Fatigued as they were, they would soon have fallen asleep. But they
were not permitted to do so. As they lay with closed eyes in that
half-dreamy state that precedes sleep, they were suddenly startled by
strange voices near the camp.
These voices were uttered in peals of loud laughter; and no one,
unacquainted with them, would have pronounced them to be anything else
than the voices of human beings. They exactly resembled the strong
treble produced by the laugh of a maniac negro. It seemed as if some
Bedlam of negroes had been let loose, and were approaching the spot.
I say approaching, because each moment the sounds grew clearer and
louder; and it was evident that whatever gave utterance to them was
coming nearer to the camp.
That there was more than one creature was evident--ay, and it was
equally evident that there was more than one _kind_ of creature; for so
varied were the voices, it would have puzzled a ventriloquist to have
given imitations of them all. There was howling, and whining, and
grunting, and growling, and low melancholy moaning as of some one in
pain, and hissing, and chattering, and short sharp intonations, as if it
were the barking of dogs, and then a moment or two of deep silence, and
again that chorus of human-like laughter, that in point of horror and
hideous suggestions surpassed all the other sounds.
You will suppose that such a wild concert must have put the camp in a
state of great alarm. Not a bit of it. Nobody was frightened the
least--not even innocent little Truey, nor the diminutive Jan.
Had they been strangers to these sounds, no doubt they would have been
more than frightened. They would have been terrified by them; for they
were calculated to produce such an effect upon any one to whose ears
they were new.
But Von Bloom and his family had lived too long upon the wild karoo to
be ignorant of those voices. In the howling, and chattering, and
yelping, they heard but the cries of the jackal; and they well knew the
maniac laugh of the hideous hyena.
Instead of being alarmed, and springing from their beds, they lay still
and listened--not dreading any attack from the noisy creatures.
Von Bloom and the children slept in the wagon; Swartboy and Totty upon
the ground--but these lay close to the fires, and therefore did not fear
wild beasts of any kind.
But the hyenas and jackals upon this occasion appeared to be both
numerous and bold. In a few minutes after they were first heard, their
cries rose around the camp on all sides, so near and so loud as to be
positively disagreeable--even without considering the nature of the
brutes that uttered them.
At last they came so close, that it was impossible to look in any
direction without seeing a pair of green or red eyes gleaming under the
light of the fires! White teeth, too, could be observed, as the hyenas
opened their jaws, to give utterance to their harsh laughter-like cries.
With such a sight before their eyes, and such sounds ringing in their
ears, neither Von Bloom nor any of his people--tired as they were--could
go to sleep. Indeed, not only was sleep out of the question, but, worse
than that, all--the field-cornet himself not excepted--began to
experience some feelings of apprehension, if not actual alarm.
They had never beheld a troop of hyenas so numerous and fierce. There
could not be less than two dozen of them around the camp, with twice
that number of jackals.
Von Bloom knew that although, under ordinary circumstances, the hyena is
not a dangerous animal, yet there are places and times when he will
attack human beings. Swartboy knew this well, and Hans, too, from
having read of it. No wonder, then, that some apprehension was felt by
all of them.
The hyenas now behaved with such boldness, and appeared so ravenous,
that sleep was out of the question. Some demonstration must be made to
drive the brutes away from the camp.
Von Bloom, Hans, and Hendrik, laid hold of their guns, and got out of
the wagon, while Swartboy armed himself with his bow and arrows. All
four stood close by the trunk of the nwana, on the other side from that
where the fires were. In this place they were in the shadow, where they
could best observe anything that should come under the light of the
fires without being themselves seen. Their position was well chosen.
They had scarcely fixed themselves in it, when they perceived a great
piece of neglect they had been guilty of. Now, for the first time it
occurred to them what had brought the hyenas around them in such
numbers. Beyond a doubt it was the flesh of the elephant,--the
_biltongue_.
That was what the beasts were after; and all now saw that a mistake had
been committed in hanging the meat too low. The hyenas might easily get
at it.
This was soon made manifest; for, even at the moment while they stood
watching the red festoons, plainly visible under the light of Swartboy's
fires, a shaggy spotted brute rushed forward, reared up on his
hind-legs, seized one of the pieces, dragged it down from the pole, and
then ran off with it into the darkness.
A rushing sound could be heard as the others joined him to get share of
his plunder; and, no doubt, in less than half a minute the morsel was
consumed; for, at the end of that time, glancing eyes and gleaming teeth
showed that the whole troop was back again and ready to make a fresh
seizure.
None of the hunters had fired, as the nimbleness with which the brutes
moved about rendered it difficult to take aim at any one of them; and
all knew that powder and lead were too precious to be wasted on a
"flying shot."
Emboldened by their success, the hyenas had now drawn nearer, and in a
moment more would have made a general charge upon the scaffolds of
flesh, and, no doubt, would have succeeded in carrying off a large
quantity of it. But just then it occurred to Von Bloom that it would be
best to lay aside their guns and remedy the mistake they had made, by
putting the biltongue out of reach. If they did not do so, they would
either have to remain awake all night and guard it, or else lose every
string of it.
How was it to be put out of reach?
At first they thought of collecting it into a heap and stowing it away
in the wagon. That would not only be an unpleasant job, but it would
interfere with their sleeping-quarters.
An alternative, however, presented itself. They saw that if the
scaffolds were only high enough, the meat might be easily hung so as to
be out of reach of the hyenas. The only question was, how to place the
cross-poles a little higher. In the darkness they could not obtain a
new set of uprights, and therein lay the difficulty. How were they to
get over it?
Hans had the credit of suggesting a way: and that was, to take out some
of the uprights, splice them to the others, with the forked ends
uppermost, and then rest the horizontal poles on the upper forks. That
would give a scaffold tall enough to hang the meat beyond the reach of
either jackals or hyenas.
Hans's suggestion was at once adopted. Half of the uprights were taken
up and spliced against the others so as to raise their forks full twelve
feet in the air; and then the cross-poles were rested over their tops.
By standing upon one of the wagon-chests, Von Bloom was able to fling
the strips of meat over the horizontal poles, and in such a manner that
it hung only a few inches down, and was now quite beyond the reach of
the ravenous brutes.
When the business was finished, the party resumed their station under
the shadow of the tree, intending to watch for a while, and see how the
wolfish intruders would act.
They had not long to watch. In less than five minutes the troop
approached the biltongue, howling, and gibbering, and laughing, as
before; only this time uttering peculiar cries, as if to express
disappointment. They saw at a glance that the tempting festoons were no
longer within their reach!
They were not going to leave the ground, however, without assuring
themselves of this fact; and several of the largest approached boldly
under the scaffolds, and commenced leaping up to try the height.
After several attempts, springing each time as high as they were able,
they appeared to grow discouraged; and no doubt would in time have
imitated the fox with the grapes, and gone quietly away. But Von Bloom,
indignant at being roused after such a fashion, from his pleasant rest,
was determined to take some revenge upon his tormenters; so he whispered
the word to the others, and a volley was delivered from behind the tree.
The unexpected discharge caused a quick scattering of both hyenas and
jackals, and the pattering of their numerous feet could be heard as they
ran off. When the ground under the scaffold was examined, two of the
larger of these ravenous quadrupeds, and one of the smaller, were found
to have bitten the dust.
Swartboy had discharged his arrow along with the guns, and it was he
that had slain the jackal, for the poisoned shaft was seen sticking
between the animal's ribs.
The guns were again loaded, the party took their stations as before;
but, although they waited another half-hour, neither hyena nor jackal
made their appearance.
They had not gone far away, however, as their wild music testified; but
the reason they did not return was, that they had now discovered the
half carcass of the elephant that lay in the lake, and upon that they
were making their supper. Their plunging in the water could be
distinctly heard from the camp, and during the whole night they
quarrelled and growled, and laughed and yelled, as they gorged
themselves on their ample prey.
Of course Von Bloom and his people did not sit up all night to listen to
this medley of noises. As soon as they perceived that the brutes were
not likely to come any more near the camp, they laid aside their
weapons, returned to their respective sleeping-places, and were all soon
buried in the sweet slumber that follows a day of healthy exercise.