by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER XXV.
THE BATTLE OF THE WILD PEACOCKS.
There was no longer anything to hinder the field-cornet from commencingthe real business of his new life, viz., the hunting of the elephant. Heresolved, therefore, to begin at once; for until he should succeed in"bagging" a few of these giant animals, he was not easy in his mind. Hemight not be able to kill a single one; and then what would become ofall his grand hopes and calculations? They would end in disappointment,and he should find himself in as bad a condition as ever.
Indeed worse: for to fail in any undertaking is not only to lose time,but energy of mind. Success begets genius, courage, andself-reliance--all of which contribute to new successes; while failureintimidates and leads to despair. In a psychological point of view it isa dangerous thing to fail in any undertaking; and, therefore, beforeundertaking anything, one should be well assured of its being possibleand practicable.
Now Von Bloom was not sure that the great design he had formed waspracticable. But in this case, he had no choice. No other means oflivelihood was open to him just then; and he had resolved to make trialof this. He had faith in his calculations, and he had also good reasonto hope he would succeed; but the thing was yet untried. No wonder hewas in haste to begin the business--in haste to know what were hischances of success.
By early day, therefore, he was up and out. Hendrik and Swartboy onlyaccompanied him, for he could not yet bring himself to leave thechildren with no other protection than Totty--almost as much a child asthemselves. Hans, therefore, remained by the camp.
At first the hunters followed the little rivulet that ran from thespring and vley. They did so, because in this direction there was more"bush;" and they knew that elephants would be more likely to be found inwoods than in open places. Indeed, it was only near the banks of thestream that any great quantity of wood was to be seen. A broad belt ofjungle extended upon each side of it. After that, there were stragglinggroves and clumps; and then came the open plains, almost treeless,though covered with a rich carpet of grass for some distance farther. Tothis succeeded the wild karoo, stretching eastward and westward beyondthe reach of vision. Along the north, as already mentioned, trended theline of "bluffs"; and beyond these there was nothing but the parched andwaterless desert. To the south there lay the only thing that could becalled "woods;" and although such a low jungle could lay no claim to thetitle of "forest," it was, nevertheless, a likely enough haunt forelephants.
The trees consisted chiefly of mimosas--of several species, upon theleaves, roots, and tender shoots of which the great ruminant loves tobrowse. There were some "cameel-doorn" trees, with their shadyumbrella-like tops. But above all rose the massive heads of the nwanas,giving a peculiar character to the landscape.
The hunters noticed, as they went on, that the channel of the rivuletbecame wider and larger, and that at times--no doubt after greatrains--a large quantity of water must have run in its bed, forming aconsiderable river. But as the channel grew larger, the reverse was thecase with the quantity of running water. The farther down they proceededthis became less and less; until, at the distance of a mile from camp,the current ceased altogether.
For half-a-mile farther on they found water in stagnant pools, but nonerunning. The wide, dry channel, however, continued on as before; and the"bush" extended on both sides without interruption, so thick that theycould only make way by keeping in the channel itself.
As they walked along, several kinds of small game were started. Hendrikwould gladly have taken a shot at some of these, but his father wouldnot permit him to fire just then. It might frighten away the great"game" they were in search of, and which they might fall in with at anymoment. On their return Hendrik might do his best; and then thefield-cornet intended to assist him in procuring an antelope, as therewas no fresh venison in the camp. This, however, was a consideration ofsecondary importance, and the first thing to be done was to try and geta pair of tusks.
There was no objection to Swartboy using his bow, as that silent weaponwould cause no alarm. Swartboy had been taken along to carry the axe andother implements as well as to assist in the hunt. Of course he hadbrought his bow and quiver with him; and he was constantly on the watchfor something at which to let fly one of his little poisoned arrows.
He found a mark at length worthy of his attention. On crossing the plainto avoid a large bend in the channel, they came upon a glade or openingof considerable size, and in the middle of this glade a huge birdappeared standing erect.
"An ostrich!" exclaimed Hendrik.
"No," replied Swartboy; "um ar da pauw."
"Yes," said Von Bloom, confirming Swartboy's statement, "it is thepauw."
Now a "pauw" in the Dutch language is a "peacock." But there are nopeacocks in Africa. The peacock in its wild state inhabits only SouthernAsia and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The bird they saw, then,could not be a peacock.
Neither was it one. And yet it bore some resemblance to a peacock, withits long heavy tail and wings speckled and ocellated in a very strikingmanner, and something like the "marbled" feathers that adorn thepeacock's back. It had none of the brilliant colours, however, of thatproudest of birds, though it was quite as stately, and much larger andtaller. In fact, its great height and erect attitude was why Hendrik atfirst glance had taken it for an ostrich. It was neither peacock norostrich, but belonging to a different genus from either--to the genus_Otis_ or bustard. It was the great bustard of South Africa--the _Otiskori_--called "pauw" by the Dutch colonists, on account of its ocellatedplumage and other points of resemblance to the Indian peacock.
Now Swartboy, as well as Von Bloom, knew that the pauw was one of themost delicious of fowls for the table. But they knew at the same timethat it was one of the shyest of birds,--so shy that it is verydifficult to get even a long shot at one. How, then, was it to beapproached within range of the Bushman's arrow? That was the point to beconsidered.
Where it stood, it was full two hundred yards from them; and had itperceived them, it would soon have widened that distance, by running offtwo hundred more. I say running off, for birds of the bustard familyrarely take to wing, but use their long legs to escape from an enemy. Onthis account they are often hunted by dogs, and caught after a severechase. Although but poor flyers, they are splendid runners,--swiftalmost as the ostrich itself.
The pauw, however, had not observed the hunters as yet. They had caughta glimpse of it, before appearing out of the bushes, and had halted assoon as they saw it.
How was Swartboy to approach it? It was two hundred yards from anycover, and the ground was as clean as a new-raked meadow. True, theplain was not a large one. Indeed, Swartboy was rather surprised to seea pauw upon so small a one, for these birds frequent only the wide openkaroos, where they can sight their enemy at a great distance. The gladewas not large, but, after watching the bustard for some minutes, thehunters saw that it was resolved to keep near the centre, and showed nodisposition to feed in the direction of the thicket on either side.
Any one but a Bushman would have despaired of getting a shot at thiskori; but Swartboy did not despair.
Begging the others to remain quiet, he crept forward to the edge of thejungle, and placed himself behind a thick leafy bush. He then commenceduttering a call, exactly similar to that made by the male of the koriwhen challenging an adversary to combat.
Like the grouse, the bustard is polygamous, and of course terriblyjealous and pugnacious, at certain seasons of the year. Swartboy knewthat it was just then the "fighting season" among the pauws, and hopedby imitating their challenge to draw the bird--a cock he saw itwas--within reach of his arrow.
As soon as the kori heard the call, he raised himself to his fullheight, spread his immense tail, dropped his wings until the primaryfeathers trailed along the grass, and replied to the challenge.
But what now astonished Swartboy was, that instead of one answer to hiscall, he fancied he heard two, simultaneously uttered!
It proved to be no fancy, for before he
could repeat the decoy the birdagain gave out its note of defiance, and was answered by a similar callfrom another quarter!
Swartboy looked in the direction whence came the latter; and there sureenough, was a second kori, that seemed to have dropped from the regionof the clouds, or, more likely, had run out from the shelter of thebushes. At all events, it was a good way towards the centre of theplain, before the hunter had observed it.
The two were now in full view of each other; and by their movements anyone might see that a combat was certain to come off.
Sure of this, Swartboy did not call again; but remained silent behindhis bush.
After a good while spent in strutting, and wheeling round and round, andputting themselves in the most threatening attitudes, and uttering themost insulting expressions, the two koris became sufficiently provokedto begin the battle. They "clinched" in gallant style, using all threeweapons,--wings, beak, and feet. Now they struck each other with theirwings, now pecked with their bills; and at intervals, when a goodopportunity offered, gave each other a smart kick--which, with theirlong muscular legs, they were enabled to deliver with considerableforce.
Swartboy knew that when they were well into the fight, he might stalk inupon them unobserved; so he waited patiently, till the proper momentshould arrive.
In a few seconds it became evident, he would not have to move from hisambush; for the birds were fighting towards him. He adjusted his arrowto the string, and waited.
In five minutes the birds were fighting within thirty yards of the spotwhere the Bushman lay. The twang of a bowstring might have been heard byone of the koris, had he been listening. The other could not possiblyhave heard it; for before the sound could have reached him, a poisonedarrow was sticking through his ears. The barb had passed through, andthe shaft remained in his head, piercing it crosswise!
Of course the bird dropped dead upon the grass, less astonished than hisantagonist.
The latter at first imagined he had done it, and began to strut verytriumphantly around his fallen foe.
But his eye now fell upon the arrow sticking through the head of thelatter. He knew nothing about that. He had not done that! What thedeuce----
Perhaps if he had been allowed another moment's reflection, he wouldhave taken to his heels; but before he could make up his mind about thematter, there was another "twang" of the bowstring another arrowwhistled through the air, and another kori lay stretched upon the grass!
Swartboy now rushed forward, and took possession of the game; whichproved to be a pair of young cocks, in prime condition for roasting.
Having hung the birds over a high branch, so as to secure them fromjackals and hyenas, the hunters continued on; and shortly after, havingre-entered the channel of the stream, continued to follow it downward.