Two boats have been mentioned as intended for the use of the party
descending the Zambesi River. The one was a simple ordinary pinnace,
but the second and larger boat had evidently been fitted out for special
use, and was in fact that appropriated to the not unfrequent voyages of
the commandants of the two forts of Tete and Senna. Pulling eight oars,
its speed was considerable, when rowing, as in the present instance,
down stream, and it was so broad in the beam as to be able to stow away
luggage as well as passengers. A light wooden framework had been
constructed, so as to fit on either gunwale aft, forming a cover
something resembling that of a modern English wagonette, with windows
let into the side. Divans and cushions served for seats, while handsome
mirrors ornamented every spare corner, thus making of the roomy boat a
pleasant sleeping place, enabling its occupants to escape the pest of
mosquitos, incidental to the banks of the Zambesi.
Leaving Senna late, the party dropped lazily down the broad river. The
moonlight was pleasant enough; and from time to time Isabel's voice,
accompanying her guitar, rang out on the night air, while many a tale of
European and African life whiled away the night. Morning dawned; the
beams of the rising sun tipping the tamarind trees on the banks of the
Shire as the grapnel was dropped under the lee of a small island, just
where the river poured its waters into the Zambesi. The men were sent
ashore to pitch a tent on the right bank, and thus night was turned into
day on the bosom of the broad river. That afternoon the tent was
standing under the shelter of a group of mashango trees, its canvas
sides being raised to admit the air; and dinner, which, with its
delicacies of fish and vegetables, seemed a banquet to men who had for
so long been forced to live on venison, was served under its shade.
Several bottles of Bordeaux stood under there, too, swathed in wet
towels, just where the warm wind was the strongest, cooling by
evaporation. In front, the river, now sweeping onward, a broad majestic
stream, swollen by the waters of the Shire flowing from their sources in
the vast watershed of central Africa to the north. Groups of cocoa-nut
and palmyra grew here and there; the gum copal threw its shadow over the
glancing water; and large ebony trees of monstrous growth, thickly
covered with mantling creepers, bent over the stream. There, too, was
the singular palm tree, to be met with often on the Shire, which sends
up its stem, dividing many times, and each one forming a fan-like top of
curiously cut leaves, like giant fingers to the hand of a Cyclops; and
there was the prosopis tree, long known to the settler on the Shire's
banks for the fitness of its wood for boat-building. Beyond lay the
plain, one or two small kraals dotting it here and there, the patches of
sugar-cane, maize, and banana showing tokens of unusual industry and
civilisation. Cattle, too, were moving lazily about in the rich
pasturage, or standing grouped under the shade, while far away the blue
ridges of the Morumbala mountains closed the view. The day had been
cool, and a slight breeze just blew out the folds of the heavy
Portuguese flag, waving from the stern of the larger boat. Its cushions
had been removed and placed inside the tent, and the guitar lay
neglected on the ground, its fair owner listening to the soldier's tale
of the Matabele hunt and the rhinoceros, as she twisted indolently the
stalk of a splendid water-lily, gathered before landing. Between Dom
Francisco and the missionary was the chess-board, but both were
listening too attentively to pay much attention to the game; while the
boatmen and attendants were seated in small knots round the tent
discussing the remainder of the dinner, emptying half-empty bottles, or
laughing, talking, and tale-telling in opposition to the parrots'
screaming among the branches.
"But," said Isabel, as Hughes concluded the story, "your rhinoceros,
dangerous as it was, is nothing to the animal of the same species, which
we heard of at Tete, and which many affirmed they had seen."
"What is it?" eagerly asked Wyzinski, forgetting the game in his desire
for information. "I once met a woman of the Makao tribe, who spoke of a
strange species. Strange enough she was herself, with her upper lip
pierced and ornamented by an ivory ring, a bark covering serving for
petticoat, that and a necklace of bark for all clothing."
Reclining back on her cushions, the black mantilla drawn over her neck
and bust, one tiny slippered foot just peeping from out of the folds of
the light dress, Dona Isabel carried the pure white petals of the
water-lily to her face, her large black eyes peeping over the flower
contrasting strangely with its whiteness, but seeming herself too
indolent to reply.
Puffing a long spiral stream of smoke from his mouth, the Portuguese
noble answered for her.
"It is said, and implicitly believed by the natives, many of whom assert
that they have seen it, that far away to the northward there exists a
rhinoceros, carrying one single sharp pointed horn right in the centre
of the forehead."
"The unicorn of old," interrupted Wyzinski.
"The unicorn of our fathers' tales," replied Dom Francisco, gravely
bowing. "The animal is of immense strength and savage ferocity, say the
natives. It is useless for man to contend with him, and any one who
meets it may count on death."
"At all events he may take refuge in a tree, and wait until the animal
goes away."
"It is said this rhinoceros will patiently bore with his sharp horn
until he has broken the tree, and then kill the man; that he will work
for days until his object be accomplished."
"See!" exclaimed Dona Isabel; "there are canoes coming up the river.
What are they doing?"
There were at that moment four small boats rounding the island, just
where the Shire discharged itself into the Zambesi, and their movements
seemed eccentric enough to warrant the surprise expressed by Dona
Isabel.
Independently of the rowers, one man stood erect in the bow of each
canoe, holding in his hand an assegai, which from time to time he threw.
As they neared the bank, a huge hippopotamus rose to the surface, and
with a shout, the how man in the nearest canoe made his cast. The spear
missed; but the second boat dashed up. Again the hippopotamus rose, and
this time the assegai struck true.
"Why, it is exactly the way the Arctic seamen take the whales!"
exclaimed Hughes.
A loud scream from Dona Isabel, as she started from her recumbent
position, was heard. The hippopotamus had risen again, and with its
great red mouth open, dashed in fury at the leading canoe.
The man in the bow seemed paralysed with fear, for he did not make a
cast; the next moment the boat was floating bottom upwards, drifting
with the stream, but the animal had received another assegai as he was
in the act of striking the canoe.
As for its crew, they rose to the surface, and struck out for the bank,
vigorously swimming like fishes, their comrades taking no notice of
them. The hippopotamus seemed badly hurt now, for it rose again
quickly, receiving another lance, and then, dragging itself on to the
bank, fell from exhaustion and loss of blood, the natives giving a yell
of triumph as they rowed up.
"Listen!" said Wyzinski, "that was a shout; here, down the river bank,
to the right."
"And there comes the owner of the cry," replied Hughes; "he is a
European, too, and well armed."
Dressed in a light calico suit of clothes, wearing a broad-brimmed
Panama hat, and carrying a rifle in his hand, while a brace of pistols
were stuck into a broad crimson Andalusian sash which encircled his
waist, the owner of the shout, as Hughes had called him, rode up,
followed by three mounted natives.
"The Senhor Dom Francisco Maxara?" inquired the new comer, raising his
sombrero.
"The same, Senhor," haughtily returned the noble, rising and replying to
the courtesy.
"I am Dom Assevedo, of Quillimane. I have a house at Nyangue, and am
owner of a good deal of the land about here. Will the Senhor Maxara and
his fair daughter (here the sombrero was again removed) condescend to
consider my poor house at Nyangue their own for the period they may
honour me by staying?"
"I thank you, Senhor, but it may not be. The `Halcyon' brig waits us at
Quillimane, and I must needs say no. Isabel, can you not persuade the
Senhor to join us?"
"At all events, I can offer him part of my cushions," replied the lady,
"on condition he talks French, for Portuguese will not be understood by
our guests."
"Ah, the two Englishmen whom I have heard of from the Limpopo. Perhaps
you, gentlemen, will honour me with a visit?"
This, too, was impossible; and Wyzinski was in the act of explaining
why, when a loud clamour was heard among the natives, who were busy on
the sandy bank below cutting up the hippopotamus. The excitement seemed
to communicate itself to the boatmen, and, walking to the entrance, Dom
Assevedo called out, "Come here, Senhora, there is a sight seldom seen."
Looking down the stream, which was rolling slowly on its course towards
the sea, between banks where the palmyra and cocoa-palms grew in clumps,
seven elephants were swimming the river. With their trunks raised high
in the air, and their huge black bodies rolling from side to side, the
animals, notwithstanding their tremendous bulk, seemed to move with
apparent ease and pleasure to themselves.
"They are heading right for the island at the mouth of the Shire!"
exclaimed Hughes, all the spirit of the old shikaree reviving at the
sight.
"Something must have terrified them," said Dom Assevedo; "perhaps the
jungle has been fired in their rear."
"There they go--one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven, all on the
island," counted Hughes.
Dona Isabel had stood, her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on the strange
scene, a beautiful statue, the very model of mute astonishment.
"If they don't break out and take to the other bank, I can show you some
sport, now," exclaimed Assevedo.
A few minutes of breathless watching followed, not a word being spoken,
while the spiral wreaths of smoke curled up into the calm air from Dom
Francisco's cigarette. All eyes were fixed on the island. Five minutes
elapsed, lengthening into ten, and the elephants had not reappeared.
"Do any of you gentlemen speak Kaffir?" inquired Assevedo.
"I do," replied Wyzinski; "at least the Zulu tongue."
"Good; then do me the favour to go to the men on the river bank. Tell
them you come from me, use my name, and let them get their boats
together, and join us in our hunt. Senhor de Maxara, will you order
your men to get your boat ready?"
"Surely you will take me with you?" asked Isabel.
"Fair Senhora, there is danger."
"And have I not seen the bull fights of Seville?" asked the girl, her
eyes flashing fire. "Let me be able to say when I return to my country,
that I have also seen the African elephant hunted."
"The animals are sure to take up the river banks for the forest land.
If your boat is large enough to take my pony across, there can be no
reason to say no," replied Assevedo.
The boat was found amply sufficient. A lady's side-saddle was rummaged
out from the luggage; the rifles, of which there were no lack, loaded;
and the whole party, embarked in four canoes and two boats, rowed across
the river. At first they pulled up the stream, so as not to alarm the
elephants, striking the opposite bank much higher than the mouth of the
Shire. Landing, Dom Assevedo posted the men. The elephants, when
disturbed, were certain to take to the water, swim the river, and enter
the woods, which here stretched right away to the foot of the hills.
"Senhor Wyzinski, as you speak the Zulu tongue, will you take the
canoes, and landing in rear of the elephants, make as much noise as
possible, and fire the reeds if necessary."
"Senhor Inglesi, you are the younger man, will you look to the Senhora
Isabel, while I and Dom Francisco take our post under yonder clump of
trees."
Captain Hughes was in the act of ramming down a cartridge as he received
the directions. The rifle was a heavy one, and by a lucky chance two of
Devisme's explosive cartridges fitted the bore.
Dom Assevedo then explained to Isabel that, should the elephants come
her way, she was to ride for the open, where she was perfectly safe, the
animals not being fleet enough to overtake her, and they would be sure
to make for the forest.
The loud cries of the natives were soon heard, and Hughes looked about
him. The Shire river, on whose banks they were, was not broad, though
it appeared deep. They stood facing the river, under a clump of
cocoa-nut trees. To the right at a little distance lay the Zambesi, and
behind them, distant about a thousand yards, began the forest, which
seemed gradually to increase in density until it became nearly
impenetrable. To the left a comparatively open country, with fields of
maize and sugar-cane ripening in the sun. Some long reeds growing about
ten paces to their front served as a screen.
Not a word was spoken, and as he stood by the pony's side, and looked up
at its rider's slender, graceful figure, and beautiful face, the soldier
felt the duty he had undertaken a pleasant one.
Isabel sat on her horse like a statue, her lips parted showed the white
teeth, her eyes intently fixed on the island, and her face shaded from
the sun by a flapped-hat with its broad brim.
Shouts and yells came floating on the air over the Shire river,
sometimes very loud and eager, at others dying away, and at last a large
black mass slowly approached to the water side. Isabel clasped her
hands as the elephant waded into the river, ejaculating some words in
her own language; but the great animal paused, looked over the Shire
towards the opposite bank, and, whether suspecting clanger or not liking
a second swim, it returned to cover.
And now a faint column of blue smoke shot up from the island, telling
that Wyzinski had fired the bush; it thickened as the dry reeds caught
fire, the red flame darted up at intervals, and heavy masses of smoke
rolled away to leeward. The fire leaped merrily onward, making rapid
progress, and soon a loud trumpeting was heard, as, plunging into the
river, the elephants, terribly frightened, swam towards the opposite
bank, their trunks raised in the air high above the water. They would
evidently land within twenty paces of where Dona Isabel was posted.
"Tighten your bridle-rein, Dona Isabel," whispered the soldier, as he
placed his hand on the snaffle. "Be ready. Here they come!"
"Madre de Dios!" ejaculated the astonished girl. "Oh! Santa Maria, how
grand!"
Rolling about like seven huge porpoises, their backs, heads, and
flapping ears above water, the elephants came on swimming in Indian
file. The trunk raised straight up in the air gave to the black masses
a strange look, while the tusks at times lowered sent the water in their
front spurting into the air. Three out of the seven were males. They
gained the bank, the water falling from them in sheets, and then they
leisurely walked away for cover. One old male was some dozen yards
behind the rest, and this elephant Captain Hughes singled out for
himself. Landing, it stood for a second or two, the water dripping from
its huge sides, looking curiously around. At this moment the loud
reports of two rifles rang out from the forest, and the remaining
elephant, alarmed, moved off in an oblique direction, which would bring
it close to the spot where stood Dona Isabel and the soldier.
The former seemed quite stupefied with wonder as the great mass came
onward at a trot, swinging its long trunk to and fro.
"Ride for your life, Dona Isabel!" said Hughes; "keep for the open, and
ride hard."
Hughes loosed his hold of the reins, and the pony started off. Isabel,
turning in her saddle, fixed her gaze on the elephant, and in so doing
turned the pony's head right for the forest.
Hughes shouted loudly, but without effect; the girl, wholly absorbed
with her astonishment, knew not her danger. For a second the elephant
paused, then, trumpeting with rage, dashed after her.
The right moment had been lost. Captain Hughes, in his endeavours to
make Isabel turn, had neglected it, and when he did raise his rifle to
fire, the elephant was at forty paces distant, turned from him, and
going at full speed. To level his rifle, aim, and fire, was the work of
a second. The elephant slackened its pace, but only for a moment, the
soldier, his rifle at the trail, dashing madly after it. On swept the
pony at top speed, but the elephant gained on it. Isabel's hat had
fallen, her long, jet-black hair was floating on the wind. The forest
lay before her, through which she could not ride many paces; but she
knew it not, for her gaze was still rivetted on the elephant. On they
swept, the soldier dashing after them madly, shouting to her yet to turn
for the open. The forest line was reached, and in a moment, swept from
her saddle by the branches, Dona Isabel lay on the ground, the riderless
pony dashing on. On, too, came the elephant, after the horse,
trumpeting furiously. It passed over the prostrate form, its huge foot
within an inch of the fair head, and the next moment its tusks were
buried in the flanks of the agonised horse, which had been stopped by
the forest undergrowth. Bearing it down, the huge elephant actually
pinned the animal to the ground, where it held it impaled and writhing
with agony, then deliberately kneeling on the bleeding carcass literally
crushed it into a shapeless mass. Rising, the elephant turned from the
dead pony, trumpeting once more as it saw lying on the ground, quite
inanimate, the form of the rider. Dom Francisco and Assevedo were
hurrying up, but were yet distant. They both fired, but the bullets
served but to enrage still further the infuriated animal, as it came on,
the blood dripping in large gouts from its reddened tusks. It was a
race between it and the soldier--a race won by the man, as, breathless,
and with only one barrel of his rifle loaded, he stood between the
senseless Isabel and the charging animal. On it came, right upon him;
if it passed it must tread down the fair girl's body. The thought gave
him nerve, it steadied his hand as he aimed right for the centre of the
forehead. The report rang out, the elephant halted suddenly, swaying
from side to side, and then fell with a heavy thud. A loud shout from
the two men advancing over the plain, and Hughes knew that Dona Isabel
was safe. Throwing aside his now useless rifle, he knelt by her side,
raising her on his arm, and leaning her head back against his knee; a
small red stream was flowing from her forehead, and she had fainted.
"My child--my Isabel!" moaned the old man, forgetting his pride in his
sorrow, as he threw himself by his daughter's side, panting and
breathless.
"It is nothing, she has fainted. I go for water!" exclaimed Assevedo,
as he hastened towards the river.
Slowly the blue veins beneath the clear olive skin began to beat again.
Once more the eyes opened and closed. Hughes was busy sponging away the
blood, which flowed rather freely, with a handkerchief. Dom Francisco
and Assevedo, kneeling by Isabel's side, were using the cool water of
the Shire river; and close beside them, its tusks red with blood, the
enormous bulk of the dead elephant; while, fifty paces away--a crushed
and unsightly mass--lay the pony.
Isabel opened her eyes, and seemed for a moment utterly astonished.
"Santa Maria!" she ejaculated, "where am I?"
Then suddenly the whole affair seemed to flash on her memory, and,
raising herself gently, she smiled.
"I was not frightened, only astonished," said the brave girl, as the red
blood mantled in her cheeks. "Where is the elephant?"
"There," answered her father; "and you may thank the Senhor Capitano
Inglesi that it lies there."
Isabel de Maxara turned--the dead animal with its gory tusks, and the
shapeless mass which had been a horse, met her gaze. For a moment her
face flushed, the red blood once more mantling richly under the clear
olive skin; the next she grew deadly pale. "I thank you, senhor," she
said as she looked full at the soldier and held out her hand, "I thank
you for my life."
The rest of the party were standing by the elephant. Hughes clasped the
long taper fingers, and looked into the black eyes, from which the tears
were falling. For a moment they met the gaze, and then fell before his
as he kissed the little hand held out to him.
"Your ball has shivered his head, Hughes," called out Wyzinski, but the
soldier paused a moment to thrust into his bosom a blood-stained
pocket-handkerchief before he joined them.
The second ball, a heavy conical one, had penetrated the skull before
bursting, making a frightful hole, and blowing the head to pieces; a
second severe wound, behind the shoulder, showing where the first had
struck.
The elephant was a very large one, and was the only one out of the seven
secured.
"And now, gentlemen, let us leave the cutting up to the natives. You
can scarcely refuse my late request now, after what has passed, if it is
only that Dona Isabel needs rest."
"If we comply I must make a condition, namely, that you send a messenger
to Quillimane, to warn Captain Weber of the delay, and it must not be
for more than twenty-four hours."
"Agreed, and now for the boats and my house at Nyangue," cheerfully
exclaimed Assevedo.
"Senhor Inglesi, I thank you most heartily and sincerely," said the old
noble, taking off his hat, bowing, and grasping the soldier's hand
warmly in his own. "You have earned our eternal gratitude at the peril
of your life."
"Don't you think a light infantry movement and a timely retreat would be
a brilliant evolution?" whispered the missionary, as he passed Hughes.
"I don't mind backing the flavour of the water-melons of Portugal
against the custard-apples of India."
"Nonsense. Just mind your own business," replied Hughes, as he picked
up the discharged rifle, shouldered it, and joined the party on the
Shire's bank.
Volume 2, Chapter II.