"What was to be done? How was I to avoid both enemies? If I leaped
down, the wildebeest would kill me to a certainty. He was still there,
with his fierce eye bent upon me continually. If I remained where I
was, I would soon be covered with the swarming hideous insects, and
eaten up like an old rag.
"Already I felt their terrible teeth. Those that had first crawled to
my feet I had endeavoured to brush off; but some had got upon my ankles,
and were biting me through my thick woollen socks! My clothes would be
no protection.
"I had mounted to the highest part of the cone, and was standing upon
its apex. It was so sharp I could scarcely balance myself, but the
painful stings of the insects caused me to dance upon it like a
mountebank.
"But what signified those, that had already stung my ankles, to the
numbers that were likely soon to pierce me with their venomous darts?
Already these were swarming up the last terrace. They would soon cover
the apex of the cone upon which I was standing. They would crawl up my
limbs in myriads--they would--
"I could reflect no longer on what they would do. I preferred taking my
chance with the wildebeest. I would leap down. Perhaps some lucky
accident might aid me. I would battle with the gnoo, using my gun.
Perhaps I might succeed in escaping to some other hill. Perhaps--
"I was actually on the spring to leap down, when a new thought came into
my mind; and I wondered I had been so silly as not to think of it
before. What was to hinder me from keeping off the termites? They had
no wings--the soldiers have none--nor the workers neither, for that
matter. They could not fly upon me. They could only crawl up the cone.
With my jacket I could brush them back. Certainly I could--why did I
not think of it before?
"I was not long in taking off my jacket. I laid aside my useless gun,
dropping it upon one of the lower terraces. I caught the jacket by the
collar; and, using it as a duster, I cleared the sides of the cone in a
few moments, having sent thousands of the termites tumbling headlong
below.
"Pshaw! how simply the thing was done! why had I not done it before? It
cost scarcely an effort to brush the myriads away, and a slight effort
would keep them off as long as I pleased.
"The only annoyance I felt now was from the few that had got under my
trousers, and that still continued to bite me; but these I would get rid
of in time.
"Well--I remained on the apex, now bending down to beat back the
soldiers that still swarmed upward, and then occupying myself in trying
to get rid of the few that crawled upon me. I felt no longer any
uneasiness on the score of the insects--though I was not a bit better
off as regarded the bull, who still kept guard below. I fancied,
however, that he now showed symptoms of weariness, and would soon raise
the siege; and this prospect made me feel more cheerful.
"A sudden change came over me. A new thrill of terror awaited me.
"While jumping about upon the top of the cone, my footing suddenly gave
way--the baked clay broke with a dead crash, and I sank through the
roof. My feet shot down into the hollow dome--till I thought I must
have crushed the great queen in her chamber--and I stood buried to the
neck.
"I was surprised, and a little terrified, not by the shock I had
experienced in the sudden descent. That was natural enough, and a few
moments would have restored my equanimity; but it was something else
that frightened me. It was something that moved under my feet as they
touched bottom,--something that moved and heaved under them, and then
passed quickly away, letting me still farther down!
"What could it be? Was it the great swarm of living ants that I pressed
upon: I did not think it was. It did not _feel like them_. It seemed
to be something bulky and strong, for it held up my whole weight for a
moment or two, before it slipped from under me.
"Whatever it was, it frightened me very considerably; and I did not
leave my feet in its company for five seconds time. No: the hottest
furnace would scarce have scorched them during the time they remained
inside the dark dome. In five seconds they were on the walls again--on
the broken edges, where I had mounted up, and where I now stood quite
speechless with surprise!
"What next? I could keep the ants off no longer. I gazed down the dark
cavity; they were swarming up that way in thick crowds. I could brush
them down no more.
"My eyes at this moment chanced to wander to the bull. He was standing
at three or four paces distance from the base of the hill. He was
standing sideways with his head turned to it, and regarding it with a
wild look. His attitude was entirely changed, and so, I thought, was
the expression of his eye. He looked as if he had just run off to his
new position, and was ready to make a second start. He looked as if
something had also terrified _him_!
"Something evidently had; for, in another moment, he uttered a sharp
rout, galloped several paces farther out, wheeled again, halted, and
stood gazing as before!
"What could it mean? Was it the breaking through of the roof and my
sudden descent that had frightened him?
"At first I thought so, but I observed that he did not look upward to
the top. His gaze seemed bent on some object near the base of the
hill--though from where I stood I could see nothing there to frighten
him.
"I had not time to reflect what it could be, before the bull uttered a
fresh snort; and, raising his tail high into the air, struck off at full
gallop over the plain!
"Rejoiced at seeing this, I thought no more of what had relieved me of
his company. It must have been my curious fall, I concluded; but no
matter now that the brute was gone. So seizing hold of my gun, I
prepared to descend from the elevated position, of which I was
thoroughly tired.
"Just as I had got half down the side, I chanced to look below; and
there was the object that terrified the old bull. No wonder. It might
have terrified anything,--the odd-looking creature that it was. From
out a hole in the clay wall protruded a long naked cylindrical snout,
mounted by a pair of ears nearly as long as itself, that stood erect
like the horns of a steinbuck, and gave to the animal that bore them a
wild and vicious look. It would have badly frightened me, had I not
known what it was; but I recognised it at once as one of the most
inoffensive creatures in the world--the `aard-vark.'
"His appearance accounted for the retreat of the bull, and also
explained why the ants had been crawling about on my first reaching
their hill.
"Without saying a word, or making the slightest noise, I clubbed my gun;
and, bending downward, struck the protruded snout a blow with the butt.
It was a most wicked blow; and, considering the service the creature had
just done me in frightening off the wildebeest, a most ungrateful
return. But I was not master of my feelings at the moment. I did not
reflect--only that I liked aard-vark flesh--and the blow was given.
"Poor fellow! It did the job for him. With scarce a kick he dropped
dead in the opening he had scraped with his own claws.
"Well--my day's adventures were not yet ended. They seemed as though
they were never to end. I had got the aard-vark over my shoulders, and
was about heading homeward, when, to my astonishment, I observed that
the bull-gnoo--not the one that had besieged me, but his late
antagonist--was still out upon the plain where I had last seen him! I
observed, moreover, that he was still in a sort of half-lying
half-kneeling attitude, with his head close to the ground!
"His odd movements seemed stranger than anything else. I fancied he had
been badly hurt by the other, and was not able to get away.
"At first I was cautious about going near him--remembering my late
narrow escape--and I thought of giving him a wide berth, and leaving him
alone. Even though wounded, he might be strong enough to charge upon
me; and my empty gun, as I had already proved, would be but a poor
weapon with which to defend myself.
"I hesitated about going near him; but curiosity grew strong within me,
as I watched his queer manoeuvres; until at length I walked up within a
dozen yards of where he was kneeling.
"Fancy my surprise on discovering the cause of his oblique movements.
No hurt had he received of any kind--not even a scratch; but for all
that, he was as completely crippled as if he had lost his best pair of
legs.
"In a very singular manner was he rendered thus helpless. In his
struggle with the other bull, one of his fore-legs had, somehow or
other, got passed over his horn; and there it stuck--not only depriving
him of the use of the limb itself, but holding his head so close to the
ground that he was quite unable to stir from the spot!
"At first I designed helping him out of his difficulty, and letting him
go. On second thoughts, I remembered the story of the husbandman and
the frozen snake, which quite changed my intention.
"I next thought of killing him for venison; but having no bullet, I did
not like to beat him to death with my gun. Besides the aard-vark was my
load to camp, and I knew that the jackals would eat the bull up before
we could go back for him. I thought it probable he would be safer left
as he was--as these ravenous brutes, seeing him alive, might not so
readily approach him.
"So I left him with his `head under his arm,' in hopes that we may find
him there to-morrow."
So ended Hans's narrative of his day's adventures.