Popular Adventure Tales Part 75

A shout of joy was raised, and in a few moments Hans stood in their midst.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE ANT-EATER OF AFRICA.

Hans was saluted by a volley of questions, "Where have you been? What detained you? What has happened to you? You're all safe and sound? Not hurt, I hope?" These and a few others were asked in a breath.

"I'm sound as a bell," said Hans; "and for the rest of your inquiries I'll answer them all as soon as Swartboy has skinned this 'aard-vark,'

and Totty has cooked a piece of it for supper; but I'm too hungry to talk now, so pray excuse me."

As Hans gave this reply, he cast from his shoulders an animal nearly as big as a sheep, covered with long bristly hair of a reddish-grey colour, and having a huge tail, thick at the root, and tapering like a carrot; a snout nearly a foot long, but quite slender and naked; a very small mouth; erect pointed ears resembling a pair of horns; a low flattish body; short muscular legs; and claws of immense length, especially on the fore-feet, where, instead of spreading out, they were doubled back like shut fists, or the fore hands of a monkey. Altogether a very odd animal was that which Hans had styled an "aard-vark," and which he desired should be cooked for supper.

"Well, my boy," replied Von Bloom, "we'll excuse you, the more so that we are all of us about as hungry as yourself, I fancy. But I think we may as well leave the 'aard-vark' for to-morrow's dinner. We've a couple of peac.o.c.ks here, and Totty will get one of them ready sooner than the aard-vark."

"As for that," rejoined Hans, "I don't care which. I'm just in the condition to eat anything--even a steak of tough old quagga, if I had it; but I think it would be no harm if Swartboy--that is, if you're not too tired, old Swart--would just peel the skin off this gentleman."

Hans pointed to the "aard-vark."

"And dress him so that he don't spoil," he continued; "for you know, Swartboy, that he's a t.i.t-bit--a regular _bonne bouche_--and it would be a pity to let him go to waste in this hot weather. An aard-vark's not to be bagged every day."

"You spreichen true, Mynheer Hans,--Swartboy know all dat. Him skin and dress da goup."

And, so saying, Swartboy out knife, and set to work upon the carca.s.s.

Now this singular-looking animal which Hans called an "aard-vark," and Swartboy a "goup," was neither more or less than the African ant-eater.

Although the colonists term it "aard-vark," which is the Dutch for "ground-hog," the animal has but little in common with the hog kind. It certainly bears some resemblance to a pig about the snout and cheeks; and that, with its bristly hair and burrowing habits, has no doubt given rise to the mistaken name. The "ground" part of the t.i.tle is from the fact that it is a burrowing animal,--indeed, one of the best "terriers" in the world. It can make its way under ground, faster than the spade can follow it, and faster than any badger. In size, habits, and the form of many parts of its body, it bears a striking resemblance to its South American cousin the "tamanoir," which of late years has become so famous as almost to usurp the t.i.tle of "ant-eater."

But the "aard-vark" is just as good an ant-eater as he,--can "crack" as thick-walled a house, can rake up and devour as many termites as any "ant-bear" in the length and breadth of the Amazon Valley. He has got, moreover, as "tall" a tail as the tamanoir, very nearly as long a snout, a mouth equally small, and a tongue as extensive and extensile. In claws he can compare with his American cousin any day, and can walk just as awkwardly upon the sides of his fore-paws with "toes turned in."

Why, then, may I ask, do we hear so much talk of the "tamanoir," while not a word is said of the "aard-vark?" Every museum and menagerie is bragging about having a specimen of the former, while not one cares to acknowledge their possession of the latter! Why this envious distinction? I say it's all Barnum. It's because the "aard-vark's" a Dutchman--a Cape boer--and the boers have been much bullied of late.

That's the reason why zoologists and showmen have treated my thick-tailed boy so shabbily. But it shan't be so any longer; I stand up for the aard-vark; and, although the tamanoir has been specially called _Myrmecophaga_, or ant-eater, I say that the _Orycteropus_ is as good an ant-eater as he.

He can break through ant-hills quite as big and bigger--some of them twenty feet high--he can project as long and as gluey a tongue--twenty inches long--he can play it as nimbly and "lick up" as many white ants, as any tamanoir. He can grow as fat too, and weigh as heavy, and, what is greatly to his credit, he can provide you with a most delicate roast when you choose to kill and eat him. It is true he tastes slightly of formid acid, but that is just the flavour that epicures admire. And when you come to speak of "hams,"--ah! try his! Cure them well and properly, and eat one, and you will never again talk of "Spanish" or "Westphalian."

Hans knew the taste of those hams--well he did, and so too Swartboy; and it was not against his inclination, but _con amore_, that the latter set about butchering the "goup."

Swartboy knew how precious a morsel he held between his fingers,--precious, not only on account of its intrinsic goodness, but from its rarity; for although the aard-vark is a common animal in South Africa, and in some districts even numerous, it is not every day the hunter can lay his hands upon one. On the contrary, the creature is most difficult to capture; though not to kill, for a blow on the snout will do that.

But just as he is easily killed when you catch him, in the same proportion is he hard to catch. He is shy and wary, scarce ever comes out of his burrow but at night; and even then skulks so silently along, and watches around him so sharply, that no enemy can approach without his knowing it. His eyes are very small, and, like most nocturnal animals, he sees but indifferently; but in the two senses of smell and hearing he is one of the sharpest. His long erect ears enable him to catch every sound that may be made in his neighbourhood, however slight.

The "aard-vark" is not the only ant-eating quadruped of South Africa.

There is another four-footed creature as fond of white ants as he; but this is an animal of very different appearance. It is a creature without hair; but instead, its body is covered all over with a regular coat of scales, each as large as a half-crown piece. These scales slightly overlie each other, and can be raised on end at the will of the animal.

In form it resembles a large lizard, or a small crocodile, more than an ordinary quadruped, but its habits are almost exactly like those of the aard-vark. It burrows, digs open the ant-hills by night, projects a long viscous tongue among the insects, and devours them with avidity.

When suddenly overtaken, and out of reach of its underground retreat, it "clews" up like the hedgehog, and some species of the South American armadillos--to which last animal it bears a considerable resemblance on account of its scaly coat of mail.

This ant-eater is known as the "pangolin," or "manis," but there are several species of "pangolin" not African. Some are met with in Southern Asia and the Indian islands. That which is found in South Africa is known among naturalists as the "long-tailed" or "Tem-minck" pangolin (_Manis Temminckii_).

Totty soon produced a roasted "peac.o.c.k," or rather a hastily-broiled bustard. But, although, perhaps, not cooked "to a turn," it was sufficiently well done to satisfy the stomachs for which it was intended. They were all too hungry to be fastidious, and, without a word of criticism, they got through their dinner.

Hans then commenced relating the history of his day's adventure.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

HANS CHASED BY THE WILDEBEEST.

"Well," began Hans, "you had not been gone more than an hour, when a herd of wildebeests was seen approaching the vley. They came on in single file; but they had broken rank, and were splashing about in the water, before I thought of molesting them in any way.

Of course I knew what they were, and that they were proper game; but I was so interested in watching their ludicrous gambols, that I did not think about my gun, until the whole herd had nearly finished drinking.

Then I remembered that we were living on dry biltongue, and would be nothing the worse of a change. I noticed, moreover, that in the herd of gnoos there were some young ones--which I was able to tell from their being smaller than the rest, and also by their lighter colour. I knew that the flesh of these is most excellent eating, and therefore made up my mind we should all dine upon it.

I rushed up the ladder for my gun; and then discovered how imprudent I had been in not loading it at the time you all went away. I had not thought of any sudden emergency,--but that was very foolish, for how knew I what might happen in a single hour or minute even?

I loaded the piece in a grand hurry, for I saw the wildebeests leaving the water; and, as soon as the bullet was rammed home, I ran down the ladder. Before I had reached the bottom, I saw that I had forgotten to bring either powder-horn or pouch. I was in too hot a haste to go back for them, for I saw the last of the wildebeests moving off, and I fancied I might be too late. But I had no intention of going any great distance in pursuit. A single shot at them was all I wanted, and that in the gun would do.

I hastened after the game, keeping as well as I could under cover. I found, after a little time, that I need not have been so cautious. The wildebeests, instead of being shy--as I had seen them in our old neighbourhood--appeared to have very little fear of me. This was especially the case with the old bulls, who capered and careered about within an hundred yards' distance, and sometimes permitted me to approach even nearer. It was plain they had never been hunted.

Once or twice I was within range of a pair of old bulls, who seemed to act as a rearguard. But I did not want to shoot one of them. I knew their flesh would turn out tough. I wished to get something more tender.

I wished to send a bullet into a heifer, or one of the young bulls whose horns had not yet begun to curve. Of these I saw several in the herd.

Tame as the animals were, I could not manage to get near enough to any of these. The old bulls at the head always led them beyond my range; and the two that brought up the rear, seemed to drive them forward as I advanced upon them.

Well, in this way they beguiled me along for more than a mile; and the excitement of the chase made me quite forget how wrong it was of me to go so far from the camp. But thinking about the meat, and still hopeful of getting a shot, I kept on.

At length the hunt led me into ground where there was no longer any bush; but there was good cover, notwithstanding, in the ant-hills, that, like great tents, stood at equal distances from each other scattered over the plain. These were very large--some of them more than twelve feet high--and differing from the dome-shaped kind so common everywhere.

They were of the shape of large cones, or rounded pyramids, with a number of smaller cones rising around their bases, and cl.u.s.tering like turrets along their sides. I knew they were the hills of a species of white ant called by entomologists _Termes bellicosus_.

There were other hills, of cylinder shape and rounded tops, that stood only about a yard high; looking like rolls of unbleached linen set upright--each with an inverted basin upon its end. These were the homes of a very different species, the _Termes mordax_ of the entomologists; though still another species of _Termes_ build their nests in the same form.

I did not stop then to examine these curious structures. I only speak of them now, to give you an idea of the sort of place it was, so that you may understand what followed.

What with the cone-shaped hills and the cylinders, the plain was pretty well covered. One or the other was met with every two hundred yards; and I fancied with these for a shelter I should have but little difficulty in getting within shot of the gnoos.

I made a circuit to head them, and crept up behind a large cone-shaped hill, near which the thick of the drove was feeding. When I peeped through the turrets, to my chagrin, I saw that the cows and younger ones had been drawn off beyond reach, and the two old bulls were, as before, capering between me and the herd.

I repeated the manoeuvre, and stalked in behind another large cone, close to which the beasts were feeding. When I raised myself for a shot, I was again disappointed. The herd had moved off as before, and the brace of bulls still kept guard in the rear.

I began to feel provoked. The conduct of the bulls annoyed me exceedingly, and I really fancied that they knew it. Their manoeuvres were of the oddest kind, and some of them appeared to be made for the purpose of mocking me. At times they would charge up very close--their heads set in a menacing att.i.tude; and I must confess that with their black s.h.a.ggy fronts, their sharp horns, and glaring red eyes, they looked anything but pleasant neighbours.