CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
THE GENERAL IS OVERCOME BY GIN--A TRAP.
A very quiet-looking black came up directly after, to say that the kinghad sent him to show the party where to camp: and he led the way to apleasant little grove, where there was a pool of water, and ample grassfor the cattle; and after the new arrivals were settled down--far toonear the "naygurs" to satisfy Dinny's sensitive nature, a return visitwas paid to the king, who readily gave his permission for the party tohunt when and where they pleased in his dominions.
This was satisfactory, and it was determined that no time should be lostin getting amongst the large game, but not until they had had a shot ortwo at the large hippopotami, which were abundant in the marshes aboutthe river.
Still they would be obliged to remain for a few days at their presentcamp out of civility to the king, who, they found, would be perfectlywilling to accept a few donations of meat, the supply kept up by his ownhunters being intermittent, so that his majesty had frequently to gowithout.
All the same, though, the king's hunters were ingenious and clever intheir schemes, as Mr Rogers and his sons found out before many hourshad passed.
The king presented his visitors with fried fish and Kaffir beer in acalabash, and as everything seemed very clean and satisfactory, Dick andJack made no scruple about eating heartily. After this they had to beadmired and have their heads patted by the queens, who declared thatthey were capital boys.
At last they returned to the waggon, where, there being no necessity toput up a fence to keep off lions, so near the town, the rest of theevening was spent in a thorough good clean up and oiling of the guns.
The General was absent, or he would have willingly helped; but Coffeeand Chicory said that he had gone off to get birds, so it was concludedthat he would be back before long.
The oxen were all secured to the dissel-boom and trek-tow; and thehorses were haltered up to the wheels, everything being made safe andsound. Then a fire was lit, and preparations made for passing thenight; but still the General did not come back.
His two boys, however, did not seem to be in the slightest degreeuncomfortable about his absence, saying that he would be back beforelong; so, as they knew their father's ways better than he, Mr Rogersconcluded that there was no cause for anxiety, for the Zulu warriorwould return in his own good time.
Dick and Chicory kept the first watch, and then called Mr Rogers, whorelieved them, with Peter. But there was nothing to report, only thatthere had been a great deal of drumming and tomtoming up in the town,and that when the music and singing had ceased, the hippopotami on theriver's brink had commenced roaring, snorting, splashing, and makingnoises that were quite startling in the silence of the night.
Fully expecting to see the Zulu warrior return every minute, Mr Rogersreplenished the fire, and sat listening to the monsters on the river'sbank, and wishing that he were lying ensconced there in some shelteredposition where he could get a shot at one of the huge beasts; but thatwas a pleasure to come, and one which he hoped to give his sons.
His watch went by, and then Jack and Coffee were roused up to relievehim, and being weary Mr Rogers was glad to find his blanket once more,lying till he was roused by Dinny for breakfast.
"Has the General come back?" asked Mr Rogers, as he joined Dick andJack.
"No, father, and the boys are getting anxious about him. They're goneoff to find him, and I am expecting them back."
So said Dick, and as he spoke the two Zulu boys came running up in aterrible state of excitement.
"Want our father," they exclaimed angrily. "Father killed. Come andfind."
There was something so tragic in the words of the boys that Mr Rogersand his sons seized their guns, and telling Coffee and Chicory to lead,they went straight for the forest-land towards which Coffee said he hadseen his father go.
Coffee was quite right, for the General had started off in thisdirection, assegai in hand, and a kiri in his skin belt, partly to seewhat hunting capabilities the land possessed, partly to try and obtain afew birds or a small gazelle.
He went straight off to the forest, and with all the instinct of a goodhunter he examined the spoor of the animals going to and from the water,and also made himself acquainted with the drinking-spots, taking in at aglance the suitability of the places for a hunter to lie in ambush, andthen he went on once more.
To his great satisfaction, he found in addition to the spoor ofantelopes of all kind, those of the hippopotamus near the river,elephants, giraffes, and the rhinoceros. There, too, he found anabundance of footprints of buffalo, so that there would be ample gamefor his masters to exercise their skill.
But he was not satisfied yet, and regardless at last of the comingdarkness, he went on with the instincts of the true hunter who has spentthe greater part of his life in the woods, searching here, examiningthere, and he grew more and more elate and satisfied.
He had obtained nothing for the waggon larder, but that did not troublehim, as he had made so many satisfactory discoveries; and at last, justas the moon was shining brilliantly through the trees, he entered abroad drink-trail, one used by the animals on the way through the forestto the river, and prepared to make the best of his way back.
The course was pretty open, and he paused for a moment to listen whetherhe could hear anything coming; but all was perfectly still, and hestarted again, increasing his walk to a trot over the well-troddentrack, and this trot to a greater speed, when all at once he felt theground giving way beneath his feet, and instinctively making a springforward, he tried to clear the hollow; but he had no power in his start,and he only touched the farther side, and then fell with a crash throughthe screening brushwood into a deep hole.
He fell so heavily that for the moment he was stunned, and lay thereperfectly helpless, listening to a furious snarling howl, and feelingthe scuffling and twining about of a number of reptiles which his fallhad disturbed.
The Zulu knew well enough where he was, and that he had been unfortunateenough to leap into one of the many pitfalls some tribes dig in thewoods to capture large game.
He knew exactly how such a pit would be dug, widening out from the topto the bottom, so that the creatures which fell in would be unable toescape; and he understood the hideous snarling of some beast, for as hecautiously rose to a standing position the moonlight showed him, impaledupon the horribly sharp stake formed by fining down a good-sized treeand planting it in the bottom, a hideously wolfish-looking hyaena,which, less fortunate than himself, had fallen upon the sharp spike,which had gone completely through the wretched animal's body, leaving itwrithing, snarling, and clawing the air with its paws in its vainefforts to get free.
It was a terrible neighbour to have in such close proximity, and for themoment the General thought of thrusting it through and killing it out ofits misery; but his assegais had quitted his hand in his fall, and tohave found them again meant to search amidst the broken twigs and bushesat the bottom of the pit, where he could feel and hear the snakes.
Even as he thought all this he could feel the cold scaly bodies of thereptiles gliding over his feet, and against his bare legs; and hence hewas obliged to stand perfectly motionless, lest--though he had escapedwhen he fell, his sudden dash having alarmed them, no doubt--theslightest movement of his feet might be followed by a bite, for amongstso many as he could feel there were, some were certain to be of a deadlynature.
So there he stood, unarmed, with the serpents gliding about the bottomof the pit, the moonlight glinting in through the trees, and only a footor two from his face that hideous snarling animal, which snapped at himangrily, evidently looking upon him as being the cause of itssufferings. Even if he had dared to move it would have been verydoubtful whether the General could have clambered out of the cunninglycontrived pitfall; but situated as he was, and surrounded by suchdangerous enemies, the Zulu made a virtue of necessity, and stoicallydetermined to wait for daylight before making any attempt to escape.
But all the same it wa
s a terrible position, and required all thefirmness and nerve of a strong man to stand there patiently, feeling thehideous little serpents gliding about his bare feet, and listening tothe hideous howlings of the hyaena.
But the longest and most painful nights have an end, and in due time theday broke, and the Zulu began to consider how he could get out. Withthe broad daylight he saw the wisdom he had practised in waiting, forseveral very dangerous serpents were amongst those which had fallen in,and their number was great enough to make even him, a thorough hunter,shudder.
But the General was not destined to suffer much longer; soon aftersunrise he fancied he heard a well-known call, and then there was nodoubt about it; the call was repeated, and he sent forth a stentorianreply.
These calls and answers soon brought Coffee and Chicory to the mouth ofthe pitfall, closely followed by Mr Rogers and the boys, and amongstthem by help of their guns the unfortunate General reached the track insafety, and leaving the hyaena dead, they set off back to the waggon,the General congratulating himself on having escaped from a terribledeath.