by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
BESIEGED IN A TREE.
"I now believed that we were safe. Both Frank and I experienced thathappiness which men feel who have been suddenly snatched from the jawsof death. `The peccaries,' thought we, `will soon disperse and go offinto the woods, now that their enemy has been destroyed.' To ourconsternation, however, we soon found that we were mistaken; for,instead of retiring after they had glutted their vengeance upon thecougar, they again surrounded the tree, looking fiercely up at us,tearing the bark as before, and uttering their wild cries. It wasevident they were determined to destroy us if they could. It was astrange way to thank us for delivering over to them their enemy!
"We were upon the lower branches, and they could see us distinctly. Wemight easily have climbed higher, but that would have served no purpose,as they could not reach us where we were. They could only destroy us bykeeping us in the tree, until we might perish by hunger or thirst; andfrom what I had heard of the nature of these animals, I knew that it wasnot improbable that they might do this.
"At first I was determined not to fire at them, thinking that after awhile their fury might subside, and they would disperse. Frank and I,therefore, climbed a little higher; and concealed ourselves, as well aswe could, in the thick tufts of the moss.
"After remaining thus for above two hours, we saw that it was all to nopurpose--for the peccaries, although they had become more quiet, stillformed a dense circle around the tree, and appeared determined to carryout the siege. Some of them had lain down--intending, no doubt, to takeit as coolly and easily as possible--but not one had as yet left thespot.
"I grew impatient. I knew that our people would be uneasy about ourlong absence. I feared, moreover, that Harry and Cudjo might come insearch of us; and they, being on foot and not able to climb quicklyenough to a tree, might fall victims to these fierce creatures. Idetermined, therefore, at length to try what effect a shot or two mighthave upon the herd.
"I again descended amongst the lowermost branches, to make sure of myaim, and commenced firing. Each time I selected an animal, aiming asnearly as I could for its heart. I fired five times, and at every shotone of the peccaries was seen to bite the dust; but the rest, instead ofbeing frightened by the fearful havoc I was making among them, onlytrampled over the bodies of their dead companions, grunting morefiercely than ever, and rushing against the trunk with their hoofedfeet, as though they would climb up it.
"As I returned to load my rifle for the sixth time, I found to myconsternation that I had but one bullet left! This I rammed into thegun, which I again discharged among the peccaries, and another of themlay stretched upon the ground. But all to no purpose was thisslaughter--the animals seemed to be quite regardless of death.
"I knew of no other method to drive them away, and I now returned to theupper branches where I had left my companion, and sat down beside him.We could do no more than wait with patience--in hopes that the nightmight call off our strange besiegers. Although we could hear them belowus, still uttering their wild cries, and scratching against the trunk ofthe tree, we now paid them no more attention, but sat quietly upon ourperch, confiding in the hand of Providence to deliver us.
"We had been seated thus but a very short while, when all at once webecame conscious that there was a bitter smoke rising around us. Atfirst we had taken it for the smoke which had been produced by thefiring of the rifle and which had hung for some time about the tree.Now we knew it could not be that, for it was growing thicker andthicker, and we noticed that it had a smell very different from that ofburnt powder. Moreover, it produced a stifling, choking sensation,causing us to cough, and rub our eyes with the pain. On lookingdownward, I was unable to see either the ground or the peccaries; but Icould perceive a thick cloud rising up all around the tree. I couldhear the voices of the fierce brutes, loud as ever; but they appeared tobe scattering outward, and their cry was different to what it hadhitherto been. It now occurred to me that the moss had caught fire fromthe wadding of my rifle; and this soon proved to be the fact, for thesmoke all at at once became illuminated with a bright blaze that seemedto spread almost instantaneously over the surface of the ground. We sawthat it did not fully envelope the tree, but burned on that side wherewe had thrown down large quantities of the moss.
"My companion and I scrambled out on the branches to the opposite side--going as far as we could to avoid the smoke. We feared, all the while,that the hanging mass, or even the tree itself, might catch fire, andforce us to leap into the midst of our enemies. Fortunately, however,we had clean stripped those branches that hung directly over the blazingheap; and as yet the flames did not mount high enough to reach theothers.
"When we had crawled beyond the blinding smoke, we could distinguish thepeccaries, standing in a thick mass at some distance from the tree, andevidently somewhat terrified by the fire. `Now,' thought I, `we shallbe delivered from them. They will go off far enough to enable us toescape through the smoke;' and with this intention, I commencedreconnoitring the ground in the direction in which the thick clouds werecarried by the wind. I concluded that none of the animals had gone inthis direction; and I saw that if we could leap down without being seen,we might make off through the trees. We were about descending upon alower limb to carry out this purpose, when a sound like the distantyelping of dogs broke upon our ears. It filled us at once with aterrible foreboding. We knew that it must be our own dogs; and we knewthat Harry or Cudjo, or perhaps both, would be coming close upon theirheels. I knew that the dogs would soon be killed by the herd, and thenpoor Harry--he would be at once torn in pieces! This was a fearfulthought, and Frank and I paused a moment, with palpitating hearts, tolisten. Yes, it was the dogs! We could hear them yelping and barkingat intervals, and evidently coming nearer. The next moment we couldplainly distinguish voices, as of people following upon the track of thedogs. The voices could be no other than those of Harry and Cudjo comingin search of us. I was irresolute how to act. Should I allow them tocome on, and while the dogs might keep the peccaries engaged for amoment, shout out and warn them to take to the trees. It then occurredto me that I might leave Frank where he was, and by making a sudden rushthrough the smoke, get nearer to Harry and Cudjo and give them warningbefore the peccaries could get up. Fortunately their voices sounded inthe right direction, and I might reach them without being pursued atall.
"I did not hesitate a moment after forming this resolve; but, handing myempty rifle to Frank, and drawing my knife, I dropped down among thesmoking heaps of half-burnt moss. I ran off the moment my feet touchedthe ground; and, after going a distance of an hundred yards or so, Icame in sight of the dogs, and the next moment of Harry and Cudjo. Butat the same instant, on glancing back, I saw the whole herd of thepeccaries rushing after me with shrill cries. I had barely time toshout to Harry and Cudjo, and swing myself up to a branch, when theanimals were around me. The others, seeing me climb, and alsoperceiving the cause, made to a tree; and the next moment I had thesatisfaction of seeing both of them mount into its branches. The dogs,on the contrary, ran forward to meet the herd, and give them battle.This did not last long, for as soon as they had encountered the sharpteeth of the peccaries they ran howling back to the tree where Harry andCudjo had taken shelter. Fortunately for the dogs, poor brutes! therewere some low branches, to which, by the help of Cudjo, they were ableto spring up. Had it not been so, they would soon have suffered thefate of the cougar; for the peccaries, fiercely enraged in their shortencounter with them, pursued them hotly, and surrounded the tree intowhich they had been lucky enough to climb.
"I was now left to myself. From the position I occupied I could not seeHarry, Cudjo, or the mastiffs; but I could see the black herd that wasaround them. I could hear all that passed--the howling of the dogs--thevoices of Harry and Cudjo--the vengeful notes of the peccaries, allringing together in a wild concert. Then I heard the crack of thelittle rifle, and I saw one of the animals tumble over upon the ground.I heard the sho
uts of Cudjo, and I could see the blade of his long spearlunging down a intervals among the dark bodies below. I could see thatit streamed with blood; and that numbers of the animals were falling tothe earth. Again came the crack of Harry's rifle, again the loudbarking of the dogs, and again the shouts of Cudjo, as he stood upon thelowermost branches, and plied his terrible weapon. And thus for someminutes raged the battle, until I could see the ground fairly strewedwith black and bleeding forms. Only a few of the peccaries remainedupon their feet; and these at length, becoming alarmed by the fearfulslaughter of their companions, turned away from the tree, and fled intothe thick underwood. It was plain that they were defeated, and wouldnot again molest us; and, feeling confident of this, we all descendedfrom our trees, and made our way to the house as quickly as we could--soas to relieve the anxiety of my wife.
"Although we often afterwards met a few of the peccaries in our huntingexcursions--and had the fortune to capture some of their young--theynever from that time offered to attack us, but always endeavoured toescape. It is the nature of this animal to fight bravely with an enemyuntil conquered, when it will in future always run at his approach. Infact, there appeared to be but one herd of them in the valley; and asthat had been nearly destroyed, we found them afterwards both scarce andshy.
"Next day we returned, well armed, for our opossum and her young, whichin our hurry we had quite forgotten. We found, to our mortification,that the cunning animal had gnawed off her fastenings, and escaped, withher whole brood."