CHAPTER THREE.
WHEREIN I MOUNT GUARD, AND HOW I DID IT, ETCETERA.
Now it so happened that the battle which I had to fight with myselfafter taking my post was precisely the converse of that which I foughtduring the earlier part of that night. Then, it was a battle withwakefulness; now, it was a struggle with sleep; and of the two fightsthe latter was the more severe by far.
I began by laying down my rifle close by my side, leaning back in asitting posture against the palm-tree, and resigning myself to thecontemplation of the fire, which burned merrily before me, while Ipondered with myself how I should best employ my thoughts during thethree long hours of my watch. But I had not dwelt on that subject morethan three minutes, when I was rudely startled by my own head fallingsuddenly and heavily forward on my chest. I immediately roused myself."Ah! Ralph, Ralph," said I to myself in a whisper, "this won't do, lad.To sleep at your post! shame on you! Had you been a sentinel in timeof war that nod would have cost you your life, supposing you to havebeen caught in the act."
Soliloquising thus, I arose and shook myself. Then I slapped my chestseveral times and pulled my nose and sat down again. Only a few minuteselapsed before the same thing occurred to me again, so I leaped up, andmended the fires, and walked to and fro, until I felt thoroughly awake,but in order to make sure that it should not occur again, I walked tothe edge of the circle of light and gazed for some time into the darkforest, as I had done before. While standing thus I felt my knees giveway, as if they had been suddenly paralysed, and I awoke just in time toprevent myself falling to the ground. I must confess I was much amazedat this, for although I had often read of soldiers falling asleepstanding at their posts, I had never believed the thing possible.
I now became rather anxious, "for," thought I, "if I go to sleep and thefires die down, who knows but wild beasts may come upon us and kill usbefore we can seize our arms." For a moment or two I meditated awakingJack and begging him to keep me company, but when I reflected that hiswatch was to come immediately after mine, I had not the heart to do it."No!" said I (and I said it aloud for the purpose of preventingdrowsiness)--"no; I will fight this battle alone! I will repeat somestanzas from my favourite authors. Yes, I will try to remember aportion of `A Midsummer-Night's Dream.' It will be somewhat appropriateto my present circumstances."
Big with this resolve, I sat down with my face to the fire and my backto the palm-tree, and--fell sound asleep instantly!
How long I lay in this condition I know not, but I was suddenly awakenedby a yell so appalling that my heart leaped as if into my throat, and mynerves thrilled with horror. For one instant I was paralysed; then myblood seemed to rebound on its course. I sprang up and attempted toseize my rifle.
The reader may judge of my state of mind when I observed that it wasgone! I leaped towards the fire, and grasping a lighted brand, turnedround and glared into the woods in the direction whence the yell came.
It was grey dawn, and I could see things pretty distinctly; but the onlyliving object that met my gaze was Peterkin, who stood with my rifle inhis hand laughing heartily!
I immediately turned to look at Jack, who was sitting up in the spotwhere he had passed the night, with a sleepy smile on his countenance.
"Why, what's the meaning of this?" I inquired.
"The meaning of it?" cried Peterkin, as he advanced and restored therifle to its place. "A pretty fellow you are to mount guard! we mighthave been all murdered in our sleep by niggers or eaten alive bygorillas, for all that you would have done to save us."
"But, Peterkin," said I gravely, "you ought not to have startled me so;you gave me a terrible fright. People have been driven mad before now,I assure you, by practical jokes."
"My dear fellow," cried Peterkin, with much earnestness, "I know that aswell as you. But, in the first place, you were guilty of so heinous acrime that I determined to punish you, and at the same time to do it ina way that would impress it forcibly on your memory; and in the secondplace, I would not have done it at all had I not known that your nervesare as strong as those of a dray-horse. You ought to be taking shame toyourself on account of your fault rather than objecting to yourpunishment."
"Peterkin is right, my boy," said Jack, laughing, "though I must say hehad need be sure of the nerves of any one to whom he intends toadminister such a ferocious yell as that. Anyhow, I have no reason tocomplain; for you have given me a good long sleep, although I can't sayexactly that you have taken my watch. It will be broad daylight in halfan hour, so we must be stirring, comrades."
On considering the subject I admitted the force of these remarks, andfelt somewhat crestfallen. No doubt, my companions had treated thething jocularly, and, to say truth, there was much that was comical inthe whole affair; but the more I thought of it, the more I came toperceive how terrible might have been the consequences of myunfaithfulness as a sentinel. I laid the lesson to heart, and I cantruly say that from that day to this I have never again been guilty ofthe crime of sleeping at my post.
We now busied ourselves in collecting together the dying embers of ourfire and in preparing breakfast, which consisted of tea, hard biscuit,and cold monkey. None of us liked the monkey; not that its flesh wasbad--quite the contrary--but it looked so like a small roasted baby thatwe could not relish it at all. However, it was all we had; for we hadset off on this hunting excursion intending to live by our rifles, buthad been unfortunate, having seen nothing except a monkey or two.
The kettle was soon boiled, and we sat down to our meagre fare withhearty appetites. While we are thus engaged, I shall turn aside for alittle and tell the reader, in one or two brief sentences, how we got tothis place.
We shipped in a merchant ship at Liverpool, and sailed for the westcoast of Africa. Arrived there we found a party, under the command of aPortuguese trader, about to set off to the interior. He could speak alittle English; so we arranged to go with him as far as he intended toproceed, learn as much of the native language as possible while in hiscompany, and then obtain a native guide to conduct us to the country inwhich the gorillas are found. To this native guide, we arranged, shouldbe explained by the trader our object in visiting the country, so thathe might tell the tribes whom we intended to visit. This, we found, wasan absolutely needful precaution, on the following ground.
The natives of Africa have a singular and very bad style of carrying ontrade with the white men who visit their shores. The traffic consistschiefly of ivory, barwood (a wood much used in dyeing), and indiarubber.The natives of the far interior are not allowed to convey thesecommodities directly to the coast, but by the law of the land (whichmeans the law of the strongest, for they are absolute savages) areobliged to deliver their goods to the care of the tribe next to them;these pass them on to the next tribe; and so on they go from tribe totribe till they reach the coast, where they are sold by the tribe there.The price obtained, which usually consists of guns, powder and shot,looking-glasses, cloth, and sundry other articles and trinkets useful tomen in a savage state, is returned to the owners in the far interiorthrough the same channel; but as each tribe deducts a percentage for itstrouble, the price dwindles down as it goes, until a mere trifle,sometimes nothing at all, remains to be handed over to the unfortunatepeople of the tribe who originally sent off the goods for sale. Ofcourse, such a system almost paralyses trade. But the intermediatetribes between the coast and the interior being the gainers by thissystem, are exceedingly jealous of anything like an attempt to carry ondirect trade. They are ready to go to war with the tribes of theinterior, should they attempt it, and they throw all the opposition theycan in the way of the few white men who ever penetrate the interior forsuch a purpose.
It will thus be seen that our travels would be hindered very much, ifnot stopped altogether, and ourselves be regarded with jealousy, orperhaps murdered, if our motives in going inland were not fully andsatisfactorily explained to the different tribes as we passed throughtheir lands. And we therefore proposed to overco
me the difficulty bytaking a native guide with us from the tribe with which we should chanceto be residing when obliged to separate from the Portuguese trader.
We had now reached this point. The day before that on which we encampedin the woods, as above related, we arrived at a native village, and hadbeen received kindly by the king. Almost immediately after our arrivalwe heard so many stories about gorillas that I felt persuaded we shouldfall in with one if we went a-hunting, and being exceedingly anxious toadd one to my collection of animals--for I had a small museum at home--Iprevailed on Jack and Peterkin to go one day's journey into the bush tolook for them. They laughed very much at me indeed, and said that wewere still very far away from the gorilla country; but I had read insome work on Africa a remark to the effect that there is no cordillera,or mountain range, extending across the whole continent to limit the_habitat_ of certain classes of animals, and I thought that if anyanimal in Africa would not consent to remain in one region when itwished to go to another, that animal must be the ferocious gorilla. Thetrader also laughed at me, and said that he had never seen any himselfin that region, and that we would have to cross the desert before seeingthem. Still, I felt a disposition to try; besides, I felt certain thatwe should at least fall in with some sort of animals or plants orminerals that would be worth collecting; so it was agreed that we shouldgo out for a single day, and be back in time for a great elephant-huntwhich was about to take place.
But to return from this digression. Having finished breakfast, we madethree bundles or packages of our blankets, provisions, and campequipage; strapped them on our backs; and then, shouldering our rifles,set out on our return to the negro village.
Of course we gave Jack the largest and heaviest bundle to carry.Peterkin's and mine were about equal, for although I was taller thanPeterkin, I was not by any means so powerful or active. I oftenwondered at the great strength that lay in the little frame of myfriend. To look at him, no one would believe that he was such a tough,wiry, hardy little fellow. He was the same hearty, jovial creature thatI had lived with so pleasantly when he and Jack and I were cast away onthe coral island. With the exception of a small scrap of whisker oneach cheek, a scar over the right eye, and a certain air of manliness,there was little change in my old comrade.
"Ralph," said Jack, as we strode along through the forest, "do youremember how we three used to wander about together in the woods of ourcoral island?"
"Remember!" I cried with enthusiasm, for at that moment the thoughtoccurred to my own mind; "how can I ever forget it, Jack? It seems tome just like yesterday. I can hardly believe that six long years havepassed since we drank that delicious natural lemonade out of the greencocoa-nuts, and wandered on the coral beach, and visited Penguin Island,and dived into the cave to escape the pirates. The whole scene rises upbefore me so vividly that I could fancy we were still there. Ah! thesewere happy times."
"So they were," cried Peterkin; "but don't you go and becomesentimentally sad, Ralph, when you talk of those happy days. If we werehappy there, are we not happy _here_?--There's no change in us--except,indeed, that Jack has become a gorilla."
"Ay, and you a monkey," retorted Jack.
"True; and Ralph a naturalist, which is the strangest beast of all,"added Peterkin.--"Can you tell me, Ralph, by the way, what tree thatis?"
"I'm sure I cannot tell. Never saw or heard of one like it before," Ireplied, looking at the tree referred to with some interest. It was afine tree, but the great beauty about it was the gorgeous fruit withwhich it was laden. It hung in the form of bunches of large grapes, andwas of the brightest scarlet colour. The glowing bunches seemed likeprecious gems glittering amongst the green foliage, and I observed thata few monkeys and several parrots were peeping at us through thebranches.
"It seems good for food," said Jack. "You'd better climb up, Peterkin,and pull a few bunches. The puggies won't mind you, of course, beingone of themselves."
"Ralph," said Peterkin, turning to me, and deigning no reply to Jack,"you call yourself a naturalist; so I suppose you are acquainted withthe habits of monkeys, and can turn your knowledge to practicalaccount."
"Well," I replied, "I know something about the monkey tribes, but Icannot say that at this moment I remember any particular habit of whichwe might avail ourselves."
"Do you not? Well, now, that's odd. I'm a student of nature myself,and I have picked up a little useful knowledge in the course of mytravels. Did you ever travel so far as the Zoological Gardens inLondon?"
"Of course I have done so, often."
"And did you ever observe a peculiar species of monkey, which, when youmade a face at it, instantly flew into a towering passion, and shook thebars of its cage until you expected to see them broken?"
"Yes," said I, laughing; "what then?"
"Look here, you naturalist, and I'll put a wrinkle on your horn. Yonderhangs a magnificent bunch of fruit that I very much desire to possess."
"But it's too high to reach," said I.
"But there's a monkey sitting beside it," said Peterkin.
"I see. You don't expect him to pull it and throw it down, do you?"
"Oh no, certainly not; but--" Here Peterkin stepped up to the tree, andlooking up at the monkey, said, "O-o-o-oo-o!" angrily.
"_O-o-o-oo-oo_!" replied the monkey, stretching out its neck and lookingdown with an expression of surprise and indignation, as if to say, "Whaton earth do you mean by that?"
"Oo-o-o-oo-o!" roared Peterkin.
Hereupon the monkey uttered a terrific shriek of passion, exposed allits teeth and gums, glared at its adversary like a little fiend, andseizing the branch with both hands, shook it with all its might. Theresult was, that not only did the coveted bunch of fruit fall to theground, but a perfect shower of bunches came down, one of which hit Jackon the forehead, and, bursting there, sent its fragrant juice down hisface and into his beard, while the parrots and all the other monkeystook to flight, shrieking with mingled terror and rage.
"You see I'm a practical man," observed Peterkin quietly, as he pickedup the fruit and began to eat it. "Knowledge is power, my boy. A manwith a philosophical turn of mind like yourself ought to have been up toa dodge of this sort. How capital this fruit is, to be sure!--Does itmake good pomade, Jack?"
"Excellent; but as I'm not in the habit of using pomade, I shall washthis out of my beard as quickly as possible."
While Jack went to a brook that ran close to where we stood, I tastedthe fruit, and found it most excellent, the pulp being juicy, with avery pleasant flavour.
While we were thus engaged a wild pig ran grunting past us.
"Doesn't that remind you of some of our doings on the coral island,Ralph?" said Peterkin.
Before I could reply a herd of lovely small gazelles flew past. Ourrifles were lying on the ground, and before either of us could take aimthe swift creatures were lost sight of in the thick underwood. Peterkinfired one shot at a venture, but without any result.
We were still deploring our stupidity in not having our rifles handy,when a strange sound was heard in the distance. By this time Jack hadcome up, so we all three seized our rifles and listened intently. Thesound was evidently approaching. It was a low, dull, booming roar,which at one moment seemed to be distant thunder, at another the cry ofsome huge animal in rage or pain. Presently the beating of heavy hoofson the turf and the crash of branches were heard. Each of us spranginstinctively towards a tree, feeling that if danger were near its trunkwould afford us some protection.
Being ignorant, as yet, of the cries of the various wild beastsinhabiting those woods, we were greatly at a loss to determine whatcreature it could be that approached at such headlong speed. That itsmad career was caused by fear soon became apparent, for the tones ofterror either in man or beast, when distinctly heard, cannot bemistaken.
Immediately in front of the spot where we stood was an open space orglade of considerable extent. Towards this the animal approached, aswas evident from the increasing
loudness of its wild roar, which wasalmost continuous. In another moment the thick wall of underwood at itsfarther extremity was burst asunder with a crash, and a wild buffalobull bounded into the plain and dashed madly across. On its neck wascrouched a leopard, which had fixed its claws and teeth deep in theflesh of the agonised animal. In vain did the bull bound and rear, tossand plunge. At one moment it ran like the wind; the next it stoppedwith such violence as to tear up the turf and scatter it around. Thenit reared, almost falling back; anon it plunged and rushed on again,with the foam flying from its mouth, and its bloodshot eyes glaring withthe fire of rage and terror, while the woods seemed to tremble with itsloud and deep-toned bellowing. Twice in its passage across the openglade it ran, in its blind fury, straight against a tree, almost beatingin its skull, and for a moment arresting its progress; but it instantlyrecovered the shock and burst away again as madly as ever. But noeffort that it was capable of making could relieve the poor creaturefrom its deadly burden, or cause the leopard in the slightest degree torelax its fatal gripe.
It chanced that the wild bull's mad gallop was in a direction thatbrought it within a few yards of the spot where we stood, so we preparedto put an end to its misery. As it drew near, Jack, who was in advance,raised his rifle. I, being only a short distance from him, also madeready to fire, although I confess that in the agitation of the moment Icould not make up my mind whether I should fire at the buffalo or theleopard. As far as I can recall my rapid and disjointed thoughts onthat exciting occasion, I reasoned thus: "If I shoot the leopard thebull will escape, and if I shoot the bull the leopard will escape." Itdid not occur to me at that trying moment, when self-possession anddecision were so necessary, that I might shoot the bull with one barrel,and the leopard with the other. Still less did it occur to me that Imight miss bull and leopard altogether.
While I was engaged in this hurried train of troubled thought, Jackfired both barrels of his rifle, one after the other, as quickly aspossible. The bull stumbled forward upon its knees. In order to makeassurance doubly sure, I aimed at its head and fired both barrels atonce. Instantly the bull rose, with a hideous bellow, and stood for onemoment irresolute, glaring at its new enemies. The leopard, I observed,was no longer on its back. At this moment I heard an exclamation ofanger, and looking round I observed Peterkin struggling violently in thegrasp of one of the wild vines or thorny plants which abound in someparts of the African forests and render them almost impassable. Itseems that as the bull drew near, Peterkin, who, like Jack and me, waspreparing to shoot, found that a dense thicket came between him and thegame, so as to prevent his firing. He leaped nimbly over a bush,intending to run to another spot, whence he could more conveniently takeaim, but found himself, as I have related, suddenly entangled among thethorns in such a way that the more he struggled the more firmly hebecame ensnared. Being of an impatient disposition, he did struggleviolently, and it was this, probably, that attracted the attention ofthe bull and decided its future course and its ultimate fate; for afterremaining one moment, as I have stated, in an irresolute attitude, itturned suddenly to the left and rushed, with its head down and its tailup, straight at Peterkin.
I cannot describe the sensations that overwhelmed me on observing theimminent danger of my friend. Horror almost overwhelmed me as I gazedwith a stare of fascination at the frightful brute, which with flashingeyes and bloody foam dripping from its mouth charged into the thicket,and crashed through the tough boughs and bushes as if they were grass.A film came over my eyes. I tried to reload my rifle, but my tremblinghand refused to act, and I groaned with mingled shame and despair onfinding myself thus incapable of action in the hour of extreme peril.At that moment I felt I would joyfully have given my own life to havesaved that of Peterkin. It takes me long to describe it, but the wholescene passed with the rapidity almost of a flash of light.
Jack did not even attempt to load, but uttering a fearful cry, he sprangtowards our friend with a bound like that of an enraged tiger. A gleamof hope flashed through my soul as I beheld his gigantic form dashthrough the underwood. It seemed to me as if no living creature couldwithstand such a furious onset. Alas for Peterkin, had his lifedepended on Jack, strong and lion-like though he was! His aid could nothave been in time. A higher Power nerved his arm and steeled his heartat that terrible moment. As I gazed helplessly at Peterkin, I observedthat he suddenly ceased his struggles to get free, and throwing forwardthe muzzle of his piece, stood boldly up and awaited the onset with calmself-possession. The bull was on him almost in an instant. One stridemore and he would have been lost, but that stride was never taken. Hisrifle poured its deadly charge into the skull of the wild bull, whichfell a mass of dead flesh, literally at his feet.
It were vain to attempt to describe the state of our feelings on thismemorable occasion--the fervour with which we thanked our heavenlyFather for our friend's deliverance--the delight with which we shook hishands, again and again, and embraced him. It was with considerabledifficulty that we extricated Peterkin from his entanglement. When thiswas accomplished we proceeded to examine our prize.
We were not a little puzzled on discovering that only three bullets hadstruck the bull. For my part, I fired straight at its forehead, and hadfelt certain at the time that my shots had taken effect; yet there wasbut one ball in the animal's head, and that was undoubtedly Peterkin's,for the hair all round the hole was singed off, so near had it been tohim when he fired. The other two shots were rather wide apart--one inthe shoulder, the other in the neck. Both would have proved mortal inthe long run, but neither was sufficiently near to a vital spot to killspeedily.
"Now, Ralph, my boy," said Jack, after our excitement was in some degreeabated, "you and I must divide the honour of these two shots, for I fearwe can't tell which of us fired them. Peterkin only fired once, andthat was pretty effectual."
"Yes," I replied, "it is rather perplexing; for although I have noobjection whatever to your having all the honour of those two shots,still one likes to know with certainty who actually made them."
"You'd better toss for them," suggested Peterkin, who was seated on thetrunk of a fallen tree, examining, with a somewhat rueful countenance,the tattered condition of his garments.
"There would not be much satisfaction in that," replied Jack, laughing.
"It is probable," said I, "that each of us hit with one barrel andmissed with the other."
"And it is possible," added Jack, "that one of us hit with both, and theother missed with both. All that I can positively affirm is that Ifired both barrels at his shoulder--one after the other."
"And all that I am certain of," said I, "is that I fired both barrels athis forehead, and that I discharged them both at once."
"Did you?" said Peterkin, looking up quickly; "then, Ralph, I'm afraidyou must give all the honour to Jack, for you have missed altogether."
"How do you know that?" I asked, in a somewhat piqued tone.
"Simply enough. If you fired both shots together at so short adistance, they would have been found close together wherever they hadstruck, whereas the two shots in the neck and shoulder are more than twofeet apart."
I was compelled to admit that there was much truth in the observation,but still felt unwilling to give up all claim to having assisted inslaying our first buffalo. I pondered the subject a good deal duringthe remainder of the time we spent in cutting up and packing part of thebuffalo meat, and in preparing to continue our journey, but could comeat no satisfactory conclusion in my own mind, and, to say truth, I feltnot a little crestfallen at my conduct in the whole affair.
While wandering in this mood near the spot where the buffalo had beenfirst wounded, I received a sudden and severe start on observing theleopard crouching within a couple of yards of me. I saw it through thebushes quite distinctly, but could not make quite sure of its attitude.With a mingled cry of alarm and astonishment I sprang back to the placewhere I had left my rifle.
Jack and Peterkin instantly ran up with t
heir pieces cocked.
"Where is it?" they cried in a breath.
"There, crouching just behind that bush."
Jack darted forward.
"Crouching!" he cried, with a loud laugh, seizing the animal by the tailand dragging it forth; "why, it's dead--stone dead."
"Dead as mutton," said Peterkin. "Hallo! what's this?" he added insurprise. "Two holes close together in its forehead, I do declare!Hooray! Ralph, my boy, give us your paw! You've missed the bull andhit the leopard! If you haven't been and put two bullets right betweenits two eyes, I'm a Dutchman!"
And so, in truth, it turned out. I had aimed at the bull and hit theleopard. So I left that spot not a little pleased with my bad aim andmy good fortune.