As our travellers advanced up-stream, the wide level plains became
narrowed into mere stripes of meadow that lay along both sides of the
river. On both sides, and not a great distance off, wood-covered
mountains trended parallel to the course of the stream. Sometimes their
spurs approached very near to the banks--so as to divide the bottom land
into a series of valleys, that rose like terraces one above the other.
Each of these was a separate plain, stretching from the river's bank to
the rocky foot of the mountain.
Nearly every one of them was tenanted with game of one sort or another--
such as had already been met with on the route--but beyond killing
enough to keep their larder supplied with fresh meat, our party did not
make any stay to hunt here. The guide had informed them, that beyond
the mountain where the river took its rise lay the country of the
elephant, the buffalo, and the giraffe; and in hopes of reaching this
long-expected land, the sight of a herd of springboks, or gnoos, or
blauw-boks, or even elands, had little more interest for the young
yagers than if it had been a drove of tame oxen.
Ascending into one of the upper valleys, however, they came suddenly in
view of a herd of antelopes whose forms and colours distinguished them
from any our hunters had yet met with. This at once decided them to
halt the wagons, and prepare for a chase.
That the animals seen were antelopes, there could be no mistake. They
had all the grace and lightness of form peculiar to these creatures;
besides, their horns were conspicuously characteristic. Their
appearance bespoke them to be true antelopes.
They were large ones too--that is, of medium size--about as large as red
deer; but of course small when compared with such species as the
blauw-bok or the huge eland. Each would have measured nearly three feet
and a half in height--and even a little more, over the croup--for
although there are some antelopes, such as those of the _acronotine_
group--the "hartebeest," "sassabye," and "bekr-el-wash"--that stand
lower at the croup than the shoulders, the reverse is the case with
other species; and those now before the eyes of our hunters possessed
the latter characteristic. They stood high at the croup.
None of the yagers had ever seen one of the kind before; and yet, the
moment they came under view, both Hendrik and Groot Willem cried out--
"Rooyebok!"
"How know you that they are rooyebok?" demanded Hans.
"From their colour, of course," replied the others.
The colour of these antelopes was a deep fulvous red over the head,
neck, and upper parts of the body; paler along the sides; and under the
belly pure white. There were some black marks--such as a stripe of
black down each buttock, and also along the upper part of the tail--but
the general colour of the animals was bright red; hence their being
taken for "rooyebok," or "red-bucks," by Hendrik and Groot Willem.
"The colour is not a good criterion," remarked Hans. "They might as
well have been `grysbok,' or `steinbok,' or `rooye rheebok,' for the
matter of colour. I judge by the horns, however, that you are right in
your guess. They _are_ rooyebok, or, as the Bechuanas call them,
`pallah,' and, as naturalists style them, _Antilope melampus_."
All looked at the horns as Hans spoke, and saw that these were full
twenty inches in length, and somewhat like those of the springbok, but
more irregularly lyrate. The two nearly met at their tips, whereas at
their middle they were full twelve inches apart. This was a
characteristic by which they could easily be remembered, and it had
enabled Hans at once to pronounce upon the species.
Strange to say, there was but one pair of full-grown horns in the whole
herd, for there was but one old buck, and the does of the pallah are
hornless. A "herd" is hardly a proper term; for this species of
antelope cannot be called gregarious. What our hunters saw before them
was a _family_ of rooyeboks, consisting of the old male, his wives, and
several young bucks and does--in all, only eleven in number.
Our hunters knew, from what they had heard, that the rooyebok is both a
shy and swift antelope--difficult either to be approached or run down.
It would be necessary, therefore, to adopt some plan of proceeding, else
they would not succeed in getting one of them; and they had fixed their
minds most covetously on the large knotted horns of the buck. They
halted the wagons to await the result of the chase; though the oxen were
not to be outspanned, unless it should prove successful. If so, they
would camp upon the ground for the night--so as to enable them to dress
the meat, and preserve the "trophies." With such resolves, they made
ready to hunt the pallah.
Upon first coming in sight of the rooyebok, the hunters were upon the
crest of a high ridge--one of the mountain-spurs, that divided the
valley they had just traversed from that in which the red antelopes were
feeding. From the eminence they occupied, they commanded a view of this
valley to its farthest border, and could see its whole surface, except a
small strip on the nearer side, which was hidden from them by the brow
of the ridge on which they stood.
Around the sides of the valley there were trees and bushes; though these
did not form a continued grove, but only grew in detached clumps and
patches. All the central ground, where the pallahs were feeding, was
open, and quite destitute of either bush or cover of any kind. Between
the bordering groves there was long grass; and, by the aid of this, a
skilled hunter might have crept from one grove to another, without
attracting the attention of the antelopes.
It was decided, therefore, that Hendrik and Groot Willem should steal
round to the other end of the valley, keeping under cover of the
thickets and grass. Then the pallahs would be between two fires, as
they must either go up or down the valley in trying to escape. On the
right lay the steep mountain; on the left, the deep rapid river. They
would not likely attempt to move off on either hand. So this design to
intercept them was good enough.
The horses were now tied to trees and left on the back of the ridge,
while the hunters moved forward upon the brow that overhung the valley.
They had not advanced far before that part of the valley hitherto unseen
came under their eyes, and there, to their astonishment, another herd of
animals appeared; not of antelopes--although, from their colour, they
might have been mistaken for such. No--the short round heads, elongated
bodies, thick massive limbs, and long tufted tails, told at a glance,
that it was no herd of peaceful ruminants the hunters were gazing upon,
but an assemblage of dreaded _carnivora_--a troop of lions!