I was rushing to his assistance, when I heard a fearful cry from Hans,
who, his foot slipping, had fallen into the water. As he did so, a huge
crocodile darted across the stream.
My uncle and Mr Welbourn were descending the bank, and were much nearer
than I was. I was undecided to whose assistance I should run, when, to
my horror, I saw the crocodile seize Hans by the arm, before he could
regain his feet. I fortunately had my large hunting-knife in my belt,
though I had not; brought my rifle. Little as I liked Hans, I felt that
it was my duty to go to his assistance. Unless I did so he would be
quickly dragged off into deep water, and become the prey of the
crocodile. Seeing that his father and my uncle had already got hold of
Harry, drawing my hunting-knife I dashed forward, shouting with all my
might to try to frighten the savage brute. Hans had caught hold of the
branch of a fallen tree, which he grasped with his left arm, holding on
to it for his life. Every moment I expected to see him let go, when his
fate would have been sealed. Not for an instant did I think of the
danger I was running. I can scarcely even now understand how I acted as
I did. With a single bound I sprang over the branches close to the head
of the crocodile, and seizing the man with one hand, I plunged the knife
into the eye of the monster, who immediately opened his jaws, and as he
did so, Hans, with an activity I could scarcely have expected, hauled
himself up to the top of the bough, where I sprang after him, while the
crocodile, giving a whisk of his tail which nearly knocked us off our
perch, retreated into deep water, the next instant to turn lifeless on
its back, when, floating down a few yards, its huge body was brought up
by a ledge of rocks which projected partly out of the water.
"Well done, Fred, my boy," shouted my uncle and Mr Welbourn in chorus.
Having placed Harry on the bank they hurried forward to assist me in
lifting Hans off the bough to which he was clinging, and to place him
beside Harry. For some seconds he lay, scarcely knowing what had
happened. On examining his arm, though it was fearfully crushed,
wonderful as it may seem, no bone was actually broken. After a little
time he revived, and, accompanied by Harry, we led him back to the camp.
My uncle exerted all his medical skill to doctor him, and the next
morning, though his arm was useless, he was able to move about as well
as ever. He did not exhibit any special feeling of gratitude to me, but
I won the good opinion of the natives, and of Toko in particular. Had
anybody told me that I should have been able to perform the act, I
should have declared it was impossible, and all I know is that I did it.
As all the ivory in the neighbourhood for which we had goods to give in
exchange had been purchased, we pushed forward to the north-east to a
country inhabited by tribes which had hitherto had little or no
intercourse with Europeans. It is not, however, my object so much to
describe the people as the adventures we met with. I cannot exactly say
with the naval officer, who, describing the customs of the people he
visited, in his journal wrote, "Of manners they have none, and their
customs are beastly." Savage those we met were in many respects, but
their savagery arose from their ignorance and gross idolatry.
We travelled in a very luxurious manner, compared to our journey with
the single ox across the desert. As we advanced we saw numbers of large
game, and one evening nearly a hundred buffaloes defiled before us in
slow procession, almost within gun-shot, while herds of elands passed us
without showing any signs of fear. We at the moment had abundance of
meat in the camp, or some of them would have fallen victims to our
fire-arms.
The next day, seeing a herd of zebras in the distance, taking my rifle,
I started off, hoping to shoot one of them. As the wind was from them
to me, and as there were some low bushes, I expected to get up to them
within gun-shot, before they perceived me. I was not disappointed; and,
firing, I wounded one of them severely in the leg. The rest of the herd
took to flight, but the wounded animal went off towards our camp, from
which several of our men issued to attack it.
I was walking along leisurely when, hearing the sound of feet in the
direction from which I had come, I turned round and saw a solitary
buffalo galloping towards me. The nearest place of safety was a tree,
but it was upwards of a hundred yards off. I had, of course, reloaded,
and now got my rifle ready, hoping to hit the brute in the forehead.
Just then the thought occurred to me, "What would be my fate should my
gun miss fire?" The buffalo came on at a tremendous speed, but
fortunately a small bush in its way made it swerve slightly and expose
its shoulder. Now was the moment for action, and as I heard the bullet
strike the animal I fell flat on my face. The buffalo bounded on over
my body, apparently not perceiving me. I lay perfectly still. It had
got to a considerable distance, when it was met by the men who had come
out to kill the zebra, and was quickly shot down.
Toko shook his head when he saw me, exclaiming that I must not go out
again without him, lest I should be killed by some savage animal.
"But I have my rifle to defend myself," I observed.
"Your rifle may miss fire sometimes, or you may fail to kill the
elephant or rhinoceros you attack better have two rifles. I will go
with you," he answered, in his peculiar lingo.
Our plan was always to encamp near water, and where we could obtain wood
for our fires; for such regions were certain to be frequented by a
variety of animals. Sometimes we remained two or three days in the same
spot, provided no villages were near; though people were generally
grateful to us for destroying the wild beasts, as even the elephants are
apt to injure their plantations by breaking in and trampling over them.
Harry and I, who had become fast friends, generally went out together,
accompanied by Toko, sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback. One day
we had all three gone out on foot, prepared for any game. That we might
be more likely to fall in with some creature or other, we separated a
short distance; keeping, however, within hail, and agreeing that, should
one of us shout, the other two were to close in towards him. I was in
the centre, Toko on the left, and Harry on the right.
We had gone some distance when I heard Toko shout, "Elephant, elephant!"
I uttered the same cry to Harry, but he did not apparently hear me,
and, at all events, I could not see him. After running for thirty or
forty yards, I caught sight of Toko up a tree. He cried out to me to
climb another a short distance off, the branches of which would afford
an easy ascent. Wishing to follow his advice, I was running along, when
my foot caught in a creeper and I fell to the ground with considerable
force, letting my rifle drop as I did so, but in vain attempted to
regain my legs, so severely had I sprained my ankle. I naturally called
to Toko to come to my assistance. He did not move or reply, but
continued shouting and shrieking at the top of his voice. What was my
horror just then to see a huge elephant, with trunk uplifted, burst out
from among the trees on one side, while, at the same moment, a large
lion approached with stealthy steps on the other. I gave myself up for
lost, expecting to be carried off in the jaws of the lion, or trampled
to death by the feet of the elephant. Toko sat immovable, with his
rifle levelled at the lion's head, and just as the brute was about to
make its fatal spring he fired. As he did so, I saw the elephant,
startled by the sound, swerve on one side, its feet passing close to
where I lay, but it did not appear even to see me. Away it went,
trumpeting loudly and crashing through the underwood.
The next instant Toko leaped down from his perch and hurried towards me,
when, turning my head, I caught sight of the lion struggling on its
back, and attempting to regain its feet. Toko, lifting me in his arms,
carried me a few paces off, and taking up my rifle again approached the
lion and shot it dead. Almost at the same instant the sound of another
rifle reached our ears.
"Go and help Harry," I said to Toko; "he may want your assistance."
"I place you in safer place dan dis," he answered; and, again taking me
up, he propped me against the root of a large tree close by; then
reloading my rifle, he put it into my hands. He next reloaded his own.
"I must go and help Harry," he said; and away he bounded.
I had wished him to go and assist my friend, but scarcely had he
disappeared than the dreadful idea came into my head that another lion--
companion of the one just killed--might be prowling about and discover
me. In spite of the pain I suffered, I endeavoured to rise on my knees,
so that should one appear I might take a better aim than I could lying
down. Still, should my apprehensions be realised, I felt that I should
be placed in a very dangerous predicament. One thing, however, was
certain, that it could not be worse than the one from which I had just
escaped. Few people have been situated as I have been, with a lion
about to spring from one side, and an elephant appearing on the other.
Doing my best to keep up my spirits, I listened attentively to try and
ascertain what was happening to Harry. Presently there was more loud
trumpeting and directly afterwards two shots were fired in rapid
succession. This assured me that Harry had escaped and that Toko had
reached the scene of action. The Makololo was too clever and
experienced an elephant hunter to be taken at disadvantage, and I had
great hopes that he had succeeded in killing the animal.
I did not forget my fears about another lion, and cast my eyes anxiously
around almost expecting to see one emerge from the thicket, while at the
same time I looked out eagerly for the return of my friend.
Once more the trumpeting burst forth, the sounds echoing through the
forest. I thus knew that the elephant had not yet fallen. A minute
afterwards I heard the crashing of boughs and brushwood some way off. I
guessed, as I listened, that the animal was coming towards where I lay.
The sounds increased in loudness. Should it discover me it would
probable revenge itself by crushing me to death, or tossing me in the
air with its trunk. I had my rifle ready to fire. There was a chance
that I might kill it or make it turn aside. The ground where I lay
sloped gradually downwards to a more open spot. I expected the next
instant that the elephant would appear. It did so, but further off than
I thought it would, and I thus began to hope that I should escape its
notice. It was moving slowly, though trumpeting with pain and rage.
The instant I caught sight of it another huge creature rushed out of the
thicket on the opposite side of the glade. It was a huge bull
rhinoceros with a couple of sharp-pointed horns one behind the other.
The elephant on seeing it stopped still, as if wishing to avoid a
contest with so powerful an antagonist, I fully expected to witness a
long and terrible fight, and feared that, in the struggle, the animals
might move towards where I lay and crush me. That the elephant was
wounded I could see by the blood streaming down its neck. This probably
made it less inclined to engage in a battle with the rhinoceros.
Instead of advancing it stood whisking its trunk about and trumpeting.
The rhinoceros, on the contrary, after regarding it for a moment, rushed
fearlessly forward and drove its sharp-pointed horns into its body while
it in vain attempted to defend itself with its trunk. The two creatures
were now locked together in a way which made it seem impossible for them
to separate, unless the horns of the rhinoceros were broken off. Never
did I witness a more furious fight. The elephant attempted to throw
itself down on the head of its antagonist, and thereby only drove the
horns deeper into its own body. So interested was I, that I forgot the
pain I was suffering, while I could hear no other sounds than those
produced by the two huge combatants. While I was watching them, I felt
a hand on my shoulder, and saw Harry standing over me.
"I am sorry you have met with this accident!" he exclaimed. "The sooner
you get away from this the better. There is a safer spot a little
higher up the bank, Toko and I will carry you there."
I willingly consenting, my friends did as they proposed, as from thence
I could watch the fight with greater security. They, having placed me
in safety, hurried towards the combatants, hoping to kill both of them
before they separated.
The elephant, already wounded, appeared likely to succumb without our
further interference. There was indeed little chance of its attempting
to defend itself against them. Toko, making a sign to Harry to remain
where he was, sprang forward until he got close up to the animals, and
firing he sent a bullet right through the elephant's heart. The huge
creature fell over, pressing the rhinoceros to the ground. Leaping back
Toko again loaded, and Harry advancing they fired together into the body
of the survivor, which after giving a few tremendous struggles, sank
down dead.
The battle over, Harry proposed carrying me at once to the camp, and
then returning to bring away the elephant's tusks, the lion's skin, and
as much of the meat of the two first animals as was required for the use
of the party. I was very thankful to accept his offer, as I wanted to
get my ankle looked to, having an uncomfortable fear that it was broken,
in which case my hunting would be put a stop to for many a week to come.
He and Toko were not long in manufacturing a litter to carry me, by
means of two long poles, on their shoulders. Having placed me on it
they set off for the camp. Fortunately we had not very far to go. I
hoped that in the mean time we should meet with neither elephants nor
lions.
Only under rare circumstances are rhinoceroses to be dreaded, for they
are generally mild and well-disposed creatures, and usually take to
flight when they come in sight of human beings.
We had gone about half-way, when a lion, bursting out from a thicket
close by, stalked across the path some distance ahead. My bearers
placed me on the ground and handled their rifles.
"We'll stand by and defend you, don't be alarmed," cried Harry.
"I'm not afraid of your running away," I answered, "but don't fire at
the creature unless it approaches to attack us. If you only wound it,
its rage may be excited, and I to a certainty shall become its victim."
The lion regarded us for a few seconds when--we raising a loud shout--
it, greatly to my satisfaction, bounded on and disappeared in the wood.
Indeed a lion when alone will seldom, especially in the day-time, attack
human beings who show a bold front, though it will follow like a cat, as
do most other savage brutes, if a man runs from it.
My friends again taking me up, we proceeded, though I own that I peered
somewhat anxiously into the wood where the lion had retreated, lest it
should change its mind and rush out upon us.
My uncle returned soon after we reached the camp, and at once examined
my ankle. Greatly to my relief he assured me that it was not broken,
and that, if he bound it up in a water bandage, I should probably be
well in a day or two. As it was already late, the blacks were unwilling
to go through the forest at night for the purpose of bringing in our
spoils, for fear of being carried off by lions. All night long we could
hear them muttering and roaring. Harry suggested that they were
mourning for their late companion. Occasionally the death-cry of some
unfortunate deer which they had pulled down reached our ears, while
various other sounds, some produced by insects or bullfrogs, or birds,
disturbed the silence of the forest. I, however, managed, in spite of
the noise and the pain I suffered, to go to sleep, and in the morning,
greatly to my satisfaction, I found my ankle much better than I
expected.
As meat was wanted, several of the party proposed to set off at an early
hour to bring in some from the animals we had killed; my uncle, Mr
Welbourn, and Harry going also. As I did not like to be left behind, I
begged to be allowed to mount a horse and to ride with them. I should
have been wiser to have remained quietly at the camp, but I wanted to
revisit the scene of our encounter the previous day. Jan followed
behind with several of the blacks, who were to be loaded with our
spoils. As we neared the spot, I heard my friends exclaiming in various
tones--
"Where is it? What has become of the creature!"--and, pushing forward,
I caught sight of the elephant and the dead lion at a distance, but
nowhere was the rhinoceros to be seen. It was very evident that it
could not have been killed as we had supposed, and that, having only
been stunned, it, at length recovering itself, had made off.
Toko cried out that he had discovered its spoor, and I saw him hurrying
forward evidently hoping to find the creature. The other blacks
meanwhile set to work to cut out the tusks, and select a few slices off
such parts of the body as were most to their taste, including the feet,
the value of which we knew from experience.
While they were thus occupied, my three white friends were busy in
flaying the lion. I kept my eye on Toko, expecting that, should he
discover the rhinoceros, he would summon some of the party to his
assistance. I saw him look suspiciously into a thicket, then he turned
to fly. The next moment a huge beast rushed out, which I had no doubt
was the rhinoceros we fancied that we had killed on the previous day.
Toko made for a tree behind which he could shelter himself. I called to
my friends to draw their attention to the danger in which he was placed,
but to my dismay before he could reach the tree the rhinoceros was upon
him. There was no time to leap either to the one side or the other, but
as the animal's sharp horn was about to transfix him, he made a spring
as if to avoid it, but he was not in time, and the animal, throwing up
its head, sent him and his rifle floating into the air to the height of
several feet. The rhinoceros then charged on towards the men cutting up
the elephant, when my uncle and his companions, having seized their
rifles, began blazing away at it. Fortunately one of their shots took
effect, and before it had reached the blacks, down it sank to the
ground. While Harry hastened on to where Toko lay, my uncle and Mr
Welbourn, quickly reloading, fired into its head and finished its
existence.
I had ridden up to the Makololo, expecting to find every bone in his
body broken. As I approached, to my satisfaction I saw him get up; and
though he limped somewhat, after shaking himself and picking up his
rifle, he declared that he was not much the worse for the fearful toss
he had received, and was as ready as ever for work.
He soon rejoined the rest of the men, and assisted in packing the oxen
with the tusks and meat. Some of the flesh of the rhinoceros was also
cut off, and with the lion-skin packed up. Rhinoceros meat, though
tough, is of good flavour. The portions we carried off were from the
upper part of the shoulder and from the ribs, where we found the fat and
lean regularly striped to the depth of two inches. Some of the skin was
also taken for the purpose of making some fresh ox-whips. We of course
carried away the horns, which are about half the value of ivory.
Altogether, the adventure which at one time appeared likely to prove so
disastrous, afforded us no small amount of booty.