The Adventures of Dick Maitland Part 13

"Snake!" replied Grosvenor briefly, and in a rather tremulous tone of voice; "trod on him--unintentionally of course--and the beggar turned sand bit me. Take that--and that--and that, you brute--"

"Where is the thing?" demanded d.i.c.k anxiously.

"There," responded Grosvenor, pointing to a writhing, twisting something that squirmed on the gra.s.s as he ground the heel of his heavy boot on it.

"Take your foot away, man, and let me have a look at it," commanded d.i.c.k; and as the other did as he was ordered Maitland bent down and directed a quick, keen glance at the reptile, about six inches of whose body was crushed almost to a jelly. Then, quickly pinning the flat, heart-shaped head to the ground with the muzzle of his gun, he pulled the trigger, and thus effectually put an end to the creature's existence. With the barrel of his weapon he deftly whisked the still writhing body half a dozen yards away into the long gra.s.s, and then turned sharply to his friend.

"Sit down, old chap, quick," he said, "and show me where you were bitten."

Somewhat startled by his companion's abrupt manner, Grosvenor seated himself on the ground and drew up his left trouser leg, pulled down his sock, and revealed two small punctures close together in the lower part of the calf of the leg, barely visible in the fast-decreasing light.

"I see," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed d.i.c.k, fumbling in his waistcoat pocket as he spoke.

"Take your pocket handkerchief, quick; tie it round your leg below the knee, and with the barrel of your revolver twist it as tight as you possibly can, tourniquet fas.h.i.+on, so as to stop the pa.s.sage of the blood into your body. Now," as he drew forth and opened a penknife, the blade of which he made a point of always keeping razor-keen, "I am going to hurt you a little bit, so set your teeth and bear it, old man."

"All right; go ahead," responded Grosvenor. "Was the brute venomous, then?"

"Can't say," responded d.i.c.k evasively, as he quickly slashed the flesh across and across over the two punctures; "but we are not taking any more chances to-day, my boy."

The blood, instead of spurting from the knife wounds, oozed forth thick and sluggishly; whereupon d.i.c.k, without a second's hesitation, applied his lips to the gashes, which were close together, and sucked strongly for about a quarter of an hour, spitting out the blood which gradually began to flow a little more freely. Finally, when the flow had ceased, he groped in his pocket and produced a small case containing a stick of lunar caustic; then from another pocket he drew forth a box of matches, which he handed to Grosvenor.

"I'll relieve you of this," he said, laying his hand upon the revolver, the barrel of which Phil had twisted in the handkerchief and had been holding in place all this while, "and you can start striking matches, so that I may see what I am doing." Then, giving the revolver an extra twist or two, he pulled out his own handkerchief and deftly secured the weapon in place, after which he proceeded, by the light of the matches which Grosvenor struck, one after the other, carefully and thoroughly to cauterize the wounds.

"There," he remarked cheerfully, with a sigh of relief as he finished his task, "that is as much as we can do here. The next thing is to get you back to the camp as soon as possible."

"All right," a.s.sented Grosvenor. "But," he added, as he attempted to rise, "I'm afraid I shall have to get you to help me, old chap; I couldn't possibly--"

"Of course you couldn't," responded d.i.c.k, "and I don't mean that you shall try. Just sit where you are for a little while longer, and leave me to arrange things." Therewith he drew a whistle from the pocket of his hunting s.h.i.+rt, and upon it blew three piercing blasts in quick succession that, in the breathless stillness of the night, might have been heard at least a mile away. He repeated the signal at brief intervals for about ten minutes, when answering shouts were heard, whereupon he drew three or four matches from the box, bunched them together, ignited them, and held the tiny torch aloft to guide Mafuta and Jantje, whose voices he recognised. A minute later they both arrived upon the scene, anxious to know what was amiss, and received d.i.c.k's hurried explanation with many _Au's_! of surprise and apprehension. Then, in obedience to his brief but concise instruction, they hurried away again at a run, to return with very commendable celerity, bearing Grosvenor's hammock and a long pole, hacked from the nearest tree they could find. The hammock having been spread upon the ground, the patient was, under d.i.c.k's anxious supervision, laid very carefully upon it, so that there might be as little movement of his body as possible; and finally, the hammock having been securely lashed to the pole, the whole was raised upon the shoulders of the two blacks and by them borne to the camp. Arrived there, the hammock was, still with the utmost gentleness and care, slung inside the tent, the lamp was lighted, and d.i.c.k proceeded to examine his patient afresh.

By this time the wounded limb had become terribly swollen, and Grosvenor complained of severe pain about the injured region. This, of course, was not to be wondered at, considering the rather heroic treatment to which the leg had been subjected, and d.i.c.k was not very greatly concerned about it. But what caused him to look very grave was the fact that his patient also complained of feeling cold, and manifested symptoms of approaching delirium, while his whole body was now beginning to be convulsed, at rapidly shortening intervals, by spasms of violent and uncontrollable twitching. Without wasting a moment d.i.c.k now had recourse to alcohol, freely dosing his patient with neat brandy, in the hope of inducing a condition of intoxication--for he knew that if he could succeed in this the excess of alcohol in the system would neutralise the venom, and his patient would be saved. But it was not until he had administered nearly a quart of the spirit that the desired symptoms began to appear; and it was long past midnight before the twitching convulsions entirely ceased and the patient sank into a deathlike sleep; by this time also the swelling of the limb was perceptibly subsiding; and when at length d.i.c.k turned down the lamp and disposed himself to take such rest as he might be able to s.n.a.t.c.h in a folding chair by the side of his friend's hammock, he had the satisfaction of knowing that the crisis was past and Phil would live.

Up to this moment the young doctor had been far too busy and altogether too deeply preoccupied in attending upon his patient to give any attention to, or indeed be more than vaguely aware of, what was happening outside the tent, although there certainly had been moments when sounds of a more than usually alarming character had reached his ears so distinctly and obtrusively as partially to distract his attention for the fraction of a second or so; but now that Grosvenor was asleep and safe, and d.i.c.k began to feel that he also would be the better for a little rest, outside sounds began to obtrude themselves upon him with a force and persistency that would not be denied, and he awoke to a consciousness of the fact that something quite out of his ordinary experience was happening.

At first he was disposed to attribute the babel of sound that reached his ears to the fact that the party were outspanned in close--almost too close--proximity to the only water that, so far as he knew, existed for many miles round, and which was consequently the regular drinking place for every living creature in the neighbourhood, as he and his chum had already ascertained. Indeed the incessant bellowing, snorting, trumpeting, roaring, splas.h.i.+ng, and squealing that, slightly mellowed by distance, penetrated to the interior of the tent, was quite enough to justify such an idea. But he had scarcely settled himself in his chair beside Grosvenor's hammock, and closed his eyes in the hope of wooing sleep to them, than he became aware of other and nearer sounds, dominating the first, the sound of crackling flames, frequent low, muttered e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, the occasional soft thud and swish of feet running through long gra.s.s, followed by a shout or two which was almost invariably responded to by a low, angry snarl, while the clas.h.i.+ng of horns, the rattling of the trek chain, the almost continuous lowing and moaning of the oxen, the stamping of the horses tethered to the wagon, and the whining of the dogs, indicated the extreme restlessness and uneasiness of the animals. The disturbance was so much greater than usual that d.i.c.k finally felt called upon to investigate. So, rising from his chair, he cast a quick glance at his patient which a.s.sured him that all was well there, and then, raising the flap of the tent, stepped forth into the open air.

The first sight that greeted him was that of about a dozen fires arranged in a circle round about the tiny camp, in the ruddy-yellow, flickering glare of which he saw Mafuta, Jantje, and 'Nkuku flitting hither and thither, tending the fires and feeding them from an enormous stack of thorns and branches piled up near the wagon, while Ramoo Samee, the Indian groom, stood with the horses, talking to them, caressing them, and soothing their excitement by every means in his power. Most of the oxen, instead of lying down, were on their feet, their tails swis.h.i.+ng agitatedly from side to side, their heads turning quickly this way and that, their ears twitching, their nostrils distended, sniffing the air, their hoofs stamping the earth impatiently, while their eyes glowed and shone in the light of the fires, and ever and anon one or another of them would throw up his head and give vent to a low, moaning bellow, which told, as eloquently as words, their state of terror. As for the dogs, they were all huddled together beneath the wagon, s.h.i.+vering with fear, their tails between their legs, and their lips drawn back, revealing their fangs, in a sort of snarling grin. Leo was the only animal who did not seem very greatly perturbed, but even he was awake, and lay crouching at the extreme end of his tether, his eyes lambently aglow, and his tail softly beating the earth now and then.

"Ho there, Mafuta!" called d.i.c.k, as he stood taking in the scene and admiring the generally romantic effect of it all--the glowing fires, the wavering columns of smoke, the uneasy animals, the flitting figures, the great bulk of the wagon with its white canvas tent aglow with the firelight, and the mellow stars raining down their soft radiance; "what is all the disturbance about?"

"Lions, baas," answered the Kafir as he paused for a moment, his arms filled with a great bundle of branches which he was carrying to the fires, and his great bronze body s.h.i.+ning with perspiration; "we are beset by them; and if the fires were allowed to die down they would rush in upon us, and kill or stampede the whole of the oxen and horses. See there--and there--and there," he added, pointing into the darkness beyond the glow of the fires.

d.i.c.k looked, but could at first see nothing, his eyes as yet being dazzled by the light of the flames, but presently, looking in the direction toward which Mafuta pointed, he caught sight of first one pair of greenishyellow orbs, and then another, and another, gleaming out of the darkness, until finally he counted no less than seven pairs of eyes, all intently staring inward. By the flitting to and fro of some of these pairs of eyes d.i.c.k perceived that certain of the lions were regularly making the circuit of the camp, some in one direction, some in the other, apparently searching for an unguarded spot at which they might venture to make a dash; but there were three pairs of eyes that remained stationary, as though their owners were patiently awaiting a signal of some sort. These, d.i.c.k decided, were the most dangerous of their foes, and at the same time the most easy to deal with, because of their immovability; so, returning to the tent he first cast a quick glance at the still soundly sleeping form of Grosvenor. Then he took up his bandolier, threw it over his shoulder and adjusted it in position, seized his rifle and satisfied himself that it was fully loaded, and again made his way outside.

It took a minute or two for his eyes again to adjust themselves to the peculiar conditions of the light, but presently he again caught sight of one of the motionless pairs of eyes, and, sinking upon one knee, he raised his rifle to his shoulder, carefully brought its two sights accurately in line with a point midway between the two glowing orbs, and pressed the trigger. The sharp, whip-like crack of the weapon was answered by several low, snarling growls, and a swis.h.i.+ng of the gra.s.s suggestive of several heavy bodies bounding away through it, while the stationary and moving pairs of eyes vanished, as if by magic; and a minute or two later some four or five of the oxen lay down where they were tethered to the trek chain, with a sigh of obvious relief.

"They are gone, baas," remarked Mafuta, as he again pa.s.sed with more fuel; "but we must keep up the fires; for they are almost certain to come back again. They are young lions who have been driven away from the pool, and not allowed to hunt there by the old ones, and they are hungry. Yes, they will come back again; and you will perhaps have to kill two or three more before they will go away and leave us alone."

"Do you think, then, that I got the fellow I fired at?" demanded d.i.c.k.

"Yes, baas," answered Mafuta with confidence. "I heard the bullet strike. You will find the beast, dead, out there, when the day breaks.

But see, yonder, baas, they are slinking back; there is one pair of eyes over there, and I saw another in that direction--yes, there they are again. Ah! now they are gone--but, look there, baas, see you those two pairs? No, no, do not shoot yet; wait until they come quite close; then--shoot and kill. Where is that _schelm_, Jantje, and why is he not feeding the fires? If they are not kept up we shall yet lose half our oxen!"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE MYSTERIOUS WHITE RACE.

Two more lions fell to d.i.c.k's rifle that night, before the brutes were finally scared out of their projected attack upon the camp; but it was not until the first signs of dawn were paling the eastern sky, and all the mult.i.tudinous sounds in the neighbourhood of the water-hole had long subsided into complete silence, that the watchers felt at liberty to cease their vigil and s.n.a.t.c.h an hour or two of much-needed rest.

Meanwhile, Grosvenor remained completely sunk in the lethargic sleep which had resulted from the saturation of his system with alcohol.

Although the blacks had been up and working hard all night, they were astir again very soon after sunrise; and the first thing they did was to go out and bring into camp the carca.s.ses of the three dead lions, in order that d.i.c.k's eyes might be gladdened by the sight of them upon his emergence from the tent. Then, while Jantje and 'Nkuku loosed the oxen and drove them to the water-hole, Ramoo Samee prepared a couple of cups of strong black coffee, which Mafuta carried into the tent; and as the Kafir looped back the flaps of the entrance, giving admission to a flood of brilliant sunlight and a brisk gush of cool, invigorating air, d.i.c.k stirred uneasily in his hammock, sat up, rubbed his eyes, and exclaimed, sleepily:

"Hillo, Mafuta, surely it is not yet time to turn out, is it? I don't seem to have been asleep more than half a minute." Then his glance fell upon Grosvenor's hammock, and memory instantly returned to him; he sprang to his feet and laid his finger upon his patient's pulse, and as he did so Grosvenor uttered a low groan and, opening his eyes, looked dazedly up into the eyes of the friend who bent over him.

"Hullo, d.i.c.k," he murmured, "that you? I say, old chap," endeavouring to rise, "what the d.i.c.kens is the matter with me? I feel like a--a-- boiled owl; my head is aching as though it would split, and my mouth is as dry as a limekiln. And--look here, old man, why are you holding me down in my hammock like this? Am I not to get up to-day, eh, or--"

"Certainly not, at least not just yet," answered d.i.c.k firmly. "And never mind about your head, or your mouth; what does your leg feel like?

Here, just let me have a look at it." And, gently lifting the limb and pus.h.i.+ng up the leg of the trousers, in which Grosvenor had lain all night, he laid bare the injury. The swelling, although it had not quite disappeared, had subsided so greatly that the limb had once more come to bear some semblance to a human leg, and the livid purple tint had almost faded out, while the cauterised wounds were perfectly dry and healthy in appearance. But when d.i.c.k began to gently pinch and prod the injured member, and to ask: "Does that hurt at all?" it became evident that there was a distinct numbness in the limb, as far up as the knee. But this did not very greatly distress d.i.c.k; all the signs were indicative of the fact that the venom in the blood had been effectually neutralised; and as for the numbness, that would probably pa.s.s off in the course of the day.

"Well, Doctor," said Grosvenor whimsically, "what is your verdict-- favourable, or otherwise? I remember now that I was bitten by a beastly snake, last night, and that you did several things to me that made me feel horribly queer, but I don't quite remember how I got to the tent.

Was the brute venomous?"

"About as venomous as it could well be," answered d.i.c.k. "But you need have no fear," he added, seeing a look of anxiety spring into his patient's eyes; "the danger is quite over; now all that we have to think about is how to cure that headache of yours. And here, just in the nick of time, Mafuta has brought us our coffee. Take your cup and drink it at once; and if in the course of the next half-hour you feel no better, I will mix you a draught. Stop a moment; just look me straight in the eye; yes, that is right; now drink your coffee; it will completely cure your headache, and you will immediately fall asleep, waking again in time for breakfast."

Grosvenor obediently took the cup, drained it, and lay back on his pillow.

"Thanks, old chap," he murmured; "that's good; I--I--feel--" and was asleep.

"That's all right," murmured d.i.c.k meditatively, as his eyes rested upon the other's placid countenance. "Why did not I remember to try that kind of thing last night! It might have helped matters a good deal. Ah well! I'll not forget next time. Now, Mafuta," he continued, turning to the Kafir; "what about the lions? How many did I kill last night?"

"Three, baas," answered Mafuta; "that is to say, two lions and one lioness, all full-grown, but quite young, and in grand condition, their teeth and claws quite perfect."

"Is that so?" queried d.i.c.k. "Then I suppose you have been out to have a look at them?"

"Yes, baas," answered the black; "we went out and brought them in. They are now just outside the tent."

"Very well," said d.i.c.k, draining his coffee. "I will have a look at them. And--what about my bath? I suppose there is no chance of one this morning, eh?"

"Ramoo Samee and I have each brought two buckets of water from the hole, and the _Inkose's_ bath is ready for him when he will," answered Mafuta.

Grosvenor's sleep appeared to have been extraordinarily beneficial, for when he awoke to the rattle of crockery as Mafuta busied himself in the arrangement of the breakfast table, not only was he absolutely free from headache, and all the other unpleasant symptoms of which he had complained two hours earlier, but his general condition was also greatly improved, the swelling of the injured limb had subsided, the flesh had recovered its natural colour, the numb feeling had almost disappeared, and now all that remained to remind him of his disagreeable and perilous adventure of the previous night was the smarting and burning sensation of the cauterised wound itself, which he endured with stoical composure, and indeed laughed at as a trifle not worth wasting words about. But he was fully alive to the frightful nature of the peril from which he had so narrowly escaped, and was so earnest and profuse in his thanks to d.i.c.k for having twice saved his life in the course of a few hours that at length the young medico laughingly threatened to gag him if he did not instantly change the topic of conversation. One of the best signs of his progress towards complete recovery, perhaps, was the voracious appet.i.te which he developed when breakfast was placed upon the table.

But it was not until late in the afternoon that d.i.c.k allowed him to rise from his hammock; then it was only permitted in order that the camp might be moved somewhat farther from the water-hole, with the object of avoiding a recurrence of the annoyances of the preceding night.

By the following morning Grosvenor was practically well again, and, with his injured leg well protected by a bandage, was once more able to mount a horse; the march was therefore resumed, and came to an unadventurous end in a small valley, watered by a tiny brook, as the sun was sinking beneath the western horizon. Thenceforward their progress was steady, averaging about twenty miles a day, for six days a week, Sunday being always observed as a rest day, whenever possible, primarily for the sake of the cattle, it must be confessed, which it was found required at least one day's rest in every seven upon such a prolonged journey as that upon which they were now engaged. The journey was not altogether devoid of adventure, by any means; for upon one occasion they killed no less than five of their oxen through overwork during a hurried flight from the neighbourhood of a devastating gra.s.s fire; they lost three more at one fell swoop while crossing a flooded river; six succ.u.mbed to snake bites; four fell a prey to lions; and seven died of sickness believed to have been induced by the eating of some poisonous plant. But, after all, these were merely the ordinary accidents incidental to travel in the African wilderness, and would need too much s.p.a.ce to be recorded in detail. The natives whom they encountered from time to time during their progress were by no means uniformly friendly, but tact and firmness, coupled with an occasional demonstration of the terribly destructive qualities of their firearms, and a judicious distribution of presents among the chiefs, secured them from actual molestation, though there were times when it seemed to be, figuratively speaking, a toss-up, whether they would or would not have to choose between being turned back or "wiped out."

Indeed now, when they had been continuously journeying for nearly three months since they had turned their backs upon the friendly Makolo nation, and were daily receiving fresh evidence that they were drawing very near to the goal of their long pilgrimage, it was by the merest chance, the most extraordinary caprice of the king into whose country they had penetrated, that they were permitted to live and accorded freedom to pursue their journey unmolested. For the savages among whom they now found themselves seemed to be possessed of an extraordinarily virulent animus, or prejudice--call it which you will--against whiteskins, due, as the travellers eventually discovered, to the fact that a nation of whites inhabited the adjacent territory, between whom and the blacks, who surrounded them on all sides, an implacable enmity had existed as far back as history or even legend extended. From whence those white people had come, or how long they had inhabited the land of which they held such stubborn possession, there was no record to tell; but the grievance of the blacks seemed to consist in the fact that the interlopers--as they chose to regard them--occupied the whole of a peculiarly rich and fertile tract of country from which, though they were relatively few in number, they resolutely refused to be dislodged; while the surrounding territory, occupied by the blacks, was comparatively poor, sterile, and ill-watered, affording an ever more scanty subsistence to the steadily growing population. Also there was a widespread belief, amounting to conviction among the blacks, that their white neighbours were wont to punish such attempts as were made from time to time to drive them out, by putting all prisoners to death in a variety of peculiarly hideous forms--although it was by no means clear how this belief arose, since no prisoners ever returned to throw any light upon the subject.

It is not, perhaps, greatly to be wondered at if, under such circ.u.mstances, the blacks had gradually come to regard the possessor of a white skin as the incarnation of everything that was superlatively detestable, and a person to be destroyed promptly with as little hesitation or compunction as one would destroy a particularly venomous snake; and such was the feeling which Grosvenor and d.i.c.k inspired in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of those natives in whose hands they found themselves upon a certain memorable day. It was at first proposed to put them to the torture _sans ceremonie_; but a certain petty chief, anxious to curry favour with the king, intervened in the nick of time, and, having made prisoners of the entire party, sent the whole of them, including the wagon, oxen, horses, and animals generally, to the king's village, in order that His Majesty might have his full share of such sport as the torture of the white men might furnish. This journey, however, occupied five days, during the progress of which the two white men proved to be so different in every respect from the only other white men whom the blacks had ever encountered, to be possessed of such strange powers, and to be, generally, such "kittle cattle" to deal with, that the king, learning that these strangers were bent upon entering the territory of his white neighbours, ultimately came to the somewhat cynical conclusion that he could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, by allowing the formidable strangers to go their way and inflict the maximum amount of annoyance and damage upon his especial enemies before those enemies in their turn destroyed the unwelcome visitors.