THE MAHERRY.
For some length of time they stood conjecturing,--the boys with clasped
hands,--Old Bill near, but apart.
During this time, at intervals, they continued to hear the sounds that
had so astonished them--the stamping, the snorts, and the screaming,
though they no longer saw the creature that caused them.
The sand gully opened towards the sea, in a diagonal direction. It could
not be many yards to the spot, where it debouched upon the level of the
beach; and the creature that had caused them such a surprise--and was
still continuing to occupy their thoughts--must have reached this level
surface: though not to suspend its exertions. Every now and then could
be heard the same repetition of dull noises,--as if some animal was
kicking itself to death,--varied by trumpet-like snorts and agonizing
screams, which could be likened to the cry of no animal upon earth.
But that the castaways knew they were on the coast of Africa,--that
continent renowned for strange existences,--they might have been even
more disposed to a supernatural belief in what was near them; but as the
minutes passed, and their senses began to return to them, they became
more inclined to think that what they had seen, heard, and _felt_, might
be only some animal--a heavy quadruped--that had trampled over them in
their sleep.
The chief difficulty in reconciling this belief with the actual
occurrence was the odd behavior of the animal. Why had it gone up the
gorge, apparently _parenti passu_, to come tumbling down again in such a
confused fashion? Why was it still kicking and stumbling about at the
bottom of the ravine,--for such did the sounds proclaim it to be doing?
No answer could be given to either of these questions; and none was
given, until day dawned over the sand-hills. This was soon after; and
along with the morning light had come the cessation of the simoom.
Then saw the castaways that creature that had so abruptly awakened them
from their slumbers,--and, by so doing, perhaps, saved their lives. They
saw it recumbent at the bottom of the gorge, where they had so uneasily
passed the night.
It proved to be--what from the slight glimpse they had got of it, they
were inclined to believe--an animal, and a quadruped; and if it had
presented an uncouth appearance, as it stepped over them in the
darkness, not less so did it appear as they now beheld it, under the
light of day.
It was an animal of very large size,--in height far exceeding a
horse,--but of such a grotesque shape as to be easily recognizable by
any one who had ever glanced into a picture-book of quadrupeds. The long
craning neck, with an almost earless head and gibbous profile; the great
straggling limbs, callous at the knees, and ending in broad, wide
splitting hooves; the slender hind-quarters, and tiny, tufted
tail,--both ludicrously disproportioned,--the tumid, misshapen trunk;
but, above all, the huge hunch rising above the shoulders, at once
proclaimed the creature to be a dromedary.
"Och! it's only a kaymal!" cried Old Bill, as soon as the daylight
enabled him to get a fair view of the animal. "What on hearth is it
doin' 'ere?"
"Sure enough," suggested Terence, "it was this beast that stepped over
us while we were asleep! It almost squeezed the breath out of me, for it
set its hoof right upon the pit of my stomach."
"The same with me," said Colin. "It sunk me down nearly a foot into the
sand. Ah, we have reason to be thankful there was that drift-sand over
our bodies at the time. If not, the great brute might have crushed us to
death!"
There was some truth in Colin's observation. But for the covering of
sand,--which acted as a cushion,--and also from that which formed their
couch yielding beneath them, the hoof of the great quadruped might have
caused them a serious injury. As it was, none of them had received any
hurt beyond the fright which the strange intruder had occasioned them.
The singular incident was yet only half explained. They saw it was a
camel that had disturbed their slumbers; that the animal had been on its
way up the ravine,--perhaps seeking shelter from the sand-storm; but
what had caused it to return so suddenly back down the slope? Above all,
why had it made the downward journey in such a singular manner? Obscure
as had been their view of it, they could see that it did not go on
all-fours, but apparently tumbling and struggling,--its long limbs
kicking about in the air, as if it was performing the descent by a
series of somersaults.
All this had been mysterious enough; but it was soon explained to the
satisfaction of the four castaways, who, as soon as they saw the camel
by the bottom of the gorge, had rushed down and surrounded it.
The animal was in a recumbent position,--not as if it had lain down to
rest, but in a constrained attitude, with its long neck drawn in towards
its forelegs, and its head lying low and half-buried in the sand!
As it was motionless when they first perceived it, they fancied it was
dead,--that something had wounded it above. This would have explained
the fantastic fashion in which it had returned down the slope,--as the
somersaults observed might have been only a series of death struggles.
On getting around it, however, they perceived that it was not only still
alive, but in perfect health; and its late mysterious movements were
accounted for at a single glance. A strong hair halter, firmly noosed
around its head, had got caught in the bifurcation of one of its
fore-hoofs, where a knot upon the rope had hindered it from slipping
through the deep split. This had first caused it to trip up, and tumble
head over heels,--inaugurating that series of struggles which had ended
in transporting it back to the bottom of the ravine,--where it now lay
with the trailing end of the long halter knotted inextricably around its
legs.