Time passed rapidly, and the settlers, both highland and lowland, struck
their roots deeper and deeper into the soil of their adoption--watched
and criticised more or less amiably by their predecessors, the few
Dutch-African farmers who up to that time had struggled on the frontier
all alone.
One day Hans Marais was riding with Charlie Considine on the karroo, not
far from the farm-house. They had been conversing on the condition and
prospects of the land, and the trials and difficulties of the British
settlers. Suddenly they came on an ostrich sitting on its eggs under a
bush. The bird rose and ran on seeing the horsemen.
"I daresay the cock-bird is not far off," observed Hans, riding up to
the nest, which was merely a slight hollow scraped in the sandy soil,
and contained a dozen eggs. "He is a gallant bird; guards his wife most
faithfully, and shares her duties."
"I've sometimes thought," said Considine musingly, "that the ostrich
might be tamed and bred on your farms. With such valuable feathers it
would be worth while to try."
"You are not the first who has suggested that, Charlie. My own mother
has more than once spoken of it."
"Stay a minute," said Considine; "I shall take one of the eggs home to
her."
"Not fit to eat. Probably half hatched," said Hans.
"No matter," returned the other, dismounting.
"Well, I'll ride to the ridge and see if the papa is within hail."
Hans did but bare justice to the cock ostrich when he said he was a
gallant bird. It is within the mark to say that he is not only a
pattern husband, but a most exemplary father, for, besides guarding his
wife and her nest most jealously by day, he relieves her at night, and
sits himself on the nest, while his better-half takes food and
relaxation.
While Hans rode forward a few hundred yards, the cock, which chanced to
be out feeding on the plain, observed his wife running excitedly among
the bushes, and at the same moment caught a glimpse of the Dutchman.
Seven-league boots could not have aided that ostrich! With mighty
strides and outstretched wings the giant bird rushed in furious rage to
defend its nest. Hans saw it, and, instantly putting spurs to his
horse, also made for the nest, but the ostrich beat him.
"Look out, Charlie!" shouted Hans.
Charlie did look out, somewhat anxiously too, turning his head nervously
from side to side, for while the thunder of hoofs and the warning cry of
Hans assailed him on one side, a rushing and hissing sound was heard on
the other. The suspense did not last long. A few seconds later, and
the ostrich appeared, bearing down on him with railway speed. He raised
his gun and fired, but in the haste of the moment missed. The cap of
the second barrel snapped. He clubbed his gun, but, before he could
raise it, the ferocious bird was on him. Towering high over his head,
it must have been between eight and nine feet in height. One kick of
its great two-toed foot sufficed. The ostrich kicks forward, as a man
might when he wishes to burst in a door with his foot, and no
prize-fighter can hit out with greater celerity, no horse can kick with
greater force. If the blow had taken full effect it would probably have
been fatal, but Considine leaped back. It reached him, however--on the
chest,--and knocked him flat on the nest, where he lay stunned amid a
wreck of eggs.
The vicious bird was about to follow up its victory by dancing on its
prostrate foe, when Hans galloped up. The bird turned on him at once,
with a hiss and a furious rush. The terrified horse reared and wheeled
round with such force as almost to throw Hans, who dropped his gun in
trying to keep his seat. Jumping into the air, and bringing its foot
down with a resounding smack, the bird sent its two formidable nails
deep into the steed's flank, from which blood flowed copiously. The
horse took the bit in its teeth, and ran.
Hans Marais was very strong, but fear was stronger. The horse fairly
ran off, and the ostrich pursued. Being fleeter than the horse, it not
only kept up with ease, but managed ever and anon to give it another
kick on flank, sides, or limbs. Hans vainly tried to grasp his
assailant by the neck. If he succeeded in this he knew that he could
easily have choked it, for the ostrich's weak point is its long slender
neck--its strong point being its tremendous leg, the thigh of which,
blue-black, and destitute of feathers, resembles a leg of mutton in
shape and size.
At last Hans bethought him of his stirrup. Unbuckling it, he swung it
by the leather round his head, and succeeded, after one or two attempts,
in hitting his enemy on the head with the iron. The ostrich dropped at
once and never rose again.
Returning to the nest with his vanquished foe strapped to his saddle, he
found Considine sitting somewhat confused among the egg-debris, much of
which consisted of flattened young ones, for the eggs were in an
advanced state of incubation.
"Why, Charlie, are you going to try your hand at hatching?" cried Hans,
laughing in spite of himself.
Considine smiled rather ruefully. "I believe my breast-bone is knocked
in. Just help me to examine; but first catch my horse, like a good
fellow."
It was found on examination that no bones were broken, and that, beyond
a bruise, Considine was none the worse of his adventure.
One egg was found to have survived the general destruction. This was
taken to the farm and handed to Mrs Marais, and that amiable lady
adopted and hatched it! We do not mean to assert that she sat upon it,
but having discovered, from mysterious sounds inside, that the young
ostrich contained in it was still alive, and, being a woman of an
experimental tendency, she resolved to become a mother to it. She
prepared a box, by lining it with a warm feather pillow, above which she
spread several skin karosses or blankets, and into this she put the egg.
Every morning and every evening she visited the nest, felt the egg to
ascertain its temperature, and added or removed a blanket according to
circumstances. How the good woman knew the proper temperature is a
mystery which no one could explain, but certain it is that she
succeeded, for in a few days the little one became so lively in its
prison as to suggest the idea that it wanted out. Mrs Marais then
listened attentively to the sounds, and, having come to a decision as to
which end of the egg contained the head of the bird, she cracked the
shell at that point and returned it to the nest.
Thus aided, the infant ostrich, whose head and feet lay in
juxtaposition, began life most appropriately with its strongest point--
put its best foot foremost; drove out the end of its prison with a kick,
and looked astonished. One or two more kicks and it was out. Next time
its foster-mother visited the nest she found the little one free,--but
subdued, as if it knew it had been naughty,--and with that "well--what--
next?" expression of countenance which is peculiar to very young birds
in general.
When born, this little creature was about the size of a small barn-door
hen, but it was exceeding weak as well as long in the legs, and its
first efforts at walking were a mere burlesque.
The feeding of this foundling was in keeping with its antecedents. Mrs
Marais was a thoroughgoing but incomprehensible woman. One would have
thought that boiled sheep's liver, chopped fine, and hens' eggs boiled
hard, were about the most violently opposed to probability in the way of
food for an ostrich, old or young. Yet that is the food which she gave
this baby. The manner of giving it, too, was in accordance with the
gift.
Sitting down on a low stool, she placed the patient--so to speak--on its
back, between her knees, and held it fast; then she rammed the liver and
egg down its throat with her fingers as far as they would reach, after
which she set it on its legs and left it for a few minutes to
contemplation. Hitching it suddenly on its back again, she repeated the
operation until it had had enough. In regard to quantity, she regulated
herself by feeling its stomach. In the matter of drink she was more
pronounced than a teetotaler, for she gave it none at all.
Thus she continued perseveringly to act until the young ostrich was old
enough to go out in charge of a little Hottentot girl named Hreikie, who
became a very sister to it, and whose life thence-forward was spent
either in going to sleep under bushes, on the understanding that she was
taking care of baby, or in laughing at the singular way in which her
charge waltzed when in a facetious mood.
There is no doubt that this ostrich would have reached a healthy
maturity if its career had not been cut short by a hyena.
Not until many years after this did "ostrich-farming" and
feather-exporting become, as it still continues, one of the most
important branches of commercial enterprise in the Cape Colony; but we
cannot avoid the conclusion, that, as Watt gave the first impulse to the
steam-engine when he sat and watched the boiling kettle, so Mrs Marais
opened the door to a great colonial industry when she held that infant
ostrich between her knees, and stuffed it with minced eggs and liver.