A SECOND VISITOR--NICK'S CLUB--A HALT--A MYSTERIOUS CRY--A NEW MODE OF
IMPRISONMENT.
The noise of the gun, and the dying roar of the lion, roused the whole
party from their slumbers; and in another minute they were standing
round the fallen monster, eagerly asking for information.
"You did that well, Frank," said the surgeon, after carefully examining
the wound; "just in the right place, and at the right moment. Half an
inch either way, or ten seconds later, and there would have been a very
different story to tell. You'll be a mighty hunter one of these days, I
expect. It's very few who have made their _debut_ with a shot like
this. But we must make sure that there are no more of them about. It's
strange that I should have forgotten the likelihood of beasts coming
down at night to drink, or the risk there would be of an encounter
between them and Lion. Get in, you old rogue," he continued, giving the
dog a playful kick in the ribs, and driving him inside the cave, where
he secured him to a large fragment of rock. "You don't know what an
escape you've had. You are ready enough to fight, I don't doubt, but
`cave cui incurras,' as the Latin grammar says, Master Lion; a single
single blow of that brute's paw would have been enough to break a
horse's back, let alone a dog's. There, stand in the entrance with your
gun, Nick, and keep a sharp look out, while we go to examine the well."
The lads took their guns, and the three making a considerable _detour_
to the left, cautiously ascended the rocks, until they gained a higher
shelf than that in which the well was situated, and then looked over.
The moon had by this time begun to set, and the steep summit of the
crags behind them intercepted its light, throwing the shelf into deep
shadow. A dark mass was indistinctly visible, lying immediately on the
edge of the well, partly indeed protruding over it. "That's the lioness
drinking," whispered Frank. "She has most likely followed her lord to
the water, and has only just arrived here."
"Most likely," answered the doctor in the same cautious tone, "but don't
fire. You can't see her plain enough to take a sure aim at her, and a
mere wound would only enrage her. Leave her to me. As soon as she has
done drinking, she'll get up, and then we shall have a clear sight of
her."
They waited patiently for several minutes. It became evident that the
animal was not, as they had supposed, drinking, but was either asleep or
refreshing herself with the cool air, which the close proximity of the
water produced. In either case it was impossible to conjecture how long
she might retain her present attitude. "Let drop a stone upon her,
Ernest," whispered the doctor. "That will put her up. I have my rifle
all ready."
Warley looked round him. There was no stone near at hand, but he
detached his shot-flask from his belt and threw it with a skilful aim,
striking the lioness on the flank. She instantly sprang to her feet;
but just as Ernest discharged his missile there came a dense cloud over
the moon, and the figure of the animal was lost to sight. Before the
cloud could quite pass away again, the lioness gave vent to a low savage
roar. She had caught sight, notwithstanding the darkness, of the
carcass below, and sprang down to examine it. "I wonder how Nick will
get on with her?" exclaimed Frank. "He's no great shot. I think we had
better go down to the rescue. Just hold my gun, Ernest, while I slip
down."
Handing his rifle to his companion, he slid down the projecting face of
the precipice, feet first, and then called to Warley to lower his weapon
after him. Mr Lavie reached the shelf almost at the same moment, and
both pressed forward with some anxiety to see what was passing below.
The spectacle they beheld would have been extremely ludicrous, if it had
not been still more alarming.
Forgetting or disregarding Lavie's directions, Gilbert had laid aside
his gun as soon as his companions left him, and had gone to make an
examination of the lion--an animal which he had never before seen. He
was greatly struck by the enormous size and vast strength of creature,
and stood for a few moments considering whether he might not be able to
carry away some souvenir of the adventure. A lock of his shaggy mane,
or one of his huge teeth, were the first mementos which suggested
themselves to him. It would be difficult, however, to obtain one of the
last-named articles--that is without the help of certain tools which
they had not in their possession. No, it must be a lock of the
gentleman's hair, which could be easily enough to procure, and equally
easy to preserve, though the keepsake would be somewhat cumbrous. He
picked up the knife, which Frank had left on a slab of stone near the
entrance of the cave, and proceeded to choose the place whence the
ringlet was to be cut. Suddenly it occurred to him that the tuft at the
extremity of the tail would be extremely suitable for the purpose; or
why, by the way, should he not retain the entire tail? Mr Lavie had
been telling them, only that evening, of the practice adopted by the
Bushmen of wearing a belt round the waist, by which the pangs of hunger
were considerably mitigated. To judge by what happened yesterday, such
a belt might be extremely serviceable, and the skin of the lion's tail
would make a famous belt. At all events there could be no harm in
cutting the tail off; and this he effected easily enough by the aid of
Mr Lavie's hatchet. He was still engaged in examining his treasure by
the imperfect light, when a whirling noise was heard over head, and a
large object of some kind dropped within a few feet of him.
A good deal startled, Nick let fall the hatchet and grasping the upper
end of the tail with both hands, whirled it, like a flail round his
head. At the same moment the moon again broke out, and he perceived
that his new companion was a large lioness, whose fierce growls were
evidently the preliminary to a still fiercer assault. Nick gave himself
up for dead; and if the attention of the animal had in the first
instance been directed to him, there would indeed have been but small
hope of escape for him. But the lioness had scented the dead body, and
she proceeded to examine it all over, sniffing the tainted air, and
uttering every now and then a low howl, like a mourning cry. Nick would
have retreated to the cover of the cavern, but a feeling of fascination
held him to the spot; and he continued to swing the tail right and left,
apparently hardly conscious of what he was doing. Presently, the mood
of the lioness seemed to change, and the notion to occur to her of
taking vengeance for the ruthless slaughter of her mate. She glared
fiercely at Nick, and gave vent to a low roar. She would, in fact, have
instantly sprung upon him, but that the whirl of the tail immediately in
front of her nose, dazed and bewildered her for the moment, and kept her
at bay. This could not, however, have lasted, and Nick's career would
soon have been run, if rescue had not been at hand. But at this moment
the crack of the doctor's rifle was heard, and the brute, shot through
the heart, rolled over in the death struggle.
"Bravo, Nick," exclaimed Lavie, as he leaped down from the rock.
"Hercules himself never wielded his club more valiantly, than you did
the lion's tail. I was sorry to keep you so long in suspense, but the
beast persistently kept her back towards me, till just the moment when I
fired. If I had only wounded her, she would have sprung on you all the
same."
"All right, doctor," said Nick; "you couldn't do more than bring me off
with a whole skin. And it's more than I deserve, too, for I didn't obey
orders."
"Well, now I suppose we may go back to bed?" suggested Frank. "It's not
much past midnight, and I feel as if I wanted plenty more sleep before
morning. I don't fancy we shall have many more visitors to-night."
"No," said the doctor, "we may sleep soundly now. Animals don't often
go near a fountain where they have seen lions drinking. Indeed, the
shots which have been fired would probably be enough to keep them away.
Let us turn in again, by all means."
His prognostications were fulfilled. There was no further disturbance
that night, and when the travellers awoke on the following morning, they
were in high health and spirits.
"Do you intend to take the same track which we were following up
yesterday, Charles?" asked Warley, as they sat at breakfast, "or have
you altered your mind about it?"
"I see no reason for changing it," replied the surgeon. "I am sure the
river, which Vangelt told me of, cannot be above fifteen miles off at
the outside, and when we are once there, it is all, comparatively
speaking, plain sailing. I don't know how far this kind of country may
last, but I feel sure it cannot be for any great distance.
Notwithstanding yesterday's experience, I don't advise our taking water
with us, or anything but a few slices of meat I am persuaded that we
shall not suffer a second time, as we did yesterday; and carrying water
always hampers travellers terribly."
All readily gave their assent to his suggestions, and before six o'clock
the travellers were again in motion. They journeyed on for several
miles, the bare rocks and sand still continuing the main features of the
landscape: but about twelve o'clock their eyes were relieved by the
appearance of wooded slopes in the distance. Presently they came to a
small pool, surrounded by a grove of oomahaamas and acacias, among the
branches of which they noticed a quantity of grey-crested parrots, which
kept up an incessant screaming, from the moment the travellers came in
sight to that of their departure.
"Here's a good place for a halt," suggested Ernest. "This shade is most
refreshing, and the water seems clear and cool."
"I am quite of your mind, Ernest," said Nick, flinging himself at full
length on the grass at the edge of the pool. "Exhausted nature can't go
further without a respite. Now, if any one would be so good as to shoot
two or three of those parrots, that are actually crying out to be shot,
they would make a famous--What are you up to now, man?" he added
sharply, as he felt a sudden blow on his shin. "You would do well to
take care what you are doing."
"_You_ would do well to take care," retorted Warley. "Do you see what
was crawling up your leg?" He held up, as he spoke, a dead snake about
eighteen inches long, with a curious-looking horn on either side of its
head. "If I hadn't hit him on the neck the moment I saw him, he'd have
bitten your hand to a certainty. He was making straight for it."
"A snake!" cried Nick, starting up in horror. "So there is, I declare.
The nasty brute! I don't know whether it is venomous or not, but I'm
much obliged, even if it isn't. They are not nice things up a fellow's
leg!"
"Hand him over here," said Charles Lavie. "Oh ay, I know this fellow.
He is called the cerastes, and is venomous, I believe, though not one of
the worst kinds of poisonous snakes. You are well out of it, Nick, I
can tell you, and must look more carefully about you in this country
before you sit down in a place like this. Some of the reptiles are so
nearly the colour of the ground, or the trees, that even an old stager
may be taken in."
"Are there any large pythons in these parts?" asked Warley. "I've heard
two quite different accounts. One says that they are never found so far
south as this; the other, that they are to be met with thirty or forty
feet long, and as thick round as a stout man. What is the truth of the
matter?"
"Well, the truth is something between the two, I believe, as is
generally the case," said the surgeon. "They are certainly not common
in Southern Africa, since people who have lived here all their lives
have never seen one. But now and then they are to be met with. I know
persons who have seen serpents' skins thirty feet long in the possession
of natives; and one case I heard of, in which a skin was exhibited fully
ten feet longer than that."
"Are they difficult to kill?" asked Frank.
"Not if you bide your time," said Lavie. "If you come upon them when
they are hungry, they--the larger ones, that is--are more than a match
for even the strongest men: and unless they are approached unawares, and
wounded, so as to destroy their muscular power, a struggle with them
would be most dangerous. But after they have gorged their prey, they
are killed as easily as so many sheep--more easily in fact, for they are
quite torpid."
"What are the worst snakes found in these parts?" inquired Gilbert.
"The cobra and the puff adder, I should say," returned the surgeon.
"The first will spring at you as if it was discharged out of some
engine, and with such force, that if it fails to strike its mark it will
overshoot the spot by several feet. The natives call it the
hair-serpent, and are in great terror of it. If no sufficient remedy is
applied, its bite will cause death in less than an hour."
"_Is_ there any sufficient remedy?" rejoined Nick. "I thought there was
no cure."
"It's not so bad as that, Nick. There are remedies for most bites--the
cobra's for instance. There is a root which the mangoust always eats,
when it feels itself bitten by a cobra, and which is, so far as is
known, a complete cure. Eau de luce and sweet milk are generally given
in this country for a snake's bite, and the natives have beans and
serpent stones, which, it is said, effect a cure. But the best thing to
do--what I should have done in your case, Nick, if you had been bitten--
is, first to fasten a ligature as tight as possible above the wounded
part, and then cauterise or cut away the injured flesh. Snakes' bites
are nasty things in these hot countries, and one can't be too careful.
But come, it is time we move on again. We ought to reach the river
banks early in the afternoon."
They recommenced their march accordingly, and had proceeded half a mile
or so further, when Frank suddenly called upon them to stop.
"What can that noise be?" he said. "I have heard it two or three times
in the course of the last few minutes. It doesn't sound like the cry of
a bird, or beast either. And yet I suppose it must be."
"I didn't hear anything," said Gilbert. "Nor I," added Warley. "But my
hearing is not nearly as good as Frank's. I've often noticed that."
"Let us stop and listen," suggested Charles.
They all stood still, intently listening. Presently a faint sound was
wafted to them, apparently from a great distance--from the edge of the
sandy desert, they fancied, which was still visible beyond the wooded
tracts.
"No," said Charles, when the sound had been twice repeated, "that is not
the cry of any animal, with which I am acquainted. It sounds more like
a human voice than anything else. If it was at all likely that there
was any other party of travellers in these parts, I should think they
were hailing us. But nothing can be more improbable than that."
"Still it is possible," urged Warley, "and they may be in want of our
help. Ought we not to go and find out the truth?"
"I think you are right, Ernest," said Frank.
"Well, I don't know," urged Gilbert, nervously. "I've heard all sorts
of stories of voices being heard in the deserts, enticing people to
their destruction, and it may be some ruse of the savages about here,
who want to get us into their hands, to possess themselves of our guns.
What do you say, doctor?"
"Why, as for the voices, Nick, I've heard the stories you speak of,
which have been told chiefly by persons who had lost their way and were
nearly dead from cold and hunger. Under such circumstances, when
people's nerves and senses begin to fail them, they fancy all sorts of
strange things. No doubt, too, there are all sorts of acoustic
deceptions in these wild regions, as there are optical delusions; but I
don't think we four--all of us in sound health--are likely to be so
deceived--"
"But how about the savages, doctor?" interposed Nick, anxiously.
"Well, if these were the backwoods of America, and we had the Red
Indians to deal with, there would be a good deal in your suggestion.
But neither the Hottentots nor the Bushmen are given to stratagems of
this kind. However, we'll move warily, and if any treachery is
designed, we shall be pretty sure to baffle it."
They turned off in the direction whence the cry had come, keeping to the
open ground, and giving a wide berth to any clump of trees or underwood
which might harbour an enemy. Every now and then they paused to listen
for the sound, which was regularly repeated, at intervals apparently of
two or three minutes, and grew more distinct as they advanced. It was
now certain that the cry was human, and sounded like that of a
full-grown man.
"We are getting a good deal nearer," observed Warley, as they passed the
last patch of trees, and entered once more the sandy wilderness. "I
should say we must be almost close, only I don't see any place where the
person who is crying out in this manner can be hidden."
"It comes from that heap of stones there," exclaimed Frank, "that heap
to the left, I mean--about two hundred yards further on."
"I see the stones, Frank, plain enough," said Mr Lavie, "but a man
couldn't be hidden among them. You call it a heap of stones, but there
is no heap. There is not so much as one lying upon another."
"Nevertheless the cry comes from there," said Warley; "I heard it the
last time quite plainly. Let us go up and see."
They cautiously approached the spot in question, where there were about
thirty or forty moderate-sized stones scattered on the plain. As they
advanced the mysterious call was again heard.
"I see who it is that's making it," shouted Wilmore. "It's a fellow
whose head is just above ground. I took his head for a black stone,
with a lot of moss growing on it. But now I can see that it is a head,
though the features are turned away from us."
They hurried up, and found that Frank was right. The stones were lying
round what seemed to have been a dry well. In this a man had been
buried up to his neck, the chin being just above the level of the
ground. It did not appear that he was conscious of their approach; for
at the interval of every two or three minutes he continued to give vent
to the shrill monotonous cry, which had attracted their attention.
"What in the world can this mean!" exclaimed Nick. "The fellow can't
have tumbled into the well, and the stones have fallen in after him, I
suppose?"
"Is it some penance, do you think, that he is undergoing?" suggested
Warley.
"Or a punishment for a crime he has committed?" said Wilmore.
"It may be a punishment for some offence," said Mr Lavie, "though I
never heard of the Hottentots punishing their people in that way, and
the man is plainly a Hottentot. As for anything else, of course it is
quite impossible that he can have got jammed up in this way by accident;
and the Hottentots know nothing of penances. Such a thing has never
been heard of among them. But the first thing is to get the poor fellow
out and give him something to restore him; for he is half dead with
thirst and exposure to the sun, and does not seem conscious of what is
passing."
They fell to with a will, and had soon so far released the captive, that
he was able to draw his breath freely and swallow a little brandy, which
Mr Lavie poured on his tongue. He then opened his eyes for a moment,
gazing with the utmost bewilderment and wonder on the dress and
appearance of the figures round him; and then closed them again with a
low groan.
"They meant this--the beggars that holed him in after this fashion,"
observed Frank. "The stones are fitted round him as carefully as though
they had been building a wall. And, look! the poor wretch's arms are
fastened by a thong to his sides. What brutes! Hand us the knife,
Nick, and I'll cut them. How tough they are!"
It needed a strong hand and a sharp blade to sever the stout thongs,
which on subsequent examination were found to consist of rhinoceros
hide. But when his arms were at length free, the man made no effort to
use them. It was evident that they were so benumbed by the forced
restraint in which they had so long been kept, that he had lost all
power over them. They were obliged to continue to remove the stones,
until his feet were completely released, before he could be extricated
from the hole; and when this was effected, it was only by the joint
strength of the four Englishmen, the Hottentot himself being unable to
render any assistance.
He was now carried to the shade of the nearest trees; Nick ran back to
their recent resting-place, and returned with the iron pot full of
water, while Warley and Wilmore, under the surgeon's direction, chafed
his limbs. By the time of Gilbert's return their efforts had been
successful. The sufferer once more opened his eyes, and making signs
that the water should be handed to him, drank a long and refreshing
draught. "He'll do now," observed Nick, as he witnessed this feat.
"There's no more fear for his health after that. But I should like to
know who he is, and how he came there. I say, blacky, what may your
name happen to be, and how did you come to be boxed up after that
fashion, like a chimney-sweep stuck in a narrow flue?"
To the astonishment of the whole party, Nick's question was answered.
"Omatoko my name. Tank Englishman much for pull him out. Omatoko soon
die, if they not come. Bushmen bury Omatoko one, two day ago. Good
men, give Omatoko food, or he die now."