I had ridden out one day to the outpost, where a troop of young cattle
were running, when the horse rode into a covey of red-wing partridges, a
brace of which I accounted for by a right and left. Picking up the
birds, and feeling rather proud of the shot, I continued on to Uncle
Pike's to crow over the matter.
The old man was seated outside the door `braiding' a thong of forslag or
whip-lash.
"Hitch the reins over the pole. Ef the shed was ready I'd ask yer to
stable the hoss, but there's a powerful heap o' work yet to finish it
off nice an' shipshape--me being one o' those who like to see a job well
done. None o' yer rough and ready sheds for me, with a hole in the roof
after the fust rain. A plump brace o' birds--you got 'em up by the
Round Kopje."
"Yes, Uncle; a right and left from the saddle. Good shooting, eh!"
"Fair to middling, sonny--fair to middling--but with a handful o' shot
an' a light gun what can yer expect but to hit. Now, ef you'd bagged
'em with one ball outer an ole muzzle-loader, why I'd up an' admit it
was praisable."
"Why Uncle, where's the man who would knock over two birds with a ball?
It couldn't be done."
"Is that so? Well, now yer s'prise me."
"You're not going to tell me you have seen that done!"
"Something better. That's small potatoes."
He rose up, went indoors, and returned with an ancient single
muzzle-loader, the stock bound round with snake skin. "Jes' yer handle
that wepin."
I handled it, and returned it without a word. It was ill-balanced, and
came up awkwardly to the shoulder.
"That wepin saved my life."
"In the war?"
"In the big drought. You remember the time. The country was that dry,
you could hear the grass crackle like tinder when the wind moved, an'
every breath stirred up columns of sand which went cavorting over the
veld round and round, their tops bending over to each other an' the
bottoms stirring up everything movable, and the whole length of the
funells dotted about with snakes, an' lizards, an' bits of wood. Why, I
see one o' em whip up a dead sheep, an' shed the wool off o' the carcase
as it went twisting round an' round."
"And the gun?"
"The gun was on the wall over my bed. Don't you mind the gun. Well, it
was that dry the pumpkins withered up where they lay on the hard
ground--an' one day there was nought in the larder, not so much as a
smell. There was no breakfast for ole Abe Pike, nor dinner nor yet tea,
an' the next morning 'twas the same story o' emptiness. I took down the
old gun from the wall an' cleaned her up. There was one full charge o'
powder in the horn, an' one bullet in the bag. All that morning I
considered whether 'twould be wiser to divide that charge inter three,
or to pour the whole lot of it in't once. When dinner-time came an'
there was no dinner, I solumnly poured the whole bang of it inter the
barrel, an' listened to the music of the black grains as they rattled on
their way down to their last dooty. I cut a good thick wad from a
buck-hide and rammed it down, `Plunk, plenk, plank, plonk, ploonk,'
until the rod jumped clean out o' the muzzle. Then I polished up that
lone bullet, wrapped him round in a piece o' oil rag, an' sent him down
gently. `Squish, squish, squash, squoosh.' I put the cap on the
nipple, an' sent him home with the pressure o' the hammer. Then I took
a look over the country to 'cide on a plan o' campaign. What I wanted
was a big ram with meat on him ter last for a month, if 'twas made inter
biltong. There was one down by the hoek, but it warnt full grown. He
was nearest, but there was one I'd seen over yonder off by the river,
beyond the kloof, an' I reckoned 'twas worth while going a couple o'
mile extra to get him."
"You were sure of him?"
"He was as good as dead when I shouldered the gun an' stepped off out on
that wilderness o' burnt land. The wind came like a breath from a
furnace, an' the hair on my head split an' curled up under the heat.
Whenever I came across a rock with a breadth of shade I sot there to
cool off, panting like a fowl, an' also to cool off the gun for fear
'twould explode. By reason o' this resting the dark came down when I
reached the ridge above the river, an' I jest camped where it found me,
after digging up some _insange_ root to chew. The fast had been with me
for two days, an' the gnawing pain inside was terrible, so that I kept
awake looking up at the stars an' listening to the plovers."
"It must have been lonesome!"
"'Twas not the lonesomeness so much as the emptiness that troubled me.
Before the morning came, lighting up the valley, I was going down to the
river on the last hunt. 'Twas do or die that trip--an' it seemed to me
I could see the gleam o' my bones away down there through the mist that
hung over the sick river. I made straight for the river, knowing there
was a comfort an' fellowship in the water which would draw game there,
an' the big black ram, too, 'fore he marched off inter the thick o' the
kloof for his sleep. By-and-by, as I went down among the rocks an'
trees, I pitched head first--ker smash--in a sudden fit o' dizziness,
but the shock did me good. It rattled up my brain--an' instead o' jest
plunging ahead I went slow--slow an' soft as a cat on the trail--pushing
aside a branch here, shoving away a dry twig there, an' glaring around
with hungry eyes. I spotted him!"
"The ram?"
"Ay, the ram. The very buck I'd had in my mind when I loaded the old
gun. He stood away off the other side o' the river, moving his ears,
but still as a rock, and black as the bowl of this pipe, except where
the white showed along his side. He seemed to be looking straight at
me--an' I sank by inches to the ground with my legs all o' a shake.
Then, on my falling, he stepped down to the water, and stood there
admiring hisself--his sharp horns an' fine legs--an' on my belly, all
empty as 'twas, I crawled, an' crawled, an' crawled. There was a bush
this side the river, an' I got it in line. At last I reached it, the
sweat pouring off me, an' slowly I rose up. The water was dripping from
his muzzle as he threw his head up, an' he turned to spring back, when,
half-kneeling, I fired, an' the next moment the old gun kicked me flat
as a pancake."
"And you missed him?"
"Never! I got him. I said I would, an' I did. I got him, an' a 9
pound barbel."
"Uncle Abe!"
"I say a 9 pound barbel, tho' he might a been 8 and a half pound, an' a
brace of pheasants."
"Uncle Abe!"
"I zed so--an' a hare an', an'," he went on quickly, "a porkipine."
"Uncle Abe!"
"Well--what are you Abeing me for?"
"You got all those with one shot. Never!"
"I was there--you weren't. 'Tis easy accounted for. When I pulled the
trigger the fish leapt from the water in the line, and the bullet passed
through him inter the buck. I tole you the gun kicked. Well, it flew
out o' my hands, an' hit the hare square on the nose. To recover
myself, I threw up my hands, an' caught hold o' the two pheasants jest
startled outer the bush."
"And the porcupine?"
"I sot down on the porkipine, an' if you'd like to 'xamine my pants
you'll find where his quills went in. I was mighty sore, an' I could
ha' spared him well from the bag. But 'twas a wonderful good shot.
You're not going?"
"Yes, I am. I'm afraid to stay with you."
"Well, so long! I cut this yere forslag from the skin o' that same
buck."
"Let me see--it's nine years to the big drought."
"That's it."
"That skin has kept well."
"Oh, yes; 'twas a mighty tough skin."
"Not so tough as your yarn, Uncle. So long!"