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diff --git a/old/qstry10.txt b/old/qstry10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..40082e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/qstry10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,990 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Hunter Quatermain's Story, by Haggard +#15 in our series by H. Rider Haggard + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz +Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com + + + + + +HUNTER QUATERMAIN'S STORY + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +Sir Henry Curtis, as everybody acquainted with him knows, is one of +the most hospitable men on earth. It was in the course of the +enjoyment of his hospitality at his place in Yorkshire the other day +that I heard the hunting story which I am now about to transcribe. +Many of those who read it will no doubt have heard some of the strange +rumours that are flying about to the effect that Sir Henry Curtis and +his friend Captain Good, R.N., recently found a vast treasure of +diamonds out in the heart of Africa, supposed to have been hidden by +the Egyptians, or King Solomon, or some other antique people. I first +saw the matter alluded to in a paragraph in one of the society papers +the day before I started for Yorkshire to pay my visit to Curtis, and +arrived, needless to say, burning with curiosity; for there is +something very fascinating to the mind in the idea of hidden treasure. +When I reached the Hall, I at once asked Curtis about it, and he did +not deny the truth of the story; but on my pressing him to tell it he +would not, nor would Captain Good, who was also staying in the house. + +"You would not believe me if I did," Sir Henry said, with one of the +hearty laughs which seem to come right out of his great lungs. "You +must wait till Hunter Quatermain comes; he will arrive here from +Africa to-night, and I am not going to say a word about the matter, or +Good either, until he turns up. Quatermain was with us all through; he +has known about the business for years and years, and if it had not +been for him we should not have been here to-day. I am going to meet +him presently." + +I could not get a word more out of him, nor could anybody else, though +we were all dying of curiosity, especially some of the ladies. I shall +never forget how they looked in the drawing-room before dinner when +Captain Good produced a great rough diamond, weighing fifty carats or +more, and told them that he had many larger than that. If ever I saw +curiosity and envy printed on fair faces, I saw them then. + +It was just at this moment that the door was opened, and Mr. Allan +Quatermain announced, whereupon Good put the diamond into his pocket, +and sprang at a little man who limped shyly into the room, convoyed by +Sir Henry Curtis himself. + +"Here he is, Good, safe and sound," said Sir Henry, gleefully. "Ladies +and gentlemen, let me introduce you to one of the oldest hunters and +the very best shot in Africa, who has killed more elephants and lions +than any other man alive." + +Everybody turned and stared politely at the curious-looking little +lame man, and though his size was insignificant, he was quite worth +staring at. He had short grizzled hair, which stood about an inch +above his head like the bristles of a brush, gentle brown eyes, that +seemed to notice everything, and a withered face, tanned to the colour +of mahogany from exposure to the weather. He spoke, too, when he +returned Good's enthusiastic greeting, with a curious little accent, +which made his speech noticeable. + +It so happened that I sat next to Mr. Allan Quatermain at dinner, and, +of course, did my best to draw him; but he was not to be drawn. He +admitted that he had recently been a long journey into the interior of +Africa with Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and that they had found +treasure, and then politely turned the subject and began to ask me +questions about England, where he had never been before--that is, +since he came to years of discretion. Of course, I did not find this +very interesting, and so cast about for some means to bring the +conversation round again. + +Now, we were dining in an oak-panelled vestibule, and on the wall +opposite to me were fixed two gigantic elephant tusks, and under them +a pair of buffalo horns, very rough and knotted, showing that they +came off an old bull, and having the tip of one horn split and +chipped. I noticed that Hunter Quatermain's eyes kept glancing at +these trophies, and took an occasion to ask him if he knew anything +about them. + +"I ought to," he answered, with a little laugh; "the elephant to which +those tusks belonged tore one of our party right in two about eighteen +months ago, and as for the buffalo horns, they were nearly my death, +and were the end of a servant of mine to whom I was much attached. I +gave them to Sir Henry when he left Natal some months ago;" and Mr. +Quatermain sighed and turned to answer a question from the lady whom +he had taken down to dinner, and who, needless to say, was also +employed in trying to pump him about the diamonds. + +Indeed, all round the table there was a simmer of scarcely suppressed +excitement, which, when the servants had left the room, could no +longer be restrained. + +"Now, Mr. Quatermain," said the lady next him, "we have been kept in +an agony of suspense by Sir Henry and Captain Good, who have +persistently refused to tell us a word of this story about the hidden +treasure till you came, and we simply can bear it no longer; so, +please, begin at once." + +"Yes," said everybody, "go on, please." + +Hunter Quatermain glanced round the table apprehensively; he did not +seem to appreciate finding himself the object of so much curiosity. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he said at last, with a shake of his grizzled +head, "I am very sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot do it. It is +this way. At the request of Sir Henry and Captain Good I have written +down a true and plain account of King Solomon's Mines and how we found +them, so you will soon be able to learn all about that wonderful +adventure for yourselves; but until then I will say nothing about it, +not from any wish to disappoint your curiosity, or to make myself +important, but simply because the whole story partakes so much of the +marvellous, that I am afraid to tell it in a piecemeal, hasty fashion, +for fear I should be set down as one of those common fellows of whom +there are so many in my profession, who are not ashamed to narrate +things they have not seen, and even to tell wonderful stories about +wild animals they have never killed. And I think that my companions in +adventure, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, will bear me out in what +I say." + +"Yes, Quatermain, I think you are quite right," said Sir Henry. +"Precisely the same considerations have forced Good and myself to hold +our tongues. We did not wish to be bracketed with--well, with other +famous travellers." + +There was a murmur of disappointment at these announcements. + +"I believe you are all hoaxing us," said the young lady next Mr. +Quatermain, rather sharply. + +"Believe me," answered the old hunter, with a quaint courtesy and a +little bow of his grizzled head; "though I have lived all my life in +the wilderness, and amongst savages, I have neither the heart, nor the +want of manners, to wish to deceive one so lovely." + +Whereat the young lady, who was pretty, looked appeased. + +"This is very dreadful," I broke in. "We ask for bread and you give us +a stone, Mr. Quatermain. The least that you can do is to tell us the +story of the tusks opposite and the buffalo horns underneath. We won't +let you off with less." + +"I am but a poor story-teller," put in the old hunter, "but if you +will forgive my want of skill, I shall be happy to tell you, not the +story of the tusks, for that is part of the history of our journey to +King Solomon's Mines, but that of the buffalo horns beneath them, +which is now ten years old." + +"Bravo, Quatermain!" said Sir Henry. "We shall all be delighted. Fire +away! Fill up your glass first." + +The little man did as he was bid, took a sip of claret, and began:-- +"About ten years ago I was hunting up in the far interior of Africa, +at a place called Gatgarra, not a great way from the Chobe River. I +had with me four native servants, namely, a driver and voorlooper, or +leader, who were natives of Matabeleland, a Hottentot named Hans, who +had once been the slave of a Transvaal Boer, and a Zulu hunter, who +for five years had accompanied me upon my trips, and whose name was +Mashune. Now near Gatgarra I found a fine piece of healthy, park-like +country, where the grass was very good, considering the time of year; +and here I made a little camp or head-quarter settlement, from whence +I went expeditions on all sides in search of game, especially +elephant. My luck, however, was bad; I got but little ivory. I was +therefore very glad when some natives brought me news that a large +herd of elephants were feeding in a valley about thirty miles away. At +first I thought of trekking down to the valley, waggon and all, but +gave up the idea on hearing that it was infested with the deadly +'tsetse' fly, which is certain death to all animals, except men, +donkeys, and wild game. So I reluctantly determined to leave the +waggon in the charge of the Matabele leader and driver, and to start +on a trip into the thorn country, accompanied only by the Hottentot +Hans, and Mashune. + +"Accordingly on the following morning we started, and on the evening +of the next day reached the spot where the elephants were reported to +be. But here again we were met by ill luck. That the elephants had +been there was evident enough, for their spoor was plentiful, and so +were other traces of their presence in the shape of mimosa trees torn +out of the ground, and placed topsy-turvy on their flat crowns, in +order to enable the great beasts to feed on their sweet roots; but the +elephants themselves were conspicuous by their absence. They had +elected to move on. This being so, there was only one thing to do, and +that was to move after them, which we did, and a pretty hunt they led +us. For a fortnight or more we dodged about after those elephants, +coming up with them on two occasions, and a splendid herd they were-- +only, however, to lose them again. At length we came up with them a +third time, and I managed to shoot one bull, and then they started off +again, where it was useless to try and follow them. After this I gave +it up in disgust, and we made the best of our way back to the camp, +not in the sweetest of tempers, carrying the tusks of the elephant I +had shot. + + + +"It was on the afternoon of the fifth day of our tramp that we reached +the little koppie overlooking the spot where the waggon stood, and I +confess that I climbed it with a pleasurable sense of home-coming, for +his waggon is the hunter's home, as much as his house is that of the +civilized person. I reached the top of the koppie, and looked in the +direction where the friendly white tent of the waggon should be, but +there was no waggon, only a black burnt plain stretching away as far +as the eye could reach. I rubbed my eyes, looked again, and made out +on the spot of the camp, not my waggon, but some charred beams of +wood. Half wild with grief and anxiety, followed by Hans and Mashune, +I ran at full speed down the slope of the koppie, and across the space +of plain below to the spring of water, where my camp had been. I was +soon there, only to find that my worst suspicions were confirmed. + +"The waggon and all its contents, including my spare guns and +ammunition, had been destroyed by a grass fire. + +"Now before I started, I had left orders with the driver to burn off +the grass round the camp, in order to guard against accidents of this +nature, and here was the reward of my folly: a very proper +illustration of the necessity, especially where natives are concerned, +of doing a thing one's self if one wants it done at all. Evidently the +lazy rascals had not burnt round the waggon; most probably, indeed, +they had themselves carelessly fired the tall and resinous tambouki +grass near by; the wind had driven the flames on to the waggon tent, +and there was quickly an end of the matter. As for the driver and +leader, I know not what became of them: probably fearing my anger, +they bolted, taking the oxen with them. I have never seen them from +that hour to this. + +"I sat down on the black veldt by the spring, and gazed at the charred +axles and disselboom of my waggon, and I can assure you, ladies and +gentlemen, I felt inclined to weep. As for Mashune and Hans they +cursed away vigorously, one in Zulu and the other in Dutch. Ours was a +pretty position. We were nearly 300 miles away from Bamangwato, the +capital of Khama's country, which was the nearest spot where we could +get any help, and our ammunition, spare guns, clothing, food, and +everything else, were all totally destroyed. I had just what I stood +in, which was a flannel shirt, a pair of 'veldt-schoons,' or shoes of +raw hide, my eight-bore rifle, and a few cartridges. Hans and Mashune +had also each a Martini rifle and some cartridges, not many. And it +was with this equipment that we had to undertake a journey of 300 +miles through a desolate and almost uninhabited region. I can assure +you that I have rarely been in a worse position, and I have been in +some queer ones. However, these things are the natural incidents of a +hunter's life, and the only thing to do was to make the best of them. + +"Accordingly, after passing a comfortless night by the remains of my +waggon, we started next morning on our long journey towards +civilization. Now if I were to set to work to tell you all the +troubles and incidents of that dreadful journey I should keep you +listening here till midnight; so I will, with your permission, pass on +to the particular adventure of which the pair of buffalo horns +opposite are the melancholy memento. + +"We had been travelling for about a month, living and getting along as +best we could, when one evening we camped some forty miles from +Bamangwato. By this time we were indeed in a melancholy plight, +footsore, half starved, and utterly worn out; and, in addition, I was +suffering from a sharp attack of fever, which half blinded me and made +me weak as a babe. Our ammunition, too, was exhausted; I had only one +cartridge left for my eight-bore rifle, and Hans and Mashune, who were +armed with Martini Henrys, had three between them. It was about an +hour from sundown when we halted and lit a fire--for luckily we had +still a few matches. It was a charming spot to camp, I remember. Just +off the game track we were following was a little hollow, fringed +about with flat-crowned mimosa trees, and at the bottom of the hollow, +a spring of clear water welled up out of the earth, and formed a pool, +round the edges of which grew an abundance of watercresses of an +exactly similar kind to those which were handed round the table just +now. Now we had no food of any kind left, having that morning devoured +the last remains of a little oribé antelope, which I had shot two days +previously. Accordingly Hans, who was a better shot than Mashune, took +two of the three remaining Martini cartridges, and started out to see +if he could not kill a buck for supper. I was too weak to go myself. + +"Meanwhile Mashune employed himself in dragging together some dead +boughs from the mimosa trees to make a sort of 'skerm,' or shelter for +us to sleep in, about forty yards from the edge of the pool of water. +We had been greatly troubled with lions in the course of our long +tramp, and only on the previous night have very nearly been attacked +by them, which made me nervous, especially in my weak state. Just as +we had finished the skerm, or rather something which did duty for one, +Mashune and I heard a shot apparently fired about a mile away. + +"'Hark to it!' sung out Mashune in Zulu, more, I fancy, by way of +keeping his spirits up than for any other reason--for he was a sort of +black Mark Tapley, and very cheerful under difficulties. 'Hark to the +wonderful sound with which the "Maboona" (the Boers) shook our fathers +to the ground at the Battle of the Blood River. We are hungry now, my +father; our stomachs are small and withered up like a dried ox's +paunch, but they will soon be full of good meat. Hans is a Hottentot, +and an "umfagozan," that is, a low fellow, but he shoots straight--ah! +he certainly shoots straight. Be of a good heart, my father, there +will soon be meat upon the fire, and we shall rise up men.' + +"And so he went on talking nonsense till I told him to stop, because +he made my head ache with his empty words. + +"Shortly after we heard the shot the sun sank in his red splendour, +and there fell upon earth and sky the great hush of the African +wilderness. The lions were not up as yet, they would probably wait for +the moon, and the birds and beasts were all at rest. I cannot describe +the intensity of the quiet of the night: to me in my weak state, and +fretting as I was over the non-return of the Hottentot Hans, it seemed +almost ominous--as though Nature were brooding over some tragedy which +was being enacted in her sight. + +"It was quiet--quiet as death, and lonely as the grave. + +"'Mashune,' I said at last, 'where is Hans? my heart is heavy for +him.' + +"'Nay, my father, I know not; mayhap he is weary, and sleeps, or +mayhap he has lost his way.' + +"'Mashune, art thou a boy to talk folly to me?' I answered. 'Tell me, +in all the years thou hast hunted by my side, didst thou ever know a +Hottentot to lose his path or to sleep upon the way to camp?' + +"'Nay, Macumazahn' (that, ladies, is my native name, and means the man +who 'gets up by night,' or who 'is always awake'), 'I know not where +he is.' + +"But though we talked thus, we neither of us liked to hint at what was +in both our minds, namely, that misfortunate had overtaken the poor +Hottentot. + +"'Mashune,' I said at last, 'go down to the water and bring me of +those green herbs that grow there. I am hungered, and must eat +something.' + +"'Nay, my father; surely the ghosts are there; they come out of the +water at night, and sit upon the banks to dry themselves. An +Isanusi[*] told it me.' + +[*] /Isanusi/, witch-finder. + +"Mashune was, I think, one of the bravest men I ever knew in the +daytime, but he had a more than civilized dread of the supernatural. + +"'Must I go myself, thou fool?' I said, sternly. + +"'Nay, Macumazahn, if thy heart yearns for strange things like a sick +woman, I go, even if the ghosts devour me.' + +"And accordingly he went, and soon returned with a large bundle of +watercresses, of which I ate greedily. + +"'Art thou not hungry?' I asked the great Zulu presently, as he sat +eyeing me eating. + +"'Never was I hungrier, my father.' + +"'Then eat,' and I pointed to the watercresses. + +"'Nay, Macumazahn, I cannot eat those herbs.' + +"'If thou dost not eat thou wilt starve: eat, Mashune.' + +"He stared at the watercresses doubtfully for a while, and at last +seized a handful and crammed them into his mouth, crying out as he did +so, 'Oh, why was I born that I should live to feed on green weeds like +an ox? Surely if my mother could have known it she would have killed +me when I was born!' and so he went on lamenting between each fistful +of watercresses till all were finished, when he declared that he was +full indeed of stuff, but it lay very cold on his stomach, 'like snow +upon a mountain.' At any other time I should have laughed, for it must +be admitted he had a ludicrous way of putting things. Zulus do not +like green food. + +"Just after Mashune had finished his watercress, we heard the loud +'woof! woof!' of a lion, who was evidently promenading much nearer to +our little skerm than was pleasant. Indeed, on looking into the +darkness and listening intently, I could hear his snoring breath, and +catch the light of his great yellow eyes. We shouted loudly, and +Mashune threw some sticks on the fire to frighten him, which +apparently had the desired effect, for we saw no more of him for a +while. + +"Just after we had had this fright from the lion, the moon rose in her +fullest splendour, throwing a robe of silver light over all the earth. +I have rarely seen a more beautiful moonrise. I remember that sitting +in the skerm I could with ease read faint pencil notes in my pocket- +book. As soon as the moon was up game began to trek down to the water +just below us. I could, from where I sat, see all sorts of them +passing along a little ridge that ran to our right, on their way to +the drinking place. Indeed, one buck--a large eland--came within +twenty yards of the skerm, and stood at gaze, staring at it +suspiciously, his beautiful head and twisted horns standing out +clearly against the sky. I had, I recollect, every mind to have a pull +at him on the chance of providing ourselves with a good supply of +beef; but remembering that we had but two cartridges left, and the +extreme uncertainty of a shot by moonlight, I at length decided to +refrain. The eland presently moved on to the water, and a minute or +two afterwards there arose a great sound of splashing, followed by the +quick fall of galloping hoofs. + +"'What's that, Mashune?' I asked. + +"'That dam lion; buck smell him,' replied the Zulu in English, of +which he had a very superficial knowledge. + +"Scarcely were the words out of his mouth before we heard a sort of +whine over the other side of the pool, which was instantly answered by +a loud coughing roar close to us. + +"'By Jove!' I said, 'there are two of them. They have lost the buck; +we must look out they don't catch us.' And again we made up the fire, +and shouted, with the result that the lions moved off. + +"'Mashune,' I said, 'do you watch till the moon gets over that tree, +when it will be the middle of the night. Then wake me. Watch well, +now, or the lions will be picking those worthless bones of yours +before you are three hours older. I must rest a little, or I shall +die.' + +"'Koos!' (chief), answered the Zulu. 'Sleep, my father, sleep in +peace; my eyes shall be open as the stars; and like the stars watch +over you.' + +"Although I was so weak, I could not at once follow his advice. To +begin with, my head ached with fever, and I was torn with anxiety as +to the fate of the Hottentot Hans; and, indeed, as to our own fate, +left with sore feet, empty stomachs, and two cartridges, to find our +way to Bamangwato, forty miles off. Then the mere sensation of knowing +that there are one or more hungry lions prowling round you somewhere +in the dark is disquieting, however well one may be used to it, and, +by keeping the attention on the stretch, tends to prevent one from +sleeping. In addition to all these troubles, too, I was, I remember, +seized with a dreadful longing for a pipe of tobacco, whereas, under +the circumstances, I might as well have longed for the moon. + + +"At last, however, I fell into an uneasy sleep as full of bad dreams +as a prickly pear is of points, one of which, I recollect, was that I +was setting my naked foot upon a cobra which rose upon its tail and +hissed my name, 'Macumazahn,' into my ear. Indeed, the cobra hissed +with such persistency that at last I roused myself. + +"'/Macumazahn, nanzia, nanzia!/' (there, there!) whispered Mashune's +voice into my drowsy ears. Raising myself, I opened my eyes, and I saw +Mashune kneeling by my side and pointing towards the water. Following +the line of his outstretched hand, my eyes fell upon a sight that made +me jump, old hunter as I was even in those days. About twenty paces +from the little skerm was a large ant-heap, and on the summit of the +ant-heap, her four feet rather close together, so as to find standing +space, stood the massive form of a big lioness. Her head was towards +the skerm, and in the bright moonlight I saw her lower it and lick her +paws. + +"Mashune thrust the Martini rifle into my hands, whispering that it +was loaded. I lifted it and covered the lioness, but found that even +in that light I could not make out the foresight of the Martini. As it +would be madness to fire without doing so, for the result would +probably be that I should wound the lioness, if, indeed, I did not +miss her altogether, I lowered the rifle; and, hastily tearing a +fragment of paper from one of the leaves of my pocket-book, which I +had been consulting just before I went to sleep, I proceeded to fix it +on to the front sight. But all this took a little time, and before the +paper was satisfactorily arranged, Mashune again gripped me by the +arm, and pointed to a dark heap under the shade of a small mimosa tree +which grew not more than ten paces from the skerm. + +"'Well, what is it?' I whispered; 'I can see nothing.' + +"'It is another lion,' he answered. + +"'Nonsense! thy heart is dead with fear, thou seest double;' and I +bent forward over the edge of the surrounding fence, and stared at the +heap. + +"Even as I said the words, the dark mass rose and stalked out into the +moonlight. It was a magnificent, black-maned lion, one of the largest +I had ever seen. When he had gone two or three steps he caught sight +of me, halted, and stood there gazing straight towards us;--he was so +close that I could see the firelight reflected in his wicked, greenish +eyes. + +"'Shoot, shoot!' said Mashune. 'The devil is coming--he is going to +spring!' + +"I raised the rifle, and got the bit of paper on the foresight, +straight on to a little path of white hair just where the throat is +set into the chest and shoulders. As I did so, the lion glanced back +over his shoulder, as, according to my experience, a lion nearly +always does before he springs. Then he dropped his body a little, and +I saw his big paws spread out upon the ground as he put his weight on +them to gather purchase. In haste I pressed the trigger of the +Martini, and not a moment too soon; for, as I did so, he was in the +act of springing. The report of the rifle rang out sharp and clear on +the intense silence of the night, and in another second the great +brute had landed on his head within four feet of us, and rolling over +and over towards us, was sending the bushes which composed our little +fence flying with convulsive strokes of his great paws. We sprang out +of the other side of the 'skerm,' and he rolled on to it and into it +and then right through the fire. Next he raised himself and sat upon +his haunches like a great dog, and began to roar. Heavens! how he +roared! I never heard anything like it before or since. He kept +filling his lungs with air, and then emitting it in the most heart- +shaking volumes of sound. Suddenly, in the middle of one of the +loudest roars, he rolled over on to his side and lay still, and I knew +that he was dead. A lion generally dies upon his side. + +"With a sigh of relief I looked up towards his mate upon the ant-heap. +She was standing there apparently petrified with astonishment, looking +over her shoulder, and lashing her tail; but to our intense joy, when +the dying beast ceased roaring, she turned, and, with one enormous +bound, vanished into the night. + +"Then we advanced cautiously towards the prostrate brute, Mashune +droning an improvised Zulu song as he went, about how Macumazahn, the +hunter of hunters, whose eyes are open by night as well as by day, put +his hand down the lion's stomach when it came to devour him and pulled +out his heart by the roots, &c., &c., by way of expressing his +satisfaction, in his hyperbolical Zulu way, at the turn events had +taken. + +"There was no need for caution; the lion was as dead as though he had +already been stuffed with straw. The Martini bullet had entered within +an inch of the white spot I had aimed at, and travelled right through +him, passing out at the right buttock, near the root of the tail. The +Martini has wonderful driving power, though the shock it gives to the +system is, comparatively speaking, slight, owing to the smallness of +the hole it makes. But fortunately the lion is an easy beast to kill. + +"I passed the rest of that night in a profound slumber, my head +reposing upon the deceased lion's flank, a position that had, I +thought, a beautiful touch of irony about it, though the smell of his +singed hair was disagreeable. When I woke again the faint primrose +lights of dawn were flushing in the eastern sky. For a moment I could +not understand the chill sense of anxiety that lay like a lump of ice +at my heart, till the feel and smell of the skin of the dead lion +beneath my head recalled the circumstances in which we were placed. I +rose, and eagerly looked round to see if I could discover any signs of +Hans, who, if he had escaped accident, would surely return to us at +dawn, but there were none. Then hope grew faint, and I felt that it +was not well with the poor fellow. Setting Mashune to build up the +fire I hastily removed the hide from the flank of the lion, which was +indeed a splendid beast, and cutting off some lumps of flesh, we +toasted and ate them greedily. Lions' flesh, strange as it may seem, +is very good eating, and tastes more like veal than anything else. + +"By the time we had finished our much-needed meal the sun was getting +up, and after a drink of water and a wash at the pool, we started to +try and find Hans, leaving the dead lion to the tender mercies of the +hyænas. Both Mashune and myself were, by constant practice, pretty +good hands at tracking, and we had not much difficulty in following +the Hottentot's spoor, faint as it was. We had gone on in this way for +half-an-hour or so, and were, perhaps, a mile or more from the site of +our camping-place, when we discovered the spoor of a solitary bull +buffalo mixed up with the spoor of Hans, and were able, from various +indications, to make out that he had been tracking the buffalo. At +length we reached a little glade in which there grew a stunted old +mimosa thorn, with a peculiar and overhanging formation of root, under +which a porcupine, or an ant-bear, or some such animal, had hollowed +out a wide-lipped hole. About ten or fifteen paces from this thorn- +tree there was a thick patch of bush. + +"'See, Macumazahn! see!' said Mashune, excitedly, as we drew near the +thorn; 'the buffalo has charged him. Look, here he stood to fire at +him; see how firmly he planted his feet upon the earth; there is the +mark of his crooked toe (Hans had one bent toe). Look! here the bull +came like a boulder down the hill, his hoofs turning up the earth like +a hoe. Hans had hit him: he bled as he came; there are the blood +spots. It is all written down there, my father--there upon the earth.' + +"'Yes,' I said; 'yes; but /where is Hans?/' + +"Even as I said it Mashune clutched my arm, and pointed to the stunted +thorn just by us. Even now, gentlemen, it makes me feel sick when I +think of what I saw. + +"For fixed in a stout fork of the tree some eight feet from the ground +was Hans himself, or rather his dead body, evidently tossed there by +the furious buffalo. One leg was twisted round the fork, probably in a +dying convulsion. In the side, just beneath the ribs, was a great +hole, from which the entrails protruded. But this was not all. The +other leg hung down to within five feet of the ground. The skin and +most of the flesh were gone from it. For a moment we stood aghast, and +gazed at this horrifying sight. Then I understood what had happened. +The buffalo, with that devilish cruelty which distinguishes the +animal, had, after his enemy was dead, stood underneath his body, and +licked the flesh off the pendant leg with his file-like tongue. I had +heard of such a thing before, but had always treated the stories as +hunters' yarns; but I had no doubt about it now. Poor Hans' skeleton +foot and ankle were an ample proof. + +"We stood aghast under the tree, and stared and stared at this awful +sight, when suddenly our cogitations were interrupted in a painful +manner. The thick bush about fifteen paces off burst asunder with a +crashing sound, and uttering a series of ferocious pig-like grunts, +the bull buffalo himself came charging out straight at us. Even as he +came I saw the blood mark on his side where poor Hans' bullet had +struck him, and also, as is often the case with particularly savage +buffaloes, that his flanks had recently been terribly torn in an +encounter with a lion. + +"On he came, his head well up (a buffalo does not generally lower his +head till he does so to strike); those great black horns--as I look at +them before me, gentlemen, I seem to see them come charging at me as I +did ten years ago, silhouetted against the green bush behind;--on, +on!" + +"With a shout Mashune bolted off sideways towards the bush. I had +instinctively lifted my eight-bore, which I had in my hand. It would +have been useless to fire at the buffalo's head, for the dense horns +must have turned the bullet; but as Mashune bolted, the bull slewed a +little, with the momentary idea of following him, and as this gave me +a ghost of a chance, I let drive my only cartridge at his shoulder. +The bullet struck the shoulder-blade and smashed it up, and then +travelled on under the skin into his flank; but it did not stop him, +though for a second he staggered. + +"Throwing myself on to the ground with the energy of despair, I rolled +under the shelter of the projecting root of the thorn, crushing myself +as far into the mouth of the ant-bear hole as I could. In a single +instant the buffalo was after me. Kneeling down on his uninjured knee +--for one leg, that of which I had broken the shoulder, was swinging +helplessly to and fro--he set to work to try and hook me out of the +hole with his crooked horn. At first he struck at me furiously, and it +was one of the blows against the base of the tree which splintered the +tip of the horn in the way that you see. Then he grew more cunning, +and pushed his head as far under the root as possible, made long +semicircular sweeps at me, grunting furiously, and blowing saliva and +hot steamy breath all over me. I was just out of reach of the horn, +though every stroke, by widening the hole and making more room for his +head, brought it closer to me, but every now and again I received +heavy blows in the ribs from his muzzle. Feeling that I was being +knocked silly, I made an effort and seizing his rough tongue, which +was hanging from his jaws, I twisted it with all my force. The great +brute bellowed with pain and fury, and jerked himself backwards so +strongly, that he dragged me some inches further from the mouth of the +hole, and again made a sweep at me, catching me this time round the +shoulder-joint in the hook of his horn. + +"I felt that it was all up now, and began to holloa. + +"'He has got me!' I shouted in mortal terror. '/Gwasa, Mashune, +gwasa!/' ('Stab, Mashune, stab!'). + +"One hoist of the great head, and out of the hole I came like a +periwinkle out of his shell. But even as I did so, I caught sight of +Mashune's stalwart form advancing with his 'bangwan,' or broad +stabbing assegai, raised above his head. In another quarter of a +second I had fallen from the horn, and heard the blow of the spear, +followed by the indescribable sound of steel shearing its way through +flesh. I had fallen on my back, and, looking up, I saw that the +gallant Mashune had driven the assegai a foot or more into the carcass +of the buffalo, and was turning to fly. + +"Alas! it was too late. Bellowing madly, and spouting blood from mouth +and nostrils, the devilish brute was on him, and had thrown him up +like a feather, and then gored him twice as he lay. I struggled up +with some wild idea of affording help, but before I had gone a step +the buffalo gave one long sighing bellow, and rolled over dead by the +side of his victim. + +"Mashune was still living, but a single glance at him told me that his +hour had come. The buffalo's horn had driven a great hole in his right +lung, and inflicted other injuries. + +"I knelt down beside him in the uttermost distress, and took his hand. + +"'Is he dead, Macumazahn?' he whispered. 'My eyes are blind; I cannot +see.' + +"'Yes, he is dead.' + +"'Did the black devil hurt thee, Macumazahn?' + +"'No, my poor fellow, I am not much hurt.' + +"'Ow! I am glad.' + +"Then came a long silence, broken only by the sound of the air +whistling through the hole in his lung as he breathed. + +"'Macumazahn, art thou there? I cannot feel thee.' + +"'I am here, Mashune.' + +"'I die, Macumazahn--the world flies round and round. I go--I go out +into the dark! Surely, my father, at times in days to come--thou wilt +think of Mashune who stood by thy side--when thou killest elephants, +as we used--as we used----' + +"They were his last words, his brave spirit passed with him. I dragged +his body to the hole under the tree, and pushed it in, placing his +broad assegai by him, according to the custom of his people, that he +might not go defenceless on his long journey; and then, ladies--I am not +ashamed to confess--I stood alone there before it, and wept like a woman." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Hunter Quatermain's Story, by Haggard + |