with a corporal at their head, whowere escorting some prisoners, chiefly natives. These were handcuffed,as well as linked together by lashings round their arms. The soldierswere all white men. George, who was riding in advance of his party,moved up and spoke to the corporal. He introduced himself as MrRivers, late of the Mounted Infantry, and stated that his companions hadbelonged to the same corps.
The man answered civilly enough, though with rather a confused manner,that he remembered Lieutenant Rivers and his friends quite well, havingbeen present at the action at Ulundi. George then inquired whither hewas conveying his prisoners, and heard with much satisfaction that itwas to Lichtenberg. It appeared that there had been a riot there.Houses had been plundered and murders committed, and these men, who werebelieved to have been concerned in the riot, had been arrested on thefrontiers, and were on their way to Lichtenberg to be identified andtried. George again expressed his satisfaction, and proposed that thetwo parties should travel together for mutual convenience and security.To this the corporal rejoined that he should be quite satisfied withsuch an arrangement; and George rode off well pleased to give theinformation to Vander Heyden and Margetts, who were acting as rearguard.The Dutchman at once expressed his satisfaction, as did Margetts,though in a more guarded manner, and George noticed, with some surprise,that he scrutinised very closely the corporal and his men when he rodeup to speak to them. He made no remark, however, and George, ridingback, resumed his place by Margetts' side. It was still quite early.Desirous of avoiding the mid-day heat, which for the last day or two hadbeen very great, they had started two hours before daybreak, and thewhole landscape had hitherto been wrapped in a gloom through which theycould not do much more than distinguish their way. But the dawn nowbegan to dapple the skies, and with the first light appeared a scene sostartling, that our two travellers drew rein to gaze with wonder on it.
As they had approached Heidelberg a few days previously, they hadnoticed how dull and uninteresting the landscape appeared. The groundhad been rising continually for a long time past, until it had attainedthe height of some hundreds of feet, and then a long undulating levelhad succeeded, extending as far as the eye could reach, without rock orforest or scrub to break the monotony. Nor were there, for vastdistances together, traces to be found of the hand of man. There werefew enclosures or habitations, and even flocks of sheep were of rareoccurrence. They had expected to find the country on the other side ofHeidelberg very nearly the same in appearance as that which they hadencountered before reaching it. But the landscape which they now beheldformed the most striking contrast to it. In place of the sparse andbarren plain, varied only by dried clumps of dull vegetation and bareheaps of sand or stone, there appeared a scene which might have viedwith that of fairyland. Rich forests, with a most picturesque varietyof outline, were seen environing the shores of a lake whose deep bluesurface was studded with verdant islets. In the foreground rose castlesand abbeys and picturesque ruins, grouped with a skill that no landscapepainter could have surpassed, and the distant view was closed bymountain ridges, presenting the most striking effects of light andshade.
"Pretty to look at," remarked Matamo, who had just ridden up, as henoticed George's admiring gaze. "Pity it is not real."
"Not real!" returned George. "What do you mean?"
"You'll soon see," was the brief reply; and, sure enough, almostimmediately afterwards the brilliant landscape melted away like adissolving view in a magic lantern, and a long stretch of barren downand rock and scrub was all that could be discerned.
"A mirage!" exclaimed George. "Well, I have often heard of them, but Icould not have believed the delusion was so perfect."
"Wonderful country for cheats of that sort," remarked Matamo; "it oftenlooks like that before sunrise."
The mid-day halt was made under some high cliffs, which threw a longshadow and afforded some protection from the heat. Here Vander Heydenhad some conversation with the corporal, and agreed with him that, ashis party could not proceed beyond a certain distance every day, all ofthem, except the corporal himself, being on foot, the soldiers should beallowed occasionally to change with the mounted men of Vander Heyden'sparty, while the prisoners were permitted to take their seats in thewaggon. Margetts uttered a hasty exclamation when this arrangement wasreported to him, but he said nothing more, and everything went onprosperously till the halt took place. They sat down in three parties--the corporal and his men by the side of one waggon, Matamo, Haxo, andthe Hottentots by the other, while the third, consisting of what mightbe termed the gentry of the party, took their places under some mimosas,on the brink of a small fountain, almost immediately under a high andsteep rock.
The meal was half over, when suddenly there was heard a loud jabberingnoise above, and the party, looking up, saw several hideous facespeering over the ridges of the rocks.
"Bushmen!" exclaimed Redgy. "I have been expecting to fall in with themfor some time. We are not so very far from their country, I believe.Hallo up there?" he continued, as a number of large stones came rattlingdown from above. "Stop that, do you hear, or you'll find two can playat it." He raised his gun as he spoke, and pointed it at the rocks.
"It is no use talking to them," observed Hardy, laughing; "I don'tsuppose they would understand you if they _were_ Bushmen. But they arenot. They are baboons--mandrils, I believe, is their exact name. Thereare great numbers of them in this part of the country. I wonder wehaven't fallen in with them before."
"Baboons, hey!" cried Redgy. "The mischievous brutes!" he added aminute or two afterwards, as another large stone passed over his head,which it very narrowly missed. "I say, I am not going to stand thissort of thing! I'll just give them a shot or two to improve theirmanners."
"Stop, Mr Margetts, don't fire!" cried Vander Heyden. "They are themost revengeful and malicious creatures in the world, and as strong andfierce as tigers. There are hundreds of them, and they'll attack us ina body if you provoke them."
His warning came too late. Redgy had already fired, and a yell of painfrom above announced that his aim had been successful. The next momenta dozen huge mandrils had sprung over the rocks and began to descend thecliffs, leaping from point to point as nimbly as squirrels.
"Run for it!" shouted Hardy. "Take shelter in the waggons. We may keepthem off there, but it is about our only chance."
There was no need of further warning. Matamo, Haxo, and the Hottentots,the corporal, his men, and his prisoners, though they had been too faroff to hear what was passing, no sooner saw the baboons coming down therocks, screaming and gesticulating with fury, than they became aware ofthe danger of the situation, and made straight for the waggons as theonly haven of shelter. Nor were they a moment too soon. The front andback boards of the waggons were only just secured, when they weresurrounded by a multitude of infuriated brutes, endeavouring to pulldown the tilt and boards of the waggons. Others climbed on to the topand tore away the tarpaulin covering from the ribs, endeavouring towrench out the ribs themselves with their strong, sharp claws. Theybecame, however, in this manner an easy mark for the party inside.These at first only loaded their guns with powder, hoping to scare theirassailants without further rousing their fury. But they were soonobliged to try sterner measures. The brutes, some of which were nearlyfive feet high and extremely strong and agile, succeeded in looseningmore than one of the ribs of the waggon, and would soon have forcedtheir way in, if the bullets which followed one another in rapidsuccession had not laid assailant after assailant in the dust. Butundeterred apparently by the deadly shower, they continued their attack,gibbering and screaming with fury. The whole of the covering of thewaggon was now torn away, and the baboons, thrusting down their longsharp claws, endeavoured to clutch their enemies within, rendering italmost impossible for them to continue to load.
"I say, George," exclaimed Redgy, as he rid himself with difficulty froma huge baboon which had seized him by the hair, firing his revolverdirectly into his chest, "these brutes are worse than the
Zulus. I wishI had my bayonet here. That would have been the thing for them."
"You are right, Redgy," answered George. "I am just going to use mywood-knife. My revolver is empty, and I have no time to reload. Theknife isn't as good as the bayonet, but it is the next best thing."
The others followed his example--all excepting Hardy, who, with thecoolness of an old campaigner, had lain himself down on the floor of thewaggon out of the reach of the assailants, and from thence took aim withhis revolver, bringing down one baboon after another, and alwayssingling out those which seemed to be the most likely to break in. But,notwithstanding the vigorous resistance offered, it seemed as if thestrong ribs of the roof must speedily give way, when suddenly