CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.
ELEPHANTS IN SIGHT.
In spite of their searching, the baboons were not seen till camp wasbeing moved again to cross the ridge and descend into the plain, whenthe vicious little animals made so desperate an attack upon the party,throwing stones with such accuracy, that they had to be treated to avolley, and then to a second, before the troop, quite a hundred strong,took to flight; and the dogs killed the wounded left upon the ground,but only at the expense of some vicious bites from the dying apes.
They were fired at with no little compunction, for mingled with theirdog-like aspect there was a great deal that was terribly human, andafter shooting one of the largest and fiercest, Dick said he felt as ifhe had committed a murder.
It was, however, a work of necessity, and nothing but a vigorous attacksufficed to drive the malicious little monsters away.
"Anywhere near the Boer settlements these creatures do infinitemischief," Mr Rogers said, "watching for, and destroying the lambs to aterrible extent."
Days of weary trekking across plains before they came into pool-strewnland, where the footprints of buffalo were here and there obliterated bythe monstrous round track left by the elephant.
And now for the last time before beginning the return journey theyformed camp, and prepared for some of the most serious part of theirhunt.
The General said that the elephants must be plentiful, and promised toshow them the next day; but the boys seemed hardly to have sunk into aprofound slumber, when they were roused by Chicory to tell them thatthere were elephants in the open forest close at hand.
The news was electrical, and in a very few minutes they were standingready with their father; and strict silence being enjoined, theyfollowed the Zulu warrior through the thin forest by the light of themoon, till, advancing very cautiously, the General made an observationor two, and then came back and led the little party to where they couldpeer from amidst the trees and dimly see, looming up from the edge of agreat pool, the bodies of twenty or thirty elephants of all sizes,busily drawing up water in their trunks and squirting it into theirmouths.
This they continued for some time, grunting, snorting, and uttering apeculiar sigh now and then, when, to Dick's surprise, he suddenly seemedto see the huge bodies of the elephants more plainly, and knew that theday was breaking.
There was one great beast standing not forty yards from him, swingingits trunk to and fro, and flapping its enormous leather-like earsagainst its neck; when, unable to resist the temptation, and withoutpausing to consider whether it was wise or no, he took a quick aim atthe back of the huge creature's head; there was a flash, and as thereport of Dick's piece rang out, a tremendous rush, and the elephantherd had gone thundering over the plain.
But not all. The large tusker had fallen over upon its side by thepool, and on making a circuit so as to get at it from the side of theplain, Dick advanced to find that he had made a most fortunate shot, andas he drew near felt struck with wonderment at the huge proportions ofhis first elephant.
After feasting their eyes, the party returned to camp for somethingsubstantial in the way of breakfast, made toothsome with guinea-fowl, ofwhich they shot several; and directly after the General went off to chopout the splendid pair of tusks, Dinny accompanying him to have a look atthe "ingy-rubber."
This done, they started to follow up the trail of the elephants, for itwas Jack's turn now, and his father wished to add a few tusks to theload of treasures in skins they were to take back.
A long and wearisome following of the trail had no result, for it wasevident that they had been so scared by the loss of their companion thatthey had gone straight off without pausing to feed, in search of saferground.
The heat was terrible, and at last they were compelled to halt beneaththe shade of a clump of trees to rest and refresh.
This was followed by a nap, and afterwards, they felt so disheartenedand footsore that they decided to return.
"Let's go back, father," Dick had said, "and come on to-morrow morningwith the horses."
"To be sure," said Jack. "We could canter straight here without loss oftime."
"What do you say, General?" asked Mr Rogers.
"I say it would be wise," replied the Zulu. "The elephants leave theirpath behind them, and you can come up rested and ready to fire."
Even without these remarks Mr Rogers would have returned, for the dreadof over-fatiguing Dick, would have been quite sufficient to make himpause. The boy had altered wonderfully; but still there were limits tothe fatigue he could bear.
They went quietly back, then, as the sun was getting low, and contentedthemselves with a few shots at the guinea-fowl which came over byhundreds, on their way to particular spots to roost.
Before daylight, though, the next morning, they were in the saddle,carrying with them provisions and water; and they were miles along thetrack before the sun showed, by a robe of orange and a crown of ruddyrays, that he was about to flood the earth once more with light.
The consequence was that they reached the spot where they had left offtracking quite early in the morning, the General, Coffee, and Chicory,although they had run all the way, seeming to be as fresh as when theyhad started, and laughing at the idea of their feeling fatigue.
Mr Rogers, however, decided that it would be better to proceed withjudgment, so a second breakfast was eaten under the shade of the treeswhere they had rested on the previous day, there being a limpid pool ofwater close at hand.
"That's the best way to carry food, Dick," said Jack, laughing. "I liketo have mine in my inside pocket, where it isn't in the way;" and helaughed, as he took a great bite out of a piece of cake baked on an ironplate.
"Ready, boys?" said Mr Rogers, just then.
"Yes, father."
"Mount then, and off."
They were in their saddles on the instant, and made a fresh start, withthe two Zulu boys following the track at a run, till, the sun, growingexceeding hot, a fresh halt was made, but not until the General haddeclared from sundry signs he saw that the elephants had been goingleisurely now, and that he did not think that they were many milesahead.
The boys were for immediate pursuit, but common sense suggested a wait,for a pleasant grove was found close to where the forest seemed tocommence in a very dense thicket, and here a good halt was made.
The sun poured down here with greater violence than they had feltbefore, and after lightening their load once more by reducing theirstock of provisions, in spite of their efforts such a drowsiness set inthat in a very short time the whole party were asleep.
Dick was awakened by Coffee laying his hand upon his mouth and shakinghim, whispering the word "Elephant!" in his ear, as he opened his eyes;while at the same time, Chicory and the General were performing the likeduty for Jack and his father.
Obeying the advice of the General, they all stole off cautiously towardsthe dense thicket close at hand, from which came the noise of breakingbranches, and strange snorts and sighs mingled with the squirting andsplashing of water.
In a few words the General explained that the elephants had returnedupon their track to the forest in front, and upon cautiously creepingfrom bush to bush to stalk them, each of the party under the guidance ofa Zulu, they found that the dense thicket was a mere band, and that allbeyond it was open park-like land, with several pools scattered about,in which the elephants were standing, splashing the water, sucking it upand squirting it over their dark skins, uttering a low sigh ofsatisfaction from time to time.
Dick was in an unlucky position, for, while both his father and Jackwere so placed as to get an easy shot at an elephant, he could only fireat long range. This, however, he decided to do as soon as his fatherand brother had had a shot.
Meanwhile Mr Rogers had marked out for himself a fine young elephantwith moderate tusks. There was one with bigger tusks behind, but notbeing armed with an elephant gun he felt that it would be better to makesure of the smaller one than risk the loss of all; so approachingcau
tiously he did not perceive that the ground before him was swampy,and fell headlong in the mud and water.
He lay perfectly still, though, and fortunately--unfortunately for him--the herd did not take flight, but attributing the noise to one of theirfellows, they went on splashing and cooling their sides, breaking offboughs to tuck into their capacious mouths, writhing and twisting theirprobosces about the while.
After a few moments Dick saw his father rise, walk forward to the sideof some bushes, take aim at the elephant he had marked down, and just asit was passing along towards one of the pools he fired.
The piece made such a strange noise that it alarmed Jack and theGeneral. As for Dick, to his horror he saw the rifle fly to pieces, andhis father fall backwards upon the grass.
Dick took no notice of the elephants, which went crashing amongst thetrees, Jack getting a bullet home as they broke towards Dick, nearlytrampling him down in their course as he ran to his father's side.
To his horror Mr Rogers was insensible, surrounded by the fragments ofhis shattered gun, his face bleeding profusely, and for the moment Dickwas ready to stand there wringing his hands.
But common sense prevailed.
There was no running into the next street to fetch a doctor, so hehastily knelt down, and began to pour the contents of his bottle uponhis handkerchief, washing away the blood, and bandaging up the cuts uponhis father's forehead.
This cooling application of water had the effect of making the injuredman open his eyes, and reply to the eager inquiries of his sons.
"Only a bit stunned, my boys, and a few cuts," he said. "It is a mercyI was not killed."
"What a bad rifle!" exclaimed Jack indignantly, as he helped his fatherto rise.
"What a bad sportsman, you should say, my boy," replied his father,whose face now looked less pallid. "I ought to have known better. Myrifle must have been plugged with mud from my fall, and I did notexamine it first. That would burst the best gun ever made."
He found he could walk without assistance, and after kneeling down by apool that had been left unsullied by the elephants, and having a gooddrink and bathe at his wounds, he rose up refreshed, and turned with theboys to see what was the result of their shots.
Better than they had expected. Two elephants were badly wounded, andChicory had marked them down in a clump of trees half a mile away.
It required caution now to approach them, for the beasts would probablybe furious; but by skilful management they were staked, and the boys,after two or three shots a-piece, succeeded in laying the monsters low,each falling over upon its side with a terrible crash.
The General soon hacked out the good-sized tusks, and these were borneto the grove where the horses had been left to graze.
"It never rains but it pours," said Mr Rogers quietly, as he slappedthe flanks and neck of his horse rapidly. "Quick, boys, look at yourown, and if they have nothing on them--no little flies something likehouse flies--take a tusk each, and ride back along the track as quick asyou can go."
The boys eagerly obeyed, and seeing no trace of flies, mounted, eachwith a tusk before him, and cantered away, Mr Rogers following moreslowly with the bay and the Zulus--for the mischief was done; theterrible tsetse fly had attacked the fine old horse, and it was only aquestion of days or weeks before the poison would have finished itswork.
As it proved the two cobs had escaped almost by a miracle; but theadventure was a warning to the party not to venture further, for theyhad evidently made their way into a part of the country where thisterrible enemy to horses abounds.