CHAPTER VII
CRITCH'S RHINO
"Are we going to have a hunt?" asked Burt as they left the hill andplunged forward into the jungle again at the head of the caravan.
"Not to-day," laughed Mr. Wallace. "We won't get out of this till night,will we?"
"Hardly," replied Montenay. "Once we get out o' this thick jungle and upto those plains we'll have clear sailin'. I'm no meanin' that we'll findno jungle there, mind, for we will. But by night we'll be in more decentveldt-country I'm thinkin'."
They camped at sunset in a grassy space clear of trees. As Captain Machad predicted, the low and malarial jungle was left behind them and theywere now getting into the higher lands. These were scattered withpatches of dense forest and jungle, but there were also great plains orveldts covered with game and animal life.
"Now we'll make those gun-boys earn their pay," said Mr. Wallace thenext morning.
"We'll shoot half a dozen antelope every day to give the bearers meat.""We'll be shootin' more than that," grimly added Captain Mac as he heldup his hand for silence. "Hear that?"
All listened. It seemed to Burt and Critch that in the distance soundeda faint mutter of far-away thunder, and they looked at the older menexpectantly.
"Lion," laughed Mr. Wallace shortly. "If we only had ponies we'd landhim to-day!"
The advisability of taking horses along had been discussed but theexplorer had vetoed it finally. "It would only be an experiment," he haddeclared. "In other parts of the country it might work but not in theCongo. We have too many jungles to wade through and a horse would bestung to death in a day or two."
Three or four of the Bantu hunters were sent ahead, and toward noon, asthey approached a little rise, one of these came running back. He saidsomething to Captain Mac, who translated.
"Get your guns! They've located a herd of wildebeest an' hartebeest justahead."
The boys excitedly took their second-weight guns from the bearers. Theheavy guns were not needed for the antelope. They all moved forward,while the porters halted in charge of John, and after a half hourreached the crest of the rise, wading through the deep grass and bush.Here the Bantus made a gesture of caution and carefully parted the grassahead of them.
The boys gave a little gasp of surprise. Before them was a plainscattered with high ant hills and trees. Grazing without thought ofdanger were hundreds of antelope-like animals, some with long curvinghorns and others with straight spiral ones. As Burt watched them hefound himself trembling with feverish excitement.
"Keep cool, lad!" whispered Captain Mac with a slight smile. "See thatgroup to the right? Take the bull hartebeest. Ready, Wallace?"
Mr. Wallace and Critch had selected their animals and the former nodded.Montenay gave the word and all fired together. Burt saw his bull giveone tremendous leap and fall. Critch, who had fired at a small bull, hadpoorer luck, for his animal bounded off with the others of the herd andwas gone in an instant. Both Montenay and Mr. Wallace had droppedhartebeest bucks, and the bearers were jubilant as all ran down thehill.
"Now, Critch," said Mr. Wallace, "it's up to you! You boys stay herewith the blacks and we'll go back and bring on the porters and the salt.Keep the heads of that hartebeest of Burt's and mine. We don't want tofill our empty chop-boxes too fast."
As the tin-lined chop-boxes were emptied they were to be used forpacking heads and skins of game and were thus doubly useful. The Bantustook out their knives and while Burt transmitted in French the orders ofhis chum they set to work. Mr. Wallace and Montenay returned to meet andbring up the caravan, whose advance was necessarily slow.
The skilled blacks first removed the two heads and skinned themcarefully. Then they laid aside the skulls for boiling and cut up thethree bodies to serve as rations for the porters while the boys stoodlooking around them. Although the great herds had bounded off at thevolley, they had only gone a mile or two away and in the thin clear airseemed half that distance. Burt stood with his eyes glued to his glassesfor a few moments, then saw a jackal a hundred yards to the right,slinking through the grass. As jackals are invariably destroyed whereverseen he called Critch and took a gun from the pile dropped by thebearers. Luckily for him he grabbed up one of the heavy Winchesters inhis haste.
"Come on, Critch! Get over to that ant hill an' we'll bag him."
Not far from the jackal was one of the tall hills made by the whiteants. As these are hard as rock and often eight or ten feet high theymake excellent shelter for hunters. Critch caught up a gun and ran afterBurt hastily.
When they reached the ant hill they located the jackal in a patch ofbrush below them. Only his head was visible, but the two boys aimed andfired together and he dropped.
"Bet I got him in the eye!" cried Critch as they ran toward the spot."Got a dandy bead on him."
"Hello! What's that?" Burt stopped suddenly and pointed to a patch oftrees a hundred yards farther on. Above the stunted growth they saw anumber of little birds flying erratically about.
"Look at that--golly!" whispered Critch. "What's that big black thing--"
"Elephant!" returned Burt fumbling at his gun.
"Elephant nothing! Look at the birds--ain't any birds on elephants--it'sa rhino! Come on!"
An indistinct shape showed through the bush as they made their wayforward but they could not make out what it was and hesitated to fire.They knew that the rhinoceros is guarded by numbers of tick birds andconcluded from the birds flying above the bushes that this was a rhino.They got to within eighty yards before alarming the beast. Then came acrashing and swishing of the bush and out stalked a big rhino, sniffingthe wind and advancing slowly toward them.
"Get behind that ant hill!" exclaimed Critch. Separating, they took uppositions beside two of the conical mounds. "Got your big gun? Go toit!"
Lifting his rifle, Burt fired. He had aimed at the shoulder of the greatbeast but to his dismay the shot seemed to have absolutely no effect.Instead of dropping, the rhino threw up its tail and ears, gave alittle squeal and started for Burt.
Burt fired again at fifty yards. His bullet struck the rhino in the headand glanced off, serving only to increase the rage of the brute. Hebroke into a lumbering gallop and Burt yelled to Critch to fire.
The latter obeyed but in his haste missed entirely with his first bulletand with his second only tore the rhino's left ear slightly. Burt raisedhis own gun and aimed at the eye. Again his shots had no effect, for hemissed the delicate mark afforded by the eye and both bullets glancedfrom the armor.
"Duck!" yelled Critch, dancing up and down. "He can't see! Duck!"
Burt ducked, for the rhino was within ten yards and thundering straightat him. Dropping his gun he sprang behind the ant hill and around it.But the animal had seemingly anticipated this or had turned its chargeat Critch, for Burt almost leaped on the tossing horn of the beast.
With one wild spring backward he ploughed headfirst into the grass. Heheard both barrels of Critch's heavy gun. As he wriggled up he saw therhino, not ten feet away, stop short as the terrific charge struck himbehind the shoulder. For an instant he wavered, then sank to the grounddead.
A wild burst of yells sounded behind as Burt arose. The Bantus hadobserved the affair and when they saw the rhino fall, ran forward withhigh glee, while just over the crest of the rise appeared the caravan.
Burt walked over to his chum with somewhat shaky steps and held out hishand without a word, for something kept him from speaking.
"Oh, shucks!" said Critch huskily. "You dog-goned idiot! You pretty nearscared me to death. Didn't you hear me yell?"
"Didn't hear nothin'," Burt smiled weakly. "I was wishing I was backhome and had never seen Africa. If you hadn't shot he'd got me--"
"Come out of it!" replied Critch. "He couldn't see you and was comingfor me. Ain't he a big fellow?" As they walked over and stood beside thegreat black body that lay stretched in the grass with the Bantus aroundit, Mr. Wallace and Captain Mac ran up.
"What's this mean?" roared the former as he
saw the body. "Haven't youtwo got sense enough to--"
"Leave 'em alone!" shouted Captain Mac delightedly. "They've killed him!Hurray!" The exuberant Scotchman seized Burt and whirled him around in awild dance as the excited porters came up. Burt gave the honor to Critchand when he told of his narrow escape Mr. Wallace at once directed campto be formed.
"Now see here," he ordered as the skinners collected around the body,"I've had enough of this business. After this you take Burt with you,Montenay, and I'll take Critch. Those young villains are crazy enough todo anything if we leave 'em alone. Understand, boys? If you chase off byyourselves you get sent back home."
Seeing that Mr. Wallace was thoroughly aroused and in earnest, the boyshastily promised that his orders would be obeyed in future. Then theyexamined the carcass of the rhinoceros carefully. Burt's first shotwould have killed the beast in time but it was the two from Critch'srifle at close quarters that had proved fatal almost instantly. By thatevening the Bantus had removed the skin from the rhino and were readyto pare it down for transportation.
"That'll take a couple of days anyway," said Mr. Wallace that night asthey sat around the fire. "I think we might as well establish a camphere for a week, Montenay. We are right in the game country and I canget hold of all the specimens I want to send home while we are here, andget them safely off. Then we can strike on after ivory and see whatwe'll find."
"Suits me," returned Captain Mac. "Ye've done vera well, lads! The horno' yon beast is eighteen inches."
"I'd kind o' like to keep the head, uncle," said Burt. "Critch an' I hada hard time gettin' him. We don't want the skin but we could set up thehead back home an'--"
"Sure!" returned Mr. Wallace heartily. "We'll keep the skin withoutparing it down, then. We can trade it to the natives for almost anythingwe ask. Aren't there some villages near here, Captain?"
Montenay called up the head Bantu and put some questions to him. Theylearned that there was a village several miles off where ivory might befound, and the Bantu was ordered to send a man over in the morning tobring back whatever ivory the natives might have to trade.
The next day Critch and Burt superintended the preparation of the rhinohead and the skins of a number of various antelope varieties which Mr.Wallace and the captain shot. On the day following the Bantu messengerreturned with a score of blacks who bore two small fifty-pound tusks.These they gladly traded for the rhino skin, which they would use forshields, and for some tobacco, beads, and sweaters of blazing red.
On that same day Burt evened up trophies with his chum. In the afternoonMr. Wallace and Critch went off together when the trading had beenfinished. Barely had they left when a Bantu ran in with the news thatthere was a herd of buffalo near the stream which ran a few hundredyards past the camp. Captain Mac immediately called Burt and thegun-bearers and on they went with all haste.
After half an hour's walking they located the buffalo at the edge of thecreek bed in a thick jungle swamp. Holding their guns in readiness theexplorer and Burt advanced slowly. They could see two or three bullswatching them, the rest of the herd being hidden. Not until the hunterswere within a hundred yards did the buffaloes move. Their massive whitein-curving horns shone against the black bodies, and their wicked littleeyes were fixed sullenly on the men.
Suddenly the nearest bull shook his head and began advancing. At thisthe gun-bearers scattered despite Montenay's shouted threats, and soughtthe shelter of ant hills. Captain Mac and Burt held their heavy guns andthe former told Burt to take the first shot.
By good luck the boy's bullet struck the buffalo in the eye andpenetrated the brain. Before Montenay could lift his weapon the othershad turned and vanished.
"Well," laughed the explorer, "that's better than I expected. I waslookin' for a charge from 'em. Fine old bull too!"
The buffalo was a splendid trophy and the men at once began skinninghim. That evening Mr. Wallace determined to finish the buffalo hide andthen send back the specimens they had collected.
"I've got enough to stock the club for years," he laughed. "No usebeing a hog--hello, that's funny!"
"What's the matter?" asked Montenay from across the fire.
"Why--why--yes, sir, it's gone!" Mr. Wallace arose, searching hispockets. Then his face hardened. "John, call up those boys who were withme this morning! My compass has disappeared."
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