CHAPTER VIII
THE BULLS AND THE WILD DOGS
After an hour or so Muata was sent forward as look-out, and with hisjackal by his side, apparently aiding him in his task, he showedsuch eyes for the night that they kept on safely till the morning,when the sail was hoisted, and by breakfast-time they judged theyhad covered about forty miles--quite enough for safety. They ran theOkapi in among the islands which still stretched away as far as theycould see, and made fast, to eat and to sleep. The noon heat wokethem. They sat up under the awning and talked of the great drive, ofMuata's escape, and of his wonderful luck in finding them--though hemade out that there was nothing strange about it, since from thewoods he had seen the preparations for the hunt, and had, too, madeout the Okapi in the dusk. For the rest, his jackal had scented outthe white man's lair, and all he, the chief, had to do was to upsetthe canoe of the Arab.
"That was no great work for Muata--the otter, the water-wolf," hesaid.
"And how did the chief escape?"
"Before the shouting arose that Muata was gone, he found a calabashof fat for the cooking, by the door of a hut. Some fat he rubbed onthe soles of his feet to kill the scent. Then he sent the jackalinto the woods and crawled into a hut, being stiff from the binding.In the hut he remained, rubbing the fat into the joints, till thepeople came back to the feast."
"The feast was made by us, so that while the people ate we couldloosen your bonds."
"Wow! Never yet have I known any to give such thought to astranger."
"It is our way to stand by those who stand by us."
"It is a great word that;" and the chief turned the thought over inhis mind. "Ow aye! They came again to the feast, and Muata went outinto the woods in peace."
"And was that all?"
"There was a man gathering fruit in the morning as I passed througha garden, and his knife I took."
"And what did the man do?"
"He took a message to my father, the chief," said Muata,enigmatically. "The chief's son has been like a hunted dog. Hisstomach hungers for red meat. His spirit thirsts for the hunt. Wow!O hunter, set your shining boat for the shore, and let us follow thetrail. There be buffalo in the lands beyond the hills which line theriver."
"That's a splendid idea!" cried Venning. "I'm beginning to getmouldy. A trip ashore would be ripping, now that we have distancedour pursuers."
"I second that motion," said Compton, with a longing glanceshorewards. "Do you know, sir, that we have not shot a thing sincewe entered the Congo?"
"I have no objection," said the hunter. "And we must have a goodsupply of biltong before we enter the forest; but we cannot affordto take risks. Just examine the shore for a creek, and at dusk wewill run across."
The boys passed the afternoon searching the south bank for signs ofa creek, and in the evening the Okapi shaped her course across to alikely spot they had marked out. But though they found a creek, itwas not one that commended itself as a hiding to Mr. Hume, and itwas not till after a wearisome hunt for hours in the dark that theyfound a channel leading through the hills which he agreed to followup; and then, when they had entered about a mile, Muata, with hisjackal, was landed to "feel" around for native paths or villages.Muata, after a long absence, reported all safe as far as he couldjudge, and they tied up. In the morning they found themselves in thethick of the woods, and pushed on down a dark and sluggish streamstrewn with fallen timber, till they came to a pool in a gorge. Herethey resolved to leave their boat.
They took the Okapi to pieces, stowed them away in a dry cavern inthe krantz, covered them with the tarpaulins, and pushed on downthrough the gorge on foot, emerging beyond the hills which borderedthe Congo into a rolling country, park-like in appearance. Theystudied the land well before they continued, first for signs ofnative villages, and next for game. Smoke rose far away to theright, but nearer, the country seemed deserted, and as plenty ofgame appeared in sight, they determined to camp on the slopes of thehill. So they looked about for a good pitch, and made choice of asunny spot at the foot of a rocky cliff, not far from the streamthey had followed, and well screened from view by a thicket of bushin the front. They stowed away their blankets in a small cave at thebase of the cliff, and then started off for the first hunt, the boysin a fine state of excitement. They struck into a game-path leadingthrough thick scrub, and five minutes from the start there was asullen snort, a tremendous crashing in the woods, as if, at least, aherd of elephant were stampeding. Mr. Hume dashed down the game-path, and before the boys could see what manner of beast it was, hehad fired and bowled it over with a bullet behind the ear.
"A bit of luck," he said, as they reached him.
"What is it?" asked Venning, glancing around with bright eyes.
"A buffalo, over there."
The two boys saw a dark form on the ground, half hidden by a bush,and were running forward.
"Quietly," said the hunter. "Always approach dangerous gamecautiously when they are down--especially buffalo;" and with hisfinger on the trigger he went up slow-footed.
But the buffalo was stone-dead--a great bull with an immense bossbetween the bend of his sharp horns.
"It's the luck of hunting," said Mr. Hume, as the boys walked roundthe great beast. "Some days you never get a shot, and other timesyou find game at your back door, so to speak. One of you boys willstay with Muata to skin and cut up. It will be a good lesson."
The two looked at each other, and then away over the plain. Skinningand cutting up was not exactly amusing.
"All right; I'll stay," said Venning.
"Each in his turn," said the hunter. "Come along, Compton;" and theywent off, as Venning turned up his shirt-sleeves.
It was hard work, this cutting up, but Muata was a master at thejob, and Venning learnt his lesson thoroughly.
The great hide was taken off in one piece without a slit; then longstrips of meat were cut off and hung over the branches of a tree.When the rest of the meat had been stripped off, they packed it allaway in the hide, slung the bundle to a sapling, and, with each endof the pole on a shoulder, they slowly carried the whole to thecamp. Venning hoped that his labours were over; but they had onlycompleted one task. They had now to build a scaffolding on which tohang the strips, after each had been well peppered to keep off theflies, for the drying and smoking. This took another slice out ofthe day; and when Venning had washed in the river, and cooked andeaten his buffalo-steak, he resigned himself to the study of insectsin place of the pursuit of game, while Muata, who had melted downthe fat from the kidneys, sat and rubbed the oil into his limbs tillhis skin shone.
"Have you seen many buffalo?" asked Venning, with a keen eye on abit of crooked stick that had seemed to move.
"Many."
"And you understand their ways?"
"I have watched as you watch the stick that is not a stick."
Venning picked up an insect--a strange creature which had adapteditself to its surroundings by pretending to be a dried twig.
"Tell me what you saw."
"I saw the twin bulls when they were calves, and I saw them whenthey led the herd, and when they lost the leadership. I watchedthem. Ow aye, I knew their ways. Sometime, when I was yet a boy, Icould understand what they said."
"What they said, chief?"
"See, the creatures are like men in their ways, and men are likeanimals--each man like to one kind of animal. Haw! So I judged whatthe buffalo would say if he could talk like men."
"And what was the talk? Tell it me; for I also have given speech toanimals when I have watched alone."
"I will tell you what I thought when I was young, and watched thethings of the forest. The wisest among the people I have met is awoman; and among the things of the forest, the wisest were even abuffalo cow who never had calf, and the mother of the yellow pack,who had white eyes in her long head. Haw!
"Now, the pack hunted on the same veld where a troop of buffalograzed, but the bull who led the troop was wise. He took counselwith the old cow that was calf-less
, and the pack could never findthe fat heifers or the younger calves unguarded. In the troop weretwo young bulls--brothers; and these I had watched grow--watchedfrom my hiding. They were strong and fierce, and they eyed the oldbull full. Scarcely would they turn from his path. Wow! One morningthe old bull stood in the game-path, considering in his mind how itcame to happen that the earth had been fresh turned. While he stood,the young bulls pressing behind suddenly put their horns to hisflanks and urged him forward. Mawoh! The old bull stepped on to thenewly turned earth, and went down into a pit that the hunters haddug. He called to the troop to run from the danger, and they crashedthrough the wood to the open glade.
"Haw! A young dog of the pack heard the bellow from the earth, andcreeping near, he looked down upon the great bull. Then, with hisnose to the ground, he ran upon the trail of the troop till he sawthem in the opening. The young bulls moved among the cows. Theypushed the old cow aside, and later went through the tall grass intoa shallow vlei, where they wallowed in the mud. Then the young dogran back to the pack. This is what he said, as I understood--
"'Behold, O mother,' he said, 'the great bull, even the leader, isfallen in the trap made by man in the path.'
"Who leads the troop now--the old cow or the two brothers?"
'The young bulls, O mother, and they lie in the mud.'
"Then the she-dog called the pack together. I heard the call, andknew there would be hunting. She called them and made a plan. I sawafterwards the plan she made. The young dogs she sent round to thefar side of the vlei, and she came with the biggest of the pack tothe side nearest the forest. From the edge of the wood she lookedout on the open. The old cow stood alone, with her head turning nowthis way, then that way. The others grazed with their calves. Theheifers stood foot-deep in the water near the bulls.
"The old dog turned to the pack. 'This comes of the folly of theyoung,' she said; and her white eyes ran from dog to dog. 'Those twolie like pigs. We will eat buffalo to-night. Scatter and wait.'
"Three dogs went to the right of her and three to the left. Theystretched themselves in the grass. The old cow blew through hernostrils. She struck the ground, and the cows with the young calvesran to her. They gathered in a bunch, heads out. From beyond camethe hunting-cry of the young dogs. The heifers moved, but the bullskept still.' It is but a dog yapping after a hare,' they said.'Stand you still.'
"But the hunting-cry drew nearer. The cows lowered their heads,bellowing, and the heifers ran. Wow! The young dogs cut one out, andraced her right to where the great mother of the pack crouched. Asthe heifer came by, the white jaws snapped at her belly, and bitdeep, so that blood flowed, and on the scent of the blood the packwent into the forest. They ate buffalo that night.
"The young bulls rose from the mud. They ran to and fro in the open;their eyes were red, and the foam dripped from their black lips.Wow! they were angry, Ow aye, they were covered with shame and mud.The old cow moved away, and the cows with young followed her. Theheifers, trembling in their limbs, would have followed also, but thebulls headed them off. There was much talk in the forest over this.They said the bulls had learnt wisdom. No dog would take a member ofthe troop again. The bulls tossed their horns. 'If a lion comes,'they said, 'we would beat him off.'
"The pack tried again, and were beaten off; but the old she yawned.'In a few days, my children,' she said, 'we will eat buffalo, evenof the meat of the young bulls. There never were two leaders in apack'--and her white eyes went to a dog who had hopes of theleadership--'never; and in a day, or two days, these brothers willfight. They will fight hard; and when the fight is done the packwill steal upon them. When they stand panting, with lowered headsand feet wide apart, we will bite at the softness of their bellies.'She licked her lips, and the tongues of the pack curled over theirlips also. So the young dogs were set to watch upon the brothers;and it came to pass as the old mother said--the brothers fought. Itbegan in play. One swung his head at the other, and the other swungback.
"When a grown bull swings his head, O white boy, who picked me outof the sea, it is like the blow of a falling tree. There is theweight of his head with the heavy horns, the arch of his neck, andthe power in his shoulders where the muscles lie. The blows rousedthe fury in them. They looked sideways at each other, then theirtails went up, and they came together. Wow!! The noise rang far. Thehunting dogs ran swiftly to the pack, and as they ran there followedthem the noise of the fight.
"I stole near to watch. It was a battle. The ground was torn up asin the hoeing, where their hoofs clung for a footing under thepressure. First they pushed, head to head, nose near the ground, redeyes looking into red eyes. The heifers stood in a cluster watching.It was a still battle. They saved their breath, and as they breathedthe dust flew. For many minutes they pushed, swaying, one losingground for a time, then gaining it back. The foam gathered on theirlips and dropped to the ground. The sweat ran under their bellies.Then one slipped, and the other struck under the shoulder. From thelower rib to the back there ran a white mark. The white mark turnedblack, and blood came out. At the pain of it the stricken bullgrunted and struck up. His horn struck under the body, and with thecracking of his joints he heaved the other over. Haw! He rolled himright over and sprang at him. Wow!! He struck and stood back. Theother was on his feet swiftly. With the swiftness of a little cat hegained his feet. So they stood with their heads up, staring with redeyes. Again they came together. Again they shoved and strained, andthe dust caked on the blood that covered them. The ground beneaththem that was dry, was now muddy from the trampled blood. Then theyswung their heads and struck, grunting at the blows, and stoodapart, and came together, till the blood started from their ears.Their breath came in gasps, and the silence was broken. From theirlips, all blood-covered, there came a moaning. Ow aye, the moaningof a mother over her dead. The heifers ran forward, then back; theyran round and galloped away, afraid--galloped into the forest.
"In my heart, O white friend, I was sorry for the brothers. Themoaning was the cry of sorrow that one felt for the other. 'O mybrother, I must slay you,' that was the meaning of the moaning.Their tongues rolled out, swollen; their legs shook, their eyes werecovered with mist. Yet they swung their heads, and each time thehorns were wet with blood, and the moaning came always. Then theycame together, and went on their knees. Their muzzles were in themud; their hind legs were wide apart.
"Ow aye, I looked away and saw the white eyes of the mother of thepack. She was creeping up. Her lips were wet; the hair on her neckstood up. Behind her came others. I gave the low growl of a lion--the cry he makes when he is angry at being disturbed. She threw upher head and sniffed the air. Then she growled in her throat, forthere was no taint of lion in the air, but the taint of man! Herwhite eyes found me out where I sat in a low tree, and there wasdeath in them. So I gathered the air in my lungs and shouted. Aman's shout is as much dreaded as the lion's roar. The dogs jumpedup, but the old mother called to them, and they crouched down. Thebrothers stood moaning head to head. I shouted again; I whistled.Then the bulls drew apart. One fell slowly on his side; the othersmelt at the fallen one. Then he tried to bellow, but his tongue wasthick in his mouth. The she-dog crept forward, and I whistled loud.This time he flung up his head and looked around. He saw the whiteeyes above the grass; he saw the round ears everywhere around. Thenhe smelt at his brother. Wow! He smelt at him; he licked the bloodfrom his nostrils.
"This is the law among the wild things--when one is down he is down.The weak are driven forth by their fellows; the hurt are left. Thebull smelt at his brother; then again he flung his head up to lookat the white-eyed one, and he moved away for the vlei, moaning as hewent. The dogs let him pass; their eyes scarcely went to him, forthey were fixed on the fallen. They moved upon him in silence, a fewsteps at a time, then crouched with hanging tongues; then a few moresteps; and as they closed in the fallen bull watched those he couldsee. Meat for dogs! He a chief in the forest, who could toss thelargest dog the height of a tree! Wow! He gathered his hind feetunder him and lifted.
Slowly he reached his feet, and the white-eyedmother ran in open-mouthed. She gripped the sinews of his hind legand held on. The pack crowded in. Haw! It was no fight. The bulllooked after his brother, who was slowly moving to the vlei, moaningas he went. Then, but for a little time, he fought as a chief shouldfight when his foes are on him. With a swing of his head here, and aswing there, he stove in the ribs of two of the pack; then he sprangon another, flung him, as a boy would a stone, into the air, watchedhim go up, watched him come down, then flung him up again, and fellforward on his knees with his nose on the ground, and the packsnapped the flesh from him in mouthfuls. The other bull turned notat the howling of the pack. He walked on slow and straight to thevlei, drank deep, and made a bed in the mud. He covered his woundswith mud, and when his wounds were healed he was an outcast. Thetroop had another leader, and the old cow led them all to anothergrazing-ground."
"And what became of you, Muata?"
"Muata stayed in the tree. Mawoh! Muata was afraid. The mother ofthe pack had not forgotten. Even while she ate she looked at him,and when the milk-mothers with their young came to the forest,having been called, she lay off and watched, with her evil eyes onme. The jackals, smelling blood, howled, sitting on their haunches,and a lion came up growling in his throat. But he did not come rightup; he stood a way off, watching, and presently he stretchedhimself on his stomach to wait. Haw! Even the lion will not attemptto drive the pack from its kill. Ow aye, it is so. The old mothernever turned her eyes to watch the lion, but when the pups played,having eaten their fill, she stood up. The pack looked at her andmoved off; then the lion rose and came forward. The old one stoodher ground, and the great one, when he was within three bounds ofher, also stood. The white eyes turned away from the yellow eyes--they turned to me; then she yapped and went off after the pack. Thelion looked after her; then he stretched himself on the ground againand stared. He lifted his head to the wind and sniffed. Mawoh! Well,I knew the old mother had told him of my presence; but the lionnever looks up. It was well for me, for his mind was uneasy. A longtime he lay, while the jackals sat howling. Then he crept round thetree and the carcase. Twice he crept round; then, as the smell ofthe meal was too much, he trotted up to the carcass and growled athis feast. His back was toward me, and I fled."
"And did you meet the white-eyed mother again?"
"The wisest among the people I have met," said Muata, gravely, "wasa woman; and among the creatures of the forest, the wisest was ashe-dog. It is in my mind that the leader of the pack was umtaguati.Ow aye, she was a wizard; and it is not well to make war againstsuch."
Venning looked at the chief with curiosity. "Are there many wizardsin the forest, Muata?" he asked with a smile.
"By day and night, many; but most by night. Our people will notventure forth in the darkness of the forest for fear of the wizardsand the bad spirits that watch from behind the trees and followstealthily; but a spell was given to Muata. He could walk in thenight."
"Have you seen these--eh--spirits, Muata?" Muata put the questionaside. He rose and pointed to the east.
"The sun dies away and the hunters return."
"I don't hear them. Where are they?" "The birds cry out and fly.That is the sign that man is on the move; for hear, you who split upthe shining boat, birds will scold at a leopard or a great snake,hovering around as they scold; but they fly from man. From nothingelse will they fly. From an eagle they will hide after giving thewarning call; but from man they fly."
A few minutes later the two arrived, Mr. Hume carrying an antelopeon his shoulder.