Through Veld and Forest Part 13

Early in the forenoon of the eleventh day after our departure from Gwanda we reached the Zambezi, at a point where, by a stroke of good luck, the river chanced to be fordable; and, having got the wagon and all my other belongings safely across to the left bank, I immediately outspanned, and then proceeded to distribute liberal largesse among the subordinate officers of the impi, gave Mapela a specially handsome present, and so parted upon excellent terms from my Mashona friends, not without a qualm of regret and of wistful surmise as to my chances of ever again seeing them. Later on, after a meal and a rest, we again inspanned, and, trekking a few miles upstream, rounded the shoulder of a range of low hills and plunged into a valley stretching northward, with a small southward-flowing stream running through its centre and discharging into the Zambezi, upon which splendid river we now turned our backs. 'Mfuni, the man who had fought me by command of Lomalindela, and had afterwards attached himself to my train, exhibited some slight symptoms of regret at parting from his friends in the returning impi; but he quickly recovered from his fit of the blues, and, evidently being very fond of animals, devoted himself with zest to the task of making friends with the horses and dogs. Also the poor fellow speedily developed a most devoted attachment to myself, so arousing in Piet a feeling of profound jealousy and disgust which I only succeeded in dissipating with difficulty after the occurrence of several more or less serious quarrels between the pair.

During the three weeks that immediately followed our pa.s.sage of the Zambezi, our route lay through a wilderness in which for days together we never saw a solitary human being. But this did not very greatly matter, for the country, consisting for the most part of low, rolling hills, was well watered by streams which, flowing generally in a direction more or less north and south, we were able to follow day after day, while the gra.s.s was plentiful and of very good quality. Moreover, there was not much bush, which would have been to some extent a disadvantage but for the fact that, as we advanced, the game became so tame that we had very little difficulty in stalking it through the long gra.s.s. During this particular period of our journey we encountered very few elephants or big game of any kind, but antelope of various descriptions were abundant, so that we always had plenty of buck meat in the larder. Then, one day, scouting far ahead of the wagon, accompanied by Piet, 'Mfuni, and the dogs, I discovered that we were approaching a vast open plain, where the gra.s.s was not nearly so good. I therefore rode back a few miles, and, upon meeting the wagon, gave orders for a prolonged outspan at a suitable spot, so that the oxen, which were becoming thin from constant work, might have a few days' rest, and recover flesh in preparation for the journey across the plain.

We remained at that outspan five days, and when we resumed our journey I had every reason to regard the time as well spent; for as we pushed forward across the open plain the gra.s.s became so poor that, but for the period of rest and recuperation which I had allowed them, I am convinced that the oxen would never have accomplished the journey at all. Luckily for us, when we had lost three oxen, and the remainder had become little better than walking skeletons, we reached the other side of the plain, and once more came to good gra.s.s and water; and here we rested again for a week.

On the second day after the resumption of our trek, two mountains of almost perfect pyramidal form were sighted right ahead and apparently about fifty miles apart; and on the following day the flat, open plain gave place to undulating country, which gradually grew more rugged and park-like as we advanced, with good gra.s.s, small, detached patches of bush, and a few trees, singly or in clumps, scattered thinly here and there. But we soon noticed that, apart from the gra.s.s, the vegetation generally was new and strange, of a kind that none of us had ever before seen; the trees in particular being very curious and grotesque in shape, both as to their trunks and branches, and their foliage being of almost any other colour than green. In some cases the trees, notwithstanding their strange and abnormal configuration, were very beautiful, the large, heart-shaped leaves being of almost every conceivable tint of red, ranging from palest pink to a very deep, rich crimson, with great bunches of snow-white blossom; while at the opposite end of the scale, as it were, there occurred examples in which the trunks and branches were swollen, knotted, and twisted into the most extraordinary and uncouth shapes, while the foliage consisted of long, flat, ribbon-like streamers of a dirty brownish-grey hue, coated with an exudation the odour of which was offensive beyond the power of words to express.

Fortunately for us, these last were comparatively rare, and we soon learned to give them plenty of room and to pa.s.s them to windward, where possible.

And here, too, we saw the first of several new and strange forms of animal life. As Piet and I were, as usual, riding forward some distance ahead of the wagon, we suddenly came upon a small herd of seven curious-looking animals, which we at first mistook for young giraffes; but as they stood gazing at us curiously, thus permitting us to approach within less than a hundred yards of them, we observed that while the creatures bore a certain general resemblance to giraffes, there were differences, the most important of which was that of size. For these creatures stood, at the shoulders, only about as high as an eland; the neck, although abnormally long, was not proportionately as long as that of a giraffe; the head was hornless, and of quite different shape from a giraffe's head; and, lastly, their colour was a deep, rich, ruddy brown on the head, shading gradually away along the body and legs until, about the fetlock, it became quite a pale buff. I shot one of them, and have the skin to this day, which has been a source of great interest and also a bit of a puzzle to several naturalists who have seen it, and who all declare it to have belonged to an animal of which they had no knowledge whatever. The flesh of the creature proved to be very tender and juicy, and my "boys" ate of it freely; but after trying a mouthful I decided that I did not care for it, the meat having a very strong and peculiar musky flavour which I found much the reverse of appetising.

And then, as an appropriate wind-up to a day that had been rich in surprises, while we were looking about for a suitable spot at which to outspan for the night, we came upon the first of the Bandokolo people, or rather, she--for it was a woman--came upon us. We were, at the moment, riding through a shallow depression, about half a mile wide, bordered on either side by rising, bush-clad ground that was scarcely high enough to be worthy of the name of hills, with a narrow, shallow rivulet on our right; and we had about decided that the spot where we had reined up would answer our purpose quite well, when the two dogs, Thunder and Juno, who had been following quietly enough at our horses'

heels, suddenly ran forward a few paces and then stood pointing, uttering low, half-yelping, half-whining noises the while, as was their wont when they were puzzled. For a few moments I could see nothing to account for their excitement, and I was about to speak to them, when, looking forward, I suddenly saw something raise itself in the gra.s.s, remain visible for perhaps half a dozen seconds, and then sink down again. It was about a hundred yards from the spot where we had pulled up, and from the brief glimpse which I had obtained I almost thought that, strange as it might be, I had seen a child! To satisfy myself, therefore, I called to Piet, and, accompanied by the dogs, cantered forward toward the place where the strange apparition had appeared.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

SOME MARVELS OF THE BANDOKOLO COUNTRY.

Our horses had not advanced more than half a dozen strides when the strange-looking object again appeared and came stumbling toward us, and then we saw that it was indeed a human being, apparently a girl of about twelve years of age, from her stature. The first thing that I particularly observed was that her skin was a kind of brownish white, the next that she had a mop of black hair streaming loosely down over her shoulders; then I saw that she was half-naked, for the single garment in which she was clad was in such a tattered condition that all that remained of it was a few fluttering rags. It was evident that the poor creature was in the very last stages of exhaustion, for she reeled and staggered as she came toward us with outstretched, appealing arms; and presently, when we were still a few yards apart, with a low, wailing cry she fell p.r.o.ne and lay huddled up in a pathetic little heap in the long gra.s.s, while the dogs dashed forward and stood alternately nuzzling her and looking up to us with plaintive whines. The next instant I swung out of my saddle, and, bending down, raised the unfortunate creature in my arms, when I saw, to my amazement, that she was evidently a full-grown woman, but of very diminutive stature, being only about four feet six inches in height. Moreover she was in a most shockingly emaciated condition, and on her back was a close network of scarcely healed scars, which looked as though they might have resulted from a most merciless scourging; and she was in a deep swoon, having apparently exhausted her last particle of strength in the endeavour to reach us.

Taking off my hat, I handed it to Piet, with instructions that he should fill it and his own at the brook, and return to me with all speed; and while he was gone I pulled off my jacket and wrapped the frail, senseless form in it. For I saw at once that this creature had not been accustomed, like the native women with whom I had thus far come in contact, to go about in such a state; the rags which still clung to her attenuated form showed that she habitually wore clothing, and there was a certain suggestion of refinement in the mould of her features that led me to the conclusion that she belonged to a race of people having some claim to be regarded as civilised, in their own peculiar fashion. In short, she answered in every respect to Mapela's description of the Bandokolo; and I had gathered, from what he said, that they were in some sort a civilised race.

It was a long time before we succeeded in restoring the poor creature to her senses, so long, indeed, that when at length she opened her eyes and began to look wonderingly about her, the wagon was close at hand. As soon, therefore, as it was within easy hailing distance I ordered Jan to outspan, instructed Piet to prepare my cartel, and, when the latter was ready, carried my patient to it and laid her upon it. Then, having shot a buck earlier in the day, we started a fire and set to work to prepare some good strong broth, which, when it was ready, I administered, with seemingly good effect, for when the woman had partaken of it she spoke a word or two which sounded like an enquiry. But I could make nothing of it, nor could Piet, whereupon 'Mfuni came forward, and presently he contrived to hit upon a kind of Bantu dialect which the woman understood. And then, when we had satisfied her curiosity as to who we were, where we came from, and whither we were going, and had a.s.sured her that we were friends and that she might regard herself as perfectly safe with us, she informed us, in turn, that she was of the Bandokolo, and that she had been driven out of the country--the border of which was then one day's march distant--for some offence. This she was endeavouring to explain, when she sank back exhausted upon the cartel, and again fell into a swoon.

It soon became evident that the unfortunate little creature was in a most critical condition, from the combined effects, as I supposed, of fiendish ill treatment, violent exertion, and insufficient nourishment; and we were kept busy all that night reviving her from swoon after swoon, and in the preparation and administration of strong broth, with which to combat the terrible prostration that was her most alarming symptom. Toward morning, however, she seemed to revive a little, and after absorbing another liberal dose of broth, slightly dashed with brandy, she complained of weariness, and soon afterward sank into a deep sleep, from the restorative effects of which I hoped much. But of course the idea of continuing our trek that day was quite out of the question; we therefore remained where we were, and I set Jan and 'Ngulubi to look after the oxen and see that they came to no harm, while Piet, 'Mfuni, and I devoted ourselves to the task of looking after the invalid, though, goodness knows, our ignorance of everything connected with the leech's art was so complete that we could do nothing more than pour into her all the nourishment that she could be persuaded to absorb.

And I am afraid that it was this lamentable ignorance of ours that was responsible for her condition when she awoke about ten o'clock in the morning. For after tossing restlessly upon the cartel for about half an hour, she suddenly sat up, and stared about her with gla.s.sy, terrorstricken eyes, and began to mutter rapidly to herself; and upon feeling her pulse I found that it was throbbing furiously; also her skin was dry, and scorching hot: in short, it was evident that she was in a state of high fever closely bordering on delirium. We improved matters a little by withdrawing the cartel from beneath the close, suffocatingly hot tent of the wagon, and placing it on the gra.s.s, in the shadow of the wagon, where the soft breeze could play freely upon the patient, also by swathing her head in towels which were kept continually dripping wet; and after about an hour of this treatment the fever so far abated as to permit her to talk coherently, when she told us her story, to the following effect.

"My name," said she, "is Siluce, and I am of the Bandokolo. I am two hundred and twenty-five moons (a little more than seventeen years) old; and my father, Mindula, is one of the most powerful chiefs of the nation. A little more than fifteen moons ago he used his influence to secure me what is greatly coveted and regarded as a very high honour in Bandokolo, namely a position in the household of Bimbane, the queen.

And for a time all went well, and I was happy, although Bimbane--who is so old that no man living knows how old she is--is very severe, tyrannical, and cruel to all those who are brought into contact with her. Then, six moons ago, I met Anuti, one of the captains of the queen's guard, and we learned to love each other. Four moons pa.s.sed, and then, in accordance with the custom of our country, Anuti presented himself before the queen, and besought her permission to make me his wife.

"Now, Anuti is one of the most splendid men of the Bandokolo: he is three hundred and seventeen moons (nearly twenty-four and a half years) old; in stature he stands a full head taller than myself; he is a valiant warrior, a clever hunter; and he has royal blood in his veins, for his father's father's father was the son of a prince of the royal house, and was said to be a tenth cousin of Bimbane, the queen."

"But," I interrupted, at this point, "how could that be? The prince from whom Anuti descended must have lived--let me see--yes, more than one thousand six hundred moons ago. Surely your queen is not so old as that!"

"Ah, but she is, and infinitely older!" answered Siluce. "No man knows how old she is; there is no record of her birth and parentage; she has been queen of the Bandokolo for unnumbered ages."

"Oh, but that is nonsense, you know!" I retorted; "unless of course your records have been very badly kept. Why, in my country, if a man lives to be thirteen hundred moons old we regard him as a marvel.

Surely your queen cannot be older than that?"

"Yes," answered Siluce; "indeed she is. You do not understand. Bimbane is a great magician, who keeps herself alive by certain secret arts unknown to the rest of us. And she does so, not only because she fears to die, but also because she is persuaded that somewhere in the world there is--or will be--a man who, if she can find him and induce him to become her spouse, will restore to her her long-lost youth and all the joy of life that she once knew. It is the great desire of her life to find this man, and no sooner did she see Anuti than the thought arose that he might be the one through whom she would attain the fulfilment of her desires; and by the exercise of her magic she stole his heart from me, and induced him to wed her. And because I protested she first caused me to be publicly whipped, and then ordered me to leave the country, saying that at sunrise of the following day she would send forth hunters to seek for and destroy me if they found me. And, knowing that Bimbane would keep her word, I fled forthwith, all smarting from my whipping as I was, and made southward, avoiding all villages on my way, and following the most lonely bypaths that I could find. For just half a moon have I maintained a continuous flight, living on such fruit and other food as I chanced to come upon while pursuing my way, hiding whenever I saw man or woman, and scarce daring to rest or sleep lest savage beasts or the still more savage hunters should come upon and slay me. And now all my strength has gone; the hardships of my flight have sapped my life; and naught remains for me but to die, glad that I am permitted to pa.s.s painlessly in your hands rather than by those of the cruel hunters, who would drain the last remnant of my miserable life from me by slow torture!" And as the unhappy creature uttered the last words she threw up her hands with a gesture of despair and burst into a pa.s.sion of hysterical weeping which I made no effort to check, hoping that thus she might gain relief to her overwrought feelings.

But instead of that happening, the thoughts and memories which had been awakened during the recital of her terrible experiences only increased her excitement, until in the course of half an hour the unhappy girl was fighting us and screaming in high delirium. Yet through it all there was one idea that seemed to haunt her, for later on, during a comparatively quiet period, she looked up into my face, and, seizing me by the hand, said:

"O wonderful white man, great and strong, you are going to Masakisale,"--the capital of Bandokolo--"and will see Bimbane. Take notice, and you will see that on the thumb of her right hand she wears a ring in which is set a wonderful stone that shines like the sun at eventide. That stone is a magic stone, a potent amulet, by virtue of which she is able to do many marvellous things, and, among others, to win the hearts of men. Some think that it is the possession of that stone which enables her to prolong her life indefinitely. If it were taken from her, and she were to die, all Bandokolo would rejoice; for Bimbane is a cruel tyrant, grinding down the people, and making the lives of many an intolerable burden to them. There have been those who have sought to take the stone from her, but by the power of her magic she has discovered their purpose and has destroyed them. But it may be that her magic will have no power over you, O white man; therefore, if you can, take from her that stone, and so deliver Bandokolo from her merciless tyranny. You will do it? Promise me."

"I promise you, Siluce, that, if I can, I will take the stone from her,"

I answered, more to soothe the unhappy little creature's consuming anxiety, I must confess, than with any serious intention at that moment of fulfilling my promise. I meant well, and I was glad to see that my promise had produced a beneficial effect, for her agitation gradually subsided, and a little later, after partaking of more broth, she sank into a slumber that, uneasy at first, gradually became quiet and profound.

But the improvement was only of brief duration, for in little more than an hour she was again awake and raving in high delirium, fighting with us more fiercely than ever, under the impression, apparently, that we were the hunters who had been sent out to destroy her. Fortunately, I possessed a very fair knowledge of the Bantu dialect that she seemed to understand, and, using this, I did my utmost to soothe her and calm her fears. But all my efforts were worse than unavailing, for they only seemed to increase her terror; moreover, she appeared now to have become raving mad: therefore, in despair, and because I saw that in her struggles with us she was rapidly wearing out what little strength remained to her, I suddenly released my hold upon her, and bade Piet and 'Mfuni do the same; whereupon she sprang from the cartel and dashed off down the valley with the speed of a hunted deer. There was nothing for it, of course, but to follow, and this I did on horseback, with Piet and the dogs accompanying me. We proceeded at an easy canter, taking care to maintain a good distance, so that she might not be conscious of being followed, but just keeping her in sight; and in this fashion the poor, demented creature ran quite two miles before she fell exhausted.

When we came up to where she lay, we found her doubled up in the long gra.s.s, apparently senseless, but moaning pitifully; and again, as on the previous day, I sent Piet off to the river for water with which to restore her. But all our efforts were vain, for in less than half an hour after we had come to her the unhappy girl died, without recovering consciousness. As soon as I was quite sure that she was dead I mounted my horse, and, bidding Piet place the poor scarred, emaciated corpse in my arms, rode back to the wagon; and, procuring the necessary tools, I dug a grave in which we laid the poor inanimate body to rest, covering it well with big boulders from the river to protect it from the ravages of the jackals and hyenas. Then, notwithstanding that it was by this time late in the afternoon, we inspanned and trekked a good ten miles up the valley; for there is nothing that a South African savage fears much more than a grave, and I knew that nothing would have induced my "boys"

to pa.s.s the night within half a dozen miles of poor Siluce's last resting place.

Two days later, about mid-afternoon, we outspanned close to the headwaters of the small stream, the course of which we had been following for so many days. It had its source in the slopes of the more eastern of the two mountains toward which we had been travelling, and we outspanned at the very base of the mountain and close to the margin of the rivulet, which at this point had dwindled to a width that I could easily leap across. And now, having arrived at a point where this particular stream would be of no further service to us, our first business, before continuing our journey, must be to find another stream, flowing northward in a direction corresponding generally with that which we desired to pursue. Accordingly, as there still remained to us some three hours of daylight, Piet and I, accompanied by 'Mfuni, who had by this time learned to sit a horse, set out upon a short exploring expedition northward.

The spot upon which the wagon was outspanned was at the extremity of the south-western slope of the mountain, almost on the northernmost extremity of a wide, flat plain; and from this position, looking northward, we saw that the country again presented a somewhat broken appearance, with high ground to the right and left, and something in the nature of a valley directly ahead. And, a valley being obviously the place where one would most naturally expect to find water, it was toward the entrance to this one that we wended our way, with the steep slope of the mountain, s.h.a.ggy with thickly growing timber, of strange forms and still stranger colours, on our right.

As it happened, we were exceptionally fortunate in our exploration on this occasion, for we had not ridden more than six miles when, issuing from the northern slope of the mountain, the base of which we had been skirting, we discovered another rivulet, very similar in character to that near which we had left the wagon outspanned, and upon tasting the water we found it to be deliciously sweet and cool; moreover, the stream was flowing northward, or precisely in the direction toward which we wished to travel. We followed the course of the stream for a distance of some four miles down the valley, and then, finding that it continued to flow northward, and showed a tendency to increase in volume, being fed by other small brooks flowing into it here and there, we turned our horses' heads and cantered back to the wagon, very well satisfied with the result of our ride.

Inspanning at dawn the next morning, we easily accomplished the trek from the headwaters of the stream we were leaving behind us to those of the stream which we intended to follow before the heat of the day had fairly set in, outspanning at length, about eleven o'clock in the morning, in a nicely wooded, shady valley, which gradually widened as we progressed, with the stream on our left and rising ground on both sides of us. Here we allowed the oxen to rest and graze for nearly three hours, resuming our journey about half-past two o'clock in the afternoon.

As usual, Piet and I, on horseback and accompanied by the two dogs, preceded the wagon, the pace of the horses, even at a walk, being so much faster than that of the slower-moving oxen that we generally managed to find ourselves at least two or three miles ahead by the time that a suitable spot for the next outspan was reached. But upon this occasion I was desirous of exploring our route for some little distance ahead; therefore, upon mounting, we put our horses into an easy canter, and soon left the wagon out of sight and hearing behind us. Proceeding in this fashion, with an occasional rein-up to breathe our horses, we found ourselves, in the course of an hour and a half, about ten miles from our starting-point, in the midst of a beautifully wooded, park-like plain about five miles in width, with the stream, now considerably augmented in volume, purling musically over a shingly bed on the eastern margin of the plain, and the high land, rising by this time almost to the dignity of hills, still shutting us in on either hand.

The spot which we had reached seemed well enough adapted for our nightly outspan, therefore Piet proceeded to mark the spot by setting up our usual signal, which was a small branch of a tree, with its leaves attached, broken from the parent stem and stuck upright in the soil.

This would at once arrest the attention of Jan, the Hottentot driver, upon his arrival at the spot; and seeing it, he would outspan, even if we chanced to be elsewhere when he arrived. Then, mounting again, we resumed our journey down the valley, in search of something wherewith to replenish our empty larder.

At a distance of some five miles farther down the valley we secured what we wanted, having come quite unexpectedly, while our horses were walking, upon a herd of black antelope, among them a number of half-grown fawns, one of which I managed to bowl over before they had sufficiently recovered from their surprise to get away; and having secured our prize upon the back of Piet's horse, behind his saddle, we proceeded to retrace our steps leisurely. But we had scarcely covered a mile upon our backward way when we became aware of certain strange roaring and grunting sounds, of a kind quite new to us, apparently proceeding from the far side of a big clump of bush which lay at a distance of a short quarter of a mile on our right front. Curious to learn what could be the origin of those strange sounds, we turned our horses' heads in that direction, and a few minutes later, upon rounding the extremity of the clump, we came upon a most extraordinary sight.

The scene was an open glade of about four acres in extent, bordered by trees, among which were a few specimens of the kind described in the preceding chapter, with weirdly shaped, swollen, knotted, and twisted trunks and branches, and long, flat, ribbon-like streamers of leaves, coated with a vile-smelling exudation. But it was not so much the glade itself--strange as was its appearance, with its weird-looking vegetation--that attracted our attention, as what was being enacted in it. For away toward one edge of it was a big boulder, on the top of which crouched the figure of--was it a woman, or a monkey? The creature seemed to partake about equally of the characteristics of both; she was entirely unclothed, her whole body was covered with short, thick, golden-brown hair, that on her head being much longer than that on the rest of her body, while her features might be described as very human-looking for a monkey, or very monkeyfied for a human being. But I noticed that her arms were disproportionately long, as compared with those of a woman; and a further glance revealed that her feet had a distinct resemblance to hands, her great toes looking very much more like thumbs.

It was not from her, however, that the roaring and grunting sounds emanated--for she sat quite silent--but from two males of her own species, who, in the middle of the arena, were engaged in deadly combat, using their hands, feet, and teeth as weapons, which they employed with most ferocious energy. Gripping each other by the throat with the left hand, apparently with the twofold purpose of strangling and preventing the opponent from biting, while with the right fist they battered each other savagely, occasionally using the right foot in an endeavour to throw each other, the combatants--both of whom stood well over six feet high--whirled hither and thither with astounding agility, so completely occupied with each other--and the female so absorbed in watching them-- as to be utterly oblivious of our presence there on the edge of the arena, partially concealed beneath the shadow of the trees.

For several minutes they fought thus, locked together in a deadly grip; then, as though by mutual consent, they drew apart a few paces, evidently for the purpose of recovering their breath, glaring ferociously at each other meanwhile, and uttering low, deep, rumbling, snarling growls: and the tremendous energy which they must have expended during the struggle was abundantly evidenced by the convulsive heaving of their great, hairy chests. Then suddenly they rushed at each other again, and became locked in a deadly embrace, each fixing his strong, fang-like teeth deeply in the shoulder of the other, and each apparently striving to crush the body of the other in the grip of his great, hairy arms, the enormously powerful muscles of which could be plainly seen working beneath the skin. To and fro they swayed, still tightly locked together, growling and snapping at each other with such deadly ferocity that in a few moments the blood was streaming copiously from their lacerated shoulders and arms; and then one, apparently the younger of the two, succeeded in throwing his opponent violently to the ground.

The shock seemed partially to stun the thrown one for a few seconds, and of this his opponent took instant advantage by flinging himself astride upon his antagonist's body, pinning his arms down by kneeling upon them, and gripping his throat with both hands in a throttling grasp that soon reduced his enemy to a condition of utter helplessness. Then, rising heavily and somewhat unsteadily to his feet, the conqueror glared about him for a moment, and, seeming to see what he was looking for, stooped over his insensible foe, seized him by an arm and a leg, and, lifting him above his head, went staggering across the open s.p.a.ce toward one of the weird-looking trees already mentioned, into the foliage of which he flung the body. And forthwith, to our unspeakable horror, the long, sticky, ribbon-like leaves, sensitive as those of a mimosa, seized and wrapped themselves about the body, until, in less time than it takes to tell, it was so completely enveloped that nothing of it was to be seen, while the leaves of the tree--which was only about fourteen feet high-- had formed themselves into a great, horrible, tightly compressed ma.s.s, in which I seemed to detect, for the s.p.a.ce of a minute or two, signs of an internal struggle. Meanwhile, the conqueror, having thus effectually and terribly disposed of his foe, went reeling and staggering over to where the female sat impa.s.sively upon the boulder, seized her roughly by the arm, and dragged her, unresisting, into the depths of the wood, where we soon lost sight of them.

Speechless with horror for the moment, even more at the demoniacal ferocity displayed by the combatants than at the weird ghastliness of the manner in which the fight had ended, I signed to Piet, and, wheeling our horses, we galloped away from the scene of the tragedy, nor drew rein again until we reached the wagon, which was in the act of being outspanned. Then, dismounting, I beckoned to 'Mfuni, related what we had seen, and asked him whether he had ever heard of such creatures as those men, or monkeys, that Piet and I had beheld fighting. But 'Mfuni shook his head and replied in the negative; he had never before been anything like so far north, and his knowledge of the Bandokolo country, it appeared, was even less than that which I had gained from Mapela.

In the course of the next day's trek we pa.s.sed close to the scene of the combat, and, for the satisfaction of my curiosity, I made a point of carefully examining the tree into which the body of the vanquished had been thrown. The leaves were still bunched tightly together; but I observed that the ma.s.s thus formed was distinctly smaller than it had been when I last looked upon it, and I believed I could guess pretty accurately at the process which was going on within it. I felt very strongly disposed to have the tree cut down and subjected to examination; but there were two strong arguments against this, one being the overpowering carrion-like effluvium which the tree exhaled, while the other was Piet's point-blank refusal to have anything to do with such an attempt.

On this day we saw two new species of animals, one being a hyena nearly twice as big as any that I had hitherto seen, and of quite different marking, the ground colour of its skin being very similar to that of the lion, while it had a black head, a distinct black mane, a broad black line running along its spine from the base of the skull to the tail, and an alternation of black stripes and irregular blotches upon the whole of its body except the under part, which was white. We came rather suddenly upon a pack of eleven of these creatures disputing possession of the carca.s.s of a buffalo with a flock of vultures, and were therefore afforded an excellent opportunity to note carefully their peculiarities before they made off, which they did slowly and unwillingly, uttering the most dreadful maniacal laughs as they went. The other creature was a kind of jackal, as big as a full-grown leopard, with a splendid coat of long, fine, glossy black fur. This beast broke cover about fifty yards away from us, and, unlike the rest of his species, instead of beating a hasty retreat upon seeing us, turned promptly and attacked us with indescribable fury. Luckily, I had my rifle ready, and shot the brute dead as he was in the very act of leaping at Prince's throat; and it was well that I did so, for upon examining him we found that he was possessed of a set of terrible fangs, capable of inflicting dreadful injuries had he been afforded the chance. We stripped off his hide, and left the carca.s.s to the vultures to dispose of, which they did with commendable prompt.i.tude, as Jan subsequently informed us when we rejoined him at the next outspan. We also saw in the distance, on that same day, a herd of about thirty elephants; but I did not attempt to interfere with them, as I hoped that before long I should have something even more valuable than ivory with which to load the wagon.

As we proceeded, the country steadily became more broken and irregular, the hills higher and more precipitous, with frequent outcrops of enormous granite boulders and towering cliffs of felspar, from the interstices of which sprang strange and beautiful ferns, interspersed with bushes bearing flowers of remarkable shapes and the most splendid colours. The trees, too, grew more closely together: the streams increased in number, many of them pouring down the face of the cliffs in the form of waterfalls, which dissolved into spray and mist long before they reached the bottom, veiling the dark and rugged rocks in soft clouds of delicate vapour reflecting every hue of the rainbow. In short, with every mile of our advance the scenery grew more wildly and romantically beautiful, yet withal there were spots, deep narrow glens and ravines shut in by towering cliffs and overshadowing trees, where the effect was as weird as a scene copied from Dante's Inferno, and in the midst of which one felt that the strangest happenings would have excited no surprise.

It was in the midst of such a scene that we again encountered the gigantic man-like monkeys, which, I subsequently learned, formed part of the fauna peculiar to this remarkable country. There were two of them this time, a male and a female, and they were coming toward us when we sighted them. The instant that they caught sight of us, the female turned and ran for the face of the nearest cliff, which she scaled with incredible agility; but the male halted and stood his ground, evidently prepared to dispute our pa.s.sage, if necessary, and to cover his companion's retreat. But I had no fancy for engaging in a fight with a creature which was such a strange and unnatural compound of man and beast. I therefore spoke a word to Piet, and we reined up; whereupon the creature, after much snarling, growling, and baring of teeth, slowly retreated, following his mate, but keeping a wary eye upon us meanwhile, until he too reached the foot of the cliff, when, with a parting snarl of defiance, he climbed the vertical face of the rock with an agility no less extraordinary than that displayed by his mate.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

I LEARN SOME INTERESTING PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE QUEEN.

It was a little after ten o'clock on the following morning when Piet and I, mounted as usual, and riding about a mile ahead of the wagon, emerged from a narrow, winding gorge, hemmed in on either hand by stupendous, almost vertical, cliffs, drawn so closely together that, riding though we were beside the margin of the river, there was little more than bare room for us to travel abreast. It was not until we rounded a bend in the gorge that we knew how near we were to the end of it; and the sight which then greeted our eyes caused me to utter a shout of delight: for before us, at a distance of a short quarter of a mile, was the extremity of the gorge, a mere narrow slit between two mighty walls of overhanging sandstone, through which we caught a glimpse of an open, gra.s.sy, sun-bathed plain, the long rich gra.s.s billowing to the sweep of a fresh breeze, and its wide stretches of level surface darkened here and there with the rich purple shadows of slow-moving clouds, promising a welcome change from the close, suffocating, enervating, insect-haunted atmosphere of the gorge. And as a background to this breezy, sunlit scene, there towered high into the air, at a distance of some ten miles, a magnificent sweep of lofty mountains, rugged and broken of outline, tree-clad to their summits, and gleaming like emeralds in the strong blaze of the morning sun.

With another shout of delight I pressed my heels to Prince's ribs, and three minutes later Piet and I trotted gaily out through the mouth of the gorge into the sunlit plain--to find ourselves confronted by a troop of some fifty of the most extraordinary-looking warriors I had ever seen, who had evidently been lying _perdu_ in waiting for us behind the screen of towering rocks that formed the gateway, as it were, of the gorge.

They were little fellows, about the height of a well-grown English boy of ten years of age, but that they were full-grown men was evidenced by the luxuriant beards and moustaches which they all wore; indeed, one of them, their leader, appeared to be well advanced in years, for his hair and beard were dashed here and there with grey. It was a little difficult to judge what their natural complexion might be, for they were all deeply tanned by the sun, but I imagined it could be very little darker than my own, for I was as deeply bronzed as any of them, as I could see by a glance at my own sunburnt hands. They were clad in a uniform consisting of a sleeveless shirt that looked as though made of white thick silk, over which was worn a kind of tunic of fine scale armour, which gleamed and flashed in the sun as though made of gold--as indeed it afterwards proved to be. On their heads they wore plumed helmets of the same precious metal; their legs were bare, save for a kind of buskin made of leather, coloured white, reaching to just below the knee; they were armed with a short, broad-bladed sword, and a round target or shield, finely embossed, also made of gold; and they were mounted on zebras, the trappings of which were thickly studded with small gold bosses, the saddles consisting of thickly rolled blankets of some soft material strapped over big saddle cloths of crimson silk, edged with stout gold cord and adorned at the corners with ta.s.sels of gold bullion. There was a standard-bearer with them whose trappings were even richer and more ornate than those of the rank and file, and who bore aloft upon a slender lance a small standard of crimson silk, deeply edged with gold fringe, and beautifully emblazoned in gold thread with a device which seemed to be a hieroglyphic of some sort, of which I could make nothing.