CHAPTER EIGHT.
DANGEROUS NEIGHBOURS--FREE AND EASY VISITORS--PROPOSED DEPARTURE--JOURNEY RESUMED--AN AFRICAN STORM--A NECK AND NECK STRUGGLE.
The sun was high in the heavens before any of the party were roused fromtheir slumbers. Then the doctor was the first to wake up, and histhoughts were at once turned to his patient. He was pleased to find himin a most satisfactory condition. His skin was cool, and his pulse,though still low, was steadily recovering its tone. As for Frank andErnest--they had no sooner opened their eyes, than they hurried off tothe pool, which lay two or three hundred yards off, to enjoy arefreshing bath. They were followed shortly afterwards by Lavie andOmatoko, the latter having contrived to descend from his bedchamber bythe help of the doctor's arm, and to walk, though very slowly, as far asthe waterside.
Having completed their ablutions, the lads set about preparing thebreakfast; which, it was agreed, was to be eaten under the shade of theacacias.
"I think Omatoko must be mistaken about the wild animals," observedFrank. "I slept as sound as a top, and so did Lion; and if there hadbeen any of his namesakes about, or tigers either, he would have beenpretty sure to give us notice."
"You forget how tired we were, Frank; Lion as well as ourselves," saidthe doctor. "Unless they made a very great uproar we should probablynot hear them."
"What does Omatoko say?" suggested Warley. "Does he think there werewild beasts about?"
The Hottentot nodded. "One, two lion," he said, pointing to somefootprints in the short grass round the pool. "One, two lion; manytigers; one rhinoceros."
"Is that the spoor of a lion?" asked Warley with much interest, as hestooped down and examined the footprints. "How can you tell it fromthat of a large tiger?"
"You may always know the spoor of a lion by the marks of the toe-nails,"said Lavie; "they turn in, whereas those of other feline animalsproject. Yes, that is a lion's spoor, sure enough, and those broad deepprints are as plainly those of a rhinoceros, and a pretty large one too.And there are plenty of others besides, which I am not sure of.Omatoko was certainly right. It was quite as well that we did notbivouac by this pool."
Breakfast was now announced, and the party gathered round the eatables,when it was for the first time noticed that Nick was not present.
"I suppose he is still asleep," said the surgeon. "I called to him tocome and help me to get Omatoko down, but I got nothing but anintelligible growl at first, and then a sleepy assurance that he wouldbe sure to be in time for breakfast."
"No, he is not the fellow to miss that," remarked Frank. "He must bevery sleepy indeed, before he'll go without his victuals. Depend uponit he will be here in a minute or two."
Half an hour however passed away, and the meal was quite completed, andstill no Nick made his appearance.
"Go, and look after him, Frank," said the doctor, "while I consult withOmatoko as to what ought to be done next. We can't afford to lose time,if it should be thought better for us to move."
Wilmore took up his gun accordingly, and walked off towards the treewhere they had slept. The dense foliage almost entirely concealed thestaging from sight: but as he drew nearer he was sensible of loudchattering and gibbering sounds, intermixed occasionally with shrillscreams, which seemed to come from a great number of throats. Wonderingwhat this could mean, he made his approach as noiselessly as possible,and climbing up to the top of one of the roots, which projected a footor two upwards, he peered cautiously over the edge of the platform. Amost extraordinary sight greeted him, and it was with the greatestdifficulty that he restrained himself from bursting into a loud laugh.
Nick was seated in the middle of the stage, bareheaded and withoutshoes, and was gazing upward with a look of mingled alarm and annoyance,which seemed to the spectator of the scene irresistibly ludicrous. Onthe boughs immediately over his head, as far up as Frank could descry, agreat number of baboons were to be seen, leaping from one resting-placeto another, with hideous grimaces, and keeping up incessant and mostdiscordant screams. The grotesqueness of their appearance was muchincreased by their having taken possession of such of Nick's property asthey had been able to lay their paws on. One wore the blue cloth cap,with the leather peak and white edging, which was a souvenir of DrStaines's establishment. Two more had possessed themselves, each of oneof his shoes, which he had laid aside when he went to sleep; and wereturning them over with an air of grave curiosity, as if to discover whattheir use might be. Another party had seized the knapsack, which hadbeen pulled from under Nick's head before he was fully awake. Thecontents had been divided between several old baboons, who had turnedthe various articles to all sort of strange uses. One was scratchinghis ear with Gilbert's pipe; another had thrust its head into astocking, and appeared to have some difficulty in getting it out again;a third was enveloped from head to foot in a cotton shirt, his headshowing itself just above the collar; while a fourth was examining thecontents of the flask, which it had contrived partially to open, and wasmaking hideous faces over the taste of the gunpowder, of which it hadswallowed a good spoonful. Nick had fortunately awoke in time toprevent the baboons from seizing his knife or gun. He now held thelatter with a strong grip in both hands, and seemed disposed todischarge its contents at one of his assailants, if he could only makeup his mind which to single out for attack.
"Don't fire, Nick," exclaimed Wilmore, as he noticed Gilbert'sdemeanour. "You'd enrage them greatly, if you were to wound or kill anyof them. They have been known to tear a fellow to pieces, who shot oneof their number. They're terribly fierce and strong, if they areprovoked."
"What am I to do, then?" returned Gilbert. "They've not only carriedoff my knapsack and pipe, but my hat and shoes too; and I can't ventureto walk a step in these parts without them."
"The best way will be to scare them away," suggested Wilmore, "if wecould think of any way of doing it."
"I'll tell you," cried Nick, catching a sudden inspiration. "Do youclimb up into the tree on the other side. The leaves are so thick thatthese brutes won't see you, and the branches are easy enough to climb.When you're well up over their heads, let fly with your gun. I'll dothe same the moment afterwards, and between the two reports they'll beso scared, I expect, that they'll cut for it straightway."
"Very well," said Frank, laughing, "I've no objection. We can but try,any way." He carefully uncocked his gun, and began mounting thebranches as quietly as possible, while Nick distracted the attention ofthe monkeys, by shaking his fist at them, and pelting them withfragments of bark. Presently there came the double explosion, whichfully answered his expectations. Uttering a Babel of discordantscreams, they dropped their recently acquired treasures, and made off atthe top of their speed, bounding from tree to tree till they were lostin the distance. Nick set himself to collect the various articles thusrestored, and had nearly repossessed himself of all of them, when Frankdescended from his elevation and joined him on the platform.
"You get into scrapes, Nick, more than most," he said, "but you've awonderful knack of getting out of them again, that's certain. Well,come along, if you've got everything. The doctor is anxious to start,if this Hottentot chap will let us, and you've still your breakfast toget."
"The Hottentot let us start this morning!" repeated Gilbert. "Not ifhe's to go with us himself, to be sure! To look at him last night, hewouldn't be fit to walk again this side of Christmas. Perhaps heexpects us to carry him, as we did yesterday--do you really think that,Frank?" continued Gilbert, stopping short, and eyeing his companion withan expression of much dismay.
"No, I don't," returned Wilmore, again bursting into a laugh; "and if hedid expect it, he'd find his expectations deceive him considerably.That's what _I_ expect, at all events."
"Well, here we are," said Nick, a minute or two afterwards, as theyreached the post. "Well, doctor, I'm sorry to be late, but Frank willtell you that I have been in the hands of the swell mob, and have onlyjust contrived to escape them."
The doctor looked
puzzled, but he had no time for explanations. "Eatyour breakfast, Gilbert," he said, "while we settle what is to be doneto-day. I suppose we are all agreed that it won't do for us to stophere longer than we can help. Now Omatoko is not able to travel veryfar, but he could walk a few miles if he went very slowly and had a restevery now and then. He thinks so himself, and wishes to start at once."
"We could give him an arm by turns, if that was all; but the questionis, Charles, could we reach any good halting-place?" suggested Warley.
"That's just it, Ernest," returned Charles. "Omatoko says that aboutfour or five miles from this there is a place where we could stay two orthree days, if necessary, and find plenty of food and water. It is aruined kraal--destroyed by the Dutch, he says, many years ago, but someof the cottages are still in sufficient repair to shelter us."
"Why shouldn't we stay here?" asked Nick, with his mouth full of parrot."This is a jolly place enough--fresh water, lots of melons and parrots,and they're both of them capital eating. And a comfortablesleeping-place. If we must make a halt anywhere, why not here? It's acapital place, I think, except for the baboons," he muttered in a lowertone, as the recollection of his recent adventure suddenly occurred tohim.
"Why shouldn't we stay here?" repeated Lavie. "Well, I'll tell you,Gilbert. It isn't so much the wild beasts--though a place which everynight is full of lions, rhinoceroses, and leopards doesn't exactly suitanybody but a professed hunter--but there is the fear of the Bushmenreturning to cut off Omatoko's head, whom they will expect to find dead.And if they find him alive, it is most probable that they will do bothhim and us some deadly mischief. And they may be looked for to-day, orto-morrow, certainly. Besides--"
"There's no need to say any more, I am sure," broke in Gilbert. "Ididn't think of the Bushmen. Let us be off at once, I say. I'd rathercarry the Hottentot on my shoulders than stay here to be murdered,probably, by those savages!"
"Well, I own I think the return of the Bushmen quite enough by itself,"said the surgeon; "but I ought to add that Omatoko thinks the weather isgoing to change, and there is likely before long to be a violent storm.None of you have had much experience of what an African storm is like.But I have had quite as much as I desire, and do not wish to encounterit, without a roof of some kind over my head! Well, then, if we are allready, let us set out at once."
The grove and pool were soon left behind. Omatoko stepped outvaliantly, sometimes leaning on Lavie's or Warley's shoulder, andsitting down to rest, whenever a thicket of trees afforded a sufficientclose screen to hide the party from sight. They noticed that beforeleaving any of these coverts, he anxiously scrutinised the horizontowards the north, and once or twice requested the boys to climb thehighest tree they could find, and report whether anything was visible inthe distance.
His strength and confidence alike seemed to improve as the day advanced.About twelve o'clock they made what was to be their long halt, in apatch of scrub which sprung apparently out of the barren sand, thoughthere was neither spring nor pond anywhere to be seen, nor even anyappearance of moisture. They had progressed about four miles insomething less than five hours, and were now, Omatoko told them, hardlya mile from their destination. He pointed it out indeed in thedistance--a rocky eminence, with a patch of trees and grass lying closeto it. But the party had not been seated for ten minutes, and werestill engaged in devouring the melons they had brought with them, whentheir guide again rose and advised their immediately resuming theirjourney.
"What, go on at once?" exclaimed Gilbert. "Why, what is that for? I amjust beginning to get cool--that is, as cool as ever I expect to beagain. If we have only a mile to go, we had surely better walk it inthe cool of the evening than under this broiling sun."
"Must not wait," said Omatoko. "Storm come soon--not able go at all."
"The storm! Do you see any signs of one, doctor? I don't."
"Yes, I see signs; but I own I should not have thought it would breakout for some hours. But the changes of the atmosphere are wonderfullyrapid in this country, and I have no doubt the Hottentot is right. Willit be on us in another hour, Omatoko?"
"Perhaps half an hour, perhaps three-quarters," was the answer.
"Half an hour! We must be off this minute, and move as fast as we can.Here, Frank, Ernest--hoist Omatoko on to my shoulders; I can carry himfor a quarter of a mile, any way, and that will be ten minutes saved."
"And I'll take him as far as I can, when you've done with him," addedWarley, "and so, I doubt not, will the others. Lift him up. There,that's right. Now step out as fast as we can."
By the time that the doctor's "quarter of a mile," as it was called--though it was in reality nearly twice that distance--was completed, thesigns of the approaching hurricane began to gather so fast, that eventhe most unobservant must have perceived them. The clouds came rapidlyup, and gradually hid the rich blue of the sky. The light breeze whichhad stirred the foliage of the few trees which rose above the level ofthe scrub, gradually died away, and a dead, ominous calm succeeded.Warley, to whose back the sick man had now been transferred, hurried onwith all the speed he could command, and rapid way was made. Everyminute they expected the rain to burst forth. The black clouds whichhid the horizon, every other minute seemed to be split open, and forkedflashes of fire issued from them. Presently there came a furious rushof wind, almost icy cold--the immediate precursor of the outburst.
"We close by now," exclaimed Omatoko, as he was transferred fromErnest's shoulders to those of Frank. "Not hundred yards off. Turnround tall rock by pool there. Kraal little further on."
They all ran as fast as their exhausted limbs would allow. The cornerwas attained, and there, sure enough, some forty or fifty yards further,were the ruins of a number of mud cottages thatched with reed. Theywere, for the most part, mere ruins. The walls had been broken down,the thatch scattered to the four winds. Some one or two, which hadstood in the background, immediately under the shelter of a limestoneprecipice, had retained their walls, and some portions of the thatchunhurt. But one hut only, which stood in a corner under a slopingshelf, presented the spectacle of a roof still firm and whole. Frankhurried along the narrow defile leading to this cottage, putting out allstrength to reach it. He was only a few yards from it, when the tempestat last broke forth in all its fury. The wind swept down with a force,which on the open plain no man or horse would have been able to standagainst. The hail, or rather the large lumps of ice into which the rainwas frozen, rattled against the rocks like cannon balls against thewalls of a besieged fortress, and the sky grew so dark, that it was withdifficulty that the travellers could discern each other's features. Butthey had reached the friendly shelter of the cottage, and that waseverything. For two hours the fury of the elements beggared alldescription. The rain, which after a quarter of an hour or so hadsucceeded the hail, seemed to descend in one great sheet of water,converting the path along which they had travelled not half an hourbefore, into a foaming torrent, bearing trees and stones before it. Oneflash of lightning succeeded another so rapidly that the light insidethe cottage was almost continuous. Lavie looked several times anxiouslyat the thatch overhead, which could not have resisted the delugeincessantly poured upon it, if it had not been for the shelving rockswhich nearly formed a second roof above it. As it was, not a droppenetrated, and when the raging of the wind and the deluge of rain atlast subsided, not one of the party had sustained any injury.
The Hottentot had been laid on a heap of reeds which blocked up onecorner of the hut, having been driven in there apparently at one time oranother by the wind. He had been at first somewhat exhausted by thespeed at which he had been carried for the last half mile or so, but heseemed quite restored before the storm had ceased. He now directed theboys to go out and gather some wild medlars, which he had noticedgrowing on a tree at no great distance from the rocky defile where theyhad turned aside from the main path, declaring them to be excellenteating. He also requested them to bring him a straight branch, abo
utthree feet long, from a particular tree which he described, and a dozenstout reeds from the edge of the pool. Out of these he intended, hesaid, to make a bow and arrows, by means of which he would soon providethe party with all the food they would require.
"Three feet long?" repeated Gilbert. "You mean six, I suppose."
"No, he doesn't," said the doctor, who had overheard the request. "Thebows of all these tribes are not more than three feet in length. I haveseen several of them. It is wonderful to see with what force andaccuracy they discharge their arrows, considering the material of whichthey are made. I had better go with you, I think. I know exactly thetree and the size of the bough required."
Lavie, Wilmore, and Gilbert accordingly set out, leaving Warley toattend to Omatoko, and make the hut as comfortable as he could for a twodays' halt there. Lion also remained behind. As soon as his companionswere gone Ernest set about his task.
"There are no chairs or tables to be had in these parts," he thought."We must sit on the ground when we do sit, and take our meals off theground, when we take them. All that can be done is to strew the floorwith rushes and grass, which will do also for beds at night I supposeeverything outside is soaking wet, and won't be dry enough for ourpurpose until it has had a good baking sun upon it for several hours.But the stuff we found in here was quite dry, and perhaps there may besome like it in the other huts. If not, I shall have to cut some fromthe edge of the pool, I suppose, and lay it out to dry."
He took Lavie's hatchet, and went into the nearest hut, the roof ofwhich had been broken in in one or two places, but was still tolerablysound. He saw, as he stepped through the doorway, that he had not beenmistaken about the reeds. A large heap had been lodged in one corner bythe wind, and seemed to be quite dry. He stepped forward, and layingdown his hatchet, gathered up a large armful. In so doing, he trod uponwhat appeared to be the end of a log: but his foot had no sooner touchedit, than it was drawn away from under him, and a sharp hiss warned himthat he had disturbed some enemy. At the same instant he felt a strongpressure round his legs and waist, and perceived that he was envelopedin the coils of a large serpent, which was rapidly winding itself roundhis chest. A moment afterwards, the flat diamond-shaped head came insight, the eyes glaring fiercely at him, and the slaver dropping fromthe open jaws. Ernest's arms were happily free, and he availed himselfof the circumstance with the cool promptitude of his character. Heglanced for a moment at the hatchet lying on the ground a few feet off;but he felt that it would be impossible for him to stoop to pick it up.It must be a struggle of muscle against muscle. Thrusting out his righthand, he grasped the snake by the neck, at the same time shouting aloudfor help. The creature no sooner felt its antagonist's grasp, than itturned its head, endeavouring to bite. Finding itself unable to seizeErnest's hand, it drew in its folds, aiming at his face. The lad in aninstant found that his muscular power was not nearly equal to that ofhis enemy. He seized hold of his right wrist with his other hand,throwing the whole power of his frame into the effort, but in vain.Slowly, inch by inch, his sinews were compelled to yield. Inch by inchthe horrid fangs came nearer and nearer to his face. With the strengthof despair he contrived to keep the reptile at bay for a few minuteslonger; but his powers were fast failing him, and he expected everymoment to feel the sharp teeth lacerating his flesh. Suddenly a shockseemed to be communicated to the monster's frame. The terrible grip ofthe folds relaxed, and the threatening head drooped lax and powerless.Ernest cast his eyes downwards, and perceived that the mastiff hadseized the tail in his strong jaws, and had almost bitten it in two.The muscular force of the serpent was paralysed by the wound, and Ernesthad no difficulty in disengaging himself from the folds, and flingingthem--a helpless and writhing mass--on the ground. Then, catching upthe hatchet, he struck off the head, just as Omatoko hobbled up, leaningon a stick, from the adjoining hut.
"Very big snake," was his comment, "bad poison too. Lucky him no bitewhite boy, or him dead for certain. Lucky, too, big dog near at hand.Never see bigger snake than that. Him seventeen--eighteen foot long!Big dog just come in time, and that all!"
Meanwhile Warley, who had partially recovered his senses, after bathinghis face and hands in the fresh water, was returning heartfelt thanks toHeaven for his narrow and wonderful deliverance from the most dreadfuldeath which the imagination of man can picture.