PLANS--THE BOYS SET OUT--A DISAPPOINTMENT--THE FIRST BOK--WATER!
WATER!--A MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
The whole party slept soundly, and by six o'clock were sitting under
their tent over the remains of their breakfast. Frank and Nick were on
the point of issuing forth to collect some more fish for the mid-day
meal, when the doctor called to them to stop.
"It is time," he said, "that we hold a consultation, and come to some
resolution respecting our future movements. Sit down here in the shade,
and we'll talk the matter over."
The boys obeyed, and took their places; Lion, as usual, seating himself
at Frank's side, and occasionally bestowing a broad lick of affection on
his face and hands.
"I have made a fresh examination of the boat this morning," began Lavie,
"and am quite satisfied that it is impossible for us to repair her. She
is an old boat, and wouldn't anyway have lasted much longer, and now she
is so much hurt, that no one but a regular boat-builder could make her
float again. It is impossible therefore to carry out our original
intention of going on to Cape Town by sea. Well, then, we must hit on
some other plan."
"Wouldn't it be the simplest way to travel along the line of coast the
whole way?" suggested Ernest. "As far as I remember my geography, there
are no bays running far inland, or very wide rivers to interfere with
us."
"You're right, Ernest," rejoined Lavie. "There are nothing but small
bays all the way, and until we reached the mouth of the Gariep, there
would be no rivers to interfere with us."
"And when we did reach the Gariep, said Frank, we should be pretty safe
to fall in with some settlers or, any way, natives, who, `for a
consideration,' would help us through the rest of our journey. I think
Ernest's advice very good."
"I should think it so also, Frank," said the surgeon, "if I didn't
happen to know something of the line of country proposed. I have never
been along it myself, but I have met people who know it well. It is one
long sandy waste the entire way--no trees, no grass, scarcely even a
rock; and if there are any water-springs, they are so few and scanty,
that it is almost the same thing as if there were none at all. There
would be no food to be obtained, no shade from the sun, and no
resting-place at night, as it would be impossible to carry our tent with
us. And, to wind up, we should certainly not meet with a human being
from the beginning of our journey to its end."
"Well, that is pretty nearly enough, I think," observed Nick, "I have no
fancy to be broiled like a fish on a gridiron, or have a leg of nothing
and no turnips for dinner, like the clown in a pantomime. Let us hear
what you propose."
"I advise that we should travel towards the east, until we come to the
banks of one of the rivers which run southward into the Gariep. I know
there are several at no very great distance from the coast: we can
follow any one of these to its junction with the great river. When we
have once got there, I have no doubt what Frank suggested is true
enough. We shall come to the farmhouse of a Dutch boor, or a Hottentot
village, or fall in with a hunting party, and so find the means of
reaching Cape Town."
"That sounds feasible," said Frank. "We shall be sure of water, at all
events, by going that way, and water's the first thing to be thought
of."
"And there'll be plenty of game, most likely," added Lavie, "and, any
way, fish."
"And shade from the heat of the sun, and resting-places at night," said
Warley.
"But how about the wild beasts and the snakes?" struck in Nick.
"Wouldn't it be better to make a canoe, or a raft, and sail down the
river itself?"
"That is not a bad idea, Nick," said Frank. "What do you say to that,
Charles?"
"That it would be a very good idea on some rivers, but not on these,"
answered Lavie. "Nick has never seen one of these South African rivers,
or he'd never suggest it. At times, the channels here are reduced to
mere threads, along which no boat that was ever made could pass; at
others, they are swollen to raging torrents, which would shatter them to
fragments. A boat journey to the Gariep is out of the question."
"Very well, then, we must make the journey along the banks," said
Warley. "Of course we must follow your advice, Charles. You know a
good deal about the country between this and Table Bay, while we know
absolutely nothing. I suppose you would recommend that we should set
off, as soon as possible, for the nearest river that runs southward?"
"Yes," said Lavie, "there is no kind of object in delaying here. There
is neither food nor shelter to be had here, neither shade nor water; and
the stench from the mud and the dead fish is very far from fragrant. I
counsel that we move off with as little delay as possible."
"Hear, hear," said Frank; "I am quite of the same mind. Well, then,
Charles, the next thing is, what are we to take with us? The boat would
have held as much as we were likely to want; but our backs and pouches
are different things."
"Quite so, Frank--that was the next thing I was going to speak about.
We must, of course, leave by far the greater part of our cargo behind.
In fact, we must cumber ourselves with as little baggage as possible.
But some things will be absolutely necessary. There are the guns and
powder-flasks and bullets. We cannot do without them."
"That is voted, _nem. con._," said Warley; "and there is the flint and
steel and tinder-box. The doctor's burning-glass will be no good when
the sun doesn't shine."
"And we shall want the gridiron, and the knife and spoon and cup, and
the iron pot for cooking and holding water," struck in Nick.
"Each of us ought to carry a change of linen," said Mr Lavie, "and a
second pair of shoes; but no more, I think. I suppose one brush and
comb must serve all four."
"I hope you'll take your lancets, Charles, and some physic, in case of
any of us being taken ill," suggested Warley.
"I am not likely to forget that, Ernest," returned the surgeon. "Very
well, then, that will be all. We had better each provide ourselves with
the articles agreed on, make a hearty meal off some of the salt meat and
biscuit, and then set off at once, leaving everything else in the boat,
for the benefit of any one who may be thrown up, like ourselves, on
these barren flats."
No one urging farther objection, this programme was forthwith carried
out. Belts and knapsacks were adjusted, the various articles required
for the general use were divided between the four, a hasty meal was
eaten, and then each man took his gun, and the party bade farewell to
the old boat and low sandy shore, and set forth on their travels.
They soon surmounted the rocky shelf which they had visited on the
previous day, and, passing through an opening in the barren hills,
entered a valley, which seemed even more dreary than the scene they had
just quitted. On either side were rocks of a dull grey colour, broken
into all kinds of fantastic shapes, and full of holes and winding
caverns, which suggested the possible neighbourhood of venomous snakes.
Nick, in particular, cast many a suspicious glance at these orifices;
which seemed to his imagination the lurking-places, whence at any moment
the hideous head of a cobra or python might rear itself, preparatory to
a deadly spring on its victim. He was greatly relieved when, after an
hour or two of walking, the valley gradually opened into a wide plain,
and patches of vegetation began to show themselves. The euphorbia was
the first to appear, with its tall stiff bunches of foliage, each of
which bore a curious resemblance to a chandelier with its cluster of
candles. Then the kameel-doorn, the dwarf acacia, and the wild
pomegranate began to vary the landscape with their contrast of colours;
and presently there appeared the aloe and the mimosa, the bright yellow
of the last-named reminding Ernest of the gorse and broom among which
his walks had so often lain.
But though there was a great improvement in respect of the scenery, its
most important accessory, water, was nowhere to be found. Lavie looked
anxiously on all sides for some indication of the vicinity of the river;
which, if his information was correct, lay only a few miles eastward of
the spot where they had landed. They could hardly have mistaken the
way, for no other opening in the rocks had been visible in any
direction, except that which they had pursued; and the gradual downward
slope of the glen could hardly end in anything but water. But they had
now been travelling since mid-day, only sitting down to rest for a few
minutes, at intervals of two hours or so; and now the sunset was near at
hand. He was greatly rejoiced when, on turning the corner of a dense
clump of euphorbias, they came in sight of what was evidently the course
of the river, though the dense bushes on either side hid the stream from
view.
"Hurrah! my lads," shouted the doctor; "now for a good drink, and a cool
bath too, if the water is only deep enough."
He broke into a run as he spoke, and was joined by the other three, who
forgot their weariness and anxiety in the excitement of the moment Lion
bounded along at Frank's side, as eager apparently as his master. They
were the first to reach the fringe of shrubs, into which they plunged
with headlong haste. But the next moment there came a loud cry of
disappointment; the others hurried up, but only to catch sight of Frank
and Lion standing over a dry bed of sand, which had evidently once been
the channel of the river. There was now not the slightest trace of
water to be seen. The sand was not even moist. Lavie now felt
extremely anxious. There were rivers he knew lying to the eastward, and
that at no very great distance, twenty or thirty miles at the outside,
and probably they were not so far off as even twenty miles: and if so,
the strength of the whole party might hold out until the nearest was
attained. But then the lads were not used to roughing it in the desert;
and they might miss the track and become too exhausted to travel
further. He had fully reckoned on finding water at the spot which they
had now reached, or he would have brought a supply with him from the
water-cask in the boat, which had still contained several gallons. But
it was too late now to think of returning that night to the seashore,
and besides, such a step would naturally alarm and depress his
companions. The best chance would be to proceed on their way as long as
daylight lasted, and take the chance of falling in with some of the
springs or pools, which are scattered about, though at rare intervals,
in this inhospitable land.
"Well, that's a nuisance," he exclaimed aloud, as he gazed into the
blank faces, and marked the dry parched lips of the boys. "That's a
nuisance, but it can't be helped. Better luck next time. We had better
step out as fast as we can while daylight lasts. We are safe to come to
water, sooner or later, even in this country."
"All right, Charles," said Frank; "the sooner we reach it the better.
We must step out, best pace."
The other two made no remark, but they also quickened their walk.
Emerging from the bushes, Mr Lavie pursued his route due eastward,
though the path he followed did not seem very likely to fulfil his
hopes. It lay along a bare hillside, over which huge boulders of rock
were scattered; while the vegetation growing more and more scarce every
mile of the way, at last ended in a waste as barren as that which they
had traversed at the outset of their journey. It was, indeed, very much
the same character of scenery as before, only that they were no longer
shut in by a hollow defile in the hill. On either sides there rose high
shelves of stone pierced by what seemed to be caverns running far
inward. Between these masses of rock, long vistas of bare stony plains
presented themselves, seeming to the belated travellers the very picture
of desolation.
The sun was now fast setting; there remained scarcely an hour of
daylight, and for all they could see, Lavie and his party would have to
continue their journey by starlight, or bivouac on the sand. Suddenly
at this moment, Lion, who had been tramping along for the last hour or
two, as much depressed apparently as any of the party, stood still,
sniffed the air for a moment or two, and then sprang forward with a
joyous bark, turning round, when he had proceeded a few yards, as if
inviting Frank to follow him.
"Don't call him back, Frank," said Mr Lavie as Wilmore shouted after
him. "His instinct is much keener than ours. Either there is some
animal near at hand, which you may shoot for supper; or, as I earnestly
hope may be the case, he scents water. Cock your gun, and go after
him."
"I am afraid there is but little chance of his finding water here," said
Ernest, as Wilmore hastened forward. "There is nothing to be seen
anywhere but hard crag-stone and dry sand. But he may put up some game
among the rocks there which he is scrambling up. Ha! and so he has," he
added the moment after, as a steinbok came bounding down the cliff.
"Now, then, to test Captain Renton's rifle."
He drew the trigger as he spoke, and the animal dropped on its knees,
but rose the next minute and was making off, when a shot from Lavie
again brought it down. They ran up and found that the steinbok was
already dead. Ernest's bullet had struck it in the side, and inflicted
what would probably have proved a mortal wound, though it would, for the
time, have succeeded in effecting its escape. But Lavie had aimed
directly at the heart, and his shot having gone true, death was
instantaneous.
"Hurrah!" shouted Frank, at this moment, waving his cap on the shelf of
rock above. "Three cheers for old Lion. It is all right now."
"All right as regards the meat, Frank," said Nick, "but how about the
drink? A fellow in this wicked world requires to drink as well as to
eat--at all events, I do."
"Meat," repeated Frank, peering over the edge of the precipice, which
might perhaps be a dozen feet in height. "Have you got any meat? Did
you kill anything when you fired just now?"
"To be sure we did, Frank," said Warley. "We're not given to miss in
our part of the world. We've brought down as nice a young steinbok as
you'd wish to eat. If you'd only find us some water to match, we should
be quite set up."
"Water! why, that is just what we _have_ found. Here has old Lion
lighted on a well of water, the most delicious that any fellow ever
drank of."
"Water! what, up there? You don't say so. Hurrah! here goes." Laying
down their guns, the three thirsty travellers speedily climbed the stony
heights, and stood by their companion's side, when their eyes were
gratified by a very strange as well as a very welcome spectacle.
In the very middle of the plateau of rock surmounting the precipitous
ascent appeared a circular hole, some three or four feet in diameter,
and so deep, that its bottom could not be discerned. The cavity was
evidently natural; nor indeed did either the Hottentots or the Bushmen--
the only tribes by whom the spot was ever visited--possess either the
tools or the patience necessary for so laborious a work. It was
doubtless what is sometimes called, though most erroneously, a freak of
nature--one of those beneficent provisions, more than one of which we
shall have to notice in the course of this story, by which the
providence of God supplies the wants of His creatures in the desolate
wastes; without which help they must inevitably perish. The hole had
retained the rain, with which it had been filled a week or two
previously, and the water being sheltered by the surrounding rocks from
the burning rays of the sun, was sweet, clear, and deliciously cool to
the taste. The cup was passed round and round again, before the thirsty
travellers were satisfied, and even then they were half disposed to envy
Lion's simpler mode of satisfying his drought, viz., by plunging head
over ears into the well, and imbibing at every pore the refreshing
moisture.
At length thirst was satisfied, and gave way to hunger. Descending from
the rocky platform, they set themselves to prepare their supper. Nick
collected the grey leafless shrubs, which grew in abundance among the
rocks; and which, though anything but picturesque in appearance, made
capital firewood. Frank cut up the carcass, broiling some parts of it
on the gridiron, and boiling as much more as the pot would hold. It was
dark long before their preparations were completed, and they had to eat
their dinner by the light of their fire, assisted by the stars, for the
moon had not yet risen. But the road to the mouth is very easy to find,
especially when men are hungry. They all four soon finished a most
excellent meal. Then the fragments of the repast were handed over to
Lion--Frank declared he ought to have been called to the chair, and his
health drunk with all the honours--and arrangements were made for the
night. Some of the shrubs which Nick had collected, and which had not
been used for the fire, made very comfortable beds. These were spread
inside one of the largest caverns, though not before Nick had carefully
examined its recesses by the help of a blazing log, to make sure that
they contained no venomous reptiles. Lion stretched himself out to
sleep at the entrance of the cave; and it was considered that his
instinct might be trusted to warn them against the approach of danger,
without additional precautions. In a few minutes they were all sound
asleep.
They might have slept for perhaps three hours, when Frank, whose
slumbers were unusually light, was roused by a low growl close to him.
Looking round, he saw Lion standing in the entrance of the cave over the
remains of the steinbok, only a part of which had been eaten. Frank
remembered that the carcass had been left at some little distance from
their sleeping-place; and the dog, therefore, must have dragged it to
its present place. Something unusual must have occurred to make him do
this; and besides, the attitude of the animal, his hair bristling, his
chest advanced, his muscles stretched to their full tension, and the
fierce glare in his eye showed plainly enough that he beheld some
formidable enemy.
"A hyena has scented the carcass, I have no doubt," thought Frank, "but
I can hardly afford to throw away a shot upon him. He must be driven
away, though, or we shall get no rest."
He stepped noiselessly up to the entrance, but recoiled instantly at the
sight he beheld, and it was with difficulty that he stifled a cry of
alarm. At a distance of about four yards, the outline of its
magnificent figure clearly revealed in the bright moonlight, a lion of
the largest size was crouching, evidently preparing itself to spring!
Frank had never seen one of these animals, except in captivity. About a
twelvemonth before, during his stay in London, Captain Wilmore had taken
him to Exeter 'Change, where one or two lions were exhibited. But these
were small of their kind, and enfeebled by age and long captivity. They
bore no more resemblance to the glorious and terrible creature with
which Frank was now confronted, than the trickling stream which glides
lazily over the ledge of the rocks bears to the foaming cataract,
swollen by snows and rains.
He perceived in a moment what had taken place. The lion had come to the
water to drink; and the dog, scenting the approach of some beast of
prey, had possessed itself of the remains of the steinbok, which would
otherwise fall a prey to the marauder. The lion in its turn had
discovered the vicinity of food, and had leaped down from the rock to
seize it. All this passed through Frank's mind in a moment. It could
hardly be called thinking, but was rather like a sudden revelation. He
felt, too, the necessity of killing the monster without a moment's loss
of time, or all their lives would be imperilled. He stooped
noiselessly, and picked up the nearest gun, which chanced by good
fortune to be Captain Renton's rifle. Frank was a steady shot, as the
reader has already been told; but he had never fired at a mark like
this. He recalled, on the instant, what he had heard Mr Lavie say that
the only spots in a wild animal's body in which a bullet could be lodged
with the certainty of causing instant death, were the ear, the eye, and
immediately behind the shoulder, where there was a direct passage to the
heart. It was impossible to aim at either ear or shoulder in the
present instance, as the animal was standing directly facing him. The
eye, therefore, which flashed large and yellow upon him in the broad
glare of the moonlight--the eye must be his mark. He raised the rifle
and brought it down to the level of his eye, drawing trigger the moment
he had done so. It was well for him that his aim was true, and his hand
steady. As the barrel dropped to its place, the metal flashed in the
moonbeam, and its glitter seemed to rouse the creature from its
momentary torpor. It rose into the air at the very moment at which the
bullet struck it, and if the latter had not been aimed with the most
perfect accuracy, there would have been an end of the mastiff, and
probably of his master also. But the shot passed directly through the
eyeball, and lodged in the brain, causing instantaneous death. The
muscular power communicated to the limbs failed even before the leap was
accomplished. A furious roar burst from the king of the forest as he
felt the wound, but it died off abruptly, and the vast carcass fell, a
lifeless mass, within two feet of the entrance of the cavern.