Off to the Wilds Part 16

It was the General, and glad enough the boys were of his company.

Almost before they had seated themselves they heard a sound on the right, and taking a burning stick from the fire the General whirled it in the direction, the wood blazing up in its rapid pa.s.sage through the air, and falling amongst some dry gra.s.s, which it set on fire, to burn for a few moments vividly, and then leave the surroundings apparently darker than before.

As the burning brand fell in the forest there was an angry snarl, and these snarls were repeated again and again as from time to time the General skilfully threw the wood wherever his quick ears told him there was one of the lurking beasts.

"Is there more than one lion?" said d.i.c.k, in a whisper at last.

"Three, four, five," said the General. "They want horse or bullock.

Hist! look! see!"

He pointed to a dark patch at the edge of the forest, where, upon d.i.c.k directing his eyes, he could see nothing; but the next moment there was the reflection of the fire to be seen in a couple of glaring orbs.

"Can you shoot him?" said the General.

"Let me by, d.i.c.k. My hand's steady," whispered Jack. "I think I could hit him."

"Go on," was the whispered reply.

To fire it was necessary for Jack to take aim across the Zulu, who leaned forward so that the barrel of Jack's rifle rested upon his shoulders; while, kneeling, the boy took along and careful aim, right between the two glowing orbs, and drew trigger. There was the sharp report, a furious roar, a rush, the falling of some heavy body, and the scattering of the fire-brands. Then all was silent; and they rapidly collected the scattered embers to make the fire blaze up again; for the lions, far from being scared by the noise of the shot, renewed their awe-inspiring "Oomph! oomph!" on all sides; and the fear of the cattle was such that they threatened to break out of the kraal.

Again Mr Rogers roused himself, and asked if there was any need for him to come. But d.i.c.k replied steadily that there was not--feeling as he did pretty confident, in spite of his dread, that they could keep the lions at bay.

The fire blazed up so brightly, that the boys glanced anxiously at the supply of wood, thinking of the hours they had yet to pa.s.s before daylight, and what would be the consequences if the fire went out.

One thing was very certain, and that was that a large fire would be necessary now every night. And though the boys felt a strange kind of tremor as they felt the risks they were incurring, there was so much romantic excitement in the life they were leading, that they would not have given it up on any consideration.

The lions roared and prowled about them during the remainder of the night, sometimes coming very close, sometimes retreating, for the fire was very bright. And then came the two boys, Coffee and Chicory, with Peter the driver, to relieve them, just as day was breaking, and the young travellers gladly went back into the waggon for a sleep.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

TRACKED BY AN ENEMY.

They did not have a long sleep, for Mr Rogers soon roused them to say that breakfast was ready; which meal being discussed, the oxen were in-spanned, and the horses mounted, so as to have a good long trek towards the Limpopo, or Crocodile River, before the heat of the day.

Before leaving their camp the boys had a good look round with the General, in the expectation and hope of seeing the lion at which Jack had shot, lying dead. But though he felt certain that he had hit the monster, and though footprints were about in all directions, there was no dead lion, and they had to hope for better luck the next time.

"I don't care," said Jack discontentedly; "I'm as sure as can be that this gun don't shoot straight."

"Try again, Jack," said his father, laughing.

And on they walked, over what was now a plain covered with great coa.r.s.e, reedy gra.s.s, such as would afford plenty of cover for game.

This, however, was scarce, and beyond the boys knocking down three or four large birds of the partridge kind, there was very little done.

The General, for some reason which he did not explain, had taken his great Zulu shield from where it hung behind one of the waggon-wheels, and, armed with a couple of a.s.segais, kept making expeditions to right and left--and quite as often hung back, watchfully keeping an eye to the rear.

It was a case of man's cunning against that of a beast; and after being away some hours, he came up with the not very pleasant information that a huge lion, one of the ferocious maneless kind, was tracking the waggon, and would no doubt hang upon their trail until it had pounced upon one of the horses, and carried it off.

"Oh, that would be horrible," cried Jack. "I'd almost sooner that he would take me than my horse."

"Have you seen it, General?" said d.i.c.k; "or do you think it is following us, from its footprints?"

"I have seen it," said the General gravely. "I felt sure from some footmarks I had seen that some great beast was following us--one of those that scented the horses last night. Once or twice I thought the steps might be those of some lion that had pa.s.sed this way; but, after watching, I found them so often that at last I lay down amongst the long gra.s.s, covered myself with my shield, and waited. It was very, very long, and nothing came, and I thought again that I was mistaken; but I knew that if it was a lion, tracking down the horses and bullocks, he would come close between the wheel marks of the waggon, and there slay."

"And did you mean to kill him, General?" said d.i.c.k eagerly.

"One man cannot kill a lion with an a.s.segai, Boss d.i.c.k," said the Zulu, "and live afterwards and hunt with his friends. It takes the little bullet from a gun to kill a lion well, for you can stand and shoot farther off than a lion can spring. No, I only wanted to know and be sure; and if I was sure I said, Boss d.i.c.k or Boss Jack will shoot him.

So I waited till I thought he would not come, and then I was going to follow the waggon, when I heard something come steal--steal--steal along; and when at last I looked from under my shield, there he stood amongst the gra.s.s, close to me, watching the waggon. If I had stood up I could have speared him; but I was lying down, and if I had tried to get up he would have sprung upon me, the great thing; so I held the shield more over me, like an animal with a sh.e.l.l, and crept a little way on to meet him, and then made a jump at him, and he roared and dashed away."

"But why didn't he seize you?" said Jack.

"He did not see I was a man, and he did not understand what the long thing with black legs was that jumped at him; and a lion is big and strong, but he is a coward about what he does not understand."

"And have you frightened him right away?" asked d.i.c.k. "Fancy frightening away a lion!"

"No," said the Zulu; "only a little way. He is following the waggon now, crawling softly through the gra.s.s; and I am sure it is the one Boss Jack has shot last night, for there was a mark and blood upon his forehead. It is a great lion, with no mane; and he is savage and wild, and will follow the waggon always till he is killed. We must kill that lion soon."

"An' is he following us up, Muster Gineral?" said Dinny, who had heard some of the last words.

The Zulu nodded; and Dinny looked from one to the other with such a look of hopeless dread in his countenance, that even Mr Rogers could not forbear to smile.

"Sure it's the onsafest place I iver came noigh, sor; and it's not meself that will stir away from the front of the waggon till that great baste is killed."

The General's account of his proceedings, and his conversation as a rule, was not in the plainest of English, so it is more convenient to give it in ordinary colloquial form; but he was very earnest, and tried hard to make himself understood.

When Mr Rogers consulted him as to the best means of getting rid of so unpleasant a follower, the Zulu said that the only way would be to ride on in front of the waggon, and then suddenly strike off to right or left, form a wide curve, and ride inward so as to strike the track of the waggon quite a mile behind.

By this means, the General said, they would probably get a shot at the monster as he was crawling furtively after the horses, and probably bring it down.

"It is a risk," said Mr Rogers thoughtfully; "but it will be impossible for us to go on with an enemy like that always in our wake."

"When do you think he will try to attack us, General?" said d.i.c.k.

"When the sun has gone down, Boss, and the horses and oxen are having their evening feed."

"And he might take my beautiful Shoes," said d.i.c.k.

"Or my lovely old Stockings," cried Jack, quite unconscious of how absurd his words sounded.

"We shall have to follow out the Zulu's plan, my boys," said Mr Rogers; "and the sooner we try the better."

The midday halt was called by a beautifully transparent pool of water, where some richly succulent gra.s.s awaited the cattle, and which for some hours they cropped, the heat being intense, and any object exposed to the full power of the sun soon becoming hot enough to burn the hand.

Hot as it was, Dinny, being a.s.sured that the lion was not likely to attack in open daylight, lit a roaring fire, and soon had the pot simmering with its rich thick meat gravy, a basin round of which, and a portion of a cake made and baked upon an iron plate brought for the purpose, formed their dinner.

Then there was a siesta, and at last, the most fiery hours being gone by, broad-brimmed straw hats were taken from the waggon--for it was still intensely hot--and the Zulu undertaking to lead the team on between two mountains through which the broad valley ran, the horses were saddled, rifles taken, and father and sons mounted to go on what might prove to be a very dangerous adventure.