CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
A CAMP FULL OF CARCASSES.
Another encampment of the Vee-Boers, their three waggons as before,forming its substantial centre. In almost everything else it isdifferent from that under the baobab, being situated in a _kloof_ [Note1] between two rocky ridges, which, trending towards one another, meetand form a sort of _cul-de-sac_. The valley's bottom is of somebreadth, grass--covered but treeless, save some stunted bushes scatteredthinly over it, with here and there a tall camel-thorn, from which hangthe purse-like pensile nests of a colony of weaver birds. The ridgesare of basalt, and along their slopes lie huge boulders, somesquare-shaped and big as houses; other similar blocks being strewn abouton the level below. Just over the camp, and shadowing it from the sun,is a high _kop_ [Note 2], on whose ledges cling aloes, euphorbias, andother plants, characteristic of desert vegetation; for all isbarrenness, above and around, the bottom land alone showing any sign offertility. This last is due to a spring, which, issuing from thecliff's base, trickles down the valley, to be caught in a little pool,some hundred paces below. Being a permanent fontein, it affordedsufficient water for all the animals when they wanted it. But few ofthem want it now; most being dead, whilst those that survive are indeath's throes, without hope of recovery. The fatal work begun by thetulp, is being finished by the tsetse; good as finished already--and themigrating graziers will soon be without stock of any kind, horse, ox, orcow. Even their dogs are dead or dying.
This wholesale fatality, as they have since ascertained, was broughtabout by the buffaloes; some of the people, sent back to the riverhigher up, having there found no signs of the venomous insect. They hadgone with a view to continuing the journey; but before a fresh startcould be made, the too well-known symptoms of tsetse-sickness haddeclared themselves, and all thoughts of treking further wererelinquished.
For the first forty-eight hours the effect of the poison had not beenperceptible, and there was a hope of the animals escaping. A hope whichhad to be abandoned when they began to water at the eyes, and run at thenostrils, their hair standing on end as in the midst of an arcticwinter, while they were under the hottest of tropical suns. Soon aftercame swelling of the jaws, scouring, with consequent emaciation,weakness to staggering; some actually going mad, as with hydrophobia,and having to be shot. All would have been shot ere this, but for alingering, half-despairing belief that some might still get over it.
This is now gone; many of them have been buried; and of those aboveground, the dying lie mingled with the dead, groaning and moaningpiteously.
When at length comes the conviction that all are doomed, the fiat goesforth to put the suffering creatures out of pain. The guns are againbrought into requisition; a brisk, though reluctant, fusillade follows,and the camp is left without a living quadruped.
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For a time there was silence, profound and solemn as that which succeedsthe firing over a soldier's grave. Every one sate despondent, or stoodin listless attitude, ignorant of what was next to be done. They butknew that to remain there would be out of the question, while trekingaway with their waggons was no longer possible. These huge vehicles,now teamless, with their white canvas covers, were as ships becalmed inmid-ocean; all sails set, but not a breath of wind to blow them on. Andthe migrating Boers themselves might be likened to shipwrecked sailors--castaways on a desert shore--for not much better was their situation.Around they saw the ruin of their hopes, the wreck of their fortunes,but nothing of what lay before them, or beyond.
Under such circumstances no wonder at their being sad and despondent.
But if silent, not so was the scene around. Throughout the kloof werenoises enough, and more than enough, since all were disagreeable totheir ears. Skulking among the rocks and bushes, the jackal gave outits long--drawn, lugubrious whine, in concert with the wild, hystericallaughter of the hyena; while from the ledges above came the hoarsewah-wah of baboons, as though these quadrumana were afflicted withcolds, and all the time clearing their throats.
Along the cliff's crest were perched vultures of various species,sunning themselves, with wings outstretched, now and then uttering harshcroaks as they contemplated the rich banquet below, soon to be ready fortheir beaks. [Note 3.] Eagles, soaring high in air, meant partaking ofit also, as betokened by their necks craned downwards, and screams ofeager concupiscence.
An interval having elapsed, and the necessity for action forcing itselfupon his mind, the head baas, Jan Van Dorn, summoned his two associatesinto council, for deliberation on what should be done.
A flat-topped stone near the centre of the camp offered a convenientseat, and, sitting down upon it--all three pipe in mouth--the leaderthus delivered himself--
"Brothers! we're in a bad way now; it couldn't well be worse."
"Ya--ya, that is true," responded the others in a breath, Blom adding--
"Nach Mynheer Jan, it couldn't possibly be worse."
"Then what ought we to do, think you?"
To which merely formal question Van Dorn received no answer, the othertwo tacitly puffing away at their pipes in expectation that he wouldtell them. Accustomed to this sort of deference the old jager no longerheld back, but proceeded to unburden himself, saying--
"Well, brothers; the first thing we must do is to look out for ourlives--our very lives. And it's the only thing we can do now. To keepon to the place we were making for, even though sure of reaching it,wouldn't help us a bit. Without our cattle we'd be no better off therethan here; and now that our horses and dogs are gone too, there's butsmall chance for us subsisting by the chase. Once our ammunition gaveout, we'd be just as Bosjesmen, have to live on roots and reptiles.That's not the life for a Vee-Boer, nor the diet either."
"_Gott der himmel_, no!" was the deprecatory exclamation of Blom, sentforth between two puffs of smoke.
"So," continued Van Dorn, "I see no hope for us but return to theTransvaal."
"Neither I. Nor I," assented the associate baases, Rynwald addinginterrogatively--
"But, Mynheer Jan, how are we to get back there?"
This was just the trouble that stared all in the face, and had been intheir thoughts ever since the tsetse-sickness first made its appearanceamong the stock. For in their thoughts, also, was the Karoo they hadlately crossed with so much difficulty and danger. This when they hadall the means of transport, waggons to carry their women, children,provisions, and other effects, with horses to ride upon. What would bethe recrossing it without these, and afoot? Impossible, as Van Dornwell knew; and so declared, saying--
"Overland, brothers, we never could get back. We are more than threehundred miles from Zoutpansberg, the nearest settlement of our people,as you know. Some of us might hold out to reach it, but not all; onlythe strongest. The weak ones, our dear ones, would many of them perishby the way. Need I say more?"
"No--no!" promptly responded Rynwald, thinking of a wife and onlydaughter, the fair Katharina. "That's enough, Mynheer Jan. We mustn'tattempt to go back over the Karoo; it would be our ruin, as you say."
"Then how are we to go?" demanded Blom. "What other way?"
"By _water_," answered the head baas. "We must make down the river, andon to the sea."
"What river are you speaking of?"
"The Limpopo. The stream we've just left should run into it, not agreat way below; and the Limpopo itself empties somewhere to thenorthward of Delagoa Bay. I have heard there is a Portugese settlement,a small port near its mouth, where whalers and coasting vesselsoccasionally call. If we can reach that, 'twill give us a chance to getdown the coast to Port Natal, and then over the Drakenbergs back home."
"That would be a long voyage," suggested Blom, "full of all sorts ofdangers, too."
"In time not near so long as by land, and not half as many dangerseither--if we have luck."
"Ay, if we have luck. But suppose we haven't?"
"We must take the chances, Mynhe
er Hans; all the more as there's no helpfor it. But I'm sure it's our best way."
"So I," seconded Rynwald.
"But," said Blom, less objecting than to get a clearer comprehension ofwhat their chief intended, "you don't propose our descending the riverafoot--tramping along the banks, do you?"
"Certainly not! That would be a trudge to take time, indeed; harderthan crossing the Kalahari [Note 4] itself. We'll sail down to thesea."
"But what about boats? We have none."
"We must do without them--build rafts, which in a way will be betterthan boats."
"Oh! that's your idea, Mynheer Jan. I suppose it's a good one, and forthe best. Well, I'm willing too. So let us make it a water journey."
The other two having already pronounced in favour of this, theconsultation came to a close by Van Dorn saying--
"And, brothers; the sooner we start the better. We can gain nothing bystaying longer in this tainted spot; but may lose something--our health,likely, if not our very lives."
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Note 1. "Kloof," the Boer's designation of a valley of the ravineorder.
Note 2. The "kop" is a cliff-like promontory overhanging a valley orplain, nearly synonymous with the American "bluff." It is, doubtless,the Dutch radix of our word _cape_.
Note 3. There are no less than seven distinct species of vulturesinhabiting South Africa; while the species of eagles are still morenumerous.
Note 4. "Kalahari," the name of the great South African desert, orKaroo, which extends north from the Orange River, and west of theTransvaal, for hundreds of miles. Its borders, and some parts of itsinterior, are inhabited by Bushmen and Bechuanas.