Now it so happened that the battle which I had to fight with myself
after taking my post was precisely the converse of that which I fought
during the earlier part of that night. Then, it was a battle with
wakefulness; now, it was a struggle with sleep; and of the two fights
the latter was the more severe by far.
I began by laying down my rifle close by my side, leaning back in a
sitting posture against the palm-tree, and resigning myself to the
contemplation of the fire, which burned merrily before me, while I
pondered with myself how I should best employ my thoughts during the
three long hours of my watch. But I had not dwelt on that subject more
than three minutes, when I was rudely startled by my own head falling
suddenly and heavily forward on my chest. I immediately roused myself.
"Ah! Ralph, Ralph," said I to myself in a whisper, "this won't do, lad.
To sleep at your post! shame on you! Had you been a sentinel in time
of war that nod would have cost you your life, supposing you to have
been caught in the act."
Soliloquising thus, I arose and shook myself. Then I slapped my chest
several times and pulled my nose and sat down again. Only a few minutes
elapsed before the same thing occurred to me again, so I leaped up, and
mended the fires, and walked to and fro, until I felt thoroughly awake,
but in order to make sure that it should not occur again, I walked to
the edge of the circle of light and gazed for some time into the dark
forest, as I had done before. While standing thus I felt my knees give
way, as if they had been suddenly paralysed, and I awoke just in time to
prevent myself falling to the ground. I must confess I was much amazed
at this, for although I had often read of soldiers falling asleep
standing at their posts, I had never believed the thing possible.
I now became rather anxious, "for," thought I, "if I go to sleep and the
fires die down, who knows but wild beasts may come upon us and kill us
before we can seize our arms." For a moment or two I meditated awaking
Jack and begging him to keep me company, but when I reflected that his
watch was to come immediately after mine, I had not the heart to do it.
"No!" said I (and I said it aloud for the purpose of preventing
drowsiness)--"no; I will fight this battle alone! I will repeat some
stanzas from my favourite authors. Yes, I will try to remember a
portion of `A Midsummer-Night's Dream.' It will be somewhat appropriate
to my present circumstances."
Big with this resolve, I sat down with my face to the fire and my back
to the palm-tree, and--fell sound asleep instantly!
How long I lay in this condition I know not, but I was suddenly awakened
by a yell so appalling that my heart leaped as if into my throat, and my
nerves thrilled with horror. For one instant I was paralysed; then my
blood seemed to rebound on its course. I sprang up and attempted to
seize my rifle.
The reader may judge of my state of mind when I observed that it was
gone! I leaped towards the fire, and grasping a lighted brand, turned
round and glared into the woods in the direction whence the yell came.
It was grey dawn, and I could see things pretty distinctly; but the only
living object that met my gaze was Peterkin, who stood with my rifle in
his hand laughing heartily!
I immediately turned to look at Jack, who was sitting up in the spot
where he had passed the night, with a sleepy smile on his countenance.
"Why, what's the meaning of this?" I inquired.
"The meaning of it?" cried Peterkin, as he advanced and restored the
rifle to its place. "A pretty fellow you are to mount guard! we might
have been all murdered in our sleep by niggers or eaten alive by
gorillas, for all that you would have done to save us."
"But, Peterkin," said I gravely, "you ought not to have startled me so;
you gave me a terrible fright. People have been driven mad before now,
I assure you, by practical jokes."
"My dear fellow," cried Peterkin, with much earnestness, "I know that as
well as you. But, in the first place, you were guilty of so heinous a
crime that I determined to punish you, and at the same time to do it in
a way that would impress it forcibly on your memory; and in the second
place, I would not have done it at all had I not known that your nerves
are as strong as those of a dray-horse. You ought to be taking shame to
yourself on account of your fault rather than objecting to your
punishment."
"Peterkin is right, my boy," said Jack, laughing, "though I must say he
had need be sure of the nerves of any one to whom he intends to
administer such a ferocious yell as that. Anyhow, I have no reason to
complain; for you have given me a good long sleep, although I can't say
exactly that you have taken my watch. It will be broad daylight in half
an hour, so we must be stirring, comrades."
On considering the subject I admitted the force of these remarks, and
felt somewhat crestfallen. No doubt, my companions had treated the
thing jocularly, and, to say truth, there was much that was comical in
the whole affair; but the more I thought of it, the more I came to
perceive how terrible might have been the consequences of my
unfaithfulness as a sentinel. I laid the lesson to heart, and I can
truly say that from that day to this I have never again been guilty of
the crime of sleeping at my post.
We now busied ourselves in collecting together the dying embers of our
fire and in preparing breakfast, which consisted of tea, hard biscuit,
and cold monkey. None of us liked the monkey; not that its flesh was
bad--quite the contrary--but it looked so like a small roasted baby that
we could not relish it at all. However, it was all we had; for we had
set off on this hunting excursion intending to live by our rifles, but
had been unfortunate, having seen nothing except a monkey or two.
The kettle was soon boiled, and we sat down to our meagre fare with
hearty appetites. While we are thus engaged, I shall turn aside for a
little and tell the reader, in one or two brief sentences, how we got to
this place.
We shipped in a merchant ship at Liverpool, and sailed for the west
coast of Africa. Arrived there we found a party, under the command of a
Portuguese trader, about to set off to the interior. He could speak a
little English; so we arranged to go with him as far as he intended to
proceed, learn as much of the native language as possible while in his
company, and then obtain a native guide to conduct us to the country in
which the gorillas are found. To this native guide, we arranged, should
be explained by the trader our object in visiting the country, so that
he might tell the tribes whom we intended to visit. This, we found, was
an absolutely needful precaution, on the following ground.
The natives of Africa have a singular and very bad style of carrying on
trade with the white men who visit their shores. The traffic consists
chiefly of ivory, barwood (a wood much used in dyeing), and indiarubber.
The natives of the far interior are not allowed to convey these
commodities directly to the coast, but by the law of the land (which
means the law of the strongest, for they are absolute savages) are
obliged to deliver their goods to the care of the tribe next to them;
these pass them on to the next tribe; and so on they go from tribe to
tribe till they reach the coast, where they are sold by the tribe there.
The price obtained, which usually consists of guns, powder and shot,
looking-glasses, cloth, and sundry other articles and trinkets useful to
men in a savage state, is returned to the owners in the far interior
through the same channel; but as each tribe deducts a percentage for its
trouble, the price dwindles down as it goes, until a mere trifle,
sometimes nothing at all, remains to be handed over to the unfortunate
people of the tribe who originally sent off the goods for sale. Of
course, such a system almost paralyses trade. But the intermediate
tribes between the coast and the interior being the gainers by this
system, are exceedingly jealous of anything like an attempt to carry on
direct trade. They are ready to go to war with the tribes of the
interior, should they attempt it, and they throw all the opposition they
can in the way of the few white men who ever penetrate the interior for
such a purpose.
It will thus be seen that our travels would be hindered very much, if
not stopped altogether, and ourselves be regarded with jealousy, or
perhaps murdered, if our motives in going inland were not fully and
satisfactorily explained to the different tribes as we passed through
their lands. And we therefore proposed to overcome the difficulty by
taking a native guide with us from the tribe with which we should chance
to be residing when obliged to separate from the Portuguese trader.
We had now reached this point. The day before that on which we encamped
in the woods, as above related, we arrived at a native village, and had
been received kindly by the king. Almost immediately after our arrival
we heard so many stories about gorillas that I felt persuaded we should
fall in with one if we went a-hunting, and being exceedingly anxious to
add one to my collection of animals--for I had a small museum at home--I
prevailed on Jack and Peterkin to go one day's journey into the bush to
look for them. They laughed very much at me indeed, and said that we
were still very far away from the gorilla country; but I had read in
some work on Africa a remark to the effect that there is no cordillera,
or mountain range, extending across the whole continent to limit the
_habitat_ of certain classes of animals, and I thought that if any
animal in Africa would not consent to remain in one region when it
wished to go to another, that animal must be the ferocious gorilla. The
trader also laughed at me, and said that he had never seen any himself
in that region, and that we would have to cross the desert before seeing
them. Still, I felt a disposition to try; besides, I felt certain that
we should at least fall in with some sort of animals or plants or
minerals that would be worth collecting; so it was agreed that we should
go out for a single day, and be back in time for a great elephant-hunt
which was about to take place.
But to return from this digression. Having finished breakfast, we made
three bundles or packages of our blankets, provisions, and camp
equipage; strapped them on our backs; and then, shouldering our rifles,
set out on our return to the negro village.
Of course we gave Jack the largest and heaviest bundle to carry.
Peterkin's and mine were about equal, for although I was taller than
Peterkin, I was not by any means so powerful or active. I often
wondered at the great strength that lay in the little frame of my
friend. To look at him, no one would believe that he was such a tough,
wiry, hardy little fellow. He was the same hearty, jovial creature that
I had lived with so pleasantly when he and Jack and I were cast away on
the coral island. With the exception of a small scrap of whisker on
each cheek, a scar over the right eye, and a certain air of manliness,
there was little change in my old comrade.
"Ralph," said Jack, as we strode along through the forest, "do you
remember how we three used to wander about together in the woods of our
coral island?"
"Remember!" I cried with enthusiasm, for at that moment the thought
occurred to my own mind; "how can I ever forget it, Jack? It seems to
me just like yesterday. I can hardly believe that six long years have
passed since we drank that delicious natural lemonade out of the green
cocoa-nuts, and wandered on the coral beach, and visited Penguin Island,
and dived into the cave to escape the pirates. The whole scene rises up
before me so vividly that I could fancy we were still there. Ah! these
were happy times."
"So they were," cried Peterkin; "but don't you go and become
sentimentally sad, Ralph, when you talk of those happy days. If we were
happy there, are we not happy _here_?--There's no change in us--except,
indeed, that Jack has become a gorilla."
"Ay, and you a monkey," retorted Jack.
"True; and Ralph a naturalist, which is the strangest beast of all,"
added Peterkin.--"Can you tell me, Ralph, by the way, what tree that
is?"
"I'm sure I cannot tell. Never saw or heard of one like it before," I
replied, looking at the tree referred to with some interest. It was a
fine tree, but the great beauty about it was the gorgeous fruit with
which it was laden. It hung in the form of bunches of large grapes, and
was of the brightest scarlet colour. The glowing bunches seemed like
precious gems glittering amongst the green foliage, and I observed that
a few monkeys and several parrots were peeping at us through the
branches.
"It seems good for food," said Jack. "You'd better climb up, Peterkin,
and pull a few bunches. The puggies won't mind you, of course, being
one of themselves."
"Ralph," said Peterkin, turning to me, and deigning no reply to Jack,
"you call yourself a naturalist; so I suppose you are acquainted with
the habits of monkeys, and can turn your knowledge to practical
account."
"Well," I replied, "I know something about the monkey tribes, but I
cannot say that at this moment I remember any particular habit of which
we might avail ourselves."
"Do you not? Well, now, that's odd. I'm a student of nature myself,
and I have picked up a little useful knowledge in the course of my
travels. Did you ever travel so far as the Zoological Gardens in
London?"
"Of course I have done so, often."
"And did you ever observe a peculiar species of monkey, which, when you
made a face at it, instantly flew into a towering passion, and shook the
bars of its cage until you expected to see them broken?"
"Yes," said I, laughing; "what then?"
"Look here, you naturalist, and I'll put a wrinkle on your horn. Yonder
hangs a magnificent bunch of fruit that I very much desire to possess."
"But it's too high to reach," said I.
"But there's a monkey sitting beside it," said Peterkin.
"I see. You don't expect him to pull it and throw it down, do you?"
"Oh no, certainly not; but--" Here Peterkin stepped up to the tree, and
looking up at the monkey, said, "O-o-o-oo-o!" angrily.
"_O-o-o-oo-oo_!" replied the monkey, stretching out its neck and looking
down with an expression of surprise and indignation, as if to say, "What
on earth do you mean by that?"
"Oo-o-o-oo-o!" roared Peterkin.
Hereupon the monkey uttered a terrific shriek of passion, exposed all
its teeth and gums, glared at its adversary like a little fiend, and
seizing the branch with both hands, shook it with all its might. The
result was, that not only did the coveted bunch of fruit fall to the
ground, but a perfect shower of bunches came down, one of which hit Jack
on the forehead, and, bursting there, sent its fragrant juice down his
face and into his beard, while the parrots and all the other monkeys
took to flight, shrieking with mingled terror and rage.
"You see I'm a practical man," observed Peterkin quietly, as he picked
up the fruit and began to eat it. "Knowledge is power, my boy. A man
with a philosophical turn of mind like yourself ought to have been up to
a dodge of this sort. How capital this fruit is, to be sure!--Does it
make good pomade, Jack?"
"Excellent; but as I'm not in the habit of using pomade, I shall wash
this out of my beard as quickly as possible."
While Jack went to a brook that ran close to where we stood, I tasted
the fruit, and found it most excellent, the pulp being juicy, with a
very pleasant flavour.
While we were thus engaged a wild pig ran grunting past us.
"Doesn't that remind you of some of our doings on the coral island,
Ralph?" said Peterkin.
Before I could reply a herd of lovely small gazelles flew past. Our
rifles were lying on the ground, and before either of us could take aim
the swift creatures were lost sight of in the thick underwood. Peterkin
fired one shot at a venture, but without any result.
We were still deploring our stupidity in not having our rifles handy,
when a strange sound was heard in the distance. By this time Jack had
come up, so we all three seized our rifles and listened intently. The
sound was evidently approaching. It was a low, dull, booming roar,
which at one moment seemed to be distant thunder, at another the cry of
some huge animal in rage or pain. Presently the beating of heavy hoofs
on the turf and the crash of branches were heard. Each of us sprang
instinctively towards a tree, feeling that if danger were near its trunk
would afford us some protection.
Being ignorant, as yet, of the cries of the various wild beasts
inhabiting those woods, we were greatly at a loss to determine what
creature it could be that approached at such headlong speed. That its
mad career was caused by fear soon became apparent, for the tones of
terror either in man or beast, when distinctly heard, cannot be
mistaken.
Immediately in front of the spot where we stood was an open space or
glade of considerable extent. Towards this the animal approached, as
was evident from the increasing loudness of its wild roar, which was
almost continuous. In another moment the thick wall of underwood at its
farther extremity was burst asunder with a crash, and a wild buffalo
bull bounded into the plain and dashed madly across. On its neck was
crouched a leopard, which had fixed its claws and teeth deep in the
flesh of the agonised animal. In vain did the bull bound and rear, toss
and plunge. At one moment it ran like the wind; the next it stopped
with such violence as to tear up the turf and scatter it around. Then
it reared, almost falling back; anon it plunged and rushed on again,
with the foam flying from its mouth, and its bloodshot eyes glaring with
the fire of rage and terror, while the woods seemed to tremble with its
loud and deep-toned bellowing. Twice in its passage across the open
glade it ran, in its blind fury, straight against a tree, almost beating
in its skull, and for a moment arresting its progress; but it instantly
recovered the shock and burst away again as madly as ever. But no
effort that it was capable of making could relieve the poor creature
from its deadly burden, or cause the leopard in the slightest degree to
relax its fatal gripe.
It chanced that the wild bull's mad gallop was in a direction that
brought it within a few yards of the spot where we stood, so we prepared
to put an end to its misery. As it drew near, Jack, who was in advance,
raised his rifle. I, being only a short distance from him, also made
ready to fire, although I confess that in the agitation of the moment I
could not make up my mind whether I should fire at the buffalo or the
leopard. As far as I can recall my rapid and disjointed thoughts on
that exciting occasion, I reasoned thus: "If I shoot the leopard the
bull will escape, and if I shoot the bull the leopard will escape." It
did not occur to me at that trying moment, when self-possession and
decision were so necessary, that I might shoot the bull with one barrel,
and the leopard with the other. Still less did it occur to me that I
might miss bull and leopard altogether.
While I was engaged in this hurried train of troubled thought, Jack
fired both barrels of his rifle, one after the other, as quickly as
possible. The bull stumbled forward upon its knees. In order to make
assurance doubly sure, I aimed at its head and fired both barrels at
once. Instantly the bull rose, with a hideous bellow, and stood for one
moment irresolute, glaring at its new enemies. The leopard, I observed,
was no longer on its back. At this moment I heard an exclamation of
anger, and looking round I observed Peterkin struggling violently in the
grasp of one of the wild vines or thorny plants which abound in some
parts of the African forests and render them almost impassable. It
seems that as the bull drew near, Peterkin, who, like Jack and me, was
preparing to shoot, found that a dense thicket came between him and the
game, so as to prevent his firing. He leaped nimbly over a bush,
intending to run to another spot, whence he could more conveniently take
aim, but found himself, as I have related, suddenly entangled among the
thorns in such a way that the more he struggled the more firmly he
became ensnared. Being of an impatient disposition, he did struggle
violently, and it was this, probably, that attracted the attention of
the bull and decided its future course and its ultimate fate; for after
remaining one moment, as I have stated, in an irresolute attitude, it
turned suddenly to the left and rushed, with its head down and its tail
up, straight at Peterkin.
I cannot describe the sensations that overwhelmed me on observing the
imminent danger of my friend. Horror almost overwhelmed me as I gazed
with a stare of fascination at the frightful brute, which with flashing
eyes and bloody foam dripping from its mouth charged into the thicket,
and crashed through the tough boughs and bushes as if they were grass.
A film came over my eyes. I tried to reload my rifle, but my trembling
hand refused to act, and I groaned with mingled shame and despair on
finding myself thus incapable of action in the hour of extreme peril.
At that moment I felt I would joyfully have given my own life to have
saved that of Peterkin. It takes me long to describe it, but the whole
scene passed with the rapidity almost of a flash of light.
Jack did not even attempt to load, but uttering a fearful cry, he sprang
towards our friend with a bound like that of an enraged tiger. A gleam
of hope flashed through my soul as I beheld his gigantic form dash
through the underwood. It seemed to me as if no living creature could
withstand such a furious onset. Alas for Peterkin, had his life
depended on Jack, strong and lion-like though he was! His aid could not
have been in time. A higher Power nerved his arm and steeled his heart
at that terrible moment. As I gazed helplessly at Peterkin, I observed
that he suddenly ceased his struggles to get free, and throwing forward
the muzzle of his piece, stood boldly up and awaited the onset with calm
self-possession. The bull was on him almost in an instant. One stride
more and he would have been lost, but that stride was never taken. His
rifle poured its deadly charge into the skull of the wild bull, which
fell a mass of dead flesh, literally at his feet.
It were vain to attempt to describe the state of our feelings on this
memorable occasion--the fervour with which we thanked our heavenly
Father for our friend's deliverance--the delight with which we shook his
hands, again and again, and embraced him. It was with considerable
difficulty that we extricated Peterkin from his entanglement. When this
was accomplished we proceeded to examine our prize.
We were not a little puzzled on discovering that only three bullets had
struck the bull. For my part, I fired straight at its forehead, and had
felt certain at the time that my shots had taken effect; yet there was
but one ball in the animal's head, and that was undoubtedly Peterkin's,
for the hair all round the hole was singed off, so near had it been to
him when he fired. The other two shots were rather wide apart--one in
the shoulder, the other in the neck. Both would have proved mortal in
the long run, but neither was sufficiently near to a vital spot to kill
speedily.
"Now, Ralph, my boy," said Jack, after our excitement was in some degree
abated, "you and I must divide the honour of these two shots, for I fear
we can't tell which of us fired them. Peterkin only fired once, and
that was pretty effectual."
"Yes," I replied, "it is rather perplexing; for although I have no
objection whatever to your having all the honour of those two shots,
still one likes to know with certainty who actually made them."
"You'd better toss for them," suggested Peterkin, who was seated on the
trunk of a fallen tree, examining, with a somewhat rueful countenance,
the tattered condition of his garments.
"There would not be much satisfaction in that," replied Jack, laughing.
"It is probable," said I, "that each of us hit with one barrel and
missed with the other."
"And it is possible," added Jack, "that one of us hit with both, and the
other missed with both. All that I can positively affirm is that I
fired both barrels at his shoulder--one after the other."
"And all that I am certain of," said I, "is that I fired both barrels at
his forehead, and that I discharged them both at once."
"Did you?" said Peterkin, looking up quickly; "then, Ralph, I'm afraid
you must give all the honour to Jack, for you have missed altogether."
"How do you know that?" I asked, in a somewhat piqued tone.
"Simply enough. If you fired both shots together at so short a
distance, they would have been found close together wherever they had
struck, whereas the two shots in the neck and shoulder are more than two
feet apart."
I was compelled to admit that there was much truth in the observation,
but still felt unwilling to give up all claim to having assisted in
slaying our first buffalo. I pondered the subject a good deal during
the remainder of the time we spent in cutting up and packing part of the
buffalo meat, and in preparing to continue our journey, but could come
at no satisfactory conclusion in my own mind, and, to say truth, I felt
not a little crestfallen at my conduct in the whole affair.
While wandering in this mood near the spot where the buffalo had been
first wounded, I received a sudden and severe start on observing the
leopard crouching within a couple of yards of me. I saw it through the
bushes quite distinctly, but could not make quite sure of its attitude.
With a mingled cry of alarm and astonishment I sprang back to the place
where I had left my rifle.
Jack and Peterkin instantly ran up with their pieces cocked.
"Where is it?" they cried in a breath.
"There, crouching just behind that bush."
Jack darted forward.
"Crouching!" he cried, with a loud laugh, seizing the animal by the tail
and dragging it forth; "why, it's dead--stone dead."
"Dead as mutton," said Peterkin. "Hallo! what's this?" he added in
surprise. "Two holes close together in its forehead, I do declare!
Hooray! Ralph, my boy, give us your paw! You've missed the bull and
hit the leopard! If you haven't been and put two bullets right between
its two eyes, I'm a Dutchman!"
And so, in truth, it turned out. I had aimed at the bull and hit the
leopard. So I left that spot not a little pleased with my bad aim and
my good fortune.