By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER X: LOST IN THE FOREST

  The hippopotami were playing together, floundering in the shallow water,and the noise they made prevented their hearing the stealthy approach oftheir enemies.

  "You take the one nearest shore, Frank, I will take the other. Aim atthe forehead between the eyes. I will make a slight sound to attracttheir attention."

  Frank knelt on one knee and took steady aim. Mr. Goodenough then gavea shout, and the two animals turning their heads stood staring atthe foliage, scarce a dozen yards away, in which the travelers wereconcealed. The guns flashed at the same moment, and as if struck bylightning the hippopotami fell in the stream. The explosive balls hadboth flown true to the mark, invariably a fatal one in the case of theriver horse. Frank as he fired had taken another rifle which the Houssasheld in readiness for him, but there was no occasion for its use.The Fans came running up, and on seeing the great beasts lying in thestream, gave a shout of joy.

  "That will do for this evening," Mr. Goodenough said. "They are largebeasts, and will give food enough for a week or ten days."

  They then returned to the camp which, at the news brought by one of theFans, had already been deserted. Before the natives retired to sleepthe hippopotami had been cut up and carried to the camp. Portionswere already frizzling over the fires, other parts set aside for theconsumption of the next two days, and the rest cut up in strips to bedried in the sun. The tongue of one was cut up and fried as a greatluxury for the white men's supper by Ostik. It is not often that thenatives of equatorial Africa are able to indulge in meat, and the joyof the Fans at this abundant supply, and the prospect afforded them offurther good eating, raised their spirits to the highest extent.

  Next morning at daybreak Mr. Goodenough and Frank set out from the camp.Each carried a double barreled gun, and was accompanied by one of theHoussas carrying his rifle and a butterfly net, and when three hourslater they returned to the camp for breakfast and compared their spoilsthey found that an excellent beginning had been made. Nearly a score ofbirds, of which several were very rare, and five were pronounced byMr. Goodenough to be entirely new, had been shot, and many butterfliescaptured. Frank had been most successful in this respect, as he had comeacross a small clearing in which were several deserted huts. This wasjust the place in which butterflies delight, for, although many kindsprefer the deep shades of the forest, by far the greater portion lovethe bright sunlight.

  After breakfast they again set out, Frank this time keeping along theedge of the stream, where he had observed many butterflies as he cameup, and where many birds of the kingfisher family had also been seen. Hehad been very successful, and was walking along by the edge of the waterwith his eyes fixed upon the trees above, where he had a minute beforeheard the call of a bird, when he was startled by a shout from theHoussa behind him. He involuntarily sprang back, and it was well he didso; for on the instant something swept by within an inch or two of hishead. Looking round he saw, at the edge of the stream below him, a hugealligator. This had struck at him with its tail--the usual manner inwhich the alligator supplies itself with food--and had it not been forthe warning cry of the Houssa, would have knocked him into the stream.Its mouth was open and Frank, as if by instinct, fired the contents ofboth barrels into its throat. The animal rolled over on to its backin the water and then turned as if to struggle to regain the bank. TheHoussa, however, had run up, and, placing the muzzle of his gun within afoot of its eye, fired, and the creature rolled over dead, and was sweptaway by the stream.

  The Houssa gave a loud shout which was answered in the distance. Hethen shouted two or three words, and turning to Frank said: "Men getalligator," and proceeded on his way without concerning himself furtherin the matter.

  On his return to camp in the evening Frank found that the alligator hadbeen discovered and fished out, and that its steaks were by no means badeating. Frank told Mr. Goodenough of the narrow escape he had had, andthe latter pointed out to him the necessity of always keeping his eyeson the watch.

  "Alligators frequently carry off the native women when engaged inwashing," he said, "and almost invariably strike them, in the firstplace, into the river with a blow of their tails. Once in the water theyare carried off, drowned, and eaten at leisure. Sometimes, indeed,a woman may escape with the loss of a foot or arm, but this is theexception."

  "What is the best thing to do when so attacked?" Frank asked. "I don'tmean to be caught napping again, still it is as well to know what to doif I am."

  "Men when so attacked have been known frequently to escape by thrustingtheir thumbs or fingers into the creature's eyes. If it can be done thealligator is sure to lose his hold, but it demands quickness and greatpresence of mind. When a reptile is tearing at one's leg, and hurryingone along under water, you can see that the nerve required to keepperfectly cool, to feel for the creature's eyes, and to thrust yourfinger into them is very great. The best plan, Frank, distinctly is tokeep out of their reach altogether."

  After remaining for a fortnight at their camp they prepared for a move.Another hippopotamus was killed, cut up and dried, and the flesh addedto the burdens. Then the tent was struck and they proceeded farther intothe mountains. Two days later they halted again, the site being chosenbeside a little mountain rivulet. They were now very high up inthe hills, Mr. Goodenough expecting to meet with new varieties ofbutterflies and insects at this elevation. They had scarcely pitchedtheir camp when Frank exclaimed:

  "Surely, Mr. Goodenough, I can hear some dogs barking! I did not knowthat the native dogs barked."

  "Nor do they. They may yelp and howl, but they never bark like Europeandogs. What you hear is the bark of some sort of monkey or baboon."

  This opinion was at once confirmed by the Fans.

  "We will sally out with our guns at once," Mr. Goodenough said.

  "I don't like the thought of shooting monkeys," Frank muttered, as hetook up his Winchester carbine.

  "They are very excellent eating," Mr. Goodenough continued, "superior inmy opinion, and, indeed, in that of most travelers, to any other meat.We shall meet with no other kind of creature fit for food up here. Thebirds, indeed, supply us amply, but for the men it is desirable that weshould obtain fresh meat when we have the chance. These baboons are verymischievous creatures, and are not to be attacked with impunity. Letfour of the Houssas with their guns come with us."

  Following the direction of the sounds they had heard, the travelers cameupon a troupe of great baboons. It was a curious sight. The males wereas big as large dogs, some were sitting sunning themselves on rocks,others were being scratched by the females. Many of these had a babymonkey clinging on their necks, while others were playing about in alldirections.

  "I'd rather not shoot at them, Mr. Goodenough," Frank said.

  "You will be glad enough to eat them," Mr. Goodenough answered, andselecting a big male he fired. The creature fell dead. The others allsprang to their feet. The females and little ones scampered off. Themales, with angry gestures, rushed upon their assailants, barking,showing their teeth, and making menacing gestures. Mr. Goodenough firedagain, and Frank now, seeing that they were likely to be attacked, alsoopened fire. Six of the baboons were killed before the others abstainedfrom the attack and went screaming after the females. The dead baboonswere brought down, skinned, and two were at once roasted, the othershung up to trees. It required a great effort on Frank's part to overcomehis repugnance to tasting these creatures, but, when he did so, headmitted that the meat was excellent.

  That night they were disturbed by a cry of terror from the men. Seizingtheir rifles they ran out.

  "There are two leopards, sar," Ostik said; "they have smelt themonkeys."

  The shouts scared the creatures away, and the natives kept up a greatfire till morning.

  "We must get the skins if we can," Mr. Goodenough said. "The skins ofthe equatorial leopard are rare. If we can get them both they will makea fine group for you to stuff when you get back, Frank."

  "Are you thinking of followi
ng their trail?" Frank asked.

  "That would be useless," Mr. Goodenough answered. "In soft swampy groundwe might do so, but up here it would be out of the question. We must seta bait for them tonight, but be careful while you are out today. Theyhave probably not gone far from the camp, and they are very formidablebeasts. They not unfrequently attack and kill the natives."

  The Fans were much alarmed at the neighborhood of the leopards, and nonewould leave the camp during the day. Two of the Houssas were left onguard, although Mr. Goodenough felt sure that the animals wouldnot attempt to carry off any meat in the daylight, and two Houssasaccompanied each of the travelers while out in search of butterflies.

  Nothing was heard of the leopards during the day. At nightfall a portionof one of the monkeys was roasted and hung up, so as to swing withinfour feet of the ground from the arm of a tree, a hundred yards from thecamp. Mr. Goodenough and Frank took their seats in another tree a shortdistance off. The night was fine and the stars clear and bright. Thetree on which the meat hung stood somewhat alone, so that sufficientlight penetrated from above to enable any creatures approaching thebait to be seen. Instead of his little Winchester, Frank had one of theSniders with explosive bullets. The Houssas were told to keep a sharpwatch in camp, in case the leopards, approaching from the other side,might be attracted by the smell of meat there, rather than by the bait.The Fans needed no telling to induce them to keep up great fires allnight.

  Soon after dark the watchers heard a roaring in the forest. It came fromthe other side of the camp.

  "That is unlucky," Mr. Goodenough said. "We have pitched on thewrong side. However, they will probably be deterred by the fire fromapproaching the camp, and will wander round and round: so we may hope tohear of them before long."

  In answer to the roar of the leopards the natives kept up a continuedshouting. For some hours the roaring continued at intervals, sometimesclose at hand, sometimes at a considerable distance. Frank had somedifficulty in keeping awake, and was beginning to wish that the leopardswould move off altogether. Two or three times he had nearly dozed off,and his rifle had almost slipped from his hold. All at once he wasaroused by a sharp nudge from his companion. Fixing his eyes on the baithe made out something immediately below it. Directly afterwardsanother creature stole forward. They were far less distinct than he hadexpected.

  "You take the one to the left," Mr. Goodenough whispered; "Now!"

  They fired together. Two tremendous roars were heard. One of theleopards immediately bounded away. The other rolled over and over, andthen, recovering its feet, followed its companion, Mr. Goodenough firinghis second barrel after him.

  "I'm afraid you missed altogether, Frank," he said.

  "I don't think so, sir. I fancied I saw the flash of the shell as itstruck him, but where, I have not the remotest idea. I could not makehim out clear enough. It was merely a dim shape, and I fired as well asI could at the middle of it.

  "Shall we go back to the camp now?" Frank asked.

  "Yes, we can safely do so. You can tell by the sound of the roars thatthey are already some distance away. There is little chance of theirreturning tonight. In the morning we will follow them. There is sure tobe blood, and the natives will have no difficulty in tracking them."

  The rest of the night passed quietly, although roars and howling couldbe heard from time to time in the distance.

  Early in the morning they started with the Houssas.

  "We must be careful today," Mr. Goodenough said, "for a wounded leopardis a really formidable beast."

  There was no difficulty in taking up the traces.

  "One of them at least must be hard hit," Mr. Goodenough remarked; "thereare traces of blood every yard."

  They had gone but a short distance when one of the Houssas gave a suddenexclamation, and pointed to something lying at the edge of a clump ofbushes.

  "Leopard," he said.

  "Yes, there is one of them, sure enough. I think it's dead, but wecannot be too cautious. Advance very carefully, Frank, keeping ready tofire instantly."

  They moved forward slowly in a body, but their precaution wasunnecessary. There was no movement in the spotted, tawny skin as theyadvanced, and when they came close they could see that the leopard wasreally dead. He had been hit by two bullets. The first had struck hisshoulder and exploded there, inflicting so terrible a wound that it waswonderful he had been able to move afterwards. The other had struck himon the back, near the tail, and had burst inside him. Frank on seeingthe nature of the wounds was astonished at the tenacity of life shown bythe animal.

  "I wonder whether I hit the other," he said.

  "I have no doubt at all about it," Mr. Goodenough answered, "although Idid not think so before. It seemed to me that I only heard the howls ofone animal in the night, and thought it was the one I had hit. But asthis fellow must have died at once, it is clear that the cries were madeby the other."

  A sharp search was now set up for the tracks of the other leopard, theHoussas going back to the tree and taking it up anew. They soon foundtraces of blood in a line diverging from that followed by the otheranimal. For an hour they followed this, great care being required, asat times no spots of blood could be seen for a considerable distance. Atlast they seemed to lose it altogether. Mr. Goodenough and Frank stoodtogether, while the Houssas, scattered round, were hunting like welltrained dogs for a sign. Suddenly there was a sharp roar, and fromthe bough of a tree close by a great body sprang through the air andalighted within a yard of Frank. The latter, in his surprise, sprangback, stumbled and fell, but in an instant the report of the two barrelsof Mr. Goodenough's rifle rang out. In a moment Frank was on his feetagain ready to fire. The leopard, however, lay dead, its skull almostblown off.

  "You have had another narrow escape," Mr. Goodenough said. "I see thatyour ball last night broke one of his hind legs. That spoilt his spring.Had it not been for that he would undoubtedly have reached you, and ablow with his paw, given with all his weight and impetus, would probablyhave killed you on the spot. We ought not to have stood near a treestrong enough to bear him when in pursuit of a wounded leopard. Theywill always take to trees if they can, and you see this was a verysuitable one for him. This bough on which he was lying starts from thetrunk only about four feet from the ground, so that even with his brokenleg he was able to get upon it without difficulty. Well, thank God,you've not been hurt, my boy. It will teach us both to be more carefulin future."

  That afternoon Frank was down with his second attack of fever, a muchmore severe one than the first had been. Mr. Goodenough's favoriteremedy had its effect of producing profuse perspiration, but two orthree hours afterwards the hot fit again came on, and for the next fourdays Frank lay half delirious, at one time consumed with heat, and thenext shivering as if plunged into ice water. Copious doses of quinine,however, gradually overcame the fever, and on the fifth day hewas convalescent. It was, nevertheless, another week before he wassufficiently recovered to be able to resume his hunting expeditions.They again shifted their camp, and this time traveled for three weeks,making short journeys, and halting early so as to give half a day fromeach camping place for their work.

  Frank was one day out as usual with one of the Houssas. He had killedseveral birds when he saw a butterfly, of a species which he had notbefore met with, flitting across a gleam of sunshine which streamed inthrough a rift in the trees. He told his Houssa to wait where he wasin charge of the two guns and birds, and started off with his net inpursuit of the butterfly. The creature fluttered away with Frank infull pursuit. Hither and thither it flitted, seemingly taking an impishdelight in tantalizing Frank, settling on a spot where a gleam ofsunlight streamed upon the bark of a tree, till Frank had stolen upwithin a couple of paces of it, and then darting away again at a pacewhich defied Frank's best attempts to keep up with it until it chose toplay with him again. Intent only upon his chase Frank thought of nothingelse. At last, with a shout of triumph, he inclosed the creature in hisnet, shook it into the wide pickle bottle,
containing a sponge soakedwith chloroform, and then, after tightly fitting in the stopper, helooked around. He uttered an exclamation of dismay as he did so. He sawby the bands of light the sun was already setting, and knew that he musthave been for upwards of an hour in chase of the butterfly. He had notthe slightest idea of the direction in which he had come. He had, heknew, run up hill and down, but whether he had been traveling in acircle or going straight in one direction, he had not the least idea.He might be within a hundred yards of the spot where he had left theHoussa. He might be three or four miles away.

  He at once drew out his revolver, which he always carried strapped tohis belt, and discharged the six chambers, waiting for half a minutebetween each shot, and listening intently for an answer to his signal.None came. The stillness of the wood was unbroken, and Frank felt thathe must have wandered far indeed from his starting place, and that hewas completely lost. His first impulse was to start off instantly at thetop of his speed, but a moment's thought convinced him that this wouldbe useless. He had not an idea of the direction which he should pursue.Besides the sun was sinking, twilight is short in the tropics, and inhalf an hour it would be as dark as midnight in the forest. Rememberinghis adventure with the leopard he determined to climb into a tree andpass the night there. He knew that an active search would be set onfoot by his friends next morning, and that, as every step he took was aslikely to lead him from as towards the camp, it was better to stay wherehe was.

  He soon found a tree with a branch which would suit his purpose, and,climbing up into it, lit his pipe and prepared for an uncomfortablenight. Frank had never smoked until he reached Africa, but he had thentaken to it on the advice of Mr. Goodenough, who told him that smokingwas certainly a preventive, to some extent, of fever in malariouscountries, and, although he had not liked it at first, he had now takenkindly to his pipe, and smoked from the time when the evening mistsbegan to rise until he went to bed.

  The time passed very slowly. The cries of wild creatures could be heardin the woods, and although Frank did not expect to be attacked, it wasimpossible to sleep with these calls of leopards, with which the forestseemed to abound, in his ears. He had reloaded his revolver immediatelyafter discharging it, and had replaced it in his pouch, and feltconfident that nothing could climb the tree. Besides, he had heard thatleopards seldom attack men unless themselves attacked. Sleep, however,was out of the question, for when he slept he might have fallen fromhis seat in the crotch of the tree. Occasionally, however, he dozed off,waking up always with an uncomfortable start, and a feeling that hehad just saved himself from falling. With the earliest dawn of morn hedescended, stiff and weary, from the tree. Directly the sun rose he setoff walking. He knew at least that he was to the south of the camp, andthat by keeping the sun on his right hand till it reached the zenithhe must get in time to the little stream on which it was pitched. Ashe walked he listened intently for the sound of guns. Once or twicehe fancied that he heard them, but he was quite unable to judge of thedirection. He had been out with the Houssa about six hours before hestrayed from him in the pursuit of the butterfly, and they had for sometime been walking towards the camp, in order to reach it by nightfall.Thus he thought, that at that time, he could only have been some threeor four miles distant from it. Supposing that he had run due south, hecould still be but eight miles from the stream, and he thought thatin three hours' walking he might arrive there. In point of fact, afterleaving the Houssa the butterfly had led him towards the southeast, andas the stream took a sharp bend to the north a little distance above thecamp, he was many miles farther from it than he expected. This streamwas one of the upper tributaries of the Gaboon.

  After walking for two hours the character of the forest changed. Thehigh trees were farther apart, and a thick undergrowth began to make itsappearance, frequently causing him to make long detours and preventinghis following the line he had marked out for himself. This caused himmuch uneasiness, for he knew that he had passed across no such countryon his way from the camp, and the thought that he might experience greatdifficulties in recovering it, now began to press upon him.