They did not have a long sleep, for Mr Rogers soon roused them to say
that breakfast was ready; which meal being discussed, the oxen were
in-spanned, and the horses mounted, so as to have a good long trek
towards the Limpopo, or Crocodile River, before the heat of the day.
Before leaving their camp the boys had a good look round with the
General, in the expectation and hope of seeing the lion at which Jack
had shot, lying dead. But though he felt certain that he had hit the
monster, and though footprints were about in all directions, there was
no dead lion, and they had to hope for better luck the next time.
"I don't care," said Jack discontentedly; "I'm as sure as can be that
this gun don't shoot straight."
"Try again, Jack," said his father, laughing.
And on they walked, over what was now a plain covered with great coarse,
reedy grass, such as would afford plenty of cover for game.
This, however, was scarce, and beyond the boys knocking down three or
four large birds of the partridge kind, there was very little done.
The General, for some reason which he did not explain, had taken his
great Zulu shield from where it hung behind one of the waggon-wheels,
and, armed with a couple of assegais, kept making expeditions to right
and left--and quite as often hung back, watchfully keeping an eye to the
rear.
It was a case of man's cunning against that of a beast; and after being
away some hours, he came up with the not very pleasant information that
a huge lion, one of the ferocious maneless kind, was tracking the
waggon, and would no doubt hang upon their trail until it had pounced
upon one of the horses, and carried it off.
"Oh, that would be horrible," cried Jack. "I'd almost sooner that he
would take me than my horse."
"Have you seen it, General?" said Dick; "or do you think it is following
us, from its footprints?"
"I have seen it," said the General gravely. "I felt sure from some
footmarks I had seen that some great beast was following us--one of
those that scented the horses last night. Once or twice I thought the
steps might be those of some lion that had passed this way; but, after
watching, I found them so often that at last I lay down amongst the long
grass, covered myself with my shield, and waited. It was very, very
long, and nothing came, and I thought again that I was mistaken; but I
knew that if it was a lion, tracking down the horses and bullocks, he
would come close between the wheel marks of the waggon, and there slay."
"And did you mean to kill him, General?" said Dick eagerly.
"One man cannot kill a lion with an assegai, Boss Dick," said the Zulu,
"and live afterwards and hunt with his friends. It takes the little
bullet from a gun to kill a lion well, for you can stand and shoot
farther off than a lion can spring. No, I only wanted to know and be
sure; and if I was sure I said, Boss Dick or Boss Jack will shoot him.
So I waited till I thought he would not come, and then I was going to
follow the waggon, when I heard something come steal--steal--steal
along; and when at last I looked from under my shield, there he stood
amongst the grass, close to me, watching the waggon. If I had stood up
I could have speared him; but I was lying down, and if I had tried to
get up he would have sprung upon me, the great thing; so I held the
shield more over me, like an animal with a shell, and crept a little way
on to meet him, and then made a jump at him, and he roared and dashed
away."
"But why didn't he seize you?" said Jack.
"He did not see I was a man, and he did not understand what the long
thing with black legs was that jumped at him; and a lion is big and
strong, but he is a coward about what he does not understand."
"And have you frightened him right away?" asked Dick. "Fancy
frightening away a lion!"
"No," said the Zulu; "only a little way. He is following the waggon
now, crawling softly through the grass; and I am sure it is the one Boss
Jack has shot last night, for there was a mark and blood upon his
forehead. It is a great lion, with no mane; and he is savage and wild,
and will follow the waggon always till he is killed. We must kill that
lion soon."
"An' is he following us up, Muster Gineral?" said Dinny, who had heard
some of the last words.
The Zulu nodded; and Dinny looked from one to the other with such a look
of hopeless dread in his countenance, that even Mr Rogers could not
forbear to smile.
"Sure it's the onsafest place I iver came noigh, sor; and it's not
meself that will stir away from the front of the waggon till that great
baste is killed."
The General's account of his proceedings, and his conversation as a
rule, was not in the plainest of English, so it is more convenient to
give it in ordinary colloquial form; but he was very earnest, and tried
hard to make himself understood.
When Mr Rogers consulted him as to the best means of getting rid of so
unpleasant a follower, the Zulu said that the only way would be to ride
on in front of the waggon, and then suddenly strike off to right or
left, form a wide curve, and ride inward so as to strike the track of
the waggon quite a mile behind.
By this means, the General said, they would probably get a shot at the
monster as he was crawling furtively after the horses, and probably
bring it down.
"It is a risk," said Mr Rogers thoughtfully; "but it will be impossible
for us to go on with an enemy like that always in our wake."
"When do you think he will try to attack us, General?" said Dick.
"When the sun has gone down, Boss, and the horses and oxen are having
their evening feed."
"And he might take my beautiful Shoes," said Dick.
"Or my lovely old Stockings," cried Jack, quite unconscious of how
absurd his words sounded.
"We shall have to follow out the Zulu's plan, my boys," said Mr Rogers;
"and the sooner we try the better."
The midday halt was called by a beautifully transparent pool of water,
where some richly succulent grass awaited the cattle, and which for some
hours they cropped, the heat being intense, and any object exposed to
the full power of the sun soon becoming hot enough to burn the hand.
Hot as it was, Dinny, being assured that the lion was not likely to
attack in open daylight, lit a roaring fire, and soon had the pot
simmering with its rich thick meat gravy, a basin round of which, and a
portion of a cake made and baked upon an iron plate brought for the
purpose, formed their dinner.
Then there was a siesta, and at last, the most fiery hours being gone
by, broad-brimmed straw hats were taken from the waggon--for it was
still intensely hot--and the Zulu undertaking to lead the team on
between two mountains through which the broad valley ran, the horses
were saddled, rifles taken, and father and sons mounted to go on what
might prove to be a very dangerous adventure.
The first thing done was to carefully take in the bearings of the
country, and then, after a few words of advice from the General--whom
Mr Rogers would have liked to have, only his presence was necessary
with the waggon, he being the most trustworthy of their followers--they
rode on at a brisk canter through the crisp long grass, and amongst the
bushes, and always onward towards the head of the valley, where,
towering up, stood the twin mountains, which were like the ends of a
couple of ridges or chains.
Scrupulously following out the General's advice, they struck off to the
left, and taking quite a two-mile circuit, they saw the waggon crawling
along in the distance, while they cantered on, feeling wonderfully free
and light in spite of the heat, till they were a long distance behind
the waggon, when they halted and carefully swept the surface of the
country.
"Nothing in sight," said Mr Rogers.
"I hope we shan't have our trip for nothing, father," replied Dick.
"Are you eager to meet with the lion, then?" said his father, smiling.
"I don't know, father; but I should like to shoot him," replied Dick
quietly.
"Well, my boys, I hope we shall shoot the animal; and as we are now a
couple of miles at least behind the waggon, if he is following it he
should be before us now, so come along."
Rifles were cocked, and every eye carefully scrutinised the dry
drabby-yellow grass through which the lion would be stealing its way,
and so much like the withered stems in colour that, unless moving, it
was quite possible to miss seeing such a creature as they rode along.
The plan arranged was, that no sooner was the lion sighted than they
were all to dismount, and fire as opportunity occurred, loading again as
rapidly as possible for a second shot.
But though they followed steadily on in the waggon track, riding all
three abreast, and scanning every clump and bush, they had approached
the bend of the valley without seeing anything but a few bok, which
offered tempting marks now that they did not want to shoot.
The waggon had evidently passed through the opening, for it was quite
out of sight, and the sinking sun was casting long shadows. So at last
Mr Rogers grew impatient and spoke out,--
"We had better ride on, my boys, and catch the waggon. I want to halt
early and form a good stout fence for our protection. We shall see
no--"
"Lion!" said Dick sharply. "Dismount."
He threw himself from his horse on the instant, and stood ready to fire,
his father and brother imitating his example.
"Where?" said Mr Rogers quietly. "I see nothing, Dick."
"There," replied Dick, "fifty yards away, stealing through those thick
sedgy grasses. Don't you see?"
"Yes," said his father, "I see the monster now. Keep cool, boys, and
make your shots tell. If he is wounded and charges, you must stand firm
and fire again."
Mr Rogers waited a few moments, during which the lion, a monstrous
yellow, maneless fellow, was half-crawling, half-creeping, through the
long sedgy grass; and at last he showed so plainly that Mr Rogers took
careful aim, fired, and evidently hit, for the lion uttered a furious
roar, and made a tremendous bound to escape, with the result that Dick's
cob started, and threatened to dash off; but a few words from its master
calmed it; and taking advantage of the good view he had of the lion,
Dick now fired, a shot from Jack's rifle following directly after. But,
so far from the monster being crippled, it ceased its efforts to escape,
and turning, took a few steps forward, crouched like a cat, and then
bounded at Jack.
"Stand firm and fire!" cried Mr Rogers.
Jack obeyed, and as he fired the lion was in the air launching itself at
him, but falling short, rolling over upon its side, and beginning to
tear and gnaw at the dry grass in its death agony.
Mr Rogers approached, but drew back in favour of Dick.
"Go and give it the _coup de grace_, my boy," he said. "You may as well
have the honour of killing the monster, for a monster it is."
Dick had replaced his empty cartridge with a full one, and was
approaching boldly to fire the necessary shot, when, to his horror and
astonishment, the lion rose, crouched, and showed its glistening teeth.
But in spite of the terror that seized him he stood firm, took careful
aim, fired, and with a savage roar, the lion rolled over, dead.
It was indeed a monster, and its glistening fangs were very long, while
upon examination there was the mark of Jack's last night's bullet, which
had ploughed up the skin between the creature's ears, though the wound
was now half dry.
The shots brought the Zulu into sight with his boys, for the waggon was
halting at a pleasant spring at the foot of one of the mountains not a
mile away, for here were wood and a good place for forming a kraal.
The General and his sons raced down, and the boys danced round the lion
and called it names. But there was no time to lose, and it was
impossible to stop and skin the animal that night, so the General stuck
some branches round it, and then led the way to camp, which was rapidly
formed. And though they heard lions in the distance, they had a less
disturbed night than the preceding one, greatly to the satisfaction of
all, especially Dinny, who declared that it was a blessing that the lion
was killed, for now they would be at peace.
But Dinny was wrong, for there were other lions in the land.