Off to the Wilds Part 34

The present of a sporting knife at the end of his visit quite won his heart, and he seemed never weary of opening and shutting the blades, pulling out the toothpick, tweezers, corkscrew, and lancet, with which it was provided. After this he took his departure in the same style as that in which he came.

"Well, we may as well pay him a barbarous compliment, boys," said Mr Rogers. "Fire off all your barrels at once. Now, make ready! fire!"

Six shots went off in rapid succession, followed by six more from Mr Rogers' revolver.

The result was different from what was intended, for, evidently under the impression that they were being attacked in the rear, the royal party made a rush to escape, the king heading the flight, and, like his warriors, getting on pretty well; but the marimba players fell over their instruments, and the drummers got into worse difficulties still.

All at once, as there was no more firing, the king found it was a false alarm, and came back laughing, to bang his musicians about with his cane, and call them cowards. After which he came back to the waggon and asked to see the revolver let off, flinching very little, and then strutting off before his people, as much as to say, "See what a fine brave fellow I am!"

"Look at that now," said Dinny complacently. "Why of all the cowards I ever see--"

"I say, Dinny," said d.i.c.k, "I wonder whether the king's afraid of lions?"

"Shure an' I'd go an' ask him, Masther d.i.c.k, if I was you," said Dinny sulkily; and the subject, a very sore one with Dinny, was dropped.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

THE GENERAL IS OVERCOME BY GIN--A TRAP.

A very quiet-looking black came up directly after, to say that the king had sent him to show the party where to camp: and he led the way to a pleasant little grove, where there was a pool of water, and ample gra.s.s for the cattle; and after the new arrivals were settled down--far too near the "naygurs" to satisfy Dinny's sensitive nature, a return visit was paid to the king, who readily gave his permission for the party to hunt when and where they pleased in his dominions.

This was satisfactory, and it was determined that no time should be lost in getting amongst the large game, but not until they had had a shot or two at the large hippopotami, which were abundant in the marshes about the river.

Still they would be obliged to remain for a few days at their present camp out of civility to the king, who, they found, would be perfectly willing to accept a few donations of meat, the supply kept up by his own hunters being intermittent, so that his majesty had frequently to go without.

All the same, though, the king's hunters were ingenious and clever in their schemes, as Mr Rogers and his sons found out before many hours had pa.s.sed.

The king presented his visitors with fried fish and Kaffir beer in a calabash, and as everything seemed very clean and satisfactory, d.i.c.k and Jack made no scruple about eating heartily. After this they had to be admired and have their heads patted by the queens, who declared that they were capital boys.

At last they returned to the waggon, where, there being no necessity to put up a fence to keep off lions, so near the town, the rest of the evening was spent in a thorough good clean up and oiling of the guns.

The General was absent, or he would have willingly helped; but Coffee and Chicory said that he had gone off to get birds, so it was concluded that he would be back before long.

The oxen were all secured to the dissel-boom and trek-tow; and the horses were haltered up to the wheels, everything being made safe and sound. Then a fire was lit, and preparations made for pa.s.sing the night; but still the General did not come back.

His two boys, however, did not seem to be in the slightest degree uncomfortable about his absence, saying that he would be back before long; so, as they knew their father's ways better than he, Mr Rogers concluded that there was no cause for anxiety, for the Zulu warrior would return in his own good time.

d.i.c.k and Chicory kept the first watch, and then called Mr Rogers, who relieved them, with Peter. But there was nothing to report, only that there had been a great deal of drumming and tomtoming up in the town, and that when the music and singing had ceased, the hippopotami on the river's brink had commenced roaring, snorting, splashing, and making noises that were quite startling in the silence of the night.

Fully expecting to see the Zulu warrior return every minute, Mr Rogers replenished the fire, and sat listening to the monsters on the river's bank, and wishing that he were lying ensconced there in some sheltered position where he could get a shot at one of the huge beasts; but that was a pleasure to come, and one which he hoped to give his sons.

His watch went by, and then Jack and Coffee were roused up to relieve him, and being weary Mr Rogers was glad to find his blanket once more, lying till he was roused by Dinny for breakfast.

"Has the General come back?" asked Mr Rogers, as he joined d.i.c.k and Jack.

"No, father, and the boys are getting anxious about him. They're gone off to find him, and I am expecting them back."

So said d.i.c.k, and as he spoke the two Zulu boys came running up in a terrible state of excitement.

"Want our father," they exclaimed angrily. "Father killed. Come and find."

There was something so tragic in the words of the boys that Mr Rogers and his sons seized their guns, and telling Coffee and Chicory to lead, they went straight for the forest-land towards which Coffee said he had seen his father go.

Coffee was quite right, for the General had started off in this direction, a.s.segai in hand, and a kiri in his skin belt, partly to see what hunting capabilities the land possessed, partly to try and obtain a few birds or a small gazelle.

He went straight off to the forest, and with all the instinct of a good hunter he examined the spoor of the animals going to and from the water, and also made himself acquainted with the drinking-spots, taking in at a glance the suitability of the places for a hunter to lie in ambush, and then he went on once more.

To his great satisfaction, he found in addition to the spoor of antelopes of all kind, those of the hippopotamus near the river, elephants, giraffes, and the rhinoceros. There, too, he found an abundance of footprints of buffalo, so that there would be ample game for his masters to exercise their skill.

But he was not satisfied yet, and regardless at last of the coming darkness, he went on with the instincts of the true hunter who has spent the greater part of his life in the woods, searching here, examining there, and he grew more and more elate and satisfied.

He had obtained nothing for the waggon larder, but that did not trouble him, as he had made so many satisfactory discoveries; and at last, just as the moon was shining brilliantly through the trees, he entered a broad drink-trail, one used by the animals on the way through the forest to the river, and prepared to make the best of his way back.

The course was pretty open, and he paused for a moment to listen whether he could hear anything coming; but all was perfectly still, and he started again, increasing his walk to a trot over the well-trodden track, and this trot to a greater speed, when all at once he felt the ground giving way beneath his feet, and instinctively making a spring forward, he tried to clear the hollow; but he had no power in his start, and he only touched the farther side, and then fell with a crash through the screening brushwood into a deep hole.

He fell so heavily that for the moment he was stunned, and lay there perfectly helpless, listening to a furious snarling howl, and feeling the scuffling and twining about of a number of reptiles which his fall had disturbed.

The Zulu knew well enough where he was, and that he had been unfortunate enough to leap into one of the many pitfalls some tribes dig in the woods to capture large game.

He knew exactly how such a pit would be dug, widening out from the top to the bottom, so that the creatures which fell in would be unable to escape; and he understood the hideous snarling of some beast, for as he cautiously rose to a standing position the moonlight showed him, impaled upon the horribly sharp stake formed by fining down a good-sized tree and planting it in the bottom, a hideously wolfish-looking hyaena, which, less fortunate than himself, had fallen upon the sharp spike, which had gone completely through the wretched animal's body, leaving it writhing, snarling, and clawing the air with its paws in its vain efforts to get free.

It was a terrible neighbour to have in such close proximity, and for the moment the General thought of thrusting it through and killing it out of its misery; but his a.s.segais had quitted his hand in his fall, and to have found them again meant to search amidst the broken twigs and bushes at the bottom of the pit, where he could feel and hear the snakes.

Even as he thought all this he could feel the cold scaly bodies of the reptiles gliding over his feet, and against his bare legs; and hence he was obliged to stand perfectly motionless, lest--though he had escaped when he fell, his sudden dash having alarmed them, no doubt--the slightest movement of his feet might be followed by a bite, for amongst so many as he could feel there were, some were certain to be of a deadly nature.

So there he stood, unarmed, with the serpents gliding about the bottom of the pit, the moonlight glinting in through the trees, and only a foot or two from his face that hideous snarling animal, which snapped at him angrily, evidently looking upon him as being the cause of its sufferings. Even if he had dared to move it would have been very doubtful whether the General could have clambered out of the cunningly contrived pitfall; but situated as he was, and surrounded by such dangerous enemies, the Zulu made a virtue of necessity, and stoically determined to wait for daylight before making any attempt to escape.

But all the same it was a terrible position, and required all the firmness and nerve of a strong man to stand there patiently, feeling the hideous little serpents gliding about his bare feet, and listening to the hideous howlings of the hyaena.

But the longest and most painful nights have an end, and in due time the day broke, and the Zulu began to consider how he could get out. With the broad daylight he saw the wisdom he had practised in waiting, for several very dangerous serpents were amongst those which had fallen in, and their number was great enough to make even him, a thorough hunter, shudder.

But the General was not destined to suffer much longer; soon after sunrise he fancied he heard a well-known call, and then there was no doubt about it; the call was repeated, and he sent forth a stentorian reply.

These calls and answers soon brought Coffee and Chicory to the mouth of the pitfall, closely followed by Mr Rogers and the boys, and amongst them by help of their guns the unfortunate General reached the track in safety, and leaving the hyaena dead, they set off back to the waggon, the General congratulating himself on having escaped from a terrible death.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

THE KING'S HUNTING-PARTY.

There was no mistaking the joy of Coffee and Chicory at finding their father safe and sound, and they showed it by performing some most ridiculous antics, making even the stern warrior smile with satisfaction.

Mr Rogers also noticed it a good deal, and from that time the two Zulu boys stood far higher in his estimation than of old.

They had a visit at the camp that morning from the king, one of the first of whose questions, as he partook of a sugar-stick with great gusto, was, had they heard the hippopotami shouting in the night, and were they frightened?