Adventures of Hans Sterk Part 18

"There are plenty since then," replied Hans. "See, your stock is covered with cuts."

"Yes, I've made the old gun do her duty. She has tried her hand at several kinds of things, and has settled Amakosa, Zulus, and all; and what do you think besides, Hans?"

"Lions in numbers, I suppose."

"Yes, that is true; but this one mark is for a white man. Not for a true Africander, but an English-Dutch fellow. This gun shot him, and well he deserved it."

"How was that?" inquired all the party, to whom the information was news.

"I'll tell you here, for we are friends; but don't mention it again, for few people know it, and I might not be liked by some people for having done what I did, though in my heart I feel I was right, and according to the laws of war I was right; still I don't want it talked about. Have I all your promises?"

"Yes," was the universal reply.

"Well, then, it was when the Amakosa had been beaten back from Graham's Town, that I, who was in the town at the time, saw a fellow half clothed among the Kaffirs. I watched this fellow for some time, and when the Kaffirs rushed on and fought bravely, this fellow stayed behind, and only urged them on. The more I looked, the more certain I was that the fellow was a white man, rubbed over with something to disguise his skin; but I knew the walk and look of the fellow, and fancied if I should see him again, I should know him. We beat the Kaffirs off, as you know, and they lost hundreds in the battle. I stayed in Graham's Town for some days, but was going down to Algoa Bay in a short time, when, as I was going to a store, who should I see before me but a fellow whose walk I could swear to. It was the fellow I'd seen with the Kaffirs.

"He walked on and turned into the store, so I followed him, and found him buying powder and lead. I waited till he had gone, when I inquired of the owner of the store who he was.

"'He's an officer's servant,' said the owner.

"'Have you ever seen him before?' I asked.

"'Never,' he replied; 'but he told me he was an officer's servant.'

"I bought what I wanted, and then went out, and seeing the man walking on before me, I quickened my pace, went to my house, got my gun, and traced him to a low Hottentot house. Having seen him housed, I suspected at once he would wait there till dark, and then go off somewhere; so I set watch, and sure enough it was no sooner dark than out he came, and walked right away out of the town, and away over the hills.

"I followed him cautiously, but more than once he stopped to listen; but I was as cute as he was, and dropped on the ground immediately he stopped, so that he could not see me, and then on we went again. As it got darker, I followed by the sound, and kept rather closer; but this wasn't very safe work, for if he had liked he might just have waited behind a bush till I came up, and then shot me or stabbed me; but I was very careful, and as long as he kept to the open country I felt I was a match for him. After a while, though, he struck into the bush, and took a narrow path, and then I thought it wouldn't do to follow him, for he would be sure to hear me if I kept close enough to hear him; so I reluctantly gave up, but I had seen enough to make me suspicious.

"I now thought of returning, and should have done so at once, but determined now I was so far off to wait a bit, and see what might happen; so taking shelter under a bush, I sat down on watch. I hadn't sat long before I saw a gleam of fire away in the bush towards where the man had gone, and this shone out pretty clearly. 'That's your camping-ground, my man,' I said, 'and I'll have a trial to find out what your company is.' I determined to creep up near enough to this fire to see what was going on, and started at once. I had to walk a good mile before I came near the fire, and then I crawled along on all fours till I got a view of the fire. I was sorry for myself when I found where I was, for I saw nearly fifty Kaffirs, some of them wounded, and all of them armed with a.s.sagies or muskets, and with them was the man I'd seen in the town. He was giving the chief Kaffir some powder, and seemed well-known among them. I think I could have shot the fellow from where I was, but I knew I should be a.s.sagied to a certainty if I did; so marking all I saw, I crawled back again, and off I went to Graham's Town.

"The next day I went to the store-man, and told him what I had seen.

"'If that blackguard comes here again, then,' said the man, 'I'll have him taken, and it's death to sell ammunition to the Kaffirs.'

"'He fought against us, too,' said I; 'that I can swear to.'

"'He must be a deserter from some regiment,' said the store-man, 'for he is just like a soldier in all his ways.'

"Two or three weeks after this I was out looking about Graham's Town for some pouw [a bustard], for they came there sometimes, when, in a bush path, who should I see just coming close to me but the deserter and spy!

He'd got a gun, a single-barrelled one, and seemed looking out for game. Forgetting the risk I ran in my eagerness, and never thinking whether he might not have a lot of Kaffirs with him, I said, 'You're a Kaffir spy and deserter; you come into Graham's Town with me.'

"'I'm a spy, am I?' said the fellow; 'and who the d--l are you?'

"As he said this, I saw him c.o.c.k his gun, which he still held at his side, and bring the muzzle round towards me.

"'Turn your gun the other way,' I said, 'or I'll fire!'

"'Fire, then!' said the Schelm [rascal], as he raised his gun and aimed at me.

"The gun hung fire a little, I think, or quick as I was he'd have hit me; but I jumped on one side behind a bush, and then back again, so as not to give him a steady shot. Bang went the gun, and whiz went the bullet I think it struck a branch, and thus turned; any way it missed me. The fellow was off like a duiker [the duiker is a small, quick antelope], but he'd an old hunter to deal with. I caught sight of him as he jumped, and he never got up again when he came to the ground. I didn't care to meddle with him, for I didn't know who might be near him.

I knew I'd saved a court-martial some trouble, and a file of soldiers some ammunition, so I reported at Graham's Town what I had done. A party went out at once, but they found the body stripped, and the man's musket gone, and no one could identify him except the owner of the store, and a Hottentot woman, who said he had been a soldier, but had been supposed to have left the colony long ago. The Hottentots in the house where I had seen him said he had come there to get a light to light his pipe, and sat talking with them till it was dark. This might or might not have been true, but he never fought against his white countrymen again, nor did he sell any more ammunition. This long notch is for him, and I think I did my duty to my fellow-men when I shot that fellow, who would have murdered me if he could have shot quick enough, as well as aid those rascally Kaffirs against us."

"I have always heard there were deserters from the English soldiers who aided the Kaffirs in this outbreak," said Hans, "and it seems your man was one of them."

"Yes, there were several deserters among the Kaffirs, but, as is usually the case, they received very rough treatment at the hands of their new friends, who, knowing that they dared not leave them or rejoin the English, made them work like slaves."

"Do you think," inquired Hans, "that the Amakosa Kaffirs fought as bravely when they attacked Graham's Town as the Zulus have done lately against us?"

"Yes, I think they did. All savages fight well; there is no want of courage amongst them; and when they are a.s.sured by their prophets that bullets won't touch them, and a.s.sagies will be blunted against them, they will fight like demons, and will rush up to the very muzzles of the guns without fear or hesitation. The Amakosa, however, fear the Zulus, and have an idea that the Zulu is brave and very strong. This is because the Zulus drove the Fetcani down the country from the East, and the Fetcani, taking a lesson from the Zulus, drove the Amakosa Kaffirs before them, so that the latter sought the aid of the English against these invaders, whom they then defeated."

"Most of those who now claim portions of the country seem to have won it from some one weaker than themselves," said Hans. "We lost the country we had won, and the Kaffirs seem to have lost their country, or a great part of it. I hope we shall never lose Natal."

"Natal is too far away to make people anxious for it," replied Hofman; "though if people knew how fine a place it was, they would come to it from many parts of the world. I wonder the Portuguese never took possession of it, as they have Delagoa Bay close to it."

"They have enough land there, and don't want more, so I have heard,"

replied Hofman. "They send parties to hunt elephants near this. Did you see any spoor to-day, or do you think your elephants had been hunted lately?"

"No, my elephants knew what a gun was, but they did not seem disposed to trouble themselves much about it; for though they ran at first, they soon stopped again, and I thus shot my first elephant on foot."

"To-morrow we will collect our ivory, and we must search for fresh game, for the elephants will trek from here. We shall have much work, so we will do well to sleep now."

With this parting advice Hofman made his brief arrangements for sleeping, a proceeding that was followed by all the other hunters, and the camp was soon in a state of repose. The horses were fastened to the waggon wheels, the oxen tied to stakes driven into the ground, and thus prevented from straying or wandering where they might tempt a hungry lion or hyena, and with but few exceptions every human being slept, for hunters sleep lightly even when tired, and the oxen or horses soon give an alarm, should any danger threaten.

By the aid of their Hottentots and Kaffirs, the hunters had cut out all the tusks from their elephants by mid-day, and these being carried to the waggons, were placed therein, each owner's mark being cut on the tusk. After a hasty meal, it was decided to hunt during the afternoon, and return before sundown to a new outspanning-place which had been agreed upon. Some very likely-looking ground was seen from a hill, and which lay in the north-easterly direction. This country was not at all known by the hunters, and, in fact, to this day it is not well explored.

Two parties were formed, one of which was to take the more easterly direction, and then to return by a southerly course; the other to take the more northerly, and return by a westerly and southerly course. Thus the whole country would be hunted thoroughly. Hans and his two companions took the more easterly course, the companions on this occasion being Bernhard and Victor.

"I know we shall get ivory down by that dark-looking forest," said Victor, as he pointed to a distant slope on which were ma.s.ses of trees.

"Elephants will be found there, if there are any about."

"It looks good elephant ground," said Hans; "and it will be well to try it. There is none better looking round about."

"It was unlucky you lost your far-seer, Hans; that would have told us what game there was about us."

"Yes, it was unlucky; but let us dismount, and let our horses feed awhile, whilst we look closely over the country. I can recognise an elephant a long way off, if I take my time in looking."

The hunters dismounted, and knee-haltering their horses, sat quietly examining the distant country for several minutes.

"I can see an elephant," at length said Hans. "Come, Victor, your eyes are good; look in a line with that distant pointed tree; look at that third cl.u.s.ter of forest trees, and on the right side there is an elephant. Watch, and you will see him move."

"I see him now you have pointed him out, but I could not say it was an elephant; it might be a buffalo or rhinoster."

"No, an elephant is more square than either, and does not look so pointed; it is an elephant, too, by the way it turns. We shall have more sport to-day, but it will be a long ride to get to those elephants.

We ought to drive them this way, and therefore ought to go round from the other side, and that will make our ride six miles at least; so we had better let them feed well now. They will be quite fit for a gallop after a six-miles' canter, though they are full of gra.s.s."

"The country would be fine for elephant shooting about here. The loose sharp stones damage their feet, and they would rush from clump to clump of wood, so that between them we should get shots from the saddle; don't you think so, Hans?" asked Bernhard.

"Yes, we should be very successful here, and I think our trip altogether will be a lucky one. When we return, we shall have plenty of dollars'

worth of ivory, and I shall then be quiet for a while."