THE SECOND HUNT IN THE MOUNTAINS
Fair dawned, over the hills of Martair, the jocund morning of our hunt.
Everything had been prepared for it overnight; and, when we arrived at
the house, a good breakfast was spread by Shorty: and old Tonoi was
bustling about like an innkeeper. Several of his men, also, were in
attendance to accompany us with calabashes of food; and, in case we met
with any success, to officiate as bearers of burdens on our return.
Apprised, the evening previous, of the meditated sport, the doctor had
announced his willingness to take part therein.
Now, subsequent events made us regard this expedition as a shrewd
device of the Yankee’s. Once get us off on a pleasure trip, and with
what face could we afterward refuse to work? Beside, he enjoyed all the
credit of giving us a holiday. Nor did he omit assuring us that, work
or play, our wages were all the while running on.
A dilapidated old musket of Tonoi’s was borrowed for the doctor. It was
exceedingly short and heavy, with a clumsy lock, which required a
strong finger to pull the trigger. On trying the piece by firing at a
mark, Long Ghost was satisfied that it could not fail of doing
execution: the charge went one way, and he the other.
Upon this, he endeavoured to negotiate an exchange of muskets with
Shorty; but the Cockney was proof against his blandishments; at last,
he intrusted his weapon to one of the natives to carry for him.
Marshalling our forces, we started for the head of the valley; near
which a path ascended to a range of high land, said to be a favourite
resort of the cattle.
Shortly after gaining the heights, a small herd, some way off, was
perceived entering a wood. We hurried on; and, dividing our party, went
in after them at four different points; each white man followed by
several natives.
I soon found myself in a dense covert; and, after looking round, was
just emerging into a clear space, when I heard a report, and a bullet
knocked the bark from a tree near by. The same instant there was a
trampling and crashing; and five bullocks, nearly abreast, broke into
View across the opening, and plunged right toward the spot where myself
and three of the islanders were standing.
They were small, black, vicious-looking creatures; with short, sharp
horns, red nostrils, and eyes like coals of fire. On they came—their
dark woolly heads hanging down.
By this time my island backers were roosting among the trees. Glancing
round, for an instant, to discover a retreat in case of emergency, I
raised my piece, when a voice cried out, from the wood, “Right between
the ’orns, Paul! right between the ’orns!” Down went my barrel in range
with a small white tuft on the forehead of the headmost one; and,
letting him have it, I darted to one side. As I turned again, the five
bullocks shot by like a blast, making the air eddy in their wake.
The Yankee now burst into view, and saluted them in flank. Whereupon,
the fierce little bull with the tufted forehead flirted his long tail
over his buttocks; kicked out with his hind feet, and shot forward a
full length. It was nothing but a graze; and, in an instant, they were
out of sight, the thicket into which they broke rocking overhead, and
marking their progress.
The action over, the heavy artillery came up, in the person of the Long
Doctor with the blunderbuss.
“Where are they?” he cried, out of breath.
“A mile or two h’off, by this time,” replied the Cockney. “Lord, Paul I
you ought to’ve sent an ’ailstone into that little black ’un.”
While excusing my want of skill, as well as I could, Zeke, rushing
forward, suddenly exclaimed, “Creation! what are you ’bout there,
Peter?”
Peter, incensed at our ill luck, and ignorantly imputing it to the
cowardice of our native auxiliaries, was bringing his piece to bear
upon his trembling squire—the musket-carrier—now descending a tree.
Pulling trigger, the bullet went high over his head; and, hopping to
the ground, bellowing like a calf, the fellow ran away as fast as his
heels could carry him. The rest followed us, after this, with fear and
trembling.
After forming our line of march anew, we went on for several hours
without catching a glimpse of the game; the reports of the muskets
having been heard at a great distance. At last, we mounted a craggy
height, to obtain a wide view of the country. From this place, we
beheld three cattle quietly browsing in a green opening of a wood
below; the trees shutting them in all round.
A general re-examination of the muskets now took place, followed by a
hasty lunch from the calabashes: we then started. As we descended the
mountainside the cattle were in plain sight until we entered the
forest, when we lost sight of them for a moment; but only to see them
again, as we crept close up to the spot where they grazed.
They were a bull, a cow, and a calf. The cow was lying down in the
shade, by the edge of the wood; the calf, sprawling out before her in
the grass, licking her lips; while old Taurus himself stood close by,
casting a paternal glance at this domestic little scene, and conjugally
elevating his nose in the air.
“Now then,” said Zeke, in a whisper, “let’s take the poor creeturs
while they are huddled together. Crawl along, b’ys; crawl along. Fire
together, mind; and not till I say the word.”
We crept up to the very edge of the open ground, and knelt behind a
clump of bushes; resting our levelled barrels among the branches. The
slight rustling was heard. Taurus turned round, dropped his head to the
ground, and sent forth a low, sullen bellow; then snuffed the air. The
cow rose on her foreknees, pitched forward alarmedly, and stood upon
her legs; while the calf, with ears pricked, got right underneath her.
All three were now grouped, and in an instant would be off.
“I take the bull,” cried our leader; “fire!”
The calf fell like a clod; its dam uttered a cry, and thrust her head
into the thicket; but she turned, and came moaning up to the lifeless
calf, going round and round it, snuffing fiercely with her bleeding
nostrils. A crashing in the wood, and a loud roar, announced the flying
bull.
Soon, another shot was fired, and the cow fell. Leaving some of the
natives to look after the dead cattle, the rest of us hurried on after
the bull; his dreadful bellowing guiding us to the spot where he lay.
Wounded in the shoulder, in his fright and agony he had bounded into
the wood; but when we came up to him, he had sunk to the earth in a
green hollow, thrusting his black muzzle into a pool of his own blood,
and tossing it over his hide in clots.
The Yankee brought his piece to a rest; and, the next instant, the wild
brute sprang into the air, and with his forelegs crouching under him,
fell dead.
Our island friends were now in high spirits; all courage and alacrity.
Old Tonoi thought nothing of taking poor Taurus himself by the horns,
and peering into his glazed eyes.
Our ship knives were at once in request; and, skinning the cattle, we
hung them high up by cords of bark from the boughs of a tree.
Withdrawing into a covert, we there waited for the wild hogs; which,
according to Zeke, would soon make their appearance, lured by the smell
of blood. Presently we heard them coming, in two or three different
directions; and, in a moment, they were tearing the offal to pieces.
As only one shot at these creatures could be relied on, we intended
firing simultaneously; but, somehow or other, the doctor’s piece went
off by itself, and one of the hogs dropped. The others then breaking
into the thicket, the rest of us sprang after them; resolved to have
another shot at all hazards.
The Cockney darted among some bushes; and, a few moments after, we
heard the report of his musket, followed by a quick cry. On running up,
we saw our comrade doing battle with a young devil of a boar, as black
as night, whose snout had been partly torn away. Firing when the game
was in full career, and coming directly toward him, Shorty had been
assailed by the enraged brute; it was now crunching the breech of the
musket, with which he had tried to club it; Shorty holding fast to the
barrel, and fingering his waist for a knife. Being in advance of the
others, I clapped my gun to the boar’s head, and so put an end to the
contest.
Evening now coming on, we set to work loading our carriers. The cattle
were so small that a stout native could walk off with an entire
quarter; brushing through thickets, and descending rocks without an
apparent effort; though, to tell the truth, no white man present could
have done the thing with any ease. As for the wild hogs, none of the
islanders could be induced to carry Shorty’s; some invincible
superstition being connected with its black colour. We were, therefore,
obliged to leave it. The other, a spotted one, being slung by green
thongs to a pole, was marched off with by two young natives.
With our bearers of burdens ahead, we then commenced our return down
the valley. Half-way home, darkness overtook us in the woods; and
torches became necessary. We stopped, and made them of dry palm
branches; and then, sending two lads on in advance for the purpose of
gathering fuel to feed the flambeaux, we continued our journey.
It was a wild sight. The torches, waved aloft, flashed through the
forest; and, where the ground admitted, the islanders went along on a
brisk trot, notwithstanding they bent forward under their loads. Their
naked backs were stained with blood; and occasionally, running by each
other, they raised wild cries which startled the hillsides.