The Mission

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER XXVII.

  As our travelers were sitting together, each occupied with his ownmelancholy thoughts, after the dispersion of the clouds and theanticipated relief, the Major said--

  "It is useless our remaining here; we must all perish if we do notproceed, and it would be better for us to yoke and travel by night; theanimals will bear the journey better, and the people will not be soinclined to brood over their misfortunes when on the march as when thushuddled together here, and communicating their lamentations todishearten each other. It is now nine o'clock; let us yoke and push onas far as we can."

  "I agree with you, Major," said Alexander; "what do you say, Swinton?"

  "I am convinced that it will be the best plan, so let us rouse up thepeople at once. There is the roar of a lion at some distance, and wehave no fires to scare them off."

  "The creaking of the wagon-wheels will be better than nothing," repliedthe Major.

  The Hottentots were roused, and the orders given to yoke: the poorfellows were all sound asleep; for a Hottentot, when he hungers orthirsts, seeks refuge from all his miseries in sleep. The oxen wereyoked, and they proceeded; but hardly had they gone a mile, when theroar of three or four lions, close upon them, caused such alarm to thehorses and the oxen which were not yoked that they started off in fullgallop in a northerly direction.

  Alexander, the Major, and Omrah, who were the best mounted, immediatelyset off in pursuit of them, desiring Swinton to proceed with thecaravan, and they would drive on the cattle and join him. They gallopedoff as well as the horses could gallop, and perceived the stray horsesand oxen still at full speed, as if they were chased by the lions. Theyfollowed in the direction, but it was now so dark that they were guidedonly by the clatter of their hoofs and their shoes in the distance; andafter a chase of four or five miles they had lost all vestiges of them,and pulled up their panting steeds.

  "We may as well go back again," said Alexander; "the animals must havemade a circuit."

  "I suppose so," said the Major; "but my horse trembles so, that I hadbetter dismount for a little while, that he may recover himself; indeed,so had you too and Omrah, for the animals are completely worn out."

  "The clouds are rising again," said Alexander; "I trust that we may notbe disappointed a second time."

  "Yes, and there is lightning again in the horizon--may the Almighty helpus in our distress," exclaimed the Major.

  The horses, exhausted from want of water, continued to pant sofearfully, that it was nearly half an hour before they ventured tomount, that they might return to the caravan. In the meantime theheavens had become wholly obscured by the clouds, and there was everyprospect of a heavy shower; at last a few drops did fall.

  "Thank God!" exclaimed Alexander, as he lifted his face up to theheavens, to feel the drops as they fell. "Now let us return."

  They mounted their horses and set off, but the stars were no longervisible to guide them, and they proceeded on at a slow pace, uncertainwhether they were right or wrong. This they cared little about; theirthoughts were upon the coming rain, which they so anxiously awaited. Formore than three hours they were tantalized by the lightning flashing andthe thunder pealing, every moment expecting the flood-gate of theheavens to be opened; but, as before, they were doomed todisappointment. Before the morning dawned the clouds had againretreated; and when the sky was clear, they found by the stars thattheir horses' heads were turned to the northward and eastward.

  They altered their course in silence, for they were worn out anddespondent; they suffered dreadfully from thirst, and it was pitiable tosee the tongues of the poor horses hanging out of their mouths. Daydawned, and there were no signs of the caravan. A thick vapor was risingfrom every quarter, and they hoped that when it cleared up they would bemore fortunate; but no, there was the same monotonous landscape, thesame carpet of flowers without perfume. The sun was now three hourshigh, and the heat was intense; their tongues clove to the roofs oftheir mouths, while still they went on over flowery meads; but neitherforest nor pool, nor any trees which might denote the bed of the river,caught their earnest gaze.

  "This is dreadful," said Alexander, at last, speaking with difficulty.

  "We are lost, that is certain," said the Major; "but we must trust inGod."

  "Yes, we may now say, Lord help us, or we perish," replied Alexander.

  At this moment, little Omrah, who had been behind, rode up to them, andoffered them one of the Hottentots' pipes, which he had lighted saying,"Smoke,--not feel so bad." Alexander took it, and after a few whiffsfound that it had the effect or producing a little saliva, and he handedit to the Major, who did the same, and felt immediate relief.

  They continued to walk their horses in a southerly direction; but theheat was now so great, that it became almost insufferable, and at lastthe horses stood still. They dismounted and drove their horses slowlybefore them over the glowing plain; and now the mirage deluded andtantalized them in the strangest manner. At one time Alexander pointedwith delight (for he could not speak) to what he imagined to be thewagons; they pushed on, and found that it was a solitary quagga,magnified thus by the mirage. Sometimes they thought that they saw lakesof water in the distance, and hastened on to them; and then they fanciedthey were close to rivers and islands, covered with luxuriant foliage,but still were doomed to disappointment; as all was the result of thehighly-rarefied air, and the refraction of the sun's rays on the sultryplain. What would they have given for a bush even to afford them anyshelter from the noonday sun, for the crowns of their heads appeared asif covered with live coal, and their minds began to wander. The poorhorses moved at the slowest pace, and only when driven on by Omrah, whoappeared to suffer much less than his masters. Every now and then hehanded to them the pipe, but at last even that had no longer any relief.Speech had been for some hours totally lost. Gradually the sun sunk downto the horizon, and as his scorching rays became less intense they to acertain degree recovered their wandering senses.

  At night they sat down by the side of the horses, and, worn out withfatigue and exhaustion, fell into a troubled sleep; a sleep which, if itrelieved their worn-out frames, condemned them to the same tantalizingfeelings as had been created by the mirage during the day. They dreamedthat they were in the bowers of paradise, hearing heavenly music;passing from crystal stream to stream, slaking their thirst at each,and reclining on couches of verdant green. Every thing that wasdelightful appeared to them in their dreams; they were in the abodes ofbliss, and thus did they remain for an hour or two, when they werewakened up by the roar of a lion, which reminded them that they werewithout food or water in the desert.

  They awoke speechless with thirst, their eyes inflamed, and their wholebodies burning like a coal, and the awful roar of the lion stillreverberated along the ground. They started on their legs, and foundOmrah close to them, holding the bridles of the horses, which wereattempting to escape. They were still confused, when they were fullyrestored to their waking senses by a second roar of the lion stillnearer to them; and by the imperfect light of the stars they could nowdistinguish the beast at about one hundred yards' distance. Omrah putthe bridles of their two horses in their hands, and motioned them to goon in the direction opposite to where the lion was. They did so withoutreflection, mechanically obeying the directions of the man-child, andnot perceiving that Omrah did not follow them. They had advanced aboutone hundred yards with the terrified animals, when another loud roar wasfollowed up by the shriek of the other horse, announcing that he hadbecome a victim to the savage animal. They both started, and droppingthe reins of their horses, hastened with their rifles to the help ofOmrah, of whose absence they now for the first time were aware; but theywere met half-way by the boy, who contrived to say with difficulty,"Lion want horse, not little Bushman." They waited a few seconds, butthe cries of the poor animal, and the crushing and cracking of itsbones, were too painful to hear; and they hastened on and rejoined theother horses, which appeared paralyzed with fear, and had remainedstationary.

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bsp; They again led their horses on for an hour, when they arrived at a smallpile of rocks; there they again lay down, for they were quite exhaustedand careless of life. Not even the roar of a lion would have arousedthem now, or if it had roused them they would have waited for theanimal to come and put an end to their misery. But another and a softernoise attracted the quick ear of Omrah, and he pushed Alexander, and puthis finger up to induce him to listen.

  Having listened a little longer, Omrah made signs to Alexander and theMajor to follow him. The noise which Omrah had heard was the croaking ofa frog, which denoted water at hand, and the sniffing of the horsesconfirmed him in his supposition. Omrah led the way through the rocks,descending lower and lower; and ever and anon listening to the noise ofthe animal, till he perceived the stars of heaven above reflected in asmall pool, which he pointed out to Alexander and the Major. Down theydropped to earth and drank, and as soon as their thirst was satisfiedthey rose, and pushed Omrah forward to make him drink also; and as theboy who had saved their lives was drinking, they kneeled down andprayed--not loud, for they had not yet recovered their speech; but ifever grateful prayers were offered up to the Almighty throne, they wereby our two travelers, as they kneeled by the side of this small pool.They rose and hastened to their horses, and led them down to the water,when the poor animals filled themselves almost to bursting, walked away,and returned to drink more. They also repeated their draught severaltimes, and then lay down, and would have fallen asleep by the side ofthe pool had not Omrah, who could now speak freely, said, "No, no; lioncome here for water; up the rock again and sleep there--I bring horses."This good advice was followed, and when they had gained the summit ofthe rising ground they again lay down and slept till daylight.

  When they awoke, they found themselves much refreshed, but they nowfelt--what they had not done during their extreme suffering fromthirst--the craving pangs of hunger. Omrah was fast asleep, and thehorses picking among the herbage, about two hundred yards off.

  "We have much to thank God for," said Alexander to the Major.

  "We have indeed, and, next to divine aid, we have to thank that poorboy. We have been as children in his hands, and we are indebted to himand his resources for our lives this night. I could not speak yesterday,nor could you; but his courage in remaining with the horse as anoffering to the lion I shall not forget."

  "He is a child of the desert," replied Alexander; "he has been broughtup among lions, and where there is scarcity of water, and he has mostwonderfully guided us in our path; but we are still in the desert, andhave lost our companions. What must we do? Shall we attempt to regainthe caravan, or push off to the westward, to fall in with the riveragain?"

  "We will talk of this an hour hence," replied the Major; "let us now godown to the pool, and as soon as I have had a drink I will try if I cannot kill something for a meal. My hunger is now almost as great as wasmy thirst."

  "And mine too, so I will go with you; but we must be careful how weapproach the water, as we may fall in with some animal to make a mealof."

  "Or with a lion, ready to make a meal of us," replied the Major; "so ineither instance we must approach it cautiously."

  As they walked to the pool, they discovered the head of an antelope justabove a rock. The Major fired, and the animal fell. The report of therifle was answered by a roar; three lions bounded away from the rock,and went at a quick canter over the plain.

  "Both our suppositions have proved correct," observed Alexander, as theywalked up to where the antelope lay dead; "but how are we to cook theanimal?"

  "Any dry stuff will serve for a fire, if we can only get enough, and avery little cooking will serve us just now. Here comes Omrah. Let uscarry the game up to where we slept last night, as soon as we have had adrink."

  They went to the pool, and were surprised to behold the filthy puddlewhich had appeared to them so like nectar the night before. They werenot sufficiently thirsty to overcome their disgust, and they turned awayfrom it.

  Omrah now began collecting dried grass, and herbs, and lichen from therocks, and had soon a sufficiency to make a small fire; they struck alight, and cutting off steaks from the antelope, were in a short timevery busy at the repast. When their hunger was appeased, they found thattheir thirst was renewed, and they went down to the pool, and shuttingtheir eyes drank plentifully. Omrah cooked as much of the meat as thesmall fire would permit, that they might not want for the nexttwenty-four hours; and the horses being again led to the water to drink,they mounted, and proceeded to the southward, followed by Omrah on foot.Another day was passed in searching for the caravan without success. Nowater was to be found. The heat was dreadful; and at night they threwthemselves down on the ground, careless of life; and had it not beensinful they would have prayed for death. The next morning they arose ina state of dreadful suffering; they could not speak, but they madesigns, and resolved once more to attempt to join the caravan.

  They proceeded during the whole of the forenoon in the direction bywhich they hoped to discover the tracks of the wagons. The heat wasoverpowering, and they felt all the agony of the day before. At last thehorses could proceed no further; they both lay down, and our travelershad little hopes of their ever rising again. The scorching of the sun'srays was so dreadful, that they thrust their heads into some emptyant-hills to keep off the heat, and there they lay in as forlorn andhopeless a state as the horses. Speak they could not; their parchedtongues rattled like boards against the roofs of their mouths; theirlips were swollen and bloated, and their eyes inflamed and starting fromthe sockets. As Alexander afterward said to Swinton, he then recollectedthe thoughts which had risen in his mind on his departure from theEnglish shore, and the surmise whether he might not leave his bonesbleaching in the desert; and Alexander now believed that such was to bethe case, and he prayed mentally and prepared for death. The Major wasfully possessed of the same idea; but as they lay at some yards'distance, with their heads buried in the ant-hills, they could notcommunicate with each other even by signs. At last they fell into astate of stupor and lost all recollection. But an Almighty Providencewatched over them, and during their state of insensibility the cloudsagain rose and covered the firmament, and this time they did not rise inmockery; for, before the day was closed, torrents descended from themand deluged the whole plain.

  Omrah, who had held up better than his masters, crawled out of theant-hill into which he had crept; and as soon as the rain descended, hecontrived to pull the heads of the Major and Alexander, who stillremained senseless, from out of the ant-hills, and to turn theirblackened and swollen faces to the sky. As their clothes becamesaturated with the rain and the water poured into their mouths, theygradually revived, and at last were completely restored. The wind nowrose and blew fresh, and before morning they were shivering with cold,and when they attempted to get up found their limbs were cramped.

  Soon after daylight the rain ceased, and they were glad to bask in thethen cheering rays of the sun, which had nearly destroyed them on theday before. The horses had recovered their legs and were feeding closeto them; and the flesh of the antelope, which had been untasted, was nowgreedily devoured. Most devoutly did they return thanks for theirpreservation, and the hopes which were now held out to them ofultimately regaining the colony; for they had abandoned all hopes ofreaching the caravan, as they considered the risk of crossing the deserttoo great. They made up their minds to push for the Val River as fast asthey could, and proceed back by its banks.

  They had two horses, and Omrah could ride behind one of them, when hewas tired; they had guns and ammunition, and although they were fullyaware of the dangers to which they would be exposed, they thoughtlightly of them after what they had suffered. They now mounted theirhorses, and proceeded at a slow pace toward the westward, for the pooranimals were still very weak. At sunset they had traveled about tenmiles, and looked out for a spot to pass the night. Wood to light firesthey had none, but they hoped, if their horses were not taken away bythe lions, to reach a branch of the river by the follow
ing evening.There was now no want of water, as they repeatedly passed by smallpools, which, for a day or two at least, would not be evaporated by theheat of the sun. But they knew that by that time, if no more rain fell,they would have again to undergo the former terrible privations, andtherefore resolved upon continuing their course toward the river astheir safest plan, now that they had lost the caravan.

  As they were seated on a rising ground which they had chosen for theirnight's rest, and occasionally firing off their rifles to drive away thelions which were heard prowling about; all of a sudden Omrah cried out,and pointed to the northward; our travelers turned and perceived arocket ascending the firmament, and at last breaking out into a group ofbrilliant stars.

  "It is the caravan," exclaimed the Major; "Swinton has remembered that Iput some rockets into my wagon."

  "We must have passed it," said Alexander, springing on his feet. "God bepraised for all his mercies."

  "Amen," replied the Major devoutly.

  Omrah ran after the horses, which were feeding close to them, for theirinstinctive fear of the lions made them keep as close as possible totheir masters. They were soon mounted, with Omrah behind the Major, andset off at all the speed that they could obtain from the animals. Afteran interval another rocket was seen, and by its light they discoveredthat they were not a mile from the wagons. The horses appeared to besensible of this, and went off at a quicker pace; and in a few minutesthey had rushed in among the cattle, and Alexander and the Major werereceived into the arms of Swinton, and surrounded by the Hottentots, whowere loud in their congratulations at their return.

  As soon as Alexander and the Major had made known their perils andsufferings to Swinton, the latter informed them that about three hoursafter they had left the caravan in pursuit of the cattle, the animalshad returned, that of course, he had fully expected them to follow.

  Finding that they did not arrive, he had decided upon remaining wherehe was, at all events, for another day; but that the cattle were by thattime so exhausted, that it was with difficulty they were moved, and hecould not proceed with them more than ten miles, when they lay down intheir yokes. Thirteen had died, and the others must have shared theirfate, if it had not been for the providential rain, which had restoredthem.

  Swinton stated that he had been in a great state of alarm for them, andthat he had almost satisfied himself that they had perished, although hehad used every means that he could think of. When he fired the rocketsoff, he had scarcely a hope of thus bringing them back to the caravan.

  "However," observed Swinton, "it shows that we should never despair, andnever leave a chance untried, even in the most desperate circumstances.You are back again, and I thank the Almighty for it with all my heartand all my soul and all my strength, most fervently and most sincerely.I have been very, very miserable, I can assure you, my dear fellows. Theidea of returning to the Cape without you was dreadful. Indeed, I neverwould have left the country until I had found you, or had some clew toyour deaths."

  "Our preservation has indeed been miraculous," replied the Major; "Inever thought to have raised my head out of the ant-hill again."

  "Nor I," replied Alexander; "and next to the Almighty, we certainly oweour lives to little Omrah. There is nothing that I would not do for thatboy, if you will only give him over to my care."

  "Or mine, Swinton," replied the Major.

  "Depend upon it," replied Swinton, "I will do all for him that ought tobe done; I owe him a debt of gratitude for preserving my friends, andwill not forget to repay it."

  "Well then, you must allow us to help him as well," replied the Major."How far are we now from the Modder River?"

  "About forty miles, I should think, and we had better push on as fast aswe, can; for although the river will contain water, the pools in thedesert between us and the river will soon be dried up. The cattle,however, are still very weak, and, as I have stated, we have lost allour relays. But you must long to have a good night's rest, so go to yourwagons, and we will watch and keep off the wild beasts. We have beenobliged to fire our guns all night long since your absence, and haveburned one of the spare poles of the wagons to cook our victuals."

  Every thing is comparative. When our travelers first took up theirnight's lodgings in the wagons they found their resting-places hard,after sleeping in comfortable beds at Cape Town; but now, after havingpassed their nights in the wild desert, their mattresses in the wagonswere a luxury that was fully appreciated. Returning thanks to Heaven fortheir preservation, Alexander and the Major slept soundly till morning,notwithstanding that the latter was often half roused by theimportunities of Begum, who appeared delighted at the return of hermaster.

  At daylight the oxen were yoked, and they proceeded on their journey.There was no want of game; indeed they were so plentiful, that they shotthem from the caravan as they passed. At night they had made twenty-fivemiles, and before they had unyoked, a deluge of rain again fell, andthey passed a very uncomfortable night, as it was very cold, and theycould light no fires, from want of fuel. Any thing, however, was betterthan the want of water; and early in the morning they again yoked theiroxen, and, after a hard day's toil, were rejoiced to perceive at adistance the trees which lined the banks of the Modder River. The sightwas hailed with joy by the Hottentots, who shouted aloud; for theyconsidered their dangers and difficulties to be over, now that they wereapproaching to the boundaries of the colony.