CHAPTER NINETEEN.
FIRST SIGHT OF OSTRICH.
As soon as poor Coffee showed the slightest sign of amendment, he wascarefully lifted on to a comfortable bed made for him at the back of thewaggon, where he lay patiently smiling at those who came to look at him;the oxen were in-spanned, and once more the waggon creaked and groanedover the rough land towards a fresh halting-place.
Game was plentiful enough, and Dinny always had an ample supply for hisiron pot, but more than once the difficulties with regard to water werevery serious, and very long treks had to be made before a spring orriver could be reached.
But they pushed steadily on, the excitement of their hunting andshooting excursions making them forget the troubles of their journey.
Whenever Mr Rogers talked of halting and making some snugly-shelteredposition their headquarters, the General smiled and pointed north,promising more wonders if they kept on, and finer game.
Coffee did not seem to suffer much, his greatest trouble being hisweakness, and the difficulty his surgeon had to deal with that ofkeeping him in his bed; but he was very patient, and grateful for whatwas done, while the General seemed to wait on Mr Rogers' every look andword as if he would never be weary of attending to him.
They were getting close to the neighbourhood of the river Limpopo, whenone evening, towards sundown, Mr Rogers became separated from his sonsas they were journeying back towards the waggon, in his anxiety to shootone of the curious fox-like animals that he had several times seen buthad never had a chance to hit. They were beautifully marked, with longears almost like those of a hare, and carried brushes that would havemade an English fox envious; but even out there in the African wild theyseem to partake of the cunning of their European relatives, and the moreMr Rogers tried, the less likely he seemed to succeed.
Upon this occasion he had seen one or two, and in his anxiety to obtaina shot he had dashed off into the bush, where the little animals seemedto delight in luring him on, showing for a moment and then disappearing.
It was a glorious evening, and the sky was one glow of warmly-tintedcloud, while his proximity to the waggon, which he knew was not far-off,kept him from feeling uneasy about the others getting back.
"There it is again," he exclaimed, as he saw the little fox-like animaldart amongst the bushes; and going cautiously in pursuit, he went ontill the gathering mists of the coming night warned him to return.
He had hardly turned to make for the waggon when he saw something thatcompletely enchained his attention, for looming up through the mist, andappearing of almost gigantic size, he saw what appeared to be threelarge ostriches; but while he gazed they seemed to fade away into theevening darkness, and were gone.
He had not gone far on his way back before he heard voices, and luckilycame upon the boys and the General, Chicory having been left behind toattend to his brother.
"I think I have seen ostriches this evening," said Mr Rogers. "Arethere many here, general?"
The Zulu said No, but that there might be a few. If there were any hethought they might get a shot at them for the sake of their gloriousplumes; and promising to be on the look out for their footprints, theywent on chatting about them till the waggon was reached, to find that acouple more waggons, the property of an ivory-trader travelling south,had been out-spanned close by, so that there would be company for thenight.
The ivory-trader proved to be an intelligent man, and he said that therewere plenty of elephants in the neighbourhood, but warned them to bewareof the rhinoceros and crocodile, while he declared that one or two ofthe tribes farther north were worse than either.
Lions were heard in the distance, but the fires kept up provedsufficient to warn them off, and a very good night was spent; but justas breakfast was being got ready Peter gave the alarm, Chicory echoedit; there was a rush for rifles and guns, and a general state ofexcitement, for five ostriches had suddenly made their appearance, rightup close to the camp, their tall necks with their flat stupid-lookingheads undulating like snakes above the long grass.
For a few moments they had appeared to be perfectly astounded at thesight of the various strange objects, the waggons and theiraccompaniments. Then the shouts alarmed them, and as the guns werehanded out of the waggons and the huntsmen prepared to fire, theostriches were getting up speed, running faster and faster, till, asDick said, their legs seemed to twinkle; and the shots that were sentafter them, though they might have whistled past, had not the goodfortune to bring them down.
"Well," exclaimed Dinny who was standing by the fire. "Of all thethings I ever did see run, them there do beat, and no mistake."
Certainly the speed with which their long, powerful legs sent the largebirds over the ground was wonderful, and in a very short time, longbefore horses could have been saddled, they were out of sight.
"Why, thim birds can run almost as fast as my big brother," said Dinnymusingly, as the last ostrich disappeared.
"Could he run fast, Dinny?" asked Dick, smiling at his brother, as muchas to say, "Now you listen to him, and hear what he says."
"An' is it run fast, he asks?" cried Dinny. "Why, he was the fastestrunner in Oireland, and they used to make races for him to run, andmatch him against toime, and he always won. Why, wheniver he run hecame in widout his boots."
"Came in without his boots?" said Jack, laughing.
"To be sure he did, sor, always. They managed to kape up wid himginerally about half the way, and thin they got so slow he always had tolave thim behind."
"It's a pity we haven't got your big brother here, Dinny," said Dicksarcastically. "He could have caught the ostriches for us."
"Caught 'em, Masther Dick. I should think he would, in no time."
"Would he have been as much afraid of the lions as you are, Dinny?"
"Hark at him, now," said Dinny, looking round at the dogs, which had hada race after the ostriches, and had now come back, with their tonguesout and curled up at the tip as they sat there panting. "Hark at himnow. Jist as if I was the laste taste of a bit afraid of all the lionsin Africky. Why I says to meself, `Dinny,' I says, `ye'll have to tak'care of yerself,' I says, `and not let the wild bastes ate ye till yecome back; for what would poor weeny, sickly Masther Dick do widout agood cook to make broth and stews to kape him alive? Take care ofyerself, Dinny, for the poor sick gossoon's sake,' and so I do, MastherDick; for it's not on account of meself, only for you."
"Why you said the other day, Dinny, that it was because of your mother,"cried downright Jack.
"And small blame to a man for being fond of his mother, Masther Jack.Sure I always was a good son."
Dinny was always ready with an excuse, and in spite of his idleness anddownright cowardice, he was generally merry and good-humoured, and thefirst with a laugh.
The coming of the ostriches was, however, quite an excitement, and therewas plenty of talk about how to get hold of some of them for theirplumes; but nothing was done until the strangers had gone, when, aftermoving on to a more suitable place for a few days' camp, and cuttingdown and piling up the thorns for a good safe kraal, whose fence wouldkeep marauding beasts from molesting the cattle, glasses were got out,and the beautiful park-like plain at whose edge they were now encamped,was scanned for game.
There was no difficulty found in supplying the big pot, and findingpieces for a good roast; for little herds of various kinds of antelopewere often in sight, and with a fair amount of stalking one couldgenerally be brought down. But the great aim now was to obtain a fewostriches, and try how they would, these wary birds refused to let themget within shot.
"If we shoot one," said the General quietly, "I get plenty."
But the job was to shoot the first one. The General tried creepingcontinually from bush to bush, out and over the plain; but either theostriches saw the glint of the sun upon the gun-barrel, or caught aglimpse of his dark skin, for they were off swift as the wind, withtheir legs twinkling like the spokes of a carriage wheel as they ran.
Then Mr
Rogers tried again and again with the boys; but they had worseluck than the Zulu, for they never got near enough for anything but verydoubtful long shots at many hundred yards, with the sole result ofmaking the birds more shy.
If they could have known where the ostriches were likely to appear, andcould have gone and lain wait, the task would have been easy; but thebirds came into sight in the most out-of-the-way places, and at the mostunexpected times, and not a plume came to be stuck up as a valuabletrophy in the waggon.
The General, clever hunter as he was, felt hurt at his ill-success, andpointed out the reason; and that was that the few birds about them hadtaken refuge here from the pursuit of hunters, having been chased mostpersistently in all the country round.
"You must get an ostrich, Chicory," he said to his son in his ownlanguage, as the boy was squatted down by his brother, who wasrecovering with rapid strides.
"Chicory shoot one," said the boy.
And without a word he went to Dinny, and obtained some strips of driedbok for provender, and then started off upon his quest.