Hair-Breadth Escapes Part 31

The plains they traversed were either wastes of arid sand, or ranges of forest producing haak-doorns and kamel doorns and mimosas in abundance, and occasionally sycamores and acacias, but none of the fruit trees they had reckoned on finding. At the end of the second day, they were obliged to expend some of their dearly cherished ammunition in firing at a gemsbok, which came full upon them in one of the turnings of the forest, and which they were fortunate enough to wound with the first shot they fired, and kill with a second.

Collecting a heap of dry gra.s.s and wood, they succeeded, by the help of Lavie's burning-gla.s.s, which had been the doctor's parting gift to Frank, in lighting a fire, at which they roasted a considerable part of the gemsbok's flesh, and having made a hearty meal upon it, stored the remains in their knapsacks. A considerable supply of meat was thus obtained, and for two or three days they fared well enough, especially as there was a fall of rain, which gave them plenty of water.

But the line of country through which they pa.s.sed continued as barren of the means of supporting existence as ever, and they were presently reduced to the same straits as before. They began, indeed, now to be somewhat alarmed at their situation. They had reckoned that it would be a fortnight's journey to the banks of the Gariep; but they had been ten days on their route, and had not, so far as they could calculate, accomplished half the distance. Each of them had only two charges of powder left, and it was evident that their guns alone could be reckoned on, as furnis.h.i.+ng them with food in the country where they were now travelling. Their condition was rendered worse by two unsuccessful attempts which they made to shoot a buffalo on the day after the last batch of gemsbok meat had been consumed. They had come on the track of a herd of buffaloes, which they had resolved to follow, and after many hours of careful stalking, they had got so near to the herd at sunset as to venture a shot. But, just as in the former instance, though the animal was. .h.i.t, and it might be severely wounded, it did not fall, but was able to make off with the rest of the herd.

"Oh, Frank, what will become of us?" exclaimed Nick, as he witnessed this mishap. "If we don't get food somewhere to-night, I feel as if I should perish of hunger."

"Never say die, Nick," said Frank, cheerily. "Look here! This brute is. .h.i.t hard, I'm sure of that; and I'm pretty sure, too, that he won't hold out very long. Just look what lots of blood he has left behind him.

They'll be quite enough to enable us to track him, even by this light.

We'll follow up the blood-marks until we find him. Even if another shot should be necessary, we shall still have a charge apiece left, if we should be attacked. If we kill the buffalo it will supply us with food for a long time to come, and it is very unlikely that the country will continue as bare of all fruit, as it has been since we left the village."

"All right, Frank," returned Nick; "that is the best way of viewing it at all events. I'll just take a hole up in my belt to stop the importunities of my stomach, and then we'll be off after the buffalo.

We may as well go that way as any other, at all events."

They set out accordingly, following without difficulty, by the help of the moon, the course taken by the herd across the open plain and the intervening patches of scrub for two or three hours. The marks of blood were plainly enough visible all the way, sometimes in large patches, as though the wounded animal had stopped behind the rest through momentary weakness; and then again only a drop here and there, as if it had again exerted its remaining strength to overtake the herd. At last they came to a spot where a larger puddle than any before stained the adjacent gra.s.s and sand, and then the marks no longer followed the general track, but turned aside into a deep thicket, through which the two boys had considerable difficulty in following its course.

They had advanced some distance, when Nick suddenly laid his hand on his companion's arm.

"Did you hear that?" he said.

"Hear what?" returned Wilmore.

"I fancied I heard a shot fired," said Gilbert, "but I suppose I must have been mistaken."

"A shot! Who could there be in these parts to fire one? It was the fall of a large stone from the cliffs, most likely. They are often dislodged by the wind, and make a noise like the report of a gun. Come along, we shall not have much further to go, I expect."

"Hist!" exclaimed Nick, again stopping. "I am quite sure I hear something now, though in a different quarter from that in which I fancied the gun was fired."

"What do you hear?" asked Wilmore, stopping and listening with all his ears.

"A kind of low growling, or groaning," answered Nick; "or perhaps grinding of teeth. It is very indistinct; but I am certain that I hear it."

"It is the poor brute in his dying agony," said Frank. "Push on. We must be close to him now."

By this time the dawn had begun to break, and the daylight diffused itself rapidly over the scene. The beams of the rising sun showed that they were, as Frank said, close on the buffalo's trail. The gra.s.s was trampled down, as if by heavy footsteps, and blood, evidently only recently shed, stained the bushes and long gra.s.s in profusion. And now the sound heard by Nick became plainly audible to Frank also.

"c.o.c.k your gun, Nick!" he said. "He may have life enough left in him to give us some trouble yet."

As he spoke he turned the corner of a large ma.s.s of p.r.i.c.kly pear, which had been partly forced aside and partly torn away by the pa.s.sage of some heavy body, and came upon a sight which was as alarming as it was unexpected.

The carca.s.s of the buffalo lay on the ground, already partially devoured. Standing over it were a male and female panther (or tiger, as the natives of South Africa are wont to call them), engaged in tearing the flesh from the ribs with their long white s.h.i.+ning teeth. The animals were as big as an ordinary English mastiff, and the glare of their large yellow eyes showed that the ferocity of their nature was fully awakened. Frank fell back, as soon as his eye lighted on them, conscious that his best hope of escape lay in instantly withdrawing from the spot; but Nick, who had already raised his gun before he had come in sight of the enemy he was about to encounter, drew his trigger, scarcely aware of what he was doing, wounding the male panther severely, but not mortally, in the chest. With a fierce howl of agony and rage combined, the tiger sprang straight upon him; and if he had not been extraordinarily light of limb and quick of eye, the next moment would have been his last. But the moment the charge left the barrel, he perceived the imminence of the danger threatening him, and, dropping his gun, he sprang lightly on one side. The brute's claws and teeth just missed their aim, but the body, in pa.s.sing, struck him with sufficient force to prostrate him insensible on the ground. The wounded panther had no sooner recovered from its spring, than it turned back to fasten on its fallen enemy; but Frank, stepping instantly up, with ready presence of mind, applied the muzzle of his rifle to its ear, as it was on the very point of bending its neck, and it fell lifeless on the ground.

But the boys were now left quite helpless. The last charge had been fired, and the remaining panther, which had stood motionless since the discharge of the gun, watching as it were the issue of the struggle, now gave evident signs that it was about to avenge its mate. Erecting its tail, it uttered a low growl, which swelled gradually into a savage roar. Another minute and his teeth would have been fastened in the lad's throat; but before the animal could make its leap, the sound of pattering feet was heard, and a large dog, bounding through the bushes, sprang on the tiger and caught it by the throat. The brute turned savagely on its new a.s.sailant, and a furious combat commenced; the tiger tearing the ribs of the mastiff with its claws, but unable to shake off the hold it had fastened on its throat Frank gazed with blank amazement at the appearance of this unexpected champion, which seemed to have fallen from the skies for his deliverance; and his astonishment was increased when he perceived, as he presently did, that the dog was no other than his long-lost, faithful Lion! How he could be still living, and still more, what could have brought him there, he could not conceive. But it was no moment for speculation. His favourite was matched against an antagonist which, if it did not prove victor in the struggle, might at all events inflict the most deadly wounds before it could be overcome. Frank stooped, and drew the strong clasped knife which Nick always carried in his belt. Opening this, he stepped forward to the spot, where the two animals, now covered with dust and blood, were savagely rending one another; he waited for the moment when the panther's breast became exposed, and plunged the knife into it up to the hilt. The stab was mortal. Unfastening the grip of its teeth on Lion's side, the brute endeavoured to seize this new enemy; but it could not disengage itself from Lion's hold. Its jaws collapsed, its savage eyes grew filmy and dim, and in another minute the mastiff was tearing and shaking the inanimate carca.s.s of its adversary.

"Lion! Lion! dear old boy!--are you much hurt," exclaimed Frank, running up, and throwing his arms round his favourite's neck; "however did you come here? and where have you been all these weeks and months?

I can hardly believe, even now, that it is really you."

"Yes, it really him--it Lion for sure. Kobo and he make friends--know each other ever so long," said a tall Bechuana, who had now joined the party, and stood with a grin on his black face. "But, Master Nick--he not hurt, is he?"

"What, Kobo, you too here!" exclaimed Frank. "But we'll talk about that presently. We must see to Nick here. I declare I almost forgot him in the surprise and joy at seeing old Lion again. But men before dogs. I am pretty sure, though, Gilbert isn't hurt. He's only stunned by the weight of the leopard's body, when he sprang on him."

They raised the lad between them, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing him open his eyes, and draw in a long breath; and then, after once or twice stretching himself, and feeling his chest and ribs, declare that he wasn't a pin the worse, and would be ready for his dinner, as soon as ever Kobo could supply him with any!

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

THE LONG-EXPECTED ARRIVAL--CAPTAIN WILMORE'S NARRATIVE--THE TUTELARY SPIRIT--LION TO THE RESCUE--PLANS FOR THE FUTURE--THE FUTURE CHURCH.

It was not until quite late on the morning after the departure of the boys, that the fact became known to De Walden and Ernest. It chanced to be the day appointed by the missionary for the baptism of two of his adult converts, for whom Ernest and Ella were to act as sponsors. In the interest of the occasion, the absence of the two boys was not noticed; and it was not until after the conclusion of the rite, that Ernest, happening to enter Frank's sleeping room, to ask some casual question of him, saw the note left on the table. As soon as he had read it, he repaired to his friend's apartment, and the two held an anxious consultation as to the course which, under the circ.u.mstances, it would be most expedient for them to pursue. De Walden knew--what none of the three lads could surmise--how great was the danger incurred by the truants, and how slender the hope of their succeeding in carrying out their projected scheme. They must be pursued, and overtaken, and warned of their peril, whatever might be the risk or fatigue incurred by so doing. If, after such warning, they persisted in their rash enterprise, they could not, of course, be prevented from pursuing it; but the blame would then rest wholly with themselves.

They were still engaged in arranging their plans for immediate pursuit, when Ella entered the room where they were seated, with tidings which were even more unexpected than those they had that morning received.

"My father," she said--so she always addressed De Walden--"the visitors you and Ernest have been so long expecting, have arrived, and are now with my mother. Will you come and see them?"

"The visitors, Ella!" exclaimed Warley, starting up. "Whom can you mean?--not Lavie surely--"

"Yes, he is one," returned Ella, "and there is a captain, an English captain. He is Frank's father or uncle--"

"Captain Wilmore!" cried Warley. "Has he fallen in with Frank?"

"No, we have told him that he and Gilbert have gone off by themselves, and that they cannot be very far off, and he means to go in search of them, I believe. But he wants to see you first."

De Walden and Ernest hastened to the Queen's apartment, and were soon exchanging a cordial grasp of the hand with the new-comers.

"G.o.d be praised for this!" said the missionary. "You cannot think how anxious I have been about you, Charles, though I did not tell the lads so. Unwilling as I was to leave this place, I had fully resolved that if the present month should pa.s.s without tidings of you, I would set off with them for Cape Town. I wish now I had told them of my intention; it would no doubt have prevented this foolish escapade of theirs. I knew I could trust Ernest to remain quiet, and I thought I could trust the others."

"You must not blame them, sir," said Warley. "I have no doubt they had the same idea which I have entertained myself, though I thought it best to say nothing about it, that treacherous orders had been given to your guide to prevent your ever reaching Cape Town."

"I cannot wonder that either you or they thought that," said De Walden, "after Chuma's treatment of us."

"But," resumed Warley, "if I was doubtful about Charles's safety, I was much more despondent about Captain Wilmore. I had little hope, I confess, of ever seeing him again."

"And you would have had less hope still, my lad," said Captain Wilmore, "if you had known what befell us when we left the _Hooghly_."

"You must hear the whole history from his own lips," said Lavie; "but not just now. We have a good deal to do this morning that must be attended to."

"I dare say the captain will relate it after supper," said De Walden.

"Now come and hear the report of the scouts."

That evening, accordingly, when the repast in the Queen's apartments was concluded, Captain Wilmore was called upon for the particulars of his adventures, which he was no way unwilling to relate.

"You two will remember," he began, "the gale soon after we left the Cape de Verdes. The foreigners I had taken on board showed themselves much smarter hands than I had expected, and worked double tides all the afternoon. I didn't suspect their motive for showing so much zeal, which was no doubt to remove any suspicions I might have entertained, and make me relax my watch over them. It quite succeeded. I turned in about sundown thoroughly knocked up, but well satisfied with the behaviour of the s.h.i.+p's company, and intending to have a long sleep. A very long sleep it was nearly being--"

"Did they intend to murder you, sir, do you think?" asked Warley.

"I do not think about it," returned the captain. "I am sure of it.

Half a dozen of them, with their knives drawn, and accompanied by those villains Duncan and O'Hara, were stealing down the companion to my cabin when they were challenged by old Jennings, who gave the alarm, and the pirates were obliged to make the attack openly. They cut the poor old man down, but he saved all our lives nevertheless. I have heard what became of him from Lavie, and it grieves me much to think that I shall never have an opportunity in this world of thanking the good old man for his bravery and self-devotion; but he will not miss his reward."