UNPLEASANT COMPANY--RESCUING THE CASTAWAYS--SHOOTING
LIONS AT NIGHT--MISS BOLAND'S MENAGERIE.
"I wanted to try an experiment with them," continued Miss Boland,
"and see if they had not been completely tamed by their experiences;
but Mrs. Roberts remarked that it was no time or place for
experiments of that sort, and our best policy was to kill them before
they got over their fright. So we shot them, and we walked up to
within four paces of them to do so. They dropped down so peacefully
that I rather think they liked being shot."
"How did you manage with the boa-constrictor?" queried Jack.
"Oh, we shot him too," said Miss Boland; "he was all used up with
swimming, and was an easy prey to us. We fired at him
simultaneously, putting two bullets through his head. He twisted
about a great deal, but did not need any more shooting."
The experiences of the ladies with these wild animals, alarmed as
they were by the freshet, is corroborated by that of other travelers
in Africa, and also in other countries. Winwood Reade tells about
being in Senegambia during a time of flood. He said his party, which
was traveling by boat, came to a small island in the river; and on
this island there were lying, huddled together, two lions, a leopard,
some monkeys and hyenas, two antelopes, and a wild boar. They killed
all of these animals without difficulty. None of them took to the
water; the leopard and the monkeys made an attempt to escape by
running up a tree.
I have a friend who was on a hunting-expedition on the island of
Saugor at the time of the great cyclone at Calcutta, twenty odd years
ago. Saugor Island was flooded, and my friend was forced to climb
into a tree for safety. A tiger--a full-grown Asiatic tiger--sought
shelter in the same tree, and for more than twenty hours tiger and
man remained there, neither molesting the other. My friend had
dropped his rifle in his haste to save himself from drowning, and
therefore was unable to make any demonstrations against the tiger.
As for the latter animal, he was so overcome by fear that all his
natural ferocity was gone.
But to return to the castaways. The question now was how to get them
off the island. They were all agreed that there was practically no
danger from crocodiles; but at the same time there was a lingering
fear that some might have come down the valley in the freshet, just
as lizards come down with the rain. Jack suggested that the best
plan would be for one of the ladies to get into the boat with him,
and be brought over to the shore where we were standing. The boat
could carry only two persons, and thus two trips would be required
before both of them could be brought over. The fore-looper would
follow in the third and last trip of the boat, and he would lead one
horse, allowing him to swim through the water; and when the other two
horses found they were to be left alone on the island, they would
take to the water and follow.
This was exactly what happened, and in due time all were safely
ferried over. All the party that had spent the night on the island
presented a very dilapidated appearance, as there was no shelter save
what the trees afforded, and there are very few trees in the world
that can keep out an African rain. But though dilapidated in
appearance, they were in good spirits; and now that their mishap was
over, were ready to laugh about it, and thought it was not so bad
after all.
"We were not as frightened," said Mrs. Roberts, "as we were when the
lions had us up that tree; but I am frank to say we were by no means
easy in our minds. There was the uncertainty as to what height the
waters would attain, and until we found that they had ceased rising
we were in quite a state of alarm."
While Jack was busy with his work of rescuing the castaways, Harry
and I had hunted around for the dryest wood we could find; and we had
no easy task of it, I assure you. We built a fire, on which we
cooked the tongues of the two buffaloes; so that when the party had
been ferried over to our side we had a hot lunch ready for them.
They were not particularly hungry, having eaten the cold meat which
Jack took to them; but a hot buffalo-tongue, fresh from the coals, is
a delicacy which no one can refuse in South Africa, unless he has
just gorged himself in imitation of an anaconda. We had a
substantial feast all around, and then we mounted our horses and rode
at a good pace to the ladies' camp.
We made very good time on our return-journey, as we did not stop to
do any hunting on our way. We saw a herd of giraffes at quite a
distance, and some scattered gemsbok and other members of the
antelope family; but it was not considered worth while to pursue them.
When we reached the ladies' camp it was the intention of the three
men of the party to leave immediately for their own wagons; but the
manager told us that the cook had an ample lunch prepared, and, as
the ladies urged us to stop, we did so, frankly telling them that we
would consider it no breach of hospitality if they left us to
ourselves.
Mrs. Roberts thanked us for our thoughtfulness in their behalf, and
said that both she and Miss Boland would take advantage of our
suggestion and excuse themselves; but before doing so they arranged
to come to our camp the next day and go in pursuit of hippopotami.
"We have not yet hunted hippos," said Mrs. Roberts, "and I'm sure the
sport will be very interesting."
We finished our meal, and then went home. It was too late in the day
to think of anything like hunting, and so we busied ourselves with a
few preparations for the affair of the next day.
Jack was in great glee, and Harry correspondingly depressed, over the
subject of the boat; as the craft was of Jack's design and
construction, the honor and pleasure of accompanying our guests would
be his, while Harry and I would be obliged to take a back seat.
Harry felt so ugly about it that he suggested, privately, to me a
wish that the boat could be smashed all to smithereens. I evaded the
subject, and endeavored to divert his thoughts by asking what a
smithereen is, and whether it is something to eat, wear, or play
with. This set him laughing, and he forgot his jealousy, at least
for the moment.
One of our oxen died just about nightfall, and we had his carcass
dragged out of the kraal and put on a ridge where it would afford a
good chance for shooting. There was a hollow at one side, and a
person crouched in this hollow would have the carcass between himself
and the sky. We went to bed soon after sunset, so as to lay in a
good stock of sleep before the lions came around to make a meal from
the remains of the ox.
We were tired enough to go to sleep immediately; and the lions
treated us very kindly, as they did not show up until about three
o'clock in the morning. Then the manager came and waked us with the
information that there was a group of lions at the carcass. He could
hear them distinctly, growling and snarling in their leonine way, and
he thought there were several of them, judging by the noise they made.
We took our heavy rifles and crept out to the spot we had previously
selected as a good firing-point. Crouching in the hollow, or rather
in the hole which we had ordered the Kafirs to dig, we had a fine
position--that is, fine in every way except in case the lions should
conclude to attack us. In that event it would not have been a bit
fine.
I was standing at the right of our line as we faced the target--that
is, the body of the ox--and it was agreed that I was to have the
first fire. We waited several minutes before I had a chance; then a
fine large lion stood up, and I could see his entire outline against
the sky beyond the ridge. We had put pieces of white paper on our
guns, so as to be able to see the foresights, and we found the
arrangement worked very well. I got a good bead on the lion, and
fired; he fell, but gave a tremendous roar in so doing. Whether he
was killed or only wounded I was unable to say; but by the speedy
cessation of the roar I thought that the former was the case.
It was Harry's turn next, and I sat down on the edge of the hole,
just behind him. I think he waited a good ten minutes, and then he
had a chance for a shot very much like mine, and with the same
result. His animal disappeared, and there was some roaring
afterward, which indicated either that he had not made a fatal shot,
or there were more lions about.
Very soon it was revealed that there were more lions, or else the
first ones had not received their _coup de grâce_. It was now Jack's
turn, and Harry and I expressed a wish that he might bring down a
lion, so as to make the honors of the affair equal. Jack watched and
waited patiently, even longer than we had waited; but his patience
had its reward: he got a good shot at a lion, and evidently bowled
him over, as we heard no more noise in that direction. After waiting
a quarter of an hour or so we went back to our tent to sleep again
till morning.
When we got up and came out our eyes met a surprising sight.
As soon as it was fairly daylight our people went out and surveyed
the scene of the slaughter during the night. They found two lions,
dead, a little distance away from the carcass of the ox which had
been used as a bait; and a very effective one it had proved. They
were about returning to camp, dragging the bodies of the lions, when
they discovered a trail of blood leading off down the slope of the
ridge. Following this for a quarter of a mile, they came to the body
of a lioness; and a large one she was. By her side were two lion
cubs--pugnacious little fellows, that snarled and bit ferociously at
the men as they attempted to pick them up. The men persisted,
however, and the little fellows were brought to camp in the arms of
two of the Kafirs. The carcasses of the lioness and the two lions
were also dragged up to the kraal, to give us an opportunity of
seeing the beasts before their skins were removed. A very fine lot
of game they were.
We immediately ordered the skins removed, and the carcasses dragged
away to where the remains of the ox were lying, in order to give the
jackals and hyenas a chance at them. As for the cubs, Jack devised a
nursing-apparatus for them, by means of a beer-bottle filled with
milk, and a piece of leather fastened in the mouth of it. We found
the cubs did not live on milk alone, as they ate with avidity some
raw meat which was given to them. They looked more like overgrown
kittens than anything else I can describe. Imagine a kitten two
months old as large as a good-sized cat, but retaining the kittenish
appearance, and you have a good idea of these lion cubs.
Of course we had little else to look at and think of besides these
cubs until our lady friends arrived. When they came the interest in
the cubs increased, and exclamations of wonder and admiration filled
the air. After the vocabulary of interjections had been pretty well
exhausted, Mrs. Roberts asked what we were going to do with our
prizes.
"Really," I answered, "that's a subject to which none of us have
given any thought. I don't know what we can do with them; 'twould be
rather nice to take them back to the Cape, but I don't know how the
market is for young lions at present. We'll keep them awhile, and
will probably be tired of them soon enough."
"Wouldn't they make a good addition to Miss Boland's menagerie?"
queried Jack. "I wonder how they would get along with the young
rhinoceros? By the way, Miss Boland, what is the latest intelligence
of your rhinoceros?"
"We have named him Rhino," replied Miss Boland, "and he has been
getting along very well. His manners are not at all sociable, but he
has an excellent appetite; I haven't seen the least sign of
indigestion in him since he was brought to camp. We feed him on
milk, which is supplied by one of the goats; and we give him a
variety of green food such as the rhinoceros is supposed to live
upon. Our manager says Rhino eats his weight every day, and would
eat as much more if he could get it. I've been trying to get on
friendly terms with him, but he doesn't seem to care for anybody or
anything. One of the Kafirs has been assigned to act as Rhino's
attendant, but the creature treats him with the same disdain as he
treats everybody else."
"Would you like to take these cubs as an addition to your menagerie?"
queried Jack.
"Oh, I'll take them with pleasure," was the reply; "a rhinoceros and
two lions will make a very good start for a show--worth sixpence at
least to go inside to see them; and just imagine how I can stand up
before the audience and say, 'Ladies and Gentlemen: These are animals
that I caught myself in Africa;' and then I can go on and tell all
about how I had a desperate fight with the lion and lioness from whom
I took the cubs. I can remove my glove and show this scar--which was
made by a wait-a-bit thorn--as the scar of the wound that the lion
gave me. Oh, I think I shall have a splendid menagerie, and I am
very much obliged to you."