CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
ONWARD FROM WONDERLAND.
They lingered about the falls for days, to revel in the beauties of themighty cataract and the great gorge through which the waters afterwardsran. Then unwillingly the oxen were in-spanned, and their course wasdirected up the river, beyond the beautiful islands, and on mile aftermile, till the bright transparent river flowed smoothly downward, andfrom its reedy banks plenty of game was obtained, the birds beingplentiful, and very welcome as a change.
It was rather a dangerous haunt here on account of the crocodiles, butJack was so passionately fond of fishing that he was humoured at times,and some transparent nook was chosen where the others could keep a lookout for crocodiles; and as Jack fished, Dick would lie down upon thebank, with his face at times close to the water, and gazing through itslimpid depths he tried to trace the long stalks of the water-lilieswhich rose from the depths to expand their broad leaves and cap-likeflowers on the surface. The great reeds, too, rising joint by jointtill their arrowy heads and green streamer-like leaves were in the broadsunshine, seemed to be moving and to quiver in the clear water.
This sub-fluvial growth was so beautiful that Dick never grew weary ofwatching it; while the coming and going of the many brightly-tintedfish, darting about among the water-plants or hanging poised in thesunlit depths, with their burnished scales flashing silvery andsteel-blue rays, added greatly to the interest of the scene.
"Let us know when you see one coming," Jack would say; and now and thenDick would whisper that a large perch-like fish, or perhaps one of thehuge eely siluri, was approaching; though just as often Coffee orChicory would utter a word of warning, when a rifle-bullet would be sentto startle some great crocodile, floating in fancied security down thecalm waters, its hideous eyes turned from side to side in search ofprey.
Once only did they succeed in getting the monster ashore, the others,when hit, sinking sullenly to the bottom, or descending with a rush thatmade the water foam.
The want of a boat prevented them from having far more sport upon theriver; but, as Mr Rogers said, they had come upon a land expedition,and their horses were getting fresh for want of work. So Jack had tobring his fishing to an end; though, truth to tell, it was not much of aloss, for his additions to the larder in the way of fish were notparticularly large, nor so toothsome as they might have been.
The good old round-hand copy slip, "Familiarity breeds contempt," isthoroughly exemplified in South Africa; and it is fortunate that this isthe case, or it would be hard work travelling across a country whereevery stone may conceal a poisonous serpent, every clump of rocks holdthe lurking-place of a boa-constrictor, and every patch of grass itsprowling lion or fierce rhinoceros--where a walk along a river's bankmay invite a charge from the fierce hippopotamus, and no man can bathewithout running the risk of being pulled under water and devoured bythat loathsome saurian lizard the crocodile.
But familiarity breeds contempt, and after the first nervousness hasworn off people go about in South Africa in a calm matter-of-fact way,without troubling themselves about their hidden enemies, otherwise thanby taking ordinary precautions, and keeping what a sailor would call asharp look out for squalls.
If this were not so life would be almost intolerable, and every onewould exist in a state of nervous trepidation as hard as that of theclassical gentleman who passed his time with a keen sword suspended overhis head by a single hair--no doubt of a kind such as would make anadmirable roach-line for a fisherman.
The members of Mr Rogers' hunting expedition thus passed their timehappily enough in the continuous round of excitement, taking thepleasure and the pain turn and turn as they came; not grumbling atthorns, or weariness, or mosquito bites; resting when they grew weary,and putting up with hard couches, hunger, and thirst, as they came,without a murmur. They looked out for danger in a sharp matter-of-factway, and by consequence rarely had a mishap; while Dinny, who was aperfect slave to his fears, and never stirred without taking the mostwonderful precautions, generally managed to come in for the worst of themisfortunes that affected the camp.
It was he who would manage to run his head in the dark amidst theprickly euphorbias. If there was a cloud of vicious gnats, Dinnygenerally got bitten. If there was a poisonous snake anywhere near thecamp, Dinny tried to put his foot upon it; and over and over again whennear the crocodile-haunted streams he sauntered regularly into theferocious creature's way.
The General and his boys saved him from several perils, over and overagain. But Dinny never seemed to realise that his own want of care gothim into trouble, always declaring that it was "a baste of a place," andno more to be compared to Ould Oireland than a beggar was to a king.
Dinny's grumblings would soon have proved to be a nuisance, but for acertain quaintness of humour in the man, which supplied matter for mirthwhen he was most disagreeable; and in spite of his defects, he was veryuseful in his way.
While camp was kept up near the great falls, Jack and Chicory had somesplendid nesting expeditions, the pendulous weaver, birds' nests comingin largely for their attention. They disturbed very few though, for, asJack said, it was hard upon the poor birds, seeing what a lot of enemiesthey had--artful monkeys slipping down the long thin branches, till theycould hang by one hand, and thrust the other little thin brown extremityup the bottle-neck shaped opening, to forage for eggs or young birds, asthe case might be.
Then there were the snakes--long, thin, twining creatures, a yard or ayard and a half long, but no thicker than the finger. These showed nolittle cleverness in ascending trees, and proceeding along the branchestill they found their way to a nest, where, in spite of the franticcries and flutterings of the birds, the little serpent would glide in,and the parents might go and start afresh, for their labours would proveto have been only to find the little snake a pleasant larder, where itcould coil up and glut itself with food.
Many of these twining little creatures fell victims to Jack's shot-gun,as well as to that of his brother, the guns being constantly in use aswell to bring down the brilliantly plumaged birds that abounded in therich forest growth of this well-watered land.
The glorious scenery of wood, rock, and water had to be left, though, atlast; and at the General's suggestion, and by way of change, the morerugged part of the country was now sought; though even here there wasplenty of wood, and they passed along the banks of a pleasant streamthat had its rise somewhere in the mountainous region ahead.
And now Mr Rogers began to look out anxiously for a danger that, thoughsmall, was terribly insidious, and one which, if not avoided, wouldbring a misfortune upon them that they would have given anything toavoid.
This danger was the notorious tsetse fly, whose bite was generally fatalto horses, the poisonous nature of the little creature so infusingitself in the blood of the unfortunate horses bitten that they graduallydied off without their owners being able to do anything to save them.
Fortunately the limits of the land occupied by these dangerous littlecreatures is pretty well-known, and those who venture upon it withhorses do so at their own risk.
Game had been rather scarce for some days, when, mounting their horses,Dick and Jack left their father with the waggon, and went in search ofsomething suitable for present use.
Partly for the sake of their help, but more particularly to give them achange, Pompey and Caesar were let loose, the latter following Dick downto the low land at the side of the stream.
It was a tolerably open place, dotted with willow-like trees rising fromamongst the thick grass; and they had not gone far before, after a gooddeal of rustling about among the reeds and grass, Caesar startedsomething, which, however, refused to come into sight, but kept runningfrom cover to cover, till at last, as Caesar was diligently hunting itby scent, Dick caught sight of a dark back, and a head bearing a pair ofstout, fully-ringed horns, curved back in a remarkable way, and endingin very sharp points.
It was but a moment's glance, and he had no time to fire before thecreature w
as out of sight again; and he rode on right to the very edgeof the stream, where he arrived just in time to see the antelope leavingthe water, across which it had swum, and Caesar puffing and panting ashe swam on in the creature's wake.
The antelope looked so playful and full of life as it shook its head toget rid of the water that streamed from it, with the drops flashing inthe sun, that Dick sat like a statue upon his cob; and though he heldhis rifle ready, he forgot to fire, but let the buck bound out of theshallow water on to the bank and disappear amongst the trees, where itwent off at a tremendous rate, while Caesar, as he reached the bank inturn, paused to get rid of some water by a good shake, and then stoodand gazed at his master, and howled with disappointment that he shouldnot have attempted to shoot.
The consequence was that Dick, after a long ride returned empty to camp,where Jack, however, had preceded him, having been less scrupulous, andbearing before him a good-sized springbok, which he had brought downwith the longest shot he had ever made.