numerous,and those who were aimed with bows soon procured a goodly supply ofthese, but our travellers did not waste their energies or powder on suchsmall game. Besides these, monkeys peeped inquisitively at the huntersfrom among the trees, and myriads of turtle-doves were seen in thecovers. As they advanced, wild pigs, elands, waterbucks, koodoos, andother creatures, were seen in herds, and the natives dropped off, orturned aside in pursuit of these, so that ere long the band remainingwith Kambira was reduced to about forty men.
Coming to a small river in which were a number of deep pools andshallows, they saw several hippopotami lying asleep, their bodies nearlyall out of the water, appearing like masses of black rock in the stream.But at the same place they discovered fresh traces of elephants andbuffaloes, therefore the hippopotami were left unmolested, save thatHarold sent a bullet amongst them, partly to let the natives hear thereport of his gun, and partly to see how the animals would take it.
They all started to their feet at once, and stared around them withlooks of stolid surprise that were almost equal to the looks of thenatives, to whom fire-arms were little known, except by report. Anothershot sent the whole herd with a heavy plunge into deep water.
"It's a queer country," observed Disco when they had resumed theirmarch. "Just look at them there lizards with red and blue tails runningabout among the rocks an' eatin' up the white ants like one o'clock."
Disco might have said like twelve o'clock, if numbers would have addedto the force of his remark, for the little creatures referred to weremiraculously active in pursuit of their food.
"But I s'pose," continued Disco, "the niggers would think our country aqueerer place than this."
"Undoubtedly they would," replied Harold; "just fancy what would be thefeelings of Kambira if he were suddenly transported into the heart ofLondon."
"Hallo!" exclaimed Disco, stopping suddenly and pointing to one of themen in advance, who had crouched and made signals to his friends tohalt, "breakers ahead--eh?"
"More likely buffaloes," whispered Harold, as he cocked his rifle andadvanced quickly with Kambira, who carried a short spear or javelin.
On reaching an opening in the bushes, a small herd of zebras wasobserved not much more than a hundred yards in advance.
"Will the white man's gun kill so far?" asked the chief, turning toAntonio.
The interpreter made no reply, but pointed to Harold, who was in the actof taking aim. The loud report was followed by the fall of the nearestzebra. Disco also fired and wounded another, which bounded away in wildalarm with its fellows.
The natives yelled with delight, and Disco cheered in sympathy.
"You've hit him," said Harold, as he reloaded.
"Ay, but I han't disabled him. Better luck next time. I think I tookhim somewhere on the port bow."
"If by that you mean the left shoulder," returned Harold, with a laugh,"it's likely he won't run far. What does Kambira think of the whiteman's gun?" he added, turning round.
The tall chief nodded approvingly, and said, with a gravecountenance--"Good, good; it is good--better than this," shaking hisshort spear.
At that moment a small antelope, which had been startled and put toflight by some of the other bands of hunters, came crashing wildlytowards them, ignorant of the enemy in its front until within aboutthirty yards. It turned at a sharp angle and plunged into the jungle,but the spear which Kambira had shaken whizzed though the air andpierced its heart before it had time to disappear.
"A splendid heave!" cried Disco, with enthusiasm; "why, man alive, you'dmake yer fortin' as a harpooner if ye was to go to the whale-fishin'.--Hallo! there's somethin' else; w'y, the place is swarmin'. It's for allthe world like a zoological ga'rdings let loose."
As he spoke, the hoofs of a herd of ponderous animals were heard, butthe rank grass and underwood concealed them entirely from view. Thewhole party rushed to the nearest opening, and were just in time to seethe tail of an irate buffalo make a magnificent flourish in the air asits owner plunged into cover.
There was no further attempt at conversation after this. The nearpresence of large game was too exciting, so that merely a word ofadvice, direction, or inquiry, passed as the party advanced rapidly--oneor two of the most active going before as pioneers.
While Disco was striding along with flashing eyes, rifle ready, and headturning from side to side in momentary expectation of something boundingsuddenly out of somewhere, he chanced to cast his eyes upwards, and, tohis horror, beheld two huge serpents coiled together among the branchesof a tree close to his head.
Uttering a yell of alarm--for he entertained an almost superstitiousdread of serpents--he fired blindly upwards, and dashed to one side soviolently that he tumbled himself and Harold into a bush of wait-a-bitthorns, out of which the laughing natives found it difficult to extractthem.
"What _is_ the matter, man?" said Harold somewhat testily.
"Have a care! look! Avast! A bite'll be death, an' no mistake!" criedDisco, pointing to the reptiles.
Harold fired at once and brought them both down, and the natives,attacking them with sticks, soon killed them.
"No fear," said Antonio, with a chuckle. "Dem not harm nobody, thoughums ugly an' big enough."
This was true. They were a couple of pythons, and the larger of thetwo, a female, was ten feet long; but the python is a harmless creature.
While they were talking, smoke was observed to rise from an isolatedclump of long grass and bushes not far from the banks of the river, muchto the annoyance of Kambira, who feared that the fire might spread andscare away the game. It was confined, however, to the place where itbegan, but it had the effect of driving out a solitary buffalo that hadtaken refuge in the cover. Jumbo chanced to be most directly in frontof the infuriated animal when it burst out, and to him exclusively itdirected its attentions.
Never since Jumbo was the size of Obo had that laughter-loving savageused his lithe legs with greater energy than on this occasion. Anostrich might have envied him as he rushed towards the river, into whichhe sprang headlong when the buffalo was barely six feet behind him.
Of course Harold fired, as well as Disco, and both shots told, as also aspear from Kambira, nevertheless the animal turned abruptly on seeingJumbo disappear, and charged furiously up the bank, scattering itsenemies right and left. Harold fired again at little more than fiftyyards off, and heard the bullet thud as it went in just behind theshoulder, yet strange to say, it seemed to have no other effect than torouse the brute to greater wrath, and two more bullets failed to bringhim down.
This toughness of the buffalo is by no means uncommon, but differentanimals vary much in their tenacity of life. Some fall at once to thefirst well-directed shot; others die hard. The animal the hunters werenow in pursuit of, or rather which was in pursuit of the hunters, seemedto be of the latter class. Harold fired another shot from behind atree, having lo
aded with a shell-bullet, which exploded on hitting thecreature's ribs. It fell, much to the satisfaction of Disco, of whom ithappened to be in pursuit at the time. The seaman at once stopped andbegan to reload, and the natives came running forward, when Antonio, whohad climbed a tree to be out of harm's way, slipped down and ran withgreat bravery up to the prostrate animal.
Just as he reached it the buffalo sprang up with the activity of a cat,and charged him. Antonio turned and ran with such rapidity that hislittle legs became almost invisible, like those of a sparrow in a hurry.He gained a tree, and had just time to climb into it when the buffalostruck it like a battering-ram, hard enough almost to have split bothhead and tree. It paused a few seconds, drew back several paces, glaredsavagely at Antonio, and then charged again and again, as if resolvedeither to shake him out of the tree, or give itself a splittingheadache, but another shell from Harold, who could hardly take aim forlaughing, stretched the huge animal dead upon the ground. Altogether,it took two shells and five large solid rifle-balls to finish him.
"That wos a pretty good spurt," said Disco, panting, as he joined Haroldbeside the fallen beast. "It's well-known that a starn chase is a long'un, but this would have been an exception to the rule if you hadn'tshot him, sir. He pretty nigh made short work o' _me_. He was a'mostaboard of me w'en you fired."
"True," said Harold; "and had that tree not grown where it stands, andgrown tough, too, I suspect he would have made short work of Antoniotoo."
"Bah!" said the interpreter, with affected carelessness, "him was but aslow brute, after all."
Disco looked at Jumbo, who was none the worse of his ducking, and shuthis right eye smartly. Jumbo opened his cavernous mouth, and explodedso violently that his double row of brilliant teeth must have been blownout and scattered on the ground, had they not been miraculously strong.
"Come, now," said Kambira, who had just given orders to some of hisfollowers to remain behind and look after the carcase, "we go to findelephants."
"Have we much chance of findin' them?" inquired Disco.
Kambira thought they had, because fresh traces had been recently seen inthe neighbourhood, whereupon Disco said that he would prefer to go afterlions, but Kambira assured him that these animals were not so easy tofind, and much more dangerous when attacked. Admitting the force ofthis, though still asserting his preference of lions to elephants, thebloodthirsty son of Neptune shouldered his rifle and followed hisleader.
While the main party of hunters were thus successfully pushing along,the other bands were not idle, though, possessing no fire-arms, theywere less noisy. In fact their proceedings were altogether of thecat-catty. One fellow, as black as a coal, as lithe as an eel, and aslong--according to Disco's standard--as a fathom of pump-water, havingcome upon a herd of buffalo unseen by them, and being armed with a smallbow and quiver of arrows, suddenly dropped on all-fours and began toglide through the long grass.
Now there is a particular little bird in those regions which calls forspecial notice here. It is a very singular bird, inasmuch as it hasconstituted itself the guardian of the buffalo. It frequently sits uponthat animal's back, and, whenever it sees the approach of man, or anyother danger, it flaps its wings and screams to such an extent, that thebuffalo rushes off without waiting to inquire or see what is the matter;and the small guardian seems to think itself sufficiently rewarded withthe pickings it finds on the back of its fat friend. So vigilant isthis little creature, that it actually renders the approach of thehunter a matter of great difficulty in circumstances when, but for it,he might approach with ease. [See Livingstone's _Zambesi and itsTributaries_, page 200.]
Our wary native was, however, aware of this little fellow'spropensities, and took precautions to outwit the bird rather than thebeast. It may perhaps cause some surprise to be told that a small bowand arrows were a sufficiently powerful species of artillery to bring tobear against such noble game, but the surprise will vanish when we statethat the arrows were poisoned.
Having crawled to within range, the fathom of black pump-water suddenlyarose and let fly an arrow. The missile went deep into the side of amajestic bull. The little bird fluttered and screamed too late. Thebull at once dashed away at full speed, starting off the whole herd inalarm. The black fathom followed at the top of his speed, and wasjoined by a number of other black fathoms, who were quite aware of whathad been done. The buffaloes were soon out of sight, but the fathomsfollowed the trail with the unerring pertinacity of fate. After a longrun they came up with the stricken bull, which had fallen behind itsfellows, and waited patiently until the poison took full effect. In ashort time the animal fell, and the successful hunters fell to work uponhis carcase with their knives.
Leaving them thus employed, we will return to Kambira and his friends.
They had not gone far when a fine water-buck was observed feeding besidea creek.
Kambira laid his hand on Harold's shoulder and pointed to it with asmile, which might have been interpreted, "Now, then, there's a chancefor you!"
Harold fired, and the water-buck dropped.
"Good," said Kambira.
"Hallo!" exclaimed Disco.
And well he might, for at that moment an enormous crocodile, which hadevidently been watching the water-buck, seized and dragged it into thewater. It was not deep, however, and the wounded animal made adesperate plunge, hauled the crocodile several yards, and tore itselfout of its hideous jaws. It then jumped into the stream and wasswimming across when another crocodile made a dash at it, but Haroldsent a ball into its ugly head, which appeared to make it change itsmind. It disappeared, and the water-buck turning, made for the bankfrom which it had started. Just as it reached it the vital spark fled--the fine head dropped and the body turned over.
It will be seen from what has been told, that on this occasion therifles did most of the work. The natives who followed Harold hadnothing to do but look on exultingly, glare, dance, show their teeth andgums, and secure the game. We cannot perhaps, expect the good-naturedreader to follow us through all the details of that day's work; but itwould be unpardonable were we to close the chapter without referring tothe principal event of the day, which occurred a couple of hours afterthe shooting of the water-buck.
It happened thus:--When the hunters began to grow tired, and theprospect of falling in with large game became less hopeful, the chiefdetermined to return to camp; but Disco felt so disappointed at nothaving seen an elephant or a lion, that he expressed a wish to continuethe chase with a small select party. Harold laughed at the idea of theseaman leading such a party, but offered no objection, although he didnot care to accompany his friend, having, as he said, had enough of it,and being desirous of having a long chat with the chief in camp.
"You see, sir," said Disco, patting the stock of his rifle with hisright hand, "we chance to have got, so to speak, into the heart of ashoal o' big fish, an' there's no sayin' how soon they may take it intotheir heads to up anchor, and make sail for other grounds. Therefore,says I, blaze away at 'em while you've got the chance."
"But you may have as good a chance to-morrow, or next day," suggestedHarold.
"We ain't sure o' that sir. To-morrow, they say, never comes," returnedDisco. "It's my ambition to let fly a broadside at a lion or a elephantso I means for to go on; an' wot I says is, Who wolunteers to sail incompany?"
When the party were given to understand what "wolunteers" meant, thethree Makololo joined the tar with alacrity, also the Somali negroesNakoda and Conda, and about a dozen of the natives, armed with spears.Disco's own men were armed with their guns. Antonio, being necessary toHarold, returned to camp; but this was a matter of little importance, asJumbo and his fellow-countrymen knew enough of English to act asinterpreters.
Every one who has had a few years' experience of life knows the truth ofthe proverb which asserts that "fortune favours the brave." Its truthwas exemplified on the present occasion not more than an hour after thelittle band of heroes had set out.
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nbsp; Disco led the way, as a matter of course, holding, as he said, that nonigger could possibly be equal to a white sailor in the matter ofsteering, whether ashore or afloat. He steered by the sun, and directedhis course to nowhere in particular, being influenced chiefly by theform of the ground and the appearance of the jungle.
Jumbo grinned a good deal at the sententious gravity with which theleader delivered his orders, and the self-important strides with whichhe passed over the land. He would have grinned still more, perhaps havelaughed outright if he had understood that the occasional off-hand kickswhich Disco bestowed on a thick bush here and there, were given in thehope that a lion might thereby be set up, as one dislodges a rabbit or ahare!
At last on reaching the crest of a mound which was comparatively free ofunderwood, Disco beheld a sight which caused him to drop on his handsand knees as though he had been shot.
Not more than fifty yards off a herd of cow elephants and their calveswere seen feeding quietly on tall heavy-seeded grass in the plain below.
"Avast!" said Disco, in a hoarse whisper, at the same time crouchingbehind a bush, and making frantic signals to the rest of the party toadvance with extreme caution.
"Wat 'um see?" inquired Jumbo in a low whisper, creeping up to hisexcited leader.
There was no need for a reply. A glance over the top of the bushsufficed.
"Be quiet as mice now, lads," said Disco, when all the members of hisparty had crept around him, and become aware of the presence ofelephants. "Get your guns laid, and if any one of you dares to pull atrigger till I give the word, I'll keel-haul him."
This, or something distantly resembling it, having been explained to themen who carried guns, they lay down and took aim.
The noise made by the hunters attracted the attention of the nearestelephant, and, with true motherly instinct she placed her young onebetween her fore-legs for protection.
"We fire right in de middel ob de lot?" inquired Zombo hastily.
"Not at all," whispered Disco; "let every man point at the nearest one--the one that lays broadside on to us, wi' the little un under her bows.Now--ready--present--fire!"
Bang went the seven guns with a degree of precision that might have putto shame any corps of volunteer riflemen in England; up went the trunksand tails of the elephants, little and big, and away rushed the wholeherd in dire alarm. But the wounded animal suddenly stumbled and fellon its knees, then leaped up and ran on heavily.
Meanwhile Disco, who had discharged only one barrel of his heavy gun,leaped over the bushes, and rushed forward at a pace which for a fewseconds enabled him to keep ahead even of the fleet natives. Theelephants, however, easily left them all behind, and it appeared as ifthe affair were about to end in disappointment, when the wounded beastagain stumbled.
"Hold on! halt!" cried Disco in a voice of thunder.
He kneeled at the same time, took aim, and fired.
Whether it was this last shot or the effects of previous loss of blood,we cannot tell; but after receiving it, the ponderous animal rolled overon its side, and died.
To say that the natives became temporarily insane would give but afeeble idea of what now took place, because few readers are likely to beaware of the amazing power of the negro to give expression to thevagaries of insanity. We shall therefore content ourselves by sayingthat they cheered, laughed, howled, shouted, danced, and yelled--andleave the rest to imagination.
"Now, then, boys, avast howlin'. Clap a stopper on your bellows, will'ee?" said Disco, in a boatswain's roar, that effectually quelled thetumult. "Cut off to camp, every mother's son of you, an bring upKambira an' all the boys, with as many knives and dishes as ye canmuster, for this mountain of flesh ain't to be cut up in a hurry, an'the sun won't be long o' goin' to bed. Away with 'ee! Let's see howyou can wag yer black legs, an' I'll keep watch over the carcase. Ifanything comes to have a look at it--a lion, for instance,--so much theworse for the lion!"
It was in vain that Jumbo explained there was no necessity for sendingmore than one of the party to the camp. Disco was a strictdisciplinarian, and, having given the order, enforced it in a mannerwhich admitted of no disobedience. They therefore departed, leaving theseaman seated on the elephant, smoking his pipe with his gun beside him.
But Jumbo did not go far. He soon turned aside from his companions, andreturned to the scene of the hunt, resolved if possible to give hisleader a fright. Gaining the skirts of the jungle which surrounded theopen space where Disco kept watch, he crept cautiously as near to him aspossible.
Disco still sat smoking and eyeing the elephant with a smile ofsatisfaction. Presently he rose,--retreated a few yards from thecarcase, and stood admiring it with his head on one side, as if it werea picture and he a connoisseur. He had in this act approached somewhatnearer to Jumbo, who saluted him with a most awful growl.
No monkey in Africa could have dropped its pipe, had it been a smoker,or sprung to seize its gun, had it been a sportsman, with greateragility than did Disco Lillihammer on that trying occasion! Getting onthe other side of the dead elephant he faced round, cocked both barrels,and prepared to receive whatever might come.
Jumbo, lying very low behind a bank of earth for safety, gave anotherlow growl. Disco started and half raised his piece. Jumbo then threw alarge stone towards a neighbouring bush, which it struck and caused torustle.
This was enough for Disco, who took a quick aim, and let fly thecontents of both barrels into the bush.
Jumbo noiselessly but swiftly crept back into the woods, chuckling as hewent, leaving Disco to reload in wild haste. But his haste was uncalledfor. There was no more growling; no more rustling in the bushes.
"I've done for him," muttered Disco, after waiting patiently at the"ready" for some time. "But it won't do for me to ventur' up to it allby myself. Pr'aps it's a lion, an' they do say that it's chancy work togo near a wounded lion. To be sure the growl wasn't so loud as I'd haveexpected o' the king o' the forest, but then they don't always growlloud. Anyhow I'll keep a bright look-out an' wait till the niggersreturn."
Philosophising thus, the bold seaman mounted guard over the elephant.
Meanwhile Jumbo, having got out of earshot of his friend, indulged in aloud laugh and made after his friends, but, observing the visage of asmall yellow-coloured monkey among the leaves overhead, a thoughtflashed into his mind and induced him to change his plans.
Throwing his spear dexterously he transfixed the monkey and brought itdown. Returning with great caution to the bush into which Disco hadfired, and gliding with the noiseless motion of a snake the latter partof the way, he placed the dead monkey on the ground and left it there.
It was by that time too late to overtake his comrades. He thereforewaited until they returned, and then joined the party in rear, as thoughhe had followed them from the camp.
The same wild exhibition of delight was about to be enacted when theparty came trooping up, but Disco quickly checked it by the astoundingannouncement that he thought he had shot a lion, or somethin' o' thatsort!
"You don't mean it!" said Harold, rather excited.
"All I know is," said Disco, "that I heerd somethin' uncommon like alion growl twice in yonder bush, an' saw the bush move too, so I fired abroadside that seemed to finish him at once, for there was no morerustlin' after that."
"An' no more growlin'?" asked Jumbo, with much simplicity ofcountenance.
"Not a growl, nor nothin' else," answered Disco.
"Well, get your guns ready, lads," said Harold, "and stand by to firewhile we go and search the bush."
So saying, Harold and Disco advanced together with their rifles ready,while the natives, who were more or less alarmed, according to theirrespective degrees of courage, scattered in a semicircle well in rear.Kambira, armed with a spear, kept close to Harold, and Jumbo, withunwonted bravery, walked alongside of Disco. Antonio, quietly retiring,took refuge in a tree.
"Yoo's _sure_ you hit um?" inquired Jumbo in a whisper.
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sp; "Can't say I'm _sure_," replied Disco, "but we'll soon see."
"Was um's growl very bad?" asked Jumbo.
"Hold yer long tongue!" said Disco testily, for he was becoming excited.
"Look! see dere!" exclaimed Jumbo in an energetic whisper.
"What? where?"
"Look! right troo de bush. Dis way. Dar, don' you zee um's skin,--t'other side? Fire!"
"Why, eh!" exclaimed Disco, peering keenly through the leaves, "yellowhair! yes--its--"
Stopping abruptly he pointed his gun at the bush and poured the contentsof both barrels into it. Then, clubbing his weapon and brandishing itin the air, he uttered a wild cry--went crashing through the bush, andnext moment stood aghast before the yellow monkey, whose little carcasehe had almost blown to atoms.
We won't chronicle the roars of laughter, the yells of delight thatfollowed,--the immense amount of chaffing, the innumerable witticismsand criticisms that ensued--no, no! regard for the gallant seamanconstrains us to draw a veil over the scene and leave it, as we haveleft many things before, and shall leave many things yet to come, to thereader's vivid imagination.
Fortunately for Disco, the superior attractions of the dead elephantsoon drew off attention from this exploit. The natives proceeded to cutup the huge mass of meat, and this was indeed an amazing spectacle. Atfirst the men stood round the carcase in dead silence, while Kambiradelivered a species of oration, in which he pointed out minutely theparticular parts of the animal which were to be apportioned to thehead-men of the different fires of which the camp was composed,--theleft hind-leg and the parts around the eyes being allotted to hisEnglish visitors. These points settled, the order was given to "cutup," and immediately the excitement which had been restrained burstforth again with tenfold violence. The natives seemed to be quiteunable to restrain their feelings of delight, as they cut away at thecarcase with spears and knives. They screamed as well as danced withglee. Some attacked the head, others the flanks, jumping over theanimal or standing on it the better to expedite their operations; someever and anon ran off screaming with masses of bloody meat, threw it onthe grass and went back for more, while others, after cutting thecarcase open, jumped inside and wallowed about in their eagerness toreach and cut out the precious fat--all talking and shouting at theutmost pitch of their voices.
"Well, now," said Disco to Harold, with a grin of amusement, "the likeso' that I never did see nowheres. Cuttin' up a Greenland whale isnothin' to it."
"Come, come," said Harold, checking his laughter and seizing an excitednegro by the shoulder, "no fighting allowed."
This had reference to two who chanced to have taken a fancy for the samemass of meat, and were quarrelling so violently over it that blowsseemed on the point of following, but having let off part of theirsuperabundant energy in words, they rushed back to expend the remainderon their dead friend.
Suddenly a sharp agonised yell was heard inside the carcase. Nextmoment Zombo jumped out all bloody and furious, holding up his righthand. While groping about inside, one of his too eager comrades outsidehad laid about rather incautiously with his knife, drove it through themeat and sliced Zombo's left hand. He was easily soothed, however;Harold bound up the cut with a piece of rag, and Zombo went to work asrecklessly as ever.
In a marvellously short time tons of meat were cut up and dividedamongst the band, and, before daylight had quite disappeared, thehunters were on their way back to camp, while a troop of hyenas andother carnivora were gorging themselves with the elephant's remains.