FRANK AND NICK REBEL--A HAZARDOUS DETERMINATION--A SUDDEN DEPARTURE--A
WOUNDED BUFFALO--OMINOUS SOUNDS--RESCUE AT THE LAST MOMENT.
Of all the party, De Walden was now the only one who was contented to
remain in his present position. He was, indeed, in a more contented
frame of mind than any he had enjoyed since he first entered the Cape
Colony. It seemed as if his wishes, so long frustrated, had on a sudden
received their full accomplishment--as though the seed he had been
vainly sowing for so many years, had sprung up to ripeness in an hour.
Not only had he his band of regular worshippers, who every Sunday
publicly attended his ministrations; not only had he his school filled
with boys and girls, learning, with an intelligence which would hardly
have been found among European children of the same age, the rudiments
of Christianity--but there were several adult converts, who were so far
advanced that they were almost ready to receive baptism; and many more,
though they had not openly given in their adhesion to the new doctrines,
were gravely and seriously considering the matter. If things should
continue to go on as favourably as at present, such an impression would
be made in the course of a few months on the whole tribe, as could
hardly fail to end in their open profession of Christianity. De Walden
had seen much of life--much in particular of missionary life; and felt
inwardly assured that he would not be permitted to accomplish so great a
work, without strong and determined opposition. He marvelled at his
success from day to day; but meanwhile it was his duty to go on in
faith, thankful for the mercy shown so far, and prepared to face the
reverse, as soon as it should appear.
Ernest Warley, we have seen, felt perplexed and embarrassed by his
position as regarded Ella; but the Basuto village had, nevertheless, an
attraction for him, which would have made it full of delightful and
absorbing interest, if his conscience had not every day pricked him more
keenly as to the mischief he was unwillingly doing. But Wilmore and
Gilbert, who had not the same sources of interest as either De Walden or
Warley, began at last find their sojourn so intolerably wearisome, that
they to could no longer endure it. "I tell you what it is, Frank," said
Gilbert one day, when they had lain down to rest, under the shade of a
large oomahaama overshadowing their hut, after an hour's practice at
throwing the assegai, with which sport they had endeavoured to relieve
the tedium of an idle morning--"I tell you what it is; if I stay here
much longer, I shall go downright melancholy mad. They can't put me
into an asylum, because, I suppose, there are no articles of that kind
to be met with hereabouts. But they'll have to appoint keepers, and
extemporise a straight waistcoat of rhinoceros hide, and shave my head,
and all the rest of it."
"I am pretty nearly as bad as you are, Nick," returned Wilmore.
"There's De Walden for ever teaching those niggers, and there's Ernest
for ever dangling about Ella; and very pleasant I dare say, they find
it. But you and I don't particularly fancy young darkies, and haven't
any girls to talk to, seeing Miss Ella has no ears for any one but
Ernest. I am tired of trying to learn Basuto, or to throw an assegai,
or shoot with one of their bows and arrows, which are about big enough
for a child of ten years old. If we could only go out with our guns
every day--"
"We are not to go out again," interrupted Nick. "The powder's running
so very short, that there are not above a dozen charges left. So we
must learn assegai throwing and archery, if we mean to have any sport in
future."
"I shall never make a hand at either," said Frank. "A fellow must be
born to it, to knock things over as these Basutos do. Well, I agree
with you, I don't think I can stand this much longer, without going
stark crazy."
"Suppose we _don't_ stand it, Frank," suggested Gilbert. "It quite
rests with ourselves. No one can compel us."
"I don't quite understand you," said Wilmore. "How can we help
ourselves?"
"By taking ourselves off," answered the other.
"Look here. They say we ought to remain until the messengers return
that were sent to Cape Town, and that it would be hard upon Lavie, if he
were to come here and find us gone. Very good. But De Walden and
Warley both mean to remain with Queen Laura; so that whenever he may
come (if he _does_ come) he will find them, and that will answer every
purpose. But you and I may go our way, and leave them to go theirs."
"What! you propose that we two should set off for Cape Town alone, hey?
Could we find our way, think you?"
"I don't see why we shouldn't. We know the exact position of Cape Town,
and the pocket compass, which Lavie gave me, will enable us to go at all
events in the right direction. It will take a long time, no doubt--"
"Three or four months, at least," said Wilmore.
"About that, I judge," rejoined Gilbert. "But then we shall be
tolerably sure to fall in with some Dutch village or farm before we have
got half-way; and the Dutch are hospitable, though not civil to the
English. They couldn't turn us out into the wilderness, anyhow."
"No, I suppose not," said Frank, "particularly as we have got money to
pay for what we want. But then, Nick, how are we to subsist till we
reach one of these villages or farms. The nearest, I believe, are fully
two hundred miles off, if we went ever so straight. With only six
charges in our guns--"
"We must reserve our fire for great emergencies," interrupted Nick. "I
have my knife, any way, and we have learned something by this time,
remember, and know where to find the roots and fruits these fellows eat.
Besides, it's the season for birds' eggs now, and there'll be heaps of
them."
"Yes, and we can take a lot of mealeys with us," added Wilmore. "They
will go into a small compass and last a long time. Well, Nick, I don't
mind, if I go in for this with you. So far as I can see, we may wait
here, day after day, for the next twelvemonth; and I'd rather take my
chance of being devoured alive by the wild beasts, or knocked on the
head by the savages, than have to go through that. When do you propose
that we should make a start?"
"Well, we must first of all lay in a store of mealeys--I always meant to
take them: and I should like to get out of De Walden the nearest way to
the banks of the Gariep. I've an idea that if we could reach that, we
might make another raft like that on which we made our voyage to the
island, and float on it till we came to the place where we were carried
away by the flood. We should both know that again."
"That's not a bad idea, Nick. We should find plenty to eat as we went
along. We could store up a lot of figs, or dates or bananas on the
raft--enough to last us a week, I dare say; and the current runs pretty
swift, I expect. Only how about the falls at different parts of the
river? I've heard there are several places where there are rapids, or
actual cascades."
"I don't think there are between this and the place I was speaking of.
Anyhow we must be on the look out, and if we see any reason to think we
are getting near one, we must run ashore. Of course there must be some
risk, you know."
"Of course. Well, I am game to go, and I think we had better make a
start as soon as possible. Suppose we look up the mealeys to-morrow and
the next day--Tuesday, that is, and Wednesday, and set out on Thursday."
"We had better set out on Wednesday night. There is a full moon then,
which will light us as well as broad day would. And it would give us a
start of ten hours or so before we were missed."
"Very good. I have no objection. It is the pleasantest time for
travelling during the warm weather."
On the Wednesday evening, accordingly, the two boys set out on their
expedition. Nick had managed skilfully to extract the information he
desired from the missionary, without exciting his suspicions; and they
had had no difficulty in gathering a heap of ripe mealeys, as large as
they could carry in their knapsacks, unobserved by any one. They were
careful to take no more than the exact amount of powder, which they
considered to be their share of the remaining stock. Frank also wrote a
few lines, addressed to Warley, in which he told him, that they had
found their life of late so unendurable that they had resolved to brave
every toil and danger, rather than continue to undergo it. He begged
that no attempt might be made at pursuit; because in event of their
being overtaken, they were resolved positively to refuse to return to
the Basuto village. Lastly, he assured Ernest, that if they succeeded
in reaching Cape Town, they would take care that steps were immediately
taken for securing his safe journey thither.
Having left this letter on the table, where it would be sure to be found
on the following morning, the two lads set forth under the bright
moonlight, and travelled in safety some fifteen or sixteen miles through
the night and into the next day, when the burning heat warned them that
it was time to rest. They started again an hour or two after sunset,
and again pursued their way through almost unbroken solitude, tracking
their way partly by the aid of Gilbert's compass, partly by their
recollection of Mr De Walden's information. So many days passed on,
until the whole of their store of provisions was exhausted, and they
were fain to supply themselves with anything eatable, which the desert
or forest could furnish.
But here they found, for the first time, their calculations fail them.
The plains they traversed were either wastes of arid sand, or ranges of
forest producing haak-doorns and kamel doorns and mimosas in abundance,
and occasionally sycamores and acacias, but none of the fruit trees they
had reckoned on finding. At the end of the second day, they were
obliged to expend some of their dearly cherished ammunition in firing at
a gemsbok, which came full upon them in one of the turnings of the
forest, and which they were fortunate enough to wound with the first
shot they fired, and kill with a second.
Collecting a heap of dry grass and wood, they succeeded, by the help of
Lavie's burning-glass, which had been the doctor's parting gift to
Frank, in lighting a fire, at which they roasted a considerable part of
the gemsbok's flesh, and having made a hearty meal upon it, stored the
remains in their knapsacks. A considerable supply of meat was thus
obtained, and for two or three days they fared well enough, especially
as there was a fall of rain, which gave them plenty of water.
But the line of country through which they passed continued as barren of
the means of supporting existence as ever, and they were presently
reduced to the same straits as before. They began, indeed, now to be
somewhat alarmed at their situation. They had reckoned that it would be
a fortnight's journey to the banks of the Gariep; but they had been ten
days on their route, and had not, so far as they could calculate,
accomplished half the distance. Each of them had only two charges of
powder left, and it was evident that their guns alone could be reckoned
on, as furnishing them with food in the country where they were now
travelling. Their condition was rendered worse by two unsuccessful
attempts which they made to shoot a buffalo on the day after the last
batch of gemsbok meat had been consumed. They had come on the track of
a herd of buffaloes, which they had resolved to follow, and after many
hours of careful stalking, they had got so near to the herd at sunset as
to venture a shot. But, just as in the former instance, though the
animal was hit, and it might be severely wounded, it did not fall, but
was able to make off with the rest of the herd.
"Oh, Frank, what will become of us?" exclaimed Nick, as he witnessed
this mishap. "If we don't get food somewhere to-night, I feel as if I
should perish of hunger."
"Never say die, Nick," said Frank, cheerily. "Look here! This brute is
hit hard, I'm sure of that; and I'm pretty sure, too, that he won't hold
out very long. Just look what lots of blood he has left behind him.
They'll be quite enough to enable us to track him, even by this light.
We'll follow up the blood-marks until we find him. Even if another shot
should be necessary, we shall still have a charge apiece left, if we
should be attacked. If we kill the buffalo it will supply us with food
for a long time to come, and it is very unlikely that the country will
continue as bare of all fruit, as it has been since we left the
village."
"All right, Frank," returned Nick; "that is the best way of viewing it
at all events. I'll just take a hole up in my belt to stop the
importunities of my stomach, and then we'll be off after the buffalo.
We may as well go that way as any other, at all events."
They set out accordingly, following without difficulty, by the help of
the moon, the course taken by the herd across the open plain and the
intervening patches of scrub for two or three hours. The marks of blood
were plainly enough visible all the way, sometimes in large patches, as
though the wounded animal had stopped behind the rest through momentary
weakness; and then again only a drop here and there, as if it had again
exerted its remaining strength to overtake the herd. At last they came
to a spot where a larger puddle than any before stained the adjacent
grass and sand, and then the marks no longer followed the general track,
but turned aside into a deep thicket, through which the two boys had
considerable difficulty in following its course.
They had advanced some distance, when Nick suddenly laid his hand on his
companion's arm.
"Did you hear that?" he said.
"Hear what?" returned Wilmore.
"I fancied I heard a shot fired," said Gilbert, "but I suppose I must
have been mistaken."
"A shot! Who could there be in these parts to fire one? It was the
fall of a large stone from the cliffs, most likely. They are often
dislodged by the wind, and make a noise like the report of a gun. Come
along, we shall not have much further to go, I expect."
"Hist!" exclaimed Nick, again stopping. "I am quite sure I hear
something now, though in a different quarter from that in which I
fancied the gun was fired."
"What do you hear?" asked Wilmore, stopping and listening with all his
ears.
"A kind of low growling, or groaning," answered Nick; "or perhaps
grinding of teeth. It is very indistinct; but I am certain that I hear
it."
"It is the poor brute in his dying agony," said Frank. "Push on. We
must be close to him now."
By this time the dawn had begun to break, and the daylight diffused
itself rapidly over the scene. The beams of the rising sun showed that
they were, as Frank said, close on the buffalo's trail. The grass was
trampled down, as if by heavy footsteps, and blood, evidently only
recently shed, stained the bushes and long grass in profusion. And now
the sound heard by Nick became plainly audible to Frank also.
"Cock your gun, Nick!" he said. "He may have life enough left in him to
give us some trouble yet."
As he spoke he turned the corner of a large mass of prickly pear, which
had been partly forced aside and partly torn away by the passage of some
heavy body, and came upon a sight which was as alarming as it was
unexpected.
The carcass of the buffalo lay on the ground, already partially
devoured. Standing over it were a male and female panther (or tiger, as
the natives of South Africa are wont to call them), engaged in tearing
the flesh from the ribs with their long white shining teeth. The
animals were as big as an ordinary English mastiff, and the glare of
their large yellow eyes showed that the ferocity of their nature was
fully awakened. Frank fell back, as soon as his eye lighted on them,
conscious that his best hope of escape lay in instantly withdrawing from
the spot; but Nick, who had already raised his gun before he had come in
sight of the enemy he was about to encounter, drew his trigger, scarcely
aware of what he was doing, wounding the male panther severely, but not
mortally, in the chest. With a fierce howl of agony and rage combined,
the tiger sprang straight upon him; and if he had not been
extraordinarily light of limb and quick of eye, the next moment would
have been his last. But the moment the charge left the barrel, he
perceived the imminence of the danger threatening him, and, dropping his
gun, he sprang lightly on one side. The brute's claws and teeth just
missed their aim, but the body, in passing, struck him with sufficient
force to prostrate him insensible on the ground. The wounded panther
had no sooner recovered from its spring, than it turned back to fasten
on its fallen enemy; but Frank, stepping instantly up, with ready
presence of mind, applied the muzzle of his rifle to its ear, as it was
on the very point of bending its neck, and it fell lifeless on the
ground.
But the boys were now left quite helpless. The last charge had been
fired, and the remaining panther, which had stood motionless since the
discharge of the gun, watching as it were the issue of the struggle, now
gave evident signs that it was about to avenge its mate. Erecting its
tail, it uttered a low growl, which swelled gradually into a savage
roar. Another minute and his teeth would have been fastened in the
lad's throat; but before the animal could make its leap, the sound of
pattering feet was heard, and a large dog, bounding through the bushes,
sprang on the tiger and caught it by the throat. The brute turned
savagely on its new assailant, and a furious combat commenced; the tiger
tearing the ribs of the mastiff with its claws, but unable to shake off
the hold it had fastened on its throat Frank gazed with blank amazement
at the appearance of this unexpected champion, which seemed to have
fallen from the skies for his deliverance; and his astonishment was
increased when he perceived, as he presently did, that the dog was no
other than his long-lost, faithful Lion! How he could be still living,
and still more, what could have brought him there, he could not
conceive. But it was no moment for speculation. His favourite was
matched against an antagonist which, if it did not prove victor in the
struggle, might at all events inflict the most deadly wounds before it
could be overcome. Frank stooped, and drew the strong clasped knife
which Nick always carried in his belt. Opening this, he stepped forward
to the spot, where the two animals, now covered with dust and blood,
were savagely rending one another; he waited for the moment when the
panther's breast became exposed, and plunged the knife into it up to the
hilt. The stab was mortal. Unfastening the grip of its teeth on Lion's
side, the brute endeavoured to seize this new enemy; but it could not
disengage itself from Lion's hold. Its jaws collapsed, its savage eyes
grew filmy and dim, and in another minute the mastiff was tearing and
shaking the inanimate carcass of its adversary.
"Lion! Lion! dear old boy!--are you much hurt," exclaimed Frank,
running up, and throwing his arms round his favourite's neck; "however
did you come here? and where have you been all these weeks and months?
I can hardly believe, even now, that it is really you."
"Yes, it really him--it Lion for sure. Kobo and he make friends--know
each other ever so long," said a tall Bechuana, who had now joined the
party, and stood with a grin on his black face. "But, Master Nick--he
not hurt, is he?"
"What, Kobo, you too here!" exclaimed Frank. "But we'll talk about that
presently. We must see to Nick here. I declare I almost forgot him in
the surprise and joy at seeing old Lion again. But men before dogs. I
am pretty sure, though, Gilbert isn't hurt. He's only stunned by the
weight of the leopard's body, when he sprang on him."
They raised the lad between them, and soon had the satisfaction of
seeing him open his eyes, and draw in a long breath; and then, after
once or twice stretching himself, and feeling his chest and ribs,
declare that he wasn't a pin the worse, and would be ready for his
dinner, as soon as ever Kobo could supply him with any!