"Ah! the _springhaan_!" cried Von Bloom, recognising the Dutch name for
the far-famed migratory locust.
The mystery was explained. The singular cloud that was spreading itself
over the plain was neither more nor less than a flight of locusts!
It was a sight that none of them, except Swartboy, had ever witnessed
before. His master had often seen locusts in small quantities, and of
several species,--for there are many kinds of these singular insects in
South Africa. But that which now appeared was a true migratory locust
(_Gryllus devastatorius_); and upon one of its great migrations--an
event of rarer occurrence than travellers would have you believe.
Swartboy knew them well; and, although he announced their approach in a
state of great excitement, it was not the excitement of terror.
Quite the contrary. His great thick lips were compressed athwart his
face in a grotesque expression of joy. The instincts of his wild race
were busy within him. To them a flight of locusts is not an object of
dread, but a source of rejoicing--their coming as welcome as a _take_ of
shrimps to a Leigh fisherman, or harvest to the husbandman.
The dogs, too, barked and howled with joy, and frisked about as if they
were going out upon a hunt. On perceiving the cloud, their instinct
enabled them easily to recognise the locusts. They regarded them with
feelings similar to those that stirred Swartboy--for both dogs and
Bushmen eat the insects with avidity!
At the announcement that it was only locusts, all at once recovered from
their alarm. Little Truey and Jan laughed, clapped their hands, and
waited with curiosity until they should come nearer. All had heard
enough of locusts to know that they were only grasshoppers that neither
bit nor stung any one, and therefore no one was afraid of them.
Even Von Bloom himself was at first very little concerned about them.
After his feelings of apprehension, the announcement that it was a
flight of locusts was a relief, and for a while he did not dwell upon
the nature of such a phenomenon, but only regarded it with feelings of
curiosity.
Of a sudden his thoughts took a new direction. His eye rested upon his
fields of maize and buckwheat, upon his garden of melons, and fruits,
and vegetables: a new alarm seized upon him; the memory of many stories
which he had heard in relation to these destructive creatures rushed
into his mind, and as the whole truth developed itself, he turned pale,
and uttered new exclamations of alarm.
The children changed countenance as well. They saw that their father
suffered; though they knew not why. They gathered inquiringly around
him.
"Alas! alas! Lost! lost!" exclaimed he; "yes, all our crop--our labour
of the year--gone, gone! O my dear children!"
"How lost, father?--how gone?" exclaimed several of them in a breath.
"See the springhaan! they will eat up our crop--all--all!"
"'Tis true, indeed," said Hans, who being a great student had often read
accounts of the devastations committed by the locusts.
The joyous countenances of all once more wore a sad expression, and it
was no longer with curiosity that they gazed upon the distant cloud,
that so suddenly had clouded their joy.
Von Bloom had good cause for dread. Should the swarm come on, and
settle upon his fields, farewell to his prospects of a harvest. They
would strip the verdure from his whole farm in a twinkling. They would
leave neither seed, nor leaf, nor stalk, behind them.
All stood watching the flight with painful emotions. The swarm was
still a full half-mile distant. They appeared to be coming no nearer,--
good!
A ray of hope entered the mind of the field-cornet. He took off his
broad felt hat, and held it up to the full stretch of his arm. The wind
was blowing _from the north_, and the swarm was directly _to the west_
of the kraal. The cloud of locusts had approached from the north, as
they almost invariably do in the southern parts of Africa.
"Yes," said Hendrik, who having been in their midst could tell what way
they were drifting, "they came down upon us from a northerly direction.
When we headed our horses homewards, we soon galloped out from them, and
they did not appear to fly after us; I am sure they were passing
southwards."
Von Bloom entertained hopes that as none appeared due north of the
kraal, the swarm might pass on without extending to the borders of his
farm. He knew that they usually followed the direction of the wind.
Unless the wind changed they would not swerve from their course.
He continued to observe them anxiously. He saw that the selvedge of the
cloud came no nearer. His hopes rose. His countenance grew brighter.
The children noticed this and were glad, but said nothing. All stood
silently watching.
An odd sight it was. There was not only the misty swarm of the insects
to gaze upon. The air above them was filled with birds--strange birds
and of many kinds. On slow, silent wing soared the brown "oricou," the
largest of Africa's vultures; and along with him the yellow "chasse
fiente," the vulture of Kolbe. There swept the bearded "lamvanger," on
broad extended wings. There shrieked the great "Caffre eagle," and side
by side with him the short-tailed and singular "bateleur." There, too,
were hawks of different sizes and colours, and kites cutting through the
air, and crows and ravens, and many species of _insectivora_. But far
more numerous than all the rest could be seen the little
_springhaan-vogel_, a speckled bird of nearly the size and form of a
swallow. Myriads of these darkened the air above--hundreds of them
continually shooting down among the insects, and soaring up again, each
with a victim in its beak. "Locust-vultures" are these creatures named,
though not vultures in kind. They feed exclusively on these insects,
and are never seen where the locusts are not. They follow them through
all their migrations, building their nests, and rearing their young, in
the midst of their prey!
It was, indeed, a curious sight to look upon, that swarm of winged
insects, and their numerous and varied enemies; and all stood gazing
upon it with feelings of wonder. Still the living cloud approached no
nearer, and the hopes of Von Bloom continued to rise.
The swarm kept extending to the south--in fact, it now stretched along
the whole western horizon; and all noticed that it was gradually getting
lower down--that is, its top edge was sinking in the heavens. Were the
locusts passing off to the west? No.
"Da am goin' roost for da nacht--now we'll get 'em in bagfull," said
Swartboy, with a pleased look; for Swartboy was a regular locust-eater,
as fond of them as either eagle or kite,--ay, as the "springhaan-vogel"
itself.
It was as Swartboy had stated. The swarm was actually settling down on
the plain.
"Can't fly without sun," continued the Bushman. "Too cold now. Dey go
dead till da mornin."
And so it was. The sun had set. The cool breeze weakened the wings of
the insect travellers, and they were compelled to make halt for the
night upon the trees, bushes, and grass.
In a few minutes the dark mist that had hid the blue rim of the sky, was
seen no more; but the distant plain looked as if a fire had swept over
it. It was thickly covered with the bodies of the insects, that gave it
a blackened appearance, as far as the eye could reach.
The attendant birds, perceiving the approach of night, screamed for
awhile, and then scattered away through the heavens. Some perched upon
the rocks, while others went to roost among the low thickets of mimosa;
and now for a short interval both earth and air were silent.
Von Bloom now bethought him of his cattle. Their forms were seen afar
off in the midst of the locust-covered plain.
"Let 'em feed um little while, baas," suggested Swartboy.
"On what?" inquired his master. "Don't you see the grass is covered!"
"On de springhaan demself, baas," replied the Bushman; "good for fatten
big ox--better dan grass--ya, better dan _mealies_."
But it was too late to leave the cattle longer out upon the plain. The
lions would soon be abroad--the sooner because of the locusts, for the
king of the beasts does not disdain to fill his royal stomach with these
insects--when he can find them.
Von Bloom saw the necessity of bringing his cattle at once to their
kraal.
A third horse was saddled, which the field-cornet himself mounted, and
rode off, followed by Hendrik and Swartboy.
On approaching the locusts they beheld a singular sight. The ground was
covered with these reddish-brown creatures, in some spots to the depth
of several inches. What bushes there were were clustered with them,--
all over the leaves and branches, as if swarms of bees had settled upon
them. Not a leaf or blade of grass that was not covered with their
bodies!
They moved not, but remained silent, as if torpid or asleep. The cold
of the evening had deprived them of the power of flight.
What was strangest of all to the eyes of Von Bloom and Hendrik, was the
conduct of their own horses and cattle. These were some distance out in
the midst of the sleeping host; but instead of being alarmed at their
odd situation, they were greedily gathering up the insects in mouthfuls,
and crunching them as though they had been corn!
It was with some difficulty that they could be driven off; but the roar
of a lion, that was just then heard over the plain, and the repeated
application of Swartboy's _jambok_, rendered them more tractable, and at
length they suffered themselves to be driven home, and lodged within
their kraals.
Swartboy had provided himself with a bag, which he carried back full of
locusts.
It was observed that in collecting the insects into the bag, he acted
with some caution, handling them very gingerly, as if he was afraid of
them. It was not _them_ he feared, but snakes, which upon such
occasions are very plenteous, and very much to be dreaded--as the
Bushman from experience well knew.