CHAPTER NINE.
I DISCOVER A CURIOUS INSECT, AND PETERKIN TAKES A STRANGE FLIGHT.
It happened most fortunately at this time that we were within a shortday's journey of a native village, to which, after mature consideration,we determined to convey Jack, and remain there until he should besufficiently recovered to permit of our resuming our journey. Hithertowe had studiously avoided the villages that lay in our route, feelingindisposed to encounter unnecessarily the risk of being inhospitablyreceived--perhaps even robbed of our goods, if nothing worse shouldbefall us. There was, however, no other alternative now; for Jack'swounds were very severe, and the amount of blood lost by him was sogreat that he was as weak as a child. Happily, no bones were broken, sowe felt sanguine that by careful nursing for a few weeks we should gethim set firmly upon his legs again.
On the following morning we set forth on our journey, and towardsevening reached the village, which was situated on the banks of a smallstream, in the midst of a beautiful country composed of mingled plainand woodland.
It chanced that the chief of this village was connected by marriage withKing Jambai--a most fortunate circumstance for us, as it ensured ourbeing hospitably received. The chief came out to meet us riding on theshoulders of a slave, who, although a much smaller man than his master,seemed to support his load with much case. Probably habit hadstrengthened him for his special work. A large hut was set apart forour accommodation; a dish of yams, a roast monkey, and a couple of fowlswere sent to us soon after our arrival, and, in short, we experiencedthe kindest possible reception.
None of the natives of this village had ever seen a white face in theirlives, and, as may well be imagined, their curiosity and amazement wereunbounded. The people came constantly crowding round our hut,remaining, however, at a respectful distance, and gazed at us until Ibegan to fear they would never go away.
Here we remained for three weeks, during which time Jack's wounds healedup, and his strength returned rapidly. Peterkin and I employedourselves in alternately tending our comrade, and in scouring theneighbouring woods and plains in search of wild animals.
As we were now approaching the country of the gorilla--although, indeed,it was still far distant--our minds began to run more upon that terriblecreature than used to be the case; and our desire to fall in with it wasincreased by the strange accounts of its habits and its tremendous powerthat we received from the natives of this village, some of whom hadcrossed the desert and actually met with the gorilla face to face. Morethan once, while out hunting, I have been so taken up with this subjectthat I have been on the point of shooting a native who appearedunexpectedly before me, under the impression that he was a specimen ofthe animal on which my thoughts had been fixed.
One day about a week after our arrival, as I was sitting at the side ofJack's couch relating to him the incidents of a hunt after a buffalothat Makarooroo and I had had the day before, Peterkin entered with aswaggering gait, and setting his rifle down in a corner, flung himselfon the pile of skins that formed his couch.
"I'll tell you what it is," said he, with the look and tone of a man whofeels that he has been unwarrantably misled--"I don't believe there'ssuch a beast as a gorilla at all; _now_, that's a fact."
There was something so confident and emphatic in my comrade's mannerthat, despite my well-grounded belief on that point, I felt a sinking atthe heart. The bare possibility that, after all our trouble and toiland suffering in penetrating thus far towards the land which he is saidto inhabit, we should find that there really existed no such creature asthe gorilla was too terrible to think upon.
"Peterkin," said I anxiously, "what do you mean?"
"I mean," replied he slowly, "that Jack is the only living specimen ofthe gorilla in Africa."
"Come, now, I see you are jesting."
"Am I?" cried Peterkin savagely--"jesting, eh? That means expressingthoughts and opinions which are not to be understood literally. Oh, Iwould that I were sure that I am jesting! Ralph, it's my belief, I tellyou, that the gorilla is a regular sell--a great, big, unnatural hairy_do_!"
"But I saw the skeleton of one in London."
"I don't care for that. You may have been deceived, humbugged. Perhapsit was a compound of the bones of a buffalo and a chimpanzee."
"Nay, that were impossible," said I quickly; "for no one pretending tohave any knowledge of natural history and comparative anatomy could beso grossly deceived."
"What like was the skeleton, Ralph?" inquired Jack, who seemed to berather amused by our conversation.
"It was nearly as tall as that of a medium-sized man--I should thinkabout five feet seven or eight inches; but the amazing part about it wasthe immense size and thickness of its bones. Its shoulders were muchbroader than yours, Jack, and your chest is a mere child's compared withthat of the specimen of the gorilla that I saw. Its legs were veryshort--much shorter than those of a man; but its arms were tremendous--they were more than a foot longer than yours. In fact, if the brute'slegs were in the same proportion to its body as are those of a man, itwould be a giant of ten or eleven feet high. Or, to take another viewof it, if you were to take a robust and properly proportioned giant ofthat height, and cut down his legs until he stood about the height of anordinary man, _that_ would be a gorilla."
"I don't believe it," cried Peterkin.
"Well, perhaps my simile is not quite so felicitous as--"
"I don't mean that," interrupted Peterkin; "I mean that I don't believethere's such a brute as a gorilla at all."
"Why, what has made you so sceptical?" inquired Jack.
"The nonsense that these niggers have been telling me, through themedium of Mak as an interpreter; that is what has made me sceptical.Only think, they say that a gorilla is so strong that he can lift a manby the nape of the neck clean off the ground with one of his hind feet!Yes, they say he is in the habit of sitting on the lower branches oftrees in lonely dark parts of the wood watching for prey, and when anative chances to pass by close enough he puts down his hind foot,seizes the wretched man therewith, lifts him up into the tree, andquietly throttles him. They don't add whether or not he eats himafterwards, or whether he prefers him boiled or roasted. Now, I don'tbelieve that."
"Neither do I," returned Jack; "nevertheless the fact that these fellowsrecount such wonderful stories at all, is, to some extent, evidence infavour of their existence: for in such a country as this, where so manywonderful and horrible animals exist, men are not naturally tempted toinvent _new_ creatures; it is sufficient to satisfy their craving forthe marvellous that they should merely exaggerate what does alreadyexist."
"Go to, you sophist! if what you say be true, and the gorilla turns outto be only an exaggerated chimpanzee or ring-tailed roarer, does notthat come to the same thing as saying that there is no gorilla at all--always, of course, excepting yourself?"
"Credit yourself with a punched head," said Jack, "and the account shallbe balanced when I am sufficiently recovered to pay you off. Meanwhile,continue your account of what the niggers say about the gorilla."
Peterkin assumed a look of offended dignity as he replied--
"Without deigning any rejoinder to the utterly absurd and totallyirrelevant matter contained in the preliminary sentences of your lastremark, I pass on to observe that the natives of these wilds hold theopinion that there is one species of the gorilla which is the residenceof the spirits of defunct niggers, and that these fellows are known bytheir unusual size and ferocity."
"Hold," cried I, "until I get out my note-book. Now, Peterkin, nofibs."
"Honour bright," said he, "I'll give it you just as I got it. These_possessed_ brutes are never caught, and can't be killed. (I only hopeI may get the chance to try whether that be true or not.) They oftencarry off natives into the woods, where they pull out their toe andfinger nails by the roots and then let them go; and they are said to beuncommonly fond of sugar-cane, which they steal from the fields of thenatives sometimes in a very daring manner."
"All!" exclaimed my comrade. "How much more would you have? Do yousuppose that the gorilla can do anything it likes--hang by its tail fromthe moon, or sit down on its nose and run round on its chin?"
"Massa Jack," said Makarooroo, entering the hut and interrupting ourconversation at this point, "de chief hims tell to me for to tell to youdat w'en you's be fit for go-hid agin hims gib you cottle for sit upon."
"Cottle, Mak! what's _cottle_?" inquired Jack, with a puzzled look.
"Ho, massa, you know bery well; jist cottle--hoxes, you know."
"Indeed, I don't know," replied Jack, still more puzzled.
"I've no doubt," interposed Peterkin, "that he means cuttle, which isthe short name for cuttle-fish, which, in such an inland place as this,must of course be hoaxes! But what do you mean, Mak? Describe thething to us."
Mak scratched his woolly pate, as if he were quite unable to explainhimself.
"O massas, you be most stoopid dis yer day. Cottle not a ting; hims ama beast, wid two horn an' one tail. Dere," said he, pointing withanimation to a herd of cattle that grazed near our hut, "dat's cottle,or hoxes."
We all laughed at this proposal.
"What!" cried Jack, "does he mean us to ride upon `hoxes' as if theywere horses?"
"Yis, massa, hims say dat. Hims hear long ago ob one missionary as habdo dat; so de chief he tink it bery good idea, an' hims try too, an'like it bery much; only hims fell off ebery tree steps an' a'most brokeall de bones in him's body down to powder. But hims git up agin andfell hoff agin. Oh, hims like it bery much!"
"If we follow the chief's example," said I, laughing, "we shall scarcelybe in a fit state to hunt gorillas at the end of our journey; but now Icome to think of it, the plan seems to me not a bad one. You know agreat part of our journey now lies over a comparatively desert country,where we shall be none the worse of a ride now and then on ox-back torelieve our limbs. I think the proposal merits consideration."
"Right, Ralph," said Jack.--"Go, Mak, and tell his majesty, orchieftainship, or his royal highness, with my compliments, that I ammuch obliged by the offer, and will consider it. Also give him thisplug of tobacco; and see you don't curtail its dimensions before itleaves your hand, you rascal."
Our guide grinned as he left the hut to execute his mission, and weturned to converse on this new plan, which, the more we thought of it,seemed the more to grow in our estimation as most feasible.
"Now, lads, leave me," said Jack, with a sigh, after we had chatted formore than an hour. "If I am to go through all that our worthy hostseems to have suffered, it behoves me to get my frame into a fit stateto stand it. I shall therefore try to sleep."
So saying he turned round on his side, and we left him to his slumbers.
As it was still early in the afternoon, we two shouldered our rifles andstrolled away into the woods, partly with the intention of taking a shotat anything that might chance to come in our way, but chiefly with theview of having a pleasant chat about our prospect of speedily reachingthat goal of our ambition--the gorilla country.
"It seems to me," observed Peterkin, as we walked side by side over anopen grassy and flower-speckled plain that lay about a couple of milesdistant from the village--"it seems to me that we shall _never_ reachthis far-famed country."
"I have no doubt that we shall," said I; "but tell me, Peterkin, do youreally doubt the existence of the gorilla?"
"Well, since you do put it to me so very seriously, I can scarce tellwhat I believe. The fact is, that I'm such a sceptical wretch by naturethat I find it difficult to believe anything unless I see it."
I endeavoured to combat this very absurd state of mind in my companionby pointing out to him very clearly that if he were to act upon such aprinciple at all times, he would certainly disbelieve many of thecommonest facts in nature, and give full credit, on the other hand, tothe most outrageous absurdities.
"For instance," said I, "you would believe that every conjurer swallowsfire, and smoke, and penknives, and rabbits, because you _see_ him doit; and you would disbelieve the existence of the pyramids, because youdon't happen to have seen them."
"Ralph," said my companion seriously, "don't go in too deep, else Ishall be drowned!"
I was about to make some reply, when my attention was attracted by avery singular appearance of moisture at the foot of a fig-tree underwhich we were passing. Going up to it I found that there was a smallpuddle of clear water near the trunk. This occasioned me much surprise,for no rain had fallen in that district since our arrival, and probablythere had been none for a long period before that. The groundeverywhere, except in the large rivers and water-courses, was quite dry,insomuch that, as I have said, this little solitary pool (which was notmuch larger than my hand) occasioned us much surprise.
"How comes it there?" said I.
"That's more than I can tell," replied Peterkin. "Perhaps there's asmall spring at the root of the tree."
"Perhaps there is," said I, searching carefully round the spot in alldirections; but I found nothing to indicate the presence of a spring--and, indeed, when I came to think of it, if there had been a springthere would also certainly have been a water-course leading from it.But such was not the case. Presently I observed a drop of water fallinto the pool, and looking up, discovered that it fell from a cluster ofinsects that clung to a branch close over our heads.
I at once recognised this water-distilling insect as an oldacquaintance. I had seen it before in England, although of aconsiderably smaller size than this African one. My companion alsoseemed to be acquainted with it, for he exclaimed--
"Ho! I know the fellow. He's what we used at home to call a`frog-hopper' after he got his wings, and a `cuckoo-spit' before thattime; but these ones are six times the size of ours."
I was aware that there was some doubt among naturalists as to whencethese insects procured the water they distilled. My own opinion,founded on observations made at this time, led me to think the greaterpart of the moisture is derived from the atmosphere, though, possibly,some of it may be procured by suction from the trees. I afterwards paidseveral visits to this tree, and found, by placing a vessel beneaththem, that these insects distilled during a single night as much asthree or four pints of water!
Turning from this interesting discovery, we were about to continue ourwalk, when we observed a buffalo bull feeding in the open plain, notmore than five or six hundred yards off from us.
"Ha! Ralph, my boy," cried Peterkin enthusiastically, "here is metalmore attractive! Follow me; we must make a detour in order to get toleeward of him."
We set off at a brisk pace, and I freely confess that, although thecontemplation of the curious processes of the water-distilling insectafforded me deeper and more lasting enjoyment, the gush of excitementand eagerness that instantly followed the discovery of the wild buffalobull enabled me thoroughly to understand the feeling that leads men--especially the less contemplative among them--infinitely to prefer thepleasures of the chase to the calmer joys attendant upon the study ofnatural history.
At a later period that evening I had a discussion with my companions onthat subject, when I stood up for the pursuit of scientific knowledge asbeing truly elevating and noble, while the pursuit of game was, to saythe least of it, a species of pleasure more suited to the tastes andcondition of the savage than of the civilised man.
To this Peterkin replied--having made a preliminary statement to theeffect that I was a humbug--that a man's pluck was brought out and hisnerves improved by the noble art of hunting, which was beautifullyscientific in its details, and which had the effect of causing a man toact like a man and look like a man--not like a woman or a nincompoop, aswas too often the case with scientific men.
Hereupon Jack announced it as his opinion that we were both wrong andboth right; which elicited a cry of "Bravo!" from Peterkin. "For," saidJack, "what would the naturalist do without the hunter? His museumswould be almost empty and his knowledge woul
d be extremely limited. Onthe other hand, if there were no naturalists, the hunter--instead ofbeing the hero who dares every imaginable species of danger, in order toprocure specimens and furnish information that will add to the sum ofhuman knowledge--would degenerate into the mere butcher, who supplieshimself and his men with meat; or into the semi-murderer, who delightsin shedding the blood of inferior animals. The fact is, that thenaturalist and the hunter are indispensably necessary to eachother--`both are best,' to use an old expression; and when both arecombined in one, as in the case of the great American ornithologistAudubon, that is best of all."
"Betterer than both," suggested Peterkin.
But to return from this digression.
In less than quarter of an hour we gained a position well to leeward ofthe buffalo, which grazed quietly near the edge of the bushes, littledreaming of the enemies who were so cautiously approaching to work itsdestruction.
"Keep well in rear of me, Ralph," said Peterkin, as we halted behind abush to examine our rifles. "I'll creep as near to him as I can, and ifby any chance I should not kill him at the first shot, do you run up andhand me your gun."
Without waiting for a reply, my companion threw himself on his breast,and began to creep over the plain like a snake in the grass. He didthis so well and so patiently that he reached to within forty yards ofthe bull without being discovered. Then he ceased to advance, and I sawhis head and shoulders slowly emerge from among the grass, and presentlyhis rifle appeared, and was slowly levelled. It was one of ourlarge-bore single-barrelled rifles.
He lay in this position for at least two minutes, which seemed to me aquarter of an hour, so eager was I to see the creature fall. Suddenly Iheard a sharp snap or crack. The bull heard it too, for it raised itshuge head with a start. The cap of Peterkin's rifle had snapped, and Isaw by his motions that he was endeavouring, with as little motion aspossible, to replace it with another. But the bull caught sight of him,and uttering a terrific roar charged in an instant.
It is all very well for those who dwell at home in security to thinkthey know what the charge of an infuriated buffalo bull is. Did theysee it in reality, as I saw it at that time, tearing madly over thegrass, foaming at the mouth, flashing at the eyes, tossing its tail, andbellowing hideously, they would have a very different idea from whatthey now have of the trials to which hunters' nerves are frequentlyexposed.
Peterkin had not time to cap. He leaped up, turned round, and ran forthe woods at the top of his speed; but the bull was upon him in aninstant. Almost before I had time to realise what was occurring, Ibeheld my companion tossed high into the air. He turned a distinctsomersault, and fell with a fearful crash into the centre of a smallbush. I cannot recall my thoughts on witnessing this. I remember onlyexperiencing a sharp pang of horror and feeling that Peterkin mustcertainly have been killed. But whatever my thoughts were they musthave been rapid, for the time allowed me was short, as the bull turnedsharp round after tossing Peterkin and rushed again towards the bush,evidently with the intention of completing the work of destruction.
Once again I experienced that strange and sudden change of feeling towhich I have before referred. I felt a bounding sensation in my breastwhich tingled to my finger-ends. At the same time my head became clearand cool. I felt that Providence had placed the life of my friend in myhands. Darting forward in advance of the bush, I awaited the charge ofthe infuriated animal. On it came. I knew that I was not asufficiently good shot to make sure of hitting it in the brain. Itherefore allowed it to come within a yard of me, and then spranglightly to one side. As it flew past, I never thought of taking aim orputting the piece to my shoulder, but I thrust the muzzle against itsside and pulled both triggers at once.
From that moment consciousness forsook me, and I knew not what hadoccurred for some minutes after. The first object that met my confusedvision when I again opened my eyes was Peterkin, who was seated closebeside me on the body of the dead buffalo, examining some bloodyscratches on the calf of his left leg. He had evidently been attemptingto restore me to consciousness, for I observed that a wet handkerchieflay on my forehead. He muttered to himself as he examined his wounds--
"This comes of not looking to one's caps. Humph! I do believe thatevery bone in my body is--ah! here's another cut, two inches at least,and into the bone of course, to judge from the flow of blood. I wonderhow much blood I can afford to lose without being floored altogether.Such a country! I wonder how high I went. I felt as if I'd got abovethe moon. Hollo, Ralph! better?"
I sat up as he said this, and looked at him earnestly.
"My dear Peterkin, then you're not killed after all."
"Not quite, but pretty near. If it had not been for that friendly bushI should have fared worse. It broke my fall completely, and I reallybelieve that my worst hurts are a few scratches. But how are _you_,Ralph? Yours was a much more severe case than mine. You should holdyour gun tighter, man, when you fire without putting it to yourshoulder."
"How? why? what do you mean?"
"Simply this, that in consequence of your reckless manner of holdingyour rifle, it came back with such a slap on your chest that it flooredyou."
"This, then, accounts for the pain I feel in it. But come," said I,rising and shaking my limbs to make sure that no bones were broken; "wehave reason to be very thankful we have escaped so easily. I made surethat you were killed when I saw you flying through the air."
"I always had a species of cat-luck about me," replied Peterkin, with asmile. "But now let us cut off a bit o' this fellow to take back withus for Jack's supper."
With some difficulty we succeeded in cutting out the buffalo's tongue bythe root, and carried it back to the village, where, after displaying itas an evidence of our prowess, we had it cooked for supper.
The slight hurts that we had received at the time of this adventure werespeedily cured, and about two weeks after that we were all well enoughto resume our journey.
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