CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
JACK ROGERS AND THE RUNAWAY HERDS.
The General found a shallow fording-place, when the Limpopo itself wasreached; and no little excitement was displayed by Dinny at the thoughtof recklessly plunging into a river that was as full as a Pay shuck, hesaid, of crocodivils.
But the river had to be crossed; and when all was ready the order"Trek!" was given, Peter's whip cracked, and the team went down a slopeinto the river at a trot, Dirk bravely walking by the side of theforemost oxen on finding Jack and Dick, on horseback, ready to lead theway.
Dinny groaned, and crept into the waggon unseen by any one; whileCoffee, Chicory, and the General took over the horses side by side withMr Rogers.
The stream ran fast, but it was very shallow, and the bottom was hard,so that the waggon was got over in safety, the oxen dragging it well upon the other side before they were allowed to halt; and so successfulhad the passage been that there might not have been a crocodile in theriver.
The fact was of course that the trampling and disturbance of so manyhoofs kept the reptiles at a distance; but as the waggon was halted, andMr Rogers gave a glance under to see that all was right, the dogs beganrunning and snuffing about amongst the reeds and grass at the side, whenPompey suddenly uttered a hideous yell, and bounded away, careering overthe plain with his tail between his legs, having had a very narrowescape from a small and active crocodile, which had literally thrownitself out of the water in its endeavour to catch him.
The land presented an entirely different aspect now, vast plains runningaway towards the horizon; and in places it looked rather ominous, for itwas parched and dry. Plenty of good grass and water were absolutenecessities for the success of their expedition, so Mr Rogers paused toconsult with the General, who pointed to the fact that there were greatherds of game upon the plain, a sign which indicated that there must bepasture and water, and as he expressed his thorough conviction thatplenty of grass would be found on in advance, the order was given oncemore to trek.
"But where's Dinny?" cried Mr Rogers; "surely we have not left himbehind."
"No, sor," said a whining voice; "shure I was putting things a bitsthrait in the waggon. Are we safe across the wather yet?"
"Safe?" cried Dick contemptuously; "no! not a bit. Look out, Dinny, orwe shall have one of the crocodiles pursuing us on horseback on purposeto have a snap at you."
"Shure an' ye's joking," said Dinny thrusting his head out of the backof the waggon; "and maybe he'd prefer you, Masther Dick, as beingtinderer to his teeth and more gintale."
The journey during the next few days was more laborious thaninteresting. It was intensely hot; water was scarce, so was pasture;and but for the wise provision of the couple of goodly-sized tubs strungbehind the waggon, there would have been a great deal of suffering.Nobody knew the position of those tubs better than Pompey, Caesar, andCrassus, unless it was Rough'un, for no sooner did they become thirsty,and fail to discover water, than they took their places behind thewaggon and watched the barrels, "dhrinking 'em dhry wid their eyes," soDinny said, and barking loudly whenever a drop was drawn.
The plains they crossed seemed to be endless, so did the herds ofvarious kinds of game; and one evening the party separated in search ofsomething for the larder, which had become low.
The General went in one direction with Dick, Mr Rogers went in anotherwith Chicory, and in a very independent spirit Jack shouldered hisrifle, and went off by himself to see what he could bring down.
About a mile from the bank he came upon what promised to be a capitalplace for stalking one or other of the herds grazing on the plain,namely, the bed of a nearly dried-up river, dotted with pools of water,one which had cut its way in stormy seasons through the rocky soil,leaving on either side a steep well-marked bank of about four feet high.
The bed of the little river was dotted with tall clumps offeathery-flowered grass, which with the bank would form excellent cover,so that the hunter could go for miles either way in a natural trench,towards whose water pools the antelopes would most probably graze.
It was a great advantage, but the place had its disadvantages as well,and Jack found them out before long.
At first he started full of hope, congratulating himself on the factthat he had on his high riding-boots, and could wade dry shod throughsome of the pools. But before he had gone far he began wishing that hehad brought the dogs, to search the different clumps of high grass,every one of which looked to be a certain lurking-place for a lion; andknowing now full well what capital stalkers they were, he kept glancingover his shoulder at the various clumps, fully expecting to see anenemy.
There were two or three rushes and rustling noises to make him start,but as they only proved to be made by water-lizards Jack grew moreconfident, and creeping cautiously along, he began to make for a coupleof herds feeding upon the plain--one, the gnu, or wildebeeste as theBoers call them; the others, the graceful, shapely blessbok.
The appearance of the fierce shaggy gnu is not such as to give promisethat he will prove good eating, so Jack naturally turned his attentionto the blessboks, creeping cautiously along so as to get within shot;but though he was perfectly certain that he had not shown so much as thebarrel of his gun, the blessbok suddenly took alarm, and went off likethe wind.
Their very first dash alarmed the gnu, some thirty strong, and theydashed off in another direction.
"And I was so careful!" cried Jack passionately; but the next instant,just as he was about to show himself, and get out of the crampedposition he had occupied close to a clump of grass, he had thesatisfaction of seeing that the blessboks had not been alarmed at him,for they had suddenly wheeled round, and were coming right for him ashard as they could gallop.
"Well, I shall get one this time," cried Jack, bringing his rifle tobear, and waiting for an opportunity as the beautiful animals gallopedalong; when a heavy beating noise behind him caught his ear, and turninghe found that the gnus had also altered their course, and were comingback, with their heads down, tails up, and their horns half pointed, asif to charge the young hunter where he crouched.
There was no mistake about it; the gnu herd was coming straight for him,and in another minute they would have leaped down into the half drywatercourse, and trampled him into the sand.
It was a time for displaying a little presence of mind, and to show thepower of man--in this case, boy--over the beasts of the field. If thegnus had kept on, they would have crushed Jack on the instant, each onebeing in strength much more than a match for a man; but on seeing himstart up on one knee, and shout and wave his gun, they swerved off tothe right, and thundered by, just as a lighter beating noise of feet washeard; and as Jack turned, there to his disgust was the last of thelittle herd of blessboks, almost close to him, galloping by.
Running round to the other side of the patch of grass he went down onone knee and fired; but the excitement had disarranged his nerves, andthe bullet went over the last blessbok's back; while before he could getin another cartridge and climb out of the watercourse, his chance wasgone.