TWO NARROW ESCAPES FROM CROCODILES--STALKING ELANDS
WITH LIONS IN COMPANY--GOOD RECORD FOR AN AFTERNOON.
Harry and I admitted that Jack's effort at boat-building was highly
successful, and we could see no reason why it would not serve a good
purpose in hunting hippopotami.
"I got the idea of this craft," said Jack, "up among the natives of
the Arctic circle. They make boats of walrus-hide, and sometimes of
reindeer-skin, in just this way: they build a framework and fasten
the skins around it. You have to be very particular in moving around
in one of their boats, and always step on one of the timbers; never
let your feet rest entirely on the hide that forms the cover, or you
may make a hole through it. There's no danger of any mishap of that
kind with this tough old buffalo-skin, except at the places where it
is sewn together; but it will be well to observe the same rule with
this craft as with those I have mentioned."
In the afternoon we got our Kafirs together--a dozen of them--and
transported the boat to the river. We had previously made some
paddles out of pieces of board, and the boat was also provided with
two long poles for propelling it in shallow places. It floated like
a duck on the water, and we all felt proud of Jack's achievement. We
took along several hippopotamus-spears, together with our rifles, and
it was decided that two of us in the boat, with two natives to paddle
it, would be as large a crew as she could easily sustain. The plan
was to launch the boat some distance up the river, while I took my
station on the bank, sitting down on a pile of reeds, and waiting for
a shot at the first hippo that came along. The rest of the party
moved slowly up along the river-bank, the Kafirs carrying the boat,
and Jack and Harry preceding them to indicate the spot where they
would launch out upon the waters.
It was very quiet sitting there all by myself, and after a little
while I felt the soothing effect of the stillness, and, leaning my
head forward, fell asleep. I was sitting just at the edge of the
river; my feet were not three inches from the water, and my cushion
of reeds was a low one. I heard nothing, saw nothing, and felt
nothing until I was roused by the report of a rifle, seemingly close
at hand.
Of course I was awake in an instant, and when I waked the water in
front of me was whirling and churning violently, and there was a
whirling and churning around my head, mingled with shouts from my
friends, whose voices I recognized. They came paddling rapidly
toward me with the boat, and I could see that both of them were in a
state of great excitement.
[Illustration: MY ESCAPE FROM THE CROCODILES.]
"You've had a narrow escape from a horrible death!" said Jack, as the
boat touched the bank and he sprang ashore.
"Why, what's the matter?" said I.
"A minute more," said Jack--"yes, half a minute--and you would have
been in the jaws of a crocodile!"
I felt my hair standing on end at this announcement, which I could
not fully comprehend; and I replied to it with the question, "What do
you mean?"
"I mean just this," said Jack: "when we came in sight of you we saw
from your position that you had probably fallen asleep. As we came
nearer we saw that the river in front of you was full of crocodiles;
there must have been a dozen of them close to you, and a dozen more
only a little distance away. They probably stopped at first to look
at you out of curiosity, and then made up their minds that you would
be good to eat. We saw two or three of them creeping up in your
direction, and the foremost of the lot had his nose within less than
a yard of your feet. We could see that he was preparing to seize
you. Others were moving along in his direction, and the
probabilities are that when one of them had grabbed you and pulled
you into the water the others would have taken a share in the work.
We fired at one of them, but not the one nearest you, for fear that
in his sudden whirling about he would sweep you into the water.
Immediately after firing we shouted, and the shouts and the report of
the rifle drove the crocodiles away."
I then realized the dangerous position in which I had been, and made
a vow never to run the same risk again. I kept that vow faithfully
for a week, when I was one day out duck-shooting, and had ornamented
my belt with five or six ducks. I wanted to cross the river where
the water was not very deep, and thought I could do so with safety.
I started in, the ducks hanging at my side, and I holding my gun
between my chin and chest so as to keep it from getting wet. The
water was very nearly at my neck, and I was getting slowly along,
when suddenly I saw a crocodile--an immense fellow--coming in my
direction like a steamboat, not twenty yards away, his ugly snout
protruding from the water.
I dropped my gun instantly, and struck out with both hands for the
shore. Partly swimming and partly wading, I reached it, and got on
dry land with the monster's nose about six feet behind me! That was
about as close a call as the other one.
I was quite alone, and there was no way in which I could recover my
gun without an almost certain risk of becoming the prey of the
crocodiles. The next day all hands of us went there, and by keeping
up a great noise we drove the saurians out of the way, and got a
chance to drag for the gun. We worked there two or three hours, and
finally recovered it. The reader may ask why we did not dive for it;
but I beg him to remember that the proximity of crocodiles or
alligators is not encouraging to divers, although in waters no more
than five or six feet in depth.
We did not get any hippos that afternoon by means of our boat, but we
killed two that were feeding on shore by cutting them off from their
line of retreat to the river. They were of a very fair size, and it
did not take long for our people to skin them, cut them up, and
transport the meat to camp.
While we were on our way home Harry and I made a detour to the
westward, partly to use up the time and partly in the hope of finding
something worthy of our attention.
In a little nook at the edge of the forest we caught sight of three
or four elands. It was rather unusual to see them as near as this to
the forest, and we flattered ourselves that we would be able to bring
down at least two of them; so we told our trackers and gun-bearers to
drop back behind us, while we crept forward to stalk the elands,
which we could do with ease, on account of their nearness to the
wooded country. The only drawback to the business was that there was
a patch of wait-a-bit thorns exactly between them and the forest.
However, we were not going to let this impediment daunt us, and felt
sure we would find some way of circumventing it.
We worked our way along pretty well among the creepers and other
growths that covered the ground, and had got within about sixty yards
of the nearest of the elands when we were startled by a very emphatic
growl that seemed to come from almost under our feet. I do not know
whether I turned pale or not; Harry says I did, and I know he did.
It was enough to make any one turn pale; for there, within twenty
yards of us, were two lions that were engaged in a rival occupation
to ours. They were stalking those very elands, and they did not
relish the idea of interference. One of the lions was standing up
and looking in our direction; the other was crouching with his nose
pointed toward the elands.
I sidled over to Harry, meantime putting my gun at full cock and
standing ready in case of a charge, and Harry doing the same thing.
"What shall we do?" whispered Harry. "Shall we back out or shoot the
lions?"
"Do neither," said I; "stand where we are, backing just a little,
enough to signify that we give up the chase; then I don't think the
lions will molest us."
"Do you believe they'll tackle the elands, then?"
"Yes," I answered, "they probably will; and if we work it right, and
the lions do what we want them to do, we'll bag the elands and the
lions at the same time. See, that fellow's taking his gaze off us
now, and they'll make a spring very soon."
We stood and watched and waited, but we did not have to wait long.
The lions chose two of the elands--at least they acted as if they had
done so, as they made a bound simultaneously; and in less time than
it takes me to tell it they were on the backs of two of those
animals. Both the elands fell, struck senseless by the blows of the
lions' paws and by the grip of the powerful teeth just forward of the
shoulder. The other elands ran away.
"Now's our chance," I said to Harry; "you get a bead on the one to
the right, and I'll take the fellow on the left. They'll be so
intent on their eating that they won't be likely to leave it to make
a charge upon us. All the same, we'll keep under cover as much as we
can."
We moved about till we got up in pretty close range. I said to Harry
that we wanted to fire together as well as we could, but of course I
realized that we might not get a good aim at the same time.
I was just raising my rifle to the shoulder in readiness to fire when
I heard a crashing in the bush almost behind me. It sounded like a
large animal, and was coming almost in my direction. I had not time
to look around before a third lion bounded past me, not four feet
away, and sprang upon one of the lions' as he was beginning his
repast on the eland he had brought down!
[Illustration: THE LIONS AND THE ELANDS.]
It seemed to me that the air was getting rather thick with lions, and
it would be well for us to dispose of what we had before any more
arrived. The new-comer joined the lion which I had selected for my
game, and therefore I had a double task before me. I waved my hands
to Harry, trying to indicate that under the circumstances I had
better fire first. He understood me, and withheld his shot until I
had disposed of one of my beasts.
The animal gave me a good chance to do so, as he fell to quarreling
with the possessor of the prize. I killed one of the lions at the
first shot; the second one I wounded badly, and it took no fewer than
three shots to finish him. By good luck I had my Winchester along,
and poured the lead in with great rapidity. Harry was also carrying
his Winchester, which he fired three times before silencing and
quieting his Hon. There was no need of wasting any ammunition on the
elands, as they were already dead from the work of the lions. When
this was completed we came out into the open and surveyed our game.
"Pretty good business," said Harry, "just for an afternoon walk."
I agreed with him that it was pretty good business, and now the
question arose with Harry as to what we should do about it.
"Oh, that's very simple," I answered: "send one of the trackers to
the wagon, and get all the men we can to skin the lions and cut up
and carry home the elands. We'll have rather an abundance of meat in
camp now, but there won't be any of it wasted. What with dogs,
Kafirs, and ourselves, we can get away with a goodly amount."
"But won't Jack be jealous of us," remarked Harry, "when he finds
what we've done in our little detour while going home from the river!"
"Oh, I don't think he will be jealous exactly," I answered; "he will
be sorry he wasn't along, and I'm sorry he wasn't. I don't know that
we could have got any more game if he'd been with us, but he might
have had the satisfaction, at any rate, of shooting one of the lions."
We waited on the spot until the men came to take charge of our
prizes; then we proceeded to camp, where we found Jack, who had
already heard the story of our success. He congratulated us
heartily, and, as I knew he would, wished he had been along.
"You've reversed the old adage," said he, "about the odd things you
see when you haven't got a gun. You certainly saw a lot of very odd
things, and had your guns along at the same time."