Off to the Wilds Part 46

"Stop and pick 'em out with a pin," cried Jack. "Come along, father.

Haw! haw! haw! I thought he was hurt!" Then sticking his knees into his nag's side, he bounded off.

"Poor old fellow!" cried Mr Rogers, laughing. "You'll soon forget them." And he too galloped off, to try and circ.u.mvent the herd.

"Go on! ugly old Jack," shouted d.i.c.k, as he sat fast, checking his horse, which wanted to follow. "You'll get a thorn or two in yourself some day."

He might have shouted this through a speaking trumpet, and his brother would not have heard, as, sitting well down in his saddle, he led the way into the hollow, his father close behind, and both thoroughly enjoying their gallop.

"I don't care!" cried d.i.c.k sulkily, as he sat and watched them. "Pick out the thorns with a pin, indeed! See if I don't stick a pin in old Jack when he's asleep to-night--and how will he like it?"

d.i.c.k gave another writhe as he watched the two riders out of sight, and then muttering in an ill-used way, "Pick 'em out with a pin indeed!" he half turned in his seat, lolling in his saddle, and patting and playing with his horse, when lazily turning his eyes round amongst the clumps of trees, he saw something moving amongst the leaves.

"Boa-constrictors!" he cried in his astonishment. "Monsters! Ugh! No, they're those great long-necked giraffes. They looked just like huge snakes raising themselves amongst the trees."

d.i.c.k forgot all about the thorns as he nipped his nag's sides with his knees, turned its head, and went off at a canter for the place where the giraffes, seven or eight in number, were browsing upon the lower branches of the trees, their long necks seeming to writhe in and out amongst the branches in a way that quite justified d.i.c.k's idea of their being serpents, for their bodies were invisible among the undergrowth.

For a few minutes the great animals did not see the approach of the young hunter; but the moment they caught sight of the fleet cob bounding over the sunburnt gra.s.s, they went off at a clumsy, waddling gallop, scattering as they went, their necks outstretched and eyes rolling; while the cob seemed to single out a beautifully marked calf, about two-thirds grown, whose creamy skin was regularly spotted with rich light brown.

d.i.c.k's rifle was slung over his back, but he never once thought of using it. In fact, he hardly knew in the excitement of the chase what he intended, and so he raced on past patch after patch of scattered trees, and past clumps of thorns, which both he and the cob carefully avoided.

Now they gained a little; but directly after the giraffe whisked its tail straight up over its back and put on more power, leaving the hunter some distance behind; and so the race went on for a couple of miles, d.i.c.k never once remembering his thorns, as he knew that it was only a question of time to run the great animal to a stand.

"Why, I could catch it then," cried d.i.c.k excitedly; and sticking his heels into his horse, away they went over the gra.s.sy plain, gaining rapidly now; and though the giraffe kept on making an effort to increase the distance, it was of no avail, for the cob raced on closer and closer, and then avoiding the vicious kicks of the creature, delivered with tremendous force by its bony legs, the cob raced on alongside.

There was a wonderful difference in the progress of the two animals--the one awkward, and seeming as if running on stilts; the other compact, muscular, and self-contained, evidently possessing double the endurance with an equal speed to the giraffe.

On still and on, with the cob's sides flecked with foam, and the giraffe blundering now as it progressed. Once it turned sharp off to the left, but without a touch the cob wheeled as well, and kept alongside, watchfully keeping clear whenever he saw the giraffe about to kick, which it tried to do if there was a chance.

d.i.c.k was excited with the chase, so was the cob, which stretched out more and more greyhound fashion as it raced along.

Fortunately, the gra.s.sy prairie-like stretch of land was clear of obstacles, no ant-bear or other burrow coming in their path, or horse and rider would have fallen headlong; the eyes of both being fixed upon the beautiful spotted coat of the giraffe, which, after rolling heavily in its gait for a while, made one more effort to wheel round and distance its pursuers, but stumbled in the act, and fell heavily upon its flank.

The cob stopped as if by instinct; and hardly knowing what he was about, d.i.c.k leaped down, avoided a kick by a quick jump, threw himself on to the giraffe, kneeling upon its neck, and treating it as people do a fallen horse, holding down its head upon the ground.

"Ah, you may kick and plunge," muttered d.i.c.k, panting and hot with his exertions; "if a horse can't get up with his head held down, you can't."

And so it proved, for though the unfortunate giraffe kicked and plunged as it lay upon its flank, going through the motions of galloping, it was completely mastered without much call for effort. Certainly d.i.c.k's gun was in his way, but he managed to unsling it with one hand, and threw it and his hat upon the gra.s.s, while the cob stood by, snuffing, snorting, and excited for a few moments at the giraffe's plunges, but settled down directly after to graze.

The gra.s.s was torn up by the giraffe's hoofs, but finding its efforts vain, it soon lay perfectly still, uttering a piteous sigh, as much as to say, "There, kill me out of my misery!" to which d.i.c.k responded by patting its neck and stroking its nose, as he gazed in the great prominent appealing eye, and noted the gentle mien of the tall animal.

Just as he had made the giraffe be perfectly still, he heard a distant hail, and looking up, there was Jack coming up at full gallop, waving his gun over his head, and with his father close behind; for, unknowingly, the race had led d.i.c.k somewhat in the direction taken by his father and brother, who, after an unsuccessful gallop after a very wild herd, had drawn rein and witnessed the end of the giraffe chase through the gla.s.s.

"Why, d.i.c.k, where are the thorns?" cried his father, as they cantered up.

"Forgot all about 'em, father. Isn't he a beauty?"

"Where is he shot?" said Mr Rogers.

"Shot? He isn't shot. I ran him down," cried d.i.c.k.

"Don't kill him, then," cried Jack.

"Not I. Shall I let him go?"

"No, no," cried Jack. "Let's take him back, and tame him."

"I think the taming is already done," said Mr Rogers. "Here, halter him round the neck, and muzzle him with this, and you can tie another thong on at the other side."

As he spoke he took a tethering halter from his saddle-bow; it was slipped over the giraffe's head, another cord attached so that it could be held on either side; and when this was done, Mr Rogers held one rope, Jack the other, and d.i.c.k got off the giraffe on the side farthest from its legs.

But there was no more kick left in the tall creature, which raised its head, looking humbly at its captors, and then slowly rose, shivering, and as gentle as a lamb.

"There, d.i.c.k, sling your gun and mount," cried his father; "unless you would rather ride the giraffe."

"Oh, no, thank you," said d.i.c.k, slinging his gun and picking up his hat, prior to mounting his docile cob, after which his father handed him the end of the rope.

After a sniff or two at their tall companion, the two cobs walked gently on forward, with the giraffe towering up between. The poor beast made no objection to its captivity, beyond sighing a little, but gazed dolefully at its leaders in turn; the only difficulty experienced in getting it to the waggon, being how to accommodate the horses' stride to that of the captive, which stalked contentedly along, with Mr Rogers bringing up the rear.

CHAPTER FORTY.

ONWARD TO WONDERLAND.

"Bedad, an' his mother must have wathered him well whin he was a babby, to make him grow like that," cried Dinny, as he saw the tall captive haltered to a tree by the waggon, and contentedly beginning to browse upon the tender shoots within its reach. "Is thim legs rale, Masther d.i.c.k?"

"Real? Of course, Dinny," said d.i.c.k, laughing.

"Shure, an' I didn't know there was any av coorse in the matther," said Dinny sententiously. "I thought the injanious baste might have been brought up in a wet place, and made himshelf shtilts."

"What nonsense, Dinny!" cried Jack.

"Ah, an' I dunno about nonsense, Masther Jack; for I've seen some wondherful things since I've been in these parts. An' so we're going to pack up and go home to-morrow, ain't we?"

"We're going to pack up and go farther into the wilds," said d.i.c.k.

"Oh, murther!"

"There's the great fall to see yet, and we've got elephants to shoot."

"Shure an' I don't want any great falls, or for anny one to see it."

"Nonsense, Dinny. I mean to see the cataract," said d.i.c.k.

"Shure, an' it's you as is talking the nonsense now, Masther d.i.c.k; for how could ye see if ye'd got a catharact?"

"What do you mean, Dinny?"

"What do I mane? Shure it was my own cousin by me mother's side that had a couple o' bad catharacts in his eyes, and couldn't see a bit till they took him to the hoshpittle and had 'em out. Ah, they're mortial bad things, Masther d.i.c.k."