WE CROSS THE RIVER AND HIDE OUR AXES--NDOVA'S FRIGHT AT A
PYTHON--ANDEKKO FINDS A LEOPARD'S LAIR--WE CAPTURE TWO LEOPARD CUBS--A
VISIT FROM SAVAGES--THEY ARE FRIGHTENED BY MY WATERBURY CLOCK
NOW that I knew from my astronomical observations where I was, and what
was the day of the month and week, I said to Rogala: "Let us go and
hunt in the forest, for possibly I may kill some animals or birds I
have never seen before. I have done talking to the stars, the moon, and
the sun for some time now."
As we were ready to go across the river, I said to Rogala: "We must
take our axes with us, for who knows if some wandering natives may not
be roaming here and take our raft? If we have our axes, we can make
another one quickly." Then we embarked, taking also Andekko and Ndova
with us.
After landing, we hid our axes carefully in two different places; one
was put in the hollow of a tree, the other under dried leaves. We were
walking silently, Rogala leading, for the path was very difficult to
follow, being often obliterated by the jungle or fallen branches.
All at once Ndova ran towards me, seeming very much frightened. His
eyes were almost starting out of his head, and he sprang upon me and
held fast and close to my clothing. He looked in a certain direction,
then uttered a cry of anger and defiance towards the place. I whispered
to Rogala: "What can be the cause of Ndova's fright and anger? Look at
his hair! It is standing up all over his body."
"Probably a snake," replied Rogala.
We went carefully towards the spot whence Ndova had come, and saw a
huge python coiled round a tree, watching for prey. We killed the
reptile, which was nearly twenty feet long. Rogala cut it into many
pieces, packed them together in large leaves, and hung the parcel on
the branch of a tree, and said with evident glee: "When we return I
will take the parcel with me, for the snake is fat, and will make good
soup."
We continued to follow the path, looking all around us for game, and
walked as lightly as we could. The footsteps of Rogala, who wore no
shoes, could not be heard.
Soon Ndova began to call for monkeys. His power of scent or of hearing
was so great that he had detected the presence of monkeys, though we
could hear nothing. His calls were soon answered. Then we made him fast
to a cord, for fear that he would go away from us. Each side kept on
talking and answering each other, and the cries of the flock of monkeys
to which he was talking came nearer and nearer. Then they suddenly
stopped. Had Ndova warned them not to come nearer? I thought I had
detected a peculiar sound that was unlike those he always uttered when
he wanted ndovas to come. I might be mistaken, but, after all, they did
not come, and we did not hear them utter a single cry.
We continued on our way. After a while we heard in the distance the
fierce and angry barking of Andekko. We listened, then shouted at the
top of our voices, "Andekko, Andekko," so that he might know we were
not far from him. He was evidently not pursuing game, for the barking
was stationary.
Rogala said to me: "Let us go through the jungle towards him and see
what causes this fierce barking."
"Yes," said I, "let us go and see what is the matter."
So we left the path, and went through the thick jungle, breaking some
of the branches as we went along to guide us on our way back.
Louder and louder became Andekko's barking as we neared the spot
where he was, when suddenly the barking ceased. The face of Rogala
became anxious, and he said to me in a low voice: "Perhaps Andekko has
been pounced upon by a snake, which is now coiled round him, and has
squeezed him to death."
"That may be so," I replied. "Let us hurry." So we went, careless of
the noise we made. We had only our dear Andekko in our minds, and we
wanted to save his life, and, if too late, wreak our vengeance upon his
destroyer.
"Dear Andekko," I said to myself, "I think a great deal of you, for
you have been such a faithful dog, and have rescued us so often from
starvation. I will surely kill the animal that has killed or even hurt
you."
As we approached the spot, I thought I heard a peculiar noise. I
listened. There was no mistake about it. Andekko was alive, and seemed
to be busy choking some animal or other.
Rogala and I advanced towards the spot, and came to a dark place in the
forest, where a number of big trees had fallen upon each other. Under
all was a dark recess, a sort of den, and the dog was there. We shouted
"Andekko, Andekko," and he came out with a small leopard in his mouth.
We were before a leopard's den; both the father and mother of the cubs
had gone in search of prey for them.
"There is no time to be lost," said Rogala to me. "I will go into the
den and get the leopard's cubs if Andekko has not killed them all.
Watch carefully, Oguizi, while I am in, and if the leopards come, let
'Bulldog' send them their death-blow."
Rogala had perfect faith in "Bulldog," and believed in its supernatural
powers.
In the meantime Andekko was barking furiously outside, and it was all
we could do to prevent him from again going inside. If he did, he would
surely kill the rest of the young leopards, if he had not done so
before. I watched carefully while Rogala was getting within; my eyes
were everywhere around; "Bulldog" was cocked, and I was ready for any
sudden coming of papa and mamma leopard. I felt that I must be quick in
aiming at them in case they made their appearance together.
In the twinkling of an eye, however, Rogala came out of the den holding
two little live leopards by the neck. There were two others, he said,
that were dead, and Andekko had had hold of these two.
Rogala looked at me anxiously, and said: "Oguizi, if the leopards are
on their way back with food for their little ones, we shall have a bad
time. Their anger will be terrible when they see some of their young
dead and torn to pieces, and others missing. They will scour the
forest in search of their enemy. They move very fast if they have the
scent, making one immense bound after another."
"I will set fire to the leopard's den," I replied; "there are many dead
branches, and the fire will spread quickly, and the leopards will not
know about our being here." At the same time I lighted a match, and set
fire to a spot where there were many dead branches and dried leaves.
Soon everything was in a blaze, but in that great and damp forest fires
never spread far. We left the spot, and as soon as we were in the path
we ran as fast as our feet and legs could carry us towards the river
and our island, with visions of leopards bounding at full speed after
us. Once in a while I could hear the voice of Rogala say: "Go on,
Oguizi, go on!" At other times when I saw him flagging, I would shout:
"Come on, come on, Rogala!"
I was quite ahead after a while, and as I came in sight of the river I
saw a number of savage-looking men on our island. I counted twenty of
them. They looked fierce, and their bodies were covered with war-paint.
They carried ugly-looking barbed spears and shields made of elephant
skins. Their leader walked ahead of them. He was short, and looked
fiercer than the rest. They advanced cautiously, and suddenly they
stopped and looked frightened. They were looking at my Waterbury clock,
and as soon as they heard the tick-tock they turned suddenly and fled
in great haste towards their canoe. In a jiffy they left, filled with
fear, and paddled away down the river with the greatest speed. I
followed them with my eyes until they disappeared behind a bend of the
river.
[Illustration: "_Rogala came out of the den holding two little live
leopards by the neck._"]
When Rogala rejoined me, I told him what I had seen, and he said:
"Those people live higher up the river, and are going to visit their
friends."
I drew a long breath of relief as soon as we got upon our raft, for we
did not know but that the leopards were after us.
Suddenly Rogala said: "I have forgotten the snake."
"Never mind," I said to him, "we will go after turtle's eggs."
We had reached the island just in good time, for soon after we heard
the roaring of the leopards. They had scented us.
Happily the water was between us. Their rage knew no bounds, for they
saw the impassable barrier between us. I said to Rogala: "Hold one of
the little leopards up by the neck so that they can see him." Then I
fired and succeeded in killing one of the leopards. The other then
fled, and we never heard of it again.
That night I slept with "Bulldog" within my arms, and rested my head on
the belt holding my revolvers to be ready in case the men we had seen
should come back.
The following day we went into the forest in search of game, in spite
of our fear that the leopard might still be in the neighborhood. The
first thing we did was to collect berries and nuts for Ndova. Finding
no game, we returned to our island. Ndova was delighted when we brought
him berries. When he could eat no more, he filled his two pouches to
their full capacity.