Off to the Wilds: Being the Adventures of Two Brothers

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

  TRACKED BY AN ENEMY.

  They did not have a long sleep, for Mr Rogers soon roused them to saythat breakfast was ready; which meal being discussed, the oxen werein-spanned, and the horses mounted, so as to have a good long trektowards the Limpopo, or Crocodile River, before the heat of the day.

  Before leaving their camp the boys had a good look round with theGeneral, in the expectation and hope of seeing the lion at which Jackhad shot, lying dead. But though he felt certain that he had hit themonster, and though footprints were about in all directions, there wasno dead lion, and they had to hope for better luck the next time.

  "I don't care," said Jack discontentedly; "I'm as sure as can be thatthis gun don't shoot straight."

  "Try again, Jack," said his father, laughing.

  And on they walked, over what was now a plain covered with great coarse,reedy grass, such as would afford plenty of cover for game.

  This, however, was scarce, and beyond the boys knocking down three orfour large birds of the partridge kind, there was very little done.

  The General, for some reason which he did not explain, had taken hisgreat Zulu shield from where it hung behind one of the waggon-wheels,and, armed with a couple of assegais, kept making expeditions to rightand left--and quite as often hung back, watchfully keeping an eye to therear.

  It was a case of man's cunning against that of a beast; and after beingaway some hours, he came up with the not very pleasant information thata huge lion, one of the ferocious maneless kind, was tracking thewaggon, and would no doubt hang upon their trail until it had pouncedupon one of the horses, and carried it off.

  "Oh, that would be horrible," cried Jack. "I'd almost sooner that hewould take me than my horse."

  "Have you seen it, General?" said Dick; "or do you think it is followingus, from its footprints?"

  "I have seen it," said the General gravely. "I felt sure from somefootmarks I had seen that some great beast was following us--one ofthose that scented the horses last night. Once or twice I thought thesteps might be those of some lion that had passed this way; but, afterwatching, I found them so often that at last I lay down amongst the longgrass, covered myself with my shield, and waited. It was very, verylong, and nothing came, and I thought again that I was mistaken; but Iknew that if it was a lion, tracking down the horses and bullocks, hewould come close between the wheel marks of the waggon, and there slay."

  "And did you mean to kill him, General?" said Dick eagerly.

  "One man cannot kill a lion with an assegai, Boss Dick," said the Zulu,"and live afterwards and hunt with his friends. It takes the littlebullet from a gun to kill a lion well, for you can stand and shootfarther off than a lion can spring. No, I only wanted to know and besure; and if I was sure I said, Boss Dick or Boss Jack will shoot him.So I waited till I thought he would not come, and then I was going tofollow the waggon, when I heard something come steal--steal--stealalong; and when at last I looked from under my shield, there he stoodamongst the grass, close to me, watching the waggon. If I had stood upI could have speared him; but I was lying down, and if I had tried toget up he would have sprung upon me, the great thing; so I held theshield more over me, like an animal with a shell, and crept a little wayon to meet him, and then made a jump at him, and he roared and dashedaway."

  "But why didn't he seize you?" said Jack.

  "He did not see I was a man, and he did not understand what the longthing with black legs was that jumped at him; and a lion is big andstrong, but he is a coward about what he does not understand."

  "And have you frightened him right away?" asked Dick. "Fancyfrightening away a lion!"

  "No," said the Zulu; "only a little way. He is following the waggonnow, crawling softly through the grass; and I am sure it is the one BossJack has shot last night, for there was a mark and blood upon hisforehead. It is a great lion, with no mane; and he is savage and wild,and will follow the waggon always till he is killed. We must kill thatlion soon."

  "An' is he following us up, Muster Gineral?" said Dinny, who had heardsome of the last words.

  The Zulu nodded; and Dinny looked from one to the other with such a lookof hopeless dread in his countenance, that even Mr Rogers could notforbear to smile.

  "Sure it's the onsafest place I iver came noigh, sor; and it's notmeself that will stir away from the front of the waggon till that greatbaste is killed."

  The General's account of his proceedings, and his conversation as arule, was not in the plainest of English, so it is more convenient togive it in ordinary colloquial form; but he was very earnest, and triedhard to make himself understood.

  When Mr Rogers consulted him as to the best means of getting rid of sounpleasant a follower, the Zulu said that the only way would be to rideon in front of the waggon, and then suddenly strike off to right orleft, form a wide curve, and ride inward so as to strike the track ofthe waggon quite a mile behind.

  By this means, the General said, they would probably get a shot at themonster as he was crawling furtively after the horses, and probablybring it down.

  "It is a risk," said Mr Rogers thoughtfully; "but it will be impossiblefor us to go on with an enemy like that always in our wake."

  "When do you think he will try to attack us, General?" said Dick.

  "When the sun has gone down, Boss, and the horses and oxen are havingtheir evening feed."

  "And he might take my beautiful Shoes," said Dick.

  "Or my lovely old Stockings," cried Jack, quite unconscious of howabsurd his words sounded.

  "We shall have to follow out the Zulu's plan, my boys," said Mr Rogers;"and the sooner we try the better."

  The midday halt was called by a beautifully transparent pool of water,where some richly succulent grass awaited the cattle, and which for somehours they cropped, the heat being intense, and any object exposed tothe full power of the sun soon becoming hot enough to burn the hand.

  Hot as it was, Dinny, being assured that the lion was not likely toattack in open daylight, lit a roaring fire, and soon had the potsimmering with its rich thick meat gravy, a basin round of which, and aportion of a cake made and baked upon an iron plate brought for thepurpose, formed their dinner.

  Then there was a siesta, and at last, the most fiery hours being goneby, broad-brimmed straw hats were taken from the waggon--for it wasstill intensely hot--and the Zulu undertaking to lead the team onbetween two mountains through which the broad valley ran, the horseswere saddled, rifles taken, and father and sons mounted to go on whatmight prove to be a very dangerous adventure.

  The first thing done was to carefully take in the bearings of thecountry, and then, after a few words of advice from the General--whomMr Rogers would have liked to have, only his presence was necessarywith the waggon, he being the most trustworthy of their followers--theyrode on at a brisk canter through the crisp long grass, and amongst thebushes, and always onward towards the head of the valley, where,towering up, stood the twin mountains, which were like the ends of acouple of ridges or chains.

  Scrupulously following out the General's advice, they struck off to theleft, and taking quite a two-mile circuit, they saw the waggon crawlingalong in the distance, while they cantered on, feeling wonderfully freeand light in spite of the heat, till they were a long distance behindthe waggon, when they halted and carefully swept the surface of thecountry.

  "Nothing in sight," said Mr Rogers.

  "I hope we shan't have our trip for nothing, father," replied Dick.

  "Are you eager to meet with the lion, then?" said his father, smiling.

  "I don't know, father; but I should like to shoot him," replied Dickquietly.

  "Well, my boys, I hope we shall shoot the animal; and as we are now acouple of miles at least behind the waggon, if he is following it heshould be before us now, so come along."

  Rifles were cocked, and every eye carefully scrutinised the drydrabby-yellow grass through which the lion would be stealing its way,and so much like the wither
ed stems in colour that, unless moving, itwas quite possible to miss seeing such a creature as they rode along.

  The plan arranged was, that no sooner was the lion sighted than theywere all to dismount, and fire as opportunity occurred, loading again asrapidly as possible for a second shot.

  But though they followed steadily on in the waggon track, riding allthree abreast, and scanning every clump and bush, they had approachedthe bend of the valley without seeing anything but a few bok, whichoffered tempting marks now that they did not want to shoot.

  The waggon had evidently passed through the opening, for it was quiteout of sight, and the sinking sun was casting long shadows. So at lastMr Rogers grew impatient and spoke out,--

  "We had better ride on, my boys, and catch the waggon. I want to haltearly and form a good stout fence for our protection. We shall seeno--"

  "Lion!" said Dick sharply. "Dismount."

  He threw himself from his horse on the instant, and stood ready to fire,his father and brother imitating his example.

  "Where?" said Mr Rogers quietly. "I see nothing, Dick."

  "There," replied Dick, "fifty yards away, stealing through those thicksedgy grasses. Don't you see?"

  "Yes," said his father, "I see the monster now. Keep cool, boys, andmake your shots tell. If he is wounded and charges, you must stand firmand fire again."

  Mr Rogers waited a few moments, during which the lion, a monstrousyellow, maneless fellow, was half-crawling, half-creeping, through thelong sedgy grass; and at last he showed so plainly that Mr Rogers tookcareful aim, fired, and evidently hit, for the lion uttered a furiousroar, and made a tremendous bound to escape, with the result that Dick'scob started, and threatened to dash off; but a few words from its mastercalmed it; and taking advantage of the good view he had of the lion,Dick now fired, a shot from Jack's rifle following directly after. But,so far from the monster being crippled, it ceased its efforts to escape,and turning, took a few steps forward, crouched like a cat, and thenbounded at Jack.

  "Stand firm and fire!" cried Mr Rogers.

  Jack obeyed, and as he fired the lion was in the air launching itself athim, but falling short, rolling over upon its side, and beginning totear and gnaw at the dry grass in its death agony.

  Mr Rogers approached, but drew back in favour of Dick.

  "Go and give it the _coup de grace_, my boy," he said. "You may as wellhave the honour of killing the monster, for a monster it is."

  Dick had replaced his empty cartridge with a full one, and wasapproaching boldly to fire the necessary shot, when, to his horror andastonishment, the lion rose, crouched, and showed its glistening teeth.But in spite of the terror that seized him he stood firm, took carefulaim, fired, and with a savage roar, the lion rolled over, dead.

  It was indeed a monster, and its glistening fangs were very long, whileupon examination there was the mark of Jack's last night's bullet, whichhad ploughed up the skin between the creature's ears, though the woundwas now half dry.

  The shots brought the Zulu into sight with his boys, for the waggon washalting at a pleasant spring at the foot of one of the mountains not amile away, for here were wood and a good place for forming a kraal.

  The General and his sons raced down, and the boys danced round the lionand called it names. But there was no time to lose, and it wasimpossible to stop and skin the animal that night, so the General stucksome branches round it, and then led the way to camp, which was rapidlyformed. And though they heard lions in the distance, they had a lessdisturbed night than the preceding one, greatly to the satisfaction ofall, especially Dinny, who declared that it was a blessing that the lionwas killed, for now they would be at peace.

  But Dinny was wrong, for there were other lions in the land.