THE ROYAL HUNT
Next day occurred the royal hunt. Garram and Kon found the camp already
astir on their return with the meat. Without stopping for sleep they
joined the followers and the villagers who had built the camp and were
now going to act as beaters. For four hours they walked due south,
and then turning spread into a thin line to the west. Keeping their
position as well as they could by the sound of their neighbors’ shouts
and rattling of sticks against tree trunks, they began to beat up the
game to the northeast.
For some time there was little to be seen. Here and there small hares,
which are always perquisites of beaters, were chased and yelled at, and
occasionally killed or caught by mongrel dogs. Then the bigger game,
content to be driven a short distance but now getting anxious, tried
to break back to their feeding grounds. A band of baboons, barking
furiously, used the thick branches of tall trees lining a stream as
cover and got safely away. A wild boar charged and overturned a beater
without doing him much damage, and a sow and four half-grown pigs
followed his lead to safety. Oribi and duiker, small buck not three
feet high, took cover in the grass till nearly trodden on, then dashed
forward and hid again, and kept repeating the process. Guinea fowl and
other game birds sounded warning calls and ran and flew in front of
the line of beaters.
[Illustration]
Gradually the heat of the day increased; gradually the concentration of
game in front of the beaters grew more dense. From time to time mounted
followers of the court would ride along the line of beaters, urging
forward part of the line, restraining those who were getting too far to
the front, so that the cordon should leave no gaps for escaping game.
Garram, to whom the horse was an unknown animal, was thrilled by the
ease with which the courtiers swung their mounts as they followed at
an easy canter along the tortuous game tracks. The boy’s mouth opened
wide in admiration as he watched a feeble-looking courtier, whom
previously he had rather despised, sit his plunging pony unaware of the
movement. Orders delivered, the rider touched his horse’s flanks with
the shovel-like stirrups which served as spurs, shot stooping beneath a
low branch, and collecting the animal, flipped neatly across the narrow
stream. Garram let out a wild war-whoop in applause.
The beaters had now come out into the open plain where the royal party
waited. Garram, followed by Kon, wriggled forward for a better view.
Worming their way up the water course, they searched for a spot where
they could hide from the keepers and be safe from the riders. A giant
kuka tree, ten feet across and hollow as a drum, seemed just made for
the purpose. By climbing up where the branches separated, it was
possible, after making sure the place was free of snakes, to drop down
inside. Numerous knot holes made excellent windows for watching the
fun, and it was like being in a loopholed tower.
They had scarcely got into position, Kon licking Garram’s ear as he
was lowered to the ground, when part of the hunt came directly towards
them. It was the Emir on a glossy black stallion, but how different he
looked from last night!
Now he was dressed as if for full court ceremonial, from his voluminous
turban to his high, decorated boots, brilliantly colored robes, and
trousers incrusted with embroidery. All these, it seemed to Garram,
must make free use of bow and spear impossible. Slowly the chief of the
Fulani walked his horse toward some cover on Garram’s left. From time
to time he rose in his stirrups for a better view. Then, almost at the
foot of the kuka tree, a magnificent boar broke cover, swinging to the
right, and the horse and rider broke into full gallop in pursuit. From
a glimpse of the long tushes as the animal broke, Garram was able to
mark it down as an old boar, liable to put up a stiff fight. Then all
he could see was its swift wallowing run as it streaked off into the
distance. He and Kon almost howled with disappointment.
When at last the horse and rider caught up, the boar, with a swift
turn almost directly beneath the horse’s hoofs, jinked and swung back
on his tracks. This gave the quarry a fresh start, and there was hard
riding before the lost ground was made up. Whenever they all but closed
on the bristling beast, another swift turn put the hunters again at a
disadvantage.
First one stirrup, then the other scraped ground as the well-schooled
pony flung himself to right and left, following with sharp turns the
wild hog. Gradually the zigzag course brought the chase nearer to the
watchers in the tree trunk, and Garram viewed with startled eyes the
turns and swings which seemed to leave the rider steady as a rock but
little by little decreased the boar’s lead. The flash of the Emir’s
black eyes above his beaky nose was now clearly seen, and the thunder
of the hoofs, the grunting of the hunted beast seemed scarcely a yard
from the tree.
Then, in the middle of a swift turn, the rider rose in his stirrups to
loose an arrow from the longbow. It pierced the galloping quarters of
the quarry.
Brought to bay, without pausing, the boar swung around and charged. A
quick slash at the forefeet of the pony, not three yards away--with
those gleaming tushes. Then the same tushes, red by then, would be
able to tear and tear against the soft, defenceless body pinned by the
fallen horse.
But the vengeful teeth never drove home.
Slender spear in hand the Emir leaned far out of the saddle to take the
shock when the spear should meet the charging boar. In that fraction of
a second he stiffened his arm, gripping with knees as if to crush the
ribs of his mount. Saddle and girths burst with the shock. The black
stallion was forced back on his haunches and, with dilated nostrils and
staring eyes, over on his flank.
But the slender spear head, backed by its steel shaft had met the
shoulder of the boar, passed through, and down to the heart.
As the dust cleared, man, horse, and boar were seen stretched on the
hoof-torn ground, motionless, almost touching. Horse and man rose and
shook themselves, but the boar lay dead. Courtiers galloped up, full
of solicitude and praise. The Emir glanced carefully over the black
stallion to assure himself that he was uninjured, then mounted bareback
and cantered off.
Much more Garram saw that day. Including such bad shooting from
horseback as made him grateful for the protection of his tree. Nothing
after that equaled the impression made upon him by the Emir and his
glossy black stallion. Between those two was an understanding, a
combination such as the hunter and Kon had worked out together.
* * * * *
The next evening, on their journey back to Yelwa, the courtiers and
councilors received from the Emir gifts of robes of honor, musk
scented, in celebration of the hunting party. But on that robe given
to the Waziri was a special musk. Garram had searched long for the
certain bush cat from which it came. To the human nose it smelled much
as the others did; it would take a dog to tell the difference.
KON AS DETECTIVE
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